The CILIP AGM 2023 took place on Tuesday 24th October 2023 in a hybrid format from the CILIP offices in the British Library and online via Zoom, in CILIP's year of celebration of 125 years of Royal Chartership.

Attendees representing CILIP's diverse membership joined the event that covered CILIP's work and progress for 2023, and celebrated outstanding individuals with the Mentor of the Year Award, the Presidential Citation and Honorary Fellowships.

This year, the mentor of the Year Award was presented to Sarah Elsegood, Academic Services Manager at Anglia Ruskin University.

Sarah is recognised for her motivating, accessible and mentee needs-driven approach to mentoring, going the extra mile to introduce her mentee to others in her network who were able to provide different perspectives valuable to chartership submission.

CILIP has over 250 mentors who actively share their time and knowledge to support the career development of others who want to improve their skills and experience, and nominations are based on the experiences of mentees who are receiving support from a mentor.

Upon receiving the award Sarah said:

"Thank you very much. That's lovely. Also to my mentees, Anna Gillis and Chanise Muir for taking the time to nominate me and for all those who read through all the nominations. Mentoring is so rewarding. I've certainly been inspired by my mentees. Their hard work, their enthusiasm. And their perseverance just to get it done. We have a mantra it's just get it done it's like a hashtag with every mentee, I get to gain insights myself. It's a real privilege to accompany them on their journey as they learn to become reflective evidence based practitioners."

The Presidential Citation is a long tradition at CILIP, particularly in its previous form as the President's Medal. Each year, the President identifies two people who have gone above and beyond in their work as librarians or information professionals and to celebrate their work.

CILIP President, John Trevor Allen, awarded the Presidential Citation to Zoey Dixon, Library Hubs Manager at Lambeth Libraries and Chair of YLG London, and Diana Dixon, Reviews Editor for Information Professional Magazine.

Zoey has championed the power of reading and the importance of young people from diverse backgrounds and being able to find themselves represented in books. Her proactive campaigning and growing public profile were recognised with an MBE in the 2023 New Years Honours List.

Upon receiving the award Zoe said:

"Thank you so, so much for this, it's a true in honor to receive this recognition, especially from my peers. I've worked, as you know, really hard and passionately in public libraries and especially with children, although I work with all ages. It's been so nice to see that everyone is just as passionate as I am about making sure that there are diverse and inclusive books in their libraries and I'm really pleased that I've been able to have a part of that."

Diana has held her post at Information Professional with authority and good humour for more than 25 years, performing her role with diligence.

Her reviews of thousands of titles have helped generations of librarians and information professionals to develop their skills.

Honorary Fellowships were awarded to Joe Coelho, award-winning poet, playwright and author, Alison Wheeler, a lifelong professional who built the first partnership between librarians and the NHS, and Professor Briony Birdi, leading academic and researcher in diversity, equality and inclusion in libraries.

Read more about the Honorary Fellowships