Pictured from left: Sonia Ramdhian, Director of Sector Development, CILIP, Adele Readhead, Senior Lecturer University of Glasgow, Rebecca Gediking, Head of Libraries, GLL, Virginia Power, Associate Director for Information Science at the University of the West of England, and Rebecca Dorsett, Deputy Head of Digital & Information Professions at UK Ministry of Defence

The CILIP Employers Forum 2024 brought together delegates from fifty different organisations in the library and information science sector to discuss how the workforce can adapt to make librarians and knowledge managers become leaders in AI.

Decision-makers and sector leaders from CILIP’s Employer and Learning Partners met last Wednesday at the Hive Library in Worcester for a hybrid in-person and online programme that focussed on getting a head start on AI policy.

The forum was a unique opportunity for both groups to hear from each other on the skills that librarians and information managers will need in the future, and the opportunity it brings to libraries to take the lead in policy and education around AI.

The event was hosted at the the Hive, a unique joint venture from the University of Worcester and Worcestershire County Council housing a public library, university library and archives in one environmentally friendly building.

The day was made possible with sponsorship from CB Resourcing and WF Education.

The three-session programme gave delegates a practical and outcomes-based approach on how to create an organisational AI policy, with case-studies from Worcestershire County Council, the University of Sheffield and the University of Manchester.

CILIP’s outgoing CEO Nick Poole, led the afternoon’s session, a workshop to get delegates creating their own organisational AI policies.

Read more about the workshop.

The final session was a panel discussion with senior library leaders and information managers, who discussed the skillset of the future.

This session sparked discussion between employers and education and training providers to bridge the gap between the application of skills on the job and academic and vocational training to create new understandings between the needs of both groups.

Perhaps the most exciting outcome of CILIP Employers’ Forum 2024, was that libraries and information providers are in a unique position as educators, experts, and professionals to take back leadership in the sectors of AI policy, education, mitigate its threats and take advantage of its opportunities.

The CILIP Employers forum is free to attend for CILIP Employer Partners. CILIP Employer Partners are organisational members of CILIP who employ library, information and knowledge professionals.

Member organisations include government departments, higher education, prison libraries, public libraries and museums.

Organisational membership also provides unique networking and discussion spaces like the CILIP Employers Forum.