INSIGHT ‘‘ HLG
International health library conference coming to Glasgow
The 14th International Congress on Medical Librarianship (ICML) is coming to Glasgow on 14-16 July 2026. Imrana Ghumra, ICML Conference Lead on CILIP Health Library Group’s committee, explains why you should go. (And the deadline to submit your abstract for ICML 2026 has been extended to 31 August 2025!).
W
HAT’S your approach to conferences – do they excite you, energise you or drain you?
For me, it’s a mixture… there’s so much to learn and to be inspired by. Taking the
time out for yourself and your professional development can be exhausting but it’s a good sort of exhausting! As a reflective practitioner, it does take time to ruminate over how ideas can be put into practice for my service – often something will work for your service with a few tweaks! But the best thing about attending conferences is the networking, the casual conversations, new people and connections. The first time I attended this international event was early in my career when HLG hosted it in London in 2000. It was a fabulous opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals across the globe and cemented my passion for working in the health sector. At the time I was working at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) when David Stewart (past HLG Chair and CILIP President) was Director of Library Services. My Chartership mentor was Sharon Burton at the RSM and attending ICML helped me to reflect on the Profession from a global perspective. It was also the year I was accepted as a Chartered Member of CILIP. I then moved into the NHS in 2001 and will be celebrating my 25 year NHS service in 2026.
The bid
The IFLA Health and Biosciences Libraries Section (HBS) puts out the call to host the ICML in 2022 and Glasgow Convention Bureau (GCB) approached HLG offering to help us put this bid together. Scotland had been our preferred choice for the HLG 2020 conference which had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. So it’s a great pleasure to bring it here. To keep track of updates and speakers visit We decided to run the event alongside other health library, information and knowledge groups, approaching the International Clinical Librarians Conference (ICLC), the University Health and Medical Librarians Group (UHMLG) the Consortium of Health and Independent Libraries in London (CHILL), alongside African Hospital Libraries (AHL) the University of Strathclyde
Autumn 2025
and the Evidence Based Librarianship in Practice (EBLIP) lead to see if they would like to collaborate in running the Congress – and won the bid in 2023
https://ciliphlg.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/press- release-re-icml-2026-v3-1.pdf.
Glasgow
Something that drew us to Glasgow were all the green and sustainable initiatives across the city.
Glasgow’s official coat of arms and motto (‘Let Glasgow flourish’) inspired our vision for ICML 2026. The conference theme is ‘Flourish: growing our communities’ aiming to grow our international community, support attendees to flourish in their roles and to lay the foundations of a legacy for the profession. Today has been a very busy day with a site visit to the Technology Innovation Centre (TIC), our amazing venue for the event, checking out the main auditorium and breakout rooms for the parallel sessions. We looked at the venues from the perspective of our international delegates as well as through the lens of our neurodiverse colleagues and from the lens of those who have seen and unseen disabilities. The TIC already has a reflection room which serves as a faith space and we will ensure that we have a quiet space for colleagues that require some time out from the hustle and bustle of the Congress. We are looking at hiring The Platform as our venue for the conference social event with a Ceileidh and band to provide the entertainment alongside a street food menu which should appeal to our delegates. The venue is sighted underneath Glasgow train station and will provide lots of opportunity to network in an informal setting. There is dancing for those who would like to boogie the night away as well as quiet spaces for buddying up with international colleagues. HLG supplier for HLISD, Artefacto are looking at gamifying activities for the Congress. As I write I am testing one of the hotel rooms we will be reserving for our delegates. The hotels we’re reviewing are within five minutes walking distance of the TIC, our conference venue and have great facilities, have been recently refurbished and are very comfortable. The City of Glasgow will be hosting an evening drinks reception on Wednesday evening at Glasgow Chambers. Here delegates will be able to have a drink, listen to a bit of history and then move on to eateries across the city. IP
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 43
The conference theme is ‘Flourish: growing our communities’ aiming to grow our international community, support attendees to flourish in their roles and to lay the foundations of a legacy for the profession.
Imrana Ghumra, ICML Conference Lead for HLG.
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