values that sit at the heart of our pro- fessional practice, including the CILIP Professional Knowledge and Skills Base, we were delighted to award the inaugural CILIPS Presidential Award to keynote speaker and Scots poet Len Pennie. President David McMenemy selected Len as this year’s recipient in recognition of her inspiring and passionate work to defend and promote the Scots language, as well as her courage in speaking out about mental health: in doing so, champ- ioning the public benefit, the preservation of knowledge and intellectual freedom as three key principles of the CILIP Ethical Framework. Len’s panel discussion with award-winning crime writer Denise Mina and National Librarian of Scotland Amina Shah was a highlight of the conference for many delegates, articulating how libraries create communities of writers as well as readers (and including several exciting book recommendations)!
Another new initiative for 2025 came courtesy of Lending Voices: South Lanarkshire Libraries’ portable podcast- ing studio, which was commended in last year’s SLIC Awards for Project Excellence. In a conference first, Iain Robertson and Dave Young set up a pop-up recording booth where speakers, exhibitors and delegates could voice their conference highlights, as well as equipping the CILIPS team and conference volunteers with ‘vox pop’ mics to capture insights on the go. Be sure to subscribe to the CILIPS podcast to hear their thoughts soon! For delegates keen to learn even more about the ways in which diverse sectors are connecting with and preserving com- munities, regional branch CILIPS Tayside welcomed attendees to an exclusive guided tour of the University of Dundee’s Archive and Museum Services on Monday evening, before we reconvened for a delicious delegate dinner. This year’s entertainment came courtesy of comedian and podcaster Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, who treated our dinner guests to a riotous (and dare we say, slightly risqué?) rundown of his favourite Scottish libraries.
“Is anyone here from the Mitchell Library? Love those crazy carpets! How about anyone from The Dick Institute?”
The delegate heckle that followed is too rude to repeat, much less print! Our conference dinner also included the official announcement of the 2025 winner of Scotland’s Library and Information Professional of the Year Award, spon- sored by Bolinda Digital. This prestigious accolade is given to an individual for outstanding work in libraries or infor- mation during the past twelve months, and our 2025 award went to Laragh Quinney, Maps Reading Room Manager at the National Library of Scotland. Our judging panel noted that they particularly
42 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL
‘‘
Conference is the highlight of the professional calendar for me. I don’t know how you continue to improve on previous years – but you always manage. Congratulations and thank you on behalf of everyone.
– Delegate
admired Laragh’s timely work in leading the CILIPS Research Fund project Carbon Literacy for Libraries and cascading this training across the sector, evidencing exceptional impact and demonstrating how library professionals can lead on key national and international priorities like environmental action. Congratulations to Laragh from all at CILIPS!
Laragh was selected from a shortlist of three immensely talented professionals, also including Tara Hepburn, Library Officer at East Dunbartonshire Libraries, and Gavin Johnstone, Digital Services Librarian at Falkirk Libraries. Please visit the CILIPS website for details of their achievements.
Further rewards were in store for outstanding colleagues, courtesy of the The Ian McCracken Awards. These prizes are made possible thanks to a generous donation by former CILIPS Trustee Ian McCracken, who served on the CILIPS Board for a number of years, in addition to several sub-groups, and is an Honorary Member of CILIPS. The 2025 Ian McCracken Innovator Award was awarded to Sally Bell, recognising her investiga- tions into uses of AI to help translate the catalogue records of rare foreign language material at the University of Glasgow Library, and the 2025 Ian McCracken Outstanding Achievement Award was awarded to SLIPY shortlistee Gavin Johnstone, acknowledging his exceptional
work in supporting minoritised commun- ity members, specifically young travellers in Falkirk, to develop digital literacy skills and confidence through their local librar- ies. Further enriching our sector’s trophy cabinet, this year’s CILIPS student medals were awarded to three rising stars of the profession: Nicola Carter from Robert Gordon University, Shona McKenzie from University of Strathclyde, and Nella McNicol from University of Glasgow. Congratulations all!
The delegate body across both days was made up of both new and more experi- enced professionals, and it was wonderful to see them engaging with each other. Every year we try to add extra opportuni- ties to inspire attendees to connect, reflect and network, which in 2025 also included a conference-wide game of snap using Scottish Book Trust Story Deck cards – one lucky pair of attendees who quite literally ‘snapped’ their match won free places for next year! We were also delighted to see high levels of engagement with our new and returning exhibitors, who are vital to the conference, and we look forward to welcoming them back next year. The CILIPS team is now pulling together multimedia highlights from the two days to be shared on our website soon; meantime, please keep 1-2 June free for CILIPS26! Thank you again to all who joined us. IP
Rewired 2025
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