DOI: 10.1111/hir.
12101
Learning and Teaching in Action
Abstract
In this article, guest writer Ruth Jenkins from
Berkshire Heathcare Foundation Trust reflects on
two conferences she attended in 2014, LILAC
and SLA. Through the process of reflection, she
considers the benefits that attending conferences
can have to library and information professionals
in the health sector. In particular, she discusses
the opportunities and areas for learning and
professional development that conferences can
offer including evidence-based practice and
current awareness, gaining new knowledge and
objectivity, and networking and the unexpected
benefits of conferences. Ruth also offers some
practical hints and tips on ways to facilitate your
attendance at conferences, including through
awards and funding.
H.S.
Keywords: careers; education and training; library and
information professionals; lifelong learning; professional
development
Professional development through attending
conferences: reflections of a health librarian
Ruth Jenkins
Librarian
Healthcare Library, Berkshire Healthcare Founda-
tion Trust, Prospect Park Hospital, Honey End
Lane, Reading, RG30 4EJ, UK
ruth.jenkins@berkshire.nhs.uk
Introduction
Within the library and information profession,
conferences provide an arena for experts and
learners to share knowledge and experiences on a
variety of areas and specialisms. Some
conferences are specialised to particular areas,
156
such as the Health Libraries Group Conference, or
can be more general encompassing a wide range
of areas and expertise, such as the Umbrella
conference. For example, in 2014, I attended
LILAC (the Librarians’ Information Literacy
Annual Conference),1 which focuses on the area
of information literacy, but I also attended the
annual Special Libraries Association (SLA)
conference,2 which spans the huge variety of
special libraries.
Reflection is key to really getting the most
from attending continuing professional
development (CPD) events; reflecting on what
was learnt, the impact it has had on you and
your work, and ways in which it will impact in
the future (the ‘what? So what? Now what?’
model of reflection3 is a useful and simple model
to follow). The deep thought associated with
reflection affords us greater understanding of an
experience. Experience is the basis for learning,
and reflection is an important part of the learning
process in which we actively attempt to make
sense and find meaning in it.4 Just going through
an experience does not necessarily mean we have
learnt from it. In this way, reflection is important
for professional development to learn from
development experiences, such as reflecting on
the knowledge gained from training, events or
reading professional literature, for example.
The fundamental elements of reflection are
examining an event or experience to identify
what happened, what you might or should have
done differently, and what the impact of the
experience was on you and your practice. This
article takes the form of my reflection on
attending these two recent conferences, LILAC
and SLA, to examine the benefits of attending
conferences for librarians and information
professionals in the health sector. I will conclude
with a number of ways to facilitate your
attendance at conferences, including through
awards and funding.
© 2015 Health Libraries Group
Health Information & Libraries Journal, 32, pp. 156–160
 Learning and teaching in action 157

Conferences and professional development based practice and current awareness. We can
benefit from other’s research. As health care
librarians, we help our staff with these two things.
Within the profession, there is an emphasis on
It is important we base our own practice on
CPD. It is a requirement of professional registration
evidence and best practice, and ‘a great way to
(Certification, Chartership or Fellowship) with
find out how other libraries provide their services
CILIP.5 CILIP have introduced the Professional
or are maximising library impact on clinicians and
Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB) to underpin
managers at an operational level is to attend a
professional registration as a tool for identifying
conference. Conferences can provide insight on an
areas for development.6 Attending a conference is
operational level’.8 For example, the Health
one way to meet areas of development in your
Library’s Group conference gathers health library
skills gap. This is essential in a world of fast-paced
and information professionals together to share
changes in technology and the ways our users are
and contribute to the knowledge-base.
finding and using information.
The presentations I attended at LILAC and SLA
Conferences offer current awareness and
were for the most part based on practice, rather
knowledge of the wider library, information and
than isolated research. For this reason, conferences
knowledge sector context. Attendees develop
and other forms of CPD can be an excellent
professional expertise through learning about
introduction for those new to the profession:
current and best practice in the sessions, which
‘The library school degree was seen as a
explicitly or implicitly meets a skills gap. For
foundation, with continuing professional
example, my attendance and learning at LILAC
development (CPD) and workplace experience
met several points of the PKSB ‘literacies and
providing more specialist skills specific to the
learning’ areas7:
health information context’.9
8.1 Information literacy
In 2014, the annual LILAC conference included
8.5 Frameworks and curricula for education and
a Health Literacy strand. Taking place four months
training
after I began my role as a health care librarian, it
8.6 Teaching and training skills
was an excellent opportunity to learn from the
8.7 Supporting users
Health Literacy presentations, and it was a real
The SLA conference was much broader in
highlight of the conference. On the final day, I
scope and larger in scale, so there was even more
selected my parallel sessions solely from this
opportunity to pick and choose sessions to fill my
strand to give myself a wide-ranging experience of
skills gap. However, I also chose sessions based
the information literacy research and practice
simply on them looking interesting, or curiosity
taking place among health information
about the subject. This is wider professional
professionals. Presentations covered topics ranging
knowledge, and it also gives fascinating insights.
from research into HIV myths perpetuated by
Reflection can help you identify if this has made
translation of health information, to the problems
an impact; often it’s a spark of enthusiasm that
of a lack of health information around rare
leads to a later change in your practice.
diseases; from supporting the health information
Additionally, conferences can be overwhelming so
needs of young people, to evaluating the impact of
it is refreshing to attend a session on something
information literacy skills training for NICE staff.
completely different.
Although the direct applicability of each
presentation varied, they all included a call to
Benefits action of some kind, to remind the listeners of the
implications for librarians of these topics. It is
easy to get caught up in the routine work of our
Evidence-based practice and current awareness organisations, and conferences such as LILAC are
The papers and workshops delivered at library and an opportunity to take a broader view of our work
information conferences contribute to evidence- in context of the whole profession and beyond.

© 2015 Health Libraries Group

Health Information & Libraries Journal, 32, pp. 156–160
158 Learning and teaching in action
So conferences afford exposure to the wider
information landscape, but also offer opportunities
for practical ideas and initiatives. At the SLA
Conference, I attended a presentation on library
outreach delivered by a law librarian. With the
speaker being an SLA member, he was well-
prepared to deliver his session to an audience of
varied backgrounds and information environments.
He actually mentioned medical libraries as an
example of how he got involved in outreach
earlier in his career, by attending Grand Rounds
with the doctors. He spoke about his tips and
techniques for outreach in his current role, in a
law library. The advice was all grounded in
practical examples applicable to libraries of all
sectors, not just law. The scope of SLA covers all
sectors focussing particularly on ‘special’ libraries
such as workplace libraries. The conference
highlights similarity between special libraries, such
as emphasis on research, literature searching and
horizon scanning, document delivery and specialist
databases. In this particular presentation, I found
similarity between health and law libraries, but
there are similarities between all libraries in what
we are facing – such as the need for outreach and
increased pressures to demonstrate value and
impact. However, the examples were richer for
being ‘multidisciplinary’ than if perhaps they had
just focussed on medical librarianship.
New knowledge and objectivity on your service
The SLA conference is large and international,
spanning a broad spectrum of topics, research and
areas of the information profession. It brings
together such a variety of information
professionals, working in a wide range of settings
and countries. 2014 was my second SLA
conference, and each time it has given me new
ideas and new ways of doing things. Comparing
my own practice with that of others is hugely
valuable.
Attending conferences also provides objectivity
on your own service and your own practice. If you
have to explain the way you do things to someone
unfamiliar with your role or organisation, you see
it from an outsider’s perspective. They may ask,
‘why did you decide to do it that way?’ This
forces your justification and consequently opens
the door to new conceptions of how a service
could be run. SLA, as a global association, is an
ideal opportunity in which to do this.
At the LILAC conference, I was prompted to
consider my own approach in situations when it is
difficult to find any information on a topic, or
there is very little information available, for
instance in the case of rare and orphan diseases.10
It may be that there is no information out there to
find, but more importantly, it is worth librarians
sharing expertise and publishing search strategies
(a recommendation from this particular
presentation). Health librarians are well placed in
non-commercial organisations to share expertise,
and there is already much of this occurring, but
sharing and publishing search strategies for
difficult research topics is not something I had
previously considered.
Networking and ‘unexpected’ benefits
Possibly the most intangible benefit of
conferences, yet also the most long-term, is
networking. Most conferences have time set aside
for meeting other delegates in a social yet
professional setting.11 Often the conversations had
over coffee or lunch between the sessions is more
valuable than the sessions themselves. LILAC
included a networking event at the start of the
three day conference, and a conference dinner,
which were excellent opportunities to mix with
delegates from other sectors and reaffirm
relationships with existing contacts. I was one of
three bursary winners attending LILAC, and
catching up with the others periodically allowed us
to share knowledge we had learnt throughout the
conference and report to each other sessions we
were unable to attend.
With over 2000 delegates, the networking
opportunities at SLA were many. Divisions and
Chapters held events during the conference and in
the evenings, and the INFO-EXPO brought
together industry service providers, such as
database suppliers. Those new to the SLA
conference are advised to attend these networking
events, and attend some put on by Divisions and
Chapters outside their area of work or location.
That affords wider professional knowledge and
context, and a broader and richer professional
© 2015 Health Libraries Group
Health Information & Libraries Journal, 32, pp. 156–160

network. A professional network of other health
librarians as well as colleagues in a range of roles
gives a deeper pool of expertise to exploit.
There are also unexpected benefits to health
librarians attending conferences. The ‘informal
learning’ that takes place can include improving
your listening skills, and writing practice by
writing-up the conference, such as in a blog,
newsletter or journal. These skills can be
particularly beneficial to those new to the library
and information profession.
Conferences are rejuvenating. Spending time
with other enthusiastic professionals can leave you

feeling inspired. Sociologist Emile Durkheim
argued that collective consciousness is what holds
society together,12 and the mechanism of ritual
creates collective consciousness. The shared
experiences at professional conferences are rituals,
as they meet Durkheim’s requirements13 of shared
presence, shared focus of attention and common
mood. These three create a feeling of solidarity
within the group, creating and reproducing
membership of that group. Good conferences do
this and can leave delegates feeling a stronger
connection to their profession and colleagues.
How to get to conferences
Conferences can be expensive, especially when
travel and accommodation are factored in.
However, there are many ways to part-fund or
fully fund attendance at a conference. Awards and
funding are often available. In many cases, the
application involves writing a short piece on why
you would like to attend and what you would get
from the conference, and writing a report or article
after the event. The Health Libraries Group, for
example, offers the Leslie Morton Bursary to
attend international conferences, of up to £1000.
This year’s winner attended the European
Association for Health Information and Libraries
(EAHIL) conference in Rome. Similarly, my
attendance at LILAC was due to a bursary
encouraging delegates from underrepresented
sectors (health, public and further education
libraries), and the John Campbell Trust funded my
attendance at the SLA conference in Vancouver
through their travel/conference award. Often
© 2015 Health Libraries Group
Health Information & Libraries Journal, 32, pp. 156–160
Learning and teaching in action 159
speakers attend the conference for free, so it is
worth considering presenting at a conference you
are interested in attending.
Conference awards and funding opportunities
are usually advertised on mailing lists, such as
LIS-LINK and LIS-Awards, and Twitter is also a
useful resource for finding out about both
conferences and funding. If you are unable to
attend, you can attend a conference virtually by
following the conference hashtag. For example,
delegates at the Health Libraries Conference used
the hashtag #HLG14.
Conclusion
Conferences offer a variety of benefits to health
librarians. From my own experiences of and
reflections on recent conferences, I have gained
new knowledge, a wider understanding of the
professional context, and a richer professional
network. Awards and funding are available to
support attendance at conferences and events, to
encourage CPD and demonstrating the importance
placed on these types of events by the profession.
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© 2015 Health Libraries Group

Health Information & Libraries Journal, 32, pp. 156–160