#RLUK23 Virtual Conference :: 22-24 March 2023

Partners and Pioneers: Reimagining the modern research library

The call for papers for the RLUK23 Conference, to be held virtually from 22-24 March 2023 is now open. Find out more on the RLUK Conference website. The deadline for submissions is Friday 25 November 2022.

The research library is a place of experimentation, working as a partner and pioneer in the research process and as a catalyst for change within scholarship and society. It is central to the learning and research experience, operating in a complex and constantly shifting ecosystem.

We are emerging from a period of rapid transformation that has challenged not just the way that our libraries work, but their role within the campus and in relation to the wider community. The RLUK23 Conference will explore how research libraries have navigated this period of unprecedented change, and how positive decision making and planning can help us build more inclusive, diverse, and equitable libraries. As we move from a reactive mindset to now having the space to consider a more long-term perspective, RLUK23 will consider how library missions are being shaped in this new landscape.

The scale and acceleration of the digital shift has transformed our ways of working and the scope of the library offer, but it has also exposed skills gaps and is requiring libraries to reassess and realign their talent strategies to an expanded digital offer.

Wellbeing is now an essential part of many universities’ mission, encompassing a comprehensive range of issues. The research library is well placed to provide for and monitor the welfare of the community it serves, therefore it has become integral to many university health and wellbeing strategies, for both staff and students. How can a holistic approach to wellbeing, that manifests through all aspects of the library, help strengthen the library’s support of research and its staff?

RLUK23 will celebrate our collections. Hybrid and remote working has transformed expectations of the research and learning experience, and has made collections more accessible than ever. We will explore the next steps to realising collective collections at a consortial level, and in a hybrid world, we will explore the dynamic ways in which the treasures of our collections are being showcased in the physical and digital sphere.

RLUK23 is an open, international conference, and we welcome submissions from all colleagues who share our commitment to reshape scholarship and the role of the research library, and we look forward to hearing from a range of voices that will challenge, disrupt and inspire us.

Innovation in the library

  • Charting the course: the role of leadership in libraries to navigate the long cultural shift
  • What is a library? Developing a new vision for the research library
  • Open research infrastructure and the role of the library

Libraries and wellbeing

  • Designing library spaces to support student wellbeing
  • The role of technology in promoting wellbeing
  • The role of leadership in developing a healthy and happy library

New ways of working

  • Hybrid working: a new normal
  • Diverse and representative: building the future library workforce
  • Bridging the digital skills gap in libraries

Celebrating the collection

  • Cultivating a Collective Collection: challenges and solutions
  • The hybrid collection: dynamic approaches in showcasing our collections
  • Inclusive approaches to collections, audiences and engagement