21 July 2025
UKSG is pleased to act as the archive for EARLL – winners of our 2019 innovation Awards.
Mar 10, 2020 4 min read
You spoke we listened…or what you can expect to see from EARLL in the future – Read more
When we first launched EARLL we were both in agreement that for the network to really succeed it had to
be a true voice for its members. We wanted to offer opportunities for online networking and discussion, but we were also determined to hold actual ‘event’ days where career development discussions, networking and skills building can take place. It was important to us that these events be free, as we know first-hand that the limitations in library training budgets often hit lower grade staff the hardest.
In order to achieve this, we had two key objectives:
– Ensure a strong web presence that will allow us to communicate with our members and our members to
communicate with each other.
– Hold a few key events a year, offered for free, that cover a wide range of CPD activities.
Those of you who attended the launch event on the 13th December will remember that we had group session to gather your feedback and asked two questions linked to the objectives above:
- What kind of web presence would you like us to have?
- What kind of events would you like to see from us in future?
There was some really great participation in this session, and you had some brilliant ideas about what you want to see from us! We’re now going to share our findings with you. Read more attached
May 7, 2020 6 min read
A day in the life of… a Special Collections Library Assistant – Read more
By James Ryan, Special Collections Library Assistant, Senate House Library
Sep 1, 2020 – 7 min read
How Effective are Academic Libraries’ Attempts at Dismantling Racism? Read here
By Naomi L. A. Smith, Assistant Library Manager and part-time Library student at UCL (@LibrarygirlN).
This blog post is based on an essay originally produced for INST0021 Managing Information Organisations module for the MA Library and Information Studies at UCL.
Nov 23, 2021 – 5 min read
Event summary: Career Pathways in Academic Libraries – Read here
By Robyn Price, Bibliometrics Manager at Imperial College London and EARLL Events Manager
In December 2021 EARLL, with the support of UKSG, hosted a careers panel that explored practical and systemic barriers in the sector, diversity in the workforce and the value of library postgraduate study. Each of our 5 speakers brought their own experiences and advice to provide a summary of their career and answer questions on getting into and progressing through the academic library sector. Almost 80 attendees joined us virtually from across the UK as well as North America and Europe.
Challenges facing early career librarians – and what EARLL can do to help This is the second in our series of blog posts about the EARLL launch event held on 13th December 2019, sharing the outcomes of the group discussion sessions and
how EARLL is trying to help where we can. This blog post will discuss the key challenges that early career librarians in academic and research institutions face, as identified by EARLL members at the launch event. We have analysed the
discussion feedback and broken the key challenges down into the following areas:
- Qualifications
- Upskilling and training
- Experience
- Recruitment process
- Career progression
- Financial security
- Leadership support