Latest issue of SCONUL Focus

The latest issue of SCONUL Focus is now available.  I'm on the editorial board and I'm pleased SF is proving to be such a good outlet for practice-based articles which give insights into the activities we are engaged in.  The  issue is on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and there is a significant number of contributions from the Irish library sector.
In the area of education for the library profession we have Jane Burns on
Pedagogical approaches to teaching blogging and reflective writing to library school students
Marie O'Neill on
Continuing professional development opportunities at Dublin Business School
while Jessica Bates, Kalpana Shankar and Marie O'Neill give an overview of the programmes available in information/library studies in Ireland as part of
Developing the Professionals of the Future
Preparing students for the profession through a library intern system is the topic of Avril Patterson and Roz Pan's article
Delivering a structured precourse intern programme at University College Dublin Library
In her article The ANLTC Library Assistant Award A competitive opportunity for personal development Kathryn Smith provides an overview of the history of the Academic and National Library Training Cooperative (ANLTC) Library Assistant Award and explores the practical elements of co-ordinating the 2016 competition. Laura Connaughton and Regina Richardson share their experiences of attaining the Library Association of Ireland ALAI and FLAI awards
Continuing professional development through our professional association Attaining an award from the Library Association of Ireland (LAI)
A group of six library assistants from Maynooth University Library recount their experiences of participating in the LAI Library Ireland Week (LIW) job swop initiative
The Library Ireland Week (LIW) job swop initiative Experiences from Maynooth University Library
An internal staff development initiative at University of Ulster is described by Janet Peden and Marion Khorshidian
It’s all about me! A self directed achievement scheme in the library at Ulster University

Planning is underway for the 2017 annual CONUL Conference, which is on the 30th  and 31st of May.
You can read about the 2016 conference in Marie Cullen's   report.

Future editions of SCONUL Focus

Issue 68

The editorial board are now working on Issue 68 – this is going to focus on support for teaching as a key theme - TEF,  learning spaces, evaluating teaching, integrating digital literacy into the curriculum, supporting academics, distant learning , supporting specific groups. Articles of approximately 1,500 words to me by 25th November, or if you want to send a query about a possible topic just e-mail me

Issue 69

Issue 69 will focus on research. Possible contributions could relate to the REF, new roles, innovative approaches to researcher engagement, RDM, altmetrics/ bibliometrics, making research collections accessible etc.  Finished articles will be due end of February, please e-mail me if you have a proposal for an article.

Helen Fallon

Editorial Board Member SCONUL Focus