Staff Development Weekly Update

ALN Staff Development Update #66 – 14 May 2025

This weekly update is intended to keep you up to date on ALN’s staff development programme; to highlight interesting initiatives being undertaken by ALN or its members; and to promote job opportunities in our member libraries. If you have any queries or any content you’d like to include, please get in touch at: academiclibrariesnorth@sconul.ac.uk

Events

May 2025

Advocacy and Institutional Alignment in Challenging Times 
Hosts: ALN Steering Group
Date: Thursday 15 May 2025
Time: 2.00 – 3.30
Platform: Online via Teams

June 2025

** New ** Skill up with ALN! – an Introduction to the work of Academic Librarians
Hosts: Academic Librarians CoP
Date: Tuesday 3 June 2025
Time: 10.00 – 11.00
Platform: Online via Teams

Innovative marketing and social media engagement in Academic Libraries 
Hosts: University of Hull
Date: Wednesday 4 June 2025
Time: 10.30 – 12.00
Platform: Online via Teams

Sheffield Hallam University TeachMeet: Inclusive Learning
Hosts: Sheffield Hallam University
Date: Thursday 5 June 2025
Time: 10.00 – 4.00
Format: In-person
** Last 4 places remaining **

Turning up and tuning in: strategies for student engagement with library sessions 
Hosts: Northumbria University
Date: Wednesday 11 June 2025
Time: 9.30 – 11.30am
Platform: Online via Teams

** New ** Supporting and encouraging authors to publish Open Access Monographs with no REF2029 mandate 
Hosts: Research Support Group + Lancaster
Date: Thursday 12 June 2025
Time: 10am – 12 noon
Platform: Online via Teams

**New** Students as co-creators: Part 2 Recruiting, training, managing and developing students
Hosts: Lancaster and Manchester Met
Date: Tuesday 17 June 2025
Time: 2:00 – 3.30pm
Location: Online via Teams

July 2025

GenAI: Collective Knowledge and Shared Progress
Hosts: Academic Librarians CoP
Date: Wednesday 2 July 2025
Time: 9:30am – 12 noon
Platform: Online via Teams

Making Music, Not Noise: Enhancing Student Communications at Edge Hill University
Hosts: Edge Hill University
Date: Friday 18 July 2025
Time: 10.00 – 12.30pm
Platform: Online via Teams

Frontline Forum 4

The Frontline Forum is a new online discussion and development space for teams working directly with students and users. The forums are an opportunity to share best practice, engage with other ALN activities and learn about different service models and delivery types offered by different universities. The forum is aimed at staff who work on frontline desks and provide the first line of support to students and other library users.

The next Frontline Forum will take place on Wednesday 21 May 2025, 2.30 – 4.00 (2.15 informal start), with a theme of Supporting wellbeing and good mental health.

The plan for the afternoon is available on the Frontline Forum page of the ALN website.

ALN Conference 2025

Sustainable Innovation: moving forward in challenging times Conference Registration now open!

#ALN25 Conference 2025

Online via Teams – Wednesday 18 June 2025; In-person – Friday 11 July at the Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University.

Registration

Book yourself a place today! Ticket prices can be found on the ALN Conference 2025 website. Bulk discounts are available for 5 or more people attending in-person. See the Eventbrite page for how it works. Details of the full programme will follow shortly.

If you have any queries about the conference, please contact alnconferenceteam@gmail.com.

Mental Health & Wellbeing

Looking for inspiration for how your library can get involved in Mental Health Awareness Week, taking place this week from 12th to 18th May 2025?

Why not have a look on the ALN Mental Health & Wellbeing Resource page – you’ll find lots of case studies detailing relevant activities shared by staff from across ALN member libraries. Definitely worth a look to see if inspiration hits!

And if you have a case study that you’d like to share with your colleagues in other ALN libraries, we are adding material all the time – please contact one of the project team to discuss it further or to send the details of your project etc. 

Member Library Events

University of Manchester Open Research Conference 2025
Date: Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 June 2025
Location: Alliance Manchester Business School

The event will showcase the latest innovations and practices in Open Research, bringing together researchers, PGRs and research support professionals across disciplines, to explore bold ideas and practical solutions for reshaping how we conduct and share research.

Call for Abstracts  
We welcome submissions for presentations and posters from anyone interested in, researching, or working in Open Research. Contributions can include research projects, methodological innovations, or case studies showcasing Open Research practices.

Key Details  
•    Abstract Submission Deadline: 31 March 2025
•    Notification of Acceptance: Mid-end of April 2025
•    Submit your application via this form: https://forms.office.com/e/TEwBCrRrvm

Presentation Format  
•    Talks: 15-minute presentations on your work and contributions to Open Research.
•    Posters: Posters will be displayed throughout the event, with a dedicated session to discuss your work with attendees.

Event Information  
The conference is a collaborative initiative led by the Office for Open Research (supported by the Research Lifecycle Programme), the School of Engineering Open Research Lead, the UK Reproducibility Network, and the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute.

Contact 
If you have any questions about the conference or abstract submissions, please contact the team at openresearch@manchester.ac.uk.

Library Performance Measurement Conference (LibPMC)
Date: Tuesday 3 to Wednesday 4 June 2025
Registrations close: Friday 23 May 2025

Come and be part of this generous, supportive, international community of librarians, who are passionate about and experienced in using data alongside user experience and impact evaluation to inform decisions and create compelling narratives – an essential library skill in these challenging times. The 2025 conference programme includes presentations from experts on a variety of topics, including resources, skills and methods, library data infrastructure and skills and organisational culture and change as well as in-programme Learning Labs on:

• Communicating library value and impact to key stakeholders
• Writing effective KPIs
• Is that a big number? 10 quick ways to improve your data literacy
• Librarians as researchers – getting started

It will also feature keynotes on ‘Compelling Storytelling with Data’ (Liam Thorp, award-winning journalist at Liverpool Echo) and ‘Citizen Science’ (Dr Christothea Herodotou, Professor of Learning Technologies and Social Justice at Open University). Registration is £295 which includes the full 2-day programme and conference dinner. LibPMC is taking place in The Spine, 2 Paddington Village, Liverpool.

If you would like to receive updates on future events and also have an opportunity to connect with each other and the community, please join the mailing list or join the LinkedIn group. If you have any questions or comments please contact: info@libraryperformance.org.

SCONUL Opportunities

SCONUL Call for expressions of interest: member libraries’ contributions to AI conversations
SCONUL’s AI working group is planning a webinar for June around ‘Engagement with university leaders in AI conversations’, and is seeking expressions of interest from member libraries to share their experiences. The webinar will be advocacy focused, and provide a source of inspiration and good practice, showing the value of libraries in this conversation. If you would like to contribute, please email noura.mokhtar@sconul.ac.uk with a brief outline of your story. Expressions of interest should be submitted by 26 May 2025.

SCONUL AI coffee morning – 30 May 2025
Date: Friday 30 May 2025
Time: 10am – 11.30am
The next SCONUL meeting will feature James Barnett, Research Skills Advisor, and Lisa Bird, Copyright and Licensing Advisor, at University of Birmingham on frameworks for the evaluation of AI tools, followed by an open floor discussion. You can register here. The AI coffee mornings allow library colleagues to come together, share experiences and ask questions so that we can explore these tools and techniques as a community. These are not expert forums but for sharing information and experiences as practitioners and they are open to all, whatever your role or level of expertise.

Job Opportunities

Customer Services Assistant
Location: University of York
Grade/Salary: Grade 2; £25,448 – £26,942 per year (reduced pro rata for part time working)
Contract type: Open; Part-Time
Closing date: Tuesday 20 May 2025

Role Description
The Library is seeking to recruit 3 Customer Services Assistants to join our Customer Services team who are responsible for the daily operational delivery of the Library’s core frontline services

Department
The Library’s values of customer focus, collaboration and continuous improvement are central to our supportive and empowering working culture, and we take great pride in the high quality services we deliver to our user communities.

Role
As a Customer Services Assistant you will ensure that the Library buildings (JB Morrell Library, Raymond Burton Humanities Research Library, Harry Fairhurst building and King’s Manor Library) are ready for use during their opening hours. You will assist with providing reception services and regular patrols of library buildings and you will provide key elements of stock preparation, processing, replacement of items on shelves and stock tidying.

Three part-time roles are available:

1 x evening role working 22.5 hours per week from 4pm to midnight, Thursday to Saturdays
2 x weekend role working 15 hours per week from 8 am to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays

Skills, Experience & Qualification needed
You will have a good general education, as well as experience of front-of-house customer service. You will be flexible, self-motivated, reliable, and able to work effectively and communicate politely with colleagues and customers. A full clean driving license is essential for weekend vacancies and desirable for evening vacancies and the ability to lift and move books, furniture and equipment is essential for all roles.

Interview date: To be confirmed

Learning Facilitator – Leeds
Location: British Library (Leeds)
Salary: £25,146 per annum (pro rata)
Hours: Full time (36 hours); term time only
Closing date: Tuesday 27 May 2025

About the role

Could you bring the British Library to life for pupils and teachers at schools in Leeds?

We’re looking for someone to deliver collections-based, curriculum-focused workshops. You’ll love working with children and young people and be passionate about supporting teachers. You’ll have experience of creating learning opportunities in relevant subject areas. You’ll be working independently much of the time within our small Leeds team, so must be self-motivated and organised.

About us

We are the national library of the UK and we are here for everyone. Our shelves hold over 170 million items – a living collection that gets bigger every day. Although our roots extend back centuries, we aim to collect everything published in the UK today, tomorrow and far into the future. Our trusted experts care for this collection and open it up for everyone to spark new discoveries, ideas and to help people do incredible things.

Interview date: 12 June 2025

Academic Liaison Librarian (Health)
Location: University of Greater Manchester (Bolton)
Salary: £27,890 to £32,983 per annum
Contract Type: Full Time; Permanent
Closing Date: Sunday 01 June 2025
Interview Date: Monday 16 June 2025

Here at the University of Bolton, we are proud of our growing reputation as a student focused University. With our strategy of “Teaching Intensive, Research Informed” we are committed to offering our students the best experience possible. Due to our ongoing growth, we have an exciting opportunity to recruit an Academic Liaison Librarian to join a small Academic Liaison Team.

The successful candidate will be expected to take an operational lead on:

• Academic and professional support, inc. liaison and user education
• Subject support enquiry services, alongside generic provision including:
• subject guides
• resource lists
• referencing
• copyright
• research
• Curation of resources for health related programmes
• Induction, class-sessions, tailored delivery, drop-ins
• Communicating with all users: promotion of resources and services

The Library prides itself in delivering excellent customer service and in being a very supportive team. Although the role is campus based, there may be an opportunity to undertake some hybrid working (one day per week).

We ask a lot from our staff but in return, you will receive a competitive benefits package including access to the Local Government Pension Scheme, an employee benefits scheme and generous annual leave entitlement. As a small University, you will have opportunities to work with colleagues across campus to support and deliver the best student experience possible.

Applications are welcomed from those candidates interested in part-time hours/job-share.