The annual LILAC conference is upon us, and unfortunately this writer won’t be attending. I’ve been perusing the programme like a kid looking through a misted toyshop window, wiping away the condensation from the glass with my woollen mittens and wishing I was inside, warm and overwhelmed with the options of wooden railways, licenced figurines and parallel sessions about zine making.
There’s lots to regret about being left without a ticket, so I thought I would take a few minutes to detail exactly what I know I’m missing.
Firstly, the opportunity to visit the lovely Sheffield and take in some of my favourite things: from Paternoster lifts to gold postboxes, street murals to snooker, the Steel City has much more than I could take in on my last visit, and I’m sad not to be stepping out of the station into its embrace once more.
Secondly, I’ll miss the sense of camaraderie among the cohort – hundreds of library and information professionals, gathering to discuss the latest issues in the sector while queuing for coffee and cake, rushing from session to session hoping to grab a comfortable seat and a quick chat with friends long unseen.
Lastly, but not least-ly, I’ll miss the brain candy, the discovery, the innovation, the white-hot takes on the issues that surround our profession. Thankfully, some it will be able for me to digest afterwards on the LILAC archive!
Here are some of the potential highlights that I’m sorry to be missing:
Monday 30th March, 13:45
Stop, collaborate, and zine make: DIY reflection tools for information literacy practice
This wildcard proposal offers a two-part zine workshop for LILAC delegates. At the first workshop near the beginning of the conference, participants will learn about opportunities to use zines as part of their information literacy instruction practice. Most of the workshop will be active: delegates will add information into their own zine based on prompts during that workshop. Using a semi-structured template, they will write things they are looking forward to learning about at the conference, areas they would like to improve in their information literacy practice, and/or other goals for the next few days in the first pages of their zine.
Zine workshops? Scissors, glue and me and you? I’d be there to collage and create for sure.
Monday 30th March, 15:55
Making, makerspaces and the role of information literacy
This workshop will showcase participatory research and pedagogical approaches adopted to develop the University of Sheffield’s Digital Commons, an interdisciplinary library makerspace led by the Library Learning and Teaching Services team. Using a hands-on practical activity, we will focus on how student learning, the pedagogy of making, and the literacy of knowledge creation within our information and digital literacy offer gave a natural home for library based makerspaces within our information literacy practice.
Coming from a library with a recently installed MakerSpace, I’d be all over this like a failed 3D print job…
Tuesday 31st March, 9:45
Opting-out of inevitability: reflections on critical refusal of generative AI in academic libraries
In this 45-minute session, the presenters will open with an interactive poll, then share an overview of issues and possibilities related to professional refusal and resistance to Generative AI and Large Language Models in academic libraries. Drawing from their personal and professional experiences, critical writing, and official guidance on AI from mainstream library organizations, they will conclude the session by sharing a bibliography and will lead attendees in a group discussion to collectively grapple with opportunities, challenges, and spectrums of AI refusal.
As a potential Luddite myself, I’m super interested to see how others are responding to AI by refusing it.
Tuesday 31st March, 11:00
We are in a time of polycrisis: “the causal entanglement of crises in multiple global systems in ways that significantly degrade humanity’s prospects” (Lawrence et al. 2024, p.2). The extent to which this dominates our everyday lives varies, depending on who we are and where we are. Everyone, though, engages with information, whether it is judging how far away a bomb dropped, from the sound of the explosion, or learning through observation which trees will blossom first. Information Literacy is not a simplistic solution to polycrisis. However, developing situational awareness of the information in your life can be life enhancing and sometimes life saving. Discovering what Information Literacy means to you individually, and to those in your information worlds, is a lifelong adventure. Sheila will reflect on this adventure, drawing on the accumulated knowledge base of Information Literacy, looking inward, outward and forward, and refusing to get stuck in the present.
Polycrisis? See, I’ve learned a new word before I’ve even sat down at this event! We all need a little coping strategy and it’ll be fascinating to hear about Sheila’s adventure and how we can move forward in difficult times.
April 1st, 14:25
A proverb related to foraging states ‘all mushrooms are edible but some only once.’ This proverb raises questions about the importance of information literacy in leisure where risks are involved.
You had me at mushroom! As someone who likes to engage in slightly risky hobbies myself, this session looks fascinating and off the beaten track and exactly the kind of niche-but-engaging event that LILAC does so well.
To all of you lucky enough to attend LILAC 2026, I wish you a great conference and a splendid time, and hope that you all come back full of ideas, innovations and inventions, ready to disseminate to colleagues like me!
Yours from outside the misted window,
Sam