#ICML2026: Five takeaway’s from the 14th International Congress on Medical Librarianship
Written by bursary winner Steven McGinty, Business Support Officer at Scottish Library and Information Council
Last week, I was privileged to attend the 14th International Congress on Medical Librarianship in Glasgow’s Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC). The three day event brought together health librarians from across the world under the theme of ‘Flourish: growing our communities’, a tribute to Glasgow’s official motto. Thought- provoking – and thoroughly enjoyable! – here are my key reflections post- conference.
Everyone needs health information literacy
Several presentations emphasised that health professionals need to access, understand, appraise, and use information to support their daily practice. However, NHS Greater Glasgow and others argued that it’s equally important that the public have health literacy skills and are empowered to make decisions. The ‘Doctor Knows Best’ approach is no longer suitable as people receive more health-information than ever before from social media. Which leads us to the nefarious world of misinformation. Presenters from Penn State University warned delegates of the weaponising of research and evidence for political purposes. Whilst the University of Alaska Anchorage highlighted their work supporting health professionals tackling vaccine scepticism. Again, this showcased the need for a whole population approach to health information literacy.
Health librarians tackle inequalities
Keynote speaker Lucy Aphramor advocated for a change to current public health information, noting that guidance such as The Eatwell Guide can be harmful. It was a presentation that touched on colonialism, racism, and ableism. Significantly, it made it clear to me that librarianship is not a passive profession, we are more than the sum of our parts, and are active agents for social change.
Partnerships are a process and not a result
Kimberley Parker from the World Health organisation delivered a fascinating session on Research4Life, a digital repository of academic and professional peer-reviewed content for lower income countries. Expecting to hear about metadata, I was pleasantly surprised when the focus turned to the partnership work involved in creating this multi-stakeholder digital platform. A key lesson was that partnerships need to take stock and to be re-inspired to ensure long-term success. Flexibility and compromise are also a must!
Signposting to online health resources is not enough
Professor Steven Buchanan, from the University of Stirling, delivered a keynote on information behaviour. In its simplest form, just because you want people to act in a certain way doesn’t mean they will. He remarked that health information provision is often digital-first but that many are digitally excluded. My key takeaway was that we need to develop new approaches to health information literacy that are every day and fit within people’s contexts, particularly for disadvantaged communities.
Health Librarians and Public Libraries need to work together
Back to the partnerships. Health librarianship is highly specialised, and I’ve been hugely impressed with the knowledge and skillset of conference delegates. There is no doubt that public library professionals would benefit from their expertise whilst health librarians and clinicians would benefit from access to new resources – dare I say community engagement techniques! – and community spaces that people visit regularly. In short, if you’re a health librarian, go speak to your local public library.