CILIPS Annual Conference 2026

CILIPS Annual Conference 2026 – Amplifying Impact

The largest gathering of library and information professionals in Scotland, the CILIPS Annual Conference returned to the Dundee Apex Hotel on Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd June 2026.

The conference was led by CILIPS 2026 President, award-winning school librarian Shelagh Toonen, who helped to curate an enticing programme of keynote speakers and parallel sessions across the two days.

You can view available slides from the event here. If you were a speaker and yours aren’t here then let us know!

You can view some of the videos from the City Suite here.

Click here to download the programme!

Day One

Grace Blakeley

Grace Blakeley is a staff writer at Tribune Magazine and author of several books, including Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom – as well as The Corona Crash: How the pandemic will change capitalism and Stolen: How to save the world from financialisation.  You can find her work on Substack at graceblakeley.substack.com

She is the former economics commentator for the New Statesman, and a former Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research. She appears frequently in UK and international media, including appearances on BBC Question Time, ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Talk TV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored and MTV News.

Grace spoke remotely on day one of the conference.

Mairi Kidd

Mairi Kidd is a prominent figure in Scotland’s cultural landscape, currently serving as the Director of the Saltire Society. Appointed in June 2024, she leads the Society’s mission to champion Scottish arts and culture, overseeing major initiatives such as Scotland’s National Book Awards (the Saltires).

Kidd has a diverse background in publishing, education, and cultural strategy and is Chair of Literature Alliance Scotland and previously served as the Head of Literature, Languages, and Publishing at Creative Scotland, where she provided strategic leadership for the sector. Mairi was also previously CEO of Moat Brae and Seven Stories, and Managing Director of children’s book publisher Barrington Stoke.

As an author, Kidd focuses on historical fiction and exploring ‘untold’ stories, particularly those of women.

Mairi spoke on day one of the conference.

Nathanael Lessore

Nathanael Lessore was born in Camberwell, London, as one of eight children to French and Madagascan parents. Although he has spent most of his life in Peckham, Nathanael has also lived in Paris, Strasbourg and Singapore. His debut book Steady For This was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Writing 2024 and won the Branford Boase Award 2024.

His second book King of Nothing won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Readers 2025, the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Writing 2025 and the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize 2025. He is also the author of What Happens Online, which was shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Awards 2025, and Against All Odds, a World Book Day 2026 selection. He writes stories that show his South East London childhood as the funny, warm, adventurous world that wasn’t always represented as such. His next book, Like A Brother, publishes on 7th May 2026.

Nathanael was in conversation with Margaret McDonald on day one of the conference.

Margaret McDonald

Image credit: Heather Callaghan

Margaret McDonald is a Scottish author who lives in Glasgow. In 2025, at the age of 27, Margaret became the youngest ever recipient of the Carnegie Medal for Writing for her debut novel Glasgow Boys.

Glasgow Boys also won the 2025 UKLA Award and the UKLA Shadower’s Choice Award, as well as the Branford Boase Award 2025. In addition, Glasgow Boys was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize and the Waterstones Children’s Prize 2025. Margaret writes about the working-class experience, the student experience and the Scottish healthcare system as a former NHS employee and disabled author.

Margaret was in conversation with Nathanael Lessore on day one of the conference.

Day Two

Robin Ince

Robin Ince is many things. A multi award winning comedian, author, broadcaster, bibliomaniac and a populariser of scientific ideas. He is perhaps best known as the co-host and co-creator of the Sony Gold Award winning BBC Radio 4 series The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox.

As a stand up Robin has toured the world and as an author he has written four acclaimed books, including Bibliomaniac, which earned him the prestigious Booksellers Association Author of the Year award. His fifth, Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal was published in May 2025.

He co-created the Cosmic Shambles Network and created the groundbreaking science variety night Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People which has been adapted worldwide. He has received an Honorary Fellowship of UCL, an honorary doctorate from Royal Holloway College (University of London), and is a fellow of the British Science Association.

Robin spoke on day two of the conference.

Professor Catherine Flick

Catherine Flick is a Professor of Ethics and Games Technology at the University of Staffordshire. She has a background in History and Philosophy of Science and Computer Science and a PhD in Computer Ethics, where she looked at informed consent in information technology. Having played video games since she was very small, she has since carved out a specific niche area of research looking at the ethical and social impact of games. She also has significant expertise in the ethics of emerging technologies, including cryptocurrencies and blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and social media, along with interests in online safety and online child protection, and responsible research and innovation. She is currently vice-chair of the ACM’s Committee on Professional Ethics, gives frequent comment to the media on current technological affairs, is co-Editor-in-Chief for ACM Games: Research and Practice, and leads the content team for the non-profit hacker/maker festival Electromagnetic Field.

Catherine spoke on day two of the conference.

Klaas Gommers

Klaas Gommers (he/him) is the chair of the OMC-group on public libraries which is set up under the EU Work Plan for Culture 2023-26. The OMC-Group of Member States’ experts focusses on how to promote and strengthen the multiple role and visibility of libraries as key facilitators for democracy-building and citizen engagement and as access points and transmitters of cultural works, skills and European values. Klaas works for the Dutch Association of Public Libraries as a policy advisor and has degrees in political science, history and public policy from the University of Leiden and Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Klaas spoke on day two of the conference.

Day One After Dinner Speaker

Taylor Dyson

The CILIPS Awards Dinner took place on the evening of conference day one, with after dinner entertainment provided by Dundee and Angus Scots Scriever Taylor Dyson.

Taylor Dyson is an award winning writer and performer from Dundee. She is the current Scots Scriever and recipient of Scottish Book Trust’s New Writer’s Award for Spoken Word. She runs Elfie Picket Theatre in Dundee and has had work on at Dundee Rep, Traverse Theatre and A Play, A Pie and A Pint. She is passionate about Scots language, working class stories and access to the arts.

Parallel Sessions Day One

• Research on the impact of Scottish public libraries on loneliness
• Professional Registration mythbusting
• Feminist Librarianship What would menopause-friendly libraries look like?
• Greenwave: how citizen science and information literacy is being supported by Dundee Libraries
• From question to query – The librarian as knowledge broker
• Scots language in the library
• Academic librarians’ experiences and perspectives on generative artificial intelligence
• Communicating impact
• Let’s STRIDE: Supporting communities, TRusted information, Inclusive spaces, heritage Discovery, and wEllbeing in Scottish libraries

Parallel Sessions Day Two

• The Carnegies workshop from Youth Libraries Group Scotland
• Wellbeing in Further and Higher Education Libraries
• Archives and Digital Preservation for All: How libraries can support their communities
• Scottish Action for Mental Health: Taking Action, Creating Change with support from Scotland’s libraries
• Conspiracy theories and tackling mis & disinformation
• School Libraries Group Scotland: Reading is For Everyone
• National Library of Scotland strategy workshop
• Anontatathon: Research in annotation
• “More than one way to burn a book?”: Culture wars, censorship, and neutrality in Scottish public libraries
• Research and data on the impact of reading with The Reading Agency
• Dundee Libraries and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library
• CILIPS Research Fund: Research on the impact of a library school

Sustainability Steps

As Scotland’s Green Libraries activities continue to grow, including our Green Libraries Grant Fund, which opened for 2026-27 at the Annual Conference, the CILIPS team are committed to ensuring that our events are as sustainable as they are inspirational.

For CILIPS26, a range of new and recycled sustainability steps were on offer for our delegates:

• NEW Inspired by our SCVO Gathering pop-up library and complementing our ‘Anontatathon’ parallel session, enjoy the chance to shelfcycle a book you’ve already read and pick up a new title preloved by a fellow delegate.
• NEW A programme page and accompanying blog post dedicated to reducing our digital carbon footprints. How much CO2e can your virtual clear-out contribute to the total conference tally?
• The return of our reusable coffee cup competition with exciting NEW eco-prizes.
• Cut down on plastic and refill your reusable bottle at the hotel’s water fountain (located on the mezzanine between the Discovery and Unicorn rooms).
• Another all-vegetarian, locally produced food and drink menu, courtesy of the Dundee Apex Hotel.
• The return of our car sharing scheme for delegates, including signposting to electric car charging points.
• A fun new range of our sustainable ‘swag bag’ goodies, including carbon captured name badges and our iconic library garden wildflower seeds.

The CILIPS Annual Conference team and delegates were proud to help celebrate the National Year of Reading.