Last month, UK Libraries held its annual Research & Innovation Day, drawing together librarians, archivists, staff members, and graduate assistants from across the organization to share their work and research and connect with their colleagues.
Held every year since 2018, Research & Innovation Day has grown from a small afternoon event to a full-day showcase. This year’s event – the largest held so far – featured 33 presenters sharing 21 projects that reached into every corner of the vast field of librarianship.
Presentations touched on topics that ranged from accessibility, inclusion, and student engagement to collections development, new technologies, and ongoing Libraries projects large and small. Colleagues mingled over coffee, lunch, and an afternoon hot chocolate bar.
An initiative of the UK Libraries Professional Development Committee, the event was organized by librarians Laura Hall, Megan Mummey, and Carol Street.
“This is a big organization with so many specialists,” said Hall. “An event like this really fosters a sense of connection. We’re scattered in six different buildings across campus, so many of us don’t often cross paths. This is an excellent opportunity to interact with colleagues and hear about facets of the organization that may not always be on your radar.”
The event promotes the cross-pollination of new ideas, trends, and technologies. After a demonstration of the uses of a new software, librarians working in unrelated areas of the organization quickly realized possible applications to their own lines of work.
“Connections were being made and ideas were being exchanged right there in the room,” said Mummey. “It’s extremely worthwhile to know what everyone else is doing and working on, because that means we can help each other.”
Libraries personnel dropped in throughout the event, and many stayed all day.
“We have such talented colleagues across all levels of the organization,” said Street. “It is a privilege to work with so many engaged, creative, and dedicated colleagues. We were proud to see so many people share their work, and to see the audience so interested and engaged.”
“The library really does contain multitudes,” said Hall. “We hope the event will continue to attract colleagues to present and connect.”
Slides from several presentations are available in UK’s institutional repository, UKnowledge.
