The Great Three-Legged Hallucination of 2023 (or, Does an AI Image Generator Paint a Thousand [Accurate] Words?)
In this the second of the Land of Geek articles Paula describes the use of AI specifically ChatGPT and DALL-E.…
Welcome to the Library and Knowledge Service Well-being Hub – we’re not just books and shush!!!
For some time, it has been a plan for the Northern Care Alliance (NCA) to re imagine part of the library space to create a well being hub for staff and students to come and enjoy our peaceful, friendly environment, not just for work and study but also to relax and decompress. This article describes how the plan became a reality.…
The HLG Conference: A Bursary Goer's Experience
I am very grateful to have received a bursary from YOHHLNet, allowing me to attend the HLG conference last month. I had an amazing time, learned a great deal, and had the opportunity to meet fellow NHS librarians from Scotland to Cornwall. I could also be there for the two posters I had submitted – a surreal experience to see them on the big screens! – which meant the sweat, tears and hair-pulling involved in the research projects to create them was far outweighed by the sense of pride at seeing my posters next to the amazing quality of work produced by other librarians.…
The Land of Geek – Save time with these Outlook tips.
This is the first article for what we are calling the Land of Geek. Those of you who used to get the old LIHNNK-UP will recognise the name. The Land of Geek will be a regular slot in Northern Lights dedicated to articles on technology and libraries. Artificial Intelligence (AI), for example, is an obvious topic, but just to prove that not everything has to be about the latest technology, here is an article on that everyday workhorse, Outlook.…
Unexpected Bear Hunts, Parakeets and Cockapoos
Dom gives an account of his trip to the HLG Conference held at Royal College of Physicians in London in June 2024.…
Keepin' the Faith - a Northern Soul reminiscence resource
Our new Northern Soul reminiscence resource is a folder decorated with iconic record labels such as Tamla Motown, Ric Tic and VIP (the idea is to replicate the ‘multiple badge vibe’ of original bags and jackets). Inside, there are large-format photos of places and people, and a ‘word bingo’ game (everyone is a winner) in which all words relate to venues, singers, song titles, etc.; the words have been chosen to be recognisable and synonymous with Northern Soul.…
Emergency! Emergency! Major Incident Planning on the Isle of Man
It’s been a bad few years for hypothetical Noble’s Hospital. Last month an explosion at the Triumph factory caused a cloud of poisonous gas, a few years ago there was a plane crash, before that a fairground ride fell on a crowd, and, of course, there was the horrible accident at the Ramsey Sprint motorbike event. Apart from there wasn’t, because none of these things actually happened, but they could, and that’s why each year the Isle of Man runs a major incident exercise.…
LIHNN visit to LMI
Opposite Liverpool’s Catholic cathedral and next door to the Everyman theatre Liverpool Medical Institute is an unassuming Classical building in Hobnob-coloured stone. Two columns on the main entrance give it the air of a Post Office with delusions of grandeur, or perhaps the home of one of the University’s less-fashionable departments, anthropology or theology perhaps.…
Research and the library – don’t forget about us!
Recently, I attended an event titled ‘Expanding Research within Roles and Developing Partnerships’ hosted by our research team. The event highlighted the diverse research roles within the Trust, showcased current research projects, and featured a range of speakers from both within and outside the Trust.…
Two days in Dundee: the UK Knowledge Mobilisation Forum 2024
I’ve been attending this annual event since I started my PhD researching health and care knowledge and library specialists’ role in knowledge mobilization within and beyond their organisations. Unlike most of the conferences and training sessions that we attend as library professionals, the UK Knowledge Mobilisation Forum isn’t primarily targeted at librarians or indeed any particular professional group; it is aimed at anyone “with a passion for ensuring that knowledge makes a positive difference to society”. Typical attendees include students, practitioners, researchers, academics, policy makers and civil servants. It is always a very interactive event, providing a space for sharing knowledge, experiences and methods through such things as a knowledge fayre, storytelling, an ideas jam and interactive poster plenaries.…