I headed up to Glasgow nice and early yesterday, not as early as I’d normally leave for London, so that was a good start! Easy trains, beautiful countryside and the rain the the UKSG twitter account had teased earlier in the day was all gone by the time I arrived.
After a quick bit of shopping (Glasgow actually still has bricks and mortar high street shops – I went to an HMV!), I headed to the hotel. Best conference hotel check in I’ve ever had – all the keys were laid out with names and room numbers attached, no need to queue to talk to someone. Definitely a step up from when I stayed at the same hotel 10 years ago for a population genetics conference where it had turned out the University had only reserved my room, not paid for it, and I needed to pony up with all the non existent cash in my postdoc bank account.
Last night was the First Timer’s reception in a really great building called the Rotunda – very cool painting ceiling which I completely forgot to take a photo of. I couldn’t find a photo with a re-use license, but if you head here you can see someone else’s photo. Excellent drinks and conversations were flowing, and I met quite a few people in real life who had previously just been twitter and linkedin avatars in my head.
In particular I had a great chat with Matt Hodgkinson from UKRIO, talking all things publishing and research integrity. Matt’s giving a workshop in one of the breakout sessions and I’d really recommend you go. Anyone who heard my RLUK talk earlier in the year will know that I really think this is a break out area for librarians – our skills fit so well for supporting researchers in this space.
If you’d like to find out more about research integrity (after attending the workshop this week), there’s a conference hosted by UKRIO in May and tickets are still available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ukrio-annual-virtual-conference-2023-registration-524623050667
Well, I’m off to breakfast now and to start day 1 properly, but I’ll leave you with a picture I took just outside of my hotel earlier this morning.
@Beth Montague-Hellen 2023 CC BY 4.0
Beth Montague-Hellen 