Hosting LILAC

LILAC venue

LILAC is generally held in the weeks prior to/following the Easter bank holiday weekend. As well as a lecture theatre seating 250+ delegates, we also require 5 break out rooms, exhibition and reception space. For full details of our requirements please download our application form which has more detailed information.

LILAC local committee members

The most important aspect of organising LILAC each year is that we need a strong 'home team' supporting the committee at the venue. If your venue is accepted to host the conference we require two people to be co-opted onto the LILAC committee for the year. Our local representatives are expected to do the following;

• Attend 5 committee meetings (most will be online, but at least one will take place at the host institution).
• Attend the full conference and social events, including a debrief meeting (online) after the conference closes.
• Liaise with venue staff, caterers, AV, etc.
• Assist with organising evening social events, including venue visits.
• Contribute local content for the LILAC website.

Due to the time commitments when organising LILAC we also require proof of support from your institution. We also need a team of at least 12 volunteers to help out at the conference itself; to help out in break out rooms, during keynotes, staffing the cloakroom and manning the reception desk.

Hosting LILAC is hard work, but is also a highly rewarding experience. We look forward to receiving your applications. 

Download your application today - completed forms should be sent to LILAC chair claire.packham@city.ac.uk. 

What our past hosts have said

"In April 2023 Cambridge University Libraries hosted the LILAC conference. The message that this sent both to our own leadership team, and the university as a whole, was that libraries are intricately and keenly involved with information literacy! It was an excellent opportunity to raise the profile of what we in Cambridge are doing, but also to demonstrate just how important IL is. The icing on the cake for us was to be able to have so many of our own staff attend the conference through volunteering, and for us to be able to partner with Anglia Ruskin University staff who helped us too - one of the best ways I know to build relationships is to 'do stuff' together, and this conference delivered that in spades. 

Right from the beginning of the planning process, members of a small Cambridge committee met with the LILAC organising committee so we were involved from day one! Given our complex environment, hosting did present a few problems, but we had huge support from the organising committee and the amazing group of volunteers who put their hands to doing anything and everything to help.

We'd do it again!"

Elizabeth Tilley, University of Cambridge