Careers
STUDENT
ARLIS/UK & Ireland – Global Majority Art Librarianship Scholarship
Applications for the 2025-26 academic year will be advertised shortly.
ARLIS UK & Ireland (The Art Libraries Society) are pleased to offer this ‘fees only’ scholarship for an individual undertaking a UK accredited Library, Information, or Archive Studies postgraduate qualification as a small first step towards addressing the ongoing underrepresentation of Black library workers and library workers of colour within art librarianship. The scholarship will be awarded annually (subject to financial stability), with details and the application form made available from the ARLIS UK & Ireland website.
We acknowledge that art librarianship in the UK and Ireland continues to be overwhelmingly white. The 2015 UK information sector workforce survey found the profession to be 96.7% white. This reinforces the urgency and importance of steps to increase global majority access to qualifications which often remain a prerequisite for entry to the profession and development to senior roles. While we do not uncritically support the need for a qualification to perform valuable work in libraries, we do believe that university fees are a significant barrier to entry for many. The scholarship is a key recommendation of the ARLIS Equity Steering Group, whose work we are grateful for.
We welcome applicants from Black, Asian or minority ethnic / Global Majority backgrounds. Students applying to any UK postgraduate (MA, MSc, PgDip, PgCert) course accredited by CILIP are eligible, but courses which include modules or studies relevant to art librarianship (such as placements at a member institution) may strengthen an application. Students applying for full-time, or part-time or modular courses are eligible, as are distance learning options. The successful applicant should be eligible for Home fees. Fees will be paid directly to the university.
Previous awards:
2024 award winner
Rhoda Adum Boateng
2023 award winners
Dinushi Bopearachchi
Rohwana Ogunbiyi
2022 Award winner
Shakira Rawlins
RESEARCH
ARLIS/UK & Ireland Research Awards
The ARLIS UK & Ireland Research Awards are made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor and have been established to support the research activities of librarians, archivists and curators in the art, architecture and design documentation sector, and to open research opportunities to individuals from groups currently underrepresented. The awards are made annually, with details and the application form made available from the ARLIS UK & Ireland website.
The award may be used for any purpose related to the research into the documentation of art, art librarianship or archival practice and may include travel within or outside the UK and Ireland, event attendance, and visits to libraries, collections and institutions (excluding events organised by ARLIS UK & Ireland itself).
There are two awards, one for a member of ARLIS and one for a non-member.
Members Research Award up to £1500.
Non-members Research Award up to £1000.
Applications for the 2026 awards will open in Autumn 2025.
Previous awards:
2025 award winners
Aoife Larkin, Leeds Arts University
Francisca Fuentes Rettig
2024 award winners
Suzanna Hall, Arts University Bournemouth
Billie Coxhead (UAL), Fiona Dowling and Morwenna Peters (both UWE Bristol)
2023 award winner
Jessa Mockridge, Goldsmiths, University of London. Report forthcoming.
2022 award winners
Lydia Julien, Ravensbourne College. Report forthcoming.
Sae Matsuno, Stuart Hall Library, Iniva. You can read the report on her experience here.
Travel & Study Fund winners (succeeded by Research Awards)
2019 award winners
Hannah Dunne-Howrie, National Art Library, V&A Museum. Hannah attended the CILIP Copyright Conference. Read the report on her experience here.
Eleanor Gawne, Architectural Association School of Architecture. Eleanor attended the ARCLIB conference, in Venice, May 2019. Read the report on her experience here.
2018 award winner
Alexandra Duncan, Central Saint Martins (UAL). Alex presented a paper at the ARLIS/NA 2018 Conference in New York. Read the report on her experience here.
CONFERENCE
Apply for a bursary to attend our conference.
This year ARLIS UK & Ireland is pleased to offer a set of bursaries and student awards to
support attendance of this year’s conference Stacks, Studio and Beyond: Artists and the Art
Library. The conference is taking place in the Republic of Ireland at Limerick School of Art
and Design, TUS: Midlands Midwest.
Bursaries
Six bursary places are available, offering a complementary delegate ticket plus funding
towards travel and accommodation expenses. These bursaries are designed to address the
underrepresentation and/or marginalisation of particular groups of people in the GLAM
(galleries, libraries, archives and museums) sector from traditional conference programmes.
Applications are welcomed from library workers and from individuals working in roles
adjacent and related to art librarianship, including artists, curators, cultural producers and
interpreters, and researchers. Membership of ARLIS UK & Ireland is not required.
There are three bursaries offered to applicants based in the Republic of Ireland. Each
bursary includes a free ticket to the conference and expenses up to the value of €475.00.
There are three bursaries offered to applicants based in the United Kingdom. Each bursary
includes a free ticket to the conference and expenses up to the value of £500.00.
Groups eligible for bursary places include:
- Those for whom English is an additional language
- Global majority attendees
- LGBTIQA+ attendees
- Disabled people/people with disabilities (including both physical, learning and mental-
health-related impairments) - D/deaf attendees
- Neuro-diverse attendees
- Attendees from working-class backgrounds
To apply
Eligibility for this bursary is based on self-identification, and no bursary applicants will be
required to ‘prove’ their eligibility for the bursary. Bursary holders will not be named or
identified at the conference. Bursary places will be awarded through a lottery system.
The application process involves a simple form, stating your name, email, job title and
confirmation that you identify with at least one of the above groups.
Please submit your bursary application by 23:59 on 6 May 2025.
Successful applicants will be informed by 13 May 2025.
Student awards
This year, awards will give one student based in the Republic of Ireland and one student
based in the United Kingdom free access to the conference plus funding towards travel and
accommodation expenses.
This opportunity will allow students to learn more about:
- The range of visual arts library activity in the UK & Ireland and beyond.
- The nature and variety of visual arts librarianship as a subject specialisation.
- The work and wider network of ARLIS/UK & Ireland.
- Building skills and confidence in networking within the sector.
The successful applicant based in the Republic of Ireland will receive a free ticket to the
conference and expenses up to the value of €475.00.
The successful applicant based in the United Kingdom will receive a free ticket to the
conference and expenses up to the value of £500.00.
Each recipient will be required to submit a post-conference report, which will be published on
the ARLIS UK and Ireland website and may be used in future conference publicity.
Eligibility
Applicants must be in full-time or part-time students working for a first degree or
postgraduate qualification in librarianship and information studies.
It is not essential that applicants are current members of ARLIS UK & Ireland.
Winners must confirm in writing that they are able to meet the requirements of the award.
To apply
You will be asked to send evidence of your enrolment at your university and a statement
(max. 150 words) to tell us about your interest in this year’s conference theme explaining
how your studies and future career will benefit from your attendance at the conference.
The decisions of ARLIS/UK & Ireland will be final, and no correspondence regarding these
will be entered into. ARLIS UK & Ireland reserves the right to make no award if no suitable
application is received.
Please submit your application by 23:59 on 6 May 2025.
Successful applicants will be informed by 30 May 2025.
Please e-mail arlisconference25@gmail.com for further information.