CILIP Cymru Wales / GIG webinar: “Preserving the past for the future: exploring the Welsh Government Publications Archive”, Tuesday 13 May 2025, 12pm – 1:15pm

CILIP GIG are delighted to announce a webinar we are jointly delivering with CILIP Cymru Wales. We will be joined by Welsh Government librarians Maria Nagle and Siobhan McNally, and the event will be chaired by Jamie Finch. This webinar will introduce the Welsh Government Publications Archive and outline recent work undertaken to transform it to a more user-friendly, accessible and compliant government service.

The Welsh Government Publications Archive provides access to items published by the Welsh Government, its predecessors and related Welsh public bodies throughout the period of devolution. It is a real treasure trove of government information, hosting both born-digital and digitised material, as well as metadata for items held only in physical format.

• ·       Dive into the fascinating range of publications housed within in this vital resource.
• ·       Discover the efforts that go into maintaining the archive and the driving forces behind ensuring public access and long-term re-use of government information.
• ·       Hear how Welsh Government Library Services teamed up with their LMS supplier and internal digital team to upgrade the Publications Archive.
• ·       Learn about the standards required of public sector services and the steps taken to meet them.

Maria has worked in the Welsh Government for four years, most of these as Library Collections Manager. Her day-to-day work involves leading on cataloguing Welsh Government publications, collections management projects and LMS oversight. She currently lives in Swansea and has previously worked in public, academic and cathedral libraries.

Siobhan has worked for the Welsh Government since 2004. Starting in the Programme Management Office, they transitioned to the library, becoming a librarian in 2012 while studying at Aberystwyth. Currently, they help administer the Library Management System and have contributed to the redevelopment of the Welsh Government Publications Archive.

Jamie is the current chair of CILIP Cymru Wales. He is a Chartered Fellow of CILIP, career Business Subject Librarian and International Librarian and was Chair of ILIG 2019-2021 and is now their Digital Champion.

You can register for the session via the webinar's page on the CILIP Events Calendar.