Posted by Mahendra Mahey, BL Labs Manager

The BL Labs team are pleased to announce that the fifth annual British Library Labs Symposium will be held on Monday 30 October, from 9:30 - 17:30 in the British Library Conference Centre, St Pancras. The event is FREE, although you must book a ticket in advance. Don't miss out!

The Symposium showcases innovative projects which use the British Library’s digital content, and provides a platform for development, networking and debate in the Digital Scholarship field.

Josie Fraser will be giving the keynote at this year's Symposium

This year, Dr Adam Farquhar, Head of Digital Scholarship at the British Library, will launch the Symposium and Josie Fraser, Senior Technology Adviser on the National Technology Team, based in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in the UK Government, will be presenting the keynote. 

There will be presentations from BL Labs Competition (2016) runners up, artist/researcher Michael Takeo Magruder about his 'Imaginary Cities' project and lecturer/researcher Jennifer Batt about her 'Datamining verse in Eighteenth Century Newspapers' project.

After lunch, the winners of the BL Labs Awards (2017) will be announced followed by presentations of their work. The Awards celebrates researchers, artists, educators and entrepreneurs from around the world who have made use of the British Library's digital content and data, in each of the Awards’ categories:

• BL Labs Research Award. Recognising a project or activity which shows the development of new knowledge, research methods or tools.
• BL Labs Artistic Award. Celebrating a creative or artistic endeavour which inspires, stimulates, amazes and provokes.
• BL Labs Commercial Award. Recognising work that delivers or develops commercial value in the context of new products, tools or services that build on, incorporate or enhance the British Library's digital content.
• BL Labs Teaching / Learning Award. Celebrating quality learning experiences created for learners of any age and ability that use the British Library's digital content.
• BL Labs Staff Award. Recognising an outstanding individual or team who have played a key role in innovative work with the British Library's digital collections.  

The Symposium's endnote will be followed by a networking reception which will conclude the event, at which delegates and staff can mingle and network over a drink.  

Tickets are going fast, so book your place for the Symposium today!

For any further information please contact [email protected]