Welcome to NLISN.
The Neurodivergent Library and Information Staff Network (NLISN, pronounced ‘En-Listen’) is a peer support network for neurodivergent (ND) individuals working in the library and information science (LIS) sector in the UK and Ireland.
We are a group of volunteers offering our spare time to help others like us, currently doing this through enabling visibility of neurodivergent people in LIS, facilitating informal connections, delivering events and evidencing representation and impact.
You can see full details of our activities in our first annual report, the NLISN Annual Report July 2025 and Strategic Plan August 2025
Our Story
NLISN was part of the pilot year of the Academic Libraries North EDI Innovation Fund in 2022-2023, then called ‘Neurodiverse Library Leaders’, as a joint project between Joanne Fitzpatrick (Lancaster University) and Andy Walsh (then at Huddersfield University). During that year, we administered a survey asking if there were other ND LIS staff working in academic libraries in the north, and if so, what were they struggling with in particular.
What we found was that there were a high number of respondents to that, which included those outside of the north and outside of academic libraries asking to be included. We made the decision to include them from the start, and saw ourselves as promoting ALN by positioning northern academic libraries as the innovators.
The respondents identified 3 areas of work where they were struggling the most, and we devised a further 3 surveys to explore this more. These became our outputs for the project available on our Outputs page under Scoping Reports.
As this year drew to a close, ALN funded an event where we invited the community built so far to plan out how the network could develop beyond the project. The group devised the name NLISN, and expressed they would like to focus on peer support rather than advocacy, and avoid being affiliated with any other organisation and remain at grass roots level.
NLISN continues with this mandate, regularly reviewing our work and fitting it to the needs of the network.
How to join:
Sign up as a member (free or voluntary contribution)
Join the JISCmail list or Discord Server
Attend an event, online or in person
Who is NLISN for?
NLISN welcomes individuals who are diagnosed, waiting for diagnosis, or are suspected or self-diagnosed neurodivergent. We also welcome individuals who are current, past, aspiring, student or adjacent library, information and knowledge workers.
The network includes staff from academic, health, public, school, college, law, government, business libraries and information services, and we strive to make our deliverables suitable for all sectors.
We are based in the UK and currently aim our services primarily at colleagues in the UK and Ireland.
What does NLISN do?
Provide and maintain official online content, including our website and socials:
Provide a mailing list, Discord server and membership platform:
Run in-person and online events
Evidence representation and impact:
- Short presentations to non-commercial organisations about the work of NLISN
- Promote community, methods of support, and neurodiversity as a whole in the LIS profession.
Presentation example (based on a 30-minute session):
Contact us to request a talk about NLISN.
Full details are in our annual report and plan for this year: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16919110
What does NLISN NOT do?
NLISN does not currently offer professional presentations, training or consultancy on neurodivergent support.*
NLISN’s activities are not normally aimed at allies or interested third parties.*
NLISN is not able to help individuals who are in crisis, and we are not in control of any third party services or resources we signpost to.
NLISN does not have expertise in creating library services suitable for neurodivergent service users.
NLISN does not have expertise in building collections with neurodiversity as a theme.
NLISN does not have any holdings or collections available to lend, beyond our outputs as seen on the website.
*Currently considering these as part of expanded work to generate income supporting our core work
Neurodivergent Library and Information Staff Network 