Conference: Friday - Day Three

(Me and Tricia from RMIT who I am the Victorian LT Committee with)

We staggered to the conference venue on Friday morning, a bit weary after our night of dancing. I forgot to mention that at lunchtime on days two and three of the conferences there were massages!! They had these "3 minute angels" and boy were they good! Anyway...

Keynote: Reaching Beyond the Library Walls - Empowering Workers through Information Literacy, Anne Lloyd (CSU)

Anne is one of my lectuerers at the minute so it was great to put a real face to a name! She discussed a research project that she had worked on too so it was really interesting. Take risks, work in collaboration with others. Remain committed to success regardless of format. Acknowledge that libraries are now physical and virtual spaces. Enable! Empower! So go beyond the library walls to empower power. Use other opportunities, expand!

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Panel: Libraries in 2017

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Need to be more creative and proactive with funding. Retiring workforce - succession planning etc. we need research skills, marketing skills etc. There are lots of different grants out there - apply! How is the stuff created today going to be available tomorrow (like emails from soldiers in Iraq - will these be at the War memorial?) Unfortunately there wasn't enough time given to this discussion, it could have gone for another hour!

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Concurrent: Libraries as a training nexus, Andrew Thurley

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We have the skills, people, place, power so use it! Empowerment (self reliance, self assessment) Confidence (promote Q&A'a, increases productivity, utilises goal setting) Flexibility (different learning styles, different personalities, we observe/learn then adapt), Rapport (bonding, apprachability), Patience (encourages further questions, ensures training is not compromised).

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Keynote: Who do you think you are? Mary Carroll, (VU)

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Mary discussed the history of the LT Course and is doing a PHD on it. It was really interesting, lots of photos etc. No notes - I just listened!!

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Keynote: Our future - the 21st century library and information workforce, Gilliam Hallam (QUT)

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I think this was brilliant and she broke down her survey to focus on LT's. Again a great insight into research for me. No notes - I just listened!!

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There were then the usual closing remarks, thanking of the commitee and handover to the next conference committe in Adelaide 2009!

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Overall I really enjoyed the conference and am still exhausted from it!

Conference: Thursday - The Dinner!!

(Me, Jill and Kim - warming up for the dinner)

(Jill, Tania and me - feeling very warm!)

(Kim, Deidre and me)

(Shannon and me - capturing our selves!)

Ok - the night was smashingly good! Jill came to our hotel room (she wasn't attending the conference - just came to dance) and Kim, Jill and I got ready. We headed to the hotel bar for a few warm up drinks before heading off to the Melbourne Aquarium. We started with finger food in the walk through fishes bit. So there were lots of sharks, stingrays etc. Really cool, then upstairs for dinner. It was funny though because they served fish! I didn't think it would be on the menu! But there you go. The band was great - lots of dancing, lots of wine! We even tried to get the security guard dancing (I mean - there was a limited supply of males!) Thanks to everyone for dancing with me - I just loved it. My poor feet were a bit tired the next day though!

Conference: Thursday - Day Two

(The Ballarat clan - six on the one day - had to get a picture!)

Again, just some of my thoughts. There are fewer mentioned today because I found a few of them uninteresting so I have just included the ones I got something out of (I won't rubbish the boring ones in public!)

Dunn and Wilson Scholarship Oration: Multi-skill us - Library Technician National Secondment Opportunities, Sharon Uthmann

Sharon was awarded the scholarship at the Sydney LT Conference and presented her findings at this one. She discussed that many Universities and Government units have job exchange or secondment policies but that there are not many in the library world. She discussed QULOC and VITLS but really there are so few out there. I enjoyed most about hearing of the problems she faced (apart from having a baby in the middle of it). Things like maybe not using the right words in the first place (for instance taking on higher duties), and also about not approaching the right people. I think it was great that she discussed these as foraying into the world of research is huge - and not easy!

Presentations/Awards:

Rebecca Evans from Tassie was presented with the next Dunn & Wilson Scholarship. She plans to create an image database of the activities and contributions Library Technicians have made to the Library sector since they were established in 1979. This would form the beginnings of an historical record which could be built upon and expanded over time and would be ready in time for the 30th anniversary of Library Technicians. It sounds really interesting. She has started a wiki devoted to it.

Jennifer Dwyer a school library technician was awarded the LT of the year.

Concurrent: Spoilt for choice - a comparison of two aggregations and the use of ScholarlyStats and Ulrich's Serials Analysis, Jennifer McMeekin

I missed the start of this one but wrote a few notes down for me to check up on later. COUNTER which is publisher/vendor generated stats. Ulrich's can be very customised (place of publication, peer reviewed, publisher, language, print versus electronic etc).

Keynote: Crossed wires - management, communication and culture in public libraries, Bob Pymm and Damian Lodge (CSU)

We tend to overestimate our abilities (otherwise known as the "above average" effect). We need 360 degree feedback from staff, colleagues, managers, supervisors etc. A good manager needs: leadership; administrative abilities; cognitive skills; interpersonal skills; personal traits; technical skills. I liked how the managers always rated themselves higher than the staff did! It was interesting as I am doing a research subject as Uni and it helped to put certain things into context.

Conference: Wednesday - Day One

(Des, from Darwin Medical Library and me!)

So we fronted up at the Grand Hyatt ready for a day of learning. Below are my notes (and thoughts if I had them written!)

We had the welcome by Gail Schmidt (Convenor), the Welcome to Country by the indigenous community. They had wonderful dances and an awesome didgeridoo player! Then the Welcome to Melbourne by Judy Maddigan, a Parliamentarian (and one time Librarian). She was really funny. Great energy, great quotes - perfect! Then lastly a Welcome by ALIA President Roxanne Missingham. She did an overview of objectives etc. As always Roxanne is wonderful to listen to.

Keynote: Future Directions for libraries, Anne Beaumont (SLV)

She discussed blogs (like Inside a Dog Blog who bring teenagers and books together), Ask Now! Virtual library services, Digitisation projects like Picture Australia, Google Images, Coming to libraries via other means (like the internet) and having things like Libraries Australia through World Cat. Wireless internet, wifi, and getting in people who access things like wifi who wouldn't normally enter libraries (ie. businessmen). Being where the user is - Facebook, 2nd Life. That there are lots of different initiatives out there like the SLQ The Garage where car manuals have been digitised! So try and experiment, its all part of the learning process. We are constantly running to keep up with expectations of our users but things change (live with it). Remember core values of libraries will stay the same though!

Concurrent: Obtaining Library Qualifications via workplace certification, Carolyn Werner

This was good in that it made me think that many libraries could do that within their workplaces. Sometimes people just need a little push! The trainer visited every few months. Supervisors had to do written references/progress reports. It isn't at the Diploma level yet but sometimes people need that push to get started and they may feel compelled to finish it themselves. Good possibilities - not pie in the sky stuff!

Concurrent: Don't judge a book by its cover - Lismore's Living Library Project, Louise Somerville

Naturally I had read about this so it was more just an overview of the program. Its a great idea though and great publicity. They have it as a monthly event now and one "book" is featured per month in the local paper. They have 60 "books" which are all volunteers. They have also been given funding to help spread the project across the country by doing "information" packs or something. Interesting.

Concurrent: Books behind bars II, Kevin Dudeney

Typical Kevin talk - very interesting and funny. Discussed that the most popular books had "hard language" in them, also a Sydney based writer Robert ? was popular as he was a crim (or maybe just writes about it in the local setting). They prefer male authors (thrillers). $5 shelf fillers - due to high attrition rate. Sex - but no romance! Thin paper books (bible etc) get used as Tally Ho papers! They get lots of donations (public libraries, book drives etc.) - they had 9,000 in 18mths.

There are 48 libraries across 33 centres. They get typical magazines (National Geographic, Motorcycle/Car mags). LOTE books and LOTE newspapers. They censor as in no "naked" photography books, no martial arts etc. They use there own classification scheme. They are running Cert. III in LIS. Ten long term inmates are doing it but they use CDROM's not the internet. If they don't return a book there could be a reduction of privileges. Really interesting - very different special library!

Keynote: The Connected Library, Suzette Boyd

Boy was she funny! Great talk. I mean some of things were irrelevant to most libraries as Scotch College has heaps of money, where as most libraries are struggling but anyway she was great. She talked about having FUN! Being efficient, flexible, professional, people focused, service centered, share ideas, under promise - over deliver, helpful, knowledgeable, person of action. Do quizzes, have staff displays "Getting to know your library staff", " A few of my favourite things" etc.

Keynote: Interior Design for Libraries, Kevin Hennah

OK, so he is a salesman who redesigns libraries but boy does he speak well! Signage very important! Use ends of isle to display books (Slatwall), Go around the pillars - incorporate them. Think from the customer's perspective. Instead of Information or Reference what about ASK! Or Your Library instead of just Library?

Workshop: Internet access and participation for people with a disability, panel

OK, I didn't take notes on this one as I chaired the session (My first Chair!) It was really interesting though (pity the crowd wasn't very big) but anyway it was about a research project undertaken by Vicnet. So we heard about the project then representatives from Yooralla, Scope and Vision Australia spoke about ways we can help. As I said my library is different than a public library but I still took a few points away like keeping language simple, ways to get help etc. It was a really great session if its an area that interests you.

So all in all the first day was brilliant. Really good speakers. So Kim and I headed back to our hotel, got changed then headed out to China Town for dinner with a few other interstate delegates. Got back to the hotel exhausted, jumped into bed then continued to chat for hours, and hours, and hours!

Conference: Tuesday - Welcome Reception and First Timers & Friends Dinner

(Me and Shannon from Canberra's Parliamentary Library)

So I quickly went back to my hotel after the tours, met Kim and we got changed and headed up to the Grand Hyatt for the opening of the Trade Exhibition and the Welcoming Drinks. It was really good to be able to catch up with people who I hadn't seen since the last conference and also those friends from interstate who I chat to and see on a more regular basis. It was also great to meet so many new people!


After the Welcoming Reception we headed off to the First Timers & Friends dinner at the European Bier Cafe. There were even more people there who weren't at the drinks so it was just awesome to see everyone. The meal was awesome and the company even better! We staggered back to the hotel down the hill ready for the conference program to begin bright and early the next day!

Conference: Tuesday - Gratisnet Training and Library Tours

(Chris, from the Alice Springs medical library and me)

On the Tuesday morning I headed out early and caught a tram to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. There was a training session (separate to the conference) on the use of Gratisnet. Gratisnet is the ILL system used by medical libraries around Australia. It was a great chance for those coming from interstate, or for those who live in a rural area to get some hands on training. When we arrived at RMH we got a tour of their new library. It was very nice - lots of space! Then we had the training session. There were some familiar faces but also some from interstate so it was great to be able to put a NUCOS code to a face!

Then I headed off to the SLV for the afternoon library tours. I was leading the Medicos Group (Tour 6) with the assistance of Kelli who is studying to be a LT.

First off we headed of to The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Anne gave us an overview of the library which looked very much like a gentleman's club! Then, we were fortunate to be taken upstairs to look at the rare book collection and given some background insights into it by the person restoring and cataloguing it.

Next we headed off to the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital Library where we were warmly greeted by Imeri, Caroline and Adam. They gave us lots of handouts a a really cute RVEEH stuffed owl. We got to look at their collection, ask lots of questions and discover more about their connection with RANCO. The interesting point to this library is that we had to enter through the loading dock!

Our last port of call was the library at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. This was housed down in the basement. We were warmly greeted by Aina, Jo and Heather and most importantly a wonderful afternoon tea! After learning all about the library we had a tour and were told of the renovations about to take place.

We then headed back out into Melbourne and off to our hotels to quickly get changed for the Welcome Reception and opening of the conference. Thanks to all who willingly shared their libraries with us, it was an excellent afternoon and I have stolen many ideas to take back to my own workplace and implement!

Conference: Monday - Library Technician NAC Meeting

(Kim and I)

So after the tour of the City Library we headed back up to RMIT (who are always so wonderful at giving us rooms) for the ALIA NAC Library Technician Meeting. It was chaired by Damian Lodge who did an excellent job of keeping us on track and focused. It was very different to the Ballarat NAC and more of what I expected. And my conference buddy Kim had shown up by this time so all was good!

Anyway, there was a pretty good turn out with members from QLD, NSW and VIC present (sorry if I forgot anyone else!) It was a good chance to vent some issues and to discuss some possibilities! Also, to look at things from an LT point of view. We were asked of our main concerns and mine was to members in regional, rural or remote centres - in particlular lack of ALIA services.

By the time we finished we wandered back along the city streets, grabbed some dinner and some munchies and checked into our hotel at about 10pm - exhausted! But, ready to enjoy the week!

Conference: Monday - Visit to the City Library

(Matthew Griffiths from Sydney and me!)

Ok, so after the relaxed Overachiever session me and a few mates headed down to the new City Library (alright so it isn't really new anymore but I just hadn't made it there yet!). We got a personalised tour (thanks Brann) and it was just such a cool library. It was so busy! The collection was great - nice and new and they had a cafe and a gallery. It was awesome! I highly recommend a visit.

Conference: Monday - How to be a relaxed overachiever

(Me and Margie - our lovely ALIA Local Liasion Officer for Victoria)

OK - so it has taken me forever to get back to my blog and writing about my adventures at the ALIA Library Technicians Conference in Melbourne but I feel like I should at least make a start.


On the Monday (October 8th) I caught the 7:00am train down and lugged my bag to the State Library of Victoria for a pre-conference session. It was called How to be a relaxed overachiever: reconnecting with the big picture. It was facilitated by Geraldine Barkworth who was excellent. OK, so I arrive at SLV and I see the person who first gave me my break in the library world. When I was studying the LT Course you had to do placement so I trundled off to Box Hill Library and by the end of the week I was resigning from Safeway and entering the library world. Anyway, it was really great to catch up with the person who gave me a chance and has really helped develop me to the person I am today.

Anyway, the session!! So we did lots of group activities etc. but the best thing I took out was the 80/20 rule (yes, heard it before but this time it stuck!). OK, so I write down 10 things I have to do and I circle the most important two (the 20). And in reality, if I complete these two, the other eight sort of fall by the wayside or are consumed within the initial two anyway! So 20% of the total will give 80% of the value! OK - so probably a really BAD definition but that's what I got out of it! (Plus, I got to have some Boost Juice which sadly we don't have here in Ballarat!)

Library Technicians Conference

This conference is coming up next week (very exciting), but I was in Melbourne last Thursday night for the volunteers meeting. I am chairing a session and taking a tour group (more on that after the conference). Anyway, I got to see where the conference will be held - at the Grand Hyatt. WOW! Very plush and impressive! Anyway, I got a groovy ALIA polo shirt to wear as well. More on this next week, it looks set to be a fabulous week!