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SHARON BARBAGALLO'S CONFERENCE REPORT
I would like to thank the committee members for offering me full sponsorship to attend the 2009 QPLA/PLA conference. My application for this sponsorship listed networking with others working in the industry, finding new ideas to offer better service to our customers as well as bringing different thoughts and ideas back to the staff of the Tablelands Library Service as my reason for wanting to attend. While I haven’t yet had an opportunity to introduce any different ideas into our library service I certainly learnt a lot from speaking with others at the conference and have shared many snippets from the conference with fellow library staff. I strongly encourage others to apply for this sponsorship in the future. There were times when I felt somewhat overwhelmed by the volume of knowledge I was attempting to absorb in such a short frame of time. All three keynote speakers were inspiring, but being a facts and figures person (a number cruncher thanks to a small business management background) I was enthralled by Bernard Salt’s statistics and suggestions. Considering the current average age of librarians, 44% will be either retired or ready to retire in 10 years, the future is somewhat daunting. I agree with Bernard that Libraries and Librarians have an image issue. We are not out of date as the title might suggest to some. . Many members of the general public are not aware of the many services (other than book lending) libraries provide. Hearing Noel Pearson speak was a privilege. Awesome seems an apt description for his speaking style. I heard many others referring to his speech with awe and wonder. “He spoke for ¾ hour without notes,” was a comment murmured during the next break. I came away thinking, “If only governments and ministers would listen to the ideas and suggestions he puts forward, such as a “no excuses education approach” there would be a good chance our disadvantaged may become part of “the advantaged”. He also included libraries and librarians as being able to take part in “the change”. How much time do we waste in meetings? Michael Stephens suggested we spend no more than a few months holding meetings before making decisions about a project involving technology because if we take years to make decisions all our time will be wasted because the technology will have moved forward and left us and our project behind. Michael’s comments about going ahead and not fearing failure is a concept the library industry as well as others need to grasp to advance . The live Twitter demonstration in the forum was very enlightening for someone like me who has not yet entered the world of Twitter and Tweets. All other speakers also offered delegates many challenges and much food for thought: reusing library data, Heather Gordon’s “Sacrificial Cows”, lifelong learning community programmes, outlooks and strategies are just a few words and phrases which immediately come to mind. I could literally fill pages. The people I work with will probably tire of hearing about “THE CONFERENCE IN TOWNSVILLE”. I came home with many brochures from the Trade Exhibit stalls. I rarely see industry suppliers so having the opportunity to speak with them first hand was worthwhile. I was a last minute inclusion for the Library Tours and I am very pleased to have had the opportunity. I will be able to adapt some clever ideas to our situation at TRC Libraries. Thanks again for the opportunity to attend. It was an excellent conference and it was evident that much time and effort had been put into its organisation and delivery. Thank-you to all involved. I was very impressed and feel the benefits will be of a magnitude great enough to ask council if I can attend again next year as part of my professional development. |
