ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 73 | February 2005
Second ALIA New Librarians Symposium
The Second ALIA New Librarians Symposium was held in Adelaide on 3 and 4 December. The symposium theme was ‘Beyond the Stereotype’ and covered a range of issues from career and life planning ideas, current library trends and professional issues, international libraries and library issues, and socially responsible librarianship. Six staff from the National Library attended the conference: Rashmi Madan (Music and Dance Branch), Julie Watson (Legal Deposit & Cataloguing-in-Publication Branch), Eleanor Goodwin (Australian Serials Branch), Andrew Sergeant (Information Services Branch), Andrew Rayner (Information Services), and Nick Henderson (Music and Dance Branch and Information Services Branch). In addition Christine Foster (Director, Serials Branch) and Kylie Moloney (currently on leave from Information Services) gave talks.
The opening session on 3 December featured a keynote address from Alan Smith (Director, State Library of South Australia) who took up his current position in August 2004. He gave a fascinating talk on the ‘scenic route’ which led him to the director’s position and reflected on the interconnectedness of career and life planning in successful career development—a theme that was echoed by other speakers throughout the conference. A highlight of the proceedings on the first day was the talk by the National Library’s Kylie Moloney—‘Diving into Paradis: Volunteering as a Librarian in Vanuatu’. Her presentation explored the challenging conditions under which she continues to work in her placement as a volunteer librarian in Vanuatu, and the practical skills and benefits that the placement has brought to her career. At the conclusion of the opening day, the National Library sponsored a cocktail party in the Mortlock Wing of the State Library of South Australia. The galleried Mortlock Wing with its displays of the treasures of South Australiana collections of the State Library provided a wonderful talking point for the new librarians. Jessamyn West, an outreach librarian at a rural public library in Vermont, United States of America, opened the symposium proceedings on the second day. West’s keynote address ‘Progressive Librarianship and the New Librarians’, sponsored by the University of South Australia Library, incorporating the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library, challenged audience members to innovate and ‘get’ technology, ‘think outside the box’, and make the patron the one who gives your job meaning. The morning session of the second day also included Christine Foster’s talk ‘Harnessing the Future: the National Library’s New and Redeveloped Services’ which outlined some of the recent news about Kinetica and MusicAustralia, the latter about to go into production this month. For most of the delegates, the symposium finished with a dinner at the Hyatt Hotel, the location for the symposium. The evening ran smoothly and continued with the lively activities which the organising committee had put together for the entire event. Kate Sinclair, symposium convenor, and her team are to be commended for a thoroughly professional and inspiring two days. The symposium abstracts are available on the Second ALIA New Librarians Symposium website - <http://conferences.alia.org.au/newlibrarian2004/>. |