Dreaming 08 in Alice Springs

In September I attended the ALIA conference in Alice Springs. I really enjoyed it and recommend attendance. Follow this link to see my notes from the conference. Most of the sessions I attended relate to academic libraries since that is where I work. It is only a reflection of the sessions I attended. Refereed papers from the conference are available from the ALIA website. I would love to here your comments.

ALIA 08 started with a bang! Almost literally with a performance by a local indigenous childrens' drumming group. The Alice Springs community embraced the event. ABC local radio ran a “spot the librarian” competition – whoever came to the radio station with a business card of a Librarian on the delegate list got a prize. We were pretty easy to spot as the conference bags where red ochre back packs and there were over 600 of us.

There was a focus on Indigenous Library services, issues and preservation of culture/materials. Many of the keynote speakers were inspiring and passionate about Libraries, Librarians and Librarianship. We were exhorted to embrace new technologies, web technologies in particular and to become completely user centred. The guy from ABS made stats sound interesting. Anita Heiss spoke on the vibrancy of indigenous writing in Australia.

All the trade stands were in a large tent outside the venue and all meals were served here. I talked to lots of suppliers and brought back lots of brochures, gadget, toys and pens. I entered all the competitions. I missed out on the major prize from Civica, a Sat Nav device but managed to win a Zen Stone Plus from the Science Direct stand. One stand was from the office of the Governor General. Apparently, as a profession, Librarians are poorly represented on Australia’s honours lists. If you know of any Librarians who deserve some recognition, go to the The Australian Honours Secretariat which is part of the Governor General's website.

The conference dinner was held at a homestead about 40 minutes out of town. It was freezing, under the stars and great fun. They turned all the lights out so we could enjoys the milky way. I had an excellent time, have lots to contemplate on librarianship and would highly recommend attendance. The next ALIA conference will be an international ILFA conference in Brisbane in 2010.