The ALIA National Advisory Congress 2005

Participant feedback

The following are comments from participants in response to an evaluation survey

What was the most valuable aspect of the meeting?

• Sharing of information.
• Stories of success.
• Hearing others achievements and the 'energy' out there!
• Learning the diversity of the profession.
• Linking ALIA and members together.
• Participation and providing feedback.
• Celebrating success was a great snapshot of what ALIA is doing.
• Hearing success stories.
• Meeting such a diverse group of professionals.
• Networking with New Grads Group on behalf of Tas New Grads.
• Networking between interested ALIA members.
• A sense of commitment.
• Meeting others.
• See what all the various group have been involved in.
• Meeting everyone.
• The session on improving membership.
• Interaction with different sectors and state representatives.
• Contributing to ALIA's future direction.
• Taking feedback for local groups.
• Hearing from other representatives - the success stories from around the country - interesting, inspiring - wish these stories could be communicated to the membership beyond inCite, in the same vibrant way that we heard in these two days (eg face to face).
• Better understanding of ALIA functions and networking.
• Networking opportunities, wonderful to hear success stories, great to hear what ALIA is doing and thinking about.
• Meeting members and hearing about all the ongoing activities and initiatives - fantastic.
• Meeting and discussing all aspects and emphasis on what we are going to do.
• The enormous commitment and enthusiasm by NAC.
• Overview of key issues.
• Hearing such a range of success stories.

What was the least valuable aspect of the meeting?

• Discussions could have been lengthened for more detail to better assist the directors.
• None - I'm inspired! And feel I was able to contribute more than I expected.
• 'Actual' input time on issues.
• Topics?
• Did the board get value?
• Ate too much.
• It would be good to know which organisation each participant works for, an e-mail address for them.
• Very guided.
• No sense of context.
• Impression there was expected outcomes.
• Special general meeting - needs a published 'standing orders'.
• Workshopping was fantastic but would have been nice to mix up the groups a bit so that you were debating different issues with different people (also could have had more time for discussion on some aspects).
• Discussion of the 2005-2006 plan.
• Less affirmation - be challenging and challenged.
• My garden still needs weeding.

What other comments or suggestions do you have about the ALIA National Advisory Congress?

• Great accommodation and meeting venue.
• It would be nice to meet (NAC) again once the directors have met to see the input of the NAC and what the gaps may be that the group could help with Sunday afternoon for the meeting.
• The NAC group could meet Sunday morning to organise collaborative projects for the next year ie guest speakers for the regions, ideas for meetings, joint meetings Riverina and ACT....collaboration!
• How much did it cost to hold? Accom; catering seemed expensive? Nice but not necessary...
• Other methods - models - ways of getting this done? Video link; e-mail?
• Institutional group meetings - Uni, State Libs holding open meetings of staff to feed input into the board?
• Needs to be rolled out as evidence of development of ALIA activities across membership.
• Needs to incorporate key outcome driver.
• Provide NAC Participants e-mail and phone details so we can keep n touch with each other easier eg on participants list (rather than having to ask each other).
• Thanks for the opportunity to participate.
• Thanks for the organisation of the meeting, flights, accommodation etc.
• I found it great. Think it would be good to have more members involved, as proposed.
• Need to establish ongoing communication between group members.
• I would not mind a 'guest speaker', perhaps from an organisation with similar profession.
• Enjoyed being part of it (personally).
• Gave a lot of food for thought.
• Have a much better idea of what ALIA is involved in as a whole not just your own group or committee etc.
• Good to contribute to ALIA in this way.
• Regular regional meetings on progress.
• NAC was a great way to motivate and stimulate ideas for me and for me to be able to take these ideas back to my workplace, mentors and ALIA colleagues.
• Brilliant way to demonstrate to geographical and sectoral diversity in our profession.
• Didn't seem to be an opportunity for members to debate/raise issues that didn't fit into the prescribed areas defined by BOD? Eg It would have been good to talk about issues of support for groups; functionality of e-lists (attachments, need to join a group AND separately join an e-list, online opportunities for group/committees to have locked, achieved space on ALIAnet so that group records don't evaporate when officebearers move on; etc etc).
• An 'any comments' or 'AOB' item may have been good.
• Wonderful to meet/hear from/work with such a diverse group.
• Good to know we are all thinking along the same lines.
• Great to have a mix of discussion/debate/presentation - communication was not a one-way street which was wonderful.
• Next time - ask people if they would like to share accommodation - several of us would have been happy to and the rooms we were given were huge!
• On the first day, get everyone to introduce themselves for the benefit of the newbies. Small group intro was good but would help to know who everyone is - would help the first timers.
• Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to attend an inspiring and informative session.
• Organisation, food, accommodation etc excellent (I'm prepared to share a room and others were too next time).
• No suggestions - I've come away with renewed enthusiasm to 'spread the ALIA message'. I like the way the new structure has enabled growth through less formal meetings. My expert group has had fantastic support from ALIA - It was great to see how much is happening, glad I could come.
• Celebrating success is a great way for us to acknowledge and celebrate the work of groups. It does, however, take up a fair percentage of the programme.
• I would like to see more consultation on strategic issues facing the organisation.
• We also need to 'finalise' some issues eg revamping of inCite was identified at a NPC two years ago and is still on the agenda of issues.
• Would have liked more time for discussions and open forum for suggestions.
• Would have been useful to have a clear idea about exactly what we were going to do so could have been better prepared.
• Also lack of clarity about what to do in success sessions, I would have liked an e-mail or letter telling me what would happen at NAC, once I had been selected to attend NAC eg times, dates, expectations etc.
• ALIA website needs to attract Year 11's looking for career advice.
• Need for lists of exciting libraries for Yr 11 placements.
• Plan for Yr 11 placements.
• ALIA to consider it's position of the minimum number of library schools required in Australia.
• Educate career advisors on the role of libraries.
• Guidelines for members when faced with Federal Police (with or without search warrants).
• Recruitment for LLO should be more formal to allow more flexibility for candidates ie not just people we know! Directors or state reps could assist or chair process.
• If you want feedback on issues, tell us what you know, first.
• Look forward and strategically, less affirmation.
• It was a good sized group.