ALIA 2002 conference: powering our future: contribute to the information agenda

The 7th Biennial ALIA Conference took a bold approach by inviting speakers from outside the profession to comment on us. The organisers were perhaps inspired by Burns: 'O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us to see oursels as others see us!' (Robert Burns 'To a Louse'). This was certainly a change from the typical round up of keynote speakers and librarians talking about 'how I did it in my library.' It also begs the question: if we are getting speakers from outside to talk at our conferences, are librarians being invited to speak at non-library conferences? And if not, why not?

Technology was a topic of discussion and was certainly in use during the conference but not just in the inevitable Powerpoint displays. An e-mail list, ALIA2002 issues, was set up and generated a lot of discussion before and during the conference. Three of the main topics were the NSW pay equity case, the image of librarians, and partnerships between libraries. The list was certainly one of most thought provoking and interesting e-lists I have been on. There was also a chat room available during the conference which allowed e-delegates to participate in the discussions.

A few of the phrases used by speakers that I found of interest were:

'digital divide': Terry Cutler spoke of the digital divide, meaning pre-digital and post-digital material rather than those with access to computers and those without access
'digital accent': Peter Crawley pointed out that most of us speak with a digital accent whereas the young speak digitally
Patricia Schroeder said that libraries are the DNA of a culture
'barnacles' in academia: Geoffrey Bolton argued that tenured academics past their use-by date should retire gracefully and let younger scholars move upwards
'BHAGs': Tim Besley talked of BHAGs 'big, hairy audacious goals.'

I won't comment about all the papers in depth as I don't have the space but I did find the papers by Hugh Mackay, Ann Harding, Peter Carnley, and Geoffrey Bolton of particular interest. You can peruse these papers and most of the others on the website.

Hugh Mackay looked at changing demographics and social shifts in Australia, commenting on the rising number of single person households and an increasing lack of connection between people. Libraries can take advantage of this need for connection by providing facilities for communities and becoming the 'village green.' They can connect on a virtual and real basis. Professor Ann Harding's paper complemented Hugh Mackay's paper as she focused on significant changes in the last 20 years: the widening gap between rich and poor, increases in unemployment and poverty, and rising income inequality. The wealthiest 50 per cent own over 90 per cent of the wealth and younger generations face falling wealth. Older generations have much more wealth and this ties in well with Archbishop Carnley's suggestion that people should be encouraged to leave their house to the library.

Archbishop Peter Carnley felt that libraries do have a role in addressing inequality by providing services to the disadvantaged but this should not be their only raison d'etre as 'the library is a community centre that ministers to the well being of the whole community.' One of his earlier comments fits in very well with the need for community that MacKay and other speakers talked of.

So, the point is, as we think about the interface of the library and the community, that the community can be encouraged to see that the library is not just a repository for books and information but a mechanism for bringing people together in community so as to foster cultural and spiritual and moral values as well as learning and productive knowledge. It has a role to play in satisfying the hunger that all humans have for contact with others, and for interaction with other minds, and this is to be contrasted with the individualised use of the computer screen at home which in fact isolates.

Geoffrey Bolton argued that the 'lights are turning amber' in Australian university education. Staff-student ratios are declining, the number of students is increasing, and funding is falling. Students want a qualification that will get them a job rather than a broad education, and we run the risk of turning out 'diligent credentialed oafs'. His remedies include greater collaboration between the universities, standardising the provision of electronic information in libraries and universities, decentralised education, better databanks, and acknowledgement that universities and libraries do not communicate information solely to generate income.

The only critical comments I have about the conference are on the timing of the conference and the availability of the papers. Holding it during Library and Information Week proved to be a mistake as delegate numbers were down (you can celebrate LIW in your library or attend a conference but you can't do both). Most of the papers are available from http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2002/papers/

Unfortunately, some of the papers are only available as Powerpoint presentations and are set up to display one slide per page. This makes it time-consuming and wasteful of paper to print out certain papers.

Overall, the conference was stimulating and well worth attending. I enjoyed most of the papers and found them useful, not so much in the pragmatic here's something I can do in my library but in the opportunity to reflect on and discuss broader professional issues.

Camille Peters

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