ALIA West

December 2005

2005 National Library Technicians Conference

6-9 September 2005, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, NSW

The theme of the 12th National Library Technicians Conference was eXcellence, eXperience and eXpectations and the papers presented at the conference certainly illustrated these themes.

As a speaker I was impressed with the support given to the speakers by the organising committee and the conference facilitators. We had a speakers room where we could go to organise and check our notes before our talk, and the technical support was superb. Almost (but not quite!) enough to encourage me to leave one or two of my four back up disks at home!

The library tours program was well planned and placing it at the beginning of the conference meant that we were able to attend many more libraries than usual. My personal favorite was the library at the Royal Botanical Gardens, which holds historical and scientific material back to the 1800's. Like many libraries the Royal Botanical Gardens library is working hard to try and save and preserve some of its older material and relies on a group of highly skilled and dedicated volunteers to achieve their goals.

The 2005 conference committee also made use of a highly motivated band of volunteers in their student helpers who were the hands and feet of the committee during the five day conference. The volunteers were library study students who gave their time and energy to assisting the conference delegates in return for free entry to the conference on a designated day. This arrangement allowed students to attend a national library conference and engage in useful networking as well as gaining an insight into the industry they were planning to join. A most commendable concept and one which the Victorian Library Technicians Group intend to continue.

The conference committee invited delegates to 'join us in celebrating our knowledge, share in the spirit of our community and return home to continue sharing at work, at home and in our wider community' and this spirit of co-operation and exchange was certainly very much in evidence at the conference. Business cards were exchanged at a rapid rate as old friendships and contacts were renewed and new ones forged. I am always delighted and inspired by the warmth and friendliness in evidence at a library technician's conference, and the alacrity with which members share their experiences and knowledge.

The papers are now available at the conference website, simply navigate to the programs page. Papers which I can recommend include -

Multi-skill me : Secondment opportunities and issues at Queensland University of Technology Library

S. Uthmann The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Library offers opportunities for multi-skilling through secondment. Through secondment, staff have an opportunity to learn new skills, gain from new experiences and work in different teams, resulting in a 'big picture' view of the organisation.

This paper presented an overview of the secondment experience of staff who have taken part in a secondment opportunity, issues such as benefits for the individual and the organisation were covered, as well as the effects on supervisors, management and other team members who then need to cope with constantly changing staff and new team dynamics. Whilst researching for this paper Sharon decided to apply for (and win) the 2005 Dunn and Wilson Scholarship which supports research into practices and issues relevant to library technicians. Sharon proposes to research secondment opportunities in other states and produce a directory for library technicians interested in pursuing secondment opportunities.

Exotic experiences in circulation desk management

S. Gissing and R. Hazlett

I had the great joy of being on the stage with Sally and Robyn as they presented their paper. Their sense of fun and passion for their work was infectious and a welcome departure from the more serious papers presented that day. Their paper was well based in fact and it was evident that they had done their homework. Their presentation focussed mainly on the design (or lack thereof) aspects of circulation desks and produced a number of dramatic photos of circulation desks gone wrong. The paper goes some way to capturing their sense of humour and flair but is also a well thought out representation of the special skills and attributes that lending and collection staff must have to survive on the coal face of the library. Here are some of my favourites from their list of special skills needed by lending services officers.

• Superior communication skills. First, foremost and most important. We are the face of the library we work in to most patrons and we have to communicate with them.
• The patience of a saint. How else do you deal with a patron who cannot understand why in a small engineering library the books on concrete are in three different places not all in one place, as you explain it one more time!
• You must enjoy dotting the i's. There is a place for everything on a lending services desk. Why do information services staff not realise this?
• Attention to detail needed. No point in loaning out a sound book with the cassettes missing from the case.
• Great sense of humour needed. The never ending excuses as to why a book is damaged, lost or otherwise not in the patron's possession. Why they need a computer now and cannot wait until one is free.
• Flexibility. We bend, we stretch, we reach - are we merely lending services gumbys?

Unfortunately for the third speaker that day, Ian Brewster, an architect from Brewster Hjorth, disparaging references were made to architects who were more interested in design than functionality! Even more unfortunately, his paper came after mine, in which many of his futuristic proposals for libraries had been shown to have already been well and truly implemented. A timely reminder to us all of the benefits of industry research!

And finally, a session that I was not able to get to, but have been reliably informed was not only informative but also entertaining as the presenter had delegates up dancing and singing in a simulated story time.

Once upon a time... The making of a library storytime

The paper looks at outreach activities for the library's youngest customers, looking at why they are important and examining what the library needs to improve, develop and promote to present to young customers, and their drivers, a product which can only be described as simply the best. The paper discusses factors that will assist libraries to develop a storytime that will exceed customers' expectations. In developing raving fans management will also see storytime as a crucial promotional activity that requires more time, more budget, and more credos to those who run the programme.

The overriding impression I gain from library technicians conferences is passion and enthusiasm - passion for our profession and an enthusiasm to continue to learn and share and grow within our industry. Gillian Hallam also referred to the passion and enthusiasm of technicians in her presidential address to the conference, declaring the technician's conference as one of the best she had attended.

This is just a small selection of the excellent papers available. I invite you to explore the rest of the offerings yourself. You won't be disappointed!