ALIAWest invited guest bloggers to write about their experience attending the Connect, Create, Collaborate event at the State Library of WA in September.
Rae Duncan is our second guest blogger. Rae is an undergraduate student at Charles Sturt University and dreams of being a librarian when they grow up. In lieu of a professional role, their position is best described as ‘librarian-in-waiting’. They can be contacted via email at rachael.h.duncan at gmail dot com.
Last month, ALIAWest hosted a full day of presentations built around the theme ‘Create, Connect, Collaborate’. Jenny Lucas has already covered some of the key themes from the diverse presentations of the day (check it out here), but I’m coming at you from a different angle – the bottom.
I’m a GLAMR newbie. Only 3 semesters in my undergrad course at CSU, I don’t work in a library (yet), I’ve never catalogued or even shelved. But eager to get amongst it all I ascended the stairs of SLWA, coffee in hand, and readied myself for some creative connection through collaboration.
The first valuable piece of information I learnt that morning was that the State Library of WA has SO. MANY. STAIRS. It just keeps going! Unplanned cardigan cardio aside, the 7hr event left a lasting impact of encouragement, validation, inspiration, and some damn good catering (the only thing I took photos of).
Presenters shared the ideas, the struggles, solutions, and envisioned future from their unique perspectives across the information industry: the creativity both fostered and used by the archives, children’s librarians, early career professionals, and education provision to incarcerated people; connection of information, industries, communities, and concepts to support early reading, engagement of the harder to reach groups, and put learning into practice; and, collaboration with each other as information professionals, across sectors within the workplace, and externally to other groups and organisations.
While I wish I could give a rundown of every presentation I also know that you’re busy and I probably should be doing my uni work so here’s a summary of what stood out to me from each presentation…
CREATE SESSION
Curtin Prison Outreach aims to bring education programs to incarcerated adults but face significant barriers in the digital preferred format of education and library resources. Challenge: the risk aversion mindset when it comes to issues of copyright and talking with vendors to create practical solutions.
The State Archives preserve the unique perspectives otherwise untold by the official history books. Their collections include a lot of letters of complaint from senior citizens and vital information which strengthen identity, confirm memories, and inspire the creation of books and board games.
When you feel like the outsider (hello!) the best step is to forge your own path. This is an industry of flexibility, initiative taking, and a willingness to share. Amy San Martin’s talk on career creation is what motivated me to put my hand up to write this post.
Shire of Narrogin embraced diversity when tackling the limitations of their Paint the Town Read mascot, Nelly the numbat, making Nelly intentionally nonspeaking and using Auslan as a regular part of children’s literature engagement activities.
CONNECT SESSION
The Reading Ready Project fills the need to make early reading activities fun and positive by building parent understanding and providing fun and engaging resources able to be loaned from the library in pencil cases, document wallets and backpacks.
Teens can be a hard-to-reach demographic in public libraries. Meet them where they’re at by exploring ways to gamifying programmes and connect with other industry professionals such as youth workers to make use of their expertise. Embrace feedback and fail playfully.
The Lesmurdie SHS and community library used their unique position of shared location and resources to bring together two oft-opposed demographics – teens and seniors – to create the Intergenerational Storytime Group, building a sense of connection, community, and understanding.
Prac placements provide valuable experiences that both reinforce course learning as well as provide unique encounters that can only come from working with patrons directly such as book challenges and the rippling community impact.
COLLABORATE SESSION
By identifying gaps in current programming, the City of Perth takes a practical approach to find where collaborative opportunities may lie with both internal and external organisations.
Making a meaningful, lasting connection with upper primary students while also appealing to secondary stakeholders (parents and teachers) is hard but perseverance is key as shown in the reflective practice of librarians from Booragoon Primary and City of Melville libraries.
The Digitisation Centre of WA brings state collections to the current expectation of digital access at international standards. The heritage of First Nations peoples in remote communities can be included in this by working directly with Elders and the communities.
In its first ever external partnership with The Kid’s Research Institute, Better Beginnings contributes their knowledge and expertise to create the Bright Tomorrows ‘A Rhyme a Day’ Growth Course, providing another avenue to bring the benefits Better Beginnings into homes.
Louise Monday brought collaboration into action through a group workshop wherein tables brainstormed ideas and answers to prompts regarding professional resource and knowledge sharing. The siloed nature of public libraries and lack of consortia is a standout deficit in WA with fears of being reprimanded for collaborating across libraries being a major concern. Sometimes, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
As expected from such an info packed day, I left completely exhausted but full of ideas and reassurance that this is a community I want to be a part of – a combination of creativity, rebellion, dedication, and continual growth. From my experience at the that day on the top floor of the State Library I take away a new sense of purpose and inspiration to motivate and apply to my studies. I can see where my hours of sometimes tedious study can lead me and, so far, I like the destination.
Rae Duncan
Images supplied by Rae and ALIAWest Committee
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