One of the big goals we had with NLS2006 was to take all the great things about NLS2, like peer presentations, and see how far we could run with them. We ended up with 25 peer sessions, most by newgrads and many first-time presenters, three keynotes and three plenary sessions (the debate, leadership panel, and the ‘6 hats’ recruitment and retention session).

Usually, I am a big notetaker at conferences, more recently with laptop in tow, but this time I was doing too much running around. As we were running concurrent sessions, I couldn’t get to see every session, but did manage to see a good number. Still, here are some thoughts and notes. Naturally, all somewhat biased being programme coordinator and all.

Alex Byrne started proceedings by presenting examples of individual librarians throughout history, and today, who are making a difference in the world by being corageous and standing up to authorities who wish to destroy libraries and the artifacts they hold. Many would know Alex as the president of IFLA, and in this role he has met so many librarians who have made a difference just by defending their values and collections.
The debate, “That Librarians Should be Politically Active”, was really fun as we hoped. It was a great way to get a lot of diverse members of the profession to talk about our core values. Who won? Who cares!
I chaired one of the concurrent sessions that followed, which focused on social software and emerging technology. There were 5 papers in total that talked about social software or L2 concepts in some way, which was great.

Just before afternoon, Alan Smith gave a presentation on networking. Alan Smith is one of the most entertaining and engaging speakers I have ever seen - he is knowledgeable, and funny, and even manages to turn a quirky etiquette subject like how to behave at dinners and parties into something really fun and interesting. When he suggested doing a networking session a few months back, I didn’t hesitate to add it to the programme.

The panel session on “Aspects of Leadership” was a real highlight for me. Questions that were asked during the session were provided by delegates. Panellists discussed the meaning of leadership, how to plan your career, how to develop if your organisation doesn’t support you, the need to be involved in professional associations, and more. Panellists reminded delegates that being a leader doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone will like you, and that you often have to make hard decisions.

Well worth checking out once the audio is online, even if you were there to hear it again.

On day 2, Joan Frye Williams was fantastic. Kate Gordon has a great summary of Joan’s talk at the ASLA Tasmania blog.

Co-convenor Alyson Dalby did a great job delivering the paper, “Freedom of Access to Information post September 11, 2001″ on behalf of Matthew Davis who was unable to attend. The session was a timely reminder of challenges to materials and access in Australian libraries, and of the statements our associations have to guide us.

Kael Driscoll entertained with a ride through librarians in pop culture, and Mary Grimmond and Lisa Cotter gave an overview of EBLIP which is a wonderful framework for research and projects. John Chisholm broke down management jargon and had lots of tips on how to be a manager when you end up there before you expect it. He elaborates more on his blog. This theme was followed through the rest of the afternoon, as we heard about how a branch at the NLA prepared for and managed the retirement of several long-standing employees, and from librarians at Florida State, how to be a leader from any role in an organisation.

Closing out the symposium, Christine Bruce discussed the democratising effect of teaching people how to use information. It was a great way to bring everything discussed full circle - from courage, to values, to empowering users.

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