Comments on: The future of associations http://blisspix.net/2007/03/26/the-future-of-associations/ Open access, technology and social futures from a librarian in Sydney. Fri, 16 May 2008 04:05:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 Comment on The future of associations by: Fiona http://blisspix.net/2007/03/26/the-future-of-associations/#comment-69948 Tue, 03 Apr 2007 02:55:48 +0000 http://blisspix.net/2007/03/26/the-future-of-associations/#comment-69948 Hi Gillian - good point about the conferences for different types of libraries. I think they could be a good model for topic-based conferences too (eg technology conferences - where quality matters more than 'names'). Hi Gillian - good point about the conferences for different types of libraries. I think they could be a good model for topic-based conferences too (eg technology conferences - where quality matters more than ‘names’).

]]> Comment on The future of associations by: Gillian Wood http://blisspix.net/2007/03/26/the-future-of-associations/#comment-69659 Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:19:26 +0000 http://blisspix.net/2007/03/26/the-future-of-associations/#comment-69659 Some comments on small conferences - I'm a health librarian, and know that my colleagues are still lamenting the demise of the Specials, Health & Law Librarians' conference. ALIA Conference is nice, but it's just not relevant for us, and it's too expensive to justify where the relevance isn't strong. For the last four years, Health in NSW have run a mini-conference that has been an astounding success - there's obviously a real need for a point for people to come together, network, learn and discuss. The vendors also like having one point when they can market and train, as well. I know that Vic Health do a similar thing. The pity is that these conferences can't attract the big name speakers; but the good thing is that by supplying the venues and committees ourselves, we keep the costs very low. The Health conference at the end of Online was good, but I suspect the low turnout was due to the other conferences I've mentioned. Australia has a geographical (too large) and population (too small) problem to really compare it with the USA; but I'd love to see a genuine discussion about how we can best do conference - I'm not convinced that the models we have at the moment are the best we can do. Some comments on small conferences - I’m a health librarian, and know that my colleagues are still lamenting the demise of the Specials, Health & Law Librarians’ conference. ALIA Conference is nice, but it’s just not relevant for us, and it’s too expensive to justify where the relevance isn’t strong. For the last four years, Health in NSW have run a mini-conference that has been an astounding success - there’s obviously a real need for a point for people to come together, network, learn and discuss. The vendors also like having one point when they can market and train, as well. I know that Vic Health do a similar thing. The pity is that these conferences can’t attract the big name speakers; but the good thing is that by supplying the venues and committees ourselves, we keep the costs very low. The Health conference at the end of Online was good, but I suspect the low turnout was due to the other conferences I’ve mentioned.

Australia has a geographical (too large) and population (too small) problem to really compare it with the USA; but I’d love to see a genuine discussion about how we can best do conference - I’m not convinced that the models we have at the moment are the best we can do.

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