Discovering new goals at the Biennial!

When I began this blog post, I started writing about how wonderful it would be to see two personal and professional heroes of mine. These would be the Hon. Michael Kirby and Dr Alex Byrne. While it would still be fantastic to hear them speak, and perhaps to meet them, I am now realising that there is an even more rewarding prospect… The chance to discover new heroes!

These heroes can take almost any form, from an inspiring fellow new graduate, also just finding their own path in librarianship, to a highly experienced manager. I feel as though I can learn so much from both ends of the spectrum.

Another experience that I would love to gain from the ALIA Biennial this year is the chance to engage with information professionals from across the board of this multi-faceted industry of ours. As a law librarian, I am very interested in what is happening in other libraries and also other branches of the profession. I think that the best way to maintain an awareness of the state of my profession is to talk to, and network with, my peers.

As a relatively new graduate, I think that making sure that you are well known among your profession is very important. Not only do I want to meet lots of new people, I want lots of new people to meet me! This is also part of the reason I joined the ALIA Sydney committee. Engaging with your profession is a fantastic way to both retain your passion and to get noticed.

Having only moved to Sydney in November, I am still rebuilding and expanding my professional network. The ALIA Biennial will be the perfect chance to both meet new professionals from around Australia and Sydney, as well as catch up with old Brisbane friends.

I also harbour the desire to do some research, most likely on professionalism within librarianship, but I am at a loss as to how to begin. I would love to contribute to the body of knowledge of librarianship and the Demystifying Research: Practices and Potentials workshop would be absolutely fantastic as it would allow me to hear how a panel of professionals balanced research with work and how they approached it. The other advantage would be that I would get the chance to meet other people considering research and discuss both our reservations and aspirations.

I suppose what this post is trying to say, is that my goals for the ALIA Biennial this year is to rediscover some existing heroes, discover some new ones, and perhaps even learn how to become someone else’s hero!

Hope to see you all there!

Holger Aman