Blog Every Day in June Day 2: Seven reasons to come to NLS7 – by Hiba Kanj (NGG Convenor)

We are lucky to have Hiba, ALIA’s National New Graduate Group Coordinator, tell us about the positive influence that attending NLS has had on her professional development. Check out her seven values of NLS below.

This peice was originally posted to the NLS7 blog with the title 'The value of attending and speaking at NLS'.

1.  Peer networking. As the Convener of the NGG I was always communicating and meeting library professionals via email, Twitter and Facebook. At NLS, I was able meet my fellow professionals and create some long lasting work relationships that are sustained through social media and also establish a great peer network. 
2. Oh the places you’ll go! NLS is a chance to visit another city and explore new museums and libraries you haven’t had the chance to see. Taste what the city has to offer for the library professional. Take tours of the landscape and the libraries, archives, digital hubs and makerspaces and have the chance to ask questions.
3. Have a Librarian crush! NLS is your chance to meet some of the most experienced industry professionals, rub shoulders with movers and shakers and, heck, even ask for a job! Meet leaders in their field of expertise and an opportunity to share experience, innovation and knowledge, develop better contacts with industry experts.
4. Making the boss happy! NLS is a chance to really immerse yourself in information activity that is happening now. It is fresh and raw and new professionals are just itching to try it out when they get back to work but make libraries more diverse and more technically advanced.
5. PD perfection. Keeping up with job knowledge and current skills and aligning them to your workplace learning and development proposals. NLS helped me think about my library’s commitment to employees and customers.
6. Joining/Being part of NGG – It is not easy being a bright eyed new graduate or student. Joining a group that supports and creates an atmosphere for new graduates is RAD! Becoming a coordinator in your state allows you to engage in things that new graduates need as well as meeting the most amazing people on the face of the planet. Being part of an organization that supports new professionals.'
7. Taking charge of your leadership. Attending and especially speaking at an NLS conference gives you the ability to really shine and take a lead but also do this in a supportive and welcoming environment.

Follow Hiba Kanj on Twitter

UnMeash3 Unconference Wrap-up

Rob and Connie opening UnMeash3

Unconferences are all about sharing ideas and experiences. What you know, what you’ve seen and heard, what you want to know, what you’ve tried, what worked and what didn’t work. With all participants contributing their experience and expertise, new knowledge and proven tricks of the trade, asking questions and giving advice it all adds up to a day of cooperation and learning. The UnMeash unconference (held earlier this year on Saturday 5 July) is a great example of information professionals from Sydney (and beyond) doing it for themselves, and the results are always interesting.

This unconference is in its sixth year, the third year under the UnMeash moniker, and the second year at the very generous UNSW Library. The day starts with everyone suggesting topics for discussion, and then voting their preferences from the whole list, to determine the morning sessions. If popular sessions conflict, then they might be run twice. If the session you have chosen to attend doesn’t grab you, then you are encouraged to leave it to join another discussion.

First up were sessions on Useful Online Utilities, New Technology, and Innovative Information Services. Everyone divides into groups which move to the area for each discussion, then dive right in. While it’s often difficult to decide on a session, by using the hashtag #UnMeash3 or following @unmeash3 each group can get some idea of what other groups discussed and share their own information. The afternoon sessions included Digital Resources for Kids, Gaming to Promote Libraries, and the Repurposed Library. The sessions I attended provided me with plenty of ideas, information, and resources to note down and explore later. 

Not every session is a huge success. Sometimes the weight of numbers generated by interest in a single session means that other discussions might not get going. Sometimes the topic of greatest interest to you doesn’t get any votes at the start of the day and isn’t included. Occasionally a session may be dominated by participants who have little experience and loads of questions, and end up a little unsatisfying. My experience has been that no time is wasted, and the unanswered questions prompt me to search out answers later, through other avenues. 

Plus, there’s always plenty of time at UnMeash for informal chatting over morning tea, afternoon tea, and lunch at The White House. This is the time for finding out where people work, what they are doing that’s interesting, what they are planning for their career, their news and views. These connections are also an important part of the event.

With thanks to the ALIA NSW Library Techs, ALIA Sydney, and ALIA NSW New Grads who joined forces to organise the event, under the very capable leadership of Rob and Connie, I look forward to UnMeash4 in 2015.

-Lauren Castan

Blog Every Day in June Day 26 : The Unmeash Three Unconference

Saturday 5^th July will see the ALIA Library Professionals Unmeash Three Unconference at the UNSW Library. 

This will be the second year that the Unmeash Unconference has been at UNSW Library which offers an amazing Library location with lots of spaces for breakout sessions and a wonderful lunch location at the Whitehouse on campus.

Unmeash Three is hosted by three ALIA groups: ALIA NSW Library Technicians, ALIA Sydney and ALIA NSW New Grads. This is the sixth unconference that I have organised; the first four were run on behalf of ALIA NSW LT Group at the Australian Catholic University, North Sydney. In 2012 I was joined by Connie Ross and we coined the name Unmeash as a portmanteau of unleashing of ideas, the unconference, and the mesh idea of a network and the meshing of ideas and mashing of applications.

Unconferences are a fantastic opportunity to network and collaboratively learn from each other. They are empowering as everyone is encouraged to provide input and as they are participant-driven it’s those who attend who set the agenda for the day and choose the topics we discuss. It’s a gift economy where everyone gives. The other thing I reckon is that because we are all Library people, we are all speaking the same ‘language’ and although we all come from different Libraries and different roles we understand the work environment we all come from.

Unconferences are extraordinarily democratic – and a bit chaotic! But in a good way! Everyone is asked to submit their topics they’d like to discuss and contribute to and then on the day we choose the top topics to be discussed and then we break out into four breakout sessions to discuss and contribute to the discussions on those topics. People can choose to go to which ever topic they are passionate about (or interested in) and then we return for a coffee or tea and a bite to eat. Then off on another breakout session before lunch.

Because we get people coming from school Libraries, university Libraries, TAFE Libraries, public Libraries and from every level across the profession we get a kaleidoscope of views and insights into common problems and areas of interest.

On a rough count, over the year’s we have had something like over 150 participants who have been to at least one unconference – many have been more than once and at least 15 or so people have been to every one of the unconferences I’ve organised! Everyone enjoys the day and are empowered and energised by the experience. Here are two quotes from last year’s unconference: “I feel reenergised after attending – a similar feeling to attending big conferences, but for a fraction of the price” and “it reignites your original reasons for getting into the industry leaving you motivated and positive” 

So, don’t miss this year’s Unmeash Three! Register today at http://unmeash3.wordpress.com 

- Rob Thomson

NSW New Grads meet and greet

Coat of Arms Pizza & Beef & Bock Pot Pie by The Australian Heritage Hotel

The first NSW New Grad event is a casual meet and greet to be held on Tuesday 25 March at The Australian Heritage Hotel, 100 Cumberland St, The Rocks. Please join us from 6pm, grab a drink and a pizza and settle in for a chat. Great opportunity to meet your fellow library lovers!

Contact jessicamarysanford@gmail.com for more information.

Become a NSW New Grads Regional Coordinator!

Are you looking for an opportunity to get involved with ALIA? Both NSW New Grad Regional Coordinators are simultaneously going on maternity leave at the end of 2013, and we’d like to share the load!

Two positions are available for a 12 month period.

To apply, please send a brief statement (1 page) addressing the position description (below) with your contact details to alianewgradnsw [at] gmail [dot] com

Queries about this position can also be sent to this email address.

Deadline for applications is Friday 22nd November, 2013.

Successful applicants will be contacted by the end of November to arrange handover in early December 2013.

Position description: NSW New Grads Regional Coordinator

The interested persons should:

• Be, or be willing to become, a current member of ALIA.
• Have an active interest in professional development with the Library & Information sector.
• Maintain an active awareness of new issues and development within the Library and Information sector.
• Have strong communication and collaboration skills
• Be able to contribute to NLS7 organising for Sydney 2015

Regional Coordinators are expected to:

Event promotion:

• Assist with the organisation of at least 2 events per year in NSW, either independently or in conjunction with another ALIA group (e.g.ALIA Sydney). Events should relate to the needs and interests of new graduates, or students in the Library and Information sector.
• Post/Update on ALIA New Graduates Group (NGG) social networking pages regularly.
• Use ALIA groups elist and social media accounts to promote NSW events and current awareness of library and information sector news and issues.
• Ensure a consistent and professional format for all ALIA NGG communications

NGG reporting:

• Report on events to the NGG using the appropriate Google Docs, and at NGG teleconferences.
• Pass on to the NGG Convenor any issues that the New Generation Advisory Committee might need to know about
• Keep detailed information on money spent/received to be passed on to the Treasurer once a year
• Record all payments in the ALIA receipt book and provide invoices to all payees
• Regularly check and maintain the group’s email account

Average time demand per month: 4 hours (2 hours prep plus actual events)

Term required: 12 months (Dec 2013-Dec 2014)

Unconferencing...

This year ALIA Sydney, ALIA New Grads NSW and ALIA NSW Library Techs are jointly presenting unmeash2 unconference at UNSW Kensington Campus on 20th July (Registrations open today at http://unmeash2.wordpress.com/register-here/)

The astute amongst you will notice that this is unmeash2 which implies there must have been an unmeash1 - this is actually the 5th unconference I have organised, the other 4 being for the ALIA NSW Library Technicians Group. So, I'd like to explain how I got started on this journey and how the unconference model came to the NSW Library world.

Back in 2005 I was involved as one of the organisers of the neXt 2005 National Library & Information Technicians Conference for ALIA which was held in Sydney. I was interested in narrative storytelling techniques that were being used in a corporate environment by people like Dave Snowden of Cognitive Edge/Cynefin in the UK and Shawn Callahan of Anecdote in Australia. I had written what amounts to a treasure hunt for the neXt conference that was based on a story that involved two book detectives (Follows and Leeds) who tracked down long overdue books and reunited them with their Libraries so had evolved an elaborate back story to the game. One of my co-organisers said that people would remember the narrative of my story as one of the underlying themes of the conference (not that I'm sure anyone does!). Anyway, as I was exploring this I subscribed to Anecdote's email (at http://www.anecdote.com.au) and in one of their posts that year they talked about the concept of an unconference.

The gist of their post was that if you have ever gone to a conference often the best bits of a conference are often the spaces between the sessions when you sit around at morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea with people you've met up with, discussing the matters that matter most to all of you at that time. They then wondered what would happen if you took away the speakers, the organised sessions and the high overheads and costs and just had the 'spaces inbetween' when people can gather and talk in small groups about the stuff that mattered to them and share stories and ideas and information.

It was too close to the conference to add an unconference element so I let it go but the idea appealed and I let it 'fester' away for a while. My wife and I went to the UK for 4 months in 2006 and then in 2007 I started to investigate the idea further about unconferences for Library people. In 2008 I mentioned it at an ALIA NSW LT Group committee planning meeting saying we should do one - and they politely said 'well, as you are the only one who knows what you're talking about, you can organise one!"

So. I did. In 2009 I organised what was the first Library-related unconference in NSW - one8nine on 1st August 2009 (hence the name). We had 25 people turn up at the Australian Catholic University at North Sydney and it went really well. Although the 'rules' of unconferences are that there are no speakers, as I hadn't actually been to an unconference I broke that rule and had a speaker. Amy Luscombe had recently left BlueScope Steel (where I was working in the Library) and had started work at an environmental sustainability company in North Sydney and she generously came and gave us a talk about sustainability which very much pertains to Libraries and she helped set the tone for the first unconference. At the end of the day, we asked people if they'd want to do another one... and as this will be the fifth...

What makes this year's unmeash2 unconference exciting is that we (ALIA NSW LT Group) are joining with ALIA Sydney and ALIA New Grads NSW to jointly present and promote the unconference so we will have Librarians, Library Technicians and Information Professionals together in one space from many varied Libraries and backgrounds pooling their ideas and stories and experiences. It is a great collaborative and networking opportunity.

If you've ever been to any of the previous incantations of the unconferences at ACU North Sydney this one will build on the lessons learnt from them and be (hopefully) bigger and better and just as much fun and a fantastic learning experience for all who are there. 

So do yourself (and your career and your professional development) a favour and register today (or tomorrow) and be a part of unmeash2. You won't regret it!

Every unconference has been different but each of them has been a learning experience and professionally they are such an intensive boost to my knowledge of Libraries across Sydney - and beyond! One of the best things is to be in a room full of people who are all speaking the same language! It is very empowering!

Rob!

Rob Thomson

ALIA NSW LT Group