For several years now I have observed the increasing success of the Virtual International Day of the Midwife (an online conference for midwives) — Sarah Stewart’s “baby” so to speak.

Now there is one for anyone interested in the library world. Library 2.012 Worldwide Virtual Conference October 3 – 5, 2012. It is a free conference held online, in multiple time zones, over 2 calendar days (three if you take all the time zones into account.

It looks to be a much larger affair than VIDM with several strands of presentations being planned. The School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at San José State University (http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/) is the founding conference sponsor. Opportunities for commercial sponsorship, and conference partner organisations are available.

The call for presentation proposals is open.

Sarah Stewart taking part in last year’s VIDM.

Image : Virtual International Day of the Midwife 2011 by Sarah M Stewart. Reproduced under a Creative Commons Licence.

Some of the Day 3 Panel: @missophiemac, @michaelmace, @thelib

It’s been two days since I returned from Information Online and I woke up from a dream about writing a blog post so here it is. My takeaways from the conference are:

1. Break the rules @thelib – Sarah Houghton encouraged conference participants to be prepared to break some rules in order to deliver the services that clients want. She used the example of implementing social media. They didn’t get permission. They just went ahead. Her terrific presentation is available on her blog.
2. Heat maps of eye-tracking and clicks look very impressive. I was encouraged by the number of libraries testing usability of their websites and services. There were a number of papers that had some impressive heat maps. They certainly add a wow factor to presentations.
3. Seb Chan told us about some of the incredibly impressive work of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and how they are getting people to visit their collections online. These include WordPress plugins, Flickr Commons and the amazing mobile story game – China Heart.

I was also thrilled to participate in the Conference Mentoring Program being piloted at Online by Naomi Doessel the winner of an ALIA study grant. I offered to be a mentor and it was a rewarding experience. I met two amazing young librarians.

For me the main benefits of attending Online were:

• Networking opportunities
• Catching up with some library rock stars
• Meeting some rising library stars
• Spending face-to-face time with my twitter PLN (personal learning network)
• Crafting with fellow librarians at the lunch time Stitch’n'bitch

R2D2 and cup cake amigurumi

I have attended quite a few conferences in the last two years and I am beginning to wonder if the current format is sustainable. I for one would like more opportunity to engage, interact and discuss the content/ideas. Maybe we need to consider an unconference stream running along side more traditional streams (as was trailed at ALIAAccess in 2010).

I also presented a paper at Online and I have decided that from now on I will co-present and I am already discussing an abstract for VALA2012 with a colleague.

I would be really interested in hearing about your takeaways, the benefits and whether you think the traditional conference format is sustainable.

Please leave a comment.

Public Libraries Australia (PLA), the Queensland Public Libraries Association (QPLA), ALIA and the Townsville City Council are partnering to bring you:

QPLA/PLA CONFERENCE 2009 : CHANGE AND CHALLENGE
11 – 14 October 2009 Jupiters Townsville Hotel and Casino

The theme of the conference is appropriately Change and Challenge. It will feature many outstanding speakers and will highlight how we can deal with change and challenges in the three key areas of technology, organisations and community more effectively. The program features several concurrent sessions thereby allowing you to tailor the sessions you attend to your own needs and interests. Check out our exciting programme at the PLA conference website.

Keynote Speakers

Using technology in a time of social and organisational change – Dr Michael Stephens is currently a library and information science educator at the Dominican University Illinois, USA and is an international speaker on libraries, technology and innovation.

Future trends: demographics, libraries and change – Bernard Salt is a highly respected commentator on consumer, cultural and demographic trends. He is a regular contributor to The Australian and the author of The Big Shift: Welcome to the Third Australian Culture.

Public Libraries, social inclusion and community development – Noel Pearson is an influential Aboriginal Australian lawyer and land rights activist. He believes Indigenous policy needs to change direction, notably in relation to welfare, substance abuse, child protection and economic development.

Other speakers

The conference program (available here) contains an exciting range of speakers from public, state and the National Library of Australia covering topics such as digitisation, cultural change, community development, managing collections and much more.

Forums

Three exciting forums will bring together panels of passionate and committed library professionals to discuss and debate the themes of the conference.

Blog and tags

You can follow the latest news before, during and after the conference by checking the conference blog (http://auspublib2009.wordpress.com/) or adding it to your favourite feedreader (RSS feed).

• Read speaker profiles to find out who will be speaking about what at the conference.
• Discover which companies will be exhibiting at the conference, and find out about special deals.
• Keep up to date with changes to the conference program .
• Discover the best things to do and places to visit in Townsville.
• Read reports of conference sessions.
• Ask questions, debate and discuss the keynote and concurrent sessions.
• Look for last minutes changes to tours, programs etc.

For those of you who like to blog, tweet, photoshare and slideshare, there is also a conference tag. Please add the tag to your posts, photos, tweets etc. so your colleagues from around the world can follow the conference through your reports, discussions, debates and images.

Tag for blogs, photoshare and slideshare: qpla09
Hashtag for Twitter: #qpla09

I look forward to meeting you in Townsville in October!

Registrations for the second slq Library 2.0 UnConference are now open.

THEME:    Web 2.0. Now what?

 DATE:       Thursday 20 November 2008

TIME:         8:30 – 4:30 (coffee available from 8:30am, post-conference drinks from 4:30pm).

VENUE:     State Library of Queensland

COST:       $40 (includes an admission entry to the Game On exhibition being held at slq, and all day tea and coffee, lunch and post-conference drinks) Please advise us of any special dietary requirements on your Registration Form.

WHO:        Anyone who is interested and has some prior knowledge of Library 2.0 and is also prepared to share ideas, experiences and thoughts.

TICKETS: Book via QTIX . Please note that registration involves two steps:

1.      Register your booking with QTIX.

2.      Complete the registration form included in the slq UnConference 2008: Web 2.0. Now what? Wiki and forward it to slq.

WHAT TO BRING: Yourself, your interests, an open mind and your enthusiasm. Laptops welcome – free wireless internet access is available.

THE WIKI:   slq UnConference 2008: Web 2.0. Now what?

 Social Networking Showcase Presentations @ the slq UnConference 2008

We would like to hear from you if you or your library:

• Have been involved in a leading-edge library 2.0 project which has made an impact?
• Has been able to use some of the new tools to involve a wider community?
• Has developed new ethics and behaviours to cope with change?

It doesn’t matter if you are from a large or small library, as long as you are prepared to share your experience using a maximum of 20 slides, 20 seconds each for a maximum of 6 minutes.

Showcase presentations aim to provide delegates of the UnConference the chance to view successful library application of web 2.0 tools.

The result: 6-minute talks with jam-packed, significant visuals, and everyone asking for more. Based on pecha-kucha (Japanese for “chatter”), applies a simple set of rules to presentations: maximum of 20 slides displayed for 20 seconds each. Say what you need to say in less than six minutes of exquisitely matched words and images and then take a seat.

Send your proposals to mary.kajewski <at> slq.qld.gov.au

If, unlike my avatar, yours has 8000 lindens (about US$30), you can register to take part in the Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education and Museums conference.

“The purpose of this conference is to provide a gathering place for librarians, information professionals, educators, museologists, and others to learn about and discuss the educational, informational, and cultural opportunities of virtual worlds.” — website

The conference is in Second Life at the New Media Consortium Conference Center (NMC) on March 8 2008, and according to the website, places are filling fast. 

Preliminary Conference Schedule.