Thursday 25 August 2016

#ALLA2016conf, Day 1

I'm sitting in the State Library of Victoria's Helen Macpherson Smith Genealogy Centre, the outside walls of the old library form the inside of this more recent wing, in between sessions at Day 1 of ALLA's (for the uninitiated, the Australian Law Librarians Association) biannual conference.  A university student sits at the table we share receiving instruction from her tutor, pouring over physics conundrums together. Their formulas distract me as I gather my thoughts to write this, but they also offer a perfect illustration of some of the themes teased out today: disruption, hybrid learning, STEM/STEAM curriculum, gamification, collaboration and creativity.

Rose Hiscock, the inaugural Director at the Science Gallery Melbourne, gave the opening keynote address and spoke about, amongst other things, collapsing a topic. Take climate change for instance, is there a more innovative and compelling way for scientists, in collaboration with artists to tell that story and engage the population? And what happens when we stop paying attention to what's happening around us? The team from Directioneering, an executive career strategy firm who can reengineer your resume and revamp your LinkedIn profiles, quoted a CEDA report which estimated that 40% of current jobs will be replaced by computers in 10-15 years time.

#ODEAR

Somewhere in the middle of these propositions and challenges from the podium a Panda bear danced at the back of the auditorium offering its own unique contribution to disruption, distracting the speaker momentarily, and offering some clever marketing from one of the publishers (see #jadedpanda).

It's worth noting that the fifth speaker of the day would be the first to speak specifically on a legal library topic, on implementing a legal research skills programme at the University of Canterbury.  Clare O'Dwyer, an earlier speaker talked about her move to Vietnam to head up Library Services at RMIT University's campus, but this was more in the line of directioneering and reingineering careers.

I have my own personal career advisor, someone who keeps me pointing in the right direction and anticipating a future now, my 12 year old nephew Cole.  Shortly I'll leave this wonderful building, the State Library of Victoria, inspiration to generations of Australian writers, researchers and students, and battle my way through the crowd outside glued to Pokemon Go, and head off to conference drinks at the old Melbourne Goal.  See you tomorrow

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