Skip to main content

Put a watch on the borders...

Be afraid...be very afraid....I'm being allowed to leave the country!
And not only am I being allowed out, but I'm going in the guise of a proper professional!
I'm going all the way to Australia, to attend the ALLA and NZLLA joint conference in Melbourne, thanks to some fabulous and generous bursaries from the lovely BIALL and SLLG, yay!

It's kind of worrying when you look at a conference programme and think "ohhhh, I'd really like to go to that!". I'm concerned that it may be a sign of becoming grown up. But, never fear, the business cards I've had made up will soon put paid to any such ideas in the people I meet, oh yes indeedy!

It is actually ever so slightly terrifying: I know no-one at the conference, my hotel booking's gone a bit wonky already, and I arrive at 1am in the morning, after waaaaay too many hours of travelling...thankfully I've scheduled in a bit of recovery time, otherwise I'd be sporting the Zombie Librarian look.
Actually, maybe that's the in-look in Australia at the moment, I shall have to find out.

I have also been told to bring back a kangaroo, koala, wombat, and duck-billed platypus....these may be tall orders. Although I am meeting up with a marine biologist friend while I'm there, wonder if he can pull some strings on the platypus front?

Comments

Jo Alcock said…
Sounds fabulous, hope you have an amazing time - I'm sure you will! I'd love to go to a conference abroad, particularly in Australia or the States. They seem to be doing so much cool stuff! (I think I'm allowed to say that as my business cards have penguins and flowers on so that's OK right?!).
Filemot said…
We so need to see the business card. Have a great time
Dumpling said…
@Jo I'm slightly scared I'll be the friendless geek, but fingers crossed someone will take pity on me!

@Filemot I shall post a business card pic soon!

Popular posts from this blog

The mysteries of cataloguing

Cataloguing: an arcane art, where each piece of punctuation is significant, and commas and semi colons are all-powerful. Well, they are in "proper" libraries, where in-depth research of esoteric points goes on, and the precise spelling of Christian names, and information such as when a person lived and died can be crucial in pinpointing obscure facts. Here, we have our own catalogue system. It doesn't have a name, but if it did, it would probably be something along the lines of "I need this book NOW, no I don't care about the precise spelling of the authors middle name, or their date of birth." I know, I know, it's not snappy, but it's accurate. Cataloguing demands are different in a commercial law firm: we don't care about much more than what it's about, who wrote, when, and what jurisdiction it covers. And what we really, really care about is "where the hell is it". Law books are amazing: they have the power to move themselves f...

Careering along

When I look around at the activities of information professional groups, it seems that there’s a disparity. There’s quite often a lot of support and funding available for those who’re just starting out in the profession, but a desert of nothingness for those of us who’re “just getting on with it”. If you’re a new professional, you have lots of groups to support you as you progress in your early career, various prize funds available for essay and report writing, access to bursaries for conference attendance, eligibility for awards for being new and enthusiastic. But what do you get when you’re past that bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed first 5 years (5 years seems to be the approximate cut-off point for becoming “established” and no longer new). What happens when you’ve already received a bursary from an organisation earlier in your career and so wouldn’t be eligible for one now, meaning you’re not able to attend events or training? When you’re heavily involved in a project but not at ...

UK librarian blogs - the list so far

I’ve pulled the previous entries into one alphabetical list, with a few categories. Will be back later with more detailed discussion of what I’ve learned by doing this. And, as always, if you know of other librarian blogs, let me know and I’ll add them in! Institutional Library Blogs / Professional Group Blogs aRKive Appears to be the blog of the Reid Kerr College library, or someone related to the Library, but unable to confirm as it doesn’t have any ‘about’ section that I can find. Lots of posts about library topics, books, IT… Brit Lib Blogs Google Group There’s a Google Group for British librarian bloggers! Unfortunately it looks to be pretty much unused at the moment. CILIP Blogs CILIP has various blogs by either staff, or links to relevant blogs, available from the Communities section. Varying levels of activity on these blogs – the PTEG blog has one post from November 2007, while Lyndsay’s CILIP Blog has been going has been going for almost a year, with at le...