Firstly, yes, I’m aware that there’s been no posts here for a while. However for once I have a good excuse. I went off and got married at the end of August, and I’ve been eking out the use of that excuse. It’s a good one, but really only has limited use.

One of the first tasks for me upon my return to the working world was attendance at and presentation of a paper at the ALIA Click06 Conference, held in Perth (http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2006/). I attended all days of the conference except the last and it was indeed an interesting experience. Librarians for one, are a fascinating breed. Having worked in a library, but not coming from a librarian background, I still am amazed at the enthusiasm that some people have about referencing and cataloguing. It takes an organised mind to understand the complexities of MARC21! And yet, spending time with these people, listening to the reasons for their enthusiasm, made me begin to understand why they do what they do. There is some fantastic work going on in communities around the world and it is being driven by libraries. Those of us uninitiated would perhaps not think this. But it is a fact. For example, the work that has happened in Canada (Toronto) has done amazing things within a community in need of some hope. And the exciting work that’s happening in New Zealand with their digitizing project – wow! That’s a great effort towards the preservation of historical culture.

Another refreshing aspect of the conference was the variety of backgrounds of the attendees. There were people from all over the world, and from all types of libraries – from tiny small-town libraries, to huge academic and city libraries. And yet, through most presentations given, the message was the same – working with the community, whatever that community may be, to bring the community closer together. Certainly takes libraries out of their traditional dusty-book category.

And Perth – well, I confess I did’t actually see a huge deal of the city, but what I did see left an impression. A growing city, a city with a future. And what a convention centre – well equipped, well-staffed, and a more-than-adequate coffee shop (try the special house blend tea!). I look forward to visiting again in the future.

For one final note – a final observation. My tradition-bound impressions of glasses-on-nose, finger-to-lips librarians was once and for all blown away at the Gala dinner. I think perhaps the band who played that night may also have had cause to re-evaluate their impressions of librarians in general… The lead singer was..er.. replaced, shall we say, for a time, by melodious dancefloor groupies, giving rise to the new rumour now circulating, that librarians are in fact well-disguised party animals. Beware.