I’ve just returned from an awesome week on the Gold Coast. No, there weren’t any theme parks, or lazy days on the beach relaxing in the sun, or partying with intoxicated teenagers.
I speak, of course, of Somerset (aka. The Somerset Celebration of Literature).
“Oh? What’s that?” I hear many of you library folk ask. “I’ve never even heard of it!”
Don’t worry, neither had I, until I was invited to speak there. However, it’s been, like every other library / literature-related event that I’ve been to in the last few years, pretty much totally awesome.
The week-long Celebration is split into two main parts - the International Conference for Librarians and Teachers on Monday and Tuesday, then the writers festival from Wednesday to Friday. These were both excellently attended (all in spite of the impending recession doom!), with a fascinating and wide range of presenters.
Summing up the highlights…
The International Conference
- Lea Giles-Peters talked about how the State Library of Queensland is one of the most awesome state libraries in Australia, especially through it’s diverse learning programs for pre-school and school-age students. Tammy Morley from SLQ gave a further in-depth workshop on the learning programs provided.
- Helen Partridge discussed Reflective Online Searching Skills as a framework for information literacy competencies of undergraduate students at QUT. I personally thought that these skills were a given, but clearly not in this Google generation. I’m sure that filters in schools don’t help at all.
- Jane Viner at MLC outlined the services that they provide - the physical library looks strangely unchanged from what I remember 12’ish years ago, but the programs that they offer are up there in the 21st century. I’d love to work there!
- Paula Eskett discussed taking over and preparing a school library in Christchurch (NZ) in order to be integrated into a Public Library service as a joint-use library. Fascinating (and mindboggling) stuff, considering all the hurdles that need to be overcome.
- Shamini Flint and Kate McCaffrey talked about their personal experiences working with youth and these influences on their writing. They are both awesomely entertaining people.
- I also presented on my experiences working in the NT, as well as Librarian Idol , and how these aspects of my life have affected and steered my attitude towards my career.
- Tour of Bond University. Wow, that place is swish!
- An expurgated and unplugged performance of “Librarian Idol”
The Festival
- Meeting lots of writers. They are all awesome and friendly.
- Watching them work with school groups. Man, I could seriously see myself doing that. There’s my motivation for doing more writing. I wouldn’t care about literary integrity, or bestselling titles, so long as I got to be a bit crazy in front of a crowd of kids and get them excited about reading, writing, and creating stories.
- Performing at the Cocktail Party (and grateful that the crowd was prepared to indulge my needs to bag Twilight and sing Rihanna filk about libraries)
- Stage adaptation of Suzanne Gervay’s “I am Jack”. It was seriously, seriously good.
- Chatting to Alice Pung, whom I hadn’t seen in about five years. She also gave an awesome speech at the Literary Dinner on Friday night.
- Otherwise relaxing in the pool at the resort.
So, I've come out of the past week with SO MUCH inspiration and clarity about where I want to take my career. The conference confirmed my suspicions that I want to pursue my library work in learning programs for school-age students, and the festival was an absolute delight to attend. These are the worlds that I want to inhabit as a librarian.
James Roy has also written his thoughts on Somerset over at his blog.
So, library folk, if you get a chance to attend Somerset in the future, DO IT. Writer folk, I’m sure you already know this.
