Editorial – Dreaming’08

Citation

Mamtora, J. (2009), "Editorial – Dreaming’08", The Electronic Library, Vol. 27 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2009.26327eaa.002

Editorial – Dreaming’08

Article Type: ALIA 2008 From: The Electronic Library, Volume 27, Issue 5

The Australian Library and Information Association 2008 Biennial Conference was held under blue skies in sunny Alice Springs from 2-5 September 2008 in the new Convention Centre overlooking the Todd River. It was a milestone biennial for ALIA as it was the first to be held in a remote regional centre rather than a major city.

The Conference themes were Dream the future, Research for the benefit of the profession, Entrepreneurship, Access for all and Meeting Places, and delegates were invited to explore these themes that will be so important to the profession in future years. In addition, since the Aboriginal people are an important part of Alice Springs life and the Red Centre, much indigenous content was woven into all aspects of the conference.

Over 800 delegates attended the event and, besides a scintillating array of papers and presentations, were treated to a range of sightseeing tours, gourmet conference lunches and a sumptuous dinner under the stars in a typical homestead, plus a world class exhibition with over 90 participants.

As has become a trademark of the ALIA Biennial Conferences, the quality of the keynotes speakers and the individual sessions was excellent. Presenters came from far afield, including Germany, the USA and Sweden as well as from all over Australia. A major strength of the conference was the programme, which catered for a wide variety of interests and a range of topical issues. Keynote speakers covered such topics as guidelines for Australian indigenous digital collections, indigenous library services and values, new city libraries, and library challenges.

Individual sessions covered a wide range of topics from policy to workforce planning, creating visibility for artists through archives, models for information delivery to indigenous students, print and electronic integration, marketing library products, and learning commons. Formal papers were complemented by posters. The range and quality of presentations and papers at the 2008 ALIA Bicentennial Conference was exceptional and the papers selected for this special issue of TEL provide an overview of the innovative work and developments currently being undertaken in libraries and information agencies around Australia. Each paper was reworked by the authors and updated and revised for this special issue. We hope you will enjoy these selections as much as the Dreaming’08 participants.

About the author

Jayshree Mamtora was the Programme Convenor for the Dreaming’08 conference. She is the Research Services Coordinator for Library and Information Access at Charles Darwin University in Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia.

Jayshree MamtoraResearch Services Coordinator, Library and Information Access, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, NT, Australia