It has been just over a month since APLIC wrapped up on the Gold Coast. There were a few of our SNGG team in attendance! Read on below for some of their perspectives on the event.

Some of our team went as volunteers, one self-funded, and two became CATS for the week! Let’s hear from them…

Mel Phillips

I was fortunate enough to be selected as a volunteer for APLIC18 and I was so excited for the opportunity. I went up a day early & attended the ALIA PD Scheme info session & it was so informative. Then I met other students & new grads at an active meet up where we networked over dodgem cars, 10 pin bowling & laser tag! Then I spent the next 3 days gaining experience in event volunteering, making connections with people studying/working in the field & got to meet people from all over Australia, New Zealand & Singapore. I was surprised that I got to attend more sessions than I expected, which was fantastic. I learnt so much from the sessions and through volunteering. I enjoyed so many aspects of APLIC, I don’t think I can pinpoint a favourite! I definitely recommend APLIC and any other similar conference, in either a delegate or volunteer capacity.

Michelle Canny

I was lucky enough to be selected as a volunteer for the conference and attended the Tuesday and Wednesday. In terms of my favourite parts of the conference: the keynote address on Wednesday by Dave Snowden. His presentation was challenging and thought provoking. Similarly, I also really enjoyed the short presentation by Damian Lodge as part of a Panel session on Information Literacy. Damian’s introduction went to the heart of some issues facing academic libraries and really spelt out some financial and relevance issues in very plain terms (I have a finance background, so this appealed to me). I also really enjoyed the author panel discussion, great see and hear the creative process for some of our fabulous authors. For students / first timers the conference is a good opportunity to hear directly from industry on current issues.

Kaitlyn Houston

As a student not yet working in a library, I want to soak up as much as I can and after seeing the conference program, I was really keen to go. I self-funded my registration and later when the call went out for volunteers, put in an expression of interest form for the Monday, which was for pre-conference workshops. I hadn’t included any of these in my registration as the workshops didn’t seem applicable for me at this stage of my career, but I actually got a lot out of the Reader’s Advisory workshop I was allocated to. Although I only volunteered for one day, I would definitely recommend it to any other students or new graduates keen to attend a conference but unable to self-fund or justify the cost. I got to meet other volunteers and workshop attendees and even participate a little.

The SNGG meetup on Monday evening was great fun and meant that I had an opportunity to meet people and put faces to names (and Twitter handles!) As a first time conference attendee, and distance student, this was honestly invaluable. I think having a social event before the start of the conference is a fantastic idea for students and new graduates, and particularly first timers, to meet and chat. It made the sea of people at the conference less overwhelming, as I already had some people I knew.

I went into APLIC18 feeling content in my current, non-library job, and happy to work steadily through my Master’s for the next year or so, but left feeling so inspired and yearning to be in a library role already. Connecting with so many passionate, amazing people and hearing about the great things being done across the whole Asia-Pacific region was so wonderful. APLIC18 reaffirmed that this is absolutely what I want to do and I just feel so thankful.

Maddy Medlycott

APLIC was my first BIG library conference. My main highlight was catching up with old friends and colleagues and making so many new friends and connection through #CATSofAPLIC. It was great to reconnect with so many familiar faces, but it was equally great to meet new and inspiring GLAMRzons who work in different libraries and roles to me. The sessions which have had the most impact on me are Bonnie Mager & Andrew Eng from Invercargill Library in New Zealand and Paige Wright from New Castle University Library. Both spoke about social media and how to successfully use it to engage with your community. Social media strategies were shown to be vital to have a consistent voice and really get the most out of your social media channels. This is something that I hope to implement in the near future as Co-Convenor for the ALIA Students and New Graduates Group to make our own social media even more amazing! All of the freebies from the vendors was such a wonderful surprise and another highlight for sure. Here is a picture of me with one of my favourite GLAMRzons, Annette Messell as we get amongst APLIC #CATSofAPLIC style!

Annette Messell

APLIC was my first opportunity to attend my first “international” conference, right in my hometown – the Gold Coast! Having moved from the big city to a regional area, it was really great to reconnect with former colleagues, put Twitter-handles to faces, and make some new professional connections. I was so inspired by the breadth and depth of knowledge that exists in the library community.

Part of my role as Co-Convenor for ALIA Students and New Graduates group was to help facilitate a daily tweet-up called #CATSofAPLIC (Connect and Achieve Together Socially). Do you want to see what we got up to with #CATSofAPLIC? Take a look at our Wakelet which wraps up some of the fun and informative Tweet-up questions we used to engage with delegates online.This was a fun way for first-timers to connect with each other and reflect on the events of the conference each day.

Do you have APLIC FOMO? Never to fear! You can see a list of the presentation slides on APLIC Program site by clicking on the title of the talk you are interested in.
Did you attend APLIC and have some feedback to give? Check out our anonymous Padlet