4th ALIA New Librarians Symposium.

• Author: Gaw, Susan
• Position: Australian Library and Information Association - Conference news

The fourth ALIA New Librarians Symposium was held in Melbourne on 5-6 December 2008. This biennial conference is a forum for new graduates and early career Library & Information Science professionals to network, exchange ideas and learn from one another as well as hear from industry experts and, if they're game, present a first paper.

Well over 250 delegates attended the symposium, including eight National Library staff. The conference theme, 'Breaking Barriers' addressed the topics of breaking barriers to employment and promotion as well as how to overcome professional development and stereotype barriers.

Five keynote speakers gave informative and very entertaining accounts of their various experiences throughout their careers. One who stood out was Elaina Norlin. Elaina gave a very impresive account of the top seven things she had learned during her travels as a Librarian. Elaina, the author of several books encouraged us to 'think big'--her own achievements attest to this philosophy. She spoke of having to overcome stereotype barriers and the trend of library closures in the US and said we need to be proactive not reactive to these situations.

Jill Benn from the University of...