Up close in Cardiff

Well, this is a jet setting week, today finding me at home in the twilight zone somewhere between Cardiff and Dortmund (should that be the title of a concept album?)

Our CDG National Conference took place yesterday in the fabulous venue of Cardiff City Hall. Never in all my years of giving notices have I had to instruct people “Ladies, turn left at Hywel the Good’ or ‘Gents, take the left just after Henry VII’. We had showers and sunshine too, so I take back my comments about waterproofs

Our speakers were energetic, passionate, interactive, experienced, communicative… they also complemented each other fantastically and left us slightly overwhelmed with their array of issues and case studies and thought-provoking comments.  Liz Jolly held the audience captive as she described work undertaken in Info Services at Salford Uni to push professionalism way up the agenda - establishing mentor and mentee support networks and paying for staff CILIP subscriptions.  Richard Beveridge asked us what we actiually cost our employers and urged us to think about our value and how we can demonstrate our worth tangibly. The audience rose to the occasion too, asking and answering questions and joining in exercises to choose bags that represented them (from Lyndsay Rees-Jones’s world-famous bag collection) and to dissect job descriptions and write competency-based interview questions under the supervision of Laura Perrott. Lori Havard spoke about storyboarding for e-learning at Swansea Uni, prompting me to think how much time we invest in students’ information literacy and how little in our own colleagues’ learning. Lunch was the usual carbo-fest but we needed our strength to keep our brains ticking over all of this stimulation.

Our AGM was followed by a whistle-stop tour of our professional future from new CILIP Councillor and Aberystwyth lecturer Judy Broady-Preston. People were still making insightful comments and asking searching questiojns at 4.30, when it really was time to pack up and leave.

Sue Hill’s own brand champagne went home to be enjoyed responsibly by six lucky raffle winners, adding £30 to our international project funds.

And yes - I did get to visit the Doctor Who Up Close exhibition in Cardiff Bay - and brought home a wee Dalek and Cyberman for the shelf…