I’m not there, but Michelle McClean from the Connecting Librarian is.

She’s made several detailed posts summarising the first day’s sessions. Worth checking out.

I love her list of things she’s resolving to do as a result of attending the conference. And this is just after the first day……

• I want a USB stick with an MP3 player and FM tuner in the same piece of hardware.
• I need to look up the e-government strategy and find out any implications for my library.
• I need to have another look at the www.australia.gov.au website and link to it on my library’s website.
• I need to have another look at the AGIMO website, for what’s new/changed.
• I will investigate what the mobile web will mean for our electronic services and will have that as a criteria for our new website design.
• Say in touch with the development of the semantic web.
• Look up more on the governments’ water plan and get more info up on our website on water and the water crisis in Australia.
• Investigate our policy on choosing between hardcopy and electronic resources and if we don’t have one, get one!
• Use James Robertsons advice to avoid as many pitfalls as possible as we begin work on our intranet proper.
• Check out the StepTwo website for relevant articles.
• Look more at staff skills audits, particularly at the type of IT skills our staff need.
• Investigate ways in which our new ILMS can tap into Web 2.0 type initiatives – ie. comments, and/or find others way to provide this type of interaction.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment and fail – try and learn, try and learn.
• Seek potential for external partnerships.
• Keep aware of search engine trends.
• Help our staff development move from training to life long learning – use Learning 2.0 programs.
• Get usability testing as part of our new website design.

The kids start a new school on Wednesday, so I won’t be flying across the continent to attend the Information Online 2007 conference, which runs from Tuesday 30 January to Thursday 1 February.

Instead, I’m looking at the Conference Planner and picking my ideal program.

Like everyone, I like to think of myself as open to new ideas. The papers I found most interesting, however, were those by people I already know. Maybe I’m just interested in the same things as them, or just maybe a personal connection is a BIG influence when choosing papers to attend. Does this mean that if you want to get lots of people to your presentaion next year you should try and hang out with as many people as possible during the cocktail party this year? Only if they like you and remember you, I guess.

Papers which I’m particularly missing are:

• A5: Learning 2.0 Christine Mackenzie, Yarra Plenty Regional Library – because I’d like to compare her experiences with what we did with the MULTA project.
• B6: Why Once is Never Enough: A Case Study of Iterative Usability Testing of a Library’s Online Services Cathy Slaven, Queensland University of Technology – because I heard her speaking at a QULOC seminar about designing web pages for small screens where she was incredibly focussed and clear. She seems to have a thoroughness and methodicalness about her work that someone who can sometimes be a bit eager and slapdash can learn from.
• A8: Blogs, Wikis and Reference Services: Surveying the Australian Library Landscape Kate Watson, University of Sunshine Coast & Chelsea Harper, Central Queensland University. Been looking forward to this one ever since I read about it on LINT.
• All three papers in “Tools of the Trade II ” A11 , A12 and A13, and C12: Using Macromedia Captivate to Create Online Tutorials Sevilay Esat & Lyn Christie, University of NSW. They’re on at the same time, but I’ll be non-attending them simultaneously.

I’m also not meeting up with the rest of the LINT crew, most of whom will be in Sydney at the time. So I won’t be wearing something lint covered so they can identify me, won’t be going out for drinks and won’t be finally meeting the bunch whose ideas I’ve enjoyed so much in the last six months. I’ve previously met CW, Peta and Bronwyn, and will meet up with Fiona next month. Michelle, and the testosterone-y ones – snail, Morgan and Corey – I’m yet to meet. But I’m sure those who are there will blog long and hard about the conference on LINT. (Or enjoy themselves so much that they forget all about blogging the conference – either option sounds good to me)

Informaton Online 2007 has a conference blog, but for some reason it has no RSS feed, only a link to an online form with 11 separate boxes to fill in for an email update. Hmmmmm…I’d leave them a comment about it, but they are not enabled. Hmmmmm….