Tag: canberra

“Just Waiting for the Locusts, Really”: OECD Government After Shock Interviews with Innovation Norway & National Library of Australia

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“Smoke, fire, hail, and pestilence…we’re just waiting for the locusts, really” – the wry and insightful Marie-Louise Ayres, who heads the National Library of Australia in Canberra, talked to me about guiding her unique federal institution through the many challenges faced by the Australian capital in 2020.

You can hear what Marie-Louise had to say on the OECD’s Government After Shock podcast.

I also spoke with Håkon Haugli, CEO of Innovation Norway, a state body which promotes sustainable growth and exports for Norwegian businesses through capital and expertise. Håkon talks about moving to a digital workplace, the struggle to preserve multilateralism, and embracing the messy nature of innovation. His episode of the podcast can be found here.

Battle for Library Island @ALIAnls workshop notes

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The team behind this year’s NLS8 conference have released notes from my Battle for Library Island workshop in PDF, PPT, and Keynote formats.

You can see some of the activities we used as warm-ups for this creative approach to organisational strategy and vision, plus enjoy video from the raucous, dramatic session itself.

Visit NLS8’s Figshare account to download materials from Canberra’s Battle for Library Island or read more about the game, and the philosophy behind it, here.

There’ll be more Library Island at LIANZA 17 in Christchurch, New Zealand, this September.

Sing Me A Library: @IAMLAustralia keynote 2017 in Canberra #IAMLCBR

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I’ll be back in Canberra on 28th September to give the opening keynote of the music librarians’ conference, IAML Australia 2017.

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Mike Allred, “MADMAN”

“Sing Me A Library” will explore managing knowledge through sound, and outline some future directions for music-led information science.

Coming hot on the heels of my trip to New Zealand, you can expect something a little lively and a little bit different – raising the stakes from last year’s journey into TV themes, cultural history, and heavy metal.

You can see the full IAML Australia programme (PDF download) here.

Library Island hits #nls8

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My professional development roleplay Library Island visited the New Librarians Symposium at the National Library of Australia last weekend.

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Librarians old and new joined forces to explore their work with communities in new, messy, and productive ways.

Going beyond the vogue for design thinking, the safe, fictional space of “Library Island” allowed us to engage with knotty questions of office politics, limited resources, managerial edicts, and library users who are sometimes airbrushed out of “future visions” – such as homeless people or those whose behaviour might be challenging to staff. Read more →

Let’s Do Something Awesome

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I’m off to the Australian capital Canberra tomorrow to work with Libraries ACT on their annual training day.

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We’ll be looking at creative approaches to community engagement, and sharing some neat little tools from my team, including the WELCOME Toolkit for programme design. Read more →

Library Island at NLS8, Canberra

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I’ll be running an interactive workshop, Library Island, at the 8th New Librarians’ Symposium in Canberra, Australia, this June.

There will be drama, there will be danger – and the freedom to reimagine librarianship in a whole new way.

Watch this space for more information nearer the time. Or sign up for the conference today.

Marvellous, Electrical: Vienna in Canberra

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What values have migrants brought to Australia over the years? How have they changed the nation’s culture? Have they broken laws in an attempt to impose foreign ways of life on the population?

Letter to Gus Petersilka from Canberra government

Gus Petersilka of Canberra did. By putting out tables and chairs on the sidewalks of Australia’s capital, he forced the uptight city government to acknowledge, accept, and ultimately embrace convivial traditions of outdoor dining.

Gus' Cafe, abandoned in Canberra CBD, 2016

Now Gus’ Cafe is gone.

Read its story at Marvellous, Electrical.

Stealing fire from the gods: Keynote address to Canberra Early Literacy Conference

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On 13th September, I spoke in Australia’s Parliament House at the inaugural meeting of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Early Literacy, followed by a keynote address to the third annual Paint the Town REaD Early Literacy Conference.

Paint the Town REaD (PTTR) is the Australian initiative which encourages families, carers and the wider community to ‘read, talk, sing and rhyme with your child from birth.’

Paint the Town REaD's Reading Bug

I tend to give speeches the same way I used to prepare my classroom as an infant school teacher: research the topic, put loads and loads of resources into place, then allow free play across the interests and needs of the audience. Today’s blog post captures a few highlights from the conference’s keynote discussion, assembled under the hashtag #occupyliteracy.

Read more →