On Friday 17 May 2019 Softlink Education held the second Oliver v5 User Conference in Sydney’s beautiful Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Harbour. The weather and location were delightful, setting the scene for a truly amazing day of professional learning and networking.
270+ school library professionals and educators attended to hear the guest keynote speaker and Oliver v5 users present around the theme of Community & Diversity in school libraries.
Feedback from delegates was fantastic, with many people commenting to us during the event and online that they found the day both professionally valuable and enjoyable due to the great atmosphere and opportunities to meet with like-minded professionals from all around Australia.
For those who were unable to attend, or those wanting to look back on the experience, we’ve collated some of the highlights from the day below. Let us know what stood out most for you by emailing communications@softlinkint.com or on Twitter using the hashtag #v5UserConf2019.
For her keynote presentation, Dianne focused on the importance of cultivating diversity in the school library and the various ways library professionals can assess how well their collections reflect different backgrounds, perspectives, and abilities, in order to create a more inclusive offering for students.
Dianne presented an additional session on Evidence Based Practice (EBP) as part of the K-12 stream, complementing Julia Petrov’s presentation on using data to inform reading programs. These sessions were highly valued for the readily applicable content they shared.
As the first speaker in the K-12 stream, Laurel provided both entertainment and inspiration with her presentation about Assisi Catholic College’s innovative uses of pop culture to encourage student engagement in the library.
Laurel presented a range of examples, from creating displays that set the right tone in the library, to competitions, events, and workshops with guest presenters, as well as clubs for a vast number of special interests that appeal to (either or both) primary and secondary students. Of course, there were plenty of visuals showing how students at
Assisi have responded to these innovations (hint: they LOVE it!), and Laurel shared some simple tips for initiating and promoting something similar at your school.
Meanwhile, in the Primary stream, Josephine Laretive explored the importance of engaging younger learners with appealing visuals in her presentation on information and digital literacy for younger learners. Again, delegates were impressed by the practical focus of Josephine’s session, and many came away eager to begin implementing her tips in their own libraries.
Data was a strong focus within the K-12 stream, and attendees heard from several speakers who shared perspectives on the importance of objective information for school library professional practice. Julia’s presentation centred on the different ways that data can inform decisions around reading, literacy and learning programs, as well as at the individual level.
Tamara Rodgers’ passion for stories and reading really shone through in her presentation about supporting reading for leisure and pleasure. Delegates couldn’t help but be drawn into her positive energy and many came away expressing their renewed enthusiasm for nurturing the next generation of readers.
Jeanette’s presentation was full of fantastic practical advice for using new technology and simple tips for adjusting existing practices in order to create a more inclusive school
environment for students with a print disability in the primary school library. Delegates came away with plenty of ideas to try and many commented on the value of what they’d learned from Jeanette’s insights.
In her presentation, June Wall from NSW DoE offered strategies and learning activities for primary and secondary school libraries to support learning in schools. Drawing on her many years’ experience, June invited school libraries to consider their mission and role within the school when considering how best to meet the needs of students.
Softlink Business Analyst, Dion Dias presented on recent product developments. Many of these, including genrefication options for the search interface and email enrichment, were based on feedback from last year’s conference delegates.
Many attendees commented that they loved seeing the results of Softlink’s user-centred development process in action.
Softlink Education Training Manager, Russell McGrath was kept busy all day providing face to face support and additional training for delegates, and his sessions proved VERY popular. We even had to add in extra seats to accommodate all the interest. As you can see, even then, the room was packed! Judging by the feedback, it seems Russell is
everyone’s darling!
Here’s a selection of feedback from those who attended Russell’s sessions:
Before wrapping up for the day, Director of Marketing Nikki Curtis gave a short overview of the nationwide Students Need School Libraries campaign, which Softlink Education is proudly supporting in a number of ways.
To find out more about this extremely worthwhile campaign, visit the Students Need School Libraries website. From the resources page, you can download resources to help advocate for school libraries, including flyers, posters, and a short animated video produced for the campaign by Softlink.
Thank you to everyone who attended this year’s Oliver v5 User Conference, and special thanks to our sponsors Britannica, ClickView, Infobase, JCS Online Resources, and Renaissance. We received so many comments about the incredibly vibrant atmosphere on the day, and this success is in large part due to the warmth and enthusiasm of everyone present.
Follow us on Twitter and keep your eye on the Softlink Events page and Blog for news about other exciting events from Softlink Education.
Here’s a collation of tweets using the hashtag #v5UserConf2019 kindly put together by Dianne McKenzie. If you’re a Twitter user, please follow us to stay up to date with news from Softlink Education.
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