Home



	Home

	2003 Conference 2002 Speakers

	2002 Delegates

	Celebration of Literature

	E-mail

The Somerset Conference for Librarians, Teachers et al.

Friday 28th March 2003

An Academic Forum for International Research on Reading.

Focus on Reading:

What's In! What's Not! Who Says! Who Cares!

Speaker Papers
Adrian Ashman
Andrew Stark
Clayton Massey
Donna McGrath
Ron Jobe
Chris Sarra
Mark Macleod
Somerset Student (Technician): Peter Kilby

In-House ConferenceWrap.

Michael Jacobson (aka Jake, Gold Coast Bulletin, journalist, author), was heard to quip, as he carefully recited the entire conference title for the Cocktail Party launch audience, "don't know who this Al bloke is! " and when I assured Michael, on the weekend that Al had coped well at the conference this year, he commented, seriously, that he was going to make a point of attending it himself next year.   It is a pity he didn't make it this year as it was a really worthwhile day that provided a large number of very diverse speakers and I think he would have enjoyed the laconic delivery of Dr Don Watson as much as anyone there.

The conference was graciously opened by Mrs Barbara Arnison, wife of the Governor of Queensland, His Excellency Major General Peter Arnison, who impressed all in the room with her sincerity and intimate knowledge of Librarianship. She then stayed on to hear our overseas guest, Professor Ron Jobe from UBC Canada speak on his area of expertise, reluctant readers who he terms "Info Kids"; those children who want only to read the facts. The remaining nine speakers, including the Chair, Dr Karen Moni were very impressive, inspirational and passionate and managed to impart both their knowledge and enthusiasm in generous doses to an enraptured audience.

Just a quick précis of what the conference is attempting to do. We have, for a number of years attempted to cater for Librarians through the Celebration of Literature by providing 'Librarian Packages". One such package allows Teacher-Librarians to have free access to the Thursday programme and from all accounts this is taken up and appreciated by a very large number of them. We were also conscious of the fact that there is very little in the way of Personal Development programmes for Librarians run on the Gold Coast thus the conference took shape and we had our first in 2002. Last year, we had 73 participants and this year 119 with many of the Librarians who attended last year attending the second event. This year we also attracted a number of teachers and of course 'al'. The accounting process has not been finalised but we are looking like paying our way. We are grateful to our sponsors, Radisson Resort, Functional Solutions, BES Information Technology Systems and Robina Land Corp. for their assistance.

As with any big event, there are many people to thank and in doing this I would like to start at the top and thank the Headmaster for conceiving of the idea and for encouraging it to come to fruition. The moral support and best wishes extended to us by the Somerset staff has also been very much appreciated, especially as the staging of it in the middle of the Celebration of Literature doesn't allow them to attend.

There are two parent volunteers we wish to thank for their assistance, Jan Hamilton and Susana Bosanac. Jan for her seemingly effortless gathering of the conference speakers into her busy transport timetable, already overburdened with authors from the Celebration of Literature. Susana for her 'kill them with kindness' attitude towards everyone she comes in contact with during the Celebration of Literature but who decided to give extra attention to the conference speakers. SueTrethewey's backdrop was once again a feature of the venue and GT and Sue's assistance in getting it to the Radisson, taking time out from their long -service break to do so, was very much appreciated. Rob Mulder's assistance with equipment hire and allowing us the services of his best student-technician has earned him our eternal gratitude and there are not enough superlatives to tell you what sort of a job Peter Kilby, sound and lighting technician, clever student, all-round fine person accomplished on that day.

Peter has promised to give me a review of the speeches from his point of view and I can make them available to interested parties, as well as the conference papers on our web site www.somerset.qld.edu.au/conflib    The password to the site will be supplied to delegates and speakers and to Somerset staff and parents on request, so please let me know if you wish to gain access.

Finally, we have already had communication from an English leader in the literacy field, who is prepared to be a keynote speaker for us in 2004, so I urge you to watch this space for more information on next Somerset Conference for Librarians, Teachers et al.

Head of Library Services - Conference Director