Roaming bands of Librarians invade Moncton...

Doesn't strike terror in the heart does it? There really was a band but it was a ukulele jam.  For five days the Canadian Association of Law Librarians met in warm and sunny (!!!) Moncton, NB for their annual conference.  You can get a flavour of the conference by following the tweet stream from the conference. Great to see old friends and make new ones, and we will all remember the closing reception at Parlee beach when the power went out!

I wanted to share a few of my favourite moments from the conference:

Fred Headon, Chair of the CBA’s Legal Futures Initiative, was our first keynote and raised questions about the direction of the legal profession.  He drew on his experience as In-House Counsel with Air Canada (we learned lots about pilots and airline processes, and a few things about dentists) to ask how the profession can innovate to place the client at the centre of service delivery.  Relevant question for librarians as I often feel our innovations still have us at the centre. Favourite Quotes (via @conniecrosby): "Law today looks a lot like his grandfather's law practice in Moosejaw - unlike other industries that have changed", (via @smireau) "There is not much sacred about how we do our jobs."

Jen Adams and Jon Shapiro (and Mark Lewis in spirit) deserve mention for their presentation on using online student engagement platforms in the classrooms to transform mundane content to an interactive experience.  They demonstrated that the tech use was rooted in their pedagogy and more than a cool trend.  The use of technologies like this in their flipped classroom experiment is cutting edge and it is important we share these innovations. Favourite quote: "Just ask my students, I'm like this all the time."

Annette Demers breakout session on "Beyond Bureaucracy: Building a User Centred Library from the Ground Up" was inspired by her own frustrating library experiences.  Indignation is usually the root of revolution.  She spoke about transforming services from top down bureaucracies to client centred where we ask "how can we make this happen?" I loved her enthusiasm and passion! Favourite quotes: "we are soft-shelled organisms on a ball of burning rock hurtling through space. Change is likely," "My job as a leader is to resource you," and "bureaucracy, patriarchy and micromanagement stifle employee engagement and initiative."

Surprisingly, Law Prof. Wayne MacKay's presentation "Effectively Responding to Cyberbullying: There's No App for That" struck a nerve for me.  I say surprisingly, as Wayne and I work in the same faculty and I have heard his presentation before.  He questions how it is that someone could bully another in this way so cruelly "just for fun."  I think we have created digital "Lords of the Flies" islands where immature people are left to govern themselves and then we are surprised by the results.  There were lots of solutions suggested like restricting access to the Internet and better parental tech training, but it struck me that with the speed technology changes we will never be ahead of the curve.  I wondered if we need to be teaching ethics rather than tech to parents, teachers, and students.  Here is where my personal beliefs are reflected: in our increasingly ego-centric and self-gratifying world, we all need to be reminded that we are each made in the image of God, by virtue of that, each of infinite value, and how we treat those around us will have eternal consequences for good and for evil.

Lots more sessions, and I can't describe them all. It was a good conference, I learned a lot, and they fed me well (far, far too well).

Photo Credit: JoshJRobbins, P1010511 https://www.flickr.com/photos/35699781@N07/6073292857/ cc licence.


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