Oliver v5 User Conference 2019 – what an amazing day!

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.

“Great variety of sessions, amazing speakers and good ideas to take back to the library/classrooms.”

“As a starting secondary teacher librarian I found all the K-12 sessions incredibly helpful to shape my teaching practice for the future.”

“Wonderful occasion for networking. I spoke to people from Darwin, Cairns and NSW including state, private and catholic schools. So interesting to compare work situations and conditions.”

“A very powerful conference that I feel has enabled my voice as a librarian in the school.”

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.

Dianne McKenzie, School Library Connection – Keynote

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 is such an inspirational speaker and leaves you reflecting on ideas you may not have thought of. Highly valuable!”

“Loved the Keynote session! Lots of very informative and thoughtful information. It will certainly prompt me to re-think how I select books that cater to all needs.”

“I really enjoyed Dianne’s presentation. It was passionate and full of ideas and notions I had not really considered. I have returned to school with great enthusiasm to look at our collection and ensure that we purchase more mirror for our students and that the subject matter is a true reflection and not one that is biased.”

 

“This was an entertaining session. Great to see such passion and love for what she had been doing. Also lots to challenge our thinking. Well done. We have come back interested in checking out the bias that exists in our collection.”

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.

“I personally received the most benefit from the sessions on data and evidence based practice because the information given was practical and will help me determine the effectiveness of what I am teaching.”

 

“Whilst all sessions were interesting, the most useful was Dianne McKenzie’s Evidence based practice. This is something I will be implementing.”

Laurel Ball, Assisi Catholic College

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.

“Laurel Ball – a great session for High School librarians. Lots of relevant and easy to implement ideas to engage students into the library space. A very valuable session for me.”

“Pop goes the library! A really engaging presentation. Came away with more great ideas for what we can introduce to our students.”

“Laurel Ball - YOU ROCK! What a wonderfully different approach to engaging our learners. Laurel was an engaging speaker who is clearly excited about her practice, her students and her school.”

Josephine Laretive, Moriah College

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.

“Josephine provided very practical, usable ideas. That’s what I like!”

“Josephine Laretive – so many wonderful program and lesson ideas that I can’t wait to implement.”

“Information & digital literacy was very practical and provided many ideas and thinking to take away. Josephine provided a list of tasks that align with curriculum.”

Julia Petrov, St Patrick’s College

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.

“Julia Petrov’s presentation was excellent – very useful information and great sharing of knowledge and experience.”

“Julia Petrov was fabulous. Realistic and engaging. Five stars!”

“Petrov. Excellent A fantastic blend of information and she reached the right balance for us.”

Tamara Rodgers, NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge Officer

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.

“Tamara Rodgers was amazing, could listen to her all day. She was so inspiring and shared some wonderful ideas.”

“Tamara was the highlight of the day. Engaging, interesting and inspiring. Love it.”

“My favourite presenter was Tamara Rogers. Her passion for reading was infectious.”

“I particularly loved Tamara Rodgers and her enthusiasm & will be taking many of her ideas on board.”

“Tamara is a dynamo and very inspiring.”

“Tamara Rodgers is always engaging and passionate about books and reading which I find quite inspirational. Quote of conference for me came from Tamara: “Just read. Cos reading matters!” Enough said!”

“Tamara Rodgers - What an incredibly inspiring and motivating speaker. So infectious and, again, I can’t wait to try and implement her ideas so as to motivate our reluctant readers.”

Jeanette Davies, CEO Wollongong

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.

“Jeanette Davies - Wonderful talk increasing my awareness on exactly how much technology is available to assist students with a print disability.”

“You could see and hear that Jeanette had a true passion for what she was saying.”

June Wall, NSW DoE

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.

“June Wall has so much experience and wisdom to share. It was a pleasure to hear her speak!”

 

“Some important reminders in June Wall’s talk to remember why we do what we do. Lots to think about!”

Dion Dias, Softlink Education

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.

“I’m so amazed by the new things coming I can’t think of anything else. But I’m sure the team at Softlink has many more great ideas!”

 

“Love the chance to hear about new enhancements that are ‘coming soon’ Also love the opportunity to give feedback and feel that we are listened to.”

Russell McGrath, Softlink Education

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:

“It was great to have a face-to-face learning session where it was easy to keep up and ask questions.”

“Always enjoy Russell’s training and come away with new knowledge.”

“Thoroughly enjoyed the conference. Wonderful presenters and excellent training (as always!!) by Russell McGrath.”

“Russell is the bomb-diggety 😉”

Students Need School Libraries

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.

Heartfelt thanks!

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.

“A very enjoyable, professional and worthwhile day.”

“A very well organised day with lots of innovative ideas.”

“Fantastic day with some incredible speakers. The venue and catering was amazing - thank you, Best conference I’ve been to in a long time.”

“I got so much out of this day which I can’t wait to share with my faculty. Thank you for all the time and effort you put in to organising such an awesome day.”

“It was fantastic! I loved every part of the day and being able to interact with other Library staff around Australia and learning how they have things set up was amazing to learn.”

 

“This was my first conference and I did not know what to expect but I was completely blown away. A well-structured and delivered conference that I could not say a single negative word about. The location, food, facilities, people, speakers etc. were all amazing and I can’t wait to attend my next one! Thank you!!”

#v5UserConf2019 on Twitter

​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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