Reference at the Metcalfe

I went along to this seminar last week and thought I'd send through a few impressions before the video and presentations become available for you all to view.

Dr John Vallance, the new State Librarian, spoke first up. Although I do not remember the details (and I had not yet thought of my phones memo app for note taking as I did not have a pen) of his talk, the overall impression was of a person who is passionate about accessibility for all, and proud of the staff he manages and who values and will fight for the network of public libraries across NSW.

Digging into data Visualisation with Kate LeMay and Tom Honeyman from the Australian National Data Service @andsdata.

As you can imagine their presentation was very visual highlighting it's effectiveness for getting your point across. Go to  ands.org.au/23-things and see some of their work and learn about how to use research data.
Kate's demonstration (available by following the link) mentioned Anscombes' Quartet, something to be aware of when analysing straight data.

All four sets are identical when examined using simple summary statistics, but vary considerably when graphed

Visualisation allows for many ideas in a small space, which tells a story
eg  Hans roslings 200 cultures 200 years

Tom's  did a practical demonstration of how bad and unrepresentative some graphs can be and the need to pull them apart so you know whether what they are trying to convince you of actually matches the data.
Some tips for good visualisation of data in graphs
Techniques - natural mappings- highlight relevant info
- comparisons are clear and the scale
- colour should add meaning- use conventioms
Tools- use open data visualisation tools eg Google charts,  Python
Clarence regional library has this infographic linked from front and centre of it's websites homepage.

What does reference look like in your library by Catherine Johnson

Catherine talked about the changes we are all seeing in what we do as her take away from Vala 2018 was  transformation is essential to the communities we serve. She talked about the need for libraries to become the customer for and try to use the resources as we are expecting our customers to Online, Mobile, Phones.
I sat there thanking our lucky stars we (mostly) have control of our own website and the skills of Martin to make our resources fully usable across all such devices. Her tales of working with Council IT put ours to shame.
She spoke of Novelist being the future of RA, and the need for clear signposting, - why do we expect people to find there own way???
Lastly Catherine, exorted everyone to read the Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble or or at least watch this video, which has led her to question libraries fundamental organisational structures...Dewey - masochist racist and outdated values from male christian America and
LCSH controlled vocab which is not ours

Drug info & find legal answers with Andrea Curr and Catherine Bryant State Library

We do know about these but they did a practical demo using the resin glasses and getting 6 people to fill a middie with as much green cordial as they thought a standard drink was for the different types of alcohol eg a nip of scotch etc.
Youth week - resin kit display with students..  display the kit on the desk.. ask us!!
Burwood held Bar & Beats - mocktails  etc served 300 people 600 mocktails to high school students in the park as they streamed through to the station from school.
Catalogue the Find legal answers website
High traffic area for tool kit,  display a book on the info desk per day

Lunch was of course brilliant sandwiches

Desk Design: from serving to collaborating (University of Western Sydney) with Lisa Tyson and Anita Ozols

Enquiry Completion rate survey with Kerry - Ann Prideaux Burwwod, Jacinta Craine and Ellen Forsyth State.