By Suzana Sukovic
“It seems you had a great day”, said our caterer Andrew at the end of the LARK symposium. “We did”, I responded, “but what makes you think that?” “Lots of discussions and interesting presentations”, he said, and mentioned some. “The talk about manga was particularly interesting to me”, he added. I thought a sense of discovery and connection was the best part of the event, yet this confirmation was both surprising and delightful.
The day was framed by two insightful keynote addresses. Clare Thorpe’s opening keynote considered what practice research (her term for many different names for this concept) has meant in the past and present. From data sets showing trends to influential stories, Clare thoughtfully considered different types of research evidence and their impact on disciplinary knowledge, professional practice, and our ability to shape decision-making. Clare called for a shift in attitudes, making communication a necessary part of research. At the end of the day, in his closing keynote, Jeffery Cruz asked us to think what research means for us and in our work. He spoke about his career and research as its evolving component. Jeffery presented his latest study of the evolution of information services in Australian university libraries and their connection with the changing focus on student experiences, inviting us to think about research with different levels of formality. Our discussions veered toward the consensus that research is a continuum. I found it interesting that, at one point in his career, Jeffery’s answer to “why research?” was “It is in my job title”. Later, over drinks, we came back to a conversation about jobs and job descriptions. Younger colleagues and I wholeheartedly agreed that making research part of our job descriptions is the work we must do.
All the presentations were well-prepared and delivered, covering diverse topics:
- Initiatives on an organisational level – professional learning to deal with uncertainty and complexity around AI (Olivia Inwood & Archana Ditt), and embedding research across high school years with teachers’ engagement (Lily Young & Kimberley Pressick-Kilborn).
- Reading and books – from games to boost interest in reading (Gabrielle Mace) and Japanese manga collections (Yasuyo Inoue) to database development to discover textual connections and influences (Huw Sandaver).
- Community digital inclusion and media literacy (Saffron Howden, Kate Rowe, and a shared presentation by Ash Watson and Meherose Borthwick).
- Volunteer work – at IFLA (Yasuyo Inoue, followed by my presentation of a collaborative study with Anne Goulding investigating diversity and inclusion) and volunteering abroad for capacity building (Andrew Finegan).
The day ended on a high note for me with inspiring conversations about the place of research in daily work and careers, and determination to do more for our shared cause. As someone said, “I knew that individual people do research in practice, but I didn’t know that there is a group and a way to meet other people who do it.” Creating intellectual, digital and physical meeting spaces has been LARK’s labour of love for the last 14 years.
We hope to see you at our next event.
