Bibcamp4 – experiences with organizing an unconference as a student

By Sanita Maleja

On the 18th of March 2010 the unconference Bibcamp4 was held at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia in Riga and was organized by LIS students.

The idea of organizing the unconference came to our minds when the question of the next BibCamp would occur. Students took the initiative as previous organizers didn’t show any for various reasons.

The first brainstorming was held on the 5th of February in which the overall topic of the unconference was decided: “Librarian education: significance, trends, necessity”. The further organization of the event took place on a wiki where all the students shared their ideas and updated tasks. It was the most convenient way as the organizers could not meet in person often. As it was the first experience of organizing such an event, we used the support and guidance of our associate professors which was a great help.

The organizing skills gained at our studies were a benefit so we could adjust ourselves with future tasks. Kristine and Viktorija took care of the blog and twitter account, while Ella and Silva planned the unconference to invite participants for the discussions.  Anna was in charge of PR while Sanita and Gunita prepared all the premises for the technical support. Lastly, the project supervisor was Dace. The main goal was to be creative so we can ensure that we had fun while fulfilling our responsibilities.

To ensure success with followed key “rules to success.” We had planned some presentation in-advance which, were welcomed warmly, additionally, the participants shared their own presentations. To ensure that the presentations would not be interrupted, we did not allow guests to walk or exit freely during presentations. The main purpose was to connect involve participants in the discussions in which the professionals had the most convenient way to come to creative solutions. The only planned events at the unconference were the panel discussion on librarian education and its compliance with actual needs of a library and current labor market (employers and employees of libraries as well as students were invited for debates) to focus on group discussions. The latter were held in two groups – students and professionals – each brainstorming on usage of information technologies while studying. The results will be used for the development of the LIS curriculum. The direction of the department of faculty of social sciences is currently working on considerable changes.  Study program is being overhauled to make it more progressive and suitable for the present state and needs of libraries.

Registration for the unconference

To get a provisional number of participants we opened an online registration two weeks prior to the event with about 14 presentations announced, many of them being held by the leading professionals in LIS in Latvia. On the day of unconference 107 participants registered in person, only 40 of them being students and workers of the faculty which is a very good index comparing it to previous years.

Sharing experiences, getting inspired, staying connected! – Call for action

One of the main goals of the NPSIG is to connect New Professionals globally. In our opinion sharing knowledge and experiences about ongoing projects, initiatives, conferences, and other professional activities forms an integral part of the process. Whether local, national or international, every story has its own benefits for the community when being shared. Even more, when it is told by New Professionals who are involved on-site.

Therefore we are very happy that the first report about such a professional experience is soon to appear in this blog! In the near future we would like to showcase various stories on a regular basis. So if you are working on an interesting project, have been to an exciting conference or want to share your thoughts about anything else related, you are invited to spread your personal experience to all the New Professionals out there. Just let us know. The more we learn from each other, the stronger our community will become.