Tertia Coetsee and Marguerite Nel from the Jotello F. Soga Library attended the 10th International Congress on Medical Librarianship and the 6th International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists (6ICAHIS) from 31 August to 5 September 2009 in Brisbane Australia. They were funded by the Library Services Conference funds as well as the self-generated funds of the Jotello F. Soga Library. They were awarded a scholarship from the ICML organisers which further helped to cover their costs. Erica van der Westhuizen (now retired) also attended the veterinary librarians’ conference, 6ICAHIS, and she funded herself.
This Congress is held every four or five years giving the health library sector an opportunity to come together to address major issues confronting the profession.
The 6th International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists (ICAHIS) was held with the ICML. This was the second time the ICAHIS Conference was held in association with the ICML. Following on from the 5th Conference held in South Africa in July 2005, which was hosted by us, it was a great opportunity meeting again other librarians specialising in animal health from around the world to discuss a range of issues relevant to our profession.
Five hundred delegates from over 43 countries attended the 2009 ICML conference in Brisbane. The keynote speakers were outstanding and of a very high quality. To give you an idea, we want to mention some of the outstanding papers:
Jeffery Drazen is the Editor in Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. He discussed the importance of communicating research findings, specifically referring to a research project to develop a new medicine which was supposed to lower cholesterol.
Prof Ian Frazer is the Director of Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine, University of Queensland. He discussed the important role of libraries to preserve knowledge and research for the future.
Another interesting and entertaining presenter was Prof John Pearns, who looked at reasons why some publications become best sellers and others not.
The scientific programme consisted of 6 concurrent sessions each day. One of these sessions was devoted to the ICAHIS conference. There was also an exhibition of posters in the exhibition area.
A paper titled Information services and products for Phytomedicine and Ethno-veterinary medicine: supporting new research niche areas in Africa, was delivered at the ICAHIS session by Tertia and Marguerite. Marguerite also presented another paper, An Investigation into the Information Behaviour of Veterinary Practitioners in South Africa at the same conference. Erica presented a paper, African indigenous knowledge: dissemination of IK related information in the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute Library and the Jotello F. Soga Library, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, which she prepared in collaboration with David Swanepoel, from the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute Library. All these papers are held in a collection in the UQ eSpace repository. The URL is: http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/collection/UQ:179364. It will soon also be available on our own repository, UPSpace.
During the closing ceremony, a brief overview was given on the whole conference and everybody agreed this was one of the best organised ICML conferences ever.
Library visits
Brisbane
The tour to the University of Queensland libraries focused mainly on the physical
facilities. We were impressed with the “State of the Art” facilities and resources
which include amongst others a garden, spaces for multiple learning styles and
access to information technologies.
Open spaces with large areas for study and collaboration, study cubicles in quiet areas as well as a variety of seminar rooms are available with modern, hi tech furniture and facilities to facilitate study and research. Wireless network access is available for all enrolled students. Special areas and facilities are allocated to post graduate students.
Sydney
The Badham library serves the Veterinary faculty of the University of Sydney. They deliver more or less the same services as our Jotello F Soga library, which also serves the Veterinary faculty. The team leader of this library, Karen Black and her team also showed us their electronic products. They focus a lot on developing student’s research and information skills. There is also an increased interest in digital repositories and preservation of the knowledge products of the university as well as the community.
This Congress is held every four or five years giving the health library sector an opportunity to come together to address major issues confronting the profession.
The 6th International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists (ICAHIS) was held with the ICML. This was the second time the ICAHIS Conference was held in association with the ICML. Following on from the 5th Conference held in South Africa in July 2005, which was hosted by us, it was a great opportunity meeting again other librarians specialising in animal health from around the world to discuss a range of issues relevant to our profession.
Five hundred delegates from over 43 countries attended the 2009 ICML conference in Brisbane. The keynote speakers were outstanding and of a very high quality. To give you an idea, we want to mention some of the outstanding papers:
Jeffery Drazen is the Editor in Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. He discussed the importance of communicating research findings, specifically referring to a research project to develop a new medicine which was supposed to lower cholesterol.
Prof Ian Frazer is the Director of Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine, University of Queensland. He discussed the important role of libraries to preserve knowledge and research for the future.
Another interesting and entertaining presenter was Prof John Pearns, who looked at reasons why some publications become best sellers and others not.
The scientific programme consisted of 6 concurrent sessions each day. One of these sessions was devoted to the ICAHIS conference. There was also an exhibition of posters in the exhibition area.
A paper titled Information services and products for Phytomedicine and Ethno-veterinary medicine: supporting new research niche areas in Africa, was delivered at the ICAHIS session by Tertia and Marguerite. Marguerite also presented another paper, An Investigation into the Information Behaviour of Veterinary Practitioners in South Africa at the same conference. Erica presented a paper, African indigenous knowledge: dissemination of IK related information in the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute Library and the Jotello F. Soga Library, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, which she prepared in collaboration with David Swanepoel, from the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute Library. All these papers are held in a collection in the UQ eSpace repository. The URL is: http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/collection/UQ:179364. It will soon also be available on our own repository, UPSpace.
During the closing ceremony, a brief overview was given on the whole conference and everybody agreed this was one of the best organised ICML conferences ever.
Library visits
Brisbane
The tour to the University of Queensland libraries focused mainly on the physical
facilities. We were impressed with the “State of the Art” facilities and resources
which include amongst others a garden, spaces for multiple learning styles and
access to information technologies.
Open spaces with large areas for study and collaboration, study cubicles in quiet areas as well as a variety of seminar rooms are available with modern, hi tech furniture and facilities to facilitate study and research. Wireless network access is available for all enrolled students. Special areas and facilities are allocated to post graduate students.
Sydney
The Badham library serves the Veterinary faculty of the University of Sydney. They deliver more or less the same services as our Jotello F Soga library, which also serves the Veterinary faculty. The team leader of this library, Karen Black and her team also showed us their electronic products. They focus a lot on developing student’s research and information skills. There is also an increased interest in digital repositories and preservation of the knowledge products of the university as well as the community.
We learned a lot from the conference as well as all the visits to other university libraries. We built new contacts through networking with professionals from all over the world, caught up with old friends, shared ideas and discussed similar situations and obstacles.
The photo above shows Erica, Marie Teissier (OIE), Tertia and Marguerite with Brisbane in the background.
[More photos can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/13687587@N03/]
Contributed by Marguerite Nel
[More photos can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/13687587@N03/]
Contributed by Marguerite Nel
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