On Wednesday the 17th of April I was lucky to attend the SLQ RLQ and Small Libraries Workshop in Cooktown, Far North Queensland. As the Northern Representative for QPLA, I was thankful State Library of Queensland decided to invest their time to heavy into regional Queensland, with two other workshops being held in Cunnamulla and Winton.
The one-day workshop brought neighbouring RLQ and small library staff together for a program focused on enhancing library operations and building collection knowledge, inspiring new ideas for services and programs, and connecting and collaborating with public library colleagues. SLQ Bursaries were on offer as well, which I’d be happy to assist with if you’d like to attend one of next year’s sessions.
The session was made cosy thanks to the inclement weather, with Croydon Library service having to turn around 5 hours into their journey after roads had to be cut due to flooding. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic session made up of discussing challenges, how to overcome limitations within small services, thriving in a community, and of course plenty of laughs.
Katie and Kristina from State Library of Queensland understand RLQ and Small libraries, and it was fantastic to add value where I could around digital literacy programming and adult programming. Attendees from Cooktown and Torres Straight connected, expressing their pain points, and working together to propose solutions.
This is my third time attending an RLQ and Small Libraries workshop hosted by SLQ, and it’s quickly become my favourite PD Day of the year. I strongly encourage any and all who can attend to advocate for attending next year and applying for the SLQ bursary.
If you would like to highlight any activities in the NQ region, please reach out to me.
Jacob Schaumburg, North Queensland Regional Rep.
