Report written by Amy Mann, Toowoomba City Council
I thoroughly enjoyed attending the 2025 LEaD conference, where the themes of resilience and wellbeing were highly valued by attendees. Many of the workshops and sessions focused on helping staff navigate the challenging community behaviours emerging across Queensland. These sessions provided invaluable insights into creating workplaces that prioritize safety and resilience, while also addressing industry-wide challenges related to personal workplace safety.
The event offered a fantastic mix of keynote speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities, allowing attendees to reconnect with colleagues from across the state and stay up to date with the latest developments from State Library Queensland. It was also a chance to explore emerging technologies and trends from industry partners and suppliers.
The conference also included an inspiring tour of JCU’s Eddie Koiki Mabo Library, a Brutalist architectural landmark, which is home to an extraordinary collection of artworks by renowned Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. Another unforgettable stop was the Riverway Library & Arts Centre, located along the stunning Ross River and surrounded by the lush Townsville native Rain Trees.
One of the highlights for me, was Dr. Jane Garner’s workshop in which she guided delegates in exploring the increasingly difficult behaviours that library staff face from our communities, including rising violence, aggression, and vicarious trauma in the library setting. Dr. Beth Wahler also provided crucial insights into the growing social service-related needs of our communities and how libraries can collaborate with external service industries to strengthen community connections and access to social support resources. Both of these sessions were incredibly insightful and thought provoking on the impact on short- and long- term wellbeing that this exposure has on staff, and how important it is as an individual to take time for reflection, recovery and self-care when it is needed – something that I think often gets pushed aside and forgotten.
Some of the key messaging that I will be sharing with my colleagues, is that there is a strong need to be working with our parent organisation and our industry bodies to ensure there are enough supports in place for addressing the emotional and psychological wellbeing of staff. For my workplace, I am really keen to look at how we can implement strategies discussed at conference to reduce exposure to direct and vicarious trauma in our workplace, and look at what our organisation can to better to protect staff. I am also excited to be working with colleagues to look at how we can implement trauma-informed care for our staff, and how we can equip staff through training, policies, systems and other supports to handle traumatic incidents appropriately.
I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity the QPLA bursary provided, allowing me to attend this remarkable event. I also deeply appreciate the ongoing work QPLA is doing to support staff from libraries and Indigenous Knowledge Centres across the state.
Amy Mann
Principal Library Operations and Planning
