By Suzana Sukovic
Now that New Year resolutions and plans are on the fast track to reality, it is time to tell everyone what LARK has on its collective mind for this, still fresh and promising year. On 30 November last year, a group of LARK’s faithful and some new people celebrated another successful year and made plans for this one, but we waited for your full attention to tell you what we have in store for LARK.
This year LARK will become 5 years old. In the life of a small, predominantly online group, without a stable institutional home and a big following, this is quite an achievement. On the other hand, research has never been and probably never will be a mass endeavour. In our meeting at the end of last year, we decided we are happy to keep it that way. After all, LARK has thrived this long thanks to the efforts of a small group of committed people. With an online presence and global community, small is a relative thing. Last month’s LARK blog had 7561 views. That is in the month when only one post was published and everyone was frantically busy with end of year work and celebrations. LARK’s face-to-face gatherings easily fit around a café or large dining table, but many people across the globe take part in our online activities.
Connections are certainly spreading in Australia. Our exciting news is that this year we will start a LARK chapter in South Australia. Liz Walkley Hall, who has led a research group at the Flinders University Library, will organise LARK face-to-face events in Adelaide and participate in shaping LARK’s online events. We plan to keep the collective spirit by organising simultaneous face-to-face events in Sydney and Adelaide.
LARK will keep the tradition of offering four events a year. A mix of online and face-to-face events worked well last year so we will do the same in 2017.
• Week 20 February: Our first meeting will be online. In this meeting we will connect with health professionals to discuss shared interests and learn from each other. Our guests are experienced researchers in rural and remote NSW. It will be an excellent opportunity for professionals from all over Australia, particularly, rural and remote areas, to connect.
• Beginning of May: We will kick-start the South Australian LARK chapter by organising simultaneous face-to-face meetings in Adelaide and Sydney.
• Week 20 September: Our fifth anniversary will be celebrated with the most ambitious event of the year. Watch this space!
• Late November or early December: as always, time to celebrate and network.
• #EBLIPRG (Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Reading Group) on Twitter is officially a separate initiative. In reality, with Liz and me involved with both LARK and #EBLIPG, the separation line is pretty blurry. This year #EBLIPRG will meet every second month on the last Thursday of a month.
26 January: The first #EBLIPRG meeting this year.
I hope you are thinking that you would like to get involved. It would be a great way to kick-start your research project or connect with like-minded people. If you aren’t working in libraries and are thinking whether it is the right group for you, I can assure you that the “library” in “LARK” is just for the sake of a good acronym. People who come to our gatherings are from the broad library and information field. Over the years, we had quite a few teachers who easily found common topics with library and information professionals and academics.
How to connect?
• Come to our online and face-to-face events. Everyone is welcome.
• Volunteer to present or help out with the organisation of events. LARK events are attended by friendly people.
• Write a blog post and send it to lark.kollektive(at)gmail.com. I read this email a few times a week and will get back to you quickly. Any suggestions can be sent to this email too.
• Send research and EBP news to the mailing list (see left hand side of this page for details).
• Like us on Facebook.
• Tell your colleagues about LARK and our events. Even better, join us together.
Hope to get in touch online or in face-to-face meetings!
This year LARK will become 5 years old. In the life of a small, predominantly online group, without a stable institutional home and a big following, this is quite an achievement. On the other hand, research has never been and probably never will be a mass endeavour. In our meeting at the end of last year, we decided we are happy to keep it that way. After all, LARK has thrived this long thanks to the efforts of a small group of committed people. With an online presence and global community, small is a relative thing. Last month’s LARK blog had 7561 views. That is in the month when only one post was published and everyone was frantically busy with end of year work and celebrations. LARK’s face-to-face gatherings easily fit around a café or large dining table, but many people across the globe take part in our online activities.
Connections are certainly spreading in Australia. Our exciting news is that this year we will start a LARK chapter in South Australia. Liz Walkley Hall, who has led a research group at the Flinders University Library, will organise LARK face-to-face events in Adelaide and participate in shaping LARK’s online events. We plan to keep the collective spirit by organising simultaneous face-to-face events in Sydney and Adelaide.
LARK will keep the tradition of offering four events a year. A mix of online and face-to-face events worked well last year so we will do the same in 2017.
• Week 20 February: Our first meeting will be online. In this meeting we will connect with health professionals to discuss shared interests and learn from each other. Our guests are experienced researchers in rural and remote NSW. It will be an excellent opportunity for professionals from all over Australia, particularly, rural and remote areas, to connect.
• Beginning of May: We will kick-start the South Australian LARK chapter by organising simultaneous face-to-face meetings in Adelaide and Sydney.
• Week 20 September: Our fifth anniversary will be celebrated with the most ambitious event of the year. Watch this space!
• Late November or early December: as always, time to celebrate and network.
• #EBLIPRG (Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Reading Group) on Twitter is officially a separate initiative. In reality, with Liz and me involved with both LARK and #EBLIPG, the separation line is pretty blurry. This year #EBLIPRG will meet every second month on the last Thursday of a month.
26 January: The first #EBLIPRG meeting this year.
I hope you are thinking that you would like to get involved. It would be a great way to kick-start your research project or connect with like-minded people. If you aren’t working in libraries and are thinking whether it is the right group for you, I can assure you that the “library” in “LARK” is just for the sake of a good acronym. People who come to our gatherings are from the broad library and information field. Over the years, we had quite a few teachers who easily found common topics with library and information professionals and academics.
How to connect?
• Come to our online and face-to-face events. Everyone is welcome.
• Volunteer to present or help out with the organisation of events. LARK events are attended by friendly people.
• Write a blog post and send it to lark.kollektive(at)gmail.com. I read this email a few times a week and will get back to you quickly. Any suggestions can be sent to this email too.
• Send research and EBP news to the mailing list (see left hand side of this page for details).
• Like us on Facebook.
• Tell your colleagues about LARK and our events. Even better, join us together.
Hope to get in touch online or in face-to-face meetings!
Dr Suzana Sukovic, librarian with a meandering career, is now Executive Director, Educational Research and Evidence Based Practice at HETI (Health Education and Training Institute). She is ready for some inspiring interprofessional learning this year.
Twitter @suzanasukovic
No comments:
Post a Comment