A post by Business Faculty Librarian Ben Taylorson
Earlier this month I presented a member’s paper at the annual Business Librarian’s Association conference, which this year was taking place at the University of Stirling.
If you’ve not been to Stirling, it’s well worth a visit. It was once the capital of Scotland, and the city is steeped in history and visually dominated by the imposing Stirling Castle. Around every other corner there’s a statue of Robert The Bruce or William Wallace (or at least, it feels that way). The University is a couple of miles outside of the city centre, situated on a magnificent 330-acre estate, centred around a large loch.
I travelled up by train and then walked the couple of miles to the conference. This seemed like the healthy option, but it was also the sweaty option – particularly as the last bit of the walk is uphill. I arrived, perspiring heavily and covered in flies. And I needed to towel down and make myself presentable, as it was during the first afternoon that I presented my paper. The themes of the conference this year were around supporting international students, managing change and the impacts and applications of AI. My paper related to the former, specifically how we support the students at our International Study Centre at Queen’s Campus. I livened up my PowerPoint presentation with some LEGO Harry Potter figures. The rational for their inclusion was quite tenuous, but I had fun (and that’s all that matters).
Actually, the presentation seemed to go down well with the audience (there were about 50 people in attendance). There were several other interesting presentations, giving good insights into what is going on in other institutions around the UK and beyond (across the 3 days we would also have presentations from librarians based in South Africa and Singapore). But more importantly, that night it was THE QUIZ! I’m ashamed to admit that after a tightly-fought contest, my team came joint last. And this was despite me having memorised numerous facts about Stirling in advance, in the hope that they might come up. For example, did you know that:
- Stirling was 900 years old in 2024
- The Wallace Monument is 67 metres (or 220 feet) tall and was completed in 1869
- The wolf is the symbol of the city, owing to one once warning of Danish invaders
On the afternoon of day 2 of the conference, I was afforded the freedom to do what I wanted. And what would I do with that freedom? I took opportunity to climb up to the aforementioned Wallace Monument and take in the spectacular views. As most other colleagues had headed out on a distillery tour instead, this was a solo jaunt. However, it meant I could ascent whilst listening to the theme from Braveheart on my headphones. After all, every man dies – not every man really lives.
That evening we headed for dinner at the Stirling Highland Hotel. The highlight of the evening was a visit to the hotel’s observatory! The building was formerly a school, and the observatory has been there for over 130 years. The telescope still works perfectly, but alas the mirror was away being re-silvered, so we weren’t able to have a look through it.
After a final morning of presentations and networking, I headed home. Again, I opted to walk from the campus to the city centre, this time in the rain. I’d been given a packed lunch in a paper bag which duly dissolved in the drizzle. I did at least rescue the sandwiches, which I ate under a tree which sheltering from the weather. Two street pastors took pity on me and came over for a bit of a chat. Before heading home, I spotted a ‘signed’ Mel Gibson as William Wallace photo collage in a shop. It was a snip at a mere £1,250. I took a photo of it and convinced my wife that I’d bought it.
When I eventually admitted that I hadn’t, she was rather relieved…
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