Md. Nazim Uddin, Ph.D. filed the following report about his participation in the APLIC Conference. The event provided him with the opportunity to connect with several valuable resources.

A Hirsh Library (Tufts) librarian speaks with Md. Nazim Uddin of Bangladesh

Going to conferences energizes me. It rejuvenates my focus and my determination, and I always find new ideas that I want to implement while learning from some of the best mentors. It’s a great way to connect with new friends in our information-collecting and distribution fields. APLIC organized such a conference this year from 28-30 April 2014 in Boston, USA. I absolutely loved attending my first APLIC Conference. I had no idea before there were so many USA based library professionals like me. The people, who attended the conference, were learned, trained, skilled, and highly professional. A great benefit of attending APLIC conference is meeting people who can help me on my path. Basking in that energy for a few days totally raised my vibration. Attending this conference also reduced another knowledge gap because I was able to share HINARI information equity between developed and developing countries. I was honoured to be one of the session presenters, with renowned population library professionals and academic scholars presenting their papers in various sessions of the conference.

icddr,b Library is one of the active members of the Association of Population / Family Planning Libraries and Information Centers – also known as APLIC International (APLIC). We obtain and supply information from and to APLIC. icddr,b Library has benefited by participating in this APLIC resource sharing programme. I was invited by APLIC to attend their 47th annual conference held in Marriott Copley Place, Boston, USA. In fact, APLIC provided me US$ 1775.00 as stipend that includes registration fee, snacks and a banquet dinner during the period of the conference. The main theme of the conference was “Exploring the Collaborative Common Ground”.

Why did I want to participate in the conference?

• to present a paper titled “A Study on the Use and Impact of HINARI: Bangladesh perspective,” to share ideas and exchange views with the participants of the conference on resource sharing programmes and to advance the delivery of information services in Bangladesh.
  to meet Mr. John Carper, Librarian of John Snow, Inc. Training and Research Institute Library. He is the person who may be considered as a leader in our APLIC resource sharing program
• to visit the Boston Public Library; the School of Medicine Library at Tufts University; and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum archives.
• I heard experts talking about content curation, data visualization, innovations, services, Sharepoint, and media technologies. Participation in this international conference allowed me to learn about many new informatics tools. As our print to digital libraries change, those new services can be applied in our setting over the years to cope with the new environment effectively and efficiently.

I enjoyed the conference and our visits to several different Boston area libraries. I am grateful to the management and member colleagues of APLIC for their encouragement and fellowship funds to attend.