President’s Message, September 2025
Hello all,
Do you prefer beginnings or endings? The start of something new and exciting or the closure of something satisfying and absorbing? A blank page or final edits? Cracking open a new bottle of sauce or tapping the bottom to release the final few drops?
My colleague Nigel Fabb recently gave a valedictory lecture to mark his retirement where he proposed that Endings are Better than Beginnings. In characteristically engaging fashion, Nigel canvassed friends and colleagues for their favourite endings from music, film, literature, and why this ending was significant. From this he proposed fascinating range of endings, the mechanism behind them, and their affordances to the audience. One of his take-homes was the endings are not objective situations but rather experiences that have been shaped by our relationship to what has gone before.
Of course, new-ness has its appeal as well – maybe this is why we have more outlets devoted to News than Olds. Many of us engage in research for the thrill of the new but still appreciating that we are guided by the treasures and wisdom of the past. And even old dogs can learn new tricks; in June I had the pleasure of attending a workshop organised by Shannon Crawford Barniskis, Jenna Hartel, Keith Munro, and Laura Williams at the CoLIS2025 conference called Feel It in Your Bones: Incorporating the Body in Embodied Information Practice Research Outputs where we were encouraged to ‘to engage in bodily understanding of information behaviour concepts through poetry, music, art, and movement.’ And to use Play-Doh to visualise an information practice. I can tell you now that my creativity has been UNLEASHED by Play-Doh.
This season in ASIS&T we have a rush of ‘new’: a new joint community coming from your decision to approve the merger with SLA, a new strategic framework, and an Annual Meeting that promises lots of new ideas, new findings, new proposals, and chances to meet new people and hear new voices. Some of you will be stepping down from a volunteer role and many of you will be taking on new volunteer roles within ASIS&T and we thank you in advance for willingness to give your time and talents to our community. We hope your experience will be a positive one for you. At the Annual Meeting your Board of Directors will be also be refreshed (more beginnings and endings) and new colleagues will help direct your organization. Please do reach out to them to offer ideas, feedback, and inspiration.
In only a couple of months we will celebrate award winners, socialise, and engage in discussions at the Annual Meeting. If you are attending for the first time, please take advantage of the friendly atmosphere and of the many social occasions. Do make connections, make friends, and start new conversations.
Towards the end of the year, we will have the Virtual Satellite Meeting. I am delighted to announce that this year’s President’s Lecture will be given by Professor Ina Fourie, University of Pretoria, as the keynote for this meeting. Many of you will already know Ina and her fascinating body of empathetic and distinctive research. I truly look forward to being able to introduce this lecture.
The Annual Meeting is part of a year-long program of events, webinars, and training opportunities. Whether you are starting a new project, a new position, a new period in your professional life or you are finishing that paper, completing a proposal, or ending a position, we hope you find inspiration and support from the ASIS&T community.