Handwritten Exhibition Christmas Function 2011

2011 ended with a fabulous get together of ALIA groups and members at the National Library of Australia. 60 attended – a testament to the strength of our profession in the ACT.

The URLS convenor Aileen Weir at the behest of other groups members agreed to organise a joint Christmas function at the National Library on 7 December to celebrate another year of professional workshops and events. Aileen organised a great function and by opening up the Handwritten exhibition to us afterhours got a very good turnout of 60 librarians in all. With the help of Cathy Burton, the tables in the Ferguson Room for supper were very Christmassy with decorations and a array of festive fare to temp all of us into celebrate through eating and drinking as well as talking and sharing information.

It was wonderful to see such a gathering of librarians in the one place from all sectors such as the ACT Group, University and Research libraries, Library technicians and the One Person Library group. All groups were well represented and contributed to the festive fare. It was a wonderful to see the Handwritten exhibition to view handwriting samples of many famous historical individuals such as Copernicus, Martin Luther and Einstein. You read the biographies of such people but what brings them to life for real is to see how they worked on their rough drafts and you could in some cases see the thought processes behind the writing. and how they actually formed their letters. What I found interesting was that most wrote in a very clear copperplate hand or at the very least a legible hand unlike my own illegible scribble . It made me wonder how much copying work many had done as children to achieve a legible clear hand. I was also pleased to see several had rather illegible handwriting and therefore to know that others have failings like the rest of us such as scribbly writing so not even intellectual giants are free of imperfection.

We want to thank Cathy Burton and Aileen Weir for doing a sterling job in organising such a pleasant end of year event for all us and arranging for us to view the Handwritten exhibition at our leisure without the crowds I suspect it will draw. We also want to thank Kym Holden of AGLIN as well as ALIAActive, Beth Rogers of OPALS and all of the others who contributed to our festive fare for the function, it was appreciated.

We also acknowledge that such functions only happen because other library professionals give of their time to make such events a reality.

Karna O'Dea

ALIAActive convenor

ALIAActive Spring dinner 2011

The ALIAACtive Spring dinner was attended by about 20 people at the southern Cross Yacht club on 28 September 20111. As usual it was a good cross section of librarians form across the library sectors. The company was excellent and the meal pleasant with people catching up on gossip as well as networking with others they have not seen for a while. Mid evening Kym Holden was awarded the ALIAActive Outstanding contribution award 2011 by Roxanne Missingham for all her efforts over a very long period of time, supporting and leading AGLIN as well as doing more than her share for ALIAActive events. Renee Schuttleworth who has consistently organised the Midwinter dinner over several years was thanked for her work by the ALIAActive Committee.

Next year we are proposing to have the dinner at the Scholar Restaurant in Dickson or somewhere similar.

New Librarians Symposium 2011 Encore report

New Librarians Symposium 5 (16-18 September 2011) Conference Report

Keynote highlights

Mal Booth, UTS

• The UTS Library is preparing for the future, turning their library into a place for people, rather than storage for books.

• They will be putting the books in an underground vault with robotic retrieval, while improving methods of online discoverability.

• They hope to use RFID in a different way to how it has been implemented thus far, collecting data on internal use of items, not just loans.

• Their people focus will extend to how they treat and train staff, as well as to the design of their buildings.

• Challenged us to think about how we serve our clients, curate our collections, be sustainable, and prepare for changing expectations.

• This presenter was a force of nature and my notes hardly do him justice. Please see http://www.slideshare.net/malbooth/presentation-to-alia-nls5-2011

Kathryn Greenhill, Curtin University

• Everyone has different backgrounds and comes to the job with a set of internal ‘rules’ that they have developed over the years. No one is ‘wrong.’

• Are workplace conflicts related to a real issue, or just differences in the way people operate?

• You can’t change others. All you can change is you.

• People who do not know what we do will not fund us.

• Committee meetings do not get things done.

• Just ask. Your boss may be happy for you to do that training if you just let them know etc.

David Lee King, Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library

• Pointed out that, to some, the online library presence will in effect be their only branch.

• Demonstrated how his library engaged these people, using technology to enable two-way communication and conversations, and the discovery of resources.

• Outside the website they use social media to engage different age groups, promote events, break news, provide support etc.

Research and writing

A number of the presentations and workshops were devoted to the topic of academic research and writing. We were encouraged, as practitioners, to take up the challenge to expand the academic literature by identifying something we were working on, and/or passionate about and trying to get published. This benefits both ourselves, and the profession.

The keynote by Katie Davis, an associate lecturer at QUT, reinforced this, but also brought our attention to a new way to approach the issues. She proposes turning our current model of puzzle solving – evidence-based theory – into real problem solving by hybridising it with design thinking. More info @ http://katedavis.info/?page_id=43

Advice from managers

A few notes from this workshop:

• Challenge the story you tell yourself about your capabilities; extend yourself.

• Record all difficulties with difficult people – internal and external.

• You don’t have to do it all by yourself. Use the strengths of others in the org and avoid the silo mentality. Learn from people outside the profession.

• You may have great ideas, but do they align with the org’s role?

• Mistakes are opportunities to learn, be humble, re-evaluate and learn respect.

• And from the speaker retiring that day: Don’t treat staff like mushrooms; kept in the dark and fed BS.

Programs to note

RMIT new tech club

A group from RMIT Library gave an overview of a work sponsored lunch time club they had formed to investigate the ways they could use new technologies.

The organisation bought them iPads, iPhones and other products to experiment with.

They began without any real objective, and one poor person who had to always report to management. They realised this was a mistake.

Since re-evaluating their purpose and structure, they have been more successful. iP(roducts) are now put to good use in roaming reference services. The also use Writeboard for collaboration across the organisation.

State Library of Victoria’s Shared Leadership Program

This was new to me, but has apparently been running for a while. The State Library of Victoria funds this program where participants, nominated from public libraries, learn to lead through the collaboration of those involved. Over 5 months, with 10 afternoons of contact time, they must agree on a mutual objective, and allocate tasks to take advantage of each person’s strengths. It sounds like an excellent way to foster team skills, as well as teamwork with internal and external partners.

Ideas

iTunes U

This is a section of the iTunes store where educational institutions upload free lectures for people to access. A presentation on this trial at the University of Tasmania made me think this might be a good online vehicle for our library lectures. On further reflection, a YouTube channel might be a better avenue due to better:

• compatibility – will work easily on non-Apple devices

• discoverability – will appear in Google search results

• required resources – server space and professional IT support would not be required to start and maintain

Robin Bell

Library Technicians Conference Encore 2011; New Librarians Symposium Encore 2011

Almost 20 attended the conference encore at the National Library on 19 October. A YouTube of Rachel Green, one of the keynote speakers at the Library Technicians conference, started the session focusing on confidence and networking.

Robin Bell gave a great presentation of the New Librarians symposium, emphasizing papers on a range of programs that strengthen the development of technology skills and knowledge. He talked of the inspiring presentations of Mal Booth and Kathryn Greenhill. While technology was a focus so was teamwork and personal development. A copy of his slides will be available shortly.

Naomi and Noellen from the National Museum talked about the National Library Technicians conference. They came back with lots of ideas from presentations and tours. They recommended Rachel Green's presentations on networking and client service. A bus tour to Edith Cowan University and Wannaroo Library gave great insights. The presentation on use of iPads was very useful and gave confidence to explore their use at work (and home). The Acquisitions seminar was very useful. Suppliers at the seminar gave very practical advice. They have been in touch with people they met at the conference and seminar, putting into practice the networking tips from the conference. The RDA presentation was also excellent. OH & S issues were well covered in a session at the conference. The bus tours were highly recommended.

Catherine James from the AFP also practiced her presentation skills. She was found the conference a great way to meet colleagues she know only via the phone and email. The presentation "Getting out of your comfort zone" was terrific, highlighting how to juggle your life and work to get better control and manage priorities. A great suggestion is to make an appointment with yourself to focus on particular things. It's ok to say I'll get back to you. Finding your most productive time of day is important by scheduling things around that. She enjoyed Rachel Green's session on networking, gently building confidence to engage with others through exercises in her session.

Lucinda from Treasury showed a video from YouTube "first follower" which emphasized the importance of the first and subsequent followers, not just leaders. "It takes guts to be a first follower. The first follower transforms a lone nut to ....a movement". Rachel Green's use of freddo frogs to demonstrate "dropping the ball" to not pick up others anger in the workplace was great. Elana Norlin inspired us with a presentation of persuasion and influence, using her library and their funding review to identify how to and how not to present your case. She recommended everyone look at the presentation. The presentation on the WA Dept of Sport library was enthralling - the library became "virtual" with it's physical collection significantly reduced.

Janetta from ALIA found Rachel Green's session on mindfulness very challenging and has inspired her. From the ALIA stand the conference vibe was really strong and positive. The follower video was also used in the crossover event on the Friday afternoon of the Library Technicians and New Librarians events. Janetta presented at the Library Technicians conference on the review of the education system for technicians and gave an overview of the project.

Leadership lessons were talked of including getting up on the dance floor. the music at the dinner was great.

The event also provided an opportunity to talk about the need for a rounded approach to LUS and museum and archive skills. For educators there is a challenge in making this doable for students. RDA, metadata and cataloguing were key areas of discussion at both the new librarians and library technicians conference. Rowena's presentation at the Library Technicians conference was recommended.

Roxanne Missingham

Parliamentary Librarian

Kym Holden awarded the outstanding contribution award from ALIAActive 2011

The ALIA ACTive group congratulates Ms Kym Holden on becoming the group’s 2011 Outstanding Contribution award recipient.

Kym is the Director of Library Services at the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations She received this award as recognition of the following:

• Work for ALIA in encouraging capacity building and knowledge sharing for library staff across the ACT;

· contribution to Information Awareness month which has effectively raised the profile of libraries within the information professions and supported many professional development activities;contribution to the ACT ALIA committee; and

· considerable achievements in the workplace including delivery of new online training services, development of library intranets and information skills in the department, reflecting extraordinarily well on the skills and knowledge of the profession.

In addition to her work in the ACT Kym has made a major contribution to Australian government libraries through hear leadership in the Australian Libraries Government Information Network.

We will be recognising Kym’s success in an article in a forthcoming issue of the ALIA newsletter, Incite.

The ACT Group thanks James Bennett for the prize (two fabulous books) which we were able to award Kym with.

Well done Kym!

Roxanne Missingham

Parliamentary Librarian

Vale Nilofer Mannan

Nilofer Mannan a library colleague battled cancer for quite some time. She passed away on Sunday 3 September 2011 in Greenwich Hospital in Sydney. She was surrounded by family and friends and our thoughts are with her children Adam and Aniqa. Nilofer, as the former Library Manager at the Dept. of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, was an active member of our library community, serving on the AGLIN Executive Committee for a number of years. She worked in a range of portfolio libraries during her library career. Nilofer always met life with a smile and will be sadly missed by all those who know her.

Kym Holden
DEEWR Library Manager

Gungahlin library opening: the Jewel in the crown

A number of us were fortunate enough to be invited to the opening by Simon Corbell, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, of the new Gungahlin library on 17 June 2011. The opening of a new public library is a very rare event. It is a new purpose built library that incorporates a number of gee whiz facilities that many of us wish for but never get. These features include feature free internet access, a media zone with DVDs and CDs, a café, an interactive soccer game for youngsters and an outdoor courtyard. What I liked most about the new library was its spacious light airiness and the enthusiasm of the staff that seem to enjoy working in this clean bright new building. A lot of planning and thought has been put into the Library – this shows in such things as the thematic organisation of the book collects such as Home and garden, Health etc and then sub arranged in to the Dewy number systems. However this larger grouping works better for the average library user who wants to browse and find things easily rather than having to navigate the complexities of the Dewey Decimal system.'

The Government has invested approximately $12 million dollars into the new library as part of the Gunghalin College project which also includes Gungahlin College Library Zone and CIT and Community Rooms. All in all this form so part of the wider educational precinct in Gungahlin and makes the overall zone, a delightful piece of public space. What topped off my pleasure in the new library was the memoralisation of Michael Salmon’s books, the Monster that ate Canberra with the new statue of the Monster at the front of the library. This ties the new building in with the wider history of the National Capital in the form of bunyip whimsy. I suggest you go out and look at the new library yourselves both as librarians and library users as then at least you can say you have been there and done that.

Several interesting features on the library were broadcast on ABC radio 666

Sorting the books at the Gunghalin library

Bunyip sculpture unveiled in Gunghalin