Wednesday, November 13, 2013

ALIA National Library & Information Technicians’ Symposium.

Congratulations to the fabulous team that brought us the ALIA National Library & Information Technicians’ Symposium.  The organising committee Colleen Gammage (Convenor), Lucinda Bell, Noellen Newton, Naomi Newton, Anita Godley, Shannon Ross, Leisa Stack, Catherine James, Sharon Doig, and Debra Meany did truly remarkable work, with the assistance of ALIA National Office staff, to deliver a world class event.

It provoked, informed and stimulated networking brilliantly.

The Library tours provided insights into a range of ACT libraries: The library tours were arranged by Michela Laus,


Bluebell Tour
Menzies Library, ANU – Hancock Library, ANU – CSIRO, Black Mountain – The Library and Gardens’ Library, Botanical Gardens – National Film and Sound Archives – AIATSIS


Canberry Tour
Gungahlin Public Library – National Film and Sound Archives Warehouse, Mitchell – Australian Catholic University, Watson – Heritage Library, Woden – The Canberra Hospital, Woden – Geoscience

Floriade Tour
Chifley Library, ANU – Menzies Library, ANU – Supreme Court, Civic – Legislative Assembly, Civic – CIT Learning Centre, Reid Campus – CIT Training Library, Reid Campus – War Memorial, Campbell

Ginninderra Tour
University of Canberra, Bruce – Lu Rees Archive, UC – Radford College, Bruce (P-12) – Australian Institute of Sport, Bruce – Department of Immigration and Border Control, Belconnen

Burley Griffin Tour
Australian Government Solicitors, Barton – High Court of Australia, Parkes – National Gallery of Australia, Parkes – The National Archives of Australia, Parkes – Museum of Australian Democracy, Parkes – The National Library of Australia.

The first day started with Kel Robertson, an ACT author, giving his perspective on the importance of reading, writing and libraries. He challenged us to think about the new values of libraries based on the needs of society and different communities, particularly those who need support and access to information.  My presentation can be seen at http://www.slideshare.net/roxannemissingham/alianlits-missingham - it proposed thinking like Guerillas.

From the first day I came away with great ideas about smart approaches to assist with copyright (thank you Vanessa Tuckfield), different ways of delivering services – models of self service and extended hours (thank you Christine Potter & Tim Leviston) and the radical contribution of cataloguing.

The afternoon panel focused on issues of demonstrating the value of libraries, our significance, changing economic pressures in Australia and our organisations, the future for library technicians in employment and ideas for changes in education for library technicians.

The Halloween dinner was inspired – such talent and imagination both from the committee and attendees! Do go to the website and follow links to the Twitter stream, photos and the blog - http://alialibtech2013.wordpress.com/

Well done all!



 Roxanne Missingham

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Roxanne, it was an amazing experience for the committee.
    Could we just make special mention of Michela Laus, who organised all of the tours that have been so widely lauded. Unfortunately, Michela's name has been missed on several emails, something which I felt the need to correct. The tours were an integral part of the Symposium's success - thank you so much, Michela.

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