Three awards were
presented on the night.
The ACTive ALIA award for
sustained contribution was presented to Gaik Khong for her many years of
dedicated volunteering for ALIA and the library profession. Gaik is a quiet
achiever who has contributed to ALIA both locally and nationally. Gaik has been the ACTive ALIA treasurer for over five years
and has drafted budgets to ALIA headquarters on time with excellent
documentation. Gaik has also been involved in organising events and
seminars for our local group.
Gaik was a member of
the ALIA Special Libraries Advisory Committee which worked successfully
to improve the visibility of special libraries within the broader ALIA
community. This committee collaborated with the Australian Government
Library and Information Network (AGLIN) in a joint exercise to provide a
Special Libraries stream for the ALIA 2010 Conference in Brisbane. Gaik played
an important role in the planning, implementation and management of
this stream program for the conference. She has also been involved
in arranging a variety of joint AGLIN/ALIA seminars in Canberra for librarians
and others across all sectors. Gaik was awarded a
certificate and a book.
Catherine Jordan,
librarian at the Australian Botanic Gardens, was voted most popular
librarian of the ACT as part of the National Year of Reading 2012. Catherine was nominated over ten
times, with all of her nominators discussing her extensive knowledge of her
specialist library collection and the amazing service she provides for everyone
who enters her library. Catherine was
presented with a book to mark this achievement. Her winning poll does
much to bring the work of dedicated librarians to the notice of the public
and colleagues.
Karna O’Dea was presented with a Silver
Pin for five years’ service to ALIA committees. Karna has been an outstanding contributor to
ALIA over many years, the ACT Group Convenor for more than five years and she
has worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to ensure a range of programs are
offered to meet the needs of members.
Karna is a passionate advocate for the profession, sharing information
and ideas. She was a major force behind
the Value of Libraries symposium in 2012 as well as library visits, meetings
and publicity. She manages the ALIA
ACTive blog, taking us into social media with gusto.
All who attended enjoyed
the fellowship and conviviality of the evening. We thank Roxanne
Missingham and Vanessa Little for presenting the awards, and the National
Library for donating the books presented: A steady hand; Governor
Hunter and his First Fleet sketchbook, by Linda Groom (National Library of
Australia 2012), and Collecting ladies; Ferdinand von Mueller and women
botanical artists, by Penny Olsen (NLA Publishing, 2013).
Our next social event will
be an end of the year gathering at the new Arboretum.
