Information Awareness Month (IAM) - Gala Dinner

Information Awareness Month (IAM), Gala Dinner was held on the 29 May 2008.

This year's events for IAM saw a record number of ACT events for Information Awareness Month. A Gala Dinner hosted by the ACT IAM Committee was held at the Canberra Club on 29 May to close IAM 2008.

IAM is a collaborative event between like bodies within the records, archives, library and information management community and this commonality of purpose reflects the fact that the various bodies are recognised as some of the most widely respected professional bodies in the information management community.

The Guest Speaker was Brand Hoff the founder of Tower Software who spoke of his experiences during many years in the Information management community. A number of companies such as Iron Mountain, Recall, Oraicle and Icognition sponsored tables and Tower Software provided drinks for the dinner. Organisations such as ALIA, NAA, AGLIN and ASA also hosted tables at the dinner.

The dinner provided an opportunity to network with colleagues, clients and be part of the closing event for another successful Information Awareness Month. A good time was had by all and the
event is sure to be on the ACT IAM calendar for 2009.

Kym Holden
DEEWR Library Manager

ACT ALIA and AGLIN groups information event - CSU: Developments in learning commons

Learning commons-developments at Charles Sturt University

Shirley Oake, University Librarian at Charles Sturt University gave a marvellous presentation to the ACT ALIA and AGLIN groups onWednesday 28 May.

She covered the many issues involved in establishing physical and online learning commons which are spaces that enable students to interact with each other and the learning spaces using technology to provide support. It evolved from "Information commons" which started out more likeextensions of computer laboratories and responds to:* Changes in the way students behave* Changes in the way they learn* Changes in the way they are taughtA very interesting concept paper can be found online at http://www.csu.edu.au/division/library/about/commons/ and the implementations in Bathurst and Albury (Thurgoona) have led to significantly increased use of the spaces and online resources.

Roxanne Missingham
Parliamentarian Librarian

Information Awareness Month Opening Night 2008

As the ALIAActive Convener I was invited to attend the opening night of 2008 Information Awareness Month (IAM) at the National Archives of Australia (NAA). Ross Gibbs the National Archivist opened the month for IAM. I felt privileged to be there as I had only participated in the committee that organised IAM in a very desultory way. The overall opening night was illuminating because of the diverse range of information management groups attending such as ALIA, AGLIN, the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA), the Institute of Information Management (IIM), the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) and actKM.

Each convener was called upon to give a brief summary of what their group is about, how it helps and promotes information professionals and what they were offering as their contributions to IAM. All such group events were listed on the IAM calender. I was interested to see the wide range of seminars and workshops offered such as the AGLIN/ALIA Information Sharing Forum on the Learning Commons presented by Shirley Oakley the University Librarian of Charles Stuart University and the actKM world cafe event.

We were pleased to learn that the NAA has become housed as one of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) portfolio agencies, a better placement for its government recordkeeping focus and heritage function along with other public accountability agencies such as the National Audit Office. Treasury and the like. The opening session was followed by supper and a change to network with others interested in promoting information management. I wish to thank the NAA and in particular Mathew Eggins for all his efforts in organising opening night.

How many library people in your suburb?

Are you curious to know how many librarians, library assistants, or library technicians were recorded as living in your local suburb during the 2006 Census?

Find out using the Census Tables product on the ABS website: www.abs.gov.au/census

5 Easy Steps:
1. select 'View Census Tables by Topic'
2. choose the topic 'Occupation'
3. select the option 'Occupation by Sex - 2006 ANZSCO Alternative View: Culture and Leisure Occupations'
4. click the 'Select Location' button and type your suburb name into the search box
5. click the 'View Census Tables' button and open the Excel table under the 'Details' tab.

Information Awareness Month

May is Information Awareness Month:

the purpose of Information Awareness Month (IAM) is to increase public awareness of the breadth of the information industry through a series of events all through the month of May.

Information Awareness Month has grown into a collaborative event between various bodies within the records/archiving/information management community. ALIA is one of the contributing organisations.

IAM 2008 was launched at the National Archives of Australia by the Director-General of the NAA, Ross Gibbs, on the 1 May. Since then many & varied events have been taking place around Canberra, including breakfasts, seminars, world cafe discussions, and more. Check the events listing for next week's upcoming activities.

Farewell to Sandra Henderson

Sandra Henderson retires in mid-April after more than 30 years service with the National Library. During this time Sandra’s career has moved through many phases. From a beginning in the Library’s then specialist science section, Sandra has worked across a broad range of functions and leaves the Library a much valued member of staff.

After completing a Bachelor of Science at the Australian National University and a Graduate Diploma in Librarianship at the Canberra College of Advanced Education, Sandra started at the National Library in early 1977 as a science reference librarian. In 1978 she moved to the Life Sciences Section, which provided a MEDLARS search service for Australian health professionals, and participated in the development of the Australian MEDLINE Network. This was real ‘pioneer’ work and Sandra’s strong IT capabilities came to the fore at this stage.

As the MEDLINE Network expanded, Sandra took on roles in training, customer helpdesk support, indexing and newsletter editing, and became the Principal Librarian of the section in 1983. In the following years APAIS and ANB were added to the Section’s responsibilities and in the early 1990s the focus shifted to the production of APAIS and AMI. It was during this time that Sandra acquired significant expertise in indexing and she remains an active member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers.

Soon after the indexing services moved to the Library’s Collections Management Division in 2000, Sandra moved to a position in the Coordination Support Branch within the Executive area of the Library, where her responsibilities included national and international liaison, for example providing support for bodies such as the Australian Library Collections Task Force and the Conference of Directors of National Libraries. In recognition of her dedicated work in this area, Sandra was awarded a National Library staff Australia Day Award in 2006. More recently, she has organised a number of Australian and international conferences held at the Library, managed the Libraries of Asia Pacific website and been the project manager for the initial stages of the Library’s rights management project.

Sandra will be greatly missed when she retires. Over the years she has acquired an in-depth knowledge of Library activities and is able to turn her hand to any task. She embodies the word 'professional', and those outside the Library who have worked on conferences, seminars, visits and many other things besides, attest to her abilities through their letters and emails of thanks.
In retirement Sandra will pursue her interests in birdwatching, indexing and gardening.

Jasmine Cameron Assistant Director-General, Executive & Coordination Support – NLA

(This article was published in, Gateways, Number 92, April 2008)

Accessing ABS Information

Libraries often need to respond to statistical queries and locate data for clients. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has a vast range of data available free on its website: http://www.abs.gov.au/, but it can be difficult to locate the information you need.

There is a range of help available for library and information staff:

• the ABS offers free introductory sessions. The latest Accessing ABS Information seminar at ABS House in Belconnen on the 2nd April 2008 was attended by over 60 people from a range of sectors. A hands-on workshop will be offered in the coming months, details will be posted to the ABS Training Calendar soon.
• the ABS Services for Libraries webpages provide more information and resources for library staff (access via the 'Services we provide' link on the homepage)
• keep up-to-date with the latest ABS information and tips for finding data via the ABS blog for librarians: Statistically Speaking
• if you can't find what you need on the website: contact the free National Information and Referral Service for assistance - phone 1300 135 070.

For any further information contact Nicola Cross: nicola.cross@abs.gov.au