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

Trove wins egovernment award 2011

Congratulations to the National Library of Australia for winning the Excellence in eGovernment Award at CeBIT Australia last week. Trove is a fabulous service providing access to a wonderful range of information resources held in Australian libraries and other cultural Institutions.

It reveals digitized material, scholarly collections and print material held in libraries in all sectors. A wonderful recognition of a fantastic product.

you can read more at

http://www.cebit.com.au/2011-in-the-media/CeBIT-2011-Trove-search-engine-wins-eGovernment-award

or at the AGIMO govspace blog.

Roxanne Missingham
Australian Parliamentary Librarian

Digital Hansard presentation 8 June 2011

Bernie Harris, Kathryn York and Roxanne Missingham gave a presentation on a cold winters night to an audience of enthusiastic librarians at the National Library. They reported on an over 12 month project which has delivered access to over 600,000 pages of Hansard, enabling the community to have online access to the complete Hansard for the federal parliament. Hansard is now fully accessible in facsimile as PFDs and searchable through conversion to XML. Bernie described some fabulous stories of Hansard and its making including controversial proceedings and changes in speech making by members of parliament over the years. The slides include a link to Bernie’s Whispers in the corridor history, a speech by Arthur Calwell and Question time videos.

Powerpoint presentation

Library Technicians Day 2011

National Library Technicians Day was celebrated in the capital with a great breakfast at Pork Barrel attended by around 40 enthusiastic ACT library staff and students. Colleen Gammage and I had a wonderful time organizing the event getting more and more excited as the list of acceptances grew. We had two door prizes -a great book published by the Centre for Information Studies at CSU "Libraries in the twenty first century" and "Uniting a profession" published by ALIA.

Library technicians are a vital part of ACT library services - they have fabulous energy, great ideas and skills. I'd like to thank all library technicians for the terrific contribution they make to Australian libraries.

In the coming months we'll think about some more activities for library technicians. If you have any suggestions please contact Colleen or me.

roxanne.missingham@aph.gov.au
colleen.gammage@treasury.gov.au

Roxanne Missingham

Parliamentary Librarian

welcome reception for Anne-Marie Schwirtlich

Dear ALIA Colleagues

I am delighted to invite you to a welcome reception for Anne-Marie Schwirtlich as the new Director-General of the National Library. Anne-Marie has returned to Canberra and many of you will remember her for her excellent work in Australian Archives and the National Library.

Event details:

Monday 18th April 5.30 – 7.00 pm
ALIA Conference Room , 9-11 Napier Close, Deakin

Please rsvp to Karna O’Dea email: karna.o'dea@ato.gov.au

Welcome to Anne-Marie Schwirtlich new Director-General National Library of Australia

Welcome to Anne-Marie Schwirtlich new Director-General National Library of Australia
I am delighted to have congratulated Anne-Marie on her appointment on behalf of all ALIA members in the ACT. She is wonderful person who without a doubt will make a great contribution in her position at the National Library to that organisation and to librarianship in Australia. She follows a many dynamic and insightful predecessors, not the least Jan Fullerton, who have delivered wonderful developments in services.
Many of you will know Anne-Marie through her career in the National Archives, National Library and the Australian War Memorial. Her most recent position in Canberra was as acting head of national Archives from 2000–2003. She left our borders to be CEO & State Librarian, State Library of Victoria where she has led a major program of transformation which has led to greatly increased use of the collection and state library services.
Anne-Marie is an inspiring librarian – one with vision and passion. She is a fabulous facilitator of thoughtful discussions and incubator of innovative thinking. We are truly fortunate to be able to welcome her back to the ACT and the Canberra library profession.
For some biographical information see http://ourhistory.naa.gov.au/dg.html#schwirtlich
When she settles back in Canberra the ACT ALIA group will, together with other ACT library groups, host a welcome reception for her.


Roxanne Missingham
Parliamentary Librarian

Biblio Tourismo

Last week the “mild ones” or Biblio tourismo, a tour by librarians on motorcycles visited the Parliamentary Library, among other libraries and sites in the ACT. They enjoyed meeting Dr Andrew Leigh, Member for Fraser and Senator Gary Humphries as well as a number of Library staff.

Biblio tourismo are a group of enthusiastic librarians who take an annual tour of libraries in eastern Australia -their blog can be found here http://biblio-turismo.blogspot.com/

To read more and see photos Roxanne Missingham's blog