31 July 2008

Submission to the Review of the Australian Government’s use of Information and Communication Technology

Executive Summary

In summary, government libraries provide a key part of the information management infrastructure of government agencies. In order for public service employees and clients of government agencies to benefit from online information resources an approach is needed to ensure that:

1. quality information resources are available cost-effectively to support policy development and program delivery;
2. government information is available to clients, with a single infrastructure for long term access;
3. public libraries have information and skills to fulfill their role supporting community access to government information; and
4. the collaborative infrastructure is used to delivery access to government information collections.

Introduction

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) welcomes the Review of the Australian Government’s use of Information and Communication Technology and the opportunity to present this submission.

ALIA is the national professional organisation for the Australian library and information sector. It seeks to empower the profession in the development, promotion and delivery of quality library and information services to the nation, through leadership, advocacy and mutual support. It represents 6000 members, the library and information profession, Australian library and information services, and the interests of over 12 million library users.

In the Commonwealth, libraries exist in all major agencies. In the last decade these libraries have evolved to deliver many of their services online, and, because of the skills sets of library and information management staff, to also delivery many agency online services such as intranets and web sites.

Libraries provide efficient and effective services using information technology by:

1. Purchasing online databases and other content services for their agency, negotiating for value for money and reducing duplication of subscriptions;
2. Purchasing together through consortia – such as the Australian Government Libraries Information Network consortium (see www.nla.gov.au/aglin) and Electronic Resources Australia;
3. Delivering access to collections of print resources online through networked access to their catalogues;
4. Listing some of their collections, print and electronic, in the Australian National Bibliographic Database to enable automated resource discovery of the collections through a single search and efficiently inter-library lending through the national system www.librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au;
5. Providing information skills for staff in their agencies through training and assistance; and
6. Supporting the work of their agencies through answering reference and research enquiries and using their information skills to answer these questions efficiently using online, print and other information resources.

Library staff have increasingly contributed to their organisations by assisting in the organisation and delivery of information through Intranets and Internet services. Many now allocate metadata, either in the library or through library staff they have been employed in web services in their agencies. By using these information skills agencies are able to very cost effectively improve access to their own information, rather than having to recreate and duplicate information that is required for the daily work of the agency.

ALIA suggests that the review consider both the value that can be provided by information professionals and four specific issues:

• How to maximise purchasing of electronic resources to enable a whole of government approach, purchasing key resources such as newspapers and reference materials such as encyclopedias across all agencies;
• The need for a connected government approach to managing online publications to reduce the number of duplicate systems and ensure effective and efficient delivery of these resources to the public for long term access;
• The need for support for the delivery of government information services through public libraries; and
• The need for full participation by government agencies in national resource discovery services such as Libraries Australia and PictureAustralia.

Click here to view the Submission [ pdf 92KB ]