ALIA submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Role of Libraries in the Online Environment

Case Studies

The first three case studies have been provided by the Bertelsmann Foundation

Brisbane City Council Library Services, ACT Library and Information Service, and VICNET are dynamic examples of libraries responding to the changing needs of their community and parent organisations.

Case Study 1 - Brisbane City Council library services
Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia, and is the largest local government in Australia serving a population of 860 000. Brisbane City Council is proactive in pushing the e-government agenda.

The recent launch of the council's portal, ourbrisbane.com emphasises that Council's vision is not just about technology or information and services, but is also about:

1. Connecting people to each other
2. Citizens having their say, and
3. Getting the most from the city.

The portal includes:

1. Business information - a comprehensive source of information and tools to support businesses from start-up through to exit.
2. transport - bus, train and ferry routes, zones and timetables, journey planner, traffic congestion maps.
3. about Brisbane - lifestyle, culture, business, history, heritage, economic facts.
4. chat - communicate with groups who share your interests.
5. news - international, national, Brisbane/Qld, finance, sport and entertainment.
6. council online services - e-tendering, dog registration, water connection, infringements.
7. entertainment - festivals and events, entertainment news, cinema times and movie.
8. reviews, television guides, gig guide.
9. employment - job search, career resources, recruiter profiles, company profiles.
10. weather - Brisbane, South East Coast, warnings and alerts.
11. sport - national competition sports news/live scores and results, fixtures, profiles.
12. government information links.
13. education and learning links.
14. tourist information.

The other Ourbrisbane strategies are:

Communities online strategy

The Carole Park Community Centre is in a low income area of Brisbane, traditionally under serviced and suffering high unemployment and low educational standards. The Centre has received funding funding for the public libraries to deliver internet training and purchase equipment. A librarian is seconded to this project one day a week. It is being used as a model for other communities to follow.

e-government strategy

The intent of this strategy is to:

1. encourage the public to access Council information online;
2. reduce the need for individuals and businesses to visit Council to collect or submit information to and from Council;
3. enable access to Council services and lodgment of applications online; and
4. support integration of Council online service delivery with other governments and industries.

Learning and Development Strategy

A key component of this initiative is to develop the skills within the Brisbane community:

1. to best use and benefit from new technologies; and
2. to ensure that everyone has access to learning.

Brisbane Library Services plays a key role in the learning and development strategy through:

1. community internet training;
2. seniors' mentoring program which has trained 50 seniors to be mentors for other seniors learning to use computers; and
3. refugee internet training program.

Affordable access strategy

Brisbane City Council ensures that people have access to new technologies regardless of their circumstances. This includes access to:

1. equipment;
2. infrastructure (high-speed cabling and telecommunication lines), and
3. connection.

The number of transactions completed between August 2001 and January 2002 was 3010. The total number of page impressions for the same period was 673 582.

Brisbane City Council Library Services has been at the forefront of online service provision in Australian public libraries. It has been proactive in pushing for access to online information and obtaining funding to provide 200 public internet PCs in libraries.

The library's website is at http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/community_facilities/libraries/index.shtml

Case Study 2 - Australian Capital Territory Library and Information Service

The ACT Library and Information Service comprises nine branches. The library offers a number of services online including the library catalogue, reservations, renewals, payment of library charges, and an e-mail reference service.

The library has been instrumental in furthering the government's digital divide agenda.

The ACT has the highest rate of home computer usage and internet access in Australia. Sixty-eight percent of ACT households have home computer ownership and 39 per cent of ACT households have home internet access.

The ACT Government established a special task force in January 2001 to investigate how best to bridge the digital divide in the ACT. The Digital Divide Network was established to foster, promote and develop digital divide initiatives by community groups, business, the IT industry and the education sectors in the ACT.

The ACT Government has strongly promoted the ACT as the leader in information technology for both the public and private sectors by 2001. This includes most ACT Government services being delivered online. Existing ACT Government Initiatives, which have directly assisted with bridging the digital divide, include:

1. IT and internet access in ACT Government public libraries;
2. Austouch public kiosks (two of which are located outside libraries); and
3. Young peoples' IT competencies.

A major initiative, Canberra Connect, commenced operation on 1 March 2001. This initiative is aimed at improving access to and consistency of government services through a number of channels including shopfronts, online and by phone. Canberra Connect has brought all government transactions together, and people can even pay their library charges there.

A broadband cable service, TransACT is currently being rolled out, with the potential to substantially improve the delivery of IT and communications services to 100 000 Canberra households and 14 000 businesses.

The ACT government is committed to ensuring universal access by the public to government service delivery arrangements, primarily through their library service, Canberra Connect and Austouch. However it also recognises there are special needs over and above those of the general community for some of the digital divide target groups. Solutions for people with disabilities need to be flexible and adaptable.

http://www.act.gov.au/digitaldivide/

The ACT Library and Information Service is actively working to assist this agenda, and is increasing the number of PCs provided in libraries to achieve a standard of 1.5 PCs for every 10 000 people. They offer peer-to-peer training and have an excellent seniors program where volunteers train other seniors in the use of the internet.

The ACT's library website is at: http://www.library.act.gov.au/

Case Study 3 - VICNET, Victoria

'Empowering all Victorians in the information age with the capabilities to freely publish, share and find online information and to participate in virtual communities both locally and globally.'

VICNET is Victoria's community network, delivering internet services to people all around Victoria. VICNET encourages all Victorians to make the most of the internet.

VICNET provides public access, training and virtual communities. VICNET began in 1994 and is owned by the State Library of Victoria, and functions as a unit of the State Library.

The Skills.net Roadshows provides mobile internet training around Victoria.

VICNET's staff work around Victoria providing advice, assistance, and connectivity for community groups, public libraries and the general public. Skills.net has funded community organisations to provide free or affordable internet training and access to those Victorians who wouldn't otherwise have access.

The services and programs are funded in part by the Victorian Government via Multimedia Victoria (MMV) and the Federal Government via Networking the Nation (NTN).

VICNET raises revenue through its business operations. Commercial services offered include dial up internet accounts, permanent internet accounts, training, web hosting, domain registration and web and database design.

VICNET is Victoria's largest Website. It gets 10 million hits a month, hosts over 200 virtual Web servers and 4 000 websites for Victoria's community groups and has trained around 70 000 people over the past five years.

VICNET internet services:

1. Internet Access Accounts
2. Training
3. Web publishing: hosting, training and design

VICNET's objectives are to:

1. Promote awareness, skills and capabilities of Victorian citizens and community groups in using the internet.
2. Provide all Victorians with affordable access to networked electronic information and services as rapidly as possible.
3. Enable Victorian libraries, community groups and non-commercial services to deliver electronic information and services to the community and the world effectively and efficiently.
4. Encourage use of the internet to support online communities of interest working together across Victoria and the world.
5. Stimulate local communities and groups to develop their capabilities to publish their information electronically.

VICNET showed the way for online services in Australia. The vision of the early

adopters placed VICNET in an unrivalled position to push the provision of online services in Victoria. VICNET's strong library connections have ensured that Victorian public libraries have benefited from the expertise built up in the past seven years.

VICNET's success has been attributed to being in the right place at the right time, plus developing productive partnerships with key organisations - including the public library network of Victoria and Multimedia Victoria.

The VICNET website is at: http://www.vicnet.net.au/

Case Study 4 - HealthInsite
The HealthInsite internet gateway is an initiative of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. HealthInsite aims to provide Australians with access to quality health information through information partnerships with reputable health organisations, government agencies and educational institutions. HealthInsite links to the information resources published on the sites of its information partners. HealthInsite can be freely accessed by all Australians from any location that is linked to the internet, including home, work, libraries and internet cafes.

The HealthInsite Editorial Team is staffed by librarians, all of whom have backgrounds in health librarianship. The team members use skills gained through their experience as cataloguers and reference librarians to:

• Assess, describe and organise health information resources available online;
• Develop search facilities for finding online health information;
• Educate online health information providers and users in assessing the quality of online information;
• Work with information technology professionals to develop systems to provide access to online health information; and
• Provide policy advice on online information management issues.

Case Study 5 - The Australian Bureau of Statistics Library Extension Program
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Library Extension Program (LEP) was established in 1991 and is an important part of the ABS commitment to enabling free community access to ABS statistics. In establishing the LEP the ABS recognised that libraries provide safe housing for information of interest to the community. Importantly the ABS also recognised that librarians have a unique role in adding value to that information.

Over 500 libraries Australia-wide are members of the LEP. These include the National Library of Australia, the state libraries, the parliamentary libraries, university, TAFE and public libraries. The majority of members are public libraries with just over half of these in regional areas.

The LEP provides libraries with free statistical products, but the ABS understands that the simple provision of information does not ensure informed usage of that information. The LEP therefore also provides its member libraries with free training, free promotional materials and other assistance. One of the strengths of the LEP has been the local support provided to member libraries by LEP Coordinators in each state and territory.

The LEP is currently rolling out a free web service to libraries giving access in full text to all ABS publications issued since 1998. The service is part of the AusStats service that is normally only available commercially. The service has proved highly popular with libraries, with some regional libraries reporting that this is the first web based service to which they have had access.

Libraries accessing the new web service continue to receive ABS flagship titles in printed format and continue to receive training and other support.

The LEP was publicly recognised in 1993 with an award for excellence by the Australian Institute of Public Administration.