June 2005

In this aliaPUBNEWS broadcast:

News from ALIA
Privacy guidelines for libraries; Salary scales 2005-2006; Australia's library labour market; The role of ICT in building communities; Powering our partnerships: learning through libraries seminar; 3rd Int'l EBL Conference [16-19 October 2005]; neXt 2005 [6-9 September 2005]

States and territories
Queen's birthday honours; Public libraries: building communities conference

Policy and advocacy
National Simultaneous Storytime [2 September 2005]; Regional telecommunications and the digital divide; Federal government responds to cost-shifting report

International
US president 2006 budget boosts library funding; Library buildings restructured, revamped and rebuilt; Who do people trust on the internet?

News from ALIA

Privacy guidelines for libraries
ALIA's new 'Libraries and privacy guidelines' assist libraries to develop policies and practices which will enable them to comply with privacy codes, principles and related legislation. The guidelines cover collection of personal information, requests to disclose personal information and library policy on actions related to law enforcement. Links to good practice examples and related documents are given.
http://alia.org.au/policies/privacy.html

Salary scales 2005-2006
ALIA's salary standards for Australian librarians and library technicians for 2005-2006 are now available. Contemporary salary standards for Australian library workers have been strongly influenced by major judicial inquiry and the Full Bench test case in the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission. Through these important pay equity initiatives, changes in work-value experienced by library workers were fully-assessed in current work-value terms for the first time. As a result, pay levels for library workers have improved considerably. These developments, of course, have not yet extended to all states and industrial jurisdictions. ALIA, however, strongly endorses the standards as the proper and most accurate benchmark for library workers everywhere and as a framework for fair pay in today's Australia.
http://alia.org.au/employment/salary.scales/

Australia's library labour market
From Australian Bureau of Statistics data on the Australian labour force, ALIA has compiled a report on the Australian library work force. Australia has more than 27 000 library workers. 10 400 are librarians, 8500 are library assistants, 4700 work as library technicians, and 3500 are archivists or intelligence professionals.
http://alia.org.au/employment/labour.market/

The role of ICT in building communities
ALIA's response to the federal government discussion paper on 'The role of ICT in building communities and social capital' focuses on the current and potential roles of libraries, mainly public library services: to contribute to community building; to enhance the effectiveness of ICT in community building; and to assist government to deliver its policy objectives. The discussion paper issued by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts was covered in the April 2005 issue of aliaPUBNEWS.
http://alia.org.au/advocacy/submissions/ict.community.role.html

Powering our partnerships: learning through libraries seminar
The ALIA Children's Youth Services and Libraries for Lifelong Learning (Qld) group and the School Library Association of Queensland Brisbane subcommittee, combined to present a seminar on 8 June 2005 on 'Powering our partnerships: learning through libraries'. Librarians from state, university and public libraries, tertiary students and teacher librarians from primary and secondary schools attended. The report of the seminar is now available.
http://alia.org.au/groups/cysqld/reports/2005.html

3rd Int'l EBL Conference [16-19 October 2005]
Registrations have now opened for the 3rd International Evidence-based Librarianship Conference, to be held in Brisbane from 16-19 October 2005. The theme of the conference is 'Global Perspectives on Linking Research with Practice'. The conference reflects the growing importance of evidence-based practice in all sectors of the library and information profession and offers a forum for the presentation of cutting-edge research in the field. The conference welcomes the involvement of all sectors within the profession - public, academic, school and special.
http://conferences.alia.org.au/ebl2005/

neXt 2005 [6-9 September 2005]
The ALIA National Library and Information Technicians Conference - the neXt step - the neXt big thing - the neXt conference - the neXt major national event for library and information technicians will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour from 6-9 September 2005.
http://conferences.alia.org.au/libtec2005/

States and territories

Queen's birthday honours
We are delighted to congratulate Jan Fullerton, director-general of the National Library of Australia, on her award of Officer in the General Division (AO) of the Order of Australia; and Alan Bundy, recently retired university librarian, University of South Australia and president of Friends of Libraries Australia, on his award of Member in the General Division (AM) of the Order of Australia. Both have made significant contributions to the library and information sector, and their respective awards recognise their commitment to the provision of services to the wider community.
http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/

Public libraries: building communities conference
The Public Libraries SA conference, Public Libraries: Building Communities, will be held at the Stamford Plaza, Adelaide on 15-16 August 2005. Conference themes include: who is our community, building inclusive communities and building community well being. For more information contact Teresa Brook, ph 08 8348 2324, brook.teresa@saugov.sa.gov.au.nospam.
http://www.libraries.sa.gov.au

Policy and advocacy

National Simultaneous Storytime [2 September 2005]
National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) 2005 will be held during National Literacy and Numeracy Week, at 11:00am AEST, Friday 2 September 2005. Organisations wishing to participate in NSS will be able to register through the ALIA website. In return for a registration fee of $27.95, registered participants will receive a hardback, 21st anniversary edition of the 2005 NSS picture book, 'Wombat stew', along with an exclusive 'Wombat stew' activity promotion pack containing posters, bookmarks, balloons, a guide for readers theatre, craft ideas, and a media kit for promoting NSS in your library. Registrations for NSS will open in July 2005.
http://alia.org.au/advocacy/storytime/2005/

Regional telecommunications and the digital divide
Despite infrastructure dominating the public debate over regional telecommunications, an overview of the research shows that this is just one aspect of the the host of problems contributing to the 'digital divide'. Regional telecommunications in Australia has similar problems as other advanced economies with regional demographics and local co-ordination as well as with infrastructure. A recent Parliamentary Library research note also finds that local participation has proven to be an economically viable solution to the problems facing regional telecommunications development and has been shown to generate significant non-economic benefits. ['Regional telecommunications: an overview', Parliament of Australia, Parliamentary Library, Research note no. 52 2004-05.]
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/RN/2005-05/05rn52.htm

Federal government responds to cost-shifting report
The federal government has proposed development of an intergovernmental agreement to help stop cost-shifting to local government, a Productivity Commission study on barriers to local government revenue raising and the recognition of local government by federal parliament. These are among the features of the government's response to the House of Representatives report on local government tabled in Parliament by the Minister for Local Government, Jim Lloyd, on 22 June 2005. The report 'Rates and taxes: a fair share for responsible local government' was completed in 2003 and identified cost-shifting as a significant problem for Australia's local councils. Federal, state/territory local government ministers and the Australian Local Government Association will meet on 4 August 2005 to consider the development of the intergovermental agreement.
http://www.alga.asn.au

International

US president 2006 budget boosts library funding
President Bush's proposed 2006 budget, released on 7 February 2005, increases funding for library programs at the Institute of Museum and Library Services to $US221.3 million, an increase of more than $US15 million over the 2005 financial year. The total includes $US170.5 million for state grants, $US14 million for the National Leadership Grants for Libraries, $US26 million for the Librarians of the 21st Century recruitment program and $US3.7 million for the Native American Library Servcies program.
http://www.ala.org

Library buildings restructured, revamped and rebuilt
In its facilities showcase, 'American libraries' [April 2005] features the most inspiring library building projects in the United States over the past year. Among the public libraries are: the Brookline branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, transformed from a nondescript storefront; Wasatch County (Utah) Library's reading room which has a two-storey glass wall with views of the surrounding mountains; Coloma (Michigan) Public Library with a cozy reading spot complete with fireplace; Hennepin County (Minnesota) Library's chidren's area with ceiling-high puppet theatre; and Evansville (Indiana) Vanderburgh Central Library built on the site of a vacated convention centre. ['American libraries', Vol 36 (4), April 2005, p. 32-52.]

Who do people trust on the internet?
An extensive UK survey has found that most internet users do so to search for specific information in connection with their education or the education of their children, with their work or with a hobby or interest. Information provided by organisations such as libraries, museums and archives are most likely to garner a great deal or a fair amount of trust. In other findings, search engines are the most used and most popular method of searching the internet and only ten per cent of survey respondents had received any formal training in how to use the internet. The research 'Understanding the Audience' was conducted by MORI Social Research Institute and was commissioned by the Common Information Environment (CIE) group whose members include, among others, the British Library, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council and the Scottish Library and Information Council.
http://www.common-info.org.uk/audienceresearch.shtml

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