December 2007

In this aliaPUBNEWS broadcast:

National
Viclink Great Public Libraries of the World Tour 28 September – 17 October; Australian Public Library Statistical report; The ABC First Tuesday Book Club competition; Safer Internet Day 2008 - 12 February 2008; ABS Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey Results Summary

International
Libraries die as people forget what they contain; Family Portrait Day at the library; Answer Board Librarians; Aotearoa People’s Network rolled out in Kawerau

Conferences
Reading Critical Conference; ALIA 2009 Information Online Conference - Call for Papers; UNESCO Memory of the World Conference

Public Libraries Australia
PLA News

Believe it or Not!
Busiest Library

Policy and advocacy
Communities and Memories - a global perspective; Young People and Libraries; NSW Public Libraries Day of Action Protest

News from ALIA
Libraries in the 21st Century

Library Blogs
ABS Blog for Librarians

Celebrating Libraries and Librarians
Pimp My Bookcart; Librarians at Work

States and territories
NSW Premier's Reading Challenge 2007

National

Viclink Great Public Libraries of the World Tour 28 September – 17 October
Come and join with colleagues on great public libraries of the world tour. Departing Melbourne on Sunday 28 September the first stop is Singapore. As well as visiting the new National Library, Jurong Regional Library and Senkang Community Library, there will be time to visit Orchard Road and a Night Zoo safari is also included. Departing Singapore on Wednesday 1 October, the next stop is Helsinki, a charming city in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. An optional tour to Tallin, the mediaeval capital of Estonia is available on Thursday 2 October, by ferry from Helsinki. Tallin was founded in 1216 and the picturesque old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On Friday there will be a tour of a number of Helsinki libraries, including the Sello library in Espoo. On Saturday 4 October the tour arrives in Stockholm. On Sunday a cruise to Drottningholm will feature the palace, followed by a tour of the magnificent City Hall. A reception in the evening hosted by the library will be held in the rotunda of the Central library. On Monday 5 October there will be a selection of Stockholm libraries to visit, including a Youth Library, the International Library, and the Room for Children in the Culture House, as well as hearing about the planning for the new library. On Tuesday 6 October there is a train trip from Stockholm to Copenhagen, travelling through some lovely country, and arriving in the late afternoon. The International Library Symposium and Conference will commence on Wednesday. Hosted by Copenhagen Public Library and jointly organised with the Urban Libraries Council and the Public Libraries International Network, this boutique conference will provide opportunities to interact with colleagues from Denmark, Europe and the US. Promising to be the highlight of the trip, it coincides with Culture night in Copenhagen, on Friday 10 October. This is when cultural institutions, organisations and shops are open until midnight and there are special programs with musicians, performances, and other entertainment. The city is also specially lit for the night. On Saturday 11 October the tour leaves for Amsterdam, one of Europe’s most exciting cities. On Sunday there will be visits to the Van Gough museum, the Anne Frank museum and the red light district. On Monday there will be a tour of the beautiful new Amsterdam library, the largest public library in Europe. Leaving Amsterdam for Hong Kong on Tuesday and arriving early on Wednesday 15 October, the rest of the day can be spent exploring the city and shopping. On Thursday there will be a tour of Hong Kong libraries. The final leg of the tour departs Hong Kong for Melbourne on Friday 17 October, arriving home in the evening. Flying Qantas and Finnair, and staying in 4 star hotels; this will truly be a wonderful professional development opportunity. Led by Julie Rae, an experienced and intrepid traveller, and Christine Mackenzie, who is familiar with all these libraries and cities, it is an itinerary packed with interest, excitement and fun. More information and a registration brochure is available at
http://www.libraries.vic.gov.au/cgi-bin/infonet/org.cgi?detail=1&id=55

Australian Public Library Statistical report
The latest edition of the Australian Public Libraries Statistical Report 2005/06 compiled by the State Library of Queensland's Public Library Services is available from the National and State Libraries Australasia website:
http://www.nsla.org.au/publications/statistics/2006/pdf/NSLA.Statistics-200

The ABC First Tuesday Book Club competition
Enter the Five Word Review Competition! Not five pages, five paragraphs or even five sentences…Use five words exactly to critique the book of your choice and be in the running for a selection of free books from the First Tuesday library. You can enter by post or on the Discussion Board. Just visit the link below and follow the links from Discussion Board.
www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday

Safer Internet Day 2008 - 12 February 2008
Take part in SID 2008, and celebrate the right of every child to enjoy safe and rewarding internet experiences. Organised by the European internet safety network Insafe, the event is being held on 12 February with the theme 'Life online is what YOU make of IT'.
http://www.netalert.gov.au/news_and_events.html

ABS Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey Results Summary
This publication presents information from the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS). The results from ALLS will assist in answering questions of whether Australians' literacy skills are adequate for the challenges they face in work and daily life. The ALLS provides information on knowledge and skills of 15 to 74 year olds in the following four domains: prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy and problem solving. A fifth domain measuring health literacy proficiency was produced as a by-product of the above domains. The survey results are available for download from:
http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/5BCA534036C5A43ACA

International

Libraries die as people forget what they contain
Visit the link below to see a great library poster and use the translation button (in the right hand column) to get a rough translation of the website text from Dutch to English - for example: "The Internet are not a place for prolonged reading or profound research, but for tasting, trawling, and exploring. Just ask no one should treat Wikipedia as gospel, so, I suspect, few will plough through a black-and-white, on-screen version or a library book when the genuine article are easily available. The Internet are only the first training period or discovery, not the end. Libraries which when people forget what in them are: they thrive when we are reminded or their riches, and so far from eroding our physical contact with ancient books, the great online library currently amassing its collection will surely revive that relationship."
http://zbdigitaal.blogspot.com/2007/11/bibliotheken-sterven-als-mensen.html

Family Portrait Day at the library
What do you get when you take friendly and daring staff, mixed with a talented on-staff graphic designer (who just happens to be a wiz at photography) and add in the holiday season? It's Family Portrait Day @ the Public Library! Check out the link below to find out more:
http://www.yestoknow.com/2007/12/family-portrait-day-library.html

Answer Board Librarians
Answer Board Librarians is a wiki where reference librarians answer the questions etc that people post on the Net. They do it on the 10th of every month. Not sure how many Australian librarians participate? Check it out at:
http://answerboards.wetpaint.com/page/Slam the Boards!

Aotearoa People’s Network rolled out in Kawerau
Kawerau is the first community in New Zealand to benefit from the Aotearoa People’s Network, which provides free access to broadband Internet services through public libraries. “Our aim is to have every public library in New Zealand connected to the Internet so that New Zealanders from all communities, both large and small, can benefit by creating, accessing and experiencing digital content,” says John Truesdale, Programme Leader, National Library of New Zealand. “With the Aotearoa People's Network in place, libraries are set to become a hub for the next digital wave, catering to patrons who are tech-savvy as well as giving those who are not yet familiar with the online world an opportunity to participate.” Susan Harris, Manager of the Kawerau District Library, says: “It’s great for a small community like Kawerau to be first with such an exciting initiative. Not only will it give Kawerau people free online access to content, it will also provide tools for individuals to create and store their own.” After Kawerau, the Aotearoa People’s Network will be rolled out into five regions. Tararua libraries will be connected in mid-December followed by those in Taranaki, the Wairarapa, the West Coast and Canterbury; 34 libraries and 13 local authorities will be involved in this phase, to be completed by March 2008. Applications for the next phase of the programme are likely to be sought from libraries in February 2008. The Network is a collaboration between the National Library of New Zealand, public libraries and business, with initial funding received from the Government’s Community Partnership Fund. The funding covers equipment, networking, training and access to web-based tools and services. The project is also supported by Telecom New Zealand, which has provided sponsorship funding as well as staffing resources in setting up the network. The Aotearoa People’s Network is a key component of the Government’s Digital Content Strategy, the aim of which is to ensure that New Zealanders are actively engaged in creating, sharing and using content in a digital form.

Conferences

Reading Critical Conference
The 20 paper program for the Reading Critical Conference is now available together with information about the pre-conference library study tours, and the registration form. It features three UK speakers, and speakers from New Zealand as well as speakers from Australia. Click on the link below for more information:
www.auslib.com.au

ALIA 2009 Information Online Conference - Call for Papers
Information Online 2009 will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney Australia from 20 - 22 January 2009. We are calling for innovative, practical and researched papers, as well as case studies on all aspects of information in the online environment. Call for Papers deadline: 31 March 2008. For submission guidelines and further information contact: Information Online Secretariat Emma@conferenceaction.com.au
http://www.information-online.com.au

UNESCO Memory of the World Conference
The Third UNESCO Memory of the World Conference will be held at the National Library of Australia this coming February 2008. For more information please visit:
http://www.amw.org.au/mow2008/mow2008.htm

Public Libraries Australia

PLA News
The December edition of PLA News and the results of a recent survey about the PLA website are now available for download from:
www.pla.org.au

Believe it or Not!

Busiest Library
Did you know that the Toronto Public Library (Canada) is the world's busiest urban public library system? Every year, more than 17 million people visit Toronto Public Library's 99 branches and borrow more than 30 million items.
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/

Policy and advocacy

Communities and Memories - a global perspective
The third UNESCO International Memory of the World Conference will be held 19-22 February, 2008 at the National Library of Australia, Canberra. This globally significant policy analysis and strategic review meeting will set the agenda for everyone who is concerned with the future management of cultural heritage resources locally, nationally and internationally.
http://www.amw.org.au/mow2008/mow2008.htm

Young People and Libraries
An information package has been developed to help librarians in their dealings with young people. The package is a self-paced learning kit developed by the NSW Youth Action and Policy Association. The kit is available for download from:
http://www.yapa.org.au/youth/facts/librarykit.pdf

NSW Public Libraries Day of Action Protest
NSW Public Libraries held a protest against cuts to NSW public library funding. See http://www.plnsw.org.au/ for more information. A short video of the rally held outside the NSW Parliament is also available at:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_xB7l62TF8Y

News from ALIA

Libraries in the 21st Century
Libraries in the twenty-first century is a collection of papers that brings together leading library educators and practitioners and provides a scholarly yet accessible overview of library and information management and the challenges that the twenty-first century offers the information profession. **ALIA members receive a 5% discount***
http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/educat/sis/CIS/L21C/index.htm

Library Blogs

ABS Blog for Librarians
A blog for librarians and other like-minded information professionals featuring the latest information, news, tips and stories relating to the Australian Bureau of Statistics is available at:
http://abs4libraries.blogspot.com/

Celebrating Libraries and Librarians

Pimp My Bookcart
The second Pimp my Bookcart contest was even more successful than the first! Check out the winning entries at:
http://www.unshelved.com/PimpMyBookcart/2007/

Librarians at Work
The National Library of Australia has an annual Christmas party in its public foyer where the unexpected talents of librarians, archivists, stacks staff, communication experts, digital specialists and IT boffins are displayed. Enjoy the 'Surfing NLA' team which won first prize at the Christmas Party of 14 December 2007.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvKntJKctoU&feature=related

States and territories

NSW Premier's Reading Challenge 2007
There were 138,629 successful students in the 2007 Premiers Reading Challenge, a 16% increase on previous year and 2,250% increase on first year of Challenge. 2,489 students received gold certificates in 2007 compared to 84 in 2006. Successful students are from 1,812 schools. A survey of independent readers doing the Challenge for the first time indicated that during the first six years of the Challenge over 5,800 students have become frequent readers of books who previously chose to be non-readers, over 29,000 students have become frequent readers who previously were very reluctant to read and another 25,000 students, who did read some books before, have significantly increased their reading for leisure by participating in the Challenge while over 136,000 students maintained and broadened their successful reading for leisure. Information about the 2008 Challenge is available at:
https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

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