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Welcome to the December 2009 edition of aliaPUBNEWS.

aliaPUBNEWS is an initiative of the Australian Library and Information Association's Public Libraries Advisory Committee http://www.alia.org.au/governance/committees/public.libraries/

aliaPUBNEWS is a free monthly electronic bulletin for those concerned with supporting and promoting the further development of Australia's public library services. aliaPUBNEWS spans the policy and strategic issues and service developments having an impact on public libraries in Australia.
All our list members are encouraged to send in their comments to 'Feedback' at the end of this newsletter.
aliaPUBNEWS
[Permission is granted to re-broadcast, in part or full]

In this aliaPUBNEWS broadcast:


NEWS FROM ALIA STATE NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES WEB RESOURCES
NEWS FROM ALIA

Christmas wishes from ALIA and have a great new year!

Christmas is nearly here, and the staff at ALIA National Office and the Board of Directors wish you all a happy festive season. Thank you again for supporting ALIA by being a member during 2009 and enabling us to be active on your behalf. We look forward to many exciting activities and achievements during 2010.

ALIA thanks our aliaPUBNEWS editor, Roger Henshaw

The ALIA Board of Directors and the ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee wish to publicly acknowledge Roger's generous commitment of time and effort on a voluntary basis to putting together aliaPUBNEWS during 2009. Thank you Roger for your interesting newsletters this year – we have enjoyed the diversity of items from the serious to the quirky.

aliaPUBNEWS will continue to inform and delight you in 2010.

ALIA farewells Jane from National Office

This month we say farewell to Jane Hardy, Assistant Director: Strategy and Advocacy, on her departure from ALIA. Many of you will have had contact with Jane over the past few years in her many roles connected with the public library sector including Library Stars, Library Lovers' Day, The Little Book of Public Libraries, the ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee, and the ALIA Public Libraries Summit. Although Jane was a public libraries 'novice' when she first started at ALIA, her knowledge and insights grew rapidly and she quickly became a great champion for the sector, overseeing many crucial projects and penning many seminal submissions. We thank Jane for her significant input and wish her all the best for the future; she will be greatly missed.

[ Jan Richards ]

inCite theme for Jan/Feb 2010 issue: new and emerging technologies

December's feature topic is 'new and emerging technologies'. Contributions on this theme and stories of interest from individuals and libraries are welcome. Please include a high-resolution photo if you have one. Send your articles by 8 January 2010 to incite@alia.org.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)

http://www.alia.org.au/publishing/incite/

inCite theme for March 2010 issue: the future of reading

Contribute to your member magazine! March's feature topic is 'the future of reading'. Contributions on this theme and stories of interest from individuals and libraries are welcome. Please include a high resolution photo if you have one. Send your articles by 1 February 2010 to incite@alia.org.au.nospam. (please remove '.nospam' from address)

http://www.alia.org.au/publishing/incite/

inCite themes 2010: online now!

Want to plan your inCite contributions ahead? Check out the website for our 2010 monthly themes. Covering topics as diverse as the future of reading, building our profession, and special libraries, there's sure to be something that captures your writing fancy. Contribution deadlines are available as well.

http://www.alia.org.au/publishing/incite/deadlines.html

Deadline extended for national framework for public libraries

The reaction to the consultation paper on a national vision and framework for Australian public libraries has been excellent and to enable ALIA members and public library bodies to provide a full and detailed response, we have extended the deadline to 8 January 2010.

At the ALIA Public Libraries Summit on 16 July 2009, delegates gave ALIA a clear mandate to take the lead in developing a national framework for public libraries, working collaboratively with Public Libraries Australia (PLA), Friends of Libraries Australia (FOLA), National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA), and the state and territory based public library associations.

ALIA has produced a project plan to guide the process, and has now developed a document, which represents stage two - the draft vision and strategy.

The draft ideas are based on discussions and feedback from the ALIA Public Libraries Summit 2009, papers submitted by the key Australian public library organisations in advance of the Summit, and public library vision and strategy work carried out in other parts of the world.

We would like to hear your views about this shared vision and national framework for Australian public libraries. Please feel free to circulate this document to anyone outside your own organisation.

The consultation process will take place over four months from October to January 2010. We would appreciate receiving your response on or before Friday 8 January 2010. Please submit your response to advocacy@alia.org.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)

The document is available via the Summit website below.

http://www.alia.org.au/summit09/

ALIA and public libraries: an update from ALIA President Jan Richards

One of the priorities recognised in the Vision and Framework is for a National Year of Reading and already discussions have begun with partners to progress this for 2012. We're really excited about this initiative and will be sharing details as they become available.

Over the past few years there have been regular meetings of the group known as PLAssoc which comprises the Public Library Associations and ALIA. In particular there has been considerable discussion concerning collaborative initiatives between ALIA, PLA and the State Public Library Associations.

In order to take the next step the ALIA Board has agreed to change the ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee (PLAC) to comprise the Presidents/Chairs of the state associations and PLA (or their delegate), with up to three expert members to expand further the alliance and enable more regular communication with key stakeholders. Invitations have been sent to each of the Associations and we look forward to working together. It is expected that the first teleconference meeting of the newly formed Committee will be held in January 2010.

Planning is well underway for ALIA Access 2010 which will be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre 2-3 September 2010. We're just finalising the public libraries stream which will have an advocacy focus and will build on our previous ALIA Library Stars theme. We'll be announcing further details and calling for submissions in February next year so watch out for news in aliaPUBNEWS. To keep up to date with the Conference visit the wiki http://www.alia.org.au/events/2010wiki/pmwiki.php

Nominate for the ALIA Board of Directors

Nominations are called for ALIA Vice-President (President-elect) and three Director positions on the Board of Directors of ALIA as incorporated under Corporations Law. The Vice-President (President-elect) and two Directors are elected by all ALIA members and one Director by institutional members. Nominees should be personal members of the Association and will represent the interests of the organisation as a whole rather than those of a particular constituency.

The Vice-President and Directors will assume office at the Board meeting following the Annual General Meeting in May 2010. The Vice-President (president-elect) will assume the Presidency following the Annual General Meeting of the Association in 2011, until the 2012 Annual General Meeting. The term of office of Directors will be until the Annual General Meeting in 2012.

Nominations must be in writing and must be signed by two financial members of the Association and include the consent in writing of the nominee. Nomination forms must be accompanied by a current curriculum vitae which provides full details of academic and professional qualifications and a 100-word statement of professional concerns. The curriculum vitae should be arranged under headings of present positions, previous positions, and professional activities. A standard colour portrait photograph must be included.

Nomination forms are available from ALIA National Office or via the ALIA website. Nominations close at 5:00pm [AEST] Wednesday 13 January 2010 and should be sent to the ALIA Executive Director, PO Box 6335, Kingston ACT, 2604; email sue.hutley@alia.org.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address), or fax 02 6282 2249.

http://www.alia.org.au/governance/elections/2010

National Advisory Congress 2009

The meetings for the 2009 National Advisory Congress have now finished. Thank you to everyone who contributed their time and ideas towards the 'lobbying and advocacy' theme. The final NAC report is now available as well as the regional meeting notes and regional summary. These reports have been presented to the ALIA Board of Directors as well as ALIA Advisory Committees and will be used as part of the Association's 2010 planning.

http://www.alia.org.au/governance/nac/2009

Summer Reading Club 2010 begins – register your library now!

You have heard the call of nature, so let the wild times begin! The Summer Reading Club Program will run from 1 December 2009 - 12 February 2010. The public website is now live www.summerreadingclub.org.au. Keep visiting the SRC planning wiki for inspiration and don't forget to post your great ideas.

http://www.alia.org.au/src/wiki/pmwiki.php

Library and Information Week 2010 – theme announced!

We are pleased to announce that the theme for Library and Information Week 2010 will be: Libraries – access all areas! Library and Information Week will be held 24-30 May in 2010. Stay tuned for more information!

http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy/liw/

Launching a new member resource – Career Connect

ALIA is excited to offer all ALIA members access to Career Connect - your connection to the career support you need, when you need it. Login to access guides on applying for jobs, answering selection criteria, changing sectors, coping with redundancies – the list goes on. This great new resource is divided up for Early, Established and Executive (coming soon) professionals.

In the 2008 ALIA member survey our members told us that access to career resources and support is important to them - and we've listened! So jump in and start enjoying the benefits now. Find the career guide you need – and have your member number and password ready to access it.

http://www.alia.org.au/careerconnect/

Professional Development: make it happen!

New workshops! Win a free place at a workshop or conference or online course. Check out our PiCs, LYRASIS, and ARK ALIA supported lists.

http://www.alia.org.au/education/pd/workshops/#1

'Writing to Selection Criteria' - new online eCourse!

A brand new online eCourse, free, for members only. Excellent for new graduate librarians, teacher-librarians, and library technicians. More info on the website.

http://www.alia.org.au/education/pd/workshops/#2

What's happening in 2010 in ALIA training and PD?

More new courses are coming, including three new FOLIOz courses, more ALIA developed online courses, teleconference courses and face to face in regional and capital city locations. Details available soon.

http://www.alia.org.au/education/pd/workshops/

Career pack – are you eligible?

ALIA Library and Information Career Expo pack now available. Are you eligible for a FREE pack?

http://www.alia.org.au/education/qualifications/library.Information.career.wexpo.pack%20order%20form.pdf

STATE

Web 2.0 updated (State Library of NSW)

Since the NSW public libraries learning 2.0 course was launched in February 2008 there has been a gain in popularity of new web tools such as Twitter; libraries across NSW using the technologies to deliver services, communicate with clients, access professional development, communicate with colleagues; a number of library roles advertised requiring these skills; and high quality professional development resources being built on web 2.0 tools, for example Reference Excellence http://wiki.libraries.nsw.gov.au/index.php/Reference_excellence)

As a result a second course: Learning 2.1 - Public libraries and new technologies http://publiclibrariesnewtechnologies.blogspot.com has been developed. Like the first course, participation is voluntary and self paced and it is hoped that library staff across NSW will find the topics covered useful. [Note that this course is built on a blog so you may need to scroll down to reach the first post]

State Library of NSW Public Library Consultants, Leanne Perry, Ellen Forsyth and Mylee Joseph have written up two evaluations of the Learning 2.0 course, which may be of interest: For more information please contact the course coordinators, Ellen Forsyth eforsyth@sl.nsw.gov.auor.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address) Mylee Joseph mjoseph@sl.nsw.gov.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)

Shhh! Read All About It (NSW)

Congratulations to our metropolitan Sydney colleagues on a fabulous story in the November issue of The (Sydney) magazine, issued with Sydney Morning Herald pp 48-52. The title is: Shhh! Read all about it and the subheading is: "Don't believe everything you read about libraries being close to extinction. Barry Divola discovers a hip new temple of books in Surry Hills, a big rise in library memberships and a wide range of fans of the borrowed book." There are also stories from Manly and the State Library with a mention of Stanton's programs.

NATIONAL

NSW Marketing Awards for Public Libraries 2009

Congratulations to the winners of the 2009 NSW Marketing Awards for Public Libraries. The Awards were announced at the Switch Conference dinner on Monday night.

Read on for a list of the winners!

Under 5,000 population category
  • No prize awarded
5,000 to 10,000 population category
  • Winner
    Bland Shire Library for Operation Wobbly Wheels
    Sponsored by Southern Scene
10,001 to 30,000 population category
  • Winner
    Kiama Library for the development of their new look logo and brochures
    Sponsored by Public Libraries NSW - Country
  • Highly Commended,
    Narrabri Library for Talk Like a Pirate Day
    Sponsored by Roger Henshaw Consultancy Service
30,001 to 100,000 population category
  • Winner
    Coffs Harbour Library for their Students Online
    Sponsored by Library AV
  • Highly Commended
    Orange City Library for Books on the Menu
    Sponsored by James Bennett
  • Highly Commended
    Kogarah Library for Audacious Imaginings
    Sponsored by James Bennett
Over 100,000 population category
  • Joint Winners
    • Lake Macquarie City Library for their Seniors' Program
      Sponsored by Bolinda
    • Bankstown Library for their Early Childhood Literacy service
      Sponsored by Public Libraries NSW - Metropolitan
  • Highly Commended
    Randwick Library for the launch and promotion of Overdrive

Electronic Resources Australia

If you are considering your e-resources subscriptions for the coming year and want to take advantage of the stronger Australian dollar then you may want to consider the products offered through Electronic Resources Australia (ERA). ERA provides an opportunity for you to join with other libraries in cross sectoral collaboration to achieve economies of scale and savings in the purchase of full-text electronic resources to meet the information needs of your users.

ERA is a direct result of the work done by a group of Australian library sectoral representatives who have been striving for national licensing since 2003 [http://www.nla.gov.au/nlp/] It provides a national approach managed by and for all Australian libraries for their users, and is administered by the National Library of Australia.

It is the first Australian consortium to cover all Australian libraries: public, school, TAFE, academic, special and National & State libraries. It's easy to become involved: ERA operates on an opt-in basis with a panel of 25 products in the areas of 'General Reference', 'Health Information', 'Australian News & Business Information', 'Humanities & Social Sciences' and 'Science & Technology' on subscription offer to any Australian library.

Through ERA, libraries don't need to negotiate licence terms and conditions directly with the vendor as this has been done for you. Information about the products, vendors, terms & conditions and pricing are available on the ERA website at [http://era.nla.gov.au/product_list/] Pricing is generally based on participation. The more libraries on board, the better the prices for everyone! Free product trials are also available by direct arrangement with participating vendors [http://era.nla.gov.au/for_libraries/trials.html]

Upcoming 2010 ERA Membership Forum

The 3rd ERA Membership Forum will be held on Friday, 12 February 2010 in Melbourne: following the VALA 2010 Conference [http://www.vala.org.au/conf2010.htm](9-11 February 2010). The forum provides the opportunity for library representatives to come together to discuss and input into policy direction and strategic issues for ERA, as well as foster relations with vendors and to facilitate cross-sectoral networking. Online registration for the 2010 ERA Membership Forum will open in early December.

Upcoming 2010 ERA Product Poll

The 2010 ERA Product Poll will take place during the period February-April 2010. At the request of members, there will be an increased lead-time for members to consider products. The annual ERA Product Poll is used to establish the level of library interest in subscriptions to the resources offered on the ERA product list and to help coordinate subscription details with vendors.

More information: Libraries interested in keeping up-to-date on ERA developments can do this by subscribing to the ERA eNewsletter and the ERAlibraries-discussion list online at [http://era.nla.gov.au/for_libraries/] For more information about the ERA Membership Forum and Product Poll please email era@nla.gov.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)

Libraries: a copyright guide

A completely new and up-to-date practical guide for people working in libraries and archives in the non-profit, government and corporate sectors. The information in the previous – and very popular – publication B110 Libraries and copyright was thoroughly revised and updated, with details about section 200AB (the “flexible dealing”, or “special case” exception) and information on how copyright applies in corporate libraries.

ALIA was heavily involved in the revision. Thanks to ALIA's Copyright Advisor http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy/copyright/ and our ALIA Interlibrary Lending Advisory Committee http://www.alia.org.au/interlibrary.lending/ for their important contributions.

http://www.copyright.org.au/b136

Significance 2.0 update

The Collections Council of Australia is pleased to announce that the online edition of Significance 2.0 is now available via the Significance website: http://significance.collectionscouncil.com.au

On this website you can:

Winners of the 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Awards

Minister for the Arts Peter Garrett announced the winners of the 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Awards in November. For those of you who aren't aware the winner of the 2009 Fiction award is Nam Le for his book of short stories The Boat. The daring scope and excellence of The Boat's execution, the generous breadth of its emotional and social traverse and the excitement generated by every story impressed the judging panel.

In 2009, two books and three authors share the Non-Fiction award. The winners are Evelyn Juers for House of Exile: The Life and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann; and Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds for Drawing the Global Colour Line. Both books explore important racial, moral and political issues of Australia's past. The Non-Fiction judging panel said "With great intellectual authority and international research Evelyn Juers, Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds tell their stories magnificently."

Find out more about the shortlist and winners at www.arts.gov.au/pmliteraryawards

INTERNATIONAL

Teens' Top Ten 2009

Each year, thousands of teens vote in the Young Adult Library Services Association's Teens' Top Ten, the only booklist created entirely by and for teens. In 2009, teens cast more than 11,000 votes, choosing the top ten teen books from a list of twenty-five finalists.

The 2009 winners were announced in a webcast (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8QL8sdREGw) produced by World Wrestling Entertainment and featuring WWE Divas Brie and Nikki Bella and winner John Green.

The 2009 Teens' Top Ten are:
  • Paper Towns by John Green (Penguin/Dutton)
  • Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
  • City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry)
  • Identical by Ellen Hopkins (Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry)
  • The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
  • Wake by Lisa McMann (Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse)
  • Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast (St. Martin's Griffin)
  • The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (Disney-Hyperion)
  • Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)


Grateful Dead Archivist

An interesting career choice! (ed.)
The University Library of the University of California, Santa Cruz, is seeking an enterprising, creative, and service-oriented archivist to join the staff of Special Collections and Archives (SC&A) as Archivist for the Grateful Dead Archive. This is a potential career status position. The Archivist will be part of a dynamic, collegial, and highly motivated department dedicated to building, preserving, promoting, and providing maximum access both physically and virtually to one of the Library's most exciting and unique collections, The Grateful Dead Archive (GDA). The UCSC University Library utilizes innovative approaches to allow the discovery, use, management, and sharing of information in support of research, teaching, and learning. Position Available: March 1, 2010

To Apply: Electronic submission of applications is preferred. All materials can be sent to liboff@library.ucsc.edu.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address). Visit the APO web site at: http://apo.ucsc.edu

CONFERENCES

ALIA National Library & Information Technician Conference papers

The conference papers are now available. Experience this wonderful conference through the papers and be inspired!

http://conferences.alia.org.au/libtec2009/programs.php

QPLA / PLA Challenge and Change Conference papers

Conference papers are now available for download from the PLA website.
Visit: http://pla.org.au/Conf2009/conference_papers.html

Important note: PLA will be launching its new website in December making the above link no longer valid. Please contact Roger Henshaw at rhenshaw@pla.org.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address) if you have any trouble locating the conference papers or for further details on the new PLA website.

WEB RESOURCES

Google Squared

Google Labs (http://www.googlelabs.com) the public playground where Google lets users try out new products or services that aren't yet ready for prime time -- has an intriguing new resource, Google Squared. It's a demonstration of a search engine trying to provide answers instead of just sites, and at a higher level than the simple "smart answers" you see when you search for "time in Rome" or "inches in a metre". Rather, Google analyses the retrieved pages, identifies common elements, and creates a table with the information it has compiled.

This is a fascinating tool that helps you compile facts into tables that Google builds on the fly - hard to describe, easier to show. Go to www.Google.com/squared and type in a query that will retrieve a number of similar things -- organic restaurants in Sydney, for example, or women CEOs.

Google Squared generates a table of facts extracted from its index, with the items you are searching for as the left-most column, along with columns for whatever related characteristics are relevant for the topic.

You can also delete a row or column that isn't relevant to your search. If you log in to your Google account, you can save your customised tables for later use. And you can export the table into Excel (the images are exported as URLs).

Google Squared is never going to compete with a real human's analysis of a collection of facts, but it can be a great way to start brainstorming, as a quick way to organise the results of your search, and as a starting point for a nicely presented deliverable for your customer.

http://www.google.com/squared

Cloud computing

The general idea--shared computing services accessible over the Internet that can expand or contract on demand. It's complicated, poses security risks, and computing technology companies are latching onto the buzzword in droves, but should the phenomenon be taken seriously?

http://tinyurl.com/yl2ft3t

Library 101

Have you seen it? Have you heard the song and seen the music video? Have you read any of the 23 essays from some of the greatest minds in Libraryland. Have you looked at the carefully selected list of 101 hyperlinked resources that share critically important things to think about and know in order to ensure a vibrant future for libraries, even as technology changes the information access and community landscapes?

Go to: http://www.libraryman.com/library101/

Accessibility awareness

The PLEASED website provides a high quality accessible web portal for public library staff with information regarding people with disability and people with age related disability, their families, carers and other supporters to access and search for information that promotes their independence and use of public libraries.

The Pleased website - Public Libraries Enabling Accessible Services Encompassing Disability

http://www.pleased.net.au/

FEEDBACK

We want to know what you would like to see in this broadcast, and how you would like to see it. Your response to aliaPUBNEWS is a great guide to us in providing relevant information. Send your comments to feedback@alia.org.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)

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Australian Library and Information Association
PO Box 6335 Kingston ACT 2604 AUSTRALIA
ph 02 6215 8222 fx 02 6282 2249
http://www.alia.org.au