ALIA Board Blog

Hello Everybody,

Well, today is my last day as President of ALIA. Its a pretty big day. We kick off with a meeting of the ‘old’ Board with the ‘new’ Board members in attendance followed by the AGM. If you’re living in Canberra and haven’t RSVP’d for the AGM its not too late. The more members we have attending the better.

For those of you unable to attend the AGM a copy of my speech is below. Its been both a pleasure and an honour to be President, and its even been a bit of fun!

Here’s my speech.

2010 was a year of significant achievement for ALIA, but unfortunately it was a year when we once again ran at an operating loss.  I would like to briefly outline some of those achievements, provide some guidance about our financial performance, and outline the measures this Board has set in place to address our financial situation.

Our achievements.
Firstly and most importantly ALIA membership grew by 4% in 2010. This performance bucked national and international professional association recruitment trends. My thanks to all our new and ongoing members for their support.

2010 was ALIA’s year of advocacy. This was in direct response to lobbying and advocacy issues raised in the 2008 survey of members as well responses from members in the 2009 National Advisory Congress. Our lobbying and advocacy initiatives and activities included:
• Every Member an Advocate workshops
• Federal Election Campaign information
• Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians
• Internet filtering
• being a founding partner of the Safer Internet Group
• Book Industry Strategy Group

In addition to these ALIA also worked closely with other founding partners and supporters to plan for 2012 the National Year of Reading.

Guidelines for Australian Special Libraries were revised, and the National Vision and Framework for Public Libraries was finalised.

On the education front, ALIA hosted the first ever Library and Information Sector Higher Educators forum, and ALIA published Library Technician Education in Australia: State of the Nation.
In response to the Victorian bushfires and unknowingly in preparation for the climatic events that affected NSW, Queensland and Victoria in late 2010 and early 2011 the resource kit, The ALIA Guide to Disaster Planning, Response and Recovery for Libraries was produced.

2010 was the year ALIA could have been hosting IFLA. In its stead ALIA hosted the tremendously successful ALIA Access Conference in Brisbane.

And 2010 saw ALIA present its highest award, the HCL Anderson Award, to Jan Fullerton, the retiring Director-General of the National Library of Australia.

Our financial performance.
The 2010 financial statements show that ALIA delivered a deficit of $551,281. This is the third time in  four years that ALIA has run an operating deficit. The deficits for the other two years were of a similar magnitude. ALIA is not an organisation with unlimited reserves so it is critical that this trend is reversed.  I would like to provide some guidance on the 2010 results and the plans the Board of 2010/11 has set in train for the future.

2010 saw a number of factors come into play simultaneously, a perfect storm if you like.
1. The impact of the Global Financial Crisis. The GFC had a two fold impact on ALIA’s finances. Firstly, it reduced the value of ALIA managed fund investments, and secondly it reduced the value of income received from these investments. By way of example the difference in return from our investments between 2009 and 2010 was approximately $175,000.
2. Loss of key personnel. Unfortunately, ALIA’s Finance Director left the organisation at a critical time. Due to the circumstances at the time ALIA was left with no alternative but to call in contractors to assist managing and reporting the Association’s finances.
3. Financial management system. Some years ago ALIA invested in an Enterprise Resource Management System used by a number of not-for-profit organisations. While this system has proven to be effective for managing membership, it proved not to be as effective as a financial management system. After some rigorous processing and report testing a decision was made to revert to MYOB. The testing and conversion of the finance data occurred during the period when contractors were assisting ALIA. Budgeting under these conditions was also problematic. The costs of contractors to assist with managing the Association’s finances and convert the data from one system to the other exceeded the normal salary costs attributable to the then Finance Director.

Addressing our financial performance.
The Board of Directors has a fiduciary responsibility to members of ALIA to ensure ALIA is well managed and remains solvent. While ALIA is in a sound financial situation, the Board of Directors has taken steps to ensure the trend of operating losses is reversed. These include:
• Running a balanced, business unit focussed, budget for 2011
• Hiring a Chief Financial Controller with experience in a not-for-profit membership based organisation
• Hiring a Chief Operating Officer who’s primary responsibility is the efficient operations of National Office
• Reviewing expenditure and better managing assets
• Reviewing investments and implementing an investments policy that aims to ensure ALIA invests in secure, low risk investments while at the same time maximising returns
• Effectively managing cash flows
• Obtaining additional financial support from partner associations to assist us with our broad industry based advocacy and lobbying work, eg NYR
• Investigating additional revenue streams

ALIA is of course a membership driven organisation. While the Board has taken the measures outlined above, it is equally important for our membership to continue to grow or stabilise at worst. Any significant decline in membership will necessitate further action by future Boards. Equally, ALIA is subject to the vagaries of national and international economies and markets, so it is important for future Boards to review these measures in light of the current financial situation.

As I close my report I would like to thank all our members for their support, involvement, and engagement. I’d like to thank Sue  and her dedicated team here at National Office for all their hard, and often unrecognised, work and support.

Finally, I would like to thank my fellow Board members for their investment of time and energy in ensuring ALIA is well governed. I wish retiring Board members Gillian Hallam and Kate Sinclair all the best in their post-ALIA Board endeavours. I thank Andrew Hocken for his contribution to the Board. To the continuing and new  Board members Margaret Allen, Vanessa Little, John Bayliss, Julie Rae, Joseph Cullen and Kathryn Cass, I wish you well in what will be another challenging but exciting year for the ALIA.

Graham Black, President (for one last day)

Today was the first day my feet had not felt the effects of last week’s conference.  The perfect time to write, before the memories fade….

It was a great week last week in Sydney for ALIA Information Online 2011.  Not withstanding the record Sydney heatwave of 35Cdegree+ most days of the week, the conference had some hot topics, interesting workshops, calescent conference mentoring, sizzling presentations, warm welcomes, fantastic keynotes, fiery debates, flaming red dresses, fab food and opening drinks, happy award winners, incandescent shoes, outstanding dancefloor moves, and hundreds of delegates and trade exhibitors pleased for whatever air-conditioning they could find at the Sydney Convention Centre.  There was also Tweet-Ups and the lunchtime StitchAndBitch sessions,  as aside activities.  I am sure our Dinner MC, Jean Kittson,  also made a few people hot under the collar, or tearing with laughter.

Our thanks to the wonderful Conference Committee - two years of hard work that proved a success.  You can catch up on their news and photos at the Facebook, Blog (good summaries and links) and Twitter. 

ALIA Conferences would also not be made possible without the support of sponsors and vendors.  They also had a good few days welcoming not only delegates and friends, but also visitors from the general public (yes, anyone can attend the ALIA Information Online trade exhibition - just walk in off the Harbourside)  You can still visit our vendors virtually though their websites - with the full list here.

Many of us also got to enjoy Sydney views, restaurants, summer sunsets and harbourside breezes - all part of the broader Sydney experience.   For those who were not onsite  - our Webstreaming Delegates - we hope you also enjoyed the experience too.

Thanks everyone  - and especially to our speakers (papers will be on the website soon) and delegates,  for making it an excellent week. 

See you at the next ALIA Conference!

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

Today is the last day of Library Day in the Life 6.  There is even a #libday6 Twitter Fountain.

The weekend is often a time for reading, writing, listening and thinking. 

READING:- Just a few bits for this weekend include - OCLC’s Perceptions of Libraries 2010 report & Gartners 2011 Tech Predictions (via twitter).  I am also catching up on the Google Australia blog and tweets, seeing as I will be introducing fellow Safer Internet Group member, Iarla Flynn on Tuesday at ALIA Information Online.  

I have a couple of library news feeds and this one came through :  South Korea to Open 180 Libraries, UK to Cut 400 (& mention of ALIA Disaster Recovery resources and Australian libraries and floods).        and all the tweets for #ALIAioc of course.

This coming week if you are an ALIA Member you will be hearing about our support for our colleagues in the UK and we hope that you join in the Save our Libraries Day campaign on 5th February 2011.  Tweet, blog and email to let the world know that libraries are valuable, and should not be closed.

WRITING:  I needed to do a few notes for speeches for the coming week at #ALIAioc. Also the finishing touches to a brief submission this time for Book Industry Strategy Group (I always wish for more comments from members for our submissions as we mostly get only a handful of comments or less).     Also a few notes for our Boardroom Bound workshop session tomorrow.  Have you thought about becoming a board director?  ALIA conducts these sessions usually at our larger conferences.   And finally the writing has included this blog post.  I have enjoyed doing abit more blog writing this week (it is my 5th Anniversary of blogging and starting as ALIA ED this month), but may have to cut back abit as conferences, board meetings and travels start to overtake the next few weeks.  I will try to be more regular with my 2011 blogging now that #libday6 has finished.

THINKING and LISTENING:  It’s good to have some uninterrupted time to think, plan, ponder, create, consider ideas.  I love driving (except for extreme long trips) and the four hours from Canberra to Sydney (with a good Coffee Stop in the middle) is a good amount of easy driving time.  It’s also great listening with the iPod on shuffle, including a few new songs downloaded before the trip to mix it up abit.  Music is the other thing that keeps me going.

Tonight,  a walk around Darling Harbour and Pyrmont, and a beautiful Sydney sunset, before the next week at a fantastic ALIA Conference. 

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

A good team at work is worth more than a top salary.  At our ALIA National Office staff meeting yesterday, looking around at the group, I noticed what diversity we currently have, just like the organisation that we work for.  ALIA National Office really does have a good mix of ages, gender, nationalities, talents and skills. And I couldn’t do my job without all of them.  I often say in this job “I have one of everything” in terms of staff - from a COO to IT guys, Finance, Membership, desktop publishing, librarians in other roles, a copyright expert and a great receptionist (to take that $1M dollar phone call) and State Managers around the country make up just some of the staff.  While we all have a particular skill set and role, we also ‘do everything’ at ALIA - from answering the main phone line to washing the teatowels (we have a nice red kitchen to match the corporate colour).

A good team means that the boss can take a day or a week away (like next week for #ALIAioc), and know that things just keep on going smoothly.  I know that sometimes my staff like the time when I am not there at the Office - for some catching up time :-) .

For some library leaders, a day away from the office is just what you need.  You may not completely escape some of the phone calls and other things that must be done that day due to deadlines, but it is a treat to be slightly away from the Office.  As the time moves into the weekend, for me it’s also more reading and writing time - when the email starts to quieten down.  Looking through other Library Day in the Life posts was one example for today.

It’s Friday, and although I have had a couple of days out of the Office this week, the work flows continuously (sometimes relentlessly) wherever I am.  My Aurora Leadership Institute  mentors and alumni are often good in keeping me grounded, by offering advice on keeping going, getting perspective, and aiming to switch off sometimes (but then sometimes you just can’t).

I love my Netbook and a couple of other PC’s and access points at home to keep a watch on emails, news and bits of e-information throughout the out-of-office days, or when travelling.  Having a wonderful PA/Exec Support Officer also helps with email and diary management in a position like this.  Don’t ever underestimate the value of speaking to someone’s Assistant as the first point of contact, for a chat, to get an idea of diary times etc, or wrangling a meeting that you would like to make.  Today I had a call arranged with book company CEO, that didn’t work out due to other things overtaking him.  Our diaries have not quite aligned yet, but glad for the patience of his PA to try to get us a time to talk.

It is also my daughters birthday today.  One year I started a new job on her birthday, and ever since, have been aiming to ensure that I am at least at home with her that day to celebrate with friends, family and cake.  The Canberra Summer weather continues, so we were able to enjoy some time at the local waterslide park.  Family reminds you of your other life, to bring you back to earth, for the support you may need on difficult days,  and to always have good Librarian Shusshing Jokes aplenty.

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director  

Today was a big day - with lots of ALIA announcements all in one day!

No. 1 - The Australian Government through the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) has announced funding of $1 million for the purchase of playback devices for public libraries around the country. This funding also covers the costs of acquisition, distribution, training of library staff and evaluation of the program.  This initiative is the ‛Local Government Increasing Accessibility Library Initiative’ (Library Initiative). The Australian Library and Information Association Ltd (ALIA) has been selected to deliver the Library Initiative.  The Library Initiative aims to improve access for people with print disability to print material in a digital format through public libraries around the country.

This initiative has been nearly a year ‘in the making’ and we are looking forward to working with FaHCSIA and Australian public libraries on this important project.  Our Chief Operating Officer, Rob Miller is co-ordinating the project at this time.  We are keeping our ALIA Public Library Advisory Committee colleagues informed as we go along.  More on the aliaPublic e-list soon, and in aliaNEWS and inCite of course. 

No. 2 - We announced a new ALIA service today - an LIS eBook package for members.  Professional reading is so important for us all, but sometimes our institutions may not have a focus on LIS material, or you may be in a small library service with limited budgets.  This new package goes well with our Proquest LIS Journal package for members.  Now there will be no excuse for not being able to say that you are “well read” on a library topic of your choice.  Not an ALIA Member?  Then now is the time to join to have access to this resource!

No.3 - We announced a key staffing appointment - Our next Education Manager will be Lisa Strickland.  Our accreditation of courses, collaboration with educators and employers and liaison with other peak bodies, like our Industry Skills Council IBSA is a key part of our business.  Even though Lisa has been my Executive Support Officer for awhile, she brought with her many other talents, skills and a background in higher education, and the public and private sectors.  It’s great to see people come into your organisation that can then take on more senior roles.  While I will be looking for a new ESO soon, at least Lisa’s skills will be retained by ALIA in a different role.  Congrats Lisa.

Today we also held a staff farewell morning tea for Robyn Ellard, our Director, Member Services.  Robyn has been with ALIA National Office for 4 1/2 years and during these years has managed our groups, membership, publishing, events and Local Liaison Officer (now our State Managers) teams.  She has spoken with so many members, answered so many of your enquiries, supported the Board and lots of committees, represented the Association at many meetings, functions and activities and has been a familiar face at conferences and events. We wish her all the very best for her new life in Melbourne. 

Another Blue Shield Australia meeting via teleconference today, with lots more interaction and discussion and collaboration between the archives/museums/galleries/library sectors on disaster recovery and ways we can support our members and the community.  The BSA website is gathering consolidated data which will be available next week on affected institutions and sites. 

Tonight, a special treat, with a Skype call with Annie Mauger, Chief Executive of CILIP.  You must have heard that it is proposed to close nearly 400 public libraries in the UK, and it was announced this week that 5th February will be Save Libraries Day.  It is Advocacy in full swing, with each group playing a different role for the combined effort (what Advocacy is all about).  I really like the   What you can do in two minutes, five minutes, thirty minutes idea here.  And the amazingly comprehensive Campaigning Toolkit.  (If Australian Governments ever attempted such an amass of library closures, heaven help them)  If you are a tweeter or blogger then 5th February 2011 is an opportunity for you, no matter where you are in the world, so show that you support UK Libraries and libraries everywhere by telling others about #savelibraries.

Tonight also finished at home with excited talkative girls for a sleepover, special cake, and packing planning for the ALIA Information Online Conference next week in Sydney.

Over to the other side of the world for the next part of today for #libday6 ….

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director    LibraryDayintheLife

http://www.twitter.com/alianational

It’s Australia Day today, a typical hot summer Canberra day (37 degrees), a public holiday and a chance to catch up on a few things.

Also a day to be proud of library leaders and supporters for the latest Australia Day Awards.  ALIA works with the Dept of PM&C to encourage more library staff to nominate their peers and leaders for Australian Honours (they even exhibited at our 2008 ALIA Conference to chat to people about how to nominate someone).      At any one time I usually have one or two Honours nomination letters awaiting responses, as we are often asked to provide comments on contributions to the library profession.  It is also the case that you may submit a reference and months or a year or so later (it is a lengthy and stringent process) you will see their names announced on the lists.  This year we say a special congratulations to ALIA members Spencer Routh and Ron Store, other librarians Aladin Rahemtula and David Clune as well as James Sourris, supporter of the State Library of Queensland.   There is also this great story from the National Library of Australia today about volunteers assisting digitisation.  Our ALIA Twitter, Facebook and e-Lists communicates the good news (yes, very much part of my job now too).

Librarian searching skills are still so important in my job - for news and media stories, finding people, gathering information, industry intelligence, collating facts, articles and contacts.  I continue to use these skills to my advantage all the time.

It’s Back-to-School in the ACT in two weeks time, so I spent some time using my past library skills in covering school books today with my daughter :-) The public holiday also gives me time for some reading, writing and music and app downloads (more on that in another #libday6 post).

Unfortunately part of my job is hearing the sad news of the death of members and library friends.  There seems to be a few lately, with more news coming in today via LinkedIn and email.  We make contact with families, ensure membership details are amended and if appropriate, ask people to write obituaries.  All part of the cycle of life with 6000 ALIA members.  Our ALIA Retirees Group also does a great job of keeping up with who is where, including their blog.

Tonight finished with a cold Australian Sparkling Shiraz (because it’s so hot), lamb and pavlova  - all typical Aussie food :-)   Happy Australia Day all! 

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director  sue.hutley@alia.org.au   LibraryDayintheLife

Today was a day of project and partnership discussions.  Sue McKerracher, our National Year of Reading project manager (and all-round amazing woman) visited us at ALIA House for meetings to further along NYR2012.   Speaking of ALIA House - it has been our home for more than 20 years now.  We have four other corporate tenants and it contributes to our income each year.  Part of the job of the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer is the maintenance of our building, being ALIA’s most significant asset.  So some days I count Real Estate Manager and tenant management as part of my job description.

Many ALIA Members would know Sue M, as she conducted our Every Member an Advocate workshops around the country in 2010 and supported our Public Libraries Advisory Committee last year as well.  There are also other excellent advocacy tools available on the ALIA website.  Let us know what you think of them by emailing comments to advocacy@alia.org.au

We also met with the Canberra Centenary team today, to discuss project ideas for us to work together on for the National Year of Reading.  Their big year will be 2013, and we hope to partner on a number of projects in the lead up to that year.  Also,  I learnt about a new thing today - what a Diaspora is all about (it’s not a term that I have come across).  Check out http://www.canberradiaspora.com.au/ If Canberra has been a part of your life, you will be asked to contribute your story.

The National Year of Reading is for everyone - all libraries are encouraged to get involved - and we also have some significant partners on board.  If you haven’t yet learnt how to do the “Love to Read” symbol - try it out at your next staff meeting ! To see the videos go to the NYR Facebook page.

I also spoke to and emailed quite a number of other Australian Library Associations colleagues today.  Talking about how we can work together, reduce duplication and get meaningful projects off the ground.  Also discussions with our sectoral Advisory Committees, including the TAFE Libraries Advisory Committee who are planning some great resources and research this year for that sector.

There are many large projects that we run simultaneously at ALIA with the contribution and teamwork of  ALIA Staff, the Board, our contractors (like our Professional Conference Organising company), sponsors and vendors, and our many wonderful volunteer members.    Just a few include our Conferences, Campaigns and other special grant programs (with one past example being Human Libraries Australia of which funding has concluded).

My evening finished at home with the new ratbag cat bringing a cute mouse into the house to play with.  At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what library day job you have, you still only exist to serve the cat of the household :-)  You have to have some perspective!

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

I have been meaning to blog - really, truly - but I’ve sort of got out of the habit.  I have to say that 2011 has started off so unexpectedly for so many Australians that we have all been abit distracted. I hope to use committing to #libday6 (website here, facebook here, twitter here) to put together a few summaries of some of the things ALIA is doing at the moment, abit of what my ‘day job’ is like, reflections on what I do as Executive Director of the national peak body for libraries in Oz, and why I am *still* a librarian even though it is not my current job title!

I have been watching Library Day in the Life since it’s inception and for the past week have been musing - ‘will I, or won’t I’.  Looking at this next week there is alot on as usual, so I hope my late night writings can do it justice. 

So how was today?  Sometimes I feel abit like that Gary Larson cartoon of always being on the phone  (On the way to work in the car handsfree, at the Office and on the mobile wherever I am)  I had the usual wide range of phone calls today, mostly relating to Disaster Recovery with our Queensland and Victorian colleagues.  If you have not been near the TV lately, a great proportion of Australia has been under water with devastating floods, and we will be recovering for quite awhile.  ALIA has been involved with Blue Shield Australia since 2005 and we undertook an extensive library disaster recovery projects in 2009/10 following the Victorian Bushfires. Check out the current links and resources on the ALIA website.   Our first Disaster Recovery Project Manager, Jane Grace recorded her story of being a librarian in the middle of a major natural disaster.  My calls today and over the past few weeks to people in Ipswich, Toowomba and Brisbane indicate that similar stories of library contributions to their communities are happening again - storytelling at recovery centres, co-ordination of assistance, support, and a safe place to be in the craziness of what else is happening.  We have been starting to get reports and photos in from Victorian library colleagues as well.  Our best wishes to them as the waters finally start to receed.

I also caught up with ALIA President, Graham Black, (Leader of our Board of Directors) on the phone as he is now back in Rockhampton, to have some time to update him on a few things and chat about our itinerary for next week - our biggest conference ALIA Information Online.  Looking at all the meetings, functions and activities we need to be involved in next week, I am glad I have been keeping fit.  It’s a full week, non-stop, but we are all looking forward to seeing so many members in Sydney very soon.

My Publishing Manager and I talked through the ALIA Annual Report that we are starting to write for the 2010 calendar year.  It’s very much a combined effort. 

Part of my job is to connect our profession across the sectors (TAFE, University, School, Public and Special Libraries), and disasters prove that all library sectors face similar issues.  I hope that I can connect more of us together at times like this, to learn from past experience and to create opportunities for us to provide effective (useful) recovery projects for libraries and library staff.  We have around 50 library associations and organisations in Australia and ALIA connects and works with many of them when combined effort is needed.  Tonight I am working on proposals for us to combine efforts, collaborate and connect for what will be the next phase of ALIA’s Disaster Recovery Projects.

Many of you would know your Library Association’s Executive Director or CEO - our job is wide ranging, always full of variety, a privilege and very rewarding.  This week I will probably only talk about a snapshot of all that we might deal with in any one day.

Lets see what interesting things are on the agenda for tomorrow for the next #libday6….

Sue Hutley,  ALIA Executive Director  sue.hutley@alia.org.au

librarydayinthelife

The  floods over the past couple of months or so have been more devastating and tragic than any one of us could have predicted. Up until a day or so ago there were unfortunately a few deaths and the flood damage was largely caused by slowly rising flood waters. The events of the past 24 hours have changed all this with flash floods and the consequent loss of life and property in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley. Its almost unthinkable that Brisbane  is bracing for floods similar to those experienced in  1974.The floods have  and will continue to severely impact the personal, professional and vocational lives of members of many communities in Eastern Australia. The immediate impact of flooding in my own community in Central Queensland is well documented however the longer term impact can only be assessed once the waters recede.  Fellow Board member John Bayliss from Dubbo in the Macquarie region of NSW whose main library was inundated with water is now dealing with the impact of the flooding they experienced in December - unique material lost, material needing to be replaced.Up until yesterday Karen Bonanno, Executive Officer of ASLA reported that about 25 school libraries had been damaged by flooding including Theodore and Condamine who totally lost their school libraries. One of these centres had only recently had a new library built under the BER scheme. I would not be surprised if more libraries aren’t lost or  damaged as a result of the flooding in South East Queensland. This disaster is affecting libraries of all sizes. As I’m writing this, I notice that the State Library of Queensland on Brisbane’s Southbank is closing at 4pm today (11/1) and not reopening until Friday 14 January as a safety measure.So what can or should we do? If you are in local communities affected by the flooding I suggest you seek out local community support initiatives to see how you best contribute. If you are further afield and would like to contribute I recommend making a donation to the Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal (http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html).The floods are having all sorts of impacts of the lives of ordinary people. Just from talking to a few people I’ve heard of people visiting relatives and being stranded, people needing to have emergency medical procedures in centres far from home and being unable to return home, people stranded while on holidays, and others stranded as a result of visiting due to a family bereavement. I’m sure everyone in Queensland and affected parts of NSW knows somebody with a flood related story.   As for me I’m  ’stranded’ at the Sunshine Coast, staying with relatives, working from our Noosa Campus and waiting for the rain to stop and the flood waters to recede. I like everyone else will be pleased when the weather fines up.   Until then however its a case of chin up!        

Graham Black,   President

http://www.abc.net.au/emergency/flood/ - including how to help and donate

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

Our right to access information is front and centre today courtesy of WikiLeaks. 

Not so long ago, in my day job, I had to defend that very same right.  It’s one that is absolutely core to our professional values.  For me it was also quite a public affair played out in the main stream media – newspapers, talkback radio and television (although clearly not on the same scale) .  Social media was also in full swing with blogs and tweets flying around the country and globally.  Some powerful lobby groups and politicians had firm views on the matter and didn’t hesitate to express them.   

It reinforced for me what a precarious path we walk in ensuring free and uncensored information for our communities. 

Opposition to free and uncensored information came, at the time, from some unlikely sources. But then, perhaps I really shouldn’t have been so surprised to see that some of the greatest opponents were those I had assumed would normally be in support of one of our core values.  They weren’t in this particular instance, because the information didn’t suit them. It was abundently clear that the most important consideration in the debate was promotion of a particular position, not the right for people to have access to alternate views and ideas and for the community and individuals to make up their own minds.

Whilst my own experience is nothing compared to that of Julian Assange, I can’t help but draw parallels.  Calls to suppress information are usually underpinned by an argument that the information presents a danger to society or to individuals and therefore those who think they know best argue it should be suppressed.  The debate about right to the information and allowing individuals to come to their own conclusions becomes overwhelmed by the argument about the dangers to society.  The person seen to be upholding the right of freedom of access is often the target of some quite personal and vitriolic attacks, usually from those who are challenged or perhaps embarrased by the infromation itself.  As is often the case, the defence of this right often has a very high personal cost.  

The lesson I learnt from my own experience is that both as a profession and as individuals we must remain vigilant and ready to defend this core value.  Is it worth the cost we will sometimes have to pay - yes absolutely!  Whilst information has perhaps never been more freely available, increasingly there are those who seek to control and censor that information – governments, politicians, special interest groups and individuals.   There has never been a more important time for us as a profession to stand up for our core professional values.  

ALIA’s position on this matter is clear and as professionals we need to stand tall in the face of opposition.  At the time, I found it useful to point to the statements of our professional values on the ALIA website.    http://www.alia.org.au/policies/free.access.html

For me there was one shining moment during my recent experience – a talk back radio session on whether listeners thought (public) libraries had a role as a place in which discussion and debate on sometimes controversial issues should take place. The response was an overwhelming yes!   

Thankfully, I sense the same community support for our right to freedom of information emerging now. 

Margaret Allen

Vice President