ALIA Board Blog

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

I had to write a post to commemorate today - a day that I thought I may not see in my lifetime - with the investiture of Australia’s first female prime minister. One of my favourite photos is a part of this gallery where Julia Gillard is signing alongside our first female Governor General Quentin Bryce.

A good day for Australian libraries too, as we share with Kevin Rudd in his farewell speech comments about how proud we all are of libraries.  Today he said : “I’m proud of the fact that new libraries are springing up right across the country, often in schools which have never had a library before in their lives, or in some places, have never had a new building built in their schools since the War.”    

Slightly ironic that he was making this speech around the exact same time that Karen Bonanno from ASLA was booked to be in a parliamentary committee room making another public hearing witness session to the House of Representatives Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians (with the hearing delayed of course due to today’s news).   We look forward to continuing to work with the Government on ensuring that the school libraries being established and improved are made into truly useful and wonderful places and spaces of learning.  Keep up-to-date with it here http://www.alia.org.au/schoollibraries/

As a female-dominated profession, in Librarianship we are very fortunate to have many female leaders amongst our ranks.  Although some libraries take longer than others to get their first female librarian.  But as we know, for many other professions and in politics, a woman in the job is rare.   I know that with so many women as members of ALIA, you might share with me in acknowledging the significance of the bit of history that was made today.

ALIA will continue to work on our Advocacy with government to ensure that issues that relate to keeping a democratic society what it should be, will be a part of Australia’s future (including equality).

What a day.

Sue Hutley,  ALIA Executive Director

I took some personal ‘time out’ for the past few days to do some things that have been on my wish-list for awhile, involving activities that weren’t directly work-related, but professional and personal development nonetheless.

First thing was to visit the recently established Brisbane operations of The Footpath Library which is also in Sydney and Melbourne. Congratulations to all the volunteers that are using their skills and time to put books and other reading materials into hostels and into the hands of many homeless individuals and families. 

I also got to catchup with many Queensland Aurora Alumni at an informal gathering.  Those who have attended the Aurora Leadership Institute either as a participant or mentor (or both) will know that it is an intense and unique learning experience. It was great to re-connect with colleagues to talk about library leadership.

But the main reason for my visit home was the CEO Sleepout.  Last year after meeting a Vinnies staffer, I committed to joining in this year’s Vinnies CEO Sleepout. One night sleeping outside on cardboard to experience it first hand. Homelessness is something we all see in our communities, but there are often lots of misconceptions surrounding it all.
The CEO Sleepout is an opportunity to raise awareness of homelessness and the circumstances relating to it, and to raise funds for Vinnies to improve the lives of those in need. With over 105,000 homeless Australians there’s much to be done. As leaders of corporates and not-for-profits we have the ability to use our influence, networks and skills to help.  Here is my profile page and you can still donate online.

I really liked seeing how other CEO’s went through the night with the Bench Diary video’s from Sydney  (including David Lampert, CEO of Wolters Kluwer Asia Pacific talking about considering becoming a NFP CEO!)
Some of the most memorable elements of the Brisbane event was Paul Pisasale  (Ipswich Mayor) and his spotted PJ’s and red carpet fundraiser, Malcolm Snow (CEO of Southbank) settling down with his book just before lights out, thank goodness for the great Merlo’s Coffee, the soup from the Rosies volunteers and then there was the general snoring at 3am. The after effects of sore hips and wearyness from the hard cardboard and concrete lasted a couple of days, and I will be appreciative of my comfy bed each night from now on.

Some other media to hear about it from ABC Radio Fran Kelly here,  Twitter messages, and other videos.

The CEO Sleepout was a huge logistical event, in every state capital. Vinnies did a great job looking after the 685 CEO’s on the night - so that we could help to raise $2.7million over the past few days. Thanks so much to all of my donors. I really appreciate your support.

I am not sure if I can put the CEO Sleepout as part of my ALIA PD Points this year (informal learning for CEO’s maybe?) but it certainly was an experience that I will never forget, and feel privileged to be involved in.

I hope that all of you will take some time to do a few things this year that will challenge you, take you out of your comfort zone, renew your spirit, and contribute to your personal and professional development.  I am so pleased I have

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

ALIA has an elective leadership and governance structure, but is constituted as a company. This makes it a little more complex as an organisation than your average local soccer club (although maybe not - I know nothing about local sporting clubs). ALIA is keen to foster participation by its members.

This is an important issue for all voluntary organisations, and this posting is to encourage people to be involved. You can start off by having a look at our new program to demystify board membership, help people to decide to contest an election, and get involved in the process. The new Boardroom Bound program is located right here. It tells you what being a member of a company board means.

Next May there will be four positions on the Board up for election - two directors elected by members, one director elected by institutional members, and a vice present (president elect). Nominations will be called fairly soon, so start thinking about it now. In fact, its not too early to start thinking about 2009, either.