ALIA Board Blog

If I asked you what was the first day of the week would you reply Sunday or Monday? The reason for my question lies in this week’s ‘big’ project, my involvement in A Day in the Life of a Library Worker. The commencement day for this week long expose of what I get up to as President of ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) is Monday, which I guess is fair enough as it’s the beginning of the working week. 

Call me old fashioned but I have always thought of Sunday as the 1st day of the week and it was only just before Christmas when in my ‘real’ job I was working with our graphic designers on a calendar to celebrate 150 years of local government here in Orange, NSW, Australia that the concept that it could be otherwise hit home. Opinion is mixed with Wikipedia recording it can be either depending on religion or location. As a chronic procrastinator I like this answer as  it gives me 2 days which I can describe as ‘the start of the week’ when avoiding deadlines.

So what deadlines do I have this week (and more truthfully, what am I procrastinating about)? The lovely Kate, editor of ALIA’s monthly magazine inCite is on my case about my introduction for the 2009 Annual Report with my Frontline column for the March edition not far behind. That girl can nag in the nicest possible way :-)!

The latter is easy peasy as the theme for the March edition if inCite is reading, something I’m passionate about from a professional and personal point of view. ALIA is excited to be working with our partners towards a National Year of Reading in 2012, something we’ve wanted to do for some time. We’ll be announcing details soon. As for the Annual Report that should be a piece of cake but all the great things we did last year far outnumber the  word limit I’ve been allocated (I admit it, I’m hopeless at Twitter!). 

One of the challenges of being the head of any professional association is the juggling act of ‘real’ vs ‘honorary’ job. In the real (read paid) job my estimates for the 2010/2011 financial year are due. In the changing environment in which we work looking ahead for even 12 months can be a challenge with emerging technologies and new products jostling for attention. There’s also the chance of golden opportunities which need to be embraced when they arise. This requires a flexible approach and an informed and skilled workforce - attributes which can be developed through engagement with initiatives such as ALIA’s PD scheme. Which reminds me (and you) to include ALIA membership as a ‘must’ in the budget.

I can put it off no longer, the dreaded Excel spreadsheet calls!  Cheers.

Jan

Jan Richards, ALIA President.

librarydayinthelife

 The team behind my earlier performance were particularly keen on a re-run; believe me we created a monster during that exercise when a borrowed video recorder and a whiteboard on wheels masquerading as an autocue created a sense of ‘Cecil B DeMille’ amongst my colleagues. Luckily fate in the form of the pre-Christmas rush put such silliness to rest and my on-line Yuletide presence is limited to this blog.  

We all have “must read” blogs in our lives. One of mine (apart from this one!) is written by Kathy Doughty from Material Obsession. Last week she captured my mood when she wrote:

I always find this time of year very reflective.  The calendar mind map is always interesting as the year stretches out ahead and then, as if by magic, it is so many pages turned.  I can’t help but stop and sit for a minute and review all the wonder of the past year.   

2009 has been a huge year for ALIA. I will remember it as the year in which we:

• Integrated the results of the member survey into our planning and as a result focused on your # 1 priority, lobbying and advocacy, at the National Advisory Congress

• Weathered the global financial crisis

• Contributed to the discussion on issues affecting our industry; the National Broadband Network, Parallel Importation and internet filtering (to name a few)

• Enhanced the range of PD opportunities including access to online resources and current awareness services

• Worked with fire devastated Victorian communities in the Rebuilding with Books project

• Hosted the first Australian Public Libraries Summit which has led to the development of a Vision and National Framework for the sector

• Delivered Library and Information Week, Summer Reading Club and National Simultaneous Storytime

• Collaborated with other library and information associations

• Held a stand out Library Technician’s Conference in Adelaide

• Worked with LIS educators to accredit courses

• Supported IFLA in their decision to relocate the 2010 Congress to Gothenburg

• Embraced Library 2.0 technologies

And they’re just the things I was able to come up with on a hot December afternoon following a lunch time of shopping.

None of this would have been possible without our:

• fabulous ALIA National Office staff

• Local Liaison Officers

• dedicated Board of Directors

• committed volunteers

• and you our loyal members.

To you all a huge thank you.

As we count down the final days of 2009 I would like to send you all my very warmest wishes for the festive season. It has been a great pleasure to meet, work and reconnect with many of you during the year and I look forward to more of the same in 2010.

Jan

Jan Richards, ALIA President

Well, what a month at ALIA.       We of course received word from the IFLA Governing Board that IFLA2010 will now be in Goteborg, Sweden.  <see Jan’s post>   There were many and varied discussions on library e-lists   - questions understanding the complexity of the Congress arrangements and agreements <Graham’s post explains more> and how the GFC is affecting all budgets, tourism and government funding, (e.g  AustnUniLib examples  )  and just a general feeling of disappointment.  While the National Committee, ALIA Board and staff were also all disappointed too, we agree with the IFLA GB that it was a difficult, but necessary and financially sound decision to ensure the long-term viability of the International Association.   We still need to operate as businesses to survive - I was also fortunate to be with a group of Not-for-Profits this July, and we considered trying to rename the sector “Not-for-Loss” as our sustainability in the long term depends on good financial decisions in order to support the communities, groups or professions we serve.  ALIA submitted to the Productivity Commission’s Not-for-Profit review and we hope to engage further with this review.

ALIA heard the response too from members about ‘what next?’ for a 2010 event of some sort - and quickly established the ALIA2010 wiki which has seen some excellent comments and ideas and suggestions.  Other phone calls, teleconferences and emails have also gathered ideas which will be presented to the ALIA Board.   It is Board Meeting time again - and if you ever wonder what the agenda’s look like you can view them here  and get summaries of the meetings here on the website.

Then the 30,000 copies of The Little Book of Public Libraries arrived just before the Summit and filled the ALIA House Conference room before all the staff helped shipped them out to all those who have ordered.  Again, we received a variety of comments, but mostly people have appreciated the ‘different’ and bright cover and the subtle clear title on the cover.  You can also get tips on what to do with the little book and how to use it as a great Advocacy tool on the website. 

We met with the Public Libraries Associations in Parkes in late June to prepare and discuss the ALIA Public Libraries Summit.  Thank you to our State Associations for their financial contribution to the day and also their support, including facilitating discussion groups on the main topics.  Our thanks also to FOLA for their support.  The ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee (PLAC) have provided great advice and input over the year of planning for the summit.

Jan Richards, Summit leader, ALIA President and public librarian was able to bring her experience and passion to the day.  It was also the breadth of participants and enthusiasm from the invited guests that completed the day.  We have only just started the work and further conversations that will result out of the Summit - there’s lots to be followed up on. The major recommendations from the day will continue to be reported on the Summit website.

We hope that more public librarians consider nominating for the ALIA Board of Directors - check out our Boardroom Bound page and we are also running another BB session at the upcoming ALIA Library and Information Technicians Conference coming up soon from 15-18 September in Adelaide.

Jan Richards and I presented to the Select Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network at Parliament House on 20th July and the transcript will be available here.  The Senators opened their copy of The Little Book of Public Libraries with enthusiasm ( abit different to the examples of fibre cables and boxes with splitters shown around during the previous presentation at the Committee).

The Summit, Little Book, Ambassadors, Submissions, Senate presentations and related media interviews have all contributed to ALIA’s Advocacy for libraries this month.

Membership renewals are flooding in - thank you to all that have renewed so far.  You can use the online payment system or give us a call on 1800 020071 to arrange your payment.

Our Web2.0/socialmedia extended to twittering, especially during Summit Day #Summit09 and #ALIA2010, Facebooking, blogging and wiki-ing. 

Sue Hutley, Executive Director

It was with great excitement this morning I logged on to my bloglines account to see that Michael Stephens (Tame the Web) is coming to speak in Australia early 2008 as part of a CAVAL course.

While I am a big fan of a number of witty library technology blogs and often have monthly favourites that I get a kick out of reading, Michael’s blog would have to be my all-time favourite which I read religiously every morning.

So if I sound a bit like an over-enthused fan in this post - that’s because I am

If you are into practical ‘2.0′ work, driven by user need and free of fads for the sake of technology, I urge all ALIA members to try to see Michael while he is in Australia. He is the bomb.

I am going to email him now to see if he has any spare time on his trip over to meet with ALIA members (with my Director hat on and my biggest fan in Australia hat off - I don’t want to scare him) 

Katy
ALIA Director