ALIA Board Blog

Well - you read the parties’ responses on ALIA’s federal election page, you wrote to your candidates, you made your decision, you voted. But it’s not finished just yet… as we await the outcome of our Australian Federal Election.

So as we have some time to wait, just a quick recap - What was promised for libraries amidst all the other promises?

ALIA’s federal election advocacy has been an important part of our focus and work this year (a year-long exercise and started last year with our consultations with you at NAC meetings). This also continues our lobbying on the current and emerging issues identified at the ALIA Roundtable in May 2010.

What has been promised? There is unanimous support from all three major political parties for the continuation of the Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians . ALIA, with the help of you, our members, and the ALIA Schools Group and the ALIA/ASLA Policy Advisory Group made a substantial and valuable contribution to the Inquiry with a lengthy submission, letter of support and two public hearing appearances. ALIA’s School Libraries webpage brings together the issues and advocacy relating to school libraries and teacher librarians.

With regard to recognition of the role of public libraries in providing access to online government information, there is again unanimous agreement. The Coalition “appreciates that public libraries disseminate crucial government information. We want libraries to be at the cutting-edge of 21st century technology so they can continue to perform this vital task effectively”. And Federal Labor has recognised that “public libraries play a critical role in providing access to a range of services online, including e-government services and publications services and publications”.

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

The importance of reading and the role libraries play in promoting literacy has also been recognised by all three major political parties. This recognition is an excellent foundation for working with the federal government on the National Year of Reading in 2012.

We have had some very positive statements about libraries from the political parties.

The Coalition stated that it “believes libraries are a force for good in the Australian community. The information and resources they provide can change lives for the better…”.

The Greens recognise that “national libraries and collecting institutions are essential to our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world, and must be maintained and developed as the repositories of cultural heritage.”

ALIA has been working with the federal government for a number of years now on the issue of online content including cybersafety - our issues and advocacy page provides lots of interesting material.

ALIA’s commitment to a safe online experience is reflected in our recent submission to the Joint Select Committee on Cybersafety - and we will be monitoring the continuation of this inquiry.

The Coalition’s Protecting Australian Families Online policy mentioned the Safer Internet Group of which ALIA is a founding member. ALIA, and the Safer Internet Group, will continue to work with the government on a national coordinated approach that includes research, cybersafety education, effective policing of illegal content, and appropriate technology solutions in order to meet the challenges of online safety and security.

As we told you previously, Bill Shorten MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services announced during the election campaign that “An additional $1 million will be provided for digital playback devices and improved access to digital content in public libraries around the country to increase the accessibility of print material, such as books and newspapers, for people with vision and physical impairments and learning disabilities that have difficulty reading traditional printed materials. ” We will work with the federal government - with whoever is parliamentary secretary or with whatever party is in power - following the election to have this program implemented.

And while there is some sigh of relief that the 21st August is over - it’s now that WE STILL NEED YOU! It’s always important for us as part of a sustained effort to get your feedback about what you have done as a member to advocate for libraries during an election campaign. Please email us at advocacy@alia.org.au and let us know how you used our campaign kit or who you met with. When the final seats have been decided, should we follow up with a particular MP - especially if he or she is new? ALIA is happy to send an information pack to your MP - we will include amongst other things the Little book of Public Libraries and we will be creating new template letters for you to use to write to your new MP (or continuing one).

As part of the Australian library and information community, we also urge you to be help the National Library of Australia with its WANTED campaign!. The NLA wants to ensure that they collect federal election 2010 ephemera as comprehensively as possible. Australians are bombarded with campaign material during elections - flyers, how-to-vote cards, balloons, banners, posters, and the list goes on. But instead of throwing them away, help the National Library of Australia collect them! ALIA’s federal election page will be one of the websites that will be archived in Pandora.

So keep up-to-date through the extensive information and links at http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy or email your questions to advocacy@alia.org.au

Waiting, waiting (tapping fingers on desk) … checking ABC Elections App on iPhone … will #ausvotes news tell me anything new … download latest news on The Australian on my iPad …. Turn on the TV News … oh, Patience is a virtue I remind myself (it’s going to be days)

…..

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

Being a part of your national professional assocation in an election year has it’s advantages.  Lobbying and Advocacy has been the focus of the National Office Staff  and the Board representing all members (and remember it was the topic of the ALIA National Advisory Congress meetings last year).     But now that the Federal Election has been called - it’s also up to you.  Your power as a voter in the election is undeniable - it’s time to get involved.

ALIA has developed an election advocacy campaign kit  with topics, tips and templates.  It’s easy, and yes, even one more letter and a visit to your local MP’s office can move an issue forward.   Each time I look at the Campaign Kit I think,   oh we should have added that, or included that point, or changed that…  but then I realised that there are more than 6000 versions of the kit - one for each of our members who is an advocate.  Make the kit into your own version.  Use it as a base for talking to your local member about library issues that you are passionate about - but there will be others that might not be specifically listed.  Use the templates and change them accordingly.  But use your voice, and that of the Association (as a Member) during this short election campaign period.  In an ALIA teleconference today it was also suggested that other friends and colleagues might be interested in it (e.g. parents who can lobby for school libraries)

ALIA has sent a set of questions to each political party, requesting a response as soon as possible, on the big issues like digitisation, library funding, improving literacy, internet filtering and school libraries.  Look out for the responses soon on the website at http://www.alia.org.au/election2010

You can connect with even more ‘real time’ comments and updates on our twitter  http://www.twitter.com/alianational (follow us today) 

however sometimes 140 characters cannot explain it all,  so take a look through the extensive information and links at http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy  or email your questions to  advocacy@alia.org.au

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

On behalf of all the Board of Directors I welcome all ALIA members to the 2010 New Year.   It will be another full year of activities and forward moves for the Australian library industry and profession. 

The Board will be seeking to elect four new board members this year – a Vice-president and three Directors.  We look forward to welcoming these members for a two-year term from May 2010 to May 2012.  If you think you may be interested take a look through the election webpages and the Boardroom Bound information.

Wanting to vote in the 2010 election? You need to be a current financial member by January 13^th 2010 (the day that nominations close for the election).  ALIA will again be conducting online election voting which will open in March.  You will also need a valid email address for us to contact you with the voting information.  Check your ALIA membership current contact details with us as a New Year admin task - login here.

For your diary this year - here are just some of the key ALIA dates for 2010:  - more added during the year at http://www.alia.org.au/events/home.html 

Board nominations close  13 January 2010

Library Lovers Day 14 February 2010

ALIA Access call for papers due 11 February 2010 and ALIA Information Online call for papers due 31 March 2010

AGM motions due by the first week of March 2010 for the May AGM

LIW and NSS and LTDay 24th - 30th May 2010

Membership renewals taken from June-September

ALIA Access 1-3 September 2010 in Brisbane

We hope that many members will be involved in the Association’s work again this year – while we already have lots of participation in our Board, Standing Committees, Advisory Committees and Groups … it is our new members, or those who might decide that it is ‘the right year’ to volunteer that we welcome back.

Think about nominating for a Research Award or scholarship this year or consider nominating a colleague for an achievement award in 2010.  There will soon be a dedicated Groups Liaison and Awards Officer at ALIA National Office (look out for the job advertisement soon here ).  With the departure of a number of senior staff at National Office in 2009 a restructure of management has been approved by the Board and recruitment starts in January 2010. 

2010 marks the International Year of Biodiversity, the Year of the Girl Guide, Year of the Tiger and the Year of Women in Local Government  amongst other celebrations.  It will also be a federal election year - good timing for ALIA’s ‘Every member an Advocate’ launch in the coming months.

Whatever the year brings to you - may it be rewarding, successful and memorable.

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

We have just made available, on the ALIA web site, the responses of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Coalition, to the questions we asked them. There is good news and bad news, and this is a personal approach to just one aspect of the statements, and some other recent policy statements - the free flow of information, the heart of who we are.

The ALP has said two things about the free flow of information. On one hand, on 26 October the ALP made what looks like a very strong commitment to open government. As reported in The Australian under the heading “Free Speech”, Labor has promised to

• abolish conclusive cerificates (by which a minister may avoid release of information by declaring that it is not in the public interest)
• appoint an Information Commissioner, which would be an independent statutory office
• provide better protection to journalists who refuse to name their sources
• abolish the fee for appealing a decision of government
• reform whistleblowers’ legislation
• work with the states to prevent court suppression orders being abused

The policy was praised by the Right to Know coalition, which represents Australia’s large media organisations and is campaigning on issues of freedom of the press and the public’s access to information.

On the other hand, the ALP has a very strong pro-filtering stance, and its statement on the ALIA website demonstrates this. In a reply to a question by ALIA about their position on Internet filtering and libraries, the ALP said “ISP filtering under a Rudd Labor government will be applied to all households (unless they choose to opt-out), schools and public internet points accessible by children, such as libraries.”

What will ISPs (internet service providers) be obliged to filter? It does appear from Kim Beazley’s original statement in March 2006 that ISPs will be obliged to filter out some material which it is legal to view, and it appears that they will take instructions on what to filter from ACMA (the Australian Communications and Media Authority). There are other problems with the policy, too, and many are highlighted in the interesting 36-page critique by EFA (Electronic Frontiers Australia).

What does the Coalition say on these issues? In response to the ALIA questionnaire, they pointed to the Prime Minister’s announcement on 20 August 2007 of the $189 million Protecting Australian Families Online initiative. The statement on filtering in libraries was much more nuanced. At this stage the Coalition is not in favour of ISP-level filtering, and it is suggested that “The use of filters in libraries needs to be tailored to the circumstances and client profiles of different libraries . . .” Moreover, while libraries are encouraged to work with the Government to install PC-based filters, it is recognised that “legislating the use of content filters by librarians would be a blunt approach that would not be effective, particularly as the regulation of public libraries is generally a matter for state, territory and local governments.”

On the issue of media freedom and the free flow of information, we await a formal statement from the Coalition. There was an interesting piece in Crikey.com on the topic, pointing out some indications of reforms which may possibly be proposed by the Coalition as the election campaign unfolds. Or not, as the case may be.

There is lots more in the statements of the two parties, and others will no doubt take them up in this blog.