ALIA Board Blog

It’s wonderful to see the success of another Library and Information Week, with library activities, celebrations and events held across the country.

Last Saturday, wearing my ALIA Board “hat”, I headed off to the ALIA SA Quiz Night, a traditional event on the LIW calendar in South Australia.  While making my way to the venue on a cold Adelaide night, it struck me that this successful event had been running for 6 years now - how time flies!

I was on the organising committee for the first ALIA SA Quiz Night back in 2005, where some things worked, some things didn’t work, but everyone had a lot of fun!  Since then, I’ve been involved every year as a volunteer.  I’ve even co-opted my husband…in the past he’s moved tables, arranged balloons, and acted as our official Quiz Master (He’s pretty good, if I do say so myself!)  And every year I’ve enjoyed working with a group of passionate, organised and enthusiastic ALIA members who volunteer their time and energy to ensure the event is a success.

Sitting at a Quiz Night table and watching the crowd have fun got me thinking about the value of ALIA’s volunteers, and the contribution they make to the Association.  It’s a conversation that I have been having with different people for some time now, and as a dedicated volunteer myself, an issue that is close to my heart.  Most recently, we’ve been talking about it on the ALIA Membership and Awards Standing Committee as we work through some of the results and detailed comments from the ALIA Member Survey.

For me, volunteering has always gone hand-in-hand with “being an ALIA member” - in fact it almost seems inseparable.  Even now, my role as a Director on the ALIA Board is as a volunteer, with the support and understanding of my employer and my family. Over the years, I have given back to the association by volunteering my energy, skills and personal time…but I have also gained immeasurably in friendships, experience and professional knowledge.

But I can also recognize my experience in some of the comments in the ALIA Member Survey  that talk about the problems with volunteering.  Being an ALIA volunteer can sometimes lead to “burnout” and disillusionment ; be demanding on time already committed to work and family priorities ; or be seen by other members as exclusive and “cliquey”.

Feedback like this is really useful for an Association that relies so heavily on local volunteers when providing services and events to members.  Without the hard work of ALIA volunteers across the country, there would be fewer workshops, seminars, library tours, social events and conferences for ALIA members to enjoy. And importantly, ALIA volunteers have tremendous power to affect local membership and recruitment, as they represent “the ALIA brand” at a grassroots level.  

This is why one of the major projects the ALIA Membership and Awards Standing Committee is working on is a Volunteer Review to look at a range of issues around volunteering for our Association.  This will include a survey of current ALIA Group officebearers, to be conducted in the next few months.

The outcomes from the Volunteer Review will be used to inform the discussions at this year’s National Advisory Congress (NACs) in September.  The NAC topic this year is “Volunteering with ALIA”  and we want to hear from members on this issue, especially those of you who have experience as volunteers.  Let us know your suggestions, ideas and feedback on how we can effectively encourage, support and reward volunteers in their contribution to the Association.  I look forward to the discussion!

Kate Sinclair - ALIA Board of Directors

I’ve just returned home from Sydney, a combination of ALIA and ‘real job’. It was great to catch up with so many friends and colleagues over the 5 days and be immersed in all things library.

• Congratulations to the organisers of SWITCH: Public Libraries in a Changing Environment the 2009 NSW Public Libraries Conference and Exhibition held on Monday and Tuesday at the Sydney Masonic Centre.  The ‘S’ in SWITCH stands for sustainability, and the role that public libraries play in economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability together with partners from the business, government, education, cultural and community sectors. The program was built around a diverse range of speakers, many from outside the industry which brought a new perspective. The exhibition was busy and as usual it was wonderful to catch up with our vendor mates. It was also great so see so many interstate visitors.
• The ALIA Board also met on Monday and spent the day working through a range of issues. A summary will be available early next week.
• The MAPLs (NSW Marketing Awards for Public Libraries) were announced at a Gala dinner at Darling Harbour on Monday night. Huge congratulations to West Wyalong, Kiama, Coffs Harbour, Narrabri (Talk like a Pirate Day - what fun), Kogarah, Lake Macquarie, Randwick, Bankstown and Orange (us! what a surprise). The projects represented the diversity of the public library sector and the many ways they interact with the community.
• If you’re like me you’ve probably been tempted by the ‘Library Folk in the Pub’ emails only to realise that you have to be in Sydney to go. On Wednesday night the stars were aligned and I joined the ‘folk’ and Sydney ALIA for their Christmas get together. It was a delight to be able to put faces to names and I have a few coffee dates lined up for future visits. I spoke about my career in libraries - in truth I yelled over the music so while everyone smiled politely they probably all have a very disjointed  view of me and the path I’ve taken!
• There was also the chance to work with ICE, ALIA’s new Professional Conference Organisers on the  ALIA Access 2010 Conference - things are coming together well and it promises to be the place to be seen in the second half of next year.

Between all that I managed a little shopping, lots of coffee and champage breaks and the odd quiet moment.

• On the way home I read the December issue of the (sydney) magazinewhich last month contained a feature on Sydney’s libraries ‘Shhh! read all about it’  (you might remember I blogged about it). This month there’s a letter to the Editor ‘Well Worth Reading About’ from Garth Clarke of North Sydney. He writes:

‘ When I moved into a retirement village, I no longer had space for my beloved books. My loss was ameliorated by the realisation that my pension would stretch further if a large part of it was no longer spent on books. Nothing however matched the consolation I sought and found at my local library. Wandering through the stacks I became reacquainted with the joys of browsing and discovering. If reading is indeed a journey, then these local libraries are travel agents for the spirit, worthy of not just celebrating but preserving as well”.

It couldn’t be put more perfectly.

I love Sydney, but I also love the moment when the mighty SAAB 340 touches down at Orange airport and I know I’m home.

Enjoy your weekend.

Jan

Jan Richards, ALIA President

Like Jan I too have been busy representing the ALIA Board over the past couple of weeks.I was fortunate enough to attended the last two days (17-18 September) of the very successful National Library and Information Technicians Conference in Adelaide. The conference certainly had a buzz about it, and that buzz even prevailed on the closing day, after the every energetic conference dinner. I’d have to say, and I think many agreed that band, “The Smarty Boys” were fantastic.  The lead singer actually works in the University of South Australia Library, which just goes to show what a versatile bunch we library workers are.

On a more serious note, the conference demonstrated the versatility and depth of talent we have in the Library Technician ranks. Congratulations to the award winners, and in particular to the organizers who hosted an engaging and stimulating conference. The next National Library and Information Technicians conference will be held in Perth in 2011.

While Jan was in Perth attending ASLA, I was up in Darwin attending the Top End Symposium. The symposium is an annual event that provides an opportunity to showcase initiatives and achievements by Top End library staff. The symposium theme was Exploring Library Spaces for Learning and Elearning.  Topics explored include new libraries and technology, online tutorials, creating new spaces in aged buildings, the use of libraries by disaffected indigenous youth, and setting up an elearning environment within the NT health system.

The symposium attracted approximately 80 delegates, most of whom attended the final session on Saturday (yes Saturday) morning. Once again congratulations to the organizers for putting together the symposium at such short notice, and my thanks for the hospitality offered to me while I was there.

I can recommend Darwin as a place to visit, it has its own tropical style (and climate), the people are friendly, the sunsets are beautiful, and its a good place to buy wedding anniversary presents. I don’t recommend the red-eye flights in and out of Darwin though.

While I was in Darwin, and just before I left Rockhampton to attend the ‘Tech’s conference in Adelaide, I hosted NACs. The first one was for rural and remote members, and the Darwin  one was obviously for NT members. Some of the key points to come out of the meetings were:

• the need to focus on special and other libraries, in addition to public libraries,
• for ALIA to make submissions to government bodies on matters of importance to members,
• to somehow bridge the proliferation of library and related information bodies, and
• the importance of providing independent industrial relations advice.

Next week I’m in New Zealand  representing the Association at LIANZA and attending CONZUL, while Jan is in Townsville attending the Public Libraries Australia/Queensland Public Libraries Association conference. I think the weather will be somewhat  warmer in Townsville than Christchurch.

Till next time,

Graham

Graham Black
Vice President

Last week it was a delight to attend the Australian School Library Association’s (ASLA) Conference in Perth. ASLA and ALIA are close  partners  and under our joint Memorandum of Understanding the President of each Association is the guest of the other at our respective biennial conferences. During the Conference ASLA President Rob Moore and I signed the updated Terms of Reference for the ALIA/ASLA Policy Advisory Group in front of witnesses, who included members of the PAG (another acronym to add to my ALIA thesaurus). A huge thanks to the ALIA and ASLA representatives on this Group, several of whom I met while I was in Perth. Through their dedication and the  open communication between the Executive Officers of both Associations (Sue Hutley, ALIA and Karen Bonnano, ASLA) we have firm foundations for the future.

Congratulations to the ASLA Conference organising committee for an exciting program on the theme of “Engage, Explore, Celebrate”. If you get the opportunity I would encourage you to attend a session or a conference outside your sectoral interests. It’s a great way of reigniting your thinking and an excellent reminder of how the jigsaw pieces all fit together. From my “real job” perspective it’s been a wake up call to re-engage in a more formal way with the school librarians in our community for the benefit of all.

I also caught up with the West Australian Aurorans and former ALIA President Imogen Garner over dinner while I was in Perth. It was a very lively table with everyone talking at once. Thanks to Jill Benn for arranging it despite her jet lag. As usual I posed the “did Aurora make a difference?” question and the universal answer was yes (I was one young man’s mentor at Aurora so what else could he say!). Applications for the 2010 Aurora Institute close on 16 October 2009 so if you’re thinking of applying get your skates on.

Public holiday here in NSW and the last day of my long (6 week) break from work. I think a day of gardening, dog walking and friends is in store.

Cheers

Jan

Jan Richards, ALIA President