ALIA Board Blog

The weekend is often for catching up - on the housework, back to school organising, the online and other reading, and some fresh air - in preparation for the week ahead.   Some of my online reading this weekend included prep for meetings with ministerial officers this coming week, expressing our opposition to mandatory filtering and pulling together case studies and comments for the ALIA submission.  Also catching up on Parliament too - and the positive and supportive comments by Senator Trood regarding the National Library of Australia and  ‘Indeed, it is a national treasure.’  Other parliamentary-related reading included Kevin Rudd’s new book ‘Jasper & Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle’.  We are hoping that Kevin (and Rhys Muldoon and Carla Zapel) might like to get involved in National Simultaneous Storytime this year on 26th May, as our chosen book has an animal theme as well, being ‘Little White Dogs Can’t Jump’.

This coming week marks ALIA’s first time (or first time in a long time) at the VALA Trade Exhibition - visit Kate, Steph, Judy, Margie, Jeannine and myself at Booth #43.    Either side of VALA, two of our key Advisory Committees are meeting face-to-face.  The first in-person gathering of the ALIA TAFE Libraries Advisory Committee and another important meeting of the ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee.   #ALIANational will be part of the #VALA2010 twittering as well.

It is the anniversary of the Victorian Bushfires - a message is on the ALIA Disaster Recovery webpage - and there is a Blue Shield Australia gathering this week too.

This week also marks Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 9th February.   You can download the video and/or add the logo to your site/facebook/twitter links.  It is an opportunity for library staff in all types of libraries to highlight the importance of cybersafety education.  In the meetings that I will be in with other IT industry stakeholders visiting ministerial advisors at parliament house in the next few days we will be reminding the government about our objection to censorship and to filtering legitimate material, as part of maintaining a democratic society.

And of course - Library Lovers Day (with or without the apostrophe) - to be celebrated at the end of the week ahead.  Most libraries are planning LLD events on Friday or next Monday the 15th.     Jan’s post below reminds us that we can all do something simple to remind our clients and friends to love Australian libraries.  I hope that many public librarians are using The Little Book of Public Libraries as an LLD ‘gift’ for their decision makers and champions, and for other sectors there are some great ideas on the website at http://www.librarylovers.org.au/ 

but wherever you are this week - may it be a good one.

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

Only a week to go until Library Lovers’ Day on 14 February. At ALIA we’d love to know what you’ve got planned for the celebrations. At my own library we’re running a literary lovers’ quiz with a box of chocolates as the prize (predictable I know!). We had a lot of fun coming up with the questions; it led to an extended morning tea with lots of ‘ I loved that book’ comments :-)!

LLD started life as a public library activity but over the few years it’s been in operation we’ve been delighted to see other sectors come on board. Last year we had a fabulous response from school libraries. Let’s take it even further in 2010. As we’ve said many times in the past not everyone gets flowers on this romantic day but everyone has a library they can love.

Meanwhile I’ve created a fantastic prop for my husband’s bookshop to promote Valentine’s Day (well I think it’s great). In a true Better Homes and Gardens moment I had him cut a huge heart out of craft wood which I painted hot pink. I then laid an old lace tablecloth over the top, stood on a chair and blasted it with orange spray paint. The effect is very Tonia Todman! Needless to say the tablecloth has been retired to the tip.

Cheers

Jan

Jan Richards, ALIA President

The last place I expected to hear about Library Lovers’ Day (also known as Valentine’s Day) was in Freedom Furniture, Dubbo but there I was, poking around last Sunday when my husband casually said “Did I tell you we had Library Lovers’ Day at school on Friday?” Now before you jump to any conclusions about cradle snatching I should perhaps mention that my husband is a teacher.

Being the dedicated ALIA Vice-President I am, I immediately jumped on this piece of information, relegating for the moment the search for the perfect dining room chair (our old bentwoods have become highly uncomfortable and rickety, or maybe it’s just our age!).  I guess I’ve tended to think of LLD as a particularly public  library activity (preconceptions are a dangerous thing) and so I was delighted to hear of a high school going all out and badgered Marcus for more details. He skillfully deflected this line of questioning (vast experience) and suggested that I phone the gorgeous Laura Tilston, Librarian at James Sheahan Catholic High School in Orange.

Laura is always enthusiastic and this had obviously spilled over into the organisation of LLD. Inspired by the chat on one of the e-lists she had partnered with the Student Representative Council (who use Valentine’s Day as a fundraiser) to create some fun activities which would engage the whole school community. These ranged from  “blind dates” with a book (very popular) to a guessing competition which featured the wedding photos of various staff members (I was somewhat aghast to realise that I too had unwittingly “participated”  in this activity!). There was a lucky dip for every borrower and prizes included book vouchers.

Laura and I agreed that while not everyone gets a Valentine’s Day card or flowers everyone can be a library lover. And while the roses will wilt and die leaving only a memory, your library is there for life.

We have another year to ramp up for the next festival of library love, but as we know that will come around all too quickly. Laura had used some of the ideas on ALIA’s Library Lovers’ Day pages to inspire her thinking. Why not share your successes with us  so that in 2010 14th February will be libraries all the way! 

Jan Richards, ALIA Vice President.