ALIA Board Blog

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

During the week a number of submission papers were loaded up onto the ALIA Education and Workforce Summit website.  They are good reading and our thanks to all of the individuals, groups and organisations that have already contributed.  Some late papers will also be added next week.

Invitations have gone out to all Australian LIS educational institutions, major representative Associations (all the usual acronyms - NSLA, CAUL, ASLA, ALLA ….etc)  as well as sector groups of ALIA.  We only have a room that can take 50-55 people and we are pretty much now at capacity.   Julie Sloan has been selected as the facilitator for the summit day which is Friday 28th March 2008.  The Summit is an initiative of the ALIA Education and PD Standing Committee. 

So what if you are not on the invitation list ?  If you work in one of the mentioned representative groups or are part of these other Associations, check out the Submissions Page and see what has already been said.  Find out who your nominee is and if you want to make your own comments, I suggest you direct them to your representative, or send a late submission for the website via email.  You can also attend a Pre-Summit meeting on the night of 27th March at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne from 6pm to 7.30pm, but RSVP’s are required - again, check out all the details on the Summit website.

So what will the Summit discuss?  The background is available from the Summit website, and a further detailed program will be provided to participants and on the Summit website next week.  If you attended a National Advisory Congress meeting in 2007 you would have spoken about the issues with Board Directors which have been fed into the summit process, reports back will be conducted at this year’s NAC meetings around the country in July 2008 [details here ].

 Attention Bloggers :  it seems that some of our colleagues may have missed information about the Education and Workforce Summit  - why not add a note and a link from your blog to catch those that may not be on aliaNEWS, read inCite or watch this blog.  Thanks for helping get the last minute word out !  Thanks,     Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

Update :  14 December 2007.  Our online Christmas Card this year - is now needing some tweaking. The link will be back on the front page of the ALIA website next week.