ALIA Board Blog

Hello Everybody,

Well, today is my last day as President of ALIA. Its a pretty big day. We kick off with a meeting of the ‘old’ Board with the ‘new’ Board members in attendance followed by the AGM. If you’re living in Canberra and haven’t RSVP’d for the AGM its not too late. The more members we have attending the better.

For those of you unable to attend the AGM a copy of my speech is below. Its been both a pleasure and an honour to be President, and its even been a bit of fun!

Here’s my speech.

2010 was a year of significant achievement for ALIA, but unfortunately it was a year when we once again ran at an operating loss.  I would like to briefly outline some of those achievements, provide some guidance about our financial performance, and outline the measures this Board has set in place to address our financial situation.

Our achievements.
Firstly and most importantly ALIA membership grew by 4% in 2010. This performance bucked national and international professional association recruitment trends. My thanks to all our new and ongoing members for their support.

2010 was ALIA’s year of advocacy. This was in direct response to lobbying and advocacy issues raised in the 2008 survey of members as well responses from members in the 2009 National Advisory Congress. Our lobbying and advocacy initiatives and activities included:
• Every Member an Advocate workshops
• Federal Election Campaign information
• Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians
• Internet filtering
• being a founding partner of the Safer Internet Group
• Book Industry Strategy Group

In addition to these ALIA also worked closely with other founding partners and supporters to plan for 2012 the National Year of Reading.

Guidelines for Australian Special Libraries were revised, and the National Vision and Framework for Public Libraries was finalised.

On the education front, ALIA hosted the first ever Library and Information Sector Higher Educators forum, and ALIA published Library Technician Education in Australia: State of the Nation.
In response to the Victorian bushfires and unknowingly in preparation for the climatic events that affected NSW, Queensland and Victoria in late 2010 and early 2011 the resource kit, The ALIA Guide to Disaster Planning, Response and Recovery for Libraries was produced.

2010 was the year ALIA could have been hosting IFLA. In its stead ALIA hosted the tremendously successful ALIA Access Conference in Brisbane.

And 2010 saw ALIA present its highest award, the HCL Anderson Award, to Jan Fullerton, the retiring Director-General of the National Library of Australia.

Our financial performance.
The 2010 financial statements show that ALIA delivered a deficit of $551,281. This is the third time in  four years that ALIA has run an operating deficit. The deficits for the other two years were of a similar magnitude. ALIA is not an organisation with unlimited reserves so it is critical that this trend is reversed.  I would like to provide some guidance on the 2010 results and the plans the Board of 2010/11 has set in train for the future.

2010 saw a number of factors come into play simultaneously, a perfect storm if you like.
1. The impact of the Global Financial Crisis. The GFC had a two fold impact on ALIA’s finances. Firstly, it reduced the value of ALIA managed fund investments, and secondly it reduced the value of income received from these investments. By way of example the difference in return from our investments between 2009 and 2010 was approximately $175,000.
2. Loss of key personnel. Unfortunately, ALIA’s Finance Director left the organisation at a critical time. Due to the circumstances at the time ALIA was left with no alternative but to call in contractors to assist managing and reporting the Association’s finances.
3. Financial management system. Some years ago ALIA invested in an Enterprise Resource Management System used by a number of not-for-profit organisations. While this system has proven to be effective for managing membership, it proved not to be as effective as a financial management system. After some rigorous processing and report testing a decision was made to revert to MYOB. The testing and conversion of the finance data occurred during the period when contractors were assisting ALIA. Budgeting under these conditions was also problematic. The costs of contractors to assist with managing the Association’s finances and convert the data from one system to the other exceeded the normal salary costs attributable to the then Finance Director.

Addressing our financial performance.
The Board of Directors has a fiduciary responsibility to members of ALIA to ensure ALIA is well managed and remains solvent. While ALIA is in a sound financial situation, the Board of Directors has taken steps to ensure the trend of operating losses is reversed. These include:
• Running a balanced, business unit focussed, budget for 2011
• Hiring a Chief Financial Controller with experience in a not-for-profit membership based organisation
• Hiring a Chief Operating Officer who’s primary responsibility is the efficient operations of National Office
• Reviewing expenditure and better managing assets
• Reviewing investments and implementing an investments policy that aims to ensure ALIA invests in secure, low risk investments while at the same time maximising returns
• Effectively managing cash flows
• Obtaining additional financial support from partner associations to assist us with our broad industry based advocacy and lobbying work, eg NYR
• Investigating additional revenue streams

ALIA is of course a membership driven organisation. While the Board has taken the measures outlined above, it is equally important for our membership to continue to grow or stabilise at worst. Any significant decline in membership will necessitate further action by future Boards. Equally, ALIA is subject to the vagaries of national and international economies and markets, so it is important for future Boards to review these measures in light of the current financial situation.

As I close my report I would like to thank all our members for their support, involvement, and engagement. I’d like to thank Sue  and her dedicated team here at National Office for all their hard, and often unrecognised, work and support.

Finally, I would like to thank my fellow Board members for their investment of time and energy in ensuring ALIA is well governed. I wish retiring Board members Gillian Hallam and Kate Sinclair all the best in their post-ALIA Board endeavours. I thank Andrew Hocken for his contribution to the Board. To the continuing and new  Board members Margaret Allen, Vanessa Little, John Bayliss, Julie Rae, Joseph Cullen and Kathryn Cass, I wish you well in what will be another challenging but exciting year for the ALIA.

Graham Black, President (for one last day)

As the meeting was short and sweet , the ‘take home’ messages will be equally short and sweet!

The Board held a teleconference meeting on Monday 12 July. The main topics of discussion and major outcomes were:

Approval of the New Generation Advisory Committee Terms of Reference
An update on the ALIA Access Conference which is shaping up to being very well attended
Preliminary discussion on the 2011 budget and planning for 2011.
Board processes
National Year of Reading 2012
Advisory Committee reports

We will be having a face to face Board meeting on Monday 30th August in Brisbane just prior to the ALIA Access 2010 Conference. Most of the Board members will be attending the Conference so please take this opportunity to meet the Board members and talk about ALIA.

Graham Black
President

Each year as Executive Director I reflect on this week - it’s the biggest week of the year at ALIA National Office.  I’ve realised that I have not summarised the activity of the ‘third week of May @ ALIA’ before on the blog.  Here is abit of an insight ….

Monday starts with the induction of new Board members.  This year we welcome Margaret Allen, John Bayliss, Andrew Hocken and Julie Rae.     You can find more about the new directors here.   The incoming President and outgoing President assist with the induction. We spend the day going through ASIC Duties and Responsibilities, matters relating to being on a Board of a Company Limited by Guarantee, talking through many induction and company documents, meeting the National Office staff and answering questions from our new board members.   The day concludes with the new board members being introduced to other board members over dinner.

Tuesday is an all-day board meeting where outgoing board members hand over their Standing Committee responsibilities and we cover off any financial and legal requirements for the changeover of the board.  Both current and future board members are all present, as well as Executive Staff members.  Further audit reports and other financial matters are tabled. Strategic matters and the strategic plan are discussed with outgoing board members offering their perspective from their time as directors, sharing of knowledge, updates on recent ALIA projects and initiatives in-progress, and often some good tips and advice for ongoing board members.  We are usually cramming to complete the 20-or-so Agenda items for the day by 5pm.  There is then a ‘quick change’ as the staff ready ALIA House for 6pm on Tuesday when we welcome many more members to the Annual General Meeting.  It is presided over by a distinguished member, and again this year it will be Averill Edwards, past president.  We must have 21 members as quorum for the AGM (so we always hope that the May Canberra weather won’t be too cold).  The President and Executive Director give reports, we confirm the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements as well as our Auditors for next year and discuss any questions that the members in attendance may have.  Jan Richards (ALIA President 2009/10) summarised 2009 here on the blog and also in our Annual Report.   The AGM is also a time to celebrate the year with ‘a glass of something’.  The Board concludes the night with a smaller farewell gathering for outgoing board members, this year being Michelle Brennand, Helen Partridge, Philip Keane (all of whom have served four years on the board) as well as Jan Richards.    My sincere thanks to Jan, Helen, Michelle and Philip - for all that they have contributed to ALIA during their terms as board members.

On Wednesday the ongoing board members ‘the new board’ re-convene to start planning and discussing future board matters.  There are the standing committee confirmations and discussion on way forward for the Strategic Plan.  This year, with new Executive Staff and the new structure in place, we are also planning staff activities relating to board planning.  This Wednesday will also have reports on the project plans for the National Year of Reading 2012 and our many advocacy initiatives, and how our board and members will be a part of this.  During this board meeting we also confirm the National Advisory Congress theme and dates for August - October.  This is again an all-day meeting.  Most board members depart late at night, and after three full days & nights they welcome the peace of the aeroplane to home.  Being on the ALIA Board is a significant commitment and responsibility - not just for the first three days of inductions and meetings, but for all that the company’s directors undertake in their duties.

This year we are also hosting the ALIA Roundtable 2010 meeting on Thursday 20th May 2010. Graham Black as incoming ALIA President will chair this full-day meeting.  This meeting of peak library associations and groups is an opportunity to discuss the compelling issues for our profession (and in an election year, it’s an important time to be speaking with one voice).  The outcomes of this meeting will be reported on the ALIA Roundtable 2010 webpage in coming weeks. 

It is always a very exhausting week for everyone ; the staff who manage all the logistics, agendas&papers, presentations&reports, and every other detail both before and after the meetings ; and our volunteer board members. 

There is only then a weekend to recover however before Library and Information Week is upon us.   [More on that in my next posts].

To the ALIA staff and the Board - my sincere thanks again for all that goes into making this coming ‘Marathon Week in May’ a reality  ….

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

January sees the start of the ALIA financial year and by the end of the month our auditors have arrived to do the analysis of the previous year’s accounts.  Our Annual Report financials in 2008 were clearly affected by the GFC.   At the end of the first full ALIA financial year after the financial squashing our investments received, we are starting to bounce back slowly.  ALIA House continues to be a major (but aging) asset with the next 3-year-annual re-valuation to be reflected in the 2009 figures.   Salaries and staff movements continue to be our major expense, as would be expected in an organisation where providing professional services and facilitating the many groups, committees, events, campaigns and activities to members is our priority.  A restructure of ALIA National Office management staffing began in December 2009 and will continue though the first half of 2010.  Positions will be advertised during coming months. 

The Board of Directors election nominations closed on 13^th January 2010 and the unusual situation of having the same number of nominations for available positions occurred.  This means that the Association is not required to conduct an election this year.  A number of members considered nominating this year (and discussed their intentions with our current board members) but indicated that it was just not quite the right time for them either personally or professionally.  A director position not only comes with significant responsibilities (ASIC and AICD give good summaries) but also a great time commitment.  To enable greater effectiveness for board processes, the ALIA Board has implemented a few changes how the company’s board started out in the early 2000’s in regards to meetings and board decisions.  The board meets more frequently than in the past – with teleconference meetings (as official board meetings) in between the face-to-face meetings often held in Canberra or other capitals (as I write this I am on the plane to a board planning meeting in Brisbane, the closest location for three of our current board members).   We also have 6 Standing Committees of the Board, which a board member chairs. The focus of these SC’s is high level discussion, research, reports and recommendations also using key expert member input, for that board member Chair to bring to board meetings.  It allows a board member to focus on one or two area of strategic importance for the Association – while at the same time getting the summaries and overall picture by hearing from other board members and the Executive Director.  Our congratulations to Margaret, John, Andrew and Julie and we look forward to working with you all and getting ready for your official terms from May2010 to May2012. We also acknowledge their employers and staff and families who will be supporting them in their role as a board member (it really is a combined effort).

Other members expressed their interest in nominating this year, but after further information realised that they may need more background in finance or governance, or just learning more about the wide scope of work of the Association to become a more productive board member so that they might get the best out of their 2-year term on the board.  The ALIA Boardroom Bound program will continue and you can sign up for a board buddy.  Some potential board members have considered nominating for an ALIA Advisory Committee in the meantime.  We need quite a few more members to assist with these committees – nominations are being called again in the March edition of inCite, so keep a look out for that.

Advocacy will be a great focus for us at ALIA in 2010.  Over the past few weeks it has centred on the ISP filtering proposals and RC Classification and the ACMA blacklist.  Your case studies so far on examples of how library-related enquiries and research work can be inhibited by ISP filtering have been very useful for our submission – please continue to send your comments and responses to advocacy@alia.org.au by 10^th February so that we can finalise the submission by the due date.

Following on from the ALIA Public Libraries Summit we are also continuing on with the discussion around the social inclusion contribution that libraries make to society.  It’s sometimes interesting to see who reads blog posts – including comment from the Social Inclusion Minister these past few days (thanks Ursula for taking the time).  We are very much looking forward to working with DEEWR, the Social Inclusion Board and Senator Stephens’ office on continuing to place libraries at the centre of our community contributions in this area.  Her comments on literacy and reading and the national agenda comes at a time when our third ALIA Summer Reading Club is coming to an end and the announcement of the book for National Simultaneous Storytime for 2010 is made.  ALIA members should feel proud of the contribution that these national reading campaigns contribute to the nation’s literacy agenda – and they are great fun too.  We hope you have enjoyed ‘Reading on the Wild Side’ and are now placing your order for ‘Little White Dogs Can’t Jump’ and putting the date of 26 May 2010 into the diary to organise a reading session in your library – no matter what type it might be.  The importance of reading and literacy, and how literate citizens improve our society, can be highlighted by library staff everywhere.

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

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

After each Board meeting, we issue take home messages, the the last meeting, on 13 March, was no exception. There were 11 messages.

1 It is clear that online voting has been a hit with members, so we naturally congratulated ourselves on that. The ultimate proof will be when the poll is declared on 16 April, of course.

2 Sue Hutley and I met with Victorian public librarians and others at the State Library of Victoria on 20th February 2009 to dfiscuss how best we could provide support for bushfire-affected areas. The outcome was the appointment of Jane Grace, currently at Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service, as Acting ALIA Disaster Recovery Support Manager.

3 Planning for the 2009 ALIA Public Libraries Summit has been moving along, but it became clear that the timing was not favourable to the event because too many other things were happening at that time - the budget preparations, the Queensland state election, and more. So the Summit will be held in July 2009, on a date still to be confirmed with
Senator Ursula Stephens. Submissions close at the end of March.

4 We continue to work with public library organisations, and Jan Richards (Vice President) and Sue Hutley recently met withPublic Libraries Australia representatives to further the memorandum of understanding betweenthe two organisations.

5 The Library Technician Course Recognition visits are progressing as the ALIA team winds its way around the country. Our thanks go to Gillian Hallam, Dianne Walton-Sonda and the many local library technician educators who have taken part in the panels. By October we hope to have completed the task of visiting and talking to all library technician courses around Australia.

6 ALIA works closely with ASLA (Australian School Library Association). and the revised ALIA-ASLA Joint Policy Statements were approved. Our thanks to the ALIA-ASLA Policy Advisory Group (which coordinates our joint activities) and and others who contributed to reviewing these key policy documents.

7 The Board continues to focus on the results of the 2008 Member Survey results. We held a full day planning session on 12 March, and the main focus of this was the results of the member survey. We aim to translate these into member-focused programs, and in this course of action we are led by the Membership and Awards Standing Committee, chaired by Board member Katy Watson.

8 The Global Financial Crisis has impacted substantially on ALIA financials. Budgets were again reviewed at the Board meetings on 12-13 March, and will be monitored closely by the Board.

9 The ALIA Board established two new Advisory Committees: the ALIA TAFE Libraries Advisory Committee and ALIA Special Libraries Advisory Committee. The two new committees form part of a strategy to build a structure within ALIA which will provide effective representation to the varied library sectors.

10 In 2009 the National Advisory Congress will be held again in decentralised style. The theme for the NAC consultation with members will focus on Lobbying and Advocacy - an outcome of the member survey, which ranked this third amongst member priorities. We want to find out what you want us to do, and what you mean by lobbying adn advocacy.

11 The Board considered the informal resolution made at theDreaming08 Biennial Conference last September relating to Indigenous heritage issues and decided to consult further with peak bodes suchas the Collections Council, ATSILIRN and NSLA in order to advance indigenous issues in libraries and other cultural institutions. The 2008 conference focus in its presentations on indigenous issues was the largest such focus within ALIUA, and it is important to continue the momentum.

It was a busy meeting for the Board. If you have any ideas to make the next one (May 19-20) even busier, send me your thoughts and ideas.

The ALIA Board last met on 4 December, and will meet again on Sunday 18 January for a planning session, just ahead of Information Online 2009. What did we get up to then, and what’s next?

The main take home messages from the December meeting were

• The member survey has been completed. We were all delighted to be able to take home over 600 pages of results to look at over Christmas.
• The Board discussed the 2009 budget, and a presentation was made by the Association’s investment advisor, from ANZ. Despite the global economic climate, ALIA investments have fared reasonably well.
• Amendments to By-law 4 were agreed, in time to facilitate our first online voting, in 2009.
• The ALIA Public Libraries Summit 2009 was a major topic - plans are going well, and a particularly valuable preparation was the Public Library Associations meeting in November.
• ALIA is developing a publishing action plan, and progress on that was reported; recommendations will be presented at the March Board meeting.

At the planning session soon, the key input will be the member survey, which provides a huge amount of input to the Board on what our members think their association should be doing. There’s always room for more input, of course.

It is a little while since we took home the take home messages (the Board met in Brisbane on 14 July), but they are now available on the ALIA website, here. Perhaps the most significant message is that there will be a public libraries summit, most likely in Canberra, in March 2009. ALIA has allocated a budget to the process, and has called for expressions of interest for the position of project officer - advertised here.

What is the Summit for? The goal is to clarify and advance the policy agenda for public libraries at all three levels of government, and raise the profile of public libraries nationally. In particular, a key goal of the whole process is to demonstrate the many ways in which public libraries contribute to a wide range of policy goals.

The Summit process will be led by Jan Richards, Vice President of ALIA and a prominent public librarian, and will be assisted by ALIA’s Public Libraries Advisory Committee and its chair, Vicki McDonald. We are looking for a wide range of contributions from people with a strong public library commitment. If you are interested in being involved, please get in touch with Sue Hutley and offer your assistance.

There are a lot more take home messages, too. About advisory committees, the membership survey scheduled for October, IFLA2010 in Brisbane, Health Libraries Australia, and the ALIA National Library and Information Technicians Conferences 2009 in Adelaide.

The new ALIA Board met on 14 May, following a meeting of the old ALIA Board the day before. What were the highlights? Here are mine.

• Online voting for ALIA elections has got to be a highlight. We have a terrible rate of participation in our elections, and maybe one reason is that it is complicated to vote. So in 2009 we will have online elections, and we hope that they will be simpler and attract more of you to participate.
• We decided that the main theme for the National Advisory Congress this year will be professional development. The NAC is a series of meetings around the country for ALIA members and their friends. It is a chance to provide input to ALIA’s planning.
• More opportunities for input too - in the second half of 2008 we are planning a survey of all ALIA members, and we are placing great trust in this as a means of finding out what our members’ priorities are for ALIA, as well as how they see the current range of services.

These three highlights are all about your participation. And there are more opportunities for participation too - three conferences coming up:  Dreaming08 in September, the New Librarians Symposium in December, and Information Online in January. Something for everyone, or you can participate in all six. I will be.

The ALIA Board is hard at work, even in January. The Board teleconference was held on 29 January and considered issues including:

Code of Conduct: The Board approved in principle a Code of Conduct for Board members, including a link to ASIC. Some small changes were suggested and the Code will be finalised shortly with approval of the President.

Board candidate access to ALIA member contact details: The Board agreed that the practice of providing information on candidates for Board of Director positions through the ALIA web site, and in print with voting slips when printed voting occurs, to provide appropriate access to information about the candidates for members. The new system of also asking candidates to provide a statement against five criteria, with the ability to add a link to their personal blog, also provides candidates with access to ALIA members. The Board did not agree to take any steps which would enable candidates to be provided with direct access to contact information of members in accordance with ALIA’s current privacy policy which implements the National Privacy Principles (http://www.alia.org.au/alianet/privacy.html).

Membership Survey: The Board approved the proposal to engage a consulting company with considerable expertise and extensive experience in the not for profit sector to undertake a membership survey.

PLA planning meeting: The President attended the meeting and reported there was a desire to work with ALIA. The Board noted the importance of public libraries, the planned public library national summit and working with PLA.

 ALIA conference manual:  Philip Keane reported that the Conferences Standing Committee has completed the 2nd draft of the Conference Manual and it’s ready to be distributed to the convenors of current and recent ALIA events for comment. The work on the Manual is on track for endorsement at the March meeting of the Board. He was able to incorporate the suggestions provided by members and the Board congratulated him and all involved on the excellent work done and the quality of the document.