ALIA Board Blog

IFLA Congress earlybird registrations for Gothenburg finish on 7th May 2010.  There will be quite a few Australians participating in the 2010 Congress and Satellite conferences  http://www.ifla.org/en/ifla76  -  and a number of ALIA members are involved in the many committees and sections of IFLA. 

Take a look through http://www.ifla.org/en/activities-and-groups 

For answers to ’What is an IFLA Congress like?’ view the summaries and video from the 2009 Congress in Milan.

We wish the organising committee all the best for their last few months of preparations.  See you in Gothenburg !

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

 The team behind my earlier performance were particularly keen on a re-run; believe me we created a monster during that exercise when a borrowed video recorder and a whiteboard on wheels masquerading as an autocue created a sense of ‘Cecil B DeMille’ amongst my colleagues. Luckily fate in the form of the pre-Christmas rush put such silliness to rest and my on-line Yuletide presence is limited to this blog.  

We all have “must read” blogs in our lives. One of mine (apart from this one!) is written by Kathy Doughty from Material Obsession. Last week she captured my mood when she wrote:

I always find this time of year very reflective.  The calendar mind map is always interesting as the year stretches out ahead and then, as if by magic, it is so many pages turned.  I can’t help but stop and sit for a minute and review all the wonder of the past year.   

2009 has been a huge year for ALIA. I will remember it as the year in which we:

• Integrated the results of the member survey into our planning and as a result focused on your # 1 priority, lobbying and advocacy, at the National Advisory Congress

• Weathered the global financial crisis

• Contributed to the discussion on issues affecting our industry; the National Broadband Network, Parallel Importation and internet filtering (to name a few)

• Enhanced the range of PD opportunities including access to online resources and current awareness services

• Worked with fire devastated Victorian communities in the Rebuilding with Books project

• Hosted the first Australian Public Libraries Summit which has led to the development of a Vision and National Framework for the sector

• Delivered Library and Information Week, Summer Reading Club and National Simultaneous Storytime

• Collaborated with other library and information associations

• Held a stand out Library Technician’s Conference in Adelaide

• Worked with LIS educators to accredit courses

• Supported IFLA in their decision to relocate the 2010 Congress to Gothenburg

• Embraced Library 2.0 technologies

And they’re just the things I was able to come up with on a hot December afternoon following a lunch time of shopping.

None of this would have been possible without our:

• fabulous ALIA National Office staff

• Local Liaison Officers

• dedicated Board of Directors

• committed volunteers

• and you our loyal members.

To you all a huge thank you.

As we count down the final days of 2009 I would like to send you all my very warmest wishes for the festive season. It has been a great pleasure to meet, work and reconnect with many of you during the year and I look forward to more of the same in 2010.

Jan

Jan Richards, ALIA President

Working through the paperwork covering my desk I happened upon an article I’d set aside to blog about:

“Conferences, I love them. The wonderful buzz as you approach the registration desk, find your name, check which sessions or speakers have been changed. Then the introductions as you wander coffee in hand catching an eye here, straining to read a name tag there. is that woman in green someone you should know, or is she just looking friendly and lost like you?”  - that’s what Tricia Genat wrote about conferences in the Autumn edition of  ALS Newsline.

It must be the conference season! IFLA, ALIA Library Technicians, ASLA, Top End Symposium, PLA/QPLA,  LIANZA with  Public Libraries NSW - Metropolitan coming up in a few weeks, yes siree we’re bang smack in the middle of the Conference Season (and they’re just the ones I’ve been to or been invited to!).

Tricia’s right; the buzz at the registration desk is palpable with the organising committee being able to witness the realisation of all of their hard work and delegates anticipating the professional and personal benefits of the days ahead - great keynote speakers, opportunities to sit back and expand your thinking and discussions to be had with vendors.

If you’re off to a conference I would encourage you to act on Tricia’s words and extend the hand of friendship, don’t be a wallflower and don’t let anyone else be either. I judge any conference by the clutch of business cards and promises of things to send and receive I have on my return home. Librarians can be stars at collaboration, make sure you’re firmly in the galaxy!

Cheers

Jan

Jan Richards

ALIA President

I’m in the process of packing my suitcases after a month away from home; first at IFLA in Milan and more recently visiting libraries in the UK. The floor of the bedroom I’ve been sharing with my niece Lily, age 6, is strewn with clothes, shopping and the reams of printed material I’ve picked up along the way. I think a quick trip down to the post office may be in order to lighten my load, that’s of course after I’ve done a huge cull.

My particular focus has been looking at libraries which are converged with other cultural institutions, especially museums and archives and my travels have taken me to some wonderful places - you’ll read more about it in a future edition of inCite. But what has really struck me is the kindness and generosity of “strangers” to show me their libraries and share their experiences, warts and all. This hospitality also reached out into  the communities I found myself in where residents, seeing me puzzling over a map, insisted on walking me to my destination.  It was a salient reminder to always be a gracious host or to use one of my Mum’s favourite sayings “Do as you would be done by”.

Along the way I often wished I could teleport some of my Australian colleagues into some of the places I found myself; in part so they too could experience some of the new developments I was observing, but in part so that they could see how we are leaders in our own right. I was always a Very Proud President (note the caps) when my UK colleagues would talk about an initiative they were implementing where the inspiration came from Australia!  

Yesterday I attended an Executive Briefing at CILIP “Silos of the LAMs” (Libraries, Archives Museums) and our museums too received much praise for the work they’re doing in the area of Web 2.0. It was great to be able to hold my head high, especially given all the cricket asides I’ve been subjected too.

I’ve also had the chance to meet with the CILIP Executive and discuss a raft of issues relating to our two associations and how we can cherry pick from each others offerings to the  mutual benefit of our members. Which leads me back to my packing dilemma, I think I picked up every piece of paper CILIP has ever produced. Do I really need to take it home? Oh well back to the sorting.

Stay safe

Jan Richards, ALIA President

Dear ALIA members,

Buongiorno from Milan.  The chair of this morning’s first section session has noted that Milan is finally coming to life after most Milanese have been on Summer holidays.  Over 3000 library representatives at the IFLA Congress from around the world are also making the city a livelier place this week and are identifiable by their bright orange satchels.  The programme for IFLA is extensive, not just for the sessions but for the other events, meetings, social gatherings and networking.  Last night there was a special performance at the spectacular La Scala that resulted in an encore performance from the orchestra.

There are quite a few Aussies here this week (about 40 from the looks of the attendance list) and looking around the room we’re currently in, we can spot a few. Unfortunately,  many have been unable to attend due to financial constraints and last minute happenings and the whole issue of the Economic Crisis and its impact on our sector will form the basis of separate discussions here in Milan.

Many colleagues have expressed their disappointment to the (outgoing) Australian National Committee members at the moving of the 2010 conference.   The matter was discussed at a number of Standing Committee meetings held on Saturday, including the Management of Library Associations Section and the Asia and Oceania Caucus.  We have been able to meet our colleagues in Sweden who are taking on the challenge instead and it has been a great opportunity to wish them all the best in person.

How the IFLA programme works is that each of the sections has a two-hour timeslot to present papers.  Many sections combine to create a longer session e.g. for the morning, usually on a theme, decided by the section standing committee members at the previous conference.

This morning we’ve heard from the Public Libraries and Metropolitan Libraries Sections about the mid year meeting  that was held by these sections in Brisbane and South-east Queensland in May 2009, as well as developments in the public library sector around the world. It was great to have some Australian innovations and best practice showcased including the new ideas of city/library poppies concept at the SLQ (at The Edge).   An Australian statistic that is also included in our Little Book of Public Libraries on the amount (or lack thereof) of public library funding in Australia was also mentioned. There were also presentations from ‘The Library of the Year’ - Queens Library, Gold Coast City Libraries and Vancouver. 

IFLA provides a wonderful opportunity to think outside the square and attend sessions that are not necessarily in your area of expertise. The delights of meeting colleagues from other countries and sectors can’t be overemphasised. Business cards with things to follow up are squirreled away to follow up at a later date. Every meal, including breakfast, every walk to the convention centre  gives you the chance to meet new people to learn, and to share.  You can also keep up with what’s happening from anywhere in the world via twitter at #ifla2009.

It’s easy to see how people become IFLA Junkies!

Ciao

Jan and Sue

Well, what a month at ALIA.       We of course received word from the IFLA Governing Board that IFLA2010 will now be in Goteborg, Sweden.  <see Jan’s post>   There were many and varied discussions on library e-lists   - questions understanding the complexity of the Congress arrangements and agreements <Graham’s post explains more> and how the GFC is affecting all budgets, tourism and government funding, (e.g  AustnUniLib examples  )  and just a general feeling of disappointment.  While the National Committee, ALIA Board and staff were also all disappointed too, we agree with the IFLA GB that it was a difficult, but necessary and financially sound decision to ensure the long-term viability of the International Association.   We still need to operate as businesses to survive - I was also fortunate to be with a group of Not-for-Profits this July, and we considered trying to rename the sector “Not-for-Loss” as our sustainability in the long term depends on good financial decisions in order to support the communities, groups or professions we serve.  ALIA submitted to the Productivity Commission’s Not-for-Profit review and we hope to engage further with this review.

ALIA heard the response too from members about ‘what next?’ for a 2010 event of some sort - and quickly established the ALIA2010 wiki which has seen some excellent comments and ideas and suggestions.  Other phone calls, teleconferences and emails have also gathered ideas which will be presented to the ALIA Board.   It is Board Meeting time again - and if you ever wonder what the agenda’s look like you can view them here  and get summaries of the meetings here on the website.

Then the 30,000 copies of The Little Book of Public Libraries arrived just before the Summit and filled the ALIA House Conference room before all the staff helped shipped them out to all those who have ordered.  Again, we received a variety of comments, but mostly people have appreciated the ‘different’ and bright cover and the subtle clear title on the cover.  You can also get tips on what to do with the little book and how to use it as a great Advocacy tool on the website. 

We met with the Public Libraries Associations in Parkes in late June to prepare and discuss the ALIA Public Libraries Summit.  Thank you to our State Associations for their financial contribution to the day and also their support, including facilitating discussion groups on the main topics.  Our thanks also to FOLA for their support.  The ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee (PLAC) have provided great advice and input over the year of planning for the summit.

Jan Richards, Summit leader, ALIA President and public librarian was able to bring her experience and passion to the day.  It was also the breadth of participants and enthusiasm from the invited guests that completed the day.  We have only just started the work and further conversations that will result out of the Summit - there’s lots to be followed up on. The major recommendations from the day will continue to be reported on the Summit website.

We hope that more public librarians consider nominating for the ALIA Board of Directors - check out our Boardroom Bound page and we are also running another BB session at the upcoming ALIA Library and Information Technicians Conference coming up soon from 15-18 September in Adelaide.

Jan Richards and I presented to the Select Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network at Parliament House on 20th July and the transcript will be available here.  The Senators opened their copy of The Little Book of Public Libraries with enthusiasm ( abit different to the examples of fibre cables and boxes with splitters shown around during the previous presentation at the Committee).

The Summit, Little Book, Ambassadors, Submissions, Senate presentations and related media interviews have all contributed to ALIA’s Advocacy for libraries this month.

Membership renewals are flooding in - thank you to all that have renewed so far.  You can use the online payment system or give us a call on 1800 020071 to arrange your payment.

Our Web2.0/socialmedia extended to twittering, especially during Summit Day #Summit09 and #ALIA2010, Facebooking, blogging and wiki-ing. 

Sue Hutley, Executive Director

By now most of you will have learned of the decision by the IFLA Governing Board to change the location of IFLA2010 from Brisbane to Goteborg in Sweden. As you can imagine this was a difficult decision which was not taken lightly.  It has come about because world economic circumstances have changed very markedly from when Australia was named as the host country back in 2007. All of us have been affected in some way by the global economic crisis and this is another of the ramifications of the world economic downturn. Because the greater number of attendees come from Europe an North America, the National Committee and the IFLA Governing Board were keenly aware that shrinking professional development budgets would likely have an impact on the Congress. So while fundraising at a local level was progressing well, the projected shortfall was determined to be an unacceptable burden to IFLA.

ALIA believes the long term continuity of the international association is paramount and therefore supports the IFLA Governing Board’s decision.  

Many of you have sent messages expressing your frustration at this direction and while we empathise with your response and share your disappointment we believe it to be the sensible, financially responsible thing to do. An IFLA Congress is an incredibly complex event with a budget of $AU6-7 million - as an outsider I didn’t realise how complex until I joined the National Committee mid way through last year.

True to the Australian spirit of “lets’ move on” the lists and emails are alive “where do we go from here?” “can we now have a biennial?” and innovative ideas for professional development and networking. As we have only lived with IFLA’s decision for less than 48 hours we still have a great deal to work through and I would urge you to be patient. The National Committee will meet again by teleconference next week to discuss future options and the ALIA Board has earmarked this as a priority item. In the interim let’s stay focused and resist the temptation to organise a plethora of unrelated events.

I would like to thank you for your support, reassuring words and understanding. Let’s turn this into a positive.

Jan Richards

ALIA President

Colleagues,  Bonjour from Quebec in Canada.  I am here with around 40 Australians at the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) 74^th World Library and Information Congress.  Approximately 3500 delegates from countries around the world are meeting at locations around the city.  Check out the (massive) programme here

The Aussies and Kiwi’s got together for a dinner last Saturday night to catchup and to talk about more ideas for IFLA2010.   In only two short years until we will be hosting the world’s library professionals in Brisbane (and at satellite events in other Australian cities, and New Zealand).

So what is an IFLA congress like ?  If you work with any colleagues who have been to an IFLA congress before, I encourage you to ask them !  It is a different experience to an Australian library conference.  In what ways ?  Well, here are just a few …  

Catering is different.  You need to work out how to get pretty much all of your meals (except for a couple of the main functions) and the convention centre has options for delegates, as well as the surrounding cafés etc  (some nice one’s here in Quebec)

Everything is on a big scale – there’s so many more people to get organised, and to move around a large space (so forget the high heels, comfortable shoes recommended)

There’s so many other meetings and functions to attend that are not on the actual program – sometimes you won’t see the same colleague for a whole week !

Many sessions have interpreters translating the sessions – for all those delegates who do not speak English

You need a good buddy / group of colleagues to guide you through the experience, to give you the best travel and congress tips and to introduce you to lots of other people  [look out for our IFLA tips in future editions of inCite and on the ALIA IFLA2010 website ]

There are some things though that no matter which library conference you go to, they are the same :

Librarians on the dancefloor (but here there are thousands of them!)

Plenty of greetings and hugs with old friends and colleagues meeting up again from all over the world

The sharing of experiences, good advice and insights, new ideas, opportunities being created, exciting projects, new products and services and amazingly inspiring stories of individuals and libraries !

Some of the other IFLA Experience descriptors  -   ceremonies* meetings * sessions *functions*exhibitors* shopping* travel* networking* international* 

It is always a memorable experience!  The IFLA2010 National Committee members are looking forward to the assistance from the Australian library community to ensure that Brisbane will be a successful and memorable congress too. 

Listen to a Radio interview with Alex Byrne accessible via  http://library-cafe.org

Dr Alex Byrne is the University Librarian at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, and 2005-2007 President of IFLA.  The interview is about the formulation of FAIFE and his book: The Politics of Promoting Freedom of Information and Expression in International Librarianship, published in October by Scarecrow. With a good introduction to IFLA.

2008 has started with some wonderful announcements:

* congratulations to Jennefer Nicholson on being appointed to the position of Secretary General, IFLA. Jennefer will commence mid year and was Executive Director of ALIA from 1999 to 2005, following five years as Deputy Executive Director.

* congratulations to Lynne Brindley, CEO, British Library, on being made a Dame of the British Empire.