ALIA Board Blog

I know that the thoughts of each, and every one of us, is with the people of Victoria whose lives have been so tragically affected by the devastating bushfires of the last week. I also know that libraries across the country acting are collection points for local relief efforts and throwing their weight behind fundraising campaigns. 

 In particular the library “community” has been anxious about our colleagues in the region and what we can do to assist.   Below is a message we have received from John Murrell and Christine McKenzie to keep us informed. I know that you will join me in sending, through them, our strongest messages of support to every member of the library community, their families, friends and neighbours. I would also encourage you, and your staff, to contribute to the Red Cross appeal and to be ready to assist in other ways when we have a clearer picture of what is required. 

Kind regards 

ALIA Vice President

“The horrific bushfires across Victoria over the weekend have devastated the lives of many ictorians.  Every Victorian community has been impacted in some way by these tragic events.  What’s happened to public libraries? The Mitchell, Yarra Plenty, Murrindindi, West Gippsland, Eastern Regional,La Trobe City, Upper Murray, High Country, Wellington, Wimmera and Goldfields libraries are all serving bushfire affected communities.  Many people have expressed particular concern about the Murrindindi Library Service. Our most recent information is that the libraries in Kinglake, Yea and Alexandra are still standing.  The devastated township of Marysville was served by a mobile library.At this stage it appears that there has been no loss of library buildings across the State and that no Victorian public library staff have lost their lives. Sadly a number have lost their homes and many have lost stock. The majority of services continue to operate, although some mobile library services have been curtailed until it is safe to venture into the area. Several libraries are helping with the provision of relief services in their areas. Public libraries across the State stand ready to support their local communities during the recovery process in whatever way is most helpful to individual communities. Local Government Victoria is working with affected councils on a range of resourcing, service and infrastructure issues, including libraries.  There have been many helpful suggestions for ways that libraries can assist in community recovery, once the immediate issues of loss of life and property have been addressed.  We will be taking these up at the appropriate time.  If you wish to help the most effective way is to donate to the Red Cross Appeal. Details are at http://www.redcross.org.au/howyoucanhelp_donationopt.htm

“John Murrell
President
Public Libraries Victoria Network(formally VICLINK) and  

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.