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

As I mentioned last week,  there are many activities happening in the advocacy space for ALIA and our members at the moment.  Now it’s your turn to get involved.

You can now register your name to be added to a separate short ALIA submission that will be provided to Julia Gillard for the Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians.  This will include the names of many other library supporters, not just library staff.  We encourage you all to spread the news about registering for this submission.  We hope that teachers, parents, carers, friends and grandparents from all around Australia will add their name to this submission, to show their support for school libraries and teacher librarians.   As we welcome some TL’s back from school holidays this week,  it is a perfect time to send around this link to your networks.   Names must be registered to us by Friday 12pm on the 16th April 2010 to be included in the document.  This particular submission/letter will be a clear sign of wide-spread support from community members for school libraries.   ALIA and ASLA will be submitting additional comprehensive submissions to include specific recommendations that relate to the Terms of Reference.  All the information is linked from this page http://www.alia.org.au/schoollibraries

If you live in Western Australia we also encourage you to write to your local member about public library funding.  This webpage http://www.alia.org.au/publiclibraries outlines all the details.  Take the opportunity to tell your politicians the wonderful stories of the important role that libraries play in your state.  Other library associations will also be writing to the Western Australian government on the issue. 

Sue Hutley,  ALIA Executive Director

It’s been a busy few weeks on the ALIA advocacy front ….

ALIA continues to work with the Safer Internet Group  to lobby for a more effective and efficient suite of methods to provide Australian children with a safer experience online - rather than spending tax-payer dollars on mandatory ISP filtering of URL’s.  There has been a variety of media again in the last few days  [ selection here : Google vs Australia : new net censorship battle   & Google and Yahoo criticise ‘heavy handed’ internet plans  ] of our partners telling their stories to the world. 

The Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians was called and submissions are due in a very quick timeframe - ALIA will need to finalise it’s submission by Thursday 15th April.   You can send your comments relating to the Terms of Reference to advocacy@alia.org.au . This is an incredibly significant opportunity for all within the Australian library sector - Why? some of you may ask (especially if you don’t work in a school library).  Here are just a few reasons (from my perspective) :

1.  This is the first library-focussed House of Representatives Inquiry in a very long time  2.  School libraries are often the most memorable experiences that many young Australians have of libraries  - we all remember our school librarian - and this is our opportunity to suggest how the school library experience can be improved 3.  Qualified Teacher Librarians are becoming scarcer these days - we need more of them  4.  Teacher Librarians contribute to the literacy levels of young Australians and assist with teaching information literacy and digital literacy skills which are going to be so important in our future digital economy  5.  The Australian Government has spent millions on building new libraries as part of the B.E.R - but we know that a room full of books and chairs does not facilitate what a library really is, and should be   6.  Those in public libraries work with school children for their educational and recreational reading and information needs and while many public libraries work closely with their local school library staff - collections and services could be better co-ordinated and utilised   7.  Those working in TAFE and University Libraries see the next phase of the learner life-cycle (and the influences that teacher librarians during school have on students)    8.  Those working in special libraries see the results of teacher librarians doing a great job by teaching young people how to use libraries effectively and become information literate workers

So, school libraries and teacher librarians have a great influence on our profession.  It’s time to make your comments, contribute and get involved  (that’s what advocating is about).  ALIA and ASLA (the Australian School Library Association) are working together but on separate submissions.  I am also pleased to hear that a number of the State Public Library Associations will be putting in submissions.  Individuals and other organisations connected with school libraries are also planning to meet the 16th April deadline to submit their thoughts, suggestions and ideas.   Following the submissions we will be preparing (in quick time again) for public hearings in each state and the presentation to the committee by the Library Associations in Canberra in May.   More information will be posted to this page over the coming months - http://www.alia.org.au/schoollibraries

There has also been lots of news around the budget cuts to Western Australian library funding  : Big Cuts put Local Libraries at risk - 29 March 2010  & Reverse Library budget cuts - Opposition - 30 March 2010    and  ABC WA Blog - and links .    This issue does not end with a few media reports last week - we will be posting further suggestions on advocating for improved funding to this page shortly  - http://www.alia.org.au/publiclibraries .

Remember -  every member can be an advocate - and we thank you for your support and your input to these important national issues.

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

Well the answer is, it depends. And it depends on a lot of things. Some variables that immediately spring to mind are – target audience, venue, who’s running it, the level of sponsorship, speaker costs. I could go on but I won’t as the list would be very long.

So how do you compare conferences? Again, variables that immediately spring to mind are – cost, value for money, the conference dinner, whether you had a good time with your colleagues, what new things you’ve learned or that excite you. Again, there are multiple variables that need to be considered. In considering whether to attend a conference or not I imagine one of the first things considered by the majority of people, after subject matter, is cost.

With ALIA Access 2010 the Conference Organising Committee aimed to do things differently and more inclusively. Unfortunately, differently and more inclusively doesn’t necessarily equate to more cheaply, nor does it necessarily equate to more expensively. While ALIA Access 2010 isn’t the traditional biennial conference, its organisation nevertheless is on the same dimension and similar scale. It is a sizeable, complex event that needs to be organised and run efficiently and profitably so that the returns can be invested in supporting the activities of the Association. Those who work for me can attest to the Scottish blood flowing through my veins, so I can assure you we have attempted to make this conference as cost effective as possible and that the budget is closely monitored.

For this conference we have a target of 450 delegates and to turn a profit of $50,000. The total budget for the Conference, including the profit, is in the vicinity of  $500,000. By way of comparison the ALIA Biennial Conference operates with  significantly larger profits, delegate numbers and overall budget.

Costs are fixed or variable and fall into five main categories – Venue, Marketing, Organisation and Administration (including IT and AV), Food and Profit.  There are two revenue streams – Registrations and Sponsorship and Trade Displays. Assuming we reach our target of 450 delegates the following tells the story of our expenses and revenue streams.

Expenses

• Marketing - 6%
• Venue - 30%
• Organisation and Administration - 30%
  (includes IT and AV)
• Food - 24%
• Profit - 10%

Revenue

• Registrations - 71%
• Sponsorship and trade exhibits 29%

Yes we could do things cheaper, but it gets to a point where for every saving made there is potentially an equal or greater tangible and/or intangible cost.

The proposed registration difference for non-members is $300 which is greater than the cost of one year’s membership of ALIA. If we really want to maximise the profit that we plough back into the Association for the benefit of members we all should encourage as many non-members as possible to attend!

So now you have an overview of the budget and costs associated with running ALIA Access 2010.

I’m aware that some people are comparing the cost of attending ALIA Access 2010 with the cost of attending IFLA in Gothenburg. IFLA is a five day conference (including a tour day for most delegates) with a registration fee of approximately $620. What is often not realised is that IFLA doesn’t include meals and that it receives a very generous subsidy from the host city or country. (Think of our budget, double it, and add a bit more) I’m afraid that in Australia unless it’s for something like a major sporting event, obtaining similar levels of government support is very difficult.

In essence, the decision to attend a conference is based on weighing up cost and benefits for the individual or the organisation at a given point in time. Comparing conference isn’t like comparing apples, its more like comparing oranges and lemons or rather oranges, lemons, grapefruit  and all the other members of the citrus family.

We seek your support to register for the conference. Registration opens on 1 April and the Early Bird rate will end on 7 July. Over the next little while we’ll be providing tips for you to convince your manager and some information on the tax deductibility nature of the conference.

I look forward to meeting you at ALIA Access 2010.

Graham

Graham Black, ALIA Access 2010 Conference Convenor

Many of our members know our current Board of Directors - you can see their photos and biographies here.  We have received quite a few positive comments about our ‘Future of Reading’ edition of  inCite (have you read it?)  so I thought I would ask what some of our Board members are reading at the moment - here are their snippets …..

PHILLIP KEANE  — I have just finished rereading ‘A Year in Provence‘ by Peter Mayle.  It was prompted by some of my family having various trips to France last year and this year.  It was a delight to read it again, partly imagining the author as played by John Thaw in the TV series.  I’ve just started reading ‘An Infinity of Things : how Sir Henry Wellcome collected the world‘.  Wellcome was famous as the cofounder of the Burroughs Wellcome & Co., now part of GlaxoSmithKline.  He was perhaps more famous for the Wellcome Trust, now one of the largest private biomedical charities. I’m finding it fascinating how this man collected over a million artefacts for his Museum of Man, some parts of which took over 40 years after his death to put in order, though much of his collections were dispersed to various museums after his death.  There seem to be many parallels with the life of David Scott Mitchell and his passion to own everything he could pertaining to Australia, Antarctica and the Pacific.  His collection was bequested to the State Library NSW as the basis of the Mitchell Library.

MICHELLE BRENNAND –     The three books I have ‘on the go’ are :  The Mighty Toddler,  the latest Harvard Business Review , and Sense and Sensibility   -  pretty much reflecting the three components of my life – mother, manager and me.

HELEN PARTRIDGE    — At the moment I am enjoying Book 3 in the Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.  I can never just read one book at a time, so I am also reading Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead. This is my fun reading.   My work reading is Learning to be Professionals by Gloria Dall’Alba.

KATE SINCLAIR   — Working in an academic library, we have just plunged into the chaos of first semester, so most of my reading is done at the end of the day, on the couch with a nice glass of wine! Here’s just a selection from my bedside table & RSS Reader…

• Bite-Sized Marketing: realistic solutions for the overworked librarian Don’t you just love that title? This is a fantastic little book and the best thing about it is that it can be read in “bite-sized” chunks.  It has a great chapter on  using Web 2.0 tools to make your marketing life easier…and also a whole section on the importance of “telling a good story” when advocating for your library resources & services.  It’s full of practical tips and examples of easy, simple marketing ideas that work. My favourite quote: “Marketing goes beyond trying to get people to use your library; it is a concerted effort to articulate your value.  It is that plain and simple.”
• Text Patterns Alan Jacobs is an English professor who blogs at The New Atlantis about technologies, reading, writing, research & everything in between.  I can always open up a new post here and find something to contemplate, question or reassess.  Lately he’s been talking about ebooks (isn’t everyone!), the Google Books settlement, Chatroulette, Google Buzz and what an email application actually is:  “It’s three things, it seems to me: it’s a text editor, it’s a database, and it’s a file manager. The problem is that there is no email client that fulfils all these functions really well.”  Fascinating stuff!
• Smitten Kitchen This is one of my favourite food blogs, great for those days when you aspire to be a domestic goddess (or just when you are on the couch with a glass of wine & a toasted cheese sandwich)!  Deb cooks in a tiny NY kitchen and serves up her simple take on fancy recipes with passion, humour, and some amazing food photography.  (And even better for those of us who care about such things, she has a great recipe index and search engine).

GILLIAN HALLAM  –  I am working on a literature review at the moment, so I have read and read and read – on topics like current directions in government administration, trends in government libraries in Australia and internationally, issues in contemporary special libraries, and the skills and competencies of special librarians.  Beyond that, I am reading all the abstracts for the IFLA-ALISE-EUCLID satellite meeting in Boras, Sweden, and am blind reviewing a paper on ePortfolio research in the UK and Europe.  I am reading widely to identify case studies about good practice in library associations around the world as part of the work I am doing for IFLA…  and in my spare time I am analysing the data coming in from the neXus3 study…There is a novel by the bed “The Children’s Book” by Antonia S Byatt , but am not making fast progress there.  Finally, I get to flick through The Australian – but I think ‘read’ might be an ambitious term there.

JAN RICHARDS  — I’m currently reading:   Alice I have been by Melanie Benjamin. This novel blends together fact and fiction to tell the story of the real Alice in Wonderland, Alice Liddell. It’s a book which is guaranteed to make you re-examine this much loved children’s book and the mythology surrounding its creator. Publishers Weekly describes it as ‘bookclub gold‘ and I can only but agree. When you’ve finished Alice I have been I’d suggest you read (or re-read) Still she haunts me  by Katie Rophie - and then perhaps make a visit to the movies to see the new Disney version of Alice starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

(and me) SUE HUTLEY –   As per my Directline in inCite,  I have now finished ‘Lunch in Paris‘ and I am now aiming to cook some of the recipes from the book.

All the board members are also reading ALIA Board Papers this weekend - as we have a meeting in Canberra tomorrow.  We will also be welcoming our incoming board members as observers this week to the meeting, to begin their ALIA Board induction.

I hope you enjoy reading whatever is on your list this weekend !

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

Believe it or not we’ve just said farewell to the last day of summer and welcomed the first day of Autumn. Not only does that mean that we’re in for some cooler weather but it also means that we’er only 6 months away for ALIA Access 2010 in Brisbane. (Its also a reminder that my eldest daughter’s birthday is in 6 months time as well!)

Brisbane in September is normally beautiful – the days are warm and sunny and there is still a chill in the air (at least for us Queenslanders) in the evenings. While we don’t have much control over the weather we are looking forward to presenting our members and other delegates with a dynamic conference. We’ve only had 13 months to plan and deliver ALIA Access which is not much time to prepare and plan for a conference of this magnitude ( there’s nothing like a quickly looming deadline to focus the mind!) so we decided to do something different – a conference that’s more engaging and more focused on our members’ areas of interest.
I expect there will be a number of highlights for delegates. Firstly, there’s the stream or symposium approach to the conference. This will give each of the participating sectors or interest groups an opportunity to discuss, debate and showcase issues, trends and achievements in their own sector/area of interest. Secondly, there is also the converse -  the opportunity to engage with other sectors/interest groups. Thirdly, we’re trying new initiatives such as live videostreaming of selected sessions. It won’t be the same as being there but it will enable those who can’t attend the whole conference to  participate via the net. We’re still working on the finer details with this so once we’ve got it sorted we’ll advise members accordingly. Fourthly, a new approach to the conference dinner- what we’re calling the ‘Dine Around Dinner’.

I’ve been to some great conference dinners – good food, great music, good company. I’ve also attended some dinners where the alternative drop wasn’t what I would have wished for and the music was so loud I couldn’t talk to my colleagues at the same table. As we’re doing something different with the conference proper we thought we’d do something different for the Conference Dinner. Brisbane has some great restaurants around the conference venue in South Brisbane. The Dine Around’ dinner will give delegates the opportunity to chose their own restaurant from a selected list of establishments and when they get to the restaurant they’ll be able to chose their own food and drink up to a specified value. Delegates will be able to pre-book their restaurant with their registration. We’ll be encouraging delegates  to liaise with their colleagues prior to the conference about where they’d like to eat.

So, what am I hoping to get out of ALIA  Access 2010? Well, where do I start! Getting ideas and inspiration from other sectors. I work in the higher education sector. Over the past couple of years I’ve attended a couple of ‘broad church’ conferences where I’ve picked some really interesting strategies and  approaches to customer service from some the public libraries that probably wouldn’t have been discussed in my ‘home’ sector. Meeting members of ALIA from across the nation to discuss their needs, what the Association is doing well and what we can do to provide new and/or enhanced services. And finally, there is always catching up with colleagues over a coffee or a cleansing ale!

There is still a lot to prepare for the conference. The Conference Organising Committee consisting of ALIA members, ALIA National Office staff and staff from our Conference organiser, ICE, are working hard on the details. There is also a lot of work being undertaken by each of the stream organisers to pull the program together. Conferences like this just don’t happen without the involvement of a number of dedicated people!

Registration will be open soon, but if you can’t wait to find out more about ALIA Access 2010 check out the conference website at http://conferences.alia.org.au/access2010/

Graham

Graham Black

ALIA Vice President and Convenor, ALIA Access 2010 Organising Committee

Today ALIA joined with another not-for-profit organisation, the Inspire Foundation, as well as internet giants Google Australia and Yahoo! Australia to release a joint statement of Core Principles to further engage in the community debate against proposed mandatory ISP internet filtering.  We have been working with these organisations to encourage the government to make amendments to their proposed legislation, being tabled at the Autumn session.   Read the ALIA media release and the Core Principles statement at  http://www.alia.org.au/internetfiltering

ALIA has been lobbying on this issue for decades, but really it goes back to the core values of libraries and library staff -  the two key points that relate to this issue  from the ALIA Constitutional Objects and our Core Values  are :

“To promote the free flow of information and ideas in the interest of all Australians and a thriving culture, economy and democracy”   and  “Promotion of the free flow of information and ideas through open access to recorded knowledge, information, and creative works.”   

We are concerned that URL filtering is only one very small part of removing illegal material that assists in child protection.  We know that most of the activity relating to child pornography and child abuse occurs with direct contact, chat rooms and peer-to-peer networking  - that’s why we want a greater increase in funding for the expertly trained AFP Child Protection unit.

ALIA will continue to work with ACMA on educating library staff, children, parents, carers and the community on safer internet surfing.   The http://www.cybersmart.org.au website should be high on all of our Favourites list and spread amongst our networks.  The videos for library staff are a great professional development activity.  We know that parents and carers want more information and sessions to update their knowledge to assist children with creating a safer environment in the digital economy.  As the Education Revolution laptops roll out to each school, a comprehensive national education program on cybersafety should be joining them.  This means additional government funding to internet safety education.

For an excellent summary of the proposed filtering and RC Classication, and what other countries do to reduce illegal internet material,  take a look through Untangling the Net.

We recently asked our members to submit feedback to the RC Classification submission, and members can continue to take the opportunity to comment through our advocacy@alia.org.au email.  Look out for the notifications of forthcoming submissions during the year.  We also thank our partner library associations who joined with us for this submission.

Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director

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

What does the ALIA President do on Sundays? Has a leisurely breakfast, catches up with family and friends, takes a long walk, reads, enjoys a glass of wine and a good meal, and ends the day feeling content, ready for the week ahead. This Sunday I am far from home but my routine has been remarkably similar.

I left Melbourne bound for Queensland mid morning. For me flying is dedicated to reading of the recreational variety; long ago I developed a rigid personal policy of no reports or business papers en route, why waste a dedicated space of total enjoyment where someone else runs around and makes the coffee? By the time we began our descent I’d finished my novel and had time to contemplate it. I did have a second book ready to go in the overhead locker but it was too much trouble to climb over the passenger in the aisle seat dig it out(besides which she was engrossed in her own book). On Sunday there’s no need to rush!

Brisbane is a great city to explore, even on a day with intermittent rain. Four hours later I had roamed far along the river, on foot and by ferry. There’s such a holiday feel about being in a different environment, especially when it’s sub-tropical. I wasn’t surprised that my travels took me to the beautiful State Library of Queensland building which hugs the river and looks across the water at the funky Brisbane City Library. Nor was I shocked to discover myself buying something in the Art Gallery store which is another favourite!

Here we are at the end of day 7. So how did my week conclude? Would you believe standing the middle of the aptly named Goodwill Bridge which spans the Brisbane River, soaked to the skin and laughing wildly with fellow ALIA Directors Graham Black and Philip Keane! Yes we shunned the offers of lifts and decided to be healthy and walk back to the hotel after dinner unaware that the heavens were about to open. Philip’s fold up umbrella and the badly broken one Graham had rescued from a dustbin were no match for the downpour and in the end we gave up retiring to a nearby pub and calling for a taxi.

As I write the rain has started again, a wondrous sound for this drought effected city, and the perfect lullaby on which to close.

Jan

Jan Richards, ALIA President

  librarydayinthelife