Archive for the ‘ALIA’ Category

Keeping Safe

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

Australian Public libraries are the beneficiaries of an ALIA and Safer Internet Group initiative that will  provide information on cybersafety for staff and the public.

The information sessions are being provided by the members of the Safer Internet Group and facilitated by project partner, the Alannah and Madeline Foundation with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) providing information brochures and resources.

Sponsorship of the sessions is being provided by SIG members Yahoo!, Google and ALIA with the support of other SIG members.

The first session will be at Gungahlin Library  (ACT) on Wednesday 2nd November at 6.00pm.  

Content of the sessions includes:

  •  what young people are doing online – a snapshot based on the latest research;
  • identifing both the risks (cybersafety, cyberbullying and other e-security issues)  and positives (engagement, socialisation, empowerment, education)  to young people when engaging with the Internet and mobile technology; and
  • Strategies and tools – top tips for parents to help keep young people safe online. Showcase several best-practice resources.

For further information please contact Lynne Makin, Secretariat Safer Internet Group and Project Manager Q&A Nights on 02 6056 0400 or email lynne@lcmsolutions.net.au.

 

Cheers

Jan

Jan Richards, Chair ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee

 

Posted in ALIA, Cybersafety, Internet | No Comments »

Fancy a trip to Sydney?

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

 

Bet that subject line caught your attention! .. read on

The ALIA Biennial will be held at the Hilton Hotel, Sydney between 10-13 July 2012. 

 

The Organising Committee has borrowed the theme Discover from the National Year of Reading (also in 2012) and this offers a wealth of opportunities for thought provoking presentations. There will be an engaging and relevant theme for public libraries throughout the program which you can contribute to.

The Conference Organising Committee is now inviting abstract submissions relating to the conference themes. Check out the website for further details about the ‘hows’ and remember the abstract submission deadline – Wednesday 30 November 2011  

 

Start planning now!

 

Cheers

Jan

Jan Richards, Chair ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee

 

 

 

Posted in ALIA, ALIA Biennial Sydney 2012, ALIA PLAC | No Comments »

Another Bouquet

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Working backwards on the congratulations front we have another star in our midst in the form of Cathryn Harris from Mt Gambier Public Library who won the Nokia Business Innovation Award at the Telstra Business women’s SA awards lunch on 16 September.

tbwa11-sa1064-nokia-harris

Cathryn, her council and her team have put in a huge effort to make the Mt Gambier library service (not just the building) a great success story. This ABC Radio interview will give you an word picture of this project (and of Cathryn’s passion.

Congratulations Cathryn, that’s wonderful news.

Jan

Jan Richards, Chair ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee

Posted in ALIA, Mt Gambier Public Library, Public Libraries | No Comments »

The Stars are Shining Bright

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

Back in cold and wet Orange after a few days in glorious Brisbane at the ALIA Access 2010 Conference and more importantly (!) the public library stream A suprise on every page.

Building on the momentum and direction of the 2009 ALIA Public Libraries Summit the focus of the day was on advocay and how we can gain support using the innovative and engaging programs and activities we offer. Participants  were spellbound by some fantastic case studies which focussed on the themes developed as part of the  Summit; ie children and early literacy, digital citizenship, social inclusion and health and ageing. I found myself scribbling madly, lots of ‘note to self’ shameless stealing of concepts and ideas.

Speakers Shirley Shepherd (L), Bernie McSwain (R) and Jan Richards pose for the camera.

Speakers Shirley Shepherd (L), Bernie McSwain (R) and Jan Richards pose for the camera.

At the end of the day our special guest, Grant Millington, a Director of Publicis Mojo, drew together the themes which had been discussed and talked us through how an advertisng agency would build on the strengths.

A definte highlight was the announcement of the 2010 Library Stars Awards which showcased some of the fantastic projects our collegaues across the nation are engaged in.Every 2 years ALIA recognises new, exciting and inspirational programs that are taking place in Australian Public Libraries. The accolade of ‘Library Star’ is given to those libraries that have developed outstanding programs and activities in various categories. We received nearly 60 entries which were scored by an independent panel of judges to produce the 12 finalists and from these the 4 winning entries. 

And the winners are (drum roll please!)

Category: Children and Early Literacy.

City of Greater Dandenong Libraries, Victoria for its early literacy outreach program which was awarded a Victorian Premier’s Multicultural award for Excellence in 2009.

Category:Digital Citizenship

ACT Library and Information Service, the Northern Territory Library and the State Libraries of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia for the MyLanguage national collaboration creating online access to information in mor than 60 languages.

Category:Social Inclusion

Logan City Council Libraries, Queensland for 171 Club Circling the Globe in Logan - the club is named after the number of ethnic groups in Logan. 

Category: Health and Ageing

The Hills Shire Library Service , New South Wales for its festival of Active Living at the Castle Hill Library. 

The 12 finalists will receive certificates and a letter of commendation from ALIA and their entries have been posted on the ALIA web site .  A huge ‘Congratulations’ to them all (I feel a Cliff Richards moment coming on)

The program was convened by ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee and it was great to have some of our members in the audience. It was also fun to know that so many other public library collegaues were participating in a virtual way through the web straeming option. We were very chuffed that 2 of our sessions were honoured in this way. As Program Chairperson it was challenging to monitor questions from the floor, from web stream participants and from the tweets which were being generated.

Time now to begin thinking about Library Stars 2012 which will focus on Reading (remember National Year of Reading!) - ever onwards.

Cheers

Jan

Jan Richards

Chair ALIA PLAC

Posted in ALIA, Library Stars, Public Libraries | 1 Comment »

Back on Deck!

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

After a year ‘resting’, worn out by the excitement of the first ever ALIA Public Library Summit in July 2009, we’ve revived the public libraries blog, making it a place where public library bodies from across Australia can post thoughts, requests and calls to action. 

We’re eagerly awaiting the results of the federal election (!) and to find out what the new government has in store for the roll out of the NBN (will it still be called the National Broadband Network?), ISP-level internet filtering, school libraries and all those other political topics so close to our hearts.

Keep coming back for discussion about these and other hot potatoes.

 

Cheers

Jan Richards

Chair ALIA PLAC

Posted in ALIA, Public Libraries | No Comments »

More news about Public Library Ambassadors

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

When Jan Richards officially launched the Public Library Ambassadors campaign at the Summit on 16 July, we had four ambassadors signed up.  Now we have five.

720 ABC Perth radio presenter Russell Woolf has come on board.  With thousands of listeners tuning in every weekday to hear his program, Loclib’s Julie Caddy is delighted that he has agreed to be a voice for public libraries in WA, along with Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan.

You can check out all our ambassadors on our new ALIA Public Library Ambassador Flickr site and find out more about the campaign on our Library Ambassadors page.

Sue McKerracher, Project Officer

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Today’s the day!!

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

As I type this, and probably as you read this, the Public Libraries Summit is underway!

It has been a very exciting year for the Public Libraries Advisory Committee (PLAC). My time on the committee beginning with the ‘Library Stars’ event at last year’s biennial conference, ongoing evaluation of ALIA policies, submissions to government organisations, the library ambassadors program, the little book of public libraries and, of course, now the summit.

Regular updates from the summit are being tweeted by @ALIANational with the keyword #Summit09 and include summaries of who is saying what, photographs and more information about the summit.

I think now is the time to say ‘Thank you’ to my colleagues on PLAC who have worked very hard getting these projects underway. You may think that being on an ALIA Committee is all consuming – but it’s not! We all hold down full-time positions outside of PLAC and have the extremely satisfying benefit of seeing the results of our efforts being well supported by ALIA members and interested stakeholders.

Kathryn Cass

ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee Member

P.S. Don’t forget to follow what’s happening at the summit via Twitter at http://twitter.com/ALIANational

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Summit Submissions and why you should read them!

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

As the time draws nearer to the Public Libraries Summit, why not check out what will be discussed by reading the Submissions made by your colleagues and other interested parties!

The submissions are on many varied topics such as Early childhood education and literacy, the development of closer ties between public libraries and healthcare professionals, the role public libraries play in society, and public libraries and access to electronic databases and information online.

There are also regional submissions from NSW, Vic, Qld, WA and SA

One of my favourite submissions is from Jenn Martin about A Bibliotherapy Partnership between Public Libraries and Health Services. I had heard of ‘Books on prescription’ before and thought “What a great idea!” but then never got around to implementing it! Reading Jenn’s submission reiterated to me the importance of public libraries collaborating with other government and community organisations to promote the ideals that all public libraries stand for… namely “social inclusion, literacy, [and] life-long learning”. We all know that there are some great health related resources in our libraries to help people, but do our patrons? Do doctors and hospitals and their patients know? Developing a strong Bibliotherapy partnership and program, I believe, will help fill this information gap!

All the submissions make for very interesting reading! So check them out. And don’t forget to register the points in the ‘professional reading’ category for the ALIA PD Scheme.

Kathryn Cass

ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee Member

Posted in ALIA, Public Library Ambassadors, Summit Information | No Comments »

48 Days and Counting!

Friday, February 6th, 2009

In 48 days ALIA will be hosting the first ever Australian Public Libraries Summit at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.

In 48 days my tomato bushes will have borne fruit, the zucchini will have taken on mammoth proportions, and the persimmons on the tree in my garden will be turning orange. So why the gardening references? August Birrell (1850 -1933) wrote “Libraries are not made; they grow” – and so it is with the ALIA Public Libraries Summit. Every day it matures as planning progresses. We don’t see the Summit as an end in itself, rather as the seed of an ongoing conversation with the Federal Government and other partners.

I would encourage you to think about how you can help us “grow” the Summit. Perhaps you can submit a working paper on one of the topics suggested on the website or another relevant subject by 27th February 2009.  Your participation will ensure our message is enriched and strengthened.

I also urge you to become involved in the Public Library Ambassador program, which will not only lend support to the positioning of public libraries but add a grass-roots element to our strategic direction. Imagine the media monitors picking up stories of Ambassadors from across Australia – success! It also promises to be a lot of fun. Check the website for details of how to get started.

Jan Richards, ALIA Vice-president   

jan.richards@alia.org.au

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