Archive for February, 2009

How summits work

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

For those of you interested in how summits work, the obvious source of information is my Frontline column in last July’s Incite. I wrote about the Education and Workforce Summit which we held in March 2008. For that summit about 60 people, almost all from libraries, assembled at the State Library of Victoria.

The Public Libraries Summit is like that summit in one way - not everyone can go.  All summits are selective by their nature.

The Public Libraries Summit is also different because it is definitely NOT about librarians talking to each other. As Jan Richards put it in yesterday’s blog post,  this summit is planned as “the seed of an ongoing conversation with the Federal Government and other partners.” This is not a summit to get our own act together, it is a summit for building bridges with government.

This is a very good time to talk to governments, Commonwealth, state and local. Because there has been a change of at the top, there is a stronger possibility of new thinking and new agendas. The summit is to put public libraries on the agenda of government, Commonwealth, state and local.

You can help. We need everyone’s ideas. You can put your ideas by writing submissions and proposals. There is information on how to do this here. As I suggested, this is a time for new thinking and new ideas, and above all for communicating them to governments. Soon, please - the deadline is 27 February.
                                                      Derek Whitehead,  ALIA President

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Love goes both ways

Monday, February 16th, 2009

On Saturday, 14 February, we celebrated Library Lovers’ Day; a time for people to celebrate the place of libraries in their lives. Our users are devoted to “their” public library and not just on one day of the year. Millions of library lovers across Australia must be right! Public libraries are at the heart of their communities and they have their communities at heart.

At no time has this been more universally evident than in the response of our colleagues across Australia to the tragic fire storms that have swept through Victoria in recent times. The e-lists are all focussing on ways in which libraries and librarians are contributing to the relief effort and ALIA’s Executive Director, Sue Hutley has highlighted some examples on the ALIA Board Blog  

Last Thursday’s  7.30 Report on the ABC featured Yea’s Librarian, Jan Smith, assisting with the relief effort. To quote Jan “Everybody’s absoluteley really wanting to help, so yes, it’s good involvement”. It was no surprise to see a librarian involved, it was just a matter of when. Way to go Jan!

Similarly, following a tragic, multiple shooting in the NSW country town of Cowra last year, the Library mounted a grief display which included one of the hand-knitted trauma bears offered to children by the Red Cross. Subsequently the library became the drop off point for trauma bears and a knitting group was established to support the community and aid organisations.

This connection to our communities, and our adaptation to their needs and changing circumstances is the foundation on which public libraries rest. In the lead up to the Summit it is appropriate to reflect on the events of the last 2 weeks, and how public libraries have responded to them.

Jan Richards, ALIA Vice President.

jan.richards@alia.org.au

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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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