The ALIA National Policy Congress 2002: Western Australia part one.

Report from the meeting held on 23 September, BHP Billiton Petroleum, Level 42, Central Park, 152-158 St Georges Terrace in the board room, 5:30pm.

WA ALIA National Policy Congress Group for 2002 [WA NPC Group] report on ALIA: making the difference 2003 and2004 plan

WA NPC Group members

Deanne Barrett (ALIA director), Bobbie Bruce (WA Forum), Jeanette Hill (KISWA), Paige Luff (ARL WA), Carol Newton-Smith (WA Mentoring Group), Judy Smith (WA Library Technicians) Janice McCahon (WA Local Studies) - Janice was unable to attend the meeting.

Ex officio: Lothar Retzlaff (National Library Technicians)

WA representative to attend the 2002 National Policy congress: Carol Newton-Smith (WA Mentoring Group)

Question 1: Will building our planning around the five areas of strategic focus contribute to the strengthening of the Association and to the realisation of our ambitions for it?

Direction of the plan

There was broad agreement on the direction of the plan. The five strategic areas (members first, credibility, adding value and investment in the future) are viewed as appropriate strategic directions.

Content of the plan

The WA NPC Group is concerned that we were asked to comment on the content of a plan by reading a document that does not supply sufficient detail for us to determine how these strategies are to be achieved, by whom and at what cost. When we asked for some details we were denied access.

For example:

1. The WA NPC Group requested two underpinning documents:
   • Research Exchange and Partnership (REAP) Program. There is some detail in appendix item 4 but only a very broad outline (needed to assess whether critical measure for excellence is achievable).
   • Gillard report - described both as the 'User Insight (Gillard) report' in the introduction and under members first and as 'the Gillard ICT Strategy report' under adding value [Some detail supplied in the Appendix. WA Group is generally supportive of the ICT strategy described there but would like details of what research this report is based on.
   
   
   We were advised that 'Board papers are confidential and cannot be released.' The WA NPC Group would like to register its concern about being denied access. We are concerned ALIA professionals wanting to make informed comment on a plan that will guide our professional association through the next two years. We would like to be more than a 'rubber stamp' for this document. Without appropriate background information we cannot make informed comment on the content.
2. Local presence officers. What is their intended duty statement and salary level? We were supplied with no detail. Historically incumbents have been people at the beginning of their career. This seems incompatible with the plan to use these people to network and co-ordinate CPD.

Other overall comments: Structure of the NPC

The WA NPC Group objects strenuously to the election process and structure of the 2002 NPC. The process and structure is not in line with the group structure. We are supposed to be a democratic organization, but this is an example of how we are not being treated democratically. Each group should have a representative or a better system be established to elect a WA representative. A lot of WA ALIA members may not even be active members of the local group, and so miss out on representation at the NPC.

Initiatives and critical success measures proposed under each area of strategic focus:

Are the priorities we have suggested the right ones?
Are the suggested success measures and the time scales appropriate?

These questions are considered under each strategic initiative. Strategies have been listed in the order of priority as assessed by the WA NPC Group.

Strategic initiative: Members first

a. Enhance engagement of members through state/territory and locally based groups and programs (Object 5). Includes:

• Local presence officers engaged by ALIA National Office
• Support for members in rural and remote areas
• Group-based e-communications and newsletters

b. Membership growth program

1. Comments on priorities

A Local Presence Officer (LPO) is seen as a top priority. This may assist in the reduction of the sense of isolation by WA ALIA members. The WA NPC Group suggests that it is vital that the remuneration of the LPO be sufficient to attract an experienced professional and that this is not charged back to the groups as currently happens with the administrative support person. The success of establishing this position will depend on the hours allocated to the position, availability to the members, the level of appointment and an appropriate duty statement being established. We do not consider this position could be successfully established on a voluntary basis. We applaud the role including the co-ordination of CPD initiatives. Again more detail would enable us to make a more informed comment.

An allied priority for W.A. would be to improve support for members in rural and remote areas. Western Australia is geographically isolated compared to the rest of the Australia. We support actions to foster ties between ALIA National Office and remote/isolated areas in Australia.

We would also support group-based e-communications. If an e-mail group had been available for WA by ALIA, we would have used it to circulate this document for comment. A national ALIA members' only e-mail list could be a good way of communicating on a national level (a way of having central postings). The technicians group have a successful national e-mail distribution list which acts like a central backbone for national issues, and has been a good communication mechanism. The volume could be managed by posting subject headings on each outgoing piece of mail.

There is insufficient detail about the membership growth program for us to comment. The best way for ALIA to raise memberships is by recommendation from the existing members.

2. Other comments

• Improve communication from ALIA to local groups. Local groups provide reports to ALIA but get no feedback;
• Co-ordination of groups could be improved by ALIA. It is only through individual informal contact that we are aware of what other equivalent groups (e.g. mentoring) are doing in other states. The structure is very flat. We seem to be a series of totally isolated groups. This is a fundamental issue. The group structure is too large. The appointment of a Group Co-ordinator is appreciated - is this type of co-ordination part of the role of this position?
• There needs to be a financial incentive (e.g. free attendance at meetings) or some sort of professional recognition to encourage people to be involved with CPD;
• Another initiative that would be useful is increased support for office bearers e.g. a treasurer's workshop;
• CPD services need to be balanced across all members.

3.Suggested success measures and time scales

We obtained further details on retention rates from one of the directors. Nationally the retention rates are currently 87% for personal members and 90% for institutional members. Performance measure seems appropriate for personal members but low for institutional members. We also think that figures need to be provided on a state level so we can judge what is achievable by state.

The second measure is vague. Groups already have a level of activity and support. A more appropriate measure may be the number of ALIA actions and activities that will improve support to local groups in 2003.

Strategic initiative: Excellence

c. A strategy for career-long education for the knowledge age, based on the outcomes of the LISEKA project

d. A Research Exchange and Partnership (REAP) Program as a network of peers aiming to encourage innovation in library and information sector practice (Objects 2,3,5,) based on the ALIA Research Initiative Project.

• Events could be teleconferenced to remote and regional areas;
• E-mail alerts could also inform members about new CPD developments on the website;
• Concern that some of the external agencies charge high amounts for training. Prefer to see in-house (ALIA) development of CPD at the base level;
• For more experienced members, particularly for managers, linkages with groups such as AIM and CPA could be useful. Currently CPD rounds off, instead of continuing on a strong gradient;
• CPD points have some unusual weighting. Suggest for example that participating e.g. presenting should be much higher than just attending?
• Should be a much higher discount for members at ALIA CPD events?
• The standards/guidelines for CPD have not been updated in a long time;
• CPD needs to be affordable;
• Courses could be online/workshops/in-house/external trainers. A mix would be best for different learning styles;
• ALIA could provide support by coordinating the sharing of workshop content so that individual groups are not reinventing the wheel each time they see a need for a session;
• Financial support in the form of minimising the costs of photocopying etc required for CPD sessions. The WALTG has been conscious of delivering CPD sessions at affordable prices and some facilitators may cover some of these costs themselves or some rely on the goodwill of their workplace.

There is insufficient detail to judge the priority of the REAP program initiative.

2. Other Comments

Recognition and encouragement of excellence library and information services practice - suggestion that we should insert 'tangible recognition'.

There needs to be recognition of members who contribute, but an awards structure may not be the best way to do this.

3. Suggested success measures and time scales

What is meant by "adoption" in the first measure? We think the effectiveness of this measure will depend on the content of the LISEKA framework.

There is insufficient detail to judge the measure of the REAP program. We have no idea of what is being implemented.

CPD Auditing. How many participants will be audited? It is understood that auditing of CPD would be random? How will this be a useful critical success measure of CPD? It is either done or not. A useful measure of CPD could be the percentage of members participating and the level of this activity - how many accumulated points is the average for those participating?

Strategic initiative: Credibility

e. Develop and implement a strategic marketing plan (Objects 1,2,3,4,5).

f. Conduct a lobbying event in Parliament House for Federal parliamentarians and staffers to promote the value of library and information services and library professionals (Objects 2,4).

g. Develop and promote lobbying advocacy resources for members (Objects 2,3,4).

h. Leadership of the National Coalition for Information Literacy Advocacy (Objects 1,2,4).

1. Comments on priorities

A strategic marketing plan is a useful initiative. Our credibility would definitively be improved by marketing. We are involved in a lot of activities that would improve our credibility (for example volunteer librarians in East Timor) but we need to promote them more. On a professional level, ALIA is represented on 21 committees, has hosted websites, and has helped with the funding of IFLA in Sydney. We should have been informed about the recruitment of a strategic marketing consultant. There was objection to this from some groups. Will the marketing consultant be telling or implementing?

Currently there are no guidelines for lobbying and it would be useful to make resources available Australia-wide. The WA Forum could make a useful contribution here. A member recently developed a lobbying workshop for a seminar held in Bunbury. ALIA provided a lot of information, but no workshop. This was an example of how ALIA needs to update its resources and/or support initiatives of groups. Workshops such as these could be also be made available on a members-only website, making them available to other members.

There was support for the National Coalition for Information Literacy Advocacy. It was felt that it was important for this to be appropriate to all areas of the profession, not just academic libraries.

There was objection to the proposal, to conduct a lobbying event in Parliament House. It was seen as a waste of time, money and effort that could be focussed on other marketing strategies. A suggestion was made that the parliamentary library could be informing federal parliamentarians and staffers of these issues.

2. Suggested success measures and time scales

All the statements are rather vague.

• How will we know when the strategic marketing plan is implemented?
• Lobbying and advocacy resources available through members only website - how many and what about a mechanism for ensuring they are up-to-date?
• How will we judge if federal politicians have been made aware?

Strategic initiative: Adding value

i. Increase member only services, particularly internet-based (Objects 2,3,4,5).

j. Implement new services and a marketing campaign aimed at students and new professional members, based on Gillard ICT Strategy report (Objects 2,3,5).

k. Achieve favourable purchasing agreements for institutional members for products and services, in consultation with other peak bodies and representatives of the special library and information services sector.

l. Secure a model copyright licence for electronic resources for special libraries

m. Implement a strategic program for public libraries, focusing on partnerships, communication, ALIA's lobbying strategy and standards and benchmarks (Objects 2,3,4,5).

n. Implement a comprehensive continuing professional development program through arrangements with external training providers (Objects 2,3,5).

1. Comments on priorities

Implementing a comprehensive CPD program should be the highest priority. If we were spending our energies on this, we would be better serving the needs of our members.

There was unanimous support for the priority of increased member only services. ALIA should recognise what is already being done and build on it. The technicians indicated that they had developed a workshop on Internet searching, and that this was now being used by other states. There was the feeling that they didn't receive much for this, (apart from doing a good thing in the community which was valuable).

The ALIA website should be a showcase for cutting-edge web design. While the WA NPC thinks that a website is a good idea, it should not be seen as more important than supporting the opportunities for members to network. Meeting other people is one of the most important reasons for joining ALIA.

A strategic program for public libraries is an excellent initiative. Public libraries as they are the most easily accessible library for the majority of our population - 'the public face'.

Implementing new services and a marketing campaign aimed at students and new professional members is a good strategy. There were some concerns about focussing just on this category, as we also need to reflect the needs and interests of many categories of member. In WA we have two excellent programs (Graduate mentoring programs - GUMP) already focussed at new professional members. Assistance with marketing these might be useful (though the librarian GUMP was completely filled in 2002). How would new services be developed and by whom? Concern was also expressed about the wording and consistency of language. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if the library technicians are included Technicians are also professionals, but ALIA does not give professional/associate membership. Does this mean that technicians are not included in this area? What is ALIA's description of a professional?

Achieving favourable purchasing agreements for institutional members was not seen as a priority for ALIA. Based on the little detail supplied, this initiative is regarded as a waste of resources. This may be useful if this is an initiative to investigate existing consortia and see how they can be combined? It may be more useful to lobby the Australian government for some Australia wide arrangements - Vis Canada.

2. Other comments

Are discounts and other deals that ALIA seems to spend time negotiating really valued and used by the members? There was a question of what value the conference was to the "senior" members of the profession. Why only for senior members? How is "senior" defined?

3. Suggested success measures and time scales

Insufficient details to estimate if it is feasible to implement a strategic marketing plan by December 2003. Second success measure is too vague - how would we know if the politicians are aware? Are we going to test them? Lobbying and advocacy resources available - how many, what depth? Last measure too imprecise to be useful.

Strategic initiative: Investment in the future

o. Implement a web-accessible membership database to allow development of new online and member-only services (Objects 3,5).

p. Develop and implement a strategic sponsorship plan (Objects 2,3,4,5).

q. Evaluate the Board of Directors (Objects 1,2,3,4,5).

1. Comments on priorities

o. Implementing ALIA member only web-accessible Internet services is seen as an important priority. It is not clear if ALIA considers that a web-accessible database is a prior requirement. There is insufficient detail. Is only an authentication system is required? We would be reluctant to have the full membership details available via the web.

q. Evaluation of the Board of Directors is important but doesn't seem to fit in this section. More an initiative to do with 'Excellence'? There was an emphasis that ALIA needed to strictly adhere to issues of correct corporate governance. Is the Board of Directors complying with this? A suggestion was made that an exchange of language should be made, changing 'evaluate' to 'audit' to comply with corporate governance.

p. Seeking strategic sponsorship deals was at this stage seen as a low priority. There are two ways that this objective could be interpreted. There is insufficient detail. Did this objective mean that we will be seeking sponsorship for different initiatives, or will ALIA be sponsoring other organisations or/and individuals?

2. Other comments

Group funding: The WA NPC Group is of the unified opinion that the financial management of groups should be tighter.

Treasurers have been using their own personal credit cards, because the groups no longer have individual bank accounts. Members should not have to access their own personal funds, and then be reimbursed. More independence over our funds could be an administrative nightmare, but it will need to be managed. The groups were adamant about this being passed on in this forum;

The groups should retain group-funding surpluses. Losses are written off. There is no incentive to stick to the limited guidelines;

Good auditing procedures should be implemented in all groups. All financial decisions by the group should be minuted;

There should be a requirement in the office-bearers guide that expenditure of funds be minuted. All that is currently required is two office-bearers' signatures.

3. Suggested success measures and time scales

Insufficient detail was supplied for us to assess these.

Report compiled by the WA ALIA National Policy Congress Group for 2002. Submitted Friday 11 October 2002