New South Wales

1. Roll of nominated group representatives

Childrens and Youth Services and Next Generation PAG Mylee Joseph
IBBY Ena Noël
Information Online Rosemary McLauchlan
Library Technicians Stephen Coppins
Local Studies Helen McDonald
NSW Forum Sue Grimes
TAFE NSW Dot Dawson

Observers Tony Brooks, Gudruna Papak

2. Election of one delegate to attend Canberra NPC

Stephen Coppins

3. Celebrating success

TAFE NSW
Dot reported that her group had been very active with committee meetings most months. They have settled on a pattern of hosting just two really good all-day seminars a year and this model seems to be working well for both the committee and, judging by compliments, for the members as well. Forty people attended the first workshop this year on super searching. Members have indicated that they are grateful for the networking opportunities that these events afford, as well as the obvious CPD benefits. They are getting lots of people from regional areas attending as well, as a full-day seminar makes travel viable. A second event is planned for the end of the year on technology updates. They are also considering adding a segment on copyright. Their newsletter is published four times per year and issues are used to promote the seminars/workshops. They now have an e-list operating via OTEN so they can keep in touch. What is not working? The group is finding it increasingly difficult to get sponsorship so fees for activities are having to be set on a full cost recovery basis, with income resulting from working with economies of scale. Also, the group has traditionally offered some sponsorship to country people to cover travel and accommodation to the Sydney-based events - this year no-one applied.

International Board on Books for Young People
Ena provided a brief overview of IBBY and its operation. IBBY has sixty member nations, with one member in each country. The member in Australia is ALIA. IBBY aims to foster international understanding through books and to promote the advantages of reading, and so has been a long-time partner of the Children's and Youth Services group and works closely with this group. IBBY presents a biennial award for a young author or illustrator, which gets presented at the ALIA biennial conference. Ena says she has been asked to provide material on the advantages of reading and storytelling to the ALIA National Office to contribute to the national simultaneous storytime project.

Library Technicians
Stephen reported that the combined Vic/ACT/NSW 'Techs on Tour' to Canberra was very successful. In addition to visiting libraries, the group also visited ALIA House. They also held a successful 'Resumé round-up' activity with One Umbrella in February, though a later career-planning and interview skills workshop was not well attended. A new committee took up office in July and the group has gained a few new members. Their big success was putting up a bid to host a national library technicians conference in Sydney in 2005 and a lot of the group's energies from now on will be directed to this event. The primary communication tool is the LibTech e-list. It's very popular and topics range from advertising events, providing work-related advice and discussing issues in the industry.

Local Studies
Helen reported that the group is active and continues to hold seminars in metropolitan and country areas. In the past they have aimed to run them so that proceeds from the city activities help underwrite the country activities. Their activities tend to have a very practical focus. A recent metropolitan activity on multicultural resources and local studies was well-attended. The group's visit to Wagga Wagga in 2002(?) was very successful but the visit this year to Lismore was much less so. The group is concerned that the current annual reporting and budgeting processes and the lack of roll-over entitlement for any profits made have slowed down their ability to plan effectively for regional events, which require much more organisation and some subsidisation. * This was a common concern for many groups present. Many felt that the incentive to run activities at a profit was much higher for groups when there was a perceived benefit - in the form of guaranteed funding for something else of their own choosing. Many groups also indicated that they were finding the time lines of the decision making processes associated with the new structure difficult and not conducive to long-term planning. The group acknowledged the support of the State Library of NSW, who provide venues for events and assists with mailouts (via PLB) to libraries. The group also wants to point out an important promotion impact of running activities in rural areas - they are finding that their presence in the region is reflected in the metropolitan activities, where now some three or four people from regional areas can regularly be found on the participants list. The group's primary method of communication is e-mail.

Children's and Youth Services NSW
Mylee reported that the National Simultaneous Storytime was a great success last year with more than 600 libraries, schools and child-care centres reading Mrs Wilkinson's Chooks by Leone Peguero on 4 September. This year's book, I don't want to go to school by Christine Harris will be read on Friday 5 September. The group ran a management seminar in November called 'Break a leg! Working with authors, illustrators and entertainers in the library' which proved very popular, with 60 delegates attending. Speakers included Wilma Bancroft, Jojo Fuller, Val Noake and Jeff Flectcher, with a cartooning workshop with Dave Hackett. The group's one day conference in April with Mem Fox as keynote speaker convinced them of the importance of thinking big and the value of a celebrity drawcard. 126 people attended 'Switching them on to reading: books and young children' - about two and a half times as many delegates as usual! Mem's presentation was also the Nancy Booker Honour Lecture for 2003. The group also had great success with its annual Pre-bookweek extravaganzas, which this year ran in both Burwood (20 June 2003, 44 participants), and Wollongong (27 June 2003, 40 participants), effectively doubling the number of people who traditionally attend this event. * The CYS groups used to fund two awards - the Bess Thomas and Marjorie Cotton Awards. The NSW group, which is in part operating as a de facto national group, is finding it difficult to support the awards now that there are less CYS groups active around the country. The group is hoping ALIA National Office will be able to help in identifying and approaching sponsors to ensure the awards keep going. The group communicated primarily via its elist (currently 252 members) and through its newsletter - Young people in libraries - which is published via the website. The group acknowledges the support of the State Library of NSW, and Burwood and Wollongong Councils, who have supported CYS through the provision of venues.

NGPAG: New Generation Policy Advisory Group to the BOD
Mylee also reported on this national group which has been looking at ways of making the Association more relevant to younger and new graduates. The group has been meeting via teleconference - except for once in person at the New Librarians Symposium. Mylee says that this has proven to be quite effective, but notes that the real work of the group is done via e-mail. Their recommendations to the BOD address Key Initiative 1 (to develop and market new services for students/new professional members, and strengthen the participation of a new generation of library and information professionals in the Association). The group has surveyed all participants at the New Librarians Symposium and has been instrumental in the establishment of a New Graduates group. It has made recommendations for website development of a New Graduates page; an ALIA presence at careers expos, open days and information sessions highlighting the diversity of the profession; co-ordination of information about mentoring projects available in each state; scholarships and career planning and development.

NSW Forum
The purpose of NSW Branch Council under the old structure was to be the conduit or carrier of information backwards and forwards between ALIA National Office, General Council and the various groups in NSW, and to organise activities on cross-sectoral matters by itself or in partnership with other groups. The restructure saw the shift of flow of information direct to members from ALIA National Office and the Board. The group decided several times that there was a role for a state forum but has found that without formal responsibilities/functions it's a bit of like a snake with no fangs. While there is still a role for a presence of ALIA in NSW it has become increasingly a ceremonial one - sending reps to award presentations, for example, Library and Information Week etc. As such, it is difficult to convince people to commit to yet another committee/group. Jojo's decision to retire from ALIA NSW has forced the group to think again about its future. She said that she had received lovely messages from members in NSW and nearly all commented on the the e-list and how valuable they found it. After discussion at this meeting it was decided that ALIANSW should become a corresponding group for the time-being. Its primary work will be the maintenance of the aliaNSW e-list. Helen Mandl is the current list owner and is happy to continue in this role.

Information Online
This is the new name for the national Information Specialists Group, the rebranding reflecting the most successful recurrent activity of the group since 1987 and recognising the prime uniting factor in the working lives of information specialists, whether employed by government or private enterprise, self-employed, in small one-person environments or in much larger enterprises. This central factor affects decisions about so many other features of the working environment. The Committee, convened by Kay Harris (JP Morgan), has mainly Sydney-based members and a corresponding member in Far North Queensland region, Bronia Renison. As a national group, Information Online is keen to involve interested parties in other regions. The major event in any two-year period is the Information Online conference, last held very successfully in January 2003 at Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney with 1200 attendees and a fully-subscribed trade exhibition. Satellite events included a successful SuperSearchers event in Townsville, enabling non-conference attendees to learn from key overseas speakers. Sponsorship is significant and factored into the viability of the event. The 2003 profit reached an all-time high. Regular bi-monthly After-5 evening meetings are held with the support of Ilanet at the State Library of NSW, where online vendors are invited to show their wares to all interested parties. Occasional Behind the Scenes visits to information services are arranged, though none has happened so far in 2003. These are financed on a cost-recovery basis (drinks, nibbles). The main means of communication is the INFSPEC e-list, which reaches a majority of Group members, some of whom are non-ALIA members. This remains a problem with the new ALIA website model. The e-list enables people to be alerted about upcoming events and join in discussion of issues, and is fairly active. There is minimal involvement by ALIA National Office in the Group's activities. ALIA finances benefits significantly from its 50 per cent share of the profits of the Information Online conference.

Agriculture and Environment
We had a great deal of discussion on the list re the indexing of agricultural publications in Australia. This was taken to the committee which is responsible for the Australian Bibliography of Agriculture and I believe contributed substantially to an overhaul of the critieria for inclusion and the other matters to do with the future of this important part of Australian literature access. I think this really proved the importance of having a subject-based group, even though we mostly only have e-mail communication.

Far North Coast
We've has a couple of meetings, the first where one member of the group talked about the Online Conference held in Jan 2003, sharing her perspectives as both an attendee and a joint-contributor of a paper for the conference. The second meeting was held at a joint-facility library where a group member gave insight into how it effectively provides services across the high school, uni and TAFE. Two meetings that had been planned were cancelled due to insufficient RSVPs. This can be a problem when the group is spread over a wide geographical area. In one case it was felt that it was too much to expect the speaker from overseas, who was attending a conference in the region as a keynote speaker, to drive the 200km round trip to speak with only a handful of people, even though he was willing. (Really disappointing!) This highlights one of the difficulties of running a group over a large area. Unfortunately our president, Heather Fisher, moved out of the region in March, so had to stand down as president. We communicate via our e-list, I send out post to around ten people who haven't provided e-mail addresses. Our first meeting was the most successful/best attendance. We tried this year to spread our activities over a larger geographic area, but this hasn't worked, so we're back to the Lismore-centric group that we've always been! The problem is distance.

Health Libraries Australia
The Executive Committee has been working toward achieving strategies within the Health Libraries Australia's strategic plan which seeks to address five key areas: professional development, advocacy, research, networking and promotion. We refer to these as portfolios within the HLA Exec Committee. Have started e-mailing ALIA HLA members only as opposed to using the health libraries open discussion list, aliaHEALTH. This appears to work quite well but hard to tell. We recognise that we really need to produce a regular e-update (like MLA-focus; Canadians do something similar as well) which outlines the goings on of our Executive Committee and also massages ALIA office-bearer information, BOD reports, etc so they reflect how these things directly relate to health libraries. I think this would be one way to increase the pertinence of ALIA to our members. The most successful things we've done in 2003? Scholarships were awarded to eight librarians to attend EBP workshops and train-the-trainer sessions in Adelaide. The eight have now gone on to train health librarians and clinicians (at least one half-day session each) in their regional areas and are building names as local resource people. We've undertaken a census of all health libraries in Australia. The data has been compiled in a database which should go live on the ALIA website in August. This is the first step toward a possible benchmarking project. Data will also be used for advocacy purposes. We've also conducted a training needs analysis of members and a survey of library schools looking at which ones offer health librarianship subjects/courses with a view to building links. The group did a survey on whether a new edition of on the ALIA Guidelines for Health Libraries is required and conducted an investigation into models for future Australian health/biomedical library conferences. Jojo Fuller put together HLA's fabo new newsletter. We've had heaps of positive feedback about look and content. We've updated the HLA strategic plan. I think that we are close (if it's not done already) to securing sponsorship for an award for health LIS. It will be fantastic if this comes off. Some of what has been achieved to date has been with ALIA support but also with lots and lots of volunteer effort. To try and spread the load, the portfolio leaders have tried to surround themselves with a group of individuals who have a particular interest in the portfolio. This has worked better in some areas than others.

Hunter 12 May-14 Jun 2003: Treasures of the Hunter Libraries exhibition Lovett Gallery. This was the greatest success of the year and did much to promote the value and contents of libraries in the region. Treasures from throughout the Hunter Region libraries were accumulated and displayed in the spacious Lovett Gallery and curator/Librarian Sue Ryan reported that many thousands of Hunter residents came from near and far to appreciate the fine exhibition. Congratulations to Sue and the Newcastle Public Library for their efforts. 10 June 2003: ALIA Hunter general meeting with Patrick Filmer-Sankey, Ozcom Online Project. We were pleasantly surprised by the number of people who attended, not because of the nature of the talk which was particularly interesting, but that the speaker also drew a considerable number of people from the museum field as well as librarians and associates. Fortunately there was plenty of food and drink to go around. 13 Aug 2003: New bookmobile and premises visit planned. Lake Macquarie Public Library has a new bookmobile and expanded premises. Our visit will include a guided tour and discussion with Narelle Reichardt. Nominations will be called for Hunter ALIA Executive Committee for 2003-2004. 22 Oct 2003: ALIA Hunter group will hold an AGM at Sparke-Helmore Library. Our AGM will be held this year at the new Sparke-Helmore building at Honeysuckle which houses the Special Law Library. Our host will be Gwen Hamilton and an invitation exists to dine in the building's new restaurant. 2 Dec 2003: General meeting and social activity. To be held at Lake Macquarie Art Gallery.

OPALs
There has been one meeting in Sydney at a member library. Another is scheduled for 17 September 2003. Because of our national identity, electronic means are our best form of communication. Our new editor has published her first issue of OPALessence. The latest issue of our newsletter was probably our biggest success this year. It was the biggest issue I can recall with contributions from far and wide. The group will also be organising a lunchtime get together at the SHL Conference in Adelaide.

All written reports were tabled and discussed at the meeting. Points from the discussion that participants felt they want recorded include:

Of the HLA report... The HLA group under Melanie's leadership have done an excellent job. The group's focus for the last two years has really been arriving at its strategic plan. Sue Grimes says that it has been a very dynamic and interactive process, with a few arguments along the way. The group was lucky in that they had some very useful models from the USA and UK to look at. A copy of the plan, provided by Melanie, was tabled at the meeting and requested by several groups. Sue said the new newsletter has consolidated the group's efforts in a very visual way. A second issue will go out before the conference. Several group reps asked to see the newsletter as well. It was agreed that the HLA's strategic approach to the formation and operation of a group under the new structure was to be applauded.

Of the Hunter report... Tony Brooks, our observer from the central coast, said that the Treasures of the Hunter exhibition was an excellent example of industry promotion, noting that there was no feel of promotion of individual libraries but instead of what libraries hold for the nation. It was agreed that that the Hunter group and participating libraries should be congratulated on this initiative.

General comments A common difficulty is managing financial processes and communication with ALIA National Office. Strict timelines exist for sending material to ALIA National Office, but feedback is slow. Sense that ALIA National Office is not making the best use of expertise that exists within its own committees and networks. For example, a CYS rep is missing from the group established to choose the next book for national simultaneous storytime, as is an IBBY rep. Are there ways for groups and ALIA national Office staff to get to 'know' each other better?

4. Research exchange and partnership (REAP) initiative

Research topics
Children's and Youth Services Possibly people in university programs are undertaking research but as no university specialises in Children's and Youth Services in public libraries in Australia, it's unlikely to be public library focussed research - yet we are the specialists. Topics CYS would like to see addressed include: Young adults and information literacy - the role libraries are playing in the process; The impact of books for babies programs in the development of literacy skills; A comparison of the 'child friendliness' of integrated non-fiction collections vs separate collections.
IBBY would be interesting to find out what kids are reading after Harry Potter.
Library Technicians The Dunn and Wilson Scholarship is a biennial award (presented at the biennial library technicians conference) and provides the recipient with an opportunity to investigate a particular project relating to the practice of library technicians which will increase the recipient's professional occupational experience. The scholarship is open to practising library technician members of the ALIA. Scholarship recipients are required to prepare a comprehensive report on their studies, suitable for publication as a journal article. Recipients must also present the 'Dunn and Wilson Oration' at an LT conference. Previous recipients include Kerrie Blyth (2001) - A comparison of education and training opportunities for library technicians in the UK, USA, NZ and Australia; Meredith Martinelli (1999) - Changing roles, changing goals: transferring Library technician skills beyond the library; Lorraine Denny (1997) - Job descriptions: Improving their currency, accuracy and usefulness; Jean Bailey (1995) - Case study of higher-level library technicians; Helen Martyn (1993) and Maryellen Leonard (1991) - subjects unknown for last two. The papers mentioned here are already on the web but there does not appear to be a link via REAP at the moment. Ongoing sponsorship for the scholarship provided by Dunn and Wilson All Library Technian groups are appreciative of this support.
Health Libraries Australia Health is particularly strong in evidence-based librarianship in terms of a growing awareness of the need to base our practice on research. The amount of quality research actually going on in health libraries is probably pretty slim. Within HLA we have a group of LIS professionals looking at how research can be championed. We are also looking to link in with international colleagues and groups. The MLA research section is looking to undertake a Delphi study to determine the most burning questions within librarianship and determine which areas of research to prioritise. We really need to look at how we can champion really good action research in the workplace but people need to have the skills to carry this out and also to have local experts they can fall back on for advice.
Information Online A scholarship will be awarded for every Information Online conference to enable a student who might not otherwise be able to attend the conference to participate. The 2003 scholarship was sponsored by Factiva. Salary information for information specialists is gathered by both government and private means.

Researchers
No comment.

Potential partners
No comment.

Possible material for ALIA e-prints
No comment.

General comments Promotion of REAP list extremely important. Should be promoted widely within the industry, including to library and information studies schools and students, and other industry players (eg CPLA, MPLA etc). Need to trawl existing website for relevant info and provide links (eg Dunn and Wilson Scholarship, which is sitting on separate unlinked pages: currently unlinked to REAP or Awards pages). Would be useful to include a list of possible funding sources for study/research grants with links as appropriate (eg, Churchill Fellowships, Dunn and Wilson Scholarship, Cunningham Fellowship etc). Would be useful to link from ALIA site to theses sources. Could be a resource that is usefully promoted to students during visits to LIS schools. This was followed by a discussion of how these visits have shrunk/disappeared in many states. A recent graduate of a CSU course said ALIA was not mentioned once during their studies. It was agreed that schools visits which were embedded within the program are better than visits in voluntary times (lunchtimes, after class etc). Need statistics! Continue to support Averill Edwards' statement in Library Industry Statistics in Australia (2000) about the need for 'a central database of consistent and comparable statistical resources under the auspices of a peak industry body, supported by the industry and accessible to all' as essential 'for management planning and analysis, trend identification, benchmarking, lobbying and for better awareness of (our) strengths and weakness'.

5. Continuing professional development

a) What are the priorities?
b) What are the gaps between courses offered by brokered partnerships, ALIA conferences and ALIA Group CPD activities?
c) What types of workshops/seminars do members want to fill the above gaps?
CYS members need seminars on children's literacy, young adults, children's literature, young adult literature, programming for children and young adults, and Children's Book Week. The CYS group and the CBC and ASLA conferences provide the main opportunities for CPD for people working in this sector. There is plenty of room for more seminars and even some short courses could be offered by universities (eg. single subjects via distance ed?) Workshops/seminars needed to fill any gaps? Literacy theory and application; marketing to children and young adults; child development. Examples of best CPD activities attended in last two years? One-day seminar featuring Mem Fox, CBC conference.
Far North Coast In a regional area, a diverse group makes it difficult to do things of use to everyone. Small numbers make justifying, charging etc difficult.
Health Libraries Australia undertook a survey of members to determine their needs. ALIA National Office has the results, which confirm that this sector's needs are not met by any existing provider. We are concentrating on getting a working model for the delivery of PD events pertinent to health LIS professionals on a national basis.
OPALs There are many practitioners who 'go it alone' and mainly love this style of work. They get to do the whole gamut of library tasks including the mundane clerical work. This places OPALs in a unique position. Many work part-time and in organisations where there is limited support - financial or practical - for CPD. Time to attend activities is limited (there is no one to cover) and funds are often limited so that many courses/conferences recommended by ALIA are out of reach. Electronic delivery modes via the ALIA website would allow a number of our members to access CPD. I notice that this delivery means through SLA is quite expensive, so would like to emphasise affordability. Of course, we should all be willing to pay something but let's keep it reasonable. The forthcoming conference in Adelaide for Specials, Health and Law Librarians has much to offer our members, in particular, the networking and the ability to view the exhibition. Often small operators such as ourselves miss out on trade information as some of us are very small and work short hours. (inCite provides helpful trade information.) Types of workshops/seminars needed to fill any gaps? Consortia; networking; promoting libraries (preferably free or cheap). Maybe as a trade-off from no longer allocating funds to groups, ALIA could run free seminars. Examples of best CPD activities attended in last two years? Copyright update; Melbourne Specials, Health and Law Librarians' Conference.
Information Online Just as the needs of information specialists are diverse, so are the providers. Satellite events at Information Online are organised by those who wish to take advantage of the pull of the conference to offer PD events. Various private providers continue the offers over the two-year period between conferences, including Information Edge, CAVAL, The One Umbrella, RMAA and the University of New South Wales. The Information Online Group aims to bring speakers to regions other than Sydney if there are people willing to take responsibility for the local organisation of the event.
Library Technicians Focus will be on conference for the next two years. Short workshops on career development and technical skills have been flagged by members as important. Missing courses that focus on the practical work of technicians. Groups certainly run some activities that fill this gap, but more is needed.

General comments All groups should advertise the number of CDP points people would get for attending their events. Noticing that the number of ALIA personal members attending activities is very low. Several groups reported that the proportion of personal members attending has slumped with the changes to institutional membership entitlements, which now allow more than one person to attend at member rates. While the training partnerships are seen as positive, have noticed that the cost of CDP is going up and that many programs are now out of reach. Cost is a big issue. Shrinking CPD budgets mean that employers are applying very narrow definitions of relevance for courses to current job. Those trying to use CPD to broaden their skills largely do so at their own expense. The responsibility for CPD is returning to the individual. The other fallout of shrinking CPD budgets is that people at a senior level are increasingly getting preference for funding over those at a junior or middle level. Sense that the focus of the partner CPD programs is management level. Can ALIA do anything to encourage private providers to run a wider portfolio of courses? Kinetica training given as an example. Currently no courses on offer in NSW. Providers are meant to be CAVAL and the State Library of NSW, but neither have plans for running anything and have advised that the numbers are not there. Problem when market dynamics don't match CDP needs because of the size of the market. Both Local Studies and CYS report that none of the LIS courses really look at the work of public libraries or children's services - even dropped out of the LT course now. However, the work of these groups is very specialised, so the opportunity to find external groups that offer relevant courses is low. Demise of cataloging in courses is causing distress. UNSW, CSU and UTS courses all commented upon. Principles are taught, but not the intricasies. Implication is that responsibility for practical learning and mentoring is pushed out into the profession where time is already stretched. Timing of CDP activities critical - please try to run short activities like two- or three-hour seminars at either end of the day, not the middle, so that those funding their own attendance or working in situations were relief is difficult can still come along and not lose a whole day. A few comments on the CPD program. People would like more feedback - feel not getting any unless audited.

6. Issues of critical importance

Health Libraries Australia Those specified in our strategic plan (18 objectives).
OPALs Maintaining a group identity within limited financial means and geographical distance and isolation is our biggest challenge. We want to see the continuation of conferences that are directed to specialised groups. It is difficult to justify attendance to our managers when conferences are broadly-based and generalist in content. This type of conference would suit our managements who are not librarians but we need to attend events that tell us how others do their day-to-day work. It is difficult in a one-person environment to justify involvement in ALIA activities such as taking positions although it is also important to give a voice to our group's concerns. This is a difficulty that we must address with ALIA's help. We preferred the previous group structure model with the autonomy we enjoyed in managing our own financial affairs. We are aware that GST has altered a great deal in the management of money but we believe it was fair that a small proportion of membership fees was returned to groups to use as the group decided.

Comments from the discussion at the meeting are grouped by category:

New groups structure: working or not? Absence of focus and reporting lines and responsibilities seen as very problematic. Severing of ties between the Board and a constituency seen as a problem. Definitely need to address this: ideas mooted include getting each member of the Board to have a portfolio role so they can act as contact point for a particular sector. Base portfolios on broad categories: public libraries, special and one-person libs etc. Current arrangement described as 'splintering versus focus'. Informal nature of groups and short lifespans means groups are having to spent a lot of time on the processes of renewing/restating/rethinking rather than the rolling momentum of an ongoing group. Who is doing the policy work of the organisation now? Requests for input by members individually does not work as effectively as previous groups structure, which forced people to address issues from multiple perspectives. Hard to make aggregated response because not meeting to thrash out issues. How to go prospecting for members on the cusp of activity rather than chasing the inactive, e-mail not very effective for this (see communication note below). National groups report that there is a perception of lack of local activity. Recognise that size of nation is an issue. HLA an example - currently looking for local co-ordinators to help alleviate this, as is Information Online and Next Generation. CYS says the new groups structure has had minimal impact on their own group in NSW but they have found themselves being national by default - the elist has expanded their membership nationwide.

Finance Incentive to run activities is low when have to return all money to ALIA National Office and apply annually for funding. Happy for money to sit at ALIA National Office, but not happy with the 'one pot' approach. All groups want to retain some of their profits, say on 60/40 or 50/50 basis, as 'carry forward' in budget justification process. Model for Online Conference is a precedent for this.

Sponsorship Want guidelines or general recommendations that detail what things might be suitable for sponsorship, including a 'cheat sheet' on how to prepare a draft brief for sponsors. Want tips on how to identify potential sponsors. Want access to a central list of sponsors/supporters of the industry, indicating what they support. Recognise should not say dollar amount, but would be useful to see patterns of sponsorship to help avoid mismatching competitors and excessive requests. Want confirmation that sponsorship dollars are used only for the identified purpose and do not go into general revenue, even when money is given for more than one year. Noted that CYS has asked for ALIA National Office help in identifying and approaching sponsors for its two awards (Bess Thomas and Marjorie Cotton).

Communication Agree e-lists should operate on a non-commercial basis. Note using the internet and e-mail to communicate is okay, but it doesn't bring people together to do things. Means don't have access to new faces so co-opting new people increasingly difficult - much easier to identify interests and persuade in person. Sense that 'are not getting the information' but after discussion agree instead that problem lies in the way information is presented. Agree e-mail useful for quick, short messages and for items that require action. Not good for things that are lengthy and require thinking/deliberation. Some ALIA staff would probably benefit from a chance to get out and meet groups and find out a bit more about what they do and why - particularly those who are involved in organising events and input from groups. Agree can't communicate in just one way. Consider issuing an annual or biannual 'ALIA Healthcard' reporting on progress matched to plan, or perhaps even matched to sector? Consider a very regular e-newsletter with pointers to what's happening by sector and gossip. Since going into a monthly mag, inCite no longer fulfils this role. People are learning about things from ALN L, when really their Association should be the source of their info. Information Online Group concerned about continued access to the group's discussion list for non-ALIA members that have been traditionally members of and contributors to the discussion list. Groups generally think that participation in e-lists is an excellent link into ALIA and good ground for potential memberships.

Conferences Serious area of contention. Strong sense that the issue of conferences has not been 'solved'. Concern about longevity of the structure: how will the biennial be shifted around without branches? Will people begin to think about organising events far enough in advance if there ceases to be a natural rotation and timeline for such considerations? Want to revisit biennial structure: Can the biennial legitimately take on an umbrella role? Lots of support for this, but also recognition that the need for some specialist conferences or symposia will continue. Want public acknowledgement that proposals for conferences will be considered on merit and encouragement for groups to put special cases forward. Recognise need to revisit opportunities for getting trade information around the industry. The same strategies not suitable for all events. The New Librarians Symposium, for example, offered trade reps small slots in their program , as 'introduction to XXX' - very effective for new graduates.

Person power Not enough people on the committee to do the work! A common lament.

National information plan/strategy Still believe in having one.

7. ALIA: Towards 2010 consultation draft

A snapshot of ALIA
No comment.

Sharing the vision
Discussion got bogged down here: 'ALIA will be the association of choice for the information professional' ... adamant that this is an impossible mission unless 'information professional' is adequately defined.

Skilling members for the future
See comments about CPD earlier

Promoting innovation
Concern that seven-year recognition cycle is too long for an industry that changes so dramatically so quickly.

Communicating well
Agree must try harder - discussed extensively under issues

General comments As an aspirational document, this draft was well-supported with the objection noted above. Agreed however that the real business of the Association is on the next level down. How will this be achieved, how will it be measured - reiterate need for a business plan. Members-only website and website improvements were applauded.

8. Questions on notice

None.

Any other comments from the meeting?
Thank yous Sue Grimes spoke about Jojo's retirement from ALIA NSW (not all things or she will go broke!) and said that the group would like to organise a send off in October of November - after all the conferences and archiving, but before the silly season. She asked group reps to let there groups know that something would be happening - details will be send out via e-mail lists once known.

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