South-east Queensland

1. Roll of nominated group representatives

Qld Library Technicians Jennifer Parker
Qld OPALS Denise Cadman
Quill Fiona Doyle
ALIA Quorum Gillian Hallam

Observers Kathryn Harding (Facilitator), Carolyn Young, Sharan Harvey, Joy Goldsmith, Lynn McAllister, John Anderson, Michelle Alcock, Rachel Cobcroft, Greg Fowler

2. Election of one delegate to attend Canberra NPC

Fiona Doyle

3. Celebrating success

New Librarians Symposium (bright and funky!)

Quorum: Library Week: Trivia Night to celebrate Queensland Library Achiever of the Year, attended by 103 information professionals.

Library Technicians: Library Week Dinner with award for recent graduate library technician; good range of activities; hosting 2003 Conference

QUILL: New editorial team in Brisbane, launch of the new online edition.

Health: Evidence-Based Practice seminars, with symposium held at UQ St Lucia campus on 4 July 2003, to offer peer-directed approach to CPD (no formal training offered for Medline these days, so health librarians ran their own sessions).

OPALS: regular meetings throughout the year, lots of different events, well-attended, distributed responsibility.

Quorum: QUT/ALIA Queensland Student Mentoring Program.

Quorum: NER*Ds (News, Events, Reviews and Discussion) - series of conference reviews (New Librarians Symposium, Information Online 2003 etc), and panel discussions (Virtual Reference - QUT, UQ, SLQ, TAFE).

4. Research exchange and partnership (REAP) initiative

Research topics
The critical importance of evidence-based practice in the LIS sector was noted by the meeting. General support for the concept of deeper understanding about research methodologies and their application in the practical environment.
1. The impact of the single information retrieval interface on information organisation, information literacy, search skills.
2. E-journals vs print journals. Need to discover what impact access to e-journals has on use of print journals and to determine whether there are any significant differences between the different LIS sectors.
3. The nexus between school students and information literacy skills in both TAFE and universities. Context of the Northern Corridor of Brisbane with a joint-use library plus outreach to schools. Associated with this, further research into use of online information by whole spectrum of educational institutions (groundwork by TAFE libraries re use of TAFE library website, findings to be presented at Lib Techs Conference 2003, Brisbane).
4. Aging of the population: impact on the profession and on work. Career planning, succession planning, casualisation of work 5. How the professions (eg health professionals, lawyers etc) seek information once they finish studying. What resources, how do they approach information retrieval?
6. New information professionals - what knowledge and skills to they need early in their careers?
7. Impact studies, specifically in the health area, to consider information issues at the point of care.
8. Duty of care for librarians in an increasingly litigious society. Question of professional ethics, potential need for legal disclaimers etc

Potential partners
Cross-sectorial teams for comparative studies; Cross-industry teams, eg school/TAFE/university institutions; Multi-disciplinary teams, eg with other professions, professional associations.

5. Continuing professional development

a) What are the priorities?
How to best meet the needs of new graduates; Research skills; Finance/Budgeting; Project management; Business case development; Recruitment and selection skills; Selection criteria; Career planning; Strategies for keeping current with wide-ranging professional issues. Delivery modes: Preference for face-to-face, but regional issues acknowledged. Alternative delivery via online tutorials, video distribution etc.

b) What are the gaps between courses offered by brokered partnerships, ALIA conferences and ALIA Group CPD activities?
Major problem seen in the high level of part-time, casualised workforce, as this group is effectively cut out of the organisational investment in training and development. They are often not eligible for training as it is thought they are unlikely to be long-term employees. New graduates are particularly vulnerable in this context. The issue of cost - about $400 per day - is beyond the reach of IPs who have to fund their own CPD. Essential to develop a focus within the organisation to promote to managers the philosophy of nurturing all staff. Important to target HR and Training managers. Strong support for organisations to be less introspective and to look to opening up their in-house training programs to outsiders (cf consortial arrangements such as QULOC, QUT/Griffith Uni). Potential to build on the infrastructure to offer a broader CPD program to others interested. Example offered: BCC invites smaller public libraries to their CPD activities.

c) What types of workshops/seminars do members want to fill the above gaps?
Not discussed per se - the discussion was on a higher level.

6. Issues of critical importance

Development of policies to progress ideas such as Knowledge Nation, Smart Australia: that LIS is critical to the information society. Beyond the intellectual infrastructure, there is also there a key role to play in terms of social good. Libraries are an essential ingredient. Visibility in playing a leadership role in terms of digital rights management, copyright, open source initiatives etc, to ensure that legislative issues are well-managed in this country. Scholarly publishing: taxpayers fund research in this country; research published in peer review journals which are then accessed via subscription, again at taxpayers' expense. Essential to develop initiatives which support the common good as opposed to commercial gain - cf Public Library of Science, PubMed, open archives etc. Driving the momentum to attain national site licenses to reflect the significance of aiming for a smart Australia. Australian content: what is happening to the WebSpirs databases managed by NLA? Equity in providing access to information, particularly in non-metropolitan areas. Need to pressure the Government that this is critical to a successful nation. Effective recruitment and retention strategies for membership base, especially with aging membership which will result in reduced income in 5-10 years. Tied in with marketing the profession as a dynamic exciting career to encourage the 'right' people to consider LIS careers. Need to communicate the success stories beyond the insiders. ALIA website issues linked to promoting and marketing the profession and the association itself to 'non-believers'. QUILL as example of dramatic reduction of access as it is in members-only area. Conflict with: Object 1 of ALIA - free flow of information; Object 2: To promote and improve the services provided by all kinds of library and information agencies; Object 3: to foster professional interests and aspirations; Object 5: to encourage support and membership of the Association. Developing an information source for key data relevant to service development and marketing to stakeholders, eg statistics, value of libraries, role in the community etc. One-stop shop for reliable data. Further progression of the successful equity pay case in NSW. What further developments? What support from ALIA to move beyond the one case? Need to drive wage parity across Australia. Management of new members: need to have new members automatically added to a) e-lists for groups they elect to join and b) a central state e-list eg aliaQLD. New members must tick the box to not be added to the list. Essential to encourage engaged professionals. New members assume they will be added to an e-list, should be push, not pull technology. Also, option for weekly digests of postings to the e-lists. Information literacy across all LIS sectors: need for the development of relevant standards and kits. Also IL skills for professionals (doctors, lawyers) and for information professionals themselves.

7. ALIA: Towards 2010 consultation draft

Beyond the scope of the meeting: participants invited to respond to this in the coming weeks.

8. Questions on notice

None.

Any other comments from the meeting?
Nil

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