Report of the NSW Regional NPC Meeting

4 September 2004

Roll

Maxine Pauley, Rosemary McLauchlan, John Elias, Janette Telford, Lesley Ngatai, Gundra Papak, Kevin Dudeney (ALIA director), Hilary Yerbury (ALIA local liaison officer)

Election of one delegate to attend Canberra NPC

John Elias

Celebrating success

Rosemary McLaughlan, representing the National INFOG, spoke about the new relationship which the group has been developing with ALIA, as a result of being a major revenue-raiser. The group has been able to fund its own activities and, under its new business-plan model, will be able to employ someone to manage the Online conference.
The informal 'After-5' meetings are still viable, always attracting a good range of participants.
The group has entered into a partnership with Information Edge to take some events nationally, to break down the capital city focus of so many activities.
John Elias, representing AGENDIS, said that most activities happen around conferences. The main aim of the group since its inception has been to focus activities on the e-list and this has proved successful, for example in providing input for the ANRO database development. John, and the other co-convenor, Fiona Preston, are developing a plan to set up directed discussions on the e-list.
Janette Telford, for the Library Technicians, said that most of their energies had been directed to the NeXt committee and to conference planning for 2005. The e-list has been a major success story, as they have developed a jobs section for the e-list and have had 650 jobs nationally listed this year.
Lesley Ngatai, for the Information Literacy Forum, indicated that last year had been a year of high activity, with the launch of the Information literacy advocacy kit, so that this year had been a year of consolidation, where the major focus was the annual online discussion.
Hilary Yerbury spoke about the activities of the mentoring group. An NSW mentoring group has just been formed and held its first meeting in the pub on Wednesday 26 August.

Enhancing the involvement and engagement of members in ALIA

Strengths of groups

There was general support for the self-nominating groups, although people recognised that their success was very much dependent on the energy of individuals. The need for succession planning was supported.
It was stated that regardless of the question of groups, services and activities that members and their employers think are worthwhile are essential. The need for services and activities to be relevant to the lives of young people was noted and agreed.
A policy of UNSW - staff members who are not personal members of ALIA have to pay the difference between the members rate and the non-members rate when UNSW supports their attendance at an activity through its corporate membership. The group wondered whether this was an approach with other corporate members might be encouraged to take.

Effectiveness of groups compared with other Association structures and activities
There was strong support for the effectiveness of the concept of the group as the driving force in establishing activities. It was noted that many other associations still have a top down model. However, it was also noted that size was a significant factor in the effectiveness of a group. The lack of support for rural and regional members was a matter of concern. This has been particularly an issue with members of the aliaAGENDIS group who have often commented on this issue at their conference meetings and on the their e-list. It was seen that the role of the local liaison officer would be very important in linking people together and fostering the development of initiatives and this was particularly significant for people in smaller libraries and outside of the metropolitan area. The development of a skills register/speakers' list was seen as a significant tool in facilitating a range of activities. There was a perception that ALIA did not represent the views of corporate libraries effectively, for example in the recent Senate Enquiry. It was acknowledged that an individual member, Elizabeth Swan, had contributed to that Senate report on behalf of Corporate Libraries. It was also noted that some ALIA activities, such as the National Storytime Telling, are not relevant to Corporate Libraries. CPD was seen to be an effective service provided by ALIA and was best co-ordinated at a national level. Other activities best co-ordinated at a national level included: conference, training and media matters. Activities best co-ordinated at a group level included networking and hands on activities. There was quite a lot of discussion about the best way to share knowledge and experience, and in the words of one participant, ALIA needs a model for 'transporting knowledge'. There was some discussion of reciprocal membership with other associations, encapsulated in the question: 'Should we offer membership services to members of other associations, such as ASLA.

Succession planning and encouraging involvement
There was general agreement that succession planning was all about starting relationships, the personal approach being the most successful. It was also noted that some members need a boost to their confidence to take on such a role. The group spent some time discussing issues such as how these approaches might best be made and how people in one group would know what others were doing. One member of the group noted: 'I need things to come to me', sparking a discussion about targeted newsletters. Another suggestion was for something like an 'events page' which could provide a brief record of an activity or a speaker's talk.

ALIA 2005-2006 draft plan

Before we began the discussion, the issue of 'free flow' of information was raised and whether the idea of some information being 'member-only' information was contrary to one of the principles that ALIA stands for. It was pointed out that free here means 'unfettered' rather than 'gratis'.

There was general support for the plan.

Sharing the Vision: on the matter of lobbying and advocacy, there was a sense that ALIA must remember the importance of its individual members, as 'we sometimes let the lobby groups of institutional members dominate'.

Are you allowed to take part in CPD as an 'institutional member'?
Skilling members for the future: there was very strong support for CPD and CPD-related activities. The group felt that many of the points made in our discussion of successes and of enhancing the involvement and engagement of members was relevant to this point. The key ideas were about networking and sharing of expertise. Mentoring was an important element of sharing expertise. The website was seen as significant in this process. The Skills Register, also mentioned above was seen as a potentially useful tool.

For initiative 6, promoting library and information services as a career, it was suggested that ALIA should adopt this as a key initiative. Again, the Skills Register, came into the discussion, as the group discussed how essential it was to have key speakers from the profession addressing students, to help shape their views of the profession.

Promoting innovation: there was general support for the initiatives. People seemed unaware of REAP and the consensus was that there was not enough individual engagement with the ideas behind REAP. There was support for contribution to REAP being part of CPD and a question about whether it was already part of the scheme.

Communicating well: For initiative 12, it was considered that much of the discussion had covered this initiative. In particular, there had been many comments critical of the current website, in particular its structure and 'look and feel'. The point was re-iterated that there is so much information there, that unless you know how ALIA works, you are likely to have difficulty finding what you are looking for. Several examples were given. The point was also made that with the focus on 'the new generation', a website using design principles relevant to that group would seem a logical step.

It was seen to be important to raise the profile of ALIA staff, for example through the website, or through a contacts list, or some kind of 'alert'. Other possibilities were also canvassed. The group could see advantages and disadvantages with each of the approaches suggested.

Initiative 13 - implement member-only services
There are mixed feelings about member-only services. On the one hand, they seem justified. On the other, they are seen to remove any idea of what the Association does from those who aren't members. It was noted that someone can be a part of an e-list without being a member. This should be seen as a taster of the activities and services of membership. It was acknowledged that there are grumbles throughout the profession because of the ALIA members-only information on the website, and it was recognised that these days, there has to be some way to distinguish between members and non-members.

The example of the Australian Institute of Management was given as an organisation that makes very clear the services available to members through its website. (The website was also given as an example of something that is complex but gives the impression of simplicity.)

Questions were asked about what the personal benefits are, whether others are being negotiated and if so, why those; whether any input had been sought from the new graduates about their expectations and needs. It was noted in different ways by several speakers that members and their employing organisations are expecting value for money, and it was thought that more research into what this might mean should be carried out. The questions and discussion among members of the group showed the need for more publicity on this question of member benefits.

The website came in for criticism again in this discussion. Its structure was seen as 'rigid' rather than 'robust' and in various ways, it was seen as dated. The home page was described as 'backward looking', presenting as it does a list of actions and achievements from the past.

Under initiative 14, it was acknowledged that support for rural and remote members is essential. The meeting referred back to the INFOG approach to taking expertise outside of the capital cities. The development and transport of appropriate professional discussions using the Internet and other technologies was supported wholeheartedly.

The role of the LLO was seen to be very important in facilitating engagement and involvement by members. The danger of assuming that the LLO would take over the running of groups or activities was acknowledged.

Initiative 15 - strong and consistent communication
'ALIA could communicate more' was the general feeling of the group. By this, people meant that there could be more personalised, targeted communication. People remembered the time when new members received letters from the convenors of the groups they were joining.

Professional Practice
The three priority areas for professional practice where there would be great benefit in increased publication, dissemination of information - according to the group are:
1. information workers returning to the workforce
2. information workers with overseas qualifications
3. students and recent graduates.

For the first two groups, the approach should be practical and engaging. It could be through online publications, discussions, etc. or through practical experience. The group wondered whether ALIA insurance could be applied to those people in the same way that a university's insurance policy covers students on placements.

It was acknowledged that it is more difficult to make suggestions for the third group. We saw the need to link the realities of professional practice with the theory taught in courses. We also acknowledged the difficulties of engaging with student's career aspirations. Relatively few university students aspire to work in a traditional library setting, but rather see themselves engaging in a vibrant area of professional practice, where there may be other professional or industry bodies.

We can ensure that substantial information addressing issues of professional practice - is better captured and disseminated through use of the ALIA website, groups e-lists and so on. Several suggestions came forward, building on suggestions already made above. Two key ones were that groups should be required to post summaries of events, either on the e-list, or on the events page itself. This could become a record, with the contact person for the event becoming the contact person for further information. The difficulties of attaching files to e-lists was mentioned, as this would seem to be a key way of ensuring that, where full text of presentations is available, it is made accessible. Another suggestion was that participants at conferences or major events could be given a space where they could post their own summaries and comments, so as to continue the professional discussion outside of the conference itself.

In answer to the third and final question about areas of professional practice where resources and published information are lacking, the group was concerned not to encourage the creation of a 'silo' mentality in ALIA. This, it was considered that we should emphasise the need to share the knowledge and skills which exist. The divide between technicians and librarians was seen as undesirable if sharing knowledge and skills in an area of professional practice was the principle being espoused.

This led to the question: Should there be one membership category, bringing together associates and technicians?

Group Communications
The answer to the first question re-iterated many of the points made throughout the discussion.

We can encourage groups to make better use of the ALIA website by: redesigning it, and starting that process by looking at the websites of other professional or industry bodies. A re-designed website must be responsive; it cannot give the impression that it is set in concrete. It must keep up to date with the levels of sophistication of its (younger) users, without excluding the less technologically savvy users.

Before discussion the specific issue of group newsletters, the group discussed whether there should be group information in the public domain. The consensus was that these days, it is possible to impose a level of granularity on a website through permissioning and there are a number of models available to guide this process.

In terms of the group newsletters, it was decided that the decisions could only be made on a case by case basis.

Question on notice
Should the groups operating in NSW be amalgamated?

It was noted that some of the groups in NSW do not seem to have met or shown other (public) signs of activity for some time. It was generally agreed that for some time, NSW (Sydney in particular) has not had a critical mass of activity. There was no solid support for the amalgamation of existing groups into a single group. However, it was agreed that the LLO could facilitate the liaison between the groups, in such a way that a calendar of activities for a year could be developed, advertised to all members in NSW. The consolidation of information about activities would give a stronger impression of professional activity. Further, a group could agree to host one or two events during the year, as part of a collaborative program. More thought needs to be put into how this would work, but it is seems to follow the principle of self-nomination of groups and their interests.

Questions without notice

No questions were raised, beyond those that had already been noted during the course of the day.

Any other comments from the meeting?

Appreciation was expressed to the Goethe Institut for their hospitality in providing such a good venue for the meeting.

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