ALIA NAC 2005 Darwin report

Attendees
Ann Ritchie, Anastasia Govan, Jayshree Mamtora, Julie Adams, Linda Marchesani

Opening address

Darwin's closest city is in Indonesia with a four hour drive straight south to Katherine (the nearest Australian town). It has a very active ALIA group and has had several professionally and financially successful activities this year including three international visitors providing workshops. Alice Springs is a twelve hour drive from Darwin and also has a very active group who meet regularly. The group provided input and a success story for Jayshree to contribute in Canberra.

Ann Ritchie opened the meeting and outlined the topics for discussion
Julie Adams nominated and seconded by Linda Marchesani to attend NAC as Darwin representative
Next year look at marketing differently to increase participation and that chair not auto nominee for Canberra

1. Success stories

The discussion consisted of:

Power searching seminar
Karawa dinner
Garden party
Increasing membership (regional) must be focus
CPD
Promoting outside own circles (ie power searching and newspaper ads)

Recommendation - Jayshree would present Power searching with the pro's as the groups success story

2. ALIA stars

Recommendations for particularly locally focused ALIA stars were determined as:

Looks more like awards than advocacy program
Ann Alderslade in having position recognised as a P4 position
CDU learning precinct - revamp (21st online interaction with information)
Darwin Public Library marketing plan leading to increased membership
Professional allowance for p levels
Evidence based librarianship workshop for NTL
AGAMA software for community libraries recent conversion to several platforms lead to a large bequest
Peter for services to PNG/Ausaid
East Timor help/East Timor librarians exchange with NTL for work experience
Publicise through Interface, providing information sessions, LIW and outside library profession
LLO's keep eyes out for other potential stars
Trish Olsson best student for Library Technician and NT Vocational Student of Year - publicise outside of libraries. Event to get into social papers of NT news - maybe during Library Week or speaking tour around Australia or opportunity to speak at IFLA Conference

3. Proposed model for ALIA elections

The discussion consisted of:

Look at who is institutional nominee and if this is appropriate for voting
Institutional votes could have greater weighting depending on $ category
One vote one person regardless of membership category
Simplicity is a must

Recommendation - NAC votes no longer occur but institutional voting is weighted.

4. Workforce planning and education

Discussion about at CDU library courses:

Staffing
Students
Resources
How the national ALIA accreditation process works
How the Top End group can support the course and staff
ALIA brochures on courses available distributed at the Careers expo was of poor quality as were photocopied and needs to refer to internet site

Suggestions to overcome such issues included:

ALIA lobby the dean at crucial times of the academic year
ALIA formulate correspondence
Promotional material be vibrant (ie guy with surfboard on posters for expo's)
Target career advisors before career expos
ALIA buy into @ your library program
Promotional activities target mature age versus high school students as this is where the majority of NT student demographic is
Mobile banner for ALIA NT
Nutritionist and cereal ads and CPA is what we should aspire to for advertising
Careers expo is worthwhile for ALIA to continue supporting
Target practicing librarians/library technicians to regularly speak to high school students
LIW - national office provide repository and produce banner/merchandise ready to purchase on becoming a librarian/library technician from those around the country so saves local groups redesigning

Awards

The discussion consisted of:

NT strategic plan - include promotion of awards
Promotion group on how to apply for an award (mentoring group topic)
Have a local peer mentoring workshop with brainstorming of potential research topics and highlight to each other grants available

Career development kit

The discussion consisted of:

Align PPP with CPD
President travel to NT - stop off at Darwin, Alice, Nhulunbuy, etc. When travelling elsewhere or group invite for an occasion, ie symposium.

Ana Govan, local liaison officer, 21 October 2005

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