The ALIA National Advisory Congress 2005

ALIA NAC 2005 Nhulunbuy report

Attendees
Shirley Shepherd, Robyn Thonson, Lynn Carrol, Vicki Williams.
Carol Clifford contributed notes to the group but did not participate in the teleconference.

Opening address

Nhulunbuy is twelve hours by dirt road from Darwin or accessible by aeroplane (only option during the wet season). There are approximately 1500 residents and is the remotest area contributing to the National Advisory Congress from 2005.

The Nhulunbuy group had met before the teleconference to consider the documentation and forwarded comments to the local liaison officer. On Monday 31 October the local liaison officer led a teleconference with the group to finalise points for the report.

1. Success stories

Two success stories were discussed.

The first was Simultaneous Storytime - Wombat stew in collaboration with NT libraries and promotion of local businesses and schools.

The second was the water safety promotional program including a visit by the Water Safety Council organised by the library and assisted by local sponsorship.

Recommendation - Vicki would present Wombat stew as the group's success story.

2. ALIA stars

Recommendations for particularly locally focused ALIA stars were identified as:

• ALIA Top End Symposium organising committee
  
  
• Successful initiative for professional development in the Top End
  
  
• Accessible for LIS workers who aren't able to attend interstate events
  
  
• Three annual symposiums to date
  
  
• Has been bigger and better each year
  
  
• Attracting good quality speakers from interstate and local region

Ideas for promoting ALIA stars to all members and regions were identified as:

• LIW promotion
  
  
• Publish symposium papers

Ways to use ALIA stars as advocacy tools were identified as involvement with LIS students at CDU.

Ways to use ALIA stars as membership tools included bios online and promoted as ALIA stars at ALIA events.

3. Proposed model for ALIA elections

All participants identified the proposal as a logical outcome.

Recommendation - motion supported.

4. Workforce planning and education

Most of the discussion surrounded issues related to supporting professionals in remote areas including peer support, professional development, training a casual pool, careers traineeships, ability to attend/participate in ALIA meetings and more IT problems experienced than less regional areas. Several of these are also an issue for Alice Springs Library staff.

Other topics covered included:

• Support for library studies by employers
• Lack of timely responsiveness to students by CDU
• Schools don't value library technicians/librarians - hence people not encouraged to study for these positions
• Mundane study side of librarianship
• Reduction in number of external technician courses that can be accessed externally (ie. Box Hill TAFE now closed to external students)
• Traineeship for mainstream and indigenous school leavers
• Lack of professional development opportunities in remote areas results in staff being behind other applicants for jobs in other locations
• Introduce a regional and remote library staff professional development/information sharing/professional support e-list utilising ALIA e-list

Awards
See ALIA stars section above.

Career development kit
The presentation was forwarded to the group via e-mail.

Ana Govan, local liaison officer, 4 November 2005