proACTive

Number 215: August 2001

Midwinter dinner and awards night: Friday 10 August
The Midwinter dinner and awards night will be held at the University of Canberra Staff Club on Friday 10 August. The UC Staff Club is located in Building 1, Level A (near the hub). If you need directions please see the University map at http://www.canberra.edu.au/uc/about/campmap.html. The night will commence with pre-dinner drinks and nibbles at 7:00pm followed by dinner at 7:30pm. The dinner will cost $35.00 per person. Prizes will be presented to a number of outstanding library and information recipients. If you would like to join your friends and colleagues in the celebrations - RSVP Julie Ward by Tuesday 7 August (vital) at jward@nla.gov.au (or ph 02 6262 1316 if no e-mail).

And your opinions on the new Civic Library are wanted
The Cultural Facilities Corporation is consulting the Canberra community about the refurbishment of the Link building between the Canberra Theatre and the Playhouse. The new building will house the Civic Library and improved facilities for theatre patrons. The corporation has provided full details on the web at http://www.canberratheatre.org.au and in public displays at the Link Building, Civic Square and the Civic Library in East Row Civic. [Helen Roberts, President ACTive ALIA]

Senators' biographies
Ann Millar is a writer and editor who has worked in the Department of the Senate since 1987. She became director of the Biographical Dictionary Unit in 1997. Her publications include I See No End to Travelling, and Trust the Women: Women in the Federal Parliament. Ann gave an interesting presentation on the Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate at July's ACTive ALIA group meeting. Volume 1, 1901-1929, is the first of an ongoing series being compiled in the Senate Department in Canberra. The volume provides short biographical articles on, and individual photographs of, ninety-nine senators and three clerks who worked in the Senate from 1901 to 1929. It was published by Melbourne University Press in October 2000 and launched at Parliament House, Canberra, in November. The biographies also provide a window on the colonial and post-colonial societies in which these senators and their clerks lived and worked. It explains how miners, merchants, constitutionalists, soldiers, printers, trade unionists, adventurers and pastoralists became Senators, and how, in an essentially egalitarian society, they melded together as Australia's first federal parliamentarians. It tells of their work as legislators during a period when Australia was making a unique contribution to democracy itself, and reveals the excitement felt by conservatives and non-conservatives alike as they shaped the beginnings of an Australian nation. The contribution of these Senators to Australian public life was immense. The Federationists, Richard Baker, John Downer, Thomas Playford, Richard O'Connor, James Walker, Henry Dobson, William Trenwith, Simon Fraser, Josiah Symon and William Zeal retain some elements of notoriety. Others, such as the South Australian farmer, William Russell, or Charles Montague Graham, a tailor on the Western Australian goldfields, were soon forgotten, even in their own time. Ann gave us a fascinating insight into the lives and times of some of the senators included in the first volume. The book is a must-read and I would recommend it as a valuable resource. [Julie Ward, and the websites of the Australian Parliament and MUP]

The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Volume 1, 1901-1929 Volume 1 Edited by Ann Millar (Department of the Senate) October 2000, $76.95, HB 512 + 16 pp, 245 x 175 mm, b/w photos throughout. ISBN: 0-522-84921-0. Volume 2 of the Dictionary will cover the period 1929 to 1962.

Library Technicians
The Library Technicians met for a quick AGM and election of officers for the next year. Beth Clary will continue as President - now known as Convenor of the technicians team consisting of Margaret Drury, Glenis Matheson and Lynn Bale. The winners were announced for the essay competition to attend the Library Technicians Conference in Hobart in August. Aska Moir won the CIT students prize and Beth Clary the Technicians prize. After the meeting, the group met at Hog's Breath Café for dinner. On Wednesday 18 July Beth Clary and Margaret Drury attended the 12th Annual Prize Presentation for the CIT Faculty of Business and Information Technology of which the Library and Information Studies is a part. Andrew Blundell was awarded the Academic Achievement Award of a one year's membership to ALIA given by ALIA, and Phung Quach won the Encouragement Award with a book voucher given by the Library Technicians group. Congratulations to both awardees.

For those attending the Library Technicians Conference 21-24 August in Hobart we are planning a get together on Tuesday 7 August 5:30pm at the Waldorf on London (on London Circuit) for coffee. For those still thinking about attending or if you would just like to coffee with fellow techs please join us. So that we can make a booking RSVP to Beth, ph 02 6234 2225 or beth.clary@radford.com.au. Our traditional Cool Yule didn't happen, because CIT cancelled the evening. Instead we have made a booking for a regular 3-course dinner on Thursday 13 September, 7:00pm for 7:30pm, at a cost of $20 at the CIT Restaurant. Get together after the conference and relive good times and experiences - or if you don't go to the conference, come along and hear about some of the happenings. Friends/partners are welcome. We need bookings by Monday 10 Sept, so RSVP before then to Beth (see above) or Marion Boyd Ph 02 6270 6912 mboyd@hcourt.gov.au. [Beth Clary, Convenor ACT Library Technicians]

What's happening to UCRLS?
Following the ALIA restructure, your old UCRLS section has disappeared, only to be replaced by a dynamic new group: the URLs. Come to the first event for the URLs - a bonus occasion as it will be a double-header. It follows on very well from the seminar UCRLS held in late May on two web-based information literacy programs, InFlite and Web-Ezy. The presentations will report on two major developments at the ANU library that focus on enhancing learning.

ILearning: Enhancing undergraduate learning at the ANU with inquiry and research, Pam Roberts, and
Information Literacy and ILearning, Mandy Lupton

These two talks will be presented together on Tuesday, 21 August, at 12:30pm in the McDonald Room, RG Menzies Building, ANU Library.

Pam Roberts is the Project Co-ordinator, Defining Undergraduate Learning Centre for Educational Development and Academic Methods (CEDAM), ANU. Pam joined CEDAM as Co-ordinator for the Defining Undergraduate Learning Project. Pam has more than ten years experience as an engineering academic at Swinburne University of Technology. She has a Master of Education (Research) from the University of Melbourne in which she investigated using problem-based learning curricula to enhance student learning and motivation. Mandy Lupton is the Teaching and Learning Officer, Scholarly Information Services/Library, ANU. Mandy has recently joined the Library as Teaching and Learning Officer. She has come to ANU from fourteen years experience in secondary education and has also tutored in Education at University of Canberra. Mandy is currently working towards a Master of Arts in Information Studies where she is researching curriculum design for the development of information literacy.

Defining undergraduate learning at the ANU Defining undergraduate learning at the ANU draws on the Boyer report to identify a distinctive undergraduate program for the ANU that capitalises on its strengths as a research university. The Defining Undergraduate Learning proposal identified four strategic programs to create a systematic approach that ensures ALL undergraduate students will be introduced to inquiry learning and experience the rich learning environment and resources of the Faculties, IAS, ITA and national institutions from their first year.

The iLearning project will prototype the first three of the strategic programs

Inquiry Learning: A transition program for commencing students
Investigation and discovery through the experience of research/professional practice
Individualised advising: a mentoring program for all undergraduate students
Integrating the learning experience: broadening honours

see also: http://www.anu.edu.au/CEDAM/ilearn/index.html and http://ilp.anu.edu.au [Margaret Henty and Nancy Clarke]

PEARLS
PEARLS (Previously Employed Australian Retired Librarians) met again on 18 June. Eight people attended. We were very pleased to see Carol Mills, back on deck after her recent illness. Another welcome newcomer was Len Leitch, who used to be with Signadou in Watson. As usual we chatted, drank and ate - especially enjoying Backbenches' macadamia-and-white-chocolate biscuits. To vary things, a short quiz was held - to give the source of 12 literary quotes - and the favourite: 'If knowledge was power, librarians would rule the world' (Richard Neville). The quiz was won by Jean Geue, her prize being an after-dinner mint by courtesy of Backbenches. Next meeting: Monday 13 August, at Backbenches, Old Parliament House, 2:30pm. Any questions? Contact Jon Prance, ph 02 6255 1857, prance@c031.aone.net.au.

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