proACTive

Number 216: September 2001

Renew with ALIA
For those who have forgotten to renew and for those still to join, there are now more reasons to become an ALIA member than ever before!

In an increasingly uncertain job market, with more contract and part-time or casual work, the need to be your own career development officer has never been greater. The ability to keep up-to-date with the trends and latest developments in the information sector and to also have good networks in place is becoming more and more vital. In addition, having access to recent salary figures and work guidelines, competency standards, etc. is also vitally important when negotiating for the next job. In essence, knowing what your skills are worth and being able to demonstrate this to employers, puts you in a stronger position to negotiate a salary package.

Having a point of contact for industrial and other information is also valuable. and access to the internet for free is also available to ACT members.

Being an ALIA member provides all of these benefits - if you choose to use them. For example, comprehensive salary scales are available to members and, even though industrial advice may not be provided for an individual situation, you'll be guided to the best sources of information and help. The copyright service has proved very popular with members. The CPD program provides a mechanism for ensuring you gain new information and skills and thus remain up-to-date. It also gives you a mechanism for demonstrating this to your existing (and potential) employer - and may assist you with salary increments, appraisals and promotions.

Through your membership you are helping to give ALIA greater influence in representing the library information sector particularly on some of the big issues facing libraries and society in general - copyright, censorship, privacy, equity of access to information, etcetera. So go ahead - renew your membership now - or join up if you haven't already done so! [Helen Roberts, ACTive ALIA convenor]

Midwinter dinner and awards night
Forty people attended the midwinter dinner and awards night at the University of Canberra Staff Club on Friday 10 August. Baked Atlantic salmon and North African lamb were just some of the delicious dishes that were enjoyed over a glass or two of wine. We welcomed our ALIA executive director, Jennefer Nicholson, and four other ALIA directors, as mentioned by our convenor, and also Linda Owen, a visiting library technician from the United States of America.

Our convenor Helen Roberts did an excellent job as MC for the evening and was enthusiastically assisted by Roxanne Missingham, who began the awards distribution with presentations to Dorothy Harris and Tony Ralli for their dedication and contribution to the Library and Information profession.

The prize-winners from the University of Canberra were Ben Miskin (Undergraduate) and Mandy Lupton (Graduate). Mandy is now working at ANU Library while studying with the UC for her Masters degree by research; she's interested in information literacy.

Ben Miskin and Rachael Skyring jointly won the John Balnaves Prize for Information Retrieval. The Nancy Lane award was won by Stephen Hicks and the Doreen Goodman award was won by Bob Pymm. Steve Hicks is now working at ACT Library and Information Service, having won the veryfirst ACTLIS 'Graduate Opportunity' - 12 months employment with them at PO1 level, offered to the best applicant who had just graduated.

The Health Libraries Section of the ALIA Awards for Innovation 2001 was won by the HealthInsite team of Prue Deacon, Jill Buckley Smith and Stephanie Tow.

After the presentation of the awards Moyra McAllister gave an interesting and amusing speech on the future of libraries and our present challenges. A most enjoyable evening was had by all who attended. [Julie Ward]

Doreen Goodman Award 2001 [awarded to Bob Pymm]
Bob was educated in the UK and came to Australia in the mid-1970s. Initially he worked as a computer programmer on the first ATMs, but left that in 1981 to do a Graduate Diploma in Librarianship at UNSW. He says, 'I wanted a change and had always liked books!'

He worked part-time in Sydney for the ACOSS library and some 'temp' library jobs, then gained his first 'proper' library job in Canberra, at the ACT Schools Authority in the multimedia O'Connell Education Centre. From there he was appointed Curator, Documentation, initially in the Audiovisual Records section at the War Memorial (1985), bringing in an online catalogue, then to their Registration section, where he oversaw implementation of a new collection management system, including online access to the photo collection. In 1993 he moved to the (then) National Film and Sound Archive as head of Cataloguing, and is now head of Collection Management, responsible for the physical care and control of their collection.

Bob has had a long association with library education. He has taught at CIT and at UC , with occasional lectures at Charles Sturt and UNSW. Currently, with a couple of other Archive staff, he is running an online course on Audiovisual Archiving for Charles Sturt.

He has published in the area of management (his book, Learn Library Management, is now in its second edition). He completed a PhD at UNSW on collecting Australian fiction; was awarded the Mel Weinstock Award by UNSW in 1997 for contributions to the librarianship profession; and was the VALA travelling scholar in 1995

Bob Pymm exemplifies the integration between professional excellence and a wide-ranging contribution to the profession in many ways, not least through his longstanding and welcome association with the Library and Information Studies Program at the University of Canberra. [Peter Clayton]

ACT Merit Awards
Dorothy Harris and Tony Ralli have been awarded the first dual ACT Merit Awards. ALIA ACT Branch has for a number of years recognised ACT librarians and library technicians who have made a significant contribution to the profession. The award serves to recognise the professional contributions made by ACT librarians and library technicians and to publicise their role in Canberra and the Australian community. The new ACTive ALIA group is continuing this commitment.

This year two awards were made, recognising the exceptional contribution of Dorothy and Tony to the profession and to their professional association.

Tony Ralli served as general counsellor, ACT branch president and member of groups in WA and the ACT, including cataloguing. He served as a member of the ABN Network Committee and was chairperson of the 1997 Annual ABN Users Meeting. Recently retiring from the position of university librarian at the Australian Defence Force Academy Library in Canberra, Tony has contributed significantly to the Association's work on the image of the profession, to copyright and to national resource sharing services.

Dorothy Harris has served as ACT Branch President and member of many ALIA divisions. She was for many years the Copyright Expert for the Federal Libraries Information Network. In her career in school and government libraries, Dorothy has demonstrated considerable vision and management skills, assisting in the development of quality library services and managing significant change. Most recently in the Department of Defence she steered the national defence library service to a new structure and service base. The Awards Committee were delighted to recommend Dorothy and Tony and congratulate them on behalf of all ACT ALIA members. [Roxanne Missingham]

Food for thought at APSIG lunch
A most stimulating lunchtime seminar was held for Professor Subbiah Arunachalam, Distinguished Fellow, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, India. Arun spoke on a number of initiatives that are currently being undertaken by his institution.

These include the development of e-print archives for biology and agriculture; development of a project with an international group to publish Indian journals in electronic format; and a project called the Village Knowledge Centers. These ITC centres are used to enhance the work undertaken by the local villagers and to assist local school teachers.

More information on the work undertaken at this institution is available in the following articles:

'Information technology: equalizer or separator of developing countries?' by Subbiah Arunachalam, on the web at: http://horizon.unc.edu and 'Information Technology in Developing Countries: Obstacles and Opportunities', Elizabeth Knight, University of Washington, at: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/news/slaisconference/knight.html [Jeanette Regan]

Information literacy in practice in the university
Tuesday, 18 September: URLs ACT will present the third of a series on Information Literacy, concentrating this time on real-life experiences of delivering curriculum-integrated information literacy programs in very different academic spheres. Lisa Bradley (Life Sciences Librarian, ANU) will talk about providing science-based information literacy programs at the ANU, and Julie McGorm (Information Services Librarian, ACU) will speak about a curriculum-integrated program that she has been delivering to first-year Education and Theology students at ACU.

Once again we have arranged this as a late afternoon event, to allow more time for questions and discussion about this 'hot topic'. It will be held on Tuesday, 18 September, in the Lower Ground Seminar Room, Chifley Library at the ANU. Refreshments will be provided. All are welcome. A reply would be appreciated - please contact Nancy Clarke on 02 6209 1117, or n.clarke@signadou.acu.edu.au.

New undergraduate courses at UC
Peter Clayton has sent us news of these courses, all due to start in 2002 - and all of which creatively re-use the building blocks of the ongoing courses.

Double degree in Cultural Heritage Studies and Communication: This double degree can be taken in four years of full-time study or the equivalent part-time. Graduates will have skills in conservation and preservation, as well as skills in library and information management. These skills will be ideally suited for careers in cultural organisations as well as government agencies where both preservation and information management skills are an advantage.

Bachelor of Education: Primary Teaching (Teacher-librarianship); Bachelor of Education: Secondary Teaching (Teacher-librarianship): The University of Canberra will be reopening its teacher-librarianship courses, previously run from 1972-1990. The Library and Information Studies course staff at UC were approached to reopen these courses, in response to a shortage of teacher-librarians resulting from fewer entrants into the profession and a large number of retirees, both now and in the near future. The courses will be of four years duration, and will be the only undergraduate teacher-librarianship courses in Australia.

The combination of these areas of studies will position graduates for several career options: teaching, teacher-librarianship, and other areas of librarianship and information work. Many of those who previously graduated from these courses have indeed moved between all these careers over the years.

In addition, staff in the Information Studies program are working on two new fee-paying coursework Masters degrees, both to be offered at least partly in online form: Master of Knowledge Management and Master of Internet Communication.

Interesting part-time job: local presence person
A 'local presence person' is needed to assist ALIA's ACT groups for the equivalent of three days a month. There are already such support persons in the other states. The work to be undertaken will support ACTive ALIA's objectives and activities. This may include acting as a local contact point for enquiries, co-ordination and liaison, organising activities, financial and other administrative work.

If you are interested, please contact Helen Roberts on ph 02 6125 4068 or helen.roberts@anu.edu.au.

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