ACTive ALIA

proACTive

Number 226: August 2002

Libraries Change Lives! | East Timor University library project | Word Festival Canberra | National Simultaneous Storytime | Locum still wanted! | Five years ago...from proACTive nº 171

Libraries Change Lives!
3 stories from older users

1. Marion

I am a slightly older woman now in my early sixties. There has been a deep emptiness in my heart as my eight children grew, matured and largely scattered. And then: I found: E-mail!: courtesy of the library computers. Firstly I went to the Woden library, to be tutored by volunteer senior citizens, so that I could upgrade my almost non-existent skills at accessing and using the internet. There and then I started to write to my family by e-mail: a son here, a daughter there, then more of my children, daughters-in-law, son-in-law, my own siblings, and now I am about to start on the grandchildren. Lucky me. Life is looking up I even received 6 'Happy Mother's Days' messages this year. The library certainly has changed my life in the most personal and satisfying way possible.

Marion Wilson

2. Margaret and Donald

At the age of 83 Margaret and Donald's globetrotting days are largely over. However with the help of the Home Library Service and talking books this intrepid couple can relive their own adventures and revisit the many different and exotic parts of the world, which they once called home. As an engineer, originally from the United Kingdom, Donald and his wife had lived in nine countries including Malaysia, Canada and different parts of Africa. Although being in remote places made access to books difficult, the couple did their best to indulge their love of reading. Margaret even had books sent to Nigeria from England, which took months to arrive. Having settled for the slightly less exotic environment of Canberra for the past 10 years. Margaret and Donald are devotees of the Home Library Service, especially since Donald's sight has deteriorated. He particularly enjoys adventures, such as George McDonald Fraser's experience in Burma and books which mirror their own extensive travels. Not content with listening, Donald put his good broadcasting voice to use by narrating several of the talking books held in the library and reviewing others for Radio 1, Radio Print Handicapped, Canberra. All in all, Margaret reckons they 'would be lost without books, especially from the Home Library Service.'

Margaret and Donald Perley.
Transcript of an interview with users of Home-based Library Service, at the Griffith Library.

3. Discovering Erindale

About ten years ago I discovered the Friends of Erindale Library. I was lonely. My family had grown up and left home. I needed new interests, new stimulating activities, and friends my own age to whom I could talk and exchange ideas. All these needs were met at Erindale Library at Wanniassa when I joined their Friends Group. There is a monthly guest speaker followed by discussion over afternoon tea. We have a Reading Group and a poetry Discussion ("Reading for Pleasure") with emphasis on pleasure, and we laugh over the comments made. It convenient to have the library books on the nearby shelves: no heavy books to carry to and from home. The staff are very friendly and help us with any problems we have (including computer usage). I have made so many wonderful friends since discovering Erindale Library.

East Timor Unviersity library project
East Timor University Library Project:
The Importance of Libraries in Building Civil Societies
A seminar organised by the Asia Pacific Special Interest Group, APSIG

Venue: Lower Ground Floor Theatre, NLA. Date: Wednesday 7 August 2002 Time: 4:30pm-6:00pm

Seminar Program:

Introduction by Professor Jim Fox

Speakers: Alex Byrne and Judy Blood

Open discussion

Professor Jim Fox is director of the ANU Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Jim's involvement with Timor is long-standing. In 1996, he took part in the International Symposium on Timor in Oslo at the time when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Bishop Belo and Ramos Horta. He has served as a member of the UN/World Bank Joint Assessment Mission and a joint AusAID/World Bank mission to East Timor. He also served as an international observer with the Carter Center for the popular consultation in 1999, the Constituent Assembly elections in 2001, and the presidential elections in 2002.

Alex Byrne is chair of the IFLA Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression. Alex has been involved internationally with policies on freedom of information access since 1995. He previously worked on information and library matters relating to indigenous peoples. His expertise and understanding of the issues involved are highly regarded within the library community. Alex will speak on the importance of the role libraries play in the formation of civil societies, especially in newly developing countries.

Judy Blood is a librarian and volunteer recently returned from the Universidade Nacionale Timor Lorosae (UNTL) Library. Judy played a leading role in establishing a functioning library service at UNTL library from virtually nothing, with periods spent there in 2000 and 2002. She will describe the local and international efforts being made to assist the library and comment on the complexity of issues faced by those working at the grass roots.

For further information about the seminar contact: Jeanette Regan, convenor APSIG, on ph 02 6286 2737 (ah), jeanette.regan@alianet.alia.org.au

For information on Friends of UNTL Library contact Judy Blood, bloodj@tig.com.au

New members are offered a free copy of Storykeepers, ed. Marion Halligan, with stories by Elizabeth Jolly, Les Murray, Dorothy Porter, Henry Reynolds and others, published last year by the Word Festival with support from the National Museum and the National Council for the Centenary of Federation.

For those of you who cannot make it into the office to collect your copy, the book will be available at our next big event, 'Words and Art': a mini-festival of books, writers and ideas at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, in Civic Square 9:30am-4:30pm, Saturday 19 October.

'Words and Art' is shaping up to be a stimulating day, with sessions including: 'The Gentle Art of Criticism', 'Biography and Art', 'Poetry and Fine Art', 'The Art of Film' and 'The Art of Children's Books'. This year, Barbara Blackman has agreed to be our special guest and she joins an outstanding program of writers, critics and artists.

Judy Brooker

It means a minor flurry around 17 September (to send the ACT Events to inCite by their deadline of the 18th of the month), and then again early in the week of 23 September to lay out the four A4 pages and see the newsletters printed. ALIA National Office provides the labels (about 450 of them), but you would have to stick them on, bundle the newsletters by postcode for mailing and take them to the Post Office by 28 September, to be in members' hands by the start of the next month. That's where a team effort would make it all light work.

The situation is getting desperate. Give Peter a call on 02 6296 6211, or him at peter.judge@alianet.alia.org.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)

ALIA-ACLIS to merge
A new peak body for the Australian library community
An announcement from the steering committee reports that, at a joint meeting in Adelaide on 12 June 1997, the ACLIS National Council and the ALIA General Council unanimously agreed to work together to create one new peak, cross-sectoral body, based on the organisational strengths of ALIA, to represent the Australian library and information services sector. The new body will result in the highest quality service delivery to members and meet the needs of our community into the 21st century.

The agreement followed a detailed strategic review of the need for leadership, representation and co-ordination in the library and information services sector in Australia. The resolutions on 12 June were that the meeting:

1. Agrees in principle that ACLIS and ALIA work together to create a new peak cross-sectoral body to represent both institutions and individuals in library and information services in Australia.
2. Recommends that the ALIA General Council agree immediately to give institutional members the right to vote and the right to hold office.
3. Recommends that the ACLIS National Council agree to seek the endorsement of ACLIS members at the appropriate time to formally wind up ACLIS on 30 June 1998 and transfer the net assets to ALIA.
4. Recommends that the ALIA General Council agree that all financial members of ACLIS at 30 June 1998 be deemed to be financial institutional members of ALIA until 31 December 1998.
5. Agrees that from I January 1998 the range of services currently provided by ACLIS and by ALIA be available to both ACLIS and ALIA members, and in the case of conferences and the like, at the same discounted member rate.
6. Agrees that the present Steering Committee for the Strategic Review draft a Memorandum of Understanding to give effect to the agreements reached at this meeting, for formal signing by the presidents of ACLIS and ALIA on or about 1 September 1997.
7. Agrees that the necessary actions be set in place by both the ACLIS National Council and the ALIA General Council at their next meetings.

These resolutions prepare the path towards a new Organisation and will lead to a formal Memorandum of Understanding. The Steering Committee will present this for adoption by ACLIS and ALIA no later than 1 September 1997. A leadership committee, comprising three representatives from ACLIS and three from ALIA, will then manage the detailed change process, aiming at the creation of a new organisation no later than 1 January 2000. Consultation with the existing memberships of ACLIS and ALIA, and the wider library community, will be a key part of the change process. Extensive publicity will be given to each stage and every opportunity taken to engage the library and information community in discussion of the major issues.

In embarking on this historic course of action, both Councils noted the process will require, from all involved, a generosity of spirit, a strong commitment to change and a genuine desire to create a new peak body for the Australian library community.