proACTive

Number 237: August 2003

ACTive ALIA convenor's column

This month's column has been contributed by Jan Gordon, in Helen Roberts's absence interstate. She has identified some key activities taking place in our region, which involve you or which are being undertaken on your behalf.

ALIA National Policy Congress (NPC) - ACT regional meeting

As ACTive ALIA Convenor Helen reminded us last month, the National Policy Congress, which will be held in Canberra on 19 and 20 September, is an important consultative mechanism to ensure that members have input into the policy-making process of the Association. Once again we will use the same two-tier model that worked well last year.

In 2003, the NPC will be held in two stages, at regional and then national level. The ACT Regional meeting will be held on Wednesday 6 August, at 5:30pm in the NLA Fourth Floor Conference room. Each group is asked to nominate one representative to attend the regional meeting. This representative must be either a current personal member of ALIA or the designated representative of an institutional member. Other group members may attend the regional meetings as observers. National and multi-state groups have also been asked to nominate one representative to attend the regional meeting closest to them.

Would you like to represent the ACTive ALIA group at the NPC regional meeting for Canberra? We are looking for expressions of interest from local ALIA members. You will need to be a financial member of ALIA (don't forget that ALIA membership fees are due by the end of July!).

Each regional meeting will elect a delegate to attend the national meeting next month. The regional meeting will also identify a success story, seek ideas for the REAP (Research Exchange and Partnership) initiative and CPD (Continuing Professional Development. Identifying issues of critical importance and the ALIA Towards 2010 draft document will also be on the agenda.

The National Policy Congress 2003 web page is up and running at http://www.alia.org.au/governance/nac/2003/, complete with an agenda for the regional NPC meetings. Background papers are linked to the relevant agenda item.

Kippax Library - ACTive ALIA joins in the debate

The ACT Government has agreed to fund a new library for the Kippax District Centre in West Belconnen but the debate continues about where exactly it should be built. We discussed this issue at the last ACTive ALIA meeting and sent a resolution to Planning Minister, Simon Corbell, supporting the building of the new Kippax library.

Ian McCallum has written about this thorny question in this issue of proACTive.

Indigenous Knowledge Centres Project

On Wednesday 23 July a very well attended meeting heard about this pilot project which is being organised by the Indigenous Community Volunteers Foundation (ICV). Librarians are being sought for placements at Indigenous Knowledge Centres in the Cape York and Torres Strait Island regions.

There is more information below and in the ICV website at http://www.volindingenous.org.au.

Jan Gordon
Convenor, ACTive ALIA

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