WA Forum report

May is always a full month in the Library and Information calendar and 2002 is packed full of interesting, exciting and thought provoking activities and issues.

Uppermost in my mind this month is the promotion of Library and Information Services.

Marketing and promotion are skills, which librarians don't necessarily have or choose to cultivate. Perhaps this is the reason it is so hard to get publicity during Library and Information Week. The LIW 2002 Committee, ably managed by Samantha Hughes form Success Public Library, is busy marketing LIW 2002, arranging events and encouraging the profession to participate.

The LIW 2002 launch at the Constitution Centre will be a star spangled event with the presentation of the Special Librarian of the Year award and Verity James of ABC Radio as the guest speaker. The week is then full of interesting programs in all types of libraries, some of which are noted on the ALIA web page LIW events calendar. The week will close with a testimonial dinner for our newest ALIA Fellow, Kerry Smith who is returning from the ALIA 2002 conference to share her award with her WA Colleagues. I urge you to come along and participate in these events.

Other issues of significance recently are the election to the ALIA Board of Directors of our very own Western Australian candidate, Deanne Barrett of the WA Industrial Relations Commission Library. Deanne will attend her first Board of Directors meeting on 23 May where there will be plenty to discuss. Amongst the board papers will be a submission from the outgoing deputy executive director, Susanne Bruhn on Funding Guidelines for Groups. This a very important step in the management of the Group structure within ALIA and one that requires your careful attention once it is approved by the ALIA Board of Directors.

Also on the agenda for ALIA is the possibility of providing Professional Indemnity Insurance at a very reasonable, albeit much reduced cost to members. Many librarians now work as contractors in organisations and Professional Indemnity Insurance is a necessary part of the pantheon of coverage if you are a contractor providing people with information or designing systems and services. If you are interested in this form of cover please contact Susanne Bruhn at ALIA National Office before the end of May when she leaves to return to the National Library.

Another issue of concern to the profession at the moment is the Library and Information Science Education for the Knowledge Age (LISEKA) project submission. The following information, extracted from an e-mail by Marie Murphy summarizes the project.

The working group has been concentrating on identifying new approaches to the career-long education of information workers at professional and technician levels. The approaches are based on an analysis of developing educational and employment opportunities and target the widening of career options for ALIA members at the beginning of the 21st century.
Two proposed new models have been developed and are compared with the status quo. The working group is now seeking feedback from ALIA Groups and, more generally ALIA members, about the proposed models. To enable Groups sufficient time to meet and/or discuss the material the deadline for comments to ALIA National Office is Friday 21 June 2002.

In commenting on the models it is important to remember that they are designed to stimulate debate and are not exclusive of other ideas.

To help you in this task ALIA have prepared a package of documents which are mounted on the ALIA website at: http://www.alia.org.au/education/liseka/.

Printed copies of all the above material is available on request from ALIA National Office, phone 02 6285 8222, fx 02 6282 2249, or e-mail liseka@alia.org.au. The project working group would be very pleased to hear from any individual or group that would like to talk about the project and if requested ALIA will try to attend any meetings being held across the country. The group can be contacted via e-mail at liseka@alia.org.au.

The deadline for comments on the proposed models is 21 June, as noted above. The working group will collate the input and develop recommendations, which will be taken to the August meeting of the ALIA Board of Directors.

Please direct any questions about the project to me at ALIA National Office, phone 02 6215 8218, fax 02 6282 2249, marie.murphy@alia.org.au, or liseka@alia.org.au.

I urge you to read the documentation and comment personally or through your Groups on the future of Library education in Australia. We are at a crossroads as a profession and need to present ourselves to out clients and employing public as a strong and united profession. We have an opportunity based on the recent wins in NSW regarding pay structures, to go forward with professional education and Continuing Professional Development to take us to a new level of professionalism and remuneration.

Let us not waste this opportunity by demoting us to a competency-based organisation without tertiary education to back the claim to professional status. Please read the LISEKA documentation carefully and use the contact information to reply to LISEKA or Marie Murphy at ALIA. ALIA West is doing a submission and members are welcome to send their thought to the convenor at bobbie.bruce@bhpbilliton.com.au.

I look forward to seeing you all at LIW 2002.

Bobbie Bruce
Convenor, ALIA West

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