ALIA West

June 2002

ALIA May Board of Directors meeting

During Australian Library and Information Week I attended my first Board Meeting in Sydney. The agenda was wide and varied and there are many projects/initiatives, which I would like to briefly highlight.

Membership

The new look Membership forms will be out soon and membership is due for renewal in July and yes there has been a rise in membership fees in line with the CPI. The National Office is still investigating the purchase/development of a web based membership system. At present current systems available do not meet ALIA's security of personal information requirements.

Finances

A group-funding proposal for Local Presence Officers was approved by the Board that will result in significant change in the role of the LPO. For some states and groups there will be changes in the distribution their newsletter as the preferred distribution options are either electronically or via an insert in inCite, and changes affecting the practice of payment for newsletter editors. Some editors have in the past, received payment that ALIA will no longer fund. ALIA has paid mortgage on ALIA House and if currently operating a small financial deficit.

National Policy Congress

The NPC will be held 2 November in Canberra with a policy focus this year.

LISEKA

The LISEKA paper focusing on the education of library information professionals has been prepared and circulated. This paper's suggestions will have a major impact on library education, continuing professional development and membership of the Association and will affected all members. I urged everyone to read the paper and provide comment by 21 June 2002.

ALIA'S key initiatives

Key initiative 1 - Develop and market new services for students/new professional members
The March 2002 Board meeting approved the development of several new services that will be announced and launched once the services and packages are finalised.

Key initiative 2 - Develop and market new services for senior professional members.
Start date for the initiative is July 2002.

Key initiative 3 -Achieve favourable purchasing agreements for institutional members for products and services, including licence agreements.
Discussions have commenced with Proquest and Oxford English Dictionary Online. ALIA is to convene a forum meeting August/September on this issue.

Key initiative 4 -Devise and implement a Library and Information services promotions campaign.
ALIA and the Board are continuing to investigate the potential use of the @yourlibrary promotional tools for Australian libraries. "Libraries bring you the world" is the theme for Library and Information Week 2003.

Key initiative 5 -Establish a national for a for cross sectoral collaboration.
A Peak Bodies Forum was held in February 2002 and a statement "Principles of Mutual Support" between ALIA, CAUL and CASL has been developed.

Key initiative 6 -Develop strategic action program for special libraries.
Initial work has focused in the ALIA/CAL project to develop a model licence for special libraries.

Key initiative 7 -Develop strategic action program for public libraries.
Initial focus has been on Library and Information Week.

Key initiative 8 -Develop a strategy for career long education for the knowledge age.
The LISEKA paper has been prepared and circulated for comment by 21 June 2002.

Key initiative 9 - Identify central role of ALIA in the development of a research culture for the library and information sector.
The report "Promoting research and information sharing: report of the ALIA Research Initiative Project" was accepted by the Board and a policy statement outlining ALIA's involvement in research will be implemented.

Please contact me on 08 9429 4580 or e-mail dbarrett@wairc.w.agov.au for further information or to raise any particular issue.

Deanne Barrett