Events

Unlocking your collection...

OK, so how do you index a photo of early sandalwood cutters loading a wagon somewhere out in the Murchison, or fragments of a diary kept by a loco driver on the Albany run, or a family portrait of a captain of commerce in Perth in the Goldrush era? Items like these are held in every Local Studies Collection, but how can they be retrieved when they are needed?

The problem is that many enquirers will not know for sure that any such items exist. They'll just ask for something on outback transport in the early days, or railway history, or evidence of the opulence of Perth. If you're lucky, they might search for information about a particular person - easy! - but Local Studies questions are rarely as straightforward as that. So how do you index your collection? How to choose subject headings that will lead experienced researchers and first-time enquirers to the information they seek?

All these issues will be addressed at the next one-day workshop organised by ALIA Local Studies (WA). Keynote speaker Allison Kingscote will reflect on her experience as Co-ordinator of the Australian Pictorial Thesaurus at the State Library of New South Wales. WA practitioners will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the range of approaches used here. It's intended as a practical workshop for everyone involved with local collections of any kind. They all need to be indexed. The fundamental question is how best to do to ensure that items can be retrieved when they're needed - so come and share your questions and answers. We need to hear them!

Workshop title: Unlocking your local studies collection: which subject headings to choose?
When: Monday 8 September, 9:00am-4:30pm
Where: Collier Park Community Centre, Collier Park Village, 16 Morrison Rd, Collier (close to Curtin University)
Registration: ALIA member $77; non-member $93.50; Student $66.

Enquiries/payment to: Mark Hancock (please remove '.nospam' from address) or Roger Horgan
Walter Murdoch Public Library, Corner Sandgate Street and South Terrace, South Perth WA 6151. Ph 08 9474 0766, fax 08 9400 4743

ALIA WA Pub mentoring

The final 2 pub mentoring sessions for 2003 will be as follows:

Thursday 11th September
5:30pm-7:00pm
Norfolk Hotel, Fremantle

Thursday 13th November
5:30pm-7:30pm
Vic Hotel, Subiaco

What is Pub mentoring?

It is an informal get-together that enables librarians and library technicians to network in a social situation with colleagues from a wide range of organisations.

Contact: Andrew Lewis (please remove '.nospam' from address), or simply turn up on the night.

Health Libraries get-together

The next Health Libraries get-together will be held at Hollywood Private Hospital Library on Tuesday 30th September from 5:30 onwards.

Terena Solomons will give an informal presentation about the VALA travel scholarship and the 3 conferences she attended and various libraries she visited in America and Canada earlier this year when researching PDAs - Personal Digital Assistants.

$5 for catering.

RSVP to: Terena (please remove '.nospam' from address), ph 08 93466184.

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