On the grapevine

What follows are a few snippets of news garnered from various lists that the editor belongs to - hopefully they will be of interest to our readers!

Libraries Australia forms new partnership with Informit

The National Library and RMIT Publishing are pleased to announce a new in-principle agreement to extend access to information about Australian journal articles through libraries Australia.

RMIT Publishing, through its Informit service, offers access to the APAIS - Australian Public Affairs Information Service database. 'APAIS contains over 330 000 records for articles in Australian social sciences and humanities journals from 1978. Over 1000 journals a year are currently indexed, 250 of them comprehensively. This database is a key resource for access to Australian journal literature.'

Libraries Australia, launched by the National Library in December, provides access to material held in Australian libraries and many other national collections and catalogues. Adding APAIS to the resources available will increase access to this important resource for the many libraries that do not already have a subscription to APAIS via RMIT Publishing.

'More Australian libraries will now have easy and cost effective access to the wealth of Australian journals', said Jan Fullerton, Director-General of the National Library of Australia. 'By providing access on a charge per search basis Australians will also be able to have easier access to the nation's publications through their libraries.

Janette Wright, CEO, RMIT Publishing commented 'This partnership between RMIT Publishing and the National Library of Australia will extend access to Australian online content to a wider range of Australian libraries.'

Access to the APAIS - Australian Public Affairs Information Service database through Libraries Australia will be available in early 2005.

Roxanne Missingham (please remove '.nospam' from address), assistant director-general, resource sharing, National Library of Australia, Parkes Place, Canberra ACT 2600, ph 02 6262 1143, fx 02 6273 1180.

Metropolitan libraries section - 2004 conference

This year's conference and mid-term meeting of the metropolitan libraries section took place in the vibrant city-state of Singapore, 26 September - 1 October, well attended and with great success. The host and organiser was the National Library Board Singapore (NLB). With an attendance of 43, the delegates represented 29 metropolitan library services from 18 countries in Asia, Australia, Europe and the US. There were also 18 very welcome local participants from various library services in Singapore.

Presentations and papers were given by speakers from NLB and from among the participants.

Topics included:

innovation in libraries in Singapore: value options for libraries in offering new services to the emerging generation of users
Singapore's New National Library Building (NNLB), a flagship building due for completion in 2005, which will also be an arts and cultural venue
the relationship between the New South Wales State Library and the Public Library Network, plus the major issues facing planners of public library buildings, including ecologically sustainable development (ESD)
an update on key library developments in the United Kingdom
the use of information architecture techniques in Pittsburgh to make libraries more user-friendly
a reading promotion program where the Houston library asked everyone to read the same book at the same time and to come together to discuss it
the core competencies of information professionals in fusion libraries
how Hong Kong Public Libraries evolved to meet growing needs for information, lifelong learning, cultural enrichment and recreation - particularly the role of technology
a hub for cooperation and exchange: how Paris public libraries exchange information and cooperate with other libraries within the city and region of Paris
the Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (CONSAL): cooperation among the current membership from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia,Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar

These ten presentations, plus the conference programme and summary, and a selection of photographs taken by Tomas Rehak, Director of the Municipal Library of Prague, are on the section's web pages (click on annual conference reports 2004 Singapore), or via the IFLANET what's new page.

The section's next conference and mid-term meeting will be held in Riga, Latvia, 11-16 September 2005. The theme is 'Libraries and lifelong learning: inspiring users and staff'. The provisional programme and the registration form will be available early in 2005.

Stuart Brewer information co-ordinator, metropolitan libraries section of IFLA (formerly INTAMEL)

Australia/New Zealand chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Award.

Dialog is sponsoring a new SLA chapter award for Australian and New Zealand information professionals.

The following is the press release from Dialog:

Dialog to sponsor new SLA chapter award for Australian and New Zealand information professionals 'Looking for agents of change'. Sydney 27 January 2005.

Dialog, a Thompson (NUYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information solutions, announced today that it will sponsor a new annual award recognising information professionals that will be given by the Australia/New Zealand chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA).

The new SLA Australia & New Zealand Information Professional Award will carry a prize of $2000.00. Full-time information professionals, such as corporate librarians, independent information consultants, knowledge managers and others, working and living in Australia or New Zealand are eligible to be nominated for the award. Individuals may nominate themselves or others. A panel of SLA Australia and New Zealand chapter board members and regional Dialog management will determine the winner. Nominations should be initiated by directing an e-mail to sueh@caval.edu.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address). The deadline is 1 May 2005. The first award, for 2005, will be announced at an upcoming information industry conference.

Sonya L Donoghue (please remove '.nospam' from address), public relations chair, Australia and New Zealand chapter, science information services manager, The University of Auckland Library, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

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