The ALIA National Policy Congress 2003: Celebrating success

The NPC was held at ALIA House, Canberra on 19-20 September 2003. Twenty-four delegates participated including regional representatives, national group liaison officers, local presence officers ALIA Board and staff. The pace of the congress was fast, but was well run and very well-organised. My congratulations to all those involved with this side of the NPC.

Early in the NPC, Ivan Trundle spoke about and demonstrated the new ALIA website, noting developments such as Research Exchange and Partnership (REAP), the e-print repository and the members only areas at http://www.alia.org.au/members-only.html. We are all encouraged to take a tour of these new areas and see all the new services that are now available.

The main body of the NCP consisted of delegates reporting on behalf of their groups, discussion of the ALIA Towards 2010, all interspersed with the five minute segments of 'celebrating success' - success stories from each group.

There were mixed reactions to the Toward 2010 document. These are noted in the reports on the web by each group. However, the Board supported their stance, stating that there needs to be a longer time-frame to work to than just the 3-year business plans. The reports from each regional group are now all available at

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