ALIA Children's and Youth Services (NSW)

July-December 2002

Six-monthly report to the ALIA Board of Directors

Objectives

• ALIA Children's and Youth Services (NSW) promotes library services to children and youth, highlighting children's literature and fostering professional development of members.
• The committee co-ordinates the national ALIA awards for children's librarians, promotes children's librarianship within the profession, and encourages networking and communication between members.
• The committee also co-ordinates the national aliaCYSS e-list.

CYS (NSW) committee
Julie Barkman tendered her resignation from the committee in December 2002.

The current committee is:

Mylee Joseph (convenor)

Judy Drayton (treasurer)

Susan Campbell (national awards)

Carolyn Bourke

Wilma Bancroft

Cameron Morley

Events

National Simultaneous Storytime
The National Simultaneous Storytime was a great success this year with more than 600 libraries, schools and child care centres all reading Mrs Wilkinson's Chooks by Leone Peguero on 4 September. The feedback from participants around the country was collated and submitted to ALIA for future reference - most amazingly one library had a class cancel because of chicken pox, while several other libraries had visits from real chooks! Negotiations for the National Simultaneous Storytime in 2003 continue with a story yet to be finalised. The date for the NSS is Friday 5 September 2003.

Management Seminar 2002
Break a leg! Working with authors, illustrators and entertainers in the library.
The management seminar on 1 November 2002 was very popular, with 60 delegates attending. Burwood Council generously provided the use of their council chambers free of charge. The program included:

• A safe place to be? - A practical walk through risk management at your venue: including occupational health and safety and public liability issues. Wilma Bancroft, Wollongong City Library
• It pays to advertise - designing promotional material and campaigns that really work. Joanne Fuller, Photographis
• Cartooning creativity - cartoonist Dave Hackett shared his experiences as a cartoonist for hire ...and had us drawing!
• Author visits... the good, the bad, the ugly? - Val Noake co-ordinates more than 1000 author visits a year in as many libraries across the country. She shared the inside track on successful author visits, and a few cautionary tales from the Nestlé Write Around Australia experience.
• The secrets of our success... the very successful children's programs at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Jeff Fletcher, Education Officer

National awards
Nominations for the Bess Thomas and Marjorie Cotton Awards to be presented at the next ALIA biennial conference in 2004, on the Gold Coast, will close in January 2004. The committee hope to find sponsors for these awards to enable them to continue.

Publicity and promotional activities

Website
A newsletter Young People in Libraries is now being published electronically via the CYS website. This replaces the irregular newsletter published by the CYS (NSW) group.

E-list
The e-list has 210 subscribers and has become a popular forum for discussion and information sharing.

Planned events

1 April: Switching them on to reading: books and young children
A one day seminar featuring bestselling children's author Mem Fox giving the Nancy Booker Honour Lecture. Most public libraries offer story times and in recent years a couple have started up programs for babies and toddlers. The aim of the seminar is to explore both the theories behind pre-reading and early reading activities and to look at practical examples of programs for preschoolers. Other presenters include:

• Genimaree Panozzo (Moreland Public Library, Vic) who completed a study tour in the UK before launching the highly successful pre-reading kits at Moreland Public Library.
• Carolyn Bourke (Fairfield Libraries, NSW), Narelle Lightfoot (Central Northern Libraries - Tamworth, NSW), Jo Oliver (Camden Library, NSW) will discuss their programs for babies.
• Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a successful early childhood program for families from educationally and financially disadvantaged communities.

Metcalfe Theatre, State Library NSW, 9:00am-4:30pm. $66.00 for ALIA members, $88.00 for non-members, $55.00 for students.

20 June: Pre Bookweek Extravaganza
Burwood Council Chambers is once again the scheduled venue for the Pre-Bookweek Extravaganza event.

Mylee Joseph
Convenor
ALIA CYSNSW