ALIA Children's and Youth Services (Qld)
General Meeting
Thursday 5 February 2004
1. Present:
Anne Spelman, Tony Wauchope, Desley Ryan, Kerri Sapwell, Denise O'Connor, Julie Sharpe, Jenny Stubbs, Loris Phair, Lesley Dimmock, Helen Kershaw, Jacqueline Walch, Louise Baver, Di Cousins, Bernardette Franzoni, Wendy Batho, Noleen Fleming, Liz Blumson, Val Shine, Dianne Brennan, Kym Corfield , Fiona Jensen, Jane Cowell, Naomi Harney.
2. Apologies
Pat Magee, Jane Jones, Sylvia Marshall.
3. Members directed to minutes from AGM; available on ALIA website under CYS groups.
A password is required, which is one's membership number. Minutes will also be posted through the LLL-list for non-ALIA members.
4. Anne Spelman introduced the new committee for 2004:
Liz Blumson (UQ Cyberschool) - convenor
Bernardette Franzoni (SLQ) - treasurer
Loris Phair (TL - Hillbrook and Corinda SHS) - secretary
5. Guest speaker.
Introduced by Fiona Jensen - Jane Cowell, Caboolture library manager and winner of Library Achiever of the Year Award.
Jane spoke with great enthusiasm and authority on Advocacy and creating influence for Libraries. Jane spoke about the disinclination of library professionals to :blow their own horn" and said we must be prepared to change this. She looked at these main issues through her PowerPoint presentation:
| 1. Why do it? |
Who else will promote your library? |
|
To make organisation aware of library services |
|
To keep up profile |
|
To maintain funding |
| Why not? |
No time |
|
Too busy |
|
"they" won"t be interested |
|
no funding, |
|
no staff |
| 2. Advocate |
| Who to: |
CEOs or equivalent |
|
Board of directors |
|
Upper management |
|
All staff and other clients |
| What: |
Your information services - revamp brochures for a professional look |
|
Statistics - present in eye-catching and different ways - eg: colour, pie graphs etc |
|
Shine whilst manag"t is present - invite them to events |
|
Look at what specialised services you offer and promote the value of them loud and long, eg: a corporate library for senior managt. |
|
Become the first port of call for manag't; especially for those studying |
|
Promote acquisitions services and inter-library loan services |
| Staff: |
Value what your staff does already and promote |
|
Have regular communication - eg: newsletter and social gatherings eg: Breakfasts |
|
Offer support and feedback to all staff and keep them informed as to the "why" |
|
Brainstorm new services or improvements - value all ideas |
|
Encourage initiative |
|
Look at other libraries and copy their ideas! |
|
Libraries help develop communities and bring people together - promote this to all staff and users |
| How: |
Promotions involving local authors or people, including in-house, with skills and talents for learning workshops, displays, presentations |
|
Access local businesses and look at partnership possibilities - eg: computer store may 'lend' machines for an internet promotion, local belly dancers, fitness groups or game shops may be good sources for workshops to bring in partons |
|
Formally invite all executive/manag't people |
|
Launch everything! Eg: special collections, new services, new series |
|
Invite media and ensure coverage of all events and achievements |
|
Create an invitation list and use it |
|
Try for state and national committees and announce successful appointments |
|
Nominate for awards, the experience is good and you usually get a certificate even if you don't win. |
| Funding: |
At first do what can with what you"ve got |
|
Use successes to leverage for more money |
|
Try community gaming fund, adaptive technologies, sport and toy libraries |
|
Rotary group funds |
|
Friends of the Library |
|
Create partnerships to access funding |
| Build Relationships: |
Offer valued-added services to influential groups |
|
Be visisble |
| Attend all functions |
Be on internal committees |
|
Be available for all 'meet and greet' occasions |
|
Give presentations to influential groups |
|
Network internally and externally |
|
Speak at conferences and write articles for professional journals |
| Use organisational tools: |
Staff newsletters |
|
Brochures |
| Reporting |
|
New staff induction procedures |
| Results: |
Increased funding (up 45 per cent!) |
|
Nominated for awards |
|
Senior managment ask for library advice and input |
|
Library reps invited to senior manag't events |
Liz thanked Jane on our behalf for a most informative and inspiring talk.
6. Frameworking the future: Guiding cross-sectoral co-operation
Anne Spelman then 'walked' members through the 'Frameworking the future: Guiding cross-sectoral co-operation' document, outlining the principles agreed upon.
- Partnering
- Planning
- Advocacy
- Professional development
- Information and resource sharing
- Programming
This document is available on the ALIA website and also on the CYS/LLL list. Liz Blumson underlined the need for all sectors to support and advance these principles. Jane said we all need to advocate to maintain our professional standing and Noleen made the point that those in authority often have outmoded notions about us and our role.
7. CBC initiative to promote a regional and state Readers' Cup
Jenny Stubbs told members of a new CBC initiative to promote a regional and state Readers' Cup for students in grades 6, 7 and 8 - more details will be coming out shortly.
8. ALIA 2004 Biennial conference
The ALIA state conference is scheduled for September on the Gold Coast - see website for more details.
9. Next meeting
Tentative date Thursday 3 June - venue to be advised.
10. Meeting closed at 6:00pm
Followed by a tour of the joint library for those interested.
|
