2003-2004 annual report

ALIA Queensland Library Technicians Group has had another successful year during 2003/2004. At the Annual General Meeting last year I was re-elected Convenor of the group for another year. The position of assistant convenor was not filled. The Committee consisted of Anne Collins, secretary, Helen Trochoulias, treasurer, Margaret Mowberry, student representative and members e-mail co-ordinator, general committee members Lyn Bogaarts, Anna Johnson, Robyn Carlile and Jennifer Batycki. At the Conference, Trish Darcy, offered to be assistant convenor, which was very encouraging. During the year Jennifer Batycki tendered her resignation and Susan Sawyer rejoined on her return from UK. I would like to thank all these people for their loyalty and their generous assistance to me and I hope they all feel that it was a rewarding experience.

At the end of July, the committee farewelled Marion Moyle, the previous Convenor, who went to work in the United Arab Emerits and Susan Sawyer who returned to the United Kingdom for six months.

On 14 August the Queensland National Policy Conference was held and I attended as the representative of this Group.

The 12th National Library Technicians Conference held in Brisbane during September dominated the second half of last year. My congratulations once again to the committee who organised such a successful event, which will be remembered for a long while. Thanks to those members who helped at the ALIA booth.

On 15 October a general meeting was held at the State Library Theatrette. Dr Gillian Hallam, the ALIA Local Liaison Officer, who gave some insights into her role, addressed us. Members of the conference committee also attended to tell us some of the behind the scenes workings of the Conference. We were excited to hear that there was a possibility that some of the conference profits would be available to fund future Recent Graduate Awardees to the next conference in Sydney in 2005.

A Christmas breakfast was held on Sunday 23 November at 8:30am at Watt Café in the Powerhouse complex, which allowed 21 members to enjoy each other's company and catch up on what has been happening in the library world during 2003. My thanks to Anna Johnson for finding this great venue and organising the function.

A survey of members revealed that Tuesday was the preferred evening for meetings although there was not a large response and Wednesday was only just behind. Our committee is divided about the best evening as members work in their libraries at night. We decided to try Tuesday for the beginning of 2004.

On 10 February 2004 an informative evening with guest speaker Marilyn Chalmers from Southbank Institute of TAFE was held. The topic was Metadata: Simply does it! We all learned so much from the wonderfully instructive address. We were fortunate to be able to use the Southbank Campus Library's seminar room for this meeting, as the State Library of Queensland is unavailable for some time due to redevelopment.

A visit on Saturday 27 March to Ipswich libraries proved an excellent outing with 16 members attending. At the Ipswich Public Library we were hosted by Susan Lee, the Library Manager, and given an excellent presentation about their services involving a demonstration of their website. A delicious morning tea followed this. The group then moved to the Ipswich Hospital Library where we were able to examine a very different library courtesy of our member, Lyn Bogaarts. This was followed by a lunch at the Brothers Leagues Club. The afternoon visit was to the University of Queensland Ipswich Campus Library hosted by Sue Hutley. Everyone enjoyed inspecting this lovely library. Afternoon tea ended the day.

The Annual Dinner was held on Library Technicians Day, Tuesday 25 May, during Library Week at Skyline Restaurant, Southbank Institute of TAFE. The hospitality students served a delicious meal and a guitarist from the Conservatorium of Music entertained beautifully. The guest speaker of the evening, Nicole Franks, QUT Librarian at the joint use library at Caboolture gave us some insight into how a library like this operated. Library Locums General Manager, Marion Nicholson and RAECO representative, Merv Murray presented lucky door prizes. The Queensland Library Technician of the Year (Recent Graduate) Award was presented to Anna Drew of University of Queensland, Humanities and Social Sciences Library by Jennifer Parker and Meredith Lewis, the 2003 recipient, on behalf of Queensland Library Supplies, the sponsor. Colin Matthews was unable to attend on this night. Anna was also presented with a CD-ROM of the 12th National Library Technicians Conference proceedings as a symbol that she would be funded to attend the 13th National Library Technicians Conference. Jo-Anne Duscha and Bev Wedge from the Queensland Conference Committee made the presentation. The selection panel had a difficult job deciding on the recipient but Anna demonstrated that she was a worthy recipient by responding with a well-prepared speech of thanks.

The committee has met five times during the year at the Jazzy Cat Restaurant and enjoyed each other's company while organising the various events.

During the year I have tried to attend as many Quorum meetings as possible to ensure that library technician's views are represented outside our group. I also attended the Focus Group held to determine members' views about the future direction of ALIA. I know other library technician members are members of other ALIA groups helping to enhance the reputation of library technicians within the profession.

So, twelve months later on Wednesday 8 June 2004 in a different venue we are holding another Annual General Meeting. I would like to thank Drug-Arm for hosting us tonight and I would like to wish the new committee elected tonight all the best for the future.

Jennifer Parker
Convenor

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