ALIA WA Library Technicians

Annual report - October 2005

2005 began with our very popular social event in February, a Sunday afternoon at the Fremantle Arts Centre, where we took the opportunity to catch up and enjoy the Courtyard Music event.

A committee meeting in February held at Christ Church Grammar School was well attended with a good number of school-based technicians. The topic of staffing in school libraries was discussed, as a result of postings to the WATLNET e-list and it was agreed that the group would explore the possibility of lobbying the minister for improved levels of staffing in government school libraries.

A talk from local author Colin Bowles at the South Perth Caffe Bookshop was highly enjoyable but only just made a profit - the number of attendees was lower than anticipated, which may have been due to other local events on the same evening and the delays in publicising the event caused by a change of ownership of the venue shortly before the event.

Committee meetings in April and May were well attended with new faces at both meetings. There was a tour of the Royal Perth Hospital Library prior to the May meeting.

The 3rd Biennial Student Conference Grant was awarded to Felicity Seeber, a recent graduate from Central TAFE, at the National Library Technicians' Day breakfast which was held at 150 East at Ascot Quays in Belmont. A group of 25 technicians and friends enjoyed the food and chance to catch up.

The group convenor, Judy Allan, and group secretary, Thelma Allen, joined with the president and secretary of WASLA (Western Australian School Library Association), and Barbara Combes and Judy Clayden of Edith Cowan University, to prepare a submission to the Western Australian Minister for Education with regard to staffing in government school libraries. Judy and Thelma would like to thank the school library technicians who responded very quickly to the request for information about typical technician duties and responsibilities in school libraries. The minister's response has been disappointing but the submission may be the starting point for further research and submissions.

An annual general meeting was held on 8 June. This was the first to be held for several years, since the restructure rendered them non-compulsory. We decided to have one, with dinner afterwards at a nearby restaurant, in order to encourage members to attend and nominate for the committee, and to formalise the process. While attendance was not high, there were some changes to the committee:

Convenor: Judy Allan
Secretary: Thelma Allen
Treasurer: Janice Fairhurst
Publicity Officer: Narelle Beebe
New Grads rep: Michaela Shepherdson
National LT Group rep: Michaela Shepherdson

A full day careers workshop held at the end of July was extremely popular and was overbooked. Feedback from workshop participants was very positive with the few complaints being about the crowding in the room. We were very lucky that we were able to have presenters of such a high calibre and we hope that we will be able to repeat this workshop again, perhaps in a larger venue.

A repeat of the highly successful internet searching workshop (held twice in 2004) did not happen in August, as planned, due to a misunderstanding about our software requirements on the part of the venue bookings officer. It was rescheduled for October at another venue and this time everything went smoothly.

A pre-conference dinner held in August, intended to provide an opportunity for delegates to the neXt Conference to meet before the conference, was well attended by both conference delegates and other members of the group and proved a very popular and enjoyable evening.

A post-conference debrief held at Edith Cowan University was also well attended. Felicity Seeber, winner of the 2005 Student Conference Grant, gave her report, and we heard also from Lothar von Retzlaff, who was on the conference organising committee and who delivered the Dunn & Wilson Oration.

Events still to come in 2005 include a library bus tour and the end of year dinner. Planning for 2006 has begun.

The Library Technician Mentoring Group did not run this year due to lack of interest on the part of recent graduates from the library technology courses. As most technician graduates gain employment while they are completing their studies it appears that few feel a need for mentoring. The Graduate Mentoring Group (professional stream) has been experiencing similar trends and the facilitators from the two groups have begun informal discussions about possible collaboration and/or merging of the groups.

The Group is discussing the development of a group blog following the use of blogs to publicise the careers workshop and the bus tour.

Judy Allan, convenor, ALIA WALTG