 home > groups > retirees > ALIA Retirees Group - Committee |
|||
ALIA RetireesALIA Retirees Group
Pat Gallaher writes... In October 2006, after the Biennial Conference in Perth, I suggested to ALIA that it Now meet your committee...
Robin Hempel Convenor ALIA Retirees Group Committee, Darwin I was born in Goulburn NSW and grew up in Canberra. I graduated with an Arts Degree from the ANU and began my library career with the National Library in 1964. In a short time, I accepted a posting to Alice Springs where I met my future husband. As the public librarian in Alice, I worked with local schools and in the remote Aboriginal communities the library served such as Hermannsburg and Yuendumu. When I returned to Canberra, I pursued my interest in education and trained as a teacher and teacher librarian at Sydney University. Then in 1968 moved to Katherine where I had the opportunity to work in education as a teacher librarian and adult educator. I became involved in working to provide library services to a number of rural and remote regions of the Northern Territory, including Aboriginal Communities. It became my mission to provide the best and most equitable library services possible using any and every available resource including whatever could be obtained through grants and submissions. I managed public library services in towns as far apart as Alice Springs and Katherine and established school/community libraries at Barunga (near Katherine), Kalkaringi (Wave Hill) and Pirlangimpi on the Tiwi Islands. I worked as a school library advisor, teacher and teacher librarian at St Paul’s Primary School and Casuarina Senior College in Darwin. In 1995, I moved from the education sector to join the staff of the Northern Territory Library (NTL) where I worked first as Manager of its rural branch at Taminmin Community Library before stints in Darwin as a Project Librarian and as Manager of Reference Services In October 2007 I retired from full time library work only to be co-opted by Charles Darwin University where I worked at Palmerston Campus s as a TAFE Lecturer and Workplace Assessor in Library Studies until finally embracing full time retirement in 2010. I became a member of the ALIA Retirees Committee in 2008 and I can’t stress enough the value it has been in terms of camaraderie, support and networking. It has provided the opportunity of “Staying Connected” to the events, programs and service offered by ALIA and libraries on a national, state and local level |
Faye Lawrence -
Secretary/Treasurer
Foundation Member
ALIA Retirees Group Committee,Sydney
I retired in 2006 from a lifelong career in several Sydney Public Libraries and two
University Libraries - University of Sydney and University of Papua New Guinea. My
last job was the longest - as Manager of Woollahra Municipal Library for 26 years.
I have very good strong memories from my working life and am now enjoying retirement
with my husband , family and friends. I maintain a commitment to libraries and
library services as vital to the wellbeing of our society - for education ,
research and recreation . I am fascinated by the current developments and the way
ahead for our services - and I am regular user of what many of my local libraries
have to offer . I am also delighted with the new professionals I meet and hear
about and pleased they are dealing with the changes and challenges of this time with
enthusiasm and care. To this end I believe in maintaining membership of ALIA and
encourage people considering retirement to "Stay Connected” (our retirees motif) and
continue to enjoy the fellowship and information exchange which this offers through
ALIAs on-line services. I was a founding member of the Australia-wide Retirees
Committee (2007) and would recommend a turn on it for anyone out there -
particularly in my bailiwick of Sydney and NSW.
© State Library of Western Australia 2011
Pat Gallaher
Foundation Member
ALIA Retirees Group Committee, Perth
I have worked in various types of libraries, here and in the UK for more years than I
care to mention. I have loved every minute and feel so lucky that I found such a
great profession. It has given me the chance to engage with so many diverse
communities such as Mosman (NSW), Paraburdoo and Karratha, and Geraldton, all in WA,
Gillian Hallam
ALIA Retirees Group Committee, Brisbane
I embarked on librarianship as a second career in the early 1980s – in the pioneering
days of digital information – and have enjoyed a very rich and varied professional
life. Initially I was a special librarian, working in library and information
management services in the business and legal sectors for about 17 years. In 2000,
I became an academic in the LIS program at Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
in Brisbane. My teaching experience encompassed the broad areas of information
retrieval, reference and information services, evidence based practice, legal
research and professional practice, while my research activities focussed on the
workforce planning issues that are central to the future of library services. In
2007 I was asked to lead a national research project to investigate the role of
ePortfolios in higher education, which opened up the opportunity to consider the
relationship between libraries and eLearning. Over the past few years, I have
provided consultancy services to government, health and academic libraries, as well
as working internationally as guest professor in Germany and as a core trainer in
Ukraine with the IFLA Building Strong Library Associations program . In 2005-2006 I
served as President of ALIA and returned as a Director of the Board in 2009-2011,
and I continue my professional interests as a member of the committees of the IFLA
Section for Education and Training and the IFLA eLearning Special Interest Group.
I have found the ALIA Retirees Group to be a really rewarding way to transition into
retirement: I have the opportunity to interact with people who, over many years,
have made such wonderful contributions to the wide spectum of libraries and
librarianship… In this era of lifelong and lifewide learning, LIS professionals like
you can still make a real contribution to society and to the profession in their
retirement – and the ALIA Retirees Group will welcome you!
Mylee Joseph
ALIA Retirees Group Committee
For information about Mylee follow the link 
Lorna Prendergast
ALIA Retirees Group Committee, Bairnsdale, Vic
Due to living all of my life in the beautiful south-eastern corner of Australia, at
Bairnsdale, I found obtaining further education extremely difficult to say the
least. The nearest university was at Melbourne, about 280 kms away. So on turning
sixteen I passed the Commonwealth Entrance Exam and became a telephonist at the
Bairnsdale Telephone Exchange during the last year of World War 11. After six
tremendous years, I had no option but to resign when I married Jim, in 1950, as that
was the policy!
In 1967, I had the opportunity to work at the East Gippsland Public Library,
following in the footsteps of the famous Australian author, Hal Porter. Our library
service covered 21,056 square kms. over some of the most rugged and isolated areas
in Victoria. People in these outlying districts loved to see the "Bookie" coming
(Keith Ridout has recently completed 45 years on the Run).
After studying for my ALAA by correspondence, in 1972 I was invited to join the staff
at the Bairnsdale Technical School Library and remained there for about 15 years
until the Senior School became a TAFE College. During my time at the Tech, the
Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education (now a branch Of Monash Uni.) was
established at Churchill (about 160 kms away) which afforded me the opportunity to
complete a BA and BEd there; and a Grad Dip Ed Admin from Hawthorn Institute of
Education. This stood me in good stead when I was appointed Librarian in charge of
the East Gippsland TAFE College Library. Establishing a new library was a challenge
which I thoroughly enjoyed thanks to the help I received from the VATCL librarians
and the computer groups. Jim and I love to travel, so while on leave I took every
opportunity to meet overseas librarians and check out their libraries, this was
particularly useful when setting up the internet as they were a little ahead of us
at that time.
I enjoyed every aspect of my library work. Remarks from proud mothers that their
children had excelled due to the books available at the public library; or seeing
the Technical school girls and boys take their positions in the workforce: or
helping provide an opportunity for older TAFE students, like the one who said, "TAFE
has given me another chance in life", was the icing on the cake. I still marvel at
the changes in information dissemination in my lifetime....it is a long way from
when the library was a few books held in the sports cupboard during my school years,
to the internet and the wealth of knowledge, so readily available, affording people
the opportunity to study almost any thing any where in the world.......it even beats
the old adage ‘The right book in the right hand at the right time!’
I retired in 1993 and have continued to enjoy my family, travel, research and
voluntary library work with the East Gippsland Family History Group and the Public
Library. My husband, Jim is a military historian, author and artist, so between us
we rarely have a dull moment.
Moyra McAllister
ALIA Retirees Group Committee, Melbourne
Since graduating from Queens University, Belfast with a Bsc and a Grad.Dip in Library
|
