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ALIA Top EndInterface December 2003Newsletter of ALIA Top EndConvenor's columnIt seems hard to believe it's that time of year again - time to wish each other a happy Christmas, the best of luck for the New Year 2004 and a safe and enjoyable holiday for those taking leave. It's time to celebrate with family and friends and it's certainly time for ALIA Top End members to celebrate after a very successful year of activities. Some of the highlights have included the co-hosting of 'The Great Debate: Are Libraries Cultural Institutions?' with NTLIS in Library and Information Week and, later in the year, the workshop, 'The Information Audit: Towards Effective Knowledge Management' again with NTLIS. ALIA Top End also supported community programs targeting special groups, with the Territory-wide tour by children's author, Maurice Gleitzman and the Larrakia Nation's Itinerant Project. Two themes, significant and current in an interstate, national and even global sense provided a focus for much of the work of ALIA Top End this year. The first was mentoring, with the program, 'Graduate Mentoring: An Opportunity for New Graduates', developing and providing much needed training and career opportunities for new and interested members, under the guidance of Ann Ritchie and Stelios Podias. The second was an outstanding professional opportunity and also an event of historical significance, the 1st ALIA Top End Symposium, 'Power Our Territory: Information Literacy for Development of the Northern Territory', held in September at the NTU, now Charles Darwin, Palmerston Campus. In the week following the symposium, I travelled to Canberra to attend ALIA's National Policy Congress. As a regional convenor representing both ALIA Top End and the Centralian group in Alice Springs, I met with staff from National Office including Jennifer Nicholson- Executive Director, Christine Mackenzie- President of ALIA, Georgina Dale- Manager Professional Development and Groups Liaison and Susan Magnay- Manager Planning and Policy. Along with delegates from the other state and regional groups, we celebrated national achievements and then reported on the success stories of each of our groups. The agenda also included a discussion of critical issues facing the profession and opportunities for input and debate on future planning in the discussion of ALIA's draft strategic plan and vision, 'Towards 2001'. There was a positive and vibrant atmosphere surrounding the Congress. Through our regional meetings prior to the congress, all groups had been able to feed their ideas and discussions to National Office, so we all felt part of the decision-making and future planning. Moreover, it was clear that the new structure had opened up opportunities for equity and development for the more regionalised groups, and there were practical support mechanisms in place to allow groups who were prepared to work hard and plan well to increase their membership and achieve their visions. ALIA Top End has had a very successful year and this has been recognised and praised by our National Office. We have worked hard, had an enormous amount of fun and together achieved what we hadn't thought possible at our first meeting in February 2003. The coming year looks equally promising, with, hopefully, a visit from the ALIA President, a workshop with 'Super Searchers' and a second Symposium, perhaps in Alice Springs. So now it is time to thank those who have spent so much time and effort supporting ALIA Top End in 2002. I wish to thank our Treasurer, Diane Wilcox and our departing Secretary Linda Winzar and welcome in-coming Secretary Julie Adams. A special tribute must go to Linda for over three and a half years of service. A vote of thanks is due to our Group Support Officer, Kira Paznikov Barry for her efficiency and friendliness, and to Ann Richie, our resident representative on the ALIA Board of Directors. As well as her work with the Mentoring group, Ann has been invaluable in her support and advice on policy and procedural issues. Finally, congratulations and thanks to Jayshree Mamtora Chair and the Organising Committee - Linda Winzar, Sarah White and Ruth Quinn for our very first, hugely successful ALIA Top End Symposium. Finally, goodbye and good luck to those members who are leaving the Top End to take up new positions and residences, including Sarah White, Stelios Podias and Larraine Shepherd. If I have missed anyone in extending thanks and well wishes on behalf of ALIA Top End, please accept my sincere apologies. Fittingly, the year's activities ended on a celebratory note with our combined Christmas function held at the Roof Top Restaurant. Members from ALIA Top End, ASLA NT and the Children's Book Council gathered together to applaud the year's successful achievements, exchange season's greetings and wish each other a bright and fulfilling New Year. At ALIA Top End we certainly hope we can build on this unity as we work toward professional fulfillment and excellent service delivery for our clients in 2004! Robin Hempel
1st ALIA Top End Symposium12-13 September 2003, Palmerston, Northern Territory More than 50 participants attended the 1st ALIA Top End Symposium, Power our Territory: information literacy for development of the Northern Territory which was held at the Palmerston Campus of the Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory. The Symposium took place over two days, 12 and 13 September, on a Friday afternoon and a Saturday morning, thus ensuring maximum attendance as some participants were only able to come on a weekday whilst others were able to attend at the weekend only. The Symposium also coincided with the PLNT (Public Libraries Northern Territory) group which had a meeting scheduled at the Palmerston Public Library, 16 and 17 September. So for the first time, library and information workers from throughout the Territory - Darwin, Palmerston, Alice Springs, Batchelor, Katherine and Jabiru - came together to learn about current activities, develop new ideas and explore future options with colleagues in the area of information literacy and lifelong learning. The objectives of the Symposium were:
The four-person committee worked assiduously over a period of six months to bring together a wide-ranging program of papers from all types of libraries: public, academic and special. Prue Mercer, Convenor of the ALIA Information Literacy Forum and Manager, Information services, State Library of Victoria, delivered a thought-provoking keynote address setting the scene and laying out the issues facing us. The Symposium also afforded the opportunity, to address library issues relating to indigenous peoples in the Territory, which comprises an Aboriginal population of about 30 per cent. Several speakers noted the need to focus on the users, and their specific and very different needs. For some, simply getting people into the library was a huge step forward while, at the other end of the scale, the emphasis was on developing information literacy skills of students. Understanding the various communities and their environment is critical. Speakers made a significant call for those in the profession within the Territory to collaborate and to share the challenge of developing appropriate information literacy programs. The Symposium reiterated that library and information workers have a role to play, to lead the way and help communities cope with a mass of information. And those working in the same sector should consider getting together and looking at opportunities for collaboration. By all accounts the Symposium was regarded as a great success for all concerned and there are calls for ALIA Top End to host similar symposia on an annual basis. I would like to take this opportunity to thanks our sponsors for their generous support: Ebsco, Bolinda Publishing, Corporate Express, Charles Darwin University and Peter Walton and Associates.
Jayshree Mamtora Committee members: Jayshree Mamtora, Linda Winzar, Sarah White, Ruth Quinn
DDC 22When Melvil Dewey first created the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) in 1876, it reflected the state of knowledge about the world from the perspective of a white, male Westernised American of the late 19th century. Successive editions of DDC have been needed since then to keep up with the growth in technology, attitudes and the inclusiveness of non-Western thought. In 2003 we are up to Edition 22 (DDC22). These editions come around about every seven years. Since the 21st edition in 1996 there has grown a need for new numbers that are now in DDC22. One example is 346.016 for the legal aspects of same sex marriage. (I'll bet Melvil wouldn't have predicted that one!) Other examples are 302.231 for the sociology of digital media (eg Internet), 070.57973 for Web publications and 381.177 for online auctions. There has also been the need for changes of numbers that reflected 19th century attitudes but do not sit well with enlightened 21st century attitudes. An interesting example is the distinction in DDC21 and previous editions that was made between assimilated ethnic groups in society (305.8...) and 'indigenous groups living in distinct communities, not integrated in the economic and social life of a nation' (306.08...). In DDC22, this distinction has gone with 306.08... being merged with 305.8... I am not sure if it is because there are few groups left in the world who would qualify for the 306.08 call number or the implication that we should keep the 'natives' apart on the library shelves from the ethnic groups who have done the right thing and assimilated into the dominant culture. Other changes have been fairly cosmetic to keep up to date with current terminology. For example, topics in 341 have changed their name from 'International government organisations' to 'Intergovernmental organisations'. Some sections of DDC have had to have been expanded to cope with the growth of publications in the area which, left alone, would have resulted in masses of books on shelves at one short call number. In DDC21, low-carbohydrate, low-cholesterol, low-fat and sugar-free cooking all went to 641.5638. Now they are all at separate call numbers. Some new numbers have been created for things people have been doing all along but is now the latest 'thing' to be written about. An example is time management that has its own call number (650.11) DDC22 also reflects new political situations and has updated the historical subdivisions of many countries. For example, the new country of East Timor is at 959.87 and New Zealand history from 2000 onwards is at 993.04. There have been many other changes from DDC21 to DDC22 and more information can be found at http://www.oclc.org/dewey/DDC_Edition_22/NEW_FEATURES.pdf Bill Constantine
The NTU Library has disappeared? RUBBISH!For a start the NTU is now officially CDU: Charles Darwin University, and the Library is now part of the LRD (Learning Resources Division). The Learning Resources Division has been created from a merger between the former Divisions of Library Services and Teaching and Learning Services to provide a strong and integrated academic support service that interacts with students and academic staff. The way people learn and the learning environment in the tertiary education sector has changed in recent years. There is now a strong emphasis on collaborative learning environments, on learning strategies and outcomes. The interaction between educational design, learning resource production, information literacy and information access is considered an essential part of the educational process. The Commonwealth Government has appropriately placed renewed emphasis on the importance of teaching and learning in the tertiary education sector, and a structure based on integrated academic support services allows us to respond to that emphasis. The structure of the Learning Resources Division is shown in the Organisational Chart. The Division is organised in two main branches: Teaching and Learning Development Branch - brings together educational designers, liaison librarians and learning resource production staff to support academic staff in the development of curriculum and learning resources. Staff in this branch will also be responsible for the development of information literacy and research into teaching and learning. Library and Information Access Branch - brings together information resources (acquisition and cataloguing), access services (off campus client support), and information services (lending and reference) that will enable the Division to develop appropriate services to support a flexible learning space (information commons) that will provide a one-stop assistance for retrieving and utilising information from all sources for students and academic staff. So the NTU Library has not disappeared. It has been rejuvenated by the above amalgamation, and will be better able to serve students and staff in the provision of learning resources to support teaching and research.
Ruth Quinn Staff movementsGoodbye to Sarah White who is leaving Darwin to live in New South Wales. Emma Darby is the new Collection Development Librarian at Darwin Public Libraries.
LYL : Locate your libraryPublic libraries and knowledge centres throughout the Territory are now more accessible on the Internet with the launching of the Locate Your Library portal by Minister Ah Kit on Wednesday 17th September. The portal links to individual library and knowledge centre pages that include information about the programme, activities, collections and services offered by them. As well as providing a web presence Locate Your Library serves as a community notice board for their communities. This has been achieved by the creation of both a searchable community organisation database and an event calendar. Currently there are 240 organisations listed and more will wish to join as the portal becomes better known. Organisations are empowered to enter and maintain their own entry on the database and can even add a link to their own organisation's website. The calendar of events is also available to organisations that have registered with Locate Your Library to advertise upcoming events. This project is the culmination of much effort and work by staff of Northern Territory Library and Information Services and in consultation with staff from all the libraries throughout the Territory. The URL of the Locate Your Library portal is http://www.lyl.nt.gov.au For more information contact Lisa Darby, Locate Your Library Manager on 08 8922 0748 or lisa.darby@nt.gov.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)
ALIA TOP END Meeting ReminderALIA meetings usually take place on the third Tuesday of the month. We look forward to seeing all of you in the new year! Thank you to Robin Hempel, Ruth Quinn, Jayshree Mamtora and Bill Constantine. Please forward any contributions or feedback to kirapaznikovbarry@nme.com.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address) |
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