ALIA Top End

Interface May 2005

Editorial

Welcome to the second issue for 2005 of the ALIA Top End newsletter. The Top End Group are gearing up for the 3rd ALIA Top End Symposium Technology, visions or nightmares: true stories in the territory which will be held 7-8 October 2005. The May issue of Interface is packed full of interesting issues such as the results of the ALIA survey, conference reports from the Super Searcher and Online Conferences, the call for papers for the symposium and regular features like the 'Convenors report', 'Conference dates' and 'Moving up and moving on'. If you would like to contribute to the newsletter please e-mail Barbara Coat barbara.coat@cdu.edu.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address).

Convenors report

Convenor: Jayshree Mamtora jayshree.mamtora@cdu.edu.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)

The ALIA Top End executive committee has endeavoured to bring you a number of activities in the first half of this year with plans in progress for the remaining half. We kicked off with the hugely successful seminar, Power Searching with the Pros, on 18 February. There were 64 attendees and excellent feedback was received. In fact, of the 47 evaluation forms completed, 100 per cent of these declared the event to be either excellent (76.6 per cent) or good (23.4 per cent).

Monthly meetings were held in February, March and April. The February meeting was held at the Charles Darwin University, Casuarina Campus Library where Ruth Quinn, director of library and information access gave attendees a tour of the newly opened 'learning precinct'. Stephen Barnett followed with a report on the Information Online conference. The March meeting was held at the Northern Territory Library and Information Service in Winnellie with a presentation by Cate Richmond on indigenous knowledge centres. And in April, the meeting was held at CDU Palmerston Campus Library followed by dinner at the Karawa Training Restaurant. There was a great turnout and everybody enjoyed the evening. In addition to Library and Information Week activities (see below), we are looking forward to the May meeting at the NT Police and Emergency Services Library and the National Library Technicians' Day dinner at the sailing club. A big 'thank you' to all hosts and presenters.

In tandem with the call for papers for the 3rd ALIA Top End Symposium, Peter Walton ran a workshop on writing abstracts held in the conference room of the CDU Casuarina Campus Library on 12 May. A small but interested group took away a few ideas with a view to submitting abstracts. A workshop on presentation skills will be run by Dr Roger Clifton of Rostrum in August.

Plans are well underway for the second half of the year which include a visit to the Museum Library in June followed by drinks at the Water Ski Club, a garden party in July, a trip to the Minerals and Energy Library in August. October will see our major event of the year: the 3rd ALIA Top End Symposium - an exciting program is being planned. See more details below. There will also be a group dinner hosted at Tim's Surf and Turf (formerly 10 Litchfield) on 11 October where Andrew Booth will give a dinner presentation on evidence-based librarianship. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Charles Sturt University graduation photo's

Jayshree Mamtora with supervisor

Pat Whalan, serials manager, NTL (left) graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Library and Information Science) and Jayshree Mamtora with Masters of Applied Science by research. Sarah Manning, Tennant Creek Public library also graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Library and Information Science) but did not attend graduation.

Australian Library and Information Week

ALIA Top End is celebrating Library and Information Week 23-29 May 2005 with the following activities:

Newspaper features: Darwin/Palmerston Sunday Wednesday 18 May; Territory Times Friday 20 May; Northern Territory News Monday 23 May

ALIA Top End LIW Stall Jamaica Blue Balustrade, Casuarina Square Thursday 26 May 9:00am-5:30pm

ALIA Top End LIW banner Casuarina Square Food Court 23-29 May

National Library Technicians' Day dinner Sailing Club Tuesday 24 May 6:00pm

Celebrations for National Library Technicians Day at Darwin Sailing Club. Featured are Dianne Wilcox Frieda Evans, Bronwyn King Jayshree Mamtora and Heather Filmer

ALIA hints

ALIA local liaison officer: Anastasia Govan anastasia.govan@powerwater.com.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address) mb 0401 118 193

The ABS has just released a two pager on their statistics about no of people frequenting libraries and comparing it to other cultural activities. Available from http://www.abs.gov.au.

When you're asked the question why are you a member of ALIA one of the great membership benefits you can point out is access to Phil Teece (ph 02 6215 8228, fx 02 6282 2249, phil.teece@alia.org.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)) who assists members with industrial relations issues such as:

• Am I receiving a proper salary?
• What awards, agreements or legislation cover my employment?
• How can I go about negotiating an individual contract?
• How should I structure a pay claim or a request for reclassification?
• What are my rights in the workplace?
• How can ALIA help me to address restructuring of the library staffing?

Join our e-list!

aliaNT is the ALIAnet e-list affiliated with the ALIA Top End group. Subscribe to aliaNT by heading to the e-list and entering your e-mail address and a password. You'll be sent an e-mail asking you to confirm your subscription. Just follow the instructions and you'll be communicating with the rest of the group's members in no time at all.

ALIA Top End survey results

19 surveys were received providing a great deal of information for the ALIA Top End Committee to consider in planning the 2005 program of activities.

With regards to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities, 19 different workshop themes were identified. The only workshop theme suggested by more than one person, was a Metadata workshop. Seven specific libraries were identified as tour venues along with suggestions of visits to special, school and scientific libraries. It was also suggested that ex-Darwin libraries could provide virtual tours through teleconference facilities. 14 different types of guest speakers were identified and of these nine presenters were suggested by name. Other types of activities suggested included panels of presenters.

On a lighter side, support was given for socials that enable networking with preferences for BBQ and café venues. There was also a mention that loud venues were not suitable.

With regards to the groups meeting format, four participants thought monthly meetings were too often and three participants appreciated monthly meetings. There was support for the combined meeting and tour/CPD format. Ex-Darwin members could be better informed of meetings if minutes/agendas were distributed via e-mail.

Responses from non-members about what would encourage them to join included: more communication, more quality guest speakers, making it possible to join online by credit card, and knowing that you can pay monthly.

The preference of most survey participants was to receive Interface electronically. Nine participants would like to receive the group's newsletter electronically and only two preferred it in hardcopy.

Other comments made by those who completed the surveys included being more inclusive of ex-Darwin member needs and focusing the group's efforts on the ALIA Top End Symposium.

Several comments were also received 'to keep up the good work'.

Welcome to new ALIA members

A warm welcome aboard to the following NT residents who have recently joined ALIA (Jan-May 2005):

• Associate Members:
  
  • John Chisholm
  • Susan Davidson
  • Robyn Tranthem
• Members:
  
  • Chris Capel
  • Helen Edney
  • Heather Moorcroft
  • Patricia Pini
  • Tracey Scholz
  • Leigh Walker
  • Vicki Williams

And special congratulations to Julie Fawcett who has been awarded the distinction of Associate Fellow of ALIA in the Library Technician membership - certificate [pdf 240KB] from ALIA is attached.

Meeting calendar 2005

Monthly meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Venues to be confirmed.

ALIA Top End meetings for 2005

25 May
22 June
27 July
24 August
28 September
26 October
23 November

Moving up moving on

Ruby Lindberg left the Parliamentary Library Service to take up a position with the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment (DIPE) information resource centre. Ruby had been with Parliamentary Library Service as the parliamentary support librarian since July 1999.

Peta Kruse has joined the CDU liaison team from April 2005 after working previously having worked as a reference librarian at CDU.

Karen McDowall has also joined the CDU liaison team from May 2005 and comes to the NT from the BAE-TAFE Library Parafield Airport in South Australia

Jennifer White has left the CDU Library and the library profession to pursue a career in psychology with Centrelink. Jenny completed her masters in psychology late in 2004.

Thank you to participating libraries from the CDU library technicians' course

I would just like to thank the libraries around Darwin who have given the diploma students a tour on the workings of their library. We visit six different types of library and it is valuable experience for students to see that not all libraries are run the same. People who laugh when we bring out the microfilm reader haven't been to NTL for a while, and people who look surprised when we show them how to drill holes into the books to re-cover them haven't worked at the Uni. Students need to be able to have a broad knowledge of what is out there and could be expected of them. So if you ever think, 'we don't do that anymore' there may another type of library who may.

So again thank you to the libraries who participate it is greatly appreciated and if anyone else would like to be involved either with a tour or work placement give Kaye or myself a call.

This year also marks the twentieth anniversary of library technician graduates in Darwin and the feeling so far is that it is going to be a great night with past students coming from all over the place. It is going to be great to see what road graduates careers have taken them.

Jill Heffernan jill.heffernan@cdu.edu.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)

Technology, Visions or Nightmares: True Stories in the Territory

3rd ALIA Top End Symposium 7-8 October 2005 Charles Darwin University, Palmerston Campus, NT

Keynote speaker: Dianne Thompson, Legal Services Commission of South Australia

Topic Outline: Having an IT nightmare? Rescue your vision from the dark side!

Does your organisation need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the twenty first century? This paper outlines one librarian's experiences with introducing online services to the workplace - the hard way! It describes some of the successful strategies employed at the Legal Services Commission of South Australia to implement technology-based projects - it also outlines some of the failures! It examines strategies for dealing with clients or management when they resist attempts to introduce new ways of providing or accessing information. Practical advice is given on issues such as combating resistance to change, obtaining funding for new projects, the value of collaboration with like-minded colleagues, changing roles for staff, and making people think you are giving them what they want.

First notice and call for papers

Following on from the successful symposiums in 2003 and 2004, join us in participating in the 3rd ALIA Top End Symposium organised by Territorians for Territorians.

This year's Symposium theme is Technology, Visions or Nightmares: True Stories in the Territory. Many of us have failed technology projects that still give us nightmares but we also have many triumphs to share and be proud of. Come along and share your dreams, nightmares and visions.

The Northern Territory Government in its strategy document Building a better territory speaks of a commitment by Government to 'strengthen the territory's knowledge and innovation base'. Be at the forefront of this commitment by taking part in our symposium.

Participants will have the opportunity:

• To expand their knowledge about current activities.
• Explore new ideas.
• Gain insight into future options with colleagues.

Presentations will generally be:

• 20 minutes long with ten minutes for question time.
• Collaborative papers are welcome.

You are invited to submit abstracts of no more than 300 words. For further information or to submit abstracts contact Dianne Wilcox, ph 8988 2723.

Conference reports

Information Online Sydney 1st to 3rd February 2005
Stephen Barnett CDU Library

http://conferences.alia.org.au/online2005/papersandpresentations.php

My overall comments

• Because of concurrent themes and multiple keynotes some good sessions were missed.
• I found that many sessions I attended in the main auditorium had poor acoustics and not enough air-conditioning.
• Generally though it's a great conference to get to!
• There are delegates from all over the world - China, Finland, Italy, Malaysia, the UK and of course the US. There was also a strong Kiwi contingent with 90 delegates. With over 1100 people registered, It was hard to catch up with people!

They are from Mars - we are from reference

• Joan Frye Williams provided a very true, witty, amusing but highly pertinent presentation on the differences in culture between librarians and IT staff.
• A very personable presenter, Joan captured many situations with which we are all familiar including the all important 'What do you recommend'.
• Table of comparative cultural values[16KB .pdf]

From the conference blog...

• One delegate accused her of being a fly on the wall in his library! Delegates were given very practical tips including one I will pass on to you all.
• Show no emotion!
• So, no tears, no screaming and most of all no physical violence. Another one I have to repeat is give your techies good toys! The latest and best. So they will have credibility and standing with their peers; and not have sand kicked in their face because they work in the library.
• Also, when the information from the techie gets too dense, ignore the nouns and focus on the verbs - they always mean the server will go down.

Listen for these keywords:

• 'Reconfigure' = interrupted service
• 'Swap' = interrupted service
• 'Upgrade' = interrupted service
• 'Migrate' = interrupted service
• 'Test' = interrupted service
• 'Standardise' = interrupted service
• 'Comply' = interrupted service

A5: is your library website obsolete?

• This paper contains an overview of the creation of Macquarie University Library's portal including the creation of portlets explicitly based on individual course requirements. A web presence composed of portlets is a user-focused method of delivering dynamic content on demand. It enables the provision of seamless access to tailored information.
• Portlets allow the library to be proactive about the provision of content while maintaining a systematic information management and content architecture to ensure that consistency, reusability and quality of web-based content.
• Nishen Naidoo, Macquarie University Library

But where are all the books? The electronic library at Southern Cross University: modelling for the future

• The Tweed Gold Coast Campus Library is the first 'electronic library' of Southern Cross University. It is the kind of study environment where innovative thinking about the student's experience of university life has been essential.
• The library is a 'bookless' space, facilitating the provision of information resources predominantly by electronic means.
• Acceptance of such a paradigm shift has required the development of a holistic model of service, with a number of strategies being employed to develop client confidence, encourage interaction, promote self-sufficient research skills, and enhance the online experience.

Understanding context sensitive linking and federated searching , Frank Cervone, http://conferences.alia.org.au/online2005/pres/a10.pps [pps 748KB]

• Federated searching is the next generation in library services on the web provides a single, unified interface to multiple information products it results in enhanced visibility of information resources and greater patron satisfaction.
• Based on an implementation case study at Northwestern University in the United States, this session explored the concepts and technologies employed to implement federated search as well as at a look at implementation questions and concerns.
• The session covered the broader perspective related to what software is currently available and how various standards, such as OpenURL, OAI, and XML relate to these new services.
• http://www.cervone.com/

Txting librarians @ curtin
http://conferences.alia.org.au/online2005/pres/a12.pps [pps 2.6MB]

• SMS has become a popular way of communicating, particularly amongst the X and Y generation that form a large proportion of our university client base. As a form of communication it's mobile, asynchronous and in everybody's hands. In 2004 the library and information service piloted an SMS service, enabling their clients to SMS or TXT a query to the library.
• This service, an extension of the LIS virtual reference service, is one of the first of its kind in Australia.
• This paper looked at the various methods of providing an SMS service that were considered by LIS. It described the method chosen and how it was implemented, indicating problems and challenges that were encountered on the way. Lastly, it focused on the response and results of the SMS query pilot, and provide tips for others who are interested in implementing a similar service... beginning with 'get those thumbs moving'!

What does a librarian do without a collection?

• Michelle Nijk
  http://conferences.alia.org.au/online2005/papersandpresentations.php
• Department of Primary Industries, Victoria
• The library and information service of DPI are undertaking great change to make themselves relevant and efficient in an competitive information environment.
• The libraries redevelopment project has driven this change with consolidation of collections to a high density state-of-the-art storage facility, a new intranet site - 'virtual library' and the transformation of librarians to knowledge resource managers.
• These staff must make the transition from an operational role to a more strategic one and prove their worth without a library collection.

Libraries Australia: simplifying the search experience

• Parallel searching of multiple remote databases.
• Libraries Australia is capable of searching multiple remote Z39.50 targets in parallel via a broadcast search.
• The new service currently allows searching of twelve remote targets (the ANBD, Kinetica Chinese Japanese and Korean Database, PictureAustralia, British Library Catalogue, Library of Congress Catalogue, OCLC WorldCat, Research Libraries Group Union Catalogue, SCIPIO, Singapore National Union Catalogue, Te Puna and RLG Union Catalogue).
• Also includes two new targets, the Australian full text journals (APAFT) and Canada Institute of Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI).
• Today's users have come to expect instant and easy access to information resources through use of the internet. Search engines such as Google [8] provide highly relevant results quickly through an easy to use single search box.
• Libraries Australia has adopted a 'Google style' simple search interface through which users can do phrase and synonym searching using exactly the same conventions as Google.
• There are no stop words in Libraries Australia; all words are searched for and the case of entered search terms is not significant. Terms entered into the basic search interface are automatically ANDed together, and the boolean operators OR and NOT are supported if entered in uppercase. This behaviour is also modelled on Google.
• Libraries Australia - from the NLA
  Libraries Australia is an exciting redevelopment of the Kinetica service from NLA. Its exciting on several fronts.
• Its an exellent example of a service developed to meet client needs instead of automating a procedural process.
• Its imaginative. It links NLA file to meet catalogues of major libraries that have disparate interfaces and show call numbers and availability on shelves.
• If the item is not available for loan in Australia it links to online bookshops for purchase including amazon.com.
• Its user screen is beautifully designed - simple, clean but with options for linking and for advanced searching.
• The NLA has gone on record to say some of it will be free in the future.
• http://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/apps/kss.

Conference reports

Power searching with the pros, one-day workshop, 18 February 2005, held at CDU.

Report by Peta Kruse CDU

The presenters were Chris Sherman and Mary Ellen Bates of Web Search Pacific. Sponsors for the workshop were ALIA, NTLIS, CDU and Informit Search.

This seminar was designed not only for librarians but also for 'everyone who needs good quality information as part of their work'. Chris Sherman took participants behind the scenes to learn more about how search engines are constructed and function. Next we delved into the 'invisible web'- information that's available to those who know how to find it. Participants were encouraged to think beyond the 'biggest is best' when it comes to search engines - to Google or not to Google... it really depends on what information you're after.

Mary Ellen Bates explored misinformation on the web and how to critically review sites for authenticity. She also discussed in detail the issue of paying for information through a comparison of web-based versus traditional online services.

As a participant, one could not help being thoroughly impressed with the outstanding quality of the presentations. It was an opportunity not to be missed to be exposed to such professional speakers and the invaluable information presented.

Mary Ellen Bates and Chris Sherman

Mary Ellen Bates, Chris Sherman and committee - Jayshree Mamtora, Ruth Quinn and Ann Ritchie