2005 annual report

Key activities held in 2005

2005 was a busy year for ALIA Top End with a good balance of activities both social and professional. A survey of members and non-members carried out at the beginning of the year helped the Committee plan a program of activities for the year. Membership of the group stood at 68 by the end of the year.

PD events and activities
A number of professional development activities were held in 2005 with the two most successful being the Power searching with the pros seminar held on 18 February and the 3rd ALIA Top End Symposium held 7-8 October.

The hugely successful Power searching seminar was run by international presenters, Chris Sherman and Mary Ellen Bates and attracted 64 attendees. Excellent feedback was received and 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).
October saw ALIA Top End's major event of the year: the 3rd ALIA Top End Symposium, Technology: Visions or Nightmares - True Stories in the Territory. The symposium was held over two half days and attracted approximately 70 participants from the NT and interstate. Once again, it was a well-attended event with a great program and excellent feedback was received.
A series of workshops were held in the lead up to the symposium.

In tandem with the call for papers for the 3rd ALIA Top End Symposium, Peter Walton ran a workshop on writing abstracts on 12 May. A small but interested group took away a few ideas with a view to submitting abstracts.

In September, there were two more workshops: the Presentation skills workshop run by Dr Roger Clifton, and Chairing a conference session workshop run by Ruth Quinn. Whilst the number of attendees remained low, both workshops provided very useful tips and it is hoped will be repeated next year. Whilst the workshops targeted presenters and session chairs at the symposium, they were of course open to all.

On 11 October, Andrew Booth of evidence-based librarianship fame, did a pre-dinner presentation, Adapting or mutating?: future prospects for the librarian species at Tim's Surf and Turf Restaurant. About 20 friends and members attended.

Networking and social:

A great time was had by everyone who attended our social event of the year - the ALIA Top End garden party - held at the Chinese Gardens at Charles Darwin University's (CDU) Casuarina Campus. This event attracted 32 members and friends and was enjoyed by all. It was a great networking and promotional opportunity and membership kits were given to potential members. There were a number of requests to 'do it again' so we shall certainly bear that in mind for next time. We even managed to get some publicity in the social pages of the Northern Territory News with photos and a brief write-up.
Following the group meeting on 27 April, ALIA Top End hosted a dinner at the Karawa Training Restaurant of the CDU Palmerston Campus - another successful event which attracted 20 members and guests.
On 24 May a drinks and dinner get-together was held at the Sailing Club to mark National Technicians' Day.
Following the visit to the Museum Library in June, the group crossed over the road to the Water Ski Club for the group meeting and drinks.
Members and guests enjoyed a group dinner at Tim's Surf and Turf following Andrew Booth's presentation in October.
A dinner on the first day of the symposium in October brought together presenters, participants and members of the NT Historical Society at Kantilla's Restaurant.
A very lively Christmas function was held at the Asian Gateway Restaurant on 9 November. A special invitation was extended to Sarah Godowski, UK consultant, who was visiting at the time and Jo McGill, director of the Northern Territory Library.

Membership recruitment:

The convenor made a presentation about ALIA and its services to students undertaking the CDU Diploma in Library and Information Studies in 22 February and 21 September.
The Garden Party on 29 July also served as a membership drive and membership kits were handed out to would-be members. It was a great networking and promotional opportunity and membership kits were given to potential members.
The ALIA Top End stall at the NT Futures Expo on 16-17 August attracted a steady stream of visitors, and leaflets and brochures were handed out predominantly to year twelve students.

Other:

A survey of members and non-members working in the library and information sector was carried out in January 2005. The results were used to plan the program of activities for 2005 and to encourage new members to come on board.
The Regional ALIA National Advisory Congress consultation was held on 5 September and generated a lot of interesting discussion helped in part by some cheese and wine.
Jayshree Mamtora represented the Darwin group at the National Advisory Congress meeting in Canberra 25-26 November and did a presentation on Celebrating success which focussed on the Power searching with the pros seminar.
Library and Information Week was held 24-30 May and deemed a success with features published in each of the three local newspapers: Northern Territory news, Darwin/Palmerston sun and Territory times. A programme of library activities throughout the NT was printed as part of the feature. The ALIA Top End stall at Casuarina Square Shopping Centre was very successful, and an ALIA banner displayed in the shopping centre received maximum publicity. Good feedback was received from members to the publicity and a member based outside of Darwin, commented that it 'felt really positive and united'.
ALIA Top End negotiated the reinstatement of the ALIA Award for the Most Outstanding Student on the CDU Diploma in Library and Information Services program and in May, was won by Trish Olsson. Trish, who worked at the CDU Palmerston Campus Library, went on to win the NT Training Awards Vocational Student of the Year and was runner-up in the Australian Training Awards.
The Northern Territory Inter-Library Loans Agreement (NILLS) was redrafted and letters sent out to participating libraries to rejoin, and non-participating libraries with an invitation to join.
Julie Fawcett (Technician) and Jayshree Mamtora (Associate) were awarded the distinction of Associate Fellow of ALIA.
The AGM was held on 7 December at the Northern Territory Library and a new committee elected.

Group communications

Communication with members was carried out predominantly via the e-list, the web page, the quarterly newsletter as well as monthly face-to-face meetings. Meetings were held at different venues each time and the host library usually provided a tour of their library. At other times there was a presentation or social. In some months, for example, July, the meeting was replaced by another group activity such as the garden party.

23 February
Tour of Learning Precinct, CDU Casuarina Campus Library
Presentation: Sydney Online Conference by Stephen Barnett

23 March
Northern Territory Library
Presentation on Indigenous Knowledge Centres in the NT by Cate Richmond

27 April
CDU Palmerston Campus Library
Dinner at the Karawa Training Restaurant

25 May
NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services Library

22 June
Museum and Art Gallery of the NT Library
Meeting and social at the Water Ski Club

24 August
Department of Minerals and Energy Library

28 September
Casuarina Senior College Library

There were four very informative issues of Interface: newsletter of ALIA Top End produced in: February, May, August and November. Barbara Coat was Editor for 2005.

On behalf of the committee I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all our library hosts in 2005, our workshop presenters, the symposium organisers, our newsletter editor and most of all, our members, to whom we owe the success of 2005. Thanks also go to Ana Govan, local liaison officer and Melanie Bennett, group support officer and Ann Ritchie, board director, for their support.

Office bearers

Convenor: Jayshree Mamtora
Vice-Convenor: Linda Marchesani
Secretary: Di Sinclair
Treasurer: Dianne Wilcox

Office bearer submitting report

Jayshree Mamtora
Convenor 2005
31 January 2006

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