6 August 2007

Community service excellence takes out 2007 Library Achiever of the Year in South Australia

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Onkaparinga is the largest council in South Australia, comprising some 55 suburbs, and is home to 10% of the state's total population. It's also home to Onkaparinga librarian and Coordinator of the City of Onkaparinga Community Information Service, Mary Ellis, who has been awarded the 2007 South Australian Library Achiever of the Year for her efforts to connect members of the community to the information they need in their daily lives.

Ms Ellis was nominated for the award by her colleague, Rosalie Day from Community Information Strategies Australia Inc, who said she was impressed with Mary's "extraordinary dedication to her community".

"Mary lives locally, works locally and is dedicated to helping her community work better," Ms Day said.

State Convenor for the Australian Library and Information Association, Kate Sinclair, said the Award was made in recognition of Ms Ellis' dedication to coordinating the changeover from a centre-based community information service to one which operates from, and is managed by, the Library.

RAECO has sponsored the Library Achiever of the Year Award since its inception in 2006, when it was established to recognise excellence and innovation within the library and information profession in South Australia.

National Sales Manager Trevor McCann said he believed both the corporate and library landscapes are facing changes in which excellence in innovation such as that achieved by the Onkaparinga Community Information Service is vital.

"Adaptability and versatility are key to shaping the future and our sponsorship of this Award is very much a part of our policy of giving back to the community," Mr McCann said.

"We congratulate Mary on her project, which has added significant value to the social capital at Onkaparinga and reaffirm our commitment to working with libraries in Australia and New Zealand to deliver innovative library solutions to engage their local and wider communities," he said.

In accepting the Award, Ms Ellis praised and thanked her co-workers and the Council for their support of the project.

"The City of Onkaparinga considers community information to be an important service and this was a vital part of our success," Ms Ellis said.

"Community information services help individuals overcome information overload and find out who is doing what, where and how to contact them. These services provide help to people in need," she said.

"This was a huge task in anyone's language," Ms Sinclair said. "It included management of the database of over 1300 community information resources, training across the Library and broader Council staffs, and promotion throughout the local community about the new service, how it works and where to go for help," she said.

"All the community information services in the area can be accessed via the Council website at http://www.onkaparingacity.com.

"The team led by Mary has incorporated the latest technology, such as using the web and RSS feeds, into the service mix, to make these resources as accessible as possible. Over 130 workers and community members received training and can now also access targeted mailing lists from the Community Information database to promote local activities.

"This is what library work is all about," Ms Sinclair said. "It's our job to connect people with the information they need. Mary Ellis - and the Onkaparinga Community Information Service - are both great examples of just how effective this can be."

ENDS