November 2004

In this aliaPUBNEWS broadcast:

States and territories
Community heritage grants; New Kinetica search interface; MPLA Conference scholarship winners; Scholarship winners from Victoria; Knowledge in the information age

International
A proposal to transform learning and training in the US; UK parliamentary inquiry into public libraries; Major impact study of the UK's People's Network

Policy and advocacy
Smith Family report on digital divide; International trends in adult literacy policy and programs

News from ALIA
ALIA's online shopfront; Board of Directors - call for nominations; Forum on Purchasing Agreements and Licensing

States and territories

Community heritage grants
Fifty-five museums, libraries, archives and historical societies from around Australia have received funding to preserve their documentary heritage collections through the 2004 Community Heritage Grants Program. Grants totalling $201 745 were announced by the federal Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp, at a presentation ceremony at the National Library on 17 November. Among the public libraries and local government authorities to receive grants were Forbes Shire Council, Ashfield Municipal Council, Blue Mountains City Library Service and Liverpool City Council from NSW; Mount Isa City Council Library, Qld; Wellington Shire Council, Vic; and City of Albany, City of Melville and Shire of Lake Grace, WA. At the presentation ceremony the Minister said that the government will increase funding for the program from 2005.
http://www.nla.gov.au/chg/

New Kinetica search interface
Kinetica has announced that its new search service, Libraries Australia, will be installed into production on 8 December 2004. From this date KineticaWeb Search will be decommissioned and replaced by the new interface. There will be network preview day of Libraries Australia on Wednesday 1 December when Kinetica users will be able to log in and preview the new interface.
http://www.nla.gov.au/kinetica/

MPLA Conference scholarship winners
The winners of the Metropolitan Public Libraries Association (NSW) Conference scholarships for 2004 were announced on 18 November. Entries were open to library studies students and recent graduates and the winners were Joanne Timor (library technician) and Rebecca Holmes (librarian). Joanne is currently studying for the Diploma in Library and Information Services. She works at Marrickville Library and has a particular interest in getting more aboriginal youth in the door to see how great libraries are. Rebecca has just completed the Grad Dip in Information Science. She works in a training position at Newcastle Regional Library and chairs a cross-council working party to aid in improving library services for youth. The theme of the 2004 MPLA Conference is youth culture and libraries.
http://www.mplansw.asn.au/confer/2k4/index.html

Scholarship winners from Victoria
Michael Byrne, library operations co-ordinator, Monash Public Library Service, and Gayle Rowden, manager of library operations, Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service have been awarded scholarships from the State Library of Victoria. Michael has been awarded the Margery C Ramsay Scholarship and will spend four weeks at New York's Queens Borough Public Library investigating its holistic approach to community building. Gayle has been awarded the Barrett Reid Scholarship and will investigate services to the aged and housebound in the UK and Canada. (Australian Library News, Issue 157, 11 November 2004)

Knowledge in the information age
Libraries have never been more important than during the present online information revolution Nobel Prize winner Professor Peter Doherty AC said in his Keith Murdoch Oration at the State Library of Victoria on 4 November. Professor Doherty explored the question of knowledge versus information in our contemporary world. He talked not only about books and paper records and digital information, but also about the vital scientific and medical databases, such as DNA samples, the real significance of which could go well beyond immediate practical use.
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/about/news/media_releases/

International

A proposal to transform learning and training in the US
A powerful coalition of experts from public and private sectors has submitted a proposal to the United States Congress for the creation of the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (DO IT). The trust would stimulate and fund development of new educational software and content for learning, skills training and lifelong use by future generations. It would be funded by revenues from commercial exploitation of the publicly owned electromagnetic spectrum, expected to be in the tens of billions of dollars. This initiative is intended to be as transformational for the education and prosperity of Americans as the land grants to support public education in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the GI Bill of 1944 which provided educational opportunities for World War II veterans. Policy debate on DO IT is likely to start with US Senate Committee hearings in February 2005.
http://www.digitalpromise.org

UK parliamentary inquiry into public libraries
The United Kingdom Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee is conducting an inquiry into the government's policy on public libraries, the current state of the service and its future development. In its submission CILIP, the Chartered Insitute of Library and Information Professionals, praises the government for developments such as the 'Framework for the future' strategy and investment in the People's Network. However, CILIP also says that more needs to be done to recognise the contribution that public libraries are making to the UK government's policy objectives. The terms of reference for the inquiry are at:
http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/culture__media_and_sport/

Major impact study of the UK's People's Network
A major new impact study shows how public libraries in the UK are being transformed and revitalised by the introduction of computers. This independent evaluation reveals the scale of the transformation of library services as a result of the People's Network, a 120 million pound UK lottery-funded project to connect 4200 public libraries to the internet. The evaluation is based on 16 detailed case studies. It suggests that users are overwhelmingly positive about internet and computer access in libraries. By complementing traditional services with new technologies public libraries are providing new routes to knowledge and information. Tavistock Institute,'Books and bytes: new service paradigms for the 21st century library', published by the Big Lottery Fund on 25 November 2004. The report and a summary evaluation are available:
http://www.mla.gov.uk/news/

Policy and advocacy

Smith Family report on digital divide
A study by the Smith Family has concluded that simply providing access to computers and IT training programs is not enough to overcome the 'digital divide'. Effective access and training has a community element that fosters development of social networks and provides a supportive, inclusive environment. The report is based on the experiences of more than 570 people who have benefitted from the Smith Family's Community Technology Learning Centre in Collingwood, Vic. The Centre has been declared Australia's official demonstration site for the Microsoft Unlimited Potential program. The report by Kristy Muir, 'Connecting communities with CTLCs: from the digital divide to social inclusion' (The Smith Family, 2004) can be downloaded from:
http://www.smithfamily.com.au

International trends in adult literacy policy and programs
A report from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research summarises adult literacy policies and practices in vocational education in six countries: Canada, New Zealand, United States, Ireland, United Kingdom and Australia. The report finds that, compared to other countries, Australia has a strong focus on the integration of literacy with vocational education and training standards and national qualifications, and a relatively-advanced quality assurance system. 'Building sustainable adult literacy provision: a review of international trends in adult literacy policy and programs' by Rosa McKenna and Lynne Fitzpatrick.
http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1515.html

News from ALIA

ALIA's online shopfront
ALIA's online shopfront was launched at the National Policy Congress on 19 November 2004. This is the place to join the Association, to renew memberships, to buy merchandise, and to subscribe to journals and magazines.
http://shop.alia.org.au/

Board of Directors - call for nominations
Nominations are called for ALIA vice-president (president-elect) and two positions on the ALIA Board of Directors. Nominees should be personal members of the Association and will represent the interests of the organisation as a whole rather than those of a particular constituency. The closing date for nominations is 1 February 2005
http://alia.org.au/governance/elections/2005/

Forum on Purchasing Agreements and Licensing
The fourth ALIA Forum on Purchasing Agreements and Licensing will be held in Sydney at the State Library of New South Wales on Friday 4 February 2005. The forum will bring libraries and suppliers together to discuss the issues of concern in the acquisition of online resources. Through presentations by invited speakers and group discussion, the forum will explore consortia and purchasing models, licensing issues and effective negotiation and collaboration. The forum follows highly-successful forums in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane in 2004. For more informatoin and to register:
http://alia.org.au/events/moreinfo.html?924

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