June 2006

In this aliaPUBNEWS broadcast:

More than 3 million broadband services connected in Australia; Community capacity building guide; National Filter Scheme's impact on libraries; Scholarships for Victorian public library staff; Gold Coast City Council to introduce RFID for its library network; Local government national report; NSW local government cultural awards; New State Librarian for NSW appointed; Essay on children and internet access wins 2006 Jean Arnot Award; Metcalfe Award for Tania Barry; National Simultaneous Storytime 2006; Library stars: best of the best forum, 19 September 2006; Seminar on future directions for web-based catalogues; CLICK06 - ALIA 2006 Biennial Conference; ALIA National Advisory Congress 2006; What do young people think of public libraries?; Award winning website for visually impaired people; The Love Libraries campaign

More than 3 million broadband services connected in Australia
The take up of broadband services has passed three million connections, according to the latest Australian Competition and Consumer Commission 'Snapshot of Broadband Deployment' issued on 23 June 2006. "The report shows that as at the end of March 2006, there were 3,161,600 broadband services connected across Australia", ACCC Commissioner, Mr Ed Willett, said. This represents an increase of over one million customers, or 78 per cent, over the preceding 12-month period.
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/744386

Community capacity building guide
For those interested in the concepts and principles behind community capacity building a recent paper from the University of Tasmania's Housing and Community Research Unit is worth looking at. 'Community capacity building: a practical guide' by Dr Rowland Atkinson and Paul Willis is a plain language guide to the development of community capacity. The paper covers the concept of community capacity building, practical advice on methods, examples from Australia and overseas and advice on measuring effectiveness. While the paper is written mainly for housing workers, it also covers much of more general interest.
http://utas.edu.au/sociology/HACRU/occasional_papers.htm

National Filter Scheme's impact on libraries
According to press reports, it is likely to be six months before the free filter service under the federal government's new Protecting Australian Families program, is available (see, for example, the Australian, 27 June 2006 p.29). ALIA does not support any requirement for the National Library and State, Territory and local government libraries to provide filtering on public access internet terminals. ALIA has welcomed the federal government's announcement of funding for free internet filters for Australian families and increased funding for NetAlert to expand its community education activities through the Protecting Families Online program. However, Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director said 'It is difficult to see how public libraries could meet the widely varying needs of all their users if they are required to use filters on all public access internet terminals'. ALIA representatives are meeting with the Minister's office and the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts to discuss the implications for public libraries of the National Filter Scheme. We will keep ALIA members and the sector informed about these discussions. For further information on internet access issues:
http://alia.org.au/advocacy/internet.access/

Scholarships for Victorian public library staff
Applications are invited from Victorian public library staff for the 2006 Margery C. Ramsay and Barrett Reid Scholarships. The closing date for applications is 25 August 2006. For more information contact Beata Wacek, ph 03 8664 7046, bwacek@slv.vic.gov.au.nospam. Guidelines and application forms for the scholarships are available at:
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/research/scholarships/

Gold Coast City Council to introduce RFID for its library network
The Gold Coast City Council (Qld) is to become the first public library service in Australia to introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) across its entire library network. Almost 700,000 library items will be electronically tagged with the aim of speeding up processing of loans to improve services to library customers. In the 2004/05 financial year over five million loans were processes across the council's branch libraries. The Southport Branch library will be the first to go live with the new RFID system in mid August, with all other branch libraries using the new system by mid October.
http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/

Local government national report
The 'Local government national report 2004-05' is the annual report on the operation of the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995 and gives an overview of the operation and performance of local government from a national perspective. As such it is a source of information for those working in the sector and for researchers and others wishing to gain a better understanding of how local government operates in Australia. The report records the distribution of federal government grants to local government, compares the methods State Grants Commissions use to allocate the grants, and provides an account of initiatives to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of services provided by local government.
http://www.dotars.gov.au/local/publications/reports/index.aspx

NSW local government cultural awards
Winners of the Local Government and Shires Association of NSW Cultural Awards for 2006 were announced on 5 May. Award winning libraries and library programs for this year are: * Broken Hill Regional Writers Centre, an outreach program of the Broken Hill City Library dedicated to the support of regional literary activities * Canterbury City Library's Celebrating Cultures, which delivers an exciting program of multicultural events in the second most culturally diverse local government area in Australia * Kogarah Municipal Council's Kogarah Town Square Library and Cultural Centre development * Orange City Council, for its development of the state-wide @ your library marketing campaign for the NSW public library network * Waverley Council's Westfield/Waverley Library Award for Literature 2005; an example of a strategic partnership between the commercial, local government and community sectors.
http://www.lgsa.org.au/www/html/237-cultural-awards-.asp?intSiteID=1

New State Librarian for NSW appointed
Mr Regina Sutton has been appointed as the new State Librarian and Chief Executive of the State Library of New South Wales. Ms Sutton will take up the position on 10 July 2006. Ms Sutton's background is in business where she has held senior leadership roles in major corporations such as IBM, Telstra and Kodak.
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/media/

Essay on children and internet access wins 2006 Jean Arnot Award
The Jean Arnot Memorial Fellowship is an annual award for an outstanding original paper on any aspect of librarianship by a woman librarian or female student of librarianship. The 2006 winner is Elizabeth Beales, Children & Youth Services Team Leader, Barossa Council Public Library, Nuriootpa, SA, for her essay 'The Librarian as Cybernanny'. Her essay explores the complex issues around the risks to children of access to pornographic material on the internet and the role of the librarian as 'child minder'.
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/awards/arnot.cfm

Metcalfe Award for Tania Barry
The ALIA Metcalfe Award acknowledges high achievement by a personal member in the first five years of practice. Tania Barry, recipient of the Metcalfe Award in 2006, has combined extensive work in several areas for ALIA with academic success in her study program and contributions above and beyond requirements at Wyndham Library Service (Vic). Tania has been a very active member of ALIA. At Wyndham Library Service she transformed the junior fiction area in her first six months of employment as Children's and Youth Services Librarian and has created partnerships for the library with many local organisations. This award recognises Tania's significant contribution to many areas of the profession in a very short time.
http://alia.org.au/awards/metcalfe.award/

National Simultaneous Storytime 2006
ALIA invites all public library services, primary and pre-school libraries, early-childhood centres and pre-schools to participate in National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) 2006 by reading the picture book 'Good Night, Me' simultaneously throughout the country at 11.00am (AEST) on Friday 1 September 2006. You can now register online to take part in NSS 2006. A media kit, ideas for inspiration and a promotional flyer are also available online. The book and an activity pack will soon be available for purchase.
http://alia.org.au/advocacy/storytime/2006/

Library stars: best of the best forum, 19 September 2006
A reminder that registration is now open for 'Library stars: best of the best', Tuesday 19 September 2006, 9.30am – 4.30pm, Perth Convention Exhibition Centre. The varied program will showcase outstanding Australian public library projects and successes. There will also be a keynote address by Rolf Hapel, Library Director, Aarhus Public Libraries, Denmark. Aarhus Public Libraries won the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ‘Access to Learning’ Award in 2004. Registration ALIA members*: $100.00 (GST incl.) Non-members: $135.00 (GST incl.) * Members of PLA, LIANZA, ASLA and ASA are eligible for the ALIA member rate. 'Library stars' is a satellite event for the 2006 ALIA Biennial Conference, CLICK06, Perth, 19-22 September 2006 (early bird registration for CLICK06 closes on 14 July 2006). For more information please contact Susan Magnay, susan.magnay@alia.org.au.nospam, ph 02 6215 8225.
http://alia.org.au/governance/committees/public.libraries/stars.html

Seminar on future directions for web-based catalogues
On Monday 18 September 2006 in Perth, the Australian Committee on Cataloguing (ACOC) will present the seminar 'Beyond the OPAC : future directions for Web-based catalogues'. This full-day seminar will be ACOC's main professional development event for 2006 and will be of interest to all librarians and those responsible for the development of library catalogues and systems. It follows several very successful seminars in Sydney and Melbourne and again features a well known overseas speaker and a quality mix of Australian speakers. 'Beyond the OPAC' is a satellite event for the CLICK06 ALIA Biennial Conference. The program and registration details are available:
http://www.nla.gov.au/lis/stndrds/grps/acoc/acocseminar2006.html

CLICK06 - ALIA 2006 Biennial Conference
Perth Convention Exhibition Centre, Perth, Western Australia, 19-22 September 2006. Are you interested in workforce planning, the future of reference services, digital inequality, digital liberty, information literacy? The draft conference program including details of concurrent sessions is now available. There is a fantastic range of speakers, presentations and social opportunities on offer. Early bird registration closes on 14 July 2006.
http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2006/

ALIA National Advisory Congress 2006
As has been the case for the past three years the 2006 National Advisory Congress (NAC) will focus on celebrating the successes of the association, its groups and members. All financial personal and institutional members are invited to attend a regional meeting of the NAC. The topics for this year's program for the regional meetings include: * Celebrating success stories * Review of three ALIA policy statements - Statement on Free Access to Information, Statement on Professional Conduct, and ALIA Core Values Statement * Planning - achievements in 2006, forward planning for 2007 * Local issues In 2006 ALIA will continue with the two-tier model for the NAC. Regional meetings will be held in all capital cities and several regional centres in July-August. All regional meetings are invited to select someone from the meeting to attend the ALIA NAC. The national meeting will be held in association with the CLICK 06 conference - a half-day national meeting on the afternoon of 19 September 2006.
http://alia.org.au/governance/nac/2006/

What do young people think of public libraries?
A new report from the UK throws a light on what 14 to 35 year olds think of pubic libraries. The report, commissioned by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport and funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the Laser Foundation, studies the views, perceptions and attitudes towards public libraries of people aged between 14 and 35. The study chose to look at this age groups because this is the age range of people who do not use libraries. The report confirms that libraries must continue to evolve and adapt to keep pace with the changing expectations of young people. The report is available at:
http://www.mla.gov.uk/website/programmes/framework

Award winning website for visually impaired people
The Speaking Volumes initiative aims to bring the enjoyment of reading and involvement in reading activities to people with a visual impairment through the public libraries in fifteen local authorities throughout the Yorkshire and Humber region in England. The website is designed to be fully inclusive and is accessible to users with screen readers. Speaking Volumes received the Jodi 2006 Award for Excellence with Low Budgets. The judges found that it is an enjoyable and stimulating website for blind and partially sighted users. There are reviews of books available in audio format. It has reviews of the narrators of talking books, which can immensely influence a person’s enjoyment of a book. Not least, visitors are invited to create a lively website, taking part in online conversations. The Jodi Awards are annual awards in the UK for excellence in museum, library and archive web accessibility.
http://www.speakingvolumesonline.org.uk/

The Love Libraries campaign
Our third international story is also from the UK. A previous issue of aliaPUBNEWS covered the start of the 'Love Libraries' campaign, a campaign to transform three rather unlovely libraries over twelve weeks. You can follow the progress of each of the transformations at the Love Libraries website and also find out which 150 authors have given their support to the Love Libraries campaign. Oz Clark, a well-known wine reviewer has even created a wine list for each of the transformation libraries. Sadly for us, despite his name, there are no Australian wines included in his lists.
http://www.lovelibraries.co.uk/

A a