 home > publishing > annual.reports > 1995 > ALIA annual report |
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AdvocacyOur advocacy activities escalated during 1995. A program of visits to, and correspondence with, politicians was associated with promotional activities such as Australian Library Week and issues of concern to members. Our list of submissions to government inquiries provides an appreciation of the variety of issues dealt with during the year. ALIA National Office monitored all major public policy developments of relevance to members. Reports were provided through regular articles in inCite and a special feature on the Federal Budget was circulated to all members.The Lobby for libraries program was developed to provide advocacy training for ALIA members. The program has been very successful with seminars being held in many of the capital cities. It covers areas such as dealing with politicians, dealing with the media and developing a lobbying campaign. Lobby for libraries will be a major feature of 1996 activities with events proposed for a large number of regional centres as well as the Biennial Conference in Melbourne. Government submissionsWhereas the people... Civics and citizenship education Civics Expert GroupInquiry into migrant access and equity House of Representatives Standing Committee on Community Affairs Inquiry into the impact of 1991 amendments to the Copyright Act 1968, allowing parallel importation of books in certain circumstances, on book prices Prices Surveillance Authority Computer hardware, software, and related service industries Industry Commission Converging communications and computer technologies: Implications for Australia's future employment and skills National Board of Employment, Education and Training Telecommunications developments to the year 2000 and beyond Senate Economics References Committee Reference to review and simplify the Copyright Act 1968 Copyright Law Review Committee Review of the new schools policy Department of Employment Education and Training Content regulation of on-line information services Department of Communications and the Arts and Attorney General's Department Regulation of computer online services Senate Select Committee on Community Standards International activitiesALIA enjoys a high profile in international library affairs. There is an active International Relations Committee (IRC) which has a comprehensive program of activities. In 1995 the committee met four times and major activities included involvement in the Asia Fellowship Program, a schedule of articles in inCite on international issues, the delivery of a seminar program on the preservation of the written heritage of Thailand in Bangkok and the preparation of a paper for publication in 1996 on preservation of library materials in Southeast Asia.The membership of the IRC in 1995 reflected the breadth of interests of our Association and the cooperative nature of the Australian library community's international activities. Chaired by former ALIA president Bill Linklater, the committee comprises Warren Horton, director general of the National Library of Australia (NLA) and treasurer of IFLA; Anthony Ketley, president of ALIA's Asia-Pacific Special Interest Group; Helen Jarvis, head of the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of NSW; Robyn Stokes, Australian Library and Information International Services (ALIIS) and Virginia Walsh, ALIA executive director. The executive director represented ALIA at the Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) in Istanbul in August. At that meeting NLA director general Warren Horton, was re-elected to the IFLA Executive Board. ALIA vice-president Helen Tait, and the ALIA executive director attended the 50th Conference of the Canadian Library Association in Calgary. The ALIA vice-president attended the American Library Association Conference in Chicago. Visitors to ALIA National Office included the president and secretary general of IFLA, Bob Wedgeworth and Leo Voogt, and delegations from Thailand and Vietnam. During 1995 an effort was made to formalise an exchange of information with major library associations in America and Europe and with those organizations in the Asia-Pacific region closer to home. As a result ALIA National Office now exchanges its publications with eight other library associations and has developed closer working relations with organisations in the region. Meetings with related organisationsA joint meeting of executive committees of the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS) and ALIA was held in June. Meetings were held with the president and executive officer of the Council of University Librarians (CAUL) and the executive director of AIMA Training Services. The Association was represented by the ALIA executive director at meetings of the Libraries Working Group of the Cultural Ministers' Council, National Scholarly Communications Forum and National Book Council. The ALIA executive director is a member of the Australian Library and Information International Services (ALIIS) Advisory Committee.ALIA participated in the Book Day promotion of the Australian Book Publishers Association (now Australian Publishers Association) and in the Annual Book Fair (organised by the Booksellers and Publishers). General CouncilGeneral Council met on three occasions (March, July and November) in Canberra. General councillors covered a broad range of policy issues and the portfolio system was utilised to allocate particular areas of responsibility. This allowed each portfolio holder to establish effective contact and communication with all groups related to the portfolio, and to keep General Council informed on matters of interest and developments within the portfolio. 1995 General Council portfolios were:
ALIA National Office - organisation structureALIA National Office staff meet monthly in the ALIA National Office. These meetings provide an opportunity to exchange information about activities and to investigate options for increased productivity and efficiencies. As an adjunct to this regular meeting cycle a staff planning day was held for the first time in December 1995. This provided an excellent opportunity to review the operations during the year and to plan for the year to come. A number of changes to the duties and structure of ALIA National Office was agreed to.
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