Education and training

In October the ALIA Board of Education held a forum with leading practitioners and educators from our sector and representatives from the Australian Computer Society, Australian Society of Archivists and the Records Management Association of Australia. The theme of the forum, Leading the profession into the 21st century: library and information services education, challenged the participants to think beyond current practice and to debate initiatives which would definitively position our sector within the wider information industry. The board has prepared a plan for strategic focus based on the forum outcomes and will be developing the issues and consulting widely on these throughout 1998.

Colette McCool was elected chair of the board. Margaret Findlay retired at the end of 1997 after six years on the board. Donna Reid, deputy chair, also retired at the completion of her three-year term.

The Association's project to develop a Strategy for the recognition of competence in the library and information services industry was completed. With funding from the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs and industry, the project piloted assessment strategies for the recognition of knowledge and skills against competency standards. A comprehensive publication has been produced and is available from ALIA national office. The developmental work and findings are now contributing to a number of projects being carried out in this area by other organisations.

The ALIA deputy executive director was re-elected as a member of the board of CREATE Australia, the national industry training advisory body covering our sector. The Association was instrumental in helping CREATE gain funding to develop training packages for the sector. These will include revised competency standards; qualification levels packaged against the competency standards; assessment guidelines and learning resources.

The ALIA Board of Education this year recognised library and information studies courses offered by the University of Canberra, Curtin University of Technology, Edith Cowan University, the Central Metropolitan College of TAFE and Adelaide Institute of TAFE. All other diploma courses in library and information studies, based on the national curriculum, received recognition until the end of 1998 as an interim procedure.

Industrial relations

In response to these developments, ALIA's industrial service provided personalised information, advice and support to hundreds of individual members. General material helped empower all members in regard to workplace matters. As the year ended, the most comprehensive survey of Australian librarians' working conditions ever undertaken was being completed. More than 1600 ALIA members were invited to take part in the survey which was conducted for ALIA by the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT). A magnificent real response rate of more than 75% was achieved - a remarkable result for a primarily postal-based project. The survey sample was very carefully constructed by ACIRRT to ensure that the distribution of library workers was statistically reflected, in terms of geographic location, industry sector and other variables. The information obtained constitutes a detailed snapshot of the way in which library and information work is being organised across Australia. A full survey report will be published in 1998 in ALIA's occasional papers series and will form the basis for employment policy development by the Association.

A range of publications was produced during 1997 to assist ALIA members in the workplace. They included Salary scales 1997/98, Problems at work: how ALIA can help you, A summary of the Workplace Relations Act, AWAs: A new approach to negotiation and Employment contracts for library workers. Regular articles on labour issues were provided through inCite's WorkWatch column and covered a wide range of topics, including the place of training in the new industrial system, research studies on job-shedding, the effects of employment insecurity on organisational performance, the balance between work and family responsibilities and new approaches to job creation.

Papers, presentations and seminars on workplace issues were provided to ALIA groups in Albury, Sydney and Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, and in Canberra, Melbourne and South Australia's Riverland. Similar services will continue to be made available to divisions on demand in 1998.

Indigenous people in the sector

There is continuing interest in and support for the Association's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Recruitment and Career Development Strategy. The deputy executive director presented a paper at the ATSILIRN Conference in November and had meetings with a number of employers and cadets/trainees. The diploma in library and information studies course has been the most popular study choice for cadets this year. The employing organisations participating in the Strategy are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), Batchelor College (Northern Territory), James Cook University of North Queensland, State Library of NSW, Cape York Land Council, Tumut (NSW) Shire Council and City of Cockburn (WA) Public Library and Information Service. Many participating libraries - particularly public libraries - are able to report increased interest by the local community in the library and input by the cadet and the community into better services to the community. An impressive example was the contribution of Strategy participant, Brenda Hill, the Aboriginal outreach liaison officer at Coolbellup (Cockburn) who was awarded the WA Public Library Multicultural Services Award for the library's outstanding Aboriginal Outreach program. The video Hey, look out! and the Strategy information kit were widely-distributed throughout the year.

Awards

The HCL Anderson Award, the highest honour which the Association can confer upon a professional member, recognises outstanding service to librarianship, the profession, ALIA or the theory or practice of librarianship. In 1997 the HCL Anderson Award was conferred upon Eric Wainwright. The award commemorates HCL Anderson, who was the principal librarian of the Free Public Library of New South Wales from 1906.

Professor Stuart Macintyre received the Redmond Barry Award which recognises outstanding service to libraries and librarianship by a person not eligible for professional membership of the Association and not employed in the field of library and information science.

Dr Brian Desmond Cook, Kay Poustie and William (Bill) Clifford Linklater were awarded Fellowships of the Association in recognition of their contributions both in the field of library and information science and to ALIA.

Craig Anderson received the ALIA Manager of the Year award which recognises exceptional skills in management within an Australian library and information service. Two library technician awards were presented at the 9th Library technicians conference in Canberra. The Library Technician of the Year award was presented to Kaye Bartlett and the Dunn & Wilson Scholarship was awarded to Lorraine Denny.

The Metcalfe Medallion which recognises an outstanding piece of work by a library and information studies student enrolled in an entry-level professional course was presented to Susan Mouer for her essay The Australian library industry competency standards: present perspectives and future prospects. The Medallion commemorates JW Metcalfe, whose contributions to Australian librarianship included: senior positions at the Public Library of New South Wales and the University of New South Wales; chairing the committee whose 1938 report set the pattern for professional library education in Australia; influential advocacy for free public libraries; the first editor [1951-54] of the Australian Library Journal; and twice president of the fore-runner of this Association from 1946-48 and 1949-50.

The Ellinor Archer and the Study Grant awards were not presented in 1997.

Australian Library Week

A video publicising Australian Library Week 97 was produced for distribution to television stations around the country. The video, which contained a statement by the ALIA executive director and other background footage of libraries and library users, supplemented news releases and other promotional work undertaken by ALIA national office and in the divisions.

As in previous years promotional material was produced and made available. In 1997 two posters, two bookmarks, two postcards, balloons and a sticker were developed and printed for sale and distribution. An order form containing colour reproductions of Australian Library Week material available was distributed through the March inCite. To assist with promotional activities and celebrations all ALIA branches received starter kits containing Australian Library Week material. Postcards were also distributed through AvantCard to ensure that coverage of Australian Library Week reached beyond the profession.

The July and August issues of inCite featured reports about some of the activities organised by divisions during Australian Library Week 97.