Branch reports

Australian Capital Territory

Active groups within the Branch included the Asia-Pacific Special Interest Group, ACT Library Technicians, ACT University and College Research Librarians Section, ACT Specials, the Canberra Science Librarians and the PEARLS (Retired librarians). Meetings in April and September discussed copyright changes with Rosemarie Sebastian-Pillai, ALIA national office, Helen Roberts, the copyright officer for the Australian National University and Nick Smith, executive officer, Australian Digital Alliance and copyright adviser, Australian Libraries Copyright Committee. Libby Coates very successfully organised five segments of the ABC's 'Snapshot' series to publicise ACT libraries for Australian Library Week. The University of Canberra ALW breakfast attracted thirty people to hear Belle Aldermann. The inaugural National Library Technician's Day breakfast was a great success, with a poetic flavour. The Branch discussed for the National Policy Congress the issues of divisional restructure, the future of conferences, accreditation for library and information services, the impact of the goods and services tax and the Association's new financial management arrangements. The branch welcomed the NPC recommendations. Teresa Giuca undertook a survey of possible mentors and used meetings and the eleven issues of the ProACTive newsletter to promote the continuing professional development program. A seminar was held in December on market testing with speakers from government and private organisations. At the annual dinner held in June, the prize for the top student in the University of Canberra's Bachelor of Information Management (Library and Information Studies) was awarded to Katherine Diehm. There were joint prize-winners for top student in the Graduate Diploma of Information Management (Library and Information Studies), Kate Boesen and Tracy Ross. The University of Canberra School of Information Management also presented two awards, the John Balnaves award for information retrieval to Tracy Ross and the Doreen Goodman award to May Priddle.

New South Wales

At the Branch annual general meeting in February, guest speaker, Rita Helling spoke on the changing nature of volunteerism. Discussions of the National Policy Congress Agenda reflected concern about the lines of communication between board members and the membership at large. Beth McLaren was nominated as Branch's representative on the external review panel to examine courses that TAFENSW proposed for implementing training packages. As general councillor/member of the interim ALIA Board of Directors, Beth, and Board member Joyce Kirk provided regular reports to Branch Council on the evolution of the new organisation and on Board activities. April and August meetings concentrated on planning for the 2002 biennial conference in Sydney. The highlight of our pre-Olympics year was the very successful Australian Library Week Harbour Bridge Walk and picnic day with storytelling on 21 May. Sponsors included EBSCO Information Services, James Bennett and NSW Library Supplies. ABC broadcaster Simon Marnie promoted the walk on his Sunday program and presented prizes to participants. Branch Council held a forum in November to investigate its future. All divisions in NSW - both active and inactive - were invited to attend. Participants representing twelve divisions unanimously supported the existence of a NSW Branch of ALIA. The forum included a session with ALIA executive director, Jennefer Nicholson, on why people join professional associations. A full report of the forum (including details of what a future branch might look like and do) is available on the NSW Branch website. Our November Branch Council meeting featured a presentation by ALIA's president, Mairéad Browne, reviewing the renewal process and her research of professional associations. In November a number of NSW members received Awards of Merit at our end-of-year celebrations. Recipients for 2000 were Di Simpson, Kay Vincent, Judy Ryan, Beth McLaren and Julie Young. We also took the opportunity to thank members of Council (especially the executive) and retiring Arts Training NSW representative and chairperson, John Bartholomaeus.
TAFE (NSW) Section
This has been a year of achievements. The Section put in two submissions in March; one on the proposal for new membership categories; the other on the format of the new structure. Dot Dawson represented the Section at the NPC. A number of section members are participating in ALIA's CPD program. Three representatives from the TAFE section attended NSW Branch Council's meeting to decide on Branch Council's existence in the new structure. The year's events included Stepping up, a continuation of our series on job-seeking; Lost in cyberspace, a talk by Heather Ferguson on the Professional Development Network site; an e-seminar on electronic books, website design and the DET WAN and a very successful Christmas party and trivia quiz. Section member Judy Ryan received a NSW Branch Merit Award. The section president thanks the committee and the executive for their contribution.

Northern Territory

The year was marked by change. Together with the administrative changes resulting from the incorporation of ALIA, some members moved interstate and the NT Branch had to re-elect a new committee half way through the year. The Branch published a new edition of Libraries and Information Centres in the NT. Students enrolled in the Diploma of Library and Information Studies were responsible for the publication and received credit towards their diploma. Susan Blake established and maintains an e-mail list for NT members, accessible from the branch webpage on ALIAnet. NT Branch oversees the operation of NILLS (Northern Territory Interlibrary Loans Scheme). We wrote to the Australian Taxation Office and were relieved at its ruling that the GST is not applicable to long-established gratis arrangements. We decided to approach all LIS organisations in the NT to renew their commitment to NILLS. Julie Fawcett, a library trainee with the NT Territory Health Services, organised the ALIA archives. Under funding guidelines, she attended the ALIA 2000 conference. The NT Minister of Education, Hon Peter Adamson presented the ALIA NT awards on 18 May. The NT Library and Information Service Community Award was presented to joint-winners Gail Dous and Mary West, Client Services Branch of the NT Library and Information Service. The NT Library Technician of the Year was awarded to Jan Jones, Resources Management and Development Branch of the NTLIS. Anthony Hornby, from the Northern Territory University, won the prize for best student in the Diploma of Library and Information Studies course. ALIA president, Mairéad Browne visited Alice Springs and Darwin to discuss the effect of incorporation on the association. Other visitors were Jan Fullerton and David Toll from the National Library of Australia and 1999 Business Woman of the Year, Helen Hayes. Their talks contributed to the social cohesion of the Branch. Ruth Quinn for NT Branch, Pat Whalan for the Library Technicians Group, and Felicity Williams for Remote and Isolated Libraries group attended the NPC. The Branch also participated in teleconferences for local presence, continuing professional development, and Australian Library Week, as well as the local CREATE Board. The local branch newsletter, INTERFACE, was produced twice. The Northern Territory News reported our Australian Library Week activities in a double-page spread.

Queensland

The Branch discussed models for organisational restructure in various forums and forwarded comments to the Board of Directors. Six Queensland members attended the successful National Policy Congress in Canberra. Queensland members were kept up-to-date with progress reports. Board member Naida Tattersall presented two sessions on the implementation of recommendations of the NPC. Active sections during 2000 included: Public Libraries, UCRLS, RAISS, TAFE, Darling Downs, Central Queensland, North Queensland, Cataloguers, Specials, OPALS, SLAQ, Library Technicians. The Mentoring Committee also remained active in 2000. The QUILL editorial team produced nine newsletters for state members. The photo gallery is also now on the ALIA website. Queensland Branch sponsored two awards: the ALIA Award to the QUT part-time student with the highest aggregate grade points average, Clive Porritt and the Queensland Library Technician of the Year, Annie Wall. A major achievement was the development of a program of events through to November 2001 to support the Continuing Professional Development criteria. This included: Conference capers reports, an address by Phil Teece, ALIA manager personnel and industrial service, entitled Career planning for the long run; and Gateways, portals and pathways, a seminar on technological change, addressed by Tony Barry. Australian Library Week was also celebrated with an activity for members, a North African cooking course.

South Australia

For many Association members, the focus of activity is in the divisions. They provide both formal professional development opportunities and informal forums for the exchange of ideas and information around a specialist area or interest. The Library Technician; Acquisitions; Cataloguers; Special Libraries; UCRLS; Information Science; RAIS; and Health Libraries sections met regularly and had active programs of professional development and other activities. Representatives of the divisions made significant contributions to the Association on a statewide basis through their membership of the Branch Council. The Branch revised its operational plan to provide a focus for activities in 2000. Branch Council met monthly. Activities continued from the previous year included support for interALIA, the newsletter distributed to members statewide. The Branch thanks the editor Tania Pugh. The mentoring program, initiated in 1999 to provide support for new graduates in librarianship, was so successful that the Branch continued it this year. More senior members of the Association worked with new graduates to support them as they entered the profession. To assist this process, Branch Council funded Janine Tan's attendance at the ALIA2000 conference fringe. Australian Library Week was celebrated in many South Australian libraries. The Branch sent letters to all state and federal members of parliament and to local councils, seeking statements of support for libraries. The letters outlined usage and funding statistics. Most politicians replied and those who did replied favourably. The Branch also inserted an advertisement in the Saturday edition of The Advertiser to announce Australian Library Week. A major event was the Centennial Seminar, held in Adelaide University's Elder Hall on 6 October, to celebrate the history and achievements of libraries and of the Association by commemorating the second meeting of the Library Association of Australasia, held in the same venue in 1900. Ten speakers reflected on the history and future of libraries. Past-president Ray Choate co-ordinated the seminar. The New Zealand Library and Information Association sent a letter of congratulations, commemorating the presence of a New Zealand contingent at the 1900 meeting. Auslib Press will publish the seminar papers. Branch Council hosted a forum on librarianship education in November. The University of South Australia spoke on the review of its librarianship education program report and outlined its future. The University announced the re-establishing of an advisory committee to provide a conduit for industry input.

Tasmania

Tasmania Branch reports on its activities for the year 2000 to the objects of ALIA's constitution. In its commitment to the free flow of information, the Branch wrote to Tasmania's federal members of parliament regarding the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Bill, pointing out its defects and urging the rejection of Copyright Agency Ltd proposals which would have resulted in charges for access to all print and electronic library materials (Object 1) We made written submissions to the Tasmanian government's Learning together education strategy. We are currently communicating with several State parliamentarians regarding the premier's goal for Tasmania to be the 'intelligent island' (Object 4). We are developing relationships with others in the library and information sector, with government agencies and the wider community. The president, Sue Owen and the vice-president, Meredith Hepburn represented ALIA at numerous events. These included the State Library's 150th birthday celebrations; the Nestlé Write around Australia awards and launches of the Tasmanian government's Learning together strategic plan, CREATE's industry training package and the federal government's NetAlert internet safety program. We have also taken part in TALIATecs events and ASLA functions (Object 4). Members and non-members met ALIA president, Mairéad Browne in Hobart in November and discussed division restructure. ALIA Board member and former Branch president, Chris Richardson keeps us abreast of ALIA developments (Object 5). Our most popular activities were two major events, co-ordinated by the continuing professional development sub-committee convenor, Richard Dearden. Not just applying for jobs was a one-day interactive workshop in which human resources staff outlined official requirements; breakout groups developed responses to selection criteria; accounts of successful career moves were shared; and a panel gave job interview tips. Many ALIA members made presentations, earning additional CPD credits. (Object 3) Our conference An intelligent island: the role of Tasmanian libraries, was a resounding success, with 71 participants from across the state, from every library sector and from every work level. Keynote speaker Penny Carnaby was inspirational and we appreciated her all-day involvement in conference activities. ALIA members chaired twelve other presentations in concurrent sessions. The conference provided true professional development - new ideas, new colleagues, new experiences (Object 3). Our e-newsletter, LINK, produced by local presence officer Jane Jeppson, has kept us up-to-date with issues and events. Our TASLIB-LINK e-list provides Branch and others with instant and widespread communication. (Object 2).

Victoria

The Victorian Branch had a moderately active year, considering that the Association is in transition. Branch provided financial support for several activities, including the Library Technicians' annual visit to the University of Ballarat; Australian Library Week activities such as Victorian Statewide story time and Build, renovate or detonate, a conference on Victorian Public Library buildings. A Branch Council meeting was held every two months, with consistent attendance from the representatives of some sections. In an effort to attract a greater attendance at Branch meetings, speakers were invited to give presentations on subjects including the READS (Regional and Electronic Access and Delivery of Serials) project, developments in United Kingdom academic libraries, and the establishment of a twenty-four-hour, seven-days-a-week law reference service. The pesident and a branch councillor attended the National Policy Congress and the outcomes were e-mailed to Victorian members. National president, Mairéad Browne, spoke to 70 members at the Branch annual general meeting, held in July. An ALIA Merit Award was presented to Kerrie Kelly. Margie Anderson from Library Locums presented the ALIA Awards for Innovation to Genimaree Panozzo from Moreland City Library (Vic) in the public libraries category, and David Tan from Coles Myer Ltd (Vic) in the special libraries category In October the Branch and Electronic Frontiers Australia very successfully hosted Filtering, the good, the bad, and the ugly, featuring ALIA2000 conference speakers Ann Symons and Derek Whitehead, and EFA's executive director, Irene Graham. At a December Branch function Deborah Jakubs gave an overview of the Global Resources Program, a joint endeavour of the Association of American Universities and the Association of Research Libraries. This session was arranged and sponsored by CAVAL Collaborative solutions.

Western Australia

2000 promised to be a difficult year for the Association and Branch Council. The renewal process started in 1996 was reaching a climax, with substantial change being predicted. While the changes have not been as great as many of us expected, the groundwork has been put in place for 2001. Branch Council accomplished a great deal in 2000. WA had a strong representation at the National Policy Congress which helped to formulate the future structure of the Association. All members who participated in the NPC felt that significant progress was made. Branch Council, particularly Eilishia Bardoe and her team, ran an ongoing professional development program. Several collaborative events were run in conjunction with AIMA, CAVAL, the Library and Information Service of WA and the State Department of Training. Other events included an information sources and resources workshop and an event intriguingly titled 'Is your manager bad for your library?' All events were well-run and well-attended. Branch Council hosted the annual IceBreaker in March at which we awarded the Sharr Medal to Sandra Hayward, a teacher/librarian from Edith Cowan University and an active member. The Special Librarian of the Year award was presented to former general councillor Deanne Barrett. Mid-year, Branch Council recruited a new local presence officer, Glen Cameron, to replace John Sutherland whose work, particularly in the upgrading of the local presence computing equipment, has been invaluable. Library Week 2000 saw a flurry of activities, co-ordinated by Branch Council members. A highlight was the Barbara Cartland throwing competition, hosted by Narrogin Public Library. Branch Council hosted a State Summit in October to examine the future direction of ALIA and particularly of Branch Council under the new structure for groups and divisions. The Summit decided that a working group should be formed to develop a structure for a new body to replace but not replicate Branch Council. The working party will be made up of the executive of the newly-elected Branch Council.