Statement from the president

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past

TS Eliot Burnt Norton in four quartets

ALIA - time past
The Australian Institute of Librarians (AIL) was, in 1937, the third attempt at a national association. It was an indirect outcome of the 1935 Munn-Pitt report's recommendation of the formation of a strong national association to help address the great poverty and paucity of Australia's libraries. In a broadening transformation, in 1949 the Institute became the Library Association of Australia (LAA). The LAA endured until 1988, when it became the Australian Library and Information Association, and its general council resolved to relocate its national office from Sydney to the national capital.

The other stream of the new ALIA commenced in 1956 as the Australian Advisory Council on Bibliographic Services (AACOBS). This in 1988 merged with the short-lived Australian Libraries and Information Council (ALIC) established by federal cabinet decision in 1982, to become the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS). Most recently - in 1999 - the merger of ACLIS and ALIA occurred to become the new ALIA, driven by a Charter of Renewal.

Those associations antecedent to the new ALIA expressed their aims in different ways, but at their core was the achievement of better national and local investment in library and information services for all Australians. All of them, complemented by agencies such as the Australian Library Promotion Council and free library movements, contributed to improving Australia's libraries and the profession, described so evocatively in the Munn-Pitt report which concluded that 'Australia ranks below most of the other English speaking countries'.

ALIA - time present
At the beginning of the 21st century, Ralph Munn and Ernest Pitt would have to conclude otherwise. Largely since the 1960s - less than forty years - library and information services in Australia have progressed to the extent that in terms of its total co-operating infrastructure, access, technology, initiatives, professionalism, performance and utilisation Australia now arguably ranks in the top-ten library nations. There are many more positives than there are negatives.

Similarly ALIA - in its per capita membership, other assets, services provided and its renewal process - ranks as a leading library association worldwide. It is also an unusually inclusive association, appropriate to the now broad church of the profession, but which inevitably presents it with great challenges in meeting all needs and perceptions.

2001 saw the Association addressing vigorously its mission to be 'a dynamic and progressive, valued, non-profit organisation which represents the interests of the Australian library and information sector', and its first object 'To promote the free flow of information and ideas in the interest of all Australians and a thriving culture, economy, and democracy'.

Most significantly, the year saw the introduction of the new Group self-nominating structure recommended by the 2000 National Policy Congress, and the identification by the Board of Directors of ten areas of priority, those commencing to be addressed in 2001 including: The development and marketing of new services for students and new professional members; Devising and implementing a library and information services promotions campaign; Establishing fora for cross-sectoral collaboration; A strategic action plan for special libraries; A strategic action plan for public libraries; Development of a strategy for career-long education; The research needs of library and information services; Development of membership online services and information management system.

A significant policy statement approved by the Board of Directors was the Statement on information literacy for all Australians, emphasising that a holistic approach to the development of information-literate Australians is a prerequisite for an information-enabled country.

ALIA - time future
In any organisation of individuals and institutions with shared professional values, turning rhetoric and plans into meaningful reality is the test of organisational effectiveness and personal and societal return on investment of time and money.

Despite the great progress in Australian library and information services achieved in the second part of the 20th century, manifest deficiencies remain to be addressed during the 21st century. Not the least of these is the right of every Australian child to develop their literacy through well-staffed public libraries before formal schooling, and their right when that schooling begins to have access to a decent library and the services of qualified teacher-librarians. As the Statement on information literacy for all Australians emphasises, this is a 'whole-of-profession' and 'whole-of-society' issue beyond the scope of just technology to resolve. As great a challenge is educating governments and corporate Australia about the competitive advantage of a community which has access to timely and accurate information, and the capacity to use it effectively.

ALIA now has all of those issues within its national leadership remit. Its 2001 planning and action, through its Board of Directors, its executive director, its national office and its members, promise much for the future of a sector and a profession with distinctive societal values and a distinctive contribution to make to a more productive, inclusive, democratic and knowledgeable Australia during the 21st century.

The Association, however, is the aggregation of its personal and institutional members. How far and how fast it can progress their individual and societal interests depends on leadership and organisation. It also depends on dollars. It thus ultimately depends on goodwill and broad vision and a willingness to continue to contribute as well as to take, when there is no simple measure of the full worth of personal or institutional membership of any national association, and when no association will ever be flawless and meet all expectations.

The strategic directions of the Association in 2002 and beyond promise much for the future of a sector and profession of which Australia, and indeed the world, will have great need in this new century. Thank you for your contribution to the Association during 2001. It, and that of more of your colleagues and institutions, will be needed if we are to progress together the last part of ALIA's mission 'the enhancement of the profile of library and information personnel and the role of library and information services for the benefit of society'.

It has been a privilege to be again your president, and to have had the opportunity to meet so many members of a radical profession, with such an important mission and story to share with the world.

Alan Bundy