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Executive report

Financial performance

The 2002 result is consistent with the forecast budget which took into consideration adjustments in financial assets and investing in the future through research and development projects focused on improving member services.

Investment in the Renewal program continued in 2002. Projects funded included the IT and communications strategy (Gillard report), Research Exchange and Partnership, LISEKA Stages 1 and 2, development of the new membership database, an evaluation of library and information services promotions campaigns, the development of the 2003 and 2004 strategic plan, and in collaboration with other organisations the information literacy feasibility study and an investigation into secondary students career choice decision-making. New services and activities being developed from these projects will be introduced in 2003.

In May 2002 the Association redirected $1.3 million from cash investments to pay off the mortgage for ALIA House. With a fixed mortgage rate higher than the rate received for the term deposit investments, and with little likelihood of those deposit rates increasing, the repayment of the loan was a timely decision. However as costs were still incurred in 2002 for five months of mortgage interest and an early payout penalty, and with the loss of income from the $1.3 million, the real benefit will not be seen until 2003.

The Voucher Fund has been reduced by around $1.5 million since the introduction of the GST in July 2000 and continues to decrease by around $200 000 a year. Annual income from the voucher scheme program is now negligible, compared with $200 000+ pre GST.

The impact of these changes is a reduction in the surplus from accrued interest of $193 038 in 2001 to $82 991 in 2002.

In 2000 the directors made the decision not to increase the membership fees to cover the costed 9.3% GST charge. This has had the effect of reducing income for membership fees since 2000 by just over $100 000 each year. The Association continued its policy of bearing the cost of absorbing the GST on membership fees in 2002.

The changeover of the membership year to the financial year in 2000, combined with the introduction of the GST, resulted in a drop of 613 members or around eleven per cent and more than half the decline in membership in the last five years. This drop is now starting to be pulled back though voucher only membership continues to drop. Changes in membership patterns reflect changes in the workforce and improved reporting and analysis will better inform recruitment and retention in 2003.

A further impact on resources since 2000 has been the ongoing incorporation of some previous ACLIS services into existing and new programs, such as Copyright.

Conferences activity for the year incurred a deficit of ($101 996) despite an innovative program for the ALIA 2002 biennial conference Powering our future: contribute to the information agenda.

Cost savings and efficiencies continued to be made across programs. The National Office carried a number of staffing vacancies.

The Board of Directors has set the goal of a balanced budget in 2004.

The year in review

The Board identified areas of key activity and implemented initiatives to achieve greater impact of and support for the Association and its Objects.

Develop and market new services for students/new professional members (Objects 2,3,5)

The New Generation Policy and Advisory group was established in 2002 to help strengthen the participation of a new generation of library and information professionals in the Association.
The ALIA Quorum group organised the first New Librarian's symposium in December 2002. New graduates from around the country discussed career planning, current trends and issues in the profession, leadership and management skills. Delegates showed strong support for ALIA to establish a new graduates group, and provide professional development assistance, and a nationally co-ordinated mentoring program.

Achieve favourable purchasing agreements for institutional members for products and services, including licence agreements (Objects 1,2,5)
The Association convened the Forum on Purchasing Agreements held at ALIA House on 14 October 2002. This cross-sectoral forum brought together representatives of key ALIA groups and peak organisations from the sector to discuss the critical issues relating to licences and consortia for the acquisition of online resources. A number of ways in which ALIA could support libraries in achieving favourable purchasing agreements were identified and will be explored in 2003.

Devise and implement a library and information services promotions campaign (Objects 1,2,3,4,5)
A consultancy was undertaken by Katie Blake, assisted by a steering group to investigate recent research into public perceptions of library and information services and the professionals working in them, and current promotions of library and information services, both in Australia and overseas. In 2003 the Association will look at setting up a promotions-specific e-list, offering courses in promotions through the CPD program, encouraging marketing and promotion as a possible area for excellence in the Excellence award, and utilising the ALA @your library campaign.

Establish national fora for cross-sectoral collaboration (Objects 1,2,3,4)
ALIA formed strategic partnerships with the Australian Society of Archivists, the Australian Coalition for Cultural Diversity, and the Regional Cultural Alliance. The Association attended the Peak Bodies Forum at the National Library of Australia.

Develop strategic action program for special libraries (Objects 2,3,4,5)
ALIA's Copyright and Intellectual Property Advisory Group (CIP) is continuing discussions with the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) on a model licence for corporate library intranets.

Develop strategic action program for public libraries (Objects 2,3,4,5)
The Public Libraries Reference Group was established to advise the Board of Directors on the development of a strategic action program for public libraries that will deliver services of particular benefit to public library members and increase awareness of and participation by the public library sector in the Association.

Develop strategy for career-long education for the knowledge age (Objects 2,3)

LISEKA project
The Association's commitment to broadening its focus to include career-long education rather than just entry-level education for the profession continued in 2002 through the LISEKA project.

Building on the initial work undertaken in 2001 and recommendations arising from that work, the LISEKA Stage 1 working group developed a discussion paper setting out various approaches to education. This discussion paper was the basis for consultations with ALIA members and other important stakeholders - employers, educators, library and information bodies and other groups outside the Association. Outcomes from this process identified two essential elements necessary in a national framework for career-long education.

ALIA must continue to act as the professional standards body that sets, monitors and evaluates the standard for entry to professional practice through its course recognition program, revitalised as necessary.
ALIA must provide an effective continuing professional development program so that members may develop their knowledge and skills more broadly and in more depth and maintain currency in practice.

With Stage 1 of the project complete, the Board of Directors formed the LISEKA Stage 2 working group to work towards implementation of an educational framework. This involves finalisation of the Association's core knowledge statement, development of CPD initiatives, revision of ALIA's course recognition and ultimately the linking of workplace requirements and CPD to core knowledge and skills.

Identify central role of ALIA in the development of a research culture for the library and information sector (Objects 2,3,4,5)
The establishment of the Research Exchange and Partnership (REAP) program, to be officially launched in 2003, confirmed the Association's intention to actively foster research for innovative practice. This is articulated in the policy Statement on ALIA's role in research endorsed in 2002. A research committee has been formed to oversee the REAP program and to ensure the value of research undertaken to Australian library and information practice.

Development of online services and information management system (Objects 3,4,5)
Work commenced in 2002 on the re-design of the Association's website to accommodate a web-based membership system which will be implemented in 2003. Web-based e-mail services were extended to allow the pilot of a trial in which ALIA members could use a hotmail-style service to manage e-mail, calendars and appointments through ALIAnet's website.

A wide range of other activities were undertaken in pursuit of the Association's Objects.

To promote the free flow of information and ideas in the interest of all Australians and a thriving culture, economy and democracy;

A survey of internet access in public libraries was conducted. Ninety-one of ALIA's public library institutional members participated in the survey that covered internet use policies, community education and training, complaints about internet content, internet filters and children's use of the internet in libraries. A preliminary report of the survey was submitted to the review of online content regulation and a full report of the survey will be published in the first half of 2003.
The increase in restrictive licensing by publishers, especially but not exclusively involving the ongoing use of digital materials acquired by libraries, was the most important copyright issue for 2002. ALIA and other library organisations made strong submissions to the Copyright Law Review Committee's inquiry into copyright and contract asking that the restrictive clauses in licences not be permitted to override fair dealing uses of information and the library exceptions which allow limited copying of material. The CLRC carried this recommendation to the Attorney-General.
ALIA is preparing for the review of the Digital Agenda amendments by surveying libraries about the effects of this legislation.
The copyright adviser gave a seminar to the Victorian and NSW Library technicians group at Albury-Wodonga on copyright rules regarding digital material and an overview of copyright management and international developments to the CSIRO at their annual conference at the Gold Coast.
The copyright advisory service answered more than 160 individual questions on copyright problems and ways of solving them.

National Information Literacy Coalition project
The coalition steering committee with the National Library of Australia and the National Office of the Information Economy assessed the feasibility of a national coalition for advocacy in information literacy. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) were contracted to conduct a feasibility study on the formation of a national coalition. The final consultant's report recommended the establishment of a national coalition to be developed in stages. An interim body (made up of representatives from ALIA, ASLA and Adult Learning Australia) will oversee the development of the terms of reference and the agenda for the coalition.

To promote and improve the services provided by all kinds of library and information agencies;

The new ALIA core values statement and Statement on joint use libraries were adopted, as were the revised policy statements, Statement on online content regulation, and Library and information services for people with a disability.
The Board of Directors approved an ALIA/ASLA Joint Issues Taskforce proposal for their project on standards for teacher librarians. The project will develop, disseminate and promote a statement of standards for teacher librarians that describes the knowledge, skills and abilities of professional practising teacher librarians.

Library and Information Week (LIW), 20-26 May 2002: Libraries change lives
A major national focus, based on the theme, was a success stories archive showcasing how library and information services and professionals make a difference in a knowledge society. Sixty-six of the 106 stories submitted appear on ALIAnet. Sponsors for LIW 2002 were divine information services and Southern Scene.

National Simultaneous Storytime 2002 (NSS)
The National Simultaneous Storytime 2002 (NSS) was held at 11am AEST on Wednesday 4 September 2002, during Literacy and Numeracy Week. The chosen book for 2002 was Mrs Wilkinson's Chooks by Leone Peguero, illustrated by Mike Spoor. There were more than 750 registered participants in NSS 2002. Promotional material reached about 50 000 children, teachers, librarians and members of the general public.

The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) provided promotion to all school libraries within their network, and included storytime information in all of the Literacy and Numeracy Week promotions. NSS 2002 was sponsored by Random House and Dymocks.

Honours and awards

The HCL Anderson Award was conferred on Ian McCallum BA(Hons) Dip Lib FALIA ALIA CP.
The Redmond Barry Award was conferred on Ian Renard.
ALIA Group award winners included: aliaNT Library and Information Workers Excellence Award - Julie Fawcett from ADRAIL; aliaNT Library and Information Workers Organisational Award - Northern Territory Library; WA Special Librarian of the Year - Cheryl Hamill, and ALIA Queensland Library Technicians Library Technician of the Year [Recent Graduate] Award 2002 - Dianne Turner.
The Bess Thomas Award was won by the City of Stirling's Inglewood Library.
Student awards were presented to high achieving students at all schools of LIS.

TAFE performance indicators
The ALIA TAFE (National) group has been working on the development of performance indicators for the TAFE sector. The group is working with the National Working Group TAFE Library Services (NWGTLS) to collate TAFE Library Statistics and develop performance indicators. The group has sent all available state statistics to CAVAL for collation and publication.

Publications
The Association's journals Australia Library Journal, Orana, Australian Academic and Research Libraries and the newsmagazine inCite were published. The full-text of the Australian Library Journal and inCite highlights were published online on ALIAnet.

To ensure the high standard of personnel engaged in information provision and foster their professional interests and aspirations;

Education and training standards
The course recognition program demonstrates the Association's ongoing commitment to professional standards. Courses in library and information studies offered by the University of New South Wales [Graduate Diploma (5391), and Master of Commerce (8404)], the University of South Australia [Bachelor of Arts (Information Studies) and Graduate Diploma in Information Studies], and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology [Graduate Diploma in Information Management] were recognised.

An extension of recognition to 2004 was granted to diploma courses in library and information services based on the Library Industry Training Package to cover the review phase of the package.

The Courses in library and information studies booklet was published in print and electronic form.

ALIA involvement in many important professional areas was maintained during 2002. The Association made an active contribution to the review of the training package by participating in focus groups and maintained its strong representation on Industry Training Advisory Bodies.

Applications seeking associate and technician membership were received for a number of applications holding overseas qualifications. Of a total of nine applications, eight were admitted to Associate membership and one to Technician membership by demonstrating that the overseas qualifications held were equivalent to ALIA recognised qualifications.

Industrial relations and employment
Members continued to make heavy calls on the Association's industrial relations and employment advisory service during the year as workplace upheaval experienced in recent years showed little sign of abating.

The year produced a long-awaited result in the landmark New South Wales Pay Equity Test Case for library workers, in which ALIA has invested considerable time and energy. The Case was a triumph for all concerned with the NSW Industrial Relations Commission Full Bench awarding unprecedented pay rises [up to thirty per cent]. Moreover, the Bench emphatically endorsed the full professional status of librarians and reaffirmed ALIA's critical role as guardian of professional standards for the profession.

A second outstanding result was achieved in the long-running discrimination in employment case involving five professional members working in NSW local government. With support from ALIA, the members won a formal discrimination case against their employer in the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, and then held that victory in appeal proceedings. Damages were awarded and a vital principle was established in relation to proper processes for ensuring equal pay for work of equal value.

Both these cases and their outcomes were examples of the value to members of ALIA's industrial relations and employment service. Both also represented splendid morale boosters for members in difficult times.

The industrial and employment program this year included seminars and meetings with various ALIA groups in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney, Townsville, Wagga Wagga and Wollongong. A wide range of employment-related material, including updated Salary Scales, was made available to members via ALIA's website. ALIA's Work Level Guidelines were reviewed by an industry reference group; they were held to be fully appropriate but small adjustments will be made to ensure continuing topicality. The Guidelines played a major role in the NSW Pay Equity Case.

There was a strong rise in the volume of inquiries received electronically. Articles and papers on a broad range of labour market topics were again contributed to various publications, including inCite, Quill, Australian Library Journal and Quadrant.

Continuing professional development
Take-up of the ALIA Continuing Professional Development Scheme continued to be slow. A total of 514 Associate and Technician members joined the scheme during the first compliance triennium commencing in 2000. Late 2002 saw the groundwork being laid in preparation for the first CPD scheme audit to be carried out early in 2003. ALIA also entered into negotiations with a number of potential professional partners with the purpose of building a varied CPD program for ALIA members, at favourable rates.

ALIA 2002: Powering our future. The ALIA Biennial conference took on a different format of a single 'stream' in 2002. A total of 765 delegates and exhibitors attended the conference over the three days, and more than three hundred registered as e-delegates. While the conference did not return a profit to the Association, the conference generated wide debate throughout the profession, and sparked discussion on the 'information agenda'.

Health Libraries Census Project: ALIA funded Health Libraries Australia (HLA) to employ a project officer, Karen Kiesau, to undertake the compilation of an online census of Australian health libraries. The aim has been to create a current list/profile of health libraries outlining their contact details and key features such as collections, staffing, subject areas, electronic resources. This database shall in turn be used for the purposes of peer communication, information networking, sectorial profiles and, possibly, as the springboard for any future benchmarking between health libraries. Electronic and postal messages were sent to more than 400 identified health related institutions asking them complete a short questionnaire on the size, scope and nature of their library services. The resultant database comprises some 334 health related libraries and is searchable by several entry points. A summary report or 'snapshot' of Australian health libraries was prepared at the project's conclusion. The database will be mounted on ALIA website and be ready for general access in 2003.

Health Libraries Australia Evidence-Based Practice Workshop, 18-20 November 2002: This project was organised by HLA and ALIA. The multi-disciplinary workshop, was run in Adelaide in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Evidence Based Clinical Practice. An additional half-day, train-the-trainer session was run for the librarian facilitator/co-trainers to ensure that the training skills for delivering ongoing training and leadership were part of the program design.

The objectives of the train-the-trainer session were all achieved. The longer term aims of the project are on track. It is suggested that this model of supported small group training will have a cascading effect - that the initial resourcing of the individuals in this training group by ALIA, the facilitation by national HLA, plus the ongoing group member's support for each other in their leadership roles and in the delivery of workshops in their local areas, will have outcomes which will contribute to upskilling professionals in the area of evidence-based practice, as well as raising the profile of librarians in the process.

Group professional development activities (which numbered more than 400) included:

Education for the future of the profession, a seminar co-ordinated by the Academic and Research Libraries Group (WA);
Roads, rates, rubbish and local studies: fostering local government history, organised by the ALIA Local Studies (NSW) group;
The role of libraries in building civil societies: The East Timor project, organised by the Asia-Pacific Special Interest Group;
a job seekers forum organised by the Victorian Library Technicians group;
Unwired: issues in a wireless world, organised by the Information Science (SA) group in collaboration with the LEARN Network, TAFE SA;
a two seminar program on evidence-based practice organised by Schools Victoria;
Your time, your place, your off campus library service, organised by the Off Campus Library Services Group;
Essential connections: connecting school and public library professionals, presented by the State Library of Queensland and the ALIA Children's Youth Services (Qld) group;
Information literacy: now and beyond, and Copyright IT, Manage IT, Use IT! organised by TAFE NSW; and
Relativities: industrial issues in the academic and research library environment, Academic and Research Libraries (WA) Group.

Mentoring activities

The ALIA Top End mentoring group was established. The group, mostly mentors, has developed a program of information/training sessions.
Queensland Mentoring Program: Eleven mentoring partnerships were active.
The QUT/ALIA Queensland Student Mentoring Program was launched mid-year. Twenty-seven mentoring partnerships were established. The QUT Faculty of Information Technology awarded Gill Hallam a teaching and learning grant to undertake research into the learning and professional development outcomes from the program. Gill Hallam was awarded the inaugural QUT FIT Director of Teaching and Learning innovation in Teaching Award in recognition of the program.
WA Mentoring: The WA Mentoring committee developed a new training session on communication skills for mentoring relationships. The Graduate Mentoring Program for Library Technicians (WALT) was successfully revived in 2002. The Graduate Mentoring Program (GuMP) had twenty enthusiastic participants.

International assistance
The statement Guidelines for assistance to library and information personnel in developing countries was endorsed in May 2002.

To represent the interests of members to governments, other organisations and the community; and

Submissions

Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts References Committee Inquiry into the Role of Libraries in the Online Environment. ALIA believes that a robust publicly funded library and information sector is essential to ensure equitable access to the full range of human expression and proposed a range of strategies for connecting Australians, bridging the information divide and investing in information for a better society. ALIA also gave evidence at a public hearing of the Committee on 27 November 2002.
Review of the operation of Schedule 5 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 on the operation of online content regulation. ALIA proposed that the objectives of the legislation - to restrict access to internet content that is likely to offend reasonable adults and to protect children from internet content that is unsuitable for them - can be met without restricting individual users' rights of access to information. ALIA provided as a supplementary submission a preliminary report of the survey of internet access in public libraries (reported under Object 1).
ALIA made a submission to and appeared before the Standing Committee on Social Issues, New South Wales Parliament inquiry into the Classification (Publications, Films And Computer Games) Enforcement Amendment Bill 2001. The Association successfully argued that:
- any further progress of the Bill take into account the outcomes of the ongoing Office of Film and Literature Classification review of the film and computer games classification guidelines;
- the Bill treats access to online and offline information equally and in doing so preserves the existing balance between commerce and the public interest;
- regulation of online content does not have the unintended consequence of restricting access by the wider community to information that is not illegal in other forms;
- there should be no unintended consequence from the Bill of staff working in libraries being at risk of committing an offence by merely providing internet terminals for public use;
- the Bill should not exceed the intentions of the (Commonwealth) Broadcasting Services Act.

Similar representation was made to the South Australian government.

Jennefer Nicholson and ALIA president Alan Bundy, sponsored by South African government, to attend the SCECSAL conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. The executive director presented a workshop on association management and Alan Bundy presented a paper on information literacy.
Jennefer Nicholson and president Joyce Kirk attended the 68th IFLA Council and general conference. Jennefer is a member of the section for education and training, and the Roundtable for the management of library associations.
The convenor of ALIA Top End lobbied the NT Chief Minister over concerns regarding the positioning of the responsibility for libraries within Northern Territory government agencies. The group will continue to monitor this issue.
The Association had representatives on the following bodies: ALIA/ASLA joint issues taskforce; ALIA/ASLA joint policy advisory group; ALIA/LIANZA standing committee; AusInfo --- libraries liaison committee; Australian Coalition for cultural diversity; Australian committee on cataloguing; Australian Libraries Copyright committee; Australian Digital Alliance; Books Alive!; Create Australia; Harold White Fellowship National Library Council; IFLA round table for management of library associations executive committee; IFLA section on education and training committee; International Board on Books for Young People; Library Board of Western Australia; National resource sharing policy committee; National Scholarly Communications Forum; Regional cultural alliance; Standards Australia IT19 committee; Standards Australia IT-027 Personal and Corporate Data - Representation and Management; Standards Australia Knowledge Management Committee; State Library of Queensland public libraries advisory committee; State Library of Queensland steering committee of the Library Board of Queensland.

To encourage people to contribute to the improvement of library and information services through support and membership of the Association

ALIA: making the difference, the Association's plan for 2003 and 2004, was developed in consultation with members through the National Policy Congress and distribution of the draft plan on ALIAnet.
Membership figures: 5071 personal; 921 institutional; and 230 voucher-only.
The following new groups were endorsed in 2002: ALIA Special Libraries (South Australia); ALIA Reference and Information Services Group (Victoria/NSW/Tasmania)
The following groups dissolved in 2002: ALIA Pathways to CPD (Queensland); ALIA Reference and Information Services (Queensland); ALIA Central West NSW; ALIA Corporate Special Interest Group; ALIA TAFE Queensland; and Capricornia.
Combined group membership of 12 108.
Fifty-nine e-lists were hosted on the ALIAnet.

National Policy Congress (NPC)
In 2002, a new, two-stage model was used for ALIA's National Policy Congress (NPC). The first stage involved regional meetings being held across Australia during late September and early October. The second stage of the NPC was held on 1-2 November 2002 at ALIA House, in Canberra. Delegates at the Congress included eight state/territory representatives from the regional NPC meetings, representatives of ALIA issue-based groups with interests relevant to the NPC agenda, and representatives of external peak bodies.

Agenda items included the new ALIA Excellence Awards, the current status of the 'umbrella' conference model, group administration, and the new web-based membership system under development.

The information agenda, an issue first addressed by the sector at the ALIA 2002 conference, was discussed with representatives from external peak bodies. Delegates were given an overview of the Library and Information Services Education for the Knowledge Age (LISEKA) project. Delegates also considered the ALIA draft plan (ALIA: making the difference) for 2003 and 2004.

ALIAnet
An eventful year demonstrated that ALIA's risk-management strategies were more than adequate to cope with the attempted hacking of ALIAnet and local bushfire threats. Minimal disruptions to all services allowed such events to pass largely unnoticed to most users of ALIAnet.

New improved list-server software was implemented, and virus-protection software was installed and strengthened. More than 200 members of the Association now have an account on ALIAnet, each with a website and thriving e-mail service.

A new telephone system and PABX was installed to allow all services to make best use of digital technology and to save costs, and to allow direct dialling to and from ALIA National Office staff. As a result of the new telephone system, ALIA National Office now has a new phone number [02 6215 8222]. The fax and members line telephone numbers have remained the same.

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