Plenty has happened in the fortnight since my last Regional Engagement Manger update, including my turning 40! As well as some wonderful sunshine, a brief trip to Brisbane/Meanjin, provided me with opportunity to meet, connect, and reconnect with some wonderful library and information professionals. Read more about this in my ALIA in South East Queensland blog.
Image below: In the Quiet Study Area of QUT’s Kelvin Grove Library.
There’s also been a flurry of work in the ALIA office creating and collating resources to aid our members as they strive to keep libraries and information services welcoming, inclusive, and safe places. Importantly, this includes a set of resources to support libraries in preparing for, responding to and recovering from attacks against library programs and challenges to library collections. Another important Member Resource is the Groups Handbook. This Handbook is an essential resource for ALIA Groups. In April this year, the Handbook had its first major update since 2021, and more recently links to financial forms have been added to aid Group Treasurers. Finally, don’t forget that Library & Information Week is only a few short weeks away — what will you be doing to mark the occasion? I’ll be attending the ALIA SA Back to School Quiz Night, where I have the honour of officially launching the SALIAs, and celebrating the Tasmanian library workforce at the Our Source of Strength event (which you can register for now).
Emily Wilson Regional Engagement Manager