A fantastic group of library and information folk from across the Northern Territory came together on Thursday 28 November 2024 for the NT Library and Information Sector Excellence Award night, held at Parliament House on Larrakia Country.
The presentation ceremony was organised by the ALIA GLAM Top End group, hosted by Anna Ingram, Assistant Director Library Sector Services, Library & Archives NT, and the Master of Ceremonies was Lisa Bateman, ALIA Board Director, who travelled from Gubbi Gubbi lands, where she is Library Services Manager at City of Moreton Bay Libraries.
The evening was a really fun and positive celebration of the excellent individuals, teams and initiatives in libraries across the Territory, and was a great opportunity for industry professionals to connect and celebrate.
Photo: Attendees at the NT Excellence Award Night, Parliament House, Darwin.
Photo (l-r): Award winner Joanne Scott – Taminmin Community Library and Lisa Bateman, ALIA Board Director.
The winner of the 2024 NT LIS Excellence Award is Joanne Scott, Library Program Services Manager at Taminmin Community Library in Humpty Doo.
Joanne has brought an abundance of energy and creativity to building her team’s capacity, creating ongoing partnerships, and raising funds to deliver a range of brilliant programs to the community. Taminmin Community Library is 40 kms south of Darwin, in a small, rural community, and the library serves both the school and public. From ‘Library Buddies’ bringing seniors and pre-schoolers together for intergenerational connection, Science Week and STEAM programs, and digital literacy initiatives, Joanne has led the team to deliver vibrant meaningful programs to the community.
Joanne’s passion is multigenerational programs, is a champion of ongoing professional learning and developments, taking up training opportunities for herself and her team. She was a star mentee in the ALIA Mentoring Scheme, and has plans to be a mentor in the scheme in coming years.
Joanne takes away a trophy, a voucher equivalent to one year’s Personal ALIA membership or $360 to attend an ALIA training or symposium in the year ahead and plenty of recognition on the ALIA website, ALIA Annual Report and via ALIA News.
NT Excellence Award Finalists
Photo (l-r): Joanne Scott - Taminmin Community Library, Tamarzon (Tad) Larner – Charles Darwin University, Nicole Nurse - City of Darwin Libraries, Renecia Maneveldt – Alice Springs Public Library.
The four finalists from four different organisations and were each awarded a certificate for their achievements. Well done to each of the finalists!
Tamarzon was nominated for leading CDU library’s rapid response to Artificial Intelligence and Gen AI and promotion of academic integrity and is a member of the CDU wide Academic Integrity Advisory Group. Nicole was nominated for supercharging community engagement at the City of Darwin Libraries through strategic partnerships in a series of STEAM related events. Renecia was nominated for demonstrating extraordinary commitment and skill in managing the Read Write Chat program which has created lasting positive impacts in Alice Springs Mparntwe.
Distinguished Certified Professional Certificate
The Award Night was also an opportunity to celebrate CDP status being awarded to Margaret Purnell, Manager of Training & Research Support, Northern Territory Health Library. Marg is very dedicated to her profession and has written and published a number of journal articles. She has also used her skills and knowledge to support other library staff to publish articles. Marg’s research skills are highly regarded within NT Health, and she has supported many researchers to develop literature reviews and systematic reviews. She is always willing to support clinicians and teach them appropriate research skills, as well as to support and train library staff.
Big congratulations to all the finalists, to Joanne Scott, and to Marg Purnell, and huge thanks to the organising committee, our hosts at LANT and Lisa Bateman for presenting the awards!