ALIA extends its warmest congratulations to the seven professional members who have achieved the esteemed status of Distinguished Certified Professional (DCP). This recognition is awarded to members who have completed five consecutive years in ALIA’s CPD Scheme, each with a minimum of 30 hours of professional development—demonstrating a sustained commitment to learning and growth.These members are champions of continuing professional development, both within their workplaces and across the broader library and information sector.
Loris Gulliver ALIA Allied Field (DCP)
Loris is Coordinator - Curatorial and Collections Indigenous Engagement at the National Library of Australia in Canberra. She has undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in Indigenous Studies from Southern Cross University, and in her role she applies her specific professional knowledge and skills to a wide range of library work, including the development of education resources, the delivery of education-related library services and the delivery of Indigenous library services.
Over the past five years, Loris has utilised her ALIA personal membership to demonstrate her value and professional connection to the library sector by participating in the ALIA CPD Scheme and becoming and ALIA Certified Professional (CP) and now an ALIA Distinguished Certified Professional (DCP). Her dedication to continuing professional development is an inspiration to those around her.
What is Allied Field Membership? Allied Field Membership of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) is a professional personal membership category that is open to people who are working at a professional level within the GLAMR (galleries, libraries, archives, museums and records) sector and hold an Australian qualification of diploma level or higher other than an ALIA Accredited LIS qualification. ALIA Allied Field personal membership recognises the rich skills and knowledge that allied qualifications bring to the sector. While some qualifications are obvious fits (communications or information or media technology for example) others are more niche, filling a much-needed professional purpose in the sector.
If you are already an Allied Field member of ALIA, we would love to see more professionals in this member category achieving CP and DCP status. Or if you are working at a professional level in the GLAMR sector and have a qualification at Diploma level or above, think about leveraging your professional potential by applying to become an Allied Field personal member of ALIA where you will be valued, supported and experience greater connection to the sector.
Sarah Hukulak AALIA (DCP) Schools
Sarah is Library Manager at a P – 12 College in Melbourne where she is described by her colleagues as a brilliant, dedicated and highly professional member of staff. The changes that Sarah has implemented in her school library are significant and staff and students are reaping the benefits. With her dedication to CPD is always on top on any new innovations and current practice and is a great contributor to ALIA, serving on the Executive of ALIA Schools special interest group and a participant in the National Simultaneous Storytime selection panels in 2025 and 2026. Congratulations on this recognition Sarah!
Karen Andrew AALIA (DCP) Public Library
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Karen is Coordinator Programs and Engagement at a branch of the Yarra Plenty Regional Library (YPRL) network where she is described as passionate, conscientious, curious, responsive to feedback, open and professional. Karen demonstrates a strategic mindset, attention to detail, and a commitment to high-quality program delivery. Her experience across relevant roles and organisations is evident in her leadership and support of regional, collections-focused library programming, partnership development, and contribution to initiatives aligned with significant dates such as International Day of People with Disability and Library & Information Week. Karen always shows a keen interest in attending various professional development opportunities that support her learning and development as a professional but also with the understanding the continuous need to remain informed to best support our communities and profession in response to the ever-changing landscape of public libraries. We’re lucky to have you in the library sector Karen and are happy to be celebrating your milestone achievement.
Sujesh Nair AALIA (DCP) Public Library
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We also celebrate Sujesh Nair, a committed library professional with a thorough understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing the library sector. Sujesh is continually improving has knowledge and skills and has been growing and applying his learnings over the past 2+ years in his role as Coordinator, Resource Management at busy Sydney public library He has made a significant impact not only to the work of his department, Resource Management, but to the library and community. Sujesh has streamlined processes and procedures in Resource Management, which comprises acquisitions, cataloguing, processing, Toy and Game Library and Local Studies. He spearheaded a major digitisation project, moving the local history digital collection from Portfolio to a new platform, Recollect. motivating his team to clean up the database and add more metadata. The result to date, a total 6,000 digital assets including images, Council business papers from 1859, videos, clippings and more. Sujesh is always learning and improving his skills, currently attending training to apply the benefits of AI to the library. ALIA is thrilled to see such a deserving recipient as Sujesh join the ranks of Distinguished Certified Professional.
Chris Meeking AALIA (DCP) VET Libraries
Chris Meeking is an Information Literacy Library at a TAFE Library in Victoria where he is described as an emerging leader in his field. Colleagues speak of their awe in relation to Chris’s integrity and commitment towards the LIS profession as he consistently demonstrates a genuine commitment to applying new knowledge has always been actively involved in numerous professional development opportunities, including, but not limited to, internal staff training days, ALIA webinars, and VATL (Victorian Association of TAFE Libraries) events.Chris has leveraged his professional knowledge through applied research to embed library support within the online learning platform at his school. He has presented his experience at conferences and written for INCITE and JALIA, showcasing his ability to advocate for and support librarianship within the VET sector. The body of literature about TAFE libraries is somewhat sparce, so it great to have Chris’s contribution to this field. There is no doubt that Chris will continue to uphold and advance ALIA values through his recognition as a Distinguished Certified Professional. Thank you Chris!
Martin van Dinteren AALIA (DCP ) Schools
Martin is an ALIA Associate member currently working in a Victorian primary school where his Principal reports that he does a wonderful job as the School Librarian and maintains a Primary School Library that would rival any junior library. He is passionate about his role and during his time at the school made significant improvements to the library collection and processes. Martin shows a dedication to be a professional and always acts with integrity. Through his genuine interest in keeping up to date with library trends, Martin is committed to empower students to be critical thinkers and enthusiastic readers. Fabulous work Martin!
Natalie Keen AALIA (DCP) Public Library
Natalie is extremely dedicated and passionate about library work and uses her knowledge and expertise to support the rest of her team, providing excellent service for the community. Natalie’s referees confirmed her ongoing commitment to professional learning and development, in particular, commending her on her development in the space of implementing Auslan Storytime programs which required Awareness Training, Deaf Literacy training and her commitment above and beyond in completing additional Auslan Community college courses to support the outcomes of this initiative.