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This joint submission from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and the Australian Public Library Alliance (APLA) discusses the role of public libraries in the digital space, enhancing people’s online experiences, helping people connect to this new virtual world, and providing a safety net for those who are in danger of being left behind, particularly in terms of the ability to access government information.
 
ALIA and APLA support equality of access to the benefits arising from our increasingly digital society and view public libraries as having an important role in bridging the gap for those who don’t have the skills, knowledge, money, devices or high speed connection to be regular and confident users of the internet.

This submission from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) discusses the role of school libraries and teacher librarians in supporting the Australian Curriculum. The integration of information literacy into the curriculum and the explicit teaching of information skills are essential to ensure that students become independent, discerning lifelong learners.

This submission from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) highlights the key role of school information services and teacher librarians in delivering improved curriculum outcomes, attainment of the goals of education, promotion of literacy and reading, information literacy, technology use in schools and the curriculum, and lifelong learning.
 
Having access to a well resourced school library and the services of a fully trained and qualified teacher librarian is the right of every student in an Australian school. The provision of the school library facility and the employment of a qualified teacher librarian in every school is the responsibility of the federal and state governments of Australia, and is in the national interest.

This submission from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) highlights the role public libraries can play as part of the emergency management process and reinforces their contribution, not only to information and learning, but also as a ‘third place’ – not home, school or work, but a shared community space.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Government 2.0 Taskforce. ALIA believes that:
 

• it is very timely for a review of the potential to provide better access to government information and interaction with government now that the 2.0 technologies have emerged;
• a strong democratic Australia can only be achieved by engaging with public and other libraries to deliver digital connectivity, content and capability; and
• a clear, targeted strategy is needed to deliver social inclusion in the digital environment. A digital economy can only be build by a community with digital access, digital content that supports their lives and digital skills.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) is committed to an active policy of social inclusion and through its leadership, advocacy, education and professional development activities for and on behalf of its members, there is a well-educated library and information workforce whose contributions to libraries enhance the economic, social and cultural wellbeing of Australian society. 
 
The draft overarching framework in the issues paper does not fully identify the several roles, outcomes and impacts delivered by not for profit membership-based organisations such as ALIA. 

This joint submission from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and eight other library associations supports the development of an information infrastructure with libraries as the conduit for a sustainable knowledge economy.

This submission from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) discusses how investment in libraries can be expected to generate economic as well as social, cultural and environmental benefits. Libraries sustain the community in social, cultural and environmental terms and contribute positively in terms of economic value, benefit and activity. ALIA advocates the development of an informed society that can partake and participate in skilled decision-making.
 
Accurate, relevant and timely information is the key ingredient to effective decision-making. Australia's long-term economic development is dependent on its ability to use information to make decisions that enable growth, progress and productivity. Libraries and the library profession contribute to an informed society by acquiring, organising, archiving, retrieving, using, synthesising and analysing information and thereby empowering users so that they can utilise this information in their decision-making processes. ALIA supports the development of a 21st century information infrastructure with libraries as the conduit for a sustainable knowledge economy.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) submission to the Australia Council for the Arts discusses how libraries across the sector have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Libraries have been highly agile, adapting and embracing new technologies, delivering online forums and making electronic resources widely available. As a sector, libraries have proved to be proactive and exceptionally resilient throughout the pandemic.
 
Going forward, libraries will play a significant role in the nation's recovery and are well positioned to weather future disruptions. The library brand is strong and trusted. Our networks, both digital and physical, are well established and efficient. Our workforces are adaptable and innovative. We have a deep and meaningful connection with our communities. We have books and literature at our core, but we have expanded into support for other art forms. These are some of the assets we bring to the current situation and a nation emerging from the impact of a devastating global pandemic.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) welcomes this opportunity to respond to the Australian Government Soft Power Review.
 
ALIA, Australian libraries and library and information professionals have a role to play in a number of areas, including:

• Working with colleagues in the Asia-Pacific to progress the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Promoting Australia’s creative industries, especially in the area of literature
• Furthering cultural understanding within our region and internationally
• Supporting the preservation and digitisation of local archives and records
• Accrediting education, promoting professional networks, information sharing and capacity building for library and information workers
• Supporting the development of Blue Shield national committees in the region, to promote disaster planning and awareness for cultural institutions.

INCITE: The magazine for library and information professionals - November/December 2020 Volume 41 Issue 11/12
 
Contents: From the President -- From the CEO -- HCL Anderson Award recipient Cheryl Hamill -- Make a date for Library Lovers' Day 2021 -- The show must go on...line -- Tips for reflective practice -- Meet the convenor: Damien Linnane -- Health Libraries: Better Evidence = Better Health -- The latest from the states and territories -- Contribute to INCITE in 2021 -- Reading with rainbow royalty -- Calling for Change -- Reflecting who we are -- Delving into diversity -- Changing with the times -- Continuing the conversation -- Measuring the immeasurable -- Statewide vision, local focus -- Learning to embrace change -- Every school library counts -- Let's talk change in the LIS sector -- The winds of change -- The art of browsing -- Preparing for a post-COVID world -- Transforming with technology -- Open, shut them, open... -- Connecting through COVID -- The state of the union -- Cut waste, grow sustainably -- New graduate, same old problems.
 

The Reading Hour is one of the most celebrated annual reading initiatives in Australia, and supports individuals, families and communities to discover and rediscover the joy of reading. The Reading Hour emerged from the National Year of Reading 2012, and is an ongoing campaign from Love2Read, funded by the ALIA Australian Public Library Alliance and in partnership with the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.
 

In 2012, Australian libraries and library associations came together behind the National Year of Reading, linking together all the great things that are already happening around books, reading and literacy, and giving them an extra boost, with inspirational programs and events taking place across the country.
 
There were more than 4,000 events, $5.6 million in in-kind support, $26 million-worth of media coverage, much of it highlighting the fact that nearly half the population struggles without the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work. There are 46% of Australians who can't read newspapers; follow a recipe; make sense of timetables, or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.
 
Following on from the success of the campaign, the 15 founder partners decided to carry forward the Love2read brand into 2013, making the most of the momentum that had been created during the National Year of Reading. In 2017, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and book industry partners broadened the campaign into the Australian Reading Hour.

This submission from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and the Australia Public Library Alliance (APLA) discusses the expansion of libraries into the broader arts and culture mix; the ongoing need for university qualified library and information professionals; and the benefits of creative and cultural industries to Australian society.
 
ALIA-APLA provides the following recommendations:

• Align librarianship with IT and education in the Job Ready Graduates plan
• Invest in Australian books, writers and reading
• Promote public libraries as centres for digital transformation of government services