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National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
[Peer reviewed] This conference paper explores the capacity of academic librarians to participate in creating an app which brings together key journal information in a userfriendly interface that assists academics with maximising their research impact.  The paper discusses how research impact is at the heart of institutional performance and reputation and is increasingly gaining prominence in academic library services. The University of Wollongong (UOW) Library implemented a Research Impact Analysis Service (RIAS) in 2011 to help researchers, research centres and the University strengthen their impact by providing detailed, strategic reports based on citations analysis drawn from numerous datasets. Consideration was given to issues of scalability and capacity to sustain and grow the service. An opportunity for collaboration arose, connecting the Library’s business need with the software development skills of JoindUp, a local start-up company under the umbrella of UOW’s iAccelerate business incubator program.  The vision was to introduce efficiencies and innovation in the production of Journal Impact Reports. The project brief was to develop an application that draws journal metrics together to empower academics in their strategic publishing decisions. 
 
A project team was established and developed the Publish for Impact app which allows researchers to access a range of journal indicators in a user-friendly interface, providing a comparison of relevant titles. The Publish for Impact app has demonstrated the capability of academic libraries to embrace the development of new technologies to bring strategic benefits and add value to Library services. The app enables workload efficiencies, flexibility and assists academics to make informed decisions when choosing where to publish.

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead
 
[Peer reviewed] This paper analyses changes to the librarian role and outlines how the Discipline Librarian (DL) role has developed over the last two years at Griffith University, moving away from traditional librarian services and towards a more targeted approach that delivers newly created services supporting scholarly impact throughout the research lifecycle. A strategic change in the service model delivery and a review of research support services identified new services and skills sets that would be required by DL’s. An audit of existing research skills identifying potential skill gaps indicated most DL’s would require additional training and development. This paper also discusses the capability framework and maturity model used for skills development. The authors, employed as Discipline Librarians, surveyed their peers to discover individual perceptions around the newly defined role and also to identify challenges or perceived barriers in communicating the new role and services to their community. Survey findings are discussed. 

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
[Peer reviewed] This conference paper discusses the issues faced by children with special needs and their families when accessing public libraries. 
 
The research found there were five common elements that libraries focussed on when addressing issues of accessibility for children with special needs and their families. These elements were: Collections, Programs, Partnerships, Physical barriers (space and equipment), Training. The elements were used to create an inclusive library model. The foundation of this model is supportive management. The inclusive libraries model provides an entry point and structure for public libraries wanting to improve access for children with special needs and their families. 

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
[Peer reviewed] Prison libraries play a pivotal role in serving the educational, recreational and other information needs of prison inmates.  This conference paper discusses the updating of the Mimimum Standard Guidelines for Library Services to Prisoners.  
 
In 2015 the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) established a working group to review and update the Minimum Standard Guidelines for Library Services to Prisoners, first published in 1990.  The guidelines are designed to assist with the planning of new prison libraries as well as in the evaluation and development of existing services. They are based in part on the third edition of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Guidelines for Library Services to Prisoners (Lehmann & Locke, 2005).  This paper describes the activities of the Working Group and the challenges they faced. It examines how Corrective Services New South Wales has responded to the publication of the Guidelines. Other activities relating to prison libraries that are underway or proposed are discussed and opportunities for further research are suggested.

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
[Peer reviewed] This conference paper discusses gaming as a pastime that encompasses a wide range of activities including video games, board games, pen and paper role playing games, and card games.   It evaluate the ways in which an urban public library can assess and meet the varied social and emotional needs of patrons using board and video games and examines issues surrounding gaming in libraries. It considers the role that game playing can have in the creation and building of communities when participation is facilitated by a public library through the provision of games and gaming events.
 
A survey was used to gather information to present a snapshot of the gaming habits of a community of individuals who utilise the services of an urban public library.  The results can inform other organisations when they are creating a game collection or expanding an existing one to help them choose titles which promote shared experiences and foster communication between community members. 

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
This conference paper reports on an information literacy and employability project undertaken by the University of Western Sydney Library to improve support for the School of Business by reviewing the information literacy programs offered to students with a view to developing a more relevant curriculum.  The project explored which information literacy skills are of practical value to newly graduating students in the work place and of greatest value to their employers.  Interviews were conducted with new graduates and employers.  

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
This conference paper describes a project in 2015 at the University of Adelaide Libraries to demonstrate innovative and relevant use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology in support of the University's mission.  The project aimed to demonstrate opportunities for the University Libraries to utilise emerging technologies.  
 
The pilot project existed as part of a greater movement driven by the University’s Technology Services division, and allowed an examination of how established groups could best exploit a technology on the very forefront of change.  To meet this goal a two phased project was proposed focusing on the rapid acquisition of VR production skills and the creation of a body of resources which could assist staff and students in the creation of content for this new media format.  Using the freely available Unreal Engine (UE4) an experience was created which allowed users to view a fictional world which rendered the effects of Boolean searching on a range of objects.
 
This project existed within, and due to, upheaval within the library industry. The direction of the project and the decision to produce documentation supporting an unreleased product came from the idea of the academic library as a place that creates opportunities for self-directed clients, easing the process of learning and research.  The process highlighted the value of documentation designed to lower the initial barrier to entry for this rising technology. Following the pilot project the University Libraries will consider VR as a component of the 'Library of the Future’ and determine how best it may be utilized to meet client needs.

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
This conference paper discusses how in 2015 State Library of Queensland (SLQ) led and facilitated Fun Palace events at libraries across Queensland. Originating in the United Kingdom, Fun Palaces are free, welcoming events combining arts and sciences, made for and with local people held in the first weekend in October. The Fun Palaces campaign is an ongoing movement for culture at the heart of the community. Held at libraries, museums, town halls, theatres and more these family events are as large or small as the organisers want to make them. In 2015 SLQ provided funding to seven public libraries, these were libraries from Gold Coast, Mossman, Beaudesert, Lowood, Longreach, Weipa and Thursday Island. The libraries hosted jugglers, archaeologists, cartoonists and robotics experts and enthusiasts from their local community to celebrate art and science in all its forms. Participants at SLQ could tumble, skip, leap and hoop with Vulcana Kids Circus, meet a giant virus and help it grow, program, control and battle a robot, go air surfing with walk-along gliders, paint a mural with veggies and much more. SLQ also developed a comic maker as our contribution to the global event.
 
This paper shares what happened, what was learned at the first Fun Palaces and why this program is an important part of SLQ’s commitment to inspiring Queenslanders’ creativity. The future direction of Fun Palaces will be discussed including the aim to incorporate more community led and created activities as part of our commitment to increasing community engagement in libraries. The paper also includes details of the 2016 Fun Palaces programs.

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
[Peer reviewed] This conference paper discusses incorporating an intern program into the recruitment process at University of New South Wales (UNSW).
 
As with other complex organisations, having the right mix of staff is always a challenge in libraries.  In recruiting staff at UNSW Library we look for particular skills, knowledge and aptitude and we make our decisions based on candidates’ qualifications and relevant experience.  If you are new to our profession without the required experience and/or the right qualifications then many doors to a fledgling library career will remain firmly shut.   Conversely, library managers think about succession planning and want to encourage new people to the profession.   Some managers also want staff to join the “revolving door” by creating opportunities to gain experience in all sorts of library work.  So how can library managers open the doors and build revolving ones?  One strategy that UNSW Library has used is to run a successful intern program.  The program consists of employing four final year/just graduated librarians for twelve months to work in the Client Services Unit.   To date nineteen graduates have participated in the program with all but one gaining permanent work in libraries, including at UNSW Library, either during the internship or immediately after.  This is significant as the interns state that prior to this experience, they had never even made it to interview stage.  As interns are treated as regular Client Services team members they are paid the same, do the same work and have the same training and professional development opportunities as everyone else.  This arrangement is beneficial to both interns and the Library as the interns come to UNSW full of new ideas and enthusiasm, and are hungry to learn as much as they can, which in turn inspires our permanent team members.  To date interns have contributed to activities as diverse as  working at the Help Zones of the three campus libraries, developing the enquiry management system, participating in a university-wide client services project, user interface testing for web services, and assisting in the Document Services Unit. 
 
This paper describes the intern program in detail, including planning, costs, recruitment, training and outcomes.  It also explains how implementing an intern program does not have to be complex or time consuming for your library and how its ongoing impact can be extremely beneficial for participants, the organisation and the library profession.

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
This conference paper discusses how the NSW Parliamentary library went about building a learning organisation. The NSW Parliamentary Library is the oldest specialist library of its kind in Australia. The staff of the library are also specialists, who possess remarkable amounts of knowledge about parliamentary resources and history. Like many libraries today, a great deal of this knowledge is tacit, with vast amounts of corporate knowledge embedded in the memories of comparatively few individuals.
 
In the 2014/2015 Business Plan, in line with the strategic plan of the Department of Parliamentary Services, the Parliamentary Librarian set a goal-based activity to “Build a learning organisation”. A project team was formed, and an original plan for knowledge-sharing and capacity-building was implemented.   A basic PMBOK (project management body of knowledge) framework was adopted to clearly define the scope, objectives, approach, stakeholders, team composition and risks of the activity. Distinct process groups of Definition, Planning, Implementation and Review were employed and project management templates ensured the project was methodologically sound while still maintaining the ability to quickly achieve results and test the project’s effectiveness. Three surveys were employed to inform implementation and provide a measure of project impact. Qualitative feedback was gathered through regular team meetings, staff forums and informal interactions.   The first round of the project ran over 11 months, with an implementation phase of 7 months, and focussed on creating the foundations for a system of structured knowledge dissemination and management. 
 

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead
 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers should be aware that this paper contains images and names of people who are now deceased.
 
This conference paper discusses the value, relevance and role of historical images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people along with the decriptive metadata that was recorded at the time of capture.
 
The historical image has never held a more significant place in our online engagement with the cultural record. In the digital environment, the research and publication value of images competes much more closely with the heavy material significance of the object and the traditional pre-eminence of the historical narrative. Colonial photographs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders possess a unique power to both demonstrate European colonial myth-making and corroborate Indigenous experiences that are otherwise unrecorded.
 
The majority of colonial photographic portraits and tableaus of Indigenous subjects were sent to Europe with family letters or for scholarly exchange. They were produced for scientific, documentary and commercial purposes – to document a ‘dying race’, as visual evidence for theories of evolution and as picturesque representations of the noble savage to feed the commercial taste for the exotic. They were prized for capturing reality, whilst simultaneously peddling myths of the other. Thus, much of the original descriptive metadata is absent or inaccurate, revealing the prejudices of these purposes.
 
For many Indigenous Australians today, they are also extraordinary family photos of mostly unknown ancestors. Their great value lies in this capacity to so immediately render our national history in terms of these dialectics of engagement.
 
Our digital delivery services offer great opportunities to restore these photographs within local domestic spheres and to be reconciled with oral family histories. There are, however, many particular discrepancies between the value in increasing access, and various Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions surrounding the power and cultural relevance of visual imagery. This is exacerbated dramatically as our institutional pursuit for increased digitisation and online discoverability makes them easily viewable to a mass audience.
 
This paper examines the challenge of absent and fabricated metadata in these photographs as they are discovered, delivered and published online. It draws on research into the role these collections play in European anthropological museums, including the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University and the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, to consider their transactional provenance. It also explores cultural rights and the value of photographs to Indigenous communities and considers the seminal Ara Irititja and new Indigenous databases and ask how we can best connect with experts in Indigenous communities to fill gaps in the descriptive metadata of our national memory.

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
This report accompanied a conference paper presented at the ALIA National 2016 Conference relating to the introduction of eGov, following an Australian Government committment to providing online services for all high volume federal services by 2017.  
 
The report defines eGovernment, the role of public libraries in facilitating access to eGovernment information, and promotes use of the eGov Ready Library Toolkit to assist public libraries in supporting their community.

 
Contents: About ALIA -- President's report -- Chief Executive Officer's report -- Director Corporate Services' report -- Director of Learning's report -- Assistant Director of Conferences and Events' report -- How we performed against the ALIA Board's strategic plan -- Our membership -- Advocacy campaigns -- Government and stakeholder relations -- Special projects -- Conferences and events -- Education, professional development and training -- Awards -- Communications -- ALIA Board handover -- Financial statements.

ALIA National 2016 Conference 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage create lead
 
This paper explores the place of Research Data Management (RDM) support services as an extension of the academic librarian's role. The presenters anticipate that RDM support will become increasingly important in an ever-more data-driven research environment, and share the experiences of three South Australian university libraries in providing RDM, including the skillsets developed and lessons learned.