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Australian Library Design Awards and Conference, 19 June 2017 Melbourne
 
This conference presentation (PowerPoint slides) accompanied the keynote address 'The City of Melbourne experience: libraries as part of city planning' at the Australian Library Design Awards 2017. The presentation provides an insight into the move towards repurposing inner city areas to encourage economic vitality, social cohesion and sustainability.
 
The Australian Library Design Awards have been created to showcase the best in contemporary library interiors and exteriors in Australia, and to celebrate the investment in libraries made by our nation's institutions, corporations, local, state and territory governments. They have been developed in the context of other competitions internationally, including the American Institute of Architects/American Library Association Library Building Awards and the Danish Agency for Culture Model Programme for Public Libraries Public Library of the Year Award. The entries, shortlisted and winning designs provide case studies in excellent library design for the 21st Century. 
 
The awards are organised by the Australian Library and Information Association in partnership with the Australian Public Library Alliance and Council of Australian University Librarians. The organising committee includes senior library leaders from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, acting on behalf of colleagues nationally. More than 30 libraries were entered for the inaugural Australian Library Design Awards 2017. Public, school, academic and special libraries all featured in the entries, and there was a special award for the library voted for by ALIA Members.

Health Libraries Australia Professional Development Day, 18 & 19 July 2019 Melbourne: All about data - what do health librarians need to know in the data driven world of ehealth?
 
This presentation (PowerPoint slides) accompanied the talk "I want what she's got - providing a liaison librarian-supported metrics service".

This Technical Report presents the detailed findings of the enquiry by the project which focus on skills frameworks, professional ethics and values, qualification pathways, future views of education and training, continuous professional development and professional status.
 
This Technical Report makes it clear that ALIA’s investment in the Professional Pathways initiative is timely and vital to meet the challenges and opportunities of the evolving work environment. Governments, employers, educators and workers (current and future) are all aware of the need to change the traditional model of education for and training in the professions to drive excellence and currency among professionals. A new mindset of life-long active professionalism, based on core ethics and values and with support for whole-of-career development, is needed for libraries and information services to grow and develop in line with advances in society and technologies. 
 

This document contains a snapshot of some of the innovative programs, events and activities taking place over the last 12 months or so in Australian public libraries. It features nearly 60 examples, which give together some idea of the variety of what’s happening all around the country.
 
The Australian Library and Information Association's year of advocacy came out of the ALIA Public Libraries Summit, which took place at the National Library of Australia, in Canberra, in July 2009. The summit program was built around four themes and we have taken these as the basis for our case studies. They are:
 

• Children, early reading and a literate Australia
• Encouraging the digital economy and digital citizenship
• Health and ageing
• Social inclusion

ALIA Information Online 2017 Conference, 13-17 February 2017 Sydney: Data Information Knowledge
 
This conference paper discusses a University of Queensland Library project which aims to source 500 publication related datasets and describe them in the institutional repository (IR) - UQ eSpace.
 
Abstract: The Royal Society Science Policy Centre concluded: “[…] data that underpin a journal article should be made concurrently available in an accessible database”  (2012). This principle is shared by funding bodies worldwide and is supported by a growing number of major publishers (Nature, 2016; PLOS, 2016; The Royal Society, 2016). Many disciplines have subject specific data repositories that align with open data initiatives, such as Dryad and PANGAEA. However, there is a gap in this space which can be partly filled by established institutional repository (IR) services, which offer reliable and robust solutions for publication-related datasets.
 
The Australian National Data Service (ANDS) and the University of Queensland (UQ) Library are collaborating on a project to explore using the IR (UQ eSpace) to store, describe, and share data underpinning UQ publications. Although pockets of researchers within UQ have well established data sharing practices, a data sharing culture has not yet been institutionalised. This project will allow us to capture the research data and provide us with a context for promoting data sharing practices with researchers. The project has two phases: a pilot that will allow us to create processes and gather feedback, and a larger rollout.
 
Our initial contact list of researchers included those who recently published in a journal on the Nature Index list or in a PLOS publication, all of which have a data sharing policy. In collaboration with Client Service Librarians, we use tailored and flexible approaches to contact the different researchers and groups. We have offered to create IR records for existing data, even if they are stored elsewhere (e.g. in Figshare). We have used this opportunity to advertise the IR as an attractive alternative for future data sharing activities.  
 
The project, which will continue to run until mid-2017, has had positive results. By providing a tangible service to meet an identified need we have established UQ eSpace as a useful tool for meeting publisher data sharing requirements. Taking a personalised approach by contacting researchers and groups directly, we were able to gather iterative feedback on our processes and systems, which allowed us to make crucial improvements along the way. 
In conversations with researchers, we have learned about their data sharing practices and pain points, which will inform future Library data management services.
 
So far, we have discovered that by approaching data sharing in this targeted way we have seen positive outcomes—a greater number of discoverable datasets in the IR and an improved data sharing culture. The data sharing landscape is still evolving and there are considerable issues for researchers and institutions to overcome. However, at UQ we have had positive outcomes with this approach to data sharing. It is too soon for the full impact on the University’s data sharing culture to be measured, but through this process we will continue to improve it one publication at a time. 
 

Australian National Early Literacy Summit, 7-8 March 2016 Canberra
 
This conference presentation (PowerPoint slides) from the summit provides an overview of policy issues influencing early childhood literacy and learning in Australia.
 
The aim of the National Early Literacy Summit is to spark debate about what a National Early Literacy Strategy for Australia might include and how it would help deliver the best results, building on existing work such as the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association’s "Declaration of Literacy in 21st Century Australia" and Victorian Libraries' "Reading and Literacy for All". 
 
Government, educators, researchers, libraries and early years service providers will break new ground in collaborative engagement around this most vital national priority – future generations with the literacy skills to fight disadvantage, and advance Australia’s interests in the global knowledge economy. 

ALIA Information Online 2017 Conference, 13-17 February 2017 Sydney: Data Information Knowledge
 
This conference paper explores the Australian National University Library’s (ANU Library) innovative use of technology to develop a Small Private Online Course (SPOC) designed to help learners confidently navigate and achieve success in the rapidly changing global scholarly publishing landscape. 
 
Abstract: You have heard of MOOCS, now meet the more agile version. Hear how it can be created using innovative technologies (Padlet and Wikipages) to build modules that bring national and international presentations into a holistic program. Based on user research from ANU Yale and Oxford, the ANU Library identified the need for better support of Higher Degree and Early Career Research communities, along with the early career academic to be scholarly communication literate. The SPOC takes learners through a set of linked capabilities to produce a publish ready scholar. The SPOC was built with extensive user consultation using an agile model. Not only were users the test community, they are also the presenters adding a new dimension. The program taps into skills of national and international leaders, building on digital learning and MOOC research. The fundamental theory is constructivist learning which combined with CX gives a strong innovative approach to the use of the technologies.
 
The first module produced was quality publishing. It introduced publication ethics, peer review and copyright. All modules supports multi-modal learning, enriched by discussions and quizzes. Learners have the opportunity to self-assess and to learn from their peers. This collaborative and innovative project affords learners a unique opportunity to hear from local and global publishing experts and to draw on their knowledge of the issues present in the international scholarly publishing world. An essential element of learning is the engagement with ANU postgraduate students is the identification of sense of community as an essential, the ANU Library facilitates this through interactive sessions with conversations on Twitter for learners who are unable to attend in person; peer-to-peer learning; a Q&A student panel on copyright and third party rights.
 
The SPOC project demonstrates that libraries can bring new theories, technologies and international outreach to the digital environment. A key is collaboration between key stakeholders and student learning communities. University libraries are recognised for their role in literacy and learning. This project takes the principles applied in a library learning environment to an international audience creating knowledge of the range of issues in scholarly communication. , As employers and government call for more digitally literate graduates, this program will deliver capabilities that support research, digital and publishing capabilities idea for future scholars, policy makers and contributors of society around the globe. The ANU Library aims to achieve these capabilities through the creation of this unique resource enabling transformational learning which contributes to researchers’ scholarly communication and publishing knowledge and successful careers.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Professional Pathways Initiative seeks to ensure a diverse, valued and supported library and information workforce into the future – read more at professionalpathways.alia.org.au.
 
On 30 November 2020, ALIA started the initiative with the Professional Pathways consultation draft for comment. This document for discussion outlined the preliminary aims of the project as developed through consultation with more than 450 a participants. The Project has developed from this initial consultation based on the feedback and additional evidence gathering activities, however this document is a useful point in time snapshot to aid an historic understanding of the project. 
 

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) welcomes the federal government’s commitment to open government policies and freedom of information and agrees that public sector information should be recognised as a national resource to be developed and preserved in the public interest. ALIA asserts that this information should be publicly available except where restricted by law, privacy considerations or is business in confidence.

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.
 
This conference presentation (PowerPoint slides) supports the paper which discusses two highly customised, and individualised, research support initiatives:
 
The Pimp my Profile initiative and the Researcher Profile Health Check Service. Both initiatives are very practical; Pimp my Profile takes researchers through a three step guide to creating a researcher profile (based on achieving Bronze, Silver and Gold levels); the Researcher Profile Health Check provides individualised feedback and practical suggestions on how researchers can maximise their online identity and visibility. In both cases researchers do something, and get something at the end. Both are also mechanisms through which emerging researchers were prioritised by the Faculty for targeted support by the CI Library Team. The CIF Research Leaders are further operationalising the Researcher Profile through the university’s mandatory Performance Planning and Review (PPr) process.
 
Both initiatives were developed and implemented in October 2015. Evidence of impact will be gathered via a focus group and a survey in the third quarter of 2016. This evaluation will focus on gathering researchers’ perceptions of the initiatives, as well as attempting to identify positive change over the course of the year, in the visibility of and activity around those researchers who developed their online researcher identity according to the Create Your Researcher Profile guide. 

This document assists in the promotion of the role of the school library and the teacher librarian to parents.
 
It supports the short promotional film developed by ALIA Schools, 'Promoting your School Library', which gives an overview of the role that school libraries and teacher librarians can play by contributing to student success in learning in both primary and secondary school settings.
 
Five key stakeholders have been targeted as the audience for this film:

•  Parents
•  Principal/Leadership Team
•  School Staff
•  Library Teams
•  Network Groups

This document assists in the promotion of the role of the school library and the teacher librarian to school staff.
 
It supports the short promotional film developed by ALIA Schools, 'Promoting your School Library', which gives an overview of the role that school libraries and teacher librarians can play by contributing to student success in learning in both primary and secondary school settings.
 
Five key stakeholders have been targeted as the audience for this film:

•  Parents
•  Principal/Leadership Team
•  School Staff
•  Library Teams
•  Network Groups

ALIA National 2014 Conference, 15-19 September 2014 Melbourne : together we are stronger

This conference presentation asks the question: how does a school library make a difference to its school community? How do you decide what to advocate for and what not to advocate for? How do you collect and collate evidence to support the role of the school library. This presentation unpacks a strategy and a number of resources that can be used when advocating for a particular issue for your school library. The resources have been prepared by the ALIA Schools Committee on behalf of its members.

ALIA National 2014 Conference, 15-19 September 2014 Melbourne : together we are stronger

This conference paper seeks to spark discussion, raise awareness and contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the use of social networking for professional learning, the formation and fostering of professional learning networks and the future of the profession.