Advanced Search

Over the last five years, that TAFEs have been reducing their investment in course coordinators (the administrative support role). This has a negative effect on the student experience and has serious implications for the capacity of lecturers in terms of delivering the course and ensuring that students graduate with a full understanding of the subjects they have taken. This has the potential to devalue the course and to damage the reputation of the TAFE institution and the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) as the accrediting body. In the next round of TAFE accreditation, due at the end of 2020, ALIA will be seeking assurance that administrative support is adequately funded and supported by the institution. This will be a mandatory requirement for accreditation.

In June 2020, Australia had faced its first lockdown and in many parts of the country we were starting to adapt to the ‘new normal’. The New Generation Advisory Committee (NGAC) noticed an apprehension among new professionals during two #AusLibChats. The May topic for #AusLibChat was Housebound and the June topic was Mindfulness. During both chats it was clear from the tweets that people were struggling to find peace during these stressful times. Many who were casuals lost their jobs. Others looking for employment were voicing their dismay at the lack of opportunities.

The NGAC composed a survey titled, “How has COVID-19 affected the careers of emerging GLAM professionals?” This report provides an insight into the experiences, opinions, and feelings of new generation professionals on how COVID-19 had, or was currently, affecting their careers.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) is committed to reconciliation in Australia. Respect for the diversity and individuality of all people is one of ALIA’s core values, and diversity has been selected by ALIA President, Vicki Edmunds as her Presidential theme for the years 2021-2023. ALIA’s Strategic Plan 2021-2024 has identified a priority action to ‘support a resilient, diverse workforce: attracting and developing talented, committed individuals from different cultural backgrounds, who will have the strength and agility to navigate a rapidly changing workplace.’ ALIA’s Innovate RAP will champion the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within the Presidential theme and also help to develop libraries’ role as culturally safe spaces.
 
ALIA’s commitment to developing the first Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan was confirmed by the development of a Working Group in February 2019 which has guided the development of the ALIA RAP. The Working Group champions all aspects of the RAP internally and, in 2022, consists of seven ALIA staff members along with the Indigenous Curator of the National Library of Australia. 

Application form for mentees in the Australian Library and Information Association Mentoring Scheme in 2021.

ALIA Information Online 2017 Conference, 13-17 February 2017 Sydney: Data Information Knowledge
 
[Peer reviewed] This conference paper discusses a project by the University of South Australia to develop a system to manage research ouputs.
 
Abstract: The challenge of ensuring that research outputs are captured in a timely manner, academics are not frustrated with administrative processes and using powerful tools such as ORCiD to their full advantage is one faced by all universities. Coupled with senior managers’ increasing information needs to use research outputs data to answer key questions such as ‘who should we be collaborating with?’ adds additional pressure for streamlined whole-of-university processes, often when different areas work at cross-purposes. Through an intentional ‘one team’ collaboration between Library, Business Intelligence and Planning, Information Strategy and Technology Services, Research and Innovation Services, and Human Resources teams, UniSA has managed to support schools and academics to deliver enhanced end‐user services and to introduce efficiencies across the organisation with the support of the Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research and Innovation. The benefits of this approach have led to the following in a time period of only 18 months:
 

• the creation of the Collection of Research Outputs (CRO) online submissions and management system for all UniSA research outputs including journal articles, books and book chapters, conference papers, reports, patents, creative works, and Higher Degree and Masters by Research theses. CRO is currently harvesting 70% of all journal articles
• widespread adoption of ORCiDs
• output metadata being sufficiently complete and of high quality to automatically populate new design publicly-available staff home pages
• significantly increased compliance with UniSA’s Open Access Policy which has required Library staff to develop new workflows to support post‐print lodgement into the University’s institutional Research Outputs Repository (ROR)
• a more complete and up to date source of data to support Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research and Innovation’s desire to introduce measures of research productivity, which in some cases, will report and benchmark performance on outputs not necessarily included in statutory reporting requirements
• integration of citation counts and Altmetrics, and affiliation and collaboration metadata into staff home pages, staff performance reports and ROR pages.

 
The project leveraged existing enterprise systems including Appian business process management workflow software, the Alma library management solution and vendor APIs. The system delivers academics automated weekly notifications of new research outputs harvested from Scopus and Web of Science. Academics then either claim or reject the output and upload the post-print where applicable. Academics are also able to use a DOI lookup or manually submit publication details. The development of the new Repository discovery interface was informed by stakeholders and the display also includes additional citation details, funding, and linked research datasets. A comprehensive whole‐of‐university communications plan (including support resources) was executed with capability building sessions delivered by Library and other staff. The system has been in operation since August 2015 and initial uptake has exceeded expectations with academics quickly adapting to and engaging with the new process. Typically, academics claim outputs within a week of notification and the average time for a researcher to review and finalise an output is under five minutes. 

ALIA New Librarians' Symposium 9 (NLS9), 5-7 July 2019 Adelaide: collaborate deviate innovate
 
This presentation (PowerPoint slides) supported the talk on the program called the 'Cultural Forum'. The program started as a brave experiment (granted support on a 6 month trial-basis) and evolved across a 12 month period to become a radical method for community led programs in Melbourne. Yarra Libraries worked with not-for-profit organisations to build panels and address topical issues from the Stolen Generations to Manus Island and detainment.

Abstract:
 
Some would say living in North Queensland with 90% humidity, raging cyclones, swimming with deadly jellyfish and crocodiles is challenging, yet this is nothing compared to leading staff through major cultural, operational and organisational change.
 
CityLibraries Townsville made the decision in 2012 to join the 170+ libraries across Australia and New Zealand to liberate ourselves from out dated technology and implement RFID. Evolving with the times staff were destined for a 100% self-service model accompanied by a transitional period of uncertainty and culture shock. What did this mean for us? A bumpy road where the leadership team worked tirelessly to support library staff in the movement from a role defined by transactions to a role centred on interactions with customers.
 
How did we manage and cope with this? Forget the managers’ perspective, this paper will tell you what it’s really like leading front line staff through the challenging and opportunistic transformation whilst keeping morale high and the library functioning beyond its current capability. For the customers it would be a game changer, with a proven record for enhancing the service to maximise productivity gains resulting in staff having time to assist with the rapid growth in demand for digital technology and the delivery of more services and programs to the community. Leading by example required each and every one of us to commit to new behaviours and new habits for the transition to 100% self-service. As Team Leaders, we were the first port of call for concerns from the front line staff proving that we as Library and Information Technicians more than ever must be the “devil” to tame the beasts and lead staff through an ever changing and demanding world in libraries.

Abstract:
Public libraries today face the challenge of educating and bridging the knowledge gaps of those patrons in their communities who have limited experience with information technology, and few related skills. Connecting people with information, fostering digital skills in the community, and enabling participation in online environments have become core functions of the library. These functions, which are lacking in other public and private spaces, are increasingly relied upon by library users to socialise, develop themselves and conduct their business.
 
A lack of basic IT skills and familiarities can result in frustration, depression and feelings of helplessness with respect to the use of computers. At Cambridge Library, the Digital Services Team (two library technicians and me) first provided small group classes teaching library clients basic computer skills. On review it became apparent that the students attending had such diverse needs that a group teaching program was no longer the most effective option. To provide a better service to library clients, we developed a specialised IT teaching program in which we tailor one on one classes to each individual's needs.
 
My paper will outline why these tailored IT teaching classes can be the best option for community libraries, the strategies our team used to research, structure and implement our teaching program, and how the team manages and resources the program on a day-to-day basis. The paper will provide a model, or blueprint for the design and implementation of such a program in other public libraries.

Abstract:
Public libraries today face the challenge of educating and bridging the knowledge gaps of those patrons in their communities who have limited experience with information technology, and few related skills. Connecting people with information, fostering digital skills in the community, and enabling participation in online environments have become core functions of the library. These functions, which are lacking in other public and private spaces, are increasingly relied upon by library users to socialise, develop themselves and conduct their business.
 
A lack of basic IT skills and familiarities can result in frustration, depression and feelings of helplessness with respect to the use of computers. At Cambridge Library, the Digital Services Team (two library technicians and me) first provided small group classes teaching library clients basic computer skills. On review it became apparent that the students attending had such diverse needs that a group teaching program was no longer the most effective option. To provide a better service to library clients, we developed a specialised IT teaching program in which we tailor one on one classes to each individual's needs.
 
My paper will outline why these tailored IT teaching classes can be the best option for community libraries, the strategies our team used to research, structure and implement our teaching program, and how the team manages and resources the program on a day-to-day basis. The paper will provide a model, or blueprint for the design and implementation of such a program in other public libraries.

ALIA New Librarians' Symposium 9 (NLS9), 5-7 July 2019 Adelaide: collaborate deviate innovate
 
This presentation (PowerPoint slides) supported the lightning talk on how new graduates can play pivotal roles in bringing new ideas and perspectives to established and experienced teams.

National Library and Information Technicians' Symposium, 13-15 November 2019 Melbourne: Discover, Diversify, Dive In
 
This presentation (PowerPoint slides) accompanied the symposium workshop on planning and implementing escape rooms in public libraries.
 
Session description: Google ‘escape rooms’ in Melbourne and you get multiple hits for various companies offering an escape room experience. They cover themes of prison breaks to vampires to haunted houses and everything else in between. If you can think it, there probably is an escape room using that theme. There is no doubt they are popular. But can they be implemented in a library? After all, an escape room is usually a single or even multiple rooms all set up with clues and puzzles for the participants to work their way through to the exit. Given they're usually custom built rooms that are more or less a permanent fixture of the building they are in, is it even possible to do this in a public library?
 
Using experience in running a Harry Potter themed escape room at Casey Cardinia Libraries, the process to creating and running an escape room (Harry Potter themed or otherwise) within the library setting will be discussed. We will go through the steps from initial planning to implementation, and examples from the CCL escape room will be presented. Participants will be given the opportunity to try out some of the clues as well start the process of creating an escape room with the group, from initial concept to realisation.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) welcomes the opportunity to provide a response to this discussion paper and would be pleased to be involved in further discussions about Australia’s ethical framework for artificial intelligence (AI).

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) asks the Tune Review panel to acknowledge the broader role of the National Archives of Australia (NAA), in relation to audience engagement, in the context of the information management and GLAM sectors, and with reference to the changing role of archives in the developed nations.
 
We also ask the panel to consider the impact of an injection of funding specifically for digital transformation, making priority records accessible to users online in a reasonable timeframe, and meeting the 2025 deadline for audio visual (AV) materials which may not otherwise survive in a usable condition.

On behalf of our members, representing library and information professionals, libraries and information services, academics, researchers, research practitioners and the Library and Information Science (LIS) community Australia-wide, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) welcomes the opportunity to provide a response to the ANZ Standard Research Classification review. For LIS, we recommend the relocation and renaming of one FoR (080702), the renaming of four FoR (080701, 080704, 080706 and 080708) and the addition of two new FoR (080710 and 080711). We would be pleased to be involved in further discussions about the review as required by the review board.