Did you miss the talk on ALIA's Year of Renewal with Sue McKerracher, ALIA Executive Director? If you did, ALIA Sydney was there in force to listen and voice our opinions on the future of ALIA. Have a look below at a snapshot of the meeting!
ALIA National Advisory Congress 2012
with Sue
McKerracher, Executive Director of ALIA
hosted by
the State Library of New South Wales and Alex Byrne, State Librarian
What is
ALIA? Are we an exclusive or inclusive professional association?
ALIA is like a
fried egg:
The centre
yolk consists of the traditional library professionals: qualified librarians
& library techs. The white of the egg are the people in the library world
who perform other functions: systems, IT, marketing, etc. ALIA has to represent
and work for both groups.
Why does
ALIA exist?
1.
In the beginning, a group of librarians combined
funds to pay other people to do things they didn’t have the time or perhaps the
skills to do (advocacy, government lobbying, interstate communication) to
create a support centre for the profession
2.
ALIA is the combined strength of library and
information professionals
3.
ALIA is an advocate for libraries and library
professionals. They delve into problems facing the profession, do the research
and communicate to government, corporate and library bodies
Some recent
examples of ALIA’s advocacy
·
National Year of Reading: Took librarianship and
reading to the national stage and gained federal support for libraries (even
though they don’t fund libraries)
·
In 2013, ALIA is promoting teacher librarians in
the face of funding cutbacks. Since ALIA has a seat at the recent interagency
Cybersafety Council, ALIA has been promoting teacher librarians as champions
for anti-bullying measures online. ALIA will unveil an advocacy campaign for
teacher librarians on 1/3/13.
·
Saving TAFE library staff in Queensland
What next?
2012-13: A time of renewal
1.
Feel positive emotional connection with ALIA
2.
ALIA believes & supports that you believe in
3.
ALIA is well-run, provides good value
Planned
changes
1.
New website
2.
Re-engaging with LIS community
3.
Improve member experience
4.
Enhanced advocacy
5.
Special projects
a.
Future of the profession: Like SLNSW’s scenario
planning
b.
Opening up the PD Scheme to all library staff
c.
Creating a certified professional status by
mid-year
d.
Position paper on eBooks & e-lending
including a free session at Info Online and a think tank summit in Melbourne on
12 March
e.
Incite will change from 11 to 9 issues with more
pages and stories; a new weekly e-newsletter will go out starting next week
f.
Taylor & Francis will take over the
Australian Library Journal and will promote Australian content worldwide
g.
Conferences will be made more affordable through
input from members
h.
More local activities with a goal of 72 local
ALIA groups
6.
Publications
7.
Conferences
8.
Local activities
Open
Discussion on the following topics:
Enjoy!
-Jeff
User Education Librarian
A pilot project conceived by former ALIA Sydney convener Kate Byrne and created with Alyson Dalby and Clare McKenzie. These three enterprising librarians have put together a 'peer mentoring program' which is 'aimed at helping librarians develop international networks'. Participants will be paired up with a partner in the library industry and 'formally supported for six months through regular contact and facilitated online group discussions'. After six months the formal partnership finishes and new matches can be started. 
