February 2006
Monday 27 February 2006
Libraries Australia launch
I assisted with the launch of Libraries Australia today at Parliament House with a short speech [webcast]. This is a great example of the collaboration that the library industry does so well. Can people remember doing those initial ABN searches and all the training sessions, then Kinetica, and now the next evolution, available to all Australians [a history can be found at http://www.nla.gov.au/pressrel/2006/la-background.html].
Wonderful !
Friday 24 February 2006
Libraries for the future
I attended the Libraries of the 21st Century Symposium held on 21 Thursday February at the State Library of Victoria with our current ALIA President Gillian Hallam. It was both an informative and thought provoking day. The presentations will soon be available by podcast.
The day very much suggested that we should not just keep up, but think ahead to the future. Of particular relevance was Vicki Williamson's encouragement to Grow The Profession Together. She noted that we are running out of librarians and suggested that collaboration will be the key to our survival. I hope that ALIA can expand it's collaborative abilities in the future.
Charles Leadbeater says that institutions that are 'stuck' are in a chronic condition and which are then very prone to crisis. He suggested that librarians are 'stuck' and could continue to stay in this category if action is not taken. Libraries and librarians need to articulate their role in creating a creative society.
The quote of the day came during question time of the first speaker, Joel Kotkin. When asked if libraries are going to be like the Mail Coach (now defunct) ...He replied that 'Libraries should be in the wisdom business'. He noted that you can ask your librarian to recommend a book, but you can't ask Google.
Thursday 23 February 2006
Welcome
Hello Everyone, and welcome to the ALIA blog. Most of the content of this blog will be related to the library and information profession - the latest happenings, good ideas, future thinking, interesting events, and wonderful people and places. While most of the posts will come from me, the ALIA Board of Directors will also be 'feeding' material into the blog as well.
I will be going through the same experience that all bloggers have had in the past, and that will be an exciting part of the journey. What to write about, how to present it, what will my tags be .... So please be patient as we go along, and you will be a part of the evolution of the blog as well.
So why start one? A number of ALIA members have suggested it, but I think it was also on my mind starting as ALIA Executive Director. My thoughts were confirmed by a January 2005 BRW article and further background research into the benefits of leaders providing their news and views in this form. With our inCite edition for March themed 'Moving forward in an online environment' it also seemed the right time to start.