March 2006
Friday 31 March
Internet access
ALIA issued a media release [136kb pdf] today in response to Senator Guy Barnett's comments [ 30 March media release ] on internet access in public libraries.
The debate is not a new one, see our 1999 release and for this reason it was timely that the results of ALIA's 2005 national survey on these statistics and issues could be made available. This comprehensive survey follows on from the one conducted in 2002. Congratulations to the Online Content and Regulation Group who provided overall guidance for the project and Susan Magnay at National Office for the co-ordination. If you have any comments or feedback regarding the report, please contact Susan or myself (please remove .nospam from addresses).
Wednesday 29 March
Sydney
In Sydney today in the rain to meet with the Information Online Group to discuss the already well developed plans for the 2007 Information Online Conference. I also joined Dagmar Schmidmaier, our Vice-President at a Meet and Greet with members at the State Library of NSW. We had a very interesting discussion on what the future might hold for ALIA and members offered ideas to Dagmar on possible issues to address during her time as President.
Thursday 23 March
Adelaide
Was in Adelaide to assist with an ALIA Nuts and Bolts Session
[84 kb ppt] for group committee members and a 'meet the members' night at the University of Adelaide. I got to briefly see the Barr Smith Library - beautiful.While in Adelaide I also met with Alan Smith, Director of the State Library of South Australia, and Margaret Birtley from the Collections Council.
Friday 17 March 2006
Hello's and Goodbye's this week at ALIA National Office...
A farewell to Renee Kirkham who has been our Events Assistant for the past year. Best wishes to Renee who goes off to further her career at a government department.
We welcome Jane Hardy (please remove .nospam from address), our new Events Manager and also Pradeep Kumar who is assisting us with website updating. Kate Everett also joined the office as our temporary receptionist and to help with organising the ballot papers.
Thursday 16 March 2006
Kippax Library
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I finally joined the public library today at the lovely refurbished Kippax branch. It was great to walk into a busy library - a writers group having discussions at the corner table, a man reading to his two year old, people reading newspapers, a nice listening post for music, and internet and multimedia computers being booked for use. I wonder how long it usually takes people to join their public library after moving house? Weeks/Months? And what did I borrow? Well, some kids videos, a few beginner readers to help my daughter learn to read, and for me - a CD I had been meaning to buy - Fingerprints the Powderfinger Best Of to play nice and loud in the car for a couple of weeks. |
Wednesday 15 March 2006
CIT awards
| I attended the Canberra Institute of Technology Awards night and presented our two ALIA winners with their prize packs. (Susan Bowen - ALIA Student Award winner, Sue, and Leisa Stack - ALIA ACT Library Technician Scholarship winner) |  |
Tuesday 14 March 2006
Board meeting
Our first board meeting
for 2006.It was a full day and a long agenda but much was achieved and decided. More news on outcomes soon...
Friday 10 March 2006
Ballot papers
We have identified a problem at the mailing house with the inserting of ballot packs into the March inCite. Unfortunately at this time we are unable to track exactly how many were not received.
If you have NOT received your ballot pack, please e-mail (please remove .nospam) or freecall 1800 020 071 and a replacement pack will be dispatched to you straight away.
Thursday 9 March 2006
When is a video shop not...
In the move to Canberra the only appliance that didn't like the new house was the DVD player, which stopped working on arrival. This left the faithful VHS video player to continue with the weekly family tradition of a pizza and video night. After ordering the pizza I went to the VideoEzy shop across the road to sign up and borrow some videos, only to find out that as a newly opened store that they only stock DVD's. I tried the Video2000 store up the road with the same result. At this point I started to wonder when these video stores might start to have to change their name...
It also gave me great comfort that of all the many formats that libraries have had to deal with, we have not had to change our name.
Tuesday 7 March 2006
Copyright jargon demystified
The ALIA Copyright and Intellectual Property Advisory Group met today at ALIA House in Canberra. ALIA is also involved in the Australian Libraries' Copyright Committee. Among the agenda items were two which had me guessing...
What exactly is a TPM?? and how does it relate to libraries?
Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) are the 'blocks' that are placed on their products by publishers of digital media to prevent them being copied. Unfortunately this also prevents legitimate copying by eg libraries. Well, the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee tabled its report on TPM exceptions in Parliament last week and it favours the libraries' submissions, made by the ALCC and ADA. The full report is available online [1.7mb pdf].
And finding 'Orphan Authors' Works' is also another current copyright issue. These are works where the copyright owner cannot be traced and which therefore can only be used or copied for strictly limited purposes. This issue will be debated later this year. In the meantime the US Copyright Office has released a report.
Our ALIA Copyright Advisor, Moyra McAllister (please remove '.nospam' from address) also attended a symposium in Sydney last week - 'Making the Most of Creativity: in the Public Interest'. In the course of the day, the Adelphi Charter was launched.
Monday 6 March 2006
Alia Poll
The first of our ALIA Poll questions is on our home page from today. Every few weeks we will have a new question and seek your opinion. Please cast your vote and offer your opinion as well as sending us your ideas for future questions.