Full report - State Library of Victoria - Victoria Online

Image
Marc Testart, winner of
the National Poetry Slam,
competing in the national fi nals
Redefining
Our Role
as Leaders
in the Library
Sector
Library Sector Leadership
This has been a watershed year for the Board
and the State Library’s work with Victoria’s
45 public library services. It has brought to
completion a three-year plan of collaborative
action and delivered a new three-year plan which
will contribute in a variety of ways to library
services for Victoria’s communities.
Library Board President the Hon. John Cain has
again demonstrated the value that the Board
places on its relationship with public libraries,
visiting libraries in Geelong, Sydenham, Brighton,
Beaumaris, Cheltenham, Clarinda, Hawthorn,
Wodonga and Box Hill.
The Libraries Act 19888
defines the Board’s
responsibilities in relation to the wider library
world. These include exercising leadership and
promoting high standards, and overseeing
cooperation that promotes access to library
and information resources. In fulfi lling these
responsibilities the Board allocated approximately
$4 million to its 2005–08 plan of action with
public libraries, known as the Statewide Public
Library Development Projects. The plan focused
on three areas: the community-building role of
public libraries; collections and access issues;
and supporting development of the public
library workforce. In this, the final year, much
was achieved.
Strengthening g Communities
In support of the community-building role of public
libraries a third year of funding was provided
for development initiatives of individual
library services:
High Country Library Corporation received
$51,900 for Pages for Life, an initiative that
provides informal learning opportunities for
some of the most disadvantaged youth in
country Victoria.
Mildura Rural City Council Library Service
received $75,000 for LISN @ Your Library,
a project that provides adult literacy and
numeracy resources and training programs.
Vision Australia Information Library
Service, with Eastern Regional, Goldfi elds,
Whitehorse Manningham and Yarra Plenty
library services, received $73,100 for
Service Enhancement through Partnership,
an initiative to improve access to public
library programs by people with visual
impairment.
The fi nal two reports in the Libraries Building
Communities series were published in 2008.
Showcasing the Best: Volume 2
presents more
than 40 case studies of the innovative ways in
which Victorian public libraries are developing
their services to meet community needs.
Connecting with the Community looks in-depth
at barriers to public library usage for ‘hard to
reach’ groups such as Indigenous Australians,
Horn of Africa communities and disadvantaged
youth. Both publications provide inspiration and
practical advice to public libraries, and will
contribute signifi cantly to shaping their services.
Improving Collections and Access
Collection Management Standards were developed
with public libraries, with the aim of helping to lift
the quality of general collections across the state.
Local history collections were separately
addressed through the Memory Victoria project.
In the third and fi nal year of this project
conservation assessments of collections held by
33 library services were undertaken and reports
were provided to each service. Items from these
collections were showcased in events held in
libraries around the state. A highlight of the year
was the award to Memory Victoria of an Arts
Portfolio Leadership Award for Leadership
in Community.
The location, design and condition of their
buildings are critical to community access to
public library collections and services. During
2007 an audit of Victoria’s 250-plus public
library buildings was completed and reports
provided to service managers.
Access to public library services for people
living in aged-care centres is often diffi cult. In 2008
Goldfi elds Regional Library Corporation received
the $15,000 Pierre Gorman Award to extend library
services to aged-care centres around Bendigo,
with the assistance of volunteers from SCOPE.
This initiative benefi ts both the aged community
and SCOPE’s disabled clients by providing them
with an opportunity for community engagement.
Developing the Workforce
A major piece of strategic work conducted over
three years was completed with the publication
of Workforce Sustainability and Leadership:
Survey, analysis and planning for Victorian public
libraries. This report provides recommendations
to help ensure that Victorian public libraries
maintain an appropriately skilled workforce
over the next 15 years.
Many Victorian public library staff
participated in professional-development
opportunities throughout the year:
1000 staff registered in the Learning 2.0
online program, designed to increase their
skills in use of new social networking
technologies and their application
in libraries.
Over 300 staff attended seminars on
‘Libraries, Web 2.0 and other Internet Stuff’
and ‘Reaching the Hard-to-Reach’.
Nearly 150 public library staff from Victoria,
other parts of Australia and New Zealand
attended the Auslib public libraries
conference on the theme of ‘Reading Critical’,
hosted by the State Library of Victoria.
The Margery C Ramsay Scholarship was
awarded to Lesley Fell (Monash Public
Library Service) to travel to the United
States to study innovative services
to baby boomers.
The Barrett Reid Scholarship was awarded
to Pam Howard (Goldfi elds Library
Corporation) to travel to the United Kingdom
to investigate delivery of library services
in remote areas.
Six Victorian public library places were
subsidised in the prestigious Aurora
Leadership Institute, for Georgina Earl
(Whitehorse Manningham Regional
Library Corporation), Donna Edwards
(City of Greater Dandenong Libraries),
Donna Leung (Yarra Libraries), Leslie
Sharples (Yarra Plenty Regional Library
Service), Colin Waring (West Gippsland
Regional Library Corporation) and
Leonee Zito (Melbourne Library Service).
Planning for the Future
While the 2005–08 Statewide Public Library
Development Projects were being completed,
an extensive planning process also took place
to ensure that a new three-year plan of action
was in place to commence on 1 July 2008. The
process was overseen by the Board’s Advisory
Committee on Public Libraries – the Library Board
of Victoria and Victorian Public Library Network’s
Framework for Collaborative Action guided
the way. A critical component was a three-day
planning retreat for public library managers
and senior State Library staff in October.
In April the Board approved the new
three-year plan containing fi ve initiatives covering
development of a new evaluation framework
for Victoria’s public libraries; an assessment
of the economic benefi ts of public libraries; a
leadership-development program; a newspaperdigitisation
program; and the development
of a travelling exhibition.
In addition to the Statewide Public Library
Development Projects, the State Library and
public libraries continued to work together on
diverse programs such as Travelling Treasures,
the National Poetry Slam, WikiNorthia and
Reading Victoria, mentioned in detail elsewhere
in this report.