News from the Committee May/June

Well, I think we can confidently say, ‘We’re chilled’. Literally and figuratively.

The last two months we’ve had COVID, gone to ALIA’s national conference in Canberra, found out about street libraries, fish libraries, bats in the library, library floods and  librarians being axed from the ABC. Some of us ( looking at you Jan) have been overseas. To a warmer climate no less!!!!

And through all of it, and the cold, we’ve kept on focusing on ways to bring you interesting information and ways to get to know each other, your work and what matters to you. Which leads me to some events coming up.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Thursday 23^rd June, 7-8pm via Zoom.  Disaster preparedness in the GLAM sector.  A free event but you need to register via the link.
• Saturday 16^th July , 11am 12 noon. Launceston. Inveresk Library Tour at UTAS Launceston . A free event but you need to register. We’re also inviting you to join us for and informal lunch at the Blue Café afterwards. A great opportunity to meet each other and catch-up with old friends.
• And a heads-up about our Library and Information Week event. More details coming soon. Where? The Trophy Room at the Real Tennis Club (Hobart)/ When? Wednesday 27^th July, 5.30 – 7pm/ What? Drinks and nibbles

INFORMATION

We’re pleased to let you know that Libraries Tasmania has reinstated the Taslib-link elist. You can subscribe via taslib-link-join@lists.alia.org.au  or http://lists.alia.org.au/mailman/listinfo/taslib-link_lists.alia.org.au . (Please check your Junk folder if you don’t receive a confirmation email in 5 minutes.) It’s freely available to all Tasmanian libraries and library staff to share information, ideas and opportunities.  Sign up now to be part of the conversation.

We love reading about your professional journeys and we’ve had great feedback from our series of articles called View From My Desk. Our last contributor was Brad Chugg and we’d like to wish him all the best and bon voyage as he heads off to Canberra and a job in IT at the Australian Defence Forces. Thanks Brad, and stay in touch!

If you’d like to contribute a View From My Desk article, or can suggest someone who might, contact us via our elist  aliaisland@lists.alia.org.au or aliaislandtas@gmail.com.

Which leads me to the ALIA Mentoring Scheme. Brad was a part of this and our very own Jan Richards was his mentor. Check out the ALIA website for more information (Applications close 24 June).

And finally, quite a few staff from Libraries Tasmania attended the ALIA National 2022 conference. They’re putting together some short videos about key learnings and we’re negotiating to get links to them for you. In the meantime, you can watch the presentations from the main theatre and read all the papers here . Just click on the program content that interests you and you’ll be linked through.

FEEDBACK TO ALIA

Do you have anything you’d like us to share with the new ALIA CEO, Cathie Warburton? A couple of us will have the opportunity to attend a meeting with Cathie in August. We’re inviting you to tell us what you’d like discussed – thoughts, issues etc. Send them to aliaisland@lists.alia.org.au  or aliaislandtas@gmail.com. Or even better, come and talk to us at one of our events – we LOVE a good chat.

So that’s your news for May/June. Stay warm (and chilled) and we’ll talk again in July.

The ALIA Island Organising Committee.

April News

A big autumn hello from the ALIA Island Organising Committee!

At our April committee meeting we went ‘retro’ and met in person at La Sardinia. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone. And the food is great!

ALIA Island in Conversation

Thank you to Jacqui Lucas (Learning Services Coordinator, ALIA) and Amy Rake (Convenor, ALIA Disability Group) for joining our first ALIA Island in Conversation, and Libby Levett for stepping in to speak about the  ALIA Adult Literacy Group. It was a small group of attendees but everyone agreed that joining special interest groups is an easy way to broaden, and at the same time focus, professional skills and interest and be part of a network of likeminded people.

If you would like to catch up on the session you can watch here   https://youtu.be/ZuoIjk8MAOI

Some ideas for future topics/speakers include:

• Blue Shield
• Booktok
• The new ALIA CEO Cathie Warburton
• The new Executive Director Libraries Tasmania, Sue McKerracher
• The Sustainable Development Goals
• IFLA

View From My Desk

In our April 2022 ‘View from my desk’ we would like to introduce you to Jen Johnson, a Library Technician with 18 years’ experience in high school and college libraries, currently between workplaces due to a recent redundancy. Jen’s is a great story.

Networking

We confirmed that we want to reach out to other LIS associations in Tasmania e.g. ASLA to share information, build understanding and look for ways to share resources and work together.  

Events

• Save the date!!!! Tour of new UTAS library at Inveresk. Saturday 16^th July 11 – 11.45 am. Come for the tour and stay for lunch! More details soon.
• LIW is 25 -31 July. Do you have suggestions that will bring people together in your community? Can you spare some time to pull an event together for your fellow library lovers and LIS professionals? Let us know if you’d like to talk through an idea or would like us to promote it on our social media and elist.

We also started throwing ideas around what we can do for LIW and we’ll share more information soon.

We talked briefly about a Tasmania Reads campaign happening next year and that we agreed as a committee to support it in principle and will consider how ALIA Island members can contribute to it when more information is available. We’ll also be engaged in the Reading Hour later this year.

Well, that’s it from us. Have a happy and safe Easter and we hope you find time to read a new book (or re-read a favourite) and maybe listen to a podcast (because, apparently, podcast listeners are more curious and less neurotic than the rest of us). And if you can do anything to support the fundraising efforts for the recent floods or Ukrainian libraries, please do.

Kind regards, your ALIA Island Organising Committee.

ALIA Island in Conversation: Supporting diversity in our practice

Join the conversation! Learn how ALIA Special Interest Groups help you acknowledge, value and make space for diversity in your practice.

Date and time

Thu., 31 March 2022

7:00 pm – 8:00 pm AEDT via Zoom

About this event

ALIA Special Interest Groups build professional communities that support each other, their special interest and professional practice.

Jacqui Lucas from ALIA will provide an overview of Special Interest Groups, including the newly formed ALIA Rainbow Group. She will also provide information about the ALIA Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Expert Advisory Group.

Our feature groups will be the ALIA Disability Group (Amy Rake) and ALIA Adult Literacy Group (Libby Levett).

The Zoom event will provide plenty of opportunities to ask questions of the speakers and share how you acknowledge, value and support diversity in your practice.

Prior to the event we will send a Zoom meeting link to everyone who registers.

Please note, you do not have to be a financial member of ALIA to participate in this event.

To register go to our Eventbrite page.

March News

Hi from the ALIA Island Organising Committee!

At our March committee meeting (Zoom) were Libby Levett, Jan Richards, Janet Thorp, Elizabeth Roberts, Sonya Moon, Jen Johnson.

Here are the main topics discussed and decisions made.

View From My Desk

March contributor – Jan Richards

April contributor – will approach a health librarian – acknowledge their work behind the scenes re COVID.

Tour of UTAS Inveresk  Library

Janette Burke is keen to go ahead with this and Libby to discuss further with her re dates and format.

Elizabeth Roberts will coordinate the event (which will be filmed and then published on the ALIA Island blog so the ‘experience’ is accessible for everyone)

Spaces for events

Libby has had contact from UTAS and Libraries Tasmania re spaces that can be used for events.

Open Mic Session

Revised this format and re-named – ALIA Island in Conversation (bi-monthly)

March topic ‘Acknowledging, valuing and making space for diversity in your practice’. Will highlight different special interest groups in ALIA. General overview (Jacqui Lucas) and focus on ALIA Disability group and ALIA Adult Literacy group. Eventbrite/Facebook marketing. Zoom event.

 Considering Sustainable Development Goals as a topic later in the year.

Facebook

Talked about the traffic on the Facebook page and the lack of comments (not perceived as a problem).

So that’s your update on all things ALIA Island for the month. Thank you for your show of solidarity for Ukraine libraries and those closer to home in our flood devastated regions.

Kind Regards,

ALIA Island Organising Committee

February News

Welcome!

The ALIA Island Organising Committee recently held its first meeting for 2022. Our main decision was to post a brief meeting summary every month to increase transparency about our decisions and keep you up to speed with future activity. After all, we have a professional responsibility to make information accessible right?!!

So with no further ado and in dot point …

1. Jen Johnson and Janet Thorp have joined the committee. Jen’s professional experience has been focused in the school sector and Janet manages Kingston Library.
   1. We need representation from other parts of the state, so drop us a line if you’d like to find out more or want to dive in now and join.
2. Committee meetings – via Zoom the first Monday of every month 4.30pm – 5.30pm.
3. Island Chatter – an opportunity for everyone to meet f2f and/or via Zoom.
   1. A focused conversation featuring speakers and/or opportunities for members to ask question and share information.
   1. Our first Zoom ‘chat’ is planned for Thursday 31^st March 2022, 7-8pm (every two months)
   1. March focus topic: Acknowledging, valuing and making space for diversity in our practice.
4. View From My Desk – a monthly interview with someone from our industry – often in Tasmania but also from ‘overseas’. Our first VFMD features Janette Burke (University Librarian UTAS). This will be published on Library Lovers day – 14 February!
5. Dinner with the Committee – we’d love to meet you in person and share a meal with you but it’s a bit tricky at the moment and we haven’t quite worked out how or where to meet you outside of Hobart. Do you have any suggestions? Just remember we’re volunteers and all of us are working (in the Hobart area).
6. Tour of new UTAS library at Inveresk. TBC but sometime after Easter.
7. We’re also promoting and planning activities for Library Lover’s Day, Library and Information Week and Australian Reading Hour
8. And finally, don’t forget to interact with your colleagues via Facebook and  our blog and contact us via Gmail.

So that’s it for February, talk again in March. Kind regards, ALIA Island Organising Committee.

Seasons Greetings from ALIA Island

To paraphrase Frankie Valli, “Oh what a year”!

Twelve months ago a small group of people accepted a general invitation from ALIA to find out what they could do for ALIA Tasmania. We had representatives from special libraries, academic libraries, school libraries and public/state libraries. There were new graduates, ‘retirees’, heads of organisations, library technicians, librarians, beginning LIS workers and experienced LIS workers. People from the other end of the state, people new to the state, and those of us who’ve been around a Tassie shelf or two more than once in our professional lifetime.

We were united in our curiosity about the future of ALIA in our state and (maybe) a little on the defensive. We’d lost our State Manager and we wondered what this meant for us, the group and the sector in Tasmania. By the end of the meeting – and much to the surprise and horror of my introverted self – I’d put up my hand to be the convenor of a small, diverse group of people willing to give ‘something’ a go for the next twelve months.

So what have we done?

• Regular committee meetings (no small feat!)
• A Marketing Communications Plan 2021 – 2022. This guides us in how we:
  • engage with LIS professionals and their supporters across Lutruwita/Tasmania
  • share the stories of Lutruwita/Tasmanian libraries, archives and keeping places
  • disseminate best practice in the LIS field.
• A revitalised Facebook page (including a new name). For example, in the last month we’ve increased our reach from the previous month by 97% and post engagements by 208%!
• A new web page
• Updated information on the ALIA Groups page
• Reinstatement of our elist
• An Eventbrite account for event management
• Zoom for statewide events and committee meetings
• Four events
  • Kirrin Sampson (ALIA) joined us in Hobart to talk about ALIA’s activity in the education and continuing professional development space. It was an opportunity for all of us to meet her and you to meet us! We were really pleased to have people from other parts of the state join us online. Later some of us met up at the New Sydney for drinks and dinner.
  • We celebrated Australian Reading Hour with a virtual book group. People from across the state, and even interstate joined! This led to the creation of a book list and a serendipitous connection with Felicity Sly (teacher-librarian at Don College) who was our first “View from my Desk” contributors.
  • An online Open Mic session where we got to meet you and hear about your LIS journey – where you are on that journey, highs and lows, hopes and disappointments, ideas and suggestions
  • Join the committee @ Lizzie and Lefroy’s for an end-of-year dinner and drinks.
• We sent out a member survey to find out who you are, where you work and what you hope from the group. Twenty-eight people responded (see our last post for more information) and two themes emerged: the desire for community and connectedness; and a thirst for information and knowledge sharing.
  

So what’s planned for next year?

• Regular events
  • Bi-monthly “Open Mic” sessions – your opportunity to meet and connect, give/receive advice and encouragement as well as share knowledge and invite collaboration
  • Quarterly “Dinners with the Committee”
  • Monthly “View from my Desk’’ posts from our colleagues in the sector in Tasmania and elsewhere.
• Celebrations – we’ll work actively with colleagues across the state to find ways you can connect and enjoy each other’s company locally and in-person (and maybe, online across the state at the same time!)
  •  Library Lover’s Day (February), Library and Information Week (July), Australian Reading Hour (September).

Do you remember Dr Seuss’s, Oh, the Places you’ll go!? I love that book and it always seems to have just the right words of wisdom I need. Like these: “And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)”

ALIA Island can be a supportive, welcoming, inclusive, professional learning community ‘98 and ¾ percent guaranteed’. But without you that could drop to 60% next year and then 20% and finally …

The committee is just a group of people like you with competing priorities, limited availabilities and fabulous (but not endless) talents. WE NEED YOU. So our season’s greeting is a heartfelt, ‘Thank you for taking this trip with us in 2021 … and please consider how you can contribute as an active member in 2022’.

Finally, to my wonderful, funny, talented, collaborative and very wise fellow committee members, thank you. It’s been an absolute pleasure.

Libby (Convenor, ALIA Island Organising Committee)

ALIA Island Member Survey

Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey – we really appreciate your input which will help us plan for the future. We’ve included a summary below. If you have further suggestions use the comments option at the bottom of the post to continue the conversation.

ALIA Island Survey 2021Download

Join us at one of these End of Year Events

Open Mic Session

Organiser: ALIA Island organising Committee

A chance to meet & hear from other people interested in ALIA Island. Introduce yourself, share ideas and get inspired.

It’s been a strange and exciting year for the ALIA Island Organising Committee. We’ve been finding our feet and getting to know each other. But most of all we’ve been trying to work out how we can make ALIA Island something that is relevant, inspiring and welcoming for you and anyone who loves libraries and the profession.

We can’t get everyone together from across the state, but we can connect with each other via Zoom. Register for the event via Eventbrite and we’ll send you the Zoom link. https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/alia-island-open-mic-zoom-session-tickets-215355513137

We can’t wait to meet you!

End of Year Celebration at Lizzie and Lefroy

Organiser: ALIA Island Organising Committee

Join your ALIA Island Organising Committee for their last social meeting of the year. We’d love you to join us!

If you’re in Hobart on the 3rd December, we’d love you to join us for dinner, drinks, and great conversation.

Where: Lizzie & Lefroy, 349 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart

When: Friday 3^rd December 2021, 7:30 – 9:30PM

Due to COVID restrictions, places are strictly limited, so register early via Eventbrite. https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/end-of-year-celebration-at-lizzie-lefroy-tickets-215550646787

Lizzie & Lefroy accepts Cash, VISA, Mastercard

https://www.facebook.com/LIZZIEANDLEFROY/menu/