Peak Bodies Forum 2002

Minutes, Friday February 15, 2002

15 February 2002
9.30am – 4.00pm
Council Room, National Library of Australia

Present:
Jan Fullerton (Chair) National Library
Mary Greenfield Australian Law Librarians’ Group
June Wall Australian School Libraries’ Association
Paul Bentley ALIA Information Specialists’ Group
Joyce Kirk ALIA
Jennefer Nicholson ALIA
Karen Vitullo FLIN
Roslynn Membrey Parliamentary Libraries’ Association of Australasia
Jill Smith Health Libraries Australia
Helen Hayes CAUL
John Shipp CAUL
Fran Awcock CASL
Helena Zobec ALIA TAFE National Group
David Toll National Library
Jasmine Cameron National Library
Sandra Henderson (minutes) National Library

Jan Fullerton began by highlighting the purpose of the Forum which was to discuss issues of mutual interest to the library sector and to decide if any of the issues should be addressed through a national plan of action. She emphasised the tradition of voluntary cooperation in the library sector and the need to extend this to new partnerships and alliances in an environment where the traditional barriers between sectors and institutions are breaking down. The focus needs to be on users, and libraries must be prepared to act as a united sector to achieve improvements in infrastructure and service delivery to users. The National Library is firmly committed to national infrastructure development, through support for Kinetica and projects such as PictureAustralia, PANDORA and the Australian Libraries’ Gateway.

The following points were raised in discussion:

  • Libraries often do not present a clear vision to those responsible for library funding,
  • The public does not need to see the library as part of the service they receive, but those responsible for funding need to be aware of the library’s role,
  • Libraries need to find a way to be more closely aligned with political and economic agendas,
  • It is difficult for government agencies to get approval for plans which do not show a tangible economic benefit,
  • It is essential that the library sector present as a single voice to get funding for significant infrastructure development,
  • There is value in trying to move the focus from strictly economic issues although social and cultural value is not necessarily measureable in dollar terms.

Collecting

It was agreed that the most obvious areas for cooperation is in acquisition of datasets. A discussion on the issue of consortia approaches to dataset licensing resulted in a decision that the National Library and CAUL work on a model which would allow institutions to opt in or opt out as they wished.

Action Responsibility Date
Opt in/opt out national site licensing model NLA / CAUL 30 April 2002

It was also agreed that there needed to be a national approach to the collecting and long term preservation of electronic resources. It was decided the National Library would work on a model for further cooperation at national level.

Action Responsibility Date
Co-operate to develop the national electronic collection of Australian materials NLA 30 June 2002

The lack of information about user behaviour was discussed. The Australian Library Collections Task Force has this on its agenda, but it was felt a more high level approach also needed to be taken. It was suggested that a detailed research report was needed. Such as study should look at how users find and use information, and what outcomes are achieved. CAUL undertook to do some preliminary work on scoping such a project.

Action Responsibility Date
Research into user behaviour – develop research model CAUL 30 April 2002

Existing print collections

There was discussion of cooperative storage options. Proposals to date have involved the university sector, but there is a need for cooperative stores which cater to other sectors, such as special libraries, parliamentary libraries and other government libraries.

The store need not be a single physical store as a national virtual store should achieve the same results. A set of protocols would need to be developed. CAUL, CASL and the National Library undertook to work on this.

Action Responsibility Date
National approach to a cooperative store – develop a set of protocols NLA / CAUL / CASL 30 April 2002

Finding material

An overview of current Kinetica developments and plans was presented.

There was brief discussion of the ARLIN (Australian Research Library Network) project being led by Latrobe University, which has Systemic Infrastructure funding. The project will provide a shared portal for the university sector, but there is some uncertainty about the final outcomes.

Discovery of subject portals and metadata repositories is within the work being undertaken by the National Library’s current Proof-of-Concept work.

No particular actions were proposed.

Information Literacy

A very brief discussion of this item indicated that there is quite a lot of work being undertaken already, including the Feasibility Study for the Development of a National Coalition for information Literacy Advocacy sponsored by ALIA, the National Library and the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE).

No particular actions were proposed.

Access to resources

The National Library’s role as a central point for both reference and document delivery services was discussed. It was agreed that universities also needed to play a strong role in the provision of access to materials as they are to a large extent publicly funded and have a community responsibility in this area.

A business model needs to be developed for future access to information, particularly for those people with no institutional affiliations.

Action Responsibility Date
Define a service model to ensure that individuals can access information easily regardless of their location National Resource Sharing Policy Advisory Group Date to be advised

Supporting libraries

Workforce planning issues are being investigated by the State Library of Victoria, the results of which should be widely applicable. ALIA is also looking at lifelong learning issues for library staff through the LISEKA Project (Library and Information Science Education for the Knowledge Age).

No particular actions were proposed.

National Information Policy

It was agreed that the National Library would continue to discuss this with its Council, but that the library sector did not see any value in diverting effort in the pursuit of a national information policy.

No particular actions were proposed.

Advancing the profile of libraries

It was agreed that it is important that libraries in all sectors support each other’s agendas and avoid criticism or undermining the achievements of others.

Action Responsibility Date
Articulate principles of mutual support NLA 30 April 2002

Conclusion

It was agreed that the National Library would convene the forum on an annual basis.

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