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Tour #3 Libraries Australia Forum 2008
Wednesday 22 October 2008
1 pm to 4.00 pm
Meet at 1 pm in the foyer of Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrar Place
1.00-1.30 ServiceFirst - Research and Information Service (Farrer Place)
2.00-2.30 Supreme Court of New South Wales. Law Courts Library (Queens Square)
3.00-4.00 City of Sydney Library (Customs House, Circular Quay)
Libraries to be visited
The Research and Information Service (RAIS) provides a variety of library services to seven NSW government departments.
Established twelve years ago as part of a larger corporate shared service (now called ServiceFirst), RAIS is the library for staff in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, NSW Treasury and the Department of State and Regional Development, and manages a shared library system and consortia for several other government department libraries.
While we are situated in Governor Macquarie Tower in Philip St, Sydney, within walking distance for our city-based clients, most city and regional clients access electronic services via a Portal. Considerable savings have been made by reducing floor space and the print collection.
The shared service model has achieved economies of scale and given our combined client base greater access to electronic and print resources. Funding is negotiated with our clients in a Service Partnership Arrangement which is reviewed annually..
The Law Courts Library is one of the NSW Attorney-General's Department libraries. It is a joint Commonwealth/State law library which serves the High Court (when sitting in Sydney), the Federal Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and other Courts, Commissions and Tribunals, located within the Law Courts building. The library provides legal research, reference and current awareness services for these Courts. The collection is used extensively for legal authorities required for matters before the Courts, and includes Australian commonwealth and state legislation, Australian and international law reports (noticeably English and American), textbooks, journals, looseleaf services and law reform papers. New court staff are offered training to help them to gain maximum benefit from the library's resources and services. Reader assistance is provided to meet individual needs.
The Customs House library is the newest addition to the City of Sydney library network. This branch opened in June 2005 in Customs House , one of Sydney's historic landmark buildings which has featured in the working and cultural life of the city since it was constructed in 1845.
Visitors to the library will experience a combination of both contemporary and traditional library spaces over three floors. The library's popular newspaper collection is located on an impressive newspaper wall on the ground floor. This collection contains over 30 international newspapers as well as local and interstate papers. The ground floor also houses a large number of computers for use by library customers , an extensive magazine collection and a large paperback collection.
The eastern wing of Level 1 houses the children's collection in bright and welcoming surrounds. Also on this level is the audio visual collection , fiction A-K, Japanese and Korean collections as well as a loans desk. The western wing is an exhibition and function space, open to library customers.
Level 2 of Customs House is dedicated to the library and is a more traditional library space featuring the Reading Room overlooking Customs Square. Also located on this floor are the main book collections (non-fiction, reference and fiction L-Z) , the library's training room, a meeting room, the reference desk and database access. Wi-Fi has recently been introduced to the building and is available around the atrium on Level 2.
Afternoon tea will be held in the City of Sydney Library.

