First Roundtable on Library and Archives Collections and Services of Relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

State Library of South Australia, Adelaide, 4 May 1995
Summary of Statewide Progress which Includes Specific Library & Information Service of Western Australia (LISWA) Progress

The Library & Information Service of Western Australia (LISWA) has made considerable progress in linking indigenous people to Western Australian documentary heritage.

Three significant developments at national and state Government levels have been considered during planning. These are the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Death in Custody (1991), the Western Australian Government Aboriginal Plan (1993) and, most recently, the [W.A.] Task Force on Aboriginal Social Justice (April, 1994).

In 1993 LISWA supported a Public Library Aboriginal Services Project, funded by the Department of Local Government, under the auspices of the Western Australian Local Government Librarians Association. A Project Officer, based at LISWA, consulted with Aboriginal communities and working with public librarians in two communities (Midland and Geraldton) to:

The Project culminated in the production and distribution to every public library in Western Australia of a booklet entitled "Bridging the Gap: Appropriate and Accessible Public Library Services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People". A report was also prepared with recommendations directed at both LISWA and public libraries in general. LISWA accepts these recommendations in so far as it has the ability to implement them directly or to encourage their implementation by public libraries and local government authorities. The Project recommendations and findings, together with Government policy framework, have provided much of the content of the Public Library Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services plan to develop public library services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Western Australia. The Plan was endorsed by the Library Board in February 1995 and some strategies have already either been completed or incorporated in 1994/95 and 1995/96 Planned Outcomes. The Plan has been produced in a widely consultative environment. Priority target areas are summarised as follows:

Other Initiatives:


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Fay Boyd, Library & Information Service of Western Australia
Last updated 12 June 1998
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