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Corporate
Governance
The
Library has the following key elements of corporate governance.

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chart to enlarge
National
Library Council
The
National
Library Act 1960 provides that a Council shall conduct
the affairs of the Library. The Council consists of 12 members—including
the Director-General, one senator elected by the Senate, and
one member of the House of Representatives elected by that
House. A list of Council members and their attendance at Council
meetings is at Appendix 1 of
this Report.
In
addition to general administrative and financial matters,
the Council considers a range of specific issues, including:
- extension
of legal deposit provisions to electronic publications
- collection
and preservation of online Commonwealth Government publications
- user
charging policy
- space
management
- the
future of resource sharing services
- benchmarking
of Library activities
- development
of a new performance management program
- workforce
planning, and
- information
technology developments
The
Council has three advisory committees: the Audit Committee,
the Corporate Governance Committee, and the Fellowship Scheme
Advisory Committee. Details are provided at Appendix
1.

Audit
Committee
The
Audit Committee is a committee of the Council with the following
role:
- to
assist the Library and members of the Council to comply
with obligations under the Commonwealth
Authorities and Companies Act 1997
- to
provide a forum for communication among the members of the
Council, senior managers of the Library, and the Library’s
internal and external auditors, and
- to
ensure that there is an appropriate ethical climate in the
Library and to review policies relating to internal controls
and management of risks
The
Audit Committee has a minimum of three non-executive members
of Council, the Director-General, and a member of the senior
executive. A list of Audit Committee members and attendance
at meetings is at Appendix
1.
The
Audit Committee considers a range of issues, including:
- review
of the Committee’s role and charter
- internal
self-assessment of Audit Committee performance
- review
of internal and external audit reports
- benchmarking
of internal audit and the finance function
- continuing
scrutiny of the Library’s response to the recommendations
of Auditor-General reports and internal audit reports
- initiation
of a review of the Library’s control framework
- consideration
of risk management and planning, and
- review
of incidents of fraud in the Library
Corporate
Governance Committee
The
Corporate Governance Committee is a committee of Council with
the following role:
- to
evaluate the effectiveness of the Council in its role in
corporate governance, and
- to
evaluate the performance and remuneration of the Director-General
The
Corporate Governance Committee is a committee of four members
of Council including the Chair of the Council, the Deputy-Chair
of the Council, the Chair of the Audit Committee and one non-executive
member of Council. A list of the Corporate Governance Committee
members appears at Appendix
1.
Fellowship
Scheme Advisory Committee
The
Fellowship Scheme Advisory Committee is an advisory committee
to Council with the following role:
- to
make recommendations on the award of fellowships, and
- to
make recommendations on other matters relating to the administration
of the scheme
The
Fellowship Scheme Advisory Committee is a committee of nine
members including the Deputy-Chair of the Council and the
Director-General. A list of the Fellowship Scheme Advisory
Committee members appears at Appendix
1.

Corporate
Management Group
The
Corporate Management Group, consisting of the Director-General
and senior executive staff, provides strategic and operational
leadership to the Library. In particular, the Corporate Management
Group monitors the achievement of objectives and strategies,
oversees budget matters, develops policy, coordinates activities
across the organisation, and oversees a range of operational
issues. The Corporate Management Group meets weekly.
A
number of cross-organisational committees advise the Corporate
Management Group in key areas, such as IT and collection development.
Corporate
planning framework
This
year the Library reviewed its strategic directions, and will
issue a revised directions statement early next year. The
Balanced Scorecard is now fully implemented as the Library’s
planning support system. The Balanced Scorecard facilitates
the linkage of strategic, operational and budget planning.
The scorecard approach adopted has five main perspectives
for viewing organisational performance—customer, stakeholder,
financial, internal process, and learning and growth. The
Balanced Scorecard has proven to be a successful performance
management tool that is well accepted by staff and stakeholders,
including the National Library Council.
Risk
management framework
The
Library Risk Management Register, developed in accordance
with Australian Standard AS/NZS 4360:1999, was implemented
in January. The Register provides a framework for the identification
of emerging risks and enables the Library to ensure that risks
and business continuity management are factored effectively
into strategic and business planning processes.
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