Australian Government Libraries Information Network conference at the National Library
Lea Giles-Peters, from the State Library of Queensland, presenting a paper on Indigenous knowledge centres
From left : Catherine Gilbert, winner of the AGLIN Innovation Award; Kym Holden, AGLIN Convenor; Fran Heap and Jane Layton, Highly Commended Nomination in the AGLIN Innovation Award; Nerida Hart, winner of the Special Libraries Association Australia and New Zealand Information Professional Award; and Sue Henczel, past president, Special Libraries Association Australia–New Zealand Chapter
In mid-July, representatives from the Australian Government Libraries Information Network gathered at the National Library for their second annual conference. AGLIN members range from very large library networks in major departments, to tiny libraries in small agencies—and across all subject areas. The conference theme this year was ‘The Innovative Information Professional’.
A series of interesting papers, a conference dinner at Parliament House, and the opportunity for some professional networking ensured the audience found this conference very useful. Papers included:
- an in-depth study of trends apparent in the advertising of jobs for LIS staff over the past 30 years, by Mary Anne Kennan and her colleagues at the University of New South Wales. There has been a gradual change to less emphasis on qualifications, more emphasis on experience, and more demands for people skills;
- a reminder by James Robertson of Two Step Designs that an organisation’s Intranet can be a great promotional tool for the library if it is used effectively; and,
- a presentation from Emma Datson and Janet Smith from the Institute of Criminology about re-focusing the work of the library towards an improved service for clients within the organisation.
A number of the papers and presentations are available on the AGLIN website at www.nla.gov.au/aglin/events05.htm#AGLIN%20Annual .
At the conference dinner, a number of awards were presented to delegates.
My thanks to AGLIN for permission to reproduce the image above.
Sandra Henderson
Manager, Research,
Coordination Support Branch
National Library of Australia



