ALIA Tas Branch

Following a restructuring of the Association in June 2001, all divisions have been dissolved. A new groups structure has evolved to replace the divisional structure. The links that are available here remain purely for archival purposes.

ALIA Tas branch and Northern Area Regional Group

An Intelligent Island: the role of Tasmanian Libraries: a one-day conference

Papers and presentations

Conference organisers:
Chair: Richard Dearden; Committee: Richard Pickup, Cherie Holmes, Karen Marriott, Jane Jeppson, Helen Dunford, Emeline Haight, Meredith Newman.

Program

Presenters:

Val Bromfield
Senior librarian (Branch Services) State Library of Tas
Joint use libraries: better than the sum of its parts
This paper presents examples of successful community (joint-use, dual-use) libraries visited while in England two years ago, and relates this to our situation here in Tasmania. The paper outlines what we have done so far, and explores ways we might go in the future. The paper concludes that intelligent resource/facility provision, for a population scattered as ours is, involves sharing.
[PowerPoint presentation]

Bob Broughton
Curator, Moorilla Museum
Virtual collections: easy to say hard to do
Moorilla Museum of Antiquities is developing a virtual museum tour of gallery exhibits. Using records created for the inventory and still and video photography Moorilla Museum will develop a walk through tour of the virtual museum. Allowing visitors to drill down to more academic information layers the museum will be presented at the level of access selected by the visitor. The system is being developed by rattle 'n' Hum a Hobart based video and web technology developer.

Phil Brown
Lecturer, School of Agriculture, University of Tasmania
Development of information management skills in agricultural science
or
How to get aggies to look beyond Tas Country for information
The agricultural science degree programs prepare students for careers in many facets of the agricultural industries. The ability to identify an information need, and then to find, manage and effectively utilise information has always been important skills for graduates. A structured approach to information skills training is currently being attempted in agricultural science. Strategies used and feedback from students will be presented in the seminar.
Further, competency in information management skills and access to professional advice varies between academics resulting in students receiving mixed messages regarding information skills. This paper also aims to encourage librarians to think about strategies to improve lecturers' understanding of and skills in information handling.
[PowerPoint presentation]

Penny Carnaby
Deputy university librarian, Macquarie University
Keynote address:
A quiet revolution: How libraries are responding to the challenge of the knowledge age
As countries throughout the world position themselves to take advantage of the knowledge age there is a quiet revolution happening in libraries across all sectors. This paper explores strategies being developed and the leadership demonstrated within the library and information sector in several countries This is a time for the profession to be strategic and active. If this quiet revolution succeeds then this knowledge age may well be the new dawning for the profession.
[Powerpoint presentation]

Jane Coatman
Senior librarian (policy), State Library of Tasmania
Is information the key to the Intelligent Island?
In this paper the concepts of information and its relevance to the Tasmanian community will be explored. An information society provides a strong framework for economic, social, political and cultural development and the wealth of information available through many sources means we, as a community, have to build the skills to access and analyse this information.

Warwick Lee
Senior librarian, Kingston Public Library
The public librarian as Wetware ...reaching out to help our local communities
There are many ways in which public librarians in Tasmania can help their local communities to fully benefit from the digital revolution. Direct assistance in demystifying information technology, instruction in appropriate information retrieval skills, and guidance in the assessment of content on the internet are examples. This needs to be coupled with a willingness to reach out beyond the walls of the public library. Today, more so than ever before, it is necessary for librarians in public libraries to go out into their community to assist their customers and in so doing demonstrate that they, rather than the IT profession, are the experts in the organisation, identification and retrieval of information in digital format.

Jenna Mead
Lecturer, University of Tasmania
From manuscript to cyberspace: teaching the Legend of King Arthur [paper not available]
Teaching medieval texts, in the broadest definition of the term, means teaching across a wide range of materials, produced, consumed, stored and retrieved in various ways. The 'legend of King Arthur,' refers not only to a set of literary texts but also to a series of films, computer games and websites. The legend is still alive and well in modern times but as a medieval idea. This poses particular problems, one of which is that of teaching students how to handle such a wide variety of texts, how to read them and how to 'respect' the differences between those texts both as material or virtual objects but also as the end product of different processes. This is a pedagogical problem but it's also a practical problem: how can I co-ordinate my teaching with the library's resources?

Andy Norris
Project manager
Online Access Centres: providing access to rural Tasmania
The Tasmanian Communities Online Project has the charter to provide access to, 1:1 assistance and basic training in the use of computers and the internet. With 59 operational centres located in rural and regional communities around Tasmania, these community managed Online Access Centres are assisting to ameliorate the disadvantages associated with rurality and low levels of income and education. Since the opening of the first Online Access Centre in May 1998, over 29 000 Tasmanians have used the facilities of their local Centre for business, community organisation or individual purposes. With the final four Centres in the process of implementation, the focus is shifting to the maintenance and consolidation of the network.

Richard Pickup
Senior librarian, TAFE Tasmania
Half full or half empty, optimism or pessimism in library and information provision in TAFE [paper not available]
How does the quest for and understanding of information fit into the current training agenda? Despite the official rhetoric about information literacy and lifelong learning it would seem that there is little place for either in the "training packages". The question is not why so few students use the library, but why so many still do.

Lloyd Sokvitne
Manager (Information Systems Development), State Library of Tasmania
There are barbarians at the gate (wearing suits) [Presentation outline]
Making information accessible on the internet is currently open slather, with uncontrolled content and confused retrieval. Due to our own inaction, those of us with information retrieval skills are being ignored, and the field has been taken over by artificial intelligence gurus who think that near enough is good enough, that probability algorithms are all that matter in information retrieval, and that you can have something for nothing. And, by the way, don't even think about user needs and user satisfaction (we all like 10 000 hits for a query right?). As librarians, we are going to have to deal with these issues and become aggressive and vocal, because our managers and funding authorities are falling under the same spell. Mind you, there is always retirement!

Judy Timbs
Manager, Library and Information Centre (DELIC) Department of Education
Transfoming schools - current ICT developments
The session will outline the current projects, which the Dept is developing and implementing to enable the challenge of the technology to be incorporated into teaching and learning environments. Projects such as Discover, the Centre for Excellence for Online learning, national online projects and the development of the Dept's new website will be discussed as examples.

Tricia Vierra
Senior librarian, collection development. State Library of Tasmania
Information ecologies of our intelligent island [paper not available]
A look at library information ecologies resident in Tasmania, emerging electronic content relevant to these ecologies, and the role of librarians as a keystone species.

Deborah Wright
Acting law librarian, University of Tasmania
Document delivery and ILL: supporting academic research in an island environment
In 1998 the University of Tasmania Library embraced a policy shift away from reliance on print collections and towards the use of electronic resources. This was supported by a greater emphasis on just-in-time document delivery. The Library's Document Delivery Service was restructured to provide uncharged, electronic ILL/DD services, a move which has received widespread support from the University's teaching and research community