Rural & Isolated Librarians Special Interest Group [RILSIG]

Aphelion
Vol 7 N° 1 May 1999 ISSN 1036-9031

Inside this issue

[ Initiative rewarded! | From the president's desk | Government Information Policy |
RILSIG business plan - 1999 | Minutes | Test your Knowledge | Pathways to Knowledge |
Networking the Nation | Past members - Margaret Clinch ]

Initiative rewarded! - bringing online services to Humpty Doo

What is happening at Taminmin Community Library at Humpty Doo in the Northern Territory.

In February 1997, Robin Hempel, Manager of Taminmin Community Library, forwarded the submission Hyper Highway to Humpty Doo to the Commonwealth Department of Communication and the Arts in Canberra. The Federal Government's Online Public Access Initiative Project (OPAI), invited libraries to submit programs whereby they could offer their clientele access to online technology. The Taminmin Library's submission was one of 22 successful submissions throughout Australia. As project leader, Robin accepted an award of $50 000, with the responsibility for implementing an online service, including the Internet, e-mail, related CD ROM and data based technology to the residents of Humpty Doo and the wider Litchfield Shire, as well as the staff and students of Taminmin High School. At Taminmin Community Library, a network has been installed consisting of a Server Centre in the Library Workroom linked to five PCs in the Library and one in the Conference room at the High School. All seven workstations have word processing, graphics, office and printing facilities as well as the Internet. Now that the technological infrastructure has been stabilised, the service is running efficiently, proving very popular in terms of both school and community use.

Hyper Highway to Humpty Doo also included a sub program, The Berry Springs Connection. The aim here was to install two interlinked PCs with access to the Internet in the Berry Springs Primary School Library, and offer after-school access to the public. The program encountered many difficulties, including the installation of a separate Telstra line into the library. However, Robin Hempel found a staunch ally in the school Principal, June Wessels, and her Library Management Team supported by Barrie Andrews from Brondasura Computing who installed the systems at both Taminmin and Berry Springs.

From the president's desk

I can't believe that it is May and half the year is almost gone. I have spent some eight months away from the library working in our Local Government Division so I am afraid Library activities have been neglected.

At the last committee meeting the business plan was developed. A version is in the newsletter for your perusal and comments. Doing the business plan highlights the gap between our lofty ideals of what we would like to accomplish and the time to achieve it all. But then this is daily tension is experienced constantly particularly in those library services with limited staffing resources. The plan for this year concentrated on how we can keep the issues of the remote and isolated library worker in the forefront of the decision makers such as ALIA's General Council and the range of politicians. Your suggestions and help will be very much appreciated.

At our last committee meeting in February, we were reminded by Pat Gallaher that the National Strategy document of the National Office for Information Economy [NOIE] can be useful for RILSIG's objectives. The strategic priorities are highlighted in another part of this newsletter. Do look at them and see how they can be used for the improvement of your library service. I believe that it is essential that we demand that the government puts its rhetoric into concrete actions for the rural and isolated communities.

Another issue with which the committee has to grapple this year is to define more clearly the financial base for a section such as ours under the new umbrella organisation. We believe that the current methodology is antiquated and no longer adequately supports a small national group. The national aspect makes for creative thinking when wanting to have quality contact even in this time of electronic devices. The current low level of funding pushes the boundaries of this creative thinking to straining point.

Felicity