My vision of library services is a vision of partnership, between librarians, clients, patrons and stakeholders. We began as gatekeepers, progressed to intermediaries, and are now in the era of ‘value-added information’. In the future, the transition to partnership, where we really should be, will be realised. Academic librarians will partner in the academy by [...]

Are you interested in library research, history and analysis? The annual RAILS (Research Applications in Information and Library Studies) conference will be held at RMIT in Melbourne this year on November 30. The call for papers closes May 31: “If you are carrying out research into any aspect of the provision of library, information and [...]

Last night was Budget Night, which is a highly anticipated annual date on the government calendar (at least, in federal government and media circles!).  Working out how libraries, cultural institutions and education are going to be funded over the next year and beyond is important for all librarians to understand. Government expenditure is also a [...]

Today is a May Day with a difference: The Society of American Archivists’ initiative to bring awareness to preserving cultural heritage, MayDay, has come to Australia. Australian groups involved in this initiative are: Australian National Committee of the Blue Shield Australian Library and Information Association (representing IFLA) Australian International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Council [...]

The results are in! From Sue Hutley: Congratulations to Derek Whitehead who has been elected Vice-president / President-elect and to Damian Lodge and Kate Watson who have been elected as Directors. Kate Watson has contributed to Libraries Interact, researched blogs and wikis, and last year completed a two year term as convenor of NGPAG. Damian [...]

It’s a new year (well, sort of) and Parliament is sitting for the first time in 2007. As librarians, we often need to find out about new Bills, legislation, and government publications, no matter what kind of library we work in. Here’s a roundup of resources you can use to keep up to date: The [...]

With more libraries, especially academic libraries, taking on roles as publishers of scholarly materials the Open Publish 2007 conference in Sydney this August may be an important one to watch: “Covering critical ideas such as wikis, blogs, single-sourcing data and content management, Open Publish will discuss these topics from the perspective of best practices, project [...]

Audio from the symposium is now available as a Podcast.Add the NLS2006 podcast with enclosures to your RSS reader, iTunes or podcast software to get started. 19 sessions were recorded and are now available, including Joan Frye Williams’ popular keynote address on the user experience. Other topics include: the debate – “Should librarians be politically [...]

Have any libraries used machinima to promote a service or conduct training? I became aware of machinima recently, as friends are part of a new series, Frank and Dale based on Company of Heroes. Some further discussion of machinima is at the Rambling Librarian.

It is now 8 days to go until NLS2006! Here are some last minute things to consider before the big event: If you haven’t registered to attend NLS2006, don’t despair. You can still register and be part of the event people will be talking about for months later. Sign up now! This is a good [...]