Public Libraries Unit

PUBLIC LIBRARIES UNIT – VICLINK REPORT Update Annual Report incorporating April – June Quarter 2004

1. State Library of Victoria – update

1.1 State Librarian’s Program of Public Library Visits On 23 July Anne- Marie visited Moreland Library Service.

1.2 Library Board of Victoria Advisory Committee on Public Libraries (ACPL)

The Framework for Collaborative Action was endorsed by the LBV on the 2 June meeting. The LBV at this meeting also agreed the suite of Projects recommended by the Statewide Projects Steering Committee via the ACPL for funding in 2004/05. As part of a strategy to build greater engagement and understanding between the Board and the public library network, this meeting was held in the City Library (preceded by Peter Fraser giving LBV members a guided tour of the Library). Barb Horn and Chris Payne joined the Board before the meeting to talk about the ACPL and the Framework from the public libraries perspective.

The Framework has been distributed to all public library service managers and local government CEO’s and Mayors and has been posted on the SLV website and the VVL Infonet.

The key Statewide Project for 2004/05 builds on the Framework and is titled ‘Delivering Collaboration’. It is owned by the ACPL and managed by the State Librarian. A major component of this Project is the Delivering Collaboration Conference, which will be facilitated by Greg Cook and is scheduled for Wednesday 15 September. All public library service managers, LBV members and key SLV senior managers have been invited to attend this Conference, which aims to increase understanding of and commitment to the Framework and its implications, as well as begin the work of moving toward a highly strategic three-year plan for the Statewide Projects. Julie Rae and Bruce Myers represent Viclink and CPLG respectively on the working group for the Conference. Other working group members are Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, Michael Bertie, Brendan Fitzgerald, Debra Rosenfeldt and Greg Cook.

The complete list of Statewide Projects endorsed for funding in 2004/05 by the LBV is:

Delivering Collaboration $65,000 Statewide Training $300,000 Statewide Marketing $200,000 Writers on the Road $140,000 DX Courier Service $60,000 Libraries Building Communities Communication $45,000 Picture Victoria $30,000 Ramsay and Reid Scholarships $30,000

Quarterly Report 1 Public Libraries Unit Doc Title: PLU Oct - Dec 2003.doc 1.3 Pierre Gorman Award /Ramsay and Reid Scholarships The Pierre Gorman Award will be presented at the August 17 Viclink meeting. The assessment panel for this year’s Pierre Gorman Award was Julie McInnes (Greater Dandenong), Anne Holmes (Boroondara) LBV member, Susan Halliday, and PLU Project Officer, Wendy Quihampton.

Applications have closed (august 14) for the Ramsay and Reid Scholarships.

2. Summary of Key Activities & Achievements 2003- 2004

2003-2004 was an important year in the strengthening of the collaborative relationship between the state Library of Victoria and the public library network.

The key activities were as follows:

. Formation of the LBV Advisory Committee on Public Libraries . Development of the Framework for Collaborative Action . Establishment of the Public Libraries Unit within VICNET.

Projects significantly advanced or completed were:

. Statewide Network Infrastructure Project (SNIP)- Public Library branch data links and network support for third year of four-year project. . Rural Libraries Online (RLOL) – Rural libraries data networks project completed. . Statewide Public Library Development Projects (SPLDP): - Libraries Building Communities - Swift Communication - Statewide Training - Statewide Marketing – Implementation of @your library campaign - Middle Years Information Literacy Partnership - Writers on the Road - Picture Victoria- local history digitization project

The following additional achievements occurred during the year.

. Completion of the CASL working group on electronic multicultural library services and publication of the “ Languages in Transition “ Discussion paper. . Draft MyLanguage Portal completed for June 2004 . Organised and hosted the 2nd Open Road Conference opened by Hon. John Pandazoupoulas . Audit for Rural libraries Online (RLOL) completed. . Completion of the Writers on the Road review . The revised HR Manual was completed distributed early in 2004. . Contributed to Viclink’s grant application to the Gates Foundation Award for ICT development in East Timor . Second stage of the rollout of the @yourlibrary promotional campaign

Quarterly Report 2 Public Libraries Unit Doc Title: PLU Oct - Dec 2003.doc . Data collection activities that form the core research component of LBC . Presentation of Conference paper to the VALA by Andrew Cunningham . Conference paper presented to the History Teachers Association of Victoria (HTAV) by Brendan Fitzgerald and Nicole Lowndes . Publication of article written by Brendan Fitzgerald and Frances Savage for OCLC systems and Services Journal . Contributed to the development of the SLV’s Draft Digital Strategy . Victoria’s Virtual Library (www.libraries.vic.gov.au) – data based and relaunched. . Margery C Ramsay and Barrett Reid Scholarships presented on 14 October to Patti Manolis Maribrynong Library Service (Margery C Ramsay) and Helen Zibell (Barrett Reid) from Mildura. . Library Books for East Timor Trivia Night 30 April at Hawthorn Town Hall raised $28,000 for literacy materials for the Xanana Gusmao Reading Room in Dili. . Contributed to the Scope Libraries for all project to be launched August 2004

APPOINTMENTS/DEPARTURES/TRANSFERS/VOLUNTEERS/VISITORS

The following key staff changes occurred. . Damian Tyquin resigned his position in January as Project Officer to take up the position of Library Coordinator of Port Phillip Library Service. This is vacant and will be replaced in the new financial year . Wendy Quihampton joined the Public Libraries Unit as a Project Officer in September. . Sue Ward completed the six-month position of part-time Project Officer for the Middle Years Information Literacy Partnership Program. . The PLU supervised the secondment arrangements for Stephen Blyth from the NZ DIA. Stephen was a recipient of the NZ Chief Executive Awards Programme which is designed to build leadership, service delivery and policy development expertise within the Department.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES UNIT- PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES PROGRESS REPORT

Statewide Public Library Development Projects 2003/2004

. Statewide Training Project $300,000 The KPI’s for the Statewide Training Project have been exceeded with 22 unique courses in 99 sessions, offering 98 days of training, with 1180 participants. In addition, IT Skills Training grants were accepted by 40 services with 350 participants. Satisfaction with the training offered remains very high, with upwards of 95% of participants rating their training either ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. The Project also supported 6 candidates for the Aurora Leadership Institute, and finalised the 2nd updated and expanded edition of the manual Managing Human Resources: A Guide for Public Libraries. Copies have been distributed to every library branch in Victoria. The budget has been completely utilised.

. Statewide Marketing Project $200,000 The Marketing Project has successfully commenced the @yourlibrary promotional campaign in libraries across Victoria. The project has provided Quarterly Report 3 Public Libraries Unit Doc Title: PLU Oct - Dec 2003.doc workshops, kits, promotional material, production of TV and print advertisements, marketing advice, and statewide media support, and secured advertising sponsorship with Channel 10 and Leader Newspapers. The library locator web site has been incorporated into the www.libraries.vic.gov.au site. The Statewide Projects Steering Committee deferred the development of the Marketing Plan. The application for the partnership research project with Deakin University was not successful.

. Writers on the Road $130,000 The target of 24 days for the adult stream was exceeded and 28 days of touring to 16 library services have been completed, predominantly in country areas. Also 18 days of youth touring have taken place, with 11 library services involved. The budget for Writers on the Road has been fully expended. Murray Consulting conducted a formal review of the program during October/November 2003. A key recommendation of the review was for continued funding of the program over the next three years through the Statewide Public Library Development Projects.

. LBV/VICLINK Statewide Strategy, 2004/2009 $125,000 The Library Board of Victoria’s Advisory Committee on Public Libraries (ACPL) adopted this project as its own. The Committee re-named the project Framework for Collaborative Action. Under the direction of the ACPL the Framework for Collaborative Action has evolved in a way that is quite different to that originally envisaged in the project proposal for a Statewide Strategy. The ACPL chose to approach the Framework differently with significantly less requirement for external facilitation. The ACPL completed the Framework in April for presentation to the Library Board of Victoria with a recommendation for its adoption in June 2004.

. SWIFT Phase II $70,000 The recommendations of the SWIFT Business Case were communicated to to library managers, Councils, the MAV, and relevant Victorian Government Ministers and senior department staff. A group of libraries are currently working on an implementation and governance strategy, with the aim of commencing SWIFT in at least five libraries during 2004/2005.

. Libraries Building Communities Phase II $55,000 The research tasks were completed in December 2003 and included: . 24 focus groups with users, non-users and staff from nine libraries; . A telephone survey of 400 library users and non-users; . 50+ face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders; . Completion of 9,000 online surveys through Victoria’s 43 public library services; and, . Collection of relevant ABS census data. Background reports on each component of the research have been received. From February to June 2004 project activity was focused on developing strategic recommendations and producing the final suite of reports including: a project information guide; a report on community views on the contributions and benefits of public libraries; a report on libraries as a vehicle for social engagement; a report showcasing examples of best practice in community building by Victorian public Quarterly Report 4 Public Libraries Unit Doc Title: PLU Oct - Dec 2003.doc libraries; a ‘how to’ guide for public libraries to conduct their own social capital audits; an executive summary. All funds have been fully expended.

. Middle Years Information Literacy Partnerships $50,000 MYILP was to develop a ‘Toolkit’ of practical resources for public librarians to utilise to improve information services for youth and will include: advice on ways librarians can service teen queries, and build information literacy skills; ideas to foster a youth presence in public libraries; encouragement of the use of peers, parents, schools and special youth events to develop youth involvement with libraries; identification of the growing number of community projects and programs that aim to service teens; potential resources and partnerships for public libraries across the State, geared for the youth market; a choice of ideas to empower librarians, so they can select strategies that fit local needs and are most appropriate to their present resource levels; exploration of possible partnerships with teacher librarians and Middle Years’ Clusters. CD is in production.

. Picture Victoria $50,000 Picture Victoria is to make local historical materials available online and readily accessible through a common approach. This was to be achieved by creating a web site whereby public libraries and small museums could upload images with a metadata record to a central server at VICNET thus enabling the database to be accessible as part of Picture Australia .The Picture Victoria database and web site, will be launched by August 2004. This database and web site conforms with the standards as developed and available online through the manual Image Digitisation of Local History Collections Victorian Public Libraries.

. DX Courier Service $90,000 Significant cost savings in this contract over the previous year were due to ACMI taking over responsibility for the cost of transporting their library’s films. Toll Priority, the new owners of DX Services and the Victorian Government contract, have improved contracting, auditing and reporting arrangements following a survey of all Victorian Government departments. Libraries have been offered optional service improvements at a minimal negotiated cost

. Victoria’s Virtual Library (www.libraries.vic.gov.au) The data based site was launched and fully operational in June 2003. The arrangement to keep the content aspects of the VVL up to date is in place with Yarra Plenty Regional Library Corporation. The Reference Bookshelf has proven extremely popular with now over 28,000 links being taken from the reference Bookshelf in the past 8 months. The Victorian Biography resource Centre has had over 3000 links from it. Overall site Statistical results are at http://libraries.vic.gov.au/LOGS/webalizer/. Remote access for the new Gulliver database subscriptions has been set up. Quarterly Report 5 Public Libraries Unit Doc Title: PLU Oct - Dec 2003.doc . Ask a Librarian and Hot Topics This operates on a monthly rotating basis and this year 10 libraries have contributed. Hot Topics current affairs database to date has 186 topics in the database. 15,000 links have been followed from the Hot Topics database in 2003/04. 70 public librarians help maintain this site.

. Statewide Network Infrastructure Project (SNIP) The third round of funding ($260k) for improving data links for Victorian Public Library branches was implemented. 15 libraries applied for the funding with the fund oversubscribed by approx $250,000. The successful applicants are as follows; . City of Boroondara Library Service ($3,500) . Central Highlands RLC ($3,300) . Eastern Regional Libraries ($43,000) . Glenelg RLC ($8,600) . Kingston Information and Library Service ($15,700) . Melton Library and Information Service ($7,200) . Monash Public Library ($57,230) . Moonee Valley Library Service ($15,200) . Mornington Peninsula Library ($13,590) . Wellington Library Service ($14,100) . West Gippsland RLC ($10,900).

This Project also has $26,000 to support the upgrading and replacement of public access printers in metropolitan library services.

. CASL working group on electronic Multicultural Library Services (eMCLS) The final report “ Languages in Transition “ was completed and presented to the July CASL meeting. All recommendations were accepted and work will proceed in 2005 on the MyLanguage portal.

TRAINING, PUBLICATIONS, CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS (EXTERNAL) The Public Libraries Unit organized the following forums and conferences. . Content Infrastructure: The Next Big Thing (Sept. 12 2003) . Staffing: Our future Forum (Nov. 25 2003) . How far down the Open Road? E-Diversity & Libraries (Feb. 6 2004) . The 4C-able Future’: challenges of community, consumer and career (April 23 2004)

Members of PLU produced the following papers. . Cunningham, Andrew. Global & local dimensions of emerging community languages support. VALA 2004, Breaking boundaries: integration and interoperability. 3 - 5 February 2004, Melbourne. [http://www.vala.org.au/vala2004/2004pdfs/35Cuning.PDF]

. Fitzgerald, Brendan & Lowndes, Nicole. Victoria's Virtual Library: Making Sense of Information on the Web. HTAV November 2003 Melbourne

Quarterly Report 6 Public Libraries Unit Doc Title: PLU Oct - Dec 2003.doc . Fitzgerald, Brendan & Savage, Frances. Public libraries in Victoria, Australia: an overview of current ICT developments, challenges, and issues. OCLC Systems and Services. Bradford: 2004. Vol. 20, Iss. 1; p. 24

. Brendan Fitzgerald Victoria’s Virtual Library: the single interface you already have! Content Infrastructure the next big thing September 2003 Melbourne.

OTHER ISSUES . PLU visits to Public Library Staff meetings final quarter only

PLU staff have visited and met with staff at: - Wimmera – June 19 - Whitehorse Manningham - 17 May - Hobsons Bay –2 April

PLU staff has also attended the following events at Public Libraries: - Seymour – Library Opening – June 18

PLU staff contributed to the visit of the Chinese delegation from Nanjing – June 1st

The PLU also on May 11 organised an information session for SLV senior staff regarding the framework for collaborative action and the public library network. The intention is to hold this information for approx twice a year.

. VICNET Public Library Users Group PLU and VICNET co-ordinated the renewal of the VICNET Public Library Users Group. This group is made up of those libraries that use VICNET as a supplier of bandwidth. This group will meet quarterly to discuss service issues and look at collaborative opportunities.

Brendan Fitzgerald Manager Public Libraries Unit

Quarterly Report 7 Public Libraries Unit Doc Title: PLU Oct - Dec 2003.doc APPENDIX STATISTICS

Table 1 – Hits on Victoria’s Virtual Library since launch– Raw Data

Month 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total January 143,601 192,285 768,164 525,843

February 170,014 203,634 836,926 587,523

March 198,500 245,347 1,083,752 801,402

April 178,375 261,650 923,944 669,771

May 205,086 263,412 1,186,002 818,377

June 62,851 176,641 200,431 876,328 711,667

July 80,570 198,481 243,931 1,019,282 854,526

August 102,944 230,480 270,577 692,953

September 137,633 204,060 241,195 545,065

October 113,655 203,489 248,609 553,476

November 130,024 192,009 238,883 501,718

December 101,438 156,593 369,095 401,341

Total 729,115 2,259,330 2,979,049 9,388,951 4,969,109 20,325,554

Table 2 – User Sessions (Visits) on VVL since September 2001 – Monthly Usage

Month 2001 2002 2003 2004 January 7,952 11,195 11,170 February 8,501 11,211 11,760 March 9,572 13,241 16,004 April 10,036 12,241 13,540 May 10,646 14,678 16,271 June 8,505 12,253 15,573 July 9,861 12,253 16,507 August 11,078 12,724 September 7,637 10,079 12,805 October 7,336 10,281 12,896 November 7,732 9,718 11,668 December 6,795 8,521 9,829 Total 29,500 114,750 146,994 100,825 392,069

Quarterly Report 8 Public Libraries Unit Doc Title: PLU Oct - Dec 2003.doc