Vicnet Web design and development The Library’s Vicnet division engaged Web-development services were provided the Victorian community in a wide range for projects such as Victoria’s Virtual Library, of information-technology activities in PictureVictoria, MyLanguage, Skills.net collaboration with industry, government Roadshow, My Connected Community and and communities. The importance of the the Public Internet Access Project. Vicnet State Library of Victoria’s community Web Development upgraded the Library’s engagement role was affirmed in 2005 when intranet, including its staff forum. the Library Board of Victoria endorsed the Vicnet Charter and Statement of Purpose. Work was undertaken for a range of community groups and community leaders, Vicnet’s purpose is to support government to such as Women in Trades Directory, Learning strengthen Victorian communities using ICT. and Innovation West, Australian Garden Vicnet engages in three major activities in History Society, Baking Industry Association pursuit of this purpose: of Victoria, Library Books for East Timor, Candy Broad MLC for Melbourne North - providing ICT support services to certain Province, Bruce Mildenhall MLA for community groups and individuals Footscray, Gavin Jennings MLC for - managing projects for government agencies Melbourne Province. that focus on the relationship between ICT and individuals and groups in the Vicnet also worked in close collaboration community with the Australian Library and Information - providing ICT support services, particularly Association, developing its online Libraries connectivity, to certain public sector entities, Bandwidth Survey. including public libraries. Community internet service provision The division continued to establish far- reaching networks with the community and Internet services, particularly broadband public library sectors, and its efforts enabled DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), have provided the Library to achieve its digital-access goals critical infrastructure for the community throughout the wider community. and public library sectors. The growing availability of broadband in regional areas Vicnet’s business management and has provided opportunities for an increase administration capacity supported a wide in broadband DSL provision. In support of range of services, activities and projects: library-sector customers, regular user-group meetings were held. 30-31 More than 5000 community organisations The Public Internet Access Program (PIAP) Supporting innovation received free web-hosting services to enable initiated a Victorian Government a wide range of sites to be published, many commitment of more than $3 million to Support was provided to public library of which were selected for inclusion in support free or affordable public internet services for individual development initiatives: PANDORA. access for disadvantaged groups across Victoria. Grants have been offered in three - The biennial Pierre Gorman Award, valued While operating in an increasingly complex competitive funding rounds. at $15,000, was given to Denece Sippo of technical environment, the Vicnet call centre East Gippsland Library Service. The award maintained a high standard of customer The innovative Multilingual Senior Surfers is for innovation in service to disabled users service during 2005-06. pilot program was successfully concluded and communities. in 2005. The objective of the project was - The inaugural Libraries Building Program management to increase knowledge and understanding Communities Demonstration Project grants, of the internet among seniors from culturally valued at a total of $200,000, were awarded Vicnet’s role in delivering project and linguistically diverse backgrounds. to Goulburn Valley Regional Library management continued to be successful due Corporation, Hume Global Learning in part to significant experience in linking Vicnet community information portal Village Library Service, Upper Murray communities - particularly those in isolated Regional Library Service and Wyndham rural areas - through internet access provision, The portal continued to provide a high City Library Service. and in providing onsite training and helpdesk standard of community information, facilities. Vicnet delivered projects on behalf including 10,000 links covering a wide range Developing the workforce of a number of government departments, of topics of interest to Victorians. Syndicated including the Department of Innovation, news and weather information is available Significant effort was directed towards the Industry and Regional Development, via the portal. professional development of public library Department for Victorian Communities, staff: Department of Human Services and More than 150 front-page articles were added Department of Premier and Cabinet. to the Vicnet portal, including the feature for - Three places were subsidised at the the Commonwealth Games Photos Project, prestigious Aurora Leadership Institute, The My Connected Community project ‘Victoria at the Games’, which was developed for Teresa Aquino (Hume Global Learning continued under the Victorian Government’s as a community engagement activity. Village Library Service), Cathy Artidge Connecting Communities: The second wave (Goulburn Valley Regional Library policy. The project provides free, online Services to Public Libraries Corporation) and Trevor Mackay (Bayside community-building tools to community Library Service). groups from diverse backgrounds across the Public library projects - The Margery C Ramsay and Barrett Reid state. It supports more than 3000 groups Scholarships were awarded to Shirley and more than 50,000 users. The program’s The Framework for Collaborative Action, Prescott (Yarra-Melbourne Regional website can be found at mc2.vicnet.net.au. which defines the way in which the Library Library Corporation) and Bernadine Nolen Board of Victoria, through the State Library, and Lorraine Seeger (Eastern Regional Skills.net Roadshow, another Connecting partners with public libraries to deliver Libraries) respectively. Communities: the Second Wave program, enhanced library services to Victoria’s - Nearly 500 public library staff from across continued to raise community awareness communities, was updated. Victoria attended three day-long and understanding of the benefits of online professional-development seminars, titled technologies. To date, the Skills.net Significant statewide initiatives ‘Around the World in a Day’, ‘Public Roadshow has provided training to more Libraries 2020 Summit’ and ‘Partnering for than 16,000 Victorians statewide. The website Work began on the first year of a three-year Success’, featuring presentations by global can be accessed at roadshow.skills.net.au. cycle of Statewide Public Library library leaders from the United Kingdom, Development Projects focused on three areas: New Zealand and Finland. The Skills.net program concluded in 2005. collections and access issues, public library - Victoria’s 44 public library service managers workforce sustainability and leadership issues, were given the opportunity to participate The IT for Kindergartens project (at and the community-building role of public in a special four-part program aimed at kindergarten.vic.gov.au), in partnership libraries. Project achievements included: developing their skills in advocacy. with the Department of Human Services, continued to deliver internet connectivity - the first ever audit of Victoria’s public and helpdesk assistance to more than 1000 library collections community-based, not-for-profit - significance assessments of local history kindergartens in Victoria. This project collections held in 34 public library services demonstrated a strong combination of - development of a blueprint to improve technical and project-management skills. public library collections and access A number of staff members received awards over the next five years from the Department of Human Services - assessing the issues impacting on in recognition of their services. recruitment, retention and leadership development of public library staff - the first ever census of Victorian public library users, and development and implementation of an online survey of public library users. The State Library of Victoria has a long tradition of engaging the community, providing skills for life and fostering social cohesion through the provision of equitable access to information and resources. 32-33 A key priority of the Office of eStrategy and Innovation is to identify, develop and implement new and innovative information technology initiatives to meet the needs of the library of the 21st century. The principle behind slv21 is the transformation of the Library’s service model to one based around digital information and access appropriate to the 21st century. Financial Management Consultancies The implementation of slv21 has resulted There were no consultancies greater than in a repositioned and augmented Finance $100,000. A total of 52 consultancies were function. The responsibilities now cover all engaged during 2005-06 where the total divisions, including Vicnet, which previously fee payable to the consultant was less than maintained a separate Finance function. $100,000. The total combined cost of these This restructure was undertaken specifically consultancies was $617,279. to support the delivery of slv21 by providing a single resource for financial information, Human Resources and Executive reporting, control and development. In 2005-06 the Library’s implementation During 2005-06