Information Board of Victoria Library Ideas Inspiration Library for everyone Annual Report O7 – O8 O8 Board of Victoria Annual Report O7–O8 In launching The Medieval Imagination, the Premier said, ‘We should not be surprised that amongst the state libraries of Australia it is the State Library of Victoria that is delivering this unique exhibition to the Australian people, and we can be very proud of that.’ Image Mark Strizic, The Edna Walling-designed Garden at Mawarra, Sherbrooke, c. 1980 Contents 04 President’s Message Infrastructure, Skills and Partnerships 06 CEO’s Year in Review 53 Redefi ning our Role as Leaders 08 Vision and Values in the Library Sector 10 The Medieval Imagination 55 Building Commercial and 18 Highlights of the Year Philanthropic Relationships 21 Financial Summary 55 State Library of Victoria Foundation 21 Key Performance Indicators 59 Identifying Opportunities for Collaboration 22 Service Agreement with the 59 Strengthening Corporate Capability Minister for the Arts 60 Financial Management 25 Government Priority Areas 60 Major Contracts 27 Output Framework 60 Victorian Industry Participation Policy 60 National Competitive Neutrality Collections, Content 60 Compliance with Building and Maintenance and Information Resources Provisions of Building Act 1993 30 Digitisation of the Collection 60 Library Redevelopment 31 Digital Storage and Management Capacity 60 Technology Services 33 Building the Collection 61 Web Services 37 Conservation and Preservation 61 Applications Development and Services 37 Physical Storage 37 Expansion of Online Resources Library Board and Corporate Governance 65 Library Board and Corporate Governance Access and Engagement 69 Library Executive 40 Reconfi guration of the Library’s 70 Organisational Structure Online and Onsite Service Model 71 Reconciliation of Executive Offi cers 41 Marketing 72 OH&S Performance Measures 41 Research and Statistics: 72 Public Sector Values Online Services and Trends and Employment Principles 41 Customer Research and Feedback 73 Statement of Workforce Data 42 Events and Exhibitions 73 Offi ce-based Environmental Impacts 44 Vicnet: Reshaping the Business Model 74 Diversity and Access 45 Developing Targeted Learning 75 Freedom of Information Services for Students 75 Consultancies 47 Communications 76 Whistleblowers Protection Act 2001 47 Publishing 79 Disclosure Index 49 Creative Fellowships Financials 81 Auditor General’s Report 83 Risk Attestation 84 Financials 86 Notes to the Financial Statements Image Figure drawing classes at the Fox Art Academy, Melbourne, c. 1935-40. From Alex Taylor, Perils of the Studio, Australian Scholarly Publishing and State Library of Victoria, 2007 President’s Message John Cain 4/5 Library Board of Victoria Annual Report O7—O8 It is with pleasure that I present this annual Victorian students have taken to ergo with great It is with immense sadness that I record that report for the 2007–08 financial year. enthusiasm, as you will see in the pages ahead, the Foundation and the Library lost two This has been an important year for the and we are heartened by its reception. ardent supporters in Creighton Burns AO and Library Board of Victoria and the Library – both Other projects that form part of the slv21 Suzanne Hunt. One of Creighton Burns’s many exhilarating and sobering for reasons I shall program have also been advanced materially. contributions to the community was the one he outline. The reasons for exhilaration were many. The outcome of these projects may not yet be made as the Chair of the State Library of Victoria The Premier, the Hon. John Brumby MP, publicly manifest but they will improve the Foundation between 1995 and 1998. Suzanne Hunt, launched the jewel-like exhibition, The Medieval experience of our online visitors signifi cantly. a social historian with a passion for and Imagination: Illustrated Manuscripts from Research, specifi cation and implementation of prodigious knowledge of Australian gardens and Cambridge, Australia and New Zealand, in the projects such as the Digital Object Management gardening, encouraged and fi nancially assisted presence of Professor Gordon Johnson, Deputy System, Direct Delivery and Federated Search the Library to build its collection in this area and Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University, our are at different stages but will be delivered to make it more accessible. generous lenders, Foundation members, sponsors over the year ahead with great benefi ts for all. It is my pleasure to acknowledge the and supporters. On the evening of 15 June we The Board’s wider engagement with and debt I owe, as do all Victorians, to members of closed the doors for the last time on the leadership of Victoria’s public libraries has been the Library Board of Victoria and to those who exhibition, which set a record for the Library with enormously productive. The year brought to a serve on the Board’s committees, particularly more than 110,000 visits over its 82-day season. close a triennium of collaborative projects of the State Library of Victoria Foundation The exhibition catalogue was a bestseller, and all strategic value, including several publications Executive Committee and to all the Library’s of the public and schools programs associated of national and international signifi cance. volunteers. They all give generously and with the exhibition were fully subscribed. In all, we Buoyed by these achievements, members of the enthusiastically of their time and expertise. were delighted by the enthusiastic public response Board and senior offi cers of the Library met I welcomed my reappointment to the to everything related to The Medieval Imagination the managers of Victoria’s public libraries and Board and to the position of President and the and are immensely grateful to the State Library colleagues in Local Government Victoria, in reappointments of Catherine Dale, Stephen Kerr of Victoria Foundation and other sponsors as October, to initiate the planning for the strategic and Kevin Quigley. Patricia O’Donnell retired from their support enabled access to the exhibition projects for the 2008–11 triennium. The the Board in May. She has made an invaluable to be free to all. collaborative state wide projects formulated by contribution to the Board over her three terms The Library’s new learning website this process will benefi t all Victorians and were spanning almost a decade and will continue to be was launched by Tessa Forshaw, the 2007 VCE endorsed by Viclink and the Board in April. a feisty advocate for this institution. The Board Achiever of the Year, at Coburg Senior High Last year, when the Board developed its welcomed a new member, the Hon. Sherryl School on Tuesday 15 April. The Hon. Evan Thornley Corporate Plan 2007–10, it committed to reshaping Garbutt, who was appointed in September. MLC recorded a message of congratulation which the business model for Vicnet and to developing Her wide experience in public administration, was screened at the launch; he subsequently a fi ve-year plan to strengthen Vicnet’s position teaching and community organisations will serve told the Legislative Council: as a leader in the innovative use of technology the Board well. As a result of Tom Bentley’s in a community setting. The Board approved the secondment to the Offi ce of the Deputy Prime recommendations of analytical work recommending Minister, to work on social inclusion policy, the ‘I had the pleasure on Tuesday a reshaping of the business model, and of a Board granted him a leave of absence from of helping contribute to the new strategic direction, for Vicnet. the Board for six months from January. It gives the Board and all at the Library The Board is deeply grateful to Lynne launch of the State Library of much pleasure to introduce visitors and Kosky MP, Minister for the Arts, for her interest Victoria’s new website for senior colleagues to the collection, services and in and support of the Library and it was delighted premises of this magnifi cent public institution. to welcome her to the Library on several school students, called ergo. Over the course of this year we re-introduced occasions. The Board welcomed the Premier’s It has been a terrifi c project and the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister announcement that Rob Hudson MP would be to the domed La Trobe Reading Room and we the Parliamentary Secretary assisting the I think it exemplifi es the way hosted a visit, and several speaking engagements, Minister for Public Transport and the Arts and that modern libraries are by Mr Chris Batt OBE, Chief Executive of was pleased to host a familiarisation visit from Museum, Libraries and Archives Council of the him in October. moving from traditional bricks- United Kingdom. The counsel, assistance and feedback we and-mortar and bookshelf An annual report cannot describe all of receive from Penny Hutchinson, Director of Arts the achievements of the Library nor all of the Victoria, and her senior colleagues, particularly provision to utilising their challenges faced by the Board as the steward Dennis Carmody, are much appreciated. specialisation in the organisation of this complex and sophisticated organisation. The State Library of Victoria has a The Board has found sobering the fi nancial remarkable complement of staff who have and retrieval of knowledge pressures on the Library: our fi xed operating managed a year of increasing demand and in the online world.‘ costs (utilities, security, cleaning) are increasing success delivering services, developing innovative at such a rate that in the years to come projects with intelligence, care and professionalism. accommodating them will threaten the Library’s In launching The Medieval Imagination, the capacity to deliver programs and services to Premier said, ‘We should not be surprised that Victorians. The Board is committed to rigorous amongst the state libraries of Australia it is the and prudent management of its budget and State Library of Victoria that is delivering this will continue to press for effi ciencies but it does unique exhibition to the Australian people, and so in an environment of great appetite for we can be very proud of that.’ The Library the Library’s services, as will be plain when Board of Victoria shares that pride.