Minutes Reference and Information Services Group Meeting

12 August 2008

2.00 pm – 4.00pm

Parramatta Library, Parramatta

Apologies Ken Klippel, Marrickville: Jane Broadbere, Mosman; Christine Wales, Wollongong; Cathy Johnston, Clarence Regional Library; Ross Balharrie, Manly; Present Jenny Campbell Watt, Randwick; kate Nadler, Tamworth Regional; Luke Carter, Hurstville; Ion Sloggett, Kogarah; Andrew Allen, Canterbury; David Griffiths, Fairfield; Gabriele Winter, Canada Bay; Kathleen Arundell, Leichhardt; Will Combe, Lane Cove; Indra Ban Parramatta; Ana Hawich, Parramatta; Jennifer Wilson, Fairfield; Lydie Bacot, City of Sydney

Progress of ref- ex The wiki is progressing slowly as there have been technical problems. After the meeting two additional people have volunteered to help progress this.

What reference suppliers are people using? Parramatta uses Warner Books, Melbourne for all reference and all standing orders; Canada Bay – mainly Warner - good range of reference also Abbeys, OUP, few standing orders, AES; Leichhardt - James Bennett; Canterbury - The bookhouse – Qld based. Pal Books. Some reference/non fiction Warern/James Bennett; Hurstville - Borders – which has after hours book nights, Kinokuniya and specialised University Presses.

Sources for selecting reference e-mail from suppliers, other online, reducing reference, increasing non fiction, publisher specific information, some publishers setting up rss feeds and bookshops like Abbeys blogs some online/e-books

Reports from Cathy and Claire. Claire will continue to investigate the communication between schools and libraries from an HSC student perspective. Cathy did not receive a response to her e-mail asking how experienced reference libraries kept their skills up to date.

From discussion around the table maintaining reference skills for professional staff

• continue with staff training and reminding of skills
• reintroduce staff to reference collection at intervals
• tours of the reference library for reference staff
• getting staff to 'play' on the internet and with databases
• importance of serendipitous discovery
• primary importance of desk/inquiry service
• importance of looking at the reference books being re-shelved – what is being used
• shift into using the space for a range of tasks
• one by one training for the public
• issue of getting people upstairs for discovered of reference areas
• read broadly
• need enough staff on service points issues for ratio of professional staff.
• peer to peer learning, discussion of different reference strategies and ideas
• help other staff with learning experience – call back staff who refer - good feedback or learning experience
• 10 question quiz for staff to do before meeting
• formal qualification and use of new tools
• conference/reading conference papers
• giving papers at conferences
• how to motivate those hard to motivate staff working on reference on ‘doing their job’ - some people just see it as difficult without seeing the rewards
• Collaborations from web 2.0 and how to keep up to date from now – brainstorming session
• introduce ideas into team meetings to generate discussion, generating ideas
• made staff more aware
• Slamming the boards – increasing the Australian presence
• Fairfield promoting as practicing for professional development and practice

Where are the statistics going to be reported?

'Ambulance chasing for librarians'

8. Promotion of online databases to the public: Successful strategies

• have the databases findable on website
• promote to schools community – use all means
• student promotion is a talk for students, by students
• peer to peer promotion
• employ some younger staff
• market to different target groups for different databases
• difficulty over requirement of 'actual newspaper article' rather than database print out – some areas where the teachers need to understand more about the databases
• redesign of web page for online databases – how to describe them, minimal information - e-resource rather than database?

9. How can we improve our writing for the web use the people

• Template guidelines approval process
• Draft text for communications people to okay
• Style sheets
• Training for staff
• People contributing text
• What are the standards/style formats

10. General business

• Parramatta thanked for hosting this meeting
• Next meeting date and location
• 12 November, 2 – 4 pm at the Concord Library

The new Concord Library is located at the corner of Wellbank & Flavelle Sts, Concord and has a car park at the rear of the building. The Library can be reached by public transport via bus routes 458/459 and 462/463/464/466, and from North Strathfield Railway Station.

Ideas for November agenda

• slamming the boards – how is it going
• ref-ex wiki
• roving reference – what are people doing?
• Library plans for next years HSC changes?
• Following up from the ALIA Conference – any attendees to provide feedback
• Learning 2.0

Site mentioned by Gabriele during the meeting

Ten social networking tips for libraries http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2008/07/ten-social-netw.html

Library 2.0: The social web and libraries: listening to your community http://www.davidleeking.com/2008/07/30/the-social-web-and-libraries/

Simplifying the search for the best library and reference resources on the web http://www.libraryspot.com/about.htm

Library 2.0 theory: web 2.0 and its implications for libraries http://www.webology.ir/2006/v3n2/a25.html

Library 2.0 debased http://www.blyberg.net/category/library/library-20/

Thinking shift: Archive for Library 2.0 http://thinkingshift.wordpress.com/category/library-20/

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