Auburn Library 25 February 2014 10.00am to 12.00pm

Chair: John Taggart (Manly) Minutes: Jennifer Wilson (Fairfield)

John Taggart (Manly), Rachel Fallowfield (Willoughby), Ellen Forsyth (SLNSW), Adrianna Dennocks (Blue Mountains), Jennifer Wilson (Fairfield), Gaye Stinson (Burwood), Samson Leung (Canada Bay), Eric Dodson (Lane Cove), David Botros (Bankstown), Jennifer Bice (Lane Cove), Carole Dent (Ultimo), Cynthia Methven (Hornsby), Annetta Kucharska (Auburn), Megan George (Blacktown)

Justin Yeomans (Kogarah), Sean Finlay (Randwick)

last meeting:

• Non fiction Health Check: started looking at non fiction usage around state, no distinct patterns emerging yet, Fairfield report experiencing lower loans from the section of the non fiction collection that have been relocated from downstairs to upstairs (traditionally where only reference was located), library layout can have a huge impact on loans, how to we promote non fiction is another element, need to talk to the libraries to see what they are actually doing that can be impacting non fiction loans (Ellen and Leanne)
• Canada Bay meeting Ken from Waverley asked about how do patrons discover what’s in your catalogue – is it visual content, how does it display, etc…? A research proposal for this is being explored - waiting to see (might not be this year) but on agenda for March meeting. Deb (Strathfield), Ken Klippel (Waverley), Andrew (Wollongong) and Sean (Randwick) working on this.

VALA 2014 (Feedback from people who attended, or who followed it on social media):

• John (followed for one day) – a highlight was Jean Tan’s talk on the Singapore Memory Project where everyone in Singapore was asked to
• Ellen followed Matt Finch – the video is worth looking at – who took off clothes and pants as part of presentation!, work being done out in Central West area, Auckland City Libraries, the idea of more engagement-based interaction and programs rather than reference based services, keen to get people reading
• Being able to use just 10 minutes at a time via Twitter to keep up with conference presentations, this is a bit more difficult for overseas conferences but still useful.

• future of libraries
• librarians as concierges to information
• curiosity leading to creativity leading to change in libraries - this needs to be a constant in libraries for the future
• engaging more with vendors to create products that suit your needs - talk to your LMS provider and challenge them to provide the functionality that you need, tell them what would you like to able to do
• SWS conference in Texas

• start looking beyond your own knowledge to gather experts who can engage online then in person
• Hoods Harbour exhibition - go online to select picture, voting system but can also draw out personal stories
• online engagement as a starting point to get people in
• use of Instagram

-Chattanooga example (link no longer available)

• mainly using government information, hack days, but this example is from US $50K grant to work with library for online data portal to create meaningful community solutions.
• Nate Hill from Chattanooga will be talking at the reference seminar via Skype
• 2 years ago SLNSW put out public library stats in MS Excel as well as pdf format - someone might want to use this one day
• What data is your council making available?
• Bernie McSwane discussed annual report infographics at the Switch conference
• Eli Neiburger presentation at SLNSW - splitting physical loans and digital - great infographics from talk
• Imperial War Museum in London - look at what they are doing for anniversary of WWI and tracking of individuals - seeking to be global leader in this (discussing at LS meeting)

- update, implications for reference, discussion Report from Sean Finlay (Randwick) - [John has report copy]

Reference and Information Services for the transfer of knowledge - reframing the discussion (The Reference and Information Services Section, IFLA)

Is reference a form of activism? How does this relate to the social role of reference librarianship in the transfer of knowledge? How do reference services help people to do something, make something, or change something? Or how could they help people do something, make something or change something?What connections could you develop in your community to do this? How would you need to change the service which is offered, or where it is offered?

How do public library reference services build individual and community assets? Examples for this topic could address how do these services strengthen civic engagement, or support multicultural societies or provide a community hub.What are the opportunities in your community around this? What community groups can you help connect to information?

These are questions to be discussed at the IFLA conference later in the year - what are your ideas?

• the library drives conversation not individual or community - is this good?
• online resources get thrown out there in bulk with no later selection where as a one to one enquiry allows us to provide rounded selection
• we do source solutions for specific niche
• when does being proactive cross over into activism?
• Is there a political element and when does this apply?

Refex wiki will be migrating as vicnet is no longer doing interstate hosting – will be inaccessible when migrating but not sure when. Messages will go out on mailing lists. Quadra is hosted in Sydney and therefore subject to Australian law and non-cloud based, the email list will be out of action for at least two days - this should happen in next 3 weeks.

Coffs Harbour Library – 12 August 2014. We are going to try and stream part of meeting via Google Hangouts

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