Minutes Reference and Information Services Group Meeting

28 July 2009 2.00 – 4.00 Auburn Library

Present David Griffith & Carolyn Bourke, Fairfield; Patou Clerc, Blue Mountains; Annetta Kucharska, Auburn; Andrea Seifert, City of Canada Bay; Jacinta Craine, Sutherland; Cathleen Alexander, State Library of New South Wales; Kerry Counsell, Willoughby; Indra Bann & Yan Zhang, Parramatta; Megan Pitt, Tamworth; Louise McMorland, Manly; Megan Toenan, Warringah; Kathy Malby, Ryde; Amanda Keevil, Ashfield; Will Coombe, Lane Cove; Peter Main, Bankstown; Kathleen Arundall, Leichhardt.

Apologies Michelle Sibthorpe, Newcastle; Terry O’Keefe, Singleton; Wendy Hansard, Kogarah; Christine Wales, Wollongong and Ross Balharrie, Manly. Ellen Forsyth.

Slam the boards discussion about using it as an avenue for promoting reference and information services as well as a staff developing tool. Some libraries have already organised training sessions – brief programs explaining how it works, how to answer questions using on-line resources which are not used every day and how to highlight the fact that there is a librarian ‘working behind the scenes’. Slam the boards occurs 10th of each month and is a day where library staff are encouraged to “slam the boards” by providing answers on various answer boards and identifying themselves as library staff. The aim is to promote library services and make people aware that libraries can help with answers.

For more information see http://answerboards.wikifoundry.com/page/Slam+the+Boards!?t=anon

Yahoo answers Australia http://au.answers.yahoo.com/

Inside Break presentation by Megan and Louise. Inside Break http://www.insidebreak.org.au/, the HSC resources website provided by Warringah, Manly and Pittwater Council Libraries proved to be an excellent resource full of information and links to lectures, library resources and past exams. There are some additional features, Google calendar for libraries to add their own events, list of materials/ideas, topics for year 11, user-friendly Blog and Josh, the Twitter. All libraries are invited to participate, add their own links and share websites.

Reference – ex wiki and New Reference Group wiki is looking for volunteers to get involved and to become a writer. Some libraries have already implemented training program based on Reference Excellence. Training process self-paced – between 6 and 12 months, depending on an individual.

Support for clients affected by the financial overturn some libraries have organised support for job seekers. Parramatta, Manly and Auburn are providing additional facilities and services. Job search tools similar to these used by the North Carolina State Library - http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/JOBS/jobs.html

Learning 2.0 some libraries are trying to set up Blogs, to use internal Blogs and/or to organise Learning 2.0 training sessions for council staff to demonstrate its advantages for the whole organisation.

Core reference collections suggestion regarding items in print versus electronic materials? Weeding methodology – ideas for the next meeting.

Mobile devices for Reference – palm pods, SMS – ideas for the next meeting.

Mobile friendly web pages – templates, logos – ideas & examples for the next meeting.

Next meeting date and location (tentative) – 30th November 2009, Balmain Library – suggestions and ideas to be forwarded to Ellen.


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