Lithgow City Library

Chair: Mary Ryder Minutes: Sandra Bice Meeting started 10.15am

Attendees: Chris Halpin & Tori Murray (Bathurst); Melissa Angelo (Blacktown); Lisa McCarthy & Leisa Radford (Blue Mountains); Susan Bradley-Hoy (Burwood); Annette Chaplin (Camden); Bernadette Stephenson & Robert Swan (Campbelltown); Sandra Bice (Canterbury-Bankstown); Jeanette Aryee (City of Sydney); Christiane Birkett (Gunnedah); Mary Ryder (Hornsby); Alison Kim (Lithgow); Fiona Beckyhn (Mid-Western); Zora Drazic (Northern Beaches); Tammy Wilson (Orange); Julie-Anne Jones & Jenny Chalain (Penrith); Vickey Foggin (Ryde); Mylee Joseph (SLNSW); Mary Johnston (Wollongong); Rachel Vassallo (Woollahra). Apologies: Michelle Drummond (Bayside); Greg Roberts & Sally Meakin (Canterbury-Bankstown); Peter Green (City of Sydney); Angelina Myatt & Scott Pooke (Inner West); Johnny Ali (Parramatta); Jane Moffat & Magnolia Szabo (Randwick); Michele Hamidi, Colette Kilkeary, Marita Parkin (Waverley).

• 1st - Annette Chaplin 2nd – Bernadette Stephenson

Lithgow: Alison Kim. Covers 4,500sq km, population 22,000. Currently deliver to Portland and Wallerawang, and would like to deliver to some of the smaller villages in the area. Would like to have a dedicated van to help get out to the community. Has a library depot at Rydal Mid-Western Regional Mobile Library Service: Fiona Beckyhn. Covers 8,750sq km, population 25,000. (profile to be attached)

Bathurst: Chris Halpin & Tori Murray. Covers 3,800sq km, population 42,000. Has partnership with mining company to provide van (Mercedes). Within Bathurst there are 110 mobile clients; Aged care facility visits are to individuals rooms, have problems with missing items from bulk loans. Visits schools at Hill End, Sofala and Trunkey Creek. The service runs on a 3 week cycle. They also provide library depots, free little libraries, children’s activities. Staffing of 2 perm f/t.

It would be great if we could increase the number of library profiles that are up on the group wiki page. This is a great resource for all members to consult – both old and new. Much has changed, especially for areas that have now merged. If you have a profile already up, perhaps review and update if needed. If you need to prepare one and are not sure where to start have a look at what is there, and perhaps look at Woollahra as a good example of what to do. The type of things to put in the profile are: staffing/hours, statistics, vehicles, area, population/demographics, delivery methods (bags/baskets), delivery frequency. Once you have completed the profile, ensure it is approved by management, and then send through to Mylee, who will upload it to the wiki. There have been some issues with uploading.

• Camden: no longer delivering bulk loans to institutions due to ongoing issues with missing items and material not being used; individuals at institutions can join to receive material. Now outsourcing cataloguing. Camden is the fastest growing area in state, but the library has no extra staffing. The new Camden library has no service desk, but have roaming RAs with iPads.
• There was general discussion about collection management and the weeding practices being used.
• Penrith: will be investigating the outsourcing of HLS delivery. Currently use volunteer and 1 staff member to do delivery. Mylee will look at creating a Google Doc to get people to contribute ideas to delivery specification for home library deliveries.
• Seniors in Focus: Friday 16th November, Metcalfe Auditorium, SLNSW.
• Julie-Anne presented the finalised/confirmed program to the group (attached). Catering will be supplied by the SLNSW. Mylee will be organising the invitations through Eventbrite: to the Older People list, Managers list. The Metcalfe can sit 120 people.
• If you are doing a PowerPoint presentation on the day, please send a copy through to Mylee prior to the day so they can be uploaded and ready to go on the day.
• General Business:
• Blacktown: part of a join program with Hills Shire, Cumberland and Parramatta Councils to promote NSW Health’s Make Healthy Normal – there will be yoga workshops, staff and public challenges.
• Lithgow: Women’s Health Week – art therapy workshop. Bunnings Workshops – basic life skills, using a drill, etc.
• Blue Mountains: partnership with local aged care facility, with approximately 10 participants coming into the library to borrow books, browse, have morning tea. Each visit has a topic of conversation/activity, eg Royalty was a theme around the time of Harry and Meaghan’s wedding. Blue Mountains do not currently have a HLS, but there is a staff sub-committee called the Seniors Working Committee, and home library is mentioned in the Council’s Ageing Strategy. The obstacle is financial/staffing. A good site for ideas is the Golden Carers site: https://www.goldencarers.com/
• Hornsby: Mary shared an article on poetry reading for dementia being run at Bundaberg Regional Library, article in July/August Incite (attached).
• Campbelltown: English conversation classes have been running for several years. IT and Biscuits – technology lessons recently won and LG award. HLS has recently started a delivery to an aged care facility that has a library, but it is all normal print, now delivering talking books to 5 clients and will now include some large print books.
• Ryde: Wrap with Love knit-in on 3rd August, involved HL patrons by providing them with the knitting patterns for the squares. Once squares completed and sent back, they are sew into the blankets and the HL patrons are provided with photos of the finished blankets containing their squares. Outreach program in Hunters Hill in conjunction with My Aged Care workshops, discussing HLS. Cryptic Crossword Workshops – 3 sessions, 20 people.
• Burwood: Christmas in July at Burwood RSL. Stay Standing Health program - https://staystanding.com.au . Planning Seniors Week 2019 (13-24 February 2019).
• Mudgee: Tech Savvy Seniors is very popular, always booked out, always wanting more!

Next Meeting - AGM: Dee Why Library, Monday 29 October, 10.00am. Meeting closed: 12.55pm