ANNUAL REPORT 2021
WORKING GROUP ON MULTICULTURAL LIBRARY SERVICES (NSW)
Introduction As a result of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdowns, 2021 has seen libraries having to adapt and change the way services and resources are made available to the community.
The Group had the opportunity to meet face to face at Liverpool City Library in May to discuss and share their experiences. All other meetings were then held via Zoom.
The majority of the attendees at the meeting were multicultural library staff. Working Group membership list represent 25 local councils.
- Chairperson: Jadwiga Krejza
- Rotating Secretary: Kasia Malicka, Irena Tichackova, Vanessa Maino
- PLN Representative: Nicole Byrn, Manager, Cumberland Libraries
- State Library of NSW Representatives: Oriana Acevedo, Shauna Miller, Joanna Goh/Abby Dawson
PROFILE OF WORKING GROUP
The working Group on Multicultural Services of NSW was established in June 1983 by several Librarians working in the field of library services for the CALD community. The Working Group’s role is to promote the provision of library resources and services to clients in a range of community languages.
VISION
Every NSW library will have access to an excellent resource collection and services that meet the needs of their CALD communities.
MISSION
To lobby, advise, promote, and improve the importance of library services for the CALD community.
Keynote speakers
Oriana Acevedo, Vicki O’Rourke, Shauna Miller, Katherine Zhu, Kasia Malicka, Ross Balharrie, Sandra Jamal, Kim White, Abby Dawson, Stephanie Lee, Joelmon Zungar, Jadwiga Krejza, Mary Gissing, Katherine Zhu, Kira Paznikov, Sujatha Thadakamalla and Rebekah Thielemans.
Strategic Plan
The sub-committee lead by Oriana Acevedo, met on-line to review the plan which is to expire at the end of 2021. The strategic plan 2021-2025 was finalised by the group and sent to Nicole Byrn for approval by PLN.
Review of the Working Group Strategy
The Working Group is tracking well with the current Plan and its strategies. The PowerPoint presentation reviewing Working Group strategy was prepared by Oriana Acevedo and presented on 18 November 2021.
The Working Group discussed the new proposed strategies which will be implemented by the new Strategic Plan.
Achievements, Changes and Activities
Lockdowns, due to COVIC-19 pandemic, highlighted the importance of multilingual resources being made available on-line. In response to the findings, various programs and services were made available online or by Click and Collect services by the libraries.
The strategic objectives have been reviewed and presented to the Group during the meeting in November.
Diversity in children’s Picture Books in the multicultural collection was discussed and member of the group were invited to participate in the State Library survey.
Tech Savvy Seniors (TSS)
In the previous financial year (2020-2021) there were 1091 sessions provided to 6082 participants (818 sessions in English and 273 CALD sessions delivered respectively to 4260 and 1822 seniors.)
The Working Group members acknowledged the significance of the program in narrowing the Digital Divide.
Additional funding will be provided for the program. The department of Community and Justice will contribute $200, 000 and Telstra will contribute $50, 000 in the new financial year. Grant application were sent to 40 libraries participating in the program.
This increased funding will include the pilot TSS sessions targeted towards the Aboriginal Elders.
The CALD TSS schedule was developed by the Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW.
PressReader and Indyreads
The supply of magazines and newspaper were affected by the pandemic. In response, the Working Group promoted online resources.
PressReader is a service which allows anyone who lives in NSW to read newspapers in their own language at home with their library card. Over 5000 international newspapers and magazines from more than 100 countries in 60 languages are available.’
Indyreads platform has received positive reviews from the group as an alternative resource during the lockdown.
Indyreads platform launched more books in languages other than English. Spanish, Italian, Chinese, French, Portuguese and Romanian were added.
Instructional videos in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, French, Italian, Romanian and Spanish on how to use PressReader and Indyreads were created for libraries to make available on their websites.
PressReader
indyreads
Community Languages signage and information sharing
The group were discussing the importance of multilingual signage in libraries and how it can benefit library customers.
The members of the group were sharing the information on how they supply information to CALD community about the pandemic, vaccination, mask wearing in languages other than English. The information was provided by Health NSW and Australian Government.
Parramatta Library created podcasts in Mandarin and Cantonese about domestic violence and COVID -19 vaccination available from their website; videos promoting classic literature collection, IELTS, and Job Seeker programs were reintroduced before lockdown.
Randwick Library restarted programming in January and ran two on-line English classes and two COVID safe in person; lantern making workshop; Harmony Day children’s craft.
Fairfield City Open Libraries, Camden Council and Newcastle Libraries promoted their CloudLink for eBooks.
Books in Arabic language available on-line (public domain) at http://dlib.nyu.edu/aco/ was provided by the Fairfield Open Libraries on their website.
Libraries were running Storytime and children's activities online; meet the author were also moved to online.
Co-operative Purchasing
The co-operative offers material in Persian, Arabic, Spanish magazine, Russian, and Italian languages.
Multicultural Bulk Loans
The request form has been updated. Affected by the pandemic, the State Library continued to provide the bulk loan service. A new collection will be added – Telugu language. Due to low demanded the Romanian Collection has been withdrawn and Slovakian language collection will also soon be removed. Both will be offered to community members.
The stocktake of the collection was completed by the State Library Multicultural Services Team.
Multicultural Bulk Loan Service offered support to the libraries which were home delivering to their customers or offered ‘click and collect’ services with supplying language collection for multicultural community.
Multilingual Glossary
The Working Group reviewed the existing list of words/phrases listed on the SLNSW website. An extensive list of new phrases has been suggested.
The list of Group members who speak language other than English is being suggested as a referral.
Multicultural Excellence Awards
COVID - 19 has made it easy for the SLNSW to identify who is providing excellent services for the multicultural community, as all our work has been moved to an online forum.
The letter of interest was sent by PLN. The sponsor for the award is CAVAL.
Docuwiki
The Working Group has a presence on the State Library of NSW Website. The Agenda and Minutes and additional information is now available from the State Library of NSW Wiki.
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/public-library-services/wikis-and-blogs
Development of new language collection
State Library has added the Telugu language in their collection. Approximately 500 titles will be included in the collection.
Marketing and promotion
Blacktown Library representative, Joelmon Zungar, shared videos using Language Ambassadors in Punjabi and Serbian languages. Vides were subtitled and available on Blacktown library’ Face Book page.
Oriana Acevedo is working in cooperation with Jane Gardner from CSU on a research project. The participants will be interviewed about the impact of reading in their Mother Tongue.
Cultural Competence Training
SBS is offering a training. Information is available on:
https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/training-and-resources
The Group was also made aware of the arrival of a new group from Afghanistan.
SBS Cultural Atlas also supplies information
https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/
Working Group Guest Speakers 2021
27 May 2021
Guest Speaker – Rebekah Thielemans - Census Engagement Manager.
The presentation included the information about the importance of the census. The ABS was expecting 85% on-line completion rate. Additional two weeks were given to complete the census. Engagement officers were hired to increase participation rate of people who were from LOTE background Pop up hubs were in Parramatta and Liverpool to help answer questions about the census and why it is important for everyone to participate.
The slides from the presentation were distributed via PLN.
Jadwiga Krejza Chair Working Group on Multicultural Library Services (NSW)
18 November 2021