Working Group on Multicultural Services (NSW) 9:30 am Thursday the 17th of August 2017 Canterbury Bankstown Library Service Campsie Library 14-28 Amy Street CAMPSIE NSW 2194
Minutes
Apologies: Joelmon Zungar (Blacktown), Roman Ciereszko (Liverpool), Kathy Yang (Marrickville), Sujatha Thadakamalla (Fairfield), Jann Debenham (Bankstown)
Confirmation of previous minutes
The previous minutes were accepted unchanged by Vanessa Maino (Ryde) and seconded by Vicki O’Rourke (Wollongong).
Wendy Gindi introduced the Acting Coordinator of Campsie Library who on behalf of the Library Manager cordially welcomed everyone to the meeting
Business arising from previous minutes: Changes to Bulk Loans Collection (Abby)
Abby informed the Group that the LP and Talking Books Collections in English are to be dealt with first. They are being recalled from the public libraries’ and redistributed to libraries across NSW on a permanent basis. The Multicultural collection will be worked on next. Some new issues came to light on the patterns of borrowing and how this service can be enhanced for everyone. an 50% of this collection will be held by the State Library. The reminder of the collection will be on extended loan for up to 12 months
Research into multicultural library services in NSW – 1 hour focus group
Pino Migliorino from DiverseWerks thanked those who participated in the recently circulated and currently finished Multicultural Survey. A confidential discussion followed. It aimed at identifying the public libraries response to the impact of the recent changes in population and technology. The findings of this discussion, along with the outcomes of the other components of the Research will be canvassed in the final report of this major study.
Guest Speaker – Dmitry Lushnikov – Language Festival Association
Dmitry Lushnikov delivered a presentation describing this not for profit organisation. The Association aims at promoting language diversity through the delivery of language festivals. The events are run by volunteers from a variety of backgrounds (Russian, Bengali, Chinese etc.) that are passionate about their language and culture. They have delivered a number of successful events so far. Language Festivals have been organised in Sydney for five years. The uniqueness and value of being bi – or multilingual has been celebrated with assistance of many public libraries; Waverly, West Ryde, Erina, Manly, Parramatta, Canada Bay, Liverpool and Hunters Hill. Ryde, Waverly and the Korean Culture Centre are preparing for another festival. The festivals’ presentations are delivered by linguists and community reps. These lectures are usually 30 minutes long and focus on a language (covering linguistic and cultural issues), lessons of a language, workshops about experience with language, language trivia, films etc. The Language Festival Association has funding which would assist any interested libraries to deliver these educational, family oriented, multicultural events. More information can be found at: www.LanguageFestival.org
Guest Speaker – Shane Clancy – Library AV
Shane Clancy, director of Library AV, talked about the company’s commitment to deliver materials in any language and format fully catalogued and end processed. For more information on the services provided by Library AV please contact Shane at - shane@libraryav.com.au or phone : 1300890528
Update on unclassified DVDs (Oriana)
Oriana and Laurence met with Sandy Donaldson, representing the Classification Board at the Federal level. The Classification Board will try to come up with an instrument allowing the sale of the DVDs in community languages without classification. The suppliers of the DVDs in community languages are mostly family businesses who cannot risk to be prosecuted. The current practice of making all DVDs unavailable to the borrowers under the age of 15 limits children’s access to AV material in community languages and therefore does not provide a satisfactory solution.
Action: Oriana and Laurence to await further correspondence in this matter
Multicultural Excellence Award (Oriana) The application form for the Multicultural Excellence Award is on the NSWPLA website. Nominations close on the 29th of September for organisations or individuals. Oriana will send a reminder. An individual application has to be approved by the manager of the library service.
Action: Oriana will send a reminder through the Public Libraries’ Network
Inclusive and Cohesive Communities in NSW Conference – 2-3/11/2017 – (Oriana)
The best practice models promoting social cohesion and inclusion will be examined at the conference organised by the Local Government Multicultural Network in partnership with Multicultural NSW, Local Government NSW, the NSW State Library and a number of local Councils and other organisations. The Program or the Outreach Librarians participating in the Conference will benefit from exploring pragmatic responses to social cohesion in the diverse communities and key strategies used in this sector. The Conference will be held at at the State Library and then will move to the Botanical Gardens. John Vallance – the newly appointed NSW State Librarian will welcome the conference The tickets can be shared among up to 4 staff members over 2 days.
Action: The members of the working group are to promote this Conference at their libraries
Updating data on LOTE collections in NSW Libraries – Wendy Gindi Data is now 2 years old. It would be beneficial to have up-to-date data available while directing the public to the libraries holding the language collections.
Other Business
Shauna “Lit Up” – Literacy Seminar and ESL/Literacy selection meeting will take place on the 11th of September, 2017 at the State Library. A short on-line survey has been circulated among the public libraries to facilitate the supply of the most appropriate Literacy materials from Bookery
TSS has been successfully delivered by the State Library and Telstra since 2015. There is continued funding available for the future sessions. New languages – Spanish, Italian and Korean are to be introduced. Application for the next round of funding will be circulated soon. It is worthwhile applying for this funding as the program is growing in popularity.
Those taking advantage of TSS funding currently are reminded to fill out the evaluation forms on-line.
Parramatta – Pauline
“Pathways to Housing” was a successful event organised in partnership with Family and Community Services and Community Migrant Resource Centre. Interpreters were available to spread the word on the roles and responsibilities of the tenants, criteria for access to Housing NSW and for the private rental market.
“Refugees Week Launch” involved a promotion through a bookmark with a piece of work produced by a local artist. All copies have been distributed. Pauline offered to share Parramatta’s instructions on the use of E-resources in Chinese.
Kamal The Library successfully held Citizenship celebrations. Multicultural NSW will open their application process for multicultural celebrations grants shortly.
Wendy Refugees Week organised by Canterbury and Bankstown Libraries together was very popular. Over 100 people at Campsie and 60 at Lakemba enjoyed films’ presentations. NAIDOC Week film show was attended by an outstanding number of 177 students. The Launch of the Refugee Week at Paddington Town Hall was an exceptional success.
Next ordinary meeting and the AGM is to take place at the State Library, Macquarie Room on the 16th of November from 9am to 2pm.