Working Group on Multicultural Services (NSW)
Minutes
Location: Macquarie Room State Library NSW
Date: 23 November 2023 Time: 9:15am
Chair: Sujatha Thadakamalla
Minutes: Jadwiga Krejza
Attending: Oriana Acevedo (State Library), Shauna Miller (State Library), Joanna Goh (State Library), Abby Dawson (State Library), Thanoja Fernando (Wollongong City Libraries), Faranak Kazemimajd (Wollongong City Libraries), Vicki O’Rourke, Kasia Malicka (Burwood Library), Marilyn Shamayil (Bankstown Library), Thanh Khuyen Luu (Canterbury Bankstown City Library), Helen Williams (Inner West), Fahmida Haque (Streatfield Library), Jenny Zhang (City of Sydney), Sharlene Louey (City of Sydney), Sandra Jammal (Northern Beaches), Julie Parkinson (Sutherland Shire), Phillip Jones (Canada Bay), Amie Persyn (Georges River), Stella Tay ( Cumberland City Council), vanessa Maino ( City Of Ryde), Joelmon Zungar (Blacktown City Library ), Kathy Yang (City of Ryde Libraries ), Ayse Ersoy ( Waverley Library), Mary Loveland ( Northern Beaches), Cathy Zhai (Hornsby Shire Libraries), Sujatha Thadakamalla ( Fairfield City Open Libraries), Jadwiga Krejza ( Liverpool City Library).
Apologies: Sarah Wild (Canada Bay), Angela Kolar (MRCC Silverwater). Minutes from previous meeting were accepted by Thanh Luu (Canterbury Bankstown) and seconded by Kathy Yang (City of Ryde).
Business arising from previous meeting: contact Ross Balharrie regarding online resources available for multicultural community via libraries still to follow up.
Chair and secretary nominations: Thanh Khuyen Luu nominated for the Chair and Julie Parkinson nominated for the Secretary of the Group. Those appointments are tentative.
ID Theft Services NSW presentation: the representative from Services NSW provided the group with information on protecting of personal information, about common scams, creating strong password, the ways the scammers can contact and what to do when your identity is compromised. The presenter recommended to use the Password Strength Tester and checking your credit score for unusual transactions: Passwords | NSW Government https://Moneysmart.gov.au More information is available on nsw.gov.au (ID Support NSW) By phone 1800 001 040
Library AV they are providing cataloguing and end processing services for a number of NSW libraries. In addition they can supply material in 56 languages, the latest being Tibetan language collection. They partner with Kinokuniya, Abbeys and LOTE Libraries Direct; they can also provide digitising services e.g., Local History; they supply CALD material not only books but audio books and DVDs; they supply Large Print books in 15 top languages.
Annual report Chair Sujatha. https://wiki.libraries.nsw.gov.au/doku.php?id=annual_report_2023_multicultural
50th anniversary of Multicultural Services SL NSW: Abby is writing an article to the State Library magazine about the services. The services are being provide since 1974. She would like members of the group to share the experiences and memories, newsletter’s articles about the service to share with her. Abby is also writing an article about the history of the service and its impact for communities in NSW. She would like to get some quotes from public library staff, and hopefully community members who use the service to bring the story to life. It doesn't have to be too long, just a few words about what it means to you to be able to provide the community with this service to your community. It would also be great if you have any feedback from your community about what it means to be able to access books in their own language. We would also like to try and get a photo of someone accessing books in their language from a bulk loan, if you have any regular customers that you think might be open to this, please let me know. The turn around time is quite short, it would probably need to before Christmas.
Community language directory: Joanna, the directory needs to be updated. The other change would be not to specify library branches but only list the library service and number of books/items in language collection.
Glossary review: There has been some requests by libraries for new phrases to be translated. The cost of translation is very expensive and not cost effective for a small number of phrases. Joanna will be sending out a poll to NSW public libraries to ask what new phrases need to be added to the glossary and in what languages. Based on the result of the poll, we will determine if it is cost effective to have them professionally translated. Joanna also suggested that libraries can pool our language expertise. Library staff who are native speakers to help translate and verify translation of phrases. The State Library can upload these new approved translated phrases to the glossary (Joanna).
Information session: Shauna and Joanna are visiting the libraries. As a result, the idea of sharing the information between the libraries about TSS session, especially which library runs the programs in which language that the library staff can pass this information to the customers. Shauna provided feedback on the new Vox books collection. The State Library is receiving more requests for this material and it seems to becoming very popular. Joanna confirmed that currently there is a limit of two titles per language. The Vox books are available on bulk loan service in 13 languages. Shauna spoke about the changes to terms of reference, representative from Library managers. Helen – Inner West; the library will be withdrawing Nepalese, Arabic and Gujarati collections. She was also asking for a suggestion for a magazine’s suppliers e.g., Greek language. Shauna will create the list of suppliers. Group to send information.
Dates for next year meetings:
- Friday 24th February - Blacktown Library - confirmed by Joelmon
- Thursday, 23 May Korean Cultural Centre - to be confirmed
- Thursday, 22 August – Liverpool City Library - to be confirmed
- Thursday, 21 November – State Library
Meeting Closed: 12:30pm
Oriana's farewell: Oriana asked libraries to support the ALIA Multicultural group. She included several people on the mailing list for the Multicultural ALIA. You can opt out at any time. She is very proud of the establishment of the Working Group and what the group achieved over the years. She stressed the importance of the current membership of the group and other staff who are involved in multicultural services and the need to pass on the knowledge to the next generation of library staff. The multicultural services, that the libraries provide to community, and especially the most socially disadvantaged are not measurable. They change people’s lives for better. She is planning to be involved with her local community and Fairfield library. Oriana was presented with farewell gift and a special card, from past and present members of the group.