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**Working Group on Multicultural Services (NSW)
9:30 am Thursday 26 December 2020
Via Zoom**

**Minutes**

__Attendees:__ Nicole Byrn (Cumberland); Kirsty Plumridge (Cumberland); Joelmon Zungar (Blacktown); Jadwiga Krejza (Liverpool); Eugenia Ng (Burwood); Jenny Zhang (City of Sydney); Sharlene Louey (City of Sydney); Sujatha Thadakamalla (Fairfield); Irena Tichackova (Hornsby); Mary Loveland (Northern Beaches); Pauline Chan (Parramatta); Stephanie Lee (Bayside Council); Kathy Yang (Ryde); Shauna Miller (SLNSW); Oriana Acevedo (SLNSW); Joanna Goh (SLNSW); Eileen Smith (Wollongong); Vicki O’Rourke (Wollongong); Sandra Jammal (Parramatta); Lindsay Barnes (Liverpool).

__Apologies:__ Sarah Wild (Canada Bay); Joanna Bragg (ACT); Sofia Silvestri (Cumberland); Lee Burgoyne (Wollongong); Karina Vitalone (Liverpool); Maria Paterson (Bathurst); Joan Ingram (Singleton); Kira Paznikov (Central Coast); Skadi Nova (Georges River); Michelle Pearman (Penrith), Mary Gissing (Newcastle).

__Confirmation of previous minutes__
The previous minutes were accepted Sujatha Thadakamalla and seconded by Shauna Miller.

__Nomination of new Chairperson and Secretary__
As we had no nominations from the group, Shauna will take on Secretary duties for the next term and the role of Chairperson will be rotated between committee members according to the list of current members - https://wiki.libraries.nsw.gov.au/doku.php?id=current_member_list

__Review Strategic Plan__
Jadwiga suggested the establishment of a Facebook page for the Multicultural working group. This would assist in raising the profile of the group and address ‘Objective 3 – Raise the Profile of Multicultural Services’. The group would need to investigate this further, as it would need the support of Library Managers and an active group of administrators to monitor the content.

In order to address ‘Objective 4 – To encourage co-operation and networking amongst public libraries, the State Library of NSW and other organisations’, the group will look at developing a Multicultural Seminar to be held in April 2021. Oriana asked us to start thinking about what sort of speakers we might like and what topics should be covered.

__Annual Report__
Jadwiga went through her annual report for 2020 which highlighted key events and themes from across the year. Nicole Byrn will present this report to the Public Library Managers.

__Multicultural Signage__
Joanna Bragg from ACT Libraries was absent from the meeting but had hoped to discuss multicultural signage with the group. Oriana was able to highlight the promotional tools and multilingual glossary on the SLNSW website, that many Libraries utilise for exactly this.

__New YouTube Training Modules__
In light of Covid, most face-to-face Tech Savvy training was suspended. Many training sessions were conducted online but these only serviced those people with basic computer skills. In response, the Ethnic Community Council Trainers and the SLNSW have developed three short, clear instructional videos - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2ePMR_mnuRSGjhnMvnRmuQ/videos

Presented in Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish and Hindi to be shortly released, these videos cover three key areas – Introduction to Smartphones, Introduction to Smartphone Apps and Introduction to Zoom. This will assist trainers in teaching these skills. Libraries may choose to add this link to their webpage.

Remember to avoid online promotion of these programs as this does not target the groups that we need to engage with. Instead promote them face to face, on digital signage and old-fashioned paper print.

__New Bookmarks__
Each Public Library should have received a small batch of new bookmarks that promote the multicultural services that the State Library offers. It is hoped this will increase usage of Pressreader and IndyReads multicultural collections.

__Directory of Community Languages__
Oriana recently sent out a link to the latest version of the community language directory. This is a great resource that allows use to search for which NSW library sites hold different languages. She reminded us to send any changes to her so that she can keep the content up-to-date.

__Resources for Libraries__
Oriana will soon be sending out regular messages to the PLN about the many multicultural tools on offer to public libraries. For example ‘Did you know you can access wonderful ‘Welcome’ signage that features a variety of languages’?. The promotional tools and multilingual glossary are difficult to find, so this will hopefully help spread the word, particularly to regional libraries.

__Research on Multicultural Services__
Oriana has been attending meetings with the Local Government Workers Network and they are very interested in what public libraries are doing. Oriana has been highlighting the need for local government to be communicating in community languages and targeting their promotional materials to the different demographics that reside in different areas.

The voice of the multicultural librarian should be heard to advocate on behalf of our communities and our languages. We should be planning for relevant community languages.

Oriana has requested that the Covid-Safe sign-in sheets, should be translated for Libraries, Cafes and any other public venue to use. The State Library of NSW has a Diversity Strategy and is looking to get translation services for Library memberships.

The University of NSW have approached the SLNSW about a research project that will examine diversity in our collections and whether it reflects the reality of our society.
There is a potential to have benchmarks on our bi-lingual collections and the diversity within our overall collections.

__Chinese Book Clubs__
Kirsty was interested if other Libraries have Chinese Book Clubs and if anyone was interested in working collaboratively on a pool of resources that could be shared by several clubs. 

Liverpool has an Arabic Book Club, Cumberland has a Turkish Book Club, Fairfield has an Arabic, Vietnamese and Chinese Book Club, Bayside have a Chinese Book Club and Parramatta have a Korean Book Club. Many are run external to the Library, and are almost always a book sharing activity rather than studying one particular title.

Sharlene suggested that IndyReads could look at some multiple use titles that could be accessed electronically??

The consensus was that budgets would restrict the development of this type of collaboration, as each book would set you back approximately $45 each. Most Libraries with a Chinese collection would get ‘bestselling’ titles so perhaps there is a way of loaning these out for a longer time period – independent of the ILL system? 

__General Business__

•	Sujatha (Fairfield) spoke about their recent successful subscription to LOTE Online. They have promoted it to local CALD groups and it has been very well received by the community - https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/zcfhC91WOxTLr1QHEQkjH?domain=fairfieldcityopenlibraries.spydus.com

•	Wollongong have also introduced this product and have also received positive feedback.

•	Joanna (SLNSW) gave a brief update on Bulk Loans. The team are continuing to develop new request forms. Once these are implemented, she will host some Zoom meetings to introduce the changes.
Bulk loans will be suspended from 15 December – 8 January, so make sure to send them through asap.
Fairfield and Northern Beaches took the opportunity to thank the Bulk Loans team for their recent assistance.

•	Nicole has had questions from Library Managers about whether the Multicultural Excellence Awards will be presented this year?? The answer is yes and Oriana will send out more details asap.

•	Lindsay (Liverpool) asked the SLNSW if there was any scope for more Tech Savvy recordings. She suggested it would be helpful to show people how to use a QR code, particularly for e-prescribing. They have expended they had for this year but will consider this for future planning.

•	Bayside have developed a multicultural welcome video for their residents

•	Liverpool are creating a short ‘Welcome’ video highlighting the diversity of their staff and community. This will be showed on their Library digital screens and at Liverpool Mall. 
They have recently started an Arabic Book Club and are also in the process of updating their webpage with a ‘Multicultural Services’ page that will include a link to an online Bulk Loans request form.

•	Wollongong have developed a new website and are in the process of adding lots of new links to their multicultural page. Vicki asked about people’s experience with adding the ‘Google Translate’ tab to their pages and if adding it to the bottom would be helpful to people with access issues. If anyone has any feedback/experience, please email Vicki.

•	Burwood are presenting a talk in Mandarin on Employment Rights. For more information - https://www.burwood.nsw.gov.au/For-Residents/Burwood-Library/Library-Events/Mandarin-Employment-Rights-Talk

•	Oriana thanked everyone for their compassion and kindness and commended everyone for their hard work.
Sujatha also thanks Jadwiga and Kirsty for their work as Chairperson and Secretary for the past two years.

The group have elected Shauna as Secretary for the next term and the chairing responsibility will be shared by the group. The group will work through the membership list so that all members take a turn.
Joelman from Blacktown will chair the first meeting for 2021.

__2021 meetings__: 		 
  * 25 February at SLNSW
  * 27 May at Liverpool Library
  * 26 August at Manly Library
  * 25 November at Granville Library