Monday 5 August 2019 Green Square Library (City of Sydney)

Chair: Rachel Vassallo Minutes: Mary Ryder

Michelle Drummond, Nina Walton (Bayside), Felicity Naess (Blue Mountains), Susan Bradley-Hoy (Burwood), Annette Chaplin, Gara Peart (Camden), Bernedette Stephenson (Campbelltown), Robert Swan (Campbelltown), Kylie Streeter (City of Canada Bay), Kay Pisal, Linda Barden (Newcastle), Bec Edwards, Peter Green, Caitlin Wallace, Jenn Martin, Sarita Thomasson (City of Sydney), Mary Ryder, Kayo Magill (Hornsby), Jacky Talbot (Lane Cove), Jane Smith, Zora Drazic (Northern Beaches), Sam Howes, Cathy Marks, Amanda Hudson (North Sydney), Jane Moffat, Magnolia Szabo (Randwick), Mylee Joseph (State Library), Stephen Peacock, Michele Golding, Kristen Johnson (Sutherland), Kathy Fela (Vision Australia), Michele Hamidi (Waverley), Rachel Vassallo (Woollahra), Susan Hyde (Willoughby), Susan Jewell, Hannah Berrell, (Wingecarribee), Eileen Smith (Wollongong), Angelina Myatt (Inner West),

1. Welcome – Jenn Martin, Venue Coordinator – Libraries and Sarita, Information Support Team Leader

2. Apologies: Alison Kim (Lithgow), Julie-Anne Jones (Penrith), Mary Anderson (Northern Beaches), Jonny Ali (Parramatta), Laurie Popple (Wollongong).

3. Confirmation of Minutes

4. Overview City of Sydney HLS Team

• See PowerPoint presentation in attachments
• From 2005 HLS is based at Town Hall House
• No Volunteers are used
• Have experienced a changing demographic which has caused a decline in the volume of HL memberships
• HLS deliveries are 2 weekly or monthly, currently deliveries are on 3 mornings a week
• Now about 80 customers, 60 individuals and 23 Institutions, of the institutions 6 are aged care facilities, the rest are community centres and child care centres.

5. Guest Speaker – Vision Australia – Kathy Fela

• Has 2 roles one as a volunteer for Vision Australia doing Library Presentations, the other a paid role as a VA trainer.
• Vision Australia is moving to a Book Share platform, the existing catalogue is still available for Vision Australia content, Book Share content will also be available, (this is mainly NF).
• Vision Australia have an APP – VA Connect, this is free and gives access to 30,000 audio titles, over 60 magazines and local and national newspapers on iPad, tablet or phone.
• Book Share (USA), mainly NF and education titles, access requires a letter from a GP. Formats include, audio, LP, Epub. When the book is downloaded it is available for unlimited time. Membership costs $70 per year for individuals. However, for Vision Australia members access may possibly be subsidised.
• The iaccessonline Vision Australia content is still free
• There is opportunity for a free trial, you will need a login and password and sign a partnership agreement, the contact to find out about this is Anne Ford, at Vision Australia.
• There is the possibility for an institutional membership, this also involves signing a partnership with VA, the contact again is Anne Ford, VA.
• Kathy demonstrated a simple search using the VA connect App, title is added to the bookshelf, then can be downloaded to a device.
• Kathy spoke about the Envoy Connect the new digital mobile device from VA, https://shop.visionaustralia.org/shop/product/envoy-connect-audio-player-va-library
• Envoy Connect cost is covered by some NDIS packages, DVA, some Home Care packages.
• Kathy says younger people with a vision impairment are using iPad, iPhone, tablets. Older people are using the 3G player. Burn on demand CD’s were stopped in Dec 2016.
• Information on devices and what VA offers: https://www.visionaustralia.org/services/library/access

6. Workshop – procedure development Following an incident where a HLS worker and volunteer encountered a deceased customer on premises it was decided that a DRAFT HLS and emergencies issues paper should be developed. A general discussion was held and a DRAFT will be based on the discussion for further discussion and editing at the next meeting.

Action: Add to agenda for next meeting

7. Show and tell – bring your HL bag

• Rachel photographed the bags and this will be added to the wiki, http://wiki-beta.libraries.nsw.gov.au/doku.php?id=home_library_service_working_group

8. Matters Arising from previous meeting There were none

9. Programming

• HL service review, a DRAFT HLS review template is available, this is in the attachment
• Jane from Randwick spoke about ‘Randwick Recollects’, a new project that collects local senior’s recollections of life in Randwick, as a podcast. Jane says this has raised the profile of library services for seniors as it involves collaborating across teams within both the library and council departments.
• Smart Van – shared by Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra, van sides can open out, it has a sound system with amplifiers, has multi media on the outside, is used at festivals, pop – up events and outreach library promotions.
• Linda from Newcastle spoke about the process of developing a design for a pop -up library vehicle.
• Rachel from Woollahra – is a ‘Dementia Friendly Community’, library staff have completed the Dementia Australia online education – ‘Become a Dementia friend Online’. A certificate is provided on completion and these are displayed on a wall in the library. The training involves watching 3x 5 min videos.
• https://www.dementiafriendly.org.au/ and
• https://www.dementiafriendly.org.au/user/register
• Watson’s Bay Library has ‘Don’t forget Fridays’ – 1x month carers and people with dementia can drop in for morning tea and a dementia friendly activity.
• A recommendation was made regarding the benefit of the ALIA Readers Advisory Course

Library Tour of Green Square Library from Caitlin Wallace – Team Leader Green Square Library (Acting).

Meeting closed 1pm.

Next meeting is Monday 4th November at Lithgow