Claire Scott, community librarian of Grey Lynn Library also attended the LIANZA conference. Following are her posts:

From the opening keynote address by Sir Tipene and Hana O’Regan, it seemed that the conference would indeed be all about people. As chairman of the Ngai Tahu Trust Board, Sir Tipene led what became one of the most significant Treaty settlements in 1998. It was only natural that daughter Hana would inherit some of her father’s passion for Treaty issues and identity politics. She completed her MA with a thesis about Maori tribal identity, and this later became the subject of her first book. Together Sir Tipene and Hana discussed the intergenerational transmission of knowledge and the practicalities of accurate and comprehensive transference over time. What is lost is often immeasurable, but in the case of Ngai Tahu, and Maori people in general, clearly it is language.

ePortfolios

Another extremely interesting presentation which focused on people was the Australian ePortfolio Project by Associate Professor Gillian Hallam of the Queensland University of Technology. ePortfolios enable tertiary students to track their personal development while also keeping their body of learning in an employer-ready format. While all QUT students have access to t he ePortfolio platform from PebblePad in the UK (www.pebblepad.co.uk ), 26 library students trialled this tool, with support from ALIA. Managers and mentors were also involved. An ePortfolio can be as detailed and elaborate as the user chooses. Some that we saw included video clips and interactive tools created by the student and included in the ePortfolio. Such a toll would certainly assist New Zealand library students and practising professionals to maintain registration body of knowledge information.

Social media

Also about people was Brenda Chawner’s presentation on social media. Brenda is in the mid stages of undertaking research into the use of social media by information and communication professionals. She compared her 2007 survey results with those taken earlier this year which showed some predictable advances in the uptake. For example, in 2007, 57.5% of respondents read blogs at least once a week (5.4% - never, 12.9% - wrote their own blogs). In 2009, 70.4% of respondents read blogs (4.1% - never, and 20.2% - write their own). With regard to social networking, in 2007 only ¼ of respondents had any kind of profile and many faced institutional barriers. In 2009, this number has jumped to 84.4%, and a number of respondents now actually use their social networking profile for business purposes rather than facing barriers from their employers.

Most people saw the advantages of maintaining a social networking profile as enabling them to keep in touch and connected, as well as being able to present a human side to their commercial profile. Drawbacks included issues such as being time consuming, a loss of privacy, and a lack of face to face contact. Others cited a poor quality of information while some felt pressured to keep their profiles up to date. In addition, some organisations find themselves represented unofficially by unauthorised staff. However, not many places of employment have yet developed a policy regarding social media.

Customer education programme

Kim Clayton from Wellington City Libraries presented a very informative session about the revamp that WCL recently undertook of their customer education programmes, To ensure a clean slate, they started back at the very beginning and asked both themselves whether they were meeting the needs of their customers, and they asked their customers what they wanted to learn. As with public libraries everywhere, key barriers to finding this information involved gaining access to customers, budget constraints, and staffing issues. In the end they surveyed 100 customers and the result was universal – what the customers want are one-on-one sessions rather than group classes. They want the information when they need it, and not before.

Implications of providing a service such as this are, of course, numerous. Firstly, staff need to be fully trained and competent with all of the tools that they are required to demonstrate. Staff are the key point of difference. But how do you train over 200 staff to be experts? Wellington City Libraries did this by having their information team promote a “database of the fortnight” with three to four questions. Managers committed to ensuring that staff had the time and access to participate, and the project received very good feedback from staff. The questions have become a new tool, useful in training new staff.

In addition, simple business cards were created which included popular topics such as “My Gateway” (account access) and which were blank on the reverse in order for staff to add notes or key tips for the customer to remember. These are available at all sites for staff use, and are an inexpensive and effective tool for customers to take away with them.

The point of need was also pre-empted with the use of “mini-expos” – a staff member with a laptop out in the library at high peak times demonstrating various things in the body of the library and available for questions and assistance. The next step is to move this out to the branches where both the needs and the peak times are different. But a complete coverage of the network is seen as a vital part of getting this right for customers.

Children's bookshop

Finally I would like to comment on the present by John McIntyre of the Children’s Bookshop in Wellington. John is one of the best advocates for books and literacy in children that I have ever listened to. Although he is a businessman, he has an immense genuine love of books, and a desire to enrich the lives of children though them. John speaks publically at a number of events, and works tirelessly with young people who have had difficult lives to date. He spoke of one young woman he had met who had returned to school after a failed first attempt. In the meantime, she had produced two young babies, and although still a teenager, she had decided to try and turn her life around. John read some children’s books to the class, and he talked to them about literacy and words, and bringing them alive for children. Some time later he received a letter from this young woman that still moves him when he reads it aloud. She credited his visit to her class as one of the key areas that changed the way she parents her own young children, how they now have books in their lives, and the immense difference that this has made to them all.

To meet a man so passionate about books was very warming, and his passion for children’s and teen literature has made me want to read it again for the first time since I worked as a school librarian.

IAML conference

Marilyn Portman, music librarian attended the IAML conference on 5-6 November 2009 in Wellington.

What is IAML??
IAML stands for International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. This is an organisation that promotes, encourages and helps to facilitate projects in music bibliography, music librarianship and information science at an international and local level.

The New Zealand branch meet every year for a conference and AGM. This year it was held in Wellington at the Massey University and also at St Paul's Cathedral and I had the pleasure of meeting with colleagues and fellow music librarians from around the country.
I will share a couple of sessions that were or real interest.

Session one: Music in the school curriculum
speaker Vicki Thorpe, Music advisor, faculty of Education at Victoria University

Vicki covered the NZ Curriculum 2007 and the Arts and the NCEA requirements for music. She looked at the current issues and challenges for music education in N.Z. Changes to the NCEA 2011 were explained and general changes in music education explored in line with rapid changes in technology. There are big issues in NZ music education at primary level especially with no more arts advisers in primary schools and a great lack of teacher knowledge and skill in the arts. Issues facing secondary schools lie with the teachers having to be very adaptable and figure out whether they want formal or informal learning, inside or outside of the classroom. Where and how does music learning actually happen?

• Libraries are in a key position to be able to provide support and resources for teachers and students in their life long musical learning. By having a varied and interesting collection of music at their library, a whole new world can open up to them that they may not have known existed.

Here are some websites to check out and explore:

http://arts.unitec.ac.nz
http://www.tki.org.nz/e/community (arts kete)
http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz (learning areas/achievement objectives)


Session two: Focusing on copyright - the RIANZ perspective
speaker Campbell Smith, CEO of RIANZ

What is RIANZ??
It stands for Recording Industry Association of NZ. It is a not-for-profit organisation who represents the rights of the recording industry as a whole.
RIANZ works alongside PPNZ(Phonographic performances of NZ) and APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association) however, what is becoming evident is that confusion reigns with the number of different licences required and there are moves afoot to unifying the licences to make a more efficient and logical model.

What does RIANZ do?

• maintains the NZ charts, gold/platinum sales
• controls ISRC (same as an ISBN number)
• Runs the NZ music awards
• Polices piracy

Now we are in the digital world

The recording industry is commercially unstable at present and income is declining. The major contributing factors are file sharing and RIANZ have been looking at ways to approach this problem. They would like to work with the ISPS to have a staged approach as they feel the user has a right to due process. The ISP would send out issue notices to infringers, basically educating them and pointing out legal down lad avenues and then if behaviour hasn't improved would suspend their account.

RIANZ would like to have a three pronged appropach to their business:

• gain legal certainty for the protection of rights
• Education of users - go into the highschools and teach about intellectual property
• stop sulking! look at new opportunities to sell content to generate income. Come up with more ways and means of getting music into users hands.

RIANZ and libraries;

RIANZ have basically buried their heads in the sand when it has come to libraries and pretend that we don't have music. However, they are keen to talk and explore different options. There is the "Authors Fund" that compensates authors for having books in libraries, why couldn't there be a similar thing for musicians?

IAML(NZ) are very keen to spear head dialogue with RIANZ and so hopefully this will bear positive fruit for libraries and musicians alike in the future.

Thankyou to Auckland City Libraries for enabling me to attend this conference

Report from sessions at LIANZA conference

Judith Waaka also attended the LIANZA conference - here is an article about some of the sessions she attended.

“He tangata, he tangata, he tangata”
Acknowlege the past, embrace the present and advance the future.

LIANZA conference 2009 opened with keynote speakers Sir Tipene and Hana O’Regan, the father and daughter duo presented a humorous and personalised approach to the intergenerational transmission of knowledge. The banter between the two really captured the audience.

They spoke about both the processes and tools used to transmit knowledge from pre-European times to early settlement of the British through to post treaty times. Traditionally knowledge was shared through oral traditions such as mōteatea, karakia, stories and practises like maintaining tribal boundaries, survival and whakapapa. There were a number of comparisons made about the relationship between the accelerating extinction of languages and loss of traditional knowledge.

Traditional knowledge was once used as a means for physical survival as whānau, hapū and iwi in terms of food, shelter and warfare. In modern times we use our knowledge to maintain the survival of our identity as Māori people for things like proving our traditional land use rights and mana whenua.


From “We shall remain” to “Operation teen book drop”:new national indigenous library services initiatives

Presented by Loriene Roy and Scott Alan Smith

This presentation was really enjoyable as it focussed on Indigenous library services.

Loriene and Scott spoke about We Shall Remain, a series of DVD’s about American Indian history. I’ve put in a suggestion for purchase for the DVD series and I’m looking forward to requesting it when it comes in!

Of particular interest was the event kit for libraries which gave a number of tips on developing indigenous library events and programmes, relating the events to the libraries collections. The event kit is available in pdf format.


Ngā ūpoko tukutuku – Advancing the future
Our own Collections Librarian – Māori Teri Ta’ala was one of the presenters for this session. Participants were asked how we could develop the Māori Subject Headings faster. Suggestions were made about hiring someone full time to work on the project and looking at other funding avenues to resource the project rather than relying on just LIANZA, Te Rōpū Whakahau and National Library.

Another question raised was about the scope of the project and whether it should be broadened allowing te reo Māori access to everything in the library. The general consensus was that most agreed to the broadening of the scope, however they weren’t sure if it was achievable

I enjoyed the workshop as it gave me a better understanding about where the project is up to and what the constraints are to completing it.

More on LIANZA conference

Gail Daley, team leader collection development team attended the LIANZA conference.

“Take a walk on the wild-side”: library service at the margins. The challenges of prison librarianship. Susan Smith and Judith Wenborn.

I wanted to go to this session because ACL has an arrangement with the Auckland prison under which we donate withdrawn books, and I was interested to know how the service works and if there is any more we can do.

The librarians work within an environment of strict security. They can’t take in cellphones or cameras and have to get permission to have a USB drive. Anything that could be turned into a weapon is forbidden, so no jewellery or pencil sharpeners – pencils have to be sharpened with sandpaper.

Except for Christchurch the prison librarians around New Zealand all work alone, and resourcing is minimal. With very small budgets they rely on donations and loans from local and other libraries.

In Christchurch the library service is offered to over 1200 men on two different sites. In the main jail the prisoners are locked up for a minimum of 21 hours a day which makes the material they get from the library really vital to them. With so many hours locked up, visits to the physical library in the prison are very limited and the service is mainly delivered by way of a printed catalogue the men can choose from. But many prisoners often need to identify books visually, so it is better if they can visit the library rather than request through lists
They have books in the physical library and also photocopy legal documents, crosswords and magazine articles.

Legal information about parole boards etc is much sought after. Murder mysteries are popular. There are a number of restrictions on material and access to the internet and the catalogues of the National and public libraries is only allowed through a librarian.

They supply hunting magazines but won’t photocopy ads for guns. They don’t supply erotic material – although the prisoners can watch anything free to air on tv.

The librarians try to gauge a prisoner’s level of language and reading skills and what their interests are. They try to develop individuals as readers and will put together special interest reading lists.

Prisoners don’t like anyone else knowing what they have asked for – for instance, in a group situation librarians must be careful to talk in general terms rather than mention a specific title or author that someone has ordered. In Christchurch they run the library service with a large exchange of material between Christchurch jail and Christchurch City Libraries. This can be recreational reading, or can be study related. Material they are always seeking includes graded readers, youth interest magazines, Pacifica material and graphic novels.

Books are requested and sent to the jail as a loan. In the last two years they have borrowed 800 items and lost only two.

The librarians see their work as one means by which prisoners might be able to make a better life both in prison and when they are released. They will sometimes help a prisoner get membership of a public library on release based on a good borrowing history and behaviour when inside.

Access to the library service is a privilege. General behaviour often improves overall when prisoners have wider access to library material. If prison staff are not supportive it is very difficult to deliver an adequate library service so it is important for the librarians to develop a relationship with staff.

The prison library service is undergoing a review, so they are uncertain what the final outcome will be.

ACL has been sending selected donations to Auckland prisons for several years but there could be an opportunity to lend more material and develop a closer relationship with the prison library service.

LIANZA conference

Heather Stone, service line lead attended the LIANZA conference in Christchuch on 12-14 October 2009. Following are some notes from the sessions she attended.

The librarian as a bookseller: empowering the profession to take their knowledge to the reader
I have a confession: I decided to go to the session because it looked interesting, rather than good for me. I am so glad I did – John McIntyre, children’s bookseller from Kilbirnie was simply inspiring.

He talked about getting out from behind the counter and engaging with the customers in the library.. He talked about the importance of building this relationship as a vehicle to share your passion, know-how and experience to ‘sell’ customers books. He hammered home the point that it doesn’t matter if these books entertain, inspire, inform or educate –the important thing is that the books we recommend meet our customer’s needs.
He said librarians can make a difference in people’s lives and then to convince us read the autobiographical piece by children’s author, Gary Paulsen. It was a great session.

Customer education: what's the point?
Kim Clayton and Rebecca Waechter from Wellington Public Library gave an overview of WP's revamp eighteen months ago of the customer education programme. With little literature available on this subject for public libraries, they undertook a survey of 1000 customers across 12 branches. In a nutshell the results were overwhelmingly in the favour of one on one lessons which were short in duration (15 minutes), topics determined by the public rather than by library staff, and delivery taking place when required by the public. The confidence of staff in the delivery was pivotal in the success of the lesson. Customer education has been revamped to reflect the results e.g one on one mini expos of resources taking place within the library at peak times using a television screen and a computer so members of the public walking by can also see it.

Revitalising the library and the self serve generation
Joanne Smith from Hobsons Bay Libraries, Victoria, Australia was awarded the Margery C, Ramsay Scholarship by the Library Board of Victoria. Joanne's presentation highlighted her research on the changing face of customer service in this self serve age. Libraries have to adapt the design, and layout of the building and opening hours to reflect community needs. By selecting technology that offers the same or better service than staff can, staff can be redeployed to engage more with customers. In addition, librarians need to move from having a gatekeeper and 'book police' mentality to a customer centric position. Joanne's lecture resonated with the ACL customer centric focus.