Task 8 LibraryThing

I have created an account in LibraryThing and added some of my favourite cooking books.

Another topic of interest for me at the moment is home decorating so my library also includes some interior decoration books.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/margmm


In my tour of LibraryThing I thought the talk topics made for interesting and at times entertaining reading. How do you make time to read was one topic that got my attention. There were lots of suggestions on how to fit reading into your daily schedule.

I had trouble adding a blog widget to show my books and so after several attempts have decided that I will need to get some assistance.
However, I did manage to create a link to my catalogue using a LibraryThing chiclet.

Task 7 Image Generators

Task 6 Join a flickr group

I have joined a couple of groups.

On group, naturally, is a Cross Country skiing group. It has 120 members. One of the topics posted for discussion was "best places". I was able to add a couple of places we skied during our 2005 Europe trip and discovered the names of places we should try in the future.

Tom's blog post on Picture Australia led me to investigating and joining this group too.

Other interesting photos I came across while searching flickr included the Benalla floods (Oct 1993). I remember this event well. In those days you had you drive through Benalla when driving to the North East snow resorts. There was no Hume Freeeway!!

I also came across some photos posted by one of David's (my husband) relatives who lives in England. She was researching her family history and had posted some family photos.

So you will never know what you find on flickr.

Task 5 Create a Flickr account

I have created an account and it's ready for viewing.

Two sets have been added. One set is a selection of photos from our 2005 trip to Europe. The second set consists of some interesting street art taken in Sheppartion. I came across this "mooving" artwork when attending a bike event last year.

I hope you enjoy the photos. Click on the link below.

http://flickr.com/photos/onshow/

Here's a sample!

TLDIG Forum

On Tuesday, 23rd Oct, Hawthorn hosted the 2007 Tertiary Librarians Disabilities Interest Group (TLDIG) Forum. Approx 30 people attended including library staff from each Swinburne campus.

The topic of the morning program was Mental Health issues in the Tertiary Education context. The presenter was Frank Hytten, who had previously worked at the Prahran Campus with the Psychiatric Disabilties course.
Frank provided some useful strategies when dealing with students with mental health issues. He felt libraries need to develop a culture which is supportive and inclusive, advising to be friendly not friends. When dealing with a problem, keep it clear and simple and set the boundaries.

In the afternoon we visited Vision Australia. Both the Reader Services Manager and the Information Access Manager addressed the group. A tour of the various Departments at Vision Australia followed the presentations.

The focus of the library service which provides alternative format material is recreational reading.
DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) format is the latest technology that has been introduced for the talking books. These books are read using a digital playback device. The DAISY book can be easily browsed in much the same way as a sighted reader and usually only requires one CD.

More information about Vision Australia is available from their web site
http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/info.aspx?page=520

ALIA National Library & Information Technicians Conference 2007

On Thursday (11th Oct) I attended day 2 of the Conference. The Grand Hyatt in Melbourne was the venue for the Conference. The theme of Thursday’s program was Initiate.

In the Plenary session the topic of the presentation was Secondments, also be known as rotations or exchanges. Sharon Uthmann, Ipswich Library and Information Service, talked about her own experiences plus the findings of the Research she had done. Advantages and benefits for both the workplace and the staff were explained. Opportunities for mulit-skilling, transfer of knowledge & experience, introduction of new ideas, personal development were some of the benefits to be experienced.

There were challenges to be managed as well. Issues for staff such as fitting in, feelings of uncertainty, adequate training and false expectations need to be addressed. The workplace can suffer too with disruption to rosters and movement of staff.
However, the challenges can be overcome with good management and an adequate Secondment policy.

You can view Sharon's blog
http://dunnandwilson.blogspot.com/

This presentation provided food for thought and I came away from this session thinking of the possibilities of establishing a rotation program for our library desk staff. Apparently, it was something that had been done at Hawthorn a number of years ago. Is anyone else interested in developing such a program?

Another session which I felt supported the theme of initiate was the Australian Bureau of Statistics presentation.
The ABS presentation demonstrated a shift to a more client based focus with its recent web site changes. Free online statistics with 3 levels (tourists, harvesters & miners) of information being provided has been the approach taken to help achieve statistical literacy for the web site users. RSS is also another strategy introduced to reflect a client based focus.

ALIA National Library & Information Technicians Conference 2007

I also attended Day 3 (Fri 12th Oct) of the Conference. The theme of Friday’s Conference program was “Inspire”

The keynote address was given by Dr Annemarie Lloyd from Charles Sturt University. The topic of her presentation was Information Literacy. She emphasised the need for library professionals to take risks and move beyond the library walls to reach their communities.

Libraries are no longer just physical spaces but are also networked and virtual. It is important to make Information Literacy more relevant and take it into the workplace.

Another interesting point made was “People are important information sources in the workplace". People prefer people to disseminate information. She acknowledged the emergence of the “Living Library” as another information source.

Another presentation that I felt “inspired”, was given by Andrew Thurley from Vision Australia Information Library Service.

The title of his presentation was Libraries as a training nexus. Andrew advocated an investment in training equals an investment in the library’s future. He identified 5 ingredients to ensure excellent training (Empowerment, Confidence, Flexibility, Rapport and Patience).

His recommendation is to complete the Certificate 1V in workplace training & assessment qualification.

In his conclusion he stated that the Library Profession has the staff, the skills, the place and the power to provide excellent workplace training.