New Chair of NSLA

The Chair of NSLA changes every two years and Alan Smith, Director, State Library of South Australia, will begin a new term from December 2010. Margaret Allen, State Librarian, State Library of Western Australia, has agreed to be Deputy Chair for 2011-2012 and Chair-elect for 2013-2014.

Other changes to the membership of NSLA: Jan Fullerton of the National Library of Australia, Penny Carnaby of the National Library of New Zealand, and Regina Sutton of the State Library of New South Wales will not be part of NSLA in 2011.

We look forward to welcoming the new membership of NSLA in the New Year, and send our great thanks and best wishes to those members who are leaving.

Thanking NSLA staff

On the morning of November 19, NSLA libraries celebrated the achievements to date in Re-imagining Libraries. At each library, the staff who have worked with the projects were invited to morning tea, and received a personal thank you from their NSLA member for their contribution to the Re-imagining Libraries projects. The project staff have pooled their expertise, provided leadership within their own libraries to realise the Re-imagining Libraries vision and have worked tirelessly to move our libraries forward while also remaining dedicated to their ongoing roles.

Thank you to all the NSLA staff for the wonderful achievements in Re-imagining Libraries!

-- At the State Library of Western Australia

-- At the State Library of Victoria

-- At the State Library of South Australia

Discovering effective faster ways to get our collections online

In the Description and Cataloguing project, Project 8, the efforts of NSLA staff have focused on investigating and developing ways of increasing the discoverability of collections in NSLA libraries.

Most member libraries have collection descriptions in the form of lists and finding aids. These could be used to enhance and increase the number of resources described for access through Trove. Linda Newbown, from the National Library of Australia, worked with NSLA libraries to develop a number of models for converting the lists for this purpose. The report from her work is now available – The Lists Project: Making collection lists searchable through Trove.

The Faster access to archival collections in NSLA libraries Report was also released in November. Marie-Louise Ayres lead the investigation to identify the key issues that impact on the timeliness and effectiveness of providing access to NSLA's archival collections. The report delivers NSLA-wide information on archival processing practices and performance, and a set of recommendations that NSLA's collections managers can use to improve performance.

NSLA LibraryHack coming soon!

LibraryHack, a mash-up competition using digital content and data from the NSLA libraries, is coming soon. With the website arriving in February 2011, events and prizes will awarded in May 2011. Watch this space for more information.

Meet Debbie Campbell, Project Manager for Open Borders

My background is in Information Technology, and my first role at the National Library almost 25 years ago was as a programmer looking after the National Bibliographic Database. I brought with me experience in managing very large databases - I had spent five years at the Department of Immigration & Ethnic Affairs looking after the Passenger Card Index (yes, those cards we still fill out when entering and leaving the country).

After 10 years and children, I became a project manager. When retiring Director-General Jan Fullerton was recently given the HCL Anderson award, I noted that all of the online services mentioned I had been privileged to work on: PANDORA, Picture Australia, Australian Newspapers, and Libraries Australia.

The collections of the Tweed Heads and Coolangatta public libraries were my introduction to libraries. My first job was at the Kirra Beach Cafe, which still stands, and I was thrilled to discover that Trove makes some of its history immediately accessible. The manager at the time, Doug Roughton, is on the soundtrack. Trove is as significant for the public now as those collections were to me in childhood.

As the Director of Collaborative Services, I have two goals. Firstly, through assisting with the management of Libraries Australia and Trove, I aim to support my colleagues in their day-to-day work. Both services are a critical part of the national information infrastructure, and provide an unparalleled opportunity for libraries to augment their own services. Secondly, I focus on identifying the value which Trove and Libraries Australia provide to ensure an engaging future for libraries and their patrons.