Guided by NSLA’s strategic plan, our work is broadly divided under the sections listed below.
Australia’s National edeposit service (NED) launched in 2019. NED provides one simple deposit mechanism for publishers to meet their electronic legal deposit obligations to Australia’s national, state and territory libraries all at once. It provides more equitable access to publications across Australia according to publisher-nominated conditions.
The NED collaboration is managed by the NED Program Manager, reporting to CEOs of NSLA libraries via the NSLA office. The service is governed by a steering group and an operational group, comprising representatives from Australian NSLA libraries.
The Culturally Safe Libraries Program ran in NSLA libraries from 2018-2021 as part of a national effort to provide culturally safe public spaces, workplaces and library services in libraries for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
As part of the program, nearly 2000 staff in Australian NSLA libraries completed AIATSIS Core Cultural Learning foundation training. Indigenous-led workshops were run for small groups of staff who work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections. We continue to encourage the Australian GLAM sector to make use of the free, publicly available online resources that were developed alongside these.
Building cultural competency is, of course, an ongoing process. Coming out of the formal program we have:
We will continue to build relationships with First Australian communities, and modify our practices where needed to ensure that collections pertaining to those communities are described, used and shared appropriately. We are monitoring our efforts through an annual Indigenous cultural capability audit, with aggregated results published on our website.
Advisory groups are a mechanism for information-sharing and problem-solving at a strategic and policy level. They comprise representatives from each NSLA library.
Senior staff working with collections at the strategic level meet regularly to:
The heads of corporate services meet as needed to:
Copyright experts from each NSLA library work together to:
The NSLA First Nations Advisory Group (FNAG) provides leadership and guidance on matters within the NSLA program relating to First Nations visitors, staff, communities, and collections.
The eResources Consortium is managed at the National Library, with representatives from each NSLA library. The Consortium works to:
NSLA is committed to sector research and partnerships. We are represented on a number of committees, panels and groups, including:
NSLA staff networks are designed for professional development; information-sharing; sharing of practical skills, methodologies and tools; and peer support. They include representatives from all NSLA libraries with an interest in the focus area.
Blakforce is a peer network exclusively for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff in NSLA libraries. It is convened and managed by network members, with administrative support from the NSLA office as needed.
Focused on engaging under-served communities in NSLA libraries, and measuring engagement.
Staff working in conservation of physical collection items share techniques and experiences in preserving some of the more fragile or unusual items in our collections.
Sharing tools and methodologies for digital preservation, storage, and emulation. The network shares digital preservation policies and processes, and engages in joint advocacy and professional development activities.
This network has a focus on learning programs in NSLA libraries including early years’ learning, school visits and educational resources, evaluation practices, teen programming, adult functional literacy, digital literacy, education policy and cultural safety.
Sharing expertise on commissioning, transcribing, preserving and providing access to our contemporary and legacy oral history collections.
The Public Libraries Network brings together staff responsible for supporting the delivery of public libraries in each state and territory. The network will work alongside the Australian Public Library Alliance to support shared priorities.
Sharing approaches to providing effective library services including policies and procedures, facilities, staffing, reference services and social issues affecting libraries.
NSLA runs webinars addressing some of the more practical ‘how-tos’ of collection practice and policy. Webinars are designed to enable all staff in NSLA libraries – and the Australasian GLAM sector – to benefit from shared expertise without having to be part of a formal network.
Recordings of past webinars can be found in the Resources section of this website.
