It’s hard to believe it’s almost the end of 2019 already, and what a year it’s been for the NSLA office! Here are a few of our highlights.
National edeposit
One year ago we were in round five of user acceptance testing for a digital legal deposit system for Australia. Since then NED has gone live; was officially launched by The Hon. Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts; has received about 7000 new deposits from publishers and migrated an additional 111,000 existing records; was a finalist in the ‘Excellence in multi-agency partnership’ category at the Australian Government Digital Awards; and has been showcased in presentations at conferences in Sydney, Melbourne and Germany, with another at VALA in February. NED is now operating as business-as-usual in all NSLA libraries.
Culturally Safe Libraries Program
One year ago, our Project Officer, Lesley Acres, had just started and AIATSIS’s CORE Cultural Learning online training had been chosen for a pilot. Since then we’ve completed and evaluated the pilot in all libraries and commenced full roll out of CORE; endorsed a set of national principles and measures for cultural competency; designed a workshop for collections staff for delivery in NSLA libraries in 2020; and produced a set of online resources including seven case studies from NSLA libraries and eleven videos with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff introducing the program and the ATSILIRN Protocols. Culturally Safe Libraries was presented at the National Indigenous Research Conference in Brisbane in July and is also on the program for ALIA National 2020.
Wait, there’s more!
As part of the International Year of Indigenous Languages, NSLA libraries took part in a ‘code-a-thon’ during NAIDOC week, adding 465 Austlang Indigenous language codes to over 8000 records.
There were 13 in-person meetings of advisory groups and networks this year, as well as regular web conferences. Two new advisory groups were appointed in 2019: Heads of Collections, which will ensure that emerging collection priorities stay on the NSLA radar, and NSLA Blakforce – the first support and professional learning network exclusively for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff in NSLA libraries.
We made submissions to government consultations on protection of Indigenous knowledge in the intellectual property system, Standards Australia’s distribution and licensing policy framework, nationhood, national identity and democracy and, the 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit.
Finally, one year ago our Executive Officer, Dr Barbara Lemon, had just returned to NSLA after a few years working in the library sector in New Zealand and UK. Since then, she’s done, well, everything!
Aimee Said, NSLA Program Coordinator
