Information Studies News Archive

We’d hardly arrived and current student Liz Marnie had organised dinner for Paul Genoni and me at the local Italian restaurant. Many thanks Liz – it was lovely meet you and Pam.

Part of the Opening Ceremony Kerry Smith, Pam Duell (former student) Liz and Paul Genoni

The ALIA Biennial Conference produces highlights for even the most seasoned of conference going veterans, and 2008 (Dreaming '08) was no exception. The venue, the excellent and spectacularly situated Alice Springs Convention Centre, was a pleasant and welcome change from the usual capital cities.

This is the first time that ALIA had held the conference in a regional city since Albury-Wodonga in 1992, and although this impacted slightly on attendance the Conference still managed to attract nearly 600 delegates, including a large number of representatives of the 'trade' who put on a substantial display of their latest product offerings.

A special word for the social side of the conference. The dinner was held 'under the stars' at the Ooraminna Homestead, a forty minute bus ride from Alice Springs. Quite a departure from the hotel ballrooms that are the usual venue for such events, and delegates seemed more than happy to 'suffer' the forty minute bus ride across roads that apparently hadn't seen a grader in some years. This was particularly so as it is not often that city slickers get to see the Milky Way and millions of stars in the evening, since city lights mar this spectacular show.

View from the Conference Centre

Another highlight was he first Australian viewing of the US movie 'The Hollywood Librarian'. It seems this might be doing the rounds of other venues in the months ahead so if you have an opportunity please go and see it. Entertaining and thought provoking, it will give you a fascinating insight into the plight be faced by many public libraries in the 'information age' - plus remind you of all those libraries and librarians that have featured on the big screen over the years.

Needless to say there were also many memorable moments amongst the conference papers. It would be unfair to single out particular presenters or papers, so I suggest you go and read your way through them at: http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2008/
The Alice Springs venue and the conference theme of 'dreaming' resulted in a number of papers dealing with issues around library and information services for indigenous users, and several of these are well worth reading.

The conference was also used to 'launch' the next Biennial conference, which will be held in Brisbane in August 2010 as part of the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) Annual Congress – see http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla76/index.htm . This event will attract several thousand delegates from around the world, and we encourage you to start planning now. It will be a significant and memorable occasion for Australian librarianship and for the international library community.

For enhancing student learning in Information Studies through commitment to flexible learning environments and embedding of practical professional knowledge to focus the students' learning experiences

Information Studies@Curtin team - Dr Kerry Smith, Dr Paul Genoni, Dr Margaret Pember, Associate Professor Maggie Exon and Ms Christine Richardson.

L to R: Professor Jeanette Hacket, Ms Lorel Mayberry, Ms Christine Howitt, Mr Robin Groves, Ms Alma Dender, Information Studies@Curtin team, Mr Glen Hutchings, eVALUate team and Mr Khoa Do

Below you will find some snippets of news of our former students. More news and events can be found at our Alumni website

Students receive a dose of history

A group of students studying archiving at Curtin University of Technology travelled to the monastery town of New Norcia recently to work on processing the unique historical records housed there.

For ten years Dr Margaret Pember has taken a group of archives students to New Norcia to process various collections or archival records. Until the records are processed, they cannot be made available for study and research.

'It is a fantastic experience for the students,' said Dr Pember.

'The students got a marvellous history lesson. They processed records covering a wide range of topics, from the personal records of individual members of the Benedictine Community such as the first Abbot, Bishop Salvado, to New Norcia schools records, to records of farm activities and the Abbey Press.'

During the week-long field trip, the students stay in the monastery guesthouse and enjoy wonderful home-cooked food. However the main purpose of the field trip is to give the students an opportunity to put the theory they learn at university into practice.

'The New Norcia trip was terrific on many different fronts,' said one student.

'It was a fabulous opportunity to get my teeth into a collection in a block period. New Norcia is a very unique place and the archives had so many tales to tell!'

From this... To this!!

View more photos...

Monastery Buildings

New Norcia Abbey Church (left)
Rob Morgan (right)

Father David inspecting the documents (left)
Meng Lay Tan and Kerry Davis (middle)
Jeannine McCartney and Tim Karajas (right)

Ariehan Adikarta and Julie Hallet

First Semester 2006

Mr Salmubi named as IFLA/OCLC Fellow for 2006 Aug 2005

Mr Salmubi, one of the recipients mentioned in the media release which follows is a Curtin Information Studies graduate, having completed his Master of Information Management in 2003.
IFLA/OCLC Fellows for 2006 Named
This International Fellowship program prepares librarians to help libraries thrive in developing countries.
DUBLIN, Ohio, Aug. 16, 2005 - OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and the American Theological Library Association in Oslo, Norway, today, named the IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellows for 2006. They are:
* Ms. Maria Cherrie, Librarian, Trinidad & Tobago National Library and Information System Authority, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago * Mrs. Janete Estevao, Head Librarian, O Boticario Franchising S/A, Sao Jose dos Pinhais, Parana, Brazil * Mr. Festus Ngetich, College Librarian, Kenya Highlands Bible College, Kericho, Kenya * Mr. Roman Purici, Director, Information Resource Center, U.S. Embassy, Chisinau, Moldova * Mr. Salmubi, Head of Library, The State Polytechnic of Ujung Pandang, Makassar, Indonesia
The IFLA/OCLC Fellowship supports library and information science professionals from countries with developing economies. The fellowship program, hosted by OCLC at its headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, USA, provides advanced continuing education and exposure to a broad range of issues in information technologies, library operations and global cooperative librarianship. Since the first class arrived in 2001, 28 fellows representing 23 different countries have participated.
During the 2006 program, which will run from May 1 through May 26, the IFLA/OCLC Fellows will participate in seminars, lectures and mentoring; observe portions of an OCLC Members Council meeting to help provide more insight to issues affecting global library cooperation; and visit selected North American libraries and cultural heritage institutions to meet leading practitioners and discuss real-world solutions to the challenges facing libraries today.
Fellows translate their learning and experiences into specific professional development plans that guide their continued growth as well as their personal contributions to their home institutions and country of origin.
"This is a wonderful program for both the Fellows and for those of us fortunate enough to work with them," said Phyllis B. Spies, Vice President, OCLC Collection Management Services, in announcing the 2006 Fellows during the IFLA Annual Conference in Oslo. "Each year we visit with a different group, and each year we learn as much from the visiting Fellows as they learn from us."
"Following four weeks of intensive training and sharing of ideas, these dedicated librarians return to their home countries inspired with a better understanding of how libraries can succeed," said Ms. Spies. "They are enthusiastic about sharing those ideas, and they're hopeful that by implementing cooperative approaches modeled after OCLC member libraries, they will be able to help their libraries at home to realize their full potential."
OCLC received applications for the 2006 Fellowship program from Africa, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and South America.
The selection committee for the 2006 Fellowship program included: Sjoerd Koopman, IFLA; Nancy Lensenmayer, OCLC; George Needham, OCLC; Norma Reed, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Birgitta Sandell, Uppsala University Library, Sweden; and Karen Whittlesey, American Theological Library Association.

Information Studies students at Information Online Conference, Sydney January 2005.[.pdf]

Graduation Ceremony, February 2005[.pdf]

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