Department of Information Studies

Information Studies student Anna Hudson

Student News

Information Studies student Anna Hudson won the prestigious 2010 Sharr Medal presented by the WA branch of the Australian Library & Information Association (ALIA) on 26 May.  “The F A Sharr Medal is awarded to a Western Australian librarian or library technician in their first year of employment who exhibits the most potential to make a significant contribution to the library profession in WA” (ALIAWest, 2011, http://www.alia.org.au/awards/merit/sharr.medal /

Aminath Riyaz, an M Phil student (completed) from the Maldives has been awarded a Library of Congress fellowship,  to go to Washington DCin 2011,  for  6 days (all expenses paid)

The 2011 Jean Arnot Memorial Fellowship awarded to Niamh Corbett who  undertook a Masters of Information Management research project thesis under Kerry Smith’s supervision:  Parliamentary petitions: an information studies perspective and her submission for the Jean Arnott Memorial Fellowship stemmed from this work.  The fellowship is named in honour of the late Jean Fleming Arnot, MBE, FLAA, a former staff member of the State Library of New South Wales, who retired as head cataloguer in 1968 after a distinguished career of over 47 years of  service. Miss Arnot was active in women's organisations and a pioneer in the campaign for equal pay. The fellowship will be awarded to a female librarian or female student of librarianship for an outstanding original paper of no more than 5000 words on any aspect of librarianship. Niamh is now enrolled as  PhD student with the Department.

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]