On behalf of the Tasmanian Library Advisory Board (TLAB) I am pleased to submit the 19th Annual Report of the board as required under the Libraries Act 1984 as amended in 2000.
Role and structure
The statutory role of TLAB is defined by the Libraries Act 1984 as being a body which advises the Minister and the secretary of the Department of Education on matters relevant to the provision of public library services in Tasmania. When the Libraries Amendment Act 2000 was passed in July 2000, the membership structure of TLAB was extended to provide a wide representation from the Tasmanian community, comprising a mix of rural and urban interests.
Membership
The board’s membership for the period July 2004 to June 2005 was as follows:
Ministerial nominees:
- Professor Emeritus Coleman O’Flaherty, AM (Chairperson) (reappointed 2003)
- Mrs Mary Binks (appointed 2003)
- Ms Yvette Blackwood (appointed 2003; resigned May 2005)
- Dr Mark Briggs (reappointed 2003)
- Ms Eloise Francis-Brophy (appointed 2003)
- Ms Kathleen Davidson (reappointed 2003)
- Ms Shirin Fernandez (appointed 2003)
- Mr David Holt (appointed July 2004; resigned January 2005)
Local Government Association of Tasmania nominees:
- Ald Sandra French (reappointed 2003)
- Ald Eva Ruzicka (reappointed 2003)
- Cr Roger McLennan (reappointed 2003)
- Cr Jack Rheinberger (appointed 2003)
Nominee of the secretary of the Department of Education:
- Ms Siobhan Gaskell, Director (Library and Information Services)
Board meetings and community forums
The board held four meetings during the financial year in a range of urban and rural centres.
Prior to each board meeting, a community forum was held the previous evening to allow members of each local community the opportunity to raise with board members a range of issues relating to the delivery of public library services. The community forums are also an opportunity for the public to directly discuss issues of interest to them with the director of the State Library.
The meetings and associated community forums enable more active statewide community interaction with board members. Board meetings were held at Bridport on 5 August 2004, Kingston on 4 November 2004, Queenstown on 10 February 2005, and Burnie on 5 May 2005.
Forums have highlighted the wide diversity of needs of library clients; some of these have statewide service delivery implications while others are specific to the needs of individual local libraries. Statewide issues raised included positive comments offered in relation to the services offered by the State Library of Tasmania, the level of customer service from staff and the appreciation of libraries as important community spaces and resources. Concerns were expressed that TALIS response time is slow and at times unreliable, that there was a need for more books, that there was a need to review current opening hours and that better promotion of State Library services and resources be undertaken at a local level, especially in relation to attracting new users.
Major issues addressed by the board
1 Library collections
The budget allocation for the purchase of new library materials has continued to be an important agenda item and the issue most often raised by the Tasmanian public at community forums. The quality and quantity of the bookstock is a long-term issue resulting from over a decade of depletion of the collection due to the inability of the resourcing arrangements to keep pace with inflation, higher publication costs and exchange rate depreciations.
The board acknowledges the positive effect of the major injection of $1m for new library materials over 2003-04 and 2004-05 which was announced in May 2003 as part of the 2003-04 State Budget; it halted the decline of the bookstock. The board believes the additional $500,000 announced by the Minister, Hon. Paula Wriedt, MHA in May 2005 will further contribute to a positive impact on the quality of the bookstock in the short term.
The board will continue to monitor and advise on issues relating to library collection standards and it recommends a systematic program of funding indexation which will ensure an appropriate development in the State Library resources budget past 2005. The board strongly supports the inclusion of an annual recurrent library resources item in the budget, one that factors in CPI, which sustains the real value of the budget, and is indexed into the future.
2 New models of library service and information access delivery
The opening of Oatlands Community Library in October 2004 contributed further to the development of community libraries, i.e. joint services which operate between schools and public libraries, across the State Library network. The previously established community libraries at Beaconsfield, Lilydale, Rosebery, Sheffield, Swansea and Tasman (Nubeena), have maximised the links between government-funded lifelong learning providers. Community libraries provide a range of benefits including increased community use of publicly funded assets and better resourced services in terms of opening hours and staffing.
In some cases community libraries may also partner with non-school activities. The current development of the Huon Learning and Information Network Centre (LINC), scheduled to open in September 2005, will bring together a range of services including the library, Online Access Centre, a post Year-10 training area, a community education area, Service Tasmania, Centrelink and the Business Enterprise Centre. Creative service models such as this, and that previously developed at Sheffield, have the full support of the Tasmanian Library Advisory Board as it sees the public library as integral to lifelong learning.
3 Informing Tasmanians framework
The board notes the importance of the Informing Tasmanian framework for information provision, equitable access and use in Tasmania, and supports the aim to increase people’s awareness of how to access and use information throughout their lives. The Minister’s launch of the framework in September 2004 was followed by a six month promotional campaign which included television, press and bus advertisements and training for library and Online Access Centre staff across a range of information areas including consumer information, health and business innovation.
4 Preservation of cultural heritage
The board fully endorsed the strategic approach adopted by the State Library to quantify, assess and address conservation and preservation requirements in the Heritage Collections in order to preserve Tasmania’s cultural heritage as a key initiative in Learning Together. The board is pleased to note the progress in the significance and conservation assessment surveys in the Heritage Collections and looks forward to the final report.
Whilst the board recognises the importance of cultural heritage preservation, it is only confident about the State Library’s ability to meet the targets in Tasmania Together if additional funding is allocated. In particular the board commends the trial digitalisation of three historical Tasmanian publications including the Cyclopedia of Tasmania (1900). The board fully supported State Library projects to provide leadership to the community in preserving and providing access to Tasmania’s documentary heritage.
5 Technology
The board notes the range of problems with the Geac software used by TALIS and acknowledges the issue of slow response times and unreliability which community forums constantly and consistently raise. The replacement of the TALIS computer system remains of concern to the board despite the report of improvement in response times in September 2004. The board strongly supports the State Library’s budget submission for funding to replace the current library management system. It recognises that the problems with the delivery of services through outdated and increasingly unreliable software will only be exacerbated over time, and urges that a replacement system be sought as soon as possible.
Technology is now taking a significant amount of the State Library’s overall resources and a formal Digital Strategy Plan is being developed that will articulate the future strategic direction for the State Library in terms of its use of technology and provision of electronic services. The strategy will inevitably signal the need for regular funding to improve the State Library’s IT infrastructure and software capabilities. The board recognises that the rapidly changing technological environment offers opportunities for the State Library to deliver services utilising new technologies and encourages the pursuit of these by the State Library, especially in increasing the capacity to deliver information and library services to rural and remote clients throughout the state.
6 Literacy initiatives
The board commends the State Library on the expansion of initiatives relating to encouraging early literacy skills and supporting the role of parents and carers in this regard. The success of the Babies Who Read, Succeed program has been followed with the introduction of Rock & Rhyme sessions for toddlers. The family literacy program, Reading Together, to be piloted in five locations - Bridgewater, Queenstown, Rosebery, Sorell and Kingston - will further develop the role of the State Library in this area.
7 Review of library and information services to the west coast
The board supported the major review of library and information services in four branch libraries in the West Coast municipality: Queenstown, Strahan, Zeehan and Rosebery. The board received reports from the library administration which monitored usage at these libraries using the benchmark supported by the board. For a given library, the benchmark relates the annual number of loans to the number of hours of opening per week. It aims to ensure services are distributed equitably across the state on the basis of demonstrated demand.
Based on these reports, the board recommended that the Queenstown library’s opening hours be reduced to 25 hours per week for 12 months, that the community be surveyed to determine new hours of operation and that they be advised that there was a possibility of a further reduction to 16 hours or fewer unless there was a significant change in usage. The board supported the retention of the current hours at Zeehan for the next 12 months, pending anticipated increased activity in the local mining industry; however, it was agreed that the community be notified of the possibility of a reduction in opening hours after that time if the number of issues did not increase to the benchmark level. The board also agreed that the Rosebery community be advised that their opening hours would also be reviewed should a staff position become vacant. The board further agreed that application of the benchmark to Strahan library showed that increased usage indicated an increase in opening hours.
8 Capital investment program funding
The board congratulates the State Library on the quality of the refurbished and extended Kingston Library which opened in July 2004. The board however continues to support the need for a firm budget commitment that will enable the State Library to upgrade and improve libraries on a regular and ongoing basis.
9 Marketing and promotions
The board is pleased to note activity in relation to the marketing and promotion of library services: reader development strategies and Library Week campaigns to promote core services, market research surveys conducted for State Reference Service and Heritage Collections and an Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts exhibition visitor survey will contribute to improving customer service and inform further marketing strategies.
10 Meetings with the Minister
The Minister for Education attended the board meeting at Kingston in November 2004 when members of the board had the opportunity to discuss with her a variety of issues emerging from board meetings and the community forums. This meeting was much appreciated by board members. The main issues discussed included the State Library resources budget; the implications for libraries of the acceleration of social, including demographic, and technological changes in society; community libraries; the success of current marketing and promotion initiatives; community forums; TALIS software; preservation of cultural heritage; and volunteers.
In addition, the Chairperson of TLAB has met with the Minister on a three-monthly basis after each board meeting.
State Library of Tasmania and the board
The board acknowledges the work of staff of the State Library of Tasmania in providing members with detailed issues papers and regular summary and statistical reports for each board meeting.
The board believes that libraries are important cultural, economic and social institutions and that they make a fundamental and vital contribution to Tasmanian communities. The board believes that Tasmanians are well served by a library system delivered through a statewide network of public, reference and specialist libraries that meets the informational, lifelong learning and recreational needs of all Tasmanians.
Commitment of board members
I would like to thank board members for their support, interest and commitment to the business of the board. In particular, I would like to highlight the board members’ active community involvement in working to ensure Tasmanians have access to an outstanding statewide library service.
Professor Emeritus Coleman O’Flaherty AM
Chairperson
Employment