DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION
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Tasmanian Library Advisory Board

On behalf of the Tasmanian Library Advisory Board (TLAB) I am pleased to submit the 20th Annual Report of the board as required under the Libraries Act 1984 as amended in 2000.

Role and structure

The statutory role of the 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 the TLAB was extended to provide a wide representation from the Tasmanian community, comprising a mix of rural and urban interests.

In the financial year 2005-06 the previous board members’ appointments expired 31 March 2006 and new board members were appointed from 1 April 2006.

Membership

The new board’s membership was appointed from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2008 and is as follows:

Ministerial nominees:

  • Ms Shirley Abel (chairperson 2006)
  • Mrs Mary Binks (reappointed)
  • Dr Mark Briggs (reappointed)
  • Mr David Owen
  • Ms Jen Robinson
  • Mr Patrick McConville
  • Ms Susan Hill
  • Dr Roslynn Haynes

Local Government Association of Tasmania nominees:

  • Alderman Sandra French (reappointed)
  • Councillor Roger McLennan (reappointed)
  • Councillor Jack Rheinberger (reappointed)
  • Councillor Julian Bush

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. Board meetings were held at Rosny on 4 August 2005, Huonville on 3 November 2005, Sorell on 9 February 2006, and Hobart on 4 May 2006. The Hobart meeting included an induction program for the new board. The meetings and associated community forums enable more active statewide community interaction with board members.

A community forum was held on the evening prior to the Rosny, Huonville and Sorell meetings. The forums 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 forums are also an opportunity for the public to directly discuss issues of interest to them with the director of the State Library.

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, and that there was a need to review current opening hours. In addition, comment was made about the need to provide more opportunities for volunteers, 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 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 one-off injection of $1m for new library materials over 2003-04 and 2004-05 as it has halted the decline of the bookstock. The board believes the additional $500,000 announced by the then Minister, Hon. Paula Wriedt, MHA, in May 2005, will further contribute to a positive impact on the quality of the bookstock. However, the board continues to be concerned that the bookstock funding requirement has not been addressed on a recurrent basis and has raised this issue both with the secretary of the Department of Education at their February 2006 meeting and with the new Minister for Education, David Bartlett, MHA, in May 2006.

The board recommends a systematic program of funding indexation which will ensure an appropriate and recurrent ongoing provision for library materials. 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. Lending collections assessment

As a related issue to that of recurrent bookvote funding, the board considered the impact on the quality of the bookstock in lending libraries of the injection of one-off funding. While the overall size of the lending collections has decreased since 2001, the impact of the additional funding has been on improving the age profiles of the collections and the fact that a greater percentage of the total bookstock is being replaced each year. The additional funding has also increased the collections of new formats including DVD and audio books on CD while maintaining core collection strengths in fiction and non-fiction print formats.

3. Lending collections and reference and information services and collections reviews

The board fully endorsed the State Library’s current reviews of services and collections and believes they will contribute to guiding the development of services and collections policy for the future. The reviews will contribute to the identification and articulation of the philosophy underpinning the lending collections; a review of statewide reference and information services and collections; and the establishment of a Digital Services Strategy framework. Work has commenced on implementing a number of the tasks identified in the reviews.

4. Preservation of cultural heritage

The board strongly endorses 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 of Tasmania Together. The board is pleased to note the progress in the significance and conservation assessment surveys in the Heritage Collections.

Whilst the board recognises the importance of cultural heritage preservation, it is concerned about the State Library’s ability to meet the targets in Tasmania Together unless a significant amount of additional funding is allocated to conservation and preservation tasks. The board fully supported the State Library’s current projects to provide leadership to the community in preserving and providing access to Tasmania’s documentary heritage, particularly the program of digitising materials to ensure their preservation and to provide enhanced access for library clients.

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. 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. The board is greatly concerned that if the issue of the current library management system is not addressed there is a risk of system failure resulting in libraries having to close until the issue is resolved.

Technology is now taking a significant amount of the State Library’s overall resources and a formal Digital Strategy Plan has been developed that articulates 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, which was piloted in five locations-Bridgewater, Queenstown, Rosebery, Sorell and Kingston-has continued strongly and supports the role of the State Library’s early literacy strategy. Reading Together which is now operating at Clarendon Vale, Dodges Ferry, Kingston, Queenstown, Huonville and Smithton, has attracted additional funding of $400,000 over four years announced in June 2006 by the Minister for Education, David Bartlett, MHA, as part of the 2006-07 state budget. This will allow for further expansion of the program to New Norfolk, George Town, Devonport, Glenorchy and Mayfield.

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 advice from the State Library which monitored usage at these libraries using the performance benchmark endorsed 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.

Queenstown Library’s opening hours were reduced to 25 hours per week and the community was surveyed to determine new hours of operation and they were 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 pending anticipated increased activity in the local mining industry, and the community was notified of the possibility of a reduction in opening hours if the number of issues did not increase. The Rosebery community was also advised that their opening hours would be reviewed as staffing permits. Strahan Library’s increased usage indicated the need for an increase in opening hours and this has now been implemented. As a consequence of increased publicity and staffing changes there has been an improvement in the performance of both Queenstown and Zeehan.

A review of performance and advice on these services will be considered after 12 months of the changes.

8. Internet filtering in Tasmanian public libraries and online access centres

The board considered the issues associated with filtering internet access in Tasmanian public libraries and online access centres and supported the effectiveness of the State Library’s strategy to minimise the risk of clients accessing inappropriate websites. The board’s view was conveyed to the then Minister, who took this into account when making her decision. Internet filtering has operated from 16 January 2006 on PCs in all libraries and online access centres with a number of processes established to ensure that clients who find legitimate sites are blocked in error have a means by which the site can be accessed in a timely manner.

9. Library of the 21st Century

The board considered the State Library’s draft proposal Creating the Library of the 21st Century package of seven interconnected strategic initiatives which will transform the Library’s service model to one which builds upon digital information and access appropriate to the 21st century, while achieving a sustainable funding base for the future. The challenges presented by new technologies already affect the State Library and the intention is to create a service model that builds on existing foundations. It is imperative that the State Library supports Tasmania and Tasmanians to keep abreast of developments in the global knowledge economy. The board endorsed the proposed strategic planning package which is designed to enable the State Library to re-direct resources and services to meet this challenge.

10. Marketing and promotions

The board is pleased to note activity in relation to the marketing and promotion of library services: reader development strategies and Australian Library and Information 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. The market research has provided valuable information about the demographics of the clients, their information needs and how they use the various services. The board was also pleased with the progress towards developing a customer satisfaction benchmark using survey methodology that can establish targets against service levels that can be measured over time and can inform strategic planning and continuous improvement of services.

11. Waterfront development

The former Premier, the late Jim Bacon, was supportive of the possibility of the State Library and Archives Office of Tasmania relocating to the Sullivans Cove area and preliminary work was done in investigating the feasibility of this option as part of the cultural precinct concept. The board is strongly supportive of the State Library’s potential involvement in the cultural precinct proposal and sees the cultural precinct as a unique opportunity for both the State Library and the state of Tasmania to develop a world-class facility in the near future.

12. Meetings with the Minister

The new Minister for Education attended the new board’s induction session in Hobart the day prior to the May 2006 meeting. This informal meeting was much appreciated by board members. In addition, the chairperson of the 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

Lastly I would like to thank both current and previous 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.

Shirley Abel
Chairperson