Techs at the Top: 8th National Library Technicians Conference

Parallel session day 3

PS 7.1 Establishing libraries in Eastern Europe

Kathy Sampson
Library Technician
Intellectual Disablility Services Council
Oakden, SA

Kathy has held positions as the Manager of the Toy Library and the Resource Centre of the Spastic Centre of South Australia and the President of the Toy Libraries Association of South Australia 1992/93. Her current employment is with two South Australian government departments working with The Early Childhood Resource Centre and The Intellectual Disability Services Council. Amongst her many duties, she co-ordinates the Special Needs Equipment Pool for all the children with disabilities attending kindergarten.

This session discusses a project whereby a toy library for children, 2-16 years of age, with moderate to profound intellectual disabilities was established in Vilnlus, Lithuania. The author recounts her experience of acquiring resources, organising transportation and overcoming language barriers.

PS 7.2 Specialised collections and their importance as research tools for accessing the history of remote settlements

Pearl Ogden
Historian
Darwin, NT

Pearl is a Northern Territory historian. She has lived in the Top End on and off since her childhood, and is highly committed to researching Top End history. She is a foundation member of the Historical Society of Katherine Inc. and a member of the Heritage Advisory Council of the Northern Territory.

Pearl has written many historical articles and books about Northern Territory history. Some of her writings include Legs More Sweet than Tail, 1983, a history of her family from the Katherine region, and Bradshaw Via Coolibah, 1989, the history of two pastoral properties west of Katherine; From Humpy to Homestead the biography of a part Aboriginal man, Peter (Sabu) Sing and Women of the Kath-rine, a history of women in the Katherine region in 1994.

This discussion is on the use of specialised collections, held in institutions around Australia, and their use for the researching of four Northern Territory local history works.

PS 7.3 The Aboriginalisation of Aboriginal education in the Northern Territory and its impact on literature and libraries

Michael Christie
Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Northern Territory University
Darwin, NT

Michael Christie came from New Zealand to Arnhemland in 1972. Since then he has worked as teacher and teacher linguist in bilingual schools. His research interests include Aboriginal philosophies of knowledge and education, Aboriginal theories of language, and traditional 'literacies'. Dr Christie is now lecturer in Yolngu (North East Arnhemland) languages and culture at Faculty of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Studies, Northern Territory University.

In some remote schools of the Northern Territory a policy of Aboriginalisation has brought about changes in the ways in which literature is understood and produced through the Literature Production Centres of bilingual schools. This includes a re-evaluation of the very nature and function of literature itself. This paper explores some of the changes which have taken place in Aboriginal literature since the introduction of bilingual education and the resulting implications for libraries.

PS 8.1 Libraries and the library profession in China in 1994

Lyn Graves
Librarian
South East Institute of TAFE,
Wehl Street Campus, SA

Lyn is currently employed as a Library Technician chiefly responsible for cataloguing, writing and compiling the procedure manual, orientations and user education programs. Lyn's early library experience was as a Library Officer in Penola High School/Community Library. Lyn participated in a Delegation of Librarians to the People's Republic of China in 1994.

This paper explains the author's participation in the Australian Librarians Delegation to the People's Republic of China. Details of the delegation, times, places and activities are outlined.

PS 8.2 The Co-operation Committee for Cambodia and CCCNet : a librarian's role in the co-ordination of international aid programmes in Cambodia

Rosemary Harbridge
Reference Librarian
Northern Territory University
Darwin, NT

Rosemary is currently a reference librarian at the Northern Territory Library. Before that she was an Australian volunteer on the Co-operation Committee for Cambodia where she spent two years setting up the resource Centre in Phnom Penh. In her early working life Rosemary spent a short time nursing before realising that the information industry was really her niche. Most of her library experience has been with government departments.

The paper describes the development of the Resource Centre of the Co-operation Committee for Cambodia, and establishment of CCCNet, the Phnom Penh Hub on the Pactok Network. The paper also discusses some of the problems encountered by aid agencies in developing their programs. These problems include identifying needs, assessing the absorption capacity of those who appear to be in need, and deciding on appropriate ways to meet those needs. The importance of 'on the ground, grass roots' contact, and ways that this can be achieved, are emphasised. The paper concludes with some suggestions for ways that Library Technicians could become involved in assistance to libraries and librarians in developing countries.

PS 8.3 Tribes and Tribulations

Fay Corbett and Joanne Flanagan

Joanne Flannagan
Cataloguing
Northern Territory Library

After completing the Associate Diploma in Library Practice Joanne obtained her Bachelor of Library and Information Management at the University of South Australia. She had previously held positions as a library technician with the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory and the former State Reference Library of the Northern Territory in the Music Collection and as the Interlibrary Loans officer. Since then she has held librarian positions in the former Northern Territory Film Library, State Reference Library and Central Library Service.

Fay Corbett
Reference Officer
Northern Territory University Library

This is Fay's first position in a library of any type, her position as Reference Officer came about because other library staff and management saw a need for an Aboriginal person to be employed in the NTU Library. With the advent of an Aboriginal Faculty at the NT University, it was a general consensus that Aboriginal students would be more comfortable when using the library's facilities if they could approach someone of the same race and culture.

Fay is currently studying part-time at the NT University, doing the Associate Diploma in Library Practice.

This paper gives a brief account of the authors' personal perspective of libraries from the point of view of an Aboriginal/Asian worker in the Northern Territory library network.

PS 9.1 Library life in Aboriginal communities

To be presented by community Library Officers and/or staff from the Consultancy Servies Unit of the Northern Territory Library service, Darwin

This paper explores library life in Aboriginal communities in the NT. The topics discussed will cover the challenges and difficulties with which libraries in an Aboriginal community have to grapple. The session will also attempt to explore, interactively with the audience, the creation of alternative models for the delivery of library services to remote Aboriginal communities in the NT.

PS 9.2 Libraries on the Equator: a Singapore perspective

Oliver Mann
Reference and Information Services Librarian
Northern Territory University
Darwin, NT

Oliver is Acting Manager of the Information Services Branch at the Northern Territory University Library. He has held several positions in the University Library since 1989, prior to which he was Co-ordinator of the Council of Adult Education Library, in Melbourne. He has a particular interest in Southeast Asian librarianship, and in 1994 was awarded the annual Research Fellowship in Australian-Southeast Relations at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

Singapore is a compact, affluent nation of high-rise and high-tech - an ideal environment in which to operate a library service. The author recently spent 10 months as a library user in Singapore, and from this perspective offers a glimpse of current issues affecting its libraries, users and library technicians.