Join the Victorian ALIA New Grad Committee

Hi passionate library enthusiasts

The Victorian ALIA New Graduates Committee is looking for a couple of new members.

Joining the committee is a great opportunity to become involved with the library and information community, support those starting out in the profession, build your own organisational skills and regularly meet with other library enthusiasts.

What does being a committee member involve?

Involvement in the committee is a sizeable commitment, You need to be:

• Available to attend regular events
• Available for regular email contact with committee members
• Available for occasional in-person committee meetings
• A financial member of ALIA

At the moment, we host two seminars each year (usually interview skills and key selection criteria). These are quite intensive, as we have to find the speakers, organise the venue and catering, collect RSVPs, advertise the event, MC and buy speakers' gifts, collect entry fees and prepare tax receipts and certificates of participation. We usually require all hands on deck for these events. 

We also host one social event every month throughout the year, which requires promotion, RSVP collection and venue booking but is comparatively low impact for the committee -- we don't expect everyone to attend all of these events. 

A couple of times per year we participate in teleconferences with the committee members in other states. The committee members also email each other frequently and meet in person as often as is required.

How do you apply?

Please write a brief letter of interest detailing why you would be suitable and email it to nyssa.parkes [at] gmail.com by close of business on February 23rd 2013.

Continue

Committee Roll-call! Daniel Giddens- Group Website Co-ordinator and Victorian Committee Member

I'm Daniel. I have been on the NGG Victorian committee since February 2008 and responsible for all things website since March 2009.

Aside from organising events for and meeting up with the New Grads and students in Victoria, I work in an academic library as a Reference Librarian. and have done so for the past three years, since graduating from my Information Management degree in fact. I love my job and am always finding a new challenge to take up. Before becoming a library and information professional, I volunteered in a public and a special library while studying. These were great experiences, and I would encourage others to volunteer. It's very rewarding, and strengthened my view that the information profession was the right career path for me.

I'm also currently studying for the Grad. Cert. in Industrial Education, enjoy listening to a mix of music and have a shelf of books crying out to be read (I MUST find the time!).

Keep an eye out for the next New Grad event in Victoria. We're trying to organise Library Folk in the Pub style events, that Sydney have been doing so well. If you have any suggestions for events, look me up me here

Continue

Australian Librarians in Developing Countries

On the evening of Tuesday 12th of May, the ALIA New Graduates Group hosted an exciting opportunity to hear two of its member speak about their experiences working as a librarian for a year in a developing country. A sizeable group congregated at RMIT Library in Melbourne, where Romany Manuell (who you might recognise as our Group Secretary), and Susanne Newton (member of the ALIA New Generation Advisory Committee) talked about the work that they did with the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program.

Susanne spent a year based in Apia, Samoa, where she worked at the National University of Samoa, where she worked with the law collection, reviewed and developed library policies, trained local library staff, educated library users, and provided research and reference services. She also talked of the other opportunities that arose locally, such as attending conferences in the pacific region, and being involved in projects with the Library Association of Samoa. Susanne was also in Samoa during the tsunami in September 2009, and spoke about that experience.

Taking your library career outside the square by Susanne Newton

View more presentations from Susanne Newton.

While Susanne was in Samoa, Romany Manuell had quite a different experience, working as a Teacher Librarian in the remote village of Ulei in Vanuatu, where she worked in setting up a school library, teaching the students how to use the library, and training staff in library management. Being in a remote location created a different set of challenges (i.e. no electricity in the library, let alone computers!).

AYAD Assignment Summary (Romany Manuell)

View more presentations from Romany Manuell.

It should also be mentioned that both Susanne and Romany were both new graduates, relatively fresh from their librarianship courses, when they set off on their overseas assignments, so it was very interesting to hear not only of their learning curve in adapting to very different cultures and professional attitudes, but also how they used these opportunities to establish and develop their own professional skills as librarians, which they have done impressively.

And, finally, for those of you who might be interested in working overseas as an AYAD, there is a current assignment on offer, working in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as a librarian at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, which was set up for the purposes of prosecuting the leaders of the Khmer Rouge for war crimes committed during their regime in the 1970s. If that sounds like your kind of adventure, go and check it out here. But get cracking - applications close on May 28th. That's THIS FRIDAY!

Continue