Sutherland Shire Libraries Staff News

Former Labor minister Barry Jones has written an article in today's Sydney Morning Herald encouraging interested parties to contribute submissions to the Book Industry Strategy Group's inquiry into the future of the book in Australia.

The BISG, Jones says, "is seeking ideas from writers, educators, librarians, publishers, retailers and - most importantly - readers about how to enhance the Australian publishing industry as an important sector of our economy, society and culture."

Ebooks and digital formats are of course a big part of this future, and Barry Jones includes the role of libraries in this change:
"Public libraries are starting to offer access to ebooks via downloads or by access to subscriptions taken out by the library. We want to hear about these initiatives and your experiences with them."

Read the article, then follow the link if you want to have your say. Submissions close 31st january, 2011.

I read an interesting (short) article about the rumoured death of librarianship recently and it made me feel that maybe we shouldn't be worrying too much about where our careers are heading. If we really stopped to think about it, our profession has adapted to the changes in technology, but we are still in the business of connecting customers with information.

"The core of library service is organizing, providing access, and guiding others in the use of materials. Material format changes (handwritten scrolls to printed books to ebooks) and methods change, but the core service roles do not."

The author's library shares many similarities with ours, so if you want a quick synopsis on how far we've come, have a read.

Barb

Lucky that you ended it with love :)


Angela Livingstone
Information Services and Outreach Coordinator
Postal address
Sutherland Shire Libraries
C/O Sutherland Shire Council
Locked Bag No 4004, PO Sutherland 1499 Australia
Tel: 61  2  9710 0346
Fax: 61 2 9710 0236
Email: alivingstone@ssc.nsw.gov.au
Library web: http://library.sutherland.nsw.gov.au/
Council web: http://www.sutherland.nsw.gov.au

(Important: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the  individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error, please delete it and notify the sender via return mail.  You must not disclose the contents of this email to any third party without the consent of the sender.)



From:        Library
To:        Library & Information
Date:        09/12/2010 03:20 PM
Subject:        Online ILL manual kaput
Sent by:        Dianne Ollerenshaw

---

In trying to improve the ILL manual I have created chaos. Have run out of time to fiddle with Compass anymore. Will advise if I manage to get it functioning before I go on Christmas leave at the end of next week.

Love Di

Interlibrary Loans
Sutherland Shire Libraries
Locked Bag 4004, PO
SUTHERLAND   NSW   1499
AUSTRALIA

DX 4511, SUTHERLAND

ILL PHONE 02 9710 0454 FAX 02 9710 0236

library@ssc.nsw.gov.au
http://library.sutherland.nsw.gov.au

NSCL

**************************************************************************************

Important: This email / fax and any files transmitted with it are confidential

and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are

addressed. If you have received this email / fax in error please notify the

sender via return mail. You must not disclose the contents of this email / fax

to any third party without the consent of the sender.

**************************************************************************************

Just a quick thankyou to all those who sponsored me for the mud run at such short notice. We raised almost $300 for the Cancer Council which is fantastic.

The run was hard with more mud than I had ever seen in my life. Before we even started people in our group pulled out because of rain and injury leaving just myself and husband and wife Matt and Mel to carry it for the team. The first 2.5km consisted of mud flat which, due to the rain, was very sinkable (I went down to my upper legs in many places). Most people doing the run were very athletic and the confused look on all our faces when we realised we had to walk through the mud was priceless ('we can't run? Running is basically all I do'). In fact, I soon realised that crawling was the key to getting through this section.

Following that we had a relatively flat fire trail made difficult by our very heavy, wet clothes (now I know why those guys I was laughing at were wearing Speedos). After stopping for water and a complementary red frog we all headed for the last section of the track which consisted of another mud pit with a rope to haul ourselves out of it, a river to swim across and the final mud pit that ensures you really are covered from head to toe in mud. We were then rewarded with a warm beer and a swim in the leech filled river (yes we all got them). It took a couple of showers to wash the mud out of our bodies and my white shirt will never be the same again, but it was definitely worth it.

I ended up with a time of 1hr 8 minutes which placed me at 48/210 in my gender/age group, 96/470 in my age group and 476/1099 overall so I'm pretty happy with it. I'm also exceedingly happy that I didn't lose my shoes.

Once again thank you for the sponsorship. It means a lot.