Multicultural Services and Program Special Interest Group (MSPSIG)
Monday 8 August 2011 (10am) at Balwyn Library
1. Present: Lyn McFarland (Moreland), Anne Paltridge (Hobsons Bay), Olga Kuftova (Port
Phillip), Karmel Savahl (CGD), Linda Serafini (Yarra Plenty), Jennifer Khan (City Library), Jenny
Akroyd (Darebin), Letizia Mondello (Moonee Valley), Sue Gray (Boroondara), Marcia
McGinley (Yarra Libraries), Diane Woda (Brimbank), Bill Qi (City Library), Natasha Kamenev
(Bayside Library), LilianaChiriano (Maribyrong).
Apologies: Pru Menzies (Casey Cardinia).
2. Previous Minutes:
No matters arising from previous minutes.
3. Resignation of Secretary. Letizia announced that Lyn McFarland was resigning her position
as Secretary of the MSPSIG, given her changing commitments at Moreland Library Service.
Lyn was thanked for her commitment and diligence in performing the role of Secretary to
date.
It was suggested that the role of minute taker would now be the person who would host the
subsequent meeting.
4. Resignation of Chairperson: Letizia announced her resignation as Chairperson of the
MSPSIG, given her other commitments at Moonee Valley Library Service.
Letizia explained the role of the Chairperson was to:

Work closely with the Secretary;

Chair Meetings of the MSPSIG meetings;

Call for Agenda items, hot topics, vendor presenters;

Be part of the PLVN Access Group;

Liaise with Elizabeth Jackson, providing information for the Annual Report;

Coordinate information and keep up enthusiasm within the group; and

Promotion of LOTE & Multicultural Issues (e.g. keeping a high profile to assist with
procurement etc.,).
Letizia called for nominations or volunteers.
Sue Gray of Boroondara volunteered for the role.
Letizia was thanked for her work and commitment as Chairperson of the MSPSIG over the
years.
5. National Year of Reading:
Generally acknowledged that LOTE does not appear to be high on the agenda and that the
marketing that exists appears to be swayed towards English.
The feel from the information obtained to date is that it is incumbent on individual Library
services to include LOTE as and where they can.
Discussion regarding LOTE included the fact that:

“It doesn’t matter what language you are reading in, as long as you are reading”;

Opportunities to push for a membership drive, specifically including CALD communities
currently not engaged; and

Of concern is the issue of Work Place Literacy.
All agreed that it would be of benefit to have the marketing materials translated
(specifically, Logo and By-line).
It was decided that the following action be taken:
a) Sue to make an application/enquiry regarding the translation of marketing materials into
(for e.g.) the top 10 Languages spoken / and to include emerging languages.
b) In the event that the application is not successful, the libraries share the costs of
marketing in LOTE (selected languages e.g. Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic).
The following libraries have commenced planning for the National Year of Reading:
Boroondara: Rebadging promotional/marketing materials to include logo, Programs staff
to come up with a specific event and promote it. Creating reading spaces in the libraries
(e.g. 6 ottomans), Staff Training (seminars) on how to deal with patrons with low literacy
(stop assumptions and decrease the “jargon” used, improve customer service).
City Library:
Exhibition in the Gallery space of Alison Lester’s “Are we there yet?” Liaising
with council to have a Melbourne laneway renamed to “Literature Lane”.
Moonee Valley: Using public advertising space to promote libraries (e.g. Utility trucks),
increase outreach services, rebranding using new logos (e.g. Library bags).
Yarra: Revamping “reading spaces”, promoting library as a community space.
Brimbank:
Creating separate spaces for individuals as well as group space.
Agreed that as Library Services come up with ideas, they would be shared amongst the
group.
6. What’s happening @ your library?
Maribyrnong: Moon Lantern festival in September, Diwali Festival later in the year.
Refugee Week screened film “No one eats alone”.
Bayside:
Engaged Kevin Hennah for Sandringham library refurbishment. Good
response from public. Mystery shopper report (positive improvement in performance from
64% satisfaction on last to 86% satisfaction currently). New Brochure translated into 7
Community Languages (what you can borrow/membership conditions etc), German
Storytime, Russian Readers Group at Hampton Library, Introduced Mango Languages and
Road to IELTS. Press Display doing well.
Port Phillip:
St Kilda Library refurbishment (RFID, Pods versus Circulation desk).
Introduced Road to IELTS, Mango and Press Display. Very happy with LOTE Libraries Direct –
purchase of Hungarian DVDs (Request driven selection, good time turnaround for receipt of
items).
Hobsons Bay: During Refugee Week, held a bi-lingual Karen Storytime (happy that was
able to engage families). Youth Karen Bamboo Dance at North Altona Library. Italian
Storytime. Will have a stall at the EID festival at the end of Ramadan to promote library
items and services. Outreach via the Laverton Festival at the end of November.
Procurement Australia – 1 tender for LOTE (Lote Libraries Direct). Now dealing with
reactions from previous LOTE suppliers.
Moreland:
New Library Management System installed : Libero (previously using
Spydus). Finished training, and now in use. Well received. Moreland are the only Library
service in Victoria to be using this system. Chinese Storytime going well.
City Library:
E-book Kiosk being well used. Sony E-readers (attached to stands on loan
from Sony). They have Chinese E-books from Overdrive (includes fiction and non-fiction –
approx 150 titles). Currently looking for Japanese E-books. Introduced three new Japanese
magazines, as Japanese DVDs are not moving very well. Currently have 11 Japanese
Magazine titles. Considering introducing Japanese storytime (many members going to Yarra
Plenty to attend Japanese storytime).
Brimbank:
Chinese cataloguing through BMV (Books, Movie, Video) going well. Bilingual storytime doing well too. Have found that since the redevelopment of the Deer Park
library, greater engagement of children from African communities. In particular, Children
using Wii and touch screens. Redevelopment of Deer Park to be launched on 23 August,
2011.
Yarra: Recently engaged a community worker from Sudan (20 hours per week) at the
Fitzroy Library. Introduced a new Chinese Magazine (Pain Killer Magazine, a Chinese heavy
metal music magazine). Chinese reading month in August. Having a Chinese author talk,
painting workshop and a Poet. New marketing materials include Spanish booklist, and
membership forms translated into community languages.
Due to presentation from BMV, the activities of other libraries was suspended until the next
meeting.
7.
Presentation by BMV
Douglas and Wendy from BMV came in to talk about their sales model of Chinese books,
audio visual and periodicals. They explained where they source their materials from and the
added value service of Cataloguing and Shelf ready items. Cataloguing can be done to the
specification of the library service and cataloguing costs can be shared by multiple libraries if
they decide to buy as a consortium.
BMV can supply “top 20” items as advertised in Magazines and as listed on www.amazon.cn
(i.e. market driven).
Wendy will email Sue Gray with a list of costs. Sue will distribute to the group.
8.
Next Meeting
Next meeting to be held at Dandenong Library. Date to be changed (and new date
confirmed given Melbourne Cup public holiday).
Meeting closed at 12.10pm. Minute Taker: Karmel Savahl