Reference Librarians Co-Operative Meeting
Monday 11 August 2008
Location: Melton Library & Information Service- Caroline Springs
Chair: Ros Colwell (Melton)
Present: Beth McKenzie (Maribyrnong), Jordana Lory (Goldfields), Susan
Cilia (Casey Cardinia), Anne Armstrong (Monash), Janet Salvatore (Monash),
Jennie Bolitho (Bayside), Justin Tamburrino (Hume), Victoria Mathews
(Vision Australia), Stuart Clifford (Vision Australia), Noriko Kuchi (Vision
Australia) Jennifer Kidel (Vision Australia), Heather Evans (State Library of
Victoria), Eda Irfan (Brimbank),Marese Jones (Melton), Paul Michell
(Darebin), Mia Mikin (Yarra), Lina Favrin (Yarra), Rosemary Abbey (West
Gippsland), Jodie Flood (Moonee Valley), Alison Daam (Moonee Valley),
Elaine Craig (Whitehorse Manningham), Narelle Seymour (Glen Eira) Debra
Hutchinson (City of Greater Dandenong), Kristina Purcell (Kingston
Information and Library Service), Jane Mathews (City of Boroondara Library
Service), Glenda Daff (Frankston Library Service)
Apologies: Lynette Lewis (Yarra Plenty); Pat Miller(Melbourne Library
Service); Glenn Harper (Frankston Library Service); Paul Burden (Eastern
Regional)
Welcome to Caroline Springs Library by Ros Colwell. Has been open
since January 2008.
Minutes of meeting held May 2008 (Accepted)
Election of New Convenor
The meeting agreed that voting on this position occur at the November
meeting.
Ancestry
Elaine Craig demonstrated the database and made the following points:
1. No remote use and no online training.
2. Help is “not helpful” applies to IT specifications
3. When teaching someone to use Ancestry use a family you are familiar
with and stick to one branch of the family. This gives you familiarity with
relationships and places.
4. Has basic search on the home page
5. Best search is on the search tab and by location. Click on the map of
the country you wish to search
6. There are some Australian sources eg. Electoral roles but no births,
deaths or marriage records but there is a US bias; UK and Irish
resources are strong.
7. One of the best ways to find information on UK families especially
English families is via census record as they record the names of the
parents. This information is not always on the English birth record.
8. When searching the census don’t include too much information in the
search fields. Family name and county is a useful staring point.
9. When viewing a record you will get a summary and then the option to
print the original copy of the document. Ancestry image reader needs
to be installed to see these copies.
10. The census can tell you lots of interesting family information:
occupation, birthplaces, address, age and status of family members
11. English Birth, Death and Marriage records are not cumulated. They
are put into four quarters. You may have to look in the next quarter if a
person is born at the end of that quarter, as they may not have been
registered.
12. Many Irish records destroyed in a fire in 1922. You may need to consult
parish records
13. For Scottish records see Scotland’s People
Elaine has collated a number of useful local and international genealogical
sites on the Whitehorse Manningham regional Library corporation pages.
See http://www.wev.vic.gov.au/Page/Page.asp?Page_Id=162&h=0
Some comments on these resources include:
Australian cemeteries
Sometimes you can search cemeteries databases or be given an email or
contact number
Public Record Office of Victoria
Good for immigration records (indexes) and then you can get full records from
the microfiche at the SLV
Victorian BDM records
These are not free- need to order certificates online. Use Digger Cd-ROMs to
get page and volume numbers. You will be emailed the certificate
Cindi’s List
Is a gateway. List genealogical sites. Is kept up-to-date and sites are vetted.
FamilySearch
Its free- use the tutorial to help your search
GENUKI
Is also a gateway just for UK & Ireland. Go via counties to get to genealogical
sociétés and other local connections
Elaine is happy to give advice on individual libraries genealogical resources.
Elaine Craig
Genealogy Librarian
Local History Librarian
Whitehorse Manningham Regional Library Corporation;
elainec@wev.vic.gov.au 9848 2644
Reports
State Library
Heather Evens spoke about
SLV @ Swanton, which entails the development of a new service
model. SLV has 2 million visitors a year and 8 million hits on its web
pages. Aims to improve further access to resources. January 2009
implementation.
The ref desk portal is also part of SLV @ Swanston. The Intranet is
being totally revamped so polices and procedures can be uploaded.
This is due in September. Quiet rooms have been established where
patrons can have brief whispered conversations eg. Latrobe Reading
Room, Arts Reading Room, Heritage Collection Reading Room
Internet PC ‘s in all collection areas has been examined. Free Internet
terminals now 15 minutes and in Redmond Barry Reading room or the
Information centre for 1 hour. A queue system has been set up with
technological solutions the next step.
SLV Chat Service is hitting target audience- 86 % of users from
Victoria. There were 106 questions between Sept- Dec 07 and 165
questions between Jan- March 2008
Gulliver
Victoria Mathews spoke about the successful workshop Day in July. Features
were online training options developed by Eastern Regional and Casey
Cardinia. Bayside’s marketing strategy “ database of the month” was featured
as well as a demonstration on how to obtain reference statistics from
databases.
It is the first of the three years for the Gulliver core. A Gulliver Subcommittee
is evaluating the core and currently developing guidelines to do so. Venues
and dates are being co-ordinated for the 2009 Gulliver Forum. A new format
is being proposed with more hands-on and some concurrent sessions.
Victorian Virtual Library
No report
Library Reports
Melton
Caroline Springs young families program is booming. Self check-in and
checkout with limited help is operating successfully.
Have undertaken a very substantial weed of reference, paperbacks and fiction
Brimbank
Sunshine Library has just moved and has RFID as does Sydenham. Deer
Park & St Alban’s to follow. Deer Park renovations now complete. Jane
McDougall has resigned.
Goldfields
Successful Family History week. Had two sessions with AIGS. Living Library
program continues to be successful
Vision Australia
Involved in a LBC (Libraries Building Communities) project with other regional
libraries
This project promotes access to a new format CD player for Talking Books –
the DAISY player. These players are made available to local residents with
print disability, including blindness or vision impairment or a physical or
perceptual impairment which means that reading a conventional book is not
possible. People using these players are encouraged to join a book circle at
the various libraries.
In September ran a “test your Librarian” service
West Gippsland
Melissa Martin replacing Janet Aumann as Library co-ordinator. Library
Service focussing on membership re-registration followed by a membership
drive in September.
Whitehorse
Using Pharos Pc management system, which is successfully linked into
printer and photocopying service. Ran an Ancestry Talk during Family History
Week. Doncaster Library in temporary building but will eventually will be part
of a $12.5 million community centre
Yarra
New Library Manager is Jenny Ruffy. A new library is planned for North
Fitzroy. WiFi is in all libraries up to 7 pm every night after a successful trial at
Fitzroy.
Moonee Valley
New Library Manager to be appointed. Using PC Res for PC bookings plus
coin box to add value to the library. Pleased with use of online databases.
Have set up reading room blog which different staff are responsible for each
month. Looking at local history and family history blog. Renovations at
Flemington and East Keilor
Hume
PC Res in place as PC management tool plus new computers have Vista.
Promoting online databases. Your Tutor is successful. New Library at
Craigieburn.
Bayside
RFID is at all libraries. Pharos is next. WiFi is offered at Brighton with other
libraries to come on board
Casey Cardinia
Rosemary Cameron has spoken about the Melbourne Writers Festival. Local
History display @ Narre Warren. PC Res is very successful
Maribyrnong
Refurbishment of the Footscray library is complete. Circulation and reference
desk combined. Have colour-coded bays to help with location of collections.
Pc’s in teen areas have been successful. Have purchased Ancestry.
Band 7 Co-ordinator, Library Operations role has become vacant.
Beth developed a Wiki for staff training and self-paced tutorials for online
databases. Was involved in a successful seminar promoting library careers at
the SLV and now looking at something similar in the West.
Glen Eira
Have purchased Oxford Music and Popular Music, which have proved very
successful as has Books and Authors. Currently focussing on reader
development and keeping abreast of database changes and the impact on
staff training and familiarity with these tools. Ran a “test your librarian”
promotion that was well received .
Monash
WiFi at Clayton very successful to follow at other libraries. Hame commenced
database of the month program to promote awareness of databases to staff
and the public.
Darebin
In late June there was rotation of staff between key branches. Ref collection
has been moved at Fairfield due to the purchase of Teenage and Junior
graphic novels. This has raised discussion about what should be in the core
reference collection. Have a new IT manager. WiFi is happening in all
locations and new genealogy computer with Vista platform to be purchased.
Council is promoting an e-learning campaign featuring basic online literacy.
Other Business
Narelle advised of meeting on Friday 22 August 10 am to 1pm at Melbourne
Library to view changes to Library link. Combined gathering for Collections
Co-op, Ref Co-op and ILL group.
The meeting ended with a tour of the new Caroline Springs Library.
Next meeting
10 November State Library of Victoria
10 am to 1.00 pm