Reference Librarians Co-Operative Meeting
Monday 12 May 2008
Location: Monash Public Library Service, Clayton Library
Chair: Janet Salvatore (Monash)
Present: Beth McKenzie (Maribyrnong), Jordana Lory (Goldfields), Susan
Cilia (Casey Cardinia), Narelle Seymour (Glen Eira), John Ruddle (Monash
Public Library Service), Victoria Mathews (Vision Australia), 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: Roisin Jacobs (City of Greater Dandenong), Patrick Gregory
(SLV); Leneve Jamieson (SLV); Lynette Lewis (Yarra Plenty); Pat
Miller(Melbourne Library Service); Glenn Harper (Frankston Library Service);
Anne Armstrong (Monash Public Library Service)
Minutes of meeting held February 2008 (Accepted)
2008 Meeting schedule
The planned 2008 meeting schedule was confirmed and topics were
discussed
 12th May 2008, City of Monash, Online database evaluation; At
the February meeting it had been decided to discuss “How do
we evaluate online resources” and volunteers were to be sought
for a panel discussion. Due to convenor’s resignation no panel
was formed. Criteria to be used for evaluation of online tools will
be formulated by a Gulliver subcommittee chaired by Victoria
Mathews
 11th Aug 2008, Melton, Genealogy (Janet Salvatore to contact
Peter Smith from Whitehorse to approach Elaine Craig their
Genealogy Librarian to give a presentation on Ancestry & or key
Genealogy sites). Kristina commented on how popular Ancestry
has been at Kingston and Jane mentioned how Genealogy was
popular within the City of Boroondara especially AGI (Australian
Genealogical Institute) programs. Those present also
commented on the need for staff to be aware of the scope of
Ancestry including which categories of Australian information it
holds.
 10th Nov 2008, SLV, Topic/s to be TBC (Janet Salvatore to
follow up with Leneve Jamieson)
Election of New Convenor
This position became vacant due to the resignation of the convenor Lloyd
Brady. No nominations had been received before the meeting. Lynette Lewis
has volunteered to post the minutes and agenda on the SLV Infonet/VVL. Noone present at the meeting indicated a wish to currently take up the role as
convenor. It was decided by consensus that host of each venue would chair
the meeting and carry out some of the organisational responsibilities until a
replacement was found.
Open Road Conference
This was to occur next week but there was some discussion on how
databases could be marketed to CALD communities. Are vendors in tune with
non-English speakers? How good are the translations provided? Debra from
CGD mentioned how they use the My Language portal and have a
subscription to Chinese Encyclopaedia Briticannica. Kingston had given a
demo to Italian speakers of online resources available in their language eg.
Newspapers/magazines but there was a preference for hard copy
Round the Table
The following key points were made by those present
1. Boorandara has had considerable interest in their “click goes
the library” sessions on genealogy plus eBay classes. Online
book club not supported as well as they hoped. They have free
reservations now and have a significant uptake of this service.
2. Kingston have re-introduced introductory internet classes for
seniors and they have been well patronised. They are looking to
tie this into online database use and how to use the catalogue.
There is also a new library to be built at Patterson Lakes in a
community centre complex. It will have a computer room with six
Pc’s and provide further scope for training to the public and staff
3. CGD had David Novak speak to the public and staff on
Internet searching.
4. Goldfields Library will launch its Goldfields Living Library on
Friday 23 May. The Goldfields Living Library will operate the first
Friday of the month between 11am-2pm at the Bendigo.
This had been a joint project between the Library, City Greater
Bendigo and the Bendigo Volunteer Resource Centre, which
has been a great opportunity to build some positive relationships
between organisations outside our own.
Any queries can be sent to jordanal@ncgrl.vic.gov.au , also see
the website www.ncgr.vic.gov.au
5. Maribyrnong: New databases have been purchased
including 'computerschool.net' - an online computer self-tutorial
tool, and Ebsco 'Small Engine Repair' resource - to complement
the large print collection of manuals. West Footscray library
recently had David Novak to speak on Advance Internet
Searching skills. Footscray branch is about to close for 2 weeks
while a refurbishment is completed. Changes will include the
installation of an amalgamated Reference and Circulation desk,
self-collection of Reserved items, a Parenting collection located
next to the children’s collections, a pod of gaming computers
located in the Teenage area, new study and relaxed-reading
areas, new carpet throughout the library. In preparation for this,
the Reference collection has been weeded heavily, and some
materials reallocated to the smaller branches.
6. Casey Cardinia has web classes every couple of months
focusing on basic Internet skills including using a mouse and
creating email accounts. The run “new book cafes” which are
sessions which show new items to the collection
accompanied by a “cuppa”. There are computer games
consoles at Narre Warren, Cranbourne and Endeavour Hills.
7. Vision is trialling the Bruce databases with a particular focus
on which are accessible for those who are vision impaired. A
Gulliver Evaluation subcommittee is looking at
standards/criteria to assess databases. Ancestry is also
being reviewed but because remote access is not possible
under the vendor’s business model it is not such a useful
tool for the Vision clientele. All daisy books will be available
by downloading soon.
8. Glen Eira is currently making choices about the Bruce list.
They are also undertaking a weeding of print based
reference.
9. Yarra Plenty’s Jane Grace and Lynette Lewis have just
spent 5 weeks on exchange to the Public Library of Charlotte
and Mecklenburg County in Charlotte, North Carolina and
two people from that library service will be visiting Yarra
Plenty in September.
Yarra Plenty has another Unconference planned for
September 26. The theme will be "Learning through play".
More details will be posted on the ViclinK and ALIA list
serves nearer to the date.
RFID has been implemented in all their libraries.
10. Monash is introducing Wi Fi Internet at the Clayton Library
shortly. A weed and review of the print based collection is
being undertaken at all service points.
Other Business
General discussion on how libraries decide to subscribe to databases outside
the Gulliver core. Key points included:
 Cost of databases versus number of users: is this type of analysis
done?
 What kind reporting mechanisms do the databases have- how to
compare each one when terminology and functions are different
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Remote access is important
Need to see a trend of usage over a couple of years before deciding to
no longer subscribe
Opportunities by vendor to provide staff training important
Look and functionality matters: how easy to search and navigate;
SLV Report
The following report on reference initiatives, at the State Library was
submitted after the meeting by Leneve Jamieson for inclusion in these
minutes
As part of the Library slv21 suite of initiatives, staff from the Access and
Information Division have been heavily involved in a number of projects
across the Library. Those most significantly affecting our division (which
offers all the onsite and online reference services) have been:
o slv@swanston
o SLVChat
slv@swanston has been a major reassessment of our current onsite service
model. A key goal of this project has been to find an appropriate mix of
professional / non-professional staffing in reading rooms to service users’
varied needs in the building and to also ensure a return of professional staff
time to a variety of other slv21 programs designed to better support the
library’s online users. Subprojects of slv@swanston have included : a Visitor
Experience Review ( a careful analysis of all the data we have about what
users do across the site); investigation of internet management software (we
are still assessing options) and a new reference enquiry management system
(we will go with RefTracker); reference desk portal development (as part of
new Intranet); investigation of wireless communications technology
(particularly Vocera); a review of the benefits and drawbacks of the roving
reference model.
This project was identified as involving “significant change” under the terms of
our EPA, meaning that we have been required to follow a specific
communication and consultation process. The current status of the redesign
project is that a draft report has been distributed to staff and the CPSU, a
CPSU response has been recently received and we are now in the next
stages of discussion.
The SLVChat service, open 20 hours a week, has been implemented as a
partner service to AskNow! Designed to assist users wanting quick
responses to online requests for information specifically about Victoria and
Victorians, it has resulted in around 400 enquiries since its commencement in
the last quarter of 2007. This has been without any specific marketing and
promotional endeavour, which will follow once the new service model has
been implemented. The associated redesign of our Ask Us webpages
appears also to have resulted in an increase in telephone enquiries (we are
currently analysing this more closely). The “new” AskUs page (now a few
months old) is at: http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/services/information/index.html.
A selection of other projects which have significantly involved reference staff,
either through secondment as project managers, as part of reference groups
or as preparers of content or materials, have been:
o A federated search solution (project lead by Kirstie McRobert, known to
some Ref Coop members)
o Online research guides (investigation of software and development of a
number of subject drafts)
o EAD (encoded archival description) as a means of making descriptive
lists of manuscript material much more readily accessible
Other things which may be of interest to the Group are the following:
o Overall enquiries through all means are decreasing slightly - face-toface reference enquiries are definitely decreasing; enquiries relating to
wireless access, memory sticks are increasing.
o Use of wireless (and overall bandwidth) is increasing
o Use of the Library’s hard-copy collection is increasing (probably 8%
more than 06-07; it was up 15% the previous year)
o The report on the most recent externally-conducted user questionnaire
commends staff highly for both customer service and information
expertise.
The meeting ended with a tour of the new Clayton Library.
Next meeting
11 August Caroline Springs Library (Melways Ref 356 G10)
10 am to 1.00 pm
Chair: Ros Colwell