A message from libraries: A message from libraries: we need you!we need you!

Roxanne MissinghamRoxanne MissinghamParliament of Australia Librarian – shortly to Parliament of Australia Librarian – shortly to be University Librarian, ANUbe University Librarian, ANUPast president, ALIAPast president, ALIA

Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30

Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web

Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic

If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest

80% of companies use social media for recruitment;

Years to Reach 50 millions Users:  Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…Facebook added 100 million users in

less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9

months.

And next......And next......Consumer electronics set the

trends◦i-pads/androids◦E-books◦Games

Old school◦Email

The cloud?

What is a library in this new What is a library in this new world?world?

1. Users everywhere online2. Many channels3. Many diverse offerings4. Competition for time and as

information access services5. So what are libraries doing?

New Solutions: Collect and New Solutions: Collect and revealreveal

New Solutions: DigitiseNew Solutions: Digitise

New Solutions: CollaborateNew Solutions: Collaborate

Contributing to a digital Contributing to a digital democracydemocracy

Digtial democracyDigtial democracyAustralian Labour Party

Liberal Party/National PartyCoalition

Australian Greens

Other minor parties andindependents

15.8% of Senators and Members are on Twitter

ALIA : linking people with ALIA : linking people with ideasideasProfessional association for

workers, students and others

Key areas of work◦Education & professional development◦Advocacy (e.g. copyright)◦Activities – events, group

opportunities◦Research including a research fund◦Awards◦Financial management & governance

ALIA : ALIA : linking people with ideaslinking people with ideas

Contacts

Networks

Employment – helping your career

Attend all the event you can!

Awards – student awards

OnlineOnline

23 million Australians

12 million public library users

Public libraries have 4,638 Internet workstations for Australians to use

EmploymentEmployment

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 census:

Library workforce is◦10,085 librarians; ◦6,510 library technicians; and ◦8,254 library technicians

EmploymentEmployment

Librarians are older than the average age for Australian occupations:◦65% are 45 or older (compared to

36% of the average total workforce);◦88% are 35 or older (compared to

58% of the total workforce)◦Only 12% are under 35 (compared to

42% of the total workforce)

Inquiry into school Inquiry into school libraries and teacher libraries and teacher librarianslibrarians

29 per cent of schools in general (and 54 per cent of government schools) have an annual budget of less than $5 000 to provide curriculum support, reading materials and electronic resources.

According to the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA), many school libraries receive budgets below 1975 levels. (in 2010) the average school library budget of respondent schools today equates to just $25 per child.

A vicious cycle has resulted from under-resourcing school libraries and having insufficient numbers of appropriately qualified staff in them, leading to a poorer quality service, which reduces the demand for teacher librarians ...

The Committee has been struck by the breadth of anecdotal evidence that it received demonstrating the significant contribution to learning outcomes in primary and secondary schools that a fully resourced school library, when staffed by a fully qualified and active teacher librarian, can make.

RecommendationsRecommendations

LiteracyLiteracy

Over 6 million Australian adults (47%) don't have adequate literacy skills to cope with the demands of everyday life and work (level 1/2).

Only 17% of adult Australians had literacy skills at levels 4/5.

ABS 1996

Where to from here?