This paper presents research findings and design strategies that illustrate how digital technology can be applied as a tool for "hybrid" placemaking in ways that would not be possible in purely digital or physical spaces. Digital technology has revolutionised the way people learn and gather new information. This trend has challenged the…

On 1 January 2012, early-childhood and out-of-school-hours care services were mandated to begin working under a new framework, designed to deliver greater consistency in service provision across the sector. With the aim of raising quality and driving continuous improvement through consistency among services and service ratings, the National…

Demonstrating the value of library and information services has been a theme in library discussions in recent years. The application of many different approaches to evaluation has waxed and waned together with the development of theories of evaluation across the humanities and social sciences. Over the past two decades research and activity on…

This article puts forward a credo of librarianship, particularly public librarianship. The writer addresses the differences between academic and public librarianship and suggests that there is little actual difference, and that apparent differences are differences in how librarians react to the environment in which they operate. The effects of the…

The University of Melbourne's Middle Eastern Manuscript collection housed at the Baillieu Library was acquired by Professor John Bowman in the 1950s as part of a teaching collection to promote greater learning of Middle Eastern culture and civilisation (Pryde 2007, 3). The collection is a rare example within Australia and represents many different…

This report outlines a case study investigating how public libraries in New South Wales are currently educating their clientele in the use of social media applications. It includes the background to this case study and the expected outcomes, and identifies the scope and limitations. It also includes a list of significant stages, and outlines the…

There have been substantial changes in the labour market over the past few years and survey results indicate 60% of staff will leave public library service over the next decade. While this creates opportunities for library staff, limited training budgets and a focus on compliance and specific library skills training have led to a gap in the formal…

On May 31st 2012 the ACTive ALIA Group and Australian Government Libraries Information network (AGLIN) ran a national symposium on the topic of "Value of Libraries". Approximately 80 attended this event which was designed to challenge librarians with conversations that focused on economic and other means of demonstrating our value--value…

It comes as no surprise that different generations respond to and utilise emerging technology in vastly different ways. However as more Millennials take on leadership positions within academic libraries, their attitudes towards and uses of technology may bring conflicting expectations for leadership to the forefront. What are the generational…

Replicated across the globe, the Learning 2.0 programme--also known as "23 Things"--has been touted as a means to not only educate staff about emerging social and mobile technologies but as a means of moving the participating library forward as a learning organisation. This paper explores the results of a multi-faceted research project…

This paper reports the implementation results of the Portuguese School Libraries Evaluation Model, more specifically the results of primary schools self-evaluation of their libraries' reading promotion and information literacy development activities. School libraries that rated their performance as either "Excellent" or "Poor"…

Four librarians from Irish university libraries completed the U.K. Future Leaders Programme (FLP) in 2010. In this article they recount their experience and assess the effect of the programme on their professional practice and the value for their institutions. The programme is explored in the context of the Irish higher education environment,…

At the time of writing the original paper my viewpoint was a personal one, one that focussed on the status within the profession of equally qualified librarians based purely on the perceived status conferred by the type of libraries in which they worked. However, it must now be observed that the world in which public librarians operated then was…

2012, the National Year of Reading (NYR), was celebrated in libraries, schools and community centres throughout Australia. At the University of Adelaide, we celebrated our academic culture of literary teaching and research with a range of programmes and initiatives based in the humanities faculty. The Barr Smith Library played an integral part in…

Libraries have found themselves overtaken by commercial entities providing open, unmediated information services, causing debate about the future of libraries. It has been argued that in order to stay relevant, libraries must undertake a fundamental shift towards a new focus on engaging with clients. At University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)…