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Publishing News
Regularly updated, our Publishing News section contains various articles on new trends, upcoming products and gossip from the publishing industry.
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New Australian literary prize celebrates memoir Date:12-11-2009
Description: Finch Publishing is pleased to announce the launch of a new literary award for Australian writers. The Finch Memoir Prize will be awarded to an unpublished nonfiction manuscript in the form of a memoir. The winning author will receive prize money of $10,000 and publication of their book on the Finch list.
An impressive trio of judges will select the winner: Jacqueline Kent (former journalist and bookeditor and now prize-winning author); Malcolm Knox (award-winning journalist, novelist and former Literary Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald) and Angelo Loukakis (prize-winning author, editor, scriptwriter and former publisher).
Rex Finch, Publisher at Finch Publishing, says: ‘This prize represents a signifi cant commitment for us as a small publisher, however our aim is to raise public awareness of this important genre and to reward writers who take on this demanding
form. For our purposes, we defi ne a memoir as a truthful account of a life, in whole or part, told by its subject.
‘Memoirs can satisfy our appetite for life stories and create a following for their authors. There are many stand-out examples of memoirs which have been publishing success stories. Some prominent examples are My Place by Sally Morgan and A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey. In more recent years we’ve had Unreliable Memoirs, Dreamtime Alice, Mao’s Last Dancer, Salvation Creek and Well Done, Those Men. Our hope with this prize is that it will encourage a greater recognition of the importance of sharing our diverse life stories.
‘We have enjoyed publishing two powerful and unusual memoirs in the past year: Biting Anorexia (Lucy Howard-Taylor) and Lessons From My Left Testicle (Ben Peacock). Our hope is that this new prize will stimulate an expansion of such titles on our list.’
This new prize is now open to entrants, with a closing date of 18 January 2010. Entry forms can be downloaded from www.finch.com.au/. The winner will be announced in April 2010, and
publication will follow on the Finch list in September 2010. The inch Memoir Prize will be an annual national competition.
For more information please contact Finch Publishing on 02 9418 6247 or info@finch.com.au
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EBL ebooks now compatible with Sony Reader Date:03-10-2008
Description: Sony Reader and Adobe have announced the release of Digital Editions firmware which can be loaded onto the Sony Reader PR505 and the new PR700. As EBL download uses Adobe Digital Editions, EBL ebooks can now be loaded onto Sony Reader devices.
EBL is one of the only major ebook providers which enables downloading to Adobe Digital EDitions and so is amont the first to be able to offer downloads to reader devices.
You can read more about the software and how to get it to work on the Sony Reader here.....
http://blogs.adobe.com/digitaleditions/2008/07/sony_505a_firmware_released_1.html
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SLV welcomes UNESCO status (ALN) Date:21-08-2008
Description: The State Library of Victoria is celebrating after Melbourne this week was officially announced as a City of Literature by UNESCO.
Melbourne is the world’s second City of Literature, part of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network. The State Library will play a key role in the new status, with the $9 million Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas to be based there.
‘For over 150 years the State Library has been a part of the literary fabric of Melbourne and we are proud of that heritage,’ State Librarian Anne-Marie Schwirtlich said.
‘We are equally proud to be, together with public libraries, one of many elements that contributed to this recognition from UNESCO. Melbourne’s community of writers, publishers, booksellers and readers, as well as its commitment to vibrant literary events, is what truly makes us a City of
Literature.’
The Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas will house the Melbourne Writers’
Festival, Victorian Writers’ Centre, Express Media, the Emerging Writers’ Centre and the Australian Poetry Centre. It is due to open in the second half of 2009. The announcement was made on the eve of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Melbourne joins Edinburgh as a City of Literature and now sits alongside other cities in the network including Berlin, Buenos Aires and Montreal as Cities of Design and Bologna and Seville as Cities of Music.
Victorian Arts Minister Lynne Kosky said the City of Literature designation was a coup for the city. She said it not only recognised Melbourne’s literary achievements but would
bring far reaching benefits to the city and the state.
‘This designation will have economic as well as cultural benefits for the state,’ Kosky said.
‘It will raise our international profile, draw new audiences and participation, and attract new literary activity, all which will have flow on effects in many areas, from
tourism to book sales.’
Booker Prize winning writer Peter Carey lent his support to Melbourne’s bid and the city’s literary credentials.
‘I can think of no other Australian city where the pleasures of reading and discussion are so passionately pursued,’ Carey said in a statement.
The UNESCO bid was part of the state government’s City of Literature Initiative, announced in the 2007-2008 state budget, which aims to increase the profile of literature in Victoria. In addition to the UNESCO designation, the initiative includes support for the expansion of the Melbourne Writers’ Festival, enhanced Premier’s Literary Awards and the establishment of the aforementioned Centre for Books, Reading and Ideas.
The Melbourne Writers’ Festival runs from Friday until August 31. To celebrate the city’s designation, the State Library will curate an exhibition, to be displayed from April to August 2009, which celebrates Victoria’s literary culture. A version of the exhibition will then tour Victoria’s public libraries from September 2009 to June 2011.
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Tizard launches annual New Zealand Library Week (ALN) Date:21-08-2008
Description: New Zealand Minister for the National Library Judith Tizard launched Library Week at the National Library in Wellington on Monday, kicking off a nation-wide program of activities designed to celebrate the services of local libraries.
The Library Week program follows the theme ‘What’s your story? Nou te Korero’.
The question is designed to draw out the reasons people use libraries, highlighting the diverse ways in which patrons enjoy their local library services.
‘This theme shows how libraries are so much a part of our communities,’ Tizard said at the launch.
‘Whether it’s a school child doing an assignment, or a grandparent keeping in touch with their grandchildren through the Aotearoa People’s Network, libraries are civic and safe places where information of many kinds can be passed from one to user
to another. I know many libraries have planned events for throughout the coming week, and I encourage communities across the country to join in, have fun, and show their support.’
The Library Week program includes New Zealand’s Biggest Storytime, where the same book will be read aloud simultaneously across the country, the Living Library, where patrons borrow people instead of books, and an interactive story blog for kids.
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New Zealand authors to get more funding certainty (ALN) Date:10-07-2008
Description: New Zealand’s new public lending rights scheme is a step closer to fruition after the relevant bill had its first reading in Parliament early this week.
The Public Lending Right for New Zealand
Authors Bill gives New Zealand authors the right to payment for the public use of their books through public libraries and is based on a similar scheme in Australia.
‘The Bill will establish a right for eligible New Zealand authors to receive an annual government payment to compensate them for New Zealand
readers having free access to their books in libraries, rather than having to buy the works,’ Associate Arts Minister Judith Tizard said. ‘Our authors have provided a great cultural and social service to generation after generation of New Zealand library users. We are well known as a nation of avid readers and that is reflected in having one of the highest rates of book borrowing and use of reference works in libraries all over the country. Authors deserve not only some financial pay back for that but also some recognition for their service. This Bill will go a long way to achieving both those aims.’
The new Bill replaces the New Zealand Authors’ Fund, established in 1973 and currently administered by Creative New Zealand. The new Bill will disestablish the New Zealand Authors’ Fund by repealing section 31 of Creative New Zealand’s legislation. To safeguard authors’ interests and ensure a seamless transition, Creative New Zealand will operate the New Zealand Authors’ Fund until the new legislation takes force.
The 2008 Budget allocated an additional $NZ500,000 per annum to Creative New Zealand for the Authors’ Fund, raising the fund’s budget to $NZ2 million per annum. This funding will be carried over into the new public lending right scheme. The new legislation will provide for regulations to determine clear criteria for which books and New Zealand authors will be eligible for the public lending right scheme. An advisory group will be appointed to provide advice on the scheme comprising representatives of authors and librarians, employees of relevant government
departments, and others with the appropriate experience, knowledge and skills to advise on the scheme.
‘Over the years authors have felt distant from the way in which the New Zealand Authors’ Fund has operated,’ Tizard said.
‘But it has always been very important to them, because in practice it supports their income and in principle it acknowledges they have an entitlement for fair payment for the public use of their creative work.’
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Mixed welcome for parallel importing review (ALN) Date:10-07-2008
Description: The Australian Productivity Commission is to undertake a review of the legislation governing the parallel importation of books in Australia following a meeting of federal and state governments in Sydney last Thursday.
Saying that it had ‘agreed to a number of priority areas for competition reform’, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) said the Commonwealth would request the Productivity Commission undertake a review of ‘parallel import restrictions on books’.
Australian Booksellers Association CEO Malcolm Neil said the
COAG initiative had come as a surprise to his office. ‘(Parallel importation) is a contentious issue ... but (an open market)
is our policy and we'll take part in the process and see what we end up with,’ he said.
The current laws governing the importation of books mean that Australian publishers have 30 days to make a local edition of an overseas-generated title available in the Australian market, and restricts local booksellers from importing overseas editions in this time or once a local version has been published. Neil said the legislation did not reflect the current market, in which consumers can purchase overseas titles online immediately upon their release, meaning local booksellers miss out on revenue from such titles.
However, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) and Australian Society of Authors (ASA) plan to run a media and ‘grassroots' campaign to fight any changes to the current laws. APA CEO Maree McCaskill said such a campaign was necessary to educate consumers and the media on the complexities of the parallel importation issue.
She said the COAG decision was ‘sad and short-sighted; and said that changes to the importation laws would have negative ramifications for publishers as well as ‘a whole raft’ of other industry members, such as local book printers and authors. – originally published in Weekly Book Newsletter.
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SLV publishes communities report (ALN) Date:03-07-2008
Description: The State Library of Victoria has published a new report which aims to address issues as to why approximately 40 per cent of the community does not use public libraries.
The Connecting with the Community report is the last of six in the Libraries
Building Communities series, which published its first findings in 2005. Research for the series included every public library in Victoria. Connecting with the Community focused on five community groups that may not fully utilise the services offered by public libraries and examined how libraries could attract and engage these target groups more effectively.
The reports aim to show decision makers, and others, the full impact and benefits of a modern public library service for the whole community. Research undertaken for the report showed that about 60 per cent of Victorians used public library services. Of the remainder, a significant proportion gave lifestyle reasons for not using a library while a smaller number – about 13 per cent – said they faced considerable barriers in accessing and using these services. This group included both people from marginalised social groups whose access to information and technology is severely limited, and people who faced other difficulties in using the library.
The Connecting with the Community research project collected information about why these people faced difficulties in using public libraries to try to provide a clearer
picture of these so-called hard-to-reach groups. The report also suggested practical strategies and recommendations for meeting
the specific needs of these groups.
The Connecting with the Community project chose to research five target groups
within the population:
• Indigenous Australians;
• Disadvantaged young people;
• Horn of Africa communities;
• Low-income families; and
• Vulnerable learners.
The research did not suggest that all members of these population groups faced barriers in accessing and using public library services and it found some people within these groups were regular and passionate library users. The report stressed that the research did not suggest that these groups fully
accounted for the 13 per cent f Victorians who may be marginalised in their access to information.
The groups were selected on the basis that they represented populations who were thought to significantly underuse available library services.
The main feedback from the research was that if people were aware of what was available at their public library and made
to feel comfortable when visiting, they would be far more active and regular users of library services.
Ways to promote services included:
• Promote awareness of library services through 85 community networks;
• Assist people to engage with the library through community-based participation in library activities;
• Conduct or facilitate access to literacy and information technology classes for adult learners;
• Encourage volunteer support for adult learners;
• Examine options for increasing library opening hours and access points; and
• Enable library staff to be more accessible to assist learners with inquiries.
The full report, along with earlier ones in the series, is available at the State Library of Victoria website.
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Otago recognised for open education resources (ALN) Date:03-07-2008
Description: Otago Polytechnic has received international recognition for leadership in the development of open education resources by
the Commonwealth of Learning on their WikiEducator platform.
Wikieducator promotes the development of free education content – open education resources that anyone with an internet
connection can access and edit.
The site has just launched a Featured Institution section on their front page and Otago Polytechnic is the first institution to achieve this status. The goal of the Commonwealth of Learning is to encourage the development and sharing of education knowledge, resources and technologies in a socially inclusive and sustainable way.
‘WikiEducator provides a forum where we can build the reputation of our institution, its engagement with the community and with businesses,’ Otago Polytechnic deputy chief executive Dr Robin Day said.
‘Rather than dissuading people from coming, it provides subtle marketing where people can see our work and decide they want to come to us in an open way. We see it as a way of attracting people to come because they can see the sort of material we provide. Otago Polytechnic is establishing an international leadership position in this area and I’m confident that the institution will reap untold benefits and strategic partnerships in the future, drawing on these solid foundations.’
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Christchurch expands successful reading program (ALN) Date:19-06-2008
Description: Christchurch City Libraries is launching a program which hopes to lay the foundation for a life-time love of reading in four
year olds. Since 1990 the libraries have been running the Books for Babies program, which offers newborns a black and white
picture book, a leaflet explaining why it's important to share stories with babies, and a list of the libraries in Christchurch.
This program has been highly successful and has inspired the libraries to use the concept to reach out to children turning
four, and their parents and caregivers.
The Ready for Reading pilot was launched in the city on Monday. For the next two years, when a child turns four they can come into any Christchurch City library and pick up a Ready for Reading pack. The pack contains a purpose written book called Right on Time, a jigsaw, a birthday card, and a pamphlet with tips on how parents can help their child get ready for reading.
Right on Time was written by local author Bill Nagelkerke and librarians Louise Easter and Annette Williams, and was illustrated by local artist Jenny Cooper.
The packs have been created with the support of the Friends of the Library, Spectrum Print and Eastgate Mall, along with
the Christchurch City Council.
Central children’s librarian, Louise Easter, said they expected to give away around 5000 packs over each year of the two year pilot.
‘We’d love every child to arrive at school with pre-reading skills in place,’ Easter said.
‘We don’t expect children to be reading, but to be aware of the alphabet, the role of the printed word, and the phonetic
sounds.
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FOAL to survey libraries about reader development (ALN) Date:19-06-2008
Description: Friends of Libraries Australia (FOLA) this week announced it is to survey the state of reader development in Australian public libraries. The survey follows a recommendation from the recent Reading Critical conference held at the State Library of Victoria, at which delegates from Australia and New Zealand listened to a paper by Vicki Darling based on her survey of reader development in New Zealand public libraries.
Darling, library manager at Clutha District Libraries, found in her study there was a ‘lack of directed strategic thinking in the area of reader development. The time is ripe for a refocus on reader development to ensure a consistently high standard of service throughout New Zealand’s public libraries,’ she said.
Among Darling’s recommendations were that New Zealand public libraries
‘formally articulate reader development in their strategic planning documents’ and ‘include reader development in the job descriptions of all appropriate staff’.
‘I suspect that many of the issues found in Darling’s New Zealand survey will be
true in Australia,’ FOLA president Dr Alan Bundy said.
‘However, to get the best possible picture we do need Australian public library managers to respond to a single-page survey questionnaire which was mailed to every public library service on June 12.’
The report of the FOLA survey will be launched at the FOLA national AGM to be held in Warragul, Victoria in September and its availability notified through ALN.
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Campaign ends in disappointment (ALN) Date:12-06-2008
Description: The high-profile campaign to increase funding for public libraries in New South Wales failed to sway the NSW Government with the last week’s budget disappoint those who were hoping for more money.
The NSW Government, under fire for providing the lowest per capita public library funding in Australia, allocated almost exactly the same money in 2008-09 as it did in 2007-08. With the rise in the cost of living, public libraries have actually gone backwards in state government funding, meaning local governments will have to either increase their own funding once again or reduce services.
Secretary of Public Libraries NSW – Country, Jan Richards, said she was disappointed with the budgetary outcome, particularly when a recent state government rural and regional taskforce had highlighted the important role libraries played in communities. Richards stressed that despite their pleas falling on deaf ears, the fight for better funding would continue.
‘We’ll just continue our campaign and try and work with other stakeholders – it will certainly be a topic of conversation for our state conference in Tamworth in
July,’ she said.
‘There are already a number of motions on the book about seeking more funding,
and about continuing the fight.’
Richards said while councils could not charge for core services, they could be
forced to find other ways to offset costs, although because of capped rate rises in NSW, raising money that way was also not an option.
‘To do that (charge for core services) they have to rescind the Library Act in their local government areas and to do that they actually have to go to a plebiscite so the chances of anyone doing that are probably pretty slim,” she said.
'If they went to a plebiscite, people wouldn’t approve it, so there is the threat that there are some things on the periphery that you do for free now you may have to charge for in future.’
Richards said other councils may also be forced to close branches or reduce staff numbers as libraries competed with other essential services for a stagnant pool of money. The NSW Government’s big ticket announcement was that it would provide $10 million to the State Library over four years to introduce an online catalogue.
Arts Minister Frank Sartor said the digitisation of the library’s early catalogue would provide internet users information about the collection, improved access to an
online librarian, a link to those works that can be viewed online and some interlibrary loans. The process of creating electronic records will involve the conversion of over 34 different card catalogues and contents lists created as far back as the opening of the Mitchell Library in 1910.
‘Many of the more than one million cards in the catalogues are handwritten, others are in faded typescript,’ Sartor said.
‘Digitising the catalogue will deliver an invaluable resource for researchers, revealing the comprehensive scope of the collection, which includes renowned original works such as the journals of Sir Joseph Banks, Captain James Cook, Matthew Flinders and William Bligh. In addition to books, the collection includes vast holdings of maps, manuscripts, architectural plans, pictorial works and photographs.’
The complete online catalogue is expected to take several years to complete and will also include a comprehensive audit of the collection which has an additional three million items yet to be digitally catalogued. Richards said public libraries fully supported the digitisation project.
‘We were very supportive of that,’ she said.
‘We actively lobbied the government for that to happen because it will be a benefit to all of our stakeholders.’
The budget also provides $6.7 million to the State Library for the acquisition of books, journals, pictures maps and
manuscripts.
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Staff to go following federal budget (ALN) Date:05-06-2008
Description: The National Library of Australia will have to end some programs and lay off staff as a result of funding cuts announced in the federal budget, NLA director general Jan Fullerton told the Senates Estimates Committee last Friday.
The funding cuts come as a result of the government demanding a two per cent
efficiency dividend from the national cultural institutions. Under the previous government, the National Library, the National Museum of
Australia and the National Gallery of Australia were all exempt from the efficiency dividend.
Fullerton told the Senate Estimates Committee the National Library would have to save well over $200,000 this year and more than $1 million in 2009-10. She also confirmed nine senior staff would have to be laid off.
‘It’s in train to come down to the required numbers for the new financial year,’ she told the committee, adding that the library would also have to axe some programs.
Liberal Party Senator for the ACT Gary Humphries slammed the revelations,
saying the institutions were being forced to make cuts when they were experiencing record visitor numbers.
‘Use of the National Library’s reading rooms and collections is also at an all-time high,’ he said.
‘But while visitor numbers skyrocket, the institutions are being forced to lay off staff and cut back on other works to meet the new efficiency dividend. The National Library has already shed six staff with three more set to go, and
work on digitising its collection has been significantly curtailed.’
The National Museum revealed six staff faced redundancy as a result of the efficiency dividend. The National Museum’s Suzy Nethercott-Watson told the committee the impact on her organisation’s budget would be substantial.
‘The museum's impact in regard to the efficiency dividend in the current financial year of 07/08 is $188,000,’ she told the Senators.
'In 2008-09 it’s $926,000 and the figure moves forward in the years after that.'
National Gallery of Australia (NGA) director Ron Radford said the gallery hoped to reduce staff through attrition but he said some of the NGA’s activities would have to
be wound back to save money, including publications.
‘Instead of doing several a year we'll be doing one or two a year, publications on the collections,’ he said.
Radford says the NGA’s travelling exhibitions would also be halved from the current 10 a year to only five or six.
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Sydney Uni acquires rare reproduced manuscript (ALN) Date:05-06-2008
Description: The University of Sydney has acquired Australia’s only copy of the recently released manuscripts of the trials of the Knights Templar – a $10,000 reproduction of a document that rehabilitates the medieval Christian military order.
The Knights, recognisable by the white robes with a red cross they wore over their chain mail, guarded pilgrims visiting the Holy Lands. In the early 14th-century King Philip IV of France accused the knights of heresy and sodomy, with many of the order’s leaders burned at the stake.
‘The crux of these trial documents is that Pope Clement V didn't think the Templars were guilty of heresy,’ rare books librarian Neil Boness said.
‘It is very unusual for the Vatican to release a reproduction of material from the Secret Archives such as this, known as the Processus Contra Templarios - Papal Inquiry into the Trial of the Templars.’
The order was made popular by Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code, and has been the subject of many myths over the years. The Knights have been linked to the modern-day Freemasons, and have also been portrayed as guardians of the Holy Grail. The key document in the reproduction is known as the Chinon Parchment and it shows that the Pope absolved the Knights of heresy charges. It was ‘misplaced’ in the Vatican archives until it was discovered by a researcher in 2001.
The elaborate reproduction is bound in an ornate leather case and includes scholarly notes and reproductions of the
original parchments as well as the wax seals used by their inquisitors. Only 799 copies were made: Pope Benedict was given the first copy, while the university owns copy number 300.
‘We had to apply to the publishers to buy a copy,’ Boness said.
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NLNZ to get $69 million makeover (ALN) Date:29-05-2008
Description: The National Library of New Zealand will be redeveloped over the next three years at a cost of $NZ69 million ($A57 million) Prime Minister Helen Clark announced on Tuesday as part of the NZ
budget.
‘The redevelopment will open up and expand the building, making its valuable heritage collections more accessible to the public, and creating almost 4000 square metros of additional storage and exhibition space,’ Clark said.
‘The National Library’s collections are estimated to be worth $1 billion. They include material such as journals and notebooks of Katherine Mansfield, Sir Apirana Ngata’s papers, and a diverse range of books, cartoons, paintings, photographs, and sound recordings. It also houses the Alexander Turnbull Library. This development is a major milestone in the history of the National Library – a
21st century library for the digital age will be created.’
The redevelopment will provide controlled storage environments, which meet international preservation standards for collections, and will enhance research space and facilities. The Alexander Turnbull Library, which is housed in the current building on
Molesworth Street, will have a more prominent presence and its unique identity will be maintained.
‘The redeveloped Molesworth Street building will be built on the existing
structure,’ Minister for the National Library Judith Tizard said.
‘It will maximise use of public space in the parliamentary precinct, add space for exhibitions and digital services, and incorporate environmental sustainability features.’
The building will be encased in a ‘highly glazed skin’ with a five-storey atrium. The existing bunker-like cladding of the building will be removed, with extensions outwards in all four directions. Work on the building is planned to start towards the end of 2009 and be complete by the end of 2011. The National Library will ensure that its collections continue to be available during the redevelopment.
Tizard said the redevelopment was an ‘exciting and
significant’ milestone in the history of the institution. The redevelopment of this building will ensure that the National Library of New Zealand continues to make an important contribution to our national identity both in our own sense of nationhood, as well as increasing the awareness and understanding of New Zealand internationally,’ she said.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AUDIT PROGRAM
In other NZ budget news, Archives New Zealand will undertake a recordkeeping audit program across the public sector following allocation of $2 million over four years for the project.
‘Good recordkeeping is essential to good government and I am delighted that Archives New Zealand now has the capability to carry out world class audits,’ Tizard, who is also responsible for the Archives, said.
Over the next two years Archives New Zealand will establish the audit framework and run pilot audits to support government organisations in their recordkeeping functions. Archives New Zealand will be seeking input from the auditing community to ensure a good result. From mid 2010 the audits proper will begin and 2700 agencies will be audited from then until 2016.
‘This budget also recognises the importance of ensuring government records are maintained and a further $880,000 over the next two years has been set aside to identify the volume of records likely to come to Archives New Zealand in the future, and develop options to meet this need over the next 20 to 30 years,’ Tizard said.
‘Once this project is complete government will be able to address storage requirements for the on-going capacity for keeping public archives and ensuring their accessibility for future generations.’
NEW LENDING RIGHTS SCHEME
Clark also revealed that the government was working on legislation to introduce a public lending rights scheme similar to the one already in place in Australia. Until that time an additional $2 million over four years will be invested in the New Zealand Authors Fund.
‘Like other similar schemes throughout the world, the New Zealand initiative will give authors a right to receive payments in recognition of the public benefit derived from the free use of their works in libraries, subject to eligibility criteria,’ Clark
said.
‘The New Zealand Public Lending Right will be administered by a government department, with input from an external advisory group.’
Clark said the New Zealand Public Lending Right was a response to concerns raised by authors over a number of years about the Authors’ Fund.
‘Entrenching the scheme in its own legislation and placing its administration within a government department will give the scheme greater statutory protection and remove the risk of it being subject to changes to another agency’s legislation,’ she said.
The Authors’ Fund will continue to operate, as currently administered by Creative New Zealand, until the new Public Lending Right is established. The additional $500,000 per annum is available to Creative New Zealand for the Authors’ Fund, thus raising the fund’s
budget to $2 million per annum.
‘I am delighted to announce the new initiative and additional funding for the current scheme,’ she said.
‘Both will go some further way towards recognising the vital role our authors play in our cultural life. Many New Zealanders rely on libraries providing works by favourite, or newly discovered, New Zealand authors. Our literature is a great gift to our nation and one we should never take for granted.’
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Microsoft abandons its book digitisation program (ALN) Date:29-05-2008
Description: Microsoft announced this week it would no longer be attempting to create an online library of the world’s books to compete with a similar Google project.
Live Search Books and Live Search Academics projects are being cancelled and the websites will be taken down next week. Microsoft search senior vice-president Satya Nadella sais this also meant the company was winding down digitisation initiatives, including library scanning and incopyright
book programs.
‘Based on our experience, we foresee that the best way for a search engine to make book content available will be by crawling content repositories created by book
publishers and libraries,’ she said.
Microsoft launched its online library projects as a response to Google’s often
contentious campaign to make all written works available free online in digital format. Publishers and authors have lashed out at Google for what they see as copyright violations.
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ABS figures show role of libraries (ALN) Date:22-05-2008
Description: The Australian Bureau of Statistics has used Australian Library and Information Week to release figures that show, among other things, that libraries were the second most popular cultural destination in 2006.
The ABS prepared a ‘snapshot’ on libraries which it says ties in with this year’s theme of Libraries are for Everyone. This week’s Library and Information Week is being celebrated across a vast array of libraries from every sector this week. Libraries have organised different activities to help promote the role the sector plays in the lives of almost every Australian. The week includes annual events, such as the National Library Technicians Day, held on Tuesday, and the increasingly popular National Simultaneous Storytime, held on Wednesday.
This year’s featured book was Arthur, written by Amada Graham and illustrated by Donna Gynell.
The ABS figures show that in 2006 the most popular cultural and leisure activity enjoyed by people aged 18 years and over was going to the movies – of the people who reported activities enjoyed over a 12 month period, 69 per cent said they enjoyed going to the cinema. However, visiting libraries was enjoyed by 46 per cent of respondents, ahead of
visiting zoos and aquariums (41 per cent); and visiting botanical gardens (40 per cent).
Other statistics revealed by the ABS were that almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of Australians aged 15 and over who had visited a library during the 12-month period
had visited more than six times during that period, including 25 per cent who had visited more than 20 times. Females were more likely than males to visit a library with their attendance rate at
41 per cent compared with 27 per cent for males.
Interestingly the survey showed that 55 per cent (1.47 million) of children visited a public library outside of school hours in 2005-06. Seventy-four per cent (1.94 million) of children read for pleasure in April 2006. But while 80 per cent of girls read for pleasure during that period, only 69 per cent of boys did so.
Other points were:
• 72,600 Australians reported unpaid involvement in libraries and archives in April 2007; and
• Federal and State and Territory Government funding for libraries in 2005-06 was $394 million, a national average of $19.95 per person.
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Garrett announced more transfers to film archive Date:22-05-2008
Description: The National Film and Sound Archive’s access role has been further strengthened through the transfer of key public access
programs from the Australian Film Commission, the Minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett said in a statement this week.
These programs include:
• www.australianscreen.com.au, a web-based resource of film and television material sourced from a range of
archives;
• the Big Screen travelling film festival, which presents new and classic Australian films to audiences across regional and rural Australia;
• Black Screen which focuses on access to indigenous films; and,
• School Screen which offers schools around Australia free access to Australian features as part of their curriculum.
As reported last week, the National Library of Australia’s National Film and Video Lending Service will also be transferred to the National Film and Sound Archive.
‘In addition to building on the National Film and Sound Archive’s strong international reputation as an audiovisual
collecting institution, these programs will improve its ability to promote and deliver public access programs associated with
the collection,’ Garrett said.
Garrett said that some key public access programs would be transferred from the Australian Film Commission to the National Film and Sound Archive along with $1.7 million per annum in indexed funding to underpin the new public outreach function.
The National Film and Sound Archive’s creation as a statutory authority from July 1 2008 was announced in the 2008-09 budget. In addition to the transfer of its core funding from the Australian Film Commission, a further $500,000 per annum will be provided to the National Film and Sound Archive from Film Australia to ensure additional costs in administering the new entity.
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ABC presenter gives school $10,000 for literacy (ALN) Date:22-05-2008
Description: Blaxcell Street Public School in Sydney’s west has been given a $10,000 donation from ABC personality Adam Spencer through the Dymocks Literacy Foundation.
‘It’s going to change people’s lives,’ principal Sandra Bradley said.
The $10,000 gift was made personally by Spencer and his wife, Melanie, to support the school’s literacy program. The relationship between Blaxcell Street Public and the broadcaster started in Education Week 2006 when Spencer was ‘principal for a day’ there. Impressed by Blaxcell Street’s diversity – 98 per cent of students are from a non-English speaking background – Spencer invited the school to attend ‘The World in Sydney’ event at the ABC headquarters last year.Spencer made a return visit to the school to announce the donation, which will be made annually to Blaxcell Street Public.
Books selected by the school’s support teacher learning have been purchased and will be given to students as they reach their reading targets in the school’s literacy program.
‘When you have kids at school who don’t have one item in English at home, and we say to them, “Go home and practise your reading”, they can borrow from the library, but it’s not the same as having your own books in the home,’ Bradley said.
The Spencers were then presented with a book, Ellie, Olivia and the Lost Puppy, written and illustrated by Blaxcell Street
Public students and named for the couple’s two daughters.
‘The students were the most amazing, diverse and lovely group of young Australians and I’m just thrilled to be helping some of them take on the challenge of learning to read,’ Spencer said.
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No real budget surprises for sector (ALN) Date:15-05-2008
Description: The Australian library sector remained largely untouched by the new government’s first budget.
The National Library of Australia received its widely anticipated and reported funding cuts, with budget papers estimating a loss of nine jobs at the library as it absorbs reduced revenue. The library will also lose its $8.6 million National Film and Video Collection, which will be transferred to the new Screen Australia body – an amalgamation of the National Film and Sound Archives and Screensound Australia – on July 1. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) said it was worried the budget cuts would not help the government to deliver services ‘at a time when it needs to be planning for the nation's future’.
‘These cuts will make it harder for the public service to deliver essential services and develop long-term solutions to Australia’s problems,’ CPSU secretary Stephen
Jones said.
‘This means longer queues and delays in government offices; and reduced access to iconic cultural institutions (such as the National Library, the National
Museum and the Australian War Memorial)'.
Jones said the union’s biggest concern regarding the cultural institutions was that
it would mean closing exhibitions, being unable to bring exhibitions online, or cancelling travelling exhibitions.
The National Library remained bullish in its forecasts for the coming year, listing as its initiatives for 2008–09 to:
• Create a permanent display to the public of its iconic collection items;
• Continue a major project to digitise out-of-copyright Australian newspapers;
• Complete development of an online audio delivery system and commence delivery of oral histories online so that they can be accessed by all Australians;
• Continue development of a rights management system to facilitate access for users to in-copyright resources; and
• Collaborate nationally and internationally to ensure that Australians have
access to the information resources they need on a professional and personal level.
The NLA also plans to continue to develop its services so that Australians from all backgrounds can easily find and get a copy of the information resources they
require, work cooperatively with other collecting institutions to improve online services by developing common standards and sharing expertise and knowledge, and represent the interests of the Australian library sector nationally and internationally.
Shadow Arts Minister Dr Sharman Stone said the Government’s first budget included ‘a litany of broken promises for the arts’. She said the extra two per cent efficiency dividend would drive agencies and institutions to cut touring and new acquisitions, particularly for the National Library, the National Museum and the national art galleries. Stone also said the new Screen Australia authority would receive a one-off $103 million grant to establish its new administration and board, but would see a loss of 28 jobs in the process.
‘I am most concerned about the job losses at Screen Australia, especially given the Minister’s guarantee to the Parliament in March that “no staff will be disadvantaged”.’ Stone said.
‘The Australia Council for the Arts will also lose 28 staff, as well as having their grants program cut by $20 million over the next four years.’
The big winners were universities, with the government announcing a $500 million Better Universities Renewal Fund, which can be used immediately for cash injections for libraries, laboratories and lecture theatres. That funding was immediately welcomed by peak body Universities Australia, which it said showed the government’s
‘strong commitment’ to education.
‘The Rudd Government, through its first budget, has recognised that an education revolution requires strong public investment in our universities, to sustain and grow their capacity to make effective contributions to the wealth and welfare of the nation,’ Universities Australia CEO Dr Glenn Withers said.
The budget also saw the government’s Digital Education Revolution granted an additional $200 million to be delivered in 2011-12. Education Minister Julia Gillard said the additional funding meant that $1.2 billion would be spent on Digital Education over the next five years as the government delivers computers to every student from year 9-12.
She said round one of the National Secondary School Computer Fund would deliver $100 million in funding to schools most in need of new computers by June 2008. The second round of applications will open in July 2008.
Gillard said the budget gave $100 million to support the deployment of fibre connections to Australian schools, delivering broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second. The government will also provide $32.6 million over two years to supply students and teachers across Australia with online curriculum tools and resources.
But Shadow Education Minister Tony Smith said parents should feel ‘cheated’ as most of the funding will go directly to the state governments and not to schools.
‘This will mean more mediocrity and cover-ups,’ he said.
Smith said primary schools were the biggest losers as there were no new initiatives for primary schools, with funding directed to programs specifically for secondary schools.
‘There is no additional funding to pay for the massive additional costs of Labor’s under-funded digital revolution, which is already resulting in schools having to fundraise to pay for the extra costs so they can actually use the computers,’ Smith said.
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Otago signs open education declaration (ALN) Date:15-05-2008
Description: Otago Polytechnic has signed the Cape Town Open Education Declaration, the first institution in Australia or New Zealand to
do so.
The Cape Town Declaration is a statement of principle, strategy and commitment to the development of open education including open access resources, open technologies that facilitate collaborative, flexible learning, and the open sharing of teaching practices.
‘This emerging open education movement combines the established tradition of sharing good ideas with fellow educators and the collaborative, interactive culture of the internet,’ the declaration says.
‘It is built on the belief that everyone should have the freedom to use, customise, improve and redistribute educational resources without constraint. Educators, learners and others who share this belief are gathering together as part of a worldwide effort to make
education both more accessible and more effective.’
Otago Polytechnic’s Leigh Blackall said the signing was designed to reaffirm the polytechnic’s commitment to open education formally set in place by its intellectual property policy. She said Otago Polytechnic had been at the fore of almost every recent step in the international effort for open education including significant work on the Wikieducator platform, use of popular and internationally recognised media and communication platforms, developing an intellectual property policy in line with open educational practices, adopting a NZ Creative Commons Attribution copyright license, and ensuring that its spokespeople are a part of the dialogue on educational media and communications nationally.
‘Our joining in the Cape Town Declaration will see that Otago Polytechnic remains in this spotlight to confirm our commitment to open education and leading New Zealand towards a progressive and appropriate future for its educational institutions in our local and global society,’ Blackall said.
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JCU to rename main library after Eddie Mabo (ALN) Date:15-05-2008
Description: James Cook University will name the main library on its Townsville campus after pioneering land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo.
‘To reinforce our commitment to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia and give it a permanent
marker, we will be naming the library on the Douglas campus after one of the most important historical figures to have spent
time at JCU,’ vice chancellor Professor Sandra Harding said.
‘The Eddie Koiki Mabo Library will forever commemorate the link between the man who changed the land laws of Australia and James Cook University.’
Harding said that although Mabo went to JCU to work as a gardener he would sit in on lectures and became a regular in the library because ‘he understood that the university was one of the places where he could learn how white people were so powerful’.
The naming ceremony will be performed by the Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin on May 21. The Minister will later deliver the annual Mabo Lecture at the university. Members of the Mabo family will be in attendance along with members of the broader community. Part of the ceremony will be the Koiki Dance Performance, which is part of a production written and produced by Mabo’s daughter, Gail, in memory of her father.
It was in a conversation with Professor Henry Reynolds and another JCU staff member, Associate Professor Noel Loos, that Mabo first found out that his land back on the island of Mer in the Torres Strait was legally considered to be Crown land. At a Land Rights conference at JCU in 1981, Mabo spelt out what land ownership and land inheritance was all about on Mer and that led to the long battle through the courts to have traditional ownership recognised.
It culminated in the 1992 High Court decision that bears his name and which overturned terra nullius (no mans land), which underpinned the Crown’s claim to own all the land of Australia.
‘Sadly, Eddie Koiki Mabo did not live to see the outcome of his personal commitment to his people and to the land, but
his name is forever linked with a profound change in Australian history,’ Harding said.
‘It is right and proper that we should acknowledge the part the university played in Eddie Koiki Mabo’s heroic endeavours, and the library where he spent so many hours is the fitting place for that recognition. There will also be a permanent memorial to him inside the library.’
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Innovation wins in Victorian budget (ALN) Date:08-05-2008
Description: The Victorian Government will spend $3 million boosting innovation and collaboration in the state’s public library sector, Treasurer John Lenders announced in Tuesday’s state budget. The funds will go towards a variety of projects, including wireless services in public libraries, internet safety and the introduction of a state-wide borrowing card.
‘Library users across Victoria will have the flexibility to access free wireless internet services in libraries from their own computers, while making use the full
range of library resources, thanks to this $3 million investment,’ Local Government Minister Richard Wynne said.
‘It will also go to projects to help ensure all online facilities provided by public
libraries are safe for all to use, especially children, and that they are easy to manage for library staff.’
Part of the $3 million fund will see $900,000 spent over four years to bring Victoria a step closer to a single library membership system.
‘Since 2000 our government has funded 86 projects – almost one third of
Victoria's public library services – through the Living Libraries Program,’ Wynne said.
‘These grants have provided new or improved library infrastructure and supported the role of public libraries in strengthening communities as a meeting place, fostering life-long learning and as providers of free access to information resources.’
The Municipal Association of Victoria welcomed the innovation grants, but attacked the government over its failure to address the issue of recurrent funding.
‘It’s pleasing to see an extra $2.9 million for a connected libraries program to improve integration of library services, wireless internet access, computer safety and a single library membership card,” MAV president Dick Gross said.
‘This is a smart investment in joined-up, user friendly services for Victoria’s 2.5 million library users. However, the state has again failed to address recurrent funding for public libraries.
Ratepayers continue to prop up library services crumbling under the strain of increasing infrastructure, staffing, IT and book stock costs as the government’s proportion of funding declines.’
The government’s big ticket item for libraries in Tuesday’s budget was the $10.3 million for the Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas at the State Library of Victoria. The centre, the focal point of Melbourne’s bid to be recognised internationally as
a UNESCO City of Literature, will receive $3.2 million for a fit out and a further $7.1 million in funding for programs.
Arts Minister Lynne Kosky said the centre would be a ‘key addition to the literary and ideas precinct’ based around the State Library of Victoria.
‘This new investment builds on our previous commitment to establish the Centre for Books Writing and Ideas and will support Melbourne’s vibrant independent literary scene,’ Kosky said.
‘Importantly, the centre also receives $7.1 million to deliver and promote innovative public programs, such as book launches, keynote lectures, think tanks and university links.’
The centre, due to open in late 2009, will see the co-location of many of Victoria’s leading writing organisations including the Victorian Writers’ Centre, Express Media, Melbourne Writers’ Festival, Emerging Writers’ Festival and the Australian
Poetry Centre. Museum Victoria will receive $8 million for exhibition renewal, covering its three museum campuses – the Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks and the Immigration Museum.
‘This funding will ensure that Museum Victoria can continue to refresh and invigorate its exhibition program to ensure
that it remains relevant to the people of Victoria, attractive to tourists and at the leading edge of museums practice,’ Kosky
said.
In other news, the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE’s Epping Campus has been allocated $10.5 million for stage one of its redevelopment. The redevelopment will include a new library and student services building.
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Reading conference approves recommendations (ALN) Date:08-05-2008
Description: The recent Reading Critical: Developing Readers in Australia and New Zealand conference held at the State Library of Victoria has sent a number of recommendations to governments, agencies and associations. Conference convenor Dr Alan Bundy said the recommendations were to encourage better awareness, investment in, and promotion of the importance of reading
in both Australia and New Zealand.
‘After two days of 20 stimulating papers and panel sessions from international and
other speakers, it was evident to the 150 conference delegates that both Australia and New Zealand have a long way to go in the renaissance of reader development and readers advisory as the core mission of public libraries,’ Bundy said.
‘The UK arguably has the most pervasive and innovative approach to reader
development, courtesy in part at least of both the Blair and Brown governments. These have clearly recognised that investment in literacy and reader development pays off, from very early childhood onwards.’
Reader development manager from Essex County Libraries in England June Turner highlighted the UK whole of government support in her paper. She quoted Prime Minster Gordon Brown, who in launching the UK’s Year of
Reading in January, asserted that investment in reading was ‘one of best anti poverty, anti deprivation, anti crime, anti vandalism policies you can think of’.
Delegates strongly recommended that a seminal Year of Reading needed to be held as soon as possible in Australia and New Zealand to profile the importance of reading and the partnerships between government, libraries and many other agencies such as publishers, booksellers, writers and public broadcasters which have been so effective in the UK.
Among the other seven recommendations were:
• The establishment of national reading agencies;
• That Australian and New Zealand health ministers should examine the cost effectiveness of bibliotheraphy, which is growing in the UK with government, health professionals and library support;
• That reader development is articulated in all public library strategic plans and job descriptions; and
• That Australia and New Zealand develop coordinated reader development online and other training programs and networks for public libraries. The full proceedings of the Reading Critical conference will be available in late May from Auslib Press.
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PNG National Library refurbishment officially opened (ALN) Date:01-05-2008
Description: Papua New Guinea’s refurbished National Library has been officially reopened 30 years after its official opening in 1978. The library was refurbished by the Australian Government as a gift to Papua New
Guinea, just as the National Library was Australia’s gift to Papua New Guinea on independence in 1975.
The previous Australian Government announced in 2005 it would fund the refurbishment of the National Library and the opening was performed by Bob McMullan, the new government’s Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance. McMullan said the Australian Government was proud to have contributed to the
construction and upkeep of such an important national institution and its irreplaceable historical collection, with some items dating back 200 years.
‘A national library plays a vital role in documenting a country’s history,’ McMullan said.
‘With PNG’s 850 languages and 200 cultural groups, the collection
of books, maps, manuscripts, videos and photographs preserves important traditions for future generations.’
The $3 million refurbishment including upgrading of air-conditioning, plumbing,
insulation and replacement of the damaged roof commenced in March last year.
The National Library provides an important outreach service for the whole country. An important component of the refurbishment was improving access for staff and library users with a disability. Disabled toilets and two paved entrance ramps have been added and interior walls have been replaced with an open plan design.
‘Improving services to people with a disability is an important element of the
Australian Government’s aid program,’ McMullan said.
Forty new computers have been provided, along with an intranet service linking the library to the PNG Department of Education.
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Grants program to help state celebrate 150 years (ALN) Date:01-05-2008
Description: Queensland is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a grants program expressing the vision of ‘reflect on our past, imagine our future’. The program is shaped around four themes – history, people, places and future.
The state government is working in partnership with local councils, organisations
and communities across the Queensland to mark the anniversary in a way that is meaningful for all.
The government has committed $4 million to the Q150 Community Funding Program to give Queenslanders the opportunity to celebrate and commemorate the anniversary through activities and projects that ‘reflect the unique culture, heritage and aspirations of their own community’.
Not-for-profit incorporated community organisations, local councils and tertiary institutions throughout Queensland are eligible to apply for grants of between $2000-$10,000. Examples of eligible projects and activities include:
• Music and theatrical performances;
• Festivals;
• Exhibitions;
• Community art works;
• Community education activities;
• Community arts and recreation events;
• Publications, including books, DVDs, CDs;
• Web-based material;
• Oral histories;
• Research projects; and
• Seminars and lecture series.
The second round of grants has just closed and the third and final round will open in July, with applications closing on September 1. Funding announcements will be made on December 10.
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Delegates wanted for meetings in China (ALN) Date:01-05-2008
Description: Immediate past president of the Australian School Library Association Annette Ainsworth will lead a delegation of Australian school library professionals to China in December 2008.
Ainsworth is coordinator of the library at John XXIII College in Perth and is also a past president of the Western
Australian School Library Association. Organisers of the People to People delegation said Ainsworth had suggested the following initial topics of discussion, which will be further refined as the team is formed to incorporate delegates’ specialised interests:
• To understand the role of libraries in schools in China;
• To gain an understanding of the range of resources that are available to students and what access the students have
to the resources;
• To gain an understanding of the staffing of the libraries and what qualifications the staff have gained;
• To discuss courses which are available to those wishing to study to become qualified teacher librarian; and
• To discover links that can be made between Chinese associations and similar associations in Australia.
‘The delegation would be able gain an understanding of what is available to students and the general public through their
library environments both in urban and rural areas of China,’ the director, of the International Professional Programs Colleen
Schaffer said.
‘Since China has developed at a phenomenal rate in the information communication area, the delegation would be able toascertain what is available and how it is utilised by students. The availability of these resources in both major and smaller locations and the impact it has on student learning would be of interest to those undertaking the journey.’
The delegation will convene in Beijing on December 12, with delegates making their own way to that city at their own expense. The initial briefing will take place the following morning with the professional meetings commencing that day as well. The delegates will continue onto Guiyang for further professional and cultural exchange before returning to their home destinations on December 22.
People to People International, founded in 1956, is a nonpolitical, private-sector organisation dedicated to promoting international understanding. The estimated cost per delegate or guest is $A3815. This includes, flights between Beijing and Guiyang, group transportation, meetings and cultural activities, accommodation, most meals, and essentially all other costs associated with participation.
For more information visit www.citizenambassadors.org.
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