Jan Richards Consulting

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IFLA Information Futures Summit

Home Advantage for Australian and New Zealand Colleagues

For the past few months I have been working with a small group of Australian colleagues, and the IFLA HQ staff based at HQ in The Hague as part of a team developing the Summit program and everything that goes with it. The IFLA Library Futures Summit (or IIFS) is the name chosen for the 2024 IFLA President’s Meeting, and given that the current IFLA President, my friend Vicki McDonald, is an Australian based in Brisbane its only natural (and traditional) for the Summit to be held in her home city. The logo (above) is representative of the winding Maiwar/Brisbane River.

This is the first President’s Meeting since 2019, a gap necessitated by COVID, and we are all pretty excited about it. I was fortunate enough to attend the 2017 (Athens) and 2018 (Barcelona) President’s Meetings but having it in your own country makes it so much more accessible (obligatory Team Australia shots from Athens and Barcelona above).

The ‘home advantage’ is a huge opportunity for Australian and New Zealand collegaues to be able to attend an IFLA event on home soil. This will be the first time that a major IFLA event has been held in Australia since the WLIC (World Library and Information Congress) in 1988! The 2010 WLIC was scheduled to be held in Brisbane but due to a number of factors, most notably the Global Financial Crisis, it was agreed not to proceed with the plan and instead WLIC was held in Gottenberg. Its a process etched in my memory as I wasALIA President at the time and had to front meetings where people were deeply disappointed. You could say I was not Miss Popularity!

I digress. The Summit Program has been curated and will be an exciting mix of keynotes, ignite talks and intercative sessions. Reading through the speaker
biographies a few weeks ago I was overwhelmed by the depth of talent. A number of IFLA Professional Units have also seized the moment and are delivering associated events. For example Libraries for Children & Young Adults (C&YA), School Libraries (SCHOOL), Literacy & Reading (LITREAD), and Environment, Sustainability and Libraries (ENSULIB) Sections have developed a great three day program/tours Research and Effective Practices Seminar: Sustainable Reading at Every Age and Stage. I’m more than a bit biased as I have worked closely with these Units but it will be fabulous.

The Early bird rate finishes on 1 June so be quick! And for 5 reasons to attend watch this video.

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Measuring Impact

In late 2023 I was honoured to be one of the 12 individuals selected to participate in the Measurement, evaluation, and demonstrating impact of library services train the trainer program developed by IFLA. I will be working with my colleague Premila Gamage from Sri Lanka to deliver this program across Asia Oceania.

The program provides a framework and tools to strengthen the capacity libraries in planning for impact through community engagement and demonstrating the difference libraries make to individuals and communities. The training aims to help public libraries better understand their changing communities through community assessment and needs identification, to plan activities that meet those needs and can make a difference, measure performance, and evaluate outcomes and impact – benefits for people and changes in communities.

Last but not least, the training has a component of evidence-based storytelling, providing a framework for telling compelling stories to demonstrate the contribution of libraries to sustainable development and beyond, and helping to ensure all stakeholders truly understand our value and impact.

Over three days the team from Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, USA, Canada, Germany, Latvia, Oman, Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Australia (me) came together to share experiences and work through and refine the training program. There was plenty of time for learning, but also for laughter!

I’m really looking forward to working with colleagues on rolling out this training which can be broken down into modules, if you’re interested please make contact.

Final word, after spending a week in The Hague in November I can confirm that the rain there really is horizontal and omnipresent.

Criss Crossing the Country

During November I covered the length (if not the breadth) of Australia delivering IFLA’s Measurement, Evaluating and Demonstrating Impact of Library Services training. It was a delight to spend time discussing how we can better tell our story, and the resources we need to ensure that it is effective. Together we were able to highlight areas for national collaboration to make our case stronger. The one thing that all sessions had in common was enthusiastic colleagues, lots of laughter and hot, steamy weather.

Stop One

Early November and the first stop was Australia’s capital city, Canberra, on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country. The training cohort comprised staff from Libraries ACT (Australian Capital Territory) together with Library Managers from surrounding areas in New South Wales. Participants drew inspiration from each other, and the cross-border pollination provided opportunities for future collaboration. We worked on a two-day program focussing on the five major components.

Getting Started. Evaluating and demonstrating value and impact of library services
Community & Needs. Community assessment and needs identification
Outputs & Performance. Monitoring outputs and measuring performance
Outcomes & Impact: Outcomes evaluation and impact of library services
Evidence-based Storytelling: Using data in storytelling to demonstrate impact

The personas developed by the groups early in the program, and the services that were created to meet their needs continued to finesse over the time we were together and some of them may become more than an idea on paper!

Stop Two

Next stop was SWITCH, the annual New South Wales Public Libraries Association’s conference which this year was held at the beautiful coastal city of Coffs Harbour on Gumbaynggirr Country. To complement the conference program I curated a version of the training with a focus on telling stories for advocacy. The participants were a delightful mix of highly experienced and new professionals which resulted in a combination of mentoring and fresh perspectives. They say that practice makes perfect, and we reworked our stories so that they were ready to use back in the workplace.

It was an amazing workshop – a major highlight of SWITCH for me

Stop Three

As November drew to a close I flew to Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory on Larrakia country. Participants were drawn from public and special libraries from centres across the Territory. We were also joined by representative from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) and the diversity of participants really added to the richness of our discussions. From our vantage point high above the city we watched as the tropical storms passed through at the beginning of the wet season.

Without a doubt this was the noisiest group I worked with, and the Northern Territory Police, who were working in an adjacent room, suggested we should practice a bit of ‘sushhh’, a stereotype which only made us laugh louder.

An added bonus of the Darwin visit was the ability to be present at the ALIA Northern Territory Excellence Award Night where the winner was Joanne Scott from Taminmin Community Library. Not only was Jo one of the participants at the IFLA training, in 2023/24 she was my mentee in the ALIA Mentoring Scheme. I felt like a proud mother!

Next Steps

By the 30 November when I caught the ‘red eye’ from Darwin back to Hobart I had worked with 49 LIS colleagues from 27 library services/associations across four states and territories sharing the concept of demonstrating impact. I had travelled 13,703 km, and used most forms of transport. Touching down in Hobart I was both glad to be home and looking forward to the opportunities that await in 2025.

Here’s a quick video recap of November

A Basecamp account has been established for each of the training groups where the resources can be shared and ongoing conversations held.

I will be working with the Queensland Public Libraries Association in March and Public Libraries of New Zealand in April next year. If you’re interested in exploring IFLA’s Measurement, Evaluating and Demonstrating Impact of Library Services Training get in contact with the trainers in your region.

Reading is Magic

And it’s a wrap on another Children’s Book Week. My social media feeds won’t be half as colourful without the creative interpretations of book titles by colleagues, family and friends.

I have loved the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s special week for as long as I can remember – certainly back to primary school at New Lambton South where there would be a special display of the winning titles. You could put your name on the list to read them and I was always eager to do so. When I look at the winners from those years I’m taken back to a time of finding a quite place to curl up and read and understand that ‘Reading [is indeed] magic ‘ – this year’s theme.

Across the nation frazzled parents have been busy with the cardboard, crepe paper and glue in readiness for the Book Week Parade. In my family our Teddy has been strutting his stuff. He’s still at pre-school and as he goes for three days he needed three costumes ( I suspect that’s Teddy’s rules not the preschool’s!). See if you can guess the titles! The last two ( made by his creative Mum) didn’t make the cut. Kids can be cruel!

One of the trends this year seemed to be the overwhelming number of library staff who went over the top in the dress up stakes. I’m not sure who was having more fun. I particularly loved Liverpool City Library’s approach, the more so because I recently finished a project with them. It was fun to reconcile the professional Elysa with the Queen of Hearts!

But it’s not just library’s who have taken up the gauntlet. Yesterday I had a message from my friend, the wonderful Shellie Buckle, Manager Customer and Community Services at Mareeba Shire Council in far North Queensland. She included photos of her team who had taken Book Week on board and dressed accordingly- way to go! Now it must be admitted that Shellie is also a librarian and her passion for Book Week is in her DNA, but the joy on the faces of team Mareeba as they released the child within was obvious, and the modelling of reading behaviour that they ( and every other costumed adult) sent out to the children and young people in their lives is critical.

When I spoke about finding a place to curl up and read as a kid it wasn’t hard. My Mum & Dad ( Else & Jack) were voracious readers and modelled the very best in reading behaviour. My Mum also went above and beyond in creating costumes and I’m afraid that I, like Mum’s great-grandson Teddy, may have eschewed her efforts. Sorry Else!

Now to put a reservation in for the winning books!

Your Opinion Matters

I seem to have spent a significant proportion of my life over the past few weeks working through survey results. Not that I’m complaining, I really do enjoy the whole process from the design through to the evaluation. Must admit nothing quite beats the first couple of ‘pings’ which indicates that someone has responded, I always want to go back to them and say ‘gold star for being the first’ – and sometimes I do 🙂

Recently I did an Audience Survey for Orange Civic Theatre which will add value to consultations we did with audiences and key stakeholders ( key hirers) last year. I always love working with OTC and by introducting some new questions we were able to add value to the information we already have.

I enjoy working with clients who have a regular survey/review process built into their operation. Earlier in the year I worked with Liverpool City Library who undertake an annual survey each year. Great to be able to track the changing responses to questions and even better to have the raw data – particularly the free text areas which can be gold. Nothing captures the attention of a decison maker more than a direct quote from one of their consituents.

I am currently working with another Library service in NSW who have made seeking feedback about their collections and programs core to their business. Each one is carefully crafted and targeted at a specific audience – this approach also helps in avoiding the dreaded survey fatigue which can so easily creep in when you have a one size fits all approach.

Everyone like so be asked for their opinion so give them the opportunity and remember to follow through with feedback through newsletters, social media etc. Assure them that their views do matter.

A Sense of Place

I don’t know about you but before I travel I like to get a sense of the place I’m visiting by reading about it. For me ‘reading about’ isn’t sitting down with the relevant Lonely Planet guide ( though I will refer to it), rather it’s a matter of immersing myself in a story set in my destination. I find it brings a city/country to life and allows for the serendipity of discovering a place/event and being able to put it into perspective.

Based on this reckoning we have introduced an initiative called ‘READ Brisbane’ into the IFLA Information Futures Summit where we are encouraging delegates to read/listen to a story set in the river city before they come. The list keeps expanding as more and more people get on board and additional suggestions are received. All we ask is that participants post a photo of themselves reading on social media and add the hashtag #IFLAREADBrisbane.

We were delighted to receive this message from library elder Winston Tabb last week:

I’ve just finished two of the books on the list sent to Info Summit participants. What a great idea this was. It seems so obvious a complement to our conferences I’m surprised no one has done it before – or maybe they did and I was too busy to pay attention.

We were pretty chuffed.

As I write I’m heading to Kiama NSW to work with the Kiama Library on developing their strategic plan. In keeping with my philosophy I have a copy of Nadia Wheatley’s The life and myth of Charmian Clift on my iPad. Born and raised in Kiama, Charmian was probably the first author I ever heard speak when she visited Wollongong High School of which she was a former, and I was a then. current student. It was in the late 60s. I found her fascinating, and always remember her description of catching the train from Kiama to Wollongong to attend school whenever I make that journey (as I will in a couple of hours).

They’re calling my flight. Two hours of uninterrupted reading ahead.

Bowerbirds!

In May I was invited to be a guest reader at the National Simultaneous Story (NSS) time event held at Kingston Library which is our ‘local’. This was a first! Over the years I’ve participated in many an NSS as audience member, crowd control, and the odd non-speaking, acting role, but being the star attraction! I was more than a little chuffed.

This year’s book was Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker, and because attention to detail is important, I immediately went into ‘what will I wear mode’. Then the reality that I have never been a children’s librarian, and have had limited practice with the storytelling gig hit, and an inventory of what blue outfits I had in my wardrobe paled into insignificance. I needed help; I turned to Karen!

Karen Smith is one of my dearest friends – she’s also a cousin as we discovered when we started doing our respective family histories back in the day. Karen was a brilliant children’s librarian before she went on to become an inspirational library educator – so who else would I ask. Unfortunately family can be cruel, and she broke down laughing when I called for advice before accepting the challenge. My subsequent ferry trips were spent reading out loud ( much to the interest of those in nearby cars).

22 May dawned bright, and I dressed in my bright blue best and headed to the Library. I looked at smiling faces and hoped that it would be OK. I sang the songs, I did the dances it was fun – but I was totally upstaged by Jeremy, one of the Kingston team, who read another book The Bowerbird by Catherine Rayner which was absolutely hilarious. Totally recommend it!

Meanwhile 4,448.9 km away in Humpty Doo my friend Jo Scott was conducting NSS in an outdoor aviary. Did you know that there is a Northern Territory Bower Bird? I didn’t until Jo and I were talking about what we were doing as part of one of our ALIA mentoring sessions. Our journey together as mentor (me)/mentee (Jo) had a sense of the Bowerbird about it. Our conversations ranged widely and we would each pick gems from each other’s ideas. Some great things happening in the NT!

I was delighted to be given my own copy of Bowerbird Blues by Libraries Tasmania. While it was tempting to keep it as a reminder of my 5 minutes of fame, instead I decided to share it with our much-loved Teddy. When he unwrapped it he immediately clocked that it was ‘that book from the library’!

Congratulations ALIA on yet another successful NSS, and for non-Australian readers an explanation this is a day when across Australia and New Zealand libraries, schools, playgroups come together at the same time to read the same book. Magic.

Happy 50th NSLA

Last week I was honoured to be part of the celebrations to mark celebration 50 years of National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA). I attended in my my role as Chair of the Tasmanian Library Advisory Board (TLAB) at an event that took place in the glorious Mortlock Chamber at State Library of South Australia. Earlier in the day we had been given the opportunity to see some of the Library’s amazing archival collections. Always a treat.

National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) is an incorporated association comprising the national, state and territory libraries of Australia and New Zealand with the constitutional purpose of bringing together the knowledge and expertise of the ten member libraries in order to build, manage and provide access to library collections and services that reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. Each member library is represented on NSLA’s board by its chief executive, state librarian, or director-general. The Chair of the board is nominated by vote for a two-year term. This was the last event for outgoing chair Vicki McDonald (Sate Library of Queensland). Sue McKerracher (Libraries Tasmania) will become Chair in 2024.

The inaugural meeting of what was then called the State Librarians Council was held at the State Library of Victoria on 30 March 1973. Its worth looking at the time line on the NSLA website to track the initiatives over the years. As someone who has been in the library world for those 50 years I did a bit of ‘remember that!’. Many, many successes.

In the interconnected library community it was also a joy to catch up with friends and colleagues from across Australia and New Zealand and to meet up with colleagues who have been newly appointed to positions in the NSLA family; Catherine Clark CEO and State Librarian, State Library of Western Australia and Caroline Butler-Bowden who commenced as the State Librarian and the State Library of New South Wales the previous week ( Caroline came to SWITCH on day two of her new job- talk about baptism by fire!).

Happy Birthday NSLA and may you have many more.

Image credit: Mark Beatty, National Library of New Zealand from NSLA web site

‘Behind every successful person is a substantial amount of coffee.’

It is widely acknowledged that the success of any conference is judged not only on the robustness of the program, but also on the quality of the catering. Based on this logic I jumped at the chance to be the coffee sponsor at the 2023 NSW Public Libraries Association SWITCH Conference which was held earlier this week. SWITCH and it’s predecessors has been an integral part of my life since 1994 and since moving to consultancy it’s been an honour to continue to be involved.

The NO team: Sean Brady, Vicki Edmunds and Roger Henshaw

In addition to lurking around the two barista stations and snapping people drinking coffee I also facilitated ‘The Great Debate’ where the topic of whether to label collections was considered. The opposing teams had put a great deal of thought into their performances which had the audience roaring with laughter. The result ( decided by the crowd) was a draw but I am sure that many attendees will be rethinking the way they present their collections – or perhaps not.

A very blurry photo booth pic of a policeman, a birthday cake and two Mr Men

As is customary with SWITCH the Conference Dinner was fancy dress, this year with a Book Week theme. A plethora of Harry Potter inspired outfits and more than one Mary Poppins. As I was travelling light I went for a minimalist approach option for Your Birthday was the Best by Maggie Hutchings and wearing a dress made in fabric featuring birthday cakes.

A huge shout out to all involved in delivering such a great event and congratulations to Chris Jones and Sue Killam on being awarded Life Membership of the NSWPLA – well deserved.

The World Through Picture Books

On Tuesday last week the 3rd edition of the World Through Picture Books was launched at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Rotterdam. This was a great achievement for IFLA’s Libraries for Children & Young Adults (C&YA) section and in particular for the editors, Annie Everall OBE from the UK and Australia’s Claire Stuckey. As the Chair of IFLA’s Division E 2021-2023 which included the C&YA section I was very aware of the excitement in creating this 3rd edition but also the frustrations that COVID presented in building engagement at some levels.

The programme was launched in 2011 and the first edition of favourite books from 30 countries was published in 2012. The 2012 edition was replaced by an expanded second edition in 2015. The third edition features the lists of the favourite picture books from 57 countries, in 37 languages and includes 530 books. It is a fully digital catalogue which is downloadable free of charge and printable. There are also ideas on how to use the program and activities to support it.

Two exhibition collections of the books have also been created, thanks to generous donations by the publishers. These are based in the National Libraries of France and Japan and are available for libraries to borrow and exhibit. In my previous life as a library manager I was in the process of negotiating a loan of one of these exhibitions to to coincide with the annual Festival of International Understanding in Cowra NSW when a certain pandemic struck!

Recently I have been working with a library service on their LOTE (Languages Other Than English) collection and the World Through Picture Books was an obvious suggestion as a content source. These books are considered classics within their country/language of origin and for that reason are relatively accessible. Research shows that immigrant communities place great value on introducing their children and grandchildren to works in their first language and using recognised titles adds value to this.

Here in Australia we are at the tail end of Children’s Book Week and across the country there have been book week parades in libraries, schools and preschools. Our adored grand nephew and godson, Teddy, attended his first book week parade as a firefighter. Photo attached for cuteness factor. Teddy loves reading and is lucky that he has parents who value books and read to him every day. He is also fortunate to come from a multicultural family where languages other than English are spoken. I’m now thinking ahead and considering how cool would it be to use the World Through Picture Books to source titles in these languages to pop into Teddy’s next care package. A great way to introduce him to these languages and and expand connections with other family members.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the third edition, a super achievement.