The countdown is on.... Are you ready for ALIA Access 2010 - Brisbane

Health and Specials back in partnership - along with Acquisitions, Resource Sharing, Professional Development and lots, lots more. Early bird registration closes on 7th July and, remember, it's cheaper if you register online.

The Conference dinner on Thursday 2nd September is a distributed networking opportunity and you may select from a variety of options in your registration. Join the Health crew at Kapsalis - Greek Cuisine
Address: Shop 31a Southbank Parklands, South Bank
http://conferences.alia.org.au/access2010/network.html

Make the trip even more worthwhile by participating in the QULOC (Queensland University Libraries Office of Cooperation) allied event that is open to all. Evidence Based Practice in Health for Librarians will be held Wednesday 1 September at the University of Queensland's Library Conference Room, St Lucia. There will be a modest charge for the day of $50 to $60. Further information and registration will be available from the QULOC website in the next few weeks.

This is a 'content-rich' day. A mix of presentations and workshops will engage and educate. Come along to hear from your Australian colleagues, and from presenters such as Carol Lefebvre (UK Cochrane Centre), Professor Chris Del Mar (Bond University), Dr Satyamurthy Anuradha, Associate Professor Suhail Doi and Dr Tammy Hoffman (UQ), Dr Ann Walsh (QUT), and Ms Connie Schardt, Past President, MLA and the Medical Centre Library, Duke University.

Round the day (Wednesday 1st September) off with a Health dinner - please contact me (remove 'no spam') from the address) by email if you would like to attend a Health get-together on Wednesday evening (1 Sepember). More on this closer to the date.

Cheryl Hamill

One for the diary: EBLIP6

The announcement has gone out that The 6th International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP6) Conference is to be held at the University of Salford, Greater Manchester UK from 27th-30th June 2011.

Key Dates:
Call for Abstracts: September 2010
Deadline for Abstracts: December 2010
Notification of Acceptance: January 2011
Registration Opens: March 2011

Website: http://www.eblip6.salford.ac.uk
Contact: eblip6@salford.ac.uk

So How Much Does it Cost to Run a Conference?

This post by Graham Black, ALIA Access 2010 Conference Convenor and current ALIA Vice-President, makes interesting reading. I remember someone telling me years back just how much conference budgets are eaten into by meal costs -pardon the pun! :)

Anyway, mark the dates 1-3 September in your diaries...

…a Coalition of the Willing - Health Partners with Specials, Acquisitions, the Literate Information Types, for a Conference (and an UnConference) - and All of it with a Fringe

Set aside the first week in September for a visit to Brisbane for ALIA's Access 2010 conference. Health Libraries Australia (HLA) has been busy preparing a program that is more than the usual conversation we have within the profession. It is a program to influence the direction and development of health librarianship in Australia. Where do you fit in the health workforce, what is your scope of practice in the health care team, how will you make a difference in the health system over the next few decades? Be a part of the Health stream to have your say.

Join in with our coalition partners to mine the richness of their programs. There is considerable commonality of interest with the programs being prepared by the specials, acquisitions, information literacy, unconference streams and more.

The fringe event will be held on Wednesday 1 September and is a partnership between HLA and Queensland University. This will be a more practical skills-sharing (free) event at UQ sites. Suggestions so far include workshops on Advanced PubMed and on evidence-based librarianship. You are invited to propose other topics.

It's great to see the reawakening of our Health / Specials conference relationship - let's make the most of it. Put it in your diaries now, and start writing up those submissions for support.

2 Great Job Opportunities at UQ

Two fixed term Senior Librarian (Clinical) (Hew Level 7 ) positions have recently been readvertised until 12th April.

Secondment arrangements are encouraged and these roles will be guided and mentored by senior staff.

This is a great opportunity to help advance evidence-based practice at two major Brisbane teaching hospitals.

Details of the positions are available at http://www.uq.edu.au/jobs/index.html?page=130708&pid=11218 or http://seek.com.au/job/senior-librarian-clinical-x-posts-hew-fixed-term-uq-library/brisbane/16983363/27/1/.

You can contact Majella Pugh, Acting Senior Manager for UQ Health Sciences Libraries, on (07)33655354 to discuss the role.

Positions Filled

Following the recent Call for Nominations we are pleased to announce that:

Suzanne Lewis, Northern Sydney Central Coast Health (NSW), has taken up the position of Convenor for Health Libraries Australia;

Jane Shelling, from the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ACT), is now Secretary of the Anne Harrison Award; and

Veronica Delafosse, Caufield Hospital (VIC), will continue as Convenor of REBLs.

We wish them every success in their roles and thank them for volunteering their time and energy.

The following post to the aliaCPD discussion list (22 April 2009) should be of interest to all members but, perhaps, particularly those who manage and have interactions with new graduates.

What makes a profession and who's responsible?

Professions occupy a unique place in our society. Governments have assigned the right and responsibility to control the professions to those who practice the professions. This is a privilege which most professionals take very seriously. ALIA provides the education standards for LIS education in Australia and we work closely with educators, employers and practitioners to ensure high-quality educational programs are available.

ALIA is currently reviewing its course recognition process and would like your input.

As per the notice in the last inCite magazine, we are currently seeking comments on key issues relating to ALIA Course Recognition. Should the ALIA Core Skills and Knowledge be updated and reflected in Course Recognition processes? Should the process be called Accreditation rather than Recognition?

You can make your comments and contributions on the consultation wiki (username and password required), or directly to dianne.walton-sonda@alia.org.au.nospam (remove the '.nospam' from the address) by 30th April 2009.

First meeting of the ALIA Special Libraries Advisory Committee

From Cathy Brady:

The first meeting (teleconference) of the ALIA Special Libraries Advisory Committee is scheduled for 24 April. The Special Libraries Committee is a new Advisory Committee whose primary role is to provide advice in the form of identification of issues, opportunities, activities and in general assist in developing a strategic direction for special libraries with the ALIA Board. Items proposed for discussion at the first meeting include the draft terms of reference for the Committee, the Electronic Resources Australia (ERA) meeting and professional development for special librarians. Emma Datson (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and I (Cathy Brady, HealthInsite, Department of Health and Ageing) are both members on the committee from the health libraries sector. We hope to provide you with outcomes from the meeting next month. If you have any queries regarding the Committee, please feel free to contact me at catherine.brady@health.gov.au.nospam (remove '.nospam' from the address).