Information services

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.

National 2016 Conference, 29 August-2 September 2016 Adelaide: Engage Create Lead.

This submission addresses the question ‘What does the Asian century mean for Australia?’ It makes recommendations in two key areas: Australia’s knowledge of Asia, and ways of deepening engagement between Asia and Australia in the sphere of civil society in which library and information services are centred.

The challenge, particularly with a prescriptive document such as this, is to produce guidelines which are broad enough to encompass all health libraries but which detail an acceptable and achievable level of practice across those same libraries. To this end the Guidelines need to be flexible, adaptable and applicable irrespective of the size and makeup of any individual library service. It is hoped the fourth edition of the Guidelines for Australian Health Libraries achieves this desired outcome. 

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Minimum Standard Guidelines for Library Services to Prisoners provide guidance on the establishment, operation, and evaluation of library services to prisoners in Australia.

As the standards body for the library and information profession in Australia, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) establishes the formal qualifications required as a basis for entry to the profession. It is vital therefore that the Association promotes the principle that staff appointed to librarian and library technician positions hold qualifications appropriate to those positions. Where formal librarian or library technician qualifications are required for a particular position, this requirement should be articulated in the job description for the position.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) believes people engaged in library and information services are members of a profession committed to act with integrity, ethics, trust, expertise and the promotion of public good.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) believes that library and information services have particular responsibilities in supporting and sustaining the free flow of information and ideas.