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MESSAGE FROM UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN

Welcome to another edition of Libnews@UB. This message comes to you from New Zealand where Carmel Grant (Information Resources Management Librarian) and I are attending the IATUL (International Association of Technological University Libraries) Conference. This conference has attracted over 170 participants from 28 countries.

The main focus of the conference is on the role that libraries need to play in developing and supporting digital initiatives and change. The key message from IATUL has been that the digital age is real and with us now. We need to move quickly if we are to grasp the opportunities that are in front of us. Here at UB Library we are working on a number of projects that have direct relevance to how well our staff and students are equipped to study and research in this environment. Digital repositories are critical to the advance of open access and preservation of research output; in the student space we are looking at the use of social networking and other technologies to take our library out to where students are working and living.

A full report on this conference will be in the next issue of the newsletter.

NEWS

Inaugural Library Awards

Last year the UB Library management team looked at ways of improving links with the Advanced Diploma of Library/Information Studies program running out of TAFE/SMB. Students entering into this course are potential employees of the University Library and these awards have been implemented in order to increase our engagement with students studying locally in our profession. We are doing this in two ways, an annual placement award with the Library, and an award for the highest achieving first year student.

We are pleased to announce the following awards for 2007/2008:

  1. University of Ballarat Library Award for Best First Year Student ($500). Congratulations to Janet Waldren. Janet has achieved consistently good results across her first year of study and will be using the award for purchase of books and other materials to support her through the remainder of the course.
  2. University of Ballarat Library Work Placement Award. Congratulations and welcome to Safinaz Sultan, who will be starting with us on May 14th. Safinaz has been awarded the Work Placement Award for 2007 Library Studies students. To receive this award the applicants have had to meet a number of selection criteria based around their study and desirable work attributes, as well as participate in an interview process.

    The Library Placement Award is designed to give Library Studies students the opportunity to gain a broader range of practical library experience than they might otherwise get. Over the coming months Safinaz will be working across the SMB, Mt Helen and IRM teams.

For further information, please contact:
  Leeanne Pitman,    l.pitman@ballarat.edu.au,    (03) 5327 9851

UB Library article accepted into Australian Library Journal

Congratulations to SMB Information Librarian Katrina Macdonald, who has had an article accepted for publishing in the June/July edition of the Australian Library Journal. The edition is a special issue on information literacy in workplace and community contexts. 

Katrina's paper introduces the ESL Information Literacy Project (ESLILP) carried out at University of Ballarat in 2007. It describes the development, implementation and evaluation of an ESL Library Skills course designed in a TAFE context for adult, non-academic students who speak English as a Second Language. The paper seeks to raise awareness of an apparent lack of research and information literacy programs for adult ESL speakers in a non-academic environment. It also offers a framework for developing information literacy education programs for people with very low levels of literacy.

The framework may be of particular use to librarians working in this area with limited backgrounds in ESL teaching or practical resources. The paper concludes by inviting other libraries to trial the ESL Library Skills course.

We look forward to reading the published article in full in coming months!

For further information, please contact:
  Katrina Macdonald,    k.macdonald@ballarat.edu.au,    (03) 5327 8484

ESL conversation classes are back!

ESL conversation classes are on again for Term 2 in the SMB Library on Wednesday afternoons. The sessions have proved to be of great value in helping the students build everyday conversation skills and confidence. They also provides an opportunity for the students to get to know the Library staff and, in turn, for the Library staff to learn more about other cultures. Volunteers who would like to join in are always welcome.

For further information, please contact:
  Katrina Macdonald,    k.macdonald@ballarat.edu.au,    (03) 5327 8484

SNIPPETS


New databases now available

The following new databases are now available via the UB Library website:

For full descriptions of these databases, and other electronic resource information, please view the eResources@UB blog.