Public Libraries Summit, ALIA, Canberra
Children, early reading and a literate Australia
Strempel, Deputy Chair PLA
brain development in very young children, from a few weeks old, is massive; reading to them, sharing pictures and reading, etc is essential; especially linking sounds to signs. This is not just something to do at schools or at home.
[interestingly, the formal schooling system starts too late to make a difference, in many cases - 5 or 6 - , placing significant burdens on parents; who supports them in that? libraries is one of the few social institutions; some research to show first year at school is critical for intervention, implicitly, better to reduce needs for intervention]
Suggests the role of library in actively promoting literacy is not well recognised; suggests the competence of librarians in doing this is also not recognised. Librarians with interest in this field are facilitators and educators as well as librarians. None of this literacy work is mainstreamed and poor resources; no national agenda or standards for equity.
Mentions the Early Big Book Club (SA), Better Beginnings (WA) as excellent examples
[ key role in creating successful 'families' - some skills, technology etc not available in some families - libraries provide this on behalf of the state.]
Encouraging the digital economy and digital citizenship
Missingham, Parliamentary Librarian
Refers to recent government reporting Australia’s Digital Economy: Future Directions; recent stats dramatically demonstrate the ‘lag’ of Australia in inernational terms – insufficient networking, low broadband, challenges of content. So, there are major access problems, cost, speed, availability.
Critical of much content online, either too much opinion or too little accuracy, with limited signals to allow users to judge quality.
Paints a relatively grim picture of Internet especially in regional areas; Internet is now essential to many aspects of life. and adds that there is insufficient interaction between three tiers of government to address these challenges.
Implicitly, she argues, citizenship demands access to information and ONLY available via the Internet (especially as we move to transactional web);
evidence for a national, single approach to resources is from success of ERA – providing ‘high-quality’ resources electronically for all australians. – so save money and get quality by coordination; need ‘proper’ online information
[perhaps too much focus on quality information provided FOR people; or government information necessary to people - user-generated content? participatory culture? greater capacity for people to learn how to asses information?]
Social inclusion and commuity partnerships
McGuire, Hume Global Learning village
Loss of power – these presentations are probably available from ALIA website
Health and ageing
Sutton, State Librarian NSW