The ALIA Australian Public Library Alliance (APLA) is the peak body for public libraries in Australia. Our committee comprises the chair of every state-based public library association, a senior representative from the ACT, Northern Territory and Tasmanian library services, and expert members. APLA represent 94% of all the 1500 public libraries across Australia through membership subscription.
QPLA President Nicole Hunt joined fellow representatives from all States and Territories for a face-to-face meeting, with an apology from Libraries Tasmania. The all-day meeting was held Perth, Western Australia at the State Library of WA.
A networking event was held on the Tuesday evening, generously hosted by City of Perth Library and included representatives from ALIA-WA, ALIA, all state/territory associations and local library network attendees which provided a great opportunity to meet and greet colleagues from across Western Australia.
The APLA meeting has special guests included outgoing ALIA President Vicki Edmunds, ALIA’s incoming President Jane Cowell, Emily Wilson ALIA Regional Engagement Manager, Alison Dellit, Assist Director-General Collaboration, National Library along with State Library of WA CEO and State Librarian Catherine Clark, Steve McQuade, Manager Public Libraries and Literacy and Janet Degan, Public Library Liaison Librarian.
Topics discussed included New Terms of Reference for APLA, Trove Collaborative Services, Book challenges and rainbow storytime protests, National Marketing campaign and Aged care reforms pilot with the Department of Health and Aged Care. More information can be found here
As always when visiting a new city, library tours featured during this visit as part of the APLA group and independently at City of Perth Library, City of Fremantle Library, State Library of Western Australia, Western Australia Museum, Art Gallery of Western Australia and the new City of Belmont Library.
All of these venues are amazing and the respect shown for cultural heritage is significant as heritage buildings have been seamlessly integrated with more modern facilities. City of Belmont Library was a firm favourite with the APLA team. Key highlights were the Quiet Room with no devices, the Digihub & Bub room, Mulitmedia Record Suite and the Innovation Lab. The Library Museum was very interactive and well utilised by kids with library/museum staff cross-skilled to work across both areas.
A big thank you to Viv Barton, APLA Chair, for arranging all of the events over the three days, along with fantastic support from ALIA. It was a pleasure to visit Perth and see the amazing facilities and projects/events being delivered across WA.
City of Fremantle Library
City of Belmont Library
