Professional Placement at Brisbane City Council – Fiona Miles

Brisbane

Fiona Miles from Logan City Council Libraries (LCCL) participated in a QPLA Professional Placement at Brisbane City Council Libraries in March this year.

The Queensland Public Libraries Association (QPLA) professional placement initiative was an excellent opportunity for me to extend my professional development. In March this year I spent two days working with the Brisbane City Council Libraries (BCCL) – Library Systems team. There are 11 staff in the team that services the overarching Library Systems, managed by Sabina O’Callaghan, Senior Coordinator Centralised Library Services. The current position I hold with Logan City Council Libraries is within the Library Systems team (of 3), so it was fitting when I applied to be a QPLA professional development participant that I was matched with the same or a similar team.

During the two days spent at BCCL, I was delighted in being able to draw a direct comparison between the two Library Systems. Comparing the library management software chosen for the library catalogue, public computer booking system, library events along with hardware such as self-checkout machines, returned book sorters, printers/scanners and so on.

While both Library System services are very similar across the board, there were some big differences that make both teams unique in their research and development, testing and deployment through to maintenance and/or end of life cycle. For instance, BCCL has implement RFID throughout all 33 library branches, whereas LCCL inherited RFID back in 2008 when LCC had amalgamated Beenleigh Library into its then extended boarders. BCCL’s implemented RFID equipment such as the hand wands, security gates and returns bookshelf make for a seamless service. I ‘bubbled with excitement and recommendations’ when I returned to my own team at LCCL. I must say, I was impressed.

From a professional perspective to be in the position of observing BCCL’s Systems team who ensure the overarching support melds with the Council’s seamless experience across the different lines of business, was very informative in more ways than one.

I fully recommend participating in QPLA’s Professional Development Initiative program and wholeheartedly thank QPLA in providing such an excellent opportunity for all public library professionals throughout Queensland.

And a HUGE thank you to Sabina and her team at BCCL as well… !

Fiona Miles – Customer Support Officer – Multi Media, Library Systems

Logan City Council

Leave a Comment