Department of Information Studies
Graduate Achievements
Jessica Shortis wins F A Sharr Medal for 2007
Jessica Shortis
And here is the official announcement from BIBLIA:
http://aliawestbiblia.blogspot.com/2008/10/f-sharr-medal-presentation.html
ALIAWest is delighted to announce Jessica Shortis as the 2007 winner for the prestigious F A Sharr Medal presented on the 9th of July. Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director, presented Jessica with the Medal at a function held at the Curtin University Graduate School of Business in Perth.
The F A Sharr Medal is awarded to the graduand who has just completed their final year of a library and information degree or diploma, or is in their first year of employment and exhibits the most potential and is most likely to have a positive impact on their preferred stream of the library profession.
The Medal is named after Francis Aubie Sharr, State Librarian in Western Australia from 1953 to 1976, in recognition of his contribution to libraries and librarianship in Western Australia and to the profession overall.
Whilst studying towards her Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies at Curtin University, Jessica worked at the Subiaco Library as a library officer. After completing her practicum at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, University of Western Australia, and graduating as a qualified librarian, she was offered an ongoing full-time position at the UWA Law Library. Jessica was nominated for the award by two of her supervisors from the University of Western Australia.
During her interview, Jessica demonstrated a strong understanding of issues facing the library profession and the environment in which our industry operates. She gave an impressive presentation to guests on using relevant online technologies to better serve the typical generation Y user of academic libraries. Jessica has also completed degrees in Communications at Murdoch University and Advertising at Edith Cowan University and hopes to capitalise on this experience to raise the public profile of library and information services.
Due to the exceptional quality of the candidates applying for the F A Sharr Medal this year, the ALIAWest Committee decided that in addition to awarding the Medal they would make two highly commended awards to Naomi Gorrie and Karen Rickman [also a Curtin LIS student].
Jessica's presentation is available to be viewed at
http://www.alia.org.au/awards/merit/sharr.medal/Jessica.Shortis.ppt
It is well worth a look!
Congratulations to Jane Shelling, winner of the Anne Harrison Award
(An Award of the ALIA Health Libraries Section and established to commemorate the work of medical librarian Anne Harrison, and to encourage others to make their own contribution to the development of health librarianship.)
Jane Shelling
The Secretary, Trustees and Administrators of the Anne Harrison Award (AHA) take great pleasure in announcing Jane Shelling, Manager of the National Resource Centre, Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia (Deakin, ACT) as the winning applicant. Her project is entitled ‘Bringing the Evidence-Base to the Alcohol and Other Drug Sector’.
Jane's project aims to offer assistance, training material and training in evidence-based practice to librarians belonging to the Alcohol and Drug Librarians and Information Specialist (ADLIS) group. The evidence-based training in turn is offered to clients to broaden the research expertise of non-tertiary educated alcohol and other drug (AOD) workers whilst promoting the expertise of ALDIS librarians.
The outcomes of this project are:
- to extended evidence-based practice knowledge for ADLIS librarians and an opportunity to discuss the needs of the common group;
- a strengthening and increased cohesion of the ADLIS group as a result of a shared project; and
- a journal article/report describing the process and exploring the concept of evidence-based practice in a non-academic setting.
The Award is to be presented at the next ACT Health Librarians Meeting by the ALIA Executive.
The AHA team thanks all applicants for their outstanding efforts, and congratulates Jane on her winning idea.
Veronica Delafosse, Secretary, Anne Harrison Award
Majella Pugh, Administrator, Anne Harrison Award
Bronia Renison, Administrator, Anne Harrison Award
Records Management Association of Australasia Awards 2007
Outstanding Student Award - Natalie Goodban
Natalie Goodban
The National RMAA Awards were presented at the National Convention in Wellington, New Zealand in September 2007. Natalie Goodban won the student award. Natalie demonstrates an ongoing commitment to the records profession as well as demonstrating strong academic achievement. Natalie completed her Masters in Information Management at Curtin University in December 2006, whilst studying Natalie also worked in the records and information management industry in a variety of roles in Local Government, Commonwealth Government and Private Enterprise, further developing her practical knowledge and implementing her theoretical knowledge. In her vision of records management statement, Natalie touched on numerous issues within the records community from managing knowledge to disaster recovery, demonstrating a strong grasp of the state of the industry and of the need for trained staff. Natalie stated “it is important to emphasise the value of good people practices to further support the progression of records and information management. The future direction of records management will require greater involvement in staff training, facilitation and problem solving, and educating the end users to better use the systems developed. This should be seen as a strategic investment, for as user errors decrease and systems operate properly, more time becomes available for the records manager to devote to process improvement and the measurement the value of business intelligence”.
Curtin Information Studies Alumna plays key role in Libs for Africa 2007
Curtin Information Studies alumna Sharon Karasmanis played a key role in this initiative.
Dr Alex Byrne, Outgoing President of IFLA, acknowledged the initiative by the Australian library community during his Welcome Address at the IFLA Durban conference held in August 2007 http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla73/index.htm . This is an extract of his speech:
"I have been delighted to note a particular example of professional solidarity which has been demonstrated during the preparations for this World Library and Information Congress in Durban. Led by an extraordinary colleague, Sharon Karasmanis, who works at the Borchardt Library, La Trobe University in Australia, a national initiative “Libs for Africa” has raised sufficient funds to support the attendance of sixteen African colleagues at this Congress. The money was raised through simple events – lunches, morning teas, raffles – and supported by many Australian library workers who will never attend an IFLA Congress but were inspired to show their solidarity for colleagues on another continent. The initiative has been much appreciated by all including, of course, the recipients of the grants, one of whom wrote of the “golden opportunity to meet with colleagues from different parts of the world to share experience, knowledge and thoughts”. On behalf of us all, I applaud the achievement of my Australian colleagues. But we should take this further. Knowing how Australians like to compete, at least in sport, you will not be surprised to hear me challenge our colleagues in North America to exceed the Australian record by assisting Latin American Librarians to attend the Quebec Congress next year, and challenge our European colleagues to help those from the Mediterranean region to go to Milan in 2009."
Sharon Karasmanis with many of her sponsored African librarians (photo taken by Liz Burke at UWA Library).
La Trobe University Library raised funds to help African librarians who might not otherwise have this opportunity to attend an international conference on their home continent. Last December, the Library raised $2,010 with an African Feast and Raffle on campus, and in January this year members of the Australian library community were invited to contribute to our efforts.
Libraries and organisations both large and small were very enthusiastic with individual donations and fundraising efforts, which included morning teas, pizzas lunches, second hand book sales, collections and more. ALIA provided exhibition space at Information Online in February 2007, with a very successful collection at the conference dinner. The IFLA Governing Board is also providing some funding to assist the successful grantees with travelling and accommodation expenses.
IFLA and LIASA (Library and Information Association of South Africa) undertook selection process, and the successful recipients were from Botswana (2), Kenya (2), Malawi (2), Mauritius (1), Namibia (2), Tanzania (2), Uganda (2), Zambia (2), and Zimbabwe (1). The types of libraries represented are Public (2), Special (6), Academic (6), National (1), and School (1). The Special Libraries include medical (2), agriculture (1), government (1), NGO (1) and education (1).
Sharon Karasmanis
Farewell Dinner for Bernadette Waugh
It was fitting that Information Studies Alumni chapter organised a farewell dinner for Bernadette Waugh. Bernadette graduated with a Graduate Diploma in Library Studies from WAIT/Curtin some time ago and practiced as a special librarian until her retirement as Senior Librarian at CSIRO Floreat, WA in July 2007. She has mentored many Curtin Information Studies students on practicum placements during her long professional career. As well many of us have worked with her on Australian Library and Information Association committees and have been with her at conferences. We wish her well in her retirement! Here are some photos of the dinner, held Friday 22 June 2007 at Curtin on the Park, Curtin Bentley Campus.
L-R: Liz Amann, Paul Genoni,
Russell and Bernie Waugh, Sue Grennan
L-R: Deanne Barrett, Dianne Cooper,
Margaret Medcalf, Lennie McCall
L-R Trevor and Kay Poustie, Ray Smith’s head, Glenn Pass
Pauline Sawyer, Brigitte Glockner, Kerry Smith
Information Studies Alumna Wins
SLA http://www.sla.org/index.cfm
Information professional Award for 2006
This award is offered each year and is sponsored by Thomson Scientific and Dialog. It is open to all members of the information profession who reside and/or work in Australia or New Zealand regardless of whether or not they are SLA members and the award winner received AUD2000
The winner for 2006 was Alyson Dalby.
Alyson Dalby with Liz Blankson-Hemans
The award was made at the SLA breakfast held on Tuesday 30th January 2007. Among those present were, L-R: Thomson Dialog manager, Fiona Bradley – an Info Studies @ Curtin alumni, Alyson, Guy St Clair – well known SLA past president and one person libraries author, Sue Henczel from CAVAL who received an SLA Award, and Liz Blankson-Hemans, Thomson-Dialog.
The Citation
"This year's selection was very keen, as there were a large number of excellent candidates, an indication of what an active professional community exists in Australia and New Zealand", said Sue Henczel, SLA-ANZ chapter past-president. "Alyson is very deserving of this honor, as she is committed to not only improving information services within her own library, but also greatly influencing the information profession overall."
A member of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) since 2002, Alyson progressed to Associate Member in 2004. She founded the ALIA New South Wales Mentoring Group, and currently serves as the group's treasurer. She is also the Co-Convenor for the upcoming ALIA New Librarian's Symposium, December 2006.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) is one of Australia's largest medical organizations, and is responsible for training and continuing professional development of Australia and New Zealand's 10,000 specialist physicians in internal medicine. The History of Medicine Library within RACP is Australia's only actively collecting medical history library.
Alyson joined the History of Medicine Library in 2002, and has made key contributions to the continued existence of the library, including a rejuvenation plan for the library that has generated wider use of the library's significant medical material collection.
