Showing Tag: " libraries" (Show all posts)

Click and collect (12 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, June 12, 2020,

Today was the first time I've been to a library since March! My local library service is only offering click and collect at this stage. You place holds online, and when they are ready you come to the library during set opening times to collect and check them out.

The room with the hold shelves in it is normally a meeting room, and is separate from the main library space. It's unstaffed, and I must say it felt a bit surreal to be in the library with no other people around ...

Take care, Sally XO

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UTS Library Artist-in-Residence Program (30 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, June 30, 2016, In : Professional

Last night I attended the VALA AGM and 2016 Williamson Lecture at the University of Melbourne's Baillieu Library.

Mal Booth is the University Librarian at UTS (University of Technology Sydney), and the 2016 Williamson Award recipient. He spoke about the UTS Library Artist-in-Residence Program that he began in 2012. I loved hearing about this program - such a great initiative that has reaped wonderful rewards in terms of cultural engagement with the library and its collections.

Mal has a great s...
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Special collections at the William Angliss Institute (28 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Sunday, June 28, 2015, In : Professional

One of my first library jobs after completing my Grad Dip was at the William Angliss Institute. For those who don't know it, the William Angliss Institute in Melbourne is a training institution that specialises in food and hospitality courses. They specialise in vocational education programs, but also conduct a range of short courses for enthusiastic amateurs :)

There were two main perks to working at the William Angliss Institute Learning Resource Centre (Library). One was ready access to the...
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ANZ 23 Mobile Things: Voice interaction and recording (18 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, June 18, 2014, In : Technology

This is a re-post of my original blog post "Thing 21: Voice interaction and recording" that I created for the ANZ 23 Mobile Things course last year.

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I think we can all agree that one of the great things about modern mobile devices is the variety of ways that we can interact with them. Unlike older phones and desktop computers, we are no longer restricted to a keyboard (or mouse) interface - we can ...
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ANZ 23 Mobile Things: File sharing – Dropbox (18 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, June 18, 2014, In : Technology

This is a re-post of my original blog post "Thing 19: File sharing - Dropbox" that I created for the ANZ 23 Mobile Things course last year.

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This week's thing is file sharing using mobile devices. The portability of mobile devices makes them an ideal tool for accessing and sharing files on the move. We will look at sharing / syncing files across multiple devices (eg. your smartphone, tablet and PC)...
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Retro library posters (10 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, June 10, 2014, In : Professional

I love a bit of retro style, and these vintage library posters are fantastic! I think they could still be used today :)

And for the fiction buffs ...

There's a whole Flickr album of these posters, collected by a library technician who goes by the username Enokson.

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RNIB and Vision Australia libraries on YouTube (8 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, June 8, 2012, In : Professional

I regularly monitor Twitter and other channels for news and developments related to accessibility in libraries and the broader community. I recently came across this YouTube video from the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) that explains the work of their National Library Service in the United Kingdom. I was so impressed by it - very professional with a clear communication of the library's value and how advocate on behalf of vision impaired readers. The contributions of some of t...
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Themes and messages from VALA2012

Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, March 26, 2012, In : Professional

In February this year, I was fortunate to be able to attend VALA2012 in Melbourne. This was my second VALA conference, having also attended VALA2010. And just like last time, I found VALA to be an amazing experience in terms of content, presenters and attendees.

My attendance was funded by my employer, Charles Darwin University (CDU) Library, this time around (I paid my own way in 2010), so after the conference I put together a summary of some of the major themes of the conference as they ap...

The Library Minute (16 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, June 16, 2011, In : Professional

I really like the Library Minute videos produced by Arizona State University Libraries, featuring librarian Anali Perry. They have a wonderfully light touch, are visually interesting and professional looking, and manage to impart plenty of information (but not too much!) in the space of a single minute.

Have you seen them? If not, do be sure to check out their YouTube channel. Here's one of my favourites:

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QR codes in the library - an investigative and fun orientation program (14 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, In : Professional

I consider myself fortunate to work in a small but energetic team of liaison librarians at Charles Darwin University (CDU), and I love that new ideas for providing innovative and relevant services to our clients are encouraged here. This year we created a fun activity that incorporated library orientation, mobile technologies, learning about our on-campus and online students, promotion, and activity-based learning.

Last year, when the call for abstracts for the Third International m-libraries ...
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2011 ALIA NT Recognition Award (9 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, June 9, 2011, In : Professional

On May 26, the ALIA Top End group held its annual Library & Information Week dinner, which was combined with the presentation of the 2011 ALIA NT Recognition Award. A great night was had by all :)

This was the second year that the ALIA NT Recognition Award was, well, awarded. A'Mhara Russell from the NT Department of Health Library was named as the winner, for her innovative use and promotion of Web 2.0 technologies in the library.

I was really impressed by the achievements of all of the nomine...
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Tears For Fears in the library (8 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, June 8, 2011,

There will be actual library-related posts appearing during this month, but they're all in draft form and awaiting further attention. In the meantime, please enjoy this offering.

With thanks to my colleague Julie for sending this my way :)

Dustin McLean's literal video version of Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels". Strange goings-on in the library ...

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Library Day in the Life

Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, January 24, 2011, In : Professional

The Library Day in the Life project began in 2008, inspired by a blog post from Bobbi Newman. In 2011, more than 200 librarians are taking part in the sixth iteration of this project (#libday6) to share their day, and give others a look into what librarians do :)

For those who haven't visited my blog before, I work as a Liaison Librarian (Health Sciences) at a regional University in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. We're in the middle of our summer break, so there aren't many students ab...
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Advent Calendar - Day 22 (Career Guidance Film)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, December 22, 2009, In : Professional

Thinking about becoming a librarian? Perhaps you should watch this vocational guidance film from 1947 ;)

You know, apart from the emphasis on books, I must say that this film's message and content has held up pretty well over the years!

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New chapter

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, July 22, 2009, In : Professional

This Friday is my last day at the special Government library where I work. My main role for 2 years has been a combination of conducting client (end user) training and reference duties, but I also spent 6 months selecting and indexing journal articles for an in-house database.

I've had such a wonderful time - I've learnt so much and gained confidence in my skills in several new areas. I'll be sad to leave this unique library and my first-rate colleagues, but I'm also looking forward to the nex...