Since establishment in 1997 Libraries Alive! has successfully completed projects for all types of libraries and information organisations in all Australian states and territories. Our customer list includes well over a hundred public and private sector bodies, and for some of them we have worked on multiple projects over more than a decade. Our reputation is such that we would confidently ask any former or current customer to comment on the quality of our work.
Most project reports prepared by Libraries Alive! are 'commercial-in-confidence', however, those that are in the public domain are listed here.
Although we specialise in library and information services, we range quite broadly within this field. In the section below we provide a sample of the subject matter of our professional practice.
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Library and information services development
Since 2008 we have worked with the State Library of New South Wales to develop standards and guidelines for NSW public libraries. |
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From 2010 we have worked with the Australian Library and Information Association and the Public Library Associations
on national standards and guidelines for Australian public libraries. |
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Operational, service and staffing reviews of State and Commonwealth agency libraries, corporate libraries and public libraries.
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Performance
assessment and benchmarking for special, academic and public libraries.
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Quantification of the value of government and private sector information services.
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Library customer and stakeholder consultation for services reviews and
strategic planning.
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Community consultation, online and print surveys, public meetings, focus groups and exit interviews.
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Comprehensive surveys of information requirements
of researchers and managers in scientific and regulatory organisations.
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Review
of strategic directions and priorities of library services
following amalgamation of libraries and local government areas.
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Public consultation and development of services
specifications and architects' briefs for new public libraries.
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Reviews of governance, funding and services models for regional public libraries.
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Preparation of
library services technology plans, strategic plans and physical facilities plans.
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Project
direction and management for the implementation of a Territory-wide
virtual library |
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Several of these projects had significant skills development and transfer components where the consultants worked closely with teams from the library
service during planning and implementation.
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Information organisation and management
Development of a content policy for an agriculture and
natural resources database.
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Asset value review and marketing plan for a
national water resources database.
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Establishment of an information management system for a new government department.
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Inventory of research for a Commonwealth agency.
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Compilation
of a whole-of-government high level subject thesaurus for use in resource discovery metadata. Working with a reference group from several
Commonwealth agencies, this Project resulted in TAGS - Thesaurus of
Australian Government Subjects.
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Management of a project to implement an enterprise-wide glossary in a
Commonwealth agency, including user specifications, development of business rules and procedures for its population, maintenance and promulgation.
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Compilation and review
of specialised subject thesauri.
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Development
of subject browse lists, and subject lists for use by metadata authors
for Internet/intranet sites.
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Conduct and management of numerous indexing projects.
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Library and information technology
Advice on information technology acquisition,
including definition of functional requirements, development of tender
documentation and contract negotiation, acceptance testing and
implementation - for State and Commonwealth special libraries, corporate libraries and public libraries).
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Management
of Territory-wide library system selection and implementation, for a
consortium involving State, special, public, community and school
libraries. This project included a skills transfer component,
and significant training effort.
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Replacement
of a library system shared by public libraries, government libraries
and an institute of technology library.
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Software
development review for a State Library.
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Software
selection and implementation for a State parliamentary library.
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Value assessment and strategic plan for a State-based supplier of connectivity services and electronic content.
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Assessment of software information retrieval capabilities for a national
research organisation.
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Strategic
reviews of library information technology for a national peak body,
and for several academic libraries.
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Training and facilitation
Readers' adviser and reader development training and train-the-trainer workshops: Rewarding Reading.
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Reference refresher training – focusing on the reference interview and customer service principles.
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Library performance measurement and evaluation workshops.
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Development
and delivery of training courses for users of electronic information resources.
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Facilitation
of seminars and planning workshops for libraries of all types.
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Who have we worked with?
This short list provides an overview of the range of our recent customers:
State Library of NSW
Queensland Parliamentary Library
Lake Macquarie City Libraries
Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute
National Gallery of Australia
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Council for Educational Research
Eurobodalla Shire Council
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
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