News from the school
- SIS Welcomes New Faculty Members
- SIS Faculty Attend ALISE
- Visiting Professor Lynn Westbrook Public Lecture at Wagga Wagga City Library
- ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) Accrediation
- Professor Lisa Given Awarded a Canadian NCE (Network of Centres of Excellence) Grant Worth $1.6 Million
- SIS Graduate Cathryn Harris Won the Nokia Business Innovation Award
- Janette Telford Presented Library Technicians Career Path Research Findings
SIS Welcomes New Faculty Members
Three new faculty members have arrived at the School this month.
Dr Mary Carroll joins the School as a Lecturer in Information Studies. Mary comes with extensive experience as an LIS educator, particularly in the TAFE sector. She has also been an academic librarian and teacher librarian. Mary graduated from CSU with a PhD in 2009. Her thesis was entitled, ‘Role perception and the library worker in Australia: the role of education in defining roles and tasks of librarians and library technicians’.
Dr Paul Scifleet joins the School as a full-time Research Fellow. Prior to his appointment, Paul was a Lecturer with the Discipline of Business Information Systems at the University of Sydney Business School. He has over twelve years experience in information management and has worked extensively on the design and implementation of electronic document and content management systems, including as digital projects coordinator and education officer with the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW. He has also held academic positions at the University of New South Wales and, more recently, as a Visiting Scholar with the Information Schoolat the University of Sheffield, theRoyal School Library and Information Science, Copenhagen, and the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
Barbara Combes joins the School as a Lecturer in Teacher Librarianship. Barbara hails from the School of Computer and Security Science at Edith Cowan University. She has an extensive record of professional activity in the teacher librarianship field and is currently Co-President of the West Australian School Library Association (WASLA) and Vice President (Advocacy and Promotion) of the International Association of School Libraries (IASL). She is also member of the Editorial Board for School Libraries Worldwide.
The School wishes Mary, Paul and Barbara all the very best!
SIS Faculty Attend ALISE
Four members of SIS staff attended the Association of Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) conference, held in Dallas, Texas, from 17th to 20th January.
Dr Waseem Afzal (pictured) presented a poster (co-authored by Dr. Mary Anne Kennan of CSU and Professor Sheila Corrall of the University of Sheffield) entitled, ‘Evolving Roles: Research Support Services in the Academic Libraries of Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK.’ The poster described an ongoing investigation into the evolving roles of academic libraries in the area of research support services.
Meanwhile, Dr Kim Thompson (with Dr Denice Adkins of the University of Missouri) presented a paper in a session related to National/International Perspectives on LIS education, moderated by SIS Professor Lisa Given. Kim’s paper, ‘How Many Librarians Does It Take? A Honduras Case Study in LIS Education Effort,’ examined the growth of LIS education in Honduras, with a focus on how collaboration with external consultants can lead to a culturally appropriate curriculum.
New arrival to SIS, Dr Mary Carroll, also presented at the conference. Mary’s paper, ‘Collaborating for the Future Sustainability of Australian Library and Information Science Education,’ was an output from a large-scale project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), which aims to re-position Australian library and information science education in the emerging professional landscape.
Visiting Professor Lynn Westbrook Public Lecture at Wagga Wagga City Library
Professor Lynn Westbrook delivered a public lecture, entitled "Engaging Communities: Information as a Social Good" at Wagga Wagga City Library on Wednesday, 14 December 2011 at 5 pm.
ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) Accrediation
We are pleased to announce that the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) have accredited our BIS and MIS courses for a further five years, until 2016. We look forward to working with ALIA and the profession over that period as the courses evolve to meet the changing needs of industry during the coming years.
Professor Lisa Given Awarded a Canadian NCE (Network of Centres of Excellence) Grant Worth $1.6 Million
Congratulations to Professor Lisa Given and her Canadian colleagues who have been awarded a Canadian NCE (Network of Centres of Excellence) grant worth $1.6 million.
TRanslating Emergency Knowledge for Kids (TREKK) -- Information Needs Assessment
Co-Investigators: Professor Lisa Given School of Information Studies, Faculty of Education, Charles Sturt University
Dr. Shannon Scott Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta
The TREKK project is designed to ensure that the latest research in pediatric emergency medicine is available to and applied within general emergency departments, with the long term vision of efficiently and effectively improving the outcomes of acutely ill and injured children. As part of this large, multi-team project, Professor Given and Dr. Scott will investigate the information needs of healthcare practitioners (e.g., nurses; physicians; pharmacists) and consumers (children, parents and other caregivers) in emergency departments in more than 35 hospitals across Canada. The needs assessment focuses, in particular, on the role of internet-based sources of information in the provision of emergency and ongoing care, as well as the ways that individuals and groups within the emergency departments seek the information they need for effective patient care. The information needs assessment uses a mixed method design, including questionnaires, qualitative diaries, photovoice, and other quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques. Site coordinators across Canada will gather data using IPad Apps that are being developed as part of the project design. The information needs component of TREKK will provide evidence for a number of project goals, including informing the design of educational tools to be used with healthcare practitioners and consumers.
SIS Graduate Cathryn Harris Won the Nokia Business Innovation Award
SIS Graduate Cathryn Harris won the Nokia Business Innovation Award for the work that Cathryn, her council and her team have put in to make the Mt Gambier library service a great success story. Cathryn commented on her CSU learning experiences, "I am a very proud CSU student. The confidence I gained through my years of studies provided me with the inspiration and drive to complete not only the building project but also drives me daily to ensure this library is the very best it can be. Thanks so much to you and the CSU team for helping me achieve such great things."
For further information, please see the award nominees at http://www.telstrabusinesswomensawards.com/award-winners/finalists/2011/sa-248.aspx
Janette Telford Presented Library Technicians Career Path Research Findings
Janette Telford, winner of the 2009 ALIA Library Technician Award, presented her findings at the 2011 Library Technicians Conference in Perth. Janette had been researching her topic, Is there a career path for Library Technicians.
The School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, sponsored the award. Her final report will be issued soon and in the meantime some of her research can be found on her wiki at http://ltcareerpath.wikispaces.com/
Pictured (L to R) Damian Lodge, Janette Telford and Roy Sanders at the 2011 Library Technicians Conference in Perth