Re-imagine library services....for a whole country!

Last Friday (2nd May) I was in Melbourne with a group of other public librarians from around Australia, for a discussion with NSLA (National and State Libraries Australasia) about their Re-imagining Library Services Strategic Plan (PDF 803kb).

The strategic plan has some exciting goals:

Our new vision is:
In collaboration, the National, State and Territory Libraries of Australia and New Zealand will become leaders in empowering people to create, discover, use and transform our collections, content and global information resources.

We will deliver this vision through three strategies:

• One Library will put the user at the centre. We will redefine services providing users with a consistent and easy experience across our libraries.
• Transforming Our Culture will transform our culture and workplace. We will promote a new culture which supports new services and emerging technologies.
• Accessible Content sees collaboration as the key to liberating our content. We will empower our users to find, share and create content.

It was an interesting and worthwhile discussion, with lots of great ideas shared and stories told.

My impression is that there was widespread support of the plan from public libraries.
As State Libraries start to undergo this strategic shift in their organisations and in their delivery of services to users (including public libraries), communication and consultation with public librarians will be critical, in order to bring us all along on the journey at the same time.

More thoughts on the plan and the workshop to follow...