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Libraries have found themselves overtaken by commercial entities providing open, unmediated information services, causing debate about the future of libraries. It has been argued that in order to stay relevant, libraries must undertake a fundamental shift towards a new focus on engaging with clients. At University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) Library we have commenced a number of activities aimed at engaging our clients, but currently only have anecdotal evidence of their effectiveness. This is a conceptual paper which seeks to define engagement and consider how practitioner researchers can provide research-based evidence of the effectiveness of engaging with clients and taking a user-centric approach to service design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an analysis of the results of a survey of Australian employers of Library and Information Studies (LIS) graduates, this paper explores the current demand and future need for undergraduate LIS education in Australia. In the context of recent calls for adopting a purely postgraduate level of entry to the profession, the overwhelming majority of respondents to the survey clearly believe that the education provided in LIS programs in Australia does equip graduates with the attributes required of professional librarians in their organisation, and that this does not depend on the level of the qualification. Some further discussion of graduate attributes and curriculum issues indicates that there is a need for reform of LIS education--as well as a requirement to build the number of available graduates as the profession seeks to renew itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nationalism as a force in shaping and understanding historical events, long recognised by historians, has emerged as a rich field of historiological study. Awareness of nationalism has spilled into cultural studies, where the role and history of museums has been investigated in the light of nationalistic influences. Favoured images of a nation's history, culture and people may impact on collecting and curatorial decisions. Library historians have been slower to recognise the impact of nationalism on library collections, although national and state libraries are prone to nationalistic influences. As they purport to collect the documentary heritage of a nation and its people, they engage with questions of national identity, history and geography. This paper maps some of the intersections between nationalism and libraries by considering how changing concepts of nationhood and Australian identity have influenced the formation and development of the National Library of Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper comments on a recent Code of Ethics project conducted on behalf of the Australian Computer Society, and proposes a similar project for the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). It reviews the scope and methodology of the project, which developed a comprehensive set of case studies and related them to the ACS Code of Ethics and to specific standards of conduct in the Code. It discusses a small selection of the case studies and suggests that a similar series for ALIA could assist in the provision of useful context for ALIA's Statement on Professional Conduct, material for the profession's continuing professional development (CPD) programs and a stimulus to further ethical debate in the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]