In early September 2017, I delivered two presentations to the Public Libraries Western Australia conference at the University of Western Australia in Perth. The first of the presentations was entitled ‘The Future of the Public Library: from dusty tomes to disruptive technologies’. You will find the slides of the presentation below: The Future of the…
Tag: public libraries
The Conversation Around Library Funding Cuts Needs to Focus on ‘Effectiveness’, not ‘Efficiency’
Library Funding Cuts Recently the State Government announced that funding will be reduced for the State Library of South Australia in the coming three years. Media reports suggest that the Library has been charged with finding $6 million in savings, which equates to the loss of 20 of its 115 full-time employees. (note that these…
Digital Strategy for Library Network – Presentation to PLSA Quarterly
Yesterday I delivered a presentation to the Public Libraries South Australia association at their Quarterly Update meeting at the Cove Civic Centre, Hallett Cove. You can see the Prezi presentation slides here… The following is a transcript of the presentation: Good morning ladies and gentlemen. No koalas behind the back today, but I promise I…
The Marshmallow Challenge
I’m a big fan of the internationally-recognised Marshmallow Challenge team building activity and regularly use it in my training sessions. I think it’s a great tool for ‘breaking the ice’, exploring team dynamics, and emphasising the value of ‘out of the square’ design thinking and iterative development. What is the Marshmallow Challenge? In eighteen minutes, teams of four must build the tallest…
A Digital Vision for the South Australian Public Library Network
As a part of my consulting engagement with Public Library Services (PLS) of South Australia, I have produced a draft ‘digital vision’ statement (published below) for the SA library network for 2019. The vision statement is written from a retrospective viewpoint with the current date being ‘July 2019’. The vision statement is my own work. It…
A Comparative Analysis of Two Public Library Websites
In my capacity as the digital strategist at Public Libraries South Australia (PLS), I was lucky enough to visit the Yarra Plenty Regional Library (YPRL) service when I was in Melbourne a couple of weeks back – thanks to Anita, Marcus and Felicity for spending some time with me. The YPRL service operates nine public…
The Library of the Future: Presentation to Public Libraries SA
Today I delivered a 25-minute presentation, entitled The Library of 2019, to the quarterly meeting of the association of public libraries in South Australia, PLSA. The presentation took place at the Hetzel Lecture Theatre at the State Library of South Australia. You can access the Prezi slide deck that accompanied the presentation right here… The full…
How Libraries of SA can become even more relevant in the digital age
Last week I wrote about how the SA Library Service has evolved and the great benefits that you can get by rediscovering your local library. In the second part of the series, I’ve got 10 ideas for Libraries of SA to become even more relevant in the digital age. Here we go… Libraries in the Digital Age…