The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), formerly the Australian Institute of Librarians and Library Association of Australia, is the peak

professional organisation A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) is a group that usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in ...

for the Australian library and information services sector. Founded in 1937, its headquarters are in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. ALIA publishes a quarterly scholarly journal, ''Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association'', and a bimonthly news magazine for members, ''INCITE''. The Association hosts a number of conferences which take place in different places around Australia.

History

On 20 August 1937, a meeting of 55 librarians at the Albert Hall in Canberra formed the Australian Institute of Librarians in response to the Munn-Pitt survey. The foundation president was William Herbert Ifould, the Principal Librarian at the Public Library of New South Wales. John Metcalfe, Deputy Principal Librarian at the Public Library of New South Wales was the first honorary general secretary and drafted much of the original constitution. In 1949, the institute changed its name to the Library Association of Australia, and was renamed again 1989 to its current name of the Australian Library and Information Association and a permanent office was established in Canberra. The Archives section, which had existed between 1951 and 1973, became the Australian Society of Archivists in 1975.

Governance and description

The Association is governed by a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

and a board of directors who are voted on by members for two year terms. ALIA National Office staff are based in ALIA House in Australia's capital, Canberra.

Membership

General memberships are open to anyone interested in the Australian library sector, while professional memberships are only available to those working in the sector or with an ALIA-accredited degree in library science or library technician degree.

Activities

ALIA has created public campaigns to promote libraries and learning, including Library Lovers Day, Library and Information Week, Information Awareness Week, National Simultaneous Storytime, and the national Summer Reading Club.

Education

ALIA manages the standards for

library and information science Library and information science (LIS)Library and Information Sciences is the name used in the Dewey Decimal Classification for class 20 from the 18th edition (1971) to the 22nd edition (2003). are two interconnected disciplines that deal with inf ...

education within Australia, and provides

accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

for certain TAFE and

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

(both graduate and post graduate) courses. ALIA offers training to library science students and those working in the library sector, including mentorship programs, and a Professional Development Scheme.

Publications

Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association (JALIA)

JALIA is a quarterly scholarly journal, named as of Volume 66, Issue 1, 2017; a merger of the ''Australian Library Journal'' (ALJ) (1951 to 2016), and ''Australian Academic and Research Libraries'' (AARL) (1970 to 2016).

INCITE

''INCITE'' (also styled ''Incite'', ''inCite'' and ''InCite''), a news magazine for members, published six times a year , (formerly 12-20 times a year). It was first published in January 1980. Issues dating from Volume 33, issue 1/2 (January/February 2012) are available via

National edeposit National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, Issues from 1980 to 2016 are available as scanned electronic versions on AustLII, and many back issues (until 2020, ) are also on the Informit database. Since 2018, some whole issues of INCITE are produced in a freely available digital-only format each year, with one article from each print issue also freely available online, on the ALIA website.

Conferences

ALIA hosts a number of conferences which are rotated around Australia: * ALIA Information Online Conference * ALIA National Conference * ALIA New Librarians' Symposium * ALIA National Library and Information Technicians' Symposium

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1937 establishments in Australia Organizations established in 1937 Professional associations based in Australia