Janice will enjoy challenges of library exchange
July 26, 2007: Bega Valley Shire Council Library Manager Janice Biggin is heading to Sydney to take up a great development opportunity.
Ms Biggin will join the ranks of the State Library in an eight-month exchange that will see her working in the library’s collections area.
“I am looking froward to the challenge, the State Library is a world leader in service provision and the exchange program will be invaluable,” Ms Biggin said.
“The NSW State Librarian and Chief Executive Regina Sutton was a guest speaker at the Public Libraries NSW Country Conference recently held in Merimbula and she has set the organisation in a new direction - it will be a very exciting placement.
“Regina has some wonderful experiences and insights having visited every library zone and many public libraries within the Sydney metropolitan and country areas during the last 12 months.
“I am sure that I will have the opportunity to explore a range of initiatives that are happening across the state and look forward to developing those for the Bega Valley.”
Council’s Corporate and Community Services Director Leanne Barnes said the exchange was a wonderful opportunity for Ms Biggin and Council.
“Janice will return in early 2008 and I am sure she will come back full of ideas,” Ms Barnes said.
“In a period of funding challenges for the library sector, this placement provides Janice an opportunity to think further outside the square for Council’s services into the future and continue to add to our libraries’ already innovative approach
“We are also looking forward to the possibility of hosting staff from the State Library who will get a real feel for the role country libraries play across the state.”
The State Library’s major collections subject strengths are Australian history, culture and literature, including Aboriginal studies, Antarctic exploration, family history and genealogy, business and management, social sciences, applied science, biography, health and law.
The Library’s collection is valued as an asset, with a valuation of $1.883 billion.
The State Library of New South Wales traces its origins to 1826, with the opening of the Australian Subscription Library. In 1869, the NSW Government took over responsibility for the Library and created a free public library, the Sydney Free Public Library. In 1895, the name was altered to the Public Library of New South Wales and the Library became the State Library of New South Wales in 1975.
It has more than five million items (including monographs, pictures, posters, ephemera, sheet music, talking books, maps, CDROMs, newspapers, microfilm and fiche, films and videos, computer software, kits, sound recordings, photographs, objects, architectural plans, coins and postage stamps.) in its collection.
“Janice will be missed, but she will make a great representative for the shire and her experience in Sydney will be invaluable in building library services when she returns,” Ms Barnes said.
