This week marks the first full week of working from home for me. The work side has been productive, if a bit chaotic as we try to transition a large library service to working from home and delivering customer service and programs digitally.

The transition to full time home time has been strange, mostly due to a little feeling I now know as “time to go”. Time to go to work — oh no, it’s here at my desk. Time to go exercise — oh no, it’s here in my living room. Time to go out — oh no, just turn on Zoom. …

In January of this year, Yarra Plenty Regional Library (YPRL) introduced a new Marketing Strategy with a bold vision: to tell the story of the library through its people.

The strategy has two main goals: to take a digital-first approach to communications, and to empower all staff to be involved in marketing the library. After all, as professionals who are at the front lines of library customer service every day, who better to run our social media platforms?

YPRL’s new strategy positions our digital channels as an extension of our branches. In the digital age it’s important that our website is not a separate entity, but another location where we can serve our customer’s needs, connect them to the collection, answer questions and provide feedback. Likewise, social media should not be tools of the marketing department, but active sites for library staff to connect and converse with the community — delivering the same top-notch customer service in the digital space as we do in the physical. …

I was drawn to work in public libraries in part because of their ideals of access, inclusivity and learning for all. In a world that is increasingly corporatised, the library is free, it’s safe, and — you’ll often hear — it’s for everyone.

So it may seem radical to question the inclusivity of libraries, but it is vital: values is one thing, practice is another. Yes, the doors may literally be open for anyone to walk in, but are we doing enough to ensure that the most marginalised and vulnerable in our communities will?

This question is being tackled, at least at an industry level. At the Asia-Pacific Library and Information Conference 2018, Caroline Beatty of Librarians for Refugees questioned whether libraries are doing enough to support their most vulnerable communities, particularly for asylum seekers and refugees. At the 2019 ALIA Info Online conference, solicitor and IP expert Terri Janke spoke about the role libraries play in archiving of and access to First Nations languages, noting that projects in this space need to happen with Aboriginal people, not simply be for or about them. At the same conference, Rachel Franks of the State Library of NSW gave a rallying cry for implementing inclusive collections: “let’s not rehearse, repeat and rely on the canon”. …

The culture industry is changing.

Content is everywhere. Culture is everywhere. The old distinctions between audience and artist — consumer and creator — have disappeared.

Today I’m going to share three new strategies that cultural leaders — be they organisations or individuals — need to understand to succeed in the arts in the coming years.

Transform, don’t deliver
The mission of Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) is not to deliver a festival or even to be the world’s best festival. Our mission is to enhance the creative and intellectual potential of all Victorians. …

Last year was my first year working for a public library, and it has been quite a shift from the world of writer’s festivals that I inhabited inhabited for nearly a decade before deciding I needed a change.

As an admirer of libraries but never having worked in one, 2018 was a steep learning curve! But as an Exec Manager working on strategy, governance, operations, marketing and public programming, I’ve had the opportunity to experience lots of facets of library life. Here’s a few things I’ve learned:

• How to slow down (admittedly this is still a work in progress). Festival work is fast, there are constant deadlines, and the energy is frequently excited if not frenetic. Because of their nature and structure, libraries have a different pace. It took me a while to figure out some strategies for rolling out projects and comms over a longer time frame than I was used to. …

In the literary world, we regularly talk about writers, publishing, events and festivals, bookselling, critics and criticism, and the media when we discuss our industry. But where does the reader fit in?

A core focus of my work as Director of Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has been bringing readers to the forefront of our thinking, about everything from programming to marketing. It may seem strange to note that MWF is putting its audience first; haven’t audiences always been important? The answer, I think, is both yes and no.

In the literary world, we regularly talk about writers, publishing, events and festivals, bookselling, critics and criticism, and the media when we discuss our industry. …

Travel and books, books and travel

In November 2010 I landed in Sharjah — a place I had not known existed until two months earlier — and several hours later I was sitting in a grand reception hall watching its International Book Fair being opened by one Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed al Qassimi. The room was opulent and bustling, and I sat at a large table with many strangers, wearing headphones through which the Arabic ceremony was being translated into English and wondering why no one was eating the lavish banquets arranged on each table. …