VALA2022 Proceedings

The 21st Biennial Conference and Exhibition, VALA2022, was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia from 14 – 16 June 2022.

The following papers were presented at VALA2022. See also the VALA2022 Onsite Program and Online Program.  Papers will be available to access individually for each session.

The full set of conference proceedings from VALA2022 is available as a single pdf download. This registered publication contains all 42 concurrent sessions (26 Onsite Concurrent Sessions and 16 Online Concurrent Sessions), and is a simple, one-click resource for academics, students and the wider VALA network. (Click HERE or on the image to the right to view and download.)

Session recordings from the Onsite Program are available from this page or through a single link to all Onsite recordings through the GigTV Showcase Channel at https://stream.gigtv.com.au/Mediasite/Showcase/vala2022

Delegates only have access to the Online Platform for 6 months following the Conference.

   All works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

VALA2022 Onsite Session 9 Unger

An online copyright for teaching module: a case study

VALA2022 CONCURRENT 9

Wednesday 15 June 2022, 09:15 – 09:45

Ingrid Unger
  • Copyright Officer
  • Victoria University

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2022 #s9

Read the paper and view the presentation recording and slides here:

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 9 Unger Paper 671 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 9 Unger Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 9 Unger Slides 1,733 KB
Abstract

In 2018, Victoria University had converted all its classes to a ‘blended learning’ format and was also implementing the Block structure for teaching. Starting with the First Year College, each subject was to be taught in 4-week blocks, and students undertook one subject at a time. This demanded a new way of structuring teaching and learning. A major concern by the executive management team was copyright compliance in a largely online environment later complicated with the onset of COVID-19. In response to these drivers the online interactive copyright training module, which uses interactive software to test the users’ learning, was developed.

Biography

Ingrid trained as a Librarian but has worked in the world of copyright for 20 years. She is currently working as the Copyright Officer at Victoria University where she liaises with Scholarly Information Librarians and academics to ensure copyright compliance within the university teaching environment. Ingrid joined the University in 2012 and very much enjoys her role; she has a Masters in Museum Studies and Cultural Policy which helps to guide some of her day to day work. Her past working experience was at Museum Victoria working with exhibition images.. In this online project she collaborated with a Learning Designer and Librarian to produce this interactive training module.

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 10 Thomas

“Summon” the troops, there’s work to be done! Improving user discoverability experience through a new discovery layer

VALA2022 CONCURRENT 10

Wednesday 15 June 2022, 09:15 – 09:45

Bronwen Thomas
  • Manager, Content and Discovery
  • University of Newcastle
Virginia Walker
  • Coordinator, Scholarly Publishing
  • University of Newcastle
Kylie Clarkson
  • Manager, Teaching and Research Support
  • University of Newcastle
David Coupe
  • Manager, Digital Library Experience
  • University of Newcastle
Sarah Jansen
  • Associate Director, Collections, Discovery and Digital Experience
  • University of Newcastle

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2022 #s10

Read the paper and view the presentation recording and slides here:

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 10 Thomas Paper 203 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 10 Thomas Slides 2,588 KB
Abstract

In 2020 the University of Newcastle implemented a new Library Discovery Layer, Summon. Working closely with vendor ProQuest and supported by an extensive network of cross-institutional support, the University Library’s Implementation team set upon a 3-month project to improve discoverability, and user experience. This paper recounts our experiences throughout this project, and details our lessons learnt.

Biography

Bronwen Thomas is an engaged, high performing, self-motivated librarian, offering in-depth varied and diverse expertise gained through 28 years of successful contributions across several core library areas in academic libraries. Her current responsibilities as Manager, Content & Discovery at the University of Newcastle, cover a breadth and depth of services – including information resource management in print and digital collections, collection development, course reading list coordination, resource sharing and acquisition, publishing, and scholarly communication. As a motivating leader with a history of building and managing high performing teams, she enjoys inspiring people to be passionate about data quality. Bronwen places collaboration at the heart of all that she does and obtains satisfaction through identifying complex issues and integrating innovative solutions to achieve delivery of strategic and operational priorities. Central to her client service focussed delivery is to provide equitable and seamless access to relevant, open, and connected scholarly content for her University and the wider community.

Virginia Walker is currently the Coordinator Scholarly Publishing at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. Virginia has worked in Research Support Services for over 8 years and provided a range of research services to support academic staff and higher degree research students at various stages of the research lifecycle. She enjoys playing an essential role in the open scholarship landscape at the University of Newcastle, and has provided extensive support to the maintenance, review and upgrade of the University of Newcastle systems underlying research support. Contributing to the development and implementation of university-wide services including eResearch services, Virginia is passionate about quality metadata and the role it plays in working to increase the visibility, system interoperabilty and discovery of research.

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 11 Hinchliffe

FLEX – how we created a simple, copyright compliant content solution for Higher Education and VET Librarians

VALA2022 CONCURRENT 11

Wednesday 15 June 2022, 09:55 – 10:25

Richard Hinchliffe
  • Director, New Product and Innovation
  • Copyright Agency

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2022 #s11

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 11 Hinchliffe Slides 2,632 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 11 Hinchliffe Flex Demonstration Slides 3,550 KB
Biography

Richard has worked in senior new product, strategy and business development roles in the digital media, publishing and entertainment sectors for over 20 years. He likes to run the whole product process from idea generation, business evaluation, through to delivery and customer adoption. Richard joined Copyright Agency in 2017 to help transform the way customers can readily access copyright materials under fair terms, notably bringing the FLEX platform to market for the tertiary education space. He is a keen music fan and has recently been president of his local high school P&C association.

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 12 Spikmans

24/7 technology hub – revolutionising spaces that transcend the traditional concept of public libraries

VALA2022 CONCURRENT 12

Wednesday 15 June 2022, 09:55 – 10:25

Michael Spikmans
  • Digital Services Manager
  • Northern Beaches Library Services

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2022 #s12

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 12 Spikmans Paper 213 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 12 Spikmans Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 12 Spikmans Slides 8,025 KB
Abstract

In 2020, Northern Beaches Library Service launched a project to renovate the Forestville Library Branch. Forestville Library was underutilised with opening hours that no longer suited the demographic. The concept of the renovation was radical: to transform the static floorplan into a flexible space with niche technology and 24/7 access with some unstaffed hours. The new space would have a small library collection of high-turnover items and allow for the community to access and use the space when they wanted. The space could be rapidly reconfigured for events, programs, makerspaces or be used for work, leisure and study.

Biography

Michael Spikmans has completed a Bachelor of Information and Communication Technology and a Master of Science in Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. In the Netherlands, Michael has worked on the Unobtrusive Smart Environments for Independent Living project funded by the European Union and worked as a librarian at the Public Library of Eindhoven. Michael is currently the Service Development Manager at the Northern Beaches Library Services where he manages the Technology Team, Forestville Library and the Forestville 24/7 transformation project. He has experience in project management, programming, data mining, visualisation and analysis, User Experience design, financial management, change management and digital literacy training.

 

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VALA2022 Keynote 3 Macrina

Pandemic privacy: preserving and protecting our digital rights when we’re all trapped on the internet

VALA2022 KEYNOTE SESSION 3
Wednesday 15 June 2022, 11:00 – 12:00

Alison Macrina
  • Librarian, internet activist
  • Founder and director of Library Freedom Project

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2022 #k3

View the presentation recording and presentation slides here:

 

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VALA2022 Keynote 3 Macrina Slides 4.4 MB
Abstract

Thanks to the ongoing global public health crisis, we are way more online than many of us ever wanted to be. In addition to the Zoom fatigue, the technology woes, and the connectivity issues, our digital privacy has been sacrificed to the online platform gods in order to make sure we are all being productive enough at work and school as we try to survive a deadly pandemic. Unsurprisingly, many people are fed up with this new normal, but lack the knowledge and skills to protect themselves and fight back against these incursions on their rights.

That’s where libraries come in.

As trusted spaces for information and technology help, we are well-positioned to assist our communities in understanding and responding to threats to their privacy. In this keynote, Alison Macrina, director of Library Freedom Project, will talk about how librarians can respond to the privacy crisis through education and advocacy, building trust and practical skills among our patrons to fight for a better future.

Biography

Alison Macrina is passionate about fighting surveillance and connecting privacy issues to other struggles for justice and an analysis of power.

Alison founded the Library Freedom Project in 2015, an initiative to help non-techie people learn to protect their privacy online, and to teach librarians and their local communities about surveillance threats, privacy rights and law, and privacy-protecting technology tools to help safeguard digital freedoms.

She is vocal in her opposition to digital surveillance, and was a core contributor and Community Team Lead on the Tor Project (The Onion Router) a free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication.

Alison was the recipient of the 2020 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award.

 

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VALA2022 Keynote 4 Reid

Data, decisions and dynamics: What libraries need to know to realise the promise and avoid the pitfalls of AI

VALA2022 KEYNOTE SESSION 4
Wednesday 15 June 2022, 13:00 – 14:00

Kathy Reid
  • Leader, learner, creator, developer

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2022 #k4

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VALA2022 Keynote 4 Reid Slides 4,286 KB
Abstract

The prescient words of William Gibson – “the future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed” – ring true for libraries – where AI capabilities are already being incorporated into the data, decisions and dynamics of collections, curation and communities. This keynote address goes beyond the hype. It equips library technologists to ask critical questions and make informed judgements around why, how and where AI should be used, and exactly who benefits in the process.

The talk begins with a gentle introduction to AI and machine learning, placing data at the centre of capabilities such as predictive analytics, automated decision making, cyber-physical systems, and new methods of interaction such as chatbots and voice assistants. It then moves on to understanding the promises and pitfalls of these capabilities, with a focus on fairness, accountability and power structures. Salient examples from libraries around the world are presented. The talk concludes by presenting concrete, tangible actions that can be taken to actively and conscientiously shape AI to strengthen the communities libraries serve.

Biography

Kathy Reid works at the intersection of technology, people and possibility. Over the last 20 years, she has held several technical and community leadership positions, Deakin University, Mycroft AI, and Linux Australia. More recently she has worked in voice and conversational AI at Mozilla and NVIDIA, helping to create speech technology that works well for everyone.

Kathy holds Arts and Science undergraduate degrees, an MBA (Computing), and a Masters in Applied Cybernetics (MAppCyber).

In 2019, she was one of 16 people from across the world chosen to co-create a new branch of engineering at the Australian National University’s School of Cybernetics, where she is now a PhD Candidate.

 

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 13 Atkinson

Streamlining and automating data contribution to the ANBD

VALA2022 CONCURRENT 13

Wednesday 15 June 2022, 14:10 – 14:40

Cameron Atkinson
  • Program Manager, Trove Data Support
  • National Library of Australia
Julia Hickie
  • Assistant Director, Platform Transition
  • National Library of Australia

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2022 #s13

Read the paper and view the presentation recording and slides here:

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 13 Atkinson Paper 458 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 13 Atkinson Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 13 Atkinson Slides 3,797 KB
Abstract

An opportunity to completely automate data contribution to the Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD) emerged in late 2019 by extending Trove’s existing use of the Open Archive Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) to ANBD MARC records. Trove Collaborative Services and Vendors collaborated in developing OAI-PMH Daily Update modules, which could be deployed to their partner libraries. Eighteen months later these benefits are being realised with a ‘set and forget’ automated update to the ANBD resulting in less time, less effort and more current data for everyone involved.

Biography

Cameron Atkinson has been working in libraries for twelve years. For the past four he has been lucky enough to work in Trove. Using COVID as an excuse he has spent the past two years finding workflows where everyone social distances, and no one has to touch records.

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 14 Kelly

AI, accessibility and digital collections: examining the practical application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance the accessibility of the digital collections of the State Library of Victoria

VALA2022 CONCURRENT 14

Wednesday 15 June 2022, 14:10 – 14:40

Justin Kelly
  • Business Analyst, Collections
  • State Library of Victoria

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2022 #s14

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 14 Kelly Paper 544 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 14 Kelly Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 14 Kelly Slides 12,135 KB
Abstract

A library’s digital collection can often represent the best of that library. These items can engage an audience, broaden understanding and enhance research. However, too often, due to legacy technical limitations, these digital items are not fully available to an audience with accessibility limitations. This paper focuses on digital images with particular focus on images with handwritten or non-standard text components. It aims to address the accessibility concerns, utilising existing methods to improve accessibility for such items; detailing the development, challenges, lessons learnt and the next steps of the Biblio.ai project. It will also discuss the open source software that was developed as part of the 2019 State Library of Victoria’s Digital Fellowship to improve the accessibility of SLV’s digital collections using artificial intelligence (AI).

Biography

Justin Kelly is the 2019 recipient of the Digital Fellowship from the State Library of Victoria. During his fellowship, Justin examined the use state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence technologies to enrich and bring new depth and possibilities to the Library’s digital image collection focused on the various facets of accessibility. Resulting from the fellowship, Justin has developed new open source AI based technology focused specially for the GLAMR sector. Justin will discuss the new technology and it’s practical application of AI for enhancing the accessibility for a libraries digital collections. Justin is currently the Business Data Analyst at State Library of Victoria, Justin has a passion for data visualisation and analytics have lead a number of VALA TechCamp workshops on data visualisation with Tableau and PowerBI. Prior to working at the State Library of Victoria, Justin was a Data Engineer and Web Developer at Swinburne University, focusing on data warehousing, machine learning, visualisation, computer vision and cloud technologies. These skills combined with his years of experience with library systems provide a unique understanding of library technologies and also cutting-edge cloud technologies.

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 15 Bezanson

Cutting the apron strings: where is the support after a system implementation?

VALA2022 CONCURRENT 15

Wednesday 15 June 2022, 15:10 – 15:40

Maureen Bezanson
  • Librarian (Systems, Copyright and Repository)
  • Southern Cross University
Margie Pembroke
  • Team Leader (Systems, Copyright and Reposity)
  • Southern Cross University

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 15 Bezanson Paper 120 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 15 Benzanson Slides 4,722 KB
Abstract

Case studies tend to focus on implementations and the experience of putting a system in place with vendor support. What happens once the apron strings are severed? This paper discusses the experiences at Southern Cross University Library working with new and old systems. We will look at a systems lifecycle using the metaphor of child-rearing from infancy, toddler tantrums, the rambunctious teenager, getting kicked out of home, and the prodigal daughter.

Biography

Maureen Bezanson (BSc,MLIS, UBC) is a Librarian with Southern Cross University Library’s Systems, Copyright and Repository team. She was integral to the Esploro Institutional Repository rollout at Southern Cross University in 2019 and prides herself on having just enough technological knowledge to break things. Maureen has worked as a Liaison Librarian, dabbled in children’s librarianship, worked in software support and project management.

Margie Pembroke (BALib&InfSci CSU), AALIA is the Team Leader (Systems, Copyright, Repository) at Southern Cross University. She was the project leader for Southern Cross University’s Alma implementation in 2017 and the Esploro implementation in 2020. Southern Cross University participated in the Esploro Early Adopter program. Prior to moving to the systems role, Margie was responsible for copyright and scholarly publications . With over 30 years of experience in libraries, Margie holds a Bachelor of Information Science majoring in IT from Charles Sturt University.

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 16 Kearney

#RetroPIDs: the future of our digitised past

VALA2022 CONCURRENT 16

Wednesday 15 June 2022, 15:10 – 15:40

Nicole Kearney
  • Manager, Biodiversity Heritage Library Australia
  • Museums Victoria

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2022 #s16

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VALA2022 Onsite Session 16 Kearney Paper 186 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 16 Kearney Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2022 Onsite Session 16 Kearney Slides 10,410 KB
Abstract

In October 2020, the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) launched a new initiative to retrospectively assign persistent identifiers (#RetroPIDs) to the 60 million pages of literature on the BHL website, and thus bring this foundation of the world’s biodiversity knowledge into the modern linked network of scholarly research. This paper presents both the achievements and the challenges of this critical work, and details how it engaged and empowered the global BHL community at a time when many of our libraries were closed and our usual work of digitising library materials was either impossible or severely restricted.

Biography

Nicole Kearney manages the Australian branch of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) and leads the BHL’s global Persistent Identifier Working Group (Team #RetroPIDs). She is a zoologist and science communicator striving to link all biodiversity knowledge online and to make the world’s biodiversity literature openly accessible and discoverable for everyone.

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