The contributions to the second issue of 2015 cover a wide range of topics and thus represent the diversity of interests and concerns of library and information professionals in Australia and of the contexts and institutions in which they practise.
Thomas Joyce's examination of copyright law leads the issue. Joyce describes evolving copyright norms and provides guidelines for applying them in an environment of copyright uncertainty and disconnect between copyright laws and norms. Rachael Cilauro reports on a Minecraft gaming day held at North Melbourne Library, which provided younger community members with an opportunity to work with librarians to promote social inclusion and literacy building. Also with a public library focus, Asha Davis, Celia Rice, Deanne Spagnolo, Josephine Struck and Suzie Bull explore pop-up libraries. Their article is a revised version of a project report they produced for the 2014 Victorian Shared Leadership program, in which they examined six Australian public libraries that had established pop-up libraries.
In ‘Telling social stories' Ashley Barnwell, a University of Melbourne sociologist, examines the changing relationship between family historians and libraries, and tracks trends in the kinds of family and social histories that libraries make accessible and family historians pursue. Next, in ‘Realising the strategic value of RFID in academic libraries’, John Chelliah, Suresh Sood and Sally Scholfield report on the recent implementation of RFID technology in the University of Technology, Sydney Library and provide an insight into the change management process. Finally, joint-use libraries serving remote communities are examined by Rachel Sarjeant-Jenkins and Keith Walker. They report on research into two joint-use libraries in northern Manitoba, Canada, identifying factors in the success of the partnerships that are equally applicable to joint-use libraries in Australia.
Our Reviews Editor notes that in the Reviews Section there is a hidden test for Australasian librarians: ‘The survey found over 70% of libraries are using social media tools and 30% of librarians are posting at least daily.’ Is your library part of the 70%? If not, why not? And why only 70%? More to the point, why do only 30% of you post on social media?
Reviews are available online to supplement those published in each issue of ALJ. The theme for this issue is Management Issues, available at http://www.alia.org.au/publications-and-news/australian-library-journal-alj/alj-online-reviews.
Again I wish to acknowledge the contribution of the Journal's editorial assistants, Jaye Weatherburn and Julia Kuehns, for their help with producing the Journal.