Welcome to the Statewide Public Library Development Projects, a collaborative effort between State Library Victoria and Victoria’s public libraries aimed at enriching the lives of all Victorians through inclusive library services. Funded and managed by the State Library, these projects are overseen by the Library Board of Victoria, guided by the Library Board of Victoria and Public Libraries Victoria Framework for Collaborative Action (2023).
Goals of the Projects
Our overarching goals are to ensure:
– Every Victorian can easily access the collections and services of every public library.
– An agile library workforce continually develops its skills and leadership to meet changing community needs.
– Enhanced and innovative community engagement with libraries.
– Strong and effective advocacy and promotion for public libraries.
– Increased efficiency in library service delivery.
Libraries Future Ready
Libraries Future Ready replaces Sector Capability Lifting and is a foundational program encompassing various projects impacting all facets of service delivery. It acknowledges the critical importance of growing and developing the sector’s people, skills, and infrastructure for a sustainable and innovative future. Projects under Libraries Future Ready include:
– Managing Self, Managing Others
– Barrett Reid and Margery C Ramsay Scholarships
– Pierre Gorman Award
– Mentoring Program (subject to review of this year’s pilot)
– Leadership Learning Forums (annual)
Libraries for Health and Wellbeing
Building upon the successes of Libraries for Health and Wellbeing 2020-2023, this program extension aims to further enrich the sector’s impact on community health and wellbeing.
Key initiatives include:
- Review and update of Libraries for Health and Wellbeing strategic framework, including outcome evaluation.
- Research on the role of public libraries in fostering social connections and improving in this area.
- Libraries for Aboriginal Peoples, focusing on ongoing consultation, engagement, and creating culturally welcoming spaces.
Libraries for Aboriginal Peoples
Libraries for Aboriginal Peoples aims to ensure Victoria public libraries are culturally welcoming, safe and relevant spaces for Aboriginal library staff and Aboriginal communities. Within the Sector there is desire to engage with Aboriginal peoples and help redress the impacts of colonisation. This is consistent with the thinking across Victoria and the nation.
This project seeks to ensure Victorian public libraries are seen as a desirable career, increase the number of programs for and increase satisfaction in library services and programs by Aboriginal peoples.
- Ongoing consultation and engagement with Aboriginal individuals and organizations to understand their needs and preferences.
- Development of an engagement roadmap that supports library services to engage Aboriginal peoples/organisations.