FLY-BRARY BOOKING BIG TRIPS: Jet-setting Geelong library public servants in global work jaunts
SSSHHHH! LIBRARIANS ARE DEEP IN RESEARCH
FROM Jordan to Germany, Fiji and the UK.
Geelong library staff, including CEO Patty Manolis (pictured), have shared in four overseas trips in as many months, touching down in different corners of the globe.
FROM Jordan to Germany, Fiji and the UK, Geelong library staff have shared in four overseas trips in as many months, touching down in different corners of the globe.
CEO Patti Manolis was in Berlin last week, attending a regular event on her international calendar — the Next Library Conference.
Executive manager Cathy Ferencz this week joined speakers from Europe and Asia in presenting a workshop in Amman, the capital of Jordan, while events and programs manager Maryanne Vagg spent a fortnight in the UK last month, after securing a spot on Melbourne City of Literature’s Edinburgh Exchange.
The Geelong Regional Library Corporation has defended its travel itinerary, which it says is heavily subsidised by other organisations and delivers benefits for local library users and staff.
“The GRLC has expended less than $5000 in total over the past three years on overseas travel costs,” board chairman Ron Nelson said.
“(We are) always mindful of financial implications when making decisions regarding attendance at international conferences and other professional activities.”
The Next Library Conference focuses on global library trends and innovations, as well as the opportunity to expand networks in the sector.
For her recent trip to Germany, Ms Manolis covered the cost of the airfare and accommodation ($2755).
The GRLC board approved five days of study/conference leave, paying just the $422 conference registration fee.
For last year’s Next Library Conference in Denmark, Ms Manolis paid for the airfares and meals but the GRLC paid almost $3000 to cover accommodation and other costs.
Ms Manolis receives her GRLC salary while pursuing an international initiative that is fully funded by a philanthropic foundation set up by Bill and Melinda Gates.
She was one of 19 from across the world chosen in 2011 to join the International Network of Library Innovators program, which aims to strengthen libraries in the Pacific region.
That initiative — which she attends in work time — has taken her and colleague Deanne Verity to New Zealand and Fiji in the past two years.
While the GRLC staff continue to head overseas, the organisation has reduced its spend on travel in recent years.
It attracted controversy in mid-2013, when three library leaders took a $21,855 European study tour through Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands.
A library spokeswoman said budgetary pressures did not factor into assessments about the need to venture abroad.
“There is always strict consideration of the merit of overseas travel, whether it is in financially constrained times of (council) rate capping or not.”
But the tight nature of the library network’s budget — which is heavily reliant on funding from its four member councils — was brought into sharp focus last year.
Library users were shocked by the GRLC’s proposed 2017-18 Budget, which sought to close the underperforming Highton, Barwon Heads and Chilwell branches.
But fierce lobbying convinced the Geelong council administrators to find the extra funding needed to keep the three sites open.
In the wake of council rate capping, the GRLC has been exploring other ways to source money.
“The GRLC is working hard to increase revenue itself through our successful venue hire operation and further diversification,” Cr Nelson said.
It has lifted its rates for venue hire at the centrepiece Dome library, raised overdue fines and is aiming to add 400 members to its Friends of Geelong Libraries initiative.