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With the rise in numbers of people experiencing homelessness in our cities, towns and regions, public libraries are seeing an increase in visits from members of this community. Public library staff are increasingly required to assist and work with people experiencing homelessness, often with little training and without the guidance of policy documents to advise them. This article reports on a survey of Australian public library staff who were asked about their experiences in, and attitudes toward working with this community. The article finds public library staff are frequently working with people experiencing homelessness. Although library staff largely believe working with this community is part of their role, they also report feeling unsafe at work, and a belief that the presence of people experiencing homelessness in libraries can be detrimental to other library users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Codesigning public library spaces is often limited to consulting with end-users rather than giving them a role as actual co-designers. This article advocates for more genuine codesign of public library spaces and critically examines the prevalent challenges in achieving true codesign in public library developments. The article introduces a two-year Australian Research Council Linkage research project, 'Designing for Communities with Communities'. The project aims to provide public library staff with a set of codesign tools they can adapt for their own particular projects. Using comparative case studies, the project will also identify the challenges of integrating codesign into the development of public library spaces, and key factors in the effectiveness of projects that seek their communities' inputs and engagement. This article introduces the theory of participatory and codesign, and sets out the basic conceptual framework for the project. It also reports on its initial stages, including preliminary interviews with key protagonists and preliminary user surveys about existing spaces. Moreover, the article discusses the design of the case studies' community workshops, where most of the actual codesigning will take place, with an extensive discussion and analysis of the activities that could be included in these workshops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on findings of an international scoping review of literature on social work in libraries. The review explored how social work is practised in libraries, and barriers and facilitators to embedding professional social work within public libraries. Using a literature search protocol, databases were systematically searched, and results refined through several phases of data screening, resulting in 16 articles eligible for inclusion. The dataset was thematically analysed by the research team. Data analysis revealed that most articles emanate from research undertaken in metropolitan settings in the United States, and that empirical research has typically been small-scale, using qualitative or mixed methods. Most articles described social work as multidimensional, including direct contact roles with library visitors, as well as indirect practice with library staff for professional development purposes. In the dataset, authors acknowledged the changing role of libraries that sees a greater focus on addressing social justice issues with increasingly diverse populations of library visitors and their evolving needs - a focus in common with social workers' practice. Authors identified opportunities and challenges regarding interprofessional collaboration between social workers and library staff, including role boundaries and sustainability. Building on these themes, implications for future research and interprofessional practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the roles that Australian public libraries are aiming to play in their communities, mission statements from a sample of fifty public library networks were extracted from their corporate documents and subjected to both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The five broader roles most commonly articulated were to facilitate learning and discovery, to increase social connectedness, to provide spaces and places, to provide access to information and resources, and to facilitate inclusion and celebrate diversity. Overall, the mission of Australian public libraries focuses more on learning and community building than on their traditional function of information access provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to gauge how much, and why, people value visiting public libraries by asking them about the impact of the library closures. A questionnaire survey was administered to users of four library networks in New South Wales, Australia. About 19% of 1,295 respondents missed their library "a great deal," another 28% "quite a lot." Most commonly respondents missed browsing the shelves, taking children for visits, studying, reading, and socializing there. They also missed the quiet, relaxing, and friendly environment, and the resources provided. For many, the closures impacted their lives in a critical way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public library staff are increasingly required to work with members of the public with high social needs. Public libraries are places of sanctuary and connection for people experiencing challenges such as homelessness, poverty, mental illness, domestic violence and substance abuses. In recognizing their role to serve the needs of all people who enter their buildings, public library staff are often asked to work outside their areas of expertise to meet the needs of community members. Public library staff can experience feeling overwhelmed and anxious when working with this community, often wanting to help but not knowing where the boundary between providing support and undermining the self-determination of the individual lies, and not knowing what resources and services would best meet the needs of these visitors. To assist patrons with high social needs and library staff, the City of Melbourne Libraries followed an approach now common in the United States of America, but largely untested in Australia by working with a local housing group to place a social worker in their City Library. This article explores the early work of the Library Social Worker as she engaged with library patrons and provided training to library staff. Using statistics and case notes that describe her activities and their outcomes, we can see that although this practice is new for the Australian public library system, the placement of a social worker into a busy urban library has significant benefits to both patrons in need and the staff who work with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to articles in the issue is presented on topics including perceived levels of risk associated with different forms of disaster, examples of how Australian libraries have demonstrated resilience in the face of natural disasters, and findings from interviews with eight public library staff from Australia.

This paper reports on part one of a multi-part research project investigating Australian public library responses to the requirement to close their physical sites due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The aim was to examine how Australian public libraries responded to the crisis during their periods of closure in terms of services and resources, the challenges they faced, and the role locality played in their response. In total, 212 public library authority managers completed an online questionnaire survey in August 2020 representing 695 public library branch locations. The results showed that during their periods of closure of their physical sites, libraries established new services (e.g. wellbeing phone calls, delivery of craft kits to users) and expanded several existing ones, especially those related to e-resources. The biggest challenge reported was managing staff working arrangements. While most libraries kept permanent staff and fixed-term staff on full hours, most completely cut volunteers and casual staff hours. There were some geographic differences in the response of libraries to the crisis. Overall, however, whilst metropolitan, regional and remote public libraries faced immense challenges, especially regarding staffing and human resources, they were also able to respond rapidly and with agility to the challenges brought about by COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the capacity for Australian prison libraries to support the 'whole person'. Based on a phenomenological study of the experiences of using prison libraries by Australian adult prisoners, the article identifies three ways that prison libraries can reduce stress, and support positive mental health, and thereby serve the 'whole person' within their user groups. The study finds that prison libraries can support prisoner wellbeing by providing opportunities for autonomy, by acting as therapeutic spaces, and by supporting positive behaviour management. As a phenomenological study, the experiences of the prisoners regarding their libraries serving them as 'whole people' are described in their own words. We can hear the prisoners' voices as they describe how their libraries contribute to their wellbeing. Through a study of prisoners' lived experiences and how these experiences are reflected, or not reflected in the extant literature, it is possible to demonstrate that prison libraries do have the capacity to serve the 'whole person' and thereby support prisoner wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the literature relating to libraries in prisons and introduces findings from a recent study that explores the lived experience of using Australian prison libraries. The paper identifies literature regarding the history of libraries in prisons, both in Australia and elsewhere, and then studies contemporary prison libraries and the standards and documents that guide their management and practices. One of the main roles of incarceration is the reform of the individual. As the role of education in this process is considered to be crucial, the educational and broader information needs of prisoners are discussed, along with the role prison libraries can play in supporting prisoners to satisfy these needs. This discussion is followed by a study of the nature of existing research and publications relating to prison libraries. The lack of understanding of the prison library user experience, particularly within the Australian context, is identified. A recent doctoral study designed to address this lack of knowledge is introduced, and the paper ends with the identification of five themes identified by that study that describe the experience of using Australian prison libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This response to the report by lawyer Robert Francis into the failure of National Health Service (NHS) care in Mid-Staffordshire is fairly positive about its conclusions but points out that without consideration of personal, psychosocial factors in care, on the ward, in the institution things are unlikely to improve, the report leaves much unconsidered. Francis emphasises that patient care is at the very centre of the NHS, this is obvious but so often forgotten. He comments that the unhelpful blame culture still exists. Missing from Francis’ analysis is a psychological perspective – the systemic factors he mentions are administrative not relational. This response is an attempt to redress the balance in thinking about the improvement of care for patients and of the working lives of staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the findings of a survey of more than 100 Australian outer regional and remote public library managers. Public libraries in these areas serve more than 2.5 million Australians, representing an important yet under-researched topic. Using an online questionnaire, with a response rate of more than 40%, we asked public library managers in rural Australia about the services provided by both fixed-site and mobile libraries (where applicable), as well as online and other outreach services. Questions also covered the value, issues and challenges of respondents' library services. Findings suggest that while rural libraries perform some similar functions to their more urban counterparts, and share some challenges, they are especially valued by their communities in the absence of alternative services and social outlets, making the library even more of a key facilitator, potentially, of social inclusion and community interaction. Respondents also noted an increasing demand for IT services and digital literacy support among their users, a need sometimes at odds with the challenge these libraries face maintaining up-to-date technical infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a phenomenological study on the use of Australian prison libraries. Topics discussed include role of prison libraries to educate, rehabilitate and reform prisoners; experience of using Australian prison libraries from the prisoner perspective and their use as means of experiencing autonomy and responsibility for themselves; and provision of a quality library service to prisoners.

The aim of this paper was to find out how knowledge and skills in demand by libraries compare with librarians' preoccupations and aspirations. Two sets of data were analysed using content analysis. A) 972 criteria in 127 Australian library-related job advertisements (from 2021) were coded against ALIA's Foundation knowledge for entry-level library and information professionals. B) 465 articles published in INCITE (an Australian professional LIS magazine) from 2018 to 2020 were mapped against the framework afforded by the IFLA Trend Report 2019 Update. From the ten domains in ALIA's foundation knowledge, behavioural skills were the most sought domain in the job advertisements (84.3% of advertisements), followed by those of leadership and management (58.3%), digital technologies (49.6%), and literacies and learning (22%). Professionalism (5.5%) and research (14.2%) were the least sought domains. Of the three key trends identified by IFLA, the top preoccupation in the professional literature was found to be 'dealing with uncertainty' (60.2% of articles). This is the first study to analyse both job advertisements and professional literature and map them against expected professional competencies and the sector's emerging trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) improves outcomes in patients 65 years of age or less with multiple myeloma. Survival and costs in a cohort of 16 patients who received melphalan and prednisone as part of a clinical trial were compared with those of 36 patients referred to our centre for consideration of ASCT In the transplant group, survival and costs were extrapolated to match the period of observation in the melphalan and prednisone group. Patient-specific and average costs were calculated from the perspective of the Ontario Ministry of Health. Costs and survival were varied by 50% in the sensitivity analysis. Transplantation improved life expectancy by 19.3 months with a cost difference of $30,517 Canadian. The incremental cost-effectiveness of transplantation compared with melphalan and prednisone was $25,710 Canadian per life-year gained when additional pamidronate and follow-up costs were considered. Discounting costs and survival at 3 and 5% did not result in important differences. The sensitivity analysis resulted in best and worse case scenarios for transplantation compared with melphalan and prednisone of $13,049 and $63,954 per lifeyear gained respectively. In comparison with melphalan and prednisone, ASCT appears to be costeffective in patients 65 years old or younger with myeloma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]