Public Libraries SA represents the public libraries of South Australia (including joint use and school community libraries). Our Vision is to create a vibrant and sustainable network of South Australian Public Libraries, enriching the community. We provide leadership and direction for the South Australian Public Library Network and through convening our biennial conference we provide this leadership, the opportunity for engagement with fellow peers and champions of libraries, access to innovators and to those who are recognized for service excellence and celebrate success.
This year the Public Libraries SA Biennial Conference is to be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre, September 2nd and 3rd 2019.
The conference will be themed around “Tomorrow’s Libraries” (the key report for the development of Public Libraries in South Australia) and the contribution Public Libraries make to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Sustainable Development Goals provide a valuable framework for library advocacy.
PLSA President Mrs. L Spurling said “Libraries have always been a force for good in the world. The SDGs provide us with an opportunity to show how much we can achieve by improving access to information and helping people transform their knowledge into life-enhancing opportunities.” She continued “Public Libraries SA will be a strong voice of advocacy for libraries into the future to demonstrate their essential role, creating and supporting communities.”
The conference will open up and explore ways in which we can remain sustainable, both advocate and transform our services and spaces to meet and engage with all communities; investigate and explore the rapidly developing technological changes around us; and the impact on our services and the increasing sophistication of customer expectations and constantly evolving community needs. Technology hasn’t killed our public libraries- it has inspired them to transform and stay relevant.
The two days of the Conference are themed:
Advocacy: Sustainability – The Sustainable Development Goals provide a valuable framework for library advocacy. They can take us to different places, start new conversations, and demonstrate the dynamism of libraries.
Spaces and Engaging with communities – Public libraries are key to democratic development, learning and literacy. They empower diverse populations and provide spaces and access to knowledge to support people’s own development.
Libraries place in the future digital world – The sense of place continues to be important; people now recognize libraries as both physical places and digital spaces. Can libraries offer a place to help train people in digital skills and provide online access to essential information? Could that be the role libraries play in a digital age?
Public Libraries SA Executive look forward to presenting this exciting biennial conference and the opportunity to explore, debate and be inspired. Public libraries are at a turning point and the advent of new technologies has changed our reading and information seeking habits. However, our need for shared, community-centered spaces to find information and connect with others is unlikely to change any time soon. To survive in the digital age and stay relevant, public libraries need to be brave and innovative. They must embrace both the physical and virtual. We are confident that those who attend “Public Libraries – Building for the Future” will take away new ideas and concepts to implement in their libraries for their communities.
