Building a learning community: the Brimbank libraries strategy.

• Author: Kelly, Chris
• Position: Brimbak, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Report

Creating a community of lifelong learners is one of Brimbank City Council's strategic directions for community well- being and improving the social and economic outcomes of individuals and the community. Brimbank's libraries have been repositioned to support community aspirations through lifelong learning. Library programs have a learning focus and a framework has been developed to ensure that programs support learning needs and aspirations. Edited version of a paper presented at the conference 'Learning for all: public libraries in Australia and New Zealand Melbourne 13-14 September'.

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Brimbank is 11 kilometres west of the Melbourne central business district. It is the second largest municipality in Melbourne and the largest in Melbourne's western region, with a population of 190,000. Large sections of it have low socioeconomic status, areas of high educational disadvantage and high rates of youth unemployment. The 2006 ABS census data (1) provided strong evidence of the need for council to support learning in its communities

* 13% of Brimbank residents had only completed their education to year 8 or below compared to 8% in greater Melbourne

* education participation rates in Brimbank were lower for 15-24 year olds with 24% compared to 30% in greater Melbourne

* 41% of Brimbank residents had completed year 12 compared with 49% in greater Melbourne

* 15% of residents had a bachelor or higher degree compared to 27% in greater Melbourne nearly 20% of 15 to 19 year olds were not engaged in work or education.

Brimbank has higher levels of unemployment than that of greater Melbourne and the Socioeconomic indexes for areas (Seifa) (2) lists it as one of the lowest socioeconomic areas in Melbourne. Brimbank also has many strengths, one of which is its cultural diversity--it is one of the most culturally diverse municipalities in Australia with

* over 150 languages spoken

* 43% of resident born overseas

* 54% speaking a language other than English

* a large number of second and third generation migrants who speak their native language at home.

In addition to the cultural diversity, 24% of the residents born overseas have low or no English literacy.

Community plan and learning strategy

In 2008 council commenced an extensive process of engaging and consulting with the community to create the Brimbank community plan 2009-2030. (3) This is its first community based plan and sets the direction for the council plans and therefore the work that council undertakes. One of the strategic directions in the community plan is the creation of a learning community. The libraries and learning department has a lead role in this.

In 2009 the department engaged and consulted with 120 plus individuals and organisations to develop the Brimbank community learning strategy. (4) This was completed and published in 2010 and provides a framework for collaboration and partnerships to support the development of a learning community. Its vision is

To build a community of lifelong learners by working with partner organisations to empower people to take control of their lives, raise aspirations, enhance employability and build active citizenship and quality of life in Brimbank. The implementation of the strategy is the responsibility of the libraries and learning department. The strategy provides a framework for supporting learning as a means of improving social and economic outcomes for individuals and communities. It supports learning in all life phases so that Brimbank develops as a community of lifelong learners in which people embrace learning as a way of life (see appendix). In order to strengthen council's commitment to lifelong learning significant work was undertaken to reposition the libraries.

Repositioning library services

The repositioning of the libraries enabled the allocation of significant staff resources for the development and delivery of programs/learning opportunities. Supporting the creation of a learning community is not limited to programs--library resources support learning through collections, programs, spaces and facilities.

Departmental changes were made to maximise the capacity to support the development of a learning community. The first change process was the restructuring of the department's leadership team and one of the outcomes was the creation of a community engagement and development coordinator position responsible for partnerships, programs and community learning. This senior position supports staff with partnerships and with the design, development and delivery of programs across the five library branches and via the online library.

The second review was a service point realignment. This included

* rewriting the branch staff position descriptions to reflect contemporary library work and included new work practices

* reclassification of position descriptions that had not been classified for a considerable period of time

* reallocation of staff time from circulation tasks to program delivery

* development and the introduction of a competency framework that enables staff to apply for more senior positions based on their competency rather than qualification, and which expanded the range of qualifications appropriate to positions such as teaching and community development.

The reviewed position descriptions and the competency framework both underpin the requirement for all staff to be involved in the design, planning, development and delivery of programs, depending on their band level. Importantly, the documents have also enabled changes or broadened the qualifications held by the workforce. Library qualifications are still held by the majority of staff but we have staff with teaching, ICT, community development and youth work qualifications. The diversity of qualifications has strengthened teams and skill sets. The outcome of the reclassification of position descriptions was a rebanding of staff to the next band level in acknowledgement of the skills and responsibilities required.

Library overview

Brimbank Libraries are well resourced with 59 equivalent fulltime positions, the buildings are bursting at the seams with more than 1.2 million visits annually and space is always an issue. Sunshine, the largest and busiest library, is 1,200[m.sup.2] and Keilor Village, the smallest and quietest branch is less than 300[m.sup.2]. The online library has 0.9 million visits each year and is available in 4 languages. There are 260,000 items in the collection and 1.9 million collection utilisations annually. The libraries have 150 public internet computers, 335,000 computer...