Our Capabilities - Library Consultants

Libraries Alive! is an independent Australian consulting company formed to bring a lively, informed and pragmatic perspective to library and information services. Our ‘no surprises’ methodology delivers implementable recommendations and measurable results within customer-defined objectives.

Ian McCallum and Sherrey Quinn, the principals of Libraries Alive!, are experienced library consultants with backgrounds in public and private sector information management and service delivery. Consulting specialities include:

• General reviews
• Strategic plans, resource allocation
• Facility planning
• New library specification
• Operational audits & reviews
• Staff establishment reviews
• Statistical analysis & bench-marking
• Community consultation
• Customer needs analysis
• Value analysis
• Marketing & business development
• Library standards & guidelines

• Information gathering, synthesis & presentation
• Expert searching & resource discovery
• Information audits
• Editing and proofreading
• Database indexing
• Website indexing
• Book & periodical indexing
• Metadata
• Thesaurus construction, maintenance & review
• Taxonomy design & development

• Purchasing & acquisition strategies
• Software evaluation and reviews
• Software acceptance, usability testing & documentation
• Post-implementation audits
• Contract negotiation & management
• Problem-solving

• Rewarding Reading readers' adviser training & train-the-trainer courses
• Rewarding Reference refresher and customer service re-orientation
• Performance measurement and bench-marking workshops
• Electronic resources training
• Custom training programs for specific requirements

• Library projects
• Library IT projects
• Indexing projects

• Workshops and focus groups
• Meeting reports & documentation