Our Capabilities - Library Consultants

Established in 1997, Libraries Alive! is an independent Australian consulting company formed to bring fresh, pragmatic and customer-centred perspectives to the improvement of library and information services.

Directors and Associates of the company share a view of the fundamental social and economic importance of libraries, and believe that the application of business guidelines - especially treating information as an asset - will reaffirm and proclaim their value.

Libraries Alive! uses its own 'No Surprises' methodology which delivers measurable results within customer-defined objectives.  Thorough consultation and inclusive decision-making are important elements of its approach to all assignments.

Ian McCallum and Sherrey Quinn, the principals of Libraries Alive!, are experienced library consultants who have extensive information management experience in both public and private sectors. Their library and information consulting specialities include:  

• Strategic and tactical planning
• Customer focus, marketing strategies and tactics
• Customer service planning and evaluation
• Performance and operational audits, quality issues
• Library services reviews and customer needs analysis
• Information services value quantification

• Information gathering, synthesis and presentation
• Information provision and resource discovery
• Information audits
• Indexing (databases, back-of-book, websites) and metadata
• Thesaurus construction, maintenance and review

• Purchasing and acquisition strategies and procedures
• System evaluation and post-implementation audits
• Software acceptance, usability testing and documentation
• Library technology assessment
• Contract negotiation and management

• Rewarding Reading - readers' adviser training & train-the-trainer courses
• Reference refresher training – focusing on the reference interview and customer service principles
• Library performance measurement and evaluation workshops
• Development and delivery of training for users of electronic information resources
• Skills transfer - training programs developed to suit customer needs