Read our news every month for a quick roundup of upcoming training and professional development opportunities, webinars, events and more.
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Reference and information online seminar
The reference and information services working group has organised a morning of presentations on Tuesday 20 May.
Hear from Dr Heather Ford about the AI in the Library research project as well as lightning talks from a selection of public libraries.
- Find out more information and register here.
Readers' advisory seminar follow up session
The readers' advisory working group is hosting a session following on from the recent readers' advisory seminar.
Join online on Tuesday 6 May from 10am-12pm to share ideas you took away from the seminar, discuss the Understanding Australian Readers research and its implications for readers' advisory work, and share what you are doing in readers' advisory work at your library. All library staff are welcome to attend, even if you weren't able to attend the seminar in March.
- Catch up on the readers' advisory seminar here.
Register your Law Week events
This year’s Law Week is being held from 19-25 May.
Many libraries host community legal education talks from legal experts during Law Week. Talks and events help the community to understand their rights, find answers to questions, know what help is available and learn how our legal system works.
You can see some of the events being offered by libraries on the NSW Law Week website.
Forty-seven library events were registered on the Law Week website last year. It would be great to see even more registered this year – it’s a great way of showcasing the variety of events offered to the community by libraries.
Drug & Alcohol Info Pop-up 2025-26
Expressions of interest are now open for the Drug & Alcohol Info Pop-up, Drug Info's travelling interactive information display.
The Pop-up is a great way to promote the information about alcohol and other drugs your library community can access through the Drug Info service, and comes with a variety of resources for activities and events. Programs can be run as standalone events or incorporated into regular library programming, and the Pop-up can be easily transported throughout your library service and at outreach events.
If you are interested in hosting the display, please complete the online form by 16 May 2025.
NSW.net consortia opt-in offers for 2025-26
The NSW.net consortia opt-in offer scheme negotiates substantial discounts for econtent, catalogue enhancement, and collection development products for NSW public libraries. The 2025-26 offers are currently being added to the NSW.net website.
Please note the pricing is commercial in confidence and can only be viewed by registered NSW public library staff directly responsible for the selection of eresources. NSW public library staff can register online.
- View the 2025-26 offers on the NSW.net website.
- Find out more by doing the NSW.net consortia opt-in offers scheme mini module on the PL Portal, our online training platform. The module takes about 15 minutes.
Federal election ephemera collecting
The State Library needs your assistance to ensure the upcoming federal election on Saturday 3 May is thoroughly documented. We need help with collecting the following:
- how to vote cards
- posters
- flyers
- badges
- stickers
- magnets
- mailouts
Please send material collected to:
Election Ephemera
Level 2
State Library of New South Wales
1 Shakespeare Place
Sydney NSW 2000
State Library building works - transforming the Macquarie Street building
The State Library's Macquarie Street building is undergoing a major refurbishment to create a more inviting, accessible, and inspiring space for the millions of visitors who walk through our doors. To make this possible, the Macquarie Street building including the Bashir Reading Room, Library bookshop and cafe will temporarily close from 5 pm, Monday 12 May until the refurbishment is completed later this year.
- Find out more here
Lit Up! Picture this conference
The Lit Up! Picture this conference will be held at the State Library on Friday 9 May 2025. The conference is designed for teacher librarians, primary and secondary teachers and children’s librarians in exploring the power of the picture. This conference will focus on how imagery, whether in picture books, comics, graphic novels or library collections, enhances learning, comprehension and engagement for readers of all ages.
The conference is coordinated by the Learning team at the State Library.
Public library staff can claim travel for attendance at approved professional development activities, for libraries more than 100 kms from the venue.