About Dr Piscitelli

Barbara Piscitelli is an independent consultant and researcher in education and the arts. In 1986, she established an archive of children’s art and has created several exhibitions and catalogues from her collection; she donated the collection to the State Library of Queensland in 2004.

Dr Piscitelli was Chair of the Queensland Cultural Policy Advisory Committee, and served on the Council of the National Museum of Australia (2008-2014) and as a Board Member of the Queensland Museum (2005-2014).

She taught at Queensland University of Technology for 20 years (1984 - 2004) and was Visiting Scholar at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (2007-8, 2017 & 2018).

Her research explores cultural policy and childhood, children’s learning in museums, and early childhood visual arts education.

Dr Piscitelli has received grants from the Australia Council, the Australian Research Council, Visions of Australia, The Australia-China Council, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Fulbright Foundation.

Dr Piscitelli was recognised in the Australia Day 2006 Honours as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). The citation for her Award reads: ‘For service to early childhood education as a teacher, to the establishment of programs in cultural institutions for children, and as a collector and curator of children's art.’ In 2015, she was honoured with the Chime Bell Award for foreign experts by the Hubei (China) Provincial Government.

About Sue Hutley

Sue Hutley is the General Manager, Library Customer Services at Bond University Library. During her career, Sue has worked in managerial positions in special, public and academic libraries and well as a not-for-profit Executive Director.

Sue is currently the volunteer Chair of Blue Shield Australia, a national committee of Blue Shield International, working to protect cultural heritage threatened by armed conflict and natural disasters. blueshieldaustralia.org.au @BlueShieldAust @suehutley

About Dr Robinson

Dr Shirleene Robinson has a PhD in History from the University of Queensland and is an academic historian and Associate Professor. She is the author of a number of books. These include the edited collection “Homophobia: An Australian History”, which was the first study to consider the history of homophobia in an Australian context. She was also the co-author in 2010 of the largest study of homophobia and transphobia in any Australian jurisdiction.

She has worked (with the National Library of Australia and in partnership with a number of universities across Australia) on the first national oral history project to explore gay and lesbian lives across Australia. Shirleene has been a volunteer with Australian Marriage Equality since 2012. She is currently Director, national spokesperson and New South Wales co-coordinator for Australian Marriage Equality and President of Sydney’s Pride History Group. In 2017, Shirleene was named as one of The Conversation’s top fifty Australian thinkers.

About Kirsten Thorpe

Kirsten Thorpe (Worimi, Port Stephens NSW) has led the development of protocols, policies, and services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in libraries and archives in Australia. Kirsten’s research interests relate to Indigenous self-determination in libraries and archives. She has been involved in numerous projects that have involved the return of historic collections to Indigenous peoples and communities, and advocates for a transformation of practice to center Indigenous priorities and voice in regard to the management of data, records, and collections. Kirsten is a member of the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research where she leads the Indigenous Archive and Data Stewardship Hub . The Hub focusses on research and engagement in relation to Indigenous protocols and decolonising practices in the library and archive field in Australia.

Kirsten is an advocate for the ‘right of reply’ to records, as well as capacity building and support for the development of local Indigenous digital keeping places. Kirsten was previously the Manager, Indigenous Services at the State Library of NSW where she led the development of strategies supporting state-wide information services for Indigenous people. This included support for Indigenous priorities and cultural competency across NSW Public Libraries, the launch of the Library’s first Indigenous Collecting Strategy, and projects that supported the documentation, return and revitalisation of Indigenous Australian languages through archival sources.

Kirsten is a PhD candidate at Monash University, in the Faculty of Information Technology, where she is investigating the question of Indigenous Cultural Safety in Australian Libraries and Archives.

About Lesley Acres

Lesley Ahwang Acres is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman who traces descent from the Bidjara and Kairi tribes with family ties to Badu Island, Torres Strait.

She works as a Program Officer, Indigenous Library Services at State Library of Queensland. State Library currently supports 24 Indigenous Knowledge Centres (IKCs), operated by 12 Indigenous Shire Councils, located across Queensland from the Torres Straits and Cape York regions in the north to Cherbourg in the south, assisting Councils to open, refurbish and relocate IKCs.

Lesley joined State Library in 2013 and support Cherbourg, Woorabinda and Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Councils to operate their IKCs.

She is also employed by NSLA as a Project Officer to assist with the implementation of the Indigenous Cultural Competency Project.

Her professional knowledge, having worked in different levels of government in the last 26 years, ranges from Indigenous affairs including business, training, women’s issues and housing.

About Stanley Tan

Stanley is Director of Library Planning and Development at the National Library Board Singapore. He stumbled upon library design and development work after 13 years in various arts, heritage, culture and information service portfolios and survived the birth of two of Singapore’s emblematic public libraries, library@Chinatown and library@orchard. He is excited to have discovered, through the design and development process, the joys of challenging age-old norms and imagining what future library experiences could be.

By day, he is grateful to be able to work with an eclectic band of like-minded change makers on their next attempt at re-thinking current experiences....all these while dodging killer stares from naysayers of change or getting “drunk” from coffees and bubble-teas. By night, he transforms into a cuddly superhero to a 6-year old and occasionally pretends to be a self-made PJ Mask expert. He enjoys meeting people with common aspirations to advance the charm and allure of libraries through design and re-think of the concept of future libraries. If you are one such kindred spirit, say hello and let’s exchange ideas or trade tips over a good cup of coffee.

About Siti Fatimah Taib

Siti started her career working in Singapore's public library network as an Associate Librarian for 4 years before crossing over to the Experience Design unit in the Library Planning and Development division as a manager.

She was previously involved in developing Adult-focused initiatives and worked with volunteer corporate organizations to deliver library services to low-income households in Singapore.

These days, Siti designs library experiences for both customers and staff, including the planning and design of library spaces and enhancing user interfaces and user experience for the library’s digital platforms. Her professional North Star is to amalgamate traditional methodologies with cutting-edge tech technology to ensure seamless and meaningful engagement across multi-generational library customers.

In her spare time, she likes contemplating ideas on how one can push the envelope in the evolution of libraries to be self-sustainable, relatable and relevant for future generations. However, the one question that continues to perplex her even at night is why her cat is always ignoring her.

Collaborate in the Next Library Lab

Next Library Lab will be open for the duration of the conference to showcase the outcomes of our five Innovation Studios and provide an opportunity for all conference participants to contribute their ideas.

Share, remix and interrogate the key topics and themes from the Innovation Studios, and watch as the Lab transforms over time. This is a space where everyone has equal opportunity to let their voice be heard.

No registration is needed for the Lab, so you are welcome to come back again and again.