ERA and the National and State Libraries

The members of the NSLA consortium (all State & Territory Libraries and the National Library) are committed to supporting the development of ERA and the principle of making a core set of electronic resources accessible to all library customers in Australia.

Up to now the take-up of ERA products by consortium members has been relatively low because members already have subscriptions to many of the databases offered through ERA as part of larger bundled packages, but we will continue to work with ERA to overcome these barriers and help us all to take ERA to the next level.

- Tony Leschen, ERA Executive Committee member representing NSLA (National & State Libraries Australasia)

Update on the 2009 ERA Executive elections

Nominations for the ERA Executive Committee closed on 21 October 2009. 

An election among the school libraries is being conducted to finalise the Committee representation for the school sector.  This is to ensure that, as per the ERA Goverance Framework, no more than two representatives are drawn from each sector.

Details of the membership of the new ERA Executive Committee will be announced next month.

Upcoming 2010 ERA Product Poll

The 2010 Product Poll will take place during the period February - April 2010.  At the request of members, there will be an increased lead time for members to consider products. 

The annual ERA Product Poll is used to establish the level of library interest in subscriptions to the resources offered on the ERA Product List and to help coordinate subscription details with vendors.

More information about the Product Poll will be provided in the coming months.

Schools article on ERA in Connections

You may be interested in an article by June Wall (ERA Executive Committee - school libraries) titled Electronic Resources Australia and school libraries which was published in the school library publication Connections (SCIS), issue 71. 

We have noticed an increase in the number of inquiries about ERA from school libraries since the article was published.

Feedback sought on the ERA website

The ERA website needs updating to reflect the current membership. We thought we would take the opportunity to also review the content and the layout of the ERA website.

Do you find the ERA website easy to use? Can you find what you are looking for quickly? Please help us improve the site by emailing your feedback and suggestions to: era@nla.gov.au

Key dates to remember

12 February 2010 - 2010 ERA Membership Forum, Melbourne, venue to be confirmed 

February - April 2010 - 2010 ERA Product Poll