Presented at LILAC 2015

1. The Producers: rethinking roles to create an in-library production team
Emma Lawler, Macquarie University, emma.c.lawler@mq.edu.au
Fiona Jones, Macquarie University, fiona.jones@mq.edu.au
In 2013, Macquarie University Library created an Information Literacy (IL) Support and
Development team. One of the major outputs of this team is the creation of new IL content
in-house. This ‘production team’ learnt on-the-job with each new assignment, taking
advantage of opportunities to be trained by experts on campus and developing production
skills and the sophistication of tools used and products created. The multimedia and video
content created is part of a larger collection of activities and tools designed to support the
research, teaching and learning needs of our large and diverse client base.
Training in the use of multimedia technologies and software was crucial to the success of this
approach. Building on existing internal partnerships with the University’s Learning and
Teaching Centre allowed us to draw on internal expertise for staff training. Our partners
provided guidance in educational design, video production and equipment such as cameras
and lighting.
Also fundamental was dedicating time to ‘create’. It was essential to allow the team, more
familiar with service roles, to experiment and gradually improve their production skills.
Balancing the time needed with frontline service commitments was a challenge that required
support from Library management and our colleagues.
Producing video and multimedia content is a far cry from traditional process-driven library
roles. We hope to inspire delegates to apply creative and collaborative approaches to IL in
their own context by sharing our experience and how we learnt to be open to constructive
criticism, became increasingly collaborative and confident in learning and applying new ideas
and skills.