Member's Reading Room, Parliament House Brisbane

During the recent school holidays, I went to Brisbane to attend State of Origin III, which New South Wales won convincingly, and to spend some time away from home.

I decided to do a free tour of Parliament House in Brisbane. I had previously done the tour back in 2006, but armed with a better camera, I wanted to capture the building itself. Generally, in these tours, photography is allowed as long as people are not in it.

The tour included a visit to the Members' Reading Room, which acted as the original parliamentary library until 1979, when it was relocated to the Parliamentary Annexe Building.

It is located between the Legislative Assembly and the now non-existent Legislative Council. For Queensland MPs, they can use the reading room to make phone calls and undertake work. The books and resources on the shelves have been digitised.

In preparing this entry, I had no photos of the reading room from the 2006 visit. I cannot recall whether I was shown the room back then.

Below are some photos I took of the reading room. 

What Is The New Role Of A School Library In The Digital Age?

Ron Leunissen wrote an article last year that tries to answer the role of a school library in a school.

Certainly it is easier to access information than ever before. You can access library services from your own home or your own device.

But school libraries will always have a big role in a school. One comment stood out for me:

"The role of a librarian will be more to teach students how search properly in the ocean of information and  to evaluate the value of the source of the information."

I've noticed this in my work to date. Some students don't know where to go to begin their research for a learning task. They need a librarian to sift through what is available and provide a recommendation or the skills that they need to undertake an effective search. I also encourage students to reflect on what they have used in their learning and determine their relevance to the task at hand.

Libraries support the technology driven curriculum. Some would say this reduces the need for one to visit the school library. This is where libraries also have a big role to play. Why? They can provide the resources that one needs to create information. It might be the mp3 recorder that they need to create a podcast or seminar rooms to create a presentation that they might present to a class. We can also guide one in how to present that information as well.