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 About Us  About Unions NSWAbout UnionsWho's WhoInformation Centre What's Going On? Annual Reports   
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Labor Council Information Centre
With the rapid development of electronic information services, the role of the Labor Council Information Centre as a traditional library of printed material is declining. Its role as a resource centre where union members can access or be guided to the vast array of industrial, political and social material available electronically is considerably enhanced. Certainly books and journals still play a central part in the way the information centre is used, but electronic information sources have made it possible to quickly access a wider array of material than would normally be available in the library. Federal and State legislation and court decisions are generally now immediately available on line, as are Federal and State industrial decisions and Agreements. Internationally, legislation is also published in this way. This has been useful in various ways. In the past year for example, access to Swedish and Spanish occupational health laws, and to the Canadian Labour Code, have been crucial in research work carried out by the Information Centre. The International Labour Office, many occupational health and safety organisations and most state and federal Government departments carry a great deal of information on their web sites which are important for industrial relations practitioners. The value of the information centre to unions is the experience developed in techniques of searching for this information and distilling it into usable chunks. The Information Centre has the library catalogue on line, and also produces Labour Review every two weeks which is included in Workers Online. Labour Review also appears as a separate publication. This is a valuable quick guide for unions on current industrial and economic news. Much of this material is drawn from the printed material received by the Information Centre. Industrial Law updates, human resources trends, Australian Bureau of Statistics items and journals of Industrial Relations, Political Economy, Occupational Health and Safety are scanned for developments affecting affiliates. Also general background searches via the Internet are incorporated into the newsletter. University Research Centres such as the Monash National Key Centre in Industrial Relations (NKCIR), the School of Industrial Relations and Organisational Behaviour (IROB) at the University of NSW, and the Centre for Corporate Change at the Australian Graduate School of Management produce useful working papers on industrial issues. The union movement is going through a lean time, and having access to wide-ranging research developments is invaluable. Part of the Information Centre's role is to make sure unionists are aware of, and can respond to, social research. Developments in the next year should see the Research Centre providing an on-line industrial information service in response to the many questions directed to the Centre from surfers using our website. This will be part of the development of LaborNET as a more broad ranging interactive resource. The year 2000 should also see strong connections with Trade Union Training Australia (TUTA) Organising courses being run through the training room (adjacent to the Information Centre on the ground floor). The Information Centre's legal resources, an excellent supply of background information on trade union history, Organising strategies, community/union links and occupational health and safety information will be of assistance. The focus on Organising will also be assisted by the Information Centre partially focusing the fortnightly Labour Review on successes in Organising strategies around the world. Our book collection will continue to expand via scholarly publishing on union history, economic and social conditions and political developments, maintaining the library as an important resource for labour and industrial relations researchers, students and activists.
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