FAQs about Governance
See also: Answers to FAQs
- What are the governance arrangements for ERA?
- Why is the Executive Officer a National Library employee?
- How can I find out which Australian libraries participate in ERA?
- Who do I contact about ERA?
- Who will represent my library as a participant of ERA?
- Why limit the members per sector on the Executive Committee?
- How do you define the Australian library sector?
- If the Executive Committee is to be elected every 2 years, what happens if a member changes jobs or employer?
- How frequently will ERA Governance meetings be?
- How can I keep up with ERA developments?
QUESTION: What are the governance arrangements for ERA?
ANSWER: The ERA Governance Framework sets out the policies and conditions for the administration of ERA as a not-for-profit Australian library consortium.
This document was reviewed in 2009 and the issue of membership fees may be reconsidered as part of future reviews in order to achieve a financially self-sufficient libraries' consortium.
QUESTION: Why is the Executive Officer a National Library employee?
ANSWER: The Director-General of the National Library of Australia has made a commitment to initially fund the position of the ERA Executive Officer. As a position funded by an NLA budget allocation, it is only proper that the occupant will be a National Library employee. Without this commitment from the NLA it would have been impossible to launch ERA.
QUESTION: How can I find out which Australian libraries participate in ERA?
ANSWER: The Executive Officer will maintain an official membership record of participating libraries and consortia for administrative purposes.
As subscriptions come online, links will be established to participating libraries from the individual product profiles.
QUESTION: Who do I contact about ERA?
ANSWER: The Executive Officer is the primary liaison officer on behalf of the Consortium with members, as well as suppliers, publishers, libraries and other external parties. .
Australian libraries are also welcome to contact their sectoral representative on the ERA Executive Committee.
Subscriptions are held directly between vendors and participating libraries. For product support and customer service contact the relevant participating vendor.
QUESTION: Who will represent my library as a participant of ERA?
ANSWER: The Membership Forum will include all participating libraries (ie members). Each member will have one vote either as an individual library or through consortium representation. Each member may have a designated representative to participate in the Forum, or nominate a proxy.
QUESTION: Why limit the members per sector on the Executive Committee?
ANSWER: The Executive Committee will have no more than two members drawn from the same library sector at any one time.
This limit is designed to prevent domination by any single type of library, eg schools, public, special or academic. In reality, membership of the Executive Committee will be determined by who is willing and available at the time of elections.
QUESTION: How do you define the Australian library sector?
ANSWER: The ERA Governance Framework does not include any definition of “the Australian library sector”, however, observes the commonly accepted definitions of libraries within the profession, that is: national/state/territory, academic, specials, public, TAFE and school libraries.
QUESTION: If the Executive Committee is to be elected every two years, what happens if a member changes jobs or employer?
ANSWER: The Membership Forum will fill casual vacancies of positions on the Executive Committee for the remainder of the two year term of the office. Elected members of the Committee may need to negotiate with their employers.
QUESTION: How frequently will ERA Governance meetings be?
ANSWER: The Executive Committee will meet at least four times in any calendar year – in person and/or by teleconference. The annual Membership Forum will be a face-to-face meeting.
QUESTION: How can I keep up with ERA developments?
ANSWER: ERAlibraries-L is an open listserv for all Australian libraries and will be a key communication tool. Click here to subscribe
Feel free to contact the ERA Executive Officer directly, or talk to your sectoral representative on the Executive Committee. We expect that the participating vendors will also be very pleased to talk to you about their role with ERA.

