Notes from MaLIA and Malta : where small need not mean ineffective

Abstract

MaLIA, the Malta Library and Information Association was established in 1969 by a handful of committed library professionals who were among the first crop of qualified Maltese librarians. The history of the first 20 years of the MaLIA has been well documented by Dr. Paul Xuereb. Reading through our history one can spot that it has never been an easy task to promote the library profession and libraries in Malta. Two reasons that stand out are the small number of practising librarians and the fact that government authorities, financing libraries, have not shown a generous or consistent commitment to libraries. Our informed guess is that around 400 persons must be working in the whole spectrum of libraries at present and that includes the part-timers and volunteers, who may or may not be qualified. A good estimate is that there are around 200 locally qualified librarians on the island not all of whom would necessarily be working as librarians. MaLIA only manages to retain around 70-80 paid up members. Finding members to serve on Council , from this small pool of members, is never an easy task. Council posts are all voluntary and meetings and associated work have to take place after work hours using premises made available by third parties and generally using personal equipment. A look at the names of people serving on Council at present and in the recent past shows that several same names keep appearing in various positions. Indeed we are a small library association but with the ambitious aim of representing the interests of all library, information and archive workers in Malta, without the role of a workers’ union. In spite of this small membership base and limited resources MaLIA has made progress over this past decade or so and these notes document some of that progress as seen through the eyes of two Council members.