National Library of Australia
Annual Report 2001-2002
 Outcomes & Outputs Structure
Public Accountability
Contents
Director General's Review
Corporate Overview
Report on Operations
Financial Statements
Appendices
Resources
  
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Corporate Overview

Corporate Governance

The Library has the following key elements of corporate governance.

Corporate governance chart

click chart to enlarge

National Library Council

The National Library Act 1960 provides that a Council shall conduct the affairs of the Library. The Council consists of 12 members—including the Director-General, one senator elected by the Senate, and one member of the House of Representatives elected by that House. A list of Council members and their attendance at Council meetings is at Appendix 1 of this Report.

In addition to general administrative and financial matters, the Council considers a range of specific issues, including:

  • extension of legal deposit provisions to electronic publications
  • collection and preservation of online Commonwealth Government publications
  • user charging policy
  • space management
  • the future of resource sharing services
  • benchmarking of Library activities
  • development of a new performance management program
  • workforce planning, and
  • information technology developments

The Council has three advisory committees: the Audit Committee, the Corporate Governance Committee, and the Fellowship Scheme Advisory Committee. Details are provided at Appendix 1.

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Audit Committee

The Audit Committee is a committee of the Council with the following role:

  • to assist the Library and members of the Council to comply with obligations under the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997
  • to provide a forum for communication among the members of the Council, senior managers of the Library, and the Library’s internal and external auditors, and
  • to ensure that there is an appropriate ethical climate in the Library and to review policies relating to internal controls and management of risks

The Audit Committee has a minimum of three non-executive members of Council, the Director-General, and a member of the senior executive. A list of Audit Committee members and attendance at meetings is at Appendix 1.

The Audit Committee considers a range of issues, including:

  • review of the Committee’s role and charter
  • internal self-assessment of Audit Committee performance
  • review of internal and external audit reports
  • benchmarking of internal audit and the finance function
  • continuing scrutiny of the Library’s response to the recommendations of Auditor-General reports and internal audit reports
  • initiation of a review of the Library’s control framework
  • consideration of risk management and planning, and
  • review of incidents of fraud in the Library

Corporate Governance Committee

The Corporate Governance Committee is a committee of Council with the following role:

  • to evaluate the effectiveness of the Council in its role in corporate governance, and
  • to evaluate the performance and remuneration of the Director-General

The Corporate Governance Committee is a committee of four members of Council including the Chair of the Council, the Deputy-Chair of the Council, the Chair of the Audit Committee and one non-executive member of Council. A list of the Corporate Governance Committee members appears at Appendix 1.

Fellowship Scheme Advisory Committee

The Fellowship Scheme Advisory Committee is an advisory committee to Council with the following role:

  • to make recommendations on the award of fellowships, and
  • to make recommendations on other matters relating to the administration of the scheme

The Fellowship Scheme Advisory Committee is a committee of nine members including the Deputy-Chair of the Council and the Director-General. A list of the Fellowship Scheme Advisory Committee members appears at Appendix 1.

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Corporate Management Group

The Corporate Management Group, consisting of the Director-General and senior executive staff, provides strategic and operational leadership to the Library. In particular, the Corporate Management Group monitors the achievement of objectives and strategies, oversees budget matters, develops policy, coordinates activities across the organisation, and oversees a range of operational issues. The Corporate Management Group meets weekly.

A number of cross-organisational committees advise the Corporate Management Group in key areas, such as IT and collection development.

Corporate planning framework

This year the Library reviewed its strategic directions, and will issue a revised directions statement early next year. The Balanced Scorecard is now fully implemented as the Library’s planning support system. The Balanced Scorecard facilitates the linkage of strategic, operational and budget planning. The scorecard approach adopted has five main perspectives for viewing organisational performance—customer, stakeholder, financial, internal process, and learning and growth. The Balanced Scorecard has proven to be a successful performance management tool that is well accepted by staff and stakeholders, including the National Library Council. 

Risk management framework

The Library Risk Management Register, developed in accordance with Australian Standard AS/NZS 4360:1999, was implemented in January. The Register provides a framework for the identification of emerging risks and enables the Library to ensure that risks and business continuity management are factored effectively into strategic and business planning processes.

 

 Outcomes & Outputs Structure
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Public Accountability


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