Valleys of green

According to a report issued by BankWest, Eltham, which is part of the Shire of Nillumbik, is the most liveable suburb in Victoria. Too bad I don't live near Eltham anymore. The local council speaks lovingly of the municipality as "the green wedge shire" or "the lungs of Melbourne." Until the end of 2005, I lived in the city of Banyule, which adjoins Nillumbik, and offers a similar quality of life. The picture that accompanies the Age article on this report looks like it was taken in Alistair Knox Park in Eltham, just off Main Road. How heartening it is to see that the duckpond has water in it again. The last time I looked it was empty.

I now live and work for part of the week in the City of Moreland. Unfortunately for the City of Moreland, its living standards, taking into account such indicators as employment levels, crime rates, internet access, health, education levels, earnings, home ownership rates, house sizes, and community involvement, was one of the lower ranked local government municipalities in Victoria. As of this writing it remains to be seen how the local council will respond to this report.

Lies and statistics

According to a news update on the ALIA website, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has just released labour force statistics from the 2006 census. The library sector employs 24,849 people. Of these, 10,085 are librarians, 6,510 library technicians and 8,254 library assistants. Interestingly, just over 83 per cent of Australian library workers are female, only a slight movement in the gender breakdown over recent years.

Certainly, in my experience, male librarians can often be looked upon as oddities, and looking at these statistics, it's little wonder why. Even in my branch of librarianship, the majority of my peers are female, and I estimate that 90 per cent of them are middle aged, with little sign of the younger generations coming up to succeed them as they retire. Another demographic trend is at work here, which I won't comment on. I commented on the popular stereotyping of male librarians in an earlier post, so I won't regurgitate what I wrote at the time. This is the downside of working in a highly feminised profession. Needless to say, I find it frustrating at times, but as with other things in life, you just grin and bear it.