The Informed Reader: End of Year Newsletter | November 2025

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Laki Sideris | Head of Product

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Update from the Product: Explore

Jessica Darnell | Product manager

The second half of the year has been an important period of development and planning for Informit Explore, particularly with the introduction of Explore Media, our new streaming product for secondary schools designed to integrate seamlessly into existing Explore subscriptions. Explore Media is currently in pilot with six partner schools who are helping us test how the platform performs in real classroom environments. It provides access to all of Informit’s media collections, including EduTV and TVNews, alongside the curriculum-aligned, curated pathways synonymous with Explore. Feedback from our partner school will shape our approach as we work towards a full release in Term 2, 2026 and provide further enrichments designed to support media discovery and classroom integration. A key insight from the pilot so far is the strong response to having media and text resources co-located in a single platform. Teachers have emphasised how valuable it is that students can move seamlessly between reading and viewing without jumping between systems or losing momentum – a practical but meaningful win.

Alongside the Explore Media pilot, we are also progressing the final development phase of Religion and Beliefs, a much-requested new Explore subject developed in partnership with experts from the Australian Council for Educational Research. To support this work, we hosted a webinar a few months ago with Professor Peter Sherlock from Charles Sturt University, exploring how schools can effectively and respectfully address contentious issues related to religion and belief systems. The recording is now available. In early 2026, we have another professional development webinar planned focusing on Teacher Education, with special guests from the Australian Council for Educational Research.

Looking ahead, we are currently developing new content for our planned Science and Education subject areas, with a projected release in early 2026 in time for the back-to-school period. Explore customers can also expect a host of new curated selections to flow through over the next few weeks, as our curatorial team finalises this year’s selections.

We are also shaping the next phase of the Explore roadmap, which will focus on the following areas:

• Interactive Screen Guides to support screen education through Explore Media
• Media literacy modules for select Explore topics also aligned to media literacy frameworks perfect for the classroom
• Curriculum aligned, curated film collections organised by theme
• A refreshed Back-to-School training and support program, offering guided onboarding, teacher PD sessions and practical implementation resources
• Additional subject expansions, informed by teacher consultation 
• Enhanced search and filtering tools to support faster discovery 

Our focus remains on developing a platform that supports teachers, students and the general public by providing meaningful access to quality Australian content. The next year will continue to be shaped by collaboration, customer insight and thoughtful planning – and we’re excited for what’s coming next.

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Update from the Platform Team

Liam Ryan | Head of Platform

Throughout the second half of 2025 the platform team have continued to focus on refreshing content across our platform and discovery services. Our initial efforts have concentrated on enhancing Public Affairs, Education, and Legal collections. As we iteratively refresh records, we’re seeing improvements in metadata accuracy and service quality, while also reducing duplicate search results on platform. 

We have advanced our plans for a more flexible and user-centred Informit Media experience, enabling better access management and streamlined, curriculum-aligned media browsing. 

We’ve also benefited from a collaborative partnership with our colleagues from the RMIT University ITS Automation team for Informit Royalties statement generation. We have a further royalties initiatives planned into 2026.

We’re also preparing to launch a key accessibility initiative to ensure our platform offers an inclusive experience for all users. We welcome your insights—please participate in our platform survey to share any feedback or identify areas where improvements to Informit would be most beneficial for you

Have feedback or suggestions? Take our platform survey and help us make Informit better for you.

In platform people news:

As we previously reported we were very excited to welcome Nathan Greenough as our new Product and Data Analyst. Nathan has been a critical contributor to projects across multiple teams, including spearheading our Informit Royalties and Screenrights reporting.

We also recently farewelled Steve Sunter, our long-serving database coordinator. Working with Informit since 2017, Steve’s expertise and guidance provided welcome improvements to advanced search, citation and OpenURL handling on the Informit Search platform.  Steve supported simplifying Informit, through the careful product life cycle management of our index products. He also worked to automate our data providers loading of index content to the Informit search platform. We thank Steve for his efforts at Informit, and wish him well for his future.

Finally, we look forward to welcoming back Leanne Whitby, who is currently enjoying well-deserved long service leave until December 2025.

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First People’s Lens

A packed Storey Hall and over two hundred online attendees joined Informit and CAVAL on Tuesday 9^th September for the third Kummargii Yulendji Symposium, a forum for the movement that is Indigenising academia and the archive.

With over 20 speakers, the event celebrated a decisive shift towards Indigenous Knowledge Authority and self-determination in research. Highlights included keynote speaker Tiriki Onus, who spoke movingly about the shift from being researched to being the instigators of research and framing cultural reclamation as an “act of thrivance.” Crucially, the Symposium provided practical solutions for change, such as the promotion of the Indigenous Knowledge Attribution Toolkit by Dr. Rose Barrowcliffe to combat extractive research, and success stories from libraries implementing the Indigenous Referencing Toolkit to elevate Indigenous authors. We were also thrilled to celebrate the launch of the new journal, Sovereign Texts: Journal of First Peoples Literature, which upholds the sovereignty of Indigenous words.

It was apt that N’arwee’t Professor Carolyn Briggs rounded up the very full and rich day of this symposium that she named: Kummargii Yulendji, meaning ‘Knowledge is rising’ in Boon wurrung. As we were privileged to witness, Indigenous Knowledges continue to rise and the communities and streams of practice driving these important changes continue to grow and evolve.

Read the full summary of the day here

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Update from the Customer Success Team

Brooke Parker | Customer Success Manager

As we move through the second half of 2025, our Customer Success team has been hard at work embedding our new invoicing system into everyday operations. This transition has been a significant focus for us, and we’re pleased to report meaningful progress in enhancing both efficiency and the quality of our customer interactions. While we’re still fine-tuning various elements of the system, we’re optimistic about the improvements this will bring to your experience. Our goal is to make doing business with us easier and more streamlined, and we’re excited about the new features and capabilities we’ll be able to offer as we continue this journey.

Looking ahead to early 2026, we’re thrilled to share plans for an enhanced Knowledge Base experience. We’ve been developing a more customer-centered chatbot that will transform how you access support resources. This intelligent assistant will make it easier than ever to find relevant articles, navigate help guides, and manage issue resolution. We believe this will significantly improve your ability to find answers quickly and get the support you need, exactly when you need it.

Finally, we want to extend our sincere thanks to the many new customers who have joined us for onboarding calls in recent months. These conversations have been invaluable, providing us with real-world feedback and insights that are directly shaping our processes and support materials. Your input helps us identify key areas where we can refine the Informit experience, ensuring that from day one, your journey with us is as smooth and successful as possible. We’re grateful for your partnership and look forward to continuing to evolve alongside your needs.

Last week, Informit and CAVAL hosted a special screening of The Librarians. The event brought together over 300 passionate audience members of librarians, educators, and advocates, followed by a thought-provoking panel discussion featuring Holly Hammond, Mali Jorm, Angela Savage and Sae Ra Germaine. The evening highlighted and celebrated the role libraries play in shaping informed, connected communities. Together, we raised over $3300 to help support the work of both the film to screen and educate more widely across the US and The Commons Social Change Library, reinforcing Informit’s commitment to preserving and sharing Australia’s cultural and intellectual heritage while supporting the communities that make it thrive.

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A Year of Focus, Partnerships, and Progress: Update from the Sales Team

Amit Pattnaik | Head of Sales

As 2025 draws to a close, the second half of the year for the Informit Sales Team has been all about execution – turning momentum of out earlier engagements into tangible outcomes and setting strong foundations for 2026 and beyond.

Our focus this half of the year centred on two key areas: securing CAUL renewals for the 2026 academic year and expanding Informit Explore’s reach into schools and public libraries.

The CAUL renewal process is well underway, with the majority of meetings now complete and renewals finalised and invoiced. Each year, these discussions offer valuable insights into how Informit content is used across universities, highlighting both its impact and the evolving challenges faced by libraries and researchers. In true Informit spirit of continuous improvement, we’ve already begun planning several platform enhancements based on CAUL member feedback. We’re also looking into a new role will be to help university libraries optimise their Informit setup and ensure students and researchers get the best possible experience in content discovery.

Looking ahead, the team is already preparing to renegotiate a new subscription offer for CAUL in 2027 and beyond. Personally, I’m looking forward to visiting more CAUL member libraries in the new year to strengthen relationships and better understand local needs.

On the Informit Explore front, this half of the year brought a mix of transitions and milestones. We concluded our agreement with The Booklegger as our sales agent for Informit Explore. Rick has been instrumental in shaping the offering for schools and has made an invaluable contribution to the Australian education community. We extend our sincere thanks for his dedication and continued support of our Explore customers.

In August, Informit took part in the National Education Summit, convening the Capacity Building School Libraries Conference. The event explored the evolving role of school libraries in fostering information fluency, integrating AI for future-ready classrooms, and nurturing lifelong learning. Informit’s presentation – “Empowering Educators and Students: Resourcing Curriculum and Critical Thinking through Informit Explore” highlighted how authoritative, curriculum-aligned Australian content can combat misinformation and strengthen students’ critical thinking skills. These in-person events are both productive and informative for the team as we learn from face-to-face conversations and real-time applications on how Explore is used in the classroom, library, and beyond.

Perhaps the standout achievement of the year was forming a consortium partnership with the Australian School Library Association (ASLA). This agreement provides equitable and affordable access to Informit Explore for ASLA member schools, reflecting our shared vision of ensuring every student, regardless of geography or school sector, can access high-quality Australian learning resources. Following this success, we were delighted to sign a similar consortium with the School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV), further embedding Informit Explore as a trusted digital resource aligned with both the Australian and Victorian curricula.

Other highlights included:

• Welcoming Alexander Dawson as our new partner to promote Informit Explore into schools.
• Continuing negotiations with NSLA for a potential nationwide rollout of Informit Explore across state and territory libraries.
• Celebrating Kat’s growth and dedication – from developing deep knowledge of Informit and its subscribers to building strong professional networks and upholding exceptional service standards, we are very proud of Kat’s dedication and alignment with Informit’s purpose. We also wish her the very best as she awaits her visa sponsorship.
• Our Director’s visit to the Frankfurt Book Fair in October, building connections and exploring international opportunities as part of Informit’s expanding global strategy.

It’s been a year of focus, collaboration, and steady progress – one that sets the stage for an even stronger 2026.

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Update from the Production and Operations Team

Brendan Rowan | Head of Production and Operations

Platform development and data quality has been our primary focus for the end half of 2025. We have invested heavily in updating resources on Informit Explore, as well as getting a new process to ingest news feeds from new content partners The Conversation and Pursuit. We continue to evolve our XML content styling opportunities, developing systems to enhance your discovery experiences.

In terms of new content, we have added:

To our Publishers, if you’re yet to use the Partner Dashboard to deliver new content, please don’t hesitate reach out and we will ensure you’re set up and able to realise the benefits of the simplified process and supportive features.

Improvements continue to be realised through investment into our publishing systems, ensuring we can deliver new and updated content to you at speed and scale, maximising benefits via search.informit.org and syndication partners.

Wishing everyone all the very best for a safe and merry festive season!

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Now showing on EduTV

Paul Stock | Media Curator