Jan Fullerton currently holds the position of Director-General of the National Library of Australia, a position she has occupied since 9 August 1999. For 18 months immediately prior to this appointment she was Acting Deputy Director-General. Ms Fullerton’s appointment to the position of leadership within the Australian library sector is the first for a female and follows a 32 year career at the National Library, which commenced on 6 March 1967. During her term as Director-General she has led a fundamental change in direction for the National Library from the development of services which can only effectively be used by librarians to those that can serve the needs of all Australians. Her opening address at the 2003 National Resource Sharing Forum embodies this philosophy: “As a sector we need to look at the services we are providing to our users from the user perspective. We must move away from systems and services that can be used comfortably by library staff but that leave our users mystified and ultimately dependent on the mediation of library staff to find and get information resources.” Ms Fullerton has led the development of a wide range of digital services and initiatives. Her visionary approach in 1995 to collecting and preserving Australian publications in digital form led to the establishment of the world renowned PANDORA archive (http://pandora.nla.gov.au) This archive, the first of its kind in the world, has placed the National Library at the forefront of research into digital collection management and preservation. Collaboration has flourished under Ms Fullerton’s leadership. Launched in 2000, the PictureAustralia service, (http://www.pictureaustralia.org/) now boasts 40 participating institutions from the broader collecting sectors such as museums, archives and galleries, and more than one million images reflecting Australia’s history and culture. In pursuing the Library’s new strategic direction, Jan Fullerton has been committed to improving access to information resources through the public library sector. Libraries Australia (http://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/), is breaking new ground by making access to online and printed information resources directly to the public through a simple ‘google’ like search interface. Treasures from the World’s Great Libraries, the highly successful exhibition mounted by the National Library in 2001 to celebrate the organisation’s centenary, is an example of the Director-General’s drive to improve the public profile of the National Library and the library sector overall. This exhibition would not have occurred without her belief in the critical role libraries play in the preservation of world history and culture. Commencing in December 2005 in Canberra, in collaboration with the seven state and territory libraries, the National Library has organised a parallel exhibition, NationalTreasures from Australia’s Great Libraries. The exhibition will tour to each state and territory over a period of 18 months. Her work in the international arena has ensured that under her leadership as Chair of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) from 2001 to 2004 (http://www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/meetings/cdnl/) a range of key issues such as the role of national libraries in breaching the digital divide and the protection of national libraries in war zones has flourished. She has recently commenced a second term on the Board of the Research Libraries Group, an international organisation that seeks to develop cooperative solutions to issues relating to research libraries. Under Jan Fullerton’s direction, the National Library also makes a strong contribution to the development of international standards for cataloguing and digital collection management and preservation. |
|
| About This Site | Copyright | Privacy | Accessibility | Site Map | Site Search | Content A-Z | Contact Us |