General selection criteria for the National Library’s digitisation program can be found in our Collection Digitisation Policy. Items from the Library’s books and serials collections have been digitised for a number of reasons, including:
2 366 books and serials, consisting of 82 698 images have been digitised.
Only a fraction of the books and serials collection is expected to ever be digitised. This is due to a number of factors including the large number of items in the collection, likely demand for the material, and copyright legislation. The forward planning includes the following initiatives:
Continuation of selective digitisation of items in the books and serials collection for inclusion in the Library’s forthcoming Treasures Gallery.
Continuation of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program, undertaken in collaboration with Australian State and Territory libraries, aiming to digitise Australian metropolitan and regional newspapers.
Consideration of mass digitisation of Australian journals in the future, following digitisation of the Australian Women’s Weekly which has commenced in 2009-10 (see Current priorities for more details).
Consideration of mass digitisation of Australian printed ephemera, broadsheets and posters, following a 2009-10 trial comprising 120 items.
This image was recently identified as the only known vintage print of Roald Amundsen's expedition party honouring the Norwegian flag after arriving at the South Pole. Part of Tasmanian views, Edward Searle's album of photographs of Australia, Antarctica and the Pacific, 1911-1915.