National Library of Australia

Books and Serials digitisation - progress so far

Selecting material for digitisation  

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:

Progress as of 30 June 2010

3 517 books and serials, consisting of 117 081 images have been digitised.

Examples of Books and Serials items already digitised

Future digitisation plans

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.

More Books & Serials

Other online resources

Curator's Choice

  • 2/1st Australian Army Topographic Survey Company, Kokoda, New Guinea 1944
    2/1st Australian Army Topographic Survey Company, Kokoda, New Guinea 1944

This Second World War topographic map of Kokoda shows the location of villages, tracks, a canoe route, seaplane bases and mission stations. Map images from the Library’s Digital Collection are interactive. Use the Zoom control to pan and examine details.