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The Library has been responsible for the creation of other information
services targeted at specific industries. For example in 1976 the National
Library, with the Department of Health, introduced an Australian system
of access to the American medical database Medline. Before the
introduction of Medline, the Library had relied upon telephoning
America for medical information. The new service saw enquiries made on
a dial-up telephone service to a database, 24 hours a day. The service
was an invaluable tool for doctors, pharmacists and health workers in
its day, however, by the early 1990s increased public use of the Internet
had made the telephone service redundant. It closed down in 1993.
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A
selection of National Library bibliographic products in print and
microfiche form now available online
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In
the same year that Medline became available, 1976, the Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS) went
online. The print version of APAIS originated in 1945 and was the oldest
indexing service of Australian social sciences and humanities serials.
In 2001 the last printed version of APAIS was produced.
By
1994 the Library was in a position to begin offering its services to Australia
and the world over the Internet through the building of its first site
on the World Wide Web. The National Library’s web site went ‘live’ in
May 1995 providing an important point from which online visitors could
find information about most of the Library’s services. The Library’s web
site also hosted a number of government web sites, for example the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s web site, the Director of Public Prosecution’s
web site and the Office for the Status of Women’s web site.
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