Australian Library Collections Task Force
Towards Federation 2001: Linking Australians and Their Heritage - Status of Resolutions
Agenda item 14 of the Meeting held 9 February 2001
Background
The first conference, Towards Federation 2001: Linking Australians and their Heritage, was held in Canberra on 16-23 March 1992. It was attended by 140 invited participants, drawn from across the nation's libraries, archives, other national collecting institutions and a range of organisations concerned with publishing, collecting and preserving Australia's recorded documentary heritage. The problems and issues affecting access to Australia's recorded documentary heritage were grouped into four broad categories: collecting, bibliographic control, preservation, and physical access. The mission for the conference process was seen as being:
- to enable Australians to have the maximum possible bibliographic and physical access to their recorded heritage by the year 2001.
And it was planned that the Conference would:
- identify present barriers to Australia's documentary heritage and establish initiatives and mechanisms which will enable the mission to be accomplished by the Centenary of Australia's Federation.
Since 2001 is the Centenary year of the Australian Federation, the Conference Planning Committee took the view that a carefully identified set of tasks, agreed to by the Australian library community, kindred collecting institutions and related special
interest groups, and which would lead to enhanced community access to Australia's recorded documentary heritage by 2001, might provide a basis for special funding support over the next decade. Also the time scale was of a length which
provided a long range target in which even large tasks are achievable; required a collaborative approach, analogous to successful federation; forced thinking about technological opportunities at that time present only in the early or pilot development stage; and required consideration both of historical records and future needs.
Conference delegates passed a total of 86 Resolutions which fell into the categories of collecting issues, bibliographic issues, physical access issues, preservation issues, issues relating to special communities, and copyright issues.
Review Meeting: December 1993
On 9-10 December 1993, representatives of 29 organisations met to review progress since the Towards Federation 2001: Linking Australians with their Heritage Conference held in March 1992. Since then a National Library planning committee had monitored progress on the 86 resolutions passed at the Conference. The committee prepared a series of assessment papers for the various development areas and in view of changing circumstances and experience the meeting agreed that the 86 original resolutions could be refined down to 59 resolutions.
Progress Reports
The National Library of Australia , through the Distributed National Collection Office, assumed responsibility for monitoring progress of the 59 resolutions. Progress reports were published in August 1994 and August 1995.
The final TF2001 document titled Towards Federation 2001: Linking Australians with Their Heritage: Review Meeting 1993: Progress Reports 1994-1996 released in September 1996 signalled the end of the TF2001 process. The introduction concludes: "the completion of the TF2001 process in no way lessens the commitment of the National Library to improve access to Australian heritage materials. The Library will continue with this objective, taking account of the many changes that have taken place since 1992, and the need to address the challenges of long-term access in both print and electronic formats."
Since then some of the bodies responsible for coordinating the TF2001 process have been disbanded and their functions assumed by other bodies or committees. In January 1997 the Librarys Distributed National Collections Office and the National Preservation Office were subsumed into the newly created National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch. The Australian Council of Library and Information Services closed in December 1998 with many of its functions assumed by ALIA. Recent organisational changes at the Library have seen national initiatives and collaborative projects conducted by the Coordination Support Branch and a range of operational areas.
The TF2001 home page, has links to original and follow up meetings and associated documentation.
The current status of the 59 TF2001 resolutions is summarised below. Most of the resolutions were completed, some made little progress, while others merged and/or transformed into other activities
Resolutions
A: Collection Issues
RA1 That Australian Council of Library and Information Services (ACLIS), in consultation with other relevant organisations (e.g. Australian Council of Archives, Heritage Collections Committee, etc.) complete statements on the scope and nature of, and priorities within the distributed national collection of Australias documentary heritage and on the concept of significance as applied to documentary heritage materials.
Report of the ACLIS Task Force on Documentary Heritage was delivered by ACLIS in 1995. Action on this resolution has been completed.
RA2 That the National Library of Australia work with Australian Library and Information Service (ACLIS) to collect and analyse information on existing collection development policies, and develop a strategy and guidelines to encourage and assist other institutions to prepare policies.
During the 1990s the Distributed National Collection Office (DNC) collected, analysed and made available information on collection development policies. The Australian Libraries Gateway web site started in March 1998. It was developed and managed by the Library and provides comprehensive information on around 5,400 libraries Australia-wide. An extensive range of library policy documents, including collection development polices is included. Seventy-two libraries on ALG include a link to a Collection Development policy in their entry. Almost 800 libraries use Australian Libraries Gateway (ALG) to record subject collecting strengths. http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries/
RA3 That the National Library of Australia, in cooperation with Australian Council of Library and Information Services
(ACLIS) and other relevant organisations, develop a strategy and plan for the implementation of formal collecting, access and preservation agreements covering all formats.
During its existence the Distributed National Collection coordinated several subject collecting agreements in the areas of Asia, Korea, South Asia and Music. The National Library currently has collecting agreements with the ANU Library for Japanese materials, business and trade union archives, Thai materials, Korean vernacular materials, Chinese provincial capital statistical year books and Pacific collections. Other collecting agreements are with La Trobe University Library, National Archives of Australia, Northern Territory University Library and the University of New South Wales Library.
The Australian Libraries Gateway (ALG) includes information on a number of non-National Library of Australia collecting agreements covering a range of libraries and subject areas. Guidelines for setting up such agreements were created by ACLIS and are still accessible on the Librarys web site.
http://ourweb.nla.gov.au/
Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) and the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL) may wish to comment on further developments in their areas.
RA4(a) That the National Library, in consultation with other heritage collecting institutions, develop and put forward to the Commonwealth Government, proposals for changes to Commonwealth legal deposit provisions including the coverage of a wider range of materials.
RA4(b) That the Council of Australian State Libraries request its Collection Management Group to identify all issues associated with extending legal deposit coverage to all formats of material, especially those related to new technologies, and to develop guidelines to facilitate a common approach to dealing with the issues.
The National Library of Australia plays a key role in supporting learning, scholarship and research, and in the preservation of the nation's intellectual heritage. The Copyright Act 1968 provides the legislative framework under which the Library receives material on legal deposit to build the collections and makes available material from its collections to members of the public.
Copyright law in Australia is under review. The Copyright Law Review Committee has been asked to inquire into and report on a number of issues relating to copyright and the review and simplification of the Copyright Act 1968. The National Library of Australia and Screensound ; the Australian Digital Alliance (ADA); the Australian Libraries Copyright Committee (ALCC) and Federal Libraries Information Network are among those who have made submissions.
Part One of the Copyright Law Review Committee report: Simplification of the Copyright Act 1968 , published in February 1999 has been addressed by the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Bill 1999 and will be passed into legislation in early March 2001.
The second part of the report deals with Legal deposit issues which will be considered this year by the Government.
The Library continues to provide advice and information on digital copyright issues to Department of Communications, Information Technolgy and the Arts.(DoCITA) .
RA5 That State and Territory libraries accept responsibility for ensuring that all local government publications from their State or Territory that are in scope in terms of the agreed ACLIS Statement on the distributed national collection of Australias documentary heritage, are collected somewhere in their State or Territory.
All State and Territory libraries have accepted responsibility for collecting library materials within their jurisdictions.
In order to promote the deposit of government and non-government publications by publishers the NLA carries out acquisitions visits in capital cities in consultation with state and territory libraries. In 1999/00 visits were made to South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
RA6 That Council of Australian State Libraries, in consultation with public libraries and the Federal Libraries Information Network, determine the best ways of ensuring an adequate level of access to major Commonwealth and to State and Territory government publications.
The Australian Government Publishing Service evolved into AUSINFO, a unit of the Commonwealth Department of Finance and Administration. AUSINFO provides the on-line access to the Australian Government Index of Publications- AGIP which contains bibliographic entries of Commonwealth publications for publications sold by the Government Information Shops and publications distributed through the Commonwealth Library Deposit and Free Issue Schemes.
Council of Australian State Libraries may wish to comment further on progress with this resolution.
C: Bibliographic Issues
RC1 That the National, State and Territory libraries catalogue all their holdings of Australian newspapers on the National Bibliographic Database (NBD) by the year 2001, in support of the National Plan for Australian Newspapers.
The Library has now catalogued all its Australian newspapers on the National Bibliographic Database. The Library and Council of Australian State Libraries are working together to review and re-invigorate the NPLAN and consideration is being given to a new edition of Newspapers in Australian libraries.
RC2 That the National, State and Territory libraries catalogue all their holdings of Australian serials on the National Bibliographic Database by the year 2001, in support of the proposed National Plan for Australian Journals.
Late last year the National Library completed the conversion of all its Australian serial records on the National Bibliographic database.
National Bibliographic Database (NBD) Survey July 1999, conducted by the Australian Librarys Collections Task Force gathered information on participation in the NBD across the key library sectors.
The resultant study produced an overview of the current Australian situation. The study was released in order to stimulate discussion of possible strategies to enhance contributions to the NBD.
RC3 That, following the completion of the Survey of Bibliographic Access to Documentary Pictorial Collections, the Working Group on High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects initiate follow-up action, which may include:
- The development of an action plan to improve bibliographic access to documentary pictorial collections. This should be developed in consultation with appropriate organisations, and may include a proposal for assistance from the High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects Fund.
- The development of guidelines for the provision of bibliographic access to documentary pictorial collections, in consultation with appropriate organisations including Council of Australian State Libraries, the ABN Standards Committee and the Australian Committee on Cataloguing.
- An assessment of the survey for its cost effectiveness and relevance to other formats.
- A recommended order of priority for similar treatment of other formats, for consideration by Council of Australian State Libraries and other appropriate bodies during 1994.
The last dot point of this resolution has led to the development of such services as the Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM)
RAAM is a successor to the Guide to collections of manuscripts relating to Australia which was published by the National Library of Australia from 1965 to 1995. The project to convert the Guide to a web-accessible database was a cooperative venture initiated by the National Library with the assistance of a grant from the Towards Federation 2001 Working Group on High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects. New records were added to the existing 6,000 entries in the Guide to create a database of 29,000 records at the time of release in October 1997. This had grown to 37,000 records by December 2000.
RAAM provides researchers with a convenient, centralised register of locations for primary research material. It does not provide detailed descriptions of the collections themselves; rather, it alerts researchers to the existence of collections and enables them to pursue further enquiries about the material, either online or through direct contact with repositories.
Other developments under this resolution include:
- A recent survey by the Australian Libraries Collections Task Force identified a number of pictorial collections which libraries and users consider a high priority for cataloguing. The libraries holding those collections have been notified of the results of the survey.
- Nearly half a million images are now available online through the PictureAustralia which is hosted by the NLA. Each of the seven image providers uses its own subject headings, however the APT is the preferred thesaurus.
RC4 That the National Library develop a strategy through which other organisations are encouraged to provide more effective bibliographic access to their Australian documentary collections, by cataloguing and indexing both current and retrospective materials and by converting significant retrospective files for contribution to the National Bibliographic Database. Such encouragement may take the form of assistance with training, support staff, financial incentives, or the funding of special projects.
The Kinetica batch loading service has attracted some large contributions of holdings from university libraries, in particular the University of Queensland, Griffith University and the University of Technology Sydney. The State Library of Queensland plans to contribute more retrospective holdings in 2001. The State Library of New South Wales is undertaking a major project to convert its card catalogues to machine readable form on the NBD. This is a nationally significant project which will take several years.
Surveys conducted as part of the Australian Libraries Collections Task Force have identified a large number of significant collections, which are not covered by the National Bibliographic Database(NBD) The Director General has written to over 80 libraries inviting them to contribute their holdings to the NBD. The National Library will offer reduced Kinetica charges for online retrospective cataloguing of these collections. Responses have been received to date from 7 special libraries. Most of these libraries have indicated that their collections are already catalogued on their local systems, using local bibliographic standards and data formats. Lack of standardisation will make this a costly exercise for all concerned, Kinetica will continue to explore options for mounting the data onto the National Bibliographic Database.
RC5 That the ABN Network Committee consider the possibility of funding the conversion and loading to the National Bibliographic Database of data resulting from projects designed to improve access to Australias documentary heritage.
As services are delivered on a cost-recovery basis, the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) and its successor Kinetica have not been able to fund conversion of bibliographic records from cards to computer format. However, the National Library has offered substantial in-kind support to complement special funding obtained by libraries. Significant projects assisted in this way were a public library fiction store catalogued by Technilib, the cataloguing of pre-1800 imprints in ACT, New South Wales and Victoria, and the loading of thousands of records and holdings for the European Microforms Project. While all the projects improved access to Australian library holdings, they all involved overseas rather than Australian documentary heritage.
Collections identified through the Community Heritage Grants program are catalogued on the National Bibliographic Database.
RC6 That the Council of Australian University Libraries (CAUL) liaise with the National Library of Australia and ACLIS to identify nationally important projects that should be referred to the AVCC Standing Committee on Information Resources for funding support from the Department of Employment, Education and Training or the Australian Research Council.
Australian Research libraries regularly collaborate in bidding for Australian Research Council project funding. These projects are usually related to the development of research tools or infrastructure. The National Library participates in several of these projects each year, providing in-kind support and occasionally small amounts of funding.
The Library has participated in these projects:
1997.
- The MetaWeb project
1998-99
- Australian Cooperative Digitisation project (ACDP)
- European Microform Project
- Australian Digital Theses project
1999-2000
- Australian Literature Gateway (ALEG)
- Australian Chinese Newspaper web based Index Project
- Australian Literary Manuscripts project
- South Seas (Endeavour) Project
- Asian Accounts of Australia
- AGRIGATE
- Australian Virtual Engineering Library (AVEL)
- Metachem
- French Research Resources Project
2000-2001
- Australian Research Library Network portal for resource sharing referred to as ARLIN
- ALEG - continuation
- South Seas (Endeavour) project continuation
- Asian Accounts of Australia -continuation
- Weblaw.
RC7 That the National Library commence its study of the feasibility of an Australian thesaurus with a study of the use of the APAIS thesaurus, to discover the extent of its use, both in its own right and as a source of data for building other thesauri.
A survey of the use of the APAIS thesaurus was incorporated in the survey of thesaurus usage in Australian libraries conducted in 1995. (see update under RC 18)
RC8 That the Australian Committee on Cataloguing investigate the feasibility of a coordinated approach to establishing an Australian extension to LCSH and recommend appropriately to its constituent organisations (ACLIS, The National Library of Australia, ALIA).
Completed. The Australian Committee on Cataloguing agreed with the Australian Library and Information Association that the List of Australian Subject Headings would be discontinued as a separate thesaurus, and incorporated into the Australian Extension of the Library of Congress Subject Headings. The National Library completed the implementation of this policy, and all the subject headings are available through Kinetica.
The National Library continues to submit subject heading proposals to the Library of Congress for inclusion in the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Proposed subject headings are established on the National Bibliographic Database with a note indicating their "proposed" status.
RC9 That the National Library consult Australian libraries and other relevant organisations on their current and future requirements for the national bibliography prior to any necessary revision of the present range of national bibliographic products.
Council of Australian State Libraries members were consulted on their requirements of a national bibliographic product in 1999 and were supplied with tailored listings in 2000. Recent Australian Publications has been available free on the National Library server since the cessation of ANB in 1996. The National Library is currently developing requirements for a new online national bibliographic product.
RC10 That the Working Group on High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects assess the outcomes of its Study of In House Indexing, its Priority Listing of Nationally Important Retrospective Bibliographic Projects, and the report of the Annual Conference of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand (Adelaide, 1993) and, after wide consultation, prepare a short list of high priority projects.
From 1994-96 the Working Group continued to support projects which received high priority in Priority Listing of Nationally Important Retrospective Bibliographic Projects. Microfilming the Argus (1860-1909) and indexing the literary content of the Bulletin (1927-1987) were two such projects.
Currently research libraries provide on line access to hundreds of indexes, databases, newspapers and major web sites.
The Royal Melbourne Institute if Technology now publishes the content of the CSIROs Australis databases and the National Librarys Ozline databases.
Council of Australian State Libraries and Council of Australian University Librarians may be able to provide updates.
RC11 That the Australian Committee on Cataloguing, in conducting its survey of thesaurus usage in Australian libraries, make use of the results of the Survey on In House Indexing conducted by the Working Party on High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects, and extend the information by surveying special and other appropriate libraries.
(see RC 18)
RC12That the National Library of Australia consider the form of any bibliography of nineteenth century Australiana in the light of its consultation on current and future requirements for the national bibliography.
The Kinetica service enables searches of the National Bibliographic Database to be limited to Australian materials published in the nineteenth century. The Library has appointed a working group to report on national bibliography requirements which are not currently being met by online access to the National Bibliographic Database.
RC13 That in light of the National Centre for Australian Studies proposal to produce a Bibliography and guide to twentieth century literary and semi-literary periodicals, the National Library take action to obtain comprehensive bibliographic coverage of these materials on the National Bibliographic Database.
All National Library Australian serial records are now available on the National Bibliographic Database.
National Bibliographic Database (NBD) Survey July 1999, conducted by the Australian Librarys Collections Task Force gathered information on participation in the NBD across the key library sectors.The resultant study produced an overview of the current Australian situation. The study was released in order to stimulate discussion of possible strategies to enhance contributions to the NBD.
RC14 That the National Library of Australia, in consultation with other appropriate organisations in the Australian book trade, including the academic centres for Australian centres, publishers, and the National Book Council, continue to identify opportunities for greater integration of bibliographic activities with the booktrade, by means of specific projects and more general cooperation.
The National Library set up a trial 'MARC records with books' service from ABN, working with Baker & Taylor, Blackwell and DA Books. The Kinetica Batch*link service has been used by Blackwell, Coutts Library Services and DA Information Services to report holdings direct to the NBD on behalf of their library clients.
In 1978 the National Library transferred the Australian ISBN Agency to D W Thorpe. In 2001 the Library will establish the Australian ISMN Agency for the assignment of International Standard Music Numbers.
RC15 That the National Film and Sound Archive and other appropriate organisations in the Australian film, video and sound fields continue to investigate the desirability and feasibility of greater integration of their bibliographic activities in the longer term.
Discussions continue on the integration bibliographic activities of ScreenSound and other organisations in the Australian film, video and sound sector.
RC16 That in order to assist collecting institutions to avoid duplication in recording oral history interviews, the National Library develop guidelines to enable organisations to report to the National Bibliographic Database any oral history projects which are planned or in progress, and that these guidelines by developed in consultation with other appropriate organisations such as the National Film and Sound Archive, the Oral History Association of Australia, CASL and the ABN Standards Committee.
Australias Oral History Collections : a National Directory website allows owners/producers of oral history collections to notify users of planned oral history projects, or the status of projects, through the "comments box" within the Oral History Directory.
Consideration will be given to the NLA hosting an Australian oral history list email site where information about projects could be listed.
RC17 That the Working Group on High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects consider a survey, building on the recent Australian Society of Archivists survey, of descriptive standards and control systems in use by institutions with significant collections of archives/manuscripts; and following the survey a consultative mechanism be established by Council of Australian State Libraries, involving Council of Australian State Libraries, the National Library of Australia, Australian Council of Archives, Australian Society of Archivists, the National Film and Sound Archive and the Australian Archives, to determine a course of action.
Consultation on descriptive standards and control systems used by Australian organisations with manuscripts and archives collections was undertaken. Comments were used by the International Council of Archivists to develop the International Standard for Archival Description -(ISAD (G)
The Australian Common Standards Manual has been produced by the Australian Society of Archivists. These standards have contributed to the development of the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) standard.
Australian collecting organisations now use these standards to describe manuscript collections.
The Australian Literary Manuscripts project is to implement an archival resource discovery service for at least 80 major collections of literary manuscripts held in the participating libraries. It will develop guidelines for the use of the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) standard, provide a model for archival resource discovery and develop a training strategy to disseminate knowledge and skills in the use of EAD in Australia. The National Library has selected several of its own manuscript finding aids to be included in the service.
RC 18 That, following the completion of the National Library funded study of the APAIS Thesaurus and the Australian Committee on Cataloguing investigation of an extension to LCSH, the National Library consider, in consultation with the Australian Committee on cataloguing, the Australian Databases Development Association and other appropriate bodies, a feasibility study into the establishment of a commonly accepted thesaurus of Australian terms suitable for the subject of indexing of Australian material in all formats.
The Survey of Thesaurus Usage in Australian Libraries (ACOC, 1996) demonstrated widespread use of the Library of Congress Subject Headings and the APAIS thesaurus. Although a wide range of other thesauri were identified, nearly all were subject specific and used only by the compiling agency. The results of the survey did not suggest that there was a need to develop a new Australian thesaurus. However, recognising the new role of the APAIS thesaurus in the Australian Government Locator Service metadata standard, the Library plans to make the APAIS thesaurus available on the web as a free service in 2001. The Library supported the adoption of the Australian Pictorial Thesaurus, developed by the State Library of New South Wales, as the national thesaurus for subject access to pictorial materials, and this has been adopted by the Council of Australian State Libraries.
RC19 That, in order to promote bibliographic access to local collection materials, the National Library develop guidelines to assist public libraries and other organisations to create collection level bibliographic records for local collection materials on the National Bibliographic Database.
Completed
RC20 That the National Library investigate the feasibility of creating collection level records for oral history collections on the National Bibliographic Database as a complementary project to the creation of the directory of Australian oral history and folklore.
Australias Oral History Collections : a National Directory provides links to online catalogues, giving collection level through to individual item level information.
E: Physical Access Issues
RE1 That ACLIS determine the need for an ongoing means of guidance to Australian libraries on document supply systems and access to network services; and if appropriate, ensure the establishment of effective procedures for such guidance.
The National Resource Sharing Working Group was set up in May 1999 to ensure that a robust, reliable and cost-effective interlending system, built on cooperation and agreed service standards and policies, was in place to serve Australian libraries and their users. The group has been set up at the initiative of the National Library in response to concerns expressed by users and librarians about the effectiveness of the current interlending system.
The Group has developed a new Interlibrary Resource Sharing Code to replace the Australian Interlending Code (developed by ACLIS) as the standard for resource sharing in Australia. It will be launched in January 2001. The NRSWG developed the new Code in consultation with the ILL/DD library community. The Code has been endorsed by the Australian Library & Information Association (ALIA), the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL), the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) and the National Library of Australia.
The Group has also commenced a major benchmarking study of the costs and practices of Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery units in Australian libraries
RE2 That the National Library develop a cooperative plan with those organisations interested in the provision of directory information related to collections and their conditions of access, to ensure that this information is nationally available.
The Australian Interlibrary Loan Resource Sharing Directory and the Australian Libraries Gateway (ALG) both provide information related to collections and their conditions of access.
RE3 That Standards Australia Committee IT/19 develop and publicise suitable Australian standards for document requesting and document transmission.
Representatives from Australian libraries continue to represent the Australian Library sector on the Standards Australia Committee IT/19.
Committee IT/19 initiated and approved the adoption of the following Australian and New Zealand standards:
- AS/NZS 4196:1999 (Information and documentation Open Systems Interconnection Interlibrary loan application service definition) which is identical to ISO 10160:1997,
- AS/NZS 4197:1999 Information and documentation Open Systems Interconnection Interlibrary loan application protocol specification) which is identical to ISO 10161:1997; and
- AS/NZS 4450.1:1997 (Information and documentation Bibliographic data element directory, Part 1: Interloan applications) which is identical to ISO 8459-1:1988.
Committee IT/19 promoted these standards at a series of workshops, such as those held in Melbourne and Wellington during 2000.
RE4 That the National Library of Australia encourage the Library and Information Services of Western Australia(LISWA) to complete its development of a qualitative survey model for use in assessing client needs for access to Australias documentary heritage; and when it is complete, Council of Australian State Libraries, the Council of Federal, State and Territory Archives and the National Library of Australia determine whether further development is necessary and support the use of the model in conducting surveys of client needs.
In June 1996 LISWA developed and piloted a survey to assess client needs for access to Australias documentary heritage. An analysis of the survey was circulated to CASL for comment.
CASL may wish to provide an update.
RE5 That Australian Council of Library and Information Services, the National Preservation Office, the National Film and Sound Archive and the Australian Archives establish a joint working party to recommend an effective strategy for dealing with the issue of continued access to materials in formats for which the access technology has become obsolete.
The National Library hosts the Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI) web site which facilitates discussion of digital preservation issues including the continued access to materials in formats for which the access technology has become obsolete.
(see update under RG 5)
G: Preservation Issues
RG1(a) That the National Preservation Office promote the importance of adding information on preservation intentions to records on the National Bibliographic Database.
The National Preservation Office actively campaigned for facilities that would allow preservation intentions to be recorded on the National Bibliographic Database and promoted their use when they were approved by the Australian Bibliographic Network Standards Committee, with mixed results.
Use of the facility has not been widespread, although it is routinely used by National Library and some State Libraries. Preservation-related information on the National Bibliographic Database has also tended to concentrate on documenting existing microform masters rather than intentions to microfilm. Documenting preservation strategies other than microfilming has been largely ignored.
In a digital environment, the issue of declaring preservation intentions has gained new prominence as libraries seek to ensure that collecting and preservation commitments are clearly recorded. NLA is looking at ways to standardise and facilitate explicit declarations of preservation intent in the Australian library sector while also mapping commitments to maintain access to digital information in other sectors.
RG1(b) That the National Preservation Office, in consultation with Australian Archives and the National Film and Sound Archive, and in cooperation with the Heritage Collections Committee, coordinate and promote the development of national preservation plans for documentary heritage in all formats, which acknowledge the independent programs and responsibilities of all organisations; these include the National Film and Sound Archives continuing developments of a national plan for audio-visual media, and Council of Australian State Libraries existing plan for Australian newspapers, and foreshadowed plan for Australian journals.
In mid-1995 the Cultural Ministers Council published the National Conservation and Preservation Policy for Movable Cultural Heritage, followed in 1998 by a National Strategy aimed at achieving the policys objectives. While these were significant achievements, neither the Policy nor the Strategy specifically focused on documentary heritage, and neither constituted a detailed national plan.
The National Plan for Australian Newspapers (NPLAN) has been broadly successful in improving the preservation of Australias newspaper heritage. Some State Libraries have made significant progress towards microfilming most or all titles published in their State and National Library has accepted responsibility for a number of titles of national coverage. The National Library and Council of State Libraries are working together to review and re-invigorate the NPLAN so that its preservation potential can be fully realised over the next decade.
No equivalent plan for Australian serials has been adopted. However there has been progress in developing national plans for cellulose acetate collections and digital resources, both with NLA leadership.
RG2 That the National Preservation Office, the Australian Archives and the Federal Libraries Information Network, actively encourage and promote the use of permanent paper and other suitable materials for documents likely to form part of the Australian documentary heritage.
Use of "permanent " paper was facilitated by development of Australian Standard 4003-1996 Permanent Paper, and by marketing of a range of products meeting specifications developed by the National Archives of Australia. The National Library and National Archives of Australia have very actively promoted the use of long-lasting papers through both information and marketing campaigns.
Research by the National Library has shown a small but steady increase in the use of less acidic papers by Australian publishers through the past decade. Two more recent trends a shift to less acidic papermaking processes in response to environmental concerns, and the growth in electronic publishing are both relevant, even if the timing and size of their impacts are still hard to predict.
RG3 That the National Film and Sound Archive in collaboration with the National Library of Australia and other organisations, develop and promote the use of technical standards for use in oral history and folklore recording projects, to ensure future preservation of this important documentary heritage resource.
Progress in developing technical standards has been complicated by the almost complete shift from analogue to digital technology by major institutions, implying ongoing investments in equipment and programs beyond the resources of smaller oral history and folklore programs.
As the leading oral history and folklore recording institution, NLA has been very active in working with other organisations to:
- identify collections, leading to the establishment of Australia's Oral History Collections: A National Directory
- liaise with collection managers responsible for smaller collections
- present and discuss preservation approaches relevant to smaller collections.
While this has not overcome the threats to many of the oral history and folklore collections outside the major institutions, it represents reasonable progress towards a national support network and a national plan for preserving these collections.
RG4 That the National Film and Sound Archive and other appropriate organisations (noting in particular the responsibility of Australian Archives vis-à-vis the ABC and SBS) maintain ongoing programs to ensure the acquisition and preservation of an adequate coverage of Australian radio and TV programs as part of the national documentary heritage.
Screensound (formerly the NFSA) continues to acquire television news and selected radio programs.
RG5 That the Australian Archives, Australian Council of Library and Information Services, the National Preservation Office and the National Film and Sound Archive establish a working party to develop guidelines for the management of material in electronic format, building on work already done by the Australian Archives and the ACLIS Task Force on the Preservation of Australian Electronic Information.
A cross-sectoral working group, initially convened by National Australian Archives was established in 1994/95, with representatives from the National Australian Archives, the National Library, the National Preservation Office, the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services, the National Film and Sound Archive, the CSIRO, the National Museum of Australia and the Department of Communication, Information technology and the Arts and the Information Technology industry. With funds from the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee Electronic Publishing Working Group and the TF2001 Working Group on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects, and drawing on the resources and expertise of member institutions, the RG5 Working Group (later known as the PADI Preservation of Australian Digital Information, and later still Preserving Access to Digital Information Working Group) undertook an analysis of electronic preservation processes and issues, surveyed electronic preservation readiness in Australian collecting institutions, and provided influential comment on the Draft Report of the US Taskforce on the Archiving of Digital Information convened by the Commission on Preservation and Access and the Research Libraries Group.
The PADI Working Groups attempts to develop guidelines were frustrated by the diversity of information formats and contexts needing to be addressed on the one hand, and on the other by a dearth of tested solutions despite the developing global discussion of issues and challenges.
In 1996/97 the Working Group decided to establish a Web-based information site to at least reflect the current range of approaches being discussed in different sectors. The PADI Web-site, which has been hosted from the beginning by National Library, was re-developed by Library as an international subject gateway to digital preservation information resources in 1999, with an International Advisory Group and a growing reputation as the worlds best source of information on the subject. The direction of the PADI service is being further internationalised with agreements to be negotiated with a number of North American and European organisations during 2001.
While PADI has the potential to reflect and generate guidelines for managing and preserving digital information, in practical terms the intention of the RG5 resolution has largely passed to lead institutions in the library and archives sectors. Both National Australian Archives and National Library have invested heavily in developing digital archiving and preservation programs with a growing body of expertise and advice emanating from both organisations. The Library in particular has pursued a path of practical experimentation, policy and procedure development, communication and collaboration with overseas and local programs and projects, and a developing coordinated national approach to a distributed collection of Australian digital resources. From this range of activities the guidelines envisaged by Resolution RG5 are emerging.
Services to Special Communities
H: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities
RH1 That the National, State and Territory libraries and archives, and other collecting organisations, establish advisory mechanisms which will result in improved access to documentary heritage by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocols for libraries, archives and information services was published in 1995. It was intended to guide libraries, archives and information services in appropriate ways to interact with ATSI people in the communities which the organisations serve, and to handle materials with Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander content.
Since 1996 very few Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have sat on formal library advisory boards however valuable input from indigenous people is obtained through different channels such as through the National Librarys Bringing it Home project. Doreen Mellor, the Coordinator of this project will contribute to a recent Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts project to develop protocols to guide management of indigenous cultural and intellectual property.
National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South State Libraries both have indigenous staff members. All the State and Territory libraries have on line guides to library materials and services relating to aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The Library Service of WA and the State Library of South Australia both have impressive sites.
CASL may wish to comment further
RH2 That the National Library of Australia, in cooperation with Council of Australian State Libraries, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, the Council of Federal, State and Territory Archives, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library Resource Network, undertake to convene a biennial Round Table on Library and Archives collections and services of relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The First Roundtable on Library and Archives Collections and Services of Relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People was held in Adelaide in May 1995. No further roundtables were held and the activities of the Roundtable were subsumed into the ATSILIRN agenda.
In 1996 the National Library joined ATSILIRN, (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library and Information Resource Network) and participates in its annual conferences, held since 1994. The seventh conference was held at the NLA and was entitled Cultural Survival, Cultural Revival : the role of the information professional, 16-18 October, 2000. The next conference will be held in late 2001 in Cairns.
The conference provides a forum for issues and experiences affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples working in libraries, archives, and information or resource services; and people providing library, archives, and information or resource services to Aboriginal and Torres; Strait Islander peoples.
The ATSILIRN website is managed by the NLAs indigenous staffer Tracey Lane-Hudson.
At the National Library acquisition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander library materials has become more systematic. An acquisitions visits to indigenous organisations was made in 1996 and Ms Lane- Hudson actively pursues indigenous library materials under the Librarys Legal Deposit Scheme.
In December 1997, in response to the first recommendation of
Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, the Commonwealth Government announced the National Library would be funded to develop and manage a new oral history project. The oral history project would collect and preserve the stories of Indigenous people and others, such as missionaries, police and administrators involved in or affected by the process of child removals.
CASL may wish to report on State developments.
RH3 That, in association with Resolution RH1, the National, State and Territory Libraries undertake to disseminate information about their holdings related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and that conditions of access and use be negotiated with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Thesaurus was published in 1997. The Thesaurus has assisted in the compilation of the soon to be published A Guide to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections at the National Library. The Guide will include items in the Pictorial, Manuscripts, Oral History, and general collections, providing a comprehensive resource for researchers.
Many library web sites now provide specific information about access to their collections relating to indigenous people. For example the State Library of New South Wales homepage states: http://www.slnsw.gov.au/aborig/aborig.htm
"The State Library of New South Wales is committed to improving library services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in
New South Wales through the provision of appropriate services from the State Library and to work through the State's public library network to provide appropriate services throughout New South Wales."
RH4That the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), in conjunction with the National Library of Australia, Australian Archives, Council of Australian State Libraries and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library Resource Network develop proposals for funding by the Australian Aboriginal Affairs Council and/or other appropriate bodies to enable the development of a national strategy for linking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to all Australian documentary heritage materials.
The AIASTIS Library now has an on-line catalogue.called MURA. Its resources include an Aboriginal biographical index, film and video archive, pictorial archive, print collections and a recorded sound archive. The site also provides links to other related organisations.
RH5 That ALIA, following consultation with all schools of library and information studies, examine ways in which:
- Cross cultural awareness issues may be most appropriately handled in education and training programs.
- More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may obtain educational qualifications in library and information studies.
and prepare an appropriate submission to the National Review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education.
ALIA consulted with schools of library and information studies on the issues and in April 1994, the Association made a detailedsubmission to the National Review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education which incorporated material derived from consultations with schools of library and information studies. One of the key recommendations in the submission was:
"That in cooperation with DEET, ALIA pursue opportunities for recruitment and career development for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the library and information services sector."
This recommendation coming out of the Review was the catalyst for the establishment of the "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy" in 1996, a joint initiative of the (then) Department of Education and Training and ALIA. The Strategy ran for a period of four years concluding in March 2000. (From 1999 until it concluded in March 2000 the Australian Society of Archivists also participated in the initiative.)
During the four years of the Strategy's operation ALIA and the department worked together to provide opportunities for indigenous Australians to gain qualifications in LIS/employment in the sector - this was through cadetships and traineeships.
A cadet was employed by a library or information agency and undertook studies to gain librarian or library technician qualifications. The cadetship also involved a work experience component. Trainees received on-the-job training in LIS environment which enabled them to work as library assistants.
As a result of the Strategy, a number of indigenous people gained qualifications and employment as librarians, archivists and library technicians or gained the skills necessary to work as library assistants.
J: Multicultural Communities
RJ1 That a national Round Table on Library Services in a Multicultural Australia be established,
- to meet biennially chaired by a representative of the Council of Australian State Libraries
- with representation from State and Territory libraries (through State and Territory multicultural library services advisory committees where these exist), the NLA, Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Department of Health, Housing, Local Government and Community services, and other multicultural community-related organisations as appropriate
- with the secretariat for each Round Table provided as agreed by with a State or a Territory library or the NLA
- with terms of reference covering all aspects of multicultural library services
- with responsibilities for conducting a survey of national progress of multicultural services in libraries with significant Australian collections prior to each Round Table
A National Round Table on Library Services in a Multicultural Australia be established was not established.
The NLA initiated a joint National, state and territory libraries collecting project called 'Collecting Multicultural Australia' in 2000. Its aim was to promote the legal deposit of non-English language materials. The state libraries cooperated with the NLA in disseminating information about legal deposit to publishers and multicultural community groups.
Council of Australian State Libraries may wish to comment.
RJ2 That State and Territory libraries establish consultative mechanisms (where these do not already exist) linking libraries with State ethnic community organisations, to further develop policies and practices on multicultural collecting and access.
Council of Australian State Libraries may wish to update activities in their State
RJ3 That the ALIA Board of Education consult with Schools of Library and Information Studies to examine ways in which
- cultural diversity issues may be most appropriately handled in education and training programs
- more students with language skills and backgrounds may obtain educational qualifications in library and information studies
In 1994, the response from a consultation with Schools of Library and Information Studies matters can be summarised as follows:
"LIS schools have advised that cultural awareness issues are integrated into the curriculum. This approach meets the requirement to cover the needs of all information users in the already heavy curriculum demands at first award level. These issues are also included in the Association's criteria for course recognition. There is scope though for these issues to be covered as an elective or in continuing professional development programs.Such subjects or continuing professional development programs are offered where teaching staff have the appropriate expertise."
Following further consideration of this issue by the Board of Education, it recommended in February 1995 that the National Library and Information Studies Curriculum Project Steering Group consider the incorporation of multicultural issues in the development of the National Library and Information Studies curriculum.
The Curriculum Project referred to was the project then being undertaken to develop a national curriculum for library technician studies to be taught at diploma level through the TAFE system.
Multicultural issues were incorporated into the National Curriculum for Library and Information Studies, which was the basis of all library technician courses from 1996 onwards. The National Curriculum is currently being replaced by the Library and Information Services Industry Training Package, which also incorporates multicultural issues.
RJ4 That the National Library, in collaboration with the Arts, Culture and Heritage Policy Network of the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia, seek funds to carry out a survey aimed at identifying documentary heritage collections held in community organisations.
A survey of Newspapers published by the Multicultural Communities was conducted by the National Library in 1993 which funded by the Department of Communications, InformationTechnology and the Arts (DoCITA).
Since 1994, the National Library of Australia, in cooperation with the Commonwealth Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts' Distributed National Collection program, has offered Community Heritage Grants to assist Australian community organisations such as libraries and historical societies, museums, multicultural, ethnic and indigenous groups to preserve significant documentary heritage collections. About 8% of the projects conducted so far have come from ethnic communities.
RJ5 That the National Library of Australia ensure, through the National CJK Project and its National Document and Information Service development, that the need to provide for the scripts and complex diacritics of all major community languages in Australia is addressed as a high priority; with advice from Standards Australia Committee IT/19 on appropriate character sets.
The Library will adopt the international standard Unicode character set once this has been implemented in the Kinetica software. It is hoped that this will enable the integration of the CJK service with mainstream Kinetica services.
Meanwhile, the Library will undertake a study into the feasibility of extending the Australian National CJK Service to support other scripts, such as Thai, Arabic and Hebrew.
RJ6 That the National Library of Australia report to the ABN Network Committee and ABN Users Meeting on the best ways to extend coverage of records and locations for non-English language materials in the National Bibliographic Database.
The National Library identified three significant collections of community language materials in public libraries. Unfortunately all three collections are catalogued in brief or non-standard records, making their incorporation into the National Bibliographic Database complex and costly. The Library plans to incorporate the Chinese collection from the City of Sydney Library into the CJK database in 2001/02.
K: People with Disabilities
RK1 That the National Library of Australia regularly monitor the extent to which alternative format materials accessible to people with disabilities, are included in collection development policies and collecting agreements that are reported to it.
The NLA does not monitor Collection Development Policies and Collecting agreements, but the text of many of these can be accessed through the Australian Libraries Gateway.
The National Library has commenced discussions with Vision Australia to ensure that access issues for people with disabilities can be addressed.
RK2 That the National Library of Australia and State and Territory Libraries, in consultation with relevant groups, seek to include in any changes to deposit legislation, reference to formats of materials accessible to people with disabilities.
The joint NLA / Screensound submission on legal deposit said "legal deposit provisions should not attempt to be specific, but should cover any form of publishing" and made it clear that Legal Deposit should not be restricted to print material. The Government is still considering an extension of legal deposit.
RK3 That the Australian Committee on Cataloguing work to influence international bibliographic standards and practice to improve access to materials for people with disabilities.
After rejecting the initial proposal for a change to the General Material designation for captioned and signed video recordings for the hearing impaired, Joint Steering Committee agreed in 1995 to a change to include an additional note example for Close-captioned materials in rule 7.7B2 of AAACR2.
All existing tasks have been completed and no additional projects have been identified.
RK4 That the National Library of Australia, in re-examining its national bibliographic products, ensure the timely identification of materials produced for people with disabilities.
In 1993 the Library enabled all the major talking book and braille producers to become online contributors to the NBD in their own right. The National Library continues to create records and holdings on the NBD for smaller libraries. However, in 2001 the Kinetica will introduce a simple web form for reporting to the NBD, and the Library will use this opportunity to encourage the remaining small publishers to become Kinetica members and create their own entries in the NBD.
RK5 That the Copyright Committee to be established by ACLIS include in its deliberations the issue of a broadening of the statutory licence provisions, with the aim of promoting access by anyone who cannot read standard print material to productions in alternative forms.
No further progress to report.
RK6 That the National Library ask the Commonwealth Governments Public Lending Right Committee to consider appropriate changes to the Public Lending Right Scheme to include audio books and other alternative format materials.
An efficiency and effectiveness evaluation of the PLR Scheme was conducted in 1998 by a Steering Committee appointed by the Dept. of Communications, Information, Technology and the Arts. Warren Horton, then Director General of the National Library, was chair of the PLR Advisory Committee at the time of the review.
Inclusion of non-print books in the PLR scheme was considered by the review but the Steering Committee recommended the following:
"The Committee recommends that the Department, in consultation with the PLR Committee, investigates the feasibility of including talking books in the Scheme. The Committee believes the Scheme should not be extended to include CD-ROMs, other forms of digital publications and online services at this time, because issues of use regarding types of publications are likely to be the responsibility of the copyright collecting agencies.
The Committee recommends that, should a decision be made to amend the Act to enable talking books to be included in the Scheme, such amendment be flexible enough to enable consideration to be given to the possible inclusion of other types of non-book material in the Scheme at some future date."
The recommendation was accepted by Government.
L: Copyright Issues
RL1 That ACLIS establish and fund a Copyright Committee, with representatives from ACLIS, the Australian Council of Archives, CASL, the Council of Australian University Librarians, CSIRO and the National Library of Australia to meet throughout 1994 to formulate an appropriate response to the Minister for Justice on changes to copyright legislation, and to develop appropriate positions on copyright for the library and archives communities.
The ACLIS Copyright Committee was established in March 1994 with the Committee supported by a full time Copyright Research Officer from 1995 until 1998. When ACLIS ceased operation in December 1998 the work of the Research Officer was funded through a new body, Australian Libraries Copyright Committee (ALCC)
The ALCC is now the main consultative body and policy forum for the discussion of copyright issues affecting Australian libraries and archives. It is a cross-sectoral committee with representatives from the following organisations:
- Australian Council of Archives
- Australian Library and Information Association
- Council of Australian State Libraries
- Council of Australian University Librarians
- Federal Libraries Information Network
- National Library of Australia
The ALCC considers the impact of copyright law reform on Australian libraries and archives and provides advice to the Federal Government on how to maintain a balance between reasonable access to creative works for copyright users on the one hand and an incentive for copyright creators and owners on the other.
M: The Future
RM1 That the Working Group on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects remain in existence as long as it remains successful in raising project funds; that they be encouraged to seek further funds during 1994; and that the National Library of Australia provide administrative support through its Office of the DNC.
The Working Group was wound up in late 1996.
The NLA now supports university libraries in their applications for project funding provided by the Australian Research Council. The Distributed National Collection offcie was subsumed into the National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch in January 1997.
RM2 That the National Library remains a focus for continuing the Towards Federation 2001 agenda, and monitoring progress, within its new Office of the Distributed National Collection, working in close collaboration with ACLIS and CASL.
The NLA continues to work on improving national information infrastructure. Policy and standards development, collaboration with other institutions and improving mechanisms for national access to digital and print materials, including preservation issues are all part of this effort.
RM3 That the National Library of Australia organise a further meeting of parties interested in the Towards Federation 2001 agenda to be held in early 1996, to review progress, and if possible to agree on further collaborative projects and activities over the period 1996-2001.
In June 1996 the National Library of Australia decided that no further meetings would be held because changes in funding and the rapidly changing technological environment meant that the Towards Federation 2001 process in its then form had run its useful life.
