Meeting
National Consultative Meeting on the Management of Australian Physical-Format Digital Publications
Report of the First National Consultative Meeting on the Management of Australian Physical-Format Digital Publications
National Library of Australia, 27-28 October 1997
Introduction
The first National Consultative Meeting on the management of Australian physical-format digital publications was held at the National Library of Australia, 27-28 October 1997. It brought together representatives of the publishers and content providers of Australian publications on CD-ROMs and floppy disks, and representatives of the National and State Libraries.
The purpose of the meeting was to seek agreement on key principles and an understanding of responsibilities related to the provision of long-term access to digital publications in physical-formats. It was acknowledged early in the day that to ensure continued access to information originally published in this form, long and short-term strategies must soon be agreed upon and implemented.
Through a series of presentations and group discussions, issues including legal and voluntary deposit, copyright, access, licensing, collection development, cataloguing, and preservation paths were grappled with.
Following the discussion with publishers and content providers, the library representatives met for a second day to formalise the outcomes of the discussions into a plan of action for libraries. The aim of this action plan is to progress the development of strategies for the long-term preservation of access to significant Australian publications.
* Note on the term 'physical-format'
There is as yet no
universally accepted terminology to describe the category of publication
discussed at this meeting. We have used the term physical-format -
other terms sometimes used to describe this category of publication include
hand-held, physically tangible and
portable. All are potentially misleading but essentially cover
CD-ROMs and floppy disks.
Surveys
Information from surveys conducted in the months prior to the meeting provided a basis for the discussions. Three surveys were conducted:
- National Survey of Publishers of Australian Physical-Format Digital
Publications
See: Survey Report / Survey Form - National Survey on the Management of Australian Physical-Format
Digital Publications held by Australian National and State Libraries
See: Survey Report / Survey Form - Report on the Holdings of Australian Physical Format Digital Publications in the National and State Libraries
Presentations Made at the Meeting
- Providing the Context for Our Meeting / Jan Lyall, Acting Assistant Director-General, Cultural & Educational Services, National Library of Australia
- Legal and Commerical Issues / Annabelle Herd, Copyright Research Officer, Australian Council of Libraries & Information Services (ACLIS)
- Technical Issues / Colin Webb, Manager, Information Preservation, National Library of Australia
- Roles and Responsibilities / Maggie Jones, Director, Collection Management & Retrieval Service, National Library of Australia.
- Overview of Strategic Directions in the Digital Area and Current Digital Initiatives [forthcoming]
- Digitising the Collections: LISWA's Strategic Directions - "Western Stories" / Dr Lynn Allen, Chief Executive Officer and State Librarian, Library and Information Service of Western Australia
- Northern Territory Library: Overview of Digital Activities / Michael Loos, Northern Territory Library
- Status Report: State Library of Victoria / Jill Wilson and Derek Whitehead, State Library of Victoria
Related and Background Papers
- A Draft Research Agenda for the Preservation of Physical Format Digital Publications [August 1998]
- Management and Preservation of Physical-Format Digital Publications: a National Library Position Paper on the Role of Australian Legal Deposit Libraries [Draft, February 1998]
- Migration Trials: Migrating Publications on Floppy Disk to CD-R / Colin Webb, Manager, Information Preservation and Deborah Woodyard, Electronic Preservation, National Library of Australia.
- Statement of Principles on the Preservation of and Long-Term Access to Australian Digital Objects
- National Strategy for the Provision of Access to Australian Electronic Publications A National Library of Australia position paper, September 1996
- Multimedia Preservation: Capturing The Rainbow / National Preservation Office Annual Conference; 27-30 November 1995, Brisbane, Qld, Australia
For further information contact:
-
National Library of Australia
E-mail: csb@nla.gov.au
