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OverviewThe National Library of Australia is creating an online resource discovery service called People Australia. The service will allow users to access information about significant Australian people and organisations as well as related biographical and contextual information. People Australia will be based on the Australian Name Authority File, a unique resource maintained since 1980 by Australian libraries which contribute their holdings to the Australian National Bibliographic Database. Name authority files perform an important role in resource discovery services by collocating relevant resources under a single form of name and by providing references from non-preferred or related forms. Biographical or historical notes in name authority files are also rich sources of information in their own right however users may not be aware that this information can be accessed. People Australia will make the Australian Name Authority File available to web users for the first time and provide a means of integrating the rich biographical and contextual information held across a number of Library databases. To further enrich the service the Library will be seeking partnerships with organisations that already make available information about Australian people and organisations in their specific domains. People Australia will also create web services that support the sharing of data in ways that encourage the development of new online services, minimise duplication of effort and preserve the intellectual property and context of entries developed by partners. People Australia supports the Library's strategic objectives, in particular Desired Outcome 2 of the National Library of Australia Directions for 2006-2008, by enabling rapid and easy access to collections and other resources. It increases the return of investment made by Australian libraries in the development and maintenance of the Australian Name Authority File, as well as providing opportunities to exploit information about people created by other cultural agencies and the educational sector. Additional InformationAdditional information about the project is available in the People Australia Wiki. Exposure draft of the People Australia Data Model (Word version [495 KB], PDF version [631 KB]) EnquiriesFurther enquiries about this project may be directed to: Basil Dewhurst Email: peopleaustralia@nla.gov.au Date last verified: 9 January 2008 |
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