National Library of Australia


University of Melbourne collection assessment
Earth sciences

Shirley Sullivan, Collection Management Division
August 1995

  1. Aims
  2. Methodologies
  3. Nature of the Discipline
  4. School of Earth Sciences
  5. Earth Science Library
  6. Special Collections
  7. List Checking
  8. Shelf Scanning
  9. Evaluation by Experts
  10. Assessment of the Collections
  11. Areas of Research Strength
  12. Areas Needing to be Enriched
  13. Acknowledgements

1. Aims

1.1 To evaluate the Earth Sciences collections throughout the University of Melbourne Library.

1.2 To identify areas of the collection which need improvement in currency and scope.

1.3 To lay the foundation for a collection management policy for the Earth Sciences area.

2. Methodologies

The collections were assessed using criteria laid down in the Australian Conspectus Manual:

Note: Uncatalogued collections were not considered in this evaluation, as it was believed that these could be more appropriately considered after collection development policies were in place.

3. Nature of the Discipline

The fluid, inter-disciplinary, nature of much modern teaching and research is well reflected in the disciplines of Earth Science. Within the University of Melbourne Library, titles falling in the relevant DDC numbers are dispersed across the campus. Although the strongest collection is (naturally) in the Earth Sciences Branch Library, significant collections are housed in Engineering, Botany, and Zoology, with further items found in the research collections (B and AB), Faculty of Educational Services and Architecture, Agriculture and Forestry, Physics Research Branch Library, Chemistry, Mathematical Sciences, and even as far afield as Architecture and Planning.

This has, understandably, led to some vexation on the part of users, who refer, for example, to the "awkwardness" of the scattered journal collection, and the desire to see, for example, all the history of geology monographs in one location.

Earth Sciences literature remains useful for longer periods of time than that pertaining to many other scientific fields. An earth scientist needs to go back 25 years to find 80% of the useful literature, and 40 years back to uncover 90%. Thus one needs the wide chronological coverage found throughout the Earth Sciences collections at the University of Melbourne, where the dates range from 1880s to 1990s (except for the rare books collections, which contain items of earlier dates).

Like other sciences, Earth Sciences relies far more heavily on serial than on monographic literature. There is a steadily increasing trend for serials to be published in English, or to be rapidly available in English translations. Earth scientists, whether or no they are native English speakers, mostly deliver conference papers and articles in English. There is, therefore, no longer the necessity for earth scientists to be able to read in other languages. So the requirement for a collection to contain a deal of foreign language literature in this division is now outdated. A level 4 code can readily and appropriately be awarded a collection predominantly in English in this field.

4. School of Earth Sciences

The School forms part of the Faculty of Science. It has two teaching components: geology and meteorology. The School offers an undergraduate course which is broadly based, and most meteorology, geology, and geophysics students continue their studies to the fourth (Honours) year. It offers postgraduate research degrees in many fields of geology, of exploration geophysics, and of meteorology.

The School undertakes internationally recognised research in a wide range of areas, including:

The Library supports these with level 4 collections.

5. Earth Sciences Library

Like other sciences, Earth Sciences relies far more heavily on serial than on monographic literature. This is reflected in the annual bookvote allocations. The 1995 bookvote for Earth Sciences is $A164,211.00. Of this, serials account for $A126,396.00, or roughly 77% . (CD ROMs are classed as subscriptions.)

The Earth Sciences Library has a bookstock of more than 35,000 volumes and has approximately 380 serial titles. These include many with extensive runs.

It is a well balanced collection, according to the academic staff. While it is not growing much, not much is being published. All the significant texts are still being acquired.

It acquires approximately 300 new monographs per year (based on the average cost of an item divided into the budget, double checked against a representative sample of new books listed in the Earth Sciences Branch Library's newsletter). This compares well with the average output of Earth Sciences monographs as indicated by The Bowker Annual, 1994.

6. Special Collections

6.1 Departmental reprint collection

A departmental reprint collection is held in the School. This was originally the collection of Professor Skeats, added to by reprints acquired as part of an exchange programme with overseas colleagues. The collection now comprises chiefly reprints of papers written by members of the department from 1930 to 1975, a collection of approximately 13,000 reprints. The catalogue to these reprints is housed in the Earth Sciences Library.

6.2 Lantern slides

There is a departmental collection of 19th century lantern slides depicting landslides.

6.3 Photographs

The School maintains a haphazard collection of photographs. These are air photos acquired for projects, and held as a resource for teaching.

6.4 Maps

The School maintains a map collection which is particularly strong in both topographic and geological maps of Victoria. Efforts are being made to tie the collection in with that held by the University Library's maps collection. The University Library's maps collection is used a little by Earth Science academic staff and students, but is used a great deal by other areas, such as Architecture and Planning, Agriculture, Geography and Engineering. The maps collection of the University Library holds about 20,000 items in the Earth Sciences field, including a gift collection from the Dept. of Agriculture, Energy and Minerals Victoria. The Maps Librarian proposes to undertake a collection evaluation of Geology maps over the next 2 years.

6.5 Audio-visual collections

There is a small AV collection held at the Faculty of Educational Services and Architecture Branch Library. This includes computer files, slides, pictures, and videos. The collection totals about 140 items. It is used chiefly by students within the Faculty rather than by the wider university community. 6.6 Archives

The Melbourne University Archives holds records of several mining companies, such as North Broken Hill and the Western Mining Corporation, together with personal papers of several persons associated with the mining industry in Australia (eg Colin Fraser, W.S. Robinson).

6.7 Victorian regional geology

The Earth Sciences Library is particularly strong in Victorian regional geology and has a Victorian Locality Index, with cards prepared for many localities in Victoria listing references to the geology of that particular locality. (This index is no longer updated.)

6.8 Rare Books

There are approximately 850 items in the Earth Sciences rare books collection. It includes 19th century German and French sets of serials as well as sets of serials such as the Transactions of the Geological Society (UK). Most of the collection is catalogued, but is poorly housed. It is recommended that provision be made for the collection to be adequately housed and maintained.

6.9 Theses

The Earth Sciences Library holds approximately 200 postgraduate theses.

6.10 Special collections 6.10.1. McLaren Collection

The McLaren Collection contains approximately 300 monographs on Antarctic exploration prior to 1939, and a small collection of pamphlets including the Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Victoria, published by the Department of Mines in the 1920s, and the Polar Record of the Scott Polar Research Institute, published in the 1930s.

6.10.2 BX Collection

The Special Collection (BX) holds useful collected works, such as those of Buffon and Cuvier, together with many nineteenth century society publications.

6.10.3 AX Collection

The Special Collection (AX) contains roughly 100-120 items from the 1800s, including a number of series such as Record of Results of Observations in Meteorology and Terrestrial Magnetism; by the Government Astronomer of Victoria, and similar series for other colonies.

6.10.4 The U Collection

The U collection holds the Science Papers of members of the Geology Department from 1905-1928.

6.11 Microforms

The University of Melbourne Library holds one of the most important collections of primary and secondary source material in microform in Australia in many and various subject areas. Notable collections of relevance to Earth Sciences are:

7. List Checking

A number of lists were used to assess the collection strengths in Earth Sciences. There were difficulties associated with list checking, the most immediately obvious being the length of time involved: 57 hours. A further difficulty was in choosing appropriate lists, particularly to reflect Australian collections and to ensure up-to-dateness.

7.1 Bibliography used for list checking:

7.1.2 Results of the list checking

7.1.2.1 Monographs

In an endeavour to use Australian lists, ANB for 1991, 1992, and 1993 were checked. This had the practical advantage of being in DDC order but the decided disadvantage of including all levels of material, so that it was necessary to filter out inappropriate levels. The low percentage rate held in the collection does not, therefore, indicate a poor collection. With the benefit of hindsight, ANB (and BNB) should have not formed part of the list for checking.

The most suitable and thorough list for monograph checking was Information Sources in the Earth Sciences, despite its date of publication (1989). It was comprehensive, particularly for serials, dictionaries and historical literature. The 1994 edition of Information Sources in Science and Technology was unavailable for the Earth Sciences collections, but is now available and will be used for collections to be assessed.

Title No. checked No. held %
ABN 1991 166 40 24.1
ABN 1992 189 42 22.22
ABN 1993 212 50 23.58
BNB 1994 333 86 25.83
Hurt 92 59 64.13
Malinowsky 123 96 78
Powell 49 39 39: 80
Walford 429 249 58
Wood 1373 984 71.67
Overall 2966 1645 55.46

7.1.2.2 Serials:

Serials: the rate of collection altered depending on the list. From checking AESIS, the Australian list, the University of Melbourne Library rated 68.63%, whereas checking the international list, the Library achieved only 34.83%. From Wood, a good authoritative source, the Library rated 56.39%; on the other hand, from Malinowsky the Library rated 87.76% and from Powell and Powell 77.78%. As can be readily seen from the table below, the rating of the serials collection depended upon the list checked. An overall rate of 49.22% is reasonable, given that many titles on the international list reflect foreign titles of parochial interest only. The 1982 survey indicated that Melbourne had the most complete serial runs, and the academic staff are generally well satisfied with the serial coverage.

 
	 
Title No. checked No. held %
AESIS 102 70 68.63
Bib & index geol 600 209 34.83
Malinowsky 49 43 87.76
Met & geol ab 424 183 43.16
Powell 36 28 77.78
Walford 51 32 62.75
Wood 782 441 56.39
Overall 2044 1006 49.22

8. Shelf Scanning

A shelf scan was undertaken concurrently with list checking. This took 21 hours. Libraries on campus holding items in the relevant DDC numbers were examined. This provided a valuable overview of the monograph coverage particularly. As mentioned previously, holdings are scattered throughout a number of branch libraries.

9. Evaluation by Experts

A number of academic staff members from the School were interviewed and assisted the Conspectus officer to assign levels to worksheets. They further provided advice on areas which need to be built up to support newly established fields of teaching and research. Specific information is provided under sections 11 and 12.

10. Assessment of the Collections

10.1 Dictionaries and encyclopaedias

The collection of dictionaries and encyclopaedias is considered comprehensive, a level 4 collection. All major items are held and are up to date. Eighty per cent checked from authoritative lists are held. For example, 16 out of 20 checked from Malinowsky (1994).

10.2 Monographs

The total collection of monographs in the division is approximately 25,000. Given the lack of importance of foreign language material (referred to earlier), the overall collection level of the division is 4E.

10.3 Serials

10.4 Indexing and abstracting services

The University of Melbourne Library holds or provides access to the major indexes and abstracts in the discipline in print and/or electronic format. The electronic formats are available as CD-ROMs and/or online, through commercial vendors or through AARNet/Internet.

10.5 World Wide Web sites

The Earth Sciences Branch Librarian encourages the use of the Internet by students and staff. The following sites are examples of the diverse sources available for research through the world wide web.

These sites and the information they contain cannot yet be seen as substitutes for the more traditional print, microform and electronic sources, but as supplementing them.

11. Areas of Research Strength

11.1 History of geology

This was considered the equivalent of a level 4 collection in the 1982 study, and has retained its significance. According to Professor Home, Head of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, the University of Melbourne is the only place in Australia to do work for HPS; it is "well up in the world league". There is an extensive monograph collection of retrospective works, especially 19th century German works and 18th century French works. There is some Italian and Russian literature also, though much Russian literature was published in German or French in 18th and 19th centuries. (There is need for a substantial amount of foreign language material in an historical collection.)

RLIN's History of Science and Technology, available through the Internet, is a valuable recent addition to the collection.

11.2 Volcanoes, earthquakes, thermal waters and gases

This is one of the areas of research for the School. This is well reflected in the collection, which almost reaches a level 5, according to the academic staff.

11.3 Meteorology

This is an area that has developed since the 1982 study. The Meteorology Department was absorbed by the School, and the area is now one of their research strengths.

11.4 Climatology and weather

This is another area where the collection has gained strength since the 1982 study. The area now forms part of the research focus of the School and is well-supported, having reached level 4.

12. Areas needing to be Enriched

12.1 Palaeontology

This was an area of strong research (ie, a level 5, according to the academic staff interviewed) up till about seven years ago. When the relevant academic staff member left the School, the collection was not maintained; monograph purchase dropped significantly. There are now major gaps in the monograph collection so the acquisition level needs to be built up to a level 4 once more. The imminent appointment of a new professor is seen as the opportunity to rebuild this collection. It is still an excellent library for Palaeontology, however, as it has all the major journals. The series, and particularly serials collections, are still level 4. There is no requirement for foreign language items for a collection to be considered a level 4 collection in Palaeontology these days. While there is little on vertebrates, Monash is strong in this area, so the academic staff recommend that the University of Melbourne Library continue to build on its already strong invertebrate collections. The new professor researches in the area of invertebrates, not vertebrates.

12.2 Hydrogeology

This is both a new area of research for the School and also a young area, with only about 5 key textbooks at present, and also around half a dozen journals, all of which are held in the Library.

The journal collection is used most intensively: the use of the collections in this field is 90% journals and 10% books. The collection is considered better than that of Monash or Latrobe. Most interlibrary loans are acquired from the US because if the required item is not held at the University of Melbourne, it is unlikely that it will be held anywhere in Australia. (Some items are held in NSW and at ANU.) While it is a level 4 collection, and the current acquisition rate is also level 4, there are significant new journals appearing at the rate of one every 18-24 months. The collection must continue to be built up aggressively to serve the research needs of the academic staff and postgraduate students, ie, the goal level is also a level 4.

Acknowledgments

Thanks are gratefully offered to the many people who gave freely of their time and advice. I thank particularly Juliet Flesch, Debbie Williams, Elisabeth Garran, Margaret Murphy, Graeme Murphy, Brian Warburton, Karen Malbon, Merete Smith, Peter Strong and Sharon Edelsten from the Library, for their support and assistance, and the academic staff who generously gave their time and advice to assist me to build a picture of the current collections and the needs that they are required to meet.

Last modified: August 18 2004.