National Library of Australia
Kinetica Kinetica
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Kinetica Advisory Committee Meeting

21 and 23 July 1998


Agenda

1) Director-General’s remarks

2) Kinetica Implementation Project progress report – oral report (embargoed)

3) Business issues (embargoed)
a) Kinetica charges 1998/99 KAC/1998/1 3
b) Kinetica charging from 1999/2000 KAC/1998/27
c) Kinetica business relationships strategy KAC 1998/3
d) Kinetica interfaces seminar KAC/1998/4
e) Budget summary paper – to be tabled

4) Evaluation strategy (embargoed) KAC/1998/5

5) Database report 1997/1998 KAC/1998/6

6) Kinetica demonstration (embargoed)

7) Annual Users Meeting preparation (embargoed)
(Jillian Beswick, Chair of the AUM, will join the Committee to discuss the meeting)

8) Annual Users Meeting follow up (embargoed)
(Jillian Beswick will present her report to the Committee)

9) Future meetings

10) For information
a) The National Library’s role in the development of the Australian library infrastructure KAC/1998/6 33
b) Digital services activities in the National Library KAC/1998/7 41

Database Report 1997/1998

KAC/1998/6

Data migration
Data migration to Kinetica began on 31 May 1998. So far almost 3 Million bibliographic records and 6.8 Million holdings records have been loaded. 1.4 Million of the bibliographic records have no holdings. By the time the meeting takes place we calculate over 4 Million bibliographic records will have been loaded to the database. Very few records have been rejected in loading.

Bibliographic records without holdings were loaded first, as these were considered a good test for the loader program. The data migration team performed extensive tests to ensure holdings would be added successfully and that library symbols would be migrated to the new system. Loading of records with holdings has commenced with unique records, while the data migration team completes work on the match and merge programs.

Initial testing identified a number of data tags which needed to be updated or changed. Kinetica implementation will differ somewhat from the National Library of Canada’s implementation chiefly in terms of the use of tags and fields.

Data Loading to Kinetica
All records with holdings will be loaded to Kinetica.

In addition the following data without holdings will continue to be loaded to the system.

Library of Congress 1994-
BNB 1994-
RLIN records requested by members
OCLC records requested by members
Blackwells TOC records
Singapore National Bibliography
Australian National Bibliography
National Library of New Zealand + New Zealand original Cataloguing.

Loading during 1997/1998
Location data on the NBD increased to over 27 million holdings.

Highlights of retrospective loadings for the year include loading of the first file from the ANU which consisted of 100,000 records. This file added 16,092 new bibliographic records to the database and also added 99,585 holdings, of which 16,969 were unique holdings.

The NBD section has partially completed updating UNILINC's holdings on the database. So far the UNILINC loads have added 9 694 new bibliographic records, and 36 306 new holdings to the database. The final stage of loading UNILINC bibliographic records has begun with the delivery of a tape containing a further 29,000 records in late June 1998.

The NBD section has invited libraries that participated in a free trial of OCLC's Online Cataloguing Service to provide ABN with any bibliographic records acquired during the free trial or through subsequent use of OCLC. Deakin University’s file of 5,877 OCLC records has been successfully loaded, with 5,441 new bibliographic records and 1,281 unique holdings added to the database.

European Microforms Project
The National Library is collaborating with the University of Adelaide and four other universities in an Australian Research Council funded project to increase access to European Microform sets within Australian research libraries. The project will purchase and load existing MARC files where available, and catalogue selected collections originally on ABN.

Already identified and ordered are a number of files from OCLC (approximately 80,000 records) and from UMI (approximately 15,000 records). Also tested for load is a file from Deutsche Bibliotek for Bibliotek der Deutschen Literatur (approximately 19,000 titles). A request has been posted for holdings information from Australian libraries who own these titles, and it is planned to load this information along with the records. A list of the collections to be loaded so far can be found at: http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/mfm/euro.html

The National Library’s Role in the Development of the Australian Library Infrastructure

KAC/1998/7


Introduction
The National Library Act enjoins the Library on behalf of the Commonwealth “to cooperate in library matters (including the advancement of library science) with authorities or persons, whether in Australia or elsewhere, concerned with library matters” (s.6(d), and to provide such “services in relation to library matters and materials (including bibliographical services) as the Council thinks fit” (S. 6(c).). Accordingly, since its establishment in 1960, the Library has provided leadership and services to enhance the operation of the Australian library system or (to use the terminology of this paper) to improve “the Australian library infrastructure”. This report reports on the steps which the Library has taken to improve the Australian library infrastructure, the Library’s medium term plans to further develop this infrastructure, and to give some assessment of the success of various national strategies over the last decade

The Distributed National Collection concept
The National Library, through its leadership activities, bibliographic services, document supply services, and broader cooperative activities, has always sought to improve the sharing of resources within the Australian library community. At the Australian Libraries Summit in 1988, the Library promoted the use of the term “Distributed National Collection” to describe a strategy of cooperative national action to improve access to the nation’s library collections, and this is a useful point from which to start this discussion.

This strategy had several components, including:

  • collection development
  • resource discovery and bibliographic access
  • preservation
  • document access
  • national coordination

From its origin, the term ”Distributed National Collection” was interpreted in a range of ways; from simply describing the fact of the existing Australian library system to implying a more formal structure including national collecting roles and relationships. Because the imperative for cooperation has broadened beyond library collections, the term “Distributed National Collection” is no longer considered suitable. The Library now prefers to speak more broadly of the “Australian library infrastructure”.

There were a number of assumptions which underpinned the original Distributed National Collection model:

  • that the information needs of Australian users could be substantially (though not totally) met from the national collection;
  • that the library community could operate effectively without a single national collection "of last resort" (along the lines of the British Library Document Supply Centre) to back up the collections of individual Australian libraries a concept incapable in any case of achievement in the Australian resource environment
  • that Australian libraries could extend the already strong commitment to cooperate and perform roles in a national system;
  • that cooperation between Australian libraries would lead to services which can operate efficiently compared with services provided by other sources of supply, such as commercial information suppliers and other library systems outside of Australia; and
  • that the development of appropriate library infrastructure tools and mechanisms would lead to higher levels of Australian library cooperation, to the benefit of the users of Australian libraries.

The “Distributed National Collection” approach was adopted unanimously at the Australian Libraries Summit, and supported by all the cross-sectoral and industry organisations. On the following day the Summit Steering Committee assigned further responsibility for action to implement the concept to the Australian Council of Library and Information Services, in association with other libraries and bodies, for detailed recommendations.

The Distributed National Collection concept has led to significant advances in strategic development of Australian library services, and it is a much wider concept than generally discussed in the professional literature and some public debate over the National Library’s collection policies in recent years [see the Director-General’s article “In the National Interest: The National Library in a changing world”, AARL: Australian Academic and Research Libraries, vol.28, no.2, June 1997 for comment on this.]

During the early 1990s, there was broad support from a range of other groups for the Distributed National Collection model. Both the Australian Vice Chancellors' Committee and the Council of Australian University Librarians endorsed the model and the need for its implementation by university libraries. It was endorsed by both the 1990 Report on library provision in higher education institutions (Ross Report) and the 1994 report of the Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training Inquiry into the organisation and funding of research in higher education. The model has also been taken up by the Commonwealth Government with some other cultural sectors, notably the museum community, although now with different terminology. The reasons that the Commonwealth Government did not develop the same ‘DNC’ relationship with the Australian library community over the last decade include the already highly formalised cooperation among Australian libraries, the fact that that the Australian Bibliographic Network had been developed by the National Library as the national resource sharing mechanism, and considerable political naivety by some of the key senior professionals.

Achievements of the Distributed National Collection model
In pursuit of the Distributed National Collection strategy, the Library undertook a number of steps, in cooperation with other libraries. These are set out briefly below.

Collection development
It is assumed that the infrastructure would be improved if libraries developed their collections with knowledge of the collection strengths and collecting intentions of other Australian libraries. Consequently, the Library:

  • has provided, through its web site, information about the published collection development policies of over 60 Australian libraries;
  • has registered fifteen collecting agreements, each of which defines the roles and responsibilities of two or more libraries in a particular subject area;
  • has developed the “Australian Conspectus” service, which allows libraries to describe their collection strengths and intentions in a formal way;
  • has developed a Conspectus database which records this information for more than 50 Australian libraries; and
  • has convened a number of Roundtable meetings with Australian libraries aimed at securing commitment to actions in particular subject areas. Some of these, including those dealing with Asian collections and services, have been of major importance.

Resource discovery
It is assumed that the infrastructure would be improved if libraries have access to a National Union Catalogue and other services to enable them readily to discover which libraries hold a particular item. Consequently, the Library:

  • has provided access, through the Australian Bibliographic Network, to a National Bibliographic Database, which records the location of more than 28 million items held in more than 800 Australian libraries;
  • has provided access to a National Chinese, Japanese and Korean Service, which records the existence and location of library materials in the vernacular languages of those countries; and
  • has supported the development of key standards (such as the Z39.50 search protocol, the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, the “Dublin Core” metadata standard, and Australian subject headings) which underpin access to distributed resources, including library catalogues.

Preservation
Given that the infrastructure must support the needs of future users, it will be improved if cooperative action by the library community results in Australian items (and as much as possible of the non-Australian items) being preserved for future access. Consequently, the Library:

  • has convened a number of national preservation conferences focussing on key preservation issues such as microfilming, multimedia and physical format digital publications;
  • has supported the development of standards, in areas such as microfilming and permanent paper, which are aimed at ensuring the migration or prolonged existence of library materials;
  • has developed, in cooperation with other libraries, a Statement of Principles for the Preservation of and Long-Term Access to Australian Digital Objects;
  • has produced two key position papers: National strategy for provision of access to Australian electronic publications, and Management and preservation of physical-format digital publications;
  • has developed, through the PANDORA Project, a “proof of concept” archive of Australian electronic publications; and
  • has developed, in the Preserving Access to Digital Information web site, a compendium of information on digital preservation issues.

Document access
It is assumed that the infrastructure will be improved through effective document delivery services, procedures and pricing structures. Consequently, the Library:

  • has provided a national interlibrary loan request and management service, through the Australian Bibliographic Network;
  • has provided information about the services provided by Australian libraries, through the Australian Libraries Gateway and the National Interlibrary Resource Sharing Directory; and
  • has cooperated with the university community (through two projects in 1996 and 1997) in the acquisition of key software tools to improve interlibrary loan administration and the delivery of documents over the Internet to end-users and other libraries.

National coordination
It is assumed that the infrastructure will be improved if there is an organised and coordinated process of defining objectives and operational plans for the activities described above. Consequently, the Library:

  • has established a National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch, to bring together and reshape the activities of the previous Distributed National Collection Office and National Preservation Office; and
  • has engaged with other stakeholders such as the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services, the Council of Australian University Librarians the Council of Australian State Libraries and the National Scholarly Communications Forum.

The Director-General and other senior staff, including Mr. Eric Wainwright while Deputy Director-General from 1988-1997, have been very active nationally and in professional forums such as those mentioned above in promoting strategic coordination and national initiatives across the Australian library industry. Given the functions in the Act, and the Library’s place in the Australian library environment, there is a strong responsibility on senior staff to participate vigorously in this debate. The Library’s own major initiatives have included the highly successful Towards Federation 2001: Linking Australians and their Heritage planning process initiated in 1992, and intended to maximise access to Australia’s recorded documentary heritage by 2001.

Shortcomings of the model
Over the past ten years, the Australian library community has made a significant investment in building the infrastructure elements described above. The development of a well defined national bibliographic structure and associated document delivery mechanisms have been important achievements. However, significant shortcomings in the infrastructure remain.

One shortcoming is that there has been little progress in the definition of formal roles for libraries, including development of formal collecting and access agreements, beyond the provision of services to their own clientele. One reason for this is that there are few financial or other incentives for libraries with strong collections to take on such roles. For example, while some elements of library infrastructure have been funded though grants from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, these have generally been ad-hoc initiatives resulting from bids by particular groups of academics or libraries. There has been no Commonwealth funding to encourage the development of national collecting roles.

In this context, it should be noted that while the Library invests heavily in leadership, infrastructure and national cooperative activities it has very limited access to off-budget funding for cooperative projects in the national interest. There was an exception last year, when the Library obtained some funding from the Department of Communications and the Arts to develop the Australian Libraries Gateway. The Library has also managed to obtain some funding from the Australian Research Council or from the Australian Vice Chancellors' Committee, by cooperating with selected universities on several other projects. These include the National Chinese Japanese and Korean Service, Pandora, the MetaWeb Project (which aims to develop a standard for Internet resource description).and the Australian Cooperative Digitisation project. However, in these cases, even where the Library has initiated the project, it has been forced to rely on a university to be the nominal leader in order to meet the grant conditions.

Furthermore, Commonwealth responsibility for the development of the library infrastructure is divided, with the National Library being the in the portfolio of the Minister for Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts and university library issues the concern of the Minister for Employment, Education Training and Youth Affairs. Some other Commonwealth portfolios also have significant library and information responsibilities. Given our Minister’s portfolio responsibilities, those of the Library, and the central importance of the links with other Commonwealth cultural institutions, our present placement in the Commonwealth Government is ideal. But the Library and the Council of Australian University Librarians in submissions to the Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy (West Review) both proposed the establishment of a broadly based National Information Steering Committee to address these coordination issues, while not inhibiting the independence of the research libraries

In its West Review submission, the Library also drew attention to the fact that Commonwealth funding and policy models for higher education have encouraged and rewarded competition among higher education institutions. This emphasis on competition has tended to weaken the opportunity for collaboration aimed at improving the national infrastructure.

Learning for Life, the Final Report of the Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy, unfortunately did not include any of the recommendations prospected with the Committee. The only comment on libraries was in the Section “Other Issues”, which said:

“The Committee wishes to draw to the Government’s attention a number of issues, about which it has not made specific recommendations. These are:

Libraries – Libraries face particular challenges in staying abreast of technological change and the continuing increases in the volume of information. Institutions could use the loan fund identified Recommendation 4 to underwrite major investments in library infrastructure. Libraries could also benefit from the implementation of Recommendation 33, to provide additional funds for research infrastructure. University teaching could also benefit from investments in libraries made pursuant to Recommendation 33, because library infrastructure is largely shared between teaching and research functions.”

A further impact on the development of the cooperative library infrastructure has been the changing nature of the information market through the entry of new document suppliers other than libraries. The emergence of these alternative document suppliers – many of them very efficient – has decreased dependence on the national system for the supply of items not held by any one individual library. This trend has also created a mechanism for direct document supply to the end user.

Impact of new technology on future developments
The environment in which Australian libraries are now operating has changed considerably since the Distributed National Collection model of cooperation was developed in the late 1980s. First, this model was focussed on a national approach. The Internet has reduced the national boundaries around information systems, helping to create a world market for information products and their delivery. For example, it has the potential to provide access to library catalogues and commercial information suppliers operating outside national frameworks. Users can choose to use or not use individual and national systems as the source to meet their information needs.

Second, the growth in the number and range of information resources that can be accessed via the Internet has resulted in pressures for new kinds of resource discovery tools, and an interest in the development and use of “metadata”. It is recognised that there is a role for libraries to design structures and provide services to improve Internet resource discovery.

Third, the new environment will require libraries to design systems for efficient access – and, wherever possible, integrated access - to both print and electronic resources.

While the “Distributed National Collection” has been a useful model in the context of library collection infrastructure, the changes described above are the reason that the Library is reviewing its role and approach in building a cooperative information infrastructure which will facilitate access to traditional and electronic information resources.

Strategies for the medium term future

The improvement of the Australian library infrastructure over the next few years will require cooperative action on a broader front than was addressed under the “Distributed National Collection” model. The key elements of this infrastructure should include improved access to both printed and digital information resources, as well as appropriate policy and funding frameworks. The infrastructure must accommodate a multiplicity of information providers, heterogeneous sources, and geographically distributed users served by a variety of information providers. Consequently, it must be a distributed infrastructure. The Library will aim to improve the infrastructure, whatever else it does, by addressing the areas set out below. In undertaking these tasks, it will seek also to benefit through collaboration with overseas organisations, such as the Research Libraries Group, that are undertaking innovative programs in these areas.

Policy development

The Library must continue to provide leadership as appropriate to the Australian library community, and to influence policies which have an impact on the national cooperative library infrastructure. A key area of attention will be the future process through which library infrastructure projects in the higher education sector are sought, prepared, assessed and funded. This will require close collaboration with the Council of Australian University Librarians, the Australian Vice Chancellors' Committee, the National Scholarly Communications Forum and others. The Library will also work to ensure that the reforms to the Copyright Act ensure equitable future access to traditional and digital information resources.

Standards collaboration
The Library must continue to contribute to the development of key standards which will facilitate improved access to distributed information resources. Examples are technical standards such as the Z39.50 search protocol and the international interlibrary loan protocol, as well as more traditional standards such as the Anglo-American Cataloguing rules, which may need to be reformed to meet future needs for access to information resources. The Library must also, through participation in cooperative pilot projects and through the development of appropriate directory services, encourage the implementation of these standards by the Australian library community.

Collaboration to improve access to digital information
As a follow up to its Networked Services project, the Library has commenced work on a Digital Services Project, which will improve its facilities for managing, preserving and providing access to digital information. The Library expects to issue a Request for Information in the third quarter of 1999.

The Library’s Statement of Principles for the Preservation of and Long-Term Access to Australian Digital Objects emphasised that “the cooperation of all with a role in the generation, use, management, distribution and preservation of digital objects is essential”. Consequently, the Library must collaborate with a range of other bodies, building on its two position papers referred to above. For example, it will aim to influence the creators and publishers to facilitate its ability to identify, acquire and preserve the digital content. It will work with the National Archives of Australia and with agencies to begin to address the issue of long term access to online government information. It will also explore means of developing, in cooperation with others, the Preserving Access to Digital Information web site, a compendium of information on digital preservation issues.

Improved access to digital information also implies improvements in the resource discovery area. An appropriate task is to develop a shared “metadata repository” – effectively, a shared catalogue of digital information resources – as a pilot project. While there is no intention to develop a comprehensive national metadata repository, the aggregation of selected metadata could provide a focus of cooperation with (for example) the state libraries and with cultural agencies, by supporting cross-site access to Australian heritage materials on the web. For example, a shared repository could form the basis of a project to investigate and develop how image databases in different libraries and cultural institutions can be linked for searching.

Collaboration to improve access to information in collections
The Library is making a major impact in this area through the introduction of the Kinetica service, planned for the first half of 1999. This service will greatly improve the ease of access to information about the holdings of the Australian library community, across all sectors.

In its Business Plan for the Kinetica Service, the Library noted that it “will also work with other libraries, through standards development, pilot projects in distributed resource discovery, provision of directory services and other means, to facilitate an effective transition to the open infrastructure”. As one key example, the Library will migrate the Conspectus data to the Australian Libraries Gateway – a major task, but one which will greatly increase the visibility of the collection strengths of the major Australian research libraries. It will also aim to improve the integration of the Australian Libraries Gateway with the other cultural sectoral networks.

The Library will collaborate with others in the development of its directory of library catalogues which conform to the Z39.50 search protocol, and will establish one or more pilot “clumps”, or groups of catalogues which can be searched through a single step.

Later in 1998, the Library will convene a Monographs Roundtable in which the major Australian research libraries will examine their collecting patterns in relation to published monographs, and will discuss measures to improve cooperation in the collecting and delivery of monographs.

The Library will also continue working with the university libraries towards a more integrated approach to collection access and associated infrastructure issues. While the failure of the West Review to make any of the expected recommendations concerning library services is regrettable, a speech of the Minister for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, Mr David Kemp has indicated his strong interest in exploring such matters.

Conclusion
With leadership from the National Library and a tradition of strong cooperation, Australian libraries have built the key elements of infrastructure for the locating and sharing of resources across a national library system. This has been a significant achievement, and the Distributed National Collection model has provided an important conceptual framework for this development.

However, significant changes in the environment, and particularly the development of the Internet, are creating a new set of forces that require the Library to broaden its approach to the development of the Australian library infrastructure. This new approach will aim to improve access to both printed and digital information resources, as well as ensuring that appropriate policy and funding frameworks are in place.

It should also be recognised that the Australian library community is less dependent than formerly on the National Library for the provision of basic infrastructure services such as cataloguing and access to union catalogue However this frees up the Library to explore new collaborative activities in the national interest. They will however be successful only if they have a clear and substantial benefit to the partners involved, and where the Library’s leadership position is demonstrable with well crafted and high priority initiatives

It is intended to finalise a new strategic directions statement and accompanying documentation for the Library by the end of 1998, and the Council planning day scheduled for Saturday, 8 August will be part of this process.

The Director General and Ms Fullerton have recently commenced some targeted consultations with selected key libraries, to help develop the Library’s thinking about the broadness and priorities of the new statement. They have also been discussing the effectiveness of present consultation between the Library and other Australian libraries and key interest groups.

The Digital Services Activities in the National Library

KAC/1998/8

Background
When the National Library initiated the Networked Services Project in January 1997, a number of areas of functionality were identified for investigation. These were described in an Information paper which was issued in February 1997. Comments on the complexity of the system described in the Information paper led to a division of the Networked Services Project into two phases. Phase 1 is the current Kinetica Implementation Project, focussing on the replacement of ABN. Phase 2 has become the Digital Services Project focussing an integrated approach to the delivery of digitally-based services. The Library plans to exploit digital technology, where it is cost effective, to enhance both preservation and access to traditional library materials. With this aim, a number of other National Library projects are developing digitised information in special materials areas and providing access to it. To simplify development and support issues, the Library will use the Digital Services Project to investigate the feasibility of using the same platform to manage all of its digital objects.

This report describes the first steps in the Digital Services Project and the other National Library work on digitised information and access to it.. It is included in the Kinetica Advisory Committee papers to inform Committee members of other National Library activities which address similar functions to those of Kinetica

Digital Services Project
Library materials in digital form fall into a number of different categories, such as paper copy items transferred to digital format; materials published only in electronic form and online databases requiring networked access. The Digital Services Project will address the technical and policy issues arising from the treatment of all of these categories. In doing so, the Digital Services Project will build on the outcomes of the Networked Services Project in the following areas:

  • Development of a national collection of electronic publications in cooperation with Australian creators, publishers, libraries and collecting bodies.
  • Provision of the technical means to support the rapid development of Internet services that bring the collections to users anywhere in the world through digital technology. Development of a national information infrastructure that integrates access to print materials with electronic publications and makes visible the content of the nation’s documentary heritage.

· Provision of integrated support for managing the special collections of the Library more effectively

A small team has been set up to develop a Request for Information which will outline the requirements relating to collection development, provision of Internet services, enhancement of the national information infrastructure and management of the Library’s special collections. The end of August is the deadline currently scheduled for this task. The Library plans to use the Request for Information:

  • To test the requirements with all stakeholders to ensure that they reflect best practice approaches to the business needs and that the direction the Library is taking is aligned with national and intentional infrastructure development activities.
  • To test the extent to which the requirements can be met within the Library's current technical infrastructure taking into account existing systems and the new Kinetica platform.

· To seek information from potential suppliers of products and services in relation to the range of technology options available to the Library

Pandora
Parallel with NSP and DSP , the Library began to explore the technical and policy issues involved in extending its mandate to preserve Australia’s printed output to the preservation of electronic materials. The outcome was a proof-of-concept electronic archive called Pandora, or Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia.

Pandora has been an operational digital archive since June 1997. However, it has significant limitations in the components currently in place, particularly in relation to the automation of workflows and the scalability of the technical solution. A primary aim of the Digital Services Project is to identify options to migrate Pandora to a new platform capable of supporting the preservation of a major collection of electronic materials.

A draft specification of requirements has been completed incorporating the lessons learnt from the proof-of-concept archive. This specification addresses the need for operating in a cooperative framework with other collecting institutions which are responsible for segments of Australia's electronic documentary heritage. Any systems chosen will need to accommodate a range of different models for managing the distributed archive.

Many of the components needed to address the Pandora project’s requirements are central to overall systems development in the Library. In recognition of this, the Library is currently expanding the draft specification to operate as a broader Request for Information covering requirements for a range of other digital services.

Kinetica and Pandora will only partially address the need to provide access to the content of the nation's documentary resources. The Digital Services Project will seek technology solutions that will enable the Library, in cooperation with Australian publishers, creators, libraries and information services, to bridge the gap between locating an item and providing access to the item’s content.

The service model for this is still taking shape. It will include:

  • current initiatives to ‘catalogue’ the Australian domain of the Internet
  • user authentication – procedures to identify or register classes of users of a service
  • version control – to ensure that users receive the document they want, and managing subsequent versions of a document, for example by permanent naming
  • copyright and electronic commerce issues – enabling the purchase of services and management of transactions in a secure and auditable way.

While the emphasis of the Digital Services Project and Pandora is on digital technologies, the Library is committed to the development of nationwide integrated access to information regardless of publication mode.

Other projects

  • The Images 1 service which provides access to images of items in the Library’s pictorial collection is an early model of what can be achieved. The Images 1 database now holds approximately 16 000 images, with new images being added at a rate of over 5 000 a year. The routine digitisation of pictorial items is now a standard Library activity and is funded recurrently. To develop future services of the calibre of Images 1, the Library has begun to investigate options to migrate its existing Web-based services to a commercial-strength infrastructure.
  • The Library’s Web site stores and provides access to 5 000 documents relating to the Library’s policies, activities, collections and services. There are now too many links to manage in simple file directories. Alternative strategies for managing this information are under review.
  • Almost three hundred electronic manuscript finding aids – documents listing the content of the manuscript collections - are accessible in electronic form. A working party is assessing the feasibility of building this resource to cover the whole of the collection by converting existing printed finding aids to electronic form.

· As part of the Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project, the Library is developing a digital library service providing access to scanned images of around 70 Australian serials published from 1845-1850.

· Twenty-five maps will soon be accessible through the Internet as part of a pilot project to assess the feasibility of digitising the rare map collection.

· The full text of articles and papers indexed for the Australian Public Affairs Information Service and the Australian Medical Index are routinely scanned. These are not currently available to users, pending a suitable platform and resolution of copyright issues.

· The Library is considering proposals for a range of multimedia publications that will open access to the collections in important subject areas.

International collaboration
International collaboration over a project such as this can minimise duplication of effort while drawing on a wider range of expertise in addressing specific problems. The Library has initiated contact with a number of overseas libraries involved in developing digital preservation strategies.

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Last updated: 20 May 1999