Note: to avoid out-dated information being downloaded, some links on this page may have been disabled. If you would like to access the information contained in any of these news items, please contact the Help Desk.
Libraries Australia Products Service
Libraries Australia Products is a fee-based service that provides members with the opportunity to obtain records from the Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD). Products are extremely flexible and can assist libraries in their workflows to achieve efficiency gains and improved more…
Thanks for your feedback!
Feedback on the Libraries Australia Search Alpha version 0.1 has closed. We’ve had close to 60 feedback submissions ranging from a distaste for the yellow highlighting linked to the preview pane; to problems with dewey classification searches; to comments on more…
Reminder – Feedback on the new Libraries Australia Search (LA Search Alpha)
A reminder that the alpha version of the new Libraries Australia Search (LA Search Alpha) is available to try out and provide feedback. We ask that feedback be provided no later than this Sunday 16 June 2013. There is an more…
Farewell to Rob Walls
A quarter century’s dedication to the NBD comes to an end tomorrow, Friday 31 May, with the retirement of Rob Walls, Director Database Services. Many of you will have met Rob at user group meetings, Forums, ACOC meetings and other more…
Alpha version of the new Libraries Australia Search is now available
The Libraries Australia Search redevelopment project has reached the end of Stage 3, and an alpha version of the new Libraries Australia Search (LA Search Alpha) is now available for Libraries Australia users to try out and provide feedback. We more…
Search your catalogue via Libraries Australia
Did you know that Libraries Australia Search is able to directly search your library OPAC or online bookshop? This function is called “deep linking”. When a user finds an item held in your library on Libraries Australia they can click the more…
Customising Libraries Australia – automatically!
During our site visits to members, we noticed that different users have different search preferences. Some prefer to use simple search most of the time, others always like to begin with an advanced search looking for titles “as a phrase”, more…
Who is contributing RDA records to the NBD?
In the first month since configuring the Libraries Australia system to support the creation, import, matching and merging of RDA data there are now approximately 88,000 RDA records in the Australian National Bibliographic Database. There are a number of significant more…
LAAC Papers and Libraries Australia newsletter
Papers from the recent Libraries Australia Advisory Committee meeting held at the National Library on 18 March are now available here http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/about/advisory-committee/papers-and-previous-meetings/ Keep up to date with all the news from Libraries Australia by subscribing to receive our newsletter. http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/contact/ more…
ILL Etiquette – April 2013
To ensure a smoother requesting process, some simple guidelines to follow are: As a requester If requesting a Rush or Express, a quick phone call to the library on the rota will avoid delays. Before requesting a renewal, check the more…
Libraries Australia Help desk opening hours over Easter
Dear Colleagues, The Libraries Australia Help Desk will be closed from Friday 29th March and will reopen on Tuesday 2nd April. We wish everyone a safe and relaxing Easter break. Kind regards Mel Mel Hunt | Manager Libraries Australia Helpdesk more…
Libraries Australia cataloguing system upgrade – update
The Libraries Australia cataloguing system was successfully upgraded over the weekend and is now available for use via the Libraries Australia Cataloguing Client and WebCat. The upgrade includes system configuration changes to: * Support for new MARC field 264 which will more…
Libraries Australia cataloguing system upgrade
To prepare for the Australian implementation of Resource Description and Access (RDA), on Monday 18 March we will be releasing an upgrade to the Libraries Australia cataloguing system. This upgrade includes system configuration changes which will include: * Support for new more…
Changes in LADD to incorporate the implementation of RDA
There have been some minor changes in LADD to incorporate the implementation of RDA at the end of March. The issues that LADD wanted to address were: • Will z3950 searching from LADD be affected by RDA? • With the more…
Project update
Stage 2 of the project was completed in December on schedule. The three key deliverables from this stage were: the new Libraries Australia Search database (MySQL database and SOLR indexes) new Loader software. This receives records from CBS , the more…
Disaster recovery operations complete for LADD gateway issue of 27th Feb
Disaster recovery efforts were completed last night for the issue experienced earlier this week which affected new requests and messaging from our VDX and Relais ISO libraries. The initial problem was due to a corrupt request which stopped subsequent requests more…
Data loss associated with this morning’s LADD gateway problem
Please be aware that not all requests created by ISO libraries from approximately 3pm Monday 25 February through to approximately 11am on Wednesday 27 February have been processed through the LADD gateway. LADD staff are currently implementing disaster recovery procedures more…
Requesting from ISO libraries to LADD gateway working again
Requesting from ISO libraries is working normally again. At this stage it doesn’t appear that any messaging has been lost however further investigation to confirm this is ongoing. Please be aware that this problem affected requests from libraries with ISO more…
Libraries Australia RES status update
We would like to advise that the Record Export Service files supplied as part of the 2pm download yesterday which incorrectly contained records updated since 5th February have been deleted. However if you believe that you have not received some more…
VDX and Relais libraries, please stop sending requests to LADD
The LADD team is currently working on a problem affecting requests from libraries that are using the VDX and Relais systems ISO systems. Can all VDX and ISO libraries please stop sending any new requests or actioning existing requests to more…
Libraries Australia RIS/RES Update
Record Export Service We would like to advise that RES has resumed operation. RES files supplied as part of the 2pm download today incorrectly contained records updated since 5th February. As these files contain data which has already been supplied more…
The new standard for minimum record on Libraries Australia
As outlined in October last year, the Libraries Australia Minimum Record Standard is being replaced with a new standard. The new standard was presented at the 2012 Libraries Australia Forum and Libraries Australia undertook extensive consultation with the Australian library more…
Libraries Australia maintenance scheduled for late 22 – 24 February
Dear colleagues, We wish to advise that maintenance work is required on the Libraries Australia system this weekend. The Libraries Australia Record Import Service will be suspended from today until next Monday morning 25 February. The Libraries Australia Record Export more…
Coming up with better designs, faster
After completing the user research stage of the project the team had a much clearer understanding of the issues we needed to address to improve the user’s experience of Libraries Australia search . My responsibility as the user interface more…
Weekend suspension of RIS and RES services starting 8 Feb
We wish to advise that there may be performance issues with Libraries Australia Search between Friday 8 February 2013 and Monday 11 February. The Libraries Australia Record Import Service will be suspended during this time. Records will be loaded as more…
Unavailability of LA Search, RIS, RES and Products – 6 February
Colleagues The Libraries Australia Search Service, Libraries Australia Record Import Service, Libraries Australia Record Export Service and Products will be unavailable Wednesday, 6 February between 7:30pm – 12:00pm. This outage is required for maintenance on the Libraries Australia database. We more…
ILRS Code Review
The Interlibrary Resource Sharing (ILRS) Code benefits Australian libraries and their users by providing greater predictability, consistency, and flexibility in obtaining materials. The ALIA Interlending Advisory Committee will be reviewing the principles and guidelines in the Interlibrary Resource Sharing (ILRS) more…
Searching with the “limit to” checkboxes
When we opened the can of worms that is asking users “what doesn’t work well?”, we received hundreds of comments which we dilligently categorised, factorised, summarised, memorised and theorised about. One of our categories was called “limits”. We ended up more…
Weekend suspension of RIS and RES services
We wish to advise that the Libraries Australia Record Import Service will be suspended between Friday 1 February 2013 and Monday 4 February. Records will be loaded as soon as possible next week. We would also like to advise that more…
Update on RDA implementation in Libraries Australia
As the Australian implementation of Resource Description and Access (RDA) approaches, Libraries Australia will be implementing a number of changes. System changes We will be implementing a number of changes in the Cataloguing service including: Support for new MARC field more…
Fine-tuning the advanced search
When you use the advanced search form to do a title/author search, or when looking for an ISBN, Libraries Australia only looks for your search terms within certain MARC tags. Libraries Australia includes more than a hundred different search indexes more…
Site visits and surveys
Site visits Back in the middle of 2012, Kenji and I got out from behind our desks and went to visit some Libraries Australia users at theirs. This was an opportunity for us to see people using Libraries Australia Search more…
December 2012 RAP and GovRAP files now available
December 2012 Recent Australian Publications (RAP) and Recent Australian Government Publications (GovRAP) are now available. Records from both services are a subset of the ANBD and are created by Australian libraries. There are Alphabetic and Dewey files available, in both more…
