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3rd National Roundtable on Libraries & Asia
Resolutions

16 February 1995, National Library of Australia, Canberra

The resolutions have been grouped under seven broad topics. Within each of the broad groups those resolutions seen as most requiring action are listed under the heading "Priority". Resolutions which are considered important, but of lesser priority are listed under the heading "Best practice / Desirable".

A. South Asia
B. Collection Development and Collection Agreements
C. Networking, E-Publications and the Internet
D. Training and Staff
E. Preservation of Asian Materials
F. Bibliographical Access to Asian Materials
G. 4th National Roundtable on Libraries and Asia


A. South Asia

Priority

AA1

That the National Centre for South Asian Studies (NCSAS) conduct a wide survey of South Asianists in Australia, their research interests and resource needs. Their existing databases of South Asianists and their interests will be used.
The results will be passed to the compiler of the RIEF application. (see AA3)
Timetable: Completed by 30 June 1995.

NCSAS will arrange for mapping these research interests and resource needs, using the conspectus methodology and for a group of Melbourne librarians to match researchers and collections and prepare a report for the DNC Office.
Timetable: Completed by December 1995.

That, as part of the survey, the Library of Congress be approached to obtain available information about the procedures and functioning of the LCCAP South Asia, including cost information and level of acceptance by the participants. NLA could be asked to do this, as it has already established contacts with the Library of Congress through participation in its Southeast Asian acquisition program and other activities.
Timetable: Completed by December 1995.

AA2

That the National Library of Australia examine its current level of acquisitions from South Asia and consider strengthening this activity, in co-operation with other collecting institutions. This should include gift and exchange for government publications. [NLA has agreed to undertake this examination subject to availability of resources].
Timetable: Completed by December 1996.
AA3

That the research application, headed by La Trobe University, be re-submited for 1996 Research Infrastructure and Equipment Funding (RIEF) funding, and that other sources of funding be sought to redress the balance of library resources and services available for the study of South Asia.
Timetable: Completed by 30 June 1995.
AA4

That NLA mount on its information server the union list of South Asian newspapers, prepared by NCSAS.
Timetable: Underway by April 1995.

NCSAS and NLA will jointly investigate its publication in a printed form to enable easier distribution to students who do not have access to the electronic version.
Timetable: Completed by June 1995.

B. Collection Development and Collection Agreements

Priority

AB1

That the DNC office issue a call for Australian libraries with Asian materials to indicate areas in which they are willing to discuss collecting and access agreements, so that, by the end of this year, there is information available.
Timetable: Completed by October 1995.

AB2

That the DNC office encourage a network of collecting and access agreements for Asian materials to be negotiated.
Timetable: Completed by December 1996 / and on-going.

Libraries participating in collecting agreements should be encouraged to set up active collaborations to improve the acquisition of various formats of materials for the areas covered by their agreements.
Timetable: Completed by December 1996 / and on-going.

As a first step, NLA should be asked to compile information on current existing collaborative acquisition and copying programs for Asian materials such as those run by the Library of Congress.
Timetable: Completed by September 1995.

Support should be sought from the user community eg. academics, researchers, etc. as well as from library and professional groups such as the Committee of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), Committee of Australian State Librarians (CASL) and the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA).

The DNC Office should try to collect information on semi-formal agreements already in existence.

AB3

That those libraries with interests in Asian materials document existing collection strengths and current collecting emphases using the Australian Conspectus. (Resolution AE1 related to this).
Timetable: Completed by December 1996 / and on-going.

Best Practice / Desirable

AB4

That, in all future DNC collecting agreements, the inclusion of standardised preservation agreements which include the recording of preservation intentions and actions on appropriate databases, be encouraged.

Collecting and access agreements should follow uniform models in wording. The draft will be prepared by the DNC Office in collaboration with the NPO and the National Bibliographic Services Branch of NLA.
Timetable: Completed by June 1995.

Different models of collecting agreements should be prepared eg. consortium, multi-lateral, bilateral. Drafts should be mounted for comment on DNC listserver.
Timetable: Completed by December 1995.

AB5

That institutions with collecting or access partnership agreements with libraries in Asia report these to the DNC Office.
Timetable: Completed by December 1996 / and on-going.

C. Networking, E-Publication and the Internet

Priority

AC1

That NLA ensure that the design of the NDIS system facilitates an extension of its functionalities to accommodate the display and searching of records in non-roman scripts.
Timetable: 1997+

Until this extension occurs, NLA will ensure that transparent, easy-to-use interfaces exist from the NDIS system to the National CJK system.
Timetable: Available when the CJK system is operational in the last half of 1995.

Best Practice / Desirable

AC2

That all Australian libraries with significant Asian collections ensure that information concerning their collections, services and special projects is either included in their institution's own Web page or supplied to the Web pages of the Coombs Computing Unit, ANU.
Timetable: Completed by June 1995.

AC3

That ASAA encourage researchers in Asian studies to ensure that information concerning their research projects is either included in their own institution's Web pages or supplied to the Web pages of the Coombs Computing Unit, ANU; also, that libraries and researchers in Asian studies ensure that up-to-date information about relevant groups and discussion lists is forwarded to the Asia-Pacific Meta Resources Register of the Coombs Computing Unit, ANU.
Timetable: Completed by June 1995.

AC4

That the Coombs Computing Unit, A.N.U. will establish an informal E-publications Guidelines & Standards Working Group involving librarians, academics, publishers, IT professionals and members of various bodies concerned with standards. The mission of such a group is to discuss, prepare and recommend the appropriate national (and hopefully world-wide) standards for the high-quality online presentation of scholarly and factual information. The group will conduct its activities by means of a dedicated electronic forum (e-mail list) set up by the Coombs Computing Unit, ANU. (Action: Dr T. Matthew Ciolek).
Timetable: Completed by December 1995.

AC5

That the Coombs Computing Unit, A.N.U. will establish an informal Vernacular Scripts Special Interest Group to deal with information about handling the Latin and non-Latin scripts by (a) word processors, (b) electronic mail, (c) WWW based information systems. The group will conduct its activities by means of a dedicated electronic forum (e-mail list) set up by the Coombs Computing Unit, ANU. (Action: Dr T. Matthew Ciolek).
Timetable: Completed by December 1995.

AC6

That NLA encourage the extension of the UnCover document delivery service to roman script serial titles from the region.
Timetable: Completed by December 1996.

That other similar projects, based on the Uncover document delivery system proto-type, be encouraged for script languages such as the proposal for Chinese serial titles being prepared by ANU with the support of NLA.
Timetable: being developed. 1996?

AC7

That the ALIA Asia/Pacific Special Interest Group be asked to develop, possibly in conjunction with other bodies, such as the ALIA Information Science Section, a proposal for the funding and establishment of a clearinghouse for specialist subject/country guides dealing with information from and about the Asia-Pacific region. Such Asia-Pacific Internet Resource Guides Clearinghouse could be modelled on the Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet Resource Guides, developed by Louis Rosenfeld at the Library of the University of Michigan.
Timetable: Completed by December 1996.

AC8

That ALIA and ASAA be asked to establish an annual joint honorary Award for Excellence presented to the developers of the best Asia-Pacific information resources based on the quality of its content and compliance with electronic publications standards. The ALIA Asia/Pacific Interest Group could be asked to investigate its feasibility.
Timetable: Completed by December 1996.

Note: Coombs Computing Unit can be contacted via Dr T. Matthew Ciolek at tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au

D. Training and Staff

Priority

AD1

That Mrs Chooi-hon Ho (Associate Librarian, Monash University) head an informal group to ascertain the education and training needs of the information profession with regard to Asian services and prepare a plan of action. (Action: Members of Syndicate Group D; APSIG and the ALIA Board of Education be asked to join this group).Timetable: Completed by December 1995.

AD2

That the informal group (see AD1) seek the views of the principal employers of library and information science graduates in the Asian subject area on the numbers of staff required over the next ten years and the skills required through a pilot survey.
Timetable: Completed by December 1995.

AD3

That the informal group (see AD1) obtain information from Australian library schools on their current and proposed Asia-related programs (both formal and informal). The information obtained after the 2nd Roundtable will form the basis. An electronic list might be produced with the assistance of the Coombs Computing Unit.
Timetable: Completed by December 1995.

AD4

That the informal group (see AD1) investigate the feasibility of producing a directory, possibly in electronic form, of currently qualified Australian library and information personnel having Asia-related expertise. An electronic list might be produced with the assistance of the Coombs Computing Unit.
Timetable: Completed by December 1996.

AD5

That APSIG be asked to propose a workshop or sessions on training and staffing needs for Asian subject areas at the 1996 ALIA Biennial Conference in Melbourne in October 1996. This would consider the information gathered in AD1-AD4.
Timetable: Completed by October 1996.

E. Preservation of Asian Materials

Priority

AE1

That the DNC Office call upon Australian libraries with an interest in Asian materials demonstrate their commitment to preserving Asian materials by:
  • co-operating with the DNC Office and the National Preservation Office (NPO) to develop preservation codes for recording the preservation status of Asian materials collections and recording this information in the Conspectus database. The facility already exists on the NBD for data on the preservation status to be recorded.
    Timetable: Completed by June 1996.
  • co-operating with the DNC Office and the NPO to develop a classification system for describing the "significance" of their Asian collections.
    Timetable: Completed by June 1996.
  • adopting procedures to be developed by the DNC Office to include information about the significance of collections on the Conspectus database.
    Timetable: Completed by December 1996.

(Resolution AB3 related to this).

F. Bibliographic Access to Asian Materials

Priority

AF1

The most significant files of Australian library data which should be loaded to the NBD are:
(i) East Asian serials (including newspapers);
(ii) East Asian monographs; and
(iii) Asian serials generally (including newspapers).

Within these categories, the data from the ANU, NLA, University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney is the most important. These priorities are recommended on the basis of level of use.

Libraries with these data may need to seek outside funding for the significant costs associated with data preparation, data upgrading (eg. with vernacular script) or format conversion. Possible sources of funding include the ARC (if an infrastructure project can be developed) as well as Asian foundations in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Timetable: Completed by December 1995 (for funding proposals).

Best Practice / Desirable

AF2

That Australian libraries with Asian collections should continue to contribute holdings data for current acquisitions promptly to the National Bibliographic Database, including the National CJK System when it is implemented. Where online cataloguing is not feasible, libraries should contribute current update files twice a year until the implementation of upline loading in the NDIS.
  • All libraries with significant collections of Chinese, Japanese and Korean materials should contribute their bibliographic and holdings data to the National CJK Database on an ongoing basis.
  • All libraries with existing machine readable files of bibliographic records for Chinese, Japanese and Korean materials, which have not yet been contributed to the NBD on ABN, should contribute these records directly to the CJK database in the format specified by the National CJK Technical Committee.
    Timetablei: Ongoing.
  • All libraries with South Asian holdings contribute these to the NBD. The RIEF proposal (AA3) could include funding for this.

AF3

That proposals for ARC funding of projects for the cataloguing or retrospective conversion of data for Asian materials should include provision for the acquisition and contribution of relevant existing data sources to the NBD as an integral part of the project.
Timetable: Ongoing.

AF4

That Australian libraries with Asian collections report to the NBD the location of preservation master negative microforms and to record preservation intentions, especially in the case of preservation reformatting.
Timetable: Completed by June 1996.

G. 4th National Roundtable on Libraries & Asia

AG1

That if a 4th National Roundtable on Libraries and Asia is held, it should include a focus on community-based collections, services and training, drawing on the significant experience of State and Public Libraries and library groups.
- Action: Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL)
- National Library of Australia.
Timetable: during preparation for 4th Roundtable.
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