TOWARDS FEDERATION 2001: Linking Australians with Their Heritage Review Meeting 1993

Progress Reports 1994-1996

Section B - G: Preservation Activities


RGA1 That institutions with collections of Australian documentary heritage of national significance prepare preservation policies and strategies, including disaster preparedness programs.

1994 REPORT

Preservation policies and strategies are in place in most institutions who submitted information, including the National Library, the University of Queensland Libraries, and the State Library of South Australia. Policy and strategy documents are scheduled to be completed by the end of 1994 by the State Library of Victoria; and that of the James Cook University of Northern Queensland is in preparation. The State Library of Queensland are revising their policies and strategies.

Disaster preparedness programs also operate in most institutions who submitted information, including the National Library, the Australian War Memorial, and the University of Central Queensland. The Northern Territory Library Service will instigate a plan after the move of the State Library to the new Parliament House in December; the State Library of South Australia has cooperated with Artlab on disaster planning for North Terrace, Adelaide, cultural institutions. The University of Queensland Libraries has a disaster preparedness plan for the collections of the Fryer Library, but not the libraries' collections overall.

1996 REPORT

The National Library of Australia does have a preservation policy (http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/pres.html) though it is expected that this will be reviewed and revised on an ongoing basis to reflect both changes in technology and changes in emphasis. The Counter Emergency Plan was substantially revised during 1995-96 and the final draft was endorsed by the National Library's Emergency Planning Committee in June 1996. Guidelines have been developed for the selection of Australian Internet resources for the National Library's national electronic archiving program.

Material on open access is covered by the University of Sydney Library's ongoing conservation activities. Significant rare book material is covered by Rare Book's own conservation/restoration activities. A disaster preparedness plan has been implemented. The Library disaster response guide is accessible on the Web at http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/staff/contents.htm.

The recent extension to the Australian Defence Force Academy Library was designed to provide purpose built accommodation for the preservation of its rare book and manuscript holdings. The Australian Special Research Collection follows accepted basic preservation strategies, and will prepare both formal preservation and disaster preparedness policies by the end of 1996, following a professional conservation survey of the collections.

State Library of Victoria has active preservation and disaster recovery programs. Preservation policy document and disaster preparedness plan close to finalisation.

State Library of South Australia is augmenting its Preservation Policy with practical guidelines, and a more streamlined approach to priority-setting for a range of collections. Disaster awareness training is about to start for all State Library of South Australia staff, with more intensive training for key staff. Library and Information Service of Western Australia has a Preservation Policy and a Disaster Recovery Plan in place.

National Film and Sound Archive has a published Preservation Policy and has developed a Disaster Preparedness plan this year. This will be tested later this year with a series of recovery operations on deselected materials. The University of Adelaide does not yet have a formal policy, but we do have guidelines which serve the same purpose.

State Library of New South Wales reports that policies, strategies and programs to preserve Australian documentary heritage materials of national significance in all formats are in place. This ensure that the collection is appropriately stored, housed and retained. Strategies and programs in place included:

Results of these strategies and programs include:

RGA2 That major collecting institutions consider the principles expressed in the position paper of the ACLIS Taskforce on the Preservation of Australian Electronic information. [Note: This position paper was updated in December 1993].

1994 REPORT

Most institutions who submitted information reported that they will consider the principles expressed in this position paper. The Australian War Memorial has provided comments on the position paper to Australian Council of Archives; and the State Library of Victoria will comment via the ACLIS Victorian Division and/or the Council of Australian State Libraries Collection Management Group. The State Library of South Australia is awaiting a definition of electronic, on standardising preservation techniques and on the Copyright Act in relation to this format. The University of Melbourne Library is currently engaged in close consultation with ITS of the University, the Scienceworks Museum, and the Australian Science Archives Project towards appropriate procedures for materials in the electronic format.

1996 REPORT

The speed of technological development has made this position paper dated. Work commenced by this Task Force has now been continued by the Preservation of Australian Digital Information (PADI) Working Group which was set up as a result of Recommendation RG5. The PADI Group has also contributed to the Draft Statement of Principles on Access to and Preservation of Australian Digital Objects which were first developed at a post National Preservation Office Conference Meeting in December 1995. In addition, contact has been made with the RLG/CPA Task Force on Archiving Digital Information and useful dialogue has been established between the two groups resulting in comments on the draft TF2001 Report from PADI being incorporated into the Final report. Ongoing cross-sectoral activity at both the national and International level is required in this crucial area. (National Library of Australia)

Where appropriate these principles have been taken into account at the University of Sydney Library. The Australian Defence Force Academy Library is monitoring developments in the preservation of electronic information. University of Adelaide will consider.

The State Library of Victoria is watching with interest the work of the National Library SCOAP Committee. Issues relating to long-term "collecting" and preservation of Victorian networked information will be addressed in 96/97. Library and Information Service of Western Australia is examining ways of preserving electronic documents and is cooperating with other bodies such as CASL and NLA who are also looking at these issues.

In 1996 the State Library of South Australia established a Working Group on Non-Print Materials to consider this and other issues relating to electronic information. The first task was to compile a list of all equipment and material formats held, which has been completed, and the working group is now about to do a stocktake of non-print materials in State Library of South Australia. It has also compiled a list of suppliers, distributors and specialists in the area that State Library of South Australia can call on for help with maintenance and other queries. The working group will next be looking at listing those preservation methods State Library of South Australia currently uses and those it would like to be using.

The State Library of New South Wales has continued to participate actively in the development of national principles, policies and strategies for the preservation of information in digital format. Resources have been allocated for State Library staff involvement in the Heritage Collections Committee and its Conservation Working Party, the National Preservation Office Advisory Body, pre-conference and post-conference workshops on preserving digital information at the NPO's 2nd Annual conference, participation in a one-week workshop on digital imaging and preservation at Cornell University, and assistance to the consultants to the PADI Working Party (including the completion of their surveys).

RGA3 That in considering retrospective catalogue conversion projects institutions give priority to recording items and collections they regard as of national significance.

1994 REPORT

At the National Library of Australia major catalogue conversion (monographs) have been completed leaving one significant Australian retrospective collection remaining for conversion. In the Pictorial collection conversion of originals has been completed, with some photographic collection remaining. Retrospective conversions for the manuscript collections have been completed. There is continuous conversion of the Australian component of the Maps and Music collections.

All institutions who submitted information agree with this resolution. Conversion projects focusing on items and collections of national significance have been, or are currently being undertaken by 50% of institutions. Specific projects which have been mentioned are the conversion of South Australian printed and published materials, especially serials of national significance, and all South Australian newspapers, by the State Library of South Australia; and the inclusion of the Tasmaniana, Crowther and Allport collections at the State Library of Tasmania in their retrospective catalogue conversion.

1996 REPORT

University of Sydney Library recognises this advice. The Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project 1840-45 - A collaborative project led by the University of Sydney Library and involving the National Library, the State Library of New South and Monash University Library has National Preservation Office representation on Technical Advisory Group. All Australian Defence Force Academy Library holdings catalogued are in machine readable form. University of Adelaide will do this.

No major retrospective conversion projects are planned at the State Library of Victoria except as reported elsewhere. During the current retrospective conversion of the State Library of South Australia 1884-1980 card catalogues, where there is no match on ABN more detail is being added for South Australian titles and for titles in Special Collections. These details include notes, illustrations and pagination. Also, more standard fixed field coding is being done to facilitate loading to ABN in future. The conversion of the Mortlock Archives Collection is 90% completed with brief records on INNOPAC. As mentioned in RCA4, the monograph collections of the J.S. Battye Library of Western Australian History have been added to either the NBD or the Library and Information Service of Western Australia database

The State Library of New South Wales reports that retrospective conversion has been largely abandoned because of high costs/slow progress. It has been replaced by projects to image the card catalogues. The 1.4 million cards in the General Reference Library catalogue have been imaged and are available via OPAC's. In 1996/7 options for scanning Mitchell Manuscripts, Pictures and Dixson Library catalogues will be investigated. Some retrospective conversion is done for circulating materials such as Inter-library Loans. It is intended to resume full retrospective conversion for high use materials such as Shakespeare, World War I and collections of high significance such as Australian Children's literature in 1997.

All catalogued items of national significance at the National Film and Sound Archive have been converted to the MAVIS collection database.

The DNC Office, in consultation with the National Preservation Office and the National Library, have developed a Model for recording preservation and conservation activity on Conspectus. This model provides the facility to record items and collections regarded as of national significance in collection assessment records.

RGA4 That in the absence of comprehensive national standards, institutions contemplating preservation projects to create digitised copies of items consult the National Preservation Office, Australian Archives, or the National Film and Sound Archive for advice.

1994 REPORT

All institutions who submitted information agree with this resolution. The conference Preservation Microfilming: does it have a future? organised by the National Preservation Office, held in Adelaide in May 1993, dealt in some part with digital imaging. The State Library of New South Wales has agreed to release information about its pilot digital project to other State Libraries. The State Library of South Australia is maintaining a watching brief over digital developments and will address these through its Preservation and Storage and IT Development Strategic Committees. The State Library of Victoria has already digitised the image data from their State in Pictures Project and will provide information to the National Preservation Office.

1996 REPORT

The National Library of Australia has developed standards appropriate to its operational requirements; i.e. preservation was not the main objective of the pictorial digitisation project (see REA2). Rather, access for reference purposes and provision of a reproduction service were key objectives.

The Australian Defence Force Academy Library will consult the NPO, the Australian Archives or the National Film and Sound Archive for advice before beginning any significant digital preservation projects. University of Adelaide will do so with any digitalisation projects - none are planned.

State Library of South Australia is presently undertaking some pilot digitisation projects working to standards discussed at the 1995 preservation conference in Brisbane. When completed State Library of South Australia will be in a position to assess the usefulness of the standards and will inform relevant organisations of the outcome.

The State Library of New South Wales is undertaking projects to create digitised copies of items through liaison and co-operation with appropriate institutions, companies and individuals; participation in the Advisory Body of the National Preservation Office and other national forums.


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