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Survey of publishers of Australian Physical-Format Digital Publications

Background to survey

The National Library intends working in partnership with publishers, State libraries and others to develop a national strategy for managing Australian digital publications. An increasing proportion of Australia’s cultural heritage and information is created, distributed and stored in digital form. However, there is a danger that, unless consideration is given to proper management, the benefits of digital technologies will be limited to the short term and much of our heritage in digital form will be lost.

The purpose of this survey is to collect information from publishers of Australian digital publications which will assist libraries in managing these resources. For the purpose of this survey, this will essentially cover CD-ROMs and floppy disks.

CD audio, DAT and video will not be considered at this stage.

Information gathered in this survey will be used as background to a by-invitation consultative meeting to be held later in the year. The aim of this meeting, at which the National and State libraries and the publishing sector will be represented, is to continue the process of developing a national strategy for digital library resources.

A summary of the results of this survey are available.


1. For approximately how long do you expect the majority of your products to be commercially available?

CD-ROMs: 0-2 yrs, 3-5 yrs, 6-10 yrs, >10 yrs
Floppy disks: 0-2 yrs, 3-5 yrs, 6-10 yrs, >10 yrs
Comments

2. For how long do you expect the information content of your products to be accessible (ie even if the title is no longer readily available, would it be technically feasible to read the information)?

CD-ROMs: 0-5 yrs, 6-20 yrs, >20 yrs, not sure
Floppy disks: 0-5 yrs, 6-20 yrs, >20 yrs, not sure
Comments

3. Have you produced any products that are likely to be affected by the year 2000 issue?

4. Are you planning to migrate the information content of any of your products to any other format?

Internet
Printed form
Other (please specify)

5. Do you believe it is desirable for the information content of your products to be preserved long-term
(ie >5years)?

If the answer is no, please comment.

6. Do you wish/intend to take responsibility for providing long-term access to the information content which you publish?

Please comment

7.1 Do you believe libraries are the appropriate bodies to assume responsibility for providing long-term access to your products?

7.2 If the answer to 7.1 is no, who do you think should assume responsibility?

8. What do you consider to be the main challenges which libraries will face in preserving the information content of your products?

obsolescence of hardware
obsolescence of software
copying restrictions
security devices
other (please specify)
comments

9. In order to preserve access to the information content of your products, it may be necessary to migrate the information to a new system. How might you be able to assist legal deposit libraries to do this?

publishing to standards
aiming for backwards compatibility
not hard coding possible variations such as the location of disk drives and other devices
other (please specify)

10.1. Would you be interested in assisting legal deposit libraries to preserve access to your products?

10.2. If yes, what assurances would you need to protect your interests?

11. What other parties might be able to assist in preserving access to your products and how might they be able to do this?

software providers
manufacturers
stockshop footage libraries
image banks
other content providers
other (please specify)

12. What information do you regularly provide in the packaging and labelling of your products?

hardware platform
processor speed
RAM hard disk space
CD-ROM drive speed
type of monitor
resolution sound card (+ version number)
operating system (+ version number)
other software (+ version number)
software drivers (+ version number)
minimum requirements for operation
recommended requirements for operation
whether software is supplied
whether software is not supplied
hybrid discs
multi-platform discs
year of manufacture
copyright warning
licensing conditions
other (please specify)

For further information contact:

Charu Sood
National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch
National Library of Australia
phone 61 2 6262 1571
fax 61 2 6273 4535

This page created 12 November 1997

Go to the summary of results of this survey

Go to the National Consultative Meeting Page

Go to National Initiatives and Collaboration (NIAC) page

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