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National Round Table on Access to Overseas Monographs through Australian Libraries

28 August 1998, National Library of Australia


MINUTES

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Welcome and Overview

 Mr Warren Horton, Director-General, National Library of Australia

Mr Horton welcomed the participants, and thanked all those involved in organising the Round Table, particularly Dr Stephen Foster, Executive Director, National Academies Forum.

Mr Horton spoke about the public perception that access to overseas monographs is problematic. The Round Table is an attempt to articulate what the problem is and to propose solutions.

 

Overseas Monographs Coverage in Australian Libraries: User Perspectives

Session Chair: Mr Alex Byrne, Pro Vice Chancellor (Information Resources), Northern Territory University; President, Council of Australian University Librarians

Dr John Robertson, Research Director, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia

Dr Robertson outlined the results of the National Academies Forum's survey as it related to scholars in American Studies, Japanese History and South East Asian Economics. The survey found that acquisition of monographs in these three subject areas has declined and that many researchers are meeting their research needs with supplementary personal purchases.

The Academy believes there is a need for a whole-of-nation approach to facilitate access to designated specialist collections. Education of researchers to increase awareness of the location of material elsewhere in Australia is also important. The Academy indicated its willingness to participate in a cooperative body that will have input into improving access to monographs.

Emeritus Professor Neville Fletcher, Department of Electronic Engineering, Australian National University

Professor Fletcher indicated that science academics mostly use scientific journals for research and refer to monographs only as necessary. The majority of scientific monographs are published in English by multi-national publishers. Professor Fletcher did not feel that access to overseas monographs was a major issue for scientists. For example, examination of core physics monographs revealed that 88% were widely available in Australian libraries. Professor Fletcher suggested that greater coordination in collecting by Australian libraries and an improved inter-library loan system; probably operating on a user pays basis, would assist with access in general to overseas monographs.

 

Dr David Bennett, Executive Director, Australian Academy of the Humanities

Dr Bennett summarised the results of the National Academies Forum’s survey of humanities researchers. Humanities researchers are highly dependent on monographs, including foreign language titles, and rely on them much more than serials. Many researchers are filling the shortfall in overseas monograph acquisition by their library through personal purchases and by travelling overseas to do research. They believe the emphasis has shifted to English language publications and the evidence seems to support this. Researchers are also concerned about the relevance of those monographs acquired, and that they may not have access to any significant titles not acquired.

 

Dr David Smiles, Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Land & Water
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering

Dr Smiles spoke about the need to separate the needs of scientific researchers in relation to existing monograph and serial collections, much of which will never be accessible electronically, and the future monograph and serial collections which will be increasingly centred around the electronic publishing of major publishing houses. Any recommendations for action need to acknowledge this future scenario.

 

Australian Holdings of Overseas Monographs – Strengths and Weaknesses

Session Chair: Professor Mairead Browne, Dean, University Graduate School, University of Technology Sydney

Ms Margy Burn, Director, Australian Research Collections & Collections Services, State Library of New South Wales

Margy Burn presented a paper on collecting overseas resources from the state library perspective. The State Library of New South Wales is at the hub of a network of state-wide public libraries and provides a range of support services to them including the resources of the multicultural collection and interlibrary loans. In building the collection, no subject is considered outside the scope of the collection development policy although most overseas titles are collected at conspectus levels 2 or 3 providing a basic or intermediate coverage of the subject. Margy strongly supported draft recommendation R2 as all state libraries have vast uncatalogued resources.

 

Professor Paul Bourke, Division of Historical Studies, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University

Professor Paul Bourke’s presentation highlighted some of the differences between providers of library services and users. He suggested that the problem of library provision be embedded in the issue of research policy. The allocation of resources is being driven by student numbers. The connection between teaching and research means that the rise and decline of fields of academic study is disproportionately determined by undergraduate enrolments. Professor Bourke advocated that the provision of infrastructure, such as library collections, should be detached from student numbers.

Professor Bourke concluded with the following points.

  • Libraries belong in every forum in which national priorities and research are discussed.
  • Libraries should have a seat on the Australian Research Council. Libraries should seek ways to monitor patterns of research distribution more precisely.
  • Libraries have a greater obligation than other research organisations to make the distributed national collection work.

 

Access to Overseas Monographs in Australia

Session Chair, Mr John Shipp, University Librarian, University of Sydney and President, Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)

 

Mr Ross Coleman, Collection Management Librarian, University of Sydney Library

Ross Coleman described the current collection development and interlibrary loan activities at the University of Sydney Library. He spoke about the tension in university libraries between conflicting institutional and national roles, and suggested that the DNC model should be examined to determine if there were lessons for future resource sharing in the present failures of the DNC.

 

Ms Madeleine McPherson, University Librarian, University of Southern Queensland

Madeleine McPherson outlined her vision for service delivery, directed particularly to the distance education student. This involved a web interface to the home institution library catalogue, as well as that of other libraries, with commercial databases also being provided for cross searching. Orders would be processed by the cheapest and fastest supplier, taking into account factors such as location. Loans would be managed by the policies of the home institution. Madeleine suggested that granularity would be an important issue in the future in providing access to publications in electronic format.

 

An Agenda for Action

Session Chair, Professor Margaret Clunies Ross, Director, Medieval Studies Centre, University of Sydney

Margaret Clunies Ross chaired this interactive session in which participants discussed the issues raised by speakers and the trends identified as important in their own fields of expertise. As a result of this discussion, a set of clear recommendations were agreed upon by the participants.

 

Closing Remarks

Mr Warren Horton

Warren Horton closed the meeting by thanking speakers and chairs for their contributions, as well as Stephen Foster and his colleagues at the National Academies Forum, and National Library staff, notably Glenn Schwinghamer and Jan Fullerton, for their efforts in facilitating the meeting.


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Last Updated 16 September 1998

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