TOWARDS FEDERATION 2001: Linking Australians with Their Heritage Review
Meeting 1993
Progress Reports 1994-1996
Section A - C: Bibliographic Issues
RC1 That the National, State and Territory libraries catalogue all
their holdings of Australian newspapers on the National Bibliographic Database
(NBD) by the year 2001, in support of the National Plan for Australian Newspapers
(NPLAN).
- 1994 - 1996
- All the National Library of Australia holdings are already on
the National Bibliographic Database.
The State Library of South Australia commenced a project
some time ago to catalogue all their holdings of South Australian newspapers to
the NBD via ABN. To date about one-fifth of their holdings have been completed.
All newspapers currently received by the Library are recorded in the online
catalogue, which is accessible via the Internet, and could thus be said to form
part of a distributed NBD. The Library now has brief, subject-enhanced records
for all non-South Australian newspapers on its online catalogue INNOPAC and is
progressively adding similar records for all ceased South Australian
newspapers. It is planned to upgrade and upload these records to the NBD once
World 1 is implemented.
State Library of Queensland has holdings of Australian
newspapers in machine readable format; requires conversion of data format
before loading to NBD.
The ACT Library Service expect to complete this by December
1994.
The State Library of New South Wales has now completed ABN
records for all New South Wales newspapers, both current and ceased.
The State Library of Victoria is proceeding with adding its
Victorian newspaper holdings to the NBD. The target date for loading of
holdings of Victorian newspapers on the NBD has been revised to 1999. Holdings
are available on the State Library of Victoria catalogue accessible on Internet
via a telnet session. Web access to the catalogue will be available by December
1996. All interstate titles are already on the NBD.
At the Library and Information Service of Western Australia
current Australian newspapers have been added to the NBD. It is still the
intention to add ceased titles to the database when resources are available.
The State Library of Tasmania is adding its Tasmanian
newspaper titles to the NBD as interim records. Full MARC records are being
progressively created on the local system, as part of the project to microfilm
Tasmanian newspapers. Holdings for interstate newspapers are already on the
NBD.
The Northern Territory Library has already catalogued/added
holdings onto ABN for all Australian newspapers, with the exception of those
held by the Northern Australian Collection (i.e. approximately 180 titles still
to be added). No difficulty in cataloguing/adding holdings for the outstanding
items by 2001 is anticipated - some catalogue entries may be only interim
records.
RC2 That the National, State and Territory
libraries catalogue all their holdings of Australian serials on the National
Bibliographic Database by the year 2001, in support of the proposed National
Plan for Australian Journals.
-
1994-1996
- Almost 40% of all serial titles held by State Library of South
Australia have been catalogued to the NBD on ABN already. This includes
both active and inactive titles, and overseas as well as Australian titles.
Summary holdings information is included and kept up-to-date. In addition, all
currently received titles, and all retrospective South Australian titles, are
recorded in the online catalogue, and thus accessible to AARNet participants;
however, most of the locally-created records are very brief, well below the ABN
Interim Record Standard. It is intended to convert serials from the card
catalogues to the online catalogue over the next two and a half years. MARC
records from the conversion could be made available to the NBD, but certain
standards issues, notably the question of single entry versus successive entry,
would need to be negotiated. The State Library of South Australia is
making progress on conversion of serial titles from its card catalogues to its
online catalogue.
A 5 year plan for conversion of Australian serial titles to NBD has
been drawn up by the National Library of Australia
. At current resource level allocated to this activity it will
not, however, be possible to add all our records to the NBD by 2001. Between
now and 2001 we will convert about 20,000 records, leaving about 24,000 manual
records to be converted. The Library received $12,000 during the 1995/96
financial year from the Working Group on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects
to catalogue 19th century Australian serials. So far over 300 records have been
added to the NBD and the figure will continue to grow. In addition to this, the
Library has undertaken some retrospective cataloguing of 20th century
Australian serials on a project basis. So far 1273 of these titles have been
catalogued on to the NBD. It is expected that about 200 retrospective serial
titles will be catalogued this financial year.
The State Library of Victoria has the goal of upgrading all
of its serial records by 1999. It is proceeding with this task, and should
complete all serials in the La Trobe Library some time in 1996. Completion of
the remainder (which include many Australian titles in the main reference
collection) is much more problematical, and the 1999 target date does not look
achievable at this point, but this is an ongoing task for the State Library
of Victoria.
At the State Library of Tasmania holdings for all serials
are being added to the NBD, and at this stage, interims for all Tasmanian
serials that meet the ABN guidelines. The State Library of Tasmania is
committed to adding full serial records by up line loading once WORLD 1 is
functional.
Northern Territory Library has already catalogued/added
holdings onto ABN for all Australian serials, with the exception of those held
in the Northern Australia collection. Of the Northern Australian Collection
(i.e. approximately 2000 titles), a start has been made, and about 25% have had
holdings added onto ABN records. No difficulty is anticipated in complying with
this resolution by 2001.
The State Library of New South Wales reports that over 50%
of their records are now on ABN and work is progressing. However, staff
shortages may delay completion until 2004.
At the Library and Information Service of Western Australia
current serials are catalogued on to the NBD. Retrospective conversion of non-
current Australian serials will proceed as resources are available.
RC3 That, following the completion of the Survey of Bibliographic
Access to Documentary Pictorial Collections, the Working Group on High Priority
Cross-Sectoral Projects initiate follow-up action, which may include:
- the development of an action plan to improve bibliographic
access to documentary pictorial collections. This should be developed in
consultation with appropriate organisations, and may include a proposal for
assistance from the High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects Fund.
- the development of guidelines for the provision of
bibliographic access to documentary pictorial collections, in consultation with
appropriate organisations including Council of Australian State Libraries, the
ABN Standards Committee and the Australian Committee on Cataloguing.
- an assessment of the survey for its cost effectiveness and
relevance to other formats.
- a recommended order of priority for similar treatment of other
formats, for consideration by Council of Australian State Libraries and other
appropriate bodies during 1994.
-
AUGUST 1994
- Awaiting completion of the survey of bibliographic access to
documentary pictorial collections which is due in September 1994.
- JUNE 1995
- The report of the consultant, Paul Hodgson of Informed Sources, was
received in October 1994 and distributed to the 23 institutions surveyed for
comment on the factual descriptions of access to their collections in Part B of
the report. Part B of the report was edited accordingly, and the final version
of the report printed in March. The National Library of Australia promoted the
report in ABN news and in various Internet lists. Part B of the report has been
edited for mounting on the National Library of Australia World Wide Web Server
as a directory of access to the pictorial collections of the 23 institutions
surveyed. The whole report is available for FTP via the Internet from the
National Library of Australia server (http://www.nla.gov.au/pict/survey1994/pictorial.html).
Guidelines have been prepared to assist libraries to create collective records
for the NBD to promote access to significant collections of pictorial
materials. The Working Group on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects is
liaising with the CASL Collection Management Group to organise a round table of
major institutions interested in documentary pictorial collections sometime in
1996.
- JUNE 1996
- A meeting of major institutions interested in documentary pictorial
collections was held in conjunction with the 2nd NPO Conference held in
Brisbane in November 1995. The purpose of this meeting was to formally adopt
the State Library of New South Wales PICMAN thesaurus as a common standard for
the use of Australian libraries.
The National Library launched the Documentary Image Collection
database: IMAGES1 database. The database
contains more than 13,000 images of works of art including watercolours,
paintings, drawings, prints and photographs. It constitutes a sample of the
images available in the National Library's Pictorial Collection. [later note: IMAGES1 replaced by Pictures Catalogue at later stage]
The Working Group on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects
considers that further action on this resolution in relation to other formats
of Australian documentary heritage will be included as part of the National
Cultural Network.
RC4 That the National Library develop a strategy through which
other organisations are encouraged to provide more effective bibliographic
access to their Australian documentary collections, by cataloguing and indexing
both current and retrospective materials and by converting significant
retrospective files for contribution to the National Bibliographic Database.
Such encouragement may take the form of assistance with training, support
staff, financial incentives, or the funding of special projects.
- JUNE 1996
- The National Library has continued to load MARC records to the NBD
as institutions have made them available. Apart from encouraging the
contribution of MARC records for Australian higher degree theses and music, the
Library's strategy has focused on filling the major gaps in the NBD, in
particular records from the State Library of Queensland, the University of
Queensland, Unilinc, and Technilib. It has not been practical to distinguish
between Australian and non-Australian records in this exercise. It has not been
possible to fund special data conversion projects, but the Library expects to
be able to load a greater variety of records in non-standard formats once the
WORLD 1 service has been implemented.
RC5 That the ABN Network Committee consider the possibility of
funding the conversion and loading to the National Bibliographic Database of
data resulting from projects designed to improve access to Australia's
documentary heritage.
- AUGUST 1994
- The Network Committee has discussed this Resolution and supports the
principle (in the context of ABN priorities). Some file loads (and database
authority control projects) have already been undertaken in support of this
goal. However, no specific funds have been allocated for this goal in 1994/95.
The Network Committee would be interested in any specific suggestions from
ACLIS for appropriate files to be considered.
- JUNE 1995
- As a precursor to considering the funding of projects to convert and
load data to the NBD, the Network Committee developed and endorsed a
Strategy for improving NBD coverage by the addition of data files in
November 1994. The three highest priorities which require special funding are
(i) community language records from the City of Sydney Library and Moonee
Valley Regional Library, (ii) the Vietnamese National Bibliography data, and
(iii) the Australia's Book Heritage Resources Project data for Queensland,
Tasmania and Western Australia. None of these files comprises primarily
Australian data. Due to the requirement to fund the development of the World 1
service, the National Library of Australia has not proposed to the Network
Committee that funds be devoted to special file loads in 1995/96.
- JUNE 1996
- Due to the requirement to fund the development of WORLD 1, the
National Library will not propose any funding for this project in 1996/97.
RC6 That the Council of Australian University Libraries (CAUL)
liaise with the National Library of Australia and ACLIS to identify nationally
important projects that should be referred to the AVCC Standing Committee on
Information Resources for funding support from the Department of Employment,
Education and Training or the Australian Research Council.
- AUGUST 1994
- Council of Australian University Librarians has been active in
identifying projects for referral to the AVCC Standing Committee on Information
Resources.
- JUNE 1995
- No significant progress. CAUL is pursuing a number of major projects
already funded by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth
Affairs. These projects are restricted presently to the university sector but
may have relevance to other sectors one the test periods are complete. CAUL
would not wish to take on further major projects at this time.
In June 1995 DEET established a Working Group on Research Library
Infrastructure, with membership from CAUL, the AVCC-SCIR, the National Library
of Australia, the Higher Education Council and the Australian Research Council
to examine priorities and future strategy for research library infrastructure
developments funded by DEET.
- JUNE 1996
- In May 1995 the NLA and CAUL were successful in obtaining a grant
from DEET's Evaluations and Investigations Program for a project entitled
Access to Distributed National Collections: Models for the Future
Development for Integrated Print/Electronic Delivery to Australian Higher
Education Institutions (IDA). The final report was completed 8 May 1996,
and further funding will be sought to implement some of the recommendations.
The project was sub-contracted to the University of South Australia.
A paper currently in preparation jointly by CAUL and the NLA
entitled "Australian Scholarly Information Infrastructure: issues in
resource sharing and development by Australian Universities" identifies
priorities for 1997-1999. It has not yet been released.
RC7 That the National Library commence its study of the
feasibility of an Australian thesaurus with a study of the use of the APAIS
thesaurus, to discover the extent of its use, both in its own right and as a
source of data for building other thesauri.
- JUNE 1995
- The Australian Committee on Cataloguing has proposed a survey of
thesaurus development and usage in Australian libraries. The survey will be
conducted by ACOC in 1995/96 with funding from ALIA and the from the Working
Group on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects. The Working Group has requested
the National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South Wales to
examine the possibility of further development of existing thesauri used by the
two libraries.
- JUNE 1996
A survey of the use of the APAIS thesaurus was incorporated in the
survey of thesaurus usage in Australian libraries. A report of the survey
appears below (see RC18)
RC8 That the Australian Committee on Cataloguing investigate the
feasibility of a coordinated approach to establishing an Australian extension
to LCSH and recommend appropriately to its constituent organisations (ACLIS,
The National Library of Australia, ALIA)
- JUNE 1995
- ACOC has recommended that the development of the Australian
extension to the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) should be
channeled through the ABN Standards Committee's Subject Headings Review Panel.
ACOC has consulted and obtained the support of ALIA and the ABN Standards
Committee for this approach. ALIA has agreed that the List of Australian
Subject Headings will be discontinued after the second edition has been
published. ACOC and the ABN Standards Committee have asked the National Library
of Australia to publicise these developments in a way which will inform
libraries outside ABN about how they can contribute to the development of the
Australian extension to LCSH.
ACOC recommends all Australian extension and amendment of LCSH to
be centralised with the Subject Headings Review Panel of the ABN Standards
Committee and its successor in World 1. Federal and state groups of the ALIA
Cataloguers' Section have been consulted, and agree with this on condition that
libraries not participating in ABN can submit new and changed LCSH headings to
the Subject Headings Review Panel. Communication of changes to be as wide as
possible. Parent bodies of ACOC to be informed shortly.
- JUNE 1996
- The National Library is funding the incorporation of the List of
Australian Subject Headings into the Australian extension of LCSH on ABN. A
formal strategy has been devised in consultation with the Subject Headings
Review panel, and work will commence in September 1996. It is planned to
complete the work in time to provide a marked improvement in Australian subject
access in the second phase of WORLD 1.
RC9 That the National Library consult Australian libraries and
other relevant organisations on their current and future requirements for the
national bibliography prior to any necessary revision of the present range of
national bibliographic products.
- AUGUST 1994
- ANB and APAIS users have been surveyed, and results are being used
to develop proposals for changes in scope of these publications.
- JUNE 1995
- ANB subscriber survey in 1994 resulted in discontinuation of the
printed annual at the end of 1994. A further survey of ANB subscribers was
conducted in 1995, with a focus on microform cumulations and the publishers
directory. This survey resulted in the discontinuation of the publishers
directory in 1996.
APAIS subscriber survey indicated a high level of satisfaction with
the scope and quality of APAIS. In response to suggestions from subscribers,
changes have been made to improve the currency of APAIS and to selectively
index The Australian newspaper.
The survey of coverage of theses on the NBD has been completed, and
results are being edited for wider dissemination.
- JUNE 1996
- Significant reductions in the Library's budget for 1996/97, and a
continuing decline in subscriptions, prompted the decision to discontinue the
production of the Australian National Bibliography after the end of
1996. Alternative options, such online searching of Supersearch and the
provision of a classified listing on the National Library's World Wide Web
server, are being developed to assist users to scan newly published Australian
titles arranged by subject. The delivery of national bibliographic publications
from WORLD 1 is being considered in the light of new options for delivery, such
as the inclusion of a wider range of materials (maps, newspapers), the ability
to tailor the subject coverage to the interests of the user, and the ability to
deliver the bibliographic information in a wider range of physical formats
(diskette, FTP, CD ROM). The consultative mechanisms of the NDIS project
(Expert Advisory Groups) will be used as the main vehicle for consultation on
the proposed WORLD 1 national bibliographic services.
RC10 That the Working Group on High Priority Cross-Sectoral
Projects assess the outcomes of its Study of In House Indexing, its Priority
Listing of Nationally Important Retrospective Bibliographic Projects, and the
report of the Annual Conference of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and
New Zealand (Adelaide, 1993) and, after wide consultation, prepare a short list
of high priority projects.
- AUGUST 1994
- The Working Group is currently funding two projects which were
listed of high priority in the Priority Listing of Nationally Important
Retrospective Bibliographic Projects. These are the microfilming of the index
to the Argus (1860-1909); and the indexing of the literary content of the
Bulletin for 1921-1987.
The outcomes of the Study of In House Indexing Stage One, and the
report of the Annual Conference of the Bibliographic Society of Australia and
New Zealand have yet to be assessed. A pilot of Stage Two of the Study of
Inhouse Indexing has just been commenced in Western Australia.
- JUNE 1995
- The Working Group continues to support projects which were listed as
being of high priority in the Priority Listing of Nationally Important
Retrospective Bibliographic Projects. The Library and Information Service of
Western Australia is finalising its report on Stage 2 of Inhouse indexes in
Australian libraries.
- JUNE 1996
- The Working Group has continued to support projects which were
listed as being of high priority in the Priority Listing of Nationally
Important Retrospective Bibliographic Projects. Indexes in Australian
Libraries, consisting of the results of Stage One of the study of inhouse
indexes in Australian libraries was published in late 1995. Information from
Stage Two of the project, a pilot study of indexes in Western Australian
public, government and historical society libraries will be incorporated into a
later edition of Stage One. It is also hoped to incorporate information on
indexes of national importance from other states as this project progresses.
The DNC Office plans to mount Indexes in Australian libraries on the
Internet, with a self-reporting form to enable libraries to amend or add
entries as necessary.
RC11 That the Australian Committee on Cataloguing, in conducting
its survey of thesaurus usage in Australian libraries, make use of the results
of the Survey on In House Indexing conducted by the Working Party on High
Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects, and extend the information by surveying
special and other appropriate libraries.
- AUGUST 1994
- The Australian Committee on Cataloguing is preparing an ACLIS
Research Grant proposal. This will be submitted by ACOC to ACLIS in August
1994.
- JUNE 1995
- A research grant proposal to conduct a survey of thesaurus usage in
Australian libraries was completed by the Australian Committee on Cataloguing
in December 1994, and submitted to parent bodies of ACOC (ALIA, ACLIS, and The
National Library of Australia) in January 1995. As a result of this proposal,
the Working Group on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects, has provided ACOC
with a grant from the High Priority Projects Fund.
ACOC has noted resolution RC11. ACOC's survey of thesaurus usage in
Australian libraries, to be conducted in 1995/96, will build upon and extend
the Survey of In House Indexing which included thesaurus usage in state
and university libraries.
- JUNE 1996
- ACOC's survey of thesaurus usage in Australian libraries, conducted
in 1995/96, built upon and extended the Survey of In House Indexing
which included thesaurus usage in state and university libraries. Only those
university libraries which had reported in house thesaurus usage were surveyed
again by ACOC (to obtain more detailed information). The coverage of special
libraries in the survey was determined by sampling. A report on the survey is
provided below (see RC18).
RC12 That the National Library of Australia consider the form of
any bibliography of nineteenth century Australiana in the light of its
consultation on current and future requirements for the national
bibliography.
- 1995 - 1996
- The National Library of Australia anticipates that the
implementation of World 1 will provide opportunities for significant review of
the delivery of national bibliographic information and services. During the
NDIS development project, the Library will develop plans for delivery of
national bibliography services from World 1. The specification of requirements
will be developed by the end of 1996, and is expected to cater for the
production of publications with specialised coverage, such as a bibliography of
19th century Australiana.
RC13 That in the light of the National Centre for Australian
Studies proposal to produce a Bibliography and guide to twentieth century
literary and semi-literary periodicals, the National Library take action to
obtain comprehensive bibliographic coverage of these materials on the National
Bibliographic Database.
-
AUGUST 1994
- This Resolution has not been included in the National Library of
Australia, Services to Libraries Division Operational Plan for 1994/95. However
the ABN Network Committee has agreed to consider guidelines for contributing
data to the NBD as a precursor to funding under RC5.
- JUNE 1995
- The National Library of Australia's collection of twentieth century
literary and semi literary periodicals is catalogued partially on the NBD and
partially in its pre-1967 card catalogue. Contribution of records for twentieth
century literary periodicals to the NBD will be undertaken as part of the
Library's retrospective conversion of the card catalogue. It is intended that
this task be completed by 2001, however the Library will focus on 19th century
holdings in 1995/96.
- JUNE 1996
- During 1995/96 the National Library assigned a Librarian Class 2 to
undertake some retrospective cataloguing of 20th century serials. To date 1668
titles have been converted. These titles are mainly general university/
society/ association publications.
RC14 That the National Library of Australia, in consultation with
other appropriate organisations in the Australian book trade, including the
academic centres for Australian centres, publishers, and the National
Book Council, continue to identify opportunities for greater integration of
bibliographic activities with the booktrade, by means of specific projects and
more general cooperation.
- AUGUST 1994
- The National Library of Australia has been liaising with booksellers
who offer MARC records with books, with a view to assisting booksellers to
improve these services for Australian libraries. The intention is to ensure
that holdings are reported to the NBD as a by-product of the cataloguing
operation, and to encourage Australian libraries to purchase their MARC records
from ABN. Baker & Taylor have successfully implemented a service to
automatically add libraries' holdings to the NBD and to download MARC records
from ABN. A similar service is being developed by Blackwell North America, and
the National Library of Australia is assisting with documentation, advice and
the use of a test signon.
- JUNE 1995
- The National Library of Australia is preparing to offer electronic
access to full text documents in World 1. The Library has an arrangement for
the creation of digital images of articles indexed in its APAIS indexing
service, and plans to extend this to the Australasian Medical Index in 1995/96.
Negotiations with publishers and the Copyright Agency Limited are underway.
- JUNE 1996
- Negotiations with additional booksellers are underway to provide
MARC records with books.
Negotiations with Copyright Agency Limited are continuing.
Forms for ISBN, ISSN and Cataloguing in publication requests have
been set up on the Library's server to enable publishers to submit requests
electronically.
The National Library sought advice from the Australian Book
Publishers Association on its members requirements in relation to the scope of
ISBN coverage. This information is to be forwarded to the International ISBN
Agency.
RC15 That the National Film and Sound Archive and other appropriate
organisations in the Australian film, video and sound fields continue to
investigate the desirability and feasibility of greater integration of their
bibliographic activities in the longer term.
-
AUGUST 1994
- The National Film and Sound Archive reports that a strategy has been
developed that outlines the steps necessary to set in place structures
appropriate to the achievement of RC15, "greater bibliographic control over the
output of the Australian film and video industry". Funds will be made available
to undertake the task of implementing the first stage. It is anticipated that
by the end of 1994, the first three steps of this five step plan will have been
completed.
- Identify the major holders/collections of audio-visual material;
- Identify the nature/extent of audio-visual bibliographic activity
pursued by each institution;
- Identify the major fields considered essential for proper
identification and retrieve; of a/v materials with the aim of identifying a
core record concept;
- Endorse concept of a distributed national collection for a/v with
local requirements handled locally; and
- Establish a database (AARNet, ABN) to hold the core record with
local holdings to other information attached.
- JUNE 1995
- The National Film and Sound Archive report that no further progress
has been made on this resolution.
- JUNE 1996
- With the growth of open systems, accessibility of data through the
Internet and the development of World 1, the National Film and Sound Archive
has put further work on developing the earlier strategy on hold. In particular,
the explosion in availability of data via the Internet offers significant
potential for data sharing with kindred institutions. The NFSA will be
investigating the development of import/export programs for data from a variety
of sources and will continue to contribute to discussions on copyright issues,
bibliographic standards and the sharing of machine-readable data.
RC16 That in order to assist collecting institutions to avoid
duplication in recording oral history interviews, the National Library develop
guidelines to enable organisations to report to the National Bibliographic
Database any oral history projects which are planned or in progress, and that
these guidelines be developed in consultation with other appropriate
organisations such as the National Film and Sound Archive, the Oral History
Association of Australia, CASL and the ABN Standards Committee.
- JUNE 1996
- Given the decision on RC20 not to record oral history collections on
the NBD, the National Library has decided that it is no longer appropriate to
report planned oral history projects to the NBD. This Resolution is therefore
completed.
RC17 That the Working Group on High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects
consider a survey, building on the recent Australian Society of Archivists
survey, of descriptive standards and control systems in use by institutions
with significant collections of archives/manuscripts; and following the survey
a consultative mechanism be established by Council of Australian State
Libraries, involving Council of Australian State Libraries, the National
Library of Australia, Australian Council of Archives, Australian Society of
Archivists, the National Film and Sound Archive and the Australian Archives, to
determine a course of action.
- JUNE 1996
- The Working Group on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects considers
that archivist groups such as the Australian Council of Archives and the
Australian Society of Archivists should be leading these issues.
The Working Group on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects has
funded a project which will replace and expand upon the current Guide to
collections of manuscripts relating to Australia with an on-line directory,
mounted on the National Library's server. It will provide summary information
about holdings of manuscripts and private archives in Australian repositories.
Consultation about the project has taken place through the Aus-archivists
discussion list, and with the Australian Council of Archives as well as with
libraries and archives in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. In general, there has
been positive support, particularly from reference officers who are aware of
the difficulties of researchers in locating manuscripts and private archives in
Australia.
RC18 That, following the completion of the
National Library funded study of the APAIS Thesaurus and the Australian
Committee on Cataloguing investigation of an extension to LCSH, the national
Library consider, in consultation with the Australian Committee on cataloguing,
the Australian Databases Development Association and other appropriate bodies,
a feasibility study into the establishment of a commonly accepted thesaurus of
Australian terms suitable for the subject indexing of Australian materials in
all formats.
- JUNE 1996
- In 1995/96, ACOC commissioned a survey of thesaurus usage in
Australian libraries, as the first step in assessing the feasibility of
developing an Australian thesaurus. The survey was funded by the Working Group
on High Priority Cross Sectoral Projects, and was conducted under contract by
AIMA. The survey covered 270 libraries, including all state libraries, selected
university libraries, and a sample of special libraries. The results of the
survey demonstrated widespread use of LCSH on ABN (which includes Australian
additions and changes) and the APAIS thesaurus. Although a wide range of other
thesauri were identified, nearly all were subject specific and used only by the
compiling agency.
The results of the survey did not suggest that there was a need to
develop a new Australian thesaurus. However, the results did confirm the value
of consolidating the two Australian supplements to LCSH: ALIA's List of
Australian subject headings (LASH) and ABN's additions and changes to LCSH
(ABN subject authorities). Following an agreement between ALIA and ACOC
in 1995, these two lists are being combined by the National Library in
consultation with the ABN Subject Headings Review Panel.
In response to a request from the First National Roundtable on
Library and Archives Collections and Services of Relevance to Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander People, the Working Group on High Priority Cross
Sectoral Projects has agreed to fund the publication of the Aboriginal
thesaurus., to be published by the National Library of Australia in
November 1996. It will be launched at the ATSILIRN Conference. The thesaurus
will use the ABN list of Australian languages, which is based on the database
compiled by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Studies. The National Library will use the Aboriginal thesaurus as a
source of ideas for improving Australian subject access in the APAIS thesaurus
and in LCSH on ABN, where appropriate.
RC19 That, in order to promote bibliographic access to local
collection materials, the National Library develop guidelines to assist public
libraries and other organisations to create collection level bibliographic
records for local collection materials on the National Bibliographic
Database.
- JUNE 1995
- Guidelines have been prepared to assist libraries to create
collective records on the NBD for collections of photographic materials. These
guidelines to be extended to cover all formats in 1995/96.
- JUNE 1996
- Draft guidelines for Pictorial Collections were widely distributed
by the National Library for comment in October 1995 and the final version is
published in April 1996. The guidelines were publicised in ABN, as well as on
various Internet discussion lists and in the ALIA local studies newsletter.
Guidelines for other formats will be included in WORLD 1 documentation if
appropriate.
RC20 That the National Library investigate the feasibility of
creating collection level records for oral history collections on the National
Bibliographic Database as a complementary project to the creation of the
directory of Australian oral history and folklore.
- JUNE 1995
- The National Library of Australia has examined the proposed data
format for the oral history and folklore database, and recommended that the
data is not suitable for entry as collective records in the National
Bibliographic Database. The National Library of Australia has suggested that a
more suitable method of promoting access to oral history and folklore
collections would be to have the database hosted on the Ozline network.
Accordingly the National Library of Australia has recommended that the database
be submitted for assessment in late 1995 with a view to mounting it on Ozline
if suitable.
Return to Section A: Final Progress Report on
Resolutions
Last updated 209 July 1998