Staff Papers
National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications
Paper by Jasmine Cameron, Assistant Director-General (Acting), Collections Management Division
CONTENTS
- Background
- Development of the National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications
- Infrastructure and standards
Background
From the inception of the PANDORA Project in 1996, the National Library of Australia has envisaged that the collection, provision of access to, and preservation of Australian electronic publications would be managed as a co-operative activity between the National and state libraries. The National and state libraries already work co-operatively across a range of collection management issues and the development, within a collaborative framework, of a National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications is a natural extension of the current relationship between these libraries. The complexity and cost, both in terms of human resources and technical infrastructure, creates a strong imperative for co-operation in this area.
At the Roundtable on Statutory Deposit in the Digital Environment held in Perth on 7 December 1998 under the auspices of the New Technologies Working Party, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DOCITA), there was strong affirmation of the role and responsibilities of legal deposit libraries in the collection and preservation of Australian electronic publications. It was agreed that Australian electronic publications form a significant part of Australias documentary heritage and that the National and state libraries need to initiate collaborative responses to the challenges that the management and future preservation of this material poses.
Through its PANDORA Project, the National Library of Australia has developed a set of policies and procedures for the selection, acquisition, cataloguing, archiving and provision of access to Australian electronic publications. The National Library is willing to share with other libraries any information concerning policies and procedures that have been developed through the PANDORA Project for the management of Australian electronic publications. However, the Library believes that individual libraries must decide which is the most suitable course of action for them to take for the effective management of their electronic publications. The State Library of Victoria has recently become a partner in the PANDORA Project and has adopted the PANDORA policies and procedures for the management of titles published within the Victorian domain. Other state libraries are welcome to adopt the PANDORA procedures or, as the State Libraries of Tasmania and New South Wales have done, to develop their own procedures for the management of electronic publications produced within their states.
Development of the National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications
The key element in building the National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications, is not how each library manages the material they are responsible for but rather that the end result is a co-operatively managed distributed national archive which is based firmly on an agreed set of principles. This essentially is at the heart of the concept of the National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications-a distributed national collection of Australian electronic publications developed and managed according to an agreed set of principles and standards.
The principles which the National Library sees as the key to the successful development of a National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications include:
· A set of collecting agreements which articulate as clearly as possible the areas in which each library will be responsible for selecting, capturing, archiving, and preserving titles for future public access.
· Endorsement of the principle that electronic publications are part of the national bibliography. As part of this endorsement the National Library is seeking agreement from all state libraries to catalogue titles selected for archiving and future preservation onto the National Bibliographic Database. It is envisaged that the National Bibliographic Database will be as the key point of access to the distributed National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications. This will not only provide an assured level of access but will ensure that these titles are recognised as an integral part of the national imprint. This does not preclude other forms of access such as the use of a search engine to search a metadata repository to provide access to content below the item level.
· A commitment to permanence through the development of long-term preservation strategies. Although the actual future preservation path for electronic publications remains uncertain (migration, emulation, a combination of these strategies or other solutions), it is crucial that libraries contributing to the National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications commit to undertake the key steps necessary to preserve these publications for future use by Australians.
· A commitment to negotiate arrangements with publishers to ensure that titles which form part of the National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications will ultimately be available gratis to all Australians, in an open and networked environment. This issue relates particularly to commercially published titles to which a fee is attached for use. The Library believes that the development of a common set of guidelines for use by libraries with legal deposit responsibilities in negotiation with commercial publishers will assist in the achievement of this goal.
Infrastructure and standards
The successful development of a framework for a National Collection of Australian Electronic Publications depends on the adoption of common standards across a wide range of areas. Standards relating to many aspects of the management of electronic publications have only begun to emerge recently. The National Library is committed to the development of these standards and is taking an active role, both nationally and internationally, in this process. The Library is seeking to involve the Australian library community, and in particular the legal deposit libraries, in the development and adoption of standards, including:
Permanent naming:The National Library, through its participation in the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, is working towards the development of a permanent naming scheme for electronic publications. Work is currently underway to investigate the Universal Resource Name scheme.
Authentication:State libraries have flagged the need for discussion of the issues relating to the development of systems to authenticate users requiring access to particular systems and products. The National Library will organise a Roundtable seminar to advance discussion of authentication issues.
Metadata: The National Library has recently participated in the Metaweb Project which involved the design and testing of tools for the creation of metadata for resources discovery. In co-operation with the Research Libraries Group, work has also begun on the development of metadata for preservation management. The Library has joined OCLCs CORC (Co-operative Online Resource Catalogue) project which is looking at the co-operative creation of catalogue metadata for Internet resources.
The Library is also maintaining contacts for the exchange of information with other national libraries and peak overseas bodies working in these areas. It is vital for the future international exchange of information between archives that standards are adopted by libraries responsible for the management of these archives. Towards the end of 1999 the National Library of Australia will host, on behalf of DOCITA, a national forum to promote discussion of standards and other key issues relating to the management of electronic publications.
