Staff Papers

Pacific History Association Conference (Hawaii) and Fiji Acquisitions Trip 8-19 July 1996

Report by Margaret E. Phillips, Manager - Acquisitions, on her attendance at the 1996 Pacific History Association Conference (Hawaii) and Fijian Acquisitions Trip, 8-19 July 1996.


CONTENTS


Acquisitions Trip, Honolulu, Monday 8 July 1996

Being in Honolulu in transit to Hilo on Hawaii or 'The Big' Island, I took advantage of the opportunity to visit the Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, to speak to Dr Karen Peacock, Pacific Curator. We discussed options for supply for Pacific library materials. The Hamilton makes little use of Pan Pacifica as a supplier. It relies instead on standing orders with agencies, departments and government printers, relationships which have been built up over many years and which are maintained by regular acquisitions visits.

I visited the Map Section of the Hamilton Library where Mr Ross Togashi, the Map Technician, advised me about the best sources for maps in Honolulu. As reported below, I subsequently followed these up.

A visit to the University of Hawaii Bookshop yielded a copy of Books in print 1996 of the University of Hawaii Press for checking against our catalogue.

A visit to the Pacific Map Center in Honolulu was fruitful and I obtained a copy of Hawaii: index to topographic and other map coverage and purchased a number of other items. Rand McNally Map and Travel Store, which was the other suggestion of Mr Togashi, did not have anything that the Map Center did not have. In the time available I was not able to pursue thematic mapping issued by commercial firms, but I copied a list of mapping organisations from the Honolulu Yellow Pages, and some of these may be able to be followed up by the Map Section from Australia.

Before leaving Canberra, I had attempted to set up an appointment to visit Pan Pacifica, Honolulu, our blanket order agent. No one was available to see me.

Pacific Manuscripts Bureau Management Committee Meeting, Tuesday 9 July

A full record of this meeting is available in the minutes on file 785/17/33-8. Until now, PMB meetings have always been held in Canberra, which means that usually only the ANU and the National Library of Australia are able to send representatives. Other member libraries were very pleased to have the opportunity to attend and to participate fully in discussion. It was proposed that every two years future meetings should be scheduled to take place with events such as PHA or PARBICA conferences.

11th Pacific History Association Conference and 21st Annual University of Hawaii Pacific Islands Studies Conference, Hilo, Hawaii, 9-13 July

The main reason for attending this conference was to represent the Library at the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau Management Committee meeting which was being held in conjunction with the conference and also at a meeting of librarians associated with Pacific collections.

It is hard to understand why delegates were put to the inconvenience and expense of travelling to Hilo. The residential accommodation, the food and the conference venue itself were quite poor. Necessary equipment such as a microphone and overhead projector did not work. Rooms were not always large enough to contain the delegates interested in particular sessions. Honolulu would surely have offered better facilities.

Having said that, the content of the conference was excellent. It was frustrating that there were usually four, sometimes five, concurrent sessions, two or three of which were particularly interesting, and there was no way of covering them all. A number of themes ran through the week and I chose the themes of Sovereignty and Decolonisation, Colonialism's Cultures, and Imaging, Representation and Photography. There were very good reports of another series, Theaters of Encounter, but unfortunately I did not manage to hear any of them.

David Hanlon, Conference Convenor, told delegates at the opening session that the theme of the conference was a realisation of the political and gender bias of past history of the Pacific Islands. These histories have been written from the outside and, in order for reconciliation and decolonisation to take place, there is now the need to hear the histories of the Pacific Islanders themselves, from the inside.

The opening address was given by Professor Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawaii, at Manoa (http://www2.hawaii.edu/shaps/hawaii/index.html) . The subject of her address was 'A history of settler racism in Hawaii or How white men think'. It was a very powerful address and went for one and a half hours. She traced the impact of white settlement on native Hawaiians, the injustices that were perpetrated then, a number of which continue today. Like many Pacific Islander peoples, the native Hawaiian population was decimated by the diseases introduced by contact with Europeans. The terror that the mass deaths caused made it easy for missionaries to convert them from the gods which appeared to have failed them. Of all the Pacific peoples, the Hawaiians suffered the greatest degree of dispossession from their land. A plebiscite to be held this year at which native Hawaiians only will vote was strongly criticised as fraudulent on the part of the United States and unlikely to result in the self-determination to which Hawaiian natives are entitled.

Many of Professor Kame'eleihiwa's statements were very controversial. Some Islander people I spoke to later considered that she was herself expressing the kind of racism that she was attributing to white settlers. She certainly made the white members of the audience squirm and this was her stated intention. The most uncomfortable moment for me was when she drew applause from a section of the audience for expressing pride in the fact that Hawaiians killed Captain Cook. The anger of native Hawaiians is justified and understandable and it is essential that their point of view is heard. The challenge is to find the middle ground that will accommodate as fairly as possible the interests and rights, not only of native Hawaiians, but of all the peoples who now live in Pacific countries.

Subsequent sessions continued this theme. Marion Kelly, also from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is not a native Hawaiian, but also has concerns about the forthcoming plebiscite. Her paper 'Some thoughts on the 1996 State-controlled Native Hawaiian vote' elaborated on them. Central to the issue of self-determination is the question of the 'ceded lands' which native Hawaiian claim are rightfully theirs. The State, however, is dependent upon these lands for revenue.

Ulla Hasager, a Danish academic working at the University of Hawaii at Manoa spoke to her paper 'Broken pipe dreams; environment, indigenous rights and local development in Hawaii'. She spoke generally about the delay that has occurred in the United Nations in determining the rights of indigenous peoples. Native claims usually relate to the control of land and resources. World wide, land that has been handed back to indigenous peoples has generally been considered worthless by settler communities, until mineral discoveries, military or tourist interests introduce conflict.

Justin Fepuleai from the University of Auckland examined the question, 'New Zealand, Western Samoa, and the 1959 Independence decision: radical change or logical progression?' Western Samoa, a colony of New Zealand, in 1962 was the first Pacific nation to gain independence. The 'Tongan Solution' was considered (that is, Samoa would be a sovereign state, but New Zealand would act for it in matters of foreign affairs). However, this was seen as a stop gap measure only and full independence was favoured. In taking this option, New Zealand risked (and received) condemnation from Britain, Australia and the United States. The speaker concluded that, while New Zealand's administration of Western Samoa was not always above reproach, its approach to independence was liberal and progressive.

Jackie Leckie, University of Otago, reviewed 'Labour and history in post-colonial Western Samoa: issues of sovereignty, culture and class'. Her paper examined the tensions between local working traditions and global labour industrial trends. Labour relations have been determined by both global and indigenous factors, and gender issues also played a role in the 1993 strike at the car assembly plant.

Cluny Macpherson, University of Auckland, in his paper 'After the ball was over: some contemporary social consequences of metropolitan economic policy for Western Samoa', gave a rather depressing account of how the economic viability of the nation state at Independence in 1962 has descended into dependence on foreign aid. The increasing aspirations of the population for Western goods as well as global economic factors leaves the economy vulnerable. For instance, how could the Samoan government foresee that the 1984 restructure of the New Zealand economy would impact on the value of the remittances which immigrants to that country could send to their families in Samoa? The re-unification of Germany and the end of the Japanese property boom has resulted in the shrinking of funds available for foreign aid in the Pacific. The requirements of the World Bank are forcing economic and social change and lessening the ability of this country [and other Pacific nation states] to manage its own economy.

I heard a number of papers on the theme of Colonialism: personalities, policies and ethnography. Peter Hempenstall of the University of Newcastle and Paula Mochida from the University of Hawaii at Manoa spoke on different aspects of Wilhelm Solf in their joint paper 'The Yin and Yang of Wilhelm Solf: deconstructing colonial superman'. This paper examined Solf the administrator and Solf the man and some interesting inconsistencies of personality.

Donald Denoon from Australian National University gave an entertaining paper on 'WHR Rivers and fin de siecle colonial cultures'. Diseases such as malaria, and the intractability of the Melanesians in refusing to accept Christianity, commerce and civilisation made this difficult territory for missionaries, settlers and scholars such as WHR Rivers. Rivers was a pioneer in the field of anthropology in the region and embraced a broad subject discipline which has now been broken down into numerous specialities. A very reserved man, radicalised by his experience in World War 1 and his anthropological encounters, Rivers joined the Labour Party in Britain but died while he was still a candidate for election.

Rainer Buschmann of the University of Hawaii, Manoa, in his paper 'Ethnology's culture: ethnographic ventures in German New Guinea', discussed the activities of several German museums in the area of 'salvage ethnology' and their competition for museum exhibits. ('Salvage ethnology' is the collecting of artefacts before the society which produced them breaks down and disappears.) This led to the dispatch of two expeditions simultaneously to New Guinea in 1907 which the Governor of the colony used to his own advantage.

Alumita Durutalo from the University of the South Pacific gave a very interesting paper, 'From Native Council to 'Great Council': the politics behind the creation, consolidation and emerging class interest within Fiji's 'Great' Council of Chiefs. As the daughter of a chief and the wife of a chief, she is writing a history from within. She warned that her views are contentious and she expects her book to banned on publication. Rivalry between chiefs before European contact made for a highly dynamic situation, a point which is not often appreciated by Western writers. In 1874, the first Governor of Fiji, Sir Arthur Gordon, implemented a system of indirect rule through the chiefs. A Council of Chiefs was set up and has continued to the present day when it has become highly exclusive in post-Coup Fiji.

John Fleckles from Hawaii Pacific University examined the relationship between Sir Arthur Gordon and the Fijian chiefs. The emergence of the Council of Chiefs seems to have served the interests of both the British and the Fijians, and the influence of the chiefs, particularly Cakobau, contributed to the form that the administration eventually took. The similarity of hierarchical structures in Fijian and British societies facilitated the merging of one with the other.

I attended three papers in the series Imaging, Representation and Photography but as they dealt more with theoretical aspects of photography and did not throw much light for me on the nature of the societies in which the photographs were taken, I shall not describe them here.

Pacific Libraries: Issues and Developments

This was the session on the conference program which gave the librarians present the opportunity to talk about their collections. Five papers were presented and the archivist from the American Samoan Archives gave an impromptu talk on his collection. The University of Hawaii will arrange for the publication of the papers and I have copies of three of them. All of the participants found the exchange of information very useful and intend to keep in touch via the Internet.

The Melanesian Studies Research Center, University of California, San Diego (Kathy Creely) was established in 1983 when substantial grants of money became available. Huge budget cuts over the last eight years have been mitigated by endowment funds.

The collection focuses on materials about Melanesia, rather than publications, such as government publications, from the region. It is a circulating collection and materials can be borrowed on interlibrary loan. There are 400 serial titles with 60 current subscriptions. A concerted effort is made to collect microfilm of materials held elsewhere and the Center cooperates with other agencies in producing microfilm. For instance, the Center is cooperating with the Papua New Guinea National Archives in the microfilming of patrol reports. One of the objects of the Center is to repatriate intellectual content to Melanesian countries on microfilm. There is a collection of 900 dissertations from all over the world. The Hill collection of first editions on Pacific voyages is a notable component of the collection. Unpublished material, especially field notes, is actively collected.

The University of Auckland Library (Stephen Innes) is a comprehensive resource for publications on New Zealand and the Pacific. The Pacific collection is housed on one floor of the Arts and Humanities Library. There is also a separate Maori Studies library. The collection dates from the 1970s, employs five full time staff, and covers Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, with the largest demand being for New Zealand materials. The annual budget is $NZ50,000 including Pacific and New Zealand titles, but not including serials. There are 500 linear metres of archives and manuscripts.

Ewan Maidment from the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau spoke about the current work of the Bureau. Fifty percent of what is currently being filmed is considered at immediate risk of loss, for instance, Trade Union records in Fiji where the building was recently fire bombed, and older fragile records at the Catholic Archives in Papeete. Of the remainder, forty per cent is in the custody of established archives and is not at risk but is being filmed to meet research needs. Ten per cent is opportunist, in other words, suitable collections or items that are offered to the Bureau for filming at a particular time.

A trip to Papua New Guinea will be made in October 1996 to film Fisheries Authority records, PNG Trade Union Congress records in Lae and, if permission can be obtained, Field Reports of the Australasian Petroleum Company 1910 to 1956. In 1996-97, work will commence on records in the Solomon Islands, including the Solomon Islands National Union of Workers Minute Books and Church of Melanesia records.

The role of the National Archives of American Samoa (James Hemphill) is to control and conserve the records of the government of American Samoa. There are records dating from 1910 but most date from the 1960s. Earlier records are currently in the United States for conservation treatment and 75 per cent of them have been microfilmed. Records are in both Samoan and English: a lot of the legislative hearing are held in Samoan. There is also a newspaper collection and a small special collection of photographs, tapes and film.

The Pacific collection at the Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii (Karen Peacock) emerged fifty years ago and is the designated US national resource for Pacific studies. It is part of the Special Collections Department of the University Library and is housed in closed stacks. Six librarians, four para-professional staff and 120 hours of student assistance per week are employed.

Last financial year, the budget for the Pacific collection was US$128,000! The collection includes 1100 serial titles and 33 current newspaper subscriptions. The major strengths are in post World War II publications. Australia and New Zealand are excluded except for Maori materials. Its holdings of the literary works of indigenous authors which have been built up over the last forty years are probably the strongest in the world. The linguistics collection is also very rich: any Pacific language that has appeared in print is represented. Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of dissertations. Last year US$10,000 was spent on audio visual materials, with a preservation and a working copy being purchased. Popular music in the Pacific is another area of interest and recently, a collection of manuscripts has been started.

Diane Woods from the Alexander Turnbull Library spoke mostly about her library's holdings of Pacific materials: published, rare books, drawings, oral history tapes maps. A database for unpublished materials, Tapue, has been developed.

My own paper is appended to this report.

During question time, one of the academics present expressed the opinion that, while libraries in general cover Melanesia and Polynesia well, Micronesian materials are not as well represented in library collections.

Acquisitions Trip, Suva, Fiji, 15-18 July 1996

An acquisitions trip to Suva was scheduled to make maximum use of the airfare to Hawaii. As it happened, Stephen Innes, New Zealand and Pacific Librarian at the University of Auckland, had the same idea. We made some visits together and some separately, and between us managed to cover a lot of agencies, collecting materials for each other on the separate visits.

It was a very hectic three days and I visited a total of 22 agencies in hot and humid weather. (Unlike Adrian, however, I had no rain at all.) In addition, I did some business by telephone. The publisher of Who's who in Fiji kindly made a dash to the Travel Lodge in a taxi to ensure I received a copy before I left Suva.

Taxi drivers played a significant role in the success of the trip. At an average of F$2.50 per trip, taxis were very cheap and I used them freely. But for a very persistent taxi driver, I would not have acquired one particular title at all. He was willing to defend me from ferocious dogs, enquired for me and translated for me. We went to five different suburban addresses, following a new lead each time, before we found the right one. When I thanked him for his kindness he informed me that it was the duty of the taxi driver to do everything possible for his passengers. There was the service ethic indeed! The taxi cost me $15.00, but the two volumes were given free of charge, together with a delicious sweet ice cold drink.

In writing this report, it is daunting to be following Adrian Cunningham whose report of his Pacific trip in 1995 was quoted several times by librarians at the Pacific History Association conference. He seems to have set a bench mark for ingenuity, humour and tonnage of materials acquired. His nearest rival was able to claim only half the amount.

The gap between rich and poor organisations in Suva is very marked. The government departments that I visited were poorly housed and were usually without PCs, let alone access to email or the Internet. In contrast, organisations which have access to foreign aid, for instance the University of the South Pacific and the South Pacific Forum Secretariat, are usually better accommodated and have access to modern technology, including email.

16 July 1996

The first call was to the library of the University of the South Pacific. In the absence of the University Librarian, Ms Esther Williams, Stephen Innes and I were welcomed by Deputy Librarian, Elizabeth Fong (previously the Pacific collection librarian). Judith Titoko joined our initial discussions. A program of visits to relevant agencies had been set up for us by Esther Williams. This saved a lot of time and was a major factor in the success of the trip.

On the way to see the Pacific collection, I commented on the beauty of the library building and how well suited its design is to the tropical climate. Despite the heat and humidity of the day outside, it was cool and comfortable inside, without air conditioning. I was informed that the building was a gift from Australia, the only problem being that the roof leaks when it rains.

The Pacific collection is air conditioned. It comprises approximately 55,000 items and is a closed collection. It is the beneficiary of legal deposit provisions, but otherwise monographs and serials are purchased from a budget of $40,000 per annum. The scope of the collection encompasses anything written about the Pacific, or by a Pacific Islander [1]. Approximately 1,000 theses are held and these are to be filmed by the newly established micrographics unit.

The Pacific collection includes film and sound recordings, although for budgetary reasons, these are not collected comprehensively. Copies of 1,100 tapes recorded by David Fanshawe in the Pacific are housed in the collection. (Another set is at the NFSA here in Canberra and David Fanshawe has the masters in London.) The tapes are oxidising and David Fanshawe is attempting to have them transferred to CD at a cost of $2,000,000.

The USP library is technologically well-equipped, with six CD-ROMs, including Global Books in Print, networked. It has email and access to the Internet. A USP Home Page is under construction. All academic staff can access the library catalogue from their offices.

Elizabeth Fong is involved in the redrafting of the Copyright Bill which is based on that of New Zealand. Given the importance of distance education to the USP (there are 8,000 distance education students) provision for copying for this purpose must be included.

Jayshree Mamtora spoke to us about the work of the Pacific Information Centre which operates within the USP library. The South Pacific Periodicals Index, volumes 14-15, 1987-88, was issued in 1995. The Centre is staffed by Ms Mamtora herself and one para-professional member of staff. As production of the index is a full time task for one person, progress is unavoidably very slow. The index covers 200 periodical titles, most of which are published in the Pacific region or by Pacific communities overseas.

I enquired about the progress of the South Pacific Bibliography. The 1992-93 volume was published in 1994 and the 1994-95 volume is due out soon. A list of PIC publications was provided for checking against our holdings.

At the Ministry of Information, Mr C P Singh told us of the recent publishing program. Mr Singh completed his Bachelor of Arts at the Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, 1991-1993 and, in 1994 on his return to Fiji, he set up the publication unit of the Ministry of Information. The publication program seems to be erratic. Mr Singh listed a number of publications [2] which had been published but then ceased in favour of dissemination of information through television and radio in the vernacular languages. Recently a decision to recommence Ministerial lineup and Fiji today has been made, and copies are expected to be available soon. Mr Singh promised to put NLA on the mailing list for these free publications. From time to time, publications on particular issues are also produced and a copy of these will also be sent.

A visit to Mrs Madhu Sharma at the High Court elicited the information that volume 34 1988 is the last volume of the Fiji Law Reports to have been published. These are apparently compiled by a judge who does not have much time for the task. Copies of some back issues are available and can be sought from the Chief Registrar of the High Court.

A chance meeting with Dr Brij Lal took us briefly to the offices of the Fiji Constitution Review Commission. Dr Lal (apart from being the Chairperson of the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau Management Committee) is one of three Commissioners who has been reviewing the constitution for the past year. He indicated several cartons of proceedings and discussion papers and said that he intended to offer them to the National Library of Australia.

Mr P B Tikoisuva took over as Government Printer in February of this year. Not all government departments are publishing though the Government Printer, a situation that Mr Tikoisuva wants to rectify. The annual reports of some government departments are up to date, but others for 1992 or 1993 are only now being tabled in Parliament.

The Government Printer is not on the Internet and has no email address. He lamented the fact that their procedures for distribution have to be conducted manually. He intends to restructure the organisation in order to make it more efficient. I stressed the importance of Fijian Government information to the NLA and our willingness to purchase if we could be informed of what is available and be assured of regular supply. He promised to put me on his mailing list.

One of Mr Tikoisuva's first tasks has been to tackle a backlog of Parliamentary Debates and he expects that these will be issued soon.

A request for a list of publications resulted in a photocopy of a handwritten list which is fairly out of date. Many items are not dated, but the most recent date given is 1992, with most of the dated items being from the late 1980s.

A visit to the Government Bookshop (which did have a PC for stock control) resulted in the purchase of a number of titles.

In the evening, I spoke to the Fiji Library Association on the subject of 'Using the Internet for acquisitions work and issues for deposit libraries raised by electronic publications. (The USP and the National Archives of Fiji are deposit libraries.) About 16 people attended.

17 July 1996

At the University Book Centre, the USP book shop, I spoke to the Manager, Mr Armin Kullack, who was engaged in setting up a Web page for the Centre. A full listing of its stock will be available in two or three weeks. He was very pleased that someone in Brazil had already discovered the site and ordered $500 worth of titles. It is a list, not a database, and is scannable under various headings, but is not searchable.

Mr Kullack is aiming to provide a service to customers in the UK, Europe, North America and Pacific rim countries, as well as the local community. He sees his service competing with Books Pacifika in New Zealand and believes that he will be more likely to pick up local Fijian publications, particularly those of non-government organisations, and to be able to offer them at a lower cost.

The Book Centre concentrates on publications from Pacific countries. Books about the region as well as books published in the region are stocked. Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand are not included. Government publications will not generally be pursued, unless they are on a topical issue of particular interest.

Mr Kullack warned that the order form link on the Web Page is not operating well at the moment and it is better to send an order by fax or email.

Ms Linda Crowl, Publications Fellow at the Institute of Pacific Studies, provided me with an up to date catalogue of publications. The Institute is the major publishing arm of the USP. The Institute of Education (children's books, adult literacy and community education) and the School of Social and Economic Development also publish. The latter has just appointed a publications officer.

There were two reasons for visiting the office of the Fiji Times: firstly, to establish why we have not been receiving copies of the paper and, secondly, to find out about the microfilming of it which appears to have ceased.

Ms Sarah Celua showed me a computer print out which indicated that the NLA's subscription was re-established on 26 June. She said that this means our payment would have been processed on 25 June. The subscription will run until 26 June 1997. This payment does therefore not cover issues 8 March to 25 June 1996. I asked her to send any issues that are still available for this period with an invoice and she agreed to do so. If this arrangement is not successful or if some issues cannot be supplied, we need to ask ANU to send us their copies when they are ready to discard them. (They discard newspapers after 3-6 months.)

Ms Celua did not know anything about the microfilming of the Fiji Times.

I called at the Lands Department to ascertain what mapping is currently available. There is a 1:50,000 series being produced and I obtained an index for these as well as a list of maps available from the Department.

Ms Donita Simmons, Information Services Manager at the South Pacific Forum Secretariat explained that the organisation is undergoing a restructure. some of the technical divisions are expected to close down or to merge with other organisations. A draft proposal has been circulated among staff and will be discussed at the next Forum meeting in September.

There is no list of publications available, but Ms Simmons said that she intends to produce one soon. I left my card to be added to the mailing list for it. Publications are distributed gratis by the Library. The Library Services Officer, Ms Ilisapeci Kuruvoli, said that each member country receives one full set of publications on deposit. NLA is not the recipient of these and it would be interesting to know who is. The Gift and Exchange review in 1992 indicated that we send more to this agency than it sends to us.

E-mail is available.

The Pacific Concern Resource Centre (formerly the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement) is a network of about 150 non-government organisations in Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific rim countries, as well as the Pacific Islands themselves. As well as the obvious nuclear issue, it is concerned with human rights, the environment, biodiversity, corruption and intellectual property rights.

The organisation produces mainly briefing papers and action alerts for member organisations. The annual report is available only to member organisations because it contains confidential financial information.

Mr Lopeti Senituli, Director of Pacific Concern Resource, had some publications to show me. A number of them date back to the 1980s but were inexpensive, so I purchased them. He gave me a list of publications: little has been published since 1992. One exception is Proceedings of the Indigenous peoples knowledge and intellectual property rights consultation 24-27 April 1995, Suva, Fiji. This is photocopied on demand and must be ordered. There were several Australian indigenous delegates at this Consultation. Subsequently, a 'Treaty for a life forms patent free pacific and related protocols', 28 August 1995, has been drawn up and a copy will be provided if we order the proceedings.

The organisation keeps no mailing list, but publications are advertised in the Pacific news bulletin, the newsletter of the Australian office.

My interest in visiting the Library Services of Fiji was to establish whether the Fiji national bibliography would be recommenced after having been suspended in 1985. Mr Mohamed Shefiq explained that the Service, as part of the Ministry of Education, is funded by the Fijian Government. The first priority for the Ministry is the funding of schools and there is little left for the Library Services. He did not know when, or if, the National bibliography would be resumed. There is no email connection.

Thursday 18 July 1996

At the invitation of Nanise Gonewai, Public Affairs Assistant, I visited the Australian Embassy and met the Ambassador, His Excellency Mr JM Trotter. I spent a little time looking at the Australian National Maritime Museum exhibition, Australian South Sea Islanders. Ms Gonewai asked my advice on a request she had had from a school in Fiji that wishes to set up a library. I said that I would see if there was anything suitable in our Clearing Centre.

I purchased a map of the Fiji islands for the map collection from the Fiji Visitors' Centre.

From the office of the Fiji Women's Rights Movement I purchased a copy of its publications Labouring under the law, 1995.

At the office of the Department of Women and Culture I was given a gratis copy of Women of Fiji: a statistical profile.

Since NLA is a depository library for the South Pacific Commission, this was a courtesy visit and the librarian, Suzanna, showed Stephen Innes and me around the library. When she goes on maternity leave soon the library will not be staffed for three months.

The library is used by SPC staff, government departments, the South Pacific Forum Secretariat, and USP. It maintains a database of 13,000 records using PROCITE software. Indexing data for Pacific Islands agricultural journals is contributed to CAB Abstracts Database, an international agricultural research database which is issued on CD-ROM.

The librarian commented that a lot of use is made of NLA's Document Supply Service and she finds it fast and reliable.

Fast find marketing directory: this was my adventure with the extraordinarily helpful taxi driver. After almost an hour of driving around in suburban Suva in pursuit of it, and when I had given up any hope of locating it, we finally tracked it down.

One of the main purposes of the Central Planning Office is to prepare research papers for the advice of government. Ms Anita Nair provided a number of publications and reports, including the latest edition of the development plan and the Office's annual report. She pointed out that the annual report contains lists of papers prepared for the Economic Strategy Committee and the Policy Implementation Committee. While some of these papers are confidential, many are available on request. Ms Nair will put the NLA on the mailing list for the annual report.

The library of the Parliament of Fiji is housed in the impressive Parliamentary complex which was completed in 1992. Stephen Innes and I spoke to Ms Veronica Qarau. The library is not automated and has a staff of three to serve 100 members of Parliament from both Houses. Oppositions members and Senators are the main users, as government members, especially Ministers, have alternative sources within their departments for information.

Ms Qarau had no knowledge of the letter and accompanying information regarding the APLAP proposal [3] which had been sent by Jasmine Cameron on 18 June. I left a copy of the documentation with her. Parliamentary libraries in Australia and New Zealand are used for interlibrary loans. Communication with other government departments in Fiji is difficult because of the lack of fax facilities.

My prime interest in visiting the National Archives of Fiji was to ascertain the current status of the microfilming of the Fiji Times. The National Archives microfilms the newspaper but, according to Ms Margaret Patel, Principal Archivist, this project has been fraught with problems. Bell & Howell in London stores the film for the Archives and reproduces it for distribution upon request. That is the theory. In practice, relations between the Archives and Bell & Howell have completely broken down and the Archives has been unable to receive any copies of its microfilm nor a report of the condition of the collection of approximately 1,200 reels of microfilm for some time.

In addition to this difficulty, the two microfilm cameras used for the task are inoperable owing to blown finder lamp bulbs. Filming stopped at September 1992, as is evident from the newspaper lying on the camera platen. In an attempt to get the project moving again, I offered to try to locate the right kind of bulbs and shall ask Sara Joynes to enquire into the matter with Bell & Howell in London.

Ms Patel showed us around the Archives. They are well ordered and, with the assistance of Australian Archives, a small start has been made in housing some records in manuscript boxes. Otherwise records are tied in bundles on open shelves and are exposed to dust, light and moisture. Smoke detectors have been installed and a bid has been made for the installation of a sprinkler system. Ms Patel was concerned about airconditioning vents which are at risk of leaking and which are positioned above two of the shelving units. The Archives oldest item, an 1835 volume of the Methodist Missionary records, is housed without protection in one of these units.

The Fiji Museum is set in the beautiful Thurston Gardens. The library which was set up in 1971 has very little space and can accommodate no more than five researchers at a time. It is a research centre for overseas and local scholars in the fields of archaeology, museology, entomology, linguistics and Fijian and Pacific history. There are 10,000 items in the collections as well as a small manuscript collection, oral history cassettes and 11,000 photographs.

The librarian, Mr Sela Rayawa, is compiling an automated guide to the manuscript collection. He provided a list of currently available Museum publications.

He expressed interest in exchanging museum publications for copies of theses on Fijian subjects within scope of his library's collection. I said that I would pass this information onto the ANU Library.

This completed my program of visits. In addition, Stephen Innes left my business card and a request to be included on mailing lists at the Women's Crisis Centre, the Native Land Trust Board and the Commonwealth Development Corporation. He obtained some publications for me from the Fiji Trade Union Congress.

Conclusion

I believe that this was a successful trip and furthered the work of the National Library in a number of ways:

  • The contacts made at the Pacific History Association will enhance cooperation between libraries with Pacific collections and has developed our understanding of other libraries' collecting scope and intentions.
  • At the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau meeting, the National Library of Australia was able to add its voice to those of other member libraries in drawing the Bureau back from two proposals that could have been contrary to members' interests. The Library's view that filming projects should concentrate predominantly on at risk materials in the Pacific region was re-emphasised.
  • Attending the conference added to my knowledge about the Pacific region and major issues of concern to its peoples.
  • Contacts made with agencies in Fiji should result in improved supply of some publications. Publishers' catalogues were acquired for checking against our catalogue and information about a new supplier in Fiji was obtained.
  • A number of publications which would have been very difficult to acquire from Canberra were brought back.
  • My understanding of the difficulties of acquiring materials from the region has been developed from first hand experience and I have gained some insight into the kind of work we have to do to overcome these difficulties.
  • There is an opportunity to try to assist in restarting the microfilming of the Fiji Times.
  • Constructive working relationships with agencies such as the University of the South Pacific, the South Pacific Forum and the South Pacific Commission were re-enforced.

List of Contacts

Dr Karen Peacock                   Mr C P Singh             
Pacific Curator                    Senior Information Officer      
Hamilton Library                   Publications Division        
University of Hawaii at Manoa      Ministry of Information       
2550 The Mall                      PO Box 2225             
Honolulu Hawaii 96822              Suva, Fiji              
telephone  1 808 956 2851          telephone 679 211 740        
fax            1 808 956 5968                                        
peacock@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu                                       

Mr Ross R Togashi                  Mr P B Tikoisuva           
Map Technician                     Government Printer          
Hamilton Library                   PO Box 98              
University of Hawaii               Suva, Fiji              
2550 The Mall                      telepone 679 385 999         
Honolulu Hawaii 96822              fax         679 370 203       
telephone 1 808 956 6199                                               
fax           1 808 956 5968                                           
rtogashi@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu                                        


Ms Ele Clere                       Mr Armin Kullack                    
Pacific Map Center                 Manager                             
560 N Nimitz Highway               Unversity Book Centre               
Suite 206A                         University of the South Pacific     
Honolulu Hawaii 96817              PO Box 1168                         
telephone 1 808 545 3600           Suva, Fiji                          
fax           1 808 545 1700       telephone 679 212 405               
                                   fax           679 303 265           
                                   KULLACK_A@USP.AC.FJ                 

Ms Elizabeth Fong                  Ms Linda Crowl                      
Deputy University Librarian        Publications Fellow                 
University of the South Pacific    Institute of Pacific Studies        
PO Box 1168                        University of the South Pacific     
Suva Fiji                          PO Box 1168                         
telephone 679 212 423              Suva, Fiji                          
fax           679 300 830          telephone 679 212248                
FONG-E@USP.AC.FJ                   fax           679 301 594           
                                   crowl_l@usp.ac.fj                   

Ms Jayshree Mamtora                Ms Sarah Celua                      
Assistant Librarian                Subscriptions Officer               
Pacific Information Centre         Fiji Times                          
University of the South Pacific    Victoria Pde                        
PO Box 1168                        Suva, Fiji                          
Suva Fiji                                                              
telephone 679 313 900 x 447                                            
fax           679 300 830                                              
mamtora_j@usp.ac.fj                                                    

Senior Technical Officer           Ms Donita Simmons                   
Draughting Section                 Information Services Manager        
Lands and Surveys Dept             [South Pacific] Forum Secretariat   
PO Box 2222                        Private Mail Bag                    
Government Buildings               Suva, Fiji                          
Suva, Fiji                         telephone 679 312 600               
telephone 211 320                  fax           679 314 317           
                                   donita@is.com.fj                    

Ms Ilisapeci Kuruvoli              Mr Lopeti Senituli                  
Library Services Officer           Director                            
[South Pacific] Forum Secretariat  Pacific Concerns Resource Centre    
Private Mail Bag                   Inc                                 
Suva, Fiji                         Private Mail Bag                    
telephone 679 312 600              Suva, Fiji                          
fax           679 314 317          telephone 679 304 649               
pei@is.com.fj                      fax           679 304 755           
                                   pcrc@pactok.peg.apc.org             

Ms Nanise Gonewai                  Ms Anita Nair                       
Public Affairs Assistant           Chief Economic Planning Officer     
Australian Embassy                 (Macro/Sectoral)                    
PO Box 214                         Central Planning Office             
Suva, Fiji                         Ministry of Finance and Economic    
telephone 679 382 211 x 245        Development                         
fax           679 382 065          PO Box 2351                         
                                   Government Buildings                
                                   Suva, Fiji                          
                                   telephone 679 211 346               
                                   fax           679 304 809           

Ms Margaret Patel                  Mr Sela Rayawa                      
Principal Archivist                Librarian                           
National Archives of Fiji          Fiji Museum                         
PO Box 2125                        PO Box 2023                         
Government Buildings               Government Buildings                
Suva, Fiji                         Suva, Fiji                          
telephone 679 304 144              telephone 679 315 944               
fax           679 306 034          fax           679 305 143           
      

Footnotes:

  1. A brochure on the Pacific collection lists the following countries as being in scope: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Easter Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Irian Jaya, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Island, Republic of Belau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa.
  2. Fiji Focus, Facts on Fiji, Ministerial lineup, Fiji today, Heron magazines (northern, central and western)
  3. This proposal takes up a resolution that was passed at the Association of Parliamentary Librarians of Asia and the Pacific (APLAP) Conference in 1994 in which Parliamentary libraries from the Asia Pacific region would deposit copies of their legislation with the National Library of Australia in return for a free interlibrary loan service from this collection of material. The National Library wrote to the Pacific members of APLAP in June 1996 and invited them to participate in this scheme.

Margaret E. Phillips
Manager - Acquisitions
26 July 1996

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