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Appendix A



A.1 Australian Bibliographic Network

A.1.1 Overview

The Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) is a key Library service assisting libraries to meet the information needs of their users through resource sharing activities. ABN depends on a large database of information, the National Bibliographic Database (NBD), describing library materials in a variety of formats, including published books, journals, sound recordings and maps. The database includes information on where these items are held in Australian libraries. The record of national holdings forms a subset of the ABN database which operates as a national union catalogue.

ABN is used, primarily by libraries, to assist with cataloguing, for information retrieval, and for requesting loans or copies of documents from other libraries. Catalogue records are provided in a variety of formats for adding into local library systems. ABN includes an interlibrary loan subsystem which allows users to exchange requests for library material and to track the progress of the requests.

Libraries using ABN do so on a voluntary and cooperative basis. ABN's financial management is geared towards cost recovery. Operations and policies are strongly influenced by input from users through representative committees and user groups. The new services will be developed in close liaison with user representatives.

Most ABN users pay monthly service charges, plus a fee for each chargeable command. Many major users moved in 1996 to subscription based charging.

ABN is the major bibliographic information service used by the Australian library community. Since its establishment in 1981, ABN has assisted over 1400 libraries in the management of their collections, and in the support of interlibrary loan and document delivery.

The original impetus for ABN was to enable Australian libraries to eliminate the duplication of original cataloguing, a costly and time consuming operation, and to deliver cataloguing data to local library systems in a variety of formats. However, ABN also provides online access to a national database containing more than 24 million locations for books and other library materials, and supports interlibrary loan messaging and management.

A.1.2 Technical Environment

See Appendix B: Current Technical Environment

A.1.3 Applications Environment

ABN's core applications software is the Western Library Network (WLN) software, including the Inquiry, Input/Edit, Batch, Interlibrary Loans and Billing Subsystems. The WLN software has had major enhancements including the Downline Loading enhancement for real time electronic transfer of bibliographic records to Australian libraries. Many other small enhancements have been made.

Supersearch, an alternative to the ABN Inquiry subsystem, uses STAIRS indexes and the STAIRS user interface to provide information-retrieval style searching of ABN data. A menu-driven interface to this, called SOFI (Supersearch Ozline Friendly Interface), and a link from SOFI to the ABN ILL Subsystem, have also been developed by the Library.

A.1.4 Database Statistics

Bibliographic records: 12,371,789
Holdings records: 24,940,584
Authority records: 1,489,868

Data sources

For selected samples of data formats see Appendix C.

Database growth

Bibliographic records added 1995/96 649,980
Holdings statements added 1995/96 1,593,418

A.1.5 Number of Users

Full Service 281

Search and Products 525
Search Only 489
Products Only 68
Total 1363

Access through Internet, leased lines and dial-up.

A.1.6 MARC Records Output As Cataloguing Products

Output via downline loading 1995/96 1,700,256
Batch 1995/96 5,580,951
Total 1995/96 (downline loading and batch) 7,281,207

A.1.7 Further Information: http://www.nla.gov.au/2/abn/


A.2 National CJK Service

A.2.1 Operating Environment

Dec Alpha-2000 model 4/200 with Digital Unix (OSF/1); 128 Mbytes RAM; 12 Gbytes disk storage; 16 Gbytes DAT tape drive.

Telnet address: cjk.nla.gov.au

A.2.2 Application Software

INNOPAC Release 10: OPAC, Cataloguing modules with CJK support and ftp.

On user workstations for input and display of CJK characters:

  1. MASS (Multilingual Application Support Service), WinMASS and Xvision
  2. JOIN CJK.

A.2.3 Database Statistics

"Wade-Giles Database": Over 500,000 bibliographic records; over 200,000 holdings records; less than 100 authority records.

"Pinyin Database": Over 500,000 bibliographic records; over 200,000 holdings records; less than 100 authority records.

Conversion between the two databases occurs through C software developed in-house.

A.2.4 Number of Users

16 "Full Service" libraries and 2 "Search and Holdings" libraries; all in Australia.

A.2.5 Access

Via the Internet.

A.2.6 Further Information

http://www.nla.gov.au/1/asian/ncjk/cjkhome.html


A.3 OZLINE

A.3.1 OZLINE Hosted Databases

The Library currently offers a hosted database service, Ozline, comprising 33 databases from 25 Database Providers. Covering a range of areas in science, engineering, social sciences and humanities, these databases range from 200 to 230,000 records per database, and occupy a total of 2.5 Gbytes of space on the current MVS/CICS/STAIRS based platform. Additional databases are added from time to time.

The records in the databases also vary widely in both average length and in the number of fields, ranging from 300 to 2000 bytes and from 7 to 31 fields per record respectively. The sizes of raw data range from 300 Kbytes to 110 Mbytes. The current STAIRS based searching facilities involve choosing an individual database and searching on any of the fields within that database, with facilities for saved searches. Data update frequency ranges from fortnightly to annual, with the update volumes ranging from around 100-2000 records per update.

Ozline support services include management of customer registration and passwords; data loading, including data validation/quality assurance component; liaison with Database Providers, and information logging on update profiles and vendor profiles as a decision support tool towards ongoing administration of the data updates.

The following table lists databases currently hosted on Ozline.

Current OZLINE Hosted Databases

Database Name No. of records at March 1997
Australian Bibliography of Agriculture 73,379
Australian Federal Police Digest 6,226
Attorney-General's Information Service 70,458
Australian Historic Records Register 3,514
Australian Literary Periodicals Database 447
Australasian Medical Index (indexed by the National Library of Australia) 69,954
Australian Public Affairs Information Service (indexed by the National Library of Australia) 233,093
Australian Architecture Database 16,696
Australian Sport Index 18,694
Agriculture Victoria Library Catalogue 40,925
Australian Criminology Database 33,038
Australian Conferences (Past) 3,177
Australian Conferences (Current) 185
Australiann Education Index 59,878
CSIRO Index 79,638
ADCA Alcohol and Other Drugs Database 25,783
Australian Engineering Database 22,498
Australian Family and Society Abstracts 30,900
Australian Family and Society Full Text 349
CSIRO Films 369
Health Education and Promotion System 3,968
Heritage Australia Information System 26,692
Interlibrary Resource Sharing Directory 2,139
Australian Industrial Relations Database 15,354
Multicultural Aust and Immigration Studies 29,990
National Information Communication Awareness Network 4,226
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Province 12,101
Road and Road Transport Information 107,189
ROAD Research In Progress 2,065
Australian Rural Research In Progress 5,155
Science And Geography Education 20,048
Management and Science Policy 20,049
Translations Database 1,162
US Energy Research In Progress 5,922
Streamline: Australia's Natural Resources Database 38,041


A.4 Library World Wide Web Server

The Library's World Wide Web Server is a medium for the communication of information about the Library's collections and services and a source of directory information to assist End Users find information on the Internet. The WWW Server can be accessed at: http://www.nla.gov.au/. Current use averages 1300 accesses per day.

The WWW Server is used to meet internal and external needs. Internal uses include:

  1. policy matters, reports of meetings
  2. training and human resource management information.

External use of the WWW Server includes:

  1. information about the Library's collections, operations, policies and text of staff papers
  2. subject guides to Internet resources
  3. directory information and resource discovery services
  4. access to Images 1 database, containing 13,000 images from the Library's pictorial collection
  5. access to Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM), a database which functions as a directory to Australian manuscript collections
  6. finding lists for items in the Library's manuscript collections
  7. access to the Australian Government Entry Point World Wide Web Site, which is a listing of links to all Federal and State government World Wide Web servers
  8. listing of Australian electronic journals
  9. mailing lists and e-mail archives.

HTML documents on the server can be indexed using Harvest. The Library is undertaking research in metasearch engines, allowing End Users to send a request to a number of search engines and information spaces, eg Alta Vista and the 'gov.au' domain.

The Library's online public access catalogue can be accessed through the WWW Server, although this is achieved through a Telnet connection. A Web interface to the OPAC through use of Dynix's WebPAC product is currently being tested (this uses Z39.50 Version 2). The Library intends to offer Web access as the primary means of OPAC access for End Users.


A.5 Interlending and Document Delivery, and the CILLA and JEDDS Projects

A.5.1 Current Australian Environment for Interlending and Document Delivery

There is a strong history of cooperation and support in the Australian library community for interlibrary loan. The Australian ILL system is based on reciprocal resource sharing facilitated by the current ABN ILL Subsystem supplemented by other local, regional and sectoral networks. However, the restructuring of library services across all sectors and resource constraints, coupled with increasing costs of library materials and the impact of technology are leading to changes in the way libraries provide access to documents. Today there is an expanding range of alternatives for obtaining documents from overseas and through commercial suppliers, as well as from Australian libraries, including the National Library. Document supply is regulated by the Copyright Act, 1968 which is currently under review. These developments will continue to affect the patterns of resource sharing and document supply in Australia.

The Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS) has an Interlending Code which aims to facilitate efficient and equitable sharing of the resources of all participating libraries and organisations. ACLIS publishes the Australian Guide to Interlending and Document Delivery, which is a procedure manual for people working in interlibrary loans and document supply.

Libraries contribute their holdings to the National Union Catalogue (NUC) which is part of the National Bibliographic Database on the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN). Libraries are identified by a NUC symbol, assigned by the Library and recorded in the Interlibrary Resource Sharing Directory (ILRS Directory). The ILRS Directory also contains addresses, telephone number, charges, lending policies, interlibrary loan administrative requirements etc about each library. The ILRS is available in printed and online form.

Most of the current interlibrary loan traffic is between libraries. Libraries typically only request these services on behalf of individual clients who are part of their local user community. This is now changing with the introduction of charged services like the Library's Supply 1 service which supplies businesses and individuals as well as libraries with copies from the Library's own collection and various other organisations around the world. Some libraries also offer commercial services for external clients.

ACLIS has a recommended schedule of charges for core service, Fast Track service and Premium Track service to which most libraries adhere. There are also various cooperative networks in Australia, both formal and informal, in which libraries supply each other free of charge or at reduced cost under various conditions. Users of the ABN ILL system can use a centralised payments scheme where requesters are debited and suppliers are credited for each request automatically. Another method of payment is by libraries exchanging vouchers supplied by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA).

The current ABN ILL system allows users to exchange document requests through the online network and to track progress of the request. ABN shares this market with ILANET, operated by the State Library of New South Wales, and a number of regional networks. Most libraries receive requests by other methods as well, including fax, telephone, Email and post, and have multiple systems, both automated and manual, for dealing with them.

Various national, institutional and regional level projects are attempting to address this administrative burden. The Library is closely associated with two specific projects initiated and sponsored by the Australian university library community, CILLA and JEDDS.

A.5.2 The CILLA Project

CILLA is the Coordinated Interlibrary Loan Administration Project.

The impetus behind the CILLA project came from the recognition that libraries not only need to work smarter and more efficiently for the benefit of an identified clientele, but also need to be innovative in the way services are provided to make the best possible use of resources: human, material, technical and financial. Traditional approaches to providing interlibrary loan and document delivery services have typically resulted in operations with little or no integration of systems and with little opportunity to improve efficiencies at the point where the services cost most - library staff.

The CILLA Project encompasses a vision of system development and integration which automates as much as possible of the internal procedures relating to document delivery and interlibrary loan operations, and shifts the emphasis from wholly mediated services to a point where library staff need only intervene under specified conditions, usually to tackle exceptions. While particular focus on business processes is seen to be essential, an equally critical need has been identified which places work flow management on an equal footing with application and useability. Work flow management technologies have now improved to a point where systems are able to support the innovative reorganisation or reengineering of those processes.

A generalised statement of expectations of what a system which implements the CILLA vision should comprise includes the:

  1. Provision of a fully automated, comprehensive, local interlending and document request management system
  2. With the ability to interconnect with all other relevant systems and services
  3. Providing streamlined operations with consideration to work flow management
  4. While facilitating the move from wholly mediated services to unmediated or disintermediated services for end users.

The Project began with a broad-based view of the world, with a wholly open-systems approach to design, with integration and interconnectivity as primary motivations, and with a keen interest in working towards a high level, generic architectural structure for greatest flexibility which would facilitate all variations on the theme of identification, location and supply.

The following two models illustrate the proposed coordination of and links between the NSP's National ILL Utility service and local interlending and document request management systems meeting the CILLA requirements.

FIGURE 1. Linking Local Interlending Document Request Management Systems (ILDRMS) with the National ILL Utility
[Linking ILDRMS with the National ILL Utility]

FGURE 2. The Preferential relationship between Local ILDRMS and the National ILL Utility
[Preferential relationship between Local ILDRMS and the National ILL Utility]

The CILLA Feasibility Study was funded by a grant from the Australian Vice Chancellors' Committee (AV-CC) National Priority (Reserve) Fund, Improved Information Infrastructure Program 2(a), with additional funds from the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS), and with administrative support for the six months of the feasibility study provided by the Co-operative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries (CAVAL) Ltd.

Now in the second stage of development, CILLA is a fully funded, core project of the AV-CC's Program 2(a). Administrative support for this second stage is provided by Deakin University, Victoria, and Griffith University, Queensland.

Full documentation on the CILLA Project is available at: http://www.gu.edu.au/alib/iii/docdel/cilla/cilla.htm.

A.5.3 The JEDDS Project

The JEDDS (Joint Electronic and Document Delivery Project) will provide software to libraries to deliver documents electronically using Email, FTP or Fax, and to exchange transaction and status information between the document delivery software and request management systems using a subset of the Interlibrary Loan Protocol. These facilities are designed to make electronic document delivery easier to use for library staff and requesters. The project also aims to develop and foster adherence to international electronic document delivery standards, and participates in a number of standards development activities.

Full documentation on the JEDDS Project is available at: http://www.gu.edu.au/alib/iii/docdel/jeddshom.htm.


A.6 Current Integrated Library Management System

A.6.1 Operating Environment

  1. Hardware: IBM RS/6000-99K.
  2. Operating system: AIX Version 3.2, soon to be upgraded to 4.2.
  3. Database management software: UniVerse Version 7.3.3.3 (to be upgraded to v8).
  4. Application software: Dynix (Classic) Release 151. This will be upgraded to Release 161 or 162 later this year.
  5. Dynix Modules in use at NLA:

A.6.2 Statistics

  1. Bibliographic records: 2.2 million. Has grown by 0.6 million in the last five years. (file size of both Bib and MARC.Bib files is approaching 2 Gbytes).
  2. Holdings records : 2.3 million.

A.6.3 Record Processing

  1. Addition/change to records per month:
  2. Bibliographic records processed:
  3. Holdings records processed:

A.6.4 Acquisitions

  1. Total orders (including Selection List items) 128,406
  2. Total orders (excluding Selection List items) 121,031
  3. Orders per annum:
  4. Total invoices: 12,592
  5. Invoices per annum:
  6. Total vendors 17,700

A.6.5 Serials

  1. Subscription records 25,290
  2. Subscription records added per annum:
  3. On-line check-in per annum:
  4. Claims per annum:

A.6.6 Circulation

  1. Average check-outs per month: 1200

A.6.7 Number of Users:

  1. UniVerse DBMS is licensed for 200 concurrent users.
  2. Usually around 180 concurrent signons (Monday-Friday). This includes approximately 60-70 OPAC signons (including remote users accessing system via Telnet).
  3. Number of user security/access records set up is approximately 190.

A.6.8 Access

  1. Remote users can access the system via Telnet.
  2. A World Wide Web interface for the catalogue, enabling access via a Z39.50 server, is under development.

Return to Start or Continue to Appendix B

Last updated 1 April 1997