A view of the Pacific:
Developing the Pacific collection at the National Library of Australia
The view of the Pacific presented in this paper starts with an outline of the National Library's Pacific collections strengths. We will spend some time with the way in which material is acquired. It will be a bit like a whirlwind bus tour of 23 countries in seven days - highlights only. There will be brief stops along the way to make mention of cooperative efforts and some of the outreach activities in which the Library is involved.
Collection strengths
The National Library of Australia, is a collecting institution on the edge of the Pacific, one that collects materials from within and about the Pacific, and one of few places where these materials are being collected and preserved for current and future research.
The historical strengths of our Pacific collections come from the Library's rich Australiana collections, Nan Kivell, Ferguson and Petherick. These collections each have strengths in Pacific materials and include printed materials as well as artworks, maps and manuscripts
In the printed collections, a particular strength and focus of collecting activity, are government publications, perhaps not of too much interest to art libraries. The Library's collection of newspapers is probably more so as the aim is to collect a wide selection of papers. Journals and books published within and outside the region are also well represented.
The Library has acquired extensive Pacific research materials on microfilm. It participated in the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) and the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau (PMB). AJCP began in 1948 with the purpose of microfilming records in the British Public Records Office and other repositories, which relate to Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific and Antarctica. The project has now ceased. On the other hand, the PMB is still very active in locating and microfilming official, business and personal records located throughout the Pacific, as well material of Pacific interest such as mission archives that have been located in other parts of the world. This includes materials of an historical nature, and more contemporary records, such as the archives of the Fiji Trades Union Congress.
Maps
The Library has good holdings of maps prior to 1900 and collects contemporary cartographic resources of the region although holdings for this century are not as strong. The rare map collection is outstanding and shows the development of mapping techniques, and knowledge of the region gained through exploration. Purchase of early mapping of the region continues whenever items become available through antiquarian dealers or at auction.
Pictorial
The Library's pictorial collection contains a vast array of images from the Pacific in the form of paintings, engravings and photographs dating predominantly from the time of Cook's voyages to the late 1970s. Cook was accompanied by an artist, or two, on his journeys of exploration and works by Sydney Parkinson, William Hodges, John Webber and William Ellis are held by the Library. There are also extensive collections of other items depicting the travels of the early European explorers. Many of these works have featured in exhibitions around the world and in publications too.
The Library has acquired the work of both amateur and professional photographers including some by Frank Hurley as well as a few of Damien Parer's photographs of Australian troops in New Guinea during World War 2. The Australian Information Service routinely gave the Library copies of their photographs through until the 1970s. These are a source of Pacific images and are particularly strong in their PNG content.
The Pictorial section still acquires materials relating to the Pacific, but primarily where it reflects aspects of Australian life and endeavour. As does the Manuscript section.
Manuscripts
A recent manuscript acquisition has come about as a result of a book that was published last year about the 1938-39 Hagen-Sepik patrol expedition in central New Guinea. It was the longest patrol in PNG history - some 15 months and covering 3000 kilometres. The author of the book obtained diaries, letters, notes, papers and photographs that had belonged to several members of the expedition team. These have now been donated to the Library.
One of the exciting aspects of these particular collections, is that the donor has sorted the component parts, and provided captions and lists of the vast photographic record.
These new collections will be found through the Library's catalogue, as well as through RAAM, the Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (http://www.nla.gov.au/raam). As soon as processing is finished, and the finding aids completed, there will be a link from these bibliographic records, to the finding aids. Then researchers anywhere in the world will be able to browse the detailed lists of photographs
The Library's holdings of manuscripts documenting aspects of life in PNG have considerable depth - patrol officers, anthropologists, educators, missionaries, administrators and others are represented.
It would be true to say that Papua New Guinea has always had a special interest for the Library. Prior to Independence in 1975, publications from PNG were received under legal deposit and the collection of monographs and serials represents an excellent coverage of government publishing. With Independence, legal deposit arrangements became gift and exchange arrangements and receipt of publications became increasingly erratic. By the end of the 1980s the only truly operating exchange was with the PNG Bureau of Statistics.
For some years, the Library's printed collections from Papua New Guinea and other parts of the Pacific suffered the effects of neglect. Gift and exchange arrangements that had been set up many years ago had faded away. There were few effective alternative means of acquisitions in place.
Revamping the printed collections
The Library began to step up its collecting of contemporary Pacific materials in the early 1990s. In 1990/91, expenditure on books and serials published in the Pacific was $7,400. The budget allocation for the current financial year, 1999/2000 is $67,200 which represents an almost tenfold increase in ten years. In contrast, the budget allocation for New Zealand, for which collecting has been fairly constant, has not quite doubled over the same period.
The National Library has tried hard to improve its collecting from the Pacific, it has not always been easy and it has not always had the desired level of success. The current collecting policy states that:
"Collecting from the nation states and territories of the Pacific is a priority for the Library notwithstanding the acquisition difficulties involved. Through the use of agents and regular acquisition visits conducted by its own staff, the Library intends to maintain a strong collection which concentrates on reference works, statistics, legal materials, geography and travel, sociology and social issues, government and public administration, and history and culture. Works about the Pacific and individual Pacific nations published elsewhere in the world will be acquired."
Collecting Strategies
What is the National Library doing differently at the end of a decade of more active collecting? Collection development staff are much more active in the scanning of catalogues from publishers and booksellers and library accession lists as selection tools for the purchase of material. Although there are very few gift and exchange arrangements in place there are still important ones such as those with the Pacific Communities, formerly the South Pacific Commission, the University of the South Pacific and the South Pacific Regional Environment Program. However, the emphasis within the Library has shifted to purchasing materials for the collection wherever possible.
The Pacific region continues to be a difficult area for acquisition activity due to the nature of printing, publishing and distribution of materials in the region. As an example, the Serial Orders Unit received a letter from the National Statistical Office in PNG this month advising that due to relocation of their office and reprogramming of their subscription system, no publications have been supplied in 1996, 1997, or 1998, but they are back in business now! Publishing problems are compounded by the absence of national libraries or other major libraries operating within a legal deposit system, and the absence of regular bibliographic documentation in the region.
The National Library has two ongoing acquisition arrangements in place with vendors that are worth mentioning. The first relates to Papua New Guinea. In 1994, the Library engaged ISA, an Australian subscription agent, to supply serials from PNG. The material is supplied on a consolidation service so all issues are first sent to ISA and then to the Library. ISA are responsible for claiming missing issues and following up lapsed titles. It is a difficult task. Publishing has been seriously affected by the difficulties experienced by PNG. The central and provincial governments have seen a high level of organisational and financial turbulence and very few departments are still publishing. Publishing by the university presses has almost stopped in the last one to two years. This acquisition arrangement with ISA has yielded a reasonable coverage of titles that would not have been achieved otherwise.
The second acquisition arrangement is with Pan Pacifica, a Hawaii based library supplier. The Library uses the services of Pan Pacifica, a Hawaii based library supplier, for the supply of certain materials from the Pacific. Pan Pacifica makes regular visits to the Pacific to collect publications and to establish supply arrangements.
The Library also makes acquisitions trips. The first official acquisitions trip to the Pacific was in 1993, and subsequent trips have been made in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997, which means there should be another one in the not too distant future.
Curators and librarians all understand the value of acquisition trips, making personal visits to suppliers and learning first hand about the local publishing scene. Each trip finds new contacts, allows us to renew contact and maintain sources of supply of materials or catalogues.
Cooperation
Acquisition trips, while always productive and important in terms of establishing contacts, are resource intensive for any library. The idea of cooperative acquisition schemes often comes up for discussion but has never overcome the geographical, financial and human obstacles to become a reality. There is certainly a lot of good will between the people who build Pacific collections. Many of them came together for the 23rd annual Pacific Islands Studies Conference held in Hawaii late last year. The conference was devoted to the topic of "Pacific Collections : developing libraries for the 21st century". It attracted participants from Samoa, Solomon Islands, PNG, New Zealand, Palau, Guam, Australia, Mainland USA as well as Hawaii. One of the aims of the conference was to strengthen networking and partnerships between Pacific research libraries. A Pacific library discussion list has been set up by one of the conference participants and has been a very successful.
Outreach
The Library has offered funding to libraries in the Asia/Pacific region through its Regional Cooperation Program. Initially the Program provided books to libraries, but has broadened in focus to also include funding for projects, library training and equipment.
There is very little cultural aid from Australia to the Pacific. IFLA is one source for libraries but it is an international organisation with strong member libraries in other parts of the world. Amelia McKenzie, who was the Library's Regional Officer in Indonesia is now back at the Library, and is Chair of the IFLA Standing Committee on Asia and Oceania. The Committee works to organise activities and to obtain funding to develop library and information services across Asia and Oceania. Amelia's membership of the Committee is an important means of staying in contact with our colleagues in the Pacific.
Conclusion
The National Library has a rich and varied Pacific collection that supports historical and contemporary research. Collecting materials published in the Pacific is a challenge that the Library has addressed through a range of acquisition schemes. However, the fundamental elements in developing a strong Pacific research collection are building and maintaining contacts with colleagues, publishers and suppliers.