National Library of Australia Annual Report 2000-01
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Report on OperationsOutput Group 1Output Group 2Output Group 3
Output Group 1. The Collection

Output 1.2 Collection Maintenance

OUTPUT DESCRIPTION

Tape store, Oral History Collection

Damian McDonald (b.1971)
Tape Store, Oral History Collection
Pictorial Collection

Australian library materials and highly significant non-Australian publications are maintained to ensure they are available for current and future use. Other materials are maintained in a useable condition for as long as practicable.

PERFORMANCE— OUTPUTS

Performance Targets

Quantity

22 026 square metres of collection stored and maintained

The Library stored and maintained 21 728 square metres of collections, slightly less than the targeted figure.

Quality

90 per cent of collection maintained in accordance with environmental and security standards
80 per cent, equivalent to 500, of highly significant collection items identified as requiring treatment, received treatment

The Library met its security standards for all 21 728 square metres of collections stored. The Library also aims to store all collections in suitable environmental conditions; the target figure of 90 per cent reflects expectations about what could be achieved with existing airconditioning systems. Difficulties in humidity control in some areas led to 77 per cent achievement on average: this figure reflects fluctuating weather conditions that affect the interior humidity in some months. This issue is being addressed through the Environmental Management Plan, referred to under Key Issues.

The target for treating significant collection items was exceeded. A total of 1135 highly significant collection items were treated.

Price

$141.15 per square metre of collection stored and maintained

The unit price per square metre of collection stored and maintained was $137.11.

PERFORMANCE—OUTCOME

Effectiveness Indicator

90 per cent of collections maintained in accordance with environmental and security standards

As noted above, the Library met its security standards for 100 per cent of its collections and its environmental standards for 77 per cent of its collections.

KEY ISSUES

Collection Preservation and Maintenance

To improve performance against storage standards, the Library is developing an Environmental Management Plan, based on international standards and practices and the Library's own needs. The plan should deliver improvements in storage conditions for key collections over a number of years.

Digital Preservation

The issue of digital preservation remains a key challenge for the Library. Developments this year include:

Ongoing growth in the size and complexity of the Library's collections of digital information resources continued. The Library produced a policy statement on how it intends to meet its digital preservation commitments.
Collaboration with international partners to define and improve digital archiving and preservation practices.
Amending Library policy on creating preservation copies of pictorial material in favour of digital copies rather than traditional photographic reproductions.

Control Room & Interactive Studio A
Damian McDonald (b.1971)
Control Room and Interactive Studio 'A', Sound Preservation and Technical Services
Pictorial Collection

Coordination of Preservation Activities

Among a range of ongoing coordination activities relating to collection preservation, the Library made significant progress in the following areas:

Developing national strategies to address the deterioration of microfilm, photographic film and sound recording collections on cellulose acetate film, in conjunction with State libraries, archives and other collecting institutions.
Coordinating the National Plan for Australian Newspapers (NPLAN) on behalf of the State and Territory libraries. The Plan, which has been in operation since the early 1990s, has been successful in identifying, maintaining and copying Australian newspapers.

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