National Library of Australia
Annual Report 2001-2002
 Output 1.1 The Collection
Output 1.3 Public Programs
Contents
Director General's Review
Corporate Overview
Report on Operations
Financial Statements
Appendices
Resources
  
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Report on Operations

Output 1.2—Information Services

Output Description

Information services, providing access to the Library’s collections and other documentary resources, are delivered nationally and internationally.

 

 

Performance—Outputs

. MEASURE
TARGET
ACHIEVED
Effectiveness Requests for Collection items met
Percentage of requests for Collection items that are met
85%
85%
Quality

Percentage of users satisfied with the information services provided

Percentage of information services delivered within service standards

90%

90%

93%

97%

Quantity Number of information service transactions
1 142 000
1 418 987
Price Cost per information services transaction
(without Capital Use Charge)
$20.03
$15.78

Effectiveness

Requests for Collection items graph

click chart to enlarge

Comments on Performance—Effectiveness

The effectiveness target was met.

Quality

Satisfaction with information services graph Information services delivery graph

click charts to enlarge

Comments on Performance—Quality

Both quality targets were exceeded.

Quantity

Number of information service transactions graph

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Comments on Performance—Quantity

A total of 1 418 987 information services transactions took place during the year, 24 per cent above target. This trend is discussed below, under Key Issues/Developments.

Price

Cost per information services transaction (without Captial Use Charge ) graph

click chart to enlarge

Key Issues/Developments

Increase in information services transactions

This year the Library recorded a significant increase in the number of information services transactions. In particular:

  • Onsite usage of hardcopy Collection items increased by 13 per cent from last year, reversing the downward trend experienced over the past few years and reflecting the wide acceptance of the electronic call slip system introduced last year
  • the number of offsite reference enquiries increased by 11 per cent, the result of increased use of the email reference service, and
  • the target for the number of electronic resources used was exceeded by 64 per cent, with 705 000 digital Collection items accessed on the Library’s web site

The increase in use of both hardcopy and digital collections is attributed to the significant development of systems to support Library users through both the electronic call slip system and the web site. This increase in use of collections and services is in line with the objectives outlined in Directions for 2000–2002, and use is predicted to increase further in future years as technology enables enhanced access to the Library’s collections and information services.

Interlibrary lending/Document supply benchmarking

The Library undertook a national benchmarking study on interlibrary loan/document delivery. This study involved 97 Australian libraries in all sectors, including higher education, government, public, special and State libraries. Many Australian libraries have made changes to their document delivery operations based on the study results. Also, an Interlending and Document Delivery Best Practice Course has been developed and is being offered throughout Australia.

Digital reference services

The Library, in association with the Council of Australian State Libraries, is undertaking a pilot project to develop an interactive digital reference service. The service will enable users to co-browse electronic information resources and simultaneously chat online with a reference librarian. The nine participating libraries will staff the service on a time-share basis, taking advantage of national time zones. The service will be made available from the web sites of the National, State and Territory libraries.

The Library continued its active participation in the Collaborative Digital Reference Service pilot coordinated by the Library of Congress.

As a result of the pilot, a new subscription-based service has commenced—QuestionPoint—which provides a worldwide reference service.

Improvements to reading rooms

The Library continued a long-term program of improvement to reading room services, with the refurbishment of the Asian Collections Reading Room completed this year.

MusicAustralia

The National Library is leading a collaborative research project to develop a proof-of-concept prototype to deliver digital music objects in a range of formats and from a range of institutions. The MusicAustralia pilot, in which the National Library and ScreenSound Australia are joint partners, is testing the requirements for a production service to deliver digitised sheet music, digital audio-files, ‘born digital’ music scores, and a range of relevant images and electronic text. Key Australian music stakeholders, including the Australian Music Centre and the Australia Council’s New Australian Music Online initiative, are participating in the development.

 

 Output 1.1 The Collection
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Output 1.3 Public Programs


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