NLA 35th Annual Report 1994-95
The Year in Review by the Director-General
The Library is operating in a rapidly changing environment and in 1994-95 took significant steps to adjust its services to recognise the impact of these changes. The Library commenced new services which take advantage of the facilities provided by technology and concentrated on refocusing existing services. These activities have taken place in the context of increasingly limited resources.
The Library's stated strategic directions envisage a shift from an organisation which primarily collects, stores and provides access to its collection at one site to an organisation which makes information in its various forms available to Australian libraries and individual researchers wherever they are located. The services already provided to remote users are developing and expanding. Libraries throughout the world are making similar changes in the type and extent of services they provide. This year the Library established its presence as an information service provider on the 'information superhighway' with its information server, which uses World Wide Web software. This software has widespread acceptance as a flexible way of distributing information. The information server itself is a publicly available information site which is accessible through the Internet, the international network of computer networks. The server contains information about the Library and many links to other sources of information throughout the world. As an indicator of the success of this service, the National Library was recently listed in an Australian computer magazine as one of the top ten sites on the Internet.
In conjunction with dissemination of Library-related information, Library staff have worked hard with other agencies to ensure that information from all levels of government in Australia is readily accessible to the people of Australia. The Library also made submissions to several inquiries investigating the use of technology in education, research and the community generally. These inquiries included the Broadband Services Expert Group, the Australian Science and Technology Council inquiry into research data networks, and the National Board of Employment, Education and Training inquiry into the implications of technology for Australia's future employment and skills.
The National Document and Information Service project (NDIS) will be a key element in the Library's provision of technology-based information services. Replacing the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) and Ozline database services in Australia and the New Zealand Bibliographic Network (NZBN) and Kiwinet services in New Zealand, this trans-Tasman cooperative venture will, among other things, allow users to search, locate and order the delivery of documents. The project envisages a system which will offer much broader means of access for Australians. The system will provide a gateway to recorded knowledge held in libraries and databases in Australia, New Zealand and the world. Throughout the year staff undertook significant work to develop marketing and business strategies, inform and consult with users, finalise specifications for the phased introduction of services and commence implementation of detailed design and programming. On 31 March 1995 Mr Peter Scott, National Librarian of New Zealand, Mr Peter Rehn, the Managing Director of CSC Australia, and I, on behalf of the National Library of Australia, signed the contract for the development of NDIS.
The Library has shifted its collecting practices as foreshadowed in the 1993-94 annual report and in the Strategic Plan 1993-98: Service to the Nation, Access to the Globe. The Library concentrates on collecting Australian materials comprehensively and overseas materials selectively. In 1994-95 it commenced a process to cancel the supply of many commercially available books and serials published overseas and to close exchange arrangements with many countries outside the Asia-Pacific region. This action was taken after examination of the growth in materials, especially journals, becoming readily accessible in electronic form. An increasing amount of material is also being acquired by other Australian libraries. The National Library will be able to better support its clients through more focused Australian collecting, development of NDIS and support for the Distributed National Collection.
In order to make its collections more readily accessible the Library has commenced planning for extensive digitisation of its Australian collections. Pictorial and oral history collections will be targeted initially during 1995-96. Building on its success in the development of multimedia educational kiosks for use in the Visitor Centre, the Library commenced development of its first multimedia publications. An Internet Cafe allowing members of the public to experiment with the facilities of the Internet was established in the Library's Bistro in May.
Technological advances make impositions on the Library's traditional resource base. The Library entered 1994 with reductions in division funding of up to 5 per cent. In the coming years as the Library moves to provide its services in new, often technology-dependent ways, it will be critical to manage resources so that traditional high priority services can be maintained.
I was very pleased for the Library to host the Sixth Conference of Directors of National Libraries: Asia and Oceania in Brisbane on 27 May 1995. Bringing together chief executive officers from large and small nations in Asia and the Pacific, this meeting was a striking success in strengthening ties in the region.
Warren Horton
Director-General
[IMAGE]
At the opening of the Library exhibition honouring
Jessie Street, Director-General, Warren Horton, introduces guest speakers, the
Hon. Carmen Lawrence MP, Minister for Human Services and Health and Minister
Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women, and Senator the Hon.
Gareth Evans QC, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in
the Senate, June 1995
[IMAGE]
The Library's main reading room.
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