NLA 35th Annual Report 1994-95
National Leadership and Coordination
Objectives
- To provide leadership to the Australian system of libraries and information services and work with other institutions in the national interest.
- To foster the development of effective and equitable Australian library and information services.
- Distributed National Collection Strategies
- Coordinated Electronic Access
- Coordinated Standards
- Collaboration in Preservation
- Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS)
Distributed National Collection Strategies
The Distributed National Collection (DNC) Office, located within the Executive Support and Policy Coordination Branch, is responsible for encouraging, monitoring and evaluating the development of a coherent distributed national collection of library materials. In this first full year of operation, the DNC Office undertook activities to promote DNC objectives within the library community, to develop base data for the assessment of collecting activity within Australian libraries, and to chart new objectives for the Office in an emerging electronic environment.
The DNC Office focused on developing the Conspectus database as an effective collection management tool to underpin the Distributed National Collection. Conspectus assists libraries to describe, analyse and plan their total collection management activities. Specific aims were to increase the number of libraries using Conspectus and to increase the number of records in the database. These aims have been realised, with over 41 libraries now contributing 35 000 records to the database, an increase of 50 per cent over the previous year. Growth has been achieved through the development of quality documentation as well as the provision of on-site training to Conspectus participants.
The DNC Office encourages libraries to draft collecting agreements defining their collecting intentions and responsibilities within particular subject areas. During the year movement towards this objective was achieved through resolutions and agreements arising from the Third National Roundtable on Libraries and Asia. The Roundtable was held on 16 February 1995 and was supported by the DNC Office and the Asian Collections area of the Library. Some 75 librarians, academics and government officials from around the country participated in the event. Resolutions from the Roundtable include commitments to further collaboration in collecting Asian material and investigating training needs and preservation issues.
To promote awareness of DNC ideas, sharing of information and cooperation on DNC activities, the Office has used several mechanisms. The DNC Office has developed a range of print publications, set up a DNC discussion list on the Internet and contributed to the National Library's information server, a growing source of information on Library activities.
The development of the Internet and the advent of electronic publishing confirm that no one library will be self-sufficient within an electronic world. National cooperative structures such as the DNC will need to come to grips with this internationally networked information environment. The DNC Office commenced work to define objectives for adjusting distributed national cooperative relationships so that they can be effective in a networked world.
Outcomes from the Towards Federation 2001 meetings held by the Library in 1992 and 1993 have played a major role in promoting DNC activities. Following the Towards Federation 2001 conferences, a group representing the national, State and university library sectors was established to examine specific projects to improve the infrastructure for cataloguing and indexing Australian library materials. One of these projects involved the commissioning of a National Survey of Bibliographic Access to Documentary Pictorial Collections in 23 major libraries and museums. The survey report, undertaken by Informed Sources, was received in October. It recommends further developments in the imaging of pictorial collections and in bibliographic access to pictorial collections. The Library will be coordinating the development of a national strategy for access to pictorial materials through a national round-table consultation.
In September 1994, a number of libraries and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups participated in a workshop on National Protocols for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Information. Issues discussed included the further development of the Aboriginal thesaurus, and the development of a national framework for consultation on library practices. Graeme Powell, Senior Manager, Manuscripts, attended the Roundtable on Library and Archives Collections and Services of Relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in May. Further work was undertaken by the Library during the year to review and amend relevant standards affecting access to these materials.
Coordinated Electronic Access
The Library established an information server on the Internet during the year and officially launched this service in May. The Internet is a loose connection of computer networks throughout the world. It allows a user to search and connect to publicly available computer information sites and to use facilities such as electronic mail and electronic bulletin boards. The information server is a National Library site of information. Hosted on the Library's computer, the server holds information produced by the Library as well as containing links to enable users to connect to other information sites and searching tools no matter where they are located in the world.
[IMAGE]
At the launch of the Library's information server, Diana
Dack demonstrates the National Library's home page on the Internet, May 1995.
As well as using the information server to deliver services directly to clients via the Internet, the Library has used the technology to provide access to a range of Australian government information, to host information for other government agencies, and to consult with its users on policy issues. Through this initiative the Library is taking an important role in encouraging development of part of the national information infrastructure.
The Library was active in liaising with key government agencies concerning the coordination of Internet access to government and other network issues. These agencies include the Parliament, the Department of Communications and the Arts, the Australian Government Publishing Service, the Department of Employment, Education and Training, and the Department of Social Security.
The information server is a starting point for locating Australian government information on the Internet. It hosts the official Commonwealth Government Internet home page, and provides access to a wide range of other Commonwealth, State and local government information. It also has extensive links to overseas government information, in particular United States, Canadian, Japanese, Singaporean and United Kingdom sources. The National Library has encouraged government agencies to pilot Internet services by hosting information on the information server for those agencies which do not yet have their own Internet facilities. Agencies include the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Finance, the Department of Industry, Science and Technology, the Australia Council and the Department of Human Services and Health. The Library aims to make its server a significant resource of information sources that relate to Australia and to its cultural, economic and technological development.
The Library is using the server to communicate and consult with its users. The server has been used to seek comment on draft policy documents and to make available papers of interest to libraries, researchers and government. For example, papers for the Third National Roundtable on Libraries and Asia were placed on the server in order to generate discussion prior to the meeting.
In undertaking its role of providing leadership to the Australian system of libraries and information services, the Library plans to include sources about library and information science on the server.
Coordinated Standards
An important part of the Library's national coordination role is to facilitate discussion and resolution of key standards issues affecting access to library materials. One such issue is the feasibility of improving subject access to library collections by using more Australian terminology. As a first step, the Library supported new arrangements using the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) as the principal means of developing the Australian extension to Library of Congress subject headings used in most Australian libraries. The advent of the National Document and Information Service (NDIS), a new database being developed to replace ABN and other services, will support the wide-scale implementation of Australian subject terms in Australian library catalogues which receive cataloguing data from ABN. The Library also undertook to host the forthcoming Aboriginal thesaurus in the NDIS, and foster its adoption in Australian library cataloguing and indexing.
Collaboration in Preservation
1994-1995 was a year of consolidation for the National Preservation Office (NPO), the goals of which are to initiate, promote, coordinate and cooperate in a range of national strategies aimed at the most effective preservation of Australia's distributed national collection of documentary heritage materials.
The NPO participated in a number of national forums to advance the cause of preservation in Australia. These included the Conservation Working Party of the Heritage Collections Committee of the Cultural Ministers Council, which completed development of a national preservation and conservation policy and a national conservation strategy. These programs have been publicised in issues of the Library's monthly magazine, National Library of Australia News.
The NPO also participated in a program of international activities and assisted libraries and similar institutions in the Southeast Asia and Pacific regions to increase their preservation management skills. The Director of the Office, Dr Jan Lyall, was contracted to coordinate drafting of the guidelines for the UNESCO Memory of the World programme, which includes a worldwide survey of preservation needs and activities.
The scope of the highly successful Community Heritage Grants program established in 1993-94 was widened specifically to embrace ethnic, multicultural and indigenous communities. The Department of Communications and the Arts increased its support of this grants program to $A50 000, building on funding provided in the previous year. 'In kind' support was generously made available by Ansett Australia.
Sponsorship from Spicers Paper and Paragon Printers enabled the NPO to produce a portfolio of informational materials to promote preservation awareness and the program of support activities offered by the Office.
Preservation Services within the Collections and Reader Services Division, as part of its ongoing activities, promoted the objectives of the National Plan for Australian Newspapers (known as NPLAN), a major cooperative preservation initiative between the National, State and Territory libraries.
Accompanied by Assistant Director-General Jan Fullerton, Indonesian Minister Dr Wardiman is shown art works being prepared for exhibition by conservator Chesley Engram from the Library's Preservation Services, January 1995.
[IMAGE]
Preservation staff clean the large tapestries which
normally hang in the Library's foyer, October 1994.
Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS)
The Library continued its support for the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS), a national cross-sectoral organisation representing institutions in the library and information services industry. ACLIS concentrated resources on copyright issues, focusing particularly on potential changes to the Copyright Act. It also devoted attention to the national system of interlending and document delivery, holding a national summit on the issues in Canberra, 18-19 May 1995. ACLIS produces its own annual report.
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Last updated 2 May 1997
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