37th Annual Report 1996-97
Director-General's Review of the
Year
Since its establishment in 1901 as the then Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, the National Library has always exercised a national leadership role. Empowered now by the National Library Act 1960 to co-operate in library matters ... with authorities or persons, whether in Australia or elsewhere, the Library undertook important national tasks on behalf of the Australian library community. In earlier years these encompassed such activities as the compilation of the national bibliography, producing the periodical index Australian Public Affairs Information Service and providing copy cataloguing data to the nations libraries, first on catalogue cards and eventually as computerised records. The Librarys establishment of the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) in 1981 was a ground-breaking cooperative computer network which shaped the development of resource sharing among Australian libraries and gave the library community a new model for accomplishing national tasks. The need for national leadership on such issues has been increasingly evident in the 1990s, as the globalisation of information and communications poses new challenges and opportunities for the Australian library community.
Last years report described the National Document and Information Service (NDIS) project, a joint project with the National Library of New Zealand to replace and extend the existing ABN service. The software for NDIS was to be designed and developed in Australia by the two national libraries and their prime contractor to provide a sophisticated and integrated range of networked services. Unfortunately the project encountered serious difficulties during the year, and the two national libraries withdrew from it in December 1996. Legal negotiations to terminate the contract were still under way at the end of June 1997 and prevent any more open discussion of the reasons for the libraries withdrawal.
Although the Library did not realise its ambitions in building the NDIS project, finding a replacement for the ABN system remained our chief priority for the remainder of the year. Recognising the many changes and new products available in the information technology marketplace since WORLD 1 was conceived, the Library decided to tender for existing software to meet its medium-term needs. The Networked Services Project commenced in January 1997, and by the end of June was examining tenders, with a decision expected by the end of 1997.
Many of the Librarys activities during the year focused on information technology issues, as the Library exploits new developments in this dynamic field to improve access to our collections and services. We are finding that every new initiative results in a strong and positive response from a large invisible user community who do not visit the Library building but have a need for the Librarys services. Continued development of the Librarys World Wide Web information server, for example, has resulted in significant and increasing levels of remote use of this service. An average of 15 000 Library files are transmitted each day, double the previous years usage. (A file, for the purposes of the Internet, can mean an image, one page of a document, or a 20-page document.) Digitised images of the Librarys Pictorial Collection were made available for the first time over the Internet from the Images 1 database, allowing direct remote access to this rich collection. It is estimated that 1500 uses are made of the database each day. Easy remote access via the Internet to the Librarys catalogue, now containing nearly 2.3 million records, has made our collections more accessible and easier to use.
Meanwhile, through the PANDORA (Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia) project, the Library has continued to work on the technical issues of preservation and access to Australian electronic publications, and to collaborate internationally on the development of Internet data standards. The new electronic environment poses a series of complex technical and policy issues for Australian libraries, and the Library intends to take a leadership role in addressing these issues.
One observable trend in our national and international activities is the growing number of projects in which the Library collaborates with other bodies, be they cultural, academic or government bodies. I believe this illustrates not only the complexity of the issues with which we deal but also a growing synergy in the relationships the Library is developing with these external groups.
The Library has not neglected its traditional collecting role, and continued to add to both its Australian and overseas print collections. The overseas collecting rationalisation described in last years report, and carried out over the previous years, is now largely complete, and while the Library received criticism during the year from a small number of primarily Canberra-based users, we have stabilised our print collecting at a sustainable level for the foreseeable future. It should be remembered that book price rises and the fluctuation of the Australian dollar also have an impact upon Australian libraries acquisitions budgets. While this years purchases of 16 640 overseas-published monographs represent a fall of just under 40% in the number of titles acquired compared to five years ago, the overall decrease in the Librarys expenditure on overseas monographs for the same period is just 14.1%.
The Library continued to monitor the effectiveness and use of its services, leading to a number of changes. During the year, the Librarys Film and Video Lending Service was outsourced to Cinemedia of Melbourne, following a continued decline in the use of the service. The Library undertook extensive user consultations before deciding on the move, and believes that the future of the film lending service is secure under the new arrangements. The Library also transferred the operations of the Australian International Standard Book Numbering Agency to D.W. Thorpe Bibliographic Services Pty Ltd, the Melbourne-based library supplier and publisher.
The Librarys exhibition and publishing programs are an important
way of illustrating the richness of our collections, and reaching sections of
the community which do not have ready access to the Librarys services,
including people living in regional Australia. Our travelling exhibitions went
to centres in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. At the
end of the year, the Library ended its administration of the National Portrait
Gallery. A very successful series of exhibitions has been held over the
previous three years. The Librarys publishing program showed its usual
variety and diversity,
with several titles receiving quality awards from
the publishing industry. It was with reluctance that the Library ceased
publication of its journal Voices, in the face of a continuing decline
in subscriptions, and the increasing cost of its production.
The current climate of government restraint and cuts in Commonwealth budgets saw the Librarys staff numbers decline by 10% during the year, chiefly through attrition and voluntary redundancy. It is a tribute to the remaining staff that the Library maintained its high standard of service throughout the year and commenced many new initiatives. The Deputy Director-General, Mr Eric Wainwright, tendered his resignation from the Library in June, having accepted an appointment as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Services) in the James Cook University of North Queensland.
Warren Horton
Director-General
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