Collection development policy
13. OVERSEAS COLLECTIONS: PACIFIC
COLLECTING
13.1 The Library’s interest in the Pacific is longstanding and reflects historical, economic and cultural links to countries in Australia’s geographic region. For reasons of geographical proximity, the Library gives priority to the countries and territories of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia: American Samoa, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Island, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna. For these countries, collecting is at an intermediate level (Conspectus level 3) and for some subject areas at a level capable of supporting independent research. Emphasis is placed on a wide range of books, serials and official publications but generally excludes pictorial images and other non-print formats.
13.2 The existing Pacific collections of the Library are very strong reflecting the priority which has been given to this region from the time collecting commenced in the early 1900s. These collections have an historic breadth and depth which derives in part from the strong Pacific component which exists in each of the three great formed collections brought together by Edward Augustus Petherick, Sir John Ferguson and Sir Rex Nan Kivell and which provide the foundation of the Library’s Australiana holdings. The Petherick Collection is made up of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, maps and pictures dating primarily from 1870 to 1910, but includes some much older material, some of it of great rarity. The focus of the Pacific component of the Ferguson Collection is history and linguistics. The Nan Kivell Collection covers the exploration and early history of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific and contains a rich selection of manuscripts, pictures, important early maps and printed books and pamphlets. Over the years, the Library has built on the strengths of these collections, continuing to acquire older, retrospective material as well as collecting government publications, maps, newspapers and printed books.
13.3 A strong emphasis is given to the collecting of material from Papua New Guinea, partly reflecting Australia’s historical links with that country, geographical proximity and an important economic and aid relationship. The Library’s Papua New Guinea collections are particularly strong for the period of Australia’s administration of the territory. In addition to official publications, maps and printed books, the Library has developed extensive holdings of manuscripts, personal papers and pictorial materials which document Australian involvement in government and administration, exploration, business and investment, missionary activity and anthropological research and investigation. Until 1975 when Papua New Guinea achieved independence from Australia, the Library received publications bearing the local imprint under legal deposit.
13.4 The research strength of the Library’s Pacific collections is further enhanced through the microfilm holdings of the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau and the Australian Joint Copying Project. Both projects have sought over the years to identify and to microfilm materials of both Australian and Pacific research interest held in a large number of official archives and repositories in various countries, and in private collections. For both of these projects, the Library holds complete sets of all the film produced. Other microfilm collections of interest include the Trust Territories of Micronesia Archives, the records of the Western Pacific High Commission and relevant materials held in the Deutsches Zentralarchiv.
13.5 The Library’s collection of maps and other cartographic materials relating to the Pacific is especially strong for the period prior to 1900. The Library’s manuscript collection includes significant holdings of whaling logs, journals, diaries, private papers and missionary records.
13.6 Collecting from the Pacific focuses on reference works, statistics, legal materials, geography and travel, sociology and social issues, government and public administration, and history and culture. Works on politics, foreign relations, economics and education are acquired. A representative selection of works on the language and literature of the region is also acquired. Works documenting popular culture and topical issues in the region are acquired. Works about the Pacific and individual Pacific nations published elsewhere in the world are acquired. The Library continues to collect publications from relevant intergovernmental organisations such as the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (formerly the South Pacific Commission) and UNESCO Bangkok and the Asia Pacific Region.
13.7 Works acquired are predominantly in English or French with little purchasing in the vernacular languages of the region. Western language publications about the region are collected from around the world.
13.8 The Library’s collections relating to New Zealand include strengths in history and exploration, government publications, politics and social issues, economics, statistics, education and culture.
13.9 The Library collects a wide selection of material from and about New Zealand. In addition to works dealing with Australia, Asia and the Pacific, the Library acquires reference works, works on politics, government, foreign relations, public administration, law, economics, social issues, education, management, librarianship, publishing and the news media, the arts and culture, anthropology, geography and the history and development of New Zealand (with emphasis on voyages of exploration and modern history since European settlement). Collecting from and about New Zealand is at the intermediate level (Conspectus level 3) but the National Library of New Zealand is considered the prime collector of publications published within and about New Zealand.
RELATIONS WITH OTHER INSTITUTIONS
13.10 Cooperation with the Australian National University in the field of collecting from the Pacific has led to an informal agreement that the National Library will maintain an active collecting interest in several areas in which the university does not collect. This includes a commitment to seek a regular supply of major weekly and daily newspapers from the Pacific, proceedings of the various legislative bodies throughout the region and material from Micronesia.
