The National Library of Australia is a statutory authority which provides a range of library and information services to organisations and individuals throughout Australia. It has provided computer based services through communication networks since the mid-1970's, and currently operates the Australian Bibliographic Network and OZLINE services to more than 1,300 organisations, including all Australian universities and a large number of other research organisations.
Over the past three or four years, the Internet, with AARNet as its Australian arm, has become the de facto global communication network for a very large number of people and organisations (presently estimated at around 20 million, with a growth rate at around 8% per month, i.e. doubling in size approximately every 9 to 10 months). The Internet reflects its origins in the United States research community, with the USA still comprising a high proportion of total network use, but the growth rate is relatively higher outside the USA. In the USA, the Internet has changed character significantly during the past two years. The network now extends well beyond its original government research and academic communities into the government sector generally, and into the commercial sector. Already the majority of networks connected to the Internet are commercial, and the Internet carries a large volume of traffic which is commercial in nature, or involves the link of commercial and non-commercial organisations, reflecting the increasing inter-working of private and public organisations in a modern mixed economy. In Australia, the use of the Internet (i.e. those networks interconnected through common use of the TCP/IP protocols for a variety of inter-operating purposes) is still dominated by academic and research organisations, in particular those large universities that have invested early in campus networking permitting many academic staff to connect to the wider network. This reflects the fact that AARNet has been the only national TCP/IP network, and has been owned by the universities through the company established by the Australian Vice-Chancellor's Committee. Changes in policy by the AARNet Board have radically affected the ability of other organisations to connect to AARNet over the past 18 months or so. This has allowed:
Effectively, AARNet policy now allows any organisation to connect, subject to agreement on a price which is based on the speed of interconnection. Nevertheless, progress has been slow - the National Library has for example only just reached agreement this month on connecting the 1,300 members of its own Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) to AARNet although Internet access from AARNet has been available for over two years. AARNet thus serves at present as the general Australian arm of the Internet, and its policies effectively control Australian access to the Internet. In part this is due to the very high costs of connecting any Australian network to the interconnection exchange (FIX-West) on the west coast of the USA. This has been a significant inhibitor for any other organisation, even if it were prepared to establish a TCP/IP network connecting, say, all Australian state capitals, from arranging its own links to the USA. Given the volume of Australian network traffic, it could be argued that it is not sensible commercially to duplicate such links. Consequently, AARNet currently is the research data network for Australia. But at the same time, AARNet is also the general purpose wide area network carrier for a large number of organisations. Through its "affiliate member" program, AARNet already receives a significant and growing proportion of its revenue from other than universities. For example, the National Library links to organisations both in Australia and overseas through AARNet, and many of the largest customers of the Australian Bibliographic Network link to the National Library services through AARNet. The percentage of total ABN traffic connecting through AARNet is rising at a rate of about 11% per year.
It is therefore already apparent that to call AARNet a "research data network", except in the widest possible meaning of the word "research", is a misnomer. In practice, the success of AARNet and the Internet (indeed the phenomenal success of an enterprise which has doubled in size each year since establishment) can be attributed to the fact it has delivered the interoperability and connectivity facilities that most people want. These include the ability to
(The AARNet submission will no doubt have provided details of the relative extent of use of Internet functions.)
Since these capabilities are so much in demand by almost all individuals, certainly those in employment in government and business organisations, it may be expected that the explosive growth in demand for such services will continue for the medium term. In the Library's view, all federal, state and local government bodies, plus all but perhaps the smallest businesses, are likely to want Internet type connectivity in the medium term, simply for the functions listed above. Nevertheless it is the case that, with the sheer volume of services available through the Internet, even with advanced search and linking tools such as gopher, World Wide Web and WAIS, the average network user needs considerable assistance towards effective network use. AARNet has established a working party to enquire into the needs for an Australian network information service, and the AARNet Engineering Working Group is enquiring into the future of such essential network tools as Archie and Veronica. But these investigations and existing facilities are grossly under-resourced. There is an urgent need for first-class network support services, which prevent unnecessary duplication and waste of effort for Australian users of the networks. However, it is likely that a range of new purposes will impact on the situation in the near future:
There are a wide range of government purposes that might be met more effectively through the use of wide area networking
The NDIS is planned for implementation in the third quarter of 1996]
It is likely that the significant traffic between universities and other government research establishments with the federal government, e.g. in relation to profiles, funding, grants, etc. will also become largely network based as DEET organises its activities appropriately. More significant in terms of potential volume is the establishment of network access to databases presently held or to be developed in universities. Australian universities, in comparison with many of those overseas, have been relatively backward in promoting knowledge of their research and research resources. The establishment of network searchable databases listing research and progress, doctoral theses in progress/received, etc. could greatly increase knowledge of university activities, and promote more collaborative activities with industry and government
Potentially high bandwidth requirements are likely to be required by commercial organisations primarily in the entertainment and retail (e.g. home-shopping) sectors who wish to reticulate their services directly to the home, e.g. supply of multi channel broadcasting, or video materials selected from huge video servers (as been developed by Time-Warner in the United States). It seems likely that it will be primarily these developments which will drive the huge investments in broadband communications by Telstra, Optus and future common carriers whether this be fibre-optic, satellite, microwave or simply more efficient use of existing copper cable (through which it is already feasible to provide video into a home via ADSL)
With the widened accessibility of the Internet in the USA, this is leading to rapid development of "community networks", where organisations in a local community band together to enable low cost access to Internet capabilities for members of the local community. With the involvement of enterprising local governments, much local information resides on the community network also, facilitating interaction between individuals, clubs and societies and other community organisations, public libraries, local government officers, etc., as well as providing wide area links generally. Community networking initiatives are currently active in the ACT, Newcastle and the inner east of Melbourne
The technologies are now largely in place to facilitate publishing of research work directly through the network. While the intellectual property issues are often complex, and there are still some difficulties in transmitting half tones and colour photographs easily, most of the technical issues have now been solved. Already there is a steady stream of electronic journals becoming available, including many which have the normal peer review processes for refereeing articles. The rate at which this will expand is uncertain, as decisions will involve new policies in universities and other research organisations regarding intellectual property and the acceptance of electronic journals as publications for decisions on tenure, promotion, etc. But it would be reasonable to predict a fairly rapid expansion of electronic journals as purveyors of research information in the future
The National Library has always taken a broad view of "research data". Its collections have been built primarily for researchers, but the Library has always been conscious that "research" is carried out at many levels and by not only individuals surrounded by the major infrastructures of departments in universities, but by the many in the wider community who undertake research as occasional parts of their work, as students, or simply as a result of personal interest. The Library urges ASTEC to take a broad view, in advising the federal government how best it may encourage the development of networking in the public interest. For "research" purposes (i.e. the formalised research carried out in universities, CSIRO and other research organisations, both publically and privately funded), the Library considers that ASTEC needs to look at the issues from the viewpoint of the individual researcher or group of researchers. The aim must be to facilitate cost effective research in this country. The development of AARNet has shown that global inter connectivity for a wide range of functions leading to significant benefits may be provided at a very low cost, as a percentage of the budgets of the organisations concerned. It is essential that continued access for the purposes of research, teaching and learning be maintained for research students as well as those in departments without access to large research grants. The requirements of a few researchers for very large bandwidth for specific research purposes (e.g. super computer users) should not result in costs for the rest of the research community becoming prohibitive. Researchers need continued access to an open network such as that provided by AARNet and the Internet to communicate with colleagues, work on collaborative projects, receive freely the increased information in the public domain on the Internet, improve interaction with government and other organisations in the administration of the research process, and share high cost facilities. Academics and researchers in general are likely to benefit from broader band applications, such as video conferencing, remote image processing and multi-casting. How best this is done should be based on the best technical advice from AARNet and elsewhere on bandwidth requirements needed over the medium term. (The Library nevertheless considers that it is unlikely that duplication of long-distance links solely for high bandwidth researchers will be economic in Australia in the medium term, rather than sharing broadband links for a wide variety of both narrow and broadband applications). Research and test bed projects may be required to enable planning to be optimised. The Library considers that for all the above reasons, there is now a wider public dependency on AARNet and its network applications, which go beyond the needs of the universities and other science/technology based research organisations. The need for an adequate national information infrastructure as a factor in achieving economic competitiveness is being increasingly recognised. The educational, business and government sectors are dependent on the transmission and appropriate use of information to ensure education and skilling of staff, research and development and international competitiveness. In some other countries, particularly in North America where network services have developed furthest, this has been recognised by the establishment of national processes for developing national policy in this area. In the United States this has included the setting up of an Information Infrastructure Task Force chaired by the Secretary of Commerce, and the U.S. Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure to provide advice from the commercial and non-government sectors, chaired by the Deputy Secretary of Commerce. Within the US federal government itself, detailed study of government information access issues is being undertaken through the Government Information Locator Service (GILS) project. In Canada, the Canadian network for the advancement of research, industry and education (Canarie) has been set up with government and commercial sector input and support to build a national resource expanding the Canadian Internet structure created through Ca*Net (the earlier Canadian equivalent to AARNet). In both countries these developments are being supported by federal grants awarded on a competitive basis, aimed at stimulating network developments, including test bed architectures, applications and services. The rate of development in this area is such that there are many uncertainties regarding future technologies, how applications may best be developed, effective use of network services, intellectual property issues, and how network information may be effectively located and used. These all require further research and development in Australia to achieve the best national outcome.
The National Library recommends that:
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