National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568
No. 12
November 1994


Contents


National Library of Australia Gateways was edited and designed by Margaret Davey using desktop publishing software. Please address any comments or enquiries to:

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Closer Information Relations

Following the joint New Zealand Library and Information Association/Australian Library and Information Association conference in Wellington in late September, a large number of staff of the National Library of New Zealand and the National Library of Australia met on 1 October to discuss collaboration and to examine the idea of "Closer Information Relations" (CIR).

This development follows the increasingly close relations that have grown through cooperation on the National Document and Information Service (NDIS) Project.

From early discussions about possible cooperation in relation to the replacement of the old software underlying both the Australian Bibliographic Network and the New Zealand Bibliographic Network, the NDIS Project has developed from a joint software development through to detailed discussions on how both Australia and New Zealand might most effectively operate their future Network services through shared facilities.

As the NDIS project has developed, both Libraries have become increasingly aware of the similarity of their objectives and operations. The potential offered by a shared NDIS to collaborate closely on a whole range of areas has been explored over the past six months, culminating in this first CIR meeting between the two Libraries.

Following background information about the goals, functions and structures of each Library, the day opened with introductions from Warren Horton, the Director-General of the National Library of Australia and Peter Scott, the National Librarian of New Zealand. They outlined the concept of CIR, placing it in the global environment of the Asia-Pacific region, as a strategic alliance between the two Libraries under the general umbrella of Australian and New Zealand government policies, Closer Economic Relations, etc. The concept is one of improving information flows and information resource sharing in the region, working together where there are common interests, and aligning policies to improve access to information for people in the region.

The aim is for the two Libraries to gain from each others' strengths, to develop greater flexibility in their policies, to look for synergies across a range of areas, to share costs and achieve economies of scale and to create a hedge against competition. Within this there is a strong desire to facilitate better management of the Libraries and development of their staff. The alliance will be in the form of a joint venture where each partner invests resources, shares decision making, and apportions costs on an agreed basis.

Discussions covered:

It was agreed that the CIR framework would be formally established over the next few months, within which a range of ongoing initiatives will be pursued.

NDIS Project Update

During the last two months, there has been significant progress in the National Document and Information Service (NDIS) Project. There have been appointments of staff to the Redevelopment Project Office; information presentations at the NZLIA-ALIA conference held in Wellington, New Zealand; and the signing of the initial contracts with the preferred vendor, CSC Australia.

NDIS Information Presentations

The NZLIA-ALIA conference held at the end of September provided the perfect opportunity for the two National Libraries to present the latest information on the NDIS project. One hundred and forty people packed the Mezzanine Meeting Room of the Wellington Public Library to hear in-depth discussions of the project elements currently being addressed. Speakers included Jan Rosi, the Joint Project Director; Warwick Cathro, Assistant Director-General, Services to Libraries (NLA); and Isobel Mosley, Project Manager (NLNZ).

Jan Rosi spoke about project management issues facing the National Libraries during the NDIS project, stressing that the NDIS project is scheduled to finish within two years. However, individual features of the system, such as enhanced search services, may be delivered earlier.

An expert panel consisting of Jan Rosi; Warwick Cathro, NLA; Judith Pearce, Director of the Redevelopment Project Office (RPO), based in Australia; Isobel Mosley, NLNZ; and Vivienne Cuff, Manager, RPO, based in New Zealand; was also convened to answer questions at the end of the presentation.

The questions ranged from concerns about the impact of the NDIS on local systems and current functionality to trans-Tasman considerations. Examples of the latter included:

Q. 'What progress is there on the decision regarding a single site ?'

A. Peter Scott, National Librarian of New Zealand, responded that the Libraries are in the final stage of deciding, but are negotiating on the basis of a single site for the system.

Q. 'What response time delays could result for New Zealand users if the data is not housed in New Zealand ?'

A. Jan Rosi emphasised that the response time delay would be negligible because user requirements will be carefully considered, and the network capacity sized accordingly. Isobel Mosley, Project Manager, NLNZ explained that CSC has already done benchmark testing on the proposed platform to verify the required sizing.

Q. 'How would the NDIS have control over any sudden increases in access over the Internet, which could result in unexpected bottlenecks and result in delays?'

A. Warwick Cathro indicated that clients will have a choice of how to access the NDIS. The Internet will be one way, but users will also have dial up and leased-line options.

Questions regarding local systems and current functionality were broad-ranging, and included:

Q. 'Will there be direct liaison with vendors of local systems ?'

A. Warwick Cathro explained that in Australia, there have already been meetings with some vendors to discuss issues including standards and delivering developments to the same time-scale as the NDIS. Further meetings are planned.

Isobel Mosley added that this has not happened yet in New Zealand, but will occur over the next few months.

Q. 'During what timeframe will a working prototype become available ?'

A. Jan Rosi indicated that phasing for the NDIS project was still in the planning stage. Once the analysis and design phase has been completed, it should be possible to deliver a working prototype at a fairly early stage.

Q. 'How will the NDIS relate to other providers of cataloguing data, for example, to OCLC for the interchange of data, access and speedy delivery?'

A. Warwick Cathro replied that the NDIS will provide an easy gateway to other record providers using the Z39.50 protocol, ie., access to other providers as a second port of call for cataloguing data where it is not already on NDIS databases.

Q. 'Will any of the features specified in the NDIS RFT document disappear?'

A. Jan Rosi explained that during the analysis and design phase, planned for the next few months, some functionality may be deferred or simplified or brought forward in the timetable, but it is unlikely that major features will change.

Discussions with CSC

Detailed discussions have been held with CSC regarding the project plan for 'Phase Zero', the analysis and design stage of the NDIS project. A consultancy agreement for this phase has been signed between CSC and the two National Libraries, in advance of the main Systems Integration Contract, which will be signed as soon as terms and conditions have been finalised.

User Input

Users will be consulted about the NDIS design through many different forums, including:

Training of new and existing clients in the use of the NDIS will be integrated into the software wherever possible, via online `help' facilities and tutorials. There will also be an extensive programme of training courses conducted throughout the client community. In Australia, the existing Designated Training Agents will be called on to assist in training of the use of the new features.

The Project Team

Accommodation for the project team has been set up in the National Library of Australia, and the CSC team began work at the end of October. The initial analysis and design team consists of the CSC Manager, Tran Tai (who has many years' experience in the IT industry), two systems architects and five analyst/designers.

CSC's project team will be supported by a team of the Libraries' business analysts, including Judith Pearce, Project Director, Bronwyn Lee, Debbie Campbell, Maggie Bond and Anna Booth, all of the NLA; Douglas Campbell, NLNZ; and Vivienne Cuff, of the NLNZ. The first analysis and design workshop was convened during the week of 17 October in Australia. The National Library of New Zealand has recently appointed Hugh Bobbitt as its NDIS Project Manager.

What's Happening Next?

Implementation priorities will be announced soon, following Network Committee endorsement of the revised priorities recommended by the Enhancements Sub-committee at a meeting held on 12 October at the National Library of Australia. The Enhancement Sub-committee's recommendations take into account feedback received from users during September and changes in the library and information marketplace since the RFT was issued. The Network Committee's next meeting is scheduled for 17-18 November.

A series of presentations, to inform clients about the NDIS project, will be held during late November and early December in most capital cities. Margaret Davey, tel: (02) 62621580, can advise you of the dates and venues of the presentations. Attending a presentation will allow you to contribute to the development process.

NDIS (National Document and Information Service) is the working name for the new system. It will not be the brand name for the new services. The National Libraries are currently discussing possible titles. Stay tuned.

November and early December in most capital cities, to inform clients about the NDIS project. The dates and venues of the presentations appear on page 4. This will also allow you to contribute to the development process. "NDIS" (National Document and Information Service) is the working name for the new system. It will not be the brand name for the new services. The National Libraries are currently discussing possible titles - stay tuned.

For further information regarding any of the above, please contact Judith Pearce, Redevelopment Project Office, National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT, 2600; tel: (02) 6262 1577, fax: (02) 6273 1180; E-mail: jpearce@nla.gov.au

Cataloguing Online Electronic Serials

In July 1993 an NLA internal report on Electronic Publishing in Australia identified a small number of Australian online electronic journals. Following on from this report Serials Cataloguing staff undertook to investigate the cataloguing of Australian online electronic serials for the Australian National Bibliography and for the Australian Bibliographic Network.

At the ABN Standards Committee meeting held 23-24 March 1994, a paper on 'Cataloguing of Australian Electronic Journals at the NLA' (ABN/SC/1994/1/11) by Fran D'Castro was discussed. The Standards Committee recommended that the outlined approach to cataloguing electronic journals on ABN 'be adopted as a provisional guideline for ABN ...'

Since March 1994, the Library has been cataloguing Australian electronic journals. The Library has now catalogued several electronic journals and is in the process of cataloguing a number of electronic newsletters. All of the records catalogued to date are available on ABN. Examples include records for the following titles: CLIONET ISSN 1321-5752 (abn94-32339); Electronic Antiquity ISSN 1320-3606 (abn94-16019); Complexity International ISSN 1320-0682 (abn94-203495); E-Law ISSN 1321-8247 (abn9486155); Didaskalia ISSN 1321-4853 (abn94-204700); Pacific Islands Group Newsletter ISSN 1322-8404 (abn94-292816); and Matilda in Cyberspace ISSN 1322-901X (abn94-313019).

All of the records include note fields describing how to access the journal.

As well as cataloguing the electronic journals, the Library is also exploring related issues such as how to define an Australian serial. Some of the journals are international in scope (eg. Complexity International; Didaskalia), and while responsibility for producing the journals currently resides in Australia, this may not always be the case. Conversely, some of the journals we have been alerted to started outside Australia but responsibility for their production now lies in Australia.

Another interesting issue is the difficulty of deciding in some cases whether a document or series of documents is serial or monographic in nature. Is a document which continually expands or changes but is not issued in separate pieces a serial or a monograph? Some similarity to looseleaf monograph publications can be seen here. If the same sort of publication is archived on a monthly basis, is it then a serial?

Some other issues of vital concern to cataloguers and to users of the catalogue include how to ensure that the information providing details on how to access the journal remains valid, and how will the cataloguer find out if this information changes. There is also the difficulty for the cataloguer in finding out about other sorts of changes all too common in the serial world, such as changed titles or availability.

With even the small number of electronic serials identified so far, there is a growing diversity in the types and methods of publication and these are likely to challenge even the experienced serials cataloguer. There are journals where current issues are distributed via an electronic mailing list, with earlier issues archived and which can be retrieved by FTP (file transfer protocol). Other journals distribute only the contents pages and users send commands by email to retrieve individual issues or individual articles. Some serials are available on gopher servers, and some World Wide Web servers are being set up specifically to distribute a particular serial.

To date the Library has chosen not to catalogue discussion lists or bulletin boards, but will be reviewing this policy regularly as online electronic publishing evolves. Already the distribution of some electronic journals involves use of the listserver techniques that operate most discussion lists.

The next step for the Library is to identify and catalogue electronic monographic and to investigate the specific issues involved for monograph cataloguers. Already a number of online monograph titles have been identified through the allocation of ISBN and the Library will catalogue these for ANB and ABN once they become available online.

For further information please contact: Lesley Bezear, Manager Serials, tel: (02) 62621305, email: lbezear@nla.gov.au

Postponement of Music Roundtable

Following the establishment of the DNC Office by the National Library, a wide range of organisations were contacted suggesting that music collections should be one the first areas explored from the perspective of cooperative collection development, and that there would be value in holding a Roundtable forum to focus on cooperative issues in music librarianship.

A questionnaire was also distributed to a wide range of libraries with large collections of music and to other interested organisations seeking their views on the key issues that need to be addressed.

There has been a strong response to this survey and it is clear from the preliminary analysis that there a wide range of key issues that will need to be addressed in the area of music within a distributed national collection framework.

It is our intention to model this Roundtable on the structure used in the successful Towards Federation 2001 meetings. This will require the development of position papers on each of the key issues, with recommendations for action to be discussed and agreed at the Roundtable meeting.

The original date selected for this Roundtable did not provide sufficient time for this action outcome approach to be applied. After consultation with a number of organisations, it was decided to postpone the meeting from 15 November until mid 1995. This should allow time for the detailed work required hopefully, resulting in a more successful Roundtable meeting.

The DNC Office will soon approach a number of organisations and individuals interested in working on developing issues papers to form the basis of this Roundtable.

For further information about the Music Roundtable, contact Cliff Law, Director, the DNC Office, tel: 06 2621503, fax: 06 2571703, E-mail: c.law@nla.gov. au

Cooperative Cataloguing Scheme

Sixteen Australian libraries are cooperating with the National Library of Australia in a project designed to put cataloguing data for currently published Australian items onto the National Bibliographic Database as quickly as possible.

The libraries include the Australian Bureau of Statistics Library, Deakin University Library, Dixson Library University of New England, Library and Information Service of Western Australia, Macquarie University Library, Monash University Library, Murdoch University Library, Northern Territory Library Service, Northern Territory University Library, State Library of New South Wales, State Library of South Australia, State Library of Tasmania, University of Melbourne Library, University of New South Wales Library, University of Sydney Library, and the University of Western Australia Library.

The participating libraries have undertaken to catalogue publications from their own institutions or, in the case of State libraries, from their own State governments, within two months of receiving them. In addition, the State Library of New South Wales also catalogues ethnic language materials published in New South Wales, and the State Library of Tasmania catalogues Tasmanian church histories and family histories as well as Tasmanian government publications. All the cataloguing completed by the sixteen participating libraries is included in the Australian National Bibliography as contributed cataloguing.

This cooperation in cataloguing has had many benefits for cataloguers at the National Library. Knowing that records for some categories of material will be produced by other libraries has helped them avoid duplication in cataloguing effort, and has enabled them to concentrate on other priority areas such as federal government documents. Generally, libraries obtain publications from their own institutions promptly, and they often have a better knowledge of what is being published. This cooperative approach has improved the timeliness of the national bibliography and increased its comprehensiveness, as well as imposing a degree of economic rationalisation on the cataloguing of current Australian materials.

Australian Pastoral Run Maps

Last year Map Curator, Maura O'Connor, talked on the radio about the importance of early pastoral run maps of Australia. Following from this, two early maps of the Lachlan River area were loaned to the National Library recently for copying.

The maps feature the Bangaroo Pastoral Holding, comprising nearly 6,000 acres between the Belubula and Lachlan Rivers, NSW. The Holding was established in 1885 following a subdivision of the old Bangaroo squatting run. The earlier map, an undated manuscript, probably dates from this time and shows individually named paddocks and acreages. Improvements, including yards, tanks and buildings are also shown. The second map, a rare linen Sales plan of 1903, is a further subdivision of this holding into a homestead block and 71 irrigation farms.

The maps are a significant addition to the collection, contributing to the study of changing land administration and land use patterns in one of Australia's important agricultural areas.

National Library Map Review

An inhouse review of the Map Section of the National Library is currently underway prompted by the rapidly changing nature of cartographic publishing and the need to assess the Library's future collecting intentions in this field.

The terms of reference of the review are to assess the future role of map collecting and services, based on the findings of

.

Community Preservation Grants Awarded Nationally

[Photo: Tony Beale, Waymamba Gaykamungu, and Dr. Jan Lyall]


Tony Beale, Special Collections Librarian from the Northern Territory University Library, Waymamba Gaykamungu of the Nungalinya College Library and language advisor to the Northern Territory University, and Dr. Jan Lyall, Directory of the National Preservation Office, at the Community Heritage Grant presentation, Northern Territory University Library, 1994. Courtesy Northern Territory University Library.

This year the National Preservation Office launched its Community Heritage Grants program, designed to help community organisations to preserve their collections of nationally significant documents (see February National Library of Australia news). About $A800,000 in funding was requested by 205 organisations including school and university libraries, religious archives, municipal libraries, historical societies, museums, genealogy, family history groups and even a zoo.

In 1994 the National Library and the Department of Communications and the Arts were able to provide $A40,000 to fund 15 applications. While this is a start, clearly more funding needs to be found if we are serious about preserving our national treasures.

Grants were awarded at small congratulatory functions in each State and Territory, most being generously funded by the ACLIS national secretariat, and organised by State Libraries and State ACLIS groups.

To illustrate the diversity of projects proposed, the successful applications from each State and Territory are briefly summarised here.

The Northern Territory University Library, in collaboration with the Summer Institute of Linguistics Library and Nungalinya College Library, holds over 5,000 unique documents produced in remote Aboriginal communities over a period of thirty years. Many of the documents are damaged and some of the languages are in decline. The documents will be digitised and scanned onto laser discs. Copies will be sent back to the communities for their own use, and the original documents will be preserved.

In South Australia, both the Hindmarsh Residents' Association and the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia will improve the storage and accessibility of their materials. The Residents' Group has accumulated 25 years of advocacy records, and the Royal Geographical Society about 2,000 unique photographs relating to the exploration and history of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Victoria produced the majority of applications, three of which were funded. The Australian Centre will preserve a unique folklore collection recording children's plays, and Melbourne's Living Museum of the West will survey its valuable photographic collection. The Jewish Museum of Australia will rehouse memorabilia saved by the `Dunera Boys' - German, Australian and Italian refugees interned in Australia during World War II.

The Genealogical Society of Queensland will microfilm parish registers from the Roman Catholic Archives. The registers contain very early records of settlers - a vital history of the Roman Catholic community, but also a history of settlement in south-east Queensland.

Four grants were awarded in New South Wales. The University of Newcastle Archives received a small grant to restore the diary of William Tyrrell (first Bishop of Newcastle). Burnside, a charitable and social action organisation proposes to microfilm interesting medical records, and the Blue Mountains and Parramatta City Libraries have been funded for preservation needs surveys.

The Bassendean Historical Society, in Western Australia, will also survey its significant collection of historical documents and photographs. The collection encompasses Aboriginal settlement, the coming of the first Europeans in 1827, the gentleman farmers and esquires who settled the district, and convicts and pensioner Guards who formed part of the population. Many of the photographs appear in Jennie Carter's book Bassendean: a social history.

In the ACT, St Mark's National Theological Centre was funded to install UV light filters and to provide storage materials for its Tippett collection. The Lu Rees Archives will purchase special storage materials for its collection of original artworks for children's literature, after the collection has been conserved by University of Canberra students.

[Photo: Dorothy Howard noting the rules of Marbles, government school playground, 1954.]
Dorothy Howard noting the rules of Marbles, government school playground, 1954. The Australian Centre, Melbourne is preserving Dr. Howard's collection of notes, letters and photographs documenting Australian play lore with the help of a Community Heritage Grant.
Courtesy Dr. June Factor

The Department of the Communications and the Arts has confirmed its continued support for the grants program, and the 1995 campaign is now in preparation. To be put on the Community Heritage Grants information mailing list, please contact Mrs Jo Paull tel: (02) 62621137, fax: (02) 62734493.

Cultural Mapping & Australian Folklife

What is Cultural Mapping?

The Commonwealth Government's role in cultural mapping is, through the Australian Cultural Development Office (ACDO), to assist communities to identify and promote the total cultural resources of their area. Cultural mapping thus has important links to cultural tourism and implications for the quality of community life and perceptions of local identity.

Who are the Cultural Mappers?

Earlier this year, a project team headed by Dr Ian Clark and Ms Johanna Sutherland of AIATSIS was appointed to conduct a pilot study of Moe, in Victoria's Latrobe Valley. The study identified a rich diversity of cultural experiences, including the settlement of migrants in the post World War II era, their cultural practices and participation in the wider community, and the influence of the electricity industry on the development of the community.

What is the National Library's Involvement?

A most significant outcome of the study was the appointment of Dr Gwenda Davey of the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University to conduct a folklife study of Moe. According to Dr Davey, who is also a consultant in folklore to the National Library, folklife is 'the living culture of everyday life. It is the customs, beliefs, crafts, music, foods, pastimes and games which are learned informally within groups of people'. Dr Davey will be working with the Moe community, ACDO and the Library to carry out this important project, the first of its kind in Australia.

National Library of Australia Travelling Exhibition Program

The National Library's travelling exhibition program forms part of the program of `outreach', providing access to the National Library's collections to all Australians across Australia. The program aims to reflect the National Library's collecting policies in regard to Australia and the Australian people.

History

The development of a travelling program for exhibitions began in 1989 with two exhibitions, 'People, Print and Paper' and 'Irish Transportation Records'. They were first shown at the National Library in 1988, travelling to several venues around Australia in 1989. Prior to this, access to unique National Library material outside Canberra was gained principally through the loan of works to other institutions' exhibitions and displays.

A new emphasis on travelling exhibitions was made in 1992. Since then the Library has travelled seven exhibitions to 16 capital city and regional centre galleries and museums in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and New Zealand. Visitors to these exhibitions have exceeded 150,000. The program has endeavoured to cover a wide range of subjects and themes using media that reflect virtually all collecting areas of the National Library including oil paintings, books, manuscripts, photographs, sound, computer interactives, oral histories and films.

Current Program

The current program concentrates on taking original material, principally from the National Library's collections, in themed exhibitions to established exhibition venues. This program is in place through to 1996 and will take exhibitions to Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Alice Springs, Ballarat, Newcastle, Orange, Dubbo, Moree, Wollongong, Auckland and Wellington (NZ). Several more venues will be added with particular effort devoted to getting exhibitions into regional centres in Queensland and Western Australia.

The venues in regional centres are usually art museums that can provide the necessary levels of security, environmental control and personnel required for the handling of original works. They usually have dedicated space for travelling exhibitions unlike their history museum and library counterparts. However, limiting factors for all regional venues are cost and size, factors the National Library takes into account when shaping the program.

Joint Projects

In order to strengthen ties with kindred institutions, the Library has entered into a number of partnerships with other institutions. For example Gold Fever! Life on the Diggings 1851 - 55 is a joint project with Sovereign Hill. Sovereign Hill staff curated, designed and fabricated the exhibition. The National Library designed and produced the catalogue, prepared works for exhibition and manages the exhibition tour and budget. The majority of works in the exhibition come from the National Library's collections. Sovereign Hill and the National Library are equal financial partners in this project.

Harold Cazneaux - photographer is a joint project with the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales under similar arrangements to those for Gold Fever! Cazneaux exhibition will tour to five regional galleries in 1994 and 1995, and has attracted funding through the Visions of Australia program of the Australian Cultural Development Office.

It's about Friendship - Rom: A Ceremony from Arnhem Land is a joint project with the National Museum of Australia (ANM) and Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. This exhibition has also attracted funding from the Visions of Australia program.

An Ideal City?: The 1912 Competition to design Canberra is a joint project with Australian Archives and the National Capital Planning Authority.

Literary Links between Australia and Britain, a poster style exhibition, is a joint project with the British Council.

[Photo]
Harold Cazneaux 1878-1953. Please do not spit. 1906 Sydney. From the Ferry Album Box.

The Future

Library exhibitions in regional Australia have had a significant impact on local communities. This impact is enhanced by the development of associated programs and events organised by the host institution. The demand for the National Library's exhibitions in these areas continues to be strong.

There are several possibilities for expanding on the current style and format of exhibitions produced by the Library, and to broaden the range of venues to which exhibitions can be sent. Feedback from established venues (mainly art galleries) indicates a very strong demand for small exhibitions (30-50 works) of original works whose themes are related to the interests of the local community, eg It's about Friendship at the Moree Plains Gallery. Recent experience has also indicated that exhibitions of the size and scope of The Wandering Artist, Harold Cazneaux and It's about Friendship seem to be about the right scale and cost for most regional venues. The future program is concentrating on developing exhibitions of this size with a wide range of themes.

There is also interest in receiving cameo style exhibitions which focus on one or two significant original works around which additional information displays in reproduction form are displayed. The new Museum of Sydney (due to open in March 1995), which is being developed by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales (HHTNSW), has particularly expressed interest in `cameo' exhibitions and in cooperating with the Library in their development. The first exhibitions of this type will be developed in 1995.

To broaden the range of venues into which the National Library can place exhibitions the National Library is investigating the possibility of developing standardised, self-contained, free-standing units to travel facsimile exhibitions. These exhibitions would be suitable for placement in high public usage areas such as shopping centres, library foyers and community centres. Fragile drawings in An Ideal City? exhibition, for example, will be copied and used in a facsimile version to enable the exhibition to tour long after the original (fragile) material in the exhibition has been put back into storage.

Other ways of using material in facsimile form is through CD ROM technology. Used by itself or in conjunction with original material, this technology allows the public to view holdings of material often too fragile to travel or to show the Library's entire holdings of a particular subject or artist or holdings in other Australian collections.

Travelling Exhibitions and the National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery situated at Old Parliament House, Canberra, is a new program of the National Library. Its program of exhibitions draws heavily on works borrowed from public and private collections throughout Australia.

Exhibitions emanating from the National Portrait Gallery will broaden the scope of the travelling exhibition program. It is expected that NPG exhibitions will commence travelling early in the 1995-96 financial year.

Summary

The potential for the National Library's travelling exhibition program is great. While the Library is new to this area, it has in a very short time had a significant impact in regional areas and capital cities where exhibitions have been shown. This has resulted in a greater awareness of the role of the National Library, and has provided insights into the breadth and depth of its collections.

The opportunity to present and interpret material not normally associated with libraries and to venues, especially art galleries and museums, equally unfamiliar with the Library's collections is one of the strengths of the National Library's travelling exhibition program. The exploration of new formats and diverse venues will, it is hoped, further expand and enhance this awareness.

NLA Exhibition Program 1994 - 1996

NLA Exhibition Gallery

Major NLA Visitor Centre Exhibitions

National Portrait Gallery - Old Parliament House

Travelling Exhibition Program 1994-96

The National Portrait Gallery's Second Exhibition: 'All In The Family'

This exhibition presents a selection of portraits of significant Australian families, from traditional Aboriginal society through the beginnings of European society to the present.

The works have been selected on the basis of their high quality as portraits, and their subject matter. Well-known families include the Downers, Chappells, Haslucks, Curry-Kennys, the Streets and the Mackerrases. Others have been selected because their family experience tells us something important about our social history. These include Aboriginal people like Mum Shirl (Shirley Smith), Pat O'Shane, and the Ellas; circus folk like the Soles and the Wirths; post-war immigrants like the Haskins and the Smorgons.

The art of family portraiture has changed as social conditions have changed. In the nineteenth century people commissioned portraits showing the family assembled. Often the family hangs as a pair, mother and children together, and father separate. These portraits are as much a portrait of relationship as they are of individuals. They express a 'wish for the preservation of happy memories, affections and love' and 'a frank pleasure in family' (Daniel Thomas in Uncommon Australians, p. 11) which must strike a chord with every visitor.

[Oil painting] Governor Kind (1758-1808) and family 1799. Robert Dighton (1752-1814).

[Photo: W.B. Griffin & Marion Griffin, Castlecrag NSW. 29/7/30.]
W.B. Griffin & Marion Griffin, Castlecrag NSW. 29/7/30. Photographer: Dr. Jorma Pohjanpalo, Helsinki, Finland.

By the twentieth century it is rare to find a family group, and to recreate that relationship visually we have hung portraits of related individuals in groups. With the advent of photography we have a rich vein of portraiture to mine, as many who would not have been the subject of commissioned formal work in painting or sculpture have had their portrait photos taken, either as family snaps or by studio photographers. We thus have access to images of women and other groups who would have otherwise been historically invisible.

Some of the family relationships depicted in this exhibition are close, often collaborative in the same or related field of endeavour, or supportive in widely different fields. What is remarkable is the large number of families who have within their ranks more than one person of great talent. The role of the family in shaping identity and establishing a pattern for achievement seems critical here. Family members act as models to the next generation, both to inspire emulative achievement, or through their difficult experiences as motivators to social reform.

Some portraits are of `family' members bound by ties other than those of blood and law, including the Heide artist community founded by John and Sunday Reed and including Joy Hester, Albert Tucker and Sidney Nolan. Some are not of families but of individuals who have striven to better the lot of families throughout our history. These social and political activists include Lionel Murphy, Vida Goldstein and Edna Ryan.

For many others, the needs which most find answered by a more conventional kind of 'family' may be answered by a `family' of extended networks of relatives or friends, or a community of shared interest and experience. We have included the first Mother Superior of the Sisters of Charity in Australia, Mother Mary John Cahill, whose family was her Catholic community and her sisters in Christ.

What emerges most strongly from any pictorial survey of `family' in Australia is the realisation that this unit is, and has always been, diverse, adaptable and enduring. It seems clear that today's Australian family life is responding, as it has always done, to changing economic and social conditions. Our community increasingly accepts same-sex families, single parent families, and increased roles in parenting for fathers.

Pacific Manuscripts Bureau Visits Fiji

In the January issue of Gateways it was announced that Adrian Cunningham of the National Library's Manuscripts Section was to be seconded to manage the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau for 12 months during 1994. The Pacific Manuscripts Bureau (PMB) is a microfilming bureau which has been based at the Australian National University since 1968.

In August Adrian spent three weeks in Suva, Fiji carrying out microfilming and other duties on behalf of the PMB. Most of his time was spent working in the Library of the Pacific Theological College (PTC) where he filmed three manuscript collections and one collection of rare pamphlets. The manuscript collections were the papers of Setareki Tuilovoni, a Fijian Methodist leader, 1946-87; the papers of George Herbert Eastman, 1913-69; and the papers of Hilda Steadman, the wife of a Fijian Methodist missionary who worked with the Fijian Indian community, 1913-75. Of these, the Eastman papers are the largest, amounting to eleven reels of microfilm. Eastman ran the London Missionary Society Mission (LMS) in Rarotonga, 1913-18, and the LMS Mission in the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati), 1918-47. The Eastman papers are a particularly rich source, containing correspondence, reports, newsletters, sermons, photographs, linguisitic material and a collection of 48 rare publications, most of which are in Gilbertese and were printed on the LMS press in the Gilberts. Adrian also filmed a collection of 17 rare pamphlets, 1878-1970 relating to the work of the Methodist Church in Fiji. This collection was donated to the PTC Library by the Rev. Cecil Gribble.

These microfilms are now available for purchase from the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. Other recent PMB film releases include the archives of the Catholic Church in the Cook Islands (53 reels); miscellaneous manuscripts from the collection of the Cook Islands Library and Museum Society (6 reels); papers of the German linguist Otto Dempwolff, 1871-1938; and the papers of the Tongan Tupou Posesi Fanua, 1959-92. Later in the year the PMB will release 58 reels of film of the Methodist Church Overseas Mission records, the originals of which are held in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, and 20 reels of theses completed by students at the Pacific Theological College, Suva, 1968-93.

Enquiries can be directed to the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2000 tel: (02) 62492521.

IAML Conference

Music librarians representing most Australian States attended the Biennial Conference of the Australian Branch of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML) in Adelaide, 29-30 September, 1994.

The program was varied and covered several issues relating to music librarianship. Lynne Carmichael, from the ABC-FM Sound Library, Adelaide, explored the issue of subject expertise for music librarians, relating her experiences as a non-specialist to her position as manager of the ABC-FM Sound Library. Insights into the complexities of copyright on printed music were provided by Fiona Loader, National Print Music Consultant, AMCOS, who gave a 'plain English' summary of libraries' and performers' obligations and rights regarding copyright. A successful user education program in the University of Adelaide Libraries was outlined by Gordon Abbott, Performing Arts Librarian.

Another strand of the conference focused on access to information relating to music. Pam Dunlop, National Library of Australia, spoke of ABN's efforts to improve coverage of music on the National Bibliographic Database (NBD) and access to Australia's music holdings as part of the Distributed National Collection (DNC). She also outlined ABN developments which will facilitate, in the near future, access to overseas data for copy cataloguing, and when ABN is redeveloped, simplify the creation of data and the addition of information.

Delegates were given an introduction to the Internet, and had the opportunity to further explore the Internet to identify sources for music. Lea Beranek also gave a demonstration of a number of music CD ROMs, and delegates were able to assess the potential of these multi-media products.

Other activities of this successful conference included tours of the Barr Smith and Performing Arts Libraries, and a delightful performance of Alfred Hill's String quartet no. 6 (The kids quartet) by the Australian String Quartet.

Papers from the conference will be published in the next issue of Continuo.

L.F. Fitzhardinge Bequest: Gift of Rare Books

Laurie Fitzhardinge was a well-known identity around Canberra, particularly at the Australian National University and the National Library. He had taught at the ANU for a long period, and was both a former staff member and an old friend of the Library, as well as a reader in the Library for many years. His magnificent collection of books had been built up over a lifetime of informed interest in a wide range of subjects, from the classics to Australian history, from art to the history of the printed book.

The collection was in fact a phoenix: it had been started by his father, J.F. Fitzhardinge, but when well established was destroyed by a catastrophic fire. Laurie Fitzhardinge set about the task of rebuilding it and achieved a magnificent collection which he saw as a memorial to his father.

For some years before his death he had wished the part which demonstrated the history of printing to come to the National Library, and his sons are now fulfilling that wish. A group of 30 early printed items and about 300 private press works are being donated under the terms of the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme, and some more material will come at a later stage.

The collection includes five incunables (books printed before 1501). The gem among these is a bible printed in 1477 by Anton Koberger, the printer of the Nuremberg Chronicle.

Among the private press books are works produced by the Golden Cockerel, Cuala, Doves, Eragny, Gregynog, and Kelmscott presses and some European printers. The Library is delighted to be able to add these most impressive works to its Rare Books Collection. They will be kept as a separate group within it, and will be known as The J.F. and L.F. Fitzhardinge Collection.

Portrait of Robert Brown (1733 - 1858)

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Robert Browne by Henry Pickersgill (1782-1875)

When Matthew Flinders set sail in the Investigator in 1801 to circumnavigate New Holland, which he later named Australia, he took with him a Scottish-born naturalist who had been recommended by Sir Joseph Banks. The name of this scientist was Robert Brown, and on the four-year journey Brown collected over 4,000 species of plants and made many new observations on the anatomy of plants, while Flinders carried out a remarkably accurate survey of large previously unrecorded areas of the Australian coastline.

After his return to England Brown was appointed librarian of the Linnean Society. When Sir Joseph Banks died he bequeathed to Brown the use of his house in Soho Square. While living in this house Brown pursued his research and published notable works on many aspects of botanical science, becoming particularly famous for his work on the botany of Australia.

In 1811 Brown was made a fellow of the Royal Society. He was given the Copley medal in 1839, and he also received honours from France and Prussia. The diary he kept during the circumnavigation of Australia is now in the British Museum.

The Library already holds many art works associated with the voyages of Matthew Flinders, including the set of drawings of the Australian coastline produced by William Westall, who was the official artist on the Investigator, as well as a self-portrait of Westall and a plaster bust. Now an oil portrait of Robert Brown by Henry William Pickersgill R.A. (1782-1875) has been purchased by the Library from a London dealer.

This portrait will be a valuable addition to the records of early European exploration of the continent held in the Library. It shows Brown seated by a table, wearing a black suit, a monocle in his left hand. The medium is oil on canvas, and the work is in its original gilt frame.

Australians of the Year Oral History Project

The National Library has commenced its latest oral history project, interviewing winners of the Australians of the Year award. In fact, there are two separate awards, both carrying considerable prestige. The first phase of the project involves interviewing winners of the National Australia Day Council's Australian of the Year award. Later, the Australian newspaper's Australians of the Year will also be recorded.

Since its inception in 1960, a diverse group including scientists, politicians, writers, sportspersons, bureaucrats and entertainers have been honoured by the Council. In 1967 the award was shared by the music group, the Seekers, while brothers Galarrwuy and Mandaway Yunipingu were recipients in 1978 and 1992 respectively.

The Australian newspaper's awards commenced in 1971. Five people have won both awards: Dame Joan Sutherland, Patrick White, Paul Hogan, Allan Border and Fred Hollows. In the situation where award winners have since died, such as Fred Hollows, the project will attempt, where possible, to interview close family members or associates.

In 1996 the National Portrait Gallery, in conjunction with the NADC, will present an exhibition of award winners. It is anticipated that excerpts from the interviews will further enhance the exhibition.

'ON THIS WE STAND': Menzies & the Liberal Party of Australia

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> Throughout the 1950s and 1960s one man dominated Australian politics. The Liberal Party of Australia, led by Sir Robert Menzies from 1945 until 1966, won every federal election from 1949 until 1969. Menzies served a record term of 16 successive years as Prime Minister, and came to symbolise Australia - overseas and to generations of Australians - in a way no other politician has done. Although he was not the party's sole begetter, and its success was not due to him alone, the history of the Liberal Party and Menzies' long political career are inextricably intertwined. Still respected and admired by many, and still loathed by others, to most Australians Menzies' name is synonymous with that of the Liberal Party.

Menzies overcame the apparent failure of his political career in 1941, when his own supporters deposed him as Prime Minister. As he and the Liberals fought their way back to victory in 1949 they published pamphlets such as This Is The True Story of `Pig-Iron Bob' and How Well Do You Know This Man?, a question that to many remains unanswered. Enigmatic and aloof to many of his supporters, warm and open to his friends, and relentlessly hostile to his enemies, Menzies continues to puzzle and intrigue Australians.

The National Library of Australia is the principal custodian of the private records of Australian political history. The Library holds Menzies' papers, and those of scores of his political contemporaries. With these are collections of the posters, pamphlets, handbills, newspapers, sound recordings, books and photographs that chronicle Australian political life.

This is one of a series of exhibitions about Australia's political history that the National Library will mount in the years leading up to the centenary of Federation in 2001.

3rd National Roundtable on Libraries & Asia

The National Library, in cooperation with the Australian National University Library, is organising the 3rd National Roundtable on Libraries and Asia to be held on Thursday 16 February 1995 in the Conference Room, National Library from 9.30 am to 4.15 pm. Participants are expected to include CAUL and CASL members, library schools and related organisations interested in Asia, as well as representatives from the academic community. The Roundtable will look at what has happened since the 2nd National Roundtable on Libraries and Asia held in March 1993 with discussion of future development.

As part of the preparation for this meeting, Cliff Law, Director, DNC Office, will be distributing a brief questionnaire to libraries seeking information on their Asian collections. He will then use this data for a briefing and presentation to the Roundtable.

For further details please contact: Marie Sexton, Principal Librarian, Asian Collections. National Library of Australia. Canberra, tel: (02) 62621 519, fax: (02) 6273 4327, email: msexton@nla.gov.au


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