National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568
No. 18
November 1995


Contents

National Library of Australia Gateways was edited and designed by Leora Kirwan using desktop publishing software.

Please address any comments or enquiries to:

The Editor, Gateways
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National Library of Australia
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E-mail: lkirwan@nla.gov.au

All articles in this publication may be reproduced without written permission on the condition that their source is clearly acknowledged.

National Library of Australia Gateways is issued bimonthly and prepared by the Services to Libraries Division of the National Library of Australia. Subscriptions are available on application at the rate of $A40.00 p.a. from:

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Minister Presents Community Heritage Grants

[Alison Greaves]
LEFT: Alison Greaves of the National Heritage Trust (NSW) receives an award from the Minister for Communications and the Arts, Michael Lee, for archival storage of the National Trust heritage slide collection.
Twenty-seven community heritage organisations from every state and territory in Australia, including Norfolk Island, were awarded grants totalling $A75,000 to help them preserve and provide access to fragile and deteriorating collections of nationally significant documentary material.

The successful applicants were presented with their grants by the Minister for Communications and the Arts, Michael Lee, at a ceremony at the National Library on 18 October.


The Community Heritage Grants Program, which is administered by the National Library of Australia's National Preservation Office, received 200 funding applications this year.

Preservation of an Aboriginal community photograph collection in the Northern Territory; storage and microfilming of the records of a significant Chinese merchant in Victoria, and the restoration of a collection of original Ben Strange cartoons in Western Australia were among the successful applications.

The Community Heritage Grants Program was established in 1994 to help Australia's libraries, community heritage organisations, and historical and genealogical societies with their preservation activities. Many of these organisations lack the funds, equipment and expertise to preserve their collections properly and the continued survival of valued documents which record our nation's heritage is threatened by the effects of age, light, dust, humidity and insects.

The program is an example of 'Creative Nation' cultural policy at work, assisting communities to preserve and present material of cultural significance in its original location or particular geographic region.

WORLD 1 Cataloguing and Gateway Services Announced

[Rossi & Fullerton]


On 8 November 1995, the National Library of Australia issued details of the state-of-the-art cataloguing and gateway services to be released in the second phase of WORLD 1.

LEFT: Joint Project Director of the WORLD 1 development project, Jan Rosi, met the National Library's Assistant Director-General, Collection and Reader Services Division, Jan Fullerton, to discuss how the WORLD 1 Collection Management Service will assist the National Library's cataloguing target of more than 60 000 items a year.




The Assistant Director-General of the National Library, Warwick Cathro, said the specifications for Phase II of the WORLD 1 development project were determined in response to demands from the Australian library community for a modern and efficient cataloguing service. There was also a need to complement the Search Service, to be released in Phase I, with transparent gateways for more advanced searching.

WORLD 1 is being developed and implemented over a two-year period to the end of 1997 and when completed will be Australia's premier library network system providing Search, Collection Management and Document Delivery Services. It will replace the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) and Ozline.

Mr Cathro said development of Phase II will begin in March 1996 and services will be released by mid 1997. The Collection Management Service will provide full data creation and management services, including copy cataloguing, original cataloguing and indexing. The transparent gateway service will provide electronic access to external systems using the international Z39.50 protocol which allows one search system to query and retrieve data from databases located on other search systems.

Mr Cathro said the WORLD 1 development project is divided into a number of phases so that each individual service can be released as soon as possible.

'The content and timing of each phase is determined in consultation with representatives of our current users to ensure a smooth transition from current services to WORLD 1", he said.

Phase I, which is currently under development and includes the Search Service and online document requesting, will be released in August 1996. Phase II will enhance the Search Services released in Phase I, in addition to introducing the cataloguing module.

The content of Phase II was determined after a series of workshops held in Australia and New Zealand during October identified priorities. Key attendees from Australia at the workshops included Neil McLean (Macquarie University), Geoff Payne (CAVAL), Jan Rosi (Joint WORLD 1 Project Director), Judith Pearce (Business Architect, WORLD 1), Jan Fullerton (National Library, Collection and Reader Services Division), Warwick Cathro (National Library, Services to Libraries Division), and Bryony De La Motte (National Library, Services to Libraries Division).

The Z39.50 client to be released in Phase II will enable powerful and easy access to external databases such as the United States' Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC) and Research Libraries and Information Network (RLIN). Catalogue users will be able to access and search external Z39.50-compliant services to obtain copy cataloguing data for rapid incorporation into their local systems and into the National Bibliographic Database (NBD). The National Library will develop partnership arrangements with key overseas sources of cataloguing data to provide support services for users, including a simple registration and billing system.

The Z39.50 client will also deliver improved services to reference librarians and end users, such as students or lawyers. The gateway will enable access and searching of a growing number of external Z39.50 databases as if they were part of the WORLD 1 database suite.

Explaining the choice of client, Mr Cathro said "An increasing number of Australian and overseas database services have developed or are developing Z39.50 capabilities, thus providing WORLD 1 users with the opportunity to access a rich network of information sources".

Also, during Phase II, the custom-made graphical user interface for the search and online document requesting services released for PCs in Phase I will be made available for Macintosh.

The development project for WORLD 1 is a joint venture of the National Library of Australia and the National Library of New Zealand. The final phase, Phase III, will be implemented by the end of 1997 and will include enhancement of the online Document Delivery Service; migration of the interloan system from ABN; Z39.50 server capability; support for Conspectus; and some improved user-interface facilities, including an email sending facility.

WORLD 1 Presentation at VALA

The National Library of Australia, in conjunction with the 1996 VALA (Victorian Association for Library Automation) Biennial Conference and Exhibition, will present a prototype of the WORLD 1 Search Service.

This premier event will take place on Monday 29 January at 2.00 pm in the La Trobe Theatre at the World Congress Centre, Melbourne. This is the first in a series of FREE presentations that will be held in all capital cities and Townsville in early 1996. Dates and venues are listed below.

National Library Assistant Director-General, Services to Libraries, Warwick Cathro, and the Joint Project Director, Jan Rosi, will present and demonstrate a prototype of the search and browse interface for the WORLD 1 service. The search and browse interface is what people will see and use when conducting inquiries on the new service. It is a state-of-the-art pictorial point and click interface, known as a graphical user interface (GUI).

Features such as selecting a database, defining data elements to search, combining search terms, online display and limiting search results will be shown. Other features such as natural language searching, fuzzy matching, relevance ranking, relevance feedback (find more like this), and cross database searching will be explained.

Progress on the project and details on what will be released in subsequent phases will also be outlined.

Invitations to attend this event will be sent to all ABN and Ozline customers. Anyone else who is interested is also welcome to attend. Please RSVP to WORLD 1 Marketing at least one week before the date, on fax: (02) 6273 1180; toll free 1800 026 155 or E-mail: market@nla.gov.au.

29 January        Melbourne          World Congress Centre      2.00 pm    
                                     La Trobe Theatre                      
7 February        Canberra           National Library of        2.00 pm    
                                     Australia                             
                                     Theatre                               
8 February        Sydney             Powerhouse Museum          2.00 pm    
                                     Coles Theatre                         
13 February       Adelaide           Adelaide Convention        2.00 pm    
                                     Centre                                
                                     Meeting rooms 10 & 11                 
14 February       Perth              Parkroyal Perth            2.00 pm    
                                     Stirling Room                         
16 February       Hobart             Sheraton Hobart Hotel      2.00 pm    
                                     Ballroom South                        
19 February       Townsville         Travelodge                 9.30 am    
                                     Board Room                            
21 February       Darwin             Beaufort Hotel             9.30 am    
                                     Ballroom 1                            
23 February       Brisbane           Convention Centre          2.00 pm    
                                     Plaza Level, Room P3                  

WORLD 1: One Step Closer

The WORLD 1 Search Service moved one step closer to implementation with the completion of three key components of the development project during October.

The Search Service, Phase I of the development project, will be released in August 1996 and will provide an advanced searching capability plus online document requesting.

The three areas of functionality recently completed are the search and browse interface, system support functions, and client services.

Search and Browse Interface

The search and browse interface is what people will see and use when conducting enquiries on the new service. The interface permits a range of search types, including easy (for novice or casual users), author/title, precise (for specific fields), command language driven (for experienced users), and several browsable indexes. It is a pictorial point and click interface known as a 'graphical user interface' (GUI).

To test the 'user friendliness' of the interface it was the target of a useability laboratory held at the University of Canberra during September. The interface was closely scrutinised by potential WORLD 1 clients including a cataloguer, a reference librarian, a lawyer and an undergraduate student. The test showed successfully that the interface is easy to use and quick to learn.

System Support Functions

The system support functions will allow the addition of a range of data in formats such as USMARC, SGML, ASCII-tagged or comma-delimited, full-text and imaged (using the JPEG standard). Other important features provided are the ability to send broadcast messages in real time, and the ability to define WORLD 1 code sets which are unique to specific databases and shared across all databases.

Client Services

Client services provide client registration functions and the definition of a large range of products and services which will be browsable. Complex issues such as copyright and royalties have also been addressed. Underpinning this development is a range of help functions, such as context-sensitive help and cue cards.

The Next Step

Work on the next set of functional components for Phase I is now underway. The development team, currently consisting of 40 staff from CSC Australia (the systems integrators) and the National Library, is now addressing the areas of document requesting and item delivery (for implementation through ABN's Interlibrary Loan Subsystem), billing, and other user-support functions such as the ability to load new data.

Development of a Web browser, which will permit access from the Internet to WORLD 1 functions and data that is maintained on the WORLD 1 host, has also begun.

Acquisitions Trip with a Difference

In line with the National Library's increased emphasis on collection development in the Asia-Pacific region, Adrian Cunningham recently undertook an acquisitions trip through parts of Polynesia.

Following on from Tom Ruthven who visited Tonga last year and Amelia Mackenzie who visited Fiji in 1993, Adrian covered the remaining major island groups in Polynesia, namely Western Samoa, American Samoa, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. This was the first official trip by a National Library staff member to any of these four territories.

The collection of Pacific Island material is most successfully accomplished during visits to the region. Pacific Islanders appreciate and respond positively to personal contact, rather than to impersonal approaches made through letters. In addition, the lack of current directory information makes it impossible to identify sources of publishing activity from a distance. In three of the four territories visited by Adrian he received extensive assistance from local librarians and archivists who not only drew up appointment schedules but also provided invaluable introductions. In all four territories he found that one contact often suggested three or four others. As a result, the preliminary list of people to see, which was prepared prior to departure, grew rapidly and more realistically out in the field.

Over the four weeks spent in the islands, Adrian met with more than 100 publishers and booksellers. Many of the publishers are government departments, but there are also a number of non-government organisations, research and academic institutions, commercial enterprises and branches of international organisations. In some cases, these organisations were happy to place the National Library of Australia on their mailing list or agreed to the creation of standing orders; on other occasions these bodies either had no mailing list or had no centralised control over the issuing of publications and reports.

Government publications can be particularly elusive. A general shortage of funds means that departments and instrument-alities often aim at exact print runs and make no provision for printing and storing additional copies. Sometimes only a master copy is retained from which photocopies are produced upon request. The national librarians who accompanied Adrian in Western Samoa and the Cook Islands (Miss Mataina Teo and Mrs Carmen Temata respectively) frequently found titles of which they had been unaware. This puts the difficulties of collecting Pacific publications further into perspective. If the librarians on the spot have trouble ensuring a supply of local publications, the risk factor increases correspondingly for organisations elsewhere.

By the conclusion of his trip Adrian had sent over 200 kilograms of printed material back to Australia and had arranged for local suppliers to forward approximately another 60-70 kg. Between one-half and two-thirds of the publications acquired were free of charge. More than $A3,000 was allocated to up-front purchases and the library undertook commitments to buy about $A4,500 worth of extra material.

The National Library now has accurate and up-to-date contact details about all the important publishers and distributors in each of the territories visited. The results of this trip in conjunction with appropriate follow-up action, should ensure that the National Library will be able to provide access to a very sound collection of information on current activities and developments in Polynesia.

Adrian's visit to Tahiti coincided with France's detonation of the first nuclear device at Muroroa Atoll. His trip was brought to a dramatic conclusion on 7 September when he was forced to flee his downtown hotel in the face of random firebombing and spend three hours on the streets running the gauntlet of looters, riot police and teargas.

Fortunately, Adrian had concluded all his business in Tahiti before the trouble began. Had he arrived a week later, that leg of the trip would probably have been a complete failure.

New Members for IAP

[Amelia McKenzie]

The Northern Territory University Library and the National Library of Singapore have joined the Indonesian Acquisitions Program, operated by the NLA's Regional Office in Jakarta. The library's regional officer, Amelia McKenzie, held discussions with both organisations in early 1995 about their requirements for Indonesian materials, and what the regional office could provide. This led to their decision to join as of 1 July 1995.

The Northern Territory University Library has long had a strong interest in collecting from Eastern Indonesia and the ASEAN countries, reflecting the closeness of the Territory to Australia's northern neighbours. Staff from NTU Library make regular acquisitions trips to Indonesia's Eastern provinces, and maintain the INTAN MAS online database of regional materials. Collection development is hampered, however, by the difficulty of maintaining direct links with suppliers and publishers in Indonesia, and this led to NTU's decision to join the Indonesian Acquisitions Project.

The National Library of Singapore has a rather different collecting focus, but experiences exactly the same problems as Australian libraries in trying to source Indonesian publications. Amelia McKenzie met with the National Library of Singapore director and his staff in Singapore to discuss their prospective collecting profile. She was interested to find that NLS collects for a primarily public library readership, while Singapore's Institute of South-east Asian Studies is seen as meeting academic and research needs. The National Library of Singapore seeks good quality Indonesian reference materials in all subject areas, and a range of non-commercial publications of interest to the general public. The language of the public-ations was also discussed, with English preferred. While Singapore has a minority Malay speaking population, it was noted that Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) publications were liable to be relatively little read, in spite of the fact that the two languages are essentially the same.

In a departure from current practice with existing particip-ants, whereby books are consigned to them via the National Library in Canberra, the two new members will have their books shipped direct to them by courier.

Manuscript Collections in North America and New Zealand

[Graeme Powell]
Some months ago Graeme Powell, the library's manuscript librarian, made a tour of 22 libraries, archives and museums in North America and New Zealand. A brief report of his impressions of collections and services of relevance to indigenous peoples appeared in the July issue of Gateways. A parallel purpose of the trip was to look at recent developments in collecting, managing, and making accessible, manuscripts and private archives.

The 22 repositories are all long established-10 of them were in existence a century ago. They include the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives of Canada, the National Library of New Zealand, great university libraries such as those at Yale and the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and well-endowed private libraries like the Newberry Library in Chicago and the Huntington Library in Los Angeles. They all have magnificent holdings of manuscripts and in some cases the collections are exceptionally broad. The Huntington Library, for instance, holds a large number of medieval manuscripts and extensive collections of British political and literary papers, while the Hoover Institution has many twentieth-century Russian and East European papers.


These libraries and archives continue to be active collectors and old-fashioned rivalry in collecting is still evident. For example the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution were recent contenders for Duke Ellington's papers.

Most institutions, however, are becoming more cautious in their collecting. Money is seldom a factor, as modern manuscripts are usually donated, but lack of storage space is an endemic problem. Libraries are therefore becoming reluctant to accept business records and other large organisational archives.

There is also a feeling that there should be more critical appraisal of the records that are to be retained. The emergence of new forms of social history in the 1970s led some institutions to enlarge greatly the scope of their collecting. Twenty years later some archivists are asserting that many of the collections that were acquired at that time are of dubious significance and that more thought needs to be devoted to what should be preserved in an 'age of superabundant documentation'.

The National Archives of Canada, in particular, is working to develop a cooperative strategy with other archives and libraries, to identify elements in Canadian society that should be documented. The emphasis is not on locating large quantities of paper, but on identifying key individuals and organisations whose lives and activities should be documented. 'Documenting Australian society' is a daunting responsibility and the National Library, along with other Australian collecting institutions, should pay heed to the emerging North American studies on acquisition strategy.

There seems to be a high level of uniformity in the way that manuscript collections are processed and the finding aids produced in the National Library compare favourably with those of the Library of Congress and other overseas libraries. Progress in converting older finding aids to machine-readable form is generally slow. One exception is the National Library of New Zealand, which has created an impressive automated database (TAPUHI) for its manuscript and pictorial collections. It enables researchers to navigate between different levels of description, whereas ABN provides access only at the collection level.

In Canada, the United States and New Zealand publication of manuscript union catalogues by national libraries or archives has virtually ceased. The reasons for this are various: lack of resources, inadequate descriptive standards, insufficient cooperation by other libraries, the existence of private databases such as RLIN. Information about manuscript holdings is still exchanged, but the situation is more complex and confusing for researchers than was the case a decade or so ago. So far very few manuscript guides are available through the Internet. Against this background, the survival of the Guide to Collections of Manuscripts Relating to Australia is remarkable, although its future is also now being debated.

There is a much talk at present about making manuscripts more accessible through digitisation, but the institutions visited were invariably modest about the work, if any, that they are doing. Almost without exception, priority is being given to digitising photographs and other pictorial items. Apart from treasures, such as the Gettysburg Address, manuscripts are seen as more problematic, with major copyright and preservation issues to be resolved. They are also far bulkier (the Library of Congress has about 50 million manuscripts), so digitisation, like microfilming, is likely to be highly selective, at least in the immediate future. Meanwhile researchers must continue to visit manuscript reading rooms and the perennial questions of opening hours, reader's tickets, supervision, security, and photocopying continue to affect the relations between manuscript curators and manuscript users.

Indigenous Research Ethics Conference, 27-29 September 1995

[John Thompson]
The National Library of Australia was represented at the Indigenous Research Ethics Conference organised by the Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Participation, Research and Development at James Cook University of North Queensland, 27-29 September. National Library staff member, John Thompson (left), who is preparing a guide to the library's holdings of materials relating to Australia's indigenous peoples, presented a paper at this conference under the title 'White Australia has a Black History': Sources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in the National Library of Australia. In addition to outlining the nature and purpose of a guide to holdings, the paper looked at the wider issue of library services to indigenous peoples and noted the steps now being taken by the National Library to develop strategies to enhance both the level and quality of its outreach services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The conference attracted a wide range of participants, drawn from many disciplines, each concerned with particular aspects of work with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The overriding theme of the conference was the critical issue of the ethics involved in working with indigenous people, the importance of consultation and the need to recognise Aboriginal community ownership of information and knowledge obtained during Aboriginal research projects. Other issues of importance included consideration of the ways in which Australia's indigenous peoples are represented in the media and the steps now being taken to counter the long tradition of stereotypical reporting which has dominated both the electronic and print media in Australia and which has influenced the ways in which indigenous issues are understood by the Australian community. The problem of the exploitation and abuse of copyright, particularly in the visual arts, was strongly debated.

While the conference provided numerous examples of flagrant abuse of both ethics and trust, it was overall a remarkably positive and optimistic occasion which demonstrated the gains now being made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in reclaiming both their history and their cultural identity.

The National Library project to publish a guide to its holdings was favourably received as part of the effort now required to ensure that access is given to materials which are part of the heritage of indigenous Australians but which hitherto have remained largely unknown.

What's New on the National Library's World Wide Web Site?

The National Library's World Wide Web site continues to grow every month. It can be well worth a browse to see the latest items as they appear. From the NLA home page (http://www.nla.gov.au) you are able to explore a wide range of Australian and international resources.

Significant additions in the month of September were:

Additions in the month of October included:

You can check the new additions to the National Library's site at any time from: http://www.nla.gov.au/new/. Just follow the hyperlinks!

The EWP Chinnery Collection

It is not unusual for the process of acquiring collections of personal papers to amount to several years of careful negotiation and dedicated persistence on the part of Library staff. Some transactions span decades from the first contact with the donor. Often, close relationships develop between Library staff and the donor or his/her family.

The acquisition of the E.W.P. Chinnery Papers in July this year is a prime example of this phenomenon. In 1962 the National Librarian, Harold White suggested to Chinnery that the Library might be an appropriate home for papers, photographs, slides and other records of his career. The association which began with the Papers' creator was continued with Chinnery's children. Library staff, conscious of the importance of this collection to future researchers, provided guidance to the family on matters of arrangement and preservation long before transfer was imminent.

Australian-born Ernest William Pearson Chinnery was an anthropologist who joined the public service of Papua in 1909 and became a patrol officer in 1910. At the end of World War I he was a research student at Cambridge under A.C. Haddon. Returning to New Guinea, he was a labour adviser to New Guinea Copper Mines Ltd until 1924 when he was appointed government anthropologist of the Mandated Territory. Chinnery became the Territory's first director of district services and native affairs in 1932. In 1939 he was seconded to the Northern Territory administration with responsibility for native affairs. In 1947 he was an Australian adviser at the Trusteeship Council, United Nations.

The papers include patrol reports/diaries, field notebooks and expedition reports by Chinnery and others, official, personal and academic correspondence, anthropological research material, translations of German and French texts, lectures, broadcasts and articles, conference and council papers, administration handbooks and ordinances, articles and notes written by others, accounts given by natives, publications on anthropology, language, education, United Nations reports and publications, photographs, maps and sketches. A large collection of negatives and contact prints is held in the Pictorial Collection.

Among the correspondents are many notable anthropologists and administrators such as Sir Staniforth Smith, John Taylor, C.L.A. Abbott, Bill Harney, A.P. Elkin, Theodor Strehlow, Camilla Wedgwood, Olive Pink, Sir Baldwin Spencer, A.C. Haddon and even Margaret Mead. One incomplete letter written by Mead in 1932 from Karawop on the Sepik River contains lengthy and forthright answers to Chinnery's questions about native education, polygamy and secret societies. Prefacing her explanation of polygamous practices, she comments drily: 'Here I take it you want eye wash for the missions'.

Chinnery's daughter, Sheila Waters, steeped herself in the collection during the period that she cared for it. She became somewhat of an authority on its contents and enhanced its research value through her painstaking arrangement and documentation. She has provided summary lists, detailed lists, abstracts of correspondence, cross-references to related material and notes highlighting significant items or identifying signatures.

Thirty-three years after that first approach by Harold White, the Chinnery Collection can be numbered amongst our finest resources not only for a biography of the creator, but also for the study of history, politics and society in Papua New Guinea and the Northern Territory, and of the people who played an important part in the development of these regions.

Remote Access Trial 1994-95

In December 1994 and between February and April 1995 the Document Supply Service of the National Library of Australia undertook a trial investigation of the issues involved in the supply of documents from international commercial vendors, taking into account ease of access, time taken to supply, and cost.

The trial was conducted against the background of:

To get a reasonable sample size for the trial within the available budget, four commercial vendors were chosen. They were: British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC); Canadian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI); USA's The Genuine Article (TGA); and UnCover (USA), with which the National Library has a special agreement.

In order to compare supply rates and judge like with like, requests included a block of 200 which was sent to all four vendors. The results obtained from the 200 identical requests were characteristic of the results, analysed below, for the test as a whole.

Choice of requests

Before the trial commenced, it was decided that requests would be taken from the following categories:

Requests were sent 'blind' with no prior check of subject or title coverage. Copies supplied during the trial were sent to the requesting library at the standard charge of $A9.00 with a covering sheet attached seeking comments from the requester.

Records

A detailed log recording performance data was maintained for requests sent to each of the vendors.

Analysis of results

A total number of 1122 requests (74%) were successfully filled.

Requests

                       BLDSC        CISTI       TGA       UnCover    
No. requested           381          370        392         373      
No. successful          316          260        273         273      
% successful            82%          70%        69%         73%      
Unsuccessful            65           110        119         100      
% unsuccessful          18%          30%        31%         27%      

Delivery time: average number of days from requests to receipt

                       BLDSC        CISTI       TGA       UnCover    
Av. time to          2d, 18hrs   10d, 14hrs      5d      1d, 21hrs   
receipt               by fax;                                        
                   10d, 6hrs by                                      
                       mail                                          
Av.time to           5d, 12hrs    9d, 10hrs  3 d, 3hrs   3d, 2hrs    
receipt                                                              
of negative                                                          

Overall average delivery time=5 days, 7 hours

Costs for each vendor

                   BLDSC         CISTI       TGA        UnCover      
Av. cost per      $A21.86       $A17.87    $A37.48      $A18.94       
article (Aust. dollars)                                              

Cost (average cost=$A24.03)

NOTE. The above costs are based on the sample of requests sent by the National Library. As there was no subject analysis, the cost should not be interpreted to be anything other than the costs of the NLA requests.

Features and issues

Poor quality

There were some problems with UnCover articles where it was felt that the scanning had not been up to standard. In some cases requests had to be resubmitted because the quality was quite bad. Any problems with the other vendors were usually to do with the poor quality of faxes.

Incomplete supply

This proved to be a problem only with UnCover, largely due to fax transmission difficulties.

Accuracy

There were some instances of the vendor sending an article meant for someone else. There were also some cases where one supplier could not identify the article requested but another supplier was able to action the request without difficulty.

Negative replies

BLDSC codes are explained in their handbook. UnCover and CISTI messages were clear. However some difficulty was experienced at first with unclear messages from TGA, which did not have a complete list of negative messages available to its clients.

Access methods

BLDSC was found to be the most complicated, necessitating the creation of a Word file before transmitting requests via the Internet and ARTTel. There were some problems with ARTTel which prevented ordering for several days at a time. Staff found no problems with the other services once an online format for requesting was set up.

A major problem emerged in February and March while attempting to access UnCover during regular working hours. It took up to 20 minutes to order a document and often the connection dropped out, whereas after 8.00 pm EST searching and ordering took approximately two minutes per request.

Delivery time

All articles from CISTI were delivered by air courier, as delivery by Ariel was not available at that time. BLDSC offered mail and fax delivery and both were used.

One factor which emerged was the amount of time needed for all requests to flow in and for the records which were kept during the trial to be completed. Request status reports from BLDSC were still being received in August. Each vendor needed some some prompting about requests not received.

Communication with vendors

It was found that CISTI was the most prompt and helpful vendor with information about its service, although it was useful to have an Australian agent for BLDSC (DA Information) and UnCover (NLA).

Billing and receipt of statements

A question which emerged early on with all vendors was how the National Library of Australia would establish a routine for putting money into deposit accounts on a regular basis. It appeared that the services had certain methods which were not necessarily acceptable to the National Library's Accounts Section.

BLDSC. Payment to BLDSC was made in Australian dollars through DA Information Services in Melbourne. Detailed monthly statements (in units, not in pounds or dollars) of account balances and every request supplied during the previous month, were received.

CISTI provided detailed monthly statements of the balance of the National Library of Australia's account. The monthly statements showed the cost of the total article fee and any royalty fees in US dollars. For exchange rate reasons, it would have been preferable to receive the invoice in Canadian dollars, but CISTI's policy is to invoice foreign customers in US dollars.

TGA offered regular statements showing a declining balance, although no reports were received from December 1994 until January, and then initially in bulk. Regular statements showing a declining balance constituted a useful form of reporting; not only did the statements show the precise balance in the NLA account but they also itemised each article requested (whether supplied or not).

UnCover. ABN provides fully itemised statements for all articles requested from UnCover using the ABN deposit account. However, the final copyright charge is given in Australian dollars (rather than the original US displayed at the request stage).

Add-on charges

The most confusing vendor was TGA which had different and complex levels of charges depending on whether the requestor was in the US or not. Compared to this the fixed CISTI charge, the UnCover base fee and variable copyright charge, and the BLDSC unit charges were quite straightforward.

Conclusion

The main difficulties were in establishing contact with vendors, setting up the deposit accounts, and knowing the amount still available in those accounts. The overall success rate for requests was 74%, compared with 70% for the NLA's standard document supply service in 1994-95.

As can be seen in the tables above, it is difficult to draw a definite conclusion from the trial as to vendor performance, but it did show that it is relatively easy to make requests, supply time is acceptable (especially with electronic forms of delivery), and the average cost is on a par with the Fast Track rate.

News Without Paper

Early in1994 there were about 20 newspapers titles on the Internet. Less than 12 months later the number had increased to nearly 100, and now, in the last quarter of 1995, the total number of free newspapers available on the World Wide Web has jumped to 400, with the United States contributing over half the titles.

These figures reflect what most of us would consider to be mainstream local and national newspapers and do not take into consideration the 100 or more university newspapers also available online. Newspapers representing Europe, Latin and South America, Canada, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and the Middle East are on the Net, with electronic publishing these days reaching from Antarctica to Iceland and Australia to Zaire. The majority of the papers are in English but there are a variety of non-English 'mother tongues' including Spanish, Dutch, German, Swedish, Greek, Russian and Chinese (for which character software is required).

Access to the newspapers is generally free. Some require registration to view and there are a few that are only available on subscription. As with printed versions, subscription prices vary for the electronic product. Morgunbladid, Iceland's largest daily newspaper in the national language, charges about $A20 a month for access and has most of its e-subscribers offshore. Icelanders living outside the country find it an easy, convenient, timely and inexpensive way to keep up with current news from their home country. The electronic version arrives on the day of publication and is actually less expensive, considering shipping charges, than subscribing to the 'dead tree' version.

However, don't rush out and cancel your subscription to the print version. You may be disappointed with some of the products available. The content of many of the free papers leaves much to be desired. They contain only small sections of the print version, or include only the major stories of the day, leaving out much of what we would read in the normal course of browsing the printed version.

[Paul Livingston]

Publishers are not yet making money from electronic newspapers, as they don't appear to have worked out how to target advertisers and readers for profit. This poses the question: if publishers are not making money then why do they do it? Their philosophy may be that it is better to do something rather than nothing. Meanwhile, publishing staff are gaining expertise in the medium while experimenting and gathering market feedback from their free product.
LEFT: Paul Livingston, Coordinator Reading Rooms




E versus P

The electronic newspaper cannot be a carbon copy of the print version. The space available on a computer screen limits the number of columns that may be viewed in a scrolling format, and more than random placement of articles on a page is necessary. Information on the printed page is easy to browse and accessible to anyone who can read, but is not well indexed. The online version, on the other hand, requires some understanding of computers and their use and is not browser-friendly but is extremely easy to use in a search mode. Other advantages of the electronic version range from simply not having to retrieve the paper from a puddle on rainy days to using hypertext links within the article. Writers no longer have space limitations because hypertext provides the opportunity to link stories to previous articles, thereby allowing readers to get a complete picture if they missed the earlier article. Links to relevant background information can also be made, allowing access to in-depth detail on the topic.

Although still in its infancy, electronic newspaper publishing will continue to grow. At the moment Australia has three free papers: the Age, Australian Financial Review and the Sydney Morning Herald. At the recent News Corporation annual meeting Rupert Murdoch said,

'I expect that by this time next year all our newspapers, and certainly all their classified advertising, will be online to anybody with a computer and available through the Internet'.

While we wait for a major breakthrough in production and delivery, why not experiment using one of these pointers to start you on a journey of global 'newspaper' reading.

New Technology in Stack Services

The Stack Services Section of the National Library of Australia is responsible for housing the library's collection, retrieving material to service client requests and general maintenance of the collection.

The library holds approximately five million items on site. A further one million items are stored in a warehouse located 15 kilometres away from the main building. As the library operates a closed access system, material is retrieved manually by staff in Stack Services. During busy periods approximately 2,000 requests are serviced on a daily basis. To provide a more efficient retrieval service and to address occupational health and safety issues, new technology has progressively been introduced into Stack Services over recent years.

Integrated Library Management System (ILMS)

Since the Integrated Library Management System was introduced in 1992, terminals have been installed in all stack areas. This allows staff in Stack Services to check bibliographical details against the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) if the information provided on the call slip is incorrect or incomplete. Previously, these slips would have been returned to the Main Reading Room as unlocated requests.

Designated staff in Stack Services also perform basic catalogue maintenance tasks and update holdings records if material has been identified as missing. Lists of missing items are generated on a regular basis and referred to the Australian and Overseas Collection Development units for replacement. This has improved service delivery by further reducing the number of unlocated requests.

Recognising the need for greater control over material in use, the library has investigated the feasibility of using the automated circulation module. At present, material from designated high use Dewey decades is checked out on the automated circulation module before it is despatched to the Main Reading Room. This alerts readers to the fact that the item is already out on loan and assists staff in Stack Services to monitor outstanding loans.

Transcar

The library has been operating a Transcar system on the Lower Ground 2 Floor level of the main building for several years. The Transcar vehicles are controlled by a computer and travel along programmed routes which can be varied. Each car is capable of carrying up to 300 kilograms and has inbuilt safety features. Use of the Transcar system has improved service delivery and reduced the amount of material moved manually.

[Valdi Tasak]

Motorised scooters

As the library holds around 200 kilometres of material in the main building, motorised scooters have been introduced into three of the larger stack areas to reduce the amount of walking involved in the retrieval of material. The scooter batteries are charged overnight. Flashing lights and governors have been fitted to the scooters for increased safety. Although existing stack areas were not designed to accommodated motorised scooters, wider isles will be included in future plans so the scooters can be used safely in stack areas.

LEFT: Stack attendant, Valdi Tasak, two floors underground.


New Headings in APAIS Thesaurus

The National Library's APAIS section recently completed its annual review of APAIS thesaurus terms. Altogether 31 new headings have been added to the APAIS Thesaurus. This year, in response to feedback from APAIS users, special emphasis was given to terms in the arts.

After reviewing the volume of literature being indexed in the arts, substantial changes were made to headings in the Aboriginal arts, art and music fields. In the past, headings in these areas have been heavily utilised making the scanning of articles cumbersome for both online and hardcopy users of APAIS. A list of the new and deleted headings appears below.

New thesaurus headings

Aboriginal artists                Folk music                             
Aboriginal children               Instrumental music                     
Aboriginal literature             Jewellery                              
Art history                       Musical instruments                    
Arts festivals                    Orchestral music                       
Asian studies                     Paintings                              
Bark paintings                    Performance art                        
Ceramics                          Portraits                              
Country and western music         Printmaking                            
Craft                             Republicanism                          
Cultural tourism                  Rock music                             
Decorative arts                   Rock paintings                         
Drawings                          Taxation law                           
Ethnomusicology                   Urban consolidation                    
Feminist art                      Women artists                          
Film festivals                                                           

Thesaurus headings deletions

Current cost accounting           Handicrafts                            

Users will be able to search for articles under the new headings from 1996. Please note that the major purpose of the Thesaurus is to provide subject terms for APAIS indexing, so some otherwise worthy terms suggested by subject experts were not accepted simply because there was not a sufficient volume of literature being indexed on the subject.

For further information contact Vera Dunn, Thesaurus Librarian, APAIS. Tel. (02) 6262 1650 or e-mail apais@nla.gov.au

APAIS Thesaurus: A List of Subject Terms Used in the Australian Public Affairs Information Service, 5th edn., Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1994, $A17.50 (postage included) is available from Sales and Distribution, National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT 2600. (02) 6262 1664. The Thesaurus is also available on disc for $A150.00.

Revision to Australian Periodicals in APAIS

Since 1963, a number of periodicals have been chosen for comprehensive indexing in APAIS because of their importance in their fields. All articles, with the exception of those less than one page in length, book reviews, notes and imaginative literature, including poetry or short stories, are indexed from these periodicals. The periodicals indexed are listed in the front of each issue of APAIS. Periodical titles considered for inclusion or deletion from this list are reviewed each year.

In 1996 the following additional periodical titles will be indexed:

Other changes to the list of comprehensively indexed APAIS periodicals are as follows:

No longer comprehensively indexed:

Periodicals which have ceased publication

Periodicals which have changed their titles:

For more information contact Gaye Gericke, Senior Indexing Librarian on tel. (02) 6262 1650 or email: apais@nla.gov.au.

Light That Time Has Made by Paul Hasluck

[Book Cover]
Light That Time Has Made is a collection of essays and reviews, now in the National Library's Manuscript collection, which were written by the politician and Governor General, Sir Paul Hasluck, in the years before his death in 1993.

With an introduction by his son, Nicholas Hasluck, Light That Time Has Made presents some fascinating anecdotes about several of Paul Hasluck' contemporaries, including

Curtin, Evatt, Menzies and Whitlam. It also addresses such topical issues as the republican debate, the politicisation of the public service and equal rights for all Australians, particularly Aboriginal Australians.

ISBN 0 642 10652 5, pbk, $A24.95. From the National Library Shop, Sales & Distribution, National Library of Australia, CANBERRA ACT 2600, and selected book stores.


New Readers Guides

The Information Services Section of the National Library has three additions to its Guides for Readers series.

Music, no. 12 in the series, was released at a Reader Education talk on access to the music collections in August. It describes the printed music collections (scores, albums and sheet music), books, journals, newspapers (including newspaper clippings files), sound recordings, films and videos, manuscripts, theatre programmes, pictorial material, theses and libretti.

Catalogue access to printed music is explained in detail and includes a list of local subject headings used by the National Library to describe music by Australian composers or on Australian topics.

The National Library's catalogue is available for searching free of charge to anyone who has access to Internet. Its URL address is http://www.nla.gov.au/webpac/. Significant indexes to the Library's music collections, as well as other reference tools held by the Library, are also listed.

Australian Company Information, no. 22 in the series, includes pointers to locating business directories, annual reports, journal articles and archival material. It also contains a select list of CD-ROMs and online databases.

Statistics, no. 25, is in two parts: Australian and Overseas. Both list reference tools to statistical publications, give pointers to historical and current statistics, and provide subject access.

The Guides for Readers have also been published on the Internet at the URL address http://www.nla.gov.au/guides/

For further information contact Margaret Dent, on (02) 6262160 or E-mail: mdent@nla.gov.au.

[Cover Up]

Cover Up: The Art of Magazine Covers in Australia 'Cover Up', curated by Robert Holden, is the latest National Library travelling exhibition to appear in the library's ground floor gallery. The official Canberra opening of this visually stunning exhibition was by Sheila Scotter AM MBE, the first editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia and the founding editor of Vogue Living.

'Cover Up' features original artwork by such well-known artists as Margaret Preston, Thea Proctor, Hera Robinson, Douglas Annand, Norman Lindsay, and May Gibbs. A major part of the exhibition is about jazz age Australia between the wars. This was a time when the borders between 'graphic propaganda'-offering new models of consumer identification-and 'high art' were blurring; when artists were exploiting fashionable and democratic art genres for consumer society through print making, illustration, advertising art and magazine cover art.


Integral to this modernisation process were the growth of the fashion and advertising industries in Australia, the concurrent popularity of the department store and the way all three combined to create a new suburban lifestyle based on consumerism. Magazine covers played an alluring part in the spectacle which characterised this modern consumer culture.

Like store displays, the covers featured colourful, quality commissioned artwork which acted as windows of desire for the contemplation of dreams.

The exhibition will remain open to the public until 18 February 1995 before travelling across the Nullabor to the Lawrence Wilson Gallery, University of Western Australia, where it will be on display from 5 April to 26 May.

Admission to this elegant and nostalgic exhibition is free.


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Last updated 27 May 1997
Link(s) updated 15 September 1999