National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568
No. 25
January 1997


Contents

National Library of Australia Gateways was edited and designed by

Leora Kirwan-Judge using desktop publishing software. Please address any comments or enquiries to:

The Editor, Gateways
Network Services Marketing
National Library of Australia
CANBERRA A.C.T. 2600
email: gateways@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 $40.00 p.a. from:

Sales and Distribution
National Library of Australia
CANBERRA A.C.T. 2600
Tel.: (02) 6262 1646 Fax: 61 6 273 1084

New centre for humanities to work with NLA

[Humanities Collaboration]
Left to right: Pam Gatenby, Director Reader Services; Jan Fullerton, Assistant Director-General Collections and Reader Services and Barbara Perry, Senior Manager Pictorial, inspect items in the Rex Nan Kivell Collection with Professors Nicholas Thomas and Ian McCalman from the Australian National University

Humanities research in Australia has received a multimillion dollar boost with the establishment of the new Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at the Australian National University. Australia's first Commonwealth Special Research Centre in the Humanities, the centre will be funded by the Australian Research Council to the tune of $7 million over nine years. The centre is set to offer exciting new opportunities to scholars and Australian libraries. 'One of the key objectives of the centre is to unlock the potential of the really rich archives in places like the National Library and the State Library of New South Wales and to develop collaborative projects with those institutions,' said director of the centre, Professor Nicholas Thomas. 'The National Library is the model for this collaboration,' he said.

The centre will work with the National Library on a number of endeavours, including a multimedia project on the Cook archives and a major exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of the portraits from the Rex Nan Kivell Collection.

Professor Thomas explained that these kinds of projects aimed to enhance and enrich the 'raw material' of a collection by adding an interpretative context to online material. 'We are very excited to be in partnership with libraries in developing these projects,' he said. Professor Thomas said the centre is looking to other joint projects with libraries, such as holding conferences at those where collections are of relevance to the centre's research interests.

The centre will conduct an ambitious and wide-ranging research program in cultural history, art history, visual studies and anthropology and will focus on the formation of cultural identity and cross-cultural relations in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Activities will be closely linked with the conference and fellowship programs of the ANU's Humanities Research Centre (HRC).

Head of the HRC, Professor Iain McCalman, who will also head the new centre's program in Cultural History, told Gateways that specific collaborations with institutions such as the National Library were built into the project from the outset. The focus will be on major collections, with all projects online and available to libraries and the wider scholarly community.

'There will be an opportunity for scholars from libraries to come and work with us,' said Professor McCalman, 'so they are able to produce a more sustained kind of work.' Professor McCalman also encouraged all librarians and archivists with an interest in cross-cultural exchanges in the Pacific or Indian Ocean, from the eighteenth century to the present day, to consider a fellowship at the centre to advance their research. 'It's the old-fashioned idea of the librarian scholar,' he said.

Research at the centre will be organised in three overlapping streams - Cultural History, led by Professor McCalman and Professor Joan Kerr; Visual Research, led by Mr David McDougall; and Contemporary Art and Culture, led by Professor Thomas.

Jan Fullerton, Assistant Director-General in charge of collections and reader servives at the National Library, hopes that the establishment of the centre will lead to greater use of the National Library's magnificent collections of pictorial works, manuscipts, oral history records, maps and printed works. Further projects, seminars and electronic products should follow, she says.

The Cross-Cultural Research Centre began operating this month (i.e. January 1997). With the Humaniies Research Centre, it is co-located in the AD Hope Building on the campus of the Australian National University.

NLA welcomes Tracy Lane Hudson

[Tracy Lane Hudson with John Thompson]

Tracy Lane Hudson with John Thompson, Director, Collection Research, Documentation and Promotion


In November last year, the National Library of Australia welcomed Tracy Lane Hudson who has taken up a training cadetship under the Aboriginal Cadetship Program administered for the Commonwealth Government by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA).

Tracy is one of 24 students successfully placed in Australian Public Service agencies by DEETYA in 1996. The Aboriginal Cadetship program offers opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to gain the necessary accreditation and/or qualifications for employment in a range of professional positions in the Australian Public Service.


Tracy is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in English and Ancient History, at the University of Western Australia. She completed her work placement program during the long summer vacation and, once she has secured her degree, will join the National Library as a permanent staff member.

Originally from Queensland, Tracy is a member of the Kalkadoon nation which exists in and around her birthplace, Mt Isa. Tracy has family links throughout Queensland, including Townsville, where she worked for some years in an 'Aboriginal identified' position in local government.

Tracy also spent six years-from 1990 to 1996-in the Perth TAFE system; first in the Aboriginal Section of Head Office and, more recently, in a TAFE College working with an Aboriginal collection of library materials.

Over the past couple of months Tracy has been familiarising herself with the National Library through a series of placements in Technical Services. Like other newcomers, she is a bit daunted by the sheer size of the National Library and the complexity of its operations. 'Working in Serials Processing was like being thrown into the deep end and told to start swimming!', she said.

A lively and outgoing personality, Tracy has been quick to establish friendships with a number of colleagues and has also linked up with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders working in library and information services in the ACT.

Tracy will return to Canberra in November 1997, hopefully with her degree studies behind her, ready to begin full-time work in the National Library.

Improved access to chemistry information soon

[Librarians and Chemists]
Above: Librarians and chemists from Australian universities, the CSIRO and the National Library met at the NLA in November 1996 to examine ways of improving access to print and electronic chemistry information.

Librarians and chemists from a wide range of Australian universities and the CSIRO met recently at the National Library to discuss ways of collaboratively establishing a quality chemistry information infrastructure in Australia. The meeting was jointly organised by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI), the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) and the DNC Office, at the National Library.

The active participation in the meeting of chemists researching and teaching in institutions across Australia ensured that there was a very strong user focus to the discussions, which was subsequently reflected in the meeting outcomes.

The meeting agreed on a range of goals and strategies to move towards a stronger chemistry infrastructure. These include:

The agenda, papers, minutes and meeting outcomes are available from the following Web site, established by the National Library to provide a focus for the group's ongoing activities. The URL is http://www.nla.gov.au/dnc/chem/index.html [no longer active].

The meeting also established working parties to carry forward each of the agreed goals and a steering committee to ensure that the outcomes of the meeting are realised. The chair of the steering group is Professor Graeme George, from the Queensland Institute of Technology. For further information on the meeting and the activities of the group, contact Graeme George email g.george@qut.edu.au or Marian Bate, principal librarian at the University of NSW Library, email mbate@unsw.edu.au

Newsflash:

Congratulations to the University of Melbourne which recently provided collection assessment information to the Australian Conspectus database in the subject areas of History and Auxiliary Sciences and Biological Sciences.

Reports can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/conspectus/history.html and http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries/hosted/vubio.html

PANDORA: Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources in Australia

With the increasing amount of material being produced by online electronic publishing, issues concerning the long-term access and permanent archiving of such materials are creating concern in academic and research communities throughout the world. PANDORA is a new project initiated by the National Library of Australia to investigate strategies for the storage, preservation and access to digital data in the context of the creation of an electronic archive of library materials. This study is being funded in part by the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) Working Group on Electronic Publishing.

The library is committed to preserving selected electronic publications of lasting cultural value for access by the Australian community, now and in the future. For some months, the Selection Committee on Online Australian Publications (SCOAP) and the Electronic Unit have been assessing online electronic materials to identify those that have national significance and should be preserved by the National Library. Guidelines for the selection have been published.

Some initial work has been done on experimenting with ways of cataloguing, organising and managing Australian online electronic publications so that their existence is visible to potential users. A listing of Australian Electronic Journals by the National Library is a result of this.

The PANDORA project will capitalise on existing staff skills and expertise that have been developed in handling and understanding the complexities of managing electronic publications. We are interested in covering the full range of materials published online in Australia-including serials, newspapers and books, as well as unique online formats like personal home pages.

The overall goal of the PANDORA project is to develop and implement procedures for the capture, archiving and provision of long-term access to online electronic Australian publications selected for national preservation.

Strategies for achieving this goal are to:

develop a proposal for a national approach to the long-term preservation of these publications.

The project will be managed within the Collections and Reader Services Division of the library. Since we regard it as essential that creators, publishers and collectors of electronic publications should be included in considering issues of long-term access and conditions covering access, an advisory committee consisting of representatives of the major stakeholders in the topic is being established. It will have its first meeting early in 1997.

For further information on the PANDORA project, contact the project manager, Wendy Smith, on tel. (02) 6262 1622, or email wsmith@nla.gov.au

ISBN Agency: NLA talks with D.W. Thorpe

The National Library of Australia has begun negotiations with the Australian publisher D.W. Thorpe on the subject of transferring responsibility for the operation of the Australian ISBN Agency from the library to Thorpe.

It is anticipated that should such a transfer eventuate, the effects on customers of the Australian ISBN Agency would be minimal. The National Library will report on any developments during the negotiations, which are expected to be concluded by June 1997.

Comments on any aspect of the proposed transfer are invited, and may be addressed to:

Mr W M Horton
Director-General
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600.
Email: whorton@nla.gov.au
Tel.: (02) 6262 1262. Fax: (02) 6257 1703

Capturing the Canberra community

[Cycling]

Cycling to work, 29 August

The National Library's most recent photographic project, 'Canberra Life', is well under way. Since September, the National Library's photographers have been out and about, taking photographs for the project and for eventual inclusion in the library's Pictorial Collection.

The aim of 'Canberra Life' is to document in pictures particular social aspects of everyday life in Canberra in the late 20th century, with emphasis on those aspects which are unique to Canberra or which characterise life in the national capital.



The project has been divided into eight categories: daily life, health and fitness, transport, sport, entertainment, education, cultural life and religion. The first photographs have been taken on the daily life theme. Although hundreds will be taken, only about 100 will be selected for inclusion in the final 'album'. Eventually, 800 photographs will represent the eight categories and the snapshot of life as it is lived in the national capital at just this moment in history will be preserved for generations to come.

In recent years the Pictorial Section has designed a number of major photo-graphic projects, constructed around particular themes, in order to fill gaps in its holdings and to shape the collection according to a deliberate plan. These initiatives have included the 'Regional Cities and Major Towns' project (nearing completion), 'Law in Australian Society' (ongoing) and 'Cultural Diversity in the Suburbs' (soon to commence).

The role of the National Library's Pictorial Section is to preserve in pictures a record of Australian life and achievement. This complements and enriches the material preserved in other formats such as books, newspapers, manuscripts, microform, maps, oral history recordings and film. The library has over 500 000 photographs in the collection and over 40 000 original works of art.

Pictorial material is available for research, for exhibition and for reproduction and is being progressively added to the library's new Internet database, called Images 1, which already holds

13, 500 graphic reproductions from the pictorial collection. Availability of the library's pictorial holdings on the Internet makes the collection accessible to a wider audience and facilitates access by all Australians to their documentary cultural heritage.

[Busking Magician]


Busking magician entertains shoppers in Civic, 18 October



Photos: Loui Seselja, National Library of Australia Photographic Services, 1996











Future of the Film and Video Lending Service

[Warwick Cathro]

Warwick Cathro

The following statement was released by Dr Warwick Cathro, Assistant Director-General Services to Libraries, National Library of Australia, on 20 December 1996.

The National Library of Australia has developed a proposal for the future of its Film & Video Lending Service. The library believes that the implementation of this proposal would provide an assured future for the service. As well as ensuring that services to users are maintained, the proposed arrangements would, in the library's view, support the long term interests of film culture in Australia.



Issues for the future operation of the service

The Film & Video Lending Service has been in existence for 50 years. It has about 700 currently active users, including universities, film societies, government agencies, schools, public libraries and businesses.

The service is based on two distinct collections, the Screen Studies Collection and the General Collection, which together comprise 14 900 titles, mostly overseas films. The Screen Studies Collection, a unique national resource, contains about 6,300 titles, with 80% on 16 mm film. The General Collection, which includes titles covering a broad range of subjects, contains about 8,300 titles, of which about half are on VHS.

The National Library has carefully assessed the Film & Video Lending Service in the context of its overall strategic plan. The library has determined that its two major priorities are to support and enhance access to Australian information, and to support and enhance the Australian library system. The service does not contribute significantly to the first of these priorities, given that the Film & Video Lending Collection consists mostly of overseas films, and given that the National Film and Sound Archive has the primary responsibility for preservation of and access to Australian film culture. In addition, the service plays only a marginal role in support of the Australian library system. Consequently, the library has reached the conclusion that the continued operation of the service is not one of its core activities. The library's shrinking budget (with a cut this year of about $1.2M in real terms) has increased the pressure on the library to focus on core activities.

A further issue for the library has been the steep decline in the use of the service. Borrowing has declined steadily since the mid 1980s. For example, there were:

The decline in usage has not been uniform across the two collections. While loans from the General Collection have fallen by more than 90% since the early 1980s, those from the Screen Studies Collection have fallen by only about 15% for the same period. Demand for the General Collection has been most affected by the growth of in-house collections based on low-cost acquisition of video cassettes and video equipment.

In examining the future of the Film & Video Lending Service, the library has been mindful of the needs of the current users. It is also aware of the rich cultural resource which the collection, particularly the Screen Studies Collection, represents. Consequently, the library's goals with respect to the service are to ensure that:

Nevertheless, the library needs to make reductions in its 1996/97 budget, and some of these budget reductions affect the Film & Video Lending Service. In the light of the steep fall in use, the library has ceased the acquisition of new materials for the General Collection. It has also reduced the budget for acquisitions for the Screen Studies Collection to $100 000. This represents a reduction of about one- third compared to the base level of expenditure in the first half of the 1990s, and is considered to be sufficient to sustain viable growth of the collection. The library has also reduced its program of public film screenings, and its delivery of film reference services. The service now operates on a reduced staff; the manager of the service (Bruce Hodsdon) left the library on voluntary redundancy in December 1996.

Future delivery of the Film & Video Lending Service

In addition to the measures outlined above, which were implemented in the context of this year's budget, the library has explored the possibility of outsourcing the delivery of the Film & Video Lending Service. This option was considered in the context of the library's conclusion that the service is not one of the library's core activities.

During 1996 the library held negotiations with other organisations which have a core commitment to film as a medium. As a result of these negotiations, the library proposes to enter into an outsourcing agreement with Cinemedia, which was formed in 1996 from a merger of the State Film Centre of Victoria and Film Victoria. It is envisaged that Cinemedia would undertake the storage and maintenance of the two collections, the development of the Screen Studies Collection, and the operation of the lending service to the existing users.

Cinemedia currently operates an extensive lending service within Victoria (with about 90 000 loans per year). The National Library is satisfied that Cinemedia has the capacity to operate the Film & Video Lending Service on a national basis as Cinemedia is planning to develop a role as a national multimedia centre. It is undertaking trials of broadband cable delivery of video, and has developed an Internet-based film booking service. Cinemedia maintains a close liaison with the National Film and Sound Archive and with other film related organisations in Australia.

The National Library and Cinemedia have reached agreement in principle on the elements of an outsourcing arrangement, but will not finalise any agreement until comments have been received from the users and other stakeholders. Under the draft agreement, the National Library would retain overall policy control for the service, and would retain ownership of the two collections. Cinemedia would undertake the management of the collections, and would acquire new titles for the Screen Studies Collection under a collection development policy that would be determined jointly. Cinemedia would call on the user community and subject experts in a consultative group to help oversight the collection development.

The draft agreement also envisages that the entire collection would be stored at Cinemedia's premises in Melbourne. The library would transfer the collection, the catalogue database, and specified items of equipment to Cinemedia. The library would pay Cinemedia a sum of $100 000 a year for the continued development of the Screen Studies Collection, and a monthly sum for the operation of the lending service.

In the library's view, this proposal has the potential to achieve a more cost effective way of distributing film and video information, while allowing it to focus better on its key priorities, as well as ensuring that service to users will be maintained. The library also believes that, given Cinemedia's expansion plans, the proposed arrangements will best serve the long term interests of film culture in Australia.

Background information on the Film & Video Lending Service

The National Library of Australia first became involved in the distribution of non-theatrical films about 50 years ago. Initially, its role was not to act as a general lending library but to supplement the resources of the State libraries. This role changed over the years, and by the early 1980s the library was lending over 40 000 films per year to a large group of borrowers.

After the National Film and Sound Archive separated from the National Library in 1984, the library ceased to have any archival role in relation to Australian films, but it continued to operate a national lending service.

Of the two distinct collections comprising the Film & Video Lending Service, the Screen Studies Collection is an important national resource. It began with the acquisition of film classics from the British Film Institute in 1952. Over the years acquisition policies have been adapted to meet the evolving needs of film culture in Australia: the growth of film societies in the 1950s and 1960s, the expansion of screen and media studies in the 1970s and 1980s, and the diversification of non-theatrical screenings such as the national Cinematheque during the past decade. The Screen Studies Collection contains a representative sample of popular classic and contemporary feature-length and short fiction films, a collection of avant-garde and experimental films unmatched in Australia, a collection of documentary films notable for its depth, and a growing cross-section of silent cinema.

The General Collection includes titles covering a broad range of subjects. Areas of special focus have included medical and management titles. Videotape (VHS) is now the only format on which material is acquired for the General Collection, with purchases of 16 mm prints having virtually ceased by 1990. These 16 mm film prints, numbering more than 4,000, are stored in Canberra outside the main National Library building.

The Film & Video Lending Service currently lends about 11 000 items per year. Tertiary educational institutions account for more than 50% of the loans, with film societies and related film culture organisations accounting for a further 25%. The balance of loans are to government departments and agencies, secondary schools, public libraries, health services, and businesses.

NPO conference proceedings published

'Multimedia Preservation - Capturing the Rainbow', Proceedings of the Second National Conference of the National Preservation Office Brisbane, 28-30 November 1995 is now available.

The recent rapid growth in new technologies-including interactive multimedia-has posed new challenges for preservation. It has also presented new opportunities for providing access.

These conference papers cover a wide range of topics including the digitisation of the collections of libraries and archives, the production of interactive multimedia products to improve accessibility to collections in museums and galleries, technical standards, access mechanisms and the economic, copyright and legal aspects of multimedia.

The proceedings include papers by: Eric Wainwright (Deputy Director-General NLA), Jan Lyall (NLA), Stephen Schwalger (Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association), David Keightley (CSIRO), Carole Alcock (Uni. of Wollongong), Gulten Wagner (Edith Cowan Uni.), Nancy Elkington (Research Libraries Group), W. Boyd Rayward (Uni. of NSW), Dawn Casey (Dept of Communications and the Arts), Derek Whitehead (State Library of Victoria), Michael Lesk (Bellcore, USA), Keith Parrott (Aust. Archives), Maggie Exon (Curtin Univ. of Tech.), Maggie Jones (NLA), Margaret Henty (NLA), Bob Jansen (CSIRO), and Trevor Davis (National Printing Industry Training Council, NSW), Jamie Wodetzki (ACLIS), Michael Paterson (Picton-Warlow and Co.), Ross Harvey (Nanyang Tech. Uni.), Ross Coleman (Uni. of Syd.), Colin Webb (NLA), Gulcin Cribb (Uni.of Qld.), Michael Alexander (Brit. Lib.), Neil McLean (Macquarie Uni.), Alan Ventess (State Library of NSW), Ilma O'Brien (VUT), Matthew Davies (National Film & Sound Archives) and Mark Nizette (NFSA), Helen Darch (Uni. of Qld.), Ian Walker (Search Tech), Kevin Bradley (NLA), Wendy Smith (Uni. of Canb.) and Richard Jones (Computer Power Software Group).

A4, 324pp., Price: $35.00

Available from the National Library of Australia (Sales and Distribution) Canberra ACT 2600.
tel.: (02) 6262 1646 or 1800 800 100;
fax: (02) 6273 1084;
email: nlasales@nla.gov.au

The Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts

Reference librarians, manuscript librarians and archivists often spend time assisting researchers who are trying to locate the papers of an individual or family or the records of a business, society or other organisation. Records of this type do not usually survive for very long. Even when it is known that someone did leave a collection of personal papers, it can still be difficult to establish if the papers have found their way into a library or archives and whether they are now available for use by historians and other researchers.

The difficulties have been accentuated by the growing number of institutions that collect private archives. Whereas in the 1950s only about 10 Australian institutions did so, there are now 100 or more. They range from the National Library and the Mitchell Library, which each hold thousands of collections, to public libraries and historical societies which may have no more than half a dozen.

In the early 1960s librarians, archivists and historians urged that a union catalogue of manuscripts be established to assist researchers to locate primary sources. In 1965, the National Library responded by publishing the Guide to Collections of Manuscripts Relating to Australia. Instalments appeared over the next 30 years, the more recent ones being issued on microfiche. While the publication never really flourished, all the major Australian libraries and archives are represented and it provides basic information about many of the finest collections of personal papers and organisational records that are available in public institutions.

Page from Logbook
The logbook of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's aircraft, the Southern Cross, is in the NLA's Manuscript Collection

Following the publication of the twentieth instalment in December 1995, staff of the National Library discussed the future of the Guide - whether there remained a need for a central directory to manuscripts and archives. They were well aware that the 6,000 entries in the Guide covered only a small proportion of the total holdings of Australian libraries and guides. They also knew from long experience that many institutions had found difficulty compiling descriptions of records that were both succinct and informative (for similar reasons the coverage of manuscripts on ABN has never been good). The Guide was clearly seen as a low priority and contributions were usually erratic. Staff also suspected that many researchers did not know that the Guide existed, or had assumed that publication had lapsed when the large red volumes no longer appeared. In any case, it was recognised that microfiche was not a satisfactory medium. The decision has therefore been made to discontinue publication of the Guide.

Over the years a number of catalogues of the holdings of manuscript repositories have been published and in more recent times information has begun to appear in their electronic databases and home pages. It could therefore be argued that there is no longer a need for a centralized directory at all: by searching the Internet researchers will sooner or later discover if a particular collection exists. Conversion of old catalogues and inventories is, however, a slow process and it is likely to be some time before records of the great bulk of Australian manuscript holdings can be found in electronic databases. Moreover, searching the Internet for a collection that may well not exist can be a lengthy and tedious process, even for experienced researchers. The library therefore concluded that there was still a need for a directory that recorded the location of manuscripts and non-governmental archives, even if it did not describe the records in any detail.

With the assistance of a grant from the Towards Federation 2001 High Priority Cross Sectoral Fund, the library is in the process of setting up a Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM). Compared to the Guide, description standards will be minimal. It is proposed that there will be only three mandatory data elements: the name of the person or organisation that created or assembled the records, the type of records, and the location. Highly desirable but optional elements would include occupation (in the case of personal papers), date range, size and access restrictions. A significant portion of records in the register will in fact have fuller entries than required by the minimal standard as entries extracted from ABN for inclusion, and records contributed from local databases, will retain the data elements already present in them. The register will be on the library's information server and therefore will be freely available to anyone with access to the Internet. In time it is hoped that there will be hypertext links to other archival databases and to collection inventories and other finding aids which are starting to be accessible on the Internet.

It is not intended that users of RAAM will learn about the contents, arrangement or structure of a manuscript collection by using the register. Rather, RAAM will serve as a central locator of collections, eliminating the need to search several different sources for holdings information.

Once researchers have established that a collection does exist, they will have to visit or phone the library or archive that holds it, or check its catalogues or database, to find out just how useful it is likely to be.

In some ways RAAM is a modest undertaking, but because only minimal information is required its coverage will be far wider than that of the Guide. Already, data is being collected from other databases, including ABN, and in a short time it is likely that RAAM will have over 20 000 entries. Unlike the Guide, it will not be confined to collections but will include small groups and single manuscripts, and also photocopies and microfilms of Australian archives and manuscripts.

In the future, libraries and archives should find it relatively easy to contribute data, directly online or by means of data transfer, and little or no editorial work will be needed on the part of the National Library. It is hoped that before long RAAM will carry out the original purpose of the Guide, but far more effectively.

The National Library will continue to catalogue its manuscript collections onto ABN and encourages other institutions to do the same. New data added to ABN will be periodically downloaded for inclusion in RAAM.

The National Library has informed all former contributors to the Guide of these developments and has consulted other institutions. In general, there has been an enthusiastic response for the principle, even though there are bound to be differences of opinion about scope and data elements.

An announcement will be made when RAAM begins functioning. Guidelines for contributors and an Occupation Thesaurus can be found at the RAAM Web site (http://www.nla.gov.au/raam)

'Mapping for Management'

The 1996 biennial conference of the Mapping Sciences Institute of Australia was held in Canberra,

22-26 September 1996 with the theme: 'Mapping for Management'.

The four-day agenda commenced with a witty and thought-provoking keynote address by Paul Lyneham who advised the cartographic community, through the institute, to become more politically astute in fostering its own needs and development.

A thematic series of papers covered general activities and developments, environmental management, natural resource management, and organisational infrastructures. The content of papers in these subject areas covered topics as varied as future map products (including map-based interface on the WWW), formation and direction of the Army Topographic Support Establishment, a national digital elevation model for resource and environmental management, ACTMAP - a spatial data management tool, mapping for future land management (rural Queensland catchment) and digital spatial data.

The final day of the conference featured a parallel session with a forum of the International Map Trade Association (IMTA). As the audience was composed mainly of map retailers, both Australian and international, emphasis was placed on cartography and related products. One of the more challenging papers of the session accompanied a presentation on the transformation of the New Zealand Government Mapping Agency into Terralink NZ Ltd. A very general paper on copyright issues for map publishers was presented by a legal officer from Copyright Agency Ltd. In contrast, two dynamic presentations were made of spatial products: one, an interactive edition of Fuller's street directory of Adelaide on CD-ROM; and the second, an Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO) geoscientific map kit project for secondary school classrooms.

Under the big top

[Gypsy Rose Pennefeather]
Gypsy Rose Pennefeather
Gypsy Rose Pennefeather and Deagan Chimes, Ashton Circus, 1996
NLA Pictorial Collection

The National Library recently purchased a collection of 312 colour photographs of Ashton's Circus, from a member of the company, Gypsy Pennefeather.

Gypsy has travelled with various circuses to all parts of Australia, painting sets and caravans, composing and playing music, and taking part in some of the acts. Most recently, she worked with Ashton's Circus as a clown.

A very skilful photographer, Gypsy has documented the everyday lives of the circus performers, as well as recording highlights of the shows.

In this fascinating record, the glitter and glamour of the circus ring are contrasted with the mundane activities of feeding the animals, setting up the big top, rehearsing in the open air, and looking after the children. The 'Man with the Iron Jaw' is shown standing proudly beside his white Rolls Royce, the Brazilian lion tamer feeds his animals, and the Spanish equestrian attends a wedding, wearing his distinctive broad-brimmed black hat.

The circus children (many of whom are members of the Ashton family) are one of the most interesting aspects of the story that unfolds in the photographs. A number of the children born to performers are not attuned to the itinerant circus life; others, however, are born with 'sawdust in their veins', and begin training and even performing almost as soon as they can walk. The photographs capture views of tiny boys riding bareback quite fearlessly, little girls in glamorous costumes demonstrating extraordinary acrobatic skill, and diminutive clowns assisting in slapstick routines.

It is usually the children and grandchildren of trapeze artists who learn the mysteries of this most dazzling and breathtaking of all circus events. Gypsy has documented them training, performing, doing their daily school lessons, and celebrating Christmas with the whole circus 'family'.

This collection records an important aspect of Australian popular culture, and a family - the Ashtons - which has made a significant contribution to the history of entertainment in this country.

Networked services the way ahead

The National Library of Australia revealed on 20 December 1996 that it would be reviewing requirements to meet the needs of the Australian library community for networked services. This followed the decision to terminate the National Document and Information Service (NDIS) Project which was being developed in partnership with the National Library of New Zealand.

The Director-General of the NLA, Warren Horton, has announced that the National Library will proceed to tender immediately. 'Our target is to complete drafting the tender documentation by 12 February, with the tender formally issued as soon as possible after that date,' he said.

Deputy-Director, Eric Wainwright, is leading the tender and evaluation process in consultation with Technical Services librarian, Andrew Wells, and his advisory group. RMG/CAVAL Pty Ltd, the Australian consultancy firm, is assisting the process.

In this tender, the National Library of Australia will be seeking the provision of networked services that reflect the technological and telecommunications developments of recent years. The Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) and related computer-based services will be fully supported until the new services are implemented.

Interlibrary loan database free

We are pleased to announce that the Interlibrary Loan Resource Sharing Database on Ozline has been completely updated and contains all updates received by us to the end of November.

The database has been expanded to include information on Premium Track suppliers as well as information on whether a library will supply interlibrary services to individuals and organisations which are not their primary clientele. We have also improved the functionality of the database by making both Fast Track and Premium Track searchable terms.

The database is based on the information libraries and other organisations supplied to us in the survey form distributed earlier this year and the very many additional changes notified to us since then, including the changes to phone and fax numbers in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.

Access to the ILL database is also available through the SOFI interface and the STAIRS interface.

As announced at the Annual Users Meeting, there is no charge for searching the Interlibrary loan database.

About CILLA

[Judith Greenaway]

CILLA Project Manager,Judith Greenaway, with travelling companion


What is CILLA?

CILLA is the Coordinated InterLibrary Loan Administration Project. The aim of CILLA is to arrive at a local interlending and document request management system which will enable libraries to more efficiently handle their interlending and document delivery operations.

Such a system would be based on international standards to allow interoperability with other systems-local, regional, national and international-and would allow for different operations to be customised to suit different environments in individual institutions.




The CILLA feasibility study

A feasibility study is being funded by a grant from the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) National Priority (Reserve) Fund, Improved Information Infrastructure Program 2(a), with additional funds from the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS) and with administrative support provided by Cooperative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries (CAVAL) Ltd.

The specific objectives of the feasibility study are:

Likely options will be:

The feasibility study will conclude with a report due in February 1997.

CILLA and the NDIS successor

Because of the general nature and strong history of cooperation in the Australian library community, the academic libraries among which the project originated considered it imperative that a study of this kind be undertaken in close association with other major developments already underway in this country, specifically the successor to the NDIS Project and the JEDDS Project (see article in WORLD 1 Connections, no. 4, July/August 1996).

Expertise from JEDDS and CILLA is being shared, for instance, about the ILL protocol and Z39.50 Item Order standards and about interlending and document delivery workflows. Most importantly, the NDIS successor, CILLA and JEDDS projects will cooperate to ensure that the three systems-the first as a national ILL utility, CILLA as a local management system and JEDDS as a document transmission system-will inter-operate with and complement each other, for the benefit of Australian libraries and their users.

Further information about the CILLA project is on the Web at http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/docdel/cilla.htm Inquiries should be directed to Judith Greenaway, CILLA Project Manager, tel. +613.9459.2722, fax +613.9459.2733, email judgreen@lib.monash.edu.au.

Journal articles via email

On 21 January, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AV-CC) and National Library of Australia launched the ultimate system for the electronic delivery of documents, Ariel® for Windows™ 2.0, at the 1997 Information Online & On Disc Conference in Sydney's Convention Centre.

Ariel® for Windows™ 2.0 will allow libraries to receive, via email, copies of documents held in libraries anywhere around the world. This software enables a library with a PC, Internet connection, scanner and printer to convert, send and receive documents electronically. Its development will replace the earlier version of Ariel® which operated via ftp.

National Library Assistant Director-General, Dr Warwick Cathro, said:

'Ariel® for Windows™ 2.0 is an innovative new system for the fast and efficient transfer of the electronic images of documents via Internet email. It is faster, more reliable and less expensive to use than fax and produces images of greater resolution and quality.'

Ariel® for Windows™ 2.0 is the first release from the international Joint Electronic Document Delivery System (JEDDS) Project. The JEDDS Project is led by an AV-CC working group in partnership with the National Libraries of Australia and New Zealand and the United Kingdom's Joint Information Systems Committee. The group commissioned the California based Research Libraries Group, Inc. (RLG) to enhance RLG's Ariel® for Windows™ document transmission software for use with Internet email.

In Australia, copies of the software will be available from the National Library of Australia for all customers of National Library network services. University libraries can order copies from the AV-CC. The National Library of Australia will provide support services, including a help desk, for all Australian users.

The next stage of the JEDDS Project will enable the transmission of documents directly to library users such as students and lawyers, via their home or office computer.

Dr Warwick Cathro said:

'The National Library is particularly pleased that this product will be further developed with strong attention to international standards, allowing it to interwork with other interlibrary loan services worldwide.'

Further information and registration forms for Ariel for Windows 2.0 Receiving Station are available online at http://www.abn.nla.gov.au/ariel.

Any queries can be answered by staff at the National Library of Australia help desk.
Tel.: 1800 026 155,
fax: 06 273 1180
email: networks@nla.gov.au

What's new on the NLA Web site?

Publications

ACLIS News, vol. 9, no. 1 - http://www.nla.gov.au/aclis/aclisnews/v91.html

Film & Video Acquisitions, November 1996 - http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/fandv/

Link-up, Dec. 1996 - http://www.nla.gov.au/dis/linkup/1296.html

NLA Gateways, no. 24, November 1996 - http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/archive/24/24.html

Digital Libraries & Preservation Issues

Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project (ACDP) 1840-45 Progress Report - http://www.nla.gov.au/ferg/prog1.html

Digital Libraries: Some Implications for Government and Education from the Australian Development Experience / Eric Wainwright - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/ew6.html

Digital Spatial Data: Accessible, but for How Long? / Maura O'Connor and Colin Webb - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/oconnor1.html

Guidelines for the Selection of Online Australian Publications Intended for Preservation by the National Library - http://www.nla.gov.au/1/scoap/scoapgui.html

PADI: To Preserve Access to Digital Information - http://www.nla.gov.au/dnc/tf2001/elecwp.html [Link no longer active]

Collections at Risk / Wendy Smith - http://www.nla.gov.au/3/npo/presinf/colls.html

Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM) - http://www.nla.gov.au/raam

Stairways to Digital Heaven? Preserving Oral History Recordings at the National Library of Australia / Colin Webb - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/cwebb2.html

The Ferguson Project: A Hybrid Approach to Reformatting Rare Australiana / Colin Webb - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/cwebb1.html

Towards the 21st Century: The National Library of Australia in a Digital Age /

Eric Wainwright - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/ew7.html

General

Australian Statistical Internet Sites - http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/stats.html

Guides to manuscript collections (9) - http://www.nla.gov.au/1/ms/find_aids/

Pacific Internet Sites - http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/pacsites.html

Report from the DNC European Library Materials Survey. First Draft October 1996 (Full report in ftp://email.nla.gov.au/pub/conspectus/euro_sur.doc - Word 2.0 Format or as a ftp://email.nla.gov.au/pub/conspectus/euro_sur.rtf - Rich Text Format (RTF) file)

TF2001: Linking Australians with Their Heritage Review Meeting 1993. Progress Reports 1994-96 - http://www.nla.gov.au/dnc/tf2001/pr9496.html [Link no longer active]

WORLD 1/ABN Annual Users Meeting 1996 - http://www.nla.gov.au/users/1996.html

Hosted Information

Deakin University Conspectus reports - http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/conspectus/

Electronic Libraries Forum (ELF) Meeting, 20 January 1996 - http://www.nla.gov.au/lis/stndrds/grps/elf/200197.html

Press Releases and speeches from the Prime Minister's Office - [was http://www.nla.gov.au/pmc/howard.html] - now http://www.pm.gov.au/media/media.htm

Submission to Joint Committee on Publications Inquiry RE: Proposed Discontinuation of the Parliamentary Paper Series / Federal Libraries Information Network (Australia) - http://www.nla.gov.au/flin/submissi/jcp.html

University of Melbourne Conspectus Report / Priscilla Stott - http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries/hosted/vued.html

Korea and South Asia: cooperative projects

The National Library is currently involved, with other Australian libraries, in a number of cooperative projects relating to Asia. During the past 12 months there has been a focus on Korean and South Asian collections, as both have been identified as important areas for development nationally.

Korean collections and services

Following the DNC Korean Collecting Meeting held at the Library on 13 March 1996 (described in Gateways no. 21, May 1996) the Korean Working Group was set up to follow through the outcomes of the meeting, with better co-ordination of limited resources as its aim. The working group includes academic and library members from the Australian National University, Griffith University, the Korean Studies Association of Australasia, Monash University, the National Korean Studies Centre, the National Library and the University of Sydney.

The Korean Working Group has concentrated initially on the prime resolution of the March meeting-that there be a survey of Australia's Korean research and information needs for the next five years. An application through the DNC Office to the Australia-Korea Foundation has succeeded in obtaining a modest grant towards the study. The Korea Foundation has also been approached for funding. At the same time, the Korean Studies Association of Australasia is considering financial assistance for the survey, and other institutions represented on the working group have indicated a willingness to provide support. A suitable person has been identified to carry out the survey, which it is hoped will be prepared for distribution in March of this year.

While implementation of some of the resolutions of the March meeting is dependent on the outcomes of the survey, there has been progress on others. Following the completion by the DNC Office of Conspectus sheets for East Asian materials based on the Harvard-Yenching Classification, libraries with Korean collections, including Monash University and the National Library, have begun to assess their collections using Conspectus.

In the area of collecting agreements, an Agreement between the National Library of Australia and the Australian National University Library for Collecting and Providing Access to Korean Vernacular Materials was signed in August. The text is at http://www.nla.gov.au/dnc/agree/mevan.html [link no longer active]. Under this cooperative agreement the National Library has the major responsibility for developing and maintaining a research level collection of material capable of supporting the needs of postgraduate students and independent researchers, with augmented access for ANU users.

To improve bibliographic access, libraries such as Monash University, the University of Sydney and the National Library are adding their Korean holdings to the National CJK Service. In addition, the National Central Library in Seoul has indicated its willingness to provide Korean MARC (KORMARC) records for the CJK Service, which would greatly enhance the Korean component of the system.

To improve communication between Australian libraries with Korean collections and Korean studies, the National Library has set up a homepage (http://www.nla.gov.au/dnc/korea/korea.html [link no longer active]). This includes the resolutions and other documentation from the March meeting and the minutes of the Korean Working Group's teleconferences.

South Asian collections and services

Since the 3rd National Roundtable on Libraries and Asia (National Library: 1995) identified the need to improve South Asian collections in Australia, there have been some encouraging developments.

In particular, the South Asia: Renovating the National Collection Project has been successful in attracting Australian Research Council Research Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (RIEF) funding for 1996 and again for a second stage in 1997. This cooperative project has been coordinated by Curtin University of Technology and La Trobe University, in partnership with Monash University, Flinders University, the Australian National University, the National Centre for South Asian Studies, the University of Adelaide, the University of New England, the University of Sydney and the National Library.

The project has three aims: a survey of South Asian holdings to be fed into a national database of South Asian holdings; the implementation of a coordinated national acquisitions program; and organising an acquisitions trip to India and Bangladesh in February 1997 to improve contacts with the region. Erica Ryan, a librarian in Systems Projects at the National Library, will be a member of this delegation. A detailed description of the project by John McGuire of Curtin University was published in National Library of Australia News, October 1996, pp. 9-12. Information about the project is also available on the National Library's Server at http://www.nla.gov.au/dnc/sasia.html#reno [link no longer active].

For further information contact:

Andrew Gosling
email: agosling@nla.gov.au
Tel. (06)262 1286, Fax. (02) 6273 4327

Visitor from Korea

[Korean Visitor]
Photo:Mr Bae (centre) is welcomed by Marie Sexton, Principal Librarian Asian Collection and David Combe, Project Officer, Australia-Korea Foundation

Mr Bae Yang Kyu, a senior librarian at the National Assembly Library in Seoul, began a twelve-month attachment at the National Library of Australia in September. The purpose of his visit is to study Australian library systems, and it is being funded by his own library.

Mr Bae, who is Assistant Director, Reference Services, is spending the initial part of his placement in Asian Collections. During December he travelled to Melbourne, to visit the National Korean Studies Centre's Korean language collection which is being developed at Monash University. At Monash he was welcomed by Korean resource librarian, Ms Jung Sim Kim.

Mr Bae's visit to Australia is part of a rapidly developing relationship with major Korean libraries, in particular the National Assembly Library and the National Central Library. In 1992, Eric Wainwright, Deputy Director-General of the NLA, visited both institutions to encourage closer ties. The officer in charge of the NLA's Korean collection, Mrs Jung Hee Fry has spent some time at the National Assembly Library discussing Korean library developments. During 1994, two cataloguers from the latter library, Ms Mi Kyung Lim and Ms Hyun Ja Noh, spent a month in NLA's Asian Collections studying automated cataloguing and, in 1995, the Australia-Korea Foundation funded the placement of Mr Dong Cheol Kim from the National Central Library spent who spent six monthssix months assisting with the implementation of the National Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) Service.

Australian, Thai serial conversion projects

As an efficiency measure to eliminate the double handling of serials, it was decided to put additional resources into converting Australian serial titles currently recorded on the Visible Index (VI) on to the Dynix automated check-in system (SCKI).

Staff in the overseas serial control have been converting overseas serial titles for some time and as a result nearly all purchased overseas titles and gift and exchange titles up to the letter L have now been converted.

In September a new conversion team was set up to handle all Australian serials - current and non-current - and by the end of November 2,677 titles had been converted.

Thai serials check-in

All current, commercially published Thai serials at the National Library of Australia have been added to the serial check-in facility on the Library's Integrated Library Management System (ILMS) and full details are now available for the 128 titles.

The National Library's Asian Collections Section houses the largest Thai language research collection in Australia. There are around 1,400 serial titles, including 200 current publications from commercial and government publishers. Major serials are received by airmail.

Friends of the National Library

[Kylie McKinley]

Executive Officer of the Friends of the National Library, Kylie McKinley

The Friends of the National Library group was established in 1990 to publicise and support the library's role in preserving Australian culture. The spirit of the Friends extends to developing a tradition of understanding and caring for the National Library as an institution.

The Friends now has approximately 2,000 members who have developed rewarding links with authors, poets, academics, artists, and other interested members of the public, in attempts to highlight the importance and scope of the library's collections.


An interesting selection of activities fill each yearly calendar. There are literary weekends which enable participants to explore the literature and culture of a region which has significantly influenced a writer's work; talks about and tours of National Library exhibitions; lectures and information evenings which include family history seminars; and other popular features like 'A Book at Lunchtime'.

Benefits of membership include the receipt of a monthly copy of the National Library of Australia News, a 20% discount at the Brindabella Bistro, a 15% discount at the National Library shop, discounts at booksellers in Canberra and Sydney, use of the comfortably-appointed Friends Lounge and reciprocal benefits with other organisations such as Sydney's Powerhouse Museum.

This year's calendar of events starts on 21 January with a lunchtime talk by theatre director, Eilea Kiraly, and continues with a visit to the Coolac Festival in February and a guided tour of a projected National Portrait Gallery exhibition mid-year by raconteur and former sporting great, Max Walker.

A recent innovation of the Friends was the introduction of the Young Friends program. The aim here is to stimulate interest in the library's services and activities beyond its most recognisable public function of providing access to information. Young Friends events include quiz nights, performance poetry evenings and Internet sessions.

Kylie McKinley is the Friends executive officer. Telephone her for further information about membership and group activities for the year ahead on (02) 6262 1698.

Australia's best known song waltzes into the NLA

When Banjo Paterson was looking for a tune for Waltzing Matilda in 1894, he was fortunate to make the acquaintance of a young woman called Christina Macpherson. Christina's skilled musical ear allowed her to play for him the tune which is now the basis of Australia's best-known cultural icon. The origins of the tune are unclear, but it is thought to have been Scottish.

Christina wrote down the music she had played and in later years wrote a letter which tells of her meeting with Paterson and the origins of the song.

[Waltzing Matilda]

Pam Gatenby, Director Reader Services (left) with Mrs Joan Macrae and the score of Waltzing Matilda

These documents, together with two photographs of Christina and other associated manuscript material have been donated to the National Library by Christina's great-niece, Mrs Joan Macrae. This remarkable archive is of immense social and political significance and will be available for scholarly use and for exhibition purposes.

Paterson himself acknowledged Christina's contribution in a 1939 letter to Laurence Copping which changed hands at a Sotheby's auction in 1993.

Tales inspired and inspiring

[Cover of: Out of the Picture]

Out of the Picture

Inspired and accompanied by stunning photographs from the National Library's Pictorial Collection, Out of the Picture, by Marion Halligan, is an outstanding collection of short stories and essays from one of Australia's foremost writers.

Halligan breathes life into the selected images, creating imaginative reflections on Australia's past, and present, as well as its future-real and imagined.

ISBN 0 642 10670 3, 123 pp., pb., rrp $24.95

[Cover of: A Woman of Courage]

A Woman of Courage

The beautifully case-bound A Woman of Courage is a story of love, romance and the tribulations of a courageous young woman on her journey around the world in the early 1800s. Flouting officialdom, Rose de Freycinet stowed away, at the age of 22, on the ship Uranie which had been commissioned for a worldwide scientific expedition and was captained by her husband of three years, Louis.

A Woman of Courage, documents the amazing three-year voyage of a woman ahead of her time, encountering tropical disease, exotic cultures, climatic extremes and potentially hostile people from cultures vastly different to her own.

In the journal of Rose de Freycinet is a story that demands to be read.

ISBN 0 642 10676 2, 216 pp., hb., rrp $34.95

'For King and Country'

[Flag]

The most effective and deadly advertising campaign in Australia's history happened 80 years ago.

'For King and Country' is a new National Library exhibition which shows why Australians hastened to the battlefields of World War 1. Here is displayed the raw stuff of history: the propaganda, often leading to moral blackmail, which persuaded four out of every ten men between the ages of 18 and 45 that a war on the other side of the world, fought in countries that most had barely heard of, was more important than life itself.

In an ironic twist of fate, when similar means of persuasion were applied to conscription they were rejected. Australia, the only combatant nation to put conscription to the vote in World War 1, thus relied on volunteers alone. The explanations of this paradox go to the heart of Australia's national identity in those early years after Federation.

The exhibition shows that the traditions for which the diggers are remembered today - mateship, patriotism and a pugnacious egalitarianism - were not necessarily their reasons for fighting. Many died for Britain, not Australia. Some believed that war was the supreme test of manhood, or the greatest adventure. Others fled uncongenial circumstances at home.


The exhibition is based on the substantial holdings of World War 1 material in the collections of the National Library. Many of these rare posters, pamphlets and books were collected by the jurist and bibliographer Sir John Ferguson (1881-1969). The Ferguson Collection has been a cornerstone of the Australian holdings of the National Library of Australia since its acquisition, which took place in stages between 1937 and 1969.

The task of the National Library of Australia is to maintain a documentary record of the Australian experience. Many aspects of life during World War 1, both civilian and military, are revealed in the library's collections. Official records of Australia's military history are kept elsewhere but the library holds documents which reveal the private experiences of Australians in their homes, offices, factories and fields. 'For King and Country' dramatically, and at times shockingly, demonstrates the great significance of the National Library's collections to an understanding of Australia in times of war.

The impact of the propaganda war on the target audiences of children, women and men are examined separately. The exhibition also visits the issues of the conscription debate of 1916-17, and reveals the experiences of Australians of German origin, struggling to maintain a sense of themselves as civilised people in the face of this barrage of hate.

The exhibition, mounted in the Ground Floor Gallery of the National Library of Australia, will run until 13 April 1997.


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Links last updated 8 September 1998