National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568
No. 26
March 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: 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 $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

Taking the initiative!

NIAC stands for National Initiatives And Collaboration and it's the name of a new branch within the Services to Libraries Division of the National Library of Australia.

NIAC brings together, at one point, the previously dispersed functions of the National Preservation Office, the Distributed National Collection Office and the International Relations Section, to provide a major focus for the library's national coordination activities. NIAC will play a key role in the National Library's endeavours to pursue strategies which address emerging distributed library infrastructure issues in the networked electronic environment. Because of the wide range of these issues, and the skills required to deal with them, other parts of the National Library will continue, as now, to contribute strongly to national coordination issues.

Both the National Preservation Office and the Distributed National Collection Office were established in a largely print-based world where collection development, bibliographic access, document delivery and preservation activities were seen as discrete and self-contained elements supporting the Australian library system. Respectively, each provided a specific national focus on the areas of collection development and preservation.

However, as a result of the development of electronic publishing and the emergence of distributed networked structures via the Internet, these key library elements have started to converge. In any discussion of the issues involved in building print and electronic library systems, it is no longer possible to see these elements as separate. Issues relating to long-term access and preservation are now integral to decisions about the creation and collection of digital objects.

In an increasingly globally networked environment many of the issues that Australian libraries need to consider will only be solved effectively through international cooperative agreements and standards. It is to reflect this changing environment that the merger has taken place.

NIAC is positioned in the Services to Libraries Division to ensure that there are strong working relationships between it and the areas of the National Library that support bibliographic access and document delivery. The Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS) Secretariat will also be collocated in this division to maximise the opportunities for NIAC to work with ACLIS on issues of common concern.

The National Coordination Plan

Parallel to the establishment of NIAC, the National Library has developed a draft National Cordination Plan to provide a coherent framework for its activities in this area.

The National Library's vision for national coordination, is to ensure a future in which:

The National Library's mission for national coordination, states:

'By collaborating with Australian and international stakeholders and by participating in the development of government policies, [the National Library of Australia will] play a leading role in developing, and continuously improving, a national cooperative library infrastructure which delivers quality short- and long-term access to information and Australian cultural heritage resources.'

Major issues that the library plans to address are:

The strategies outlined in the library's plan for national coordination are to:

The emergence of the networked electronic information environment raises a range of fundamental issues for Australian libraries on how to collaboratively build a national information infrastructure that provides efficient and integrated access to both print and electronic information. In response to these issues, the library will work closely with a range of groups and stakeholders within the library community. It will also pursue an active involvement with Australia's Cultural Network, with the aim of maximising the opportunities presented by digitisation and computer networking to improve access to the wide range of cultural information and objects available through libraries, archives, galleries and museums.

The discussion list NIAC-L has been set up by the National Library of Australia to disseminate information and obtain comments on NIAC activities and on the wider range of the library's national coordination activities. It is an unmoderated list which is also intended to be used to generate discussion and share information on issues relating to national and international collaboration and development of the distributed library infrastructure in a networked electronic environment. It replaces DNC-L. Users of the former DNC-L discussion list have already been transferred to the new NIAC-L discussion list. Those wishing to join can subscribe by sending the following message:

Subscribe NIAC-L <your name> (e.g. Subscribe NIAC-L john smith) to listproc@nla.gov.au

Participants are also encouraged to post queries, news and messages on NIAC-L by posting to niac-l@nla.gov.au.

Further information about NIAC, its activities and publications, and about the library's other range of national coordination activities is available from the National Library's Web server at URL: http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/.

We would also like to receive your comments about the National Library's Plan for National Coordination which can be found at NIAC's address with the extension of plan.html . Our email address is niac@nla.gov.au; fax 61 6 257 1703; alternatively, write to:

Director, National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA

National Library hosts major international meeting and seminar

Sixty-five international delegates attended the 4th Dublin Core Metadata Workshop at the National Library, from 3-5 March.

The Dublin Core is a set of metadata elements which are used to describe networked information and which will aid resource discovery in the electronic environment. The name is derived from the initial meeting in Dublin, Ohio.

This latest meeting in the series raised major issues crucial to the deployment of the Dublin Core, particularly extensibility, syntax, element structure and element refinement.

One of the most significant topics on the agenda was syntax. The discussion favoured the recommendation of two syntax schemes within the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) in the short term. In the long term (six months for the Internet), new proposals are expected to address this factor more comprehensively.

Extensibility of the Dublin Core elements included the development of the 'Canberra qualifiers', to refine the semantics of each element. The final set is yet to be agreed on but will include the three areas of language, scheme, and type.

The outcomes of the workshop will be realised shortly with the release of RFC's (requests for comment) on the semantics and syntax for Dublin Core. Working parties have been set up to report back on metadata repositories, the 'Canberra qualifiers', and internationalisation. Their final reports will be posted on the DC4 Homepage at htpp://www.dstc.edu.au/DC4/ . Meanwhile the Dublin Core's general home page can be located at http://www.oclc.org:5046/research/dublin core/.

National Metadata Seminar, 6 March

International experts in the use of metadata for the Internet spoke to an audience of 300 at the National Metadata Seminar held at the National Library of Australia on 6 March.

Sessions featured the following topics:

Additional presentations-about the Educational Network Australia Vocational & Educational Project (EdNA VET), and the Nordic metadata project-were given by Jack Gilding and Helsinki's Juha Hakala respectively.

In his summary, entitled 'Metadata in action-the way ahead', Eric Wainwright, Deputy Director-General, National Library of Australia and chair of the Information Management Steering Committee of OGIT, said that in order to move forward it would be necessary to communicate and foster cooperation, use common procedures and standards, and build partnerships. To achieve this, all sectors (publishers and creators, collecting institutions, bibliographic agencies, and technical developers) would need to be brought together so that action could be taken at and across all levels.

Mr Wainwright put forward his suggestions about how Australia could move forward in metadata implementation:

Following this talk, Warwick Cathro, Assistant Director-General, Services to Libraries Division, National Library of Australia, led a discussion on the continuing process for metadata implementation in Australia. During the discussion, a number of suggestions were made which are currently under consideration be the National Library. These included:

John Tipler, a senior project officer with the Queensland Dept of Primary Industries' Web Services, said at the end of the seminar:

"There was value in the whole day, and if you had asked 'more?' I would have queued up. I attended the workshop with certain goals in mind-to determine if meta was the way to go; to see whether DC will become, if not the standard, then at least a standard which would allow me to catalogue and index information on our Web server; to investigate what third party support there will be...I came away well satisfied."

Public Service gold for National Library director

'One of my main interests these days is working with major collecting organisations...to protect our documentary heritage in electronic form'

Dr Jan Lyall, former head of the National Preservation Office and now the director of the National Library of Australia's new National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch, was awarded the prestigious Public Service Medal in this year's Australia Day Honours List.

The significance of the award is that she is one of only 30 Commonwealth Public Servants who can receive it each year.

A chemist and academic by first profession, Jan says, 'One of my main interests these days is working with major collecting organisations, developing procedures to protect our documentary heritage in electronic form'. She has taken a leadership role in an Australia-wide preservation strategy and is also working in the international arena through her involvement with IFLA and UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme.

While her efforts have always been appreciated within the National Library, her colleagues are delighted that she has achieved wider recognition with a formal award of this type.

The new NSP Project

The main aim of the National Library of Australia's new Networked Services Project (the successor to NDIS) is to identify hardware and software combinations which can supply Australian libraries with state-of-the-art replacement services for those currently delivered by ABN and Ozline.

The first priority of the NSP is to replace ABN with a national bibliographic utility to support library activities such as acquisitions and cataloguing. The introduction of this new utility will be accompanied by support for electronic document access and delivery services and cooperative collection development. The project will also examine options for linking these functions to those electronic databases and documents in the Library's collection which are currently accessed via its information server.

Deputy Director-General Eric Wainwright is project leader. He is assisted by David Toll, Assistant Director, Corporate Services and former head of the WORLD 1 Program, and a technical advisory group led by Andrew Wells. RMG/CAVAL Pty Ltd, the Australian consultancy firm, was employed to assist with the tender's development.

The first task of the NSP was to produce an extensive draft information paper for release at an information session targeting potential vendors. This took place on 11 February in the National Library, and was replicated on 18 February at the American Library Association's midwinter meeting in Washington DC. Eric Wainwright, David Toll and Andrew Wells travelled to the US to conduct the second session, to discuss latest developments with colleagues at the Library of Congress, and to meet with potential tenderers. As the National Libraries of Australia and Canada are thought to have a number of interests in common, David Toll and Andrew Wells also travelled to Ottawa.

The information paper, which has been revised to form the basis of the tender document, outlines in general terms all the functions and capabilities being sought by the library, with an implied invitation to prospective suppliers to demonstrate how their products meet these requirements. It also sets out Australian tendering conditions, and describes the current services provided by the National Library as well as the library's computing environment. The project requirements are specified in separate configurations which take account of current marketplace approaches. Each configuration describes a component which the National Library has identified for its future networked services. Within the suggested configurations, options for in-house or outsourced services are outlined as it is envisaged that tenderers may submit proposals for one or more of these delivery options. The information paper also recognises that tenderers may propose solutions which do not precisely match any of the configurations.

"The national bibliographic utility will host the NBD for inquiry and update transactions by up to 1,000 concurrent users"

Highest priority will be given to implementation of the national bibliographic utility, and the interlibrary loan and documentary delivery services. The national bibliographic utility will host the NBD for inquiry and update transactions by up to 1,000 concurrent users. Specific functions of the national bibliographic utility will include loading data from external sources; the provision of cataloguing services including authority control, maintenance and exchange of location data; and inquiry on the NBD. Cataloguing client functionality may be provided as part of the national bibliographic utility or as a stand-alone product. It will operate on personal computers to support copy cataloguing, the creation and editing of bibliographic, authority and holdings records in the NBD, and application of authority control to bibliographic records. The cataloguing client is also expected to create and maintain cataloguing data on both the NBD and the user's local system. The interlibrary loan and document delivery service will support traditional ILL traffic as well as commercial document supply. In addition, it will be able to work closely with all or some of the functionality identified by the CILLA Project.

Other configurations describe inclusions to support hosted databases (Ozline) and digital object services (images, text, sound and multimedia), to create index data for APAIS and AMI, to manage customer access and cross database searching, and to provide administrative support. A replacement for the National Library's integrated library management system is described as a separate configuration. Proposals responding to this configuration will only be considered if they are included with a response to another configuration.

In its approach to the replacement of ABN and Ozline, the library is looking for existing products, rather than seeking development proposals. This will reduce risks and bring new services online swiftly. A preference for solutions which conform to existing or emerging standards, will help integrate proposed modules and ensure flexibility in the adoption of emerging IT features.

Following feedback on the information paper and preliminary examination of many products in the marketplace, the library has finalised its tendering process, which will be divided into stages. The Request for Tender for Stage 1 of the project covers the highest priority requirements and has now been released.

With early implementation of the new services a high priority for the National Library, a tight schedule is planned for selection of the successful tenderer/s, contract finalisation, and commencement before the end of 1997. Gateways will keep you informed about progress.

25 million and still counting

Another ABN milestone was achieved in January 1997. The National Bibliographic Database (NBD) reached 25 million locations. Many thanks to all of the nearly 800 libraries and their cataloguers who contribute holdings information to the NBD.

This is more than just a statistic. The figure reflects the significant cooperative effort and commitment to resource sharing amongst Australian libraries.

The continued growth of the NBD to over 12 million bibliographic records and now over 25 million holdings, makes it Australia's leading source for copy cataloguing and interlibrary locations.

As ABN looks towards the next millenium, we also look forward to building on these achievements, and eagerly anticipate the next 25 million holdings.

ABN MARC*LINK-more convenient than ever

The popular MARC*LINK Service is a very convenient way to download MARC records from ABN.

In response to requests from our customers, we have increased the maximum number of downloads available each day from one to five. Customers may create their own tailored MARC*LINK download schedule by selecting from the available download times. We are sure that libraries downloading a large number of records each day will welcome this opportunity to select their files more frequently.

All Full Service and Search & Products members of ABN with Internet access are able to use the MARC*LINK Service to obtain MARC records.

The service, which began in April 1996, is proving very popular with the 60 libraries now subscribing. MARC*LINK uses the Internet file transfer protocol (ftp) to deliver files of MARC records. Customers select records using ABN's standard downline loading commands (RMR, HNEW, HMOD and HDEL) and then retrieve the file of records they have created by ftp using a Web browser or ftp client. As with other ABN downline loading services, some records, such as original cataloguing, or serial titles to which holdings have been added, require an overnight database update (NITLY) before they are available for downloading. These records will be useable via MARC*LINK the following day.

To learn more about this innovative service, visit the MARC*LINK home page at :http://www.abn.nla.gov.au/marclink and see what it's all about.

APMM to cease

The little-used APAIS Monthly Update File (APMM) will not be available on Ozline after 30 March. The APAIS update for February will be the last to appear as a separate file on Ozline. Of course, the main APAIS file will continue and will still be updated monthly.

Customers using STAIRS who wish to limit their APAIS search to records added during the most recent database update can SELECT on ISSUE=YYMM. For example, SELECTing on ISSUE = 9702 will limit a search to those records added in the February 1997 update.

SOFI users can also limit APAIS searches to records added in a specific update.

CD catalogues from ABN

The National Library will be going to tender within one month for the production of CD-ROM catalogues from ABN, and we expect to be able to announce the result of the tender in June. As well as producing CD catalogues for individual libraries and groups of libraries, we will be able to produce other publications based on the National Bibliographic Database, according to demand.

For information, please contact:

Julia Trainor
Director, ABN/Ozline Services
National Library of Australia
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Tel: 06 262 1514
Fax: 06 273 1180
E-mail: jtrainor@nla.gov.au

Preservation for NLA's ATSI research collection

In early 1996, the National Library of Australia successfully applied to the University of Canberra's Conservation Internship Program for assistance in developing preservation strategies for the library's collections relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The six-month internship was funded by the National Conservation Program of the Heritage Collections Committee of the Cultural Ministers Council, with matching support provided by the National Library. Co-ordination and management were the responsibility of the University of Canberra.

The successful applicant was Suzy Nunes, a graduate of the Cultural Heritage Management program, who also holds a Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Management from the University of Canberra. During her appointment at the National Library, Suzy worked closely with Lydia Preiss in the Preservation Services Section and with John Thompson, Director of Collection Research, Documentation and Promotion, who is preparing a guide to the library's holdings of original research material relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The guide project and the preservation internship together are part of a strategy by the National Library to improve its services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. When completed, the guide will raise awareness of the extent and content of the library's resources relating to the history of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia. The internship determined the preservation needs of these materials and assisted in the establishment of priorities for rehousing and, in some cases, re-formatting the written, oral and pictorial records which form part of the historic and cultural heritage of indigenous, European and Asian Australians.

While Suzy's internship did not achieve comprehensive coverage of the library's holdings of original materials in all formats, at the end of her appointment in February, over 65 manuscript collections had been examined and assessed. Suzy's final report will outline her methodology and, most importantly, will present a preservation management plan for a body of material which has been largely invisible as part of the library's overall holdings. As research demand for this material increases, the existence of a sound preservation management plan will be crucial in ensuring its long-term survival.

In concentrating on the library's manuscript holdings, Suzy surveyed a diverse range of material, some of it dating from the earliest years of European settlement in Australia, with much of it documenting the long and troubled history of race relations in this country during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In microcosm, these collections record an important part of the story of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, from their earliest contact with the European explorers of the eighteenth century to the land rights and reconciliation movements of more recent times. Inevitably, much of this material documents some of the more painful and tragic history of race relations in Australia. Other material, however, tells a more positive story about the efforts of many Australians to achieve justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in their own country, and of the achievements of campaigners such as Kevin Gilbert, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Charles Perkins and Eddie Mabo to secure self-determination and self-respect for their own people.

Publishing and collecting indigenous Australiana

The National Library is continuing to expand its contact with indigenous publishers and collecting institutions as part of an overall attempt to improve coverage of indigenous published material and ensure its entry onto the National Bibliographic Database.

Michael Proud from the Australian collection development area of the library attended the 3rd Annual Conference of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library Information and Resource Network (ATSILIRN) held in Adelaide in November 1996. The library has been represented at all ASTIRLN conferences-events which provide a unique opportunity for collectors and service providers to discuss problems, report on developments and generally encourage network activity and communication.

Each conference also affords the opportunity to visit indigenous publishers in the area. Following the 1995 ATSILIRN conference at Batchelor in the Northern Territory, Michael Proud visited extensively in Darwin and Alice Springs. Published materials in the form of newsletters, newspapers, books, reports and brochures are still being received as a result of those visits. Last year, in Adelaide, there were meetings with Aboriginal cultural groups, government departments, health services and a land corporation. In all cases publications were identified and checked for holdings and where possible copies were acquired for the national collection.

Exercises of this type prove invaluable in establishing contacts and stimulating an awareness of the need to supply publications for preservation and documentation.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Thesaurus

By Heather Moorcroft and Alana Garwood

[PICTURE]

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Thesaurus was created in response to the inadequate representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies by Library of Congress Subject Headings.

It both is and is not a language thesaurus. The languages spoken by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups in Australia are many and could not be contained within one thesaurus, so the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Thesaurus brings together only commonly used words. It explains words that are in use by many Aborigines and a few language words that are used in particular areas of Australia.

Developing an English language thesaurus to represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies raises some difficulties: speaking for a diversity of views and lifestyles within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; using the English language to represent other ways of classifying the world; understanding that many terms are on politically and ideologically contested ground; and freezing ever-changing language at the time of compilation.

Published by the National Library of Australia
ISBN 0 642 30583 2 pb., 92pp. RRP $35.00

'Voices and Memory': an oral history experience

The National Library's association with Australian oral history began 40 years ago, in March 1957, when Hazel de Berg made her first field recording with Dame Mary Gilmore in Sydney. Since that time, the National Library has become Australia's leading oral history centre, renowned for its interviews with eminent Australians in the fields of politics, government, public administration, law, science, religion, business, labour history, journalism, the arts, and folklore. These fascinating and professional interviews contain personal insights, observations and details of experience which have not been recorded elsewhere.

The seminar 'Voices and Memory: Australian Oral History', held at the National Library on 8 March 1997, was the first seminar at the library devoted entirely to oral history. It was an opportunity to showcase many of the National Library's current oral history projects, with a strong focus on primary themes and the future directions of oral history. Speakers included Mark Cranfield, Ragbir Bhathal, Diana Giese, Barry York, Michelle Potter, Peter Read, Jackie Huggins, Daniel Connell and Robin Hughes.

Pivotal to the seminar was an exploration of how oral history differs from other forms of historical recording. Dr Ragbir Bhathal, author of the publication Australian Astronomers which is based on his own interviews, is currently working on recording the experiences of women scientists. He emphasised the importance of oral history in creating a more complete picture of scientists, who rarely publish memoirs. Oral recordings enable scientists to tell their stories in their own words, and to place their discoveries and research in a broader context.

Barry York referred to oral history as being indispensible to the historian's goal of 'capturing the full human story and giving it meaning'. Diana Giese, who, like Barry, has considerable experience in interviewing Australian migrants, argued that oral history provides a space in which both the interviewer and informant can explore the ways people make sense of their lives. Daniel Connell gave numerous examples of oral history's ability to 'individualise history'.

Speakers differed in their views about interviewing methodologies. Some were in favour of the highly structured interview; others preferred to allow their interviewees to speak on topics they preferred; others still chose an approach which was 'loosely structured'. All speakers at 'Voices and Memory' emphasised the need for sound interviewing techniques. Barry York referred to his basic self-query when interviewing for the future: 'will the interview be regarded as worthwhile 50 years hence?' Robin Hughes reaffirmed the obvious primary requirement for a successful interview: the ability to listen closely to subjects and draw out their stories so that the subject, rather than the interviewer, is the focus of the material.

The topic of oral history and the future surfaced in a discussion of the project 'Seven Years On', conducted by Jackie Huggins and Peter Read. This endeavour has prominent young Aboriginals talking about their lives and predicting their future. In the style of the English television documentary series which began with Seven Up, Peter and Jackie will re-interview their subjects after seven years have elapsed. Preservation issues and future digital technologies were discussed in a tour of the Oral History and Sound Preservation sections of the National Library-a welcome and unusual adjunct to the seminar.

Robin Hughes, director of the video series Australian Lives, in which well-known Australians talk about their lives, spoke about the importance of film in highlighting 'the landscape of the face'. She explained how film can capture nuances which audio recordings can not. Like Daniel Connell, Robin echoed the need for oral history and video to be regarded as complementary, rather than competing, sources of history.

The seminar highlighted the importance of the NLA's Oral History Collection, and the library's role as the leading centre for oral history in Australia.

An online version of 'Voices and Memory: Australian Oral History' will be available in July 1997. Meanwhile, for more news about the NLA seminar series visit: http://www.nla.gov.au/events/seminars.html.

Asian views of Australia

As part of the development of its Asian service, the National Library collects materials about Australia published in Asia, or in Asian languages.

Much of this material is produced in Australia-for example newspapers and magazines in Asian community languages and publications intended for tourists. The wonderfully named Meatpie : Magazine for Japanese Visitors, issued in Sydney, is one of these.

It is no surprise however, that the greater part of the collection consists of items published in Asia. These are mainly translations of Australian works by authors as diverse in approach as Patrick White, Henry Lawson, Colleen McCullough and Carter Brown. Publications by Asians writing about Australia are also included.

The new CJK (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) database currently lists 1881 entries in East Asian languages on the subject 'Australia'. Most are in Japanese, and the great majority are held by the National Library.

The library's collection of Japanese language publications about Australia now contains over 2,000 volumes and is housed separately in the Asian Collections stacks. It covers a wide range of subjects from Aborigines and Agriculture to Science and Women. There are numerous travel books and guides-with a few dating back to last century-and some interesting Japanese publications about this country from the period of World War 2. However the majority of titles date from the 1970s to the present. The intellectual level varies from scholarly considerations of Australian political, social and economic conditions to children's literature, travel guides and popular material on Australian wildlife.

Japanese titles published in 1996 include Miwaku no Osutoraria Wain, on Australian wine and wine-making; Osutoraria: Gorudo Kosuto & Gureto Baria Rifu [Australia: Gold Coast & Great Barrier Reef], a detailed guide to the region; and Osutoraria to Ajia Sono Choki Tenbo, a Japanese language version of Alexander Downer's Australia and Asia-Taking the Long View issued by the Australian Embassy in Tokyo.

Holdings of Australiana from other parts of Asia are more modest, though growing as efforts are made to locate and acquire titles. There are around 200 volumes on Australia in Chinese, and a number of works in other Asian languages including Indonesian, Thai, Korean and Vietnamese. The National Library has received recently from China Ao-ta-li-ya Chiao Yu, on Australian education ; and Ao-ta-li-ya ho Hsin-hsi-lan Nung Yeh Ti Li, about Australian and New Zealand agricultural geography.

Publications arriving in 1996 through the National Library's Asian regional office, located in Indonesia, included The Role of Security and Economic Cooperation Structures in the Asia-Pacific Region: Indonesian and Australian Views, edited by Hadi Soesastro and Anthony Bergin; and Illuminations: The Writing Traditions of Indonesia, by the Australian academic Ann Kumar, published in Jakarta by the Lontar Foundation.

Rare world maps acquired via Internet auction

The first Internet auction of rare maps, hosted by the Netherlands dealer, Paulus Swaen, was held at the end of November 1996, heralding an exciting three months of rare maps acquisition by the NLA's Map Section.

Some details of the two world maps purchased via the Internet auction follow.

J.B. Nolin. Mappemonde-monde carte universelle de la terre dresseé sur les relations les plus nouvelles soumises aux observations astronomiques les plus recentes ou sont marqueés les nouvelles découvertes. Paris, 1792.

This is a highly decorative double-hemisphere map of the world showing the routes of Cook, Furneaux, Byron and Bougainville, surrounded by illustrations of the four continents: Europe, Africa, Asia and America. Details relating to the sun and the moon border the ends, while Cook's route through Torres Strait in the Endeavour separates the Australian continent from Papua New Guinea in this delicately coloured map.

A less opulent item, by comparison, was the second acquisition from the auction:

Jean Michel Probst. Mappe-monde ou sont marqueés les nouvelles découvertes. Augsbourg, 1786.

Extensive manuscript notes in German by a former owner surround this double-hemisphere map of the world which shows the routes of Cook, Furneaux and others. The manuscript annotations include cartographic additions in the vicinity of Bougainville.

As a follow on from the auction a third world map was acquired:

Heinrich Scherer. Navigatationes Praecipuae Europaeorum Ad exteras Nationes. 1703.

This features the world centred on an unusually shaped Australia with sailing routes to the East Indies across the Pacific, and, optimistically, around the north-east passage to Japan. Attractive vignettes of sailing ships mark the four corners.

Finally, a particularly exciting and important world map was acquired during January

Adam Friedrich Zürner. Planisphaerium Terrestre Cum Utroque Coelesti Hemisphaerio...Amsterdam, c. 1700.

Described by the dealer as 'a vigorous presentation of the state of knowledge in the fields of cartography, astronomy and cosmography at the end of the 17th century', this double-hemisphere map of the world combines scientific and geographic knowledge with decorative art; one of the last to do so before the purely scientific approach of the following centuries. It is also significant for both the currency and accuracy of its information and the wealth of detail portrayed. Unlike contemporary maps, Australia is no longer depicted as connected to New Guinea, which must make it one of the first maps to show the Torres Strait as we know it today. Substantial commentaries occur across the map as well as in panels at top and bottom. Apart from the decorative elements which enhance the cartographic presentation, the map is surrounded by wind and astronomical diagrams. The overall impression is one of an aesthetically pleasing and highly accurate map for its time.

Australian Map Circle, 25th annual conference, 1997

The 25th Annual Conference of the Australian Map Circle was held in the picturesque and austere surrounds of Ormond College, University of Melbourne, 2-5 February 1997. With its theme, 'Maps Old and New', the conference attracted a small but interested group of 36 delegates.

Eleven papers were presented over the three days, interspersed with technical visits to sites in and around the University and Melbourne and the traditional half-day excursion, held on the Tuesday afternoon.

Four papers were of particular interest, the first concerned with retracing the Calvert expedition. Presented on behalf of the author, Bruce McDonald, the paper outlined the efforts to accurately relocate and correctly map the various Aboriginal waters and features discovered by the Calvert expedition in 1896.

A paper by Dr Stephen Davis, 'Mapping traditional Aboriginal culture', explained clearly the way in which song cycles, sand sculptures, body-painting and campsite arrangements display Aboriginal geographical knowledge. Passed on orally from generation to generation, this knowledge is often transmitted under formal instruction during ceremonies. With the cooperation of various Aboriginal clans, this symbolism is now being interpreted in standard ways on the maps, charts and databases that are used to support registration of Aboriginal sites of special significance, land and sea claims, and applications for the determination of Native Title.

The third paper of interest was presented by and explained the work of P. Griffioen, surveyor turned zoologist, who has developed a Geographic Information System (GIS) to utilise the Australian bird count data for locating and timing bird movements. Using the data associated with the migratory movements of the Silvereye, Zosterops lateralis, bird-band vector maps, from which both spatial and temporal data could be extracted, were plotted for each month of the experiment described. Hopefully, the resulting data may be linked in future to land-clearing and other vegetation pattern changes which are possibly influencing the decline in particular Australian bird species.

Paul Clifton's paper 'Map design for the World Wide Web' demonstrated how the travel guide publisher Lonely Planet Publications has come to terms with the limitations that the World Wide Web poses for cartographic design and how the firm has overcome these limitations.

The field excursion to the Melbourne Botanic Gardens and the tour of Melbourne itself provided a welcome break from papers and emphasised Melbourne's claim to be the 'Garden City of Australia'. The 1998 conference location has yet to be decided but Wollongong and Perth are both contenders.

Papers of Maie, Lady Casey & playwright Alan Seymour

Two important groups of personal papers have recently been added to the Manuscript Collection.

The papers of Maie, Lady Casey were presented by her daughter, Jane Macgowan. They join those of Lord Casey and other members of the family, which have been held by the library for some years. The papers are remarkably complete, dating back to Lady Casey's schooldays and spanning several decades of her very active life.

Lady Casey had a wide range of interests; she wrote not only about art, history and architecture, but also published poetry. As well as drafts, the papers contain research material, letters, diaries, speeches and drawings. A manuscript about her aunt, the flower painter Ellis Rowan, is amongst the papers.

Her correspondents included famous identities such as Katharine Hepburn, Sir Robert Helpmann, Patrick White, Harold Macmillan, and Clementine Churchill.

Alan Seymour is an Australian playwright who spent most of his life overseas but has recently returned to Australia to live. He is chiefly known for his controversial and enduring play The One Day of the Year, which examines conflicting views on the observance of Anzac Day. He has also written film and television screenplays (several for the British market), novels, articles and reviews.

Seymour's papers include drafts, letters, and photographs. Of particular interest are a school magazine contribution by Seymour, aged 10; scripts of many unproduced plays and correspondence with Margaret Finke and Sumner Locke Elliott about the latter's novel Edens Lost, for which Seymour wrote a film adaptation.

Singer, artist and Aboriginal rights activist

Oil portraits of three significant Australians joined the Pictorial Collection recently. They are of the soprano Florence Austral, the Aboriginal rights activist Faith Bandler, and the artist Lloyd Rees.

Florence Austral's portrait was painted in 1947 by William Pate. Austral was the stage name of Florence Favaz (1894-1968), who was born in Melbourne and studied at the University Conservatorium before travelling to Europe and the United States to further her career.

In 1922 she made her operatic debut at Covent Garden in the role of Brunnhilde in The Valkyrie. Following this, she appeared in principal soprano roles in England, the United States and with the Berlin State Opera. Although her renown was as a Wagnerian singer, she performed to great acclaim in other operas such as Aida and in The Marriage of Figaro. After World War 2 she returned to Australia and taught at the Newcastle Conservatorium until ill health forced her retirement.

The portrait of Faith Bandler was painted by Alexandra Asovtseff about 1962. Faith Bandler was born in 1920 in Tumbulgum, near Murwillumbah. Her mother, Ida Kishdon, was Aboriginal; her father, Wacvie Mussingkon, was kidnapped from the New Hebrides and brought to Queensland in 1883 to work in the canefields. Faith Bandler later wrote the story of her father in a novel Wacvie (Adelaide: Rigby, 1977).

With Pearl Gibbs, Bandler founded the Aboriginal Australian Fellowship. This group's campaigns for Aboriginal rights lead to the referendum of 1967, which resulted in the enshrinement of equal citizenship. Faith later became the general secretary of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. She has been active in the Women's Electoral Lobby since 1972 and is a founding member of the Australian Republican Movement. She declined an MBE in 1976 but accepted the AO in 1984.

The portrait of the artist Lloyd Rees (1895-1988) was painted by Roland Wakelin in 1965. Lloyd Rees was born in Qeensland and attended his first art classes at the Brisbane Technical College. He exhibited with the Royal Art Society and the NSW Society of Artists and in 1942 the first of many retrospective exhibitions of this work was shown at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. His work includes paintings (in oil and watercolour), drawings, etchings and lithographs-a favourite subject being the south coast of New South Wales.

Rees won the Wynne Prize for landscape in 1950 and 1982, lectured in art history at Sydney University, and wrote several books including The Small Treasures of a Lifetime (Sydney: Ure Smith, [1969]) and his autobiography, An Artist Remembers (Craftsman House, 1987).

Wakelin's work complements other portraits of Lloyd Rees in the Pictorial Section, including the photograph by Greg Weight, of the artist's hands against his paint-encrusted coat.

What's new on the National Library's World Wide Web site?

Publications

Film and Video Acquisitions, December 1996 - http://www.nla.gov.au/3/pub/fandv/1296.html

Gateways, no. 25, January 1997 - http://www.nla.gov.au/2/pubs/gw/25/25.html

Indonesian Acquisitions List (Daftar Pengadaan Bahan Indonesia), no. 3, September 1996 - http://www.nla.gov.au/1/asian/pub/ial/0396.html

Digital Libraries & Preservation Issues

But Will We Find It a Year from Now? / Wendy Smith - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/wsmith1.html

Ensuring Long-Term Access to Online Australian Publications: National Library of Australia Initiatives / Margaret Phillips - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/mphillips3.html

Future Directions in Access and Preservation Technologies and New Electronic Formats / Colin Webb - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/cwebb3.html

PADI: Preserving Access to Digital Information. Medium-Term Plan - http://www.nla.gov.au/dnc/tf2001/medplan.html [link no longer available]

Preserving & Accessing Networked Documentary Resources in Australia (PANDORA) Project - http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/plan/pandora.html

Recent Developments in Commonwealth Information Management / Eric Wainwright - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/ew8.html

Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts. Progress to January 1997 - http://www.nla.gov.au/1/ms/raamp1.html

Report to the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, December 1996. National Priority (Reserve) Fund (NP(R)F) Library Projects Project Evaluation / PADI - http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/avccrep2.html

Statement of Principles: Preservation of and Long-Term Access to Australian Digital Objects / National Preservation Office - http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/digital/princ.html

Networked Services Project

Information Paper, Networked Services Project, 10 February 1997 - http://www.nla.gov.au/nsp/preinfo.html

Networked Services for Australian Libraries: The Way Ahead. Press Release 20 January 1997 - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/press/ndis2.html

General

Cultural Diversity in Australia / John Thompson - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/jthomp3.html

Ensuring Essential Evidence / Adrian Cunningham - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/acunning5.html

41st ABN Standards Committee Papers-1997 [Papers 4-7] - http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/abnsc41.html

List of Newspaper Titles from Asia Collected by the NLA - http://www.nla.gov.au/collect/asianews.html

List of Overseas Newspaper Titles Collected by the NLA - http://www.nla.gov.au/collect/osnews.html

NLA Readers Seminar Program 1997 - http://www.nla.gov.au/infoserv/readered.html

New Approaches to Access: Use of the WWW by the National Library of Australia to Enhance Access to Its Heritage Collections / Pam Gatenby - http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/pgatenby1.html

Ruth Park: A Celebration - http://www.nla.gov.au/friends/ruth/

Strategic Review of Library Coordination / ACLIS - http://www.nla.gov.au/aclis/review.html

Hosted Information

Legal Implications of the High Court Decision in the Wik Peoples-v-Queensland. Current Advice / Attorney-General's Department - http://www.nla.gov.au/pmc/native/wik.html

Prime Minister's Office: Press Releases, Statements etc - http://www.nla.gov.au/pmc/howard.html

Submission to Information Management Steering Committee Report: Management of Government Information as a National Strategic Resource / Federal Libraries Information Network - http://www.nla.gov.au/flin/submissi/imsc.html

'Online-Ondisc '97' and electronic publishing

Besides the main event, several other satellite and associated meetings involving electronic publishing were held in the week of the 'Information Online and Ondisc '97' conference in Sydney during January. All helped further the National Library's commitment to ensuring long-term access to Australian electronic publishing.

At the Electronic Libraries Forum (ELF) on Monday 20 January, Dr Jan Lyall, Director of the library's recently formed National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch, gave an overview of the new PADI (Preserving Access to Digital Information) site (on the library's server at http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/). The PADI working group set up this site to provide information and guidance to everyone seeking reassurance that digital information created today can be accessed in the future.

With so many members of the PANDORA (Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia) Advisory Committee already in Sydney to attend the conference, the first meeting of the committee took place on the afternoon of Wednesday 22 January. Jan Fullerton is the committee's chair, while Jan Lyall represents preservation interests. Other members are Maxine Brodie from the State Library of New South Wales; Tom Denison from White Room Publishing who represented the commercial electronic publishing sector, and Brian Denehy from ADFA. Andrew Wells of NLA was able to attend this first meeting, and Wendy Smith, also from the National Library of Australia, acted as secretary.

In the three days of the conference-from 21-23 January-there were a number of sessions concerned with the provision of long-term access to electronically published information.

In his opening keynote address, Clifford Lynch drew attention to intellectual property considerations, suggesting that technology via secure containers and envelopes could give some control over property and copyright, but that there might need to be some 'affirmative rights' for preservation.

Russell Kendrick of Dataware Technologies noted the possibility of hybrid electronic publishing- where part of a title might be on CD-ROM and another part would be on the World Wide Web. Although this might be good for the end user, it could complicate, significantly, the issue of ensuring long-term access to the information.

Convened by Jan Fullerton, the NLA's Assistant Director-General, Collections and Reader Services Division, a 'birds of a feather' session on electronic publishing was held on the Tuesday morning. Those who attended were in the main already running small publications, often 'in-house', or were contemplating starting one. They showed interest in long-term access issues and were pleased to hear that the library was addressing them seriously. They also acknowledged the magnitude of some of the problems that the National Library is facing in entering this field.

Tuesday afternoon's conference session further explored the phenomenon. A number of publishers of electronic journals discussed their experiences in establishing scholarly electronic journals in projects funded by the Australian Vice-Chancellor's Committee: the Australian Humanities Review, the Australian Journal of Management, the Electronic Medical Journal of Australia, Psyche and the Australian Journal of Chemistry. (At least three of these titles are currently in scope for the library's PANDORA project. See http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/plan/pandora.html).

On Thursday morning Michael Greenhaulgh of ANU gave a good review of his site, Artserve. This site provides yet another example of the difficulties of capturing and ensuring long-term access to any electronic title. He revealed that the site is redesigned every three to six months; that it started small and 'just grew', and that economic reality is turning what was once a free site into one where users will be charged for images that they download.

As an example of the current use of the Internet, Bob Hughes from ABC Radio Sydney 2BL gave a fascinating review of what the Internet means to him; of its immediacy, and how it has changed the way he finds information about a whole range of subjects-from the most recent news headlines to the use of suburb by suburb mortgage information-when building up a demographic picture of a particular area.

On the Friday, a small group of National Library staff took part in a seminar organised by the ALIA Information Science Section and CSIRO Division of Information Technology, on 'Setting up an Electronic Journal'. Delegates to the seminar represented an extensive range of interests and organisations-from sporting groups to scientific societies; from the National Breast Cancer Centre to Choice magazine-but all were concerned with the central theme, establishing best practices in the design and implementation of Web sites.

Patrick Wilken, editor of Psyche, talked about the practical issues of establishing and maintaining an electronic journal and Bob Jansen from the CSIRO listed some of the technical requirements. The National Library team outlined the problems of selection, standards, metadata, and preservation.

As an illustration of the ever changing nature of electronic publications, Wendy Smith explained some of the problems which might be encountered in tracking electronic publications, and suggested ways in which publishers could help retain the accessibility of their titles.

Lists link researchers to the 'Net

In July 1996, Gateways reported that the National Library's Information Services Section had commenced a project to identify and list Internet resources in various Australian subject areas. The lists, compiled by subject librarians, target a selection of quality sites on the Internet relating to a particular subject area. The lists have a research focus and sites are evaluated for inclusion on the basis of content, authority and technical aspects related to ease of use. In the early stages, lists of sites relating to Australian law, Australian literature, Australian newspapers and Australian cartography were produced. All those lists have been significantly revised in recent times and a new range of subjects is being added. Three recent additions are: the Pacific, statistics, and genealogy and family history.

The Pacific list includes a wide range of links leading the user to sources on news and current events, electronic journals such as The Spin Doctor, booksellers and other institutions with a specialisation in the Pacific. Readers can link to an English Samoan dictionary for travellers or the Papua New Guinean legal information network. They can refer to the Asia Pacific Economic Review or the South Pacific Journal of Psychology. There are a range of general reference sites from which to choose.

Overseas sources of material with Australian significance have now been added. The National Library's genealogy and family history list of links has a focus on Australian resources but also gives links to worldwide resources with sites in the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Canada and Europe. Users of the list can find genealogical and local history societies, link to a search interface for Irish transportation records, or find information about documents on military service. The sites for Commonwealth and State archives can be found, as well as lists of researchers who can undertake family history research.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics is clearly a major site for Australian statistical information. However, the list on Australian statistics also links to the large number of university statistics sites throughout Australia. Many of these provide links to a range of electronic journals and related overseas sites of interest. The Statistical Society of Australia link gives access to information on membership, employment and conference information.

Those lists, originally produced in 1996, have been updated to accommodate changing sites on the Internet and the provision of additional information. The newspaper list, last updated on 15 January, now provides links to 14 Australian newspapers and a link to overseas newspapers. Australian law has been significantly revised (7 February) with recent links including the Wik High Court decision on Native Title and pastoral leases. The cartographic list, updated on 12 February, includes links to weather maps, satellite images, map societies and retailers, geographic facts about Australia, and issues of copyright relating to printed and digital mapping information and aerial photography.

The National Library will continue to add to the subject lists in the future, Australian history and International organisations being two of the topics planned for inclusion. Ongoing monitoring of the currency, relevance and quality of the lists is an important subsidiary activity in this Information Services Section subject specialisation program.

'Dance People, Dance'

A delight for lovers of theatre and dance, this inspiring exhibition of rare photographs, manuscripts, costumes and oral histories reflects the contribution of dance to Australia's identity. The exhibition, curated by the respected dance historian and critic, Michelle Potter, will open on 28 April in the National Library's Ground Floor Gallery.

Available in June: A Passion for Dance, Michelle Potter's splendidly illustrated book, features fascinating interviews with Australia's leading choreographers and artistic directors, among them Meryl Tankard, Paul Mercurio and Stanton Welch. ISBN 0 642 10685 1, 240 x 280 mm, 180 pp, illus., rrp $34.95

International Cataloguing Conference, Toronto

An international conference on the fundamental principles of AACR will be held in Toronto from 23-25 October 1997, with invited speakers and participants. The title of the conference is: 'International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR' and it is being organised by the Joint Steering Committee for the Revision of AACR (JSC).

The committee will seek advice from the conference on the nature and direction of future rule revisions, taking into account present and future trends in information resources and information management.

Ann Huthwaite will be attending the conference as the Australian representative of JSC and Andrew Wells, Director, Technical Services Branch, will be the National Library's representative.

Plans are now well advanced and can be found on the regularly updated Web page at (URL: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/jsc/index.htm).

When the papers become available, comments from Australian cataloguers will be welcome, either directly to Ann Huthwaite at the Queensland University of Technology (a.huthwaite@qut.edu.au), through Catlibs, or to the following ACOC (Australian Committee on Cataloguing) members: Pam Dunlop, Chair, National Library of Australia; Julia Trainor, NLA; Chris Taylor, University of Queensland; Helen Hoffman, LaTrobe University; Giles Martin, University of Newcastle; Janet Thorp, State Library of Tasmania; and Susanne Moir, State Library of New South Wales.

TDK Australian Audio Book Awards 1997

The National Library of Australia invites entries for Australia's only independent audio book awards. The aim of the awards is to promote excellence in Australian audio book production. Awards are offered for abridged and unabridged fiction, abridged and unabridged non-fiction. Audio books eligible for TDK awards must be produced between 1 June 1996 and 31 May 1997.

The Trish Trinick Prize for the best narrator will be selected from among entrants for the TDK Australian Audio Book Awards.

Entries for the awards close on 2 June 1997. For information and entry forms contact the TDK Awards Coordinator tel. (02) 6262 1289 fax (02) 6273 4494 email mdickens@nla.gov.au.

STOP PRESS! Gateways replaces WORLD 1 Connections

National Library of Australia Gateways now incorporates all the news about networked services in the library, following the cessation of WORLD 1 Connections and the NDIS Project.

In recognition of the fact that Gateways is the chief source of news about the National Library for library professionals, subscriptions to this bi-monthly magazine are now free. Copies of each issue will be sent automatically to customers of the Australian Bibliographic Network and Ozline as well as to former paying subscribers. In fact, any organisation or individual with an interest in our operations will be a welcome addition to the mailing list.

It's easy to walk through the gate and find out about our latest developments, acquisitions and activities! Just contact:

The Editor
National Library of Australia Gateways
National Library of Australia
Parkes Place
CANBERRA ACT 2600
tel. (02) 6262 1580
fax (02) 6273 1180
email lkirwan@nla.gov.au


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