
ISSN 1443-0568
No. 27
May 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:
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ABN/Ozline Marketing
National Library of Australia
CANBERRA A.C.T. 2600
Fax: (02) 6273 1180
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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 free. Back issues are at http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways
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On 24 March, the National Library released a Request for Tender (RFT) for Stage 1 of the Networked Services Project. In this first stage, the library is seeking automated systems for the redevelopment of national bibliographic and cataloguing support functions. The RFT lists six specific configurations:
The utility will replace the cataloguing functions currently provided by ABN and support a national union catalogue of holdings in Australian libraries.
This is software which creates and maintains cataloguing data on the National Bibliographic Utility and on each library's local system.
The gateway will enable searching of Z39.50-capable databases through World Wide Web browsers. The gateway could also support session control and user authentication.
The ILL Utility will replace functions and services currently offered by the ABN Interlibrary Loans Subsystem.
Management of services will be provided by this system. This will support transaction logging, billing and customer registration.
The NLA will replace its in-house library system if it can be supplied at marginal additional cost. ILMS proposals will only be accepted if they accompany responses to the National Bibliographic Utility.
Tenders closed on 19 May and evaluation of the responses commenced immediately. The Director-General of the NLA, Warren Horton, has received positive comments about the progress of the Networked Services Project. 'The library is on track to complete contracts and commence the implementation of Stage 1 before the end of the year', he said.
A key strategic direction of the Networked Services Project is to improve the infrastructure supporting interlibrary lending and document delivery to Australian libraries and their users. Another major project which aids this strategy is CILLA (the Coordinated Interlibrary Loans Administration project) described in Gateways, no. 25.
The Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) and the National Library of Australia have agreed in principle to undertake joint procurement for CILLA and the NLA's Document Supply services.
An agreement in principle has also been reached for representatives from the AVCC to provide expert advice during NLA's evaluation of Stage 1 of the Networked Services Project. Through this cooperation, the NLA and AVCC aim to ensure development of interlibrary lending and document delivery systems which work together to improve service delivery. Neil McLean, Chair of the AVCC CILLA Management Group, says
'This business arrangement is a model for further collaborative developments aimed at enhancing Australia's information infrastructure'.
The current project leader and Deputy-Director General of the National Library, Eric Wainwright will take up a position as Pro Vice-Chancellor of James Cook University, North Queensland later this year. Mr Wainwright leaves the NLA early in June and the Director-General will shortly be announcing changed administrative arrangements for the project.
Additional facts about the Networked Services Project are available on the NLA's Information Server at: http://www.nla.gov.au/nsp/ A discussion list has been established for the project. To subscribe, send a message to listserv@nla.gov.au, leave the subject line blank, and put 'subscribe nsp-l <first name> <last name> in the body of the message.
Elections were held during February and March to fill vacancies in the ABN Network Committee and the Standards Committee.
Seven nominations were received to fill four vacancies on the Network Committee. The vacancies were created by the resignation of Tom Cochrane, and the expiration of the terms of Neil McLean, Linda Luther and Derek Whitehead.
The nominees were: Susan Ball (State Library of South Australia), Marian Bate (University of New South Wales), Graham Black (Central Queensland University), Dorothy Harris (Department of Defence), Fides Lawton (University of Technology, Sydney), Helen Livingston (Deakin University) and Tony Mays (University of Newcastle).
The successful candidates were Susan Ball, who has a strong background in IT and corporate administration, Marian Bate, who specialises in technical and reader services, Helen Livingston, cataloguer and past president of VALA, and Tony Mays, Deputy Librarian at the University of Newcastle, with immediate responsibility for technical services and systems. The terms of appointment for the first three elected members is from 24 March 1997 to the eve of the first meeting of 2000. The fourth elected candidate, Tony Mays, will serve a term ending July 1998, as this vacancy came about through the resignation of Tom Cochrane.
The composition of the new committee is as follows:
Susan Ball (State Library of South Australia), Marian Bate (University of NSW), Maria Cabrera (Bankstown City Library & Information Service), Helen Livingston (Chair-Deakin University), Tony Mays (University of Newcastle), Geoff Payne (CAVAL), Eric Wainwright (NLA, until June 1997), Dale Chatwin (ex officio member as Chair of the ABN Standards Committee).
There were eight nominations to fill three positions on the Standards Committee: Graham Blewett (Hurstville City Library), Dale Chatwin (Australian Bureau of Statistics), Susanne Moir (State Library of NSW), Sue Clarke (University of Melbourne) Robert Ho (CSIRO), Helen Hoffmann (La Trobe University), Mervyn Islip (University of South Australia), and Glenys Oxlee (Macquarie University).
The successful candidates, all of them with strong cataloguing and technical services experience, were Graham Blewett, Dale Chatwin and Susanne Moir. The term of appointment for each member is from 24 March 1997 to the eve of the first Standards Committee meeting of 2000.
The membership of the new committee is:
Graham Blewett (Hurstville City Library), Leonie Bourke(Access Co.), Dale Chatwin (Chair: Australian Bureau of Statistics), Philip Keane (University of Tasmania), Susanne Moir (State Library of NSW), Joan Moncrieff (Deakin University), Barbara Reif (Edith Cowan University),Ann Huthwaite (ACOC nominee-Queensland University of Technology), Magdalen Lee (CJK Technical Committee nominee-University of Sydney), Julia Trainor (Ex officio member-Director, ABN/Ozline Services, NLA).
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This year's Annual Users Meeting in Canberra on 12th and 13th August will provide a challenging opportunity for all ABN/Ozline users to participate in discussions on the future vision and business directions for ABN/Ozline.
The recently elected Chair, Tony Ralli, would like to encourage all users to come along-to let us know where you see the network going in the future and what you want it to deliver to you. The agenda will provide plenty of opportunity for users to have their say, so mark it in your diary now and come along. Papers and suggestions for the agenda should be sent to Julia Trainor, ABN/Ozline Branch, National Library of Australia (email: jtrainor@nla.gov.au) by 4 July.
The meeting will be held at Rydges Canberra Hotel, London Circuit, Canberra. The cost will be $80 per person which includes morning and afternoon teas and lunch. There will be an optional cocktail reception, at a cost of $28.00.
The meeting schedule will be:
12 August
9.00-10.00am Registration
10am-5.30pm Meeting
6.00-7.30pm
Reception
13 August
9.00am-2.00pm Meeting
Special accommodation rates for delegates have been negotiated at a number of convenient hotels. Details of these offers will be distributed with the registration forms, which will shortly be dispatched to all Full Service and Search and Products users. If other ABN/Ozline users would like to attend, please apply for a registration form from the Help Desk on toll free: 1800 026 155 or fax: (02) 6273 1180.
At its meeting on 17-18 April, the ABN Network Committee reviewed the ABN budget and charges for 1997/98. It recommended just three changes to charges, which are set out below. These recommendations have now been approved by the Director-General.
The terminal charges will increase to $220 per port per month, effective 1 July 1997, in order to reduce the subsidy which ABN provides to this service. The current charges are $160 (for those who joined after October 1996) and $210 (for all other members).
The charge per search command will increase from $1.10 to $1.30, effective 1 July 1997, in order to recover fully the costs of this service.
The charges for leased line access will increase by 15%, effective 1 January 1998.
The target date for migration of customers from leased lines to the Internet is 31 December 1997. Customers wishing to continue using a leased line after this date will need to seek an exemption, and if granted, the following charges will apply.
Standard access :
per modem 2.4Kbps $242
per modem 4.8Kbps $380
per modem
9.6Kbps $575
per registered terminal
address $18
Gateway Access
per institution $63
per registered terminal
address $18
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The Network Committee met on 17-18 April with five new members. Helen Livingston was elected Chair with Susan Ball as her deputy.
The committee received an update on the Networked Services Project, and the arrangements for the tender process. The Network Committee foresees that the new system will probably involve changes to the current service models, and has recommended that it be consulted about these changes during the evaluation of the tender responses. The committee also recommended that a reference group of users, including those with cataloguing, reference and interlibrary loan expertise, be used in the NSP evaluation process to report on the functionality of specific systems under consideration.
Tony Ralli, the elected Chair of the next Annual Users Meeting, met with the Network Committee to present his ideas for the meeting. It was agreed that the next Annual Users Meeting should maximise opportunities for users to contribute to the future directions of ABN. A few weeks before the Annual Users Meeting, the Network Committee will hold a special planning meeting to review the development of the Networked Services Project and to consider implications for future service models.
The committee recommended that during the transition to the replacement system, the charging schedule be reviewed on a six- monthly basis. The first review will take place in November.
Meanwhile, three price rises were recommended by the committee. The RLIN search charge will rise to $1.30, reflecting price rises at RLIN. The National CJK Service terminal charge will increase to $220 per port per month, in order to reduce the subsidy which ABN provides to this service. These charges will be effective from 1 July 1997. In January 1998 all leased line charges will rise by 15 per cent, to recover the costs of running the SNA network (see article on page 6).
A new Charging Subcommittee was formed, comprising Susan Ball, Maria Cabrera and Tony Mays.
The Partner Plan, which offers high- volume users the option of paying a fixed subscription charge for the next year's online access, has been well received by users. The committee recommended that the Partner Plan concept be continued in 1997/98, and that it be extended to all customers who expended more than $65,000 on ABN inquiries between April 1995 and December 1996.
The committee received a report on the growing proportion of poor quality cataloguing being contributed to the NBD, and noted that the standard credit of $7.00 is awarded for all cataloguing contributions, regardless of quality. To enable the payment of credits to be applied only to cataloguing of adequate quality, the committee recommended the establishment of an accreditation system for NBD contributors. A paper outlining the costs and benefits of such a system will be brought to the November meeting of the Network Committee.
Information about the membership of the Network Committee, and the papers of the meeting, are available on the Internet at the following URL: http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/abnnc.html
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Following the recent ABN elections, the Standards Committee has a new member (Susanne Moir from the State Library of New South Wales) and a new Chair (Dale Chatwin from the Australian Bureau of Statistics).
The Standards Committee has conducted its first business for 1997 by teleconference and email. Working electronically will result in more frequent decision making. Here are the results of the Standards Committee's teleconference on
10 February:
The catalogue is a finding aid, not an encyclopaedia, but a good authority file contains useful information on authors and corporate bodies. The Standards Committee agreed that cataloguers may change authority records to add a death date for an author where this is known. Adding death dates to authority records is optional, and is strictly limited to Australian authors. This decision means that there will be a little more change in the authority file, but it will increase the file's value for reference.
The Standards Committee responded to a request at the last Annual Users Meeting to get overseas publications of Australian interest back into the Australian National Bibliography. ABN cataloguers can now use a special note to flag an item as being of Australian interest.
ABN cataloguers are probably enjoying their last months of freedom to catalogue non-print serials in either the serial format or any non-print format. The Standards Committee has signalled that ABN will adopt Library of Congress policy, to maximise the benefits for shared cataloguing and the union catalogue. The future LC policy is rather uncertain. The present policy of cataloguing according to physical form is being challenged by a proposal to catalogue according to the intellectual content. This is part of the wider 'content-versus-carrier' debate, which will be addressed at the International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR (Toronto, 23-25 October 1997). Australian cataloguers will have a chance to debate the issue at the National Cataloguing Conference in Canberra on 11-12 September.
The Standards Committee discussed the issue of receiving Blackwell's Table of Contents data in field 970 instead of the USMARC standard field 505. Field 970 has benefits for users of the Innovative system, which constructs indexes and online displays of TOC data. The 970 field is likely to be useable in other systems if small system changes are made, but after two years virtually no Australian libraries have taken the opportunity to trial the 970 format. The Standards Committee is reluctant to go ahead with a 'non standard format' which would force all non-Innovative sites to make a small change to their systems in order to use the data. The Standards Committee will try to obtain more detailed formatting of TOC data within the USMARC standard. When the ABN system is replaced, the Standards Committee supports the purchase of the data in both the standard and the 'Innovative' field, which would meet the needs of all users. The matter is still under discussion.
For more information, see the Standards Committee's Internet Home Page at http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/abnsc.html
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The target date for migrating from leased lines to the Internet when accessing ABN is 31 December 1997.
More than 70% of ABN sessions are now conducted via the Internet and libraries are enjoying the benefits of being part of the Internet community. For example, ABN is using the Internet to provide a more timely supply of MARC records by file transfer to a growing number of customers. The National Library is using the World Wide Web increasingly as a means of providing information, access to meeting papers and minutes for customers. Work is underway to use the facilities the Web provides to help libraries with problem-solving. Web pages are being used to streamline the processing of applications for services such as MARCLINK and Ariel. The email discussion lists for ABN and the Networked Services Project serve as outlets to publicise the latest news and developments and afford an opportunity for members to put forward their own views and comments.
The new networked services which will be replacing ABN will use only the Internet for access. The National Library plans to begin implementation of the replacement system by the end of 1997.
Most libraries have made a painless change to Internet access from leased line access. Others have found some problems which our data communications staff have helped them to resolve. We encourage you to move to Internet access as soon as possible, as this will enable our data communications staff to provide any support you may require. If everyone leaves it as late as possible there could be numbers of customers seeking assistance at the same time and in that scenario our personnel may not be able to provide the same level of service.
We know that for some libraries, a deadline of 31 December will cause difficulties and we are willing to give these customers an extension of time to make the change. Reasons for granting an extension would include:
However, the leased line network will become more expensive to operate with a smaller number of users, so from 1 January 1998 the monthly charges for leased lines and terminal addresses will be increased by 15 per cent. If you need an extension for one of the above reasons, or for some other reason, please write to: Julia Trainor, Director ABN/Ozline, National Library of Australia CANBERRA ACT 2600
Many of our dial-up customers have already moved to Internet access instead of Austpac because it is cheaper.
Dial-up users accessing via Austpac are missing out on the benefits of the National Library's Web pages as well as the email discussion lists. We encourage all users who are still dialling into ABN or Ozline using Austpac to dial-up using the Internet. The replacement for ABN will only allow dial-up access via the Internet. To find out how, please request a copy of Accessing the National Library's Services through the Internet from the ABN Help Desk, tel.: 1 800 026 155, email: networks@nla.gov.au . It's easy!
In October 1996 it was announced that the National Library had recommenced loading Vietnamese National Bibliography records to the National Bibliographic Database. These records were kindly supplied by the National Library of Vietnam.
The loading of the 15 954 bibliographic records, covering the period 1991-95, is now complete. This has extended the coverage of the Vietnamese National Bibliography on ABN from 1986 to 1995.
The number of database records for items published in Vietnam has consequently increased by approximately 13 400 with 2,500 items matching records already present in the NBD. Those who receive copies of the Vietnamese Union Catalogue on microfiche will notice the sudden increase in size of the next issue.
In converting these records to USMARC no attempt was made to translate the information nor to change any of the cataloguing content. Some sample rids for those interested in Vietnamese materials are: vuc0076542 and vuc0076318.
The National Library has completed loading a large number of bibliographic and holdings records from the University of Queensland Library (QU) to ABN. This contribution represents the bulk of the QU collection not previously submitted to the National Bibliographic Database (NBD).
The file sent to ABN consisted of 646 739 bibliographic records and 778 725 holdings records. After passing through the ABN matching programs, 154 141 new bibliographic records were added to the database. In addition, 164 353 holdings were unique to QU material.
Some sample records from the file are: qum00-579601, qum00-474818 and qum00-470707
Our thanks to the University of Queensland Library for its continuing contribution to the growth of the NBD on ABN.
The Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) and the National Library of Australia (NLA) have agreed in principle to undertake a joint procurement process for systems to provide local request management capabilities, as described in the feasibility study for the Coordinated Interlibrary Loan Administration project (CILLA).
The intention is for this joint undertaking to optimise the advantages of integrating the three major interlending and document delivery initiatives currently being developed for the Australian library community: the National ILL Utility Service, as part of the Networked Services Project (NSP), local interlending and document delivery request management software (the CILLA project ), and the electronic document transmission software (the JEDDS project). These three elements may now be seen as the core components of a fully comprehensive interlending and document management system where all requirements-from identification to location, request management, and delivery direct to the end user-are provided as a wholly integrated service.
The joint procurement process will be managed by the AVCC on behalf of both parties. The CILLA project is now a fully-funded core project of the AVCC's NPRF Projects for Libraries, Program 2(a).
Enquiries may be made to Judith Greenaway, CILLA Project Manager, tel.: +613.9244.3894, mobile: 0419.556397, fax: +613.9244.6693, email: cilla@gu.edu.au http://www.gu.edu.au/alib/iii/docdel/cilla/
c/-Deakin University Library, 221 Burwood Highway, BURWOOD 3125 AUSTRALIA
The ABN Marketing staff look forward to meeting you and offering advice about ABN, Ozline and UnCover Australia at the following conferences:
Language, Learning and Culture
joint national conference of
the Australian School Library Association, Australian Association for the
Teaching of English and the Australian Literacy Educators Association, Darwin
High School, 8-11 July
APA Book Fair 1997
Darling Harbour, Sydney, 2-4 August
National Library Technicians Conference
National Convention
Centre, Canberra, 24-26 September
Asian Pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians' Conference
Perth Concert Hall, 13-16 October
Public Libraries and Reference and Information Services Conference
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, 10-12 November
Keep reading Gateways for details of other ABN promotions during 199
Outsourcing cataloguing is the topic on everyone's lips, although it has been going on for many years. If cataloguing is outsourced, it is important to ensure that the cataloguing and holdings are still contributed to ABN. That will ensure that Australian libraries continue to enjoy the benefits of the union catalogue and shared cataloguing. There are three ways a library can outsource its cataloguing with ABN:
The library engages an external agency to do the cataloguing under contract. Contract cataloguing is very well established in ABN. It has been a useful way for small libraries to enjoy the benefits of specialist cataloguing skills, and for larger libraries to take on special cataloguing projects. The contract cataloguers usually make use of the library's ABN account to do the cataloguing, and the library pays the ABN bills.
The library contracts with a library supplier to provide cataloguing for the books it sells to the library. The library supplier arranges for the cataloguing to be done by its own employees or under contract. The cataloguing is done on ABN using either the supplier's ABN account, or the customer library's ABN account. When the library gives the supplier access to its ABN account, it will often open a separate account for each supplier it uses. This enables the library to track the costs separately, and even to require the library supplier to pay the bill for the account which it uses.
This is a new service being developed by ABN in partnership with major library suppliers. The library supplier informs ABN which books it is despatching to which library. ABN will add the library's holdings statement to the NBD and trigger the automatic supply of an ABN MARC record to the library.
Here are some of the major features of the service:
Library holdings will be supplied in the format provided by the book supplier. This could simply be the word 'Held', or any other phrase agreed between the book supplier and the library.
MARC records will be provided to the library only if available from ABN. Book trade cataloguing does not always meet library cataloguing standards for content or format. Therefore suppliers' records will probably not be added to ABN, even if there is no other record for that title.
MARC records will be delivered to libraries by FTP twice a week. Downline loading and MARC*LINK will not be used to supply MARC records for this service.
MARC records will be delivered in USMARC format, not AUSMARC.
The ABN MARC records with books service should not require any changes to local library systems. However, changes will be required to the ABN system and to library suppliers' systems. ABN system changes are being implemented to enable the frequent loading of multiple small batches of holdings. Testing is under way with two large library suppliers: DA Books and Blackwell. ABN plans to be ready to provide 'ABN MARC records with books' from the beginning of 1998, for any library suppliers who have successfully completed testing in 1997.
While there is no inherent reason why outsourcing of cataloguing will cause a lowering of quality in cataloguing, it is a fact that ABN is receiving quite a few low-quality cataloguing records from some commercial operators. Hopefully this is just a transitional phase, but the Network Committee is considering incentives for improving the quality of cataloguing in ABN, including the possible limitation of credits to those contributors whose work meets a minimum standard.
If outsourcing cataloguing, specify that you require your cataloguing and holdings be contributed to ABN.
If outsourcing original cataloguing, specify your quality requirements. At the very least, you should require that your cataloguing meets the ABN minimum record standard. However, the ABN minimum standard is below the requirements of most libraries. The Standards Committee is planning to develop a checklist that will help libraries to specify their quality requirements for outsourced cataloguing.
The ABN Standards Committee will meet again on 9-10 September; the quality of outsourced cataloguing and the development of accreditation for ABN cataloguers will be the topics for discussion.
The Australian Committee on Cataloguing will meet by teleconference on 21 July.
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A new project, 'South Asia: Renovating the National Collection', gave a group of nine Australian librarians the opportunity to travel through India and Bangladesh in February: from Mumbai (Bombay) to Pune, Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai (Madras), Delhi, Calcutta and Dhaka. During the month the group, which included Erica Ryan from the NLA, visited almost 70 institutions-libraries, publishers, booksellers and electronic information service providers. These meetings were complemented by a number of seminars and other organised events with local libraries and information specialists.
The main aims and all the activities of the trip centred around the following:
The systematic inquiry into a range of South Asian libraries:
recording full contact names and details; as well as noting collection
strengths and emphases, facilities for visiting scholars, and any services and
resources which are made available remotely.
Institutional link building:
identifying institutions which
are interested in establishing links with Australian libraries and library
schools (e.g. resource sharing and information exchange, staff exchanges and
other collaborative activities).
Acquiring and establishing means of access to information resources:
identifying existing and forthcoming scholarly information resources in
South Asia (including government publications, serials and periodicals,
ephemera, electronic resources, and audio-visual materials).
The field trip was funded by the Australian Research Council's Research Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities Project (RIEFP), the Australian Research Council and Australia-India Council, with help from the participants' institutions-Curtin University of Technology, La Trobe University, Monash University, Flinders University, Australian National University, University of Sydney and the NLA.
A group report will be released at a South Asian postgraduate workshop in either Canberra or Sydney next July. The National South Asian Bibliographic Database, http://recall.curtin.edu.au/Data/saru/sard.htmwhich has been in preparation for the 'South Asia: Renovating the National Collection Project' was launched on 2 May 1997 at Curtin University by the Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe University, Professor Michael Osborne and the Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, the Hon. Tim Fischer, MP.
More information? Please refer to Professor John McGuire's article 'A Passage to India' which appeared in the October 1996 issue of National Library of Australia News or visit the SouthAsiaNet - http://www.une.edu.au/~arts/SouthAsiaNet/san.htm
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Eleven librarians specialising in Japanese studies-from Australia, US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, People's Republic of China and Brazil-were invited to participate in a training course held in Tokyo from 17 February to 7 March this year. The course aimed to provide the opportunity to improve and update knowledge of Japanese librarianship and to establish networks inside and outside Japan.
Nine of the 1997 participants were native speakers of Japanese; most completed their tertiary education in Japan but gained librarianship qualifications overseas. Japanese specialisation was acquired principally through inhouse training or self-training rather than through a formal program, so it was a great opportunity for those who attended to improve their knowledge of Japanese librarianship in situ.
The training course was divided into two main parts: two weeks of intensive lectures and hands-on training, and one week of visits to various libraries. The former included lectures on commercial, scholastic and government publications, rare materials and their preservation, statistical materials, reference materials, foreign materials on Japan, digital information and digital library services, NACSIS and J-BISC (CD-ROM on Japanese publications). The last week was devoted exclusively to visiting libraries such as the National Archives, the Diplomatic Record Office of Foreign Affairs, the Government Data Research Centre of Japan, the National Institute of Japanese Literature, the Japan Information Centre for Science and Technology (JICST) and Keio University Media Centre.
In one of the sessions, entitled 'Overseas Japanese Studies Collection and Network Activities', some of the course participants gave individual talks to over 60 people at the National Diet Library. The speakers from the European region and North America reported on their network activities and Yumiko Tsuji, from the National Library, spoke on the National CJK Service in Australia. With the exception of the Monash Library representative, none of those present at the session had prior knowledge of the NCJK Service, which subsequently aroused considerable interest.
The British library group representative reported that the group uses the NACSIS Service as the core system to create the UK Union Catalogue of Japanese Books. NACSIS offers information retrieval, cataloguing and an interlibrary loan service online to member libraries. The group, to which the British Library, the Oxford, Cambridge and Sheffield University libraries, and the London School of Oriental & African Studies belong, receives its NACSIS data via the British Library Document Supply Centre. As far as Japanese language materials are concerned, NACSIS is the biggest and most up-to-date non-commercial database available at the moment.
The collection officer of the Library of Congress' Japan Documentation Centre in Tokyo spoke on LC's activities in Japan. The centre concentrates on supplying information which is difficult to obtain, for instance various government and non-government reports, legislative drafts, White Papers, suggestion papers and research reports by economic organisations and think-tanks.
The course was funded by the Japanese Government's Japan Foundation. All training was sponsored by the foundation and the National Diet Library of Japan in cooperation with the National Centre for Science Information Systems (NACSIS). The course was overwhelmingly successful and, as a result, the Japan Foundation has decided to continue offering it every year until the number of eligible candidates is exhausted.
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Australian experiences were of particular interest to participants at the international workshop 'Developments in the Coordination of Asian Collections', held in Amsterdam on 15 April. Thirty Dutch representatives and librarians from Australia, China, Germany, Great Britain and the United States attended the event, which was seen as the first step towards greater cooperation in this field. It was sponsored by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS).
Attending on behalf of the National Library, Andrew Gosling presented a paper on issues and achievements in Australia's coordination of Asian collections. With the exception of Germany, which has had a strong collaborative system for many years, and Australia, the countries represented were at a less advanced stage in cooperation on Asian collections. Australia was seen as a model with a number of participants already quite familiar with developments from the National Library's home pages for Asian collections and DNC activities, ANU sites and the Asialib electronic discussion list. The Dutch librarians were particularly interested in the way the Roundtables on Libraries and Asia had led to the successful development of the National CJK Service and more focused work on priority areas such as Korea and South Asia.
It was agreed, as a step towards the rationalisation which has already been achieved for the hard sciences, that there will be a study in the Netherlands of who is collecting which periodicals on Asia. The IIAS website was accepted as a good place for communication, including the listing of duplicates.
Dutch libraries will all need to use the one database. At present some important collections, such as that housed with the Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, are not recorded on the Dutch automated system, PICA. There was discussion of the problem of uncatalogued retrospective materials, and consequently the need to prepare a guide to the various special Asian collections which are uncatalogued or poorly covered in the catalogues of Dutch libraries.
While it was agreed that the IIAS must be one of the leaders in national cooperation, opinions varied about whether this should be together with the Royal Dutch Library or with a wider group, including users. Some saw the Royal Dutch Library as being primarily concerned with Dutch publications and not particularly involved with Asian collections.
Considerable interest was shown in the question of whether to focus on national coordination, or within Europe and internationally. The possibility was raised of setting up European acquisition offices in Asia, or joining Library of Congress programs if LC is prepared to operate on an international basis. The British Library favoured a European Union feasibility study on coordination within Europe involving key institutions. The German representative cautioned that practical problems such as the lack of common cataloguing standards in Europe and the issue of language would have to be overcome.
A number of Dutch librarians and, in particular, the British Library representative urged that cooperation be European and international, rather than national, in focus. As there is only one active Chinese research collection in the Netherlands, for example, this approach was seen as more useful.
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His Excellency the Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, Mr Sastrohandoyo Wiryono, and Mrs Wiryono recently visited the National Library as guests of the National Library Council. Accompanied by the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Philip Flood AO, and Mrs Carole Flood, the Ambassador and his wife were shown through several areas of the Library including the Asian Collections Reading Room.
The guests were given the opportunity to browse a selection of works from the Indonesian Collection, including the rare 1896 publication De Wayang Poerwa about the classical Indonesian wayang kulit or shadow plays. The Ambassador was also given a demonstration of the National Library's Indonesian Collection home pages on the Internet and was able to view the text of one of his recent speeches which had been mounted on the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs Web site.
The Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs is one of many sites that can be reached through hypertext links from the National Library's 'Indonesia Online' pages. The Indonesian Acquisitions List, which details recent Indonesian book and serial purchases by the National Library, is now also available in electronic form and can be accessed through the National Library's Server at URL : http://www.nla.gov.au/asian/pub/ial/
Any enquires regarding resources in the National Library's Indonesian
Collection can be made to Tieke Atikah or Ralph Sanderson on:
tel. (02)
6262 1647,
fax (02) 6273 4327
or by email to
tatikah@nla.gov.au or
rsanders@nla.gov.au
On 19 March, Mr Kyu Euk Chung, Cultural Attache at the Korean Embassy, presented a cheque from the Korea Foundation to Mr Warren Horton AM, Director-General of the National Library. The gift will help fund a profile of Australia-Korea information and research.
The aim of the profile is to identify the research and business needs of Australian users of Korean materials . The initiative stems from a meeting, in March 1996, of libraries interested in Korean studies.
The Australia-Korea Foundation has also made a contribution to the project.
ABN Help Desk Service-http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/help.html
Friends Pages from National Library of Australia News (February-April 1997)-http://www.nla.gov.au/friends/nlanews.html
Future Access: Long Term Preservation of Australian Electronic Legal Publications / Wendy Smith-http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/wsmith2.html
Manuscript Collection Finding Aids-http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids//-were significantly updated over the month and additional guides were produced for the papers of Tom Uren (MS 6055) and Christina Stead (MS 4967)
1997 TDK Australian Audio Book Awards-http://www.nla.gov.au/events/tdk/tdk.html
Pacific Collections in the NLA-http://www.nla.gov.au/1/gencoll/guides/36.html
Readers Guide #2 - Australian Statute Law [updated]-http://www.nla.gov.au/1/gencoll/guides/auststat.html
Recent Library Acquisitions -http://www.nla.gov.au/1/gencoll/newaq/april97.html
Union Catalogue Profile: Discussion Paper for ZIG, Washington, April 1997-http://www.nla.gov.au/2/abn/zdisc.html
Union Catalogue Profile: Using Z39.50 Enquiry and Update (Formerly Z39.50 Cataloguing Profile)-http://www.nla.gov.au/2/NDIS/devproject.html
Film & Video Acquisitions (March 1997)-http://www.nla.gov.au/3/pub/fandv/0397.html
FLIN Newsletter, no. 5 (April 1997)-http://www.nla.gov.au/flin/newslett/april_97.html
Indonesian Acquisitions List (March 1997)-http://www.nla.gov.au/1/asian/pub/ial/
Queries or comments about the content of the NLA Web should be directed to Diana Dack, tel. +61 (0)6 262 1425. Other enquiries or feedback about the NLA site should be sent to gateways@nla.gov.au.
Applications are now open for the 1997 round of the highly successful Community Heritage Grants. Since their inception in 1994, over 65 communities around Australia have benefited from funds of around $190 000 provided by Australia's leading grassroots documentary preservation program.
According to Dr Stephen Foster, Canberra-based heritage consultant and an assessor of the Community Heritage Grants, 'Significant collections are often housed, if not in the backyard shed, certainly in buildings that lack the most basic conditions necessary for long-term preservation.' Administered by the National Library of Australia's National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch, the Community Heritage Grants program offers financial support of up to $5 000 for the preservation of documentary heritage which is judged to be of national significance. The grants provide funds for community-based organisations to buy equipment, expertise and the means to implement their own preservation programs. Projects can be as diverse as copying documents and photographs to other media such as microfilm, storing letter collections and business records, conserving old books, or developing cooperative preservation projects.
The Brennan & Geraghty's Store Museum was one of the 24 recipients of Community Heritage Grants in 1996. Its project-to clean, store and index a remarkable collection of original grocery store business and trading documents dating from the turn of the century-is currently underway. The collection is significant for its integrity (the documents represent every month of business transaction from July 1896 to January 1904) and provides an important contribution to the business and social history of Australia. It documents a period of hardship-when flood, debt, competition and general economic depression caused Brennan & Geraghty to reduce their business interests in the hitherto thriving young port of Maryborough, Queensland.
Another of last year's grants was for the conservation and microfilming of a large group of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century medical records held in the archives of the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne. The records contain details of the patients' conditions and the treatments offered to them. Dating from 1856, they show the progress of obstetric and gynaecological practice through a period of immense clinical and scientific change and constitute an invaluable resource for research in social and medical history. The Extern Department case books, for example, contain records of home deliveries carried out by medical students between 1920 and 1935 and provide colourful impressions of home life in the poorer suburbs of Melbourne, as well as clinical data about the births. According to historian Dr Janet McCalman, the documents constitute 'one of the most significant collections of hospital records in the world' and their preservation 'will bring international acclaim as well as promoting good scholarship and public education.'
The Ngaanyatjara Council was another grant recipient-for the digital reformatting of the Warburton Mission Photographic Collection. Documenting the presence and impact of the United Aborigines' Mission at the Warburton Ranges in Western Australia, this collection reveals changing government policies and evangelical objectives as well as the survival of indigenous culture in this region. Digitisation offers an ideal means of providing wide access to this pictorial database.
Photographs, film, documents and newspaper cuttings are among the formats represented in the Barnardos Australia collection whose 1996 Community Heritage Grant project is also currently underway. The period of child migration by Barnardos from England to Australia between 1921 and 1965, the arrival and transport of young people from the docks to the Farm School, and various aspects of farm life, particularly during the 1930s, are documented in this remarkable collection of Australian heritage.
The Community Heritage Grants are administered by the National Library's Distributed National Collection Program and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts, with generous sponsorship from Ansett Australia and Kodak Professional. The director of the grants program, Dr Jan Lyall, says, 'This program has clearly demonstrated its value to the community. We have been delighted by the number of enquiries from organisations keen to apply for a grant this year. As in previous rounds we expect some most interesting and worthwhile new projects to come to light and it is always terribly disappointing not to be able to fund them all.'
Applications for the 1997 Community Heritage Grants close on Friday 1 August. Multicultural, ethnic and indigenous groups are especially encouraged to apply.
Further information and an application form are available at the Web site http://www.nla.gov.au/chg/ or by contacting:
National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch
National Library of
Australia
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Tel.: (02) 6262 1137, fax: (02) 6273
4535,
email: niac@nla.gov.au
Ariel customers will be interested in the enhanced NLA Ariel directory facilities available on the World Wide Web.
The NLA has developed an email-based system to enable customers to update their own Ariel directory entries on the NLA Web server. This facility is intended to improve document exchange between Ariel sites by providing an up-to-date register of Ariel sites in Australia.
The Ariel Directory of Sites in Australia is accessible at the following URL:http://www.abn.nla.gov.au:80/ariel?pageid=arieldir.htm
For more information please contact the National Library Help Desk on 1800 026 155 or email: networks @nla.gov.au
My Darling Mick; The Life of Granville Ryrie 1865-1937
by Phoebe Vincent
[PICTURE]
General Sir Granville Ryrie was a man of immense enthusiasms and conviction: a great fighting man, loved by his troops and handy with his fists, and a passionate political opponent.
He was a complex, intriguing character of his times; a political conservative who held the federal seat of North Sydney, he nonetheless supported the suffragette movement and the cause of education for women. He was also a musical man, and an amusing raconteur who was devoted to his family.
When Granville was born in 1865, the enterprising Ryrie family had spread widely over the south-east of Australia. His grandfather had settled in Braidwood and four of his uncles were the first to push through the trackless wilderness across the Great Dividing Range to the Port Phillip district. His father, Stewart Ryrie, settled at Micalago Station (near the New South Wales town of Michelago) which is still owned by the Ryrie family today. This story spans Granville's life from his early days as a jackeroo near Moree to the pinnacle of his career as the Australian High Commissioner to the Court of St James.
In 1885 Granville volunteered for the Boer War in South Africa and from there started a correspondence with his wife, 'My darling Mick', which now resides in the National Library of Australia's Manuscript Collection. His letters from the Boer War, and later from World War 1, are full of accounts of the endless dangers, often presented in a cheerful light-probably for his family's sake.
In this engaging biography, generously illustrated with Ryrie family photographs, author Phoebe Vincent presents a work which will inspire, delight and sometimes shock. It is available from the National Library and good book shops elsewhere in Australia.
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The National Library of Australia has published an invaluable guide for librarians and library users which outlines the National Library's own approach to the often difficult issue of copyright law. These guidelines, based on expert legal advice:
The information is presented in an uncluttered, easy-to-use format with clear directions on how to provide the very best service to library clients while protecting the interests of the copyright material.
ISBN 0 642 26852 5, pb., $15.00
Sales & Distribution
Tel.: 1800 800 100, fax (02) 6273 1084,
email: nlasales@nla.gov.au
The National Initiatives and Collaboration (NIAC) Branch of the National Library of Australia is pleased to announce the release of an Online Guide to Collection Assessment and Evaluation Tools.
This guide has been created to assist Australian collection development librarians in the assessment and evaluation of their collections using the Conspectus methodology. The online guide provides an up-to-date listing of core collection benchmarking and assessment tools in a wide range of subject areas.
In 1992 when the National Library of Australia published the Australian Conspectus Manual, it included a bibliography which listed a range of collection assessment tools and more general publications on collection development. It is in the nature of such bibliographies that they gradually go out of date and, as a consequence, lose much of their usefulness. During 1996 staff of the National Library updated and expanded the 1992 bibliography. The library is grateful for all the suggestions which have been provided by Conspectus users during this consultative process. The result is a completely overhauled guide to tools and sources.
Rather than just issue another static hard-copy bibliography which will also immediately start to lose its currency, the library has mounted an online version of the listing at URL http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/conspectus/bibliog.html. In so doing, the library is providing Conspectus users and others with the opportunity to have input into the content of the online guide. The lists provided in the guide are not exhaustive. The library therefore welcomes suggestions from those librarians who are actively engaged in collection assessment work for additions, replacements and updates to the tools listed in the guide. Please use the self-reporting form which is included at the Web site to let us know about particular tools that you have found useful in collection assessment, evaluation, development and management. With your assistance and feedback we can regularly update the content of the listings, thus keeping the guide as useful and relevant as possible.
A number of new topics have been included in the 'Bibliographies and indexes used in list checking' section:
Australian studies
Aboriginal studies
Women's studies
Chinese language materials
Suggestions relating to the content of this guide should be sent to m.bond@nla.gov.au or by mail to:
Maggie Bond
National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch
National Library of Australia
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Tel.: (02) 6262 1642,
fax: (02) 6273 4535
Print versions of the guide are also available free from the above address.
The long-awaited fourth edition of the Directory is now available. The new edition has been completely updated and has almost doubled in size, reflecting not only the increased number of entries but also the more detailed information on lending policy that institutions have supplied. As well as libraries, the Directory contains information on art galleries, museums, historical societies. For each institution the Directory gives name, address, and contact information and, where applicable, details of interlibrary loan policy and charges as well as Fast Track and Premium Track costs. The Introduction contains an historical overview of all of the National Library's many union catalogue publications. For example, if you are not quite sure what the differences are between NUCOM 4, NUCOM 5 and NUCOM 6, and MARC NUCOM you will find the answers here.
This publication is an indispensible working tool for librarians who wish to have quick access to information on lending policies, charges and procedures of libraries in Australia and major libraries in New Zealand and the Pacific.
The Directory is available from:
Sales and Distribution,
National Library of Australia, CANBERRA ACT
2600.
Tel. 1 800 800 100, fax (02) 62731084, email
nlasales@nla.gov.au.
Payment must accompany orders and the cost of $45.00 includes postage.
Australian ILRS Directory information is also available as an Ozline database. Searching this database is free. Plans are also well advanced to mount the directory information on the National Library's Web site.
[PICTURE]
Fifty years after her death, the writings and life of Henry Handel Richardson have once again been celebrated-at a seminar held by the National Library of Australia. With the release of her novels from Australian copyright, the opening of restricted-access papers for research, and the publication of new editions, the fascination with the work of this solitary writer-including the novels The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, Maurice Guest and The Getting of Wisdom-is once again in evidence. Scholars from all States and members of the 'silent army' of HHR fans-as one participant put it-gathered on 19 April for a day of literary, historical and musical exploration and discovery.
The Richardson Papers held in the National Library's Manuscript Collection represent one of the first and most prominent literary archives held by the library, and the first part of the day focussed on them. The story of their acquisition begins with the visitors to HHR's home in Kent, who stopped her executrix from stuffing letters into the fire the day after her death, and continues until 1996. As related by Manuscript Librarian, Graeme Powell, it is a story of the diplomacy and complexity involved in securing the research material that is later produced 'as if by magic' from archival storage.
Among these papers is the correspondence of HHR's parents, Walter and Mary Richardson, the 'models' for Mary and Richard Mahony in The Fortunes of Richard Mahony. After HHR had read these letters as a young woman, she wrote in her diary 'I wonder if anyone will ever love me as much?' Elizabeth Webby's paper showed how passionate was this Victorian couple's correspondence-and how radically HHR transformed it into the more bitter, petulant, and passionless correspondence of her novel. The parallel between the Richardson parents and the fictional Mahoneys is not in their personalities.
One of HHR's first and most devoted fans was a retired French company director and littérateur, Paul Solanges, who wrote in 1910 offering to translate Maurice Guest into French. Ruth Blair's description of the three years of regular correspondence that followed gave a delightful picture of the literary scene in Milan in which Solanges moved, and of the friendship and verbal jousts between HHR and Solanges-who never officially learned that he was corresponding with a woman!
The second session centred on recent approaches to HHR's writing. Clive Probyn reported on the Henry Handel Richardson project, based at Monash University, which has as its objective the production of critical editions of the writings and the correspondence, the latter in three volumes. The first endeavour of this project, the edition of Maurice Guest, is now at second proof stage.
Bruce Steele's paper on the edition of HHR's music was a reminder that in her the author and the musician went hand in hand. Happily the edition will be accompanied by a CD, a foretaste of which kept the audience on tenterhooks as they both enjoyed the music and tried to understand the words-often so difficult with a soprano! This was followed by Michael Ackland's study of Myself When Young, in which he found rather more of Goethe's Dichtung (poetry) than Wahrheit (truth).
The launch of the Australian Authors edition of The Getting of Wisdom, edited by Susan Lever and Catherine Pratt, was one of the events that prompted the holding of the seminar. The most recent work in a series by University of Queensland Press, which has kept Australian fiction in print for many years, it includes not only the text of this short novel of adolescence and boarding school-life in 1880s Melbourne, but also some of HHR's short stories, autobiographical writings, and previously unpublished correspondence.
The afternoon was filled with brief papers and a panel discussion. Axel Clark pointed out the contradiction between the sceptic and the credulist in HHR's interest in spiritualism, and how the conflicting views held of her reflect the contradictions within her, contradictions which enabled her to become a great writer. Delys Bird examined the short stories The Bath and Two Hanged Women from a feminist and symbolic perspective. Pat Buckridge spoke of HHR's contact with journalist and writer Brian Penton, and of the classical quality of her novels that comes from combining the child and the adult within herself. The novelist Marion Halligan rounded the day off fittingly by returning to the sources, recounting her impressions of her recent reading of Maurice Guest, with its powerful treatment of love, sexuality, death, and the sense of nature: a sensuous, concrete living with this world, a world which at the same time continues indifferent to the people in it.
It is hoped that selected papers will be published in Australian Literary Studies.
Calendars are revealing barometers of popular culture and taste. The National Library has started to collect them as supplements to the usual printed resource-books, magazines comics and ephemera-which document this type of culture in Australia.
Over 50 calendars for 1997 have been gathered and located together. Richard Stone, Australian Acquisitions librarian says, 'We are aiming for a broad range of types and genres'. This means standard scenic calendars as well as calendars devoted to celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Elle McPherson, Nicole Kidman and artists Margaret Olley, Ken Done, Arthur Boyd, Kaz Cooke, and Reg Mombassa.
Calendars marking commemorative events range from Mad Magazine, 'Celebrating 50 Years of Stupidity', to the 50th anniversary of the Royal Australian Airforce, and the 100th anniversary of the Camperdown clock. Public education items are exemplified by a "Drinksafe" calendar and one entitled 'Multicultural Sexual Health: Communicating through Art'. Individual special tastes and genres emerge with 'Men for All Seasons', the Yates' Garden Guide, 'Australian Yoga', 'Blokes and Sheds', Supercar', 'Waves Beachgirl', the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the 'Children of Dawn' Celtic calendar and the Nimbin hemp embassy's 'Let It Grow'.
A full listing is available in the ABN collective entry (abn 97-019536).
[PICTURE]
'Dance is a fleeting art. The moment of its performance is the moment of its disappearance. But the traces that remain after the performance-the photographs, the films, the documents, the recollections-tell us much about ourselves. They show that dance reflects our social and cultural values, mirrors how we build our identity, and reveals much of what it is to be an Australian.'
With these words, Michelle Potter, curator of the first ever exhibition devoted to Australia's dance heritage, aptly describes 'Dance People Dance'.
Appropriately timed to coincide with Dance Week, the exhibition was opened at the National Library on 28 April by the Australian Capital Territory's Chief Minister, Kate Carnell. To mark the event, Padma Menon gave a lively performance of classical Indian dancing for invited guests, members of the public and library staff.
The exhibition highlights the flamboyant figures, past and present, whose passions, talents and energy earn Australian dance an enviable reputation at home and abroad. 'Dance People Dance' explores how the forces of tradition have clashed with the pressures for change, and reveals a creative momentum driving new dance forms. It looks at how theatrical dance in Australia has moved from strongly Western European beginnings to reflect an ethnically diverse and technologically changing society; it explores colonial and post-colonial viewpoints, attitudes to the body and perceptions of Aboriginality.
And the costumes from Robert Helpmann's ballets Yugen and The Display and Stanton Welch's Divergence are divine!
The exhibition will remain in the National Library's ground floor gallery until 12 October.
[PICTURE]
Artist and author Robin Wallace-Crabbe is the guest curator of the National Portrait Gallery's new exhibition, 'A Face in the Crowd', at Old Parliament House, Canberra. Here are some of his thoughts about the exhibition which runs from 24 May to 12 October.
' "A Face in the Crowd" is a collection of portraits-portrayals-of us, living our Australian lives from the time of European settlement to the present.
We have become used to identifying as portraits oil paintings depicting "important" people, rather than everybody and anybody. There is no reason why this should be the case, yet it is something we have come to expect...Of course everybody is the subject of portraits, their images immortalised in snapshot, captured in a crowd scene by a television news cameraman, sketched by a relative with a talent for drawing.
While the multifaceted character of Australian society has left its stamp on this exhibition, "A Face in the Crowd", is not a sociological survey. It is a collection of images which stand alone, each a fine work of art. In this exhibition, "portrait" is accepted in its widest sense: the noun "portrait" is a derivative of the verb "to portray". A portrait might portray a person, or even an animal (there are plenty of portraits of racehorses and dogs and cats and Rhode Island Red roosters).
Some of the images included in "A Face in the Crowd" extend our notion of what a portrait should be. Noel McKenna's Boy Dressed As Batman is the inferred portrait of an individual constructed of trains, candles and the Batman outfit he is wearing. The inclusion of works such as this is not an attempt to play games with the idea of portraiture. [The works] are exhibited because they add to this composite picture of ourselves.
Images we make of ourselves (as paintings, drawings, photographs, or in our imaginations) will speak back to us with greater force about the experience of being Australian than do the paintings of ochre deserts or of sheep grazing golden grass. We are office workers, factory workers, shop assistants, people riding on the train and bus; we are children, adult individuals, living exuberant lives in cities and towns-as in the disquieting Destiny Deacon image of three laughing women in front of a corrugated-iron wall.
To sustain interest in the question of what a portrait of us might look like, most of the images included in the exhibition are ones relatively unused to the public's gaze. They are surprised to see you. Surprise on both sides might lead to discovery.'
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