National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568
No. 32
April 1998


CONTENTS
Australian Libraries Gateway
26th Map Circle Conference

Profiles
New to the Deputy Director-General’s chair: Jan Fullerton
Farewell Barbara Perry

The collections
Sheet Dip
Wolfgang Sievers: Australian architecture 1949–76
50 years later: last AJCP reel received
National Library buys diary at royal auction
Quartet from Asian national libraries
Forty years of the Museum Book Store

NLA services
AMICUS implementation: questions and answers
STOP PRESS: ILL component of NSP announced
NDIS settlement reached
1998 Annual Users Meeting
Standards Committee news
Standards Committee election
Network Committee: March meeting
NLA at the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention
Towards an improved reference service
Community Heritage Grants—time to apply

NLA at work
Australian serial conversion project progresses
Teams in Technical Services—the NLA perspective

Publications and public programs
The Scythe Honed Fine
Ellis Rowan address book in brilliant colour
Arcadian Quest
Popular Culture at the Nash
Nan Kivell centenary celebrations

 

National Library of Australia Gateways was edited and designed by Leora Kirwan-Judge. Please address any comments, enquiries or requests for extra copies 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.
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Australian Libraries Gateway

[ALG Staff]

Photo: Leanne Brandis (NLA) and Davin Peterson, former database designer for the Australian Libraries Gateway, working on the site

The Australian Libraries Gateway is a new Web-based directory service which improves access to information about Australia’s libraries.

The National Library is developing the Australian Libraries Gateway service through a project which has been funded by the Commonwealth Department of Communications and the Arts. The project is a key part of Australia’s Cultural Network (http://www.acn.net.au), a Web-based service which aims to be ‘the best place to start’ for anyone interested in Australian culture.

The first release of the Australian Libraries Gateway Web site can be found at the Web address http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries. We believe the site will deliver a notable improvement to the national library infrastructure in the area of directory services.

Among other things, the Australian Libraries Gateway aims to be a directory of current information about every library in Australia; there are presently more than 2,000 libraries in the database. Its goal is to be a ‘one-stop-shop’ for Australian libraries¾a vital tool for both Australian and international users. The data contained in the Australian Libraries Gateway database has primarily been extracted from the Interlibrary Resource Sharing Directory (a directory of information about libraries that participate in interlibrary loan), and from the Australian Libraries database on the SunSITE at the Australian National University, maintained by Mark Nearhos.

So far, the Australian Libraries Gateway can help you to :

Keeping the gateway current?
While the site resides at the National Library of Australia, all Australian libraries have a role to play in maintaining the Australian Libraries Gateway. Individual libraries will maintain the currency of the information about their own library. The ‘useful resources’ are maintained by libraries and other organisations throughout Australia - the gateway simply links to these resources and serves as an alternative and central point of access. There is a form on the site that allows for online updating of information.

Guidelines for library web sites
Much of the information about Australia’s libraries is found on individual library Web sites. As part of the gateways project, the National Library has produced a short document entitled Draft Guidelines for the Content of Library Web Sites, which is accessible at http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries/guidelines.html. These guidelines are intended to improve the availability of information about the use of libraries by the general public. However, as the guidelines are currently in draft format, your feedback is sought to shape them into a useful document.

Directory of Z39.50 targets
The Australian Libraries Gateway service aims to provide access to library catalogues, as well as Web sites and other information about libraries. Access to library catalogues is also being improved through the Z39.50 Standard Search Protocol. Consequently, a Directory of Z39.50 Targets in Australia is included as part of the Australian Libraries Gateway site. If your library has a Z39.50 server, please contribute the appropriate technical information to this part of the site at http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries/z3950

Have your say
You’re invited to visit this site, and to provide comments about it. Library staff are encouraged to contribute to the improvement of the site, through the provision of accurate data about their library. We encourage you to participate in this important initiative as it has great potential as a tool for Australian and international users, for library professionals and for the general public.

Contact Leanne Brandis, ALG Project Officer, by phone: (02) 6262 1575, or by email: lbrandis@nla.gov.au

http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries


26th Map Circle Conference

A special report by the National Library's Map Librarian, Maura O'Connor

‘Mapping Today—History Tomorrow’ was the theme of the annual conference of the Australian Map Circle held this year in Wollongong, NSW, from 8–11 February.

Wollongong is the centre for the Australian Hydrographic Office’s operations so it was fitting that the Hydrographer, Commodore Ron Willis, should provide the keynote address. His presentation was followed by an excellent paper from Boyd Rowland, also from the Hydrographic Office, on the Navy’s latest development—the rastered electronic version of Australia’s hydrographic charts. Known as Seafarer, all 370 charts of the Australian coastline are available on the one CD-ROM with a security key which monitors the number of charts available according to the licence fee paid. Fees range from $50 for 10 charts to $1,500 for the entire collection, together with monthly updates which range from $200 to $350 a year. The National Library was later presented with a deposit set of this product along with back issues of the updates to August 1997.

Mike Nicholson from BHP Engineering completed the morning session of papers with a very fine presentation on the techniques involved in close-range photo-grammetry, particularly from an industrial perspective. This technique involves precise, non-contact, 3D measurement of the dimensions of disparate objects, such as steel ladles, bridges and cow’s heads, using photogrammetric techniques. It is fast and flexible with minimal interference to industrial and traffic operations— a technique that allows a permanent and comparative record of changes occurring to an item.

The second day of the conference provided another range of papers on interesting developments currently underway by Australian and New South Wales map publishers. David McEwan of Universal Press gave a brief paper on his company’s future direction—aligning strategically with Telstra in the development of vehicle navigation systems.

One of the most exciting papers of the conference was a report on the project underway by the NSW Surveyor General’s Office to scan all known copies of NSW county and parish maps, along with their derivatives held in regional offices, archives, historical societies and libraries. Around 35–40 000 maps, including various editions, will need to be copied. Using a Dicomad digital camera process, maps will be scanned to CDs. Clients will need a minimum of a Pentium 200 with 64 RAM and 4Mb memory to access the database. It is planned to issue a variety of sets ranging from divisional/regional office requirements to a full, State-wide set.

A presentation from the NSW Police on crime management using MAPINFO, a Geographic Information System application, ended the day’s presentation. Using census collector districts as the spatial reporting area, data is fed into COPS (Computing Operation Police System) to manage crime and emergency activities. GPS (Global Positioning System) is used in non- urban areas to locate crime and emergency incidents, while street addresses are used in the urban environment.

Site visits to the Australian Hydrographic Office and BHP Engineering Services provided opportunities for delegates to see actual mapping operations. The Hydrographic Office is fully automated and has developed its own GIS application to meet its charting needs. BHP has also added appropriate automated analytical functions to their photogrammetric applications while at the same time retaining earlier technologies to provide a better result in the development of their imagery.

As always, the conference provided an excellent opportunity for delegates to hear promptly about new developments occurring in the Australian map industry.

The venue for the 1999 Map Circle conference has yet to be notified, but it is likely to be Brisbane—around Easter.


Profiles
New to the Deputy Director-General’s chair: Jan Fullerton

[Jan Fullerton]In February, the Director-General of the National Library of Australia, Warren Horton, announced that Jan Fullerton would act as Deputy Director-General for an indefinite period.

Ms Fullerton has spent her entire career in the National Library, beginning in 1968 as a young Arts graduate. She has a strong commitment to the library’s core business which she sees as the collection of Australiana—'It’s at the heart of the library. If we did nothing else, we should do this’—but she is intensely interested in future technology and the new. She has been a prime mover in all of the library’s technical service developments, some of them ground-breaking in Australia. Jan had an early wish to establish the Australian Bibliographic Network. Getting the National Library’s server up and running and the preservation of electronically published works on the Web are two other important initiatives with which she has been involved.

Both Director-General and Deputy view Jan’s current role as one of coordination and management within the library. She intends to bridge gaps between strong programs and to take a guiding role in internal policy making while the Director-General concentrates more particularly on large strategic issues and cooperation between libraries in the new environment of global information sharing. Recent membership of RLG (the Research Libraries Group) now flags the National Library of Australia as one of the world’s bona fide research libraries and indicates a step into that environment.

Looking into the future, Jan feels that the interdependance of Australian libraries will be greater than ever. Technology will afford more opportunities for libraries to operate together in a time of shrinking budgets; for instance, having the capability to search across multiple databases will foster the concept of a national collection.

The importance of this resource sharing in Australia was brought home to Jan last year during a working visit to Europe. At the British Library, she described the National Library’s Asian collection, of which Australia can be justifiably proud, only to find that the BL has twice our spending power for acquisitions in its own Asian area—which is only one among many vast collections.

Jan Fullerton claims no prominent figures of influence in her career but derives inspiration from some of the ‘immensely knowledgeable and dedicated staff members’ with whom she has worked over the years.


Farewell Barbara Perry

[Barbara Perry] In the specialist circle of Australiana librarians, Barbara Perry will be remembered for her distinguished service as the National Library’s Pictorial librarian, a position she occupied for 20 years. Having completed 30 years of continuous service, Barbara left the National Library of Australia at the end of January

Barbara worked in a number of positions at the National Library before her appointment as Pictorial librarian in 1978. From 1973–76 she was deputy liaison officer at Australia House in London, in the days when the library maintained an active representational presence in Britain and the United States.

At a farewell function in Barbara’s honour recently, the art historian and critic Dr Sasha Grishin spoke warmly of her tenure of the Pictorial Collection:

‘She was the Keeper of the Collection in the old English sense of the word. It was a well-loved collection, a great repository of material on the visual culture of this country and the region. Barbara simply personally knew everything the collection held. She was not a nine to five worker, but belonged to the old guard who would work at something for as long as it took. This erudition and preparedness to make material available to the inquiring member of the public...I have encountered on only three previous occasions—a librarian at the Bodleian, the keeper of western manuscripts at the British Library and a keeper at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Barbara belongs to this very rare breed of dedicated professionals, who take seriously their mission, in the OED definition, as a person who has ‘charge, care and oversight’ of part of the national heritage.’

Barbara Perry’s years in the Pictorial Section coincided with a long and sustained period of collection development in which she played an active part. It was also a period in which she recognised the need for specialist qualifications which might assist her and her staff to do a more effective job as curators of one of the largest pictorial research collections in Australia. Setting an example by her own decision to undertake Fine Arts studies at the Australian National University, Barbara encouraged others to do the same, thereby ensuring a high level of professional skill in the services which the Pictorial Section offered to the public. In recent years, Barbara invested a large personal effort into ensuring more effective access to the resources of the Pictorial Collection. The library’s recent success in establishing its IMAGES 1 database, owed much to her determination that the benefits of technology might be utilised to share the riches of the National Library’s holdings with a wider community of Australians.

Although Barbara came to be prominently identified with the specialist area in which she worked for a long period, she saw herself as being, in the best sense of the word, a servant of the National Library. She was a splendid ambassador for the institution at the many official functions she attended over the years, at conferences and other professional gatherings and when visiting dealers, photographers and vendors in various parts of Australia. Something of her special qualities and her enthusiasms will continue in the collections she helped to enrich and in the standard and quality of service which she offered.


The collections
Sheet Dip

[Shortis and Simpson]Songwriter/musician John Shortis had the idea: find the gems in the library’s huge sheet music collection, blend with some fascinating film footage from the National Film and Sound Archive and the War Memorial, and use national cultural institutions as performance venues.

The National Library gave John a Harold White Fellowship to support his research into the music collections and he easily persuaded the national cultural institutions, the Canberra Festival and ACT Cultural Council to back his idea.

The resulting show was Sheet Dip and included Australian songs from the movies, songs of peace and war, satire, politics and power. The event was exclusive to this year’s Canberra Festival.

In this marvellous show, John and his partner, Moya Simpson, sang the songs that define our nation. Sheet Dip was a humorous and moving look into our history, dreams, successes, failures, icons, conflicts, alliance and changing attitudes through a century of music styles, film footage and photographs.

Photo: John Shortis and Moya Simpson


Wolfgang Sievers: Australian architecture 1949–76

[Heide]

A collection of 500 photographs by Wolfgang Sievers, documenting aspects of Australian architecture and interior design from 1949 to 1976, was recently acquired by the Pictorial Section.

Wolfgang Sievers is one of Australia’s most significant and influential photographers. Born in Germany in 1913, he trained at the Contempora School for Applied Arts in Berlin (an offshoot of the famous Bauhaus) and took architectural photographs for his father’s books of Berlin’s historical buildings before emigrating to Australia in 1938. The photographs are Sievers’ own selection of documentary images from his archive of photographs taken over a period spanning 30 years.  

Among the subjects documented in the collection are the construction of important public buildings, including colleges and universities, hospitals, factories, arts, sporting and entertainment centres. The development of office towers is recorded in photographs of the construction of ICI House, the first ‘sky-scraper’ in Melbourne. Modern domestic design is documented in photographs of private homes by leading Australian architects, as well as ‘dream’ homes and the ‘house of tomorrow’.

The collection includes images of interiors and people using and working in the buildings. These images are important for researchers as they record not only the changes in architectural styles, but of the working and living conditions of different groups.

The collection documents trends in architecture and design which have had a profound impact on the appearance of the built environment throughout Australia, as well as recording the works of architects who are recognised nationally. Some of Australia’s landmark buildings are captured both during construction, and in pristine condition: the Myer Music Bowl, the National Gallery of Victoria, Essendon airport, and the RACV Building. Architects represented include Robin Boyd, Sir Roy Grounds, Frederick Romberg and David McGlashan who designed John and Sunday Reed’s house, now the Museum of Modern Art at ‘Heide’. Walter Burley Griffin’s work is recorded in photographs of the Capitol Theatre and Newman College at Melbourne University.

In addition to photographing the construction of new buildings, Sievers also recorded the buildings demolished to make way for them. The collection includes photographs of beautiful and historic Victorian buildings in various stages of demolition and the modern office towers which replaced them, some of which have themselves been demolished or substantially altered in recent years.

The acquisition includes an important collection of photographs of the Methodist Mission for Aborigines at Weipa in Cape York. These photographs were taken during Sievers’ visit to the Mission in 1957, one year prior to the expropriation of the Aboriginal reserve for the purpose of bauxite mining. Photographs recording conditions at Aboriginal missions are rare, and Sievers required special permission from the administrator to photograph in the area.

Photo:
Wolfgang Sievers, 1913–
John and Sunday Reed’s house, ‘Heide’, 1968
(Now the Museum of Modern Art )
David McGlashan, architect
NLA Pictorial Collection


50 years later: last AJCP reel received

[Sara Joynes]In January 1998, the last reel of microfilm produced by the Australian Joint Copying Project was received from London. The first reels were produced in 1948 and over those 50 years filming continued without any significant break. It is doubtful if any other manuscript microfilming project in the world has been so productive for such a long period.

The AJCP originated in an agreement signed by the National Library and the State Library of New South Wales in 1945, whereby the two libraries would share jointly the cost of filming historical records relating to Australia and the Pacific, in Britain. At different stages other libraries and archives became involved to varying degrees and for varying periods. In particular, the State Library of Victoria, the National Library of New Zealand and the National Archives of New Zealand supported the project from the early 1950s until the end. Complete or substantial sets of the film are held in every Australian State as well as in New Zealand.

In the early years the partners concentrated on filming records in the Public Record Office in London and orders were placed there continuously until 1993. Among the great achievements of the project was the filming of a huge volume of Colonial Office, Admiralty, Home Office, Dominions Office and other classes of official records. These document the early history of the British colonies in Australia and the Pacific in enormous detail, as well as such subjects as exploration, defence, immigration, trade and foreign relations. The official records filmed date from 1740 until the mid 1950s.  

From the late 1950s onwards the AJCP diversified and turned its attention increasingly to non-official papers held in libraries and archives throughout Britain and Ireland, as well as material held by individuals and families. The AJCP officer travelled a good deal and spent long periods in the reading rooms and stacks of national and university libraries, county and city record offices, museums, learned societies, missionary societies, religious archives, businesses and scientific institutes. Some of the institutions are famous—the British Library, the Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, the National Libraries of Scotland, Wales and Ireland, the National Maritime Museum, the Natural History Museum, Lambeth Palace, the House of Lords, the Royal Society and the Bank of England. Altogether, about 180 British and Irish institutions are represented in AJCP microfilm.

In the end, the AJCP produced 10 419 reels of microfilm, comprising 7,314 reels of records at the Public Record Office and 3,105 reels held elsewhere (the Miscellaneous Series). Since 1972 the National Library has been publishing a series of AJCP handbooks which give an overview of the film and describe the record groups and collections filmed in varying detail. Ten parts, some of which have gone into two or three editions, have so far been published. Microfilm of handwritten records is seldom easy to use, but the handbooks make the arrangement much clearer and have led to a greater use of the film by historians, genealogists and others.

Sara Joynes became the AJCP officer in 1987. Although the AJCP Office was closed in 1993, she stayed on at Australia House in a part-time capacity, to assist the library with acquisitions in England. It was due to her persistence and tact that various filming orders placed before 1993 were gradually completed. Eventually she had the satisfaction of despatching the final reel, suitably wrapped in Christmas paper.

Photo: Sara Joynes labels the last AJCP reel at Australia House, London


National Library buys diary at royal auction

The National Library of Australia has purchased a 1920 diary covering the Australasian trip of the Prince of Wales and his party, at the New York auction of the personal belongings of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

[HRH The Duke of Windsor]The contents of the Paris residence of the prince, who was known as the Duke of Windsor after his abdication from the English throne, is being sold by Sothebys in New York on behalf of the current owner and billionaire, Mohammed al-Fayed, father of the late Dodi al-Fayed.

The diary, which was printed on HMS Renown in 1920, provides 'a private and unofficial' record of a journey to Australia and New Zealand by the Prince of Wales to thank the Imperial Forces for their efforts in World War 1. Described by an expert as 'a curiosity of rare historical value', the diary provides details of one of the longest and most exhausting royal tours ever undertaken. There was a huge press coverage but the diary is one of the few sources that documents how the prince and his party endured the endless receptions, dinners, unveilings and encounters with diggers and schoolchildren. It is a lively and amusing record, referring not only to the successes but also the accidents (the party survived a train wreck) and blunders, the demonstrations of 'red-raggers', the speeches of pompous politicians and terrified lady mayoresses, and the eccentricities of the then Australian prime minister, Billy Hughes.

Experts are unable to identify whose handwriting lightly annotates the diary but there is general agreement it is either that of the prince or his cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, who travelled with the party on the seven-month journey. To complement the diary, the National Library bought another 'lot' at the Sotheby’s auction, a group of documents recording the Prince of Wales overseas travels from 1912 to 1933, including the 1920 visit to Australia.

Photo: HRH The Duke of Windsor.NLA Pictorial Collection


Quartet from Asian national libraries

They did not quite break into song, but the four librarians photographed on 11 March were celebrating a unique event. For the first time ever staff from four different Asian national libraries have been on attachment at the same time in the National Library of Australia’s Asian Collections. They are from the National Diet Library of Japan; the National Library of Korea; the National Library of China and the National Library of Indonesia.

Ms Minoru Inahama has been in Canberra on secondment from the National Diet Library since June 1995. She began work at the Diet Library in 1991 and gained experience in the Acquisitions Department, the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau and the Bibliography Division. During her three years in the Japanese Unit at the National Library of Australia she has been selecting, cataloguing and providing a reference service for the Japanese language collection. Ms Inahama has also played an important role in developing the Japanese component of the National CJK Service. She will return to the Diet Library in June after completing her attachment.

[Quartet]Mr Kim Choon-seop is being sponsored by the Korean Government to spend two years in Australia studying policies and practice in culture and the arts, including libraries. The National Library offered to provide a research base for Mr Kim during the first six months of his project. He has been based in Asian Collections since his arrival in September 1997 and will carry out further research at the Dept of Communication and the Arts and other cultural bodies before returning home in September 1999.

Ms Ma Jing arrived in Canberra in January this year to take up the six-month Chinese Automated Bibliographic Access and Training Staff Attachment. The Australia–China Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is helping to fund her placement while she catalogues onto the National CJK Service. Ms Ma has worked in the International Exchange Section at the National Library of China since 1992. She is the third librarian to be seconded to the NLA from the National Library of China in recent years.

The most recent arrival of the quartet is Ms Sri Sumekar Umar Hadi of the National Library of Indonesia. She has been sponsored by the National Library of Australia to undertake a month’s BISA training in Sydney, followed by a further month of training and work experience with the Indonesian Collection at the National Library. She has worked at the National Library of Indonesia since 1985, in the Cataloguing Division, the Manuscript Collection and Serials Collection.

Photo: (Left to right): Ms Minoru Inahama (Japan); Mr Kim Choon-seop (Korea); Ms Ma Jing (China); and Ms Sri Sumekar Umar Hadi (Indonesia)


Forty years of the Museum Book Store

[Margaret Dent]The Museum Book Store in London, owned for many years by Leon Kashnor, was a well-known bookshop that specialised in large collections. Over the years the National Library purchased two substantial collections from the bookstore. In 1934, it bought the Dalrymple collection of material by and concerning Alexander Dalrymple—geographer, hydrographer and theorist—about the unexplored Pacific region. The Kashnor Collection of material reflecting the political economy of Great Britain and Ireland was acquired in 1953.

Political economy was only one of the interests of Kashnor’s Museum Book Store. The National Library has recently acquired a set of the firm’s catalogues. Marked up with buyers’ names and details of the availability of items, these catalogues provide a fascinating inside view of the firm from the turn of the century to 1942. Most have a specific theme. For the library, the most relevant are those featuring Australiana where the entries are annotated with the name ‘Ferguson’. As copies of at least some of these works were in Ferguson’s personal collection, it is tempting to draw the conclusion that they refer to John Alexander Ferguson who was collecting widely during much of this period, and from whom the National Library acquired a rich and extensive body of Australiana comprising some 34 000 items.

As well as Australiana and political economy, the set also contains catal-ogues on: Americana, Canadiana, antiquarian books, science, and technology. A full contents list is in the catalogue record abn98041461.

Photo: Margaret Dent, manager of the Humanities Unit, with Museum Book Store catalogues


NLA services
AMICUS implementation: questions and answers

Members of the National Library’s Networked Services Project (NSP) team have received a variety of questions since the announcement on 18 January of the selection of IBM Australia and IBM GSA to implement and operate the AMICUS library software package. These will be answered via the NSP discussion list and by placing a series of questions and answers on the NLA’s information server. Future questions and answers will cover topics such as AUSMARC, products, data not being migrated, and CJK implementation.

Will all data currently available via ABN be migrated to the new service?
Development of the Internet, together with Z39.50 searching, has increased the ability of Australian libraries to obtain bibliographic records from locations outside Australia. As a result, it is no longer necessary for all bibliographic records which may be of interest to Australian libraries to be held on the NBD. After consultation with the Expert Practitioner Group set up under the Networked Services Project, the National Library has decided that only those bibliographic records with holdings attached, plus a subset of those without holdings, should be migrated to the new system’s database. The records without holdings for migration are those from overseas sources that are not easily accessible via the Internet; and Australian records and MARC records originating from the Library of Congress which have been loaded to the NBD since 1 January 1994. The total number of bibliographic records to be migrated is approximately nine million, falling into the following categories:

Categories of bibliographic records which will not be migrated without holdings, and which will not be added to the AMICUS database in the future include

To help customers obtain records from sources outside Australia, the NLA plans to provide gateways to selected MARC record providers. Details of these arrangements will be announced when they are finalised.

A number of other data files will need to be migrated to the new system. These include directory data, customer registration files, and authority files.

When will the bibliographic data be migrated?
Migration of bibliographic data will be a major and time-consuming feature of the AMICUS implementation, with two ‘base loads’ expected to run for approximately six months (half the time of the implementation project), and subsequent ‘gap loads’ expected to take about 13 weeks. Limiting the number of records to be migrated has reduced the time of the implementation project.

Records with holdings will be extracted from the ABN Master File shortly after commencement of implementation, and loading will start as soon as the data is available. Records without holdings will be extracted from the NBD and loaded when the Records with Holdings File is completed. Separate ‘gap loads’ will be done for records with holdings and records without holdings, to migrate records which have been added or changed since the original extraction runs. These will be done as close as possible to the actual release date of the system.

A final, small ‘gap load’ will be done after ABN is closed down, to capture records with holdings which have been added to the NBD since the extraction of the previous gap load. ABN original cataloguing libraries will be encouraged to clear their working files before ABN closes, so that none of their work is lost.

Will the National Library of Australia use the same version of AMICUS as the National Library of Canada?
AMICUS has been operating at the National Library of Canada since 1995. It has undergone a number of software developments, which have been designated as ‘versions’. The version currently in use at the National Library of Canada is version 2.0, which is also the version which was installed at the National Library of Australia in March 1998, at the beginning of the AMICUS implementation. AMICUS version 2.0 contains most of the functionality which the National Library of Australia requires to provide its services, but with a character-based interface. However, it is not the version which will be in use when the new National Library of Australia AMICUS-based service is released to Australian libraries.  

There will be two new releases of AMICUS software during our implementation project.

Will the new system support AUSMARC?
ABN users voted to drop AUSMARC at the Annual Users Meeting in June 1991 and later in 1991 the National Library announced that it would cease support of AUSMARC ‘when any redevelopment of ABN is completed’. Since that decision was made, the AUSMARC format and the AUSMARC to USMARC conversion programs have not been developed to keep in step with changes to USMARC. Services from the AMICUS system will therefore replace the present ABN services, and will not include the ability to output AUSMARC records.

Libraries which currently receive AUSMARC records are urged to change to the USMARC format as soon as possible. ABN offers an AUSMARC to USMARC conversion service which takes a file of records supplied by you in AUSMARC format and converts it to USMARC format. Alternatively you can choose to purchase a file of USMARC records via the Holdings File service; this method has the advantage of giving you records which incorporate any corrections made by ABN customers. Contact the ABN/Ozline Help Desk for information on both these services.

Will the new service be available for longer hours than ABN?
The new service will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No system downtime will be scheduled for routine hardware maintenance, and any system activity requiring system downtime will be done at a time agreed between the NLA and IBM. Three operational periods have been defined, with varying levels of support for each.

A further strategy to ensure reliable service is the use of two bibliographic databases: the first restricted to online cataloguing and processing of batch data loads; the second a copy of the first, accessed for queries and by LibriVision users, as described below.

The full AMICUS service database will form the National Bibliographic Database, the primary repository of all bibliographic data and associated information. All additions and updates will be applied to this database, either online or as batch processing.

Online activity will be applied to this database immediately, allowing users to search for and check their input instantly. The database will also be able to process all queries but will normally only be accessed by cataloguers.

The query and LibriVision service database will be a replicated copy of the full AMICUS service database. It will be accessed for all ‘query-only’ activity and will be replicated at least daily.

How quickly will records get on to the AMICUS database?
Bibliographic records created online, by cataloguers using the AMICUS Cataloguing Client, and holdings added via the AMICUS Cataloguing Client and via the LibriVision Web interface will be added to the database in real time. Records will be indexed in real time and therefore searchable on the AMICUS database immediately. Users of the LibriVision query database will not be able to access this data until the next update of the LibriVision database, which should be within less than 24 hours.

This rapid indexing of new cataloguing data will mean improved workflow efficiency, as cataloguers no longer have to wait until the next working day to check their bibliographic or holdings records.  

Bibliographic records from libraries which contribute original cataloguing to the AMICUS database via batch-loaded files will be loaded much more quickly and accurately than under the present system. With the efficiency of the AMICUS matching and loading programs it becomes feasible for the National Library to accept many more bibliographic files for batch loading, and to load them in a more timely manner than is possible at present. Libraries which contribute bibliographic records in this way will benefit from the ability to use their local system for all processing of their intake, at the same time making a contribution to the national resource. As a consequence, some libraries which now don’t contribute current original bibliographic records to ABN may be able to contribute this data to the AMICUS database in the future.

More information on the requirements for batch files, and the scheduling of file loading will be given as it becomes available. National Library staff will discuss options with individual libraries throughout the NSP Implementation Project.

Will the Internet be the only means of access to AMICUS?
The Internet will be the only means of access to the AMICUS and LibriVision Web interface services; it is already the most used option for accessing current ABN and other NLA services. In addition to giving access to the AMICUS services, the Internet is a widely accepted method of access to worldwide information and bibliographic record sources available via Z39.50, which will be the means of acquiring data which cannot be found on the AMICUS database.

Internet access to ABN has been available since August 1991, with use steadily increasing over the years. We are now at the point where 78% of all networked traffic is via the Internet. This move to the Internet has allowed ABN users more control of their means of access to ABN, and to employ the same method of access for all the services they use. ABN customers are being asked to move to Internet access to ABN now, so that NLA’s expert telecommunications team can give them maximum support during the transition. Early migration to the Internet will also ensure that when you move to AMICUS you will already be seasoned Internet users, and will be able to concentrate on becoming familiar with the features of AMICUS and LibriVision.

The new service will have a World Wide Web user interface to the AMICUS software. This interface, LibriVision, will be the interface used for the addition of holdings and inquiries. Access to this service will rely on use of the Internet.

ABN Down line loading (DLL) is a service that was developed by the National Library before Z39.50 was available. Many ABN customer libraries have processes developed in their local systems to inter-operate with the DLL service. The AMICUS cataloguing system will offer DLL with output and delivery processes which will ensure that Australian libraries do not have to change their local systems.

The National Library is working with Federal Government libraries to obtain information and advice on Internet access. Recent advice from the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) indicates that outgoing Telnet poses minimal risk. Details of the DSD advice and further information on this issue can be obtained from the ABN Help Desk (networks@nla.gov.au or tel.1800 026 155).

If you have any queries which have not been flagged but which you would like answered, please contact the implementation team at this email address: nsp@nla.gov.au


STOP PRESS: ILL component of NSP announced

The Director-General of the National Library, Warren Horton, has announced the successful completion of the tender process for the interlibrary lending component of the Networked Services Project. Fretwell-Downing Informatics Ltd, based in Sheffield, has been awarded the contract for the National ILL Utility which will replace the ABN ILL Sub-System. The Library has also contracted support services from Fretwell-Downing’s agent in Australia, Proteus Corporation Pty Ltd. A six-year agreement has been negotiated, covering one year’s implementation and five years of operation at a cost of $1.1 million.

The new ILL utility will use Fretwell-Downing’s OLIB VDX software to provide interlibrary lending and document delivery requesting services. Australian libraries will use the service through a World Wide Web interface, requiring a browser such as Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer. This interface avoids distribution of client software, and special requirements for equipment. An interface between OLIB VDX and AMICUS will be provided using the Z39.50 protocol to retrieve bibliographic and holdings information for inclusion in ILL requests. Integration with the ARIEL transmission system will be incorporated.

Fretwell-Downing Informatics is a world leader in the implementation of the ISO ILL Protocol—an important standard for inter-operability among interlibrary lending systems. The OLIB VDX software has been chosen by the British Library Document Supply Centre and the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee’s LIDDA (Local Interlending and Document Delivery Request Administration) Project. The six pilot sites for LIDDA are Macquarie University, University of Technology, Sydney, CAVAL, Griffith University, University of Southern Queensland and the State Library of New South Wales.

The Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee and the National Library will cooperate closely throughout the implementation of OLIB VDX for the LIDDA pilot sites and the National ILL Utility. The National Library will be represented on the LIDDA Project Board and LIDDA Management Committee to ensure coordination of these two projects.

Announcing the contract, Warren Horton said:

‘We are pleased to have found a product which will complement AMICUS in providing new resource-sharing services to Australian libraries. Working with the LIDDA Project provides an ideal opportunity for coordinated evolution of a modern distributed library network. We are delighted to be working with the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee and the State Library of New South Wales in these projects.’

More information about OLIB VDX and the National ILL Utility will appear at http://www.nla.gov.au/nsp/


NDIS settlement reached

On 2 April, the Director-General of the National Library announced that negotiations between the National Libraries of Australia and New Zealand and CSC Australia about the NDIS Project had concluded, and that the project was officially terminated. Some details of the settlement are confidential, but Mr Horton was able to reveal that CSC will be paying $A9 000 000 to the two libraries, to be divided equally.

The announcement came at the end of a long process. The two national libraries, joint partners in the NDIS Project, entered into negotiations with the prime contractor, CSC Australia, to terminate the venture on 20 December 1996. These negotiations, and a mediation under the NDIS Agreement provisions in September 1997, were unsuccessful. The libraries then moved to the arbitration process allowed under the agreement. The arbitration proper would have commenced on 25 March, but the parties entered settlement negotiations after a preliminary conference on 18 March.

The National Library of Australia will now take action to terminate the Joint Venture Agreement of 1994—formed for the purposes of the NDIS Project—with the National Library of New Zealand.

In his announcement, the Director-General acknowledged the work of staff members who were involved in the NDIS termination negotiations, particularly the Assistant Director-General Corporate Services, David Toll, who participated in the process from December 1996 to settlement.


1998 Annual Users Meeting

Jillian Beswick will chair the next ABN/Ozline Annual Users Meeting in Canberra on 22–23 July. Jillian is a former member of the Network Committee, and has worked in a number of ABN libraries. She is currently Manager, Library Information and Cultural Services at Lake Macquarie City Council, and has previously worked at Edith Cowan University Library and the Northern Territory Library Service.

[Jillian Beswick]Delegates to the Annual Users Meeting will receive presentations on the LibriVision interface and the cataloguing and interlibrary loan utilities of the new networked services project. For those wanting more detail, three parallel sessions will be offered. One session will be on cataloguing with the AMICUS software, another session will be on interlibrary loan with the VDX software, and the third parallel session will be on interfaces with local systems. The last will deal with work flows and data flows between local systems and the national database.

Following the successful format of the 1997 Annual Users Meeting, Jillian is keen to continue the use of small group discussions at this year’s meeting. Questions and issues arising during the presentations on the new system will be referred to these small groups. The popular Users Forum will also be available for users to discuss topics and ask questions. The final item on the agenda will be the election of the Chair for the 1999 Annual Users Meeting—an innovation suggested by the Network Committee.

Jillian will invite convenors of the State user groups to form a program committee with her, to identify issues of concern for discussion. And if you would like to suggest agenda items for this year’s meeting, please contact Jillian direct (email beswickj@corona.laa.com.au) or contact the Help Desk (email networks@nla.gov.au).

The meeting will start at 9.30 am on Wednesday 22 July and finish with lunch on Thursday 23 July.

Photo: Chair of the 1998 Annual Users Meeting, Jillian Beswick [Newcastle Herald]


Standards Committee news

The ABN Standards Committee met ‘face-to-face’ on 18-19 March at the National Library, following a series of teleconferences over the last six months. The committee received an in-depth briefing from Andrew Wells on the features of the new networked services system—data migration, gateways to overseas data sources, searching, cataloguing, reporting of holdings, quality assurance, authority files & authority control, global updates, and interfaces with local systems, such as control numbers and the use of the Z39.50 protocol. During this briefing several issues were identified for the Standards Committee’s forward work plan, including cataloguing work flows, migration of ABN high level records, and Australian subject headings.

Australian subject access
The Standards Committee reaffirmed the principle that ABN should enhance subject access using Australian terminology, and that the new system should support the continuation and further development of the Australian extension to Library of Congress Subject Headings. However, the committee recognised that features in both the national and local systems can be a limiting factor in how Australian subject access is offered to catalogue users. Libraries will be consulted on alternative options for providing Australian terminology in online catalogues, using the features of the MARC format and of local systems and the AMICUS software. Meanwhile, the committee resolved that the merger of the ALIA List of Australian Subject Headings should proceed, with Australian headings that are synonyms of existing LC terms established as see references for the time being. The committee resolved to seek more information from the National Library of Canada and the British Library on how they will use AMICUS to provide subject access reflecting local (non US) usage of English.

Romanisation of Greek
The Romanisation standards used by the Library of Congress sometimes do not reflect contemporary usage. The Romanisation of Greek is a particular case in point, and the Standards Committee recommended that additional access may be provided to title words and to name headings, using alternative Romanisation. The committee will be consulting libraries on whether they would like to standardise the alternative Romanisation by using the official ISO standards.

ISBN records
The committee noted that the ISBN agency has been transferred to D W Thorpe, and that the ISBN records are now loaded to ABN in batches from time to time. These records reflect the standards used by the book trade, rather than the standards used by libraries. ABN libraries are finding that the ISBN records require significant upgrading to bring them to an acceptable standard. To improve efficiency for ABN cataloguers, the Standards Committee resolved that the Thorpe ISBN records may be replaced by ABN cataloguing records of superior quality.

Pre-publication records
An increasing number of ABN contributors are commercial organisations in the book trade and library supply business, and they contribute original cataloguing to ABN as part of their service to provide MARC records with books. To streamline their services to libraries, these organisations would like to create pre-publication records on ABN. The Standards Committee accepted that contributions of pre-publication records should be allowed, provided that the records meet the standards for Cataloguing-in-Publication records and that they are upgraded promptly as more details become available.

NBD Quality Assurance Program
The committee finalised its policy recommendations on the standards required to achieve review centre status in ABN (where cataloguing records enter the database without routine checking) and the implementation plan for the Quality Assurance Program.  

The Standards Committee will meet again by teleconference on 4 June and 27 August, and will probably meet face-to-face later this year if required to consider issues arising from the implementation of the new system.

For further information see the Standards Committee home page at http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/scmeet.html where papers, resolutions and minutes are posted as soon as they become available.


Standards Committee election

Leonie Bourke and Helen Hoffmann have been elected to the Standards Committee. A strong field of eight candidates stood for the two vacant positions, and 65 full service users voted in the election. The two new members have been elected for a period of three years, or until the implementation of alternative advisory arrangements for the new networked services.

Leonie Bourke is a partner of Access Co, an agency which offers consultancy services in the management of cataloguing and library systems projects. She is an ABN training agent and teaches at the Monash University Department of Librarianship.

Helen Hoffmann is the Divisional Librarian, Cataloguing at La Trobe University Library. Helen is also a member of the Australian Committee on Cataloguing, and has a strong interest in access to audiovisual materials.

Both Leonie and Helen are active members of the Victorian ABN Users Group; they bring excellent knowledge and experience to the implementation of bibliographic standards in a time of change.


Network Committee: March meeting

The Network Committee met at the National Library on 25–26 March, with an agenda dominated by the new networked services system and the new charging policy for 1998–99.

New charges for 1998/99
Following its decision in November 1997 to adopt subscription charging, the committee made more detailed recommendations for charges in 1998–99. Recognising that it will be a year of transition from ABN to the new service, the committee recommended that the subscriptions for 1998–99 be based on each customer’s usage during the period 1 February 1997 to 31 January 1998. Each library’s usage during this period will be discounted by two per cent, but a minimum subscription of $500 will apply. The subscription will apply to the following usage: searching, interlibrary loan requesting and routing, MARC records received via the Downline Loading service, and the ABN monthly service charges. Special arrangements will be made for new users joining the service after 30 June 1998.

Other charging decisions include:

Internet security
Noting the concern expressed by some libraries about the security of Internet access to ABN, compared with the use of leased lines, the Network Committee welcomed the advice of the Defence Signals Directorate (the body which advises the Australian Government on security in telecommunications) that outgoing Telnet poses minimal risk and its utilisation should not pose a threat. The Network Committee commended this advice to ABN users.

Shelf-ready books
The Network Committee considered a paper on the policy issues which have been identified by the ABN MARC Records with Books service, in particular the different roles of the library supplier and the national bibliographic utility, and the need for standards development to support the service. The committee recommended that the National Library convene a workshop before the Annual Users Meeting to explore service models for delivering the MARC Records with Books Service to Australian libraries. The workshop will consider options for providing links between bibliographic and order records, and between local systems and the NBD. The workshop will be open to libraries, system vendors, library suppliers and Standards Australia Committee IT/19.

CJK Service
The National Library reported that the CJK Steering Committee had supported the proposal that the library accept full responsibility for the operation of the National CJK Service. The Network Committee welcomed the formal transfer of the service to the National Library, which will manage the service on behalf of the Australian library community. Although the CJK Service operates from a different computer platform from ABN, the Network Committee recommended that the library should receive integrated advice on the operation of both the CJK Service and ABN and its successor. This advice should cover budget, governance and opportunities to extend the market for the system.

Replacement for the Network Committee
Following detailed consideration at the November and March meetings on the Director-General’s proposed governance arrangements for the new service, the Network Committee advised that the new arrangements should be implemented as soon as possible. The effect of this recommendation was to make this the last meeting of the Network Committee in its present form. It is intended that the new body will be in place to meet with the Annual Users Meeting in July.

Further information on the Network Committee meetings, including selected papers and resolutions, may be found on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/abnnc.html


NLA at the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention

[Convention delegates]Old Parliament House between the 2nd and the 13th of February 1998 appeared to be at the centre of a time warp—a flashback to life as it was when this was the Australian Commonwealth’s first Parliament House, with all its associated drama, history, scandals, over-crowding, hot air and law making. The corridors were crowded with noisy groups talking excitedly and smaller, less prominent twosomes or threesomes gathered in quiet corners for serious lobbying. A great opportunity for the National Library to offer its reference services to this historic gathering!

This important event in the nation's political life was the Constitutional Convention, called to consider whether Australia should become a republic and, if so, which republican model should be put to the electorate. The outcome of the meeting was to support, in the principle a change to a republican form of government in Australia.

The Constitutional Convention had 152 delegates, some appointed, some elected, some well known, others obscure. Given the intense interest by the populace in the conventions which preceeded the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia, but the scarcity of copies of documentation associated with those meetings, the library determined that it would acquire as much as it could of the current proceedings, official and unofficial, as a resource for future generations. The library was also invited to join with the Parliamentary Library to provide a reference service to the delegates.

Services offered to the delegates
Prior to the convention, packages were mailed to delegates outlining services available from the National Library. These ‘kits’ also included a list of pertinent documents and background references.

Three reference librarians, supported by two others at base camp, were on call in Old Parliament House to provide information services to the convention. Requests were sometimes quite complex: ‘copies of the Letters Patent for both the first and the present Governors-General’; or, ‘the results of the Gallup Polls on voting intentions for referenda on constitutional matters, to match against the predicted outcomes’.

Special arrangements were also made to assist delegates and their staff members in the Petherick Reading Room of the NLA for the duration of the constitutional convention.

The library’s home page, through a special section entitled The Republican Debate and the Constitutional Convention, provided relevant information and a hot link to the ConCon Web site at http://www.dpmc.gov.au/convention/

Material collected for the National Library
Copies of every handout (official and unofficial) distributed to delegates through their pigeon holes was acquired for the national collection. Items distributed by the Secretariat in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet before the convention were also collected.

Documents and ephemera were sought by the Legal Deposit area—and they’re still arriving, along with the resolutions of the convention and reports of the working groups. Two significant titles acquired are Robert McGarvie’s Resolving the Republican Issue for Commonwealth and States...and the South Australian Constitutional Advisory Council’s first report, South Australia and the Proposals for an Australian Republic (Sept. 1996). Ephemera includes the daily press clippings of Media Monitors and a delegate’s name badge—for Ken Gifford, QC.

An imposing, and at times candid, photographic record was made by NLA photographers for inclusion in the library’s historical archives. As well, more than 40 formal photographic portraits were taken—to complement images of the constitutional conventions of the 1890s held by the library.

The official proceedings will be added to the library’s collections when published. In addition, permission is now being sought from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to copy and archive the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention home page.

NLA law librarian, Roy Jordan, was in his element during the two weeks. Roy said it was exciting knowing that ‘the attention of the whole country was focussed on that one place—the House of Representatives chamber in Old Parliament House’. And all reference staff members were gratified to be included in the formal letter of thanks from Senator the Hon. Nick Michin, Special Minister of State, who said ‘The services provided by the staff of your organisation contributed significantly to the success of the Convention’.

Photo: There were emotional scenes in the chamber at the conclusion of the convention. Dr Lois 'Lowitja' O'Donohue, past Chair of the Australian and Torres Strait Islander Commission (centre), Paul Tully, 'Queenslanders for a Republic' (left). Australian athlete Nova Peris Kneebone is top left. [Loui Seselja, NLA Photographics]


Towards an improved reference service

The National Library is about to review and evaluate the services which are offered through its eight reading rooms, as well as through its telephone and reference services. This will be the first of several reviews of library programs which are expected to be carried out in compliance with the Commonwealth’s Evaluation Strategy—to inform decisions about ‘the appropriateness, efficiency and effectiveness of the activity’.

[Mairéad Browne]The National Library Act 1960 prescribes four functions for the library. These may be summarised as:

The library’s current strategic plan interprets the Act, for information service provision, as follows:

‘to provide efficient, timely information services from the Library’s collections through referral to other national and international services, to meet the needs of Australians engaged in the formulation and transmission of knowledge, particularly in research, policy development, authorship and creative endeavour’.

A steering committee composed of representatives of the National Library Council, the academic community and other libraries will be chaired by Professor Mairéad Browne, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney and a member of the National Library Council. The committee will test the extent to which the library is meeting the objective cited above and will report back to the National Library Council in the second half of 1998.

The steering committee expects to call for submissions in April and will supplement the findings of the submissions with data from interviews, focus groups and surveys. While the Terms of Reference for the review are not yet finalised, in broad terms the objectives of the evaluation are to listen to the views of the library’s clients on what may be needed for the delivery of a quality reference service in the future, to determine user satisfaction with current services (in the process identifying areas which might need improvement), to update user profiles and to determine qualitative measures for reference work.

Anyone with an interest should check national newspapers and library media in late April for more information on how to contribute to the review—or contact Susan Carey at scarey@nla.gov.au

Photo: Professor Mairéad Browne, NLA Council member and Chair of a steering committee to evaluate the library’s reference services


1998 Community Heritage Grants—time to apply

Applications are now open for the 1998 round of the Community Heritage Grants program.

This is the fifth time that the National Library has offered annual Community Heritage Grants as a part of its efforts to promote community-based documentary preservation activities. Since the program began in 1994, over 80 communities around Australia have benefited from funds delivered through Australia’s leading grassroots documentary preservation program. The grant pool shared so far totals around $260 000.

This year community-based organisations can bid for grants of up to $7,000 each to enable them to undertake projects as diverse as copying documents and photographs to other media such as microfilm; storing letter collections and business records; conserving old books; providing training; and developing cooperative preservation projects.

Twenty-two organisations received grants in 1997 including the VSDC Services for Deaf Children whose project was to microfilm the organisation’s minute book from 1860 to the present. The unbroken set of minutes reveal much about society’s changing attitude to the treatment of the deaf. Ms Lyn Wilson, Project Coordinator reports ‘the project was more successful than we believed possible; our two copies of microfilm now allow for one to be stored off-site for protection.’

The Community Heritage Grants program has been jointly funded by the National Library and the Department of Communications and the Arts through its Distributed National Collection Program and is generously sponsored by Ansett Australia. Applications for the 1998 Community Heritage Grants close on Monday 31 July.

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


NLA at work
Australian serial conversion project progresses

[Serials Team]In September 1996 a team was set up to convert the National Library’s manual record-keeping system for Australian periodicals to machine-readable form. This will make it easier for readers and remote users to see exactly which issues of a periodical the library actually holds. In addition, many older periodicals which previously had no record on the Australian Bibliographic Network (many of them titles unique to the NLA) now have records and can be accessed. These include a number of Australian literary journals from the early part of this century, as well as many company reports.

The team is now working on the letters ‘N’ and ‘O’, ‘A’ to ‘M’ having already been processed. Since the start of the project, 21 385 serial titles have been catalogued or converted, 4,750 of them currently received.

Photo: The team (left to right); Nikki White (leader), Susan Newbery, Christina Rowe, Victor Rodziewicz and Carol Denehy


Teams in Technical Services—the NLA perspective

On 1 July 1997, a new team structure was implemented in the Technical Services Branch at the National Library of Australia.

This new structure was the outcome of eight months of planning and consultation with staff in the branch. During this time, existing work processes were examined and refined, and a consultant was engaged to work with all Technical Services members. Staff nominated by their peers and their managers formed focus groups to investigate possible structures and workflows which would support efficient processing of the wide range of material received in the area. The reports of the focus groups were discussed in depth by the senior staff responsible for the redesign of the branch.

The need for change
Over the last five years, Technical Services has undergone considerable change. The adoption of online serials check-in and the acquisitions module of the library’s integrated library management system (ILMS) has required considerable modification to workflows and procedures. The handover of some tasks traditionally performed by librarians, to library technicians, has also necessitated a rethink of the traditional structure of Technical Services—i.e. the cataloguing, acquisitions and serials units.

To improve efficiency and offset declining staff numbers, there was a need to reduce the double handling of material, particularly between the cataloguing and acquisitions areas.

Again, it became obvious that work redesign could provide opportunities for librarians to broaden their skills by gaining experience in supervision—opportunities for this having been extremely limited in the old structure. Serials staff were already moving in this general direction but professional officers in the Australian Cataloguing Section were becoming increasingly marginalised as the nature of work changed around them, and increasing numbers of duties which they had previously performed were shifted to the acquisition areas (for instance, copy cataloguing and the revision of Cataloguing-in-Publication records).

Preparing for change
During the redesign process, all tasks undertaken in each of the work areas was reviewed. Particular functions were assigned to specific areas and the level of staff required to perform the function was defined. This ensured that appropriate levels of work were allocated to both professional and paraprofessional staff. The list of duties and classification levels of staff undertaking the duties was circulated to all staff for comment, and several changes were made as a result of feedback from them.  

At this stage most Technical Services staff attended change management workshops to support them through the period of re-structure.

The new structure
The new structure divided Technical Services into three sections: Monograph Acquisitions and Cataloguing, Serials, and ILMS (or Integrated Library Management System, which later was moved to another branch).

The Monograph Acquisitions and Cataloguing and Serials Sections were further divided. Monograph Acquisitions and Cataloguing was divided into three subsections: Australian Deposit and Cataloguing in Publication; Purchased Monographs, and Special Materials Cataloguing and Projects. Serials was divided into six smaller teams. Each of the divisions was based on the type of material, or type of acquisition. For example, monograph and music material purchased for the collection became the responsibility of Purchased Monographs and serials purchased overseas were allocated to the Overseas Serials team.

Settling in
Some nine months after the Technical Services redesign, the new arrangements are working well, although productivity fell initially due to the pressure of operating in a new environment and learning new tasks.

Extensive training has taken place, along with recruitment of additional staff to provide an adequate base for Technical Services operations. Some fine tuning has been required along the way, notably in finding a solution to conflicting demands between the heavy influx of Cataloguing-in-Publication requests and Legal Deposit material. These two activities have now become the responsibility of separate teams, an arrangement which seems to be much more successful.

The redesign of Technical Services has enabled staff to work productively in teams, and to develop skills in collaboration, cooperation and mentoring to a much greater extent than was previously possible. Some other notable successes are the lack of significant backlogs of current material, and the ease with which people can be redeployed to other teams to cover staff shortages in those areas.


Publications and public programs
The Scythe Honed Fine

[A D Hope on Cover]A.D. Hope: A Celebration for His 90th Birthday
ISBN 0 642 10796 3, pb, illus. RRP $12.95

The National Library is celebrating the 90th birthday of one of Australia’s major cultural figures—the poet, critic and academic Alec Derwent Hope, a man with whom the library has had longstanding connections, and whose papers comprise a valuable part of its collections.

The handsome 38-page booklet produced to mark the event contains an appreciation by writer and prominent Hope critic, David Brooks, and a selection of 12 of Hope’s poems, including the celebrated ‘Australia’, reproduced for the first time in its manuscript version (which has significant variations from other published versions).

There are seven photographs of the poet, representing him across the ages from a sailor-suited Tasmanian boy to ‘Grand Old Man’, some of them rare portraits from Hope’s personal papers. It also reproduces Hope’s first published poem, ‘The Last Sonnet’, not seen since its appearance in The Burr magazine (Bathurst High, 1921).

Brooks says ‘The period of his [Hope’s] strongest effect in Australia would be the ’40s, the ’50s and the ’60s. He had a very profound effect on Judith Wright, Dorothy Green, Bob Brissenden and David Campbell. Rosemary Dobson is still profoundly affected by him.’

This limited print run will delight those who care about poetry and all the admirers of the work of Alec Hope in particular. It can be purchased through the National Library Shop or Sales & Distribution, tel. 1800 800 100, fax (02) 6273 1084, email: nlasales@nla.gov.au


Ellis Rowan Address Book in brilliant colour

[Ellis Rowan]

ISBN 0 642 10694 0, hb with spiral binding, A5, RRP $19.95. Due: April

Available through the National Library Shop or Sales & Distribution,
tel. 1800 800 100, fax (02) 6273 1084, email: nlasales@nla.gov.au

Illus: Ellis Rowan, 1848–1922
Nymphaea gigantea and cyperus sp.
1911?
watercolour; 56 x 38 cm
Pictorial Collection, National Library of Australia


Arcadian Quest

A Selection of William Westall’s Australian Sketches

William Westall was one of the artists on board the Investigator during Matthew Flinders’ circumnavigation of Australia (1801–03). His brief was to sketch coastal profiles for navigational purposes and portraits of people met on the journey. Although the young Westall was bored by the Australian coastline, his landscapes, which range from topographical studies to picturesque scenes, and his figure drawings, are of considerable documentary value. A collection of 160 of Westall’s field drawings was acquired by the National Library of Australia in 1969.

A selection of these drawings will be on display in the Visitor Centre from the last week in April until September. This display will coincide with the opening, on

27 April, of the exhibition An Exquisite Eye in the library’s ground floor gallery. An Exquisite Eye explores the work of Ferdinand Bauer, whose task on the same voyage was the scientific illustration of flora and fauna. Floor talks about the illustrations of Westall and Bauer will be held on Wednesdays at 12.30pm throughout May. An Exquisite Eye closes on 19 July.

For more information on these activities please contact Education Services on (02) 6262 1271.


Popular Culture at the Nash

[Brochure]This Autumn, in conjunction with its collection activities, the National Library has developed an exciting program of talks, displays and tours as a means of highlighting Australian popular culture in the collections.

In April and May the free ‘Popular Culture Sundays’ program brings together best-selling authors and well-known identities in Australian popular culture to discuss cooking and rock ‘n’ roll. On 5 April author Colin Bannerman and Sydney food writer and communicator Lyndey Milan shared their passion for the history of food and cookbooks with journalist Julie Derrett. On 17 May the energetic Glenn A. Baker, and others, will hold a lively discussion on Australian rock ‘n’ roll and its place in our popular culture.

The Friends of the National Library are hosting an evening talk by Averill Edwards, Principal Librarian and passionate ‘foodie’ as she discusses the delights of the National Library’s collection of cookbooks on Thursday 30 April.

Coinciding with these events are two Visitor Centre displays which focus on different aspects of popular culture. ‘Pulp Fiction in Australia’ showcases the library’s collection of the work of pulp fiction writer Gordon Clive Bleeck in a display of books, artwork, photographs, journals, diaries and letters. ‘Australian Cookbooks: A Taste of History’ reveals a sample of the library’s collection of cookbooks and cookery ephemera with insights into the kitchens of the past and recent changes in food and culinary interests.

Behind-the-Scenes tours to be held on Tuesdays thoughout April and May, will highlight different facets of the library’s popular culture collections.

For more information on any of these activities please telephone (02) 6262 1271.


Nan Kivell centenary celebrations

1998 is the centenary of the birth of Sir Rex de Charambac Nan Kivell, born on 8 April 1898, in Christchurch, New Zealand. A collector and connoisseur of great foresight, imagination and persistence, Nan Kivell’s magnificent collection has enriched Australia and the Pacific region by gathering together and repatriating a significant portion of our moveable cultural heritage. Held by the National Library of Australia, the Nan Kivell Collection is the largest formed collection of documentary material relating to European discovery, exploration and colonisation of the Antipodes, with a scope that encompasses more than one-third of the world over the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

[Death of Captain Cook]To celebrate the centenary of Nan Kivell’s birth, the National Library of Australia will present an exhibition of paintings, prints and drawings, maps, books, manuscripts and objects in the Nan Kivell Collection from early August to the end of October. The exhibition will explore the diversity, richness and comprehensiveness of the collection, its value to researchers, and the extraordinary vision and tenacity of its collector, Rex Nan Kivell. The exhibition will be curated by NLA staffer, Michelle Hetherington.

George Carter (working 1769–84)
Death of Captain Cook
1781
151.2 x 213.4; oil on canvas
Rex Nan Kivell Collection, National Library of Australia
NK2 T266







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Links updated 12 June 1998