National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568
No. 33
June 1998


CONTENTS
Kinetica progresses smoothly

NLA and the future
Service Charter
Reading room brochures
New annexe
Erratum
Putting actions into words: NLA’s Overseas Collection Development Policy
WWW7: implications for Australian libraries
WWW7 Workshop

The collections
NLA contributes to Singaporean World War 2 site
Fanzines in the National Library of Australia
Antarctic aerial photograph collection
Portrait of Louis Kahan
‘Bringing Them Home’—oral history project

Networked services
Kinetica Implementation Project: Q & A series
Simpler charging structure
ABN Cataloguing Manual on the Web
Outsourcing cataloguing with Kinetica
Dial-up access extended for ABN customers
New future for Ozline
That old year 2000 question again
Come fly with JEDDS-enhanced Ariel
Ariel viewers
Medline free on the Web
Some of what’s new on the NLA Web site
European Microform Project
Australian microfilming guidelines published

New publications and exhibitions
Captive Lives workshop and Exhibition Background Information Kit
Colonial days in Papua New Guinea
Australian Autobiographical Narratives: An Annotated Bibliography: Volume 2: 1850–1900
Rock ‘n’ roll in the NLA Theatre
An Exquisite Eye: The Australian Flora and Fauna Drawings 1801–1820, of Frederick Bauer

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. Subscriptions are free.


Kinetica progresses smoothly

[Canadian Visitors]

Photo: Left to right; Bruce Crisp, Barney Shum and Pam Armstrong from the National Library of Canada with Kinetica implementation team members Bryony De La Motte and Andrew Wells

Kinetica, with its connotations of motion, energy and speed, is the umbrella name chosen to reflect the dynamic nature of the new group of services being developed to meet the changing needs of Australian libraries.

The syllables ‘kin’ and ‘net’ emphasise the commitment of the new service to cooperation and resource sharing within the nation’s library community, while the final letter, a, stresses the Australian aspect of the venture.

The name will appear in all future announcements and presentations about an entity that, until now, has been known as the Networked Services Implementation Project. Design work is currently under way on a suitable logo.

* * * *

[AMICUS Training]April 28 was the first day of training in the use of the AMICUS professional workstation. The Kinetica implementation team, which includes marketing and training representatives and staff from the National Bibliographic Database and the National Library’s cataloguing areas, settled down to an intensive period of interactive learning with Belgian trainer, Bart Peeters. In the second week Bart was joined by Kris Dekeyser who took trainees through the user registration system. Before returning to Europe, Kris also ran a course—directed at staff from the National Library’s Information Technology area—in the technical aspects of the Amicus software.

On 11 May, Bruce Crisp, Pam Armstrong and Barney Shum, from the National Library of Canada, arrived to share some of their valuable expertise and hands-on experience with members of the Kinetica implement-ation group and other National Library staff. The National Library of Canada implemented the large and flexible Amicus integrated management system in 1995, so discussions centred primarily on how this could be adapted to Kinetica requirements.

Implementation team member Bryony De La Motte told Gateways:

'We are very pleased that the first training sessions for our staff have gone so well. And the advice received from our Canadian colleagues—particularly about cataloguing workflows—will be invaluable.'

Frequent progress reports about the implemenation project are distributed via the electronic discussion list Kinetica-l. Kinetica implementation team members are also arranging a series of visits—to ABN user groups, professional seminars and meetings, and individual libraries—where they report on progress and discuss the possible impact of the new services. Team members will gladly respond to questions sent to kinetica@nla.gov.au

Photo: Trainer Kris Dekeyser walks Papiya Chakravarti, Rob Walls and Ursula Hewitt through the AMICUS user registration system

NLA and the future
Service Charter

We are pleased to enclose the National Library’s Service Charter with this issue of Gateways.

The Service Charter has been prepared with the cooperation of staff, stakeholders and users. It aims to set out the Library’s key service obligations and service standards. The questionnaire provided with the Service Charter will provide a feedback mechanism for all the services mentioned in the charter.

We would like to thank everyone who assisted us in the development of the Service Charter during the consultation process. We would also like to encourage users and stakeholders to let us know continuously how well the National Library and its staff perform against our service standards.

Susanne Bruhn
Director, Executive Support
Tel. (02) 6262 1386; sbruhn@nla.gov.au

Reading room brochures

The National Library has just produced brochures for most of its reading rooms and the collections they support—the Main Reading Room, and the Newspaper and Microform, Pictorial, Map, Manuscript, Asian and Oral History areas.

There is a uniform layout to each brochure with a focus on the scope, access conditions and development of the collections. Full of valuable information, they are nevertheless easy to read. And of course there is practical information in answer to such frequently asked questions as restrictions on the use of special materials, after-hours use, the availability of reference assistance, copying and copyright.

Be sure to ask for any of the brochures when you are at the library, or contact Rod Stroud if you would like one of them mailed to you in advance of your research visit. His direct number is (02) 6262 1602, or email rstroud@nla.gov.au

New annexe

[Stacks at Hume]

Remember the photograph, taken in December last, of steel girders being lowered into place in the library’s new warehouse annexe? Five months and two issues of Gateways later, this seven-metre high shelving has started receiving consignments of books and bound serials in the largest move of its kind south of the equator.




Erratum
On page 7 of the April issue of Gateways, in the article about the acquisition of Wolfgang Sievers’ photographs, there is a reference to the Methodist Mission at Weipa. This should read the Presbyterian Mission.

Putting actions into words: NLA’s Overseas Collection Development Policy

[Drafting Group]The National Library has produced the final draft of its Overseas Collection Development Policy which documents the library’s current practice in collecting from overseas. The policy gives a background to the library’s collecting of overseas materials. It outlines the main areas of acquisition, including overseas material with an Australian association, material from Asia and the Pacific, government publications, cartographic materials and general items in the social sciences and humanities that are likely to be of public interest.

The draft policy was the topic of a special meeting in April between representatives of the National Academies Forum and the National Library. A number of issues relating to the coverage of overseas publications in Australian libraries, and access to those publications, were raised. Many of these issues are expected to be discussed at a roundtable in August, that will concentrate on the coverage and collecting of book material by libraries throughout Australia.

The draft policy is now on the Library’s Web site at: http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/oscdp/oscdpcov.html, and interim printed copies may be obtained by phoning (02) 6262 1157 or by writing to the Manager, Collection Development Policy, National Library of Australia, CANBERRA ACT 2600.

A final printed copy of the policy is expected to be available in the second half of 1998 and will be announced in NLA Gateways.

Photo: The drafting group. Standing; Peter Haddad and Christine Foster (Overseas Collection) Seated; Marie Sexton (Asian Collection);Philip Jackson (Overseas Collection); John Thompson, who wrote the draft

WWW7: implications for Australian libraries

The 7th International World Wide Web Conference was held in Brisbane in April—the first of its kind to find a place in the Southern Hemisphere. Debbie Campbell was there to identify key issues for the NLA and other Australian libraries. She offers the following observations.

The subject that occupied delegates most in this conference was resource discovery. Security, authorisation, charging and payment schemes were also discussed but to a lesser extent.

Anticipated characteristics of library services and resource discovery in the future
Users are already expecting the distinctive but related cultural sectors—libraries, museums and archives—to provide a single access point that allows them to search disparate catalogues and collections simultaneously.

There is the expectation that catalogues will link directly to information objects, without the need for users to go to a building for access. This ability to coalesce digital objects interactively, without having to go through individual catalogue structures, will also allow users to interpret cultural materials via their own unique paths.

There is the anticipation that access-ibility will transcend text-based browsers and services on the desktop as people require access to information from wherever they are.

Cooperative delivery of future services
Libraries and other organisations in Australia, particularly the National Library and the State Libraries, need to work together to achieve success in:

The technology required to underpin the services mentioned above includes:

Developments to watch for:

WWW7 Workshop

On 14 April, in conjunction with the WWW7 Conference in Brisbane, the National Library contributed to the organisation of a workshop titled ‘Libraries on the World Wide Web’. Jean-Yves Le Meur of CERN was the other organiser. The aim of the workshop was to examine ways in which libraries are using the Web to enhance service to their clients and to explore avenues for further development.

Approximately 40 participants from Australia as well as Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Denmark, Canada and Japan heard nine short papers that were interspersed with question and answer sessions.

Robert Cailliau, co-inventor of the World Wide Web, opened the workshop with his paper, ‘View of the user’. This theme was continued by Denise Frost of the University of Queensland who spoke about the results of involving users in the design of library Web pages. Stuart Weibel, a prominent figure in the development of Dublin Core metadata, contributed a paper on the work done to date on resource discovery metadata. In developing his theme, he stressed the importance of interoperability, not only between libraries but between libraries and other communities such as business and scientific databases.

A wide selection of topics was covered during the day, illustrating the huge impact that the development of the Web is having on the way that libraries do business. Other papers included ‘The evolving gateway: bringing libraries together on the Web’ (Judith Pearce, National Library of Australia); ‘The personal virtual library’ (Jean-Yves Le Meur, CERN); ‘Automatic classification of a Web library’ (Charlotte Jenkins, University of Wolverhampton); ‘Z39.50 protocol’ (Frank Falcoz, Technical Knowledge Centre of Denmark); ‘Preservation of Internet publications’ (Margaret Phillips, National Library of Australia); and ‘The Kulturarw3 Heritage Project: long term preservation of published electronic documents at the Royal Library, National Library of Sweden’ (Johan Mannerheim, National Library of Sweden).

Email Margaret Phillips for more information: mphillips@nla.gov.au

The collections
NLA contributes to Singaporean World War 2 site

[Web shot]

Early in 1997, the National Library received a visit from Mr Kuan Wah Pitt, Chief Archivist at the National Archives of Singapore. Mr Pitt showed a particular interest in the development of the National Library’s sound archive, its collection of oral history recordings, and other special materials. Following his visit, a research assistant, Rosemary Jennings, was appointed to liaise with the library’s special Australian materials area. With the intention of building the National Archives of Singapore’s collections for its own researchers, Rosemary spent 1997 collecting copies of maps, transcripts, newspaper cuttings and oral history recordings about Singapore from the National Library and other collecting institutions.

At the same time, the staff of the National Archives of Singapore was building an interactive, multimedia Web site about the events surrounding the invasion of Singapore in World War 2. 1942 Battlefield Singapore utilises images, text and sound grabs to document an important era in the history of Singapore, and its relations with Australia. Important oral history material—text only at this stage—has been used. It includes a 1973 interview by Mel Pratt with the RAAF’s first air chief marshal, Sir Frederick Scherger, and an interview conducted by Pratt with Sir Kenneth Anderson, a former Minister for Customs, in 1997. Material from the Australian War Memorial, National Film & Sound Archives, National Archives of Australia, and the Imperial War Museum (London) also appears.

Battlefield Singapore is located on Singapore One, and is one of seven virtual reality World War 2 sites that form a comprehensive story on the Japanese Occupation. Through innovative use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality modelling language (VRML), and Internet technologies, the site recreates various historical events, such as the Japanese landing and the British surrender. There are maps and tours of key locations including the Alexandra Hospital, and ‘interviews’ with witnesses through an inquiry database. Access to 1942 Battlefield Singapore is at the following address: http://www.s1942.org.sg. Access to images and sound at the site requires downloading of ‘Shockwaveflash’ software.

Web image reproduced with the permission of the National Archives of Singapore.

Fanzines in the National Library of Australia

A fanzine is an amateur non-profit publication, originally produced by and for fans of written science fiction, though now the genre includes comics, film and television science fiction, and fantasy. In recent years the term has been more loosely applied to underground publications of the music industry and even to mainstream publications seen to serve the interests of fans of any persuasion. Fanzines, in the original sense, were first published in the United States in the early years of this century as an alternative to writing multiple letters to fellow readers of science fiction, and to provide a means of communication among those readers that was less formal and more frequent than the letter pages of the various pulp science fiction magazines of the time.

The earliest fanzines were produced on hectographs, later on mimeographs, later still on photocopiers. Until recently, with the advent of desktop publishing, they retained a home-made look. Traditionally they were made available in return for contributions, traded for donations of stamps, or through a nominal subscription to cover the cost of production and postage only. With a few notable exceptions, they do not have very long lives as economics or other interests force the editor to cease publication after as little as two or three issues.

The National Library has a fairly extensive collection of fanzines, most of which have been received on legal deposit. Many fanzine editors are happy to send their publications to the library and are assiduous in doing so. There are various reason for this. Firstly it means that the fanzine can be made available to many more people than its immediate circulation would allow; secondly it will be held secure and in perpetuity; thirdly, having the publication catalogued on ABN lets a much wider audience know that the fanzine title exists. For this reason, too, many fanzines have ISSNs. Fanzines are all about communication with as many people of like interests as possible. Just recently, the library’s collection benefited from the donation of a large collection of Star Trek and similar fanzines from Susan Smith-Clarke, a prominent Sydney-based science fiction fan.

The earliest fanzines held in the library are publications devoted to the review and discussion of written science fiction dating from the early 1950s. Titles inlcude SF Review and Woomera from 1952, Etherline, Perhaps, Questionmark, and others. None of these lasted until the 1960s. That decade is represented by the Mentor, begun in 1965 and still being published, the New Millennial Harbinger and the Australian Science Fiction Review. The 1970s saw a burst of fanzine publication, partly inspired by the 1975 World Science Fiction Convention which was held in Australia for the first time in its history. From that decade came such titles as Gegenschein (still being published), New Forerunner, the Bionic Rabbit, the Cygnus Chronicler, Grundoon, Crux, A.D.1, Gobstopper, WAHF Full, and Turn Left at Thursday . From the 1980s came Space Wastrel, Ornithopter, Australian SF Bullsheet, Crabapple, Nemesis, Xenophilia, the Notional, and Tigger. A few of these consist of amateur short stories and poetry, in amongst those filled with reviews and discussions.

Meanwhile, from the mid-1970s, another type of fanzine, devoted to a science fiction television program or programs, was being published. The first such fanzines, and by far the most numerous in the library’s collection, are Star Trek fanzines. The oldest is Terran Times which appeared in 1969 and ran until the early 1970s. This was followed closely by Thrall, and Beyond Antares in the early 1970s. The publication of Star Trek fanzines was boosted by a number of successful conventions featuring the actors from the series, and the advent of new series of the show. They include, Spock, Constellation, the Rum Rebellion, Captain’s Log, Captain’s Briefs, Genesis, Prime Directive, the McCoy Tapes, Truffles, Sons of Kiron, Ultrawarp and Locutus. In contrast with literary science fiction fanzines, Star Trek fanzines consist mainly of amateur stories, poetry and art about the characters of Star Trek. However, club newsletters, which are well featured in the collection, contain discussion, reviews and news.

Building on the tradition created by Star Trek fans, fans of other science fiction television programs started producing their own fanzines. The library has good collections of fanzines for Blake’s 7 and Doctor Who.

As the field diversifies, the library’s collection has grown to include fanzines devoted to Sherlock Holmes and the Australian television program Prisoner. Titles from comic collectors such as John Ryan are held, as well as those fanzines devoted to amateur horror fiction such as Skintomb.

To find the above titles and others, search the library’s catalogue online at: http://www.nla.gov.au/webpac/

Interested readers can find out more about the Susan Smith-Clarke collection of fanzines and Star Trek fandom in Australia by going to the National Library Home Page at http://www.nla.gov.au/collect/ausprint.html

Antarctic aerial photograph collection

Aerial photography of the Antarctic continent commenced after World War 2, when nations with interests in the Antarctic began to establish mapping programmes and produce maps—activities which continue through to the present day.

In 1957, the proclamation of the International Geophysical Year saw the establishment of international stations and equipment on the continent. The following year saw the formation of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). This body has the responsibility of coordinating scientific activity in the Antarctic to support a greater scientific programme of considerable circumpolar scope and significance.

Australia was one of the 12 founding nations along with Argentina, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom, USA and USSR. Since then another five nations have been added to the list, with five associate nations.

SCAR Australian Antarctic Territory Aerial Photograph Collection
In February 1998 the National Library of Australia took over management of the Australian Antarctic Territory Aerial Photograph Collection, previously cared for by the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG). A similar collection is maintained by the Antarctic Division in Hobart.

[Aerial photo]The collection consists of trimet Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) photography flown between 1954 and 1965 over Australian Antarctic Territory, and vertical photography executed during the 1970s. Both prints and negatives (diapositives) are represented in the collection. Some ERTS 1 remote satellite imagery of the territory is also included. The collection is supported by ground photographs of the Australian bases and their activities, together with ANARE reports issued since 1954.

A collection level catalogue record has been prepared and may be found through the National Library’s online database at the Internet address : http://www.nla.gov.au/webpac/. For those with access to ABN, the record’s rid number is abn98-107894.

The collection complements the SCAR Cartographic Collection, acquired by the library from AUSLIG around three years ago, which constitutes the primary research collection of SCAR member countries mapping activity. This collection has also been catalogued at collection level and the record can be found at the same Internet address. Its ABN rid number is abn97-079373

Access to the collections
To protect the integrity of the collections, interlibrary loan is not available. Access is restricted to use in the National Library’s Map Reading Room which is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each weekday, with the exception of public holidays. Assistance will be given to researchers wishing to locate particular material or to place photocopying or photographic orders from the collection. Negatives of the aerial photography have survived and orders for first generation prints may be placed through AUSLIG’s contract photography service agency, United Photo & Graphic Services.

Enquiries about access to this collect-ion may be made to the Map Curator, tel.:(02) 6262 1280; fax: (02) 6262 1653; email: moconnor@nla.gov.au

Aerial photo of Cape Darnley, Antarctica, showing Mt Henderson, the Masson and David Ranges and Mawson Station

Portrait of Louis Kahan

[Louis Kahan]An impressive portrait in acrylic and mixed media of the painter, printmaker and stage designer, Louis Kahan, was recently purchased from the artist, Esther Erlich.

Louis Kahan arrived in Australia in 1947 and continued the painting and printmaking he had started in France and North Africa. Kahan’s portrait drawings, which appeared in Meanjin and the Age, brought him to prominence in this country. He has designed stage settings for the National Theatre and the Australian Opera, as well as stained-glass windows for churches and synagogues in Melbourne and Sydney.

Kahan has been the recipient of numerous art prizes, including the Archibald Prize in 1962. His work is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, State galleries, and collections overseas. In 1993, Kahan was awarded the Order of Australia.

The acquisition reproduced at the right was a finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. It complements the Library’s holdings of 61 portrait sketches of prominent Australians by Kahan himself.

Esther Erlich, 1955–
Portrait of Louis Kahan, 1990
National Library of Australia R11467

‘Bringing Them Home’—oral history project

The February issue of Gateways reported on the background to a new oral history project, announced by Senator Herron in December 1997, that followed on from the report Bringing Them Home.

The National Library has begun the pilot project which will investigate the feasibility of recording the stories of Indigenous people and some of those involved in the process of the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

The Director-General of the National Library, Warren Horton, has written to peak indigenous organisations, church groups and Commonwealth and State agencies to initiate consultation about the pilot project. The Director-General has provided written information about the project to each State Librarian, as the National Library is interested in learning about, and working with, other oral history projects that have similar aims.

A project manager will be appointed to manage the pilot project. The library is in the process of recruiting to this position—it has been advertised in the Koori Mail and the major dailies. An advisory group will be appointed to assist the National Library to establish, manage and assess the pilot project.

The library has prepared draft objectives and principles, and a plan for the project. A draft setting out the role and terms of reference for the advisory group has also been circulated for comment.

The library is committed to ensuring that this significant undertaking is successful and looks forward to consultations with a wide variety of groups and individuals.

Please contact Anne-Marie Schwirtlich (tel: 02 6262 1301; fax: 6273 5081; email: aschwirt@nla.gov.au) if you have any questions or would like copies of the documents mentioned.

Networked services
Kinetica Implementation Project: Q & A series

The National Library of Australia has selected Fretwell-Downing’s OLIB VDX as the new National ILL Utility—the same product chosen by the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee’s LIDDA (Local Interlending and Document Delivery Administration) Project. The library welcomes the opportunity to work with the AV-CC in the implementation of new interlending and document delivery support services for the nation’s libraries.

OLIB’s VDX
OLIB (Open Library Systems) is Fretwell-Downing Informatics’ library management system. It consists of a family of products of which VDX (Virtual Document eXchange) is the product supporting ILL management. VDX was trialled in the DALI (Documents and Libraries Integrated) Project for the European Commission and the product was launched in late 1996. VDX is in use at LASER (London & South Eastern Library Region)—the UK’s largest regional union catalogue and interlending service. VDX complies with the major international standard in document delivery, the ISO ILL Protocol (ISO 10160/10161)

What are the features of the ILL Utility implementation of VDX?
The ILL Utility will support the creation of requests, selection of suppliers, tracking and management of requests and the ILL payments scheme. It will feature:

How will I connect to the new service?
An Internet connection will be required.

What is the difference between LIDDA and the ILL Utility?
The LIDDA Project has also chosen the VDX software for its implementation. Each participating institution will have its own VDX server, allowing more sophisticated local rules to be applied to ILL administration. This will provide more automation in processes such as patron authorisation, selection of suppliers, copyright and financial management; and will give more workflow configurability. Library staff in these institutions will use a PC client while patrons (end users) will use a Web interface.

The National ILL Utility will have a single VDX server at the National Library that will provide request management functions to library staff using a Web interface. This interface will enable users to search the NBD, create requests, select suppliers, route requests to potential suppliers, track and manage requests.

What is the relationship between LIDDA and the ILL utility?
There will be close cooperation between the LIDDA and ILL Utility implementations to ensure that the requirements of the two systems are compatible. LIDDA users will be able to search the NBD, route requests to ILL Utility users (and vice versa) and participate in the ILL payments scheme.

Will I need special software on my PC?
No. As mentioned above, customer libraries will access the National ILL Utility via a Web interface. Client software will not be distributed. Users with LIDDA systems will be able to use the LIDDA client to access the NBD and communicate with the National ILL Utility. This communication is enabled through the incorporation of the ISO ILL Protocol in VDX.

How will the changeover from the old system to the new be accomplished?
The ABN ILL Sub-system and the new system will run in parallel for a short period to allow processing of existing ILL requests to be completed on the old system while users begin to use the new system. ILL requests will not be migrated from the old system to the new system.

When will the new service be implemented?
The new service will be implemented at the same time as AMICUS—in the first quarter of 1999.

The five questions that follow were raised by ABN customers during visits to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane by Andrew Wells, and to Adelaide by Bryony De La Motte.

Will the Institution Specific Data (ISD) in ABN records be transferred to the new system?
ISD input into bibliographic records by ABN Full Service users will not be transferred to the Kinetica database. We know that many ABN Full Service users have created ISD to ensure that this data is retained in their local systems when a record is replaced by one from ABN. Libraries will now need to arrange for their system vendor to ensure that existing ISD is not dropped when replacement bibliographic records are loaded. We have contacted vendors to tell them of this change, and invited them to discuss options with us.

We want to assist you in managing the revision of your ISD procedures and have identified a number of areas where we can provide advice and assistance.

We are happy to discuss your library’s requirements for managing ISD with you at any time. We urge you to do this as soon as possible, to give your library the maximum time to develop and implement your strategy.

What are the main features of the AMICUS cataloguing client?
There are a number of features that will allow libraries to achieve more efficient creation of original cataloguing records. Some libraries will also be able to change their cataloguing workflows, gaining even greater efficiency. The National Library of Australia explored cataloguing workflow options with National Library of Canada staff in mid-May, and will give you more information as soon as possible. Some of the more notable features are:

Must my library use the AMICUS cataloguing client to contribute original cataloguing?
No, libraries will be able to do original cataloguing using the cataloguing client provided by their own integrated library management system.

Libraries choosing to operate like this will be able to add original bibliographic records to the National Bibliographic Database (NBD) by sending batches of records as files for loading to the NBD. The AMICUS system has been developed to receive batch loads of data. Many libraries may choose to take advantage of this by doing all their work (copy and original cataloguing) on the cataloguing module of their local system, and providing original records and location information to the national system in batches.

Libraries that have Z39.50-compliant cataloguing clients should be able to use their individual system’s functionality to retrieve bibliographic records for addition to their system.

This will be tested during implementation. Other libraries will be able to request records via the AMICUS products ordering function.

Will I still be able to use the same matching algorithm when loading bibliographic Kinetica records to my local system?
There has been some confusion about matching between Kinetica and local systems. Libraries using the ABN new-style immutable (ABN LON tag) for matching will not be affected. The new-style immutables will become Kinetica control numbers in Kinetica tag 001, and will be output in the USMARC tag 001 and 019 (indicators 1 blank). Local system numbers will continue to be entered in holdings statements and output in tag 035. The ABN RID, however, will not be transferred in tag 001, now reserved for the Kinetica control number. ABN RIDs will be migrated to Kinetica, but they will be output in tag 019 (both indicators blank) $z. There will be no control numbers or record identifiers of the type seen in abn93-00123. Old- style immutables will continue to be output in 019 blank blank $a.

Other changes to existing ABN records are being defined at the moment, as we decide on the details of bibliographic data migration. We are following a strategy of ‘minimal change’, to contain the impact on ABN customer libraries. When this migration specification has been finalised, we will publish a table showing the changes being made to existing ABN records.

Will the NLA discuss Kinetica features with library system vendors?
Yes, we believe the Kinetica implementation is an excellent opportunity to increase contact between library system vendors and the National Library and we’ll be happy to discuss with vendors any changes that may be needed for local systems. In early April, we wrote to vendors of systems used in Australian libraries, expressing our intention of working closely with them during the implementation period. In this letter we referred to a number of issues which we believe will be of major importance to libraries and their system vendors. These issues include downline loading; use of cataloguing clients; Internet access; and Institution Specific Data (ISD).

Kinetica implementation team members will be visiting many parts of Australia during the implementation period, and will be available to speak to the staff in individual libraries, at meetings and workshops, or through ABN User Group meetings. Please contact us at kinetica@nla.gov.au, if you would like to receive a visit.

Simpler charging structure

At its meeting on 25–26 March, the Network Committee recommended a number of changes to the ABN charging mechanism which will apply to ABN and Kinetica during 1998–99. The charging mechanism reflects the fact that the coming financial year will be one of transition from ABN to the new Kinetica service.

The charging structure that will be introduced on 1 July 1998 has been devised to provide ABN customers with increased certainty about their ABN expenditure, and to make the transition to the Kinetica service as seamless as possible. In addition, most ABN customers will pay less in the coming year than they did this year.

From 1 July 1999, or after a sufficient period of operation of the new service, the subscription mechanism will be restructured so that it is based on the number of concurrent sessions subscribed to by the customer.

Network services subscriptions
In 1998–99 all existing ABN customers will be charged on a subscription basis. The subscription will provide unlimited use of a core group of services during the period 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999. It will be based on each customer’s ABN use during the period 1 February 1997 to 31 January 1998. Each customer’s subscription will then be discounted by two per cent. A minimum annual subscription of $500 will apply.

The following services are included in the subscription:

The number of MARC records which may be received as part of a subscription is limited to double the number of records received during the previous year, plus a rounding factor. Additional records may be purchased at the regular downline loading rate of $0.36 per record.

MARC records supplied under a subscription may not be used for commercial purposes or for supply to third parties. If either of these conditions apply, an additional charge, subject to negotiation on a case by case basis, will be made.

During April every ABN customer received a letter which provided details of the subscription offer for their organisation.

Internet access fee abolished
Effective 1 July 1998, the current charge of $0.24 per hour for Internet access to ABN will be abolished. This measure effectively represents an additional discount of approximately three per cent for customers who access ABN via the Internet. It also means that, following the implementation of Kinetica, no customer will pay communication access fees to the National Library.

Credits unchanged
While ABN is operating, credits for the contribution of data will continue to be paid at the current levels. A revised incentive scheme will be implemented when Kinetica is launched. Details of this scheme will be announced later in the year.

ILL Payments Service
The Interlibrary Loan Payments Service will be subject to a financial services charge of $0.50 per transaction. The charge will be paid by the supplying library. This new charge reflects the fact that the ILL Payments service provides a benefit to ILL suppliers, reducing their administrative costs in handling vouchers or in billing a large number of small amounts. The financial services charge is equivalent to around four per cent for most transactions, which is comparable to that charged by the banks for the use of credit card facilities.

UnCover Australia and RLIN Gateways Service
The charges for using the UnCover Australia and RLIN services will remain highly competitive but in order to recover the direct costs of providing the service, and to reflect exchange rate variations, a small increase is necessary as follows:

New users
New users joining after 30 June 1998 will have the option of paying a $15.00 per hour connect time fee or negotiating a subscription. The connect time option will provide access to the same group services included in the subscription. A joining fee of $250 will also be charged to new users.

Other charges
The charges for services which are not specifically mentioned above will remain the same as in 1997–98.

Summary
The charges to be introduced on 1 July 1998 will allow ABN customers to approach the transition to the new Kinetica service with certainty about the charges that will apply across the transition.

Any enquiries about the new charges may be directed to the Help Desk (email:networks@nla.gov.au; tel.: 1800 026 155).

ABN Cataloguing Manual on the Web

The ABN Cataloguing Manual is now on the Web and can be accessed via the National Library’s home page or directly via its own URL at: http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/catman.html

There are links to each section within Parts A-G as well as to the Standards Committee.

This is our second manual on the Web, the first being the Data Preparation Manual Part 1: Headings, which can be found at: http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/head_a.html

To gauge the usefulness of having manuals on the Web, we would appreciate receiving comments from you at abntrain@nla.gov.au

Outsourcing cataloguing with Kinetica

A seminar in Melbourne on 1–2 July will bring together librarians, library suppliers and library system vendors to resolve common issues in providing shelf-ready book services to Australian libraries. The seminar will address the important emerging issues for Australian libraries that are receiving MARC records automatically with their newly-purchased collection materials.

The seminar will identify and agree on models for delivering a ‘MARC records with books’ service to Australian libraries. The agreed models will include mechanisms for the rapid reporting of holdings to the national union catalogue. Standards used by library suppliers to link acquisitions data to cataloguing records vary, and are often linked to the requirements of library systems. This represents a costly overhead for library suppliers. It can also have the effect of locking libraries into existing purchasing arrangements that match their local system requirements. The seminar will identify preferred standards for library suppliers to use when linking acquisitions data to cataloguing records.

The seminar will clarify the role that ABN, and next year Kinetica, will play in the provision of MARC records with books to Australian libraries. The National Library is organising the seminar on the advice of the Network Committee, to further the two main resource-sharing objectives of the National Bibliographic Database: to maintain the coverage and currency of the national union catalogue, and to help libraries to enjoy the efficiencies of shared cataloguing.

An eclectic group of 30 individuals, some with overseas experience and all reflecting work experience with a variety of libraries and systems, will participate in the seminar. An outline of the emerging policy issues that will be considered at the seminar may be found at http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/981marc.html

Andrew Wells and Julia Trainor will represent the National Library.

Dial-up access extended for ABN customers

Dial-up access to ABN via Austpac will continue until the start of Kinetica. This will allow ABN customers more time to obtain access to the Internet, and for those who prefer to use Austpac to continue to do so.

Kinetica is expected to start in the first quarter of 1999, and will have an easy-to-use Web interface for all your searching needs. You will also be able to add holdings, order products, and request and respond to ILL requests through a Web interface. For these services you will need access to the Internet and a Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer.

There will be specific software you can purchase to search and catalogue on Kinetica. Connection through the Internet is still required.

We encourage all ABN customers to obtain access to the Internet before the start of Kinetica so that you are ready to use the new service.

More information on connecting to ABN via the Internet, and a test link, is available at http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/testlink.html, or you can ring the ABN Help Desk on 1800 026 155.

New future for Ozline

[Sandra Oxley]The National Library has decided to decommission its Ozline online service in September.

Producers of the Ozline databases met in Melbourne and Canberra in the first week of March to discuss new arrangements for delivering the Ozline service. RMIT Publishing is planning to introduce a networked service to provide Web access to the Australian databases which it publishes on CD-ROM. This new service, Informit Online, is part of RMIT Publishing’s commercial Internet service, the Educational Resources & Information Network (ERIN).

There is already a large overlap between the databases on Ozline and the CD-ROMs published by RMIT, and the National Library believes that a single service will best meet the needs of Australian users. Informit Online is planned to commence in July 1998, and it will operate in parallel with Ozline for three months, before Ozline is decommissioned at the end of September. Advice will be provided in the next few weeks on how Ozline users can access the new Web-based RMIT service.

The National Library produces the three most popular databases in the Ozline service. The APAIS and AMI databases, which are already jointly published on CD-ROM by RMIT Publishing, in association with the National Library, will be made available in the new RMIT service. The National Library is still pursuing options for providing document images of most of the articles indexed in APAIS and AMI.

The Australian Interlibrary Resource Sharing Directory, which has been available on Ozline since December 1996, will continue to be available free of charge from the National Library’s Webserver at http://www.nla.gov.au/ilrs. The ILRS Directory, which underpins Australia’s interlibrary loans and document supply operations, will be linked to the National Interlibrary Lending Utility, and is also currently linked to the Australian Libraries Gateway at URL http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries

Photo: Director of RMIT Publishing, Sandra Oxley

That old year 2000 question again

As part of its commitment to ensuring that all its computer-based systems will be alive and energetic in the year 2000, the National Library of Australia has issued a statement on year 2000 date processing. The statement is available on the National Library’s Web site at: http://www.nla.gov.au/y2k/ and covers:

ABN
Kinetica
TCP3270
SimPC
Remote TPSDLL
The National Chinese, Japanese and Korean (NCJK) system
The National Library’s OPAC
WWW services (IMAGES 1, ILRS, and PANDORA).

For further information, the year 2000 coordinator at the National Library of Australia is the Director IT Facilities, Mr Chris Ballantyne, fax: (02) 6273 3648, email: cballant@nla.gov.au

Come fly with JEDDS-enhanced Ariel

JEDDS-enhanced Ariel is software that enables a PC with a scanner connected, to scan articles and images, and to transmit them over the Internet to other Ariel workstations. From this point, articles together with any graphical features can be printed to a laser printer. The most obvious benefits are Ariel’s reliability and the facts that it saves on fax delivery charges and produces high-resolution images.

Before we aquaint you with the Ariel of the present and the future, we’ll revisit the development of Ariel to the present day. This will give you an overall perspective of where Ariel has come from and where it is headed. In addition to this, you may also be able to sort out those niggling questions concerning the relationship between Ariel, JEDDS, CILLA, LIDDA and the National Library’s new network service, Kinetica.

An historical overview
Ariel is a system which was originally developed in the U.S. by the Research Libraries Group (RLG) with the aim of delivering documents via the Internet by utilising the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

In 1993 three key organisations, namely the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC), the National Library of Australia (NLA) and the United Kingdom’s Joint Information Systems Committee, Electronic Libraries Programme (JISC eLib) agreed to work with RLG to enhance Ariel by providing extra functionality. The resulting project was called JEDDS, which stands for Joint Electronic Document Delivery Software.

Ariel 2.0 released
In February 1997 the first stage of the JEDDS project was completed and Ariel 2.0 was released. The resultant enhancements enabled Ariel to use MIME-compliant email in addition to FTP for sending and receiving documents. MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) allows for more complex documents to be sent via email than is possible via standard email. An additional bonus of email is that the sending and receiving workstations do not need to be active at the same time. The email functionality also enables staff to report errors and acknowledge that documents have been received.

Ariel 2.1
In October 1997 an upgraded version of Ariel was released which could run under both Windows 95 and Windows NT (New Technology). The latter version allows for multi-user access.

Imminent enhancements
Stage 2 of JEDDS-enhanced Ariel is almost complete and will be released by RLG towards the middle of this year. This phase will enable Ariel workstations to send messages to and receive messages from other Ariel workstations, as well as to interact with local Interlibrary Loan and Document Request Supply Management Systems (ILDRMS).

The stage 2 version of Ariel will be able to support a messaging system because it complies with the international standard in document delivery, namely the ISO ILL Protocol. The main benefit of this protocol is that it enables different ILL messaging systems to communicate with each other as long as they are compliant with this international standard.

The messaging system
The JEDDS-enhanced Ariel messaging system will enable a user to enter a request and add:

The management screen will enable you to sort the requests that you have sent and received by:

This screen will also indicate the status of the sent and received requests.

Links with ILDRMS
As previously stated, stage 2 of the JEDDS project will also enable Ariel stations to interact with or become integrated into the local Interlibrary Loan and Document Request Supply Management Systems.

One such system is the National Library’s National ILL Utility, which will be released with the new network service, Kinetica, in the first quarter of 1999. The National Library has selected Fretwell-Downing’s ILL management software known as OLIB VDX (Open Library Systems, Virtual Document Exchange) for its ILL utility.

The CILLA (Coordinated Interlibrary Loan Administration) Project has likewise selected Fretwell-Downing’s OLIB VDX software for its local ILL management system, which is called

LIDDA (Local Interlending and Document Administration). The fact that both LIDDA and the National Library’s ILL utility are ISO ILL Protocol compliant will ensure interoperability between the two systems.

Once Ariel has been integrated into the National Library’s ILL utility and into LIDDA, the user will be able to initiate and receive ILL messages, as well as scan, view and print documents from within these two ILL management systems. Furthermore, Ariel will automatically update the status of requests in the ILL management system to which it is linked.

Ariel integral to the CIDER project
The CIDER (CAVAL Information Delivery and Electronic Requesting) Project commenced at the beginning of 1997 with a view to enabling an end user at one Victorian university to request and receive documents from journals held in the collections of other Victorian universities, as well as from the State Library of Victoria.

CIDER’s approach has been to use systems that conform to international standards and are compatible with other national developments such as LIDDA and NLA’s National ILL Utility. This approach has enabled CIDER to use JEDDS-enhanced Ariel as a major component of its electronic infrastructure. CIDER will not only be using Ariel to scan and transmit documents and images to the end user, but it will also be utilising stage 2 enhancements to transmit and receive ILL requests between Ariel workstations.

Obtaining a copy of JEDDS-enhanced Ariel
There are two distributors of Ariel licences in Australia. At present the JEDDS office is distributing licences on behalf of the AVCC for the university sector, while the National Library is distributing licences for all other libraries. These licenses can only be obtained by completing the relevant forms to be found at the following Web sites:

JEDDS office for university libraries:
http://www.gu.edu.au/alib/iii/docdel/licence/lic-home.htm

NLA for all other libraries:
http://www.nla.gov.au/ariel

Help Desk support
The National Library is responsible for all help desk support in both Australia and New Zealand. The Help Desk will be able to assist you with software installation as well as performance and function problems. If Help Desk staff are unable to solve a particular problem, they will contact the Research Libraries Group on your behalf. The latter has been contracted to provide support and maintenance services until 2003.

Contact details for the National Library Help Desk are as follows:

ABN Help Desk
National Library of Australia
Parkes, ACT, 2600
Tel.: (02) 6262 1531, Toll free: 1800 026 155, Fax: (02) 6273 1180, email: networks@nla.gov.au

Ariel viewers

Ariel is software that enables documents requested on interlibrary loan to be supplied electronically via FTP or email. In the past it was necessary for the receiving machine to also have Ariel software. Through the JEDDS Project, enhancements to the Ariel software now allow documents to be sent to any machine with MIME multipage compliant email.

Documents can be forwarded direct to end users via email but, to view these documents, end users will need viewer software loaded onto their computers. The National Library of Australia’s Document Supply Service evaluated some of the viewers which were capable of viewing TIFF documents to identify viewers which would be suitable for libraries to recommend to end users of emailed Ariel documents. The features considered most important were ease of installation, ease of use and price.

Because of the non-availability of suitable systems, only viewers compatible with Windows 3.x and Windows 95 were tested.

Docview
http://archive.nlm.nih.gov:80/proj/docview/project.htm

Docview was developed by National Library of Medicine (NLM). We tested version 1.0 of the software on Windows 3.1, but it also runs on Windows 95 and NT. The software was installed without difficulty and required minimal knowledge of systems. Use of the software is free of charge, but subject to some conditions. Users will need to register online.

Help documentation is available for downloading from the NLM site; there is also online help and an online tutorial available. NLM does not provide a help service to users but there is an email discussion list set up for users to discuss problems.

Docview is very easy to use—quite intuitive. Features are activated by clicking on a button or using a pull down menu. Documents can be forwarded via email. Other features include document management, zoom —in out and shrink—page book-marking, rotation, the ability to move through documents easily and user notification of received documents.

To open a document sent via email, you need only click on the document icon in the email message: Docview starts automatically. However, this facility may depend on the email system being used (we tested Docview using Microsoft Exchange). On some email systems it may be necessary to save the document before viewing.

Docview was developed specifically for use by libraries and library users. It is very easy to install and use and has a bright and friendly appearance.

Imaging for Windows
http://www.eastmansoftware.com/imaging

Imaging for Windows is included as an accessory with NT and newer versions of Windows 95. For older versions of Windows 95 the software is available free of charge from the above Web site. We tested version 1.0 of the software on Windows 95. This software was also easy to install.

Again, Imaging for Windows is intuitive and there is online help available. The screen display is easy to understand. Features are activated by either clicking on a button or via a pull-down menu. Features include zoom in and out, thumbnails, the ability to move through pages easily, resizing, rotation and vertical flip. The image can be drawn on, highlighted, text can be added; also, it will print with annotations. The software has an email option.

The viewer starts automatically after clicking on the document icon in the email message. As with Docview, this feature may be dependent on the email system used.

Summary
Of the viewers tested, Docview and Imaging for Windows were the easiest to install and most user friendly. Both would be suitable to recommend to end users of emailed Ariel documents.

Information about other software tested can be found on the Internet at http://www.abn.nla.gov.au:80/ariel?pageid=arielvue.htm

Disclaimer
These evaluations have been undertaken by the National Library of Australia in good faith for the purpose of assisting libraries to identify viewers which are most suitable for library use. However, the National Library of Australia accepts no responsibility for:

Medline free on the Web

Most of the databases provided by the USA National Library of Medicine are now free and easily accessible on the Web at http://www.nlm.nih.gov. There are two methods of searching: Internet Grateful Med and PubMed. Both are simple to use and have online help. PubMed has nearly all the functionality of the old Elhill command system and has the advantage that you do not need to learn and remember commands.

What is available free?

Some databases still attract charges, including TOXNET, Popline, PDQ, and Toxline. To register for the chargeable databases, go to the NLM Web site and follow the links Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program and Accessing TEHIP Online Databases. Here you will find information on charges, how to get passwords and how to access these databases using the Telnet function of the Internet. There is no joining fee. Alternatively you can get passwords from the National Library of Australia but there is a surcharge and a monthly service fee, and you will still need to use Telnet to do your searching.

The NLM Technical Bulletin and NLM news are only available at the Web site. The U.S. National Institutes of Health Clinical Alerts and Images from the History of Medicine are two other interesting places to visit.

SprintNet to end
At the end of 1998 the SprintNet access from Australia to Medline will cease. You will then need to use the Internet to search.

Some of what’s new on the NLA Web site

Digital library issues

Electronic Publications and the Survival of Information http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/mjcwvala.html
Paper by Maggie Jones, Director Collection Management & Retrieval Services, and Colin Webb, Manager Information Preservation presented at the VALA Conference 28th–30th January 1998, in Melbourne.

Farewell My Floppy: A Strategy for Migration of Digital Information http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/valadw.html
Paper by Deborah Woodyard, Electronic Preservation, presented at the VALA Conference 28th–30th January 1998, in Melbourne.

Distributed collections

ABN Network Committee papers from the 58th meeting http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/nc58.html and the 1998 Network Committee Resolutions http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/committees/res98ma.html

Guidelines for Reciprocal Access—Long-Term Loans http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/libs/ummu1.html from the Melbourne Asian Research Libraries Consortium (MARLC) has been added to the updated list of Australian Library

Collecting Agreements http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/libs/collect.html

Manuscript Collection guides

Papers of Phillip Toyne, past president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, MS 9024 http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/9024.html

Papers of Sir Lloyd Dumas, MS 4849 http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/4849.html

Records of ANZAAS (Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science), MS 9173 http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/9173.html

Society for Growing Australian Plants: Canberra Region, MS 7950 http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/7950.html

National Library policies

The National Library has issued a statement on its Year 2000 date processing for its computer based services http://www.nla.gov.au/y2k/

The Advisory Process for the National Library’s Network Service http://www.nla.gov.au/nsp/advise.html

The new Service Charter is now available. Please have a look and complete the associated questionaire at http://www.nla.gov.au/survey/cschart/

The final draft of the 1998 Overseas Collection Development Policy is now available for comment. http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/oscdp/oscdpcov.html

Comments on copyright reform and the digital agenda: Proposed transmission right, right of making available and enforcement measures http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/copyright.html

Other

Information on the 1998 Community Heritage Grants http://www.nla.gov.au/chg/chg98.html

Recent acquisitions highlights—April 1998 report http://www.nla.gov.au/collect/newaq/199804.html

European Microform Project

The National Library and a group of Australian research libraries are cooperating in a project to enhance the use of select microform collections held in Australian libraries.

Delegates at a conference entitled ‘The Discovery of European Resources in Australian Libraries’, held at the Australian National University in 1996, identified the lack of access to European research materials in Australia (due to incomplete bibliographic control) as a significant barrier to research. In many cases individual titles in microform sets are not catalogued and are identified only in printed lists. To remedy this, a resolution was passed at the conference to undertake a cataloguing project of national significance.

The Australian Research Council is funding the project, which has the NLA working in partnership with the libraries of Monash University, the University of Adelaide, Australian National University, University of Melbourne, and the University of Western Australia. Ultimately, the National Library will be responsible for the loading of bibliographic records to the National Bibliographic Database (NBD). As part of this process, every effort will be made to identify existing machine-readable (MARC) records, but it is anticipated that some original cataloguing will need to do done for the collections. A list of candidate titles is now available via FTP from the National Library’s site at http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/mfm/euro.html.

If you hold MARC records in your system for any of the titles listed, please let us know if you are able to contribute them to this national project. Esther Tucker is the person to contact on toll free 1800 026 155, or directly on (02) 6262 1683; fax (02) 6273 1180; email etucker@nla.gov.au

For more information about the project as a whole, contact the coordinator, Stephen Beaumont at the Barr Smith Library, University of Adelaide on tel. (08) 8303 5016; fax: (08) 8303 4369; email beaumont@library.adelaide.edu.au

Australian microfilming guidelines published

[Book cover]The Information Preservation Section of the National Library of Australia has recently published Guidelines for Preservation Microfilming in Australia and New Zealand.

In an electronic environment it is sometimes easy to forget that microfilm still has an important role to play as a preservation reformatting medium. This publication explains how microfilm can be used to its greatest potential for long-term storage of information.

Guidelines for Preservation Microfilming in Australia and New Zealand has been developed in response to a resolution of the 1994 National Preservation Office Conference: Preservation Microfilming: Does It Have a Future?' At this conference it was apparent that there was a need for an authoritative document to provide guidance in Australian preservation microfilming matters.

The information included is based on authoritative sources from overseas and practical experience from all sectors of the microfilming industry in Australia.

The publication has been written in simple language. Useful topics covered include establishing a preservation microfilming project; selecting and preparing material for microfilming; preparation of target sequences; selecting microformats; preparation of technical specificatons; quality control inspection; bibliographic control; and storage. The publication also includes a number of appendices containing sample forms and useful lists.

Copies are available at a cost of A$30.00 from the National Library's Sales and Distribution Section; email: nlasales@nla.gov.au or tel.: 1800 800 100.

New publications and exhibitions
Captive Lives workshop and Exhibition Background Information Kit

[Cover of kit]The National Library’s recent exhibition Captive Lives: Looking for Tambo and His Companions will be travelling to Brisbane, Townsville, Palm Island, Cairns and Mackay this year and to South Australia in 1999. To support this travelling exhibition, the National Library’s Public Programs and Exhibition Sections conducted a workshop and launched the Captive Lives Exhibition Background Information Kit, both funded by Visions of Australia.

Held at the Queensland Museum on 30 April, the workshop was attended by public programs staff from the Queensland Museum and a representative from each of the exhibition venues. Walter Palm Island, a senior traditional landowner, and Carol Fischer, a teacher from the Bwgcolman Community School on Palm Island, participated and Michael Aird, Curator of Aboriginal Collections at the Queensland Museum invited people from local indigenous, church, educational and social justice community groups in the Brisbane area to attend.

The workshop—with sessions on curatorial development of the exhibition, the rationale behind the development of the Captive Lives Exhibition Background Information Kit, a guided tour of the exhibition and a presentation on cross-cultural awareness by Ernest Grant—was very successful. The conversation between workshop sessions was lively and many useful contacts were made between community groups. A number of issues relating to the impact of the exhibition on indigenous communities and the best ways to present the exhibition were also discussed.

The Exhibition Background Information Kit contains articles on topics raised in the exhibition—such as the history of anthropology and museums, and stereotyping and the North Queensland frontier. It provides reading lists and resource sites and reproduces in full The Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act, 1897. Intended for staff who will be interpreting the exhibition, the kit will also provide an excellent pre-visit resource for teachers bringing students to the exhibition. It will be supplied to all exhibition venues.

Colonial days in Papua New Guinea

Malaguna Road: The Papua and New Guinea Diaries of Sarah Chinnery

Edited and introduced by Kate Fortune.
ISBN 0 642 10687 8, 252 pp., pb. Price: $24.95
Published by the National Library of Australia.

[Papuan man]When Australian anthropologist E W P Chinnery took his young Irish bride, Sarah, to Port Moresby in 1921, she did not imagine that the island of New Guinea—one of the most extraordinary regions on earth—would become her home for the next 16 years. Already a keen photographer, Sarah began recording her experiences in a daily diary.

At her Malaguna Road home in Rabaul, in view of island schooners and dugout canoes on the harbour, Sarah formed special friendships with some of the many New Guineans who populated her life.

True to her passionate nature, Sarah was no stranger to adventure. As an intrepid traveller, she crossed swaying suspension bridges in the Wau goldfields, sailed up the wild Sepik River and trusted a group of prisoners to guide her on a photographic expedition. However, nothing could match the drama of the 1937 volcanic eruption that devastated Rabaul and caused Sarah and her husband to flee for their lives.

Years after these events, Sarah and her four daughters replicated the original diaries on a typewriter, adding annotations as they went. It is from this 700-page copy, now in the Manuscript Section of the National Library, that Kate Fortune was able to draw Sarah’s lively and often funny accounts of indigenous and colonial life in New Guinea during the 1920s and early 1930s.

Reproductions of the author’s photographs complete this charming book which can be purchased from the National Library Shop, selected retail outlets or the National Library’s Sales and Distribution Section, tel. (02) 6262 1646 or 1800 800 100; email: nlasales@nla.gov.au; fax (02) 6273 1084.

Photo:Papuan villager with a fern collar (Sarah Chinnery)

Australian Autobiographical Narratives: An Annotated Bibliography. Volume 2: 1850–1900

[Book cover]Kay Walsh and Joy Hooton
ISBN 0 642 10794 7, A4, 352 pp., pb. Price: $40.00

Following on from their first volume, published in 1993 and covering the colonial years up to 1850, Kay Walsh and Joy Hooton have concentrated on the post-gold rush period in this selection of narratives. There are 533 intimate portraits of individuals from the second half of the nineteenth century— among them amateur explorers, politicians, pioneer settlers and sportsmen—to delight the reader.

This is the fourth in a series of bibliographies jointly published by the National Library of Australia and the Australian Scholarly Editions Centre (School of English, University College, Australian Defence Force Academy). The others are Australian Autobiographical Narratives Volume 1: to 1850 ( as mentioned above), Douglas Stewart: A Bibliography (1996) and Australian Literary Manuscripts in North American Libraries: A Guide (1997). Professor Paul Eggert, Acting Head of ADFA’s School of English, comments that ‘the series has made a significant contribution to the study of Australian literary culture by documenting much that has been hidden away, or difficult to access’.

Copies can be purchased through the National Library’s Sales and Distribution Section with payment accompanying each order. Tel. 1800 800 100; or email : nlasales@nla.gov.au

Rock ‘n’ roll in the NLA Theatre

[Kilby & Baker]

Not really! But an enthusiastic audience took every available seat on Sunday 17 May to hear the ABC’s David Kilby (left in the photo) and rock guru Glenn A. Baker chew over the development of Australian rock ‘n’ roll and pop music since the ‘daring’ 1950s.

And the questions, many of them from younger members of the audience, kept rolling on until the lights went out.


The forum was part of the series Popular Culture Sundays, held at the National Library in April and May.


An Exquisite Eye: The Australian Flora and Fauna Drawings,
1801–1820, of Ferdinand Bauer

[Brochure front]

In the fortnight following its opening by Mary Moody from ABC TV’s ‘Gardening Australia’, more than 4000 visitors, many of them from Sydney, viewed this remarkable exhibition in the National Library Gallery.

An Exquisite Eye was curated by Peter Watts, Director of the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, from Bauer’s 2000 sketches and paintings of Australian flora and fauna. These were made, or started, while the artist explored the continent’s coastline with Matthew Flinders between 1801 and 1805.

Bauer used an elaborate numbering system to ensure that the sketches he later developed into paintings would display authentic colours in their finished form. Sixty-four of Bauer’s watercolours and nine original sketches done in Australia are displayed in the exhibition. The sketches and final paintings have never been seen together before and are beautifully preserved, which enhances the artistry and accuracy of their execution.

The exhibition—an appropriate precursor to the Nan Kivell birthday centenary celebrations—will remain open until 19 July.

[Brochure back]

Back to Gateways

Links updated 26 June 1998