ISSN 1443-0568
No. 34
August 1998
CONTENTS
Paradise Possessed: The Rex Nan Kivell Collection
New Chairman for Library Council
NLA at work
Revised Guide to National Librarys Standards
Collections
National Library releases A-Z of Science &
Technology Online
Linkup-l
What is a serial?
Pamphlets relating to Australia
Whats New on the NLA Web Site
Years work in acquisitions and cataloguing
New Japanese librarian
The collections
The Olympics come to the National Library
Portraits of Sir Maurice and Lady OConnell
The Chinese Australian Oral History Partnership
Over the Table activities in Preservation
Services
Networked services
Kinetica/ABN Annual Users Meeting
Kinetica Advisory Committee and election
results
First Kinetica Advisory Committee meeting
Kinetica Implementation Report
UnCover Australia charge increase
The Australian Metaweb Project
Kinetica Interfaces Seminar
New publications and promotions
National Library active at Washington Conference
Diplomatic Despatches: From a Son to his
Mother
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Paradise Possessed: The Rex Nan Kivell Collection
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Conrad Martens, 1801-1878 [Sydney Harbour] ca. 1840 watercolour
; 31.2 x 44.3 cm.
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A magnificent exhibition of treasures from one of the worlds greatest collections of material relating to the European discovery, exploration and colonisation of the South Pacific opened at the National Library Gallery in Canberra on 6 August.
Paradise Possessed: the Rex Nan Kivell Collection features intricate drawings and romantic landscapes, portraits and prints, manuscripts, books, rare maps and intriguing historical objectsmany on public display for the first time.
The exhibition is a celebration of the centenary of Rex Nan Kivells birth and a tribute to this collector of great foresight, imagination and persistence. By gathering together and repatriating a crucially significant part of our moveable cultural heritage, Rex Nan Kivell became one of the greatest collectors and benefactors this country has ever known.
The National Library of Australia is the custodian of the Rex Nan Kivell Collection. This Collection contains approximately 15,000 items of immeasurable significance to the study of the European presence in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Dating mainly from the 17th to the 19th century, the Collection contains a great variety of materialsoil paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints, maps, rare books, pamphlets, broadsheets and manuscripts, and objects such as tapa cloth, a silver tea kettle and emu eggs.
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Photo: Sir William Beechey, 1753-1839 Portrait of King
George III ca. 1800
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Sir Rex de Charembac Nan Kivell, a New Zealander who spent his adult life in England, was director of the Redfern Gallery in London from 1931 until his death in 1977. The first paintings for what was originally conceived as a pictorial history of New Zealand and Australia were collected shortly after the end of the First World War. Well placed in the world of auction houses and art dealers to pursue his interests, Nan Kivells collecting activities soon grew to encompass the great web of interconnecting materials that document the European discovery, exploration, and colonisation of the Antipodes.
Condition was important to Nan Kivell, but comprehensiveness and coherence seem to have been his principal aims.
In 1946, concerned for the safety of his collection in post war England, Nan Kivell approached the Commonwealth National Library with an offer of unlimited access to his collection in return for its safe storage.
The first items were sent in 1948, arriving in Australia in early 1949. Protracted and delicate negotiations for the purchase of the collection were finalised in 1959 when the Commonwealth government agreed to pay Nan Kivell £70 000 in two instalments. Nan Kivell continued to acquire material for his collection after its formal transfer to the National Library, presenting these items as gifts. Nan Kivell was twice honoured by the Australian government; awarded a CMG in 1966 and a knighthood for services to the arts in 1976.
Reflecting particular strengths of the collection, Paradise Possessed focuses on six main areas. The exhibition begins with early depictions of Terra Australis Incognita and moves on to the voyages of exploration and their creation of vast amounts of documentary material and art. There are sections on Australia and New Zealand, whose colonisation proceeded from these voyages, and a fifth section documents the role of those tireless agents of the Empire, the missionaries.
The final section of the exhibition is about Rex Nan Kivell himself and the acquisition of his collection by the National Library of Australia. The acquisition process is well documented in the records. Nan Kivell, however, while proving extraordinarily generous to the researcher and historian, has been anything but generous to the biographer. While happy to talk about his exploits as a collector, Nan Kivell ignored requests for personal details, or provided an account the details of which changed with each telling. Many of the claims he made for himself, such as serving on the Somme in France or receiving the Danish Order of Dannebrog, have proved fictitious. The creation of his collection, however, a great work of art in itself, has proved a much more substantial claim to repute.

Nan Kivell has earned the gratitude of those nations whose history his collection documents so richly.
Fascinated as he was by portraits, Nan Kivell would no doubt be amused to see that his collection now functions as his most revealing portrait. Through it we see a man of enormous generosity, of imagination, vision and determination. In gathering together the heritage of his forebears, Nan Kivell created his own patrimony and we, his beneficiaries, are all the richer for it.
Paradise Possessed continues at the National Library Gallery until 7 February 1999.
Photo: Mary Ann Musgrave William Nan
Kivell,1820-1905
oil painting 150x71 cm Rex Nan Kivell Collection NK4397 National
Library of Australia T446
Revised Guide to National Librarys Standards Collections
The National Library has clarified the conditions that many standards organisations place on the loan and copy of their publications. As result, the National Library has made changes to its subscriptions of standards publications.
The revised Readers Guide No. 20 Standards, reflects these
changes, listing the exact holdings, loan information, CD ROM and web
indexes, and alternative sources for obtaining copies of standards on the
Internet.
The guide is at URL:
http://www.nla.gov.au/guides/standards.html
National Library releases A-Z of Science & Technology Online
Just as Science Week fever grips the country the National Library of Australia is launching the first A-Z online guide to Australian science and technology sites on the Internet.
The Librarys Australian Science and Technology On the Internet guide provides a free, convenient and user-friendly way to access hundreds of Australian science and technology websites on everything from agriculture and engineering to telecommunications and zoology.
The guide is organised into nearly thirty subject categories to allow forquick browsing. Each subject section links to major science and technology Internet sites in Australia university departments, government agencies, foundations, associations and societies, electronic journals and discussion lists, as well as museums and science in schools sites.
Links to major science organisations give information on Australian science resources as well as providing links to other useful sites both in Australia and overseas.
Rod Stroud from the Librarys Information Services area is the author of the guide. We created the as part of the Librarys aim to foster research and awareness of Australian studies, he said. Its a major addition to the Librarys existing range of Australian Internet resources on subjects including Australian literature, law, history, newspapers, and family history.
Australian Science and Technology on the Internet is available at: http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/sciencew.html
Any feedback is appreciated in further developing this site. Please contact Rod Stroud at rstroud@nla.gov.au or telephone (02) 62621602.
Linkup-l is an informative and thought-provoking forum for the discussion of issues relating to services in Australian libraries in the areas of cultural diversity, literacy and disability. Linkup-l subscribers use the list to share their expertise and to comment on developments in the field.
The list has been established to facilitate timely and regular information exchange between libraries and information services as they face increasingly complex issues and demands in providing equitable and effective service across a range of special needs groups. The discussion list takes its name from the quarterly magazine Link-up, which it supercedes.
All subscribers are encouraged to contribute news, ideas, information, questions and answers to the list, and to contribute short articles for newsletter-style postings. The latter may be edited slightly by the lists moderator. An archive for some of the Linkup-l (and Link-up magazine) contributions will be established on the National Library of Australias World Wide Web server.
Examples of the types of information sent by the Linkup-l moderator:
The list is administered and moderated by the Public Programs section of the National Library of Australia.
To subscribe to Linkup-l send a message to listserv@nla.gov.au with the following in the body of the message: subscribe linkup-l <your full name> (omitting the brackets). Be sure a signature file is not appended. (Please note that there are no numbers in linkup-l.)
For more information on the National Library of Australia and this list visit our web site on www.nla.gov.au
How do you catalogue ongoing electronic publications which are not issued in successive parts? Do loose-leaf publications best fit within the definition for a monograph or a serial? Can databases be catalogued as serials?
These are some of the issues being debated since the International Conference on AACR2. At this conference Jean Hirons and Crystal Graham presented the paper Issues related to seriality, in which they proposed a new schema for the bibliographic universe, in which publications are divided into either Monographic entities or Ongoing entities. Three models (A,B and C) relating to rate of implementation were outlined.
JSC (Joint Steering Committee on Revision of AACR) asked that Jean Hirons and CONSER develop and propose changes to AACR2 based on a number of recommendations in the paper.
As a result, working groups were set up, comprising participants who would do the initial work on issues and the organisation of the tasks, as well as drafting the rules; and consultants who were to provide feedback, via e-mail. The groups are comprised of serial and monograph experts from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and Germany.
Initially, discussion centered on Model B as the preferred option to be adopted. However, it became clear that this model was only a partial solution in revision of the rules when problems were encountered in the process of redefining the term serial. Subsequently, a proposal was prepared which modifies the third and final model proposed in the Seriality paper. This proposal has since been presented to CONSER, ALA and JSC.
The modified Model C adopts ongoing entity as an overarching concept under which categories such as serial, loose-leaf, database, etc. will fall. Ongoing entities would include all publications that are:
It is envisaged that AACR2 would include a general section with rules and guidance relating to all ongoing entities, and then sections treating the different categories successively-issued and integrating publications. Rules would be included for what constitutes a title change and conventions developed for handling changes in entry for each category of material. Work is now proceeding on developing a report with general recommendations for international comment.
The Proposal to Adopt a Modified Model C (Jean Hirons and Regina Reynolds) and Incorporating Entry: A New Concept for Cataloging Electronic Journals (Sara Shatford Layne) can be found on the CONSER Web page at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/acq/conser/serialty.html
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Whats new on the NLA Web site Essays and Papers An essay by Dr Peter Cochrane (a 1996 Harold White Fellow) on the life of Herbert Brookes http://www.nla.gov.au/collect/cochrane.html Manuscript Collection Guides
Sir James Plimsoll (1917-1987)
National Library Policy and Planning Documents
NLA Reference Services Review
Minutes of the 45th Meeting of the ABN Standards Committee
New Projects Information on the Librarys Pilot Oral History Project in
response to the Bringing Them Home [Stolen Generations] report
Resource Guides From Agriculture to Zoology : Australian Science and Technology On the Internet http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/sciencew.html (for more details see article on p. 5 in this issue of National Library of Australia Gateways.) Indonesian Acquisitions List (Issue 1 of 1998)
Standards for Libraries - information about standards relevant to libraries, including links to standards organisations. http://www.nla.gov.au/services/stndard3.html |
Years work in acquisitions and cataloguing
The Technical Services Branch of the Library has completed a highly successful year following major changes to the structure and workflows of the area a year ago.
During the financial year 1997-98 the acquisitions staff expended $2,772,705 on monographs and serials for the printed materials collection. Over 10,000 Australian monographs and 2,558 new serial titles were received on legal deposit with a further 6,000 claims sent out for items not yet received. More than 12,000 ephemera items were collected and indexed. Particular attention was given to the collecting of material relating to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Constitutional Convention.
A special effort to claim publications of State and Territory governments resulted in a 46% increase in the receipt of Australian government publications this year.
Technical Services staff catalogued nearly 40,000 monographs during the year, a rise of 10% over the preceding year. Cataloguing staff also cleared a backlog of 4,400 Australian items from 1996-97. Cataloguers working on the Librarys special collections catalogued 2,842 maps, 1,891 pieces of music, 163 original art works, 362 photographs/photograph collections, 619 manuscript collections and 551 oral history sound recordings.
The Librarys Cataloguing in Publication program processed 5,705 applications for cataloguing data for publishers, with a significant reduction in turnaround time.
The project to convert Australian serial titles to ABN moved ahead rapidly. The conversion team catalogued 18,134 titles during 1997-98. Since the commencement of the project in September 1996 a total of 27,893 Australian serial titles have been added to ABN.
The Electronic Unit completed the development of policies and procedures for the selection, acquisition and cataloguing of Australian titles on the Internet. The Unit now regularly adds material to the Pandora archive.
The National Library has recently appointed Ms Mayumi Shinozaki as Japanese librarian. In her new position she will be responsible for selecting, cataloguing and providing a reference service for the Librarys Japanese language collection, which is the most extensive research resource on Japan in Australia.

Mayumi has considerable library experience. She was born in Japan, where she completed an arts degree and a graduate diploma in librarianship. From 1984 to 1996 she was librarian in charge of two college libraries in Saitama. In 1996 she moved from Japan to Canberra, where she undertook further library studies. She later worked for several months as a volunteer in the Librarys Asian Collections carrying out a preservation project on the Sakakibara Collection of older Japanese books.
Mayumi succeeds Ms Minoru Inahama, who returned to the National Diet Library in Tokyo last June, after three years working in Asian Collections. Minoru was the latest Diet Library staff member to come to the National Library, under a scheme which began in 1965. It is hoped that further secondments from the National Diet Library will be possible.
Photo: (left to right): Mayumi Shinozaki, Minoru Inahama and Seiko Walkear at the farewell for Minoru
The collections
The Olympics come to the National Library
The National Library aims to build collections which document major national and international events in Australia. The Bicentennial, Expo 88, Federal elections and the recent Constitutional Convention are examples of special projects which involve gathering a comprehensive range of printed materials. A similar long-term project is underway to document the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the Paralympics.
In 1994 after the Atlanta Olympic Games the Australian Acquisitions Section first approached the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) for legal deposit copies of all their publications. Since that time a large number of monographs, serials and ephemeral items (such as postcards, publicity kits, press releases, invitations and programs) have beencollected. Monographs and serials are fully catalogued and the ephemera is being organised into a special Sydney Olympics 2000 collection arranged by subjects. At present, about 40-70 items per month are being added to the Librarys collection.
There has been a campaign to contact all the key players in this massive undertaking. As well as SOCOG, the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee (SPOC), and the Olympic Co-ordination Authority (OCA) the Library has contacted the Olympic Arts Festival Committee, state Olympic bodies, the Green Games organisations, tourism bodies (such as the Australian Tourist Commission), the academic sector (particularly the University of NSW), the Australian Institute of Sport, organisations involved in promoting business opportunities, the official sponsors, and the Team Millennium Olympic Partners.
Government bodies at both federal and state level, have been set up to promote Australia externally and maximise the benefits for tourism. Federal government bodies are involved in many other activities including customs and security. Some material has been received from these bodies, but many of them are not yet producing material which is available to the public.
The Sydney Olympic Games have been promoted as the Green Games and a large amount of material has been obtained relating to environmental issues. Updates are regularly produced by OCA on environmental issues concerning the development of the Homebush Bay site and the construction of venues. Green Games Watch 2000, a coalition of environmental groups, produces leaflets and commissions publications scrutinising the fulfilment of promises made on environmental issues. Both of these bodies are extremely good at depositing publications with the Library.
The cultural festivals being held prior to and in conjunction with the Olympics are also of great interest. In 1997 there was the Festival of Dreaming from which the Library acquired gallery, theatre, film and literature ephemera. The 1998 long running national festival (from April to November) entitled A Sea Change includes touring exhibitions and productions. The next festival Reaching the World starts in November 1998 and concludes in January 2000 and it is international. This will make collecting for it a challenge! In the year 2000 the final arts festival Harbour of Life runs from June until the last day of the Paralympic Games.
The printed items are acquired not only by legal deposit but also as a result of scanning newspapers and Internet sites, following up journal articles and encouraging staff to bring in material found in their own letter boxes! Visits have also been made to the Sydney Olympics Shop which proved a useful source of ephemera and ideas.
The Librarys staff involved in this project have found the people involved in the work for the Olympics, whether it be the Olympic bodies themselves or in related industries, such as tourism; planning; business; and transport; most helpful and willing to assist us in building as comprehensive a collection as possible. These bodies see that the Library is compiling a unique archive, which will be an invaluable source for future researchers and a long-term recognition of the event.
Readers may like to look at the following Olympic content Internet sites:
For further information about this project or donations please contact Fiona Carlisle, Australian Deposit and CiP, National Library of Australia (email address: fcarlisl@nla.gov.au)
Portraits of Sir Maurice and Lady OConnell
The Librarys collection of portraits documenting Australians of national significance was strengthened by the acquisition of portraits of Sir Maurice Charles Philip OConnell (1768-1848) and Lady OConnell (1783-1864).
Nicholas, William, 1809-1854.
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Nicholas, William, 1809-1854.
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Sir Maurice OConnell arrived in Port Jackson with Governor Macquarie in May 1809. As lieutenant governor, he played an important role in the early administration of the colony and was appointed a trustee of the Female Orphan Institution and president of the Philanthropic Society. OConnell married Mary, the daughter of the former Governor Bligh in 1810. A wealthy and influential lady in her own right, Mrs OConnell owned 3000 acres of land before her marriage and subsequently was granted land in Camperdown.
Macquarie considered OConnell to be greatly influenced by his wife, especially in her views towards the colonists who were opposed to Bligh. By 1813, arrangements had been made for OConnell and the 73rd Regiment to be transferred to Ceylon, where he had a distinguished career being promoted colonel and knighted in 1834. Sir Maurice returned to Sydney in 1838, having been appointed to command the forces in New South Wales. He became a member of the Legislative Council and was nominated for a colonial order of merit. Sir Maurice died at Darlinghurst on 25 May 1848.
The portraits of Sir Maurice and Lady OConnell are attributed to William Nicholas (1809-1854), a watercolourist, etcher and lithographer who painted numerous portraits of prominent colonists.
The acquisition complements the Librarys holdings of portraits of Sir Maurice and Lady OConnell published in W. Bakers Heads of the people as Portrait of Sir Maurice OConnell, the soldier (PIC U5866 NK720/12) and Portrait of Lady OConnell, the soldiers wife ( PIC U5911 NK720/57). A view from Sir Maurice OConnells residence in Woolloomooloo, by George Peacock, is also held (View from Sir Maurice OConnells residence, Woolloomooloo, Sydney, N.S.W. PIC T308 NK121). The Manuscript Section holds a letter from John Fawkner to Sir Maurice OConnell, Letter, 1846 Feb. 12 to Sir M.C. OConnell, (MS1622), dealing with claims about the foundation of Melbourne.
The portraits are detailed works that give an impression of the prominence of Sir Maurice and Lady OConnell in colonial society. There is peripheral research value in the depiction of costume (Lady OConnells dresses were considered to be shocking to colonial society).
The portraits will be of value to historians, biographers and researchers interested in prominent figures in colonial administration in the earliest years of European settlement.
Sources: Joan Kerr The Dictionary of Australian
Artists
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Catalogue entry by John Mcphee.
A firm and lasting base for history the Chinese Australian Oral History Partnership
I am delighted to learn about your Librarys Partnership Scheme which provides a firm and lasting base for history and heritage work in the Chinese Australian community. Mr Henry Nan Hung Pan OAM, Chairperson, Chinese Australian Services Society
Under present political climes, it is ever so important that projects such as this continue to flourish, to preserve the cultural diversity that so enriches our most liberal of societies. Dr Richard Lim
Warren Horton, the Director-General of the National Library, has invited members of the Chinese Australian community to collaborate with the Library to allow the oral history project, Post-War Chinese Australians, to continue. The responses from Mr Pan and Dr Lim are indicative of the warm support for this ambitious initiative that aims to raise $150,000 for the Chinese Australian Oral History Partnership.
Since 1992, the National Library has been working in the area of Chinese Australian history and heritage through the Post-War Chinese Australians oral history project organised by Diana Giese. An experienced historian and journalist well known in Chinese Australian communities, Ms Giese was commissioned by the Library to record interviews with successful people whose individual lives suggest the richness and diversity of Chinese Australian experiences in this country.
One objective of the National Librarys oral history program is to represent Australias social and cultural diversity through interviews with those whose stories might not otherwise be told. In order to be able to represent other groups in the same way as Chinese Australians, the Library will, in June 1999, cease funding Post-War Chinese Australians to make funds available for other groups. However, the Library is very interested in continuing to develop its collection of interviews with Chinese Australians beyond 1999. It is inviting the Chinese Australian community, already so active in the reclamation of its own past, and business organisations supporting the community, to contribute to the Chinese Australian Oral History Partnership. This Partnership will facilitate the collaboration already begun, in placing on the mainstream historical record, the achievements of one of Australias oldest ethnic groups and making these accessible to all Australians.
The Library will use funds collected to carry out additional interviews (some 80 have already been recorded) and allow Ms Giese to conduct workshops with young Chinese Australians working in their own communities. Partnership funds will also cover preservation of the interview recordings for long-term use, their cataloguing and transcription to facilitate research, and provide copies of recordings and transcripts for interviewees.
To continue to develop Post-War Chinese Australians into a strong, representative collection with lasting historical value, the Library estimates that about 75 more interviews, conducted by Ms Giese, with members of the Chinese community, over a number of years, would be desirable. This would facilitate the expansion of the project into interviews with people suggested by communities (as with the Darwin Chung Wah Society); into areas so far unexplored, including Tasmania, Victoria, Brisbane, Broome and the Kimberley region; and further interviewing in major cities and towns.
Photo: Senator Bill OChee, Diana Giese (NLA), Kate Quan and Tom Cheon at the Australian Chinese Ex-Services National Re-union, Sydney
Over the Table - activities in Preservation Services
One of the National Librarys more unusual collection items was recently treated by contract textile conservators, Carol Cains and Stephanie Woodruff. It was a tablecloth, donated to the collections of the National Library of Australia in 1946 by Mrs Leonila Mealy. Although ownership has not been formally authenticated, the tablecloth is thought to have been owned by Napoleon I.
The tablecloth is of a banquet style length, with dimensions of 4 metres by 18 metres, and is made of an extremely fine linen fabric with a delicate damask weaving depicting imperial crowns, eagles, bees and the initials N and B. The unusual size of the tablecloth created some treatment complexities for the conservators.
The tablecloth was transferred to Preservation Services for treatment in May. One of the paper laboratories was cleared and the cover of two large sink areas removed.
Prior to washing, the tablecloth was unfolded and unrolled bit by bit on one of the long lab benches to allow spot treatment of some badly stained areas.
Washing and rinsing the tablecloth was a labour intensive four-hour process complicated because the sinks were too narrow to accommodate the whole width of the tablecloth. It had to be unrolled and washed in short sections in one sink and then, using a system of trolleys and clotheslines, draped delicately across the gap to the next sink when enough fabric had been washed. The tablecloth was dried successfully overnight on a series of clotheslines within the laboratory.
After the tablecloth was dry, Carol and Stephanie carried out repair work and pressed the fabric. The final stage of the process was to provide suitable housing and storage for the tablecloth. This involved rolling it onto a new 5 metres flexible, padded, storage roll and interleaving the rolls of fabric with a soft unbleached cotton cloth. The rolled tablecloth was then gently manoeuvred out of the laboratory, down the fire stairs and into the Pictorial storage area where an appropriate space had been cleared. The tablecloth was finally laid to rest on a cushioned surface and covered with a water-resistant material as befitting its stately past.
Kinetica/ABN Annual Users Meeting

Photo: Some of the delegates at this years Annual Users Meeting
Almost 300 delegates made this years Annual Users Meeting the biggest ever. The main attraction was the online demonstration of Kinetica services in their current state of development. All demonstrations were conducted online in real time to the Kinetica systems on the National Librarys computer. Rob Walls, Manager, Marketing & Training, demonstrated the Kinetica Search Service, which will offer web access to the Kinetica range of databases, including CJK database and selected overseas databases. Pam Dunlop, who is Manager of Cataloguing at the National Library, demonstrated the Kinetica cataloguing client, which is based on the AMICUS software. Finally, Bronwyn Lee demonstrated the Kinetica Document Delivery Service, which is based on the Fretwell Downing product OLIB/VDX. The demonstrations gave delegates a good understanding of the basic functionality and the look and feel of the Kinetica services. The impact of searching and cataloguing in a Z39.50 environment was highlighted, and the demonstrators explained to delegates how the various software products are being further developed to offer improved functionality to users.
The meeting also received a briefing from the Director General on the National Librarys vision for the Kinetica services, and the financial background to the project. Andrew Wells, Director, Kinetica Implementation Project, gave users a detailed overview of the scope of the project and progress to date. Bryony De La Motte, Kinetica Implemention Team, supplemented the online demonstrations with information on products, services and implementation issues. Julia Trainor, Director, ABN/Ozline reported on the Kinetica Interfaces Seminar, and outlined how libraries can outsource their technical services and ensure their holdings are reported to the Kinetica database.
Following the successful formula of the previous year, delegates then broke into smaller groups to discuss the impact of Kinetica in more detail.
Three groups were chaired by members of the Kinetica Advisory Committee, and focussed on cataloguing (chaired by Jan Maslen), document delivery (chaired by Helen Livingston) and local system interfaces (chaired by Susan Ball). The sessions provided a valuable opportunity for delegates to ask more detailed questions to members of the Kinetica implementation team. The next morning the convenors of these groups reported to the full meeting on the issues discussed by participants.
The popular suggestion box was used once again to enable delegates to raise questions and issues in the User Forum. Most questions were practical in nature and focussed on the functions and operational implications of Kinetica. The final business for the meeting was the election of the Chair for the 1999 Annual Users Meeting. Tony Ralli presided over the election, which resulted in Jillian Beswick being re-elected unopposed.
The minutes of the meeting, with links to summaries of the major presentation, will appear on the National Librarys web server. The report of the Kinetica Interfaces Seminar appears in this issue of Gateways.
Kinetica Advisory Committee and election results
The National Library has established a new structure to provide it with advice on the services to be offered by Kinetica. The new structure consists of an advisory committee, the Kinetica Advisory Committee, with Expert Advisory Groups to be set up when advice on a specific topic is needed. This is in response to the significant changes in the environment for Kinetica from the environment ABN started operations in, and the consequent differing needs of the National Library for advice and the type and range of advice that the Committee can provide.
The Kinetica Advisory Committee will concentrate on larger strategic and policy issues associated with the delivery of the Kinetica Service and the broad directions of service development, providing advice on key areas where changes are occurring in the library community which are likely to affect the way in which the rest of that community relates to the National Library.
The National Library has also acknowledged the shift in focus from ABNs role as a bibliographic utility to Kineticas role as a resource-sharing mechanism by appointing representatives from appropriate stakeholder groups and by widening the franchise to allow all current ABN customers to vote for three elected positions.
The following people were elected to the Kinetica Advisory Committee in the June elections:
Ms Sally Anderson, Agricultural Research Centre, Trangie, NSW
Mr Philip Keane, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, SA
Ms Jan Maslen, La Trobe University, VIC
The election attracted a strong field of six candidates, and 145 ABN users voted in the election.
The seven appointed members of the Kinetica Advisory Committee are:
Ms Marian Bate and Ms Helen Livingston representing the university
libraries,
Ms Susan Ball, for the State Libraries,
Ms Sherrey Quinn, representing special libraries, and
Ms Meredith Wallace, representing local public libraries
The first meeting of the Kinetica Advisory Committee was held on 21 and 23 July.
First Kinetica Advisory Committee meeting
The newly formed Kinetica Advisory Committee met in the National Library on 21 and 23 July. The main purpose of this meeting was for Committee members to explore major policy issues on which the National Library needs to hear customer perspectives, to hear the current status of the Kinetica Implementation Project, and to advise the National Library on the outcomes of the Annual Users Meeting. Agenda items included the role of the Committee and other advisory mechanisms including consideration of areas where theNational Library could usefully receive advice from ABN/Kinetica customers, commercial issues, and a report on the status of the Kinetica Implementation Project.
Advisory mechanisms. The Director-General described the National Librarys purpose in setting up the Kinetica Advisory Committee, noting that the business environment for Kinetica will differ significantly from the environment ABN started operations in. (More information on this topic is elsewhere in this issue of NLA Gateways).
In addition, Mr Horton said, the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 (the CAC Act), which came into effect in January 1998, imposes a number of duties and legal obligations on the Director-General and National Library officers. The effect of this Act is that the Library is not able to guarantee to follow the advice of any advisory body. Nevertheless, in seeking policy advice for the Kinetica Service, the National Library will give the greatest possible weight to the views of the Kinetica Advisory Committee.
At the Kinetica Advisory Committee Meeting. left to right; top to bottom; David Toll, Warwick Cathro, Warren Horton, Andrew Wells, Jan Fullerton, Bryony De La Motte, Meredith Wallace, Phillip Keane, Sherrey Quinn, Susan Ball, Marian Bate, Sally Anderson, Helen Livingston, Jan Maslen
The Committee also recommended that the National Library set up Expert Advisory Groups to advise it on three areas important to the successful implementation of Kinetica services. These groups will be set up as soon as possible. They are: Subject Headings Group, which will carry on the work of the existing Subject Headings Review Panel. Cataloguing Workflows Group, which will advise on the workflow issues arising from the contribution of data in both online and batch mode, and also consider means of ensuring that contract cataloguers and library suppliers are encouraged to contribute to the National Union Catalogue. Document Delivery Service Group, which will advise on all aspects of the Kinetica Document Delivery Service. This group will be set up when the VDX Web interface has been installed.
Commercial issues. The changing technological environment means that Kinetica customers have wider choice in the source of bibliographic data than ever before and the contracting financial environment means Kinetica customers will need to reduce operational costs wherever possible. The AMICUS and LibriVision software chosen to provide the Kinetica services provide many avenues for containing the cost of providing networked services.
KAC members discussed methods of meeting the challenge of balancing the National Librarys expenditure on service provision with revenue from customers. Areas covered included subscriptions and charging policy, incentives for data contribution, and access to external databases. As this was the first meeting of the Committee, discussions were exploratory, and will be continued at the next meeting.
Annual Users Meeting outcomes. Jillian Beswick commented on the positive feeling of the meeting, and the value of having demonstrated the services. She reported that the main issues arising from the Annual Users Meeting related to cataloguing workflows and data contribution, access to external Z39.50 sources, charging and incentives, advisory mechanisms and the venue for the next Annual Users Meeting. The National Library accepted the Committees advice that these matters should be given immediate attention.
In view of comments voiced at the Annual Users Meeting, the Committee decided that the venue for the next Annual Users Meeting should be Sydney. The date will be set at the next Kinetica Advisory Committee meeting.
Kinetica Implementation Report
Data migration. On 30 May, the Kinetica Implementation Project took a significant step forward with the loading of the first ABN bibliographic record into the Kinetica database. By the end of July, there were 5.5 million bibliographic records and almost 14 million holdings records on the Kinetica database. This first stage of a three stage data migration task is expected to finish by the end of August. The second and third stages will be gap loads of data changed since the first load: the second will take place towards the end of 1998, and the third stage will be done after the cessation of ABNs online cataloguing service, to ensure that all work done on ABN is available on Kinetica.
Loading ABN bibliographic, holdings and authority data into the Kinetica database will be the most time-consuming part of the implementation project. Several tasks had to be completed before data migration could commence. Among these were analysis of the records to be loaded, and amendments to AMICUS loading programs to ensure ABN data would be loaded according to Australian requirements. Decisions were made on the storage, display and output of a number of data fields to ensure that the needs of Australian libraries are met. Particular care has been taken with diacritics, to ensure that they are migrated accurately, and that their display is correct.
Following the definition of Australian requirements, extensive testing was undertaken to ensure that the loading would proceed as expected. With these tests completed, data migration commenced, and is now an ongoing activity.
Details of the decisions about the minor changes to data fields and a full description of the fields to be used in Kinetica catalogue records will be available shortly.
Migration of ABN customers to Kinetica. Planning has commenced on all of the tasks which will be needed to ensure that ABN customers are ready to move smoothly to Kinetica. Customer registration, training, documentation and continuing information about the project and services have been identified as the areas which will most affect customer acceptance of Kinetica.
Customer registration. Kinetica will offer flexibility and options for customer registration which are not presently available. Kinetica Implementation Team members are exploring the full potential this offers for Australian libraries to reflect their organisational structure in their Kinetica registration, with help from the National Library of Canada. An NLC staff member will visit Canberra in the first week of September to help finalise them. Shortly after this visit, the National Library will notify current ABN users of the options offered, and ask them to select the one most suited to their local requirements.
Training. Moving to a completely new service means many new procedures to learn. The National Library, with the support of the Designated Training Agents, will run courses to introduce Kinetica customers to all the features. Details about the training courses are still being finalised. They will be announced as soon as we have firm plans. A meeting with DTAs to discuss ideas for Kinetica training was held on 21 July, prior to the Annual Users Meeting.
Documentation. Preparation of documentation to support Kinetica services has commenced, and decisions about its distribution have been made. All manuals will be available on the National Library Web site, and paper copies will also be distributed. In addition, there will be one and two page brochures of handy hints available for users of Kinetica.
The Australian Metaweb Project
Many searchers using the World Wide Web have been concerned about two significant problems firstly, how to avoid huge lists of results for a single keyword search; and secondly how to find quality resources. The MetaWeb Project, based in Australia, set out to provide tools and techniques which will help to overcome these problems.
One technique which has been espoused for the last three years is the application of a standard set of metadata, such as the Dublin Core. The Dublin Core consists of 15 metadata elements able to be provided in a HTML document, or in a database with links to HTML documents. The elements appear similar to a scaled-down version of USMARC. A description of their semantics is available from http://purl.oclc.org/metadata/dublin_core.
The MetaWeb Project, which was completed in July 1998, makes available the following set of software, free of charge, from its Web site at http://purl.nla.gov.au/metaweb/home.
The MetaWeb Project Steering Committee, (l to r)Warwick Cathro,
Renato Iannella, Brian Denehy, David Green, Charu Sood,
Debbie Campbell (seated)
These tools may be supported by the repository database software you already have at your site. Dublin Core metadata may be created for use by the software using two Australian tools: a metadata editor called Reggie, available at http://metadata.net/dstc; and a site generator which automatically generates six of the 15 elements for each document in a pre-specified Web directory. See the documentation at the MetaWeb Projects web site at http://purl.nla.gov.au/metaweb/home for further details.
The Project has also established an Australian metadata discussion list, where international developments in metadata standards are discussed. You can join the metadata community to influence the future directions of standards as they are used in Australia. To subscribe, send an email message to majordomo@dstc.edu.au with the single line: subscribe metadata.
Although the MetaWeb Project is formally over, the Projects partners the Australian Defence Force Academy, Charles Sturt University, the Distributed Systems Technology Centre, and the National Library of Australia are assisting Australian subject gateway projects to adapt the tools for their own quality resources.
For further information, please contact Debbie Campbell, National Library of Australia at, dcampbel@nla.gov.au, or telephone (02) 6262 1673.
The seminar was the first step in shaping a practical pre-competitive infrastructure in which library suppliers can compete for the provision of technical services to Australian libraries, with standard arrangements to ensure the coverage and currency of the NBD are maintained.
In an industry first for Australia, the National Library and thirty-two representatives of libraries, library book suppliers, and library system vendors met in Melbourne on 1-2 July to address the implications of the outsourcing of cataloguing for the National Bibliographic Database (NBD). Until recently, libraries have reported their holdings to the NBD as a by-product of their cataloguing operations. With the increasing delivery of cataloguing services by library suppliers, new methods need to be found to keep holdings on the NBD complete and up-to-date.
The seminar identified three models for updating the NBD as a by-product of outsourced cataloguing. With the first model, the library receives shelf ready books from a variety of sources, and then reports its holding to the NBD as a separate exercise. In the second model, the library supplier obtains MARC records from whatever sources are available to it, including Kinetica, and reports to the NBD on behalf of the library.
The third model is more complex, and is called the pass through model because the library supplier sends MARC records and holdings to the customer library via the NBD. In the pass through model, the MARC records are sent to the NBD containing customised data fields for item data and acquisitions data. Kinetica would load the librarys holdings, and then swap control numbers with the library. The librarys local control number (or vendor number) would be extracted from the MARC record, and the Kinetica control number (the immutable number) would be inserted in the record. The records would then be sent promptly to the customer library to be matched with the books and other materials sent by the library supplier.
The last task of seminar participants was to identify the actions which would make these models work. The first requirement would be policy and standards for reporting updates to the NBD, including data formats and the frequency and method of transmission of update files. Library systems will need to be changed to keep a record of which holdings they have updated, so these can be reported to the NBD. If the pass through model is adopted, standards will be needed for conveying item and order data with MARC records.
In summary, the seminar was the first step in shaping a practical pre-competitive infrastructure in which library suppliers can compete for the provision of technical services to Australian libraries, with standard arrangements to ensure the coverage and currency of the NBD are maintained. Models 1 and 2 will be implemented in Kinetica, and the pass through model will be considered for support in Kinetica if it attracts more support from libraries.
The full report of the seminar may be found on the Librarys web server at the following URL: http://www.nla.gov.au/abn/melbreport.html
New publications and promotions
National Library active at Washington Conference
The National Library was an active participant in the Australian libraries stand at the American Library Association (ALA) Conference in Washington D.C., during 26-30 June. Warwick Cathro and Margaret Phillips joined with representatives of RMIT Publishing and Learning Curve to promote Australian library services and products in a trade exhibition which was managed by ALIA.
The Australian stand was warmly received by ALA Conference delegates, who were enthusiastic about the blow up animals, the koala lapel pins, greeting cards and posters. The ALIA posters, especially The incredible library, attracted comments from many delegates.
There was a constant stream of visitors to the stand. An ISDN Internet connection allowed delegates to see a number of Australian online library services, including National Library services such as the Australian Libraries Gateway and the National CJK Service. The stand also received a number of enquiries about Australian libraries, library conferences and the Australian publishing scene, such as queries about childrens literature.
Warwick Cathro and Margaret Phillips were able to attend some ALA Conference sessions. As many readers of Gateways will know, the ALA Conference is immense, with more than 20,000 librarians attending, and any one timeslot provides a bewildering range of sessions.
A session on Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) dealt with questions such as Where does the DOI fit within the architecture of digital libraries? What can be named? Digital objects as well as other objects? and Can DOIs deal with multiple versions and formats of an item?
A session on user authentication and authorisation discussed the challenge posed by the need for access by millions of end users to the many thousands of online services which are licensed by universities, state libraries and other information brokers. The session debated the merits and shortcomings of three types of solution which have been used to date, namely IP source filtering (which checks the Internet address of the customer), proxy servers (where users passwords are checked by their institutions computer systems) and credential based systems (which validate each individual user through passwords or digital certificates).
While in Washington, Warwick Cathro and Margaret Phillips were able to see and discuss at first hand the Library of Congress Digital Library, or American Memory Project. The Project has made 500,000 items available online, with a target of five million digital items available by the year 2000. The budget for the Project totals US$60 million for the period 1995-2000. Information on the technical standards used in this Project can be found at the Projects web site.
The National Library took advantage of its presence at ALA to strengthen its ties with the Research Libraries Group (RLG), which the Library joined last year. It participated in the RLG SHARES Roundtable which met during ALA Conference week. SHARES allows RLG members to expand and enhance their collections through access to materials owned by other RLG members, both through interlibrary loan and through on-site access by visiting scholars.
SHARES provides greater access than normal interlibrary loan services, through access to restricted and special collections materials.
A SHARES International ILL Task Force is working to overcome the practical barriers to international interlending, such as shipping costs, security and currency differences. Some UK libraries have joined SHARES and have reported encouraging experience to date. RLG has already put in place Z39.50 gateways to the catalogue of the Deutsche Bibliothek and to the CURL Union Catalogue in the UK. These gateways allow these catalogues to become virtual extensions of the RLIN database, allowing interlibrary loan requests to be directed to these libraries using the RLIN ILL System.
The Library also had discussions designed to strengthen its involvement in the RLG PRESERV Program, and the possible strengthening of this Program to deal with the preservation of original digital publications. The Library will now be able to increase its input into the various PRESERV working groups.
Photo: National Library of Australia staff member, Margaret Phillips, 1st from the right, at ALA Conference
Diplomatic Despatches From a Son to his Mother
John Mason
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John Mason has always been as provocative in his views as he has been enlivening in his discourse ... a critical, ironic observer of mankind whose sense of humour and intellectual curiosity have given him a life as full of incident as it has been rewarding in outcome. Rt Hon. Sir Ninian Stephen in his foreword to Diplomatic Despatches When he joined the British army in 1945, at the age of 17, John Mason, now a distinguished retired diplomat, promised his mother that he would write to her every week. He kept that promise for 40 years, first to his mother and subsequently his sister, until he retired in 1984. The letters, some two thousand of them, are now housed in the Manuscript Collection of the National Library of Australia. In his weekly despatches to his mother Mason diplomatically told her what he thought appropriate for her to know of his life and activities, including withholding from her the devastating news that he had lung cancer with only a year to livea prognosis that, 30 years later, has obviously proved to be mistaken! Diplomatic Despatches is a fast-paced, engaging and revealing account by an observant commentator. Masons letters follow a fascinating and eventful career, from his entry into the army as a teenager to his work as an experienced and accomplished diplomat, culminating in his appointment as British High Commissioner in Canberra. The books piquancy derives from the commentary of the mature man reflecting on lifes experiences. Diplomatic Despatches is also a tribute to the authors wife, Margaret. Within the larger narrative, the reader will find a touching story of love and personal commitment between two extraordinary people. |
ISBN 0642 10797 1, 212 pp., pb. Price: $24.95
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