National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568
No. 36
December 1998


CONTENTS

New CD-ROM: The Endeavour story
Minister attends December Council meeting
Harold White Fellows for 1999
TDK Australian Audio Book Awards 1998

Networked Services

NLA joins the Shared Resources Program
Preparing the IT environment for Kinetica
The RRIPP report: integrated work stations at the National Library

The Collections

Slow and steady … access to Manuscript Collection holdings
Reader’s guides revised
Gift of Chinese works
Burke and Wills make it to Canberra
Recent acquisitions for the National Library’s Ephemera Collection

NLA at work

Lunchtime briefings sessions January 1999
Australian Music Centre visit
Telephone information service available 9-11am
Five-year music cataloguing project completed
Survey of users of Korean materials report
Research trends in Australia : how they are impacting on NLA’s reference services
Logical structure of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules
Visit from Field Director for Library of Congress in Jakarta
Preserving Australia’s heritage—the 1998 Community Heritage Grants
Design awards
Farewell to Gordon Bower

New publications and exhibitions

Fanzines – the first frontier
Acquired Tastes: Celebrating Australia’s Culinary History

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New CD-ROM: The Endeavour story

Of all the treasures in the National Library’s collections, perhaps the most precious is Captain James Cook’s journal of his travels between 1768 and 1771 in the bark Endeavour.

The Endeavour journal is normally locked away from the ravages of light and dust, brought out for rare showings which always manage to draw curious enthusiasts from around the country. But soon every Australian will be able to own a personal, virtual copy of this historical document. In a three-year-long collaboration with the Australian National Maritime Museum, the National Library of Australia has captured the Endeavour journal on CD-ROM. A multi-disciplinary team headed by Multimedia Coordinator Nicky Mackay-Sim, has worked on the CD-ROM since mid-1996. Ten researchers have been involved in the project, with assistance from consultant programmer Paul Burnett, from Multimedia Art Design.

The bark Endeavour

The result is much more than just an electronic book. The manuscript itself is there in all its faded glory: each page was photographed in black and white when the journal was dismantled in preparation for rebinding in 1973, and the images have been colour-matched for this project. Alongside the manuscript is the complete 1955 edition of J.C. Beaglehole’s transcript of the journal, The Journals of Captain James Cook: The Voyage of the Endeavour.

The journal and transcript form just one section of the CD-ROM. There are five others, adding an extra 100 000 words of text, hundreds of still images, and numerous video and audio segments. These sections place the journal in its historical context, and allow the reader to delve more deeply into the astonishing era of discovery and exploration in which Cook lived.

The first of these sections is an abridged version of the voyage, featuring the main dates and events, with paraphrased snippets from the journal. The dates are linked to maps, showing the path the Endeavour took, and there are illustrations from a variety of sources, including the National Library, the British Museum and British Library, the Maritime Museum in London and the Powerhouse Museum.

The bark Endeavour.

The second section, The Mission, provides historical background and looks at the events that influenced the voyage. The third section is called The People: The Visitors and the Visited.

‘The Visitors section includes biographies of those on board such as the botanists Banks and Solander. As for ‘The Visited’, the CD-ROM deals in depth with each of the peoples encountered by the crew of the Endeavour along its route, as well as giving some idea of the long-term effects of the ‘visitation’.

The next section of the CD-ROM, Discoveries, is divided into five parts: Astronomy; Botany; Zoology; Cartography; and the Scientific Process. This section features images taken from the sketches of the two shipboard artists, Parkinson and Buchan. The section on cartography reminds us that Cook was one of the most brilliant map makers of his day, managing, with the most primitive of instruments, to chart the whole of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia with remarkable accuracy.

The last section of the CD-ROM is simply called The Ship. In addition to the original plan of the Endeavour from the Maritime Museum at Greenwich, it includes panoramic images of the interior of the Endeavour replica. Users can click on a particular part of the ship on the plan, and be transported inside the replica, panning around the Great Cabin and poking about the decks.

Video segments allow the user to imagine what it would have been like to climb the rigging while on the high seas, and to learn about the day-to-day tasks in maintaining an eighteenth century bark.

The Endeavour CD-ROM is an impressive compilation of some of the finest and rarest material on Cook’s first voyage to Australia, gathered from across the globe, interpreted and illuminated by scholars from many fields, and packaged in a very accessible form.

The Endeavour journal CD-ROM (for PC or Macintosh computers) will be available from mid-December retailing at $89.95.

Minister attends December Council meeting

Minister and Council

Back row, left to right. Ms Vanessa Fanning; Portfolio Secretary of the Dept of Communications, the Information Technology and the Arts, Neville Stevens; Director-General of the National Library, Warren Horton; Professor Alan Robson; Ms Meg Paul; Mr Graham Freudenberg and Dr Andrew Theophanous. Front row, left to right. Mr Rodney Cavalier; Ms Geraldine Paton, Hon Peter McGauran, Mr James Bain (Chair) and Professor Mairéad Browne.

Newly appointed Minister for the Arts and the Centenary of Federation, the Hon Peter McGauran MP, attended a meeting of the National Library Council on 4 December.

With other Council members and the Chairman, Mr James Bain, the Minister watched presentations of three important National Library developments—the Kinetica Service, the Digital Services Project and the interactive CD-ROM of Cook’s Endeavour journal. The Council welcomed the House of Representatives’ appointment in place of the Hon Barry Jones, the Hon Dr Andrew Theophanous MP, and farewelled retiring members

Ms Geraldine Paton, Mr Graham Freudenberg, Mr Rodney Cavalier, and Professor Mairéad Browne. Senator John Tierney was reappointed to the Council for a further three years.

Harold White Fellows for 1999

The Director-General of the National Library, Mr Warren Horton, has announced the award of five Harold White Fellowships for 1999. The fellowships will enable the scholars to work intensely on the Library’s collections for periods of from three to six months.

David Branagan, formerly Associate Professor of Geology and Geophysics at Sydney University, has written extensively on the history of science in Australia, particularly the earth sciences. As a Harold White Fellow, he will be looking for sources for a biography of the geologist Sir Edgeworth David (1858–1934). David, who held the Chair of Geology at Sydney University for over 30 years, was one of the greatest figures in Australian science, but the only biography of him was written in the 1930s.

Paula Byrne, who is an independent scholar based in Canberra, is undertaking research on law and manners in colonial New South Wales. Dr Byrne is the author of Criminal Law and Colonial Subject (1993). In her current research she is looking at the mores and codes of relationships that existed between master and servant, gentlemen and women, Aborigine and non-Aborigine in early New South Wales society and the ways that patterns of behaviour derived from military, commercial and convict contexts.

Peter Edwards of the University of Sydney is the author of a number of books on Australian diplomacy and foreign policy and from 1983 to 1996 was Official Historian of Australia’s Involvement in South East Asian Conflicts 1948–75. He has embarked on a biography of Sir Arthur Tange, the formidable public servant who headed the Department of External Affairs from 1954 to 1965 and the Department of Defence from 1970 to 1979. In his time in the Library, Dr Edwards will primarily be using the papers and oral histories of politicians and diplomats.

Sarah Lloyd of the Australian National University, who has written a number of papers on eighteenth-century British cultural and social history, is examining the topic of poverty, charity and gender in Britain in the period 1700-1820. Her focus will be on the ways in which ideas of sexual differences underpinned analyses of poverty and proposals for poor relief. She will also incorporate within the research a case study of early colonial Australia. Dr Lloyd is likely to make heavy use of the Kashnor Collection of eighteenth-century books, one of the finest in the world, together with various microfilm collections.

Joan Rydon of Melbourne is one of the doyens of the political science profession in Australia and the author of several books and articles on electoral systems, election campaigns and party organisation. She was Professor of Political Science at La Trobe University from 1975 to 1989. As a Harold White Fellow, she will be examining collections of personal papers for a study of the political career of Sir Archdale Parkhill. Parkhill was a minister in the Lyons government, but he is remembered mainly as an extremely effective organiser of non-Labour parties at both federal and state elections between 1904 and 1928.

TDK Australian Audio Book Awards 1998

Senate Chamber, Old Parliament House, Canberra
Front row, left to right: Rose Blustein, Deidre Rubenstein, Kathy Catlike, Heather Stein, Donna Steven, Luciano Centofanti, TDK Sales Manager, TDK (Australia) Pty Ltd, Alan Gould (Convenor Judging Panel), Nicola Stanbridge, Jill Kitson, Hugh Walshe. Back row, left to right: Warren Horton, Director General, National Library of Australia, Henry Smith

TDK award recipients

This year was the tenth anniversary of the TDK Australian Audio Book Awards. To mark the event, Jill Kitson, the well-known broadcaster from ABC Radio National, was the guest speaker at the TDK Australian Audio Book Awards Presentation function held in the Senate Chamber of Old Parliament House on 10 November 1998. TDK (Australia) Pty. sponsors the Awards, which are administered by the National Library of Australia.

The convenor of the judging panel, Alan Gould, and two other judges, Rebecca Maxwell and Andrea Sadow spent a few hundred hours listening to the 19 entries submitted by commercial and non-commercial producers. Alan told the audience at Old Parliament House that he drew pictures this year while listening to the tapes. Last year he sewed boltropes to the sails of his model ship.

The winners of the 1998 awards are:

Unabridged fiction: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, narrated by Jenny Vuletic and produced by the Royal Blind Society.

Unabridged Non-fiction: Dreamtime Alice by Mandy Sayer, narrated by Deidre Rubenstein and produced by Louis Braille Books.

Audio Book for Young People: Blueback by Tim Winton, narrated by Stig Wemyss, produced by Australian Large Print Audio & Video P/L.

A special award was given to Henry Smith for his production, translation and narration of The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Henry Smith wrote: ‘the reason for doing a translation into modern English of Chaucer’s General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales is to provide an easy-to-read yet accurate modern version where the reader will neither have to break the rhythm by continually referring to footnotes nor have to have a good working knowledge of Middle English before they start’.

Abridged Fiction: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay, narrated by Jacqueline McKenzie, produced by ABC Enterprises.

The Trish Trinick Prize was awarded to Jenny Vuletic for her versatile narration of The God of Small Things.

Narkaling Productions, a non-profit company based in Perth, Western Australia, was commended for its endeavours in producing audio books for adults and children who are developing their English language and literacy skills.

Networked Services

NLA joins the Shared Resources Program

The National Library of Australia recently joined the Shared Resources Program (SHARES) operated by the Research Libraries Group. SHARES is a unique and successful program which allows participants to expand and enhance their collections through access to and delivery of materials owned by other research institutions within the RLG community.

By joining this program, the National Library will be able obtain access to overseas material hitherto difficult or impossible to get.

Currently there are 83 SHARES participants, comprising major US research libraries, including the Library of Congress.

In addition, the universities of Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow and University College London, all members of the Consortium of University Research Libraries in UK, are SHARES participants.

SHARES governance is through an executive group of elected members, supported by two specialist subgroups—on technical issues and international interlending.

The benefits for the NLA in joining the membership of SHARES include the increased capacity of the Library to satisfy requests for material from its prime clientele, and gaining privileged access to the collection of major research libraries in North America and the UK.

The International Interlibrary Loans(IILL) task force convened by RLG is developing policies and procedures to better facilitate international resource sharing and on-site access. The feasibility of borrowing material through SHARES for other libraries will be a part of this investigation. The NLA will continue to monitor the investigation, and until the IILL task force has delivered its findings, will consider requests from other Australian Libraries to borrow original materials through SHARES on a case-by-case basis. A full list of SHARES participants is available at http://www.rlg.org/shares/illd/

Libraries wishing to participate in the SHARES program through the NLA can contact Charu Sood, Director, Interlending Services on (02) 6262 1265.

Preparing the IT environment for Kinetica

Overview

Kinetica will offer a wider range of services and more interfaces for accessing them than is currently available with ABN. Customers will choose between two methods for interactive access to Kinetica: via a Web browser or via the Kinetica client software; both of these methods will use the Internet to connect to the Kinetica system. In addition, customers may elect to contribute holdings information and original cataloguing in batch mode, which will use the Internet as the means of file transport. Delivery of products (bibliographic or authority records in MARC format) will also be provided via the Internet.

The changeover from ABN to the Kinetica service will impact IT environments in a number of ways depending on the services that are used. The key areas for consideration are desktop computers, library management systems and Internet firewalls.

Desktop

Interactive access to Kinetica will be via the Internet using either a Web browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer) or the Kinetica client software running on a PC. The Kinetica client software will provide access to all services, searching, cataloguing, holdings updates, reports, registration but not document delivery. A Web browser will provide access to searching, holdings updates, product ordering and document delivery services.

Customers planning to use the Kinetica Client software must ensure that their PCs meet the minimum configuration for this software, which is a Pentium 133, with 32 MB of storage and 850MB of disk, running either Windows 95 or Windows NT. A minimum screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels is required.

The Kinetica Client will be distributed on CD-ROM so PCs will need a CD-ROM reader or else the Kinetica Client will need to be installed from a local server. More detailed information about the Kinetica client will be provided as implementation progresses.

Web browser access to Kinetica’s searching and cataloguing services has been proven through Netscape v.4.0 and Internet Explorer v.4. For document delivery activity, the minimum level of Web browser required is Netscape version 4.0.6 or Internet Explorer version 4.

Library management systems (LMS)

Library management systems may need to be modified depending on which Kinetica services (Downline Loading, Upline Loading or Products) are accessed. Library system vendors have been sent information about the changes needed for local systems.

Downline Loading (DLL). The Kinetica DLL Service will deliver MARC records to customer libraries in the same format as the present ABN DLL and MARC*LINK services. Customers of the current services will only need to adjust their scripts dealing with header information prior to receiving downline loaded records from Kinetica. All other aspects of the DLL Service will be unchanged.

Customers currently using leased lines will need to migrate to Kinetica’s Internet-based real time (record-by-record) service or to the file-based MARC*LINK Service.

Upline Loading (ULL). Customers planning to catalogue on their LMS and contribute MARC records to Kinetica will have to implement software and procedures which will identify records, build a file of MARC records and transmit them to Kinetica. If possible this should be automated and be incorporated into the LMS. A draft specification of the proposed Kinetica ULL interface has been provided to library system vendors for discussion.

Products. All batch file products (bibliographic or authority records in MARC format) will be delivered electronically using FTP for transmission and the FTP/Web transmission protocols for retrieval. Customers of this service will need to ensure that they can receive these files.

Internet Security

Accessing the Kinetica service involves the use of a number of communication protocols, some of which may not be allowed by customers’ Internet firewalls. Customers will need to consult their network managers about possible firewall restrictions.

The table provides details of communications protocols used by Kinetica. This information will enable network managers to configure the firewall to allow access to Kinetica services. Each site’s network security or firewall policy will determine the action needed to obtain access to Kinetica using each communication method. These policies are likely to address issues such as the protocols and TCP port numbers used, and the availability of proxies for them.

The protocols used by the Kinetica client may conflict with the security policies of some organisations. To assist in meeting security concerns, the National Library has requested the Defence Signals Directorate to provide a security assessment of its use at customer sites.

NOTE: The IP addresses and TCP ports listed for each protocol are those currently in use. It is possible that there may be minor changes in the final implementation.

Access method Service description Firewall protocol/port requirements IP address
Web browser Database searching and holdings updates HTTP - TCP port 80 202.6.91.149
Web browser Interlibrary loan HTTP TCP port 80 202.6.91.7
Kinetica client. (This uses Oracle SQL*Net and two other proprietary protocols.) Full range of services including database searching and updating SQL*Net - TCP port 1521
Others - TCP ports 1835 and TCP port 1837
202.6.91.151
External Z39.50 origin accessing AMICUS target. (Z39.50 is a NIST standard protocol for information retrieval For searching the bibliographic database and retrieving MARC records Z39.50 - TCP port 1836 202.6.91.133
Remote TPSDLL client Enables customers to get MARC records in real time by downline loading (record-by-record) Telnet - TCP port 23 202.6.91.2
Web browser (MARC*Link) Enables customers to retrieve files of MARC records using a Web browser or FTP HTTP - TCP port 80
FTP - TCP ports 20 and 21 for normal mode operation
202.6.91.2
FTP (upline loading) Enables customers to transmit files of MARC records to Kinetica FTP - TCP ports 20 and 21 for normal mode operation 202.6.91.2
FTP/Web (products) Enables customers to retrieve files of requested records. An advisory message may optionally be sent to email address(es) FTP - TCP ports 20 and 21 for normal mode operation
HTTP - TCP port 80

SMTP - TCP port 25
202.6.91.2
Ariel Enables electronic document delivery to customers by the NLA, by FTP or email Ariel FTP
TCP ports 419, 421, 422
Data TCP ports above 1024

SMTP - TCP port 25

203.4.200.194
203.4.210.48
203.4.201.51
203.4.201.58

192.102.239.30

Further information on IT issues for Kinetica may be obtained by contacting Bryony De La Motte, Kinetica Implementation Team, National Library of Australia, phone (02) 62621690, or by email from kinetica@nla.gov.au

The RRIPP report: integrated work stations at the National Library

A major step forward in the delivery of electronic information to National Library users, both onsite and offsite, has just been revealed in the Report of the Reading Room Integration Program Panel (RRIPP). This cross-Program Panel has been working for six months developing proposals for replacement of the Wyse (dumb) terminals in the Library’s eight reading rooms by integrated work stations, providing access at one point to the range of electronic and printed resources.

Since the installation in 1992 of an online catalogue, the Library has added a CD-ROM network and Internet access for users of its reading rooms, and most recently, free access to a suite of Dialog@CARL databases. With advances in technology, the character-based software for the catalogue needed replacement, as it was not possible to provide hot links from any URLs listed in entries. Each of the other resource systems is located on machines at physically different sites so that users have to walk from the CDROM network, to the Catalogue, to Dialog@CARL or to the Internet. It is hard to point users to other electronic resources not available through any of these systems.

The panel brainstormed a vision for the next five years, to identify key goals for access by users in reading rooms onsite, as well as increasing numbers of offsite users, and to guide the decisions and recommendations. A few aspects of the vision cannot be implemented immediately as some are dependent on the results of technological developments currently in progress.

Access to the widest array of electronic resources will be via the Web, using the Library’s home page as a starting point for the Catalogue, CD-ROM network, databases and the Internet, using pcs. The Library’s Catalogue will use Java-enabled software, Dynix JWebPAC. The html WebPAC software will still be available to offsite users to search the Catalogue as well as the character based software via telnet, although the Report suggests that a review be made of telnet use by December 1999.

Special collections data bases such as Images 1 and directories such as the Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM) will be accessible via the Web, linking together for the first time a diverse group of resources. All PCs will have access to Kinetica with the use by individuals in the Library’s reading rooms a pilot project for more widely available individual use across Australia. Access will be without staff mediation and without charge.

The CD-ROM network will not be accessible for offsite users but will be visible to them, enabling users to check the range of titles before a visit.

The Library will be seeking to identify some suitable software to enable users with visual or audio disabilities to more easily research electronic resources.

All PCs will have access to the Internet, although separate pcs for bookings will be maintained for longer periods of resource discovery.

Training of both staff and users is a major task, especially as many of the Library’s users are first time users, many still, surprisingly, unfamiliar with computers. The range of resources, each directed to meet different needs, will need explanation.

There is some risk management in these proposals: what will be the effect of Internet access on every PC in each reading room? As access to the Internet at home and at work is increasing, we believe that access will be used for research purposes and not for chatting and hacking but there is no doubt that increased vigilance by staff armed with a strengthened Code of Internet Use will be necessary.

Why use Java-enabled software for the Library’s catalogue? Java-enabled software for catalogues is not widely used by libraries in Australia as yet although more research libraries in UK and USA are mounting them. It provides very good access to holdings statements so necessary for serials. As further development of the software is currently in progress the panel believes that the Java-enabled software offers users better access to a range of electronic resources while allowing the Library to operate effectively in a modern environment.

What about printing? All PCs in reading rooms will have printing, to allow copying of catalogue records and CD-ROM searches. The panel believes that it is reasonable to allow such printing it to be free of charge. A local fix using Internet software will allow printing from the catalogue. Printing will also be available from the Internet but users will be strongly encouraged to downline load to disk or to email. The decision in based partly on the change in user behaviour in the last 12 months.

What is the timing for this transition from terminals to PCs? It is planned to be in place in the Petherick and Pictorial Reading Rooms by April 1999. Integration with many other Library activities, such as the re-design of the Library’s home page and Kinetica will be necessary. The report proposals herald a new, exciting period of easy access to electronic resources for internal and external users of the Library.

Further information is available from Averill Edwards (02) 6262 1604 or email aedwards@nla.gov.au

The Collections

Slow and steady…access to Manuscript Collection holdings

Less than a decade ago, there was no online access to holdings in the Library’s Manuscript Collection. A number of projects have been undertaken since 1989 to facilitate remote online access to these holdings. In 1989/90, a retrospective conversion project was commenced to create machine-readable records for all of the Library’s processed manuscript collections. In this project ca. 8 000 records were created from accession register records or from Guide to Collections of Manuscripts Relating to Australia entries when these were available for NLA holdings. These records were then loaded onto the NBD. Records were at the collection level, and provided a summary/contents, as well as a biographical note where appropriate. Standard name and Library of Congress Subject headings provided additional access. The Library’s holdings of microforms from the Australian Joint Copying Project and the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau were included in the conversion project.

Once the retrospective conversion was completed, the Library began cataloguing currently processed manuscript collections onto the NBD. More recently, following a CASL (Council of Australian State Libraries) recommendation, brief records have been created for all new acquisitions, prior to processing, in order to alert other Australian collecting institutions to recent acquisitions.

Further progress was made in providing greater access to the Library’s manuscript holdings, when collection descriptions (finding aids) began to be mounted on the Library’s home page. The URLs for these finding aids are systematically added to NBD catalogue records. These are subsequently available through the Library’s online catalogue and a direct link from the URL in OPAC entries to specific finding aids is available when accessing the catalogue through WebPac.

The final stage in providing access to information about the Library’s manuscript holdings is now completed, with the end of a project to systematically add records to the NBD for all unprocessed collections acquired prior to 1997. All National Library manuscript collections are now accessible through ABN and the Library’s OPAC, and there are now almost 15 000 entries on the NBD.

Additionally, to provide online access to other Australian manuscript holdings, 3 600 records from the Guide to Collections of Manuscripts Relating to Australia, representing the holdings of ca. 60 repositories, were loaded onto the NBD in late 1992. In October 1997, the National Library developed the Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM) which is mounted on the Library’s web site http://www.nla.gov.au/raam/. RAAM was funded by the National Library with the assistance of a grant from the Federation 2001 Working Group on High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects, and during 1996 Australian libraries and archival repositories were invited to contribute to RAAM. In addition, work commenced on extracting and editing relevant entries from the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) for inclusion in the database. At the time of the RAAM release in late 1997 there were over 29 000 entries in the Register. They include all the Guide entries, as well as the National Library’s manuscript holdings and those of a wide cross-section of institutions holding archival and manuscript collections in Australia.

Reader’s guides revised

National Library staff are revising many of the Reader’s Guides to the Library’s collections. The full list of guides can be accessed from http://www.nla.gov.au/guides/

Reader’s Guide no. 7, Australian Censuses, Musters and Population Counts has just been completed. The guide contains a comprehensive list of population counts in Australia from the victualling list for convicts in 1788 to the last Commonwealth census in June 1996.

Full details are given on dates, whether there is personal information (only for the earlier nineteenth-century censuses) and the format held. Census information can be found in the AJCP (Australian Joint Copying Project) microfilm, State Parliamentary Papers, maps and CD-ROM. This guide can be found at http://www.nla.gov.au/guides/

For further information, please contact Rod Stroud, Information Services at email: rstroud@nla.gov.au or phone: 02-62621602.

Burke and Wills make it to Canberra

The Director-General of the National Library, Warren Horton, recently announced that the important painting The Exploring Party Coming upon an Encampment of Natives by Henricus van den Houten has entered the national collection in Canberra. The painting was purchased at Sotheby’s Melbourne auction on 24 November for $340 000.

Described as one of the very few contemporary views of the Burke and Wills expedition – one of the great epic adventures of Australian history – the painting is infused with a feeling of heroic grandeur and the promise of national glory. It was most probably completed by 1861, before the tragic outcome of the exploration party was known.

The large painting depicts the exploring party meeting a group of Aborigines. The leaders of the party can be easily identified and even the clothes they are wearing were similar to the clothes they set off in. Behind them a line of camels, wagons and horses winds back into the distance to create a painting of great descriptive and narrative power. The landscape is a romantic dream and in an age of innocence and optimism it conveys the national longing for the discovery of a fertile heartland from which great prosperity would flow.

Commenting on the addition of this painting to the national collection of Australian history, Warren Horton said: ‘This is not a great painting in high art terms, but it is resonant with history and iconographic significance.

It rightly belongs in a great library where it will be a magnificent resource for researchers and scholars for generations to come. And it belongs in Canberra because of the national character of the expedition, the national scope of the rescue attempts, the widespread outcomes of the expedition (such as the adoption of camels for use in the interior), and the subsequent elevation of Burke and Wills to the status of national icons.’

The National Library looks forward to making the painting available to onsite researchers and through the Library’s loan program for exhibition in Australian galleries, museums and libraries. It will be accessible to Australians everywhere through the Library’s Internet pictorial database, Images 1.

Gift of Chinese Works

The National Library recently received a valuable donation of Chinese language works from Dr Nicholas Jose, the distinguished Australian author and China scholar, whose papers are also held by the Library. Some 70 Chinese publications, many signed by their authors, have been taken into the collection. Most are literary and were collected by Dr Jose while he was Cultural Counsellor at the Australian Embassy in Beijing between 1987 and 1990. Published in the late 1970s and 1980s these books and serials reflect the opening up of China during that period. The collection includes self-published anthologies of poetry and poetry journals, which are difficult to acquire from standard suppliers. A number of titles relate to Australia.

Nicholas Jose

Photo: Nicholas Jose, 1952–
National Library of Australia

Recent acquisitions for the National Library’s Ephemera Collection

Benvenuti OrchestraLeo and Gilda Benvenuti Collection

The Benvenuti family of musicians (originally from Italy) migrated from London in 1871 to reside in Brisbane. This photograph was taken circa 1896 and shows the Benvenuti orchestra: Father Antonio on violin, and his three sons—Luigi on bass, Victor on piano and Italo on clarinet. The Benvenuti family contributed to the musical culture of Brisbane for three generations. Gilda Benvenuti has recently deposited her collection of musical programs, ball cards, and related ephemera in the National Library’s Ephemera Collection. The majority of items date from the turn of the century and this material will be most useful as a primary resource for researchers in the social and musical life of emerging Queensland.

Federation collection

Recently the Library acquired 26 printed invitations, menus and programmes from Mr Anthony Walsh of Sydney dating from 1900–1938. This material is largely printers’ proofs without any sign of annotation and in that way most unusual. The Library holds a few of these ephemera items but they are inscribed. This material will be most valuable for exhibitions in conjunction with celebrations for the centenary of Federation and for researchers in social and political life in the first part of the twentieth century.

Election 98 ephemeraElection ’98

The National Library regularly collects Federal election ephemera from candidates, political parties and lobby groups from all over Australia. The photograph illustrates a small proportion of the material received during October 1998. The material received includes: how-to-vote cards, posters, pamphlets, brochures, biographical material about the candidates, and some objects including badges, a tee-shirt and a key ring. This year we also received tapes of speeches by Kim Beazley and Cheryl Kernot, especially made for people who are vision impaired. The Internet was also investigated and numerous sites will eventually be archived for the Library’s collection

NLA at work

Australian Music Centre visit

The National Library’s printed music collection is estimated to contain 166 500 items. Although the collection contains a broad coverage of overseas twentieth century material representing most music traditions, the emphasis is on Australian composition (about two thirds of the collection).

The Library has, overall, been successful in building a substantial retrospective collection of scores by Australian composers. However, music publishing of Australian compositions is currently in a state of flux. The Library has experienced a steady decline in the receipt of legal deposit copies of printed music for some time, and it has been hard to establish exactly what is being produced.

Following our concerns about collecting of contemporary Australian music works, the Library recently took the opportunity to re-establish personal contacts with the Australian Music Centre by arranging for a group of relevant staff to visit. The Australian Music Centre has a large collection of contemporary Australian compositions (chiefly in manuscript form), and continues to add 18–20 new composers to the collection annually. The National Library acquires a significant number of individual compositions from the Music Centre each year, requesting individual items to fill perceived gaps. It has become apparent, however, that the Library has not been successful in acquiring an appropriate coverage of contemporary Australian compositions. During the recent visit, the group was able to explore a number of issues relating to the Centre’s collection building and sales operations with Australian Music Centre staff.

Issues discussed included selection criteria for the AMC collections; the number of new composers added each year; copyright issues and what preservation role, if any, the centre had; publishing trends in Australia, including electronic copies; and devolution of music works by the centre. The centre confirmed the Library’s perception that there is less formal publishing of contemporary Australian music works, and that composers either self-publish or place compositions with the centre for distribution on demand as facsimile reproductions.

The Library is currently placing orders with the centre to ensure a more comprehensive representation of contemporary Australian composers within its music collection.

Lunchtime briefings sessions January 1999

Visiting Canberra in the January holidays? Come to the Library on Wednesdays during January at 12.30 and see some of the lesser known treasures of the National Library. Following the success of treasures sessions in July 1998, similar sessions will be held in the New Year, focussing on a variety of materials from the Library’s collections— not so well-known, but of research value. Clearly the fascination of seeing a ‘treasure’ was a drawcard in the July sessions for both ACT locals and for interstate visitors who overstayed the allocated hour. Presented by Reader Services staff, either subject or format specialists, a short talk is followed by questions, then visitors are free to move around the Conference Room looking at the selected materials. Sessions commence at 12.30 and finish at about 1.30pm: the actual talk lasts for 30 minutes.

Sessions in January will look at different areas and include different materials. It is an opportunity to look at materials which are not so well known as the Cook journal or the Bligh notebook but nevertheless may be just as important to researchers.

Lesser known research treasures January 1999 timetable

6 January
Musical miscellany Pam Dunlop

13 January
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures Linda Groom

20 January
Voices from the Past Mark Cranfield

27 January
Rare Asian and European books Andrew Gosling & Margaret Dent

Telephone information service available 9–11am

The National Library offers a telephone information service for users who cannot visit the Library in person, and whose own library cannot assist them.

Users can ring at any time during the opening hours of the Library, but the best times are during business hours Monday to Friday, as there are staff rostered specifically for answering telephone enquiries at that time. Due to a shortage of resources from mid-1996 we have been able to offer the service only from 11am-5pm, but we are happy to announce that we are now able to open the service at 9am Monday to Friday.

The types of queries we can answer may be as simple as a request for the details of a publication or holdings of particular material, or may be of a more complex nature such as a request for an Act or other legal material. We do not provide information for school assignments, quizzes or competitions. Ready reference enquiries can be answered with a minimum of delay (usually on the spot), but more complex enquiries may take 2–5 working days, depending on the research required. Very complex enquiries may take longer. While we make every effort to respond to enquiries within the time users request, we cannot give any guarantees. A limited number of requests for material to be placed on reserve for users, ahead of their visit, can be accepted by phone.

Telephone numbers are 02 6262 1266 and 02 6262 1434. Please leave a message on the answering machine if the person rostered is helping another caller when you phone, and we will return your call as soon as possible.

Requests can be faxed to us on 02 6273 5081.

Five-year music cataloguing project completed

NLA staffCelebration was the order of the day at the Library recently when staff finally completed cataloguing one of the National Library’s most interesting collections, its Australian songs collection of 10 500 items published in Australia between 1900 and 1980.

The task of creating bibliographic records on ABN for this large collection began in 1993, and has continued steadily over the years.

This cataloguing has been done in addition to the processing of all current music acquisitions. The collection provides a fascinating insight into changing Australian musical tastes and fashions, as well as constituting a valuable research resource which has been used by musicologists, researchers and performers.

Pictured are a number of National Library staff who have been involved in the project over the years.

Survey of users of Korean materials report

Korean materials survey report

Warren Horton with Mr Seok Tong-Youn, Minister, Embassy of the Republic of Korea, representing the Korea Foundation; Dr Christina Bee, Deputy Chair, Australia-Korea Foundation and Dr Ken Wells, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University representing the Korean Studies Association of Australasia

‘Frank and perhaps even shocking’

With these words the Director-General of the National Library, Warren Horton described the final report of the survey of users of Korean materials. His remarks were made at a function in the Library on 22 October at which he presented the report to representatives of the bodies that helped fund the survey. These were the Korea Foundation, the Australia-Korea Foundation, and the Korean Studies Association of Australasia.

The Director-General went on to say that it was enormously valuable for future national planning to have the survey’s detailed comments from users on the considerable strengths, but also the weaknesses, of Korean collections and services in Australia.

The survey’s conclusions were that:

A series of recommendations were developed for referral to the Korean Working Group, which consists of Korean studies academics and librarians from institutions with major Korean collections. The Group will take follow-up action.

Warren Horton pointed out that the National Library is already acting in response to these recommendations, including the promotion of services.

Copies of the report are available from Andrew Gosling, Asian Collections, National Library of Australia, Canberra, ACT 2600.
Tel. (02) 6262 1286, fax (02) 6273 4327, email : agosling@nla.gov.au

Research trends in Australia : how they are impacting on NLA’s reference services

As part of the Reference Service Review undertaken this year, the Library commissioned a consultant to prepare a report on Australian research trends and their implications for its reference services.

Major points made in the report are :

The report will be considered by the Reference Service Review Committee, chaired by Professor Mairéad Browne, as well as the surveys of readers and submissions received. The Committee will report to the Director-General by the end of December. Copies of the report will be available to anyone interested.

Logical structure of the Anglo–American Cataloguing Rules

As part of its ongoing mandate to respond to changing needs, the Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR undertook, in October 1997, the International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR. One of the results of the conference is a logical analysis of the principles and structures on which AACR is based. This analysis has been undertaken by Tom Delsey (National Library of Canada) and the schema for part one of AACR is now available online at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/jsc/aacrdel.htm. It is intended to serve as a tool to assist in the re-examination of the principles underlying AACR2 and in setting directions for its future development.

Comments on the schema and particularly on the key issues and resulting recommendations are invited from all members of the Australian cataloguing community. They should be sent by 1 September 1999 to the Australian representative on the Joint Steering Committee, Ann Huthwaite, a.huthwaite@qut.edu.au.

Visit from Field Director for Library of Congress in Jakarta

‘So like Washington’

Will Tuchrello, Field Director for Library of Congress in Jakarta, visited the library in late September and was amazed how like Canberra is to Washington. Will came to Australia with Oliver Mann, the Library’s Regional Officer, Asia, to talk to staff about areas of possible further co-operation as the two acquisition officers already work so closely together in Jakarta.

It was a significant first for both libraries, being the first visit by the head of the Library of Congress Jakarta Office to the National Library of Australia. Marie Sexton from Asian Collections agreed that it was ‘A great experience having Will here and talking to us about our mutual interests in acquiring South-east Asian materials’.

Will was impressed by the library’s South-east Asian mainland collections (Thai, Lao and Khmer) which he described as outstanding.

Closer cooperation in acquisitions is being planned and the possibility of using the Internet more in sharing data will be explored.

Will Tuchrello & Warren Horton

Will is pictured here with Warren Horton
at a welcome by senior staff.

Preserving Australia’s heritage—the 1998 Community Heritage Grants

Twenty-one community heritage organisations from every Australian State and Territory have received grants totalling $70 105 to assist them during the coming year with the preservation of documentary heritage collections in their custody.

Representatives of these organisations were presented with their grants by Mr Tim Bowden AM at a ceremony at the National Library on

4 November. The Community Heritage Grants Program, which is administered by the National Library, provides grants of up to $7,000 to assist in the preservation of documentary heritage material judged to be of significance.

Since the program’s inception in 1994 over 100 communities have benefited from funds provided through Australia’s leading grassroots documentary preservation initiative. In this time, a total of $330 000 has been distributed to libraries, historical socieites and community organisations to help them with the preservation management, storage, microfilming and digitisation of their valuable documentary collections.

Successful applicants this year include:

Heritage grant recipients

Tim Bowden (front row, second from right) presented this year’s Community Heritage Awards. Tim is pictured in the National Library foyer with representatives of recipient organisations and Mr Leslie Neilson (front left) from the Dept of Communications, Information Tehcnology and the Arts

As a result of the Community Heritage Grants Program, future generals of Australians will have access to valuable documents and photographs which might otherwise have been lost due to the effects of age, light, dust, humidity and insects. The program recognises and supports the distributed national collection of significant documentary heritage materials—a collection which is located all over Australia, not just in the national collecting institutions of the capital cities.

Further information on the National Library’s Community Heritage Grants Program is available at the Web site: http://www.nla.gov.au/chg/ or by contacting:

Joanne Paull
National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel.: (02) 6262 1137
Fax.: (02) 6273 4535
Email: niac@nla.gov.au

Farewell to Gordon Bower

Gordon BowerGordon Bower has been Executive Officer of the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Science (ACLIS) since its creation in July 1988 and has attended every one of its 42 meetings during the past decade.

It is expected that ACLIS will conclude its business around the end of this year.

Gordon and his partner, Maggie Jones, who recently resigned as the National Library’s Director, Collection Management will relocate to the UK later this month.

Design awards

The National Library’s designers—Kathy Jakupec and Bev Swifte—have once again done well in the annual Museum Publication Design Awards, held by Museums Australia Inc.

Bev Swifte was awarded second place in the Books category for Backroom Briefings and an honourable mention in the Magazines category for National Library of Australia News.

Kathy Jakupec won first prize for the invitation for her exhibition An Exquisite Eye, and second prize for the Captive Lives exhibition invitation (pictured), both in the Supplementary Materials category. Kathy was also awarded second prize for the design of the Captive Lives Education Kit.

invitation

New Publications & Exhibitions

Fanzines—the first frontier

In 1967 one of the most popular science fiction television series debuted in Australia—Star Trek. Created by Gene Roddenberry, the series popularised science and offered a positive vision for the future. Since the original series debuted the Star Trek phenomenon has generated three additional series—The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, along with eight feature films and numerous books and novels.

In 1969, after three seasons on American television, the NBC network cancelled the series. This led to a worldwide protest, known as ‘Deluge Monday’, where fans wrote letters and phoned the NBC switchboard to protest the cancellation.

Star Trek fan clubs flourished around Australia after the 1975 World Science Fiction Convention. Fan clubs gave fans an opportunity to socialise, discuss the original series, organise charity events and write letters to local TV stations to persuade them to repeat the show. Star Trek fans also liked to communicate their ideas about the show and its characters to one another in a creative form. Fan clubs often produced their own newsletter, but many also produced a different type of publication, known as a fanzine.

Fanzines are amateur publications produced by and for fans. They include news, reviews, letters of comments from fans, short stories and artwork. Fanzines were originally published in Australia in the 1930s as a means of communication for fans of written science fiction.

The popularity of Star Trek created a new type of fan, known as a media SF fan, and a new style of fanzine devoted to television science fiction.

The first Star Trek fanzine published in Australia was Terran Times, produced by Shayne McCormack and DUSK. Beyond Antares was the longest running Star Trek fanzine in Australia, published by Susan Clarke. It was produced independently for a number of years, but while Susan was president of Astrex, the oldest Star Trek fan club in Australia, Beyond Antares became the club’s fanzine. Austrek, a Victorian based fan club, produced its fanzine Spock until the mid 1990s. Fans also produced their own individual fanzines, but some of these ceased publication after only a few issues, the rising costs involved or the demands of work, family or study taking priority.

‘Space – the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.’

The National Library has recently acquired a large collection of Star Trek and other science fiction fanzines from Susan (now Susan Batho), filling a gap in the Library’s collection of popular culture material. Prior to the donation there were only a few fanzines in the collection, which had been received through legal deposit. Like the recent donation and display of the work of pulp fiction writer Gordon Clive Bleeck, collections like these are hard to come by because often the work has a limited life span because the paper they are printed on becomes brittle and fragile and deteriorates quickly. For the Library extra effort is required to track down collections such as these. Richard Stone, Acting Director of Exhibitions, says ‘From an acquisition point of view it was very heartening to get an offer of this sort of material because it is elusive…it also fits in with a policy we’ve had in the last five years or so which is to really look at popular culture….and this is a good example of a popular thing at a populist level.’

Illustration by Robert Jan

Fanzines—the First Frontier, a display of Star Trek and other science fiction fanzines, will be held in the National Library Visitor Centre from November. More information on the Library’s collection of fanzines can be found on the Library’s web site at http://www.nla.gov.au/collect/s-clarke.html





Photo: Illustration by Robert Jan. Reproduced courtesy of Robert Jan.

Acquired Tastes: Celebrating Australia’s Culinary History

Acquired Tastes is a celebration of Australia’s culinary history. Colin Bannerman is joined by feature writers Marion Halligan, Jackie French, Eric Rolls and Gay Bilson to bring together an array of material from the National Library of Australia’s collections, including its extensive holding of cookery books, pictorial items, magazines, diaries and oral history recordings.

This vividly illustrated, full-colour book presents a broad sweep through the history of Australian cooking, from its origins in eighteenth-century English kitchens and sailing ships to the ‘fusion’ cuisine of the 1990s restaurants, providing sample period recipes along the way. It shows the salt beef, damper and billy tea of pioneering days gradually refined by industry, technology and education and enriched by migration and the discovery of bush tucker.

Finally, it looks at food and eating as two of the most powerful symbols of popular culture, and at how they help to define the way we live, work, enjoy our leisure—and celebrate.

Published by the National Library of Australia.
ISBN 0 642 10693 2, pb, 265 x 215 mm, 104 pp, RRP $29.95

Cover of Acquired Tastes




 



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Links updated 18 January 1999