ABN makes way for Kinetica
First ABN Network Committee Meeting 1981Top down: Brian Yates; Chris Hannan (first ABN Executive Officer); Judith Baskin; Hans Groenewegen; Arthur Ellis; Allan Horton; Warren Horton; Eric Wainwright; Lyn Pollak; Jim Dwyer; Enid Roberts. Front row: Jan Fullerton; Diana Carroll; and Bryony De La Motte, who was involved with ABN for its entire life span |
The closure of ABN's cataloguing services is an important milestone for Australian libraries. ABN became a publicly available service on 2 November 1981, over 17 years ago. Since then, the National Bibliographic Database has become an essential resource for Australian libraries and their users. I wish to thank everyone who has contributed to ABN, and in particular the nation's cataloguers. They have created many millions of bibliographic, authority and holdings records. The National Bibliographic Database has nearly 30 million locations as we make the transition from ABN to Kinetica. I also wish to thank those many people who have contributed to the governance of ABN, at both the national and local level, and in the many forums through which the National Library has gained advice on the development of ABN since 1981. This particularly includes members of the ABN Network and Standards Committees and the various State/Territory committees over the years. The Library has always been very conscious that it operates ABN in partnership with the Australian library community, and this major contribution from our colleagues across the nation has been invaluable. ABN has been a tremendous achievement; one which has depended on your skills and commit-ment. The National Library thanks you for your participation and support and we look forward to continued success and growth with Kinetica. Warren Horton |
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: lkirwan@nla.gov.au