NLA at work
NLA welcomes Tony Boston
Tony comes to the Library from a position at the Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN) within the Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Heritage. Tony joined ERIN in 1990 as database administrator and managed the development of its database, which contains environmental information about the distribution of Australian plants and animals, conservation zones such as National Parks, National Estate areas and wetlands, and climate, soils, geology, vegetation and administrative regions.
In late 1992 Tony recognised the potential of several new information access tools on the Internet to provide a delivery mechanism for ERIN's data. Consequently, in 1993, he set up Gopher and World Wide Web information serversthe first created in a government department and among the first in Australia. These servers were linked to the ERIN database to allow searching of information through friendly interfaces using Web browsers.
More recently Tony managed the implementation of a number of innovative applications providing interactive on-line mapping and analysis of environmental data. He also managed the development of the Australian Spatial Data Directory, a distributed directory providing Web access to information on mapping datasets held by Australian government agencies, using the Z39.50 search and retrieval protocol.
In his new role at the National Library, Tony is responsible for the management of the Digital Services Project. Through this project, the Library aims to acquire a new systems platform enabling it to manage its digital collections, and to support its collaboration with other institutions in improving access to digital collections. Tony summarises his view of the project's aims:
`The Digital Services Project presents the Library with significant challenges and opportunities. As the world becomes increasingly digital and online, libraries are at the forefront of organisations adapting to the new environment. This project aims to provide the National Library with a technical infrastructure for quality digital collection management and services, so that it continues to remain at the forefront of information provision in the digital age.'
Since starting at the Library in March, Tony has been improving his understanding of the Library's business processes, existing systems infrastructure and requirements for the Digital Services Project. The latter may result in the acquisition by the Library of new hardware, software or services.
An information paper for the Digital Services Project was released in December last year and can be found on the Internet at http://www.nla.gov.au/dsp/ . This paper presents a comprehensive statement of the Library's vision for the management of digital collections and delivery of digital services. Analysis of industry comments on the information paper has been completed and the Library is now considering whether, and if so, how, to adjust its procurement strategy in the light of this analysis.
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: lkirwan@nla.gov.au