National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 62 | April 2003


Access for Australians to Online and Library Resources
The New Public Library Portal

Participants from all four libraries discussing at the Pilot Workshop

The National Library of  Australia is working with a group of public libraries including: Michael Aulich, Brisbane City Council Library; Craig Anderson, Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service; Darren Ryan, Yarra Melbourne Regional Library Service;  and Grant White, Northern Regional Libraries, Moree, New South Wales, to create better access to Australian full text and printed resources. A key objective for the National Library is to increase access for all Australians to resources, particularly online information. The Library is working with a group of public libraries to create better access to Australian full text and printed resources through the Public Library Portal. The portal is the initiative of the Library’s Resource Sharing Division and aims to provide, direct to users, access to various online databases and services that have been traditionally mediated by library staff on their behalf.

The Public Library Portal is a web site that will bring together a host of information services making them available from a single entry point. In this way the portal will use the Internet to extend access to the National Bibliographic Database (currently accessed via Kinetica), including PictureAustralia, Australian Journals Online, Ozlife (Australian biography and book review index), Australian Public Affairs Full Text (APAFT), and other online full text databases. In addition, the very popular Australian Libraries Gateway site will be incorporated into the portal.

A feature of the service will be the ability to carry out a search across all databases listed on the portal homepage simultaneously via a Z39.50 broadcast search. A series of subject trails will be developed featuring collection highlights on a range of popular topics. Additional links to other online information resources will also be incorporated into the site.

The pilot project will be trialled in four libraries based on their location, size and service infrastructure.

It is envisaged that the pilot project will be up and running later this year and an all-day workshop has already been held on 31 March at the National Library to discuss the implementation details of the pilot.

The National Library is committed to providing quality information services that are relevant and accessible for all Australians and it is envisaged that the Public Library Portal project will help to achieve this aim through enhancing public library access to these resource discovery services.

Further information on the Public Library Portal will be published in future editions of Gateways.
—Sophie Powell & Roxanne Missingham

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