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Australian subject gateways—on to the next phase

From left to right - bottom row:Kerry Kilner, Jasmine Cameron, Marie-Louise Ayres, Jan Whitaker; top row: Peter Browne, Debbie Campbell, Karen Kealy, Barbara Rozmus

The Australian Subject Gateways Forum (ASGF) meeting held on 10 June 2005 at the National Library discussed the future of the group and decided it should be disbanded. This decision was made for a number of reasons. It seems that, within the five years of its existence, the ASGF has fulfilled its original role of providing a forum for exchange of information between the existing and emerging subject gateway projects. At present most Australian subject gateways have reached maturity and require a different form of networking.

The meeting decided that it was time to build on the ASGF’s achievements. In future, a national information infrastructure forum will be held once a year. This will facilitate information exchange in a broader environment and will look at web-based services, such as repository projects, as well as various policy and decision making bodies—the Australian Research Council (ARC), Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA), Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) among them.

The new event, hosted by the National Library and held in March 2006, will allow subject gateways and other infrastructure-related projects to report on their progress. It will also introduce new projects. Ample opportunities for discussion and making new contacts will be provided. As the planning progresses, more details about the forum will be provided in future issues of Gateways and through the National Library’s website.

You can still visit the ASGF website <www.nla.gov.au/subjectgateways/> which will stay accessible but will soon be assigned an archival ‘stamp’ to make it clear that the content is no longer updated The minutes of the 10 June ASGF meeting are available at www.nla.gov.au/subjectgateways/meetings/.

The National Library would like to thank all people involved with the ASGF over the years for their contribution of the group. Thanks to their work, Australian subject gateways have played an important role in information provision in Australia .

Barbara Rozmus

Manager National Initiatives
email: brozmus@nla.gov.au