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2003 In Brief

January

The 2003 Norman McCann Summer Scholars. Left to right: Ruth Nicholls, Joanne Archer and Sarah Irving

  • AskNow! Online Answers Australia-Wide was officially launched. This pilot project offers users a national chat reference service for up to 55 hours per week.
  • To mark Australia Day on 26 January, the website ‘Who’ll Come a-Waltzing Matilda with Me’ was launched, revealing the complex history of one of Australia’s best-loved songs.
  • Three young scholars, Ruth Nicholls, Joanne Archer, and Sarah Irving, spent six weeks at the Library as the 2003 Norman McCann Summer Scholars.
  • The exhibition, The Flower Hunter: Ellis Rowan closed at the National Library. Over 35 000 people visited the exhibition.
  • The Library established a Development Office to develop and consolidate relationships with potential and existing sponsors and donors, and to build relationships with diverse communities, creating greater awareness of the National Library and its range of resources.
  • The Commonwealth Government Metadata Pilot, a project to improve access to Commonwealth Government electronic publications, was launched.

February

  • The web portal, Australia Dancing and the publication A Collector’s Book of Australian Dance were launched in Melbourne by David McAllister, Artistic Director, The Australian Ballet.
  • Pugin in the Antipodes opened at the National Library on 13 February. By the time it closed in May, this touring exhibition from the Tasmanian Museum and Gallery had been seen in Canberra by more than 25 000 people.
  • The Library commenced a Graduate Employment Program with the appointment of two graduates.
  • As Others See Us: Chinese and Japanese Accounts of Australia was held on 6 February to showcase the results of the three-year project, ‘Asian Accounts of Australia’, a joint Australian National University, Griffith University and National Library undertaking funded by the Australian Research Council, to make the Library’s Chinese and Japanese holdings more accessible.
  • Library preservation staff participated in free clinics organised by Canberra’s cultural organisations to assist those Canberra residents whose personal papers, memorabilia and other significant items had been damaged in the January bushfires.
  • The travelling exhibition, Bunyips continued its tour, moving from its Parramatta venue to Bathurst. The tour continued throughout the year, with the exhibition going to venues in regional New South Wales.

March

Dr Keith McKenry, one of the Harold White Fellows for 2003 and President, National Folk Festival

  • Senior staff from the National Library visited Perth for a series of presentations to over 100 West Australian library professionals, Friends, associates, and collection donors.
  • James Cook University became the 23rd organisation, and the first regional university, to make its image collection available on PictureAustralia, the free service providing access to over 900 000 images held in Australian libraries, archives, universities, museums, galleries, local history groups and other cultural agencies.
  • The Library marked Women’s History Month with a series of events including lunchtime talks on Jessie Street and Australia’s female musicians.
  • The Library recognised Seniors Week by offering a range of tours and talks that introduced older members of the community to the Library and its services.
  • Ted Egan, one of Australia’s country music legends and the current Northern Territory Administrator, performed at the Library on 16 March.

April

  • The National Folklore Fellowship, a joint initiative by the Library and the National Folk Festival, was announced. The Fellowship provides an opportunity for a performer to research original source materials in the Library’s Folklore Collection.
  • The major National Library conference, Travellers’ Tales: Writing about Journeys, Journeys through Writing, was held on 11–12 April. Over 230 participants heard Arnold Zable, Glenda Adams, Linda Jaivin, Ros Pesman and many others discuss journeys around the world and into the imagination.
  • Canberra’s 90th birthday was marked by a number of events, including the Canberra Day Oration, presented by the ACT Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope.

May

Professor Fiona Stanley, 2003 Australian of the Year, giving the Annual Kenneth Myer Lecture

  • The Libraries of the Asia Pacific website was launched, featuring an online update capability, a search facility and photographs of participating libraries. The goal of the website is to be a single access point for retrieval of information about the functions, services and collections of Libraries in Asia and the Pacific region.
  • The Canberra International Chamber Music Festival came to the National Library. A concert featuring the Australian Piano Quartet and Alan Vivian, clarinet, was held in the foyer as part of the festival.

June

  • Travellers Art, an exhibition featuring items from the Manuscript, Pictures and Map collections, opened, offering visitors a glimpse of Australia and the world through the eyes of our early travellers.
  • The Friends of the National Library hosted the Governor-General and Lorenzo Montesini, Chair of the Australian Friends of the Alexandria Library, for an evening lecture, ‘The Twin Histories of Alexandria and the Bibliotheca’, on 12 June.

July

  • Australian of the Year, Professor Fiona Stanley, delivered the Annual Kenneth Myer Lecture. Her topic, ‘Before the Bough Breaks—Children in Contemporary Australia’, attracted an audience of 300.
  • The Multicultural Documentary Heritage Project was launched, offering culturally and linguistically diverse organisations in Australia support in the form of an information kit and a workshop on collection management and preservation.
  • The Library’s July school holiday program, ‘Travellers’ Tales’, provided 140 children with an opportunity to explore the Library and the exhibition Travellers Art. In 2003, the school holiday programs and school tours introduced over 6000 children and young people to the Library.
  • The exhibition Between the Sheets opened in Townsville, commencing a tour to venues throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.

August

Summer Scholars

Library Staff member, James Halligan, at the Travellers Art School Holiday Program

  • The Director-General, Jan Fullerton, chaired the 30th meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, which was held on 6 August during the 69th International Federation of Library Associations General Conference in Berlin. The main topics of discussion were the role of national libraries in bridging the digital divide and the current issues faced by libraries in Iraq.
  • Two hundred and twenty-seven delegates attended the 2003 Kinetica Annual Users’ Meeting, held in South Australia on 21–22 August. The meeting included a series of workshops for participants.

September

  • The Alfred Deakin Digital Archive was launched by the Victorian Minister for Innovation and State and Regional Development, the Hon. John Brumby, in Melbourne. The digital archive is a collaborative project between the National Library and Deakin University, making the papers of Australia’s second prime minister available electronically.
  • The exhibition, The Flower Hunter: Ellis Rowan, opened at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, commencing a tour that will include venues in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.
  • The Library supported Adult Learners’ Week by offering special presentations on using the Library’s resources and tours of the Reading Rooms.

October

Summer Scholars

Playwright David Williamson with actor Angela Punch-Macgregor and Jan Fullerton, Director General of the National Library, at the Friends of the National Library's Celebration of his contribution to Australia's cultural life

  • The 8th International Federation of Library Associations Interlending and Document Supply Conference was held at the National Library from 28–31 October. With the theme ‘Breaking Barriers in a Digital World’ the conference attracted 271 delegates from 24 countries, including China, Sweden, Namibia and the United States.
  • The Federal Government announced that the Library will be a partner in three of four projects aimed at improving the management of Australian research information.
  • The second volume of The Diaries of Donald Friend was published, under the auspices of the Morris West Trust Fund.
  • Following the January bushfires in Canberra, the Library sponsored the Bushfire Recovery Centre Literary Awards—winning entries being accepted into the Manuscripts Collection.
  • The exhibition In a New Light: Australian Photography 1850s–1930s opened. This exhibition, drawn entirely from the Library’s Pictures Collection, is the first of two to explore the Library’s unique photographic record of Australia.
  • The National Library of Australia, in collaboration with the State Library of South Australia and under the auspices of the International Federation of Library Associations—Preservation and Conservation, released preservation microfilming training materials for the Asia Pacific region. Developed in response to a survey on microfilming training needs in the South-East Asia and Pacific region conducted in 2001, the training materials conform to the accredited Australian preservation microfilming curriculum.

November

Summer Scholars

A Different View: The National Library of Australia and Its Building Art highlights the beauty and significance of the Library's building and its artworks

  • Senior staff from the National Library offered a series of presentations to other library professionals from the ACT and surrounding region.
  • The Friends of the National Library celebrated the contribution of playwright David Williamson to Australia’s cultural life with a publication launched by actor Angela Punch McGregor, and a function at the Library.
  • The Asian Collections’ long-term users’ room was renamed in honour of the Library’s former Chief Librarian of the Orientalia section, Mr Sidney Wang.
  • The National Library’s Curator of Dance, Michelle Potter, received the Award for Services to Dance at the 2003 Australian Dance Awards.
  • The 10th anniversary of the Community Heritage Grants program was marked by the announcement that over $1 million of funding has now been distributed to community organisations to assist them to preserve Australia’s documentary heritage at the community level. The Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator the Hon. Rod Kemp, presented awards to 50 grant recipients on 12 November. The program is funded by the Library, the National Archives of Australia, the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, and the Australian Film Commission.

December

  • On 3 December, the National Library’s new-look website, www.nla.gov.au, went ‘live’, offering users improved searching capabilities, a new catalogue and a more ‘user-friendly’ interface.
  • The publication, A Different View: The National Library of Australia and Its Building Art, was published. Featuring works by Leonard French, Henry Moore and others, the book is the first to highlight the beauty and significance of the National Library building and the art created for it.
  • The National Library announced the commencement of the Kinetica Redevelopment Project, a two-year initiative which will offer Australian libraries and individuals improved resource discovery and resource sharing services.