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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
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
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
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.
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