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SUPPORTING RESEARCH
Wolfgang Sievers (b.1913) It is still one of the rare places where scholarship matters, no matter what the field. Participant, Evaluation of the National Library of Australia’s Onsite Reference Services and Collection Delivery The 2003 ‘Evaluation of the National Library of Australia’s Onsite Reference Services and Collection Delivery’ revealed that the Library is perceived as having a unique culture, where scholarship is supported and users feel welcome, valued and enriched. Survey participants valued the range, breadth and depth of the Collection and the expert knowledge of the staff. They appreciated the quality of the light, the quiet, the spaciousness of the reading rooms. In 2003, the Library has continued to support research through the provision of a range of fellowships. Four Harold White Fellowships were offered and three young researchers participated in the Norman McCann Summer Scholars program. In April the Library, in partnership with the National Folk Festival, announced the first National Folklore Fellowship, an annual opportunity for a performer to research original resources in the Library’s Folklore Collection. Support for scholarship was offered in other ways. The Library has been a partner in the South Seas Project, a collaborative research venture involving the Australian National University’s Centre for Cross-Cultural Research and the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre at the University of Melbourne. This project aims to use web-based multimedia to pursue new lines of research into Cook’s first Pacific voyage. The Library’s contribution has included digitisation of a number of historical works in the Collection, technical support and website design. The Library has also collaborated with Deakin University on the Alfred Deakin Digital Archive www.deakin.edu.au/alfreddeakin, a key element in the development of the University’s Alfred Deakin Prime Ministerial Library, and with the Echuca Historical Society on the digital preservation of its unique collection of river pilot charts for the Murray–Darling river system. The Library is a partner in three of four federally-funded projects, announced in October, to improve Australia’s research infrastructure for ‘managing university information’. Over the next three years, the Library will be working with the university sector on the ‘Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories’, ‘Australian Repositories Online to the World’, and a ‘Meta Access Management System’. Together with the fourth project, ‘Australian Digital Theses Expansion and Redevelopment Program’, this Commonwealth Government initiative will enhance the management of Australian research information in a digital environment. Services such as lunchtime talks and seminars continued to be offered to library users, providing information on areas of research (such as genealogy), how to access databases and other e-resources, or aspects of the collections. In 2003, a new online tutorial—Teach Yourself Online—was launched, offering guidance on how to approach research. It is already attracting approximately 800 users per month. |