Guidelines for the Selection of Online Australian Publications Intended for Preservation

Please note that this page is no longer being maintained. For the latest version of the Guidelines please see http://pandora.nla.gov.au/selectionguidelines.html - 19/02/2001

1 Introduction

1.1 Since the beginning of 1996, the National Library of Australia has taken a number of initiatives relating to managing long term access to online Australian publications:

  • In 1996, the Selection Committee on Online Australian Publications (SCOAP) produced the first working version of these Guidelines, which were made publicly available on the Library’s Server. They have now been reviewed and extended.
  • In April 1996, The Electronic Unit was set up to carry out the tasks necessary to identify, select, catalogue and archive selected titles.
  • In June 1996, the PANDORA Project was set up to design and implement a system for the archiving of titles selected for preservation. During 1997, extensive work was done on the archive management facility, with a Business Process Model, a Logical Data Model and a Technical Infrastructure Document being produced.(1)
  • During 1998, the Digital Services Project developed specifications for a technical framework that will assist the Library to collect, store, describe, provide access to, maintain and preserve online publications. An Information Paper(2) was distributed to potential vendors and other interested parties on 16 December 1998.
  • The Library published a position paper to stimulate discussion within the Australian library community on issues relating to the preservation of online publications. National Strategy for Provision of Access to Australian Electronic Publications: A National Library of Australia Position Paper (3) was issued in October, 1996.
  • The Library has initiated collaboration with other national libraries working in this area, and a paper, Developing national collections of electronic publications: issues to be considered and recommendations for future collaborative actions(4), was presented to the workshop, Legal Deposit of Electronic Materials, sponsored by the IFLA Section on National Libraries and held in Amsterdam in August 1998.
  • To address the lack of legal deposit provisions for electronic publications in Commonwealth legislation, the Library has made two submissions to the Copyright Law Review Committee(5) (6), one of these in conjuction with the National Film and Sound Archive.

1.2 The Library recognises that there is a need for action to preserve our documentary heritage in the online format.(7) The lack, to date, of legal deposit provisions for electronic publications under the Commonwealth Copyright Act makes the need for action now more pressing.

1.3 As discussed in its position paper, National Strategy for Provision of Access to Australian Electronic Publications, the National Library considers that a collaborative approach to guaranteeing long term access to Australian electronic publications is essential. It is willing to take a leadership role in developing policy and facilitating agreements between interested parties.

1.4 In particular, the National Library would wish to develop cooperative agreements whereby State libraries would agree to ensure long term access to online publications of the relevant State government, local governments within the State, State-based organisations and publications containing information that is specific to the State or a region of it.

1.5 The point of cooperative agreements will be not only to ensure that as many Australian online publications as possible are preserved, but also to avoid any unnecessary duplication of archiving and preservation effort.

1.6 SCOAP's prime focus has been to develop guidelines to select those online publications of national significance to which long term access should ideally be ensured. How it could be done technically and what resources would be required were secondary considerations. However, as the Committee members worked with the publications, it was impossible not to recognise the implications of some of the decisions that were being made and technical and resources issues did, in fact, influence the guidelines as they developed, to a certain extent.

1.7 While it is intended to select all publications judged to be of national significance, technical and resource issues may impact not only on what can actually be preserved but also to what extent the look and feel of the original can be maintained. The experience of the Electronic Unit in archiving online publications is building up a picture of what the resource and technical limitations are.

1.8 These are selection guidelines for use at the operational level. The Library’s Collection Development Policy for Electronic publications is also available.(8)

1.9 The guidelines include publications located on the World Wide Web as well as at gopher and ftp sites. They do not cover some types of online resources: databases(9), information search services, discussion lists, bulletin boards and news groups have not been considered at this stage.

1.10 Initially, archived publications will be stored on the Library's Server. As time goes by, it is anticipated that other forms of storage will have to be employed and offline storage has not been discounted.

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2 Terminology

The lack of a well-developed taxonomy for the various aspects of electronic publishing makes it difficult to convey concepts unambiguously. The following definitions are an attempt to clarify the way in which terms are being used in this document.

2.1 In this document, the term 'online' is used in preference to 'electronic', 'networked' or 'digital' when describing documents published on the Internet.

2.2 'Home page' is used in the limited sense of the first screen or entry point for a site. It is the default page that the reader is taken back to when s/he clicks on the home page icon within a site.

2.3 'Site' is used to mean a collection of linked documents, mostly with the same basic Internet address (internal links), although there are often links to documents on other sites (external links) as well. It is a general term which includes serials, monographs and what are often referred to loosely as 'home pages'.

2.4 'Title' is used in the sense of an entity that is being considered, or has been selected, for preservation. It may be a single document, or a number of linked documents with the same basic Internet address.

2.5 In these guidelines, the term ' to archive' is used to mean the act of down loading from the Internet and storing on the Library's Server or some form of offline storage. The term 'to preserve' is used to mean taking certain steps, including archiving, organising, describing, refreshing and migrating of titles, to ensure that the Library can continue to provide long term access.

2.6 For discussion of ‘publication’, please see paragraph 3.3.

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3 Selection Intentions

3.1 In the print format, the National Library aims to build a comprehensive collection of publications (subject to agreements with other collecting agencies). Online publishing, however, is different from print publishing and will be treated differently. Publications are often mounted on the Internet without the quality filtering mechanism provided by editors and publishers. Consequently, standards are much more variable than they are in print.

3.2 The potential volume of published material to be dealt with is overwhelming in relation to the resources available. A higher degree of selectivity is therefore necessary for online publications than is the case with print.

3.3 The NLA is operating on the basis that anything that is publicly available on the Internet is published. However, distinctions between traditional categories of documents such as books, serials, manuscripts, working drafts and organisational records are blurred in the electronic environment. It is not the intention of the Library to preserve organisational records and similar materials, which are the domain of archives and record management. Ongoing discussions with the National Archives of Australia are taking place to clarify our complementary roles in preserving electronic documents.

3.4 In general, where there are both online and print or microform versions of a publication available, the latter (print or microform) will be acquired for the National Collection in preference to the online version. The online version (including online versions of NLA's own print publications) will only be selected for preservation as well if it has significant additional information or value. Where there are both online and CD ROM or floppy disk versions available, the online version is preferred because the technical obstacles to long term preservation are understood to be fewer for online publications.

3.5 The National Library will not attempt to preserve all versions/editions of a selected online title, just as we do not attempt to preserve all stages of a print loose leaf item. In the online environment, publications can and often do change frequently and it is not feasible to capture all instances of change. A decision will be made on the frequency of capture desirable for each title. The publication pattern, the importance of the information, and the stability of the site will be factors that affect this decision. Some titles will be captured as comprehensively as possible, while others may have a just a one off 'snapshot' taken of them.

3.6 As indicated in 1.4, the National Library wishes to develop cooperative agreements with State libraries for the preservation of publications relevant to the State. Publications of State governments, local governments, State based organisations and publications containing information that is specific to a State or a region of it will not be selected for preservation by the National Library, unless a publication has some broader national significance. Significant ACT publications will be selected for preservation. This includes not only those with a broader regional or national focus but also those relating just to the ACT.

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4 General Selection Guidelines

4.1 Australian content

4.1.1 To be selected for national preservation, a significant proportion of a work should

  • be about Australia(10); or
  • be on a subject of social, political, cultural, religious, scientific or economic significance and relevance to Australia and be written by an Australian author; or
  • be written by an Australian(11) of recognised authority and constitute a contribution to international knowledge.

4.1.2 It may be located on either an Australian or an overseas server. Australian authorship or editorship alone is insufficient grounds for national preservation. In the case of online publications, content is the pre-eminent factor determining selection.

4.2 Multiple versions

As indicated in paragraph 3.4, when a title is available both in print or microform as well as online, the online version will generally only be preserved when it has significant additional information or value. If the National Library does not hold the print or microform version, it will be acquired (providing it is within scope of the Collection Development Policy). Where there are both online and CD ROM or floppy disk versions available, the online version is preferred.

4.3 Authority and research value

4.3.1 High priority is given to authoritative(12) publications with long term research value(13). The National Library will preserve scholarly online publications (indicated in the case of e journals by peer review) without physical format equivalents, whether or not they are preserved elsewhere.

4.3.2 Online publications that are not considered authoritative or do not have reasonable research value will not be selected comprehensively. However, the Library will seek to include in the PANDORA archive examples of the different types of online publications on a wide range of subjects to document Australian society as it represented on the Internet.

4.3.3 Where an online publication provides a superficial view of information which is readily available elsewhere, either electronically or in print, it will not be selected for preservation. (Print publications would be taken in on Legal Deposit whether or not they are authoritative, are of research value or provide a superficial view of a subject.)

4.3.4 Support or sponsorship by an official funding body would be one factor only, which might influence a decision in favour of selection for national preservation.

4.3.5 Innovative examples of types of Internet publications that may have future research value because of experimental use of new technology may be selected.

4.4 Topical issues

More inclusive selection guidelines will be applied to online publications on social and topical issues identified by the Manager, Australian Collection Development, for intensive collecting (eg Aborigines, the gun debate, the environment, euthanasia, the Olympics). The intention is not to duplicate the print collections, but to complement them by providing the broader context.

4.5 Defining title parameters

4.5.1 If a publication has a number of internal or external links, the boundaries of the publication need to be decided. Internal links only are archived. Both higher and lower links on the site are explored to establish which components form a title that stands on its own for the purposes of preservation and cataloguing.

4.5.2 Preference is given to breaking down large sites into component titles and selecting those which meet the guidelines. However, sometimes the components of larger publications or sites do not stand well on their own but together do form a valuable source of information. In this case, if it fits the guidelines, the site should be selected for archiving as an entity.

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5 Selection Guidelines for Specific Categories of Material

5.1 Annual Reports

5.1.1 Annual reports of publicly listed companies with a national or multi-state focus will be selected for preservation if they are not available in print and if they are not consistently(14) available in the Australian Graduate School of Management Annual Report File on CD-ROM (lists Australia’s top 500 companies in a given year). Note that this is a departure from the general rule that a version available online will be preserved in preference to one published on CD-ROM or floppy disk.

5.2 Commonwealth Government Publications

5.2.1 The National Library accepts primary responsibility for preservation of Commonwealth Government publications only available electronically. The distinction between publications, organisational records and working drafts is sometimes particularly difficult to determine in the online format. It is not the intention of the Library to archive documents in the last two categories.

5.3 Digitised Materials

5.3.1 In general, sites containing materials such as manuscripts, archival records and pictures that have been digitised by other collecting agencies, will not be selected. The National Library expects government-funded collecting agencies to undertake preservation of their own digitised materials. However, there are a number of factors that may influence a decision to select digitised materials for archiving:

  • There is doubt about the availability of funds to support long term preservation, for instance, in the case of an historical society or arts organisation with uncertain financial support.
  • The digitised materials are mounted on a site other than that of a government-funded collecting agency. For example, the NLA's Endeavour is on the ANU site.

5.3.2 To be considered at all, the site would need to contain more than a digitised copy of the original, and include, for example, historical or interpretative information, a transcript or other intellectual input.

5.4 Educational Material

5.4.1 Sites created for educational purposes will not be routinely selected. However, those that are of particular quality or interest in terms of presentation and content may be selected to provide examples of educational material in the archive. Preference will be given to sites that are not institution specific or curriculum based, but have a broader educational focus.

5.4.2 Award winning school sites may be archived from time to time as representative examples.

5.5 Ephemera

5.5.1 Ephemera will be collected in the same kinds of categories as have been established for the print ephemera collection. A key factor in determining that an electronic publication will be treated as ephemera is that a one-off snapshot only AND a collective catalogue record is all that is deemed necessary.

5.6 Ethnic Community Sites

5.6.1 Official(15) sites of ethnic communities will be selected when the predominant focus is information about the experiences, activities and concerns of the Australian community. Sites that are mainly links to other sources of information, either in Australia or overseas, will not be selected.

5.7 Indexed Publications and Articles

5.7.1 The National Library selects for archiving any Australian title that is being indexed by an indexing service, including an overseas indexing service, and will preserve it even if another Australian agency is doing so. Where only part of an online publication is indexed, an individual article within an e-journal, for instance, the Library may archive only that indexed part.

5.7.2 Where there is both a print and an online version of a title and the indexing service is indexing the online version, the National Library will archive the online version, even though this is contrary to practice for all other categories of material.

5.7.3 The Library will negotiate with indexing services to have the permanent name of the archived version included in the citation. A list of indexing services with which the Library has reached agreement is listed in Appendix 1.

5.8 Juvenile Publications

5.8.1 Sites created for or by juveniles will be selected on a limited basis. The intention is to sample sites which demonstrate the use of the Internet by young people and which represent their concerns, attitudes, lifestyle and culture. Factors that may influence a decision in favour of selection for national preservation include:

  • the site is visually appealing and specifically designed to attract children
  • the site uses popular children's symbols, characters or icons to promote an educational message
  • the site is an official or semi-official site of a popular children's character or organisation
  • the site has won high acclaim or award/s in reputable schemes, e.g.. AFR/Telstra Australian Internet Awards.

5.8.2 Personal sites of juveniles will be selected on a very limited basis and only if they contain substantial information, are of exceptional quality or are particularly innovative or interesting.

5.8.3 Juvenile sites which meet other key selection guidelines, that is, they have substantial authority and research value, should be selected regardless of their being at a juvenile level.

5.9 Literary Works

5.9.1 The National Library accepts responsibility for preserving literary works. However, should other interested parties emerge, eg. State libraries or University Departments of Australian Literature, the NLA could relinquish responsibility for a negotiated portion.

5.9.2 In general, literary works selected for preservation will be limited to those that meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • works of authors previously established in print
  • collections of works that have been drawn together by an independent moderator/editor.
  • works issued by publishing or editorial services which assume some sort of quality control process.

5.9.3 On a trial basis commencing January 2000, exception to 5.9.2 will be made in cases of substantial pieces of creative writing, such as novels and major collections of poetry or short stories. Titles falling into this category will be considered for archiving, whether or not the author is previously established in print and regardless of any quality control process.

5.10 Newspapers

5.10.1 Sites for newspapers such as The Canberra Times, The Age, and The Sydney Morning Herald, that mainly duplicate the information provided in print will not be selected for preservation.

5.10.2 Sites providing selected features and stories to promote print newspapers or other electronic news services are not considered suitable for preservation by the National Library. Snapshots of certain examples may be taken to illustrate the use made of the Internet.

5.10.3 Dial-up, commercial services are not covered by these guidelines, at this stage.

5.10.4 Newspapers available online only will be assessed against the guidelines and preserved if they meet standards described in Section 4, including authority, quality and originality of content.

5.11 Organisational and Personal Sites

5.11.1 Organisational and personal sites are selected on a very limited basis. In the case of organisational sites, those that provide substantial information about functions, projects, research, etc may be selected. Those that provide the kind of summary information available in an annual report should not be selected. Personal sites will usually only be selected if they provide information of outstanding research value unavailable elsewhere or if they are of exceptional quality or particular interest.

5.12 Other Protocols, eg. FTP, Gopher

5.12.1 While active searching and identification of publications in these formats is not undertaken, if titles which fit the guidelines come to our attention, we shall archive them.

5.13 Pacific Publications

While usually outside the scope of the selection guidelines, consideration will be given to significant titles published within Pacific island states. These countries are unlikely, in the foreseeable future, to have the capability to archive and preserve online publications, and the Pacific is a priority collecting area for the Library. The possibility of cooperation with the National Library of New Zealand, which has indicated an intention to collect Pacific electronic materials, will be explored.

5.14 Religious Sites

5.14.1 Official sites documenting religious views of Australians where the views are those of a religion, denomination, community, or sect will be selected for preservation to depict the diversity of religious activity within the nation. Sites which publish personal expressions of religious faith will not be selected.

5.14.2 Religious publications by personal authors will be selected for preservation where the general guidelines relating to content, authority and quality are judged to be met. This includes pure theology as well as social and cultural interpretations of religious questions. Publications which represent a diverse view may also be selected.

5.15 State Government Publications

5.15.1 Until individual collection agreements with State libraries are developed, the National Library will continue to select publications of national significance by State governments, especially where the subject matter covers more than one State, eg, a publication on irrigation in the Murray Darling Basin.

5.16 Exclusions

5.16.1 Drafts and works in progress will not be selected, even if they otherwise meet the selection guidelines. Wherever possible, completed documents only will be preserved. (This point does not refer to unpublished literary manuscripts. The Manuscript Section of the National Library may well wish to negotiate with certain authors regarding the preservation of drafts in electronic format of literary works in progress.)

5.16.2 Promotional sites and advertising (occasional samples may be taken and treated as ephemera). See also comments regarding categories of newspaper (5.9.2)

5.16.3 Sites that only serve the purpose of organising Internet information eg, Guide to Australia

5.16.4. Organisational records

5.16.5 The National Library will not select theses made available on the Internet for preservation. We regard them as the responsibility of the universities and the Australian Digital Theses Project led by the University of New South Wales is addressing this category.

5.16.6 Databases(16), information search services, discussion lists, bulletin boards and news groups have not been considered at this stage.

These guidelines are reviewed on an ongoing basis.

For further information please contact:

Margaret Phillips
Manager, Australian Electronic Unit
Email: mphillip@nla.gov.au
Telephone: 61 2 6262 1140

Footnotes

(1) There is more information about the PANDORA Project available on the Library’s Web Site at http://www.nla.gov.au/pandora/

(2) The Information Paper is available on the Library’s Web Site at http://www.nla.gov.au/dsp/

(3) The paper is available on the Library’s Web Site at http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/paep.html

(4) The paper is available on the Library’s Web Site at http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/int_issu.html

(5) National Library of Australia, Submission to the Copyright Law Review Committee on Reference to Review and Simplify the Copyright Act 1968, available at http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/clrc.html

(6) National Film and Sound Archive and National Library of Australia, Submission to the Copyright Law Review Committee on Legal Deposit, available at http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/clrcld.html

(7) The Library has also been working towards building a national collection of physical format publications such as CD-ROMs and floppy disks. The Library’s selection guidelines relating to these formats are available at <http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/acqguide.html>. Management and preservation of physical format digital publications: a National Library position paper on the role of Australian legal deposit libraries is available at http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/physform.html

(8) National Library of Australia, Collection Development Policy, [Part 3] Australian Printed and Electronic Materials, is available at http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/cdp/03auspri.html. Paragraphs 3.23 to 3.31 refer to electronic publications.

(9) This category includes commercial dial-up databases, library catalogues, statistical databases, geographic information systems and other large databases requiring search engines. It does not refer to publications which happen to be published in a database format, even though a search engine may be employed.

(10) This is defined as 'dealing with Australians, with Australia, or with the States, Territories or any other subdivision of Australia'.

(11) An Australian author is one who was born and has resided in Australia or has continued to be recognised as Australian although residence in Australia has not been continuous, or one who, although not born in Australia, has been identified through work and residence in Australia as an Australian.

(12) In order to determine the authority of a title, it should be clear which organisation or individual is responsible for producing it and what the qualifications or expertise of the creator/s are. Ideally, background information about the organisation or individual should be available. It may be necessary to research the legitimacy of the organisation, the individual or the information. There are a number of sources on the World Wide Web regarding the evaluation of online publications. One is the Widener University/Wolfgram Memorial Library Teaching Critical Evaluation Skills for World Wide Web Resources, http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webeval.htm. This site contains a bibliography of Web evaluation techniques.

(13) At the National Library, in relation to print materials, 'research value' has been defined very broadly. For example, even a single sheet of junk mail in the ephemera collection can be considered to have research value, in the sense of revealing information about an aspect of society at the time of its publication. In the context of online publications, 'research value' is much more narrowly defined and means that the publication should be a substantial compilation of information.

(14) ‘Consistent’ will be taken to mean that the company has appeared in the last five years of Annual report file.

(15) ‘Official’ in this context will be taken to mean a site that emanates from any established association or society within the ethnic community.

(16) This category includes commercial dial-up databases, library catalogues, statistical databases, geographic information systems and other large databases requiring search engines. It does not refer to publications which happen to be published in a database format, even though a search engine may be employed.

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Appendix 1 Indexing Services Participating in the PANDORA Project

Australian Institute of Family Studies - Australian Family & Society Abstracts (Family)

National Library of Australia - Australasian Medical Index (AMI)

National Library of Australia - Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS)


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Appendix 2 Decision Table for Publications Available in Multiple Formats

Type of Publication Print available Out of Print Available on CD-ROM Held by NLA Select for PANDORA
Commonwealth Government Yes     Yes No
Commonwealth Government Yes     No No - will claim print
Commonwealth Government   Yes   Yes No, but will select if lending copy not held *
Commonwealth Government   Yes   No Yes
Commonwealth Government     Yes Yes or No Yes
State Government Yes     Yes No
State Government Yes     No No - will claim print
State Government   Yes   Yes No
State Government   Yes   No Will select publications of national significance if print not held by appropriate State Library
State Government     Yes Yes or No Will select publications of national significance
Non-government Yes     Yes No
Non-government Yes     No No - will claim print
Non-government   Yes   Yes No
Non-government   Yes   No Will select publications of national significance if not held by at least one State Library
Non-government     Yes Yes or No Will select publications of national significance

* The decision to select online Commonwealth Government publications to act as the NLA's lending copy will be revised if the activity becomes a burden to staff resources.

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