The National Library has established a Selection Committee on On-line Australian Publications (SCOAP). For many months there has been discussion regarding the selection, control and preservation of Australian publications on the Internet. In conjunction with other Australian libraries, the National Library acquires, controls and preserves the nation's printed documentary heritage and it recognises the need to ensure that electronic publications are also available to researchers in the future.
This poses a number of challenges. For instance, what does it mean to select or acquire a publication in the electronic environment? Is a title that is being continually updated a serial or a monograph? Are traditional cataloguing methods the best way to provide information about and locations for titles or are there other ways more in keeping with the new technologies? There are copyright and access issues to address and decisions to be made about who should preserve titles and how it should be done.
These are some of the many issues relating to on-line publications which have been debated by the Library's Collection Development and Management Committee during the past year. A sub-committee of CDMC attempted to draw up guidelines for the preservation of Australian on-line resources at a national level. It found, however, that the expertise of staff from a number of areas of the Library was required to be brought together to actively engage in dealing with the format before there would be sufficient understanding to develop guidelines.
As a result, SCOAP has been set up with representatives from Acquisitions, Australian Collection Development Unit, Cataloguing, Information Services, Preservation and Systems. Its purpose is to bring together, from areas of the Library on which on-line publications will have an impact, key staff to actively engage in the selection of on-line Australian publications for national preservation. This will enable practical experience in dealing with on-line publications to be built up.
As a result of this activity it is anticipated that:
Consideration of who should preserve a given item will lead to the need to negotiate with producers of publications or other collecting institutions regarding responsibility for preservation. The Library envisages that preservation activity will be shared more broadly than has been the case in the print environment.
It is intended that SCOAP will progressively eliminate the need for itself by working towards the integration of the work arising from its recommendations into operational work areas within the Library. As it will be a learning exercise for all concerned, it is expected that some early decisions may need to be revised in the light of later experience. Feedback from work areas will be encouraged.
For further information, please contact the convenor of the Committee, Margaret Phillips, on (02) 6262 1140 or mphillip@nla.gov.au
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