Asian Collections Reading Room, National Library of Australia

Australien [cartographic material] / zu finden bey Ioh. Walch in Augsburg. [182-]

The development of CJK collections in Australia: problems

and prospects

Amelia McKenzie

Director, Asian Collections

Overview

• Australia – 20M population• Land mass of 4.8 million square miles• 85% of population in urban areas• 45 universities• 20 universities have Asian studies

programs• High level of Asia research (but

enrolments trending down)

Libraries supporting Asia research

• Main collections in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane

• High level of cooperation• National Library has always been part of

the picture• Collecting strengths in CJK and

Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia

Access

• Single National Bibliographic Database since 1981 (1300 members) – hosted by NLA

• National CJK Service – shared cataloguing on Innopac platform (23 members)

• A modest success – 1.5M records, 490,000 holdings

Access

• NCJKS soon to be integrated into National Bibliographic Database on OCLC Pica platform (Unicode-compliant)

• Implementation late 2005• Improved access for all non-Roman

scripts (we hope!)• Access to NBD is through Libraries

Australia (to be free from Jan 2006) including ‘get’ option – ILL, copies

Access

• Distant collections and declining resources mean cooperation is essential

• Models are• Collecting agreements, eg NLA and

ANU • Consortium purchasing• Local networks, eg ‘Asian Libraries in

Melbourne’

Electronic resources

• Database products only at major libraries

• Standalone CD-ROMs common

• But difficulties with IT platforms for some products

Licensing

• Typical difficulties encountered in negotiations - permissions• Downloading, printing, unlimited

viewing• Saving, emailing• Document supply

Prospects – what’s coming next?

• Use of print collections is declining

• Use of online services is increasing

• But university collecting is declining, matching trends in Asian studies

• NLA collections provide stability at national level

From print to online to what?

• What new formats should we be collecting?

• Films, VCDs, images• Ephemera – posters, brochures, leaflets• Web sites – who is archiving significant

research level sites?

Unexpected surprises

• Deterioration of cellulose acetate microform collections

• Mainly pre-1984 collections

• Deterioration has already begun

Thank you!

www.nla.gov.au

www.librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au

amckenzie@nla.gov.au