Introduction
Overseas resources are selectively collected, reflecting the Library’s commitment to inform and enhance Australians’ understanding of their region and their place in the world.
Collecting material from and about Indonesia, China and the Pacific (including Timor-Leste) is the Library’s next highest priority after its Australian collecting. This reflects Australia’s strategic interests and geographical position within this region.
The Library selectively acquires or provides access to publications from the rest of the world that offer an understanding of global issues, current events and topics affecting Australia, including material about First Nations Australian presence and European exploration from colonisation to the present day. The focus is broadly on the social sciences and resources that contextualise Australia’s history and politics, culture and society.
A key conclusion of the Conference was
The task is too large for individual institutions to undertake in isolation and the resources required for successful and sustained archiving are too great to make duplication of effort a tenable position.
Australia was an early implementer of web archiving. Since 1996 the National Library of Australia has been developing and maintaining PANDORA, an archive of selected, significant Australian web sites and web-based online publications6. The purpose of PANDORA is to ensure that Australians of the future will be able to access a significant component of today’s Australian web based information resources.
Because of the high cost of selective web archiving, it makes sense for one agency (such as a national library) to develop both the expertise and the infrastructure for web archiving, and for other agencies to leverage off this investment. Accordingly, PANDORA is a collaborative activity, as the archive is being built by the Australian state
25 November 2008 - 12:00
This paper was presented by Pam Gatenby at the IFLA International Newspaper Conference 2008 which was held at the National Library of Singapore.
Background to newspaper publishing in Australia
The history of newspapers in Australia reflects the history and development of the country, from its colonial origins to its current day membership of the global community. Australia’s history is short compared to most countries so it is not unreasonable for Australian libraries to aim to preserve a comprehensive record of newspaper publishing from the time of white settlement of the country to the current day. Early Australian newspapers are among the few remaining resources that provide contemporary accounts of how the colonies were governed and of key historic events that shaped the nation such as the first encounters with Indigenous Australians, land settlement and the discovery of gold. They reflect the concerns and circumstances of our ancestors and are heavi
10 December 2009 - 12:00
This paper explores the idea that it may be possible to mitigate what are currently perceived as some of the major hurdles to any large scale, automated preservation strategy by implementing some additional functionality into next generation operating systems. It explains some of the background issues, and addresses why this may, or may not be a viable idea.
Introduction
This paper presents some of the core issues that are currently facing any effective and long term large scale digital preservation actions. It proposes that the only sustainable way in which these issues will be overcome is by changing the way in which operating systems deal with, and provide an interface for users to deal with, digital content.
National Library of Australia Fellows
Recipients of the National Library of Australia Fellowships, funded by generous philanthropic support. These distinguished Fellowships support researchers to make intensive use of our rich and varied collections through residencies of three months.
Professor Gillian Russell (2018 Kollsman Fellow for Research in Australian Literature) in the Special Collections Reading Room Photograph: Craig Mackenzie
2021 Fellows
Professor Anne Pender, Professor and Kidman Chair in Australian Studies, University of Adelaide
The colour of fire: Australian theatre in China and Chinese theatre in Australia 1980-2020
Supported by the Stokes family
Dr Anna Dziedzic, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Hong Kong
Waves and currents: the movement of constitutional texts and ideas across Oceania