National Archives of Australia and Australian Bureau of Statistics Metadata Seminar 27 May 2009

Stephen Ellis (NAA), Michael Beahan (ABS), Senator Kate Lundy, Michele Berkhout (SEMA Group)

The National Archives of Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics co‑presented a program, “Sharing Data, Sharing Ideas” as part of Information Awareness Month on 27 May 2009. The aim of the forum was to bring together a diversity of metadata communities to share experiences, collaborate and look to the future.

Senator Lundy, a long-time advocate for metadata and the only parliamentarian to have uttered the word “metadata” in the chambers, opened the program with her perspectives on the digital revolution and the place of metadata in managing the information space. Senator Lundy sees that metadata can be a key enabler for:

• making information easily accessible to Australian citizens when and where they need it; and
• enabling the development of innovative and robust government policy and programs based on good, timely, open information.

Michele Berkhout, a data professional from the SEMA Group in Queensland, delivered the keynote address and put “sharing data, sharing ideas” into a global context for us all by “using metadata to interpret our world”. Attendees participated in a group exercise SMSing a word or phrase in response to a series of images which were compiled live into a kind of tag cloud at the end of the presentation – a new form of audience participation!

There followed a number of presentations on various Australian web portals, online information systems and web tools utilising metadata:

• Joanne Evans, a Research Fellow for the Smart Information Portal Project at Monash University, led a project to develop a consumer portal for breast cancer information, BCKOnline, (http://www.bcna.org.au). While the project was successful, the project team is still grappling with the most efficient means to produce quality metadata.
• Vanessa Scott (Information Victoria) is the Content Manager for Victoria Online (http://www.vic.gov.au), a government information portal for Victorian citizens. Vanessa creates all the metadata for Victoria Online and she described how the portal’s flexibility and degree of customisation can be exploited to respond to client needs and current events.
• Gary Anderson (Attorney-General’s Department) has been involved in the development of the Emergency Management Metadata Application Profile with XML Syntax (draft) using AGLS Metadata Standard Part 2 as part of the AusDIN (Australian Disaster Information Network) portal project (http://www.ausdin.gov.au).
• Mary Jane Stannus (ABC) gave us some interesting insights into the management of content using metadata on their websites and the development of “ABC Core” metadata for key entities produced by the ABC (http://www.abc.net.au).
• Barry Thomas spoke about the development of the National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS, http://www.necs.gov.au) due to go live in 2011. In this case, metadata was used to solve the problem of data interoperability between parties who would not otherwise be inclined to collaborate.
• Ross Wilkinson explained how ANDS (Australian National Data Service, http://ands.org.au) is building a data commons for Australian researchers. Metadata will be used for data citation, to support data re-use, for data management, and for data collections to enable discovery.
• Ron Chernich, University of Queensland, is developing metadata tools for e-Research, leveraging IT to assist research data sharing and researcher collaboration (http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~eresearch).
• Peter Alexander from AGIMO told us why australia.gov.au (http://www.australia.gov.au) doesn’t use AGLS metadata for search: the quality of Australian Government metadata is, with a couple of exceptions, too low to be an effective resource discovery tool.

Some common themes emerging from the presentations were:

• Metadata is being utilised for resource discovery and information sharing

• In general, good quality metadata is not available for harvesting
• Manual metadata creation gives fine control and good quality, but the cost is too high
• Automated systems for metadata creation are not yet good enough
• Who bears the costs and where do the benefits accrue?

All of the presentations are available from the National Archives of Australia website: http://www.naa.gov.au/whats-on/outreach-and-advocacy/forums/metadata/.

Catherine Brady

HealthInsite Editorial Team

National Library Technicians Day 2009

L-R Julie-Anne Wolfe, Colleen Gammage, Roxanne Missingham, Trish Olsson , Nicola Cross

The ACT ALIA Libtech Group held their celebration for 'National Library Technicians Day 2009' at 'Functions' located at the Canberra Institute of Technology, with drinks and nibbles. Our guest speaker was Stephen Collins from 'Acidlabs' (http://www.acidlabs.org) who is well known for his work in the areas of Knowledge Management, Web 2.0 and Social Networking. Stephen's speech entitled 'Libraries and social media -

better together' was informative, educational and practical. Stephen spoke about ways of using Web 2.0 and Social networking effectively and encouraged Library Technicians to get out be proactive and promote Web 2.0 technologies in our workplaces. The function was attended by 30 Library Technicians including many current students. Roxanne Missingham our current Parliamentary Librarians and past ALIA president spoke a few words on ALIA's behalf.

Colleen Gammage

Convenor of the ALIA ACT Library Technicians Group

Electronic Resources Australia (ERA)

Electronic Resources Australia (ERA) is a national initiative that is working towards national licensing of electronic resources for Australian libraries. It is the first consortia operation that covers all libraries within Australia and offers all Australian libraries a collaborative purchasing opportunity to provide access to quality online information.
The 2009-2011 Product Panel was recently announced at ERA’s annual Members Forum on 25 March 2009 and the new product offering enables a much wider range of full text resources, including for the first time humanities and social science resources. The full list of products available to Australian libraries through ERA are listed below and you can take a look at the product offerings on the ERA website at http://era.nla.gov.au/product_list/. Free product trials are also available by direct arrangement with the participating vendors.
Libraries can opt-in at any time for either Australian financial or calendar year subscriptions through ERA. Subscriptions can be pro-rated so that you can opt in at any time during the year and your subscription end date will be synchronised to either a financial or calendar year cycle. Note that you can opt in at any stage during the year regardless of whether you completed the product poll - it's never too late to take up an ERA subscription!
By purchasing through ERA you:
· Benefit from prices negotiated for all Australian libraries;
· Benefit from conditions negotiated including remote access for your users, ability to use material for inter-library lending and virtual reference;
· Purchasing through ERA will result in greater discounts from suppliers in future years;
· Are able to participate in setting future directions for nationally negotiated purchasing.
You can even transition your existing subscriptions to ERA, allowing you to realise savings against current expenditure.
Product pricing is based on participation: the more libraries onboard, the better the prices for everyone. This is an opportunity for you to join with other Australian libraries in cross-sectoral collaboration to achieve economies of scale and savings. Key licence terms and conditions (including pricing) have been negotiated on behalf of libraries and are included in Head Deed contracts for each product. This means that libraries can subscribe to these products by quoting the relevant Head Deed in their purchase order arrangments with vendors and don't have to negotiate individually.
2009-2011 Product Panel
‘Australian News & Business Information’
ABI/INFORM Complete™ (ProQuest LLC)
Asian Business & Reference™ (ProQuest LLC)
Informit Business Collection (RMIT Publishing)
ProQuest® Australia & New Zealand Newsstand (ProQuest LLC)
‘General Reference’
Academic Research Library™ (ProQuest LLC)
Britannica Online (Encyclopædia Britannica Australia Pty Ltd) – various editions
eLibrary® Australasia (ProQuest LLC)
Macquarie Dictionary & Thesaurus Online (Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd)
MacquarieNet (Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd)
World Book Web (Forward Learning Pty Ltd) – various editions
‘Health Information’
Health & Medical Complete™ (ProQuest LLC)
Health & Wellness Resource Center (Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd)
Health Reference Center Academic (Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd)
Speaking from Experience (Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd)
‘Humanities & Social Sciences’
Australian Public Affairs Full Text (RMIT Publishing)
Bloom's Literary Reference Online (Warner Books Pty Ltd)
Global Issues in Context (Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd)
Good Reading Magazine Online (Good Reading Magazine Pty Ltd
Informit Humanities & Social Sciences Collection (RMIT Publishing)
Literature Resource Center (Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd)
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd)
‘Science & Technology’
ProQuest Science Journals (ProQuest LLC)
Science Online (Warner Books Pty Ltd)
Science Resource Center (Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd)
Today's Science (Warner Books Pty Ltd)
Libraries interested in keeping up-to-date on ERA developments can do this by subscribing to the ERA eNewsletter and the ERAlibraries- discussion list online at http://era.nla.gov.au/for_libraries/. Alternatively, for more information, including answers to frequently asked questions, visit the ERA website at http://era.nla.gov.au/, or telephone 1800 182 937 (toll free within Australia), or email era@nla.gov.au.

Regards

Roxanne Missingham
Chair
ERA

Peak Bodies Forum, 22 May 2009:

I was very fortunate to attend the forum which was a meeting of the key Australian library groups, kindly organised and hosted by the National Library of Australia. In attendance were representatives from National and State Libraries Australasia, Council of Australian University Librarians, Library and Information Studies Educators, Australian Library and Information Association, CSIRO, Australian School Library Association, Association of Parliamentary Libraries of Australasia (APLA), Australian Government Libraries Information Network, Health Libraries Australia, Public Libraries Australia, Australian Law Librarians Association and the National Library of Australia. The Agenda and presentations are available at http://www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/meetings/peakbod/PeakBodiesForum2009.html Minutes should be available shortly. A short summary follows:

NSLA Re—imagining project – presentation is online. Some key directions:
One Library
A consistent experience across our libraries
Improved delivery of content and resources
Ability to create, transform, use and share content

Transform our culture
The development of a new organisational design
Capability to deliver the Re-imagining Library Services vision
A culture of innovation and exploration

Accessible Content
Improved access to our content
Increased efficiencies through collaborative collection development
Increased amounts of digital content
Improved management of digital and physical content

NSLA Report - presentation is online. Covered initiatives including social inclusion and digital products and services.

CAIRSS: CAUL Australian Institutional Repository Support Service - presentation is online. It has been running for seven weeks now and is to offer support for Repository Managers in the higher education sector in Australia.

Effect of the global economic crisis on library resource budgets- presentation is online. Key points were that overall budgets are shrinking and prices are rising. ICOLC, on which CEIRC (CAUL) is represented, has proposed that:
Flexible pricing that offers customers real options, including the ability to reduce expenditures without disproportionate loss of content, will be most successful.
It is in the best interest of both publishers and consortia to seek creative solutions that allow licences to remain as intact as possible without major content or access reductions.

Impact of GEC is significant.
CAUL plan a Think Tank on the GEC in August 2009 with publisher and content providers.

ALIA
· suggested that we didn’t know all the library associations (including regional and subject groups). Discussion occurred on the level and areas of collaboration needed.
· Public libraries summit (focused on federal stakeholders) to be held in July

Education/LIS workforce Much discussion and different points of view. Maureen Henninger provided a paper. Too many courses? The right graduates? Agreed Peak bodies would meet with Educators at a future meeting.

Libraries Australia and its relationship with libraries in Australia – demonstrated beta of service from the NLA which integrates all resource discovery services. You can see it online at http://sbdsproto.nla.gov.au/

ANPLAN – newspaper digitisation report from the NLA. See http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/about and http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/

Workflow efficiency improvements: the GetWise Project – using technology for greater productivity including tracker to acquire original materials. See http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/issues/95/story05.html

New Standards for bibliographic description – RDA to undergo three months of testing at LC, then a 3 month analysis. If all goes well NLA would implement in 2010 – will be training.

IFLA 2010 – general progress report – dates are 14-18 August 2010.

Roxanne Misssingham
Parliamentary Librarian

Latest about RDA

Latest about RDA

RDA, which stands for Resource Description and Access, is the new international descriptive cataloguing standard that will replace AACR2 in 2009.

The full draft of RDA is currently available for review and comment on the JSC website. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/jsc/rdafulldraft.html
RDA is expected to be released in 2009, with implementation occurring during 2010.

The Australian Committee on Cataloguing (ACOC) has established a section about RDA on their website, which provides a range of information about RDA implementation in Australia, such as FAQs, information about scheduled training courses, and links to relevant articles. http://www.nla.gov.au/lis/stndrds/grps/acoc/rda.html

An Australian email discussion list on RDA, hosted by the National Library of Australia, provides Australian libraries with a mechanism for asking questions about the RDA draft as well as implementation issues. Information about subscribing to the list is also available on the ACOC website.

Catherine Argus, NLA

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade -New H V Evatt Library space

On 6 November, the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Michael L’Estrange AO, officially opened the new H V Evatt Library space in the R G Casey Building in Canberra. For the past two years, library services were temporarily relocated to a smaller facility within the Department and the emphasis of library services adjusted to highlight on-line resources.

The library’s services and functions were also reviewed during this time and the library’s role in the future operations of the Department given careful consideration. A review of client needs indicated that, even in the digital age, there was a need for a physical library space, where officers could browse for information, access it in the most appropriate format, be it print, digital or audiovisual and read into issues in more depth when required, away from the immediate demands of their desk environment. The new library space meets these needs.

When opening the new library space, the Secretary emphasised the continuing relevance of the library to the goals and operations of the Department.

Mr L’Estrange noted that the specialist knowledge of the Department’s library staff ensured that the library would continue to deliver a service which would serve the specific needs of the Department in the digital age. The new library, he said, would be an important attribute for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in years to come. It would offer DFAT officers services to meet their working needs in the twenty first century.
The new space is the start of the revitalisation of the library. Our newly created brand is used in the new space and also features on our new borrowers cards and promotional coasters in use throughout the Department and at overseas posts. In addition the intranet site is being totally revamped. We are exited about the library’s evolution and look forward to a positive future.

ALIAActive Midwinter dinner

This years Midwinter dinner actually occurred in early spring at the Canberra Institute of Technology restaurant on 19 September. We had a good turnout of about 50-60 librarians gathered to celebrate the years achievements and to enjoy congenial fellowship with their colleagues from all sectors. The food was good and the company pleasant.

Our keynote speaker was Stuart Ferguson who has recently taken up the post of Senior Lecturer in Librarianship at the University of Canberra. Stuart spoke of his experiences as professional librarian across three countries, Scotland, South Africa and Australia working in a variety of libraries from public to academic. Stuart moved on to speak about the structure of the new postgraduate course in librarianship. He said that the purpose of the course is to nurture future librarian managers and related professionals so they can best serve their career needs and those of their parent organisations.