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The
first 100 years
This
year, the National Library celebrated the centenary of the
development of the national collection of Australian heritage
materials that commenced with the establishment of the Commonwealth
Parliamentary Library in 1901. Although the Library only became
a separate entity with the passing of the National
Library Act 1960, its shared history began with Federation
in 1901.
In
recognition of the Library’s role in Australian society, a
range of programs was undertaken to bring as many Australians
as possible to the Library, whether through personal visit
to the Library building in Canberra or through use of the
Library’s extensive range of Internet-based services that
are available from any location.
Some
highlights are as follows.
- The
Treasures
from the World’s Great Libraries
exhibition, held from December to February, attracted
over 115 000 visitors, with demand being so great that in
its last weeks the exhibition was open for 22 hours a day.
The exhibition showcased over 168 ‘treasures’ borrowed from
38 institutions in 24 countries. The illustrations in this
Annual Report are taken from the exhibition.
- An
Open Day was held in September, with 6000 people visiting
and touring the Library.
- 251
000 people attended the Library’s travelling
exhibitions, shown in 21 venues in all States and Territories.
- The
Library invited all Australians to help locate important
items not already held in the Collection. The 100th
Birthday BookSearch resulted in the donation of a wide
range of important Australian documentary materials to the
Library.
- In
total, there were 6 334 000 user sessions recorded on the
Library’s
web site, an increase of 66 per cent on the previous
year.
These
activities indicate the Library’s success in reaching a larger
number of Australians in a variety of ways, with the central
purpose of increasing knowledge of, and access to, the collections
and services of the Library.

Improving
performance
This
is the last year of the Library’s strategic statement, Directions
for 2000–2002, and a new statement will be issued
early next year. The Report
on Operations section of this Report focuses on performance
this year, but it is useful also to reflect on the overall
achievement of the key challenges that were set in the current
Directions statement.
The
following comments are made against the major objectives outlined
in Directions
for 2000–2002:
Collecting
and preserving information
- Collecting
activity has reflected the increasing availability of material
in digital form. While the output of print publishing has
not diminished and the Library continues to acquire Australian
and overseas publications in print, the availability of
electronic information resources has increased significantly.
The Library has responded through development of the National
Collection of Australian Online Publications, which
includes a growing amount of Australian Web-based information,
and by providing online access to an increasing number of
overseas journals.
- Considerable
progress has been made in the preservation of digital publications,
with the Library developing procedures for testing migration
strategies aimed at ensuring that items in the National
Collection of Australian Online Publications can be accessed
in the future, regardless of their current format.
- A
strategy was completed and implemented for management and
preservation of the Library’s photographic and microform
collections at risk through cellulose
acetate deterioration. Work has also been undertaken
on preservation standards for environmental control, and
a report prepared that outlines the strategies
- the
Library can adopt to maintain a suitable storage environment
for its collections.
Accessing
information
- Over
100 000 items from the Library’s
Collection have been digitised and made available on
the Web. Collection digitisation is now a routine activity.
- Online
reference services have been established in collaboration
with the State and Territory libraries, and with major libraries
overseas.
- The
trends in Collection usage have included the rapid take-up
in use of electronic information services. Also, the previous
trend of reduced use of printed collections has been reversed,
following the implementation of the electronic request system.
- The
Kinetica
service continues to actively support resource sharing
among Australian libraries. The National Bibliographic Database
now records over 35 million items held by Australian libraries.

Collaboration
- The
Library has always worked in a collaborative environment,
particularly with Australian and overseas libraries. In
recent years, the potential for collaboration has grown
as information technologies enable a greater degree of cross-sectoral
collaboration.
- The
implementation in 2000 of the PictureAustralia
service offering access to over 600 000 digitised images
held in Australian galleries, museums, archives, libraries
and local history collections has proven to be a significant
milestone for the Library in forging new relationships with
a broader range of organisations. Most new services are
now routinely based on collaborative solutions that have
the effect of improving the quality and scope of these services
to the Australian public.
- Another
example of collaboration is on issues relating to the management
of information in digital form. In particular, staff participated
in initiatives concerned with establishing standards for
preservation metadata and with defining the responsibilities
of reliable digital repositories. The Library also extended
its Web-based PADI
(Preserving Access to Digital Information) service,
the major international source of information on digital
preservation initiatives, through collaborative agreements
with the Council on Library and Information Resources in
the United States, and the Digital Preservation Coalition
in the United Kingdom.
Contributing
to the advancement of libraries
- The
Library has continued to work closely with the Australian
library sector to develop and sustain agendas on key issues
that can be addressed through collaboration at the national
level. National forums hosted include the Peak Library Bodies
Forum, the Forum on Library Services for People with Disabilities,
and the Australian Library Collections Task Force.

Our
people
Preliminary
negotiations were completed for the Library’s third Certified
Agreement, to take effect in August 2002. The agreement extends
to 30 June 2004 and provides for productivity and performance
improvements to fund salary increases.
A
series of workforce planning initiatives has been introduced
to ensure the Library is able to achieve its strategic objectives
in an environment of rapid technological change and government
reform. This includes the development of strategic training
initiatives, a mobility program for senior staff, and new
methods of advertising and recruiting staff. Also, a revised
Performance Management Framework has been developed with strengthened
links between individual performance and remuneration.
Financial
performance
During
the financial year 2001–02, operating revenues, including
revenue from Government, were $224.928m, and operating expenses
were $61.061m, resulting in a net operating surplus of $163.867m.
From this surplus the Library was required to remit to Government
a Capital Usage Charge of $162.57m, resulting in an operating
result after Capital Use Charge of $1.297m. (The Capital Use
Charge is a charge levied on the Library’s net assets.) In
recognition of the assumed knowledge required to understand
standard financial statements, the Library has for the first
time added a plain-English summary
of financial performance.

Performance
management
The
Library has continued to improve its organisational performance
management, with the following significant achievements.
- The
Balanced Scorecard performance management methodology has
been in operation for two years and operates to link strategic
planning, operational planning and budgeting processes.
In particular, the Balanced Scorecard approach views the
Library’s performance from five perspectives—customer, stakeholder,
financial, internal process, and learning and growth. This
provides a more balanced and longer-term performance overview
than is possible within the Outcomes/ Outputs framework.
The Library has, though, incorporated the Outcomes/Outputs
reporting within the Balanced Scorecard process in order
to integrate organisational performance management. The
Balanced Scorecard approach has been viewed as very successful
in driving performance, and in ensuring that the Library
is well positioned to meet its future challenges.
- This
year, a major benchmarking study of 10 major activities
has been undertaken, involving 19 Australian and overseas
organisations that participated as benchmarking partners.
The reviews concluded that the Library is performing well
in most areas, while a number of opportunities for performance
improvement were also identified and are being progressively
acted upon.

Future
outlook
The
Library recognises several imperatives over the next three
years:
- to
meet the community expectations that an increasing amount
of information will be delivered electronically at a time
and place that suits the information requestor
- to
reduce barriers to accessing the Library’s collections and
services through a variety of strategies, and
- to
continue to attract a large number of Australians to engage
with the Library in a variety of ways, including use of
research and information services, and attendance at exhibitions
and other events
Innovation
is recognised as the key organisational competency required
for continued success in meeting the Library’s statutory functions
in new and relevant ways. In particular, innovative use of
information technology will enable a growing number of people
to access the Library’s services, regardless of their location.
Also, innovative approaches to managing the Library’s resources—people,
finances, collections and other assets—will continue to be
developed to ensure that maximum value is derived from the
resources available.
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