National Library of Australia
National Library of Australia 2003 Annual Report National Library of Australia 2003 Annual Report
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REPORT ON OPERATIONS

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Contents
Director General's Review
Corporate Overview
Report on Operations
Financial Statements
Appendices

OUTPUT 1.2—INFORMATION SERVICES

Output Description

Information services, providing access to the Library’s collections and other documentary resources, are delivered nationally and internationally.

Performance—Outputs

CHART - Performance outputs

Effectiveness

CHART - Effectiveness

Comments on Performance—Effectiveness

The overall target of 85 per cent was exceeded for provision of collection items.

Quality

CHART - Quantity

Comments on Performance—Quality

A major survey of users was undertaken in May, with 96 per cent of users expressing satisfaction with the information services provided; 67 per cent of users reported they were very satisfied with reference services and facilities. This represents a significant improvement from 41 per cent in 2000 and 53 per cent in 2001. The survey included in-depth interviews, which elicited detailed comment on user experiences. Recent initiatives such as automated call slips and the significant growth in availability of electronic information services have been well received by those using the Library.

Quantity

CHART - Quantity

Comments on Performance—Quantity

The number of information services transactions exceeded the target. Recognising that key electronic resources offered by the Library were excluded from the figure last year, the target for this year was increased to include all electronic information resources accessible through the Library’s catalogue and indexes and database service.

Price

KEY ISSUES AND DEVELOPMENTS

New services

CHART - Cost per information services transaction
  • The Library is undertaking a wide range of initiatives to achieve its key strategic objective of enabling the Australian people to have direct access to information resources. This year several new services were implemented:
  • Launched in August 2002, Ask Now! Online Answers Australia-Wide is an interactive digital reference service that enables users to ‘chat’ in real-time with a reference librarian, and allows both parties to view and navigate websites simultaneously. AskNow! is available 9 am to 7 pm AEST Monday to Friday, and is operated collaboratively in association with the state and territory libraries. More than 22 000 enquiries have been answered by the participating libraries and the service has been rated highly by users.
  • Teach Yourself Online is a self-paced tutorial available from the Library’s website. It assists readers to navigate the website, search the catalogue, find journal articles, use the Internet, and generally improve their information literacy skills.
  • A new electronic journal service, Academic Search Premier provides the full text of articles in nearly 4000 journals, and indexes a further 4000 journals. Articles may be printed, saved to disk, or emailed, and a tailored email service alerts users to new issues of a journal or new articles of interest. Copies may also be provided via the Library’s Interlibrary Loan and Copies Direct services. The service has proved very popular, with 6729 searches being recorded.
  • Copies Direct is a fee-based service introduced in November 2002 to enable individuals to obtain copies of material from the collection by using a single online order form. Copies of articles, chapters from books, pictures, maps, manuscripts, music and oral history tapes and transcripts can be supplied electronically through the Internet or in print form. Most of the requests are delivered electronically.
  • The AustraliaDancing portal provides users with current and historical information about dance in Australia. AustraliaDancing describes research materials held by the Library and ScreenSound Australia, and provides immediate access to digitised dance-related materials. The service also provides links to other relevant sites and current dance industry information from AusDance.
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