OUTPUT 1.3—PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Output Description
Public programs, promoting the Library and interpreting and making
its collections and other documentary resources more widely accessible,
are delivered nationally and internationally to targeted audiences
and the general public.
Performance—Outputs

* May 2002 figures. Surveys are now conducted biennially.
Effectiveness
Comments on Performance—Effectiveness
Independently conducted national telephone surveys are carried out
every two years—the most recent one in May 2002. The result showed
that 57 per cent of respondents were aware of the Library—an
increase of two per cent on the result in the previous survey, undertaken
in May 2001. This increase when extrapolated over the Australian population
indicates a growing awareness of the Library’s activities through
initiatives such as new Web-based services, public events such as exhibitions
and conferences, and increasing media coverage of the Library’s
activities. The next survey is scheduled for 2003–04.
Quality
 Comments on Performance—Quality
All quality targets for public programs were met.
Quantity
Comments on Performance—Quantity
Participation in public programs was on target and represents strong
continuing interest in the Library’s activities in this area.
As expected, the figure is lower (–7.4 per cent) than that recorded
last year when the Library offered a range of high-profile centenary
activities such as the Treasures from the World’s Great Libraries
exhibition.
Price
 KEY ISSUES AND DEVELOPMENTS
Participation in public programs
- Following last year’s heightened public program activity,
this year has built an increased public interest in the Library. Some
notable
achievements include:
- A total of 42 253 people attended conferences, seminars, films,
talks, tours,
education programs and other Library events. Altogether, 102 211 people
visited exhibitions in the Library Gallery during the year. Two of the major
exhibitions were drawn from the Library’s collection—The Flower
Hunter:
Ellis Rowan, and The Great Masters by Mortimer Menpes. The touring
exhibitions Creating a Gothic Paradise: Pugin in the Antipodes, from
the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and the Fuji ACMP Australian Photographers Collection 7 were
also presented. Travellers Art, from the Library’s collection,
commenced in June.
- The education program continued to grow. As well as providing teachers
with online resources relating to Library exhibitions, the program
offered behind-the-scenes
tours, training in research skills, school holiday programs and special
teachers’ nights.
- To enhance wider public appreciation of the Library’s role
in collecting folklore, the Director-General opened the 2003 National
Folk Festival and announced
the establishment of the National Library of Australia Folk Festival
Fellowship, developed in partnership with the festival. The Library,
ScreenSound Australia
and the festival jointly produced a double CD, The National: 35 Years
of the National Folk Festival, drawing upon archival sound recordings
from the collection. The Library and ScreenSound Australia jointly hosted
an information marquee,
where over 1000 people consulted Library staff.
- Publishing highlights included A Collector’s Book of Australian Dance,
Governors’ Wives in Colonial Australia, Many Voices: Reflections of Experiences
of Indigenous Child Separation, The Flower Hunter: Ellis Rowan and Mura
Gadi: The Online Guide to Manuscript, Pictorial and Oral History Materials
Relating
to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the National Library of Australia.
A wide variety of corporate and promotional items were also published.
- Four exhibitions this year toured in the Library’s travelling
exhibitions program, Belonging: A Century Celebrated; Follow the
Sun: Australian Travel Posters 1930s–1950s; Burke and Wills: From
Melbourne to Myth and Bunyips travelled to 13 venues in five states
and attracted 124 059 visitors.
- There were more than 500 000 visits to the Public Programs Division
websites.
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