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 1.3—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

CHART - Performance outputs

* May 2002 figures. Surveys are now conducted biennially.

Effectiveness

CHART - 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

CHART - Quality

Comments on Performance—Quality

All quality targets for public programs were met.

Quantity

CHART - 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

CHART - 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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