Australian Newspaper Plan
Annual Report 2008/9
National & State Libraries Australasia
November 2009
Australian Newspaper Plan
Preserving for Permanent Access
Annual Report 2008/9
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to describe progress with the Australian Newspaper Plan (ANPlan) in 2008/9. The achievements of ANPlan are evaluated against a set of Key Indicators, which were developed and agreed by ANPlan libraries in June 2009, and the goals set out in ANPlan’s Five Year Plan, July 2005 - June 2010 (see Appendix F).
BACKGROUND
Established in 1992, ANPlan is a partnership of the National Library of Australia (NLA) and each of the state/territory libraries. The National Library of New Zealand (NLNZ) is a full member with observer status.
ANPlan’s Five Year Plan reflects the understanding that a range of activities are necessary to preserve permanent access to Australian newspapers. In particular, it addresses key significant ‘at risk’ newspapers. This Plan, and its revised version, which includes actions agreed following an ANPlan workshop to consider the influence of the changing digital environment, has been endorsed by NSLA. The development of Key Indicators reflects the desire of ANPlan libraries to collect comparable data which quantifies the libraries’ progress towards the ANPlan objectives of collecting, preserving and providing access to Australian newspapers. This is the first time that ANPlan libraries have used these Indicators to report on their progress.
Significant achievements for the period include:
· the development of this set of Key Indicators;
· additions to ANPlan libraries’ newspaper collections through the location and acquisition or transfer of missing newspapers; and through the loan of material for microfilming (Key Indicator 1; KI 1);
· the preservation for permanent access of a substantial quantity of newspapers, through microfilming, assisted by the provision of funding through the NLA’s cooperative newspaper microfilming program. All newspaper titles designated as nationally significant and ‘at risk’ on the Five Year Plan have now been microfilmed (KI 3);
· the provision of digital access to a growing number of historic Australian newspaper titles from each Australian state and territory through the Australian Newspapers service (KI 4);
· the preservation of more than 650 reels of newspaper microfilm through copying from unstable acetate-based film to polyester (KI 5);
· the generation of significant public and media attention to the role of libraries in collecting, preserving and providing access to newspapers as a result of the ongoing Search and Rescue campaign to locate missing Australian newspapers;
· the development of two ANPlan policy documents: What is a newspaper?, May 2009; and Australian Newspaper Plan position statement on newspaper repatriation, June 2009.
PROGRESS
A. Collecting
Key Indicator 1: Newspapers found
ANPlan libraries report 19 significant newspaper finds in 2008/9. These are listed in Appendix A.
Five Year Plan reporting Nine of the newspapers found correspond to all or part of the missing date range of nationally significant newspaper titles/issues listed in the Five Year Plan. Seven of these newspapers have been microfilmed.
Key Indicator 2: Missing newspapers
The State Library of Queensland (SLQ) and the State Library of South Australia (SLSA) report that there are 36 and 34 newspapers, respectively, from their state which are entirely missing and 32 and 85, respectively, with significant portions missing.
The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) reports one title, the Drummoyne examiner, known to be entirely missing. The SLNSW is currently reviewing all titles to identify missing issues. To date, titles beginning with A and B have been reviewed—109 titles have gaps including some with significant portions missing.
There are no ACT or national newspapers[1] known to be entirely missing or with significant gaps.
Several of the ANPlan libraries (Northern Territory Library (NTL); State Library of Victoria (SLV) and State Library of Western Australia (SLWA)) indicate that they are unable to estimate the number of newspaper titles missing, or with significant portions missing, from their collections.
Newspapers which are entirely missing or which have significant portions missing are published on ANPlan’s website at: www.nla.gov.au/anplan/about/collect.html
The relative number of missing newspapers to the number of newspapers found indicates that the Search and Rescue campaign, while successful in raising media and public interest, is having only a slight impact on filling the gaps in ANPlan libraries’ newspaper collections.
B. Reformatting
Key Indicator 3: Microfilming
The percentage of hard copy newspapers which ANPlan libraries report they have been able to microfilm varies from 25-95% across the states/territories, with the percentage of these known to be microfilmed to current preservation standards[2] being 100% for most states/territories.
No data is available for Victorian newspapers.
A list of Australian newspaper titles microfilmed in 2008/9 is given in Appendix B.
In 2008/9, the NLA provided a total of $386,452 (GST inclusive) to state/territory libraries through cooperative newspaper microfilming funding. Newspapers filmed under this program include those designated as being ‘nationally significant at risk’ in the ANPlan Five Year Plan and those that will be subsequently digitised.
For the 2009/10 program, the last year that funding will be offered, $385,000 (GST inclusive) has been allocated.
Five Year Plan reporting All of the 11 newspaper titles designated as nationally significant ‘at risk’ on the Five Year Plan have been microfilmed to preservation standards. This represents a significant achievement. These titles are:
Advertiser 1923-1959 (SLSA)
Army News 1941-1946 (NTL)
Centralian Advocate 1947-1954 (NTL)
Evening Star (Boulder) 1900-1921 (SLWA)
North Australian 1883-1889 (NTL)
Northern Standard 1921-1955 (NTL)
South Bourke and Mornington Journal 1921-1927 (SLV) Microfilming completed for 1923-Aug 1927; 1921-22 not completed because these issues are missing.
Wangaratta Chronicle 1938-1960 (SLV)
Western Argus 1915-1938 (SLWA)
Western Mail July 1926-1940 (SLWA)
Winner (Melbourne) 1914-1918 (SLV)
Of the 21 nationally significant newspapers to be re-filmed to support subsequent digitisation, 19 have been refilmed; 1 has been partially re-filmed:
Advertiser 1923-1959 (SLSA)
Albany Advertiser 1897-1950 (SLWA)
Army News 1941-1946 (NTL)
Bunbury Herald 1892-1929 (SLWA) 1892-1902 complete
Centralian Advocate 1947-1954 (NTL)
Coolgardie Miner 1894-1918; 1935-1950 (SLWA) 1894 –1911, 1913-1917, 1935-1950 refilmed to required standard, (Jun 1911-Feb 1913 were missing at the time of filming; paper ceased publication from 1917 – 1935).
Daily News 1882-1950 (SLWA)
Eastern Districts Chronicle 1877-1926 (SLWA)
Geraldton Guardian 1906-1950 (SLWA)
Kalgoorlie Miner 1895-1950 (SLWA)
North Australian 1883-1889 (NTL)
Northern Standard 1921-1955 (NTL)
Northern Times 1905-1950 (SLWA)
Pilbarra Goldfields News 1897-1923 (SLWA)
South Western News 1903-1949 (SLWA)
Southern Times 1888-1916 (SLWA)
Sunday Times 1897-1950 (SLWA)
Sydney Gazette & New South Wales Advertiser (SLNSW)
Western Australian Times 1874-1879 (SLWA)
Western Mail 1885-1950 (SLWA)
South Western Times 1917-1929 (SLWA) has not been filmed.
Having determined that it has microfilmed about 60% of South Australian newspapers since 1960, the SLSA has embarked on a project to calculate the resources that will be required to film the remainder. This has involved a shelf checking procedure in which the size, frequency and average number of pages per year is being recorded for unfilmed titles. Discrepancies between shelf labels and catalogue records are being rectified to aid retrieval.
The SLSA has also begun a project to identify the latest edition held of each issue of the Sunday Mail between 1956 and 1992, for microfilming purposes. (As many as eight editions of the Mail were printed on weekends during this era). The project is also identifying the edition containing the most country sports results which will be stored separately so that it can be readily retrieved for researchers seeking this information.
Key Indicator 4: Digitisation
The Australian Newspapers service has continued to provide users with access to an increasing body of historic Australian newspaper material from each Australian state and territory via the Internet (http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home). There are other digitised Australian newspapers that are not currently accessible through this infrastructure. Numbers of titles accessible through the Australian Newspapers service; and those digitised but not accessible through the service, at 30 June 2009, are shown:
Titles of digitised newspapers are given in Appendices C and D.
Five Year Plan reporting ANPlan libraries maintain an interest in understanding the nature of libraries’ rights under copyright law in relation to preservation and access to newspapers in the digital environment. At its November 2008 meeting, Laura Simes, copyright advisor, Australian Digital Alliance, Australian Libraries Copyright Committee, led a discussion on possible approaches to the issues raised by libraries.
Acetate replacement
Key Indicator 5: Replacing acetate microfilm
In 2008/9, three ANPlan libraries copied first generation master microfilm from (unstable) acetate to polyester film. This activity was partially supported with cooperative newspaper microfilming funding from the NLA.
No acetate film was copied at the SLSA or NTL, as both these libraries’ acetate replacement programs were completed in 2006/7. Similarly, the SLT holds no acetate film.
Titles, date ranges and numbers of reels of newspapers for which first generation acetate masters were replaced in 2008/9 are provided in Appendix E.
D. Storage
Key Indicator 6: Storing hard copy newspapers
All but two libraries report that they are able to store 100% of their hard copy newspaper titles under environmental conditions which they consider to be optimal to preserve access. These environmental conditions are reported in the Table beneath the graph. This data refers only the newspaper titles which libraries hold responsibility for under ANPlan (i.e. published within their jurisdiction).
Environmental conditions used to store hard copy newspapersACT Heritage Library[3] / NLA / NTL / SLNSW / SLQ / SLSA / SLT / SLV / SLWA
temp.(°C)
humid. (%RH) / 23-25
50 / 18-21
40-50 / 19-20
44-56 / 21-25
45-55 / 21±2
50±5 / 21±1
50±5 / 20±2
50±5 / 21±2
50±5 / 20±2
50±5
Key Indicator 7: Storing 1st generation microfilm masters
Most ANPlan libraries report that they are able to store the first generation microfilm masters which they hold responsibility for under ANPlan under optimal environmental conditions to preserve permanent access. These environmental parameters are listed in the table beneath the graph.
Environmental conditions used to store first generation newspaper microform mastersNLA / NTL / SLNSW / SLQ / SLSA / SLT / SLV / SLWA
temp.(°C)
humid. (%RH) / 7-9
30-40 / 7-9
30-40 / 15±1
45±5 / 10
40-45 / 7-9
30-40 / 12
37 / 7-9
30-40 / 10
40-45
Several of the ANPlan libraries use the NLA’s cold store to store their first generation microform masters. In 2008/9, the NTL commenced using the NLA’s cold store for its first generation microfilm masters. The SLNSW relocated all its 2007 and 2008 newspapers to an offsite store.
Key Indicator 8: Control of microfilm masters
The overwhelming majority of Australian newspaper microfilm masters are owned by ANPlan libraries.
The NLA, NTL, SLSA and SLWA report that they own the masters for all microfilmed titles from their state/territory.
The SLNSW identified 11 titles which it did not own the masters for; the masters of 9 titles are owned by a university, and 2 are owned by the publisher. All of these titles have been catalogued onto Libraries Australia.
The SLQ estimates that masters for at least 4 Queensland titles are not owned by the SLQ. The SLQ has identified 4 titles which were microfilmed directly by the publisher. None of these titles has been catalogued onto Libraries Australia.
The SLT has identified 3 titles which it does not own the microfilm masters for.
E. Cataloguing on the National Bibliographic Database
Key Indicator 9: Cataloguing hard copy newspaper titles
Most Australian newspapers are bibliographically accessible through Libraries Australia.[4] Almost all libraries report that their catalogue entries include detailed and up-to-date holdings information.
Key Indicator 10: Cataloguing 1st generation microfilm masters
Access to microform copies of Australian newspapers through Libraries Australia is dependent upon standardised ways for libraries to record information about their microform holdings. A discussion between cataloguing staff from all state/territory libraries in September 2006 enabled a detailed consideration of changes to cataloguing policy resulting in revised microform cataloguing guidelines: (http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/descriptive_cat_pol.html#ch11).
The extent to which ANPlan libraries have been able to adopt these new guidelines varies from not at all to 100% of all first generation newspaper microfilm masters.[5]
Key Indicator 11: Cataloguing microfilm
The extent to which ANPlan libraries have been able to adopt these new guidelines for all microfilm titles (including all generations of microfilm) and with holdings attached to the correct format and generation also varies markedly.[6]
Other Five Year Plan reporting
Costing different approaches to preserving access to newspapers A report from the SLSA analysing the data provided by ANPlan libraries relating to the costs of microfilming and digitising newspapers was provided to ANPlan libraries in November 2008.
‘Born digital’ newspapers ANPlan libraries have maintained an interest in the issues involved in collecting, archiving and providing access to online newspapers and the gathering of pre-press electronic versions of newspapers, adopting them as ‘watching brief’ items.
Roles and responsibilities in the digital era The tasks identified in the Five Year Plan—conducting a national survey of public libraries’ activities and attitudes towards newspaper digitisation and responding to public libraries’ questions in this area—completed prior to 2008/9, have laid the foundation for further communication and cooperation with public libraries.
In 2008/9, the SLNSW formed a Newspaper Working Group with representation from the Library’s Public Libraries and Community Learning Services. In addition to responding to several NSW public libraries’ enquiries about digitisation, an FAQ about newspaper digitisation was placed on its website.
The NTL is continuing to work closely with the Alice Springs Public Library as they digitise the Centralian Advocate and the Alice Springs Star.
Publicity and communication
The SLSA provided to the publishers of The Islander electronic files of the supplement Kangaroo Island: Described and Illustrated published in the Kangaroo Island Courier in December 1908. The reproduction of the supplement edition appeared over three (weekly) editions of The Islander. A media release, including information about ANPlan, the Australian Newspapers service and the Search and Rescue campaign, was also provided and published in full in the March 2009 edition of The Islander.