Australian National Bibliographic Database
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The Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD), formerly part of the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) and for some years renamed Kinetica, is a national shared
library catalog A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliography, bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libra ...
uing network, hosted by the
National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
. It commenced in 1981 in Australia as the ABN, and after a series of rebrandings and added services, has since 2006 been available through Libraries Australia (the successor to the ABN). In mid-2019, Libraries Australia partnered with
Trove Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...
, and as of June 2020 is set to be co-branded with Trove. ANBD is Australia's largest single bibliographic resource, containing
bibliographic record A bibliographic record is an entry in a bibliographic index (or a library catalog) which represents and describes a specific resource. A bibliographic record contains the data elements necessary to help users identify and retrieve that resource, as ...
s of published and unpublished sources that form part of an Australian collection, as well as catalogue records of items from the US
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
and other institutions. It includes holdings data, name and subject authority records. It supplies records to Libraries Australia in various supported formats, in order to provide enriched data and support copy cataloguing, thus streamlining services for all libraries in Australia. It is a subscription-based service, via Libraries Australia, for
librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...
s, used for reference,
collection development Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...
, cataloguing and
inter-library loan Inter-library loan (abbreviated ILL, sometimes called document delivery, document supply, inter-lending, inter-library services, inter-loan, or resource sharing) is a service that enables patrons of one library to borrow materials that are held by ...
s. It thus also serves as a kind of enhanced
union catalogue A union catalog is a combined library catalog describing the collections of a number of libraries. Union catalogs have been created in a range of media, including book format, microform, cards and more recently, networked electronic databases. Pri ...
.


History

The
National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
(NLA) began investigating the potential for a national shared cataloguing network in the 1970s. The idea behind the network was that, instead of every library in Australia separately cataloguing every item in their collection, an item would be catalogued just once and stored on a single
database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
. Librarians in other libraries could then copy the record, thus bringing about huge savings in efficiency and money. In August 1978, following a feasibility study, the NLA announced a pilot project. The Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) commenced operations on 2 November 1981, with six participating libraries, which all contributed cataloguing records. During those pre-
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
days, library catalogues were on cards or
microfiche A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...
, so the use of the digital dabase was seen as revolutionary. The database was known as the Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD), while the library network was the Australian Bibliographic Network. The ABN may be seen as the forerunner to Libraries Australia. The National Library established an advisory body, the ABN Network Committee (now Libraries Australia Advisory Committee, or LAAC) to advise the Library on the operation and development of the service. Various state library systems joined the network within the next few years, such as
State Library Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...
in 1982, and the first ABN conference was held in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
in 1983. The ABN system was as a multi-sector network, including university, state, public and special libraries. Development of ABN
/ref> Services to school libraries were provided under a separate national service, the Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS), first developed in 1984 as ASCIS.


National standards

Training for the network, and the subject catalogue of the network underwent a range of changes in the 1980s. The ABN Standards Committee met for the first time on 14 May 1981. The issues dealt with in the first four meetings included: * minimum level of detail in contributed records * allowable and mandatory changes to bibliographic and authority records * priorities for
authority control In information science, authority control is a process that organizes information, for example in library catalogs, by using a single, distinct spelling of a name (heading) or an identifier (generally persistent and alphanumeric) for each top ...
* detailed examination of
AACR2 ''Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules'' (AACR) were an international library cataloging standard. First published in 1967 and edited by C. Sumner Spalding, a second edition (AACR2) edited by Michael Gorman and Paul W. Winkler was issued in 1978, ...
rule interpretations * standards for geographic names * extension of
LCSH The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) comprise a thesaurus (in the information science sense, a controlled vocabulary) of subject headings, maintained by the United States Library of Congress, for use in bibliographic records. LC Subje ...
to allow additional 'approved' subject headings * use of
MESH Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. It serves as a thesaurus of index terms that facilitates searching. Created and updated by th ...
and "Participant" subject headings * the subject heading for
Australian Aborigines Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 years ...
* policy on duplicate records * the hierarchy for "bumping" (record replacement) among different sources * standards for a "high level record" that would be immune from bumping * extension of the Input/Edit system to cater for music, maps and
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
s Once standards were established, a range of guidelines and publications ensued


Inter-library loans

In 1990, the ABN created an inter-library lending service.


Rebranding

In 1999, the National Library moved to a new system, called Kinetica, which conformed to the standard international
z39.50 Z39.50 is an international standard client–server, application layer communications protocol for searching and retrieving information from a database over a TCP/IP computer network, developed and maintained by the Library of Congress. It is cov ...
protocol, enabling it to interact with other automated library systems. The software allowed users to interact with a
graphical interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation. In many applications, GUIs are used instead of te ...
for the first time, rather than a text-based one, and by this time there were over 1000 member libraries and almost 30 million items were available on the ANDB. After a two-year project to redevelop Kinetica, the software used for searching and cataloguing was replaced, and a new administration system was created in November 2005. The new service was branded Libraries Australia, consisting of four components: Search, Cataloguing, Administration and Document Delivery. The more
user-friendly Usability can be described as the capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which a softw ...
search facility for ANBD then provided access to over 42 million items held by around 800 libraries around Australia, as well as about 1.2 million images held by PictureAustralia and many international library catalogues. In addition, the Chinese, Korean and Japanese Database (CJK) merged with Libraries Australia, and in the following year, a free search became publicly available.


International cooperation

In 2006, the National Library entered into an agreement with the
National Library of New Zealand The National Library of New Zealand () is charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga) Act 2003). Under the ...
, allowing inter-library loans between the two countries. In 2007, Libraries Australia signed an agreement with international library cooperative
OCLC OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...
, which meant that data added to the ANDB was included in
WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...
, the largest
online public access catalogue The online public access catalog (OPAC), now frequently synonymous with ''library catalog'', is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Online catalogs have largely replaced the analog card catalogs previously ...
(OPAC) in the world.


Trove, and recent changes

In 2008–9, Libraries Australia's free and subscription services were separated, and the free public search was replaced by Trove. In 2013, it adopted a new cataloguing standard, RDA
Resource Description and Access Resource Description and Access (RDA) is a standard for descriptive cataloging initially released in June 2010, providing instructions and guidelines on formulating bibliographic data. Intended for use by libraries and other cultural organization ...
. In 2014, it redeveloped the search facility, and the following year, ANBD reached a million RDA records.


Current services and organisation

The ANBD is the largest single bibliographic source in Australia. It contains millions of entries for books, journals and items in formats other than text, such as films,
sound recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, Mechanical system, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of ...
s, photographs,
braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...
and
audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...
s, music scores,
computer file A computer file is a System resource, resource for recording Data (computing), data on a Computer data storage, computer storage device, primarily identified by its filename. Just as words can be written on paper, so too can data be written to a ...
s and digital material. It includes catalogue records from Australian and other libraries; Australian records are accompanied by location of the item. , its entries cover 50 million holdings, including those in over 1,200 Australian libraries. Contributing libraries include Apart from the ANBD, Libraries Australia's subscription service also provides access to a number of databases from other major institutions, such as the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
Catalogue,
Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...
,
Research Libraries UK Research Libraries UK (RLUK) (formerly CURL) comprises 35 University library, university libraries, 3 National library, national libraries, and the Wellcome Collection in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its aim is to increase the ability of resea ...
, Informit database,
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
Catalogue,
National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...
,
WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...
, the
Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), is a collection of 4 museums in Sydney, owned by the Government of New South Wales. Powerhouse is a contemporary museum of applied arts and sciences, explori ...
, Te Puna (the New Zealand National Bibliographic Database),
National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia (NMA), in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''Nation ...
and the
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
. It also includes the Libraries Australia name and subject authorities added to the ANBD by the National Library and other contributing libraries. From July 2019, Libraries Australia became a partner within Trove Collaborative Services, continuing all services as before and with a rollout of new services. From June 2020, co-branding with Trove will become effective.


See also

*
National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
*
Trove Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...


Notes


External links


Homepage
{{Authority control National Library of Australia Bibliographic databases and indexes Library-related organizations