The nature of learning in a public library is relevant to what place e-learning and social networking technologies might have there. That a public library aims to provide something for everyone is also important. Alice Springs Public Library (ASPL) is a place of learning; it is also a crowded and composite space. The use ASPL could make of the…

The "Victorian Free Library Service Board Act" of 1946 was the culmination of a long campaign to replace the mechanics' institute model of library provision with free libraries funded by state and local government. Given that library reform required legislation by the state government, this paper is mainly concerned with the political…

Lists values that should underpin librarians' work: stewardship, service, intellectual freedom, privacy, rationalism, commitment to literacy and learning, unfettered access to recorded knowledge and information, and democracy. Discusses how these values should be used to shape a vision of the future library, a "library as a place" that challenges…

In 2002, the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), Higher Education Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee commissioned the National Library of Australia to analyse the uniqueness and overlap of Australian university library collections, comparing library collections in each state, using the National Bibliographic Database…

This analysis of the transformation of the Charles Sturt University Regional Archives from a library special collection to a multi-function regional repository highlights the importance of stakeholder interests in determining institutional configurations and collection development priorities. It also demonstrates the critical importance of…

This submission represents the views of a newly formed organisation known as Public Libraries Australia. Formed to aggregate the political, service and infrastructure capacity of Australia's 1510 (ABS June 2000) public libraries, Public Libraries Australia will support and represent public libraries on a national basis. Networked across Australia…

Identifies the main costs in on-site and off-site (remote electronic publications) public library collections and specifies the main challenges in an on-site/off-site collection strategy. Presents a costs identification table, table of direct costs, and costs and user-levels table. Considers cost trends and discusses advantages and disadvantages…