Editing National Library of Australia (section)

==Collections==

===Australian & General Collection===
The library collects material produced by Australians, for Australians or about the Australian experience in all formats—not just printed works—books, serials, newspapers, maps, posters, music and printed [[ephemera]]—but also online publications and unpublished material such as [[manuscript]]s, pictures and [[oral history|oral histories]]. [[Hazel de Berg]] began recording Australian writers, artists, musicians and others in the Arts community in 1957. She conducted nearly 1300 interviews. Together with the library, she was a pioneer in the field in Australia, working together for twenty-seven years.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Artists' Portraits: selected and introduced by Geoffrey Dutton|publisher=National Library of Australia|year=1992|isbn=0642105790|location=Canberra, Australian Capitol Territory|pages=1}}</ref>

A core [[Australiana]] collection is that of [[John Alexander Ferguson|John A. Ferguson]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nla.gov.au/selected-library-collections/ferguson-collection |title=Ferguson Collection {{!}} National Library of Australia|website=nla.gov.au|language=en|access-date=2 February 2017}}</ref>  The library's Australiana collections are the nation's most important resource of materials recording Australia's cultural heritage.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Stuart |title=The Library: An Illustrated History |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |year=2009 |pages=273}}</ref> The library has particular collection strengths in the [[performing art]]s, including dance.

The library contains a considerable collection of general overseas and [[rare book]] materials, as well as world-class Asian and Pacific collections which augment the Australiana collections. The print collections are further supported by extensive [[microform]] holdings.

The library also maintains the National Reserve [[Braille]] Collection.

As a national library, the NLA is required by [[legal deposit]] provisions enshrined in the ''[[Copyright Act 1968]]'' to collect a copy of every Australian publication in the country, which publishers must submit upon publication of the material.<ref name=what>{{cite web | title=What is legal deposit? | website=National Library of Australia | date=17 February 2016 | url=https://www.nla.gov.au/legal-deposit/what-is-legal-deposit | access-date=3 May 2020}}</ref><ref name=nsla>{{cite web | title=Legal deposit in Australia | website=National and State Libraries Australia | date=1 June 2019 | url=https://www.nsla.org.au/legal-deposit-australasia | access-date=3 May 2020}}</ref>

At the end of the [[Australian financial year]] of 2018–19, the National Library collection comprised 7,717,579 items, and an additional {{convert|17,950|m}} of manuscript material.<ref name=stats2019>{{cite web | title=Collection statistics | website=National Library of Australia | url=https://www.nla.gov.au/collections/statistics | access-date=5 May 2020}}</ref> The library's collections of [[Australiana]] have developed into the nation's single most important resource of materials recording the Australian cultural heritage. [[:Category:Australian writers|Australian writers]], [[:Category:Australian editors|editors]] and [[:Category:Australian illustrators|illustrators]] are actively sought and well represented, whether published in Australia or overseas.

The library's collection includes all formats of material, from books, journals, websites and manuscripts to pictures, photographs, maps, music, oral history recordings, manuscript papers and ephemera.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/our-collections |title=National Library of Australia – Our Collections |publisher=nla.gov.au |access-date=3 August 2012}}</ref> With the assistance and support of library staff from London, New York City, and Jakarta, building various collections have been possible.

Approximately 94.1% of the library's collection had been catalogued by July 2019, a total of 5,453,888 items<ref name=stats2019/> and these are discoverable through the online catalogue.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/ |title=Catalogue Home &#124; National Library of Australia |publisher=nla.gov.au |access-date=12 November 2013}}</ref>

====Digital collections====
The library is a world leader in [[digital preservation]] techniques,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/padi |title=NLA.gov.au |publisher=NLA.gov.au |access-date=30 May 2012|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20110824015945/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10691/20110824-1153/www.nla.gov.au/padi/index.html|archive-date=24 August 2011}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> and has maintained an Internet-accessible archive of selected Australian websites called the [[Pandora Archive]] since 1996. The [[Australian Web Archive]], released in March 2019, combines records from PANDORA, the [[Australian Government Web Archive]] (AGWA), and other websites published in Australia. In the 2019 federal budget, the government allocated {{AUD|10}} million to the library, intended to be spread over four years to set up a digitisation fund.<ref name=phone>{{cite web | title=Check Out Australia's Web Archive | website=Southern Phone| date=11 April 2019 | url=https://www.southernphone.com.au/Blog/2019/April/australias-web-archive | access-date=8 May 2020}}</ref>

{{as of|June 2019}}, the library had [[Digitizing|digitised]] a total of 5,508,008 images.<ref>{{cite web | title=Digitisation of Library collections | website=National Library of Australia | date=30 June 2019 | url=https://www.nla.gov.au/digitisation | access-date=5 May 2020}}</ref> Where possible, these are delivered directly across the Internet.

Since a 2016 amendment to the ''Copyright Act'', all [[born-digital]] content must also be deposited in the library (with varying provisions for state libraries as well). The NLA has since May 2019 hosted and managed the [[National edeposit]] (NED) service. [[Libraries ACT]], [[Libraries Tasmania]], [[Northern Territory Library]], [[State Library of New South Wales]], [[State Library of Queensland]], [[State Library of South Australia]], [[State Library Victoria]] and the [[State Library of Western Australia]] are the member organisations of the collaboration.<ref name=ned>{{cite web | title=What is National edeposit (NED)?| website=NED | url=https://ned.gov.au/resources/about.html | access-date=3 May 2020}}</ref><ref name=nlaar2.5>{{cite web | title=National Library of Australia Annual Report 2018–2019: 2.5 Strategic Priority Three: Collaborate | website=Australian Government. Transparency Portal | date=30 October 2019 | url=https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/national-library-australia/reporting-year/2018-2019-20 | access-date=5 May 2020}}</ref>

===Asian collections===
The library houses the largest and most actively developing research resource on Asia in Australia, and the largest Asian language collections in the Southern hemisphere, with over half a million volumes in the collection, as well as extensive online and electronic resources. The library collects resources about all Asian countries in Western languages extensively, and resources in the following Asian languages: [[Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Khmer language|Khmer]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Lao language|Lao]], [[Manchu]], [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]], [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Languages of East Timor|Timor]]ese, and [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]].

The library has acquired a number of important Western and Asian language scholarly collections from researchers and bibliophiles. These collections include:

{{div col}}
* Australian Buddhist Library Collection
* [[Jose Maria Braga|Braga]] Collection (Portuguese in Asia)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/asian/form/braga.html |title=NLA.gov.au |publisher=NLA.gov.au |date=12 December 1984 |access-date=30 May 2012}}</ref>
* [[Manfred Claasz|Claasz]] Collection (Sri Lanka)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/asian/form/claasz.html |title=NLA.gov.au |publisher=NLA.gov.au |access-date=30 May 2012}}</ref>
* [[George Coedès|Coedes]] Collection (Indo-China)<ref>[http://www.nla.gov.au/selected-library-collections/georges-coedes-collection Coedès Collection], National Library of Australia</ref>
* [[London Missionary Society]] Collection (China)
* [[H. G. Luce|Luce]] Collection (Burma)
* [[Jessie McLaren|McLaren]]-[[Rachel Human|Human]] Collection (Korea)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/asian/form/documents/McLarenguide-final17-10-wholedoc.pdf |title=NLA.gov.au |access-date=30 May 2012}}</ref>
* [[Otley Beyer]] Collection (Philippines)
* [[Shozo Sakakibara|Sakakibara]] Collection (Japan)
* [[Sang Ye]] Collection (China)
* [[Walter Simon (sinologist)|Simon]] Collection (East Asia)
* [[Harold S. Williams]] Collection (Japan)
{{div col end}}

The Asian Collections are searchable via the National library's catalogue.<ref>[http://www.nla.gov.au/what-we-collect/asian Asian collections], National Library of Australia</ref>

===Pictures and manuscripts===
[[File:Preserving Archipelagus Orientalis.ogv|thumb|Discussion of the acquisition and preservation process of [[Joan Blaeu]]'s ''Archipelagus Orientalis'' (1663) by the National Library (2013)]]
The National Library holds an extensive collection of pictures and manuscripts. The manuscript collection contains about 26 million separate items, covering in excess of 10,492 metres of shelf space (ACA Australian Archival Statistics, 1998). The collection relates predominantly to Australia, but there are also important holdings relating to [[Papua New Guinea]], [[New Zealand]] and the [[Pacific Northwest|Pacific]]. The collection also holds a number of European and Asian manuscript collections or single items have been received as part of formed book collections.

The Australian manuscript collections date from the period of maritime exploration and settlement in the 18th century until the present, with the greatest area of strength dating from the 1890s onwards. The collection includes a large number of outstanding single items, such as the 14th century [[Chertsey]] [[Cartulary]], the journal of [[James Cook]] on [[HM Bark Endeavour]], inscribed on the Memory of the World<ref>{{cite web |url=http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=21308&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804195038/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=21308&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 August 2009 |title=Portal.unesco.org |publisher=Portal.unesco.org |access-date=30 May 2012 }}</ref> Register in 2001, the diaries of [[Robert O'Hara Burke]] and [[William John Wills]] from the [[Burke and Wills expedition]], and [[Charles Kingsford Smith]]'s and [[Charles Ulm]]'s log of the Southern Cross.

A wide range of individuals and families are represented in the collection, with special strength in the fields of politics, public administration, diplomacy, theatre, art, literature, the pastoral industry and religion. Examples are the papers of [[Alfred Deakin]], Sir [[John Latham (judge)|John Latham]], Sir [[Keith Murdoch]], Sir [[Hans Heysen]], Sir [[John Monash]], [[Vance Palmer]] and [[Nettie Palmer]], [[A.D. Hope]], [[Manning Clark]], [[David Williamson]], [[Billy Hughes|W.M. Hughes]], Sir [[Robert Menzies]], Sir [[William McMahon]], [[Lord Casey]], [[Geoffrey Dutton]], [[Peter Sculthorpe]], [[Daisy Bates (Australia)|Daisy Bates]], [[Jessie Street]], and [[Eddie Mabo]] and [[James Cook]] both of whose papers were inscribed on [[UNESCO|UNESCO's]] [[Memory of the World Programme]] Register in 2001.<ref name=mowmabo>{{cite web |title=The Mabo Case Manuscripts |url=http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=21311&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919181415/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=21311&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 September 2008 |date=16 May 2008 |publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme |access-date=11 December 2009 }}</ref><ref name=mowcook>{{cite web |title=The Endeavour Journal of James Cook |url=http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=21308&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804195038/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=21308&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 August 2009 |date=16 May 2008 |publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme |access-date=11 December 2009 }}</ref>

The library has also acquired the records of many national non-governmental organisations. They include the records of the Federal Secretariats of the Liberal party, the [[Australian Labor Party|A.L.P]], the Democrats, the [[Returned and Services League of Australia|R.S.L.]], the [[Australian Inland Mission]], the [[Australian Union of Students]], The [[Australian Ballet]], the [[Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust]], the [[Australian Institute of Urban Studies]], [[Australian Industries Protection League]], the [[Australian Conservation Foundation]], and the [[Australian Council of National Trusts]]. Finally, the library holds about 37,000 reels of [[microfilm]] of manuscripts and archival records, mostly acquired overseas and predominantly of Australian and Pacific interest.

The National Library's Pictures collection focuses on Australian people, places and events, from European exploration of the South Pacific to contemporary events. Art works and photographs are acquired primarily for their informational value, and for their importance as historical documents.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/collection-development-policy/pictures |title=National Library of Australia – Pictures Collection Development Policy |publisher=nla.gov.au |access-date=3 August 2012}}</ref>

Media represented in the collection include photographs, drawings, watercolours, oils, lithographs, engravings, etchings and sculpture/busts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/what-we-collect/pictures |title=National Library of Australia – Pictures |publisher=nla.gov.au |access-date=3 August 2012}}</ref>

===Ephemera===
<!---redirects from PROMPT target this section--->
The library contains a large amount of printed [[ephemera]], collected since the early 1960s and also including older materials. These include minor publications, pamphlets, leaflets, invitations, cards, menus, [[advertising mail|junk mail]], as well as larger publications, such as [[theatre programme]]s or retail trade catalogues. They are selected based on certain key criteria, such as information content, design elements, period representation, and [[portraiture]]. They are divided into various types or topics.<ref name=ephemera/>

This group includes the Performing arts ephemera collection (PROMPT).<ref name=ephemera>{{cite web | title=Printed ephemera | website=National Library of Australia | url=https://www.nla.gov.au/collections/what-we-collect/printed-ephemera | access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref> Within the PROMPT collection, there are further divisions by person or topic, for instance the [[J. C. Williamson's|J.C. Williamson collection]] of theatre ephemera, and performers such as [[Dame Nellie Melba]] and [[Kylie Minogue]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Performing arts ephemera collection (PROMPT) | website=National Library of Australia | date=11 April 2019 | url=https://www.nla.gov.au/research-guides/performing-arts/prompt | access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref> Since around 2017, a team of volunteers has been using the PROMPT collection to add content to the [[AusStage]] database.<ref name=daniels2022>{{cite web | last=Daniels | first=Yole | title=The twists and turns of AusStage | website=National Library of Australia | date=13 September 2022 | url=https://www.nla.gov.au/stories/blog/twists-and-turns-ausstage | access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref> The J.C. Williamson Distributed Collection is held across six organisations: the NLA; [[Australian Performing Arts Collection]] in [[Melbourne]]; [[Mitchell Library (Australia)|Mitchell Library]] in Sydney; [[Queensland Performing Arts Centre]] Museum; Scenic Studios Australia Pty Ltd; and [[Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation]] Archives and Library collection.<ref>{{cite web | title=The J.C. Williamson Distributed Collection | website=Australian Memory of the World | url=http://www.amw.org.au/register/listings/jc-williamson-distributed-collection | access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref> Both AusStage and the J.C. Williamson Distributed Collection were added to the UNESCO Australian [[Memory of the World Register]] in 2021.<ref name=daniels2022/><ref>{{cite web | title=Australian Live Performance Database (AusStage) | website=Australian Memory of the World | url=http://www.amw.org.au/register/listings/australian-live-performance-database-ausstage | access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref>