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Summary subject collecting information (definitions of the ALG collecting levels are available for reference):
Comments: Overseas collection in agriculture developed to a basic information level through purchase of major texts, subscriptions to leading serial titles, acquisition of the proceedings of major overseas conferences, exchanges with various agricultural establishments, and depository arrangements with bodies such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN. Consolidated collection of all Australian state agriculture department publications provides some research level strengths. Comments: There are some historical strengths from the George K. Cowlishaw Gardening Book Collection (assembled prior to 1939 and now integrated into the general collection). Australian research materials include catalogues, photographs, and a small selection of manuscript material from the Arthur Yates Company, the firm famous in Australia and New Zealand as seed merchants and publishers of gardening guides. Comments: Overseas collection generally at basic level. Contains works by acknowledged major writers in the field of anthropology & spans a wide range of geographical regions. Stronger holdings for Australia (including materials in pictorial collections), PNG & Pacific. Good coverage of Asia, particularly Indonesia, with materials on customs, culture, costume, etiquette & folklore well represented. H. Otley Beyer collection includes rare Filipiana & gives historic depth to Philippine ethnography holdings. Comments: Basic general collection of material on the visual arts with wide historical & geographic coverage. Emphasis on the 19th-20th Centuries & on SE Asia, East Asian & Pacific regions. Selection of the more important periodicals on the history of Western art & architecture & strong collection of reference sources support the monograph collection. Some general research level strengths, although these are regarded historical rather than current. Comments: Yves Coffin collection of photographs of Bali, Cham, Javanese, Khmer and Thai art, architecture and sculpture. Javanese series = 1,000 photographic prints from most of the temple sites such as Borobadur, Sari, Sewu, Pringapus, Mendut, Kidul, Lara Djonggrong et al. and items from the collection of the National Museum in Djakarta. Cham series = 300 photographs taken from the Municipal Museum, Danang and the National Museum, Saigon. Photographs of sculpture from South Asia on microfiche. Comments: The general monograph and serial collection is minimal, with some notable historical monographs and runs of serials. However collections relating to Australia are at research level. The National Library's Pictorial Collection includes an extensive collection of photographs covering events and aspects of life in Australia, especially those of national importance. Comments: The Library's Film and Video Lending Collection is managed by the Cinemedia organisation in Melbourne. Comments: Museology has been collected to support, in the first instance, the Library's own program of preservation and exhibition activities. Comments: Some largely historical strengths derived primarily from the 1970s. Since that time, however, the Library has collected more modestly in this subject area. Comments: Richard Booth formed collection of 231 items on evolution provides a little historical depth. Comments: Strengths include publications of the Linnean Society of London, and microfilm copies of manuscripts held by the Society, which relate to Australia. Relevant material from the British Museum (Natural History) is held as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project and commercially published microfilm sets. Botanists such as Sir Joseph Banks and Robert Brown, and artists such as Ferdinand Bauer, Susan Fereday, Ellis Rowan and Adam Forster are also represented. Comments: Mathews Ornithological Collection from noted ornithologist Gregory Macalister Mathews (1876-1949), comprises books, pamphlets, reprints, manuscripts & pictorial material is regarded as the most comprehensive collection relating to the study of Australian birds to be assembled. Include watercolours by the Cayleys, John Gould, J.W. Lewin & Lilian Medland; manuscripts include those of Mathews himself, Gould & Sylvester Diggles. Also hold National Photographic Index of Australian Birds. Comments: collection of 6,000 volumes of periodicals and 600 monographic works on entomology from the library of Elwood C. Zimmerman, an authority on weevils and Pacific insects, provides some historic depth to the collection. Part of this collection is on long term loan to CSIRO Black Mountain. Comments: The Library's collections in this subject area are dated, with monographs published between the 1970s and the early 1980s forming the basis of the collection, together with a small number of serial titles. Comments: The Library has a well developed, predominantly English-language collection of works on economics. Major economic theorists are well represented, while several specialised collections, such as the Goldsmiths'-Kress Library of Economic Literature and Kashnor collection lend historical depth to the existing collection. Comments: There are some notable strengths in the microform collections. Comments: Strong in reference and directory information. Comments: Information on the economic situation in individual countries and regions has been collected to research level in the past. Works on banks and banking were collected in similar depth. Strengths in this subject also come from ongoing deposit arrangements with the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation and other intergovernmental organisations, along with government publications dealing with economic subjects from Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States of America. Comments: The collection consists mainly of material from Great Britain and the United States of America, with an emphasis on the general principles governing the subject. Comments: Monograph collection covers the full range of developments and theories, with some additional strength in the history of a number of outstanding higher educational institutions, mainly in Great Britain and the United States of America. A full set of documents of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is maintained. Comments: Non-Australian textbooks, curriculum materials, teacher education resources and related materials are not acquired. Comments: Current collecting focuses on aspects relating to policy development and the planning of educational systems. The publications of education-related intergovernmental organisations such as UNESCO and government publications from Canada, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and countries of Asia and the Pacific provide an additional resource. Comments: Notable historical strengths relating to aviation include the Ernest Crome collection on Australian aviation and Austin E. Byrne collection of material relating to the Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm crossing of the Pacific in the Fokker Southern Cross flight in 1928 from California to Australia. Comments: Serial & monograph collections broad enough to support systematic study of most countries & regions in the world, though not necessarily detailed physical & ecological characteristics. Special strength of the collection is detailed regional descriptions of the British Isles. Strong reference collection, with emphasis on acquisition of gazetteers. Collection is strongest for Europe, North America, East Asia & the Pacific. Comments: Basic collection of dictionaries, encyclopaedias, comprehensive global overviews & a few key serial titles covering various disciplines. Apart from the significant range & quantity of material acquired through deposit & exchange arrangements with various government instrumentalities & learned bodies, such as geological surveys, meteorological offices and oceanographic institutes, which approaches a higher level, the existing collection is predominantly at the basic or minimal level. Comments: Maps, atlases, aerial & remote sensing images, globes & electronic spatial data. Gazetteers & literature related to the science & art of map production. Significant historical collection of Australian maps & modern topographic mapping. Extensive overseas collection - current concentration on regions nearest to Australia. Standard topographic, aeronautical & hydrographic chart series are high priority. Wide range of thematic mapping & rare maps re European discovery & exploration of Australia. Comments: History of France, with less emphasis on Germany & Italy. Concentration on 1789 French Revolution - main periodicals held (original or microcopy); more than 12,000 pamphlets supplemented by microcard copies of pamphlets in the Talleyrand, Melvin & other American collections; statutes in several cumulations running through Napoleonic period. Gosse collection includes Napoleon's exile in St Helena; 44 newspapers published at the time. 1848 Revolution & 1870-71 crisis well represented. Comments: Extensive collecting since 1950s, augmented by notable formed collections: J.M. Braga collection on the Portuguese in Asia; Professor George Coedes (1886-1970) collection on Indo-China; Professor H.G. Luce (1889-1979) collection on Burma; Professor H. Otley Beyer (1883-1966) on the Philippines; Harold S. Williams (1898-1987) collection on Japan; London Missionary Society collection relating to the Taiping Rebellion & Christianity in China. Microform resources also considerable. Comments: The collection is uneven, and generally at the basic level. Two special collections are devoted to the former Belgian Congo and French exploration and activity in Africa. The Library also holds a notable privately formed collection of approximately 4500 pieces on Mauritius. Comments: America on Record: a guide to works and other materials relating to the United States of America in the National Library of Australia (published in 1976 to mark the Bicentenary of American independence), details the NLA's extensive collection of books, serials, government documents, maps and microforms relating to the United States. Materials relating to Canada are slightly less extensive but include government publications and a microform collection of Canadiana published prior to 1900. Comments: The Mendel collection, together with the Guimares, Lacap-Booth, Lopez and Paraguayan collections were transferred on long-term loan to La Trobe University Library in 1991. Comments: Australian library materials collected include: print materials (monographs, serials, newspapers, ephemera, music scores & sheet music); microforms; manuscripts; pictorial materials (paintings, drawings, prints, posters and photographs); maps (atlases & sheet maps); oral history tapes; & electronic publications (hard copy CD-ROM, and on disk from the Internet). Major formed collections include the Rex Nan Kivell collection, Ferguson collection & the E.A Petherick collection. Comments: Extensive collection of material relating to Antarctica - includes comprehensive collection relating to the Australian Territory, most publications of expeditions to the Mainland of Antarctica, significant holdings of maps, manuscripts & pictorial material including diaries, papers & photographs of figures such as T. Griffith Taylor & Frank Hurley. Considerable resources relating to the Pacific. Comprehensive microfilm collection of manuscript material copied by the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau . Comments: Basic general collection with some significant strengths for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. Coverage of PNG & Pacific Island languages also good. The Professor Walter Simon (1893-1981) formed collection, reflects his research interests in the Chinese, Tibetan, Manchu and Mongolian languages. The collection of Professor P.O.L. Tobing also covers the field of Indonesian linguistics. Comments: The Library of Professor David Nichol Smith includes a range of first and early editions of all prominent and minor writers of the Restoration period and the eighteenth century. Two other outstanding collections devoted principally to English philology are the collections of C.T. Onions and Dr R.C. Alston. Items listed in the Short Title Catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland and Ireland up to 1700 are held in microform. Comments: The classics of Greek and Latin antiquity are represented through series such as the Loeb editions. The Rene Durand, Speros Vryonis and F.L. Cross collections provide some now largely historical depth to the collection. Comments: Beginning with the microfilm series German Books before 1601 special efforts were made in the 1970s to develop a representative body of the collected works of German literary authors. It includes microfilm copies of 3,087 volumes of the Yale University collection of items published in the Baroque era (1575-1740) and 23 periodical titles in which writers of the Romantic Movement (1796-1830) found expression; another series was devoted to the influence of that movement upon English writers. Comments: The French literature collection developed intensively from the 1950s to the early 1980s provides some strengths from the 18th to early 20th centuries. Formed collections (Clifford, Giuseppe Pelli, Rene Durand, French drama 1701-1840) and the microfilm series French Books before 1601 add some depth. Spanish, Italian and Portuguese collections are less extensive but include such notable material as the Valente library in Portuguese and a collection of Spanish drama in its golden age, 1492-1600. Comments: Overall, a basic collection with additional strengths in some areas. Within the monograph collection, international law, constitutional law, environmental law, human rights, and legal bibliographies represented in relative depth. Substantial serial collection of law reviews, although current collecting of these titles is very selective. Comments: International treaties & law reports, conventions & the publications of a wide range of bodies - eg UN, International Court of Justice, International Law Commission, International Commission of Jurists, human rights bodies & other legal commissions. Selectively collect basic general treatises & periodicals, providing commentary on & interpretation of international law. All treaties registered with League of Nations 1926-1946 & treaties registered with the Secretariat of the UN 1947-present. Comments: Some strength in law reports, particularly old English law reports which - augmented by Early English Books series 1641-1700 on microform. American State Reports prior to the National Reporter. Extensive collection of Indian law reports & works on Indonesian adat or traditional law. Particularly strong in legislation from Canada, NZ, UK & USA - including state material on microfiche in State Session Laws. Legislation from Asia/Pacific well represented. Comments: Bibliographies, general encyclopaedic works, & guides to general organisations are represented in the collection by a wide variety of works. Wide but not comprehensive collection of National bibliographies. For the major publishing nations, bibliographies supplemented, where possible, by national trade publications listing in-print titles. Selected individual booksellers' & publishers' catalogues in fields which the institution has actively collected. Comments: Good cross-section of the monograph & serial literature, with some aspects of the discipline relevant to the Library's own fields of operation held at research or near research level - including: all functions associated with the development, control, management & preservation of a large collection; provision of reference, referral & document delivery services; functions of national coordination and international liaison; activities of management, promotion & innovative technological support. Comments: A wide variety of general encyclopaedias in English and other languages is held in the collection together with guides to general organisations at the national and international levels. Comments: Extensive collection of newspapers. Collect all Australian capital city dailies, as well as major country newspapers, newspapers published by ethnic groups & political organisations, as well as newspapers representing special interests. Overseas collection is made up of a wide selection of major national & international papers with titles from most countries of the world. Comments: The Library's collections in this subject area are dated, with monographs published between the 1970s and the early 1980s forming the basis of the collection, together with a small number of serial titles. There is some strength in the foundations of mathematics where the collection supplements earlier works on logic or general philosophy, but the collection does not extend beyond the minimal level. Comments: The are some (now largely historical) areas of strength derived largely from the Library's entry into the life sciences field in the 1970s when it adopted a role as a major supplier of scientific and technical information in Australia. For a brief period, the Library's medical serials collection was near research level. Monograph collection underwent a similar expansion to the point where it was capable of supporting independent study. The Library has since collected more modestly in this area. Comments: Overseas collections in the performing arts are uneven. Good holdings of biographical works & some areas of relative strength such as theatre, ballet & dance. Performing arts in Australia constitute as a strong area within the Australiana collections - Performing Arts Programs and Ephemera (PROMPT) Collection provides access to a range of materials, including programs, brochures, & publicity information. Manuscript, pictorial & oral history holdings are also significant. Comments: Printed works from overseas related to film and the film industry have been collected to an intermediate level to support the Library's film and video lending collection, which is now administered and managed in Melbourne by Cinemedia. Comments: The collection has been developed to a level capable of supporting sustained independent study in many fields of religious thought and history. Comments: The existing collection is strong enough to support sustained independent study in many aspects of philosophy, especially nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century British and American thought. The collection of basic, specialist and national journals and publications of learned bodies gives a wide overview of contemporary ideas and developments. Comments: A wide and representative collection of Bibles is held ranging from a facsimile of the Gutenberg Bible to modern translations in a variety of languages. These are supported by a range of scholarly commentaries. . Patristic texts and commentaries, records of missionary activities, especially in the East Asian and Pacific regions, and the collected writings of major and even secondary religious figures, form the strength of the collection on Christianity. Comments: Collections relating to Asia and the Pacific, including accounts of missionary activity, are notable. Other strengths include not only the collected works of such internationally influential figures of Hus, Luther, Calvin and Ignatius Loyola but also 17th century and 18th century editions of the Church Fathers, the working collection of Dr F.L. Cross, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford University, and a Jesuit collection. Comments: Collection enriched some years ago by the acquisition of the Australian Buddhist Library. Comments: Islam, particularly in Indonesia, is well represented. Comments: Current collecting focuses largely on the history and comparative popular culture aspects of sport, and is also intended to provide an indication of international trends and related policy issues, and to reflect Australian participation in international sporting events such as the Olympic Games. The 1956 Melbourne and 2000 Sydney Olympics are represented in greater depth. Comments: Besides Australian publications collected comprehensively, several formed collections on cricket (integrated into the main collection) provide some additional strengths to the collection. Comments: Collections of Dr G.P. Charles (covering all aspects of angling) and Sir Peter Crisp (fishing) constitute a notable research level strength. Comments: The Library's collections in this subject area are dated, with monographs published between the 1970s and the early 1980s forming the basis of the collection, together with a small number of serial titles. Comments: A strong collection of monographs and a wide selection of serials on government and public administration form the core of the Library's collection in this topic. General works on the subject are acquired as well as relevant government publications from the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States of America, New Zealand and the countries of East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific. Comments: The history of individual armed conflicts has been collected at greater depth, notably World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War. Comments: A limited selection of works is acquired to provide an overview of current trends and developments in this discipline. Some works are acquired in the field of applied psychology, in areas such as human relations, human development and communication where these explain and define general social, cultural and management issues. Comments: Includes classic works in the discipline together with publications that reflect the diversity of modern developments. Especially strong in material dealing with social problems, social policy, welfare & services. Added strength derived from the collecting of government publications from the UK, Canada, the USA & NZ together with relevant publications of intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations. Coverage of East Asia, SE Asia, South Asia, PNG & the Pacific is slightly more extensive.
Highlights of the collection: The National Library of Australia holds a comprehensive collection of material relating to Australia and the Australian people.
The Library's collections of Australiana have developed into the nation's single most important resource of materials recording Australian cultural heritage. The Library collects Australian materials of all kinds - not just works in print form - books, serials, maps, music and ephemera - but also online publications and unpublished material such as manuscripts, pictures and oral histories.
The Library also has considerable collections of general overseas and rare book materials, as well as world-class Asian and Pacific collections which augment the Australiana collections.
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