Asia-Pacific Library Advisory Committee (APLAC)
Minutes of the meeting held on 23 August 2004 at 9:15am
Library Meetings Room, R G Menzies Building.
Present: Ms. Kathy Collier, Mr. Vic Elliott (Chair), Dr. Greg Fealy
(for Dr. Robert Cribb), Dr. Robin Hide (for Dr. Chris Ballard), Professor Terry
Hull, Dr. Narangoa Li (for Professor Corbett), Professor Kam Louie, Mr. Ewan
Maidment, Ms. Amelia McKenzie, Ms. Renata Osborne (Minutes Secretary), Dr. Kirill
Nhourzhanov, Dr. Nicholas Tapp, Professor Ken Wells.
1. Apologies
Professor Geremie Barme, Dr. Richard Barz, Professor Jenny Corbett, Dr Robert
Cribb, Professor James Fox, Dr. Colin Jeffcott, Dr. Peter Jackson.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and Matters Arising
The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.
Matters Arising
Mr. Elliott reported on his draft paper "Use of Access and Collection Budget".
This paper was prepared in response to a suggestion made in 2002 by the Access
and Collection Advisory Group that the kind of materials purchased and made
available through the Access and Collection Budget should be defined and noted.
Mr. Elliott alluded to the dual principles specified in his draft report that
all materials made available through the Access and Collection Budget should
be (a) of enduring value and (b) accessible to the entire university community.
The content and format of these materials will remain the prerogative of the
academics. Professor Hull enquired as to whether Mr. Elliott's report will be
made available to the wider academic community. Mr. Elliott replied in the affirmative.
Mr. Elliott reported on changes to the budget reporting structure which will
result in greater transparency and accountability and provide increased stability.
There is now a single Access & Collection Reserve Fund of over $409,000
that can be used to cover any downward currency fluctuation or for once-off
purchases. The Division of Information is also continuing to purchase US currency
(against known subscriptions) to take advantage of favourable exchange rates,
and has recently purchased US$1.6million. In addition, the Librarian has a contingency
fund of $300,000 for special purchases.
Dr. Tapp enquired if the model employed for the allocation of A&C funds
to the different academic areas can be made public. Mr. Elliott agreed that
the percentages used for funds allocation could be provided.
Ms. Osborne reported that Professors Wells and Louie, Dr. Tapp and Mr. Maidment,
have been invited to join APLAC.
Mr. Elliott noted APLAC discussions in June 2003 on unique Pacific resources
held by the University and by individual scholars. Ms. Osborne reported that
Mr. Elliott and Ms. Osborne have had a preliminary meeting with Professors Fox
and Tryon and Dr. Fry and discussed these resources, in particular the material
stored on campus. The Library has agreed to undertake an assessment of this
material in relation to locating some of the material in the Library. Mr. Maidment
named some of the many collections currently held on campus, and stated it was
not the responsibility of the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau to maintain records
of these collections. Ms. McKenzie pointed out that the National Library has
experience in the management of archival collections and expressed the National
Library's willingness to collaborate on the Pacific collections.
Professor Hull enquired on the frequency of APLAC meetings. Mr. Elliott replied
that there is to be another APLAC meeting this year following the Asia Pacific
Focus Group meetings.
3. Report from the Librarian
Mr. Elliott reported on:
- the new structure of the Library implemented in March 2004 which saw the creation
of the four Library Precincts and the two Library Programs plus the Information
Literacy Program
- the Quality Review, including the favourable outcome of the Division of Information's
self-assessment in terms of recommendations made in the 2001 McKinnon Review
of the University administration. Mr. Elliott also reported on the visit to
Menzies by Professor Wim Stokhof (Director, IIAS, Leiden) and Sir Colin Lucas
(V-C, Oxford University) in relation to the Quality Audit, and the September
release date for the Quality Audit Report
- the launch of ANU's E-Press in May 2004.
4. APLAC Membership
Ms. Osborne reported that Professor Marr expressed a wish to resign from APLAC
and proposed that Dr. Tana Li take his place. APLAC members accepted the proposal.
There was discussion on the size of APLAC and whether there was adequate representation
of the different areas of interest. There was general agreement to maintain
the number of members and for the existing members to represent the full range
of interests.
5. 2004 Access and Collection Budget
Ms. Osborne noted the overall health of the 2004 Asia Pacific A&C budget.
Ms. Osborne drew attention to individual budgets that were in deficit, and suggested
that the cancellation of unfilled aged orders in these budgets may reduce this
deficit. Mr. Elliott mentioned the possibility of clearing these deficits from
the contingency funds.
Dr. Nourzhanov requested that the single "Middle East" budget be
divided into "western" and "vernacular" Middle East budgets.
The Library agreed to liaise with the Middle East Focus Group on this matter.
Dr. Nourzhanov requested that the end-of-year A&C budget figures for preceding
years be tabled at future APLAC meetings for comparison. The Library agreed
to do this.
Professor Hull asked how area budgets contributed funds to the single electronic
products budget line, and whether maintaining a separate electronic products
budget line reflected a general move by the Library towards electronic resources.
Mr. Elliott explained that the Library applied a formula based on subject coverage
for payment of multi-disciplinary electronic products. Ms. Osborne added that
in the case of Asia Pacific-specific electronic products the contributing area
budget was usually clear.
Professor Wells mentioned that funds were available from the Centre for Korea
Studies for the cataloguing of Korean language material, and that there was
a quantity of Korean books in his possession for contribution to the Library.
Dr. Nouzhanov reiterated the offer from staff at the Centre for Arab and Islamic
Studies to assist the Library in dealing with Arabic, Turkish and Farsi material.
Mr. Elliott thanked him for the offer and added that out-sourcing the work to
a cataloguing agency was an alternative option.
6. Expensive Items Proposals
The recommendations on purchase of expensive items were accepted.
The following was noted:
- that an order, against the western China/Korea budget, to the purchase the
Maritime Customs Service Archives on microfiche has been cancelled because of
delay in publishing, which will reimburse approximately $9,000 to that budget
- that both the western and vernacular Japan budgets will be slightly overcommitted
if all recommended items were purchased
7. New Serials Proposals
Dr. Nourzhanov informed the meeting that the journals Arabica and Hawwa were
both available online in fulltext on Ingenta. The Library will review online
access and will not subscribe to these journals if access is confirmed.
All other new serials proposals were accepted.
Professor Hull questioned the desirability of cancelling Health and population,
perspectives and issues citing its relevance to a number of research interests
on campus. He suggested the Library investigate possible cheaper supply alternatives.
The Library agreed not to cancel this title.
In relation to the proposed cancellation of Journal of Indo-European studies,
Dr. Tapp asked whether the journal covered linguistics topics. The library will
review the situation.
The remaining three titles were approved for cancellation.
8. Any Other Business
Ms. McKenzie reported on staffing matters at the National Library, in particular
the retirement of Mrs. Fry, the Korean Collection librarian, and Mrs. McFadden,
the Thai Collection librarian. Ms. McKenzie noted the difficulty in finding
a suitably qualified librarian to replace Mrs. Fry, and therefore the position
will remain vacant for the time being. Ms. Eve Thwaites has been appointed to
replace Mrs. McFadden and will take up the position early next year.
Ms. McKenzie mentioned that the National Library has decided to allow ANU Library
an extended loan, through ILL, on a specific Japanese language multi-volume
set. However, it will not be the one-year loan as requested by ANU Library.
Dr. Fry asked if the Library noticed an increase in the number of library books
and journals being defaced with highlighter markings and annotations. Mr. Elliott
remarked that it was likely there was a small increase in the maltreatment of
Library material but that this was very hard for the Library to control.
9. Next Meeting
Date to be determined.
