1986-2000: Information & access age

1986-2000: Information & access age

This era was dogged by a financial crisis as a result of the devaluation of the Australian dollar. Its impact on the capacity of the library to buy books and continue its serial subscription was severe. (see The Library Annual Report 1987) The salary budget was similarly reduced to alleviate the situation arising from this crisis, and vacant positions were frozen in anticipation of further budget reductions. The Report states, "The effect of such issues on the staffing of the Library is often little appreciated by the University community as a whole. Coping with the increased workloads at the same time as staffing was being reduced, placed additional strains on Library staff." (p.4)

With the establishment of the Reader Services Coordination Committee prioritised on "reader education programmes, access to on-line services and staffing priorities" (Library Annual Report 1986), and a "growing awareness of the global networking potential in relation to library and information activities" (as reported in ANU Annual Report 1991), the Library was set on a course towards the information and access age. Such priorities and awareness were translated into projects such as: the URICA database was networked to terminals outside the Library; the installation of a satellite dish on the roof of J.B. Chifley building to receive international news and programmes; participation in the Australian Academic and Research Network (AARNet) to make available public access to catalogues and networks' overseas databases; establishment of the new unit Centre for Networked Access to Scholarly Information, ELISA (Electronic Library Information Service) to provide framework for individual academics and students to free-of-charge access to networked information and databases; and last but not least, the launch of the Library website in 1999 as a "one-stop desk-top environment" (Library Annual Report 1999). The URICA system was eventually replaced by the newer Integrated Library Management System in 1993.

Possibly as a result of the 1996 Library Review and the convergence of Library with information technology, the idea of a single division of information incorporating both library and IT was flagged.