Informit is most well known as an

online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD). Online databases are hosted on websites, made available as s ...

that provides access to over 100 databases, some of which provide full-text sources. The online versions of the Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS) subject index, and the Australian Public Affairs Full Text (APAFT) are part of the Informit database collection. Informit is also the name of a subsidiary company owned by RMIT Training, a subsidiary of

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, which owns and manages the database.

History

The precursor to the Informit databases was a printed series of

bibliographic index A bibliographic index is a bibliography intended to help find a publication. Citations are usually listed by author and subject in separate sections, or in a single alphabetical sequence under a system of authorized headings collectively known as ...

es known as the ''Australian Public Affairs Information Service: A subject index to current literature'', compiled and published by the then Commonwealth National Library from 1945, and from 1961 issued by the library under its later name, the National Library of Australia (NLA). In 1972 the name changed to ''APAIS: Australian Public Affairs Information Service, a subject index to current literature''. It was cumulated annually, and published in hardcopy until 2000, after which it was published as APAIS (Online). APAIS (Online) continued to be produced by the National Library until 2013, after which Informit took over its production, management and further development. Informit created online coverage from the printed version backwards to around 1978. APAIS still exists, described as "a subject index to scholarly articles in the social sciences and humanities published in Australia, and to selected journal articles, conference papers, books and newspaper articles on Australian economic, social, political and cultural affairs". Approximately 12,000 new articles continue to be indexed each year, on topics such as diverse as Aboriginal studies, anthropology and archaeology; business, accounting, management; health; history; law; and religion.

Informit databases

Apart from APAIS, Informit also includes a range of other online products. According to its website in 2020, its databases contain "over 8 million records from 100 databases of expert-curated, peer-reviewed content", to benefit students and researchers of all kinds. It originally built its online platform for RMIT students, and staff, but now provides information on a subscription basis to anyone. It collaborates with libraries, governments, publishers and others around the world, and clients include the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators The European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) is an Agency of the European Union by the Third Energy Package in 2009. It was established in 2010 and has its seat in Ljubljana, Slovenia. On 6 May, the administrative b ...

(ACER),

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

. The databases, numbering over 100, are grouped into four main sections by Informit: full-text, backfiles, index-only databases and media databases. The full text section includes ''Australian Public Affairs Full Text'', also known as APAFT, which includes full-text articles back to 1994, and index records back to 1978. Other full-text databases include the Asia Collection and AGIS Plus Text (a multi-disciplinary database covering law-related topics). The Informit Literature & Culture Collection Backfiles includes cultural and

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

s magazines dating from 1939 until 2004. Titles include

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisbane ...

, Quadrant and Southerly. The Index Databases include approximately 70 indexes to print journals. The media database group includes two products, EduTV (containing indexed coverage of education- and media-related

TV program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

mes since 2006) and TVNews (covering news and current affairs and TV documentaries since 2007).

Access

The National Library provides online access to APAIS and APAFT. The

State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contai ...

provides access to APAFT both on-site or at home for library members. and the

State Library of South Australia The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research l ...

provides unlimited access to many Informit services on-site or at home for library members.

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.informit.org/who-is-informit Full-text scholarly online databases