National and State Libraries Australia (NSLA), formerly National and State Libraries Australasia, is the

peak body A peak organisation or peak body is an Australian term for an advocacy group or trade association, an association of industries or groups with allied interests. They are generally established for the purposes of developing standards and processes, ...

that represents the national, state and territory libraries of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The libraries collaborate on and support working groups addressing issues including: copyright issues, archival collections, collection development, marketing, collecting and preserving digital content, collections and services focusing on Indigenous Australians, and other issues relating to the collection, storage and dissemination of the various types of resources held by member institutions. It also compiles annual statistics on

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

activities and usage throughout Australia, and publishes statistics on the services of its own collaborating libraries. Precursors to the organisation include the State Librarians Council, the State Libraries Council and Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL). NLSA also collaborates with partner organisations such as the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

on research and development projects. One of its latest major completed projects is the development of the National edeposit service (NED), "an online service for the deposit, archiving, management, discovery and delivery of published electronic material across Australia", which was formally launched in August 2019.

History

State librarians from New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria first met as the State Librarians Council in March 1973, with the aim of forming a

to represent and lobby for their organisations in dealings with the Commonwealth Government. The

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

joined in 1980, Australian Capital Territory in 1987 and the National Library of Australia from 1986 onwards. In 1990 it was renamed to the State Libraries Council, with the membership including the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

s of the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory Library and Information Services, and the National Library of Australia. From 1992, the organisation became the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL). During this time, many projects were developed, such as the Distributed National Collection agreement and the AskNow online virtual reference service. With the

National Library of New Zealand The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...

attending first as an observer and then a member, in 2005, it decided on a change of name to reflect this, becoming National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA). The first NSLA meeting was held at the State Library of Western Australia in September 2006. At the November 2017 meeting, NSLA developed a new strategic plan and business model, deciding to focus on Australian constituents and stakeholders, and from 2018 the name became National and State Libraries Australia.

Description

The NSLA is a national organisation, whose membership consists of the directors or CEOs of the state libraries and the Director-General of the National Library of Australia. It manages a wide range of collaborative initiatives among its member libraries and with other organisations. It aims to improve library services throughout its member libraries by collaboration, and also contributes to public policy affecting the library sector. The Executive Officer and Program Coordinator of the organisation are based at

State Library Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the ...

Research, alliances and projects

One of NSLA's ongoing projects is collecting, collating and making accessible a range of statistics pertaining to public library services in Australia, which are available on its website dating back to 1996. The organisation has been involved in a number of projects funded by the

(ARC), such as Climate History Australia and Grey Literature Strategies. It has alliances with the Australian Digital Alliance,

Australian Libraries Copyright Committee The Australian Libraries Copyright Committee (ALCC) is an Australian organisation dealing with copyright law. It has a particular focus with relevance for the GLAM sector in Australia. It is related to the Australian Digital Alliance. Formed ...

Australian Media Literacy Alliance Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

, GLAM Peak and the National Early Language and Literacy Strategy. The individual member libraries also participate in a number of state-wide or national projects. It runs advisory groups on a number of topics and manages the "Culturally Safe Libraries Program", with the aim of making "programs, services and collections that are accessible, respectful and responsive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ needs and perspectives".

NED

Legal deposit is an important function of national and state libraries. The federal '' Copyright Act 1968'' and legal deposit legislation pertaining to each state mandates that publishers of any kind must deposit copies of their publications in the National Library of Australia as well as in the state or territory library in their jurisdiction. Until the 21st century, this has applied to all types of printed materials (and in some states, to

audio-visual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service prov ...

formats as well), and on 17 February 2016, the federal legal deposit provisions were extended to cover electronic publications of all types. Most states and territories are reviewing or amending existing legislation to extend to digital publications as well. The NLSA consortium has developed and delivered the National edeposit (NED) service for electronic publications, with the project led by the NED Steering Group, consisting of representatives from each member library. NED was formally launched in August 2019, and is now running in all NSLA libraries. Work continues on the system, with further enhancements are in the pipeline.

Indigenous heritage position statement

In May 2021, NSLA published a position statement on

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Indigenous intellectual property is a term used in national and international forums to describe intellectual property that is "collectively owned" by various Indigenous peoples, and by extension, their legal rights to protect specific such prop ...

(ICIP), which recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional owners and custodians of Australia and acknowledges the gaps in Australian legislation in protecting their cultural heritage. NSLA member libraries "acknowledge their collective, individual and moral responsibilities to ensure that management and access to these collection materials is culturally informed and respectful hichincludes recognition and protection of the ongoing, communal nature of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) rights".

Member libraries

members are: *

Libraries ACT A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...

Libraries Tasmania Libraries Tasmania, formerly LINC Tasmania, is the Government of Tasmania, Tasmanian state government-run organisation that operates the State Library of Tasmania, state's reference library, a network of lending library, public lending libraries ...

* National Library of Australia * Library and Archives NT *

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establish ...

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 ...

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 ...

State Library of Tasmania The State Reference Library is the reference library in the state of Tasmania, Australia. It is part of Libraries Tasmania. Libraries Tasmania includes a state-wide network of library services, community learning, adult literacy and the State� ...

* State Library of Western Australia Each member library is represented by their Chief Executive, State Librarian, or Director-General.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:National and State Libraries Australia Library consortia 2006 establishments in Australia