Collection digitisation overview

Strategy and guidelines

The National Library of Australia’s approach to digitisation of its collections is described in its Collection Digitisation Policy. The policy outlines the Library’s strategy on managing its digital collections and providing access to them. The guiding principles for the processes involved in digitisation are also described.

Background information

The National Library has been involved in digitising significant Australian material from its collections since 1996. In 2001 the Library embarked on a major digitisation project to improve access to its collection material in traditional formats. Since 2004 digitisation of rare and unique material from the Maps, Pictures, Sheet Music and Manuscript collections has become a mainstream activity. An outline of the Library's digitisation program for still image provides more information.

In 2007 the Library, in collaboration with the Australian State and Territory Libraries, has commenced the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program aiming to digitise out of copyright newspapers and make them available online. As a result access for all Australians to this valuable record of Australian history and culture will be vastly improved. The Australian Newspapers service is already available in a beta version.

Digital copies of material requested by users through the Library’s Copies Direct service are routinely made accessible online, subject to copyright and other access restrictions. Collection materials are also digitised to support the Library’s public programs and outreach activities such as exhibitions, publications, cultural events and education activities.

There are multiple ways to access our digitised collections - using the Library's Catalogue, Pictures Catalogue or the Digital Collections website. The federated resource discovery services such as Libraries Australia, Picture Australia, Music Australia and Australia Dancing offer alternative means of access.

Progress so far...

As of 30 June 2008, a total of 134 228 collection items (consisting of 389 830 images) have been digitised. As of 31 December 2008, the total reached 139,533 items (410,175 images). This includes pictorial material, maps, sheet music, manuscripts, and selected print items. The table below illustrates the breakdown of the Library’s digital collections.

Graph 1 – Number of items in the National Library’s digital collections by collection format, as of 31 December 2008

Graph 1, number of items in digital collections - figures below

Graph 1 – Number of items in the National Library’s digital collections by collection format, as of 31 December 2008
Collection format Number of items
Books & serials 1,977
Maps 8,443
Manuscripts 8,934
Sheet music 11,914
Pictures 108,265

Graph 2 - Number of images in the National Library’s digital collections by collection format, as of 31 December 2008

Graph 2, number of images in digital collections - figures below

Table 2 - Number of images in the National Library’s digital collections by collection format, as of 31 December 2008
Collection format Number of images
Books & serials 66,822
Maps 15,840
Manuscripts 50,550
Sheet music 103,918
Pictures 173,045

Table 1 is based on the number of items in the Library’s digital collections broken down by collection format. An item usually represents a single work and may be described by a separate cataloguing record or an individual entry in a finding aid. 

Items can have an equivalent number of images, for example an individual photograph consists of one image file. Other items are represented by a large number of images. For example, a piece of sheet music may consist of multiple images representing individual pages, or a map may consist of several parts each represented by a separate image file.

For more detailed information about the individual digitised collections follow the links to Pictures, Maps, Sheet Music, Manuscripts, and Books and Serials.

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Infrastructure

The infrastructure to support the Library's digital collections consists of the Digital Object Storage System (DOSS), Digital Collections Manager (DCM), and a delivery system to support web access to our digital collections. More information is available on the Digital Collections Infrastructure webpage.

Digitisation of maps at the National Library

Digitisation of maps at the National Library

National Library staff digitising collection material in the scanning room

National Library staff digitising collection material in the scanning room

More information

The Digital Collections website provides access to, and more information on, our digitised collections. If you would like to get in touch with the staff at the Library’s Digitisation and Photography Branch please email digitisation@nla.gov.au.

The Library hosts the DIGIPRAC-L email discussion list to enable those involved in digitising traditional format materials to discuss practical day-to-day matters and seek advice from others in the field.

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