New Norcia library lecture: How many roads must a library walk down?

Abstract

Libraries have welcomed the opportunity offered in the twenty-first century to place content on the roads and channels that are now available through the Internet to provide access to our rich and diverse collections. Amidst the enormous amount of information available the great collections sometimes are ‘dead ends’ from a reader’s point of view and tantalise. While often the casual reader happens upon collections and the serious scholar may be able to access a wider range of material from wherever they are than in the microfilm collections of regular visits to major libraries there are major challenges for libraries to maintain digitisation, create easy digital access and market effectively. The lecture will cover the ‘roads’ we have used to create access, the messages which can and could be sent through signposts along the way, some insights into analysis of user behaviour on the Parliament of Australia’s website and comments on the benefits of moving from information martyrs to natives. © 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.