Images of Australiana – cultural agencies cooperate to bring their pictorial collections together at the one web site An elderly couple celebrating the breaking of the drought on Mt. Fraser Homestead … [Museum Victoria] Customs House [State Library of New South Wales] Uluru (Ayers Rock) - Kata Tjuta National Park [National Archives of Australia] Olympic rings on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, 19 September 2000 … [National Library of Australia]

PictureAustralia – the concept Need for a national discovery service as users do not know where images are located Cross-sectoral approach: images are provided from museums, archives, galleries, libraries, universities or historical societies For consistency in searching and locating images, proposed a central repository of descriptive information based on standard metadata

Six 'Miss Australia' finalists relax on a launch trip on Fremantle Harbour [ National Archives of Australia] Fremantle Lighthouse/ North Mole [ Australian Heritage Commission] Fremantle, WA [ State Library of New South Wales] Fremantle with Rottnest Island in the distance, 1859… [ National Library of Australia] IN AND AROUND FREMANTLE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. [ State Library of Victoria] Praxis presents The Found Object… [National Gallery of Australia] Elder Building [ Australian Heritage Commission]

The collection Currently 37 agencies contributing to PictureAustralia Images from libraries, museums, archives, galleries, universities, historical societies and other agencies 4,212,359 hits in May with 36, 000 new visitors Over one million images are available through PictureAustralia at present

ACT Heritage LibraryNational Portrait Gallery Australian Maritime MuseumNolan Gallery Australian National UniversityNorthern Territory Library Australian War MemorialPowerhouse Museum Brisbane City CouncilRedcliffe City Library Campbelltown City LibrarySCRAN CSIROState Library of NSW Dept. Environment & HeritageState Library of Queensland Gold Coast Library ServiceState Library of SA James Cook UniversityState Library of Tasmania John Curtin LibraryState Library of Victoria Lake Macquarie LibraryState Records of NSW Maroochy LibrariesSwinburne University Museum VictoriaThuringowa Library National Archives of AustraliaUniversity of Melbourne National Gallery of AustraliaUniversity of Queensland National Library of AustraliaVision Australia Foundation National Library of NZWollongong City Library Australia [picture] : Great Barrier Reef, Queensland / National Library of Australia Australia (The Great Barrier Reef) National Gallery of Australia

Millionth Image Vivan Bullwinkel, AO, MBE ( ) c.1941 [Australian War Memorial]

The benefits of PictureAustralia For users –single web access point to many collections –simple searching –access to a wide range of images –trails For participating agencies –increased visibility and use of collections –diversity of users –collaborative approach –possible source of revenue Blue Mountains National Park [Australian Heritage Commission] 1915 Edwards, Mary c.1915 [Lake Macquarie City Library]

The service architecture Low technical investment is required by participants A harvester copies metadata in the Dublin Core format from participants’ web sites Software platform - TeraText by Inquirion A central metadata index is created at the National Library

Hybrid model of harvesting metadata OAI Full web harvests

PictureAustralia homepage

Who is PictureAustralia for? All Australians with an interest in our culture and history Overseas users interested in Australia Researchers, family historians, writers, publishers, students, teachers, architects etc. To make the service generally accessible there are no special software or hardware requirements for use, just a standard PC, web browser and modem Miranda Coney and Albert David in a study for Stephen Page's "Rites", 1997 [ National Library of Australia] Moreton Bay Fig growing through bench - New farm Park; 1994 [Brisbane City Council Library]

PictureAustralia users Demographics Accessing the Service Searching for: Places, people, architecture, events, animals, artefacts, fine arts nursing sisters of the Canberra Community Hospital

PictureAustralia promotion Individual postcards distributed nationally through universities, cafes, galleries, community centres and other public places Promotional materials materials mailed out to all Australian schools, public libraries, historical societies, galleries and museums Additional promotion includes: -web links from other sites -articles and advertising in journals -presentations at conferences and other demonstrations

Promotion of the service

The way forward Development of new technologies Additional picture trails – increasing user involvement Continue to target potential new collections to strengthen the service Collaboration with educational institutions Junior girls cooking class, 1957 Swinburne University of Technology

Miss Pacific finalists Mary Clifton Smith, Pamela Jansen and Judy Worrad, stand in front of surf boards on Bondi Beach, Sydney, New South Wales, 1952 [National Archives of Australia]