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.
Progress so far
As of June 2016, a total of 244,909 collection items (consisting of 1,314,025 images) have been digitised. This includes pictorial material, maps, printed music, manuscripts, books and serials. The table below illustrates the breakdown of the Library’s digital collections.
Number of items in the National Library’s digital collections by collection format, as of 30 June 2016. An item usually represents a single work and may be described by a separate cataloguing record or an individual entry in a finding aid.
| Collection format | Number of items |
|---|---|
| Total | 244,909 |
| Books & serials | 18,781 |
| Maps | 19,842 |
| Manuscripts | 9,853 |
| Printed music | 14,403 |
| Pictures | 182,029 |
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 printed music may consist of multiple images representing individual pages, or a map may consist of several parts each represented by a separate image file.
Contact
Digitisation and Photography Branch
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
Phone: +61 (02) 6262 1514
Email: digitisation@nla.gov.au