Library (institution)

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Australia

Australia’s first public library, the Wesleyan Library, was established in 1825 in Hobart, Tasmania. The library was housed in a chapel, and most of its collection consisted of religious materials. Australia introduced a more secular library in 1827 when it established its first school for the education of workers, known as a mechanics’ institute, also in Hobart. Other mechanics’ institutes were soon established in different parts of the country. Most maintained small libraries and reading rooms with collections designed to improve the skills of laborers. They generally relied on voluntary subscriptions and charity for support.

Australian colonial governments first established tax-supported public libraries in the Australian capital cities of Melbourne, Victoria (1853); Sydney, New South Wales (1869); Hobart, Tasmania (1870); Adelaide, South Australia (1884); Perth, Western Australia (1886); and Brisbane, Queensland (1896). All of these public libraries in capital cities eventually evolved into state libraries featuring strong collections in their state’s history.

Today almost all Australians have access to public library services. Most metropolitan public libraries provide fiction and nonfiction books, reference collections with research links to the state library, online catalogs, children’s services, and newspapers and magazines. Some offer large-print and foreign-language books, audio and video materials, local history collections, deliveries to homebound users, Internet access, adult literacy programs, bookmobiles, and outreach services to Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders.

When the Australian colonies became a nation in 1901, the federal government took the first steps in creating a national library by establishing the Parliamentary Library in Melbourne in 1901. The library moved to Canberra with the parliament in 1927, and it became the National Library of Australia in 1960. The National Library’s strengths include a wealth of materials on Australian history, Asia, and the Pacific. Among these materials are the extensive Petherick collection of Australiana and the journal of 18th-century British explorer Captain James Cook describing Cook’s circumnavigation of the world in the ship Endeavour. The National Library’s publications include the Australian National Bibliography, Australian Government Publications, and the Australian Public Affairs Information Service periodical index. Its Kinetica service promotes resource sharing through the National Bibliographic Database, which contains bibliographic records of the collections of more than 700 member libraries. The library also managed the Australian Joint Copying Project, a cooperative venture from 1948 to 1993 that reproduced on microfilm British historical records relating to Australia and the Pacific. The Pacific Manuscripts Bureau of the library preserved on microfilm significant unpublished material in the Pacific Islands.

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Members of the Philosophical Society of Australia established the country’s first special library in Sydney in 1821. Over the years, Australia has developed a wide range of special library and information services, including those run by federal and state parliaments, various government departments, private corporations, professional associations, and community groups. Today the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization operates a network library service with branch libraries that support research divisions around the country. The Department of Defense also operates an extensive network of libraries that serves the army, navy, air force, and related defense programs. The Department of the Attorney General provides online databases covering Australian legal journals and federal statute and case law.

Although the first Australian universities were founded in the early 1850s, it was several decades before they developed significant library collections. University enrollment expanded after World War II ended in 1945, and federal government funding for Australian universities greatly increased during the 1950s and 1960s. Several new universities were founded during this period, and by 1975 Australia had 19 universities with combined library holdings of about 9 million volumes. Universities with notable library collections include the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University, the University of Queensland, Monash University, La Trobe University, and Deakin University. Many of the university libraries cooperate through regional networks that provide shared cataloging, reciprocal borrowing, joint storage, and other services.

Libraries existed in many public and private schools in Australia in the early 20th century, but they were poor by modern standards. Between 1969 and 1985 the Australian federal and state governments greatly improved this situation by providing special funding for school library buildings, books, equipment, and librarian training programs. All state education authorities developed some centralized support for school libraries. This support took various forms, such as cataloging, book processing, or publication of journals. Schools in rural and isolated areas often formed libraries to serve both the school and the community. Today, Australian schools maintain more than 10,000 libraries for students of all ages.

The first Australian program in professional library education was established at the University of New South Wales in Sydney in 1959. By the end of the 20th century there were 12 schools of librarianship. Most offered both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and programs. Today, several technical colleges also offer programs for the training of library technicians. The Australian Library and Information Association publishes journals, holds conferences, and provides professional support services for librarians and library technicians.

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New Zealand

New Zealand’s first public library was a mechanics’ institute for the education of workers, established in Wellington in 1841. Until the 1950s most public libraries in New Zealand charged fees for lending services. Today, most New Zealand public libraries offer a full range of services free of charge. Many offer specialized collections and services for Maori and other Polynesian groups.

The National Library of New Zealand was established in 1966 by combining the Alexander Turnbull Library, the General Assembly Library, and the National Library Service. Since 1987 it has been housed in a large, modern building in Wellington. The library publishes the New Zealand National Bibliography and operates the New Zealand Bibliographic Network.

New Zealand’s first university, the University of Otago, was founded in 1869 and quickly developed a sizable library. New Zealand later established other institutions of higher education, particularly after the end of World War II. By 1996 the country maintained seven state-supported universities as well as several technical institutes and teachers colleges, each with its own library. The University of Auckland is the largest university in New Zealand—it has more than 1.5 million volumes in its library.

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South Pacific Islands

Among the island nations of the South Pacific, Fiji has the longest tradition of public library services. The Suva City Library was established in 1908 by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as part of an effort to establish free public libraries throughout the world. Eventually, the Library Service of Fiji assumed responsibility for regional public libraries, as well as for government and school libraries. Collections are primarily in English.

Regional organizations such as the South Pacific Commission provide valuable library and archival resources for governments, industry, and scientific research in the region. They also maintain information networks related to agriculture, marine resources, and the environment. The Fiji Library Association was formed in 1972 and publishes the Fiji Library Journal, a professional journal for Fijian librarians. The Pacific Islands Association of Libraries and Archives was founded in 1991 and publishes the Directory of Libraries, Archives, and Museums in Micronesia.

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Africa

Throughout the early 20th century, foreign organizations drove the effort to create libraries in Africa, often through the contributions of international agencies such as the British Council, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the now abolished United States Information Agency, whose functions were transferred to the State Department. Before former colonies in Africa gained independence in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, most libraries were modeled on those in France, Britain, and Portugal; these countries were the major colonial powers in Africa. With independence, however, most countries have tried to shake off colonial influences and develop libraries based on local cultures and traditions.

In an effort to develop a stronger local foundation for African libraries, many African countries have formed international library networks. In the late 1970s, for example, Marxist governments in Portuguese-speaking nations of Africa used central planning of library services to implement new technologies and to improve literacy. Within a decade several of these countries had joined the International Center of Bantu Civilizations, a network created to meet Central African documentation needs. French-speaking countries in Africa have also formed library networks. In 1989 the French Ministry of Cooperation and Development signed agreements with 14 French-speaking African nations to develop general reading programs for local populations. The ministry also supported efforts in Cameroon, Niger, Madagascar, and Burkina Faso to establish automated national databases of information.

Unstable economies, poor telecommunications infrastructure, and weak distribution channels have all slowed the application of modern technology to library services in Africa. Nevertheless, by the 1990s many university and research libraries featured state-of-the-art equipment, often purchased through grants from a variety of international agencies and foundations. Most funding came from various agencies of the United Nations, with aid also provided by the World Bank, the British Council, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.

Computers enable many African academic and special libraries to share resources through local area networks. These libraries also use computers to provide users with online public access catalogs, information in CD-ROM format, and lists of periodicals and other bibliographic databases. CD-ROMs have found a wide acceptance in African academic libraries and research institutes, mainly because the discs are capable of storing large volumes of information and do not require online telephone communication for access.

With the exception of the few public libraries established by international groups, almost no African public libraries used modern technology as recently as the late 1990s. Computers and related equipment were similarly scarce in school libraries, except for libraries of privately funded high schools. South Africa, the most technologically developed country in Africa, established online information retrieval services for academic libraries in the mid-1970s and an online national bibliographic and information network in 1983. By the late 1990s most academic libraries in South Africa provided access to the Internet.

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National Libraries

Like their counterparts in other parts of the world, national libraries in Africa are maintained by the federal government. They serve various branches of the government and function as a link between their countries and others in the interchange of information. They also function as legal depositories for publications in their countries, receiving copies of all publications submitted for copyright protection. Some African national libraries are responsible for public library development in their countries.

The need for universities, and therefore university libraries, was for many years a higher priority than the establishment of national libraries in most African countries. As a result, many university libraries performed the functions of national libraries. For example, the library of the University of Ibadan, in Nigeria, acted as a legal depository for all Nigerian publications and also published the National Bibliography of Nigeria until the National Library of Nigeria was established in 1962. The same is true of the libraries at the University of Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia; the University of Khartoum, in Sudan; University College of Swaziland; and Makerere University, in Uganda.

By the 1990s nearly every African country had a national library located in the capital city of the country. Among the English-speaking countries of Africa, some of the most notable national libraries are the National Library of Nigeria in Lagos, the National Library of Kenya in Nairobi, the National Library of Swaziland in Mbabane, the National Library of Lesotho in Maseru, and the National Library of Gambia in Banjul. French-speaking countries maintain national libraries in Lomé, Togo; Tunis, Tunisia; Algiers, Algeria; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Antananarivo, Madagascar; and Yaoundé, Cameroon. The national libraries of the Portuguese-speaking countries of Mozambique and Angola are located in Maputo and Luanda, respectively. South Africa maintains two national libraries: the South African Library in Cape Town and the State Library in Pretoria.

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