SLWA News and Information
The State Library has been very active in response to the lockdown in making its collection available to the public, by digital means and through radio.
State Library Digitization on demand
SLWA recently announced that their digitisation service will continue to operate during the library closure. The service is now free and requests can be made online.
Digitisation on demand covers photographs, ephemera, documents, maps and other library materials., copyright permitting.
During our closure due to COVID-19, the State Library of WA is offering digitisation on demand free of charge. You can now request an item from the collection to be digitised and made available via our library catalogue, copyright permitting.
State Library on ABC Radio
Join our very own Battye Historian, Dr. Kate Gregory, as she talks on the ABC Radio Focus program with Jessica Strutt.
Tune in on Tuesdays from 10:45am to hear Dr. Kate chat about some of the wonderful treasures in the State Library of Western Australia’s collection, exploring their cultural significance and the unique stories and quirky characters behind them.
Listen live online or tune your radio to 720 kHz AM. If you miss an interview, links to interviews and the digitized treasures are on the SLWA’s website home page.
SRO and SLWA Shared Services Proposal
An online meeting was held on the 23rd April with members of the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) and representatives from the State Library of WA (SLWA), Margaret Allen, Chief Executive Officer and State Librarian, and the State Records Office (SRO) Damian Shepherd, Director State Records. The meeting was to discuss the proposed shared reference service for SLWA and the SRO and the Battye Library.
Prior to the meeting a project update was provided by Damian Shepherd which outlined the rationale for the proposal. In summary the advantages included increased access hours and improved customer service due to improved knowledge and experience between specialists from both organisations. The scope of the proposal is to change the location of reference of the SRO to the Battye Library. There are to be no changes to the current roles and responsibilities of either organisation.
Questions were raised by ASA members in regard to various concerns about the proposed change and included:
Security of materials
Confidentiality and access restrictions
Possibility of charges for service and access be instituted
Is the intention to merge the two organisations?
Will funding to either organisations be affected.
Margaret Allen and Damian Shepherd responded to these concerns and assured members that the intention is to build on and echo the services which are already provided with a cooperative relationship between the two organisations. No charges will be implemented. The intention is to consolidate and increase services including enhanced services for Indigenous researchers. Security of the area is going to be improved including locking the area and increased use of security cameras. Both organisations will maintain their autonomy. The change is about how to better serve the community and not undermine either organisation. There will be also opportunities to promote the collections using social media.
If you would like to provide feedback on this proposal please contact the SRO via sro@sro.wa.gov.au.