Australian people names: a key information resource

Roxanne Missingham

and Margaret Kennedy

• Australian authorities: the current situation• Australian Name Authority File• Kinetica developments• New service for Australian personal names

– Vision– Scope– Uses

• Next steps

Information about people and organisations

• Important resource in libraries– Local system authority files – Australian Name and Subject Authority Files

Australian Name Authority File

• Unique resource, online since 1980• THE authoritative source of information on

Australian people and organisations• Relies on Australian libraries to contribute

authorities and keep the database up to date• To remain relevant, needs:

– Contribution of Australian libraries – new authorities– Editing and/or deletion of authorities as required

Authority Control in a Distributed Environment

• Less authority contribution to ANAF• Authority control in local system• Other sources of authority data

Other Sources of Authority Data

• For cataloguers: various iterations of LC authority files– These do contain headings for Australians,

however, preferred form often differs

• Other libraries

What are we doing to encourage people to contribute their

authority data?

Kinetica Redevelopment Project

• LibrariesAustralia

• Z39.50 redevelopment

• OCLC PICA

Libraries Australia

• New resource discovery service

• Enables searching and display of authority records in html and MARC format

• Enables downloading of authority records in various formats

• Find and Get

• Z39.50

Kinetica cataloguing

• Based on OCLC Pica’s CBS software • New update database including CJK• Will have new functionality • New interface will replace current web update

and cataloguing client in late 2005• Transparent cut-over for Batch*Link and

Harvester Services

Why do we need authority files?

• Verify form of heading (use of references, biographical details, literary warrant)

• Collocate relevant resources under a single form of name – better retrieval by end user

• Provide access from variations of name through well-defined reference structure

Repurposing Authorities

• International Projects:– Linking and Exploring Authority Files (LEAF)– Virtual International Authority File (VIAF)

• Australian Projects and Services:– MusicAustralia

Other sources

• Australian Dictionary of Biography (under development)

• Roll of Honour Database

• Bright Sparcs• Australian Trade

Union Archives• Austlit

• Australian Women’s Archives

• Australian Sound Design

• ARROW• Australian Prime

Ministers• Artist Obituaries

Database• Mura gadi

A new service for Australian names

People Portal

• Encompasses Australian People and Organisations

• Builds on data in Australian Name Authority File, but will not replace or affect integrity of ANAF

• Schema not yet decided

People Portal

• Will provide infrastructure to enable linking of information on a person/organisation created by different agencies

• Integration of content

• Replace links to a multiplicity of services

• Encourage contributions from partners, both within & outside library sector

• Use OAI-PMH to harvest data from partners

• Persistent identifiers

• Z39.50/SRW/SRU Interface

Partner System

Harvester System/Batchlink

Kinetica UpdateDatabase

People AustraliaRepository

PartiesOAI-PMH Interface

Resource DescriptionsAuthorities

Resource DescriptionsAuthoritiesResource Descriptions

AuthoritiesParties

Resource DescriptionsAuthoritiesParties

Parties

AustralianName

Authorities

Figure 1: Content Model

Potential Partners

• Collecting institutions

• Organisations investing in structured information about Australian people and organisations

Benefits (1)

• Savings in end user time – single entry point

• Savings in staff time – sharing contextual metadata between services

• Increased visibility of resources related to Australian collections

• Discover and explore different views of a person from different sources

Benefits (2)

• Return on past & ongoing commitment to the ANAF

• Improved data quality and coverage through collaboration between agencies

• Opportunities to collaborate with international projects to link authority files & contextualise resources

How will people use it?

Scenario 1

A journalist is writing a retrospective piece on Bob Hawke for the weekend magazine of a national newspaper.

Scenario 2

A teacher in a remote Indigenous community is leading his students through an assignment on the challenges and achievements of Indigenous sporting heroes

National Library of Australia nla.pic-an22839269

Scenario 3

A nationally syndicated radio program mentions an upcoming Art Gallery of New South Wales exhibition on the artist Margaret Preston, resulting in heightened interest in Preston’s work.

Scenario 4

The Coleambally local history group wants information on significant people born in the district before the town was officially opened in 1968 so that they can construct a float for their local historical pageant.

Scenario 5

The Committee of the Farrer Memorial Medal for agricultural science is putting together a centennial booklet highlighting achievements of their agricultural science researchers.

From: Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School

Scenario 6

Ask Now! operators are inundated with inquiries about the writer Peter Goldsworthy, who is set on this year’s NSW HSC curriculum. Alerted to this interest, the Ask Now! coordinator wants to set up a knowledge base on Goldsworthy so that operators can send a pre-formulated list of resources

Scenario 7The Department of the

Prime Minister and Cabinet wants information on nominees for the 2005 Australian of the Year Award, and want to be notified of any new information that becomes available for each nominee until the Award is announced.

Scenario 8

A cataloguer wants to verify that a Margaret de Salis mentioned in a biography was one of the pioneering de Salis family from the Tharwa area in the ACT.

Home | Advanced Search | Browse | History | Saved Records | Saved Queries | Alerts

PeopleAustraliaThe ones we have records for

Other names:Gilmore, Dame Mary CameronGilmore, Mary CameronGilmore, Mary Jean

Born:16 August 1865, Cottawalla,NSW

Died:12 March 1962

Gender:Femaile

Activities:Trade Union - Rank and FileMember

Born Mary Jean Cameron, at Cottawalla, near Goulburn, New SouthWales, Dame Mary Gilmore was a poet, author and journalist. In prose anadvocate for cause of women's rights, and rights of Aboriginal Australians.

In 1890 she moved to Sydney where she moved in radical and intellectualcircles. She became a close friend of Henry Lawson, and was the firstwoman member of the Australian Workers' Union. She joined the NewAustralia venture in Paraguay in 1895 and married William AlexanderGilmore in 1897, in Paraguay.

The Gilmore family lived in Victoria from 1902 to 1912. She moved toSydney in 1912. She wrote for local newspapers, and edited (1908-31) thewomen's page in The Australian Worker, campaigning vigorously on behalfof the Aborigines, old age and invalid pensions, maternity allowances,child health centres, the rights of illegitimate and adopted children andother welfare causes.

Gilmore, Dame Mary (1865-1962)

Dame Mary GilmoreNational Portrait GalleryMore informationMore pictures

Gilmore, Marshall Gilmore, Meredith

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child health centres, the rights of illegitimate and adopted children and other welfare causes.

A foundation member of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (1928), she was appointed a DameCommander of the Order of the British Empire (1937) for services to literature.

Source: Australian Trade Union Archives.Go to entry in the Australian Trade Union Archives

More information:

View information on Dame Mary Gilmore from:Austlit: Australian Literature Gateway.Australian Name Authority File

Go to the entry on Dame Mary Gilmore in:Encyclopedia of Aboriginal History

Find works by or about Dame Mary Gilmore

People Portal Song (to the tune of “Click go the

shears”)

Out on the Web a name seeker standsGrasping their mouse with firm, eager handsFixed is their gaze on what the screen will showCan they find the one they want, or thwarted will they go?

Click goes the mouse then, click, click, click,Wide are their eyes and their hands move quickNo need to spend your time in searching high and lowPeople Portal has the answers to what you want to know

Thank you.

Questions??