Hunter‐gathering in the digital world to build a keeping place for the future

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/02640470910998579
Published date02 October 2009
Date02 October 2009
Pages856-862
AuthorRod Stroud
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Library & information science
Hunter-gathering in the digital
world to build a keeping place for
the future
Rod Stroud
Library, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies,
Canberra, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues surrounding the development at the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) of a national digital
knowledge centre and indigenous portal for bringing culture back home and beyond.
Design/methodology/approach – How do we find and gather relevant material from the rapidly
increasing digital sources found along the landscapes of the web, other libraries, CD-ROMs etc? And
with what we have gathered to add to the AIATSIS Digital Library, how can we plan to preserve and
create culturally sensitive and appropriate descriptions of our collections, for future access in our
keeping place, a keeping place for all? Apart from digitising our own collections, the AIATSIS Library
has borrowed and digitised material from other libraries such as annual reports of the state
government Protectors of Aborigines. A far greater challenge is in gathering relevant materials from
digital libraries, from Google Books, Internet Archive and the Gutenberg Project as well as a rapidly
increasing number of individual libraries.
Findings – Preserving our collections alone does not tell all the story about our keeping place – a
more appropriate means of describing our collections covering the rich diversity of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander cultures, languages and lifestyles is required. The AIATSIS Library has
recently redeveloped its subject thesaurus which describes the AIATSIS collections in our Catalogue
and Digital Archive. It is clear that the work in AIATSIS to develop its digital archive and plan for the
best means of digital repatriation has achieved initial momentum.
Originality/value – There is a strong and vital need to retain our indigenous cultures and the work
described in this paper may help show the way to other bodies responsible for developing their
collections.
Keywords Collections management, Digital storage,Australian aboriginals, Australia
Paper type General review
Introduction
Since originally submitting, in January 2008, the abstract for this paper for the ALIA
2008 conference, events such as the Australia2020 Summit and new software acquired
by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
have occurred that have changed the possibilities on the development of a national
knowledge centre/keeping place. This article details some of these issues as well as
within AIATSIS for an indigenous portal for bringing culture back home and beyond:
There was general agreement that culture, art and symbols are vitally important both for
preservation of culture and for recognition. To quote a report from one discussion group, “We
know the summit will have been a success when the Prime Minister speaks an Aboriginal
language in 2020”.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
EL
27,5
856
Received 3 February 2009
Revised 23 February 2009
Accepted 23 February 2009
The Electronic Library
Vol. 27 No. 5, 2009
pp. 856-862
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640470910998579

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