Launched 1981; 36 years ago (1981) | ||
Australian Bibliographic Network is a national shared library cataloguing network that commenced in 1981 in Australia.
Contents
Early stage
The National Library of Australia began investigating the potential for a national shared cataloguing network in the 1970s. In August 1978, following a feasibility study, the library announced a pilot project. The Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) commenced operations in November 1981.
The ABN system was as a multi-sector network, including university, state, public and special libraries.
Various state library systems joined the network within the next few years
First Conference
The first ABN conference was conducted in 1983
National Library
The National Library of Australia established an advisory body, the ABN Network Committee (now Libraries Australia Advisory Committee) to advise the Library on the operation and development of the service.
Database
The database for the service is known as the Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD).
The database is still an essential element of the Australian national library networks, and the largest database in Australia of its kind
National standards
Training for the network, and the subject catalogue of the network underwent a range of changes in the 1980s. The ABN Standards Committee met for the first time on 14 May 1981. The issues dealt with in the first four meetings included:
Publications
Once established a range of guidelines and publications ensued
Successor
From 1981 to 1999 this service was called the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) and from 1999 to 2005 the name changed to Kinetica. Elements of the network still exist, but the main public access is by the Trove website.