No. 34, March 1995 ISSN 0811-4757

Adolph Basser Library

Annual Report 1994-95

The Adolph Basser Library is part of the Australian Academy of Science. It is devoted to the history of science in Australia and collects the personal papers of scientists, particularly but not exclusively Fellows of the Academy, and the records of scientific societies. There is also a small collection of monographs and journals.

During the past year thirty-three consignments of manuscript material were received. Many of these have arrived recently and have not yet been processed, but it is expected that the large collections from Frank Fenner, Pat Moran and John Swan will be particularly valuable. There are currently 189 collections of manuscript records.

The following collections were consulted: Marjorie Barnard, Sir Macfarlane Burnet, Sir Neil Hamilton Fairley (several times), Ronald Giovanelli, Sir David Rivett, Sir Ian Wark (twice), and Sir Frederick White (several times).

In May the Librarian attended the Australian Society of Archivists' annual conference in Townsville and a seminar on the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme. In October she spoke to an Australian Society of Archivists' meeting on the acquisition and use of scientific papers and in November she received training in ADS, the Archival Data System developed by Australian Science Archives Project (ASAP) which is now being used in the Adolph Basser Library to process manuscript collections.

Another cooperative effort between the Library and Australian Science Archives Project has seen the listings of 115 of the Basser Library's manuscript collections added to the Internet by Tim Sherratt, the Canberra Manager of ASAP. These are available via ftp, gopher and WWW. In July the Librarian began working full time for three days a week rather than part time for 5 days, so that she could take up the position of Canberra Archivist for ASAP on the remaining two days. The closer relationship between ASAP and the Basser Library is proving beneficial to both institutions.

In the course of the year the Librarian reviewed several books; the reviews were published in History of Australian Science Newsletter and New Librarian.

A major review of journal holdings has been undertaken, resulting in a number of titles being discontinued and previous issues weeded from the collection. It is hoped that a similar review of the monograph collection can be initiated in the next few months. The monograph collection now stands at 5800 items and shortage of space is becoming critical.

Dr Lloyd Evans has resigned as Chairman of the Library Committee after serving for six years. His advice and practical assistance whenever the Librarian approached him have been greatly appreciated. Welcome to his successor, Professor Frank Fenner, who has been a regular visitor to the Library over the past year while working on the Academy's 40 year history.

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