Media Release 23 December, 1996
Information strategies are critical to successful organizations. Success for all organisations, and particularly universities, depends on effective management use of the flood of information now available electronically.
A key strategic alliance was formed at the Round Table on Scholarly Communication, recently held in Canberra, with the establishment of the 'Canberra Chapter'. This formal alliance between leaders in information strategic development in the UK and Australia will link Australian and UK initiatives in handling global information issues.
The Alliance will see leaders in university libraries, information technology and scholarly communication working together in the UK and Australian Higher Education communities to collaborate in a number of areas. The initial areas for consideration are digitization, intellectual property rights, document delivery, network strategies, resource discovery and preservation.
Professor Brian Fender, Chairman of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, and Mr Alex Byrne, President of the Council of Australian University Librarians have both agreed to fund resource staff in Australia and Britain to ensure quick action on this vital agenda. Projects will be put in place in both the UK and Australia. The British funding will be channelled through the highly successful eLib Programme.
Convener of the working party and University Librarian at the University of Technology Sydney, Steve O'Connor, said "Surviving in the electronic sea of documents is a management issue which the Australian and English leaders will now work on together."
See also: National Scholarly Communications Forum. Round Table No. 5 <http://www.anu.edu.au/caul/nscf>
Media Contacts:
Mr Steve O'Connor Diane Costello
University Librarian Council of Australian University Librarians
University of Technology, Sydney LPO Box 169 (Licensed Post Office)
PO Box 123 Australian National University
BROADWAY NSW 2007 Canberra ACT 2601
Tel: 02 9514 3332 Tel +61 6 249 2990
Fax: 02 9514 3331 Faxl +61 6 248 8571
Email: steve.o'connor@uts.edu.au diane.costello@anu.edu.au