Statewide Searching

This week my process has led me from the library to the museum and plenty of virtual spaces in between. Expecting that an historical survey should start at the earliest point, I intended to find out about some of the oldest holdings in Victoria in relation to my topic. Therefore I determined that the main sources to start researching through would be State Library of Victoria (SLV)  and Museum Victoria (MV).

Public Library, Melbourne ca1890 (MV)

I spent an evening at the SLV intending to find an overview of what I could access from there for the overall project, get some idea of their range of their holdings and see what led where. Apart from the preliminary internet searching conducted prior to formulating the research brief, I always assumed the SLV would be my starting point. I do intend using NLA & Trove out of curiosity, but have prioritised SLV for authority and relevance with this state-based topic.  Due to the constraints of this project I’ve had to consider the boundaries of my research; for instance, the relevance and likelihood of what else can be found and established about Melbourne and Victoria by investigating elsewhere - nationally and internationally. Presumably Melbourne would hold the earliest and most valuable and relevant resources and anything else elsewhere would link back here anyway, through online networks, eg, academic, library and other institutional consortia.

A public dinner in Melbourne, or, a feast of reason and a flow of soul [picture] Melbourne : [Printed and published by Edgar Ray and Frederick Sinnett] 1856 (SLV)

I started browsing at SLV in the hope of establishing some direction that would further inform the process and overall structure of the project. Great expectations! Firstly I wanted to see what I could find on my own before consulting the reference librarians. The access on-site and from home is quite different so I’ve since found it challenging when getting vastly different results with same &/or seemingly similar searches.  Among the 38 Library Guides and the Reference Guides there was nothing specifically about food, except 2 tags: flour, sugar, each mentioned in #38 "What groceries used to cost" and only 1 reference specific to books in #8 "Finding book reviews".

Other interesting e-Resources I happened upon in the Research Guides were #23 Picture Research and #34 Victoria's early history 1803-1851 with some useful information about  Primary Sources  and the Australian Joint Copyright Project (AJCP). The picture resources link to clear information about copyright and permissions.

Picnic on the Water, Carrum, ca1890 by Gilbert J. Dunning (SLV)

On-site I also used the Australian Library Collection and found quite variable results according to how the search terms were organised (eg, different results on  same search words, using commas instead of ‘and’) Some of these results included Picture Australia holdings which then linked back to the original institution eg, Museum Victoria, so it was convenient  to navigate through different organisations. I decided to continue at the MV site directly on another occasion.  Even though I’d  intended to stay state wide, this Australian Library portal was useful as I identified a number of resources also held at City Library and others, plus Swinburne to follow up on other occasions. It seems ironic that this portal was more apparent than finding Library Link Victoria (LLV), to which I refer below.

Numerous tangental curiosities emerged in the SLV database, such as why is the electronic record of the Victorian Food Act (1984) only held at 1 library (ACU Ballarat) and why there? As tempting as it may be to find out more about this document (is this the latest act? where is it more readily accessed? Etcetera), I had to restrain myself from getting lost in sidelines.

Further browsing at SLV reminded me of a wealth of other resources to pursue such as the 2009 exhibition  The Independant Type: Books and Writing in Victoria, tracing Victoria's literary evolution from traditional Indigenous storytelling through colonial classics to the vibrant contemporary writing scene. It also toured regionally in 2010 supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria’s Touring Initiative, and leaves a legacy of resources, including the Victorian Literary Map.

Prioritising my time at SLV to utilise the expertise of the reference staff, I decided to seek guidance about other ways to approach my project with the on-site resources.  The reference interview seemed to be going well but the librarian persisted in demonstrating how to use the Informit and other database resources, despite my having explained to her that I can and will access these through Swinburne, but I was at the SLV to prioritise their unique resources; then my annoyance was compounded by her continuing to search there on the UNESCO theme, even to the extent of opening these articles to show me! This was too frustrating so I decided to try my luck with another reference officer on another occasion.

The multi-subject databases led me to Informit and an interesting recent article about how Melbourne Library Service fosters community pride with The Melbourne Collection, established in 2004 to celebrate the UNESCO status with 24 titles -12 each of fiction and non-fiction (Bateman, 2012, p.12) The City library branch is significant as Victoria’s busiest public branch with the highest door count, but also for having a piano available for accomplished players to entertain patrons!

The MLS Melbourne Collection includes the excellent 


Flavours of Melbourne : a culinary biography / Charmaine O'Brien 2008.  


Image reproduced with permission fromWakefield Press, Adelaide.
















However I was also surprised to discover another book recently published by the same name ~ Flavours of Melbourne : favourite restaurants and bars in Melbourne's laneways and rooftops/ written, edited, designed and published by Smudge Publishing; introduction Rita Erlich; photography Brad Hill, 2011.

Something I discovered about how resources link and overlap, or don’t, is that MLS does not appear in Library Link Victoria. Curiouser and curiouser?

Now if I can just get a handle on how to get consistency of formatting in Blogger...

Research Brief

·    clearly identify your research topic

·    outline the scope of the topic by identifying the main subject areas to be covered

·    describe your intended search strategies

In the early 21^st century, Melbourne boasts distinction as a major international city recently awarded two culturally significant status’, having in the last decade become both a UNESCO City of Literature and Slow Food Convivium. Thus my theme is unified among permutations of our 3 most basic nourishments: place, sustenance and knowledge.

UNESCO Melbourne Logo Device & Guidelines via Arts Victoria 2008.

During the research process I expect to develop further queries adjunct to those I’ve already identified regarding this subject, and realise that some will remain unable to be thoroughly satisfied within the limitations of this project. I envisage the progression of the project illuminating the larger story, ie, how to approach, research and structure themes in the history of books and libraries?

Whilst Food as a theme, of itself and in relative information across history, is an interminable subject, represented in many formats and genres of publishing and straddling many categories of cataloguing for example, there are other niche contexts, (recipe copyrights, archiving, realia, rare books)  to explore relative to the history of books and libraries.  Although any of these tangents could warrant an entire blog topic, even the broader evolution of publishing about food across eras is fascinating from the vantage point of the information age and in light of future trends, but just too big a mouthful to bite off here.

Although my preference so far with the theme seems slanted more toward the cultural, rather than traditional scientific areas such as agriculture and nutrition, a food topic cannot exclude consideration of the broader realm of sciences, particularly as the modern trend in food journalism demonstrates a more holistic discourse with consideration to issues such as philosophy, politics and ethics in commerce and consumption. So I expect the weekly posts, including the summary report, to be informed by, and to reflect  such currency and context.

Therefore I intend to encompass as extensive an historical survey as possible, whilst confined to statewide content and national resources. With thoroughness a priority, I plan to utilise a broad range of academic, public, online and diverse printed monograph, journal etc and other types of research resources. I will endeavour to arrange visits to premises pertaining to my theme, eg, academic and/or special libraries. This project will scan a range of government institutions in an attempt to access statistical and other data and analyse holdings. Also considered are a variety of commercial organisations, including boutique publishers, specialist retailers and other unique businesses, such as the library and literary cafes.

As an opportunity to expand my technological skills through construction and development in the Blogger format, I will review widgets and other Web2.0 tools to accommodate a spectrum of graphical representation and other media formats such as video, photographs and illustrations to add dimension and aesthetics to the presentation, thereby addressing engagement and learning styles and exploiting the inherent versatility that the weblog format offers. Curatorial sites offer convenience and currency so I will continue to survey these for content and style inspiration.

Thus I anticipate using physical and online resources in the practice of honing more specialist research skills, by exploring the range of tools beyond general databases and directories, namely other subject and topic based portals, custom and meta-search engines.  I relish learning more about the research process experientially.

References

Arts Victoria 2008, UNESCO City of Literature Melbourne, Arts Victoria. South Melbourne.