Folios

Above:Keith Webster, UniversityLibrarian and Director ofLearning ServicesTanya Ziebell, Manager,Marketing and CommunityOutreach Services,organiser of the celebrationdinnerBelow:(left to right) : Kevin Johns,Jill Johns (daughter ofFW Robinson), MichaelRobinson (grandson ofFW Robinson), DavidMalouf, Enid Robinson(daughter-in-law of FWRobinson)Far group:David Malouf and theeditors of BAL – TerryO’Neill, John Arnold,John Hay and Kerry KilnerLibrarian and Director of LearningServices, highlighted the collaborationbetween Fryer Library and AustLit insaying ‘AustLit and the Bibliographyof Australian Literature are bothexamples of outstanding scholarshipmade possible only through access tosignificant heritage collections’.The Bibliography of AustralianLiterature had its beginnings in1990 with the establishment of theBibliography of Australian LiteratureProject at the National Centrefor Australian Studies, MonashUniversity. Under the leadershipof John Hay and John Arnold, theaim of the project was to revise andupdate E Morris Miller’s famousbibliography, Australian Literaturefrom Its Beginnings to 1935. As theproject evolved, it underwent severaltransformations; however, it heldto its aim of listing all separatelypublished works of creative literatureby Australian authors since 1788. In1995 the List of Australian Writers1788-1992 was developed as astarting point for the bibliography. In1997 the BAL project joined with anumber of other initiatives to becomethe umbrella project called Australia’sLiterary Heritage. In 1999 a furthertransformation was the merging ofAustralia’s Literary Heritage withAUSTLIT: The Australian LiteraryDatabase, developed at The Universityof New South Wales at the AustralianDefense Force Academy. From thispoint the development of ‘BAL’, as itwas known by its contributors, wasclosely connected with the emergenceof the new web-based AustLit: TheAustralian Literature Resource.In 2001 the first volume of theBibliography of Australian Literatureappeared, and in 2008 the fourth andfinal volume was published. Underthe general editorship of John Hayand John Arnold, and the associateeditorship of Kerry Kilner and TerenceO’Neill, both of whom worked on BALfrom its establishment, the compilationof the bibliography was a hugecollaborative effort. Researchers atThe University of Queensland, MonashUniversity, Flinders University and TheUniversity of New South Wales at theAustralian Defense Force Academylaboured with the support of AustLitcolleagues at other partner librariesto produce accurate bibliographicrecords representing Australian literaryendeavour.The completion of this project was asignificant achievement and deservingof a celebration. A large numberof members of the BAL team werepresent at the dinner, as were severalprevious Fryer Librarians, members ofFW Robinson’s family, donors to theFryer collections, former and currentstaff of The University of QueenslandLibrary, AustLit Board members andothers involved with the developmentof AustLit and BAL. David Maloufspoke about his memories of ‘DocRobbie’ and the early Fryer Library, aswell as about Australian literature ingeneral. Shortly after the event, AustLitstaff had further cause for celebration,with the announcement that a LIEFgrant had been awarded to AustLit forfurther development in 2009.CATHY LEUTENEGGER is ActingSenior Librarian in the Fryer Library.She was a member of the BAL projectteam at AustLit for two years.11Fryer Folios