[TimorLesteStudies] Acquisitions trip to East Timor

[Anya Dettman]

Dear colleagues,
The National Library of Australia is funding me, as the East Timor librarian, to travel to East Timor this financial year for an acquisitions trip. I am interested in obtaining books of course, but also magazines, newspapers, audio-visual material, maps, pamphlets and even ephemera.

As the material I obtain will hopefully be of use to you, esteemed East Timor scholars, I am seeking your suggestions regarding the sorts of material you think will be of interest, or titles you have obtained before for yourselves (which we don't have), and where to get them. I am interested not only in specific titles you know of but contact details of both individuals and institutions you feel would be worth contacting for material. I will be able to travel outside of Dili. As well, I am also keen to know of any forthcoming book related events - e.g. firm dates for the Portuguese bookfairs. The date of my trip has not yet been decided apart from the fact it must occur before July, so it can fit in with any event. Please respond directly to me at the email/phone number below, not to the list.

Although this trip is on behalf of the National Library, as we lend material on interlibrary loan I am hoping that it will be of benefit to researchers outside of Canberra. But those of you who attended the talk I gave a the ASAA conference in July will be aware that I am also quite concerned about the lack of collecting on behalf of  a future National Library of Timor-Leste. As you know, with small print runs, this material is often difficult to find even a few months after publication. The NLA has started a small collection of current Indonesian materials on Timor-Leste to donate in future, and this trip may be an opportunity to acquire extra copies of Timorese material for donation as well. However, I don't think the NLA will be willing to fund additional purchases for donation unless we have some clear arrangement with those responsible for the National Library of Timor-Leste that they would welcome support of this type. If they do, there may be an opportunity for others to assist in this way as well. I would welcome discussion and suggestions on what we can all do to assist the building of research collections in T-L, especially from those in Timor-Leste involved with the founding of the National Library.

Regards,
Anya Dettman

Head, Indonesia and East Timor Unit
Asian Collections
National Library of Australia
ph: (02) 62621647
email : adettman at nla.gov.au


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/easttimorstudies/attachments/20090115/fdd7d1b8/attachment.html