Temporary change to collection access from March
The State Library of South Australia (the Library) meets its obligations under the Libraries Act 1982 (SA) through the systematic collection, development, preservation and provision of access to the state’s documentary cultural heritage.
The Library collects defining moments for future generations. It identifies and preserves the key stories, events, and cultural shifts that shape South Australia, ensuring they are available for reflection and research. All collection activities are guided by the Library’s Collections Policy.
With much South Australian heritage now published online, the Library contributes to Australia’s Web Archive, PANDORA, to preserve representative examples of the State’s online culture. The Library acts as an agent of the National Library of Australia (NLA), under the National Library Act, 1960 to coordinate the harvest of South Australian websites.
The collection and preservation of published South Australian websites is not intended to be exhaustive or comprehensive. Instead, it aims to be balanced, broad ranging and representative of the state in order to support future insight and understanding. Websites are selected and acquired according to appraisal against the following criteria.
Selected websites must have the potential for enduring value in their born digital format. Accordingly, a range of viability considerations must be assessed.
Content significance is a central consideration in the selection process. To be selected for preservation, a website must relate to a subject of significance to South Australia or otherwise provide insight into South Australian society and culture. Selection is not based on popularity or web traffic. Instead, a website must demonstrate documentary value, evidentiary significance or research merit in relation to South Australia.
Assessment is made against standard factors, as well as the relationship to existing collection strengths, significance, quality and research merit.
The Library prioritises the capture of websites that document South Australia’s public life, cultural expression, civic participation and community identity in a digital environment.
The types of sites collected are varied and wide ranging, however certain content is commonly targeted for collection. In all instances, these will be assessed in line with the viability and significance parameters.
Websites that document prominent or emerging issues, events or public campaigns. These sites capture moments of social change, civic engagement and public debate that may otherwise be lost. These sites may often be sampled and grouped into a collective entry.
Selected websites created by South Australian state and local government bodies may be archived where they document significant public events, major policy initiatives, community impact matters or periods of public controversy.
Selection focuses on time limited projects, crisis response sites, major public consultations or initiatives that evidence civic life and public discourse that is of lasting significance.
Websites showcasing artistic, literary, musical or cultural production originating in South Australia, particularly where the web is the primary mode of publication.
Websites may include portfolios, digital exhibitions, festival programs, artist run initiatives, online publications, music platforms, performance documentation and other born digital expressions of cultural activity.
Sites that primarily function as commercial sales platforms are generally not collected unless they demonstrate broader cultural significance.
Websites of prominent people and organisations or societies. Selected sites should contain substantial documentary content that evidences activity, influence or community contribution within South Australia.
Websites that represent the voices and perspectives of diverse communities across the state. Priority will be given where these sites document lived experience, cultural continuity and community initiatives that are underrepresented in other collecting published formats.
Websites created to influence public opinion, policy or community awareness in relation to South Australian issues.
Websites for newspapers or periodicals that are exclusively published online. These sites document contemporary public discourse and community life and may not exist in any other stable format.
Certain types of content are not typically collected due to limited documentary value, technical constraints or because it falls outside the Library’s collecting mandate.
Sites that primarily aggregate links or provide navigation to other websites as the content they reference is hosted elsewhere and may be captured at source. These sites rarely contain unique documentary content.
Websites created by South Australian state or local government bodies that primarily contain routine administrative information, standard service delivery content or general corporate material.
Administrative documentation and operational material created by organisations, in the course of business.
Academic theses which are typically held in institutional repositories.
Online games and highly interactive environments are generally excluded due to technical limitations in web archiving tools and the difficulty of preserving functional interactivity. Where games have substantial cultural impact, contextual material may be considered.
Intranets, password protected content and private subscription services; which fall outside of the scope of publicly available published material.
Unfinished, temporary or developmental content unless it documents a significant public process or event.
Dynamic discussion environments are generally excluded due to privacy considerations, rights complexities, technical capture limitations and the scale of content generation. In exceptional cases, representative sampling may be considered where there is clear public interest and documentary value.
Where content is substantially replicated in print, broadcast or other stable published formats already collected by the Library, web capture may not be prioritised unless the online version contains additional unique material.
The Library applies professional judgement in all selection decisions. Exclusions are not absolute and exceptions may be made where a site demonstrates significant documentary, cultural or research value in relation to South Australia.