The Encyclopedia of Australian Science: a virtual meeting of archives and libraries

Abstract

The story of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science is fundamental to the story of the eScholarship Research Centre (ESRC) and its predecessors. Published online in 2010, there are data in this public knowledge web resource that can be traced back to the early days of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s, and earlier to the beginnings of the Australian Science Archives Project (ASAP) in March 1985. ASAP was created to help meet the needs of the history of Australian science research community by locating, documenting and finding an archival home for collections of records and creating a register of where collections relating to the history of science were held in Australia. This paper provides a perspective on the events that led to the web publication of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science in 2010 and its continuing role as a key activity of the ESRC. There is a focus on the reasons why this work was required in the first instance and the lessons learned along the way. The paper reflects on the initial drivers that continue to challenge, indeed frustrate, the development of cohesive national information infrastructure to support research and societal self-awareness, despite the developments in digital and communications technologies.