Libraries ACT opens Australia's first UNESCO Memory of the World Knowledge Centre

In an Australian-first, a UNESCO Memory of the World Knowledge Centre was opened at the ACT Heritage Library in Canberra on Tuesday 15 November, and ALIA was lucky enough to be there for the celebrations.

 

Ray Edmondson (Deputy Chair and representative of audio visual sector and of the Asia/Pacific Regional and International Memory of the World Committees), Vanessa Little (Executive Branch Manager, Libraries ACT), Roslyn Russell (Chair of the Register Sub-Committee of the International Memory of the World Programme), Antoinette Buchanan (Manager, ACT Heritage Library), Shane Breynard (Member, International Memory of the World Committee).

UNESCO established the Memory of the World programme in 1992 in response to a growing awareness of the precarious state of preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage in various parts of the world. Eight Memory of the World Knowledge Centres now exist around the world.

They combine the functions of a library and an archive and create compendiums of the world’s documentary heritage, including manuscripts, oral traditions, audio-visual materials, library and archive holdings.

The Memory of the World Knowledge Centre for Australia is a partnership with the Memory of the World National Committee of Australia and Libraries ACT and contains publications about the UNESCO Memory of the World program with a particular emphasis on the program in the Australia and Pacific Region.


Following a Welcome to Country from Ngunnawal woman, community leader and artist Selina Walker we heard from Chair of the Register Sub-Committee of the International Memory of the World Programme Roslyn Russell. Roslyn discussed not only the significance of the Centre for the Asia-pacific region, but also Canberra’s long history with the Memory of the World programme, with several librarians and archivists involved in the development of its guidelines nearly 30 years ago.

In addition to the items on display at the ACT Heritage Library, the Australian Memory of the World register includes such items as the Endeavour Journal of James Cook, the Mabo case manuscripts, Walter and Marion Mahony Burley Griffin’s design drawings of Canberra, Australian Indigenous Languages collection and many more.

We urge everyone in the Canberra region to visit the Centre, located at the ACT Heritage Library, or to explore the Australian register online.

Thank you to Libraries ACT and UNESCO for the opportunity to attend the launch and learn more about these essential preservation activities.