Collection items in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages
State Library of Queensland

Explanatory Information
This open data file contains bibliographic metadata for over 600 collection items identified in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages at the State Library of Queensland.
About this index
The State Library of Queensland is committed to raise awareness and act to preserve and promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in Australia. To date, we have identified over 90 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in more than 600 State Library collection items. These language materials are books, music, computer files, journals, visual works and archival collections. Some materials aren’t found anywhere else.
The metadata in these records is the key to users discovering and accessing the valuable language materials inside and outside the library catalogue. In 2019, the metadata was enhanced with updated reference names and codes as part of the AUSTLANG national code-a-thon. The AUSTLANG database is managed by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and includes geographic, historical, classification and research information about each identified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language.
The United Nations declared 2019 The International Year of Indigenous Languages. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages play a crucial role in the daily lives of Australians and encompass rich identities, cultural histories, tradition and memories. Despite their immense value, approximately 90% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are endangered.
Additional information is on State Library’s International Year of Indigenous Languages web page: https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/foundation/international-year-indigenous-languages
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander material is accessed and used in accordance with State Library's Protocols for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections.
Members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are advised that collections and records may contain names and images of deceased people.
Users should also be aware that certain words, terms or descriptions may be culturally sensitive and may be considered inappropriate today, but may have reflected the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written.
About this data file
The bibliographic metadata is stored in the State Library’s systems in structured records following the MARC cataloguing standards. Key metadata fields were extracted from the MARC records and transformed into tabular data using the metadata editing software MarcEdit. This data was corrected, standardised, and simplified for external use in OpenRefine and exported to a comma separated values (CSV) file. Edits include:
•	corrected missing and incorrect values
•	standardised spelling and punctuation for dates, places, named entities, etc.
•	combined similar fields for usability, e.g. all descriptive notes in a single notes field
•	merged repeated instances of a field into one cell, separated by a semi-colon (;)
•	removed redundant or irrelevant data
The data is provided in a comma separated values (CSV) file. The file can be opened as a text file, or in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel. Please note that if you are using Excel, it is best to use the Text Import Wizard and import all columns as ‘text’ rather than ‘general’ format. This will prevent Excel making changes to numbers or dates in the file.
Fields in the dataset
Record ID
Number – The unique ID number for the bibliographic metadata record in the library system (searchable in the State Library catalogue). E.g. ‘99114674702061’
Material ID
Text – The unique identifier for the published material. Includes ISBN, ISSN, ISMN, Publisher number, etc. E.g. ‘9780987540300’, ‘Book no. 286, Rams Skull Press’ 
Accession number
Text – The unique identifier for archival material. E.g. ‘30737’, ‘OM89-02’, ‘TR 1791’
Main creator
Text – The main creator of the material. This could be a person or corporate body. 
E.g. ‘Allen, John, 1850-1931’, ‘Custodians (Musical group)’, ‘State Library of Queensland’
Title
Text – The official title of the material as identified by the creator. Archival materials may have a descriptive title generated by the cataloguer. E.g. ‘Footprints across our land’
Subtitle
Text – The remainder of the title of the material. This could be a longer explanation, a translation, etc. E.g. ‘short stories by senior Western Desert women’, ‘Where's my mother’
Statement of responsibility
Text – The explanation of how creators contributed to the material. Usually found on the title page of published materials. E.g. ‘Sergei Prokofiev; translation by Gilbert Jack’
Other title
Text – Alternative titles by which the material is known. This could be a formal structured title for translations, or an individual title from inside the collective work. 
E.g. ‘Bible. Mark II, 1-12. Walmatjari. 1975.’.
Edition
Text – Formal version of the material. E.g. ‘1st edition’, ‘Widescreen’
AUSTLANG language
Text – The AUSTLANG reference name for the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language identified in the material. E.g. ‘Darkinyung language S65’.
For more information, see: https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/search
AUSTLANG code
Text – The AUSTLANG code for the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language identified in the material. E.g. ‘S65’, ‘E29; E30’.
Other languages
Text – The MARC language name for other non-English languages identified in the material. E.g. ‘Dutch; Spanish’, ‘German’.
The MARC standard is managed by the Library of Congress. For more information, see: https://www.loc.gov/marc/languages/language_name.html
Publication place
Text – The geographic location the material was published or produced in. 
E.g. ‘Sydney, N.S.W.’, ‘Amsterdam, Netherlands’.
Publisher
Text – The name of the publisher or producer of the material. 
E.g. ‘Aboriginal Artists Agency’, ‘SBS; Marcom Projects’.
Publication date
Text – The date the material was published or produced. Questionable dates are represented by a textual explanation and/or followed by a question mark (?). 
E.g. ‘1986 June’, ‘1956 or 1957’, ‘between 2010 and 2017?’
Extent
Text – The quantity/scope and unit of the material. E.g. ‘168 pages’, ‘1 DVD (120 min.)’
Physical details
Text – Other physical or technical details about the material or content. 
E.g. ‘illustrations, maps’, ‘PDF, 2MB’, ‘sound, colour with b&w sequences’
Dimensions
Text – The physical dimensions of the material. E.g. ‘4 3/4 cm’, ’19-22 cm’, ‘10 x 30 cm’
Accompanying material
Text – Details of any accompanying material to the main material in the description. 
E.g. ‘teacher's notes (14 pages)’
Series
Text – Details of the series the described material is a part of, where applicable. 
E.g. ‘Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, no. 24’.
Summary
Text – A descriptive summary of the material. E.g. ‘Baby Joey is searching for his mother in this bi-lingual children's story, used for teaching the Butchulla language and English.’.
Contents
Text – Explanations of the contents within the material. 
E.g. ‘[Vol. 1.] Thaayorre/English-[v. 2.] English-Thaayorre.’.
Notes
Text – Any other descriptive notes about the contents. E.g. ‘'... prepared to help teach the Wik-Munkan people their own language'--introduction.; Text in Wik-Munkan.’.
State Library note
Text – Notes relevant to State Library of Queensland collections. 
E.g. ‘A copy of this item has been lodged as legal deposit’.
Dewey Classification
Number – A hierarchical classification number assigned by libraries to organise materials by subject matter. E.g. ‘499.6’, ‘746.66221’.
For more information, see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dewey_Decimal_classes
Subject - AIATSIS Geographic
Text – The AIATSIS Place Thesaurus heading for the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander geographic places that are the subject of the material. 
E.g. ‘Badu / Mulgrave Island (Qld TSI SC54-11)’.
For more information, see: http://www1.aiatsis.gov.au/placename/placename.asp
Subject - LCSH Geographic
Text – Library of Congress authority headings for any geographic places that are the subject of the material. E.g. ‘Arnhem Land (N.T.)--Pictorial works’.
For more information about Library of Congress authority headings, see: https://authorities.loc.gov/ 
Subject - Person
Text – Library of Congress authority headings for any persons that are the subject of the material. E.g. ‘Abraham, (Biblical patriarch)’, ‘Thomas, Rover, 1926-1998--Exhibitions’.
Subject - Corporate body
Text – Library of Congress authority headings for any corporate bodies that are the subject of the material. 
E.g. ‘Australia., Native Title Act 1993’, ‘Church of England--Torres Strait--Liturgy--Texts’.
Subject - Topic
Text – Library of Congress authority headings for any topics that are the subject of the material. E.g. ‘Aboriginal Australians--Education--South Australia--Congresses’.
Subject - Other work
Text – Library of Congress authority headings for any other works that are the subject of the material. E.g. ‘Bible--Study and teaching--Queensland--Bloomfield River region’.
Genre/Form
Text – Authority heading for the genre or form or the material. From various vocabularies. E.g. ‘Documentary films’, ‘black-and-white photographs’
Other creator
Text – Other creators of or contributors to the material who are not designated the main creator. These could be persons or corporate bodies. 
E.g. ‘Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association’, ‘Duncan, Vicky, 1969-’
URL
URL – Link to the digital version of the material, where available. 
E.g. ‘https://collections.slq.qld.gov.au/guide/32007/details’
Please send any questions or feedback about any of the datasets released publicly by State Library to opendata@slq.qld.gov.au.