The University of Melbourne Library

Please Note:
While superseded by the 1998 Maps Collection Management Policy, the information regarding collecting levels, scales and areas for focus in this policy is still current and is not reproduced in the 1998 Maps Collection Management Policy.
John Cain, Map Curator, 1 May 2002.

Scope of the collection
Graphical overview
Research (Level 4)
Intermediate (Level 3)
Basic (Level 2)
Minimal (Level 1)

The mission of the Map Collection of the University of Melbourne Library is the provision of cartographic information and cartographic information services to the University population for the purposes of teaching, learning and research. Within the context of this mission, the purpose of the Map Collection Management Policy is to facilitate the development of the collection which will provide the required information by:

Providing a clear and objective basis for map selection and withdrawal decisions;
Informing the University community of the scope of the collections and plans for their development;
Forming a basis for cooperative acquisitions and collection management between libraries.

This policy is based around the ‘Conspectus’ approach to collection management which is standard within the University of Melbourne Library. Within this approach collecting intentions are expressed in terms of collecting levels ranging from level five, indicating comprehensive or exhaustive collecting, to level zero, for areas which are out of scope of the collections interests. A brief descripton of these levels can be found in italics at the begining of the collecting level statement for these levels. At this time no areas have been designated for collecting at either level five, comprehensive level, as available resources and the huge range of maps published make impossible any attempt at a comprehensive collection. Nor have any areas been designated as level zero, out of scope, as any and all maps are regarded as being within the scope of the collection. It is intended that in the future this policy be accompanied by statements regarding current collection strengths and collecting intensities in the areas specified by the policy.

This collection policy has been formulated after consideration of past and expected patterns of use of the Library’s map collection and in consultation with academic staff from disciplines of Archaeology, Architecture, Geography, Geology, Geomatics, History, Land & Food Resources, Planning and others. In developing this policy, particular attention has been paid to the State Library of Victoria Selection Policy (1986) and earlier agreements between the State Library and the University regarding map acquisitions. The policy is intended as a working document and comments and suggestions on it will be warmly received.

General scope of the Collection

The primary material format of the collection is maps. For the purposes of this policy, maps are defined as representations of the whole or part of the earth’s surface or any celestial body or of the sky at any scale. These materials include: two and three dimensional maps and plans; navigational charts; atlases; globes; block diagrams; sections; aerial photographs; satellite imagery; bird’s-eye views; and spatial databases, where these databases provide geographic data in either graphic or tabular form. The collection includes maps in four principal physical forms: sheet maps; books; microforms and computer files.

In addition to maps the collection includes a variety of related reference works, such as gazetteers, dictionaries and cartography texts, where these provide supplementary geographic data or provide information which assists in the interpretation of maps. Also included in the collection are works relating to library science as this relates to maps.

National and regional atlases are included in the collection. This will necessitate some duplication of resources between the Baillieu (and possibly other) libraries and the Map Collection. Expensive duplication will require negotiation with all interested Departments. Thematic atlases, the usefulness of which is linked with the general book collections (atlases of the ancient world; atlases of the Crusades, etc.,) will be held in the Baillieu Library and duplicated in the Map Collection only when this can be justified by heavy use within that collection.

Statement of Collecting Levels

Overview

The regions of greatest interest to the Map Section’s user groups are naturally the Melbourne Region, the State of Victoria and Australia. These areas have been allocated to the fourth level of collecting priority. The regions of the Middle-East, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Western Europe and the Pacific Ocean have been allocated to the third level of collecting priority because of the contemporary and historical links Australia has and is developing with these areas. All other regions of the world are collected at the second level of collecting priority. A visual summary of the collecting levels for the various regions of the world is presented in figure 1.

Figure 1. Summary of Collecting Levels
Select the thumb-nail for a map summarizing collecting levels world-wide (88K).

Research Level (Level 4)

At research level the collection aims to include the major published source materials required for doctoral study and independent research. It will contain a very extensive collection of general and specialized maps, cartographic reference works, and both owned and remotely accessed electronic resources. Retrospective resources will be maintained and actively collected.

The regions designated for research level coverage are Australia, Victoria and the Melbourne region.
For all regions specified at this collecting level the collection should include a wide range of general and thematic materials including atlases, single sheet maps and series maps. Both current and retrospective resources should be actively sought for inclusion in the collection.

Specifically, for all regions at this level the collection should include:

Thematic maps covering such topics as vegetation, soils, land use, land cover, land tenure, water resources, fisheries, tourism, national parks, resource exploration, transportation and climate.
Historical mapping showing progressive exploration, mapping and land use changes.
General descriptive maps.

Australia

For the Australian continent as a whole the collection should include:

Topography at scales approaching 1:100 000 as a minimum
Digital terrain models as necessary to support teaching and research.
Geology at scales approaching 1:250 000 as minimum.
Soil mapping at scales approaching 1:1 000 000 as a minimum.
Administrative boundaries including federal electoral maps (where possible in microform), postal and planning boundaries.
National and state atlases.
Satellite imagery.

For major Australian cities the collection should include cadastral base maps at scales approaching 1:5 000; topographic mapping at scales approaching 1:25 000 for regions surrounding these cities, and selected aerial photographic coverage of areas of particular interest (such as Central Activity Districts). Substantial historical material showing the progressive growth of these cities should also be included.

For Victoria and major Australian cities the collection should include census maps for each Australian census. Where possible these should be collected in microfiche or digital format.

For the Murray-Darling basin the collection should include substantial information relating to hydrology and patterns of land use. Satellite imagery should also be collected for this area.

For the waters adjacent to the Australian coastline the collection should include naval charts in addition to bathymetric mapping at scales approaching 1:250 000.

Victoria

For Victoria in its entirety the following information should be included in the collection:

Topography at scales approaching 1:25 000 as a minimum.
Digital terrain models as necessary to support teaching and research.
Geology at scales approaching 1:50 000 as a minimum, plus associated geophysical spatial data (airborne geophysics, magnetics, radiometrics) as necessary to support teaching and research.
Soil mapping as available together with indexes and guides to available sources.
Administrative boundaries including electoral; local government, planning, county and parish boundaries.
Land cover information including air and satellite imagery of selected areas of the state (excluding the Eastern Highlands which are held by the Earth Sciences department).
Land conservation and land capability reports and studies.
Historical survey and exploration maps.

For selected regions of Victoria deemed of special significance (for example projected growth corridors and development zones) additional maps should be included as required.

For major Victorian urban areas the collection should include cadastral base maps at scales approaching 1:5 000, and selectively include aerial photographs for areas of particular interest.

For smaller Victorian settlements the collection should include recent town maps and aerial photography at approximately 25 years intervals.

For the waters of Port Philip Bay, Bass Strait and the adjacent Victorian coastline the collection should include an extensive range of current and retrospective naval charts.

Melbourne Region

For the Melbourne Region, defined here as the entire natural water catchment of Port Philip Bay, the collection should include:

Cadastral base maps at scales approaching 1:2 500 at time intervals approaching every 15 years.
Land cover information including air and satellite imagery.
Digital topographic information at scales approaching 1:25 000.

For the Melbourne Metropolitan area, aerial photographic coverage at scales approaching 1:15 000 at time intervals approaching 20 years, should be provided.

For Melbourne Metropolitan area substantial historical material should be included for each decade since the city’s foundation. In particular this should include as far as is possible a compete set of MMBW 160’ to 1" and 40’ to 1" plans. As a priority coverage for inner Melbourne, and to a lesser extent the suburbs of Kew, Hawthorn, Prahran, Caulfield, Camberwell and St Kilda, should be included. For selected areas within the Melbourne metropolitan area, such as the Central Activities District, current aerial photography at scales approaching 1:5 000 should be included.

For inner Melbourne substantial historical material should be included for each decade since the city’s foundation.

For the University of Melbourne campus a near comprehensive collection of maps should be included.

Intermediate (Level 3)

At intermediate level the collection aims to provide information about an area in a systematic way, but at a level of less than research intensity, suitable to support undergraduate and graduate study. It will contain an extensive collection of general and specialized maps, cartographic reference works, and owned and remotely accessed electronic resources. Retrospective resources will be retained.

The regions designated for intermediate level coverage are the world in its entirety, Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific Ocean, Western Europe (France, Germany, Italy and adjacent small countries), and the British Isles. A variety of urban centres are also specified for in depth coverage at this level. For all regions specified at this collecting level the collection should include a broad range general and thematic atlases, current topographic series maps, thematic maps; small to medium scale general maps and maps of capital and other important cities.

Specifically, for all regions at this level the collection should include:

Historical mapping showing progressive exploration and mapping.
General descriptive maps including wall maps, maps suitable for projection and outline maps.
Authoritative thematic materials covering these regions including maps providing information about agriculture, transportation, vegetation, water resources, land cover, fisheries, national parks and resource exploration should be selectively included.

World

For the world in its entirety the collection should include:

Topography at scales approaching 1:1000,000 as a minimum.
Bathymetry, Geology and Soils at scales approaching 1:5,000,000 as a minimum.
Climate data where possible including long term data sets from stations around the world.
Political maps showing the delineation of national boundaries, both current and historical.

For the world’s continents the collection should include general descriptive maps of each continent including maps showing relief, international boundaries and major settlements.

For selected cities the collection should include substantial information to support studies in Architecture, Planning and History. Cities currently specified for special attention include Bangkok, Hanoi, Singapore, Jakarta, Paris, Rome, Berlin, London, Manchester, San Francisco, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, Toronto and New York.

Other areas at the Intermediate collecting level

For Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, Pacific Ocean areas, and Western Europe (the British Isles, France, Germany, Italy and adjacent small countries) the collection should include:

Topographic mapping at scales approaching 1:250 000 as a minimum.
Geology at scales approaching 1:250 000 as a minimum.
Current national maps showing principal internal administrative boundaries.
Current city plans of major cities within each region.
Historical mapping showing progressive mapping and land use changes.
National atlases.

The Middle East

For the region of the Middle East and in particular for the areas of Turkey, Syria, Iran, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan the collection should also aim to include:

Topographic mapping available at scales between 1:100 000 and 1:50 000.
Geological mapping, specifically those including the location of mineral deposits.
Vegetation mapping.

For the areas of Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Sinai region of Egypt the collection should include post World War II mapping covering the changes in boundaries and settlement patterns throughout the period of the Middle East conflict.

The Collection should include materials to support the teaching of Mediaeval history in this area (1000-1400 AD). It is acknowledged that suitable cartographic resources from this era, even in facsimile form, are rare and so efforts to meet these needs are to be focused on sources covering this era which date from later periods (generally from 1550 onwards).

Cyprus
For Cyprus the collection should aim to include substantial resources describing physical features and changes in human geography from the Bronze Age to the present to support teaching in this area.

Southeast Asia

For Southeast Asia, the collection should include substantial information relating to land cover and World War II topographic mapping. Satellite imagery should also be collected for this area.

Western Europe (British Isles, France, Germany, Italy, Benelux, Switzerland, etc.)

For these areas collection should aim to provide materials to support the teaching of Mediaeval history in this area (1000-1400 AD). It is acknowledged that suitable cartographic resources from this era, even in facsimile form, are rare and so efforts to meet these needs are to be focused on sources covering this era which date from later periods (generally from 1550 onwards).

Italy
For Italy the collection should include maps of Italy dating from the Renaissance and from the nineteenth century onwards to support undergraduate History teaching.

France
For France, in addition to the resources specified above attention should be paid to maps dating from the French revolutionary era.

British Isles
For the British Isles the collection should include substantial historical material relating to administrative boundaries, topography and settlement patterns. In particular the maps relating to the Tudor and Stuart periods should be covered by the collection. Town and city plans from all periods should be collected. In addition, particular attention should be paid to early 17th century maps of London (before the Great Fire of 1666).

Basic Information (Level 2)

At basic information level the collection aims to provide information that defines and introduces an area, at a level to support undergraduate study. It will contain a limited collection of general and specialized maps, cartographic reference works, and owned and remotely accessed electronic resources. Retrospective resources will be selectively retained.

The regions designated for coverage at the ‘basic information’ level are Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Antarctica and the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Some of these regions include areas collected at a higher level. For regions specified at this level the collection should include:

Topographic mapping at scales approaching 1:250 000 and at least at 1:1 000 000.
Current general descriptive maps
Current city plans of major cities.
Selected national atlases.

Minimal information (Level 1)

At this level the collection aims to support minimal inquiries about these areas and to include a very limited collection of general maps and reference works.

The regions specified as this level include non-terrestrial areas and imaginary places. For regions specified at this level the collection should include only a very limited range of maps.

John Cain
Acting Map Curator
10 November 1998
v.98a
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Maps - Collection Policy (1996)