1384.6 - Statistics - Tasmania, 2006  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 22/04/2004   
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Contents >> Culture and the Arts >> Libraries >> State Library of Tasmania >> Providing online services

The advent of new technologies has brought about a marked change in the role of the State Library of Tasmania and an increasing shift to provision of services in the online environment. Technology is also changing the community's expectations about the nature and mode of delivery of public information-based services. For this reason it is important that publicly provided information services respond to these trends and deliver appropriate public access.

The Tasmanian Government has played a major role in establishing the infrastructure required to support Statewide access to information. There are:

  • 48 public libraries at strategic locations throughout the State, each providing free public access to the Internet;
  • Internet access in all schools and colleges;
  • 25 Service Tasmania shops, which provide Internet access and a range of government services online; and
  • 64 Online Access Centres in a range of towns and rural centres (established by Tasmanian Communities Online).

The State Library of Tasmania has a role in the following Tasmanian Government initiatives.

TASMANIA TOGETHER - a community plan for the future of Tasmania

The State Library of Tasmania participates in a number of Tasmania Together benchmarking initiatives in the goal area of Arts, Culture and Heritage. The State Library collaborates with other cultural institutions including the Archives Office of Tasmania, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery primarily for the benchmarks in the area of preservation of significant heritage; digital access to heritage documents and artefacts; and Tasmanian publications added to the State record.

Further information can be found at http://www.tasmaniatogether.tas.gov.au/

LEARNING TOGETHER - a vision for education, training and information into the 21st century

The State Library of Tasmania has lead agency status for 16 of the initiatives outlined in Learning Together. The State Library will also collaborate with other sections of the Department of Education on many more of the initiatives detailed in Learning Together. The initiatives are primarily related to the State Library’s role in:
  • providing access to quality information for all Tasmanians;
  • providing access to and preserving documentary heritage;
  • working with the community to publish local history and community information;
  • developing the State Library network to become a key centre for learning for communities and individuals;
  • developing a community health education strategy; and
  • providing Internet communications infrastructure for the Department of Education.

Further information can be found at http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/learningtogether/default.htm

TASMANIA ONLINE - the official home page for the Tasmanian government, and a comprehensive guide to all Tasmanian content on the Web

The State Library of Tasmania established Tasmania Online in February 1996 as a way to help Internet users find and use the increasing range of Tasmanian information becoming available on the World Wide Web. The value of this service was reflected by the Government decision, in 1997, to make Tasmania Online and the State Library responsible for the main government entry point on the web to Tasmania.

Tasmania Online is now the official web entry point for information about Tasmania. Tasmania Online facilitates the effective retrieval of electronic information about Tasmania by providing a comprehensive subject and alphabetical index of web sites, and through a specifically developed regionally based search engine over the World Wide Web.

Further information can be found at http://www.tas.gov.au

SERVICE TASMANIA ONLINE - the online government services delivery channel for Service Tasmania

In 1999, the Department of Education became the lead agency for the development and operation over the Internet of the service called Service Tasmania Online. It is the State Library that has responsibility for this within the Department.

Service Tasmania Online acts as the key entry point to specific Government information and services for the Tasmanian community. Service Tasmania Online is implementing the objectives of Service Tasmania to promote easy access for the Tasmanian public to government services over the counter, over the telephone and over the Internet. It also enables the community to easily access online government information and services located across Tasmanian Government agencies, Commonwealth Government and local government. Government information and services are organised on the web site according to customer needs rather than by the structure of government.

Further information can be found at http://www.service.tas.gov.au

TASMANIAN COMMUNITIES ONLINE - a network of 64 Online Access Centres located in rural and regional Tasmania

The Community Access Strategy was developed to enable all Tasmanians to have access to computer technology close to where they live. A network of 64 community-managed Online Access Centres (OACs) has been established around the State. The program is called Tasmanian Communities Online (TCO). Further information can be found at http://www.tco.asn.au

The centres provide low-cost access to, and training in, the use of information and communication technology, including access to the Internet, online government, and community information. The centres allow communities to showcase their heritage, cultural life, local businesses and services.

The Tasmanian Communities Online Program is managed through the State Library by the Centre Support Unit (CSU). The CSU provides financial and administrative support to centres and employs three field officers who work directly with the communities where Centres are located. The CSU also manages Statewide initiatives in support of the Programs mission and goals.

In March 2002:
  • 43,000 Tasmanians, 55% of whom were women, had registered as users of an Online Access Centre;
  • over 1,000 trained volunteers had contributed the equivalent of 11,200 working days in the past year to assist users (with a further 550 volunteers contributing as members of Centre Management Committees);
  • over 224,000 one-hour bookings have been made in Online Access Centres in the past year;
  • 26,000 Tasmanians had taken part in almost 6,300 basic training courses; and
  • over 22,000 new email accounts had been created.



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