Library Collection

For your information, to assist understanding how the Library Collection is arranged, and to help with loan requests, a short description of the collection follows:

1. The main collection of books is classified under the Dewey decimal system which is on the spine label. Each book has a borrowing card in a pocket at the back. There are 1,777 books in the main collection.

2. Large books with prefix f (folio) on the spine label. Each folio book has a borrowing card in a pocket at the back. There are 249 folio books.

3. Books and maps for reference purposes only — not for borrowing — with the letters REF above the Dewey number on the spine. There are 122 Reference books.

4. Pamphlets with prefix P, arranged in Dewey order, are in housed in pamphlet boxes. Each pamphlet has a borrowing card in a pocket at the back.There are 534 pamphlets.

5. Junior books for young people with a J before the Dewy number. Each Junior book has a borrowing card in a pocket at the back. There are 37 Junior books.

6. Rare or valuable books, with the letters SC (Special Collection) before the Dewey number. These may be inspected under supervision but are not available for loan. There are 521 Special Collection books.

7. Periodicals are housed in the Compactus shelving. They are arranged in alphabetical order by title. Currently, the BOCA Library receives 149 journals or newsletters, mostly by exchange for the Bird Observer and/or Australian Field Ornithology.

8. Audiocassettes are in numerical order, each audiocassette has a borrowing page in a Loans Register. There are 134 audiocassette tapes in the collection, 24 of which have accompanying boxes of slides.

CDs and CD-ROMs are in numerical order, each CD or CD-ROM has a borrowing page in a Loans Register. There are 61 CDs and 15 CD-ROMs in the collection.

9. Videos and DVDs are in numerical order, each video/DVD has a borrowing page in a Loans Register. There are 219 titles in the Video/DVD collection, this includes 53 DVDs, some of the videos are also on DVD.

10. Slide Library contains an extensive collection of slides of birds which may be borrowed on request.

11. Library lists and Indexes, updated regularly, copies of some of these could be available on request:

Audiotape Cassettes, CDs and CD-ROMs are listed numerically and alphabetically, and are indexed by bird groups and species; birds in specific locations inside and outside Australia; art and culture; bird study and conservation; history; habitat; and fauna other than birds. In addition there are comprehensive lists of where in our collection to find calls of each bird (listed taxonomically as well as alphabetically), of birds to be heard on each tape, and of calls of non-bird fauna.

Videos/DVDs are listed numerically, alphabetically, and there are lists of the birds to be seen on each video/DVD. They are also indexed under the headings: Bird, Bird Behaviour, Places in Australia and Overseas; Habitats; People & Artists; Music; Flora; Smuggling birds. All other fauna appearing on videos/DVDs are also indexed.

Periodicals: are listed alphabetically by Title and alphabetically by the Organisation which publishes them. Our collection also contains many issues of periodicals which are no longer published, these are also listed. There are also lists of BOCA branch Newsletters and non-BOCA Branch newsletters. There is a computer index (also a printed copy) of the Bird Observer 1975-2008.

Accession List is kept of books added to the collection.

Computer catalogue of the collection, known as Athena, searchable by title, author, subject.

Index of books and pamphlets in the collection, alphabetically by author.

Index of aboriginal names for birds, and of Maori names for birds.

List of birdlists on file at HQ and printed in publications available in our Library is ongoing, it is in the Library computer.

In addition, the Conservation Office has a collection of published material which as yet does not appear on the Library Catalogue.

A collection of bird skins is also housed in the Conservation Office, there are 391 skins in the collection.

If any Members wish to borrow any books, pamphlets or videos etc from the BOCA Library collection, please just let us know and we will send them to you. Special Collection (SC) books are unfortunately only available in our Library, but we can look them up for you.
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