Introduction

The National Library of Australia (the Library) is established under the National Library Act 1960 (the Library Act). The functions and powers of the Library, the Director-General and Council are outlined in the Library Act.

The Library operates as a Corporate Commonwealth entity (CCE) under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act).

The Library is an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and complies with the Information Publication Scheme (IPS). This Agency Plan describes how the Library does this.  

Purpose

The purpose of this Agency Plan is to show:

• what information the Library publishes under the IPS
• how and to whom the information is published
• how the Library otherwise complies with IPS requirements.  

Objectives

The objective of the Agency Plan is to outline appropriate procedures to:

• manage and make available information to be published under the IPS
• identify and publish all information required to be published
• review and ensure that information published under the IPS is accurate, up to date and complete
• ensure the information published under the IPS is, to the extent practicable, easily discoverable, understandable and machine readable, re-useable and transformable
• ensure compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 2.1) (WCAG 2.1)
• adopt where appropriate best practice in implementing and administering the Library’s IPS entry.

Establishing and administering the Library’s IPS contribution

The following staff are responsible for maintaining appropriate website content to meet the Library’s obligations under the IPS:  

• Director of Governance
• Director Communications and Marketing
• Assistant Director – Legal

In addition, the Governance Section will ensure that any information required to be published under section 8 of the FOI Act is identified and published on the Library’s website (where possible) as soon as practicable.

The Library also recognises that its branches and staff will need to be responsible for identifying documents they have created which should be published under the IPS.

The Library will publish on its website a list of any IPS documents that are impractical to publish online. A person seeking access to any of these documents may contact the Director Governance to arrange access.

The Library may charge a person for accessing any IPS document which it is impractical to publish online:

• at reasonable cost
• to reimburse specific reproduction costs or other specific incidental costs (s 8D(4) of the FOI Act).

The website will include indicative charges that may be imposed for making that information available and a description of the charge.

These charges will be consistent with charges in the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 2019 (which apply to document access requests under Part III of the FOI Act).  

IPS information architecture

The Library will publish its IPS information on its website (except where this is impractical).

The IPS information that is available on the Library’s website is published under the following headings and includes:  

• Agency plan
• Who we are
  • About us, a webpage which sets out the Library’s functions and decision-making powers.  
  • The Library’s organisation chart.  
  • The Library’s Enterprise Agreement.  
  • Statutory appointments, including the name of the
• What we do
  • The functions and powers of the Library, which are set out in sections 6 and 7 of the Library Act.  
  • Information about the functions and powers of the Library and Council, including information about the Library’s programs and activities.  
• Our reports and responses to Parliament
  • The Library’s annual reports from 2005-06 onwards as tabled in Parliament.  
  • Indexed list of departmental and agency file titles in accordance with the Senate Order.  
  • List of Library contracts for the Murray Order.  
• Our finances
  • Portfolio budget statements.
  • Tenders.
• Routinely requested information and disclosure log
  • Information in documents which the Library routinely gives access in response to requests for access.  
• Contact us
  • The telephone number and email address for a contact officer who can be contacted about access to Library information or documents under the FOI Act.
  • The Library maintains a telephone number and email address for this purpose.
  • The Library’s Feedback Form, which enables members of the public to comment on specific policy proposals for which the Library is responsible.

To ensure that the IPS information is easily discoverable, understandable and machine-readable, the Library will where practicable:

• design and publish an IPS entry point on its website  
• provide online content in a format that can be searched and copied  
• provide a search function to its website
• publish a sitemap for its website to help individuals identify the location of information published.  

Accessibility under the IPS

The Library aims for the information published under the IPS to conform to the Web Contents Accessibility Guidelines (Version 2.1) (WCAG 2.1), Level AA. 

Some documents published on the Library’s website may not readily be available in fully accessible formats. This includes some PDF files and some charts and tables.  

IPS compliance review

The Library will review the operation of its IPS, including revision of the Agency Plan, from time to time and at least every five years.