| Library home | Catalogue | Resources | Services | Help | Libraries | About us |
| Staff directory | A-Z index | Site map |
| Library home | Catalogue | Resources | Services | Help | Libraries | About us |
| Staff directory | A-Z index | Site map |
Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies1. The School1. The centreThe Faculty of Arts is one of the largest in the university, in terms of student numbers, and was one of the foundation faculties of Monash University. It offers courses on the Berwick, Caulfield, Clayton and Gippsland campuses in Australia and at the Monash Malaysia and South Africa campuses. The faculty has an enrolment of over 7,400 students, of whom nearly 1,200 are postgraduate. There are 287 academic staff in the faculty. Most honours courses and graduate courses are offered on the Clayton campus. The faculty is structured as eight academic schools, many of which have several departments. The schools are as follows: School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, School of Geography and Environmental Science, School of Historical studies, School of Humanities, Communications and Social Sciences, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Music-Conservatorium, School of Philosophy and Bioethics and School of Political and Social Inquiry. Some schools incorporate interdisciplinary centres as follows: Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, National Centre for Australian Studies, Centre for Biography and Life Writing, Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, Centre for European Studies, Centre for Human Bioethics, Centre for Japanese Language Education, Australian Centre for the Study of Jewish Civilisation, Research Centre for New Media in Language Learning, Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology, Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research and Centre for Research on Work and Society in the Global Era. The Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies was formed by the amalgamation of the Koorie Research Centre and MOSA (Monash Orientation Scheme for Aborigines) on the Clayton campus and the Centre for Koorie Studies on the Gippsland campus. It provides ongoing support to indigenous students, as well as excellent and culturally appropriate undergraduate courses on the Clayton and Gippsland campuses, and honours and postgraduate courses on the Clayton campus. Many different aspects of indigenous cultures are studied in their historical and contemporary contexts. A number of Faculty of Arts subjects offered in Australian studies, anthropology, geography, history, politics, linguistics, environmental science, sociology and women's studies complement subjects offered in Koorie studies. Research in the centre focuses on current indigenous issues and local history, with areas of research specialisation including indigenous education, the history of colonisation of Australia, Aboriginal rock music, indigenous performance, cultural heritage, racism and sport. On the Clayton campus, the centre has a student load of 68 EFTSU, of which approximately 2 are postgraduate and 11 academic staff. On the Gippsland campus, there are 3 staff, 260 undergraduates, 10 diploma students and 5 postgraduates. More information about:
2. General policy statementThe Collection Development Policy covers printed books and journals, electronic resources, multimedia and any other formats acquired for the Library's collection. The Policy is regularly monitored to ensure that the selection and acquisition of new resources supports the teaching and research needs of the faculties and their departments. While every effort is made to meet known information needs some gaps in the collection may develop which need attention, and suggestions to address them are welcome. This may be done through liaison with library staff or, for individual titles, using the recommendation form at lib.monash.edu.au/forms/acquisition-request.doc To ensure that the library provides collection materials to support new courses and subjects, completion of a Library Impact Statement lib.monash.edu.au/forms/impact.doc is required. When establishing new research directions staff are encouraged to liaise with the library about the provision of supporting information resources. All titles listed as prescribed or recommended reading for teaching subjects are acquired as high priority and in multiple copies depending on student enrolment numbers. This is particularly necessary for undergraduate students, who need access to adequate resources on their home campus. Electronic versions of these texts are also provided where possible, so that access is more readily available regardless of location and number of copies held. The inter-campus loan and photocopy services for undergraduates further support the needs of those students. However, the library cannot acquire every item that could conceivably be needed by Monash staff or students. The reciprocal borrowing scheme enables Monash library users to borrow from other university libraries. Post-graduates and staff may also use the document delivery service to obtain books and articles from other libraries in Australia and overseas. 3. The library's collectiona. LocationMaterial acquired for the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies is located predominantly in the Matheson Library on the Clayton campus, with a smaller collection on the Gippsland campus. Materials in the area of Australian indigenous studies are purchased to support teaching in the areas of history, politics, women's studies and sociology for the School of Humanities, Communications and Social Sciences on the Gippsland campus. The Centre for Gippsland Studies, located on the Gippsland campus, collects comprehensively in the area of local (Gippsland) history, including indigenous history. Courses offered by the Departments of Politics and History provide the historical and political context for indigenous studies. Other departments within the Faculty of Arts, including sociology, anthropology, visual culture, linguistics, Australian studies, geography, and women's studies also collect material that is relevant to indigenous studies. This material is located in the Matheson Library on the Clayton campus. The Law Library collects extensively in the area of indigenous law and native title b. LanguageMaterial acquired for the Centre for Indigenous Studies is in the English language. A small number of texts are in indigenous languages c. Classification usedMaterial acquired for the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies is classified using the Dewey Decimal Classification. d. FormatsNo format is excluded, although in practice the majority of the collection is monographs or serials, both print and electronic. The Gippsland library has a large collection of videorecordings to support teaching. e. Size of the collectionNumber of print serial titles received : 5 titles are located in the Matheson Library on the Clayton campus and 9 titles in the Gippsland Library. f. Significant electronic resourcesThe library is purchasing increased numbers of resources in electronic format, including networked or internet databases, fulltext resources, including suites of electronic journals, and CD-ROM databases that are only accessible within a particular branch library. As a result, an increasing proportion of the budget for library material for the Faculty of Arts is spent on these resources. These include Indexing and abstracting services:
Fulltext databases / electronic journal suites:
Subject gateways:
24% of the library materials budget for the Faculty of Arts is spent on serials, and 9% on electronic resources. g. Coverage of the collectionThe library resources acquired for the centre cover in general those areas of the Dewey Decimal Classification emphasising traditional and contemporary indigenous culture and history. The main areas of collecting for Indigenous Studies are detailed below
Gippsland and Clayton have good collections of material relating to indigenous history, politics, law, sociology and anthropology. The Matheson Library collects extensively in Australian history, with an emphasis on social, cultural and urban aspects. Australian Aboriginal history from the period of first contact between indigenous peoples and Europeans from 1770 is an important area of collection, as is the history of Australian popular culture through many forms of leisure pursuits. The Matheson Library also collects in the history of childhood and the family in Australia from 1780 to 1990 with particular emphasis on Aboriginal family life in Australia. The Matheson Library collects in the area of landscapes and environments as historical documents of heritage, and on world heritage decisions and their implications for tourism, development and preservation of sites, with particular emphasis on Australia. In addition to collecting in cultural heritage, the Matheson Library collects in environmental history, community histories, the heritage movement, oral history, Aboriginal heritage, theme parks and cultural tourism. The indigenous studies collection in the Gippsland Library supports all the subjects taught in the area of aboriginal studies at the campus. Particular strengths of the collection include aboriginal history, land tenure, education and social life and customs. Areas which require further development include aboriginal tourism, indigenous welfare and psychology of indigenous peoples. The collection is estimated at 3,000 volumes. 4. Other significant Monash collections or resourcesThe Elizabeth Eggleston Memorial Library is located in the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies. The late Dr. Eggleston, a former director of the then Centre for Research into Aboriginal Affairs, was acknowledged to be Australia's foremost expert on Aborigines. Her collection of books, pamphlets, papers and other material forms the foundation of the library. The collection keeps up to date with additional material to cover the spectrum of Aboriginal affairs, and holds approximately 4,000 items. The library has significant holdings in the areas of criminal justice and law, languages, education, health and a sizeable general collection including such areas as women's issues. The library is open to university staff, students and the general public but items are not available for loan. Elizabeth Eggleston Memorial Library available arts.monash.edu.au/cais/library/) Rare Books: This collection includes Australian popular culture, nineteenth century accounts by visitors to Australia and Australian urban history. (Rare Books site available lib.monash.edu.au/rare/) Microform collection:
Collections Table(T = teaching level, R = research level)
Amendment history
Need help? Library frequently asked questions and online
enquiries: current students/staff | public users, online chat,
or phone +61 3 9905 5054 |