RMIT Publishing has partnered with the Australia Council for the Arts to produce a comprehensive digital archive of Australia's most iconic literary and cultural journals.
As the newest addition to RMIT Publishing's Informit databases, the 100% full text Literature & Culture Collection will span more than 70 years, and contain over 1800 issues and 30 000 individual items. Newly published items will be added to the database as soon after publication as possible.
So far, confirmed publications include Griffith Review, Island, Meanjin, Quadrant, Southerly and Wet Ink, with a number of others currently in negotiation.
Download the current titles list
Writings by and about many of Australia's notable literary figures have been published in these journals, as have many pivotal critiques and analyses of Australian culture. Portraying the literature, politics, society and artistic movements of the times, these archives allow readers to revisit the 1950s' nationalist tensions, the Cold War, the Menzies era, the counter-culture and feminist movements, the growth of Indigenous writing in English, migrant writing, and the relationship between the Australian people and the environment, as seen through the eyes of our writers, critics and intellectuals.
Funding assistance from the Australia Council for the Arts and collaboration with relevant publishers has made this exciting database possible. RMIT Publishing plans to have items from 2005–2011 available online by January 2012, with all earlier archive issues digitised and made available by late 2012. The Literature & Culture Collection Backfiles is available for one-time purchase, and recent content is available on annual subscription.
RMIT Publishing's Director, Ms Heather Crosbie, is delighted with the response so far: ‘Once again, RMIT Publishing has successfully identified a rare opportunity to bring together in one place a digital archive of important Australian cultural content, making it easily discoverable for the world and preserving it for future generations. We are honoured to work in partnership with Australia Council for the Arts and all publishers who are involved in publishing the original material.’
The Informit Literature & Culture Collection is an essential resource for academic, school and public libraries and for teachers and students of literary studies, cultural studies and creative writing courses. Researchers and students of Australian literature, history and society will find this Collection a rich source of fiction, poetry, cultural politics and the ideas that have helped define our Australian identity.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
For purchase enquiries, please contact:
Sales and Marketing
+61 3 9925 8210
sales@rmitpublishing.com.au
For media enquiries, please contact:
Mr Kevin Ormsby
Publishing Manager
PO Box 12058 A'Beckett Street
Melbourne VIC 8006
+61 3 9925 8265
kevin.ormsby@rmit.edu.au