The AUSTLIT database aimed to comprehensively record post 1988 Australian literary production, with the exception of young adult and children's literature which were indexed very selectively. AUSTLIT recorded both monograph and journal literature in a range of creative and critical print formats.

While AUSTLIT'S main emphasis was on recording contemporary literature, UNSW@ADFA won several grants which facilitated retrospective journal indexing projects. These projects included indexing the literary contents of

• The Bulletin
• Southerly
• Westerly
• Meanjin
• Quadrant
• Overland

• The Lone Hand
• Aussie: The Australian Soldiers Magazine
• Angry Penguins
• The Bookfellow
• The Australian Town and Country Journal
• The Dawn
• The Boomerang

AUSTLIT: The Australian Literary Database began its life as a card file index created by staff of the School of English, (now part of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences) at UNSW@ADFA. Production of AUSTLIT was transferred to the UNSW@ADFA Library, which converted the card file to electronic form in 1987. AUSTLIT was launched as a commercial telnet service by former Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Gough Whitlam on 8 August, 1988. From 1992 (to October 2000), AUSTLIT was published by RMIT Informit as a CD-ROM database, with substantially increased functionality. Since 1998, the data has also been available via AUSTLIT on the WEB, a web version of the database produced by UNSW@ADFA. All AUSTLIT records were migrated to AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource in late 2000.

The UNSW@ADFA Library provided substantial management, staffing, collection and infrastructure support for AUSTLIT content creation over many years. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences (formerly the School of English) provided expert editorial advice and research support over the same period.

AUSTLIT drew its information on Australian writers and writing from a range of current AustLit information sources, including The National Bibliographic Database via Kinetica.

Many individuals and organisations assisted in the research, production and publication of AUSTLIT: The Australian Literary Database. We particularly thank the University of New South Wales and the Australian Research Council for financial support, and those who contributed editorial expertise and AUSTLIT content:

• Professor Harry Heseltine
• Professor Bruce Bennett , later a General Editor of AustLit
• Professor Paul Eggert
• Lynn Hard, former Academy Librarian
• Tony Ralli, former Academy Librarian
• Mary Bryden, former AUSTLIT Supervisor

UNSW@ADFA Library Systems staff, who developed the original AUSTLIT software and kept the database running reliably for many years:

• Roger May
• Fran Cassidy

Our very special thanks to AUSTLIT staff who joined AustLit in 2000:

• Annette (McGuiness) Scarvell
• Tessa Wooldridge
• Jenny Huntley
• Lesley Banson
• Jane Rankine
• Susan Cowan

and those who worked on the AUSTLIT database for varying periods between 1987-2000, including:

• Kathy Curtis
• Debbie Hebda
• Valerie Johnson
• Ruth Ellen Anderson
• Bernadette McDermott
• Jan Smith
• Sarah Randles
• Sarah MacNeill
• Stephanie Pribil
• Susie Tomlinson
• Tracey Bicknell

We also thank the former AUSTLIT publishers, RMIT Informit, who worked with the UNSW@ADFA Library to make the AUSTLIT CD widely available.