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The Australian Literature Resource
AustLit uses Name and Title authority files and a number of controlled vocabularies to ensure consistent, high quality AustLit information. Maximise the power of your searches by using:
- AustLit Thesaurus to find the best search terms for concepts, places and literary awards
- Cultural Heritage Terms for Indigenous and other cultural heritage identifiers
- AustLit Genre Terms, Work Types, and Form Terms to choose particular work classifications
The AustLit Content Team uses a sophisticated Thesaurus to assign subject terms covering:
- general subjects (eg. love, writers' inspiration)
- spatial subjects and settings (eg. Melbourne, Outback, Uluru)
- literary awards (eg. Miles Franklin, Nobel Prize)
AustLit contributors are literary researchers, librarians and bibliographers, they assign subject terms according to professional guidelines, but must also use individual judgement. Terms chosen are those deemed appropriate by the contributor. Subject terms are assigned fairly 'literally' and generally do not cover allusive or metaphorical meanings. No subject terms are assigned if the subjects of indexed works are obscure and ambiguous.
More than two-thirds of all AustLit works have been subject indexed. Some older works and a significant proportion of poetry has not yet been subject indexed.
AustLit records information about literary awards won by authors for particular works, or for general literary achievement. Award terms are assigned to the relevant works and authors. AustLit also records information about literary awards: awards are treated as subjects in these cases.
AustLit comprehensively records information about key Australian literary awards including Award name, year and placings information. AustLit includes extensive information on a number of smaller and regional literary awards. Coverage of these awards may not be comprehensive.
AustLit classifies all included works according to a defined list of Work Types, Literary Forms and Stylistic Genres.
Work Type terms are used to classify AustLit works as single works, work collection types or parts of works types. AustLit Type terms are used as as 'number' descriptors (eg. publisher series, selected works, single work). AustLit works can have more than one work type classification assigned (eg anthology and website).
Form terms are used to classify AustLit works by literary form. AustLit Form terms are used as nouns (eg. novel, short story, poetry). AustLit works can have more than one form term assigned (eg. drama and poetry).
Genre terms are used to classify AustLit works by stylistic genre. AustLit Genre Terms are used as adjectives (eg. historical, young adult, humour) in conjunction with form terms. AustLit works can have more than one genre term assigned (eg. children's and humour)
Cultural heritage identifiers are recorded when an Australian author or creator has publicly claimed that his/her cultural heritage is significant in terms of identity and/or writing.
AustLit records specific kinship affiliations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers if a writer publicly claims Indigenous heritage. The terms used conform as far as possible to those used in by Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Spellings are fluid, and may change over time.