We hope this list of FAQs answers your AustLit queries. If you still have questions, please contact us, allowing five working days for a reply.

• Is AustLit a Full Text service?

  Most AustLit records provide citation and library holdings information rather than access to full text. AustLit provides links to selected information available freely through the Internet, and will provide access to increasing amounts of full text for critical works, reviews and some creative works in coming years.

  AustLit Full Text records display the symbol. These texts are fully searchable

  Internet publications and digitised resources are identified by the symbol.

• Why isn't AustLit free?

  While the Author Browse search allows subscribers and non-subscribers to see information on approximately 3,000 authors (4% of the total authors on AustLit), access to the majority of AustLit information is restricted to subscribers only.

  AustLit is an authoritative and constantly updated information service, produced by a national team of expert librarians and bibliographers who add tens of thousands of records to the service each year under the direction of AustLit's Editorial Board.

  While AustLit has received significant support from the Australian Research Council to develop its technical infrastructure, the costs of producing AustLit information are met by AustLit contributors, who do not receive any special funds from government or the private sector to continue this work.

  AustLit is a non-profit venture aiming for long term sustainability: subscription income is fully reinvested in content and service delivery. AustLit will work with consortia to try to maximise AustLit's availability to Australian and international users.

• How much does AustLit cost and how do I subscribe?

  AustLit is available by annual subscription. AustLit welcomes consortia proposals, and aims to provide access to as many Australian and international users as possible through such arrangements. AustLit does not offer pay-per-view access. Check with your university, school, state or local public library to find out if you can access AustLit.

  Our Subscription page provides more information about subscribing to AustLit. All subscription and consortia enquiries should be directed to info-austlit@austlit.edu.au.

• Is my personal data safe with AustLit?

  Yes. We comply with all relevant Australian privacy laws, and will not give or sell your personal data to anybody. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.

• What does the AustLit cover?

  AustLit indexes Australian literary content from a range of print and electronic information sources.

  AustLit provides:

  • biographical information on many Australian authors
  • bibliographic citations for Australian creative and critical writing, including reviews
  • information on Australian literary awards
  • sophisticated search and retrieval functionality
  • subject indexing of most works, using an extensive thesaurus
  • options to search across the entire database or across specialist research subsets

  Use AustLit Search Help to get the most out of your AustLit searches.

• How big is AustLit?

  AustLit includes information on more than 103,289 agents (authors and organisations) and 586,961 literary and critical works (figures at February 2008). AustLit adds tens of thousands of records to its database each year.

• Does AustLit cover all websites by Australian writers and literary organisations?

  No. AustLit selects and indexes quality web resources, according to our Scope Policy. We have chosen not to include many websites in the database because they do not meet our selection criteria. We recommend using a good search engine such as Google to find other websites.

• How do I access copies of works I've found on AustLit?

  Freely available internet documents and licensed Full Text can be accessed directly from records showing the symbol.

  Most of the books, articles and reviews indexed in AustLit are held by libraries which contribute catalogue records to the National Bibliographic Database via Libraries Australia. AustLit subscribers can retrieve Holdings information from within AustLit records. Holdings results are grouped by state, and show library details and in many cases, call numbers for works.

  Check your own library's holdings first. Many libraries do not contribute their records to Libraries Australia, so if your library does not appear on the holdings display, it may be worth checking your local catalogue. If your library does not hold the item, your library may request an inter-library loan on your behalf. Most libraries charge for this service.

• How do I cite the information I have found on AustLit?

  When using AustLit as an information resource for research you will not normally need to cite us, however, if you are quoting directly from any of the annotations, the biography or other notes, you should cite AustLit as: 'AustLit (www.austlit.edu.au), 2002- ' and include the name of the author or work title.

  For example - 'Author record, Patrick White, AustLit (www.austlit.edu.au), 2002- [Retrieved dd/mm/yyyy]' or 'Work record, Voss, AustLit (www.austlit.edu.au), 2002- [Retrieved dd/mm/yyyy]'.

  There may also be other rules you will need to abide by relating to citations of internet publications depending on the publication you are writing for.

• How can I make changes to my own author details?

  If you are an author and would like to change or add to the information contained within AustLit, please send an email to: info-austlit@austlit.edu.au.

• Can I contribute information to AustLit?

  If you have reliable biographical information on an Australian writer, or reliable bibliographic information on AustLit works, or you have suggestions for changes or improvements to enhance the AustLit service, send an email to: info-austlit@austlit.edu.au.

• Does AustLit include works written in languages other than English?

  Austlit records:

  1. Australian literary works created in English and subsequently translated into another language;
  2. Works originally created by an Australian literary author in languages other than English. Some of these works are translated into English.

• Which search option would be best for me?

  For more information on search options, see our AustLit Help pages.

  1. Use Quick Search (on each page) for quick keyword searches or simple author or title searches.
  2. Use Guided Search for combined searches on author and work information, and to search by specialist subset.
  3. Use Advanced Search for very complex searches, and to search by specialist subset.

• Can I download and save AustLit records?

  Yes. Subject to our Copyright and Licensing restrictions, you can save and print AustLit records.

• Can I publish AustLit records or information?

  Only with our permission. Please see our Copyright Statement and contact us if you wish to re-use our data for any commercial or publication purpose.