4 September 2012 - 12:00
Trove, Australia’s national discovery service, provides access to more than 300 million resources managed by more than 1000 Australian and international organisations, and by members of the public. Trove has been enthusiastically embraced by Australians from all walks of life, and from around the country. More than 50,000 unique visitors search the service every day, and tens of thousands of Australians engage much more actively than by just searching. Trove users correct newspaper text, add content, tags and annotations, and create online lists of Trove resources – all within the Trove community space. Trove has extended the reach of the National Library and Trove contributors far beyond our expectations. But while it is gratifying to bask in public and political acclamation, we must also ask – why is Trove a success? Is Trove as a whole a success, or just some parts of it? And what challenges do the answers to that question pose to libraries’ tradi