VICNET and Victoria's virtual library: a decade of online achievements

This paper aims to provide a historical overview of VICNET at the State Library of Victoria (www.slv.vic.gov.au)., to introduce VICNET's conceptual development and to explore some of the impact and achievements of VICNET.

This paper looks at some of the published papers on VICNET and draws on the experiences of implementing and maintaining information and communications technology projects and services outlined in those papers. It also draws on the experience and opinions of the author as a senior manager within VICNET.

VICNET recognized that the online‐networked environment required development in parallel of access, content and skills. Its internet service provider and web design and hosting activities underpin VICNET's remarkable growth. This has served to enhance its capacity to deliver government ICT information society projects such as Skills.Net (www.skills.net.au) and My Connected Community (www.mc2.vicnet.net.au). The importance of community web publishing and access to online information is emphasized in the development of the VICNET web site (www.vicnet.net.au) and other key online content initiatives such as Victoria's Virtual Library (www.libraries.vic.gov.au), the Gulliver consortium, the Open Road project (www.openroad.vic.gov.au) and the MyLanguage Portal (www.mylanguage.gov.au).

The paper gives to the wider global library sector an overview of a unique library‐based information technology initiative.