Australian Bibliography: An Assay

tant sources of information if it is not to be only a recital of an endless number of bibliographic lists, many of which are ei-ther uncritical compilations based on other lists, or are merely enumerations of works consulted for a particular pur-pose. The term bibliography has been given different meanings by different users, but a careful examination of these varied interpretations will show that only very few bibliographies can be considered independent and self-contained works of scholarship. Too often bibliography is taken as the "natural " handmaiden of other disciplines, in particular of history in its broadest aspects; the creative effort behind the compilation of a thorough and exhaustive bibliography is not ap-preciated. T o present a discursive account of the bibliographies concerned with Australia, comprehensiveness of treatment must be the prime basis of selection. Excluded are all bibliographies or lists on very special-ized aspects and those, also, which ap-peared as appendices to other works. Furthermore, unpublished material ex-cept where no suitable bibliography ex-isted in print has been excluded. This survey should therefore be useful as a guide to those who want to establish a basic list of references on Australia. As every practicing reference librarian knows, there is no single true and correct method of finding bibliographic infor-mation; not only do reference librarians in different libraries answer the same question by using different sources, but even within the same library one can observe individual bias—not necessaril