Across the Seas

This chapter reports on four current and significant collaborative projects between Australia and the Pacific Islands in the area of libraries, archives and information centres, their respective staff, and Pacific counterparts. In the context of this chapter, and mirroring the Australian Government’s Pacific policies, all the collaborations mentioned involve countries in the south Pacific (i.e. Melanesia and Polynesia), although two Micronesian countries with strong links to Australia—Kiribati and Nauru—are included. The projects are: Pacific Manuscripts Bureau – microfilming and preserving historic documents; Pacific Islands Law Library Community Twinning Program; Marine Library Twinning Project; and the Melanesian Agricultural Information System. Based on experiences in carrying out these projects, this chapter shares some strategies for successful collaboration and the value of such projects.