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Austlang codes

Introduction and Background

Austlang is the vocabulary of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. It is created and maintained by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). You can find out more about Austlang and search the vocabulary by visiting https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/about.

Trove first implemented Austlang in 2019 – the International Year of Indigenous Languages. It allows people to find items in specific Australian Indigenous languages. By 2020, these languages will be searchable on Trove by all users.

This page is aimed at information professionals in Libraries, Galleries, Archives, Museums, Universities and community organisations, who are getting their data ready to send to Trove.

Why include this information in your records?

Including Austlang in your records will help people narrow their searches to material that is in a certain Australian Indigenous language. Including Austlang data can also help people locate items that are related to their family, country, or local area.

How to put Austlang codes in your records

For information professionals, the ‘Austlang’ index is driven by data from the Language Code field. It should contain the language’s code value, as taken from the collection of Austlang codes.

For a Dublin Core record, enter this information in a language field, ensuring you reference the type attribute austlang. Use the code value, rather than the full name of the language.

Eg. <dc:language type="austlang">N132</dc:language>

For a MARC record, enter this information in the Language Code 041 field. Austlang codes are accepted in all valid subfields. Include $2austlang, to ensure Trove interprets the code correctly.

Eg. 041 07 $aN132$2austlang

The Library of Congress has more information on their website: https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd041.html

For more detailed information on the codes Trove will accept, see the Trove Data Dictionary.