'On 8 August 1988, AUSTLIT (The Australian Literary Database) was launched. A joint project of the Department of English and the Library of the University College, University of New South Wales, at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, the database indexes Australian literature past and present. Over 100,000 bibliographic items are currently resident in the online database. It includes references to creative literature, criticism, biographical material, reviews, awards and prizes, publishing and distribution, and literature in translation. The article describes the development of the project from card index to database.' (Publication abstract)