1951
The rise of DA is a classic migrant success story of a family who started a new life in a country distant from their homeland and made good. Willem Krins had borrowed a builder’s wheelbarrow to collect his first consignment of Dutch books from the Ocean Grove Post Office. With his son, he trundled back to the family’s home.
1952
The Dutch Australian Book Depot was established by Willem and Johanna Krins.
1952 to 1976
During this period the Dutch Australia Book Depot employs most of the Krins family and outgrows several offices until they establish a permanent site.
1968
The Dutch Australia Book Depot commenced supplying specialist books to libraries Australia-wide and later moving into the New Zealand market.
1973
Sees the launch of the journal subscription service. The company now supplies books and journals to its customer base. The list of international publishers continued to grow.
1976
The Krins family purchase a permanent site in Station Street Mitcham Vic and the company name shortened to D.A. Book Depot Pty Ltd. The company now started refining its distribution arrangements and became more active in communicating with overseas publishers in sciences, technology and medicine.
1976
Peter Krins set up the Promotions Department. Each month new book and journal announcements are mailed all over Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea to keep customers informed of forthcoming publications in their specific field of interest. This service was later to be known as the New Title Alert Service (NTAS)
1980
Beacon Hill Books, a division of the D.A. Book Depot was established. Beacon Hill Books serviced all who had an interest in Theology and Theological education.
1981
Computerisation arrives at the D.A. Book Depot with the installation of a PRIME in-house computer.
1982
During the early eighties the business continues to grow and now sees over 25 staff servicing the needs of booksellers, libraries, academics, scientists, industry and commerce all over Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
1985
Three of the four Krins brothers leave the company and were replaced by two new partners who had each worked with the business for many years. Nick Krins becomes the managing director of the firm, which now employed 56 staff and acted as exclusive Australian agent for 58 international publishers. The family business which literally began in a wheelbarrow becomes the region’s major supplier of books and journals in nearly 400 scientific, technical and medical fields, servicing customers in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
1986
The company becomes one of the first library suppliers to provide CD-ROM products to customers through its newly formed electronic media business. The company changes its name to DA Book & Journals and continues to operate together with its other divisions, Beacon Hill Books and the newly formed C.D. ROM & Associates.
1989-90
The company comes to realise that it has outgrown the premises it occupied since 1976 and purchases a new building in Whitehorse Road Mitcham Vic.
1990
DA Books opens their new building in Mitcham on 1 August with The Hon Barry Jones (an Australian polymath, writer, teacher, lawyer, social activist, quiz champion and former politician) cutting the ribbon to declare the building open for business.
1990's
The 1990s saw a period of consolidation and growth as DA developed its range of products and services to become an innovative major information provider. This resulted in the company changing its name yet again to DA Information Services Pty Ltd.
The successful achievement of ISO 9002 quality accreditation further reinforced DA’s status as a quality, customer-led organisation.
DA committed to being at the forefront of electronic developments and the following services soon followed:
- DA Direct - DA’s new on-line system was designed to boost effectiveness. DA Direct provided free electronic access to its extensive database. Thousands of books, journals and software products were now available to customers via their own computer or terminal via AARNet, ILANET, Austpac or Pacnet.
- Software and Audio-Visual products were introduced to improve productivity, teaching effectiveness and research.
- Customers were also able to enjoy a fast, reliable document supply service, via a strategic alliance between DA and the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) providing access to journal articles, reports, theses and conference proceedings.
- Weekly air freight services followed from the US, UK and Germany soon after to source continuations, monographs, book series, annuals, encyclopaedic and loose-leaf works, all supplied quickly after publication.
- Collection Development, Blanket orders, Approval Plans, Cataloguing Services and Physical Processing services were also introduced to reduce customer administration.
2000s
The 2000’s saw further changes at DA with Y2K bug resulted in the need to develop new computer software, the introduction of a new PRIME computer system, new in-house software package DA Client, new websites for both, the academic community and resellers plus upgrades to DA’s on-line service DA Direct. All software was developed in-house.
The company enjoyed renewed growth throughout this period, now employing over 100 staff and winning several consortia tenders.
DA celebrated its 50th anniversary on 28 June 2001, and several events were held throughout the year to commemorate this milestone achievement!
2006
The three directors decided it was time to leave the industry in pursuit of other interests, so DA Information Services was sold to six private investors.
2007-2012
The company further expanded its reach during this period, with the introduction of several new services including:
- The creation of a new export division of the company - DA Asia Pte Ltd servicing the needs of customers for print books into Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
- Distribution of eBook readers.
- The importation of Book printing technology.
- The sale of single title eBooks.
- Local warehouse buying tours.
- Long tail supplier for Angus & Robertson retail outlets.
2013
During 2013 DA Information Services was sold to The Coop under the branding Coinfo Pty Ltd to become The Coop’s Professional Services Team. The business relocated to its new home in Vermont Victoria and new GM was appointed in 2016.
2016
Coinfo’s Subscription Services business was sold in 2016.
2017
Coinfo had now outgrown its home in Vermont and a decision was made to relocate the business to a much larger facility in Scoresby.
2019
In November, The Coop sold Coinfo to a private individual. Despite 2020 and 2021 being very difficult years with ‘work from orders’ in Victoria the business continued to provide a full service to its customers and once again outgrows its facility and is forced to relocate to a larger facility one street away in Scoresby.
2022
In April the business was sold and is now headed up by our new CEO Peter Knock and new investment group with a further name change to About3 Learning in honour of its heritage.
Some 71 years later, what started out from humble beginnings is 1951 with Willem Krins, collecting his first shipment of Dutch books in a borrowed wheelbarrow from the local post office through several transitions from:
- The Dutch Australian Book Depot
- D. A. Book Depot Pty Ltd
- DA Book & Journals Pty Ltd
- DA Information Services Pty Ltd
- Coinfo Pty Ltd
- About3 Pty Ltd
- About3 Learning Pty Ltd
DA continue to live on through its next exciting phase to become About3 Learning continuing its heritage as one of Australia's largest locally based library suppliers, dedicated to providing books, series orders, eBooks and eMedia products from publishers worldwide to academic, corporate, professional, and public libraries as well as tertiary institutions, RTO and retail markets in Australia, NZ, Fiji, and PNG
Amazing though it may seem, the existing team that services your print book and eMedia requirements on a daily started work under the DA banner as far back as 1982, which is a great testimony to the experience, depth of knowledge and steadfast belief in the traditions that have been carried forward over the years.