Australian Libraries at Crisis Point,
Council Warns
The Council of Australian University Librarians says that Australian libraries have reached a crisis point in maintaining resources for teaching and research, particularly in the areas of science, technology, and medicine. Shrinking budgets can’t meet the rising costs of access to research journals, the council warned in a November 24 submission to the federal government’s science capability review, the government’s first comprehensive study in many years to examine and report on the state of Australia’s science base.
According to the report, journal subscriptions worth $9 million were dropped last year, and around $6 million was estimated to be cut in 1999. Libraries have also had to contend with the volatility of the Australian dollar, since 80 to 90% of scholarly information is imported.
To cope, libraries are attempting to share resources, fight for better pricing structures, and find alternative means of disseminating scholarly information. “But these efforts will fall short if they are not supported by government funds to maintain and develop the existing IT infrastructure and to support nationwide electronic access to key scientific databases,” the council’s report concluded.
Posted December 6, 1999.
|
