Australian Library Accused
of Selling Books Improperly
The librarian of the Parliamentary Library of New South Wales is facing disciplinary action for alleged improprieties in the sale of some 3,500 historic books—more than half the library’s 19th-century holdings—to raise funds for its cataloging and preservation operations. A report by Magistrate John Heagney accuses Librarian Rob Brian of altering official sale records, selling books at a discount, disobeying instructions by the parliament’s library committee, favoring certain buyers, and allowing unsupervised access to a special collection, the Sydney Morning Herald reported September 19.
Although Brian admitted to some procedural mistakes, he calls the report a “travesty of justice” and claims the accusations are the result of personality conflicts. “I have nothing to be ashamed of,” he told the Herald. “Not a cent has gone to my pocket and I sleep well at night.”
Brian said that more than $400,000 ($220,000 U.S.) derived from the sale last fiscal year was taken from the library because the state parliament had overspent its budget. The lost revenue would have been used for such projects as the restoration of the oldest electoral map of New South Wales dating from 1858. “Those maps are sitting there rotting away and they are not being cared for,” Brian said. “They are part of the primary heritage of the state.”
Posted September 23, 2002.
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