Pauline Westwood in the Canberra Times
Libraries have lost more than books - research service standards have fallen too.
Jack Waterford's article ''The library of discarded books'' (May 5, p19), about the destruction of paper-based books by librarians highlighted a disturbing trend largely ignored by mainstream media. With the growth in the use of information technology, many new tools have potentially increased our access to knowledge.
But because of cost-cutting policies and the mantra of ''digitisation at all cost'', we are in danger of decreasing rather than increasing our access to information over time. Nowhere is this trend more evident than in libraries. It is driven by an over-reliance on new technology, in turn propelled by the forces of managerialism and economic rationalism.
Read more here
Libraries have lost more than books - research service standards have fallen too.
Jack Waterford's article ''The library of discarded books'' (May 5, p19), about the destruction of paper-based books by librarians highlighted a disturbing trend largely ignored by mainstream media. With the growth in the use of information technology, many new tools have potentially increased our access to knowledge.
But because of cost-cutting policies and the mantra of ''digitisation at all cost'', we are in danger of decreasing rather than increasing our access to information over time. Nowhere is this trend more evident than in libraries. It is driven by an over-reliance on new technology, in turn propelled by the forces of managerialism and economic rationalism.
Read more here
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