National Library’s treasure Trove under threat from budget cuts

Page image from the National Library of Australia’s Newspaper Digitisation Program Front page of The Sydney Morning Herald from 15th August 1945. Accessible via Trove.Credit:National Library of Australia

The NGA is facing large-scale forced redundancies, the closure of its Canberra building two days a week, and the possible reintroduction of entry fees.

The peak body representing visual artists, National Association of the Visual Arts, has called for the government to exempt the institutions from its efficiency dividends policy, under which the budgets of Commonwealth entities are reduced each year.

“This requirement has been doing more harm than good for far too long,” NAVA’s executive director Penelope Benton said.

“Following a decade of eroding funds, and the devastating impacts of both the Covid pandemic and extreme weather linked to climate change, resources and capacity across the sector are severely diminished, staffing levels and incomes of artists and arts workers across the visual arts, craft and design sector are critically low.”

The National Library is the repository of every publication in the country, and Trove holds the digital records of newspapers going back to the earliest publications of the NSW colony.

Like the NGA, the Library’s home in Canberra requires major capital works over the next ten years to maintain its life as a working building including the replacement of its 54-year-old windows.

This year the Library council drew down on its cash reserves to complete critical building works and begin the replacement of its copper roof damaged in Canberra’s 2020 hailstorm. The level four collections, amounting to 11.5 kilometres of material if books were laid out end-to-end, have been closed since mid-year while a new roof is installed.

The library has already cut the breadth of its collection, restricting it to the regions of Australia, Indonesia, China, Timor-Leste and the Pacific. Service hours have been reduced to reading rooms and bookshops, at a time when university libraries are also cutting back on services.

A spokesperson for the library said it required ongoing funding. “The library council will consider all available options for Trove’s future in the first half of 2023, when the government funding position beyond June 30, 2023 is clearer,” they said.

Loading

It has ruled out a pay-for-view scheme.

Trove draws some revenue from external sources including other libraries, and other partners pay the library to digitise content for delivery via Trove. Philanthropy has supported the digitisation of the most important parts of the library’s collection for delivery via Trove.

“However, these revenue sources do not and cannot support the costs of maintaining Trove’s infrastructure. Additional and continuing government support is needed to maintain the service,” the library said.

“We are in active discussions with government about funding required to maintain Trove and other library services. These negotiations are budget-in-confidence, and we will not be providing any further comment.”