Tasmanians for Transparency (TfT) has been alarmed to discover that several Government Departmental Libraries have been closed to public access.
We have been advised that more Government Department Libraries will be closed to public access – including the Parliamentary Library.
Tasmanians For Transparency fears that the Tasmanian Government is following in the footsteps of the Canadian Governments’ libricide to which ‘Scientists said precious collections were consigned to dumpsters, were burned or went to landfills:
How the Harper Government Committed a Knowledge Massacre ( http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/capt-trevor-greene/science-cuts-canada_b_4534729.html )
TfT was first notified about these closures late last year as these library closures were initiated under the Labor/Green Government.
The closure of these libraries will impede independent researchers and journalists from accessing critical information in the public interest and will further erode transparency of Government.
TfT have already been contacted by a Phd student who has complained about the closure of the DPIPWE Libraries in Launceston and in the Lands Building in Hobart.
TfT calls on Premier Will Hodgman urging him to rescind the Labor/Green decision to close these libraries and assure the public access to information contained in all of these libraries.
The DPIPWE Library in Hobart is currently unstaffed.
If the Hodgman Government wants to make any cuts to the public sector then it would be better if they started with that large and unnecessary Media Monitoring Unit which does nothing to enhance transparency of Government at all.
Information on these libraries is at:
http://librarycat.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/WebSites/Other/publiclibcat.nsf/Contacts
DPIPWE Library – Lands Building Hobart
Formerly known as the Environment Library. The collection covers nature conservation, biodiversity, ecology, parks and protected areas, Australian flora and fauna, cultural heritage, earth science, environmental protection and policy, pollution, urban and regional planning, land management, surveying, valuation and mapping.
DPIPWE Library – New Town
The collection covers temperate agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, soils, water, land management, veterinary science, animal production, dairying and environment.
DPIPWE Library – Launceston
The collection covers temperate agriculture, aquaculture, soils, water, land management, veterinary science, animal production, game management, dairying and environment.
• David Obendorf, in Comments: Is this correct – Tell me I am wrong? Knowledge and information is power, and with the closure of several important public libraries and repositories of archival collections we, the people, lose our ability to be informed about our society, to learn from decades of history and to access documents prepared by our Government and its bureaucracy.
