Australia: “Government Librarians Urged to Lobby for Jobs in Face of Outsourcing”

From the The Canberra Times:

Leaked documents from a post-budget meeting of senior government librarians reveal that many departments’ libraries have been, or may be, outsourced, and that senior librarians are urging each other to lobby to keep their jobs.
The Department of the Environment has confirmed its internal library services have been cut. It said library staff had been given options, including redeployment. The collection will be moved elsewhere but it will still be accessible to staff.
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The meeting of 30 agency and departmental librarians was held six days after the government’s slash-and-burn May 13 budget and suggested deep cuts to, and reviews of, services are under way.
On Monday, Sue McKerracher, executive director of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), which represents public libraries, said she was concerned that a number of federal departmental libraries were being reviewed and said outsourcing would lead to policy development by Wikipedia.
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The meeting was held by the Australian Government Libraries Information Network, a non-government organisation that represents, and advocates on behalf of, government librarians.

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See Also: “Federal Government’s evidence-based policy making under threat ” (Statement by Sue McKerracher, Australian Library and Information Association)

Filed under: Government Libraries, Jobs, Libraries, News, Public Libraries