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Archivists campaign against possible merger of State Records and SA Library

The Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) has launched a public campaign against a possible merger of the State Records and the State Library of South Australia, reports the ABC.

State Records is an independent body with a staff of around 40 archivists based in Adelaide. It is charged with keeping all significant records generated by South Australian governments.

An internal review was commissioned in August to examine all aspects of the business with a view to a possible integration with the library.

ASA president Kylie Percival said: ‘When we found out about the review we were horrified. Mergers of libraries and archives are a confusion of two professional areas of expertise and there is good reason why they are separate. It is a trivialisation and misunderstanding to say librarians can do a bit of archiving on the side.’

The ASA believes that government records should be safeguarded by an independent body. Its online petition calls for ‘collaboration, co-location NOT convergence’ and has gathered more than 850 signatures.

 

Category: Library news