National Library redevelopment

From library to digital Disneyland

By Jim Traue

For the past 40 years the Turnbull Library has been working out its role as the nation’s research library within the National Library.

It has developed a strong research library culture, a  system of ideas, customs and social behaviour which guides the staff’s thinking  and their actions.

A key idea is that the purpose of a research library is to enable researchers to immerse themselves in the documentary evidence and then to make the product of their investment of time, judgment and skill available to the public through a book, article, thesis, film, TV production. website or blog. A research library becomes an active partner with authors and publishers in creating the next generation of public knowledge.

Lending libraries have different roles as front-of-house distributors of public knowledge. Their success is measured by feet through the front door, and the numbers of books borrowed. Research libraries don’t attempt to compete. Their success is measured by the number of additions to public knowledge created by the research community, which then become available through other libraries.

I have had a lot of respect for Jim Traue every since I first started on the road as a professional librarian, however his latest swipe at the National Library and the Turnbull librarian has made me somewhat angry.  I think his increasingly shrill and negative personal attacks are unnecessary and unprofessional.

With regards to the redevelopment, I personally think that the new design is an ugly glass box to replace an ugly concrete box, however I do think the general thrust of the redevelopment is spot on. It is not about turning the Turnbull into a Disneyfied public library, but making more and more of the collections easily available to researchers. And the best way to  do that is in a digital format.