Out of Asia: the National Library shuts borders and stops collecting on our neighbours
The current crisis in relations with China has exposed the extreme delicacy and importance of Australia’s relationship with its Asian neighbours. One lesson of this crisis, highlighted by commentators across the political spectrum, is that Australia must prevent over-dependence on China by fostering closer relations with other regional neighbours, including Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian nations.
The National Library of Australia has chosen this moment to announce that it will cease collecting material on Japan, Korea and all of mainland Southeast Asia, retaining only some reduced acquisition of information on China, Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Seventy years of commitment to collecting on the region have made the national library one of the world’s greatest resources of information on Asia. This national treasure will now be left to wither.
The decision was taken without consultation with the collection’s users. When researchers relying on the national library for Asia-related projects heard rumours of impending cuts and asked for further details, they were presented with responses that could have come straight out of an episode of Yes, Prime Minister, complete with promises of appropriate engagement with stakeholders in the fullness of time. This "engagement" finally occurred in mid-May, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, when the Asian Studies Association of Australia was sent a draft of the new policy and given less than two weeks to provide its response.
It is not clear whether the library’s administrators consulted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or the Department of Defence before determining that countries like Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Cambodia are no longer central to Australia’s strategic interests. The library’s view seems to be that the Asia collection serves a small number of specialist researchers, and that slashing it will have only minor impact on the wider Australian community. They have forgotten "the multiplier effect" (as economists call it). Teachers and researchers (including many members of Australia’s Asian communities) rely on the library’s material to inform and train tens of thousands of people who may never become "Asia experts" and may rarely visit the library, but who will become diplomats, business people, school teachers, journalists etc. with the understanding of Asia essential for Australia to function in its region.
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The national library states that it has "engaged" with Australia’s university librarians, apparently in the hope that universities may step in to help fill the chasm left by this retreat from Asia. Seriously (as my younger friends and relatives would say)? Australia’s university sector is in the worst financial crisis in its history. Academics are losing their jobs. Libraries like that of the Australian National University have long since slashed back their purchases of material on Asia, advising scholars that they can rely on the national library instead (which they have duly done). The chances of universities being able to fill this black hole are zero.
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To be fair, the national library has been underfunded for years and faces unpalatable choices about its future directions. Although it has recently received some injections of funds for special projects such as digitisation, its routine budget has been steadily eroded. But this drastic decision to narrow the borders of the collection has been made by the library’s senior administrators and Council. It seems extraordinary that such a small group of people in a taxpayer-funded public institution have the power, without public consultation, to make a decision that will have such far-reaching implications for Australia’s future.
This is not a decision to be taken by a handful of people on the basis of a fortnight’s "engagement with stakeholders". It is a matter of national importance that needs public and political debate. Our national library must be persuaded and funded to go on supporting Australia’s role in its region. Australia simply cannot afford this drastic downgrading of its Asia knowledge, least of all at the current turning point in regional relations.
Tessa Morris-Suzuki is emeritus professor of Japanese history at the Australian National University.
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