NCC News: News

NCC adds its support to CEAL President Hana Kim's Statement to the National Library of Australia

NCC sent this letter to the Director-General of the National Library of Australia and would like to urge everyone to take action by signing this petition: https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/petition-to-the-director-general-national-library-of-australia.

June 4, 2020

Dear Dr. Ayres,

The North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC) would like to add its voice to that of the Council on East Asian Libraries (CEAL) to express the Japan Studies communities’ deep concern over the National Library of Australia’s announced plan to eliminate acquisition of Japanese, Korean, and Mainland Southeast Asia-related materials published outside of Australia. We are also shocked by the proposed cuts to the Chinese, Indonesian, and the Pacific collections and the closure of the Asian Reading Room at the National Library of Australia. We join with our colleagues to call upon the National Library of Australia to reconsider this alarming and short-sighted course of action. 

The National Library of Australia’s collections of Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian materials are held in the highest regard throughout the global Asian Studies community, and, as such, they add immeasurably to Australia’s stature in the world. With the president of CEAL, Hana Kim, NCC calls on the National Library of Australia to maintain its comprehensive Asian materials collecting strategy and asks that the federal government of Australia provide adequate funding to enable the Library to maintain the integrity of its Asian Collections. 

Sincerely,

Tara McGowan

NCC Executive Director