The federal opposition has accused Australia's National Library of abandoning crucial Asian collections due to a lack of federal government funding, warning the move acts against the national interest.
Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong and arts spokesman Tony Burke called on the federal government to intervene and reverse the National Library of Australia's decision last week to cease collecting material on Japan, Korea and mainland south-east Asia.
Labor senator Penny Wong fears federal government budget cuts are forcing the National Library of Australia to limit its Asia collections. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
"In a time where Australia should be looking to improve and expand our engagement in Asia, the NLA's decision is alarming, and is counter to our national interest," Senator Wong and Mr Burke said in a letter to Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Minister for Communications and the Arts Paul Fletcher.
The library closed its Asian collections reading room late last year and warned its staff they could be made redundant in a major restructure to be completed this year.
"Like all organisations, the NLA must prioritise its investment within its available funding envelope," a spokeswoman for the library said. "That envelope has diminished over several decades, as a result of efficiency dividends."
The spokeswoman said the library was prioritising Australian content over underused Asian content after reviewing its collections.
"Our evidence revealed that this part of the collection is used much less than other parts of the collection," she said.
While 15 per cent of the library's acquisition budget was spent on Asian materials, only 5 per cent of collection use was for this material, with some journals going unused for more than a decade.
The spokeswoman said the library would continue to operate its Indonesian branch, provide Asian study grants and maintain a curatorial focus on China, Indonesia and the Pacific "for as long as possible within the available resources".
Mr Fletcher was contacted for comment.