Published History to Remain Accessible

Funding promised to keep our printed history accessible.

"TROVE" FUNDING LOCKED IN - THAT'S GOOD NEWS!
Our Federal MHR Kate Thwaites has contacted us with good news that funding to maintain the Trove digital access to historical newspapers and magazines has been approved by the Federal Government.

Articles for Friends of Eaglemont Village publications are regularly sourced from Trove.

We contacted Kate earlier this year:

Hi Kate.
I see from various media reporting that the Federal Government will soon need to address funding of the National Library Trove service.

I wish to advise that I am a frequent user of Trove. I use it to find articles used in the Friends of Eaglemont Village weekly newsletters to give current readers an understanding of our local history and cultural heritage.

My efforts to research and promulgate local history - and build a sense of community - has revealed how fundamentally difficult (impractical? impossible?) it would be if the free digital Trove service was not available.

Attempting to find, access and use the disappearing stock of paper-based records is increasingly difficult - not to mention hideously time consuming.

I have been surprised to discover just how local, transient and fragmented print media in Australia has been up to late 20th century. It would be a great pity if our view of history was coloured by what the major mastheads chose to carry, and is reasonably well preserved.

This would be exacerbated should subscription or paywall systems be interposed in future to commercialise these sources of historical information - the Ancestry.com experience of commercialising public records is unwelcome.

I urge you to support continued funding of the Trove facility.


And the good news:

Dear John

I wanted to get back to you with a very important update about Trove.

After you contacted me, I made sure I carried your concerns about Trove’s future to Canberra and shared them with Minister Tony Burke and others.

I’m so pleased that as a result of your efforts, and the efforts of many people like you around our country, our Government has confirmed we will secure the long-term future of Trove.

We will provide $33 million over four years in the Budget – avoiding the funding cliff left by the previous Liberal-National Government.

We will also provide $9.2 million in indexed ongoing annual funding beyond the forward estimates. This will end the funding uncertainty once and for all and secure Trove for future generations.

I know how important Trove is to you and to many people in our community and I’m so pleased we’ve managed to safeguard its future.

Kate Thwaites, MHR