ALIA response to the chief scientist's Chance to Change discussion paper

The chance to change - a discussion paper by the chief scientist

3 October 2000

Dr Robin Batterham
Chief Scientist
Department of Industry, Science and Resources
GPO Box 9839
Canberra ACT 2601

Dear Dr Batterham

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) represents the interests of Australian libraries and information services providers and their clients, of whom researchers in science, engineering and technology form an important part. The library and information sector is a significant partner in the ideas generation process.

The Association supports the recommendations of the discussion paper The Chance to Change and the specific recommendation concerning the development of a pilot scheme to test a national site licence concept between higher education institutions and publishers with the aim to keep the price of journals down.

In particular, the Association supports the following points made by the discussion paper:

• the need for quality education at all levels in science, engineering and technology - with appropriate library and information services;
  
  
• the importance of attracting and retaining the best researchers - with optimum access to the most important and current information in their field;
  
  
• the importance of communication between researchers and the public to inform the community of the benefits of research, which libraries and information services providers can facilitate;
  
  
• the enhancement of opportunities for upskilling and lifelong learning - activities in which libraries play a fundamental role;
  
  
• collaboration between universities, industry and government research agencies to encourage research and innovation. In discussions on the digital agenda amendments to the Copyright Act, the Association successfully promoted to Government the importance of resource-sharing between library and information services providers whether publicly or privately funded.

Finally, the Association strongly endorses the National Library of Australia's proposal that funding be provided by the commonwealth government to support free access by Australian researchers to the National Bibliographic Database of over 32 million items, through Kinetica. This would be a simple, practical, efficient and cost-effective step towards meeting the directions for change outlined in the paper.

Yours sincerely

Jennefer Nicholson
Executive director