AARL |
Volume 32 Nº 2, June 2001 |
| Australian Academic & Research Libraries |
Review Article
National Libraries - National myths : a review of Peter Cochrane (ed.)
Remarkable Occurrences: The National Library of Australia's First 100 Years 1901-2001
The cultural role of libraries and their place in nation building is a branch of history that has yet to reach maturity. Internationally this area of study has received impetus in recent years with discussions surrounding the repatriation of archives in the aftermath of war, and the targeted destruction of libraries in Eastern Europe to efface the presence of evidence of an ethnically-diverse history. In Australia, the role archival institutions can play in the recovery or discovery of Aboriginal personal identity received renewed emphasis in the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and the more recent Bringing Them Home reports. In no small way, these documents have encouraged a redirection in aspects of institutional thinking beyond the culturally specific celebrations of the Bicentennial and the Centenary of Federation.
[Full-text]
|
