AARL

University of Canberra library program to close

The University of Canberra has decided to withdraw its Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Management and Master of Library and Information Management from the courses it offers. There will be no new intake of students from 2005 onwards. A similar decision was made about 18 months ago when the university decided that, because of low student numbers, the undergraduate Bachelor of Communication (Information) would cease to take students from the beginning of 2004. At that time academics within the Library and Information Studies area were given approval to develop the graduate diploma into an online course in an effort to extend the potential student market beyond the ACT. However, interest in the course has not been sufficiently high to convince university decision-makers that it had a viable future. Staff are particularly sorry that the course was not allowed to be offered in online mode for a couple of years to test whether it could, indeed, prove viable.

Undoubtedly, one factor in this decision was a number of staff retirements. Ros Raward retired partway through this year, and Belle Alderman at its end. Peter Clayton has also announced his intention to retire at the end of 2005. Hence, were the course to continue the university would have had to make several new appointments.

This was the second oldest course in the country and many of its graduates are now leaders in the profession in Australia and on the international stage. It will have significant consequences for the profession in the ACT, where there is a greater concentration of libraries and other types of information agencies in Canberra than in any other city in Australia.

The university's decision also raises significant issues for the profession in Australia as a whole.