The repeated threats to the public’s access to nationally significant collections are part of a broader malaise. Trove is one of only two Australian government websites in Australia’s top 15 global internet domains – the other is the ABC.

The service boasts more than 22 million visits per year: around 63,000 a day on average. Many of these organisations also provide funding to Trove, subsidising more than 40% of its current operating costs.įor many people – and not just academic researchers – Trove is now part of their daily lives. The content comes not just from the National Library’s collections, but from almost 1,000 contributing organisations around the country. There are digitised newspapers and magazines, photographs, web archives, parliamentary papers, reports, theses and more. Users can find information about books, journals, maps and archives without incurring any charges.

Launched more than a decade ago, Trove now contains more than 6 billion digital items. That campaign resulted in a government funding package for Trove intended to rescue the popular service, which was topped up with more cash last year.īut in recent months it has become increasingly clear the National Library of Australia was never cured of its funding ills, and Trove was just on life support. (These were part of the Turnbull government’s “efficiency dividend”, which cut $20 million from the budgets of six Canberra-based cultural institutions over four years.) It’s been nearly seven years since the #fundTrove campaign, a response to budget cuts to the National Library of Australia in 2016. Without any additional funds, the Library will need to cease offering the Trove service entirely. The future of Trove beyond July 2023 will be dependent upon available funds In a limited funding environment, Trove may reduce to a service focused on the National Library of Australia’s collections. In its recent Trove Strategy, the library has indicated that without additional government support, it will shut the service down by July next year: The National Library is threatening to pull the plug on Trove, its free online service that provides public access to collections from Australian libraries, universities, museums, galleries and archives.

Students with accessibility requirements.

Short course and microcredential participants.

International Studies and Social Sciences.

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