National Library cancels the OED
Tuesday 18 February 2020
About a year ago I wrote that I was sad to be a member of a library [that is, The State Library of Queensland] that has so little regard for historical knowledge, but I am pleased to belong to the National Library of Australia which continues to provide online access to the OED.
That pleasure has not lasted. The other day I was having trouble getting a connection, through the national library website, to the online Oxford English Dictionary. I asked for help, and received this email reply:
As part of its ongoing collection management activities, in 2019 the Library conducted a review of the eResources collection to ensure that it is a coherent and cost-effective collection that meets the needs of a broad cross-section of the Library’s diverse audience. Considerations included relevance to the Library’s collecting policy, reader needs and interests, and subscription costs. Unfortunately, as a result of this review, the Library no longer subscribes to the Oxford English Dictionary online.
In place of using OED online I recommend either the Macquarie Dictionary: Australia’s national dictionary online or Oxford Reference. Oxford Reference is a suite of databases and includes a shorter version only of the Oxford English Dictionary.
It looks like we are becoming a banana republic.