The Higher Education Revolution in Australia – the Impact on Libraries

Significant changes have taken place in Australian higher education since 1987, reflecting a new unified national system for higher education. The changes have included amalgamations of higher education bodies; the dissolution of the binary system; the development of educational profiles for institutions; the expansion of national research centres; the introduction of fees; and a growth in student numbers in higher education. Libraries are expected to play a key role in the unified national system of higher education, albeit with no significant increase in funding likely to meet the new demands. A major review of higher education libraries, recently announced by the Australian Department of Employment, Education and Training, will have a big impact. The concept of a distributed national collection, which arose out of the Australian Libraries Summit of 1988, is being actively discussed, particularly in the light of recent developments in the National Library of Australia's Collection Development Strategy.