Graffiti outrage

Street art and the library

The Herald Sun (Graffiti site preserved for cultural value) and 3AW's Neil Mitchell have been all over it today. The National Library of Australia's Pandora archive of Australian websites includes one site that is pro-graffiti (along with plenty of Council websites that are against it, like our own).

As Richard of Melbourne points out in the story's public comments (see comment 24) , "it is the JOB of the National Library to collect and archive materials pertaining to all aspects of Australian life." Likewise, it is the job of public libraries to make available to our customers the best books available on subjects relevant to their interests. Therefore, we have books and DVDs on all sorts of odd and controversial topics, from UFOs to the occult, believers vs Richard Dawkins, on tattoos, bonking and, yes, even graffiti. It doesn't mean that we approve of it.

It is part of a librarian's ethics that we provide free access to information:  there's even an ALIA policy statement on this that the Library endorses.

harps