Threat to alcohol field from loss
of library resources

Members of the Substance Abuse Librarians and Information Specialists (SALIS) have called for urgent action to halt the closure of specialist libraries and databases, before valuable resources and expertise are lost forever. They say that the internet has created a paradigm shift in the way information is published, searched and retrieved, affecting the perceived value of libraries and librarians.

The SALIS group say that in this uncertain environment, access to the historical and current literature of the AOD field must not be compromised. In an editorial in the journal Addiction, they call for collaboration among librarians, the research community and other Threat to alcohol field from loss of library resources stakeholders to maintain alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) library services and preserve core collections; fund digitization; and create digital repositories.

Since SALIS started actively campaigning against the closure of (ATOD) libraries and databases in 2004, more than twenty-five libraries and databases worldwide have been downsized or closed, their resources dispersed or destroyed.

In 2004 SALIS waged a campaign to persuade the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to reverse its decision to cut funding for ETOH, the most comprehensive alcohol science database in the world. Then in 2006, when the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse closed its library, a collection of great value dating back to the mid 1930s, SALIS brought the issue to the forefront of the ATOD media.

The SALIS group warn that if action is not taken, important documents could be lost forever, especially the grey literature, i.e. unpublished reports and working papers, government documents, and programmatic materials, which tend to disappear when libraries are closed.

Editorial: Collective amnesia: reversing the global epidemic of addiction library closures. Mitchell, A.L. et al 2012: Addiction