Australia Day Honours: WA State Library CEO awarded for preserving the digital future

CHURCHLANDS resident and Australia Day honours recipient Margaret Allen (56) is now preserving the digital future in her role as chief executive of the State Library in Perth.

“We are not just preserving books, we’re preserving web pages and digital files, because they’ll be the rare and unusual books of 500 years time,” Ms Allen said.

She was awarded a Public Service Medal for her work in WA public libraries and as State Librarian, since arriving from Adelaide in 2004, after starting her career there in the 1980s.

“The changes in technology have has the greatest impact, but libraries have been some of the first to use it. My first job was information technologies in a library,” Ms Allen said.

However she did not believe the speed and ease of gathering information had increased understanding.

“I think sometimes the basic fundamentals of reading and writing have been overlooked in favour of the digital,” Ms Allen said.