Wiping out the data. Same as the internet cull. Precursor to tyranny. Guns gone, info going, censorship increasing, democracy gone, health freedoms going fast. Military on the streets. All the ducks in a row. EWR

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Academics, historians, researchers and scholars feel a literary crime is taking place during the distraction of the global pandemic.

Sheltered in the bunkers beneath the National Library in New Zealand’s capital rests a treasure trove of books, including nearly 2,200 first editions that have been carefully looked after for decades. But not for much longer.

The “overseas collection” – which includes a first edition of Richard Neville’s Play Power, a 1912 edition of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and multiple first editions of Graham Greene novels – is now headed out the door.

In total, the National Library in Wellington plans to get rid of more than 600,000 “foreign books” from their collection, saying they need to make space for more works on New Zealand, of which there are an additional 80,000 to 90,000 to store each year.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/11/i-literally-weep-anguish-as-new-zealands-national-library-culls-600000-books?fbclid=IwAR0khP8V_jqqI5gp2abniZac6Lk12ChFil0Braul9GTtd8Letwy-PleNbPE

Image by Eli Digital Creative from Pixabay