Lust for learning in library
August 27 2002



The National Library of Australia may soon start collecting pornographic Web sites to add to its extensive collection of erotica.

Its electronic materials librarian, Edgar Crook, said in a newsletter that the sites would be added to the National Collection of Electronic Publications, "thus giving a representative picture of Australian erotica on the Internet".

He said the library already had such "weighty volumes" as Big 'n' Bouncy and Bra Busters, among other magazines.

Mr Crook said the erotica collection was a valuable part of the library.

"The examination of society and culture of a period by necessity involves the study of its sexual life," he said.


"The erotic matter created in, for example, the Victorian era is of great interest to the modern historian.

"The surviving sexual diaries and pornographic novels of this era provide insight into ordinary lives that are just as important as those provided by the many 'improving' works or the social novels that are still so widely enjoyed."

Since the 1970s the library has also collected gay erotica.

Mr Crook said the library did not collect the material for "the salacious enjoyment of the contemporary reader".

"[It is] an indicator of social mores, standards and public attitudes to matters sexual," Mr Crook said. "With this in mind, it is clear that there is no merit in being coy today and therefore delivering an incomplete picture to future researchers."

The library's guiding policy says material should not be rejected on the grounds that its content is controversial or likely to offend some library users.