The Library budget-slashing epidemic of 2010 shows no signs of letting up. Seems not a day goes by without news of some incredibly difficult challenge facing a library due to a budget shortfall.
The Contra Costa Times is reporting that California's seminal water history archive that is housed at the University of California in Berkeley is in danger of being moved or broken up due to budget issues.
Founded in 1958 by a special act of California Legislature the Water Resources Center Archive consists of a library which houses 120 years of material in a variety of formats including a strong web-based component that is continuously adding digital content to the archive.
"One water expert compared the demise of the archive to the destruction of the Library of Alexandria more than 2,000 years ago."
Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, and an expert on the world's water resources says:
"It only takes a little while at the water archives to discover not only is not everything online, but some of the most interesting things are not online — old photographs and interviews, the letters and diaries of people involved in California's water history,"
"It's found nowhere else in the state."
And it is in danger. Who would have thought that California would run out money before parts of it ran out of water?
Thanks to @librarystuff for the lead
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