Clarence Valley libraries will continue to provide access to Australian Standards publications despite a decision of National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) to discontinue the service. Australian Standards cover a wide range of activities from food quality to building standards, but NSLA decided to stop providing the information to libraries after negotiations with the publishers broke down. Regional librarian, Kathryn Breward, said however Clarence libraries would continue to provide access because it was considered the information was too important to drop. “We will continue to provide free access to this information,” she said. “Australian Standards provides a guarantee of safety, predictability and usability for many areas including clothing, food, furniture, transport and air quality.“Thanks to Standards we don’t have to worry whether our electrical wiring is safe, or whether we can play any CD in any machine.“It is important for everyone that your library provides the facility to consult these important documents, so regardless of whether you want to consult the Building Code of Australia or check the requirements for reflectors on bicycles, you can call into a valley library and find the standard that you need.” For more information, call into your local Clarence Valley library and ask about access to Standards Australia.