Move to digital resources means kids will miss out on old-fashioned books. KIM KNIGHT

John Cosgrove

BOOKWORMS: Changes to school library policies on non-fiction books will affect Rupert, 5, left, Polly, 10, and Leo, 12, Lublow-Catty.

Student accessto specialist non-fiction National Library books will be cut from July.

Shocked teachers say they weren't consulted about the move, expected to hit rural and technology-poor schools hardest.

Last year, 16,000 teachers made 40,000 requests for almost a million hard-copy items via the National Library's curriculum topic support service.

That service is being dumped from term three, in favour of directing students to "curated online resources".

For some educationalists, contact from the Sunday Star-Times this week was the first they knew of a change they describe as "enormous".

Denise Torrey, Principals' Federation president, said schools didn't have the resources to own large, varied collections. She supported digital learning, but feared for schools with limited technology.

This week, the School Library Association of New Zealand issued an open letter to National Library saying it was "disheartened" by the change which would have a negative impact on teaching and learning.

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Library book cuts hit schools hard