Ian Stanley McCallum

BA (Hons) DipLib AAIM FALIA

Conferred: 1989

Throughout his twenty year career in librarianship, Ian Stanley McCallum, has demonstrated that librarianship is fundamentally concerned with meeting the needs of users and the market. This has been particularly reflected in the distinguished contribution he has made to library and information services in Australia in three major areas: the development of AUSINET, the foundation of the Australian Database Development Association (ADDA), and the establishment of the Australian Schools Co-operative Information Services (ASCIS).

Ian McCallum began his career in the National Library of Australia in 1969 and worked there for ten years. He was the project officer for the ERIC research project and the Online ERIC project, and his drive, energy and enthusiasm was central to the successful subsequent establishment of AUSINET. This phase of his career was singled out by the judging panel for special mention when he was awarded the Robert D. Williamson Award by VALA in 1983. He had a clear vision of the importance of AUSINET to the library community and was never afraid to try new approaches to solving the problems which arose in mounting this ambitious project. He brought this same vision and energy to the development of ASCIS after he moved to ACI as manager, Information Retrieval Services in 1979. ACI was the contractor for the ASCIS service, but Ian McCallum's contribution went far beyond that which would normally be expected as a consequence. He was committed to the concept that what was best for schools should be the first priority in developing ASCIS and his sagacious and informed policy and administrative advice was crucial to its immediate acceptance throughout the Australian school library community.

Ian McCallum has played a major role throughout his career in broader professional forums. He was one of the key figures in the foundation of the Australian Database Development Association in 1983, and his strongly-held belief that vendors and producers should be included along with the users in membership of the Association resulted in it quickly becoming an influential force throughout the database industry. While ALIA president in 1986, Ian was responsible for the carriage through General Council and the Association's Annual General Meeting of that year of the report of the Corporate Plan and Review Committee and the initial implementation of its recommendations. Following the Committee's identification of the need for the Association to raise its political profile, he played the crucial role in the decision to establish the new ALIA Head Office building in Canberra. It was his persistence and belief in the need for ALIA to 'return' to Canberra, as he was wont to state his case, which directly led to the chain of events culminating in the recent ceremony at which the Governor-General of Australia laid the Foundation Stone for the new ALIA Head Office building in Canberra. He has been the key figure in the detailed negotiations to obtain the land from the Commonwealth Government under such favourable terms, commission to architect and subsequently construct the building.

Ian McCallum's professional beliefs have always been based on the premise that it is the network of Australian Library and Information Services which is of paramount importance, and that it is the network rather than individual libraries which should be seen as providing most things to most people. His colleagues recognise his specialised competence in the development of information retrieval systems and product planning in the area of information management.

His contributions to Australian librarianship and the Association over the last twenty years make him a worthy recipient of the distinction of Fellow of the Australian Library and Information Association.