19 November 1996

Barry Jones to receive prestigious library award

The Redmond Barry Award is the Australian Library and Information Association's premier award for non-librarians and will be presented to The Hon Barry Jones AO on Friday 22 November at 12:30pm at ALIA House, 9 Napier Close, Deakin, in Canberra. Sir Redmond Barry is regarded as the founder of the State Library of Victoria having, served as the chairman of the Trustees of the (then) Public Library from 1853 to his death in 1880*.

Barry Jones has long been a champion of libraries and of the role they play in contemporary Australian society. He chaired the House of Representatives Standing Committee for Long Term Strategies which published its report Australia as an Information Society: the role of libraries/information networks in 1991. The preface to that report states: '... in singling out libraries for particular attention the Committee has acknowledged the important role they have to play in providing access to information for the Australian people. This access is fundamental to the maintenance of our democracy, the transformation of our economy to that of a clever country and the delivery of social justice to all our citizens...' This statement bears the clear mark of Barry Jones' commitment to libraries.

Gough Whitlam, the previous winner of this award (1994) will be one of many friends and colleagues who will gather on Friday to honour Barry Jones. The executive director of the Australian Library and Information Association, Virginia Walsh, said 'Barry Jones has done much to set the scene for recent progress in the Federal arena. The commitment of the previous Labor Government to a policy of equity of access to on-line information through public libraries and the subsequent endorsement of that approach by the Coalition Government, has resulted in an awareness of the national leadership role required from Canberra'.

Ms Walsh went on to say that 'Libraries perform a critical role in the management of the ever-increasing banks of information that are becoming available. While the libraries of Australia work hard to secure the resources they require to deliver these services we are grateful for the support and influence of senior members of our community such as Barry Jones, Gough Whitlam and other distinguished citizens who have received this award.'

* Sir Redmond Barry is better known in some circles as the judge who sentenced Ned Kelly to hang. Kelly declared he would meet the Judge in hell. Sir Redmond died 12 days later.