AARL

Andrew Osborn's The Library Keeper's Business: its impact and relevance today

R L Cope
rcope@oze-mail.com.au.nospam

Abstract: Andrew Osborn's inaugural address, The Library Keeper's Business (LKB), was delivered at the University of Sydney in 1959 when he assumed the post of university librarian. LKB, in which Osborn set out a personal credo, had an immediate impact at Sydney University and beyond. It was to some extent also a program for Australian research libraries and, more broadly, for the profession of librarianship. LKB deserves re-assessment, both as a document of its time and as an index of the changes in the research library world in Australia. This article looks firstly at historical factors which influenced Osborn's attitudes, and then considers the contemporary relevance of LKB in 'an unhistorical age such as ours' (Gertrude Himmelfarb). The article concludes by advocating a renewed, but broader analysis of Osborn's influence and ideas with regard to the purpose and future of Australian research and scholarly library collections. The notion of 'organic collections' (Herbert Putnam) is raised as a point of discussion in this context.

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