The Australian Library Journal

Margaret Trask, AM

27 April 1928 - 19 November 2002

John Levett

Like most of us, Margaret had two lives: a private, and a public one. Margaret revealed her inner self to few; but her public life is a matter of record. What follows is a broad outline of her career in order to give some background to the more detailed contributions which make up the body of this special issue. Quotations (unless otherwise indicated) are from other contributions herein.

She was born on 27 April 1928 in Camden New South Wales. Longtime Library Association of Australia (LAA) watchers will have observed that the half-decades 1923, 1928, 1933 and 1938 - and for all I know the pattern may continue - have produced a striking number of high achievers in the Australian ranks of the profession. Margaret was one of these. Her mother was Mary Winifred Price, and her father Henry Kinsella from Baltinglass, County Wicklow, Ireland, an AIF - Gallipoli veteran. Margaret's Irish genes were manifest in her quick wit, her inability or refusal to tolerate fools and her repugnance for the pretentious and showy. Many bureaucrats and not a few of her colleagues learned this the hard way: as the chair of any meeting, she always knew what she wanted, and with the usual concessions to politesse, always took the direct route to what she saw, and eventually the meeting would perceive, as the logical conclusion:

She was an extraordinarily valuable addition to the Council and remained so for the rest of her life. She had an uncanny ability to capture the essence of an issue very quickly and deal with it directly. She became frustrated with cant, obfuscation and devious dealing - all occasional ingredients in a university council meeting. (Tony Blake)

For those unable to read her signals, she used the audible aside to devastating effect.

She went to Parramatta High School. In addition to Margaret, it produced many significant graduates, including Richie Benaud and Ted Noffs, Phil Chapman (astronaut), a Cardinal, Edward ldris Cassidy and Leo Port, who was Sydney's first popularly elected mayor. By 1945 she was a library assistant in the Public Library of New South Wales, an institution which has touched many of the profession's geniuses. She spent two years there, and was appointed chief librarian at Penrith City Council in January 1948. One might infer, given the post-war policy of giving preference to returned servicemen for such appointments that she was already a considerable candidate. November 1956 saw her move to the Australian Mutual Provident Society, a more prestigious institution in those days than latterly, and one in which the words 'mutual' and 'provident' had real meaning. Corporate life did not, apparently, suit her, and in December 1958, she was back at Penrith in her former job. As many did at that time - it was the only Australian tertiary institution operating in the distance education mode - she studied her first degree through the University of New England, and graduated BA in 1960.

Ted Flowers, a contemporary of Margaret's at the Public Library of NSW, and in his career both a public and a university librarian used to assert that the service ethic inculcated during his time in public libraries informed his professional attitudes throughout his working life. Margaret's life was similarly touched, and this is reflected in her career, the many external offices and appointments she undertook, her voluminous writings and in her role as an outstanding professional educationist and philosopher. Public service in the true sense of that phrase, in which the client, whether as member of the public, student, or colleague, always came first. This ethic was present throughout Margaret's life and reached its apotheosis at the University of Technology, Sydney.

The pressures of student life have increased accordingly. Margaret was acutely sensitive to this change and to the difficulties which faced those who were working their way through a degree or a research project. (Gerard Brennan)

In 1964 Margaret completed her graduate diploma in librarianship at the University of New South Wales, and moved into the academy, a context which she was to grace, and in which she thrived, for much of her life, joining the university library as senior librarian 'Methods and Training'. Four years later, she gained her first true teaching appointment as a lecturer in the School of Librarianship at that university. She taught at the graduate diploma level and in the Master of Librarianship program across a range of topics, including library administration, the library in the political process, literature and libraries for young people. Of this latter, Maurice Saxby, a contributor to this issue, was to say:

This need was recognised by Margaret Trask who in 1972 offered a course through the Division of Postgraduate Extension Studies at the University of New South Wales on Fantasy, science fiction and science materials and published the papers. She offered a similar course on picture books in 1974, and in 1975 one called 'A sense of history.' Previously in the late 1960s Trask had organised an open seminar on Australian children's literature with a paper by this writer on its history.

In her later career she was a strong advocate for the establishment of the Australian Information Management Association (AIMA):

And so her work in improving the management skills of Australian librarians has meant that she made a major contribution also to Australian library automation, even though she probably never in her life wrote a line of code or used a screwdriver to open the back of a computer. (Hans Groenewegen)

In 1974, she successfully applied for the post of Principal Lecturer and Foundation Head of the Department of Library and Information Studies at the then Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education in Lindfield NSW. The late 1960s and early 1970s were good years for tertiary education in Australia: university libraries were better funded than ever before as a consequence of the Martin Report. More critically, the creation of a new genre of tertiary institution had been proposed - the colleges of advanced education, whose primary brief was a pragmatic one - education for the [lesser] professions, the intention being to leave the universities free to focus on the more rarefied aspects of tertiary education, and on pure research. The creation of the CAEs was a revolution of sorts, and like all such, in time, the theory unwound, but for much of the 1970s they brought a freshness and vigour to the sector: 'bliss was it then...'

In George Muir, the Foundation Principal of Kuring-gai, Margaret found an intensely sympathetic leader, and under his aegis, she set about developing a new approach to education for librarianship.

...in 1974 she found the perfect vehicle for expression of the innate talent and leadership capacity which was increasingly being recognised by her peers. (Mairéad Browne and Joyce Kirk)

The revivified university libraries, the 'resource materials centres' of the CAEs and the burgeoning secondary school libraries were clamouring for qualified staff. Margaret's philosophy and approach is discussed by Joyce Kirk and Mairéad Browne elsewhere in this issue: it was encapsulated in her Proposals for the introduction of new courses in library and information studies: General librarianship published by the Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education. Department of Library and Information Studies (1975). This document was of course, the platform for studies at Kuring-gai, but Margaret's influence was so powerful and pervasive that the principles embodied in it were widely discussed and adopted.

At this point it is appropriate to consider her connection with, and influence on, the Library Association of Australia (LAA). Like most of her generation, she saw the professional body as the principal advocate and avenue for management of the profession. She must have joined it by the early 1950s (for she completed its Registration Examination in 1956) and remained a member for the rest of her life. She became an Associate Member in 1963 and quickly rose to membership of its governing body, the General Council, in 1966. In the mid-1960s she was a catalyst in discussions at the Association and Federal government levels regarding the possibility of Commonwealth aid for secondary school libraries, and was instrumental in the formation of government policy. Her School libraries: a report to the nation preceded a general expansion of libraries in Australian schools and led to the commitment of Commonwealth funding for school library buildings, the education of teacher-librarians and the development of collections of materials in direct support of curricula. The Association recognised her work: in 1969 it awarded her its Fellowship. She was one of the youngest recipients then and now.

She was a member of the LAA's General Council 1966-1970, 1972-1974; a councillor for the NSW Branch 1970-1974; president of LAA's Children's Libraries Section 1966-1967; general treasurer 1968-1970; member of the Board of Examiners 1967-1974. She convened the LAA working party on Commonwealth aid to Australian secondary school libraries 1967-1968, and the 1970 committee on the financial restructuring of the Association. In 1977 she held the office of president and in conjunction with Allan Horton, then the general treasurer she rescued the Association from a parlous financial situation. She lived one of her touchstones: when being pressed on an issue she would challenge its advocate by asking 'Well: what difference will it make?' The difference here was between having a viable professional association or a bankrupt one: as one of her former students says:

Margaret Trask was the best lecturer I had at library school. She confirmed my choice of profession, and inspired me to try to make a difference... (Ian McCallum)

As president of the Library Association of Australia in 1977 and an influential member of its Board of Education Margaret shaped that body's education policies, and through them the curricula of schools of librarianship throughout Australia.

She was also an active adviser to the Australian Department of Education in Canberra, serving on its ten-person committee on secondary school libraries from 1968-1973, and was a member of the Australian Schools Commission's Secondary Schools Libraries Committee from 1974. She worked on the Department's Standards for secondary schools libraries and spoke on behalf of the Department to architects in five states involved in the planning of new secondary school libraries: she also addressed school principals on what the new libraries might achieve.

It was during the years 1968 to 1976 that Margaret Trask was most directly influential in relation to the nation's school libraries. Firstly, she was a member of the Commonwealth Secondary Schools Library Committee, from 1968 to 1973, and in that role, visited secondary schools to assess their library needs and recommend disbursement of government funds in regard to them. Secondly, she was a member of the Australian Schools Commission, from 1974 to 1975, a body which continued support for school libraries, though in a lessened form than the provision of the previous years. She was totally engaged in promoting school libraries from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s, essentially as an energetic and extremely politically savvy LAA activist... (Maureen Nimon)

She was a member of the NSW Higher Education Board's Academic Committee from 1982-1985, and was a member of the Australian Government's Committee of Inquiry into Public Libraries in Australia 1975-1976, which resulted in the eponymous Horton Report (after the chairman of the committee, Allan Horton). This seminal report on the state of Australian public libraries still makes interesting reading: unfortunately it was put to the sword of an Inter-Departmental Committee in the razor-wielding Fraser years. She served on the Australian Government's Working Party on the review of library provision in higher education in 1990 (the Ross Committee). She was a member of the Australian National Committee for UNESCO 1977-1985, a member of the Executive Committee 1979-1985, and chair of its Communication Committee 1979-1985. She served on the short-lived Australian Libraries and Information Council 1982-1985 and was its deputy chairman 1982-1984. She also served her alma mater and was an active member of the Council of the University of NSW from 1982-1985.

In 1979 she became a member of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to librarianship. Ten years later, in 1989 she received the Association's highest honour, the HCL Anderson Award, for her services to the profession.

Margaret was an ambassador for Australian librarianship:

The high regard in which Australian librarianship is held internationally owes much to the work of such leaders as Margaret Trask. Her profound influence on libraries and librarianship through her teaching, consultancy and advice contributed to the development of a profession which is admired for its technical proficiency and sound foundation on principles. (Alex Byrne)

The following selection of overseas consultancies and assignments which she undertook indicate her reach and energy and the respect in which she was held outside Australia.

October 1981 Fiji: To direct a workshop on the design of training courses for UNESCO

July 1981-June 1982 South Pacific: Co-ordinating the writing of courses for teachers and to teach librarians...

July 1983 Solomon Islands: World Bank Primary Education Project. To survey... general library and information resources...

September 1983 USA: Association of Research Libraries Process consultancy training program. Consultancy work at the Library of Congress.

September 1984 South Pacific: To design and provide a course for national trainers... involved in the delivery of courses for librarians and teachers... for UNESCO

February 1985 Hong Kong: External moderator and advisor for the University of Hong Kong

October 1985 USA: To act as co-trainer in the ARL Management Institutes

1990 Christchurch New Zealand: Review of the Library, University of Canterbury

1993 Auckland New Zealand: Review of the University Library.

She was no less in demand within Australia. She chaired, authored, undertook a number of major assignments including two landmark events; the following are merely indicative of her contribution to national and institutional agendas:

February-June 1982: A study of staff development ... in the National Library of Australia, the State Library of New South Wales and Macquarie University Library.

April 1983 and August 1984: Organised two Advanced Management Institutes for senior library managers in conjunction with the Association of Research Libraries.

October 1988. Chaired The Australian Libraries Summit for the National Library of Australia.
The choice of Margaret Trask to chair this national forum reflects an interesting light on the interplay of personalities as between Margaret and the director-general of the National Library at the time, Warren Horton and on the shrewdness of that choice. As an observer of the process remarks:

Their parallel careers in New South Wales, shared experience as LAA presidents, and more particularly Margaret's initiatives in library management training which led to the formation of the Australian Information Management Association (AIMA), would all have engendered a confidence in her skills both as an organiser and facilitator. Given the later overwhelming approval of her chairing of the Summit itself, this may be seen as something of a masterstroke.(Eric Wainwright)

Of her chairing another observer noted:

...she was tireless, regal, imperturbable. Without her driving will, the Summit would have lost itself five minutes into the agenda... (quoted in Library Association of Australia Citation for the HCL Anderson Award 1989)

1992: Chaired Towards Federation 2001 for the National Library of Australia.

1994: Undertook review of the library of the University of Queensland.

May 1994 - July 1995: Chair, Library Review Implementation Team, Sydney University.

In the midst of all this, she found time to compile a substantial body of publications. David Jones presents a very full listing of her published works: she was as eclectic as she was prolific, but never superficial. Her prose style is spare, almost classical and her range extraordinary. Anything that Margaret wrote, even on relatively mundane topics is worth reading, if only for the style. She often wrote as she spoke, and if I read her work, I can hear her voice. She began to write very early in her career, often detached, always objective and occasionally wry. It is perhaps too much to expect a 'collected edition' but while there are active researchers in the discipline and as the historical perspective lengthens, her work is in no danger of falling into desuetude. However, her Proposals for the introduction of new courses in library and information studies: general librarianship (Kuring-gai College of Advance Education 1975) could, with advantage be reprinted and would certainly stand up to re-examination. It would fill some of the gaps in the woefully sparse literature in Australia on the intellectual foundations of the field. Margaret's hand is also discernible in the Horton Report (1976), which is still the primary text for the sector and unlike many of its coevals, very highly readable.

At the University of New South Wales, Margaret's contribution was of a piece with the rest of her life. In the all too brief time she was there she served it with a will and all of her large and generous heart. Kuring-gai CAE and the School of Library and Information Studies - which she had left in 1985 to be the executive director of the Australian Information Management Information Management Association - were, as part of a wholesale series of such amalgamations across Australia, beginning with the Dawkins 'reforms' of 1988, brought under the aegis of the University of Technology Sydney where both the department and its staff found a congenial and stimulating home. In 1994 Margaret became a member of that University's Council, an appointment which she held for eight years. She chaired the Board of the Centre for Local Government Education and Research 1995-2000, was a member of the University's personnel Committee from 1996 and its chair from 1998, a member of the Planning Board 1996, chair of the Student Affairs Committee from 1996 and deputy chancellor from 1998.

In 1991 she was appointed a Fellow of the University in particular recognition of:

...her contribution to the education of library and information professionals; her commitment to research in the field; and her role as initiator of the Australian Information Management Association... In the eight years Margaret was a member of the UTS Council, she made a major contribution to the work and life of the University. Her knowledge of and contacts within the various faculties and departments of the University ensured that her influence was both beneficial and effective. She served on many committees and working groups and participated in the selection process for the members of the University's senior executive. For the last four years of her life, she assisted and supported the chancellor as deputy chancellor and presided over numerous graduation ceremonies with warmth and dignity. She provided great guidance to the council and university as a whole on issues of good university governance. (University of Technology, Sydney Celebration of the life of Margaret Trask AM 27 April 1928-19 November 2002)

In due course the University Council resolved that she should be awarded an Honorary Doctorate: it can never have made a more worthy choice. She died before it could be awarded.

In the end...

Margaret was a beacon for me, as she was for many. A friend, mentor and tolerant elder, she taught me much. Although there will never be another Margaret Trask, may the profession be granted that such giants continue to grace its ranks.

Biographical information

John Levett is editor of the Australian Library Journal: he served with Margaret Trask on a number of bodies, including the LAA's Board of Education: in 1980 Margaret Trask invited him to Kuring-gai as visiting librarian.