The Australian Library Journal
Volume 54 Nš2 May 2005
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John Levett
Roxanne Missingham
Remembering Allan Horton
Marina Garlick; Hans W Groenewegen; Derek Fielding; Bill Linklater; and Peter Orlovich
We do not go to conferences to be moved: stimulated, inspired, revved-up, yes. But moved? Only occasionally. Conferences are not famous for it. That's why president Imogen Garner's bold and inspired step of paying tribute to the giants of the profession who had recently left us was for me the highlight of the 2004 Biennial Conference and one of the most moving ALIA events in recent years. We have many heroes - more than we think. And far too many of them are unsung: we are not a singing profession. We manage, dutifully, the standard 1000 - word obituary when occasion demands it, but even those are often difficult to come by, for obvious reasons. And they are, necessarily, somewhat formal and structured. Depending on circumstances a memorial service may be held, where friends enlarge on their engagement, encounters with and feelings for the departed, but often the audiences for these are select and intimate and the proceedings fugitive and difficult, if not impossible of access. Festschriften are sometimes assembled as a measure of academic or intellectual achievement, but they are complex and difficult of creation: that which this journal published to honour Margaret Trask required an immense effort from Boyd Rayward and Maireacute;ad Browne, and the individual contributions of many. So there is a place for something in between the simple obituary and the density of the Festschrift. The contributions which follow take this middle way: they were inspired and organised by a long-standing friend and colleague of the late Allan Horton, Marina Garlick: the editor is grateful to her and to the authors of the individual contributions for this opportunity to reflect on Allan who was literally - in that he was always larger than life - a giant of the profession.
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Award citations
Fellowship: Dr Marianne Broadbent
Redmond Barry: John Leonard Dwight
The Australian Library Journal is the Association's 'journal of record': it is therefore appropriate that citations for its premier awards should find a place in its pages. Accordingly, we record here the citations for the award of the Fellowship to Dr Marianne Broadbent and that for the Redmond Barry award to John Leonard Dwight. The awards were presented at the Online Conference in Sydney February 2005.
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Public library development in New South Wales
David J Jones
This article was first published in the very informative and well edited (by Victoria Anderson) State Library of New South Wales Public Library News in March and July 2004. In view of the looming 50th anniversary of the founding of the Free Library Movement, and the light it throws on the role of the influential layperson, the editor sought permission to reproduce it here.
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Covert censorship in libraries: a discussion paper
Kim Moody
Librarians, through their professional associations, have long been committed to the social justice principle embedded in the concept of 'free access to information'. External censorship challenges to library collections threaten this principle overtly. However, censorship can also occur in libraries in various covert and often unconcious ways. This discussion paper raises concerns about current practices and processes which can effectively censor library collections from within. The paper concludes by highlighting areas of practice in which librarians need to be vigilant for such covert censorship.
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The academic library: a post-modern Lazarus?
Peter Pierre
The author argues that there is a need to reassess the direction of the academic library and the working practices of the staff within it to reclaim our libraries for their users and to examine the epistemology of library and information services. He argues that in order for academic libraries to find their place in the tertiary education culture they need to investigate their origins. The academic library might then be able to reclaim its position as one of the pillars of academia.
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Employment of disabled persons in the academic library environment
Jodi Johnstone
Academic libraries are the cornerstones of universities in providing information resources for the students and staff of the university. Indirectly, they may be instrumental in the development of beliefs and attitudes regarding the employment of disabled people. In 1998, the Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted a study into the status and wellbeing of disabled people, including employment restrictions. The percentage of the population who are disabled had risen from 15 per cent to 19 per cent in 17 years and half of these are unemployed or have restrictions on their employment.
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Librarianship in the 21st century - crisis or transformation?
Candy Hillenbrand
The author argues that the profession of librarianship is in crisis. She seeks to identify the characteristics and analyse the qualities of this phenomenon in order to draw conclusions about future trends and directions for the profession. It is argued that this crisis is an outward sign of a deeper transformation which is taking place and which affects the discipline as a whole including education and practice. The recent evolution of the profession is traced against the background of the broader transition from the modern to the postmodern era. The object is to reveal how the widespread social, cultural and technological changes of the 21st century are impacting on the library, the librarian, the customer or client and the fundamental nature of information itself.
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