The Australian Library Journal

Allan Roy Horton - a tribute

Marina Garlick

Allan Roy Horton was born on 29 August, 1928, and attended Canterbury Boys' High School, a selective school in Sydney's inner west known more recently as the alma mater of the current Prime Minister. He completed his Leaving Certificate through the Sydney Technical College and became a junior clerk at the then Public (now State) Library of New South Wales. From there he completed a BA and the Registration Examination of the Library Association of Australia (LAA) part-time.

Throughout his life, Allan was sustained by a strong Christian faith which underlay his values. This was shared by his youthful sweetheart and wife, Elma. Professionally, the only obvious sign of this was that he did not take alcohol. He had a wicked sense of humour and his lifetime mate, Jeff Hazell, tells many stories of their escapades at the Public Library.

After early stints as a shelver and in charge of the Copying Service, Allan made the rounds of the departmental libraries and other Public Library satellites - Supreme Court, Police Department (establishing the CIB Library), the NSW Film Council and Adult Education Libraries. As Russell Doust notes: 'Both of the latter were essentially branches within the Public Library of New South Wales, while the departmental libraries had been staffed by the Public Library since World War II, giving many young librarians their first chance to run a library of their own. It was not until the 1970s that the New South Wales Government Departments became responsible for staffing their own libraries, ...'.[1] He was, for a time, effectively the first State Archivist of New South Wales and his contribution in this field is dealt with below by Peter Orlovich.

Allan's influence on Australian libraries and librarianship is incalculable in its diversity. Because he became ill soon after his retirement in 1988, he was unable to develop this contribution further and much has been forgotten. The reminiscences which follow are an attempt to illustrate at least some aspects of his multi-faceted oeuvre. Hans Groenewegen describes working with Allan on the General Council of the then Library Association of Australia and on the staff of the University of New South Wales, in the context of developments in the profession in the 1960s and 1970s. Derek Fielding deals with shared experiences on the Australian Advisory Council on Bibliographical Services (AACOBS) and the Committee of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) for some twenty years. Bill Linklater provides details of Allan's contribution to the development of libraries and librarianship in South East Asia. Peter Orlovich deals with Allan's role in the development of the State Government Archives as well as those at the University of New South Wales. This leaves a number of areas still to be covered at a later date and should not preclude the preparation of a more formal Festschrift.

After working on the staff of the University of NSW Library from 1963 to 1966 when Allan was associate and then university librarian, I became acting and then actual executive secretary of the LAA [1970 until 1974]. Allan was general secretary and we worked closely together on reforming the Association's administration as well as on policy issues. In 1975 and 1976, we were both NSW Branch representatives on the LAA General Council and were elected to the Standing Committee. From our discussions at this time, I can answer the often asked question as to why he never became president of the LAA. He didn't want to! The conventional cycle of vice-president, president, past-president meant you were thereafter effectively out of the Association's affairs. He clearly could not envisage such a virtual withdrawal - as his record shows.

Allan was honoured by his professional colleagues and the LAA with the award of a Fellowship in 1969 and of the HCL Anderson Award in 1979. In 1992, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of New South Wales. He had prepared an address for this occasion but chose not to deliver it. In this, he urged the new graduates to 'keep in mind the fundamental objectives of their chosen profession, to recognise that they now begin a lifetime learning experience and that when they stop learning they will lose the right to call themselves professional.'

They should also 'recognise that they have taken on [a] twin obligation... . Each person is a debtor to his or her profession and at the same time must make their contribution to the society which has given them the opportunities that now open before them.'[2]

For Allan, these were no idle slogans but deeply felt tenets of his professional life. We should be grateful that he practiced what he preached.

Allan Horton: a personal reminiscence

Hans W Groenewegen

In the period mid-1960 to mid-1970 Allan Horton was arguably the leading Australian librarian of his generation. In 1966 he had been appointed university librarian at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), taking the place of John Metcalfe who had become foundation director of the University's School of Librarianship. The university library was still in its early stages of growth and for almost anyone other than Allan, managing its development would have been a more than full-time occupation. However Allan did not see it that way. He remained hugely active in a range of other activities, in particular within the Library Association of Australia (LAA), of which he was general secretary from 1968 to 1973. He also served on numerous LAA committees and working parties. This was in part a response to the political and social climate of the time. Education was a priority of both the major political parties. Allan recognised the need to grasp the opportunity to promote the role of libraries in education and the community and became actively involved in lobbying and advocacy projects.

I had the good fortune to be quite closely associated with Allan during those years and I had many opportunities to observe him, and in some modest way assist him, during this incredibly productive and creative period of his life. It may be relevant to describe briefly how this association came about.

In 1962 I had been granted a library traineeship in the NSW Public Service and was enrolled as a student in the School of Librarianship at the UNSW. It so happened that Allan lived close to me and on his route to work he virtually drove past my house. Allan was at that time employed at the University Library as associate librarian and he also lectured part time in the School of Librarianship. In his typical generous way, when he found out where I lived, he offered to pick me up at the corner of my street on the mornings when I had to go to lectures and give me a lift to the University. He had an EK Holden at the time, which, although quite new, was equipped with neither heater nor demister. As on frosty mornings we travelled to Kensington, rugged up against the cold, Allan would from time to time need to wipe the inside of the windscreen, without however interrupting the flow of his conversation. Much of this was about libraries and the library profession. But also, he liked to talk about his children and from there the discussion might lead to his views on schools and education generally.

Federal Aid to schools, public and private

One aspect of education policy that excited Allan was the issue of 'state aid'. Having been educated in state schools, Allan was a strong supporter of the Government education system and opposed to 'state aid' to Catholic and other private schools when this became Federal Government policy in the mid 1960s. His opposition was not based on sectarian grounds, but on his belief that private schools cause social divisiveness and were a waste of educational resources.

Invariably Allan's strong views were translated into action and so his attitude to state aid led him to take a prominent role in the Council for the Defence of Government Schools (DOGS). He even stood as a candidate for the DOGS in his local electorate in what must have been the 1966 Federal election. As I was very sympathetic to his views, I was happy to do what I could to help him. So I spent one long election day, handing out 'How to Vote' leaflets for Allan. He did not win the seat; but he did make his statement. Later, despite his philosophical opposition to state aid, Allan was quick to embrace the notion that the library profession should lobby the Federal Government to make financial grants for the development of libraries in schools, both public and private.

The Library Association of Australia

Upon his election as general secretary of the LAA in 1968, Allan immediately assumed a 'hyperactive role', as Ted Flowers described it so accurately many years later[3]. I was able to witness this at first hand, having myself been elected to General Council and, from 1971 to 1973, to the office of general treasurer.

This was a time when the LAA was dealing with several contentious issues. First there was the question of education for librarianship. The Association's decision to vacate the field of formal education opened up two related questions:

1. Which was the more appropriate institution in which library schools should be established, ie universities, or other institutions of tertiary education? and
2. What types of courses should be established: undergraduate or post-graduate?

The issues were eventually resolved in 1968 when General Council decided that a first award would satisfy all the Association's requirements for professional membership. Allan's contribution to the resolution of this very divisive issue had come early. In 1966 he had chaired the Committee that had formulated a policy statement for the Association on the teaching of librarianship in Australia[4].

A related question was what source of funding could be substituted for the loss of examination fee income when, as planned, the Association phased out its system of registration examinations. Some recommendations had been made by a Committee of the LAA's Standing Committee in 1971. These at least drew attention to the problem, but offered only a partial solution. An active activities programme and a vigorous membership drive would perhaps boost membership and hence income from subscriptions. But it was the genius of Allan's inter-library loan voucher scheme that saved the Association from financial ruin in the late 1970s. Marina Garlick recalls that Allan called it his 'gift to the Association'[5]

Then there was the issue of appointment of non-professionals to senior library positions. This happened in several celebrated cases in the period 1970-1971, commencing with the appointment of Alan Fleming (a career diplomat) as national librarian, followed soon after by the appointment of non-professionals to the offices of Commonwealth Parliamentary librarian and director of the Commonwealth Archives, respectively. Communication with the Federal Government and Parliament on these appointments was mostly handled by the president of the Association. The general secretary's role in these matters was confined to that of reporting back to the membership on the action taken by the president and to make the best that could be made out of the rather unsatisfactory responses that had been elicited from the Government spokespeople, much to the frustration of the general membership of the Association which showed itself to be decidedly hardline about the issue[6].

Censorship was another question that continued to exercise the Association. Allan had had an active involvement in the issue at LAA level from 1966, when he became the Convener of the Association's Committee on Censorship, later known as the Committee on Freedom to Read. However towards the end of the decade there had been a gradual liberalisation of the censorship regime in Australia and the LAA could take a wider approach to social questions. In 1970, a Committee on Social Issues was set up, again under Allan's convenorship. Topics identified as appropriate for the Committee to advise or comment on included provision of remedial teaching for poor readers, financial subsidies for the purchase of books for school libraries, and government funding for library services to the aged. Also, in response to a report which it had commissioned from Thurles Thomas on library services to migrants in New South Wales, the Association initiated consultations with interested parties, aimed at developing a strategy for providing library and information services to the migrant community. This programme of work fitted perfectly the ethos of the times and positioned the Association to launch its campaign on behalf of libraries for a share of the funding to be unlocked by the soon-to- be-elected Whitlam Government. Perhaps it was another instance of Allan's ability to sniff what was in the wind.

Meanwhile, following the precedent established by the Commonwealth Government in providing capital funding for the construction of science buildings and facilities in schools, the LAA had begun to lobby the Government to follow this with a programme of Federal funding of school libraries. The campaign was inspired by a visit from Professor Sara Fenwick of the University of Chicago, a specialist in school librarianship. Hard work by many LAA members, in particular Margaret Trask, led to a highly successful result. In 1968 the Federal Government approved funding for a $27 million capital works programme for the development of school libraries in Government and independent secondary schools throughout Australia. Allan's contribution to the campaign must not be discounted. He contributed his enthusiasm, his unfailing energy, his capacity for strategic thinking and his persuasive skills in many meetings with politicians and public servants.

Following the election of 1972, it seemed to the Social Issues Committee that there was a particular opportunity for the promotion of public libraries as appropriate recipients of Government funding in the context of the Whitlam Government's policies on urban and regional development.

As a member of the Council of the LAA, I had the experience of participating in one such exercise in lobbying 1970s style. On this occasion, Allan was unable to be present and I assume that I was asked to come along to deputise for him. The other two members of the party were Laurie Brown (vice-president) and Margaret Trask. This particular trip involved meetings with bureaucrats of the newly formed Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD) in both Canberra and Albury/Wodonga. On day one we travelled by train from Sydney to Canberra where we met with departmental staff for several hours in the afternoon. Then, at around 11:00pm, we boarded a sleeper in Canberra to take us to Albury, where we arrived at a very early hour. We spent a good two hours or so wandering around a deserted Albury/Wodonga until it was time for our appointment with the local branch of DURD.

Unfortunately the campaign to attract DURD funding in support of public library development was not particularly successful. But perhaps it was a step towards raising awareness within the Whitlam Government of the importance of public libraries. And this may have contributed to its decision - all too late as we now know - to establish the Committee of Inquiry into Public Libraries that Allan would eventually chair. He did it with great skill and distinction, but by the time his Committee's report and recommendations were completed, the Whitlam Government had been defeated and the work that had been done by Allan and his colleagues was ignored by the newly-elected Fraser Government.

A further LAA initiative taken during the Whitlam years was a national workshop-type conference on information in Australia. The intention was to raise the Federal Government's awareness of the role of libraries in the national information infrastructure. This was the time when new, 'non-conventional', information sources, such as electronic data bases, were beginning to emerge. Inevitably, Allan took on the role of convener of the steering committee that was given responsibility for planning the Conference. Its aim was to develop and promote a national plan for the creation of a network of information sources both inside and outside conventional libraries. There was some hope within the Association that for funding purposes this plan could be linked to the Australian Assistance Plan, another initiative of the Whitlam Government. In a guest editorial in the Australian Library Journal of May 1974, Allan in his usual succinct style gave expression to his vision for the future provision of information services to the community, and the role of the library profession in this[7].

Meanwhile he and his steering committee were devoting much time and energy to the initial consultations with state librarians and Federal public servants, including the newly-appointed director-general of the National Library, Dr George Chandler. A meeting with federal public servants was held in Canberra on 24 June 1974. At this meeting, Margaret Trask and I presented papers. But by this time I had already been offered a position at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, and I am afraid that my mind may have been focused more on my new appointment. In any case I have difficulty recalling the meeting, let alone what was said. But at least two major impediments to the plan's fulfilment were emerging. The first was the changing fortunes of the Whitlam Government which meant that its funding largesse was coming to an end. The second was the arrival on the scene of George Chandler who had his own agenda for a national information service, based firmly on the National Library.

At the University of NSW Library

Allan had recruited me to his staff at the University Library early in 1972. I had previously worked in the State Library of NSW and then, for four years as chief librarian at the Australian Atomic Energy Commission Research Establishment (now ANSTO) at Lucas Heights. I had not expected that my move to UNSW would represent so profound and at times perplexing change in my working life, as it turned out to be. Although I knew Allan quite well, working for him was a totally new experience. More than anything else, it made me aware how green I was as a manager. But perhaps in retrospect, it may also have been the fact that Allan's style as a manager was different from - perhaps a long way ahead of - that of his colleagues, not just in other libraries but in many other organisations of that time.

Allan was an avowed believer in participatory democracy. This meant that we had regular meetings of the senior and middle managers at which many operational and planning matters were discussed. The meetings were large, and the discussions long and, at least to me, extraordinarily frank. Much criticism was targeted at Allan. To be fair, it was never personal, and mostly seemed to have its cause in lack of resources and/or disagreement on priorities. These sorts of discussions are now familiar around most senior staff meetings in libraries and elsewhere, but at the time, never having heard such plain speaking to the 'boss' before, it was to me quite an extraordinary experience, which would sometimes make me feel quite embarrassed on Allan's behalf. However, he seemed to take it all in very good spirit. '"We'll all be rooned" said Hanrahan' was a favourite response to those who seemed too pessimistic, and mostly he remained undeterred from doing what he thought best, regardless of the criticism it might provoke.

One of his solutions to the lack of staff resources from which we were suffering was to use some existing vacancies to create a 'flying squad' of library assistants who could be put to work on special projects of fixed duration. The theory was good but in practice, within a short time, flying squad members became attached to sections with chronic staff shortages and seemed to remain grounded there as it were, indefinitely.

Another innovative aspect of Allan's human resources management was the creation of a training librarian position at a senior level (the first incumbent was Margaret Trask). And his support for and encouragement of job sharing resulted in what may well have been the first such arrangement in an Australian university library.

The highlight of my short time at the UNSW Library was our collaboration on the planning of stage two of the university library building. The new building was to be hospitable to Allan's concept of library service units ('special libraries') based on broad disciplines: humanities and social sciences, science and technology. These were to be both separate and integrated, unlike the traditional university branch libraries.

Allan had delegated most of the detailed planning work, including liaison with the architect, to his reader services librarian, Brian Foote. To ensure that he had plenty of time to devote to the building project, he relieved Brian of all other responsibilities for the duration. Nonetheless, Allan also involved himself in the detail of the planning. He was always interested in organisation and methods. Indeed, it had been one of the topics that he taught in his course at the School of Librarianship at the University. I remember many an afternoon spent sitting with Allan, Brian and the deputy librarian, Bob Langker, on the floor in Allan's office where the architect's floor plans were laid out, tracing the path of people or book trolleys from one area to another, and debating at which side the doors should be hinged and in which direction they should open or close. Several years after the building had been constructed I visited the University Library and Allan took me on a conducted tour. Remembering the time and effort that had been devoted to the planning, I asked him whether there had been any unforeseen problems with the building. My memory is that Allan could only name one small problem resulting from a minor planning error. I was not surprised: the planning had been immaculate.

The late 1960s and early 1970s saw the beginning of library automation. Allan displayed great interest in its potential for improved service provision. In 1969 he had appointed as his central services librarian Dorothy Peake, who had already acquired several years of experience in library automation. Within a short time an IBM 357 automated loans system was purchased, which started operation in March 1971. By early 1970 a team of data entry clerks had started work, keyboarding cataloguing data for new library acquisitions directly onto magnetic tape. Perhaps as a result of his O&M background, Allan realised instinctively the importance of systems integration, probably before many others, more technically versed, did so, and in the late 1970s when most libraries were still content to buy turnkey library circulation systems, Allan gave his systems team the task of specifying a totally integrated library system, capable of processing information about library resources from selection to end-use, even though the market was nowhere near ready to supply such a system.

Conclusion

In August 1974 I resigned from the University Library to take up my appointment at the IAEA. My period at the UNSW had been short and has always seemed like an interlude between more lasting and to me perhaps more fulfilling appointments. But my strong recollection of that period is the towering presence of 'Big Al': his incredible energy, his acute mind, his capacity for lateral thinking, his constant quest for innovation, his ability to see opportunity where others only saw difficulties, his boundless optimism, his cheerfulness and above all his kindness. He treated everyone as his equal, ready to see the best in everyone, to overlook their weaknesses and to forgive their mistakes. It was those qualities that made him what he was: a leader of his profession and a treasured friend and colleague.

Allan Horton - Friend and colleague

Derek Fielding

I first met Allan Horton when we were contenders to succeed John Metcalfe as university librarian at the University of New South Wales in 1965. Allan was John's deputy and was deservedly appointed. A few months later I was appointed, unopposed, to the professionally unwanted and unpopular equivalent position at the University of Queensland.

I was a year younger than this large, thoughtful and genial man with a big voice. We were immediately on the same wavelength and formed a frank and open personal and professional friendship which, while never intimate, was easy and trusting. Yet we came from quite different professional backgrounds. Allan was one of that considerable number of influential librarians (the NSW library mafia) who had worked for John Metcalfe when he was librarian at the then Public Library (now State Library) of New South Wales and had been professionally formed by Metcalfe's powerful, indeed dominating, personality. My experience had been initially in English public libraries and then at the universities of Auckland and Western Australia. As Leonard Jolley's deputy in Perth I had been greatly influenced by Leonard's agnostic approach to all accepted wisdom. In the then contested discipline of cataloguing both Jolley and Metcalfe had written major works from quite opposing points of view and, in Jolley's case, this difference was combined with a general distrust of all ideas emanating from the Eastern states.

Allan and I inherited quite different libraries. From its recent establishment, the University of New South Wales Library had been developed by the veteran and respected John Metcalfe as an entirely centralised operation. By contrast the University of Queensland Library, despite the best efforts of my immediate predecessor, Harrison Bryan, still had the decentralised character which reflected the pre-Bryan decades during which the 'Library' equalled 'Arts' and the books 'belonging' to other teaching departments resided within their walls. In the days before computers physical location was hugely important.[8]

In spite of these differences Allan and I shared a common approach. In the interests of promoting and maintaining the status of the Library within the University we both saw the need for the university librarian to be accepted as an equal by his academic colleagues by playing a role beyond the Library in spheres such as the University's governing body, the Professorial Board, the Academic Staff Association[9] and the general administration of the institution. However I believe we differed in a way which reflected our different mentors, Metcalfe and Jolley. In approaching issues where national library policy interests affected our own institutions, my first loyalty was always to the interests of the University of Queensland. Allan, I suspect, was more ambivalent and idealistic, with a strong commitment to a broader view of national librarianship. It was a position which was greatly to his professional credit, but which seems to have caused him grief in the latter part of his career when those who knew of his great work for his university had been replaced by others with no such appreciation.

Most of my contact with Allan for the next twenty-five years was in the context of the Australian Advisory Council on Bibliographical Services (AACOBS) and the Committee of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) and to a lesser extent the Library Association of Australia (LAA). Initially we found ourselves 'Young Turks' in an old-fashioned world dominated by a few strong and interesting personalities. My experience of both bodies was longer than Allan's because I had frequently represented Jolley in both forums.[10]

Although not old in years the AACOBS was a curiously mannered organisation. Its chairman[11] was an establishment politician, Senator Alistair McMullin, chairman of the Senate. The national librarian, Sir Harold White, was the 'elected' but in fact permanent chairman of the AACOBS Standing Committee. Seated to the left of the chair at Council meetings were, in chronological order of their library's establishment, the lay chairmen of the various State Libraries and their librarians. To the right of the chair, again in chronological order of their institutions' establishment, were the university librarians, (except that the University of Melbourne was always represented by the chairman of its Library Committee)[12]. Allan and I were especially amused by one council chairman[13] who obviously never read his agenda papers but invariably spoke at great length on topics about which he knew very little.

Fairly quickly I found myself on the AACOBS Standing Committee where Allan was already a member. We were both fascinated by the rivalry between Gordon Richardson, librarian at the Public Library of New South Wales which he regarded as the 'de facto' national library and Harold White who had the title of national librarian and control of the upstart new institution of that name. Another influential member was the highly respected but idiosyncratic and very English 'Ali' Sharr[14].

CAUL, on the other hand, was an annual event coinciding with AACOBS meetings where all the university librarians exchanged views in a club-like atmosphere. In the sixties communication between our widely separated institutions was nothing like as easy and frequent as modern technology allows and this was the only opportunity those of us outside the Sydney/Canberra/Melbourne Golden Triangle had to discuss issues with our peers.[15]

Gradually the elder statesmen passed on and Allan and I found ourselves with more responsibility at AACOBS and its Standing Committee. Allan was always willing to share in and contribute to proposals and projects which enhanced the strength of libraries nationally. He was an early supporter of the unsuccessful Bibdata national cataloguing proposal and enthusiastically embraced its successor, ABN. He strongly believed that the Commonwealth Government should accept a funding responsibility in ensuring that Australians had access to library services of the highest quality. This led him to accept the chairmanship of the Committee of Inquiry into Public Libraries in 1976 at a time when the tide of central government spending on visionary projects was receding. In another expression of his enthusiasm for the development of the nation's bibliographical resources he was for many years the chair of the AACOBS Working Party on Information Resources.

At meetings of AACOBS Standing Committee he always had views which he had difficulty in restraining. I can remember other members anticipating with some relish the clash of powerful personalities which would occur when a second Horton joined Standing Committee where it was my task as chair to preserve order.

The most controversial position which Allan took in AACOBS was his proposal for charges for interlibrary loans (ILLs). In a time of relative economic stringency and with responsibility for a university library which lent many more ILLs than it borrowed he was concerned at the cost of providing this service, especially as the load on UNSW appeared be partly due to the inefficiency or reluctance of some other libraries in meeting such requests. As I remember I was his only supporter on this issue at AACOBS but only Allan was willing to adopt such a policy unilaterally.

Allan had left CAUL by the time it became more than a vehicle for the exchange of views. However he made a major contribution to international university librarianship by assuming responsibility, from the end of 1981, for Australian aid programs to Southeast Asian university libraries as International Development Program (IDP) library consultant. He enlisted the help of many of his university librarian colleagues while himself accepting special responsibility for Indonesian universities.

In his enthusiasm for library development at a national level Allan Horton was a true and worthy disciple of his mentor, John Metcalfe. Like John he had a nationwide view of libraries and was never content to restrict his professional activities narrowly to the library for which he had immediate responsibility. Both were library evangelists.

Allan Horton deserves our gratitude and respect for his major contribution to the efficiency of the national network of libraries in Australia and to the strength of the nation's library resources.

Allan Horton - professional activity in South East Asia

Bill Linklater

In the latter part of his career and to some extent in the first two years after his retirement from the University of New South Wales, Allan had a major involvement in the development of libraries and librarianship in the international context, particularly in South East Asia. This activity, from the early 1980s to mid-1989 can be seen as just part of Allan's extra-curricular professional life, a passion that occupied much of his time and energy and from which the profession and society in general gained much benefit.

Nearly all of Allan's international library work was undertaken in his role as the International Development Program of Australian Universities and Colleges (IDP) senior library consultant. IDP was, when Allan first became involved with it, a body that was formed by the AVCC (Australian Vice-Chancellor's Committee) whose primary purpose was to manage the efficient and effective expenditure of Commonwealth financial grants (aid) through the Australian Development Assistance Bureau (ADAB) for Australian post-graduate fellowships, and academic assistance and mentoring to targeted universities and consortia in South East Asia. Initially working in Indonesia, its role extended in the early 1980s to Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Burma. Australian universities, through the AVCC, provided academic and professional staff on a gratis basis to IDP for short and medium term secondments to assist in academic development in selected SE Asian universities.

Allan took charge of IDP's Library Assistance program as its library consultant in 1981, replacing Dietrich Borchardt who was the foundation library consultant and who was responsible for all IDP assistance to Indonesia at that time. He took over this role at a time when IDP, funded by and in conjunction with ADAB, was significantly expanding its academic assistance to the other SE Asian countries. Allan, together with IDP's various discipline consultants, devised detailed assistance programs to the various universities and consortia in ADAB targeted countries. All programs were jointly developed by IDP/ADAB, the particular consultant, the SE Asian Universities involved and the responsible Ministry in the particular country. The aim of all library programs was primarily to support the academic programs that IDP was providing, then to enrich collections, to assist in staff development, and to provide professional advice where appropriate. IDP's annual budgets were normally determined by ADAB and IDP on a triennial basis by country/university/consortia and then by discipline and library support.

Allan quickly realised that he, despite his energy and enthusiasm, did not have sufficient time to fully develop these assistance programs and he devised a relatively simple strategy to recruit suitable librarians to assist in this work. Through his extensive personal network within librarianship he selected and invited various Australian librarians working within universities and colleges of advanced education to undertake specific assistance programs in nominated Indonesian and Thai universities. A typical project was for a fledgling consultant to provide an Indonesian university library with full planning details for implementing effective audiovisual services. A budget was available for the implementation of these projects and the task was an agreed aid priority for the particular university. The detail provided in these reports on the professional development required of local staff, the required technology, the physical facilities, the collections and the necessary fit within the cultural context allowed Allan and IDP to make decisions on the librarians they would invite to be responsible for a particular country's library development programs. These librarians in turn, selected and invited other librarians to assist them in their new programs. There are, consequently, many academic librarians who have been involved in IDP library programs from the early 1980s through to the mid 1990s.

There is a variety of aspects of this international assistance that enriched the practice of librarianship in the SE Asian region, but there are at least two major enduring benefits from the programs that Allan instigated. One was the development of a group of Australian librarians who, through mentored experience in the complicated world of consultancies, became equipped and qualified to seek and apply those skills in local and international opportunities, either as individuals or through their home institutions. The second benefit is one loosely termed 'international relations and goodwill' with library professionals in the region. Staff development was a large component of the IDP programs and many librarians from the region visited, studied, trained and worked in Australian University libraries. Many of these relationships have endured and are still strong.

It is most unfortunate that AIDAB (Australian International Development Assistance Bureau) which was a name change for ADAB in 1987, discontinued this valuable form of tied assistance through IDP in the early 1990s and all programs for educational assistance in the region are now put out to open tender with IDP being just one of the many applicants for the management of the project. There is no longer any altruism involved with the universities effectively donating staff time: all projects are based on commercial funding parameters and are highly competitive. The irony is that the major competitors to IDP now are the commercial arms of the individual Australian universities and academic and library assistance are no longer gratis. Allan had, fortunately, retired from both UNSW and his involvement with IDP prior to these developments but he had become well known and respected by staff in the various South East Asian universities and the responsible government ministers in each of the recipient countries.

Allan Roy Horton: his contribution to archival development in New South Wales

Peter Orlovich

From as early as 1887, colonial and state governments in New South Wales had sought to make proper provision for the preservation of their archives, but, in the absence of any statutory provision by Parliament, it was not until the Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales took the initiative and, from 1910, gradually assumed responsibility for the care and management of the State archives which had been accumulating in government offices since the foundation of the British settlement in 1788, that it can be truly said that they were in responsible and proper custody. When there was no statutory authority in New South Wales formally delegated with responsibility for controlling and regulating the disposition, reception, accommodation and use of the records and archives of the State government, the Public Library of New South Wales, and in particular the Mitchell Library, was already providing a de facto archives service to the government and the citizens of New South Wales. A great debt is owed by historians and other scholars to the Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales for their foresight in recognising the necessity of taking appropriate steps to ensure that the archival heritage of the State was properly protected and accessible to scholars fifty years before the Archives Authority of New South Wales was vested with the statutory responsibility for that role.

Allan Horton's appointment as archives officer with the creation of a separate Archives Department of the Public Library of NSW in 1953 was a watershed in the evolution of archival services in New South Wales.[16] The significance of his appointment in the context of the history of archival development cannot be exaggerated, because it represented a crucial stage in the evolution of our modern archival system. His appointment marked the culmination of a long campaign to urge upon the Colonial and State governments the necessity of making proper provision for the keeping and use of their archives. For the first time in New South Wales, although not in Australia,[17] a statutory authority - the Public Library of New South Wales - assumed formal responsibility for the care, control, management and use of the State archives.

At a time when no formal training programme for archivists existed, Allan Horton acquired the necessary knowledge of principles and techniques for managing archives by self-study and attendance at specialised seminars, such as those conducted on records management by Fulbright lecturer Dr Theodore R Schellenberg, director of archival management in the United States National Archives, at the Public Library of NSW from the 15th to the 24th June, 1954, and attended by library officers and representatives of State and Commonwealth departments and other interested organisations[18], and, shortly afterwards, on archives management, the first meeting of practising archivists in Australia, held at the Temporary Annexe of the Commonwealth National Library in Canberra from the 12th to the 23rd July, 1954, which Allan Horton attended as representative of the Public Library of New South Wales.[19]

When, in its issue of the 2nd August, 1958, the Sydney Morning Herald published an editorial, 'Preserving State Records', responding to the NSW Government's announcement of its intention to introduce a State Archives Bill, it hesitated to welcome the move 'unreservedly', because the Government had decided to perpetuate the arrangement of 'handing over all its State records to the Public Library and making the public librarian state archivist.'[20] While the arrangement may have seemed a natural development, the Herald questioned whether it was really wise, because 'in all civilised States in Europe and America, it is now recognised that it is better to keep archives separate from libraries.' Moreover, it pointed out that the care and collection of records needed special skills which librarians could not be expected to have; and a Federal committee appointed to examine the National Library under the chairmanship of the vice-chancellor of Melbourne University (Professor Paton) had just recommended the complete separation of Federal archives from the National Library. It seemed a pity, the editorial concluded, that New South Wales alone should be swimming determinedly against the stream of expert opinion on this matter.[21]

The Herald editorial mirrored the views which had been expressed by another leading advocate for archival reform in Australia, Dr David MacMillan, Archivist of the University of Sydney, and a founder of the Business Archives Council of Australia (NSW Branch) in the American Archivist in January 1957,[22] notably that 'the failure of the government of New South Wales in the 1890s to establish a repository has resulted in the starvation of the archives as a branch of the Public Library', and that, in addition, 'the existence of the Mitchell Library with its archival material has led to another complication', and concluding that 'as far as the state records are concerned, the picture, at the moment, is not promising. Storage facilities, staff, independence of action, and finance are all sadly lacking.'[23]

In a response to MacMillan, Allan Horton pointed out in a paper published in the American Archivist in January 1959 that the State Library had been the de facto archives of the State for the last 50 years, and that, although not a firm foundation on which to build a State Archives, the right of the principal librarian, acquired since 1910, to inspect 'old documents' of all departments before their destruction, the energy of successive Principal and Mitchell librarians, and the reputation of the Mitchell Library itself as a repository of historical material for Australia and the Pacific area resulted in many, perhaps most, of the State's inactive records coming into its custody.[24]

While conceding that the State did not have an Archives Department in the modern sense, and that the archival position in New South Wales was by no means ideal - there was no archival legislation, there was not enough satisfactory repository space, and there was a general lack of understanding by departmental officers of the benefits that good archives management could bring to government - Allan Horton believed that an unbiased observer, in judging the archival position of New South Wales at the time, was bound to take into consideration the 'indisputable fact' that if the State Library had not interested itself in record preservation there would have been fewer records preserved and those records that were kept by departments would have been stored in out-of-the-way places, without supervision, without care, and without hope that any competent authority would interest itself in their future.[25]

Following the formation of the Archives Section of the Library Association of Australia (LAA) in July, 1950, and its formal constitution in 1951[26], this being the first occasion in Australia when practising archivists sought to organise themselves as a representative professional body, Allan Horton became an active member and office bearer, regularly attending conferences and contributing to the gathering pace of archival progress in New South Wales. From 1955 to 1961, he was an examiner, initially with Ian Maclean, and from 1958 with Robert Sharman, for the LAA Registration Paper 'Archives: with Special Reference to Australia'. Following the introduction of the Registration Certificate in Archives in 1962,[27] he was examiner in Paper 16 'Records Management and Physical Preservation of Archives'.

When Archives and Manuscripts, the Journal of the Archives Section of the Library Association of Australia, was first published in November 1955 in duplicated typescript format (in which it continued when the editorship passed to HJ (Jim) Gibbney in June, 1956)[28], Allan Horton was a joint editor with Phyllis Mander-Jones, Mitchell Librarian from 1947 to 1958.

In the November, 1956 issue of Historical Studies. Australia and New Zealand, Allan Horton contributed 'A Further Note on the Problem of Local Records',[29] as a rejoinder to the earlier paper in the same journal by Keith Penny of the Archives Section of the Commonwealth National Library on 'The Problem of Local Records'.[30] In his 'Further Note', he foreshadowed the establishment of 'semi-current' or 'intermediate' records repositories in major regional centres within New South Wales, for the reception, accommodation and consultation of State archives, as well as the archives of local government authorities, practically identical to the 'regional repositories' of the present State Records Authority of NSW.

His accumulated experience as archives officer with the Public Library of New South Wales since 1953 was embodied in an informative technical paper entitled 'Techniques of an Archive Survey', in which he outlined the procedure for undertaking an archive survey as a means of obtaining the information required to design an archival programme. This paper was published in Archives and Manuscripts in August 1960,[31] shortly after his appointment as associate librarian at the University of New South Wales on the 21st April. 1960. He continued to share his broad knowledge of the management of archives and records with students enrolled in the elective archives subjects following the inauguration of the School of Librarianship at the University of New South Wales in 1960.

As general secretary of the Library Association of Australia in the mid-1970s, he took an early and enthusiastic interest in making proper provision for the preservation of the archives of the Association, then located at the Association's headquarters at Surry Hills, including the archives of the Association's predecessor, the Australian Institute of Librarians, established in 1937, arranging for the inactive records of the Association to be transferred to the School of Librarianship, and subsequently the University Library at the University of New South Wales, where preliminary steps were taken for their arrangement and description by students enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Archives Administration inaugurated in 1973.

In accordance with his firm conviction that the University Library should respond to the needs of the whole of its constituency, including those whose research depended upon the preservation and availability of original archives, in 1980, Allan as university librarian provided accommodation within the University Library, including financial support, for the 'Community Research Archives', comprising the 'Ethnic Affairs Archives', a project conceived by Dr Peter Shergold, then with the School of Economic History, and the 'Industrial Relations and Labour History Archives', which was established on the initiative of Dr Chris Fisher of the School of Industrial Relations, in collaboration with Mr Barry Howarth of the Industrial Relations Research Centre.[32]

Between 1991 and 1996, Allan was a member of a small Archives Committee, established by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), appointed to develop a plan for the permanent deposit, in a suitable repository, of the Association's archives, which had been in the custody of the University of NSW Library since the mid-1970s. This Committee recommended, and the ALIA Council endorsed the decision, that they should be deposited with the National Library of Australia.

Allan Horton was appointed to the Archives Authority of New South Wales, as the nominee of the Minister for Education to represent the University of New South Wales, pursuant to section 4(1)(d) of the Archives Act No. 46, 1960, effective from the 1 June, 1967, as a successor to John Metcalfe, BA, FLA, FLAA, a foundation member of the Authority who served from the 1st June, 1961 until the 31 May, 1967[33]. This was an appointment which he held until his retirement from the Authority upon the expiry of his term of office on the 31 May, 1987.[34] From 1978, he was also a member of the Authority's Publications Committee, which was responsible for planning and overseeing its publications programme. Altogether, he served as a member of the Archives Authority for a total of twenty-one years, during which he maintained an alert interest in the broader field of archives in Australia, as exemplified by the several occasions on which he felt personally impelled to bring to the attention of the public, the inadequacy of provision made by both State and Commonwealth Governments for the proper preservation and accessibility of their archives.[35]

One of his most important contributions to archival development, however, came at a crucial stage in his early career as archives officer with the Public Library of New South Wales, when he was seconded to the New South Wales Public Service Board for further training and experience for a period of twelve months from the 8 June, 1959.[36] Soon after this secondment, Allan was selected for an important task which was to have significant ramifications for the future development of the University of New South Wales Archives. On the 20 October, 1959, John Metcalfe, university librarian, wrote to the university bursar[37], suggesting that the Public Service Board be asked to second Allan Horton for a period of one month in the first instance for a survey and report on a records disposal and archival program for the University.[38] The vice-chancellor, Professor JP Baxter, wrote, in turn, on the 1 December, 1959, to the chancellor, Wallace C Wurth, who was then chairman of the NSW Public Service Board, pointing out that the University, being then ten years old, had quite an accumulation of documents relating to its early years, and that the day was approaching when the bulk of accumulated documents would involve some sorting and the disposal of those which were not necessary. He was, on the other hand, most anxious that the University did not destroy documents of historical value.[39] Wallace Wurth responded on the 11 December, 1959, advising that he had arranged for Allan Horton to visit the University on the 9 December, 1959, to interview several officers of the University and undertake a brief inspection, and that he had arranged for him to commence the survey at the University on the 7 March, 1960.

An incisive and comprehensive report was drafted by Allan Horton embodying the results of his survey, including some sample disposal schedules for the management of the disposition of the University's accumulated records. His report also included a consideration of issues concerning the preservation of the archives of schools, the office of chancellor, the need for an intermediate records repository, the archives of student bodies, the archives of government departments relating to the establishment of the University, the value of an oral history programme, and the appointment of an archivist and establishment of an Archives Department.

After the historian Dr Isadore Brodsky retired as a custodian of the University's historical documents, responsibility for archives in the University was transferred to the University Library on the 30 June, 1969, and in 1977, Allan Horton was requested by Professor AH Willis, pro-vice-chancellor, to make another report on the University's archives. In this report, dated 30 September, 1977, Allan recommended that:

1. a properly constituted archives office be established, with responsibility for official archives, historical records related to the University and for an archives management programme;
2. an Archives Committee be established by Council; and
3. a position of Archivist be established within the University Library.

When the University of New South Wales established a University Archives and appointed its first university archivist, Laurie Dillon, in 1979-1980, a University Archives Advisory Committee was appointed to advise the vice-chancellor on matters relating to the management of the University's archives, and Allan Horton was an early and valued member of that Committee until his retirement in 1988.

Endnotes

1. Russell Doust. Unpublished communication December 2004
2. Horton, Allan. Address on receiving Hon D Litt (UNSW), May 1992 [Unpublished].
3. Edward Flowers 'Dr Allan Horton FLAA 1928-2003' inCite. Jan-Feb 2004 p8
4. Australian Library Journal. February 1971 p16
5. Marina Garlick, private communication.
6. 'Appointment of non-librarians: statement by the general secretary.' Australian Library Journal. August 1971 pp24-25.
7. A Horton Australian Library Journal. May 1974 Editorial, pp129-130
8. Metcalfe is alleged, with his public service background, to have remarked that 'An academic will only walk half as far to the Library as he will to his morning tea.' In my experience this was in many cases true.
9. A local house union at each university, there were no formal academic unions then.
10. Jolley seldom travelled to the 'Eastern States', partly because he didn't find his peers especially congenial but also because of his painful and often crippling arthritis.
11. I use the term 'chairman' since that was the term universally recognised at the time. As I recall the only non-male present was Betty Doubleday representing CSIRO.
12. For the curious approach of the University of Melbourne to its university librarian see Lodewycks, K A The Funding of Wisdom. Melbourne: Spectrum Publications: 1982.
13. Revd Sir Irving Benson, chairman, Library Council of Victoria, known to us Young Turks as 'Swerving Benson'.
14. Ali always thought and sounded like the English army officer which he had been. He is alleged to have told a startled meeting of librarians 'What we need is cavalry officers not infantrymen!' Ali and Jolley had been contemporaries at the University of London Institute (ie School) of Librarianship. They developed a mutual dislike which later severely affected interlibrary co-operation in Western Australia.
15. In those early years Victoria and New South Wales were the only states with more than one university.
16. Allan Horton, 'Archival Backgrounds in New South Wales' American Archivist 22 January 1959 p46
17. In her paper entitled 'Development of Archival Work in Australia' presented to the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in Perth in 1926, Miss Bessie Threadgold noted that 'In South Australia a State archives was established in 1920 as a separate department of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery, with a special grant.' Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Transactions, Perth, 1926, volume 18, p439
18. 83rd Annual Report of the Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales covering the year ended 30th June, 1954, p5
19. 84th Annual Report of the Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales covering the year ended 30th June, 1954, p6
20. Editorial 'Preserving State Records' Sydney Morning Herald 2 August, 1957, p2a-b
21. Editorial 'Preserving State Records' Sydney Morning Herald Friday 2 August, 1957, p2a-b
22. David S MacMillan, 'Archives in New South Wales - the Situation in 1956' American Archivist 20, January 1957, pp49-55. Similar views were expressed in David MacMillan's paper 'Archival Reform in Australia', Society of Archivists Journal, vol 1, 1958, pp210-213
23. David S MacMillan 'Archives in New South Wales - the situation in 1956, American Archivist 20, January 1957, p 52
24. Allan Horton, 'Archival backgrounds in New South Wales' American Archivist 22, January 1959, p42
25. Allan Horton 'Archival Backgrounds in New South Wales' American Archivist 22, January 1959, pp39-48
26. Editorial by Allan Horton and Phyllis Mander-Jones, Archives and Manuscripts: the Journal of the Archives Section of the Library Association of Australia 1 [1] November 1955, p1
27. Archives and Manuscripts: the Journal of the Archives Section of the Library Association of Australia 2 [3] July 1962 p12
28. Editorial by RC (Bob) Sharman, Archives and Manuscripts 2 [1] June 1963, p1
29. Allan Horton 'Archives Department, Public Library of NSW' Historical Studies Australia and New Zealand [7] 27 November 1956, pp334-335
30. Keith Penny, 'The Problem of Local Records' Historical Studies. Australia and New Zealand [7] 26, May, 1956, pp215-219
31. Allan Horton associate librarian University of NSW 'Techniques of an Archive Survey', Archives and Manuscripts: the Journal of the Archives Section of The Library Association of Australia 1 [7] August, 1960, pp8-14
32. See 'Migrant records to be saved', Uniken, No. 18, 30 October, 1981
33. Report of the Archives Authority of New South Wales for 1967, [covering the year ending 31st December, 1967] p8
34. Archives Authority of New South Wales Annual Report, 186/1987, p8
35. Allan Horton, librarian, University of NSW, 'Records in danger' (Letter to editor) Sydney Morning Herald, 2 October, 1969. 'Archives' (Letter to editor) Australian, Monday 28 February, 1972, p6; News report Sydney Morning Herald, 15 June, 1978. 'Archivist's interest in Special Branch files' (Letter to editor), Sydney Morning Herald, 19 June, 1978.
36. 88th Annual Report of the Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales for the year to 30 June, 1959, dated 24 August 1959 p 18
37. Mr JOA Bourke, university bursar
38. John Metcalfe, university librarian, to JOA Bourke, bursar, 20 October, 1959, with File 59/U89/77054 (University Archives)
39. JP Baxter, vice-chancellor, to Wallace C Wurth, chancellor, University of NSW, 1 December, 1959, with File 59/089/17054 (University Archives)