The Australian Library Journal

Award citiations

Dr Marianne Broadbent

BA DipEd DipTLib MA PhD AMusA FAICD FALIA

Fellowship of the Australian Library and Information Association

The ALIA Fellowship is a peer-nominated award recognising the attainment of an exceptionally high standard of proficiency in library and information science and a distinguished contribution to the theory or practice of library and information science.

Conferred: 2004

Dr Marianne Broadbent's professional life is hallmarked by enterprise and initiative. Her career is the ultimate example of how far it is possible to travel with the skills and attributes which are the foundations of our profession. She has worked in the public and private sectors with equal success. She is as comfortable in gatherings of chief information officers from Boston to Basle as she is with us at our conferences. She is a prolific researcher and publisher, and one of the leading international protagonists regarding the role and potential of information as an essential element in the successful organisation.

She is an original thinker and is equally at home in both the academic context and the rather more unforgiving environment in which business information technology decisions, often involving millions of dollars, are made. Her doctoral thesis was forged in this crucible and was the catalyst which projected her from education for librarianship into the critical arena in which business and information management decisions are fused. Her personality is characteristically Australian: intellectually robust, independent in speech and thought, and with an openness and directness which European, American and Asian cultures find refreshing and stimulating.

Within our own Association she has contributed widely as an educator, author, researcher and office-holder. She is once more a member of the Australian Library Journal's Editorial Board, a position which she first held in 1981. She served on the Library Association of Australia's Board of Education at a critical time in the evolution of syllabi in the schools of librarianship, and her down-to-earth approach to seemingly intractable questions of balancing the Association's ambitious prescriptions for course content and teaching with the sometimes more detached views obtaining in the academy was invaluable.

She is a regular speaker at ALIA gatherings and through her conference presentations, her publications and independent consultancies has made a unique contribution to the literature and the theoretical and practical bases of the profession, particularly in the newly-emergent discipline of information management. She has also assisted with the organisation of conferences in our own and related fields, and has been a council member with such institutions as the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Museums. She is that welcome creature, a citizen-librarian.

She is a prolific writer: at last estimate, her bibliography contained well over five hundred items, many of them contributions to refereed journals. She writes at a level which is accessible to intelligent readers who range from members of our profession to very senior executives in information management in the private sector. She has worked with thousands of such executives and is very conversant with the challenges they face in a volatile and evolving environment.

A recent crystallisation of her thinking can be found in her The new CIO leader: setting the agenda and delivering results published by the Harvard Business School Press and co-authored by Ellen Kitzis. This immensely readable book has already sold its first impression: its distillation of dense theoretical concepts into a discourse which is highly accessible and of great practical value ensures that it will remain a foundation text for some time to come. This is not her first best seller: Marianne is also is co-author of Leveraging the new infrastructure: how market leaders capitalise on information technology also published by Harvard Business School. As a conference presenter she has won two international 'Best Paper' awards.

Her career in librarianship was distinctive enough: but it is what Marianne has built on those foundations which bears on the matter in hand. She has made, effortlessly, the leap from the world of the institution to the context of the corporation, and has thrived there. From the field of education for librarianship at RMIT she moved in the early '90s into the Melbourne Business School, which in the curiously hybrid mode which characterises the contemporary university lay half way between institution and corporation but inclining more, perhaps, to the latter. She was associate professor in Management of Information Systems there and visiting researcher at Boston University.

The Melbourne Business School was structured to operate as a business and Dr Broadbent's programs and initiatives were major income generators; the only 'government' money involved was by way of competitive government-industry grants. Her achievements there put that institution on the world map in the IT management area, with ground-breaking research, innovative executive education and Masters programs, and financially and intellectually rewarding arrangements with industry funders.

In 1998 she was recruited by the Gartner group where she worked in a number of roles and from 2000 was group vice-president leading the global research, development and knowledge assets team for their 2000-member chief information officer service worldwide and contributing US$80m to that company's then overall revenues of US$850m. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, it is the world's largest advisor on the business uses of information technology, with an international client base of more than 10 000 organisations. Her contribution was recognised when she became a Gartner Fellow in 2003.

Following six years in regional and global roles she accepted the position of Associate Dean at Melbourne Business School from January 2004. Concurrently she was appointed to the chair of Management (Information Systems).

On 7 February 2005, she will be rejoining Gartner, this time as senior vice-president - Global Research Business Strategy. By way of background, this position places her amongst the top fifteen executives in a US-headquartered global US$860m per annum advisory and professional services firm that trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Her responsibilities are to co-lead major developments in Gartner's $450m 'Core Research' business. This business employs about 700 industry analysts and researchers (and its performance is critical to Gartner's share price).

To conclude: inside and outside her profession, Dr Marianne Broadbent is a most worthy candidate for the award of Fellow of the Australian Library and Information Association: her career and the objectives of the Association have followed close and congruent paths. She is a competent librarian in the widest and most contemporary application of that term, and a fully autonomous and respected member of the international business information technology community.

She has earned great distinction for herself and the profession in which her original and ground-breaking career had its origins. Our discipline has given her much, and she has made returns to it in generous measure. In terms of every one of the criteria which the Association has laid down for the assessment of candidates for the award of the Fellowship, she has made an outstanding contribution.

John Leonard Dwight

BCom (Melb)

Redmond Barry Award

The Redmond Barry Award is peer-nominated and honours an outstanding contribution to the library and information services sector by an individual who is not eligible for associate membership

Conferred: 2004

John Dwight, executive chair of DA, has been a leader in enhancing the library and information services sector in Australia, and promoting the Australian library sector in the international arena for the past twenty years.

John joined DA in 1985. Through his work and activities with DA, John has done much to ensure that the Australian library profession operates at the forefront of international developments. He has encouraged the adoption of technological advances, promoted new products, and negotiated attractive consortia arrangements for the benefit of Australian libraries. DA has shown creative support for the Australian library and information industry beyond the norm generally associated with commercial suppliers. Through DA, John has worked with major library and information organisations, such as the Council of Australian University Libraries and the Group of Eight libraries, and the company is a long-standing supporter of the sector, and ALIA, through participation in conferences and trade exhibitions. The company has an outstanding reputation for excellence with the Australian library community.

John has an excellent understanding of the needs of Australian libraries and has provided these insights to the publishers and organisations DA represents. He actively seeks advice from his customers, facilitates contact between publishers and librarians, and willingly shares his experience and expertise. His knowledge, gained from many individuals within the practising profession was well as the publishing and information profession, has been passed on to all to ensure best practice. The financial and intellectual support given by John and DA has encouraged discussion and collaboration between libraries both within Australia and overseas.

With a passion for providing a complete service to the library industry, John has led the transformation of DA into a full service provider for its Australian and New Zealand customers. He has built a very strong team at DA - they take time to listen to the views of customers, and like John, their conduct is professional.

John's enlightened management philosophies and his leadership qualities are much admired. He has embraced the Young Presidents' Organisation's slogan 'Better leaders through education and ideas exchange', and encourages his staff to fully participate in the profession through the exchange of ideas and sharing of their experience.

John Dwight has been personally involved in working with significant library organisations to develop their reach into and relationships with international bodies such as OCLC and the British Library. He was instrumental in liaising with senior management of OCLC to set up the OCLC Australia Advisory Committee. Together with the committee, he worked to ensure that not only were leading members of OCLC able to attend meetings, but that the committee was able to provide policy input which benefited the entire library community.

Through his support of the library and information profession, at an individual and a collective level, John Dwight has shown himself to be a most worthy candidate for the Redmond Barry award. It is the combination of a willingness to invest, without obvious financial return, in the development of the Australian library and information sector and the professional interaction with members of ALIA that has allowed DA to become an integral part, beyond the commercial settings, of Australia's library and information sector.

John is a very genuine and caring friend to many in the library profession. He has supported the activities of ALIA for many years and encouraged others to do so as well. His work has been exemplary and his wide knowledge and extensive experience have sharpened both bibliographical practices and efficient operations within libraries.

The Redmond Barry Award is the Association's highest honour that can be bestowed on an individual not eligible for associate membership. It is awarded in recognition of outstanding service to or promotion of library and information services, or the practice of library and information science. John Dwight's outstanding contribution to the library and information services sector makes him a most worthy recipient of the ALIA Redmond Barry Award.