Librarians abroad: Australian librarianship in the world.

Pin striped, be-suited, imposing, Warren Horton strode across the Australian library stage in a career lasting 42 years. He significantly influenced the development of libraries and librarianship in his country through many contributions to the sector from his professional positions and his roles in many professional bodies. During the last decade of his career he became well known internationally through his work with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the Committee of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL), reinforcing international respect for Australian librarianship.

This paper traces some of the international activities of Australian librarians and library organisations but, although it touches on the activities of several colleagues past and present, many could not be mentioned due to lack of space. It is intended, rather, to explore some aspects of Australian librarianship in the international context and discusses some of the contemporary opportunities and challenges. The discussion seeks to place Australian library and information practice in the international context, to demonstrate its international reputation and to identify some issues for consideration.

Constrained Beginnings

In a paper given at the 1996 Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) conference which was held in Melbourne to commemorate the centenary of the establishment of the first library professional association in this part of the world, the Library Association of Australasia, Warren Horton noted that the year of its establishment could be considered 'the first sensible date' to commemorate for the foundation of the profession in Australia. (1) The papers given at that conference and the standing of the librarians who participated demonstrated that the profession was already well established by that time. However, services at that time were limited in number and in their resources. They had developed in emulation of those in the mother country, as Britain was generally then considered, with imposing reference libraries with impressive reading rooms established in the major antipodean cities of the time. These 'Public Libraries' were, and continue to be, truly impressive in architecture and collections, especially of course in their unique collections of Australiana which were based on the substantial achievements of private collectors.

Their establishment was an expression of an urge to demonstrate the substance of these outposts of Europe and was accompanied by the creation of universities and other civic institutions, as Warren Horton illustrated by noting the foundation of the Public Library of Victoria and the University of Melbourne on the same day in 1854. It was also an attempt to create Herzen's 'open table of ideas to which each is invited, at which each will find the food he seeks' (2), although the Australasian colonies were slow to take the next step by establishing lending libraries for the public. This is curious, suggesting that the construction of these great institutions was more an expression of civic pride than an example of the desire for social innovation and new democratic forms which was being manifested in other countries and was at that time evident in other aspects of life in the Australasian colonies. (3) As White noted:

 
   Though far removed from the centres of world population, 
   Australia has always excited interests by her bold experiments 
   in political and social organisation ... It is not surprising, 
   therefore, that social scientists, as well as librarians and 
   educators, should be puzzled by the almost complete absence in 
   Australia of free public lending libraries as they are known in 
   Europe and especially in other parts of the English-speaking 
   world ... no one has satisfactorily explained why this democratic 
   country, which values so highly the education of its children, 
   should have failed to provide its adult citizens with the means 
   of continuing theirs ... (4) 

The desire of citizens for access to literature and learning was largely satisfied through the establishment of subscription libraries. Other library developments were similarly limited. University libraries were established to support tuition in the colonial universities but were poorly provisioned, as was demonstrated in 1935 by the Carnegie funded Munn-Pitt investigation. (5)

Professional Stirring

Despite these limitations, the library profession began to grow in Australia and began to assert itself, looking to overseas developments and travelling to conferences to report on local developments. Some such as John Metcalfe became very well known and influential internationally, but others were only occasional visitors to major centres of professional discourse.

Dealing with limited budgets, generally modest infrastructure and the real tyrannies of distance within Australia and to centres overseas, early practitioners faced major challenges. The limitations and frustrations under which they worked led to with the Munn-Pitt survey which was carried out nearly 150 years after the foundation of the first European outpost in Australasia. It had been instigated through sustained lobbying by librarians such as W H Ifould who declaimed that 'Australia requires a better library service' during the 1928 conference at which the constitution for the Australian Library Association was drafted. (6) Ifould's argument hinged on the economic value of libraries, particularly in relation to the development of secondary industries, but he and his colleagues based their conceptions of librarianship on strong values which were expressed in their writings and pronouncements.

The Munn-Pitt survey and the publication of its report provided the turning point for Australian librarianship in that it demonstrated the need for library development and…