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Preserving and providing access to local archives is one of the roles performed by public libraries in New South Wales. This role is not mandated, nor is it a stated priority for public libraries. Local government records are regulated by legislation, but what of the other records documenting the lives of rural and city communities? In many cases the library’s local studies collection becomes the default home of the archives of local community organisations and of individuals whose personal papers are acquired by libraries. In some cases, the library shares the role of maintaining local archives with historical societies, museums and universities. The result is a functioning example of distributed custody, where public libraries and other local institutions take responsibility for local archives. This paper is a case study that draws on two major surveys of local studies collections undertaken by the State Library of NSW, the first in 1984 and the second in 2013–2014. It concludes that public libraries have been critical for over 50 years in ensuring that local archives have been acquired and managed, despite there being no explicit regulatory or policy frameworks for doing so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the pop-up concept, a world-wide trend which has been employed in various commercial and community settings, with a particular interest in how it has been applied to literary environments, using both physical and digital resources. The report examines six Australian public libraries, investigating why and how they established a pop-up library, and reflecting on their successes, challenges and what they have learnt from the process. The paper provides a definition of pop-up libraries and outlines how to create a pop-up library for a public library service, exploring the risks, benefits and issues to consider when planning for a successful pop-up library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kay Poustie OAM Travel Scholarship is an initiative of the State Library of Western Australia Foundation. It provides Western Australian librarians with the opportunity to travel, visiting international library services and learning from their experiences. In 2012, the author was the inaugural winner of the scholarship, travelling to Europe to visit 10 renowned and innovative library services: Amsterdam Public Library, the DOK Library Concept Centre in Delft, Copenhagen Main Library, Copenhagen University and Royal Library, Malmö Library, The London Borough of Tower Hamlets' Idea Stores, The British Library, Cardiff Central Library, Manchester Central Library and Liverpool Central Library. The activities, buildings and programmes of these libraries were examined and several common features were identified as contributing to the success of these libraries. This paper discusses the features which these libraries thought were important to the success of their library services, and describes programmes, events and services which these libraries have implemented. This paper identifies goals for public libraries wishing to emulate the success of these international libraries in the areas of the library building, opening hours, events programmes and customer engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Victorian Free Library Service Board Act of 1946 was the culmination of a long campaign to replace the mechanics' institute model of library provision with free libraries funded by state and local government. Given that library reform required legislation by the state government, this paper is mainly concerned with the political campaign that led to the enactment of that legislation. The key players in the free library reform movement are identified as are the sorts of reforms they advocated. The paper also discusses impediments to reform, particularly the response of the Victorian government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent international library historiography has demonstrated the need to move away from isolated narrative accounts of individual philanthropic acts, and instead evaluate how public library development fitted into a normative social culture of philanthropy. This paper employs this paradigm to contextualise the philanthropy of William Walker to the Tasmanian Public Library (now the State Library of Tasmania) in the early twentieth century. It explores Walker's donation of Australiana in the context of Tasmanian social philanthropy and influential examples of library benefaction. Walker's ideological and moral motivations, arising from received notions of `duty' and idealist philosophy, are also considered. The paper describes ways in which the Tasmanian Public Library used Walker's donation to encourage further acts of philanthropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on recent experience and observation in New South Wales, this paper describes issues facing authorities, planners and librarians who are working on public library building projects. The author emphasises the need for all involved to focus not just on traditional good design principles, but also on user needs, consulting the community, assessing space and siting requirements and costs. This paper is based on part of a presentation by the author and Kathleen Bresnahan, assistant state librarian, Public Library Services, State Library of New South Wales, to the International Federation of Library Associations Metropolitan Libraries Section Conference, Library as a fusion space — possibilities and opportunities Singapore, 26 September-1 October 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three men were the driving force behind the passing of the New South Wales Library Act by the New South Wales Parliament in the early hours of 3 November 1939: John Metcalfe, Geoffrey Cochrane Remington and William Herbert Ifould. This paper explores the ways in which their differences and their similarities melded to make this happen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the publication of Australia’s first crime novel in 1830, Australians have read crime fiction for entertainment, for the reassurance that wrongdoers will be punished, and to test their deductive skills against those of their favourite sleuth. The novels, short stories and plays within the crime fiction genre that have been produced in Australia between colonial times and the present day also offer opportunities to investigate a particular place or a particular time. Indeed, many crime fiction writers have mastered the art of recreating settings in both rural and metropolitan landscapes. The details provided within these works ultimately reveal a culprit (usually a murderer), yet they also outline the availability of certain products, bus and train timetables, the floor plans of local hotels or world-famous buildings and numerous other particulars, thus providing a rich, if surprising, source of material for the merely curious and the professional researcher. Crime fiction stories set within libraries present a history of the information services profession. This paper demonstrates how crime fiction can provide an important supplement to more traditional historical sources, with a focus on how the genre has documented some of the major changes within libraries over the last 75 years, since 1939. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a story that can at last be told – a local issue that became a national one. It is a story of a principle that became a civic right, one man's relentless opposition to the North Sydney library service (known as Stanton Library), political manoeuvres, a local government election and referendum and the efforts, sometimes open, sometimes covert, of a group of committed citizens and librarians to ensure that public libraries remained free. The committee formed to achieve this was set up in 1983, but the story begins long before that in 1935 with the Munn-Pitt report. This paper is based on a presentation given at the 11th Library History Forum held at the State Library of New South Wales on 18 and 19 November, 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology, new demands from consumers and changing social needs – all the uncontrollable, incredibly fast forces of modern Australia – mean that public libraries need to keep up to avoid going the way of the movie rental store, travel agents, catalogues or even the computer. Can ‘The Library’ be saved or do we need a reinvention that truly reflects their full value in 2015? This paper discusses how Australia's public libraries can continue their tradition of education and community development, retaining their relevance by embracing change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public libraries do not fit Peter Senge's model of a learning organisation. They are not stand-alone organisations, but operate within the much larger local government system which can constrain their development as learning organisations. On a day-to-day basis, public libraries engage with their customers and respond to their needs by providing access to resources, programmes and services. But they do this within the bounds of local government systems and processes which set corporate goals, determine policies and procedures and provide budget allocations to support operations, and they are guided by public library standards which set out strategic directions and operational requirements for public libraries throughout the state. However, public libraries can be learning organisations if there is strategic alignment between library and local and state governments in a shared vision. CityLibraries Townsville has been fortunate, as Townsville City fosters learning and recognises and values creativity, innovation and collaboration as essential qualities of a successful organisation. Within CityLibraries Townsville, a learning organisation has developed that perceives change as an opportunity to learn and grow the library. This paper examines the extent to which Townsville City Council and CityLibraries Townsville have utilised the learning organisation framework as outlined by Peter Senge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1972 publication of Librarians: A survey by Sol Encel, C.G. Bullard and F.M.B. Cass was the culmination of a six-year research project at the School of Sociology, University of New South Wales, at the behest of the Library Association of Australia2. The study was intended to cover the social and educational backgrounds of library employees in New SouthWales, their attitudes to their occupation, the structures in which they worked, their gradings and salaries. Questionnaire responses were supplemented by interviews and research by Cass and Bullard, two of Encel's honours students. Reviews of the published report were scathing and there was dismay at the report's emphasis on the 'second-class status' ofwomen in libraries. In his reviewof the report and of the theses of Encel's collaborators, the prominent Australian librarian John Metcalfe questioned 'the authority, reliability and credibility of all three' works. This paper examines the background to and conduct of the survey, the reception of the report, and Metcalfe's reactions. It explores why Metcalfe was disturbed and affected by the implication that there had been systemic discrimination against women in librarianship in Australia, particularly at the Public Library of New South Wales, in the first half of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romance fiction, romance authors and readers have been routinely marginalised, in spite of their significant role in contemporary popular culture. Sales figures for the book trade indicate that romance fiction is the most popular of all genres with ebook technologies being led by romance and erotica publishers. Yet, many public libraries have not collected romance fiction or collect only token examples of this genre. Drawing from data in the Australian Romance Readers Association annual survey on reader usage, this paper will discuss how the romance reader accesses their reading choices, impediments to the romance reader accessing reading materials, and the role of the public library and how library practitioners, through Readers' Advisory practices, can meet the romance reader's needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the idea, commonly expressed in the Library and Information Services (LIS) literature, that public libraries have a growing role as developers of social capital, and brings to bear some of the growing body of research into public libraries and social capital. It reviews definitions of social capital by writers outside the LIS sector and outlines the main strategies taken by public librarians who attempt to contribute to social capital, such as community outreach, provision of meeting places and provision of universal services to the public. It discusses the public library as a community centre of learning, with particular reference to the fields of ICT access and training and of information literacy, and the public library as a proactive developer of social networks and partnerships. It concludes by examining research studies that throw light on the complex question of whether public libraries can and do generate social capital and on the kind of evidence that needs to be gathered in order to demonstrate the contribution of public libraries to social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been substantial changes in the labour market over the past few years and survey results indicate 60% of staff will leave public library service over the next decade. While this creates opportunities for library staff, limited training budgets and a focus on compliance and specific library skills training have led to a gap in the formal development of leadership skills, This paper explores the impetus for action and describes the strategies implemented to develop and support leaders for the future at the State Library of Victoria and within Victorian public libraries. It also considers the impact of these initiatives and the learnings. More specifically, it details the establishment of the Shared Leadership Program in 2006 by the State Library. The library recognised that leadership, at all levels of the organisation, was essential to successfully deliver a new extensive program of work and to prepare the workforce to adapt to changing roles and expectations. Learning Forums were also implemented to provide further opportunities to grow individual and collective leadership capabilities. In 2009, the Shared Leadership Program was extended to tile Victorian public library network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the introduction of Web 2.0 techniques and tools at the Yarra Plenty public library in Victoria, beginning with library staff. The author argues that as libraries move from Web 1.0 type delivery systems to the social networking world of Library 2.0 librarians need to deploy and make accessible these radically different systems, social interactions and library places. Whilst formats have changed, and will continue to change, delivery systems have changed and will continue to change, skill sets and competencies have changed and will continue to change, the users, the citizens who fund and value library services, still need to have their social, cultural and recreational needs met in both the virtual and physical domains in which libraries operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Metcalfe of the Public Library of New South Wales played a leading role in founding the Australian Institute of Librarians (AlL) in 1937 and twelve years later in transforming it into a more sustainable and influential body, the Library Association of Australia (LAA). This paper describes some of the work which lay ahead for the new association, including library promotion, expanding membership, professional publications, national and international recognition and a university school of librarianship, in all of which Metcalfe figured significantly. His career after 1949 is outlined and some of his personal preoccupations, fertile ground for further research, are also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a selective review of recent publications, focused on the economic value of public and special libraries which are treated separately, since context and organisational objectives differ widely for different types of libraries. Those who wish to further explore this topic will find many studies into the social value of libraries which establish their general 'worth.' A good place to start is Roswitha Poll's examination of ways of assessing economic value, social value, and outcomes for literacy, information retrieval, and academic and professional success (Poll 2003). An extensive bibliography of earlier work is given in Fitch and Warner (1997). Promising methods of evaluating the economic benefits of libraries and expressing them in financial terms are at last emerging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]