Research data services are increasingly offered by academic libraries. As a result, librarians may need to upskill to provide data services and build capacity. This study measures the current level of data services skills of academic librarians and explores preferred methods of continuing education. An online survey was circulated asking…

This article reports on selected results of a comprehensive survey of children's reading in England, carried out online in 2005 by the National Centre for Research in Children's Literature at Roehampton University. With 4182 responses from children living in England aged from 4 to 16 years, the survey is a follow-up to a similar study completed in…

Library and Information Services (LIS) providers are vulnerable in the current war for talent. They need to work collaboratively to develop accurate workforce data so they can retain and recruit the right people. In South Australia, the issue has a level of urgency above other States as the demographic is skewed to older workers. Organisations…

The papers included were presented by academic theorists in management and by practising librarians. Consequently, they deal with a number of matters of consequence in both fields. The eight papers are titled: "I am a manager - color me grey;""Management in a changing environment;""Motivation and management;""The…

The Sydney Public Library began as the Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room which opened in Sydney on December 1, 1827, with 1,000 volumes. The Municipal Council of Sydney took possession of the library in 1909. The library evolved from a closed access, fixed shelf position library to an open access system in 1910. A complete…

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,…

This group of six papers centers on the development of library schools and the training of library personnel. "The Status of Professional Groups in Libraries and Library Education in the GDR," by Hildegard Wagenbreth and Helmut Kubitschek, East Germany, describes the training programs, apprenticeships, courses, and admission criteria of…

Describes two current studies in New South Wales (Australia) that examined the position of children's librarian in public libraries. One developed a profile of children's librarians and investigated how they rated themselves as managerial leaders; the other examined the recruitment and retention of children's and young adult librarians. (five…

John Metcalfe was a leader of the Free Library Movement in Australia in the 1930s, becoming a well-known educator, writer, and state librarian. His involvement in national and international library cooperation from the 1940s to the 1960s widened his earlier New South Wales focus. There is a strong democratic focus in Metcalfe's writings on…

In 1956-57 John Metcalfe was seconded from the Public Library of New South Wales to the University of Sydney to report on the needs of the University Library. This is a forgotten chapter in that Library's history, and a hitherto unexamined aspect of Metcalfe's career. Metcalfe was apparently manoeuvering to leave the Public Library, and expected…

Questions presented in workbook format are interspersed with quotations from the literature about the library profession's stereotypes and self-image. The document opens with a synopsis of how librarians are portrayed by the mass media. Exercises about role perceptions are presented (e.g., define the terms "librarian" and…