Progressive reform and the moral mission in Australian public libraries at the beginning of the “Information Age”

Gaunt, Heather

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/89726 Copy

Description

Title

Progressive reform and the moral mission in Australian public libraries at the beginning of the “Information Age”

Author(s)

Gaunt, Heather

Issue Date

2014

Keyword(s)

• Library Economy
• Moral Values
• Progressive Practices

Abstract

Progressive ideas about library economy, emanating from American and British libraries, contributed directly to the development of local procedures in public libraries in Australia in the late nineteenth century. The new consciousness of library professionalism, and scientific approaches to classification and library organization, led to new ideas on library design and functioning in the major Australian public libraries, building upon a consideration of local conditions and requirements. These developments coincided fruitfully with the Federation period, when the separate Australian colonies joined to form the Australian nation. Librarians sought to modernize their institutions in a positively charged climate of national progress, selfawareness, and pride. However, the transition to progressive practices was not uniform across the major Australian libraries. Conflicts between moral and technological values meant that some librarians rejected progressive practice and maintained older approaches, particularly in the area of classification. The Tasmanian Public Library, led by Chief Librarian Alfred J. Taylor, was an example of this. This paper examines Taylor’s approach in the wider context of changing attitudes to professionalism and library economy, his own paternalistic and humanistic approach to library organization, and the specific needs of the Tasmanian community.

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ISSN

1559-0682

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89726

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2014.0000

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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