Foreword

Alex Byrne

Growing from its small beginnings as a meeting of the University Librarians at the few Australian universities which existed in 1928, the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) has become a potent force for library collaboration in Australia. Through its regular meetings, information exchange, collaborative projects and work with other organisations it has contributed to the development of Australian university libraries a very high standard.

CAUL has worked within the higher education sector, with the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee and other organisations to ensure that Australian university libraries can support the developing and diverse range of teaching, learning and research programs of their parent institutions. But it has also worked with other library and related organisation to address issues which affect university libraries including, in recent years, exploitation of the burgeoning electronic environment, copyright, quality and performance managment, and scholarly publishing. It is well regarded internationally for this work.

This special issue of Australian Academic and Research Libraries celebrates the development and achievements of CAUL over its first 70 years. It brings together a memoir by Dr Neil Radford, formerly University Librarian at the University of Sydney, a commentary by Emeritus Professor McKinnon, formerly Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wollongong and papers by Colin Steele and Alex Byrne, current members of CAUL. These articles shed some light on the many challenges and responses of CAUL over that period.

Alex Byrne
August 1998