Derek Fielding: a select bibliography 1956-96

Spencer Routh

Derek Fielding's contribution was through his publications and conference presentations as well as his actions. The conscious omissions from this select bibliography are book reviews that do not amount to review articles, and smaller or routine reports on 'the state of play' in topics for which he held some responsibility at the time; for unconscious omissions, the compiler's apologies. However, I thank Derek Fielding for help with some fugitive publications and, much more, for his leadership and friendship as my university librarian, 1965-92.

Annotations aim to explain enigmatic titles, or to relate publications to Derek Fielding's career or preoccupations. It would often be misleading to extract themes from writings that are frequently close-packed, extensive surveys. For more conventional descriptions of content, see Library & Information Science Abstracts, Australian Library & Information Science Abstracts, or, best of all, the publications themselves.

Except in statements of joint authorship, there has been no attempt to document the capricious variation, by author or editors, between 'Derek Fielding' and 'FDO Fielding': he clearly was not concerned to maximise his impact in citation indexes.

'Library Schools... Thoughts of a Long-Suffering Student' Assistant Librarian Vol 49 no 9 1956 pp147-8. Participating in a series of letters about library schools and examinations, DF protests against the length of proposed courses: 'Out of eight years [the student of librarianship] will have worked two, and will be completely penniless. And the next stage. Left on the shelf, he dons a robe and hood of coarse cloth, takes vows of chastity, piety, etc., and renounces the world to go and found a library.'

'Conference in New Zealand: A Report on the 1959 Conference of the New Zealand Library Association' Assistant Librarian Vol 52 no 12 1959 pp241-3. Having left Sheffield to become Deputy Librarian of the University of Auckland, DF reports to former British colleagues his impressions of New Zealand and its libraries, in two articles.

'Culture in Kiwiland: An Emigrant Looks at Library Provision in New Zealand' Assistant Librarian Vol 52 no 8 1959 pp157-60

'A Simple Charging Method for a University Library' Library Association Record Vol 61 no 11 1959 pp298-300

'The Structure of the Classified Catalogue' Australian Library Journal Vol 12 no 3 1963 pp154-8

Annual Report of the University Librarian 1965... 1991 No mere compilation of section reports and statistics, DF's annual reports as James Forsyth Librarian of the University of Queensland are rich displays of his preoccupations and priorities for the library, year by year.

'Indexing and Abstracting Serials: Some Recent Developments' Australian Library Journal Vol 14 no 1 1965 pp27-8. Reviews the subject indexing and arrangement of indexing and abstracting services.

'University Library Staff: Academics or Clerks?' Library Association of Australia 13th Biennial Conference Canberra Papers Sydney 1965 pp203-16. DF discusses the contributions subject specialist librarians offered academic libraries, and appropriate administrative structures to enable them to work. Foreshadows the eventual broad subject divisional library arrangement of the University of Queensland Library, which he had just been appointed to lead.

(ed) Administrative Organisation of Australian University Libraries LAA University and College Libraries Section News Sheet Supplement no 1 Adelaide 1966

'Queensland Libraries Rate Poorly in Australia' Courier-Mail 10 August 1967 p2

'The University of Queensland Library' Australian Library Journal Vol 16 no 3 1967 pp105-7. Part of an ALJ issue describing Queensland libraries prior to an LAA conference in Brisbane.

'British University Libraries in the Sixties: An Australian View' Australian Library Journal Vol 17 no 6 1968 pp207-12. A detailed account based principally on DF's four months in Britain in 1967 and on the University Grants Commission Report of the Committee on Libraries [Parry Report] 1967. DF would prefer much less British professional labour put into idiosyncratic cataloguing and classification, and much more into public reference service.

'Following the Fisher Man: American Automation in Action in 1968' Australian Library Journal Vol 17 no 9 1968 pp293-300. DF's tour of North American libraries, January--March 1968, saw him updating the report on a comparable tour by Harrison Bryan, Fisher Library, University of Sydney: 'Automation in Action' Australian Library Journal Vol 15 no 4 1966 pp127-40.

Master of None St Lucia University of Queensland Press 1968. Inaugural lecture, University of Queensland, 16 March 1967. Historically the librarian is 'Jack of all trades', but those who neglect the flow of new information as professionals in any discipline will be 'master of none'.

'American Automation Updated' Library Journal Vol 94 no 15 1969 pp2881-5. Edited version of DF's 1968 article, updating, for American readers, Harrison Bryan's 'Australian Librarian Takes a Look at American Automation in Action' Library Journal Vol 92 no 2 1967 pp189-96.

'Australia: Reluctant Acceptance' MLA Quarterly Vol 30 no 4 1969 pp296-306. Part of a comparative survey of international librarianship in the quarterly of the Missouri Library Association, reviews the reluctant development by Australian institutions of library services appropriate to their goals.

Why Do Schools Require Libraries? School Library Association of Queensland Occasional Paper no 1 Townsville 1969

'Does Australia Need Freedom to Read or the Blue Pencil of Big Brother' Australian Library Journal Vol 19 no 3 1970 pp90-3. DF was Convener of the LAA Committee on Freedom to Read, 1969-74.

(ed) Australian University Library Administration 2 vols 2nd edn Sydney Australia & New Zealand Book Company 1971. In Vol 2 this edition repeats the 1966 format of extensive tables of brief description contributed by university libraries. Vol 1 comprises a general review by DF.

'The British Library Scene' Library Association of Australia Proceedings 15th Biennial Conference Adelaide 1969 Sydney 1971 pp152-71. Based on 1967 visits and on many contemporary British reports, particularly the report of the National Libraries Committee [Dainton Report] 1969. Very attentive to the many historical and political complexities, DF draws out the most promising policy lines and innovations: the service of the then National Lending Library for Science and Technology was to influence him strongly, until Commonwealth government economics and a greater knowledge of inter-library loan patterns made it a model that was politically unviable.

'Censorship and Permissiveness' Australian Library Journal Vol 20 no 4 1971 pp33-6. Review article on Report of the [US] Commission on Obscenity and Pornography 1970.

'A New Central Library for Queensland University' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 2 no 1 1971 pp16-25. This and later articles on individual University of Queensland libraries relate the architecture of new or radically altered buildings to the operations they house.

'Tensions' Courier-Mail 3 August 1971 p2. Letter to the editor by DF as president of the Staff Association, University of Queensland. There had been student demonstrations at the university, the government had proclaimed a state of emergency, and there were clashes between demonstrators and police during a South African Rugby football tour.

'Protecting Children from Corruption' Journal of the School Library Association of Queensland Vol 5 no 2 1972 pp 6 & 11

'A Valediction on a Non-Profession' Australian Library Journal Vol 21 1972 pp162-4. Review article on S Encel C G Bullard F M B Cass Librarians: A Survey Sydney New South Wales University Press 1972.

'The Inhibitors: A Contribution to a Panel Discussion' Focus on People: Selected Papers Presented at ASLA Conference [3] Brisbane 1972 Carlton Australian School Library Association 1973 pp103-8. Obstacles to setting up good school libraries: teaching traditions, lack of trained school librarians, inadequate finance, fear of free-ranging discussion.

The STISEC Report: Report to the Council of the National Library of Australia by the Scientific and Technological Information Services Enquiry Committee, May 1973 2 vols Canberra National Library of Australia 1973-5. DF was a member of this committee, which was chaired to July 1971 by Sir Peter Crisp, thereafter by Sir Samuel Jones.

Fielding, FDO & Gibson, RF 'University of Queensland Central Library' Australian Library Journal Vol 22 no 11 1973 pp 452-7

'Australian Censorship' Library Journal Vol 99 no 13 1974 p1741. Letter of correction to a report in Library Journal Vol 98 no 17 1973 pp2806-07. DF contrasts the 'very liberal' attitude of recent Australian federal governments to the 'repressive censorship legislation' in some states.

'The University of Queensland's Undergraduate Library: Cotton Purse out of Sow's Ear' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 5 no 2 1974 pp 60-4

'Considerations of Cost in Automating Library Procedures' LASIE Vol 6 no 3 1975 pp 5-9. Written 'with advice from Wendell Cockrell'

Fielding, Derek & Cockrell, Wendell 'The University of Queensland Lending Control System' LASIE Vol 6 no 3 1975 pp 19-27

'ALBIS in Eclipse' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 7 no 2 1976 pp65-70. In an AARL theme issue on the 'Australian Library-Based Information System', DF traces hopes for enhanced library-based services in particular subject areas, which arose from the STISEC report and largely foundered on National Library budget cuts.

'Foreword' Subject or Citizen Papers and Addresses... 5th National Convention on Civil Liberties Brisbane 1977 Brisbane Queensland Council for Civil Liberties 1977 p 6. DF was President, QCCL, 1975-9. His work is embodied in the actions, press releases, and submissions of the council rather than in academic publication. The QCCL records are in the Fryer Library, University of Queensland. See Frank Brennan Too Much Order with Too Little Law (St Lucia University of Queensland Press 1983).

'The Librarian and Architect Relationship: The Librarian's Part' Libraries in Society: Library Association of Australia Proceedings of the 19th Biennial Conference Tasmania 1977 Hobart 1977 pp 107-12; R Gibson 'The Architect's Part' pp 112-18

'Some Aspects of Administration and Management' in H Bryan & G Greenwood (eds) Design for Diversity: Library Services for Higher Education and Research in Australia St Lucia University of Queensland Press 1977 pp 369-412

'University of Queensland's Biological Sciences Library' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 8 no 4 1977 pp 167-74

M Darveniza & F D O Fielding 'Access to Scientific Literature before the Computer: History and Method' Paper Delivered to Institution of Engineers Australia Symposium on Information Handling Melbourne 1978

'Librarians, Civil Liberties and Privacy' Australian Library Journal Vol 27 no 12 1978 pp 181-9. As well as discussing general questions, includes an account of DF's progress from committees opposing censorship to presidency of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties. The general discussion contemplates, interALIA, a reader's enrolment form expressing interest in 'lesbianism, betting systems and tax evasion'.

'Regional Centre Not Wanted' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 9 no 2 1978 pp 91-7. A contribution to a seminar on regional processing centres. A library like the University of Queensland's had to emphasise national and international bibliographical links above contributions to or benefits from a regional centre.

'CAUL and AACOBS' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 10 no 1 1979 pp 15-28. Uses a brief description of the Committee of Australian University Librarians to contrast it with AACOBS, in an extended historical review of the achievements and shortcomings of AACOBS in influencing national library policies.

'Libraries, Information and the Law: A Librarian's Viewpoint' Alternative Futures: Library Association of Australia 20th Biennial Conference Canberra 1979 Proceedings Sydney 1979 pp 328-43. J McMillan [A lawyer's viewpoint] pp 344-50. DF's review of the legal framework affecting librarians includes access to current and archival information from government; copying restrictions; defamation.

[The place of library technicians in the University of Queensland Library] in Let's Talk about Library Technicians Brisbane 1979 pp 11-12

'Copying and Copyright' in J M Rickards & C F Cayless (eds) Interlending in the 80's: Proceedings of a National Conference Held at the University of Queensland 1980 Brisbane 1980 pp 149-68. With amending legislation on copyright before the Commonwealth Parliament, reviews the Australian situation in comparison with overseas policies on copyright and photocopying. DF was to become a member of the Attorney-General's Copyright Law Review Committee, 1983-94, and of a less formal advisory group which had preceded it.

'Freedom of Information: Fad, Fact or Fantasy' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 11 no 2 1980 pp 73-86. Principally an examination of a Senate committee review of proposed legislation on freedom of information, prelude to the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

'National Information Policy' ANZAAS Congress Papers 50th Congress Adelaide 1980. (Microfiche edition paper no 954/33; fiche nos 59-60). DF had drafted submissions on national information policy and state information policy for AACOBS in 1979, and uses the framework of National Information Policy (Washington DC National Commission on Libraries and Information Science 1976) to comment on the Australian situation.

'Steady-State at the University of Queensland Library' in J McKinlay (ed) Storage Options for Australian University Libraries La Trobe University Library Publications on Library Administration and Technology no 2 Bundoora 1980 pp 16-24. After a detailed description of a storage and discard programme at the University of Queensland, concludes that the Universities Council must be persuaded to change its unwillingness to recommend new library buildings.

'Up the Right Channels? Patterns of Information Flow' in P White (ed) Changes and Exchanges Lindfield School of Library & Information Studies Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education 1980 pp 67-92. Probably DF's most general reflection on rights of access to information. His concerns about governmental and other institutional and commercial domination of information channels were to be partly answered by the rise of the Internet.

[AACOBS Newsletter Vol 1 no 1 - Vol 8 no 3 April 1981 - June 1988] DF was not of course the author of this corporate newsletter, but he was a member of AACOBS Standing Committee through the whole of the newsletter's existence, and chairman from 1984. Only some of the longer texts are separately listed here. An indexer would be tempted to list the activities by DF reported, and texts at least co-authored, as 'passim'.

'Copyright: A Survey of Solutions to the Photocopying Debate' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 12 no 3 1981 pp 145-61. 'Expanded and corrected version' of the reference following.

[Introductory background paper] in M W Borchardt & P Clayton (eds) Copyright Workshop Proceedings: Proceedings of a Copyright Workshop Held at the National Library of Australia 1981 Canberra Library Association of Australia ACT Branch 1981 pp 3-38

'Copyright and Access to Information' in N Renison (ed) A Right to Information: Proceedings of the Seminar on the Right to Information Townsville 1981 Townsville North Queensland Regional Group Library Association of Australia 1982 pp 17-27

Review of Academic Organisation of the University to Senate Meeting on 6 May 1982. 27 April 1982. University of Queensland Archives. DF was Chairperson of this committee of the University of Queensland Senate, and the report followed previous submissions dated 20 July and 2 December 1981. Generally referred to as the 'Fielding Report' in later writing on the university's structure. See Malcolm I Thomis A Place of Light and Learning: The University of Queensland's First Seventy-five Years (St Lucia University of Queensland Press 1985). In a much more detailed history, RK Kidston Bureaucratic Politics and Organisational Reform at the University of Queensland, 1969-1982 (PhD Thesis University of Queensland 1987) includes DF in his seven individuals who by their 'dedication and personal ability... played the most prominent roles in the reform of the University's system of governance over the 1969-1982 period.'

'Copyright: The Librarian's View' Challenge and Response: Proceedings of the 22nd Biennial Conference of the Library Association of Australia Adelaide 1982 Sydney 1983 pp 156-66. P Banki 'A Copyright Owner's View' pp 153-5. Perhaps DF's most detailed exposition of the processes of compromise made in the Copyright Amendment Act 1980 so that, in general, scholars and students could make single copies without charge, but copyright owners were protected from multiple copying without recompense. More particular topics were limitations on copying for remote issues; record keeping; penalties under the Act; more briefly, some other specific difficulties, among which the copying of unpublished works was to be often mentioned in his later articles.

'The Bubble Bursts: The Collapse of the Library Building Boom' in H Bryan J Horacek (eds) Australian Academic Libraries in the Seventies: Essays in Honour of Dietrich Borchardt St Lucia University of Queensland Press 1984 pp 64-94. As well as buildings programs, or their lack, DF discusses fairly extensively the selection of material for storage.

'Budget Management for Collection Department' in C Crowe P Kent B Paton (eds) Collection Management in Academic Libraries: Papers Delivered at a National Seminar, Surfers Paradise 1984 Sydney Library Association of Australia University and College Libraries Section 1984 pp 77-88

'LAA Document Delivery Report: Issues for Standing Committee' AACOBS Newsletter Vol 4 no 4 1984 pp 10-14

'Statement on Behalf of the Australian Advisory Council on Bibliographical Services' in National Symposium on Legal Protection of Computer Software, Canberra 1984 Canberra Attorney-General's Department 1984 pp82-9. This also appears as 'Legal Protection of Computer Software' AACOBS Newsletter Vol 4 no 2 1984 pp 4-8.

'Future Roles of the Public and Private Sectors' Libraries: After 1984: Proceedings of the LAA/NZLA Conference Brisbane 1984 Sydney 1985 pp 465-77. In a changed political climate for public expenditure, discusses the two sectors' appropriate roles in making information available.

'Respective Roles of AACOBS, ALIC and the LAA' AACOBS Newsletter Vol 5 no 3 1985 pp 14-21. The formation of the Australian Libraries and Information Council (ALIC) in 1982 led to discussion and action reflected in this and later references. DF consistently placed great emphasis on the roles of AACOBS as a channel of communication between the National Library and other libraries, and as a national forum for discussion of matters of interest to libraries as institutions. DF was the last chairman of Standing Committee of AACOBS, 1984-8, and president of the Interim National Council, 1988, of the body which subsumed it, the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services.

'Medical Libraries in the University of Queensland' in RL Doherty (ed) A Medical School for Queensland Brisbane Boolarong Publications for RL Doherty Faculty of Medicine University of Queensland 1986 pp 114-25. DF's substantial achievements in combining a multitude of disparate mini-collections into viable libraries, including joint libraries serving teaching hospitals and the University of Queensland, make up much of this historical review.

'Copyright: The Present State of Play' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 18 no 3 1987 pp 121-30. The Copyright Amendment Act 1984 had eased some of the problems referred to in earlier articles. Of several continuing concerns, the copyright in audio-visual material is the topic most discussed.

F D O Fielding & W M Horton 'Proposal for Establishment of a New Consultative Body Replacing Both AACOBS and ALIC' AACOBS Newsletter Vol 7 no 3 1987 pp 11-20. This follows an earlier report to the Standing Committee of AACOBS by DF, 'Possible Reorganisation of AACOBS and ALIC: A Report on Discussions at the Joint AACOBS/ALIC Subcommittee' AACOBS Newsletter Vol 7 no 2 1987 pp 14-20.

'By Any Other Name: ACLIS' inCite Vol 9 no 8 1988 pp 10-11

'Inter-Library Loans and Resource Sharing' Australian Library Journal Vol 37 no 1 1988 pp34-44. Includes a substantial history of the changing policy positions towards inter-library loan charges through the 1980s, and relates these policies to the lending patterns revealed by FCA Exon Survey of Australian Inter-library Lending (Perth Library Curtin University of Technology 1987).

'Setting the Scene: Why This Topic Has Become Important' in Acquisitions Rationalization: Papers Presented at the AACOBS Seminar on Library Acquisitions Rationalization... Queensland Museum 1987 Brisbane published by Griffith University Library for the Queensland State Committee Australian Advisory Council on Bibliographical Services 1988 pp 7-24. 'Discussion, Debate and Decisions' pp 59-63. After discussing the recent history of collecting in Australia, DF sets out reasons for a broad scepticism about achieving meaningful rationalisation of acquisitions.

[Six contributions] in H Bryan (ed) ALIAS: Australia's Library Information and Archives Services: An Encyclopaedia of Practice and Practitioners 3 vols Sydney, later Canberra Library Association of Australia, later ALIA Press 1988-91. 'Australian Advisory Council on Bibliographical Services (AACOBS)' Vol 1 pp 50-2; Censorship' pp 142-4; 'Franki Report [1976, on copyright law revision]' Vol 2 pp 11-12; 'Queensland - Libraries' Vol 3 pp1-2; 'University Libraries' pp 116-19; 'University of Queensland Library' pp 122-3

'Copyright in Australia, Now and in the Future' Papers Presented at the Australian Library and Information Association 1st Biennial Conference Perth 1990: Conference Proceedings Applecross Promaco Conventions for the Australian Library and Information Association 1990 Vol 2 pp 617-24. DF points to the rapprochements reached by copyright owners and users on photocopying, which aided negotiations on audio-visual copying in the 1980s. With AV copying and computer texts now his chief preoccupations, he still celebrates the achievements in copyright policy of the 1970s and '80s: 'Our colleagues in educational institutions in Britain and Canada would be delighted if similar statutory licences were to be written into their Copyright Acts.'

'Publishing Packages and Pressures: Book Prices and New Book Importing Arrangements' inCite Vol 11 no 2 1990 pp 7-8

'Changing Roles: An Outsider's View of the National Library' Australian Academic & Research Libraries Vol 22 no 4 1991 pp 151-62. This special issue of AARL, 'Library for the Nation', P Biskup & M Henty (eds). Late in DF's career, this article provides a good historical setting to his earlier writing on STISEC, AACOBS, and ALIC.

'Copyright Law Changes and Australian Book Culture' in J Macleod P Buckridge (eds) Books and Reading in Australian Society Special Publication of the Institute for Cultural Policy Studies Faculty of Humanities Griffith University Brisbane 1992 pp 109-16. Reviews the effect of the Copyright Amendment Act 1991 on territorial copyright and the parallel importation of books.

'Why Can't I Copy It? Desirable Changes to the Copyright Act 1968/91' ALIA 92: Libraries The Heart of the Matter: Proceedings of the Australian Library and Information Association 2nd Biennial Conference Canberra Thorpe for Australian Library and Information Association 1992 pp 110-14. After amendments to the Copyright Act in 1990 and 1991, DF (by now Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic Services, at the University of Queensland) reviews the agenda for the future.

'Intellectual Property in Australia' in J Mulvaney C Steele (eds) Changes in Scholarly Communication Patterns: Australia and the Electronic Library Occasional Paper Australian Academy of the Humanities no 15 Canberra 1993 pp 213-14

'Is It Legal? Copyright Issues in the Supply of Electronic Data' Information Online & On Disc 93: Making the Connection: The Electronic Frontier: Proceedings of the [6th] Australasian Information Online and On Disc Conference and Exhibition ... Sydney 1993 Sydney ACMS for Information Science Section, Australian Library and Information Association 1993 pp71-82. The title-page incorrectly identifies the Conference as the 7th. The paper is based in part on 'Why Can't I Copy It?' (see above).

Fielding, Derek, & Andrew, Desley 'Electronic Lessons Close the Distance' Australian 14 September 1994 p 28. A brief discussion of the potential of computer-mediated delivery of educational material.

'Library Obligations in the Area of Copyright' Proceedings 2nd Australasian Libraries in Emergency Services Workshop 1993 Mount Macedon Australian Emergency Management Institute 1994 pp 8-13. Procedure manual summary advice rather than analysis or review.

'Questions and Discussion' moderated by Derek Fielding in J Wodetzki (ed) Copyright and Libraries: The Road Ahead for Australia and New Zealand Canberra Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services 1995 pp 39-43. DF described in an editorial note as 'the source of copyright advice for the library profession over many years.'

P Biskup (interviewer) Recorded Interview with Derek Fielding, b. 1929. Date of interview: 29 & 30 June 1996. TRC-3471. Oral History Section, National Library of Australia