In the long history of the Launceston Mechanics' Institute, there were effectively only two full-time librarians. This post is a brief account of these two men and their contributions to the Institute's library.
Alexander Johnston
Following a succession of part-time and voluntary appointments,
the Board of Management of the Mechanics' Institute had appointed A B Biggs,
well-known teacher and astronomer, as librarian and resident hall-keeper in
1860. This selection was made from a field of twenty-three applicants and
carried an annual salary of £100. However Biggs did not find the work congenial
and he resigned in 1861, although he retained an interest in the Institute and
later served as a board member.
Mr Johnston was appointed to the position of librarian at
the Mechanics' Institute on April 23, 1861.
The library was in desperate need
of organising principles and sound management. The Board considered Johnston to
be a "competent librarian"[1]
although he was apparently without previous experience. Their judgment was
well-founded however and he occupied the position until his death in 1906.
At a special meeting of the Board of Management on the day
of his death a minute was passed on the motion of the President, Ernest Whitfeld,
and seconded by Mr Henry Button. It read;
The board of managers of the
Mechanics' Institute and Public Library desire to place on record their sincere
regret for the loss the Institute has sustained in the death of the late Alexander
Johnston, the librarian of the Institute for nearly 45 years. He was assiduous
in the discharge of his duties, and possessed the confidence and respect of the
various boards of managers and by his good qualities merited the same.[2]
The obituary published in The Examiner on 13 January 1906
paid tribute to Johnston as a man who "always took a deep interest in all
matters pertaining to the Institute, and was a most zealous and upright
official."[3] It made the further point that "during the whole of his long connection
with the Institute he had never applied for his salary to be raised, although
the managers, who knew his worth, from time to time increased the
stipend."
Of Johnston's family, we know that he left a widow, two sons
and a daughter. One of his sons predeceased him, losing his life in attempting
to rescue a passenger who was drowning after a shipwreck. Another of his sons
was a reporter with the Melbourne Argus.
Johnston's tenure as librarian was not entirely without
controversy. Stefan Petrow, in his book Going to the Mechanics, refers to a number
of letters to the Examiner which mention Johnston. He was said to set great
store by order and efficiency. To his detractors he was an inflexible stickler
who had one set of manners for the rich and another for the poor. Others viewed
him as a "careful, methodical and intelligent manager."[4]
As an instance of this the books in the library were
arranged in numbered order. They were given a running accession number as soon
as they arrived and were shelved consecutively on closed shelves. Thus, like
subjects were not shelved together, and members were obliged to select from a
printed catalogue, and its supplements, until 1898 when adult members were
permitted to browse parts of the collection. Also the Reading Room was
available to subscribers only. These were limits which led to considerable
frustration, and through the 1890s membership hovered around 400.
It was also the case that the Board of Management played a
very active role in the operation of the Institute and left limited scope for
initiative on the part of its librarian. The stimulus for change to these
arrangements came from the Board.
Police Magistrate Ernest Whitfeld had joined the Board of
Management in 1902 and was elected its president in 1904. He held the position
until 1908, and then served as Vice-President for another five years.
Whitfeld's first priority as president was the classification of the
collection. He was so convinced of the need that he helped with the work.
Johnston resisted at first but eventually joined in the project.
The works of fiction were arranged in alphabetical order by
author around the walls of one room. Labels were attached to shelves holding
prolific authors. New books were placed on display shelves. The non-fiction
collection was organised into a general subject arrangement. The borrowing
system was also changed.
Johnston died less than a year after these changes were
made. While he had reluctantly supported the Whitfeld initiatives, his
assistant had been enthusiastic about them, and it was he who succeeded
Johnston as librarian.
J R Forward
Recalling the time when he became assistant librarian,
Forward said;
To have any idea of what the library was like, try to picture 27,000 books on tiered shelves in numerical order. No attempt had been made at classification. That was one of the first jobs I undertook. There were then four rooms in the library section of the Institute as it was then known, and we took all the books down from one wall and dumped them on the floor in order to get started with classification.[5]
Under the stewardship of Forward, membership increased
steadily if not dramatically, reaching 1000 in 1927.
Unlike many mechanics institutes and subscription libraries
of the time, the Launceston collection continued to provide reading which
appealed to serious tastes as well as popular fiction. Forward was keen to
develop a children's section, and to stimulate reading for this group, but was
frustrated by a lack of space. Subscription fees were required in order to
maintain the necessary level of funding, and subscribers demanded popular
titles which restricted his ability to expand.
In 1929 the name was changed to Launceston Public Library,
and Forward became the first Municipal Librarian.
In 1935 the Munn-Pitt Report on Australian Libraries made
some favourable comments on the Launceston Public Library, although it cavilled
at the description 'Public Library';
As a mechanics' institute – and that
is the only fair way to judge it – this library is one of the best in
Australia. Its building is pleasant, commodious and gives the impression of
housing a library which is alive and progressive. The book collection is much
stronger in its reference and non-fiction sections than is usually found in
institute libraries.[6]
In 1943 the Librarian of the Commonwealth National Library,
Mr K J Binns, in his report on library services in Tasmania, said;
The Launceston Public Library is
probably the best subscription library now surviving in Australia and reflects
credit on its Board and its energetic Librarian, Mr Forward.[7]
Forward was a supporter of the Free Library movement, and
after complex negotiations the Launceston City Council took full responsibility
for the library in 1945 and the subscription method was abandoned.
The immediate effect was an explosion in membership. By June
1946 the Library had 10,782 members, including almost 3,000 children. The
research area was being well-used. The children's library was "brightly
coloured and full of light"[8]
and it even had a goldfish bowl.
In the inaugural Launceston Book Week in 1947, a new
reference library was opened, and a membership drive lifted the number of
registrations to 14,000.
When he retired in 1948 Joseph Forward was described by the
Examiner as one of the most widely known men in Launceston.[9]
In an interview shortly before his retirement Forward said that the library's
development during the past forty years had made it as near perfection as the
ground plan of the building would allow.[10]
Forward had a strong interest in church work and he was a
life deacon of Christ Church, Congregational. He was also a very enthusiastic
singer, member of several church choirs and, for some years, secretary of the
Trinity College of Music. He continued to reside in Launceston after his
retirement, dying in 1964 at the age of eighty-six.
[1]
Stefan Petrow, Going to the Mechanics, Launceston, 1998, p.80
[2]
The Examiner, 13 January 1906, p.8
[3]
ibid
[4] Petrow,
pp. 80-81
[5]
The Examiner, 13 November 1947, p. 2
[6] Munn,
Ralph and Pitt, Ernest R, Australian Libraries, Melbourne, 1935, p.87.
[7]
Binns, Kenneth, Library Services in Tasmania, Hobart, 943, p. 9
[8]
The Examiner, 2 November 1946, p. 9
[9]
The Examiner, 13 November 1947, p. 2
[10]
ibid
I was thrilled to discover this blog - Alexander Johnston was my Great Grandfather. The journalist son, another Alexander born in 1868, was my grandfather.
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