John Metcalfe (16 May 1901 – 7 February 1982) was an Australian librarian, educator and author. He was the Principal Librarian at the Public Library of New South Wales (now State Library of New South Wales) from 1942 until 1958 and University Librarian at the University of New South Wales from 1959–1966. He was involved in the establishment and development of the Australian Institute of Librarians (AIL), the Free Library Movement and education for librarianship in Australia.
John Wallace Metcalfe was born on 16 May 1901 at Blackburn, Lancashire to Henry Harwood Metcalfe, a paper-bag maker, and his wife Lilian, née Wilcock. The family migrated to Australia, via New Zealand, settling in Sydney in 1911.[1] Metcalfe attended Marrickville Superior Public School and Fort Street Boys High School he later attended the University of Sydney.[1] Metcalfe married Thelma Constance Vagg on 3 March 1934 at St Matthew's Church of England, Manly.[1]
Career
Metcalfe began his career working in the New South Wales State Department of Taxation in 1917 for a few weeks before taking a position as a junior library assistant in the Fisher Library at the University of Sydney.[1][2]
The Public Library of New South Wales
In 1923 Metcalfe was appointed to the Public Library of New South Wales.[1]William Ifould, the Principal Librarian, took an interest in Metcalfe's career and mentored him. Metcalfe was promoted to the newly created position of deputy principal librarian in 1932.[1][3]
In November 1933 John Metcalfe presented a paper about the state of libraries in Australia to the Federal Library Conference held in Melbourne.[4][5] This paper was given to Ralph Munn and Ernest Pitt who had been funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1934 to tour and inspect Australian libraries and to publish their report.[4][6] In July 1934 Metcalfe was offered a travel grant of £2,000 by the Carnegie Corporation which allowed him to inspect libraries in the USA and Great Britain.[7] The report from his trip was widely circulated.[4][8]
Metcalfe contributed to the development of free public libraries in New South Wales, providing technical advice to the Free Library Movement (FLM),[9] a citizens' lobby group advocating for free public libraries.[10] As secretary for the Libraries Advisory Committee, established by the New South Wales government, Metcalfe helped to draft a bill, which became the basis for the New South Wales Library Act, 1939.[1]
In 1937 Metcalfe helped found the first local professional association of librarians, the Australian Institute of Librarians (AIL), drafting much of its constitution, and was its first honorary general secretary.[10] He designed the AIL examinations that set the first national professional standards for librarianship in Australia.[11] The Public Library of New South Wales provided the first formal Australian library school, commencing in 1939, Metcalfe wrote most of its textbooks.[1]
In 1942 Metcalfe succeeded William Ifould as Principal Librarian at the Public Library of New South Wales and from 1944 he was the executive member of the Library Board of New South Wales.[1]
Metcalfe opposed censorship, appearing before the Supreme Court of Queensland in a case involving 'objectionable' comics in 1955.[1]
In October 1956, Metcalfe was seconded to the University of Sydney to review its library.[1]
University of New South Wales
On 10 November 1958 John Metcalfe was invited to accept the position of University Librarian at the University of New South Wales. His duties would involve being responsible for the organisation and management of the University's library and the establishment and supervision of courses in library training at the University.[13] Metcalfe was also made a member of the Professorial Board. On 2 February 1959 Metcalfe commenced as the University Librarian a role he held until May 1966. He oversaw the establishment of the first library school at an Australian university which opened in 1960 and he remained Director of the School of Librarianship until his retirement in 1968.[1]
Later life
Following his retirement, Metcalfe continued to write about subject indexing and information retrieval.[14] John Metcalfe died on 7 February 1982 at Katoomba.[1]
Works
Metcalfe, John (1965), Alphabetical subject indication of information, Graduate School of Library Service, Rutgers, the State University
Metcalfe, John (1968), Book production and reproduction : notes for students of librarianship ([2nd ed.] ed.), James Bennett
Metcalfe, John (1945), Cultural institutions in the Australian community : to hell with culture, New Century Press
Metcalfe, John; Dewey, Melvil, 1851–1931. Decimal classification and relative index (1965), Dewey's decimal classification : seventeenth edition : an appraisal, James Bennett{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Remington, G. C. (Geoffrey Cochrane); Metcalfe, John, 1901–1982 (1945), The free library movement, 1935–1945, New Century Press{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Metcalfe, John (1957), Information indexing and subject cataloging : alphabetical, classified, coordinate, mechanical, Scarecrow Press
Metcalfe, John (1976), Information retrieval, British & American, 1876–1976, Scarecrow Press, ISBN978-0-8108-0875-1
Metcalfe, John (1966), Subject arrangement and indexing of information : notes for students, James Bennett
Metcalfe, John (1959), Subject classifying and indexing of libraries and literature, Angus and Robertson, retrieved 21 July 2014
Honours and awards
In 1936 Metcalfe was awarded a fellowship of the Library Association of the United Kingdom.
Metcalfe was made a fellow of the Library Association of Australia in 1964.
In 1973 he was awarded the H.C.L. Anderson award by the Library Association of Australia.
The Metcalfe Auditorium at the State Library of New South Wales is named in his memory.
The Metcalfe Medallion (now known as the Metcalfe Award) is awarded in his honour by the Australian Library and Information Association for outstanding student work.[15]
^ abcdefghijklmnJones, David J. (2012). "Metcalfe, John Wallace (1901–1982)". Metcalfe, John Wallace (1901–1982), Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
^Jones, David J. (David John) (1993), William Herbert Ifould and the development of library services in New South Wales, 1912–1942, Sydney, N.S.W, retrieved 22 July 2014
^"LIBRARY APPOINTMENT". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 5 December 1932. p. 10. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
^ abcMetcalfe, John; Rayward, W. Boyd, 1939– (1996), Developing a profession of librarianship in Australia : travel diaries and other papers of John Wallace Metcalfe, ALIA Press, ISBN978-0-86804-508-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Metcalfe, John (1935), Public library systems in Australia : a paper based on one read to the Australian Library Association Conference held in Melbourne on November 22 and 23rd, 1933, John Metcalfe, retrieved 22 July 2014
^Munn, Ralph; Pitt, Ernest R. (Ernest Roland), 1877–1957; Carnegie Corporation of New York (1935), Australian libraries : a survey of conditions and suggestions for their improvement, Australian Council for Educational Research, retrieved 9 July 2014{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"LIBRARIES". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 16 April 1935. p. 10. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
^Metcalfe, John (1935), Report of Mr. John Metcalfe, B.A., deputy principal librarian, Public library of New South Wales on his return from a tour in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, carried out with the assistance of a grant from the Carnegie corporation of New York, 1934.5, Sydney, N.S.W., retrieved 22 July 2014
^Remington, G. C.; Metcalfe, John (1945). "The Free Library Movement—1935–1945". The Australian Quarterly. 17 (2): 87–97. doi:10.2307/20631273. JSTOR 20631273.
^ abAustralian Library History Conference (9th : 2009 : Prahan, Vic.); McMullin, B. J. (Brian John) (2010), Collections, characters and communities : the shaping of libraries in Australia and New Zealand, Australian Scholarly Publishing, ISBN978-1-921509-61-2
^Whyte, Jean P. (Jean Primrose); Jones, David J. (David John), 1946– (2007), Uniting a profession : the Australian Institute of Librarians 1937–1949, Australian Library and Information Association, ISBN978-0-86804-565-8{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Metcalfe, John (1947), John Metcalfe. Unesco diary : Sydney, Sunday October 26 – Mexico City, Tuesday Nov. 4 1947, J. Metcalfe, retrieved 21 July 2014
^"School of Librarianship (1959–1992) / School of Information, Library and Archive Studies (1992–1999)" (PDF). UNSW University Archives. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
^Jones, David J. (November 2007). "Unfinished business: John Metcalfe and his professional association". Australian Library Journal. 56 (3/4): 444–461. doi:10.1080/00049670.2007.10722435. S2CID 109091106.
^"Metcalfe Award". Australian Library and Information Association. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
Further reading
Australian Library History Forum (5th : 1992 : University of New South Wales); Rayward, W. Boyd (1939–); University of New South Wales. School of Information, Library and Archive Studies (1993), Libraries and life in a changing world : the Metcalfe years, 1920–1970 : papers from Australian Library History Forum V at the University of New South Wales, 6–7th November, 1992, School of Information, Library and Archive Studies, the University of New South Wales, ISBN978-0-7334-0014-8
Carter, Ruth C; Myall, Carolynne (1949–) (1998), Portraits in cataloging and classification : theorists, educators, and practitioners of the late twentieth century, Haworth Press, ISBN978-0-7890-0543-4
Langker, Bob (May 1984), "John Wallace Metcalfe: a personal recollection", Australasian College Libraries, 2 (2): 61–65, retrieved 22 July 2014
Nelson, Jack R. (11 May 1998). "John Wallace Metcalfe". Cataloging & Classification Quarterly. 25 (2–3): 199–208. doi:10.1300/J104v25n02_16.
Olding, R. K. John Metcalfe and the Subject Catalogue, Australian Library Journal 20 (May 1971): 13–16
Rayward, W. Boyd. Central and Other Mysteries in Librarianship: The Writings of John Wallace Metcalfe, Australian Library Journal 36 (November 1987): 208–25
Rayward, W. Boyd, 1939–; Library Association of Australia (1976), The variety of librarianship : essays in honour of John Wallace Metcalfe, Library Association of Australia, ISBN978-0-909915-42-1{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Tully, Bill (March 1998). "John Metcalfe: librarian by accident, eccentric by nature, and democratic by instinct". Australian Academic & Research Libraries. 29 (1): 42–50. doi:10.1080/00048623.1998.10755037. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
Whyte, Jean P. John Metcalfe and the Library Association of Australia, Australian Library Journal 20 (May 1971): 5–13
August 16, 2023
john, metcalfe, librarian, john, metcalfe, 1901, february, 1982, australian, librarian, educator, author, principal, librarian, public, library, south, wales, state, library, south, wales, from, 1942, until, 1958, university, librarian, university, south, wale. John Metcalfe 16 May 1901 7 February 1982 was an Australian librarian educator and author He was the Principal Librarian at the Public Library of New South Wales now State Library of New South Wales from 1942 until 1958 and University Librarian at the University of New South Wales from 1959 1966 He was involved in the establishment and development of the Australian Institute of Librarians AIL the Free Library Movement and education for librarianship in Australia John Wallace MetcalfePortrait of John Metcalfe circa 1942 1946BornJohn Wallace Metcalfe 1901 05 16 16 May 1901Blackburn Great BritainDied7 February 1982 1982 02 07 aged 80 Katoomba New South WalesOccupationLibrarian Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 The Public Library of New South Wales 2 2 University of New South Wales 3 Later life 4 Works 5 Honours and awards 6 See also 7 References 8 Further readingEarly life EditJohn Wallace Metcalfe was born on 16 May 1901 at Blackburn Lancashire to Henry Harwood Metcalfe a paper bag maker and his wife Lilian nee Wilcock The family migrated to Australia via New Zealand settling in Sydney in 1911 1 Metcalfe attended Marrickville Superior Public School and Fort Street Boys High School he later attended the University of Sydney 1 Metcalfe married Thelma Constance Vagg on 3 March 1934 at St Matthew s Church of England Manly 1 Career EditMetcalfe began his career working in the New South Wales State Department of Taxation in 1917 for a few weeks before taking a position as a junior library assistant in the Fisher Library at the University of Sydney 1 2 The Public Library of New South Wales Edit In 1923 Metcalfe was appointed to the Public Library of New South Wales 1 William Ifould the Principal Librarian took an interest in Metcalfe s career and mentored him Metcalfe was promoted to the newly created position of deputy principal librarian in 1932 1 3 In November 1933 John Metcalfe presented a paper about the state of libraries in Australia to the Federal Library Conference held in Melbourne 4 5 This paper was given to Ralph Munn and Ernest Pitt who had been funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1934 to tour and inspect Australian libraries and to publish their report 4 6 In July 1934 Metcalfe was offered a travel grant of 2 000 by the Carnegie Corporation which allowed him to inspect libraries in the USA and Great Britain 7 The report from his trip was widely circulated 4 8 Metcalfe contributed to the development of free public libraries in New South Wales providing technical advice to the Free Library Movement FLM 9 a citizens lobby group advocating for free public libraries 10 As secretary for the Libraries Advisory Committee established by the New South Wales government Metcalfe helped to draft a bill which became the basis for the New South Wales Library Act 1939 1 In 1937 Metcalfe helped found the first local professional association of librarians the Australian Institute of Librarians AIL drafting much of its constitution and was its first honorary general secretary 10 He designed the AIL examinations that set the first national professional standards for librarianship in Australia 11 The Public Library of New South Wales provided the first formal Australian library school commencing in 1939 Metcalfe wrote most of its textbooks 1 In 1942 Metcalfe succeeded William Ifould as Principal Librarian at the Public Library of New South Wales and from 1944 he was the executive member of the Library Board of New South Wales 1 In 1947 Metcalfe represented Australia at the second United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization general conference in Mexico City chairing a working party on public libraries 1 12 Metcalfe opposed censorship appearing before the Supreme Court of Queensland in a case involving objectionable comics in 1955 1 In October 1956 Metcalfe was seconded to the University of Sydney to review its library 1 University of New South Wales Edit On 10 November 1958 John Metcalfe was invited to accept the position of University Librarian at the University of New South Wales His duties would involve being responsible for the organisation and management of the University s library and the establishment and supervision of courses in library training at the University 13 Metcalfe was also made a member of the Professorial Board On 2 February 1959 Metcalfe commenced as the University Librarian a role he held until May 1966 He oversaw the establishment of the first library school at an Australian university which opened in 1960 and he remained Director of the School of Librarianship until his retirement in 1968 1 Later life EditFollowing his retirement Metcalfe continued to write about subject indexing and information retrieval 14 John Metcalfe died on 7 February 1982 at Katoomba 1 Works EditMetcalfe John 1965 Alphabetical subject indication of information Graduate School of Library Service Rutgers the State University Metcalfe John 1968 Book production and reproduction notes for students of librarianship 2nd ed ed James Bennett Metcalfe John 1945 Cultural institutions in the Australian community to hell with culture New Century Press Metcalfe John Dewey Melvil 1851 1931 Decimal classification and relative index 1965 Dewey s decimal classification seventeenth edition an appraisal James Bennett a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Remington G C Geoffrey Cochrane Metcalfe John 1901 1982 1945 The free library movement 1935 1945 New Century Press a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Metcalfe John 1957 Information indexing and subject cataloging alphabetical classified coordinate mechanical Scarecrow Press Metcalfe John 1976 Information retrieval British amp American 1876 1976 Scarecrow Press ISBN 978 0 8108 0875 1 Metcalfe John 1966 Subject arrangement and indexing of information notes for students James Bennett Metcalfe John 1959 Subject classifying and indexing of libraries and literature Angus and Robertson retrieved 21 July 2014Honours and awards EditIn 1936 Metcalfe was awarded a fellowship of the Library Association of the United Kingdom Metcalfe was made a fellow of the Library Association of Australia in 1964 In 1973 he was awarded the H C L Anderson award by the Library Association of Australia The Metcalfe Auditorium at the State Library of New South Wales is named in his memory The Metcalfe Medallion now known as the Metcalfe Award is awarded in his honour by the Australian Library and Information Association for outstanding student work 15 See also EditState Library of New South Wales William Herbert IfouldReferences Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Jones David J 2012 Metcalfe John Wallace 1901 1982 Metcalfe John Wallace 1901 1982 Australian Dictionary of Biography Canberra National Centre of Biography Australian National University Retrieved 21 July 2014 Jones David J David John 1993 William Herbert Ifould and the development of library services in New South Wales 1912 1942 Sydney N S W retrieved 22 July 2014 LIBRARY APPOINTMENT The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 5 December 1932 p 10 Retrieved 22 July 2014 a b c Metcalfe John Rayward W Boyd 1939 1996 Developing a profession of librarianship in Australia travel diaries and other papers of John Wallace Metcalfe ALIA Press ISBN 978 0 86804 508 5 a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Metcalfe John 1935 Public library systems in Australia a paper based on one read to the Australian Library Association Conference held in Melbourne on November 22 and 23rd 1933 John Metcalfe retrieved 22 July 2014 Munn Ralph Pitt Ernest R Ernest Roland 1877 1957 Carnegie Corporation of New York 1935 Australian libraries a survey of conditions and suggestions for their improvement Australian Council for Educational Research retrieved 9 July 2014 a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link LIBRARIES The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 16 April 1935 p 10 Retrieved 22 July 2014 Metcalfe John 1935 Report of Mr John Metcalfe B A deputy principal librarian Public library of New South Wales on his return from a tour in the United Kingdom and the United States of America carried out with the assistance of a grant from the Carnegie corporation of New York 1934 5 Sydney N S W retrieved 22 July 2014 Remington G C Metcalfe John 1945 The Free Library Movement 1935 1945 The Australian Quarterly 17 2 87 97 doi 10 2307 20631273 JSTOR 20631273 a b Australian Library History Conference 9th 2009 Prahan Vic McMullin B J Brian John 2010 Collections characters and communities the shaping of libraries in Australia and New Zealand Australian Scholarly Publishing ISBN 978 1 921509 61 2 Whyte Jean P Jean Primrose Jones David J David John 1946 2007 Uniting a profession the Australian Institute of Librarians 1937 1949 Australian Library and Information Association ISBN 978 0 86804 565 8 a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Metcalfe John 1947 John Metcalfe Unesco diary Sydney Sunday October 26 Mexico City Tuesday Nov 4 1947 J Metcalfe retrieved 21 July 2014 School of Librarianship 1959 1992 School of Information Library and Archive Studies 1992 1999 PDF UNSW University Archives Retrieved 22 July 2014 Jones David J November 2007 Unfinished business John Metcalfe and his professional association Australian Library Journal 56 3 4 444 461 doi 10 1080 00049670 2007 10722435 S2CID 109091106 Metcalfe Award Australian Library and Information Association Retrieved 21 July 2014 Further reading EditAustralian Library History Forum 5th 1992 University of New South Wales Rayward W Boyd 1939 University of New South Wales School of Information Library and Archive Studies 1993 Libraries and life in a changing world the Metcalfe years 1920 1970 papers from Australian Library History Forum V at the University of New South Wales 6 7th November 1992 School of Information Library and Archive Studies the University of New South Wales ISBN 978 0 7334 0014 8 Carter Ruth C Myall Carolynne 1949 1998 Portraits in cataloging and classification theorists educators and practitioners of the late twentieth century Haworth Press ISBN 978 0 7890 0543 4 Langker Bob May 1984 John Wallace Metcalfe a personal recollection Australasian College Libraries 2 2 61 65 retrieved 22 July 2014 Nelson Jack R 11 May 1998 John Wallace Metcalfe Cataloging amp Classification Quarterly 25 2 3 199 208 doi 10 1300 J104v25n02 16 Olding R K John Metcalfe and the Subject Catalogue Australian Library Journal 20 May 1971 13 16 Rayward W Boyd Central and Other Mysteries in Librarianship The Writings of John Wallace Metcalfe Australian Library Journal 36 November 1987 208 25 Rayward W Boyd 1939 Library Association of Australia 1976 The variety of librarianship essays in honour of John Wallace Metcalfe Library Association of Australia ISBN 978 0 909915 42 1 a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Tully Bill March 1998 John Metcalfe librarian by accident eccentric by nature and democratic by instinct Australian Academic amp Research Libraries 29 1 42 50 doi 10 1080 00048623 1998 10755037 Retrieved 22 July 2014 Whyte Jean P John Metcalfe and the Library Association of Australia Australian Library Journal 20 May 1971 5 13 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John Metcalfe librarian amp oldid 1170217742, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
