The President of ALIA writes about expectations for the Public Libraries Summit, and provides an account of what took place on the day of the meeting, and what has taken place since. In funding terms, the most likely areas of productive engagement with the federal government are considered to be: children, early learning and a literate Australia;…

Areas in library and information science which need to be addressed by the Library Association of Australia are explored in three articles. The need for information skills education within the school community, the formulation of a national information policy, and financial management of the association are discussed. (CLB)

The "Victorian Free Library Service Board Act" of 1946 was the culmination of a long campaign to replace the mechanics' institute model of library provision with free libraries funded by state and local government. Given that library reform required legislation by the state government, this paper is mainly concerned with the political…