Discusses the changing perception of information from a public good to a private commodity and the implications of this change for information providers and users. The situation in Australia is described, including the government's emerging policy on information as a commodity and its effects on libraries and users. (25 notes with references) (CLB)

Reviews the formation of the Australian Institute of Librarians, which was forwarded in 1937 and dissolved in 1949, and the achievements of its founders. Particular attention is paid to the inaugural meeting, conferences, and the importance of branches of the institute. (19 notes with references) (Author/CLB)

Discusses the difficulties encountered in accessing online information on women and women's issues that results from the indexing of relevant items across several databases. A project designed to index literature on employment, equality, and gender within a single database is described. (CLB)

Reviews John Wallace Metcalfe's writing on the nature and function of the public library in Australian society, the constitution and regulation of education for librarianship, and techniques for cataloging and indexing. (51 notes with references) (Author/CLB)

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)

Some of the themes and issues raised at the 50th Anniversary Conference of the Library Association of Australia are summarized in two articles. Highlights include historical development of the association, achievements in professional standards and recognition, and the need for policies to guide future development. (CLB)

Summarizes the arguments for and against fees in public libraries, and discusses whether the fee controversy is one of alternative technical means of securing funding, or of competing visions of the role of the public library. (Author/CLB)

The needs and expectations of members of the Library Association of Australia are explored in four articles. Highlights include fee requirements, lobbying by the association, the inclusion of information professionals in the membership, the possible role of trade unions, and the distribution of women in leadership positions. (CLB)

Examines the place of fiction in the library collection, the attitudes and practices of Australian librarians with respect to fiction, and the factors, including historical ones, which have shaped these attitudes. A proposal for a new approach to fiction in public libraries is presented. (Author/CLB)

Examines a number of issues facing the Australian library and information services community in the area of continuing education, including recommendations of the Library Association of Australia, the cost of continuing education activities, the role and responsibility of schools of library and information studies, and notions of coordination.…

Outlines the processes undertaken at Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education to identify an appropriate basis for a course to educate information professionals to work in a range of positions inside and outside the library setting. The philosophies, assumptions, and beliefs of the course design team are presented. (Author/CLB)

The first of two articles examines the process of obtaining federal aid in Australia by comparing a successful effort by school libraries and a failure to obtain public library funding. The second explores the potentially negative effects of defending professional rights and status to the extent of alienating funding agencies. (CLB)

Discusses the effects of information technology on the environment within which the typical academic library must operate and the effects of the resulting environmental turbulence on the general social context of the university and on the relationship between the university and its libraries. (Author/CLB)

Discusses the responsibility of local libraries to provide information services to local government and act as a contact point between the government and its community. The distinction between internal and external information sources is examined, and problems of information delivery resulting from a lack of inter-council cooperation are…

Describes an investigation that assessed the effectiveness of Australian indexing and abstracting services in their bibliographic control of the literature of library and information science. Conclusions about the coverage of the literature are presented, and methods for improvement are suggested. (CLB)