MY CAREER IN LIBRARIANSHIP

by WILLIAM A G ALISON FLA

W A G Alison, President of the Library Association, 1979,

1916 Born in Edinburgh on 23rd October.

1921 Attended Bonington Academy in Leith.

1924 Enrolled in Daniel Stewart's College in Edinburgh.

1934 Gained my Leaving Certificate.

1935 Left school and joined the staff of the Edinburgh Public Libraries.

1940 Called up for military service and joined the Royal Air Force.

1942 Married whilst on embarkation leave.

1946 Demobilised and returned to work in the Edinburgh Central Library.

1947 Awarded my Charter certificate.

1950 Awarded my Fellowship.

1954 Appointed Treasurer of the Scottish Library Association.

1961 Given the task of establishing and opening a Scottish department in the Central Library.

1962 Left Edinburgh on my appointment as Superintendent of District Libraries in .

1964 Appointed Deputy City Librarian.

1972 Work commenced on the extension to the Mitchell Library.

1974 Appointed City Librarian.

1975 Designation of post altered to Director of Libraries. Appointed President of the Scottish Library Association.

1976 Accepted an invitation to visit libraries in Bavaria.

1977 Received a Silver Jubilee Medal from the Queen. The Mitchell Library celebrated its Centenary.

1979 Appointed President of the Library Association.

1981 Opening of the Mitchell Library Extension. Visit to Zimbabwe for the British Council.

1982 Retirement. Visit to Bahrain for the British Council.

1983 Visit to Syria for the British Council.

1989 Associate editor of "Library Buildings, 1984-1989"

I was born on 23rd October 1916 in Edinburgh. I was an only child and my mother was a housewife. My father was involved in various businesses - a fruit and flower shop in Edinburgh and another in Leith followed by an artificial florist business in Edinburgh. Before he retired he had owned and managed several small hotels in Edinburgh. He was always anxious for me to go into business but I was never attracted to the insecurity of business.

When I reached my 5th birthday in 1921 I was attending Bonington Academy, a private primary school round the corner from our home in Leith. The school catered for children for three years.

In 1924 I was enrolled in Daniel Stewart's College, a fee-paying public school in Edinburgh. This involved travelling to and from the school by train or bus as the school was at some distance from my home. In addition to my studies I became involved in both rugby and athletics as well as taking an active part in the Literary and Debating Society.

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Seated in a classroom in my Edinburgh school in 1934 studying for the university entrance examinations a notice was read out from the headmaster. It intimated that a vacancy existed for a library assistant in the central library. Librarianship had never featured among my career prospects as I had never been in a library but for some unknown reason I decided to apply for the vacancy and I was appointed.

My training began in the lending department of the Central library in George IV Bridge. I spent most of the time checking and arranging books on the shelves and reshelving returned books - the duties of a junior assistant. In charge of the Edinburgh libraries was E A Savage and, on the few occasions I saw him looking at the books in the lending department, I thought he was checking to see if they were in order. One of the other duties that fell to me, being a male, was to supervise the large Newsroom in the basement. The newspapers were attached to wooden slopes and were read when standing. All the racing pages were obliterated by a rubber ink roller. Whilst in the Newsroom I spent some of the time writing library tickets for new members.

After some time in the lending department I was transferred upstairs to the Reference department where I became involved in dealing with readers' enquiries and familiarising myself with the stock of reference books.

Having joined the Library Association in 1935 I soon began my studies. In these pre-war years there were no library schools but correspondence courses were available for part time study. The outbreak of war in 1939 brought my studies to a temporary halt.

In preparation for my call-up I underwent training with the Red Cross and, having passed the various examinations, I prepared myself to serve in the medical section of the Royal Air Force. I was called up early in 1940 and after six weeks of medical training I joined a squadron to which I was attached until I was demobbed in the middle of 1946. I returned home to be with my wife whom I had married in 1942 when on embarkation leave.

On my return to duty in the central library I was sent to work with another assistant in the Fine Art department which dealt with both reference and lending books. Art had been one of my subjects at school and I soon immersed myself in the various branches of art and I very much enjoyed the many years I spent in that department.

I immediately resumed my studies, passed the requisite examinations and received my charter certificate in 1947. Three years later I was awarded my fellowship.

I was now faced with contemplating on my future in the profession and I was considerably helped in this when I was appointed branch librarian of Fountainbridge library, one of the large branch libraries, and became responsible for the supervision and training of staff and dealing with the needs of readers.

I attended branch meetings of the Scottish Library Association and soon found myself elected to the Association's council and in due course was appointed Treasurer in 1954, a post I held for eleven years. I was also business manager of the Association's newssheet, "SLA News", during the same period.

I also became involved in the National and Local Government Officers' Association (NALGO). at that time the local government trade union. We were seeking to improve the salary gradings of local government officers in which were inferior to those in England. I represented the library staff on the local committee, attended meetings and conferences and became chairman of the branch.

In 1961, having spent many years as a branch librarian, I was moved to the central library to set up and open a special department devoted to Scottish books, both reference and lending, and periodicals. With a staff of four this was another special subject department similar to that dealing with the Fine Arts. In the Edinburgh libraries the books were classified by the Library of Congress scheme and Scottish books had the letter 'X' before the classmark which greatly facilitated the removal of the books from both the lending and reference departments. The classmarks on reference books were preceded by a small 'w' . In addition to the books the appropriate catalogue cards had to be removed and arranged in the new department's catalogue cabinet. This new Scottish department also involved supervision of the long established Edinburgh local collection with its staff of two.

My time in this department lasted about a year. It terminated in 1962 when I was successful with my application for the advertised post of Superintendent of District Libraries in Glasgow. I applied for this post as I considered I had gained experience in various branches of librarianship which would serve me well in another large library service.

The Glasgow library service had its headquarters in the Mitchell Library. The imposing domed building on North Street near Charing Cross was opened in 1911, the third location for the library which was first opened in 1887 from the bequest of Stephen Mitchell, tobacco manufacturer in Glasgow. It is a reference library and in addition to the main reading hall it had a Music room, a Glasgow room and a Library of Science and Technology. It also had a bindery and office accommodation including the Superintendent's department which became my responsibility.

I took up my appointment in Glasgow in August 1962 and was soon able to bring my wife and daughters to their new home in the south of the city. My duties involved visiting thirty- six libraries in different parts of the city and getting to know the staff. I gained a reputation for remembering names. Getting about in a city the size of Glasgow involved a lot of travelling by bus and on foot until I was given the use of a car which was a great saving in time. My office in the Mitchell Library adjoined the Superintendent's department where the staff dealt with the acquisition of stock for the district libraries and their classification and cataloguing. I recall that at that time we lost several very capable young female assistants because on marrying they had to resign. In those days a wife's place was in the home.

Only a few months after my arrival in Glasgow I was travelling by train into the Central station and, as we crossed the , I noticed smoke arising from the direction of the Mitchell Library. On reaching the library it was to find several fire engines and many firemen tackling the blaze which was engulfing the St, Andrew's Halls which occupied an island site with the Mitchell Library. Concern was felt about the safety of the library but there was a fire break between the two buildings and the library suffered no damage.

After serving two years as Superintendent of District Libraries, in 1964 the City Librarian, C W Black, came into my office one day to tell me that I had been appointed Deputy City Librarian. I held that post for ten years but I found it rather frustrating as the City Librarian was not a believer in delegating. He and his predecessors all practised autocratic management. He was never a believer in delegation. The modern concept of management held no appeal for him. Because of this he was not the easiest of men with whom to work. I had to occupy my time in different ways and undertook the interviewing of applicants for posts and making appointments. Among those I interviewed were several young ladies who had completed one year at a teacher training college on the advice of their school's career advisor and found that teaching did not appeal. I had to warn them that having obtained a grant to attend a teacher training college they were unlikely to obtain a grant to attend a library school. I maintained general supervision of the library and dealt with any problems that arose. I also became interested in the automation of the circulation system in the district libraries. I interviewed representatives of various firms which eventually led to the installation of the Plessey Library Pen system in 1974 which in eighteen months was operational in all lending libraries.

What might have been a disaster following the destruction of the St Andrew's Halls putting the adjacent Mitchell Library at considerable risk brought the opportunity for further extension to the library. Within two months of the fire the City Librarian submitted a report to the Libraries committee outlining the need for the further extension to the library and recommending the acquisition of the St Andrew’s Halls site for the purpose. After much private and public debate the site was transferred to the Libraries department and in 1966 architects were appointed. From then on much of my time and that of the City Librarian was taken up with working with the architects. Radical alterations were proposed in the organisation of the library which were likely to change its character completely. It was proposed that the library be completely departmentalised.

Following the retirement of C W Black in 1974, I was successful, following my interview, in being appointed City Librarian which gave me the opportunity to reorganise the administration of the department. As a believer in delegating I set up a management team composed of senior members of the staff representing the main departments of the service. We met weekly where matters affecting the service were discussed and decisions made.

The demise of the Corporation of the City of Glasgow and the creation of the City of Glasgow District Council in May 1975 had a considerable effect upon the Libraries department. The designation City Librarian became Director of Libraries and the libraries in and in two districts in Lanarkshire were added to our department.

I prepared a report which I submitted to the committee which had been appointed to deal with the department's business. In the "Report and recommendations on the management and staffing structure of the City of Glasgow District Library Service", I outlined the many changes that were proposed. The report was accepted and implementation proceeded. For administrative purposes the department was divided into four clearly defined areas of responsibility - Reference services, Lending services, Bibliographic services and Administrative services - each under the control of a senior official. These officials with the Director formed the senior management team which met weekly to review the work of the department. The delegation of responsibility was inherent in this new pattern of management. This applied to all levels and lines of communication and has been established between management and staff. Regular meetings of the senior staff were held and a staff bulletin published monthly. Working parties of interested members of staff were set up to study specific projects and advise management. This involvement of the staff stimulated interest in the work of the department as a whole.

With 43 district libraries and one mobile library we divided them into seven geographical divisions each with a divisional librarian responsible to the Assistant Director (Lending services). A children's librarian was appointed to each of the seven divisions with a Young People's Service Librarian in charge.

With over 200,000 books added to the libraries in a year the processing of stock was undertaken by the Bibliographic Services department under the Bibliographic Services Librarian. The Reference services were the least affected by reorganisation and the services provided in the Mitchell Library and the Commercial Library, which was located in the basement of the Royal Exchange building, were continued and were expanded with the opening of the extension under the direction of the Assistant Director (Reference services).

The Administrative services came under the direction of the Deputy Director and included several miscellaneous services. With a large and varied staff there was a continuing need for training at all levels and considerable progress was made following the appointment of a Recruitment and Training Librarian who also interviewed, selected and appointed staff. The Special Activities department was staffed by graphic artists and a Masseeley machine operator. With coin operated copying machines installed in the Mitchell Library and other libraries the staff of the Photographic department were mainly engaged in photostat and microfilm work. The Automated Systems department with six staff controlled the operation of the Plessey Pen circulation system.

The established staff of the service in 1975 was 443 and included142 posts for chartered librarians.

During the two years following reorganisation considerable progress was made in developing the service. In 1975 after working closely with the architect we opened Hillhead district library, which was the first of our libraries to provide an audio collection and to operate the automated loan recording system. It soon established itself as the busiest lending library in the city. Two other new libraries were opened in Hutchesontown and the other in Temple, which was part of a community complex. New libraries were planned for Darnley and Ibrox, the former was opened in 1979 and the latter in 1981. The old-established Langside library was extended and modernised and several oldish libraries underwent modernisation.

Since the middle of 1976 the cataloguing of additions to the Mitchell Library had been by computer output microfilm on a co-operative basis. Since joining the Birmingham Libraries Co-operative Mechanisation Project (BLCMP), the library received its catalogue on microfilm updated monthly and copies were available for public consultation.

The International Association of Metropolitan City Libraries (INTAMEL) held its conference each year in different parts of the world, which was attended by the librarians of cities with a population of over 400,000. My predecessor had attended several of these conferences in Japan, America and Italy and I was privileged to attend that held in West Germany in 1974 with time spent in Hamburg, Bremen, West Berlin and Hanover. In 1977 the conference was held in the Netherlands in Rotterdam, The Hague and Amsterdam and in Canada in 1978 with time spent in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. Vienna was the location of the 1979 conference with Scotland in 1980. The Scottish conference was hosted by Glasgow with one day spent in Edinburgh and was attended by 52 delegates from 14 countries representing 32 cities. The 1981 conference was held in Budapest and that in 1982 in Mexico City. The opportunity to visit libraries in other large cities and meeting their librarians and staff, discussing common problems and seeing the manner in which certain of these had been solved made these visits well worthwhile.

In May 1976, I, along with the Edinburgh University Librarian, undertook a study tour of libraries in Bavaria at the invitation of the Library Association of the Federal Republic of Germany and the British Council. Our base was in Munich and we visited state, university and special libraries in Munich, Regensberg, Nurnberg and Bamberg. Although I was not given the opportunity to visit any public libraries the functions of those libraries I did visit are similar to those of the Mitchell Library and consequently their planning and administration were of particular interest. On one evening in the Bavarian State Library in Munich I gave an illustrated talk on the Mitchell Library and some of the more recent library buildings in Glasgow.

I had been a council member of the Scottish Library Association since 1950 and in 1975 I was appointed President. My presidential address at the annual conference held in Peebles was appropriately entitled "The challenge of change dictated by events".

From 1977 to 1980 I served on the National Library of Scotland's Library Co-operation committee.

In 1977 I received a Silver Jubilee Medal from the Queen and in the same year the Mitchell Library celebrated its centenary of service to the community.

Whilst attending a meeting in the Birmingham Central Library in 1978 I was called to the telephone. On the line was Keith Lawrey, Secretary of the Library Association, to tell me that I had been elected the Association's President for the year 1979. This news came as a very great surprise as I was very unfamiliar with what went on in Ridgmount Street, a place with which I was to become very familiar. When I was elected President of the Library Association it was only the second time in the Association's 102 years history that a Scottish- born librarian working in his native country was so honoured. This made the honour conferred on me doubly gratifying as I looked upon it not only as a personal conferment but as a recognition of the contribution made to the profession by Scottish libraries and librarians.

At the beginning of January 1979 I travelled down to London along with my family to be invested with the presidential badge and to meet members of the council and the staff at headquarters. My presidential duties involved frequent visits to London to attend council and committee meetings and visits to various parts of the country. In the year I travelled 23,000 miles within the country by trains, planes and car. The annual conference that year was held in Nottingham University where I delivered my presidential address entitled "Grasping the nettle". I also attended the conference in Dublin of the two library associations in Ireland as well as a special meeting held in Belfast. I was delegated to attend the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference in Copenhagen followed immediately afterwards by that year's INTAMEL conference in Vienna.

In 1981 I received a telephone call from the British Council in London inviting me to visit Zimbabwe, which had only recently gained its independence, to prepare a development plan for a national library service. I spent three weeks touring about the country and spent some time in both Salisbury (Harare) and Bulawayo. I compiled a 42 page report for the British Council in which I formulated and costed a development plan for a national system of libraries, including public libraries, and determined the training needs of the library profession and suggested ways of satisfying them.

Work had commenced on the construction of the extension to the Mitchell Library in 1972. Planning of this thirteen storey building which added 35,000 square metres to the existing 15,000 square metres occupied quite a lot of time with the architects during the eight years it took to complete at a cost of £11.5 million. In 1981 we closed the library to the public for one week to enable us to move the stock into the seven new subject departments and we opened the extended Mitchell Library to the public on 1st June when it became the largest public reference library in Europe.

By this time the number of staff in the Libraries department had increased to 534 with 259 manual staff.

A few months later on my 65th birthday it was necessary for me to retire and hand over the responsibility for administrating the Glasgow library service to my very able Deputy Director, Andrew Miller, who had greatly assisted me during my seven years as Director and who was appointed Director to succeed me.

In 1982 following my retirement I received another invitation from the British Council. This time it was to visit Bahrain, an island in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia, to advise on establishing a new central library to replace the present inadequate accommodation. I visited the island shortly before Christmas and with the government architect I prepared a plan of a proposed library which I submitted to the British Council.

In the following year the British Council invited me to visit Syria to advise on the staffing. stocking and administration of the new Assad National Library in Damascus, named after the country's president, which was under construction. On my arrival at the airport I was told I was a guest of the government and was given the use of a car and a driver as well as an interpreter which enabled me to travel about the country and visit libraries in Aleppo and Homs as well as in Damascus. These visits acquainted me with the planning and administration of libraries in Syria and the particular problems thereof. My twenty-one page report to the British Council dealt with the allocation of accommodation in the large building, the staffing and administration, the recruitment and training of staff and the equipment required.

In 1989 I received a request from K C Harrison to join the editorial board of "Library Buildings 1984-1989" of which he was editor. There were five librarians on the board and I recall we met in Uxbridge library when each of us was allocated libraries to visit in certain parts of the country. I was given responsibility for visiting public libraries in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This involved much travelling throughout Scotland with a flying visit to the island of Benbecula as well as a flying visit to Northern Ireland. I had the opportunity to visit many libraries which had recently been built or extended and I selected twenty-four that were worthy of inclusion in the volume - twenty-one in Scotland and three in Northern Ireland. I described these buildings in some detail and included photographs I had taken. The volume was published in 1990.

When compiling this I had been retired for twenty years and I look back on that day in 1934 when I applied for the post of library assistant in the Edinburgh central library without knowing what lay ahead and with little knowledge of libraries. Little did I imagine that one day I would reach the pinnacle of the profession of librarianship and become president of both the Scottish Library Association and the Library Association. These were honours indeed! I look back with much satisfaction on the forty years I spent in libraries, the staff I worked with and the many members of the profession I came in contact with at meetings and conferences I attended. My travels abroad brought me in touch with many librarians in other countries and gave me the opportunity to learn from them of the administration of libraries in other countries, several of which I visited. It broadened my knowledge of international librarianship.

Architecture has always been one of my special interests and I particularly welcomed the opportunity to work with architects in the planning of the extension to the Mitchell Library and several district libraries. I also welcomed the opportunity to visit and comment upon other library buildings in both our own country and in others which I was privileged to visit.

I have many memories of my active involvement in librarianship which I have attempted to recount and these have given me both pride and much satisfaction.