Progressive reform and the moral mission in Australian public libraries at the beginning of the “Information Age”

Progressive ideas about library economy, emanating from American and British libraries, contributed directly to the development of local procedures in public libraries in Australia in the late nineteenth century. The new consciousness of library professionalism, and scientific approaches to classification and library organization, led to new ideas on library design and functioning in the major Australian public libraries, building upon a consideration of local conditions and requirements. These developments coincided fruitfully with the Federation period, when the separate Australian colonies joined to form the Australian nation. Librarians sought to modernize their institutions in a positively charged climate of national progress, selfawareness, and pride. However, the transition to progressive practices was not uniform across the major Australian libraries. Conflicts between moral and technological values meant that some librarians rejected progressive practice and maintained older approaches, particularly in the area of classification. The Tasmanian Public Library, led by Chief Librarian Alfred J. Taylor, was an example of this. This paper examines Taylor’s approach in the wider context of changing attitudes to professionalism and library economy, his own paternalistic and humanistic approach to library organization, and the specific needs of the Tasmanian community.published or submitted for publicationOpe

Constructivism and Reconstructionism: Educating teachers for world citizenship

Public education is characterized by tension between the goals of enlightening individuals and improving society. In the United States, the emphasis has been on individual needs. We design lessons which respect for child as a maker of meaning. We teach to individual learning styles and are concerned that the curriculum make sense. Given an ideology which sees the individual as the source of economic and political welfare, we comfortably focus on their intellectual and personal growth and call it “constructivism”. At other times, education for social responsibility took priority. During economic depressions, wars and civic strife, we taught children to work together to build our country, save it, or improve it. We developed curriculum around social problems, engaged students in community service, and called it reconstructionism . America is having growing pains. We are in a time of great cultural change. The world has grown smaller To avoid the twin dangers of reactionism social instability, the debate must be resolved. Faced with polarization and growing conflict, educators must find a way to join the goal of social cohesion and improvement to the understanding that learning is essentially an idiosyncratic process of individual change. We cannot let reactionary voices who boldly confront the ethical and intellectual vacua in our public schools dictate our direction. Nor can we continue to subborn watered down political and social neutrality and confused relativism. The authors will discuss the conditions endangering our nation’s social fabric and its schools and breech the dichotomy between constructivism and reconstructionism, linking individual consciousness to social cohesion. We will illustrate how we translate theory into practice as teacher educators, committed both to our students\u27 individual enlightenment and their ultimate global citizenship

Change Leadership: A System Level Case Study

The Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta

Navigating Copyright for Libraries

Much of the information that libraries make available is protected by copyright or subject to the terms of license agreements. This reader presents an overview of current issues in copyright law reform. The chapters present salient points, overviews of the law and legal concepts, selected comparisons of approaches around the world, significance of the topic, and opportunities for reform, advocacy, and other related resources

The shared work of learning: lifting educational achievement through collaboration

This report argues that leaving the momentum of educational improvement to the status quo will result in widening inequality and stagnation in Australia. Key findings: Overall, student performance in Australia is not improving. But some schools in Australia, serving highly disadvantaged students and families, are successfully using collaboration to support student achievement. Common features of the practices in these diverse schools can be applied to strategies for wider, systemic change. This research examines how the schools and their partners use: Professional collaboration to support, sustain, evaluate and refine professional learning, and to access expertise, data and relevant practice. Local collaboration with other schools, universities, employers and community organisations to provide structure and resources for student achievement. Collaboration with students, parents and local community to build trust and social capital. Collaboration – the sharing of effort, knowledge and resources in the pursuit of shared goals – is created through a wide range of flexible, trust-based relationships. The high impact schools featured in this research: actively seek connections and resources that create value for students; develop ‘local learning systems’ to translate connections and resources into concrete actions; and apply a consistent rationale, focused on student learning, to choose and prioritise collaborative projects and relationships

Centre and Creative Periphery in the Histories of the Book in the English Speaking World and Global English Studies: A Propos The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain

A revised version of an article first published in Publishing History no 59, 2006. The later versions of this article are unedited papers

Open Access Publishing: A Literature Review

Within the context of the Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy (CREATe) research scope, this literature review investigates the current trends, advantages, disadvantages, problems and solutions, opportunities and barriers in Open Access Publishing (OAP), and in particular Open Access (OA) academic publishing. This study is intended to scope and evaluate current theory and practice concerning models for OAP and engage with intellectual, legal and economic perspectives on OAP. It is also aimed at mapping the field of academic publishing in the UK and abroad, drawing specifically upon the experiences of CREATe industry partners as well as other initiatives such as SSRN, open source software, and Creative Commons. As a final critical goal, this scoping study will identify any meaningful gaps in the relevant literature with a view to developing further research questions. The results of this scoping exercise will then be presented to relevant industry and academic partners at a workshop intended to assist in further developing the critical research questions pertinent to OAP

The development of information literacy at the University of Cape Town

Includes bibliographical references (pages 84-98).The origins and development of information literacy education at the University of Cape Town are explored. The focal research question is based on investigations into the extent in which the academic staff, librarians and students of the University of Cape Town (UCT) are prepared for or engaged in recognizing information literacy. Are the academic staff, librarians and students of UCT really aware of the information literacy agenda? Quantitative research methods are used to supplement qualitative research methods in this study. Samples were drawn from 621 academics, 64 librarians, and 19978 students - the total numbers of subjects of the study in 2003 when the fieldwork was conducted. The significant changes in the South African education system in the postapartheid era are discussed. International information literacy programs are discussed and the Griffith University information literacy blueprint is adopted as a standard for comparison. Further studies are suggested on the investigation of information literacy policies. The research results suggest that a high standard of information literacy exists at the University of Cape Town

'The end of the beginning'? : an examination of 'The New Education' and the New Education Fellowship (NEF) in New Zealand in the Interwar Period (1919-1938) with particular reference to the NEF Conference 1937 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Possibly copyrighted images in this thesis may be removed upon request by the copyright holder using the Copyright Take Down Request button below.The primary focus of this thesis was the rise of ‘the new education’ in New Zealand in the interwar years with particular reference to the New Education Fellowship (NEF) and the NEF Conference held in New Zealand in 1937. It was found that there was a greater depth of progressive policy and practice across the country than many had previously thought. Moreover, the NEF, as the largest global progressive organisation at the time, influenced educators in New Zealand in both the 1920s and 1930s through its progressive activities and its local groups. By 1937, the NEF Conference was the culmination of these progressive endeavours and the influence of the NEF. As such, the new education ideas of the Conference fell not on uninformed educators but on fertile ground. The Conference, then, served to legitimate the previous progressive policy directions, new education experiments, and the activities of progressive organisations. It also attracted a large amount of publicity and reached out to the general public throughout the country. As a consequence, the Conference served to draw to a close the first phase of the somewhat piece-meal adoption of progressive education during the interwar years and signalled the beginning of its nation-wide consolidation into the mainstream education system. In addition, the event re-energised Peter Fraser (the Minister of Education), ensured the appointment of Dr C E Beeby to the Department of Education in 1938, inspired the now famous Fraser-Beeby 1939 policy statement, and provided the educational and political platform for the Government to confidently continue with its progressive reforms in the late 1930s and 1940s, with Dr Beeby at the helm. In sum, the Conference was ‘the end of the beginning’ for new education in New Zealand