STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE RT. HON. HAROLD HOLT

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER,

THE RT. HON. HAROLD HOLT IN THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

19TH OCTOBER, 1967

APPOINTMENTS OF NATIONAL LIBRARIAN

AND PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARIAN

From 1st January, 1968, the two positions of National
Librarian and Parliamentary Librarian, which to date have been
vested in the one office, will be separated in recognition of
the development of the two libraries and the completion of the
new National Library building next year.
Mr. H. L. White, C. B. i3., who has performed the dual
functions since 1947, will occupy the newly created statutory
office of National Librarian and, by virtue of this appointment,
will vacate the office of Parliamentary Librarian.
On the recommendation of the presiding officers of
the Parliament, Mr. A. P. Fleming, Special Commercial
Adviser, Department of Trade and Industry, who is at present
stationed in London, will be promoted as Parliamentary Librarian
with the particular responsibility of developing the recently
established Legislative Research Service for the Parliament.
The appointment of Mr. WVhite and the promotion of
Mr. Fleming follow an amendment to the National Library Act
earlier this year. This will assist the separation of the
functions of the two libraries. NVhile it might be somewhat
overstating it to describe this separation as something of a
milestone in Parliamentary and national history, there is no
doubt it is of great importance because it marks a point in
our development where we have found two separate institutions
to be necessary. Perhaps the House would allow me to mention briefly
the Mr. White, who will assume the post of National Librarian,
has since 1947 held with distinction both that post and the
post of Parliamentary Librarian. He has actually been in the
service of the Parliament for 45 years a longer period, I
understand, than anyone else. We wish him success in his new
and important office.

ALLAN P. FLEMING,
PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARIAN ELECT
Mr. Fleming is aged 55 and is a Bachelor of Arts of
Melbourne University. Before and immediately after the war he was a
journalist with the Argus and the Courier Mail. Mr. Fleming
served in the rising from Private in 1939 to the rank
of Lt. Colonel in 1943. He held several appointments, the last
being General Staff Officer I ( Operations, Land Headquarters).
He was awarded the O. B. E. and twice mentioned in Despatches.
His work with the Commonwealth Public Service since
the war has been widely varied. It has included the planning
and conduct of research as the first Director of the Joint
Intelligence Bureau and later Controller of Joint Service
organisations within the Department of Defence until 1958.
It has also covered since substantial negotiation
and conference for the Department of Trade first as Trade
Commissioner in Paris and London, then as First Assistant
Secretary in charge of the International Trade Relations
Division, and since 1966 as Special Commercial Adviser in
London. Mr. Fleming has been a member or leader of delegations
to G. A. T. T. and United Nations conferences on trade
and development.

http://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-1691

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52 Ancestors Week 10 - Brain Storming - Thank you Allan FLEMING!

The optional theme for week 10 is 'stormy weather' but I couldn't come up with anything to fit that theme so I changed it slightly to 'Brain storming'  to suit a recent article I found on my mum's cousin, Allan FLEMING.  The print is faded and a little hard to read in places so I have transcribed the article below.  
With all the research I have done for my family history using the National Library, to find out that my mum's cousin was amongst those that made it possible is amazing.  I never knew him but I certainly wish I  had.   Thanks Allan!

The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) 12 Jun 1973 

 Librarian to retire - once more

Writing a book might be next

By Gay Davidson

Mr Allan Fleming, National Librarian for the past three years, will be retiring within the next few months from his fifth but, hopefully, not his last career.

At 61 he has worked in journalism, the Army Defence intelligence, Trade and Industry and the Parliamentary and National Libraries.  Now he is thinking of trying his hand at writing.

Mr Fleming began at the Melbourne Argus and went on to the Brisbane Courier Mail.  During World War II he rose from private to lieutenant-colonel, and after the war spent 11 years in Defence, beginning as director of the old Joint Intelligence Bureau and finishing as controller of the Joint Services Organisation.

Then he switched to Trade and Industry, with three years in Paris as trade commissioner, four years in Canberra as a first assistant secretary in international and policy divisions and a further year in London as special commercial adviser.  In 1968 ge became Commonwealth Parliamentary Librarian, and two years later National Librarian.

Does not have monument

Mr. Fleming is not a librarian and he does not have a monument to be remembered by, as the last non-librarian, Sir Harold White, has in the actual building by the lake.

But in the past three years he has achieved a solid organisational structure and has begun the research and the committees to produce a national information policy oriented towards user needs.

When Mr Fleming took up post there was just one level one second-division and five senior third-division positions; now there is an assistant National Librarian (on level two) and two more level ones in the second division, plus 11 principal librarians (class 10) and senior third-division computer and publication staff.

"You can't get anywhere without people in libraries," Mr Fleming said yesterday, "but the more I inquire into the library world, the more it becomes evident that speed is an important characteristic.

'Introduced a computer'

"Information is a national asset and a national resource, consequently there is an increasing international competitiveness about it.  That's where computers come in, in integrating all areas of information and making information quickly available to users everywhere.

"Joint intelligence was an information-processing job.  It required indexing, analysis, librarians, linguists, scientists, engineers and economists to collect, process, assess and control a mass of information - and making sure the stuff was distributed to the right people fast.  So I introduced a computer."

"Now we're looking to computers and telecommunications to do that and much more at the National Library.  We're moving toward fulfilling our national functions of maintaining and developing a national collection of information and making the material quickly available everywhere and we're doing it in modern terms."

The National Library has been doing that job in one specialised area for the past three years with the MEDLARS medical literature and analysis retrieval system service.  Material is gathered in Australia, Europe and the U.S, fed into the National Library of Medicine in the U.S. and is available here through tapes sent from America.

Searching Tapes.

The National Library uses the Department of Health computer for storing and searching the tapes, with its own search analysis converting more than 200 requests each month from Australia and New Zealand into search formulation on subjects ranging from the role of the nurse, in Australia and encephalitis in tigers to heart conditions caused by lightning.

For the past 2 1/2 years an eminent connittee of the library, the Scientific and Technological Information Services Enquiry Committee (STISEC) has been investigating the needs and deficiencies in this area.  Last month it presented its report, concluding that a scientific and technological information service system should not be created in isolation, but, as an integrated part of a total information system.

World authority.

During the investigation a lot of use was make of work already done by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development; a world authority.  Dr B. Tell, was brought out from Sweden where he helped set up a national information system, the library began a research committee with a research engineer from the Post-Master-General's Department to look into telecommunication feasibility and costs and seminars were held at the library to begin an education process on users and librarians.

"It has been possible to take information for granted in the past, but not now". Mr Fleming said.

"The actual mass of information will double in the next 20 years, but the people who are here now will still be here then.

Past methods of coping will not be adequate so we must be getting ready for it.  Already we are seven or eight years behind most of the developed countries, which means most of us are up to 15 years behind in our thinking.

"The size of the problem is such that it needs co-ordination and rationalisation in the collecting and processing of material, and it needs to be done in one central place to make information services easily available without duplication.

"That sounds like empire building, but there's no suggestion of our taking over other libraries - we'll simply be linked in to provide access to all that's publicly available.  We do have the national responsibility and a lot of people relying on us.  Besides we have to explain frankly why we need more money and more staff.  The National Library vote is around six million dollars, increasing by 10 to 15 per cent each year.  The initial handling of information material has to be done by people but the later manipulation can be done by computer and the transmission by telecommunication.  We already have som computer-services costs - so its simply a matter of upping our percentage increase and making the computer and telecommunication investments that are needed anyway."

Increasing the budget may well be the "simple matter"  that Mr Fleming suggested.  The President of the Senate, Sir Magnus Cormack, in announcing his retirement from the Council of the National Library, spoke last Thursday of it becoming "the centre of a system of knowledge retrieval....... hooked into a world-wide system".

And the Leader of the Government, Senator Murphy, went rather further in saying that the alteration in the concept of the National Library was "probably the most important even in the progress of Australia".

"If one were to select a project on which money should be spent", he said, "I suppose there is no endeavour whatever in Australia ..... which would be more important.  There is no project which is more deserving of support from all Australia than this concept of a national information centre which we hope will be fairly soon realised".

In spite of being immersed the new concept for three years and now beginning to see some public awareness of its importance, Mr Fleming is convinced that he will be able to stop, relax and leave it alone in three or four months.

French village

But just to make sure, he is thinking of taking off to a French village for a couple of years, making trips around Europe and starting his first book.

"I don't know what it will be".  he admitted.  "I haven't had time to think anything else through recently.  I suppose it's a bit late now but I did have a plan to move in fast when Ian Fleming died.

"I even wrote the first sentence:  'The son of James Bond slowed his Maserati down to 160 miles an hour and lit a cigarette' ".

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110714168

52 Ancestors Challenge 
by Amy Johnson Crow at "No Story Too Small"