Organizational Change at the State Library of New South Wales and the University of Canberra Library: Perception and the broader picture

To the front‐line soldier, war is far from being the kind of experience described by military historians and analysed by the strategists and generals. From the memoirs of those soldiers fortunate enough to have survived the battles which they fought usually emerges a picture of incomprehensible marches and movement, fragmented, intense action, and unconnected but significant details. There is no sense of the purposeful moves and counter‐moves, and unified patterns of action, seen by the historian or the general. While the analytical, “bird's‐eye” perspective may appear to make more sense of the events, it does so only at the cost of over‐simplification and loss of authenticity. A full account of a battle ought really to reflect the different “realities” perceived by the various observers and participants, but very few military historians have been able to do this. A notable exception is John Keegan, in The Face of Battle, who succeeds in conveying an impression of the individual soldier's perception of a battle, as well as giving the broader, analytical picture.