Comment

I spent most of February looking at public libraries in the four Australian states of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. A report on this study visit has been presented to the British Library which is an account of my tour followed by some recommendations for further investigations which it would be valuable for British librarians to carry out. There is a great deal of activity going on ‘down under’ that took this ancient public librarian quite by surprise. Now at the end of my career, I have spent all my adult life either working in or studying public libraries—and not only in the United Kingdom, for in the last twenty years I have had the good fortune to see something of the services provided in each of the continents of the world and in something like a couple of dozen countries. Seldom in Australia did I have a feeling of déjà vu: much of the time I was quite taken aback by the inventiveness, innovation and quality of the provision. The rest of this short article is an attempt to convey a few of the surprises and pleasures that befell me.