1972-1980: A concrete presence on campus
Endnotes  
1. White, Michael, 1996, WAIT to Curtin: a history of the Western Australian Institute of Technology, Paradigm Books: Curtin University, p 76 Back

Robertson Library under construction, 1968An aerial view of Robertson Library under construction, 1968.

 
2. White, Michael, 1996, WAIT to Curtin: a history of the Western Australian Institute of Technology, Paradigm Books: Curtin University, p 79 Back
3. Allen, G G, 1972, Robertson Library, Western Australian Institute of Technology Australian Library Journal, 21 (11), pp 461-466, (p 464) Back
4. Allen, G G, 1972, Robertson Library, Western Australian Institute of Technology Australian Library Journal, 21 (11), pp 461-466, (p 465) Back
5. White, Michael, 1996, WAIT to Curtin: A history of the Western Australian Institute of Technology, Paradigm Books: Curtin University, p 76 Back
6. White, Michael, 1996, WAIT to Curtin: A history of the Western Australian Institute of Technology, Paradigm Books: Curtin University, p 79 Back
7. The colour coding of floor levels was an idea Geoffrey Allen brought back from the University of Essex Library which he had visited during his Churchill Fellowship travels in 1969. He recalled that it was lost in the name of economy when the carpets needed replacing some years later. (Personal communication, June 2012) Back
8. Allen, G G, 1972, ‘Robertson Library, Western Australian Institute of Technology’, Australian Library Journal, 21 (11), pp 461-466, (p 464) Back
9. In 1972, Library staff worked within a structure encompassing technical services, reference and reader education, and systems. Back
10. Allen, G G, 1972, ‘Robertson Library, Western Australian Institute of Technology’, Australian Library Journal, 21 (11), pp 461-466, (p 465) Back
11. Allen, G G, 2012, WAIT/Curtin Library highlights [Personal communication] Back
12. Allen, G G, 1990, ‘A brief history of the WAIT Library’, In Allen, G G and Zoll, I (Eds) Coming of age in librarianship: a festschrift for the 21st birthday of the WAIT Library, Perth, Curtin University of Technology, (Western Library Studies 14) (p 53) Back
13. WAIT Library was recognised as a leader among Colleges of Advanced Education (CAE) libraries in Australia and WAIT Principal Librarian Geoffrey Allen, as inaugural chair of the Association of the Libraries of CAEs and president of the University and College Library section of the Library Association of Australia, played a key role in lobbying successfully for this grant funding. Back
14. White, Michael, 1996, WAIT to Curtin: A history of the Western Australian Institute of Technology, Paradigm Books: Curtin University, p 79 Back
15. The generous grant resulted in over 750 orders per week being placed in 1974, a yearly total of 23 000, which boosted the total library collection at this time to220 000 volumes. In the following year, over 57 000 books and 5 000 non-book items were accessioned and 1 000 orders were placed each week. Back
16. This was despite a number of additional staff, funded from the Library’s normal acquisition budget, being employed to assist in the work. Back
17. White, Michael, 1996, WAIT to Curtin: A history of the Western Australian Institute of Technology, Paradigm Books: Curtin University, p 181 Back
18. The original decision to use UDC rather than Dewey was influenced by UDC’s greater suitability for scientific and technical subjects among other factors. However, many library staff, students and academics preferred the Dewey Decimal classification with which they were more familiar. UDC was adopted on the express understanding that the British Library would be including UDC class numbers in its MARC cataloguing records but this never happened. Since UDC had been used since 1971, reclassifying the collection following the Review’s recommendations was a huge job, with the task continuing over the next three decades. Back
19. Allen, G G, 1987, ‘The automation of the Curtin University of Technology Library’, Australasian College Libraries, 5 (2/3) pp 49-62 (page 50) Back
20. Allen, G G, 2012, WAIT/Curtin Library highlights, [Personal communication] Back
21. WAIT Library catalogued journals using a strict title entry system, based on that used at the University of Western Australia. This was before the advent of international standards such as the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules or the MARC (Machine Readable Cataloguing) serials format. Back
22. The system implemented was built on the MARC-based Automated Serials System (MASS) union catalogue, which was being jointly developed in the early 1970s by the Birmingham Libraries Cooperative Mechanisation Project and the Loughborough University of Technology Library. Back
23. Murdoch University Library and for a few years, the Library of the University of Western Australia contributed records. The joint catalogue was most useful when the four Western Australian teachers’ colleges, which became in due course the Western Australian College of Advanced Education, added their journal holdings. Back
24. Allen, G G, 1987, ‘The automation of the Curtin University of Technology Library’, Australasian College Libraries, 5 (2/3) pp 49-62 (page 52) Back
25. To coincide with the purchase of the 30 000 MARC records, systems staff designed and implemented a complete master file maintenance system to make use of the records and to add local information to them. This was the first purchase of this scale made by any library from the Record Service and at the time it made WAIT the largest user of the service. Back
26. Library systems and cataloguing staff worked together to battle with the problems of input, editing and output systems and the constant adjustments necessitated by changes to record formats and cataloguing practices locally and in the wider library environment. Back
27. Apart from simplifying and speeding searching, the continuous column format achieved a higher density of records per fiche.  Allen, G G, 1987, The automation of the Curtin University of Technology Library, Australasian College Libraries, 5 (2/3) pp 49-62 (page 54) Back
28. Allen, G G, 1987, ‘The automation of the Curtin University of Technology Library’, Australasian College Libraries, 5 (2/3) pp 49-62 (page 53) Back
29. The Browne issue system involved manual handling and a system of borrower cards and book cards. When a book was borrowed the librarian took one of the reader's borrowing cards and removed the book's own card. The two cards were filed together in a tray, by date of issue, and within that date, by the key on the card. The issue date was stamped in the book. When the book was returned, the user's card was removed from the file and given back, and the book card was replaced in the book. Whilst the filed cards revealed which user had a particular book, or which books a particular reader had borrowed, this was only true whilst the loan continued. Afterwards no record of the transaction remained. (Based on description in Wikepedia accessed 3 June 2012 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browne_Issue_System) Back
30. Library staff also produced machine-readable library cards for registered borrowers in different categories such as staff, student and special borrowers.  Student and staff ID numbers were included allowing the borrowers’ files to be linked with WAIT’s administrative systems from which additional information such as contact details and status could be obtained at need. Back
31. One key transaction file proved to have inadequate capacity to hold the quantity of loan information and additional loans were rejected or worse still, previous loans were overwritten. After two months, the system was withdrawn and manual operations resumed. (Fortunately the old cards had been left in the books.) Back
32. Allen, G G, 2012, ‘WAIT/Curtin Library highlights’, [Personal communication] Back
33. White, A, 1975, ‘Reader education at the tertiary level’, In Proceedings: Library Association of Australia 18th Biennial Conference, Melbourne, August 1975 Back
34. Only a few online literature searches, mostly using MEDLARS (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System) were requested in 1975. Back
     
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