Transforming Libraries and Educating Librarians: : Essays in Memory of Peter Havard‐Williams

Citation

Cave, R. (1998), "Transforming Libraries and Educating Librarians: : Essays in Memory of Peter Havard‐Williams", Asian Libraries, Vol. 7 No. 11, pp. 352-353. https://doi.org/10.1108/al.1998.7.11.352.2

The post‐war generation of British librarians and library educators had a profound effect on library services in the Commonwealth. People like John Harris in Nigeria (a New Zealander, but with British professional education), Harold Holdsworth in the West Indies, East Africa and the South Pacific, and Wilfred Plumbe in more countries than one can name, created library service through their development work and their own professional example. Others, like Philip Sewell, Roy Stokes or Ronald Benge, were more important for their influence on overseas librarians who came to Britain to study.

Peter Havard Williams (1922‐1995) was not in the earliest of either group. Though he worked in both New Zealand and Canada, his principal success came from his work in Ireland and Britain, and (later) in Southern Africa, carving out a fresh career after most librarians settle into retirement. His influence was substantial, partly because of his travels (not for nothing was he regarded as one of the chief contenders for the title of Airport Professor of Library Studies) and partly because of his many years of devoted work for IFLA, for which his fluent French gave him an advantage few anglophone librarians possess and which one is glad to see celebrated in Geneviève Patte’s contribution to this volume.

Ultimately, his success rested on his work at Loughborough, the staff he recruited for that School, and the calibre of students he was able to attract from overseas for higher degree work. Loughborough was, of course, the creation of Roy Stokes rather than Havard Williams, and if he had not been able to build on the strong foundations laid by Stokes ‐ in bibliographical studies, in children’s work, and in the inclusion of archives education in the programmes ‐ he could not have taken that school so far, so fast. But he did, not without mistakes or strain (as Henry Heaney’s affectionate memorial address at the start of this volume acknowledges), while his hectic travel schedule left far too little time for him to write. (A volume on the philosophy and principles of library education, based on his innovative programme for those who were going to teach librarianship, was planned jointly by myself, Russell Bowden and Havard Williams 20 years ago but had to be abandoned: it soon became clear that Havard Williams’s chapters would never be written).

His influence on library education manifests itself in the work of his students. In Asia, his long‐term influence was in his selection of candidates and inspiring them with his own vision. It was probably greatest in Korea, and Professor Young Ai Um’s study of library education in that country shows how far Havard Williams’s ideas are still alive there. The other essays in this volume show the geographical spread and range of interests of other former students who have contributed, particularly in the development of libraries in Africa. This collection is recommended for anyone interested in the history of library science education, and especially in its present development in Asia and Africa.