Paul Genoni is a senior lecturer in library and information studies at Curtin University of Technology. He has been working as an academic since 1993, and was previously Law Librarian at the University of Western Australia. Paul has published widely in diverse areas including reference, collection management and mentoring. He has a PhD in Australian literature, a field in which he also continues to research and publish. His most recent book is the co-edited ‘Thea Astley’s Fictional Worlds‘ (2006).

What is your earliest memory of a library?

I spent my childhood in Tambellup, a small town on the western edge of the Western Australian wheatbelt. I remember being taken to the ‘library’ on a few occasions, although almost certainly not on library business. The library was a single room attached to the town hall or shire offices, where I was left to sit and wait while my parents conducted their shire business. It was very likely open only a few hours a week, and staffed by somebody from the shire or perhaps a farmer’s wife doing her bit as a volunteer. But small and unimposing as it was, it made an impression. The atmospherics of the room—dark, quiet and waiting—was unlike anything else I had experienced outside of the local Catholic Church. This was clearly a room with a serious intent, even if the nature of its purpose escaped the comprehension of a bored child.

Is there someone you have worked with you’d like to acknowledge? Who, Why?

Many of my longest standing and best friends have been met through the library workplace. Libraries attract some extremely fine people and it would be gratifying to mention any number of them here. But I don’t suppose that is the point of the question!

In terms of impact on my working life it is hard to go beyond the first group I worked with in the reference section of the Reid Library at the University of Western Australia in the early 1980s. Mary Alexander and Audrey Black were the senior reference staff, and in addition to providing excellent training in the practicalities of reference work they were also the best role models—professional, organised and hard working—that a naïve and brash beginner could hope for. I also remember with great fondness and gratitude the other staff working reference shifts at that time. Helen Wallace, Chris Stephens and Anne Evans were only a couple of years my senior, but they seemed decades ahead in terms of the skill and experience they shared so willingly.

What do you wish they’d teach in library school?

I am not familiar with the precise detail of what is taught in library schools, other than of course Curtin University where I teach. I am certainly aware, however, that for all schools a number of important issues are dealt with only briefly as curricula adapt to a profession and workplace that are increasingly complex and multifaceted. Personally I find a constant challenge in deciding what should be omitted in order to include new and emerging content.

In an ideal world, however, I believe that students would be exposed to more about the following three areas (all of which I hasten to add have some presence in the Curtin curriculum!)

Firstly, the book trade. Many librarians only learn about the trade once they are ‘on the job’. The relationship with the trade is, however, critically important and becoming more so as librarians are increasingly called upon to negotiate the terms under which content is acquired. I believe that students would benefit by learning about the trade thoroughly and systematically. Hopefully more knowledge might result in greater trust and enhanced cooperation.

Secondly, the process of research and publication. Good information work requires an understanding of the full information lifecycle. Many librarians work in situations where they would benefit greatly from a deeper understanding of the way in which researchers gather, store and manage their information. It is also an important professional skill to be able to read and assess research literature, and to find in it the ‘evidence’ that is important to either our own or other professions. And perhaps greater familiarity with research and publishing would encourage more librarians to become active participants in the process.

Thirdly, library history. The ‘library’ as we know it, and the profession of librarianship, have extraordinarily long and rich back-stories. This history should not only be a matter of casual interest for those who work in libraries, but an important part of understanding the role and function of the modern library service. In my view, an increased knowledge of library history will go a long way to instilling a sense of professionalism in new graduates.

Which library has impressed you the most and why?

There is no quick answer to this question. ‘Impressive’ is such a loaded term! I am sure, however, that I share with many librarians a fascination for the institutions and buildings that constitute the world’s ‘great’ libraries. Certainly I know that many librarians use their travels to visit some of these libraries, which are justifiably renowned not only for the brilliance of their collections but the monumental and often spectacular buildings that house them. A number that I have been fortunate enough to visit, and that stand out for quite different reasons, include the chained library at Hereford Cathedral; the Biblioteca Laurentina in Florence; the Boston Public Library; and the Bodleian. In Australia the reading room at the State Library of Victoria and the Mitchell Library are both favourites—stunning spaces made all the more compelling by knowing the importance of their collections. And as this list is growing I will also add the Library at Stourhead House in Wiltshire. I have no idea of the importance of the Stourhead collection but I remember it as the most beautiful domestic library I could imagine—classical proportions, books for furniture and views of one of England’s great garden.

Just as impressive, however, are those far more modest libraries that are encountered completely unexpectedly, and which serve as potent reminders of the ambitions, values and traditions on which the great libraries are built. It could be the smallest French village where you come across a stone cottage bearing the sign ‘Bibliothèque’ proudly above the entry; or an otherwise nondescript doorway in a frantically busy Rome street, out of which tumble people young and old, bearing books and wearing smiles, and your eye catches the single word ‘Biblioteca’ chalked on the door; or the unpretentious red brick and sandstone public library (formerly the Mechanics Institute) that stands at the heart of so many Australian country towns.

What do you wish you could change about the library world?

What I would love to see more of is a greater engagement with our professional association, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). And by ‘engagement’ I largely mean membership, and active membership at that! I have a view that being a qualified and practicing professional comes with certain obligations, one of which is to support the interests of that profession by being a member of its representative body.

Over the years I have heard many reasons why people aren’t members, but I have found none of them to be convincing. It goes without saying that even the staunchest of ALIA members will from time-to-time disagree with decisions made by the Association or some aspect of its activities. It also goes without saying that if you wish to influence these decisions and activities then it is easier to do this from within. But being a member isn’t about the Association per se, but rather about how you view yourself in relation to the wider interests and values that are invoked when you call yourself a ‘librarian’.