REWIND WITH...

L-R: Sue Mackenzie, Vicki Denning and Pat Lyndon at the ex-Grammar staff lunch at Weigall Pavilion

What did you do before working at Grammar?

I came from Canada to Australia in 1972 on a working holiday and ended up staying. Initially, I worked at schools for the Department of Education. I then completed my Graduate Diploma of Teacher Librarianship at the Ku-ring-gai College of Advanced Education in 1976 and was keen to put some of the new ideas I had learned into action. I thought it would be a challenge to work at a selective boys’ school.

What were your first impressions of the School?

My first meeting with Headmaster Alastair Mackerras was memorable. I was wearing a long wrap-around Indian skirt that was quite fashionable at that time and he was dressed in his academic gown. He couldn’t remember why I was there and gave me a chocolate frog while he checked with his secretary. The atmosphere in his office was quite different than any I had experienced: it was like I had gone back in time 50 years. Mr Ken Saxby was the Librarian in charge and I was to be his assistant. He showed me around the School and I was amazed by all the old and historic buildings. The library was on the bottom floor of the new Palladium building and was comprised of lots of separate little rooms.

The Audio-Visual (AV) and Archives departments were all together on the same floor. You could say that the library was not in a central place for easy access by boys and masters. Throughout the 1980s, I was responsible for the running of the library: ordering, cataloguing and circulation of books, supervision of library users, organising a large team of volunteer boys, helping masters prepare assignments using library resources and assisting boys with their research. Mr Saxby oversaw the library as well as teaching History and General Studies, running the Cadet Corps, editing The Sydneian and being a Tutor.

The Library staff in 1992. Standing: Fiona Byrne, Anne Jarman. Seated: Pat Lyndon, Gay Day

What was it like to be one of a handful of female masters at the School in those initial years?

It was very much a man’s world at Grammar in 1979 as there were only two women on the academic staff apart from myself: Ms Clare Barlow in the Music department and Mrs Heather Rossiter in Science. I felt some apprehension from masters, but I made the effort to attend the Common Room regularly for morning tea and other functions. Public relations are important for librarians.

Concentrating on CDROM information 1994

You were appointed Librarian in 1990 and worked hard in the planning of the AB (‘Banjo’) Paterson Library.

Preparing for the building of the Banjo Paterson Library on top of the Science building in 1992 was quite daunting. As well as dealing with architects and library consultants, I remember having to measure the number of metres of books. A complicated spreadsheet helped to predict the shelf lengths and heights to accommodate more than 35,000 books in Dewey Decimal order. This helped us plan the number of shelves required in the new premises as well as where to put them after we moved. The AV area moved into a separate section next to the library with more workspace, storage and a proper recording studio, with the planning assistance of Head of AV, Mr Don Craig.

You have always been supportive of technology. What were the big changes that you oversaw in the Library during the 1980s and 1990s?

Meeting the challenge of technological change in both library systems and information technology was an interesting and significant part of my time at the School. In 1982 we installed a security system in the library, cutting our annual losses from over 600 items to less than 50. These items were usually the ones in greatest demand for the HSC and other annual examinations. The system caused a few embarrassments at first, with masters and boys setting off the alarm when library staff forgot to desensitise the books. In 1986 the Women’s Association donated an Apple computer to the library which transformed many of our systems. One of the Senior Librarians, Yusufali Nagree (OS 1986), designed an overdue reminder system and we acquired a library program which generated all the library cards for the catalogue and book labels from a single entry.

Two Apple computers were also purchased for the boys in 1988 to use with CD-ROM encyclopedias. But the greatest revolution was the Oasis library system introduced in 1989, which not only provided an online catalogue but instantly generated overdue notices and reports. Ms Fiona Byrne was appointed to catalogue the entire library collection. It took over two years and the new computer catalogues improved access to the collection. When we moved to the new library in 1993, new computers were provided to access the internet and the ever-expanding online databases which we subscribed to and gave access to boys from home via passwords. The new library had many advantages. It had a separate reading area for newspapers and magazines, computers with internet and CD-ROM access, two seminar rooms, a teaching classroom, study desks for 70 boys on the upstairs mezzanine level, tables and chairs for 60 boys downstairs, a compactus storage area and more backroom workspace for the library staff and boys. The boys were enthusiastic users of the new library. They liked the extra space and light, the new facilities and easy, centralised access. Our loans and the number of booked classes quickly increased.

What level of teaching comprised your position in the library?

I always regarded myself as a Teacher Librarian, and training boys how to use the library and its resources was vital. The importance of teaching techniques for finding information, evaluating it and presenting it in a meaningful way cannot be underestimated. The information that boys require is no longer contained within the walls of a library and it is not available from books alone. The internet has had a huge effect on the growth and availability of information. However, boys need to learn how to recognise quality and discard disinformation. These information skills prepare them for lifelong learning. I also regarded reading skills and the appreciation of literature as very important. We used to prepare bibliographies of fiction by theme and boys in Forms I and II would visit the library once a cycle in their English classes to select books and to read. Eventually we collected multiple copies of recommended titles and boys would discuss the books in small groups, led by the library staff. I had some very good feedback from English masters that the boys enjoyed these sessions and it was rewarding to have a chance to talk to them and see what type of fiction they liked.

Tell us about the boys that worked with you over the years in the Library and in your Tutor group.

The boys that volunteered in the library were a significant and invaluable part of library operations. We often had over 70 boys on our team. We had a progressive system where they would move every year from shelving books, to covering and repairing books, manning the borrowing desk and then supervising other boys and finally becoming Senior Librarians with their own Common Room. At the end of the year, we would have a library party with food and drink and watch a DVD afterwards. It was always chaotic except when we asked the girls from SCEGGS and they all separated into two defined corners. We had a Library Seniors / staff dinner every year and in 1993 we had a Seniors reunion and 85 Library Seniors showed up. We had a follow-up gathering in 2002. Some boys had left the School as early as the 1950s.

I had a Tutor group in JCM House for five years in the early 1990s and thoroughly enjoyed our weekly discussions and meetings. Writing reports, counselling boys and advising parents was a whole new world for me and gave me a total appreciation of masters’ involvement at the School. I appreciated the opportunity to get to know the boys on a different level.

You were also an active member of the Common Room Committee as Secretary and Chairman.

The Common Room was always very important to me. As Secretary of the Common Room for some years in the 1990s, I was involved in organising staff gettogethers and the farewell functions of many retiring masters, including two Headmasters. In 1998 and 1999 I was elected the first female Chairman of the Common Room.

You retired in 2002 after 22 years at the School and are now the key liaison for retired Grammar staff.

Former masters Mr Gordon Cooper, Mr Brian Jones, Mr Geoff Simmons and I formed a committee in 2008 to organise an annual catered lunch for former staff at Sydney Grammar School. It has been quite time consuming setting up a database, organising venues and caterers, collecting advance payments, taking photos and posting general information. We tend to get about 40–50 people coming to these lunches. Everyone who attends greatly appreciates catching up with their former colleagues.