Floreat!

Floreat! Florey, Cecil. A passion for books and people: creating publiclibrary services for the City of Stirling This article is about a local government authority. For the suburb, see Stirling, Western Australia. The City of Stirling is a Local Government Area in the northern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, located about and the State of WesternAustralia, 1958--1987. Stirling, WA: City of Stifling, 2002. ix, 105 pp.$15.00 + $3.75 postage (incl. GST) soft ISBN ISBNabbr.International Standard Book NumberISBNInternational Standard Book NumberISBNn abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m0959881948 (Orders to Cityof Stirling Libraries, Civic Place, Stifling, Perth, Western Australia This article is about the metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia. For the local government area, see City of Perth. Perth is the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia. 6021) IT WAS A SEPTEMBER MORNING IN 1958 WHEN THE FAIRSKY DOCKED INFREMANTLE, and among those on board were several British librarians (andone returning Queenslander), including the author and his family. Thelate FA Sharr had been heading the Library Board in Western Australiasince 1952, and actively encouraged the emigration of bright young stafffrom the United Kingdom--though not entirely without some interestingbiases--which Florey notes. Florey was a Londoner with experience inseveral public libraries. In Australia his first job was to organise apublic library for the Perth Road Board (which over the years became theShire of Perth and then the City of Stirling). This is his honest andindeed often cheeky account of his experiences, of the people he met(most of whom are named, except where too delicate), and the public andbehind-the-scenes activities in promoting and developing libraryservices in a frontier environment. His references to local governmentin-fighting are open, and he does not flinch from giving his opinions(favourable and otherwise) regarding those with whom he had to deal. This is not just the history of a library, given to detailing theminutiae mi��nu��ti��a?n. pl. mi��nu��ti��aeA small or trivial detail: "the minutiae of experimental and mathematical procedure"Frederick Turner. of catalogues and planning new buildings. True, buildings werean important part of developing a service, and photographs preserve avisual record of several interiors and exteriors over the years. Othershots show the author as himself and as Father Christmas, and variouscivic councillors and senior staff being official. However,Florey's account concentrates on the people involved in thepolitics of library-planting, the colleagues with whom he worked, andthe friends whom his family made in Perth over the years. Morepeople-oriented than book-based, his tale is entertaining, informativeand really well worth reading. This is highly recommended as a personalview of pioneering library history from a participant and observationalvantage point. Edward Reid-Smith, Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University (CSU) is an Australian multi-campus university in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. It has campuses at Bathurst, Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga.