Johnson, Valerie Life after Fenwick: the rise, fall and future of library services for children in Australia.

• Author: Bourke, Carolyn
• Position: Book review

Johnson, Valerie Life after Fenwick: the rise, fall and future of library services for children in Australia. Adelaide Auslib Press, 2007. ISBN 97809803330106 Price $44.00 plus $6.60p&h

Library services to children come under the microscope as Johnson traces this largely untold story from the late 1800s, through Sara Fenwick's 1966 report, until the present time. Johnson looks at the social change required to move from the early mechanics institutes' user pays services to government supported school and public library models. She also discusses the duality, and sometimes conflict, arising out of the growth of school and public library services to children.

The Children's Section of the Library Association of Australia was concerned about the funding, profile and resources needed to provide effective children's library services. In 1964 it arranged for Professor Sara Fenwick, a Fulbright lecturer from the University of Chicago Graduate...