Raw nerves: John Metcalfe and the Encel survey of librarians in New South Wales

Abstract

The 1972 publication of Librarians: A survey by Sol Encel, C.G. Bullard and F.M.B. Cass was the culmination of a six-year research project at the School of Sociology, University of New South Wales, at the behest of the Library Association of Australia2. The study was intended to cover the social and educational backgrounds of library employees in New South Wales, their attitudes to their occupation, the structures in which they worked, their gradings and salaries. Questionnaire responses were supplemented by interviews and research by Cass and Bullard, two of Encel's honours students. 2. S. Encel, C. Bullard, M. Cass, Librarians: A survey (Sydney: New South Wales University Press, 1972). Reviews of the published report were scathing and there was dismay at the report's emphasis on the ‘second-class status’ of women in libraries. In his review of the report and of the theses of Encel's collaborators, the prominent Australian librarian John Metcalfe questioned ‘the authority, reliability and credibility of all three’ works. This paper examines the background to and conduct of the survey, the reception of the report, and Metcalfe's reactions. It explores why Metcalfe was disturbed and affected by the implication that there had been systemic discrimination against women in librarianship in Australia, particularly at the Public Library of New South Wales, in the first half of the twentieth century.