College of Librarianship Wales

The need for a ‘school for library training’ in Wales was first suggested by the Royal Commission on University Education in Wales in 1917 and in July of that year a successful summer school was organised by the extramural department of the University College of Wales and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. However, no further progress was made until after the 1950s.[2] In 1957 the Minister of Education appointed a Committee chaired by Sir Sydney Castle Roberts to review the Structure of the Public Library Service in England and Wales. The Report, published in 1959, included a chapter on Wales which identified the need of bi-lingual communities to have staff 'acquainted with the Welsh language and well versed in the history and literature of Wales.'[3] These recommendations were repeated in 1962 in the Bourdillon Report on Standards of public library service in England [4]

Despite opposition from the UK Library Association, and some members of the profession in Wales,[5] but with the support of members of Cardiganshire County Council including Alun R. Edwards the County Librarian and other Welsh-speaking librarians, the Welsh Joint Education Committee decided to proceed with the new college in 1963. It was to be sited at 'Plas Bronpadarn', a Victorian mansion formerly used as a school of nursing at Llanbadarn Fawr, on the outskirts of Aberystwyth.[6] The principal of the new college was appointed in February 1964 followed by three teaching staff who prepared for the first intake of twelve postgraduate students in the following September.[7]

Growth

At his interview, the new principal Frank Hogg, had convinced the interviewing panel that a small specialist college serving only the needs of libraries in Wales, would not be viable in such a remote location as Aberystwyth. The demand for qualified librarians was growing rapidly and to be a success the new college would need to attract students from throughout the British Isles and also overseas. He set out his vision for the future in a paper presented to the General Council of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions in 1969.[8] A further fifty students, taking the Library Association professional qualification, enrolled in January 1965, together with one more member of staff. Thereafter numbers of staff and students grew steadily until 1968 when there were over 400 students and thirty teaching staff, plus visiting lecturers from Australia and North America.[9]

In 1968 the College introduced a joint-honours undergraduate programme taught in conjunction with the University College of Wales. This was first undergraduate ‘honours’ (as opposed to a ‘general’ degree course) in librarianship to be offered by a UK institution.[10] In 1969 CLW offered a University of Wales Postgraduate diploma and a Master of Librarianship degree.

Plas Tanybwlch

The original teaching and student accommodation soon became inadequate. Three temporary wooden classroom buildings were erected to supplement the original Victorian mansion and various other rooms were borrowed for teaching including a chapel vestry, pending the planning and building of a new campus. By 1972 CLW had grown to become the largest school of librarianship in Europe.[11] Students were then housed at the former Grand Hotel in Borth (renamed Pantyfedwen) and a former Regency Mansion/Isolation Hospital, Plas Tanybwlch near Aberystwyth, and students were brought in by bus. The early years of the college were described in detail by David Gerard who joined in 1968 when there were thirty faculty and two hundred students.[12]

CLW Library

In 1970 a large new library (later known as the Thomas Parry Library) was erected on open country adjacent to Llanbadarn Fawr, intended to be both the college library and a teaching resource. The library aimed 'to collect comprehensively from English-language material, and to select important foreign language materials, especially those in European languages.[13] It was intended to be both an information resource and a teaching laboratory.[14]

The library was followed, in 1973 by the construction of new academic buildings for CLW, Aberystwyth Technical College (later Aberystwyth College of Further Education, now Coleg Ceredigion) and the Welsh Agricultural College together with shared refectory and onsite student accommodation. Both the library and the teaching facilities were equipped with the latest audio visual facilities including a television studio.[15] The purpose-built campus also included ramps for accessibility.

A major objective of the college wa to provide for the needs of the Welsh-speaking communities, appointing staff who spoke Welsh, running courses and setting exams in Welsh. Likewise it sought to maintain the closest possible contact with the library profession in the UK and worldwide. It maintained a staff of Liaison and Training Officers who visited libraries, arranged periods of fieldwork and organised study tours both in the UK and abroad.[16] It also developed innovative courses to meet the changing needs of the profession.[17]

CLW sought to develop an international reputation from the outset. In 1964 the principal gave a talk on the BBC World Service where he welcomed students from overseas. Academic staff were seconded to work in libraries, or library schools, in Brazil, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Palestine and Peru.[18] Links with Africa included the Seriatim scheme (eight members of staff to the universities of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello in Nigeria); short courses on school librarianship in Zambia and Sierra Leone;[19] consultancies in planning national library and documentation schemes in Libya and the Sudan; and the setting up of a library assistants’ training programme in Kenya for Unesco.[20] Such international activity was possible at that time as by 1980 there were 45 full-time teaching staff employed at CLW.[21]

In 1985 CLW introduced the first substantial venture into distance learning at a masters level, with the introduction of a three-year course leading to a master's degree in the management of library and information services.[23] The continued success of this course led to other master's degree course in Health Information shortly before the college had merged to become the Department of Information and Library Studies of University College, Wales in 1989.[24] A range of undergraduate distance and open learning courses were also planned which were introduced shortly after the merger.

Archives education and training at Aberystwyth began in the mid-1950s with a ‘University of Wales Diploma in Palaeography and Archive Administration, which included Palaeography, Diplomatic and the development of Historical Scholarship and Record keeping. This was offered by the History Department. On its formation CLW also offered basic courses in palaeography and diplomatic for librarians but it was not until after the merger that the different offerings were co-ordinated within the new department.

During the early 1980s British government higher education policy moved away from supporting small single-subject mono-technic colleges encouraging those with graduate courses to merge with neighbouring universities. Thus many colleges of agriculture, education and nursing ceased to have an independent existence. The same applied to CLW. Negotiations to effect the merger with the neighbouring University College of Wales began in 1987 and took place 1 August 1989. The college then becoming the Department of Information and Library Studies within a newly established Faculty of Information Studies. 'The merger was not achieved without some soul searching: the College would lose its independence; but it was already becoming obvious that in the competitive world of higher education its days as a monotechnic were numbered.'[25]

• Zawiyah Baba, National Librarian in Malaysia.
• Nancy Bond, author
• Andrew Green, Librarian, The National Library of Wales
• Roderick Samson Mabomba
• Lionel Madden, CLW lecturer later keeper of printed books at The National Library of Wales and then the Librarian 1994-1998.
• Stanley Kamang Nganga.
• Gray Nyali, National Librarian of Malawi.
• Ekbal Al Othaimeen, Head of Department for Library and Information Science, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training in Kuwait.
• Lucy Tedd, Pioneer in the use of computers in librarianship.
• Dasharath Thapa, National Librarian of Nepal.
• Linda Thomas, Librarian, The National Library of Wales
• Wu Jianzhong, Director of Shanghai Library.

• Thomas Parry Library
• List of universities in Wales

• Aberystwyth University – Official website
• Aberystwyth Guild of Students – Students' Union