Fred Derek Osmond Fielding AM (14 August 1929 – 25 June 2014) was an Australian librarian and author. In 1951 Derek graduated from the

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. He was University Librarian at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = ...

from 1965 to 1994. In 1991, he received the

HCL Anderson Award Henry Charles Lennox (H.C.L.) Anderson (10 May 1853 – 17 March 1924) was instrumental in the establishment of the Mitchell Library (now The State Library of New South Wales) and held the position of Principal Librarian of the New South Wales Fr ...

from the

Australian Library and Information Association The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), formerly the Australian Institute of Librarians and Library Association of Australia, is the peak professional organisation for the Australian library and information services sector. ...

Early life

Fred Derek Osmond Fielding, usually known as Derek Fielding, was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

, Northern Ireland in 1929. After the early deaths of his parents, he was educated at the Masonic Orphan Boys' School in Dublin from 1939-1947. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 1951 with a M.A. in modern history and political science. He went to work for Sheffield City libraries from 1951–1957, and would marry Audrey Reynolds in 1953.

Career

Fielding and his family migrated to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand in 1958 to be Deputy University Librarian at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn ...

. Following this appointment, they would travel to

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Western Australia to be Deputy University Librarian of the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

from 1961–1965. The

University of Queensland Library The University of Queensland Library (UQ Library, founded in 1910) provides library access to students of the University of Queensland in Brisbane. It developed from a small provincial Academic library, university library into a major Library#Re ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia had been without a University Librarian for two years, after the resignation of Harrison Bryan. Fielding would take up the position of UQ James Forsyth University Librarian in 1965, and bring about tremendous growth in the library's collection. Under his management, the library went from 360,000 books to 1.5 million volumes. Smaller libraries were amalgamated. He oversaw the building of three new library buildings in 1974, 1976 and 1990 and the establishment of the clinical library at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. He sat on the University Senate from 1972-1983, and chaired a committee reporting on university organisation in 1982. He had the library collection recatalogued from 1968-1978 to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

Classification system. As the university took on more students, and with the improvement in photocopying and electronic transmission of materials, Fielding became active in copyright law review. He worked with the Commonwealth Attorney-General's department and Australian Vice-Chancellor's Copyright Committee to develop guidelines for resolving the problems of copyright in an electronic age. He would publish articles in the Australian Library Journal and other ALIA papers and conferences. Fielding was Pro-Vice Chancellor, Academic Services, at the University from 1992-1994. He retired in 1992 and was made Librarian Emeritus. He died at his home in 2014.

Awards

In 1991 Fielding received the Australian Library and Information Association's

. In 1996 he was awarded an AM,

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian ...

Interests

An enthusiast of

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

, Fielding sat on referee appointments committees in Brisbane. He was a volunteer radio announcer and committee member of Brisbane classical radio station, 4MBS. A strong believer in civil liberties and social issues from his youth, he was committed to ensuring that the censorship of libraries, both academic and public, was discouraged. This was particularly significant during the political era in which he guided the University library, under the then Premier of Queensland,

Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...

. Fielding chaired the Library Association of Australia's Freedom to Read Committee from 1969-1974. He was President of the

Queensland Council for Civil Liberties The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) is a voluntary organisation in Australia concerned with the protection of individual rights and civil liberties. It was founded in 1966 in order "to protect and promote the human rights and freed ...

from 1975-1979. His diplomatic skills enabled UQ to permit student protests on campus, including the all night sit-in in the Walter Harrison Law Library. He was also an observer for the QCCL during the 1971 Springboks Rugby Tour during

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

protests.

Legacy

Fielding was survived by his wife, three sons and ten grandchildren. An Inaugural Derek Fielding Memorial Lecture commenced in 2015.

Published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fielding, Derek Australian librarians 1929 births 2014 deaths Writers from Belfast People educated at Masonic Boys School, Dublin