H.C.L. Anderson, Principal Librarian at the Public Library of New South Wales, 1893-1906: His Achievements and Significance

Henry Charles Lennox Anderson, 1853-1924, became the Principal Librarian of the Public Library of New South Wales in 1893 and held this position for thirteen years until his resignation from the Library in 1906.

The thesis examines Anderson's thirteen years at the Library in an attempt to establish the nature of his achievements there and also his significance in the history of Australian librarianship.

On a local level, Anderson's major achievements were the acquisition of the Mitchell collection of Australiana materials for the Library and his transformation of what had been primarily a reference and lending library for Sydney into a State Library giving service to both the libraries and the people of the State of New South Wales.

On a national level, his main achievement was in his contributions, as an office bearer and conference speaker, to the shortlived Library Association of Australasia, which was in existence from 1896 to 1902.

On an international level, he was widely respected in England and the United States for a cataloguing code and subject headings list that differed significantly from and was in some respects an advance on the work of Charles Ammi the Cutter. This code and subject headings list, together with the published Subject-Indexes based upon it, were favourably commented upon by G. K. Fortescue of the British Museum Library and were influential in the direction taken by the early subject catalogues and subject headings lists created by J. C. M. Hanson at the Library of Congress.

Through an analysis of the writings of Anderson himself, the records of the institutions with which he was involved, the writings of both his contemporaries and of later writers, an assessment of Anderson is offered: that he was the most significant Australian librarian of his time and has rarely been equalled since.