Katoomba High School Memorial Library

To say that time has wrought great changes to the library at Katoomba High School is in fact an understatement as 75 years ago there was no library. The Principal, Mr. Reynolds made arrangements with the School of Arts Committee, of which he was a member, to allow students to use the library. In 1922 an Inspector of Schools wrote:

"..It is most regrettable to find that in a school of this type there is no library of any description.

This situation continued until 1923 when a library was established containing "a large number of suitable books" and "a few of the pupils are reading works of good character, though the number doing so is small.

By November, 1926 the library contained 541 books (there were 213 students), so it was necessary for the students to continue to make use of the

School of Arts Library. In 1928 "useful books had been added... encouragement has been given to the pupils to make use of these books".

The quality of the collection was questioned in 1934, "helpful books should be added as soon as possible" was the comment in the Annual Report.

Again in the 1937 Annual Report the collection required "building up ... reference and fiction books were very restricted". Nothing seemed to improve for the comment in 1939 was "a shortage of reading matter in the library, unfortunately library facilities are not helpful".

By the 1940's some money was being put aside specially for library purchases and library classes were actually taking place. However, "the complete lack of library accommodation and the inadequacy of the Library stock make useful work in this respect very difficult.

Even in 1945 the library was still "presses along the corridor" and the fiction collection was "quite inadequate". There was no trained teacher librarian so the library classes, which were supervised by English teachers, amounted to little more than the borrowing and returning of books.

In 1951 Katoomba High School finally gained a room for its library and a teacher librarian, Mr. Edward Dash. However, the Departmental furniture and shelving was some time coming. Mr. Dash was a dedicated librarian who worked hard to promote the library and under his influence the collection grew. Unfortunately, Mr. Dash died before he had the pleasure of seeing the new library at Martin Street.

It must be remembered that during these years there was no Municipal Library so the school's collection was the students' only source of reading matter for recreation, study and research.

When the school moved to the Martin Street site there was a brand new, spacious library with new furniture awaiting them. No longer did the students have to squeeze into a small cramped classroom. Students could use the library during lunch times on assigned days. Eager student library monitors helped the librarian during these times.

The 'luxurious conditions' were not matched by an increase in funds. The library still had to rely on donations from parents, Rotary, Parents and Citizens' Association, the Ladies' Auxiliary and the School of Arts. Some parents assisted in the repair and covering of the books.

It came as quite a blow when in 1963, the library subsidy was reduced from 8/in the 9 to 4/-. This meant that the school became more responsible for the raising of funds to provide the students with the resources needed to satisfy the extra demands of the Wyndham Scheme.

In 1964 the library was dedicated as a War Memorial and a plaque and a flambeau were installed. (The plaque was relocated in the new library in 1979 but the flambeau is still in its original position in what is now Room 2.

Major changes took place in 1973. The library expanded by taking over the adjoining room as an annex. Formal library lessons were confined to Year 7 to give the other years more access to the collection. Technology arrived in the form of audio visual and photocopying equipment. The librarian was assisted by two members of the ancillary staff.

The explosion in knowledge and technology during the last 15 years has seen enormous changes in the role of the library. It has become more of a resource centre for the students and the staff. Apart from an expanding collection of books, magazines and other print material it has a bank of computers and a CD Rom for general use. Katoomba High's library was one of the first in the state to embrace automation. In 1990 the OASIS computer system was installed and the task of converting the records to the computer commenced. Today, all the recording of borrowings is computerised. Katoomba High School is justly proud of its library but of course books and non print materials wear out and go out of date, so the task of keeping abreast of knowledge continues.