Whyte lectures

To learn about Country-Centred Design and embodied knowledge systems, please read Angie and Pia's article below.

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About the speakers

Photo credit: James Horan
and the Smith Journal

Guest speaker: Angie Abdilla

Angie Abdilla is a Palawa woman based in Sydney. Founding Old Ways, New in 2016, she applies Indigenous cultural knowledges to inform placemaking, strategic design and deep technologies – all in collaboration with a wide network of Traditional Custodians and knowledge holders.

Among many notable achievements, Angie has presented her research on Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Robotics, and Artificial Intelligence at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She also co-founded the pioneering international Indigenous Protocols and Artificial Intelligence Symposium.

In addition to her role at Old Ways, New, Angie is an Advisory Board member of the CSIRO Indigenous STEM Academy and  Board Director of Performance Space, Carriageworks. She was also a former Ethics Centre Fellow.

Guest speaker: Pia Andrews

Pia Andrews is an open government and data ninja who has been helping to make the world a better place for 20 years. She transforms public services through greater transparency, democratic engagement, citizen-centric design, open data, emerging technologies and real, pragmatic innovation in the public sector.

In 2018 and 2019, Pia was recognised as one of the global top 20 most Influential in Digital Government and was celebrated as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Australia for 2014.

In the Benefits Delivery Modernization program at Service Canada, Pia helps to design and deliver a holistic, modern digital channel for the Canadian Government to deliver a delightful, dignified, user-centric, responsive and integrated digital journey that empowers people to help themselves.

About the speaker

Guest speaker: Professor Alex Hauptmann

Professor Alex Hauptmann is a research professor in the Language Technologies Institute, School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). His research interests have led him to pursue and combine several different areas: video analysis, man-machine communication, natural language processing, speech understanding and synthesis, and machine learning.

In 1994 he became leader of the Informedia Digital Video Library project, which pioneered fundamental approaches to audio and video indexing, and created the News-on-Demand application for broadcast news.

Since then, Professor Hauptmann has conducted research on video analysis and retrieval, and spearheaded the development of different applications in surveillance, medicine and social media analysis. His success has been documented in the annual NIST TRECVID video analysis evaluations. His more recent work in human rights includes a collaboration with the Center for Human Rights Science at CMU.

Libraries Past, Present and Future

About the speaker

Guest speaker: Dr Stuart Kells

Dr Stuart Kells is an author and book-trade historian. He has dedicated his life to the study of precious and rare books, and he has travelled the world to explore some of the most famous and revered collections. He has written and published on many aspects of print culture and the book world.

His 2017 book, The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders, was an Amazon bestseller and his 2015 book, Penguin and the Lane Brothers, won the Ashurst Business Literature Prize. His latest book, Shakespeare’s Library: Unlocking the Greatest Mystery in Literature, is out in August through Text Publishing. Stuart lives in Melbourne with his wife and two daughters.

Professor Lynette Russell, Director of the Monash Indigenous Studies Centre, will present on the Affect in the Archive: trauma, grief, delight and texts, some personal reflections.

Lynette explores the capacity of archives and records to inspire and motivate, anger and traumatise; and asks if we can productively engage with this while keeping ourselves and our communities safe.

Affect in the Archive: trauma, grief, delight and texts, some personal reflections

About the speaker

Guest speaker: Professor Lynette Russell

Lynette has published widely in the areas of theory, Indigenous histories, post-colonialism and representations of race, museum studies and popular culture. In 2010 she was awarded a five year ARC Professorial Fellowship (with her colleague Dr Leigh Boucher, Macquarie University) to undertake a study of Victorian Ethnographers 1834-1930.

The driving force in all of her research is an exploration of the sociology (and socio-politics) of knowledge. In short, she aspires to understand not merely the past but how we come to know the past, how we describe, categorise, interpret and analyse it.

In 2016, Dr Alex Byrne, former State Librarian and Chief Executive from the State Library of New South Wales presented on the nature and future of the profession. This annual lecture attracts over 100 information technology and librarianship professionals and included networking and refreshments. This is a free event.

Event commenced with pre-lecture drinks and networking in the Rendezvous Hotel Melbourne. The lecture started with a welcome by Prof Ann Nicholson, followed by Dr Brian McMullin, Trustee of Jean Whyte's state acknowledging Jean and Phyllis Whyte and their bequest. Ross Harvey then introduced the guest speaker Dr Alex Byrne. Dr Byrne presented the lecture titled "Rubrics for an informed society - the nature and future of the information profession". This was followed by Q&A, finishing with networking with refreshments.

Rubrics for an informed society: the nature and future of the information profession

About the speaker

Guest speaker: Dr Alex Byrne

Dr Alex Byrne FALIA was appointed New South Wales State Librarian & Chief Executive in September 2011 until his retirement in September 2016, following positions in library and university management across Australia, most recently as University Librarian and Pro Vice Chancellor Teaching & Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney. Alex served for a decade in leadership positions with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions including President from 2005 to 2007. Over the last two years he chaired National and State Libraries Australasia, the vibrant partnership of the national, state and territory libraries of Australia and New Zealand.

As a professional librarian, researcher and writer, Alex has a deep interest in the roles of memory institutions, the complexity of issues relating to Indigenous peoples and transmission of knowledge, and the opportunities and challenges of the digital age. He was honoured with the HCL Anderson Award in 2015.

Over 100 IT and librarianship professionals attended the annual Whyte Memorial Lecture held this year at the RACV Club in Melbourne.

The Monash Faculty of IT was honoured to welcome Professor Ross Harvey as this year’s presenter at the 2015 Whyte Memorial Lecture held on 15 September. A renowned expert in preservation and newspaper history, Professor Harvey provided a thought-provoking address on best-practice in retaining saving and archiving in the new digital world.

This special annual event celebrates the legacy of the late Jean Whyte and her sister Phyllis. Jean was the foundation professor in the Graduate School of Librarianship at Monash University. She and her sister Phyllis left generous bequests to Monash to support research in librarianship, records and archives. Their legacies also support the library's collections in English literature, librarianship and philosophy.

Deputy Dean of the Faculty of IT, Professor Maria Garcia de la Banda, said that although the faculty looks forward to the event every year, this year’s was particularly special.

“This 2015 event coincided with our faculty’s 25 year anniversary. It also marks 40 years of library and information studies teaching and research at Monash – and 40 years since the appointment of Professor Jean Whyte as the foundation chair in the Graduate School of Librarianship in 1975,” said Professor Garcia de la Banda.

As a former colleague of Jean Whyte, Professor Harvey moved from New Zealand in 1987 to take up a position at Monash University. He has since held academic positions at other universities in Australia, Singapore and the US, most recently at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston. Professor Harvey is now the editor of the Australian Library Journal and Adjunct Professor in Information Management in the School of Business IT and Logistics at RMIT University.

Professor Harvey’s current research and teaching focus on the stewardship and preservation of digital materials in libraries and archives, and on the history of the book. He has undertaken extensive research in Australia and the UK and has worked with the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute at the University of Glasgow and the Digital Curation Centre.

According to Professor Harvey, archivists and librarians must encourage best practice by creators, but they must also keep an open mind about the record-keeping practices of individuals.

“The careful professional practices developed by archivists and record-keepers for the preservation of digital materials are not appropriate in every circumstance. They can be informed and dare I say improved by learning from the practice of individuals,” Professor Harvey said.

Professor Harvey said he was delighted to help celebrate 40 years of librarianship teaching at Monash, and acknowledged the strength of the archival education that began with Professor Whyte’s founding vision.

“Professor Jean Whyte built a school which equips its graduates with a sound grounding in the traditional aspects of librarianship. What’s more, the school also relentlessly encourages students and staff to go beyond traditional borders and build strong relationships with the professions and disciplines they [find] there,” Professor Harvey said.

Writing the history of libraries: past, present and future. Still life or animation?

The annual Whyte Memorial Lecture celebrates the legacy of the late Jean Whyte and her sister Phyllis. Professor Jean Whyte was the foundation professor in the Graduate School of Librarianship at Monash University. The sisters left generous bequests to Monash to support research in librarianship, archives and records, and to support the library's research collection in English literature, librarianship and philosophy.

The 2014 guest lecturer Giles Mandelbrote is the Librarian and Archivist of Lambeth Palace Library, the historic library (founded 1610) of the Archbishops of Canterbury and the principal archive for the documentary history of the Church of England. Giles writes that most of us have a mental image of how library is supposed to look. But does this picture work equally well for a shelf of manuscript books – at one end of the spectrum – or a web portal, at the other? Is it a still life, or is it animated by the presence of readers and library staff? And what, historically, have libraries been intended to do?

About the speaker

Giles Mandelbrote

Giles Mandelbrote is the Librarian and Archivist of Lambeth Palace Library, the historic library (founded 1610) of the Archbishops of Canterbury and the principal archive for the documentary history of the Church of England. Previously he worked for nearly 15 years at the British Library as one of the curators responsible for the national collection of books printed in Britain during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He jointly convenes (with Dr. Keith Manley) a regular Research Seminar in the History of Libraries at the Institute of Historical Research/Institute of English Studies; he also teaches for the University of London's Rare Book School and is one of the organisers of the annual two-day London conference on book trade history.

Among his publications are Out of Print & Into Profit: A history of the rare and secondhand book trade in Britain in the 20th century, and volume II (1640-1850) of The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland, edited jointly with K.A. Manley. More recently he has edited and contributed to a volume on the growth of the British Library's collections, Libraries within the Library: The Origins of the British Library's Printed Collections (2009), and The Arcadian Library: Bindings and Provenance (2014).

The annual Whyte Memorial Lecture is held to celebrate the legacy of the late Jean Whyte and her sister Phyllis. Professor Jean Whyte was the foundation professor in the Graduate School of Librarianship. The sisters left generous bequests to Monash to support research in librarianship, archives and records, and to support the library's research collection in English literature, librarianship and philosophy.

WikiLeaks, Snowden and the fight to get the balance right: Information Asymmetry

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The flow of information is fundamental to our society. It is the backbone of successful social networks and organisations, to a productive and just society. Information, whether at scale or just a fragment, can shift history's course. The fight to address the balance of information is underway and at critical juncture.

Since the significant releases of WikiLeaks in 2010 and beyond, and, more recently the NSA spying revelations of Edward Snowden, the question of who can access information and why has been placed squarely in the spotlight. The status quo is being questioned and the gap between openness and secrecy examined and challenged on many levels.

This gap, or 'no man's land', is both a battlefield and a fertile ground for innovation and bold action. It has emerged from a growing information asymmetry, caused by government secrecy alongside mass surveillance and data capture by governments in concert with internet giants.

The response is coming from civil society, activist movements born of the internet and from nation states. It is seen in publishing and journalism, in politics and in online communities. Rights, methods of delivery, use and control over information are being tested, protested and, in some cases, reformed.

In this landscape we see:

• governments setting open access agendas: genuine reform or lip service?
• innovative tools and initiatives being designed by skilled coders and information activists in response to weak and poorly implemented legislative access provisions
• the rise of hactivism and the severe penalties applied to activists
• the fight to protect personal privacy online, and
• the geo-political response to Snowden's revelations of US spying that extends across the globe, particularly from South American nations.

About the speaker

Cassie Findlay, Guest speaker

Cassie Findlay is the Project Manager, Digital Archives at State Records NSW. In this role she is responsible for delivering the digital archives infrastructure and processes for accepting, preserving and making available digital State archives of the NSW Government.

Cassie wrote the chapter on digital record keeping in the third edition of the Australian Society of Archivists' textbook Keeping Archives, is currently the Project Lead for the ISO review of the International Standard on Records Management, ISO 15489, and is a co-founder of the record keeping and archives iscussion group the record keeping Roundtable.

In recent times, Cassie has written and spoken frequently on issues relating to archives, WikiLeaks and access to information in a range of publications and forums.

The annual Whyte Memorial Lecture is held to celebrate the legacy of the late Jean Whyte and her sister Phyllis. Professor Jean Whyte was the foundation professor in the Graduate School of Librarianship, Monash University. The sisters left generous bequests to Monash to  support  research  in librarianship, records and archives, and to support the library's research collection in English literature, librarianship and philosophy.

The challenges of the digital era: is the merger of libraries with archives one of them?

About the speakers

The guest speaker for the 2012 lecture was Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, Director-General of the National Library of Australia.

Anne-Marie Schwirtlich

Shane Carmody

The Faculty of Information Technology and the Faculty of Art & Design proudly invite you to the Whyte Memorial Lecture with guest speaker Dr David J Jones.

The annual Whyte Memorial Lecture is held to celebrate the legacy of the late Jean Whyte and her sister Phyllis. Professor Jean Whyte was the foundation professor in the Graduate School of Librarianship (now part of the Caulfield School of Information Technology).

The sisters left generous bequests to Monash to support research in librarianship, records and archives, and to support the library's research collection in English literature, librarianship and philosophy.

A place for everything: a personal view of library architecture

Drawing upon six decades wandering around libraries and three decades helping plan them, Dr Jones will reflect on the evolution of library spaces. He will identify planning and design fashions and describe some of the forces which continue to shape libraries as 'people places'. Looking to the future,  he  will  set out some essential factors in planning libraries and kindred facilities for ever-changing functions and new generations of users.

About the speaker

Dr David J Jones

MA (Oxon), Dip Lib, PhD (UNSW), FALIA had a long career with the State Library of New South Wales. He was a reference librarian in the General Reference and Mitchell Libraries at the State Library before coordinating the 1983-1988 new building and refurbishing project. From 1989 he led the Library's  building  consultancy  service, providing advice on over 250 library projects in Australia and overseas.

Dr Jones has written widely on Australian library history, reference works and library planning, and was co-author with Jean P Whyte of Uniting a profession, an account of the Australian Institute of Librarians, the forerunner of the Australian Library and Information Association. He retired from the Library in 2008 and is now an independent library planning consultant.

Left to right: Prof. Ron Weber,
Dr David Jones, Brian McMullin
and A/Prof Arthur de Bono

We hope to see you there.

Professor Ron Weber
Dean, Faculty of Information Technology

Professor Shane Murray
Dean, Faculty of Art & Design

View the slides

Powerpoint sildes (PDF, 7.46 MB)

The Whyte Memorial Lecture aims to recognise sisters Emeritus Professor Jean Whyte AM (HonDLitt 1996) and Ms Phyllis Whyte whose generous bequests have enabled the Faculty of IT and Monash Libraries to carry out important research.

Emeritus Professor Whyte passed away in 2003 and left a significant bequest to support research in  librarianship, records and archives at Monash University.  Ms  Phyllis  Whyte also bequeathed a substantial part of her estate to Monash in honour of her sister.

Join guest speaker Dr Ian E. Wilson at the second Whyte Memorial lecture celebrating the legacy of two significant bequestors to Monash University.

Peace, Order and Good Government: Archives in Society

The phrase 'peace, order and good government', common to the definition of federal powers in both the Australian and the Canadian constitutions, has defined the relationship of the Crown and the citizen for more than five centuries. The archival record is fundamental to that relationship, providing  its  authoritative  legal basis, documenting its evolution and continuing as a reminder of both our proudest achievements and our most dismal failures as a society.

Dr. Wilson will reflect on the role of archives in recent Canadian human rights issues, highlighting both the strengths and the weaknesses of the record, the perception of archives as an agency of the state and the role of archives in helping society address highly contentious issues.

About the speaker

Dr Ian Wilson
(Photo credit: V. Tony Hauser)

Dr. Wilson served as National Archivist of Canada, 1999 to 2004, and then as head of the newly amalgamated Library and Archives Canada. He retired in 2009 and received the unusual honour of being named Librarian and Archivist of Canada Emeritus. He is currently working with the University of Waterloo  in  establishing  the Stratford Institute for Digital Media and has just completed a two-year term as President of the International Council on Archives.

Dr. Wilson's career encompasses many areas, including archival and information management, university teaching and government service. He has worked diligently to make archives accessible and interesting to a wide range of audiences. While helping to safeguard the integrity of archival records and library  services,  he  has encouraged public involvement and outreach.

He has published extensively on history, archives, heritage and information management and has lectured nationally and internationally.

He holds three honorary doctorates, is a Member of the Order of Canada, and was appointed Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France. He is also a fellow of both the Association of Canadian Archivists and the Society of American Archivists. (More information)

Inaugural Whyte Memorial Lecture

The Whyte Memorial Lecture aims to recognise sisters Emeritus Professor Jean Whyte AM (HonDLitt 1996) and Ms Phyllis Whyte whose generous bequests have enabled the Faculty of IT and Monash Libraries to carry out important research.

Emeritus Professor Whyte passed away in 2003 and left a significant bequest to support research in librarianship, records and archives at Monash University. Ms Phyllis Whyte also bequeathed a substantial part of her estate to Monash in honour of her sister.

Join guest speaker Emeritus Professor W Boyd Rayward at the inaugural lecture to celebrate the legacy of two significant bequestors to Monash University. Emeritus Professor Boyd Rayward is a prominent researcher in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois.

When what is new is not: the information society in perspective

Powerpoint sildes (PPT, 7.57 MB)

About the speaker

Emeritus Professor W Boyd Rayward will discuss why recent changes in information infrastructure are, in fact, not new. He will explain two historical moments that mark a turning point in the evolution of information management, including why some of these earlier innovations failed before they could  be realised.

Emeritus Professor Rayward's recent studies focus on hypertext and the beginnings of modern information science; utopian schemes of knowledge organisation including HG Wells' idea of a 'world brain'; and the implications of digitisation and networking for libraries and museums.

Photo: (from left) Dr Brian McMullin, Emeritus Professor W. Boyd Rayward,
Professor Sue McKemmish - Associate Dean Research,
Professor Ron Weber - Dean of the Faculty of IT.