Apart from the fact that it was held at the Gold Coast, it was mainly a very informative, stimulating and enjoyable gathering.

We discussed and debated many issues. We have a strong belief in the positive social value of the services we provide, and we tend to react negatively when lectured about the virtues of adopting modern business practices.

Public librarians appreciate that our services are provided for people. Ratepayers and residents are not only our shareholders, they also are our clients. So, with all these considerations in mind, this representative group of public librarians was urged to consider how our services were perceived by the communities we served.

We left the Gold Coast wondering about the value of the services we provided and what our communities really thought of us.

My thoughts were refined by a recent Time magazine article by Roger Rosenblatt about the most appropriate monument to build on Ground Zero. Roger Rosenblatt urged the construction of a public library. Nothing grandiose, just a 'regular old local branch library'. He further added that the library 'may be the only monumnet we have to the things that can enlighten and advance us'.

This reminded me of a conversation I had some time ago. Stanley Ross Faulkner was the local cane farmer who left a considerable amount of money in the mid 1970s for the establishment of a public library in Bundaberg. At the time, the region was served by a subscription School of Arts library. Considerable debate ensued concerning the merits and demerits of a public library. This is all history now, as a public library service was established.

In early March 1980, the public library started and the staff have been very busy ever since.

But back to that conversation. I was challenged by someone who felt that Stanley Ross Faulkner had not been properly remembered. A painting and a plaque on display in the library were inadequate memorials to the man who had played an instrumental role in providing the district with a much-needed facility.

These remarks annoyed me, but in my usual calm and reasoned way, I put forward an alternative argument. The library was visited by about 1300 users each day, had annual loans of more than 950,000 items, total membership of more than 41,000, and offered a comprehensive range of services.

This was the memorial to Stanley Ross Faulkner: it was not a painting, it was not a plaque, it was not a building. It was a library service that would strive to serve the local community and be a living, functional monument 'to the things that can enlighten and advance us'.