Derek Fielding

Fred Derek Osmond Fielding AM (14 August 1929 – 25 June 2014) He was University Librarian at the University of Queensland from 1965 to 1994. In 1991, he received the HCL Anderson Award from the Australian Library and Information Association.

Early life Fred Derek Osmond Fielding, usually known as Derek Fielding, was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1929. After the early deaths of his parents, he was educated at the Masonic Orphan Boys' School in Dublin from 1939 to 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. The University of Queensland Library in Brisbane, 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. Fielding chaired the Library Association of Australia's Freedom to Read Committee from 1969 to 1974. He was President of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties from 1975 to 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 protests.

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