UC Berkeley

Peter Brophy entered librarianship by a thoroughly unorthodox route. He was one of the first students to take the BSc. in Information Science developed by B. C. (“Bertie”) Brookes at University College, London, graduating in 1971. He then moved into full-time research on library problems at the Library Research Unit at the University of Lancaster Library before moving on in 1973 to library automation and eventually library management. At the time both his undergraduate degree and the Library Research Unit were radical departures from conventional practice. This memoir, written mainly from memory, provides an account of the Lancaster Library Unit in which his professional career began.