On title page: Athenaeums, Endowment Institutes / Libraries, Literary Institutes, Lyceums, Mechanics' Institutes, Mercantile Libraries, Philosophical Societies, Schools of Arts and Working Men's / Women's Institutes. Proceedings of an international conference convened by the Mechanics' Institutes of Victoria at Swinburne University, Prahran Campus, Melbourne, Australia 2-4 September 2004.

Table of contents:

Foreword by Dr Frank Hurley.

Opening address by Candy Broad, Minister for Local Government.

Preliminary workshops: mechanics’ Institute halls.

Introduction Pam Baragwanath.

Incorporation / Fred Green.

Mechanics’ halls on crown land / Dick Ford & David Hill.

Building compliance and risk management / Peter Pereyra.

Maintenance and architecture / Lorraine Huddle.

Web publishing / Richard Hayward.

Mechanics’ and their museums / Dr Robert Anderson.

Mechanics’ institute libraries in Victoria, 1839-2004 / Pam Baragwanath.

Politics and personalities: the Victorian government and mechanics’ institutes, 1840-1860 / Donald Barker.

Schools of arts and technical education in Queensland / Joan Beddoe.

Researching mechanics’ institutes in regional New South Wales / Barrie Brennan.

On the wool track with a good book: shearers, shedhands and station schools of arts in New South Wales / Merilyn Bryce.

Researching historical records of mechanics’ institutes and schools of arts: the local history context / Dr Geoffrey Burkhardt.

The mechanics’ institute of San Francisco: a 150th anniversary tapestry / Inez Shor Cohen.

Making a difference: music at the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute / Anne Doggett.

An historic setting for a contemporary revival: Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution / Dr Robert Draper.

The Casey collection of the Berwick Mechanics’ Institute / Judith Dwyer.

The British Association of Independent Libraries / Geoffrey Forster.

Mechanics, gold and the uses of art / Dr Lisanne Gibson.

An awesome foursome: four notable contributors to the history of Berwick Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library / Ian Good.

Why did the institute survive? The story of Rochester Institute of Technology 1829-2004 / Professor Dane Gordon.

Floods, debt and a library: the Newstead Mechanics’ Institute / Dr Adrian Haas.

Role of the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute in the cultural life of Ballarat and the education of females, 1859-1901 / Jennifer Hazelwood.

Art in schools of arts: inspirational steps on a personal journey / Dr Anke Heins.

An intellectual oasis?: Australian writers remember / Dr Helen Hewson.

Useful survival: reflections on a mechanics’ institute in the 21st century / Dr Frank Hurley.

An American mechanics melting pot: visionaries, meatpackers and machine tool makers, and some women who seasoned their mix / Professor Maria Curro Kreppel.

The Marsden Mechanics’: luddites or literacy or gigs to gigabytes in the Yorkshire Pennines / Tom Lonsdale.

People of the mechanics’: Anderson, Birkbeck, Francis and Leonard Horner, Brougham, Pringle, Dupin, Holbrook, Howe, Ryerson, Woodward and Binns / Jim Lowden.

From workers’ libraries to public libraries / Dr Keith Manley.

The issue of access / Dr Peter Mansfield.

British institutes and their buildings / Dr David McKitterick.

The Prahran Mechanics’ Institute: a noble maturity / Catherine Milward-Bason.

Five Sydney workingmen’s institutes / Dr Roger Morris and Lucy Bantermalis.

Arthurs Creek Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library / Ken Murphy and Bruce Draper.

Making heritage happen / Ivar Nelsen.

The design of the database of the Mechanics’ Institutes of Victoria, with some observations on the scope of the project and the problems encountered / Peter Pereyra and Lorraine Huddle.

High water mark of learning: the Van Diemens Land Mechanics’ Institute and John Lillie, 1838-1856 / Dr Stefan Petrow.

History of the New York Society Library / Mark Piel.

My business was not with lost souls and the underprivileged: the contribution of Colin Badger (1906-1993) to adult education in Victoria, Australia / Dr Peter Rushbrook.

Protecting and funding our mechanics’ institutes / Dr Celestina Sagazio.

The Plymouth Athenaeum / Michael Scoble.

Architecture, equipment and more: OMI transition in technology over 175 years / Dr George Suckarieh and Dr Muthar Al-Ubaidi.

A 21st century database for a 19th century library / Peter Thompson.

Membership libraries in the united states today and the founding of the Membership Libraries Group / Erika Torri.

From public libraries to mechanics’ institutes: an early 19th century Scottish experiment / Professor Alex Tyrrell.

Bradford Mechanics’ Institute / Alan Verity and Brenda Barnett.

Mechanics’ institutes in New Zealand / David Verran.

Planning for change at Montreal’s Atwater Library and Computer Centre: building a case for support / Marshall Wansbrough.

Tallarook, where things are no longer crook / Libby Webster.

Boston Athenaeum: riding high / Dr Richard Wendorf.

Movies at the mechanics’: more than meets the eye! / Peter Wolfenden.

Strategies for survival: managing mechanics’ institute libraries / Christine Worthington.