'By academic training, Alan was a librarian taking his library qualification while at the National Library, which he joined in 1971, having spent his Christmas holidays working for Hamersley Iron in Dampier, Western Australia. The theme that has run through most recollections of Alan is his passion for collecting and bibliography. So, it should come as no surprise to us that his recollection of his summer holiday job in Dampier is that it mainly involved, and here I quote from a biographical essay about Alan written by Gary Kent, ‘labouring on the rubbish truck, which allowed him to collect maps, plans, engineering and other drawings [which] remain in Alan’s collection to this day’.' (Introduction)
