 In 1979, in response to the International Year of the Child, Lu Rees initiated a plan to collect overseas translated editions of Australian authors.In 1980, Belle Alderman first suggested that the collection, which had outgrown the home of Lu Rees, could be housed at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra), where it could be accessed by students and researchers.In the same year, the Library of the Canberra College of Advanced Education, under Chief Librarian the late Victor Crittenden O.A.M.