John was closely associated with the Library Association of Australia, serving on a number of committees was elected president of the Library Association of Australia from 1979-1980 and was a member of the executive committee from 1978 to 1980. He was a member of the National Library of Australia's Working Party on Library Services for the Handicapped in 1977 to 1979, which developed comprehensive policy recommendations for library services to the disabled in Australia. He joined the AACOBS Working Party on User Needs in 1983 and was chairman of the AACOBS ACT Committee from 1984. In 2014, he was interviewed about his professional career
