bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Should Children Read Books?
Authors: BAUGH J.W.
Published: March 2008

The question of what it is fitting for children to read would seem to be one which is always being debated. “Cinderella,” wrote a woman in 1802, “is perhaps one of the most exceptionable books ever written for children. It paints some of the worst passions that can enter into the human breast— envy, jealousy, vanity, a love of dress.” The same writer disapproved of Robinson Crusoe, which, she feared, might lead “to an early taste for a rambling life and a love of adventure.” On August 12th, 1955, the leading article of The Times Literary Supplement, dealing with the quality of present day writing for children, speaks of “a kind of struggle that is now taking place in the battlefields of our children's souls between the child's active appetite for the particularity of experience and its passive vulnerability to the stereotype.” The Literary Supplement goes on to say: “Almost any child has at once more sensibility, and less discrimination, than almost any adult. And one of the most worrying things about some levels, at least, of our contemporary culture is the tendency to damp and dim that intrinsic sensibility and to exploit that innocence, that inability to discriminate.” This, be it noted, is not directed at the “Comics”, English or American, but at children's books, the books which fill the shelves of the libraries which the teacher is perpetually urging the child to join.
Subscription Libraries and the Cost of Living
Authors: WHATMORE GEOFFREY
Published: March 2008

The merging of the Birmingham Library with the Birmingham and Midland Institute has sent a mild shiver through the faded rooms of the proprietary and subscription libraries. Not that the Birmingham Library has suffered under the change of ownership, rather the contrary; but the merger represents the extinguishing of one more of the dwindling band of similarly constituted libraries.
Dummy Books
Authors: GUNSTON DAVID
Published: March 2008

In a more spacious age, when books were far fewer and better bound than they are today, they were used on occasion primarily as furniture. Neat lines of handsome volumes were considered an essential part of any well‐equipped room. This led to the practice of having dummy books on the shelves, where the numbers of real books did not extend far enough. To modern readers, dummy books seem a curious and inexplicable relic of the past, yet many stately houses and otherwise impeccable libraries had their rows of dummies, each properly bound but empty save for dust, or perhaps letters, bills and other odds and ends. The devising of appropriate titles for their dummy volumes gave our forefathers considerable scope for wit and punning.
Recent Guide Books
Authors: TRAVELLER A
Published: March 2008

Post‐war conditions—the prosperity of manual and clerical workers; paid holidays; a natural reaction against being cooped up for so long in a tight little island—have brought about a remarkable increase in foreign travel. Factory workers, shop assistants, clerks, and typists undertake as a matter of course trips in search of sunshine to the Riviera, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Spain. The non‐U traveller of today, inexperienced and ignorant of foreign languages and foreign ways, is justifiably nervous about finding accommodation at the height of the holiday season, for holiday‐makers from Germany, Benelux, and Scandinavia also feel the call to the South, especially in this year of grace, when each country has waived petrol restrictions for foreign motorists. He also worries about money, for his travel allowance is limited by the Government and he must know in advance how much his fortnight's holiday will cost him. The result is that, as the advertisement pages of the national newspapers show, he puts himself into the hands of a travel agent, who arranges a conducted tour or at least a programme for him, books his railway, coach, or air tickets and his hotel accommodation, and even chooses his excursions.
Lost Literary Journals
Authors: SWINNERTON FRANK
Published: March 2008

The other day, when addressing a select gathering of publishers, I was asked by one of those present how reviewing today compared with the reviewing of fifty years ago. I said that fifty years ago an important book would be noticed in all the chief periodicals within a fortnight of publication, and that even a first novel by an unknown writer had between thirty and forty reviews before the end of a month. The reviews of the important book would be long; the reviews of the first novel, though shorter, would be separate and serious. These impressions, delivered on the spur of the moment, were confirmed by a senior publisher in the audience.
What Shall We Read To‐morrow?
Authors: HARGREAVES E.M.
Published: March 2008

Not very long ago I was browsing in the library, looking as one does, for something to tickle a momentary fancy. There, on the shelves, were all those familiar titles that spelt the escape of twenty years ago and more—Jules Verne, Dennis Wheatley and Edgar Wallace; stories of violence and discovery and what we now call science fiction.
Nigerian Library Project
Authors: HORROCKS S.H.
Published: March 2008

The project on which I have been sent to Nigeria is a joint library project between the Government of the Eastern Region and Unesco. The intention is that a pilot public library shall be established in Enugu, the capital city, which shall give a service to the people of the town, form the headquarters of the regional service and act as a model library for other towns in the Region and elsewhere in Africa. Similar pilot libraries have been successfully established in Delhi and in Medellin.
A Lean Time Ahead for Libraries ?
Authors: SYKES PAUL
Published: March 2008

To anyone unfamiliar with the English local government system the current controversy over the financial provisions of the Local Government Bill will have given the impression that education is the sole function of local authorities. The effect of the Bill on education has figured largely in recent conferences, speeches and writings, and while opponents of the proposed block grant system prophesy a reduction in expenditure on education, those in favour of the new grant arrangements have confined their defence, in the main, to the same service. But whether or not one agrees with Lord Hailsham that “the gentlemen in Warwick and Welshpool, Wigan and Wiltshire, Westmorland and Woking” are as capable of administering the education service as the “gentlemen in Whitehall,” the future, so far as public libraries are concerned, is hardly in doubt. Already in a vulnerable position owing to their reliance on rate revenue,—coupled with a ready misunderstanding, especially at estimate time, of their value and true functions,—public libraries will be in danger of being driven even further below the poverty line when the block grant system begins to operate.
Libraries in Australia: A Revolution Comes of Age
Authors: METCALFE JOHN
Published: March 2008

In the six Australian colonies which only became the Commonwealth or Federation of six States in 1901, libraries began with subscription libraries, both the working class mechanics' institute kind, and the middle class circulating library kind; but as it became apparent that there was hardly enough middle class to support its own libraries, even in the capital cities, and the finer class distinctions broke down, the two merged in the literary institute under different names. And at the same time it was realised that for what we might now call culture, education and science, there must be free public libraries, which were either made out of literary institutes, or established separately.
Neither a Borrower nor a Lender
Authors: HAYMON SYLVIA
Published: March 2008

Our local Public Library is a Victorian Gothic building with two wings which look like public conveniences, and are. Its windows look out upon the borough mortuary, and a churchyard where, beneath a crumbling sarcophagus long since converted to a flight deck for pigeons, one of the Regicides lies interred. From basement gratings across the way, ambiguous odours, wafting from the canteen in the Town Hall, merge in the petrol‐laden air with reminiscences of carbolic that almost, but not quite, overlay the delectable aroma of printers' ink.
Does Library History Matter?
Authors: RAYMOND IRWIN PROF.
Published: March 2008

Why bother with history at all? In particular why bother with the history of a subject so narrowly specialised as libraries? This is a fair question that many people ask today, and it deserves a fair answer. On the other hand there are those who regret that the Library Association's syllabus contains so little emphasis on history; by a judicious selection of alternatives, it is quite possible to get through even the Final Examination without any real knowledge of the historical background. What are the causes of this reluctance to accept the significance of our history?
Read and Throw Away
Authors: GARDNER FRANK M.
Published: March 2008

I was born, for good or ill, into a reading family. Not an intellectual family, for we did not read for profit, but a family that counted the act of reading one of the major pleasures of life. At a time when not every household took one newspaper, we always had three, and five Sunday newspapers, so that there was one for everyone and one over. The house was also full of books, and though my father was a man of simple literary tastes, I owe it to him that I had an early introduction to War in the Air, David Copperfield, Three Musketeers and She. We went in for quantity, one might say, rather than quality, and from the age of nine to fourteen, my major Christmas present was the enormous bound volume of Chums, with which I could shut myself up for a week for a positive orgy of reading.
Book Title Troubles
Authors: GUNSTON DAVID
Published: March 2008

The title of a book often gives its author more trouble than the actual writing. Only rarely does an author start with a title ready‐made; more often he finishes the book and then casts around for the perfect title.
Canadian Libraries and Problems of Staff Recruitment
Authors: SPICER ERIK J.
Published: March 2008

With comments by J. C. Harrison, Prof. Raymond Irwin, and W. B. Paton.
The Questioning Reader
Authors: SAVAGE ERNEST A.
Published: March 2008

The late Harold Laski in Liberty and the Modern State (p. 168) tells us that in “our own day it would not be an unfair description of education to define it as the art which teaches men to be deceived by the printed word.” Extend the aphorism to the spoken word. Sobald man spricht beginnt man schon zu irren. And so to deceive! After Hitler the Germans should remember their own maxim again! Broadcasting, television, preaching, lecturing, and political parrotry mislead even more than print. Pleasant voice, winning manner, a sparkle in the eye, a flash in the phrase, mask many a glib bunkum‐stuffer. The flying air‐borne sentence is less easy to interrogate than the ink‐bound paragraph. Does not Dr. Johnson somewhere growl that he could see quicker than he could hear?
Comment on a Symposium
Authors: LIEBERMAN IRVING
Published: March 2008

On your invitation, I am pleased to offer some comment on the symposium “Canadian Libraries and Problems of Staff Recruitment” which appeared in your Winter 1958 LIBRARY REVIEW.
Our Library Inheritance
Authors: MUNFORD W.A.
Published: March 2008

The individual expectation of life has greatly increased during the present century. The young man of twenty now has a life expectation of 50 years which is more than sufficient to take him to the currently accepted age for retirement; the young woman of twenty can expect five years more than the man. Much individual experience can be gained, and at first hand, during this lengthened life‐span but the total can never amount to more than a single grain of sand on the vast shore of human experience. I base my own faith in the value of historical studies primarily on the belief that they can help the individual to benefit, and benefit even four‐dimensionally, from the experience of those who have gone before. Of course I must also declare my personal interest. My interest in human history is prescriptive—memory runneth not to the contrary. The interest was there years before I was old enough to qualify for public library membership (age regulations are more liberal nowadays) and gained access to the shelves of G. A. Henty. I certainly remember nothing earlier than a toddler's history of England full of brightly coloured pictures, including a facing pair of “The White Ship” and “The King who never smiled again,” but that is far enough back for anyone.
Historical Periodicals in Britain and the United States
Authors: ESMOND WRIGHT PROF.
Published: March 2008

The change in editorial direction of the English Historical Review consequent on the death of Richard Pares a year ago, offers a vantage point from which to consider the present situation of historical periodicals in Britain and the United States of America. There are, of course, many periodicals on both sides of the Atlantic that contain articles on historical themes, and many of them of professional standard—often indeed by professional historians. One has only to think of G. P. Gooch's articles on Marie Antoinette in The Contemporary Review two or three years ago, brilliant vignettes by the doyen of British historians. And what is true of The Contemporary Review is also true of The Fortnightly, of The Twentieth Century (the old Nineteenth Century) and of many other British and American periodicals.
Banned Books in the Lenin Library
Authors: FUTRELL MICHAEL
Published: March 2008

Spending a few days in Moscow in September 1958, I tried to find out to what extent books by some of the principal condemned writers and politicians of the 1920s are available in the Lenin Library; to find out in practice, that is, not merely by general enquiry, but by requesting to be supplied with certain books for reading in the Library. This brief account is based entirely on a few days' personal work in the Library, and any generalized implications may well be not completely accurate.
Looking Back on Books
Authors: BROWN IVOR
Published: March 2008

At the beginning of the century children were put to reading and writing rather earlier than they are now. So I remember that at the age of nine I was engaged with Stanley Weyman and listening to the swish of silks and clash of swords in A Gentleman of France and Under the Red Robe. I had already been immensely excited by the glint of diamonds in King Solomon's Mines. I can remember now the hour and the place in which I first encountered that piece of cake.
The Hornblower Mystery
Authors: GARDNER FRANK M.
Published: March 2008

For a matter of 20 years a Mr. C. S. Forester, better‐known, one understands, as a novelist, has been editing and publishing at intervals the memoirs of a British naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. For some reason known only to himself, Mr Forester has presented these memoirs as fiction, though it is possible that having in mind the known aversion of the public from any form of technical literature, he has thought that the memoirs, assuming as they do a working knowledge of seamanship and naval tactics, might appear more palatable and more commercially profitable in this form.
Who Was James Yates?
Authors: MACLEOD R.D.
Published: March 2008

Stanley Jast, who could be brash and also subtle in over‐ and in under‐statement once said to the writer that librarians as a class were much too bashful. He observed that most of the town librarians who had crossed the library stage since public libraries began were quiet lads who had done their duty, taken their cash, and let the credit go. Only now and again had one stood out to catch the limelight of the stage, and quickly it would darken again. We leave this great thought to our readers.
Edward Edwards Reconsidered: (1) The Man
Authors: MUNFORD W.A.
Published: March 2008

On 3rd March, 1852, the House of Commons Select Committee on Parliamentary Papers took evidence from the Principal Librarian of the new Manchester Public Library, Mr. Edward Edwards. The Chairman gracefully gave way to another member of the committee, Mr. William Ewart, and he and Edwards exchanged questions and answers in the manner to which the Select Committee on Public Libraries had accustomed them three years earlier. Edwards gave a fairly detailed account of the progress of the Manchester Public Library during its first year. He also displayed some knowledge of the needs and service of two other Manchester libraries, the Portico Library in Mosley Street—still in being; and the long since defunct Mechanics' Institute whose austere building in Princess Street now accommodates the local College of Commerce. Edwards in 1852 was in his fortieth year and might have seemed to have reached the threshold of a promising and comfortable career after his stormy years in London. What had gone before and what was to come?
Pages in Waiting
Authors: THOROGOOD HORACE
Published: March 2008

Most of us who are bookmen have some particular book weighing on our conscience, one of those important books that, for some reason, we missed reading when young and that haunts us now when we have no longer the leisure, nor perhaps the inclination, for it. One day, we promise ourselves, we will make time to read it. But seldom does that day come.
The Library of the Hermitage in Leningrad
Authors: KENT CHARLES D.
Published: March 2008

The library of the Hermitage Art Museum in Leningrad has 300,000 volumes on art generally, including the history of art, architecture, and related fields as well as all kinds, branches and types of descriptive art. There are, of course, a considerable number of books on æsthetics and on the theory of art. Everything connected with the world of art, except music and the theatre, is contained in this library. There are even a few books on engineering and analagous topics and there is, as one could expect, a large collection of books in foreign languages about art. The library acts as a reference library for the staff of the Hermitage.
Libraries I Have Known
Authors: SWINNERTON FRANK
Published: March 2008

Every lover of books, and every professional writer, owes a debt to libraries which he can never ex‐aggerate. Whether they lend, or must be visited, they supply the material for quite half his knowledge. He begins with a few oddments upon his father's shelves—my own early contacts with literature were an imperfect New Testament, three dumpy volumes, dated 1799, of The Spectator, miniature editions of Pope, Burns, and The Arabian Nights Entertainments, and about thirty volumes of the orange‐peel coloured Penny Poets—and proceeds ravenously to wider collections of greater or lesser worth. The quality of these wider collections is all‐important.
Edward Edwards Reconsidered: (2) The Librarian and Author
Authors: MUNFORD W.A.
Published: March 2008

From whichever point of view we consider it, Edwards's Memoirs of Libraries is a remarkable work. Its two volumes provide a total of two thousand pages of text It is at once a history of libraries—and a history on a world scale—and a manual of library administration. It can, of course, be criticised on that score. Would it not have been better to have issued the history separately, in two still sizeable volumes, and to have presented the practical manual as a separate work? As published by Trubner in 1859 the manual occupies the second half of the second volume which itself consists of rather more than 1,100 pages. But to Edwards the history and the administration were by no means so clearly divisible. The practical chapter on book‐binding, for example, approaches the subject historically; prints a small selection of Roger Payne's bills; and is illustrated, inter alia, with lithographs of sixteenth century bindings.
Mr. A. L. Hetherington
Authors: MACLEOD R.D.
Published: March 2008

The name of A. L. Hetherington won't convey much to the present generation of librarians, but to those who were in the profession about the time of the First World War his name will evoke memories. He was the first Secretary to be appointed to the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust at Dunfermline, and in that capacity he made contact over the years with librarians and educationists in most parts of the United Kingdom. The present writer, who became Librarian to the Trustees (nominated for the post by the late Stanley Jast who was then Honorary Secretary of the Library Association), was appointed shortly after Hetherington took office and naturally got to know Hetherington very well in those years of developing library activity. The interest of the Trustees in library affairs was naturally compelling. Almost at once the office found itself enthusiastically engaged in doing its best to implement some of the salient suggestions embodied in the report of Prof. W. G. S. Adams entitled A Report on Library Provision and Policy.
Mental Hospital Libraries
Authors: MASTERS ANTHONY
Published: March 2008

A typical mental hospital, such as the one where I am librarian, has the population of a small town and quite as much diversity. There are nearly 2,000 patients at any one time drawn from all walks of life, and some 700 members of staff— not only doctors and nurses but others, from administrators to plumbers.
Lord Haldane
Authors: ADAMS W.G.S.
Published: March 2008

Lord Haldane died in August, 1928, aged 72. In January 1929 his Autobiography was published, with a brief but revealing foreword by his sister who, especially in his last years, had shared so intimately his life of public service. Some years later, in 1937 and in 1939, appeared the two important volumes by Major General Sir Frederick Maurice, who had worked with Haldane at the War Office and who also shared his deep interest in Adult Education and in the Working Men's College. The present study pays tribute to the great value of these authoritative volumes by General Maurice, based, as they are, on careful study of the mass of evidence which had to be sorted and studied. They have greatly assisted Mr. Sommer in making this timely restudy of an unique personality and a great public servant. Mr. Sommer has not only examined the vast correspondence and other materials which Haldane left, but he has made wide enquiry from those who had known personally Lord Haldane, or who had evidence of value for a fresh study of the man. Mr. Sommer has also set his portrait against the background of the times in which Haldane lived, and has skilfully etched the character of the leading personalities and statesmen with whom Haldane was associated. It is a book which deserves to be widely read.
Many Rôles, Many Names
Authors: KAUFMAN PAUL
Published: March 2008

A brilliant scholar, the librarian at one of England's most venerated cathedral libraries, once confessed to me that he had at times been his own charwoman and scrubbed the ancient floors. Such extension of accomplishment may seem somewhat incongruous. Yet is it so foreign to our own experience? What librarian has not dusted and mended and plated the good, bad, and indifferent among his voluminous possessions? Which of us has not left important duties to reveal the sequence of the alphabet to bewildered patrons struggling with the encyclopaedia or handbook of manufactures?
Archives in Libraries?
Authors: HEPWORTH PHILIP
Published: March 2008

“A good repository for archives and manuscripts should … be open during all reasonable hours, including evenings and lunch hours”. “An old stick used by librarians to beat archivists”. Undoubtedly, however, it is a very distinct advantage to have the archives as part of a department that does not operate a five‐day, nine‐to‐five service. Even if the archives staff themselves work office hours, arrangements can be made for material previously got out to be available in the library's reference or other suitable department during a much longer period. This is always quite impossible in the county hall.
Commercials in Literature
Authors: BAUER HARRY C.
Published: March 2008

Many snobs, high‐brows, intellectuals and other persons schooled beyond their capacities deplore the commercial sponsorship of radio and television programmes. Why anyone should rail at the market place is hard to understand; very often the “commercials” are superior to sponsored broadcasts both in artistry and pleasantry. It is difficult to understand why the intellectual should deride “commercials” since books, periodicals and newspapers permeated with advertising matter have been accepted by the reading public for generations if not centuries. Multitudinous advertisements in magazines and newspapers are more or less taken for granted as essential concomitants of the periodical publishing business. The sporadic attempts to launch publications containing no advertisements have not won sufficient support even from the self‐appointed élite to assure success.
The Scottish Record Office
Authors: IMRIE JOHN
Published: March 2008

The General Register House, Edinburgh, is one of Robert Adam's finest public buildings; it is also one of the first record repositories in Europe specially designed for the preservation of national archives. The building is of solid stone throughout and consists of a basement and two storeys, rectangular in shape, laid out in small storage rooms round a large central dome. The admirably functional construction and design give security against fire, damp and theft and also enable records to be brought to the centre with the minimum of delay. Since the main consideration of archivists must be, first, the safety and, secondly, the accessibility of the records in their charge, the building forms a fitting home for the Scottish Record Office.
Reports on Target
Authors: FRANKLIN ROBERT D.
Published: March 2008

A library's annual report should sound more like a shot than a mumble. The duty or legal necessity that public institutions have to issue annual reports to their governing boards or constituencies has in too many instances caused almost unreadable reports to be duly and dully printed, accepted and filed.
A Memory of EVERYMAN
Authors: SWINNERTON FRANK
Published: March 2008

To myself, as it must be to all who love browsing among the delightful annals of literature, Mr. Hoppé's devoted recension of The Reader's Guide to Everyman's Library is a peculiar treasure. But it also stirs extraordinary memories; for of all men now alive I was closest to Everyman's Library in its first hours of life. The series was known to me before it was born, before it received a name which for more than half a century has been familiar to the whole world. “Everyman's Library”; how hard to believe that this was once no more than “new series” and that Ernest Rhys struggled for weeks in vain to discover a distinctive title. When this came to him, he excitedly shouted “Eureka!” and, still shouting, but sedately, under his breath, ran to demand audience of J. M. Dent.
A Commentary on Library Policy
Authors: HOY R.J.
Published: March 2008

It is difficult not to believe that the years around 1961 will come to be regarded as of special importance in the history of the Library Association; the period when a new syllabus and examination structure was finally brought to birth and the parent body given a new constitution. For the first time for forty years, perhaps, the Association has the necessary apparatus to enable it to carry out fully the terms of its charter; perhaps, also, this is its last chance to justify its unique position in the library world.
The Content and Format of American Public Library Reports
Authors: FRANKLIN R.D.
Published: March 2008

As stated in my previous article, the content and layout of a library's annual report depends on the kind of readers it is expected to reach. The examples that follow, except where otherwise noted, are from publications aimed at the general public or a wide selection of officials, club leaders and individuals thought to be interested and influential. If you should want to see any of the reports mentioned it is likely that the institution will send you one in response to a card requesting it.
The Changing Face of Librarianship
Authors: HARRISON K.C.
Published: March 2008

In April the London and Home Counties Branch held its usual weekend conference, the theme this year being “The changing pattern of librarianship”. Papers were given on such topics as libraries and local government reorganisation, librarianship as a career, the training of librarians, the division of staffs into professional and non‐professional, the reorganisation of the Library Association, and public relations. The conference, and I attended it myself, was quite useful as conferences go, and its utility has been increased by the issue of the Conference Proceedings, complete with summaries of the discussions. A review copy to hand has prompted these reflections.
A Commentary on Library Policy
Authors: HOY R.J.
Published: March 2008

In the previous paper attention was concentrated upon the Library Association and Aslib; if, now, we turn our attention away from these we find a group of societies which tend to be overlooked, namely the bibliographical societies. Members of these bodies pursue interests which are not provided for in the L.A. and Aslib, though there is no reason, on the face of it, why there should not be a Bibliographical Section of the Library Association. It would be interesting to know to what extent students at the Schools of Librarianship have their appetites whetted in this direction. One gets the impression that the main membership of the bibliographical societies derives from the older academic‐type library, e.g., the British Museum, the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh, and too few of their library staffs are encouraged to be interested in professional qualifications. All the same, there is no necessary antagonism between the interests of these societies and those of the Library Association and Aslib, and one would like to see an occasional rapprochement between the two sides so that each could have the opportunity of appreciating what the other is trying to do.
In My Good Books
Authors: SNAITH STANLEY
Published: March 2008

I commenced what, but for a sense of humour, I should call my career at a small, isolated library in the provinces. We were a specialist library. We specialised in non‐specialist material. This may seem mere playing with words. But it is not. The establishment, like myself, was the inheritor of a tradition that libraries were meant for books, not trade journal files, abstracts (whatever abstracts might be), schedules, reports, theses, plans, specifications, blue‐prints, bibliographies, bibliographies of bibliography—all that fried string which (see recent conference papers passim) some malapert knaves are now strenuously wishing upon us.
Time The Three R's Came Back
Authors: WHARTON KATE
Published: March 2008

A few years ago, when investigating various schools as a prospective parent, I decided to complete my educational journey by going to see a progressive school not far from where I lived.
The Content and Format of American Public Library Reports
Authors: FRANKLIN R.D.
Published: March 2008

A small library that attained brevity effectively and with admirable restraint, is the Rockford Public Library in Illinois, in a cream and white and black one‐fold enclosure showing on its cover a dim picture of the former 1902 building and a bright view of a new modern building. It is also a campaign document, for the only text in it beside the tabulation of a few well‐chosen service and financial figures is a one‐sentence statement: “Levy of the full library tax for the next three years will make possible an addition to the present building, thus assuring the citizens of Rockford services adequate to the expanded needs of the community.” The back cover gives a directory of branch locations and names of the trustees and librarian (which in this instance includes an unusual proportion of women— four of the nine trustees and a woman librarian).
Library Licentiates
Authors: BAUER HARRY C.
Published: March 2008

Most librarians who are interested in the principles of reciprocity, and bent on equating the professional qualifications of British and American licentiates, naively focus attention on professional training rather than upon trade practices. Consequently, they arrive nowhere in their meditations. The cachet of licensure in the United States is a master's degree in library studies; in Canada, a supplementary bachelor's degree in library studies; and in Britain, an academic post graduate diploma in library studies or registration as an Associate or Fellow in the Library Association. The cachets are marks of endurance, not of competence, and indicate in a general way how truly a licensee is dedicated to a career in library work.
County Libraries: the Beginnings of the Movement
Authors: HETHERINGTON— A.L.
Published: March 2008

The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust was formed by Andrew Carnegie under a Trust Deed, replaced later by a Royal Charter, to continue his benefactions for public library facilities and for encouraging the appreciation of music. In the Deed the Trustees were bidden to be pioneers and were reminded by the donor that “new needs are constantly arising as the masses advance”. The following is an account of how the Trustees fulfilled their charge, so far as libraries are concerned, during the early years of the Trust.
Some Scottish Publishers:
Authors: MACLEOD R.D.
Published: March 2008

Scotland's day of reputation in publishing came with the Foulises, who set a standard not only for Scotland but also for Europe. Robert Foulis, who was inspired by Dr. Francis Hutcheson to become bookseller and printer, opened his shop in Glasgow about 1741. He and his brother Andrew had visited the Continent on occasions, devoting themselves to studying the printing houses there. In a letter written by Thomas Innes of the Scots College of Paris, a well‐known Jacobite, to James Edgar, Secretary to the Chevalier de St. George at Rome, he tells about the departure of the brothers from Paris, and says that they returned home by London bringing with them six or seven hogsheads of books they had bought up in France. On their return to Glasgow, Robert opened out as a bookseller, his printers being Urie & Co., a firm some of whose issues are of higher quality than had to that date been achieved in Scotland. There was an obvious leaning to the classical side in the early Foulis publishing, and this inclination increased as the connexion with the University became cemented.
Nicholson of the Bodleian
Authors: MUNFORD W.A.
Published: March 2008

In his introduction to Golspie: Contributions to its Folklore, Nicholson tells how he and his wife and three daughters first went there during the summer of 1891 when, crowded out of Nairn and seeking shores “for the feet of the paddler or the spade of the digger”, they found there “all that we craved”. His book is a charming medley of children's games, ghost stories, customs and superstitions, weather beliefs and archæology—with special emphasis on Pictish inscriptions. It was printed by the Oxford University Press and published by David Nutt in dark green cloth. A Highland scene and four happy little girls playing the local ring game of Hilli Ballu—over one fine of its air—are gold stamped on the front board; the locally significant wild cat's head decorates the spine and there is an outline map of Sutherland on the back. The whole book is obviously the work of a man of wide human sympathies, insatiable curiosity, untiring perseverance and an immense affection for children. Are there better basic qualities for a librarian? Golspie is equally obviously the work of a dogmatic man who takes himself and his thoughts and activities very seriously, and who displays few signs of a sense of humour. But then these basic qualities have manifested themselves in other librarians also. Who was this E. W. B. Nicholson and what did he do?
The Journalist, Accuracy and his Reference Books
Authors: MACKIE ALBERT D.
Published: March 2008

There is an old saying among journalists: “When in doubt, leave it out!” It is sound advice, but if it were the only working rule, little would be left to appear in the newspaper. A more serviceable maxim would be: “When in doubt, look it up!”
Books for Schools
Authors: STEWART MACKINTOSH H.
Published: March 2008

I was in a primary school the other day and found myself in a classroom where the teacher was supervising a library period. Some of the children were absorbed in reading, others were busily engaged in consulting books piled around them, and taking notes. So engrossed were they that I felt it almost an unwarranted intrusion to bid them “Good morning”. The teacher explained that the children taking notes were preparing articles for their class magazine—on subjects as diverse as “The Earth and the Moon”, “Adventure in the Amazon”, “I was a Racing Driver”, “A Night Hunter of the Sea Bed”—and that their researches took them regularly to the public library.
A Librarian Looks at Books
Authors: O'LEARY JOHN G.
Published: March 2008

For more than forty years I have looked at books. I have regarded them as tools of our trade and as the “sweet sound that breathes o'er a bed of violets”. I have shelved them, carried them and pushed them about on trucks that move crabwise across a polished floor. For more than thirty years now I have moved them out of winter quarters into permanent habitations and often have I looked upon them with undying hatred. It doesn't last. It is like a tiff with one well loved, it is forgotten in five minutes, and we are back to where we started.
Books I Have Enjoyed
Authors: AITKEN W.R.
Published: March 2008

One of my favourite quotations is the opening of Robin Jenkins's novel, Happy for the Child: “Pages 256 and 257 were missing. Shocked, the boy slowly and in fear became aware that the book in his hands was merely a destructible contrivance of gum and paper, and that in spite of it round him in the little kitchen crowded the familiar baleful furniture …..” For me this captures and expresses vividly the sense of complete absorption, the feeling of total immersion one can experience in reading, and it springs to mind immediately as a first response to the Editor's suggestion that I should jot down some notes and comments on “books that have particularly attracted me” in my reading over the years.
The Writer In Action
Authors: HAYMON SYLVIA
Published: March 2008

If much has been written about the artist's tools and next to nothing about the writer's, it is presumably because a painting emerges into the light of day direct from its maker's hands, whereas the written word, if ever it reaches the judgement seat of public opinion, arrives transposed into print; only the completed edifice visible, so to speak, the supporting scaffolding taken down and packed carefully out of sight.
Some Scottish Publishers (Part 3)
Authors: MACLEOD R.D.
Published: March 2008

So far in these articles I have dealt with Scottish publishers of books in all lines of literature, and have not covered the subject, but the material presented is sufficient to indicate a fine record. Now I shall deal with a number of publishers of books of special character. In this case also selection is eclectic; even so it is quite significant.
My Literary Life
Authors: CHURCH RICHARD
Published: March 2008

The ups and downs of the professional writer in society continue to disturb us. From the time that the emphasis was put on that word professional, the days of the opening of Grub Street, with people such as Steele, Goldsmith and Johnson as its representatives, the writer was set down as a hack. The eighteenth century treated him much as we treat cub reporters on provincial papers today—or with even less respect. Scribblers were indeed seated below the salt! If possible, they were considered of lower status than those “rogues and vagabonds”, the actors and actresses, contemporaries of David Garrick and later of Mrs. Siddons.
“Questionable” Books
Authors: BAUER HARRY C.
Published: March 2008

“Questionable” books are as easily identified and as quickly discovered as brightly dyed Easter eggs. The titles of such books invariably terminate with interrogation marks; not with dots, dashes, or asterisks. Nevertheless, even a well read scholar finds himself hard put to recollect half a dozen illustrative titles unless he has previously indulged in considerable bibliographic dowsing. The reason so few examples readily come to mind is that intriguing interrogatory titles are actually few in number.
British Public Library Reports
Authors: WHITEMAN PHILIP M.
Published: March 2008

Faced with the annual torrent of library reports, one longs for more shooting and less mumbling, and perhaps at the end of the season, one agrees with Macbeth. Stanley Snaith has written that “the theory and technique of annual reports is a subject which has been rather neglected in our professional literature” and that “no substantial contribution to the subject has appeared in this country.” The most recent American writings on the subject are Robert D. Franklin's articles in Library Review.
How to Appear Educated
Authors: SHERMAN JOHN
Published: March 2008

The truth is most people today don't have the time, inclination, or in some cases, the capacity for true scholarship. That is not in itself a bad thing because too many educated, independent thinkers would tend to complicate intellectual matters almost endlessly. It is enough that one or two original minds a century can create enough excitement to keep a generation or two busy explaining and examining.
The New Luton Central Library
Authors: SWIFT JAMES
Published: March 2008

The new Luton Central Library is full of interest and original ideas; it is light and spacious and its décor is most attractive. It is, therefore, unfortunate that the impression felt on first entering the building is somewhat cold and impersonal as a result of being confronted not by books or visible signs of the building being a library, but by turnstiles and photo‐charging machines: there is no evidence of the warmth of the welcome that is obvious when one enters the Lending and Reference Libraries.
The Classified Catalogue
Authors: FREEMAN C.B.
Published: March 2008

Mr. Henry A. Sharp says of the dictionary catalogue, “I found it in almost every American library that I visited in 1935”. (Cataloguing, 2nd ed., 1937, p. 29.) Why is it that our public librarians show little inclination to follow this excellent example from the United States? There are eight public library systems with which I have some familiarity (six urban and two county). Of these all except one use the classified catalogue, and I gather that this experience is typical.
The Study and the Sofa:
Authors: IRWIN RAYMOND
Published: March 2008

It is evident that a history of libraries must take into account the social and domestic circumstances under which reading is done; and both the words in my title (“study” and “sofa”) are significant from this point of view.
The London Literary Scene
Authors: NAIRNE CAMPBELL
Published: March 2008

To a literary lounger the most striking feature of the London scene at present is the ubiquity of paperbacks. They are displayed on revolving stands, like postcards; they litter the counters of multiple stores; they tumble from automatic machines; they form gaudy pyramids in bookshop windows; they even jostle hard‐cover remainders in the bargain boxes.
All Change for the Brit. Mus.
Authors: FRANCIS FRANK
Published: March 2008

The British Museum Act, 1963, when it is brought into operation, probably in the early autumn, will change completely a constitution which has had a continuous history of over 200 years and which may to many have seemed as changeless as Snirke's great classical façade.
A Child's World:
Authors: BAUER HARRY C.
Published: March 2008

When Mr. Dombey entrusted his little son, Paul, to Doctor Blimber for tutelage, the benevolent pedagogue tactfully inquired, “Shall we make a man of him?” Mr. Dombey brightened over the prospect, but his six‐year‐old offspring manifested utmost disdain. When the question was repeated for his benefit, the little man replied, “I had rather be a child”. Alas, the childish wish came true; before the year was out, little Paul Dombey languished and ultimately died of inanition.
The Planning of Libraries
Authors: GARDNER F.M.
Published: March 2008

There can be few projects in an architect's career so calculated to stir the imagination as the design of a library. Its purpose is noble, its planning complex. It is surprising and disappointing that so often reality falls short of expectation, and that, faced with the problems of function, the architect sometimes finds solutions that are out of date, unsuitable, or obviously impractical. We can all of us name examples. The medium‐sized public library in England, one of the most beautiful in elevation, that was, just before World War II, designed for the installation of an indicator. The post‐war University library which has so much glass that two public rooms are virtually uninhabitable in summer. The lovely public library designed by Lutyens that had, also, no staff working space whatever.
The Study and the Sofa:
Authors: IRWIN RAYMOND
Published: March 2008

By the time of the Restoration it had begun to dawn on men's minds that well‐bound books, standing upright on shelves with their spines outward, provided not merely the handiest arrangement for the reader, but a decorative feature of considerable beauty for the room. The new fashion had its birth, as I have said, in France. The first great library to be shelved with the spines outwards was that of the historian Jacques de Thou (d. 1617). In 1627, when Gabriel Naudé published his Avis pour dresser une Bibliothèque it was the general custom there; he notes that “they do not now place their Books upon Desks as the ancients did; but upon shelves that hide all the Walls”. Evelyn published his translation of Naudé in 1661, and by then the new fashion was becoming general in England. The change can be traced by current fashions in binding. Volumes intended for storage flat had their sides decorated with elaborate panels, or with cameos and bosses. Those intended for upright storage had designs and lettering or labels on fore‐edge or spine. Fore‐edge decoration gave way gradually to spine decoration in the middle of the 17th century, reaching its full development with Samuel Mearne, Charles II's binder. Storage with fore‐edge outwards was common in English libraries up to the Restoration; it was not discontinued at Cambridge University Library till 1706. It is sometimes said that it was a relic of the earlier custom of chaining books. Normally the chain was attached to the lower fore‐edge of the cover (or the top fore‐edge if the book was kept on a lectern), and this means that the fore‐edge must face outwards. Very occasionally the chain was attached to the joint of the cover and spine, so that the book stood with the spine outwards, but this was rare. However, fore‐edge arrangement was so general in pre‐Restoration private libraries in England (in which chains would rarely if ever have been used) that I find it difficult to regard it merely as a relic of the chained book. In a small collection, I doubt if people bothered which way the book stood. Fore‐edge arrangement may have some slight practical convenience, for it saves turning the book round when you take it down from the shelf. The deciding factor is probably the title label. If this is on the fore‐edge, the book is placed with the fore‐edge showing; if it is on the spine, it is placed with spine to the front. Aesthetically the title fits better on the spine, and is more legible and convenient thus. The fashion thus became universal.
Computer's Value to Literary Studies
Authors: MORTON REV. A.Q.
Published: March 2008

The electronic computer has been described by a president of the Royal Society as the most versatile tool ever invented.