SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON LITERATURE FOR THE BLIND (appointed 7328 3157 102 11,584 79 12 129 118 40 P.S.-Towns from which no replies were received: Aberaman, Aberystwyth, Abingdon, Accrington, Ashby, Ashton-Makerfield, Aspatria, Balbriggan, Bangor, Barking, Barnet, Barnsley, Bodmin, Bo'ness, Brentford, Bromsgrove, Burslem, Burnley, Bury, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Cirencester, Clayden, Čolne, Colwyn Bay, Crompton, Darlington, Denton, Doncaster, Dublin, East Ham, Fenton, Folkestone, Galashiels, Glossop, Hertford, Holyhead, Kirkwall, Knutsford, Lewes, Lichfield, Limerick, Llangollen, Londonderry, Longton, Loughborough, Macclesfield, Maidenhead, Mansfield, Middlewich, Nottingham, Paisley, Penarth, Penge, Penrith, Ramsgate, Rhyl, Rochester, Ross, Sale, Sligo, Southall, Southampton, Southend, Stockton, Stroud, Swindon, Tamworth, Thornaby, Tonbridge, Wallasey, Wallsend, Waterford, Watford, Weston-Mare, Widnes, Wigan, Worksop. LONDON BOROUGHS: Wandsworth. GEO. ED. ROEBUCK, Hon. Sec. CORRESPONDENCE. Proposed Report on Non-Municipal Libraries. To the Editors of THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Record. DEAR SIRS, It is only a logical corollary to its "Report on the Hours, Salaries, Training, and Conditions of Service in British Municipal Libraries," that the Library Assistants' Association should attempt the issue of a similar report in connexion with non-municipal libraries. The earlier report has been of service in several directions already; it has influenced the scale of salaries in more than one place, and has drawn attention to the circumstances in which public libraries carry on their work. I think I may claim, too, that the report was conceived in a common-sense spirit, with a full appreciation of the practical factors that make reform difficult; it made no extravagant demands. In particular, it aimed to supply co-ordinated information, and did so in a manner not before accomplished. A Committee has been formed with a view to carry out the inquest in regard to non-municipal libraries. It is in the hope that the project will interest others than the people who propose to attempt the task that I write this note. The difficulties are very real. In the first place the libraries must be classified, as without differentiation any inquiry is out of the question; a list must be compiled of such libraries-there is none in existence suitable for our purpose and this we hope to do largely by the assistance of our municipal members in the various towns; then, an examination of the resources, staffs, methods of work, salaries, hours, and other such vital matters should be made. The task is a heavy one, and one that will not be lightened if our purpose in undertaking it is misunderstood or misconstrued. It is no inquisitive prying into private matters that we have in view. We recognize that the great want of the profession is co-ordinated information; that our professional societies are too exclusively municipal to represent or to organize the profession; and that, before any solidarity can be attained, we must interest ourselves in other libraries, and interest them in ourselves. The inquiry must therefore be pursued in a manner that will commend itself to such library authorities, and it is here that the non-municipal members of the Library Association can counsel us if they will; and we appeal to them to lend us aid, not only in this way, but by supplying the information when it is asked for. Nothing but good can come of the Committee's work. At first it aims at information, but it is founded on the belief that all branches of the library service of the country, now almost entirely shut off from one another, will gain from an opening up of service and ideas with one another. CENTRAL LIBRARY, CROYDON, 22 July, 1912. Yours faithfully, W. C. BERWICK SAYERS. Area of the N.C.L.A. To the Editors of THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION RECORD. DEAR SIRS, I do not propose to traverse either of the articles by Mr. Johnston and Mr. Purves, as printed in your last issue, but I should like to record my appreciation of the tone of Mr. Johnston's paper. Disagreeing as he does entirely from myself, hit in a tender spot as he would be if the proposed division of the area were carried out, he nevertheless manages to argue his position with good temper, with perfect fairness, and I think puts his case in consequence all the more effectively. With regard to district representation on the Council, if Mr. Purves or anybody else can bring forward a satisfactory scheme it will certainly have my support, and I believe the support of many others on the Council. Mr. Purves mentions the British Medical Association, but surely he can see that an Association like that, with members everywhere, is fundamentally different from our own Association, where the members are few, widely scattered, with, in a large number of cases, a single individual to represent us in a whole district or town. Territorial representation under these circumstances appears to me to be impracticable, desirable as the principle may be in itself, when it can be applied. There is a further consideration which appears to be forgotten by Mr. Purves. That is, you can legislate for representation till doomsday, but, if members do not attend, your legislation goes for nothing. And until we are in a position to pay the fares of provincial members to Council Meetings, we shall never get any adequate representation of the provinces at head-quarters. It is because I wish to see the Association strong enough to be able to do this, and because I believe that effective branches in every main population area is one of the first steps to be taken to strengthen the Association, that I am accused by Mr. Purves of deliberately setting myself "to wipe out by flank movements the existing Provincial Associations". The accusation is absolutely groundless, and that it should have been deliberately made in a paper sent to be printed only shows how hopelessly the object in view is misrepresented by Mr. Purves's imagination. Let us differ as much as we please, but for Heaven's sake let us keep our heads, and be sensible. Faithfully yours, 24 BLOOMSBURY SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., 29 May, 1912. L. STANLEY JAST, Hon. Secretary. Current Views A Paper on Library Ideals: Work and Legislation in Canada. Professional Periodical Literature Review PAGE 437 439 462 477 Library Association: Proceedings and Official Notices :- 478 482 This Magazine is edited by the Publications Committee of the Library Association, who are responsible for all Unsigned Contributions. Contributions and communications for the Record should be addressed to The Hon. Secretary, The Publications Committee, The Library Association, 24 Bloomsbury Square, London, W.C. Contributions are specially invited as follows: 1. Articles on Library Administration, Bibliography, and kindred subjects. 2. Catalogues, Bulletins, Reports and other Library Publications (these, after notice, are placed in the Association Library). 3. Books and Periodicals (which should come within the scope of the Magazine) for Review. 4. Notes of Adoptions, Benefactions, New Buildings, Library Practice, Appointments, and Obituaries. "Current Views" should be sent to Dr. E. A. Baker, Public Library, Eltham; the opinions expressed in this section are those of the writers whose signatures follow the paragraphs. Queries on Public Library Law should be addressed to the Hon. Solicitor of the Association, H. W. Fovargue, Esq., Town Hall, Eastbourne, who will send replies direct to correspondents on the understanding that both questions and answers appear in the Record. (iii) |