The Library World Volume 57 Issue 8

Abstract

WE understand that the retiring President of the Library Association made a charming farewell speech to the Council in January and hope that it will duly appear in the L.A. Record; and that also applies to the initial address by Mr. Sydney. However it is probably desirable that the major utterance of a president shall always be made at the Annual Conference. That, however, is over eight months distant and therefore given at a time when most of the president's work for his year has been accomplished. There is much to be said for the old custom of the Association which was to instal a new president at the Annual Conferences with a whole presidential year ahead of him, but, no doubt, the Association had good reasons for making the term co‐extensive with the calendar year although we do not know now what they were. The key to Mr. Sydney's remarks was that his election recognized the work for more than half a century of the medium and smaller library which had been the backbone of the public library movement and it dwelt upon the loneliness of their librarians and the fight they had made against local obscurantism and obstacles. He wanted to get nearer in his year to librarians in all parts of the country by personal visits. We can only say that for such a task Mr. Sydney is fully equipped.

Citation

(1956), "The Library World Volume 57 Issue 8", New Library World, Vol. 57 No. 8, pp. 145-164. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009399