The Lecture Syllabus

Abstract

When my young librarian friend Bob Browning (“The name is the merest coincidence,” he would say apologetically) decided to run a season of library lectures, he little knew what a rod he was preparing for his own back. I could have warned him; but I should be loath to shake with the rough winds of my cynicism the darling buds of May. So I kept my lips sealed and contented myself with a watching brief. I ran into him when he was in the very toils of inspiration. He said: “I have written to several of my East London colleagues asking their advice on lectures in libraries.”—“And what do they say?”—“They seem a bit cagey.”—“I shouldn't wonder.”—“They won't commit themselves.” — “Why should they?”—“You don't approve of lectures, do you?” said Bob at a tangent. “Well—I wouldn't go so far as to—”—“Do you?”—“I think they should all be put on the Dishonours List.”— “Oh,” said Bob rather aloofly. “Anyway, I'm going ahead.”—“Do,” I replied with simulated cordiality.

Citation

SNAITH, S. (1956), "The Lecture Syllabus", Library Review, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 387-392. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb012256