Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these…
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Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these shortages are very real and quite severe.
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Perhaps the first whisper of the British Library(hereinafter BL) may be found in the report of the Parry Committee which recommended the formation of a national policy in regard…
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Perhaps the first whisper of the British Library(hereinafter BL) may be found in the report of the Parry Committee which recommended the formation of a national policy in regard to libraries and the provision of information. This was swiftly followed by the Dainton Committee report, a White Paper, and finally the British Library Act, which came into force on 1 July 1973 when the Board of the new BL formally took over responsibility for the library departments (excepting Prints and Drawings) and the Science Reference Library from the Trustees of the British Museum, plus the National Lending Library for Science and Technology and the former National Central Library. To this weighty nucleus were added the major responsibilities of the former Office of Scientific and Technical Information, in April 1974, forming the basis of a new Research and Development Department, and the British National Bibliography, in August 1974, as the foundation of the new Bibliographic Services Division. The way for this very considerable re‐shaping of the country's library resources had been thoroughly prepared by a body familiarly known as BLOC (British Library Organizing Committee) between January and July 1973. There are a number of accounts of the creation of the new library which do not differ in substance. Later developments can be studied from the series of annual reports which provide the most authoritative data available, although it should be noted that statistics provided are not always compatible from year to year.
It is a great pleasure and a signal distinction to be invited to contribute to this issue in honour of Geoffrey Woledge, formerly Librarian of the British Library of Political and…
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It is a great pleasure and a signal distinction to be invited to contribute to this issue in honour of Geoffrey Woledge, formerly Librarian of the British Library of Political and Economic Science. I served my initial training in university librarianship under his guidance at the London School of Economics, and I remember clearly and with gratitude the example he set to his staff. He was always ready to consider suggestions for improving the book stock or service to readers—no matter how hare‐brained—from any member of staff, junior or senior; each suggestion received careful, cool and practical consideration before being accepted or rejected, and credit was always given where it was due, not then—or even now—a particularly universal custom. I would like to think he will approve the sense of what follows, but I am certain that it will not satisfy his high standards of elegant, straightforward English composition, and for that I can only offer apologies in advance.
Not many weeks back, according to newspaper reports, three members of the library staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London were dismissed. All had…
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Not many weeks back, according to newspaper reports, three members of the library staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London were dismissed. All had refused to carry out issue desk duty. All, according to the newspaper account, were members of ASTMS. None, according to the Library Association yearbook, was a member of the appropriate professional organisation for librarians in Great Britain.
THE re‐organisation of local government in Greater London and the resultant amalgamation of library authorities is viewed by many with considerable misgivings. The upheaval of…
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THE re‐organisation of local government in Greater London and the resultant amalgamation of library authorities is viewed by many with considerable misgivings. The upheaval of staff, the loss of status for some senior officers, the general uncertainty for the future—these are very real consequences of the Act and they cannot be ignored. Many chief librarians will see the work of a lifetime, perhaps spent in building up a comprehensive and unified system, made virtually meaningless overnight.
The re‐organisation of local government in Greater London and the resultant amalgamation of library authorities is viewed by many with considerable misgivings. The upheaval of…
Abstract
The re‐organisation of local government in Greater London and the resultant amalgamation of library authorities is viewed by many with considerable misgivings. The upheaval of staff, the loss of status for some senior officers, the general uncertainty for the future—these are very real consequences of the Act and they cannot be ignored. Many chief librarians will see the work of a lifetime, perhaps spent in building up a comprehensive and unified system, made virtually meaningless overnight.
In 1977 questionnaires were sent to selected libraries and individuals in Nigeria in connection with a pilot survey which set out to investigate the state of printed social…
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In 1977 questionnaires were sent to selected libraries and individuals in Nigeria in connection with a pilot survey which set out to investigate the state of printed social science ephemera in Nigerian libraries. The study became necessary following the increase in the amount of such material in recent years, the introduction of inter‐disciplinary African studies in Nigerian universities and the higher level of public awareness in African affairs vis‐à‐ris Nigeria. These circumstances thus made it pertinent that the materials be acquired and properly organized for future research.
Describes the circumstances surrounding, and difficulties in, thepublication of the original edition of the Directory of Rare Booksand Special Collections in the United Kingdom…
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Describes the circumstances surrounding, and difficulties in, the publication of the original edition of the Directory of Rare Books and Special Collections in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the early 1970s. Explains the need for a revised edition and describes work in progress to update the information, as well as the problems involved in the revision. Indicates the likely publication schedule of the new edition.
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As Nicholas Barker has pointed out, concern with the problem of deteriorating books has a long history. In 1898 the Prefect of the Vatican Library convened an international…
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As Nicholas Barker has pointed out, concern with the problem of deteriorating books has a long history. In 1898 the Prefect of the Vatican Library convened an international conference in St Gall to consider the decay of paper, in particular the new cheaper papers produced from wood pulp. Thereafter a number of libraries established conservation laboratories and the Bodleian monitored tests of the efficacy of different methods of treating paper. An even earlier concern for conservation is noted by Alex Wilson. In the Abbey of Admont the librarian's task was laid down in 1370 as