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FINANCIAL fears are only less cruel than those of war, and lead men into extravagances which they would repudiate indignantly in their cooler moments. If the doings of the Economy Committee at Manchester in relation to children's libraries, as described in the article by Mr. Lamb in our last issue, are true, we have in them an example of a kind of retrenchment at the expense of the young which we hope is without parallel and will have no imitators. Some reduc‐tion of estimates we hear of from this or that place, but in few has the stupid policy which urges that if we spend nothing we shall all become rich been carried into full effect. Libraries always have suffered in times of crisis, whatever they are; we accept that, though doubtfully; but we do know that the people need libraries.

SIX years ago we published a symposium on school libraries, under the editorship of the late Lt.‐Col. J. M. Mitchell, Secretary of the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. The contributors included the librarians of the Ladies' College, Cheltenham, Clifton College, Bristol, Darwen Grammar School, Whitcliffe Mount Grammar School, Cleckheaton, Bristol Grammar School, and Leeds Training College. The symposium was a most interesting one, and showed that important schools of the kind were providing very good library services in the interest of their favoured classes. This present symposium is more in terms of the so‐called democratic masses. The very favourable, or very promising, conditions described by the contributing county librarians indicate a keenness to do the best in the interest of the children. Other counties, however, have been less active, but there is movement. In our next number our symposium will cover what is being done in the towns.

Among the many pressing questions of the day that of the establishment of village libraries is most important, for it affects widely the future intellectual life of the rural population. Moreover the moment has undoubtedly arrived when it must be dealt with in a wide and generous spirit, so that all who may be concerned in such a movement—and who is not?—may pull together in inaugurating a system which in coming years may prove not only practical and beneficial, but which may be established on sound and enduring lines, lines which do not run counter to existing organisations, but which gather into one harmonious whole the best traditions and the finest experiences of all those who in the past have fostered the reading habit and dealt with the practical side of the selection, conservation and distribution of books.

With this number the Library Review enters on its ninth year, and we send greetings to readers at home and abroad. Though the magazine was started just about the time when the depression struck the world, its success was immediate, and we are glad to say that its circulation has increased steadily every year. This is an eminently satisfactory claim to be able to make considering the times through which we have passed.

ALL the auguries for the Bournemouth Conference appear to be good. Our local secretary, Mr. Charles Riddle, seems to have spared neither energy nor ability to render our second visit to the town, whose libraries he initiated and has controlled for thirty‐seven years, useful and enjoyable. There will not be quite so many social events as usual, but that is appropriate in the national circumstances. There will be enough of all sorts of meetings to supply what the President of the A.L.A. describes as “the calling which collects and organizes books and other printed matter for the use and benefit of mankind and which brings together the reader and the printed word in a vital relationship.” We hope the discussions will be thorough, but without those long auto‐biographical speeches which are meant for home newspapers, that readers will make time for seeing the exhibitions, and that Bournemouth will be a source of health and pleasure to all our readers who can be there.

WITHIN the past two or three years there has been a considerable amount of interest manifested in the subject of better library provision in schools, and the movement has received the support of the Board of Education in England, and of the Scottish Education Department. It has been suggested to us that the general subject is one that should be discussed in this magazine, and the following symposium considers schemes of varying types. The introductory note by Lt.‐Col. Mitchell explains fully the official attitude, and tells of the excellent aid rendered to the movement by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. We should be glad to receive further contributions on the subject from readers interested, whether educationists or librarians.—EDITOR.

WHEN I left Toronto on the third day of the Conference it was not known how many delegates would ultimately be found to have attended it. Some had still to arrive. More than 1,700, however, had registered, and it was thought quite likely that as many as 2,000 would be the ultimate total—a “record” figure, outstripping even the attendance at the Jubilee Conference at Atlantic City. The other British representatives were Miss Overbury (West Riding); Miss Anne Rankin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester; Mr. G. T. Shaw (Liverpool); and Dr. Lowe (Leicester).

OWING to the comparatively early date in the year of the Library Association Conference, this number of THE LIBRARY WORLD is published so that it may be in the hands of our readers before it begins. The official programme is not in the hands of members at the time we write, but the circumstances are such this year that delay has been inevitable. We have dwelt already on the good fortune we enjoy in going to the beautiful West‐Country Spa. At this time of year it is at its best, and, if the weather is more genial than this weather‐chequered year gives us reason to expect, the Conference should be memorable on that account alone. The Conference has always been the focus of library friendships, and this idea, now that the Association is so large, should be developed. To be a member is to be one of a freemasonry of librarians, pledged to help and forward the work of one another. It is not in the conference rooms alone, where we listen, not always completely awake, to papers not always eloquent or cleverly read, that we gain most, although no one would discount these; it is in the hotels and boarding houses and restaurants, over dinner tables and in the easy chairs of the lounges, that we draw out really useful business information. In short, shop is the subject‐matter of conference conversation, and only misanthropic curmudgeons think otherwise.

Although economic conditions in the country were never in a more fluid condition, there are already signs that local authorities desire to stabilize the salaries of their staffs. The argument used is that there has been a definite approach to normal conditions, and that Whitley and other bonuses should be abolished or replaced by new permanent scales of salary. It is one facet of the general movement all over the country, and indeed over Europe, to reduce wages in order to bring about a real fall in the cost of living. The index figures on which bonus has been calculated have made violent downward jumps of late, and we understand that where salaries fluctuate in accordance with bonus, such salaries as £350 or thereabouts will be reduced by about £50 in September, and other salaries proportionately. The days of generosity to public officials are over for the present in England, as many municipal librarians are discovering.

A WEEK or two ago The Municipal Journal, in chronicling the opening of new libraries at Barrow and Bethnal Green, expressed the opinion that libraries “were having a new lease of life.” The phrase is a curious one, as we were not aware that libraries were in a state of senility, although we were vividly aware of their imperfections. It is, nevertheless, true that there has been unwonted library activity of late, and library matters now receive some real attention in the public press. The latter may be due in some measure to the recent publicity campaign of the Library Association. Still, that does not account for the fact that many places, hitherto not quite awake to the value of libraries, are now asking about them, as Sutton, Weymouth, Marylebone, Coulsoon and Purley, while others are pressing for development, especially in the direction of Children's Libraries.