JAMES A. TAIT, K.A. STOCKHAM, GEORGE T. GEDDES, BERNA C. CLARK, ENID M. OSBORNE and J.A.T.
MALTBY, ARTHUR. U.K. catalogue use survey. London: Library Association, 1973. 35 p. Library Association research publication, no. 12. £1.25 (£1 to members). This report on the use…
Abstract
MALTBY, ARTHUR. U.K. catalogue use survey. London: Library Association, 1973. 35 p. Library Association research publication, no. 12. £1.25 (£1 to members). This report on the use and non‐use of the catalogue by readers describes the findings of a project carried out largely by the various schools of librarianship in April/May 1971. Two previous pilot studies had been carried out to refine the questionnaire to make it applicable throughout the United Kingdom. Special libraries were reluctantly excluded, but all other types of library were included. The method chosen was that of briefed interviewers and a structured interview, largely because it seemed desirable to catch not only those who use the catalogue, but also those who do not. Of the total of 3,252 interviewed, 1914 (59 per cent) actually used the catalogue; of the 41 per cent who never used the catalogue, the vast majority stated that they could manage without it, while 281 preferred to ask the staff. Probably most of this group went straight to the shelves. From the break‐down by type of library, it would seem that municipal and county libraries hardly need a catalogue at all. There is also the point that if more people had been shown how to use the catalogue, more would use it.
OVER SEVENTY children's librarians, teachers, publishers, writers and illustrators attended the first course organized by the School of Librarianship as part of the Loughborough…
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OVER SEVENTY children's librarians, teachers, publishers, writers and illustrators attended the first course organized by the School of Librarianship as part of the Loughborough College of Education annual summer school. The course was truly international in scope and much of the credit for its success must go to the way in which our visitors from the continent entered so enthusiastically into discussions, answered questions, delivered formal lectures which were both informative and entertaining, all in what was for them a foreign tongue. Their modest apologies for any gaps in their knowledge of the English language proved entirely unnecessary and put the native English‐speaking members of the audience to shame when they considered how badly they would have fared in a similar situation.
THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND has three copies of the first quarto (dated 1676) of Sir George Etherege's The Man of Mode, one of the finest and most successful of Restoration…
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THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND has three copies of the first quarto (dated 1676) of Sir George Etherege's The Man of Mode, one of the finest and most successful of Restoration comedies. One of these is a prompt copy, a good specimen, prepared with professional skill and thoroughness. It deserves notice for the information which it provides about Restoration stage practice, and for the connexion which it may have with a somewhat obscure episode in the history of the King's Company.
In our last ‘Notes and News’ we made an unfortunate mistake. In writing on the poetry section of the School Library Association's book list Fiction, Verse and Legend we referred…
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In our last ‘Notes and News’ we made an unfortunate mistake. In writing on the poetry section of the School Library Association's book list Fiction, Verse and Legend we referred to the Bodley Head series of poetry for the young as ‘now regrettably out of print’. Before making this categorical statement we had referred to the Bodley Head's current catalogue ‘with complete back‐list’, and had failed to find any reference to the series, but we had also failed to notice the comparatively insignificant sentence on page ii of the cover: ‘Children's books are listed in a separate catalogue.’
When this work was completed, sixteen years ago, interest in library history was much smaller than it is today. Even so, by virtue of its theme and its scholarship, Dr Aitken's…
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When this work was completed, sixteen years ago, interest in library history was much smaller than it is today. Even so, by virtue of its theme and its scholarship, Dr Aitken's thesis deserved formal publication much sooner. As some readers of Library Review will know, since 1964 the text has been available on microfilm and in Xerox copies of the original typescript, but grateful as we should be to the Microfilm Association of Great Britain for venturing where the established publishers of books on librarianship feared to tread, it is a relief to have this invaluable history in orthodox form as a sturdy, portable, well‐printed volume.
The management of children′s literature is a search for value andsuitability. Effective policies in library and educational work arebased firmly on knowledge of materials, and on…
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The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.
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THE provisional programme of this year's L.A. Conference at Southport on September 20–23 is now in our hands. The theme, the library and the community, is the perennial one for…
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THE provisional programme of this year's L.A. Conference at Southport on September 20–23 is now in our hands. The theme, the library and the community, is the perennial one for our conferences and, in that, is blameless ; everything will depend on the handling of the subjects. No one who considers what is promised can accuse the Council of the L.A. of a partial view of the field, because whole areas are given representation in general sessions and if, as we expect from such writers as Messrs. R. O. MacKenna, W. S. Haigh, D. J. Foskett and F. C. Francis, the papers have the requisite range, the Proceedings will prove to be a comprehensive Statement of library practice today. All are well‐tried speakers and amongst them we anticipate, for example, a model paper from Mr. Haigh, who was frank in his view of the endurance required of the listeners at Hastings. The gifted Editor of The Assistant Librarian, Mr. A. C. Jones, who, unfortunately for us all, is relinquishing that office, is to occupy the A.A.L. with the assistant librarian in the community, and county libraries are to be represented by papers by Mr. B. Oliph Smith and Mr. H. Thompson at their own Section meetings. University libraries again come into the picture at theirs with a discussion opened by Dr. L. W. Sharp. Mystery is suggested by Mr. B. C. Vickery's “Tower of Babel: the language barrier in science” which seems to indicate some form of Interglossa or, possibly, since he is an enthusiast for Dr. Ranganathan, that teacher's Meta‐language. It certainly would be an achievement if whenever a scientist used a word it could be made to convey the same thing in every reader's mind. The Youth Section will listen to that practical teacher and thinker, Mr. J. F. Wolfenden; and the Annual Lecturer on Wednesday, September 21, will be by Mr. J. L. Longland, the chief education officer of Derbyshire, whose co‐operative sympathy and support was no doubt of great service to Mr. Edgar Osborne in the organizing of the most fully co‐ordinate county service in this country. Five British “internes” will render account of their experiences in America, under the chairmanship of Mr. J. C. Harrison, we hope to the encouragement of others of us “to go and do likewise.” Nothing better for the creation of fresh enthusiasms and for a high international level of library practice in all its variants can be imagined than this prolonged employment in the libraries of other countries ; every librarian should encourage it to the limit of his means and feel, as we do, gratitude to Messrs. Sydney and Harrison for acting as the selection committee so far as British candidate “internes” are concerned.
Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
WE write on the eve of an Annual Meeting of the Library Association. We expect many interesting things from it, for although it is not the first meeting under the new…
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WE write on the eve of an Annual Meeting of the Library Association. We expect many interesting things from it, for although it is not the first meeting under the new constitution, it is the first in which all the sections will be actively engaged. From a membership of eight hundred in 1927 we are, in 1930, within measurable distance of a membership of three thousand; and, although we have not reached that figure by a few hundreds—and those few will be the most difficult to obtain quickly—this is a really memorable achievement. There are certain necessary results of the Association's expansion. In the former days it was possible for every member, if he desired, to attend all the meetings; today parallel meetings are necessary in order to represent all interests, and members must make a selection amongst the good things offered. Large meetings are not entirely desirable; discussion of any effective sort is impossible in them; and the speakers are usually those who always speak, and who possess more nerve than the rest of us. This does not mean that they are not worth a hearing. Nevertheless, seeing that at least 1,000 will be at Cambridge, small sectional meetings in which no one who has anything to say need be afraid of saying it, are an ideal to which we are forced by the growth of our numbers.