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Focuses on the author’s experiences during the Summer 2004 voyage of the Semester at Sea program when she sailed as the ship’s librarian. The program, run by the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE) and academically based at the University of Pittsburgh, provides a floating college campus to students and faculty on a ship that sails around the world with stops in several countries on each voyage. The question of what is the essence of a library was of particular concern because ISE acquired a new ship about three weeks prior to the voyage, and, since this did not have an academic library on board, much work was needed in a very short period of time to create one – an opportunity to see a library set up from scratch and to ponder the essentials of service and practice.

Highlights annual conference of the American Society of Engineering Education, specifically the part for Engineering Librarians.

Provides a brief review of the conference.

Engineering Librarians are increasingly interested in information literacy in their subject areas and incorporating that in outreach activities. Scholarly publishing in Engineering in increasingly interdisciplinary with more interest in the Business/management Literature.

More subspecialties are emerging in engineering curriculum and research.

Partnerships between academe and industry and the federal government is increasingly important. No library however strong can be considered to have an exclusive engineering collection as interdisciplinary applications magnify.Value – Reinforcing good service reflecting instruction, collection development and subject strength contributes to effective responsibilities as an Engineering Librarian.

It is a matter of common knowledge that beer, in its several varieties, is by no means the same thing to‐day as it was a generation or less ago; the progress of chemical and biological knowledge on the one hand, and the keenness of competition on the other, have led to great alterations both in the materials used in its production and the methods by which it is produced. Exact or reliable knowledge about this, however, is far from being common; vehement assertions are made that all or almost all the changes are for the better, and also that beer is now a manufactured chemical product of deleterious nature, in which little or nothing of genuine material is used. Such statements are rendered unacceptable by the existence of self‐interest on one side and prejudice on the other. A short account of some of the facts concerned may, therefore, be of service.

MANY and sundry are the worries which fall to the lot of the librarian, and the matter of book‐repair is not the least among them. The very limited book‐fund at the disposal of most public library authorities makes it imperative on the part of the librarian to keep the books in his charge in circulation as long as possible, and to do this at a comparatively small cost, in spite of poor paper, poor binding, careless repairing, and unqualified assistants. This presents a problem which to some extent can be solved by the establishment of a small bindery or repairing department, under the control of an assistant who understands the technique of bookbinding.

IT is rarely possible to place on record expressions of appreciation concerning Municipal Libraries. More often than not remarks are heard about these institutions being an incubus and a burden on the rates, merely the haunts of loungers, and so forth. A public‐spirited citizen has, however, come forward at Halifax, and in a most interesting leader in the local paper has paid a splendid tribute to the library service of that town. Speaking of the public libraries, he says: “But in one respect we really do lead, and strangely enough it is the one thing that our local patriots rarely mention, perhaps because the subject is outside their sphere. I refer to our Municipal Libraries, which I believe are the finest, or certainly among the finest, in the country; and as I like to be patriotic when I can, and would rather speak well than ill of anything or anybody, I propose to pay a little tribute to these institutions. But just let me say that if we have finer libraries in Halifax than many much larger places possess, we owe it almost entirely to our Chief Librarian and those who work under him.”

Before the appearance of our next issue, the Annual Meeting of the Library Association will have taken place. In many ways, as indicated last month, it will be an interesting meeting, largely because it is in the nature of an experiment. International conditions, the state of national and municipal finance, the absence of library workers with the colours, and the omission of social events, all tend to influence its character. It is possible, however, that these very circumstances may increase the interest in the actual conference business, especially as the programme bears largely upon the War. The programme itself is formidable, and it will be interesting to see how the section on the literature of the war, for example, will be treated. Probably the Publications' Committee have in mind the book symposia which are a feature of the meetings of various library associations in the United States. These consist of a few minutes' characterisation, by an opener, of a certain book or type of literature, and a discussion after it. The experiment was attempted in London last year at one of the monthly meetings, but owing to a misapprehension the speaker gave an excellent lecture on Francis Thompson of more than an hour's duration, when he had been expected to give a brief description of Francis Meynell's biography of that poet. If any gatherings for a similar purpose are arranged, we hope the speakers will be primed sufficiently to avoid that error. As for social events, their omission is less likely to be felt in London than anywhere else in the Kingdom. London is a perennial source of social amusement in itself, and the evenings can readily be filled there—“chacun à son goût”—really better than by attending pre‐arranged gatherings.

We issue a double Souvenir number of The Library World in connection with the Library Association Conference at Birmingham, in which we have pleasure in including a special article, “Libraries in Birmingham,” by Mr. Walter Powell, Chief Librarian of Birmingham Public Libraries. He has endeavoured to combine in it the subject of Special Library collections, and libraries other than the Municipal Libraries in the City. Another article entitled “Some Memories of Birmingham” is by Mr. Richard W. Mould, Chief Librarian and Curator of Southwark Public Libraries and Cuming Museum. We understand that a very full programme has been arranged for the Conference, and we have already published such details as are now available in our July number.

The old snobbery in regard to public libraries expressed itself in the phrase “the provision of the illiterate for the illiterate by the illiterate” —a phrase which is too literate to have had any but an easily recognizable origin. It was always hypocritical or ignorant, or both, of course, but the snobbery it reflected has faded into its true values today. Recent careful analyses of the registers of a few public libraries go to show that the greater number of readers are actual ratepayers, and many of them substantial ones. The old fear of the “free” library with its charity associations has gone, except perhaps in such quarters as originated the phrase quoted above. A fair reflection of this was a remark in a very recent public case where the counsel asked a witness who complained that she had “to get pocket money to buy books” if she did not know of free libraries, and the presiding Chancellor of the Diocese of Norwich remarked that he had obtained books from the County Library. On all sides, too, we hear that the issues from public libraries at this Easier have surpassed all records.

The danger of damage to buildings and their contents that might be caused by German air‐craft and warships has been seriously exercising the thoughts of owners, trustees and occupiers, and strong representations have been made to the Board of Trade, urging upon the Government that the State should accept liability in respect of same. This seems only reasonable at a time like the present. The danger is a national one, while any damage done would naturally be local, and we believe the whole nation would be willing to bear the loss for the localities attacked. Mr. Runciman has intimated that the Government is only prepared to consider the matter on the lines of a modified scheme of State Insurance, and while we do not think this satisfactory, it is better than nothing, and some scheme should undoubtedly be arranged by which the local authorities could cover their risks so far as the Municipal Buildings and the Public Libraries are concerned. The Libraries, in many cases, particularly when holding in trust or through bequest or gift the collections of individuals, contain books and articles of great value, and the matter should be in the mind of all librarians, and not be allowed to drop.

THE attention which has lately been given to the subject of registration may well be taken as indicative of a growing desire for it, and no one who has closely followed the growing importance of libraries in the educational life of the country, and the consequent impetus given to the craft of librarianship, can have doubted that ere many years had passed it would be necessary to establish a professional register as other professional and trade bodies have done.