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It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

THE effective little conference of the London and Home Counties Branch of the Library Association at Brighton gave clear proof of the value of and desire for such gatherings. This experience, we are confident, will be understood by our Council and a national conference should be possible in 1946. At Brighton, amongst many good things, from the public lecture by Charles Morgan to the excellent symposium by the Service members, there was the important statement by Mr. Goldsack, Chairman of the National Book League and a well‐known publisher, on the state of British stocks of books. A census made by publishers and booksellers had revealed that some 50,000 basic books, which are required continuously by libraries, schools and the general reading world, are out‐of‐print. It may be recalled that forty years ago James Duff Brown asserted “of real, living works of literary and human interest, there are perhaps not more than 20,000 in the English language,” and if more than twice that number of books are unavailable the condition would seem to be parlous. Of course the quotation we have made is not acceptable today nor is the statement unqualified in the Berwick Sayers' editions of Brown's Manual, but Mr. Goldsack's figures give us furiously to think. We are bound to keep in every town and county a representative collection of books of every age and we do know that there is the insistent demand for current books; for some readers, indeed, this means current fiction; lacking that we are labelled as “useless” by the most vocal part of the community of readers.

ONE of the subjects which will probably come up for discussion at the Brighton meeting of the Library Association is that of instituting a Register of qualified librarians. This has already been talked about in various connections, and has now become an inevitable topic for discussion at meetings of branch associations owing to Messrs. Jast and Sayers having imitated the peripatetic method adopted by Mr. G. T. Shaw for securing a larger hearing for his scheme of improvement. A brief examination of the whole situation may not come amiss at this particular juncture, as most librarians have only a hazy idea of what is meant by the registration of Messrs. Jast and Sayers, and that proposed by the promoters of the Institute of Librarians; and wherein both proposals differ from the legal and effective registration secured to other professional bodies by statute or otherwise.

AT the very outset of this paper it is necessary to make clear that it is not an attempt to compile an exhaustive bibliography of literature relating to special librarianship. Neither space nor time permit this. In fact, the references given can only claim to be a sample of the wealth of material on the subject and this paper is submitted in the hope that it will stimulate others to more scholarly efforts. Reference numbers throughout this paper refer to items in the ‘Select list of references to the literature of special librarianship’, section 2 onwards.

THIS number of THE LIBRARY WORLD returns to the question of foreign literature in British Libraries. The insistence in recent years upon two foreign languages at least, as a qualification for a librarian, has had some good results; but they are Still inadequate in extent. Every librarian must be painfully aware of the handicap we British people suffer in our average inability to converse in any language but our own; no other race is quite so restricted. A Swiss, for example, does not ask if we can speak this or that language, but asks, “In what language shall we speak together?”—a vastly different thing. It is not because of any lack of power to learn; it is merely our unwillingness or lack of opportunity to do so. Such attitudes are anachronisms to‐day; peoples get so much closer every hour, and it must be clear to all who think that one place in a town where a foreigner should be able to ask an intelligent question and receive an answer in his own tongue is the library.

IT is important to open this editorial with an affirmation of faith. It is this:

In 1941, with the help of the Royal Society and with funds provided by the Rockefeller Foundation, Aslib made a survey of the deficiencies in the supply to libraries in Great Britain of current scientific and technical periodicals from enemy and enemy‐controlled countries.

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was established by Order in Council during the 1914–18 war, with its own vote and with the Lord President of the Council as responsible Minister, as a means of helping the country when peace returned.

Amalgamation with the British Society for International Bibliography, agreed in principle in 1947, was accomplished de facto as from 1 January, 1948. The legal side, however, has taken longer than was anticipated, though the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the new body have been accepted by the Board of Trade and it is hoped that the formalities will be completed during 1948. Until these have taken place the finances of the two organisations have had to be kept separate, although their activities have been controlled as one organization under a joint Council. It is expected that the first Annual General Meeting of the new Aslib will be held about April, 1949, when the whole present Council will resign and a new Council will be elected.

In the context of a highly regulated teacher education system, this chapter offers an alternative vision for a ‘better normal’ for teacher education in England. It foregrounds the need for teacher educators and teacher preparation curricula to promote ‘a way of being’ that enables teachers and teacher educators to have agency, develop as ‘thinking’ professionals and be resilient in an ever-changing policy context.