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THE Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education on Books in Public Elementary Schools gives a fair account of the position when it suggests that the book supply in schools has not kept pace with the new technique of teaching which has increasing regard to the function of individual study in the school and the extension of the reading habit at home.

BOOKS and Libraries for the Blind form the subject of a paper by Dr. Robert C. Moon in the May Library Journal. The writer is the son of William Moon, the inventor of the system of embossed writing bearing his name. He describes the systems of writing for the blind in use, and the various agencies for circulating literature. After examining the existing departments for the blind in Public Libraries, he comes to the conclusion that “all the libraries need more books, and if they are to reach and teach the adult blind they must have a fair proportion of them in the Moon type. All Public Libraries should possess a few works printed in the various types, care being taken to have a good supply of those embossed in the special type which is taught in the schools for the blind of the immediate locality, in order that the pupils in vacation time, and the graduates of the schools may be provided with reading matter, but the infirm and aged blind will be found in almost all communities, and for them books printed in the Moon type are indispensable. Alice S. Tyler describes the League of Library Commissions. “The success of the experiment in co‐operation which was inaugurated in 1901 by the library commissions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, whereby printed matter of common interest and equal necessity and value to these commissions was issued jointly, led to the suggestion that a national organization might more economically carry forward these and other lines of co‐operative work, leaving to the overcrowded state commission workers more time and money for the peculiar problems of each state.” This suggestion was brought up at the St. Louis conference, and resulted in an organization being formed under the title of the League of Library Commissions, consisting of one representative from each of the commissions included. The particular directions in which the League will promote co‐operative work are: carefully prepared lists of books for first purchase for small libraries; lists of new books which, upon examination, had been found desirable ; handbook of suggestions and direction as to the organization and management of small libraries; printed statement regarding the aims and methods of state library commissions, with comparison of their laws; definite help and suggestions on the subject of library buildings, especially floor‐plans arranged for economic administration, growing out of the experience of the library commissions in connection with the erection of Carnegie and other library buildings within the last few years; united effort to bring to the attention of book publishers the urgent need of good, durable binding, adequate indexing, &c.

Probably the most interesting public library discussion of last month occurred in the Holborn Borough Council on April 12th. At this meeting the Library Committee reported that they had considered what further economies could be effected during the war in connexion with the Local Government Board circular. They found that no substantial saving could be made by suspending the issue of fiction. On the other hand, the four remaining assistants were either attested, or single men who would be required for military service. In these circumstances they recommended, “That, for the period of the war, or until further order, the Holborn Public Library be closed to the public.” This subject was referred to the Law and Parliamentary Committee, which submitted a report. This report seems to us to be so logical and important in its arguments and decisions that we are giving it a place in these editorial columns, as we believe it will be of value not only to London librarians but to others throughout the country, who are faced with similar issues :—

ANOTHER Annual Meeting has come and gone. It was scarcely to be expected that the meeting at Bradford would be a record in the number of members attending, seeing that it is only three years ago since the Association met in the neighbouring city of Leeds, and that Bradford cannot boast either the historical associations or the architectural and scenic setting of many other towns. For the most part therefore the members who did attend, attended because they were interested in the serious rather than the entertainment or excursion side of the gathering, which was so far perhaps to the advantage of the meetings and discussions. Nevertheless, the actual number of those present—about two hundred—was quite satisfactory, and none, we are assured, even if the local functions were the main or an equal element of attraction, could possibly have regretted their visit to the metropolis of the worsted trade. Fortunately the weather was all that could be desired, and under the bright sunshine Bradford looked its best, many members, who expected doubtless to find a grey, depressing city of factories, being pleasingly disappointed with the fine views and width of open and green country quite close at hand.

I. THE AMATEUR READER. MAKE no mistake: reading is an art, though it may seem as much an instinctive action as eating. It is by no means necessary to read every word of a book to have read it to the best advantage. Skipping and skimming are often condemned as vices of the desultory and idolent, and so indeed they often are, when they are involuntary. But the really expert reader skips and skims deliberately. Like Dr. Johnson, he “tears the heart out of a book.” He has not the time to waste on reading the unessential. Very likely only certain parts of a book are of service to him. Why should he do more than glance over the rest to see that he is missing nothing important to him? You will notice that as you read you take in, not single words at a glance, still less (as a child does) single letters, but whole sentences. That is, I believe, the common rate of reading. But Shelley could read, his eye and mind grasping at one glance an entire paragraph or even page. It does not matter how fast you read, so long as you read with your mind awake. As we all know, very much reading only half holds the attention, and is almost a vice. The morbid craving for printed matter, for any printed matter, no matter what, is not a help, but an active impediment to thinking.

THE regions we are to invade are not necessarily those of everyday routine administration. Of one thing I feel certain: that when we venture together in the quest I shall always be conscious of one unspoken question in your minds: the question that has damned more schemes at their inception than any other. It is this: “Where is the money to come from?”

WHERE is that tiresome tram? I'm late already, and yet I've been kept waiting for five minutes for the cursed conveyance. The crowd gathers, so there'll be a rush for it when it does come; and it will play with us that game so poignantly exhibited in Noel Coward's This Year of Grace, and pull up fifteen yards beyond the post. Ah! here it comes…

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.

The tragedy of the War has come very close to librarians in the death of Mr. W. G. C. Gladstone, M.P., from wounds received in action in Flanders on April 14th. About two years ago he became interested in the new Libraries Bill, and took charge of it in the House of Commons. He worked assiduously, and his historic name, and his genial, unaffected manner won over men on all sides of the House, insomuch that the backers of the Bill included members of every political complexion. War has intervened, and prevented the Bill's progress, and now our Parliamentary leader has given his life for a greater cause. Regret for his loss is widespread throughout the country, and no one will feel it more keenly than librarians.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the eugenic beliefs of behavioral geneticist Barbara S. Burks and scientific‐management pioneers B. Frank and Lillian M. Moeller Gilbreth.

Drawing on personal communications with the Gilbreths' daughter, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, and archival records, this paper clarifies the relationship between Barbara S. Burks and the Gilbreth family.

This research establishes that the unnamed psychologist described in an unflattering manner in the best‐selling book on the Gilbreth family, Cheaper by the Dozen, was not Barbara S. Burks.

Based on information that only Ernestine Gilbreth Carey could have provided, this paper sets the record straight regarding the Gilbreths' involvement with eugenicist Barbara S. Burks.