The Library World Volume 30 Issue 11

Abstract

ONE of the most significant institutions of our day is the Central Library for Students. This truism—which we have frequently stressed—was emphasised by the Report of the Library which was presented at the Annual Meeting held at University College, London, on May 16th. The number of books issued, which was 52,711, does not seem large in comparison with the figures that an average‐sized municipal or county library can present; but the difference lies in the purposefulness which those figures represent. Nearly every book here recorded was one required for special work; few, if any, were for idle reading or for the occupation of undirected leisure. We note with pleasure that the outlier libraries lent 1,606 books out of 1,814 for which call was made. It seems a fair proportion. We were not clear if the balance unsupplied by them was supplied from the funds of the Central Library itself. We appreciate these outlier libraries, who are able to be such owing to grants from the Carnegie Trust, but we look more earnestly to a greater growth of the voluntary co‐operation which has found its adherents in the public libraries. There are now seven urban and two county libraries who place their stocks at the disposal of the Central Library for Students. Why not all of them? As we have said on an earlier occasion, if all adhered, the demands on any one would be small and the advantages without limit.

Citation

(1928), "The Library World Volume 30 Issue 11", New Library World, Vol. 30 No. 11, pp. 272-296. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009124