TY - JOUR AB - SEPTEMBER finds the summer irrevocably over, although there will still be one or two very beautiful months in the English autumn remaining. It is usually the time when the older librarian thinks of conferences, and today he realizes regretfully that these have receded into what already seems a remote past. This month as we write we have to repeat the expectation we have expressed every month since May that before these words appear in print the threatened lightning attack on the life of England will have been made by the Nazis. It is becoming so customary, however, that one can only suggest that so far as circumstances allow we proceed with our normal work. The circumstances may make this difficult but they should be faced. One thing stands out: that in public libraries, at anyrate, the demands made by readers have gradually returned to their usual level and in some places have risen above it. This does not always mean that the figures are as high as they were, because in many of the great cities and towns a part of the population, including a very large number of the children, have been evacuated. In spite of the pressure on the population as a whole, it would seem that head for head more books are being read now than at any previous time. VL - 43 IS - 2 SN - 0307-4803 DO - 10.1108/eb009234 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009234 PY - 1940 Y1 - 1940/01/01 TI - The Library World Volume 43 Issue 2 T2 - New Library World PB - MCB UP Ltd SP - 17 EP - 48 Y2 - 2024/04/23 ER -