The Library World Volume 57 Issue 1

Abstract

THE most important date in current British library affairs was undoubtedly May 6th, 1955, when the Public Libraries (Scotland) Act became law. In five laconic paragraphs it sweeps away the financial shackles which have been the exasperation, almost the despair, of our Scottish colleagues who until now were able to watch their English and Welsh ones, free from rate limits, able to lend library material one to another and able, of course all this with their local authority consent, to borrow money for legitimate library purposes. Now, Scotland is free too in all these necessary matters. The new Aft, of course, will have to be interpreted in conjunction with the existing Scottish Public Libraries Acts, and one clause, 3, which gives authorities power to revoke any decision they have made to adopt the principal Aft, may have repercussions not at present envisaged. However that may be, a new vista is open to a country which was always notable for its high valuation of education, and yet for a century withheld adequate means from its library service.

Citation

(1955), "The Library World Volume 57 Issue 1", New Library World, Vol. 57 No. 1, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009392