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This was designed as a discussion meeting, and not a lecture. The main intention of the introductory remarks was to survey recent revision work on the Universal Decimal Classification (U.D.C.), at both international and national levels, and to examine progress on the English full edition, stressing the point that this could be accelerated with more active help and interest on the part of U.D.C. users in this country.

I lovepublishers. Let me make that point crystal‐clear before I embark on the main theme. I love publishers. Apart from the fact that their activities provide me with my job, I think that they are one of the most important, if not the greatest, factors in the growth of civilization—from the ancient Greeks to the atom bomb. Scientific research on its present scale is impossible without the publishers. Technological advance and the application of research to industry would be atrophied without them. We should, therefore, acknowledge our great debt and be grateful for the very high standard of achievement of publishers. We should recognize also the high ethical standards of the majority of them.

The libraries of Government departments are receiving increasing attention in professional literature, and informative papers have been published by Mr. A. Agard‐Evans (1948), Mr. D. W. King (1949), and Dr. A. J. Walford (1950). In this short paper I intend to refer briefly to the contribution of Government libraries to our national system of libraries and information services, and to describe some features of librarianship in a Government research library.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

A meeting on the subject of the availability of atomic energy information and library problems connected with it was organized by Aslib and held at the Industrial Welfare Society on 3rd April 1957. Mr. B. Agard Evans, Librarian, Ministry of Works Library, was in the chair.

The 28th annual conference of Aslib, held at Nottingham University from 11th to 14th September, 1953, proved to be the largest that Aslib has so far organized. A list of those present is printed on pp. 254–260. Yet again Aslib was glad to be able to welcome a number of overseas guests and members, including Dr. and Mrs. Lancour and their small daughter from the U.S.A., Drs. and Mrs. van Dijk and Miss Rom from the Netherlands, Mr. M. S. Dandekar and Mr. J. V. Karandikar from India, Miss D. M. Leach from Canada, and Mrs. T. Collin from Norway. Mr. Walter A. Southern, a Fulbright scholar from the U.S.A. affiliated to Aslib during his year's study in the United Kingdom, represented the Special Libraries Association, and Mr. J. E. Holmstrom attended as an observer on behalf of Unesco.

Before embarking on this paper, I want to make an emphatic disclaimer. In so far as the proposed Institute has political angles, these are expressly excluded from my treatment. The Expert Group had fairly wide terms of reference, but these were regarded as professional or technical questions and answered factually.

Definition of a pamphlet depends upon defining a book as a book that will stand up on the shelves and a periodical as something which comes out periodically: anything else is a pamphlet. There are librarians who recognize such things as serials, reports and a multitude of other sub‐divisions in order to make life simpler or harder. But for the purpose of this paper a pamphlet is taken to be any literature which does not fall into the category of book or periodical.

The Automobile Association is a private organization maintained by members' subscriptions. It exists solely to give service to its members. I am sure you all know this, but it seems right to start this paper by reminding you of it because many people regard the A.A. as a cross between a public service and a nationalized industry. This is probably because certain things which we do, and are in a unique position to do, are not attempted by anyone else. We have learnt by many years of experience the best, or what seems to us to be the best, way of dealing with various problems with due regard to economy of both labour and money.

In the United Kingdom the special library, in the modern connotation, developed in a world where public libraries were mature, well‐established and vigorous. In India, however, the special library for the most part has preceded the development of the public library system.