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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/03074809510080906. When citing the article, please cite: Dave Muddiman, (1995), “Information and library education: a manifesto for the millennium”, New Library World, Vol. 96 Iss: 2, pp. 26 - 31.

ASLIB – the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux – was founded in 1924 with the aim of co‐ordinating the activities of specialist information services in the UK. This article seeks to present a new history of the first quarter‐century of the Association.

This is a historical study based substantially on two collections of primary documents: ASLIB's own records, held at Aslib Headquarters, London; and the papers of Edith Ditmas, held at the National Library of Wales.

The paper explores the origins of ASLIB, and its roots in the “science lobby” of the time; it then traces the development of ASLIB as both a “national intelligence service” for science, commerce and industry, and as a quasi‐professional association with international significance. It concludes that the first of these two functions was the Association's fundamental raison d'être.

The research is limited to study of ASLIB in the period 1924‐1950 and an obvious continuation would be a history of “corporate” ASLIB (1950‐1997). More generally, the paper reveals that the history of UK documentation and information science in the twentieth century is underexplored: there is scope for future research focused on key pioneers and ideas, as well as institutions such as ASLIB.

As far as is known, this is the first historical study of ASLIB to be based on contemporary records: it should therefore be of value to both historians of information and library science and practitioners interested in their professional heritage.

As the millennium looms, education for librarianship and information work faces uncertain times. Reviews the recent fragmentation of library education, raising such issues as the obsession with “emerging” markets; the influence of the “new” vocationalism and the rise of NVQ and CPD. These developments bring with them the danger of a return to apprenticeship and the end of library and information science. It is argued that such decline is not inevitable. Suggests that library and information science must re‐emphasize its distinctiveness as an academic discipline, reassess its targeted labour market and work together with other stakeholders to develop a restructured system of occupational education based on accessibility and co‐operation. The result might then be the rebirth of the librarian in a “new age”.

The executive summary of the report of an 18‐month research project on public library policy and social exclusion based at Leeds Metropolitan University and conducted in partnership with the London Borough of Merton (Libraries), Sheffield Libraries, Archives and Information Services, and John Vincent, an independent consultant. Briefly describes the background to the research and gives a summary of the study findings and the main conclusions and recommendations. The study examines the context of social exclusion and the nature of the problems facing public libraries and other public institutions in tackling disadvantage.

John Desmond Bernal (1901‐1970) was one of the most eminent scientists of his generation; he also became, in mid‐twentieth century Britain, an important political figure – the leading public spokesperson of “red” science. One remarkable but hitherto underexplored aspect of his career is a lifelong interest in scientific communication, documentation and information science. Utilising records in the Bernal archive in Cambridge, UK, this paper assesses Bernal's information career. It explores Bernal's initial interest in scientific documentation in the 1930s and examines his blueprint for the reform of scientific communication in Britain, advanced in Bernal's 1939 work, The Social Function of Science. It details his subsequent role, in 1945‐1949, as figurehead of a co‐ordinated but unsuccessful left‐wing campaign to establish an Institute of Scientific Information in Britain. It analyses Bernal's later theoretical papers in information science, and describes his support, in the 1950s and 1960s, for an emerging information profession. Bernal, it concludes, can justifiably be regarded as a major influence on twentieth century information science, above all because of his pioneering focus on the social dimensions of the discipline.