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IN MAY 1970 The library world carried a special issue on ‘Libraries in polytechnics’. Don Davinson, in that issue, said, ‘with little chance of achieving consolidation on one site for many, many years their difficulties in providing coherent library service will be truly formidable’.

THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE of the British Library was set up in June 1971 following the acceptance in April 1970 by the government of the recommendations of the Dainton Report on the national libraries and the consequent White Paper (Cmnd 4572) in January 1971. The committee is to plan the organisation of the library and develop and co‐ordinate its policy, and is clearly of the greatest importance, not only to the national libraries but to all libraries through the bibliographic and research services the British Library will undertake. What do we know of the work of this committee, which has now been in existence for a year?

The question “What is management?” is posed. A number of approaches are described and it is suggested that gut reaction and management by fear are no longer appropriate. Management skills are also examined and approaches to develop these identified.

WHAT WITH the new LA Record apparently determined at least to set off down the runway—layouts and plans are due to be unveiled at SPEX 75, the day after this issue of NLW appears—we thought we'd better stir ourselves from summer somnolence and do a little gentle tinkering with NLW to reawaken your interest, and to show the LA that we, too, can move with the times, ha‐ha, even if not very far.

STARING AT all of us in the preamble of the Library Association's Royal Charter is the statement that one of the objects of the association is ‘to unite all persons engaged or interested in library work for the purpose of promoting the best administration of libraries’. Now, whatever else we may have achieved over the last hundred years, we have conspicuously failed in this particular objective. How many experienced librarians with long years of library service behind them are there up and down the country, in government departments, universities and industrial firms, who seem to take a perverse sort of pride in not being members of the association, instead of being safely tucked up with the rest of us? Their number must be legion, and that in itself is an indication of our failure. And how often do they admit, a little shamefacedly, that they really see no relevance in what the Library Association is doing, in relation to their own individual circumstances? And then comes their clincher: besides, they will tell you slightly aggressively, ‘if I joined it would cost me £x’.

CHANGE, whether we like it or not, is a major element in twentieth century life. Every organisation is likely to be forced into radical change, and a failure to respond adequately to this demand, whether it comes from within the organisation or from outside, is likely to lead to a loss of effectiveness; the organisation will then either fossilise as an obsolete structure, functioning in a barely relevant way, or it will disintegrate completely. In library terms such demands for change might be exemplified by the increasing strictures on local budgets by central government, by technological developments, particularly on‐line computer systems, and by the changing needs and aspirations of contemporary society.

THE ANNUAL ORGY of reference‐writing for departing students is on the wane now. The well‐worn platitudes are about to go into dock for their 10,000‐word service, to be ready to leap out fresh again next year.

IT IS A sobering thought that the Canadian Library Association's 31st annual conference last month attracted about 1000 librarian‐delegates to discuss the library needs of ethnic groups; this from a total Canadian population just 40% of the UK's. This year's LA conference in Scarborough in September is the first of the new‐style ‘national’ gatherings, and it must be hoped that the unlimited range will draw a record attendance; but it is not likely to be anywhere near commensurate with the CLA. I realise the problems, but effort must surely start to be given towards drawing much wider representation of all professional sectors and tiers at the British annual conference in future years. The goodwill is there on the association's part. It is the employers, 1 fancy, who have got to be pressed into releasing and funding staff, allied also to a withholding of suspicion by those librarians who still view the LA as an association of public librarians.

What is the function of the annual Public Libraries Group Weekend School, other than to prove that even if our public libraries are not all‐singing, all‐dancing, our chief librarians are? The final plenary session of this year's, for example, was self‐mockingly described as ‘the annual bloodletting’, raising spectres of Ancient Rome, innocent Christians, ravenous lions, bloodthirsty spectators. Yet the actual proceedings would scarce have raised a blush on a maiden's cheek, had any been present by the end of the course. Even the eagerly‐donned hair shirts seemed to be bespoke.

28 August this year is the 20th anniversary (I think!) of the date on which I published the first titles under my newly‐created librarianship imprint of Clive Bingley Ltd. I say ‘I think’ because, although I have a nostalgic taste for anniversaries — they are so happily meaningless in themselves — I recently discovered quite by chance that the date in January on which for many years my wife and I have celebrated with good wine the anniversary of the evening on which we first went out together is wrong by a fortnight! But I am pretty sure my first independent publishing date was at the end of August 1965.