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

This paper bears so comprehensive a title that, if I were to do it anything like justice, there would be no time for anything else this morning. However, within the limits of the time allowed me, I hope to say something about a public scientific and technical library I know quite well—that of Sheffield—which may explain why its functions differ from those of special libraries, and to some extent how they are different. First of all, a word on our background.

The right people to say what was wrong with the UDC were the users of the UDC. They had invested in it. Now the FID had authorized preparation of the Standard Reference Code, one of the intentions of which was to be the future framework of a more balanced and logically‐constructed ‘UDC’. But would it correct the defects of the present UDC? The purpose of the present paper was to put forward the views of five practising librarians on what were the most serious of those defects, and to try to see whether the SRC was likely to remedy them.

In a lecture before the National Industrial Conference Board, New York, on 29th October, 1953, Sir Christopher Hinton—then Deputy Controller of Atomic Energy (Production), now Managing Director, U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, Industrial Group—told his audience: ‘We hope that in a few years' time we may be able, after successful pilot operation, to encourage industry to build thermal reactors … for large‐scale power production’. In February, 1955, H.M. Government issued a White Paper A programme of nuclear power (Cmd. 9389) in which Sir Christopher's early hopes became official policy, in the following terms: ‘The [nuclear power] stations will be built in the normal way by private industry for the Electricity Authorities, who will own and operate them’ (para. 23). The Industrial Group's first prototype thermal reactors are nearing completion already at Calder Hall, near Sellafield, Cumberland. Representatives from four large industrial consortiums, after receiving intensive training courses in reactor technology, have now returned from the U.K.A.E.A. to their firms to set up design departments for development of the basic Calder prototype. The first two of these privately built power stations are expected to begin construction in 1957.

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.

FROM 5th to 8th October, 1951, Aslib was fortunate in holding its Annual Conference again at Ashorne Hill, near Leamington Spa, and our thanks are due for the third time to Colonel and Mrs. J. H. Alexander and their staff for the excellence of the catering and domestic arrangements. The weather also co‐operated and sunshine displayed all the autumn beauties of the garden and countryside.

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.

At a time when a greatly expanded volume of research is giving rise to a mounting flood of publications, and scientists are becoming increasingly aware of the difficulty of keeping informed of all the work that may possibly be of interest to them, it is only natural that the literature on the problems and techniques of information work should itself grow rapidly. Not only is there an ever‐growing number of publications of library and documentation organizations, but as more and more scientists are faced with information problems and try to find solutions to them, relevant articles appear in the scientific and technical Press. The same set of conditions causes many people engaged in industry or research, with no training or experience in library or information work, to find themselves made responsible for the organization of information services at various levels, often in localities where there is no more experienced person to whom they can turn for advice. Such people can benefit greatly from the experience of others as recorded in the literature, but they often have difficulty in finding the papers that would be most helpful among the mass of other material, some of it irrelevant to their particular conditions, much of it too advanced or theoretical, quite a lot of it pure polemics, and some just bad. It is to meet the needs of these people that this series of reviews, now in its seventh year, has been designed. It attempts to pick out each year those items likely to be of direct practical help in running a small library or information service, especially for an untrained person. Advanced research work and theoretical discussions, however important, are ignored, as also are descriptions of practice in large libraries, unless they are capable of easy application in smaller organizations. Important bibliographies and works of reference are covered, including some of the more expensive ones which the librarian of a small organization may wish to know about and consult in other libraries, although he would not add them to his own stock. Items are not confined strictly to the publications of a particular year, though most of those chosen will have been received in British libraries during 1958. Those who have followed this series over the years will not fail to have noticed that the number of references included has increased. Even so, selection has become more and more difficult, and the final decisions as to what must be rejected are inevitably personal ones. Some injustice has possibly been done, but it is hoped that all the items included will prove of value to some of those for whom they are intended.

Reprints of the following papers are available on loan from Aslib library pending receipt of the published proceedings.

All items listed may be borrowed from the Aslib Library, except those marked *, which may be consulted in the Library.