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The correspondence recently in the T.L.S., rising from a reader's failure to get a certain work of fiction from a branch library in a great city, raised once again the charge that the public librarian was a censor, an office for which, it was indignantly assumed, he had neither capacity nor authority. The subsequent letters reiterated the arguments with which every experienced librarian is only too familiar: that public librarians operate with limited funds and “select” books of which they know their readers have need. They cannot provide every book. It is always fiction that raises this hubbub from the reader who assumes that he should be provided with anything his fancy suggests at the expense of his fellow ratepayers, many of whom may greatly dislike the book in question. As Mr. O'Leary, in his part of the symposium wrote, any form of censorship may not only be wrong ; it may be fatuous. The whole history of literature indicates that. But librarians are trusted by the community to give what is best to the greatest number of people and, if they do not stock particular books, this, as another correspondent points out, is not censorship if the book can be got through any bookseller or at the subscription libraries, although the latter were compelled to experiment some years ago with a form of exclusion. That is not unreasonable seeing that thousands of readers come upon books as it were by accident and are often displeased at what they find ; and it is useless, to be quite practical, to point out that no one need read a book he finds to be offensive, and all should at least try to determine the character of any book they intend to read. Obviously, as we have long known, the question is complicated and these and many other factors have to be borne in mind in practice.

WITH eloquence which we cannot imitate, or repeat, the national loss has been sufficiently expressed by others. It is true, Kipling and William Watson being dead, and Alfred Noyes silent, the poets have not risen to the height of a great occasion, but that is by the way. Our own tribute to the late King must be based on his work for libraries, since any other tribute is general to a whole Empire. Kings can have few hours in which to read and yet some of the stories, true or apocryphal, of King George V. touch upon his reading. He showed, however, a closer interest of late years in libraries than any other of our monarchs has done, and at the opening ceremonies of the National Central Library and the Manchester Public Library he uttered words which are the best slogans that libraries have received. Even if he did not write them—a matter which we have no right to affirm or deny—his utterance of them gave them the royal superscription. We repeat them, as they cannot be too often repeated:—

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides:

Civil wrongdoings with consequent financial and other loss or damage to employers, employees and third parties may result in the course of various trade union activities. These day to day trade union activities take a variety of forms. The most common ones are inducement of breach of contract, conspiracy, trespass, nuisance, and intimidation. Each of these activities constitutes a tort which, unless the statutory immunities apply, would normally give rise at common law to an action for damages or, as is more frequent, enable the aggrieved party to obtain an injunction.

LIBRARIES of late have not had the radio publicity that was agreeably frequent at an earlier time. Occasionally there are broadcasts that are useful and, we believe, effective. A good example was that given by Mr. Charles Nowell on the centenary celebrations on September 2 of the Manchester Public Libraries. He told in a familiar conversational manner of the achievements of the past and the work now being done, with what seemed to this listener to be excellent effect, his voice being, like his manner, admirable for the microphone. Another useful, well balanced broadcast was that given on October 8th on the Home Service programme by Mr. Daniel George on the National Central Library in which an outline of the part played in the library life of the country was put over with simplicity and, again, confidential familiarity. We hope the L.A. and others who can influence the matter will keep the advantages of radio still well in mind. There is also T.V. and what that may do for libraries, or reading in connection with the use of libraries.

UNTIL the end of 1948 Mr. Nowell remains our President and his occupancy of the office has fulfilled all that we expected of him. It has been forceful and, we think, has left its mark upon us, his general statesmanship and complete sanity of outlook being shown whenever he had occasion to direct meetings or to speak to them. He does not now go into retirement as our past four presidents‐have done by the fiat of superannuation schemes ; he has what President Cashmore called the glory of going on for a number of years yet. He will therefore continue to exercise profound influence on public and other librarianship with the wisdom and power with which, as President, he has won general thanks.

ALL journals move with the times if they are vital. We have always held that The Library World has been in touch with the currents of thought and practice and, as this is our jubilee number, we would stress these facts again. Fifty years ago, the pioneer public librarians of the closing nineteenth century found that they needed a means of expression and communication, and indeed of criticism, untrammelled by the necessary reticences of the official associations. That is not to say that they were not, as now, supporters of the Library Association; indeed, they were its most active members; but they realized that The Library Association Record is the property of the members. It is bound to refrain from undue praise or blame of any activity of any of those members. At least, that was the view then prevalent and we still think it is a fair one. Thence came THE LIBRARY WORLD with its open secret that the honorary Editor was James Duff Brown. It drew on a wide range of contributors, and was the voice of those who were fighting for open access, subject‐indexes, close‐classification, and the card catalogue, as well as the general liberation of libraries from indicators with all the restrictions those contraptions sustained. That echo of a dead controversy of long ago rings naturally in our jubilee hour. It was an influence from the start, and in its unbroken career almost every librarian of importance has written something for it; indeed, many young writers first saw themselves in print in it. That was and is a characteristic of our editorial effort—to furnish a forum for librarians of any age, in the belief that age needs the criticism and suggestions of youth as much as youth needs those of age. If, occasionally, an article has appeared which has betrayed the prentice hand, we have made no apology for it; there has always been something in it that repaid the publication. Generally, however, the methods which now prevail in public and other libraries, but perhaps especially in public libraries, were first expounded in our pages. Then we have writers who have written for nearly forty years in that remarkable correspondence, Letters on Our Affairs, which even today is probably the most‐read of all library writings. At least a dozen faithful correspondents have been involved in them.

Reports that have reached us of the installation of Sir Philip R. Morris as President of the Library Association on January 28th assure us of the contribution he may make to the Association. As the retiring President, Mr. Oldman said, and as we know, his main interest has always been education and, as the Association has many projects in that field and some problems yet unsolved, he welcomed Sir Philip especially in that direction; but our new President has much experience of libraries in spite of his disclaimer of qualifications in our direction. He is a Carnegie Trustee and, unofficially, he connects us again with the body to which our profession owes so much and, as for lack of experience, one who has been Director of Education for Kent and therefore the ultimate official chief of the great County Library system there, cannot lack it. From what we hear of this speech—which we hope will be published in its complete but all too short length in the L.A. Record—we look ahead with confident pleasure to the Address he will give us at the Southport Conference in September.

We are interested in the projected visit to be made by British librarians at Whitsuntide to the Brussels Institute of Bibliography. Unfortunately the tribulations of the past seven years have rudely interrupted the pleasant relations British librarians were establishing with their Continental brethren. Visits were paid by the “Easter Schools,” as they were called, of the L.A.A. to Brussels, Paris, and Holland in 1911, 1912, and 1913, and in 1914 their foreign friends came to London. The feature of these “schools” was its list of visits to carefully‐selected libraries, but there was also a social side which occupied a great part of each day. We understand that the visit at present in view will have a similar character. If the spirit of former visits can be recaptured, all who go will have reason to congratulate themselves.