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The field of Government publishing is a wide one, albeit there are fewer signposts to guide the uninitiated than in any other branch of the publishing world. I, therefore, propose to take as my principal theme a survey of those bibliographical aids which contribute to a better appreciation of Government publications and which help us to cope in some measure with the enquiries which beset us as part of our normal daily routine. In doing this I am fully aware that at the Aslib Conference last year, Mr. W. Cox, of H.M.S.O., covered much of this ground and dealt with it with an authority I cannot claim. When I read his paper, I was struck by the amount of detail he compressed into it, but I had the feeling that his presentation was too one‐sided. He, quite naturally, spoke from the official side, the publisher‐angle—today I want to approach the field of Government publishing from the user‐angle.

This paper is the first of what is intended to be an annual survey of the literature of documentation, covering both special librarianship and information work. Its aim is to select from the year's publications, whether books, pamphlets, periodical articles or any of the other miscellaneous items which form an important part of the stock of special libraries, those which are most likely to be of practical value in day‐to‐day work. It is designed specifically to help personnel in small libraries, and is directed particularly towards those who have not yet completed their library training or, in the case of information officers, those who have not yet had much experience.

THE summer is not a good time for writing editorials. In the first place it has been too warm, but more particularly, no matter how hot the topic at the time of writing, it will be cold as mutton before it eventually reaches its readers. Secondly our thoughts seem to have been devoted to anything except libraries: a little light reading perhaps, or a gentle discussion of next season's lecture programme? So now, not an editorial proper (or improper), but some editorial miscellany, beginning with the late but unregretted printing dispute. The LIBRARY WORLD has not been affected as much as some periodicals, and this issue makes its appearance only some three weeks later than planned. We have occasionally encountered comments which suggest that our journal is not anticipated each month with undue pleasure, and is quickly placed on the Chief Librarian's desk, from which honourable position its subsequent circulation is frequently delayed. Many libraries do not appear to have a professional journal circulation scheme, and this is a regrettable state of affairs. It is important that the younger members of the profession should be well informed about library affairs, and only the regular perusal of periodicals can achieve this. May we recommend that Chiefs institute and maintain a circulation programme in their libraries; we hear that it is much appreciated in those libraries which already do so.

ONLY one or two topics of the Scarborough Conference will remain firmly in the minds of most of us. Most firmly, and more clearly than before, will be that of the National Lending Library and Dr. Urquhart's exposition of it or what it is intended to be. It may give no comfort, so far as librarianship is concerned, to existing librarians, but there is little that the public librarian has to fear from it. The second impression that remains is the acute awareness now prevalent of the need for science and technical training in school and college for many more men and women and our relation to that fact. The third was the so often expressed nervousness about the status of the librarian. Fourthly, was the local collection in the light of the ever‐changing character and habits of the people. The President's address was a dignified and grave statement of ideals, in the definition of libraries and librarianship, in book acquirement, reader‐service and in appreciation of the personalities who have made librarianship. It did not produce the press so fine an utterance demanded. What are we to say of the heading a great London paper gave to its two‐inch paragraph devoted to the first day of our Conference: “Librarians are told to be courteous”? To our regret we were unable to hear Mr. O'Leary's paper; judging from the summary in the Programme it was a fine exercise in robust commonsense. We content ourselves in this Editorial with further remarks on one or two of the matters we have mentioned above.

WITH the Pompey doldrum in mind, many misgivings were expressed about the Rothesay conference as the delegated gravy trains raced north to Glasgow. (Incidentally Sir Brian Robertson will find comfort in our belief that rail travel is the most satisfying way to attend conference with corridor exchanges and dining car badinage shortening the long haul).

With the Pompey doldrum in mind, many misgivings were expressed about the Rothesay conference as the delegated gravy trains raced north to Glasgow. (Incidentally Sir Brian Robertson will find comfort in our belief that rail travel is the most satisfying way to attend conference with corridor exchanges and dining car badinage shortening the long haul).

BY February most of the parties, which are a gracious feature of modern libraries, are over. They arise from Staff Guilds, which now in most libraries associate the workers, and some of them are on a large scale. We have been represented at only a few of these but there seems to be a great fund of friendliness upon which the modern librarian can draw nowadays. An interesting one was that of the National Central Library Staff which, by a neighbourly arrangement, was held at Chaucer House. A reunion has been held of old and new members of the Croydon Staff Guild and no doubt there were many others. One New Year party was a small but notable dinner at Charing Cross Hotel where the 100th issue of The Library Review was toasted eloquently by the President of the Library Association and amongst the guests were Mr. C. O. G. Douie who was secretary of the Kenyon Committee of the 1927 Library Report and well‐known librarians and journalists. To us it was notable for the assertion by Mr. R. D. Macleod that amongst the young writers were too many who wrote glibly but without that research which good professional writing demanded; but he was sure that where intelligent industry was shown any article resulting would find a place in library journals.

OUR readers do not need the reminder that 1952 is the 75th year of Library Association history. Some opportunity may be found at the Bournemouth Conference to celebrate this fact, in however modest a manner. The American Library Association, older by a year, celebrated its anniversary at Philadelphia last October, on which occasion Mr. F. G. B. Hutchings represented this country and spoke at a luncheon meeting to three hundred of the guests with acceptance. That celebration, however, appears to us to have been most significant for the comment on the Carnegie library gifts which was made by Mr. Ralph Munn, librarian of Pittsburgh Carnegie Library, in some ways the most spectacular one founded by the great Scot. Munn said:—

THERE were (at the beginning of 1964) 138 daily and Sunday newspapers in the United Kingdom. Some of these, perhaps 20, are nationals with mass circulations ranging from the Financial Times (140,000) to the News of the World (six million). The rest, together with a large number of weeklies, constitutes the provincial press which at its best is one of the main strengths of British journalism.

THIS was my first experience in my home country of a conference in a university campus, and an impressive experience it was too. Away from the attractions and allurements of sea and coast, I found it particularly conducive to study and reflection, for the atmosphere of learning was all around us in this red‐brick university, the prototype of a civic university, founded in 1900 and with a student population of nearly 5,000.