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Dr Parke emphasized the great variety of intelligence work, anything from a few reference books in a manager's office to a full‐grown section with a staff of two dozen or more, and from close attention to the detail of a single department to the whole interest of an entire works. It appeared that the officer (especially in a new post) had to take the field offered to him and try to cultivate it by friendly helpfulness and increasing knowledge, by developing in the factory the habit of using his section and by making the habit worth while. Aslib members and intelligence officers were well aware of this but it was their function to make it widely known. In this they had the encouragement of such authorities as Sir Edward Appleton, Sir Henry Tizard and the Lord President of the Council.

Scientific and technical periodicals are read soon after publication by individuals, for their own enlightenment. In addition to these ‘personal’ users, periodicals have what I shall call ‘institutional’ users—librarians, information officers, abstractors—who use them, maybe years after publication, mainly on behalf of others. These ‘institutional’ users find that for their purposes, which are slightly different from those of the ‘personal’ users, many periodicals are inconvenient to use in some, mostly minor, respects. My purpose is to ask editors and publishers to help ‘institutional’ readers by adopting a number of small changes, few of which would involve appreciable cost and none of which would lessen the value of their publications to ‘personal’ readers. They have been asked before—notably by Dr. V. E. Parke and Mr. L. G. Patrick in their papers at the 1947 annual Aslib Conference, and by Dr. Wilfrid Bonser many years earlier. I am, to a large extent, merely repeating and emphasizing their pleas. The requests I have to make may appear trivial: so they are. That is why it seems absurd that some, at least, should not have been adopted before now, and that it should still be necessary to put them forward.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

Amalgamation with the British Society for International Bibliography, agreed in principle in 1947, was accomplished de facto as from 1 January, 1948. The legal side, however, has taken longer than was anticipated, though the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the new body have been accepted by the Board of Trade and it is hoped that the formalities will be completed during 1948. Until these have taken place the finances of the two organisations have had to be kept separate, although their activities have been controlled as one organization under a joint Council. It is expected that the first Annual General Meeting of the new Aslib will be held about April, 1949, when the whole present Council will resign and a new Council will be elected.

There is no official definition of intelligence, but it may be conveniently said that ‘the function of intelligence is to find, to obtain, to assess, to store, and to make available, all information, published or not, of value to the institution concerned or to its collaborators’.

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 28th annual conference of Aslib, held at Nottingham University from 11th to 14th September, 1953, proved to be the largest that Aslib has so far organized. A list of those present is printed on pp. 254–260. Yet again Aslib was glad to be able to welcome a number of overseas guests and members, including Dr. and Mrs. Lancour and their small daughter from the U.S.A., Drs. and Mrs. van Dijk and Miss Rom from the Netherlands, Mr. M. S. Dandekar and Mr. J. V. Karandikar from India, Miss D. M. Leach from Canada, and Mrs. T. Collin from Norway. Mr. Walter A. Southern, a Fulbright scholar from the U.S.A. affiliated to Aslib during his year's study in the United Kingdom, represented the Special Libraries Association, and Mr. J. E. Holmstrom attended as an observer on behalf of Unesco.

The formation, in May, 1949, of the new Aslib, incorporating the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux and the British Society for International Bibliography, led to a change in the dating of Aslib's financial year, which will now run from January to December instead of from July to June. This report, therefore, extends over eighteen months and links the activities of the old organization with those of its successor.

Thisissue of Aslib Proceedings is mainly devoted to papers presented at the 24th Annual Conference, held at Ashorne Hill, near Learnington Spa, Warwickshire, from 9 to 11 September, 1949. In addition, we have pleasure in printing the annual report and accounts of the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals.

This issue of Aslib Proceedings is mainly devoted to papers presented at the 24th Annual Conference, held at Ashorne Hill, near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, from 9 to 11 September, 1949. In addition, we have pleasure in printing the annual report and accounts of the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals.