THE LIBRARY AS A TOOL OF THE THEATRE Available to Purchase

Members of this Conference are so used to hearing long dissertations from me on subjects they know much more about than I do, that they will perhaps welcome a talk on something about which I, for once, probably know a good deal more than they. For about 15 years I have been one of the Directors of a professional repertory theatre, the Playhouse, at Sheffield, and am also the Chairman of its Executive Committee. Some of you may have heard a broadcast from our theatre within the last few months. A number of my colleagues and myself were elected some 15 years ago to help in putting the theatre back on its feet after it had been been compelled to close down. One of them, a member of the Aslib Council today, was Mr. J. P. Lamb, City Librarian of Sheffield, who for a long period was Chairman of our Board and ably directed the company's policy. The company is now financially sound, makes a good annual profit, and does so without lowering its standards of production or choice of plays. All the profit has, I hasten to add, to go back into the theatre, and we Directors receive no remuneration whatsoever for our services. Our work is purely voluntary.