REPORT OF The NATIONAL LIBRARIES COMMITTEE: COMMENTS ON The DAINTON REPORT SUBMITTED BY ASLIB TO The SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

We welcome the report of the National Libraries Committee partly because it indicates a recognition of the importance of library services to the nation and of the advantages of moving towards a coherent system but, more particularly, because the central proposal to bring the main libraries of national standing within a unified administrative framework should lay the foundation for a full and efficient service, at least at the national level. It seems clear that the management board is envisaged as a body of sufficient authority to ensure integrated planning and common forward policies and procedures, and we therefore hope that there will be no undue delay in introducing legislation to establish the proposed authority.