IN‐SERVICE TRAINING IN The ASLIB LIBRARY AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT Available to Purchase

EARLY in the 1950s, it became evident that the work of the Information Department was so very broad and varied that information assistants with any specialization of subject or language could not be expected to remain in a permanent capacity at Aslib, where their knowledge could not be exploited fully. On the other hand, this very breadth and variety offered an exceptional opportunity to gain experience in using sources of information of all kinds in many different fields. A training scheme was therefore developed for scientists in their first year after graduation. This was before the initiation of formal postgraduate education for information scientists, but the scheme has continued as a practical alternative for science, economics or language graduates who have decided on information work as a career but have opted against following a vocational course. Throughout the 1960s, four Traineeships were offered, for which seventy or eighty applications were received each year.