The Library World Volume 24 Issue 8

One of the most disappointing features of present‐day library life is the increasing impotence of the Library Association. We cannot see how the Association is justifying its existence at present, except through its examination work. Its meetings are tragic failures in London, and it does not seem to be leading opinion in any way that we can see. There has been, not only in the Library Association but generally, a failure of enthusiasm which is the most fatal aftermath of the war. The armistice found our workers burning with enthusiasm to build a new library profession, to make good in a thousand ways. Where is that enthusiasm now? As for the meetings, the fact can be explained by the equally certain fact that the war destroyed our old social habits. We no longer meet at night with verve and pleasure; we, Londoners especially, seem to have a feeling that it is not respectable to be out after dark.