The Library World Volume 26 Issue 6

By the time these pages appear Christmas will have become but a memory; even the indigestion provoked in many of us by our zealous participation in the Christmas spirit will, it is hoped, have become a thing of the past. But as we write this spirit is abroad, and presents are still depleting our surplus finances. Every year more and more of these seasonable gifts take the form of books, and a very large percentage of children, particularly, will surely receive some reading matter from one or other of their friends or relations. Not so many years ago in most instances this Christmas book would be the only volume those children would see that year! Fortunately, we librarians can say, with Sganarelle, that “we have changed all that.” Our children's libraries throughout the country are sufficiently adequate to ensure that no child in a library area is unable to read to his or her heart's content—the days when three or four books must needs satisfy a child's thirst for reading have now been put definitely behind us.