The Library World Volume 27 Issue 6

TECHNICAL training in the trades and professions is now so universal that hardly anyone questions its utility, but occasionally one does find it disregarded. The current advertisement for a librarian to organise and supervise the Northamptonshire County Library System says, among other things, “Knowledge of library technique is not regarded as an indispensable qualification.” This is surely somewhat amazing, because no one would think of employing, for instance, a doctor, lawyer or teacher who had not received the necessary training to fit him for his job. Yet here we have a post of high educational significance where technical training is apparently likely to be ignored. For some time now the Library Association, the School of Librarianship at London University, and many public libraries have been training young people worthily to fill library vacancies as they occur, but their efforts are likely to be of little avail if public authorities adopt the attitude indicated.