The Library World Volume 31 Issue 11

THE question which Mr. Sanderson asked at the March meeting of the Home Counties Branch of the Library Association is susceptible of many answers. “Are libraries doing their job?” he asked. In general we think that they are doing their best in circumstances which are not always stimulating. He used the work they do with children as an example; describing it, if The Manchester Guardian reports him aright, as being in many places “a few juggling tricks with books and a certain amount of shop‐window dressing.” Again, “two or three shelves of books would suffice for the average student studying for a university degree, but the urgent need for those shelves was in danger of being forgotten by libraries in their craze for special stuff.” Mr. Sanderson's address had much more in it than these two excerpts would imply. They are, however, worth separate consideration. Librarians can answer if they are true or not. We know of places of which such remarks would be libellous; of others where they are mere truth.