The Library World Volume 59 Issue 10/11

THERE is far too much talk and writing about book expenditure per authority or per 1,000 of population, which frankly does not get one very far. What matters is what books you buy or do not buy. I have picked, quite at random, one copy of the British National Bibliography, for May 7th, 1958, and made a list of all the books which I think every library authority ought to have, whether large or small, industrial, rural or urban. These titles would meet the needs of the inhabitants of any community and enlarge their vision, give them the materials for attempting an understanding of the world and its problems, arts and sciences, and enable them to improve their abilities and skills, and fit themselves physically, mentally and morally to be useful citizens. It sounds pompous, I know, but that is what we are trying to do. Here is part of the list: Irwin: Origins of the English Library. Jung: Undiscovered Self (a world famous psychologist on social problems). Mackenzie: Free Elections (textbook on matters of interest to all citizens). Finer: Anonymous Empire (lobbying, its faults and virtues). Roberts: Trade Union Congress. Pollard: Problem of Divorce. Stengel: Attempted Suicide. Railway Magazine Miscellany. Dunn: Teach Yourself Japanese. Trustram: Classbook of Arithmetic and Trigonometry. Calder: Electricity Grows Up. Morley and Hughes: Elementary Engineering Science (a standard work). Powell: Physics, Vol. 2 (textbook for National Certificate students). Bowen: Exploration of Time. Brown: How to Make a Home Nature Museum. Leithauser: Inventors of Our World. Meares and Neale: Electrical Engineering Practice. Lamberment and Pirie: Helicopters and Autogyros of the World. Spicer and Pegler: Practical Book‐keeping. Luker: School Craftwork in Wood. Goff: Further Guide to Long Play. Clark: Royal Albert Hall. Graveney: Cricket Through the Covers. Swift: Collected Poems. Bolt: Flowering Cherry. Austen: The Watsons. Hobbs: Maps and Regions. Richie: Hampshire Coastways. Winch: Introducing Germany. Cooper: Rainbow Comes and Goes. Cope: Florence Nightingale and the Doctors. Hudson: Sir Joshua Reynolds. Pitt: Zeebrugge. Cowles: Phantom Major. Grinnell‐Milne: Silent Victory. Pollock: Jervis Bay. Then add on some half‐a‐dozen novels.