FIRST THOUGHTS ON DAINTON: A REVIEW OF THE REPORT OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARIES COMMITTEE

The task of reviewing the Dainton Report in a short space and at short notice is a formidable one. It contains recommendations of fundamental importance to the library services of the future and there is evidence of a serious intention on the part of Government to act on at least some of these recommendations. It is, therefore, necessary to express as clear a view as possible of the extent to which librarians and information scientists support them. Since there is an almost inevitable tendency in discussing such a report to dwell at greater length on points of doubt and disagreement than on those of wholehearted agreement, it should be said at the outset that in many of its fundamental proposals the Dainton Report is a good one.