THE DAINTON EVIDENCE

Some of the documentary evidence before the Dainton Committee was published as appendixes to their report. Some of it has been published elsewhere, and is no doubt omitted from these volumes on that account, probably rightly, though it is a pity that they do not give references to it. Some is omitted presumably as not being ‘principal’—and if it was in fact less valuable than the poorest of the documents printed here, that decision was unquestionably right. As might be expected, there is much expression of opinion, often obviously ill‐based and often contradictory; but there is also a great deal of factual information on the national libraries and their users which will be useful for reference for a long time (and could well form the subject of another review); and much that throws light on the recommendations of the Dainton Committee and the desirable form of the future national library system.