SCONUL: THE CONTRIBUTION OF GEOFFREY WOLEDGE

In the post‐war years 1945–50, university and other large research libraries were confronted both by new problems and new opportunities. First, university libraries had to provide for greatly increased student populations, swelled by returning ex‐servicemen and women; secondly, the supply of foreign books was uncertain, unreliable and subject to the bureaucratic delays of import controls; and thirdly, the atmosphere of post‐war reconstruction called for new and more structured approaches to the provision of scientific information. For their effective resolution, these challenges required group consideration and communal action. Amongst academic librarians, there was a widespread but ill‐focused feeling that if the problems of the day were to be successfully tackled and the opportunities seized, the Library Association was not the most suitable medium through which to address them. It was evident that public library affairs had achieved an overwhelming dominance in its collective attitudes and actions. The University and Research Section, the principal channel through which academic libraries input their views, cut little ice with the powerful Council of the Association. Indeed, the Section was at loggerheads with the Council over several matters and itself was far from united. Although it could still be said to represent the university library interest, in the fast‐growing post‐war educational scene its membership had become more diffuse and its purposes less distinct. A number of librarians had come to believe that there was a positive need for an authoritative body that could speak for large national and university libraries and represent their collective views to governmental and other organizations.