(28840)

NOTE.

The estimated gross cost of the preparation of this Report is £1,649 12s. 11d., of which £437 represents the gross cost of printing and publishing the Report.

Prefatory Note.

The Right Honourable

My Lord,

Lord Eustace Percy, M.P.,

President of the Board of Education.

The Committee appointed by your predecessor, Mr. C. P. Trevelyan, on October 8th, 1924, and confirmed by yourself on your assumption of office before it had entered upon its labours, has the honour to report as follows:

The terms of reference were :

"To enquire into the adequacy of the library provision already made under the Public Libraries Acts, and the means of extending and completing such provision throughout England and Wales, regard being had to the relation of the libraries conducted under these Acts to other public libraries and to the general system of national education."

The Committee met on thirty-nine days. A questionnaire was issued to all public library authorities, both urban and county, in reply to which an immense amount of information was received. Much of this is embodied in the tables attached to this Report, and much that does not appear in tabular form assisted us in coming to our conclusions. We further had oral evidence from 52 witnesses, in addition to written memoranda furnished by them and by others. Many of them represented important organisations, such as the Library Association, the School of Librarianship at the University of London, University College, the Association of Assistant Librarians, the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux, the London County Council, the Metropolitan Boroughs Standing Joint Committee, the County Councils' Association, the Association of Municipal Corporations, the Association of Directors and Secretaries of Education Authorities, the Association of University Teachers, the National Union of Teachers and the Joint Committee of the Four Secondary Associations. Others were librarians and other individuals with special experience of the subjects dealt with in our Report. We desire to record our gratitude to all those who thus assisted us, and not least to all the librarians and other officers of local authorities who devoted much time and trouble to the task of answering our questionnaire.

It is a pleasure also to express our thanks to our friends and colleagues on the other side of the Atlantic, the staff of the Library of Congress and the American Library Association, who readily provided us with most useful information as to certain points in American practice, notably with regard to the system of central

cataloguing and the preparation of book-lists for the assistance of librarians.

The Committee suffered one misfortune in the course of its sittings, in the loss of the presence of Mr. W. R. Barker, who left England in April, 1926, to take up his new duties as Chairman of the Indian Public Service Commission. Mr. Barker's intimate acquaintance with library law, and his general interest in the work of the Committee, were of the utmost value, and it is a great satisfaction to the other members of the Committee to record that he was able to take an active part in the preparation of their Report and has continued to assist them by correspondence since his departure. He has, therefore, felt able to add his signature to the Report.

Certain references and recommendations are made in the course of the Report to possible action by the Trustees of the British Museum and the Carnegie Trustees. It is desirable, therefore, to state that neither of these bodies has been consulted, and that the signatures of the Chairman, and of Mr. Salter Davies and Colonel Mitchell, respectively, must not be regarded as committing either body of Trustees in any degree.

It is a great satisfaction to the Committee that (apart from a single reservation on a particular point by the Hon. Secretary of the Library Association) they have found themselves able to present the a unanimous Report. It is their sincere hope that their recommendations may tend to promote the utility and efficiency of the great public service which they have been investigating, and the welfare of those who take part in that service. They are satisfied that it is in a generally healthy condition, and that it only needs opportunity, which can be provided at a relatively small cost and at no sacrifice of the independence which is the essence of its vitality, to multiply greatly its utility to the community, and to take its proper place in the educational system (in the widest sense of the term) of the nation.

In conclusion we desire to express, with the greatest emphasis at our command, our obligations to our Secretary, Mr. C. O. G. Douie, on whom has fallen the heaviest share of our labours. In addition to his efficient organisation of the general work of the Committee, he (with the assistance of the staff provided by the Board of Education) has dealt with the extremely laborious task of tabulating the material provided by the answers to our questionnaire, and of compiling the statistics which are given in Appendix A. We believe that these statistics will be of great value to all who are interested in the library service, as providing a sound basis for estimating the position, progress, and needs of libraries of all kinds. The task of compiling and verifying them has been exceedingly heavy and has occupied several months of very exacting labour. We believe that their utility justifies the expenditure of energy involved; but we desire that all credit for them should be given to Mr. Douie.

Chapter I.

INTRODUCTION.

1. We have thought that it will be for the convenience of those who wish to form an opinion on the subjects dealt with in our Report, if we prefix to it a brief summary of the previous history of the public library service in this country, and then proceed to a survey, based upon the answers to our questionnaire, of its present position. We shall then be in a position to examine separately the principal problems which it presents, and to state the opinions at which we have arrived with regard to them. The statistics which we have derived from the answers to our questionnaire, together with other material illustrative of our main Report, will be found in the Appendices.

(a) History of library movement.

2. The appointment by Mr. Charles Trevelyan, the President of the Board of Education, of this Committee in the autumn of 1924 marked an interest on the part of the Government in public libraries such as had not been manifested for three-quarters of a century. From time to time Public Libraries Acts have been passed, but a reference to Hansard discloses that they did not unduly occupy the time of either House. In 1870, 1885 and 1890 Parliamentary Returns provided members with some information with regard to the libraries then established. In 1912 a further return gave the dates of adoption of the Public Libraries Acts, and a few statistics of the volumes in stock and of the income and expenditure of public libraries. In 1919 the Adult Education Committee appointed by the Minister of Reconstruction issued an interim report on Libraries and Museums. The principal conclu

sion in this Report was combated by the Library Association, and no legislative action ensued. But between the years 1850 and 1924 no Committee was appointed by the Government with terms of reference specifically relating to public libraries.

3. In 1849 and 1850 two Select Committees were appointed by the House of Commons to report " on the best Means of extending the Establishment of Libraries freely open to the Public, especially in Large Towns, in Great Britain and Ireland." The 1850 Committee appears to have been appointed with no other object than to investigate charges levelled by various persons against the accuracy of the witnesses in 1849, and its report is of no great consequence. The report drawn up by the Committee of 1849 on the other hand is a document of the first importance. Its excellence lies both in its comprehensive character, and in the liberal spirit which inspires its recommendations. Notwithstanding the multitude of experience obtained in urban libraries during 75 years, we find that the general lines of our report correspond

with those of the report of 1849, and that in many instances we have only to reaffirm the recommendations which were made in that report but have never been implemented, or have been implemented only on a small scale. Notwithstanding the great changes in social feeling during the same period we find in the report hardly one expression of opinion on contemporary society which we would hesitate to endorse to-day. To this report must be attributed the legislation which authorised the provision of libraries by Town Councils and all subsequent library developments. The report and minutes of evidence contain, moreover, an admirable review of the libraries in Great Britain and in other countries at that time, with an account of their origin and historical development. We make no apology, therefore, for giving a full account of the proceedings of the Committee, and for making some reference to the witnesses and members, to whose labours this country owes an Act which has had so profound an effect on our national life.

The 4. The Committee was appointed on March 15th, 1849. members numbered fifteen, but certain members, notably Mr. Disraeli, were infrequent in their attendance. Mr. William Ewart was called to the Chair. There were distinguished representatives both of the manufacturing districts and of the countryside in Mr. Brotherton and Sir Harry Verney.

5. The first witness called was Mr. Edward Edwards, then an Assistant in the British Museum. Mr. Edwards gave the Committee the benefit of his very extensive researches into the state of libraries in this country, on the Continent and in America, and instituted a series of damaging comparisons of the relative provision of books in libraries accessible to the public. These were supported by a map of Europe in which the British Isles with 53, and Holland with 63, books to every hundred of the populaA less dark hue was accorded to tion were coloured coal-black. Portugal and Russia with 76 and 80 volumes, while the light shading of Switzerland and Denmark and the smaller German States demonstrated that the number of volumes reached respectively 350, 412 and nearly 450 to every hundred of the population. (1)

6. Mr. Edwards also put in as evidence a comparison between the sums granted by Parliament for the support of public libraries and museums in the United Kingdom from 1823 to 1848, with similar figures as regards France. The yearly average of the former was in the neighbourhood of £70,000; of the latter, £114,000.

7. On the occasion of his second examination he gave some valuable information with regard to cathedral and parochial

(1) We have not been at pains to collect statistics of the present state of library provision in Europe and the United States. We are, however, indebted to Mr. W. C. Berwick Sayers, Chief Librarian of Croydon, for an interesting memorandum on the library systems of other countries.