Judged by the crowded attendance, and the keen interest displayed, the Libraco exhibit was one of the most successful features of the Manchester Conference. It was by far the best display of library equipment and library methods that has ever been shown, and at the request of many librarians, a similar exhibit has been permanently arranged at the offices of the Company at 42, Southwark Street, London, S.E. 1, and it is hoped that Librarians, when in town, will not fail to pay us a visit.

The action-model of the Vernier Steel Shelving was a centre of attraction, and the remarkable ingenuity of this invention which enables shelves to be raised or lowered positively within so small a space as one-eighth of an inch, created general interest.

It is an invention that beats anything ever done in America or any other country in the matter of Library Shelving with a fine positive adjustment, combined with the ease of operating, automatic locking action, and a maximum shelf fairway unobstructed at the ends.

America may say that such fine adjustments are not required, but British Librarians know that to keep top and bottom shelves within reasonable reach of staff and public, a shelving that gives 4-inch adjustment, is preferable to that of one-inch adjustment, as in the former every shelf in a stack can be moved one point in a space of 7-inch compared to seven inches in the latter.

Another exhibit that found favour was the Libraco System of Stock Accounting. This system is fully described and illustrated in Section 12 of Libraco Catalogue.

A fine display of hand written class guides, white on black, for Open Access Libraries, together with tier guides and hanging signs, brought many orders.

The Fore and Aft" guide which has received considerable support will shortly be available, price 24/- per dozen.

This combined shelf guide and book support is the best known device for Open Access libraries - it shows the way to reader-keeps the shelves orderly and is the outward visible sign of the masterly classification and arrangement of the books.

A descriptive list on Open Access Guiding will shortly be issued.

A new form of Sheaf Binder-the Simplex, was exhibited for the first time, and from its favourable reception it seems likely to become very popular.

The following recent lists will be sent post free on request:

Section 12, pages 1-4, Staff Enclosures.

Section 12,

5-10, Stock Registration, etc.

Library Handwriting and Proof Correcting.

LIBRACO Ltd., 42, Southwark St., London, S.E.1

W. W. FORTUNE, Managing Director.

Of course the predominating subject in British librarianship in the past month was the Manchester Meeting. It was the largest gathering in our recollection, and those who were fortunate enough to attend lived some crowded hours of glorious life. The arrangements showed that the most careful and painstaking labour had gone to their making. The Local Committee and the various librarians in Manchester and the district deserve all possible gratitude, and the Library Association has every reason to congratulate itself upon a conference which ran without fault and which received great and wide publicity.

It is surely time that Branch Associations ceased to issue circulars inviting members to vote for candidates for the L. A. Council. We are not sure of the honesty of the procedure, although that may be justified on technical grounds. We are quite sure of its stupidity and want of intelligence. Most of the circulars naturally find their end in the wastepaper basket, and no one, with any brains whatever, is ever influenced by them.

We should like to add our congratulations to the many that the Librarian of the John Rylands Library has received on the D.Ph. which has been conferred upon him honoris causa by the University of Louvain. Dr. Guppy's energy and care in gathering books for the library of the martyred university, which is rising again, phenix-like, from the ashes, have made his name as revered in Belgium as it is amongst us. There is not a present-day librarian under fifty who does not owe something to Dr. Guppy, and who does not therefore rejoice when any honour is done to him.

A somewhat flippant note on the fact that Workington Council had accepted the suggestion of the Library Committee that an independent committee should examine into the alleged extravagant library expenditure appeared under the heading of Views Current in our last issue. The matter received attention in anything but a flippant way at Workington; the committee of enquiry made its examination; and its report vindicated the Library Committee entirely. The only retrenchment that the Committee could recommend was the spreading of certain work over a longer period so that £20 might be saved; and the enquirers declared that no fault could be found with the expenditure in any department of the work. We congratulate the Library Committee and Mr. Purves on the happy issue of their frank challenge to their ignorant critics.

On the threshold of October one is reminded of the winter meetings of the various professional associations. Neither the Library Association nor the L.A.A. has issued a programme of its monthly meetings yet, although the latter has a capital Inaugural Meeting arranged with the Editor of The London Mercury for principal speaker. The L.A. gave a hint in its Annual Report that the meetings last year had been a failure; and certain nonLondon members were willing to move at the Conference that meetings in London be abandoned. We think this is a matter that London members are capable of deciding, and we hope that they will decide to continue. But they should be meetings devoted to librarianship and not to special libraries and we believe that this is the intention of the Committee concerned. We would ask our metropolitan readers to consider the claims of meetings that may be arranged. We refuse to believe that professional interest is weaker in London than it is in the provinces.

We have been looking over the results of the examinations of the School of Librarianship, and in connection with them the report of the L.A. A., and the Year Book of the L.A.; and some interesting reflections occur to us. The L.A. A. has some 578 members and 270 of these are women; the L.A., however, has only 60 women on its books; and the School has considerable more women than men students. Taking the figures together, the influx of women into the profession is noteworthy. In 1895, when it started on its useful career. the L.A.A. Committee (as it was then called) solemnly resolved that no woman should be admitted to membership; to-day they have recanted even to the extent of advocating the special qualifications of women for library work. So, in the L.A., which is a conservative body, the membership of women is six times as large as it was twenty-five years ago. Now the passlists at the School, as well as those of the L.A., show that the best passes in almost every subject have been taken by women. There is no doubt whatever that the library service appeals very strongly to women, and, on the contrary, very little to men of the more able sort. As in America, the best men are not entering the library profession. So it would seem, unless we have read the facts awry.

Alderman T. C. ABBOTT, J.P., President of the Library Association (right), Mr. L. STANLEY JAST, Chief Librarian, Manchester Public Libraries (left). [Photo., Topical Press.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE LIBRARY

ASSOCIATION, 1921-22.

Alderman Thomas Charles Abbott, J.P., the new President of the Library Association, has an enthusiastic faith in the value of and the future of public libraries, and he has shown the reality of his faith in his work. In his 20 years' connection with the Library Association, acting for most of the time as member of the Council and vice-president, Alderman Abbott has taken an active part in its affairs and given valuable service, particularly as Chairman of the Finance Committee and of the Parliamentary Committee, respectively. In the latter capacity he carried on a persistent campaign against the penny rate limitation, and at last that barrier to the progress of public libraries has been removed.

After serving under several chairmen as deputy-chairman, Alderman Abbott has since May, 1920, been Chairman of the Manchester Public Libraries Committee, and he is keenly interested in the development of Manchester's great system of public libraries.

The well-equipped Commercial Library, opened last year, owes much to his interest and advocacy.

In 1908, in company with Alderman Plummer, then chairman of the Committee, and Mr. C. W. Sutton, the late Chief Librarian, Alderman Abbott visited the United States and Canada to examine some of the larger libraries in view of the proposed erection and equipment of a Central Library for Manchester. The observations and recommendations of the deputation were subsequently embodied in a most informing report.

In the same year Alderman Abbott was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the City of Manchester. His record of public work includes much more in addition to his efforts in the cause of libraries. Added to his share in the general work of the Manchester City Council and his work on the Public Libraries Committee, Alderman Abbott has been (and still is) chairman of several special committees. He is a recognised authority on municipal procedure. For nearly forty years he has taken a prominent part in the public and social life of Manchester, and his work has always been on behalf of what he considered would be for the real good of the community. He was for many years hon. secretary and afterwards vice-president of the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association, a body which has to its credit a record of pioneer work in public health affairs. As a lecturer, Alderman Abbott has done much service for the Working Men's Clubs Association, and has also for a number of years carried on with success at Altrincham one of the largest centres in connection with the Oxford University Extension Lectures.

He is also a member of the Council of the Workers' Educational Association and a vice-president of the Manchester Playgoers' Club. For his interest in the affairs of Greece, Alderman Abbott had the honour of having the Cross of Commander of the Order of George 1st conferred upon him by His Majesty the King of the Hellenes, and received royal permission in this country to accept the honour.

He has been a contributor of articles on economic and literary topics to periodicals, etc., and as might well be expected of one who has the cause of public libraries so much at heart, the President-elect is a lover of literature. His appreciation of books and their contents is reflected in his speeches and addresses, whilst his considerable private library is a testimony to the wide range of his reading and intellectual interests.

CONFERENCE NOTES.

The address of the new President, Mr. Alderman T. C. Abbott, J.P., was in its own way a model. It was ostensibly addressed to the Conference, but obviously the President had his eye on the greater public reached by the Press and stated, wisely and well, the field, work, aims and past achievements of the Association, claiming the high place for libraries which we believe they ought to occupy, and frankly saying that the community must spend more on libraries. We congratulate Mr. Abbott, not only on his address but also on achieving the highest honour which librarianship has to offer. It is the result of long years of devoted,