Off the cuff

Abstract

A GROUP FROM the Loughborough School of Librarianship, writing in the LA Record for May, criticizes the Library Association strongly for abdication of professional responsibility in transferring its library to the British Library. The group's concern is not so much that the arrangement made is unsatisfactory in itself, but that they think the LA will no longer be able convincingly to support those librarians, particularly in special and institutional libraries, who are facing stringent cutbacks for financial reasons in staff, stocks and services. But what convincing support could the LA give? It is not the LA Council but the membership at large which has rebelled against payment of a level of subscription high enough to support a library of the kind they would professionally recommend to others. It is, of course, up to individual members of any professional body to decide in the present inflationary conditions just how much they will pay out of their own pockets to support their association, but let them be logical enough to face the consequences of their own decision.

Citation

(1974), "Off the cuff", New Library World, Vol. 75 No. 8, pp. 160-160. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb038211