Information Bureaux and Special Libraries

Date:
25 September - 28 September 1926
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/37/2
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Information Bureaux and Special Libraries. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    76/232 page 54
    THE 16th ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION, AT SWAMPSCOTT, MASS. JUNE, 1925. By Major T. Coutson, O.B.E. (Special Libraries Association of America). The first impression which an English visitor receives of American Conferences is that of the cordiality of his reception. The Special Libraries Association Conference was no exception in this respect, and to a warm and generous expression of welcome was added a lively interest in the development of the Special Libraries movement in this country. It struck me as_ being somewhat singular that the fine, healthily developed movement in America should display such solicitude for the similar movement in this country; but their interest was not restricted to pious expressions of good wishes. There was a very general expression of a desire to assist this and subsequent conferences in every possible way, and I have no hesitation in saying to you Special Librarians that if you have problems peculiar to the nature of your library, you will find the knowledge and experience of your American colleagues ready to be placed at your disposal. Perhaps the next most striking impression of the Swampscott Conference was the variety of interests represented. Naturally, where the movement is so firmly planted, one would expect to see a greater variety of libraries represented. In order that the special problems of individual interests might be more adequately discussed, there were certain periods when the Conference would depart from generalities, and go into committee, as it were, in sections. Those interested in Insurance would meet in one room ; others representing Newspapers went to another; while the Financial people held their own counsels apart. The effect of this specialisation has undoubtedly resulted in the Special Libraries Association accomplishing much more practical result than the discussion of purely general principles could have achieved, or, what is worse, asking the majority of the Association to discuss principles which directly interest only a minority. I was a little surprised both at the numbers and the activity of the newspaper representatives. One representative of a provincial journal told me that their library staff numbered seven. This, of course, led to an explanation of their work, and I found that American newspapers have quite clearly realised the value of concentrating their information in one department, and calling it the Library. In England, that same work is still too often spread over many departments, and has numerous names. They do the same work with a good deal of duplication and not a little wasted effort. Indeed, what I learned from this newspaper section was true throughout all the others. The busy executive officers of firms or
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