Public Library Services for Children in England and Wales, I943-I959

Abstract

This article surveys the development of public library services for children and young people during the years between the McColvin Report of 1942 on The Public Library System of Great Britain and the Roberts Report of 1959 on The Structure of the Public Library Service in England and Wales. It is a continuation of four earlier articles, two of which appeared in the Library Association Record (July 1967 and Augnst 1969) and two in the Journal of Librarianship (April 1970 and January 1971). It describes the trends of library work with young people during the restrictive years of the war and the succeeding period of austerity, to the palmier years of the 1950s which were probably the most promising in the history of public libraries prior to 1960. The period itself was frustrating for very few new libraries could be built and specialist staff were scarce, and progress was not generally evident, particularly in the field of co-operation with other organizations. These were years when story reading and telling became more prevalent than the traditional talks to children, and when, in a number of ways, the status of children's librarianship was at its nadir in the profession.