THE twenty-third annual report of the Executive Committee of the National Central Library refers to the way in which development has been hampered by the absence of sufficient funds. The only department which is able to provide anything like an adequate service is the Bureau of American Bibliography, recently established with the aid of a generous grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The two main sources of income have been, as in previous years, the grants of £5,000 from the Treasury and £4,000 from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. Of the 10,825 volumes added to the library, 7,203 were presented; 46,715 books were issued to libraries and 11,968 to adult classes. The total number of outlier libraries is 135, consisting of 113 special libraries, 19 London borough libraries and 3 urban libraries, representing a stock of 4,201,000 volumes, from which 11,361 books were lent during the year. The regional library systems now cover the whole of England and Wales, embracing 479 libraries. During the year, 50,031 books were lent by libraries in regional systems to other libraries in their own system, and in addition 7,104 books were lent to libraries outside their own regional area through the National Central Library. Of the 3,538 books lent to university libraries, 1,846 were supplied by the National Central Library and its outliers, 1,536 by other university libraries, and 156 by foreign libraries. As against 508 books lent to libraries in 24 foreign countries, libraries in 16 foreign countries lent 283 books to libraries in the British Isles.