second these efforts by allowing time for instruction which does not, strictly speaking, form part of the duty of their staff. We extract, as an example, the following paragraph from the thirty-fourth Report of the Cardiff Public Libraries: "The librarian, with the cordial sanction of the Committee, has formed the library staff into an association for the study and discussion of questions relating to practical librarianship, with a view to increasing the interest taken by the staff in the work of the library. … It is hoped that this will be the means of training up a more efficient staff of assistants, and of qualifying the assistants to take more important positions in other libraries."
The examination organised by the Library Association is intended to keep up a supply of trained candidates for library appointments, with the hope that committees and other governing bodies will in course of time give them preference over untrained candidates, and also that the supply of a more costly article will create a demand, and the salaries of librarians will increase in proportion.
As a preliminary test of the general education of candidates, it is required that they shall either have been engaged in library work for three years, or produce a certificate of having passed some public examination from among those accepted by the General Medical Council.
The syllabus of the examination is as follows:—
