Abstract
UNDER the auspices of the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education, a committee has been set up to administer the organization and premises known as the Inter-Allied Book Centre, 3–5 Salisbury Square, London, E.C.4, where books can be received and systematically arranged for ultimate allocation to libraries in Great Britain and abroad which have been damaged or destroyed during the War. Already more than a million books, ranging over the whole field of knowledge, have been set aside, by action of the Government, from collections made primarily for salvage purposes. The collection includes books of every kind; but the proportion of modern technical, scientific, commercial and legal works is low. Many libraries will urgently need sets of the more important periodicals, particularly the back numbers of journals and transactions. Those unable to give books or periodicals can support the general scheme by money contributions, which will be used entirely for the purchase of books and periodicals; but so many books have been destroyed, or are in short supply, that the need is for books rather than money. It is generally thought that the committee of allocation should have a free hand to decide the ultimate destination of all books received; but if a donor urgently desires to give to a particular country, or even a particular library, he is asked to communicate with the director of the Book Centre. Bodies which are already collecting books for specific countries or institutions are asked to supply the director with lists of books and periodicals which they propose to distribute, so that they can be taken into account by the Centre in making its own distribution. Donors are asked to send to the director of the Centre, Mr. B. M. Headicar, lists of the books available; carriage will be refunded, if desired, on all books presented.
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Restoration of Libraries. Nature 155, 326 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155326b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155326b0