GUIDE TO YOUR LIBRARIES Some details are given here of your local library services (printed by kind permission of the Borough L ibrarian). In addition to the excellent School Library there are really comprehensive facilities available to all and little excuse for not being well-read in this part of the world ! CHOOSE YOUR LIBRARY There is a Library within a mile of every house in the Borough. Altogether there are fourteen library buildings and a mobile libary service which operates regularly from 23 sites. CHOOSE YOUR BOOKS There are nearly 300,000 books in the Lending Libraries, covering almost every conceivable subject. A further 45,000 books are available for use in the reference departments. HOW TO START If you live, work or go to school or college in the London Borough of Ealing you are entitled to become a member. On handing in a properly completed application form, obtainable from any of the Libraries, you will be given a ticket or tickets on which you can borrow books of any kind from the Lending Libraries. Additional books for study purposes over the number normally allowed will be issued on request. PERIOD OF LOAN This period varies from three to four weeks according to the day of loan. Any book may be kept until the last date stamped on the label. Unless a book is required for another reader you may renew the loan for another period. This may normally be done by returning the book for re-stamping, or by post, telephone or messenger. Details of procedure vary from library to library and are available on request. Prompt return or renewal on or before the due date will prevent your being charged fines. These are currently fixed at 6d. per week (or part of a week) for eack book retained beyond that date. Neither the Libraries Committee nor the staff like having to charge fines. Unfortunately it seems to be the only way to ensure the prompt return of books so that the greatest number of readers can enjoy them. HOW TO GET THE BOOKS YOU WANT The larger Libraries have Enquiry Desks staffed by qualified Librarians who are there to assist you to find the books or information you need. They have access to the latest bibliographies, subject lists and published catalogues which have been provided to help you Most readers can derive some benefit from this professional assistance. The staff at the counter in the smaller libraries provide a similar service. Every effort will be made to obtain as quickly as possible any book not immediately available. When a book is required before a particular date please give us the longest possible notice. REFERENCE AND INFORMATION SERVICES You are invited to make the fullest use of the Reference Libraries at Ealing, Acton and Southall. At each of these libraries you will find a large collection of books on a wide variety of subjects. A Reference Librarian is always on duty to help you in your search for information. 20 For every level of enquiry however elementary or advancod 'phone, write or visit your Reference Library. A small collection of reference works ii available at cach of the other libraries. GRAMOPHONE RECORD LIBRARIES Gramophone Record Libraries are being installed at Southall, Northolt, Acton, Greenford and West Ealing (for Central Ealing). This service is administered from the Southall Library. Anyone over the age of 16 and qualified to borrow books (see "How to Start" above) may become a member of a Gramophone Record Library. Special facilities also exist for societies and groups. As an individual member you may take one 12 inch record (or a complete work) or two 7 inch records at a time for a loan of two weeks. Special regulations govern the use of this department and you should obtain a copy of the leaflet "Gramophone Record Library Service" which contains an outline of these regulations. The collections cover the standard musical works, speech and drama, and sets of foreign language instruction records. Discs selected to show the development of jazz and folk music as art forms are included, but light music, popular jazz and "pops" are not. MUSIC Music is provided for loan at the larger libraries, and there is a separate Music Department at the Central Library. Instrumental music bound and in sheet form, vocal scores of operas, etc., and miniature scores of all the standard repertoir are available. Loans are made on ordinary readers tickets, and the normal reservation system operates for works currently on loan or not in stock. In the Central Library, and at Southall and Acton, there are bibliographies and reference books on music, and the current issues and back numbers of music periodicals. OTHER SPECIAL COLLECTIONS In the Ealing, Acton and Southall Reference Departments there are extensive Local History Libraries. In addition to books these include maps, prints, paintings, photographs and other similar material relating to the historical background of the various parts of the Borough. The Ealing Reference Library also houses the library of the London Natural History Society. These books are available in loan only to members of the Society but may be used for reference by other readers. More general collections of non-book materials include an extensive range of modern maps for reference and for loan at the larger libraries and an expanding collection of micro-films, including runs of local and national newspapers andof periodicals and articles. Readers for microfilm material are provided for public use at the three prinmipal libraries. A unique collection of Martinware may be seen at the Southall Library; this exhibition contains several hundred pieces of salt-glazed stone ware representative of the work of the Martin Brothers who for forty years worked together in the studio pottery in Havelock Road, Southall. 21