LIONEL MCCOLVIN
Lionel McColvin is Head Librarian at Hampstead and Chairman of the Librarian Association. Listeners can thus expect to hear a talk by a man who knows the subject inside out. Public Libraries are patronised by approximately seven million people, and Lionel McColvin has one or two interesting theories to account for the millions who don't use them. One reason, he' thinks, is that the word ' free' as applied to libraries savours too much of the charity institution-a ridiculous notion, for many of these hypersensitive readers are ratepayers and have to contribute to their local library's upkeep. But. this is only one intriguing point of many in a talk that will appeal to all book-lovers.