The Libraries Directory: A Guide to the Libraries and Archives of the United Kingdom and Ireland (50th edition)

摘要

The Libraries Directory has a long history. First appearing over a century ago in 1897 it has been issued irregularly ever since, for many years under the title Libraries, Museums and Art Galleries Yearbook. The directory took on its present form in the early 1980s when the museum and galleries content was dropped, the current format adopted and a generally triennial pattern of publication established (for a review of the 1996-1998 edition see RR 1998/419). For a time publication proceeded on a relatively regular basis, but now this fiftieth edition, surely a milestone for any ongoing title, is issued five years after the previous release. Perhaps this suggests the title is struggling in an electronic environment increasingly hostile to print directories. Indeed, one might wonder, after 112 years, whether this fiftieth edition will be the last, at least in printed form.