(a) Provisional certificates are granted for:
- 1. Literary History.
- 2. Elements of Practical Bibliography.
- 3. Classification.
- 4. Cataloguing.
- 5. Library History, Foundation and Equipment.
- 6. Library Routine.
(b) A satisfactory essay upon some aspect of each of the above subjects is required as part of the examination.
(c) Practical experience of not less than 24 hours a week for at least 3 years as a member of the administrative staff of one or more libraries approved by the Council.
(d) A thesis showing original thought or research on some subject within the purview of the syllabus, the subject being previously approved by the Council.
(e) A certificate approved by the Council, showing an elementary knowledge of Latin or Greek, and one modern foreign language. In the absence of such certificates the candidates may be examined by gentlemen appointed by the Council.
Each of the examinations may at present be taken separately; and the method of preparation is left to the individual candidates. It may be by individual reading, by the correspondence classes provided by the Association, or by attendance at the courses of lectures which the Association also provides. No student, however, is admitted to the examination who has not passed matriculation, the senior Oxford or Cambridge Local, or some similar examination. For those who cannot obtain one of these certificates, the Association prescribes its own Preliminary Test (held in May and October), which consists of papers in the general school subjects and in such matters as will test the candidate’s powers of observation and his common sense. The Association publishes a yearly Syllabus setting forth in detail these conditions, a detailed synopsis of the required subjects, lists of text-books, classes, etc., and a full list of certificate-holders.
The address of the Association is at Caxton Hall, Westminster, London.
We conclude these remarks by saying that librarians may be judged by their relations with the Library Association. Membership is in a broad sense the seal upon their experience and qualifications; and the catholicity of the Association’s educational work and its record of activity on behalf of libraries and librarians command the respect and adherence of all who are likely to read this book. No library worker of whatever grade whose income exceeds £100 a year should consider it consistent with his self-respect to remain outside this Association.