イギリスにおける図書館サービス体制の整備と計画化の趨勢

抄録

　The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 and the Local Government Act 1972 are the most important events in the history of public library system of England and Wales. The former brought for the first time the public library service provided by local authorities, under the superintendence of the central government, that is, the Secretary of State for Education and Science. The latter established larger service units through the strategic reorganization of local government structure.
　These approaches to the problem of the widening gap in the quality of service enabled them to consider the public library problems in a national sense. This trend is more or less common to most of the advanced countries in the world, and reflected in the provisions of the public library law of each country.
　In addition, the British Library Act 1972 brought the coordination of the national libraries. From these facts, we find a conscious acceptance on the part of government of the need for the National Planning of library service. But many problems are to be solved with the view of establishing a national policy for libraries.