FRIENDS OF LIBRARIES -- SUCCESSFUL ADVOCATES.

There is an urgent need today for libraries of all sorts to have skilfull and communicative staff employed in their everyday public activities. As the experience from developed countries shows, most of them are trained librarians, although many could also be found within the ranks of such associations as the Friends of Libraries. In the United States they are the best ambassadors of libraries, in Australia there are no public libraries without local groups of library supporters. In England there are well known phenomena such as The Friends of Bodleian Library. The author of the paper argues in favour of supporting the activities of Friends of Libraries on both national and local levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]