Library Theory and Research Section. Round Table on Library History. Education and Research Division. Papers.

Papers on theory and research in library history presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference include: (1) "The Future of the Library's Past: Library Administrative Records Preservation, Policy and Practice," a discussion by Paul Sturges (United Kingdom) of the need for library records preservation, current record preservation practices in British public libraries, the establishment of records policies and library archives, and the problem of preserving machine-readable records; (2) "Scientific Research in the History of Librarianship in the USSR," a description by K. I. Abramov (USSR) of the organization, major trends, and results of scientific research in the history of Soviet librarianship, with information on the study of Lenin's plans for library services and the preparation of specific monographs, collections of articles, and bibliographic indexes on the history of librarianship; (3) "The Book and the Library in Society: Methodology and Readership Studies in the Context of Library History," a discussion by K. W. Humphreys (United Kingdom) of the methodology and problems of studying the availability and the use of books in the history of Western civilization and the effect of their use on society. (ESR)