ABSTRACT
According to the many academic references and testimonials reaching at least one school of librarianship in support of aspirants to librarianship, conflict is not something ever experienced in such havens of tranquility as libraries. Gentle, rather low powered, little flowers who are ‘avid readers’ and ‘like English’ but ‘are not strong enough for far more demanding work’ are enthusiastically recommended by School and University tutors for our oases of cloistered calm. It is all rather a compliment to us in a way that people who, by definition, must be or have been, considerable users of libraries, to think like that. It implies we have so arranged our housekeeping that the truculent drunk wanting information to settle a bet, the furtive flasher lurking behind the map case, the zealous vandal carving up the fine art collection and the hysterical assistant recently flashed at are dealt with so firmly and quietly that this aspect of our constant conflict with what P.G. Wodehouse called ‘the great unwashed’ is hidden from open view.
