From the library periodicals of England one may gather that there is some rather severe criticism of the assistants in libraries, the general feeling being that a lack of efficiency deprives the public of their proper share of service. I should like to quote from a paper by Mr. John Bar, which appeared in the Library world (vol. 13). "If the library would only adopt a policy whereby a guarantee could be had that the assistants in the library would be taught their profession in a thorough manner, I am positive that the now prevalent lament regarding the apathy and carelessness of assistants would be reduced to a vanishing point, because from observation, I believe that the assistant is the product of his environment; he is what the conditions in the library make him. The policy of the library should be to provide the staff with every opportunity for improvement in general, literary, and technical knowledge. In order to meet the first part of the proposal, the time of the staff should be so arranged as to allow a reasonable portion for private study as well as recreation. And in order to fulfil the latter part--that relating to technical knowledge--the work of the library should be so organized as to ensure that every assistant shall, in a series of progressive steps, obtain an adequate and thorough knowledge of all the practical details of librarianship." The people of America cannot offer quite as severe criticism of their library employees as this would imply has been offered in England, but the suggestions regarding further education after entering the library, are such as we might well follow. The second item suggested by the program makers reads "the power to give information rather than advice." This naturally would come through the ability of the employee to eliminate his own opinion and to put forward instead the opinions of those who are qualified to know. Here again the employee may, by much reading, become more efficient. There is nothing so offensive to patrons of a free institution as to have unsolicited opinions and advice offered by employees. And yet this is a characteristic of the new employee and is prompted not by conceit but by a desire to be helpful and to please. The best way to be helpful in a library, as elsewhere, is to help people to help themselves. In this as in all of the work of the library the standard must be that established by those highest in authority, and ways and methods must be put forward whereby the assistant may know what plan she is to follow. The ability to be helpful comes by much experience, both personal experience and the experience of others. To quote, "experience is the force which makes life possible ... and books alone give permanence to the facts of experience." Therefore to busy people in need of the experiences of others, the greatest help comes by much reading.