This volume now supplants its predecessor as the latest in a long line. The first
volume of The year’s work in librarianship covered 1928 and was published in
1929. Coverage was international, and the intention was chiefly to provide a
review of the literature rather than an account of events. With some disruption to
the sequence during the Second World War, the annual volumes continued until v.
17, which covered 1950. From 1951 the plan changed, largely because of the
inception of Library science abstracts: the intention became the recording of major
trends and developments, though still with a focus on publications, and the
volumes covered five years at a time, under the title Five years’ work in librarianship.
The first of these, for 1951–1955, was published in 1958. After three such
compilations the focus changed again and the field was narrowed to Britain, the
title becoming British librarianship and information science. From 1976–1980
onwards the book was divided into two volumes and was called British librarianship
and information work. The five-yearly publication schedule continued and the
last pair of volumes, covering 1986–1990, was published in 1993