Palmer, Bernard I. (Bernard Ira), 1910-

Bernard Palmer entered the library profession in 1927, when he was appointed Junior Assistant at Acton Library. By 1937, he had become Deputy Borough Librarian, and he set about re-classifying and cataloguing the library. During those years he studied on his own time for Library Association examinations, and took advantage of various correspondence courses, but it wasn't until 1935 that he actually became a fellow of the Library Association. It was this struggle for qualification that convinced him of the need in Britain for full-time librarianship education available for all, beyond the naturally limited scope of the nation's one library school, the University of London School of Librarianship.

In 1940, Palmer began lecturing to students at Spring Grove Polytechnic, Isleworth. But his work was interuppted by a call up to the RAF. His period in the service was spent mainly in India, and whilst stationed at Madras he met S R Ranganathan, the emminent Indian librarian. They struck up both a professional and personal relationship, and kept in touch until Ranganathan's death in 1972. Palmer maintained his links with India throughout his luife, and returned in 1965, at the invitation of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, to undertake a lecture tour.

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