TV/TOST British librarians have been brought into tolerably •*•*•*• close contact with the University Extension movement these few years past, and many are familiar with the " Summer School" development of that movement, but one may be pardoned for leading up to the subject of this paper by a brief account of the movement which suggested it to the writer's mind. The facts are chiefly drawn from Messrs. Mackinder and Sadler's " University Extension, past, present and future," and they are given, as far as possible, in the words of that book. " Oxford. .. started the summer meeting in 1888.. .. The idea of a general summer meeting of University Extension students was derived from the assembly held at Chautauqua in the United States. The application of the idea to English conditions was due to a suggestion made by Mr. Charles Rowley, of Manchester, to a small committee which, at the instance of Dr. Paton, of Nottingham, had met to consider the possibility of introducing into England a system of Reading Circles, similar in point of arrangement to those which centre in the assembly at Chautauqua. " It was at once felt that, by means of a summer meeting in one of the University towns, the Extension movement would be able to avail itself of the services of those resident teachers who, though friendly to the work, are prevented by their University duties from taking any active part in it as lecturers. The plan would furnish an opportunity for an excellent use of the scholarships previously offered by Mr. J. G. Talbot, M.P., and others, to enable deserving University Extension students to reside in Oxford for a short period of vacation study. The students would enjoy the great advantage offered by the University museums, collections and libraries, and would gain stimulus from their intercourse with one another. In short, the meeting would introduce into University Extension the one element in which, from the University point of view, it had been chiefly lacking-the element of ' residence.'