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Page 334 The Educational Screen Film Forums — dn Adventure in Adult Education How iilms can aid the library in taking a more important role in community education. MIRIAM PUTNAM Librarian, Memorial Hall Library Andover, Massachusetts THE Joint Committee on Film Forums' offer of financial assistance for a series of library film forums presented too alluring an adventure to be turned down lightly. Despite some misgivings as to the advisability of undertaking such a program in these times, the Memorial Hall Library decided to experi- ment and, with the cooperation of the Joint Committee, carried out a series of eight forums from February 15 to April 12 last. The underlying theme was "Winning the War and the Peace" and included the following subjects: Russia, China, Production Front, Propa- ganda, Child Care, Nutrition, Minority Groups, and Post War World. The forums attracted one hundred and fifty people with a total attendance of some four hundred. All nor- mal publicity channels were used: weekly write-ups in newspapers, posters in store windows, notices to organ- izations, special mailing lists, and the like. After all, the best publicity is word of mouth and the best proof of interest in the forums was that people did pass on the word to their friends. Our audiences were composed of men and women from all walks of Hfe—representing a true cross sec- tion of the town—housewives, teachers, a chemist, a chauffeur, mill workers, a barber, a civil engineer, librarians, a personnel manager, nurses, social workers, students, business men, a soldier, clerks. In the main they belonged in the 25-60 age group. As is not sur- prising, women outnumbered men four to one. Trans- portation restrictions certainly did affect our attend- ance since all but about one fifth of the group lived within easy walking distance of the library. We were particularly fortunate in securing excellent leadership for our forums, both from within and out- side the community. Four of the leaders were faculty- members from Phillips Academy and Abbott Academy, ♦Partial reprint from the Massachusetts Library Associa- tion Bulletin, Vol. 33, No. 3. Courtesy New York University Film Library Children on nursery farm depicted in "A Child Went Forth." (Produced by Joseph Losey and John Ferno) while leaders from the outside included a representa- tive of the War Manpower Commission, a director of United China Relief, and the Director of the Boston Nursery Training School. Local leadership of forums does have advantages since the discussion can be bet- ter related to community problems and the program becomes much more a real community enterprise. There is no doubt also that outside leaders, who are authori- ties in their subjects, are eagerly anticipated and bring much of value to the groups. The forums were held in the library auditorium on Monday evenings at 7:30, an hour which proved rather too early for many people. The librarian pre- sided, briefly introduced the subject for discussion, announced the films with any comment necessary, in- troduced the leader, called attention to the library's