At the beginning of the project the League established for its own guidance the following tentative terms of reference:
The study of book and journal services for general practitioners, nursing schools, qualified nurses, consultants and the ancillaries to the medical profession; recommendations for rationalization where rationalization is feasible of book supply as it applies to the medical world; recommendations as to the establishment of national and advisory services; and the publication of reports which will help to bring about such developments as are thought necessary.
Because the situation under study continues to change, it was thought worthwhile to produce an interim report, which, though it might lack the full authority of completed research, would serve to prompt the thinking of those who are now engaged in making administrative decisions for immediate action or in creating opinion which will decide future policy.