WHEN Willie Anderson talks about books, you have to listen. He has a

passion for them: a lifelong love which colours everything he says on

the subject. If anyone is an ideal choice to succeed Robert Clow as

managing director of John Smith and Son, one feels, this is the man.

''People sort of fall into the book trade,'' he says. He himself had

''not the faintest idea'' as to what he wanted to do on leaving school.

He applied for several jobs, worked for a London branch of the Royal

Bank of Scotland, and got into the habit of spending his free time --

and spare cash -- at a little bookshop round the corner. He even helped

behind the counter, for nothing. He had meanwhile met his future wife

Pat, a Glasgow girl working in London as a teacher, and they had decided

it would be nice to return to Scotland. He fixed up a job with John

Smith, and presented himself at the famous St Vincent Street premises.

That was in 1973. His obvious enthusiasm for the book trade saw him

promoted five months later to manager of the paperbacks department which

he ran for three years before moving on to take charge of all the other

general departments -- hardback fiction, biographies, coffee-table

books, and children's publications -- before being made a director in

1979.

He feels that changes in the book trade have been dramatic. And

technology has revolutionised the way in which book shops locate, order,

and distribute an ever-increasing variety of titles, issue invoices, and

keep track of what is available.

John Smith has a computerised database of 1,750,000 titles which can

be rapidly checked to help a customer track down practically any book.

Should it be out of print, help can often be provided in tracing a

source where a copy might still be available. Work has already started

on adding European and American publishers' output to the database.

John Smith and Son is heavily involved in electronic ordering and

invoicing. EDI, or Electronic Data Information, is already saving a

great deal of time.

As for the changing habits and needs of customers, there are signs

that many university text books will in future be transferred to CD ROM

format, with students able to extract the information they need instead

of having to buy entire volumes.

''We have to be aware of the opportunities being offered by multimedia

in the fields of learning, studying, and leisure,'' says Willie

Anderson. ''Multimedia is in its infancy and CD ROM hardware still needs

to be made much more available and accessible. But the institutions are

looking at it favourably and we anticipate significant growth in this

area.

''Booksellers, including ourselves, will have to ensure that they

don't lose this business to other outlets.''