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125442 


CLASSICS.  OK.  jgMffUCWl  fJBRAMANSHIP 


THE  LIBRARY  WITHOUT 
THE  WALLS 


Classics  of  American  Librarianship 

lidiccd  by  ARTHUR  K.  BOSTWICK,  Ph.D. 


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C  I  a  s  s  t  r  t    of   American    Lib  r  arian  $h  ip 
HY  AKThUR  K.  BGSTWICK,  I*lU>, 


THE  LIBRARY  WITHOUT 
THE  WALLS 


REPRINTS  OF  PAPERS  AND  ADDRESSES 


SKUOCTKI)  AND  ANNOTATED 

by 
LAURA  M.  JANXOW 

Chief  of  the  RfRistralton  Department,  St.  Louif  Public  Library 


NKW  YORK 

THE  II.  W,  WILSON  COMPANY 
1927 


Published  March,  1927 
Printed  in  the  United  States  o*  America 


PREFACE 

This  new  volume  in  the  scries  of  Classics  of 
American  Librarianship  is  devoted  to  the  circulation  of 
books  iti  its  various  phases;  that  is,  to  the  library's  ac- 
tivities without  its  walls.  $evei*al  phases  of  extension, 
however,  are  not  dealt  with  here,  as  they  will  be  treated 
in  another  volume. 

The  history  of  the  public  library  has  been  recorded 
in  earlier  volumes  of  this  series,  so  that  the  present  vol- 
ume attempts  only  to  bring  together  early  papers  ex- 
pressing ideas  that  have  developed  more  fully  in  later 
years.  Many  more  pnpeis  have  been  written  on  the 
subject,  but  these  selected  were  chosen  principally  for 
their  historic  value. 

The  papers  and  addresses  included  in  this  volume 
trace  the  development  of  the  library  as  a  circulating 
agency,  and  have  been  arranged  in  two  groups — cir~ 
dilation  proper,  and  extension — chronologically  under 
subject.  A  brief  genesis  of  accessibility  may  be  traced 
thus : 

1.  Books  to  be  consulted  only  by  a  favored  few. 

2.  By  any  who  paid  a  required  fee. 

3.  Consulted  by  anyone,   but   books   could   not  be   taken 

from  the  library  building. 

4.  Books  were  loaned  to  a  favoicd  few. 
5     Loaned  to  those  who  paid  a  fee. 

6.    The  modern  conception  of  "free  as  air  and  water"  to  all, 

LAURA  M.  JANZOW, 


CONTENTS 

PREFACE    


THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  MOVEMENT  15 

Fice  Libraries,    (United  Stoics  Education  Bureau,  Report, 

1876,  i>t.  i,  p.  389)  17 

JOSIAH  PHILLIPS  QUINCY 

The  Public  Library  Movement      (Cosmopolitan  Magazine, 

1894,  Vol    1 8,  p.  99-)  31 

WILLIAM  ISAAC  FLETCHER 

LOAN  AND  CHARGING  SYSTEMS  41 

Charging  Systems.     (Library  Journal,  1882,  p.  178.) 43 

KLAS  AUGUST  LINDERFELT 

Registration  of  Book  Borrowers.     (Library  Journal,  1887, 
I>.   340.)    51 

HENRY  JAMES  CARR 

Report  on  Charging   Systems.     (United  States  Education 
Bureau,  Report,  1892-93,  Vol.  I,  "Papers  Prepared  for 

the  World's  Library  Congress,"  p.  898.)   61 

MARY  WRIGHT  PLUMMER 

How  Things  Are  Done  in  One  American  Public  Library. 

(Library,  n.s.,  1900,  p.  384 )  73 

FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

riOME  USE  OF  BOOKS 93 

Free  Libraries  and  Readers.    (Library  Journal,  1876,  p.  63.)    95 
JUSTIN  WINSOR 

Some  Other  Book.    (Library  Journal,  1887,  p.  505.) 103 

WILLIAM  HOWARD  BRETT 


8  CONTENTS 

How  We  Reserve  Books.    (Library  Journal,  1889,  p  401.),.  109 
REPORTS  FROM  VARIOLA  LAW.K  LIBRAIUKS 

The  New  Novel  Problem  and  Its  Solution.    Library,  n.s  , 
igoo,  p  92)  ...................................  n? 

FREDERICK  MOKGAN  CRUNDLN 

The  Effect  of  the  Two-Book  System  on  Circulation.     (Li- 
brary Journal,  iScjK,  p    03  )     ..............  \&$ 

KlIWARD   ASAUKL    UlKdK 

What  the  American  People  Are  Reading.     (Oitihwk,  Sep- 
tember-December,   1903,  p.  775.)      ...................  145 

JOHN  COTTON  DANA 

OPEN  SHELVES  .....................................  151 


Access  to  Shelves.     (Library  Journal,  1891,  p,  268.)  ......  1553 

THOMAS  WENTWOKTH  HKK.INSON 

Report  on  Access  to  Shelves.    (Library  Journal,  1^04,  Con- 
ference No  ,  p    87  )  ...................  157 

BKRNAKD  CHRISTIAN  STEINKR  AND  SAMUKL  UAVKIWTK'K 
RANCK 

Freedom  in  Libraries      (Proceedings  and  TraitstKiioits  of 
2nd  International  Conference  of  Librarians,  London,  July 
13-^6,  1807,  P.  79-)  .....................................  175 

WIIJJAM  HOWARD  BKKTT 

Report  on  Open  Shelves.     (Library  Journal,  1898,  dun  for* 
encc  No  ,  p.  40.)  .......................................  183 

JOHN  THOMSON 

Open  Shelves  and  the  Loss  oC  Books.    (American  Library 
Association,  Bulletin,  1908,  p.  231.)   ...................  ,  191 

ISABEL  Er,v  LORD 


Open  Shelves.    (Public  Libraries,  1900,  p,  150  ) 
ERASTUS  SWIFT  WILLCOX 


Open  Shelves  in  the  Popular  Library.     (American  Library 
Association,  Bulletin,  1908,  p.  249.) 

EKASTUS  SWIFT  WILLCOX 


CONTENTS  9 

HKANCn  LIBRARIES  AND  DELIVERY  STATIONS..  237 

Access  to  Shelves  a  Possible  Function- of  Branch  Libraries, 
(Libiary  Journal    'Nor,  Ccmfcicncc   No,  p    62.) 239 

PUTNAM 


Blanches  and  Delwciics,    (United  Slates  Education  Bureau, 
Report,  i8c>2-03,  Vol  r,  "Papers  Prepared  for  the  World's 

I ,ibi ary  C  ongress,"  p.  709.)    249 

GEORGE  WATSON  COLE 

branches  and  Deliveries.    (Library  Journal,  1898,  Conference 

No,  p  8.) 263 

HILLER  CROWELL  WELLMAN 

Library  Circulation  at  Long  Range.    (Library  Journal  1913, 
I»-  391 )   273 

ARTHUR  ELMORE  BOSTWICK 

LfURARY  EXTENSION  281 

The  Mission  and  the  Missionaries  of  the  Book.     (Regent's 
Itullcliu,  No.  36,  University  of  the  State  o£  New  York, 

September  1896,  p  90.) 283 

JOSKPU  NELSON  LARNED 

Traveling  Libraries.     (Library  Journal,   j8o8,   Conference 

No.,  ]>.  56.)  (Committee  Report)   299 

FRANK  AVERY  HUTCHINS 

Libraiy  Extension.    (Public  Libraries,  1905,  p.  163;  p.  215; 

p,  259.)   307 

EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

The  Public  Library  and  Allied  Agencies.    (Library  Journal 
J905,  P-  459 ) 323 

Factory  Stations.     (Library  Journal,  1907,  p.  83.) 351 

ANIELA  PORAY 

A  Library  Experiment  in  Prison  Work.     (Library  Journal, 

1916,  p.  92.)    350 

ELIZABETH  D.  RENNINGER 


io  CONTENTS 

PARCEL  POST  ........................................  37i 

A  Parcel  Post  Library  System  (American  Review  of  Re- 
views, 1915,  p.  729.)  ....................................  373 

In  St.  Lotus  Public  Library  (Libraiy  Journal,   1914, 

p.  405.) 
In  Queensboro  Public  Library  (Library  Journal,  1914, 

P  937) 

In  Chicago  and  Kansas  City  (Bulletin  oj 
Vol.  8,  no.  3,  p.  64;  no.  22,  p.  35.) 


HOME  DELIVERY  OF  BOOKS 


Home  Delivery  of  Books.    (Library  Journal,  1902,  Confer- 
ence No.,  p.  88  )   ......................................  383 

HILLER.  CROWELL  WELLMAN,  WILLIAM  KKED  EASTMAN, 

AND 

NATHANIEL  DANA  CARULE 


House  to  House   Delivery  o£   Books,     (Library  Journal, 
iQOS,  p.  338.)    .........................................  3*7 

GKRTRUDJE  E.  FORREST 

INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS   .............................  393 

Inter-library  Loans  in  Reference  Work.    (Library  Journal, 
1898,  p.  5670   .........................................  395 

SAMUEL  SWETT  GREEN 

Relations  o£  the  Greater  Libraries  to  tlic  Lesser,     (Public 
Libraries,  1905,  p.  276.)  ...............................  399 

CHARLES  JAMES 


Inter-library  Loans.     (Library  Journal,  1909,  p.  527.)  ......  407 

WARNER  BISHOP 


LIBRARY  WORK  WITH  THE  BLIND  ...............  419 

Bpoks  for  the  Blind.     (Library  Journal,  1898,  Conference 
No.,  p.  93.)   ...........................................  431 

HENRY  MUNSON  UTLEY 

Books  and  Libraries  for  the  Blind.    (Library  Journal,  1905, 
P-  269.)  ...............................................  427 

DR.  ROBERT  C.  MOON 


CONTENTS  ii 

Repoit  of  the  Committee  on  Library  Work  With  the  Blind. 
(American  Library  Association,  Bulletin,  1907,  p,  39) ..  439 
NATHANIEL  DANA  CARLILE  HODGES 

Some  Unusual  Experiences  in  the  Work  of  a  Blind  Libra- 
nan      (Library  Journal,   1908,  p.  393 )    451 

BERYL  H.  CLARKE 

California  State  Library  for  the  Blind.     (Library  Journal, 

1909,  p.  115.) 455 

MABEL  R  GILLIS 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  Library  Work  with  the  Blind. 
(American  Library  Association,  Bulletin,   1908,   Vol.  2, 

p   216-21. )    465 

EMMA  RITTENHOUSE  NEISSER  DELFINO 

LIBRARY  WORK  WITH  THE  FOREIGN-BORN.      ..  475 

Library  Work  in  the  Brooklyn  Ghetto      (Library  Journal, 

1908,  p   485 477 

LEON  M  SOLIS-COHEN 

Immigrants  as  Contributors  to  Library  Progress.    (Ameri- 
can Library  Association,  Papers  and  Proceedings,  1913, 

P    150  )   ' 485 

ADELAIDE  BOWLES  MALTBY 

What  the  Foreigner  Has  Done  for  One  Library.    (Library 

Journal,  1913,  p    610 )    495 

J.  MAUD  CAMPBELL 

Some  of  the  People  We'  Work  for.   (American  Library  As- 
sociation, Bulletin,  1916,  p    149 )    503 

JOHN  FOSTER  CARR 

WORK  WITH  COLORED  PEOPLE 515 

Serving  New  York's  Black  City      (Library  Journal,  1921, 

Vol.  46,  P.  255)    517 

ERNESTINE  ROSE 

FINKS,  DELINQUENTS,  AND  LOSSES  525 

Delinquent  Borrowers.    (Library  Journal,  1889,  p.  403- ) 527 

WILLIS  KlMBALL  STETSON1 


12  CONTENTS 

Library  Fines      (Library  Journal,  1898,  p.  185.)  .........    5-sy 

NINA  EnzAiimi  UROWNE 


Collection  and  Registration  of  Fines.    (Libra*  y  Journal,  iKcji, 
P    103;  P    137,  P    170)   ....................  5,*7 

A  SYMPOSIUM  BV  VARIOUS  LAW.B  LIHRARIKS 

Book  Thieves;  an  Incident  and  Some  Suggestions.    (Library 
Journal,  1904,  i>  3<$  )  •  ....  547 

EDWIN  WHIIK  UAH  L\KI> 

The    Book    Larceny    Problem       (Library    Journal,    10.20, 
P-  307)   ...................................  55' 

EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLAKD 

CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  AND  UIJKARY  CIRCULATION 
.............................................  579 

The  Spread  of  Contagious  Disease  by  Circulating  Libraries. 
(Library  Journal,  1879,  p    258.)  '  ......................  581 

WILLIAM  FREDKRICK  I'OOIK 

Contagious  Disease  and  Public  Libraries     (Library  Journal, 
Conference  No,  1891,  p  35  )   ................  589 

GARDNBR  MAYN\RU  JONKS 

Sterilization  of  Books  by  .Formalin  Vapor.     (Library  Jour- 
nal,  1902,  p  881  )  ...............................  597 

ANDREW  FAY  CURRIKR,  Al.D. 

LIBRARY  PUBLICITY  ........................  .....605 

Printed  Lists  of  Books.    (Library  Journal,  1894,  j>.  9.)  ......  607 

KATE  M.  HKNNKBKURY 

Periodical  Library  Bulletins.    (Library  Journal  iHc>t,  Con- 
ference No.,  p.  50)   ................................  On 

A  SYMPOSIUM 

Advertising  a  Library     (Library  Journal,  1897,  Conference 
No.,  p.  74)   .......................................  623 

MARY  EMOOENE  HAZKI.TINB 

Advertising  a  Library.     (Library  Journal,  1896,  Conference 
N°M  P-  37)    ...........................................  63S 

LUTIE  EXJGENIA   SlEARNS 


CONTENTS  13 

fi.ulTi 

Relation  of  the  Libraiy  to  the  Outside  World.     (Library 

Journal,   1908,  p    488 )    643 

MAKILLA  WAIIE  FREEMAN 

FUTURE  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 653 

Future  of  the  Free  Public  Library.     (Library  Journal,  1890, 

Conference  No ,  p   44.)   .   .     . .        655 

LEWIS  H.  STKINER 

INDEX 663 


THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  MOVEMENT 

The  public  library  movement  may  be  said  to  have  had 
its  beginnings  in  the  establishment  of  the  Philadelphia 
Library  Company,  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  in  1732.  The 
first  individual  town  library  was  founded  in  Peterbor- 
ough, New  Hampshire,  in  1833.  The  first  form  of  the 
public  library  promoted  by  legislation  was  that  of  dis- 
trict school  libraries,  inaugurated  by  the  state  of  New 
York  in  1835. 

The  causes  which  brought  about  the  library  movement 
in  the  United  States  during  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  are  probably  numerous,  though  investi- 
gation has  not  searched  them  all  out.  The  great  educa- 
tional movement  in  Massachusetts  under  Horace  Mann, 
secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Education,  1837-1849, 
was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  main  factors.  The  lyceum 
movement  beginning  in  Milbury,  Massachusetts,  about 
1826,  and  sweeping  rapidly  through  New  England  and 
to  the  west  and  south  in  1831,  was  another  potent 
reason.  These  lyceums  were  town  debating  clubs, 
fully  participated  in,  and  immensely  popular.  The 
preparation  of  speeches  and  papers  that  took  part  must 
have  developed  the  need  for  libraries  of  reference,  and 
the  general  quickening  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the  com- 
munity through  these  meetings  joined  with  the  influence 
of  the  public  school  movement  in  creating  a  sense  of 
need  for  public  libraries. 

Today  the  public  library  is  an  established  institution 
in  practically  every  American  city  and  town — a  develop- 
ment of  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  problems  of  the  library  arc  still  comparatively 
new  and  that  so  many  have  been  worked  out  is  due  in  a 


16  THE   PUBLIC  LIBRARY   MOVKMKNT 

large  measure  to  the  persistent  efforts  of  its  pioneers. 
There  are  still  problems  waiting  for  solution  and  each 
phase  of  development  brings  its  own  group — which  arc 
incentives  to  higher  effort. 


FREE  LIBRARIES 

The  diminution  of  human  effoit  necessary  to  pro- 
duce a  given  result  is  nowhere  more  strikingly  exhibited 
than  in  our  free  libraries.  A  student  is  more  apt  to  fix 
and  record  the  result  of  reading  if  the  book  is  not  owned, 
since  the  volumes  that  stand  on  his  private  shelves  may 
be  mastered  at  any  time,  while  the  volumes  borrowed 
from  the  public  library  must  be  returned.  However, 
there  is  one  question  concerning  the  function  of  free 
libraries  upon  which  different  opinions  are  held. 
Should  an  institution,  supported  by  tax-payers  to  pro- 
mote the  general  interests  of  the  community,  buy  all 
books  that  are  asked  for? 

A  passage  from  the  report  of  the  Germantown,  Pa., 
Free  Library  indicates  that  it  is  not  true  that  "libraries 
have  no  interest  for  the  masses  of  the  people  unless  they 
administer  sensational  fiction  in  heroic  doses"  The 
report  continues,  "In  watching  the  use  of  our  library  as 
it  is  more  and  more  resorted  to  by  the  younger  readerb 
of  the  community,  I  have  been  much  interested  in  its 
influence  in  weaning  them  from  a  desire  for  works  of 
fiction.  On  first  joining  the  library,  the  newcomers 
often  ask  for  such  books,  but  failing  to  procure  them, 
and  having  their  attention  turned  to  works  of  interest 
and  instruction,  in  almost  every  instance  settle  down  to 
good  reading  and  cease  asking  for  novels.  I  am  per- 
suaded that  much  of  this  vitiated  taste  is  cultivated  by 
the  purveyors  to  the  reading  classes,  and  that  they  are 
responsible  for  an  appetite  they  often  profess  to  deplore, 
I  ml  continue  to  cater  to,  under  the  plausible  excuse  that 
the  public  will  have  such  works." 

The  following  paper  by  Josiah  Phillips  Quincy  was 
part  of  a  contribution  to  the  United  Stales  Education 


18  JOSIAH  PHILLIPS  QUINCY 

Bureau's  report  of  1876,  dealing  with  the  history  ami 
condition  of  public  libraries  m  the  United  States  in  thai 
year. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Quincy  is  in  Volume  1 
of  this  series. 

The  free  library,  regarded  from  the  alcoves  by  those  re- 
sponsible for  their  supply  and  arrangement,  necessarily  suggests 
studies  m  the  details  of  administration  The  citizen  for  whose 
convenience  this  wonderful  institution  has  come  into  being,  as  he 
presents  his  card  at  the  desk  and  summons  the  author  whose 
instruction  he  needs,  as  naturally  considers  the  central  principle 
which  it  illustrates  and  the  subtile  influences  it  is  already  dif- 
fusing in  the  world. 

There  are  certain  eminent  philosophers  who  have  emphati- 
cally announced  that  the  sole  duty  of  the  state  is  to  administer 
justice.  Legislation  should  not  attempt  to  improve  and  tiplift 
the  citizen,  but  be  satisified  in  providing  him  with  a  policeman 
and  a  penitentiary.  They  assure  us  that  private  enterprise  will 
best  furnish  the  community  with  whatever  civilizing  and  enno- 
bling influences  it  may  lack  Even  the  public  school,  we  arc 
told,  is  a  blunder  of  which  the  logical  outcome  is  a  state  church, 
with  an  annual  item  of  "faggots  for  heretics"  to  be  assessed 
upon  all  tax-payers.  It  would  not  be  wise  for  any  moderate 
dialectician  to  question  the  construction  of  the  syllogisms 
which  have  brought  really  great  men  to  these  dismal  conclusions; 
but  I  have  sometimes  thought  that  it  would  be  pleasant  to  take 
an  evening  walk  with  one  of  them  (Mr  Herbert  Spencer,  for 
instance)  through  the  main  street  of  a  New  England  town,  and 
see  if  he  would  recognize  any  tendency  to  the  evils  that  he  had 
predicted.  He  would  be  shown  the  ancient  barroom  (happily 
closed)  which  an  unfettered  private  enterprise  once  provided 
as  the  sole  place  of  evening  resort.  Some  of  the  older  inhabi- 
tants might  be  summoned  to  give  their  recollections  of  this 
central  rallying  place.  It  was  the  social  exchange  of  the  com- 
munity, every  night  ablaze  with  light,  inviting  all  male  passers- 
by  to  try  the  animal  comforts  of  spirits  and  tobacco.  Even 
persons  of  local  respectability,  having  nowhere  else  to  go,  were 
wont  to  stray  in  and  stupefy  themselves  into  endurance  of  the 
vulgar  jests  of  the  barkeeper  and  the  chorus  of  brutal  talk  that 
must  prevail  when  whisky  is  abundant  and  women  are  left  out. 


FREE  LIBRARIES  19 

Our  distinguished  thinker  would  learn  that  this  tippling  house 
had  been  closed  by  the  fiat  of  a  government  which  no  longer 
permits  the  open  bar  to  flaunt  its  temptations  in  the  face  ot 
men,  and  not  only  was  the  liberty  of  the  liquor  dealing  citizen 
thus  outraged,  and  his  private  enterprise  remorselessly  put 
down,  but  this  same  government  (going  on  from  bad  to  worse) 
audaciously  exceeded  its  proper  functions  by  opening  a  spacious 
library,  heated  and  lighted  at  the  general  cost.  Instead  of  the 
barkeeper  and  his  satellites,  we  find  modest  and  pleasing  young 
women  dispensing  books  over  the  counter.  Here  are  working- 
men,  with  their  wives  and  daughters,  reading  m  comfortable 
scats  or  selecting  volumes  to  make  home  attractive.  If  we 
should  estimate  in  dollars  the  saving  to  the  community  of  that 
government  action  which  theorists  have  condemned,  the  result 
would  be  most  gratifying,  To  the  moral  advance  which  in  this 
case  had  been  initiated  by  substituting  a  public  institution  for  a 
private  cnterpiise,  there  would  be  no  want  of  fervent  testimony. 
Of  course  one  could  not  ask  an  inexorable  logician  to  abandon 
those  compact  formulas  about  the  limits  of  state  action,  which 
arc  the  best  of  labor  saving  inventions  to  all  who  can  accept 
them.  We  could  only  set  against  the  philosopher's  reasoning 
what  a  poet  has  called  "the  unreasoning  progress  of  the  world ;" 
and  we  may  rejoice  that  no  American  citizen  who  has  studied 
the  actual  workings  and  perceived  the  yet  undeveloped  capabili- 
ties of  his  town  library  is  likely  to  be  disturbed  by  the  deductions 
of  a  merely  verbal  logic,  He  is  familiar  with  at  least  one  form 
of  this  dreaded  government  interference,  which  not  only  ex- 
presses the  collective  will  of  the  people,  but  constantly  tends  to 
inform  and  purify  its  sources. 

The  diminution  of  human  effort  necessary  to  produce  a  given 
result  is  nowhere  more  strikingly  exhibited  than  in  one  of  our 
free  libraries.  One  is  tempted  to  parody  the  Celtic  paradox, 
that  one  man  is  as  good  as  another  and  a  great  deal  better  too, 
by  saying  that  a  public  library  is  just  as  good  as  a  private  one, 
and  for  the  effective  study  of  books  has  decided  advantages  over 
it.  A  student  is  much  more  apt  to  fix  and  record  the  results 
of  reading  if  the  book  is  not  owned.  The  volumes  which  stand 
on  his  private  shelves  may  be  mastered  at  any  time,  which 
turns  out  to  be  no  time,  or  rather  they  need  not  be  mastered  ft 
all,  for  there  they  are,  ready  for  reference  at  a  moment's  notice, 
but  the  books  borrowed  for  a  few  weeks  from  the  public  library 


20  JOSIAH  PHILLIPS  QUINCY 

lie  is  compelled  to  read  carefully,  and  with  pen  in  hand.  The 
one  secular  institution  which  encourages  self-development  as  an 
aim  should  be  especially  favored  in  the  times  upon  which  we 
have  fallen.  Who  has  not  had  moments  of  skepticism  touching 
the  solid  advantages  to  humanity  of  the  mechanical  triumphs 
our  generation  has  seen?  They  have  created  a  host  of  new 
desires  to  be  gratified,  of  uinmagined  luxuries  to  stimulate  the 
fierce  competitions  which  thiust  the  weakest  to  the  wall.  Bui 
we  cannot  help  entertaining  Mr.  Mill's  painful  doubt  whether 
all  the  splendid  achievements  of  physics  and  chemistry  have  yet 
lightened  the  toil  of  a  single  human  being.  We  read  that  the 
railroads  are  rapidly  extending  the  cattle  plague  and  the  cholera, 
and  that  Mr.  Adams  told  the  Comte  de  Paris  that,  had  the 
ocean  telegraph  been  laid  a  few  years  earlier,  the  frightful 
calamity  of  a  war  between  England  and  America  could  not 
have  been  avoided  If  we  would  bind  these  Titans  in  whole- 
some service  to  the  higher  interests  of  our  race,  it  must  be 
done  by  a  commensurate  expansion  of  the  means  of  popular 
education.  It  will  not  do  to  ignore  the  fact  that  their  advent 
has  greatly  increased  the  difficulties  of  maintaining  a  healthy 
political  system.  It  is  only  by  constantly  extending  knowledge 
that  we  may  take  good  heart,  and  accept  the  situation.  The  best 
use  to  which  we  can  put  the  stage  coach  of  our  ancestors  is  to 
carry  us  to  the  railroad,  and  we  can  best  employ  their  precious 
legacy  of  the  free  school  as  a  conveyance  to  the  free  library. 

There  is  one  question  concerning  the  functions  of  free  libra- 
ries upon  which  different  opinions  are  held  by  estimable  persons. 
Should  an  institution,  supported  by  tax-payers  to  promote  the 
general  interests  of  the  community,  hasten  to  supply  any  books 
which  people  can  be  induced  to  ask  for  by  unscrupulous  putts 
with  which  publishers  fill  the  papers?  It  must,  of  course,  be  ad- 
mitted that  there  may  be  good  reasons  why  the  libraries  of  wealthy 
cities  should  preserve  single  copies  of  everything  that  comes  to 
hand.  Silly,  and  even  immoral,  publications  may  offer  illustra- 
tions to  the  student  of  history,  and  give  him  valuable  aid  in 
reproducing  the  life  of  the  past.  But  the  smaller  libraries,  which 
cannot  aim  at  completeness,  have  not  this  excuse  for  neglecting 
to  exercise  a  reasonable  censorship  upon  books,  and  for  seeking 
only  to  adapt  their  supplies  to  a  temporary  and  indiscriminaling 
demand.  Surely  a  state  which  lays  heavy  taxes  upon  the 
citizen  in  order  that  children  may  be  taught  to  read  is  bound 


FREE  LIBRARIES  21 

lo  take  some  interest  m  what  they  read;  and  its  representatives 
may  well  take  cognizance  of  the  fact,  that  an  increased  facility 
for  obtaining  works  of  sensational  fiction  is  not  the  special  need 
of  our  country  at  the  close  of  the  first  century  of  its  independ- 
ence. 

Physicians  versed  in  the  treatment  of  those  nerve  centres, 
whose  disorder  has  so  alarmingly  increased  of  late  years,  have 
testified  to  the  enervating  influence  of  the  prevalent  romantic 
literature,  and  declared  it  to  be  a  fruitful  cause  of  evil  to  youth 
of  both  sexes  The  interesting  study  of  the  effects  of  novel 
reading  in  America,  to  be  found  in  Dr  Isaac  Ray's  treatise 
upon  Mental  Hygiene,  should  be  familiar  to  all  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  education  of  our  people.  Senator  Yeaman, 
in  his  recent  work  upon  government,  exclaims: 

The  volumes  of  trash  poured  forth  daily,  weekly,  and 
monthly,  are  appalling.  Many  minds,  which,  if  confined  to  a 
few  volumes,  would  become  valuable  thinkers,  are  lost  in  the 
wilderness  of  brilliant  and  fragrant  weeds. 

It  has  been  very  hastily  assumed  that  if  our  young  people 
cannot  obtain  the  sensational  novels  which  they  crave,  they  will 
make  no  use  of  the  town  library.  But  this  is  not  so.  Boys  and 
girls  will  read  what  is  put  m  their  way,  provided  their  attention  is 
judiciously  directed,  and  the  author  is  not  above  their  capacity. 
I  am,  fortunately,  able  to  adduce  direct  testimony  to  a  truth 
which  will  appear  self  evident  to  many  who  are  thoroughly 
in  sympathy  with  the  masses  o£  our  people  and  have  studied 
their  requirements. 

There  is  a  free  library  in  Germantown,  Pa ,  sustained  by  the 
liberality  of  a  religious  body,  and  frequented  by  artisans  and 
working  people  of  both  sexes.  It  has  been  in  existence  for  six 
years,  contains  at  present  more  than  7,000  volumes,  and  takes 
the  extreme  position  of  excluding  all  novels  from  its  shelves. 
A  passage  from  the  report  for  1874,  of  its  librarian,  Mr.  William 
Kite,  is  commended  to  the  attention  of  those  who  affirm  that 
libraries  have  no  interest  for  the  masses  of  our  people  unless 
they  administer  sensational  fiction  m  heroic  doses : 

In  watching  the  use  of  our  library  as  it  is  more  and  more 
resorted  to  by  the  younger  readers  of  our  community,  I  have 
been  much  interested  in  its  influence  in  weaning  them  from  a 
desire  for  works  of  fiction.  On  first  joining  the  library,  the 
new  comers  often  ask  for  such  books,  but  failing  to  procure 


22  JOSIAH  PHILLIPS  QUINCY 

them,  and  having  their  attention  turned  to  works  of  interest 
and  instruction,  m  almost  every  instance  they  settle  clown  to 
good  reading  and  cease  asking  for  novels  I  am  persuaded 
that  much  of  this  vitiated  taste  is  cultivated  by  the  purveyors 
to  the  reading  classes,  and  that  they  arc  responsible  for  an 
appetite  they  often  profess  to  deplore,  but  continue  to  cater  to, 
under  the  plausible  excuse  that  the  public  will  have  such  works. 

A  letter  from  Mr  Kite  (dated  November  TI,  1875)  gives 
most  gratifying  statements  concerning  the  growth  and  success 
of  the  Friends'  Free  Library.  I  take  the  liberty  of  quoting  the 
following  extracts,  as  bearing  upon  the  matter  m  hand : 

As  to  the  question^of  inducing  readers  to  substitute  whole- 
some reading  for  fiction,  there  is  no  great  difficulty  about  it 
It  requires  a  willingness  on  the  part  of  the  caretakers  to  assume 
the  labor  of  leading  their  tastes  for  a  time  A  very  considerable 
number  of  the  frequenters  of  our  library  arc  factory  girls,  the 
class  most  disposed  to  seek  amusement  in  novels  and  peculiarly 
liable  to  be  injured  by  their  false  pictures  of  life  These  young 
people  have,  under  our  State  laws,  an  education  equal  to  read- 
ing average  literature.  .  .  .  According  to  our  gauge  of  their 
mental  calibre,  we  offer  to  select  an  interesting  book  for  them 
They  seem  often  like  children  learning  to  walk;  they  must 
be  led  awhile,  but  they  soon  cater  for  themselves;  we  havu 
thought  but  few  leave  because  they  cannot  procure  works  of 
fiction.  .  .  We  receive  great  help,  m  rightly  leading  our  young 
readers,  from  our  juvenile  department  Perhaps  the  name 
hardly  conveys  the  nature  of  the  books,  for  it  contains  many 
works  intended  to  give  rudimentary  instruction  in  natural  his- 
tory and  science,  and  does  not  contain  children's  novels,  Sun- 
day school  or  others.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  relaxation  in  the 
sense  spoken  of  as  belonging  to  novel  reading  is  obtained  by 
our  readers  in  the  use  of  books  of  travel,  of  which  we  have  a 
rich  collection. 

In  further  illustration  of  what  seems  to  me  to  be  the  better 
American  opinion  upon  the  matter  under  consideration,  I  quote 
from  the  last  report  (1875)  of  the  examining  committee  of  the 
Boston  Public  Library.  That  committee  was  composed  of  well 
known  and  responsible  men,  who  may  be  presumed  to  have  given 
due  consideration  to  the  language  they  sanction,  The  italics  in 
the  following  extract  are  mine : 

There  is  a  vast  range  of  ephemeral  literature,  exciting  and 
fascinating,  apologetic  of  vice  or  confusing  distinctions  between 
plain  right  ^and  wrong;  fostering  discontent  with  the  peaceful 
homely  duties  which  constitute  a  large  portion  of  average  men 
and  women s  lives;  responsible  for  an  immense  amount  of  the 


FREE  LIBRARIES  23 

mental  disease  and  moral  irregularities  which  are  so  troublesome 
an  element  in  modern  society — and  this  is  the  kind  of  reading 
to  which  multitudes  naturally  take,  which  it  is  not  the  business 
of  a  town  library  to  supply,  although  for  a  time  it  may  be  ex- 
pedient to  yield  to  its  claims  while  awaiting  the  development 
of  a  more  elevated  taste.  Notwithstanding  many  popular  no- 
tions to  the  contrary,  it  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  a  municipality 
to  raise  taxes  for  the  amusement  of  the  people,  unless  the 
amusement  is  tolerably  sure  to  be  conducive  to  the  higher  ends 
of  good  citizenship.  .  .  .  The  sole  relation  of  a  town  library  to 
the  general  interest  is  as  a  supplement  to  the  school  system;  as 
an  instrumentality  of  higher  instruction  to  all  classes  of  people. 

No  one  has  ever  doubted  that  the  great  majority  of  books 
in  a  free  library  should  be  emphatically  popular  in  their  character. 
They  should  furnish  reading  interesting  and  intelligible  to  the 
average  graduate  of  the  schools.  And  there  is  no  lack  of  such 
works.  The  outlines  of  the  sciences  have  been  given  by  men  of 
genius  after  methods  the  most  simple  and  attractive.  History 
and  biography  in  the  hands  of  competent  authors  fascinate 
the  imagination  and  give  a  healthy  stimulus  to  thought.  The 
narratives  of  travelers,  beautifully  illustrated  as  they  so  often 
arc  at  the  present  day,  arc  thrilling  enough  to  gratify  that  love 
of  wild  adventure  which  is  at  times  a  wholesome  recoil  from 
the  monotonies  of  civilization  Some  o£  the  great  masters  of 
romance  interest,  and  at  the  same  time  elevate  and  teach.  What 
theologian  has  shown  the  power  of  secret  sin  to  inthrall  the 
human  heart  as  Hawthorne  has  shown  it  in  the  Scarlet  Letter? 
Can  Milton's  noble  Ode  on  the  Morning  of  Christ's  Nativity 
reach  the  average  ear  like  the  lovely  Christmas  Carol  of  Charles 
Dickens?  Few  persons  could  think  it  desirable  to  exclude  all 
faction  from  their  town,  library.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  admit 
certain  works  of  imagination  of  pure  moral  tendency,  which 
have  proved  their  vitality  by  living  at  least  a  year  or  two;  it  is 
quite  another  thing  to  assume  that  the  town  library  is  to  be  made 
a  rival  agency  to  the  book  club,  the  weekly  paper,  the  news  stand, 
and  the  railroad  depot,  for  disseminating  what  are  properly 
enough  called  "the  novels  of  the  day."  Granted  that  fiction  is 
an  important  ingredient  in  education,  it  is  not  the  ingredient 
which  is  especially  lacking  in  American  education  at  the  present 
time,  and  which  the  public  funds  must  hasten  to  supply 

It  may  be  thought  that  I  am  taking  needless  pains  to  empha- 
size views  which  all  leaders  of  opinion  willingly  accept.  Unhap- 
pily this  is  not  the  case.  A  gentleman,  whose  honorable  military 


24  JOSIAH  PHILLIPS  QUINCY 

services  always  secure  him  the  public  ear,  declared,  in  a  recent 
address,  that  free  libraries  should  distribute  the  literature  known 
as  "dime  novels,"  seeing  that  these  productions,  although  "highly 
sensational,"  are  "morally  harmless  "  The  fallacy,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  is  almost  too  transparent  for  exposure  Morally  harmless 
to  whom,  and  under  what  circumstances?  Many  physiologists 
believe  that,  to  certain  persons  at  certain  periods  of  life,  the 
moderate  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants  is  not  only  morally  harm- 
less but  physically  beneficial.  Would  it  be  well,  then,  for  our 
towns,  at  the  collations  some  of  them  give  to  parents  and  pupils 
at  the  end  of  the  school  year,  to  place  plentiful  supplies  of  wine 
and  spirits  upon  the  tables ?  Nobody  will  deny  that  an  occa- 
sional dime  novel  may  be  morally  harmless  to  the  middle  aged 
mechanic  at  the  close  of  his  day  of  honest  work.  He  is  amused 
at  the  lurid  pictures  of  the  every-day  world  he  knows  so  well, 
takes  care  to  put  the  book  out  of  the  way  of  his  children,  and 
finds  himself  none  the  worse  for  his  laugh  over  the  bloody 
business  of  the  villain  and  the  impossible  amours  of  the  heroine. 
But  now  let  us  look  at  the  testimony  of  Jesse  Pomcroy,  the 
boy  murderer,  at  present  under  sentence  of  death.  Mr,  J.  T. 
Fields,  m  a  lecture  of  which  I  find  a  notice  in  the  Boston  Journal, 
(December  14,  1875,)  reports  a  conversation  held  with  this 
miserable  youth: 

Pomeroy,  in  the  course  of  the  interview,  said  that  he  had 
always  been  a  great  reader  of  blood  and  thunder  stories,  hav- 
ing read  probably  sixty  "dime  novels,"  all  treating  of  scalping 
and  deeds  of  violence.  The  boy  said  that  he  had  no  doubt  that 
the  reading  of  those  books  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  his 
course,  and  he  would  advise  all  boys  to  leave  them  alone. 

If  it  is  held  to  be  the  duty  of  the  State  lo  supply  boys  and 
girls  with  dime  novels,  and  the  business  of  the  schools  to  tax 
the  people  that  they  may  be  taught  to  read  them,  public  education 
is  not  quite  as  defensible  as  many  persons  have  supposed. 

It  would  be  foolish  to  draw  any  definite  line  respecting  the 
selection  of  books  for  free  libraries,  and  to  declare  it  worthy  of 
universal  adoption.  The  gentlemen  of  the  Boston  committee, 
while  proclaiming  the  principle  which  these  institutions  should 
embody,  imply  that  it  is  provisionally  expedient  to  furnish  the 
literature  whose  tendencies  they  so  unequivocally  condemn.  I 
am  not  concerned  to  dispute  their  conclusion.  The  question 
deserves  very  grave  consideration,  and  its  decision  may  wisely 


FREE  LIBRARIES  25 

differ  in  different  communities,  Libraries  alieady  organized 
may  for  a  lime  be  fettered  by  precedents  that  were  hastily  estab- 
lished It  may  be  best  that  their  managers  should  not  directly 
oppose  existing  prejudices,  but  should  gradually  gain  such  spots 
of  vantage  ground  as  may  be  held  against  unreasonable  attacks. 
Some  of  our  librarians  have  already  entered  upon  an  important 
lino  of  duty,  and  offer  wise  guidance  to  their  communities  in  the 
art  of  effective  reading.  The  efforts  of  Mr.  Winsor  and  other 
pioneers  in  this  direction  should  be  met  in  a  spirit  of  thorough 
and  cordial  appreciation.  They  have  recognized  the  fact  that 
they-  arc  not  servants  to  supply  a  demand,  but  that  (within 
limits)  they  arc  responsible  for  the  direction  of  a  new  and 
mighty  force.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  directors  of  our 
smaller  libraries  will  gradually  attain  conceptions  of  public  duty 
which  will  prevent  them  from  courting  a  temporary  popularity 
by  hastening  to  supply  immature  and  unregulated  minds  with  the 
feverish  excitements  they  have  learned  to  crave.  There  is  a 
silent  opinion  ready  to  sustain  those  who  will  associate  with 
the  town  library  an  atmosphere  of  pure  ideas  and  generous 
traditions  We  cannot  evade  a  responsibility  which  has  been 
placed  upon  us  of  this  passing  generation  One  of  the  most 
promising  institutions  yet  born  into  the  world  must  be  bequeathed 
to  our  successors  as  an  instrument  always  working  in  the  direc- 
tion of  moral  and  social  development. 

As  not  without  connection  with  the  subject  just  dismissed, 
I  desire  to  protest  against  the  very  common  assumption  that  the 
number  of  books  a  library  circulates  serves  to  measure  its  use- 
fulness to  the  community  sustaining  it.  Even  if  we  reach  this 
conclusion  by  reckoning  only  the  works  of  real  value  which 
are  called  lor,  it  may  be  wholly  fallacious.  If  such  a  test  is  to 
be  recognized,  the  noble  work  that  has  been  done  in  cataloguing 
will  often  appear  to  be  superfluous.  I  am  sure  that  many  per- 
sons consulting  the  Boston  Public  Library  will  agree  with  me 
Ihat  its  peculiar  advantage  lies  less  in  the  great  number  of  its 
books,  than  in  the  fact  that  exhaustive  catalogues  guide  the 
student  to  just  the  book  he  wants;  he  is  not  compelled  to  swell 
statistics  of  circulation  by  taking  out  ten  books  that  were  not 
wanted  in  order  to  find  the  volume  of  which  he  stands  in  need 
A  little  reflection  will  make  it  evident  that  the  circulation 
credited  to  a  free  library  may  throw  very  faint  light  upon  the 
one  important  question  of  the  manner  and  spirit  in  which  its 


26  JOSIAH  PHfLLIPS  QUINCY 

privileges  have  been  used    To  set  everybody  to  reading  in  all 
leisure  hours  is  not  necessarily  the  best  thing  that  the  institution 
can  do  for  us.    Much  of  its  highest  usefulness  must  reach  the 
tax-payer  indirectly,  and  through  vicarious  channels     Our  people 
are  an  exceptionally  good  medium  for  the  transmission  of  intel- 
lectual force    The  free  library  will  benefit  many  of  its  supporters 
through   the   minister's  sermon   and   the  physician's   practice; 
the  editor's  leader  will  lead  toward  sounder  conclusions;  the 
teacher  will  learn,  not  only  something  worth  communicating, 
but  the  best  methods  of  imparting  knowledge  orally  to  opening 
minds.     An  educational  centre  may  confer  no  slight  blessing 
upon  outlying  dependencies  by  leading  to  the  recovery  of  the 
lost  art  of  conversation,  as  quickening  as  vulgar  personal  gossip 
is  enfeebling  to  the  human  mind.    It  is  plain  that  no  attainable 
statistics  will  measure  the  work  of  the  town  library.    There 
are  no  figures  that  will  tell  us,  even  approximately,  what  portion 
of  the  intelligence  of  the  community  would  have  lain  dormant 
without  it.    How  many  individuals  of  exceptional  capacity  have 
been  encouraged  in  thinking  and  acting  more  wisely  than  the 
mass  of  their  fellow-citizens,  we  can  never  know.     We  must 
take  for  granted  what  is  incapable  of   direct  demonstration. 
But  it  is  important  to  remember  that  as  intellectual  effort  is 
kindled  fewer  books  may  be  wanted.    Excessive  indulgence  in 
miscellaneous  reading  is  soon  found  to  be  incompatible  with 
any  real  assimilation  of  knowledge.     Statistics  are  desirable 
so  long  as  we  do  not  credit  them  with  information  which  they 
cannot  give.    It  is  certainly  possible  that  the  usefulness  of  a 
free  library  may  increase  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  circulation  of 
its  books. 

It  is  yet  too  soon  to  estimate  the  wonderful  results  to  which 
this  gift  of  literature  to  the  masses  of  the  people  is  destined  to 
lead.  It  will  act  and  react  upon  our  successors  in  ways  that  we 
can  scarcely  anticipate  Mr.  Froude  has  contended  that  the 
transition  from  the  old  industrial  education  to  the  modern  book 
education  is  not  for  the  present  a  sign  of  what  can  be  called 
progress.  But  this  is  only  saying  that  all  fruitful  principles 
bring  temporary  disorder  in  their  train.  Something  may  be 
urged  in  behalf  of  the  discipline  that  went  with  apprenticeship, 
when  contrasted  with  the  smattering  of  unvitalized  knowledge 
which  was  all  that  some  of  the  earlier  experiments  in  public 
education  seemed  able  to  supply.  But  the  moment  the  public 


FREE  LIBRARIES  27 

school  is  supplemented  by  a  public  library,  its  capacity  is  in- 
creased an  hundredfold.  And  this  should  be  recognized  by  some 
modification  of  the  ends  at  which  our  earlier  schools,  the 
schools  of  the  masses  of  the  people,  direct  their  energies  When 
good  books  could  be  obtained  only  by  the  wealthy,  there  was 
some  excuse  for  crowding  a  child's  memory  with  disconnected 
scraps  of  knowledge.  But  now  that  the  free  library  is  opened, 
sounder  methods  are  demanded.  The  miscellaneous  examining 
must  give  place  to  a  training  that  tends  to  develop  the  reflective 
and  logical  faculties  of  the  mind.  Our  classical  schools,  the 
schools  of  a  small  class,  defend  their  narrow  course  of  study 
with  the  plea  that  it  is  their  special  work  to  fit  for  the  wider 
opportunities  of  college.  It  is  fast  becoming  the  work  of  the 
schools  oE  our  governing  majority  to  fit  for  the  people's  college, 
the  town  library.  Many  years  ago,  Macaulay  declared  the 
literature  then  extant  in  the  English  language  of  far  greater 
value  than  the  literature  extant  in  all  the  languages  of  the 
world  three  centuries  before.  The  noble  contributions  that  this 
literature  has  received  during  the  last  score  of  years  throw 
a  new  emphasis  upon  the  statement.  When  our  public  instruc- 
tion gives  the  power  of  reading  English  with  ease,  and  of 
writing  it  with  some  knowledge  of  the  delicacies  of  its  vocabu- 
lary, when  it  is  perceived  that  its  true  end  is  to  facilitate  and 
systematize  the  use  of  public  books,  the  cost  of  popular  education 
will  be  repaid  in  a  social  advancement  which  now  seems  in  the 
dimmest  future. 

The  free  library  will  tend  to  establish  some  better  proportion 
between  the  work  which  must  be  done  in  America  and  the  means 
provided  to  do  it.  It  will  give  the  man  of  originality  an 
opportunity  of  finding  the  sympathy  and  support  which  are  some- 
where waiting  for  him.  Under  its  hospitable  roof  the  pamphlet 
may  again  assume  a  ministry  of  instruction  not  held  of  late 
years.  Much  valuable  investigation  is  done  by  men  who  have 
neither  the  time  to  write  books  nor  the  money  to  publish  them. 
Let  them  remember  that  a  few  hundred  copies  of  a  pamphlet 
arc  cheaply  produced,  and,  distributed  among  the  free  libraries, 
will  reach  those  who  are  prepared  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
matter  discussed.  It  is  no  slight  privilege  to  secure  that  small 
circle  of  sympathetic  readers  who  can  be  picked  from  the  crowd 
in  no  other  way.  And  these  publications,  when  good  work 
is  pul  into  them,  arc  no  longer  ephemeral.  Bound  into  volumes, 


28  JOSIAH  PHILLIPS  QUINCY 

and  catalogued  under  the  subjects  of  which  they  treat,  they  re- 
main to  shed  whatever  light  may  be  in  them  upon  difficulties  with 
which  the  world  is  tormented.  The  politician,  trammeled,  it 
may  be,  with  the  fetters  of  his  party,  the  journalist,  not  always 
emancipated  from  allegiance  to  temporary  expediencies,  easily 
reach  the  general  ear.  A  new  means  of  communication  with 
the  people  is  opening  for  the  independent  thinker  who  may  in 
the  end  direct  them  both  It  will  not  be  the  least  service 
rendered  by  the  free  library  if  men  of  moial  force,  who  may 
hold  unpopular  opinions,  are  able  to  touch  the  pores  through 
which  the  public  is  receptive. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  each  free  library  will  gradually  become 
the  centre  of  the  higher  life  of  its  community,  and  will  success- 
fully appeal  to  private  liberality  for  an  increasing  attractiveness. 
A  few  wealthy  men  have  already  seen  that  there  is  no  surer 
way  of  benefiting  their  neighborhoods  than  by  providing  perma- 
nent library  buildings,  capable  of  giving  the  pleasure  and  ed- 
ucation which  fair  forms  and  beautiful  coloring  afford.  It  were 
well  to  set  apart  some  room  in  such  an  edifice  for  the  display 
of  pictures  and  other  works  of  art,  and  to  establish  the  custom 
of  lending  objects  of  interest  for  free  exhibition.  The  usage 
of  giving  the  first  and  best  of  everything  to  the  sovereign  is  too 
good  to  abandon  to  the  "effete  despotisms  of  Europe."  It 
will  bear  transplanting  Why  should  not  every  one  of  us  ac- 
knowledge gracefully  the  claims  of  the  general  public?  When 
the  prosperous  citizen  treats  himself  to  a  work  of  art,  let  it 
tarry  a  month  at  the  town  library  on  the  way  to  its  private 
destination.  It  will  give  its  possessor  a  healthier  enjoyment  for 
subjection  to  this  popular  quarantine.  And  not  only  the  wealthy 
alone,  but  all  classes  of  the  community  should  be  encouraged 
to  give  some  service  to  their  library.  When  the  state  bestows 
a  privilege,  it  creates  an  obligation  which  it  is  courteous  to  ac- 
knowledge. Any  one  who  takes  a  few  good  newspapers,  or  can 
borrow  them  of  his  neighbors  before  they  are  used  for  kindlings, 
may  make  a  valuable  gift  to  his  town  library.  By  giving  a 
few  moments  every  evening  any  one  can  prepare  and  index  a 
scrap  book  which  will  always  be  associated  with  its  donor  as  a 
volume  absolutely  unique,  and  of  permanent  interest.  Mixed 
with  masses  of  foolish  and  frivolous  matter,  much  of  the  best 
thought  of  the  day  finds  its  way  into  the  newspapers.  Finance, 
free  trade,  the  relations  of  capita!  and  labor,  and  other  important 


FREE  LIBRARIES  29 

subjects  of  research,  are  illustrated  not  only  by  the  essays  o£ 
able  journalists,  but  by  the  crisp  correspondence  ol  active  men 
whose  business  brings  them  face  to  face  with  the  short-comings 
ol  legislation.  The  millionaire  who,  by  spending  thousands, 
should  present  the  four  Shakspere  folios  to  his  town  library, 
would  be  thought  to  have  honorably  connected  his  name  with 
the  institution;  but  the  man  or  woman  who  gives  four  folio 
scrap  books  filled  with  the  best  contemporary  discussions  of  a 
few  great  topics  of  human  interest,  is  a  far  more  useful  bene- 
factor. 

To  the  statesman,  to  the  student  of  history,  as  well  as  to  the 
general  reader,  the  work  will  gain  in  value  as  the  years  go  by. 
It  seems  doubtful  whether  the  multitudinous  records  of  the 
times  that  are  thrown  daily  from  the  press  can  be  accommodated 
within  the  walls  of  any  institution.  But  to  preserve  judicious 
selections,  capable  of  easy  reference,  will  always  be  a  high  form 
of  literary  usefulness. 

When  Thomas  Hobbes  declared  that  democracy  was  only 
another  name  for  an  aristocracy  of  orators,  he  never  conceived 
of  a  democracy  which  should  be  molded  by  the  daily  journal 
and  the  free  library.  To  this  latter  agency  we  may  hopefully 
look  for  the  gradual  deliverance  of  the  people  from  the  wiles 
of  the  rhetorician  and  stump  orator,  with  their  distorted  fancies 
and  onesided  collection  of  facts.  As  the  varied  intelligence 
which  books  can  supply  shall  be  more  and  more  wisely  assimi- 
lated, the  essential  elements  of  every  political  and  social  question 
may  be  confidently  submitted  to  that  instructed  common  sense 
upon  which  the  founders  of  our  Government  relied.  Let  us 
study  to  perfect  the  workings  of  this  crowning  department  in 
our  apparatus  for  popular  education.  Unlike  all  other  public 
charities,  the  free  library  is  equally  generous  to  those  who  have 
and  to  those  who  lack.  It  cares  as  tenderly  for  the  many  as 
for  the  few,  and  removes  some  of  those  painful  contrasts  m 
human  opportunity  which  all  good  men  are  anxious  to  rectify. 


THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  MOVEMENT 

The  following  report  on  the  development  of  public 
libraries,  by  William  Isaac  Fletcher,  librarian  of  Am- 
herst  College  Library,  was  published  in  the  Cosmopolitan 
Magazine  of  1895. 

A  sketch  of  Mr.  Fletcher  appears  in  Volume  2  of 
this  series. 

The  fact  that  the  public  library  movement  is  a  thing  of  to-day, 
should  not  blind  us  to  the  great  antiquity  of  public  libraries  of 
some  sort.  One  of  the  greatest  treasures  in  the  British  Museum 
is  the  collection  of  brick  tablets,  constituting  the  larger  portion 
of  the  library  founded  by  the  Assyrian  monarch,  Assurbanipal, 
in  the  seventh  century  B  C,  In  an  inscription,  relative  to  the 
library,  the  king  says:  "I  have  placed  it  in  my  palace  for  the 
instruction  of  my  subjects."  The  books  were  numbered  and 
classified,  and  readers  obtained  them  by  presenting  "a  ticket 
inscribed  with  the  requisite  number" — in  modern  parlance,  a 
"borrower's  card."  But  this  library,  the  oldest  of  which  any 
considerable  remains  exist,  was  not  the  first  of  which  we 
have  knowledge. 

Fully  three  thousand  years  earlier,  according  to  Professor 
Sayce,  Sargon  I.  founded  a  library  for  the  public  good  in  the 
city  of  Accad  Even  the  name  of  the  keeper  of  this  library,  the 
first  librarian  of  whom  we  know,  is  preserved  on  his  seal — Ibni- 
sarru.  What  librarian  of  the  present  day  may  hope  to  have 
his  name  or  his  bibliopolic  achievements  honored  six  thousand 
years  hence? 

The  literature  of  ancient  Egypt,  as  might  be  expected  of  a 
people  whose  monuments  are  themselves  a  literature,  was  very 
extensive,  and,  in  all  probability,  libraries  were  numerous  Dio- 
dorus  Siculus  tells  us  that  the  library  of  Rameses  I.  had  over 
its  door  the  inscription :  "Dispensary  of  the  Soul."  This  carries 
us  back  in  Egypt  to  the  time  of  Joseph,  and  when  we  note  that 
the  Accadian  library,  already  referred  to,  dates  from  a  still 
more  remote  antiquity,  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  "Ur  of  the 


32  WILLIAM  ISAAC  FLETCHER 

Chaldees,"  with  its  high  civilization,  had  its  libraries  before 
Abraham  left  it  to  begin  his  wonderful  career.  Nor  is  it  at 
all  unlikely  that  Abraham  himself  possessed  a  good  private 
library  containing  the  germs  of  the  great  Hebrew  literature.  The 
idea  that  the  sources  of  this  literature  were  in  traditions  pre- 
served only  orally  is  giving  way  to  the  more  piobablc  theory 
of  the  very  early  existence  of  books  and  libiaiies 

The  most  famous  library  of  ancient  times  was  that  at 
Alexandria,  founded  by  Ptolemy  L,  which,  growing1  rapidly 
under  his  successors,  became  undoubtedly  the  gieatest  book 
collection  ever  made  before  the  invention  of  printing.  The 
number  of  separate  works  it  contained  is  variously  estimated  aL 
from  four  to  seven  hundred  thousand.  Its  complete  destruction 
by  fire  in  the  fourth  century  has  been  counted  one  of  the  severest 
blows  to  the  cause  of  human  progress  that  cause  has  ever  suf- 
fered. 

Libraries,  both  public  and  private,  were  numerous  in  Rome. 
Lanciani's  "Ancient  Rome  in  the  Liflhl  of  Modern  Discoveries" 
devotes  a  chapter  to  the  "Public  Libraries  of  Rome,"  showing 
that  they  were  numerous  and  extensive,  and  giving  much  valuable 
information  as  to  their  contents  and  management.  When  Rome 
fell,  and  the  old  .civilization  perished,  nothing  was  more  sure 
of  destruction  than  the  libraries.  Not  unnaturally,  the  iconoclasts 
of  all  ages  have  taken  special  delight  in  the  destruction  of  books, 
as  if  in  them  they  attacked  the  very  soul  of  the  system  they 
would  overthrow 

Through  the  dark  ages  of  Europe,  the  only  libraries  were 
those  of  the  monasteries,  in  many  of  which,  by  the  patient  toil 
of  generations  of  copyists,  large  numbers  of  manuscript  volumes 
were  accumulated,  and  the  learning  of  the  past  thus  preserved 
as  a  precious  seed  ready  to  burst  into  a  bountiful  harvest  with 
the  revival  of  learning  and  the  new  art  of  printing.  But  for 
three  hundred  years  after  the  enormous  increase  in  the  number 
of  books,  caused  by  the  printing-press,  public  libraries  were 
still  found  only  in  the  monastery,  the  university,  and  the  palace. 
Not  for  the  people,  except  as  the  people  were  benefited  indirectly 
by  the  work  of  scholars,  did  these  libraries  exist. 

The  public  library  movement  may  be  said  to  have  begun  early 
in  the  eighteenth  century  with  the  establishment  of  subscription 
libraries.  So  far  as  America  is  concerned,  Benjamin  Franklin 
was  the  author  of  the  movement.  An.  extract  from  his  autbbi- 


THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  MOVEMENT  33 

ography  will  best  tell  the  story  of  the  inception  of  the  Philadel- 
phia library,  "mother,"  as  he  called  it,  "of  all  the  subscription 
libraries  in  America."  "At  the  time  I  established  myself  in 
Philadelphia,  there  was  not  a  good  bookseller's  shop  in  any  of 
the  colonies  to  the  southward  of  Boston.  Those  who  loved 
reading  were  obliged  to  send  for  their  books  to  England,  the 
members  of  the  Junto  had  each  a  few.  We  had  left  the  ale- 
house, where  we  first  met,  and  hired  a  room  to  hold  our  club  in. 
I  proposed  that  we  should  all  of  us  bring  our  books  to  that 
room,  where  they  .  .  would  become  a  common  benefit,  each  of 
us  being  at  liberty  to  borrow  such  as  he  wished  to  read  at  home. 
This  was  accordingly  done,  and  for  some  time  contented  us.  ... 
Yet,  some  inconveniences  occurring,  for  want  of  due  care  of 
them,  the  collection,  after  about  a  year,  was  separated,  and  each 
took  his  books  home  again  And  now  I  set  on  foot  my  first  pro- 
ject of  a  public  nature,  that  for  a  subscription  library.  ...  I  was 
not  able,  with  great  industry,  to  find  more  than  fifty  persons, 
mostly  young  tradesmen,  willing  to  pay  for  this  purpose  forty 
shillings  each,  and  ten  shillings  per  annum.  On  this  little 
fund  we  began.  The  books  were  imported ;  the  library  was  open 
one  day  m  the  week  for  lending  to  the  subscribers,  on  their 
promissory  notes  to  pay  double  their  value  if  not  duly  returned." 

This  was  in  1732,  and  ten  years  later  the  library  was  in- 
corporated, and  gradually  became  a  powerful  and  flourishing 
institution.  In  1869,  its  power  for  good  was  greatly  increased 
by  the  munificence  of  Dr.  James  Rush,  who  left  his  large  estate, 
amounting  to  $1,500,000,  to  found  the  Ridgway  branch  of  the 
library.  About  $800,000  of  this  amount  was  expended  on  a 
substantial  and  beautiful  building,  perhaps  the  most  imposing 
library  structure  completed  in  America  up  to  the  present  time, 
although  it  will  be  surpassed  by  three  or  four  now  building, 
notably  that  of  the  Congressional  library  at  Washington 

The  success  of  the  Philadelphia  Library  Company  was  so 
marked  that  in  many  other  cities  and  towns  throughout  the 
country  similar  libraries  were  established  in  the  course  of  the 
next  half  century,  and  the  demand  for  good  reading,  which 
naturally  sprang  up  with  the  dissemination  of  liberal  political 
views,  was  thus  to  a  large  extent  gratified 

In  one  sense,  the  truly  public  library  began  with  the  support 
of  libraries  from  public  funds  raised  by  taxation;  but,  when 
it  is  noted  how  naturally  and  inevitably  the  public  library  of 


34  WILLIAM  ISAAC  FLETCHER 

the  eighteenth  century  grew  into  that  of  our  day,  it  is  easy  to 
perceive  that  in  these  subscription  libraries  the  public  library 
movement  really  began.  From  the  first,  these  institutions  were 
for  the  benefit,  not  of  the  few,  but  of  the  many.  In  most  cases 
the  fees  were  so  small  that  they  were  supposed  not  to  deter  any 
from  joining  the  associations.  While  more  recent  experience  has 
shown  that  any  fee,  no  matter  how  small,  marks  the  difference 
between  a  meager  constituency  for  a  library  and  its  general 
use  by  the  public,  this  was  not  understood  by  the  library  associa- 
tions, which  accepted  the  idea  that  any  one  who  could  derive 
benefit  from  the  library  could  raise  the  pittance  required  to 
purchase  its  full  use. 

Recognizing  these  libraries  as  a  public  benefit,  most  of  the 
states  passed  laws  exempting  them  from  taxation.  And  it 
was  of  this  class  of  libraries  that  the  address  to  the  public  in 
behalf  of  a  proposed  library,  printed  in  the  Connecticut  Courant, 
March  i,  1774,  said*  "The  utility  of  Public  Libraries  consisting 
of  well-chosen  Books,  under  proper  regulations,  and  their  smiling 
Aspect  on  the  interests  of  Society,  Virtue,  and  Religion,  arc 
too  manifest  to  be  denied." 

So  the  design  of  the  Redwood  library,  in  Newport,  Rhode 
Island,  founded  in  1747,  was  stated  to  be  "a  Library  whcrcimto 
the  curious  and  impatient  Enquirer  after  Resolution  of  Doubts, 
and  the  bewildered  Ignorant,  might  freely  repair  for  Discovery 
and  Demonstration  to  the  one  and  true  Knowledge  and  Satisfac- 
tion to  the  other;  nay,  to  inform  the  Mind  in  both,  in  order  to 
reform  the  Practice."  All  the  utterances  of  the  promoters  of 
subscription  libraries  show  this  humanitarian  and  public-spirited 
view  of  the  institution,  and  to  a  natural  increase  in  this  sense 
of  the  utility  and  value  to  the  public  at  large  of  access  to  good 
collections  of  books,  we  trace  the  further  forward  movement 
inaugurated  at  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  cities 
and  towns  began  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  libraries 
at  the  public  expense.  During  the  last  two  decades  of  the 
first  half  of  the  century,  library  associations  had  multiplied  very 
rapidly,  especially  in  New  England,  growing,  in  many  cases, 
out  of  the  "lyceum"  lectures,  which  were  so  prominent  a  fea- 
ture of  the  social  life  of  the  time  Doubtless,  this  lecture  sys- 
tem did  much  to  disseminate  a  desire  for  books  to  read,  and 
also  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  cultivated  people  to  place  the 
means  of  culture  within  the  reach  of  all.  The  honor  of  being 


THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  MOVEMENT  35 

the  first  town  to  appropriate  public  funds  to  the  support  of  a 
library  appears  to  belong  to  Peterborough,  New  Hampshire, 
which,  in  1883,  voted  so  to  use  certain  tax  money  reverting  to  the 
town  from  the  State,  but  this  was  not  precisely  the  laying  of  a 
tax  for  that  specific  object,  and  it  was  Boston  that,  in  1847, 
first  definitely  took  this  step,  seeking  from  the  Legislature  the 
necessary  authority  therefor.  New  Hampshire,  m  1849,  passed 
the  first  general  library  law  giving  this  authority  to  all  the 
towns  in  the  State.  Massachusetts  adopted  such  a  law  in  1851, 
Maine  in  1854,  and  other  states  later,  until  now  nearly  all  the 
Northern  States  have  similar  enactments  A  comparative  ex- 
hibit of  the  library  laws  of  the  different  states  was  contributed 
by  Mr.  C.  Alex.  Nelson  to  Appleton's  Annual  Cyclopaedia  for 
1887,  where  it  will  be  found  under  the  heading  "Library  Laws." 

But  while  it  has  been  comparatively  easy  to  procure  the  pass- 
ing of  these  merely  permissive  laws,  authorizing  communities  to 
tax  themselves  for  this  purpose,  it  is  quite  a  different  matter 
to  secure  the  actual  establishment  of  libraries.  A  comparison 
between  the  different  states  as  to  this  mark  of  progressive 
civilization  reveals  many  curious  facts. 

The  "Statistics  of  Public  Libraries  in  the  United  States  in 
1891,"  recently  issued  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education, 
include  only  libraries  of  one  thousand  volumes  or  over,  a  fact 
which  explains  the  small  numbers  by  which  some  states  are 
represented,  but  which  probably  does  not  seriously  affect  the 
result,  relatively,  between  the  different  states  For  the  states 
which  have  most  of  the  smaller  libraries  are  also  those  which 
have  most  of  the  larger  ones,  Massachusetts,  for  example,  having 
nearly  one  hundred  public  libraries  besides  the  two  hundred  and 
twelve  here  reported  The  most  remarkable  fact  revealed  by  a 
study  of  these  figures  is  the  preeminence  of  Massachusetts  in 
free  libraries,  having  over  five  times  as  many  (of  the  size  men- 
tioned) as  any  other  state,  and  eight  times  as  many  as  New 
York,1  or  any  state,  except  New  Hampshire,  Illinois,  and 
Michigan.  Or,  if  we  look  at  the  number  of  volumes  in  free 
libraries  in  proportion  to  the  population,  the  contrast  is  nearly 
as  great,  Massachusetts  showing  twenty-two  times  as  many  as 

1  In  the  "school  libraries,"  which  are  quite  numerous  in  the  State, 
New  York  has  a  partial  substitute  for  the  fiee  public  library.  In  over 
one  hundred  of  the  towns  these  are  reported  as  exceeding  one  thousand 
volumes,  while  in  several  of  the  larger  towns  they  have  been  consolidated 
in  "central"  libraries  of  from  five  thousand  to  twenty  thousand  volumes 


36  WILLIAM  ISAAC  FLETCHER 

New  York.  Only  Rhode  Island  and  New  Hampshire  have  more 
than  one-fourth  the  number  of  books  in  free  libraries  for  every 
thousand  of  population  that  Massachusetts  shows. 

The  contrast  between  Rhode  Island  and  New  York  is  most 
.instructive.  "Little  Rhody"  actually  goes  beyond  the  "Empire 
State"  in  the  absolute  number  of  libraries,  while  she  has  nine 
times  the  number  of  books  in  proportion  to  the  population. 

Only  twenty  states  are  noted,  those  being  all  that  are  reported 
as  having  over  two  free  libraries  (of  one  thousand  or  more 
volumes)  each.  The  remaining  states  report  as  follows :  Georgia, 
Mississippi,  Montana,  South  Dakota,  each  two;  Aikansas,  Kloi- 
ida,  Louisiana,  Maryland,  Nebraska,  Tennessee,  Texas,  Washing- 
ton, West  Virginia,  Wyoming,  each  one;  Alabama,  Delaware, 
Idaho,  Nevada,  North  Carolina,  North  Dakota,  Oregon,  South 
Carolina,  Virginia,  none. 

Many  of  the  free  libraries  included  in  the  statistics  are  gifts 
to  the  public,  opened  freely  to  them  by  the  generosity  of  their 
donors.  A  better  indication  of  the  spread  of  the  idea  of  the 
free  public  library,  as  a  part  ol  the  educational  system,  equally 
worthy  of  support,  with  other  parts  of  the  system,  is  furnished 
by  the  following  list  of  states  in  which  the  figures  given  show 
the  number  of  libraries  wholly  or  mainly  supported  by  taxation : 
Massachusetts,  179;  Illinois,  35;  New  Hampshire,  34;  Michigan, 
26;  California,  18;  Ohio,  15;  Rhode  Island,  13;  Indiana,  13;  Iowa, 
ii ;  New  York,  u;  Wisconsin,  9;  Maine,  8;  Kansas,  7;  Min- 
nesota, 7;  Connecticut,  5;  New  Jersey,  4;  Colorado,  2;  Missouri, 
i;  Vermont,  I. 

One  fact  thus  becomes  perfectly  plain:  that  the  free  public 
library  in  America  is  essentially  a  New  England  institution, 
having  thus  far  flourished  outside  of  New  England  only  in  the 
states  in  which  New  England  influences  have  been  powerful. 
It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of 
this  remarkable  development  of  libraries  as  au  especial  feature 
of  New  England  civilization.  It  remains  to  be  determined 
whether  these  causes  were  predominantly  intellectual,  social, 
political,  or  even  economic.  No  one  can  doubt  that  out  of  the 
great  manufacturing  interests  of  New  England  grew  a  demand 
for  books  to  promote  intelligent  and  successful  workmanship,  not 
that  the  political  and  humanitarian  movement,  which  was  so 
intense  in  New  England  at  the  middle  of  the  century,  also  led 
to  a  craving  for  books  and  a  desire  to  have  all  the  people  well- 


THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  MOVEMENT  37 

read  Doubtless,  the  peculiar  combination  of  great  industrial 
and  commercial  activity,  social  unrest  and  progressiveness,  politi- 
cal idealism  and  intellectual  hunger,  which  marks  the  New  Eng- 
land character  at  home  and  "out  west,"  furnishes  the  best 
possible  conditions  for  the  growth  of  the  public  library  idea. 
Looking  at  the  matter  in  this  light,  it  will  be  interesting  to 
observe  what  success  will  attend  the  strenuous  efforts  now 
making  to  establish  free  libraries  in  communities  of  a  different 
make-up,  for  example,  in  the  states  of  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

To  return  to  the  origin  of  the  free  public  library  movement, 
whatever  precedence  may  be  allowed  to  New  Hampshire  for 
having  first  passed  a  general  library  law,  or  to  any  individual 
town  for  early  action  m  establishing  a  library,  the  Boston  Public 
library  must  be  recognized  as  facile  pnnceps  among  American 
free  libraries.  It  was  Boston,  as  already  stated,  that  first,  in 
1847,  moved  for  the  power  to  establish  a  library  by  taxation; 
in  the  settling  of  the  principles  on  which  that  library  was  founded 
was  fought  out  the  battle  for  liberality  and  popularity  of 
management  under  the  leadership  of  that  fine  scholar,  culti- 
vated gentleman,  and  public-spirited  citizen,  George  Ticknor, 
writer  of  the  great  History  of  Spanish  Literature;  and  it  was 
in  the  wonderful  success  of  that  institution,  in  its  early  years, 
under  charge,  successively,  of  the  lamented  Prof.  C.  C.  Jewett 
and  Dr.  Justin  Winsor,  that  the  country  had  an  object  lesson, 
worth  more  than  all  possible  argument  and  theory,  as  to  the 
value  and  utility  of  a  free  library,  and  as  to  its  proper  administra- 
tion. The  place  that  library  has  come  to  hold  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people  of  Boston  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that,  in  addition 
to  nearly  $150,000  annually  appropriated  for  its  support,  the 
municipal  government  is  now  putting  over  two  millions  into  the 
magnificent  structure  erecting  to  contain  it. 

And,  not  only  New  England,  but  the  whole  country  is  coming 
to  be  dotted  over  with  beautiful  and  costly  library  buildings, 
almost  always  the  gift  of  some  individual.  What  the  people 
of  Boston  have  sturdily  done  for  themselves,  having  received 
proportionally  but  small  help  from  gilts,  very  many  towns  have 
had  done  for  them.  A  recently  compiled  list  of  large  gifts  to 
libraries  in  the  United  States  shows  a  total  of  nearly  twenty 
millions  of  dollars 

No  city  in  the  country  has  a  better  outlook  as  to  libraries 


38  WILLIAM  ISAAC  FLETCHER 

than  Chicago.  Its  public  library  already  numbers  nearly  two 
hundred  thousand  volumes,  all  gathered  since  the  fire  of  i8;r, 
which  swept  away  what  had  then  been  acquired.  The  nucleus 
of  the  present  collection  was  a  gift  of  books  from  England  to 
replace  those  lost  in  the  fire,  Queen  Victoria  contubuling  her 
own  works  for  the  purpose.  The  library  claims  to  have  the 
largest  use  o£  any  in  the  country,  increased  by  a  number  of 
branch  libraries,  and  will  soon  occupy  the  magnificent  building, 
to  cost  $1,500,000,  now  being  erected  for  it  on  the  old  Dearborn 
Park  property.  Besides  the  Public  library,  Chicago  has  the 
Newberry,  a  free  library  of  reference,  lately  installed  in  its 
permanent  building,  which  has  cost  about  one  million  dollars, 
and  is  ultimately  to  be  double  its  present  size  and  capacity.  At 
the  head  of  the  Newberry  library  was,  until  his  recent  death, 
Dr.  W.  F.  Poole,  "Nestor  of  American  librarians,"  as  he  was 
often  called,  having  been  in  this  work  ever  since  he  entered  it 
in  1848,  while  yet  in  college  at  Yale  He  was  for  several  years 
m  charge  of  the  Chicago  Public  library,  leaving  it  to  enter 
upon  the  work  of  building  up  the  Newberry  library,  in  which 
he  displayed  his  singular  ability.  Dr  Poole  is  best  known  for 
his  Index  to  Periodical  Literature. 

A  third  great  library  is  in  store  for  Chicago  in  the  Crerar 
foundation  of  about  $2,500,000,  which  has  not  yet  been  entered 
upon,  and  a  fourth  in  the  University  of  Chicago,  where  over 
two  hundred  thousand  volumes  have  been  collected. 

In  St  Louis,  the  excellent  public  library  which  has  grown  up 
under  the  charge  of  the  Board  of  Education,  but  which  has 
been  subject  to  a  membership  fee,  has  recently  been  adopted  by 
the  city  as  a  free  library,  the  result  of  a  vigorous  campaign  in 
its  behalf,  managed  by  Mr.  F  M.  Crunden,  its  efficient  librarian. 

Other  leading  western  cities  which  have  free  libraries  arc 
Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Indianapolis,  Milwaukee,  Minneapolis,  and 
San  Francisco.  Minneapolis  has  a  remarkably  beautiful  and 
satisfactory  library  building,  and  one  is  soon  to  be  erected  in 
Milwaukee. 

Boston  is  the  only  one  of  the  larger  eastern  cities  which  has 
established  a  public  library.  Thanks  to  the  generosity  of  a 
wealthy  citizen,  Baltimore  now  has,  in  the  Enoch  Pratt  Free 
library,  with  its  numerous  branches,  one  of  the  best  and  most 
useful  institutions  of  the  kind  in  the  country.  Similarly,  New 
York  was  favored  in  the  will  of  the  late  Samuel  J,  Tilden.  Un- 


THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  MOVEMENT  39 

fortunately,  the  will  of  this  great  lawyer  proved  incompetent, 
and  its  object  was  not  accomplished.  One  of  Mr.  Tilden's  heirs, 
however,  Mrs  William  A  Hazard,  has  generously  given  her 
share  of  the  estate,  some  $2,000,000,  for  the  establishment  of  the 
library,  a  sum  quite  inadequate  to  provide  the  metropolis  with 
a  free  library  worthy  of  it,  but  large  enough  to  make  a  good 
beginning. 

Philadelphia  is  just  moving  to  provide  its  citizens  with  a 
free  library,  the  foundation  being  laid  in  a  bequest  of  $300,000 
for  the  purpose,  made  by  the  late  William  Pepper. 

In  Washington,  the  one  noteworthy  library  is  that  of  Con- 
gress, the  largest  in  the  country,  now  consisting  of  nearly  seven 
hundred  thousand  volumes,  and  soon  to  be  housed  in  its  new 
building,  which  will  accommodate  five  million,  and  will  be  the 
largest  building  devoted  purely  to  library  purposes  in  the  world. 
Mr.  A.  R.  Spofford,  the  librarian  of  Congress,  who  has  seen  the 
library  grow  in  thirty  years  from  seventy  thousand  to  nearly 
seven  hundred  thousand  volumes,  has  had  to  solve  the  problem 
of  finding  some  place  for  the  successive  additions  in  rooms 
which  were  crowded  twenty  years  ago,  and  at  the  same  time 
keep  the  library  available  for  use.  Having  a  very  wide  knowl- 
edge of  books,  and  a  wonderful  memory,  he  is  an  invaluable 
man  to  all  who  make  use  of  the  library. 

South  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  the  only  free  libraries 
of  importance  are  the  Howard  Memorial  library  of  New  Orleans, 
and  the  Cossitt  library  of  Memphis,  both  founded  and  maintained 
by  private  beneficence. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  m  those  states  where  free 
libraries  are  most  numerous,  especial  efforts  are  now  making  to 
extend  them  to  every  community.  In  1891,  the  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts  established  the  Slate  Library  Commission  of  five 
persons,  appointed  by  the  governor,  to  look  after  public  library 
interests,  and  especially  to  offer  assistance  from  a  small  State 
appropriation  to  those  of  the  feebler  towns  which  could  be  in- 
duced to  undertake  the  establishment  of  libraries.  Through  the 
efforts  of  this  commission,  many  new  libraries  have  been  es- 
tablished, and  at  present  less  than  fifty  of  the  three  hundred 
and  fifty-two  towns  are  without  free  libraries,  and  these  towns 
contain  but  three  per  cent,  of  the  population.  New  Hampshire 
and  Connecticut  have  established  similar  commissions,  with  like 


40  WILLIAM  ISAAC  FLETCHER 

good  results,  while  in  New  York  recent  legislation  has  devolved 
like  duties  on  the  regents  of  the  university. 

But  one  step  more  m  the  direction  of  state  legislation  in  behalf 
of  libraries  can  be  anticipated,  namely,  the  passage  of  laws  re- 
quiring towns  to  maintain  libraries  as  they  are  now  required  to 
maintain  schools. 

A  study  of  the  progress  of  the  library  movement  thus  far 
points  to  this  as  its  natural  outcome,  and  it  is  not  too  much 
to  expect  that  the  free  public  library  will  thus  be  recognized 
by  one  state  after  another  as  one  of  the  greatest  agencies  for 
public  education,  to  be  employed  everywhere  to  supplement  the 
public  schools  by  furnishing  to  the  whole  people  the  readiest 
means  of  culture  and  enlightenment. 


LOAN  AND  CHARGING  SYSTEMS 

When  a  person  becomes  entitled  to  the  privilege  of 
using  the  contents  of  the  library,  a  card  is  given  him  as 
a  certificate  that  he  has  complied  with  all  requirements, 
and  usually  this  card  is  produced  in  his  transactions 
with  the  library.  In  its  simplest  form,  as  used  in  some 
localities,  a  written  statement  or  application  is  all  that  is 
required.  Sometimes,  personal  guaranty  or  security  is 
sought  as  a  preliminary.  While  the  loss  and  mis-use  of 
books  and  other  annoying  deficiencies  of  frequent  occur- 
rence seem  to  many  to  require  these  safeguards,  the 
tendency  has  been  to  eliminate  them. 

Charging-syslems  in  general  use  in  American  public 
libraries  are  of  four  types. 

1.  The  ledger  system 

2.  The  one  card  system 

3.  The  two  card  system 

4.  The  Browne  system 

Each  has  its  advantages  and  drawbacks,  differing  in 
the  kind  of  information  obtainable. 


CHARGING  SYSTEMS 

The  following  paper  by  Klas  Linderfelt  of  the  Mil- 
waukee Public  Library  gives  an  outline  of  charging  sys- 
tems in  use  in  public  libraries  in  1882. 

Klas  August  Linderfelt  was  born  in  Sweden  in  1847. 
He  made  the  best  of  educational  opportunities  offered 
him  by  his  uncle,  under  whose  care  he  was  placed  at  the 
death  of  his  parents.  In  1870  he  came  to  America  and 
became  instructor  in  Greek  and  Latin  in  Milwaukee  Col- 
lege. In  1880  he  was  appointed  librarian  of  the  newly- 
established  Milwaukee  Public  Library.  In  1891  he  was 
elected  president  of  the  A.L.A.  He  resigned  in  1892 
and  returned  to  Sweden,  later  studying  medicine  in  Paris, 
where  he  was  for  several  years  editorially  connected  with 
"La  Semaine  Medicate  "  He  was  at  work  on  what  was 
to  be  a  world  bibliography  of  important  medical  articles 
for  the  period  of  1880-1890,  which  was  to  have  appeared 
in  1900.  After  a  brief  visit  to  America  in  November 
1899,  he  returned  to  Paris  where  he  died,  March  18,  1900. 

Like  some  other  members  of  this  Association,  of  whom  I 
know,  I  owe  a  grudge  to  our  program  committee  for  not  in- 
forming me,  before  my  arrival  in  Cincinnati,  of  the  duty  as- 
signed to  me  of  reporting  on  charging-systems,  as  I  should 
have  liked  to  have  given  a  history  of  the  development  of  sys- 
tem in  the  manner  of  charging  books  to  borrowers,  presented 
a  sketch  of  the  different  methods  now  employed  in  the  libra- 
ries of  America,  instituted  a  comparison  between  them,  pointed 
out  their  several  defects  and  advantages,  and  thus  opened  the 
way  to  finally  discovering  a  charging-syslem  of  ideal  perfection. 
A  considerable  part  of  this  work  has,  however,  already  been 
done  in  the  elaborate  papers  and  discussions  on  this  subject 
in  the  third  volume  of  the  Library  Journal;  and  the  best  thing 
I  can  do  under  the  circumstances  is,  therefore,  to  confine  my- 


44  KLAS  AUGUST  LINDERFELT 

self  to  a  few  remarks  in  reference  to  the  chargmg-systems  with 
which  I  have  become  acquainted  in  my  endeavor  to  find  a  suit- 
able one  for  my  own  library,  and  to  give  a  rapid  description 
of  the  one  I  now  use. 

Many,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  consider  this  whole  matter  to 
be  of  but  trifling  value,  and  say  that  almost  any  record  is  good 
which  will  show  where  a  book  is,  and  when  it  went  out.  There 
are  libraries — leaving,  of  course,  out  of  consideration  entirely 
such  as  are  merely  used  for  reference,  and  the  books  of  which 
only  circulate  within  the  sacred  precincts  of  their  own  walls — 
there  are  libraries,  with  a  picked  and  aristocratic  constituency, 
wholly  above  reproach,  that  can  afford  to  take  such  a  view  of 
the  question.  But  to  those  of  us  having  charge  of  a  collec- 
tion of  books  to  which  all  the  motley  crew  of  a  large  city 
have  practically  unrestricted  access,  whether  they  be  white  or 
black,  permanent  residents  or  temporary  visitors,  honest  or 
dishonest,  bank-presidents  or  ragpickers,  and  being  often 
obliged  to  study  how  to  do  the  greatest  good  with  the  smallest 
amount  of  expenditure, — it  becomes  a  question  o£  the  greatest 
importance,  how  to  increase  the  proportion  of  new  books  by 
keeping  those  already  acquired  in  proper  condition  and,  at  all 
times,  within  easy  reach  of  the  librarian's  hand.  Then,  the 
general  public  is  a  jealous  public;  jealous  of  their  prerogatives 
and  sensitive  of  any  undue  interference  with  their  real  or  sup- 
posed rights;  and  any  librarian  having  ever  had  the  misfortune 
of  being  the  target  for  the  resentment  of  a  borrower,  who  has 
received  a  notice  to  return  a  book  already  duly  delivered  to 
the  attendants,  will  know  how  futile  it  frequently  is  to  try  to 
explain  the  fallibility  of  humankind  in  general,  and  library 
attendants  in  particular,  and  devoutly  wish  for  the  speedy  in- 
vention of  a  self-indexing,  self-registering,  and  sclf-evcrylhing- 
else  charging  machine. 

There  exist  in  libraries  with  which  I  have  become  acquainted 
two  radically  different  methods  for  recording  books  and  bor- 
rowers in  circulation,  the  ledger  and  the  slip  systems,  as  well 
is  several  varieties  of  combinations  of  the  two.  The  former, 
with  its  rapidly  accumulating  pages  of  closely  written  entries, 
like  the  grocer's  or  the  meat-monger's  account-book,  in  all  its 
varying  forms,  is,  at  the  best,  a  cumbrous,  inconvenient,  and 
time-wasting  affair,  belonging  in  the  same  category  as  fixed 


CHARGING  SYSTEMS  45 

shelf-location,  interleaved  catalogs,  and  similar  devices,  which 
are  rapidly  getting  to  be  numbered  among  things  of  the  past 
It  may,  therefore,  be  set  aside  with  merely  this  passing  notice, 
all  the  advantages  which  it  possesses,  or  might  possess,  having 
been  recorded  in  Mr.  Dui's  excellent  papers  already  referred 
to.  The  slip-system,  on  the  other  hand,  admits  of  such  an  in- 
finite variety  of  modifications,  that  it  is  difficult  to  decide,  some- 
times, what  the  most  convenient,  accurate,  and  economical  ar- 
rangement is.  I  can,  thus,  only  allude  to  a  few  of  the  principal 
variations  which  have  come  under  my  notice. 

In  the  great  majority  of  libraries,  when  a  new  member  be- 
comes entitled  to  the  privilege  of  using  its  contents,  whether 
through  some  other  person's  guaranty,  a  money  deposit,  or  an 
annual  fee,  a  card  is  given  him  as  a  certificate  that  he  has 
complied  with  all  the  requirements  of  the  management,  and 
which  must  be  produced  in  all  his  transactions  with  the  li- 
brary; although  there  are  libraries,  like  the  St.  Louis 
public  school  library,  which  do  not  require  even 
this  slight  cooperation  on  the  part  of  the  borrower  for  keep- 
ing its  records  in  shape.  In  some  libraries  triis  card  serves  no 
other  purpose  than  the  one  indicated,  or  possibly  as  a  reminder 
to  the  borrower  of  the  time  when  his  book  must  be  returned, 
while  in  other  libraries  it  forms  an  integral  part  of  its  charging- 
system.  This  latter  is  a  risky  arrangement,  as  my  experience,  at 
least,  is  that  an  ordinary  borrower  has  even  less  regard,  if  pos- 
sible, for  the  card  than  for  the  book  itself,  and  considers  its 
loss  of  no  importance  whatever.  Where  the  entire  record  is 
kept  in  the  library,  secure  from  the  gaze  and  touch  of  the 
profanum  vulgus,  there  are,  again,  essential  differences  in  the 
manner  of  arrangement  and  manipulation.  Some  libraries,  as, 
for  instance,  the  Detroit  Public  Library,  make  the  book-bor- 
rower write  the  entire  record-slip  with  number,  title,  name,  etc., 
it  being,  in  fact,  only  the  call-slip  in  a  fixed  form,  which  slips 
are  then  filled,  and  constitute  the  only  record  of  books  in  cir- 
culation. This  arrangement  would  seem  to  make  it  an  ex- 
tremely irksome  task  for  a  person,  who  had  his  "declaration 

of  intention"  signed  "Pat.      (      x°     )      O'Brien,"  to  call  for  a 

V  rnwfe,  / 

book;  while  the  attendants  must  necessarily  often  be  sorely 
tried  by  illegible  scrawls.  In  other  libraries,  like  the  Chicago 
Public  Library,  the  attendants  write  the  record-slip  themselves, 


46  KLAS  AUGUST  LINDERFELT 

in  a  manner  that  has  been  fully  illustrated  by  Mr.  Poole  in  his 
contribution  to  the  government  report  on  public  libraries  In 
one  thing,  however,  these  and  other  libraries  with  a  similar 
charging-system  agree,  namely,  that  the  slip  is  merely  a  tem- 
porary affair,  written  for  the  occasion,  and  thrown  away  as 
soon  as  the  book  is  returned. 

The  system  in  use  with  us  until  a  little  more  than  a  year 
ago  was  an  exact  copy  of  Mr  Poolc's,  and  I  can,  therefore, 
testify  to  its  general  excellence  in  all  but  one  point,  which,  to 
me,  seems  a  very  important  one.  It  keeps  a  record  only  of  the 
book,  and  not  of  the  borrower,  who,  nevertheless,  is  often  more 
liable  to  go  astray  than  the  book.  In  order  to  obviate  this  dif- 
ficulty I  adopted,  on  January  i,  1881,  the  charging-system  I 
now  employ,  and  which  has,  so  far,  given  me  entire  and  de- 
cided satisfaction,  Instead  of  temporary  slips,  I  use  perma- 
nent ones,  made  of  thin  board,  the  size  of  the  standard  catalog 
card,  printed  with  blank  lines  in  two  columns  down  the  length 
of  the  slip;  and  instead  of  one  slip  I  use  two,  one  constituting 
the  record  of  the  book,  the  other  of  the  borrower,  DC  those 
two,  the  book-slip  is  made  of  white  card-board,  and  the  mem- 
ber-slip of  manilla  tag-board,  so  that  they  can  be  easily  dis- 
tinguished from  each  other  We  have  also  a  slip  of  pink  card- 
board, which  is  identical  with  the  white  one,  except  that  it 
denotes  a  book  which  can  be  retained  only  seven  clays,  instead  of 
the  customary  two  weeks.  The  book-slip  has  printed  or  writ- 
ten, in  the  blank  space  on  top,  the  number  of  the  book,  and  is 
kept  in  an  "Acme"  card-pocket  on  the  cover,  while  the  book 
is  in  its  place  on  the  shelf.  When  it  is  called  for  by  a  person 
who  desires  to  borrow  it,  or  withdrawn  from  the  shelf  for  any 
other  purpose,  this  slip  is  taken  out,  and  the  borrower's  num- 
ber entered  on  the  first  empty  line  in  the  left-hand  column, 
Then  the  date  is  stamped  at  the  same  time  as  the  borrower's 
own  card,  on  the  opposite  line  in  the  right-hand  column.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  this  slip  becomes  virtually  an  exact  counter- 
part of  Mr.  Poole's  charging-shp,  and  is  treated,  filed,  and  used 
exactly  in  the  same  manner,  but  returned  to  the  card-pocket 
when  the  book  is  returned.  The  tag-board  or  member-slip  is 
marked  at  the  top  with  the  number  of  the  borrower's  card, 
and  all  these  slips,  with  us  amounting  to  between  5,000  and 
6,000,  are  kept,  arranged  in  one  numerical  series,  in  two  com- 


CHARGING  SYSTEMS 


47 


partments  added  to  Mr.  Poole's  file-box,  standing  on  the  deliv- 
ery-desk. When  the  member  withdraws  a  book,  the  number 
of  this  book  is  entered  on  the  slip  corresponding  to  his  card, 
but  no  date  stamped  opposite.  When  the  book  is  returned,  how- 
ever, the  date  of  such  return  is  stamped  on  the  member-slip, 
opposite  the  book  number.  *  The  presence  on  the  member-slip  of 
a  number  without  a  date  opposite  therefore  shows  there  is  a 
book  out  on  this  card,  the  contrary,  that  it  is  not  at  present  in 
use.  All  matters  that  in  any  way  affect  a  borrower's  standing 
with  the  library,  or  involve  a  forfeiture  of  its  privileges,  are 
duly  noted  on  this  slip,  and  the  consecutive  slips  referring  to 
a  certain  card  thereby  become  a  complete  history  of  the  use 
any  individual  borrower  has  made  of  the  library.  This  slip 
serves  as  an  entirely  satisfactory  solution  of  the  difficulty  fre- 
quently presenting  itself  in  libraries  employing  a  card  in  the 
hands  of  the  borrower,  of  how  to  prevent,  without  fail,  the  use 
of  two  cards  by  the  same  person,  when  one  has  been  lost  and 
found  after  a  new  one  is  issued.  Waiting  for  a  new  card  for 
a  week,  or  a  month,  or  a  year,  after  the  loss  of  the  old  one 
has  been  reported,  does  not  afford  a  remedy  for  this  evil,  as  I 
can  assert  from  my  own  experience.  With  my  system,  how- 
ever, a  new  card  may  be  issued  immediately,  whether  the  first 
be  really  lost  or  not.  The  new  card  and  the  corresponding  slip 
are  both  marked  with  a  "2,"  or  any  conventional  cabalistic 
figure;  and  if,  then,  twenty  cards  should  be  presented  bearing 
the  same  number,  none  but  the  one  thus  marked  can  draw  any 
books  from  our  library. 


Book-shps 
White  card-board. 


434.6 


Member-slip. 
Manilla  tag-board. 


2468 


2468  R 

April  10 

2468 

May  8 

4246 

May  8 

925.42 

48  KLAS  AUGUST  LINDERFELT 

The  book-slips  are  used  for  various  other  purposes,  such  as 
recording  the  sending  of  the  book  to  the  binder,  entries  of 
special  requests  for  holding  it,  when  it  comes  in,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  an  anxious  reader,  and  so  forth.  Renewals  for  a  second 
period,  while  the  book  is  out,  are  indicated  merely  by  writing 
an  "R"  between  the  borrower's  number  and  the  date. 

The  process,  simply  stated,  is  as  follows :  A  person  presents 
his  card  at  the  delivery-window,  and  asks  for  a  book,  orally  or 
in  writing.  The  book,  if  in,  is  brought,  its  slip  removed  from 
the  pocket,  and  the  borrower's  slip  found  in  the  general  file. 
The  two  slips  are  then  placed  side  by  side,  the  number  of  each 
entered  in  the  left  column  of  the  other,  and  the  date  stamped 
on  the  white  slip  and  on  the  borrower's  card.  The  borrower's 
own  card  is  then  put  in  the  book-pocket,  the  book  delivered, 
and  the  two  record-slips  thrown  into  two  boxes  on  the  desk, 
where  they  remain  until  the  closing  of  the  circulating  depart- 
ment at  night,  when  the  two  piles  are  sorted  out,  both  in 
numerical  order  In  the  morning,  before  the  opening  of  the 
library,  the  package  of  white  slips  is  placed,  separately,  in  a 
compartment  of  the  file-box,  indicated  by  their  date,  and  the 
manilla  slips  are  sorted  back  in  the  general  file  of  memberships. 
When  the  book  is  returned,  the  date  on  the  borrower's  card 
shows  where  the  white  slip  is,  and  the  card  number  locates 
exactly  the  manilla  slip.  Both  are  taken  out;  the  white  slip, 
without  further  entry,  returned  to  the  book-pocket,  and  the 
manilla  slip,  as  well  as  the  borrower's  card,  stamped  with  the 
date,  which  completes  the  transaction,  and  releases  the  borrower 
from  further  obligation  in  regard  to  this  book.  The  manilla 
slip  is  then  passed  on  to  a  small  box,  placed  between  the  re- 
ceiving and  the  delivery  window,  and  divided  into  compart- 
ments marked  o,  i,  2,  3,  etc  ("thousand"  being  understood  in 
each  case),  where  it  can  readily  be  found  at  once,  as  soon  as 
the  borrower  has  selected  and  called  for  his  next  book  If  he 
should  go  away  without  taking  a  new  book,  the  slip  is  returned 
to  the  general  file  at  the  first  opportunity  the  attendants  may 
have  to  do  so. 

I  have  often  been  asked  whether  this  arrangement  does  not 
form  a  very  complicated  charging»system,  and  take  considerably 
longer  time  than  the  ordinary  one-slip  systems;  and  to  this  I 
answer,  that  the  system  is  extremely  simple  in  its  working; 


CHARGING  SYSTEMS  49 

that  the  actual  writing  done  each  time  is  exactly  the  same  as 
is  necessary  with  Mr,  Poole's  charging-system,  and  that  the  in- 
finitesimal quantity  of  extra  time  required  for  getting  the 
member-slip,  and  stamping  the  date  once  more,  is  amply  com- 
pensated for  by  the  greater  security,  and  the  comparative  im- 
munity from  mistakes,  which  it  affords. 

In  my  last  report  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Mil- 
waukee Public  Library,  I  gave  a  hst  of  twenty  questions  which 
can  be  instantaneously  answered  by  our  new  charging-system, 
and  when  it  is  considered  that  fourteen  of  these  questions,  or 
70%  of  the  whole  number,  some  of  them  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance, were  left  unanswered  by  the  method  of  charging 
formerly  used  by  us,  except  by  keeping  a  separate  record,  I 
think  it  must  be  admitted  that  even  a  small  additional  outlay 
of  time  cannot  be  thought  a  loss  These  questions  are  as  fol- 
lows (those  left  unanswered  by  the  old  system  being  printed 
in  italics) : — 

1.  Is  a  given  book  out? 

2.  If  out,  who  has  it? 

3  When  did  he  take  it? 

4.  When  is  it  to  be  sent  for,  as  overdue? 

5.  Has  the  book  never  "been  out? 

6.  How  many  times  (and  when)  has  the  book  been  out? 

7.  How  many  books  were  issued  on  a  given  day? 

8.  How  many  in  each  class? 

Q.  How  many  books  are  now  out,  charged  to  borrowers? 

10.  What  books  are  at  the  bindery,  etc? 

11.  Has  a  certain  book  been  rebound,  and  when? 

12.  What  "books  have  been  discarded? 

13.  Does  the  circulation  of  a  discarded  book  warrant  its 
being  replaced? 

14.  Has  a  given  person  a  book  charged  to  him? 

15.  How  many  persons  have  now  books  charged  to  them? 

16.  Are  those  the  persons  who  registered  earliest  or  latest? 

17.  How  often  has  a  borrower  made  use  of  the  library? 

18.  Hew  a  person  had  a  given  book  before? 

19.  What  has  been  the  character  of  a  person's  reading? 

20.  Is  a  persons  card  still  in  forc£  and  used? 

As  regards  the  origin  of  my  system  of  charging  and  re- 
cording books,  I  may  say  that  I  am  indebted  for  the  ground- 
work of  it  to  our  esteemed  colleag,  Mr.  W.  E.  Foster,  of 
Providence,  although  I  have  lately  heard  that  it  really  orig- 
inated, like  so  many  other  good  things  in  library  works,  with 
Mr.  C:  A.  Cutter.  I  have,  however,  in  several  important  par- 


50  KLAS  AUGUST  LINDERFELT 

ticulars,  modified  his  system  so  materially  as  to  entitle  it  to  be 
considered  a  distinct  variety;  and  any  one  who  would  like  to 
know  wherein  these  modifications  consist,  I  refer  to  the  Library 
Journal  4 : 445  and  5 . 320,  in  which  short  descriptions  of  Mr. 
Cutter's  and  Mr.  Foster's  procedure  is  given.  I  have  lately  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  my  system  introduced,  without  change, 
in  another  library,  and  though  I  should  not  dare  to  say  that 
it  would  be  equally  suitable  in  all  libraries,  and  possibly  not  at 
all  in  those  with  a  very  large  number  of  members,  and  a  very 
high  daily  circulation,  I  have  yet  to  learn  of  a  charging-system 
that,  for  the  wants  of  the  average  library  in  this  country,  sur- 
passes it,  as  regards  insuring  safety  of  the  books,  economizing 
time,  and  preventing  mistakes. 


REGISTRATION  OF  BOOK  BORROWERS 

The  following  paper  by  Henry  J.  Carr  was  read  be- 
fore the  A.L.A.  Conference  at  Thousand  Islands, 
August  31,  1887.  At  this  time  Mr.  Carr  was  the  li- 
brarian of  the  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  Public  Library. 

Henry  James  Carr  was  born  in  Pembroke,  New 
Hampshire,  and  began  his  career  as  an  accountant  and 
cashier  in  railroad  offices.  He  studied  law  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1879,  but  did  not  practice.  From 
1886  to  1890  he  was  librarian  of  the  Grand  Rapids  Pub- 
lic Library,  in  1890  he  organized  the  Free  Public  Library 
of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.  Since  1891  Mr.  Carr  has  been  libra- 
rian of  the  Scranton  Public  Library.  He  served  the 
A.L.A.  as  treasurer,  recorder,  secretary  and  vice-presi- 
dent in  succession,  and  from  1900  to  1901  was  its  presi- 
dent. 

It  may  be  said  that  all  public  libraries  make  some  sort  of  a 
registration  of  those  entitled  to  draw  books  therefrom  for 
home  use;  i.e.,  those  variously  termed  its  members,  or  book- 
takers,  or  borrowers. 

The  extent  and  nature  of  such  registration  will  vary  ac- 
cording to  local  practice  and  rules;  with  such  assurances  of 
fitness,  or  right  to  the  benefits  of  the  library,  and  corresponding 
safeguards  against  imposition,  as  the  nature  of  the  community 
or  experience  may  dictate. 

In  the  simplest  form,  as  used  in  some  localities,  a  written 
statement  or  application  on  the  part  of  the  would-be  taker, 
made  upon  a  simple  printed  blank  or  form,  is  all  that  is  required, 

A  promise  to  observe  rules,  etc.,  is  also  very  frequently  in- 
cluded; or  else  the  same  is  obtained  by  his  or  her  further  sig- 
nature to  a  formal  agreement  in  a  Registration  Book.  If  the 
signature  on  the  application  blank  be  the  only  one  taken,  then 
such  application  or  promise  is  usually  recorded  and  numbered 


52  HENRY  JAMES  CARR 

in  regular  sequence  in  a  book,  which  action  constitutes  the 
registration.  The  separate  application,  whether  on  a  slip  or  a 
card,  is  then  free  to  be  filed  in  alfabetical  order,  and  so  be- 
comes of  further  use  as  an  index  to  the  Registration  Book. 

In  smaller  places  this  informal  method  of  treating  applica- 
tions may  answer  sufficiently  well  without  further  steps.  In 
larger  cities  the  aid  of  the  police  is  often  invoked  as  a  sort  of 
municipal  investigating  committee;  and  with  such,  as  a  moral 
effect,  the  needed  purposes  are,  perhaps,  adequately  subserved. 
Too  often,  however,  it  is  found  that  loss  and  misuse  of 
books  occur  without  satisfactory  remedy;  while  other  annoy- 
ing deficiencies  of  frequent  occurrence  seem  to  require  still 
further  safeguards  and  means  of  "moral  suasion,"  to  say  noth- 
ing of  legal  remedies  for  negligence  and  wilful  delinquencies. 
To  those  ends,  then,  some  personal  security  or  guaranty  is 
sought;  and,  following  English  custom,  the  requiring  of  such, 
as  a  preliminary  to  receiving  the  privileges  of  the  library  as  a 
book-taker,  has  become  a  growing  practice  in  this  country,  and 
is  now  so  fully  established  that  any  other  course  may  be  con- 
sidered the  exception  rather  than  the  rule. 

This  I  find  from  personal  observation  at  many  libraries,  and 
study  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  many  more;  and  in  a 
sort  of  representative  collection  of  the  working  blanks  of  vari- 
ous libraries,  east  and  west,  the  frequent  use  of  the  surety  or 
guaranty  certificate  (as  it  is  indifferently  called),  as  an  appli- 
cation and  preliminary  to  registration,  stands  out  in  strikingly 
preeminent  contrast  with  the  older  but  more  occasional  use  of 
less  stringent  forms. 

But  in  the  surety  method  considerable  latitude  prevails. 
Some  libraries  require  its  use  only  in  case  of  unknown  per- 
sons, or  for  minors  or  youths  below  a  certain  age  of  supposed 
discretion.  Others  require  such  for  each  and  every  one,  "re- 
gardless of  age,  sex,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude;" 
and  this  would  seem  to  be  a  more  democratic  plan,  and  one 
less  liable  to  any  plea  of  class  discriminations. 

Then  comes  in  play  a  variety  of  practice  as  to  qualifications 
of  the  surety,  some  requiring  the  surety  to  be  a  tax-payer  or 
property-owner;  others  simply  that  the  surety  be  a  citizen  over 
21  and  known  to  the  library,  or  duly  identified. 

This  latter  variation  is  in  the  nature  of  a  relaxation  of 
vigilance,  and  weakens  considerably  the  legal  force  of  the  guar- 


REGISTRATION  OF  BOOK  BORROWERS         53 

anty.  In  the  majority  of  cases  the  chief  value  of  having  a 
guarantor  is  its  moral  effect;  and  I  believe  it  is  that,  generally, 
which  is  most  relied  upon  in  case  of  transgression  or  delin- 
quency on  the  part  of  the  principal,  or  book-taker. 

Still,  such  agreements,  when  properly  drawn  and  executed, 
have  a  legal  value,  and,  with  proper  responsibility  on  the  part 
of  the  guarantor,  it  need  be  no  difficult  matter  to  enforce  them 
thru  the  courts  as  a  last  resort 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  registration,  in  its  broader  sense, 
implies  and  includes  several  things. 

ist — An  application  on  the  part  of  the  would-be  borrower. 

2d. — Compliance  with  the  respective  rules,  as  to  fitness  and 
right;  and,  if  required,  furnishing  adequate  security. 

3d. — An  entry  of  the  borrower's  name  on  the  Registration 
Book;  the  order  or  sequence  of  which  usually  determines  the 
designating  number  assigned  to  such  a  person,  as  a  book-taker, 
and  used  on  his  or  her  library-card  as  a  convenient  means  for 
charging  books,  and  the  like.  And  also  as  a  ready  basis  of 
statistics  as  to  number  using  the  library,  etc. 

NOTE — Where  a  security  signer  is  required,  such  guaranty 
is  usually  taken  on  a  special  blank  or  form;  and  then  the  sig- 
nature or  promise  of  the  principal  (or  borrower)  is  taken  on 
the  Registration  Book  (sometimes  called  the  Signature  Book). 
Occasionally  the  signatures  of  both  principal  and  guarantor 
are  required  to  be  made  on  the  book  at  the  library;  but  for 
many  reasons  this  is  not  so  convenient  nor  acceptable  a  method 
as  having  signature  of  guarantor  on  a  separate  blank. 

4th. — Information  as  to  residence  or  address  of  the  bor- 
rower and  surety  respectively.  This  item  of  residence  being 
really  a  most  important  matter,  and  yet,  by  the  very  nature 
of  things,  an  especially  difficult  one  to  keep  "up  to  date,"  since 
removals  or  changes  of  address  on  the  part  of  either  principal 
or  surety  are  about  the  last  thing  that  borrowers  ever  think 
of  reporting  to  the  library. 

5th. — Due  indexing  of  the  registration,  with  reference  to 
both  the  borrower  and  the  surety 

6th. — Cancellation  at  expiration  of  the  regular  term  of  issue 
under  the  rules;  or  sooner  for  cause,  as  in  case  of  unsettled 
delinquencies,  removals  from  the  place,  surety  declining  to  con- 
tinue, or  death,  and  so  on. 

Here  a  few  words  concerning  the  indexing  of  the  registra- 


54  HENRY  JAMES  CARR 

tion,  the  5th  item  mentioned  above  As  said  before,  if  no  surety 
be  required  and  the  application  of  the  borrower  be  on  a  sepa- 
rate form,  then  arrangement  of  same  in  alfabetical  order  makes 
ample  index  to  the  Registration  Book  If  a  surety  be  furnished 
which  is  now  the  later  and  ruling  practice,  a  double  index  is 
needed;  and  since  the  one  blank  cannot  be  put  into  two  places 
or  order  of  arrangements,  it  seems  better  to  number  and  file 
the  guaranty  certificates  in  the  same  order  as  the  registration, 
and  provide  a  special  index. 

An  excellent  form  for  this  purpose  is  a  card  (not  less  than 
10x15  cm),  ruled  and  headed  on  both  sides;  on  the  front 
side  is  to  be  entered  the  name  and  residence  of  every  person  to 
be  indext,  whether  as  principal  or  guarantor,  and  the  card  is 
alfabeted  by  this  entry.  If  a  book-taker,  then  below  the  head- 
ing and  on  the  same  side  of  the  card,  follow  his  or  her  regis- 
tration number,  with  date,  and  the  name  and  residence  of 
guarantor,  and  space  for  remarks  The  back  of  the  card  is 
reserved  for  entries  of  number,  date,  name  and  residence  of 
those  for  whom  that  particular  party  may  have  become  surety. 
A  distinction  between  the  two  sides  and  corresponding  classes 
of  entries  is  readily  made,  not  only  by  varying  form,  but  may 
be  emphasized  by  colors  of  ink  in  ruling  or  printing. 

Bearing  in  mind  that  the  same  person  may  sooner  or  later 
act  in  a  dual  capacity  and  be  both  a  borrower  and  likewise  a 
surety  for  another,  often  for  several  others,  the  advantage  in 
having  all  registration  entries  concerning  that  one  person  con- 
centrated on  one  card  is  readily  seen  With  cards  of  an  ade- 
quate size,  such  an  index  becomes  almost  perpetual;  and  may 
be  made  continuous  with  several  subsequent  registrations. 
Then,  too,  in  case  of  delinquencies,  with  default  on  the  part  of 
any  guarantor  it  becomes  a  simple  matter  to  record  same  for  a 
future  "black-list,"  and  also  to  cancel  at  once  the  rights  of 
all  other  book-takers,  if  any,  depending  upon  the  same  guaran- 
tor; which  is  a  very  essential  matter  for  the  safety  of  the 
library. 

So  much  for  the  machinery  and  general  routine,  which,  to 
a  greater  or  less  extent,  is  understood  and  necessitated  in  the 
registration  of  borrowers. 

The  practice  of  various  libraries  as  to  extent,  duration,  or 
termination  of  any  one  registration  is  not  at  all  uniform.  Many 


REGISTRATION  OF  BOOK  BORROWERS         55 

(and  this  is  seemingly  the  older  practice)  run  the  registration 
on  almost  interminably,  until  the  numbers  have  become  very 
high  and  cumbrous;  and  a  general  antiquated  air  is  found  to 
prevail  And,  too,  by  the  growth  of  the  community  and  the 
inevitable  shifting  of  population,  deaths,  removals,  new-comers, 
and  the  like,  it  is  eventually  found  that  the  recorded  residences 
and  other  data  are  as  unreliable  as  a  ten-year-old  directory, 
to  say  nothing  of  kindred  deficiencies. 

Then  a  new  registration  is  ordered,  in  which  reason  or  un- 
reason may  prevail.  The  latter,  where,  for  sake  of  uniformity, 
all  previous  cards  are  made  void,  regardless  of  date,  whether 
one  day,  or  one  year,  or  five  years  old;  a  better  practice  being 
to  consider  issues  of  the  preceding  one  year  or  two  years  as 
valid,  and  re-register  all  of  an  earlier  date.  In  other  instances, 
a  new  registration  is  required  upon  filling  a  certain  sized  book, 
or  upon  reaching  in  number  a  certain  limit;  either  of  which 
may  be  a  fair  basis,  if  provision  be  made  to  avoid  re-registra- 
tion of  the  later  issues  within  a  certain  calendar  time,  as  be- 
fore suggested. 

In  the  western  cities,  owing  to  rapid  growth  in  population, 
varied  character  and  shifting  circumstances  of  those  who  use 
a  library  most,  the  need  for  frequent  verification  of  residences 
and  correction  of  guarantor-lists,  etc.,  has  been  felt  more  de- 
cidedly than  in  the  older  and  more  settled  communities  of  the 
eastern  States. 

As  a  consequence,  most  of  the  newer  libraries,  and  many 
of  the  older,  have  found  it  best  to  limit  the  period  of  regis- 
tration, and  consequent  life  of  the  library-card,  to  terms  of 
either  three  years  or  two  years,  usually  the  latter.  Some  have 
adopted  five  years,  but,  I  think  will  sooner  or  later  find  a  shorter 
term  advisable. 

Where  a  specific  term  is  adopted,  and  once  in  full  force, 
re-registration  becomes  a  regular  and  continuous  matter;  each 
month  calling  for  the  re-registration  of  all  cards  issued  in  the 
same  month  two,  three,  or  five  years  before,  as  the  case  may 
be  This  has  the  farther  advantage  of  allowing  for  a  regular 
allotment  of  work,  and  avoids  the  spasmodic  effect  and  over- 
work or  rush  consequent  upon  other  plans  of  determining  the 
frequency  or  period  of  each  new  registration. 

The  advantages  of  prompt  notification  in  case  of  over-due 


56  HENRY  JAMES  CARR 

books  (Le.,  those  kept  out  beyond  the  loan  period  provided) 
have  long  been  understood;  and  losses  to  the  library  are  greatly 
mitigated  where  such  practice  is  sharply  followed.  But  a  prime 
requisite  to  effective  notice  is  to  have  the  correct  address  of 
the  delinquent.  Long  terms  of  registration  are  not  conducue 
to  accuracy  in  that  respect,  and  the  defect  becomes  more  evi- 
dent, when,  in  case  of  sureties  being  required,  the  address  of 
two  parties  for  each  card  outstanding  is  essential 

So,  then,  I  ask,  is  the  importance  of  frequent  re-registry 
of  those  drawing  books  from  the  public  libraries  of  growing 
cities  and  towns,  and  particularly  m  the  larger  places,  duly 
appreciated? 

This  query  has  been  bro't  to  my  mind  more  forcibly  by  reason 
of  some  personal  experiences  during  the  past  eighteen  months, 
and  again  upon  noting  items  in  the  same  connection  which  have 
come  to  hand  casually  in  reports  of  some  public  libraries  for 
1885  and  1886,  and  occasional  older  instances. 

To  be  sure  frequent  registration  means  some  work  at  the 
library  desk,  and  a  certain  amount  of  annoyance  to  the  book- 
takers.  But  under  an  adequate,  continuous  system,  which  I 
have  mentioned,  neither  of  those  features  need  be  in  excess, 
and  will,  I  believe,  pay  in  the  long  run,  and  save  work,  annoy- 
ance, and  losses  in  other  directions. 

I  doubt  if  librarians  generally  comprehend  as  fully  as 
might  be  how  rapidly  changes  take  place  in  the  effective  force 
and  number  of  those  using  the  library  in  a  growing  city;  nor 
how  much  more  satisfactory  a  comparison  of  the  use  of  different 
libraries  can  be  made,  if,  in  addition  to  size  of  the  library  and 
number  of  volumes  circulated,  the  number  of  active  borrowers 
can  be  given  more  exactly.  Under  similar  circumstances  as 
to  size  of  library  and  population,  the  number  of  volumes  of 
home  issues  divided  by  number  of  actual  takers  show  a  markt 
regularity  of  ratio. 

Bearing  upon  the  above  statement,  and  in  connection  with 
the  general  plea  for  a  briefer  term  of  registration,  it  is  pos- 
sible that  the  following  extracts  may  prove  of  interest.  It  must 
be  understood,  however,  that  the  same  are  not  selected  for 
invidious  reasons,  but  because  they  offer  striking  or  pertinent 
instances;  the  libraries  or  parties  cited  having  issued  valuable 


REGISTRATION  OF  BOOK  BORROWERS         57 

reports  from  which  it  has  been  possible  to  obtain  the  facts 
quoted. 

About  the  earliest  protest  against  a  long  continued  registra- 
tion which  has  come  to  my  notice  is  that  of  Mr.  C:  Evans, 
when  Librarian  at  the  Indianapolis  P.  L.,  in  1878.  Reporting 
a  registration  of  some  five  years,  numbering  14,600,  he  says: — 

"This  number  is  naturally  in  excess  of  actual  number  of 
borrowers.  ...  As  in  other  large  cities,  almost  all  the  losses 
of  books  can  be  directly  traced  to  changes  o£  residence  by 
removal  from  the  city;  and  our  experience  for  the  past  three 
years  shows  that  it  would  be  for  the  safety  of  the  property  of 
the  library  if  a  rule  were  adopted  that  hereafter  no  certificate 
of  guarantee  shall  remain  in  force  longer  than  two,  possibly 
three,  years." 

His  successor,  Mr.  A.  W.  Tyler,  repeats  and  confirms  this 
statement  in  1879. 

June  30,  1886,  the  same  library  reports  total  registration 
27,620,  the  population  of  Indianapolis  being  perhaps  over  90,000. 
And  Mr.  W.  De  M.  Hooper,  the  Librarian,  says:  "It  is  im- 
possible to  tell  how  many  of  these  cards  are  now  in  use,  since 
but  few  persons,  upon  ceasing  to  use  the  library,  ever  think 
of  resigning  their'  cards.  Judging  from  what  data  we  have,  it 
is  estimated  that  at  least  15,000  to  18,000  of  these  cards  must 
be  still  in  use." 

Many  other  libraries,  with  a  less  number  of  volumes  and 
actual  takers,  report  a  circulation  quite  equal  to  that  of  the 
Indianapolis  library;  and  I  judge  that  his  estimate  of  cards  in 
use  is  much  too  high. 

In  the  report  of  the  Toledo  Public  Library,  for  1880,  similar 
considerations  are  bro't  out,  viz:  "A  new  enrollment  of  those 
using  the  library  was  commenced  with  the  year,  as  the  trustees 
were  satisfied  that  a  large  number  of  the  sureties  for  book- 
borrowers  were  either  dead  or  had  removed  from  the  city.  A 
public  library  is  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  loss  of  books.  The 
best  safeguard  is  a  responsible  surety,  coupled  with  vigilant 
oversight  on  the  part  of  the  librarian  in  sending  for  over-due 
books  Number  of  cards  issued  during  the  year  was  3,863. 
As  last  report  showed  over  9,000  registered  members,  the  neces- 
sity of  a  new  enrollment  is  apparent;  and  we  think  the  best 


$8  HENRY  JAMES  CARR 

interests  of  the  library  demand  a  new  enrollment  every  three 
or  five  years." 

The  Detroit  P.  L.  in  report  for  1885  conveys  an  interesting 
lesson  on  this  subject,  as  follows:— 

"In  August  last  the  rules  of  the  library  were  so  changed 
as  to  require  all  holders  of  readers'  cards  whose  cards  were 
issued  more  than  five  years  ago,  to  sign  the  register  anew,  with 
their  sureties;  and  that  hereafter  a  new  registry  should  be  re- 
quired every  five  years.  This  rule  applied  to  11,440  cardholders, 
of  whom  829  have  since  registered.  The  fact  that  so  small  a 
proportion  of  persons  entitled  to  use  the  library  have  come 
forward  to  renew  their  signatures,  made  evident  what  was  be- 
fore supposed,  that  the  great  mass  of  readers*  cards  formerly 
issued  are  not  now  in  actual  use.  .  .  .  Notwithstanding  the 
striking  from  the  registry  of  so  large  a  number  of  names,  the 
statistics  show  that  the  library  never  had  so  many  users  as 
now." 

The  report  from  the  Cleveland  P.  L.  in  1886,  of  the  immedi- 
ate results  of  a  new  registration  are  equally  corroborative, 
thus:— 

"A  different  system  of  charging  books  having  been  decided 
upon,  it  was  placed  in  operation  January  i.  From  September  I 
to  December  31,  1,395  cards  had  been  issued,  bringing  the  entire 
number  of  the  old  series  to  23,340.  On  January  I  the  issue  of  a 
new  series  was  begun,  and  8,893  had  been  issued  to  August  31, 
which  probably  is  a  fair  indication  of  the  number  at  present 
using  the  library." 

The  report  shows  that  in  the  new  registration  4,137  issued 
in  January,  and  1,675  in  February;  after  which  the  issues  de- 
creased from  911  to  379  in  a  month,  averaging  500  a  month, 
which  is  a  fair  allowance, 

The  Free  Public  Library  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  a  city  of 
some  70,000  population,  reports  for  1886  :—• 

"Total  number  of  names  registered  (a  new  registry  made 
July  i,  1873),  28,535-  Registered  during  the  year,  1,585.  Num- 
ber of  notices  to  delinquents,  6,038,  in  a  circulation  for  home 
use  of  136,745  volumes."  The  large  number  of  notices  and  the 


REGISTRATION  OF  BOOK  BORROWERS         59 

disproportion  of  registrations  in  the  year,  as  compared  with 
the  total,  are  both  striking. 

As  a  salient  instance  of  a  two-year  registration  method,  note 
the  following  from  the  Chicago  Public  Library  in  1886:— 

"Present  number  of  book-borrowers,  27,142.  These  persons 
hold  cards,  each  secured  by  the  certificate  of  a  responsible 
guarantor,  which  entitle  them  to  draw  books  from  the  library 
for  home  use  for  the  period  of  two  years.  Each  card  is  can- 
celed at  the  expiration  of  two  years  from  date  of  issue,  when 
a  new  registration  must  be  made  on  a  new  certificate  of  guar- 
anty. Cards  issued  during  the  year,  13,845;  preceding  year, 
13,297.  Circulation  of  the  year,  608,708  volumes  for  home  use. 
Volumes  in  the  library,  119,500." 

The  Registration  Clerk  at  that  library  informs  me  that,  ac- 
cording to  their  experience,  of  a  series  canceled  when  each 
card  has  run  fully  two  years,  but  about  one-quarter  are  re- 
newed, This  accords  in  the  mam  with  my  own  experience 
under  a  new  registration  in  a  smaller  city,  extending  thru  one 
year,  and  in  which  but  2,330  were  renewed  out  of  7,400  in 
previous  registration,  the  proportion  of  renewals  in  a  small 
city  being  naturally  greater  than  in  one  of  large  population. 
Other  good  effects  of  a  new  registration  have  been  very  notice- 
able, also,  it  may  be  said,  as  the  reduction  in  lost  books,  and 
especially  in  the  number  so  delinquent  as  to  need  the  services 
of  a  messenger.  In  10  months  of  the  present  library  year  but 
10  volumes  have  required  a  messenger,  against  49  in  preceding 
six  months  of  previous  year. 

Of  books  lost  without  remedy  or  payment,  but  one  in  pres- 
ent year,  against  12  so  lost  in  the  year  before. 

Like  results  are  apparent  as  to  fines  and  decrease  of  de- 
linquent notices. 

In  conclusion,  I  subjoin  a  comparative  table  of  items  from 
some  16  libraries,  which  may  be  of  interest  in  this  connection; 
and  I  hope  other  libraries  may  be  led  to  give  like  data  in  their 
annual  reports,  from  which  further  study  may  be  made  con- 
cerning the  subject  of  frequent  registration,  and,  possibly,  a 
more  just  basis  for  comparison  of  yearly  results. 


6o 


HENRY  JAMES  CARR 


Library 

Year  of  Report 
I4th  —  1885-86 

Approxi- 
mate       No  of  vols    Circulation 
Popula-            for           Repoi  ted. 
tion        Circulation  Home  issues 
700,000         90,000*         608,708 

1886 

155,000         60,000*         147,616 

3     Milwaukee    .  .    • 

9th  —  1885-86 
I0th  —  1886-87 

160,000         32,000*           76,375 
83,000          15,000"           90,341 

5     Cleveland     .  .  .  . 
6     Ufcca  

.      iSth—  1885-86 
1885-86 

225,000         32,555           209,602 
42,000           8,782             40,708 

7     Cambridge    .  .  . 

.     38th  —  1885 
1885-86 

58,000          18,000*           83,016 
18,000          15,252             58,435 

o     Springfield    .  .  •  - 
V(Mass  ) 
jo     Dayton    
1  1     Indianapolis  .  .  • 
12     Providence 
13     Worcester     .... 

1886-87 

1885-86 
1885-86 
9th  —  1886 
.     37th—  1886 
34th  —  1886 

37,000         58,000*         146,404 

50,000             20,000*               90,097 
90,OOO             38,000*             169,360 
Il8,000             24,300                  82,179 

68,000         43»ooo*          136,741; 
45,000         34,000"*           94,783 

15     Taunton    .    .  .  .  • 

1886 

23,000         34,000*           56,137 

1  6     Manchester 
(N.H.) 

Total      Registered 
Registra-     in  Year 
tion        of  Report 
27,143         13,845 
10,678          3,617 
5,530          3,795 

8,110           2,1x9 
8,893           
3,088           1,553 

.       33d—  1886 

Ratio  of 
Circulation 
to  Regis-    Life  of 
tration        Card 
22.4         2  years 
13  8         5  years 
13  8         3  years 

iix         a,  years 
33-5              — 
133              — 

36,000         37,000*           54,037 

Remarks 
13,297    registered    previous    year 
New,  3,153;  rc-iegiBtered,  464 
Ratio;  14.8  prev.  y'r,   16  in  1883- 
84 
1885  —  New,    1,643;    re-registered, 

Old  series  cauls  to  Jan    i,   1886, 
23,340 
Of    2,681    cards    in    picv.    year, 
1,146    did   not   use    library    in 
this  year 

1,733 

7,328  648              8. 

8,655  3,568  17. 

8,137  1,437  13  3 

27,620  1,862  — 

28,904  1,851  — 

28,535  1,585  — 


23,788 

10,136 
5,970 


1,328  — 

364  - 

498  9.1 


Registration  scries  since  1873 
Registration  series  since  1878 
Registration  series  since  July  i, 

1873 
Registration     series     since     Dec  , 

1862 


Number  of  volumes  for  circulation  marked  *  are  but  approximations; 
others  unmarked  (Nos.  5,  6,  8,  and  12)  reporting  exact  number  which  are 
for  circulation. 

The  total  registration  given  for  Nos.  1-6,  according  to  their  reports, 
are  also  the  approximate  number  in  force;  and,  judged  by  the  ratio  of 
circulation,  the  same  may  possibly  be  true  of  Nos,  7-10,  and  16. 


REPORT  ON  CHARGING  SYSTEMS 

A  report  of  different  charging  systems  in  use  in  pub- 
lic libraries  in  the  United  States,  as  presented  in  the 
'Tapers  Prepared  for  the  World's  Library  Congress" 
held  in  connection  with  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago,  in 
1893,  was  prepared  by  Miss  Mary  Wright  Plummer, 
librarian  of  the  Pratt  Institute  Free  Library,  Brooklyn, 
New  York.  These  papers  were  published  in  the  report 
of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  (Vol.  I,  1892- 
1893). 

A  sketch  of  Miss  Plummer  appears  in  Volume  2  of 
this  series. 

Definition— The  charging  or  loan  system  is  that  part  of  a 
library's  administration  by  which  chiefly  its  communication  with 
borrowers  is  carried  on.  The  word  loan  applies  to  it  because 
the  books  are  lent,  and  the  word  charging  because  every  library, 
no  matter  how  small,  with  any  pretense  to  method,  has  some 
way  of  keeping  account  of  these  loans 

Requisites. — The  characteristic  of  a  loan  system  best  appreci- 
ated by  the  public  is  the  speed  with  which  it  can  receive  and 
deliver  books.  The  trifling  annoyance  of  having  to  wait  a  few 
minutes  for  a  book  will  drive  many  persons  away  from  a  library, 
and  to  a  certain  extent  from  the  habit  of  reading.  It  therefore 
behooves  the  library  administrators  to  consider  speed  when  plan- 
ning their  charging  system. 

Another  requisite  is  simplicity,  not  only  because  it  implies 
speed  and  makes  the  work  easier,  but  because  it  insures  greater 
accuracy.  The  more  complicated  the  system  the  greater  the 
chance  for  error. 

The  third  thing  to  keep  in  mind  is  that  the  less  the  borrower's 
part  in  the  operation  the  better  he  likes  the  system.  The  library- 
must  be  sure  that  it  asks  of  him  only  the  facts  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  fill  his  order,  and  that  any  red  tape  should  be  kept  be- 
hind the  desk. 


62  MARY  WRIGHT  PLUMMER 

These  three  things,  then,  are  essential,  for  it  is  certain  that 
if  there  is  more  than  one  library  in  a  place  people  will  go  to  the 
one  where  they  are  most  quickly  waited  on  with  the  least  trouble 
to  themselves,  and  with  the  fewest  mistakes. 

A  library,  even  a  free  library,  is  a  business  institution,  and 
must  keep  a  record  of  its  transactions.  It  would  be  as  absurd 
to  keep  no  accounts  in  order  to  please  the  people  and  send 
them  away  sooner  as  it  would  be  to  enter  no  charges  against  the 
customers  of  a  shop.  The  tangle  that  its  affairs  would  soon 
find  themselves  in  would  be  infinitely  more  troublesome  to  the 
borrower  than  the  short  time  spent  in  waiting  while  the  library 
recorded  a  few  essential  facts.  It  should  therefore  be  taken 
for  granted,  in  deciding  on  a  charging  system,  that  the  public 
will  be  patient  and  reasonable  if  the  library  does  not  impose  on  it. 

The  library,  if  it  keeps  pace  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  must 
know  what  it  is  doing.  It  is  easy  enough  to  hand  out  books 
day  after  day  without  knowing  or  caring  whether  more  people 
are  reading  than  this  time  a  year  ago,  whether  the  best  books 
are  really  called  for,  what  the  prevailing  taste  of  the  reading 
community  is,  whether  people  are  gradually  accumulating  private 
collections  of  books  at  the  library's  expense,  whether  everyone 
is  getting  an  equal  chance  at  the  popular  books,  where  a  book 
is  that  people  keep  calling  for  and  that  does  not  make  its 
appearance,  and  a  dozen  other  things  that  will  occur  to  every 
librarian  as  details  that  he  must  know  in  order  to  be  master  of 
the  situation  If  libraries  were  conducted  on  the  guesswork  plan, 
librananship  would  deserve  small  pay  and  smaller  honor,  for  an 
automaton  could  be  constructed  that  would  take  in  and  hand  out 
books,  and  learned  pigs  have  been  taught  to  pick  out  numbers 
and  letters. 

The  charging  system  should,  to  a  great  extent,  tell  whether 
the  library  is  really  of  use  to  the  community,  and  m  order  to  do 
this  it  must  put  the  library  in  possession  of  certain  statistics, 
The  question  is  how  to  get  these  statistics  at  least  cost  of  time 
and  trouble  to  the  public,  with  least  expenditure  of  labor  and 
least  risk  of  error  on  the  part  of  the  library. 

Questions  answered  by  charging  systems, — In  1882  the  libra- 
rian of  the  Milwaukee  public  library  sent  to  the  Library  Journal 
the  following  list  of  21  questions,  answered  by  the  charging 
system  of  that  library.  The  questions  in  parentheses  have  been 


REPORT  ON   CHARGING   SYSTEMS  63 

added  in  preparing  this  paper,  in  order  to  make  these  questions 
a  basis  for  examination  of  various  charging  systems: 

r.    Is  a  given  book  out? 

2.  If  out,  who  has  it? 

3.  When  did  he  take  it? 

4  When  is  it  to  be  sent  for  as  overdue ? 

5  Has  the  book  ever  been  out? 

6.  How  many  times  and  when  has  the  book  been  out? 

7.  How  many  (and  what)  books  were  issued  on  a  given  day  ? 
7a    (How  many  (and  what)  books  are  due  on  a  given  day?) 

8.  How  many  (and  what)  books  in  each  class  were  issued 

on  a  given  day? 
9     How  many  (and  what)  books  are  now  out,  charged  to 

borrowers  ? 

TO     How  many  (and  what)  books  are  at  the  bindery ? 
IT     Has  a  certain  book  been  rebound  and  when? 
12     What  books  have  been  discarded? 
13.    Docs  the  circulation  of  a  discarded  book  warrant  its 

being  replaced  ? 

14     Has  a  given  borrower  a  book  charged  to  him? 
I4a    (How  many  books  are  charged  to  him?) 
I4b.  (What  books  are  charged  to  him?) 
15.    How  many  persons  have  now  books  charged  to  them? 
1 6     Are  these  the  persons  who  registered  earliest  or  latest? 

17.  How  often  has  a  borrower  made  use  of  the  library? 

18.  Has  a  borrower  had  a  given  book  before? 

_  19.    What  has  been  the  character  of  the  borrower's  reading? 

20.  Is  the  borrower's  card  still  in  force  and  used? 

21.  (Has  this  person  a  right  to  draw  books?) 

The  principle  of  the  grouping  given  above  will  be  readily 
understood  to  be  a  rough  classification  by  book,  date,  and  bor- 
rower's account. 

It  does  not  follow  necessarily  that  the  system  which  answers 
the  most  questions  is  the  best,  for  they  may  be  answered  at  an 
expense  of  time  and  labor  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  value  of 
the  information  That  is  a  point  which  each  library  must  decide 
for  itself  The  college  library,  the  free  city  library,  the  village 
library,  have  a  widely  differing  patronage  and  quite  as  widely 
differing  resources. 

Loan  systems  may  be  roughly  divided  into  four  groups* 
Ledger  systems,  temporary-slip  systems,  permanent-slip  or  card 
systems,  indicator  systems.  There  are  many  ingenious  devices 
that  belong  to  none  of  these,  but  they  are  used  in  so  few  libraries 
that  they  hardly  merit  the  name  of  system. 


64  MARY  WRIGHT  PLUMMER 

Ledger  system.— By  ledger  system  we  now  mean  a  system  in 
which  books  are  used  for  recording  charges.  It  is  often  taken 
for  granted  that  in  using  a  ledger  the  library  keeps  its  accounts 
only  under  the  borrower's  name;  but  it  is  possible  to  keep  trace 
of  the  books  also,  and  even  to  keep  the  accounts  by  date.  Origi- 
nally the  charges  were  made  in  a  daybook,  a  simple  daily  record 
of  transactions  such  as  kept  by  any  retail  shopman.  No  doubt 
it  was  considered  a  great  step  in  advance  when  the  library 
began  to  post  these  daily  entries  in  a  regular  ledger  instead 
of  looking  back  through  all  its  charges  till  the  one  wanted 
was  found. 

The  ledger  account  by  borrower  has  the  borrower's  name 
for  a  heading  and  should  have  a  page  to  itself  in  order  that  no 
two  borrowers  shall  have  the  same  folio  number.  The  call 
number  of  the  book  and  the  date  of  issue  are  noted  in  pencil  m 
columns  or  squares  ruled  for  Ihem,  and  when  the  book  is  re- 
turned the  borrower's  folio  number,  if  he  has  forgotten  it,  may 
be  found  from  the  index  at  the  back  of  the  ledger,  and  the 
entry  is  either  crossed  off  or  the  date  of  return  noted,  which 
closes  the  account  till  another  book  is  drawn.  The  advantages 
and  disadvantages  of  this  method  may  be  summed  up  as  follows : 

ADVANTAGES. 

I     The  entries  can  not  be  lost  or  mislaid. 

2.  The  ledger  takes  up  less  space  than  the  same  information 
in  any  other  form. 

3.  Tt  can  be  handled  rapidly 

4.  JThe  borrower's  previous  reading  shows  and  may  help 
in  making  selections  for  him  or  pi  event  the  second  taking  of 
a  book  by  mistake.  ; 

5.  It  is  easy  to  tell  when  a  borrower's  connection  with  the 
library  ceases  and  how  many  live  accounts  there  arc  on  the 
book. 

DISADVANTAGES, 

1  Impossible  lo  change  the  order  oE  accounts  to  alpha- 
betic3 or  other  order  to  get  at  certain  facts. 

2  Pages,  when  soiled,  can  not  be  replaced 

3.  "In  the  course  of  time  an  active  reader  may  have  sev- 
eral folio  numbers,  which  would  tend  to  confusion. 

4.  But  one  person  can  use  the  ledger  at  a  time. 

1Th.is  advantage  and  thus  disadvantage  may  be  found  in  some  other 
systems. 

2  This   necessitates   an   mdex   to   find   the   borrower's   page   while   the  ' 
card  system  is  its  own  index, — M  D. 

•This  advantage  and  this  disadvantage  way  be  found  in  sorat  other 
systems. 


REPORT  ON  CHARGING  SYSTEMS  65 

5.  It  is  next  to  impossible  to  get  at  the  delinquent  accounts 
in  order  to  send  notices. 

Applying  the  test  of  our  21  questions,  we  find  that  it  answers 
easily  14-20,  inclusive,  nearly  all,  in  fact,  that  apply  to  the 
reader;  but  with  great  difficulty,  if  at  all,  can  the  answers  to 
1-13  be  found.  By  means  of  a  daybook,  questions  7  and  8  may 
be  answered  also  This  gives  the  additional  advantages  that 
the  charge  is  very  quickly  made,  the  posting  being  postponed 
to  a  leisure  moment,  and  that  the  circulation  of  each  day  can 
be  easily  classified,  footed  up,  and  set  down.  This  book,  like 
the  ledger,  can  be  used  by  only  one  person  at  a  time,  and  it  can 
not  be  used  for  discharging  debts  unless  the  date  be  given  as  a 
key. 

In  the  Library  Journal  for  1883  a  description  is  given  of  the 
method  used  by  many  Canadian  libraries,  notably  those  of  the 
Mechanics'  institutes,  in  which  two  ledgers  figure,  the  one  ar- 
ranged by  readers'  accounts,  the  other  by  call  numbers  for  the 
books,  making  book  accounts.  A  daybook  is  used  with  this 
system,  for  the  sake  of  speedy  charging. 

To  the  borrower  the  daybook  charge  is  very  likely  to  be  sat- 
isfactory. He  has  only  to  give  the  call  number  of  the  book 
wanted  and  his  name.  The  charge  is  dashed  down  and  he 
does  not  need  to  wait.  When  he  returns  the  book,  his  name 
or  folio  number  refers  to  the  charge,  now  on  the  ledger,  which 
is  crossed  off  or  the  date  of  return  jotted  down  opposite  it,  and 
that  is  all  He  knows  nothing  of  the  time  and  labor  given  to 
rewriting  every  charge,  or  the  difficulties  that  arise  each  day 
from  the  fact  that  the  library  has  no  account  with  the  book. 

Temporary-slip  system. — The  inflexibility  of  the  ledger 
system  could  not  fail  to  be  felt,  and  it  has  been  superseded  in 
many  libraries  by  the  temporary  slip  system,  of  which  a  great 
advantage  over  the  ledger  system  is  that  more  than  one  person 
at  a  time  can  be  engaged  in  charging  and  discharging  books. 
The  slips  may  be  used  exactly  as  the  ledger  pages  are  used  to 
keep  an  account  with  the  reader,  the  difference  in  that  case 
being  that  the  ledger  is  a  permanent  and  the  slip  a  temporary 
record.  The  slip  may  be  written  out  by  the  borrower,  in  which 
case  it  serves  as  a  receipt,  or  by  the  assistant  for  the  sake  of 
greater  speed.  It  is  usually  required  that  the  borrower's  name 
or  number,  the  call  number  of  the  book  (or  its  author  and  title), 


66  MARY  WRIGHT  PLUMMER 

and  the  date  be  written.  When  the  book  is  returned  and  Hues 
paid,  if  any,  the  slip  may  be  destroyed  or  returned  to  the  bor- 
rower. The  slips  may  be  arranged  in  a  tray  or  m  pigeonholes 
in  any  of  three  ways:  (i)  With  guide  caids  or  blocks  for  each 
day,  making  a  daybook;  (2)  by  borrower's  name  or  number, 
making  an  account  with  the  borrower;  (3)  by  call  number, 
making  an  account  with  the  book. 

The  first  arrangement  has  the,  advantages  of  the  regular  day- 
book as  to  speed,  provided  that  all  that  is  written  on  the  slip 
be  the  borrower's  name  or  number  and  the  call  number.  The 
date  is  here  not  necessary,  although  it  is  well  to  have  it  lest  a 
slip  should  by  accident  be  taken  from  its  compartment.  The 
slip  is  then  dropped  into  the  tray  in  the  proper  date  division, 
and  the  borrower  goes  away  with  his  book.  The  disadvantage 
is  also  the  same,  that,  without  remembering  the  date,  a  charge 
can  not  be  canceled  It  would  be  possible  to  keep  a  ledger  in 
connection  with  this  arrangement  of  slips,  as  with  the  regular 
daybook.  The  questions  answered  would  then  be  7,  8,  9,  14-20. 
It  has  the  advantage  over  the  daybook  that  after  the  arrange- 
ment by  date  the  slips  can  be  put  m  a  subarrangemcnt  by  bor- 
rower's number  or  call  number,  and  that  the  dates  once  written 
on  the  guides  do  not  have  to  be  rewritten  The  daybook,  on 
the  other  hand,  by  the  mere  lapse  of  time,  becomes  a  record  of 
delinquents  in  such  shape  that  it  can  not  be  lost,  whereas  the 
delinquent  slips,  in  order  to  be  quite  safe,  must  be  copied  into 
a  book  after  a  certain  period. 

When  the  slips  are  arranged  by  borrower's  name  or  num- 
ber, they  represent  the  borrower's  ledger  with  its  outstanding 
accounts  only.  As  the  slips  themselves  are  usually  of  thin  paper, 
it  is  customary  to  have  cardboard  guides,  each  bearing  a  bor- 
rower's name  or  number,  or  both,  and  when  the  charge  is 
made  the  slip  is  dropped  behind  or  in  front  of  the  borrower's 
card  and  remains  there  while  the  book  is  out.  If  the  guides 
are  arranged  by  borrowers'  numbers  there  must  be  an  alpha- 
betic index  to  the  tray,  as  the  numbers  are  often  forgotten. 
This  system  answers  questions  9,  14,  I4a,  I4b,  15,  16.  The  ques- 
tions 17-20,  which  are  answered  by  the  ledger  system,  can  not 
be  solved  by  any  temporary  record.  The  main  advantage  of 
this  way  of  keeping  the  borrowers'  accounts  is  the  one  men- 
tioned above  as  pertaining  to  any  slip  system,  that  more  than 


REPORT  ON  CHARGING  SYSTEMS  67 

one  person  may  work  at  it  at  one  time.  It  requires  more  writ- 
ing than  the  ledger,  inasmuch  as  the  borrower's  name  or  num- 
ber must  be  recorded  The  difficulty  of  getting  at  the  number 
of  overdue  books  is  quite  as  great,  and  if  delinquent  notices  are 
sent  the  whole  tray  must  be  overhauled  periodically.  If  these 
notices  are  sent  only  at  long  intervals,  as  in  many  subscription 
libraries,  this  is  not  so  strong  an  objection  as  in  the  case  of 
public  libraries,  which  must  send  out  notices  daily.  To  the 
college  library,  or  one  that  was  watchful  of  its  influence  on 
various  classes  of  readers,  the  fact  that  the  record  of  a  bor- 
rower's reading  could  not  be  kept  would  be  a  strong  objection 
to  the  temporary  slip  system 

The  third  arrangement,  that  of  keeping  the  slips  in  order 
of  the  call  number  of  the  books,  has  been  seldom  tried  where 
the  slips  were  for  temporary  use  only.  It  answers  questions 
1-4,  9  The  objection  with  regard  to  delinquent  notices  holds 
here,  as  in  the  previous  arrangement.  Any  change  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  circulation  within  a  given  period  would  fail  to  be 
noticed  by  this  system.  Its  mam  advantage  lies  in  its  speedy 
answer  to  questions  I,  2,  and  3,  questions  which  are  more  often 
asked,  perhaps,  than  any  other,  and  in  its  convenience  when  it 
becomes  time  to  take  the  inventory.  It  is  but  fair  to  the  last 
two  arrangements  to  say  that  if  the  day's  circulation  is  kept 
apart  from  the  other  charges  till  it  can  be  classified  and  counted, 
one  of  the  above  disadvantages,  the  inability  to  discover  changes 
in  the  character  of  the  general  reading,  would  disappear,  and 
questions  7  and  8  could  be  answered. 

In  some  libraries  the  slip  is  made  large  enough  to  serve  for 
a  list  of  books,  and  if  handed  back  to  the  borrower  when  he  re- 
turns one  book  may  serve  him  to  select  another. 

The  late  librarian  of  Princeton,  Dr.  F.  Vinton,  suggested 
in  Library  Journal,  2 : 53-7,  that  the  slips,  before  being  sorted 
m  their  pigeonholes,  be  copied,  in  order  to  make  two  arrange- 
ments possible,  one  by  borrowers  and  one  by  books.  Whenever 
there  is  copying  done,  there  is  an  extra  liability  to  mistakes, 
and  the  writer  suggests,  instead,  the  use  of  the  carbon  copy 
used  by  many  dry  goods  and  notion  houses  to  make  duplicate 
checks  for  goods  bought.  Both  entries  would  be  in  the  same 
writing,  made  simultaneously,  and  if  one  was  correct  the  other 
would  have  to  be. 


68  MARY  WRIGHT  PLUMMER 

Card  system.— The  card  system  differs  from  the  slip  sys- 
tem chiefly  from  the  fad  that  the  cards,  larger  and  moie 
durable  than  slips,  are  kept  as  a  permanent  record.  Aside  from 
this,  they  are  subject  to  the  same  limitation,  admit  of  the  same 
arrangement,  and  answer  the  same  purposes  as  slips 

If  but  one  kind  of  card  is  used  by  the  library,  it  can  be 
arranged  with  others  to  form  an  account  with  the  borrower, 
with  the  book,  or  by  date;  and  the  same  subarrangemcnts  pos- 
sible with  the  slips  are  possible  here  The  advantages  and  dis- 
advantages are  the  same  as  with  the  same  arrangement  of  slips 
With  cards  it  is  advisable  to  have  ruled  columns  to  keep  the 
record.  If  the  card  is  a  borrower's  card,  the  columns  should 
contain  the  call  number  and  the  dates  of  taking  and  of  return. 
If  it  is  a  book  card,  that  is,  kept  in  order  of  the  call  numbcis, 
the  columns  should  contain  borrower's  number  and  dates. 
Some  libraries  show  the  discharge  of  a  debt  by  stamping  or 
punching  out  the  charge  instead  of  stamping  the  return  dale, 
which  is  thus  lost  from  the  records.  The  borrower's  card,  kept 
by  the  library,  answers  questions  14-20,  inclusive  By  keeping 
the  day's  charges  in  a  separate  place  till  the  end  of  the  day's 
circulation,  questions  7  and  8  may  be  answered  If  a  single 
card  is  a  book  card,  it  will  answer  questions  1-6,  13,  18,  with  7 
and  8  if  the  day's  charges  arc  kept  apart  and  counted.  If  the 
book  card  is  used,  it  may  be  kept  in  a  pocket  in  the  book  when 
the  book  is  in,  or  it  may  be  placed  in  a  separate  tray  at  the  desk 
to  show  what  books  are  m  and  save  useless  trips  to  the  shelves. 
Used  in  this  way,  it  helps  to  form  a  card  indicator,  at  the  same 
time  lessening  the  risk  of  loss  of  the  card.  If  the  cards  of  books 
out  are  kept  in  strict  call-number  order,  without  sul (arrangement 
by  date,  they  may  serve  to  indicate  instantly  the  books  out  and 
thus  fulfill  the  same  office.  The  pocket  for  the  book  card  is 
very  generally  used  in  libraries  that  have  the  book  card.  Tt 
serves  for  the  borrower's  card  when  the  book  is  out,  m  case 
the  borrower  carries  his  own  card,  and  lessens  the  risk  of  its 
loss.  The  labor  of  pocketing  and  rcpockcting,  however,  is  con- 
siderable, and  even  aside  from  this,  the  writer  questions  whether 
for  the  library  with  few  attendants  the  advantages  from  the 
card  indicator  do  not  outweigh  those  from  the  use  of  the 
pocket. 

The  card  has  an  advantage  over  the  slip,  inasmuch  as  the 


REPORT  ON  CHARGING  SYSTEMS  69 

library  can  obtain  from  it,  accoiding  to  the  arrangement  by 
book  or  borrower,  a  record  of  the  book's  use  or  the  borrower's 
reading.  It  is  customary,  in  date  systems,  to  have  the  date  of 
taking  written  or  stamped  somewhere  in  the  book,  either  on 
the  pocket  or  on  a  date  slip  tipped  into  the  book,  to  avoid  the 
necessity  of  leaving  the  fact  to  the  memory  of  borrower  or 
assistant. 

Two-card  system. — We  come  now  to  the  two-card  systems, 
in  which  the  cards  are  those  of  the  borrower  and  of  the  book, 
the  latter  kept  usually  in  date  order.  We  shall  take  up  first  the 
system  which  allows  (or  obliges)  the  borrower  to  carry  his 
own  card  and  present  it  when  he  wants  a  booh  This  pro- 
vision answers  at  once  question  21,  the  presumption  being  that 
if  the  borrower  is  not  the  person  presenting  the  card  he  has 
delegated  his  authority  to  that  person  by  giving  him  the  card. 
A  system  without  any  card  carried  by  the  borrower  either  causes 
the  library  to  run  the  risk  of  giving  books  to  persons  who 
have  no  right  to  draw  them,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Ap- 
prentices library  in  New  York  city,  must  require  a  written  order 
when  a  book  is  wanted  and  no  book  is  returned  for  exchange, 
and  compare  the  signature  of  the  order  with  that  on  the  regis- 
ter. The  library  with  a  small  clientele  runs  no  great  risk  in 
requiring  no  card  of  identification,  as  every  borrower  would 
be  apt  to  be  known  at  the  library,  but  the  city  library,  with  its 
large  and  ever-shifting  body  of  readers,  must  have  some  method 
of  identifying  them  and  the  card  is  certainly  the  simplest. 

The  borrower's  card  for  identification  and  the  same  as  a  part 
of  the  charging  system  are  different  things.  For  either  use, 
the  card  should  contain  the  borrower's  name,  address,  number, 
and  the  date  of  expiration  of  his  privileges. 

There  is  a  risk  in  making  the  borrower's  card  an  essential 
part  of  the  charging  system  when  it  is  earned  by  the  borrower, 
on  account  of  the  liability  to  loss;  but  if  the  facts  noted  on  it 
serve  simply  as  a  check  or  to  corroborate  the  record  kept  at 
the  library,  the  question  becomes  simply  one  of  economy  of 
time  and  labor.  The  two-card  system  most  widely  used  is 
probably  that  m  which  the  borrower's  card  records  the  call  num- 
ber and  date,  and  the  book  card  the  borrower's  number  and  date 
On  the  return  of  a  book,  the  dating  slip  in  it  and  the  date  on 
the  borrower's  card  should  confirm  each  other,  the  latter  car 


70  MARY  WRIGHT  PLUMMER 

be  marked  with  date  of  return  and  handed  hack,  while  the  hook 
card  can  be  easily  found  by  means  of  the  number  in  the  hook 
at  any  convenient  moment,  whether  kept  in  strict  call-number 
order  or  by  date.  When  found,  the  date  of  return  is  noted  on 
it,  the  card  placed  in  the  pocket  or  the  card  indicator,  and  the 
process  is  complete.  It  will  be  noted  that  very  little  of  this 
has  to  be  done  in  the  borrower's  presence.  The  question  arises, 
of  what  use  is  the  call  number  on  the  borrower's  card,  as  it 
seems  to  be  unnecessary  in  the  checking  off  process.  It  gives, 
of  course,  a  record  o£  the  borrower's  reading,  but  as  he  car- 
ries it  that  is  of  no  particular  value  to  the  librarian.  It  gives 
no  clew  to  the  book,  if  lost,  as  the  card  is  generally  kept  in 
the  pocket  and  lost  with  the  book.  Some  libraries  dispense 
with  this  record,  therefore,  and  save  the  time  of  writing.  By 
doing  this,  the  amount  of  writing  before  a  book  goes  out  is  re- 
duced to  the  date  on  the  borrower's  card,  and  the  borrower's 
number  and  date  on  the  book  card.  This  item  can  be  omitted, 
however,  only  in  case  the  library  allows  but  one  book  on  a  card. 
The  question  may  also  be  asked,  what  is  the  use  of  the  date  on 
the  book  card,  if  it  is  already  on  the  borrower's  card  and  in  the 
book,  and  the  book  cards  are  kept  in  date  arrangement?  One 
reason  for  this  is  that  the  book  card  is  a  record  kept  by  the 
library,  and  the  time  of  keeping  a  book  is  often  a  matter  of 
interest  in  the  gathering  of  statistics  and  a  guide  to  a  reader's 
thoroughness ;  another,  that  if  a  book  card  should  get  out  of  its 
compartment  by  accident,  there  would  be  no  way  of  finding  its 
place  again  if  it  bore  no  date. 

By  this  system  question  1-9,  13-14,  17-21  are  answered.  Ques- 
tions 10-12  may  be  answered  by  any  system  using  the  book  card, 
provided  the  cards  of  books  sent  to  the  binder  or  discarded 
are  kept  in  separate  compartments  in  the  charging  tray,  by 
order  of  their  call  numbers.  It  must  be  remembered,  how- 
ever, that  the  answers  to  questions  14,  17,  19,  20,  and  21  are 
in  the  hands  of  the  borrower  and  liable  at  any  time  to  be  lost. 
This  system,  with  variations,  is  growing  in  favor  among  li- 
brarians, and  has  much  to  recommend  it 

The  modus  operand:  of  the  Milwaukee  public  library,  the 
Apprentices'  library  of  New  York  City,  the  library  of  the  Bos- 
ton Athenaeum,  and  of  the  Buffalo  library  has  been  described 
in  the  Library  Journal  with  some  fullness  and  will  be  found 


REPORT  ON  CHARGING  SYSTEMS  71 

interesting  and  suggestive,  but  would  occupy  too  much  space  if 
described  here.  Of  the  few  card  systems  which  are  in  use  in 
English  libraries,  we  may  mention  the  system  of  the  Bradford 
library,  which  is  described  in  the  Library,  vol  3 : 390. 

Dummy  system. — The  dummy  system  is  an  ingenious  one 
for  use  in  libraries  with  a  limited  constituency.  Each  borrower 
is  represented  by  a  wooden  dummy,  with  his  name  and  number 
on  the  outer  edge.  The  sides  are  covered  with  paper  ruled  in 
columns.  When  a  borrower  wishes  a  book  his  dummy  is  taken 
from  the  alphabetic  or  numerical  arrangement  in  which  it  is 
kept,  the  call  number  and  date  of  issue  noted  on  it,  and  it  then 
takes  the  place  of  the  book  on  the  shelf.  The  return  of  the 
book  gives  the  call  number,  the  dummy  is  found  and  the  charge 
canceled,  the  book  returned  to  its  place,  and  the  dummy  is  ready 
for  another  charge  and  to  take  the  place  of  another  book  If 
there  is  a  call  for  a  book  not  in,  the  dummy  shows  who  has  it 
and  when  it  is  due  This  answers  questions  1-4,  Q-pa,  15,  when 
the  borrower  is  using  a  book,  and  14,  17,  18,  19,  when  he  has 
no  book. 

Indicator  System. — It  is  said  that  where  the  indicator  is  used 
for  charging,  as  in  many  English  libraries,  the  same  method 
does  not  prevail  in  any  two  libraries;  hence  it  is  unnecessary 
to  detail  the  various  systems ;  they  differ  from  American  charg- 
ing systems  chiefly  in  making  use  of  a  perpendicular  instead  of  a 
horizontal  tray  for  the  cards  or  blocks 

The  indicator  is  a  large  wooden  frame  containing  tiny  oblong 
pigeonholes,  into  which  are  fitted  blocks,  pegs,  or  cardboard 
slips  representing  the  books  in  the  library,  or  certain  classes  of 
books.  On  both  ends  of  the  block  is  printed  the  call  number 
of  the  book,  one  end  having  a  blue  ground,  the  other  a  red 
one.  By  making  the  red  represent  books  in,  and  the  blue  books 
out,  the  public  can  tell  at  once  if  a  given  book  can  be  had  and 
need  not  ask  useless  questions.  The  saving  of  time  and  labor, 
therefore,  is  greater  than  with  the  card  indicator,  where  the 
assistant  has  to  look  through  the  cards  in  order  to  say  if  a  book 
is  in,  but  both  devices  save  unnecessary  journeys  to  the  shelves, 
and  the  card  indicator  occupies  less  space.  The  use  of  the  block 
indicator  is  confined,  so  far,  almost  entirely  to  British  libraries. 
Where  the  indicator  is  used  for  charging,  the  block  is  super- 
seded by  a  tiny  book  in  which  the  charges  are  made,  the  top 
and  bottom  of  the  book  being  colored  like  the  blocks  referred  to. 


72  MARY  WRIGHT   PLUMMER 

A  feature  that  exists  in  some  of  the  indicator  systems  and 
in  many  card  systems  is  the  movable  date  tray.  The  date  regis- 
ter of  the  indicator  has,  for  instance,  n  columns  for  books  not 
overdue  and  one  extra  column  for  overdue  books,  and  the  date 
tray  has  14  compartments  for  the  former  and  one  for  the  laltci. 
These  trays  move  from  right  to  left.  As  to-day's  circulation 
becomes  yesterday's,  its  tray  is  moved  one  space  to  the  left, 
while  the  fourteenth  tray  shows  that  all  cards  left  in  it  repre- 
sent books  one  day  overdue  These  arc  removed  to  the  tray  for 
delinquents,  leaving  the  empty  tray  to  be  used  for  the  day's 
circulation 

For  a  brief  historical  treatment  of  charging  systems  and  the 
statistics  of  their  use  by  United  States  libianes  in  1889,  >sce 
admirable  report  by  H.  J,  Carr,  in  A.L.A.  proceedings  for  1880, 
pages  203-214. 

For  bibliography  of  charging  systems  from  1876  to  1888, 
see  appendix  to  above  report,  or  L.  ;.,  1889,  14:213-214 

Since  1888  have  appeared: 

SCHWARTZ,  J.     Apprentices  library  charging  system.     Lib,   ;., 

1889,   14:468-469 

Device  for  preserving  call  numbers.    Lib   /.,  1889,  I4:28r. 
ALBANY  Y.  M.  C.  A.  library.    Charging  system.    Lib   ;.,  1891, 

16  232 
CUTLER,  M    S.    Charging  systems  in  foreign  libraries     Lib.  ;., 

1891,  16 :  Csi-52 
FENNER,  L.  B.     Accounts  with  books  and  borrowers,     Lib.  /., 

1891,  16 : 246. 
PLUMMER,  M.  W.    Sacramento  public  library  lag  system. 

San  Francisco   Mechanics'   Institute   charging  system, 

San  Francisco  public  library  wheel  for  borrowers'  cards, 

(In  her  Western  libraries  visited  by  the  A.  L.  A.  party. 
(Lib.  /.,  1891,  16:334-336) 
New  Hampshire.     Board  of  library  commissioners.     Charging 

systems.    Lib   j,  1893,  18:42.    Also  in  their  circular. 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  IN  ONE 
AMERICAN  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

The  following  is  one  of  a  series  of  articles  contrib- 
uted by  Frederick  M.  Crunden  of  the  St.  Louis  Public 
Library,  to  The  Library  (London)  a  quarterly  review 
of  bibliography  and  library  lore.  His  idea  is  to  make 
the  library  easily  accessible  to  as  many  readers  as  pos- 
sible. 

A  biographical  sketch  appears  in  Volume  1  of  this 
series. 

A  mere  aggregation  of  books,  of  course,  does  not  constitute 
a  library  And  a  collection  classified  and  catalogued  and  shelved 
in  an  orderly  manner  still  falls  short  of  being  a  public  library. 
To  buildings  and  apparatus  and  professors  must  be  added  stu- 
dents, in  order  to  create  a  university.  So  readers  are  an  essen- 
tial factor  of  the  Peoples'  University.  An  able  corps  of  pro- 
fessors will  soon  attract  students ;  and  in  any  fairly  enlightened 
community  a  good  collection  of  books  made  accessible  to  the 
public  will  not  lack  readers.  In  what  numbers  they  come  will 
depend  on  various  conditions,  which  it  is  unnecessary  to  specify. 
This  much,  however,  may  be  safely  said  and  repeated  with 
emphasis — that  even  the  numerical  possibilities  of  the  public 
library  have  not  yet  been  realized.  The  statistics  of  registration 
and  issue  in  cities  with  well-supported  and  well-administered 
libraries  like  those  of  Manchester  and  Birmingham,  of  Phila- 
delphia, Boston,  and  Chicago,  are  read  with  surprise  and  ad- 
miration. Yet,  according  to  the  latest  statistics  at  hand,  Birm- 
ingham, with  a  population  of  429,000, »  has  only  30,297  registered 
readers,  or  seven  per  cent,  of  the  population.  Out  of  505,000 
inhabitants  of  Manchester,  less  than  45,000  (about  nine  per  cent ) 
have  public  library  cards.  Chicago  records  75,000  cardholders 
out  of  a  population  of  over  a  million,  not  quite  seven  per  cent.; 

1  The  population  is  from  the  census  of  1890,  while  the  registration 
statistics  are  from  reports  of  1898  and  1899  The  actual  percentages  are 
therefore  smaller  than  those  given. 


74  FREDERICK  MORGAN   CRUNDEN 

while  Boston  leads  with  fourteen  per  cent,  of  its  inhabitants 
holding  public  library  cards. 

REGISTRATION 

The  first  element  of  popularity  is  easy  entrance — in  both 
senses  of  the  phrase— a  central  location  with  an  attractive  build- 
ing and  simple  conditions  of  registration  and  access  If  security 
for  the  return  of  borrowed  books  is  made  the  primary  consid- 
eration, the  usefulness  of  the  institution  is  at  once  cui  tailed. 
If  a  signature  that  can  draw  hundreds,  or  perhaps  thousands, 
of  pounds  is  not  accepted  as  sufficient  security  for  the  loan  of 
a  book  which  the  signer  has  helped  to  pay  for,  the  substantial 
citizen  is  naturally  indignant.  And  if  the  humbler  applicant 
is  compelled  to  obtain  for  his  endorser  some  one  known  to 
be  a  property  owner,  the  requirement  may  effectually  bar  him 
from  the  library;  and,  at  any  rate,  it  involves  a  considerable 
expenditure  of  time  in  looking  up  the  financial  standing  of  every 
guarantor  We,  therefore,  do  not  require  any  guaranty  from 
an  applicant  known  to  be  a  property  owner  or  a  lesponsible 
business  man  And  as  to  the  quality  of  sponsorship  demanded 
for  others — when  at  the  outset  I  asked  for  instructions  on  the 
subject,  I  received  them  in  the  form  of  an  anecdote  told  to  the 
Board  by  the  Vice-P resident,  as  exemplifying  his  idea  of  the 
proper  requirement. 

An  old  German,  whom  we  will  call  Brodkorb,  had  for  many 
years  been  a  depositor  in  one  of  our  leading  banks.    He  did  a 
small  cash  business,  and  had  never  had  occasion  to  borrow 
from  the  bank.    But  wishing  to  take  advantage  of  an  oppor- 
tunity for  making  an  unusually  large  purchase,  he  applied  for 
a  loan  of  a  few  hundred  pounds.    'Certainly,'  said  the  president 
'Make  out  your  note  and  you  shall  have  the  money.' 
'Here  iss  de  note  already,  Mr.  Wilson.' 
'But,  Mr.  Brodkorb,  this  note  has  only  one  name  on  it.    Bank 
paper,  you  know,  must  always  have  two  names.' 
'0,  so?    Veil,  I  kit  anudder  name.' 

Accordingly,  the  next  morning  Brodkorb  again  presents  the 
note  endorsed  by  one  Kaltwasser. 

'But  who  is  Mr.  Kaltwasser?    I  don't  think  I  know  him.' 
'0,  he's  my  bookkeeper,  and  he  ain't  wort  a1— well,  cent  will 
do,  though  Brodkorb  named  something  of  even  smaller  value. 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  75 

The  Board  of  Directors,  by  a  unanimous  laugh,  approved 
the  suggestion;  and  from  that  time  forth  we  have  asked  no 
further  assurance  of  the  responsibility  of  a  guarantor  than  the 
appearance  of  his  name  in  the  city  directory.  And  results  have 
fully  justified  this  liberal  policy  Insistence  on  a  property 
qualification  for  guarantors  would  have  barred  out  thousands, 
especially  children;  while  the  loss  of  books  drawn  by  card- 
holders has  been  insignificant,  not  to  be  compared  with  the 
loss  to  the  community  that  would  have  resulted  from  depriving 
so  many  young  people  of  the  benefits  of  the  library.  In  the 
first  year  of  the  free  library,  out  of  331,000  books  drawn  by 
cardholders,  only  three  were  not  returned.  During  the  last 
library  year,  ending  April  30th,  1899,  the  loss  was  65  out  of 
698,000  books  drawn  for  home  reading,  less  than  one  in  ten 
thousand. 

The  guaranty,  like  all  our  blanks,  intended  for  filing,  is  a 
card  of  standard  size,  the  33r  card  of  the  Library  Bureau.  For 
all  records  subject  to  much  handling,  we  find  it  economy  to 
buy  the  highest  grade  cards ;  and  in  the  case  of  catalogue  cards 
convenience  of  manipulation  seems  to  justify  our  choice  of  cards 
of  maximum  thickness.  The  guaranty  card  is  in  the  following 
form.  The  blank  line  at  the  top  is  filled  by  the  registration  clerk 
with  the  name  of  the  guarantor,  and  the  cards  are  filed  in 
drawers  in  alphabetical  order. 


(Do  not  write  here  ) 

Public  Library 

St.  Louis,  ig 

I,  the  undersigned,  hereby  agree  to  be  responsible  for  any 
loss  of,  or  damage  to,  the  books  of  the  St.  Louis  Public  (Free) 

Library  issued  to 

and  for  any  penalties  incurred  by  h through  violation  of 

the  rules  of  the  library. 

Signature  (in  ink)  

Address  

THIS  CARD  WILL  NOT  BE  ACCEPTED  IP  SOILED  OR  FOLDED. 

Made  by  Library  Bureau,  Chicago. 

Upon  the  return  of  this  card,  properly  signed,  the  applicant 
is  requested  to  sign  and  give  the  information  required  by  the 
following  card: 


76      FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

This   Application   Must   Be   Filled   Out   m   Ink,    and   Approved,    Before 

No 

I,  the  undersigned,  apply  for  a  reader's  card  in  the  St  Louis 
Public  (Free)  Library 

CROSS   OUT  WHAT       f  am  a  resident  of  the  city, 
I     •!  am  a  taxpayer  in  the  city, 
DOES  NOT  APPLY        [  have  permanent  employment  in  the 

city, 

and  hereby  agree  to  comply  with  all  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  Library,  to  make  good  any  loss  or  injury  sustained  by 
it  through  issuing  a  card  entitling  me  to  draw  books,  and  TO 
GIVE  IMMEDIATE  NOTICE  OF  CHANGE  OF  RESI- 
DENCE. 

Signature   (in  ink)    

Residence   « •  •  •   • 

Occupation  

Place  of  business 

THIS  CARD  WILL  NOT  BE  ACCEPTED  IF  SOILED  OR  KOKD. 

The  two  blank  lines  at  the  top  are  filled  by  the  registration 
clerk,  one  with  the  name  of  the  applicant,  the  other  with  his 
number,  which  consists  of  the  initial  letter  of  his  name,  with 
a  number  which  indicates  how  many  persons  of  that  initial 
have  thus  far  been  registered.  Application  cards  for  adults 
are  white;  for  minors  (the  line  being  drawn  at  seventeen) 
blue,  with  the  item  'School1  added,  and  the  item  'Taxpayer' 
omitted. 

From  these  forms  it  will  be  seen  that  anyone  may  obtain 
a  reader's  card  if  he  is  a  resident  or  a  taxpayer  in  the  city, 
or  if  he  has  permanent  employment  therein, 

The  application  card  being  duly  signed,  a  reader's  card  is 
immediately  made  out  and  handed  to  the  applicant.  Applications 
are  received  through  our  delivery  stations  and  from  the  public 
schools;  and  the  reader's  cards  are  sent  through  the  same  chan- 
nels. The  reader's  card  (of  thick,  high-grade  stock,  and,  like 
all  other  cards,  of  standard  size)  has  the  corners  rounded,  in 
order  that  it  may  more  easily  slip  into  the  book  pocket  and  be 
less  liable  to  become  dog-eared.  On  its  face  at  the  top  are  the 
reader's  registration  number  and  the  date  of  the  card's  expira- 
tion, which  is  three  years  from  the  date  of  its  issue.  Just  below 
these  are  the  following  essential  injunctions :  'This  card  must  be 
presented  whenever  a  book  is  drawn,  returned,  or  renewed' 
'IMMEDIATE  NOTICE  OF  CHANGE  OF  RESIDENCE  MUST  BE  GIVEN/ 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  77 

At  the  bottom  appears  the  direction:  'Ask  Questions  at  the 
Information  Desk  or  of  the  Assistant  in  Charge/  followed  by 
the  warning,  'Forfeited  if  Transferred.'  The  rest  of  the  card 
is  divided,  by  two  heavy  and  three  light  vertical  lines  and  ten 
light  horizontal  lines,  into  sixty  spaces,  or  thirty  pairs  of  spaces, 
for  recording  the  issue  and  the  return  of  thirty  books.  At  pres- 
ent the  reverse  side  of  the  card  gives  the  library  hours,  direc- 
tions how  to  renew  books,  etc.;  but  hereafter  this  side  will 
contain  only  the  ruled  spaces  for  the  loan  record.  The  instruc- 
tions now  printed  on  the  card  are  given  elsewhere;  and  making 
both  sides  of  the  card  available  for  the  loan  record  will  be  a 
considerable  saving  of  stationery. 

Cards  for  readers  under  seventeen  bear  the  same  directions 
on  the  back,  with  the  addition  of  the  words,  'Minor.  Only 
books  suitable  for  young  people  will  be  issued  on  this  card.1 

I  may  add  in  passing  that  supervision  of  young  people's 
reading  does  not  cease  with  the  issue  of  adult  cards. 

Every  adult  may  have  a  second  card,  on  which  any  book 
but  a  novel  may  be  drawn;  and  to  teachers  and  clergymen  is 
issued  a  third  card  entitling  them  to  draw  six  books  at  a  time 
for  professional  purposes.  Until  recently  we  had  special  appli- 
cation cards  for  each  of  these;  but  to  simplify  our  records  we 
now  have  the  recipient  of  an  extra  card  sign  for  it  on  the 
back  of  his  regular  application. 

Extra  cards  are  identified  by  an  'X'  preceding  the  holder's 
regular  card  number.  For  example,  when  a  person  whose  card 
number  is  32593  applies  for  an  extra  card,  the  registration 
clerk  writes  this  number  after  the  large  X  that  is  printed  on 
the  extra  cards. 

Teachers'  cards  are  ruled  for  the  issue  record  on  both  sides, 
and  are  identified  by  a  'T/  followed  by  the  holder's  regular 
number. 

These  four  kinds  of  borrower's  cards  are  readily  distin- 
guished by  a  marked  difference  of  colour. 

The  guaranty  cards  are  filed  in  drawers  in  alphabetical 
order,  so  that  in  a  moment  we  can  furnish  an  inquirer  with  a 
list  of  all  persons  for  whom  he  has  guaranteed  Application 
cards  are  filed  in  the  same  manner;  and  before  a  reader's  card 
is  issued,  reference  is  made  to  this  record  to  see  if  the  appli- 
cant has  already  received  a  card,  and  also  to  see  if  there  are 


78  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

any  charges  against  him.  Whenever  a  card  is  held  for  an  un- 
paid fine,  it  is  filed  with  the  application  card  and  is  given  back 
to  the  reader  only  on  payment  of  the  fine.  If  a  reader  loses 
his  card,  he  must  pay  fivepence  and  wait  a  week  for  another. 
The  purpose  of  the  rule  is  obvious.  If  some  penalty  were  not 
attached  to  the  loss  of  a  card,  if  some  charge  were  not  made 
for  its  replacement,  persons  who  had  merely  forgotten  to  bring 
their  cards  would  represent  them  as  lost  and  ask  for  new  ones. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  200  we  should  probably  have  to  replace 
500  or  more  cards  a  month,  with  no  return  for  the  outlay  of 
time  and  stationery.  Thus  the  careless  and  conscienceless  would 
be  able  to  make  others  share  the  cost  of  their  delinquencies. 
Under  this  wise  rule  all  the  expense  caused  by  carelessness  is 
borne  by  the  careless,  and  our  fund  is  increased  by  nearly  £50 
a  year. 

The  double  requirement  of  an  advance  payment  of  ten 
cents  and  a  week's  wait  may  seem  unnecessarily  severe;  but  it 
has  been  found  that  neither  penalty  is  sufficient  alone.  Most 
men  will  not  much  mind  the  fivepence;  but  if  they  find  they 
have  also  to  wait  a  week,  they  bethink  them  that  perhaps  they 
can  find  the  card,  and  they  go  home  and  do  so.  Women  and 
children,  on  the  other  hand,  are  generally  willing  to  wait  the 
week,  but  when  it  comes  to  the  fivepence,  they  conclude  it  will 
be  cheaper  to  make  further  search  for  the  card  But  the  sav- 
ing of  stationery  and  time  is  not  the  only  consideration.  If 
duplicate  cards  were  freely  issued,  their  number  would  be  so 
great  as  to  cause  serious  complications  in  our  accounts  with 
borrowers.  In  spite  of  the  double  check  provided  by  the  rule, 
the  number  of  duplicate  cards  issued  is  a  source  of  consider- 
able trouble. 

This  rule  exemplifies  a  sound  general  principle.  Rules  should 
be  so  framed  and  so  applied  as  to  make  careless  people  pay  the 
cost  of  their  carelessness;  and  correctively  there  should  be  a 
constant  effort  to  avoid  making  the  innocent  suffer  for,  or  with, 
the  guilty. 

For  convenience  in  recording  loans,  each  reader  is  known 
by  the  initial  letter  of  his  name,  followed  by  a  number  which 
indicates  how  many  persons  of  that  initial  have  registered  up 
to  date.  For  example,  A 1923  is  the  card  number  of  the  i, 923rd 
person  registered  in  the  present  series  whose  name  begins  with 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  79 

A.  The  total  registration  in  force  at  any  time  may  be  found 
by  adding  the  number  on  the  last  card  issued  under  each  letter 
of  the  alphabet.  To  ascertain  who  A  1,923  is,  it  is  necessary 
to  have  an  alphabetico-numencal  index  Registration,  there- 
fore, involves  the  filling  of  four  cards:  guaranty  card,  appli- 
cation card,  borrower's  index  card,  and  reader's  card.  The 
first  three,  being  filed,  enable  us  to  ascertain  immediately:  first, 
a  reader's  number  if  hjs  name  is  given;  second,  his  name  if 
his  number  is  given;  third,  the  names  of  persons  for  whom 
any  given  individual  has  guaranteed 

For  use  of  books  within  the  library  there  is  no  requirement 
beyond  reasonably  cleanly  appearance  and  decent  deportment 
and  the  signing  of  the  following  blank.  Upon  return  of  the 
books,  the  lower  portion  of  the  slip  is  torn  off  and  handed  to 
the  borrower,  while  the  remainder  is  kept  for  statistics  of  issue. 

ST.  LOUIS  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 
FOR  READING  ROOM  USE  ONLY. 

The  borrower  of  the  following  works  is  required  to  return 
them  to  the  desk  BEFORE  LEAVING  THE  BUILDING, 
AND  CLAIM  THE  RECEIPT  BELOW.  Otherwise  he  will 
be  held  responsible  for  any  loss  or  damage  that  may  occur. 


AUTHOR 

TITLE 

CLASS 

NUMBER 

one 
I  desire          of  the  above  FOR  READING  ROOM  USE 

all 

ONLY,  and  promise  to  return  the  same  in  good  order  before 
leaving  the  building. 

Name  

Residence  

Date  

In  the  general  reference  room,  containing  some  13,000  vol- 
umes, free  access  is  given  to  all  proper  persons,  who  are  merely 
requested  to  sign,  before  leaving,  a  blank  indicating  how  many 
volumes  they  have  consulted.  In  the  room  adjoining  and  con- 


8o       FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

necling  with  this,  the  fine  art  and  costly  illustrated  books  are 
kept  in  locked  cases.  There  is,  of  course,  an  attendant  m  each 
room  to  obtain  books  called  for  and  render  other  assistance 

CHARGING  SYSTEM 

'Not  as  we  would  but  as  we  must'  is  a  hard  rule  that  applies 
to  institutions  as  to  individuals.  It  is  only  stern  necessity  that 
keeps  this  library  m  crowded  quarters  on  the  top  floors  of  a 
commercial  building;  it  is  not  from  choice  that  we  have  deliv- 
ery stations  instead  of  blanches;  and  in  other  particulars  we 
are  not  doing  the  best  we  know,  but  the  best  we  can  undei  the 
circumstances.  But  this  institution  has  been  fortunate  m  being 
free  from  the  fetters  of  tradition,  which  in  ail  human  affairs 
is  the  greatest  clog  to  progress.  The  Public  School  Library, 
of  which  this  is  the  lineal  successor,  was  founded  and  organ- 
ized by  men  of  strong  and  original  minds,  who  studied  the 
problems  presented  unhampered  by  piejudicc  and  preconcep- 
tion. Prominent  among  these  was  Dr.  Wm.  T.  Harris,  to  whom 
I  have  already  referred  as  the  devisor  of  our  scheme  of  classi- 
fication, which  Melvil  Dewey  took  as  the  basis  of  his  decimal 
system.  During  the  twenty-five  years  following  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Public  School  Library,  a  wondciful  development  in 
library  economy  took  place  Many  experiments  were  tried,  some 
original,  some  in  imitation:  many  changes  were  made  in  meth- 
ods; but  so  long  as  the  institution  remained  a  subscription  li- 
brary, with  the  bulk  of  its  readers  life-members  who  had  grown 
accustomed  to  the  old  ways,  any  radical  change  affecting  the 
cardholders  would  have  been  impolitic  and  therefore  impracti- 
cable With  the  new  birth  of  the  institution  as  a  free  library, 
it  became  feasible  to  cast  off  any  old  garments  that  seemed  too 
scant  for  its  larger  dimensions,  or  likely  to  impede  its  growth, 
and  to  adopt  whatever  methods  experience,  our  own  and  that 
of  other  libraries,  had  shown  to  be  the  best. 

In  particular,  our  system  of  recording  loans  was  wholly 
inadequate  to  the  demands  of  a  circulation  which  we  felt  sure 
would  be  trebled  the  first  year.  For  years  I  had  wished  to 
change,  but  knew  it  would  be  futile  to  try  lo  induce  our  life- 
members  and  annual  subscribers  to  accept  a  plan  which  would 
require  them  always  to  present  a  card  when  drawing  or  return- 
ing a  book.  When,  however,  these  four  thousand  were  to  be- 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  81 

come  less  than  a  tenth  of  the  total  of  cardholders,  their  prefer- 
ences were  not  paramount;  and  the  necessity  of  a  system  that 
would  secure  greater  speed  and  accuracy  set  aside  all  other 
considerations.  After  a  fresh  review  of  all  the  charging  sys- 
tems in  vogue,  we  adopted  one  which,  in  its  essential  features, 
I  had  long  had  in  mind  It  has  come  to  be  known  as  the  New- 
ark system,  though  it  was  in  use  before  Newark  had  a  public 
library.  Together  with  one  or  two  minor  adaptations,  we  made 
one  important  change.  That  was  recording  the  loan  by  the 
date  when  the  book  is  due  instead  of  when  it  was  drawn  This 
feature  can  be  applied  to  any  charging  system;  and  common 
sense  urges  its  universal  adoption  The  reader  wants  to  know, 
not  when  he  drew  the  book,  but  when  he  should  return  it  It 
is  all  the  more  desirable  that  he  should  be  informed  of  this  date 
rather  than  that  of  the  loan,  because  some  books  may  be  kept 
a  week  and  some  two  weeks.  Having  a  memorandum  of  the 
date  when  the  book  is  due,  he  is  not  troubled  to  make  any  cal- 
culation. He  is  plainly  notified  that  he  must  return  the  book 
on  the  date  specified  The  library,  too,  is  concerned  only  with 
the  date  when  the  book  is  due;  and  in  the  case  of  fines  the 
necessity  of  a  double  calculation  is  avoided.  When  the  system 
used  supplies  to  the  borrower  no  memorandum  of  the  date,  the 
convenience  of  the  library  is  still  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  use 
of  the  due  date. 

Our  system  of  issuing  books  and  recording  loans  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

With  his  card  the  newly  legistered  reader  receives  from 
the  registration  clerk  general  directions  how  to  use  it  in  drawing 
books.  But  as  he  turns  from  the  registration  counter  he  faces, 
and  is  within  a  few  feet  of,  the  'Information  Desk/  in  the  open 
space  of  the  delivery  room,  to  which  he  is  referred  for  fuller 
instructions.  A  child  applying  here  is  directed,  or  taken,  to  the 
'Young  Folks'  Room'  just  opposite  and  about  twenty-five  feet 
away.  The  wishes  of  an  adult,  or  adolescent,  are  ascertained, 
and  he  is  instructed,  and  assisted,  accordingly.  He  may  want 
to  know  if  the  Library  has  Hudson's  'Law  of  Psychic  Phe- 
nomena,' or  Bryce's  Impressions  of  South  Africa/  or  Dickens' 
'David  Copperfield.'  He  is  told  that  we  have  the  book  named, 
and  given  a  call-slip  and  shown  how  to  fill  it,  receiving  the  sug- 
gestion to  put  down  other  titles,  so  that  he  may  get  a  second 


82  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

choice  in  case  the  book  most  wanted  is  not  in  Or  he— generally 
she— may  ask  if  we  have  Mrs.  Holmes'  'Works.'  In  response 
to  this  inquiry  a  drawer  from  the  'Index  to  Authors'  is  taken 
out,  and  the  applicant  is  referred  to  the  most  soiled  cards  * 
in  the  catalogue  as  furnishing  a  complete  list  of  the  desired 
'works.'  A  woman  wants  to  know  what  we  have  on  French 
history.  She  is  taken  to  the  'Classified  Catalogue'  and  shown 
the  drawer  marked  'p4c,  French  history'  She  is  also  reminded 
that  some  of  the  most  interesting  books  relating  to  French 
history  are  to  be  found  in  personal  memoirs,  in  the  class  Biog- 
raphy, Q7b.  A  student  or  workman  wants  to  know  what  books 
on  electricity  are  in  the  library.  He  also  is  conducted  to  the 
classified  catalogue;  and  Classes  43  and  43a  are  pointed  out  to 
him.  Again,  the  reader  may  want  merely  a  'nice  book.'  He — 
again  generally  she— is  directed,  or  accompanied,  to  the  open- 
shelf  room,  where  may  be  found  new  novels  in  one  place, 
other  new  books  (the  latest  accessions)  arranged  in  classes,  in 
another,  and  in  other  sections  several  hundred  old  novels  of 
grades  from  fair  to  first-class,  a  compartment  of  'Best  novels,' 
shelves  containing  foreign  fiction  (German,  French,  Spanish, 
Italian  and  Polish),  a  selection  of  the  best  books  in  all  classes, 
and  lastly,  filling  four  sections,  the  'Collection  of  Duplicates.' 
Then  there  are  the  student,  the  club-woman  preparing  a  paper, 
the  seeker  for  information  on  some  particular  point  Many 
of  these  are  directed  to  the  reference  room  upstairs ;  but  a  ma- 
jority want  books  they  can  take  home.  Reference  to  the  cata- 
logue is  not  sufficient:  personal  help  must  be  given.  When 
the  information  clerk  cannot  readily  refer  to  the  books  wanted 
and  is  too  busy  to  make  research,  she  calls  on  the  Assistant 
Librarian,  who,  during  most  of  the  day,  is  available  for  this 
work 

But  setting  aside  children  and  persons  whose  wants  take  them 
to  the  reference  department,  all  others  may  be  divided  into  two 
general  classes :  readers  who  choose  books  from  the  open  shelves, 
and  those  who  make  selections  from  the  catalogue  or  from 
among  books  they  have  heard  of.  The  former,  an  increasing 
number,  make  their  exit  from  the  open-shelf  room  through  a 
turnstile,  before  reaching  which  they  pass  immediately  in  front 

1  Judged  by  the  dirt  on  the  cards,  Dumas  rivals  Holmes  in  popu- 
larity The  cards  in  the  class  Electricity  would  be  in  worse  condition 
than  either,  if  they  had  not  been  recently  re-written. 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  83 

of  an  issue  clerk,  who  sees  that  all  books  in  their  possession 
are  properly  charged.  The  latter,  perhaps  75  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  number,  find  at  hand  (on  stands  in  front  of  the  cata- 
logue cases  and  on  desks  which  contain  various  printed  cata- 
logues) blocks  of  call-slips.  The  use  of  these  is  not  com- 
pulsory lists  prepared  at  home  on  pieces  of  paper  of  all  sorts 
and  sizes  are  accepted.  The  call-slip  is  7  inches  long  and  45i 
inches  wide,  with  matter  and  form  as  follows: 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

FOR  HOME  USE  ONLY 

Members  will  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  use  this  CALL 
SLIP  in  drawing  books  for  home  use. 

Selections  can  be  made  from  the  Card  Catalogue.  Directions 
for  using  it  will  be  found  attached  to  the  cabinet.  For  further 
information  apply  at  the  INFORMATION  DESK  or  to  the 
ASSISTANT  IN  CHARGE. 

Time  will  be  saved  by  giving  as  many  titles  as  possible, 
together  with  the  author  and  class  of  each  book. 

Reader's  Card  must  always  be  presented  when  drawing,  re- 
turning or  renewing  a  book. 


AUTHOR. 


TITLE. 


CLASS. 


Must  be 
filled  out 


Name  

Number  of  Card 


While  the  blank  requests  the  applicant  to  set  down  author, 
title,  and  class,  the  last  is  not  required  in  95  per  cent,  of  the 
books  called  for;  and  in  the  case  of  well-known  novels,  which 
constitute  a  large  part  of  the  circulation,  only  the  title  is  neces- 
sary. We  have  no  shelf-numbers ;  so  that  in  95  per  cent,  of  the 


84  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

calls,  readers  are  not  put  to  the  trouble  of  consulting  the  cata- 
logue. The  information  clerk,  when  appealed  to  for  the  class 
mark  of  books  wanted,  can  m  a  very  large  majority  of  cases 
supply  the  desired  information  off-hand.  It  is,  however,  our 
aim  to  teach  readers  how  to  use  the  catalogue,  and  in  every 
way  to  make  themselves  self-helpful 

With  card  and  call-slip  in  hand,  the  newly-registered  reader 
is  directed  to  the  receiving  clerk,  who  is  stationed  at  the  ex- 
treme left  of  the  counter  that  extends  across  the  width  of  the 
delivery  room,  some  thirty-five  feet.  A  double  rail  compels  an 
orderly  entrance  and  exit  from  the  receiving  window.  Close 
to  the  left  (t.<?.,  the  approaching  borrower's  left)  of  the  rail 
and  just  inside  the  stack  sits  the  Assistant  Librarian,  the  low 
counter  at  his  left  being  supplied  with  Toole's  Index'  and  other 
general  reference  works.  About  the  middle  of  the  long  counter 
is  an  issue  clerk,  and  at  the  other  end,  by  the  exit  from  the  open- 
shelf  room,  is  another  issue  clerk.  In  dull  times  one  clerk 
combines  the  duties  of  both  by  taking  a  station  just  outside 
the  turnstile  exit  from  the  open-shelf  space. 

Card  and  call-slip  (and  book,  if  there  is  one  to  be  returned) 
are  handed  in  at  the  receiving  window.  The  clerk  lays  card 
and  call-slip  in  a  wire  tray  on  a  stand  at  his  right,  whence  a 
messenger  takes  them.  The  latter,  having  procured  the  book 
called  for,  places  it,  with  card  and  call-slip  in  it,  on  a  stand 
on  the  right  of  the  issue  clerk.  Meanwhile  the  applicant  has 
seated  himself  on  one  of  several  benches  in  front  of  the  counter. 

On  the  front  lid  of  the  book  a  pocket  is  pasted.  On  this 
are  written,  as  previously  explained,  class,  catchword,  and  acces- 
sion number.  It  also  notifies  the  reader  that  his  card  must  be 
presented  in  drawing,  renewing,  or  returning  a  book,  and  that 
the  last  borrower  is  held  responsible  for  the  condition  of  the 
book.  On  the  flyleaf  opposite  is  attached  a  date  slip.  There  are 
four  kinds  of  these  slips,  corresponding  to  the  four  classes  of 
books:  regular  two-week  books,  renewable  for  the  same  period, 
new  books  that  may  be  kept  two  weeks  but  cannot  be  renewed, 
'seven-day  books,'  and  'C  D.'  books  The  slips  for  'regulars/ 
for  'seven-day  books,'  and  for  'C.  D.'s'  are  of  manila  paper, 
'regulars'  printed  in  black  ink,  'seven-day'  in  red,  and  'C.  D.'  in 
blue.  The  fourth  slip  is  headed  in  large  type,  'New  Book— Not 
Renewable,'  and  is  of  white  paper  with  black  ink.  The  slips 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  85 

vary  slightly  in,  size,  averaging  about  5  by  4%  inches.    One, 
that  for  'regulars,'  must  suffice  as  a  sample. 

This  Book  may  be         -  .  DAVC       an<^  can  ^e  renewe(^ 
kept  out  J4  UAYi>  but  once 

IF  ISSUED  AS  AN  EXTRA 
IT  MAY  BE  KEPT  OUT  ONE  WEEK  AND  CAN  BE  RENEWED  THREE  TIMES, 

Fine  for  over-detention  two  cents  a  day. 

Alterations  of  the  records  below  are  strictly  prohibited. 


DUE 


DUE 


DUB 


DUE 


DUE. 


To  accommodate  an  occasional  special  want  of  a  reader  or 
student,  additional  books  are  issued  from  the  regular  collection 
on  the  same  terms  as  from  the  'Collection  of  Duplicates/  This 
explains  the  provision  on  the  slip  for  the  issue  of  a  regular 
volume  as  an  'extra.' 

'Seven-day  books'  and  'New  books — not  renewable'  have 
additional  labels  in  large  type  pasted  on  the  outside  of  the  front 
cover,  calling  attention  to  their  special  character. 


86  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

In  every  pocket  there  is  a  card  (standard  size)  bearing  at 
the  top  the  accession  number,  author,  title,  and  class  of  the 
volume,  the  rest  of  the  card  being  ruled  spaces,  in  pairs,  for 
writing  the  reader's  number  and  stamping  the  date  when  the 
book  is  to  be  returned.  The  clerk  writes  on  the  book-card 
the  registry  number  of  the  borrower  (found  on  his  card),  and 
then  stamps  the  'due  date'  in  three  places :  on  the  book-card,  the 
date-slip,  and  the  borrower's  card. 

The  clerk  places  the  book-card,  according  to  class,  in  the 
proper  compartment  of  a  little  pigeon-hole  case;  then  he  in- 
serts the  reader's  card  in  the  book  pocket,  and,  as  he  does  so, 
calls  the  owner's  name.  It  is  all  done  in  much  less  time  than  it 
takes  to  read  about  it.  How  quickly  is  indicated  by  the  fact 
that  one  issue  clerk  and  three  runners  can  issue  300  books  an 
hour,  while  one  receiving  clerk  can  credit  the  return  of  many 
more  than  that  number. 

Why  stamp  the  date  in  three  places?  On  the  book-card  the 
purpose  is  obvious:  it  shows  when  the  volume  represented  by 
that  card  is  due.  On  the  reader's  card  it  is  a  debit,  and  shows 
when  the  debt  is  payable  wthout  interest.  The  object  of  the 
third  stamp  is  not  so  apparent.  Its  omission  would  not,  of 
course,  impair  the  accuracy  and  completeness  of  the  record.  But 
if  the  book  contained  no  memorandum  of  the  date  it  is  due, 
then  the  reader's  card  would  offer  the  only  clue  to  the  where- 
abouts of  the  book-card,  and  the  borrower  would  have  to  wait 
for  the  book-card  to  be  found  before  he  could  be  credited 
with  the  return  of  the  book.  By  means  of  the  date-slip  the 
book-card  can  be  found  at  any  time,  and  the  cardholder  is  de- 
tained only  the  second  (literally)  required  to  stamp  his  card 
with  the  date  the  book  is  returned— 4  e.,  if  he  returns  it  on  or 
before  the  day  it  is  due.  If  a  fine  is  to  be  collected,  a  few  addi- 
tional seconds  are  consumed  in  recording  the  receipt  on  the 
autographic  cash  register. 

I  have  followed  what  seemed  to  be  the  closest  and  most 
natural  sequence  in  describing  this  process,  which,  in  the  explana- 
tion, may  seem  elaborate,  but  which,  in  execution,  is  simple  and 
quick.  Perhaps  I  should  have  mentioned  sooner  that  the  book- 
cards  are  placed  upright  in  a  tray,  each  day's  issue  being  sep- 
arated from  others  by  a  dated  guide,  and  arranged  by  classes 
in  this  manner:  ist,  all  books  from  classes  I  to  6pa  inclusive, 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  87 

known  as  the  'befores'  (*.*,,  those  coming  before  fiction,  6pb) ; 
then  regular  two-week  novels ;  then  'seven-day*  and  'CD.'  books ; 
then  juveniles;  then  the  'afters/  ie,  the  remaining  classes.  In 
each  class  the  cards  are  arranged  first  by  author  and  then  by 
accession  number,  the  latter  being  the  final  mark  of  individual 
identification.  This  divides  each  day's  issue  into  five  groups,  the 
largest,  of  course,  being  fiction. 

As  a  book  is  handed  to  him  the  receiving  clerk  merely  stamps 
the  date  on  the  reader's  card,  thus  crediting  its  return  If  the 
card  is  accompanied  by  an  order  for  another  book,  he,  as  al- 
ready explained,  places  card  and  call-slip  in  a  wire  tray  at 
his  right  hand.  If  not,  he  slides  the  card  towards  its  presenter 
with  his  left  hand,  while  with  his  right  he  lays  the  book  on  a 
stand  on  a  level  with  and  at  right  angles  to  his  counter.  On 
the  other  side  of  this  stand  is  the  checking  clerk,  who,  with 
left  hand,  takes  one  of  the  returned  books,  notes  the  date  on 
the  label  (which  tells  him  in  what  compartment  of  the  tray  the 
book-card  is),  and  the  class  mark  (which  locates  the  sub- 
division), and  in  less  time  than  it  takes  me  to  explain  he  has 
found  the  card,  replaced  it  in  the  pocket,  and  laid  the  book  on 
a  truck  at  his  right  hand,  which,  when  full,  is  wheeled  off  to 
the  sorting  tables  some  fifteen  feet  away. 

Having  explained  the  process  in  detail,  let  me  briefly  reca- 
pitulate Every  circulating  volume  has  a  pocket  pasted  on  the  in- 
side of  the  front  cover.  On  the  flyleaf  opposite  is  pasted  a 
date-slip.  Every  volume  is  represented  by  a  book-card,  which 
is  kept  in  the  pocket  as  long  as  the  volume  remains  on  the 
shelves  Whenever  the  book  is  out  of  the  library,  whether  in 
the  possession  of  a  cardholder  or  at  the  bindery,  the  card,  prop- 
erly filed,  shows  where  it  is  and  when  its  return  may  be  ex- 
pected. Every  borrower  must  present  a  card  in  drawing  or  re- 
turning a  book.  The  book  is  charged  to  him  by  writing  his 
number  on  the  book-card  and  stamping  the  date  when  the  book 
is  due  This  date  is  also  stamped  on  his  card  and  on  the  date- 
slip.  When  the  book  is  returned  there  is  nothing  to  be  done, 
so  far  as  the  borrower  is  concerned,  but  to  stamp  the  date  of 
return  on  his  card  Afterwards— it  may  be  a  minute  or  an  hour 
later — the  book-card  is  found  through  the  clue  of  the  date-slip 
and  replaced  in  the  pocket;  and  the  transaction  is  complete. 
The  two  great  desiderata,  the  absolute  essentials  of  a  charg- 


88  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

ing  system  for  an  active  circulating  library,  are  accuracy  and 
speed.  Of  the  rapidity  with  which  books  can  be  issued  and 
received,  I  have  already  spoken.  The  accuracy  of  the  method 
is,  I  think,  apparent.  The  book-card  shows  who  has  the  volume 
and  when  it  is  due.  The  borrower's  card  informs  him  that  he 
has  a  book  and  tells  him  when  to  return  it.  There  is  little 
chance  for  the  frequent  controversy  of  former  years  over  the 
claims  of  cardholders  that  they  had  no  books  in  their  posses- 
sion Every  return  of  a  book  is  credited  on  the  borrower's  card. 
The  card  is  the  arbiter  of  all  disputes;  and  since  we  have  had 
this  respected  referee  there  have  been  but  few  contested  cases 
There  is,  I  think,  no  requirement  of  any  importance  that  is 
not  met  by  this  system. 

1.  A  simple  count  at  the  close  of  the  day  tells  how  many 
books  in  each  class  were  issued. 

2.  A  count  of  cards  in  the  tray  will  show  at  any  time  how 
many  and  what  books  are  in  the  hands  of  borrowers. 

3.  If  there  is  any  special  reason  for  knowing  who  has  a 
certain  book,  this  fact  can  be  ascertained;  also,  when  it  will 
probably  be  returned. 

4.  Cards  for  books  overdue  exhibit  themselves  automati- 
cally. 

5.  The  book-card  shows  how  many  times  the  volume  it 
represents  has  been  drawn;  and  by  saving  these  cards  we  can 
prepare  for  the  annual  report  a  table  exhibiting  the  issue  of  the 
more  popular  books— or  any  books  chosen. 

Among  items  of  information  sometimes  held  to  be  desirable 
is  a  knowledge  of  what  books  have  been  drawn  by  a  given  in- 
dividual. This  I  regard  as  of  no  consequence  whatever,  Ex- 
cept upon  the  inquiry  of  parents  or  teachers  regarding  the 
reading  of  their  children,  it  is  an  impertinent  inquisition;  and 
the  desire  for  it,  from  any  source,  on  any  grounds,  is  so  rare 
as  not  to  be  worth  considering.  For  about  two  years  during 
the  subscription  regime,  I  tried  a  system  that  readily  furnished 
this  information.  I  can  recall  but  one  instance  in  which  it  was 
ever  wanted  (in  the  case  of  a  certain  class  of  readers  to  whom 
free  tickets  had  been  given) ;  and  then  it  could  have  been  fur- 
nished with  sufficient  accuracy  without  the  record. 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  89 

CIRCULATION  STATISTICS 

I  have  explained  how,  by  placing  each  book-card  in  its  proper 
pigeon-hole,  the  issue  is  classified  as  the  books  are  given  out, 
so  that  at  any  moment  a  count  of  cards  would  show  how  many 
books  in  each  class  had  been  issued  during  the  day  up  to  that 
time.  This  count  is  made  as  soon  as  work  at  the  issue  desk 
grows  slack  in  the  evening,  and  is  completed  directly  after  the 
close  of  the  circulation  department,  at  nine  o'clock,  an  hour  be- 
fore the  general  closing  of  the  library. 

Statistics  for  each  day's  circulation  come  from  four  different 
sources:  the  'main  desk,'  the  juvenile  department,  the  delivery 
station  department,  and  renewals.  The  'main  issue'  comprises 
three  items  that  are  kept  separate:  books  issued  on  call  slips, 
regulars  chosen  from  the  open  shelves,  and  'C.  D  V  In  busy 
times,  as  already  explained,  the  last  two  classes  are  charged 
by  the  clerk  at  the  exit  from  the  open-shelf  room,  while  an- 
other clerk  charges  books  drawn  on  call-slips.  Ordinarily  one 
clerk  charges  all. 

The  count  having  been  made  the  previous  evening,  every 
morning  a  blank  is  sent  to  each  of  the  clerks  who  keep  the  sev- 
eral records.  This  blank,  six  inches  square,  is  headed  'Issue 
Report,'  with  line  for  'Date.'  By  vertical  lines  it  is  divided  into 
six  main  columns:  'Main  issue/  'Juvenile/  'Del.  station/  'Re- 
newals/ 'Reading-room/  Total*  The  broad  division  for  'Mam 
issue'  is  subdivided  into  narrow  columns  for  'Regular/  'C.  D  / 
and  'Open  Shelf.'  Horizontal  lines  mark  the  thirteen  main 
classes  into  which  the  collection  is  divided,  and  the  subclass  of 
'Seven-day  fiction'  Thus,  without  any  trouble,  we  know  every 
morning  just  how  many  volumes  were  issued  the  previous  day 
over  the  main  counter;  how  many  of  these  were  drawn  on 
call-slips,  and  how  many  chosen  from  the  open-shelf  room; 
how  many  volumes  were  issued  in  the  juvenile  department,  and 
how  many  through  the  delivery  stations,  and  in  each  case  how 
many  volumes  were  fiction,  how  many  history,  etc.,  etc.  This 
daily  record  is  posted  into  a  ledger  i  which  has  weekly  and 

1  We  shall  shortly,  as  soon  as  the  present  Wank  book  is  filled,  abandon 
the  ledger  and  keep  the  statistics  on  sheets  ruled  like  the  pages  of  the 
ledger,  and  in  all  respects  the  same,  each  sheet  containing  the  record 
for  a  month.  The  only  difference  will  be  that  these  sheets,  instead  of 
being  bound  into  a  folio  volume,  will  be  filed  in  a  temporary  binder  and 
kept  until  the  annual  report  is  printed.  When  the  record  they  contain 
appears  in  print  there  will  be  no  reason  for  their  future  preservation. 
This  change,  which  we  made  two  years  ago  m  our  reading-room  record, 
conduces  to  both  convenience  and  economy.  Sheets  are  easier  to  handle, 
and  we  are  saved  the  unnecessary  expense  of  binding. 


go  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

monthly  footings,  enabling  us  to  make  comparisons  week  with 
week  or  month  with  month,  and  to  ascertain  in  a  few  minutes 
the  issue  in  each  department  or  the  total  issue  up  to  the  present 
day. 

One  of  the  columns  of  the  'Issue  Report'  blank  requires 
explanation.  Under  the  heading  'Reading-room'  are  recorded 
the  books  from  the  circulation  department  that  are  issued  for 
use  in  the  reading-room.  Some  of  these  are  for  pui  poses  of 
study,  others  are  for  the  passing  of  a  leisure  hour.  They  are 
of  course,  all  included  among  'books  used  in  the  library,'  but 
are  distinct  from  the  books  used  in  the  reference  room.  The 
call-slips  on  which  they  are  issued  are  kept  by  the  receiving 
clerk,  who,  as  a  volume  is  returned,  hands  to  the  borrower  the 
lower  portion  of  the  slip  (containing  the  reader's  name)  as  a 
receipt,  retaining  the  other  part  with  title  of  the  book  for 
statistical  purposes.  There  is  also  a  daily  issue  report  from 
the  reference  department,  which  shows  the  number  of  volumes 
used  in  each  of  the  thirteen  main  classes 

RENEWALS 

Books  may  be  renewed  in  three  ways:  first,  by  handing  in 
(at  the  receiving  window)  book  and  borrower's  card;  second, 
by  handing  in  card,  together  with  a  memorandum  of  the  bor- 
rower's number,  of  author  and  title  of  the  book,  and  the  date 
when  due  (blanks  are  provided  for  this  purpose) ;  third,  by 
sending  card  and  the  same  items  by  mail,  together  with  a 
stamped  and  addressed  envelope  for  the  return  of  the  cards 
In  the  first  case,  the  receiving  clerk  stamps  the  borrower's  card 
'Renewed';  the  book-card  is  taken  from  the  tray;  both  cards 
are  placed  in  the  book ;  and  the  book  is  given  to  the  issue  clerk, 
by  whom  it  is  treated  exactly  like  a  new  issue.  In  the  second 
case,  'Renewed'  is  stamped  on  the  card,  and  the  card  is  sent 
to  the  issue  clerk,  who  simply  stamps  the  new  date  on  it  and 
hands  it  to  the  owner.  This  ends  the  transaction  so  far  as  he 
is  concerned.  Then,  at  a  convenient  time,  the  book  record  is 
changed  from  the  memorandum.  The  third  procedure  is,  of 
course,  exactly  the  same  as  in  the  second,  except  that  the  bor- 
rower's card  is  returned  by  mail.  If  a  stamped  envelope  is  not 


HOW  THINGS  ARE  DONE  91 

inclosed,  or  i£  a  fine  is  due,  the  book  is  renewed;  but  the  bor- 
rower's card  is  sent  to  the  registration  department,  where  it  is 
held  till  called  for.  Renewal  may  be  effected  by  either  method 
through  the  delivery  stations.  All  memoranda  connected  with 
renewals  are  kept  for  two  months  for  reference  in  case  of 
controversy. 

OUR  LATEST  CHANGE  IN  METHOD 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  recording  loans  I  must  men- 
tion a  minor  change  in  our  method  of  charging  'C.  D.'  books 
which  we  have  made  since  I  explained  the  plan  in  my  first 
paper.  I  venture,  subject  to  editorial  censorship,  to  give  this 
little  note  the  emphasis  of  a  sub-caption;  because  the  change, 
small  as  it  is,  illustrates  an  important  principle. 

We  are  apt  to  follow  beaten  paths,  however  winding  they 
may  be,  and  to  do  things  merely  because  our  fathers,  or  im- 
mediate predecessors,  did.  Men  still  carry  a  stone  in  one  end 
of  the  sack  to  balance  the  meal  in  the  other ;  and  many  a  sentry 
may  be  found  pacing  a  profitless  and  senseless  round  where 
once  a  gillyflower  grew. 

In  the  account  of  our  'Collection  of  Duplicates'  I  explained 
that  we  sold  special  cards  on  which  books  could  be  drawn  from 
this  collection.  With  the  charging  used  under  the  subscription 
regime,  these  cards  were  necessary;  they  were  incorporated  with 
the  new  system  simply  because  they  had  always  been  used,  and 
because—well,  because  we  didn't  think.  One  of  our  assistants 
who  took  an  occasional  turn  at  the  issue  desk  and  approached 
this  work  with  unprejudiced  perceptions,  raised  in  his  own 
mind  the  question  why  the  regular  borrower's  card  couldn't  be 
used  for  charging  loans  from  the  'Collection  of  Duplicates/ 
He  propounded  the  question  to  the  regular  issue  clerks  and 
then  to  the  Assistant  Librarian,  who  presented  it  to  me  It 
struck  us  all  as  a  happy  thought ;  there  seemed  at  first  to  be  no 
objection  to  it.  Gradually,  difficulties  began  to  appear,  the  chief 
of  which  was  the  aversion  of  the  public  to  any  innovation  Our 
'Second  Officer,'  a  man  of  methodical  mind  and  judicial  temper, 
tabulated  the  pros  and  cons.  We  all  slept  on  it  two  or  three 
nights.  Then  a  conference  was  called  of  those  directly  con- 
cerned— ie.,  the  issue  clerks  and  those  having  constant  personal 
contact  with  the  public.  Out  of  the  eight  present  six  favoured 


92       FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

the  change,  and  the  other  two  were  not  opposed  to  it.  So  no- 
tice was  at  once  given;  and  a  few  weeks  later,  on  April  ist, 
the  new  plan  was  put  into  operation.  A  few  people,  oE  course, 
do  not  like  the  change,  but  to  an  overwhelming  majority  it  is 
bound  to  prove  acceptable  because  it  saves  them  some  time  and 
trouble.  In  the  other  two  recent  changes  that  I  have  referred 
to,  the  question  was  more  simple,  as  they  did  not  directly  af- 
fect the  public  Such  changes  we  are  constantly  making. 

In  library  methods,  as  in  mundane  affairs  geneially,  it  is 
safe  to  accept  as  a  dictum  of  extensive  application  that  'What- 
ever is  is  wrong,'  i.e.,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  we  have  not  yet 
attained  to  the  best.  It  behoves  us,  none  the  less,  by  wide  com- 
parison and  constant  exercise  of  judgment,  to  select  the  best 
that  has  thus  far  been  discovered  or  developed,  which  is  the 
surest  stepping-stone  towards  something  still  better.  In  lines 
that  do  not  directly  affect  the  public,  we  may  freely  experi- 
ment; but  the  public  does  not  like  to  be  a  party  to  experiments, 
and  before  we  attempt  innovations  at  the  point  of  contact  with 
our  readers  we  must  be  reasonably  sure  that  the  change  will 


THE  HOME  USE  OF  BOOKS 

Although  the  proper  care  of  books  is  an  exceedingly 
important  duty  of  the  librarian,  it  is  possible  to  pay  so 
much  attention  to  this  as  to  seriously  impede  their  use. 
In  the  middle  ages  the  duties  of  a  librarian  were  simple, 
as  books  were  usually  heirlooms  or  gifts — exceedingly 
costly  and  used  by  few.  There  are  libraries  in  the  old 
world  where  one  may  still  see  how,  in  the  days  when 
the  printing  press  had  not  yet  put  an  end  to  the  painful 
labors  of  the  scriptorium,  the  utility  of  books  was  sac- 
rificed to  their  security.  In  Florence,  the  Laurentian 
Library  displays  hundreds  of  chained  volumes. 

Today  the  library  is  for  use,  not  simply  for  preser- 
vation— it  is  made  thoroughly  accessible  and  adminis- 
tered with  a  view  to  general  utility.  The  public  appre- 
ciates the  library  as  its  own  instrument,  a  bank  where 
intellectual  currency  is  lent,  borrowed,  saved  and  cared 
for. 

The  lending  of  books  for  home  use  is  now  one  of  the 
public  library's  most  important  functions.  In  most  li- 
braries the  number  of  books  available  for  lending  is  a 
large  proportion  of  the  whole;  and  in  many  there  is 
theoretically  no  obstacle  to  the  lending  of  any  part  of 
the  stock,  though  it  may  be  necessary  to  retain  a  con- 
siderable number  for  reference  purposes.  The  allowed 
number  withdrawn  at  once  has  steadily  increased  until 
now  in  most  libraries  there  is  little  restriction  in  this 
regard.  The  old  idea  that  reference  use  is  always  seri- 
ous and  home  use  is  relatively  trivial,  is  fast  disappear- 
ing. The  open  shelf  system,  which  makes  the  shelves 
free  to  the  user,  is  now  universal  in  branch  libraries  and 
is  gaining  ground  in  the  large  main  libraries  of  cities. 
This  in  itself  has  been  an  important  intensive  agency  in 
the  issue  of  books  for  home  use. 


FREE  LIBRARIES  AND  READERS 

At  the  time  this  paper  was  written,  in  1876,  the  mod- 
ern institution  of  free  libraries  was  barely  twenty-five 
years  old.  The  career  of  a  free  library  ran  naturally 
on  by  stages,  and  was  at  the  best  self-developing,  or  but 
partially  aided  from  the  outside.  Then,  as  now,  that 
library  was  well  selected  which  was  best  able  to  answer 
reasonable  expectations— and  these  differed  according  to 
circumstances. 

The  following  paper  by  Dr.  Justin  Winsor  was  pub- 
lished in  Volume  I  of  The  Library  Journal  At  this 
time  Dr.  Winsor  was  superintendent  of  the  Boston  Pub- 
lic Library. 

Dr.  Justin  Winsor  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts, January  2,  1831.  He  entered  the  Harvard  Class 
of  1853,  and  after  graduation  continued  his  studies  in 
Paris  and  the  University  of  Heidelberg.  In  1868  he 
was  appointed  superintendent  of  the  Boston  Public  Li- 
brary, and  he  remained  there  until  1877.  From  1877  until 
his  death  in  1897,  he  was  librarian  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity. 

During  the  formative  period  of  library  development 
his  executive  ability  was  a  great  factor  in  shaping  the 
policy  of  the  American  Library  Association.  He  was 
president  of  the  Association  from  its  beginning  in  1876 
until  1885.  In  1877  he  represented  it  at  the  Inter- 
national Conference  of  Librarians  in  London.  In  1897 
he  was  again  elected  president  and  also  as  the  represen- 
tative of  the  American  Library  Association  at  the  Second 
International  Conference  in  London,  but  illness  pre- 
vented his  attendance. 

He  was  most  widely  known  as  an  historian  and 


o6  JUSTIN  WINSOR 

scholar,  having  made  voluminous  contributions  to  his- 
torical literature.      He  died  October  22,  1897. 

The  modern  institution  of  free  libraries  is  barely  five-and- 
twenly  years  old. 

In  England  and  Massachusetts  (which  took  the  lead  in 
America)  they  date  back  to  acts  of  Parliament  and  legislature 
of  nearly  even  dates. 

The  career  of  a  free  library  runs  naturally  on  by  stages, 
and  is  at  the  best  self-developing,  or  but  partially  aided  from 
the  outside.  The  old  adage  that  "work  begun  is  half  done"  is, 
perhaps,  true  in  some  sense.  There  arc  struggles  in  a  com- 
munity over  the  appropriation,  or  to  secure  the  raising,  of  funds, 
but  it  is  merely  initial  work.  The  future  of  a  library  depends 
on  what  is  done  next.  In  the  formation  of  a  collection  of  books 
there  will  be  much  scattered  and  aimless  action,  unless  the  prob- 
lem of  correspondence  between  the  library  and  its  constituency 
is  studied,  solved,  and  the  corollary  obeyed.  In  a  committee 
this  will  come  in  conflict  with  individual  positivism,  having  a 
love  of  domination  irrespective  of  consequences.  A  little  book- 
ishncss  in  a  committee-man  may  be  as  dangerous  as  a  sip  from 
the  poet's  Pierian  spring,  particularly  if  there  is  no  deeper 
learning  in  any  of  his  associates.  He  knows  just  enough  of 
books  not  to  know  he  knows  nothing  of  libraries.  He  docs 
not  comprehend  that  a  large  part  of  his  duty  is  to  reach  down 
to  those  who  are  reaching  up,  and  he  is  deluded  with  the  fancy 
that  crowds  will  cling  to  his  coat-tails  as  he  struggles  to  mount 
higher.  The  result  shows  him  that  his  caudal  artifice  stands 
no  rivalship  with  his  neighbors'  friendly  grasp  over  the  verge. 
It  is  fellowship,  shoulder-to-shoulder  ignorance,  a  beckoning 
hand,  a  child  among  children,  ploughmen  and  ploughman,  a 
signpost  for  the  way—that  constitutes  your  committeeman  above 
others.  If  he  can  be  all  these,  and  is  entrusted  with  the  selec- 
tion of  books  for  the  shelves,  he  may  have  as  much  book- 
learning  as  he  pleases,  and  it  will  not  hurt  him.  It  is  only  when 
bookishness  becomes  exclusiveness  and  prevents  sympathy,  that 
it  injures.  The  books  that  are  provided  become  the  librarian's 
tools  to  accomplish  his  work,  and  as  the  work  of  moulding 
readers  is  multiform,  his  tools  must  be  as  various — some  coarse, 
some  fine.  Either  quality  alone  is  insufficient,  or  rather  positively 
bad. 


FREE  LIBRARIES  AND  READERS  97 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  misconception  as  to  what  constitutes 
a  well-selected  library.  It  is  a  problem  of  fitness,  adaptation 
to  the  end  desired,  and  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  model 
collection  so  long  as  communities  differ  and  individuality  sur- 
vives. That  library  alone  is  well  selected  which  is  best  able 
to  answer  reasonable  expectations,  and  these  differ  according 
to  circumstances.  And  yet  your  committee-man  knows  all  the 
books  "no  gentleman's  library  should  be  without,"  as  the  adver- 
tisers say,  and  if  they  do  not  suit,  they  ought  to,  and  that  is 
enough.  Just  there  is  the  difficulty.  It  is  the  difference  between 
tact  and  perversity.  It  is  the  very  exceptional  man  who  by 
force  of  mere  will  can  succeed.  Most  successful  men  are  full 
of  tact — it  is  the  fitting  time  they  seek,  the  fitting  influences  they 
ply,  the  fitting  goals  they  aim  at.  They  never  drag,  they  push. 
If  they  would  inure,  they  give  graduated  exposures.  If  they 
would  carry  up  a  height,  they  cut  their  footholds  as  they  go. 
This  is  all  worldly  experience,  and  this  makes  successful  li- 
braries, as  it  makes  successful  manufactories.  A  community 
of  three  thousand  souls  is  a  complex  one,  no  matter  how  rural. 
If  they  are  true  to  their  American  blood,  they  can  not  be  driven 
either  in  their  reading  or  in  their  politics.  Wrong  will  turn 
them,  and  promises  will  coax  them. 

The  fact  is,  a  library  must  reach  the  summit  of  its  useful- 
ness naturally,  as  most  agencies  do  It  fails  as  a  hot-bed. 
Transplantings  from  it  wither,  unless  they  can  stand  the 'new 
soil  that  receives  them.  There  must  be  growth  before  there 
can  be  grafting.  You  must  have  the  sturdy  root  before  you 
can  train  the  branches.  In  other  words,  you  must  foster  the 
instinct  for  reading,  and  then  apply  the  agencies  for  direct- 
ing it.  You  can  allure,  you  can  imperceptibly  guide,  but  you 
make  poor  headway  if  you  try  to  compel.  Beware  of  homilies : 
they  run  into  cant,  and  cant  is  always  cheap,  and  often  bogus. 
Do  not  try  what  is  called  "discreet  counsel,"  unless  you  have 
to  deal  with  a  mind  naturally  receptive;  but  let  the  attention 
be  guided,  as  unwittingly  as  possible,  from  the  poor  to  the  in- 
different, from  this  to  the  good,  and  so  on  to  the  best,  and 
let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  there  are  as  many  kinds  of  best  as 
there  are  people,  and  what  is  best  for  one  is  but  fair,  or  indif- 
ferent, or  poor  for  another 

The  mistake  in  forming  a  collection  of  books  according  to 


98  JUSTIN  WINSOR 

some  conventional  notion  of  what  a  library  should  be,  is  a  com- 
mon one;  it  is  a  mistake  that  has  disheartened  many  a  librarian, 
who  finds  his  borrowers  drop  off  as  the  first  interest  declines. 
There  is  no  excuse  for  letting  this  first  interest  decline;  and 
the  library  will,  if  it  has  a  chance,  right  itself  m  spite  of  all 
such  unfavorable  conditions.  If  it  can  not,  it  languishes  and 
dies.  Fortunately  few  do  die  of  this  untimely  paralysis.  They 
assert  gradually  their  natural  development,  and  in  the  long 
run  succeed.  The  conditions  of  success  in  libraries  arc  much 
the  same  as  in  all  practical  affairs.  A  factory  docs  not  insist 
on  putting  unsalable  goods  upon  the  market.  It  alters  its  ma- 
chinery to  suit  the  new  conditions,  and  the  new  stuff  makes 
equally  good  coats  and  petticoats  with  the  old,  and,  what  is 
more  important,  there  is  a  demand  for  it.  The  fabric  may 
be  worse,  but  then  you  may  be  sure  the  preference  for  it  will 
not  last  long.  The  style  may  be  less  tasteful,  but  then  the 
wearer  must  encompass  the  difficulties  by  his  individual  skill 
in  making  up. 

There  is  a  fashion  in  books  that  can  not  be  ignored,  I  am 
by  no  means  an  advocate  of  a  slavish  subjection  to  it;  but  I 
know  you  have  got  to  pay  some  deference  to  it,  or  the  spirit 
of  fashion  will  flout  at  you,  and  you  will  become  utterly  help- 
less Your  life  as  a  guardian  of  a  libiary  is  one  of  constant 
wariness  and  struggle.  In  fashion,  in  low  tastes,  in  unformed 
minds,  you  have  an  enemy  who  must  be  made  to  surrender. 
You  must  not  despise  him;  if  you  do,  you  will  give  him  an 
advantage  that  will  result  in  your  surrender  to  him. 

In  one  important  particular  the  librarian  wields  a  power  far 
superior  to  that  of  the  schoolmaster.  The  one  great  defect  of 
our  American  educational  system  is  that  of  assorting  hu- 
manity into  lengths  that  do  not  correspond — into  classes  in 
which  all  kinds  are  mixed  up  together,  with  little  chance  for 
mutual  assimilation,  and  with  individuality  repressed  and  oblit- 
erated. Our  schools  will  never  reach  their  full  fruition  until 
the  undeniable  advantage  of  personal  contact  among  pupils  is 
presented  together  with  the  development  of  individual  training, 
securing  the  natural  bent  in  study  and  character.  The  problem 
is  difficult  of  solution  with  inherited  notions  such  as  ours;  but 
the  great  educational  director  will  yet  arise,  who,  by  force  of 
fitness  for  command,  will  accomplish  it. 


FREE  LIBRARIES  AND  READERS  99 

Here  the  library  has  the  advantage.  It  appeals  to  and  nur- 
tures every  idiosyncrasy.  Like  the  soil,  it  imparts  this  quality 
to  that  grain,  and  others  to  the  different  fruits.  The  law  of 
nature  rules,  and  each  crop  draws  what  it  needs  and  leaves  the 
rest 

It  follows,  then,  that  with  a  public  of  many  instincts  and 
yearnings,  your  books  must  be  as  various  and  many-sided,  if 
you  would  have  them  do  their  work.  Nor  only  that  There 
must  be  every  degree  in  the  variety  and  a  due  preponderance 
of  the  low  degrees.  In  fact,  a  popular  library  begins  as  a  school 
does,  with  pastime  pursuits  of  the  kindergarten  sort. 

In  a  literary  sense — mark  my  adjective,  for  I  shun  disre- 
spect— in  a  literary  sense  the  average  town  community  has  very 
little  elevation  through  culture,  and  it  is  governed  in  these  mat- 
ters by  impulses  or  badly-reasoned  syllogisms.  A  story, — and 
artistically  a  poor  story  it  may  be, — a  wordy  style,  a  flabby 
tissue  of  thoughts,  are  the  qualities  that  often  commend  them- 
selves to  even  shrewd  people — people  whose  natural  business- 
talk  is  terse,  whose  companionable  interchange  of  thought  at 
the  village  post-office  is  by  no  means  devoid  of  sense,  and  whom 
a  plausible  rogue  will  not  delude.  But  it  seems  natural  for  most 
people  to  thmk  the  ideal  excellence  is  extraneous  to  every-day 
life,  and,  by  a  simple  law,  what  is  extraneous  they  consider 
excellent.  You  will  accordingly  find  very  poor  novels — artisti- 
cally considered — the  staple  holiday  reading  of  many  really 
sinewy-minded  people,  whose  fortune  has  not  placed  them  among 
people  of  culture  This  condition,  however,  is  a  stage,  not  a 
goal,  and  the  librarian  must  never  forget  that  the  object  of  a 
goal  is  that  it  should  be  reached. 

Accordingly  a  library,  to  be  "well  selected,"  as  the  phrase 
goes,  must  have  all  the  variety  needed  by  all  the  variety  of 
people  who  frequent  it  It  must  aim  to  amuse  as  well  as  to  in- 
struct. It  must  be  remembered  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
readers  of  a  general  community  need  books  for  recreation  as 
much  as  for  edification  It  is  not  reasonable — it  is  not  wise — 
to  expect  that  the  weary  artisan  will,  in  most  cases,  give  his 
winter  evenings  to  study.  He  yearns  for  the  life  and  manners 
which  he  is  not  used  to,  and  is  not  critical  according  to  a  stand- 
ard that  has  your  respect.  The  lawyer,  even  after  a  week 
with  his  causes  and  his  reports,  finds  recreation  for  mind  and 


ioo  JUSTIN  WINSOR 

body  in  the  last  new  novel  of  George  Eliot  Some  of  the  most 
persistent  novel-readers  I  know  are  learned  judges  and  doctors 
of  divinity.  The  hostler  of  the  tavcin  stable  sits  between  his 
labors  in  the  breezy  avenue  of  the  open  doors,  and  though  he 
may  look  upon  the  inland  mountain  without,  he  pictures  rather 
the  Spanish  Main  in  the  sea-stories  of  Marryat.  It  is  as  legiti- 
mate a  function  of  the  public  library  to  afford  this  gratification 
as  it  is  for  the  schools  to  begin  the  education  of  life  by  pro- 
viding blocks  to  build  houses  with,  or  clay  to  mould  rabbits 
out  of  "The  child  is  father  to  the  man"  in  this  as  in  many 
other  things.  Grown-up  people  can  not  all  be  antiquaries,  or 
mathematicians,  or  Darwinians,  or  financiers. 

I  have  said  there  are  three  stages  in  the  progress  of  a  free 
public  library.  The  first  one  is  the  gathering  of  the  books, — 
and  this  is  often  a  committee's  work,  and  not  always  wisely 
done,  as  the  librarian  will  discover. 

The  second  is  in  securing  the  reading  of  the  books,  and 
this  can  only  be  done  by  providing  the  books  in  due  proportions 
that  are  wanted — the  exclusion  of  vicious  books  being  assured. 

The  third '  follows  in  inducing  an  improvement  in  the  kind 
of  reading;  and  in  these  latter  days  this  is  a  prime  test  of 
the  librarian's  quality.  It  is  not  a  crusade  that  he  is  to  lead. 
People  who  read  for  recreation  are  not  to  be  borne  apart  from 
it;  but  they  can  be  induced  to  pass  from  weak  to  strong  even 
in  this  department— from  the  inane  to  those  of  historical  bear- 
ing; from  the  mishaps  of  the  dejected  swain  to  the  trial  of 
Effie  Deans;  from  the  lover's  straits  to  the  exploits  of  Amyas 
Leigh 

If  the  web  of  the  weird  romancer  has  meshed  a  curious 
reader,  take  him  at  the  time,  and  show  him  the  pleasure  of 
disentangling  it  in  the  light  of  history  and  biography.  A  young 
man's  asking  me  one  day  in  which  of  Scott's  novels  he  could 
find  Cromwell  figuring,  led  me  to  the  classification  of  historical 
novels,  by  epochs  and  episodes,  as  the  cataloguer  would  arrange 
the  titles  of  his  history  list,  and  with  manifest  advantage,  as 
stepping-stones  from  fiction  to  history,  travel,  and  biography. 

Let  me  warn  you,  however,  that  though  the  way  is  clear, 
the  work  is  one  of  patience,  equalling  that  of  an  admirable 
Waltonian  by  the  brook-side.  The  most  confirmed  novel-reader 
will  present  himself  some  time  with  the  spell  weakened,  and 


FREE  LIBRARIES  AND  READERS  101 

half  longing  for  your  guidance  With  those  having  the  instinct 
for  knowledge  you  may  be  more  readily  successful  But  for 
your  own  sake,  dull  acquiescence  is  not  so  fascinating  as  the 
conquest  of  the  gamey  scoffer  at  your  mission 

But,  I  pray  you,  do  not  be  discouraged  with  the  seeming 
small  results  It  will  be  long  before  your  statistics  will  show 
much,  and  then  not  constantly  Every  propulsion  into  the 
higher  planes  leaves  a  vacuum  which  the  new  generations  of 
readers  rush  in  to  fill,  and  so  keep  the  percentage  tolerably 
constant  But  the  work  well  begun  may  be  trusted  for  its  own 
development 

In  conclusion  let  me  say  that  the  day  is  passed  when  libra- 
nanships  should  be  filled  with  teachers  who  have  failed  in  dis- 
cipline, or  with  clergymen  whose  only  merit  is  that  bronchitis 
was  a  demerit  in  their  original  calling  The  place  wants  pluck, 
energy,  and  a  will  to  find  and  make  a  way.  We  are  but  just 
beginning  to  see  the  possibilities  of  the  free  library  system; 
and  the  progress  of  the  last  score  years  must  be  taken  as  an 
earnest  for  the  future.  Hand  m  hand  with  the  home  and  the 
college,  the  free  library  with  its  more  ductile  agencies,  with 
its  more  adaptable  qualities,  must  go  on  to  assert  the  do- 
minion that  belongs  to  it,  if  librarians  are  faithful  to  their 
trust  and  recompense  the  people  as  they  ought. 


SOME  OTHER  BOOK 

One  of  the  problems  of  the  librarian  is  to  supply  the 
various  demands  and  needs  of  readers  from  a  stock 
which  fluctuates  and  changes  as  does  that  of  the  book- 
seller. The  book  just  issued  is  as  unavailable  to  supply 
the  next  inquiry  as  the  copy  just  sold  from  the  book- 
seller's shelf.  The  books  asked  for  being  "out,"  his 
mental  query  is  "what  else  have  I  which  will  supply  the 
demand?"  Mr.  William  Howard  Brett,  librarian  of  the 
Cleveland  Public  Library,  discusses  different  phases  of 
this  subject  in  the  following  paper. 

A  sketch  of  Mr.  Brett  appears  in  Volume  1  of  this 
series. 

It  was,  I  believe,  a  Boston  man,  one  of  Mr.  Howells'  Boston 
men,  who  reported  a  conversation  between  two  clothing  mer- 
chants on  the  deck  of  a  Hudson  River  boat  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows—I  abridge.  Speaking  of  business  methods,  one  says: 
"You  know,  Mr.  Rosenthal,  it's  easy  enough  to  make  a  man 
buy  the  coat  you  want  him  to  if  he  wants  a  coat,  but  the 
thing  is  to  make  him  buy  the  coat  you  want  to  sell  him  when 
he  don't  want  any  coat  at  all.  That's  business." 

In  a  book-store,  he  who  merely  hands  you  out  the  book  you 
ask  for,  ties  it  up,  and  takei  the  price,  less  the  customary  dis- 
count, shows  no  particular  ability,  but  he  who,  if  the  book  you 
ask  for  is  not  in,  shows  you  something  else  in  the  same  line, 
but  better,  or,  if  the  book  is  in,  something  else  of  interest  in 
the  same  connection,  or  suggests  something  which  you  hadn't 
thought  of  but  need,  that  man  is  a  salesman. 

History  repeats  itself.  The  old  Roman  libraria  was  the  book- 
seller's shop.  The  modern  circulating  library  is  much  nearer 
the  book-store  in  its  methods  of  work  than  its  mediaeval  pred- 
ecessor, or  its  contemporary,  the  Reference  Library. 

One  of  the  problems  of  its  librarian  is  to  supply  the  various 
demands  and  needs  of  its  readers  from  a  stock  which  fluctuates 


104  WILLIAM  HOWARD  BRETT 

and  changes  as  does  that  of  the  bookseller  The  book  just 
issued  is  as  unavailable  to  supply  the  next  inquiry  as  the  copy 
just  sold  from  the  bookseller's  shelf.  The  book  asked  for  be- 
ing out,  his  mental  query  is,  "What  else  have  I  which  will  supply 
the  need?"  A  history  of  England  or  a  text-book  in  geology 
asked  for,  and  not  on  the  shelves,  it  would  naturally  occur  to 
the  least  experienced  assistant  to  suggest  another,  but  even  in 
so  simple  a  case  it  would  need  some  knowledge  of  the  books 
upon  the  subject  to  suggest  a  suitable  substitute.  In  the  case 
of  paraphrastic  titles  the  alternate  might  not  so  readily  sug- 
gest itself  Butler's  "Land  of  the  Vcdas"  would  suggest  other 
books  on  India,  but  it  might  be  necessary  to  inquire  whether  a 
description  of  the  country  or  its  history  or  something  about 
Christian  missions  to  India  was  wanted.  The  "River  of  Golden 
Sand"  would  hardly  suggest  Burmah,  although  the  "Land  of 
Desolation"  might  Greenland.  Some  titles  tell  nothing.  Waller's 
"Six  Weeks  in  the  Saddle"  might  be  anywhere  else  rather  than 
in  Iceland,  for  I  believe  they  have  neither  horses  nor  roads 
there  Being  asked  for  the  "Region  of  Eternal  Fire,"  one  would 
naturally  turn  to  the  Theological  department  (No.  237.5),  but 
m  vain  It  is  an  account  of  the  petroleum  fields  of  the  Cas- 
pian. The  person  who  asked  for  it  might  want  a  book  of  travels 
in  that  region,  or  he  might  be  interested  in  oil — but  that  book 
would  be  in 

Suppose  Mrs  Oliphant's  "Makers  of  Florence"  is  wanted, 
and  out,  as  it  is  likely  to  be  Is  it  Florentine  history  which  is 
wanted?  There  is  Trollope's  "Florence"  or  "Sismondi."  Is  it 
something  about  Dante  or  Savonarola?  There  are  lives  o£  each 
or  Geo  Eliot's  "Romola"  for  a  vivid  picture  of  Florentine  life 
and  an  account  of  the  great  preacher.  Is  Florentine  art  the 
subject  of  interest?  Perhaps  a  life  of  Giotto,  whom  Mrs.  Oli- 
phant  numbers  among  the  "Makers,"  and  Grimm's  "Michael 
Angelo"  or  one  of  the  histories  of  the  Renaissance  or  of  Italian 
art  would  supply  the  want.  The  inquirer  need  rarely  go  away 
without  something.  I  know  the  illustrations  I  have  used  seem 
commonplace,  but  they  are  fair  specimens  of  the  inquiries  which 
are  made  every  day. 

It  is  occasionally  necessary  to  give  some  other  book  for  an- 
other reason,  as  in  case  one  asks  for  Macaulay's  England  to 
read  about  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  or  Bancroft,  to  study  the  nul- 
lification movement.  Sometimes,  too,  the  book  asked  for,  al- 


SOME  OTHER  BOOK  105 

though  it  covers  the  ground,  is  clearly  not  the  best  book  for 
the  individual  case,  as  a  boy  asking  for  one  of  the  larger  treat- 
ises on  chemistry,  when  a  brief  text-book  would  serve  him  bet- 
ter, or  for  an  elaborate  constitutional  history,  when  he  would 
find  what  he  wanted  in  McMaster's  first  volume,  which  he  might 
read,  while  the  other  he  surely  would  not. 

Sometimes,  too,  in  the  interest  of  the  fair  consideration  of 
a  subject,  one  may  suggest  books  treating  it  from  another  point 
of  view,  as,  for  instance,  Lingard's  England,  as  well  as  the 
Protestant  historians,  or  Carey  and  Thompson  on  Political  Econ- 
omy, as  well  as  Sumner  and  Fawcett. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  tools  of  the  librarian  is  the  list 
of  historical  fiction  published  by  the  Boston  Public  Library. 
We  all  know  it  and  use  it.  No  small  part  of  its  usefulness 
lies  in  what  I  may  call  its  reversible  action  Intended  primarily 
to  suggest  to  the  reader  of  history  such  stories,  poems,  or 
dramas  as  may  illustrate  the  period  and  the  events  he  is  study- 
ing, it  may  be  made  to  serve  equally  well  the  not  less  useful 
purpose  of  leading  those  who  are  already  wandering  in  the 
flowery  fields  of  fiction  into  the  straiter  highways  of  history. 
I  believe  it  more  often  happens  that  the  reader  of  an  historical 
tale  becomes  so  interested  in  the  subject,  that  he  turns  to  his- 
tory for  more  information,  than  that  the  reader  of  history  looks 
up  illustrative  fiction.  I  recall  an  instance  in  which  the  in- 
terest awakened  by  Bulwer's  "Harold"  served  as  the  impulse  to  a 
course  of  reading  in  English  history,  including  some  of  the  best. 
In  another  case  "Anne  of  Geierstein"  led  to  the  reading  of  the 
lives  of  Richard  III ,  Margaret  of  Anjou,  and  Charles  the  Bold, 
and  in  another  case  Dickens'  wonderful  picture  of  Paris  during 
the  Revolution  in  his  "Two  Cities"  led  to  the  reading  of  many 
books  and  the  acquisition  of  a  fair  knowledge  not  only  of  the 
revolutionary  period,  but  of  French  history  generally.  Such 
instances  might  be  multiplied. 

If  we  consider  how  largely  fiction  is  drawn  from  our  libraries 
in  proportion  to  history,  and  if  we  agree  that  the  reading  of 
more  history  is  a  desirable  thing  to  promote,  we  have  here  a  field 
for  useful  work. 

Novels  may  also  suggest  the  reading  not  only  of  History, 
using  the  term  in  its  broadest  sense  as  including  also  Biography 
and  Travels,  but  may  lead  off  into  almost  every  field  of  human 
knowledge  and  thought.  An  interesting  paper  might  be  pre- 


io6  WILLIAM  HOWARD  BRETT 

pared  upon  the  suggestivcness  of  novels — Fiction  as  a  doorway 
to  the  literature  of  knowlcge — but  it  is  no  part  of  my  present 
purpose  to  discuss  fiction  except  incidentally  as  a  department 
of  the  library  in  which  there  is  frequent  occasion  to  recom- 
mend some  other  book  than  the  one  asked  for. 

The  librarian  may  have  frequent  opportunities  of  recom- 
mending a  better  book  than  the  one  asked  for  The  inquirer 
for  some  worthless  story,  something  which  could  have  no  place 
in  any  classification  of  literature,  will  generally  take  a  better 
one  if  it  is  shown  and  a  little  effort  made  to  interest  him  in  it. 
Of  course,  judgment  and  tact  must  be  used  I  am  reminded  of 
a  regimental  sutler  whose  suavity  of  manner  and  desire  to 
oblige  made  some  amends  for  the  meagrcncss  of  his  stock.  One 
sweltering  summer  day  a  report  spread  that  he  had  received 
some  ice-cream,  and  the  boys  came  rushing  down  to  the  sutler's 
tent  for  some  of  it.  "No,"  he  "had  no  ice-cream,  but  he  had 
just  cut  an  elegant  cheese."  The  person  who  inquires  for  Mrs. 
Stephens'  novels  will  hardly  want  Bishop  Stevens'  sermons,  and 
possibly  the  inquirer  for  Mrs  Holmes'  "Tempest  and  Sunshine" 
will  not  be  interested  in  the  Doctor's  "Autocrat,"  but  she  might 
read  the  "Guardian  Angel,"  and  the  "Breakfast  Table"  series 
later 

Of  course  this  work  of  suggesting  better  books  and  of  di- 
recting reading  into  more  useful  channels  lies  among  that  very 
considerable  portion  of  the  users  of  our  public  libraries  who  read 
for  entertainment  and  without  a  definite  purpose.  To  the  person 
who  comes  for  information  upon  a  particular  subject  or  to  the 
student  who  is  intelligently  pursuing  a  definite  course  such  sug- 
gestions would  be  unnecessary,  sometimes  even  impertinent. 

All  of  this  work  of  suggestion  requires  personal  effort,  much 
of  it,  and  much  time.  We  have  heard  at  our  various  meetings 
many  discussions  as  to  the  best  methods  of  library  work,  the 
most  expeditious  and  accurate  way  of  doing  all  the  various 
business  of  the  library  as  well  as  the  classification  and  cata- 
loguing of  the  books,  all  of  which  belong  mainly  to  the  me- 
chanical side  of  the  librarian's  labors.  We  have  also  had  the 
claims  of  what  may  be  called,  for  lack  of  a  better  designation, 
the  literary  side  of  a  librarian's  work  ably  presented  and  the 
tendency  to  give  so  much  attention  to  the  mechanical  deplored. 
I  feel  like  saybg  just  here,  "You  are  both  right."  I  believe 


SOME  OTHER  BOOK  107 

most  thoroughly  in  bringing  every  part  of  the  library  machinery 
into  the  most  perfect  condition  and  adopting  every  device  which 
will  save  labor  and  time,  but  I  believe  in  it  as  a  means,  I  be- 
lieve in  it  because  that  librarian  who  has  the  routine  work  of 
his  library  moving  with  the  accuracy  of  clockwork  will  have 
the  more  time  for  those  better  things  which  are  the  crown  and 
flower  of  his  work 

The  weaver  stretches  carefully  in  his  loom  the  strong,  slen- 
der threads  of  the  warp,  but  he  stretches  them  not  for  them- 
selves, but  that  he  may  weave  into  them  that  woof  which  shall 
make  the  fabric  a  thing  of  beauty  and  use.  Catalogues,  clas- 
sifications, and  charging  systems  are  the  warp  of  the  librarian's 
work,  but  they  are  empty  and  without  beauty  unless  he  weaves 
them  throughout  with  the  woof  of  an  ardent  love  for  books,  a 
lofty  enthusiasm  for  his  profession,  and  so  sincere  an  interest 
m  those  who  use  his  library,  that  he  will  spare  no  pains  to  help 
them  The  man  who  can  do  this  work  well  may  feel  that 
there  is  little  else  in  this  world  which  is  better  worth  the  doing. 

The  old  definition  of  the  librarian,  the  custodian  of  the  books, 
is  gone  The  later  idea,  which  hardly  extended  his  duties  be- 
yond the  supplying  of  the  book  asked  for,  is  going.  More  is 
demanded  of  the  librarian  today  He  should  be  a  power  in  the 
community,  a  director  of  its  reading,  a  leader  in  its  progress, 
and  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word  an  educator. 

It  is  his  duty  very  many  times  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the 
reader,  not  the  book  asked  for,  but  some  other  book.  It  is  not 
the  least  of  his  responsibilities  that  the  other  book  should  be  the 
best  possible  book 


HOW  WE  RESERVE  BOOKS 

Since  no  library  can  buy  sufficient  copies  of  a  title 
always  to  supply  the  demand,  there  arises  the  necessity 
of  reservation,  That  is,  those  who  desire,  may  have 
their  names  placed  on  a  waiting  list  in  the  order  in  which 
the  book  is  to  be  issued  to  them.  The  following  sym- 
posium is  a  report  from  different  large  libraries,  telling 
how  the  problem  has  been  solved  by  them.  Libraries 
contributing  to  this  symposium  include  The  Cleveland 
Public  Library,  The  Boston  Athenaeum,  The  Brooklyn 
Library,  and  the  New  York  Mercantile  Library. 

CLEVELAND  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

When  desired  to  do  so,  we  reserve  books  which  are  out  when 
asked  for.  The  request  is  made  on  a  postal  card  of  the  fol- 
lowing form: 

THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY. 

Cleveland,  0 1888. 

The  book  for  which  this  application  was  made 
is  now  in.    It  will  be  retained  for  you  until 

only    Please  bring  or  send  this 

card. 

|  |   •§    1  W.H.  BRETTt 

^   h<   Q   ft!  Librarian 

The  applicant,  who  pays  one  cent  for  the  card,  addresses 
it  to  himself  and  fills  up  the  blanks  with  author's  name,  the 
title  and  the  date,  even  to  the  hour,  as  we  have  frequently  more 
than  one  application  in  a  day  for  some  popular  book.  These 
cards  are  filed  alphabetically  by  authors  at  the  receiving  desk 
and  are  in  charge  of  the  assistant  there.  When  a  book  is  re- 
turned for  which  a  card  is  waiting  it  is  as  soon  as  possible 


no  APPRENTICES'  LIBRARY 

placed  m  the  reserved  case  with  a  slip  giving  name  of  appli- 
cant and  date  to  which  it  will  be  kept  The  card  is  then  dated, 
the  blank  for  date  to  which  the  book  will  be  kept  is  filled,  and 
it  is  mailed.  For  instance,  Mr.  Wm  Cowper  asked  for  a  copy 
of  "Robert  Elsmere"  on  Oct.  25  It  was  not  in  and  he  left 
a  card  for  it,  but  as  there  were  about  twenty-five  cards  already 
filed  and  we  have  only  six  copies  of  the  book,  his  card  was 
not  reached  until  Dec.  28.  Then  a  copy  of  the  book  was  placed 
m  the  reserved  case  with  a  slip  marked  "Cowper — 30,"  and  his 
card  filled  out  and  mailed  to  him. 

If  Mr.  Cowper  calls  on  or  before  the  30th,  bringing  his 
card,  he  gets  the  book,  if  not,  it  goes  to  the  next  applicant. 
This  plan  has  been  in  operation  four  years,  is  used  largely,  and 
is  satisfactory.  It  is  fair,  for  all  users  of  the  library  have  the 
same  chance,  and  it  generally  gets  the  books  to  the  people  who 
really  care  for  them  most.  W.  H.  BRETT. 

APPRENTICES3  LIBRARY 

We  have  a  plan  for  reserving  books  somewhat  similar  to 
that  of  Mr.  Brett  in  successful  operation  for  over  eleven  years. 
A  postal  card  is  addressed  by  the  applicant  himselC  to  avoid 
any  chance  for  mistakes.  On  the  other  side  there  is  room  for 
the  name  of  the  book  required  to  be  reserved,  which  the  appli- 
cant likewise  fills  in.  Each  card  is  numbered  consecutively,  so 
that  if  there  is  more  than  one  applicant  for  the  same  book  the 
lowest  number  gets  the  preference.  This  card  contains  a  printed 
notice  that  the  book  will  be  reserved  for  twenty-four  hours, 
and  will  be  delivered,  during  that  time,  on  presentation  of  the 
card  When  the  applicant  has  filled  out  the  card  properly  it  is 
placed  in  a  cloth  case,  about  the  size  of  a  12°  book,  which  is 
put  on  the  shelf  where  the  book  belongs,  so  that  as  soon  as  the 
work  in  question,  or  a  copy  of  it,  is  returned  it  is  immediately 
discovered  that  it  is  to  be  reserved.  The  book  is  then  placed 
in  a  special  place,  and  the  card  is  stamped  with  the  date  and 
mailed  to  the  reader.  If  he  fails  to  make  application  within 
twenty-four  hours,  it  is  replaced  on  the  shelves,  or  reserved 
for  the  next  applicant  in  order,  if  there  is  one. 

All  our  books,  without  any  exception,  may  be  retained  two 
weeks.  And  all  books,  except  new  books,  can  be  renewed  for 
an  extra  week  (but  no  longer),  provided  application  is  made 


HOW  WE  RESERVE  BOOKS  in 

before  the  original  two  weeks  expire  Only  one  renewal  is 
allowed.  Consequently  no  book  in  our  library  can  be  kept 
longer  than  three  weeks  New  books  cannot  be  renewed  or 
reserved  until  they  are  three  months  in  the  library.  As  we 
largely  duplicate  our  popular  books,  the  necessity  for  reserving 
books  does  not  exist  with  us  in  the  same  degree  as  in  libraries 
where  only  one  or  two  copies  of  a  popular  book  are  purchased. 
Still,  no  library  can  buy  sufficient  duplicates  to  be  able  always 
to  supply  the  demand,  hence  the  necessity  for  reservation.  This 
privilege  is  especially  serviceable  in  silencing  chronic  kickers — 
who  abound  in  all  libraries — who  will  gravely  inform  you  that 
they  "have  been  asking  six  months"  for  a  certain  book,  without 
success.  As  any  book  can  be  reserved  after  three  months  it 
is  obviously  the  reader's  own  fault  if  he  neglects  to  avail 
himself  of  the  privilege  of  a  reservation  card,  for  which  we 
charge  two  cents,  to  cover  cost  of  printing. 

J.  SCHWARTZ 

BROOKLYN  LIBRARY 

Should  a  subscriber  particularly  desire  a  book  which  is  not 
on  the  shelf  when  asked  for,  he  can,  should  he  prefer  it,  rather 
than  draw  anything  else,  leave  his  slip  open  for  it. 

The  order-slips  are  dated  so  as  to  give  the  sequence  in 
which  applicants  are  to  be  served  where,  as  is  likely  to  be  the 
case  with  new  books,  several  people  are  waiting  for  the  same 
work  at  one  time;  and  the  first  copy  of  the  book  that  comes 
in  fills  the  first  order.  As  soon  as  an  order  is  filled  the  fol- 
lowing postal  notification  is  sent,  the  dates  and  title  of  book 
having  been  filled  in: 

THE  BROOKLYN  LIBRARY 


Brooklyn,  N.  7. 1888. 

The  following  work for  which  you  left  your 

account   open has   been  received   and   charged  to 

you  this  day,  and  will  be  retained  for  two  days  (but  no  longer) 
from  this  date.  When  you  call  or  send  for  the  book,  this  notice 
must  be  presented  at  the  desk.  W.  A.  BARD  WELL, 

Librarian 


112  NEW  YORK  MERCANTILE  LIBRARY 

Any  other  books  drawn  by  the  applicant  during  the  time  he 
is  wailing  for  the  one  ordered  are  charged  as  extra,  at  two 
cents  a  day  (or  ten  cents  a  week). 

By  this  plan  those  who  are  especially  desirous  to  obtain  a 
particular  work  arc  enabled  to  do  so  The  only  inconvenience 
experienced  is  being  for  a  short  time  without  a  book,  or  the 
drawing  of  an  "extra"  at  a  slight  charge.  It  has  not  been 
our  custom  to  take  orders  for  books  to  be  charged  as  "extra" 
books  from  date  of  registry  and  notification,  as  this  plan  would 
necessitate  the  purchase  of  a  greater  number  of  copies  of  new 
and  popular  works  than  our  library  has  means  to  supply.  But 
if  a  member  wants  a  given  work  sufficiently  to  leave  his  slip 
open  for  a  short  time,  this  arrangement  insures  his  receiving 
it.  The  postal  cards  for  the  notices  are  furnished  by  the  library 
free  of  charge.  Their  circulation  through  the  mails  serves, 
perhaps,  to  some  extent  as  an  advertisement  of  the  institution. 

W.  A.  BARDWELL. 

NEW  YORK  MERCANTILE  LIBRARY 

Those  of  our  members  who  so  desire  may  have  books  re- 
served for  them  by  leaving  an  order  for  the  book  they  want 
and  paying  two  cents.  These  orders  arc  made  out  on  the  blank 
forms  used  in  the  library  for  general  use,  dated,  and  then  ar- 
ranged alphabetically  under  the  titles  of  the  books.  The  earliest 
orders  received  are  of  course  filled  first.  When  a  book  is  ob- 
tained the  order  which  it  is  intended  to  fill  is  placed  in  one 
end  of  it  and  then  laid  aside  in  a  place  provided  for  this  use. 

The  clerk  in  charge  of  this  department  then  fills  out  the 
following  notice,  which  is  printed  on  the  back  of  a  postal 
card,  and  at  once  mails  it  to  the  member  whose  order  is  in 
the  book: 

MERCANTILE  LIBRARY. 

TI     i.     L      z.  ;  .    **tor  Place,  N    Y 1888. 

the  book  asked  for  by  you fc  now  at  the  li- 
brary, and  will  be  retained  until  eight  o'clock 

evening.  Bring  this  card  with  you  when  you  call  for  the  book. 
Respectfully  yours, 

W.  T.  PEOPLES, 

XT    «     ,    .          .     .  Librarian. 

No  book  is  retained  over  two  days. 


HOW  WE  RESERVE  BOOKS  113 

If  the  member  fails  to  call  for  it  within  the  time  specified 
in  the  notice,  it  is  removed  from  its  place  and  put  in  circulation. 
If  the  member  still  wants  the  book  he  will  have  to  make  out  a 
new  order  and  let  it  take  its  turn. 

In  addition  to  the  above  plan  we  have  a  system  of  delivering 
books  at  members'  residences  or  places  of  business.  For  five 
cents  each,  we  sell  postal  cards,  ready  for  mailing,  which  secures 
the  delivery  of  a  book  to  the  place  designated,  and  the  return 
of  a  book  to  the  library 

The  following  form  shows  the  order  printed  on  the  back 
of  the  postal  card: 

RULES  TO  BE  OBSERVED  IN  USING  STAMPED  ORDERS 

1  Write  your  name  and  address  distinctly  in  ink. 

2  Give  the  names  of  the  authors  of  all  books  applied  for. 

3  Put  the  names  of  several  books  on  every  order.     One 
of  the  books  named  will  then  be  sent. 

4  Have  the  return  book  ready  for  the  carrier  when  he 
calls  for  it. 


FOLIO     \Returns 
I 

Wants  one  of  the  following: 


Name    Address    

On  the  face  of  the  postal  card  the  address  is  printed  as 
follows : 

MERCANTILE  LIBRARY, 

ASTOR  PLACE, 

City. 
W.  T.  PEOPLES. 

BOSTON  ATHENMUM 

Our  method  of  reserving  books  is  similar  in  the  main  to  those 
detailed  above,  but  our  charging  system  (by  which  two  cards, 
kept  in  a  pocket  in  the  book  while  it  is  on  the  shelf,  are  signed 
by  the  borrower  and  left  at  the  charging  desk  while  the  book 
is  out)  causes  some  differences.  When  an  application  is  made 
for  a  book  to  be  reserved,  the  attendant  in  charge  writes  the 


ii4  BOSTON  ATHENAEUM 

author  and  title  of  the  book  and  the  name  and  address  of  the 
applicant  m  a  reserve-book  In  this  the  ruled  lines  are  num- 
bered consecutively  (to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of  several  figures 
we  usually  number  to  100  and  then  begin  the  notation  again), 
and  the  number  corresponding  to  the  application  is  written  in 
red  mk  upon  the  mamlla  card  belonging  to  the  book  to  be 
reserved  just  below  the  name  of  the  person  who  has  it  at  the 
time.  When  the  book  is  returned  and  the  last  borrower's 
name  stamped  across  on  the  manilla  card,  preparatory  to  re- 
placing the  book  upon  its  shelf,  the  red  number  is  of  course 
seen  by  the  assistant,  and  the  reserve-book  is  consulted  for  the 
name  of  the  person  next  desiring  the  book.  The  following 
postal  card  is  immediately  filled  out  and  mailed  to  the  applicant, 
and  the  book  is  retained  at  the  charging  desk. 

BOSTON  ATHENJEUM,  188    . 
DEAR 


asked  for  by  you,  has  been  returned,  and  is  now  charged  to 
you.    It  will  be  retained  for  you  today  and  tomorrow,  which 

will  be  counted  as  part  of  the  *  days  during  which  you 

are  allowed  to  keep  it  out 

Yours  respectfully, 

CHARLES  A,  CUTTER, 

Librarian. 

The  postal  cards  are  furnished  by  the  library.  The  only 
restriction  in  the  reservation  of  books  is  in  the  case  of  new 
books  (books  received  within  a  year).  A  person  being  allowed 
by  our  rules  to  have  out  but  one  new  book  at  a  time,  the  appli- 
cant must  leave  his  card  free  from  any  such,  if  his  application 
be  for  a  recent  publication.  Thus,  if  a  new  book  is  out  upon 
the  applicant's  name  when  the  book 'applied  for  is  returned, 
it  is  not  reserved  for  him,  but  goes  to  the  next  applicant,  or  if 
there  is  no  other,  is  allowed  to  circulate  in  the  ordinary  way. 
Otherwise  the  first  applicant  would  have  charged  to  him  two 
new  books  at  once.  KATE  E.  SANBORN. 

When  a  book  not  in  the  library  is  asked  for,  the  askcr's  name 
is  written  in  red  mk  on  the  back  of  the  card  submitted  to  the 
Library  Committee.  If  the  purchase  is  approved  by  them,  the 

*7,  14,  or  30. 


HOW  WE  RESERVE  BOOKS  115 

card  is  kept  in  the  alphabetical  index  of  books  ordered  and  as 
soon  as  the  book  comes  the  card  is  put  into  it  by  the  entry 
clerk.  When  it  comes  in  due  course  to  the  cataloguer  her  eye 
at  once  catches  the  name  in  red  She  fills  and  mail  the  follow- 
ing postal: 

BOSTON  ATHENJEUM,  188    . 

DEAR  SIR: 


asked  for  by  you,  has  been  received,  and  will  be  ready  under 

the  rules  to  be  taken  out  on  the day  of 

It  will  then  be  retained  for  you  two  days,  which  will  be  counted 
as  part  of  the  seven  days  during  which  you  are  allowed  to  keep 
it  out. 

Yours  very  truly, 

CHARLES  A.  CUTTER, 
Librarian 

At  the  same  time  a  long  narrow  slip  of  paper,  of  a  bright 
pink  color,  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  attendant  who  puts 
in  the  library  plates,  and  also  of  the  attendant  who  arranges 
the  books  on  the  show-case,  is  inserted  in  the  book  On  this 
is  printed' 

To  be  kept  for 
till 

This  is  filled  with  name  and  date  corresponding  to  the  above 
postal.  The  slip  is  long  in  shape  to  prevent  its  slipping  down 
and  being  lost  in  the  book. 

EMMA  L.  CLARKE. 


THE  NEW  NOVEL  PROBLEM  AND  ITS 
SOLUTION 

How  to  supply  the  large  and  ever-increasing  demand 
for  popular  fiction  without  appropriating  to  that  end  too 
great  a  proportion  of  the  funds  of  the  library,  is  a  diffi- 
cult problem.  Although  perhaps  it  is  not  wholly  solved 
by  the  plan  of  pay  duplicate  collections,  this  plan  lightens 
the  burden  of  librarians  and  saves  annoyance  to  card- 
holders. These  collections  generally  consist  of  multiple 
copies  of  new -popular  fiction. 

In  recent  years  much  has  been  said  for  and  against 
the  practice  of  operating  pay  duplicate  collections  in 
public  libraries,  and  the  last  word  probably  is  not  yet. 
No  doubt  the  lack  of  competition  made  the  problem  less 
involved  in  the  earlier  days.  The  scheme  was  initiated 
in  the  St.  Louis  Public  Library  in  1879,  and  was  once 
widely  known  as  "the  St.  Louis  Plan.1'  Its  workings 
are  seen  in  the  following  paper,  a  contribution  to  The 
Library,  (an  English  quarterly)  by  Frederick  M.  Crun- 
den,  librarian  of  the  St.  Louis  Public  Library. 

A  sketch  of  Mr.  Crunden  appears  in  Volume  1  of  this 
series. 

"Nowadays  when  we  speak  of  literature  we  mean  novels," 
says  one  of  the  leading  critical  journals  of  America.  When  a 
librarian  is  asked  about  "new  books,"  he  may  safely  assume,  in 
a  great  majority  of  cases,  that  the  inquirer  refers  to  new 
novels.  Prose  fiction  is  the  accepted  literary  art  form  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  It  not  only  affords  the  most  fascinating 
intellectual  entertainment,  but  it  is  also  the  most  efficient  agency 
for  insinuating  all  kinds  of  information  and  for  directly  im- 
parting knowledge  of  manners  and  customs,  and,  most  important 
of  all,  of  human  nature  and  the  springs  of  human  action.  It 
is  also  the  most  available  and  effective  medium  for  the  ex- 


n8  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

pression  and  advocacy  of  every  variety  of  opinion  on  all  the 
questions  of  1he  day.  It  furnishes  something  attractive  to 
every  taste  and  every  mood,  to  every  age  and  condition  o£ 
life  It  makes  you  laugh  or  cry,  or  both  at  once,  or  suspends 
all  but  the  unconscious  functions  of  the  body  in  the  breathless 
excitement  of  a  situation.  There  is  no  child  who  docs  not  en- 
joy a  good  story,  and  the  man  or  woman  who  does  not  marks 
a  case  of  atrophy  or  arrested  development. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  about  75  per  cent,  of 
the  circulation  of  public  libraries  consists  of  prose  fiction. 
This  is  particularly  to  be  expected  in  a  country  like  the  United 
States,  where  long  hours  and  arduous  labour  use  up  the  nervous 
forces  and  leave,  at  the  close  oE  the  day,  little  desire  or  capacity 
for  anything  beyond  amusement  Such,  however,  is  the  natural 
human  solicitude  for  other  people's  morals,  that  men  and 
women  who  take  pride  and  pleasure  in  knowing  all  the  new 
novels  are  loud  and  frequent  in  their  expressions  of  regret  at 
the  large  percentage  of  fiction  read  in  public  libraries.  So  long 
as  the  objector  is  moved  solely  by  a  laudable  concern  for  the 
moral  welfare  of  his  fellows,  he  is  not  a  dangerous  person; 
but  when  he  appears  as  an  argus-eycd  taxpayer  protesting 
against  the  use  of  public  money  for  the  purchase  of  story- 
books, he  must  be  hearkened  to—and  mollified.  It  would  be  a 
happy  disposition  of  difficulties  if  these  protestants  could  be 
set  to  fight  it  out  with  the  more  numerous  "kickers,"  whose 
constant  complaint  is  that  the  books  they  want  (viz,,  the  latest 
novels)  are  always  "out."  An  amusing  incident  to  this  array- 
ing of  opposing  forces  would  be  the  puzzle  of  placing  the  man 
who  on  Monday  objected  to  the  waste  of  money  on  novels, 
and  on  Wednesday  wanted  to  know  why  more  copies  were  not 
bought  of  a  recent  novel  he  was  anxious  to  read.  Unfortunately, 
the  librarian  stands  between  and  receives  the  fire  of  both  sides 

In  the  discussion  of  this  vexed  question  certain  general  prin- 
ciples should  be  laid  down  and  applied  to  its  settlement. 

i.  Prose  fiction  of  good  quality  is  literature,  and  just  now 
the  most  popular  and  prevailing  form  of  literature.  More  even 
than  the  drama  it  "shows  virtue  her  own  feature,  scorn  her  own 
image,  and  the  very  age  and  body  of  the  time  his  form  and 
pressure"  The  great  novels  and  the  more  popular  of  minor 
novels  are  presupposed.  It  is  assumed  that  any  reference  to 


NEW  NOVEL  PROBLEM  AND  ITS  SOLUTION  119 

the  character-creations  of  Scott,  Dickens,  Thackeray,  Hawthorne, 
George  Eliot  and  other  leading  novelists,  will  be  understood 
by  all  persons  of  the  least  pretension  to  cultivation.  It  is,  there- 
fore, the  duty  of  a  public  library,  both  as  a  popular  educator 
and  as  a  purveyor  of  elevating  entertainment,  to  supply  to  the 
public  the  works  of  the  best  and  the  better  novelists,  and  to 
supply  them  in  quantities  adequate  to  the  demand  Applicants 
for  "Ivanhoe"  or  "Romola"  or  "David  Copperfield"  should  sel- 
dom be  disappointed.  Failing  to  get  one  of  these,  they  are 
not  likely  to  call  for  a  better  novel,  or  for  a  work  on  physics 
or  the  differential  calculus.  They  are  more  likely  to  take  the 
first  novel  that  comes  to  hand,  however  inferior.  The  better 
novels,  then,  should  be  supplied  in  unlimited  number.  If  "Van- 
ity Fair"  is  repeatedly  reported  "out,"  get  more  copies:  keep 
on  buying  more  till  it  is  nearly  always  "in"  Better  have  in 
circulation  one  hundred  copies  each  of  "The  Newcomes"  and 
"Les  Miserables"  than  ten  copies  of  each  of  these  works  and 
one  hundred  and  eighty  volumes  of  a  number  of  inferior  novels 
— or  any  other  books.  In  short,  a  public  library  should  buy 
as  many  copies  of  the  novels  of  good  quality  and  perennial 
popularity  as  may  be  necessary  to  supply  the  demand.  If  the 
demand  increases  with  the  supply,  so  much  the  better.  There 
is  no  better  book  than  a  first-class  novel. 

2  Conversely,  it  is  not  the  office  of  a  public  library  to  meet 
the  multitudinous  call  for  the  book  of  the  hour ;  any  attempt  to 
do  so  must  prove  futile  and  in  the  end  fatal.  This  fact  is 
recognized  by  library  managers,  and  no  such  attempt  is  made. 
But  card-holders  do  not  understand  the  situation;  and  every 
librarian  and  every  assistant  who  comes  in  contact  with  the 
public  must  meet  numerous  complaints  from  readers  who  vainly 
call  again  and  again  for  new  books  (chiefly  novels)  and  "can- 
not see  why  you  do  not  get  more  copies." 

To  meet  this  difficulty,  to  satisfy,  in  some  measure,  the  eager 
desire  of  numerous  card-holders  for  the  book  that  everyone  is 
talking  or  hearing  about,  the  St.  Louis  Public  Library  has  for 
years  maintained  a  distinct  department,  called  the  "Collection  of 
Duplicates."  This  collection  consists  chiefly  of  multiple  copies 
of  new  popular  novels.  Of  every  book  in  it  there  is  at  least 
one  copy  in  the  regular  collection.  It  is,  as  its  name  indicates, 
a  collection  of  duplicates  A  volume  may  be  drawn  from  it  by 


120  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

any  registered  card-holder  on  payment  of  five  cents  a  week. 
Single-issue  cards  are  sold  for  five  cents  (zYzd.),  cards  good 
for  five  books  for  twenty- five  cents;  and  for  one  dollar  a  card 
is  furnished  which  entitles  the  holder  to  twenty-five  volumes 
A  card-holder  may  draw  as  many  books  at  one  time  as  he  may 
desire. 

When  announcement  is  made  of  a  new  book  by  an  author 
of  established  popularity,  such  as  Mark  Twain  or  Blackmore 
or  Bcsant,  or  of  a  novel  by  a  new  author  with  advance  notices 
that  give  assurance  of  merit,  such  as  "No.  5,  John  Street,"  or 
"Forest  Lovers,"  two  copies  are  ordered  for  the  regular  col- 
lection, and  for  the  collection  of  duplicates  as  many  as  we  feel 
reasonably  sure  will  "go," — ie,  as  many  as  are  likely  to  keep 
in  circulation  until  they  have  approximately  paid  for  them- 
selves Sometimes  we  order  only  one  or  two  for  the  duplicate 
collection:  in  other  cases  we  feel  safe  in  buying  ten  or  a  dozen 
at  the  outset.  If  these  all  go  out  immediately,  and  there  is  still 
an  eager  demand,  we  buy  more,  gauging  purchases  by  the  prob- 
able extent  and  duration  of  the  "run,"  and  basing  our  judgment 
on  the  intrinsic  merit  of  the  book,  on  the  methods  of  adver- 
tising, and  on  local  interest.  Perhaps  I  can  best  explain  by 
specific  illustrations. 

For  the  first  year  or  so  after  "Ben  Hur"  appeared  two 
copies  in  the  regular  collection  were  sufficient  to  supply  the 
demand.  After  a  while  religious  sentiment  began  to  find  great 
merit  in  it.  We  put  a  few  copies  in  the  collection  of  duplicates, 
then  a  few  more,  then  ten  more,  then  twenty  more,  till  finally 
we  reached  a  total  of  fifty.  These  for  a  while  were  insufficient 
co  meet  the  call.  Later,  many  idle  copies  appeared  on  the 
shelves;  but  the  whole  lot  cost  the  library  nothing, 

No  book  has  ever  had  a  greater  "run"  in  St.  Ilouis  than 
"Trilby."  In  addition  to  the  general  influences  three  of  the 
largest  literary  clubs,  all  meeting  in  church  guild  or  lecture 
rooms,  gave  severally  an  evening  to  criticism  and  discussion 
of  the  novel  Of  its  popular  qualities  we  had  knowledge  through 
its  serial  publication.  But  we  began  with  a  conservative  order 
for  two  regulars  and  four  duplicates.  From  time  to  time  the 
number  was  increased  till  the  total  reached  one  hundred,  six 
regulars  and  ninety-four  duplicates.  For  some  eight  or  ten 
weeks  none  of  these  ever  got  to  the  shelves,  being  absorbed  by 


NEW  NOVEL  PROBLEM  AND  ITS  SOLUTION    121 

the  "reserve  list"  as  soon  as  returned.  When  duplicate  copies 
began  to  stand  idle  on  the  shelves  they  were  transferred  to 
the  regular  collection,  and  made  available  to  card-holders  who 
were  waiting  their  chances  for  one  of  the  regular  copies.  The 
ninety-four  "CD's"  more  than  paid  for  the  whole  hundred; 
thousands  of  readers  were  supplied;  and  we  had  enough  "Tril- 
bys"  left  to  last,  it  would  seem,  for  all  time  to  come. 

Just  now  the  favourites  here — and  I  suppose  throughout 
the  country — are  "David  Harum"  and  "Richard  Carvel."  The 
author  of  the  former  had  not  been  heard  of  before.  Last 
October  the  book  appeared  on  the  counter  of  a  local  bookstore. 
A  copy  was  ordered  on  approval  A  glance  through  it  showed 
that  it  had  the  elements  of  popularity,  and  another  "regular" 
copy  was  bought  A  few  days  later,  favourable  reviews  having 
in  the  meantime  caused  some  call  for  it,  three  copies  were  placed 
in  the  collection  of  duplicates.  Since  then  the  number  has  been 
gradually  increased,  till  we  now  have  fifty  copies.  These  never 
reach  the  shelves,  the  "reserve"  list  containing  about  forty  names 
for  "regulars"  and  ten  for  "duplicates."  If  this  continues  we 
shall  add  twenty-five  copies  more.  We  should  probably  have 
done  so  before  this  if  a  very  limited  book-fund  had  not  com- 
pelled extreme  caution.  The  author  of  "Richard  Carvel"  had 
already  achieved  a  succts  d'estime  and  was  a  St.  Louis  boy. 
But  we  were  in  shoal  water,  and  our  first  order  was  for  only 
one  regular  and  two  duplicates.  A  member  of  the  staff  hur- 
ried through  the  book,  and  a  few  more  copies  were  immediately 
ordered.  Favourable  reviews  created  a  demand,  and  additional 
copies  were  purchased.  We  now  have  twenty-five,  all  of  which 
are  bespoken  a  week  ahead.  August  is  not  the  reading  time  of 
year,  and  we  shall  probably  double  the  number  in  the  autumn. 

Popular  magazines  may  be  classed  with  new  novels  as  read- 
ing matter  for  which  there  is  an  active  demand  for  a  limited 
period.  We  meet  this  call  by  placing  in  the  collection  of  dupli- 
cates a  varying  number  of  copies,  depending  on  the  popularity 
of  the  respective  publications.  Of  "Century"  and  "Harper," 
for  example,  we  take  twenty-six  copies,  two  for  the  reading- 
room  and  twenty-four  for  the  collection  of  duplicates.  Of  less 
popular  periodicals,  such  as  "The  Atlantic,"  we  take  one  for 
the  reading-room  and  one  for  the  collection  of  duplicates. 
Frequent  call  for  a  circulating  copy  of  a  magazine  results  in 


122  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

the  addition  of  one  or  more  copies  to  the  collection  of  dupli- 
cates Magazines  are  issued  at  the  same  rates  as  novels  The 
more  popular  pay  for  themselves  and  make  up  any  deficit  on 
the  others.  The  surplus  copies  beyond  what  we  want  to  preserve 
(we  bind  six  copies  of  "Century"  and  "Harper")  we  sell  at  a 
reduced  price  as  soon  as  a  later  number  appears 

Occasionally  we  have  recourse  to  this  department  to  supply 
an  eager,  but  temporary,  demand  for  new  books  other  than 
novels,  such,  for  example,  as  Mark  Twain's  "Following  the 
Equator,"  Nansen's  "Farthest  £iorth,"  and  Nordau's  "Degen- 
eracy" Sometimes  we  accommodate  clubs  by  placing  in  the 
collection  of  duplicates  two  or  three  or  half-a-dozcn  extra  copies 
of  some  standard  work  they  are  studying  These  volumes  par- 
tially pay  for  themselves;  they  aid  in  the  educational  work  of 
the  library;  and  they  are  ready  for  any  sudden  demand  from 
another  club  taking  up  the  same  topic.  Some  years  ago  our 
public  school  teachers  were  directed  to  use  Rhind's  "Vegetable 
Kingdom"  in  preparation  of  their  lessons  in  botany.  The  book 
was  too  expensive  for  the  teachers  to  purchase  individually; 
and  the  library  was  not  justified  in  buying  so  many  more  copies 
of  a  high-priced  book  than  were  necessary  to  supply  the  normal 
demand  The  extra  volumes  were  placed  in  the  collection  of 
duplicates:  for  ten  cents  each  teacher  had  the  use  of  the  book 
for  two  weeks'  the  net  expense  to  the  library  was  small;  and 
it  obtained  at  about  one-fourth  price  enough  copies  of  a  stand- 
ard work  to  last  for  years.  After  two  or  three  years,  upon 
the  cessation  of  the  special  demand  for  the  book,  a  number  of 
copies  were  sold,  and  most  of  the  balance  were  transferred 
to  the  regular  collection.  We  thus  had  eight  or  ten  copies  of 
this  valuable  work  for  about  the  cost  of  two,  besides  having, 
for  several  years,  rendered  valuable  assistance  to  a  considerable 
body  of  teachers  An  active  Shakespeare  cult  that  flourished 
in  St.  Louis  for  a  number  of  years,  which  fructified  in  "A  Sys- 
tem of  Shakespeare's  Dramas"  by  one  of  the  leaders,  created 
a  demand  for  another  expensive  work,  Gcrvinus's  "Commen- 
taries." This  was  met  m  the  same  way  and  with  the  same 
result.  But  these  are  exceptional  and  subordinate  uses :  the 
chief  and  constant  service  of  this  collection  is  to  meet,  without 
expense  to  the  library,  the  clamorous,  but  temporary,  demand 
for  successive  popular  favourites. 


NEW  NOVEL  PROBLEM  AND  ITS  SOLUTION    123 

Does  it  work?  Does  it  accomplish  the  object?  Does  it  give 
entire  satisfaction  to  the  public?— Yes,  it  works.  In  great  mea- 
sure it  accomplishes  its  purpose.  But  it  does  not  give  entire 
satisfaction.  Was  anything  ever  devised  that  did  give  entire 
satisfaction  to  thousands  of  people  whose  selfish  interests  were 
concerned?  It  is  as  satisfactory  a  solution  as  may  be  expected 
to  a  problem  that  contains  the  human  factor.  It  disarms  the 
objecting  ratepayer;  it  furnishes  the  latest  novel  with  reason- 
able promptness  to  everyone  whose  desire  to  read  it  reaches 
the  degree  of  "tuppence-ha'penny";  and  it  benefits  even  those 
who  do  not  use  it  by  greatly  lessening  the  number  of  com- 
petitors for  the  regular  copies.  To  refer  again  to  "Trilby" 
for  an  illustration.  If  we  had  not  had  this  special  collection 
we  could  not  have  increased  the  number  of  regular  copies  much 
— certainly  not  beyond  ten.  In  the  course  of  ten  weeks  the 
"C  D  "  copies  were  read  by  over  a  thousand  persons — probably 
fifteen  hundred — who  would  otherwise  have  been  competitors 
for  the  six  or  the  ten  "regulars"  And  just  think  of  the  fric- 
tion thus  avoided,  of  the  verbal  collisions  warded  off  by  these 
ninety-four  buffers!  Consider  the  saving  of  the  sickness  that 
comes  of  hope  deferred,  and  the  possible  profanity  prevented' 

The  "collection  of  duplicates"  does  not  grow  As  soon  as 
the  "run"  on  a  book  is  over  the  extra  copies  are  transferred  to 
the  mam  library.  It  is  thus  a  constantly  changing  collection. 
The  only  permanent  feature  consists  of  certain  fine  sets  of 
standard  novelists,  Dickens,  Thackeray,  Bulwer,  Dumas,  Hugo, 
and  Scott.  Though  picked  up  at  auction  sales  at  half-price  or 
less,  these  editions  would  not  have  been  bought  for  the  regular 
collection.  In  this  special  department  they  perform  a  useful 
function  as  a  reserve  to  supply  a  pressing  want  or  to  gratify 
a  fastidious  taste  that  gladly  pays  five  cents  for  a  clean  volume 
with  large  type,  fine  paper,  and  good  illustrations  These  books 
in  time  pay  for  themselves:  it  is  only  on  that  basis  that  they 
are  in  the  library  at  all :  they  perform  a  useful  service  to  a  few 
without  in  the  least  infringing  on  the  equal  rights  of  the  gen- 
eral public.  Indeed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  new  books,  they  les- 
sen, to  the  extent  of  their  use,  the  demand  for  the  copies  in 
the  main  collection 

This  department  was  established  for  the  purpose  above  set 
forth,  not,  of  course,  with  any  view  to  profit.  It  does,  how- 
ever, yield  a  net  profit  of  £40  to  £60  a  year.  This  is  added 


124  FREDERICK  MORGAN  CRUNDEN 

to  the  general  book- fund;  and  thus  again  the  collection  of 
duplicates  mures  to  the  benefit  even  of  those  who  do  not  use 
it.  When  the  plan  was  adopted  this  was  a  subscription  library: 
it  has  worked  equally  well  since  the  library  was  made  free.  It 
offers  a  special  accommodation  to  those  willing  to  pay  for  it 
without  in  the  slightest  degree  interfering  with  the  equal  rights 
of  card-holders  who  do  not  care  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
privileges  it  offers  Indeed,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  it  benefits 
even  those  who  may  condemn  the  plan.  It  is  voluntary  co- 
operation grafted  on  the  trunk  of  a  rate-supported  institution, 
which  represents  the  enforced  co-operation  of  all  the  citizens, 
those  who  use  the  institution  and  those  who  do  not;  and  in 
the  same  manner  it  inures  to  the  benefit  of  all. 

The  plan  was  adopted  some  years  ago  by  the  Mercantile 
Library  of  this  city,  and  is  about  to  be  tried  by  another  of  the 
large  public  libraries  of  the  country. 

FREDERICK  M.  CRUNDEN. 


THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  ON 
CIRCULATION 

The  earlier  privilege  of  circulation  was  limited  to  one 
book  at  a  time.  Permission  to  take  out  two,  only  one  of 
them  fiction,  was  regarded  when  introduced  as  quite  rad- 
ical. The  allowance  of  two  books  originated  in  an  effort 
to  stimulate  the  circulation  of  non-fiction,  and  was  gen- 
erally adopted  about  1895. 

In  an  endeavor  to  discover  to  what  extent  the  "two- 
book"  system  influenced  the  reading  of  non-fiction  in 
public  libraries,  Dr.  E.  A.  Birge,  then  president  of  the 
Wisconsin  Library  Association  and  later  president  of 
the  State  University,  sent  a  questionnaire  to  leading  li- 
braries. The  result  was  embodied  in  a  report  read  be- 
fore an  Inter-State  Library  meeting  at  Evanston,  111., 
February  22,  1898 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Edward  Asahel  Birge  ap- 
pears in  Volume  3  of  this  series, 

Several  years  ago  my  attention  was  directed  to  the  two- 
book  system  in  public  libraries,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  an 
investigation  of  the  effect  of  this  system  on  circulation  might 
be  of  interest  to  librarians.  Accordingly,  I  sent  out,  last  De- 
cember, a  circular  to  all  free  public  libraries  in  the  United 
States  containing  5000  or  more  volumes,1  making  inquiries  re- 
garding the  effect  of  this  system  on  the  circulation,  both  in  its 
amount  and  character.  In  the  latter  particular  two  possibilities 
were  suggested  in  the  circular.  The  effect  of  issuing  two  books 
might  be  to  lead  the  borrower,  who  would  otherwise  read  only 
fiction,  to  extend  his  reading  into  the  other  classes  of  literature, 
or  the  two-book  privilege  might  induce  the  reader  of  solid  lit- 
erature to  add  a  novel  to  the  work  which  he  would  otherwise 

1T!he  circular  was  also  sent  to  a  few  smaller  libraries,  especially  in 
Wisconsin, 


126  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

take.  The  two-book  system  might,  therefore,  increase  or  di- 
mmish the  percentage  of  fiction  in  the  circulation  of  the  library, 
and  it  was  to  this  point  especially  that  my  attention  has  been 
directed  in  the  inquiry. 

Something  more  than  400  circulars  were  sent  out  and  316 
replies  have  been  received— between  75%  and  8o%— many  being 
accompanied  with  long  and  valuable  letters  from  the  librarians, 
whose  aid  I  wish  to  acknowledge  with  the  warmest  thanks. 
Most  of  the  r oo  libraries  which  did  not  respond  were  small, 
having  between  5,000  and  10,000  volumes.  About  30  libraries 
having  more  than  10,000  volumes  failed  to  respond,  and  a  second 
circular  was  sent  to  them,  bringing  m  return  15  replies.  The 
reports  are,  therefore,  fairly  complete  for  the  libraries  of  the 
country  containing  more  than  10,000  volumes. 

One  hundred  and  forty  libraries  of  those  which  reported  cm- 
ploy  the  two-book  system;  176  do  not.  I  include  in  the  first 
list  only  those  libraries  which  extend  the  two-book  privilege  to 
all,  or  most,  of  the  patrons  of  the  library.  I  do  not  include 
those  libraries  which  grant  the  privilege  of  two  or  more  books 
to  teachers  or  special  students  only. 

Date  of  Adopting  the  Two-Book  Privilege- — Most  of  these 
libraries  adopted  the  two-book  privilege  since  1893,  as  the  fol- 
lowing table  shows : 

Libraries  adopting  the  two-book  system  as  follows: 

Earlier  than  1892 22 

In  1892 I 

"   1893 3 

"   1894 15 

11  1895 28 

"  1896 36 

"    1897 27 

Not  stated 8 

Total 140 

In  view  of  the  decline  in  the  number  of  libraries  adopting 
the  system  m  1897,  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  if  we  estimate  that 
about  160  public  libraries  of  5000  or  more  volumes  employ  the 
two-book  system. 

I  was  surprised  at  the  large  number  of  libraries  which  have 


TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  AND  CIRCULATION       127 

been  employing  the  two-book  system  for  many  years.  Certainly 
no  library  can  claim  a  patent  on  the  idea.  Boston  began  the 
custom  in  1852;  Peacedale,  R  I.,  claims  it  in  the  same  year; 
Worcester,  Mass.,  has  had  it  for  many  years;  Marysville,  Cal, 
founded  in  1859,  has  "always"  employed  it,  as  have  Alameda, 
Cal,  Lexington,  Mass,  and  Portland,  Ore.  Cleveland,  O., 
adopted  it  "20  years  ago,"  as  did  Bay  City,  Mich.  Fort  Dodge 
Iowa,  claims  to  have  used  the  system  in  1872;  Petaluma,  Cal., 
in  1880,  and  the  Apprentices'  Library,  Philadelphia,  in  1882. 
Woonsocket,  R.  I.,  employed  it  from  the  founding  of  the  li- 
brary in  1865 ;  Emporia,  Kansas,  in  1884 ,  Norfolk,  Ct,  in  1889 ; 
Peoria,  111,  in  1889-90  It  is  plain  from  the  returns  that  in 
some  of  these  libraries  the  custom  was  a  survival  of  the  habits 
of  a  "social  library"  rather  than  a  system  adopted  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  public  library,  and  to  enable  it  to  perform  more 
perfectly  its  services  to  the  community. 

In  1894,  Mr.  C.  K  Bolton,  the  librarian  of  the  Brookline 
(Mass )  Public  Library,  published  an  article  in  the  LIBRARY 
JOURNAL,  which  was  the  proper  beginning  of  the  recent  move- 
ment toward  the  method,  and  with  its  appearance  began  a  rapid 
change  to  the  system  on  the  part  of  many  of  the  larger  and 
more  progressive  libraries  This  is  the  true  origin  of  the  two- 
book  system,  as  a  system  to  be  investigated,  and  I  am  not  con- 
cerned to  decide  as  to  the  first  appearance  of  the  practice.  It 
was  certainly  found  in  1894  in  libraries  scattered  from  Mas- 
sachusetts to  Oregon  and  California,  but  its  presence  did  not 
influence  libraries  to  any  marked  degree  before  the  appearance 
of  Mr.  Bolton's  article 

In  the  distribution  of  libraries  using  the  system,  there  are 
some  points  of  interest.  I  addressed  14  circulars  to  libraries 
in  Maine  and  received  every  one  back,  carefuly  filled  out,  but 
no  library  in  the  state  uses  the  system;  all  are  small  except 
that  of  Portland  Indiana  reports  only  one  two-book  library— 
Terre  Haute.  Iowa,  one— Fort  Dodge.  In  Connecticut  n  li- 
braries responded  out  of  14  addressed,  and  all  but  two  employ 
the  two-book  system.  This  is  the  largest  proportion  in  any 
state  in  favor  of  the  system 

Relation  of  Size  of  Library  to  Method  of  Circulation.— The 
following  table  shows  that  the  size  of  the  library  has  had  a 
considerable  influence  on  the  method  o£  circulation  adopted: 


Two-book 

No  Vols. 

Libraries 

5,000-  10,000 

39 

10,000-  20,000 

49 

20,000-  50,000 

37 

50,000-  7S,ooo 

7 

75,000-100,000 

2 

100,000-      + 

6 

Total    .  ,  , 

UO 

128  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

One-book 

Libraries 

76 

60 

27 

7 

2 

4 

176 

It  thus  appears  that  oC  the  libraries  which  reported,  about 
34  per  cent  of  those  smaller  than  10,000  volumes  employ  the 
system;  about  44  per  cent,  of  those  between  xo,ooo  and  20,000 
volumes;  while  of  libraries  above  20,000,  over  57  per  cent,  issue 
two  books  Most  of  the  excess  above  50  pei  cent,  lies  in  the 
libraries  between  20,000  and  50,000  volumes,  and,  as  will  be  seen 
later,  the  advantages  of  this  system  to  the  great  libraries  are 
less  than  to  the  smaller  ones. 

Method  of  Isswng  Two  Books. — It  is  not  my  purpose  to 
discuss  the  numerous  forms  of  card  in  use  by  the  two-book 
libraries.  The  most  common  type  is  that  devised  by  the  Brook- 
line  library.  I  find  that  78  libraries  issue  two  books  on  one 
card,  while  55  report  that  they  employ  two  cards.  In  New  Eng- 
land, outside  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  the  Middle  States,  two 
cards  are  used  in  the  majority  of  libraries,  while  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  the  West  tendency  is  strongly  the  other  way. 

Proportion  of  Patrons  Making  Use  of  the  Two-Book  Privi- 
lege,—I  have  not  been  successful  in  securing  statistics  on  this 
point;  the  weakest  part  of  library  statistics  is  the  number  of 
patrons.  Some  libraries  have  numbered  their  cards  consecu- 
tively through  many  years,  and  in  no  case  is  a  library  able  to 
state  an  exact  number  of  "live  cards."  In  most  cases  no  return 
was  made  by  the  library  to  my  question  regarding  the  number 
of  patrons  using  the  two-book  system,  and  usually  where  an 
answer  was  given,  it  was  an  estimate — "small,"  "large,"  "nearly 
all/'  etc.  I  have  the  impiession,  however,  that  a  larger  proper-' 
tion  of  patrons  make  use  of  the  system  where  one  card  is  em- 
ployed than  where  two  cards  are  used.  This  is  perhaps  due 
to  the  fact  that  two  cards  will  be  used  in  libraries  which  re- 
gard the  granting  of  two  books  as  a  sort  of  privilege,  and  so, 
formally  or  unconsciously,  restrict  it  Fourteen  libraries,  10 


TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  AND  CIRULATION        129 

per  cent,  of  the  whole  number,  deny  the  privilege  of  two  books 
to  children 

Restriction  on  Books.— 23  libraries  report  that  they  have 
no  rule  on  this  subject  Most  of  the  others  permit  only  one 
work  of  fiction  to  be  drawn  at  once.  Several  report  that  they 
allow  only  one  new  book,  and  this  rule  is  doubtless  a  practical 
necessity  in  many  libraries  which  do  not  report  it 

Effect  of  the  Two-Book  System  on  the  Quantity  of  Cir- 
culation— The  issuing  of  two  books  to  one  person  undoubtedly 
increases  the  circulation  of  the  library  beyond  what  would  be 
the  case  if  one  book  were  issued,  yet  I  find  in  my  correspondence 
quite  exaggerated  estimates  of  this  effect,  in  letters  from  both 
advocates  and  opponents  of  the  system. 

The  following  table  shows  the  ratio  of  the  annual  circulation 
to  the  number  of  volumes  in  libraries  of  various  sizes,  as  re- 
ported to  me: 


No.  Vols. 
Two    books... 
One  book  
Average    

5,000 
to 

10,000 

306 

10,000 

to 

20,000 

3.88 
3.38 
3.63 

20,000 

to 
50,000 

344- 
2.81 
3.21 

50,000 
to 

100,000 

3.50 
3.38 

343 

100,000 

+  H- 

3.33 

362 

342 

Av. 
349 

3.29 

338 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  increase  of  the  circulation  in  two- 
book  libraries  is  greater  in  the  smaller  libraries,  and  that  in 
the  largest  libraries  the  larger  circulation  is  found  among  those 
using  the  one-book  system.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
list  of  one-book  libraries  necessarily  includes  most  of  those 
whose  books  are  least  well  selected  and  whose  administration 
is  least  efficient.  Their  circulation  would  be  tinder  the  average 
in  any  case.  I  cannot  believe,  therefore,  that  the  system  adds 
greatly  to  the  average  circulation,  although  doubtless  it  does 
so  in  individual  cases  If  we  look  at  the  libraries  whose  cir- 
culation is  largest  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  volumes,  we 
find  them  among  the  libraries  using  the  two-book  system  Phila- 
delphia, with  an  annual  circulation  of  over  14  volumes  for  each 
book  in  the  library,  heads  the  list.1  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  with  a 
circulation  of  120,000  volumes  from  a  library  of  10,000  comes 
next.  Both  of  these  use  the  two-book  system.  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.,  circulates  n.8  volumes  for  each  book  in  the  library,  em- 
ploying the  one-book  system.  These  three  libraries  are  con- 

"Oae  branch  only  of  this  library  reported  to  me. 


130  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

spicuous  for  their  large  circulation.  Very  few  others  circulate 
more  than  five  or  six  books  annually  for  each  volume  on  the 
shelves  The  Boston  Public  Library  circulates  only  I  4  volumes 
annually  for  each  book  in  the  library  It  is  obvious  that  this 
difference  in  circulation  depends  on  the  selection  of  the  books 
and  the  character  of  the  library,  as  almost  wholly  circulating 
or  as  one  which  makes  the  reference  department  an  important 
feature  of  its  work 

It  seems  to  be  generally  true  that  only  a  small  number  of 
persons  habitually  take  two  books  at  once,  and  undoubtedly  a 
considerable  proportion  of  those  who  do  so  draw  the  second 
book  for  another  member  of  the  family.  In  the  latter  case  the 
free  issuing  of  cards  to  different  members  of  the  family  would 
result  in  an  equal  circulation  on  the  one-book  system.  I  can 
see  no  evidence  to  warrant  the  idea,  which  seems  to  be  some- 
what prevalent  among  librarians,  that  the  two-book  system  as 
such  would  nearly  double  the  circulation  of  the  library.  Still 
more  chimerical  is  the  notion  that  the  two-book  system  enables 
the  librarians  to  "pad"  the  circulation  by  getting  patrons  to 
carry  home  books  which  they  do  not  read  Doubtless  the 
librarian  in  a  small  library  who  had  little  else  to  do  might  give 
her  mind  to  "padding"  the  circulation  and  could  secure  some 
results.  Perhaps  she  might  even  circulate  her  Patent  Office 
reports  in  this  way  by  making  their  acceptance  a  condition  of 
taking  a  popular  novel.  But  it  is  clear  that  the  same  amount 
of  attention  bestowed  upon  legitimate  means  of  increasing  cir- 
culation would  be  likely  to  have  more  effect,  and  that  the  libra- 
rian who  employed  such  means  of  swelling  the  apparent  cir- 
culation would  probably  not  be  so  efficient  in  other  ways  as  to 
secure  a  large  circulation  of  books  really  popular. 

Effect  on  the  Quality  of  the  Circulatwn.~~The  effect  of  the 
two-book  system  on  the  quantity  of  the  circulation  is  far  less 
important  than  its  effect  upon  the  quality  of  the  reading  done 
by  the  patrons  of  the  library.  It  has  been  the  mam  end  of  my 
investigation  to  ascertain  what  qualitative  effect  the  two-book 
system  exerts  on  the  reading,  and  to  determine,  if  possible, 
how  great  this  effect  may  be.  For  this  purpose  it  is  most  con- 
venient to  divide  the  circulation  of  the  library  into  two  classes- 
fiction  and  non-fiction  Since  the  general  tendency  of  unguided 
reading  and  of  reading  for  amusement  merely  is  toward  fiction, 


TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  AND  CIRCULATION        131 

the  elevating  effect  of  the  two-book  system,  if  any  is  present, 
will  be  shown  by  a  decrease,  either  absolute  or  relative,  in  the 
amount  of  fiction  read,  and  an  increase  m  books  from  other 
classes.  To  the  determination  of  this  effect  I  have  given  most 
of  my  attention. 

If  I  may  judge  from  the  scores  of  letters  which  librarians 
have  recently  sent  me,  their  particular  aversion  is  that  variety 
of  the  human  family  which  they  term  "the  inveterate,"  "the  con- 
firmed," or  "the  persistent"  reader  of  novels  It  is  in  my  thought 
to  offer  at  this  point  a  few  words,  if  not  in  defense,  at  least  in 
explanation  of  this  poor  creature.  I  do  this  for  more  than  one 
reason.  First,  I  am  not  in  any  way  responsible  for  his  existence, 
nor  does  my  duty  call  upon  me  to  improve  his  character.  Hold- 
ing this  independent  position,  I  am  perhaps  able  to  judge  him 
somewhat  more  dispassionately  than  if  my  position  called  upon 
me  to  reform  him.  Second,  I  sympathize  strongly  with  Jowett's 
opinion  that  "there  are  few  ways  in  which  people  can  be  better 
employed  than  in  reading  a  good  novel."  I  am  conscious  of  a 
very  long  list  of  novels  charged  to  me  at  the  public  library,  and 
I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  a  strict  librarian  would  not  include 
me  among  the  "inveterate  novel  readers." 

There  are  several  facts  which  must  be  frankly  recognized 
by  all  of  us,  and  especially  by  the  librarian,  whose  aim  is  to 
improve  the  character  of  the  circulation  of  his  library. 

We  must  recognize  that  our  age  and  race  write  and  read 
fiction.  We  must  recognize  this  as  a  natural  tendency  of  the 
age,  not  to  be  condemned  or  regretted,  but  to  be  accepted  as 
the  peculiar  manifestation  of  the  literary  temper  of  this  gen- 
eration. We  must  also  recognize  and  accept  with  equal  frank- 
ness the  fact  that  much,  if  not  most,  reading  will  be  done  for 
pleasure  and  relaxation;  that  is  to  say,  human  nature  is  so 
constituted  that  men— and  women  too— will  attempt  to  get  their 
thoughts  outside  of  the  routine  of  daily  duties  in  some  way,  and 
we  cannot  help  seeing  that  for  most  people  of  the  modern 
world  fiction  furnishes  one  of  the  easiest  ways  of  escape  from 
the  hard  facts  of  life  into  the  freedom  of  the  imagination. 

It  is  to  secure  this  freedom  that  most  of  the  best  reading 
is  done.  It  is  the  peculiar  function  of  poetry  to  carry  its  lover 
into  the  realm  of  fancy,  to  enable  him  to  see  by  the  "light  that 
never  was  on  sea  or  land."  It  may  instruct  or  elevate;  it 


I32  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

must  amuse,  in  the  best  and  highest  sense  of  that  word.  Doubt- 
less some  read  poetry  from  a  sense  of  duty,  seek  "fresh  woods 
and  pastures  new"  for  an  imaginative  constitutional,  prescribe 
to  themselves  doses  of  various  poets  to  enable  this  or  that  emo- 
tion properly  to  dilate.  They  are  like  the  unsociable  youth 
whom  I  once  advised  to  cultivate  society,  or  more  concretely, 
"to  invite  a  girl  to  go  to  picnics  with  him  "  "Yes,  Professor,  I 
have  often  thought  it  would  be  good  discipline  for  me."  Now, 
as  no  girl  would  accept  an  invitation  to  aid  in  social  discipline, 
so  the  Muses  are  deaf  to  those  who  would  cultivate  their  society 
from  a  feeling  of  duty.  You  may  get  from  such  reading  the 
sense  of  duty  performed,  but  you  cannot  catch  the  spirit  of 
the  poetry  which  you  read;  that  comes  to  a  wholly  different 
temper.  But  what  poetry  does  for  the  more  delicately  organized 
and  cultivated  natures,  the  novel  does  for  us  all.  It  offers  an 
easy  way  into  the  world  of  the  imagination,  and  makes  that 
world  homelike  because  peopled  with  creatures  of  like  passions 
with  ourselves  The  imagination  of  each  of  us  finds  a  level 
beyond  which  it  cannot  rise,  Few  are  so  refined  as  to  {eel  at 
ease  in  Shelley's  rarefied  atmosphere,  and  for  like  reasons  the 
minds  of  many,  if  not  the  majority  of  readers,  find  the  atmos- 
phere of  all  higher  imaginative  works  too  attenuated,  and  are 
comfortable  only  in  the  lower  levels  of  fiction. 

A  second  fact  of  human  nature,  which  we  are  always  wont 
ro  forget,  is  that  of  mental  inertia.  I  was  much  impressed  by 
a  phrase  in  a  letter  from  Bridgeport,  Ct  :  "The  habitual  reader 
of  fiction  gains  courage  to  experiment  with  popular  works  on 
history,  etc"  I  do  not  know  whether  the  writer  intended  to 
emphasize  the  words  which  I  have  italicized,  but  I  think  there 
is  required  a  genuine  exercise  of  courage  when  the  novel  reader 
passes  to  another  class  of  literature  At  all  events  there  is  a 
great  amount  of  mental  inertia  to  be  overcome  when  anyone 
passes  from  a  class  of  literature  to  which  he  has  been  habit- 
uated to  a  class  that  is  unfamiliar.  We  become  conscious  of 
this  inertia  in  ourselves  when  called  upon  to  do  any  unusual 
task  I  think  that  most  of  us  would  hesitate  to  try  to  learn 
analytical  geometry,  or  even  to  read  Mill's  "Logic."  At  any 
rate,  I  should  think  long  before  attempting  either  task.  I  know 
my  own  feeling  when  duty  calls  upon  me  to  read  a  scientific 


TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  AND  CIRCULATION      133 

paper  written,  say,  in  Swedish  or  Italian,  and  I  can  keenly  sym- 
pathize with  him  who  hesitates  to  change  his  novel  for 
biography. 

To  undertake  a  new  kind  of  book  is  to  venture  the  mind 
into  an  untried  country.  Doubtless,  the  journey  may  succeed 
and  you  may  discover  a  new  world,  but  unless  you  are  bolder 
than  many  you  will  hesitate  to  risk  yourself  in  the  experiment 
unless  you  are  fully  assured  that  the  new  world  is  enough  bet- 
ter than  the  old  to  be  worth  discovery.  This  inertia  is  a 
fundamental  fact  of  the  mind  for  everyone.  The  range  of  dif- 
ferent minds  differs  enormously  in  extent,  but  even,  those  whose 
education  is  the  best  and  widest  find  it  no  easy  task  to  carry 
their  reading  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  region  which  is 
familiar  to  them 

This  mental  inertia  on  the  part  of  readers  explains  the  hold 
which  an  author,  as  such,  independently  of  the  merits  of  his 
last  book,  has  on  his  readers.  Why  are  readers  so  anxious 
for  some  other  work  by  Roe  or  by  Dickens,  if  the  book  of 
their  choice  is  not  available?  It  is  part  of  this  same  mental 
inertia— part  of  the  same  characteristic  which  resolves  life  itself 
for  most  men  into  a  succession  of  commonplace  duties.  So  it 
comes  about  that  an  author  may,  in  Trollope's  phrase,  "spawn 
upon  the  public"  an  unlimited  succession  of  works  indistin- 
guishable from  each  other  except  by  name,  yet  each  and  all 
beloved  of  his  wide  constituency  of  readers. 

There  are,  therefore,  three  facts  which  the  librarian  is  bound 
to  accept  as  furnishing  an  important  part  of  the  conditions 
under  which  he  works:  (i)  Our  age  and  race  naturally  turn 
toward  fiction.  (2)  For  most  persons  profit  in  reading  will  be 
incidental  to  pleasure,  and  not  the  reverse.  (3)  While  it  is  com- 
paratively easy  for  a  person  to  increase  the  amount  of  his  read- 
ing—this being  merely  a  function  of  the  time  devoted  to  read- 
ing—it is  a  far  more  difficult  task  so  to  overcome  his  mental 
inertia  as  to  extend  his  reading  into  new  classes  of  literature. 

If  these  facts  are  accepted,  it  is  easy  for  the  librarian  to 
understand  the  existence  of  the  inveterate  novel  reader.  The 
pressure  of  daily  duties,  the  tendency  of  the  age,  and  mental 
inertia— greatest  in  those  of  least  education— make  it  certain 
that  a  not  inconsiderable  proportion  of  the  patrons  of  the  library 


134  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

will  read  fiction,  either  exclusively  or  in  far  greater  proportion 
than  any  other  class  of  literature.  Yet  the  bare  acceptance  of 
these  facts  is  not  the  duty  of  the  librarian.  He  must  recognize 
them  as  the  public  cannot  do.  But  it  is  his  prime  duty  as  an 
educator  to  extend  the  range  of  literature  within  which  the 
individual  reader  can  find  pleasure  and  profit.  All  persons, 
except  the  most  highly  educated,  need  aid,  and  much  aid,  if 
they  are  to  pass  from  reading  one  class  of  books  to  find  them- 
selves at  ease  in  a  different  literary  field  To  aid  them  in  this 
mental  growth  is  a  task  which  often  requires  the  employment  of 
the  greatest  tact  and  delicacy.  The  best  qualities  of  an  educator 
are  demanded  for  its  successful  accomplishment. 

I  was  interested  in  the  following  letter  from  a  librarian :  *  "I 
consider  it  a  rather  delicate  matter  to  regulate  the  reading  of 
patrons.  It  may  be  the  only  luxury  and  amusement  a  person 
has,  and  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  insist  upon  his  taking  a  book 
of  biography  instead  of  fiction.  We  see  but  a  small  portion  of 
our  readers'  lives  We  do  not  know  their  environment.  We 
keep  trash  and  unwholesome  books  off  our  shelves  and  trust 
much  to  the  judgment  of  our  patrons"  It  seems  to  me  that 
this  quotation  expresses  the  true  temper  toward  this  side  of 
the  librarian's  work.  This  endeavor  to  widen  the  mental  hori- 
zon of  the  reader  is  one  which  must  be  made  with  the  greatest 
care  and  consideration  for  the  reader  The  mental  enlargement 
must  come  slowly  and  imperceptibly  by  natural  growth,  aided 
and  not  forced  by  the  librarian.  The  reader,  even  the  "in- 
veterate novel  reader,"  may  be  turned  from  his  erratic  ways, 
but  if  he  is  to  be  converted  at  all,  it  must  ordinarily  be  done 
without  either  convicting  him  of  sin  or  obliging  him  to  go  up 
to  the  anxious  seat  It  is  in  the  performance  of  this  task  that 
the  two-book  system  offers  its  best  services.  It  enables  the 
librarian  to  add  to  the  habitual  reading  of  the  borrower  a  book 
of  another  class  carefully  selected  and  adapted  to  his  individual 
taste.  Thus,  the  system,  while  of  very  little  value  as  a  mechan- 
ical device,  lends  important  aid  to  the  librarian  who  regards 
himself  as  an  educator  of  the  community.  It  enables  him  to 
educate  without  trying  to  reform  his  patrons;  to  teach  without 
compelling  them  to  learn;  to  widen  their  mental  horizon  in  a 

1  Akron,  Ohio.  M,  P.  Edgerton. 


TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  AND  CIRCULATION      135 

natural,  sympathetic  way;  in  a 'word,  it  enables  him  to  aid  their 
mental  growth  without  posing  as  a  teacher  or  making  his  patrons 
feel  that  they  are  the  objects  of  a  reform. 

There  is  considerable  difficulty  in  determining  the  effect  of 
the  two-book  system  on  the  quality  of  circulation.  The  im- 
portant fact  to  be  determined  is  the  relative  circulation  of  fic- 
tion as  compared  with  other  classes  of  literature;  but  even 
this  simple  relation  is  not  easily  ascertained.  The  chief  difficulty 
in  the  way  lies  in  the  various  methods  in  which  the  libraries 
keep  their  statistics.  Some  libraries  include  all  children's  books 
together  as  "juvenile";  others  class  juvenile  fiction  as  a  part  of 
general  fiction;  others  still  class  juvenile  books  and  fiction  to- 
gether Of  course,  these  methods  give  very  different  results, 
as  the  percentage  of  fiction  is  higher  in  the  reading  of  children 
than  m  that  of  adults. 

It  is,  therefore,  impossible  to  use  the  statistics  from  all  li- 
braries on  the  same  basis,  and  practically  our  consideration  is 
confined  to  those  libraries  which  report  the  juvenile  literature 
and  the  adult  fiction  separately  From  these  libraries,  num- 
bering altogether  112—51  two-book  and  61  one-book—it  appears 
that  the  average  percentage  of  juvenile  literature  in  the  total 
circulation  is  close  to  23  per  cent.,  averaging  23.4  per  cent,  in 
the  one-book  libraries  and  235  per  cent  in  the  two-book 
libraries. 

In  the  very  large  libraries  the  percentage  of  fiction  is  smaller 
in  any  case  than  in  the  small  libraries,  and  there  is  no  great 
difference  between  the  one-book  and  two-book  libraries  in  this 
particular.  In  libraries  with  a  very  small  circulation  the  per- 
centage of  fiction  depends  so  greatly  upon  the  supply  of  new 
books  that  statistics  from  them  are  of  little  use.  Taking  libraries 
with  an  annual  circulation  between  10,000  and  250,000  volumes, 
I  find  54  two-book  libraries  whose  total  circulation  contains  an 
average  of  54.1  per  cent  of  adult  fiction,  and  75  one-book  li- 
braries with  58.1  one  per  cent,  of  adult  fiction.  Among  the  two- 
book  libraries,  I  include  only  those  which  have  employed  the 
system  more  than  one  year.  Those  which  have  employed  it 
for  only  a  fraction  of  a  year  are  included  in  the  one-book 
libraries.  If  we  neglect  the  fractions  of  a  per  cent,  we  may 
give  as  average  results  the  following  table: 


i36  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

MERCANTILE  CIRCULATION 

Two-book  One-book 

Libraries  Libraries 

Juvenile 23  23 

Fiction 54  5& 

Other  adult  literature 23  19 

In  the  adult  reading  the  proportions  are  approximately  as 
follows : 

Two-book     One-book 
Libraries       Libraries 

Fiction 70  75 

Other  reading 30  25 

That  is  to  say,  the  two-book  libraries  are  circulating  from 
15  per  cent,  to  25  per  cent  more  adult  literature  outside  of 
fiction  than  are  the  libraries  employing  the  one-book  system. 

An  average  result  not  widely  different  from  this  is  reached 
by  comparing  the  changes  of  circulation  in  those  libraries  which 
report  statistics  before  and  after  employing  the  two-book  sys- 
tem. Forty-two  libraries  make  this  report.  Of  these,  14  in- 
clude fiction  and  juvenile  literature  together  The  other  28 
show  an  average  loss  of  34  per  cent,  in  adult  fiction  (642  per 
cent,  to  608  per  cent.),  which  agrees  as  closely  as  could  be  ex- 
pected with  the  results  of  comparing  the  two  classes  of  libraries 
If  all  42  libraries  are  compared  by  taking  the  difference  in 
the  circulation  of  fiction,  or  fiction  and  juvenile  literature,  be- 
fore employing  the  two-book  system  and  afterward,  and  sup- 
posing that  all  the  difference  falls  on  fiction,  the  following 
results  will  be  obtained:  In  six  libraries  the  circulation  of  fic- 
tion was  increased  by  an  amount  varying  from  4  per  cent,  to 
4  per  cent  In  four  libraries  the  circulation  of  fiction  remained 
unchanged,  while  in  the  remainder  the  percentage  of  fiction  was 
reduced  by  an  amount  varying  from  i  per  cent,  to  20  per  cent, 
of  the  total  circulation.  The  average  change  in  the  percentage 
of  fiction  by  adopting  the  two-book  system  is  almost  exactly 
3  per  cent. 

We  cannot,  therefore,  be  far  wrong  in  asserting  that  in 
libraries  employing  the  two-book  system  the  percentage  of  solid 
literature  in  the  total  circulation  is  from  3  per  cent,  to  4  per 
cent,  greater  than  in  libraries  using  the  one-book  system.  That 
is  to  say,  such  libraries  circulate  from  15  per  cent,  to  20  per 
cent  more  of  solid  literature  than  do  the  others. 


TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  AND  CIRCULATION      137 

Such  average  statistics  as  these  are  more  or  less  misleading, 
though  they  may  fairly  represent  the  minimum  result  which  the 
two-book  system  is  capable  of  reaching.  They  are  misleading 
for  several  reasons:  First,  the  averages  are  deduced  from  num- 
bers which  vary  considerably.  The  amount  of  fiction  in  adult 
reading  ranges  from  43  per  cent,  to  90  per  cent,  in  the  two- 
book  libraries,  and  the  range  in  the  other  libraries  is  just  about 
the  same  Yet  it  remains  true  that  whenever  libraries  are  com- 
pared, whether  they  are  classed  by  size,  by  circulation,  or  by 
locality,  the  percentage  of  fiction  in  the  two-book  libraries  is 
the  smaller.  As  an  example  of  grouping  by  locality,  I  may 
instance  the  following:  The  three  states  Ohio,  Michigan,  and 
Illinois,  reported  15  two-book  libraries,  in  which  fiction  is  50.5 
per  cent,  of  the  total  circulation,  and  18  one-book  libraries,  in 
which  fiction  amounts  to  57  per  cent,  of  the  total  circulation 
The  minimum  percentage  of  fiction  in  each  case  is  Cleveland, 
with  40.6  per  cent,  for  the  two-book  libraries,  and  for  the  others, 
Chicago,  with  408  per  cent. 

A  second  source  of  error  lies  in  the  impossibility  of  knowing 
the  relation  of  the  supply  of  books,  especially  of  new  books, 
to  the  demands  of  the  community,  yet  this  relation  has  an  im- 
portant influence  upon  the  character  of  the  circulation.  The 
great  city  libraries  aim  to  provide  all  books  needed  and  in  a 
number  of  copies,  considerable  if  not  sufficient.  It  is  interesting 
to  see  that  the  tendency  here  is  to  a  more  uniform  character 
of  circulation  and  to  a  lower  percentage  of  fiction. 

TWO-BOOK  LIBRARIES 

Circulation  Fiction 

Cleveland    783,000  51%  of  adult  reading. 

Milwaukee   417,000  45%          "          " 

Minneapolis    ....  559,000  58%  "          " 

N    Y.    Free    Circ 

Library    973,000  54%  "          " 

St.  Louis 551,000  78%  incl.  juv  fiction 

ONE-BOOS  LIBRARIES 

Circulation  Fiction 

Jersey  City 416,000  80%  incl.  juv.  fiction 

Detroit    464,000  60%  of  adult  reading. 

Chicago    1,216,000  53%  "          " 

Los  Angeles  571,000  49%          "          " 


138  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

In  the  above  list  the  libraries  show  a  percentage  of  fiction 
ordinarily  much  below  the  average,  and  it  would  seem  probable 
that  when  books  are  supplied  freely  and  in  sufficient  number  of 
copies,  the  percentage  of  fiction  in  adult  reading  will  be  from 
50  per  cent,  to  60  per  cent.  It  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  in 
these  very  large  libraries  the  attendants  are  able  to  influence 
greatly  the  choice  of  books  on  the  part  of  readers,  and  these 
figures  ought  to  represent  the  natural  tendency  of  adult  readers, 
as  far  as  such  returns  can  do  A  considerable  proportion,  there- 
fore, of  the  excessive  circulation  of  fiction  in  smaller  towns 
may  fairly  be  attributed  to  the  necessarily  larger  relative  supply 
of  this  class  of  books  in  the  libraries.  In  the  smallest  libraries, 
where  the  supply  of  new  books  is  very  limited,  the  percentage 
of  fiction  may  be  very  small,  or  very  large,  according  to  the  na- 
ture of  purchases.  The  lowest  reported  is  25  per  cent  This 
effect  of  the  quantity  and  the  selection  of  books  on  circulation 
cannot  be  eliminated  from  the  returns.  A  third  error  arises 
from  averaging  together  the  returns  of  libraries  in  which  the 
two-book  or  the  one-book  system  may  be  administered  vigor- 
ously or  inefficiently,  On  the  whole,  this  error  tends  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  two-book  libraries,  since  the  success  of  that 
system  depends  greatly  upon  the  vigor  of  the  administration. 
It  should  further  be  noted  that  the  difference  between  the  li- 
braries using  the  two  systems  is  by  no  means  due  to  the  effect 
of  the  two-book  system  alone.  This  point  will  be  illustrated 
in  a  later  section. 

Possibilities  of  the  Two-Book  System — So  far,  I  have  dealt 
with  averages  only,  but  the  results  which  can  be  reached  under 
a  system  are  more  important  than  average  results  obtained.  I 
propose,  therefore,  briefly  to  speak  of  the  results  reached  in 
several  of  the  libraries  from  which  I  have  received  more  com- 
plete returns.  Perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  result  is  that  of 
Helena,  Mont.  In  this  library  the  circulation  increased  from 
63,000  to  80,000,  an  increase  of  nearly  one-third  and  wholly  due 
to  the  increased  reading  of  books  other  than  fiction  Fiction, 
indeed,  declined  from  50,000  to  49,000.  The  change  was  brought 
about  not  merely  by  the  adoption  of  the  new  system,  as  is 
shown  in  the  following  extract  from  a  letter: 

"You  will  see  at  a  glance  that  there  has  been  in  the  last 
two  or  three  years  a  remarkable  reduction  in  the  percentage 


TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  AND  CIRCULATION       139 

of  fiction  read  from  this  library  and  that  reduction  Is  more  re- 
markable in  case  of  the  young  people  than  otherwise.  This 
has  come  about  from  effort  and  not  as  a  matter  of  chance, 
although  we  have  not  been  able  to  put  forth  all  the  effort  that 
we  have  desired  to  exert  for  a  better  class  of  reading.  There 
has  been  a  remarkable  increase  in  the  percentage  of  tte  loans 
to  young  people  as  compared  with  the  total  loans  for  the  library. 
We  have  endeavored  to  put  forth  our  special  effort  for  the 
children  and  young  people.  As  to  the  effect  of  the  two-book 
privilege,  one  can  only  judge  in  a  general  way  from  observa- 
tion; statistics  cannot  tell  the  story  fully.  It  has  had  a  strik- 
ing effect  on  the  character  of  the  reading,  I  feel  quite  sure, 
but  this  is  not  the  only  force  that  has  been  working  for  an  in- 
crease in  the  use  of  the  non-fiction  parts  of  the  library.  About 
nine  months  ago  a  considerable  portion  of  the  loan  department — 
all,  in  fact,  except  fiction—was  thrown  open,  so  that  the  public 
could  go  to  the  shelves  to  make  their  own  selection  of  reading 
matter.  This,  I  am  sure,  has  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the 
reduction  in  our  percentage  of  fiction  reading.  Then  there  is 
another  element  that  must  be  reckoned  with,  the  element  of 
personal  helpfulness.  Suggestion,  advice,  and  skilful  answers 
to  questions  have  a  great  deal  to  do  in  guiding  into  good  chan- 
nels the  reading  of  the  community." 

In  Milwaukee  75  per  cent,  of  the  increase  in  adult  reading 
(97,000)  is  in  other  classes  than  fiction.  In  Bridgeport,  Ct., 
with  an  annual  circulation  of  146,000,  the  percentage  of  fiction 
and  juvenile  books  has  declined  n  per  cent.,  and  nearly  the 
entire  increase  of  circulation  has  come  in  the  solid  reading. 
In  the  Webster  Free  Library,  New  York,  where  the  circulation 
has  increased  from  26,000  to  42,000,  15,000  of  the  increase  has 
been  in  books  other  than  fiction.  In  the  New  York  Free  Cir- 
culating Library,  where  the  circulation  has  increased  from 
750,000  to  970,000,  the  circulation  in  fiction  and  juveniles  has 
increased  between  20  per  cent,  and  25  per  cent,  while  50  per 
cent,  has  been  added  to  the  circulation  of  reading  other  than 
fiction 

As  examples  of  small  libraries  I  may  cite  the  following: 
In  Lancaster,  Mass.,  the  circulation  increased  from  about 
12,000  in  1894  to  28,000  in  1897,  an  increase  of  16,000.  During 
the  same  period  fiction  increased  from  8000  to  8100.  "It  is  the 
opinion  of  the  librarian  that  the  increase  noted  above  is  almost 
wholly  caused  by  the  adoption  of  the  two-book  system."  In 
Canton,  Mass.,  the  two-book  system  was  introduced  in  May, 
1896.  "The  percentage  of  fiction  had  been  between  93  and  94. 


140  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

Since  the  introduction  of  the  system  the  percentage  has  been 
slowly  but  steadily  declining,  reaching  83.8  in  November,  1897. 
Lancaster  is  a  manufacturing  town  and  the  patrons  of  the 
library  are  mainly  of  the  laboring  class  The  circulation  has 
increased  little,  if  any."  (Circulation  19,000)  Windsor, 
Vermont,  has  an  annual  circulation  between  8000  and  9000, 
and  estimates  its  "live  books"  at  7500.  The  report  from 
this  library  extended  over  eight  years;  four  years  before 
the  adoption  of  the  two-book  system,  and  four  years  since. 
The  average  circulation  of  these  two  periods  has  increased  from 
8100  to  8400.  The  circulation  of  fiction  has  fallen  off  nearly 
ioo  books  annually,  and  that  of  other  literature  has  increased 
more  than  400.  I  have  selected  these  examples  from  libraries 
of  all  sizes,  not  as  indicating  the  greatest  possible  changes  in 
circulation,  but  the  changes  which  actually  come  where  the 
librarians  use  care  in  the  control  of  the  circulation 

The  Effect  of  Restricting  the  Character  of  the  Second 
Book. — In  most  libraries  only  one  work  of  fiction  can  be  taken 
at  once,  and  many  libraries  consider  this  restriction  as  abso- 
lutely essential.  There  are  reported  23  libraries  in  which  no 
restriction  exists  on  the  character  of  the  second  book  taken. 
In  14  the  percentage  of  fiction  can  be  stated,  and  while  it  aver- 
ages higher  in  these  libraries  than  in  others,  it  is  not  very  much 
greater,  and  in  many  cases  the  percentage  of  fiction  is  below 
the  average.  I  quote  as  of  especial  interest  in  this  particular 
the  letter  from  Lexington,  Mass.: 

^'Everyone  was  allowed  to  take  all  the  books  he  wanted, 
though,  of  course,  we  had  to  look  out  for  the  children  and  a 
few  others,  so  that  they  did  not  abuse  the  privilege.  But  I 
do  not  think  this  happened  more  than  a  dozen  times  in  12 
years.  There  was  no  restraint  put  upon  fiction,  but  the  per- 
centage rarely  went  above  60.  For  the  last  six  months  the 
children  had  access  to  the  juvenile  books,  but  I  do  not  think 
the  percentage  of  fiction  increased  on  that  account." 

2  "We  make  no  restriction  with  the  residents  of  the  town  as 
regards  the  number  or  character  of  books  one  may  draw,  pro- 
vided the  privileges  of  the  library  are  not  abused  We  do  not 
find  that  the  system  results  in  an  increased  use  of  lighter  liter- 
ature, but  indeed  quite  the  contrary."  (Vols.  16,000,  circulation 
31,000,  fiction  50  per  cent.) 

JCary  Library,  Florence  E.  Wfciteher,  former  librarian  for  12  years, 
*  Marian  P.  Kirkland,  present  librarian. 


TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  AND  CIRCULATION       141 

The  fact  is,  I  think,  that  the  public  is  not  so  wedded  to 
fiction  as  to  be  unable  to  enjoy  other  kinds  of  reading  when 
proper  guidance  is  furnished  by  the  librarian.  I  believe  that 
the  librarian  in  a  library  of  moderate  size  makes  far  more 
difference  in  the  character  of  the  circulation  than  can  be  effected 
by  any  rule.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  rule  helps  the  librarian, 
but,  in  the  absence  of  a  rule,  the  public  will  not  rush  to  fiction 
unless  the  librarian  is  weak  or  incompetent. 

Effect  of  the  Method  of  Issuing  Two  Books — In  this  mat- 
ter statistics  are  impossible,  but  the  choice  of  method  is  not 
without  influence  on  the  working  of  the  system.  If  the  object 
of  the  two-book  system  is  to  secure  an  increased  use  of  solid 
literature,  the  general  rule  should  be  to  adopt  the  method  which 
will  be  of  widest  application  and  will  necessitate  the  least  ma- 
chinery. My  own  feeling  is  distinctly  in  favor  of  the  use  of 
one  card,  although  I  quite  fully  recognize  that  the  use  of  either 
one  or  two  cards  presents  certain  administrative  advantages  and 
difficulties.  It  is  evident  that  the  form  adopted  by  the  Brook- 
line  library  has  served  as  a  model  for  many  others.  A  division 
of  this  card  into  a  "general"  and  a  "non-fiction"  portion,  or 
into  "fiction"  and  "other  works"  (as  in  Brookline),  or  the  use 
of  a  "fiction"  and  a  "non-fiction"  card,  seem  unfortunate,  as 
such  methods  distinctly  encourage  the  use  of  fiction.  One  li- 
brarian employing  two  cards  mentions  this  difficulty  and  cites 
the  case  of  a  boy  applying  for  two  cards,  "one  for  fiction  and 
the  other  for  truth."  If  the  charging  system  of  the  library  is 
such  that  the  card  must  be  divided,  the  divisions  should  be 
numbered,  or  otherwise  designated  by  terms  which  will  not  in- 
dicate the  character  of  the  book  drawn.  Least  of  all  should 
headings  be  used  which  imply  that  one-half  of  the  books  drawn 
ought  to  be  fiction. 

Opinions  of  Librarians. — I  have  received  a  very  large  num- 
ber of  letters  in  connection  with  the  replies  to  my  circular; 
many  of  them  of  great  interest.  I  had  hoped  to  include  in  this 
paper  numerous  extracts  from  these  letters,  but  the  length  which 
it  has  already  reached  forbids  me  to  do  more  than  briefly  to 
summarize  some  of  the  most  important  points. 

Most  of  the  opinions  that  I  received  regarding  the  two-book 
system  were  favorable;  many  of  them  were  enthusiastic.  From 
the  libraries  not  employing  the  system,  I  received  25  favorable 


142  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

opinions  regarding  it,  many  librarians  stating  that  they  were 
considering  the  adoption  of  the  system,  or  had  already  recom- 
mended it.  0£  course,  unfavorable  opinions  were  also  received, 
though  their  number  was  small,  not  exceeding  a  dozen.  Most 
of  the  unfavorable  judgments  were  based  on  the  supposition 
that  the  use  of  the  two-book  system  would  involve  a  great  in- 
crease in  the  reading  of  fiction,  an  idea  which  my  statistics  show 
to  be  erroneous.  Two  or  three  librarians  only  were  strongly 
opposed  to  the  system  on  principle.  The  most  vigorous  protest 
came  from  the  Mechanics'  Library,  New  York,  whose  librarian 
/egards  the  system  as  "in  the  nature  of  a  fraud  and  expressly 
devised  to  get  a  larger  grip  on  the  public  pap"  He  thinks 
the  circulation  thus  produced  is  fictitious  and  the  morality 
artificial,  and  regards  the  system  as  a  fraud  and  a  delusion.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  librarian  of  the  Webster  Free  Library,  also 
on  the  East  Side  of  New  York  and  working  chiefly  among  the 
very  poor,  speaks  enthusiastically  of  the  effect  of  the  system 
in  directing  his  readers  to  serious  literature,  and  closes  by  say- 
ing: "By  all  means  use  your  influence  for  the  two-book  and 
open-shelf  systems."  Other  unfavorable  opinions  are  based  on 
the  alleged  hopelessness  of  reforming  the  inveterate  novel  reader. 
From  Vermont  and  from  Illinois  I  received  the  statement  that 
"inveterate  novel  readers  read  nothing  but  novels,  and  lovers 
of  good  literature  never  read  fiction,"  so  that  the  two-book 
system  is  useless  except  as  increasing  the  quantity  of  reading. 
Many  librarians  emphasize  the  great  use  of  the  system  in 
extending  the  amount  and  improving  the  quality  of  reading  on 
the  part  of  their  younger  patrons,  especially  those  of  high-school 
age.  One  librarian  states,  "nearly  all  of  the  children  eagerly 
claim  the  second  card  and  make  a  very  intelligent  use  of  it.  Jt 
has  done  more  for  the  use  of  the  library  by  the  schools  than 
the  teachers'  card."  (Brockton,  Mass.)  Similar  statements 
have  been  received  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  from  Mas- 
sachusetts to  California. 

Somewhat  more  important  perhaps  are  those  letters  which 
urge  that  the  two-book  system  by  itself  is  of  little  profit,  but 
must  be  made  a  part  of  a  serious  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
librarians  to  improve  the  quality  of  their  patrons'  reading.  One 
writes,  "We  help  in  the  selection  of  books  in  every  way  possible, 
trying  to  lead  into  biography  and  history  from  historical  fiction." 


TWO-BOOK  SYSTEM  AND  CIRCULATION       143 

(Akron,  0.)  Another  says  that  the  two-book  system  of  itself 
produces  little  effect;  the  change  "is  in  large  measure  due  to 
the  methods  we  adopt  to  call  attention  to  and  emphasize  the 
value  of  books  of  solid  worth.  (Butte,  Mont.) ;  another,  "I 
have  introduced  the  two-book  system,  recommending  what  I 
think  will  interest  My  idea  is  to  make  the  influence  of  the 
library  felt."  (Johnstown,  R.  I.)  This  whole  matter  is  well 
summed  up  in  the  words,  "It  is  the  personal  work  of  the  at- 
tendants at  the  desk  that  counts  more  than  anything  else." 
(Bloomington,  111.) 

Since  my  circular  called  attention  to  a  possible  increase 
in  the  circulation  of  fiction  by  enabling  those  who  read  solid 
literature  to  add  a  work  of  fiction,  many  librarians  specifically 
mention  this  point  in  their  replies.  I  think,  without  exception, 
the  statement  was  made  that  the  result  of  the  two-book  system 
has  been  to  increase  the  use  of  the  solid  literature  rather  than 
to  alter  the  character  of  the  reading  of  those  who  enjoy  liter- 
ature from  other  classes  than  fiction. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  use  much  time  in  elaborating 
the  conclusions  which  may  be  drawn  from  my  inquiry.  No  one 
can  examine  in  detail  the  statistics  that  I  have  brought  together 
without  seeing  clearly  that  there  is  no  magical  charm  in  the 
two-book  system  as  a  system  by  which  the  reading  of  the  com- 
munity will  be  improved.  It  is  quite  possible  that  under  this 
system  the  amount  of  fiction  read  will  be  increased  rather  than 
diminished.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  system,  so  far  from 
extending  the  range  of  literature  read  by  the  patrons  of  the 
library,  may  tend  rather  to  narrow  it.  Such  a  result  may  well 
be  reached  when  the  privilege  of  receiving  two  books  is  used 
without  care  and  without  discrimination  by  the  librarian— when 
it  is  worked  simply  as  a  mechanical  system.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances it  must  fail — it  ought  to  fail.  In  no  department  of 
education  can  success  be  reached  by  a  system  which  is  me- 
chanically administered.  Educational  success  comes  from  the 
living  influence  of  the  educator. 

But  the  educator  can  be  greatly  aided  or  hindered  by  the 
methods  employed,  and  the  statistics  and  the  opinions  of  li- 
brarians which  I  have  received  make  it  clear  that  the  two-book 
system  forms  an  important  aid  to  the  librarian  who  is  endeavor- 
ing to  use  to  the  full  his  influence  as  an  educator,  affording 


144  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

him  an  easy  method  of  introducing  his  patrons  to  new  ranges 
of  literature.  Intelligently  and  sympathetically  employed  in 
connection  with  the  other  educational  means  which  the  library 
affords,  it  is  one  of  the  most  important  aids  to  the  library  in 
performing  its  highest  service  to  the  community. 


WHAT  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 
ARE  READING 

Books  should  be  made  available  not  primarily  to 
make  one's  business  more  effective — however  important 
and  desirable— but  to  make  the  individual  more  effective 
in  his  personal  life.  On  the  assumption  that  man  is 
better  for  knowing  more,  the  reading  of  books  in  gen- 
eral was  made  a  subject  for  discussion  in  the  September- 
December,  1903,  number  of  the  Outlook — part  2  being 
a  librarian's  experience.  This  was  contributed  by  John 
Cotton  Dana,  librarian  of  the  Free  Public  Library,  New- 
ark, New  Jersey. 

A  sketch  of  Mr.  Dana  appears  in  Volume  2  of  this 
series. 

The  American  people  have  doubled  their  consumption  of 
newspapers  and  periodicals  in  the  last  ten  years  and  quadrupled 
it  in  the  last  twenty  Libraries  have  more  than  doubled  in 
number  in  twenty  years,  and  have  quadrupled  the  volumes  on 
their  shelves  in  the  same  time.  They  now  lend  perhaps  a  hun- 
dred million  novels  in  a  year,  with  twenty-five  million  books 
of  other  kinds.  Things  to  read  and  readers  to  enjoy  them 
increase  in  ways  we  scarcely  note,  and  with  results  none  can 
estimate.  If  man  is  better  for  knowing  more,  then  no  gener- 
ation has  matched  our  own  in  excellence.  To  be  informed  is 
hot  the  same  as  to  be  wise;  but  certainly  it  is  a  step  away  from 
ignorance. 

Every  roadside  fence  is  now  a  primer  for  the  passer-by, 
every  trolley-car  a  first  reader  to  the  traveler,  and  every  hoard- 
ing a  treatise  on  zoology,  manufactures,  and  social  problems. 
To-day,  most  read  a  little,  if  only  the  signs  and  posters;  some 
read  newspapers— probably  ten  to  twenty  millions  of  the  forty 
millions  who  could  read  them  if  they  would.  A  few  read  novels ; 
if  the  most  popular  novel  finds  only  a  million  buyers  in  a  coun- 
try where  forty  millions  could  read  it  if  they  would,  who  can 


I46  JOHN  COTTON  DANA 

say  that  novel-readers  are  more  than  a  few?  A  very  few,  pos- 
sibly two  or  three  millions,  read  standard  literature  and  serious 
contributions  to  thought  and  knowledge.  Surely,  the  procession 
of  readers  grows  larger  every  year,  relatively  as  well  as  abso- 
lutely. The  change  in  the  character  of  what  it  reads,  of  this 
much  can  be  said,  little  can  be  proved.  The  penny-dreadful 
and  the  Beadle  of  delightful  memory  led  the  way  to  the  nickel 
library  and  the  copious  chronicles  of  the  little  things  of  home, 
Alonzo  and  Melissa  have  their  successors  on  every  news-stand, 
and  "Scottish  Chiefs"  still  give  us  blissful  thrills,  with  no 
change  of  scene  or  costume  and  with  slight  deference  to  the 
latest  fashion  in  dialogue.  The  best  poetry  seems  to  follow 
old  models,  and,  as  ever,  there  is  little  of  the  best,  and  that 
little,  little  read.  Gibbon  wrote  good  history  long  ago ;  Darwin 
put  forth  the  great  book  of  science  before  most  of  us  were 
bora;  and  we  get  good  histories  and  good  science  still.  But 
now,  as  then,  their  readers  are  few. 

The  reading  from  the  Newark  library  is  probably  fairly 
typical,  in  its  distributions  among  the  several  classes,  of  that 
from  public  libraries  throughout  the  country.  In  the  last  ten 
years  young  people  have  come  to  form  a  greater  proportion 
of  the  borrowers,  taking  now  nearly  a  third  of  all  books  lent. 
Like  their  elders,  the  children  are  fond  of  story-books,  and 
select  them  seventy-four  times  out  of  a  hundred.  Adults  read 
seventy  novels  to  thirty  other  books,  showing  an  apparent  in- 
crease in  the  popularity  of  the  "other  books"  of  about  forty  per 
cent,  in  ten  years. 

Some  complain  that  our  natural  history  runs  now  to  senti- 
ment, and  that  the  sentiment  is  only  a  little  less  false  than  the 
natural  history.  Glory  be  to  the  sentimentalist  none  the  less. 
The  librarian  now  enjoys  with  the  teacher  the  sight  of  countless 
thousands  of  children  eager  to  learn  of  the  joys  and  trials  of 
those  other  children  of  the  wild.  Thus  sympathy  conies  and 
interest  with  it,  and  the  habits  of  kindness  and  gentleness  fol- 
low after.  Every  public  library  in  the  land  is  to-day  a  whole 
Kindness-to-Animals  Society  in  itself,  through  the  books  of 
nature  stories  on  its  shelves. 

The  geography  of  the  schools  is  a  far  broader  subject  than 
it  formerly  was.  The  teacher  now  supplements  the  text-book 
in  a  hundred  ways.  She  calls  on  her  public  library  for  all  that 


WHAT  AMERICAN  PEOPLE  ARE  READING     147 

can  throw  light  on  the  country  under  review,  and  travels  writ- 
ten to  attract  the  young  are  her  especial  delight.  Yet  our  fig- 
ures show  no  increase  in  travel  reading.  This  awaits  explana- 
tion. 

Where  our  people  took  one  hundred  books  on  social  science 
ten  years  ago  they  now  take  one  hundred  and  ninety.  This  is 
not  due  to  a  greater  interest  in  partisan  politics,  which  in  libra- 
ries goes  chiefly  with  history  and  biography.  The  newspapers 
seem  to  give  the  people  a  surfeit  of  party  platforms,  issues,  and 
candidatorial  platitudes 

Of  history  and  biography  the  use  among  adults  seems  not 
to  increase;  but  children  call  for  them,  and  have  raised  the 
total  lendings  in  ten  years  by  seventy  and  twenty-four  per  cent, 
respectively.  This  is  encouraging  to  the  librarian,  even  though 
he  knows  he  must  chiefly  thank  his  helpmeet  the  teacher  for  the 
change.  From  the  historical  story  which  the  writer  of  boys' 
books  weaves  about  Ticonderoga  and  Ethan  Allen,  to  a  biog- 
raphy of  Allen  and  a  history  of  the  Revolution,  is  an  easy  step, 
under  a  teacher's  guidance.  Moreover,  with  us  in  Newark,  the 
child  of  foreign  parents,  still  speaking  his  mother  tongue  at 
home,  is  eager  to  know  of  his  new  country,  and  calls  for  books 
of  history  and  biography—real,  true  things  he  wants— where  the 
American  boy  more  often  asks  for  stories.  This  phenomenon 
is  not  yet  fully  explained.  It  is  observed  in  all  libraries  near 
centers  of  foreign  population.  It  is  one  aspect  of  that  aston- 
ishing assimilative  power  which  our  country  possesses,  and 
uses,  almost  unconsciously,  to  mold  to  its  own  ways  all  who 
come  within  its  influence. 

But,  after  all,  the  change  in  reading  for  the  better,  as  library 
statistics  demonstrate  it,  is  rather  slight.  The  figures  seem 
to  indicate  a  drift  from  overmuch  of  literature  of  feeling— 
the  novel — to  literature  of  thinking;  from  emotion  to  judgment 
They  suggest  it  only;  they  do  not  demonstrate  it.  Such  a 
change  cannot  be  expected.  None  the  less,  we  may  find  much 
cause  for  congratulation  in  the  present  situation. 

I  have  made  a  diagram  illustrating  the  print-using  habit  in 
the  life  of  our  people.  If  read  from  left  to  right,  the  whole 
area  represents  the  whole  population  of  the  United  States.  Its 
height  represents,  at  the  extreme  left,  all  persons  living  who  are 
under  one  year  of  age,  and  then,  passing  to  the  right,  all  those 


148 


JOHN  COTTON  DANA 


of  each  successive  age,  up  to  seventy,  as  indicated  by  the  num- 
bers at  the  bottom  The  heavy  curved  line  is  the  line  of  school 
attendance  School  begins  to  gather  in  the  children  when  they 
are  four;  at  seven  it  holds,  for  a  time  each  year,  seventy  per 
cent,  of  all  of  that  age.  Nearly  all  who  enter  remain  until  they 
are  from  ten  to  twelve.  Then  they  begin  to  leave  in  large  num- 
bers, and  hardly  more  than  thirty  per  cent,  enter  the  high  school 
at  fourteen  or  fifteen,  and  the  merest  fraction  enter  college  al 
nineteen  or  twenty.  This  tells  the  story  We  scarcely  do  more 
than  teach  our  children  to  read. 


30  55 3T 

READERS  AND  NON-R.EADERS 


Between  those  who  read  much  and  those  who  read  none 
there  is  of  course  no  such  hard  and  fast  line  as  I  have  sug- 
gested. There  are  but  few  who  do  not  read  at  least  the  signs 
on  the  street-cars  or  the  posters  by  the  country  road.  But 
reading,  even  in  a  very  broad  sense  of  the  word,  has  not  yet 
become  a  universal  habit  Those  who  teach,  those  who  read 
many  things  themselves,  those  who  write  books  or  contribute 
to  newspapers,  all  associate  chiefly  with  reading  people  They 
see  countless  opportunities  for  reading  thrust  under  the  eyes 
of  every  one.  They  consider  the  newspapers,  the  schools,  the 
libraries,  their  own  children,  their  own  associates,  and  they 


WHAT  AMERICAN  PEOPLE  ARE  READING     149 

conclude  that  every  one  reads.  Then  they  take  note  of  the 
character  of  the  print  which  confronts  all  eyes,  the  yellow 
journal,  the  trifling  novel,  the  flimsy  magazine,  the  nickel  story 
papers,  the  torrent  of  that  literature  which  they  scorn,  which 
rarely  gets  even  the  compliment  of  condemnation  from  even 
the  most  trivial  of  literary  journals,  the  literature  of  the  sub- 
merged ninety  per  cent.;  and,  viewing  all  these  things,  they 
conclude  that  not  only  does  every  one  read,  but  that  most  read 
wretched  stuff,  and  that  the  reading  public's  taste  steadily 
deteriorates.  Whereas  the  situation  in  fact  is  this:  School  at- 
tendance grows  steadily  larger  every  year,  relatively  as  well 
as  absolutely.  In  includes  more  of  the  children  of  five  and 
six.  It  gathers  more  of  the  four  and  five-year-olds.  And 
especially  does  it  hold  in  school  more  children  as  they  come  to 
the  working  ages  of  twelve,  thirteen,  and  fourteen.  This  means 
that  every  year  the  million  who  leave  school  have  had  a  longer 
training  in  print-using.  At  the  same  time,  through  school 
libraries  and  public  libraries,  and  a  wiser  use  of  good  literature 
for  reading  lessons,  these  million  have  each  year  more  of 
the  reading  habit  and  a  better  taste.  Most  of  them  have,  how- 
ever, not  passed  the  sixth  grade.  Most  of  them  come  from 
homes  where  no  reading  is  done.  Most  of  them  go  at  once  into 
fields  of  work  where  reading  is  not  a  habit  and  "literature" 
is  an  unknown  word.  And  to  these  we  must  add  the  many 
thousands  who  do  not  pass  through  the  school  area  at  all,  not 
even  for  a  few  short  years.  We  have,  then,  coming  to-day  into 
this  vast  kingdom  of  print — so  appallingly  vast,  so  depressingly 
commonplace— a  procession  with  the  same  general  character- 
istics it  has  long  had:  a  handful  of  college  graduates,  a  larger 
group  of  high-school  graduates — combined,  not  ten  per  cent,  of 
the  whole — and  a  rank  and  file  which  reads  very  little,  and  that 
with  difficulty.  The  procession,  I  say,  has  the  same  charac- 
teristics it  has  had  for  several  generations  past ;  but  it  is  larger, 
vastly  larger,  and  grows  larger  every  year.  The  demand  for 
something  to  read  comes  now  from  millions,  formerly  from  a 
few  thousand.  They  demand  reading  suited  to  their  capacities 
and  tastes,  and  the  supply  comes  forth  The  bill-board,  the 
penny  paper,  and  the  five-cent  dreadful,  these  are  their  third 
and  fourth  readers,  their  literary  primers,  their  introductions  to 
better  things  In  reading  them  they  are  teaching  themselves 
and  improving  themselves,  and  in  almost  the  best  possible  way 


150  JOHN  COTTON  DANA 

They  get  what  they  wish,  they  read  with  interest  and  pleasure, 
they  take  profit  therefrom.  Moreover — and  this  is  the  other 
weighty  fact  in  the  case— they  steadily  improve  in  their  choice. 
The  chronicle  of  the  growth  of  clean  and  wholesome  journals, 
daily,  weekly,  and  monthly,  in  the  past  two  decades  is  just  as 
wonderful  in  its  way  as  that  of  the  growth  of  those  yellow 
papers  which  make  us  cringe. 

Cheap  and  loud  newspapers  will  go  on  increasing  in  number. 
The  better  papers  will  do  the  same.  The  day  of  the  newspaper 
is  yet  to  come.  In  twenty  years  we,  as  a  people,  will  con- 
sume many  times  the  daily  print  per  capita  we  now  take  in. 
Books  also  will  multiply.  Novel-reading  is  in  its  very  infancy. 
And  so  of  other  fields.  Meanwhile  the  library,  on  the  one  side, 
joins  forces  with  those  who  work  in  the  field  of  school  attend- 
ance, and  helps  to  give  the  youngest  product  of  the  schools 
at  least  a  glimpse  of  the  pleasures  and  profits  of  good  books. 
On  the  other  side,  it  tries  to  make  itself,  as  it  were,  the  uni- 
versal journal,  the  newspaper  of  all  times,  the  handy  book  of 
reference  for  the  worker  and  the  laboratory  of  the  scholar. 


OPEN  SHELVES 

It  is  always  difficult  to  trace  historically  the  absolute 
origin  of  any  practice.  Shelves  of  small  libraries  were 
open  at  an  early  date  but  the  first  Free  Public  Library 
reported  as  having  open  access  as  early  as  1879,  was  the 
Pawtucket,  R.L,  Free  Library.  The  Cleveland  Public 
Library  seems  to  have  been  the  first  in  which  open  access 
was  introduced  on  a  large  scale.  Beginning  in  April  1890, 
the  reports  indicate  that  the  practice  had  been  successful 
and  that  the  circulation  was  thereby  increased. 

In  a  discussion  of  free  access  at  the  Conference  of 
Librarians  held  in  London,  October  2-5,  1877,  the  major- 
ity of  those  who  spoke  on  the  subject  condemned  it. 
Partial  free  access  was  approved  by  those  who  spoke  on 
the  subject  at  the  A.L.A.  conference  in  1888.  Most 
American  libraries  then  restricted  access  to  certain 
classes  of  books  and  some  to  certain  hours,  but  the  gen- 
eral verdict  was  against  access  to  fiction  and  juvenile 
books.  Six  libraries  that  had  tried  free  access  reported 
abandonment  of  the  plan  by  1894.  The  opening  of  The 
Free  Library  of  Philadelphia,  in  which  access  was  from 
the  outset  entirely  free,  gave  it  great  impetus. 

A  recapitulation  of  papers  and  addresses  by  libra- 
rians whose  libraries  have  open  access  shows  the  chief 
problems  in  this  connection  have  been  in  regard  to  extra 
wear  and  tear,  losses,  extra  cost  and  the  admission  of 
children.  In  many  cases  losses,  misplacements  and 
other  drawbacks  have  been  outweighed  by  the  feeling 
that  the  library  should  be  made  thoroughly  accessible  and 
administered  with  a  view  to  general  utility. 


ACCESS  TO  SHELVES 

After  a  half  century's  familiarity  with  libraries  of 
all  kinds,  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson  thinks  that  one 
of  the  great  changes  to  be  made  in  the  libraries  of  the 
future  relates  not  to  the  collection  of  books,  but  to  their 
distribution.  Problems  of  the  collection  have  been 
pretty  well  solved;  the  next  one  is  to  make  them  more 
useful.  He  lauds  the  open  access  library  and  mentions 
as  large  libraries  carrying  out  the  plan  successfully, 
those  of  Cleveland  and  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  the  Boston 
Athenaeum. 

The  following  report  is  an  extract  from  an  address 
before  the  Massachusetts  Library  Club,  April  30,  1891, 
reprinted  in  the  Library  Journal  of  the  same  year. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Higginson  is  found  in 
Volume  3  of  this  series. 

I  wish  to  give  it  as  my  strong  conviction,  after  half  a  cen- 
tury's familiarity  with  libraries  of  all  lands,  that  the  great 
changes  to  be  made  in  the  libraries  of  the  future  lie  in  the 
direction  not  of  the  collection  of  books,  but  of  their  distribu- 
tion. The  problem  of  collection  is  now  pretty  well  solved 
Once  set  a  library  on  its  feet,  and  contributions  will  flow  to  it; 
money,  books,  pictures,  treasures  of  all  kinds.  This  is  espe- 
cially true  if  it  be  supported  by  the  public  and  so  administered 
that  the  whole  community  regards  it  as  its  possession.  On  this 
side  only  patience  and  labor  are  necessary;  and  the  ordinary 
problems  of  administration,  though  difficult,  present  only  the 
kind  of  difficulty  which  the  American  mind  readily  solves.  The 
problem  of  the  future  is  not,  therefore,  to  collect  the  library 
or  to  administer  it,  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but  to  make  it  useful. 
This  problem  is  far  more  difficult  and  needs  higher  qualities; 
for  it  needs  the  faith  to  put  confidence  in  the  people,  and  the 
far-seeing  wisdom  to  exercise  that  confidence  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. 


154  THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON 

What  renders  it  certain  that  this  vaster  problem  will  be 
solved  is  the  fact  that  all  the  tendencies  of  the  last  half  cen- 
tury have  been  urging  us  that  way.  For  fifty  years  I  have  seen 
the  books  of  our  larger  libraries  gradually  emerging  from  their 
monastic  seclusion,  coming  forth  from  their  locked  cases  and 
Iheir  nun-like  garb  of  brown,  to  meet  human  eye  and  human 
touch.  What  student  near  Boston  has  not  revelled  in  the  glori- 
ous liberty  which  you,  Mr  President,  have  seen  established  in 
the  Athenaeum  Library?  Yet  I  can  remember  when,  in  its 
Pearl  Street  seclusion,  the  boldest  youth  would  no  more  dare 
to  take  down  a  book  in  one  of  its  alcoves  than  to  adventure 
on  a  perilous  flirtation  with  a  Spanish  nun.  I  can  recall  the 
time  when  no  student  ever  personally  handled  a  book  in  the 
Harvard  College  Library,  for  the  most  venerable  or  dingy  vol- 
ume was  carefully  swathed  before  it  was  handed  to  him  in  the 
customary  suit  of  solemn  brown.  To-day  there  is  a  selected 
library  of  4000  volumes— to  be  increased,  I  am  told,  to  20,000 
whenever  a  new  reading-room  is  erected — which  every  one  of 
the  two  thousand  students  may  use  at  will  and  practically  un- 
watched,  each  personally  taking  down  and  handling  any  book.1 
More  than  this,  any  student  or  any  citizen  engaged  in  special 
research  can  have  free  access  to  the  "stack"  itself,  the  main 
library,  where  there  are  multitudes  of  volumes  practically  ir- 
replaceable, and  where  he  may  handle  every  one.  The  number 
obtaining  this  easy  privilege  amounts  now  to  four  or  five  hun- 
dred, including  of  course  the  instructors  of  the  university;  a 
number  greater  than  the  whole  body  of  students  in  my  own 
college  days.  Yet  the  audible  complaints  as  to  loss  or  muti- 
lation of  books  seems  to  me  less,  not  only  comparatively  but 
absolutely,  than  in  the  days  when  the  books  were  almost  her- 
metically sealed  from  those  few. 

What  is  the  key  to  this  change?  It  is  a  very  simple  one. 
"Suspicion,"  says  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  "is  the  way  to  lose  that 
which  we  do  fear  to  lose."  A  similar  change  has  been  going 
on  in  our  public  schools  as  to  the  treatment  of  buildings  Our 
Cambridge  School  Superintendent,  Mr.  Cogswell,  lately  told  me 
that  in  looking  through  the  early  records  of  the  school  com- 
mittee he  was  amazed  to  find  how  much  of  the  time  of  that 

rt,  j1  [IJVultic/  *°  the  M>rarians  of  a  past  generation  it  should  be  said 
that  at  least  forty  years  ago,  and  perhaps  more,  there  was  a  collection 
of  between  3000  and  jjooo  volumes  in  the  old  reading-room  of  Gore  Hall 
put  at  the  free  disposition  of  the  students  and  not  covered.— EDS  J 


ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  155 

board  was  formerly  taken  up  with  efforts  to  protect  the  build- 
ings from  the  pencils  and  the  jack-knives  of  the  pupils.  We 
have  now  single  buildings  worth  more  than  all  the  collected 
schoolhouses  of  those  days;  and  yet,  he  says,  the  board  has  for 
years  had  no  occasion  to  consider  that  subject  for  one  moment. 
The  better  the  building  the  higher  the  appeal  to  the  child,  the 
better  the  usage.  It  is  the  same  with  books.  The  librarian 
of  a  rural  library  told  me  that  she  was  converted  to  the  abolition 
of  brown  paper  covers  by  noticing  that  the  fanners  put  the 
uncovered  books  carefully  under  the  wagon-seat  for  protection, 
but  threw  the  covered  books  mto  the  bottom  of  the  wagon.  It 
is  so  with  the  direct  access  to  books.  Nor  will  it  avail  to  say 
that  college  students  or  Boston  Athenaeum  stockholders  are  a 
picked  class  and  that  the  people  at  large  are  less  to  be  trusted. 
If  there  is  a  difference,  the  balance  is  the  other  way.  Mr. 
Edward  Capen,  then  librarian  of  the  Boston  Public  Library, 
once  told  me,  when  some  added  restrictions  were  there  pro- 
posed, that  his  judgment  was  wholly  against  them.  He  said: 
"The  people  who  need  watching,  with  us,  are  not  the  more 
ignorant  public,  those  who  have  no  place  in  their  houses  for 
a  library  and  who  do  not  wish  to  keep  any  book  after  reading 
it,  but  only  to  exchange  it  for  another.  Those  who  need  watch- 
ing" he  said,  "are  the  educated  collectors,  the  men  who  have 
a  gap  in  their  own  libraries  to  fill,  or  the  specialists  who  have 
got  at  a  rare  bit  of  information  and  wish  to  monopolize  it" 
Every  librarian  here  understands  this.  In  museums,  I  am  told, 
there  are  visitors  who  could  be  trusted  with  a  million  dollars, 
but  not  with  a  rare  fossil  or  a  unique  beetle.  Even  in  the  mere 
usage  of  books,  education  and  social  position  are  no  safeguard. 
I  remember  a  much  respected  lawyer  in  this  city  thirty  years 
ago,  of  whom  it  was  said  that  he  would,  as  De  Quincey  says 
of  Wordsworth,  cut  the  leaves  of  a  new  book  with  the  same 
knife  that  had  just  spread  his  bread-and-butter. 

It  is  safe  to  predict  that  the  great  changes  which  the  next 
twenty  years  are  to  see  in  the  management  of  free  public  libra- 
ries will  be  all  in  the  direction  of  the  freer  handling  of  books 
by  their  rightful  owners,  the  public.  This  it  is,  and  not  any 
increased  strictness,  which  is  to  bring  down  the  ratio  of  fiction 
to  a  reasonable  amount;  this  it  is  which  is  to  make  the  public 
library  a  really  liberal  education.  But  to  accomplish  these 


156          THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON 

changes  will  cost  the  abandonment  of  many  prejudices  on  the 
part  of  librarians  and  trustees ;  they  must  abolish  brown  paper ; 
must  abandon  most  of  their  locks  and  keys  and  make  up  their 
minds,  if  need  be,  that  the  loss  of  a  few  dollars  will  be  amply 
repaid  by  the  increased  usefulness  of  the  whole  library.  Our 
buildings  will  themselves  be  greatly  modified.  I  already  look 
with  repentance  on  our  new  building  at  Cambridge,  in  which 
I  had  a  hand;  were  it  to  be  destroyed  tomorrow,  I  would  re- 
build, had  I  the  power,  on  a  wholly  different  plan,  following 
the  magnificent  example  of  the  Columbus  (Ohio)  Library,  where 
every  alcove,  excepting  for  the  present  fiction  and  "juveniles," 
is  to  be  thrown  open,  as  freely  as  the  Boston  Athenaeum  Library, 
to  every  resident  of  the  city.  It  must  never  be  forgotten,  how- 
ever, that  the  pioneer  experiment  was  tried,  not  in  the  great  city 
of  Cleveland,  but  in  the  smaller  manufacturing  city  of  Paw- 
tucket,  R.  I  For  more  than  a  year  we  have  had  in  Cambridge 
in  our  reference  library  nearly  two  thousand  books  as  freely 
to  be  handled  by  every  comer  over  twelve  years  old  as  if  they 
were  in  their  own  private  libraries ;  and  this  without  the  loss  or 
injury  of  a  book,  except  in  one  instance,  which  I  believe  to  have 
been  accidental.  The  collection  includes  not  merely  cyclopedias 
and  dictionaries,  but  valuable  illustrated  works  and  the  com- 
plete writings  of  such  writers  as  Scott,  Irving,  Thackeray,  and 
George  Eliot.  Had  I  my  way  and  were  the  building  expressly 
arranged  for  the  purpose,  I  would  have  the  main  bulk  of  the 
library  open  with  equal  freedom;  and  I  believe  that  this  could 
be  done,  as  at  Cleveland,  without  extra  expense  or  the  employ- 
ment of  additional  assistance.  No  matter  if  it  could  not.  This 
is  what  we  are  to  aim  at  and  gradually  approach.  This  and 
nothing  short  of  this  will  be  the  Free  Public  Library  of  the 
Future. 


REPORT  ON  ACCESS  TO  SHELVES 

This  report  on  the  progress  of  Open  Shelves,  was 
prepared  by  Dr.  Bernard  C.  Steiner  and  Samuel  H. 
Ranck  of  the  Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library  of  Baltimore, 
and  presented  at  the  Lake  Placid  Conference  of  the 
A.L.A.,  September  20,  1894.  A  series  of  sixteen  ques- 
tions had  been  sent  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  rep- 
resentative libraries.  Replies  were  received  from  one 
hundred  and  five,  and  these  with  abstracts  from  others, 
are  presented  in  the  following  paper. 

A  sketch  of  Mr.  Ranck  appears  in  Volume  1  of  this 
series. 

Bernard  Christian  Steiner  was  born  in  Guilford, 
Connecticut,  August  13,  1867.  He  was  graduated  from 
Yale  in  1888  and  later  took  his  Ph  D  degree  at  Johns 
Hopkins  University.  From  1891  to  1892  he  was  in- 
structor in  history  at  Williams  College.  From  1892  until 
his  death  on  January  12,  1926,  he  was  librarian  of  the 
Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library,  Baltimore.  He  was  the 
author  of  several  books  and  a  contributor  to  various  his- 
torical and  geneologial  periodicals 

We  beg  to  submit  the  following  report  on  access  of  the 
public  to  the  shelves  in  libraries.  A  series  of  sixteen  questions 
was  prepared,  which  we  believed  would  cover  the  field,  and 
these  were  sent  to  about  135  of  the  representative  libraries  of 
the  English-speaking  world.  From  105  of  those  libraries  replies 
have  been  received— most  of  them  very  promptly. 

The  experience  of  libraries  is  such  that  it  is  impossible  to 
present  the  results,  with  any  degree  of  satisfaction,  in  tabular 
form.  Therefore,  abstracts  of  the  reports  of  libraries,  for  the 
most  part  those  that  have  had  some  experience  in  granting 
access  to  shelves,  are  given  in  detail. 


158  STEINER  AND  RANCH 

On  only  one  point  are  libraries  generally  agreed:  The  pub- 
lic will  misplace  books,  not  only  occasionally,  but  always,  or 
at  least,  "whenever  they  get  the  chance"  Only  four  report 
that  books  are  not  misplaced,  and  m  these  there  are  special 
reasons;  one  of  which  is  that  the  rule  is  obeyed,  forbidding 
the  public  to  return  books  to  the  shelves.  In  some  libraries  the 
misplacement  is  reported  to  be  of  no  serious  consequence,  though 
it  occurs  frequently;  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  even 
library  attendants  occasionally  put  books  where  they  do  not 
belong 

Most  libraries  restrict  access  to  certain  classes  of  books, 
and  some,  to  certain  hours.  Access  to  fiction  and  juvenile 
books  is  very  generally  denied,  at  least  during  the  busiest  hours. 
Nearly  all  libraries  grant  access  to  a  few,  and  many,  to  all,  or 
nearly  all,  reference  books.  As  to  the  desirability  of  such  access 
almost  all  are  agreed.  The  practical  difficulties  in  the  way  often 
prevent  it  Of  the  libraries  allowing  access  to  the  circulating 
department  the  general  verdict  is  against  access  to  fiction  and 
juvenile  books,  which  usually  comprise  from  75  to  80  per  cent, 
of  the  total  circulation.  In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  three  libraries  (Alameda,  Cal  ;  Ames  Free  Library, 
North  Easton,  Mass.;  and  Worcester,  Mass.)  report  an  in- 
creased percentage  in  the  reading  of  books  of  the  better  class, 
and  a  corresponding  decrease  in  the  reading  of  fiction,  as  a  re- 
sult of  allowing  access  to  the  shelves. 

Six  libraries  that  have  tried  access  to  the  shelves  in  some 
of  its  forms  have  discontinued  it,  They  are  the  following: 
Bangor,  Me.;  Kansas  City,  Mo  ;  Liverpool,  Eng.;  Lynn,  Mass  ; 
Rochester,  N  Y.;  and  Springfield,  111  To  this  list  might  be 
added  the  Mercantile  Library  of  Philadelphia  which  has  re- 
stricted the  freedom  of  former  years.  The  experience  of  each 
may  be  found  in  the  detailed  reports. 

Twenty-seven  libraries  report  access  by  permit  of  the  libra- 
rian or  board  of  officers.  The  greatest  variety  in  the  extent  of 
this  privilege  is  found,  no  two  following  exactly  the  same  prac- 
tice. Thirteen  libraries  allow  free  access  and  ten  restricted  ac- 
cess to  the  reference  department.  Of  the  thirty  libraries  report- 
ing "no  access"  three  have  stated  their  reason  to  be  "lack  of 
room;"  three  "don't  believe  in  it;"  two  cannot  on  account  of  the 
"present  arrangement;"  one,  each,  on  account  of  "increased 


REPORT  ON  ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  159 

expense,"  "insufficient  help,"  "misplacing  of  books,"  and  because 
"it  does  not  seem  possible" 

But  one  large  library  (Cleveland,  Ohio)  reports  unrestricted 
access  of  all  persons,  to  all  books,  at  all  times,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  medical  and  special  books.  The  Apprentices'  Li- 
brary, of  Philadelphia  and  the  library  of  Galveston,  Texas,  re- 
port the  same.  We  learn  from  annual  reports,  and  know  from 
personal  observation,  that  there  are  others.  For  interesting 
opinions  on  the  mater  of  access  we  would  call  attention  to  the 
detailed  reports  of  Jersey  City  and  Salem.  As  to  types  of 
libraries  and  forms  of  access  the  following  reports  may  be  men- 
tioned. Alameda,  Cal.;  Auckland,  New  Zealand;  Boston  Athen- 
aeum; Carnegie,  Braddock,  Pa.;  Clerkenwell,  Eng.;  Denver, 
Colo. ;  Hamilton,  Ontario ;  Minneapolis,  Minn  ;  Newark,  N.  J. ; 
Princeton  College;  and  Stockton,  Cal 

The  verdict  of  experience  is  that  for  the  successful  oper- 
ation of  general  access,  the  stack  system  is  not  suited.  Some 
form  of  the  alcove  arrangement  is  the  only  one  that  is  satis- 
factory. Those  libraries  having  general  access  have  been 
obliged  to  adopt  this  arrangement,  or  at  least  find  it  most  advis- 
able to  do  so.  High  shelves,  also,  are  found  unsuited  for  gen- 
eral access.  In  other  words,  access  to  shelves  demands  more 
space. 

There  is  the  greatest  diversity  of  experience  on  the  labor 
question.  Some  libraries  find  they  can  save  the  salaries  of 
several  attendants,  while  others  find  that  more  attendants  are 
needed.  The  saving  in  salaries  justifies  the  increased  space  and 
loss  of  books,  in  the  opinion  of  some,  and  the  greater  satisfac- 
tion to  the  public  counterbalances  added  cost  of  labor,  in  the 
opinion  of  others. 

In  a  large  library  the  labor  involved  in  keeping  books  in 
their  proper  places  is  no  small  matter.  The  shelving  now  in 
use  in  the  Central  library  building  alone,  of  the  Enoch  Pratt 
Free  Library  is  more  than  two  miles  m  length.  The  expense 
and  time  involved  make  it  practically  impossible  to  verify  the 
order  of  those  two  miles  of  books  every  day,  much  less  "every 
morning  while  dusting."  This  library  allows  free  access  to 
nearly  200  dictionaries,  encyclopedias,  etc.,  in  the  reading-room. 
These  must  be  placed  in  order  every  morning,  and  sometimes 
again  during  the  day,  by  the  attendant  in  charge.  Though  the 


160  STEINER  AND  RANCH 

room  is  visited  by  hundreds  of  people  daily,  but  one  or  two 
books  have  been  lost  in  the  history  of  the  library.  To  the 
other  parts  of  the  library,  persons  desiring  to  consult  a  great 
number  of  books  may  have  access,  by  obtaining  permission  from 
the  librarian.  The  cases  of  access,  however,  are  rare,  as  we 
prefer  to  send  an  almost  unlimited  number  of  books  to  the  read- 
ing-room. With  us  the  great  disadvantage  is  the  narrow  space 
between  the  stacks,  which  prevents  an  attendant  from  passing 
through  if  any  one  is  there  at  work 

The  loss  of  books,  while  considerable  in  many  instances,  is 
not  so  general  as  always  to  be  a  serious  objection  It  depends 
on  the  community  and  the  arrangement  of  the  books.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  increased  wear  and  tear. 

The  advantages  claimed  arc:  (a)  The  public  better  served, 
because  they  get  the  books  they  want  and  do  it  in  less  time; 
(fc)the  economy  in  administration,  requiring  fewer  attendants; 
(c)  a  better  class  of  reading  The  disadvantages  claimed  are- 
(a)  More  space  for  books  and  consequently  a  larger  and  more 
expensive  building;  (b)  misplacement  of  books;  (c)  loss  of 
books;  (d)  increased  wear  and  tear  of  books;  (e)  expense  in 
administration,  requiring  more  attendants;  (/)  general  con- 
fusion in  the  alcoves,  loitering,  etc. 

From  the  detailed  reports  it  will  be  noticed  that,  as  a  rule, 
the  time  of  trial  in  most  of  the  larger  libraries  granting  access 
is  comparatively  short,  much  less  than  the  time  of  trial  of 
those  libraries  that  have  discarded  the  system. 

The  facts  brought  forth  by  this  report  seem  to  indicate 
that  satisfactory  results  of  access  to  the  shelves  depend  almost 
entirely  on  two  factors:  (a)  Arrangement  of  books  so  that  a 
large  number  of  people  may  move  about  freely  without  causing 
confusion;  (b)  the  character  of  the  users  of  the  library,  which 
must  include  honesty  and  the  exercise  of  a  reasonable  amount 
of  care  and  good  sense.  It  is  obvious  that  these  factors  can 
be  dealt  with  much  more  easily  in  a  small,  than  in  a  large 
library;  and  each  library  must  deal  with  them  in  its  own  way 
The  library  must  be  administered  for  the  good  of  all  its  patrons, 
and  we  believe  that  while  good  results  would  be  obtained  in 
some  instances  by  extending  the  freedom  of  access,  in  others 
the  usefulness  of  the  library  would  suffer 


REPORT  ON  ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  161 

ABSTRACTS  OF  REPORTS 

ALAMEDA  (CaL)  Free  Library.  16,724  v.  The  I5th  annual 
report  of  this  library  contains  the  most  glowing  account  of 
free  access  we  have  seen.  The  number  of  volumes  issued  for 
home  use  for  the  year  ending  May  31,  1891,  was  45,645;  i8o.2» 
51,332;  1893,  57,949;  1894,  101,404.  The  last  year  the  library 
had  free  access,  and  most  of  the  time  the  entire  desk  work  was 
performed  by  one  assistant.  The  year  showed  a  decrease  in  the 
demand  for  fiction.  Of  the  total  issue  of  books  for  the  year 
48.3  per  cent,  was  fiction,  184  per  cent,  juvenile,  333  per  cent, 
other  classes.  The  preceding  year,  under  the  old  system  of 
delivery,  the  figures  were  as  follows:  Fiction,  628  per  cent., 
juvenile,  263  per  cent,  and  other  classes  10.9  per  cent,  "The 
public  has  shown  its  appreciation  of  the  confidence  reposed  in 
it,  and  of  the  great  and  undoubted  advantages  of  the  new  sys- 
tem over  the  old,  by  seeing  to  it  that  out  of  over  100,000  books 
issued  for  home  use,  39  only  were  missing." 

AMES  Free  Library,  North  Easton,  Mass.  13,731  v.  Access 
has  been  granted  to  a  very  limited  extent  since  its  opening  in 
1882  More  freedom  given  since  the  fall  of  1892.  Permission 
of  librarian  required;  usually  desired  by  students.  "Would 
certainly  need  more  clerks  if  it  were  often  applied  for."  Re- 
placing books  on  shelves  generally  forbidden,  because  books  are 
so  often  misplaced  by  those  of  the  public  having  access  to  them. 
It  seems  to  encourage  the  public  to  read  a  better  class  of  books, 
but  at  the  same  time  increases  work  for  the  librarian. 

APPRENTICES'  Library  Co.,  Philadelphia.  16,200  v.  For  eleven 
years  this  library  has  granted  access  to  the  shelves.  There  is 
absolute  freedom.  Books  are  misplaced  and  shelves  must  be 
gone  over  twice  a  day  for  fiction,  and  2  or  3  times  a  week 
for  the  rest  of  the  library,  to  get  books  in  order.  On  the  whole, 
open  shelves  are  most  desirable. 

AUCKLAND  (New  Zealand)  Free  Public  Library.  28,000  v. 
A  reference,  with  lending  library  attached  Incunabula  and 
large  art  works  only  are  kept  under  lock  and  key  to  be  given 
out  when  asked  for  The  public  forbidden  to  replace  books 
on  the  shelves,  which  are  roughly  scanned  over  every  morning 
for  one  hour  by  two  assistants,  to  keep  the  books  in  order.  The 


ifa  STEINER  AND  RANCH 

increased  wear  is  about  2  per  cent  for  books  in  leather  and 
5  per  cent,  for  cloth.  40  to  50  shillings  would  cover  the  yearly 
loss.  "Every  inducement  is  given  here  to  the  people  to  enter 
the  library  There  are  no  barriers  in  the  way,  not  even  com- 
pelled to  sign  the  visitor's  book.  We  have  not  found  the  library 
abused  in  any  way  by  its  free  and  open  facilities  to  all." 

BANGOR  (Maine)  Public  Library.  36,408  v.  Access  granted 
only  in  case  of  books  too  large  to  be  carried  to  the  reading- 
room.  "The  loss  of  500  books  in  2#  years  by  theft,  and  dis- 
arrangement of  books  on  the  shelves,  caused  the  closing  of  the 
shelves  to  the  public  in  1876,  We  have  not  since  thought  it 
advisable  to  repeat  the  experiment." 

BERKSHIRE  Athenaeum,  Pittsfield,  Mass.  23,000  v.  Access 
granted  under  favor  or  by  request.  "Those  who  request  access 
to  the  shelves  are  almost  invariably  those  of  sufficient  intelli- 
gence to  use  books  properly.  To  such  persons  the  utility  of  the 
library  is  immeasurably  enhanced  by  free  access  to  the  shelves." 

BOSTON  Athenaeum,  Boston,  Mass.  183,000  v.  Unrestricted 
access  to  the  shelves  is  granted  to  all  persons  who  have  a  right 
to  use  the  library,  the  families  of  the  owners  of  the  1049  shares 
and,  in  addition  to  these,  about  800  persons  who  have  cards  of 
admission  from  the  proprietors.  Free  access  has  been  the  prac- 
tice since  the  foundation  of  the  library.  The  only  exception 
is  the  collection  of  newspapers  and  one  locked  room  where 
particularly  valuable  books  are  kept.  Access  to  the  shelves  has 
no  necessary  effect  on  the  capacity  of  the  library,  but  it  makes 
high  shelves  most  undesirable,  and  a  stack  system  less  conven- 
ient than  an  alcove  system  The  number  of  delivery  clerks 
and  runners  for  books  is  much  less,  as  most  people  prefer  to 
go  to  the  shelves  themselves  and  pick  out  what  they  want. 
Readers  are  requested  not  to  return  books  to  the  shelves,  but 
they  are  just  as  likely  not  to  observe  this  as  to  do  so.  The 
misplacement  of  books  is  not  such  as  to  produce  any  serious  in- 
convenience- The  shelves  are  gone  over  carefully  with  the 
shelf -list  every  year,  but  the  attendants  are  always  on  the  look- 
out for  misplaced  books  and  put  them  right.  The  privilege 
of  going  to  the  shelves  directly  is  considered  the  distinguishing 
and  principal  advantage  of  this  library,  and  the  withdrawal  of 
it  would  be  considered  by  the  proprietors  as  taking  away  what 
is  half  the  advantage  of  owning  a  share  here.  People  can  be 


REPORT  ON  ACCESS  TO   SHELVES  163 

helped  much  more  effectually  in  this  way  to  find  what  they  want 
than  if  they  had  the  catalogue  alone  to  consult 

BRIDGEPORT  (Conn )  Public  Library.  Access  not  allowed 
"The  subscription  library  which  was  the  parent  of  the  present 
free  library  permitted  unrestricted  access,  and  the  results  were 
altogether  disastrous.  In  consequence  of  this,  I  think  public 
feeling  would  be  against  open  shelves,  and  with  us  there  is 
no  demand  for  them." 

BROOKLYN  Library,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  116,090  v.  Access  in 
special  cases  has  been  granted  for  25  years  or  longer.  Books 
are  quite  often  misplaced  and  the  shelves  "should  be  examined 
every  time  they  are  used  by  an  outsider." 

BUFFALO  Library,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  73,000  v.  For  seven  years 
some  2,000  reference  books  have  been  open  to  everybody.  Access 
to  other  shelves  is  allowed  to  any  person  who  has  a  good  reason 
for  examining  a  considerable  number  of  books.  "I  think  that 
if  our  library  was  constructed  with  reference  to  it,  I  should 
wish  to  make  the  admission  to  shelves  more  general,  but  I  doubt 
the  expediency  of  throwing  them  entirely  open." 

CAMBRIDGE  (Mass  )  Public  Library.  42,000  v  Grants  access 
now  and  then,  but  generally  sends  an  attendant  with  the  reader. 
Were  the  practice  general  it  would  require  a  rearrangement 
of  the  library. 

CARNEGIE  Free  Library,  Alleghany,  Pa.  26,000  v.  Shelf- 
permits  are  issued  on  application  to  all  who  are  in  search  of 
solid  reading.  No  shelf-permits  for  fiction.  The  construction 
of  the  stacks  will  not  permit  general  admission. 

CARNEGIE  Free  Library,  Braddock,  Pa.  10,000  v.  Books  in 
cases  with  glass  doors,  which  trustworthy  people  may  have  un- 
locked so  as  to  go  to  the  books  at  any  time.  "The  special  ad- 
vantage of  our  system  is  that  it  allows  our  readers  to  see  the 
outside  of  the  books  and  get  some  idea  of  size,  etc.,  which 
seems  to  give  them  an  indefinable  satisfaction;  that  it  exhibits, 
as  it  were,  a  classed  catalogue  of  the  books  which  are  in;  that 
it  protects  the  books  from  dirt  in  an  exceedingly  dirty  town; 
that  it  serves  as  an  indicator  to  show  whether  the  book  wanted 
is  in  or  out,  and  this  saves  the  time  of  the  attendants." 


164  STEINER  AND  RANCH 

CHICAGO  (111.)  Public  Library.  200,000  v.  Access  not 
granted  In  the  new  library  building  it  is  proposed  to  have  a 
large  number  of  reference-books  accessible  to  readers,  but  no 
access  to  the  stacks. 

CLERKENWELL  Public  Library,  London,  Eng  14,000  v  So 
far  as  we  know  this  is  the  only  public  library  in  England  that 
permits  public  access  to  its  shelves  in  both  the  lending  and 
reference  departments  It  has  been  tried  in  the  reference  de- 
partment since  1890  and  in  the  lending  department  since  May  I, 
1894.  In  the  lending  department  admission  to  the  shelves  is 
"only  allowed  to  borrowers  who  hold  ticket  vouchers,"  reference 
unrestricted,  though  the  reference  access  is  confined  to  direc- 
tories, annuals,  &c.,  "but  will  likely  be  thrown  open  all  over, 
soon."  It  was  necessary  to  change  the  arrangement  of  the 
shelves.  The  salary  of  one  assistant  saved,  which  will  go  a 
long  way  toward  covering  losses  and  additional  wear  and  tear. 
The  public  may  return  books  to  the  shelves  and  the  misplacing 
of  books  is  "hardly  worth  reckoning;  but  this  is  due  to  our 
special  method  of  marking"  Shelves  are  gone  over  morning, 
afternoon  and  night  (ten  minutes  each  time  suffices)  to  get  mis- 
placed books  in  order  No  loss  discovered  from  May  i,  to 
August  4,  the  date  of  the  report. 

CLEVELAND  (Ohio)  Public  Library.  80,000  v.  This  library 
has  granted  access  for  more  than  four  years;  there  are  no  re- 
strictions, save  that  the  medical  cases  and  a  special  collection 
of  about  100  volumes  are  not  now  open  to  boys  and  girls  It 
requires  more  room,  but  fewer  assistants.  Very  few  books  mis- 
placed; loss  of  books  "more  than  double  in  four  years."  It  is 
an  economy.  It  increases  the  use  of  the  library  and  renders 
it  much  more  satisfactory  to  users,  and  more  valuable.  It  is 
superior  in  every  respect  to  the  old  plan. 

COLUMBUS  (Ohio)  Public  Library.  20,000  v.  Access  has 
been  tried  five  years,  but  not  permitted  to  fiction  cases,  nor  on 
Saturdays  or  busy  hours  Scientific  and  historical  books  re- 
arranged Increases  the  use  of  the  library  and  calls  for  more 
clerks.  The  public  will  misplace  books  eight  times  out  of  ten. 
No  noticeable  increase  in  loss,  or  wear  and  tear  of  books.  Deem 
it  a  wise  policy  for  assisting  students  and  special  workers. 


REPORT  ON  ACCESS  TO   SHELVES  165 

CONCORD  (Mass )  Free  Public  Library.  26,000  v.  Free  access 
to  the  reference  department  since  1873,  and  the  past  two  years 
new  books  are  kept  on  shelves  open  to  the  public,  about  three 
months  "Our  loss  is  very  small,  but  fully  half  of  it  comes  from 
free  access  to  the  shelves." 

DENVER  (Col.)  Public  Library.  20,000  v.  "To  every  one  if 
clean  and  quiet,"  the  library  grants  access  to  all  books  except 
fiction  (for  lack  of  room),  and  "a  few  nice  books/'  Requires 
more  space  and  adds  to  the  work.  The  public  forbidden  to 
return  books  to  the  shelves,  but  they  do,  and  misplace  them. 
Shelves  should  be  looked  after  constantly  to  keep  books  in 
order,  but  manage  to  get  along  by  going  o\er  them  about  once 
a  month.  Access  is  popular  and  "to  keep  the  public  away  from 
the  books  is  not  one  of  the  best  ways  of  increasing  the  use- 
fulness of  the  library." 

DETROIT  (Mich.)  Public  Library.  125,000  v.  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  main  portion  of  the  library  makes  it  impossible  to 
admit  the  public  freely  on  account  of  lack  of  space  Last  No- 
vember the  reference-room,  containing  in  addition  to  strictly 
reference-books,  all  Poole  sets,  patent  specifications,  &c,  was 
opened  freely  to  the  public.  Visitors  instructed  to  leave  books 
on  the  tables  after  using  them.  Always  one  or  two  attendants 
about  the  room  watching.  The  privilege  greatly  appreciated, 
and,  as  far  as  known,  no  books  have  been  stolen  or  damaged 

FISK  Free  Library,  New  Orleans,  La  14,000  v  A  reference 
library;  reports  small  increase  in  loss  on  account  of  access  to 
the  shelves,  but  lessens  library  force 

FRIENDS  Free  Library,  Germantown,  Pa  17,500  v  Access 
to  shelves  not  restricted  except  to  cases  containing  valuable 
books.  Juvenile  shelves  must  be  looked  after  weekly,  to  keep 
books  in  order.  "Rather  a  decrease"  in  loss  of  books.  Disad- 
vantage arises  from  young  persons  who  are  not  earnestly  look- 
ing for  information,  but  advantages  outbalance  disadvantages 

GAIL  BORDEN  Public  Library,  Elgin,  111.  15,000  v.  This  li- 
brary does  not  grant  access  and  the  librarian  says:  "We  have 
the  vanity  to  believe  that  we  can  suit  our  patrons  better  than 
they  could  do  it  themselves— and  I  think  that  might  be  true  gen- 
erally of  small  libraries." 


166  STEINER  AND  RANCH 

GENERAL  Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen  (Apprentices' 
Library),  New  York  City.  100,000  v  For  more  than  31  years 
this  library  has  granted  access  "to  any  who  has  a  good  reason 
that  commends  itself  to  the  librarian"  Books  often  misplaced 
by  employes.  Of  inestimable  advantage  to  students — "decidedly 
opposed  to  allowing  the  general  reader  to  use  it  as  an  excuse 
for  laziness  " 

GRAND  RAPIDS  (Mich)  Public  School  Library.  38,500  v 
Access  granted  only  to  teachers,  except  reference  department, 
where  any  one  may  have  access  to  the  shelves  Arrangement 
of  circulating  department  makes  free  access  impossible. 

HAMILTON  (Ontario,  Canada)  Public  Library.  21,175  v.  Ac- 
cess to  all  books,  except  fiction  and  juvenile,  to  those  who  ask 
for  it.  General  admission  would  require  more  space.  Access 
requires  less  force  Books  occasionally  misplaced,  but  no  in- 
creased loss.  The  librarian  is  a  strong  advocate  of  access,  with 
proper  restrictions.  "Experience  leads  me  to  state  that  a  com- 
paratively small  library,  if  carefully  classed  and  with  fairly  free 
access  to  the  shelves,  will  confer  as  much  practical  good  on  the 
community  and  give  greater  satisfaction  to  readers,  than  a  li- 
brary twice  its  size  which  is  not  classified,  and  in  which  access 
to  the  shelves  is  practically  prohibited."  Extract  from  notice: 
"Take  only  one  book  at  a  time  from  the  shelf,  and  replace  it 
in  its  proper  place,  or  give  to  library  attendant  to  replace  Be 
very  particular  about  this." 

HARTFORD  (Conn.)  Public  Library  40,000  v  Access  granted 
since  opening  as  a  free  library,  Sept.,  1892,  to  all  shelves  ex- 
cept novels  and  children's  books.  "Our  boys  misplace  more 
books  than  the  public."  Never  publicly  announced,  but  prac- 
tically any  one  may  go  to  the  shelves  for  purposes  of  study, 

HOWARD  Memorial  Library,  New  Orleans,  La.  22,000  v. 
Access  granted  whenever  it  will  be  useful  to  readers,  only 
about  30  per  cent,  of  whom  are  students;  the  rest  enter  to 
fill  up  time.  Public  forbidden  to  put  books  back  on  the  shelves, 
because  they  misplace  them  "whenever  they  have  the  chance." 

INDIANAPOLIS  (Ind.)  Public  Library.  55,513  v.  Access 
granted  upon  application  to  librarian,  to  any  books  except  fic- 
tion. "Our  plan  benefits  those  who  really  need  to  use  the 


REPORT  ON  ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  167 

shelves,  while  the  other  people  are  deterred  from  seeking  the 
privilege  simply  because  they  have  to  ask  permission." 

JERSEY  CITY  (N.  J.)  Free  Public  Library.  42,051  v.  "In 
rare  cases,  where  the  privilege  is  asked,  we  allow  the  applicant 
to  visit  the  shelves  under  the  guidance  of  an  attendant"  Free 
access  is  given  to  all  books  in  the  reference  room.  The  whole 
library  is  inspected  for  misplaced  books  every  Wednesday.  At- 
tendants are  instructed  to  show  borrowers  as  many  books  as 
they  desire  to  see  at  the  delivery  counter.  "A  library's  efficiency 
is  determined  by  the  rapidity  with  which  any  one  of  its  thou- 
sands of  books  can  be  produced,  and  placed  before  the  applicant 
at  the  delivery  counter  or  in  the  reference  room,  and  this  can 
only  exist  where  every  book  is  in  its  proper  place  on  the 
shelves."  A  great  many  people  know  what  they  want  when 
they  come  to  the  library  and  they  will  suffer  from  the  delay. 

KANSAS  CITY  (Mo.)  Public  Library,  20,000  v.  "We  tried 
the  experiment,  for  a  few  months  last  winter,  of  placing  the 
new  books  on  a  table  in  the  delivery  room,  for  the  public  to 
see  and  handle.  The  experiment  was  not  a  success,  as  we  had 
about  thirty  books  stolen  during  that  time." 

LIVERPOOL  (Eng )  Free  Public  Library.  105,280  v.  "Some 
years  ago,  in  the  reference  library,  a  number  of  shelves  were 
stored  with  dictionaries  and  other  books  of  reference  to  which 
the  public  had  access ;  but  after  some  eighteen  months'  trial  the 
privilege  was  withdrawn,  owing  to  thefts,  to  people  loitering 
before  the  shelves,  and  to  the  misplacing  of  the  books  after 
consulting  them." 

Los  ANGELES  (Cal.)  Public  Library.  36,000  v.  Access 
granted  to  teachers  and  specialists,  except  on  Saturday  after- 
noon. Use  is  limited  to  some  500  people.  Want  of  space  be- 
tween stacks  prevents  general  access — "the  only  plan  if  one  has 
space,"  but  would  not  have  access  to  fiction. 

LYNN  (Mass.)  Free  Public  Library.  49,000  v.  For  three 
years  the  library  has  granted  access  to  the  shelves  in  the  ref- 
erence rooms.  Shelves  are  inspected  daily  for  misplaced  books. 
Increased  wear  and  tear  is  considerable,  15  per  cent,  at  least. 
A  great  accommodation  to  people  who  wish  to  examine  books 


168  STEINER  AND  RANCK 

without  reading  them.    Do  not  believe  in  admitting  the  general 
public  to  fiction  and  juveniles. 

MILWAUKEE  (Wis.)  Public  Library.  74,077  v.  Access  al- 
lowed in  reference  library  only,  "We  shall  hope  to  try,  at  least 
for  certain  hours  of  the  day,  access  to  shelves  when  our  rooms 
permit."  Arrangement  not  suited  for  general  access 

MINNEAPOLIS  (Minn )  Public  Library.  70,000  v  The  li- 
brary was  built  for  access  to  the  shelves.  A  shelf-permit  is 
given  to  every  mature  person  having  a  library  purpose  677 
such  permits  issued  for  1893,  twice  as  many  as  m  1892.  Fiction 
alcoves  open  to  public  only  at  slack  times.  The  public  not 
allowed  to  put  books  back  on  the  shelves,  which  are  constantly 
watched  to  keep  books  in  order  No  increase  in  loss  of  books, 
and  wear  and  tear  rather  diminished  by  doing  away  with  carry- 
ing a  long  distance  to  the  reference  room  "Great  advantages — 
no  disadvantages." 

NEWARK  (N  J  )  Free  Public  Library  46,319  v.  Access  to 
the  shelves  of  the  reference  department  has  been  in  operation 
five  years,  other  departments  (except  fiction)  two  years.  The 
privilege  is  denied  on  Saturdays  from  i  to  8  30  p.  m.  The  ar- 
rangement, capacity  of  the  library  and  number  of  delivery  clerks, 
has  not  been  affected  by  granting  access  The  public  may  re- 
turn books  to  the  shelves  and  they  do  "not  very  often"  mis- 
place them.  No  increase  in  loss  or  in  wear  and  tear  of  books. 
The  books  are  placed  in  order  "every  morning  by  messengers 
while  doing  the  general  dusting."  "The  system  is  a  great  ad- 
vantage to  readers." 

NEW  BRUNSWICK  (N.  J )  Free  Public  Library.  12,471  v. 
Access  within  certain  limits  has  been  in  operation  one  year. 
Readers  excluded  from  fiction  shelves.  Slight  changes  in  ar- 
rangement were  necessary.  Public  may  return  books  to  the 
shelves.  As  to  loss  and  wear  and  tear,  "cannot  tell  till  longer 
trial  is  given."  "All  departments,  and  all  classes  of  books  ex- 
cept fiction,  should  be  open  to  the  citizens.  It  has  given  much 
satisfaction  here." 

NEW  YORK  CITY  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Library.  42,000  v  Access 
granted  at  discretion  of  librarian,  to  persons  known  or  intro- 
duced, for  a  period  of  thirty  years  or  more.  Height  of  shelves 


REPORT  ON  ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  169 

should  be  reduced  for  public  access.  Some  increase  in  wear 
and  tear,  but  little  or  no  increased  loss  "Access  to  shelves  must 
be  modified  by  circumstances,  location,  class  of  readers,  object 
of  library,  etc.  No  general  rule  can  be  given." 

OAKLAND  (Cal  )  Free  Public  Library.  25,000  v.  This  library 
has  wire  doors  to  the  cases  The  public  can  see  the  books,  but 
not  handle  them.  It  has  been  in  operation  i%  years  and  it  has 
increased  the  patronage  of  the  library,  as  well  as  the  force. 

OTIS  Library,  Norwich,  Conn  19,181  v.  Access  to  the 
shelves  since  1891,  to  all  classes  except  fiction  No  additional 
capacity  or  service  needed  The  public  misplace  books  some- 
times, but  not  very  often  Shelves  looked  after  about  once  a 
week.  "The  advantages  to  special  students,  teachers,  and  even 
general  readers  seem  to  me  too  obvious  to  need  explanation. 
The  disadvantages  are  trifling  in  comparison,  being  only  dis- 
placement of  books,  slight  additional  risk  of  loss,  and  possibly 
a  Httle  more  wear  and  tear." 

PHILADELPHIA  (Pa )  City  Institute,  426.  Annual  Report, 
March  26th,  1894.  "We  again  commend  to  all  free  libraries 
the  practice  of  keeping  the  doors  of  the  book-cases  wide  open 
and  unobstructed  by  wire  netting  or  wooden  fences,  so  that 
visitors  or  readers  may  have  free  access  to  the  books  during 
the  hours  the  libraries  are  open,  and  have  the  privilege  of  se- 
lecting books,  they  may  desire  to  examine,  without  being  obliged 
to  call  upon  the  librarian  This  privilege  to  the  reader  is  a 
great  convenience  and  makes  him  feel  that  to  some  extent  he  is 
the  custodian  of  the  books  and  responsible  for  their  safe  return 
to  the  shelves.  No  library  without  this  privilege  can  really  be 
called  a  free  one." 

PHILALELPHIA  (Pa.)  Mercantile  Library.  172,000  v  "Until 
three  years  ago  all  members  had  unrestricted  access,  at  all  hours, 
to  the  cases,  excepting  a  few  that  contained  books  of  special 
value  Now,  regular  members  have  such  access  on  depositing 
25  cents  for  a  key."  Free  access  requires  more  room  "Since 
the  railing  was  put  up  three  years  ago  the  same  force  has  kept 
the  books  in  better  order"  Some  time  every  day  is  devoted  to 
putting  books  in  order,  which  are  often  misplaced  "A  general 
advantage  to  students,  but  of  little  to  the  general  reader.  I 
think  the  damage  outweighs  the  good." 


i;o  STEINER  AND  RANCH 

PHILADELPHIA  (Pa.)  Public  Library.  (Four  branches ) 
45,000  v.  "Does  the  library  grant  access  to  the  shelves?" 
"YES'!!  ab  initial!"  Some  books  withheld  from  children,  the 
only  restriction  "Would  require  at  least  three  more  assistants  in 
each  branch,  if  shelves  were  closed  Books  are  often  misplaced, 
hence  the  shelves  are  inspected  "at  least  once  a  day."  "In- 
creases wear  and  tear  very  much"  "People  read  what  they 
choose  from  the  shelves  They  are  attracted  by  looking  over 
a  book  which  they  would  never  think  of  choosing  from  a  list." 

PRINCETON  College  Library,  Princeton,  N.  J.  95,000  v.  For 
the  last  three  years  all  registered  borrowers  have  access  to  the 
shelves  on  signing  a  "blue"  alcove  admission  slip  and  leaving 
it  at  the  desk.  Something  of  the  kind  has  been  in  use  "off 
and  on"  for  twenty  years.  Users  often  misplace  books  and  the 
library  thinks  of  forbidding  them  to  put  books  back  on  the 
shelves.  The  "boys"  when  not  otherwise  occupied  are  straight- 
ening books  on  the  shelves. 

PROVIDENCE  (R.  I.)  Public  Library.  63,355  v.  "We  do  not 
supply  the  privilege  of  access  to  the  shelves,  in  the  full  sense. 
However,  we  place  several  thousand  volumes,  which  are  works 
of  reference,  on  open  shelves  in  the  portion  of  the  public  room 
outside  the  counter,  where  access  is  free  We  also  place  on 
open  shelves  in  the  same  part  of  the  room  all  the  new  books, 
for  12  weeks  back;  putting  in  a  new  lot  each  week  and  taking 
out  a  lot  12  weeks  back.  These  begin  to  circulate  as  soon  as 
they  are  placed  there  We  also  several  years  ago,  began  try- 
ing the  experiment  of  making  access  to  the  shelves  in  one 
department  of  the  library—fine  art— free.  This  has  worked  well  ; 
it  has  a  room  by  itself  In  all  three  of  the  above  instances 
we  have  to  Verify  the  shelves'  each  morning,  to  see  that  the 
books  are  in  the  right  order.  In  the  new  building  which  we 
are  planning  to  erect  soon,  we  hope  to  embody  as  much  of  the 
Newberry  library  principle  as  is  practicable  under  our  condi- 
tions." 

ROCHESTER  (N.  Y.)  Central  Library.  23,000  v.  Access  only 
to  encyclopaedias,  dictionaries,  etc,  "Until  1892  the  public  had 
access  to  the  shelves.  We  were  losing  books,  books  were  mis- 
placed, which  were  almost  the  same  as  lost  We  reorganized 
the  library,  adopted  the  Dewey  classification,  catalogue  cards, 


REPORT  ON  ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  171 

etc.,  and  put  up  railings  around  bookcases,  alcoves,  etc.  The 
books  on  the  shelves  are  kept  in  perfect  order,  and  the  people 
do  not  complain.  We  no  longer  lose  books  off  the  shelves." 

ST.  Louis  (Mo.)  Mercantile  Library.  88,000  v.  "Access  to 
main  book  collection  only  granted  to  those  engaged  in  serious 
research.  Our  membership  does  not  include  many  advanced 
students  or  thorough-going  scholars.  If  possible,  would  have 
a  selected  library  of  perhaps  20,000  vols.  in  a  public  room, 
alcove  system,  with  free  access  This  collection  would  be  con- 
stantly weeded  out  and  added  to,  the  object  being  to  give  un- 
restricted access  to  the  20,000  books  'best'  for  our  readers  The 
other  books  to  be  kept  in  stacks— no  access" 

ST  Louis  (Mo )  Public  Library  92,000  v.  Access  granted 
to  about  30,000  vols.  in  the  several  reference-rooms  and  to  the 
juvenile  collection.  "During  school  term  juvenile  collection 
restricted  to  the  hours  from  3  to  6  pjn.,  and  from  9  am.  to 
6pm.  during  vacation."  Any  one  giving  a  good  reason  may 
go  to  the  shelves  of  the  circulating-department  Little  or  no 
friction,  plan  not  tried  long  enough  to  draw  conclusions. 

SALEM  (Mass )  Public  Library  30,000  v  Access  allowed 
only  in  the  reference  department  "I  think,  in  the  ideal  system, 
readers  at  a  library  will  be  served  as  are  customers  in  a  store, 
by  clerks  thoroughly  posted  as  to  the  stock  on  hand.  There 
is  no  reason  why  the  public  should  be  allowed  to  pull  over  the 
general  stock  They  do  not  in  that  way  come  any  nearer  to 
having  their  real  needs  supplied.  They  are  as  apt  to  get  hold 
of  the  antiquated,  or  unsuitable,  as  much  as  when  they  select 
from  the  catalogue.  One  librarian  who  admits  to  the  shelves 
tells  me  that  readers  select  the  dirtiest  books  There  may  be 
bargain-counters  of  new  books  and  those  to  which  the  librarian 
wishes  to  call  special  attention;  and  here  the  public  may  be 
allowed  to  handle  freely" 

SCRANTON  (Pa.)  Public  Library.  22,000  v  Free  access  to 
about  4,000  vols  in  reference  department  and  reading-room 
Books  for  circulation  are  in  stack-rooms.  Individuals  specially 
desirous  are  granted  the  privilege  of  going  to  the  stacks,  ex- 
ceptionally. Narrow  aisles  would  not  admit  general  public.  In 
the  reference  department  books  are  misplaced  more  often  than 


172  STEINER  AND  RANCH 

correctly  placed,  shelves  verified  weekly;  an  occasional  theft; 
and  increased  wear  and  tear,  "perhaps  one  or  two  per  cent." 
"Would  gladly  grant  free  access  to  the  circulating  department 
if  our  quarters  could  be  so  arranged  as  to  admit  of  it  I  be- 
lieve, however,  that  such  would  not  decrease  number  of  at- 
tendants, but  rather  require  more,  if  anything.  It  entails  end- 
less work  m  going  over  the  shelves  day  by  day,  if  the  desired 
freedom  of  access  is  granted." 

SPRINGFIELD  (111 )  Public  Library.  24,437  v.  Access  not 
granted  "except  to  pastors  of  the  city  churches"  "Years  ago 
the  library  lost  too  many  books  by  giving  free  access,  to  try 
the  plan  again." 

SPRINGFIELD  (Mass )  Public  Library.  87,000  v.  For  several 
years  access  has  been  granted  to  some  extent,  for  special  pur- 
poses. "We  place  all  new  books,  when  ready  for  circulation, 
where  they  are  accessible  to  all  our  readers.  Very  many  who 
visit  the  library  are  accustomed  to  make  their  selections  mainly 
from  the  shelves."  (33d  Annual  Report,  May,  1894)  "The 
free  use  of  books  for  purposes  of  special  investigation,  and  the 
free  use  of  reference  books,  we  regard  as  exceedingly  desirable." 

SPRINGFIELD  (Ohio)  Public  Library.  16,000  v.  Card-holders 
have  free  access  to  the  shelves  from  9  A.  M.  to  9  P.  M.,  others 
can  have  access  to  the  reference  books  on  permission.  "Free 
access  to  this  department  should  continue,  but  there  is  need  of 
such  restrictions  as  will  protect  valuable  books  from  careless 
handling,  and  prevent  interruptions  from  those  who  through 
mere  pretext  use  it  to  promote  theii  social  pleasure  "  (226.  An- 
nual Report,  May,  1894)  "We  have  tall  stacks  very  much 
against  our  convenience,  are  desirous  to  change  to  the  alcove 
plan."  The  increased  wear  and  tear  is  very  little  more  than  the 
increased  circulation  would  naturally  give.  "I  am  decidedly  in 
favor  of  bringing  books  of  the  library  close  to  the  people ;  have 
advocated  it  for  17  years,  and  for  13  it  has  been  tried  with 
success  in  this  library.  The  day  for  storing  up  useful  books 
from  the  people  should  pass  into  ancient  history;  nothing  good 
should  be  restricted,  further  than  order  and  proper  records 
require." 

STOCKTON-  (Cal.)  Free  Public  Library.  20,000  v.  Access 
allowed  to  all  books,  except  art  works,  for  four  years.  In- 
creased loss  of  books  covered  by  about  $35  per  year.  The  li- 


REPORT  ON  ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  173 

brary  can  do  with  one  assistant  less,  which  affords  a  net  saving 
of  $385  per  year  The  public  is  better  satisfied  and  "the  general 
handling  of  books  is  good  for  them—gives  them  fresh  air." 
"The  disadvantages  are:  Crowding  about  the  cases,  with  the 
noise  attendant  thereon;  and  disarrangement  of  books  which 
is  hard  on  lazy  assistants." 

"A  library  that  can  have  a  separate  room  for  fiction  and 
juvenile  works,  and  a  good  finding  list,  would  do  well  to  close 
it  up  and  allow  none  to  those  cases  .  .  .  The  novel-reader  and 
the  juvenile  person  are  the  ones  that  make  most  trouble." 

SYRACUSE  (N.  Y.)  Central  Library.  "We  do  not  allow  the 
multitude  to  go  to  the  shelves,  but  those  whom  we  know,  and 
can  trust,  we  allow  to  come  in  Our  help  is  inadequate  to  doing 
what  I  could  wish,  but  with  proper  oversight,  the  more  people 
that  can  be  admitted  to  the  shelves  the  better  the  results  to  the 
readers." 

TAUNTON  (Mass  )  Public  Library.  37,257  v.  Access  to  ref- 
erence department  and  new  books.  "I  see  no  advantages,  but 
apprehend  the  reverse.  Better  make  the  catalogue  serve  at- 
tendants and  readers." 

TOLEDO  (Ohio)  Public  Library.  36,000  v.  Access  to  the 
shelves  in  the  reference  department.  Would  be  absolutely  nec- 
essary to  change  the  present  arrangement  of  cases  for  general 
free  access,  requiring  about  twice  the  room  and  twice  the  num- 
ber of  assistants.  "I  have  not  found  the  general  public  to  know 
what  they  want." 

VICTORIA  Public  Library,  Melbourne,  Victoria,  Australia. 
133,301  v.  Since  its  foundation,  in  1854,  this  library  has  granted 
access  to  the  shelves.  There  is  "no  restriction,  except  in  re- 
gard to  medical  and  art  books.  A  permit  from  the  librarian  is 
required,  but  once  a  visitor  is  admitted  to  the  medical  and  art 
galleries  he  has  free  access  to  the  shelves  during  the  hours  the 
library  is  open,  viz.,  10  a.  m.  to  10  p.  m."  'TJpon  the  principle 
upon  which  this  library  is  constructed,  access  to  the  shelves, 
involves  a  great  loss  of  space,  so  much  so  that  accommodation 
cannot  be  provided  for  the  books  if  the  present  system  is  con- 
tinued for  many  years.  The  trustees  have  decided,  when  a 
new  library  is  being  erected,  to  give  access  only  to  a  portion 


174  STEINER  AND  RANCH 

of  the  books,  and  to  store  the  rest  in  cases  about  three  feet 
apart.  The  cost  of  administration  is  seriously  increased  by 
the  present  system"  Books  must  not  be  returned  to  the  shelves 
by  the  public,  still  they  are  often  misplaced  For  misplaced 
books  "a  portion  of  the  library  is  gone  over  every  morning, 
the  whole  circuit  of  the  library  being  completed  in  a  month" 
No  serious  loss  of  books — only  about  75  a  year — and  these  are 
of  small  value  The  tear  and  wear  is  increased.  No  doubt  the 
public  consider  access  to  the  shelves  a  great  advantage,  but  I 
think  they  would  be  better  served  by  a  good  subject  catalogue. 
The  advantage  is  more  imaginary  than  real" 

WOBURN  (Mass.)  Public  Library.  34,000  v.  All  persons, 
properly  introduced,  may  have  access  to  all  classes  of  books, 
except  fiction  and  juveniles.  ''The  general  objection,  besides 
danger  of  theft  is  the  temporary  loss  by  misplacement  of 
books." 

WORCESTER  (Mass.)  Free  Public  Library.  The  34th  annual 
report  states  that  new  books  are  placed  on  shelves  outside  of 
the  counter  "It  is  the  belief  of  the  officers  of  the  library  that 
solid  reading  is  much  promoted  by  thus  displaying  additions  to 
the  library." 


FREEDOM  IN  LIBRARIES 

Nominally  the  once  widespread  fashion  of  chaining 
books  went  out  in  the  eighteenth  century,  but  actually 
invisible  chains  continued  to  fetter  a  majority  of  the 
books  in  libraries  until  a  much  later  date. 

Cleveland,  Ohio,  was  one  of  the  first  large  libraries 
to  grant  open  access  on  a  large  scale  as  early  as  1890. 
The  following  paper  on  the  subject  of  open  shelves  was 
read  at  the  second  International  Conference  of  Libra- 
rians, London,  July  13-16,  1897,  by  W.  H.  Brett,  libra- 
rian of  the  Cleveland  Public  Library,  at  the  time  when 
Mr.  Brett  was  president  of  the  American  Library  As- 
sociation. 

A  biographical  sketch  appears  in  Volume  1  of  this 
series. 

This  is  a  subject  upon  which  not  merely  divergent  but  dia- 
metrically opposing  views  are  honestly  held  and  earnestly  main- 
tained. Possibly,  some  of  this  difference  of  opinion  is  due  to 
a  failure  on  the  one  hand  to  make  clear,  and  on  the  other 
to  comprehend,  what  is  meant  by  free  access.  We  all  recog- 
nise that  there  are  libraries  composed  of  special  collections,  not 
of  public  interest,  or  of  specimens  of  early  printing  or  of  fine 
binding,  or  of  books  containing  fine  illustrations,  which  should 
be  cared  for  and  shown  only  under  such  conditions  as  may 
ensure  their  safety.  We  also  know  that  many  public  libraries 
contain  collections  which  should  clearly  be  guarded  and  shown 
in  the  same  way.  Upon  the  proper  methods  of  caring  for 
books  of  special  value,  both  the  advocates  and  opponents  of 
open  shelves  are  agreed.  The  question  is  simply  whether  it  is 
necessary  and  desirable  to  exercise  practically  the  same  care 
of  the  entire  library,  or  whether,  as  some  maintain,  it  is  both 
possible  and  desirable  to  throw  open  to  all  qualified  users  of 
the  library  all  that  part  of  it  which  is  of  interest  to  the  general 


i;6  WILLIAM  HOWARD  BRETT 

reader,  to  pupils  of  our  schools,  and  to  advanced  and  special 
students,  excepting  only  such  books  as  require  special  care,  for 
the  reasons  already  mentioned,  or  for  similar  ones 

The  question  is  an  important  one,  involving  as  it  does  the 
plan  and  arrangement  of  the  library  building,  the  furniture, 
appliances,  and  methods.  It  also  brings  with  it  a  change  in  the 
popular  idea  of  the  duties  of  the  librarian,  and  makes  him  ap- 
pear to  be,  not  a  mere  custodian  of  the  books,  but  rather  a  help- 
ful assistant  and  friendly  guide  to  those  who  need  direction. 

A  question  of  such  importance  deserves  careful  consideration, 
from  which,  as  far  as  possible,  all  preconceived  opinions  shall 
be  eliminated  and  all  selfish  interests  excluded.  The  sole  ques- 
tion should  be  as  to  the  value  of  the  plan  which  permits  public 
access,  with  the  limitations  I  have  already  mentioned,  as  com- 
pared with  the  one  which  prohibits  it. 

In  what  I  have  to  say  I  shall  endeavour,  as  far  as  possible 
for  one  who  is  a  firm  believer  in  free  access,  to  set  forth  fairly 
the  relative  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  each  plan. 

The  principal  sources  of  information  upon  this  subject  are 
the  files  of  the  various  journals  devoted  to  the  work  of  libraries 
and  the  discussion  of  it  is  mostly  included  within  the  last  few 
years,  as,  while  freedom  of  access  has  been  permitted  in  some 
smaller  libraries  for  many  years,  it  is  only  within  recent  years 
that  it  has  been  introduced  in  any  of  the  larger  libraries. 

The  two  plans  may  be  fairly  compared  as  to  their  economy, 
their  educational  value,  and  their  moral  effect,  and  under  each 
head  I  shall  consider  the  objections  which  have  been  urged. 

One  of  the  most  important  questions  of  economical  admin- 
istration is  that  of  room;  and  one  of  the  objections  which  is 
urged  most  strongly  against  free  access  is  that  it  takes  more 
room,  and  is  therefore  more  expensive.  There  is  some  force 
to  this  objection  It  is  true  that  it  does  require  more  room 
to  show  books  in  open  shelves  in  alcoves  wide  enough  for  pub- 
lic use  than  in  stacks,  but  not  so  much  more,  however,  as 
might  appear  at  first  glance— for  two  or  three  reasons.  First, 
all  libraries  issuing  books  from  closed  shelves  require  public 
delivery-rooms  proportional  to  the  amount  of  their  use.  Now, 
each  open  alcove  is  just  so  much  added  to  the  available  public 
space  of  the  library,  and  lessens  the  space  necessary  to  reserve 
for  a  general  public  room.  Again,  as  the  rare  and  specially 


FREEDOM  IN  LIBRARIES  177 

valuable  books  of  the  library  are  to  be  provided  for  elsewhere, 
and  shelved  on  the  same  plan  in  libraries  permitting  free  access 
as  in  those  prohibiting  it,  we  lessen  further  the  amount  of 
additional  room  required.  A  still  further  reduction  may  be 
made  by  shelving  compactly  in  stacks  all  duplicates  which  are 
in  surplus  during  the  less  busy  months,  and  also  such  books 
as  are  seldom  used.  For  instance,  in  Italian  history,  Guicci- 
ardini  might  be  represented  in  the  open  shelves  by  a  dummy 
or  by  a  single  volume.  This  is  but  a  single  example  of  what 
may  be  done  with  many  books  which  are  only  rarely  used,  and 
whose  absence  does  not  render  the  collection  less  valuable  to 
most  readers,  but,  on  the  contrary,  makes  it  more  convenient 
to  examine  A  parallel  collection  convenient  of  access  might 
thus  be  established,  which  could  be  drawn  upon  for  duplicates, 
and  to  which  admission  might  be  given  readily  to  the  few  who 
wish  to  exhaust  the  entire  resources  of  the  library  upon  any 
particular  subject.  By  thus  providing  in  some  suitable  way  for 
that  part  of  the  library  which  it  is  agreed  by  all  should  be 
especially  guarded,  and  by  arranging  a  parallel  collection  in 
stacks,  or  other  compact  plan  of  shelving,  the  amount  of  extra 
space  required  for  the  open  shelves  is  kept  within  reasonable 
bounds,  and  any  serious  objection  to  the  plan  on  this  score 
is  removed. 

As  far  as  the  expense  for  furniture  and  appliances,  there 
seems  to  be  no  reason  for  any  special  difference  between  the 
two  plans. 

The  cost  of  service  is  the  most  important  consideration.  The 
issue  of  a  book  from  a  library  includes  getting  it  from  the 
shelves,  charging  it,  and,  when  it  is  returned,  crediting  and  re- 
placing it 

In  the  open  library  the  time  used  in  getting  the  book  is 
saved.  On  the  other  hand,  a  certain  amount  of  displacement, 
due  to  the  examination  of  the  shelves  by  readers,  must  be  recti- 
fied, which  may  possibly  offset  this  saving.  My  own  observation 
of  one  of  the  large  libraries  in  which  free  access  has  been  per- 
mitted for  more  than  seven  years,  and  in  which  the  disarrange- 
ment is  readily  rectified  as  the  books  from  the  receiving  desk 
are  replaced  on  the  shelves,  leads  me  to  think  that  the  difficulty 
from  this  source  is  slight,  and  that  the  balance  of  economy  of 
time  is  in  favour  of  the  open-shelf  plan  as  compared  even  with 


178  WILLIAM  HOWARD  BRETT 

libraries  in  which  the  book  borrower  is  confined  strictly  to  the 
catalogue  for  his  selection  When,  however,  libraries  with 
closed  shelves  endeavour  to  give  their  readers  some  opportunity 
to  examine  the  books  themselves,  by  carrying  a  selection  to 
tables  in  the  public  room  or  elsewhere  for  examination,  as  many 
do,  there  can  be  not  doubt  that  the  open-shelf  plan  is  more 
economical.  I  have  thus  far  been  speaking  of  what  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  the  issue  and  return  of  a  book,  without  taking  into 
account  the  assistance  to  readers  which  is  given  in  most  libraries, 
and  which  is  usually  so  closely  connected  with  the  issue  of  the 
books  as  to  render  it  impossible  to  make  a  separate  estimate 
of  its  cost  The  opportunities  for  thus  assisting  readers  are 
much  greater  in  the  open  library,  and  superior  ability,  which 
commands  higher  pay,  is  required  to  do  it  efficiently. 

The  value  of  such  service,  and  the  larger  amount  of  it  given 
in  the  open  library,  may  fairly  be  taken  into  consideration  in 
making  comparisons  of  the  statistics  given  in  library  reports 

The  most  serious  dangers  to  the  library  are  those  of  theft, 
of  mutilation,  and  of  careless  handling.  The  mutilation  of  books 
from  the  circulating  department,  and  other  misuses  of  them, 
occurs  when  the  books  are  out  of  the  library,  and  I  see  no 
reason  why  it  should  be  affected  by  the  plan  of  issue.  The 
possibilities  of  theft  are  greater,  but  the  experience  of  the 
few  large  libraries  which  have  adopted  the  plan  shows  an 
inconsiderable  loss,  and  that  of  books  of  small  value.  The 
great  danger  to  libraries  is  from  the  experienced  book  thief, 
who  slily  carries  off  the  rare  first  edition,  or  dexterously  re- 
moves with  a  wetted  string  the  valuable  plates  from  the  folio. 
The  average  book  of  the  circulating  libraries,  labelled  and 
stamped  as  it  is,  offers  little  attraction  to  the  book  thief.  He 
cannot  turn  it  into  money  without  great  danger  of  detection, 
and  it  has  little  other  value  to  him.  The  records  of  book  thiev- 
ing in  libraries  show  that  the  greatest  thefts  have  been  perpe- 
trated by  men  of  education  and  address — men  who  would  be 
able,  by  plausible  statements,  to  secure  special  privileges  in  the 
library,  which,  under  the  plan  of  restricting  access,  are  denied 
to  the  honest  mechanic. 

The  great  safety  of  the  open  library  lies  in  the  appeal  which 
it  makes  to  the  honour  of  those  using  it.  It  says  in  effect,  "We 
trust  you,  and  we  believe  that  you  will  prove  worthy  of  this 


FREEDOM  IN  LIBRARIES  179 

confidence."  The  experience  of  the  largest  libraries  in  which 
the  plan  is  adopted  shows  that  this  appeal  is  not  in  vain. 

It  replaces  suspicion  by  confidence  As  Sir  Philip  Sydney 
says,  "Suspicion  is  the  way  to  lose  that  which  we  do  fear  to 
lose."  One  of  the  most  effective  ways  of  making  a  thief  of  an 
honest  man  is  to  treat  him  as  though  you  thought  him  a  thief. 

The  open  library  replaces  restricting  and  annoying  rules  and 
regulations  by  a  freedom  which  is  enjoyable  to  all.  It  gives 
to  the  people  the  same  right  in  the  library,  which  is  their  own, 
as  the  individual  has  in  his  own.  This  is  but  simple  justice.  I 
question  the  right  of  any  library  board  to  make  any  restricting 
regulation  that  cannot  be  clearly  proven  to  be  a  necessity.  It 
would  appear  that  the  rules  of  some  libraries  are  based  upon 
the  assumption  that  all  men  are  untrustworthy,  and  that  honour 
and  common  honesty  are  non-existent  amongst  users  of  libraries 

Is  it  not  better  to  base  our  rules  upon  the  nobler  assumption 
that  the  users  of  libraries  are  honest,  and  only  restrict  so  far 
as  experience  proves  it  necessary?  The  open  library  does  this, 
and  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  a  single  instance  in  which,  after  a 
fair  trial  of  open  access,  under  proper  conditions,  it  has  proved 
necessary  or  advisable  to  go  back  to  the  plan  of  closed  shelves. 
I  know  there  have  been  instances  of  this,  but  I  believe  them  to 
be  due  rather  to  peculiar  circumstances  than  to  any  fault  of 
the  plan  One  instance  is  the  library  of  one  of  our  largest 
universities,  the  use  of  which  was  free  not  only  to  the  students 
in  its  classes  but  to  other  students.  In  this  the  governing  board 
have  decided,  I  understand,  for  reasons  which  seem  to  them 
sufficient,  to  close  the  shelves;  the  other  is  that  of  a  large  mer- 
cantile library,  which  found  it  necessary,  after  a  trial  of  open 
shelves,  to  close  them  on  account  of  losses. 

The  thing  to  be  noted  is  that  neither  of  these  libraries  were 
used  by  the  people  at  large,  The  university  library  was,  from 
the  nature  of  its  collection,  only  used  by  students,  and  the  use 
of  the  mercantile  library  was  limited  by  a  large  fee.  Neither 
was  used  by  the  mass  of  people  who  are  kept  outside  the  bars 
in  most  libraries,  but  rather  by  those  to  whom  special  privileges 
would  be  likely  to  be  granted  in  public  libraries  which  restrict 
access. 

On  the  other  hand,  not  only  many  of  the  smaller  libraries, 
but  at  least  three  of  the  large  public  libraries,  are  operating 


i8o  WILLIAM  HOWARD  BRETT 

successfully  on  plans  permitting  absolutely  free  access  to  the 
shelves  to  all  comers  In  one  of  them  the  plan  has  been  in 
operation  more  than  seven  years,  and  in  another  a  little  less, 
but  long  enough  to  regard  it  as  fairly  past  the  experimental 
stage. 

One  library,  which  has  grown  up  within  a  few  years,  gives 
an  exposition  of  these  free  methods  on  a  still  larger  scale :  with 
fewer  books  and  a  smaller  income  than  several  others,  it  is 
issuing  more  books  for  home  use  than  any  other  library  on  the 
Continent  Its  success  seems  to  be  due  to  the  liberality  of  its 
method,  and  this  is  giving  it  a  popularity  which  is  likely  to 
secure  for  it  additional  public  support  and  the  opportunity  for 
still  further  enlargement. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  most  conspicuous  failure  and  the 
most  brilliant  success  of  the  plan  of  open  shelves  have  been 
made  in  the  same  large  city. 

If  it  be  granted  that  free  access  in  a  library  is  no  more  ex- 
pensive, and  does  not  bring  any  such  danger  or  difficulty  as 
to  debar  it,  there  still  remains  for  consideration  the  question 
of  the  advantages  of  the  plan  to  the  educational  work  of  the 
library,  which  is  the  main  question,  to  which  all  others  are  sub- 
sidiary. Is  it  true  that  the  library  permitting  free  access  to 
its  shelves  will  do  a  better  educational  work  than  the  one  which 
denies  this,  or  is  it  true,  as  is  claimed  by  some  who  advocate 
the  older  methods,  that  the  public  is  better  served  by  means  of 
the  catalogue  and  the  intervention  of  the  assistant,  than  by  the 
privilege  of  visiting  the  shelves  and  selecting  from  them?  This 
assertion  appears  to  contain  the  fallacious  assumption  that  the 
plan  of  free  access  in  some  way  excludes  the  use  of  the  cata- 
logue and  the  help  of  the  assistant  Those  who  make  it  also 
seem  inconsistent  in  that,  while  they  lay  stress  upon  the  value 
of  the  help  to  be  given  by  the  assistant,  they  take  special  pre- 
cautions, by  railings,  counters,  indicators,  and  other  mechanical 
means,  to  remove  the  assistant  as  far  as  possible  from  the  in- 
quiring public. 

A  more  exact  way  of  stating  the  case  as  between  the  two 
methods  is,  that  the  open  access  permits  the  same  use  of  cata- 
logues and  other  bibliographical  helps,  gives  opportunity  for 
much  more  free  and  valuable  help  on  the  part  of  the  assistant, 
and  adds  to  this  the  privilege  of  examining  the  books  on  the 


FREEDOM  IN  LIBRARIES  181 

shelves.  In  other  words,  the  open-shelf  plan  includes  all  the 
advantages  to  the  reader  which  the  opposite  plan  can  possibly 
offer,  and  adds  much  of  inestimable  value  to  them. 

The  competent  assistant  can  render  invaluable  assistance  to 
the  average  inquirer,  and  can  do  this  with  tenfold  more  effective- 
ness in  the  open  alcove,  in  the  presence  of  the  books,  when  the 
volume  required  may  be  handed  down  directly  from  the  shelves, 
and  may  be  supplemented  by  additional  volumes  by  way  of 
illustration,  contrast,  or  collateral  information  The  view  of 
the  subject  which  may  be  obtained  in  this  way  by  the  reader 
is  broader  and  more  satisfactory  than  that  by  any  plan  which 
bars  it  out  and  sends  an  answer  to  written  applications,  or  an- 
swers verbally  through  an  opening  in  a  grating.  The  advan- 
tages of  the  first  plan  are  so  great  and  apparent  that  no  argu- 
ment would  seem  necessary. 

In  the  case  of  the  student  and  investigator,  it  seems  abso- 
lutely indispensable  to  thorough  work  that  he  should  have  access 
to  books.  Even  for  the  younger  students,  the  pupils  in  our 
public  schools,  and  for  children  generally,  the  advantages  of  get- 
ling  directly  to  the  books  are  very  great.  In  one  library  of 
which  I  know,  the  assistant  in  charge  of  the  children's  depart- 
ment has  placed  the  stories  above  and  below,  and  on  two  shelves 
carried  around  the  room  has  gathered  a  collection  of  books  for 
young  people  on  almost  the  entire  range  of  subjects  included  in 
the  library,  and  forming  a  parallel  collection.  The  effect  of 
this  mingling  of  more  definitely  instructive  reading  with  the 
stories  has  been  to  largely  increase  their  use.  The  children 
draw  many  books  when  brought  to  their  attention  in  this  way 
which  they  would  not  select  from  a  catalogue. 

The  opportunity  which  the  plan  offers  of  making  prominent 
and  calling  attention  to  the  better  books  has  the  effect  of  im- 
proving the  average  quality  of  the  reading.  The  fiction  reader 
has  his  attention  called  to  attractive  books  in  other  fields,  or 
will  have  the  better  novels  substituted  for  the  more  ephemeral. 
We  all  know  readers  who,  if  confined  to  the  use  of  the  cata- 
logue, will  continue  to  draw  the  books  of  the  few  lighter  novel- 
ists with  whose  names  they  are  familiar.  To  these  the  assistant 
has  an  opportunity  of  recommending  something  better,  and  lead- 
ing at  least  a  little  way  upward. 

I  need  not,  however,  take  your  time  for  further  discussion 
of  the  educational  advantages  of  the  plan. 


182  WILLIAM  HOWARD  BRETT 

I  have  devoted  more  attention  to  the  economical  questions, 
and  possible  dangers  involved,  because  I  believe  that  these  are 
the  questions  upon  which  there  is  greater  divergence  of  opinion 
than  upon  the  question  of  its  advantages. 

I  have  been  interested,  in  looking  over  the  files  of  the  various 
library  journals,  to  observe  that  the  opposition  to  the  plan  of 
free  access  comes  almost  invariably  from  those  who  have  not 
tried  it,  and  consists  mainly  of  various  apprehensions  of  difficul- 
ties and  dangers  which  it  is  feared  the  plan  would  involve.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  warmest  advocacy  of  it  comes  from  those 
who  have  tried  it  and  know  whereof  they  speak. 

I  think  I  sum  up  fairly  the  state  of  the  question  in  America 
when  I  say  that  ten  years  ago  open  access  was  generally  re- 
garded as  a  thing  which  was  feasible,  and  on  some  accounts  de- 
sirable, in  small  libraries,  but  as  entirely  out  of  the  question  in 
the  libraries  of  the  larger  towns  and  cities,  and  that  during 
that  time  it  has  been  gradually  growing  in  favour,  that  it  has 
been  adopted  successfully  by  some  large  and  many  small  libra- 
ries ;  that  the  authorities  of  some  other  libraries  regard  it  with 
decided  favour,  and  would  adopt  it  if  the  construction  of  their 
buildings  admitted  of  it;  that  the  attitude  of  still  many  others 
towards  this  question  is  that  of  interest  and  suspended  judg- 
ment, and  that  the  definitely  negative  opinion,  instead  of  being 
general,  as  it  was  ten  years  ago,  is  now  probably  in  a  minority. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  suggest  two  things  which  seem  to  me 
to  be  essential  to  the  fullest  success  of  the  free  library;  first, 
the  books  should  be  clearly  and  accurately  classified  on  the 
shelves.  A  library  in  which  the  classification  is  so  broad  as  to 
require  the  constant  use  of  the  catalogue  will  doubtless  gain 
less  by  opening  the  shelves  than  one  in  which  a  closer  classi- 
fication renders  more  readily  available  the  books  bearing  upon 
a  definite  subject 

Second,  the  shelves  should  be  conveniently  arranged  for  light 
and  access,  and  all  open  parts  should  receive  attention  from  the 
assistants;  and  I  need  hardly  say  that  everything  should  be 
done  to  make  the  library  pleasant  and  attractive,  and  to  convey 
the  impression  of  welcome  and  comfort. 

The  library  which  is  opened  thus  freely  has  greatly  en- 
larged opportunities  for  usefulness.  No  longer  a  mere  store- 
house for  books,  it  may  become  an  active  educational  force; 
it  may  be  indeed,  what  it  has  been  called  by  one  of  our  great 
writers,  "The  people's  university." 


REPORT  ON  OPEN  SHELVES 

How  shall  the  book  and  the  reader  come  together 
most  easily  and  effectively?  In  the  past,  librarians 
were  the  guardians  of  treasures  that  must  be  approached 
with  circumspection— books  were  more  in  consideration 
than  readers.  The  viewpoint  is  changed  today,  and 
the  reader  is  deemed  quite  as  important  as  the  book. 
The  distribution  of  books  to  be  read  in  the  homes  of  the 
people  has  long  been  one  of  the  principal  functions  of 
public  libraries,  but  the  open  shelf  system  is  a  vast  im- 
provement over  the  plan  of  making  out  call-slips  for 
books  which  may  turn  out  not  to  be  just  what  is  wanted; 
although  any  one  using  the  open  shelf  library  may  still 
have  access  to  the  catalog. 

The  following  report  was  prepared  by  Mr.  John 
Thomson,  librarian  of  The  Free  Library  of  Philadelphia 
whose  library  used  the  free-access  plan  from  its  estab- 
lishment, for  the  Chautauqua  Conference  of  the  A.L.A , 
in  July  1898. 

John  Thomson  was  born  in  London,  England,  and  was 
educated  at  St.  Paul's  School.  Later  in  this  country 
he  received  honorary  degrees  from  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  and  from  Ursinus  College.  He  came  to 
America  in  middle  life  and  began  his  work  on  the  library 
of  Clarence  H.  Clark  of  Philadelphia.  Later,  for  three 
years,  he  was  librarian  to  Jay  Gould.  In  1894  he  was 
appointed  librarian  of  The  Philadelphia  Free  Library. 
Mr.  Thomson  was  instrumental  in  having  Mr.  Widener 
present  to  the  Philadelphia  Free  Library  the  collection 
of  incunabula  now  in  the  Widener  Branch.  He  con- 
ducted the  negotiations  which  led  Mr.  Carnegie  to  the 
presentation  of  $1,500,000  for  branch  libraries. 


184  JOHN  THOMSON 

After  twenty-five  years  as  librarian  of  the  Free  Li- 
brary, Mr.  Thomson  died  in  March  1916. 

The  most  satisfactory  remark  to  be  made  on  the  subject  of 
open  shelves  is,  that  the  adoption  of  that  system  is  largely  on 
the  increase,  and  that  an  instance  of  reversion  from  an  open- 
shelf  institution  to  a  practice  of  closed  shelves  is  very  rare. 
Hardly  a  librarian  who  has  adopted  open  shelves  would  enter- 
tain the  idea  of  returning  to  old-fashioned  methods,  now  that 
he  and  the  public  whom  he  serves  have  found  the  advantages 
of  free  access  by  readers  to  the  books  they  wish  to  consult 
It  is  remarkable  that  from  the  moment  when  the  system  was 
first  adopted,  wherever  a  letter  or  a  speech  is  found  upon  the 
subject,  little  or  no  variation  of  the  arguments  for  and  against 
the  system  can  be  found.  The  great  satisfaction  felt  by  the 
public  and  the  enormous  increase  in  the  circulation  of  books 
for  home  reading  are  advanced  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other 
there  is  brought  up  the  plea  of  danger  from  thieves,  mutilation 
of  books,  confusion  on  the  shelves,  and  the  use  of  books  unfit 
for  indiscriminate  consultation;  but  notwithstanding  the  cries 
by  alarmists  the  movement  is  making  very  rapid  progress. 

It  is  difficult  to  obtain  any  very  definite  statements  as  to 
loss  of  books  from  those  who  have  charge  of  libraries  in  which 
the  open-shelf  system  is  not  in  use.  In  one  library  at  the  end 
of  1895  nearly  2000  volumes  were  unaccounted  for  and  appar- 
ently missing  from  the  free  shelves.  If  these  "statistics"  had 
been  published,  fancy  the  terror  which  would  have  arisen  in 
the  hearts  of  librarians.  Suppose  they  had  been  well  founded 
and  it  had  been  shown  that  the  books  were  worth  35  to 
45  cents  apiece,  it  would  have  revealed  an  aggregate  loss 
of  $400  in  one  year.  Fancy  the  arguments  pro  and  con.  Now 
judge  the  result,  when,  two  years  later,  of  these  books  all 
but  350  to  400  were  accounted  for.  Some  had  been  misplaced 
some  had  been  held  over  by  readers,  others  again  were  found 
placed  behind  books  and  were  lodged  probably  by  delinquent 
readers  at  the  back  of  shelves  out  of  sight.  I  would  venture  to 
say  that  no  more  valuable  resolution  could  be  adopted  by  libra- 
rians than  to  cease  publishing  the  minute  statistics  which  de- 
light so  many.  Free  libraries  must  be  conducted  upon  the  same 
methods,  plans,  and  principles  that  are  used  in  carrying  on  a 
business.  Can  you  imagine  Messrs.  Macy,  Wanamaker,  Stern, 


REPORT  ON  OPEN  SHELVES  185 

McCreery,  Siegel  &  Cooper,  Hearn,  Altman,  and  others,  meet- 
ing together  and  agreeing  to  publish  annual  reports  to  show 
how  many  pieces  of  lace  have  been  missing  from  their  bargain 
counters  during  the  years  1621-22?  Such  an  antiquated  method 
of  injuring  a  business  would  not  have  prevailed  even  in  the  years 
I  have  suggested.  Each  locality,  each  library,  each  branch  has 
its  own  constituency  and  must  adopt  its  own  protective  and 
aggressive  measures.  The  one  thing,  and  one  thing  only,  that 
concerns  boards  of  trustees,  city  councils,  the  grantors  of  city 
appropriations,  and  others  who  are  appointed  to  watch  the  in- 
terests of  the  people  is,  what  good  result  is  obtained  for  the 
money  expended?  Is  the  business  end  of  any  particular  library 
showing  a  good  result?  Is  the  result  worth  expenditure?  This 
is  proved  or  disproved  to  a  large  degree  by  showing  the  turn- 
over of  a  library.  By  showing,  for  instance,  that  with  a  pos- 
session of  from  100,000  to  200,000  volumes  there  has  been  a 
circulation  of  one  million,  one  and  a  half  million,  or  two  millions 
of  volumes;  a  turn-over  of  each  volume  from  10  to  20  times 
in  a  year.  But  no  less  by  demonstrating  that  the  expenditure 
incurred  in  maintaining  a  free  library  is  justified  by  its  report 
of  the  use  made  of  reference-books  by  readers,  which  in  many 
libraries  equals  and  possibly  exceeds  the  issue  of  volumes  for 
home  reading.  And  lastly  by  the  comments  made  by  readers 
upon  the  usefulness  of  the  library  in  that  department.  On  this 
point  in  the  Free  Library  of  Philadelphia,  for  instance,  hundreds 
of  letters  and  interviews  commenting  favorably  on  the  value 
of  the  service  rendered  to  the  student  and  general  public  could 
be  reported.  When  the  complaints  of  service  which  reach  the 
librarians  are  fewer  and  fewer  every  month,  when  the  public 
approval  received  by  the  notice  of  the  press  and  the  good-will 
of  members  of  councils  are  maintained,  the  best  proof  is  given 
that  a  library  is  earning  its  appropriations. 

The  Free  Library  of  Philadelphia  has  adopted  the  free-shelf 
system  from  the  beginning,  and  the  result  of  its  work  was 
shown  so  successfully  in  the  first  of  its  12  libraries  (the  Wagner 
Institute  branch),  that  the  moment  the  Free  Library  was  able 
to  move  into  its  present  quarters  and  escape  the  cramped  con- 
ditions of  its  earliest  situation  in  the  three  rooms  appropriated 
to  its  service  in  the  city  hall,  the  freest  use  of  the  shelves  was 
given  to  the  public.  These  libraries  have  surprised  even  those 
who  were  the  warmest  advocates  of  the  system.  The  impor- 


186  JOHN  THOMSON 

tance  of  making  libraries  free  and  enabling  students  to  use  them 
with  the  fewest  shackles  compatible  with  management  will  be 
found  true  even  in  the  face  of  the  revival  of  the  fossil  argu- 
ment that  free  libraries  are  no  longer  aids  to  education.  A 
leading  newspaper  in  England  congratuated  Marylebone  on  hav- 
ing refused  to  adopt  the  public  library  system  on  the  ground 
that  no  such  institutions  were  wanted  in  such  big  places  as  Lon- 
don, because  "students  could  go  to  the  British  Museum  and 
there  read  everything  except  a  novel."  The  writer  who  made 
this  solemn  statement  must  be  sadly  in  want  of  information  as 
to  the  many  safeguards  rightly  placed  around  the  books  and 
book-stacks  of  such  institutions  as  the  British  Museum  and  the 
National  Libraries  of  Paris,  Berlin,  and  Dresden. 

Eight  years  ago  in  one  of  a  series  of  articles  entitled  a 
"Plea  for  liberty,"  endorsed  with  a  preface  by  Herbert  Spencer, 
the  very  ancient  cry  that  books  m  a  free  library  were  only  a 
method  of  stealing  money  out  of  one  man's  pocket  to  enable 
another  man  to  read  useless  trash  gratuitously,  was  put  forward 
with  the  imprimatur  of  Mr.  Spencer.  Facts,  however,  are  a 
great  deal  stronger  than  arguments.  The  reports  of  losses 
from  the  open  shelves  are  not  in  any  way  serious.  The  injury 
to  a  library  from  loss  and  mutilation  of  books  cannot  be  shown 
to  be  any  greater  on  absolutely  free  and  open  shelves  than  on 
those  carefully  guarded  by  lock  and  key  or  by  such  methods 
as  are  still  adopted  here  and  there  to  prevent  the  people  from 
using  the  books  they  have  paid  for  The  best  motto  for  a  library 
is  "This  library  is  under  the  protection  of  the  public."  Ex- 
perience shows  every  day  that  the  people  will  not  see  wrong 
done  without  interfering,  and  the  attention  of  attendants  is 
continually  called  to  careless  or  worse  use  of  books.  Mr  Hig- 
ginson,  at  the  Massachusetts  Library  Club,  hit  the  point  exactly 
when  speaking  upon  this  subject,  and  quoting  Sir  Philip  Sydney, 
he  remarked,  "suspicion  is  the  way  to  lose  that  which  you  fear 
to  lose" 

The  librarian  of  the  Clerkenwell  Library,  London,  reports 
that  the  percentage  of  lost  books  from  the  open  shelves  is  in- 
significant. The  report  from  the  Minneapolis  Public  Library 
shows  that  its  loss  per  annum  was  some  150  books.  And  yet 
Chicago,  with  closed  shelves,  spoke  of  170  and  Mr.  Putnam 
found  only  47  out  of  6000  books  in  Bates  Hall  missing  after 


REPORT  ON  OPEN  SHELVES  187 

10  months'  use,  adding,  as  is  no  doubt  the  truth,  that  he  be- 
lieved many  of  them  were  merely  mislaid.  The  differences  o£ 
loss  in  free  and  closed  libraries  are  really  immaterial.  It  is  sat- 
isfactory to  know  that  the  New  York  Free  Circulating  Library 
is  making  the  experiment  of  open  shelves  and  is  in  hopes  of 
having  the  plan  adopted  throughout  its  entire  system  We  are 
all  familiar  with  the  report  of  the  success  of  the  free-shelf 
system  at  Buffalo,  and  Mr.  Elmendorf  was  thoroughly  justified 
in  adding  that  the  success  of  the  movement  at  Buffalo  had  gone 
far  to  solve  the  question  of  open  shelves. 

Experience  shows  that  the  loss  from  theft  is  very  small,  and 
where  a  theft  occurs  it  is  almost  invariably  the  act  of  some  one 
deliberate  and  persistent  thief  One  man  in  Philadelphia  stole 
84  books;  he  visited  nine  of  the  principal  libraries  in  the  city, 
and  made  his  selection  of  useful  works  on  engineering.  The 
books  were  recovered  because  a  reader  in  the  same  house  found 
out  what  was  going  on  and  notified  one  of  the  librarians  where 
the  books  were  The  librarian  sent  and  fetched  away  the  books, 
distributing  them  amongst  the  various  libraries.  The  general 
public  are  not  thieves  Thieves  from  libraries  are  a  class  like 
burglars.  One  man  commits  a  large  number  of  burglaries  and 
creates  a  great  deal  of  trouble ;  but  this  does  not  prove  that  the 
whole  population  of  a  village  or  town  is  burglariously  inclined. 
The  benefit  of  open  shelves  is  indisputable,  and  the  probable 
loss  of  two  or  three  hundred  books  per  annum  at  a  total  cost 
of  perhaps  $150  may  be  considered  small,  if  the  salaries  which 
would  be  required  for  one  and  possibly  two  more  assistants,  not 
to  mention  page-boys,  etc.,  had  to  be  paid.  Libraries  must  be 
compared  not  merely  according  to  the  number  of  volumes  in 
their  possession  but  according  to  the  number  of  books  circu- 
lated If  a  library  with  a  circulation  of  125  books  a  day  loses 
10  books  a  year,  that  is  as  much  in  proportion  as  if  a  library 
with  a  circulation  of  2500  books  a  day  loses  200,  the  circulation 
of  the  latter  being  20  times  larger  than  the  former. 

It  must  be  remembered  also  that  the  loss  of  the  books  by 
theft  and  from  other  causes  is  merely  a  part,  and  a  very  small 
part  of  the  general  loss  in  a  public  library  with  a  large  cir- 
culation. The  general  loss  from  wear  and  tear,  the  number 
of  books  worn  out  (absolutely  torn  to  shreds  from  constant  use) 
alone,  would  be  at  least  10  times  the  number  of  all  books 


i88  JOHN  THOMSON 

unaccounted  for  in  the  year  The  number  of  books  mutilated 
is  certainly  no  greater  in  a  library  with  open  shelves  than  in  a 
closed  shelf  library;  because  if  a  man  wants  to  save  himself 
the  labor  of  copying  out  bodily  what  he  wants  he  will  do  so 
as  much  in  one  library  as  he  will  in  the  other.  The  number 
of  books  thus  mutilated,  to  my  personal  knowledge,  is  fully 
equal,  if  not  greater,  than  the  number  of  books  mislaid,  lost, 
stolen,  or  otherwise  unaccounted  for.  To  refer  back  to  the 
illustration  already  used,  if  a  store  doing  a  business  of  $500  a 
year  loses  by  theft  $100  worth  of  laces  from  a  bargain  counter 
the  matter  is  a  very  serious  item.  A  like  amount  taken  from 
the  counters  of  a  store  like  Macy's  becomes  merely  an  incident. 
A  loss  of  300  books  in  a  library  circulating  50,000  books  a  year 
is  a  matter  of  grave  moment.  A  similar  loss  in  a  library  from 
one  million  to  one  million  and  a  half  of  books  is  a  matter  of 
comparatively  small  importance.  If,  as  is  a  well  known  fact, 
so  large  an  article  as  a  freight  car  can  be  lost  to  the  railway 
system  to  which  it  belongs  for  a  period  of  from  one  to  three 
years,  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  many  books  that  are 
treated  as  stolen  are  really  books  that  will  sooner  or  later  be 
accounted  for.  A  leakage  on  books  is  as  much  a  necessity  as 
a  leakage  of  counter  goods  in  business. 

The  fact  that  some  people  who  are  trained  in  the  use  of 
libraries  can  achieve  their  ends  by  the  use  of  the  catalog  proves 
very  little  Every  person  using  a  free-shelf-library  can  still  go 
to  the  catalog  if  he  or  she  desires  to  do  so,  but  in  addition  to 
the  catalog  the  free  shelves  give  increased  facilities.  It  is  no 
argument  to  say  you  can  use  the  catalog,  and  so  need  not  give 
the  public  access  to  the  shelves  Every  public  library  has  its 
catalog,  but  would  do  well  to  have  free  shelves  in  addition. 

The  true  solution,  as  it  occurs  to  me,  for  the  management 
of  public  libraries  is  to  have  reference  rooms  and  shelves  for 
general  books  on  classified  subjects  such  as  history,  travel, 
fiction  and  biography,  absolutely  open;  and  to  have  separate 
rooms  or  places  in  which  can  be  stored  valuable  books  that 
it  would  be  impossible  to  leave  to  be  handled  largely  from 
curiosity  and  which  would  become  injured  from  undue  hand- 
ling. Several  copies  of  the  Globe  Shakespeare  might  properly 
be  placed  upon  free  shelves,  but  Halliwell-Phillips'  edition  the 
facsimiles  of  the  quartos,  and  the  facsimile  of  the  first  folio, 


REPORT  ON  OPEN  SHELVES       189 

which  might  be  properly  remitted  to  a  closed  shelf.  The  gen- 
eral reader  who  wants  Shakespeare  will  be  content  with  an 
edition  of  Rolfe,  the  Globe,  Knight  or  Furness  If  he  wishes 
to  pursue  the  study  of  Shakespeare  and  has  exhausted  the 
subject  from  the  free  shelves,  he  can  very  readily,  through 
the  catalog,  obtain  further  editions  to  study. 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  THE  LOSS  OF  BOOKS 

The  chief  objection  that  librarians  have  found 
against  the  open  shelf  is  the  possibility  of  misplacement 
and  theft  of  books.  It  has  been  urged  that  to  give  op- 
portunity for  undetected  theft  is  demoralizing.  That 
such  possibility  exists  is  evident  from  statistics  given  by 
Isabel  Ely  Lord  in  the  following  paper.  After  permitting 
open  access  in  the  Pratt  Institute  Free  Library  for  sev- 
eral years,  Miss  Lord,  the  librarian,  felt  that  the  advan- 
tages of  the  system  outweighed  the  disadvantages. 

This  paper  was  prepared  for  the  Minnetonka  Con- 
ference of  the  A.L.A.,  and  read  there  June  27,  1908. 

A  sketch  of  Miss  Lord  appears  in  Volume  5  of  this 
series. 

Movements  and  doctrines  are  vague  things  as  to  their  be- 
ginnings, and  many  a  controversy  has  arisen  in  the  attempt 
to  assign  accurate  dates  of  birth  to  them.  But  in  this  amicable 
assembly  it  may  be  safe  to  state  that  the  "open  shelf"  move- 
ment in  American  free  public  libraries  comes  o£  age  at  this 
conference.  Twenty-one  years  ago,  at  the  Thousand  Islands, 
Mrs.  Sanders  appeared  before  the  American  Library  Association 
and  told  of  the  eminently  successful  experiment  at  Pawtucket, 
in  allowing  all  users  of  the  library  to  see,  touch  and  handle 
for  themselves  the  books  as  they  stood  on  the  shelves.  The 
account  was  greeted  with  enthusiasm,  and  Mrs.  Sanders  was 
praised  and  envied  for  what  she  was  able  to  do  in  her  small 
library  in  her  small  community,  although,  of  course,  said  the 
"large  librarians,"  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island,  is  one  thing,  and 
New  York  City  is  another.  But  presently  Cleveland  started 
bravely  forth,  and  then  free  access  was  granted  so  rapidly  in  so 
many  kinds  of  libraries  that  the  tale  would  be  a  hard  one  to 
tell  with  any  degree  of  accuracy.  And  not  only  New  York 
City,  but  Greater  New  York,  in  all  five  of  her  boroughs,  allows 
free  access  to  all  her  collections  of  circulating  books,  and  in 


I92  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

1907  gave  out  to  her  inhabitants  a  grand  total  of  9,464,848 
volumes.1 

Such  a  wide  adoption  of  a  library  policy  speaks  strongly  on 
its  behalf,  but  is  not  necessarily  proof  of  its  wisdom  and  justice. 
There  are  still  librarians,  honored  among  us,  and  even  more 
there  are  trustees,  who  not  only  doubt  the  wisdom  and  justice 
of  the  policy,  but  hold  it  to  be  totally  pernicious.  The  public 
press  occasionally  gives  wide  publicity  to  the  fearful  losses  of 
books  by  theft,  and  if,  being  librarians,  we  refrain  from  getting 
into  a  panic  or  becoming  hysterical,  we  yet  do  sometimes  feel 
a  bit  uneasy  about  some  of  the  accusations.  This  paper  is  the 
result  of  an  investigation  of  the  actual  facts  of  these  losses  of 
books,  in  order  that  both  opponents  and  advocates  of  what  we 
in  America  have  agreed  to  call  the  "open  shelf,"  may  decide 
for  themselves  as  to  future  policy  and  practice  It  deals  only 
with  the  question  of  free  public  libraries,  where  the  conditions 
of  use  differ  essentially  from  those  of  the  society,  club,  college, 
university,  or  other  institutional  library.  Its  further  limitations 
will  appear  as  the  different  subjects  are  treated. 

But  before  turning  to  these  facts  and  figures  let  us  give 
a  few  moments  to  the  consideration  of  the  general  principle  in- 
volved in  throwing  the  shelves  open  to  the  public,  and  to  the 
minor  objections  to  this  that  have  been  at  different  times  set 
forth.  Such  a  general  statement  is  necessary  if  we  are  at  the 
end  to  draw  any  definite  conclusion. 

The  public  library,  as  an  educational  institution,  has  a  dif- 
ferent function  from  that  of  any  other  part  of  our  educational 
system.  This  function  approaches  nearest  to  that  of  the  public 
museum,  but  by  its  sending  out  volumes  for  home  use  the 
library  has  a  wider  and  a  more  varied  influence  Supplementary 
to  formal  education,  its  chief  aims  are  two;  first,  to  enable  any 
member  of  its  community  to  get  as  readily  and  easily  as  pos- 
sible at  any  needed  information  that  is  contained  in  the  printed 
page;  second,  to  stimulate,  to  encourage,  and  sometimes  to  di- 
rect the  knowledge  and  love  of  books  The  first  of  these  ends, 
the  information  side,  is  served  largely,  although  by  no  means 
entirely,  through  the  reference  department  of  the  library  Long 

1This,   it  should  be  noted,  does  not  include  the  circulation   of  books 

through,   the   schools — so   large   an   element   with   many  public   libraries 

as  in  New  York  this  is  carried  on  by  the  Board  of  education  The  issue 
here  for  1906-1907  was  6,232,096,  making  the  1907  total  free  circulation 
for  Greater  New  York  certainly  over  fifteen  and  a  half  millions. 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS        193 

before  there  was  any  consideration  of  free  access  to  any  other 
part  of  the  library  books,  it  was  generally  held  necessary  to 
have  the  most  commonly  used  reference  books  on  open  shelves. 
The  reason  for  this  in  many  cases  was  the  somewhat  ignoble 
one  of  desiring  to  save  the  library  attendants  trouble,  but  the 
advantages  were  so  immediately  obvious  that  reference  depart- 
ments soon  enlarged  their  open  shelf  collections,  and  the  practice 
is  now  almost  universal.  This  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that 
all  the  books  of  large  reference  collections  are  accessible  to 
everyone,  nor  is  such  a  practice,  so  far  as  I  know,  anywhere 
advocated.  In  a  large  reference  collection  a  great  many  books 
are  rare,  either  in  the  book  markets  or  as  to  library  use;  a 
great  many  have  such  a  high  value  as  to  tempt  the  professional 
thief;  a  great  many  are  in  size,  shape,  style  of  binding,  or 
quality  of  illustrations,  unsuited  to  general  indiscriminate  hand- 
ling. The  collection  that  is  needed  for  current  general  use 
is  more  easily  watched  by  the  reference  attendants  than  is  a 
circulating  collection  of  proportionate  size,  and  altogether  the 
problem  of  open  shelves  in  the  reference  department  is  a  less 
serious  one.  It  will  therefore  not  be  treated  in  this  paper  fur- 
ther except  as  losses  of  reference  books  are  given  in  the  statisti- 
cal statement. 

This  side  of  imparting  information  is  also,  naturally  a  large 
part  of  the  work  of  the  circulating  department  of  the  library 
But  here  the  question  is  a  different  one.  If  the  information 
wanted  is  a  brief,  definite  answer  to  any  question,  the  chances 
are  that  it  will  be  best  furnished  by  the  reference  department, 
but  something  more  general  and  discursive,  something  to  be 
studied  or  even  to  be  skimmed  over  at  home—here  the  circulat- 
ing department  must  be  appealed  to  And  then  there  are  the 
people  who  want  "collateral  reading"  for  their  studies ;  those  who 
want  something  worth  while  for  their  enjoyment;  those  who 
vaguely  want  "something  nice  to  read"  to  pass  away  the  time; 
those  who  want  only  novels,  perhaps  only  the  new  novels,  know 
what  they  want,  and  are  not  always  pleasant  when  they  do  not 
get  it,  and  those  who  come  seeking  the  inspiration  to  be  had 
from  the  great  masters  of  expression  in  words.  How  are  all 
these  people  to  be  served  best?  As  to  their  own  preference, 
there  is  no  question.  The  people  who  use  a  public  library  pre- 
fer to  see  the  books  as  they  stand  on  the  shelves,  to  take  them 
down  and  look  at  them,  to  feel  free  among  them.  To  the  great 


194  ISABEL   ELY  LORD 

majority  of  those  who  use  the  library  and  perhaps  to  all  who 
should  be  using  it  and  are  not,  the  card  catalog  is  a  stumbling- 
block  Even  to  one  trained  in  the  use  of  a  catalog — which  chiefly 
means  a  librarian — the  card  conveys  nothing  as  to  the  condition, 
printing,  or  literary  style  of  the  book,  and  often  not  even  the 
inclusiveness  of  its  scope.  This  is  equally  true  of  the  printed 
catalog,  whose  sole  advantages  over  the  card  catalog  are  ease 
of  use,  portability  and  readiness  of  duplication.  But  how  would 
any  librarian  here  like  to  select  his  or  her  personal  reading  for 
a  year  from  a  catalog,  whether  printed  in  a  book  or  written 
on  cards? 

To  stimulate  and  encourage  the  knowledge  and  love  of  books, 
so  I  have  stated  the  second  general  aim  of  the  library.  Would 
anything  serve  to  that  end  better  than  the  handling  of  books 
themselves?  The  examining  and  choosing  is  in  itself  an  educa- 
tional process,  and  the  chances  are  few  that  the  "real  right 
book"  will  get  to  a  member  of  the  "public,"  when  he  is  not 
looking  for  a  definite  book,  through  catalog  and  messenger  com- 
pared to  his  chances  when  he  is  allowed  to  search  and  find 
for  himself  what  is  to  him  the  pearl  among  the  heap  of  pebbles 
The  very  reading  the  titles  on  the  backs  of  the  books  is  en- 
lightening, edifying  and  broadening  No  one  who  has  noted 
the  difference  in  use  of  the  same  books  in  the  same  library 
with  open  and  with  closed  shelves  can  hesitate  as  to  this.  In 
the  "Library  Journal"  for  December  1900  (25.741)  Miss  Mary 
W.  Plummer  gave  an  interesting  list  of  such  differences  in  the 
Pratt  Institute  free  library.  If  Kate  Douglas  Wiggins'  "Chil- 
dren's rights"  went  out  16  times  from  the  open  shelves  to 
9  times  from  the  stack;  and  the  life  of  Lady  Burton  20  times 
to  7,  "Silas  Marner"  27  times  to  12,  Hamerton's  "Thoughts  on 
art"  jo  times  to  4,  were  not  people  being  definitely  better  served? 
And  every  open  shelf  collection  shows  a  similar  result  If  fig- 
ures that  were  fairly  comparative  were  available  it  seems  almost 
certain  that  the  fiction  percentage  would  be  lower  m  the  open 
shelf  collection.  Open  shelves  are  not,  indeed,  as  Mr.  S.  S. 
Green  pointed  out  years  ago,  a  panacea,  but  surely  the  time  is 
passed  when  we  need  to  discuss  with  that  curiously  facetious 
body  of  English  librarians  known  as  The  Pseudonyms,  "whether 
free  access  is  a  library  method  or  a  disease."  If  we  cease  to 
be  our  official  selves  for  a  moment,  can  we  fail  to  echo  Mr. 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS        195 

Putnam's  words  spoken  in  1891?  "I  cannot  believe  there  is  a 
librarian  who  has  felt  as  a  reader  and  would  not  himself  be 
urgent  for  free  access.  The  problem  is  one  of  means." 

To  quote  once  more,  the  burden  of  proof  is  surely,  as  Mr. 
Brett  said  at  Atlanta,  on  the  other  side.  What  objections  do 
the  objectors  bring ?  First,  frequently,  and  in  a  few  instances 
as  a  main  objection,  there  is  the  confusion  of  books  resulting 
from  misplacement.  Librarians  differ  very  much  in  their  opin- 
ions as  to  this,  but  few  hold  it  a  serious  argument  against 
allowing  people  to  look  at  the  books.  Those  who  are  looking 
for  a  definite  book,  especially  if  other  than  fiction,  are  best 
served  by  asking  a  member  of  the  library  staff  to  find  it  Deci- 
mal points,  Cutter  numbers  and  dummies  are  enough  to  make  it 
well  nigh  impossible  for  the  user  to  be  sure  that  the  book  is 
not  "in  "  The  reader  who  wants  a  definite  book  is  always  quick- 
est served  through  the  catalog  and  a  call-slip,  and  this  can  be 
done  in  an  open  shelf  exactly  as  well  as  in  a  closed  library. 
This  has  not  always  been  sufficiently  impressed  on  staff,  users, 
or  both,  but  it  is  certainly  true.  The  only  possible  difficulty 
here  is  caused  by  misplacement  on  the  shelves.  A  librarian  can 
often  find  by  a  casual  glance  a  book  thus  misplaced;  but  the 
difficulty  must,  of  course,  be  guarded  against  by  constant  re- 
vision of  the  order  of  books  on  the  shelves.  In  18  of  the 
libraries  who  answered  the  questions  sent  them  for  this  paper, 
shelves  are  so  rearranged  daily  or  oftener  This  means  very 
little  danger  of  missing  the  books  asked  for.  Four  of  the  libra- 
rians have  their  revision  weekly,  four  report  "continuously"  but 
do  not  say  how  long  a  time  it  takes  to  revise  the  whole  collec- 
tion. Unfortunately  the  word  "revision"  used  in  the  question 
proved  ambiguous  to  some,  and  the  statistics  on  the  subject 
are  not  full  But  they  show  sufficiently  that  libraries  are  guard- 
ing against  this  difficulty  of  misplacement  on  the  shelves.  Some 
of  the  English  libraries  have  a  tiny  colored  label  on  each  book, 
a  color  being  assigned  to  a  class  of  books,  an  admirable  means 
of  detecting  at  once  a  blue  history  book  that  has  strayed  into 
pink'  sociology.  The  plan  was  tried  in  the  Pratt  Institute  free 
library  for  its  first  small  open  shelf  collection,  and  worked 
well,  but  has  not  as  yet  been  applied  to  the  much  larger  col- 
lection now  open.  It  would  be  interesting  to  learn  if  it  is 
used  in  any  large  American  collection.  I  have  not  been  able  to 
trace  one. 


196  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

A  second  objection  is  to  the  extra  wear  and  tear  on  the 
books.  If  this  is  induced  by  idle  and  fruitless  handling,  the 
objection  is  valid,  but  if  it  is  the  result  of  an  educational 
process,  the  wear  and  tear  is  only  part  of  running  expenses.  Of 
course  people  should  be  taught  to  handle  books  carefully,  but 
that  is  easy  to  do  where  books  are  treated  with  what  one  might 
almost  call  courtesy  by  the  library  staff,  and  if  signal  offenders 
among  the  readers  are  remonstrated  with. 

The  increased  cost  of  administration  is  sometimes  held  up 
as  an  objection,  but  on  the  other  hand  its  decreased  cost  is 
sometimes  held  up  as  an  argument  for  open  shelves,  There  are 
apparently  no  figures  to  prove  either  side  We  were  taught 
early  in  our  youth  that  we  couldn't  add  oranges  and  apples  and 
get  a  resultant  sum  that  could  be  expressed  in  terms  of  either. 
So  it  is  impossible  to  reckon  cost  of  administration  in  two  such 
different  states  of  library  life.  In  the  first  place  an  open  shelf 
library  increases  in  use  more  rapidly  than  its  older  brother.  If 
there  are  exceptions  to  this  rule  I  have  never  found  one.  In- 
crease of  use  means  increase  in  cost  of  administration,  but  in- 
crease due  only  to  this  we  should  be  ungrateful  to  charge  to 
open  shelves.  Otherwise  how  can  we  reckon ?  The  time  of  the 
staff  is  differently  spent.  The  majority  of  people— and  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  fiction  readers — find  books  for  themselves, 
so  that  the  librarians  are  freer  to  give  individual  help  But  the 
revision  of  shelves  takes  perhaps  as  much  time  as  the  getting  of 
books  in  the  old  days ;  it  is  hard  to  tell.  A  number  of  librarians 
report  that  more  time  is  spent  under  the  open  shelf  system  in 
assisting  readers,  but  that  this  they  consider  a  great  gain.  The 
answer  from  Cleveland  expresses  concisely  the  opinion  evidently 
held  in  most  open  shelf  libraries,  "We  believe  that  the  same 
amount  of  time  spent  under  the  open  shelf  arrangement  gives 
far  better  service  to  readers." 

A  further  objection  is  to  the  larger  amount  of  space  re- 
quired for  the  storage  of  books  if  readers  are  to  have  access 
to  them.  This  objection  is  not  a  serious  one  to-day,  when  cir- 
culating collections  are  unlikely  to  grow  to  unwieldy  dimen- 
sions, since  branch  libraries  arise  gradually  to  relieve  them. 

Perhaps  the  most  serious  of  the  minor  objections  is  one 
that  has  not  been  much  regarded  by  librarians  generally.  So 
sure  are  we  that  our  one  aim  in  life  is  to  serve  any  and  every 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS        197 

one  in  our  community  that  we  forget  that  the  "public"  does  not 
always  read  our  somewhat  cabalistic  signs  aright.  Writing  in 
the  "Library  World,"  Mr.  Edward  Foskett  once  said  of  the 
open  shelf  arrangement:  "From  a  reader's  point  of  view  it  is 
the  librarian's  1-don't-know-help-yourself-and-don't-bother-me' 
system."  Knowing  our  intentions,  we  cry  out  against  this  as 
absurd,  but  the  fact  remains  that  it  is  the  impression  of  a  great 
many  readers.  And  we  must  take  people  as  they  are,  and  not 
as  they  ought  to  be — as  we  interpret  "ought"  People  with  this 
idea  fail  to  get  the  assistance  they  need  because  they  think 
they  are  expected  to  find  things  for  themselves,  and  they  do 
not  like  to  "trouble  the  young  ladies."  Of  the  majority  of 
the  libraries  who  were  asked  if  they  found  this  a  difficulty,  17 
find  practically  none  and  to  12  it  seems  slight.  The  attitude 
of  helpfulness,  which  is  that  of  every  good  library  staff,  is  cer- 
tainly the  best  preventive  for  this  particular  difficulty.  But  this 
attitude  of  helpfulness  should  mean,  among  other  things,  con- 
stantly reminding  people  in  definite  words  that  getting  the 
book  he  wants  to  the  reader  is  "what  we  are  here  for,"  and  that 
no  one  should  hesitate  to  ask  for  help  either  in  finding  a  defi- 
nite book  or  in  solving  any  other  library  problem.  The  most 
enlightening  thing  a  librarian  can  do  in  order  to  learn  whether 
this  difficulty  exists  in  his  or  her  own  library  is  to  take  a 
wander-hour  in  the  circulating  collection,  casually  accosting  those 
who  are  approachable  In  the  small  community  personal  ac- 
quaintance eliminates  this  particular  difficulty,  but  in  the  large 
community— not  the  large  library,  but  the  large  community — 
the  problem  becomes  a  formidable  one  But  people  will  grad- 
ually come  to  understand  the  ends  and  aims  of  the  library,  and 
20  years  of  open  shelves  will  probably  diminish  this  problem  to 
the  vanishing  point 

There  are  other  minor  and  sometimes  unique  objections  but 
it  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  answer  our  English  brother,  who 
solemnly  proclaims  that  under  the  open  shelf  system  "difficulty 
is  felt  in  the  staff  doing  work  without  being  overlooked  by 
inquisitive  readers,  and  that  encouragement  is  given  for  the 
staff  to  waste  tune  chatting  with  the  readers/*  So  let  us  turn 
at  last  to  our  muttons. 

When  the  question  of  open  shelves  was  brought  up  at  the 
1877  international  conference,  the  chief  objection  made  was  to 


igg  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

the  increased  loss  and  mutilation  of  books  thai  would  be  sure 
to  follow,  and  here  to-day  lies  the  crux  of  the  whole  matter  The 
losses  are  greater.  What  do  we  lose  by  them? 

There  are  two  sides  to  this,  the  financial  and  the  moral. 
The  financial  side  was  formerly  more  considered  than  it  is 
now,  for  two  reasons  First,  it  now  appears  that  the  money 
losses  are  seldom  great;  second,  because  it  is  coming  to  be 
recognized  that  a  heavy  money  loss  is  less  serious  than  is  the 
moral  responsibility  of  fostering  crime  in  a  community  If 
open  shelves  do  foster  crime,  they  are  not  permissible,  for  if  an 
educational  institution  stands  for  anything  in  a  community,  it 
stands  for  moral  betterment  as  much  as  for  intellectual  better- 
ment Either  without  the  other  leads  to  danger;  only  both 
together  help  us  along  the  path  of  progress  The  question, 
then,  to  be  decided  is  whether  the  privilege  of  open  shelves  is 
a  demoralizing  influence  in  a  community  because  it  suggests 
or  encourages  theft.  Does  it,  in  other  words,  make  thieves? 
If  it  does  no  more  than  give  opportunity  to  those  in  the  com- 
munity who  are  already  thieves  the  situation  is  a  different  one. 
In  answering  this  question,  the  difficulty  at  once  arises  of  our 
ignorance  of  the  personality  of  those  who  steal  our  books.  A 
rare  thief  is  caught,  and  certain  deductions  may  be  made  from 
the  character  of  the  books  stolen,  but  these  are  slim  premises. 
We  must,  however,  do  our  best  with  them. 

One  word  about  the  facts  presented  in  this  paper.  They 
are  taken  from  the  answers  to  a  senes  of  questions  sent  to  36 
libraries  circulating  over  200,000  volumes  a  year  and  to  12 
libraries  in  small  communities,  selected  as  typical  Of  these  all 
but  one  of  the  larger  and  one  of  the  smaller  libraries  answered, 
with  a  promptness  and  courtesy  that  I  wish  publicly  to  acknowl- 
edge here.  The  figures  asked  for  were  not  easy  to  give,  and  in 
some  cases  answers  were  impossible,  but  the  attempt  to  do  as 
much  as  possible  to  help  was  general,  and  to  the  courtesy  and 
patience  of  the  questionnaire-besieged  librarians  who  answered 
mine,  is  due  the  whole  value  of  this  paper.  Six  of  the  larger 
libraries  were  unable  to  send  figures,  because  reclassifying  or 
reorganization  is  under  way,  and  one  because  the  first  complete 
inventory  for  years  is  now  being  made.  One  library— Cincin- 
nati—does not  believe  in  inventories,  and  does  not  take  them. 
Mr.  Hodges  says:  "My  objections  to  attempting  an  inventory 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS        199 

of  a  large  library  in  which  the  books  are  in  active  use,  is  based 
upon  what  I  have  seen  in  one  of  the  large  libraries  in  the  East. 
In  that  library  an  attendant  was  employed  at  a  salary  of  $600, 
to  go  with  shelflist  from  one  department  to  another  constantly. 
At  the  close  of  the  year  his  report  was  to  the  effect  that  so 
many  volumes,  150  or  200,  were  unaccounted  for.  Fully  50  per 
cent,  of  those  turned  up  within  a  year,  they  had  simply  been 
overlooked,  and  that  not  through  carelessness,  but  owing  to  the 
inherent  difficulties  m  tracing  misplaced  books." 

The  Millicent  library,  at  Fair  Haven,  Massachusetts,  has  a 
loss  so  small  that  it  is  not  included  in  the  statements  given, 
but  will  be  referred  to  separately.  This  leaves  36  libraries  for 
which  some  figures  are  given. 

As  we  all  know,  different  libraries  keep  their  records  in 
different  ways,  and  it  is  hard  to  make  comparisons.  But  the 
most  just  method  of  stating  loss  is  in  percentages,  both  to  the 
issue  of  books  for  home  use,  and  to  the  number  of  volumes  in 
the  library.  If  a  library  circulating  30,000  volumes  a  year  loses 
3  books,  one  circulating  300,000  volumes  can  lose  30  books 
without  any  real  increase.  Each  library  loses  one  volume  for 
every  10,000  sent  out  to  users.  And  if  the  library  losing  3  books 
has  6,000  volumes,  and  the  one  losing  30  has  60,000  volumes, 
the  loss  per  volume  of  stock  is  the  same — one  in  every  2,000 
volumes  The  losses  stated  in  this  paper,  therefore,  are  given 
m  such  percentage,  and  no  figures  are  given  of  the  actual  num- 
ber of  books  lost  in  a  given  library.  Nor,  for  reasons  that  will 
be  clear  to  all,  are  the  names  of  individual  libraries  given,  ex- 
cept in  those  cases  where  by  stating  local  conditions  some  light 
on  the  problem  may  be  gained.  But  there  is  no  question  of 
rivalry  between  libraries;  the  only  use  of  comparison  is  to 
enable  us  to  find  common  factors  that  can  be  eliminated,  and  so 
to  simplify  our  calculations  as  to  future  practice. 

On  the  subject  of  mutilation  the  figures  are  most  unsatis- 
factory. The  general  report  is  that  mutilation  is  heaviest  in 
unbound  magazines  and  newspapers— certainly  not  a  question  of 
open  shelves.  Bound  volumes  of  magazines  suffer  also,  and 
reference  books  Art  books  are  especially  reported  and  the 
finer  illustrated  books  of  this  sort  are  usually  kept  on  dosed 
or  guarded  shelves,  In  a  few  cases  an  epidemic  of  mutilation 
has  been  traced  to  an  individual,  and  in  both  Wilmington  and 


200  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

Hartford,  the  individual  was  discovered  and  punished  by  im- 
prisonment Aside  from  these  two  libraries  none  reports  sen- 
ous  loss  in  this  way  except  Los  Angeles,  where  the  damage  for 
a  single  year  (in  a  supposedly  closed  shelf  library)  is  estimated 
at  $1000.  Mutilation  in  the  mass  of  circulating  books  seems  to 
be  about  the  same  for  open  shelf  as  for  closed  shelf  libraries, 
as  any  cutting  or  marking  is  done  away  from  the  library.  In 
several  places  the  marking  of  pictorial  or  verse  scrap  or  note- 
books required  in  the  public  schools  has  led  to  mutilation,  and 
here  the  cooperation  of  the  school  authorities  should  certainly 
prevent  a  continuance  of  the  practice.  After  the  initial  difficulty 
of  catching  the  delinquent  there  comes  usually  a  further  dif- 
ficulty in  convincing  him  or  her  that  the  matter  is  serious.  The 
mere  payment  of  a  money  fine — say  the  cost  of  the  book— is 
an  insufficient  punishment.  Every  member  of  the  general  pub- 
lic should  be  made  to  realize  the  seriousness  of  the  offense. 
Here,  as  with  theft,  to  be  dealt  with  later,  a  prosecution  is  the 
best  preventive  of  future  difficulties. 

Let  us  consider  now  the  question  of  theft,  as  to  which  we 
have  fuller  data.  From  these  36  libraries  what  can  we  find 
as  to  the  personality  of  those  who  steal  the  books?  The  ques- 
tion of  the  children  naturally  comes  to  mind  first,  and  this, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  "cultivating  criminals"  is  a  very  im- 
portant question  Here  the  figures  are  unfortunately  unsatis- 
factory, because  so  many  libraries  report  either  losses  or  cir- 
culation as  a  whole  and  given,  the  percentage  of  loss  in  the 
children's  rooms  But  so  far  as  they  are  given,  the  percentage 
of  loss  in  the  children's  room  in  proportion  to  circulation  runs 
a  little  higher  than  that  in  the  adult  department,  and  in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  volumes  in  the  collection  runs  yet  higher. 
But  all  the  books  thus  taken  are  not  stolen  in  any  but  a  strained 
interpretation  of  that  term  Everyone  who  has  had  to  deal 
with  children  "in  the  mass"  knows  that  a  child  is  above  all 
suggestible,  and  that  often  he  takes  "a  library"  because  other 
children  are  doing  the  same  thing.  But  to  every  children's 
room  in  any  large  community  there  comes  many  a  child  un- 
trained in  the  use  of  the  room  who,  seeing  other  children 
taking  books  home,  quite  innocently  takes  a  book  or  two  him- 
self and  walks  proudly  off  without  any  sense  of  having  done 
wrong.  And  of  course  there  is  no  reason  why  he  should  feel 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS        201 

guilty.  Later,  however,  he  probably  discovers  that  he  should 
not  have  taken  a  book  in  this  way,  and  he  usually  becomes  ter- 
rified for  fear  of  "the  cop"  whose  services  his  playmates  are 
so  ready  to  promise.  He  may  sneak  the  book  back  and  leave 
it  on  a  table,  and  he  often  does.  Or  he  may  hide  or  destroy  it 
Occasionally  he  comes  to  the  library  and  explains,  sometimes 
accompanied  by  a  troubled  parent.  Every  children's  librarian 
knows  that  many  books  are  taken  this  way  in  error,  and  that  if 
the  children  have  not  intended  harm  in  the  beginning  and  do 
not  repeat  the  offense,  then  the  child  is  not  seriously  harmed 
Also  there  are  the  children,  almost  invariably  boys,  who  steal 
for  pure  prestige.  The  leader  of  a  set  of  boys  is  expected  to 
display  prowess,  and  "doing"  the  library  is  hard  enough  to  win 
this  particular  land  of  laurels.  This  is  not  a  habit  to  be  either 
commended,  recommended,  or  even  tolerated,  but  it  is  a  fact 
that  a  boy  may  do  a  deed  of  daring-do  of  this  variety  without 
any  serious  injury  to  his  moral  character.  Occasionally  he  re- 
pents later.  The  Dayton  public  library,  a  couple  of  years  ago, 
had  a  package  of  books  returned  with  a  note  from  a  young 
man,  saying  that  several  years  before  he  and  some  other  boys 
said,  "Let's  go  down  to  the  Library  and  steal  books."  His  con- 
science awoke  later,  and  the  books  were  returned,  but  the  very 
way  his  note  was  worded  is  significant 

But  let  us  inquire  a  little  more  closely  into  the  losses  as  they 
occur.  The  actual  figures  for  the  Pratt  Institute  free  library 
will  serve  to  show  what  kind  of  losses  occur  in  a  children's 
room  in  the  most  difficult  of  all  communities — a  section  of  a 
great  city  whose  population  is  always  shifting  and  which  has 
no  real  claim  to  the  name  of  community.  It  is  impossible  to 
know  personally  all  the  children  who  come.  There  are  contin- 
ually new  lots  of  children  to  assimilate,  and  there  is  very  little 
in  the  life  of  the  child  elsewhere  that  develops  any  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility. What  do  we  do  in  the  children's  room?  There 
are  at  any  one  time  over  2000  children  who  actually  use  the 
room  They  come  freely,  go  to  the  shelves  for  their  own  books, 
browse  all  they  like,  and  are  taught  respect  for  books  so  far 
as  the  librarians  of  the  room  can  do  this.  During  the  five  years 
ending  July  1907,  there  were,  at  a  very  moderate  estimate,  5,000 
children  who  used  the  room.  There  were  given  out  for  home 
use  165,860  volumes,  and  at  the  taking  of  inventory  for  these 
five  years  there  were  196  volumes  missing.  Of  these  many 


202  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

are  sure  to  reappear,  as  we  know  from  the  experience  of 
previous  years,  but  let  us  take  the  figures  as  they  are.  This 
loss  is  for  five  years,  so  that  the  average  yearly  loss  was  a  little 
over  37  volumes  That  is  a  small  number  to  be  divided  among 
2000  children,  even  though  every  book  was  deliberately  taken, 
which  we  are  certain  is  not  the  case.  Of  the  196,  26  disappeared 
from  the  reference  shelves.  These  were  nice  bright  new  copies 
of  such  attractive  books  as  the  Lang  fairy  tales,  and  they  were 
too  great  a  temptation,  apparently,  and  also,  owing  to  the  con- 
ditions of  the  room,  were  shelved  in  a  corner  rather  difficult  to 
keep  under  observation.  Moreover,  some  of  the  children  seem 
to  have  a  curious  idea  that  the  books  in  that  corner  are  not  a 
real  part  of  the  library,  and  because  they  cannot  take  them 
out  regularly,  they  take  them  "for  keeps"  when  they  would 
not  do  this  with  a  book  obtainable  on  a  membership  card.  Here 
seemed  a  place  where  extra  guarding  was  needed,  and  glass 
doors  were  therefore  placed  on  the  attractive  case  about  the 
time  the  last  inventory  was  completed.  These  are  not  locked,  but 
a  little  sign  says,  "If  you  would  like  to  read  any  of  the  books 
in  this  case,  ask  at  the  desk.  Do  not  take  any  of  the  books 
without  asking."  In  the  year  since  those  glass  doors  were  put 
up  we  have  not  lost  a  book  from  this  case,  so  that  we  feel 
that  our  problem  is  practically  solved  for  the  children's  refer- 
ence collection.  The  average  loss  per  year  from  the  circulating 
collection  was  32.  Does  that  indicate  a  large  number  of  thieves 
among  2000  children?  And  we  feel  quite  sure  that  some  books 
have  gone  to  children  not  registered  at  all,  as  in  one  or  two 
cases  we  have  traced  or  caught  such  children.  Of  the  196 
volumes  total  loss  29  were  little  books,  easy  to  slip  into  bag 
or  pocket.  Librarians  generally  report  this  difficulty,  and  there 
seems  reason  to  keep  the  "Peter  Rabbit"  books  and  their  like 
in  a  special  case,  where  they  can  be  guarded.  But  with  a  loss 
like  this  stated,  who  would  feel  justified  in  barring  the  children 
from  the  shelves,  and  depriving  them  of  the  pleasure,  the  privi- 
lege and  the  education  of  contact  with  books?  Are  we  training 
thieves,  or  training  children,  who  naturally  have  little  sense 
of  mine  and  thine,  to  respect  community  properly? 

It  should  be  clearly  understood  that  the  percentage  of  loss 
is  greater  in  the  Pratt  Institute  free  library,  both  in  relation 
to  circulation  and  to  number  of  volumes,  than  it  is  in  most 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS        203 

libraries.  This  we  attribute  to  our  difficult  community — or 
non-community— but  the  fact  means  that  our  case  is  worse  than 
the  usual  one.  And  yet  we  cannot  feel  it  very  bad! 

There  is  a  question  here  as  to  fines.  How  many  children  take 
books  in  this  illegitimate  way  because  their  cards  are  held  for 
non-payment  of  fines?  In  the  last  report  of  the  Boston  public 
library,  Mr.  Wadlin  deals  with  this  subject,  and  points  out 
clearly  how  the  "permanent  fine"  may  encourage  theft  when  a 
more  elastic  rule  permits  the  resumption  of  the  card  after  a 
period  of  non-use.  The  new  Boston  rule  m  the  case  of  chil- 
dren under  16  cancels  all  fines  for  overdue  books  at  the  end  of 
six  months. 

Mr.  Wadlin  says: 

"Since  the  change  in  the  rule,  many  children  who  had  lost 
the  use  of  cards  through  the  non-payment  of  fines  have  re- 
claimed them.  At  one  large  Branch,  115  cards  were  thus  re- 
issued within  a  single  month.  The  unpaid  fines  on  these 
amounted  to  $36.09,  but  much  of  this  would  probably  never 
have  been  paid.  In  this  one  instance  there  were  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  young  persons  deprived  of  the  home  use  of  books 
without  limit,  unless  they  yielded  to  the  temptation  to  obtain 
them  irregularly  from  the  open  shelves." 

On  the  other  side  it  must  be  said  that  when  we  exact  from 
the  children  a  definite  pledge,  and  then  allow  them  to  break  it, 
we  are  not  helping  in  their  moral  education.  If  a  period  of 
six  months  non-use  of  a  card  is  to  be  held  as  an  equivalent 
to  any  fine  that  may  be  incurred,  this  should  be  clearly  stated 
to  the  children  when  they  "join  the  library." 

But  time  lacks  to  consider  the  children  longer.  How  do  their 
fathers  and  mothers,  older  sisters  and  brothers  behave  when 
they  are  presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  library?  As  has 
already  been  stated,  they  do  not  make  way  with  as  many  books, 
in  proportion  to  circulation  and  collection,  as  the  children  do. 
And  in  the  figures  of  loss  I  am  about  to  give  the  percentage 
is  too  high  for  the  older  people,  since,  as  has  already  been  said, 
a  number  of  libraries  do  not  keep  separate  statistics  of  loss, 
and  the  figures  here  given  are  for  the  total  loss,  the  total  cir- 
culation, and  the  total  number  of  volumes  in  the  library.  Ref- 
erence collections  and  losses  are  included,  but  not  the  figures 
of  reference  use.  A  separation  of  the  figures  for  the  three 
classes  of  reference  books,  children's  books  and  adult  circulating 


204  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

collection  is  highly  desirable,  but  is  not,  with  the  statistics  at 
hand,  practical. 

The  danger  of  loss,  as  I  have  already  hinted,  depends  not 
on  the  size  of  the  library,  but  on  the  size  of  the  community 
The  American  habit  of  "moving" — changing  from  one  habita- 
tion to  another — seems  to  increase  in  a  geometrical  ratio  as  a 
city  grows  in  numbers.  This,  together  with  the  impossibility 
of  any  share  in  the  civic  life  by  the  great  mass  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, tends  to  diminish  the  sense  of  civic  responsibility,  on  the 
part  of  the  individual.  Indeed,  in  the  great  city  there  is  very 
little,  if  anything,  to  foster  this  feeling.  The  library,  dealing 
with  the  individuals  thus  deprived  of  one  of  the  great  benefits 
of  a  social  form  of  living,  has  not,  in  the  large  community,  the 
advantage  of  personal  acquaintance  with  all  its  users.  For  these 
reasons  one  would  expect  the  library  losses  to  increase  as  the 
community  grows  in  size,  and  such  a  result  would  be  a  very 
comfortable  basis  for  consideration  of  our  problem.  Such  a 
result  was  what  the  compiler  of  this  paper  expected  But  such 
expectations  were  entirely  defeated.  The  range  of  loss,  ex- 
pressed in  percentages,  varies  m  an  extraordinary  way.  Let  me 
present  the  percentage  of  loss  to  circulation  in  four  groups 
according  to  the  size  of  the  community,  and  dividing  each  group 
into  libraries  with  open  shelves,  and  those  with  closed  shelves, 
or  with  a  very  restricted  number  of  books  accessible  The  fig- 
ures for  open  shelf  libraries  include  the  books  for  children,  but 
those  for  closed  shelf  or  restricted  libraries  are  for  the  adult 
collections  only,  unless  otherwise  stated.  So  that  the  open  shelf 
figures  run  a  little  higher  than  they  actually  are  for  adults. 

It  is  not  always  easy  to  know  whether  to  call  a  library  "open" 
or  "closed,"  but  the  decision  has  been  made  as  carefully  as 
possible  on  the  basis  of  free  access  to  the  bulk  of  the  circulating 
collection. 

The  figures  for  population  are  taken  from  the  Special  report 
of  the  U  S.  Bureau  o£  census:  Statistics  of  cities,  1905,  pub- 
lished in  1907.  The  figures  of  loss  are  given  in  the  order  of  the 
size  of  the  community,  not  of  the  library,  and  are  the  percen- 
tages of  loss  to  the  circulation  of  the  library. 

I     Cities  of  over  300,000 

a    Open  shelf  libraries,  losses  are  as  follows: 
Per  cent.— .09,  .15,  .09,   17,    17,  .18,  .07,  .39,  .3  (children's  room 
only) 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS          205 

b    Closed  shelf  libraries,  and  those  with  small  acces- 
sible collections.    Losses: 
Per  cent — .03,  .09,   01,  .06  (includes  children's  books) 

2  Cities  over  100,000  and  under  300,000 

a    Open  shelf  libraries.    Losses: 
Per  cent— .16,  .33,  1-34,  42,  .38,   08 

b    Closed  shelf  libraries,  and  those  with  small  acces- 
sible collections.    Losses: 
Per  cent— .09,   03,  .002,  .53,  .01 

3  Cities  over  25,000  and  under  100,000 

a    Open  shelf  libraries.    Losses: 
Per  cent.— 4$,  .17,  .39,  .08,  .15,  .07,  .06 

b    Library   with    very    small    open    shelf    collection. 

Losses : 
Per  cent. — .05  (includes  children's  room) 

4  Small  communities   (under  25,000) 

a    All  open  shelf  libraries.    Losses: 
Per  cent—  09,  .09,  ,002,  .04  and  one  practically  nothing. 

The  loss,  then,  in  cities  of  over  300,000  ranges,  in  open  shelf 
libraries,  from  7  books  in  every  10,000  circulated  to  39  books 
for  every  10,000  circulated.  The  largest  cities  vary  from  9  to 
17  in  every  10,000  circulated.  In  the  closed  shelf  libraries  of 
this  group  the  loss  ranges  from  I  to  9  volumes  in  every  10,000 
circulated  The  average  is  much  steadier  here. 

In  cities  between  100,000  to  300,000  the  open  shelf  libraries 
lose  from  eight  to  42  in  every  10,000.  Denver  in  its  period  of 
open  shelves  lost  134  volumes  to  every  10,000,  and  is  stated 
separately,  as  the  loss  there  was  unusual  and,  so  far  as  I  know, 
the  largest  proportionate  loss  sustained  by  any  library.  In  the 
closed  shelf  libraries  of  the  same  group  the  loss  ranges  from 
2  in  every  100,000,  which  is  the  proud  record  of  Fall  River,  to 
53  in  every  10,000,  a  larger  loss  than  that  of  any  open  shelf 
library  today,  though  not  equaling  that  of  Denver  as  stated 

In  the  third  group  of  cities  from  25,000  to  100,000  the  open- 
shelf  loss  ranges  from  six  to  48  in  every  ten  thousand.  In  the 
closed  shelf  library  of  this  group  the  loss,  including  that  of  the 
children's  room,  is  five  in  every  10,000. 

In  the  last  group  of  small  communities  (under  25,000)  the 
loss  ranges  from  Fairhaven's  statement  that  perhaps  two  books 
are  definitely  missing,  but  they  expect  to  find  them,  through 


206  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

Gloversville's  loss  of  two  to  every  100,000  circulated  up  to  nine 
m  every  10,000  There  are  no  closed  shelf  libraries  in  this 
group 

Setting  aside  the  case  of  Denver,  which  seems  to  have  suf- 
fered a  regular  raid,  and  whose  shelves  have  consequently  been 
closed  for  five  years  now,  the  heaviest  loss  is  in  a  library  with 
closed  shelves  This  is  at  Los  Angeles,  where  the  conditions 
of  the  building  are  difficult,  and  where,  to  quote  Mr.  Lummis, 
"the  closing  was  very  simple,  by  notices  and  a  card  about  head 
high  This  keeps  out  good  patrons,  but  does  not  keep  out 
thieves,  who  dodge  into  the  stacks  and  tuck  books  under  their 
coats."  It  seems  doubtful,  under  the  circumstances,  if  Los 
Angeles  can  be  considered  an  argument  on  either  side  of  the 
question. 

Aside  from  Los  Angeles'  loss  the  heaviest  losses  occur  m 
the  third  group  of  cities  (48  and  39  in  every  10,000)  in  the 
second  group  (42,  38  and  33  in  every  10,000)  and  in  the  first 
group,  but  barely  within  it  (39  in  every  10,000)  Dropping  be- 
low the  lowest  loss  here  of  38  in  every  10,000,  we  find  the  next 
figure  18  in  every  10,000  There  must  surely  be  something  in 
the  local  conditions  to  explain  some  of  this  group  of  six  large 
losses.  The  size  of  the  community  does  not  explain  it,  for  the 
population  figures  range  from  about  80,000  to  over  300,000. 
What  other  explanation  can  be  given?  In  at  least  three  of  the 
libraries  the  building  is  a  great  difficulty,  proper  guarding  being 
impossible  New  Haven  has  one  of  these  heavy  losses,  and  is 
soon  to  have  a  building  that  will  lessen  losses,  if  expectations 
are  fulfilled.  Wilmington  has  one  and  hopes  for  a  better  build- 
ing some  day.  The  losses  in  two  of  the  libraries  depend  some- 
what on  an  unusual  number  of  irresponsible  users,  a  local  con- 
dition hard  to  combat.  It  would  require  a  detailed  study  of 
losses  and  conditions  to  give  reasons  in  full  If  the  librarians 
of  these  collections  could  give  an  analysis  of  losses  it  would  be 
of  very  great  value  to  all  libraries. 

A  statement  of  the  mean  loss,  in  open  shelf  libraries,  is 
especially  valuable  in  view  of  the  few  libraries  with  exception- 
ally high  losses.  In  the  first  group  the  mean  loss  is  17  in  every 
10,000  circulated,  m  the  second  group  (omitting  Denver)  the 
means  is  33;  in  the  third  group  it  is  15;  in  the  last  group  4 
Taking  the  first,  second  and  third  groups  the  losses  in  the 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS        207 

six  libraries  having  the  high  losses  range  from  33  to  48  in 
every  10,000  circulated;  seven  range  from  six  to  nine  in  their 
losses';  and  the  central  group  of  seven  ranges  from  15  to  18 
It  would  seem  that  as  near  as  we  can  come  to  a  deduction  from 
these  varying  figures  would  be  to  take  this  central  group,  the 
mean  loss  of  which  is  17  in  every  10,000  circulated. 

It  so  happens — and  I  give  you  my  word  that  I  had  no  hand 
in  making  it  happen — that  this  is  the  loss  in  the  last  inventory 
of  the  Pratt  Institute  free  library,  and  an  analysis  of  this  loss 
may  give  us  some  interesting  facts.  These  will  be  compared 
with  the  loss  by  classes  in  other  libraries,  so  far  as  those  figures 
are  obtainable.  We  are  quite  sure,  by  the  way,  that  the  list 
of  books  missing  at  this  inventory  will  be  materially  reduced 
by  the  volumes  found  during  the  inventory  now  in  progress, 
so  that  our  final  loss  will  be  distinctly  under  that  noted  now. 
But  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  books  thus  discovered 
will  be  in  one  class  more  than  in  another,  so  that  the  losses 
as  now  given  should  still  be  significant.  The  inventory  of  the 
children's  room  of  the  Pratt  Institute  free  library  has  already 
been  given  in  some  detail.  The  inventory  of  the  rest  of  the 
library  was  taken  at  the  same  time — the  two  months  and  a 
half  ending  July  31,  1907— but  covered  only  one  year  and  a 
half.  During  this  time  the  total  recorded  number  of  persons 
using  the  reference  departments,  (excluding  the  children's  room) 
of  the  Library  was  56,785.  The  number  of  reference  books 
missing  was  thirty  Of  these  five  volumes  were  from  the  gen- 
eral reference  library,  eight  from  the  periodical  sets,  four  from 
the  collection  of  U.  S.  government  documents,  six  from  the 
Art  reference  room,  and  seven  from  the  Applied  science  ref- 
erence room.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  six  of  this  last 
seven  went  to  one  person,  as  they  were  books  on  allied  sub- 
jects and  disappeared  within  a  few  days  Also,  at  the  time  they 
disappeared  the  room  was  not  properly  guarded.  Of  the  peri- 
odicals three  volumes  were  rare  and  were  probably  taken  for 
their  money  value.  They  should  never  have  been  left  on  open 
shelves  None  of  the  other  volumes  were  of  much  money  value, 
and  three  were  cheap  text-books.  The  loss  is  one  volume  to 
about  every  1900  people  using  the  departments. 

The  loss  for  the  rest  of  the  library  was  418  volumes.  The 
circulation  during  this  period  was  201,487.  The  percentage  of 


208  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

loss  to  the  circulation  m  the  adult  collection  is  thus  about  twenty 
to  every  ten  thousand  circulated.  Our  circulating  collection  is 
a  parallel  one,  with  roughly  35,000  volumes  on  the  open  shelves 
and  25,000  in  the  closed  stack,  The  volumes  lost  from  the 
open  shelves  were  358,  or  18  to  every  10,000  circulation  from 
the  shelves;  those  from  the  closed  shelves  60,  or  at  the  rate  of 
68  for  every  10,000  of  the  circulation.  Why  the  loss  was  so 
much  heavier  from  the  closed  portion  of  the  library  we  are 
unable  to  guess,  but  it  is  probable  that  a  greater  portion  of 
these  missing  volumes  will  be  found  in  the  inventory  now  taking, 
and  of  course  the  closed  shelf  books  are  in  the  open  shelf  room 
in  the  course  of  being  issued  and  returned. 
The  detailed  loss  is  as  follows: 

Vols. 

Fiction  119 

ooo  6 

100  14 

200  12 

300  20 

400  10 

500  30 

600  60 

700  22 

800  63 

900  19 

Biography  5 

Foreign  (in  closed  stack)      38 

418 

But  if  stated  in  the  order  of  percentage  of  circulation  in 
each  class,  the  importance  of  losses  shifts  at  once.  The  highest 
falls  then  in  philology  (400),  where  the  loss  was  at  the  rate 
of  104  for  every  10,000  circulated.  That  this  is  no  unusual 
difficulty  is  sufficiently  proved  by  the  fact  that  of  the  24  libra- 
ries giving  detailed  figures  of  loss  the  largest  number — seven — 
had  the  heaviest  proportionate  number  in  this  class.  Yet  one 
library  has  its  lightest  loss  here.  Scientific  and  technical  science 
follow,  the  loss  in  pure  science  (500)  being  at  the  rate  of  60 
for  every  10,000  sent  out,  and  that  in  applied  science  (600)  58. 
Seven  of  the  24  other  libraries  also  have  their  heaviest  propor- 
tionate loss  in  these  two  classes,  while  two  libraries  have  their 
lightest  here,  and  in  two  no  books  were  lost  in  pure  science. 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS         209 

Fourteen  out  of  the  24  libraries  lose  most  in  400-600.  Liter- 
ature (800)  comes  next,  with  a  loss  of  38.  One  library  has 
its  heaviest  loss  here,  and  two  their  lightest  The  fine  arts 
(700)  follow  close  with  36,  and  no  library  finds  this  the  heaviest, 
while  one  finds  it  lightest.  General  works  (ooo,  and  on  closed 
shelves)  lose  34,  and  in  four  of  the  24  libraries  show  the  heaviest 
loss.  In  four  also  the  loss  is  lightest  here,  and  in  nine  libraries 
there  is  no  loss  at  all  in  this  class.  Religion  follows  with  33, 
and  in  two  libraries  the  loss  is  heaviest  here,  in  one  it  is  light- 
est, and  in  three  there  is  no  loss  at  all.  Philosophy  shows  a 
loss  at  the  rate  of  28  volumes  to  every  10,000  circulated,  and  in 
two  libraries  shows  the  largest  proportionate  loss,  in  two  the 
lightest,  and  in  three  no  loss  Sociology  (300)  loses  24,  and 
proves  the  most  serious  loser  in  one  library,  the  lightest  in  an- 
other, and  no  loser  in  two.  History  (goo  except  910)  offers  a 
loss  of  21,  and  in  no  library  shows  the  most  serious  loss,  while 
in  one  it  is  the  lightest  and  in  two  there  is  no  loss.  Travel 
(910)  loses  15  and  again  is  in  no  library  the  chief  loser,  in  one 
is  the  lightest  loser,  and  in  three  has  no  loss.  Biography  loses 
13,  and  in  no  library  is  the  heaviest  loser,  in  two  is  the  lightest 
and  in  two  loses  nothing.  Fiction,  last  hi  this  record,  if  in  no 
other,  loses  only  n  to  every  10,000,  and  in  no  library  shows  the 
greatest  proportionate  loss,  in  seven  shows  the  lightest  and  in 
none  is  without  loss 

Of  all  the  books  lost  in  the  Pratt  Institute  free  library,  only 
12  disappeared  from  the  "Books  for  younger  readers,"  which 
speaks  well  for  the  children. 

The  heavy  loss  in  philosophy  in  proportion  to  use,  may  sur- 
prise some  librarians,  but  not  many.  This  loss  was  all  but  one 
in  text-books,  two  in  English,  one  in  German,  three  in  Latin, 
one  in  Greek,  and  one  in  Hebrew.  We  have  decided  to  guard 
such  books  by  placing  them  in  the  closed  stack,  as  there  is  no 
particular  advantage  in  having  them  on  the  open  shelves.  A 
definite  book  can  be  had  quite  as  quickly  from  the  closed  shelves 
and  a  "good  book  to  help  in  Latin"  can  be  chosen  by  the  libra- 
rian, or  the  volumes  in — never  many — can  all  be  brought  to  the 
inquirer.  A  notice  at  the  shelves  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
text-books  are  kept  in  a  special  place  and  can  be  had  on  re- 
quest No  surprise  may  be  expected  at  the  large  loss  in  scien- 
tific and  technical  books,  but  here  removal  from  the  open 


210  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

shelves  would  defeat  our  ends  The  "technical  man"  is  not  so 
well  served  by  any  other  method  as  by  free  access,  and  we 
have  not  removed  from  the  open  shelves  any  books  except 
"pocket-books,"  which  have  always  been  on  the  closed  shelves 
The  supplying  of  technical  books  in  any  abundance  is  a  com- 
paratively new  development,  and  until  that  particular  "public" 
is  educated,  we  must  expect  loss  Librarians,  answering  from 
general  impressions,  were  almost  unanimous  in  reporting  tech- 
nical books  a  difficulty,  and  "school  text  books"  came  a  close 
second  A  special  precaution  against  theft  in  the  technical  books 
is  reported  from  the  Carnegie  library  of  Atlanta,  where  the 
library  stamp  is  used  freely  throughout  the  book.  Drexel  In- 
stitute is  also  trying  this  method,  but  m  both  cases  it  is  too 
early  to  learn  whether  this  will  be  a  deterrent  The  character 
of  the  technical  books  stolen  shows  clearly  that  most  are  taken 
for  personal  use  rather  than  for  sale,  and  it  seems  likely  that 
a  man  would  hesitate  to  have  in  his  possession  illegally  a  vol- 
ume bearing  the  name  of  the  Blank  public  library  on  almost 
every  page.  Time  will  tell  if  this  is  an  advisable  method. 

Of  the  30  books  in  pure  science  lost  by  the  Pratt  Institute 
free  library,  seven  were  in  mathematics  of  high  school  or  col- 
lege grade — standard  books  in  algebra,  geometry  and  trigonom- 
etry. Such  books  are  now  treated  like  the  language  text-books, 
and  may  be  had  only  by  being  asked  for.  The  rest  of  the  loss 
in  science  runs  through  almost  every  number  of  the  classifica- 
tion. In  applied  science  four  out  of  the  60  lost  went  to  those 
interested  in  health  and  hygiene,  five  to  those  attracted  by  some 
branch  of  domestic  science,  and  eight  to  those  drawn  by  type- 
writing and  stenography.  The  immediate  vicinity  of  a  school 
of  commerce  has  probably  helped  in  this  last  item,  and  we  now 
keep  books  of  this  class  on  special  shelves,  accessible  on  request, 
but  not  otherwise.  The  literature  loss  is  heavy — 63  Of  this 
18  volumes  were  poetry,  12  were  drama,  and  18  were  texts  or 
translations  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics.  This  last  class 
of  books  has  now  been  treated  like  other  school  books  and 
put  on  the  closed  shelves.  A  number  of  the  other  books  were 
those  used  in  the  schools.  In  the  general  class  of  fine  arts 
the  loss  is  large  in  books  of  games  and  sports,  nine  out  of  the 
22  missing  volumes  belonging  here.  Photography,  which  is  re- 
ported by  several  libraries  as  a  heavy  loser,  is  responsible  for 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS   211 

four  more  volumes,  music  for  two,  so  that  only  seven  are  kept 
to  art,  strictly  speaking.  The  loss  in  religion  is  a  sad  one — 
the  fifth  m  order  of  seriousness.  It  is  the  common  courteous 
habit  of  librarians  to  lay  the  loss  in  religious  books,  which  is 
everywhere  a  comparatively  high  one,  to  the  absent-mindedness 
of  the  clergy  and  clerical  students.  Sunday  school  teachers  are 
probably  responsible  for  some  of  it.  But  some  is  hard  to  ex- 
plain. Of  twelve  volumes  lost  five  were  volumes  of  the  Temple 
Bible!  But  the  strangest  loss  of  all  was  a  volume  of  Lyman 
Abbott's  "Family  worship."  The  Bible  one  might  be  forced  to 
get,  by  cruel  school  or  college,  and  one  might  conceivably  save 
20  cents  by  stealing  a  more  attractive  edition  than  one  could 
buy  for  that  sum.  But  how  could  one  steal  a  volume  of  family 
prayers  to  use?  And  why  steal  them  if  not  to  use?  Either 
question  seems  unanswerable.  In  philosophy  the  loss  crowds 
that  in  religion  close,  and  is  largely  of  books  useful  to  the  stu- 
dent, though  the  "Twentieth  century  fortune-teller"  creeps  in 
here  by  permission  of  the  Decimal  classification,  and  the  "Secret 
of  a  good  memory"  does  the  same.  Would  that  the  latter  might 
cause  its  user  to  remember  to  bring  it  back!  Not  a  title  is 
missing  in  ethics,  which  is  a  hopeful  fact,  but  Podmore's  "Mod- 
ern spiritualism,"  in  two  volumes,  is  gone,  and  is  the  most  costly 
book  lost. 

In  sociology  education  claims  eight  of  the  20  volumes  miss- 
ing and  of  those  four  are  kindergarten  books.  Two  are  legal, 
three  are  on  "how  to  behave" — and  do  not  go  quite  far  enough 
in  their  instructions,  evidently — and  two  are  volumes  of  fairy 
tales,  which  we  keep  separate  in  398.2  and  3984. 

In  history  the  loss  is  largely  in  books  useful  to  college  and 
high  school  students,  and  in  travel  the  range  is  from  the  Adiron- 
dacks  to  the  West,  over  to  Siberia,  Russia  and  Syria. 

In  biography  Jacob  Abbott  comes  to  the  front  again,  with 
"David  Crockett,"  Harrison's  "Oliver  Cromwell"  makes  one 
smile  a  bit  at  the  short  shrift  its  subject  would  have  given 
to  a  book  thief  if  he  were  running  a  library.  Maimon's  "Auto- 
biography" is  a  curious  loss,  and  the  other  two  volumes  went 
from  "the  closed  shelves. 

The  fiction  losses  range  far  and  wide,  and  there  are  only 
a  few  that  one  finds  special  reason  for.  Two  copies  of  Cha- 
teaubriand's "Atala"  points  to  a  study  of  French,  and  the  need 


212  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

of  a  "trot,"  and  perhaps  Balzac's  "Magic  skin,"  Daudet's  "La 
Belle  Nivernaise"  and  Lamartme's  "Fior  d'Aliza"  went  in  the 
same  direction 

The  percentage  of  loss  to  the  number  of  volumes  in  the 
library  is,  of  course,  higher  than  that  to  the  circulation,  as 
the  latter  is  always  the  larger  figure.  But  the  significance  of 
the  figure  is  not  so  great  It  is  natural  that  the  loss  from  a 
collection  of  30,000  should  be  for  the  library  with  a  circulation 
of  200,000  twice  what  it  is  for  the  library  of  100,000.  And 
-circulation  varies  enormously  in  proportionate  relation  to  size 
The  variation  in  the  number  of  books  in  the  reference  collec- 
tions of  the  library  makes  some  libraries  appear  as  having  a 
comparatively  small  circulation,  when  if  the  figures  for  the 
library  were  given  for  the  circulating  collection  alone,  this 
would  not  be  the  case.  But  as  many  libraries  could  not  give 
the  separate  figures,  the  percentages  are  here  computed,  as  were 
those  to  the  circulation,  of  total  loss  to  stock  The  losses  then 
range  from  271  volumes  to  every  10,000 — the  exceptional  record 
of  Los  Angeles— to  four  volumes  of  every  100,000,  the  record 
of  Fall  River.  In  the  group  of  cities  of  over  300,000  inhabitants 
the  range  in  loss  from  the  open  shelf  libraries  is  from  180  vol- 
umes to  23  out  of  every  10,000,  with  a  mean  of  88.  In  the 
closed  shelf  libraries  of  this  group  the  loss  ranges  from  38  in 
every  10,000  to  15  in  every  100,000.  In  the  second  group  the 
open  shelf  libraries  lose  from  271  to  15  volumes  with  a  mean 
of  61,  and  in  the  closed  shelf  libraries  from  31  in  every  10,000 
to  4  in  every  100,000. 

In  the  third  group—cities  between  60,000  and  100,000— the 
open  shelf  loss  is  from  124  to  16  in  every  10,000,  with  a  mean 
of  25,  while  the  closed  shelf  library  lost  only  106  out  of  every 
100,000,  or  a  little  over  10  per  10,000. 

In  the  last  group  of  libraries  in  small  communities,  the  loss 
ranges  from  the  zero  of  Fairhaven,  through  78  to  every  100,000 
of  Gloversville,  to  13,  41  and  65.  As  I  have  already  stated, 
these  figures  do  not  seem  to  me  significant  as  compared  with 
those  of  percentage  of  loss  to  use.  If  counted  as  wear  and 
tear  losses,  they  would  not  be  considered  heavy.  The  discarding 
in  the  Pratt  Institute  free  library  for  two  years  shows  a  loss 
in  this  direction  of  43  m  every  10,000,  and  many  libraries  would 
doubtless  show  more. 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS   213 

Now,  after  this  long  excursion,  we  come  back  to  our  old 
question:  Who  took  these  books?  And  first,  were  they  taken 
for  sale  ?  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  so.  Only  an  occasional 
volume  of  those  missing  has  money  value  enough  to  make  it 
pay  to  steal  it,  so  to  speak,  and  there  are  many  volumes  of  good 
money  value  safe  on  the  shelves.  One  stealing  to  sell  would 
be  likely  to  keep  the  habit  up,  and  his  depredations  would  prob- 
ably show  in  some  noticeable  way.  Also,  such  a  thief  is  more 
likely  to  get  caught,  because  his  spoils  are  traceable  if  sold. 
The  answers  obtained  from  the  questionnaire  show  little  loss 
of  this  sort  A  few  libraries  have  had  notable  epidemics  of 
stealing,  and  have  usually  caught  the  culprit.  Scranton  lost 
$150  of  books  from  the  reference  room  within  a  few  months, 
and  the  depredations  ceased  suddenly  before  the  thief  or  thieves 
could  be  detected.  New  Haven  recovered  So  volumes  taken  by 
one  man;  Buffalo  recovered  35  volumes  of  fiction  from  the 
estate  of  one  woman;  Utica  recovered  through  the  police  IQ. 
books  on  metallurgy  taken  by  a  man  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  counterfeit  money;  Kansas  City  lost  all  books  on  South 
American  history  in  a  brief  period;  and  several  branches  of 
the  New  York  public  library  have  suffered  from  epidemics,  be- 
lieved to  be  the  work  of  one  person  or  one  group.  But  gen- 
erally the  loss  is  steady  and  varied.  A  daily  inventory  of  Yid- 
dish— in  which  the  loss  is  heavy— was  kept  for  a  time  in  the 
New  York  public  library,  and  this  shows  the  loss  to  be  fairly 
regular. 

In  order  to  guard  against  the  stealing  of  books  to  sell,  some 
libraries  warn  all  second-hand  dealers  in  their  vicinity,  more 
expect  the  dealers  to  return  such  books.  But  the  number  of 
books  thus  returned  is  insignificant  in  most  cases.  Somerville 
once  recovered  several  hundred,  stolen  by  one  thief.  Kansas 
City  has  thus  regained  100,  Cleveland  gets  back  from  25  to  50 
a  year;  New  York  perhaps  25  a  year,  and  other  libraries  few 
or  none.  Cincinnati's  experience  seems  typical.  Mr  Hodges 
says:  "Your  question  seems  to  me  especially  pertinent.  We 
do  keep  in  touch  with  second-hand  book  dealers,  in  close  touch 
with  them,  and  it  does  not  happen  oftener  than  once  a  year  that 
our  books  are  offered  to  these  dealers  There  is  no  money  in 
stealing  books  from  a  public  library,  there  is  no  temptation  for 
fairly  intelligent  people  to  steal  them;  the  books  are  taken  by 


214  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

ignorant  persons  and  by  children.  When  the  books  are  taken 
by  children,  they  soon  turn  up  at  the  public  schools,  or  they  are 
thrown  away  in  the  streets.  Reports  of  such  stealings  come  lo 
us  perhaps  once  in  four  or  five  months." 

If  the  books  are  not  taken  for  sale,  but  for  use,  who  lakes 
them?  Students  of  all  kinds  are  undoubtedly  the  chief  sinners. 
High  school  students,  college  students,  university  students, 
those  studying  music,  a  trade  and — in  some  places  a  formidably 
large  number — those  who  are  preparing  for  civil  service  exam- 
inations Beyond  this  it  seems  hard  to  go.  That  an  individual 
should  steal  in  order  to  read  a  copy  of  "Cranford"  or  a  volume 
of  Marion  Crawford,  is  difficult  to  believe,  yet  there  seems  no 
doubt  that  it  is  true. 

But  another  question  arises  at  once.  How  many  individuals 
took  those  418  volumes  ?  That  is  an  unanswerable  question,  but 
is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  more  than  one  volume  went 
to  an  individual?  Would  an  average  of  five  a  year  be  too  great 
to  allow  to  the  man  or  woman  who  takes  one?  If  not,  then 
some  83  people  of  the  13,000  who  were  using  the  depart- 
ment abused  the  privilege  of  the  open  shelf.  I  feel  confident 
that  the  number  was  even  smaller,  but  let  it  stand  at  that.  If 
83  people  out  of  13,000  are  thieves — granting  that  all  stole  to 
keep,  and  consciously,  which  is  granting  altogether  too  much- 
is  that  a  large  proportion  of  people  of  a  loose  moral  sense  to 
expect  in  a  community?  Is  there  reason  to  suppose  any  one  of 
the  83  was  made  a  thief  by  the  freedom  granted  in  the  library? 
And  are  the  12,917  others  to  be  kept  away  from  the  shelves  be- 
cause of  the  moral  obliquity  of  the  83? 

One  word  about  the  accuracy  of  all  figures  of  loss.  A  cer- 
tain proportion  of  the  volumes  missing  in  a  given  inventory  arc 
sure  to  reappear,  and  all  the  figures  here  given  are,  with  the 
exception  of  those  for  Denver,  for  the  last  library  inventory, 
so  that  there  has  not  been  time  to  clear  up  the  scores,  and  the 
figures  here  given  are  too  large  The  1905  inventory  of  the 
Pratt  Institue  free  library  was  taken  a  year  and  a  half  before 
the  last  (1907)  inventory,  and  at  the  time  of  the  latter,  50  of 
the  120  volumes  reported  missing  in  1905  reappeared.  Fourteen 
libraries  report  the  number  of  volumes  missing  in  their  next 
to  the  last  inventory,  and  the  number  found  since.  The  figures 
vary  from  four  volumes  found  out  of  225  missing  to  50  found 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS   215 

out  of  83  But  all  but  two  libraries  recovered  at  least  one  tenth 
of  the  missing  volumes,  and  most  o£  them  many  more. 

Then  a  certain  amount  should  be  allowed  for  error  The 
librarians  who  answered  this  set  of  questions  seemed  almost 
unanimous  in  the  opinion  that  it  is  impossible  that  a  mistake 
should  be  made  in  discarding,  but  it  would  seem  more  reason- 
able to  put  the  matter  as  Miss  Burdick  of  the  Jersey  City  free 
public  library  put  it  in  answering  the  question  regarding  this: 
"Not  until  the  millenium  comes  and  perfect  people  are  the  rule, 
will  there  be  a  perfect  shelf -reading."  The  proportion  of  loss 
due  to  errors  in  the  library  is  undoubtedly  very  small,  but  it  is 
a  mickle  to  subtract  from  the  muckle  of  the  whole  loss.  Some 
libraries  also  report  as  missing  in  inventory  the  books  lost 
through  mistakes  in  charging  It  is  true  that  people  should 
return  their  books  in  any  case,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  some 
people  forget  unless  reminded  by  the  library  of  the  fact  that 
a  book  is  charged  to  them. 

The  fact  that  now  and  then  some  one  returns  a  book  that 
had  not  been  charged  with  profound  apologies  indicates  that  a 
certain  number  of  books  are  lost  in  this  way.  The  people  who 
do  this  are  the  absent-minded  people,  who  may  easily  forget 
all  about  the  book  or  books  taken,  leave  them  in  a  car,  bury 
them  in  bookcases,  or  lend  them  to  friends.  \Ve  have  all  had 
the  experience  of  the  perfectly  honest  person  who  disavows, 
sometimes  in  sorrow,  sometimes  in  anger,  ever  having  had  a 
given  book  from  the  library,  and  yet  later  appears  shamefaced 
to  return  it,  still  not  remembering  ever  taking  it  or  having  it. 
A  few  of  our  books  go  to  such  people,  and  certainly  do  not 
corrupt  their  morals  It  may  be  claimed  that  these  individuals 
could  not  get  the  books  under  the  closed  shelf  system,  but  in 
any  library  that  allows  anybody  to  go  to  the  shelves,  these 
are  likely  to  be  the  very  people  who  ask  for,  get,  and  truly 
appreciate  the  privilege  1  There  are  also  people  who  take  books 
without  charging — either  because  of  a  forgotten  library  card, 
a  card  held  for  some  reason,  or  in  order  to  avoid  the  return 
at  the  usual  time  limit — but  who  intend  to  return  the  books. 
Many  times  they  do  return  them;  pretty  certainly  some  times 
they  do  not. 

With  all  possible  deductions,  however,  the  open  shelf  losses 
as  a  rule  are  a  good  bit  heavier  than  those  in  the  closed  shelf 
libraries.  Do  they  increase  with  years?  That  is  hard  to  say, 


2i6  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

as  it  is  hard  also  to  get  figures  to  compare  the  losses  under 
the  two  methods  of  a  library  that  has  been  both  closed  and 
open  Let  us  use  what  facts  we  have.  The  Newark  free  public 
library  figures  are  the  fullest  that  have  been  given  me,  and 
they  are  of  great  interest.  In  the  years  from  1890  to  1894  the 
shelves  were  closed,  and  the  loss  in  successive  years  ranged  as 
follows :  8  to  every  100,000  circulated,  12,  16,  15  to  every  100,000. 
From  1894  to  1900  all  the  books  except  fiction  were  on  open 
shelves.  The  losses  ran  as  follows:  15  in  every  100,000,  13,  13, 
26.  Since  1900  the  library  has  been  entirely  open  shelf,  and 
its  losses  have  gradually  risen  as  follows :  44  in  every  100,000,  65 
in  every  100,000,  n  in  every  10,000,  16  in  every  10,000  The 
Pratt  Institute  free  library  lost  in  1904,  from  closed  shelves, 
three  volumes  in  every  10,000,  iri  1905,  with  all  closed  but  3,000 
volumes,  eight  out  of  every  10,000  and  in  1007,  with  the  main 
part  of  the  circulating  collection  open,  seventeen  out  of  every 
10,000  Springfield,  Massachusetts  and  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  report  losses  decreasing,  although  still  considerable.  The 
51  st  annual  report  of  the  Public  library  of  Brookline,  Massa- 
chusetts, for  the  year  ending  January  31,  1908,  gives  the  loss 
and  circulation  from  1898  to  1907.  This  shows  a  variation  in 
loss  from  year  to  year  as  follows:  (chronologically)  7  in  every 
10,000,  eight,  eight,  three,  three,  eight,  six,  five,  five,  five.  In 
no  library  for  which  figures  are  given  has  the  advance  been 
rapid. 

But  when  all  has  been  said  as  to  the  smallness  of  loss,  and 
however  much  we  may  be  convinced  that  this  is  no  serious  bar 
to  opening  the  shelves,  yet  there  remains  with  us  the  respon- 
sibility of  doing  what  we  can  to  lessen  the  losses,  And  espe- 
cially is  this  true  in  the  larger  communities.  Nine  volumes 
for  every  10,000  circulated  is  not  an  appalling  loss,  but  if  the 
circulation  rises  to  a  certain  point,  the  difference  in  degree 
becomes  one  in  kind.  For  multiplying  by  100  gives  a  circulation 
of  1,000,000,  and  a  loss  of  900,  and  even  dividing  by  the  five  I 
have  judged  to  be  fair  gives  us  180  persons  who  have  stolen 
books  from  the  public  library.  And  a  little  more  multiplying 
and  a  few  years  of  fresh  accessions  increase  this  number  until 
it  is  an  alarming  one. 

What  preventions  can  we  adopt,  then,  and  what  precautions 
can  we  take?  The  first  thing  that  comes  to  mind  as  to  this 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  ,OF  BOOKS       217 

is  the  accusation  our  English  brother  librarians  make,  that  we 
do  not  safeguard  our  access.  And  when  we  turn  to  look  at 
British  conditions,  we  certainly  find  them  different  from  ours. 
The  battle  is  still  on  there,  and  the  victory  for  the  open  shelf 
is  by  no  means  as  nearly  decided  as  here.  And  yet  this  prob- 
lem of  loss  is  almost  negligible  with  them.  Open  shelves  there 
are  barely  15  years  old,  but  that  is  quite  long  enough  to  test 
the  question  of  loss.  What  do  we  find  there?  Croydon  losing 
nine  books  in  a  year,  out  of  a  collection  of  38,306  and  with  an 
issue  of  290,000  volumes,  and  other  libraries  with  like  tales  to 
relate.  What  American  dosed  shelf  library  would  not  be  proud 
of  this  record?  And  the  Englishmen  say  the  smallness  of  loss 
is  due  to  safeguarded  open  access.  Is  it?  I  wish  I  might  think 
so,  but  I  fear  there  are  other  reasons.  Safeguarding  means 
(a)  having  charging  desk  by  the  single  exit;  (b)  having  a 
turnstile;  (c)  the  requiring  a  library  membership  card  for  en- 
trance to  the  room.  The  second  is  not  universal  in  England,  but 
the  first  and  third  are,  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  learn.  Mr.  Champ- 
neys  in  his  recent  volume  "Public  libraries"  says:  "He  (the 
reader)  can  only  enter  the  library  by  returning  a  book  previ- 
ously borrowed,  or  by  showing  his  ticket,  and  can  only  leave 
it  when  another  book  has  been  charged  and  his  ticket  left  in 
pledge."  The  last  half  of  this  sentence  sounds  like  forcing 
the  circulation,  but  it  was  hardly  so  intended,  one  supposes. 
But  jesting  aside,  where  lies  the  difference  between  English 
and  American  free  access?  Not  in  the  first  point,  for  most 
American  libraries  do  have  the  charging  desk  by  the  single 
exit  Not  in  the  second,  for  a  good  many  Americans  and  not 
all  the  English  libraries  are  so  provided.  In  the  third  there 
is  a  distinct  difference.  Would  the  presentation  of  a  library 
card  for  entrance  prevent  the  losses  here?  Surely  it  would 
not,  to  any  appreciable  extent.  It  would  annoy  a  great  many 
people,  keep  out  some  who  object  to  such  an  expression  of 
doubt,  and  in  no  way  prevent  the  dishonest  from  concealing 
books  as  at  present,  while  regularly  charging  one  properly  pre- 
sented The  difference  goes  deeper  than  charging  desks  and 
admission  tickets;  it  is  a  difference  in  the  people  themselvs. 
The  English  have  a  higher  respect  for  law  as  such  than  have 
the  Americans,  and  they  have  also  a  keener  sense  of  property 
rights.  I  trust  no  enterprising  reporter  will  accuse  me  of  say- 


218  ISABEL  ELY  LORD 

ing  that  the  American  people  are  dishonest.  But  I  am  quite 
willing  to  stand  for  saying  that  they  are  careless  both  as  to 
law  and  as  to  property. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  multiply  instances,  because  we  all 
know  the  carelessness  as  to  the  law  to  be  a  fact,  as  is  natural 
in  a  country  still  in  the  pioneer  stage  in  many  ways,  and  with 
an  enormous  heterogeneous  foreign  population  to  assimilate. 
The  carelessness  is  shown  in  the  library  as  it  is  elsewhere.  And 
as  to  property  rights;  well,  if  you  lose  your  umbrella  in  Lon- 
don, you  expect  to  find  it;  if  you  lose  it  in  New  York,  you  do 
not  expect  to.  In  either  case  you  may  be  disappointed,  but  the 
expectation  is  significant.  English  libraries  are  dealing  with  a 
different  public,  one  easier  in  many  ways  to  manage  if,  as  we 
think,  harder  to  influence,  Their  ways  would  not  obviate  our 
difficulties,  as  to  safeguarding  any  more  than  as  to  indicators. 
We  must  work  out  our  own  problem  for  our  own  people 

Again,  then,  what  can  we  do  in  prevention?  In  the  analysis 
of  the  Pratt  Institute  free  library  losses  the  statement  was 
made  as  to  certain  classes  of  books  withdrawn  from  the  unre- 
stricted open  shelves.  This  is  a  preventive  that  has  been  adopted 
in  a  good  many  libraries,  and  is  of  course  to  be  applied  accord- 
ing to  the  actual  experience  of  the  libraries  in  question. 

At  Fall  River  the  public  library,  whose  losses  are  noticeably 
small,  turns  over  to  the  police  the  titles  of  overdue  books  not 
returned  after  due  notice,  and  the  police  collect  them.  The 
library  has  a  regular  printed  form  of  report  to  the  police  The 
detention  of  a  public  library  book  thirty  days  after  notice  in 
writing  is  in  Massachusetts,  as  in  New  York,  and  doubtless  other 
states,  a  punishable  offense  especially  provided  for 

Here  seems  the  place  to  note  the  duty  of  the  library  to 
get  back  all  books  taken  out  in  the  regular  way.  A  book  taken 
regularly  and  kept  indefinitely  is  as  much  stolen  as  the  book 
taken  informally,  with  the  added  disadvantage  that  the  delin- 
quent knows  that  the  library  is  quite  well  aware  that  he  has 
the  book.  If  the  library  fails  to  insist  on  the  return  of  the 
book,  how  can  it  expect  others  to  respect  its  property?  It  is 
not  easy  or  cheap  to  trace  people  who  have  moved,  or  to  hunt 
a  peripatetic  boarder  or  commercial  traveler,  but  each  one  in 
possession  of  a  book  is  an  argument  not  only  for  the  weakness 
of  the  library,  but  for  its  carelessness.  Do  you  think  the  dan- 


OPEN  SHELVES  AND  LOSS  OF  BOOKS        219 

ger  small?  Let  me  give  you  a  few  figures.  In  one  library  in 
a  large  community  that  lost  from  the  shelves  15  books  to  every 
10,000  circulated,  the  number  regularly  charged  to  borrowers 
and  never  returned  was  for  the  same  circulation,  6.  That  is 
dangerously  near  half  as  many  as  were  lost  from  the  shelves. 
In  another  large  community  the  loss  per  10,000  circulation  was, 
from  the  shelves  16,  from  "delinquents"  five.  Others  range  as 
follows,  the  shelf  losses  being  given  first*  38,  3;  10,  3;  9,  2; 
9,  2;  6,  2.  This  is  a  question  that  has  not  been  much  consid- 
ered, but  certainly  should  be  before  the  prestige  of  any  given 
library  is  impaired  by  the  general  knowledge  that  it  does  not 
insist  on  having  the  law — of  the  library  and  perhaps  of  the 
state — enforced. 

There  is  no  question  that  the  detection  and  punishment  of 
theft  is  the  very  best  preventive  of  all.  The  detection  is  not 
easy.  A  number  of  libraries  report  the  employment  of  profes- 
sional detectives  at  certain  times,  but  in  no  case  was  the  thief 
discoyered.  And  yet  this  should  not  deter  other  libraries  from 
adopting  this  method.  As  Mr.  Bostwick  once  said,  a  corps  of 
detectives  should  be  engaged,  in  case  of  need,  "even  if  they 
cost  the  library  ten  times  the  value  of  the  books  stolen.  There 
is  more  at  stake  in  this  matter  than  the  money  value  of  a  few 
volumes."  And  for  Cincinnati,  Mr.  Hodges  says:  "We  follow 
up  every  bit  of  evidence  that  our  books  are  illegally  in  the 
possession  of  outsiders."  If  every  library  did  this,  losses  would 
decrease.  A  concrete  proof  of  this  is  a  recent  experience  of 
the  Queens  Borough  public  library.  Miss  Hume  writes: 

"In  the  spring  of  1907  we  had  opportunity  to  arrest  a  thief 
who  had  stolen  eight  or  ten  books  from  one  of  our  branch 
libraries.  The  case  was  postponed  several  times,  but  we  were 
very  persistent  and  finally  obtained  a  conviction.  The  imme- 
diate effect  of  this  was  a  return  to  various  branches  through- 
out the  borough  of  books  which  had  been  stolen.  Some  of 
them  were  on  our  missing  list ;  others  had  not  yet  been  missed. 
Some  were  returned  at  one  branch  by  being  left  on  the  door 
sill  in  the  morning— five  or  six  came  back  in  this  way  At  an- 
other branch  one  book  was  tucked  away  on  the  shelves  in 
the  children's  room  and  found  there  by  one  of  the  librarians, 
very  much  soiled  and  used.  One  book  was  also  returned  by 
mail  without  any  clue  to  the  sender.  These  books  had  all,  evi- 


220  ISABEL   ELY  LORD 

dently,  been  taken  away  with  the  intention  of  theft,  and  I  think 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  influence  on  those  who  were  con- 
templating theft  must  have  been  prohibitive." 

This  very  case  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  American  at- 
titude toward  a  breach  of  the  law,  and  an  illustration  of  the  well 
known  fact  that  we  would  rather  be  kind — good  natured— what- 
ever you  choose — than  to  be  just.  Miss  Hume  prosecuted  this 
case  against  public  opinion  both  publicly  and  privately  expressed. 
Clergymen,  editors,  prominent  men  of  different  sorts,  came  and 
besought  her  not  to  prosecute,  and  are,  one  supposes,  still  un- 
able to  see  why  she  considered  it  her  duty  as  the  custodian  of 
the  public  library  to  protect  its  interests  and  to  punish  those 
who  seriously  injure  it.  If  more  librarians  were  willing  to  take 
this  unpleasant  task  of  prosecution,  losses  would  lessen,  unques« 
tionably.  The  library  has  a  serious  responsibility  as  an  edu- 
national  institution,  to  make  those  who  use  it  live  up  to  their 
responsibilities  and  pay  the  penalty  of  any  wrong-doing. 

Those  who  hold  the  open  shelf  to  be  a  pernicious  institution — 
or  doctrine — may  think  me  arguing  on  their  side  of  the  ques- 
tion. Far  from  it.  The  library  should  enforce  the  law  and 
exhort  such  of  its  constituency  as  need  exhortation  to  the  very 
limits  of  its  power — but  its  best  method  of  inculcating  respon- 
sibility is  still  that  of  giving  responsibility. 

No  better  summing  up  of  this  matter  occurs  to  me  than  one 
that  was  made  in  1901  by  a  librarian  to  whom  the  question  was 
one  of  theory,  one  who  had  not  then  done  a  day's  work  in  a 
public  library.  After  five  years  of  practical  experience  these 
words  are  here  repeated  with  fresh  conviction,  which  neither 
losses  nor  other  abuses  of  privilege  have  shaken: 

"Since  democracy  has  emerged  as  the  leading  governmental 
principle  of  the  civilized  world  of  today  and  tomorrow,  it  is 
an  axiom  that  the  only  school  for  the  voter  is  the  ballot-box. 
It  is  equally  true,  and  on  reflection  equally  obvious,  that  the 
only  way  to  teach  people  how  to  use  the  public  library  is  to 
give  them  the  public  library  to  use." 


OPEN  SHELVES 

In  a  paper  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Illinois  Library 
Association  of  which  he  was  president  in  1900,  Erastus 
S.  Willcox  of  the  Peoria,  Illinois,  Public  Library  pre- 
sented a  paper  on  Open  Shelves  in  which  he  states  his 
adverse  opinion.  He  believed  that  "the  best  served  li- 
brary is  one  well-equipped  with  catalogs  and  served  by 
educated  and  intelligent  assistants,  themselves  sole  re- 
sponsible guardians  of  the  library's  treasures." 

Eight  years  later,  at  the  Minnetonka  Conference  of 
the  A.L.A ,  Mr.  Willcox  was  still  convinced  that  open 
shelves  are  a  snare  and  a  delusion  and  give  increased 
opportunity  for  undetected  theft. 

Erastus  Swift  Willcox  was  born  in  1830  and  gradu- 
ated from  Knox  College  with  the  class  of  1851.  He 
then  taught  for  one  year,  worked  in  a  Peoria,  Illinois, 
bank  for  another,  then  went  to  Europe  where  he  spent 
two  years  studying  conditions  and  languages  in  Ger- 
many, France,  Italy,  and  England.  Upon  his  return 
he  became  professor  of  languages  in  Knox  College,  where 
he  remained  for  six  years.  Later  he  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing and  mining. 

In  1864  he  became  a  director  in  the  Peoria  Mercan- 
tile Library,  and  when  it  was  absorbed  by  the  Public 
Library  in  1891,  he  was  appointed  librarian.  Mr.  Will- 
cox was  the  author  of  the  first  public  library  act  passed 
in  any  state,  enacted  by  the  Illinois  Legislature  March  7, 
1872.  It  still  remains  on  the  statute  books  and  has 
been  copied  by  practically  every  state  that  has  since  en- 
acted a  public  library  law. 

As  the  result  of  a  street-car  accident,  he  died  March 
30,  1915. 


222  ERASTUS  SWIFT  WILLCOX 

OPEN  SHELVES 

In  discussing  the  question  of  open  shelves,  or  free  access 
by  everybody  to  all  the  books  in  the  library,  I  do  not  take  into 
consideration  the  small  library  in  our  smaller  cities,  for  this  is 
nothing  new  with  them,  it  has  always  been  the  rule— the  small- 
ness  of  the  library  room  and  the  limited  number  of  assistants 
make  it  necessary,  and  the  fact  that  the  books  are  mostly  in 
plain  view  of  the  librarian  and  of  all  the  visitors  makes  it 
practicable. 

Nor  is  it  a  question  of  exposing  in  the  open  reading  or 
reference  room  of  larger  libraries  so-called  works  of  reference 
— dictionaries,  encyclopedias,  etc. — for  these  are  under  the 
watchful  observation  of  not  only  one  or  more  of  the  attendants, 
but  of  the  entire  body  of  readers  in  that  room. 

Nor,  again,  is  it  a  question  as  to  the  children's  room  of 
those  libraries  that  can  afford  them,  where  books  are  arranged 
on  open  shelves  around  the  four  sides  of  the  room,  and  a 
trained  assistant  sits  near  the  exit  to  advise  with  the  children 
and  keep  watch  over  the  books. 

It  is  only  in  its  application  to  the  larger  libraries  of  50,000, 
150,000,  or  500,000  volumes  that  free  access  to  the  entire  col- 
lection, and  under  no  restrictions  or  supervision  after  having 
once  passed  the  wicket,  is  a  burning  question.  Perhaps  I 
should  rather  say  a  smoldering  or  smothered  question,  for  at 
the  Atlanta  conference  last  June  when  the  question  was  put, 
How  many  are  opposed  to  practically  unrestricted  access  in 
large  libraries,  the  vote  stood,  opposed  30,  and  none  reported 
as  in  favor,  and  this  after  Mr  Brett,  of  Cleveland,  had  said: 
I  am  inclined  to  take  the  position  that  no  argument  for  open 
shelves  is  necessary— that  the  burden  of  proof  rests  with  those 
who  would  restrict;  after  Mr  Hill,  of  Newark,  had  said:  That 
excepting  art  books  and  expensive  books,  every  other  book 
the  public  should  have  access  to;  and  after  Mr  Thomson,  of 
Philadelphia,  had  concluded  a  powerful  appeal  for  the  utmost 
freedom  of  access  by  saying :  The  mere  fear  of  the  loss  of  $300 
or  $400  worth  of  books  a  year  should  not  be  allowed  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  the  open-shelf  system  for  one  single  minute. 

Now  these  three  gentlemen  are  among  the  most  distinguished 
in  our  profession — distinguished  and  honored  deservedly  for 


OPEN  SHELVES  223 

their  intelligence,  their  long  experience,  and  the  success  they 
have  achieved  in  library  work.  I  esteem  them  as  personal 
friends,  their  deliberate  conclusions  are  not  to  be  thought 
lightly  of,  but  I  must  say  I  am  not  yet  ready  to  follow  them 
quite  so  far,  as  I  see  our  AL.A.  at  Atlanta  was  not  In  fact, 
I  think  they  are  approaching  the  danger  line;  and  because  I 
fear  some  of  our  younger  librarians  who  look  up  to  them  as 
leaders  may,  with  undue  precipitancy,  feel  inclined  to  jump  into 
the  band  wagon  and  join  the  procession,  if  you  will  pardon 
my  language  of  the  street,  I  venture  to  suggest  what  seem  to 
me  some  objections;  for  the  novelty,  the  very  audacity  of  the 
open  shelf  idea  has  a  fascination,  it  seems  to  promise  such 
great  things 

The  two  chief  arguments  for  the  open  shelf,  urged  as  ap- 
parently irrefutable,  are: 

1.  The  public  library  is  the  people's  property,  paid  for  by 
the  people's  money,  and  they  should  not  be  kept  from  their 
own. 

2.  A  greatly  increased  use  of  the  library. 

As  to  the  first,  it  is  based  on  a  palpable  fallacy.  It  is  in- 
deed the  people's  library,  but  the  great  majority  of  those  who 
frequent  the  library  contribute  very  little,  if  anything,  to  its 
support.  It  is  of  the  very  essence  of  the  free  public  library 
idea  that  we  compel  the  rich,  the  property  owners,  to  submit  to 
taxation  for  library  purposes  in  the  interest  of  the  poorer 
classes  who  could  not  afford  $4  a  year  for  a  family  member- 
ship in  a  subscription  library.  It  is  the  real  estate  and  personal 
property  of  a  city  that  pays  the  taxes,  and  that,  I  regret  to  say, 
is  in  the  hands  of  comparatively  few— the  capitalists,  ihe  great 
corporations,  the  successful  business  men,  and  the  wealthy 
families,  and  they  very  seldom  visit  the  public  library;  they 
do  not  like  to  be  jostled  in  the  crowd,  they  have  their  own 
libraries  at  home,  and  would  not  permit  a  public  library  book, 
soiled  and  worn,  to  be  seen  on  their  elegant  center  tables.  If 
you  should  consult  the  tax  list  in  your  city  collector's  office 
you  would  be  surprised  to  see  how  small  the  number  of  tax- 
payers in  a  large  city  is. 

That  I  believe  in  taxing  the  rich  for  this  purpose  it  is  not 
necessary  for  me  to  say  to  those  of  you  who  are  familiar  with 


224  ERASTUS  SWIFT  WILLCOX 

the  history  of  library  legislation  in  this  state.  It  is  one  of  the 
great  satisfactions  of  my  life  that  we  have  such  a  law. 

Our  library  funds  are  a  trust  placed  in  the  hands  of  library 
boards  by  the  property  owners  for  two  objects:  i)  the  diffusion 
of  general  intelligence,  and  the  furnishing  of  wholesome  enter- 
tainment to  the  masses,  and  2),  and  no  less  important,  to  build 
tip  a  great  library  for  the  benefit  of  succeeding  generations  to 
the  credit  of  the  city.  We  should,  therefore,  not  give  heed 
alone  to  the  present  clamor  of  those  who  from  their  ignorance 
of  books  and  the  novelty  of  the  thing,  want  to  rush  in  and 
handle  every  book  in  the  library  a  hundred  times  over;  we 
should  bear  in  mind  also  the  wishes,  expressed  or  implied,  of 
the  generous  and  more  intelligent  taxpayers,  who  have  a  right 
to  expect  a  wise  and  permanent  use  of  their  money. 

As  to  the  second  argument — a  greatly  increased  use  of  the 
library — Mr  Thomson  and  a  number  of  others  would  say,  this 
admits  of  no  question,  we  have  demonstrated  it  I  am  not  quite 
so  sure.  Has  Mr  Thomson,  have  the  others,  tried  the  old  way, 
and  to  its  full  possibilities?  Have  they  a  complete,  up-to-date 
card  catalog  on  the  dictionary  plan,  without  which  no  library 
is  half  a  library— the  blind  leading  the  blind— and  a  printed 
catalog  or,  at  least,  a  fiction  list?  Have  they  a  trained  body 
of  intelligent,  educated  assistants  to  wait  upon  and  advise  with 
their  public?  If  not,  how  do  they  know?  If  I  am  not  mis- 
taken, the  Free  public  library  of  Philadelphia  is  still  a  young 
thing,  composed  of  fifteen  large  libraries  in  different  parts 
of  the  city  lately  consolidated  under  one  management  and  made 
free.  It  would  not  be  surprising  if  such  a  congeries  of  libra- 
ries in  so  large  and  intelligent  a  city  as  Philadelphia,  with  so 
small  a  foreign  element,  and  suddenly  thrown  wide  open  to 
everybody— a  free  lunch  counter  for  people  who  had  no  meat — 
should  show  great  results  in  circulation. 

But  while  a  large  circulation  is  what  we  like  to  show  in  our 
annual  reports,  it  should  not  be  strained  after  at  the  expense 
of  other  things  generally  considered  necessary  to  the  proper 
administration  and  preservation  of  a  great  collection  of  books. 
These  ought  ye  to  have  done  and  not  to  leave  the  other  un- 
done 

Order  is  heaven's  first  law,  and  above  all  things,  in  a  library 
Where  "go  and  help  Jrourself"— "catch  as  catch  can"— is  the 


OPEN  SHELVES  225 

rule,  where  a  hundred  or  more  men,  women,  and  children  are 
roaming  around,  taking  down  book  after  book  to  see  how  ft 
looks  inside,  you  may  possibly  find  the  book  you  want,  but  the 
chances  are  against  you,  and  the  assistants  are  as  helpless.  A 
young  lady  friend  of  mine,  familiar  with  the  prompt,  intelligent 
service  in  our  library,  but  now  living  hi  Philadelphia,  says  she 
has  given  up  any  attempt  to  get  books  from,  the  public  library 
there  She  has  not  the  time  to  waste  in  hunting  for  them  in 
such  a  confusion,  and  the  assistants  could  find  them  no  quicker. 
One  of  my  assistants  who  visited  that  library  not  long  ago  de- 
clared to  me  on  her  return,  her  lovely  auburn  hair  bristling 
with  exclamation  points,  that  the  whole  library  was  just  hash! 
Such  a  system  may  amuse  a  few  idle,  purposeless  people,  but 
to  the  discouragement  and  exclusion  of  the  busy  and  useful 
members  of  society. 

If  I  mention  Mr  Thomson  and  his  library  more  frequently 
than  another  it  is  with  no  invidious  intent,  but  rather  in  com- 
pliment to  him;  he  is  the  tallest  poppy  in  this  field  of  wheat, 
and  one  of  its  brightest. 

In  public  libraries  about  seven-tenths  of  the  circulation  is 
fiction,  called  for  principally  by  women,  children,  and  lawyers, 
the  remaining  three-tenths  consist  of  books  of  history,  biog- 
raphy, travel,  art,  science,  and  literature.  After  a  reader  in- 
terested in  these  more  serious  subjects  has  once  been  admitted 
to  our  alcoves  to  see  what  we  have,  which  is  freely  permitted, 
he  almost  invariably  finds  he  can  be  better  served  by  our  cata- 
logs, our  experienced  assistants,  or  especially  by  our  reference 
clerk,  and  he  prefers  it.  If  he  still  needs  to  make  a  personal 
and  more  prolonged  study  in  a  certain  class  of  books,  we  give 
him  a  chair  and  a  table  in  the  stack  room  beside  them.  This 
leaves  our  books  undisturbed,  each  in  its  proper  place  on  the 
shelves,  to  be  got  at  promptly  by  the  attendants  The  student 
class  and  our  club  women,  for  instance,  who  prepare  papers  on 
a  great  variety  of  recondite  subjects,  making  the  most  exacting 
and,  also  most  welcome  demands  on  our  resources,  would  be 
absolutely  lost  and  helpless  it  left  to  their  own  investigations 
and  told"  to  go  and  help  themselves.  A  single  subject  may  re- 
quire a  search  through  dozens  of  volumes  and  whole  sets  of 
periodicals  with  the  aid  of  Poole's  index — a  task  which  no  one 
but  an  expert  could  accomplish.  In  the  pursuit  of  such  investi- 


226  ERASTUS  SWIFT  WILLCOX 

gations  as  these,  which  are  going  on  all  the  time,  it  is  a  matter 
of  necessity  that  our  books  be  kept  in  the  strictest  order,  to 
be  had  at  a  moment's  notice;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  advo- 
cates of  the  open  shelf  forget  this,  the  most  important  function 
of  the  library— the  duty  of  helping  the  helpless— of  course,  not 
entirely  forgotten  in  the  larger  libraries,  I  should  add,  but  more 
or  less  hampered  and  obstructed. 

As  to  the  readers  of  novels,  the  majority  of  these  know 
what  they  want — the  latest  new  novel,  books  that  are  skimmed 
today,  and  skimmed  milk  tomorrow,  or  some  older  novel  that 
has  stood  the  test  of  time.  These  readers  can  all  without  ex- 
ception be  more  promptly  and  more  satisfactorily  served  through 
the  printed  fiction  list  and  bulletins  by  the  assistants  at  the  desk. 

But  there  is,  it  cannot  be  denied,  a  small  class  of  idle  women 
and  lazy,  misfit,  cast-off  men,  without  occupation  of  any  kind, 
who  are  at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  fill  in  the  slow  remaining 
hours  of  a  useless  life,  and  who  would  find  the  comfortable 
alcoves  of  a  library  where  they  might  rummage  around  all  day 
among  a  lot  of  books,  a  perfect  paradise  for  loafers.  Every 
library  has  its  regular  and  all-too-familiar  standbys  of  this  holy 
order  of  mendicants. 

The  question  is  this :  Shall  the  books  on  our  shelves  be  kept 
at  all  hours  of  the  day  in  such  convenient  and  classified  order 
as  to  answer  promptly  to  the  intelligent  demands  of  the  better, 
the  studious  class  of  our  patrons,  or  shall  they  be  given  over 
to  disorder  to  gratify  the  aimless  curiosity  of  a  crowd,  mostly 
idlers?  For  whoever  comes  to  the  library  knowing  what  he 
wants  or  nearly  what  he  wants,  can  be  better  served,  as  he 
could  in  a  dry  goods  store,  by  the  trained  assistants ;  if  he  does 
not  know  what  he  wants,  or  wants  nothing  in  particular,  he 
should  not  expect  us  to  turn  the  library  into  a  bargain  counter 
to  be  fumbled  over. 

In  these  remarks  I  assume  that  the  library  has  first  of  all 
done  its  whole  duty  toward  the  public  by  providing  a  printed 
catalog  for  their  use,  or  at  least  a  fiction  list,  but  anyway  and 
at  whatever  cost,  a  complete,  up-to-date  card  catalog,  accessible 
to  the  public,  cleanly  kept  in  small  drawers  and  not  in  open 
trays  on  tables,  and  repulsive  with  dirt.  Not  to  have  done  this— 
to  turn  your  public  into  the  stack  room  for  lack  of  this— is  a 


OPEN  SHELVES  227 

confession  of  ignorance  or  laziness  on  the  part  of  any  library 
that  has  the  means  to  do  it. 

Now  and  then,  it  is  true,  we  find  a  person  who  seems  to 
suspect  a  catalog  may  be  a  kind  of  catamount,  or  some  one  of 
the  ferocious  cat  family — possibly  a  cat-o-nine-tails  or  a  cate- 
chism—and carefuly  avoids  coming  too  near  it.  Lead  your 
timid  friend  gently  up  to  the  formidable  cages — the  drawers—- 
and explain  the  thing.  In  two  minutes  his  fit  of  trembling  will 
have  passed,  and  he  will  find  it  as  harmless,  as  useful,  and  as 
easy  as  his  A  B  Cs. 

A  second  objection  to  the  open  shelf  is  the  damage  to  books 
from  so  much  handling  by  an  irresponsible  public.  This,  too, 
is  denied  like  the  others,  or  made  light  of,  but  on  what  grounds 
I  cannot  understand.  Every  time  a  book  is  handled  it  is  soiled 
and  hurt,  and  starts  again  on  its  downward  road  to  the  bind- 
ery or  the  paper  mill.  At  the  checking  room  where  they  re- 
lieve visitors  of  their  wraps,  do  they  provide  wash  bowls,  soap, 
and  towels  also,  for  dirty  fingers? 

I  make  no  rejoinder  to  such  denials,  but  leave  it  to  the  ex- 
perience of  those  librarians  who  have  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  their  own  libraries,  but  for  myself  I  think  it  in  a  small 
way  like  the  pillaging  of  Rome  by  the  Goths  and  Vandals. 

Now  as  to  the  theft  of  books  from  the  open  shelf;  this  is 
acknowledged.  In  Newark  it  is  from  30  to  40  volumes  a  year, 
and  many  plates  cut  out,  all  from  the  better  class  of  books,  for 
they  had  not  yet  thrown  fiction  open  to  the  public  In  Min- 
neapolis, 300  volumes  a  year;  in  Cleveland,  $300  worth  a  year; 
in  Buffalo,  700  volumes  in  seventeen  months;  in  Denver,  955  in 
a  year,  and  m  St.  Louis,  1062  m  two  years;  but  losses  like  these 
that  would  make  some  of  us  blush  to  report  are  spoken  of  as 
hardly  worth  considering,  mere  trifles. 

There  are  few  things  in  the  world  that  tempt  honest  folks 
more  than  a  book,  especially  if  it  be  a  library  book— umbrellas 
always  excepted.  "It  belongs  to  the  people,  paid  for  with  their 
money;  I  am  one  of  the  people,  it  is,  therefore,  partly  mine 
anyhow,  and  there  are  so  many  books  there  it  will  not  be  missed ; 
is  anybody  looking?"  Tis  opportunity  that  makes  the  thief. 

Now  let  me  appeal  to  my  friends  of  the  open  shelf,  and  I 
will  say  nothing  about  the  value  of  the  books  stolen  yet  in  your 
short  experience  with  this  experiment,  nor  of  the  costly  plates 


228  ERASTUS  SWIFT  WILLCOX 

secretly  abstracted  from  large  art  works  on  your  shelves— to 
the  despoiling  of  them;  the  value  of  these  we  partly  may  ^com- 
pute, but  what  shall  we  say  of  another  and  far  more  serious 
matter — the  encouraging  of  theft?  In  your  annual  reports  and 
in  the  daily  press  you  announce  that  only  300,  500,  900  books 
were  stolen  from  the  public  library  last  year,  and  add,  but  this 
was  a  small  matter,  hardly  equal  to  the  salary  of  one  assistant, 
practically  of  no  consequence.  Perhaps  not  if  we  only  take  into 
account  the  theft,  but  what  about  the  thieving?  Shall  we  con- 
done that  so  lightly? 

You  say  to  the  public:  These  are  your  books;  you  paid  for 
them,  of  course  you  will  take  good  care  of  your  own  property; 
we  confide  in  you.  They  are  pleased  and  flattered  with  the  in- 
formation, but  with  a  little  casuistry  conclude  if  the  books  really 
are  theirs  no  great  harm  is  done  if  they  quietly  help  them- 
selves to  their  own  now  and  then,  provided  it  leads  to  no  dis- 
agreeable remarks. 

You  tell  them:  We  know  you  to  be  honest— we  have  said 
it  in  print — but  you  will  please  leave  your  capes,  cloaks,  and 
especially  your  bags,  in  the  cloak  room  before  entering,  where 
they  will  present  you  with  a  handsome  brass  check  for  them; 
it  will  assist  you  in  resisting  temptations  that  may  beset  you 
inside  if  you  leave  them  there;  and,  as  a  further  assistance, 
our  entire  library  force  have  kindly  consented  to  keep  their 
eyes  on  you  as  they  may  be  able ;  and  to  make  assurance  doubly 
sure,  a  noble-hearted  detective  man  with  big  brass  buttons  will 
see  you  safely  through  the  turnstile  as  you  pass  out.  In  short, 
notwithstanding  all  your  soft  blandishments,  you  act  on  the 
conviction  that  a  large  per  cent  of  the  public  will  bear  a  good 
deal  of  watching;  you  make  every  visitor  a  suspect  by  your 
evident  and  extraordinary  precautions,  and  then  you  turn  a 
crowd  loose  among  100,000  books  and  challenge  them  to  steal 
a  book  if  they  dare  In  my  opinion  your  challenge  will  be  ac- 
cepted to  your  entire  satisfaction,  and  more  and  more  fre- 
quently every  year. 

Let  it  once  be  whispered  around  that  so  and  so  many  books 
were  stolen  from  the  public  library  last  year,  and  are  expected 
to  be  stolen  every  year,  but  the  librarian  considers  it  a  matter  of 
little  consequence,  hardly  worth  mentioning,  and  the  inevitable 
conclusion  will  be,  by  many  at  least,  that  the  theft  of  public 


OPEN  SHELVES  229 

property  is  not  considered  so  culpable  a  thing  after  all,  as  they 
were  taught  at  Sunday-school — merely  a  question  of  dollars  and 
cents.  Does  not  this  look  a  little  like  encouraging  and  conniv- 
ing at  theft?  And  can  your  most  expert  accountant  figure  out 
how  far  this  virus  may  spread  through  the  body  politic— how 
much  harm  it  may  do  in  deadening  that  keen  sense  of  honesty 
which  society,  by  a  hundred  different  means,  is  striving  to  in- 
culcate in  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation?  To  hold  out 
opportunities  for  theft  is  a  crime — to  invite  it,  to  condone  it, 
and  by  one  of  our  great  educational  institutions,  is  monstrous. 
I  cannot  think  it  is  for  this  that  the  free  public  library  is  sup- 
ported by  a  generous  and  confiding  people. 

These,  then,  are  some  of  my  objections  to  the  open-shelf 
system : 

The  books  are  liable  to  constant  disorder. 

They  are  damaged  wantonly  by  excessive  handling  and 
fingering 

They  are  mutilated  and  stolen  to  a  shocking  extent,  and  the 
theft  must  necessarily  be  connived  at  in  order  to  justify  the 
system. 

How  much  better  is  a  library  served  by  educated,  intelligent 
assistants,  themselves  sole  and  responsible  guardians  of  its  ac- 
cumulated treasures,  all  growing  daily  more  familiar  with  the 
contents  of  the  books,  and  the  older,  more  experienced  ones, 
when  help  is  needed  by  the  younger  ones,  able  to  answer  or 
find  an  answer  to  all  inquiries— a  library  well  equipped  with 
catalogs,  and  a  public  instructed  how  to  use  them!  It  is  such 
a  library  as  this  that  is  of  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest 
number;  it  makes  itself  felt  as  a  great  educational  force  in  a 
city. 

OPEN   SHELVES  IN  THE  POPULAR  LIBRARY 

In  looking  at  the  program,  which  did  not  come  to  my  hands 
until  after  I  arrived  here  yesterday,  I  noticed  an  outline  which 
covers  a  large  part  in  substance  of  the  speaker's  argument, 
with  much  of  which  I  could  agree,  with  a  slight  variation  of 
a  few  words.  In  that  outline  mention  is  made  of  the  difficulty 
of  understanding  a  catalog.  I  do 'not  think  there  is  any  dif- 
ficulty about  it  whatever.  If  any  person  is  alarmed  at  the  term 
"catalog"  because  it  sounds  like  "catechism"  or  "catamount"  or 


23o  ERASTUS  SWIFT  WILLCOX 

"cataclysm"  or  anything  of  that  sort,  take  them  up  to  the  catalog 
and  in  half-a-minute— man,  -woman  or  child— you  can  show  them 
the  use  of  a  catalog  (I  am  speaking  of  the  card  catalog)  that 
will  be  a  revelation  to  them.  The  card  catalog  is  the  key  to 
the  contents  of  their  library  and  it  is  a  revelation  and  a  de- 
light. I  have  noticed  it  time  and  time  again.  Little  children 
can  learn  it  just  as  well,  and  as  frequently,  and  use  it  just  as 
easily  and  often  as  anybody.  I  object,  therefore,  to  the  objec- 
tion made  to  the  catalog.  And  in  speaking  about  going  through 
a  library  and  looking  at  the  books,  rummaging  and  rambling 
through  a  large  library,  it  says  "this  is  an  education!"  Now 
if  Miss  Lord  will  change  that  word  "education"  to  "dissipation" 
it  will  suit  me  exactly.  I  would  rather  have  my  son  know, 
master,  one  good  book,  than  to  fumble  over  a  thousand  any 
day,  and  you  all  know  that  too.  There  is  one  other  point 
where  she  says  that  the  great  mass  of  library  users  should 
not  be  punished  for  the  sins  of  the  few.  My  opinion  about 
that  is  that  the  great  mass  of  library  users  should  be  helped 
and  protected  from  the  sins  of  the  few  that  are  rambling  in- 
side. In  my  remarks  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  I  must  repeat 
some  things  that  I  have  expressed  years  ago,  and  which  some 
of  you  who  are  Illinoisians  heard  me  say  then.  I  cannot  present 
anything  newer  or  better  than  I  said  before. 

OPEN  SHELVES 

Public  library  funds  are  a  trust  confided  to  library  boards 
by  the  property  owners  of  a  city  for  two  principal  purposes,  viz : 

1  To  diffuse  general  intelligence  and  furnish  wholesome 
entertainment  for  the  present  generation. 

2  And,  no  less  important,  to  gather  and  preserve  the  ac- 
cumulated experience  of  our  race  for  the  use  not  only  of  the 
present  generation  but  of  future  generations  also. 

Formerly  this  second  object — collecting  and  safely  guarding 
for  a  select  few— was  the  main  thing.  The  great  libraries  of 
the  old  world  were  built  up  on  this  plan. 

The  diffusion  of  general  intelligence,  providing  of  whole- 
some entertainment,  is  the  modern  free  public  library  idea. 

In  the  administration  of  library  funds  neither  of  these  ob- 
jects should  be  slighted— they  are  both  good— neither  should 
be  made  to  suffer  at  the  expense  of  the  other. 


OPEN  SHELVES  231 

The  public  library  of  today,  having  its  own  independent  and 
attractive  home  in  every  city  and  supported  generously  by 
public  taxation  is  no  longer  the  cheap  circulating  library  of 
36  years  ago;  it  is  a  prominent  public  institution  with  possi- 
bilities of  unlimited  usefulness  increasing  in  geometrical  ratio 
from  year  to  year,  and  the  question  I  ask  is:  Shall  the  public 
library,  owned  and  supported  by  the  city,  be  lield  to  the  same 
strict  accounting  as  are  our  municipal  departments— police  de- 
partment, fire  department,  work  house,  poor  farm,  jail? 

Shall  it  be  managed  with  the  same  regard  for  its  usefulness 
and  preservation  as  the  city  exercises  over  the  other  properties 
and  institutions,  its  public  schools,  its  parks  and  gardens,  its 
streets  and  boulevards,  its  museums  and  monuments? 

The  city  does  not  permit  its  other  fine  properties  to  be  rid- 
den over  and  trampled  on,  to  be  ruthlessly  robbed  and  wasted; 
there  are  laws  and  ordinances  and  police  courts  and  policemen 
with  big  sticks. 

It  is  high  time  to  ask  ourselves  this  question  with  these 
amazing  statistics  just  laid  before  us. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  detain  you  with  recounting 
them  all,  a  few  are  plenty  and  more  than  enough. 

One  library  reports  $1,000  worth  of  mutilation  of  books  and 
periodicals,  in  one  year— portraits,  reproductions  of  famous  pic- 
tures, choruses,  arias,  overtures  and  numerous  books  rendered 
worthless.  Works  of  reference  disappear,  are  stolen  by  the 
armful.  Another  library  reports  73  works  of  reference  stolen 
in  a  few  months,  another  lost  every  book  on  South  American 
history,  another,  19  books  on  metallurgy,  another,  34  Yiddish 
books  stolen  in  a  single  month,  and  from  annual  reports  we 
learn  that  the  Denver  public  library,  experimenting  for  three 
years  and  nine  months  with  the  open  shelf  lost  3978  volumes, 
and  shut  down  on  that  folly.  The  school  library  of  the  same 
place  lost  in  its  last  year  900  volumes  and  was  then  turned  over 
to  the  public  library. 

The  Boston  public  library  lost  1693  volumes  in  1905,  the 
Providence  public  library  1795  volumes  the  same  year,  the  Los 
Angeles  public  library  4044  a  year  for  two  years  and  5062  in 
1907,  according  to  the  latest  report  just  to  hand.  They  are  at 
their  wits'  end  and  begin  to  realize  that  open  shelf  is  only  an- 
other name  for  self-slaughter.  It  may  soothe  your  ruffled  feel- 


232  ERASTUS  SWIFT  WILLCOX 

ings  to  talk  about  prosecuting  those  book  thieves  relentlessly. 
That  sounds  well,  but  I  would  suggest  that  you  follow  the  ad- 
vice of  that  ancient  cook  book— first  catch  your  hare.  Try  first 
to  catch  them. 

And,  again,  what  kind  of  a  business  would  you  call  this  that 
reports  without  a  blush,  of  books  borrowed  in  the  regular  way, 
but  never  returned  nor  paid  for  in  a  single  year — one  library, 
no;  another,  224;  another,  246;  another,  S3*;  another,  1160; 
another,  2041?  Cincinnati,  Philadelphia  and  Minneapolis  get  off 
easily,  they  keep  no  records. 

Now  I  ask  in  all  seriousness,  what  business  man  of  your 
acquaintance  could  report  such  amazing  losses,  such  thefts  and 
wanton  destruction  of  his  goods,  and  do  it  with  the  self -satisfied 
smile  worn  by  some  of  our  laurel-crowned  chiefs  in  the  library 
world? 

Have  we  librarians  no  knowledge  of  business  methods? 
Should  not  the  public  property  entrusted  to  our  keeping  be 
as  carefully  guarded  as  merchants  guard  their  goods,  letting 
nothing  pass  out  of  our  doors  that  is  not  properly  charged  or 
paid  for,  and,  if  stolen,  pursued? 

We  hold  our  city  officials  to  a  strict  accounting  for  every 
dollar  they  receive  and  a  detailed  accounting  of  every  dollar 
they  expend  and  if  not  done,  out  they  go  next  election.  Is  our 
accountability  less,  is  our  bookkeeping  more  difficult?  I  happen 
to  know  a  little  about  both  and  I  assure  you  it  is  not. 

Now,  to  what  shall  we  attribute  this  scandalous  waste  of 
public  property  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  the  half  has  not 
been  told?  Nine  tenths  of  it,  I  may  almost  say,  ninety-nine 
hundredths  of  it  is  due  to  the  open  shelf  craze  that  struck  this 
country  some  12  or  15  years  ago  It  was  an  east  wind  that  did 
it.  We  of  the  west  know  a  cyclone  when  we  see  it  coming;  it 
may  lift  us  off  our  feet  for  a  moment,  but  we  soon  come  back 
to  terra  firma  as  Denver  did  and  Los  Angeles  is  doing.  Is  it 
any  wonder  if  a  great  library,  thrown  wide  open  to  the  hand- 
ling and  pawing  of  crowds  ignorant  of  books  or  of  what  they 
want,  is  soon  "thumbed  out  of  existence,"  as  our  friend  John 
Thomson,  of  Philadelphia,  wittily  puts  it  in  his  latest  annual 
report  and  he  makes  a  piteous  appeal  for  a  larger  appropriation 
to  replace  these  books  "thumbed  out  of  existence."  I,  myself, 
am  really  fond  of  the  bright-eyed,  curious  gypsy  folk,  but  not 


OPEN  SHELVES  233 

among  my  chickens  As  to  the  value  of  an  education  to  be  had 
from  a  bowing  acquaintance  with  the  backs  of  books,  I  cannot 
speak  from  personal  knowledge.  What  little  education  I  got 
in  school  and  college  was  not  won  that  way. 

And  here  permit  me  to  say,  that  while  I  question  the  wisdom 
of  one  thing  advocated  by  some  of  our  librarians,  none  the  less 
I  do  admire  a  hundred  other  things  they  have  done  and  are 
doing  so  well. 

The  open  shelf  means  removing  all  barriers  and  throwing  all 
doors  wide  open  to  50,000  and  150,00  carefully  selected  books 
and  inviting  everybody  in  to  help  himself 

Applied,  for  illustration,  to  a  dry  goods  store  it  would  mean, 
"Here  are  our  choicest  goods  on  these  well  arranged  shelves — 
all  the  latest  styles  and  qualities  with  prices  to  suit  everybody — 
step  behind  the  counter,  please,  pull  down  what  strikes  your 
fancy,  spread  them  open,  feel  their  extra  fine  quality  and  make 
your  choice."  Or,  go  to  your  bank  and  ask  for  $100  The  pay- 
ing teller  points  to  the  trays  of  gold  and  silver  inside  and  asks 
you  to  be  so  good  as  to  walk  right  in  and  help  yourself,  only 
please  leave  your  check  for  the  amount  taken  as  you  pass  out 
and  your  bank  wtll  go  out  of  business  by  3  o'clock  P.  M. 

In  the  small  country  libraries  of  2,000,  5,000  or  more  vol- 
umes, with,  perhaps,  a  single  assistant  to  the  librarian,  all  the 
books  in  plain  view  and  everybody  well  known,  this  method 
was  followed  of  necessity  from  the  first,  and  some  books  were 
stolen  even  then,  for  alas,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  we  have  book 
thieves  with  us  always.  But  now  with  city  libraries  of  50,000, 
100,000,  200,000  volumes,  great  and  priceless,  long  accumulated 
collections,  with  ampler  rooms  and  trained  assistants,  it  is  no 
longer  necessary  to  take  such  chances  of  loss.  We  have  printed 
catalogs,  card  catalogs,  lists  and  bulletins,  and,  especially,  a 
body  of  intelligent  assistants  familiar  with  the  location  and 
contents  of  every  book  in  the  library,  that  is,  until  ransacked 
by  a  horde  of  Goths  and  Vandals  We  no  longer  need  to  offer 
opportunities  for  thieving,  still  less  practically  connive  at  it  as 
some  of  our  honored  librarians  have  come  very  near  doing  in 
their  published  statements.  Note.  I  do  not  say  the  open  shelf 
makes  thieves,  they  are  made  already  in  plenty,  watching  for 
opportunities.  Ask  your  merchants  about  their  experience. 

"Only  300,  500,  900  volumes  disappeared  last  year,  but  this 


234  ERASTUS  SWIFT  WILLCOX 

was  a  small  matter  hardly  equal  to  the  salary  of  one  assistant, 
not  worth  mentioning"  Does  this  not  sound  like  the  genial 
voice  of  our  friend,  Harold  Skimpole? 

"Are  you  arrested  for  much,  sir?"  I  inquired  of  Mr.  Skim- 
pole 

"My  dear  Miss  Summerson,"  said  he,  shaking  his  head 
pleasantly,  "I  don't  know  Some  pounds,  half  shillings  and  half 
pence,  I  think  were  mentioned.  "It's  twenty-four  pounds,  six- 
teen and  seven  pence  ha'  penny,"  observed  the  stranger,  "that's 
wot  it  is  I"  "And  it  sounds,  somehow  it  sounds"  said  Mr.  Skim- 
pole,  "like  a  small  sum." 

In  an  impassioned  appeal  for  the  open  shelf  by  a  prominent 
librarian  at  the  Atlanta  conference,  nine  years  ago,  he  ex- 
claimed, "The  mere  loss  of  $300  or  $400  worth  of  books  a 
year  should  not  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  open 
shelf  system  for  a  single  minute." 

The  result  of  these  teachings  by  such  influential  men  of 
our  Association  is  shown  to-day  after  12  years'  experience,  in 
redoubled  losses  by  theft  and  mutilation,  not  only  in  their  own 
libraries,  but  in  many  others  that  had  not  the  courage  or  experi- 
ence to  resist  their  soft  persuasive  voices.  It  is  so  easy  to  go 
with  the  crowd. 

Let  it  once  be  whispered  around  that  so  and  so  many  books 
were  stolen  from  the  public  library  last  year  and  are  expected 
to  be  stolen  every  year,  but  the  librarian  considers  it  a  matter 
of  little  consequence,  hardly  worth  mentioning,  and  the  inevitable 
conclusion  will  be,  by  many  at  least,  that  the  theft  of  public 
property  is  not  considered  so  culpable  a  thing  after  all  as  they 
were  taught  at  Sunday  school  Does  not  this  look  a  little  like 
encouraging  and  conniving  at  theft ?  And  can  your  most  expert 
accountant  figure  out  how  far  this  virus  may  spread  through 
the  body  politic,  how  much  harm  it  may  do  in  deadening  that 
keen  sense  of  honesty  which  society,  by  a  hundred  different 
means  is  striving  to  inculcate  in  the  minds  of  the  rising  gener- 
ation? To  hold  out  opportunities  for  theft  is  a  crime— to  in- 
vite it,  to  condone  it,  and  by  one  of  our  great  educational  in- 
stitutions, is  monstrous.  I  cannot  think  it  is  for  this  that  the 
free  public  library  is  supported  by  a  generous  and  confiding 
people 

I  find  few  inventories  mentioned  in  annual  reports.     Are 


OPEN  SHELVES  235 

they  afraid  o£  the  revelations  an  inventory  would  make?  Is 
it  harder  to  take  an  inventory  of  150,000  books  than  of  $150,000 
worth  of  stock  in  a  wholesale  hardware,  grocery,  or  drug  store? 

But  enough  of  this,  may  I  tell  you  how  we  do  m  Peona  and, 
as  I  have  lately  learned,  in  Denver,  also,  after  that  fine  library- 
had  been  pretty  well  riddled  and  ripped  up  the  back  for  several 
years  by  the  best  and  brightest  open  shelf  lunatic  in  our  entire 
sisterhood.  (I  mention  no  names  lest  two  others  of  my  best 
friends  should  feel  hurt  at  not  being  included). 

With  a  present  library  of  100,000  volumes  and  a  stack  room 
capacity  for  200,000,  we  keep  our  books  in  a  carefully  classified 
order  on  the  shelves  in  the  stack  room  immediately  behind  the 
long  delivery  counter.  On  this  counter  you  will  find  a  few, 
some  40  to  50,  of  the  late  novels,  books  that  are  skimmed  milk 
tomorrow,  but  if  you  want  a  really  good  novel  or  any  of  the 
classified  books  it  is  back  in  its  proper  place  in  the  stack  room 
and  our  assistants  will  hand  it  to  you  in  a  minute,  or,  according 
to  tests  made  at  the  rate  of  three  a  minute  on  an  average. 

In  an  open  case  adjoining  our  delivery  counter,  immediately 
under  the  eye  of  all  our  assistants  we  keep  some  600  volumes 
of  the  latest  works  in  the  different  classes — theology,  philosophy, 
history,  biography,  science,  travel.  This  much  we  yield  to  the 
open  shelf  idea  and  it  satisfies  our  people  Of  course  we  have 
thieves  too  like  other  folks,  but  we  acknowledge  it  before  the 
event.  In  ample  cases  around  our  reading  room  are  18  dif- 
ferent sets  of  cyclopedias  and  dictionaries  and  large  works  of 
reference,  many.  In  our  closed  children's  room  at  the  far  end 
of  our  reading  room,  entering  and  leaving  by  a  single  wicket, 
we  ha\e  some  600  volumes  of  juvenile  literature  of  all  classes 
and  all  accessible  on  open  shelves,  under  the  watchful  guardian- 
ship of  an  experienced  children's  librarian.  This  I  approve  of. 
The  child  who  as  yet  has  no  faintest  idea  of  what  is  to  be 
found  in  books  outside  of  school  books,  makes  here  his  first 
acquaintance  with  that  boundless  world.  A  few  years  later  he 
will  know  what  he  wants  and  ask  for  it. 

But  in  addition  to  this  if  any  person  whatever  desires  to 
gratify  his  curiosity  by  a  sight  of  what  we  have  behind  those 
walls  in  our  stack  room,  he  is  at  once  shown  through  the  whole 
wilderness  of  books,  and  if  he  is  pursuing  some  special  object 
and  wishes  to  spend  some  time  in  his  chosen  department  we 


236  ERASTUS   SWIFT  WILLCOX 

cheerfully  bring  him  of  our  best,  or  we  give  him  a  chair  and 
table  by  his  books  and  leave  him  by  himself.  One  visit  satisfies 
his  curiosity  and  after  that  he  finds  himself  much  better  served, 
just  as  I  am,  by  the  attendants. 

It  has  a  rather  catchy  sound  to  say  that  the  only  school  for 
the  voter  is  the  ballot  box  and  the  way  to  teach  the  people  how 
to  use  the  public  library  is  to  give  them  the  public  library  to 
use,  but  I  had  supposed  that  a  schooling  of,  at  least  five  years 
in  the  language,  laws  and  customs  of  the  country  was  required 
of  foreign  born  adults  before  admitting  them  to  the  ballot  box, 
and  21  years  for  native  born. 

So,  for  our  public,  who  seldom  wants  more  than  one  or  two 
books  at  a  time,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  teach  them,  at  such 
cost,  how  to  use  and  handle  a  hundred  volumes.  That  is  what 
librarians  and  their  assistants  only  learn  after  years  of  practice. 

For,  after  all,  the  real  test  of  the  usefulness  of  a  library 
lies  in  its  ability  not  only  to  hand  out  the  latest  new  novel 
promptly,  but,  far  more  exacting  than  that,  to  answer  every  rea- 
sonable demand  made  upon  it  for  the  latest,  most  reliable  in- 
formation on  the  ten  thousand  different  subjects  of  human  in- 
quiry constantly  arising.  This  means  labor,  it  means  study,  it 
means  foresight  and  preparation  in  the  supplying  of  books  and, 
not  one  whit  less,  does  it  mean  intelligence,  experience  and  quick 
responsive  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  assistant  at  the  delivery 
desk. 


BRANCH  LIBRARIES  AND  DELIVERY 
STATIONS 

Branch  libraries  are  often  established  simply  on  the 
demand  of  a  community,  but  the  demand  has  often  been 
previously  tested  by  some  other  agency  of  extension, 
such  as  delivery  stations,  traveling  libraries,  or  deposit 
stations.  Owing  to  large  donations,  it  has  sometimes 
been  possible  for  cities  to  lay  out  a  considerable  branch 
system  all  at  once.  In  such  case,  consideration  of  pop- 
ulation and  area  and  also  the  existence  of  old  commun- 
ity centers  have  governed  the  choice  of  locations.  A 
branch  library  is  complete  in  itself,  having  its  own  staff 
and  permanent  stock  of  books. 

The  steady  advance  of  education  has  made  it  impera- 
tive that  the  use  of  public  libraries  should  be  placed  with- 
in the  reach  of  every  one.  In  a  district  where  the  popu- 
lation is  evenly  distributed,  there  is  not  much  difficulty 
in  catering  to  library  needs.  However,  where  the  in- 
habitants of  a  district  are  scattered,  many  difficulties 
must  be  overcome  before  an  efficient  system  of  supplying 
the  demands  of  the  reading  public  can  be  put  in  opera- 
tion. Branch  libraries  and  delivery  stations  present 
themselves  as  solutions  of  the  problem. 

The  East  Boston  Branch  of  the  Boston  Public  Li- 
brary is  said  to  have  been  the  first  free  public  branch 
library  in  the  United  States,  opened  in  1870.  By  March 
1877  there  were  six  branches,  but  the  progress  of 
branch  extension  was  delayed  because  of  the  discussion 
of  the  relative  value  of  branches  and  delivery  stations. 
By  1898  the  delivery-station  idea  was  not  so  popular,  and 
not  much  later  small  places  like  East  Orange,  N.J.,  were 
building  branch  libraries,  although  distribution  over  a 
scattered  area  is  still  to  a  certain  extent  effected  by  the 
delivery  station. 


ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  A  POSSIBLE  FUNCTION 
OF  BRANCH  LIBRARIES 

Dr.  Herbert  Putnam,  at  this  time  librarian  of  the 
Minneapolis  Public  Library,  in  describing  his  experi- 
ence with  open  access,  stated  his  belief  that  although 
the  proper  care  of  books  is  an  important  duty  of  the 
librarian,  it  is  possible  to  pay  too  much  attention  to  this, 
thereby  impeding  use  by  readers. 

The  following  paper  was  prepared  by  him  for  the 
San  Francisco,  California,  Conference  of  the  A.LA, 
October  IS,  1891. 

A  sketch  of  Dr.  Putnam  appears  in  Volume  3  of  this 
series. 

The  question  of  free  access  to  the  shelves  may  on  the  whole 
be  regarded  as  under  debate,  not  with  reference  to  an  ideal  to 
be  attained  so  much  as  to  the  practicable  mechanism  by  which 
it  is  to  be  effected.  The  problem  of  informal  contact,  which, 
to  a  library  in  a  small  space  or  to  a  specialized  library,  presents 
no  difficulty,  to  a  city  library,  with  a  large  constituency,  does 
present  some  embarrassments  in  a  measure  harassing.  There 
are  books  upon  the  shelves  of  unique  value,  which  if  destroyed 
could  not  be  replaced;  there  are  others  of  high  intrinsic  value 
which  might  be  ruined  by  careless  or  malicious  hands ;  the  books 
are  carefully  classified,  and  no  classification,  however  methodic, 
can  withstand  the  turmoil  of  ignorant  disarrangement ;  there  is  a 
large  public  to  deal  with;  their  admittance  to  the  book  rooms 
would  crowd  the  alcoves  and  impede  the  work  of  issue;  this 
public  is  composed,  nine-tenths  or  even  ninety-nine  one- 
hundredths,  of  persons  unknown  to  the  attendants  and  without 
credentials ;  and  finally  there  is  an  ample  card  catalogue,  There 
are  copiously  suggestive  reading  lists;  to  what  purpose  were  the 
thousands  of  dollars  and  years  of  labor  expended  upon  these 
save  to  render  access  to  the  shelves  superfluous? 


240  HERBERT  PUTNAM 

So  for  the  time  freedom  of  access  is  declared  impracticable, 
or  rigid  exclusion  is  palliated.  For  the  time,  I  say;  for  I  cannot 
believe  that  the  most  of  the  obstacles  indicated  are  other  than 
temporary  or  relative.  It  is  indeed  true  that  every  large  library 
contains  books  that  it  cannot  afford  to  have  destroyed.  Its  con- 
tents may  probably  be  divided  into  three  groups:  (l)  books 
which  are  rarities,  and  these  must  be  treated  somewhat  as 
curios  in  a  museum;  (2)  books  which  are  documentary  sources, 
and  these  must  be  treated  as  legal  records ;  and  (3)  books  which 
are  literature,  and  these  should  be  treated  as  living  instruments 
of  education  Now,  assuming  that  these  first  two  clauses  do 
exist  in  every  library  and  in  each  department  of  every  library, 
and  that  a  rule  must  be  made  especially  to  guard  them,  must 
such  a  rule  be  made  a  blanket  rule  for  the  whole  library?  Is 
it  not  possible  to  seclude  them  so  that  the  rigidity  necessary  in 
their  case  shall  not  need  to  encompass  the  entire  collection?  Is 
it  not  possible  to  set  them  apart,  as  already  we  are  obliged  to 
set  apart  folios  from  octavos,  and  even  entire  special  collec- 
tions within  the  library,  to  assign  them  perhaps  a  special  section 
in  each  case,  behind  a  screen  if  necessary,  and  still  leave  the 
main  body  of  the  department  open  for  free  handling?  And  as 
for  the  confusion  of  free  handling,  the  disarrangement  results 
not  from  taking  books  down  but  from  trying  to  put  them  back 
again;  a  simple  prohibition  to  readers  against  the  replacement 
of  any  volume  upon  the  shelves  is  ample  to  secure  the  integrity 
of  the  classification. 

The  public  must  to  a  large  extent,  to  be  sure,  remain  in- 
dividually unknown  to  the  attendants;  but  not  without  creden- 
tials ;  for  as  to  a  church,  so  to  a  library,  a  man  brings  the  best 
credentials  who  brings  himself;  and  the  chief est  sin  he  can 
commit  against  it  is  to  remain  away  from  it.  What  would  we 
have?  Surely  a  chief  lesson  these  books  are  to  teach  is  faith 
in  one's  fellow-man;  and  how  can  the  books  teach  faith  when 
the  library  itself  teaches  suspicion? 

But  the  catalogue  and  reference  lists,  do  not  they  suffice? 
Do  they?  Does  a  catalogue  stand  for  a  book,  for  a  collection  of 
individual  books?  For  two  reasons  not:  in  the  first  place  it 
covers  only  the  literature  of  knowledge;  in  the  second  place  it 
begins  at  the  wrong  end,  begins  with  the  trained  mind  which 
seeks  direction,  while  the  library  has  usually  first  to  do  with 


ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  FUNCTION  OF  BRANCHES  241 

the  untrained  mind,  which  needs  stimulus.  And  yet — note  the 
inconsistency — it  is  the  disciplined  reader,  the  reader  for  whom 
this  apparatus  is  most  effective;  it  is  this  reader,  if  any,  that 
we  admit  to  the  shelves;  while  it  is  the  crude  and  vagrant 
mind,  the  mind  that  is  essentially  diffident  and  unenterprising1, 
the  mind  in  awe  of  the  catalogues  and  most  in  need  of  the  in- 
centive of  direct  contact  with  the  books — it  is  this  one  that  we 
rigidly  exclude. 

Is  there  an  influence  exerted  by  a  collection  of  books  not 
exerted  through  the  best  of  catalogues?  We  know  there  is; 
we  recognize  it  when  we  speak  of  the  companionship  of  books, 
when  we  speak  of  books  that  are  our  friends  and  intimates. 
Surely  we  could  not  call  that  man  an  intimate  in  whose  ante- 
room we  must  sit  and  wait  and  send  up  our  cards,  and  whom 
we  can  come  into  touch  with  only  through  systematic  endeavor. 
To  be  friends  with  books,  as  with  men,  we  must  be  able  to  drop 
in  upon  them,  to  jog  about  among  them,  exchange  a  look  or  a 
word  with  them,  or  seek  a  deep  confidence  among  them,  as  the 
spirit  may  move  us.  Every  one  who  loves  books,  every  libra- 
rian, feels  this  power  of  humanity  stirring  amongst  them.  He 
feels  also  a  power  of  humanizing  latent  within  them.  He  feels 
it  in  the  books;  but  no  most  inveterate  classifier  could  assert 
it  in  a  catalogue. 

No  librarian  of  today  would  content  his  ambition  with  the 
passive  response  to  trained  inquiry.  He  likes  to  feel  himself 
an  educator.  He  is  to  stir  up  an  interest  in  good  books.  How 
then?  How  would  he  stir  up  an  interest  in  botany  m  a  child? 
Would  he  set  him  down  at  a  desk  with  the  scheme  of  Linnaeus, 
or  would  he  turn  him  loose  in  an  open  field  and  let  him  mark 
for  himself  the  fresh  and  delicate  individuality  of  each  appeal- 
ing flower?  How  to  stir  up  an  interest  in  good  books?  Why 
not  stock  the  shelves  with  them,  and  turn  the  public  loose  among 
them?  Books  can  speak  for  themselves,  and  eagerly  enough 
the  people  will  respond,  if  not  shut  out  from  them  by  a  seven- 
barred  catalogue. 

Toward  three  classes  of  readers  access  to  the  shelves  is 
potent:  first,  toward  those  who  have  not  yet  the  ambition  or 
impulse  to  read  at  all,  and  of  these  I  have  just  been  speaking; 
second,  toward  those  whose  reading  has  been  a  monochrome 
and  who  need  to  be  diverted;  and  third,  toward  those  whose 


242  HERBERT  PUTNAM 

tastes  are  below  the  standard  of  the  library,  who  frequent  it 
and  call  for  books,  and  don't  get  them,  and  grumble  and  won- 
der why  the  library  sets  up  for  a  public  library,  and  doesn't 
get  the  books  the  people  want  to  read.  (I  omit  the  fourth  class 
of  students  proper  because  the  gain  to  them  is  self-evident  and 
generally  admitted.)  Every  librarian  of  a  public  library  has  a 
certain  number  of  readers  who  persist  in  adhering  to  two  or 
three  authors — Mrs.  Holmes  or  Augusta  Wilson,  perhaps.  You 
have  tried  to  wean  them  from  this  exclusive  devotion,  and  been 
often  rebuffed  and  mortified.  Have  you  ever  tried  turning  them 
loose  among  the  shelves?  Ten  to  one  they  would  select  a  new 
author;  and  in  their  condition  of  mental  inertia  a  new  author 
is  for  them  the  best  author  I  would  indeed  go  further,  and 
assert  that  any  undisciplined  reader  is  likely  to  select  a  better 
book  from  the  shelves  than  he  will  select  from  the  catalogue. 
Timidity  hampers  him.  Certain  authors  he  has  read,  he  is  at 
least  sure  of  them ;  he  dares  not  go  outside  of  them ;  and  so  he 
keeps  rotating  through  the  list  of  the  flabby  familiar,  and  his 
influence  upon  circulation  is  a  horror  to  us  But  in  the  book 
rooms  the  fancy  is  captivated  toward  a  score  of  books  novel  to 
his  experience;  the  individuality  of  the  books  in  their  mere 
physique  attracts  him  (to  a  less  degree  of  course  in  libraries 
where  this  individuality  has  been  suppressed  to  a  barbarous 
uniformity  by  manila  covers) ;  and  in  a  twinkle  this  lethargic 
imagination  is  fluttering  to  a  thousand  new  impressions  from 
East  and  West 

As  to  the  grumbler  who  calls  himself  "the  people,"  I  have 
never  yet  found  the  grumbler  who  couldn't  be  turned  into  an 
enthusiast  by  being  turned  loose  in  the  book  rooms  Whatever 
the  occasion  of  his  complaint,  it  usually  rests  on  an  ultimate 
suspicion  of  the  good  intent  of  the  library.  Generally,  of  course, 
it  is  that  the  library  doesn't  provide  him,  and  promptly,  with 
the  book  he  wants.  Take  this  reader,  tell  him  it  is  true  the 
book  he  asks  for  can't  be  supplied,  but  that  whatever  the  library 
has  is  open  to  him  and  turn  him  into  the  book  rooms  to  pick 
for  himself.  The  effect  is  magical;  the  most  desperately  dis- 
gruntled natures  are  veered  to  confiding  faith  and  loyalty. 

One  final  consideration  pends  from  this.  Every  library  con- 
tains certain  flabby  books.  The  librarian  is  ashamed  of  them; 
he  would  not  recommend  them;  he  puts  them  there  merely  as 


ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  FUNCTION  OF  BRANCHES  243 

toll  bait  But  he  puts  them  there.  He  then  covertly  (that  is 
among  the  profession)  boasts  that  they  are  at  least  supplied  in 
inadequate  quantities;  they  appear  on  the  finding  lists,  but  they 
are  rarely  on  the  shelves  when  called  for.  As  if  one  should 
make  it  an  excuse  for  administering  poison  that  it  was  admin- 
istered in  small  doses !  Yet  this  is  extreme ;  for  the  books  are 
not  quite  poison,  they  are  not  vicious,  but  they  are  flabby;  and 
in  contrast  to  the  work  the  library  has  to  do  can  it  afford  to 
supply  even  the  flabby  books?  It  countenances  them  by  placing 
them  upon  its  finding  list;  it  countenances  the  interest  of  its 
readers  in  them;  and  then  it  frustrates  their  attempt  to  read 
them.  Surely  such  subterfuge  is  both  cowardly  and  unworthy 
of  an  educational  institution.  Why  is  it  necessary?  Is  it  not 
because  we  rely  upon  the  cataloguers  to  attract  our  readers  in- 
stead of  relying  upon  the  books  themselves?  At  present  the 
standard  must  be  low,  because  the  crude  reader  is  reached  only 
through  the  catalogues,  and  in  these  only  the  familiar  appeals. 
But  with  free  access  to  the  books  the  standard  might  be  high; 
for  he  would  then  be  reached  by  the  novel  individuality  of  the 
books  appealing  for  themselves. 

I  have  little  need  to  be  urgent  in  such  a  cause,  before  such 
an  audience  I  cannot  believe  there  is  a  librarian  who  has  felt 
as  a  reader  and  would  not  himself  be  urgent  for  freedom  of 
access.  The  problem  is  one  of  means.  I  believe  that  before  long 
an  effort  will  be  made  even  in  the  largest  libraries  to  differ- 
entiate; so  that  if  all  the  books  cannot  be  made  free,  part  will 
be  made  free;  that  if  access  cannot  be  granted  at  all  seasons 
and  at  every  hour  of  the  day,  it  will  be  attempted  in  seasons 
of  less  pressure  and  at  quiet  hours  of  the  day;  that  if  it  can- 
not be  granted  to  all  persons  it  will  at  least  be  granted  as 
of  course,  and  only  withheld  as  an  exception  and  a  penalty; 
and  finally,  that  where  it  may  not  be  contrived  immediately  in 
great  central  libraries,  in  which  the  division  between  records 
and  literature  must  be  a  slow  process,  and  whose  achitecture 
does  not  provide  for  comfortable  shelf  reference,  in  such  cities 
it  will  be  undertaken  without  delay  in  the  branch  libraries  to 
which  no  such  obstacles  adhere. 

The  suitabilities  of  branches  for  the  inauguration  of  such 
an  experiment  need  only  to  be  enumerated  to  be  accepted.  A 
branch  has  a  small,  a  localized  constituency  Most  of  its  readers 


244  HERBERT  PUTNAM 

soon  become  personally  known  to  the  attendants.  The  collec- 
tion of  books  is  almost  purely  a  collection  of  literature,  the 
books  that  are  to  make  character  first,  and  then,  and  only  in  a 
lesser  measure,  the  books  that  are  to  give  knowledge,  of  matter 
of  record  almost  none  at  all;  the  pressure  on  the  issue  desk 
need  never  be  so  heavy  as  to  crowd  unduly  the  alcoves.  And 
finally,  whatever  the  purpose  of  the  central  library,  the  pur- 
pose of  the  branch  is  to  enlist  the  sympathy  and  arouse  the  in- 
tellectual impulse  of  the  section  of  the  community  in  which  it  is 
placed.  It  is  a  feeder  from  the  main  library;  it  should  also 
be  a  feeder  to  the  main  library  It  should  make  the  most  of 
that  humanizing  element  in  books  which  needs  only  to  be  let 
work  in  order  that  it  should  work;  and  so  far  as  can  be,  should 
be  exempt  from  that  rigidity  of  system  which  formalizes  a  book 
—a  friend— into  a  library,  a  mere  institution. 

To  constrain  it  within  the  regulations  deemed  necessary  in 
the  central  library  is  to  suppress  a  function  peculiarly  its  own, 
to  deprive  it  of  an  opportunity  for  which  its  circumstances 
peculiarly  adapt  it.  For  a  branch  library  in  a  large  city  may, 
if  it  will,  gain  something  of  the  potency  of  a  village  library, 
which  the  village  folk  haunt  with  a  friendly  persistence  which 
they  feel  to  belong  to  them,  and  which  is  to  them  in  effect  a 
week-day  union  of  church  and  club  and  higher  school. 

In  Minneapolis  we  have  been  putting  these  theories  into 
practical  operation.  I  have  felt  diffident  about  reciting  our 
experience  because  it  has  been  but  a  short  one.  But  I  am  told 
that  an  ounce  of  experience  is  worth  a  pound  of  theory,  so 
will  adduce  it  for  what  it  is  worth.  Our  friend  Brett  has  been 
trying  similar  experiments  in  Cleveland,  and  very  likely  has 
gone  a  step  beyond  us.  I  shall  hope  that  he  will  add  his  testi- 
mony as  to  results. 

The  Minneapolis  Public  Library  is  a  free  city  institution, 
free  for  circulation  as  well  as  for  reference  It  was  opened  to 
the  public  in  December,  1889  The  city  is  one  of  165,000  in- 
habitants, and  has  practically  no  other  public  library.  The  li- 
brary opened  with  about  30,000  volumes,  and  additions  are  be- 
ing made  of  about  13,000  volumes  yearly.  By  the  end  of  the 
first  year  about  15,000  cards  had  been  issued,  and  200,000  vol- 
umes circulated  for  home  use.  In  point  of  circulation,  therefore, 
it  ranked  in  1890  about  seventh  of  American  public  libraries' 


ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  FUNCTION  OF  BRANCHES  245 

The  building  has  three  mam  reading  rooms,  that  have  sufficed 
for  the  entire  body  of  readers  at  any  one  time. 

From  the  first,  however,  we  intended  that  readers  (at  least 
certain  of  them)  should  ha\e  access  to  the  book  rooms;  and 
these  were  arranged  with  a  view  to  admit  of  this.  The  stacks 
were  planned  on  a  modified  alcove  system,  and  they  present 
some  sixteen  large  alcoves  (8  feet  by  10)  and  over  thirty  nar- 
rower ones  (zYz  feet  from  face  to  face,  and  10  feet  deep). 
Every  alcove  has  an  individual  window.  The  large  alcoves 
have  sloping  desks  across  under  the  windows ;  the  small  alcoves 
have  drop  tables.  On  every  case  or  stack  the  shelves  below 
three  feet  have  a  depth  of  16  inches  (above  only  8  inches) ; 
so  that  to  the  face  of  every  stack  there  is  a  ledge  of  three  feet 
from  the  ground  for  the  student  to  rest  his  book  upon. 

From  the  first,  also,  the  books  were  arranged  with  regard 
to  safety  of  access.  Certain  of  the  larger  art  folios  (as  the 
Napoleon  and  Lepsius  Egypt,  Piranesi,  Prisse  d'Avennes,  etc.) 
were  put  in  special  cases  with  sliding  shelves  and  locked  doors. 
It  has  always  been  understood,  however,  that  any  inquirer  what- 
ever might  examine  any  book  in  the  library.  And  if  a  school- 
boy asked  to  see,  e.g.,  Lepsius,  he  was  never  refused  permission; 
only  the  book  would  be  brought  out  and  set  upon  a  special  folio 
table,  and  he  cautioned  as  to  its  proper  handling,  and  an  at- 
tendant occasionally  pass  his  way  to  see  that  he  was  not  sprawl- 
ing his  elbows  upon  it.  We  find  that  such  small  thoughtlessness 
is  the  only  impropriety  we  have  to  guard  against.  The  really 
superb  books  carry  their  own  lesson  of  awe  and  respect. 

Certain  other  works  in  our  art  department  (Owen  Jones, 
for  instance,  and  Racinet)  were  in  too  constant  use  to  be  put 
behind  glass.  We  gathered  these  into  a  stack  by  themselves, 
and  at  first  stretched  a  cord  across  the  alcove  with  a  sign  en- 
joining "special  permission."  But  we  found  the  cord  super- 
fluous and  removed  it.  The  fiction  was  massed  in  small  alcoves 
nearest  the  issue  desk;  and  to  this  access  has  not  been  given 
until  recently.  It  was  refused,  however,  only  because  people 
in  the  alcoves  might  interfere  with  the  work  of  the  pages.  So, 
when  the  summer  came  and  the  pressure  slackened,  these  alcoves 
also  were  thrown  open. 

With  15,000  card-holders  it  did  not  seem  practicable  to  ad- 
mit every  reader  as  of  course.  We  issued  shelf  permits  for 


246  HERBERT  PUTNAM 

certain  periods,  from  a  day  to  a  year.  Clergymen  and  teachers 
had  these  cards  as  a  matter  of  course;  and  any  reader  could 
get  one  who  could  assert  that  he  was  pursuing  some  definite 
course  of  reading  But  beyond  this  we  tried  to  make  it  under- 
stood that,  without  a  written  permit,  any  reader  could  by  re- 
quest get  admitted  to  the  shelves  The  librarian's  office  is  in 
full  view  of  the  issue  desk,  and  the  door  is  always  open;  and 
I  have  never  yet  refused  an  application  for  a  shelf  permit.  In 
my  absence  and  at  all  times  the  attendants  are  instructed  to 
take  to  the  shelves  any  inquirer  who  seems  inadequately  sup- 
plied through  the  ordinary  channels.  Our  catalogue  facilities 
are  as  yet  meagre,  and  we  have  to  depend  largely  upon  this 
personal  mediation  coupled  with  freedom  of  access  We  find, 
as  no  doubt  other  librarians  have  found,  that  this  personal 
mediation  may  often  gain  a  warm  friend  to  the  library,  where 
a  catalogue  would  have  left  an  irritated  client. 

In  other  ways  where  we  couldn't  bring  the  people  to  the 
book  rooms,  we  tried  to  bring  the  book  rooms  to  the  people. 
A  large  number  of  books  were  always  out  upon  the  reference 
shelves  in  the  reading  rooms.  Current  periodicals  have  always 
been  kept  in  open  pigeon-hole  cases  in  the  reading  rooms.  And 
on  Sundays  and  holidays  trucks  of  miscellaneous  entertaining 
books  have  been  set  out  in  the  reading  rooms  to  be  used  without 
record.  A  few  books  and  several  dozens  of  magazines  have 
disappeared  each  year.  But  we  lay  the  theft  to  one  or  two 
systematic  depredators,  and  should  never  think  of  making  the 
entire  reading  public  suffer  for  it  by  abridging  the  general 
freedom. 

Now  this  admission  to  the  shelves  "upon  request"  and  special 
application,  which  alone  we  thought  practicable  at  first,  did  not 
accomplish  all  that  we  desired  No  matter  how  broadly  we  ad- 
vertised our  willingness  to  grant  forma]  permits,  we  found 
that  people  were  diffident  about  applying  for  them.  The  idea 
of  having  to  prove  some  systematic  course  of  reading  under 
way  embarrassed  many  from  asking  time  permits;  and  the 
ordinary  reader  didn't  feel  like  repeating  a  request  for  admit- 
tance at  each  visit  to  the  library.  When  this  summer  came, 
therefore,  we  had  a  sign  printed:  "At  this  hour  readers  may 
enter  the  book  rooms  and  select  their  own  books."  And  at  all 
times  when  there  is  not  a  crowd  the  sign  is  displayed  before 


ACCESS  TO  SHELVES  FUNCTION  OF  BRANCHES  247 

the  issue  desk.  I  need  not  say  that  the  privilege  has  been 
appreciated.  It  has  added  fifty  per  cent  to  the  summer  use  of 
the  library.  Indeed,  it  so  far  approximated  the  summer  pres- 
sure to  that  of  the  winter  that  the  hours  during  which  the 
privilege  may  be  extended  have  constantly  to  be  reduced.  So 
that,  oddly  enough,  it  is  likely  to  be  defeated  by  its  very  success. 
In  casting  about,  however,  for  a  field  within  which  the  freedom 
might  be  continued  in  cases  not  reached  by  the  main  library,  and 
independent  of  the  conditions  to  which  it  might  there  have  to 
be  subjected,  we  hit  upon  the  branches.  In  these  we  have  ex- 
tended the  freedom  of  access  without  limitation.  Each  branch 
occupies  a  couple  of  rooms,  one  of  which  is  a  reading  room. 
The  books  are  shelved  in  ordinary  open  cases  behind  the  issue 
desk  Every  reader  goes  in  and  picks  out  a  book  for  himself. 
There  are  not  as  yet  many  books  to  pick  from;  until  recently 
the  branches  have  been  chiefly  delivery  stations.  But  each  branch 
had  to  start  with  several  hundred  books  of  its  own;  and  each 
receives  current  additions  in  the  duplicates  that  can  be  spared 
from  the  main  library.  In  each,  therefore,  there  are  over  a 
thousand  volumes  of  miscellaneous  literature;  and  these  volumes 
have  become  absolutely  accessible  to  the  readers.  There  is  no 
permit  necessary,  not  even  a  verbal  permit  or  nod  from  the 
attendant  "The  books  are  here ;  come  and  help  yourself ;  make 
friends  with  them,"  is  the  common  understanding 

Now  as  to  results  these  questions  present  themselves: 

(i)  What  is  the  loss  to  the  library  in  the  way  of  books 
stolen  or  mutilated?  (2)  Does  not  the  freedom  of  access  cause 
disarrangement  of  books  and  impede  the  work  of  issue?  (3) 
Does  freedom  of  access  (a)  add  to  the  number  of  books  read, 
(b)  improve  the  quality  of  books  read? 

In  stating  our  conclusions  it  must  be  repeated  that  they  are 
based  upon  a  very  brief  experience;  that  the  library  has  been 
open  less  than  two  years;  that  the  public,  never  before  accus- 
tomed to  a  public  library,  might  very  naturally  at  first  be  con- 
strained to  an  awe  and  respect  which  might  easily  rub  off  upon 
extended  familiarity;  the  honestly-inclined  may  become  care- 
less, while  the  reprobates  may  discover  easy  methods  of  rascality. 

(i)  The  total  ascertained  loss  in  the  past  year  and  a  half 
from  theft  has  aggregated  about  twenty-five  books  and  twice 
the  number  of  magazines.  The  total  cost  of  replacing  this  ma- 


248  HERBERT   PUTNAM 

terial  has  not  exceeded  fifty  dollars.     Of  mutilation  we  have 
not   thus   far   discovered  more   than   one  important   instance. 

(2)  The   presence   in   the    alcoves   of   the   entire  body   of 
readers  would  at  the  crowded  hours   of  the  day  be  a  serious 
impediment  to  the  work  of  issue.    At  the  central  library,  there- 
fore, we  find  it  necessary  to  limit  the  access  "as  of  course"  to 
certain  hours  of  the  day.     We  are  still  enabled,  however,  to 
admit  at  all  times  a  large  body  of  persons  holding  shelf  permits, 
and  every  reader  whose  inquiry  is  serious  enough  to  move  him 
to  a  special  application  for  admittance.     And  in  the  branches 
the  freedom  is  possible  without  limitation  or  distinction      The 
rule  against  replacing  of  books  on  the  shelves  provides  in  the 
main  library  against  disarrangement.    In  the  branches  the  num- 
ber of  volumes  is  small,  and  any  disarrangement  can  be  easily 
rectified 

(3)  The  number   of   books   drawn  has   certainly  been   in- 
creased by  the  privilege  of  access.    This  is  especially  the  case 
in  the  summer  season,  when  the  mind  is  naturally  listless  and 
shuns  the  formal  effort  demanded  by  a  catalogue.     As  to  the 
quality  of  the  reading,  the  period  is  too  brief  to  point  to  a 
definite  improvement;  my  conviction,  however,  is  firm,  as  I  have 
declared  it,  that,  as  a  rule,  the  general  reader  will  select  a  better 
book  from  the  shelves  than  he  will  from  the  catalogue;  and  I 
certainly  see  nothing  in  our  experience  to  weaken  that  convic- 
tion.   I  am,  at  any  rate,  clear  as  to  this,  that  the  open  and  candid 
system,  by  winning  the  interest  and  confidence  of  our  readers, 
will  enable  us  gradually  to  drop  from  our  shelves  the  books 
we  are  ashamed  of,  and  to  leave  there  only  the  books  we  are 
glad  to  have  people  read;  and  in  this  way  a  certain  betterment 
must  result 

Whatever  the  perplexities  of  detail,  freedom  of  access  can- 
not long  be  refused  As  librarians,  we  are,  of  course,  to  guard 
the  books.  But  let  us  not  be  accused  of  making  this  guardian- 
ship a  deprivation  of  the  proper  beneficiary.  Let  us  send  these 
books  themselves  down  to  posterity,  if  we  can,  but  let  us  re- 
member that  the  best  way  we  can  send  them  down  is  to  send 
them  down  in  the  persons  of  sound  men  and  women. 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES 

Melvil  Dewey,  then  president  of  the  A.L.A.,  in  the 
year  of  the  Columbian  Exposition  (Chicago,  1893)  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  preparing  a  volume  on  library  econ- 
omy, assigning  the  several  portions  of  the  work  to  experts 
with  the  purpose  of  having  the  papers  thus  prepared  read 
at  the  International  Library  Conference  held  during  that 
summer. 

The  following  was  prepared  by  George  Watson  Cole, 
then  librarian  of  the  Jersey  City  Public  Library,  and 
was  published  in  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education 
report  of  1892-1893.  A  sketch  of  Mr.  Cole  appears 
in  Volume  5  of  this  series. 

The  success  o£  any  library,  be  it  reference  or  circulating, 
may  be  properly  measured  by  the  extent  of  its  use.  Anything 
which  will  help  to  increase  its  use,  therefore,  must  tend  toward 
its  success  Reference  libraries,  no  less  than  circulating,  may 
do  this  by  enlarging  the  number  of  volumes  and  making  them 
specially  strong  in  certain  lines,  thus  attracting  to  their  use 
those  interested  in  them;  in  other  words,  by  specializing  in  se- 
lection. As  the  success  of  a  reference  library  depends  on  in- 
creasing its  readers,  this  can  only  be  brought  about  by  extend- 
ing as  widely  as  possible  information  as  to  its  resources. 

The  public  or  circulating  library  must  use  all  these  means 
to  secure  readers,  but  is  not  restricted,  as  is  the  reference  library, 
to  drawing  readers  within  its  portals.  Experience  has  shown 
that  many  people  who  will  not  go  far  out  of  their  way  to  secure 
books  for  home  reading  will  use  a  library  if  its  books  can  be 
brought  conveniently  near  to  them.  The  reader  needs  stimulat- 
ing, and  in  order  to  reach  him  in  towns  covering  large  areas, 
or  having  distinct  centers  of  population,  several  enterprising 
libraries  have  established  branches  or  delivery  stations,  at  points 


250  GEORGE  WATSON  COLE 

sufficiently  accessible  to  overcome  this  natural  inertia  inherent 
in  the  general  reader. 

As  yet  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  this  phase  of  library 
management  either  by  American  Library  Association  or  in  the 
Library  Journal  It  has  therefore  been  necessary  in  order 
to  secure  data  for  an  intelligent  treatment,  to  communicate  di- 
rectly with  all  such  libraries  as  from  their  size,  character,  loca- 
tion, or  surroundings  were  judged  most  likely  to  have  adopted 
either  or  both  these  means  of  increasing  their  usefulness. 

The  list  of  libraries  from  which  information  was  asked 
was  carefully  selected  from  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation's List  of  Libraries,  1886;  the  third  report  of  the  Free 
Public  Library  Commission  of  Massachusetts,  1893,  and  Green- 
wood's Public  Libraries  (sd  edition,  1890),  which  named  a 
number  of  English  libraries  that  had  adopted  branches. 

Certain  classes  of  libraries  were  omitted,  for  obvious  reasons, 
such  as  college  and  State  libraries,  and  such  others  as  were 
known  to  be  purely  reference  libraries. 

The  following  questions  were  sent: 

1.  Does  your  library  make  use  of  branches? 

2.  How  many? 

3.  Number  of  assistants  employed  in  the  respective  branches 
and  cost  of  maintenance'* 

4.  Location  and  distance  of  each  from  main  library? 

5.  Number  of  volumes  in  each? 

6.  Number  of  volumes  added  annually  to  each,  and  their 
cost? 

7.  Are  volumes  in  branches  duplicates  of  those  in  the  main 
library? 

8.  Are  there  reading  rooms  in  the  branches  ? 

9.  How  extensively  are  they  supplied  with  newspapers  and 
periodicals? 

10.  What  facilities  are  provided  in  the  line  of  works  of 
reference,   cyclopedias,  dictionaries,  atlases,  etc.? 

11.  Can  patrons  of  branches  draw  books  from  the  main 
library? 

12  Is  this  done  directly  from  the  main  library,  or  only 
through  the  branches? 

13.  If  in  the  latter  way,  how  are  books  transported  from 
main  library  to  the  branches? 

14     Does  your  library  make  use  of  delivery  stations? 
15.    If  so,  how  many? 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES  251 

16.  Location  and  distance  of  each  from  the  main  library? 

17.  In  what  manner  and  how  often  are  collections  and  de- 
liveries made? 

18.  What  compensation  is  made  for  transportation? 

19.  What  for  services  of  station  keepers? 

20.  Total  circulation  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 189—? 

21.  Average  cost  of  circulating  each  volume? 

22  Wnat  proportion  of  your  entire  circulation  for  home 
reading  is  made  through  the  stations? 

23.  Are  there  reading  rooms  in  connection  with  them? 

24.  If  so,  expense  of  maintenance  for  services  and  supplies 
respectively? 

25.  Do  you  make  use  of  a  combination  of  branch  libraries 
and  delivery  stations?     If  so,  please  explain  their  working. 

26.  From  your  experience,  what  changes  would  you  make 
in  your  system  were  you  to  begin  again? 

Librarians  were  also  requested  to  send  all  information  as  to 
their  methods,  and  also  add  any  remarks  more  fully  explaining 
their  different  systems. 

From  about  175  letters  sent  out,  affirmative  replies  received 
from  47.  Either  from  want  of  statistics  or  a  want  of  appre- 
ciation of  the  information  desired,  many  replies  furnished  little 
of  value  as  to  methods  pursued  and  results  attained. 

Outside  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York,  there  is  hardly  a 
State  of  the  14  reporting  where  more  than  one  library  employs 
either  of  these  aids  to  circulation. 

Of  libraries  reporting  branches,  eight  report  I  branch,  five 
2  branches,  three  3  branches,  two  4  branches,  two  5  branches, 
one  9  branches,  one  13  branches,  or  a  total  of  67  branches. 

Of  libraries  reporting  delivery  stations,  five  report  I  station, 
three  2  stations,  four  3  stations,  two  4  stations,  two  6  stations, 
three  10  stations,  one  II  stations,  one  30  stations,  making  a  total 
of  114  deliveries. 

Of  those  reporting  both  branches  and  delivery  stations,  one 
reports  I  branch  and  2  delivery  stations,  one  I  branch  and  6 
delivery  stations,  one  4  branches  and  4  delivery  stations,  one  8 
branches  and  14  delivery  stations,  giving  a  total  of  15  branches 
and  26  delivery  stations. 

Taken  by  location  the  reports  stand  as  follows: 


252  GEOGE  WATSON  COLE 


Libraries      Branches      Deliveries 


California  

i 

0 

I 

Illinois  

2 

0 

33 

Indiana   

I 

o 

10 

Maryland    .  

I 

5 

0 

Massachusetts   , 

....     25 

25 

60 

Michigan  , 

I 

2 

0 

Minnesota  

I 

4 

4 

Missouri   

—       I 

i 

0 

Nebraska    

—       I 

0 

4 

New  Hampshire  

I 

0 

i 

New  Jersey  

—       I 

0 

ii 

New  York  

3 

7 

10 

Ohio     

i 

i 

o 

Wisconsin    

i 

i 

6 

England    

....       6 

35 

0 

Total    47  81  140 


A  list  giving  fuller  details  is  herewith  appended: 


States,  etc. Names,  etc. Branches   eriS 

California : 

San  Francisco Mercantile  Library  Assn I 

Illinois : 

Chicago Public  library 30 

Monmouth Warren  County  Library 3 

Indiana : 

Indianapolis Public  library a  10 

Maryland : 
Baltimore Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library.      5    

Massachusetts : 

Abington Public  library I  .... 

Agawam Free  public  library 3  .... 

Arlington Robbins  Library '    I 

Beverly Public  library i  2 

Boston do 8  14 

Brockton do bz    

Cambridge do 6 

Dedham do i 

Framingham Town   library 2 

Haverhill « Public  library 3 

Lanesboro Town  library bi     

Leicester Public  library ^3    


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES  253 


State,  etc.  Names,  etc.  Branches  ^JJ" 

Leverett Free  public  library i  .... 

Lexington Gary  Library i  

Newton Free  library 10 

Northampton Public  library i  

Norton do i 

Quincy Thomas  Crane  Library 4 

Revere Public  library 3 

Somerville do 2 

Templeton Boynton  Public  Library 3 

Weymouth Tufts  Library 6 

Windsor, Public  library 2  .... 

Woburn do i  .... 

Wrentham do 2 

Michigan : 

West  Bay  City Sage  Public  Library 2  .... 

Minnesota : 

Minneapolis Public  library 4  4 

Missouri: 

St.  Louis do i  

Nebraska : 

Omaha do 04 

New  Hampshire: 

Concord do i 

New  Jersey: 

Jersey  City Free  public  library n 

New  York: 

Brooklyn Brooklyn  Library 10 

New  York  City Free  circulating  library 5  

Do Mercantile  Library 2  

Ohio: 

Cleveland Public  library i  

Dayton .do (<£) 

Wisconsin : 

Milwaukee do I  6 

English  libraries 

Birmingham Free  libraries #9  .... 

Liverpool Free  public  library 3  

Newport do f% 

Nottingham ....do ™ 

Sheffield Public  library 4  '.*//. 

Swansea —  do 4 


a  To  be  opened   October,    1893.  d  Expect  to  start  delivery  stations. 

&  Branch  deliveries.  e  Two  now  being  built 

c Distributing  agencies.  /Branch  newsrooms. 


254  GEORGE  WATSON  COLE 

That  more  libraries  have  not  adopted  branches  or  delivery 
stations  is  because  their  establishment  is  an  experiment,  evolved 
in  the  growth  of  the  free  public  library  system. 

The  libraries  in  this  country,  as  elsewhere,  have  passed 
through  several  stages,  of  which  this  is  one  of  the  latest.  Where 
branches  or  deliveries  can  be  used  to  advantage  the  system  is 
destined  to  come  into  more  general  use. 

In  the  first  stage  of  library  development  more  attention  was 
paid  to  amassing  a  creditable  collection  of  books  than  to  putting 
it  to  a  practical  and  extensive  use  The  library,  looked  at  from 
this  standpoint,  became  a  mere  storehouse  where  information 
might  be  found  by  a  privileged  few,  provided  they  knew  where 
to  look  for  it  themselves,  which  was  extremely  doubtful;  or 
provided  the  custodian  of  the  collection  could  put  them  on  the 
track  of  the  information  for  which  they  were  in  search,  which, 
considering  the  lack  of  suitable  arrangement  and  catalogs,  was 
highly  improbable  Such  collections  of  books  began  to  be 
formed  in  this  country  contemporaneously  with  the  founding  of 
our  older  institutions  of  learning,  and  to  this  highly  commend- 
able spirit  we  owe  most  of  our  large  reference  libraries,  of 
which  the  college  and  State  libraries,  and  those  of  historical 
and  other  societies,  having  for  their  particular  aim  the  collecting 
of  books  on  special  subjects  are  excellent  types.  The  primary 
aim  of  these  libraries  was  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  restricted 
class— scholars  and  students  of  special  subjects— rather  than  to 
cater  to  the  intellectual  requirements  of  the  general  public. 

The  second  period  or  stage  of  library  development  was  be- 
gun when  attention  was  first  called  to  organizing  public  libraries 
about  forty  years  since  It  was  the  leading  principle  of  the 
originators  of  this  class  of  libraries  that  much  might  be  done 
for  the  cause  of  education  and  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
general  public  by  libraries  having  for  their  primary  aim  the  cir- 
culation of  books  for  home  reading.  As  the  people  were  to 
be  beneficiaries  it  was  but  another  step  in  this  movement  to 
decide  that  these  libraries  should  be  established  and  maintained 
at  the  expense  of  those  for  whose  benefit  they  had  been  called 
into  being.  Thus  rose  the  laws  for  the  founding  and  main- 
tenance of  public  libraries  by  taxation. 

In  this  country  the  Boston  Public  Library  stands  foremost 
as  a  type  of  this  class,  and  its  history  is  the  history  of  the  free 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES  255 

public  library  movement  which  forty  years  ago  began  to  stir  not 
only  this  country  but  England.  Following,  as  it  did,  the  first 
stage  of  library  development,  its  promoters  naturally  adhered 
strongly  to  the  ideas  which  had  prevailed  respecting  the  func- 
tions of  a  library  down  to  that  time.  We  therefore  see  in  its 
Bates  Hall  the  great  importance  attached  to  its  reference  de- 
partment. 

The  free  public  library  idea  spread  rapidly  in  New  England, 
and  especially  in  Massachusetts,  till  now  no  town  or  city  gov- 
ernment is  considered  to  have  performed  its  duty  to  its  citizens 
unless  it  has  provided  them  with  a  tax-supported  public  library. 

So  great  are  the  advantages  which  have  risen  from  founding 
public  libraries  that  the  policy  has  rapidly  spread  throughout 
the  country,  and  to-day  we  see  libraries  springing  up  in  nearly 
every  town  and  city  where  they  have  not  heretofore  been  estab- 
lished. This  impulse  has  been  greatly  accelerated  by  the  wide- 
reaching  work  of  the  American  Library  Association  since  its 
formation  in  1876,  and  its  active  career  has  doubtless  done 
more  to  advance  the  cause  of  the  free  public  library  movement 
in  this  country  than  all  other  causes  combined. 

Those  having  the  management  and  care  o£  our  public  li- 
braries at  heart  have  come  to  realize  that  the  mere  fact  that  a 
town  or  city  has  a  well-equipped  library,  from  which  the  public 
are  free  to  draw  books  for  home  reading,  does  not  necessarily 
mean  that  all  the  requirements  for  its  most  successful  operation 
are  fulfilled.  A  prominent  librarian  has  well  said  that  the  time 
has  come  when  it  is  as  unreasonable  to  require  the  people  of  a 
large  town  or  city  to  depend  on  a  single  library  from  which 
alone  they  can  draw  their  books  as  it  is  to  require  them  to  buy 
all  their  groceries  or  meat  at  one  store  or  market,  or  that  they 
shall  all  attend  the  same  church. 

This  spirit  has  brought  about  the  third  stage  of  library  de- 
velopment in  which  its  promoters  aim  to  carry  the  library  and 
its  benign  influences  to  the  very  doors  of  the  people.  This 
stage  is  one  of  recent  growth ;  it  might  perhaps  be  more  accurate 
to  say  it  is  even  now  in  its  formative  period,  for  outside  one 
or  two  leading  libraries,  branches  and  delivery  stations  are 
creations  of  the  last  few  years,  and  are  even  yet  in  their  ex- 
perimental state,  though  in  nearly  every  case  yielding  surpris- 
ingly  gratifying  results. 


256  GEORGE  WATSON  COLE 

No  reference  was  made  to  this  phase  of  library  effort  in 
the  1876  report  on  public  libraries,  exhaustive  as  was  that  docu- 
ment, and  we  look  in  vain  for  much  light  on  this  subject  in 
the  Library  Journal,  which  contains  the  fullest  history  of  the 
libraries  of  this  country  that  can  elsewhere  be  found. 

While  it  is  generally  admitted  that  in  towns  or  cities  of  large 
area  or  having  distinct  centers  of  population  the  benefits  of 
branches  or  delivery  stations  are  great,  there  is  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  which  is  better.  In  many  places  the  difference 
in  expense  settles  the  question  of  itself,  as  delivery  stations  can 
be  successfully  carried  on  at  a  far  less  cost  than  branches.  It 
may  be  questioned  whether,  in  cases  where  funds  permit  a 
choice,  it  is  good  policy  to  use  public  money  in  building  up  a 
series  of  branches,  which  are  largely  counterparts  of  each  other 
and  of  the  main  library;  thus  scattering  funds  in  forming  sev- 
eral small  libraries,  rather  than  in  building  up  a  strong  central 
library. 

Branches  and  delivery  stations  are  managed  in  various  ways: 

I.  Delwery  stations. — We  find  the  delivery  station  pure  and 
simple,  where  books  are  collected  and  sent  to  the  main  library, 
and  are  there  exchanged  for  new  ones  which  are  returned  to 
the  station  where  the  borrowers  get  them.  All  accounts  are 
kept  at  the  library,  the  station  being  only  a  conduit  through 
which  books  are  sent  and  received 

The  library  reporting  the  largest  number  of  delivery  stations, 
without  other  appendages,  such  as  reading  rooms  or  reference 
libraries,  is  the  Jersey  City  Free  Public  Library.  This  library 
first  opened  7  stations,  October  i,  1891.  Their  number  has 
since  been  increased  till  now  n  are  in  successful  operation.  They 
are  located  from  I  to  4  miles  from  the  library.  Collections  are 
made  in  the  morning,  and  deliveries  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day  by  a  hired  delivery  wagon.  About  $2,000  a  year  is  now 
paid  for  transportation.  The  station  keepers  are  paid  one-third 
of  a  cent  for  each  volume,  or  borrower's  card,  returned  to  the 
library.  The  total  circulation  for  the  year  ending  November 
30,  1892,  was  172,225  volumes,  or  499  per  cent  of  the  total 
circulation  for  home  reading.  The  tofal  cost  of  maintaining 
these  branches  was  $2,230.54,  an  average  of  nearly  I  3  cents  a 
volume. 

2.    Distributing  agencies.— The  plan  suggested  by  the  New 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES  257 

Hampshire  board  of  library  commissioners  uses  what  may  be 
called  distributing  agencies,  in  distinction  from  delivery  stations. 
Enough  books  to  meet  requirements  are  sent  to  these  agencies 
at  stated  intervals,  say  of  one,  three,  or  six  months.  For  the 
time  being  these  form  the  stock  of  the  agency,  and  are  dis- 
tributed to  borrowers  and  returned  to  be  circulated  again  and 
again,  till  they  are  replaced  by  a  new  supply  from  the  main 
library.  While  they  are  at  the  agency  all  accounts  with  the 
borrowers  are  kept  there  independently  of  the  main  library. 
The  first  report  says: 

One  of  the  most  troublesome  questions  arising  in  many  towns 
whenever  the  establishment  of  a  library  is  advocated  is  that  of 
location.  Local  jealousies  are  stirred  up  afresh  and  sometimes 
with  the  result  of  hindering  the  establishment  of  a  library.  In 
several  cases,  where  there  were  two  or  more  villages  in  a  town 
there  has  been  a  disposition  to  establish  an  independent  library 
in  each  village.  It  has  been  the  policy  of  our  board  to  recom- 
mend the  establishment  of  one  central  library,  and  then,  if  it  was 
found  necessary  to  have  some  better  facilities  for  the  distribution 
of  books,  that  distributing  agencies  be  established  as  might  be  con- 
venient. In  this  way  all  records  could  be  kept  at  the  central 
library,  and  whenever  books  were  transferred  to  the  agency 
the  same  could  be  charged  and  then  credited  when  returned. 

The  manifest  advantage  of  such  a  system  is  that  the  library 
accounts  could  be  more  accurately  kept  ^than  if  the  libraries 
were  more  or  less  independent;  and,  again,  the  exact  location 
of  every  book  could  at  any  time  be  ascertained  at  the  central 
library  (p.  n,  12). 

Then  follow  resolutions  and  rules  relating  to  their  operation. 

One  small  library  only,  the  Leicester  (Mass.)  Public  Library, 
reports  this  plan  in  operation.  It  originated  at  that  place  in 
1869,  and  there  are  four  agencies,  which  have  been  in  operation 
ever  since.  These  agencies  are  not  strictly  such  as  are  planned 
by  the  New  Hampshire  commission,  inasmuch  as  it  is  reported 
that  they  have  "a  very  few  permanent  volumes."  The  town 
numbers  3,000  inhabitants,  and  the  total  annual  income  for 
library  purposes  is  but  $480.  About  60  volumes  are  sent  quar- 
terly to  each  of  its  four  agencies.  This  interesting  case  shows 
what  can  be  done  in  small  towns  with  limited  incomes. 

The  public  library  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  also  that  at  Mil- 
waukee, Wis.,  is  successfully  carrying  on  a  similar  work,  but 
uses  schools  instead  of  agencies  as  distributing  points.  A  full 
account  of  the  working  of  this  plan  is  given  by  W.  H.  Brett, 


258  GEORGE  WATSON  COLE 

librarian  of  Cleveland,  in  a  paper  on  "The  relations  of  the 
public  library  to  the  public  schools,"  read  by  him  before  the 
department  of  superintendence  of  the  National  Educational  As- 
sociation, held  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y,  February,  1892.  This  paper 
is  printed  in  full  in  the  proceedings,  and  has  been  separately 
reprinted. 

3.  Delivery  stations  with  reading  rooms.— Probably  the  best, 
and  certainly  the  largest,  example  of  delivery  stations,  at  which 
are  reading  rooms  and  a  small  library  containing  only  books  of 
reference,  is  that  of  the  Chicago  Public  Library.  This  library 
has  30  delivery  stations,  located  at  from  I  to  7  miles  from  the 
library.  Collections  and  deliveries  are  made  the  same  day  by 
four  delivery  wagons,  each  of  which  is  paid  $1,350  a  year.  The 
station  keepers  are  paid  $10  a  month  for  500  volumes  or  less; 
$2  a  hundred  from  500  to  1,000  volumes,  and  $i  for  each  100 
volumes  over  1,000.  The  total  circulation  through  the  delivery 
stations  during  the  year  ending  May  31,  1893,  was  422,812  vol- 
umes, or  about  43  per  cent  of  the  entire  circulation,  the  average 
cost  of  circulating  each  volume  being  about  2.87  cents. 

At  six  of  these  branches  are  reading  rooms,  each  containing 
a  file  of  from  80  to  100  periodicals,  and  from  500  to  1,500  vol- 
umes for  reference  use  only.  These  were  maintained  in  1892- 
93  at  a  total  expense  of  $12,114.51. 

4.  Branch  libraries. — We  find  branch  libraries  pure  and 
simple,  or  those  that  circulate  their  books  independently  of  the 
main  library,  but  which  report  to  it,  and  whose  borrowers  are 
permitted  to  use  it  whenever  they  wish  to  do  so. 

The  best  example  of  this  class  is  the  Enoch  Pratt  Library, 
of  Baltimore.  This  library  was  started  in  1886  with  four 
branch  libraries,  costbg  $50,000;  a  fifth  has  since  been  added. 

These  branch  libraries  are  in  different  quarters  of  the  city, 
from  2  to  4  miles  distant  from  the  central  library.  They  are 
stocked  with  45,363  volumes,  or  more  than  half  as  many  as 
are  in  the  main  library  at  Mulberry  street,  which  contains  77,410 
volumes.  These  branches  therefore  represent  an  expenditure 
of  not  far  from  $100,000.  Two  assistants  and  a  janitor  are  em- 
ployed in  each  branch  at  an  annual  cost  of  $840.  The  buildings 
will  hold  about  15,000  volumes  each,  but  it  is  proposed  to  limit 
the  number  to  10,000.  This  limit  has  already  been  nearly 
reached.  The  reading  rooms  are  supplied  with  from  20  to  30 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES  259 

current  periodicals,  but  newspapers  are  not  taken.  A  few  ref- 
erence works  are  also  provided  in  each. 

During  the  year  ending  January  I,  1893,  there  were  circu- 
lated from  these  branches  184,500  volumes,  or  a  little  over  40 
per  cent,  of  the  entire  circulation  of  the  library,  which  was 
452,733  volumes.  A  comparison  of  the  average  expense  of  cir- 
culating each  volume  would  be  interesting,  but  want  of  sufficient 
data  prevents  this  being  given. 

The  librarian,  Bernard  C.  Steiner,  believes  in  delivery  to 
branches,  and  intends  to  introduce  it,  in  which  case  he  would 
probably  buy  fewer  books  directly  for  the  branches,  thus  keep- 
ing the  number  of  volumes  in  the  branch  libraries  within  the 
proposed  limits. 

5.  Combined  branch  libraries  and  delivery  stations.— The 
most  prominent  of  the  few  examples  of  this  combined  system 
is  the  Boston  Public  Library.  It  carries  on  8  branches  and  14 
deliveries.  There  are  in  these  branches  139,281  volumes,  rang- 
ing from  32410  in  the  Roxbury  branch  to  11,192  in  the  South 
End  branch.  In  these  branches  42  persons  are  employed  as 
librarians  and  assistants.  In  their  reading  rooms  the  best  monthly 
and  weekly  illustrated  papers  are  supplied,  and  each  branch  is 
provided  with  good  cyclopedias,  dictionaries,  and  other  works 
of  reference.  Fourteen  delivery  stations  are  conducted  in  con- 
nection with  the  main  library  and  its  branches.  Deliveries  are 
made  not  only  to  the  delivery  stations,  but  also  to  the  branches, 
in  strong  boxes,  sent  out  daily  by  express.  The  station  keepers 
are  paid  $250  a  year  for  services,  rent,  and  light.  In  some  of 
the  deliveries  are  reading  rooms.  During  1892,  there  were  dis- 
tributed through  the  branches  and  deliveries  479,632  volumes 
(if  we  read  the  report  correctly)  out  of  a  total  circulation  for 
home  reading  of  719,063. 

In  this  case  the  establishment  of  branch  libraries  was  not 
undertaken  till  after  the  main  library  had  amassed  a  collection 
of  over  150,000  volumes,  thus  having  a  strong  central  library 
with  which  to  begin  its  extending  work.  The  gradual  growth 
of  the  city  by  the  annexation  of  its  various  suburbs  gave  it  an 
opportunity  of  bringing  under  its  management  the  various  li- 
braries which  had  previously  been  independent.  This  was  of 
great  advantage  to  the  smaller  libraries,  as  practically  they 


26o  GEORGE  WATSON   COLE 

added  to  their  own  resources  those  of  the  public  library,  which 
was  many  times  their  size. 

Unless  the  parent  library  is  already  firmly  established  and 
has  a  large  and  strong  collection  of  its  own,  with  abundant 
financial  support  to  carry  it  on  successfully,  as  in  this  case,  it 
may  not  be  wise  to  scatter  its  funds  in  forming  branches.  No 
city  seems  better  adapted  by  geographic  conformation  and  vari- 
ous centers  of  population  for  carrying  on  successfully  a  system 
of  branches  and  delivery  stations  than  Boston,  yet  the  libra- 
rian, T.  F.  Dwight,  thinks  that  were  the  work  to  be  begun 
anew  he  would  employ  delivery  stations  only. 

Other  means  of  increasing  the  usefulness  of  libraries,  of  an 
analogous  nature,  are  carried  on  by  many  libraries,  such  as  the 
departmental  libraries  in  colleges  and  universities.  There  is, 
however,  this  distinction,  the  departmental  library  is  the  setting 
aside  in  a  convenient  location  of  books  relating  to  a  special 
subject  or  group  of  subjects  for  use  by  those  making  special 
studies  in  those  subjects,  eg.,  chemical  books  in  a  laboratory, 
botanical  works  in  an  herbarium,  or  books  on  political  economy 
in  its  class  room.  This  does  not  contemplate  that  the  books 
shall  be  duplicated  in  the  main  library;  it  is  rather  a  practical 
sequestration  to  make  them  more  useful  or  convenient  to  those 
specially  interested  in  them. 

Branch  libraries,  on  the  contrary,  while  not  actually  con- 
templating a  duplication  of  the  central  library,  really  becomes 
so  to  a  very  great  extent 

Another  means  of  creating  interest  in  books  and  their  use 
is  illustrated  by  the  traveling  libraries  now  sent  out  from  the 
State  library  in  Albany  to  different  parts  of  New  York.  This 
method  is  analogous  to  the  distributing  agencies  recommended 
by  the  New  Hampshire  State  library  commission,  but  has  a 
larger  area  of  usefulness  and  is  designed  primarily  to  stimulate 
an  interest  in  reading  and  the  eventual  founding  of  libraries 
in  the  places  to  which  they  are  sent. 

To  sum  up,  it  seems  to  be  the  generally  accepted  opinion,  so 
far  as  can  be  discovered  from  the  libraries  making  use  of  either 
of  these  systems  or  their  variants,  that  in  large  cities  or  towns 
where  existing  libraries  can  be  brought  under  the  management 
of  a  strong,  well-equipped,  and  efficiently  managed  public  li- 
brary, the  arrangement  is  for  their  mutual  advantage. 


BRANCHES  AND   DELIVERIES  261 

If,  however,  the  enterprise  is  a  new  one,  it  is  thought  by 
many  a  much  better  policy  to  confine  the  collection  of  books 
to  a  single  main  library,  making  it  large  and  strong  in  works 
which  individuals  can  not  afford  to  buy  for  themselves — ex- 
pensive art  works,  scientific  and  technical  works,  sets  of  peri- 
odicals, publications  of  learned  societies,  dictionaries  of  various 
languages,  etc.  A  library  thus  thoroughly  equipped  is  a  power 
in  its  community,  and  may  then  well  become  a  point  from  which 
distribution  can  be  made  to  different  localities  within  its  area 
by  deliveries  and  agencies. 

The  question  as  to  the  best  system  for  any  particular  library 
to  follow  must,  therefore,  be  largely  one  of  policy,  governed  by 
local  requirements  and  the  means  which  the  library  can  com- 
mand. 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES 

The  success  of  a  library  may  be  properly  measured  by 
the  extent  of  its  use.  Anything  that  will  help  to  in- 
crease its  use,  therefore,  must  tend  toward  its  success. 
Experience  has  shown  that  many  persons  who  will  not 
go  far  out  of  their  way  to  secure  books  for  home  read- 
ing will  use  a  library  if  its  books  are  brought  conven- 
iently to  them. 

The  following  paper  by  Killer  C.  Wellman,  then  li- 
brarian of  the  Brookline,  Massachusetts,  Public  Library, 
was  prepared  for  the  Lakewood-on-Chautauqua  Con- 
ference of  the  A.L.A.,  July  1898. 

Hiller  Crowell  Wellman  was  born  in  Boston,  Mas- 
sachusetts, March  2,  1871.  From  1894-1896  he  was  as- 
sistant in  the  Boston  Athenaeum;  from  there  he  went 
as  supervisor  of  branches,  to  the  Boston  Public  Library 
where  he  remained  until  1898.  From  1898-1902  he 
was  librarian  of  the  Brookline,  Massachusetts,  Public 
Library.  Since  then  he  has  been  librarian  of  the  City 
Library  Association,  Springfield,  Massachusetts.  He 
was  president  of  the  A.L.A.  1914-1915. 

In  the  absence  of  recent  reports  this  paper1  must  attempt 
rather  a  description  of  branch  systems  now  in  operation  than 
a  mere  summary  of  progress  for  the  year.  Closely  allied  with 
a  branch  system  are  the  delivery  to  schools  of  books  charged 
on  cards,  and  the  travelling  library  plan  of  sending  small  col- 
lections for  temporary  use  at  schools,  charitable  and  religious 
associations,  hospitals,  city  institutions,  fire  companies,  etc.  In 

aNoTE. — The  sources  of  information  in  the  following  report  are: 
G  W.  Cole,  "Branches  and  deliveries"  in  the  "Papers  prepared  for 
the  World's  Library  Congress,  1893;"  A.  E.  Bostwick,  "Branch,  libraries" 
in  the  Library  Journal,  Jan.,  1898,  vol.  23,  no.  i;  the  annual  reports  of 
various  libraries,  and  especially  those  of  the  Boston  Public  t  Library  for 
1896-97  and  for  1897-98;  correspondence  with  certain  librarians  and  in- 
spection of  branches  and  deliveries  m  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Newark, 
Jersey  City,  New  York,  Boston* 


264  KILLER  CROWELL  WELLMAN 

Boston,  for  instance,  all  such  agencies  to  the  number  of  30  are 
comprised  and  administered  under  the  branch  department.  But 
discussion  must  here  be  confined  to  public  agencies  of  distri- 
bution— such  as  stations,  reading-rooms,  and  branches. 

DELIVERIES 

The  simplest  form  of  delivery  is  not  a  station,  but  a  home 
delivery  by  messenger  such  as  is  in  operation  at  the  Mercantile 
Library  of  New  York.  "For  two  dollars  per  year  books  are 
delivered  to  any  part  of  New  York  south  of  the  Harlem  River. 
No  limitations  are  placed  upon  the  number  of  books  which  may 
be  delivered  for  this  sum,  excepting  that  the  extra  books  which 
are  permitted  to  be  taken  in  the  summer  cannot  be  delivered 
under  this  arrangement."  (77th  annual  report,  1897,  p.  n.) 

Mr.  Peoples,  the  librarian,  writes:  "We  have  members  who 
get  as  many  as  three  and  four  deliveries  each  week  for  at  least 
eight  months  in  the  year."  The  library  also  sells  a  postal  card 
to  members  (not  paying  by  the  year)  "for  five  and  ten  cents 
each,  which  insures  the  delivery  and  return  of  one  book."  "We 
start  the  messengers  on  the  deliveries  for  the  residences  at 
about  two  o'clock  pm.  each  day.  We  divide  the  city  east  and 
west  and  make  deliveries  to  each  side  on  alternate  days;  three 
times  per  week  on  the  east  side  and  the  same  for  the  west  side. 
The  books  are  carried  in  straps,  and  when  the  bundles  are  not 
too  large  we  always  utilize  the  surface  street  cars.  These  mes- 
sengers are  regular  employes  of  the  library."  8417  volumes  were 
so  delivered  last  year. 

The  advantages  of  this  arrangement  over  the  old  system  of 
delivery  stations  appear  to  be  sufficient  here  to  induce  the  bor- 
rower himself  to  bear  the  expense  of  transportation.  I  know 
of  no  public  library  employing  this  system,  and,  if  substituted 
for  delivery  stations,  it  would  cut  off  the  poorer  public  unless 
the  expense  were  borne  by  the  library.  The  scheme  is  of  in- 
terest, however,  as  a  possible  future  line  of  development 

DELIVERY  STATIONS 

The  type  of  delivery  station  almost  universal  is  that  located 
in  a  store  and  administered  by  the  proprietor.  He  receives  the 
books  returned  and  forwards  them  with  the  cards  to  be  dis- 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES  265 

charged  at  the  central  library.  He  also  hands  out  the  books 
charged  and  sent  to  him  from  the  central  library.  Under  this 
arrangement  the  responsibility  of  the  proprietor  is  at  a  minimum, 
consisting  in  handing  out  and  receiving  books  and  forwarding 
them,  together  with  fines,  cards,  and  applications  for  registration. 
In  many  cases  he  is  not  even  required  to  compute  fines,  but 
the  account  is  sent  to  him  daily  from  the  central  library. 

For  such  service  he  sometimes  receives  a  fixed  sum,  ranging 
from  almost  nothing  to  as  high  as  $250  per  year,  the  amount 
most  often  paid  being,  perhaps,  in  the  neighborhood  of  $100. 
It  is  becoming  more  common  now  to  pay  station  agents  accord- 
ing to  their  circulation.  Here,  too,  rates  vary.  Jersey  City  pays 
one-third  of  a  cent  for  each  book  or  borrower's  card  sent  to 
the  library.  Newark  pays  one  cent  for  each  volume  circulated 
up  to  looo  volumes  per  month,  and  half  a  cent  for  each  volume 
additional.  The  rate  at  the  Chicago  Public  Library  has  been 
$10  per  month  for  500  volumes  or  less,  $2  a  hundred  from  500 
to  1000  volumes,  and  $i  for  each  100  volumes  over  1000.  At 
St.  Louis,  I  am  told,  the  free  advertising  consequent  on  keeping 
a  station  is  sufficient  to  create  competition  for  the  privilege 
among  storekeepers,  without  any  other  remuneration.  A  com- 
pensation based  on  circulation  seems  to  be  preferred  by  those 
librarians  who  have  had  experience  with  both. 

"The  new  method  makes  it  to  their  (the  station  agents')  in- 
terest to  interest  the  local  constituency,  to  provide  ample  and 
attractive  accommodations,  to  advertise  these,  and  to  win  popu- 
larity for  the  station  by  adequate  and  attentive  service."  (Bos- 
ton Public  Library,  Annual  report,  1896-97.) 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  new  delivery  stations  are  rapidly 
being  established,  their  desirability  is  sometimes  questioned  The 
president  of  the  New  York  Mercantile  Library  Association  says : 
"We  believe  this  system  (home  delivery)  far  preferable  and 
much  more  advantageous  in  every  way  for  our  members  than 
the  old  plan  of  delivery  stations  in  vogue  many  years  ago,  and 
which  had  to  be  abandoned  for  the  reason  that  it  did  not  give 
satisfaction  either  to  the  library  members  or  to  the  library 
management  We  are  sometimes  adversely  criticised  for  not 
rehabilitating  this  system. 

"While  delivery  stations  without  opportunities  of  examining 
or  inspecting  the  books  may  answer  very  well  for  free  libraries, 


266  HILLER  CROWELL  WELLMAN 

in  our  opinion  they  are  not  suitable  and  cannot  be  made  to 
give  satisfaction  to  the  classes  composing  our  membership." 
(Annual  report,  1897,  p.  12 ) 

The  same  objections  are  felt  by  public  libraries.  The  chief 
of  them  are:  (i)  Two  trips  necessary,  one  to  apply  for  the 
book  the  other  to  get  it;  (2)  the  consequent  delay;  (3)  the 
liability  of  not  securing  a  book  asked  for  and  the  necessity 
of  going  without  any  book  until  another  application  can  be 
tried;  (4)  the  lack  of  opportunity  to  examine  the  book  before 
selecting. 

To  obviate  these  difficulties,  the  Boston  Public  Library  has 
developed  the  plan  known  as  the  deposit  system.  From  300  to 
500  volumes  are  sent  to  each  of  the  17  delivery  stations  and 
placed  on  the  shelves,  where  they  may  be  handled  freely  by  the 
public.  They  are  then  allowed  to  circulate  directly  from  the 
station,  being  charged  and  discharged  there.  Somewhat  more 
than  half  of  the  collection  is  fiction,  the  rest  history,  biography, 
travel,  literature,  science.  Great  care  is  taken  to  choose  books 
of  a  high  grade,  and  yet  of  a  character  sufficiently  popular  to 
serve  as  recreative  reading.  The  library  now  has  more  than 
5000  volumes  devoted  exclusively  to  this  use.  The  character 
of  the  collection  on  deposit  at  the  station  is  varied  by  the  ex- 
change of  50  volumes  monthly. 

The  deposit  feature  is  by  no  means  intended  to  supersede 
the  regular  delivery,  but  to  supplement  it,  and  the  plan  has 
proved  very  popular  and  highly  successful.  It  seems  to  over- 
come the  main  objections  to  the  delivery  station,  inasmuch  as 
(i)  if  the  borrower  wants  merely  an  entertaining  book  to  read, 
he  can  get  it  without  two  trips;  (2)  he  can  get  it  without 
delay;  (3)  if  unsuccessful  in  his  application  to  the  central 
library,  he  need  not  go  empty  away;  and  (4)  in  drawing  a  book 
from  the  deposit,  he  has  the  privilege  of  examining  several 
hundred  volumes.  But  perhaps  the  strongest  claim  for  the  de- 
posit system  is  based  in  the  fact  that  by  it  a  better  class  of 
reading  can  be  circulated  than  in  almost  any  other  way.  With 
a  sprinkling  of  fiction  as  a  bait,  the  borrower  finds  himself 
handling  a  set  of  most  excellent  books.  The  practical  con- 
venience of  taking  one  of  these  immediately  rather  than  waiting 
to  send  to  the  central  library  will  alone  determine  him  many 
times  in  favor  of  a  better  book.  So  that  even  the  "best  books 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES  267 

of  all  time,  which,"  Mr.  Dana  says,  "no  one  reads,"  stand  a 
good  chance. 

A  system  of  this  sort  must,  of  course,  require  more  from  the 
station  agent.  Where  a  simple  delivery  needs  merely  a  shelf 
for  storing  the  books  previous  to  handling  them  over  the  coun- 
ter, a  deposit  station  requires  a  separate  room  or  section  of 
the  store— usually  at  least  12  feet  square — to  accommodate  book 
cases,  chairs  and  a  table,  where  books  and  catalogs  may  be 
consulted.  More  labor  also  is  demanded  from  the  agent.  He 
must  charge  and  discharge  the  books,  send  fine  notices,  collect 
fines,  remove  books  in  need  of  binding,  pay  for  volumes  stolen, 
report  monthly  statistics,  etc.,  etc  For  all  this,  including  light, 
heat,  rent,  and  service,  the  Boston  Public  Library  pays  $12  for 
the  first  300  volumes  or  less  circulated  monthly,  and  two  cents 
for  each  volume  additional.  In  comparisons  of  rate,  howe\er, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  under  this  system  the  central  library 
was  last  year  relieved  of  recording  a  circulation  of  some  150,000 
volumes. 

The  deposit  system  is  worthy  of  consideration  as  the  latest 
and  most  significant  development  of  stations.  It  is  noteworthy 
also  that  in  spite  of  the  attractiveness  of  the  deposit  feature, 
which,  since  its  introduction  in  Boston  two  years  ago  has  in- 
creased the  use  of  the  stations  fourfold,  this  increase  has  not 
taken  place  at  the  expense  of  the  daily  delivery,  which  has  like- 
wise shown  a  marked  gain. 

TRANSPORTATION 

Most  libraries  prefer  to  hire  their  own  wagons,  at  a  cost  of 
about  $25  per  week  for  horse,  wagon,  and  driver,  each  team 
capable  of  covering  nearly  40  miles  per  day  The  employment 
of  such  wagons  may  or  may  not  be  more  economical  than  local 
expresses — according  to  the  number  and  location  of  the  stations — 
but  the  greater  gain  lies  in  the  regularity  of  the  service. 

The  books  are  carried  in  all  sorts  of  boxes,  chests,  and 
trunks.  The  form  preferred  in  Boston,  and  recently  adopted 
in  Worcester,  is  a  heavy  wooden  chest,  bound  with  iron  straps 
and  corners,  two  feet  long,  one  foot  deep,  and  one  foot  wide. 
It  is  fitted  with  a  sliding  cover,  and  also  a  sliding  partition  to 
be  used  when  the  box  is  but  partially  filled.  Such  boxes  cost 


268  HILLER  CROWELL  WELLMAN 

$575  each,  wear  a  long  time,  and  furnish  good  protection  for 
the  books.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Jersey  City  Library  obtains 
good  results  with  an  ordinary,  light,  extension  or  "telescope" 
bag,  made  of  cloth  or  paper  material 

BRANCH  READING-ROOMS 

Many  libraries  in  connection  with  a  delivery  system  main- 
tain branch  reading-rooms.  These  differ  from  stations  in  being 
located  m  rooms  hired  by  the  library,  and  in  being  admin- 
istered by  a  regular  library  employe.  Besides  providing  peri- 
odicals, they  frequently  contain  reference-books  and  sometimes 
books  for  circulation.  In  Boston  a  reading-room  can  be  sup- 
ported at  an  average  cost  of  $1,000  per  year.  Besides  offering 
attractive  quarters  for  reading  to  persons  without  good  homes, 
the  reading-room  has  a  great  advantage  over  the  station  in 
affording  opportunity  for  personal  work  by  a  skilful  attendant 
in  guiding  the  choice  of  reading. 

BRANCHES 

The  term  "branch"  is  used  to  denote  an  institution— such  as 
may  be  found  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
and  elsewhere— much  more  elaborate  than  a  mere  reading-room, 
even  when  the  latter  contains  a  stock  of  books  for  circulation 
For  the  reading-room  is  primarily  a  distributing  agency,  with 
provision  in  addition  for  recreative  reading  on  the  premises, 
while  a  branch  performs  also  the  more  serious  uses  of  a  small 
independent  library,  and  in  connection  with  the  central  library 
still  other  functions.  A  well-equipped  branch,  in  addition  to 
the  work-rooms  needed  for  administrative  purposes,  provides 
accommodations  for  a  delivery-room,  a  general  reference  or 
reading-room,  a  periodical  reading-room,  a  study-room  for 
school  classes  and  clubs,  and  whenever  possible  a  separate  chil- 
dren's room.  There  are  many  small  branches  which  do  not 
enjoy  such  extended  facilities,  but  there  are  others  which  ap- 
proximate such  requirements — many  providing  for  most  of  these 
departments  of  work  and  some  for  all.  The  plans  for  the 
Lawrenceville  branch  at  Pittsburgh  include  a  lecture  hall  also. 

Mr.  Bostwick's  very  full  discussion  of  branch  administration 
in  the  Library  Journal  for  January,  1898,  renders  unnecessary 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES  269 

an  extended  treatment  here.  In  general  a  branch  has  the  cus- 
tomary records — register,  shelf-list,  accessions  book,  and  cata- 
log; but  at  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  the  branch  accession 
books  are  kept  at  the  central  library.  The  ordering  is  almost 
always  done  at  the  central  library,  while  the  cataloging  is  done 
at  the  branches  in  the  Aguilar  and  Free  Circulating  libraries, 
New  York,  at  the  central  library  in  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and 
Boston.  In  the  latter  case  the  cards  are  printed.  In  Boston 
there  is  at  the  central  library  a  union  branch  catalog,  and  a 
union  shelf-list  is  in  progress ,  the  main  register  and  accessions 
book  include  the  central  library  with  the  branch  records  in 
duplicate. 

"Pratt  Institute  has  a  union  accession  book  but  no  union 
catalog  nor  register;  Baltimore  has  a  union  shelf-list  and  a 
printed  union  finding  list;  Philadelphia  has  an  official  union 
catalog  at  the  central  library.  In  New  York  the  Aguilar  has 
no  union  accession  book,  register,  or  catalog;  the  Free  Circu- 
lating has  a  union  shelf-list  and  is  making  a  union  card  catalog, 
a  duplicate  of  which  it  is  intended  to  place  in  every  branch." 
(A.  E.  Bostwick  in  Library  Journal,  Jan.,  '98.) 

Baltimore,  printing  frequent  editions  of  the  union  finding 
list,  furnishes  no  other  catalog  at  the  branch  Elsewhere  a 
separate  card  catalog  is  usually  located  at  each.  In  Boston  and 
at  the  New  York  Free  Circulating  Library  separate  printed 
catalogs  have  been  issued  in  times  past,  but  both  issue  now 
union  bulletins  or  lists  In  Boston  it  is  intended  to  make  the 
collections  at  the  different  branches  fairly  uniform,  to  print 
a  union  finding  list  containing  the  more  important  titles  which 
will  be  found  in  all  the  branches,  and  to  supplement  this  with 
a  complete  card  catalog  at  each  branch 

Uniformity  in  the  numbering  of  books  at  all  branches  exists 
in  Pratt  Institute,  Baltimore,  and  the  Aguilar,  and  has  been 
considered  of  so  great  importance  as  to  justify  renumbering 
in  the  New  York  Free  Circulating  and  the  Boston  Public 
libraries.  It  is,  of  course,  an  absolute  requisite  for  union  lists. 

At  libraries  employing  delivery  stations  the  borrower's  card 
is  good  at  either  the  main  library  or  any  station.  With  libraries 
having  branches  the  practice  is  commonly  the  contrary.  While 
in  Baltimore  the  same  card  is  good  at  the  central  library  or 
the  branch,  "no  person  may  have  out  books  at  two  branches  at 


270  HILLER  CROWELL  WELLMAN 

the  same  time."  In  Philadelphia  a  card  is  good  at  one  branch 
only,  although  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  a  person  from  hav- 
ing cards  at  more  than  one.  In  the  New  York  Free  Circulating 
Library  also  separate  cards  are  issued  for  each  branch. 

The  Boston  Public  Library  is  peculiar  in  comprising  branches 
as  well  as  stations  and  reading-rooms.  Great  importance, 
therefore,  is  attached  to  coordinating  these  various  agencies 
and  welding  the  whole  into  one  closely  joined  system.  As  a 
means  of  furthering  this  end,  besides  the  delivery  to  stations 
and  reading-rooms,  six  of  the  stations  are  also  similarly  con- 
nected  with  neighboring  branches,  and  a  daily  collection  and 
.delivery  is  maintained  between  the  central  library  and  each 
branch.  The  same  card  is  good  at  any  agency;  the  books  may 
be  drawn  directly  at  different  branches  or  stations,  or  they  may 
be  drawn  at  any  one  place  from  any  others;  and  these  books 
no  matter  where  drawn  may  be  returned  at  any  branch  or  sta- 
tion, and  there  they  will  be  discharged  from  the  card,  fines 
collected,  and  the  card  handed  back  at  once  to  the  borrower. 
This  free  exchange  makes  possible  the  performance  of  functions 
in  connection  with  the  central  library  which  would  be  beyond 
the  resources  of  independent  or  isolated  branches.  For,  in  the 
first  place,  any  book  in  the  entire  system  which  circulates  is 
accessible  at  any  point.  Agab,  at  the  request  of  any  school  or 
club— or  even  of  an  individual—studying  a  special  subject,  the 
material  in  the  branch  is  set  aside  for  use  in  the  study-room. 
In  addition— when  desired— the  resources  of  the  branch  are 
supplemented  by  a  special  collection  sent  from  the  central  li- 
brary to  the  branch  on  temporary  deposit,  and  these  books  may 
be  drawn  by  the  regular  card  or  reserved  for  use  on  the  prem- 
ises. Similar  collections  are  also  sent  on  request  to  the  sta- 
tions and  reading-rooms. 

In  this  connection  portfolios  of  pictures,  reproductions  of 
works  of  art,  antiquities,  costumes,  and  illustrations  of  history 
or  travel  are  sent  from  the  central  library  to  the  branches  for 
exhibition.  Such  exhibitions—sometimes  of  general  interest, 
sometimes  relating  to  topics  under  study  in  the  schools-are 
held  at  each  branch  monthly.  Special  sets  of  illustrations  are 
sent  so  far  as  possible  whenever  asked  for,  the  school  teacher 
not  infrequently  taking  her  whole  class  to  the  study-room  and 
giving  a  talk  illustrated  by  the  pictures  and  books 


BRANCHES  AND  DELIVERIES  271 

The  collections  of  books  in  branch  libraries  vary  in  size  from 
3000  or  4000  to  35,000  volumes.  In  Boston,  where  exchange 
is  easy  and  the  great  central  reservoir  may  be  drawn  on,  15,000 
volumes  is  considered  a  fair  average.  It  is  intended  to  keep 
this  collection  fresh  by  discarding  or  transferring  to  the  central 
library  books  which  pass  out  of  date.  According  to  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Examining  Committee,  "It  is  desirable  that 
the  books  in  the  branch  collection  should  be  as  active  as  pos- 
sible. Apart  from  an  ample  supply  of  periodicals,  both  popular 
and  solid,  the  branch  collection  should  consist  of:  (a),  the 
fundamental  works  of  reference;  (b),  a  carefully  selected  set 
of  juvenile  books;  (c),  a  collection  of  such  books  as  are  needed 
for  cooperation  with  the  work  in  the  schools,  and  (d),  a  not 
very  numerous  collection  of  miscellaneous  books  for  which 
there  is  a  popular  demand."  (Annual  report,  1896-97,  p.  57.) 

At  Boston,  although  many  of  the  branch  collections  were 
built  up  separately,  uniformity  is  attempted  now,  and  conse- 
quently each  new  title  is  purchased  for  all  of  the  nine  larger 
branches  with  the  exception  of  a  very  few  special  books  which 
seem  to  be  required  by  the  peculiarities  of  certain  districts 
only.  Elsewhere  strict  uniformity  is  not  usually  sought. 

The  introduction  of  open  shelves  in  branches  is  the  most 
pronounced  tendency  of  the  times.  Books  rare  or  costly  will 
naturally  be  preserved  in  the  central  library,  while  books  lo- 
cated at  the  branches  will  all  be  suitable  for  the  general  reader. 
For  these  reasons  a  branch  offers  the  best  possible  field  for  the 
success  of  the  open-shelf  system.  At  Pittsburgh  the  branches 
now  building  are  constructed  with  this  in  view.  At  Philadelphia 
free  access  is  general  throughout  branches  and  central  library. 
At  New  York  and  Boston  open  shelves  are  provided  in  branches 
recently  organized,  while  alterations  are  being  instituted  to 
facilitate  their  introduction  in  others  previously  closed.  At  the 
Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library  the  shelves  at  the  branches  are 
closed,  and  the  librarian  emphasizes  his  disapproval  of  allow- 
ing free  access.  With  this  exception  opinion  seems  unanimously 
to  favor  open  shelves. 

In  comparing  the  advantages  of  branches  and  stations  the 
greater  cost  of  branches  is  frequently  cited  in  a  vague  way. 
To  give  the  matter  definiteness  I  have  compiled  statistics  show- 
ing the  cost  per  volume  of  circulation  last  year  at  certain 


272  KILLER  CROWELL  WELLMAN 

branches  and  stations.  Under  branches  I  have  omitted  the  cost 
of  books  and  binding,  since  this  item  cannot  be  estimated  for 
stations.  If  I  have  read  the  printed  reports  correctly  the  figures 
are  as  follows: 

Cost  per  volume  cir-  Cost  per  volume 

culated  through  circulated  by 

stations.  branches. 

Public  Library  of  )  Free   Library,  ) 

Newark,         J  2  2C       Philadelphia,  J 2'9C 

Public  Library  of  1         ov  Free  Circulating  Li-  ] 

Chicago,         J 2'3°  brary,  New  York      ] ' '  ' w 

Public  Library  of  1          ,..  Public  Library,  \             . 

Boston,          J 37C        Boston,  j 5<9C 

In  comparing  these  figures  it  must  be  remembered,  first, 
that  the  cost  of  charging  and  discharging  the  books  is  charged 
against  the  branches,  but  is  probably  not  charged  against  the 
stations  except  in  Boston,  where  this  work  is  done  at  the  sta- 
tions; second,  that  b  the  case  of  branches  the  whole  cost  of 
all  the  work  done— including  reference  work,  co-operation  with 
the  schools,  reading-room  use,  etc.— has  been  charged  against 
the  circulation  for  home  use,  so  that  the  comparative  cost 
may  perhaps  roughly  measure  the  amount  of  such  work  accom- 
plished in  each  case.  Taking  these  facts  into  consideration,  it 
is  by  no  means  certain  that  for  circulation  alone  the  cost  of  a 
branch  need  be  greatly  m  excess  of  the  cost  of  a  station,  while 
for  the  amount  of  sen-ice  rendered,  if  such  a  comparison  is 
allowable,  the  branch  may  yield— dollar  for  dollar— better  re- 
sults. The  determining  factor  will  in  many  cases  be  found  in 
the  geographical  distribution  of  population.  Where  comparatively 
isolated  districts  exist,  with  a  large  population  grouped  around 
prominent  and  accessible  centres,  there  the  opportunity  will  offer 
for  establishing  a  strong,  far-reaching  branch;  while  with  a 
dense  population,  stretching  continuously,  without  well-defined 
centres,  frequent  delivery  stations  may  be  preferred. 


LIBRARY  CIRCULATION  AT  LONG  RANGE 

The  question  of  whether  there  is  still  a  place  for  the 
delivery  station  in  the  scheme  of  book  distribution  is  per- 
tinent, not  so  much  because  its  use  is  being  discontinued, 
but  because  of  a  general  feeling  that  any  system  of  dis- 
tribution that  does  not  admit  of  seeing  and  handling  the 
books  is  inferior  to  a  system  in  which  this  is  possible. 

Dr.  Arthur  E.  Bostwick  has  gathered  material  on 
this  form  of  circulation  as  it  is  handled  in  the  St.  Louis 
Public  Library,  and  has  reported  it  in  The  Library  Jour- 
nal of  1913. 

Is  there  still  a  place  for  the  delivery  station  in  the  scheme 
of  distribution  adopted  by  libraries,  large  or  small?  This  ques- 
tion is  pertinent  not  so  much  because  the  use  of  the  delivery 
station  is  being  discontinued,  but  because  of  a  general  feeling 
that  any  system  of  book  distribution  that  does  not  admit  of 
seeing  and  handling  the  books  is  inferior  to  a  system  in  which 
this  is  possible. 

It  will  thus  be  noted  that  the  question  of  the  delivery  station 
pure  and  simple,  as  opposed  to  the  deposit  station  and  the 
branch— a  question  once  hotly  debated— is  at  bottom  simply 
that  of  the  closed  shelf  versus  the  open  shelf.  The  branch 
has  won  out  as  against  the  delivery  station,  and  the  open  as 
against  the  closed  shelf.  It  will  also  be  noted,  however,  that 
none  but  small  libraries  find  it  good  policy  to  place  all  their 
books  on  open  shelves.  There  is  and  always  will  be  a  use 
for  the  dosed  shelf  in  its  place,  and  the  larger  the  library  the 
more  obvious  does  that  place  become. 

Now  circulation  through  a  delivery  station  is  nothing  but 
long-distance  closed-shelf  issue— circulation  in  which  the  dis- 
tance between  charging-desk  and  stack  has  been  greatly  multi- 
plied. And  a  legitimate  reason  for  closed-shelf  issue  of  this 
kind  is  that  it  is  carried  on  under  conditions  where  open-shelf 
issue  is  impossible— about  the  only  excuse  for  the  closed  shelf 


274  ARTHUR  ELMORE  BOSTWICK 

in  any  case.  Now  no  matter  how  many  books  may  be  in 
branches  or  in  deposit  stations,  it  is  obviously  impossible  for 
the  whole  central  stock  to  be  at  any  one  of  them,  still  less  to  be 
at  all  of  them  at  the  same  time.  And  there  are  cases  where 
it  is  impracticable  to  use  any  deposit  at  all,  while  delivery  from 
the  central  library  is  feasible  and  reasonably  satisfactory.  There 
will  always  continue  to  be,  therefore,  some  circulation  from  a 
distant  reservoir  of  books  that  cannot  be  seen  and  handled  by 
the  reader  for  purposes  of  selection. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  is  interesting  to  inquire  whether 
this  type  of  service  has  any  good  points  to  offset  its  obvious  dis- 
advantages ;  and  it  is  consoling  to  find  that  there  are  such—not 
enough  to  cause  us  to  select  an  unsupported  delivery  station  de- 
liberately where  a  deposit  or  a  branch  would  be  possible,  but 
enough  to  satisfy  us  that  a  delivery  station  is  worth  while  if  we 
can  use  nothing  better  and  to  induce  us  to  lay  stress,  if  we  can, 
on  the  particular  features  that  make  it  satisfactory. 

For  myself,  after  three  years  in  a  library  with  a  large  station 
system,  following  an  experience  in  institutions  where  there  was 
nothing  of  the  kind,  I  may  say  that  it  has  gratified  and  sur- 
prised me  to  find  that  personal  contact  between  librarian  and 
reader  is  possible  in  such  a  system,  to  almost  the  same  extent 
as  in  an  open-shelf  library,  although  the  contact  is  of  quite  a 
different  quality.  The  quality  of  the  contact  is  related  to  that 
possible  with  the  open-shelf  precisely  as  mental  contact  by 
letter  writing  is  always  related  to  that  by  conversation.  It  is 
superior,  if  anything,  to  that  usually  obtained  in  short-distance, 
closed-shelf  circulation,  although  possibly  not  to  that  obtainable 
under  ideal  conditions. 

The  establishment  of  more  or  less  personal  relations  of 
confidence  between  library  assistant  and  reader  takes  longer 
and  is  less  complete  when  the  sole  intermediary  is  written  lan- 
guage. It  is  always  harder  and  requires  more  time  to  become 
intimate  by  letter  than  by  personal  intercourse.  In  the  former 
case  the  contact  is  purely  mental,  in  the  latter  it  is  affected  by 
personal  appearance  and  conduct,  by  facial  expression  and 
manner.  All  this  is  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  the  success  of 
the  open  shelf.  But  the  advantages  are  not  all  on  the  side  of 
the  direct  personal  contact,  as  the  correspondence  schools  have 
been  astute  enough  to  find  out.  In  the  first  place,  litera  scripta 


LIBRARY  CIRCULATION  AT  LONG  RANGE     275 

manet;  one  may  read  the  same  written  communication  several 
times,  whereas  the  same  spoken  communication  is  of  and  for 
the  moment  Then  the  very  fact  that  the  written  message  is 
purely  intellectual  and  has  no  physical  accompaniments  may 
lend  force  to  its  intellectual  appeal,  when  that  appeal  has  once 
gained  a  foothold.  When  this  is  the  case  the  writer  may  take 
his  time  and  may  plan  his  campaign  of  influence  more  carefully 
than  the  speaker.  The  effect  of  trivial  circumstances,  of  un- 
favorable personal  elements,  of  momentary  moods,  is  obviated. 

It  may  be,  then,  that  if  personal  relations  between  librarian 
and  reader  can  be  set  up  through  the  written  word,  there  may 
be  something  of  this  kind  even  in  long-distance,  closed-shelf 
circulation  This  relation  may  be  lacking,  even  when  the  cir- 
culation is  at  short  range.  It  is  usually  lacking  at  the  closed- 
shelf  delivery  desk,  necessarily  so  in  a  rush,  although  at  quieter 
times  there  is  no  good  reason  why  it  should  not  exist  I  know 
that  it  sometimes  does  exist  under  these  conditions,  though  a 
counter  between  two  human  beings,  whether  in  a  store,  an 
office  or  a  library,  is  not  conducive  to  relations  of  confidence. 
It  may  even  be  lacking  in  the  open-shelf  room,  when  assistants 
on  floor  duty  have  not  the  proper  spirit  and  a  due  conception 
of  their  own  responsibilities  and  opportunities. 

It  may  exist  at  long  range.  But  does  it?  I  can  answer 
for  only  one  library;  but  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  our 
experience  is  by  any  means  exceptional.  Here  are  some  in- 
stances, reported  at  my  request  from  our  own  Station  Depart- 
ment by  Miss  Else  Miller,  the  department  chief: 

(i)  "A  short  time  ago  one  of  the  patrons  of  Station  27  sent 
in  a  slip  asking  to  have  his  book  renewed,  and  requested  that 
we  send  him  information  on  peace  conferences.  The  latter  was 
duly  sent,  but  through  some  error  the  renewal  was  overlooked. 
Consequently  six  days  later  an  overdue  postal  was  mailed.  This 
gentleman  is  always  quite  prompt  in  returning  his  books,  and 
evidently  had  never  before  received  a  notice.  So  he  was  most 
perturbed,  and  wrote  us  a  very  long  letter  explaining  the  mis- 
take. He  said  that  he  felt  that  the  librarian  should  know  that 
he  was  not  at  fault,  had  not  broken  the  rules,  and  had  a  clear 
record.  But  in  imparting  this  fact  to  the  librarian,  he  wanted 
it  understood  that  the  assistant  committing  the  error  should 
not  in  any  way  be  punished  for  it,  because  she  had  helped  him 


276  ARTHUR  ELMORE  BOSTWICK 

greatly  in  his  work,  by  sending  the  very  facts  on  peace  con- 
ferences that  he  was  looking  for.  He  asked  that  the  assistant 
be  praised  for  her  good  work  rather  than  blamed  for  her  error. 

(2)  "Celia  R ,  whom  we  have  never  seen  but  all  feel  well 

acquainted  with,  tried  in  vain  for  some  time  to  borrow  a  certain 
little  volume  of  Eskimo  stories,  but  succeeded  only  in  getting 
substitutes.    About  the  middle  of  December  she  sent  in  with 
her  card  the  following  request :  'Please  give  me  "Eskimo  stories," 
because  it  is  Christmas  and  you  never  send  the  right  book* 

(3)  "The  cards  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M ,  of  Station  54, 

come  in  with  a  slip,  'Please  send  a  novel/    We  know  that  the 
books  must  be  7-day  adventure  stories,  and  must  have  publishers' 
binding  and  an  interesting  frontispiece  or  they  will  come  back 
to  us  on  the  next  delivery  unread. 

(4)  "At  least  one  of  the  S family's  cards  is  reported 

lost  each  week.    We  immediately  recognize  Mrs    S 's  voice 

when  she  telephones,  and  ask  whether  it  is  Ralph's  or  Walter's 
card  that  is  missing  this  time.    In  a  tone  of  despair  she  prob- 
ably says,  'No;  it  is  Morris's/    We  promise  to  look  the  matter 
up  thoroughly.    Then  we  do  no  more  about  it.    After  two  days 
we  call  up  and  tell  her  we  are  very  sorry  we  have  been  unable 
to  trace  the  card.    'Oh,  we've  found  it  here  at  home;  thank 
you  so  much  for  your  trouble,'  she  answers.    'And,  by  the  way, 
we  have  not  been  able  to  find  Nicholas'  card  all  day1    So  we 

look  up  Nicholas'  card  in  the  same  way.    No  S card  was 

ever  known  to  be  lost  outside  of  the  S household. 

(5)  "C39  of  Station  6  has  this  note  clipped  to  her  reader's 
index :  'Give  overdue  notices  to  Stations  Department/    We  hold 
her  notices  a  few  days  to  give  the  books  a  chance  to  come  in, 
because  she  uses  a  bi-weekly  station     Each  time  that  she  re- 
ceives an  overdue  notice,  it  costs  her  ten  cents  carfare  to  come 
to  the  library  to  investigate,  and  it  costs  the  library  a  half  hour 
of  an  assistant's  time  to  pacify  her.    Our  new  method  works 
beautifully,  and  both  library  and  reader  find  it  economical. 

(6)  "An  old  gentleman  of  Station  15   (at  least  we  have 
pictured  him  as  old,  for  it  is  a  trembling  hand  that  writes  the 
titles)   for  a  long  time  sent  in  a  long  list  of  German  novels 
which  we  marked,  'Not  in  catalog/    We  were  out  of  printed 
German  lists  at  the  time,  so  selected  a  good  German  novel  and 
sent  it  to  him.    It  was  immediately  returned.    We  tried  again 


LIBRARY  CIRCULATION  AT  LONG  RANGE     277 

in  vain.  Then  again !  We  sent  him  everything  that  the  average 
German  finds  intensely  interesting.  But  the  books  always  came 
back  to  us  on  the  next  delivery.  One  day  we  substituted  *Im 
Busch,'  by  Gerstaecker.  He  kept  it  two  weeks,  and  then  his 
card  came  in  with  a  list  of  Gerstaecker  novels,  copied  from  the 
title-page  of  1m  Busch/'  He  read  all  our  Gerstaecker  books 
and  then  wanted  more.  We  wrote  him  that  he  had  read  all  the 
books  of  this  author  and  again  substituted.  Then  a  fresh  list 
of  Gerstaecker  came  in,  and  now  he  is  reading  all  those  books 
a  second  time. 

(7)  "One  of  the  station  men  watches  our  substitutions  and 
looks  over  them  to  get  ideas  for  his  own  reading.    Once  when 
we  had  substituted  Leroux's  'Mystery  of  the  yellow  room'  the 
station  man  ordered  a  copy  of  that  book  for  himself,  and  find- 
ing it  interesting  read  all  the  Leroux  books  in  the  library. 

(8)  "Here  is  a  letter  from  a  youthful  station  patron: 

"Tlease  send  me  the  III  Grade,  The  golden  goose  book! 
Please  do.  Kisses.  xxx.'" 

These  incidents,  which  of  course  might  be  multiplied  in- 
definitely, show  at  least  that  the  service  rendered  by  a  delivery 
station  is  not,  or  at  any  rate  need  not  be,  a  mere  mechanical 
sending  of  books  in  answer  to  a  written  demand. 

So  much  for  the  element  of  personal  contact  and  influence. 
Next  let  us  consider  for  a  moment  that  of  actual  contact  with 
the  books  from  which  selection  can  be  made.  This  of  course 
does  not  take  place  in  any  closed-shelf  system — least  of  all  in 
one  at  long  range.  But  in  certain  cases  this  contact  is  of  no 
special  advantage.  In  particular,  if  a  reader  wants  one  definite 
book  and  no  other,  he  may  get  it  as  surely,  or  be  informed  as 
reliably  that  he  cannot  get  it,  and  why,  at  a  delivery  station 
as  at  a  set  of  open  shelves  The  only  drawback  in  "long-range" 
work  is  that  the  user  must  wait  longer  before  he  can  get  his 
book,  provided  it  is  on  the  shelves.  Against  this  wait  must 
be  set  the  time  and  cost  of  a  personal  visit  to  the  distant  li- 
brary building. 

Of  the  "browsing"  contact  there  can  be  none,  of  course. 
This  seems  a  more  serious  matter  to  me  than  it  would  be  to 
those  who  deprecate  "browsing,"  or  at  any  rate  discourage  it. 
But  there  is  no  question  that  the  alternative  between  library 
and  delivery  station,  if  squarely  presented,  should  always  be 


278  ARTHUR  ELMORE  BOSTWICK 

answered  by  choosing  the  library.  Here  the  alternative  is  be- 
tween the  delivery  station  and  no  use  at  all.  This  brings  up 
another  point : 

May  it  not  be,  in  some  cases,  that  we  really  are  offering  the 
reader  an  alternative  between  delivery  station  and  library  and 
that  through  indolence  he  takes  the  former?  Doubtless  this  is 
often  the  case,  and  it  should  not  be  so.  The  location  of  every 
delivery  station  should  be  studied  from  this  standpoint,  and  its 
continuance  should  be  made  a  matter  of  serious  question.  When 
all  is  said  and  done,  there  will  remain  some  stations  where  a 
minority  of  users  would  go  to  the  library  if  the  station  were 
discontinued,  and  would  be  benefited  thereby  at  the  expense 
of  a  little  more  exertion.  The  fact  that  there  are  some  real 
advantages  in  long-range  circulation  should  enable  the  librarian, 
in  such  a  case,  to  strike  some  kind  of  a  balance,  satisfy  himself 
that  this  particular  station  is  or  is  not  of  resultant  benefit  to 
the  community,  and  act  accordingly.  It  is  also  possible,  in  some 
cases,  to  combine  the  deposit  feature  with  the  delivery  station, 
and  it  goes  without  saying  that  this  should  be  done,  just  as  the 
delivery  feature  should  be  added  to  every  deposit  and  every 
branch,  where  it  is  feasible. 

Finally,  the  long  range  circulation  may  be  adapted  to  the 
use  of  the  busy  by  enabling  them  to  kill  two  birds  with  one 
stone.  Libraries  are  always  trying,  with  doubtful  success,  to 
get  hold  of  persons  who  are  busy  about  something  else — factory 
workers,  shoppers,  and  so  on.  A  residential  district  is  a  better 
place  for  a  branch  library  than  a  shopping  district,  although 
the  number  of  different  persons  who  pass  the  door  daily  is 
larger  in  the  latter,  because  there  is  more  leisure  in  the  resi- 
dence street — less  preoccupation  and  bustle.  But  if  it  is  made 
possible  for  the  shopper  to  use  the  library  with  practically  no 
delay,  while  he  is  shopping,  will  he  not  take  advantage  of  the 
opportunity?  A  recent  experiment  in  the  St.  Louis  Public  Li- 
brary convinces  me  that  he  will.  We  are  now  operating  a 
downtown  branch  in  the  book  department  of  a  large  department 
store,  and  we  have  an  hourly  messenger  service  between  the 
library  and  this  station  I  believe  this  is  the  first  time  that  such 
frequent  delivery  service  has  been  tried.  This  makes  it  pos- 
sible to  leave  an  order  at  the  beginning  of  a  shopping  trip  and 
to  find  the  book  ready  at  the  close  of  the  trip.  The  interval 


LIBRARY  CIRCULATION   AT  LONG  RANGE     279 

would  never  be  much  over  an  hour,  and  might  be  as  little  as 
fifteen  or  twenty  minutes 

There  are  two  favorable  factors  here  which  it  might  be 
difficult  to  secure  elsewhere:  The  shopping  district  here  is  near 
enough  to  the  central  library  to  make  frequent  delivery  possible, 
and  the  management  of  the  store  where  our  station  is  located  is 
broad  enough  to  see  that  the  possibility  of  borrowing  a  book 
free,  from  the  library,  even  when  presented  as  an  immediate 
alternative  to  the  purchase  of  the  same  book  from  the  counters 
of  the  store,  does  not,  in  the  long  run,  injure  sales. 

It  is  not  absolutely  necessary,  of  course,  to  operate  this 
scheme  from  a  department  store,  neither  is  greater  distance  an 
absolute  bar  to  frequent  deliveries.  I  believe  that  this  kind  of 
long-distance  service  is  well  worth  the  attention  of  librarians 

And,  in  general,  I  believe  that  a  realization  that  all  long- 
distance service  has  its  good  points,  may  do  good  by  inducing 
us  to  dwell  on  those  points  and  to  try  to  make  them  of  more 
influence  in  our  work. 


LIBRARY  EXTENSION 

The  cardinal  principle  of  a  free  library  is  to  bring 
books  to  the  people — the  very  opposite  to  that  which 
guided  the  old-fashioned  library.  In  those  institutions 
of  the  past,  a  librarian's  duty  was  to  keep  guard  over 
his  books,  the  majority  of  which  were  inaccessible  to  the 
ordinary  reader.  It  may  be  that  there  was  some  danger, 
in  the  first  enthusiasm  of  shifting  from  the  old  paths  to 
the  new,  that  librarians  would  become  "book  shovels" — 
but  the  proper  circulation  of  books  is  the  distinguishing 
feature  of  every  successful  free  library.  The  consid- 
eration of  these  points  has  led  many  public  librarians  to 
strive  after  the  discovery  of  improved  methods  for  bring- 
ing books  to  the  people. 

Library  extension  aims  to  supply  to  every  one,  either 
through  its  own  resources  or  by  cooperation  with  other 
affiliated  agencies,  what  each  community  or  individual 
needs.  Usefulness  is  the  test  by  which  methods  and 
results  must  be  judged. 

The  origin  of  travelling  libraries  is  essentially  Brit- 
ish, since  they  were  in  use  as  early  as  1810  in  parish 
work  in  Scotland.  In  1877  we  find  them  in  Melbourne, 
Australia.  Later,  educational  libraries  were  sent  out 
from  Oxford  University,  England.  In  his  monograph 
on  Public  Libraries  and  Popular  Education  Professor 
Herbert  B.  Adams  makes  reference  to  the  adoption  of 
this  principle  by  the  State  of  New  York,  the  first  such 
library  being  sent  out  there  in  1893.  Work  of  libraries 
with  schools  began  by  depositing  collections  of  books. 
More  recently  such  deposits  have  been  located  also  in 
factories,  stores,  etc.,  and  are  generally  for  circulation, 
the  collection  being  changed  at  intervals.  Some  of 


282  LIBRARY  EXTENSION 

these  deposits  are  used  only  by  employees  of  business 
houses,  pupils  of  schools,  or  members  of  clubs  to  which 
the  collections  are  sent;  others  are  for  the  use  of  the 
general  public  of  the  neighborhood. 


THE  MISSION  AND  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE 
BOOK 

Only  two  objects— the  spiritual  good  of  mankind,  con- 
templated in  religious  beliefs,  and  the  intellectual  good 
pursued  in  educational  plans— have  ever  marked  the  mis- 
sionary spirit  in  a  large  way.  "The  supremely  great 
epochs  in  human  history  are  those  few  which  have  been 
marked  by  mighty  waves  of  altruistic  enthusiasm  sweep- 
ing over  the  earth  from  sources  found  in  one  or  the 
other  of  these  two  ideals  of  good."  This  is  the  general 
theme  of  Mr.  J.  N.  Larned's  address  at  the  annual  Uni- 
versity Convocation  of  the  State  of  New  York,  June  25, 
1896. 

A  sketch  of  Joseph  Nelson  Larned  appears  in  Vol- 
ume 3  of  this  series. 

For  the  most  part,  that  lifting  of  the  human  race  in  condi- 
tion and  character  which  we  call  civilization  has  been  wrought 
by  individual  energies  acting  on  simply  selfish  lines.  When  I 
say  this,  I  use  the  term  selfish  in  no  sense  that  is  necessarily 
mean  but  only  as  indicating  the  unquestionable  fact  that  men 
have  striven,  in  the  main,  each  for  himself  more  than  for  one 
another,  even  in  those  strivings  that  have  advanced  the  whole 
race.  Within  certain  limits  there  is  no  discredit  to  human 
nature  in  the  fact.  A  measure  of  selfishness  is  prescribed  to 
man  by  the  terms  of  his  individuality  and  the  conditions  of  his 
existence.  His  only  escape  from  it  is  through  exertions  which 
he  must  employ  at  first  in  his  own  behalf  in  order  to  win  the 
independence  and  the  power  to  be  helpful  to  his  fellows.  So 
it  seems  to  me  quite  impossible  to  imagine  a  process  that 
would  have  worked  out  the  civilization  of  the  race  otherwise 
than  by  the  self-pushing  energy  that  has  impelled  individual 
men  to  plant,  to  build,  to  trade,  to  explore,  to  experiment,  to 
think,  to  plan,  primarily  and  immediately  for  their  own  persona.! 
advantage. 


284  JOSEPH  NELSON  LARNED 

But  if  the  more  active  forces  in  civilization  are  mainly  from 
selfish  springs,  there  are  two,  at  least,  which  have  nobler  sources 
and  a  nobler  historic  part.  One  is  the  sympathetic  impulse 
which  represents  benevolence  on  its  negative  side,  pained  by 
the  misfortunes  of  others  and  active  to  relieve  them.  In  the 
second,  which  is  more  rare,  we  find  benevolence  of  the  positive 
kind.  Its  spring  is  in  a  purely  generous  feeling,  which  strongly 
moves  one  to  communicate  to  others  some  good  which  is  pre- 
cious to  him  in  his  own  experience  of  it.  It  is  a  feeling  which 
may  rise  in  different  minds  from  different  estimates  of  good, 
and  be  directed  toward  immediate  objects  that  are  unlike,  but 
the  disinterested  motive  and  ultimate  aim  are  unvarying,  and 
it  manifests  in  all  cases  the  very  noblest  enthusiasm  that  hu- 
manity is  capable  of.  There  seems  to  be  no  name  for  it  so 
true  as  that  used  when  we  speak  of  a  missionary  spirit  in 
efforts  that  aim  at  the  sharing  of  some  greatly  cherished  good 
with  people  who  have  not  learned  that  it  is  good.  At  the  same 
time  we  must  remember  that  mere  propagandists  put  on  the 
missionary  garb  without  its  spirit,  and  spuriously  imitate  its 
altruistic  zeal;  and  we  must  keep  our  definition  in  mind. 

There  are  always  true  missionaries  in  the  world,  laboring 
with  equally  pure  hearts,  though  with  minds  directed  toward 
many  different  ends  of  benefaction  to  their  fellows.  But  only 
two  objects— the  spiritual  good  of  mankind,  contemplated  in 
religious  beliefs,  and  the  intellectual  good,  pursued  in  educa- 
tional plans— have  ever  wakened  the  missionary  spirit  in  a  large, 
world-moving  way.  The  supremely  great  epochs  in  human 
history  are  those  few  which  have  been  marked  by  mighty 
waves  of  altruistic  enthusiasm,  sweeping  over  the  earth  from 
sources  of  excitation  found  in  one  or  the  other  of  these  two 
ideals  of  good. 

Naturally  the  first  wakening  was  under  the  touch  of  be- 
liefs which  contemplate  a  more  than  earthly  good;  and  those 
beliefs  have  moved  the  missionary  spirit  at  all  times  most 
passionately  and  powerfully.  But  even  the  religious  wakening 
was  not  an  early  event  in  history.  I  think  I  may  safely  say 
that  no  trace  of  it  is  to  be  found  among  the  worshipers  of 
remote  antiquity.  The  Hebrew  prophets  never  labored  as  dis- 
pensers of  a  personal  blessing  from  their  faith.  It  was  for 
Israel,  the  national  Israel,  that  they  preached  the  claims  and 


MISSION  AND  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK  285 

declared  the  requirements  of  the  God  of  Israel.  The  priests 
of  Osiris  and  Bel  were  still  more  indifferent  to  the  interest 
of  the  worshiper  in  the  worship  of  their  gods,  thinking  only  of 
the  honor  demanded  by  the  gods  themselves.  So  far  as  his- 
tory will  show,  the  first  missionary  inspiration  would  seem  to 
have  been  brought  into  religion  by  Gotama,  the  Buddha,  whose 
pure  and  exalted  but  enervating  gospel  of  renunciation  filled 
Asia  with  evangelists  and  was  carried  to  all  peoples  as  the 
message  of  a  hope  of  deliverance  from  the  universal  sorrow 
of  the  world.  Then,  centuries  later,  came  the  commission 
more  divine  which  sent  forth  the  apostles  of  Christianity  to 
tell  the  story  of  the  Cross  and  to  bear  the  offer  of  sahation 
to  every  human  soul.  As  religiously  kindled,  the  missionary 
spirit  has  never  burned  with  more  fervor  than  it  did  in  the 
first  centuries  of  Christian  preaching.  But  nothing  akin  to  it 
was  set  aflame  in  the  smallest  degree  by  any  other  eagerness 
of  desire  for  the  communication  of  a  blessing  or  good  to  man- 
kind. Until  we  come  to  modern  times,  I  can  see  no  mark  of 
the  missionary  motive  in  any  labor  that  was  not  religious. 

The  one  object  which,  in  time,  as  I  have  said,  came  to 
rival  the  religious  object  as  an  inspiration  of  missionary  work, 
the  modern  zeal  for  education,  was  late  and  slow  in  moving 
feelings  to  an  unselfish  depth.  Enthusiasm  for  learning  at 
the  period  of  the  renaissance  was  enthusiasm  among  the  few 
who  craved  learning,  and  was  mostly  expended  within  their 
own  circle.  There  was  little  thought  of  pressing  the  good  gift 
on  the  multitude  who  knew  not  their  loss  in  the  lack  of  it. 
The  earliest  great  pleader  for  a  common  education  of  the 
whole  people  was  Luther;  but  the  school  was  chiefly  important 
in  Luther's  view  as  the  nursery  of  the  church  and  as  a  health- 
bringer  to  the  state,  and  he  labored  for  it  more  as  a  means 
to  religious  and  political  ends  than  as  an  end  in  itself.  Almost 
a  century  after  Luther  there  appeared  one  whom  Michelet  has 
called  "the  first  evangelist  of  modern  pedagogy"  John  Amos 
Comenius,  the  Moravian.  The  same  thought  of  him,  as  an 
evangelist,  is  expressed  by  the  historian  Raumer,  who  says: 
"Comenius  is  a  grand  and  venerable  figure  of  sorrow.  Wander- 
ing, persecuted  and  homeless  during  the  terrible  and  desolating 
thirty  years  war,  he  yet  never  despaired,  but  with  enduring 
truth  and  strong  in  faith  he  labored  unweariedly  to  prepare 


286  JOSEPH  NELSON  LARNED 

youth  by  a  better  education  for  a  better  future.  He  labored 
for  them  with  a  zeal  and  love  worthy  of  the  chief  of  the 
Apostles."  And  the  education  for  which  Comenius  labored 
was  no  less,  in  his  own  words,  than  "the  teaching  to  all  men 
of  all  the  subjects  of  human  concern."  Proclaiming  his  educa- 
tional creed  at  another  tune  he  said :  "I  undertake  an  organiza- 
tion of  schools  whereby  all  the  youth  may  be  instructed  save 
those  to  whom  God  has  denied  intelligence,  and  instructed  in 
all  those  things  which  make  man  wise,  good  and  holy." 

Here  then  had  arisen  the  first  true  missionary  of  common 
teaching,  who  bore  the  invitation  to  learning  as  a  gospel 
proffered  to  all  childhood  and  all  youth  and  who  strove  in  its 
behalf  with  apostolic  zeal  The  period  of  the  active  labors 
of  Comenius  was  before  and  a  little  after  the  middle  of  the 
J7th  century.  He  made  some  impression  upon  the  ideas  and 
the  educational  methods  of  his  time,  but  Europe  generally  was 
cold  to  his  enthusiasm.  In  one  small  corner  of  it,  alone,  there 
was  a  people  already  prepared  for  and  already  beginning  to 
realize  his  inspiring  dreams  of  universal  education.  That  was 
Holland,  where  the  state,  even  hi  the  midst  of  its  struggle  for 
an  independent  existence,  was  assuming  the  support  of  com- 
mon schools  and  attempting  to  provide  them  for  every  child. 
In  that  one  spot  the  true  missionary  leaven  in  education  was 
found  working  while  the  I7th  century  was  still  young,  and 
from  Holland  it  would  seem  to  have  been  carried  to  America 
long  before  the  fermentation  was  really  felt  in  any  other 
country. 

Elsewhere  in  the  old  world,  if  Comenius  found  any  imme- 
diate successor  in  the  new  field  of  missionary  labor  which  he 
had  practically  discovered  and  opened,  it  was  the  Abbe  La 
Salle,  founder  of  the  great  teaching  order  of  the  Christian 
Brothers.  But  the  zeal  kindled  by  La  Salle,  which  has  burned 
even  to  the  present  day,  was  essentially  religious  in  its  aims 
and  dedicated  to  the  service  of  his  church.  The  spirit  in  com- 
mon teaching  still  waited  generally  for  that  which  would  make 
a  secular  saving  faith  of  it,  urgent,  persisting,  not  to  be  denied 
or  escaped  from.  The  world  at  large  made  some  slow  progress 
toward  better  things  in  it;  schools  were  increased  in  number 
and  improved;  Jesuits,  Jansenists,  Oratorians  and  other  teach- 
ing orders  in  the  Roman  church  labored  more  intelligently; 


MISSION  AND  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK  287 

middle-class  education  in  England  and  other  countries  received 
more  attention.  But  the  conscience  of  society  in  general  was 
satisfied  with  the  opening  of  the  school  to  those  who  came  with 
money  in  their  hands  and  knocked  at  its  door.  There  was  no 
thought  yet  of  standing  in  the  door  and  crying  out  to  the 
moneyless  and  to  the  indifferent,  bidding  them  come.  Far  less 
was  their  thought  of  going  out  into  the  highways  and  hedges 
to  bring  them  in.  Another  century  of  time  was  needed  and  a 
long  line  of  apostolic  teachers,  agitators  and  administrators 
like  Pestalozzi,  Father  Girard,  Frobel,  Humboldt,  Brougham, 
Horace  Mann,  to  inspire  that  feeling  for  education  which 
warms  the  western  nations  of  the  world  at  last:  the  feeling  for 
education  as  a  supreme  good  in  itself,  not  merely  as  a  bread- 
making  or  a  moneymaking  instrument;  not  merely  for  giving 
arithmetic  to  the  shop-keeper,  or  bookkeeping  to  the  clerk, 
or  even  political  opinions  to  the  citizen;  not  merely  for  sup- 
plying preachers  to  the  pulpit,  or  physicians  to  the  sick-room, 
or  lawyers  to  the  bench  and  bar ;  but  in  and  of  and  for  its  own 
sake,  as  a  good  to  humanity  which  surpasses  every  other  good, 
save  one.  This  is  what  I  call  the  missionary  spirit  in  education, 
and  it  has  so  far  been  wakened  in  the  world  that  we  expect 
and  demand  it  in  the  teaching  work  of  our  time,  and  when  we 
do  not  have  it,  we  are  cheated  by  its  counterfeit. 

But  this  zeal  for  education  was  animated  in  most  communi- 
ties sooner  than  the  thought  needed  for  its  wise  direction. 
There  was  a  time  not  long  ago  when  it  expended  itself  in 
schoolrooms  and  colleges  and  was  satisfied.  To  have  laid  be- 
nignant hands  on  the  children  of  the  generation  and  pushed 
them,  with  a  kindly  coercion,  through  some  judicious  curriculum 
of  studies  was  thought  to  be  enough.  That  limited  conception 
of  education  as  a  common  good  sufficed  for  a  time,  but  not  long. 
The  impulse  which  carried  public  sentiment  to  that  length  was 
sure  to  press  questions  upon  it  that  would  reach  further  yet 
"Have  we  arrived,"  it  began  to  ask,  "at  the  end  for  which  our 
public  schools  are  the  means?  We  have  provided  broadly 
and  liberally— for  what?  For  teaching  our  children  to  read 
their  own  language  in  print,  to  trace  it  in  written  signs,  to 
construct  it  in  grammatical  forms,  to  be  familiar  with  arith- 
metical rules,  to  know  the  standards  and  divisions  of  weight 
and  measure,  to  form  a  notion  of  the  surface-features  of  the 


288  JOSEPH   NELSON  LARNED 

earth  and  to  be  acquainted  with  the  principal  names  that  have 
been  given  to  them,  to  remember  a  few  chief  facts  in  the  past 
of  their  own  country  But  these  are  only  keys  which  we  ex- 
pect them  to  use  in  their  acquisition  of  knowledge,  rather 
than  knowledge  itself.  When  they  quit  the  school  with  these 
wonderful  keys  of  alphabet  and  number  in  their  possession, 
they  are  only  in  the  vestibule  chambers  of  education.  Can  we 
leave  them  there,  these  children  and  youth  of  our  time,  to  find 
as  best  they  may,  or  not  find  at  all,  the  treasuries  we  would 
have  them  unlock ?"  To  ask  the  question  was  to  answer  it. 
Once  challenged  to  a  larger  thought  of  education,  the  mis- 
sionary spirit  of  the  age  rose  boldly  in  its  demands  The  free 
school,  the  academy,  the  college  even,  grew  in  importance,  when 
looked  at  in  the  larger  view,  but  they  were  seen  to  be  not 
enough.  They  were  seen  to  be  only  blessed  openings  in  the  way 
to  knowledge,  garlanded  gates,  ivory  portals,  golden  doors; 
but  passage-ways  only,  after  all,  to  knowledge  beyond  them 
And  the  knowledge  to  which  they  led,  while  much  and  of  many 
kinds  may  need  to  be  gleaned  in  the  open  fields  of  life,  out 
of  living  observations  and  experiences,  yet  mainly  exists  as 
a  measureless  store  of  accumulated  savings  from  the  experi- 
ence and  observation  of  all  the  generations  that  have  lived  and 
died,  recorded  in  writing  and  preserved  in  print.  There  then 
in  the  command  and  possession  of  that  great  store,  the  end 
of  education  was  seen  to  be  most  nearly  realized;  and  so  the 
free  public  library  was  added  to  the  free  public  school. 

But  strangely  enough,  when  that  was  first  done,  there  hap- 
pened the  same  halting  of  spirit  that  had  appeared  in  the  free 
public  school.  To  have  collected  a  library  of  books  and  to 
have  set  its  doors  open  to  all  comers,  was  assumed  to  be  the 
fulfilment  of  duty  in  the  matter  The  books  waited  for  readers 
to  seek  them.  The  librarian  waited  for  inquirers  to  press 
their  way  to  him.  No  one  thought  of  outspreading  the  books 
of  the  library  like  a  merchant's  wares,  to  win  the  public  eye 
to  them.  None  thought  of  trying  by  any  means  to  rouse  an 
appetite  for  books  in  minds  not  naturally  hungry  for  learning 
or  poetry  or  the  thinking  of  other  men  So  the  free  or  the 
nearly  free  public  libraries,  for  a  time  wrought  no  great  good 
for  education  beyond  a  circle  in  which  the  energy  of  the  desire 
to  which  they  answered  was  most  independent  of  any  public 
help. 


MISSION  AND  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK  289 

But  this  stage  of  passive  existence  in  the  life  of  the  free 
public  library  had  no  long  duration.  Soon  the  missionary  passion 
began  to  stir  men  here  and  there  in  the  library  field,  as  it  had 
stirred  teachers  in  the  schools  before.  One  by  one  the  inspira- 
tion of  their  calling  began  to  burn  in  their  hearts.  They  saw 
with  new  eyes  the  greatness  of  the  trust  that  had  been  confided 
to  them  and  they  rose  to  a  new  sense  of  the  obligations  borne 
with  it.  No  longer  a  mere  keeper,  custodian,  watchman,  set 
over  dumb  treasures  to  hold  them  safe,  the  librarian  now  took 
active  functions  upon  himself  and  became  the  minister  of  his 
trust,  commanded  by  his  own  feelings  and  by  many  incentues 
around  him  to  make  the  most  in  all  possible  ways  of  the  li- 
brary as  an  influence  for  good.  The  new  spirit  thus  brought 
into  library  work  spread  quickly,  as  a  beneficent  epidemic, 
from  New  England,  where  its  appearance  was  first  marked, 
over  America  and  Great  Britain  and  into  all  English  lands, 
and  is  making  its  way  more  slowly  in  other  parts  of  the 
world. 

The  primary  effort  to  which  it  urged  librarians  and  library 
trustees  was  that  towards  bettering  the  introduction  of  books 
to  readers;  towards  making  them  known,  in  the  first  instance, 
with  a  due  setting  forth  of  what  they  are  and  what  they  offer; 
then  toward  putting  them  in  right  relations  with  one  another, 
by  groupings  according  to  subject  and  literary  form  and  by 
cross-bindings  of  reference;  then  towards  establishing  the 
easiest  possible  guidance  to  them,  both  severally  and  in  their 
groups,  for  all  seekers,  whether  simple  or  learned.  When 
serious  attention  had  once  been  ghen  to  these  matters  there 
was  found  to  be  need  in  them  of  a  measure  of  study,  of  experi- 
ment, of  inventive  ingenuity,  and  of  individual  collective  ex- 
perience, of  practical  and  philosophical  attainments,  that  had 
never  been  suspected  before.  These  discoveries  gave  form  to 
a  conception  of  "library  science,"  of  a  department  of  study, 
that  is,  entitled  to  scientific  rank  by  the  importance  of  its  re- 
sults, the  precision  of  its  methods,  the  range  of  its  details. 
The  quick  development  of  the  new  science  within  the  few  years 
that  have  passed  since  the  first  thought  of  it  came  into  men's 
minds,  is  marked  by  the  rise  of  flourishing  library  schools  and 
classes  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  east  and  west. 

For  more  efficiency  in  their  common  work,  the  reformers 
of  the  library  were  organized  at  an  early  day.  The  American 


2QO  JOSEPH  NELSON  LARNED 

library  association  on  this  side  of  the  sea  and  the  Library  asso- 
ciation of  the  United  Kingdom  on  the  other  side,  with  jour- 
nals giving  voice  to  each,  proved  powerful  in  their  unifying 
effect  Ideas  were  exchanged  and  experiences  compared.  Each 
was  taught  by  the  successes  or  warned  by  the  failures  of  his 
neighbors.  What  each  one  learned  by  investigation  or  proved 
by  trial  became  the  property  of  every  other.  The  mutual  in- 
struction that  came  about  was  only  equaled  by  the  working 
cooperation  which  followed.  Great  tasks,  beyond  the  power 
of  individuals,  and  impossible  as  commercial  undertakings,  be- 
cause promising  no  pecuniary  reward,  were  planned  and  la- 
boriously performed  by  the  union  of  many  coworkers,  widely 
scattered  in  the  world,  but  moved  by  one  disinterested  aim. 
From  122  libraries,  in  that  mode  of  alliance,  there  was  massed 
the  labor  which  indexed  the  whole  body  of  general  magazine 
literature,  thus  sweeping  the  dust  from  thousands  of  volumes 
that  had  been  practically  useless  before,  bringing  the  invaluable 
miscellany  of  their  contents  into  daily,  definite  service,  by  mak- 
ing its  subjects  known  and  easily  traced.  The  same  work  of 
cooperative  indexing  was  next  carried  into  the  indeterminate 
field  of  general  miscellaneous  books.  By  still  broader  coopera- 
tion, a  selection  of  books  was  made  from  the  huge  mass  of  all 
literature,  with  sittings  and  resiftings,  to  be  a  standard  of 
choice  and  a  model  of  cataloguing  for  small  new  libraries. 
And  now  topical  lists  on  many  subjects  are  being  prepared  for 
the  guidance  of  readers  by  specialists  in  each  subject,  with 
notes  to  describe  and  value  the  books  named  The  possibilities 
of  cooperation  in  library  work  are  just  beginning  to  be  realized, 
and  the  great  tasks  already  accomplished  by  it  will  probably 
look  small  when  compared  with  undertakings  to  come  here- 
after. 

But,  after  all,  it  is  the  individual  work  in  the  libraries  which 
manifests  most  distinctly  the  new  spirit  of  the  time.  The  per- 
fected cataloguing,  which  opens  paths  for  the  seeker  from  every 
probable  starting-point  of  inquiry  not  only  to  books,  but  into 
the  contents  of  books ;  the  multiplied  reading  lists  and  reference 
lists  on  questions  and  topics  of  the  day,  which  are  quick  to 
answer  a  momentary  interest  in  the  public  mind  and  direct 
it  to  the  best  sources  for  its  satisfaction;  the  annotated  bulle- 
tins of  current  literature,  which  announce  and  value  as  far  as 


MISSION  AND  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK  291 

practicable,  by  some  word  of  competent  critcism,  the  more  im- 
portant publications  of  each  month;  the  opening  of  book  shelves 
to  readers,  to  which  libraries  are  tending  as  far  as  their  con- 
struction and  their  circumstances  will  permit;  the  evolution 
of  the  children's  reading-room,  now  become  a  standard  fea- 
ture to  be  provided  for  in  every  new  building  design,  and  to 
be  striven  for  in  buildings  of  an  older  pattern;  the  invention 
of  traveling  libraries  and  home  libraries;  the  increasing  pro- 
vision made  in  library  service  for  the  helping  of  students  and 
inquirers  to  pursue  their  investigations  and  make  their  searches ; 
the  increasing  cooperation  of  libraries  and  schools,  with  the 
growing  attraction  of  teachers  and  pupils  toward  the  true  litera- 
ture of  their  subjects  of  study,  and  the  waning  tyranny  of  the 
dessicated  text  book;  in  all  these  things  there  is  the  measure 
of  an  influence  which  was  hardly  beginning  to  be  felt  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago. 

I  have  named  last  among  the  fruits  of  this  potent  influence 
the  cooperation  of  libraries  and  schools,  not  because  it  stands 
least  in  the  list,  but  because  the  whole  missionary  inspiration 
from  every  standpoint  of  solicitude  for  the  educational  good  of 
mankind  is  united  and  culminated  in  it  and  is  doing  its  greatest 
work.  The  missionary  teacher  and  the  missionary  librarian 
come  together  in  these  new  arrangements,  working  no  longer 
one  in  the  steps  of  the  other — one  carrying  forward  the  educa- 
tion which  the  other  has  begun— but  hand  in  hand  and  side 
by  side,  leading  children  from  the  earliest  age  into  the  wonder- 
ful and  beautiful  book  world  of  poetry,  legend,  story,  nature- 
knowledge  or  science,  time-knowledge  or  history,  life-knowl- 
edge or  biography,  making  it  dear  and  familiar  to  them  in  the 
impressionable  years  within  which  their  tastes  are  formed.  The 
school  alone,  under  common  conditions,  can  do  nothing  of  that. 
On  the  contrary,  its  text  books,  as  known  generally  in  the  past, 
have  been  calculated  to  repel  the  young  mind.  They  have  repre- 
sented to  it  little  but  the  dry  task  of  rote  learning  and  recita- 
tion. They  have  brought  to  it  nothing  of  the  flavor  of  real 
literature  nor  any  of  that  rapturous  delight  from  an  inner 
sense  of  rhythmic  motions  which  real  literature  can  give: 
neither  the  dancing  step,  nor  the  swinging  march,  nor  the  rush 
as  with  steeds,  nor  the  lift  and  sweep  as  with  wings,  which 
even  a  child  may  be  made  to  feel  in  great  poetry  and  in  noble 


292  JOSEPH  NELSON  LARNED 

prose,  and  which  once  experienced  is  a  beguiling  charm  for- 
ever. The  whole  tendency  of  the  text  book  teaching  of  schools 
is  towards  deadening  the  young  mind  to  that  feeling  for  litera- 
ture, and  alienating  it  from  books  by  a  prejudice  born  of  wrong 
impressions  at  the  beginning  Just  so  far  as  the  school  reader, 
the  school  geography,  the  school  history  and  their  fellow  com- 
pends,  are  permitted  to  remain  conspicuous  in  a  child's  thought 
during  his  early  years,  as  representative  of  the  books  which  he 
will  be  admonished  by  and  by  to  read,  so  far  he  will  be  put  into 
an  opposition  never  easy  to  overcome. 

The  tenderest  years  of  childhood  are  the  years  of  all  others 
for  shaping  a  pure  intellectual  taste  and  creating  a  pure  in- 
tellectual thirst  which  only  a  noble  literature  can  satisfy  m  the 
end.  We  have  come  at  last  to  the  discernment  of  that  preg- 
nant fact  and  our  schemes  of  education  for  the  young  are  being 
reconstructed  accordingly.  There  is  no  longer  the  division  of 
labor  between  school  and  library  which  seemed  but  a  little 
time  ago  to  be  so  plainly  marked  out.  Schools  are  not  to  make 
readers  for  libraries,  nor  are  libraries  to  wait  for  readers  to 
come  to  them  out  of  the  schools.  The  school  and  the  world  of 
books  which  it  makes  known  to  him  are  to  be  identified  in  the 
child's  mind.  There  is  to  be  no  distinction  in  his  memory  be- 
tween reading  as  an  art  learned  and  reading  as  a  delight  dis- 
covered. The  art  and  the  use  of  the  art  to  be  one  simultaneous 
communication  to  him 

That  is  the  end  contemplated  in  the  cooperative  work  of 
libraries  and  schools,  which,  recent  in  its  beginning,  has  made 
great  advances  already  and  which  especially  appeals  to  what  I 
have  called  the  missionary  enthusiasm  in  both  libraries  and 
schools.  It  contemplates  what  seems  to  be  the  truest  ideal  of 
teaching  ever  shaped  in  thought,  of  teaching  not  as  educating 
but  as  setting  the  young  in  the  way  of  education;  as  starting 
them  on  a  course  of  self-culture  which  they  will  pursue  to  the 
end  of  their  lives,  with  no  willingness  to  turn  back.  The  highest 
ideal  of  education  is  realized  in  that  lifelong  pursuit  of  it, 
and  the  success  of  any  school  is  measured  not  by  the  little  por- 
tion of  actual  learning  which  its  students  take  out  of  it,  but 
by  the  persisting  strength  of  the  impulse  to  know  and  to  think, 
which  they  carry  from  the  school  into  their  later  lives. 

But  there  are  people  who  may  assent  to  all  that  is  said  of 


MISSION  AND  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK  293 

education  in  this  life-lasting  view  of  it,  who  will  deny  that 
there  is  a  question  in  it  o£  books  "We,"  they  say,  "find  more 
for  our  instruction  in  life  than  in  books.  The  reality  of  things 
interests  us  more  and  teaches  us  more  than  the  report  and  de- 
scription of  them  by  others.  We  study  men  among  men  and 
God's  works  in  the  midst  of  them.  We  prefer  to  take  knowl- 
edge at  first  hand,  from  nature  and  from  society,  rather  than 
second-handedly,  out  of  a  printed  page.  Your  book-wisdom  is 
from  the  closet  and  for  closet-use  It  is  not  the  kind  needed 
in  a  busy  and  breezy  world."  Well,  there  is  a  half-truth  in 
this  which  must  not  be  ignored.  To  make  everything  of  books 
in  the  development  of  men  and  women  is  a  greater  mistake, 
perhaps,  than  to  make  nothing  of  them.  For  life  has  teachings, 
and  nature  out-of-doors  has  teachings,  for  which  no  man,  if 
he  misses  them,  can  find  compensation  in  books.  We  can  say 
that  frankly  to  the  contemner  of  books  and  we  3'ield  no  ground 
in  doing  so;  for  then  we  turn  upon  him  and  say:  "Your  life, 
sir,  to  which  you  look  for  all  the  enlightenment  of  soul  and 
mind  that  you  receive,  is  a  brief  span  of  a  few  tens  of  years; 
the  circle  of  human  acquaintances  in  which  you  are  satisfied 
to  make  your  whole  study  of  mankind  is  a  little  company  of 
a  few  hundred  men  and  women,  at  the  most;  the  natural  world 
from  which  you  think  to  take  sufficient  lessons  with  your  un- 
assisted eyes  is  made  up  of  some  few  bits  of  city  streets  and 
country  lanes  and  seaside  sands.  What  can  you,  sir,  know  of 
life,  compared  with  the  man  who  has  had  equal  years  of  breath 
and  consciousness  with  you,  and  who  puts  with  that  experi- 
ence some  large,  wide  knowledge  of  forty  centuries  of  human 
history  in  the  whole  round  world  besides?  What  can  you 
know  of  mankind  and  human  nature  compared  with  the  man 
who  meets  and  talks  with  as  many  of  his  neighbors  in  the  flesh 
as  yourself  and  -who,  beyond  that,  has  companionship  and  com- 
munion of  mind  with  the  kmgly  and  queenly  ones  of  all  the  gen- 
erations that  are  dead?  \Vhat  can  you  learn  from  nature  com- 
pared with  him  who  has  Darwin  and  Dana  and  Huxley  and 
Tyndall  and  Gray  for  his  tutors  when  he  walks  abroad,  and 
who,  besides  the  home-rambling  which  he  shares  with  you, 
can  go  bird-watching  with  John  Burroughs  up  and  down  the 
Atlantic  states,  or  roaming  with  Thoreau  in  Maine  woods,  or 
strolling  with  Richard  Jeffries  in  English  lanes  and  fields?" 


294  JOSEPH  NELSON  LARNED 

Truth  is,  the  bookless  man  does  not  understand  his  own 
loss.  He  does  not  know  the  leanness  m  which  his  mind  is 
kept  by  want  of  the  food  which  he  rejects.  He  does  not  know 
what  starving  of  imagination  and  of  thought  he  has  inflicted 
upon  himself.  He  has  suffered  his  interest  in  the  things  which 
make  up  God's  knowable  universe  to  shrink  until  it  reaches 
no  farther  than  his  eyes  can  see  and  his  ears  can  hear.  The 
books  which  he  scorns  are  the  telescopes  and  reflectors  and 
reverberators  of  our  intellectual  life,  holding  in  themselves  a 
hundred  magical  powers  for  the  overcoming  of  space  and  time, 
and  for  giving  the  range  of  knowledge  which  belongs  to  a 
really  cultivated  mind.  There  is  no  equal  substitute  for  them. 
There  is  nothing  else  which  will  so  break  for  us  the  poor  hobble 
of  everyday  sights  and  sounds  and  habits  and  tasks,  by  which 
our  thinking  and  feeling  are  naturally  tethered  to  a  little  worn 
round. 

Some  may  think,  perhaps,  that  newspapers  should  be  named 
with  books  as  sharing  this  high  office.  In  truth,  it  ought  to  be 
possible  to  rank  the  newspaper  with  the  book  as  an  instrument 
of  culture.  Equally  in  truth,  it  is  not  possible  to  do  so,  except 
in  the  case  of  some  small  number.  The  true  public  journal- 
diary  of  the  world— which  is  actually  a  wew-paper  and  not  a 
^o-wz/j-paper,  is  most  powerfully  an  educator,  cultivator,  broad- 
ener  of  the  minds  of  those  who  read  it.  It  lifts  them  out 
of  their  petty  personal  surroundings  and  sets  them  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  great  movements  of  the  time  on  every  con- 
tinent It  makes  them  spectators  and  judges  of  everything  that 
happens  or  is  done,  demands  opinions  from  them,  extorts  their 
sympathy  and  moves  them  morally  to  wrath  or  admiration. 
In  a  word,  it  produces  daily,  in  their  thought  and  feeling,  a 
thousand  large  relations  with  their  fellow  men  of  every  coun- 
try and  race,  with  noble  results  of  the  highest  and  truest  culti- 
vation. 

But  the  common  so-called  newspaper  of  the  present  day, 
which  is  a  mere  rag-picker  of  scandal  and  gossip,  searching 
the  gutters  and  garbage-barrels  of  the  whole  earth  for  every 
tainted  and  unclean  scrap  of  personal  misdoing  or  mishap  that 
can  be  dragged  to  light;  the  so-called  newspaper  which  interests 
itself  ^  and  which  labors  to  interest  its  readers,  in  the  trivialities 
and  ignoble  occurrences  of  the  day— in  the  prize  fights,  and 


MISSION  AND  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK  295 

mean  preliminaries  of  prize  fights,  the  boxing  matches,  the  ball 
games,  the  races,  the  teas,  the  luncheons,  the  receptions,  the 
dresses,  the  goings  and  comings  and  private  doings  of  private 
persons — making  the  most  in  all  possible  ways  of  all  petty  things 
and  low  things,  while  treating  grave  matters  with  levity  and 
impertinence,  with  what  effect  is  such  a  newspaper  read?  I 
do  not  care  to  say.  If  I  spoke  my  mind  I  might  strike  harshly 
at  too  many  people  whose  reading  is  confined  to  such  sheets. 
I  will  venture  only  so  much  remark  as  this  that  I  would  prefer 
absolute  illiteracy  for  a  son  or  daughter  of  mine,  total  in- 
ability to  spell  a  printed  word,  rather  than  that  he  or  she  should 
be  habitually  a  reader  of  the  common  newspapers  of  America 
to-day,  and  a  reader  of  nothing  better. 

I  could  say  the  same  of  many  books.  So  far,  in  speaking 
of  books,  I  have  been  taking  for  granted  that  you  will  under- 
stand me  to  mean,  not  everything  without  discrimination  which 
has  the  form  of  a  book,  but  only  the  true  literature  which 
worthily  bears  that  printed  form.  For  if  we  must  give  the  name 
to  all  printed  sheets,  folded  and  stitched  together  in  a  certain 
mode,  then  it  becomes  necessary-  to  qualify  the  use  we  make 
of  the  name.  Then  we  must  sweep  out  of  the  question  vast 
numbers  of  books  which  belong  to  literature  no  more  than  a 
counterfeit  dollar  belongs  to  the  money  of  the  country.  They 
are  counterfeits  in  literature— base  imitations  of  the  true  book; 
that  is  their  real  character.  Readers  may  be  cheated  by  them 
precisely  as  buyers  and  sellers  may  be  cheated  by  the  spurious 
coin,  and  the  detection  and  rejection  of  them  are  effected  by 
identically  the  same  process  of  scrutiny  and  comparison.  Every 
genuine  book  has  a  reason  for  its  existence,  in  something  of 
value  which  it  brings  to  the  reader.  That  something  may  be 
information,  it  may  be  m  ideas,  it  may  be  in  moral  stimulations, 
it  may  be  in  wholesome  emotions,  it  may  be  in  gifts  to  the  im- 
agination, or  to  the  fancy,  or  to  the  sense  of  humor,  or  to  the 
humane  sympathies,  or  indefinably  to  the  whole  conscious  con- 
tentment of  the  absorbing  mind;  but  it  will  always  be  a  fact 
which  those  who  make  themselves  familiar  with  good  and  true 
books  can  never  mistake.  Whether  they  find  it  in  a  book  of 
history,  or  of  travel,  or  of  biography,  or  of  piety,  or  of  science, 
or  of  poetry,  or  of  nonsense  (for  there  are  good  books  of 
nonsense,  like  Alice  in  Wonderland,  for  example)  they  will 


296  JOSEPH  NELSON  LARNED 

infallibly  recognize  the  stamp  of  genuineness  upon  it.  The 
readers  who  are  cheated  by  base  and  worthless  books  are  the 
readers  who  will  not  give  themsehes  an  expert  knowledge  of 
good  books,  as  they  might  easily  do. 

Here,  then,  opens  one  of  the  greater  missionary  fields  of 
the  public  library.  To  push  the  competition  of  good  books 
against  worthless  books,  making  readers  of  what  is  vulgar  and 
flat  acquainted  with  what  is  wholesome  and  fine,  is  a  work  as 
important  as  the  introduction  of  books  among  people  who  have 
never  read  at  all.  There  is  a  theory  which  has  some  accept- 
ance, that  any  reading  is  better  than  no  reading.  It  rests  on 
the  assumption  that  an  appetite  for  letters  once  created,  even 
by  the  trash  of  the  press,  will  either  refine  its  own  taste  or  else 
have  prepared  a  susceptibility  to  literary  influences  which  could 
not  otherwise  exist.  Those  who  hold  this  doctrine  have  con- 
fidence that  a  young  devourer  of  dime  novels,  for  example, 
may  be  led  on  an  ascending  plane  through  Castlemon,  Optic, 
Alger,  Mayne  Reid,  Henry,  Verne,  Andersen,  DeFoe,  Scott, 
Homer,  Shakespere,  more  easily  than  a  boy  or  girl  who  runs 
away  from  print  of  every  sort  can  be  won  into  any  similar 
path.  For  my  own  part,  I  fear  the  theory  is  unsafe  for  work- 
ing. It  will  probably  prove  true  m  some  cases,  I  am  quite 
sure  that  it  will  prove  dangerously  false  in  many  others  There 
are  kinds  of  habit  and  appetite  in  reading  which  seem  to  be  as 
deep-rooted  in  unhealthy  states  of  mind  and  brain  as  the  ap- 
petite for  opium  or  alcohol.  They  grow  up  among  the  habitual 
readers  of  such  newspapers  as  I  have  been  speaking  of,  and 
equally  among  readers  of  the  slop-shop  novels,  vulgar  or  vile, 
with  which  the  world  is  flooded  in  this  age  of  print.  The  news- 
paper appetite  or  the  trash-novel  appetite,  once  fastened  on  the 
brain  of  its  victim,  is  not  often  unloosed.  It  masters  all  other 
inclinations,  permits  no  other  taste  or  interest  to  be  wakened. 
The  stuff  which  produces  it  is  as  dangerous  to  tamper  with 
as  any  other  dream  and  stupor  making  narcotic.  To  bait  readers 
with  it,  expecting  to  lure  them  on  to  better  literature,  is  to 
run  a  grave  risk  of  missing  the  end  and  realizing  only  the 
mischiefs  of  the  temptation. 

Far  safer  will  it  be  to  hold  the  public  library  as  strictly  as 
can  be  done  to  the  mission  of  good  books.  And  that  is  a  vague 
prescription.  How  are  "good  books"  to  be  defined?— since  their 


MISSION  AND  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK  297 

goodness  is  of  many  degrees.  The  mere  distinction  between 
good  and  bad  in  literature  I  believe  to  be  easily  recognized,  as 
I  have  said,  by  every  person  who  has  tasted  the  good  and  whose 
intellectual  sense  has  been  cultivated  by  it  to  even  a  small  extent 
But  between  the  supremely  good  and  that  which  is  simply  not 
bad,  there  are  degrees  beyond  counting.  From  Bulwer  to 
Shakspere,  from  Trumbull  to  Homer,  from  Roe  to  Thackeray, 
from  Tupper  to  Marcus  Aurehus,  from  Talmage  to  Thomas  a 
Kempis  or  Thomas  Fuller,  from  Jacob  Abbott  to  Edward  Gib- 
bon, the  graduation  of  quality  is  beyond  exact  marking  by  any 
critical  science.  How  shall  we  draw  lines  to  distinguish  the 
negatively  from  the  positively  good  in  letters?  We  simply 
can  not.  We  can  only  lay  down  loose  lines  and  put  behind 
them  the  never  relaxing  spring  of  one  elastic  and  always  prac- 
ticable rule.  Strive  unceasingly  for  the  best.  Give  all  the  op- 
portunities to  the  best  literature  of  every  class.  Give  front 
places  on  all  possible  occasions  to  the  great  writers,  the  wise 
writers,  the  learned  writers,  the  wholesome  writers;  keep  them 
always  in  evidence;  contrive  introductions  for  them;  make 
readers  familiar  with  their  rank  and  standing.  There  is  little  else 
to  be  done  The  public  library  would  be  false  to  its  mission 
if  it  did  not  exclude  books  that  are  positively  bad  either  through 
vice  or  \ulgarity,  but  much  beyond  that  it  can  not  easily  go. 
Happily,  it  can  not  force  the  best  literature  upon  its  public; 
for  if  it  could,  the  effect  would  be  lost  But  it  can  recommend 
the  best,  with  an  insisting  urgency  that  will  prevail  in  the  end. 
I  am  by  nature  an  optimist.  Things  as  they  are  in  the  world 
look  extremely  disheartening  to  me,  but  I  think  I  can  see  forces 
at  work  which  will  powerfully  change  them  before  many  gen- 
erations have  passed.  Among  such  forces,  the  most  potent  in 
my  expectation  is  that  which  acts  from  the  free  public  library. 
Through  its  agency,  in  my  belief,  there  will  come  a  day— it  may 
be  a  distant  day,  but  it  will  come — when  the  large  knowledge, 
the  wise  thinking,  the  fine  feeling,  the  amplitude  of  spirit  that 
are  in  the  greater  literatures,  will  have  passed  into  so  many 
minds  that  they  will  rule  society  democratically,  by  right  of 
numbers.  I  see  no  encouragement  to  hope  that  the  culture 
which  lifts  men  from  generation  to  generation,  little  by  little, 
to  higher  levels  and  larger  visions  of  things,  will  never  be 
made  universal.  Under  the  best  circumstances  which  men  can 


298  JOSEPH   NELSON   LARNED 

bring  about,  nature  seems  likely  to  deny  to  a  considerable  class 
of  unfortunates  tie  capacity,  either  mentally,  or  morally,  or 
both,  for  refinement  and  elevation.  But  if  that  be  true  at  all, 
it  can  not  be  true  of  any  formidable  number.  Among  the  pro- 
gressive races,  the  majority  of  men  and  women  are  unques- 
tionably of  the  stuff  and  temper  out  of  which  anything  fine 
in  soul  and  strong  in  intellect  can  be  made,  if  not  in  one  gen- 
eration, then  in  two,  or  three,  or  10,  by  the  continual  play 
upon  them  of  influences  from  the  finer  souls  and  greater  minds 
of  their  own  times  and  of  the  past.  It  is  not  by  nature  but  by 
circumstance,  heredity  itself  being  an  offspring  of  circumstance, 
that  light  is  shut  from  the  greater  part  of  those  who  walk 
the  earth  with  darkened  minds.  Man  is  so  far  the  master  of 
circumstance  that  he  can  turn  and  diffuse  the  light  almost  as 
he  will,  and  his  will  to  make  the  illumination  of  the  few  com- 
mon to  the  many  is  now  fully  manifested.  All  the  movements 
that  I  have  reviewed  are  marks  of  its  progressive  working.  It 
translates  into  active  energy  that  desire  for  others  of  the  good 
most  precious  to  one's  self,  which  is  the  finest  and  noblest  feel- 
ing possible  to  human  nature  All  the  forces  of  selfishness 
that  race  men  against  one  another  from  goal  to  goal  of  a 
simply  scientific  civilization,  would  fail  to  bring  about  this 
supreme  end  of  a  common  culture  for  the  race.  Nothing  but 
the  missionary  inspiration  could  give  a  reasonable  promise  of 
it.  Let  us  thank  God  for  the  souls  He  has  put  into  men,  hav- 
ing that  capability  of  helpfulness  to  one  another. 


TRAVELING  LIBRARIES 

The  following  paper  is  a  report  on  traveling  libraries, 
prepared  by  Frank  A.  Hutchins,  secretary  of  the  Wis- 
consin Free  Library  Commission,  to  be  read  at  the  Chau- 
tauqua  Conference  of  the  A.L.A.,  in  July  1898. 

Frank  Avery  Hutchins  was  born  in  Xonvalk,  Ohio, 
in  1850.  He  was  educated  at  the  Wayland  Academy, 
Beaver  Dam,  Wisconsin.  From  1891-1895  he  was  li- 
brarian and  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  State  Superintend- 
ent of  Education,  Madison,  Wisconsin.  A  pioneer  in 
the  field  of  library  work,  his  continued  efforts  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  organization  of  the  Wisconsin  Free  Li- 
brary Commission  and  its  outgrowth  the  legislative  ref- 
erence library.  For  six  years  he  was  secretary  of  the 
commission.  His  next  and  last  work  was  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  extension  department  of  debating  and  public 
discussion  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  with  its  pack- 
age library.  At  the  time  of'his  death  in  January  26, 1914, 
he  was  head  of  this  department. 

The  pioneer  travelling  library  went  out  from  the  New 
York  State  Library  on  its  first  journey  Feb.  8,  1893.  It  was 
soon  followed  by  others,  In  1895  the  legislatures  of  Iowa  and 
Michigan  made  appropriations  to  establish  such  libraries.  In 
1896  they  were  established  m  Colorado,  Illinois,  Kansas,  Ken- 
tucky, Louisiana,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Nebraska,  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Wisconsin.  In  1897  they  were  started  in  New 
Jersey,  and  new  systems  were  founded  in  states  which  had  other 
systems.  Since  Jan.  I,  1898,  other  centres  have  been  made  in 
Alabama,  Connecticut,  the  District  of  Columbia,  Minnesota, 
California,  Oregon,  Washington,  and  probably  other  states.  The 
work  is  extending  beyond  the  borders  of  our  own  country, 
and  last  winter  the  legislative  assembly  of  British  Columbia 


300  FRANK  A  VERY  HUTCHINS 

appropriated  $1000  for  it.    As  to  the  number  of  libraries  and 
their  volumes,  the  record  is  as  lollows: 

LIBRARIES  VOLS. 

Feb.  8,1893 i  ioo 

May  i,  1897 929+10  47,171+500 

May  i,  1898 1,657+10  73,558+500 

To  state  the  growth  in  another  way.  the  pioneer  library  of 
1893  has  in  fi\e  years  been  followed  by  1666  others,  and  the  last 
year  shows  an  increase  of  728  in  their  number.  May  i,  1895, 
there  were  not  a  dozen  travelling  libraries  outside  of  New 
York  state.  May  I,  1896,  there  were  not  more  than  50;  May  i, 
1897,  there  were  415;  and  May  I,  1898,  there  were  980,  with 
33,596  volumes. 

The  first  free  travelling  libraries  were  sent  to  villages  to 
serve  as  object  lessons.  They  included  mainly  books  for  the 
general  reader.  Now  they  take  not  only  fiction,  histories,  biog- 
raphies, and  books  of  science,  literature,  and  poetry,  for  young 
and  old,  but  they  carry  with  them  wall  pictures,  photographs, 
lantern-slides,  magazines,  illustrated  papers,  and  children's  pe- 
riodicals. 

It  is  instructive  to  note  the  various  agencies  which  have  de- 
veloped the  new  plan  of  encouraging  good  reading.  The  great 
system  which  has  grown  up  in  New  York  has  been  maintained 
by  the  state.  Its  first  successors  were  supported  by  the  states 
of  Michigan  and  Iowa,  but  all  which  have  been  established 
since  1895,  except  those  of  Ohio  and  British  Columbia,  are 
supported  by  private  philanthropy.  The  legislature  of  New 
Jersey,  it  is  true,  has  passed  a  law  to  create  free  travelling 
libraries,  but  has  not  as  yet  made  an  appropriation  for  them. 

When  Mr.  Dewey  started  the  work  in  New  York  people  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  state  aid 
was  necessary  for  the  support  of  travelling  libraries,  and  they 
began  besieging  legislatures  for  help.  They  have  been  suc- 
cessful in  only  three  states.  When  it  became  evident  that  only 
a  few  of  our  legislatures  were  ready  to  make  so  great  an  ex- 
tension of  our  educational  systems  many  good  friends  of  the 
movement  were  discouraged,  but  others  would  not  brook  delay. 
State  Senator  J.  H.  Stout  established  a  system  of  travelling 


TRAVELING  LIBRARIES  301 

libraries  for  the  farmers  of  Dunn  County,  Wisconsin.  Women's 
clubs  in  various  states  collected  books  to  be  sent  to  other 
clubs  Other  organizations  were  formed  whose  purpose  it  was 
to  gather  travelling  libraries  for  isolated  communities.  Nearly 
all  these  enterprises  met  with  unexpected  success.  The  founders 
became  enthusiastic,  and  one  system  of  travelling  libraries 
has  led  to  another  until  in  20  states  there  are  37  systems  and 
the  interest  is  steadily  increasing. 

The  great  recent  development  of  the  work  is  due  to  that  new 
but  most  powerful  factor  in  our  educational  life — the  women's 
club.  In  the  most  of  the  states  of  the  Union  the  women's 
clubs  are  doing  more  than  the  librarians  to  bring  about  the  es- 
tablishment and  spread  of  travelling  libraries.  When  they  first 
commenced  this  work  it  was  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  sending 
special  libraries  to  the  weaker  clubs,  but  the  possibilities  of 
the  new  plan  as  a  means  of  helping  women  and  children  of 
isolated  communities  have  appealed  to  them  with  such  force 
that  their  money  and  their  sympathy  is  flowing  most  freely  to 
the  destitute  who  are  not  of  their  own  number. 

It  is  not  necessary  now  for  us  to  attempt  to  determine 
whether  the  systems  of  travelling  libraries  maintained  by  the 
state  or  those  maintained  by  private  benefactions  are  the  better. 
At  present  there  is  room  for  both.  It  is  evident  that  we  can 
at  present  get  but  few  state  systems.  The  best  way  to  get 
state  aid  in  most  of  the  states  will  be  to  send  out  in  them  good 
travelling  libraries  supported  by  private  gifts.  In  this  way 
those  who  give  and  those  who  receive  become  missionaries  of 
the  cause. 

In  most  states  there  are  no  central  organizations  sufficiently 
well  equipped  to  take  charge  of  great  systems.  A  state  system 
to  be  satisfactory  must  cover  all  the  state  with  its  blessings. 
It  must  be  administered  by  trained  people  who  make  library 
work  their  business  and  who  have  the  necessary  means  and 
machinery  to  do  the  work  effectively.  Collections  of  books 
and  untrained  enthusiasm  will  not  make  travelling  libraries 
useful  if  they  are  sent  to  indifferent  people  at  distant  points. 

If  the  new  movement  is  to  command  and  deserve  public 
sympathy  and  support,  great  systems  should  only  be  established 
where  the  libraries  can  be  put  in  charge  of  trained  librarians 


302  FRANK  AVERY  HUTCHINS 

Well-equipped  state  libraries,  state  library  departments,  or  li- 
brary commissions  should  precede  state  travelling  libraries. 

It  is,  of  course,  possible  for  colleges,  libraries,  and  women's 
clubs  to  send  travelling  libraries  to  associations  of  students 
scattered  in  various  parts  of  a  state,  but  by  state  systems  I 
mean  those  as  widely  extended  as  those  of  New  York,  Michi- 
gan, Ohio,  and  Iowa,  which  organize  associations  of  unedu- 
cated people  in  distant  communities  and  train  them  to  use  good 
books  to  good  purpose  Such  work  to  be  successful  must  be 
carefully  and  intelligently  administered. 

Mr.  Stout  has  34  travelling  library  stations  in  Dunn  County, 
Wisconsin.  All  are  in  small  communities.  Most  of  them  are 
patronized  only  by  farmers  The  librarians  are  farmers'  wives, 
postmistresses,  and  small  storekeepers  The  travelling  libraries 
are  managed  from  a  well-equipped  public  library.  Once  or  more 
each  year  the  librarian  of  the  central  library  visits  each  of  the 
outlying  stations,  asks  criticisms  and  suggestions,  and  interests 
the  librarians,  the  people,  and  the  teachers  in  the  work.  When 
the  libraries  are  exchanged  they  are  generally  earned  back 
and  forth  in  a  farmer's  wagon.  Once  a  year  these  isolated 
librarians  and  their  friends  gather  at  the  central  library  to 
attend  a  "library  institute."  They  discuss  their  problems,  they 
report  upon  their  work,  they  get  inspiration  and  enthusiasm, 
and  they  have  a  good  time.  All  these  things  work  together  to 
make  the  libraries  and  the  books  the  centres  of  interest  in 
isolated  and  sordid  communities  and  to  bring  the  people  into 
personal  touch  with  the  outer  world  No  system  of  corre- 
spondence from  a  state  capital  can  arouse  the  enthusiasm  that 
comes  from  the  personal  contact  which  is  the  feature  of  Mr. 
Stout's  system,  and  yet  he  and  others  who  conduct  local  sys- 
tems need  the  counsel  of  those  who  have  a  wide  library  ex- 
perience to  draw  from. 

While  there  is  a  great  field  for  the  small  local  systems  if 
the  are  rightly  conducted,  it  should  be  understood  that  they 
will  not  be  successful  if  they  are  not  managed  with  tact,  intelli- 
gence, and  patient  determination.  Untrained  readers  need  the 
most  interesting  popular  books  and  magazines;  they  must  be 
catered  to  by  librarians  who  not  only  wish  to  please,  but  who 
do  please  A  lot  of  second-hand  books  collected  from  attics 
and  sent  into  a  benighted  community  on  a  freight  car  will  kill 
any  enthusiasm  for  books  that  it  may  happen  to  find. 


TRAVELING  LIBRARIES  303 

The  Seaboard  Air  Line  is  buying  a  large  number  of  libraries 
to  send  to  the  village  improvement  associations  in  the  towns 
along  its  route  in  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 
These  libraries  will  contain  a  large  proportion  of  volumes 
upon  agriculture  and  horticulture,  and  their  purpose  will  be  to 
stimulate  citizens  to  make  the  towns  on  the  line  more  attractive. 
This  work  is  an  example  of  "enlightened  selfishness"  which 
ought  to  find  many  imitators. 

A  number  of  railway  and  express  companies  send  books  to 
the  employes  along  their  lines.  Among  these  are  the  B.  &  0. 
and  the  Boston  &  Albany  railways,  the  American  and  the  Wells, 
Fargo  &  Co.  express  companies.  The  New  York  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
Railroad  Branch  supplies  members  who  are  employed  by  the 
N.  Y.  Central.  All  these  agencies  report  a  circulation  of  70466 
volumes  during  the  past  year. 

The  accompanying  table  gives  the  principal  facts  connected 
with  nearly  40  travelling  library  systems.  Philadelphia,  New 
York,  Buffalo,  Detroit,  Milwaukee,  and  many  other  cities  send 
small  collections  of  books  to  schools  and  societies  within  their 
own  borders.  In  this  table  none  of  these  have  been  counted 
as  travelling  libraries  except  those  of  Philadelphia. 


O  O  (4  0         O       0  •  1O      0  OCCOOO  "5      O    O       O 

a"    1      "II     :  •  *  i    ?3  !  "  s   8     *  §  a  * 


3 


IS  S   Si   S     «s  S  S   I!  I  S   S  1 1 1  S  I 


LIBRARY  EXTENSION 

Extension  work  employs  not  only  methods  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  books  circulated,  but  also  to  make 
the  .influence  of  the  library  permeate  every  part  of  its 
town.  How  to  get  the  library  to  the  people,  how  to  get 
books  to  the  people,  and  the  real  aim  and  purpose  of  the 
library  are  discussed  at  length  in  the  following  paper. 

Dr.  Edward  A.  Birge,  then  a  trustee  of  the  Madison, 
Wisconsin,  Free  Library,  and  later  president  of  the 
State  University,  prepared  this  paper  which  was  read 
at  the  Wisconsin  Library  Association  meeting  at  Beloit, 
February  23,  190S. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Edward  Asahel  Birge 
appears  in  Volume  3  of  this  series. 

Nearly  2000  years  ago  Cicero,  who  among  the  men  of  the 
ancient  world  perhaps  best  fulfills  our  modern  idea  of  a  gentle- 
man and  scholar,  expressed  his  love  for  books  in  words  fre- 
quently quoted,  but  which  can  not  be  too  often  repeated: 
Books,  he  said,  are  tl^e  food  of  youth,  the  delight  of  old  age; 
the  ornament  of  prosperity,  the  refuge  and  comfort  of  ad- 
versity ;  a  delight  at  home  and  no  hindrance  abroad ;  companions 
by  night,  in  travel,  in  the  country. 

It  is  the  lover  of  books  and  not  the  exploiter  of  books 
who  speaks  in  these  words.  The  relation  of  the  librarian  to 
books  is  wholly  different  from  that  of  the  scholar.  It  is  the 
task  of  the  modern  librarian,  and  especially  of  the  librarian 
who  is  charged  with  the  administration  of  a  public  library, 
to  make  books  a  part  of  the  working  world,  not  of  the  world 
of  leisure.  It  is  his  problem  to  induce  the  workingman  to  read, 
and  to  read  books.  It  is  his  mission  to  direct  the  workers 
of  the  world  to  books,  the  workingman  and  the  working  woman, 
whose  daily  life  is  given  to  labor  in  factories,  in  stores,  in 
offices,  or  in  the  home;  to  show  them  that  they  may  find  in 


308  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

books  that  solace  from  care,  that  help  in  affairs,  that  inspira- 
tion m  life  which  books,  and  books  alone,  can  give  to  the 
reader.  It  rests  with  him  to  cultivate  among  all  classes  of 
people,  and  not  among  the  selected  few,  that  lo\e  of  books,  at 
once  the  result  and  the  cause  of  the  habit  of  reading,  through 
which  the  larger  and  broader  life  of  man  is  disclosed  to  the 
reader.  Such  is  the  problem  of  our  day  and  of  your  profes- 
sion— a  new  problem,  and  one  which  our  day  will  sohe  only 
in  part.  Its  solution  will  be  reached  along  various  lines  by 
experiment,  by  repeated  failure,  by  constant  and  unwearied 
application  of  the  old-fashioned  rule  of  "cut  and  try." 

It  is  my  duty  this  evening  to  speak  of  some  of  the  means 
which  libraries  have  adopted  in  recent  times  to  aid  in  the  so- 
lution of  this  problem  of  bringing  together  books,  readable 
books,  and  the  masses  of  the  people. 


How  to  get  the  people  to  the  books 

First  of  distributing  agencies  I  must  place  branches,  sub- 
stations, delivery  stations,  school  libraries  and  similar  agencies 
for  collecting,  distributing  and  placing  library  books.  These 
have  greatly  increased  in  number  in  recent  years  in  the  larger 
libraries,  as  a  perusal  of  their  reports  will  readily  show.  In 
1903  there  were  in  the  city  of  Cleveland  52  branches  of  the 
public  library,  and  at  all  but  17  of  these  permanent  collections 
of  books  were  kept.  Springfield,  Mass.,  in  1904  reports  that 
there  are  179  places  in  that  city  where  books  from  the  library 
can  be  obtained;  146  of  these,  however,  are  classrooms  in  the 
various  schoolhouses.  There  are  six  deposit  stations  and 
branches  of  various  kinds  in  churches,  factories,  fire  engine 
houses,  etc.  Boston  in  1904  reports  185  stations  and  sub-sta- 
tions; St  Louis  60  stations  outside  of  the  school-houses  In 
Pittsburg  books  may  be  drawn  from  the  following  places  out- 
side of  the  central  library:  5  branch  libraries,  16  deposit  sta- 
tions, 50  schools,  28  home  libraries,  and  n  playgrounds.  From 
these  branches  are  issued  about  three-fifths  of  the  total  cir- 
culation of  books.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  where  the  statistics 
of  the  circulation  of  the  classes  of  books  are  given  for  sep- 
arate branches,  tbe  proportion  of  fiction  to  the  othe-  classes 


LIBRARY  EXTENSION  309 

is  about  the  same  from  the  smaller  collections  at  the  stations 
as  is  found  to  be  the  case  in  the  main  library.  In  Brooklyn 
there  are  21  branches,  besides  a  department  of  traveling  libra- 
ries of  which  179  were  sent  out,  with  a  circulation  of  53,ocov. 
in  1903  Associated  with  the  library  of  Cincinnati  there  are  6 
branches  in  the  adjacent  country  with  42  stations,  circulating 
1 55,ooov.  Special  libraries  are  furnished  for  firemen  and  for 
a  number  of  other  special  classes  of  readers.  A  technological 
library  is  maintained  for  the  benefit  of  men  employed  in  fac- 
tories, and  special  pains  are  taken  to  secure  and  to  circulate 
books  of  interest  to  this  class  of  readers.  Pittsburg  also  makes 
a  specialty  of  technical  libraries,  and  71  per  cent,  of  its  card- 
holders are  employes. 

I  have  been  especially  interested  in  the  report  regarding 
school  libraries  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  The  report  of  that  library 
for  1904  shows  that  this  city  now  maintains  nearly  700  grade 
libraries,  containing  more  than  so.ooov,  with  a  circulation  of 
more  than  335,ooov.,  nearly  one-third  of  the  total  circulation 
of  the  library.  Each  book,  therefore,  was  taken  home  on  an 
average  of  n  times,  which  the  librarian  justly  characterizes 
as  a  remarkable  showing,  especially  considering  that  the  school 
year  is  less  than  10  months  long.  In  one  of  the  schools  the 
class  libraries,  aggregating  530  books,  showed  a  circulation  of 
nearly  12,000  during  the  school  year,  and  the  librarian  is  con- 
vinced that  these  books  were  all  taken  out  to  be  read,  and  that 
there  is  positive  evidence  that  they  were  read,  as  well  as  taken 
home. 

Buffalo  also  maintains  a  system  of  traveling  libraries,  of 
which  149  were  in  circulation  in  1904.  The  fire  engine  houses, 
truants'  and  other  special  schools,  Sunday  schools,  literary  so- 
cieties, church  associations,  hospitals,  all  share  in  the  privileges 
of  these  libraries.  More  than  5,000  books  were  contained  in 
them. 

It  is  difficult  to  state  just  how  much  work  of  this  kind  is 
being  done  hi  Wisconsin,  and  how  Wisconsin  compares  with 
other  states  in  this  respect.  The  Milwaukee  library  has  always 
been  a  pioneer  in  this  kind  of  library  extension,  and  for  many 
years  has  maintained  a  thoroughly  organized  and  efficient  sys- 
tem of  school  duplicate  libraries.  For  1903  the  library  reports 
27,657  books  issued  143,037  times  by  392  teachers  in  45  graded 


3io  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

public  schools,  State  normal  school,  3  high  schools,  I  school 
for  the  deaf,  5  parochial  schools,  12  Sunday  schools,  and  I 
vacation  school  Books  were  also  sent  to  charitable  institu- 
tions, settlements,  factories,  and  to  one  branch  library.  Most 
of  the  information  outside  of  Wisconsin  which  the  Free  li- 
brary commission  has  furnished  me  has  come  from  cities  of 
the  grade  of  Milwaukee  and  the  reports  from  Milwaukee  com- 
pare favorably  with  those  from  cites  of  similar  size.  Apart 
from  Milwaukee,  the  libraries  in  Wisconsin  are  all  small;  the 
largest  not  much  exceeding  20,ooov  Ten  libraries  at  present 
contain  between  io,ooov.  and  20,ooov.  Six  of  these— Superior, 
Madison,  Kenosha,  La  Crosse,  Racine,  and  Oshkosh — maintain 
substations  or  effective  school  libraries,  or  both.  The  libraries 
in  Wisconsin  which  contain  between  5,ooov.  and  io,ooov.  num- 
ber 18,  and  of  these  only  four — Baraboo,  Grand  Rapids,  Mari- 
nette,  and  Merrill— are  definitely  working  with  schoolroom  li- 
braries for  the  lower  grades  although,  doubtless,  many  others 
are  aiding  the  schools  through  teachers*  cards,  or  special  priv- 
ileges. The  Rhinelander  library,  having  but  25oov.,  maintains 
a  branch  and  one  school  library. 

It  is  certain  that  the  libraries  in  Wisconsin  of  moderate 
size  have  still  before  them  a  great  and  very  profitable  task 
in  the  extension  of  the  use  of  their  libraries  in  the  schools. 
The  question  of  establishing  delivery  stations  is  one  on  which 
very  little  general  advice  can  be  given,  since  the  necessity  of 
a  delivery  station  depends  much  on  local  conditions  and  the 
habit  of  the  people  of  the  city.  But  there  can  be  no  question 
that  in  all  cities  large  enough  to  maintain  a  library  of  5,ooov., 
very  useful  work  can  be  done  by  means  of  teachers1  cards, 
and  still  more  by  a  regularly  organized  library  of  duplicates 
for  use  in  schools.  These  libraries  should  consist  not  of  the 
books  which  the  school  requires  for  "collateral  reading"— these 
the  school  board  should  supply— but  of  books  which  lie  quite 
outside  of  the  regular  line  of  school  duties— books  selected 
not  merely  to  give  information  to  the  pupils  in  regard  to  their 
studies,  but  to  stimulate  and  to  cultivate  in  them  the  love  of 
reading.  Such  libraries  can  be  introduced  at  little  cost  in  com- 
parison to  their  service,  and  are  one  of  the  most  effective  ways 
of  giving  books  to  the  people,  and  of  developing  the  habit  of 
reading. 


LIBRARY  EXTENSION  311 

Many  of  the  larger  cities  report  special  collections  of  books 
for  various  classes  in  the  community  put  in  places  where  mem- 
bers of  these  classes  can  most  easily  reach  them.  Springfield, 
Mass.,  and  several  other  cities  have  collections  of  books  for 
firemen.  The  street  railway  barns,  Young  men's  Christian 
association  rooms,  church  parlors,  I  have  noted  in  various  cities 
as  receiving  special  collections  of  books.  Parks  in  Brooklyn 
and  playgrounds  in  Pittsburg  receive  collections.  In  Pittsburg 
and  in  Cincinnati  much  has  been  done  in  bringing  together 
collections  of  books  for  men  employed  in  factories.  These 
are  found  both  at  the  central  library  and  in  smaller  collections 
which  are  deposited  at  the  factories.  The  books  are  carefully 
selected,  both  such  as  may  give  general  information  on  me- 
chanical subjects,  and  special  information  regarding  the  trade 
or  occupation  of  the  factory  where  the  local  collection  may 
be  placed.  The  proprietors  of  the  factory  often  aid  in  the 
establishment  of  such  local  libraries.  I  am  not  aware  that  any 
collections  of  just  this  sort  are  in  use  in  Wisconsin,  yet  there 
are  few  cities  of  any  considerable  size  where  it  might  not  be 
profitable  to  establish  them.  Certainly  the  manufacturing  cities, 
such  as  Beloit  and  the  other  busy  manufacturing  towns  found 
in  the  Fox  river  valley  and  elsewhere  in  Wisconsin,  offer  an 
unusually  good  opportunity  for  such  subordinate  libraries. 

Home  libraries — One  of  the  most  interesting  experiments 
in  library  extension  is  that  of  furnishing  libraries  for  homes, 
which  is  being  tried  in  two  forms.  In  several  cities,  especially 
Pittsburg  and  Cincinnati,  home  libraries  have  been  sent  to 
families  in  the  poorer  parts  of  the  city,  where  books  are  least 
used.  These  libraries  consist  of  some  20  books  carefully  chosen, 
are  placed  in  homes  where  children  are  to  be  found,  and  are 
to  be  used  by  a  circle  of  10  to  15  children  It  would  obviously 
be  worse  than  useless  to  send  these  books  into  such  homes 
without  guidance  for  the  readers,  and  the  library  sends  out 
visitors  who  meet  regularly  these  circles  of  children  and  show 
them  how  to  use  the  books  with  profit  and  interest  The  city 
of  Cincinnati  had,  in  1903,  15  such  libraries  in  use  with  an  an- 
nual circulation  of  3400v.  Nine  or  more  visitors  aided  the 
library  in  this  branch  of  its  work.  In  Pittsburg  in  1904  there 
were  28  such  libraries  with  an  annual  circulation  of  some 
9500V,  and  the  work  was  made  efficient  by  the  aid  of  about 


3i2  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

73  visitors.  It  is  obvious  that  work  of  this  sort  must  be  re- 
garded rather  as  missionary  work  than  as  library  extension 
in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  and  while  something  of  this 
kind  may  well  be  done  by  any  library,  only  a  very  small  portion 
of  the  city  which  the  library  serves  is  likely  to  be  furnished 
with  books  in  this  manner.  If  in  Pittsburg,  where  the  work 
is  best  organized,  it  requires  about  three  visitors  to  look  after 
the  interests  of  each  library,  and  if  each  library  is  to  serve  a 
circle  of  10  to  15  children  it  is  plain  that  only  a  very  small 
portion  of  the  children  of  the  city  can  be  thus  reached  with 
the  funds  which  a  library  is  ordinarily  able  to  command. 

In  1903  the  New  York  state  library  announced  that  it  would 
send  out  home  libraries  for  country  readers — a  scheme  entirely 
different  from  that  just  referred  to  under  a  similar  name  and 
an  enterprise  which  properly  comes  under  the  head  of  library 
extension.  These  libraries  consist  of  10  books  and  are  sent 
to  any  citizen  of  New  York  who  resides  in  the  country  at  a 
cost  of  $i  per  library,  to  defray  the  expenses  of  transportation. 
The  library  may  be  kept  for  three  months  and  then  exchanged 
on  the  same  terms  for  another  similar  library.  The  central 
authorities  attempt  to  furnish  in  these  libraries,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, the  books  for  which  the  recipient  asks. 

This  naturally  leads  me  to  mention  the  matter  of  traveling 
libraries  in  general.  I  need  say  nothing  on  the  general  subject 
here  at  the  Wisconsin  state  library  association,  whose  members 
have  been  pioneers  in  developing  the  state  and  county  system 
of  traveling  libraries.  I  will  only  note  that  in  several  of  the 
larger  cities,  notably  in  Cleveland  and  in  Brooklyn,  traveling 
libraries  are  a  regular  part  of  the  city  library  system.  There 
is  no  question  but  that  this  method  of  library  extension  forms 
a  good  field  for  experiment  on  the  part  of  libraries  in  cities  of 
perhaps  20,000  or  more  inhabitants. 

Home  delivery— A  matter  which  has  been  more  talked 
about  than  efficiently  tried,  is  that  of  the  delivery  of  books, 
either  free  or  paid,  at  the  homes  of  patrons.  Many  people 
seem  to  have  thought  that  this  would  be  an  effective  means 
of  increasing  circulation,  but  the  practical  difficulties  devel- 
oped in  trying  the  experiment  seem  to  have  been  found  in 
general  too  great  to  be  overcome.  In  1879  the  Library  De- 
livery Company  of  Boston  offered  to  deliver  books  from 


LIBRARY  EXTENSION  3*3 

Boston  athenaeum  for  5  cents  a  trip;  the  book  being  returned 
free  at  the  proper  time.  How  long  this  company  remained  in 
operation,  or  how  much  success  it  reached  we  are  not  informed. 
In  1901  the  library  at  Springfield,  Mass,  attempted  a  delivery 
of  bouks  once  a  week  at  the  rate  of  5  cents  per  week  for  each 
house  supplied.  It  was  found  that  the  library  lost  money  by 
this  method,  and  various  changes  were  made,  as  indicated  in 
the  successive  reports  of  the  library.  In  the  report  for  1903  it 
was  stated  that  each  person  paid  by  private  arrangement  the 
cost  of  the  delivery  of  the  books,  and  that  the  library  had  no 
further  financial  concern  in  the  enterprise.  The  librarian's  re- 
port for  1904  makes  no  mention  of  this  method  of  delivery.  The 
small  number  of  families  who  availed  themselves  of  this  means  of 
securing  books  would  seem  to  indicate  that  no  large  success  can 
be  expected  from  it  and  no  great  increase  in  the  circulation 
of  the  library  can  come  from  it.  Experiments  have  been  tried 
by  having  schoolboys  deliver  books  on  their  way  to  and  from 
school,  and  this  plan  would  seem  to  promise  good  results, 
except  for  the  fact  that  much  executive  ability  is  demanded 
from  the  library  if  service  of  this  class  is  to  be  efficiently  or- 
ganized and  employed. 

Rent  collections — I  find  in  the  papers  sent  to  me  several 
very  interesting  discussions  regarding  rent  collections,  the  au- 
thors of  which  express  just  the  same  preliminary  doubt  and 
subsequent  belief  regarding  the  plan  as  were  present  in  the 
mind  of  the  Madison  Free  library  board  when  they  established 
a  rent  collection  some  two  years  ago.  In  our  case,  as  in  that 
of  other  libraries,  experience  has  shown  us  that  the  rent  col- 
lection is  an  important  aid  not  merely  to  the  general  circulation, 
but  to  the  popularizing  of  the  library.  In  Madison  our  rent 
collection  numbered  at  the  close  of  last  year  207  books,  and 
each  book  was  drawn  during  the  year  on  an  average  of  at 
least  25  times  since  the  circulation  was  5200v.  As  fast  as  books 
are  paid  for  by  the  rents  received  they  are  transferred  to  the 
main  library;  62  books,  nearly  one-fourth  of  all  thus  far  pur- 
chased, were  transferred  during  the  year.  It  is  the  intention 
of  such  collections  that  each  volume  shall  pay  for  itself  and 
the  profit,  in  the  form  of  additions,  shall  then  go  to  the  main 
library.  Of  course,  the  rent  collection  contains  only  duplicates 
of  books  already  in  the  main  library  and  which  are  purchased 


3i4  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

in  the  normal  number  of  copies.  Kenosha  and  Portage,  as 
well  as  Madison,  report  successful  rent  collections,  and  doubt- 
less other  libraries  possess  them. 

Miscellaneous — Buffalo  reports  the  success  of  an  experi- 
ment in  circulating  interesting  books  which  are  not  fiction  by 
placing  507.  in  a  special  case  to  which  attention  was  drawn 
by  a  conspicuous  sign.  The  circulation  of  these  50  books 
averaged  loov.  per  week,  new  volumes  being  added  as  those 
already  in  the  case  were  drawn.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  most 
valuable  hint  in  this  experiment  lies  in  the  original  selection  of 
a  small  number  of  books  and  in  keeping  this  number  full  as 
books  were  withdrawn 

The  use  of  the  telephone  by  patrons  in  calling  for  books 
is  still  under  discussion.  Neenah,  in  its  last  report,  mentions 
the  entire  success  of  the  free  use  of  the  telephone  by  its  pa- 
trons. Wider  experience  is  necessary,  however,  before  we  shall 
know  whether  the  privilege  is,  on  the  whole,  for  the  greatest 
good  of  the  greatest  number. 

The  subject  of  rural  subscribers  almost  necessarily  involves 
that  of  rural  free  delivery  and  opens  a  very  large  topic  and 
one  which  is  hardly  yet  ready  for  discussion.  A  majority  of 
the  Wisconsin  libraries  issue  books  to  country  people  without 
charge.  Many  of  our  smaller  libraries  have  been  especially 
active  in  furnishing  books  to  rural  subscribers.  Arcadia,  Me- 
nomome,  Oconomowoc,  Plymouth,  and  Portage  each  report  over 
150  country  borrowers.  Unquestionably,  a  large  increase  in 
country  borrowers  will  come  should  Congress  pass  the  bill  pro- 
viding a  rate  on  library  books  of  I  cent  a  pound. 

II 
How  to  get  the  people  to  the  books 

I  have  thus  sketched  rapidly  some  of  the  methods  of  what 
may  be  called  library  extension;  those  methods  by  which  the 
library  endeavors  to  push  the  circulation  of  its  books  among 
its  patrons  by  multiplying  places  where  books  may  be  drawn, 
by  placing  larger  or  smaller  permanent  collections  of  books  in 
places  where  they  will  be  well  used.  I  turn  now  to  the  second 
oart  of  my  sobject:  how  to  get  the  people  to  the  books.  Great 
as  is  the  importance  of  the  methods  already  described,  it  seems 


LIBRARY  EXTENSION  3*5 

to  me  that  the  second  branch  of  my  subject,  though  by  far  less 
tangible  than  the  first  part,  is  of  even  greater  importance  in  the 
usefulness  of  the  library.  To  increase  the  circulation  of  books 
is  well,  but  it  is  a  far  better  thing  to  bring  people  to  the  li- 
brary; for  after  all,  the  influence  of  a  library  is  something 
other  and  higher  than  the  influence  of  a  book,  and  the  library 
habit,  if  intelligently  directed,  is  of  even  more  value  to  its 
possessor  than  the  habit  of  reading.  Certainly  it  is  better  worth 
while,  so  far  as  influence  on  the  community  goes,  to  develop 
one  person  who  frequents  the  library  and  uses  it  wisely  than  to 
increase  by  many  scores  the  circulation  of  books  among  the 
people  who  do  not  visit  the  library-  For  it  is  quite  possible 
that  the  books  which  are  circulated  are  either  not  to  read  at 
all,  or  read  very  carelessly;  while  it  is  certain  that  one  who 
forms  the  habit  of  visiting  the  library  and  turning  over  the 
books  there  assembled  can  not  fail  to  happen  upon  much  of 
the  greatest  interest  and  value  in  his  visits.  The  Christian 
church  in  all  ages  has  been  very  wise  in  pro\iding  distinctive 
places  for  worship  and  in  cultivating  among  its  members  the 
churchgomg  habit.  This  policy  has  been  amply  justified  by  the 
effect  upon  character  which  is  produced  by  the  habitual  at- 
tendance upon  religious  services,  although  perhaps  no  one  ser- 
vice produces  any  noteworthy  effect.  So  it  is  with  visiting 
the  library;  one  who  comes  to  feel  that  the  library  is  a  friendly 
place,  who  is  at  home  in  a  collection  of  books,  has  gained  one 
of  the  best  things  which  books  can  give  to  men,  and  has  re- 
ceived the  best  preparation  for  the  full  appreciation  of  the 
treasures  which  the  books  contain. 

If  this  library  habit,  as  distinguished  from  the  habit  of 
reading,  is  to  be  cultivated  among  the  people,  it  is,  of  course, 
necessary  that  the  library  be  provided  with  a  distinctive  build- 
ing. Here  is  the  great  value  of  a  library  building,  not  in  its 
convenience  as  an  administrative  office ;  and  the  numerous  build- 
ings recently  erected  and  in  process  of  construction  in  this 
state  will  form  not  merely  or  mainly  a  home  for  the  books, 
but  the  centers  in  which  the  library  spirit  will  be  developed  and 
from  which  the  library  influence  will  extend  as  certainly  as 
the  religious  influence  emanates  from  the  churches. 

If  the  library  building  is  to  have  as  much  influence  as  pos- 
sible the  building  itself  must  in  some  sense  express  the  library 


3I6  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

spirit.  In  preparing  the  program  for  the  consideration  of  the 
architects  who  planned  the  new  Carnegie  building  for  the  Madi- 
son free  library,  the  directors  of  the  library  stated  it  as  their 
wish  that  the  design  of  the  building  should,  if  possible,  ex- 
press the  character  of  the  building  as  a  "municipal  home."  This 
happy  phrase  was  incorporated  in  the  program  by  our  friend 
and  leader  in  all  library  advancement,  Mr.  Hutchins.  We 
trust  that  the  building  will  to  some  degree  express  this  spirit, 
but  whether  the  architects  have  succeeded  in  embodying  this 
feeling,  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  the  temper  which  makes  of 
the  library  a  municipal  home  must  find  full  expression  in  the 
spirit  of  its  administration.  The  people  who  visit  the  library 
must  feel  as  they  enter  its  door  the  friendly  welcome  of  the 
books  and  must  feel  that  the  administration  of  the  institution, 
as  represented  in  the  library  staff,  exists  for  the  purpose  of 
introducing  these  book  friends  to  all  the  world.  Library  rules 
there  must  be,  necessarily,  but  they  must  be  as  few  and  as  un- 
obtrusive as  possible.  The  library  must  necessarily  seek  the 
greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number,  but  the  rules  should  not 
include  the  librarian  in  that  "greatest  number."  Regulations 
exist  for  the  advantage  of  the  public,  not  for  the  convenience 
of  the  administration. 

A  question  which  I  find  actively  discussed  is  whether  there 
should  be  any  restriction  at  all  upon  the  number  of  books  which 
may  be  drawn  for  stud}' — whether  it  is  not  better  to  give  the 
student  all  tihe  books  which  he  wants  to  use  and  allow  him 
to  keep  them  as  long  as  he  pleases,  provided  they  may  be 
promptly  recalled  to  the  library  for  other  borrowers  With  this 
view  of  the  use  of  books  I  have  much  sympathy,  and  if  the 
method  indicated  is  practicable  we  should  all  be  glad  to  see 
it  employed.  I  think  that  each  of  us  would  rejoice  to  see  some 
other  library  try  the  experiment.  But  my  own  observation 
of  the  habits  of  those  men  and  women  who  are  devoted  to 
study  makes  me  somewhat  slow  to  advocate  this  unrestricted 
freedom.  I  fear  that  there  are  many  people  whose  desires 
which  lead  them  to  accumulate  books  to  read  are  much  stronger 
than  the  conscience  which  drives  them  to  return  the  books 
promptly.  Yet  unquestionably  the  ideal  method  is  that  of  a 
library  where  one  can  obtain  all  of  the  books  which  he  de- 
sires and  keep  them  as  long  as  he  will.  The  librarian  of  the 
Forbes  library  in  Northampton,  Mass^  io  advocating  this  metijpd 


LIBRARY   EXTENSION  317 

notes  one  important  objection  to  it,  namely,  that  a  second  per- 
son who  comes  seeking  books  on  a  given  subject  is  likely  to 
find  the  shelves  somewhat  bare,  and  if,  as  is  quite  probable, 
he  is  in  some  haste  to  make  his  references,  he  is  likely  to 
content  himself  with  the  inferior  books  at  hand  rather  than 
to  wait  until,  after  a  day  or  two,  the  postal  card,  or  mes- 
senger, can  bring  back  the  more  valuable  books  which  the  stu- 
dent has  been  keeping  perhaps  for  several  months. 

At  this  point  in  the  development  of  library  practice,  I  do 
not  think  it  necessary  to  say  anything  regarding  the  open  shelf. 
No  library  can  have  a  friendly  aspect  if  the  public  can  see  the 
books  only  behind  bars,  like  criminals  in  the  jail 

There  are  many  means  of  attracting  the  public  to  the  li- 
brary building  and  making  it  a  center  for  the  better  things 
of  the  community.  Most  of  these  require  no  mention  in  this 
audience.  To  my  thinking,  the  children's  room,  with  the  va- 
rious meetings  which  can  be  associated  with  it,  is  of  all  these 
agencies  the  most  important,  since  it  develops  the  habit  of  visit- 
ing the  library  at  the  age  when  the  formation  of  habit  is  most 
of  all  important.  Children's  meetings  and  children's  clubs  are 
valuable  if  conducted  anywhere,  but  if  held  at  the  library  itself 
they  are  doubly  valuable.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
librarian's  work  with  the  schools,  useful  as  it  is  in  itself,  does 
not  redound  to  the  advantage  of  the  library  as  much  as  it  ought 
to  do.  The  books  are  placed  in  the  school  buildings,  they  are 
delivered  by  the  teachers;  and  to  the  child  this  provision  of 
books  is  almost  certain  to  assume  the  aspect  of  a  portion  of  that 
which  the  school  gives  him,  rather  than  that  of  a  benefit  brought 
to  him  from  an  institution  outside  of  the  schools.  Much  the 
same  thing  is  to  be  said  of  special  libraries,  wherever  they  may 
be  placed.  As  detached  bits  of  the  library,  dissociated  from 
the  central  body  and  closely  connected  with  other  institutions, 
they  lose  a  considerable  share  of  their  proper  influence  as  parts 
of  the  library  system.  No  such  deduction  as  this  is  to  be 
made  from  the  influence  which  the  library  itself  exerts  through 
its  children's  room,  and  the  influence  of  the  library  is  almost 
as  easily  traced  in  those  meetings  and  organizations  which  are 
maintained  outside  of  the  building  by  the  efforts  of  the  library 
staff. 

Next  to  meetings  which  attract  the  public  to  the  library 


3i8  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

building,  unquestionably  the  best  means  of  bringing  them  there 
is  achertising;  and  of  all  forms  of  advertising  the  article  in  the 
daily  paper  is  unquestionably  the  best.  I  believe  that  the  li- 
brary should  recognize  the  value  of  the  experience  of  the  mer- 
chant that  an  advertisement  m  the  paper  is  worth  far  more 
than  is  the  dodger.  Some  libraries,  I  note,  issue  small  bulletins 
which  are  to  be  distributed  m  great  numbers  through  the 
schools  and  other  places  where  people  congregate.  All  of  this 
does  good,  but  without  doubt  the  waste  is  very  great  and  I 
can  hardly  believe  that  this  kind  of  advertising  really  pays  for 
the  trouble  and  expense  which  it  costs  The  well-considered, 
readable,  and  timely  article  in  the  daily  paper  is  sure  to  visit 
most  of  the  homes  in  any  city  and  it  is  far  more  likely  to  get 
a  careful  reading  than  is  the  leaflet  thrown  into  the  house  along 
with  advertisements  of  patent  medicines  and  electric  soap.  Spe- 
cial bulletins,  however,  have  their  proper  place;  rather,  I  think, 
by  distribution  to  the  readers  who  come  to  the  library  than  by 
a  wide  circulation  outside.  There  was  given  to  me  a  very 
admirable  bulletin  from  the  Marinette  public  library,  telling 
its  patrons  how  to  use  the  library,  indicating  by  diagram  the 
positions  of  various  classes  of  books  on  the  shelves,  and  giving 
full  and  clear  directions  for  the  use  of  the  catalog.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  many  similar  bulletins  have  been  issued  by  other 
libraries  in  the  state.  Unquestionably,  also,  special  bulletins 
may  profitably  be  printed,  calling  timely  attention  to  various 
classes  of  books,  etc  The  local  conditions  and  the  temper  of 
the  public  addressed  must  control  the  choice  of  these  various 
forms  of  advertising. 

In  St  Joseph,  Mo,  I  note  that  library  registry  cards  were 
placed  in  receptacles  at  hotels  and  other  public  places  in  the 
city,  the  boxes  bearing  inscriptions  inviting  the  passer  to  take 
one.  I  should  like  to  know  the  further  history  of  this  experi- 
ment; whether  it  brought  many  permanent  readers  to  the  li- 
brary. My  own  guess  would  be  that  advertising  of  this  sort 
was  comparatively  profitless  and  that  other  means  of  attracting 
the  public  to  the  library  would  be  likely  to  be  more  efficient. 

Superior  has  tried,  and  it  would  seem  successfully,  the  more 
modest  plan  of  posting  signs  in  hotels,  street  cars,  etc. 

I  am  sure  that  for  us  in  the  middle  west,  collections  of  for- 
eign books  must  be  included  among  those  things  which  make 


LIBRARY  EXTENSION  319 

the  library  a  friendly  place  to  its  patrons.  So  many  of  our 
citizens  have  come  from  foreign  countries  that  a  library  which 
consists  entirely  of  English  books  has  very  little  to  say  to  them. 
They  are  cut  off  also  from  most  of  those  ordinary  and  ephem- 
eral kinds  of  literature  which  would  come  to  them  if  they 
were  at  home.  It  is  all  the  more  our  duty  to  provide  for  them 
a  selection  of  books  such  as  they  will  enjoy  reading.  For  us 
here  in  Wisconsin,  under  the  system  of  traveling  libraries  in 
foreign  languages  which  the  Free  library  commission  is  de- 
veloping, there  is  little  excuse  for  a  library  which  rails  to  pro- 
vide a  reasonable  selection  of  foreign  books  for  the  benefit  of 
the  foreign-born  citizens  among  the  taxpayers  who  support  it. 
The  fundamental  purpose  of  the  library  is  to  disseminate 
not  only  knowledge  but  pleasure  of  the  right  sort;  not  to  a 
few  but  to  everyone  who  can  be  reached  by  the  library- 
Ill 
Real  aim  and  purpose  of  the  library 

I  can  not  close  this  rambling  sketch  of  methods  of  library 
extension  without  recurring  to  the  thought  with  which  I  began 
and  adding  a  few  words  regarding  what  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
true  spirit  and  temper  of  the  public  library.  This  spirit  we  are 
not  only  tempted  to  lose  in  our  routine  work,  but  in  these 
strenuous  days,  when  we  are  employing  the  methods  of  busi- 
ness to  push  the  circulation  of  our  books  and  perhaps  to  some 
extent  employing  the  terms  of  business  in  describing  our  meth- 
ods and  results,  we  are  doubly  apt  to  lose  sight  of  the  real  aim 
and  purpose  of  the  library.  I  think  that  a  similar  unfortunate 
result  may  possibly  be  caused  by  some  of  the  best  things  which 
we  undertake.  \Ve  are  associating  our  work  closely  with  the 
public  schools  and  with  this  work  I  ha\-e  a  peculiarly  hearty 
sympathy;  yet  I  should  feel  it  a  great  injury  to  the  library's 
influence  if  it  should  come  to  be  felt  that  the  library  is  a  part 
of  the  public  school  system.  So,  too,  we  speak  of  library  ex- 
tension, of  library  missionary  work;  these  phrases  exactly  de- 
scribe certain  aspects  of  our  work,  yet  it  must  be  remembered 
that  ours  is  not  in  the  least  the  spirit  of  university  extension, 
nor  is  it  the  spirit  of  the  reformer. 

We  can  not  remind  ourselves  too  frequently  that  the  £un- 


320  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

damental  purpose  of  good  books  and  so  of  the  library  which 
possesses  them,  is  to  give  pleasure,  and  that  the  library  ought 
to  be  more  closely  and  peculiarly  associated  with  pleasure  than 
any  other  institution  supported  by  the  public.  We  Americans 
may  not  take  our  pleasures  sadly,  but  I  think  we  are  somewhat 
too  apt  to  justify  them  in  terms  of  political  economy.  Even 
our  parks  and  pleasure  grounds  seem  in  the  thought  of  some  to 
need  a  sanitary  justification  for  their  existence,  as  though  the 
pleasure  which  they  give  to  the  public  were  not  in  itself  more 
than  a  sufficient  reason  So  it  is  with  the  library.  We  are  apt 
to  dwell  on  the  educational  features  of  library  work  and  to 
push  those  into  the  foreground,  emphasizing  the  technical  and 
practical  advantages  which  flow  from  them.  This  is  wholly 
right  and  on  another  occasion,  or  before  another  audience,  I 
should  be  the  first  to  urge  them ,  but  tonight,  speaking  to  libra- 
rians, to  you  who  have  heard  reform  and  education  preached 
times  without  number,  I  must  close  with  a  word  on  your  high- 
est privilege — I  will  not  call  it  duty— speaking  as  to  those 
who  are  especially  intrusted  with  the  administration  for  the 
world  of  its  greatest  wealth,  the  treasures  of  books.  After 
we  have  said  all  that  may  be  said  about  library  extension,  dis- 
tribution of  funds,  percentages  of  circulation,  educational  fa- 
cilities, there  still  remains  the  final  word  that  the  first  and 
highest  business  of  the  public  library  is  to  cultivate  a  love  for 
literature  and  to  circulate  literature  among  its  patrons,  and  that 
the  first  and  most  distinctive  quality  of  literature  is  that  it  gives 
pleasure.  True,  it  teaches  us  the  secrets  of  life;  it  guides  us 
m  perplexity,  it  consoles  us  in  trouble;  it  inspires  us  in  the 
face  of  the  problems  and  the  difficulties  of  life.  But  the  lit- 
erature which  thus  influences  us  does  so  because  it  appeals  to 
us,  because  it  gives  us  pleasure. 

This  is  the  aspect  of  library  work  which  I  would  always 
keep  in  my  heart,  though  I  certainly  would  not  be  always  talk- 
ing about  it.  I  would  develop  the  educational  work  of  the 
library,  through  the  schools,  through  technical  libraries,  through 
the  reference  room,  but  I  would  have  the  administration  of  the 
library  always  feel  that  these  activities  are  subordinate  rather 
than  central,  that  the  main  work  of  the  library  is  to  bring  lit- 
erature to  its  readers,  so  that  the  inspiring  influences  of  letters 
may  become  a  part  of  their  lives.  No  library  can  succeed  in 


LIBRARY  EXTENSION  321 

this  highest  function  whose  temper  and  aspect  is  that  of  labor 
of  reform,  or  even  that  of  education. 

Holding  this  belief,  I  am  not  going  to  join  with  those  who 
attempt  to  justify  the  fondness  of  the  public  for  fiction,  for  it 
seems  to  me  a  desire  which  needs  no  justification.  I  am,  in- 
deed, glad  when  a  man  of  prominence  and  influence,  like  John 
Morley,  speaks  out  plainly  and  clearly  for  the  reading  of 
fiction,  since  so  many  people  are  inclined  to  condemn  it  I  am 
in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  efforts  of  librarians  to  direct  the 
thoughts  of  their  readers  toward  other  and  higher  forms  of 
letters  than  current  novels,  yet,  after  all  is  said,  there  is  to  my 
mind  no  need  of  justifying  the  affection  with  which  the  public 
regards  fiction.  Life  for  most  of  us  is  sufficiently  dull  and 
colorless.  The  workday  aspect  of  the  world  is  always  with 
us  and  oppresses  us.  For  the  average  man  and  women,  whose 
education  has  necessarily  been  limited,  whose  imagination  has 
lacked  all  wider  opportunity  for  cultivation,  the  easiest  escape 
from  the  cares  of  daily  life,  from  the  depressing  monotony 
of  daily  routine,  will  be  through  the  avenue  which  is  opened 
by  the  story,  the  people's  road  out  of  a  care-filled  life,  ever  since 
the  days  of  the  Arabian  Nights.  Such  readers  as  these  desire 
fiction  and  ought  to  have  it.  If  their  imagination  can  be  cul- 
tivated to  the  point  of  reaching  similar  freedom  from  care 
through  poetry,  through  the  drama,  or  through  any  of  the 
higher  forms  of  literature,  so  much  the  better.  It  should  be 
the  function  of  the  library  to  show  them  that  literature  affords 
other  means  of  relief  from  routine  than  that  which  fiction 
offers.  Yet  to  fiction  in  some  of  its  forms  we  all  return  when 
wearied  or  worried  by  the  cares  of  daily  life;  and  we  should 
recognize  that  for  the  majority  of  busy  men  and  women  it  is 
not  only  the  natural  refuge,  but  perhaps  the  best  refuge  from 
these  cares.  The  librarian  should  always  remember  that  his 
message  is  to  men  and  women  cramped  by  toils  and  narrowed 
by  routine,  ever  seeking,  often  blindly  and  ignorantly,  but  yet 
ever  seeking  some  way  out  of  this  troublesome  world,  which 
we  so  wrongly  call  the  world  of  fact,  into  that  larger  realm 
which  is  the  more  truly  ours  because  it  is  our  creation  and  that 
of  our  fellows.  This  wider  world,  in  its  friendliness  and  home- 
likeness,  the  library  must  represent  All  of  the  traveled  roads 
of  daily  life  must  lead  to  it,  but  none  of  their  ruts  must  enter  it. 


322  EDWARD  ASAHEL  BIRGE 

"When  our  Lord  attempted  to  teach  his  disciples  the  use  of 
wealth  he  could  find  no  better  aduce  to  give  them  than  that 
they  should  by  means  of  it  make  to  themsehes  friends.  In 
our  use,  as  librarians,  of  that  portion  of  the  community's  wealth 
•which  comes  into  our  hands  we  shall  do  well  to  take  heed  to 
this  advice.  We  should  so  use  the  money  intrusted  to  us  as 
to  introduce  our  readers  to  the  friendship  of  authors  and  their 
books.  The  great  men  of  letters— Shakespeare  and  Milton, 
Tennyson  and  Browning,  Addison  and  Arnold,  are  waiting  to 
become  their  friends,  and  it  is  our  business  to  bring  them  to- 
gether. Yet  we  should  by  no  means  construe  it  as  our  exclusive 
work  or  even  as  our  peculiar  duty  to  introduce  our  readers  to 
the  friendship  of  these  greatest  men.  There  are  countless  other 
names  in  letters— names  whose  fame  is  less,  and  indeed  may  be 
but  small,  which  are  friendly  names  and  whose  friendship 
may  be  all  the  dearer  because  they  are  not  too  far  removed 
from  the  reader  by  the  greatness  of  their  genius.  This  broad 
and  catholic  friendship  of  books  the  librarian  must  himself 
possess  and  he  must  inspire  it  in  readers.  He  must  make 
them  find  the  library  a  place  where  they  may  learn  to  know 
these  closest  and  dearest  friends,  may  meet  them  and  enjoy 
their  companionship.  There  they  are  at  home,  and  there,  thank 
God,  we  too  may  be  at  home.  Old  and  young,  rich  and  poor, 
wise  and  simple,  men  and  women  and  children,  there  we  may 
meet  new  friends  on  kindly  and  familiar  terms  and  widen 
our  thoughts  as  we  learn  of  their  wisdom  and  their  wit.  Still 
better,  there  we  may  renew  our  acquaintance  with  old  friends 
and  feel  the  contracted  horizon  of  our  lives  again  enlarge  as  we 
meet  them  once  more.  New  friends  and  old,  they  all  greet  us 
with  an  assured  welcome  and  yield  us  the  best  which  they  can 
give,  or  we  receive.  They  greet  us  not  as  teachers  but  as 
friends,  and  we  come  to  them  not  to  learn  lessons  but  to  be 
with  them  for  a  little  while  and  to  live  with  them  that  larger 
and  truer  life  which  their  presence  creates  for  us.  These  friend- 
ships of  books  it  is  the  privilege  of  the  librarian  to  knit.  These 
books,  these  embodied  souls  of  men,  he  must  make  a  living  part 
of  the  community  which  he  serves.  Thus  only  can  the  library 
perform  its  high  and  noble  duty  of  helping  men  to  live,  "not 
by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  of  God,"  who,  through  good 
books,  has  been  speaHng  to  the  generations  of  men  not  only 
for  their  instruction  but  even  more  for  their  delight 


THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES 

The  extension  of  library  service  through  allied  agen- 
cies is  usefully  presented  in  a  symposium  contributed 
to  the  Library  Journal  of  1905  in  response  to  a  ques- 
tionnaire. It  consists  of  reports  from  large  libraries  de- 
scribing various  forms  of  extension.  It  is  surprising 
to  learn  how  many  different  methods  there  are  for  what 
might  be  called  the  "radiation  of  library  influence." 

The  Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library,  the  public  libraries 
of  Brooklyn,  Buffalo,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Detroit, 
Grand  Rapids,  New  York  and  Newark,  the  Philadel- 
phia Free  Library,  the  Carnegie  Library  of  Pittsburgh, 
and  the  public  libraries  of  Providence  and  St.  Louis,  are 
the  contributors. 

THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES 

In  the  series  of  brief  statements  here  presented  it  is  in- 
tended to  show  how  and  to  what  extent  public  libraries  are 
availing  themselves  and  being  aided  in  their  work  by  allied 
agencies,  Le.,  educational  associations,  local  clubs,  philanthropic 
bodies,  and  similar  organizations.  They  have  been  submitted 
to  the  following  questions: 

To  what  extent  has  the  library  endeavored  to  associate  allied 
agencies  in  its  work? 

What  allied  agencies  have  co-operated  with  the  library,  and 
in  what  way,  as,  for  instance,  home  teaching  societies  for  the 
blind,  university  extension  bodies,  women's  clubs,  boards  of 
education,  art  galleries,  museums? 

What  are  the  best  practical  methods  of  bringing  about  the 
co-operation  of  such  agencies  with  the  library? 

What  are  the  opportunities  and  possibilities  for  aiding  li- 
brary development  through  allied  agencies? 

It  was  not  intended  to  include  in  these  statements  the  work 
done  by  public  libraries  in  or  for  the  public  schools,  but  this 


324  ENOCH  PRATT  FREE  LIBRARY 

was  not  fully  understood,  and  in  some  of  the  reports   this 
branch  of  activity  is  mentioned. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  it  is  t\  ident  that  the  14  libraries  reporting 
—which  are  fairly  representative  of  the  larger  city  libraries 
of  the  country— are  allied  more  or  less  closely  with  many 
diverse  agencies  for  educational,  civic,  and  philanthropic  work. 
It  is  also  evident  that  in  general  this  alliance  has  not  been  a 
matter  of  systematic  development,  but  like  Topsy  has  "just 
growed,"  and  that  it  has  not  yet  reached  a  full  measure  of 
effectiveness.  There  is  opportunity  for  public  libraries  to  ex- 
tend and  broaden  their  work  by  closer  relations  with  other 
agencies,  and  it  is  hoped  that  this  survey  of  what  has  been  done 
in  different  cities  in  this  direction  may  be  at  least  a  useful  in- 
dication of  the  possibilities  in  that  direction 

ENOCH  PRATT  FREE  LIBRARY  OF  BALTIMORE 

In  the  beginning,  the  city  of  Baltimore  was  enabled  to  es- 
tablish a  public  library  by  a  gift  amounting  to  approximately 
$1,100,000  made  by  Mr.  Enoch  Pratt  in  1882.  During  the  first 
few  years  of  the  library's  history  it  received  little  assistance 
from  any  organization  worthy  of  note,  but  during  the  last  few 
years  the  cooperation  of  the  people  with  the  library  has  been 
quite  noteworthy. 

In  1899,  the  Woodberry  Free  Library  gave  its  books  to  this 
library,  and  Mr.  Robert  Poole,  of  Woodberry,  erected  a  branch 
library  in  Woodberry  and  Hampden  at  an  expense  of  about 
$25,000.  In  iooi7  the  Social  Settlement  Association  on  Locust 
Point  offered  us  a  roo*n  with  heat,  light  and  janitor's  service 
in  their  house  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  a  station  there. 
This  arrangement  has  continued  until  the  present  time.  In 
1902,  a  station  was  opened  in  Oldtown,  which  opening  was 
possible  through  the  financial  aid  received  from  the  Arun- 
del  Good  Government  Club  and  the  Oldtown  Merchants* 
and  Manufacturers'  Association.  This  station  has  especially 
benefitted  the  young  people  of  the  vicinity.  In  1903,  the  United 
Electric  Railway  Co.  of  this  city  gave  us  the  use  of  a  room 
with  light,  heat,  and  janitor's  service  in  its  transfer  station 
at  Walbrook,  that  we  may  carry  on  a  station  there.  Such 
a  station  had  been  previously  carried  on  for  two  or  three 
years  in  a  room  in  a  neighboring  public  school  house  through 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     325 

the  courtesy  of  the  board  o£  commissioners.  In  1904,  the  Daugh- 
ters of  Israel  and  the  Maccabeeans  gave  the  library  a  room 
in  the  building  of  the  latter,  with  light,  heat,  and  janitor's 
service,  and  provided  a  substantial  cash  contribution  in  order 
that  a  station  of  the  library  might  be  opened  on  East  Balti- 
more Street.  The  library  of  the  Maccabeeans  was  also  given 
to  this  library  at  that  time.  In  1895,  an  arrangement  was 
made  for  the  opening  of  a  station  on  Columbia  Avenue,  where 
a  room  with  light,  heat,  and  janitor's  service  and  a  substantial 
cash  contribution  have  been  provided  by  the  St  Paul  Guild 
House  Association  and  the  people  of  the  neighborhood.  These 
are  some  of  the  things  in  which  we  ha\e  been  aided  by  organi- 
zations in  the  city. 

The  library  has  endeavored,  on  the  other  hand,  to  aid 
everybody  in  the  city.  In  1894,  we  placed  a  number  of  books 
for  the  blind  in  the  library,  at  the  request  of  the  Maryland 
School  for  the  Blind.  This  collection  of  books  has  been  added 
to  from  time  to  time  and,  in  1905,  an  arrangement  was  made 
with  the  Maryland  State  Library  Commission  for  a  payment 
to  the  library  of  a  small  sum,  by  the  commission,  in  return  for 
which  the  books  from  this  collection  for  the  blind  may  be  sent 
to  persons  in  any  part  of  the  state.  In  our  purchase  of  books, 
we  have  endeavored  to  supply  the  needs  of  all  classes  of  the 
population,  and  possess  collections  of  books  in  ever}-  language 
of  which  there  are  any  considerable  number  of  readers  in  the 
city  of  Baltimore.  In  1900,  we  began  sending  books  to  various 
institutions  around  the  city.  This  work  has  grown,  until  there 
have  been  registered,  from  the  beginning,  nearly  200  institu- 
tions, of  which  number  about  two-thirds  are  drawing  books 
at  the  present  moment.  These  institutions  are  classified  as  fol- 
lows: public  schools,  private  schools,  parochial  schools,  play 
grounds,  Sunday  schools,  fire  engine  companies,  police  stations, 
women's  clubs,  nurses'  training  schools,  orphanages,  U.  S.  Ar- 
tillery Posts,  church  clubs,  newspapers,  Girls'  Friendly  Society, 
colleges,  and  universities. 

Our  opportunities  and  possibilities  for  aiding  library  develop- 
ment through  allied  agencies  are  unlimited  except  by  financial 
considerations  and  the  fact  that  everything  cannot  be  done  at 
once.  The  best  practical  methods  of  bringing  about  the  co- 
operation of  such  agencies  are  to  be  determined  in  each  indi- 


326  BROOKLYN  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

vidual  case,  after  the  consideration  of  their  particular  circum- 
stances In  general,  I  can  only  say  that  the  library  staff  should 
get  acquainted  \\ith  e\  en  body  and  should  show  people  that  they 
can  give  them  something  worth  having 

BERNARD  C   STEINER. 


BROOKLYN  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

The  Brooklyn  Public  Library  reports  as  follows,  through 
Miss  Clara  W  Hunt: 

Our  work  in  general  has  been  along  the  following  lines :  We 
have  a  Travelling  Libraries  Department  containing  nearly 
10,000  volumes  from  which  we  have  loaned  sets  of  books  dur- 
ing the  past  winter  to  church  reading  circles  and  Sunday 
schools,  settlements,  naval  branch  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  public 
schools,  prhate  schools,  evening  recreation  centers  and  vacation 
playgrounds,  hospitals  and  nurses'  training  schools,  social,  edu- 
cational, political  and  civic  clubs,  police  stations,  and  manufac- 
turing companies.  We  have  a  collection  of  books  for  the  blind, 
the  nucleus  for  which  was  a  library  of  about  400  volumes  made 
over  to  us  by  the  Church  of  the  Messiah  of  Brooklyn.  This 
collection  is  being  steadily  enlarged  by  us  and  we  are  arranging 
for  readings  to  be  given  to  the  blind.  We  have  co-operated 
with  the  Free  Lectures  Department  of  the  board  of  education 
by  collecting  in  the  branches  nearest  the  lecture  centers  such 
books  as  were  recommended  by  the  lecturers  and  by  posting 
notices  of  such  collections  both  in  the  lecture  rooms  and  at  our 
branches.  We  have  given  talks  in  the  public  schools,  and  our 
new  buildings  have  been  visited  by  classes  with  their  teachers, 
the  object  of  such  visits  being  either  to  acquaint  the  children 
generally  with  the  work  of  the  whole  building  or  to  learn  how 
to  work  up  a  subject  in  the  reference  room.  We  have  in  each 
branch,  in  addition  to  the  general  reference  collection,  a  special 
"teachers'  reference  collection,"  made  up  of  books  not  gen- 
erally classed  as  reference  books,  but  such  as  are  in  constant 
demand  by  the  teachers. 

This  is  a  very  slight  suggestion  of  our  lines  of  co-operation. 
It  will  be  seen  that  our  work  is  very  much  along  the  usual 
lines  followed  by  other  progressive  libraries.  This  library  is 
so  young  and  is  growing  so  rapidly  that  we  have  had  to  put 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     327 

much  time  into  actual  pioneer  work— preparation  of  the  buildings 
for  our  books,  stocking  the  branches  with  well-rounded  col- 
lections, supplying  and  training  assistants — with  the  result  that 
our  atfiliation  with  outside  agencies  has  come  about  rather  be- 
cause of  expressed  need  from  such  agencies  themselves  than 
from  systematic  pushing  on  our  part.  In  a  city  like  Brooklyn, 
where  opportunities  for  free  education  are  brought  to  one's  door 
almost,  the  library  has  the  comparatively  simple  task  of  merely 
being  ready  to  meet  the  demands  that  come  to  it  daily. 

The  only  "practical  suggestion"  to  be  offered  out  of  our  ex- 
perience is  that  it  should  be  the  aim  of  every  librarian,  branch 
librarian  and  assistant  also  to  become  personally  acquainted 
with  the  work  and  workers  of  these  agencies  hi  one's  city.  One 
can  get  more  valuable  hints  as  to  possibilities  of  co-operation 
during  one  unhurried,  friendly  visit  of  inspection — not  to  cry  our 
wares  but  to  learn  from  others  about  their  work— than  in  any 
other  way,  the  greater  the  number  of  friends  we  make  indi- 
vidually with  the  influential  people  in  the  various  departments 
of  the  city's  work,  the  more  avenues  of  usefulness  shall  we 
find  opening  before  us. 

BUFFALO  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

The  work  done  by  the  Buffalo  Public  Library  with  the 
schools  has  been  fully  described  in  library  circles,  at  least  Our 
last  year's  circulation  through  the  grammar  schools,  in  our  sys- 
tem of  class  room  libraries,  amounted  to  335,415  \olumes,  with 
a  stock  of  only  30,500  books  used  for  the  purpose,  \Ve  have 
a  branch  in  the  Lafayette  High  School,  open  to  the  public,  but 
specially  for  the  use  of  the  pupils  of  the  high  school,  where  we 
keep  6000  volumes,  and  circulated  last  year  5925.  At  the  Mas- 
ten  Park  High  School  we  maintain  a  regular  delivery  station, 
with  an  attendant  in  charge  for  an  hour  in  the  morning  and  an 
hour  in  the  afternoon,  receiving  and  delivery  books.  This  agency 
circulated  13,243  volumes  last  year.  We  find  this  rather  an 
expensive  way  of  furnishing  the  pupils  with  books,  but  a  most 
effective  one. 

The  closest  friendship  and  co-operation  exists  between  the 
library  and  the  Society  of  Natural  Sciences,  which  has  rooms 
in  our  building. 


328  CINCINNATI  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

The  women's  study  clubs  of  the  city  receive  travelling  libra- 
ries from  this  institution,  and  each  topic  committee  consults 
with  the  librarian  before  making  up  its  program  and  reference 
lists. 

One  very  efficient  agency  of  the  library  is  the  alliance  with 
the  settlement  houses  of  the  city.  In  two  of  these  we  main- 
tain small  branches,  with  about  800  books  each.  They  are  open 
one  afternoon  and  one  evening  each  week  with  one  or  two  as- 
sistants in  charge.  In  this  way  10,500  books  were  circulated 
last  year.  This  gives  no  indication  of  the  great  usefulness  of 
this  co-operative  work.  The  assistants  take  a  regular  part  in 
the  plan  of  each  settlement  house,  and  are  counted  among  its 
most  efficient  workers. 

This  has  been  made  possible,  in  the  first  place,  by  having 
very  skilful  people  in  charge  of  the  settlement  houses;  and, 
secondly,  by  having  library  assistants  of  the  character  and 
ability  to  be  most  effective  in  the  work. 

The  Historical  Society  and  Fine  Arts  Academy  rely  upon 
the  library,  and  draw  from  its  collections  for  its  special  exhibits. 

H.  L.  ELMENDORF. 

CINCINNATI  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  allied  agency  of  the  Cincinnati 
Public  Library  (if  it  may  so  be  called)  is  the  Cincinnati  Library 
Society  for  the  Blind,  which  has  its  quarters  in  the  library 
building,  and  though  independent  in  organization  and  equip- 
ment is  closely  affiliated  with  the  library  in  its  work.  This 
society  was  organized  in  March,  1901.  For  six  months  previous 
to  that  time  readings  had  been  given  by  volunteers  at  the  Public 
Library  and  there  had  already  been  collected  considerable  money 
for  the  purchase  of  books  in  raised  characters.  Miss  Georgia 
D  Trader,  who  is  herself  blind,  called  upon  the  librarian  during 
the  summer  of  1900  and  urged  the  claims  of  those  who  cannot 
see.  On  the  organization  of  the  society  Miss  Trader  was  made 
secretary  and  treasurer,  and  since  then  she  has  devoted  nearly 
all  her  time,  tinder  salary,  to  the  work  of  the  society.  Twice  a 
week  Miss  Trader  is  at  the  library  giving  instruction  in  reading, 
writing  and  arithmetic,  on  one  day  to  adults  and  another  day  to 
children.  The  books  are  bought  and  the  work  fostered  from 
funds  subscribed  by  the  200  members  of  the  society.  Five  days 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     329 

each  week  there  are  readings — these  "being  in  more  or  less 
regular  courses.  The  attendance  has  varied  from  a  half  dozen 
to  twenty  odd,  while  at  special  entertainments  given  once  a 
month  the  attendance  has  risen  to  seventy  or  eighty.  There  are 
regular  readers  and  there  are  those  who  have  given  special 
entertainments,  music  readers  who  go  to  the  houses  of  blind 
musicians,  guides  to  bring  the  blind  persons  to  and  from  the 
library,  and  the  contributors  of  books  and  money.  The  street 
railway  companies  grant  free  passes  to  the  blind  to  and  from 
the  library — 10,000  of  these  passes  being  received  during  1904. 
Miss  Trader  visits  the  blind  in  their  homes  to  ascertain  their 
needs  and  encourage  them  to  a\ail  themselves  of  the  privileges 
offered  by  the  library  and  to  induce  them  to  learn  to  read  and 
write,  if  necessary.  There  is  done  not  a  little  good  work  which 
is  not  immediately  connected  with  books  and  reading.  One  ad- 
vantage, it  is  believed,  of  throwing  the  burden  of  support  of 
this  mo\ement  on  the  well-disposed  citizens  of  the  community 
instead  of  making  it  an  additional  charge  on  the  ordinary  re- 
sources of  the  library,  is  that  this  body  of  two  hundred  thought- 
ful people  is  brought  into  immediate  relation  with  the  public 
library  Giving  of  their  time  or  money,  these  people  are  more 
interested  in  what  the  public  library  is  doing  than  they  would 
be  otherwise.  One  offshoot  of  the  work  has  been  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  home  for  the  indigent  blind  by  Mr.  William  A. 
Procter,  who  purchased  "Clovernook,"  the  former  home  of  Alice 
and  Phoebe  Gary,  placing  it  in  Miss  Trader's  hand  for  this 
purpose. 

Regarding  other  activities  of  the  library,  Mr.  Hodges  makes 
the  following  report: 

Whether  it  can  be  said  that  we  are  working  with  the  forty- 
seven  or  forty-eight  women's  clubs  of  Hamilton  County  I  do 
not  know,  but  the  library*  has  certainly  worked  for  these  clubs 
in  preparing  each  year  something  over  800  bibliographies  vary- 
ing from  a  half  dozen  references  to  a  dozen  or  twenty  pages 
of  foolscap  on  the  topics  named  in  their  programs.  This  year 
we  have  offered  further  inducements  to  the  women's  clubs  to 
hold  occasional  meetings  in  the  main  building  by  furnishing 
lantern  slides  which  they  have  used  to  illustrate  the  papers. 
There  had  previously  been  occasional  meetings  at  which  we 
brought  out  the  books  and  plates  of  our  large  collection  in  the 


330  CLEVELAND  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

art  department  The  clubs  seemed  much  pleased  with  the  lantern 
slide  innovation,  so  that  engagements  have  now  been  made  for 
meetings  next  season. 

We  ha\e  a  seminar  room  which  is  used  by  reading  circles 
of  teachers  and  b}-  other  reading  circles,  the  library  furnishing 
books  in  quantity,  not  in  number  equalling  the  membership  of 
these  circles,  but  in  number  sufficient  to  make  the  reading  of 
books  by  all  the  members  comparatively  easy — perhaps  one  copy 
of  each  book  for  every  three  members 

The  Municipal  'Art  Society  has  helped  us  in  the  selection 
of  i-iclures  and  casts  for  the  decoration  of  the  children's  room 
and  in  general  in  painting  and  decorating  the  whole  of  the 
mam  building. 

We  work  also  with  the  largest  woman's  club,  under  whose 
supervision  playgrounds  are  opened  every  summer,  by  furnish- 
ing books  at  the  pla>  grounds  to  be  circulated  among  the  chil- 
dren. We  also  had  in  operation  this  last  winter  24  home  li- 
braries— this  work  being  helped  by  some  societies  of  young 
ladies  interested  in  charitable  work  and  by  the  Fresh  Air  Fund, 
which  provides  the  funds  for  sending  the  children  on  excur- 
sions into  the  country  during  the  hot  weather. 

CLEVELAND  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

The  conditions  for  affiliation  of  the  old  well-established  city 
library  with  the  other  agencies  for  civic  betterment  differ  from 
those  of  the  new  library  in  the  small  town,  in  that  the  former 
naturally  reaches  out  to  give  help,  while  the  latter  may  quite 
as  naturally  expect  to  receive  help  in  the  building  tip  of  its 
own  work. 

The  Cleveland  Public  Library  has  working  relations,  cordial 
and  more  or  less  close,  with  the  schools,  public,  parochial  and 
private,  many  of  the  churches  and  women's  clubs,  the  social 
settlements,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Y.  W.  C  A.,  and  W.  C.  T.  U,  the 
Jewish  Educational  Alliance,  the  Anti-Tuberculosis  League,  and 
with  several  large  companies  interested  in  the  social  welfare 
of  their  employees. 

With  the  schools  the  points  of  contact  are  many  and  various, 
and  too  well  known  to  require  a  detailed  statement  here.  The 
churches  have  done  good  service  as  advertising  agents  in  the 
extension  work  of  the  library,  and  in  some  cases  have  co-operated 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     331 

to  the  extent  of  furnishing  rooms  and  partial  equipment  for 
branch  or  station  work.  The  work  with  the  women's  clubs 
has  tended  toward  a  less  superficial  use  of  the  materials  for 
stud}*  of  the  subjects  considered  by  them  The  Anti-Tuber- 
culosis League  is  co-operatmg  m  the  dissemination  of  literature 
along  the  line  of  its  work.  The  other  institutions  mentioned 
have  housed  and  helped  sub-branches  or  stations  oi  the  library, 
except  in  one  case  in  which  the  co-operation  is  planned  for,  but 
is  awaiting  the  new  Y.  \V.  C  A  building,  where  it  is  proposed 
to  pro\ide  a  fine  large  library  room  to  put  at  our  disposal  for 
general  neighborhood  work. 

The  library  has  helped  to  announce  the  Uimersity  Exten- 
sion courses  and  has  given  prominence  to  the  literature  relating 
to  them,  circulating  both  its  own  books  and  those  from  the 
tra\elhng  libraries  of  the  University  Extension  Department. 

Affiliation  with  such  agencies  does  open  up  new  avenues  of 
usefulness  to  the  library  and  broaden  the  scope  of  its  work. 
As  to  the  best  practical  methods  of  bringing  about  co-operation, 
they  will  probably  vary  as  widely  as  local  conditions ;  in  general, 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  a  long  step  has  been  taken  toward  co- 
operation when  the  live  personal  interest  of  one  or  more  mem- 
bers of  the  other  agency  has  been  aroused  in  the  possibilities 
of  such  co-operation.  Large-minded  people  who  are  actively 
interested  in  the  public  weal  are  usually  ready  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  service  which  the  library  can  render  to  their  cause, 
once  they  clearly  see  it  LISDA  A.  EASTMAN. 

DETROIT  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

The  Detroit  Public  Library  has  been  for  nearly  twenty  years 
in  co-operation  with  the  city  board  of  education  in  supplying 
books  to  the  public  schools  Under  this  arrangement  the  library 
furnishes  the  books,  rebinds  them  and  keeps  them  in  order, 
the  board  of  education  provides  boxes  and  furnishes  transpor- 
tation to  and  from  the  schools,  and  also  assumes  responsibility 
for  the  proper  care  and  accounting  for  the  books.  The  library 
supplies  some  12,000  books  for  the  exclusive  purpose,  and  every 
child  m  the  public  schools  above  the  third  grade  has  access  to 
them  at  the  school  house  and  may  take  them,  one  at  a  time,  for 
home  reading  and  keep  them  so  long  as  he  chooses,  within 


332    DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

reasonable  limits.    This  system  has  been  found  satisfactory  in 
practice 

The  study  clubs,  especially  those  managed  by  women,  are  the 
most  regular  and  persistent  users  of  the  library  outside  of  the 
inveterate  novel  readers  For  the  convenience  of  the  clubs  cer- 
tain alcoves  are  set  apart,  comfortably  fitted  with  chairs  and 
tables  and  facilities  for  making  notes,  and  in  these  alcoves  upon 
shehes  reserved  for  the  purpose,  are  placed  the  books  which 
they  may  designate  for  consultation  upon  the  topics  which  they 
have  in  hand  For  this  purpose  they  provide  us  at  the  opening 
of  the  season  with  their  programs,  showing  the  subjects  which 
they  have  laid  out  for  study  and  the  dates  when  the  books  are 
sure  to  be  wanted.  These  clubs  have  come  to  rely  upon  the 
hearty  and  earnest  co-operation  of  the  library,  not  merely  in 
providing  facilities  for  study  under  the  best  possible  conditions, 
but  also  in  furnishing  such  books  as  they  desire.  If  these  books 
are  not  already  on  our  shelves,  they  are  bought,  and  if  a  dupli- 
cate or  two  is  wanted  there  is  no  hesitancy  in  ordering  them. 

The  faculty  of  the  normal  training  school  have  long  been 
in  the  habit  of  relying  upon  the  library  to  aid  in  important 
features  of  the  work  of  the  school.  The  course  of  study  takes 
up  certain  topics  upon  which  reading  of  designated  books  is 
required  Sometimes  whole  classes  come  to  the  library  with 
their  instructors,  and  the  books  which  they  wish  to  use,  having 
previously  been  listed,  are  laid  before  them.  Sometimes  pupils 
come  singly  with  their  references  and  study  at  the  library.  The 
Detroit  College,  having  an  inadequate  library  of  its  own,  is 
accustomed  to  rely  upon  the  public  library  in  similar  fashion. 
Its  students  flock  hither  by  scores,  earnestly  studying  the  ref- 
erences which  have  been  given  them  by  their  professors. 

Important  work  has  been  done  by  the  library  through  the 
various  social  settlements  of  the  city.  This  is  a  work  in  which 
the  library  can  share  with  honest  satisfaction. 

HENRY  M.  UTLEY, 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

A  beginning  only  has  thus  far  been  made  at  the  Public  Li- 
brary of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  the  work  of  affiliating 
allied  agencies  with  the  library.  This  is  one  of  the  most  prom- 
ising avenues  for  extending  the  library's  usefulness  and  help- 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     333 

fulness  and  for  convincing  the  community  of  the  indispensability 
of  the  library  as  an  institution.  The  library  is  the  most  natural, 
convenient  and  well-equipped  agency  for  being  the  center  and 
clearing-house  of  all  post-school  educational  movements,  includ- 
ing not  only  literary  clubs,  but  also  civic  improvement  and 
philanthropic  bodies,  the  most  important  work  of  which  is,  of 
course,  essentially  educational. 

Thus  far  this  library  has  done  most  in  cooperation  with 
other  bodies  through  its  lecture  hall.  Last  winter  one  free 
lecture  a  week  of  the  board  of  education's  course  was  given 
here.  A  large  number  of  societies  devoted  to  literary  objects 
or  to  public  betterment  used  the  hall  for  single  or  brief  courses 
of  lectures  or  the  discussion  of  public  questions.  The  Audubon 
Society  held  its  regular  monthly  meeting  in  the  lecture  hall, 
procured  speakers  for  a  series  of  Saturday  morning  talks  to 
young  people  on  birds,  and  prepared  a  list  on  birds  which  the 
library  has  recently  published.  The  City  Gardens  Association 
held  its  meetings  at  the  library,  and  the  library  has  published  in 
the  interest  of  its  work  and  of  school  gardens  an  annotated  list 
on  gardening. 

Next  year  it  is  hoped  to  affiliate  more  closely  with  the  library 
many  of  the  large  number  of  literary  clubs  of  Washington.  In 
April  the  following  letter  was  sent  to  about  seventy-five  such 
organizations  (all  whose  officers'  names  could  be  secured),  and 
later  the  letter  was  published  in  the  newspapers: 

"The  Public  Library  desires  to  give  whatever  assistance^  it 
can  to  the  various  clubs  and  organizations  of  the  district  which 
are  engaged  in  the  study  of  literature,  art,  history  or  any  other 
subject  on  which  the  books  it  possesses  or  may  obtain  can  be 
made  useful.  To  this  end  we  are  addressing  the  officers  of  the 
various  clubs  now,  in  order  that  the  library  may  be  ready  to 
co-operate  with  them,  if  they  wish  it,  at  the  opening  of  the  fall 
and  winter  season  of  1905-6. 

"Will  you  send  in  the  name  of  your  club  (with  names  and 
addresses  of  president  and  secretary)  and  signify  in  what  way 
we  can  make  our  books  more  serviceable  to  you?  We  shall 
be  very  glad  to  receive  suggestions  from  you,  and  in  the  mean- 
time propose  the  following  plan:  We  invite  you  to  register  your 
club  with  this  library,  and  to  state  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
nature  of  your  study  for  next  winter.  No  doubt  your  experi- 
ence has  shown  you  that  greater  benefit  is  derived  from  con- 
fining your  winter's  study  to  some  one  or  two  subjects.  If 
that  is  your  practice,  and  you  will  give  us  the  special  topics 


334    DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

under  the  main  subjects  that  will  be  included  on  your  program, 
we  shall  be  able  during  the  summer  to  see  that  the  library  is 
well  stocked  in  these  directions  \Ve  should  be  glad  if  you 
would  make  known  to  your  members  the  fact  that  the  library 
is  ready  to  co-operate  m  the  following  specific  ways:  \Ve  will 
prepare  lists,  when  requested,  of  our  resources  in  any  particular 
subject,  we  will  reserve  these  books  for  a  certain  time  in  the 
reading  room,  so  that  all  members  may  have  an  equal  chance  to 
use  them;  we  will  purchase  a  limited  number  of  duplicates, 
whenever  possible,  of  m especially  helpful  books ;  we  will,  if  it 
proves  practicable,  assign  one  or  more  of  the  smaller  rooms 
for  the  use  of  committees,  for  conferences  and  for  a  place  for 
quiet  ^  study,  if  so  desired,  sending  reserved  books  there  tem- 
porarily. 

"We  should  be  glad  if  you  would  send  in  the  program  of 
your  work  of  >  the  present  year.  We  urge  upon  the  clubs,  if 
they  wish  to  aid  us  most  effectively  in  our  efforts  to  help  them, 
that  they  prepare  their  programs  as  far  in  advance  as  possible. 
If  programs  for  the  next  year  are  to  be  printed  we  should  be 
glad  to  help  in  supplying  references,  and  suggest  the  advis- 
ability _  of  adding  library  call  numbers  to  all  books  given  in 
your  lists." 

In  response  to  this  invitation  some  clubs  definitely  registered 
with  the  library,  several  announced  their  intention  to  make 
fuller  use  of  its  privileges  and  a  few  applied  for  the  use  of 
the  study  rooms  for  committee  meetings.  Among  those  thus 
applying  is  the  Civic  Center,  an.  organization  composed  of  per- 
sons interested  in  all  forms  of  civic  betterment  in  the  city.  This 
organization  will  turn  over  its  collection  to  us  It  is  too  soon 
to  judge  of  the  practical  results  of  efforts  in  this  direction  It 
is  designed  to  have  our  reader's  adviser,  to  be  appointed  July  i, 
visit  the  various  women's  clubs  and  offer  more  fully  and  defi- 
nitely the  aid  of  the  library.  This  feature  will  be  allied  to  the 
school  visiting,  already  begun.  Arrangements  are  being  made 
for  the  establishment  of  a  teachers'  special  reference  library, 
and  some  of  the  teachers'  organizations  of  the  district  will  hold 
their  regular  meetings  at  the  library  next  year.  The  library 
has  for  some  time  been  sending  books  to  one  social  settlement 
and  is  about  to  begin  sending  books  to  two  others.  It  is  hoped 
that  this  will  prove  the  beginning  of  permanent  branches. 

The  conditions  in  Washington  differ  considerably  from  those 
existing  elsewhere.  Here  the  work  for  the  blind  is  carried  on 
by  fce  Library  of  Congress;  university  extension  work,  so  far 
&  it  exists,  is  conducted  by  the  George  Washington  University 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     335 

for  the  public  school  teachers;  the  Corcoran  Art  Gallery  has 
its  classes,  and  the  National  Museum  has  its  own  lectures. 

G.  F.  BOWERMAX 

GRAND  RAPIDS   (MICH.}  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

In  a  general  way  it  may  be  said  that  the  Grand  Rapids  Pub- 
lic Library  is  taking  advantage,  or  planning  to  take  advantage, 
of  every  opportunity  that  presents  itself  to  secure  the  aid  of 
allied  agencies  in  advancing  the  interests  and  work  of  the  li- 
brary While  the  library  is  for  all  the  people  of  the  city,  no 
one  means  will  get  all  of  them  interested  in  it.  It  can  reach 
them  all  only  through  outside  agencies,  institutions  with  which 
they  are  already  identified  and  in  which  certain  of  them  take 
a  vital  interest.  Where  such  agencies  do  not  exist  the  library 
seeks  to  create  them  by  organizing  them. 

The  closest  and  most  extended  affiliated  interest  with  this 
library  is  the  board  of  education.  Until  two  years  ago  this 
board  managed  the  library,  and  even  now  it  holds  the  title 
to  the  library  property.  All  the  public  school  buildings  contain 
collections  of  books  belonging  to  the  public  library,  and  each 
school  principal  is  in  reality  a  representative  of  the  library  staff, 
being  the  librarian  in  charge  of  the  books  in  the  school  The 
number  of  books  issued  for  home  use  by  these  school  libraries 
last  year  was  nearly  50,000  volumes.  In  addition  to  this  thou- 
sands of  school  children  have  been  brought  to  the  library  and 
formally  instructed  in  its  use. 

The  museum  aids  the  library  in  many  ways,  and  especially  in 
lending  the  library  specimens  for  illustrative  material  for  lec- 
tures, stories  to  children,  etc.  A  plan  is  being  considered  of 
depositing  library  books  in  the  museum  from  time  to  time  for 
the  use  of  those  who  study  there. 

The  Y.  M.  C  A.  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  both  get  books  from 
the  library  in  lots  of  from  75  to  150  for  a  period  of  four  weeks. 
In  this  way  the  books  and  the  usefulness  of  the  library  are 
brought  to  the  attention  of  a  number  of  persons  who  would 
not  be  reached  in  any  other  way. 

At  an  exhibition  of  furniture  books  in  the  library  building 
some  months  ago,  to  which  all  the  designers  of  the  city  were 
formally  invited,  a  committee  of  three  designers  was  appointed 
to  work  with  the  librarian  in  building  up  this  section  of  the 


336  GRAND  RAPIDS  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

library.  A  similar  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  physi- 
cians who  have  agreed  to  pay  not  less  than  $50  a  year  for  five 
years  for  current  medical  periodicals.  Several  thousand  vol- 
umes of  medical  books  were  turned  over  to  the  library  a  few 
years  ago  Last  winter  the  library  invited  a  physician  of  na- 
tional reputation  to  deliver  a  lecture  on  tuberculosis.  To  this 
lecture  every  physician  and  minister  in  the  city  was  formally 
invited  by  letter.  The  meeting  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a 
society  for  the  prevention  of  tuberculosis  (the  first  of  the  kind 
in  the  state),  and  in  a  great  demand  for  all  the  literature  that 
could  be  obtained  relating  thereto. 

The  local  historical  society  has  been  somewhat  inactive  in 
recent  years,  but  arrangements  are  now  nearly  complete  for  the 
turning  over  of  its  collections  to  the  library  and  thus  to  secure 
renewed  interest  in  historical  work.  The  officers  of  the  local 
Polish  societies  have  taken  an  active  part  in  the  selection  of 
books  for  purchase  in  the  Polish  language,  and  later  on  we  ex- 
pect to  call  on  certain  Scandinavians  for  a  similar  purpose.  The 
local  horticultural  society  has  turned  its  collections  over  to  the 
library  and  is  co-operating  in  building  up  the  literature  of  this 
section. 

Bissell  House,  an  organization  for  settlement  work,  has  given 
the  library  its  collection  of  books  and  the  free  use  of  two  rooms 
in  which  the  library  will  operate  a  library  station  and  reading 
room. 

A  considerable  number  of  churches,  missionary  societies,  etc., 
are  subscribing  regularly  for  religious  and  missionary  literature, 
which  is  placed  on  file  in  the  library  reading  rooms. 

At  a  recent  Conference  on  Children's  Reading  held  in  the 
library,  most  of  the  speakers  were  supplied  from  or  by  the 
various  mothers'  clubs  of  the  city. 

The  library  keeps  lists  on  cards  of  the  officers  of  all  these 
various  organizations,  as  well  as  lists  of  persons  who  are  known 
to  be  specially  interested  in  certain  subjects.  If  there  is  a  lec- 
ture on  a  subject  that  is  of  particular  interest  to  these  persons 
they  can  be  readily  notified.  If  the  library  wants  any  of  these 
interests  to  do  something  for  it,  it  does  not  hesitate  to  ask  for 
it,  and  with  the  full  expectation  of  getting  it 

As  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  its  special  committee 
on  municipal  affairs  the  librarian  is  in  direct  relations  with  a 
very  important  and  influential  local  organization— it  contains 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     337 

nearly  1200  members.    This  committee  took  an  active  part  in 
the  revision  of  the  new  city  charter. 

These  are  only  some  of  the  allied  agencies  which  are  being 
used  by  the  library  and  which  also  use  the  library.  The  rela- 
tionship is,  in  reality,  mutual  For  the  library  is  always  most 
anxious  to  co-operate  in  every  way  by  means  of  its  books  and 
periodicals  Usually  the  library  must  make  the  first  advances, 
but  it  should  be  glad  to  do  this.  It  must  demonstrate,  however, 
not  only  its  willingness,  but  also  its  ability  to  be  of  service  to 
all  such  agencies.  It  will  then  have  no  difficult)'  m  getting  them 
to  aid  the  library  in  a  host  of  ways.  The  possibilities  in  this 
direction  are  unlimited.  It  is  only  by  utilizing  all  these  agencies 
that  the  library  can  become,  what  it  ought  to  be,  the  very  cen- 
ter of  every  influence  that  makes  for  civic  betterment,  for  edu- 
cation, and  for  culture.  SAMUEL  H.  RANCK. 

NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Several  of  the  branches  of  the  New  York  Public  Library 
were  established  with  the  aid  of  other  institutions  or  in  con- 
nection with  them.  Churches  were  instrumental  in  opening  nine 
of  them,  and  three  were  founded  in  connection  with  settlement 
work.  We  have  been  asked  to  take  in  other  settlement  libraries 
as  branches,  but  these  have  been  too  small  and  have  been  taken 
care  of  with  the  resources  of  our  travelling  libraries.  Again, 
both  settlements  and  churches  have  been  instrumental  in  point- 
ing out  proper  sites  for  new  branches  or  in  assisting  us  to  ad- 
just the  claims  of  rival  sites.  In  one  instance  there  was  a  con- 
test between  two  neighboring  settlements  regarding  the  selection 
of  a  site  in  their  vicinity.  In  most  cases  the  interest  of  the  body 
thus  connected  with  the  library  remains  more  or  less  active. 
For  instance,  in  the  University  Settlement  are  about  80  clubs 
of  young  people  from  10  to  25  years  old,  which  conduct  lec- 
tures, debates,  "literary  evenings,"  and  entertainments  o£  all 
kinds.  Naturally  they  come  to  the  adjoining  branch  library 
for  books  and  other  material,  and  for  advice  of  all  lands  in 
regard  to  programs,  decorations  and  costumes.  The  fact  that 
the  library  here  is  at  present  a  small  one  is  responsible  for  a 
degree  of  intimate  relationship  between  librarians  and  readers 
not  possible  in  a  larger  branch — a  fact  that  deserves  notice  and 
merits  consideration.  Much  the  same  state  of  things  exists  in 
the  Webster  Branch,  in  connection  with  the  East  Side  House. 


338  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

This  branch  also  posts  notices  on  the  bulletin  boards  of  sev- 
eral political  clubs,  which  have  drawn  from  it  chiefly  books  on 
the  civil  service,  school,  text-books  and  works  on  sports.  It 
has  in  its  card  catalog  a  special  subject-heading,  "Social  settle- 
ments," under  which  are  grouped  a  large  number  of  appropriate 
references. 

An  interesting  phase  of  co-operation  is  that  relating  to  the 
various  children's  playgrounds.  For  instance,  in  the  Tompkins 
Square  playground  the  assistants,  who  are  trained  kindergart- 
ners,  make  use  of  the  Tompkins  Square  Branch  Library  in  plan- 
Ding  new  games  for  the  children,  and  as  a  resting  place  to 
which  the  little  ones  are  recommended  to  resort  after  they 
have  had  their  fill  of  exercise 

In  the  outlying  districts,  where  local  feeling  is  strong,  there 
is  even  more  opportunity  for  effective  cooperation.  For  instance, 
our  Tottenville  Branch,  on  Staten  Island,  maintains  most  cordial 
relations  with  the  local  clubs.  When  the  new  building  was 
opened,  last  autumn,  the  Philemon  Club  assisted  in  decorating 
it  and  provided  refreshments  for  the  guests  The  library  has 
aided  this  club  by  selecting  and  keeping  on  reserve  shelves  for 
its  use  a  number  of  books  on  topics  under  consideration  by  the 
club. 

By  far  the  largest  amount  of  work  that  we  do  in  co-operation 
with  institutions  of  various  kinds  is  accomplished  through  our 
travelling  library  office,  which  now  sends  books  to  no  less  than 
323  separate  points  for  distribution.  These  included,  at  the  date 
of  the  last  annual  report,  six  city  history  clubs,  48  recreation 
centers  and  playgrounds,  36  fire  department  houses,  6  mission 
study  classes,  16  industrial  schools,  10  Sunday-schools,  besides 
all  sorts  of  clubs,  athletic,  social  and  political;  asylums,  hos- 
pitals, prisons,  work-houses,  churches,  institutes,  homes,  small 
libraries,  university  extension  centers,  and  even  large  corpora- 
tions, such  as  insurance  companies  and  department  stores,  who 
have  enlisted  our  aid  in  furnishing  reading  matter  for  their 
employees.  Our  connection  with  the  work  of  the  board  o£ 
education  was  perhaps  sufficiently  described  in  the  paper  con- 
tributed to  the  LIBRARY  JOURNAL  recently  by  Mr.  Gaillard,  and 
therefore  nothing  has  been  said  here  regarding  co-operation 
with  the  public  schools.  Our  relations  with  the  free  lecture 
bureau  have  also  been  very  close.  The  location  of  the  nearest 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     339 

branch  is  indicated  on  each  lecture  program  and  the  lecture 
bulletins  are,  in  turn,  displayed  at  the  branches,  where  we  en- 
deavor to  ha\e  collections  of  the  books  referred  to  by  the  lec- 
turers In  mam  branches  this  has  led  to  a  gratifying  improve- 
ment in  the  quality  of  the  circulation. 

This  sort  of  co-operation  is  in  its  infancy  and  is  susceptible 
of  almost  indefinite  expansion.  Unexpected  avenues  of  useful- 
ness open  up  almost  daily  in  connection  with  it.  For  instance, 
we  have  recently  agreed  to  assist  in  the  distribution  of  theater 
and  concert  tickets  to  the  blind  through  our  Branch  Library 
for  the  Blind.  Sometimes  the  demands  upon  us  go  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  practical,  as  when  we  were  asked  to  distribute 
seeds  to  the  poor  from  branch  libraries. 

Little  more  can  be  done  in  such  a  brief  note  than  to  present 
general  statements,  \\  ith  a  few  illustrations,  but  the  helping  hand 
extended  to  and  by  organizations  of  many  kinds  is  seen  and 
appreciated  at  all  of  our  branch  libraries. 

ARTHUR  E.  BOSTWICK. 

NEWARK  (NJ,)  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

The  Newark  Free  Public  Library  has  sought  to  co-operate 
with  other  agencies  for  public  well-being  by  establishing  itself 
as  a  hospitable  center  for  all  sorts  of  public  movements  The 
study  rooms  and  assembly  room  are  free  for  any  meetings  of 
an  educational  nature,  where  no  entrance  fee  is  charged 

During  the  past  club  season,  September  to  June,  1905,  76 
organizations  held  504  meetings  in  the  study  rooms  and  lecture 
hall  of  the  building,  14,127  total  attendance.  In  this  way  there 
has  been  drawn  to  the  library  the  interest  of  many  different 
kinds  of  people  who  know  that  besides  having  the  privilege 
of  meeting  in  this  beautiful  and  convenient  building  they  may 
have  also  special  collections  of  books  placed  at  their  disposal 
for  study.  We  touch  in  this  way  economic  study  clubs,  women's 
clubs,  school  societies,  philanthropic  organizations,  teachers,  art 
students  and  workers  in  many  fields. 

We  send  out  circular  letters  making  proposals  of  assistance 
in  program-making  and  book-hunting.  These  meet  with  a  ready 
response.  We  expose  the  wares  we  have,  and  offer  to  supply 
our  deficiencies  whenever  it  is  possible.  The  philanthropic  so- 
cieties and  other  bodies  have  lists  of  the  books  we  keep  on  the 


340  NEWARK  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

shelves  which  may  appeal  to  their  members,  and  we  offer  them 
travelling  libraries  and  pictures  on  their  topics. 

Women's  clubs  have  been  asked  to  co-operate  with  us  by  in- 
forming us  in  advance  of  their  special  wants.  They  have  been 
asked  to  let  us  act  as  an  exchange  bureau  for  their  original 
papers  and  also  to  work  up  local  and  state  topics  for  use  in  the 
library. 

University  Extension  courses  have  been  held  in  the  library 
lecture  hall,  and  we  subscribe  for  the  U.  E.'s  syllabi,  which  are 
put  in  the  vertical  file  and  do  good  service,  in  our  club  work 
especially.  One  of  the  organizations  which  hold  meetings  here, 
the  Newark  Principals'  Association,  has  established  a  small 
pedagogical  library  called  the  Hallock  Memorial  Library,  each 
book  bearing  the  Hallock  book  plate.  The  Essex  County  Medi- 
cal Association  has  under  consideration  the  founding  of  a  medi- 
cal library.  The  combined  music  clubs  of  the  city  are  raising 
money  to  start  here  a  library  of  music. 

Of  course  we  make  every  effort  to  do  school  work  effectively. 
We  are  aided  in  this  by  the  board  of  education,  by  the  super- 
intendent and  especially  by  the  general  and  special  supervisors, 
who  have  their  office  in  a  room  not  needed  for  library  pur- 
poses. From  them  \\e  get  points  about  the  school  curriculum 
They  also  second  our  efforts  to  teach  the  children  the  use  of 
library  tools.  A  special  course  was  given  this  winter  to  the 
children  from  one  school  as  an  experiment.  To  the  teachers 
having  school  libraries,  200  in  number,  we  send  each  month 
interesting  printed  lists.  Some  of  the  city  authorities  have  fur- 
nished detailed  statements  of  the  work  of  city  departments  for 
the  use  of  children  who  have  been  stimulated  by  the  library  to 
study  city  affairs. 

Every  month  we  mimeograph  a  school  bulletin  which  calls 
to  the  attention  of  teachers  recent  magazine  articles  and  new 
books  of  special  educational  interest.  Two  copies  of  this  are 
sent  to  the  principals  of  all  the  public  and  parochial  and  other 
private  schools,  one  for  the  school  bulletin  board,  the  other  for 
the  private  use  of  the  principal. 

We  also  distribute  a  business  bulletin  and  an  applied  arts 
bulletin  to  the  business,  technical  and  drawing  schools.  Efforts 
have  been  made  to  have  personal  interviews  with  the  heads  of 
large  manufacturing  concerns  in  order  to  join  hands  with  them 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     341 

in  bringing  our  resources  into  practical  contact  with  their  arti- 
sans and  artists. 

We  have  small  circulating  libraries  in  4  department  stores, 
5  police  stations,  13  fire  houses,  i  factory,  189  school  rooms. 

Newark  has  no  museums.  When  this  building  was  con- 
structed four  years  ago  the  trustees  placed  over  the  door  of 
one  of  the  two  large  rooms  on  the  fourth  floor  the  legend 
"Science  Museum"  and  over  the  other  "Art  Museum"  They 
realized  that  the  time  would  come  in  the  course  of  the  city's 
normal  development  when  both  these  institutions  would  be  called 
for.  They  realized  also  the  fact  that  the  free  public  library 
of  a  city,  especially  a  library  as  beautifully  and  as  adequately 
housed  as  is  that  of  Newark,  is,  if  other  means  are  lacking,  a 
proper  place  in  which  to  establish  the  beginnings  of  public 
museums  of  science  and  art. 

The  large  assembly  room  on  the  fourth  floor  of  the  library 
is  excellently  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  an  art  gallery.  Here, 
in  1903,  the  first  loan  exhibition  of  paintings  was  installed. 
The  pictures  were  on  view  16  days,  from  Feb.  27  to  March  15 
They  were  visited  in  that  time  by  32,000  people.  Since  then 
there  have  been  three  other  art  exhibitions  in  this  room  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Fine  Arts  Commission.  The  hope  is 
that  these  exhibitions  are  paving  the  way  to  a  permanent  art 
gallery  for  the  city. 

In  the  south  room  on  the  fourth  floor  of  the  library,  already 
mentioned,  is  the  beginning  of  the  Science  Museum.  For  many 
years  Dr.  W.  S.  Disbrow,  of  Newark,  has  been  a  tireless  col- 
lector of  minerals  and  botanical  specimens,  and  has  had  in  mind 
the  hope  that  he  might  be  the  person  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
a  science  museum  for  his  native  city.  Several  years  ago  the 
board  of  education  furnished  about  20  flat-topped  glass  cases  in 
which  Dr.  Disbrow  installed  a  portion  of  his  collection  of 
minerals.  These  cases  were  moved  last  year  from  the  high 
school  to  the  library.  To  the  collection  of  minerals  were  added 
botanical  specimens,  an  interesting  collection  of  Indian  relics, 
portraits  of  eminent  scientists,  geological  maps  of  New  Jer- 
sey and  other  appropriate  material,  and  the  collection  took  shape 
as  a  Science  Museum,  though  a  very  modest  one. 

J.  C.  DANA. 


342  PHILADELPHIA  FREE  LIBRARY 

PHILADELPHIA  FREE  LIBRARY 

One  of  the  most  successful  affiliations  in  work  carried  on 
by  the  Free  Library  has  been  an  active  association  with  the 
Home  Teaching  Society  for  the  Blind  Over  So  per  cent,  of 
the  blind  population  of  Pennsylvania  have  endured  the  loss  of 
sight  after  they  are  forty  years  of  age.  Such  blind  persons  are 
ineligible  to  attend  any  school  for  instruction  in  the  use  of 
books  printed  in  embossed  types.  The  Free  Library  has  over 
2400  books  of  various  types  in  its  rooms,  and  it  is  evident  that 
if  home  teaching  be  not  adopted  embossed  books  in  the  public 
library  must  fail  to  be  of  service  to  many  of  the  persons  for 
whom  they  are  especially  intended.  The  Free  Library  and  the 
Home  Teaching  Society  for  the  Blind  have  worked  together 
as  one  body  for  several  years  past,  each  maintaining  its  separate 
autonomy  as  to  organization  and  funds.  The  Home  Teaching 
Society  employs  three  teachers,  who  visit  the  blind  in  their 
homes,  give  them  instruction  without  charge,  and  carry  on 
the  work.  The  only  drawback  was  the  lack  of  funds  The 
state  o£  Pennsylvania,  happily,  has  appropriated  $2000  to  the 
society  in  aid  of  their  work  for  the  years  1905-1907.  The  Free 
Library  and  the  Home  Teaching  Society  have  commenced  to 
raise  a  subscription  towards  a  fund  of  $100,000,  with  the  in- 
come of  which  to  print  embossed  books.  The  board  of  the 
society  report  every  year  in  most  cordial  terms  upon  the  value 
of  the  cooperation  of  the  library.  The  library  feels  and  ex- 
presses a  great  debt  to  the  society  for  their  co-operation. 

Another  valuable  alliance  has  been  formed  between  the  Free 
Library  and  the  University  Extension  Society.  A  large  and 
important  series  of  lectures  have  been  given  tinder  the  joint 
auspices  of  the  library  and  this  society  with  most  excellent 
results  The  joint  work  has  resulted  in  a  large  increase  in 
the  demand  for  courses  of  lectures.  During  the  last  season  101 
lectures  were  delivered  with  a  total  attendance  of  27,961  persons. 
The  library  and  the  society  have  both  agreed  to  continue  the 
work  next  season,  and  believe  that  this  decision  will  result  in 
great  good. 

Free  public  libraries  should,  as  far  as  possible,  extend  and 
broaden  their  work  by  affiliations  with  other  agencies  for  edu- 
cational improvement.  All  matters  which  would  tend  to  bring 
in  political  or  religious  questions  should  be  carefully  avoided. 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     343 

The  work  of  civic  betterment  is  properly  the  care  of  a  hundred 
and  one  societies,  but  the  work  of  a  library  should  be  to  avail 
itself  of  all  alliances  which  will  improve  general  educational 
methods  JOHN  THOMSON. 

CARNEGIE  LIBRARY  OF  PITTSBURGH 

The  Carnegie  Library  of  Pittsburgh  in  the  prosecution  of 
its  work  seeks  to  associate  itself  with  all  other  available  edu- 
cational agencies.  The  barest  recital  of  what  it  has  done  in 
this  direction  \\ould  occupy  a  greater  space  than  has  been  as- 
signed for  the  purpose,  therefore  this  statement  must  be  con- 
fined merely  to  the  enumeration  of  some  of  its  present  activities, 
together  with  the  briefest  possible  explanations. 

Most  of  the  departments  in  the  library  are  directly  engaged 
in  some  such  work,  but  naturally  the  greater  share  of  it  falls 
to  the  following  five:  Reference,  Technology,  Children's,  Loan, 
Branches  In  some  instances  two  or  more  departments  are 
concerned  in  different  phases  of  the  work  with  the  same  allied 
agency,  but  in  spite  of  that  fact  perhaps  the  most  convenient 
way  to  treat  the  subject  is  by  taking  these  departments  separately. 

Reference  department 

This  department  has  very  close  relations  with  the  women's 
clubs  of  the  city  and  of  the  surrounding  towns.  Their  pro- 
gram committees  meet  in  a  room  at  the  library,  where  the  books 
they  need  to  consult  are  collected  together  with  several  hun- 
dred club  programs.  They  often  ask  for  and  receive  criticism 
of  their  programs  before  printing.  In  May  or  June  they  send 
m  their  programs  for  the  following  year  and  detailed  reference 
lists  are  made  for  each  topic.  Last  year  lists  were  prepared 
for  16  clubs  covering  about  700  topics.  A  number  of  clubs 
print  these  reference  lists  complete  in  their  year  books;  others 
use  a  typewritten  copy  which  is  furnished  the  secretary. 

Teachers  in  the  schools  are  asked  to  send  notice  of  special 
topics  assigned  pupils,  so  that  lists  may  be  ready  upon  the  ar- 
rival of  those  needing  such  aid.  Books  on  a  subject  are  re- 
served upon  request  of  a  teacher.  References  are  posted  and 
books  reserved  for  a  pedagogical  society  of  which  many  teachers 
in  the  city  are  members. 


344         CARNEGIE  LIBRARY  OF  PITTSBURGH 

A  reference  list  on  the  artists  represented  in  the  annual  ex- 
hibition of  the  Carnegie  Institute  Art  Galleries  is  prepared  and 
printed  in  its  catalog.  Books  are  reserved  for  pupils  of  the 
city  schools  who  take  part  in  the  Annual  Museum  Prize  Essay 
Contest.  A  special  assistant  is  in  charge  of  these  reservations 
during  the  period  of  the  contest. 

Technology  department 

This  department  has  compiled  and  the  library  is  now  print- 
ing, largely  for  the  benefit  of  the  Engineers1  Society  of  West- 
ern Pennsylvania,  an  index  to  its  Proceedings,  which  will  make 
a  pamphlet  of  nearly  200  pages. 

Children's  department 

So  large  a  share  of  the  work  of  this  department  is  con- 
ducted outside  the  buildings  of  the  library  that  no  adequate 
statement  can  be  made  of  it  here.  There  is  scarcely  an  edu- 
cational, philanthropic  or  charitable  organization  in  the  city 
that  has  not  had  part  in  the  work  within  the  last  seven  years. 
One  interesting  example  is  that  of  the  formation  within  the 
last  few  months  of  a  settlement  house  association  in  one  of  the 
most  crowded  and  needy  districts.  At  its  request  a  fully  equipped 
children's  room  in  the  settlement  house  is  just  established,  the 
association  giving  every  advantage  for  the  work,  such  as  hous- 
ing, heat,  light,  and  janitor  service. 

The  work  of  the  home  libraries  and  reading  clubs  is  par- 
ticularly dependent  upon  such  allied  agencies  as  are  under  con- 
sideration. School  boards  give  use  of  rooms  for  reading  clubs, 
with  light,  heat,  and  janitor  service.  Like  aid  is  given  by 
churches,  including  the  Jewish  synagogue,  institutional  homes, 
bath  houses,  and  two  regularly  organized  clubs.  The  Toy  Mis- 
sion, the  kindergartens,  the  Society  for  the  Improvement  of  the 
Poor,  the  King's  Daughters,  church  societies,  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and 
the  women's  clubs  all  have  a  part  in  the  work.  This  list  must 
be  cut  short  to  have  room  for  mention  of  the  fact  that  private 
individuals  and  business  corporations  bear  a  hand.  For  in- 
stance, one  large  steel  manufacturing  company  entirely  supports 
a  boy's  reading  club  which  is  held  in  a  school  building. 

The  work  with  schools  is  dependent  upon  the  co-operation 
of  the  educational  institutions.  Most  of  the  schools  supply  as- 
sistants to  charge,  discharge  and  trace  the  books  loaned  them. 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     345 

They  send  monthly  reports,  pack  and  unpack  the  collections. 
Other  schools  furnish  heated  and  lighted  rooms  for  neighbor- 
hood deposit  stations.  One  school  has  given  the  use  of  a  large 
room  as  an  office  for  the  division  of  work  with  schools  while 
the  space  at  the  central  library  is  contracted  by  the  building 
operations  now  in  progress  A  large  number  of  the  city  schools 
give  great  privileges  in  their  class  rooms.  Library  assistants 
are  permitted  to  go  and  come  as  they  choose,  to  give  talks  on 
books,  and  to  tell  stories  or  read  aloud  in  connection  with  the 
story  hour  work.  In  some  schools  regular  study  periods  are  set 
aside  for  the  library.  Summer  playground  and  vacation  schools 
also  have  their  share  in  the  work. 

Loan  department 

The  work  here  naturally  touches  many  of  the  fields  treated 
under  other  departments  and  supplements  their  efforts  by  loan- 
ing the  books.  University  Extension  lectures  are  held  in  the 
building.  Lecturers  send  in  advance  copies  of  their  syllabi. 
Books  recommended  therein  are  bought  if  not  already  hi  the 
collection,  or  duplicate  copies  are  bought  if  necessary  and  con- 
spicuously placed  to  attract  readers  and  borrowers. 

In  consultation  with  the  authorities  of  the  school  of  music 
near  the  central  library,  lists  of  titles  are  posted  in  the  school. 

Branch  libraries 

The  most  notable  co-operation  with  allied  agencies  in  this 
department  is  that  with  the  schools,  although  it  is  by  no  means 
the  only  one.  Of  course  it  is  closely  bound  up  with  the  work 
of  the  children's  department,  since  each  branch  library  contains 
a  children's  room  and  at  least  one  specially  trained  children's 
librarian. 

The  next  most  notable  use  of  allied  agencies  in  the  branches 
is  that  of  University  Extension.  Centers  have  been  formed  in 
branch  districts  in  which  the  branch  librarians  have  taken  an 
active  part,  and  in  most  cases  the  lectures  have  been  given  in 
the  auditoriums  of  the  branch  libraries. 

ANDERSON  H.  HOPKINS. 

PROVIDENCE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 
In  the  Providence  Public  Library  the  aim  has  been,  from 
the  beginning,  to  co-operate  with  all  existing  agencies  in  the 


346  PROVIDENCE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

city,  for  the  general  upbuilding  of  the  community — in  short  "to 
fit  the  community  like  a  glove." 

These  agencies  include  not  only  the  college,  the  public  school 
system,  and  the  various  private  schools,  but  also  the  various 
study  clubs  and  classes,  the  museums,  the  commercial  and  trade 
organizations,  labor  organizations,  philanthropic  agencies,  etc. 

The  relations  of  the  library  with  the  schools  have  been  grad- 
ually expanded,  until  at  present  a  very  satisfactory  system  has 
been  developed.  Visits  of  the  classes  are  made  to  the  library, 
on  dates  arranged  by  the  superintendent  of  public  schools  (so 
that  in  the  course  of  the  year  all  of  the  upper  classes  in  the 
grammar  schools  will  have  made  this  visit),  the  object  being 
to  have  the  children's  librarian  explain  to  them  how  to  use 
reference  books,  how  to  use  the  index,  and  other  features  of  a 
book,  how  to  use  the  card  catalog,  etc.  Later  in  the  year,  just 
before  graduation,  the  librarian  personally  visits  all  the  schools 
referred  to,  for  a  brief  address  to  the  graduating  classes  on  the 
wider  use  of  the  library.  Boxes  of  books  are  sent  to  the  schools, 
at  dates  arranged  by  the  superintendent,  the  transportation  be- 
ing undertaken  by  the  school  department.  Special  cards  are 
issued  to  teachers,  on  which  more  than  one  book  can  be  taken, 
and  for  a  longer  period  than  usual  (solely  for  use  in  connection 
with  school  work).  The  children's  department  comprises  not 
merely  a  large  room  for  the  "children's  library,"  but  an  adjoin- 
ing room  for  reference  purposes  on  the  part  of  the  children. 
Another  room  on  the  same  floor  is  fitted  up  as  an  educational 
study  room,  with  facilities  of  all  kinds  for  the  teachers. 

The  "lecture  room,"  which  is  used  for  the  visits  of  the 
school  classes,  is  available  also  for  the  visits  of  the  study  clubs 
desiring  to  use  the  library's  resources  on  some  subject  The  ref- 
erence librarian  keeps  a  directory  of  the  various  clubs  of  this 
kind  in  the  city,  helps  in  the  preparation  of  a  syllabus,  and  aims 
to  place  all  needed  resources  at  their  command.  The  lecture 
room  is  also  used  for  exhibits  of  photographs  and  other  pictures, 
notices  of  these  exhibits  being  posted  on  the  bulletin  board  at 
the  Art  Museum,  or,  if  the  subject  be  of  a  different  kind,  at 
the  Natural  History  Museum.  At  the  latter  place  printed  labels 
under  some  of  the  objects  exhibited  refer  the  visitor  to  the 
works  on  the  subject  in  the  public  library. 

In  the  industrial  department  a  collection  of  "trade  catalogs" 
has  been  brought  together,  and,  in  other  ways,  the  manufacturing 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     347 

and  commercial  interests  of  the  community  are  studied.  By 
request  the  librarian  has,  from  time  to  time,  set  forth  the  re- 
sources and  possibilities  of  the  library  m  the  columns  o£  the 
"organ"  of  the  local  board  of  trade,  as  he  has  also  in  the  an- 
nual "program"  of  the  labor  organizations.  The  library  is  well 
known  in  the  editorial  rooms  of  all  of  the  local  newspapers  as 
an  agency  to  which  to  turn  at  short  notice  in  case  of  need. 
Much  the  same  may  be  said  ot  the  members  of  the  city  gov- 
ernment and  their  similar  needs 

The  library  aims  to  co-operate  with  the  various  philanthropic 
agencies  of  the  community  by  its  purchase  of  books  and  in 
other  ways  Its  collection  of  books  in  raised  letters  for  the 
blind  numbers  several  hundred,  and  is  in  constant  use.  The 
opportunity  occasionally  presents  itself  for  assisting  in  a  very 
definite  way  in  some  movement  for  civic  betterment.  A  case 
in  point  is  the  "Civic  art'*  exhibit  of  last  year  in  connection  with 
the  movement  for  creating  a  Metropolitan  Park  Commission, 
in  which  more  than  400  illustrations,  maps,  etc.,  were  shown 
(including  315  photographs,)  which  was  visited  by  thousands 
of  people. 

The  above  instances  are,  of  course,  only  typical  of  the  vari- 
ous kinds  of  activities  with  which  it  has  been  found  possible 
for  the  library  to  co-operate.  WILLIAM  E.  FOSTER. 

ST.  LOUIS  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Having  within  it  the  sustenance  and  the  vital  force  of  all 
man's  higher  activities,  the  public  library  is  the  natural  intel- 
lectual center  of  a  community,  the  main  ganglion  of  its  efforts 
and  energies.  The  potency  of  the  library  as  a  communal  nerve- 
center  reaches  the  highest  degree  in  a  well  supported  and  well 
managed  public  library  in  a  small  city.  Such  an  institution 
gathers  from  all  elements  of  the  community  what  each  has  to 
give  and  distributes  to  each  citizen  the  contributions  of  all 
added  to  the  vast  accumulation  of  historic  ages.  'It  is  at  once 
the  accumulator  and  the  transmitter  of  social  energy."  Its 
supremacy  as  a  social  dynamo  is  more  likely  to  be  found  in  a 
town  like  Worcester  than  in  a  great  city  like  New  York,  yet 
with  increasingly  efficient  agencies  of  distribution  the  remotest 
and  minutest  nerve-fibre  of  the  greatest  metropolis  may  be 
awakened  by  its  electric  tingle.  In  a  small  town  the  library 
may,  in  a  great  measure,  send  its  informing  and  inspiring  cur- 


348  ST.  LOUS  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

rent  directly  to  each  individual.  Even  here  transforming  and 
re-enforcing  stations  are  needed  to  strengthen,  adapt  and  direct 
the  original  current,  while  in  a  large  city  a  regular  and  exten- 
sive system  of  transforming  stations  must  be  established.  Such 
adapting  and  re-enforcing  stations  exist  in  every  city  in  the 
form  of  schools,  churches,  Sunday-schools,  literary  and  scien- 
tific clubs  (especially  women's  clubs),  debating  societies,  social 
settlements,  etc.  Every  one  of  these  organizations  is  a  sort  of 
battery,  having  its  self-created  mental  electricity,  which  is  in- 
creased in  power  and  intensity  by  receiving  the  current  from  the 
central  generator.  In  these  sub-stations  it  is  transformed — 
adapted  to  specific  purposes — and  thence  distributed  to  the  per- 
sons having  direct  connection  with  the  church  or  club  or  other 
organization  that  serves  as  a  subordinate  educational  station  or 
minor  ganglion. 

The  public  library,  then,  to  fulfil  its  purpose  as  a  distributor 
of  light  and  power,  must  establish  connection  with  other  agencies 
of  enlightenment  throughout  the  community.  This  will  intensify 
and  open  new  channels  for  its  influence. 

The  advantage  of  an  alliance  with  other  intellectual  forces 
of  the  community  was  recognized  by  the  management  of  the 
St.  Louis  Public  Library  in  its  earliest  days.  It  was  founded 
and  conducted  for  four  years  by  an  incorporated  society  called 
the  Public  School  Library  Society.  It  was,  however,  from  the 
first,  fostered  by  the  board  of  education;  and  in  1869  its  sup- 
port and  control  was  assumed  by  that  body.  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris, 
then  superintendent  of  public  schools,  was  ex-officio  a  member 
of  the  board  of  managers,  and  it  was  his  constant  effort,  both 
as  superintendent  and  as  library  director,  to  rally  all  the  intel- 
lectual interests  of  the  city  around  the  building  in  which  were 
located  the  board  of  public  schools  and  the  public  school  library. 
In  accordance  with  this  policy  agreements  were  made  with 
such  bodies  as  the  St.  Louis  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  His- 
torical Society  the  Art  Society,  the  Medical  Society,  the  En- 
gineers' Society  and  other  organizations  to  turn  over  to  the 
library,  either  as  a  loan  or  a  gift,  their  collection  of  books, 
to  make  their  members  life-members  of  the  library  (there  was 
then  a  fee  of  $4  a  year  or  $12  for  a  life-membership),  receiv- 
ing in  addition  to  the  privileges  of  life-membership  a  room  in 
which  to  hold  their  meetings. 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  AND  ALLIED  AGENCIES     349 

The  library,  of  course,  always  co-operated  with  the  schools. 
It  was  founded  as  a  supplement  to  the  public  schools  and  was 
supported  and  controlled  by  the  school  board  from  1869  to 
1894  During  all  that  period,  however,  the  enrollment  of  school 
children  never  went  beyond  a  thousand,  because  the  board  could 
not  supply  a  sufficient  revenue  to  make  the  library  free.  As 
a  free  institution  it  now  has  a  ju\enile  registration  of  more 
than  27,000. 

From  the  beginning  of  its  existence  this  library  and  the  Mer- 
cantile have  been  the  chief  resource  of  numerous  art,  literary, 
scientific  and  sociological  clubs  that  ha\e  flourished  in  St  Louis. 
Indeed,  without  these  two  libraries  the  clubs  could  not  have 
carried  on  their  ^ork.  On  the  other  hand,  the  demands  of  the 
clubs  for  books  for  study  and  research  have  served  to  make 
known  to  the  library  authorities  the  wants  of  the  community 
and  have  tended  to  direct  purchases  into  profitable  channels. 

"The  opportunities  and  possibilities  01  aiding  library  develop- 
ment through  allied  agencies"  are  numerous  and  great  As  a 
rule  it  is  necessary  only  to  let  it  be  known  to  clubs,  schools,  etc., 
that  the  library  is  ready  and  glad  to  serve  them.  In  the  be- 
ginning we  went  after  the  clubs  and  schools;  now,  for  the 
most  part,  they  come  to  us.  \Ve  prepare  bibliographies  for 
the  clubs  and  order  books  they  want  that  are  not  already  in  our 
collection.  We  give  every  possible  aid  to  individual  members, 
and  when  a  small  number  of  books  is  wanted  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  persons,  we  withdraw  them  from  circulation  and  place 
them  for  the  time  with  other  books  on  the  subject  in  the  ref- 
erence room. 

Through  the  schools  by  means  of  supplementary  sets  and 
miscellaneous  collections  we  last  year  (ending  April  30,  1905) 
circulated  258410  volumes. 

This,  I  fear,  exceeds  the  maximum  space  allotted  me;  but  I 
wish  to  emphasize  the  unquestionable  fact,  that  while  some  of 
the  best— perhaps  the  most  fruitful— work  a  public  library  can 
do  is  through  the  schools,  it  should  have  a  separate  organiza- 
tion with  no  dependence  or  organic  connection  with  the  school 
authorities.  A  school  board  has  enough  to  do  in  governing  the 
schools,  and  there  is  plenty  of  work  for  a  library  board  in  look- 
ing after  the  interests  of  a  public  library. 

FEEDEBICK  M.  CHUNDEN. 


FACTORY  STATIONS 

The  stations  referred  to  in  the  following  paper  are 
used  only  by  the  employees  of  the  factories,  not  by  the 
general  public.  Although  they  have  been  found  sat- 
isfactory b  Detroit,  the  problems  of  the  individual  li- 
brary and  factory  must  ever  be  considered  before  estab- 
lishing either  deposit  or  delivery  stations. 

This  paper  by  Aniela  Poray  of  the  Detroit  Public  Li- 
brary was  read  before  the  Michigan  Library  Associa- 
tion, in  1907. 

Before  library  work  at  factories  is  actually  begun  it  is  well 
to  have  the  most  important  features  of  it  decided  upon.  There 
are  two  distinct  types  of  problems  to  deal  with  in  connection 
with  it— the  library  problems  and  the  factory  problems.  The 
former  includes  the  important  question  whether  the  library  shall 
establish  deposit  stations  or  delivery  stations. 

By  deposit  stations  I  mean  a  collection  of  books  sent  to  the 
factory  for  from  three  to  five  months,  the  books  to  be  issued 
there  on  certain  days,  under  the  same  rules  and  regulations  as 
at  the  main  library.  As  a  rule  the  readers  have  access  to  the 
shelves.  After  the  period  agreed  upon  expires  the  first  deposit 
is  returned  to  the  library  and  a  new  one  is  sent  in  its  place. 

At  the  delivery  stations  there  are  no  books,  the  library 
supplies  in  their  place  a  full  set  of  catalogs  and  call  lists.  The 
factory  readers  fill  out  their  requests  for  the  books  wanted;  on 
a  certain  day  a  library  assistant  calls  for  these  requests  and 
takes  them,  together  with  the  library  cards  of  the  applicants,  to 
the  central  library.  The  books  that  are  in  are  charged  on  the 
cards  and  returned  to  the  factory;  in  case  a  book  asked  for  is 
out,  the  applicant  must  wait  until  the  library  assistant  makes 
her  weekly  or  semi-weekly  call.  It  is  not  always  wise  to  substi- 
tute another  book,  for  the  choice  of  the  library  assistant  may 
not  be  satisfactory  to  the  reader. 


352  AXIELA  PORAY 

Each  system  has  its  drawbacks;  but  judging  from  our  exper- 
ience, the  deposit  stations  seem  to  be  the  more  practical.  The 
chief  argument  in  favor  o£  deEvery  stations  is  the  fact  that  the 
reader  ma)*  select  any  book  from  the  catalog,  thus  the  contents 
of  the  entire  library  are  at  his  disposal;  while  in  the  deposit 
station  he  is  supposed  to  be  limited  to  the  200  or  300  books  com- 
prising the  deposit  collection.  We  supply,  however,  the  catalogs 
as  well  as  the  books,  and  any  book  may  be  selected  and  brought 
by  the  assistant  on  her  next  trip  to  the  factory.  Besides,  when 
a  book  cannot  be  loaned  to  the  factory  for  the  usual  three  to 
five  months  because  of  its  popularity,  and  the  factory  readers 
are  asking  for  it,  I  charge  the  book  to  myself  and  reissue  it  to 
the  person  \\ho  wanted  it.  This  applies  only  to  non-fiction  books 
for  which  there  are  no  resene  postals. 

In  our  experience  this  plan  has  worked  quite  well  thus  far; 
of  course,  if  the  requests  were  too  numerous  the  carrying  of 
books  would  have  to  be  abandoned  in  favor  of  more  suitable 
mode  of  delivery.  The  worst  feature  of  this  scheme  is  the  fact 
that  the  books  which  would  be  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  fac- 
tory readers  are  very  often  those  that  are  much  in  demand  at 
the  central  library-  We  had  an  illustration  of  this  at  the  Cadillac 
Motor  Car  Co.  The  factory  readers  wanted  everything  they 
possibly  could  get  on  motor  cars,  in  the  meantime,  the  demand 
for  books  on  this  subject  at  the  central  library  was  so  large 
that  there  were  no  books  left  on  the  shelves.  The  deposits  are 
changed  quite  frequently  and  I  do  not  think  that  this  system 
limits  to  any  great  extent  of  books  of  our  factory  readers. 

The  next  thing  to  be  considered  is  the  supply  of  books,  or 
rather,  the  source  of  it  If  a  library  is  so  exceptionally  fortunate 
as  to  possess  an  income  adequate  to  its  needs,  I  would  urge  the 
purchase  of  new  books,  or  new  copies  for  each  of  the  stations. 
3STew,  clean,  attractive  looking  books  tempt  the  eye.  Books  in 
fresh  bindings  are  invariably  selected  in  preference  to  those  m 
soiled  covers.  When  the  library  finances  do  not  permit  the 
purchase  of  new  books,  the  duplicate  copies  from  the  central 
library  are  used  to  supply  the  factory  stations.  We  compromised 
by  supplying  some  old  copies  with  a  fair  sprinkling  of  new 
ones.  In  instances  where  books  were  purchased  specially  for  the 
factories,  the  word  "special"  is  stamped  across  the  inside  label, 
indicating  that  this  book  belongs  to  the  factory  collection. 


FACTORY  STATIONS  353 

There  is  a  card  author  entry  for  each  of  these  books  with  the 
initial  of  the  factory  written  in  pencil  in  the  upper  right-hand 
corner;  these  initials  are  changed  when  the  books  are  sent  to 
another  factorj.  Special  books  are  interchanged  between  the 
factories,  while  the  used  duplicates  from  the  central  library  are 
checked  off  on  their  return  and  put  back  in  circulation,  \\hen 
a  non-fiction  book  of  which  we  have  only  one  copy  is  sent  to 
the  factory)  a  piece  of  cardboard  about  5  x  9  is  put  in  its  place. 
On  this  card  is  noted  the  book  number,  date  when  the  book  was 
loaned  and  the  name  of  the  factory.  If  a  book  is  called  for  to 
any  extent  at  the  central  library  we  recall  it  and  put  it  back  In 
circulation. 

When  the  matter  of  deposit  or  delivery  stations  is  decided 
upon,  as  well  as  the  source  of  the  supply  of  books  for  the  fac- 
tories, the  most  important  library  problems  are  disposed  of. 
The  factory  phase  of  this  work  is  to  create  a  demand  which 
the  library  must  be  ready  to  supply. 

Before  I  called  on  any  of  the  manufactures  I  must  confess 
that  I  had  the  worst  case  of  stage  fright  I  ever  expenenced. 
After  my  call  I  realized  that  they  were  not  at  all  formidable 
people.  My  experience  with  them  has  been  most  fortunate, 
except  in  one  instance  I  have  met  unfailing  courtesy  and  kind- 
ness They  were  never  too  busy  to  listen,  and  as  a  body  they 
show  far  more  appreciation  of  our  efforts  to  reach  their  work- 
ing people  than  they  are  generally  given  credit  for.  Still  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  no  matter  how  much  they  may  be  inter- 
ested in  our  work  of  library  extension  they  are  business  men 
whose  time  is  exceedingly  limited.  The  entire  scheme  in  its 
minutest  details  must  be  tabulated  in  one's  mind  and  stated  in 
as  few  words  as  possible,  and  there  must  not  be  an  answer 
lacking  to  any  of  the  questions  asked.  If  an  average  manufac- 
turer who  is  at  all  sympathetic  to  our  work  of  library  extension 
can  be  convinced  that  he  has  some  space  in  his  already  crowded 
factory  which  could  be  used  for  library  purposes,  everything 
else  is  a  mere  detail.  In  one  case  we  waited  several  months 
until  an  annex  was  built  and  then  established  a  library  station. 

We  had  some  cards  printed,  about  n  x  14,  calling  attention 
of  the  working  people  that  library  cards  will  be  issued  to  the 
applicants.  These  posters  were  hung  in  prominent  places 
through  the  shop.  Sometimes  a  manager  would  speak  to  his 


354  ANIELA  PORAY 

employees  during  the  noon  hour,  telling  them  of  our  work, 
commending  It.  I  was  usually  there  to  issue  the  cards.  Occasion- 
ally I  left  them  with  a  member  of  the  office  staff  whose  name 
was  inserted  in  the  blank  space  of  our  advertising  card.  After 
the  name  of  the  firm  as  a  surety  they  were  mailed  to  the  main 
library  to  be  verified.  If  the  applicant  had  no  previous  card  we 
issued  him  one,  which  entitled  him  to  take  books  from  the 
factory,  any  of  our  branches,  or  the  central  library. 

There  are  three  duties  incumbent  upon  the  manufacturer  who 
has  a  library  station  in  his  factory:  he  provides  bookcases  or 
shelves,  bears  the  cost  of  transportation  of  the  books,  and  be- 
comes surety  for  his  employees  while  they  are  in  his  employ, 
his  obligations  ceasing  when  they  leave.  The  library  provides 
the  timekeeper  with  a  set  of  cards  giving  the  name  of  the  card 
holder,  the  card  number,  and  the  date  of  issue.  The  timekeeper 
consults  this  record  when  some  one  leaves  the  employ,  and  if 
there  is  a  library  card  issued  to  this  person  it  must  be  returned 
free  of  charges  before  he  is  paid  in  full.  Thus  far  we  have  had 
one  book  lost  and  paid  for  by  the  card  holder. 

In  the  past  occasionally  some  one  from  the  office  staff  was 
appointed  acting  librarian.  But  unless  there  is  a  so-called 
"welfare  worker"  in  the  shop,  whose  duty  it  is  to  look  after 
the  personal  welfare  of  the  working  people,  it  would  be 
far  preferable  to  have  a  library  assistant  attend  to  the  li- 
brary work.  We  tried  both  experiments  and  the  lat- 
ter is  far  more  satisfactory.  No  matter  how  willing  any  one 
may  be,  to  do  this  means  additional  duties  that  are  new,  un- 
familiar and  must  be  learned.  Working  men  and  women  have 
enough  to  do,  and  additional  duties  will  sooner  or  later  fall 
upon  them  "If  you  want  the  work  done  well,  do  it  yourself." 
Mr.  Finck,  of  the  W.  M  Finck  Manufacturing  Co.,  donated 
two  bookcases  and  established  a  library  almost  in  the  center 
of  an  immense  dining-room.  The  place  is  admirably  lighted 
and  ventilated.  Books  are  issued  every  Wednesday  and  Satur- 
day, from  n  130  to  12:30.  During  the  winter  months  the  library- 
is  the  center  of  great  activity;  the  table  where  the  books  are 
issued  is  at  times  surrounded  five  deep.  The  assistant  must  be 
able  to  answer  questions,  return  and  charge  the  books,  issue 
cards,  all  at  the  same  time.  But  no  one  can  find  better-natured 
people  than  our  factory  readers.  The  deposit  station  at  the 


FACTORY  STATIONS  355 

Burroughs  Adding  Machine  Co.  is  in  a  large,  well-furnished 
rest  room.  The  assistant  forewoman  helps  to  return  the  books, 
while  the  library  assistant  issues  them.  The  library  is  open 
every  Friday,  11:30  to  12:30.  At  Hamilton  Carhartt's  we  have 
a  large  circulation  of  foreign  books,  owing  to  the  great  number 
of  German  and  Polish  employees  Miss  Walsh,  who  has  charge 
of  the  welfare  work,  keeps  the  library  open  every  day  during 
the  working  hours,  and  renders  excellent  service.  The  charging 
system  is  the  same  as  in  the  central  library,  the  card  holders 
being  subject  to  all  the  rules  and  regulations  governing  the 
library  patrons  in  general. 

We  had  our  ups  and  downs  in  this  work.  We  had  to  with- 
draw two  deposits,  one  owing  to  the  transient  nature  of  the 
workingmen,  who  would  apply  for  a  card  one  week  and  sur- 
render it  the  next.  The  other  at  one  time  was  our  banner  sta- 
tion, leading  all  the  others  in  circulation;  a  change  in  the 
management  did  not  result  favorably  to  the  interests  of  our 
work.  The  new  manager  was  not  only  out  of  sympathy,  but  was 
positively  hostile  The  growth  of  the  library  work  in  the  factory 
depends  largely  upon  the  management,  and  its  ultimate  success 
is  in  the  harmonious  co-operation  of  the  manufacturers  and 
the  library.  Both  of  these  factory  stations  were  in  the  charge  of 
a  librarian  appointed  from  the  office  staff,  and  although  I 
have  no  doubt  they  did  their  best,  still,  I  repeat  again  "Do  it 
yourself"  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  I  find  the  percentage  of 
workingmen  and  girls  who  have  library  cards  exceedinly  small 
Factory  deposit  stations  do  not  merely  bring  books  to  those  who 
are  already  users  of  the  library,  but  rather  create  a  demand 
for  books  among  those  who  have  hitherto  deprived  themselves 
unconsciously  of  the  blessing  of  good  reading.  I  was  surprised 
to  find  such  a  large  number  of  people  to  whom  the  library  was 
an  unknown  institution.  And  they  are  not  all  foreigners.  Over 
and  over  again  I  had  to  repeat  "absolutely  no  charges  for  books 
and  cards." 

A  library  worker  doing  this  work  must  be  like  a  skillful 
angler  dangling  a  bait;  not  too  insistent  upon  its  being  taken, 
but  shrewd  enough  to  have  the  bait  too  tempting  to  resist. 
While  in  the  factory  she  must  be  an  organic  part  of  it,  not 
merely  with  the  working  people,  but  one  of  them;  not  friendly 
to  them,  but  rather  their  friend.  And  then,  she  must  know  some- 


356  ANIELA  PORAY 

thing  of  every  book  on  the  shehes  If  a  reader  wants  something 
sad  and  lachrymose,  it  would  be  fatal  to  one's  reputation  to  sug- 
gest the  "Virginian"  or  "Helen's  babies."  When  a  young  woman 
asks  for  a  good  love  story  it  will  never  do  to  recommend 
Dickens,  or  even  Scott,  and  insist  that  either  of  the  two  is  in- 
finitely better  than  some  novel  m  modern  setting  by  a  modern 
author.  From  a  literary  point  of  view  we  may  be  right,  but  we 
ought  to  cater  to  her  taste  to  some  extent  so  far  as  it  is  not 
unwholesome. 

Nine-tenths  of  our  factory  readers  are  girls,  and  the  ques- 
tion what  they  should  read  has  often  been  discussed.  Every  one 
engaged  in  library  work  must  admit  that  there  is  a  wide  dis- 
crepancy between  our  idea  of  what  the  people  should  read 
and  what  they  actually  will  read.  In  selecting  the  books  for  a 
factory  station  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  the  homely  saying 
that  "you  can  bring  a  horse  to  the  water,  but  you  cannot  make 
him  drink  it"  There  is  no  doubt  that  both  men  and  women 
prefer  fiction  to  other  classes  of  literature,  but  this  predilection 
for  the  romantic  literature  is  not  confined  to  factory  readers 
alone-  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  age.  The  large  percentage  of  fiction 
read  in  every  library  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  to  the 
contrary,  proves  that  it  is  almost  useless  to  struggle  against  it. 
Some  day  the  pendulum  will  swing  back  and  the  public  will 
clamor  for  some  other  class  of  reading. 

Magazines  like  Harper,  Century,  Scribner  and  McClure's 
make  excellent  substitutes  for  novels.  There  is  a  sufficient 
amount  of  fiction  in  every  one  to  make  them  interesting,  and  still 
the  non-fiction  looks  attractive,  with  good  illustrations  telling 
part  of  the  story,  and  tempts  the  reader  to  go  on,  read  the  rest 
and  find  out  all  about  it  Some  girls  tire  eventually  of  the  hair- 
breadth escapes  and  the  imaginary  kingdoms  with  beautiful  prin- 
cesses waiting  to  be  rescued  by  some  gallant  American.  We 
watch  for  this,  it  is  our  opportunity,  and  we  try  to  make  the 
most  of  it.  But  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  dictate  even  in  the 
gentlest  manner  to  our  factory  readers  what  they  should  read. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  influence  of  this  -work  will  be  in 
time  felt  at  the  factories.  There  are  now  a  few  girls  who  are 
studying  the  English  language  with  a  grim  determination  to 
know  something  about  it,  and  you  must  remember  that  the  time 
for  their  studies  comes  after  a  long  day  of  hard  work.  The 


FACTORY  STATIONS  357 

desire  to  use  better  language  is  almost  universal  among  the 
girls,  who  frequently  ask  for  books  on  this  subject  As  a  body 
the  factory  girls  are  happy,  cheerful  and  large-hearted.  Many 
of  them  are  gentle-voiced,  well  bred,  innately  refined  girls, 
who  are  trying  hard  to  keep  step  in  the  universal  march  towards 
better  and  higher  things  of  life.  I  do  not  say  that  they  possess 
all  the  virtues  under  the  sun;  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the 
children  of  our  great  human  family  they  have  their  faults, 
but  they  have  also  their  virtues.  If  you  know  them  well,  know 
them  intimately,  you  will  realize  that  their  strong  points  out- 
weigh the  weak.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention  here, 
that  I  hear  far  more  slang  in  a  car  filled  with  the  high-school 
boys  and  girls  on  their  way  home  than  in  any  of  the  factories. 

Occasionally  I  am  asked  for  books  on  domestic  science; 
this  spring  there  was  much  demand  for  books  on  gardening. 
Biographies  are  sometimes  asked  for,  irrespective  of  the  sub- 
ject. They  want  to  know  about  men  and  women  whose  lives 
were  spent  in  doing  things  instead  of  dreaming  them.  No  mat- 
ter if  it  is  fiction,  history  or  biography,  there  must  be  plenty 
of  action  in  it.  It  do  not  say  that  the  percentage  of  non-fiction 
reading  is  large;  I  realize  that  many  will  continue  to  read 
novels  exclusively,  but  the  novels  provided  by  the  Detroit  Public 
Library  are  good  and  wholesome,  even  if  they  are  not  always 
considered  the  best  literature  from  our  point  of  view. 

For  the  sake  of  reports  and  statistics  it  may  sound  well 
to  say  that  certain  factories  were  supplied  with  books  on  phil- 
osophy, sociology,  science,  etc,  But  will  they  be  read  or  will 
they  serve  merely  as  a  monument  to  good  intentions?  It  is 
not  enough  to  supply  books;  the  fact  that  they  are  standing 
in  some  corner  forgotten  and  unread  does  not  mean  library 
work  in  the  factories.  Their  material  presence  is  of  little  value, 
unless  they  are  read.  Books  that  are  never  opened  will  not 
prove  very  important  factors  in  the  lives  of  our  workingmen 
and  women.  Better  a  good,  wholesome  novel,  wept  over,  or 
laughed  over  and  enjoyed,  than  the  best  book  written  of  which 
after  the  first  twenty  pages  the  reader  will  tire  and  leave  it 
unread.  Do  not  let  us  aim  too  high,  lest  we  fail  to  hit  the 
mark. 


A  LIBRARY  EXPERIMENT  IN  PRISON  WORK 

As  chief  of  the  Traveling  Library  Department  of  the 
Queens  Borough  Public  Library,  New  York  City,  in 
August,  1915,  Miss  Elizabeth  D.  Renninger  received  a 
call  from  the  New  York  Prison  Association,  the  object 
of  which  was  to  ascertain  what  the  library  could  do  for 
the  prisoners  in  the  Queen's  County  jail,  Long  Island 
City.  The  suggestion  was  that  one  satisfactory  way  of 
helping  the  prisoners  was  to  place  in  the  jail  a  carefully 
selected  collection  of  books,  to  be  administered  by  trained 
assistants  from  the  library.  A  scheme  for  service  was 
outlined,  but  before  recommending  it  to  the  chief  libra- 
rian proper  safeguards  were  assured  the  assistants  sent 
there.  What  follows  is  a  report  on  how  the  experiment 
worked  out. 

As  chief  of  the  traveling  library  department  of  the  Queens 
Borough  Public  Library,  in  August  I  received  a  call  from  Philip 
Klein,  of  the  New  York  Prison  Association,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  ascertain  what  the  library  could  do  for  the  prisoners 
in  the  Queens  County  Jail,  Long  Island  City. 

I  suggested  that  the  one  satisfactory  way  of  solving  the 
problem  for  the  real  help  of  the  prisoners  was  to  place  in  the 
jail  a  carefully  selected  collection  of  books  (five  hundred  or 
more),  the  same  to  be  administered  by  trained  library  assistants 
from  this  department.  I  then  outlined  the  scheme  of  service 
I  had  in  mind,  stating  that,  while  favoring  this  form  of  ser- 
vice, before  recommending  it  to  the  chief  librarian  I  must  be 
satisfied  that  the  assistants  sent  to  the  jail  would  be  properly 
safeguarded — subject  to  no  annoyance. 

The  proposed  plan  delighted  Mr.  Klein,  who  assured  me  I 
need  feel  no  hesitancy  about  sending  my  girls  to  the  jail.  How- 
ever, we  agreed  that  before  a  decision  the  best  plan  was  for 
us  to  visit  the  jail,  meet  the  warden,  and  talk  things  over  on 


36o  ELIZABETH  D  RENNINGER 

the  spot  In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  a  few  days  later  Mr.  Klein, 
Warden  Robert  Barr,  the  acting  chief  librarian,  and  myself 
met  at  the  jail,  where  again  the  details  of  the  scheme  were 
outlined,  the  possibilities  discussed. 

\Ve  found  the  warden  unusual;  a  man  uho  inspired  con- 
fidence. Rigid,  yet  sympathetic,  he  heartily  endorsed  our  plan 
for  supplying  the  prisoners  with  books,  recognizing  among  other 
things  that  it  would  greatly  help  him  in  the  discipline.  Anxious 
for  the  books,  ready— both  himself  and  his  staff — to  meet  our 
ideas  of  successful  library  administration  at  all  points,  as  we 
toured  the  prison  to  settle  practical  details,  we  found  him  most 
helpful;  moreover,  he  agreed  to  be  personally  responsible  for 
the  girls,  assuring  us  that  we  need  feel  no  more  hesitancy  about 
sending  them  to  the  jail  than  elsewhere. 

As  a  result  of  the  conference,  it  was  decided  to  recommend 
the  placing  of  two  separate  collections  in  the  jail1  one  in  the 
women's  ward,  in  a  room  just  off  the  sewing  room,  the  other 
in  the  corridor,  just  outside  "the  Cage,"  or  men's  ward — the 
women  to  receive  their  books  personally  from  the  assistants; 
the  men  to  be  served  through  the  gratings,  lists  of  the  books 
having  been  previously  checked  to  indicate  their  choice. 

All  this  having  been  at  last  decided,  as  he  left  us  at  the  end 
of  the  conference,  Mr,  Klein  exclaimed  fervently:  "God  bless 
Queens  Borough!"  If  the  prisoners  had  known  the  part  played 
by  Mr.  Klein  in  securing  them  their  new  privilege,  they  would 
have  shouted:  "God  bless  our  friend  Klein!" — for  that  is  just 
what  he  is  to  the  prisoners— not  of  Queens  Borough  alone. 

Informed  through  Mr.  Klein  of  the  scheme  of  service  pos- 
sible for  the  jail  through  the  Queens  Borough  Public  Library, 
within  a  week  application  for  the  same  was  received  by  the 
chief  librarian  from  Dr  Katharine  Bement  Davis,  commis- 
sioner of  correction  of  the  city  of  New  York  It  was  of  course 
granted  and  the  selection  of  two  live  collections  of  books  be- 
came our  next  interest. 

Facing  our  problem  of  book  selection,  from  data  secured 
at  the  jail,  we  learned  the  following:  the  prisoners  were  short- 
timers;  largely  from  the  common  walks  of  life — a  number  of 
foreign-born  and  hyphenated  Americans  being  included.  There 
were,  too,  a  number  of  penitentiary  men — housed  at  the  jail 


LIBRARY  EXPERIMENT  IN  PRISON  WORK      361 

because  of  crowded  conditions  on  Blackwell's  Island;  also  the 
court  prisoners. 

Considering  these  determining  facts,  we  began  reaching  out 
for  the  right  kind  of  books,  keeping  well  in  mind  the  following 
principles  of  selection:  (i)  The  books  must  be  recreational, 
practical,  inspirational,  (2)  they  must  be  cheerful;  (3)  there 
must  be  no  dead  wood;  (4)  the  collection  must  include  a  fair 
number  of  carefully  selected,  well  illustrated  juveniles  (largely 
for  foreigners)  ;  (5)  also  foreign  books.  Since  we  had  been 
warned  that  at  first  we  might  lose  a  number  of  books,  consid- 
ering, too,  the  fact  that  the  prisoners  were  short-timers,  we 
decided  that  in  the  initial  collections  it  would  be  wise  to  send 
partly  worn  books,  leaving  them  at  the  jail  until  ready  for 
discard 

Having  gathered  in  our  books,  in  addition  to  a  generous 
allowance  of  live  fiction,  the  men's  collection  contained:  Books 
of  adventure  and  travel  (in  the  polar  regions,  the  gold  fields, 
the  jungle,  round  the  world);  out-door  books;  books  on  ani- 
mal life  (Bostock,  Hagenbeck,  Vivian,  Thompson) ;  physical 
culture  books,  including  hygiene  and  athletics;  books  covering 
practical  farming,  gardening,  poultry  raising,  the  self-support- 
ing home;  books  of  discovery  and  invention,  including  auto- 
mobiles, airships,  submarines;  mechanical,  electrical  and  sci- 
entific books;  patriotic  and  civic  books,  including  poetry;  books 
of  heroism  and  chivalry;  books  on  ethics  (social,  business, 
personal) ;  easy  books  for  foreigners,  including  primers  and 
dictionaries;  books  covering  practical  sociology  and  the  prob- 
lems of  the  day;  humorous  books  (Clemens,  Dooley,  Shute, 
Wilder) ;  books  suggesting  social  activities  (magicians'  tricks, 
puzzles,  conundrums,  etc.) ;  books  on  western  life,  including 
the  Indian,  the  pioneer,  the  trapper,  the  cowboy;  life  in  the 
army,  navy,  at  West  Point;  books  on  Panama  and  the  Canal; 
books  covering  Italian,  Irish,  German,  and  American  life  and 
character;  lives  of  Boone,  Columbus,  Custer,  Damien,  Edison, 
Lincoln,  Perry,  Steiner,  Washington,  etc.;  together  with  much 
attractive  collective  biography  and  history,  etc.,  etc. 

The  women's  collection  included:  Books  on  sewing,  dress- 
making, knitting,  crocheting,  lacemaking,  and  basketry;  domestic 
economy,  including  cooking,  serving,  and  waiting;  books  on 
gardening,  poultry  culture,  the  self-supporting  home;  books  on 


362  ELIZABETH  D.  RENNINGER 

child  study  and  infant  care;  hygiene  and  beauty  books;  books 
on  ethics;  humorous  books;  books  of  romance,  legend,  and 
chivalry;  books  about  animals;  astronomy,  popular  science,  and 
books  on  music;  puzzles,  charades,  and  other  social  activities, 
poetry;  lives  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  Em- 
press Josephine,  Queen  Victoria,  Florence  Nightingale,  etc. ;  love 
stories  of  famous  people;  work  in  the  world  done  by  women; 
books  about  New  York  old  and  new;  together  with  books  of 
tra\el,  history,  general  literature,  collective  biography,  and 
fiction. 

The  opening  day,  September  10,  was  hard  but  most  interest- 
ing Armed  at  the  jail,  we  found  our  corner  of  the  women's 
ward  upset  because  of  repairs;  but,  the  prisoners  lending  a 
hand,  the  cases  and  boxes  of  books  were  quickly  carried  to 
their  destination  and  placed,  a  temporary  table  was  set  up  in  an 
adjoining  room,  the  books  were  unpacked  and  arranged  upon  it 
—the  titles  reading  from  each  side  of  the  table.  Then  our 
charging  outfit  arranged,  floor  by  floor  the  women  were  sent 
in  to  us,  first  registering — giving  name  and  cell  number — then 
selecting  and  having  their  books  charged.  Thus  in  an  hour's 
time  we  registered  88  women  and  gave  out  87  books,  allowing 
on  this  occasion  but  one  book  to  each  borrower— judging  this 
to  be  wise  until  we  saw  in  what  shape  they  were  returned  at 
the  end  of  the  week. 

The  women — old,  young,  colored,  foreign— all  seemed  de- 
lighted with  the  books  and  eager  to  read.  It  was  amusing 
to  hear  their  comments.  Picking  up  a  life  of  Florence  Night- 
ingale, one  woman  said  to  me:  "How  charming!  Is  this  book 
as  interesting  as  the  TLives  of  the  queens'  Have  you  the  TLives 
of  the  queens'?  I'd  like  to  read  that  book  again."  Then,  to 
her  companion:  "Oh,  here  is  *Helena  Ritchie'!  It's  fine.  It 
was  played,  you  know  .  .  .  Let's  see,  Sally'  Oh,  you  have 
'Keeping  up  with  Lizzie*.  That's  great  fun  ...  Here,  Maude, 
take  this  one— 'One  year  of  Pierrot'.  If  you  don't  like  it,  I'll 
swap  with  you.  I  tell  you  this  is  a  dandy  collection  of  books !" 

Having  finished  in  the  women's  ward,  and  the  books  not 
circulated  having  been  put  away  safely  in  the  case  by  the 
women  prisoners  deputed  by  the  matron,  at  once  we  hurried 
down  stairs  to  the  men's  ward.  Here  we  found  the  case  placed 
and  filled  with  books,  the  residue  in  the  open  boxes  lined  up  in 
the  corridor. 


LIBRARY  EXPERIMENT  IN  PRISON  WORK     363 

While  we  dispatched  the  work  of  the  women's  ward,  Mr. 
Klem,  according  to  program,  distributed  lists  to  all  the  male 
prisoners,  requesting  them  to  check  the  titles  preferred.  Con- 
sequently, when  we  came  downstairs  the  checked  lists  awaited 
us  Realizing,  however,  that  in  the  limited  time  at  our  disposal 
it  would  be  impossible  to  circulate  the  books  as  planned— since 
they  were  neither  arranged  nor  all  unpacked — we  decided,  for 
that  day  at  least,  to  give  out  the  books  as  we  had  in  the  women's 
ward.  But  the  real  question  was  how  to  work  at  all  in  such 
very  limited  space. 

However,  two  small  tables  were  placed,  and  "the  Cage" 
door  being  unlocked,  the  men  filed  out,  registered,  selected  their 
books  as  best  they  could,  had  them  charged,  made  room  for 
the  next  in  line.  It  was  slow,  unsatisfactory  work— even  the 
warden  recognized  that.  Fortunately,  the  men  were  orderly, 
patient,  helpful,  and  so  somehow  we  got  through.  In  an  hour 
and  a  quarter  we  registered  130  men  and  circulated  the  same 
number  of  books.  Many  specific  titles  were  asked  for  as  sug- 
gested by  the  lists,  the  men's  interest  having  been  caught  by 
books  on  electricity,  mechanics,  history,  science,  wild  animals, 
and  life  in  the  open — the  most  popular  book,  as  indicated  by 
the  checked  lists,  being  the  "Prisoner  of  Zenda." 

Having  finished  with  the  men,  the  warden,  Mr.  Klein,  and 
myself  held  a  second  conference.  Realizing  that  we  could  not 
work  either  efficiently  or  comfortably  in  the  space  available 
outside  the  men's  ward,  the  warden  invited  me  to  take  a  look 
at  the  court  inside  the  Cage.  He  had  not  suggested  it  before, 
he  said,  because  he  understood  my  responsibility  to  the  girls 
and  how  we  would  feel  about  going  into  the  Cage ;  but  it  would 
be  all  right;  and,  unfortunately,  at  present,  it  was  the  only 
available  space  in  which  we  could  work  effectively.  Later  there 
would  be  a  new  wing  where  things  could  be  made  more  com- 
fortable. 

As  a  result  of  this  second  conference,  it  was  decided  that 
we  would  come  to  the  jail  one  afternoon  a  week;  that  the 
books  in  circulation  should  be  collected  prior  to  our  coming; 
that  we  would  try  serving  the  men  inside  the  Cage. 

Having  bearded  the  lion  in  his  den,  never  shall  I  forget 
our  experience  of  September  17.  Imagine  an  oblong  open 
court  covered  with  a  skylight,  the  two  narrow  ends  largely 


364  ELIZABETH  D.  RENNINGER 

window  surface,  the  walls  on  the  long  sides  rising  five  stories 
high,  each  story  a  tier  of  cells,  each  cell  opening  out  upon  a 
narrow  balcony  or  passageway,  the  balconies  enclosed  from 
floor  to  skylight  with  strong  iron  bars,  the  floors  connected 
near  one  end  by  a  steel  staircase. 

So  much  for  background.  Now,  on  the  main  floor,  picture 
to  yourself  a  long,  improvised  table  extending  practically  the 
length  of  the  court  to  the  stairway;  upon  the  table  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  books  being  placed  and  arranged  by  a  half  dozen 
prisoners;  two  librarians  busily  engaged  in  slipping  them.  As 
one  of  those  librarians,  glancing  up,  never  shall  I  forget  the 
sight.  Out  on  the  balconies,  gazing  at  us  curiously  through  iron 
bars — yes,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  carry— what  a  human  zoo! 
It  was  appalling.  Nor  did  it  help  much  to  drop  the  eyes,  since 
all  about  us  striped  figures  met  our  gaze,  seated  on  the  benches 
about  the  walls — these  the  occupants  of  the  first-floor  cells. 
Suffice  it  to  say  we  glanced  up  seldom;  simply  worked  busily 
away,  watched  over  by  a  keeper  stationed  near  the  entrance. 

But,  the  books  being  slipped,  presto,  the  scene  changed.  Like 
magic  the  balance  of  the  books  were  brought  in  from  the  case 
outside,  lined  up  on  the  table — a  row  of  titles  reading  from  each 
side— the  foreign  books  bunched  at  one  end.  Then,  prelimi- 
nary preparations  completed,  abandoning  the  long  table  to  the 
prisoners,  we  established  ourselves  at  the  charging  table  near 
the  entrance,  and  the  men  were  sent  in  to  us  by  the  keepers — 
tier  by  tier,  floor  by  floor,  surrounding  the  table,  selecting  their 
books,  falling  into  line,  presenting  themselves  at  the  charging 
table  where — stating  cell  number  and  name — their  borrower's 
pockets  (filed  by  cell  number)  were  given  to  them,  the  books 
being  charged  by  a  second  assistant,  the  line  filing  steadily  by 
until  all  were  served.  Then,  the  last  man  having  selected  his 
books,  like  magic  books  and  table  disappeared,  so  that,  the  last 
book  charged,  turning,  one  of  my  assistants  cried  out  to  me 
in  wonderment :  "But  .  .  .  Miss  Renninger !  Did  they  take  all 
the  books?  And  where  is  the  table?"  Gone,  and  185  volumes 
given  out  satisfactorily  in  less  than  an  hour.  As  preparations  for 
supper  begin  at  4  p.  m.,  this  dispatch  delighted  the  warden, 
since  it  meant  that  the  routine  of  the  prison  need  not  be  upset. 

Moreover,  we  too  were  pleased,  since  we  recognized  that, 
with  the  exception  of  minor  details,  the  problem  of  successful 


LIBRARY  EXPERIMENT  IN  PRISON  WORK     365 

administration  was  now  solved.  Yes !  for  with  lists  of  the  books 
posted  in  all  the  corridors,  a  bulletin  board  m  the  court  posting 
announcements,  privileges,  etc.,  the  books  themselves  comfort- 
ably accessible  to  a  large  number  of  men  at  one  time  without 
crowding;  a  small  cabinet  case  containing  dictionaries,  an  en- 
cyclopaedia, primers,  etc.,  available  at  all  times  for  prisoners 
with  student  inclinations;  prisoners  at  our  disposal  for  page 
work— surely  all  this  pointed  unmistakably  toward  efficient  civic 
service. 

And  here,  just  a  word  about  the  prisoners  as  library  helpers. 
Keen  to  work,  eager  to  do  things,  in  a  few  weeks  they  became 
amazingly  efficient;  in  the  work  of  slipping,  separating  the 
fiction,  arranging  the  non-fiction  by  class  number,  keeping  the 
library  assistant  supplied  with  slipping  material,  deftly  remov- 
ing the  books  when  slipped  to  the  far  end  of  the  table;  also 
hunting  up  the  few  delinquents,  bringing  in  the  books  from  the 
case  outside,  later  removing  those  not  circulated— all  this  sat- 
isfactorily and  apparently  of  their  own  volition,  thoroughly  en- 
joying the  work,  saving  us  one  assistant. 

So  much  for  the  administrative  problem.  Aside  from  that, 
one  of  the  most  interesting,  as  well  as  gratifying,  features  of 
the  experiment  has  been  the  number  and  character  of  the  books 
circulated.  Open  ten  times,  almost  every  book  registers  from 
two  to  eight  or  ten  circulations;  the  classed  books  showing  a 
remarkably  good  use— almost  every  book  in  the  men's  collection 
having  circulated  at  least  once;  most  of  them  four,  five,  and 
six  times. 

Roughly  summarized,  the  following  books  in  the  men's  ward 
have  circulated  every  time :  Fiction— "Prisoner  of  Zenda,"  "Man 
without  a  shadow,"  "Adventures  of  Gerard,"  "Hound  of  the 
Baskervilles,"  "Taming  of  Red  Butte  Western,"  "Trimmed 
lamp,"  "Lucky  seventh,"  "The  mystery,"  "The  Virginian,"  "The 
Squaw  man";  non-fiction— "Masters  of  fate,"  "Land  of  the  long 
night,"  "Story  of  the  cowboy,"  "Story  of  the  wild  west,"  "In- 
dian fights  and  fighters/'  "Careers  of  danger  and  daring." 

Other  popular  titles  having  circulated  almost  every  time  are 
as  follows:  Fiction— "Long  trail,"  "Big  league,"  "Mystery  of 
the  lost  dauphin,"  "The  barrier,"  "Street  called  straight,"  "firew- 
ater's millions,"  "Lost  leader,"  "Bob  Hampton  of  Placer,"  "Gold 
brick,"  "Kidnapped,"  "Mysterious  island,"  "Study  in  scarlet," 


366  ELIZABETH  D.  RENNINGER 

"To  have  and  to  hold,"  "Simpkms  plot,"  "Between  the  lines," 
"Simon  the  jester,"  "White  fang,"  "Arizona  nights,"  "Under 
the  red  robe,"  ''Captain  Macklm,"  "Man  who  could  not  lose," 
"Better  man,"  "20,000  leagues  under  the  sea,"  "Gentleman  of 
France,"  "Captain  of  the  Grey  Horse  Troop";  non-fiction — 
"Scientific  ideas  of  to-day,"  "Beasts  and  men,"  "Daniel  Boone," 
"Two  spies,"  "Famous  Indian  chiefs,"  "Book  of  discovery/' 
"Mr,  Dooley  says,"  "Magician  tricks,"  "Rough  riders,"  "Cali- 
fornia the  golden,"  "Blue  jackets  of  '98,"  "Border  fights  and 
fighters,"  "Ranch  life  and  the  hunting  trail,"  "Wild  life  at 
home,"  "Adventures  of  hunters  and  trappers,"  "Story  of  Gret- 
tier  the  Strong,"  "True  story  of  the  United  States,"  "Irish  life 
and  character,"  "In  African  jungle  and  forest,"  "All  about 
airships,"  "American  battle  ships,"  "With  the  battle  fleet,"  "Win- 
ning out,"  "Fire  fighters  and  their  pets,"  "Heroes  of  modern 
Africa,"  "Tenderfoot  with  Peary,"  "Red  book  of  heroes," 
"Heroes  of  the  crusades,"  "Famous  cavalry  leaders,"  "Famous 
frontiersmen/7  "Heroes  of  the  navy  in  America,"  "Story  of  the 
American  Indian,"  "Among  the  great  masters  of  oratory,"  "Ro- 
mance of  mechanism,"  "Electricity  of  to-day,"  "Innocents 
abroad,"  ''Romance  of  modern  chemistry,"  "Manual  of  practical 
farming,"  etc,,  etc. 

Among  the  women,  fiction  is  liked  best.  Aside  from  that, 
biography,  poetry,  and  the  love  stories  of  noted  people  seem 
to  be  most  read.  Among  the  most  popular  books,  we  note  the 
following :  Fiction — "Turn  of  the  road,"  "Lady  with  the  rubies," 
"Thelma,"  "Girl  of  the  Limberlost,"  "Shepherd  of  the  hills," 
"Prisoners  of  hope,"  "Daughter  of  Eve,"  "Cardinal's  snuffbox," 
"Heart  of  the  hills,"  "Pandora's  box,"  "Molly  Make-believe," 
"Only  a  girl,"  "Prodigal  judge,"  "Simon  the  jester,"  "Right 
of  way/'  "At  the  foot  of  the  rainbow,"  '"Love  me  little,  love 
me  long/'  "Master's  violin,"  "Romance  of  Billy  Goat  Hill," 
"Rebecca  of  Sunnybrook  Farm,"  "Calling  of  Dan  Matthews"; 
non-fiction— "Florence  Nightingale,"  "Home  life  in  Italy," 
"Story  of  my  life"  (Keller),  "Fairy  Queen,"  "Shakespeare  story 
book,"  "Lo\e  affairs  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,"  "Love  of  an 
uncrowned  queen,"  "Prisoners  of  the  tower  of  London,"  "Stories 
from  Dante,"  "Why  men  remain  bachelors/'  "Social  life  in  old 
Virginia/'  "Woman's  way  through  unknown  Labrador,"  "Charles 
Dickens/'  "Sunnyside  of  the  street,"  "Wagner's  heroines," 


LIBRARY  EXPERIMENT  IN  PRISON  WORK     367 

"English  poetry,"  "Through  the  gates  of  old  romance,"  "Life 
of  Queen  Victoria,"  "Some  famous  women,"  "Story  of  my  life" 
(Terry),  "Lincoln's  love  story,"  "What  all  the  world's  a-seek- 
ing,"  "Practical  sewing  and  dressmaking,"  "Twentieth  century 
puzzle  book,"  "Dames  and  daughters  of  the  young  republic," 
"New  York  old  and  new,"  "Making  of  a  housewife,"  "Smiling 
round  the  world,"  "Girls'  life  in  Virginia  before  the  war,"  "One 
I  knew  best  of  all,"  "Courtship  of  Queen  Elizabeth." 

In  addition  to  the  English  books,  we  have  had  urgent  calls 
too  for  foreign  books.  In  response  to  the  demand,  we  have 
supplied  and  circulated  French,  German,  Italian,  Polish,  Yiddish 
and  Hungarian  books,  the  largest  proportion  being  Italian  and 
German. 

A  number  of  interesting  interchange  requests  have  come  to 
us  from  both  departments  at  the  jail.  The  chief  demand  of 
the  male  prisoners  has  been  for  English  dictionaries — the  re- 
quest coming  again  and  again.  Requests  have  also  been  made 
for  a  cyclopedia,  a  dictionary  of  legal  terms,  the  World  Al- 
manac, an  advanced  arithmetic  with  answers,  English  for  Ital- 
ians, books  on  drawing,  German  for  Americans,  a  Turkish 
Bible  written  in  Greek  letters,  an  English  Bible,  requested  by  a 
negro,  etc.,  etc. 

In  the  women's  ward  we  have  had  requests  for  primers  (in 
order  to  learn  to  read),  Longfellow's,  Burns'  and  Milton's  poems, 
"Legends  of  Sleepy  Hollow,"  books  to  read  aloud,  book  of  rag- 
time songs  (wanted  by  a  negress  because  she  got  so  tired  and 
wanted  to  amuse  herself) ;  also  from  a  certain  mother  and 
daughter  the  following  requests:  Books  on  gardening,  pigeons, 
poultry  raising— the  Philo  system  preferred;  "In  tune  with  the 
infinite,"  Farrar's  "Great  men,"  F.  Hopkinson  Smith's  "Nor- 
mandy," Emerson's  "Essays,"  Milton's  "Paradise  lost,"  an  as- 
tronomy—Herschel  preferred,  Mrs.  Schuyler's  book  on  the 
breeding  of  toy  dogs— "an  English  publication,  you  know!" 

Upon  our  arrival  at  the  jail  one  afternoon  we  were  informed 
by  the  warden  that  we  were  to  have  our  pictures  taken— a 
flashlight — for  Commissioner  Davis.  We  had  thought  of  having 
a  picture  taken  for  the  library,  but  were  afraid  it  was  impos- 
sible, so  had  not  mentioned  it.  Strange  to  say,  the  men  did  not 
object  at  all  to  the  picture;  wished  to  be  in  it  We  were  par- 
ticularly amused  at  a  certain  young  Italian,  one  of  our  helpers, 


368  ELIZABETH  D    RENNINGER 

who  so  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  occasion  that  he  deceived 
even  us.  Bringing  his  books  gravely  to  the  charging  desk,  he 

held  them  out,  but  when  Miss  P tried  to  take  them,  he  held 

back,  explaining  with  great  naivete  that  he  was  just  pretending 
to  have  his  books  stamped,  so  the  picture  would  be  natural 
And  then,  alas,  one  of  life's  little  ironies!  In  the  picture  he  is 
completely  blotted  out  by  another  man.  The  picture,  unfortu- 
nately, gives  no  idea  of  length;  unfortunately,  too,  a  life-sized 
colored  gentleman  blots  out  the  warden;  otherwise  it  is  fairly 
satisfactory,  as  picturing  one  corner  of  the  court 

As,  systematically  and  efficiently,  we  developed  our  scheme 
of  library  service  for  the  prison;  as  time  passed  and  there  was 
opportunity  to  gauge  somewhat  the  effect  of  the  books  on  the 
prisoners,  the  satisfaction  of  the  warden  became  ever  greater. 

Apropos  of  going  into  the  Cage,  he  said  to  me  one  day :  "You 
have  no  trouble,  have  you? — no  annoyance  of  any  kind?  In  the 
first  place,  the  men  are  too  pleased  with  the  books  and  what 
you  are  doing  for  them  to  try  any  foolishness,  and,  in  the 
second  place,  they  know  better,  because  the  least  nonsense  would 
settle  the  book  question  for  the  perpetrators  and  they  are  too 
keen  on  them  to  take  chances;  and,  anyhow,  they  don't  want 
to," 

I  assured  him  that  we  had  absolutely  nothing  to  complain 
of— not  the  least  thing!  Only— as  I  could  not  come  over 
every  time  after  the  work  was  thoroughly  systematized,  I  still 
felt  reluctant  to  send  the  girls  alone  into  the  Cage— not  through 
fear  of  annoyance,  but  ...  oh,  well!  I  just  did  not  like  it- 
all^  those  men  staring  at  them  curiously  from  the  balconies 
while  they  were  slipping  the  books. 

At  this  the  warden  smiled,  and  said:  "Yes,  I  understand, 
but  it  will  not  be  for  long.  Now  you  are  a  novelty,  and  of 
course  the  men  notice  what  you  have  on  and  what  you  do, 
but  there  is  no  disrespect  about  it,  quite  the  contrary,  and  pretty 
soon  we  will  have  the  new  wing  completed;  then  we  can  man- 
age it  differently."  That  is  all  he  said,  but  after  that,  while  the 
slipping  was  being  done,  I  noticed  that  the  balconies  were  com- 
paratively empty,  many  of  the  men,  I  imagine,  being  sent  into 
the  yard  at  that  time,  or  to  the  other  end  of  the  court. 

That  the  prisoners  in  both  wards  appreciate  the  books  is 
shown  conclusively  by  the  care  they  take  of  them  as  well  as 


LIBRARY  EXPERIMENT  IN  PRISON  WORK      369 

the  large  number  read.  Due  to  Mr.  Klein's  warning,  in  the  be- 
ginning, before  sending  the  books  to  the  jail,  we  tipped  on 
the  first  page  of  each  book  a  slip  which  read:  "If  you  wish 
another  book  next  week,  take  good  care  of  this  one.  It  must 
be  returned  in  good  condition." 

Consequently,  although  many  of  the  books  were  partially 
worn,  as  yet  we  have  done  no  mending.  Considering  the  fact 
that  all  the  books  have  circulated,  being  read  not  once  each  time 
circulated,  as  shown  by  our  records,  but  a  number  of  times — 
by  cellmate  and  friends  along  the  same  corridors — this  is  cer- 
tainly noteworthy.  But  neither  have  we  lost  any  books — not  a 
single  volume;  and  of  this  the  warden  is  very  proud — he  or  his 
head-keeper  clearing  up  the  delinquent  list  each  time  the  station 
is  open;  also  seeing  to  it  punctiliously  that  the  prisoners  dis- 
charged or  transferred  leave  their  books  in  the  office  before  go- 
ing out. 

Considering  all  this,  it  may  be  fairly  claimed,  I  think,  that 
our  experiment  in  prison  work  has  justified  itself;  will  perhaps 
eventually  become  a  potent  force  in  civic  and  social  betterment. 


PARCEL  POST 

Books  had  been  sent  by  mail  from  libraries  to  bor- 
rowers before  the  establishment  of  parcel  post  service, 
but  postal  rates  were  almost  prohibitive  for  popular  use, 
and  attempts  made  at  intervals  for  the  reduction  of  post- 
age rates  on  library  books  had  been  unsuccessful.  As 
early  as  in  1889  the  Brooklyn  Library  reported  sending 
books  by  mail.  However,  it  was  not  until  March  16, 
1914  that  book  packages  weighing  more  than  one-half 
pound  were  admitted  to  the  mails  at  parcel  post  rates. 
This  service  has  not  been  utilized  to  the  extent  that  had 
been  hoped,  and  very  little  has  been  written  on  the  sub- 
ject 


A  PARCEL  POST  LIBRARY  SYSTEM 

A  short  article  on  parcel  post  service  in  Wisconsin 
appeared  in  the  American  Review  of  Reviews  for  191 S, 
describing  the  library  service  furnished  by  State  Li- 
braries in  Wisconsin  to  people  who  will  pay  parcel  post 
transportation  charges.  This  service  goes  to  the  re- 
motest parts  of  the  state,  sometimes  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  from  the  library  and  in  many  cases  the  books 
are  borrowed  by  the  teacher  or  the  leading  business  man 
and  by  them  circulated  throughout  their  community. 

Twenty  years  ago  Frank  Hutchins,  with  a  sympathetic  under- 
standing of  the  book  hunger  of  the  boy  and  girl  on  the  farm, 
instituted  the  traveling  library  system  in  Wisconsin,  which 
enabled  any  group  of  citizens  to  place  in  their  midst  a  box  of 
the  best  books  in  the  world.  To  get  these  books,  however,  re- 
quired united  action  and  a  certain  community  spirit  on  the  part 
of  the  applicants.  There  are  sections  so  sparsely  settled  that 
there  is  no  hope  for  united  action.  Some  time  ago  the  State 
Library  Commission  made  a  house-to-house  canvass  in  a  pioneer 
territory  covering  one  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  State.  It  found  only  twenty-one  homes.  Five 
of  these  twenty-one  had  no  book,  not  even  the  Bible,  and  four 
more  had  nothing  except  the  Bible. 

Further  to  carry  out  the  Hutchins  idea,  and  to  enable  the 
single  individual  to  obtain  a  book  even  though  no  other  in- 
dividual joined  with  him,  the  parcel-post  system  of  delivery 
of  books  was  established  by  the  State. 

Andrew  Carnegie  has  spent  several  ordinarily  large  fortunes 
erecting  library  buildings  in  many  cities  over  the  United  States. 
Doubtless  as  much  good  will  be  accomplished  by  Matthew  S. 
Dudgeon,  secretary  of  the  Wisconsin  Free  Library  Commis- 
sion, as  the  result  of  his  founding  a  parcel-post  library  system, 
accessible  alike  to  the  people  in  city  and  country,  wherever 


374  WISCONSIN  LIBRARY  COMMISSION 

(he  mail-pouch  of  Uncle  Sam  is  carried.  This  idea  is  no  more 
acclimated  to  \\  isconsin  than  to  any  other  State  or  community. 
Toda>  it  is  rapidly  growing  to  oak  in  the  forest. 

Once  a  farm  lad,  Dudgeon  remembered  how  as  a  little  boy, 
with  his  face  against  the  "window-pane  in  the  old  farmhouse, 
he  waited  to  see  only  a  team  pass  on  the  roadside  to  break 
his  loneliness.  It  is  this  dreariness  of  the  round  of  pasture, 
potato-lot,  and  cornfield  that  will  require  the  ingenuity  of  men  to 
alleviate  before  they  can  stop  the  unending  migration  of  the 
youth  of  the  country  from  the  farm 

When  the  parcel  post  was  extended  to  book  shipments,  an 
idea  struck  Librarian  Dudgeon,  which  may  help  solve  the  country- 
life  problem.  Located  in  Madison  were  four  libraries  with  an 
aggregate  of  about  half  a  million  books  and  pamphlets  owned 
by  the  State.  The  most  famous  is  the  State  Historical  Library, 
which  has  become  a  Mecca  for  students  delving  for  inaccessible 
information  and  original  history  source  material  Came  here  in 
his  journeys  as  a  student,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  gathering  facts 
for  his  since  famous  "Winning  of  the  West," — and  scores  of 
others. 

Now,  why  not  furnish  these  books  to  individuals  where 
libraries  are  unknown,  asked  the  librarian  of  himself.  These 
State  libraries  belong  to  the  taxpayers,  he  reasoned,  and  they 
are  as  much  the  property  of  the  lone  settlers  on  a  clearing  in 
northern  Wisconsin  as  they  are  of  the  citizens  of  Madison  or 
the  students  of  the  State  University  situated  there. 

After  consulting  a  parcel-post  map,  he  called  in  the  news- 
paper representatives  and  gave  them  this  story:  "Hereafter  the 
State  will  loan  any  book  in  the  State's  libraries  to  citizens  who 
will  pay  transportation  charges."  These  charges,  he  figured, 
should  not  exceed  five  cents  a  volume. 

The  ink  of  the  first  announcement  was  scarcely  dry  when 
the  following  letter  was  received  from  a  little  post-office  the 
library  clerks  had  never  heard  of  before: 

Gentlemen  •  Kindly  send  to  the  undersigned  at  address  given, 
Evers  Touching  Second.  If  I  cannot  get  this,  send  me  in- 
stead, Matthewson  Pitching  in  a  Pinch  Five  cents  in  postage 
is  enclosed. 

"Touching  Second"  was  promptly  sent  to  this  baseball  en- 
thusiast, and  thirteen  days  later  the  same  lad  sent  for  "Pitching 
in  a  Pinch." 


PARCEL  POST  LIBRARY  SYSTEM  375 

The  second  letter  ran  as  follows:  "Will  you  kindly  send  me 
some  material  on  onion  culture,  something  that  would  be  prac- 
ticable for  Wisconsin  farming?"  Then  came  scores  of  letters 
asking  for  books  that  give  information  on  weeds,  mushrooms 
common  to  northern  Wisconsin,  Germany  and  the  next  war, 
dairying,  including  milk  production,  the  care  of  babies,  diseases 
of  animals  and  feeding,  handy  farm  devices,  practical  silo  con- 
struction, repairing  automobiles,  and  requests  for  fiction  rang- 
ing from  Scott  and  Dickens  to  Churchill's  "The  Inside  of  the 
Cup"  and  Porter's  "Laddie."  During  the  first  eight  months  743 
requests  were  received  This  seems  small  when  compared  with 
the  volume  of  business  of  city  libraries,  but  its  importance  can- 
not be  measured  in  numbers  alone. 

Looking  over  the  applications  it  is  evident  that  the  service 
goes  to  the  remotest  districts  of  the  State,  sometimes  250  miles 
from  the  State  libraries  Some  of  the  post-offices  are  unknown 
except  to  the  postal  guide.  Many  of  the  applications  are  from 
school  teachers,  who  are  getting  the  books  not  to  make  them 
available  for  one  reader,  but  to  make  them  available  for  the 
entire  school.  Often,  too,  some  business  man  or  community 
leader  will  get  a  book  that  is  much  in  demand  and  relend  it 
to  all  around  him.  For  example,  one  banker  borrowed  two 
books— Fraser :  "The  Potato";  Putnam:  "The  Gasoline  Engine 
on  the  Farm"  The  books  were  retained  so  long  that  an  in- 
quiry brought  the  statement  that  both  books  had  been  circulat- 
ing rapidly  among  a  large  number  of  different  fanners;  and 
the  request  that  they  be  left  longer,  since  the  banker  had  a 
memorandum  of  many  other  farmers  who  wished  to  borrow  the 
books  as  soon  as  they  were  obtainable.  With  each  month  the 
number  and  varying  character  of  the  orders  have  increased 
as  information  about  the  new  plan  is  disseminated.  With  the 
reopening  of  the  schools  the  volume  of  requests  has  nearly 
doubled. 

The  relative  ratios  of  the  character  of  books  ordered  are 
at  variance  with  city  library  statistics  generally.  With  the  lat- 
ter fiction  comprises  70  per  cent  of  the  books  loaned.  Of  the 
first  743  orders  received,  which  is  characteristic  of  recent 
orders,  251,  or  34  per  cent,  were  fiction;  181,  or  24  per  cent., 
were  for  books  on  agriculture  and  home  economics;  and  311, 
or  42  per  cent.,  related  to  history,  science,  biography,  and  travel. 


376  ST.  LOUIS  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Applicants  must  sign  a  statement,  to  be  verified  by  the  post- 
mastei,  teacher  of  the  rural  school,  or  some  other  responsible 
person,  that  the  book  will  be  carefully  protected  and  will  be 
returned  after  fourteen  days  unless  an  extension  of  time  has 
been  granted. 

A  short  account  of  the  successful  operation  of  the 
parcel  post  plan  was  reported  by  the  St.  Louis  Public 
Library  shortly  after  the  admission  of  library  books  to 
parcel  post  rates.  (Lib.  Jr.  1914,  p.  405) 

Advantage  of  the  new  parcels  post  rates  for  books  has 
been  taken  immediately  by  the  St.  Louis  Public  Library.  Since 
March  20  any  registered  library  user  has  been  able  to  order 
books  from  the  Central  Library  to  be  sent  by  parcels  post.  A 
deposit  is  made  in  advance  at  the  library  to  cover  postage. 
One  cent  for  wrapping  books  is  added  to  the  regular  zone  rates 
Orders  for  books  are  given  by  telephone,  by  mail,  or  in  person 
at  the  library.  In  case  the  regular  library  card  is  not  available, 
a  special  card  is  issued.  Books  may  be  returned  by  parcels 
post.  No  deliveries  from  the  central  library  to  the  post  office 
are  made  after  5:30  p.m.  To  secure  quick  service  by  telephone, 
the  library  user  mentions  the  words  "Parcel  post"  as  soon  as 
connected  with  the  library.  Including  one  cent  for  the  wrap- 
per, the  cost  of  having  books  delivered  in  this  way  in  the  city 
and  the  suburbs  is  six  cents  for  the  first  pound,  and  one  cent 
more  for  each  added  pound.  Books  weighing  less  than  eight 
ounces  are  sent  as  third  class  matter,  at  one  cent  for  each  two 
ounces,  with  one  cent  added  for  the  wrapper. 

The  Queens  Borough  Public  Library  also  reported 
success  in  operating  the  plan.  (Lib.  Jr.  1914,  p.  937) 

The  Queens  Borough  Public  Library  has  put  into  effect  in 
three  of  its  branches  a  system  of  parcel  post  delivery.  The 
idea  was  derived  from  the  Bulletin  of  the  Washington  Public 
Library,  under  the  Hbrarianship  of  Mr.  George  F.  Bowerman, 
and  his  methods  adopted  in  toto.  The  borrowers  make  a  de- 
posit of  $1.00  and  all  postage  paid  by  the  library  and  fines  due 
are  punched  off  on  his  card.  Members  return  books  at  their 
own  expense,  sending  a  list  of  preferred  books  with  their 
card  for  punching  in  a  separate  envelope  by  letter  postage.  The 


PARCEL  POST  LIBRARY  SYSTEM  377 

library  retains  a  duplicate  of  the  member's  card  so  that  the 
account  is  always  the  same.  The  member  can  have  the  un- 
expended balance  returned  at  any  time  on  request. 

The  public  libraries  of  Chicago  and  Kansas  City  re- 
ported progress  of  parcel  post  service  in  their  respec- 
tive libraries  through  the  Boston  Book  Company's  Bul- 
letin of  Bibliography,  (v.  8,  No.  3 : 64;  No.  2 :  35) 

Parcel  Post  Book  Delivery 

The  Chicago  Public  Library  has  made  the  Parcel  Post  avail- 
able to  its  borrowers  by  issuing  two  cards,  one  blue,  one  yellow, 
3x5  inches  with  rounded  corner. 

The  yellow  card  is  reproduced  on  page  63  (of  magazine). 
It  will  be  noted  that  around  the  edge  are  figures  adding  up  to 
100  cents,  which  are  punched  out  as  the  money  is  needed  On 
the  back  of  this  Subscriber's  Receipt  Card  are  spaces  for  book 
numbers  and  loan  dates 

The  blue  card  has  the  same  record  of  100  cents  around  its 
edges  and  the  registration  number,  name  and  address  of  bor- 
rower at  the  top.  Printed  on  the  blue  card  are  the  following 
rules  which  the  borrower  by  signing  at  the  bottom  agrees  to: 

BOOK  DELIVERY  BY  PARCEL  POST 

Any  registered  borrower,  upon  depositing  one  dollar  to 
cover  the  cost  of  mailing  books,  may  participate  in  this  service, 
subject^to  the  general  rules  of  the  Library  governing  book  loans. 
A  receipt  card  will  be  furnished,  and  the  various  charges  for 
postage  will  be  punched  on  this  card  so  that  it  will  at  all  times 
show  the  balance  to  the  credit  of  the  borrower 

Loan  period  (2  weeks)  begins  on  date  of  mailing,  not  date 
of  arrival  at  destination  In  like  manner  loan  period  ends  on 
date  of  return  mailing,  said  date  in  case  of  doubt  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  postmark  Fines  for  over-due  books  will  be  as- 
sessed in  accordance  with  this  rule. 

In  all  cases  of  doubt  or  dispute  the  Library  records  must  be 
accepted  as  accurate  and  conclusive  evidence. 

Responsibility  for  losses  or  damages  incidental  to  transpor- 
tation ^  must  be  borne  by  the  borrower. 

Shipment  of  books  made  only  when  the  card  accompanies 
the  order  One  renewal  for  additional  two  weeks  is  permitted. 
When  renewal  is  desired,  books  need  not  be  sent  in,  but  bor- 
rower's card  must  be  mailed  for  restamping 


378  ST.  LOUIS  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Books  to  be  returned  by  parcel  post  must  be  securely  wrapped 
and  tied,  but  not  sealed.  Damages  or  excess  postage  charges 
caused  by  careless  wrapping  will  be  assessed  against  the  sender. 
Sender's  name  and  address  preceded  by  the  word  "From"  must 
appear  on  the  wrapper. 

No  book  will  be  mailed  from  the  Library  unless  balance  re- 
maining on  deposit  is  sufficient  to  cover  all  charges.  When 
credit  balance  falls  below  ten  cents,  borrower  will  be  notified 
to  permit  prompt  remittance  for  renewal  of  deposit  Postage 
for  correspondence  relating  to  parcel  post  shipments  will  be 
charged  against  deposit. 

Any  unexpended  balance  remaining  on  deposit  will  be  re- 
funded to  the  depositor  on  application. 

The  borrowers  are  requested  to  state  on  their  orders  the 
limit  of  time  in  which  books  will  be  of  use,  if  it  is  not  possible 
to  send  them  promptly  because  in  circulation  at  the  time  of 
request 

Books  may  be  sent  from  or  to  Library  by  parcel  post  at  the 
following  rates: 

Local  Zone  Local  Zone 

Weight         Rate  Rate  Weight          Rate  Rate 

lib.              $0.05  $005  4lbs.            $0.07  $0.08 

albs.                .06  .06  5lbs.               .07  0.09 

3  Ibs.                .06  .07 

The  above  conditions  are  understood  and  accepted  by  the 
undersigned 


Books  by  Parcel  Post 

The  following  notice  in  use  by  the  Kansas  City  Public  Li- 
brary is  timely  and  will  be  a  help  to  other  libraries. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  LIBRARY  SERVICE  THROUGH  PARCEL  POST 
Books  may  be  sent  from  or  to  the  Library  by  parcel  post 
at  the  following  rates: 

First  Zone 
Weight  Local  rate  Zone  rate 

1  lb.  $0.05  $0.05 

2  .06  .06 

3  .06  .07 

4  .07  .08 

5  ,07  .09 


PARCEL  POST  LIBRARY  SYSTEM  379 

Books  will  be  delivered  by  parcel  post  if  postage  and  library 
cards  are  received  with  request  Since  it  may  be  impossible  to 
fill  requests  immediately,  please  state  the  limit  of  time  in  which 
the  books  will  be  of  use  to  you  If  they  cannot  be  supplied 
within  that  time,  postage  will  be  returned 

Borrower  is  responsible  for  books  until  they  are  receded  by 
the  library  Books  lost  in  post  must  be  paid  for  by  borrower, 
as  they  are  mailed  at  his  risk. 

Send  a  card  and  6  cents  to  the  library  for  each  book  de- 
sired If  on  the  shelves,  same  will  be  mailed  immediately.  If 
less  postage  than  received  is  required,  excess  will  be  returned 
with  book.  If  additional  postage  is  required  slip  stating  amount 
due  will  be  placed  in  book  pocket  and  card  held  until  cleared. 
If  postage  is  due,  place  same  in  book  pocket  with  postage  due 
slip,  when  book  is  returned  If  book  asked  for  is  not  on  shelf, 
card  and  postage  will  act  as  a  reserve,  and  book  will  be  sent 
when  available. 

In  figuring  overdue  penalties,  subtract  date  book  is  due,  as 
shown  by  card,  from  date  returned,  at  2  cents  per  day:  viz: 
date  stamped  on  card  2,  date  returned  5,  3,  days  overdue,  or  6 
cents;  or,  date  stamped  on  card  28  (month  of  31  days),  date 
returned  4,  7  days,  14  cents.  Overdue  penalty  will  date  from 
time  of  deposit  in  post  office.  When  returning  overdue  book, 
place  postage  covering  penalty  in  book  pocket. 

If  a  card  is  held  for  fine  or  postage,  no  book  \\ill  be  issued 
on  card  until  cleared. 

To  return  books  to  the  library  by  parcel  post,  books  must 
be  well  wrapped,  taken  to  post  office  or  substation,  prepaid,  ad- 
dressed to  Kansas  City  Public  Library,  Kansas  City,  Mo,  with 
sender's  name  and  address  on  package.  Printed  labels  (see 
sample  below)  will  be  furnished  patrons  at  library.  Borrower's 
card  must  be  left  in  the  pocket  in  the  book.  Do  not  seal  pack- 
age, or  first  class  rate  will  be  charged  Do  not  leave  package 
on  mail  box  If  another  book  is  desired,  enclose  list  and  postage 

Labels  on  books  delivered  by  parcel  post  will  show  amount 
of  postage  necessary  for  their  return.  If  not  received  by  parcel 
post,  weigh  and  use  rate  given  on  labels  furnished  by  library 

Books  (other  than  those  limited  to  4  or  7  days)  may  be 
reserved  and  sent  by  parcel  post  on  deposit  of  library  card 
and  sufficient  postage  to  cover  carriage  If  a  postal  card  (or  I 


380  KANSAS  CITY  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

cent  additional)  is  left,  the  patron  will  be  notified  on  mailing  of 
book. 

It  is  desirable  that  patrons  using  the  parcel  post  send  in  a 
list  of  several  titles  desired,  arranged  in  order  of  preference. 
Requests  will  be  filled  in  order  of  list  arrangement. 

Books  cannot  be  sent  on  telephone  request,  unless  the  card 
of  the  applicant  is  in  the  library,  together  with  a  deposit  to 
cover  postage. 

Return  label  (gummed") ,  actual  size  5X3  «w. 

From 

Address 


Kansas  City  Public  Library 

Parcel  Post  Rate 

Weight  First  Zone  Ninth  a*d  Locust 

Local  Rate    Zone  Rate 

1  Pound  $0.05  $0.05 

2  Pounds  .06  .06  „  „..     ,- 

3  Pounds  .06  .07  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

4  Pounds  .07  .08 

5  Pounds  .07  .09 

8  oz.  or  under,  ic.  for  each  2  oz.  or 
fraction. 


HOME  DELIVERY  OF  BOOKS 

One  of  the  earliest  references  to  the  delivery  of 
books  to  homes  of  individual  borrowers  was  made  in  his 
report  on  Branches  and  Deliveries  by  Hiller  C  Wellmaa, 
in  1898,  referring  to  the  Milton,  Mass.,  Public  Library. 
It  was  remarked  that  the  simplest  form  of  delivery  is  not 
a  station,  but  a  home  delivery  by  messenger.  The  pro- 
cedure for  house  to  house  deliver}'  in  most  cases  was  for 
the  library  to  supervise  such  delivery  service  carried  on 
by  an  outside  agency.  The  problem  of  adjusting  the  ex- 
pense has  probably  been  the  greatest  difficulty  to  over- 
come. 


HOME  DELIVERY  OF  BOOKS 

The  delivery  of  books  to  the  homes  of  readers  was  a 
new  feature  tried  in  some  Massachusetts  public  libra- 
ries and  the  progress  of  the  idea  was  reported  upon  by 
the  Committee  on  Library  Administration  of  the  A.L.A. 
in  1902,  This  committee  consisted  of  Killer  C.  Well- 
man,  William  R,  Eastman  and  Nathaniel  D.  C.  Hodges, 
who  prepared  the  following  report,  read  at  the  Mag- 
nolia Conference  of  the  A.L  A.  in  July,  1902. 

Delivery  of  books  at  the  houses  of  readers  is  a  new  feature 
tried  by  a  few  libraries.  The  committee  has  received  reports 
on  the  subject  from  Milton,  Somerville,  and  Springfield,  Mass. 

In  Springfield,  Mr.  Dana  made  the  experiment  of  sending 
in  April,  1901,  1,200  circulars,  offering  to  deliver  books  at  the 
door  to  all  cardholders  in  a  household  once  a  week  for  ten 
weeks,  upon  payment  of  five  cents  per  week— not  per  volume 
delivered,  nor  per  individual,  but  five  cents  per  household. 

A  hundred  and  twenty  households,  representing  an  average 
of  three  borrowers  each,  paid  for  the  delivery,  and  about  222 
volumes  were  issued  weekly.  Nearly  50  per  cent  of  the  sub- 
scribers were  not  previously  users  of  the  library,  The  receipts 
were  $6  per  week,  and  the  cost  to  the  library  for  horse-hire 
and  the  services  of  a  high-school  boy,  etc.,  amounted  to  nearly 
$10  per  week. 

The  next  autumn  a  thousand  circulars  were  sent  out,  offering 
to  continue  the  home  delivery  at  the  rate  of  8^  cents  per 
week.  Less  than  sixty  households  subscribed,  and  the  number 
decreased  by  May  I,  1902,  to  thirty-two.  The  receipts  the  past 
year,  therefore,  have  ranged  from  a  maximum  of  $4.80  to  a 
minimum  of  $2.56  per  week,  and  the  cost  has  averaged  from 
$375  to  $4  weekly,  including  $2  per  week  for  horse  hire. 

This  latter  figure  represents  the  cost  of  the  delivery  proper, 
and  does  not  include  the  expense  of  sending  circulars  and  lists 
of  books,  or  of  looking  up  and  charging  the  books, 


384  WELLMAN,  EASTMAN  AND  HODGES 

The  percentage  of  fiction  issued  in  this  way  has  been  some- 
what higher  than  that  at  the  library.  The  most  frequent 
complaint  was  caused  by  the  failure  to  get  the  book  desired, 
especially  the  new  no\el.  Generally,  when  unable  to  fill  an 
application,  the  library  chose  a  volume  as  a  substitute,  and 
many  readers  left  to  the  library  the  selection  of  books  to  be 
sent.  This  gnes  the  library  a  valued  opportunity  to  distribute 
good  literature,  but  the  reader  is  not  always  satisfied,  and  the 
labor  involved  is  a  very  considerable  item. 

In  Somerville  Mr.  Foss  began  last  October  a  system  of 
home  delivery,  conducted  by  school  boys,  usually  twice  a  week. 
Each  boy  has  assigned  to  him  a  district  containing  about  3,000 
inhabitants,  and  this  he  is  expected  to  cam  ass  thoroughly,  and 
to  deliver  and  collect  books  at  two  cents  per  volume  the  round 
trip.  This  fee  he  pockets  for  his  labor,  and  a  good  boy  should 
earn  about  $1.50  per  week 

Thus  the  library  is  not  involved  in  the  scheme  financially, 
but  must  devote  much  time  to  organizing  and  supervising  ar- 
rangements and  to  selecting  and  managing  the  boys. 

Between  two  and  three  hundred  volumes  are  delivered 
weekly,  and  the  character  of  the  literature  is  about  the  same 
as  that  issued  at  the  library. 

In  Milton  Miss  Forrest  began  Jan  I,  1902,  a  system  of 
home  delivery  covering  sections  of  the  town  remote  from  the 
library,  which  is  paid  for  by  the  library  without  any  charge  to 
the  borrower.  A  man  is  hired  to  "make  the  delivery  on  Thurs- 
day of  each  week,  for  $5  a  delivery,  with  the  understanding 
that  the  price  is  to  remain  the  same,  should  the  number  of 
books  to  be  delivered  increase." 

The  messenger  serves  about  eight  hours  per  week,  and,  of 
course,  distributes  call  slips,  bulletins,  fine  notices,  etc.  The  de- 
livery has  increased  from  23  to  80  volumes  per  week,  making 
the  cost  now  about  seven  cents  per  volume,  and  fiction  is  only 
62  per  cent  of  the  issue.  The  home  delivery,  Miss  Forrest 
states,  "has  increased  the  circulation  and  the  number  of  card- 
holders, and  has  reached  many  residents  of  the  town  who  have 
never  before  used  the  library." 

These  are  the  facts  so  far  as  ascertained  Your  committee 
is  unwilling  yet  to  pronounce  an  opinion,  but  thinks  the  Asso- 
ciation should  give  careful  consideration  to  the  matter,  with  a 


HOME  DELIVERY  OF  BOOKS  385 

view  to  weighing  the  pros  and  cons  and  determining  whether 
the  advantages  of  greater  convenience  to  readers  and  of  inter- 
esting persons  not  previously  using  the  library,  outweigh  the 
disadvantage  of  losing  the  benefits  derived  by  the  reader  from 
visiting  the  library  itself. 


HOUSE  TO  HOUSE  DELIVERY  OF  BOOKS 

This  feature  of  the  work  of  the  Milton,  Massachusetts 
Public  Library  was  referred  to  in  1898,  and  the  progress 
of  the  idea  was  reported  in  an  article  contributed  to  The 
Library  Journal  of  1905  by  the  librarian,  Gertrude  K 
Forrest. 

After  some  time  in  the  Issue  Department  of  the  Bos- 
ton Public  Library,  Miss  Forrest  was  appointed  libra- 
nan  of  the  Milton,  Massachusetts  Public  Library.  She 
resigned  from  this  position  in  1918,  because  of  ill  health. 

Will  the  public  library  of  the  future  undertake  to  supply 
books  to  the  homes  of  the  people? 

This  is  a  question  which  librarians  are  already  asking,  but 
it  is  one  difficult  to  answer. 

That  the  increasing  rush  of  modern  life  makes  it  desirable 
to  supply  books  to  the  student  as  well  as  to  the  casual  reader, 
with  the  least  expenditure  of  time  and  labor,  no  one  can  deny. 
Why,  then,  should  not  our  public  libraries  deliver  books  to 
the  homes  of  the  people  and  so  save  the  busy  man  or  woman 
the  time  required  to  make  a  trip  to  and  from  the  library? 

The  strongest  argument  against  house  to  house  delivery  is 
that  it  would  keep  people  away  from  the  library  and  deprive 
them  of  the  brtfader  means  of  culture,  for  which  a  library 
provides. 

Offsetting  this  argument,  which  certainly  has  foundation,  is 
another  quite  as  strong,  that  house  to  house  delivery,  by  making 
the  homes  the  reading  rooms  would  help  to  preserve  and  pro- 
tect the  home  life,  which  is  now  menaced  by  so  many  outside 
activities. 

The  experiment  of  house  to  house  delivery  has  been  made 
by  several  libraries  with  varying  results.  At  the  head  of  this 
list,  rated  by  the  number  of  books  delivered,  stands  the  Book- 
lovers'  Library,  with  its  circulation  per  year  of  several  million 
volumes.  This  library  is,  however,  a  purely  business  enterprise, 


388  GERTRUDE  E.  FORREST 

and  its  work  is  not  comparable  with  the  work  done  by  free  pub- 
lic libraries 

At  the  conference  of  librarians,  held  at  Lakewood-on-Chau- 
tauqua,  N.  Y.,  in  July,  1898,  Air.  Killer  C.  Wellman  read  a 
paper  on  "Branches  and  deliveries/'  from  which  I  quote  the 
following : 

"The  simplest  form  of  delivery  is  not  a  station,  but  a  home 
delivery  by  a  messenger  such  as  is  in  operation  at  the  Mer- 
cantile Library  of  New  York.  'For  two  dollars  per  year  books 
are  delivered  to  any  part  of  New  York  south  of  the  Harlem 
River.  No  limitations  are  placed  upon  the  number  of  books 
which  may  be  delivered  for  this  sum,  excepting  that  the  extra 
books  which  are  permitted  to  be  taken  in  the  summer  cannot 
be  delivered  under  this  arrangement'  (77th  annual  report, 
1897,  p.  ii.) 

"Mr.  Peoples,  the  librarian,  writes:  'We  have  members  who 
get  as  many  as  three  and  four  deliveries  each  week  for  at  least 
eight  months  in  the  year.'  The  library  also  sells  a  postal  card 
to  members  (not  paying  by  the  year)  'for  five  and  ten  cents 
each,  which  insures  the  delivery  and  return  of  one  book'  'We 
start  the  messengers  on  the  deliveries  for  the  residences  at 
about  two  o'clock  p.m.  each  day.  We  divide  the  city  east  and 
west  and  make  deliveries  to  each  side  on  alternate  days;  three 
times  per  week  on  the  east  side  and  the  same  for  the  west 
side  The  books  are  carried  in  straps,  and  when  the  bundles 
are  not  too  large  we  always  utilize  the  surface  street  cars. 
These  messengers  are  regular  employes  of  the  library/  8417 
volumes  were  so  delivered  last  year.  The  advantages  of  this 
arrangement  over  the  old  system  of  delivery  stations  appear 
to  be  sufficient  here  to  induce  the  borrower  himself  to  bear  the 
expense  of  transportation.  I  know  of  no  public  library  em- 
ploying this  system,  and,  if  substitute  for  delivery  stations,  it 
would  cut  off  the  poorer  public  unless  the  expense  were  borne 
by  the  library.  The  scheme  is  of  interest,  however,  as  a  pos- 
sible future  line  of  development." 

Quite  recently  Mr.  Peoples  has  written  to  say  that  the  home 
delivery  of  books  is  still  in  successful  operation.  The  fee  for 
this  service  is  now  $i  instead  of  $2.  The  delivery  is  made  by 
horse  and  wagon,  with  two  men  on  the  wagon.  Printed  postal 
cards  for  ordering  books  are  furnished  to  readers  free  of 
charge. 

In  April,  1901,  Mr.  Dana,  then  librarian  of  the  City  Library, 
Springfield,  Mass.,  sent  out  1200  circulars  offering  to  deliver 
books  once  a  week,  for  ten  weeks,  to  any  householder  who  was 
willing  to  pay  five  cents  per  week.  The  fee  of  five  cents  was 


HOUSE  TO  HOUSE  DELIVERY  OF  BOOKS      389 

for  the  entire  household,  not  for  each  individual.  One  hundred 
and  twenty  families,  with  an  average  of  three  borrowers  each, 
subscribed  to  the  home  delivery  service.  The  receipts  were  $6 
per  week,  and  the  cost  to  the  library  for  horse  hire  and  the 
services  of  a  high  school  boy  amounted  to  nearly  $10  per  week. 
The  next  year  it  was  necessary  to  increase  the  delivery  rate 
to  eight  and  one-third  cents  per  week.  Less  than  60  families 
subscribed,  and  the  number  decreased  in  six  months  to  32 
families  In  1904  Mr  Wellman,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Dana,  re- 
ported that  the  home  delivery  had  not  materially  increased  for 
two  years,  and  that  he  should  seriously  consider  discontinuing 
it  were  it  not  that  many  of  the  subscribers  depended  on  the 
service  and  the  cost  to  the  library  was  little  or  nothing. 

I  quote  from  Mr.  Wellman's  letter,  to  show  the  methods 
used  in  Springfield:  "The  library  has  persuaded  some  high 
school  boy  to  undertake  the  delivery,  he  being  paid  for  the 
service  directly  by  the  subscribers.  Books  are  delivered  every 
Saturday  One  dollar  pays  for  deliveries  for  12  weeks,  and 
includes  books  for  all  the  members  in  the  household  of  the 
subscriber.  The  messenger  pays  his  own  expenses  for  buggy 
hire,  etc.  The  library  takes  the  applications  which  are  made 
to  the  messenger,  hunts  up  the  books  and  charges  them  to  the 
borrower.  They  are  then  delivered  to  the  messenger,  who  is 
responsible  for  the  books  from  the  time  he  receives  them. 
Theoretically,  the  case  is  the  same  as  when  a  borrower  sends 
a  servant  with  an  application  for  a  book;  but  practically  the 
library  has  supervised  the  work  to  a  certain  degree,  and  it  has 
been  under  the  auspices  of  the  library  The  library  has  there- 
fore required  the  messenger  to  submit  for  approval  notices 
which  he  proposed  to  have  printed  in  the  papers  about  the 
service.  The  messenger  cleared  from  $1.50  to  $2  per  week 
above  his  expenses,  and  it  took  him  on  an  average  a  little  more 
than  a  long  half  day  weekly.  The  library  has  allowed  the  mes- 
senger to  take  with  him  on  his  rounds  a  travelling  library  of 
20  or  30  volumes,  from  which  the  borrower  could  select  in 
case  he  were  disappointed  in  the  book  which  he  had  applied 
for.  Books  which  were  picked  up  to  be  returned  to  the  library 
were  also  available  if  another  borrower  wished  to  draw  them. 
This  travelling  library  feature  was  very  popular.  One  difficulty 
of  the  system  has  been  that  when  a  pushing  boy  has  had  a  suc- 
cessful year  and  brought  the  delivery  to  a  point  where  he  thought 


390  GERTRUDE  E    FORREST 

it  could  be  greatly  extended  the  next  year,  he  would  leave  school 
and  some  other  boy,  unfamiliar  with  it  and  perhaps  less  enter- 
prising, would  take  it  up.  It  is  not  impossible  that  a  man  on 
the  library  staff  will  take  up  the  undertaking  (as  a  private  ven- 
ture, of  course,  and  outside  of  his  library  hours),  and  if  the 
delivery  should  not  increase  after  a  year  or  two  of  his  con- 
tinuous service,  it  would  be  e\ident  that  there  is  not  enough 
demand  for  it  to  make  it  worth  while" 

The  next  library  to  experiment  along  this  line  was  the  Pub- 
lic Library  of  Somerville,  Mass.  In  October,  1901,  Mr.  Foss 
began  a  system  of  home  delivery,  carried  on  by  school  boys. 
The  city  is  divided  into  districts  of  about  3000  inhabitants,  one 
boy  being  assigned  a  district,  which  he  is  expected  to  canvass 
thoroughly  The  boy  is  paid  by  the  recipient  of  the  book  at 
the  rate  of  two  cents  for  the  round  trip.  The  library  is  not 
responsible  financially  for  the  system,  but  it  supervises  the  se- 
lection of  books  and  also  the  general  management  of  the  boys. 
Mr.  Foss,  in  speaking  of  the  delivery  says:  "Boys  are  unsatis- 
factory carriers.  If  we  could  get  the  right  boys  the  system 
would  be  satisfactory.  We  have  not  yet  got  the  right  boys." 

For  a  more  detailed  account  of  the  systems  in  operation  at 
Springfield  and  Somerville,  see  Mr.  Wellman's  report  on  "Home 
delivery,"  made  at  the  Magnolia  conference,  in  1902.  (LIBRARY 
JOURNAL,  July,  1902.  p.  88.) 

Some  time  in  August,  1901,  the  Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library 
of  Baltimore  consulted  a  messenger  service  company,  with  ref- 
erence to  handling  the  home  delivery  of  books  for  those  who 
might  be  willing  to  pay  for  it,  but  a  sufficiently  low  rate  of 
service  could  not  be  obtained  Later  a  private  individual  under- 
took the  work.  His  plan  of  work,  although  not  successful  in 
the  end,  may  be  suggestive  to  other  libraries  contemplating  house 
to  house  delivery.  One  section  of  the  city  was  taken  at  first 
as  an  experiment;  this  was  thoroughly  advertised.  "He  has 
eight  drug  stores  as  stations,  so  selected  that  no  person  in  that 
section  of  the  city  included  in  his  experiment,  has  more  than 
three  or  four  blocks  to  go  to  a  station.  At  these  drug  stores 
finding  lists  and  library  blanks  are  supplied.  Orders  for  books, 
with  the  borrower's  library  cards  are  left  at  a  drug  store,  where 
the  charge  for  delivery,  three  cents  per  week,  is  collected!  Once 
a  day  these  orders  are  collected  by  the  messenger,  who  then 


HOUSE  TO  HOUSE  DELIVERY  OF  BOOKS      391 

delivers  the  books  called  for  to  the  homes  of  borrowers.  When 
the  borrower  has  finished  using  the  book,  he  leaves  it  at  the 
drug  store  for  the  messenger  to  return  to  the  library.  The 
service  between  the  library  and  the  drug  store  is  performed 
by  a  man;  from  the  drug  store  to  the  homes  of  borrowers  by 
a  boy"  In  spite  of  this  carefully  planned  scheme,  the  experi- 
ment was  not  successful  and  the  delivery  was  given  up  after  a 
few  months. 

The  Public  Library  of  Milton,  Mass.,  has  since  January  I, 
1902,  sent  out  books  to  homes  in  certain  parts  of  the  town, 
where  the  distances  are  too  great  to  be  covered  by  delivery 
stations  No  fee  is  charged  for  this  service.  The  delivery, 
covering  a  territory  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  miles,  is  made 
once  a  week  at  a  cost  of  six  and  one-third  cents  per  volume. 
The  man  in  charge  registers  new  borrowers,  collects  call  slips, 
fines  due  and  books  to  be  returned;  for  all  fines  collected,  he 
gives  a  receipt,  signed  by  him  at  the  time  the  fine  is  paid.  He 
distributes  blank  call  slips,  bulletins,  etc.  Requests  for  books 
are  either  mailed  to  the  library  or  handed  to  the  messenger  with 
books  to  be  returned.  If  requested,  the  library  substitutes  new 
books  or  books  on  particular  subjects,  for  titles  on  the  regular 
call  slips.  When  the  titles  become  too  few  to  insure  a  success- 
ful application,  the  following  form  is  sent  out: 

MILTON  PUBLIC  LIBRARY, 
MILTON,  MASS. 

190 

Only ; book  titles  remain  on  your  call-slip.  Un- 
less we  receive  more  slips  before we  shall  be 

unable  to  fill  your  orders  on  the  next  delivery. 

GERTRUDE  EMMONS  FORREST,  Librarian. 

The  process  of  charging  and  packing  books  is  simple.  In 
addition  to  the  regular  alphabetical  list  of  cardholders,  there  is 
a  card  catalog  of  householders,  arranged  in  the  order  in  which 
they  are  located  on  the  route  of  delivery.  On  these  cards  are 
entered,  in  addition  to  the  name  of  the  householder,  the  names 
of  the  family,  including  servants.  All  books  charged  to  bor- 
rowers in  one  family  are  tied  together  with  an  ordinary  book 
strap,  on  which  is  a  key  tag  with  name  of  householder.  The 
packages  of  books  are  then  put  into  the  boxes  in  the  exact  order 
in  which  they  are  to  be  delivered,  the  books  to  be  delivered 


392  GERTRUDE  E.  FORREST 

last,  of  course,  being  put  into  the  box  first  Boxes  made  of 
leatheroid  are  cheaper  and  lighter  to  handle  than  those  made 
of  wood.  The  service  is  very  satisfactory  and  the  class  of 
books  in  demand  is  exceptionally  good. 

The  latest  experiment  with  house  to  house  delivery  has 
been  made  within  a  year  and  a  half  at  Hazardville,  Ct.  Mr. 
H.  W.  Miner,  the  library  director,  makes  the  following  report 
of  the  work  there :  "The  house  to  house  delivery  here  in  Hazard- 
ville has  been  in  operation  for  about  six  months  and  gives  good 
satisfaction  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn.  The  cost  is 
perhaps  high,  but  I  think  it  might  be  lessened  another  year. 
The  village  is  about  four  miles  from  the  library  and  until 
about  six  months  ago  the  books  were  taken  by  team  to  and 
from  the  library  to  a  station  in  this  village,  and  each  book 
taker  was  obliged  to  go  to  the  station  with  the  book  and  then 
go  again  and  get  the  new  book  when  it  came  from  the  library, 
making  two  trips  for  each  exchange.  This  system  cost  forty 
dollars  per  year  for  one  exchange  per  week.  The  carrier  now 
uses  the  trolley  cars  instead  of  a  team  and  picks  up  and  de- 
livers the  books  to  the  houses  for  the  same  price  as  before.  The 
carrier  has  a  milk  route  and  picks  up  the  books  while  delivering 
milk  on  Tuesday  mornings.  In  the  afternoon  he  takes  them  to 
the  library  by  trolley  and  exchanges,  delivering  them  to  the 
houses  Wednesday  morning,  with  his  milk  team.  The  cost  per 
book  I  cannot  give  you  very  closely  but  think  it  is  a  little  under 
three  cents.  The  total  cost  is  the  same  whether  there  be  few  or 
many  books.  Very  likely  improvements  will  be  made  next  year 
in  both  service  and  cost" 

Last  December  Mr.  H.  J.  Bridge,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Miner, 
wrote  to  say  that  the  home  delivery  had  been  discontinued.  They 
paid  the  carriers  $40  per  year  for  collecting  and  delivering 
about  40  volumes  per  week,  a  cost  per  volume  of  19  3-13  cents, 
which  evidently  proved  prohibitive. 

From  this  resume  it  will  be  seen  that  house  to  house  de- 
livery of  books  is  still  experimental,  and  a  method  difficult  to 
adjust,  especially  in  the  matter  of  expense.  In  spite  of  these 
obstacles  the  library  of  the  future  will  no  doubt  consider  house 
to  house  delivery  as  much  a  part  of  its  regular  routine  as  many 
of  our  present  devices,  which  to  the  library  of  one  hundred 
years  ago  seemed  little  less  than  impossible. 


INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS 

The  idea  of  lending  books  to  other  libraries,  even  to 
those  at  a  considerable  distance,  is  not  a  new  one.  As 
early  as  1876  Samuel  S.  Green,  then  librarian  of  the 
Worcester  Free  Public  Library,  reported  that  the  Bos- 
ton Public  Library  allowed  students  in  special  branches 
of  knowledge,  when  properly  introduced,  to  take  out 
books  needed  in  the  pursuit  of  their  special  investiga- 
tions, even  though  they  did  not  live  in  Boston.  William 
H.  Brett  of  the  Cleveland  Public  Library,  reported  in 
1903  that  "The  most  important  work  of  this  kind  has 
been  done  in  connection  with  the  library  of  the  Surgeon- 
General  at  Washington."  He  went  on :  "A  similar  plan 
of  mutual  accommodation  has  prevailed  among  large  li- 
braries to  a  moderate  extent  for  years,  and  the  courtesy 
has  been  extended  by  some  of  the  larger  libraries  to 
smaller  ones  whose  collections  were  not  sufficient  to  re- 
ciprocate in  any  way.  Although  perhaps  these  loans  will 
always  form  an  inconsiderable  item  of  the  work  of  our 
libraries,  the  plan  affords  a  further  possibility  of  saving 
to  them." 


INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS  IN  REFERENCE 
WORK 

The  progress  of  the  inter-library  loan  system  from 
1876  to  1898  was  the  basis  of  a  report  by  Samuel  S. 
Green,  librarian  of  the  Worcester,  Massachusetts  Free 
Public  Library  in  1898.  This  paper  was  prepared  for 
the  Chautauqua  Conference  of  the  A.L.A.  at  Lakewood, 
N.Y.  and  read  before  that  body  on  July  7, 1898. 

A  sketch  of  Mr.  Green  appears  in  Volume  1  of  this 
series. 

Twenty-one  or  22  years  ago  I  sent  a  communication  to  the 
first  number  of  the  LIBRARY  JOURNAL  to  awaken  an  interest 
in  inter-library  loans. 

Today  after  having  as  a  librarian  borrowed  books  from 
other  libraries  and  lent  books  to  other  libraries  for  20  years, 
and  having  done  so  extensively,  I  am  again  to  present  the  sub- 
ject to  librarians.  I  shall  not  give  statistics,  but  state  general 
principles  and  conclusions. 

Although  books  were  lent  by  the  Boston  Public  Library  to 
a  certain  extent  to  individual  investigators  outside  of  Boston 
early  in  its  history,  the  first  instance  of  a  general  and  sys- 
tematic plan  in  this  country  of  loaning  books  to  out-of-town 
libraries  was  that  formed  and  acted  upon  in  the  great  medical 
and  surgical  library  of  the  Surgeon-General's  Office,  by  Dr.  John 
S.  Billings,  during  his  able  and  progressive  administration  of 
the  affairs  of  that  institution. 

Since  Dr.  Billings  set  the  example  many  libraries  have  shown 
readiness  to  lend  books  to  one  another  for  purposes  of 
reference. 

Among  the  libraries  where  I  have  noticed  great  liberality  in 
this  way  are  those  of  Harvard,  Columbia,  and  Yale  Univer- 
sities, the  Boston  Public  Library  (at  certain  long  periods  in 
its  history,  and  especially  now),  and  the  Boston  Athenaeum. 


396  SAMUEL  SWETT  GREEN 

In  fact  with  a  few  notable  exceptions,  I  have  been  able  to 
borrow  from  almost  every  important  library.  The  Library  of 
Congress  and  the  Astor  Library  have  been  marked  exceptions. 
Let  us  hope  that  the  progressive  spirit  which  animates  the  ad- 
ministrator of  the  library,  of  which  the  latter  is  now  a  portion 
will  infuse  a  similar  spirit  into  the  governing  body  of  the  New 
York  Public  Library  and  open  the  treasures  of  the  last-named 
library  (in  so  far  as  practicable)  to  people  in  other  parts  of 
the  country  through  the  libraries  in  the  places  in  which  they 
live. 

I  have  sent  for  books  to  a  place  as  far  from  Worcester  as 
Detroit  I  frequently  borrow  from  the  library  of  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Office.  I  have  had  a  precious  and  unique  manuscript 
entrusted  to  me  by  the  custodian  of  one  of  the  law  libraries  of 
Boston  for  the  use  of  a  special  student. 

Libraries  do  not,  of  course,  lend  to  one  another  books  which 
are  in  constant  use  and,  only  upon  extraordinary  occasions,  very 
rare  or  expensive  works. 

Inter-library  loans  are  of  especial  advantage  to  towns  having 
educational  institutions  with  which  are  connected  instructors 
and  students  who  are  making  original  or  profound  researches. 
I  should  like  to  add,  however,  that  I  have  also  found  them 
of  great  use  in  satisfying  the  general  popular  wants  of  a 
community. 

It  is  very  largely  volumes  of  periodicals,  or  monographs  on 
special  subjects,  that  are  lent  to  one  another  by  libraries;  such 
works  as  are  only  occasionally  used  in  any  one  library. 

I  have  at  different  times  borrowed  two  Chinese  dictionaries, 
numerous  volumes  in  Russian  literature,  and  works  on  Esqui- 
maux notation  for  students  in  Worcester.  I  found  them  all  in 
when  I  applied  for  them,  and  this  leads  me  to  say  that  a  few 
copies  of  many  books  are  enough  to  supply  the  demand  for 
them  throughout  the  country. 

Libraries  lending  books  out  of  town  to  strangers  prefer  to 
lend  them  through  other  libraries,  because,  while  a  library  knows 
how  much  freedom  in  the  use  of  books  it  is  safe  to  allow  to 
one  of  its  own  users,  it  does  not  know  how  far  it  is  well  to 
trust  most  of  the  users  of  the  out-of-town  libraries. 

The  library  in  Worcester  has,  of  course,  lent  books  as  well 
as  borrowed  them  These  have  been  largely  lent  to  libraries 


INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS  IN  REFERENCE  WORK  397 

in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city,  and  I  have  found  it  well  to 
have  a  printed  blank  to  put  into  the  hands  of  country  librarians 
to  fill  out  in  asking  for  loans.  I  have  lent  books  to  libraries 
at  a  great  distance  from  Worcester.  Thus,  when  Mr.  Dana 
was  in  Denver  he  not  infrequently  asked  me  to  lend  books  to 
the  Public  Library  there.  I  always  did  what  he  asked  me  to 
do  and  sent  the  books  as  registered  mail  instead  of,  as  usually, 
by  express. 

The  work  of  a  lending  library  is  much  increased  when  the 
request  for  books  from  another  library  comes  in  the  form  of 
a  desire  for  the  best  books  on  a  given  subject  or  for  a  list 
of  books.  Some  tact  and  discretion  has  to  be  used  upon  some 
of  these  occasions.  Almost  always,  however,  whether  prac- 
ticable or  not  to  do  all  that  is  asked  for,  it  is  possible  to  render 
important  assistance  without  allowing  yourself  to  be  imposed 
on. 

I  am  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  the  plan  of  inter-loaning 
has  not  yet  been  carried  anywhere  so  far  as  to  become  a 
nuisance.  If  it  should  become  so,  it  could  probably  be  abated 
by  enforcing  rules  dictated  by  common  sense  without  the  neces- 
sity of  refusing  to  lend  at  all. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  system  of  library  inter-loaning 
should  be  more  widely  extended,  and  that  small  libraries  should 
lend  to  one  another,  as  well  as  the  smaller  libraries  borrowing 
from  larger  ones. 

The  rules  of  lending  libraries  should  be  strictly  observed 
by  borrowing  libraries,  and  the  latter  will  often  have  to  be 
very  carefully  on  the  watch  to  get  back  from  individual  bor- 
rowers books  in  time  to  be  returned  when  due.  A  good  deal 
of  judgment  should  be  used,  even,  as  to  whether  in  individual 
cases  it  is  wise  to  allow  the  books  borrowed  for  consultation 
to  be  taken  from  the  library  building  of  the  borrowing  library. 
Whenever  it  is  evident  that  books  can  be  used  in  the  library 
building  without  much  additional  trouble  to  the  investigator, 
their  use  there  should  be  gently  insisted  upon. 

Libraries  differ  in  regard  to  the  amount  of  formality  to  be 
used  in  lending  books  to  one  another.  In  the  case  of  the  library 
of  the  Surgeon-General's  Office,  a  library  wishing  to  borrow 
books  from  it,  from  time  to  time,  signs  a  contract  with  it. 
The  Boston  Athenaeum  sends  out  a  postal-card  with  every 


3o8  SAMUEL  SWETT  GREEN 

loan,  with  another  attached  (directed  to  its  library),  to  be  mailed 
to  it  when  the  book  is  returned.  The  Boston  Public  Library 
has  a  printed  card  which  it  uses  in  answer  to  applications  for 
loans.  Other  libraries  lend  books  more  informally.  Libraries 
should  always  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  books  borrowed  and 
send  notice  when  they  are  returned.  In  all  cases  borrowing 
libraries  take  all  risks,  pay  for  injuries  to  books  and  make 
losses  good.  They  also  pay  expenses  of  carriage.  It  is  prefer- 
able to  send  books  by  express,  as  an  express  company  holds  itself 
responsible  for  the  cost  of  the  books  when  proper  arrangements 
are  made  Books  are  often  sent  as  registered  mail.  During 
the  20  years  that  I  have  been  borrowing  and  lending  books— 
and  I  borrow  and  lend  on  a  large  scale — no  books  have  ever 
been  injured  or  lost. 

Shall  expenses  of  carriage  be  paid  by  the  borrowing  insti- 
tution or  by  the  individual  for  whom  the  books  are  borrowed? 

I  favor  the  course  of  the  payment  of  costs  by  the  library. 
The  library  wishes  that  all  residents  should  have  such  books 
as  they  need  in  making  investigations.  If  it  is  without  the 
books  needed,  and  does  not  think  it  well  to  buy  them,  or  can- 
not buy  them  in  time  for  a  present  need  it  seems  to  me  wise 
to  place  the  inquirer  on  the  same  footing  with  investigators 
for  whom  you  can  provide  books  from  your  own  collection, 
and  supply  the  books  which  you  borrow  for  him  without 
expense. 

But  is  not  the  plan  of  inter-loaning  a  one-sided  affair?  Do 
not  the  large  libraries  do  favors  without  return? 

Often  they  are  willing  to  show  favors  to  smaller  libraries 
on  the  ground  of  noblesse  oblige. 

But  should  not  smaller  libraries  try  to  make  some  return? 

They  should  be  careful,  it  seems  to  me,  to  see  that  the  large 
libraries  are  fully  supplied  with  such  local  literature  as  they 
desire,  and  should  be  on  the  lookout  for  opportunities  to  help 
the  larger  libraries. 

I  feel  very  sure,  however,  that  college  and  city  libraries, 
in  the  long  run,  will  find  substantial  returns  for  kindnesses  ren- 
dered to  investigators  in  small  places  through  libraries,  result- 
ing from  the  kind  of  feelings  engendered  by  generosity  among 
persons  of  small  means,  perhaps,  but  of  large  influence. 


RELATIONS  OF  THE  GREATER  LIBRARIES  TO 
THE  LESSER 

The  following  report  is  a  part  of  a  paper  read  before 
the  Illinois  Library  Association,  April  21,  1905.  The 
author,  Charles  J,  Bait,  at  that  time  assistant  librarian 
of  the  John  Crerar  Library,  Chicago,  Illinois,  outlines 
the  practice  of  the  Illinois  State  Library  the  University 
of  Illinois,  and  the  John  Crerar  Library,  in  1903. 

In  1902  Charles  James  Barr  left  the  teaching  pro- 
fesson  to  enter  that  of  librarianship  by  way  of  the 
Albany  Library  School.  His  first  post  was  that  of  clas- 
sifier and  cataloger  in  the  Wilmington,  Delaware,  His- 
torical Society's  Library.  After  some  time  at  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress,  he  became  reference  librarian,  and  in 
the  following  year,  assistant  librarian  of  the  John  Cre- 
rar Library.  This  post  he  held  until  his  appointment 
to  the  assistant  librarianship  at  Yale  University,  in  1917. 
That  same  year  Yale  conferred  upon  him  an  honorary 
M.A.  degree.  He  remained  at  Yale  until  his  death  in 
1925. 

The  cooperative  activity  of  libraries  is  of  comparatively 
recent  growth,  but  that  growth  has  been  rapid  and  varied.  Those 
phases  of  the  development  which  have  meritedly  received  most 
attention  from  librarians  have  to  do  rather  with  the  collection 
and  preparation  of  books.  I  refer  to  cooperative  book  selection 
and  cooperative  cataloging.  We  are  all  familiar  with  such 
undertakings  as  the  A.L.A.  catalog  and  the  Library  of  con- 
gress printed  cards. 

However,  let  us  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  printed  cards 
have  their  relation  to  the  distributive  work  of  libraries  through 
reference  work  Through  them  may  be  made  known  to  those 
at  a  distance  the  resources  of  a  library  and  the  student  guided 
to  his  sources  of  information.  It  was  eminently  fitting,  there- 


400  CHARLES  JAMES  BARR 

fore,  that  the  Library  of  congress  should  undertake  the  issuing 
of  printed  cards  and  the  placing  of  depository  catalogs  at  cen- 
ters throughout  the  country.  The  present  librarian  of  congress 
has  from  the  first  fully  recognized  that  the  national  library, 
as  he  himself  expresses  it,  owes  "a  service  to  the  country  at 
large;  a  service  to  be  extended  through  the  libraries  which  are 
the  local  centers  of  research  involving  the  use  of  books." 

I  come  not  to  exploit  the  undertaking  of  any  one  institution; 
however,  it  is  but  natural  to  illustrate  one's  theme  by  concrete 
instances.  It  may  not  be  known  to  all  that  the  John  Crerar 
library  prints  its  catalog  entries  and  that  it  offers  these  cards 
for  sale  for  either  catalog  or  reference  purposes.  Moreover,  it 
maintains  several  depository  catalogs  in  this  state. 

A  second  important  means  of  establishing  mutually  beneficial 
relations  between  the  greater  and  the  lesser  libraries  is  their 
publications.  An  examination  of  the  annual  reports  of  the 
larger  libraries  might  not  be  found  to  come  amiss.  Finding 
lists  and  other  bibliographical  publications,  while  intended  pri- 
marily for  the  immediate  patrons  of  the  library,  should  reach 
a  wider  constituency.  They  may  be  issued  by  the  cooperative 
effort  of  several  institutions,  as  are  our  union  lists  of  periodicals, 
or  they  may  represent  the  resources  of  a  single  institution.  Be 
it  remembered  that  they  are  valuable  reference  tools,  especially 
to  small  libraries,  whether  they  represent  the  selected  best 
books  or  the  exhaustive  complete  resources  of  the  specializing 
library. 

Library  clubs  in  the  centers  of  library  interests  deserve 
much  credit  for  what  they  have  accomplished  in  cooperative 
publishing  This  is  notably  true  in  Chicago,  and  no  librarian 
in  Illinois  should  fail  to  acquaint  herself  with  the  List  of 
serials  in  the  public  libraries  of  Chicago  and  Evanston,  issued 
in  1901.  This  list  should  be  in  every  library  in  Illinois.  It  is 
a  painful  fact  that  such  lists  are  out  of  date  as  soon  as  they 
are  issued  if  the  libraries  represented  therein  are  growing.  The 
Chicago  library  club  has  not  found  itself  in  a  position  to  issue 
the  supplements  necessary  to  keep  this  list  up  to  date,  but  this 
fact  has  given  to  the  John  Crerar  library  its  opportunity  to 
prove  its  usefulness  to  its  fellow  institutions.  The  first  supple- 
ment was  issued  in  1903  and  the  second,  now  in  preparation, 
will  replace  the  first,  as  it  will  cumulate  the  new  material  with 


RELATIONS  OF  GREATER  LIBRARIES  TO  LESSER  401 

that  in  the  first  supplement  It  is  probable  that  in  1907  the 
supplement  will  be  revised  again,  and  by  1909  a  consolidated 
edition  of  the  original  list  and  supplements  will  be  issued. 

Among  other  publications  of  the  John  Crerar  library,  are  a 
List  of  books  on  industrial  arts,  and  a  List  of  dictionaries  and 
cyclopedias.  These  are  all  sold  at  a  merely  nominal  price,  equal 
to  about  one-quarter  the  cost  of  the  paper  and  press  work,  plus 
the  postage  if  sent  by  mail. 

There  are  two  methods  of  cooperation  which  appear  to 
have  received  comparatively  little  attention  in  our  state  and 
national  conferences.  I  refer  to  inter-library  loans  and  ref- 
erence work  by  correspondence.  There  has  been  some  mild 
suggestion  that  we  might  raise  the  standard  of  cheerful  giving 
in  respect  to  inter-library  loans  and  thereby  broaden  our  field 
of  usefulness.  Dr.  Richardson  told  at  the  A.  L.  A.  conference 
at  St  Louis  of  the  uniform  courtesy  of  European  libraries  in 
loaning  even  their  most  precious  manuscripts  for  the  use  of 
scholars  engaged  in  research  work.  Dr.  Biagi  assured  us  that 
the  national,  university,  provincial  and  town  libraries  of  Italy 
interchange  loans  of  books  and  manuscripts  freely.  Dr.  Ander- 
son explained  that  similar  conditions  obtain  in  Sweden,  where 
rare  works  are  sent  both  to  libraries  and  to  individuals  at  a 
distance,  even  abroad.  No  definite  regulations  exist,  the  loan 
is  purely  voluntary  and  the  system,  if  such  it  may  be  called, 
has  been  built  upon  the  Swedish  Accessions-katalog.  In  these 
countries  libraries  have  the  franking  privilege  and  this  mate- 
rially affects  the  situation.  In  the  United  States,  Congress, 
though  it  has  been  importuned  repeatedly  to  establish  a  free 
post  for  inter-library  transportation,  is  still  obdurate  save  in 
respect  to  the  transportation  of  books  for  the  blind.  Hence 
the  reader  who  would  have  a  book  sent  to  him  from  a  distant 
library  must  incur  the  expense  of  postage  or  express  charges 
both  ways.  This  doubtless  is  having  a  decided  effect  in  retard- 
ing the  spread  of  inter-library  loans  in  any  systematic  way. 

To  the  second  means  mentioned  above  of  making  use  of 
special  collections  in  the  larger  libraries,  namely  correspondence, 
I  find  no  allusion  in  our  library  periodicals.  This,  of  course, 
does  not  mean  that  libraries  are  not  using  correspondence  as 
a  means  of  cooperation  in  reference  work;  it  possibly  signifies 
rather  that  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  an  inquiry  for  informa- 


402  CHARLES   JAMES  BARR 

tion  readily  obtainable  in  the  libraries  which  are  the  storehouses 
of  great  collections  will  meet  with  courteous  attention  from 
the  librarian  or  his  assistants. 

Let  us  now  come  nearer  home  and  consider  conditions  that 
obtain  in  our  own  state.  Every  person  engaged  in  library 
work  in  Illinois,  who  meets  the  public  to  any  extent  in  that 
work,  no  matter  how  humble  the  library  in  which  he  works, 
should  consider  it  his  duty  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  re- 
sources of  the  state  in  the  centers  of  library  interests.  He 
should  know  what  cities  have  creditable  public  libraries,  such 
as  are  to  be  found  in  Rockford  or  Peoria,  and  when  it  is  ad- 
visable to  turn  to  them  for  help.  He  should  know  for  what 
he  may  look  to  Springfield,  when  to  turn  to  the  University  of 
Illinois  or  to  the  libraries  of  Chicago.  He  should  know  that 
at  Springfield  there  exist  two  institutions  supported  by  the 
state — the  State  historical  library  of  some  I4,ooov.  largely  on 
Illinois  history,  and  the  State  library  of  40,0007.,  one-third  of 
which  are  documents.  While  these  two  institutions  are  not  all 
that  they  might  be  to  the  reading  public  and  the  scholars  of 
the  state,  any  more  than  are  the  Chicago  libraries,  the  fault 
can  hardly  be  ascribed  to  those  in  charge  of  them,  and  they 
doubtless  stand  ready  to  do  what  is  hi  their  power  to  do.  Re- 
garding the  State  library  I  quote  the  Illinois  Blue  book:  The 
patronage  consists  largely  of  those  connected  with  the  state 
government  and  of  the  citizens  of  the  capital  city,  though  people 
throughout  the  state  address  many  communications  to  the  libra- 
rian. The  librarian  also  furnishes  much  bibliographical  mate- 
rial to  smaller  libraries  and  reading  clubs. 

The  University  of  Illinois  has  no  set  rules  regarding  inter- 
library  loans  nor  reference  work  by  correspondence,  but  it  meets 
every  request  as  fully  as  possible.  It  has  a  good  many  de- 
mands from  libraries,  schools  and  club  members  for  the  loan 
of  definite  books,  or  for  two  or  three  books  on  a  specific  sub- 
ject without  titles  being  given.  If  such  books  are  of  a  general 
character  they  are  sent  at  once  subject  to  recall  if  needed. 
If  they  are  special,  the  matter  is  referred  to  the  head  of  the 
department  most  interested  and  effort  is  made  to  satisfy  the 
request  Many  referente  lists  are  made  for  outsiders.  The 
reference  librarian  reports  that  they  have  averaged  two  or 
three  a  month  for  several  years.  If  the  material  is  not  needed 
at  once  the  work  is  sometimes  done  by  the  school  as  practice. 


RELATIONS  OF  GREATER  LIBRARIES  TO  LESSER  403 

In  cases  requiring  an  undue  amount  of  time  the  library  en- 
gages someone  to  do  the  work  and  charges  for  the  actual  time. 
Inquiries  are  numerous  for  selected  lists  for  club  work,  for 
children's  reading,  or  for  schools.  It  is  felt  to  be  the  province 
of  the  state  university  to  meet  these  demands  as  fully  as  pos- 
sible with  its  available  force. 

Chicago,  as  the  largest  center  of  population  in  the  middle 
west,  naturally  has  the  largest  library  resources  and  offers  to 
scholars  in  some  lines  unexcelled  opportunities  for  research 
work.  There  is  not  time  here  to  detail  all  the  collections.  Some- 
thing is  to  be  said,  however,  regarding  the  spirit  of  their  in- 
terpretation of  their  place  in  the  library  interests  of  the  state. 

The  Chicago  public,  as  the  great  circulating  library,  doubt- 
less has  more  calls  for  inter-library  loans  and  reference  work 
by  correspondence  than  any  of  the  other  libraries.  In  the  by- 
laws revised  to  October,  1903,  will  be  found  the  following:  In 
order  to  extend  the  usefulness  of  the  library  an  inter-library 
loaning  system  is  approved,  and  the  librarian  is  authorized  to 
honor  at  his  discretion  requisition  from  other  libraries  for  books 
for  special  use,  and  to  make  requisitions  upon  other  libraries  for 
books  for  patrons  of  tiiis  library. 

The  library  can  hardly  be  outdone  in  its  generous  inter- 
pretation of  this  provision.  Not  long  ago  at  the  request  of  a 
Spanish  scholar,  then  studying  in  Florence,  a  manuscript  of  an 
old  Aztec  mystery  play  of  the  early  sixteenth  century,  which 
is  in  the  possession  of  the  library,  was  sent  to  him  with  the 
privilege  of  retaining  it  abroad  until  he  had  completed  a  trans- 
lation of  it.  Further,  I  am  told  that  the  demands  for  reference 
work  by  correspondence  are  numerous  and  that  attention  to 
these  demands  occupies  no  small  part  of  the  reference  librarian's 
time. 

Series  i,  vol.  i,  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Decennial  pub- 
lications consists  of  the  president's  report  and  includes  in  the 
librarian's  report  some  interesting  information  regarding  inter- 
library  loans.  The  statement  there  made  and  that  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois  previously  quoted,  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
libraries  of  educational  institutions  have  taken  a  more  advanced 
position  in  the  matter  than  have  most  reference  and  public 
libraries. 

The  regulations  of  the  Newberry  library  specify  five  leading 


404  CHARLES  JAMES  BARR 

institutions  in  Chicago  and  vicinity  whose  requisitions  the  li- 
brarian is  authorized  to  honor.  There  is  no  provision  stipulated 
for  loans  to  small  libraries  The  librarian  replied  to  an  inquiry, 
that  a  volume  would  be  loaned  to  any  university  or  large  libraiy, 
the  idea  being  to  aid  in  the  prosecution  of  some  important  in- 
vestigation. The  request  must  come  from  the  librarian  of  an 
institution  that  guarantees  against  loss  and  agrees  to  reciprocate. 
Receipt  of  books  must  be  acknowledged  and  their  return  must 
be  prompt.  Certain  classes  of  books  are  excepted. 

The  regulations  of  the  John  Crerar  library,  so  far  as  formu- 
lated, may  be  briefly  stated  as  follows: 

i.  The  reason  for  the  loan  must  be  something  beside  the 
convenience  of  the  applicant 

2    The  book  shall  be  one  not  likely  to  be  called  for. 

3.  It  shall  be  kept  out  but  a  short  time. 

4.  A  satisfactory  guarantee  of  its  safe  return  shall  be  made. 

No  large  number  of  books  is  sent  out  during  the  year,  as 
the  demand  hy  mail  is  not  great  Most  such  calls  that  come 
from  other  institutions  are  honored,  as  they  are  usually  for 
volumes  of  periodicals  seldom  called  for.  Nothing  hi  the  li- 
brary's policy  would  prevent  compliance  with  a  request  because 
it  came  from  a  small  library.  Naturally  a  previous  arrange- 
ment by  -which  guarantee  of  safe  return  of  all  such  loans  has 
been  made  facilitates  prompt  sending.  The  provision  that  the 
occasion  must  be  something  beside  the  mere  convenience  of  the 
reader  is  strictly  adhered  to  and  quite  properly  excludes  send- 
ing to  the  smaller  libraries  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city.  Trans- 
portation facilities  are  not  yet  perfect  in  Chicago,  but  they  are 
quite  as  usable  for  readers  as  for  the  army  of  daily  workers 
in  the  city's  center.  No  book  shelved  in  the  reading-room  is 
ever  allowed  to  leave  the  library.  Unbound  periodicals  will 
be  sent  if  not  likely  to  be  called  for.  Doubtful  cases  are 
usually  referred  to  the  reference  desk  to  determine  the  like- 
lihood of  inconvenience.  There  is  no  definite  limit  of  time, 
a  matter  which  is  left  to  the  librarian's  discretion. 

Reference  questions  within  the  scope  of  the  John  Crerar 
library  will  meet  with  all  possible  attention  from  the  library. 
Brief  bibliographical  lists  will  be  made  or  the  library  will  sup- 
ply at  very  small  expense  printed  cards  for  titles  on  a  given 


RELATIONS  OF  GREATER  LIBRARIES  TO  LESSER  405 

subject  representing  either  a  selected  list  or  the  library's  com- 
plete resources 

A  few  words  to  summarize  conditions  and  to  point  out  the 
desirable  trend  of  future  developments  Conditions  are  not, 
and  can  not  be,  uniform  in  all  classes  of  libraries  as  regards 
inter-library  loans.  State  libraries  in  some  cases  are,  and  in 
all  cases  should  be,  the  centers  of  this  work  for  their  re- 
spective states.  Other  libraries  are  established  primarily  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  community  in  which  they  are  located;  a 
state  library  can  hardly  fittingly  be  called  such  unless  it  meets 
the  needs  of  the  whole  state.  Libraries  in  our  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  are  ahead  of  most 
of  us  in  their  generosity  toward  similar  institutions.  The  state 
universities  are  going  further  and  meeting  other  calls  upon 
their  resources  and  the  time  of  their  assistants;  but  they  can 
not  be  expected  to  do  this  at  the  expense  of  their  best  in- 
terests. Public  circulating  libraries  are  justified  in  serving 
the  needs  of  neighboring  communities,  especially  if  they  have 
large  collections  of  books  seldom  called  into  circulation  Their 
patrons  can  not  complain  so  seriously  if  their  use  of  a  book  is 
delayed  by  its  being  in  another  reader's  possession.  Great  ref- 
erence libraries  are  usually  storehouses  in  their  specific  lines. 
When  located  in  a  great  city  they  have  much  larger  and  more 
varied  daily  demands  than  do  university  libraries  Their 
patrons  are  more  likely  to  be  of  a  class  who  do  not  wait 
patiently  for  the  return  of  books  that  are  loaned.  However, 
the  importance  of  this  may  be  exaggerated. 

Librarians  making  requests  for  information  or  for  the  loan 
of  books  should  keep  in  mind  the  following  principles: 

Pick  the  institution  that  is  most  likely  to  be  able  to  meet 
the  need. 

Do  not  ask  the  loan  of  recently  published  books  easily  ob- 
tainable in  the  trade. 

Be  prepared  with  the  authority  of  the  board  to  guarantee 
against  loss. 

Give  careful  attention  to  prompt  return. 


INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS 

The  Library  of  Congress,  which  is  the  nation's  li- 
brary, stands  ready  to  aid  anyone  in  various  ways.  Its 
publications,  bibliographies  and  catalog  cards  are  free 
for  the  asking  or  for  very  small  sums.  Its  books  come 
and  go,  as  freely  as  may  be  without  hindering  the  ser- 
vice in  Washington.  There  is  little  evidence  that  any 
attempt  was  made  to  treat  systematicaly  the  practical 
problems  involved  in  inter-library  loans  for  many  years 
after  the  first  appeal  in  1876.  The  subject  appeared 
on  A.L.A.  programs,  but  practical  use  came  much  later. 

The  following  report  on  the  inter-library  loans  of  the 
Library  of  Congress  was  prepared  in  1909  by  William 
W.  Bishop,  at  that  time  superintendent  of  its  Reading 
Room. 

A  sketch  of  William  Warner  Bishop  appears  in  Vol- 
ume 4  of  this  series. 

The  practice  of  lending  books  between  libraries  is  doubtless 
not  wholly  a  development  of  recent  years  in  America.  In  the 
very  nature  of  things  it  is  likely  that  an  institution  not  finding 
on  its  shelves  a  book  urgently  needed  by  some  scholar  pursuing 
investigations  among  its  collections  should  seek  to  aid  his  re- 
searches by  borrowing  for  his  use  the  work  desired.  When  this 
practice  began  we  cannot  say  definitely.  In  the  very  first  vol- 
ume of  the  LIBRARY  JOURNAL,  Mr.  S.  S.  Green,  of  Worcester 
(who  has  only  recently  retired  from  the  direction  of  the 
Worcester  Public  Library),  put  forth  a  plea  for  the  encourage- 
ment and  increase  of  this  method  of  supplementing  deficiencies.* 

There  is  little  evidence  in  our  professional  literature  that 
any  attempt  was  made  to  treat  systematically  the  practical  prob- 
lems involved  in  inter-library  loans  for  many  years  after  this 
first  appeal.  Scattered  references  may  be  found  here  and  there 

*Cf.    LlBHAKT   JOURNAL,    vol.    I.   pp.    1 5-1 6. 


408  WILLIAM  WARNER  BISHOP 

which  show  that  the  practice  was  slowly  growing  It  was  not 
until  1899  that  the  subject  appeared  in  the  program  of  an  Ameri- 
can Library  Association  conference.  In  that  year  Dr.  Richard- 
son, of  Princeton,  who  has  so  often  shown  a  keen  insight  into 
the  vital  problems  of  library  work,  read  a  paper  before  the 
Atlanta  conference  in  which  he  went  thoroughly  into  the  whole 
subject.  This  paper  dealt  with  the  dearth  in  our  American  in- 
stitutions of  books  needed  in  the  work  of  research,  proposed  co- 
operation in  purchasing  expensive  sets  so  as  to  avoid  needless 
duplication  of  costly  works,  and  earnestly  advocated  an  in- 
creased use  of  inter-library  loans.  Scattered  references  to  the 
topic  continue  to  be  found  later,f  but  there  appear  to  be  no 
other  discussions  of  any  length  in  our  library  press.  There  is 

fCf.  Report  of  the  Co-operative  committee,  American  Library  Asso- 
ciation Proceedings,  1898,  vol.  20.  44. 

Co-operation  m  lending  among  college  and  reference  libraries.  E.  C. 
Richardson,  American  Library  Association  Proceedings,  1890.  vol.  21: 
pp.  32-36,  discussion,  ibid.  16. 

What  may  be  done  for  libraries  by  the  nation  Herbert  Putnam, 
American  Library  Association  Proceedings,  1901,  vol.  23:  pp.  9-15,  es- 
pecially p.  15. 

The  national  library  problem  today:  President's  address.  E.  C  Rich- 
ardson, American  Library  Association  Proceedings,  1901,  vol.  27:  p.  6. 

The  Library  of  Congress  as  a  national  library.  Herbert  Putnam, 
American  Library  Association  Proceedings,  vol.  27:  pp.  27-34,  especially 
P-  30. 

The   lending  of   books   to   one   another  by  libraries.      S.    S.   Green, 

LIBRARY  JOURNAL,    TOl.    1  1  IS-l6. 

Libraries  for  use.     LIBRARY  JOURNAL,  vol.  17:  pp.  170. 

Mutual  book  lending  between  libraries.  LIBRARY  JOURNAL  vol  17* 
P-  373. 

"The  tacit  agreement  is  ...  [as]  outlined;  but  we  do  not  know  of 
any  case  in  which  a  written  agreement  has  been  made  " 

A  lending  library  for  libraries.  Summary  of  a  paper  by  E.  C.  Rich- 
ardson before  Atlantic  City  meeting  of  1899.  LIBRARY  JOURNAL,  24:261. 

New  England's  present  library  problem.  Rev.  George  A.  Jackson. 
LIBRARY  JOURNAL.  25:  s?4-  (Lending  books  on  theology  to  clergymen 
through  local  libraries.) 

Report  of  Committee  on  international  relations,  1906  LIBRARY  JOUR- 
NAL, 31:  Cs22.  "Direct  international  lending  of  manuscripts  and  docu- 
ments." 

What  the  large  library  can  do  for  the  small  library.  Kate  L.  Roberts 
LIBRARY  JOURNAL,  31:  C2S4-  xwucrw, 

,      A  cenS$,.bure.2uTof  information  and  loan  collection  for  college  li- 
braries.    William  C.  Lane.     LIBRARY  JOURNAL,  33  :  429-433. 
Bureau  of  information  and  inter-library  loans.     LIBRARY 


Inter-relation   of   libraries       Summary   of  a   report  at   the   Ohio   Li- 
brary Association  meeting,  19o3   Public  Libraries,  S:  479. 
r  ^Relations  of  the  greater  libraries  to  the  lesser.    C.  J    Barr.     Public 


Libraries, 
versity 


—w— ^,  „»  .^.  etv,«,,M  *wjicuics  to  me  lesser,  u.  J  .Barr  Public 
'-s>.  Jo:  *7>27£  Gives  the  practice  of  Illinois  State  Library,  Un7- 
oi [Illinois,  Chicago  public  Library,  Newberry  Library,  and  John 


, 
Crerar  Library,   m  1903. 


INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS  409 

a  good  deal  of  material  in  the  European  professional  papers 
and  manuals  of  library  economy.  But  this  chiefly  concerns 
the  loan  of  manuscripts.  Moreover,  libraries  in  most  European 
countries  have  been  favored  beyond  us  in  cheap  postal  rates 
and  very  extensive  use  of  the  franking  privilege,^  and  are  con- 
sequently freed  from  discussing  one  of  our  most  trying  difficul- 
ties in  inter-library  loans,  the  excessive  cost  of  carriage.  Such 
is  the  brief  history  of  the  discussion  in  our  professional  liter- 
ature of  this  practice.  What  is  its  present  status?  To  what 
extent  are  our  libraries  borrowing  books  from  one  another? 
What,  also,  is  the  theory  in  which  the  practice  finds  its  justifi- 
cation? 

The  actual  number  of  books  lent  and  sought  by  libraries  Is 
not  easily  ascertained.  There  exists  no  compilation  of  statistics 
on  the  topic  so  far  as  I  am  aware.  That  the  practice,  though 
general,  is  not  uniform  is  shown  by  the  small  number  of  in- 
stitutions which  have  found  it  advisable  to  print  blank  forms 
for  the  purpose  of  requesting  books,  A  hasty  survey  of  our 
files  of  correspondence  for  the  past  two  years  shows  the  fol- 
lowing institutions  using  such  blanks :  Cincinnati  Public  Library, 
Harvard  University,  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Princeton  Uni- 
versity, University  of  Chicago,  University  of  Virginia,  Yale  Uni- 
versity, Boston  Public  Library,  and  Clark  University. 

The  requests  received  on  blank  forms  are  but  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  entire  number,  perhaps  less  than  ten  per  cent.  Other 
libraries  request  books  from  us  through  letters  written  by  the 
librarian  or  his  secretary.  Of  course  a  "form  letter"  may  have 
been  used  in  some  of  these  cases,  but  there  is  no  indication 
of  this  in  the  successive  letters  received.  It  might  be  possible 
to  collect  statistics  of  the  actual  number  of  books  borrowed 
in  inter-library  loans  by  means  of  a  "questionnaire"  But  as  yet 
we  must  be  content  with  a  general  impression  that  the  practice 
has  reached  considerable  proportions  and  is  growing  In  the 
absence  of  any  general  statistics  it  may  perhaps  be  interesting 
to  submit  some  figures  drawn  from  a  study  of  the  books  lent 
to  other  libraries  by  the  Library  of  Congress  in  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  1009.  In  that  year  119  institutions  of  all  sorts 
borrowed  books  from  the  Library  of  Congress.  These  institu- 
tions were  located  in  40  of  our  states  and  two  foreign  countries, 

JCf.  A.  L.  A,  Proceedings,  v.  26,  pp.  58  and  83. 


4io  WILLIAM  WARNER  BISHOP 

ie,  Canada  and  Cuba;  919  titles  were  requested,  of  which  562 
could  be  sent.  The  total  number  of  volumes  sent  was  1023 ;  357 
books  could  not  be  sent  for  various  reasons,  in  most  cases  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  Library  of  Congress  did  not  own  the  books 
desired  A  number  of  works  were  not  sent  because  they  did 
not  come  within  the  scope  of  inter-library  loans  as  defined  byl 
this  library.  It  will  be  noted,  however,  that  we  sent  205  titles 
more  than  we  were  obliged  to  refuse  for  all  reasons.  The  re- 
fusals, therefore,  amounted  to  a  little  over  one-third  of  the 
total  requests. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  different  classes  of  li- 
braries which  borrowed  books  from  the  Library  of  Congress 
in  this  year,  with  a  statement  of  the  number  of  volumes  sent 
to  each  class: 

SUMMARY 

No  OF  IN-        No.  OF 
CLASSES  OF  LIBRARIES  STITUTIONS         VOLS. 

Colleges  and  Universities 49  521 

Normal  Schools 4  84 

Other  Schools 4  16 

Hist.  Societies,   Sci.  Societies  and  En- 
dowed Libraries 12  39 

Public  Libraries 44  244 

State  Libraries 2  93 

Miscellaneous   4  26 

119  1023 

It  will  be  noted  that  only  two  state  libraries  drew  books 
from  the  Library  of  Congress,  and  it  should  be  further  stated 
that  of  the  93  volumes  drawn  by  state  libraries  92  were  sent 
to  the  State  Library  of  Virginia.  It  is  interesting  also  to  ob- 
serve that  49  colleges  and  universities  borrowed  521  volumes, 
while  44  public  libraries  borrowed  244  volumes. 

No  formal  agreement  as  to  the  theory  on  which  these  inter- 
library  loans  should  rest  or  as  to  the  manner  of  actually  carry- 
ing out  that  theory  appears  to  have  been  reached.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  any  such  agreement  it  may  be  well  to  quote  the  mem- 
orandum governing  inter-library  loan  issued  by  the  librarian  of 
Congress. 

"Under  the  system  of  inter-library  loans  the  Library  of  Con- 
gress will  lend  certain  books  to  other  libraries  for  the  use  of 


INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS  4" 

investigators  engaged  in  serious  research.  The  loan  will  rest 
on  the  theory  o£  a  special  service  to  scholarship  which  it  is  not 
within  the  power  or  duty  of  the  local  library  to  render.  Its 
purpose  is  to  aid  research  calculated  to  advance  the  boundaries 
of  knowledge,  by  the  loan  of  unusual  books  not  readily  acces- 
sible elsewhere. 

"The  material  lent  cannot  include,  therefore,  books  that  should 
be  in  a  local  library,  or  that  can  be  borrowed  from  a  library 
(such  as  a  state  library)  having  a  particular  duty  to  the  com- 
munity from  which  the  application  comes;  nor  books  that  are 
inexpensive  and  can  easily  be  procured;  nor  books  for  the  gen- 
eral reader,  mere  text-books,  or  popular  manuals;  nor  books 
where  the  purpose  is  ordinary  student  or  thesis  work,  or  for 
mere  self-instruction. 

"Nor  can  it  include  material  which  is  in  constant  use  at 
Washington,  or  whose  loan  would  be  an  inconvenience  to  Con- 
gress, or  to  the  executive  departments  of  the  government,  or 
to  reference  readers  in  the  Library  of  Congress. 

"Genealogies  and  local  histories  are  not  available  for  loan, 
nor  are  newspapers,  for  they  form  part  of  a  consecutive  his- 
torical record  which  the  Library  of  Congress  is  expected  to 
retain  and  preserve.  And  only  for  very  serious  research  can 
the  privilege  be  extended  to  include  volumes  of  periodicals. 

"A  library  in  borrowing  a  book  is  understood  to  hold  itself 
responsible  for  the  safekeeping  and  return  of  the  book  at  the 
expiration  of  ten  days  from  its  receipt.  An  extension  of  the 
period  of  loan  is  granted,  upon  request,  whenever  feasible. 

"All  expenses  of  carriage  are  to  be  met  by  the  borrowing 
library. 

"Books  will  be  forwarded  by  express  (charges  collect)  when- 
ever this  conveyance  is  deemed  necessary  for  their  safety  Cer- 
tain books,  however,  can  be  sent  by  mail,  but  it  will  be  neces- 
sary for  the  borrowing  library  to  remit  in  advance  a  sum  suf- 
ficient to  cover  the  postal  charges,  including  registry  fee. 

"The  Library  of  Congress  has  no  fund  from  which  the 
charges  of  carnage  can  be  prepaid" 

Such  are  the  principles  on  which  the  Library  of  Congress 
endeavors  to  act  in  meeting  requests  for  the  loan  of  books 
It  may  be  worth  while  to  dwell  a  moment  on  the  fundamental 
theory  underlying  these  regulations.  This  is  that  the  inter- 


412  WILLIAM  WARNER  BISHOP 

library  loan  rests  on  a  service  rendered  to  productive  scholar- 
ship. To  meet  the  needs  of  scholars  working  toward  the  en- 
largement of  the  boundaries  of  knowledge  is  a  duty  laid  up  to 
the  national  library.  That  duty  demands  that  the  risk  of  losing 
precious  material  and  of  inconveniencing  an  investigator  at 
Washington  shall  be  incurred.  We  take  the  risk  willingly  and 
often.  But  we  feel  that  we  should  not  be  asked  to  take  it 
lightly  or  for  merely  curious  readers. 

In  fact  any  library  lending  books  to  other  libraries  is  obliged 
to  depend  almost  wholly  on  the  good  faith  and  professional 
courtesy  of  the  librarian  making  the  request.  We  cannot  go 
behind  the  requests,  but  we  are  occasionally  made  uncomfort- 
able by  the  discovery  of  carelessness  or  misunderstanding  on 
the  part  of  the  librarian  who  has  borrowed  books  from  us.  Re- 
cently certain  books  were  returned  with  a  most  kindly  note  o£ 
appreciation  from  a  college  professor,  expressing  the  gratitude 
of  his  entire  class,  who  had  made  extensive  reference  use  of 
the  books  during  some  months!  The  librarian  of  that  college 
can  hardly  expect  an  assent  to  his  next  attempt  to  furnish  a 
class  with  collateral  reading!  A  similar  case  was  discovered 
accidentally  a  short  while  since,  when  a  college  librarian  in  reply 
to  a  request  for  the  return  of  a  book  said  that  all  of  Professor 
X/s  class  had  not  yet  read  the  book,  and  it  would  work  hard- 
ship on  the  members  who  had  not  read  it  if  it  were  returned 
speedily. 

Despite  these  examples  of  occasional  misunderstandings  of 
the  purpose  of  inter-library  loan  we  are  on  the  whole  impressed 
with  the  comparative  infrequency  of  such  inadmissable  borrow- 
ings and  attempts  to  borrow.  Most  of  the  requests  that  reach 
us  are  perfectly  reasonable. 

In  arriving  at  a  decision  to  lend  or  refuse  a  book  we  are 
guided  by  certain  considerations  which  may  differ  with  dif- 
ferent applications.  A  request  which  would  be  perhaps  un- 
reasonable coming  from  a  library  within  half-an-hour's  ride 
of  New  York,  Boston,  or  Chicago,  might  appear  very  reason- 
able coming  from  Florida,  or  Arkansas,  or  Wyoming.  If  there 
are  no  great  "book  centers"  near  the  library,  it  is  not  at  all 
improper  to  lend  a  book  which  ought  not  to  be  sent  to  a  place 
within  easy  reach  of  huge  collections.  Moreover,  in  cases  where 
the  state  library  is  large  and  is  known  to  lend  very  freely  to 


INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS  413 

libraries  whithin  the  state  we  frequently  refer  the  applicant  to 
his  state  library;  generally  with  satisfactory  results 

Perhaps  librarians  are  sometimes  puzzled  at  unexpected  re- 
fusals of  requests  which  seem  wholly  appropriate  These  often 
arise  from  the  fact  that  some  scholar  is  using  the  books  in  the 
Library  of  Congress,  or  from  the  imminence  of  a  question  in 
Congress,  in  the  study  of  which  the  book  is  sure  to  be  sought 
by  Congressmen  A  topic  which  interests  professors  of  mathe- 
matics in  a  university  is  likely  to  be  under  investigation  by  some 
of  the  mathematicians  in  the  government  sen  ice  in  Washing- 
ton, for  instance  Documents  of  foreign  governments  on  inland 
waterways  ha\e  been  sought  from  half  a  dozen  conflicting 
sources  this  past  summer  and  have  been  in  great  demand  by 
readers  at  the  library.  There  is,  from  time  to  time,  not  un- 
naturally when  one  comes  to  think  of  it,  a  "ran"  on  certain 
classes  of  decidedly  recondite  books,  and  our  single  copy  does 
not  prove  adequate  to  supply  the  demands 

Most  refusals  to  lend  books,  however,  come  from  an  in- 
adequate understanding  of  the  regulations  on  the  part  of  the 
librarian  seeking  the  book  Every  request  is  given  sympathetic 
attention,  and  the  regulations  are  not  infrequently  stretched— 
especially  when  more  than  one  copy  of  the  book  is  in  the  library. 

Most  failures  to  get  the  books  wanted  come  from  the  fact 
that  we  do  not  have  them  The  Library  of  Congress  owns 
over  a  million  and  a  half  printed  books  and  pamphlets,  but  even 
so  it  does  not  own  nearly  all  the  books  sought  here.  Some 
libraries  endeavor  to  ascertain  whether  the  book  is  in  the  Library 
of  Congress  by  consulting  the  printed  cards  in  the  various  de- 
positories, and  once  in  a.  while  either  give  the  call  number  or 
state  that  the  book  was  copyrighted  and  hence  is  presumably 
in  the  library.  The  latter  fact  is  not  conclusive  evidence  that 
a  book  is  in  the  library.  The  files  of  copyrighted  books  printed 
before  1870  are  by  no  means  complete.  Moreover,  publishers 
after  1870  not  infrequently  neglected  to  complete  their  copy- 
right claim  by  filing  two  copies  of  a  book  for  which  entry  had 
been  made.  The  books  none  the  less  bear  the  copyright  claim 
on  the  back  of  the  title-page.  And  then  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  books  wear  out  in  this  library  as  in  others,  and  are  once 
in  a  while  lost  or  destroyed. 

The  per  cent,  of  cases  in  which  the  books  asked  for  cannot 


4i4  WILLIAM  WARNER  BISHOP 

be  sent  is  about  38  per  cent  This  is  rather  a  low  average  when 
the  various  possible  causes  for  refusal  are  considered 

The  inter-library  loan  is  an  expensive  process  It  requires 
at  its  lo\vest  terms  (i)  a  letter  of  request;  (2)  a  search  for  the 
book;  (3)  a  special  charge  of  some  sort;  (4)  wrapping  and 
directing,  (5)  shipping  by  express  or  registered  mail;  (6) 
acknowledgment  of  receipt  at  the  borrowing  library;  (7)  ad- 
vice of  return  to  the  owning  library,  (8)  wrapping  and  direct- 
ing when  ready  for  return;  (9)  shipment;  (10)  discharge,  (n) 
acknowledgment  of  receipt.  In  addition  there  is,  at  least  in  the 
Library  of  Congress,  the  time  spent  in  considering  whether  the 
particular  work  requested  may  be  properly  lent;  in  a  university 
library  this  consideration  may  consume  even  more  time  than  in 
other  libraries  if  the  consent  of  the  director  of  a  seminar  must 
be  obtained  Only  three  of  these  various  steps — the  search  for 
the  book  and  the  charging  and  discharging — are  needed  in  the 
case  of  books  ordinarily  sought  by  readers  in  the  library.  When 
in  addition  there  arises  the  necessity  of  further  correspondence, 
one  wonders  whether  the  time  spent  in  borrowing  and  lending 
between  libraries  does  not  represent  in  money  value  a  good 
many  times  the  value  of  the  book  lent  Unfortunately  the  money 
value  of  time  expended  cannot  always  be  applied  to  the  purchase 
of  books.  In  all  this  reckoning  nothing  has  been  said  of  the 
cost  of  carriage,  which  is  frequently  excessive.  Consideration 
of  this  factor  should,  it  would  seem,  lead  to  a  certain  restraint 
in  resorting  to  inter-library  loans.  The  expense  to  the  lending 
library  is  frequently  as  great,  at  least,  as  the  cost  of  transpor- 
tation borne  by  the  borrowing  institutions,  even  though  that  ex- 
pense goes  into  the  general  account  for  library  service.  Despite 
a  general  willingness  to  be  of  service,  a  willingness  which  I 
can  assure  you,  is  nowhere  more  sincere  than  in  the  Library  of 
Congress,  it  is  only  fair  to  expect  that  only  in  cases  of  real  im- 
portance shall  there  be  a  resort  to  the  device  of  inter-library 
loans 

A  word  also  as  to  the  cost  of  carriage*  This  is  at  present 
so  high,  whether  the  means  be  mail  or  express,  that  we  may 
properly  set  it  down  as  the  chief  obstacle  to  the  free  develop- 
ment of  inter-library  loans  The  franking  privilege,  so  gen- 
erally used  in  European  countries,  is  not  permitted  in  the  United 
States  to  even  the  national  library  for  this  purpose.  The  post- 


INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS  415 

office  is  run  at  a  heavy  annual  loss,  and  Congress  has  not  been 
friendly  to  the  idea  of  book  post.  The  "book  express"  rates 
of  certain  of  the  great  express  companies  offer  the  best  terms 
for  transportation  within  a  limited  area. 

Last  spring  the  librarian  of  Harvard  set  forth  in  new  form 
and  with  great  force  a  plea  for  a  central  storage  library  and 
bureau  of  information  for  college  libraries.  The  New  England 
college  librarians  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the  feasi- 
bility of  the  project.  Mr  Lane  read  at  the  College  and  Ref- 
erence Section  of  the  American  Library  Association  at  Bretton 
Woods  a  paper  which  was  in  effect  a  preliminary  report  of  that 
committee  His  views  roused  much  discussion  and  were  re- 
ceived with  enthusiasm,  and  the  section  passed  resolutions  re- 
questing the  Council  to  create  a  committee  of  the  American 
Library  Association  to  consider  the  subject 

My  position  as  chairman  of  that  section  prevented  me  from 
entering  on  the  discussion  at  that  time.  But  now  I  desire  to 
submit  a  few  points  in  opposition  to  any  such  scheme  for  a 
lending  library  organized  under  the  American  Library  Associa- 
tion. In  the  first  place,  the  national  library  already  lends  very 
freely,  and  is  prepared  to  continue  this  policy.  It  does  not  re- 
fuse to  lend  volumes  in  sets  of  transactions,  or  other  serials. 
It  has  placed  no  limit  on  the  number  of  volumes  it  will  lend 
to  one  institution  at  one  time.  It  has  duplicates  of  many  im- 
portant sets  and  will  doubtless  acquire  more,  if  need  develops 
for  them.  There  is  no  reason  to  expect  that  its  purchases  will 
grow  less — in  fact  the  operation  of  the  new  copyright  law, 
with  its  provisions  for  foreign  publishers,  is  likely 
to  free  large  sums  now  devoted  to  current  foreign  works  for 
the  purchase  of  rarer  and  older  works.  No  library  created 
out  of  hand  could  for  years  to  come  supply  anything  like  the 
number  of  books  wanted  as  inter-library  loans  which  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress  can  supply.  Its  catalogs  are  on  file  in  thirty- 
eight  depositories,  and  are  daily  approaching  a  state  of  com- 
pleteness in  representing  the  books  actually  on  its  shelves.  For 
several  years  all  books  asked  of  us  in  vain  on  inter-library 
loans  which  seem  to  fall  within  the  scope  of  the  collections 
and  the  policy  of  purchase  have  been  noted  and  reported  to  the 
librarian,  and  most  of  them  have  been  purchased.  This  prac- 
tice could  easily  be  enlarged.  On  the  lending  side  there  seems 


416  WILLIAM  WARNER  BISHOP 

already  at  hand  and  in  operation  the  necessary  machinery  in 
connection  with  the  largest  collection  of  books  in  the  country. 

The  storage  project  may  be  discussed  from  our  present  con- 
sideration as  being  a  local  problem  to  be  met  by  local  co- 
operation both  in  the  matter  of  purchase  and  housing.  Certainly 
a  centrally  located  storage  library  for  the  surplus  stock  of  the 
entire  country  is  not  seriously  thought  of  by  any  one. 

Much  more  vital  than  either  the  machinery  of  loan  or  the 
storage  of  comparatively  valueless  stock  are  the  questions  of 
co-operation  (or  co-ordination,  call  it  what  3rou  will')  in  pur- 
chasing and  m  suppling  information  No  one  has  ever — to  my 
knowledge — squarely  met  Dr.  Richardson's  vigorous  statement 
at  Atlanta  of  the  folly  of  extensive  duplication  of  costly  sets  of 
transactions  and  periodicals.  The  committee  can  perform  no 
more  valuable  and  efficient  service  than  the  organization  of  the 
purchase  of  this  sort  of  books  Here  is  a  work  truly  national 
in  scope  and  vastly  important  in  the  saving  of  money  and  time. 
To  insure  a  proper  supply  of  the  needed  sets  in  the  proper 
centers,  always  bearing  in  mind  the  operation  of  the  inter- 
library  loan  as  a  basis  would  advance  the  opportunities  for 
scholarly  work  in  America  as  few  other  efforts  could. 

And  last  of  all  the  central  bureau  of  information.  We  have 
the  beginnings  of  it  in  Washington.  The  Library  of  Congress 
possesses  an  extremely  good  collection  of  the  printed  catalogs 
of  American  libraries.  It  receives  and  files  printed  cards  fur- 
nished by  the  John  Crerar  Library,  Columbia  University,  Bos- 
ton Public  Library,  New  York  Public  Library,  District  of  Co- 
lumbia Public  Library,  the  Departments  of  Agriculture,  and 
War,  the  Geological  Survey,  and  Bureau  of  Education.  As 
these  progress  and  others  are  added  to  them  the  materials  for 
locating  a  desired  book  are  fairly  complete.  We  are  always 
ready  to  try  to  do  this  for  any  library  applying  to  us.  We  are 
doing  it  now  with  some  frequency,  and  shall  welcome  a  growth 
in  the  requests  of  this  nature.  The  same  thing  might  be  done 
at  American  Library  Association  headquarters,  but  why  attempt 
it? 

Can  we  go  further  than  the  effort  to  locate  a  book  not  found 
in  the  Library  of  Congress  ?  Can  we  undertake  to  indicate  the 
sources  of  information  on  a  topic  submitted?  In  other  words, 
can  we  do  reference  work  by  mail?  This  is  a  fair  query,  but 


INTER-LIBRARY  LOANS  41? 

difficult  to  answer.  I  may  point  out  that  we  already  do  this  for 
numerous  correspondents,  chiefly  casual  inquirers.  We  are  con- 
stantly furnishing  references  to  Congressmen.  But  I  hesitate 
to  open  the  flood-gates  of  inquiry,  or  even  to  point  out  that 
there  is  a  considerable  seepage  already.  Nevertheless,  I  con- 
clude this  paper  by  an  extract  from  our  "Rules  and  practice." 
"A  service  of  the  Library  distinct  from  that  involved  in  the 
actual  loan  of  books  is  that  performed  by  answer  to  inquiry- 
through  correspondence.  The  character  of  the  questions  which 
the  library  answers  most  willingly  is  noted  below: 

1.  As  to  its  possession  of  a  particular  book. 

2.  As  to  the  existing  bibliographies  on  a  particular  subject 

3.  As  to  the  most  useful  existing  authorities  on  a  particular 
subject  and  where  they  may  be  available. 

4.  As  to  the  author  of  a  book  by  a  known  title. 

5.  As  to  the  date,  price,  and  probable  present  cost  of  a 
specified  book. 

6.  For  the  source  of  a  particular  quotation,  if  ascertainable 
by  ready  reference. 

7  (If  not  requiring  elaborate  research)  for  other  particular 
facts  in  literature  and  history;  in  the  organization  or  operations 
of  the  Federal  Government. 

8.  (Where  of  moderate  extent)  for  an  extract  from  a  book 
in  its  possession. 

Its  ability  to  make  extracts  or  to  undertake  research  (other 
than  purely  bibliographic)  is  necessarily  limited,  and  its  usual 
course  is  to  refer  the  inquirer  to  the  sources  and  recommend 
to  him  a  person  to  undertake  the  search  or  make  the  extract 
at  his  expense.  Especially  must  it  do  this  where  the  inquiry 
involves  genealogical  research  beyond  a  single  reference. 

Its  willingness  to  compile  lists  of  authorities  has  led  to 
demands  which  cannot  be  readily  met,  particularly  from  stu- 
dents in  secondary  schools  or  colleges.  The  Library  now  re- 
quests such  students  to  make  their  inquiries  through  the  in- 
stitution in  which  they  are  studying,  as  in  this  way  only  can 
the  Library  of  Congress  co-operate  intelligently  with  the  col- 
lege library." 

If  then  the  Library  of  Congress  will  try  to  do  these  things 
for  individuals  and  for  libraries,  is  it  not  on  the  way  toward 
becoming  a  national  lending  library  and  bureau  of  information — 
for  libraries? 


LIBRARY  WORK  WITH  THE  BLIND 

Books  for  the  blind  were  originally  largely  issued  by 
schools  for  the  blind,  often  under  denominational  con- 
trol. The  result  was  that  most  books  available  in  blind 
type  were  religious  in  tendency.  The  largest  collec- 
tions of  books  for  the  blind  have  been  those  in  connec- 
tion with  institutions  working  with  the  blind,  or  with 
societies  formed  in  connection  with  similar  work. 

Formerly  the  idea  was  prevalent  that  the  blind  must 
be  treated  as  a  dependent  class,  and  that  departments 
for  the  blind  were  charitable  institutions.  Many  libra- 
ries have  now  come  to  regard  this  as  a  mistake,  and  al- 
though not  directly  fostering  such  work,  nevertheless 
operate  through  some  adjunct  society  for  the  promotion 
of  the  interests  of  the  blind. 

Various  classes  whose  needs  are  not  adequately  met 
by  the  public  schools  or  are  not  being  met  at  all,  are  be- 
ing helped  in  a  practical  way  by  libraries.  In  this  class 
may  be  placed  the  blind,  particularly  a  large  percentge 
who  have  lost  their  sight  after  maturity  and  are  not  eli- 
gible for  instruction  in  the  schools.  In  order  to  take 
care  of  these,  many  libraries  include  in  the  staff  a  tea- 
cher whose  duty  it  is  to  seek  out  uninstructed  persons 
and  teach  them  to  read,  if  they  so  desire. 

Books  in  American  public  libraries  are  chiefly  in  the 
European  Braille,  New  York  point,  and  American 
Braille  systems  which  are  point  systems— and  the  Boston 
letter  and  Moon  type — line  systems. 

A  special  regulation  of  the  postal  service  allows 
books  for  the  blind  to  be  carried  free  of  postage. 


BOOKS  FOR  THE  BLIND 

The  librarian  of  the  Detroit  Public  Library,  Henry 
M.  Utley,  prepared  the  following  paper  on  the  history 
of  reading  for  the  blind,  and  described  the  different  kinds 
of  blind  type  then  in  use,  in  1898.  It  was  read  before  the 
A.L.A.  Conference  at  Chautauqua,  July  8,  1898. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Utley  appears  in  Vol- 
ume 3  of  this  series. 

The  fact  that  there  are  several  distinct  forms  of  types  used 
in  printing  books  for  the  blind  complicates  somewhat  the  ques- 
tion of  supplying  them  for  use  in  public  libraries.  Ordinarily 
a  library  which  undertakes  to  provide  a  supply  of  such  Looks 
cannot  do  so  in  each  of  the  several  systems  of  print,  and  so  it  is 
certain  to  disappoint  some  readers.  It  is  unfortunate,  though 
not  surprising,  that  there  should  be  a  variety  of  forms  of  print- 
ing. These  have  been  invented  independently  by  persons  who 
have  become  intensely  interested  in  the  matter.  All  the  sys- 
tems in  use  in  this  country  have  been  developed  during  the  cur- 
rent century.  In  fact,  most  of  them  have  reached  their  present 
stage  in  quite  recent  years.  They  have  been  undergoing  a  pro- 
cess of  evolution.  They  are  now  being  tested  on  an  extended 
scale  and  are  likely  to  illustrate  again  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
We  may  hope  that  within  the  next  25  years  educators  will  have 
settled  down  upon  the  one  thought  to  be  on  the  whole  best 
adapted  to  the  purpose,  and  then  the  present  complication  will 
have  disappeared.  What  the  winning  system  will  be  is  a  matter 
of  opinion.  It  is  a  question  which  it  is  not  worth  our  while  to 
discuss  here. 

The  pioneer  of  these  various  forms  of  printing  was  Valentin 
Hauy,  who  in  1786  issued  in  Paris  his  first  book  embossed  with 
letters  closely  resembling  the  beautiful  legal  manuscript  of  the 
time.  The  book  was  produced  with  very  great  labor,  the  printed 
pages  being  gummed  together  back  to  back.  Hauy  admits  thai 
he  had  seen  a  letter  printed  by  Mile.  Paradies  from  type  made 


422  HENRY  MUNSON  UTLEY 

for  her  by  one  Kempellen,  but  no  one  before  that  time  had  ever 
tried  seriously  to  make  printing  available  for  the  blind.*  Fol- 
lowing this  achievement  of  Hauy  various  attempts  at  print- 
ing \\ere  made,  both  in  England  and  in  this  country,  notably 
at  the  Pennsylvania  Institution  for  the  Blind,  with  types  mod- 
elled somewhat  after  the  same  forms.  In  this  latter  institu- 
tion the  type  ultimately  assumed  almost  exactly  the  form  of 
Roman  capitals.  In  Great  Britain  an  alphabetic  system  was  de- 
vised by  James  Gall,  a  printer  of  Edinburgh,  using  only  the  lower- 
case letters  of  the  Roman  alphabet,  modifying  the  outlines 
slightly  into  angles.  This  was  later  superseded  by  the  alphabet 
invented  by  William  Moon.  His  letters  were  for  the  most 
part  arbitrary  symbols,  using  the  Roman  letters  as  bases.  A 
considerable  number  of  books  were  printed  in  the  Moon  type, 
and  it  is  used  to  this  day  quite  extensively  in  England.  Dr.  S. 
G,  Howe,  of  Boston,  devised  an  alphabet  about  50  years  ago, 
using  both  Roman  capitals  and  lower  case,  modified  into  slightly 
angular  shape  This  form  of  printing  has  been  the  most  ex- 
tensively used  of  any  in  this  country  in  recent  years,  and  is  quite 
largely  employed  at  the  present  time.  The  Friedlander  system 
first  used  in  the  Pennsylvania  Institution  was  subsequently 
modified  so  as  to  include  both  capitals  and  lower  case,  and  a 
large  number  of  books  have  been  printed  in  Philadelphia  in  this 
form  of  type. 

There  are  several  serious  objections  to  these  systems  of  em- 
bossed letters,  whether  of  the  Moon  type  or  the  Boston  or  Phila- 
delphia forms.  They  occupy  so  much  space  that  the  volumes 
produced  are  necessarily  exceedingly  bulky  Of  course,  the 
printing  can  be  upon  one  side  of  the  page  only;  the  letters  must 
be  large  and  distinct  from  each  other.  Some  idea  of  the  char- 
acter of  this  printing  may  be  gathered  in  the  fact  that  the  whole 
Bible  printed  in  the  Moon  type  makes  65  thick  folio  volumes. 
Then,  it  is  found  that  the  reading  of  this  print  is  exceedingly 
slow  and  tedious,  even  in  the  case  of  experts.  The  fingers 
must  be  passed  entirely  over  each  letter  to  get  its  exact  shape, 
and  this  requires  time.  Persons  whose  fingers  have  become 
calloused  with  work  or  with  age  make  out  the  letters  with  great 
difficulty,  if  at  all.  The  books  are  printed  upon  a  light  manila 
paper,  which  is  strong  and  presents  a  hard  surface  But  with 
much  reading  the  letters  become  worn  down  so  as  to  be  illegible 

*Mary  C.  Jones  in  Scribner's  Magazine,  12:375. 


BOOKS   FOR   THE   BLIND  423 

A  most  serious  objection  to  these  systems  o£  Roman  letters 
or  variations  of  them  is  that  they  cannot  be  written  by  blind 
persons.  Mile.  Mulot,  o£  l'£cole  des  Jetines  Aveugles,  of  An- 
gers, France,  has,  however,  recently  devised  a  frame  or  stylo- 
graphic  guide,  by  means  of  which  a  blind  person  can  write  upon 
a  sheet  of  common  note  paper,  printing  the  ordinary  form  of 
letter.  The  paper  to  be  written  upon  is  placed  upon  a  sheet  of 
blotting  paper  with  a  sheet  of  carbon  paper  between.  The  stylus 
brings  the  letters  out  in  relief  upon  the  note  paper,  so  that  they 
can  be  easily  read  by  the  blind;  they  are  also  slightly  colored 
by  the  carbon  paper,  and  so  are  easily  read  by  the  eye.  This 
system  is  claimed  to  have  great  advantage  over  any  system 
of  arbitrary  characters  which  can  only  be  read  by  those  who  have 
learned  them.  A  writer  in  the  Catholic  World  of  April,  1895, 
laments  that  this  system  has  not  received  recognition  from  teachers 
of  the  blind  in  France,  which  neglect  he  attributes  io 
jealousy.  In  fact,  the  element  of  jealousy  appears  to  have  en- 
tered largely  into  the  adoption  and  rejection  of  the  several  sys- 
tems. Even  Dr.  Howe  could  see  nothing  of  good  in  any  sys- 
tem but  his  own.  Apparently  the  battle  of  the  systems  is  still 
on,  and  this  must  be  taken  into  the  account  by  any  library  which 
is  considering  the  question  of  supplying  books  for  the  blind 

The  systems  which  now  meet  with  most  favor  among  edu- 
cators of  the  blind  in  this  country  are  the  Braille  and  the  New 
York  point.  The  former  is  not  exactly  the  system  proposed 
by  Louis  Braille,  about  1836,  but  is  a  modification  of  it,  as  his 
was  an  adaptation  of  a  system  invented  by  Charles  Barbier  in 
1819.  The  principle,  however,  remains  the  same  through  all 
ihe  modifications.  This  consists  of  combinations  of  six  dots 
or  points  in  two  parallel  vertical  lines  of  three  each.  These  six 
points  can  be  combined  to  give  63  different  signs,  including  ac- 
cents, punctuation,  figures,  algebraic  signs,  musical  notation,  etc. 
After  the  26  letters  of  our  alphabet  have  been  used  this  leaves 
a  margin  for  a  number  of  phonetic  word  or  syllable  signs  of 
most  frequent  use.  The  New  York  point,  so  called,  is  the  inven- 
tion of  Mr.  William  B.  Wait,  superintendent  of  the  New  York 
Institution  for  the  Blind,  who,  some  30  years  ago,  adopted  the 
principles  of  the  Braille  point  He  discarded,  however,  the  fixed 
cell  and  placed  his  six  points  in  two  horizontal,  instead  of  verti- 
cal lines.  The  advantage  of  this  is  found  in  a  combination  of  cells 
as  well  as  points,  and  it  is  claimed  also  a  saving  of  space,  though 
this  latter  claim  is  not  universally  conceded. 


424  HENRY  MUNSON  UTLEY 

The  space  gained  in  printing  in  points  as  against  the  line  let- 
ter is  enormous.  Although  the  printing  can  be  upon  one  side 
of  the  leaf  only,  one  of  Shakespeare's  plays  is  given  complete 
in  an  oblong  I2mo  about  3  inches  thick.  The  printing  is  upon 
bond  paper  of  fine  texture  and  stands  use  for  a  very  long  time 
without  becoming  defaced.  The  paper  is  not  perforated,  but 
is  so  indented  as  to  bring  out  the  points  in  sharp  relief.  On 
account  of  the  embossed  surfaces  it  is  necessary  to  fill  out  the 
back  of  the  book  with  stubs.  This  makes  the  book  quite  thick 
and  apparently  bulky,  but  it  is  very  light  and  not  at  all  trouble- 
some to  hold  in  the  hand.  The  ease  and  rapidity  with  which 
point  print  can  be  read  are  greatly  in  its  favor  The  points  are 
so  distinct  that  the  finger  covers  a  whole  character  at  once  and 
recognizes  it  immediately.  One  familiar  with  the  letters  can 
read  almost  as  rapidly  as  common  print  is  read  with  the  eye. 
I  personally  know  of  a  case  in  which  a  man  upwards  of  60 
years  of  age,  becoming  entirely  blind  within  the  last  three  years 
from  the  effects  of  la  grippe,  learned  the  Braille  alphabet  within 
a  few  days  and  is  now  able  to  read  books  printed  in  that  type 
with  tolerable  fluency.  He  had  been  a  workingman  all  his  life, 
and  his  hands,  hardened  with  toil,  were  far  from  sensitive,  as 
might  be  expected  in  one  of  his  age.  He  could  make  out  nothing 
whatever  of  books  printed  in  the  line  letter. 

A  library  contemplating  supplying  books  for  blind  readers 
is  not  only  confronted  with  the  serious  problem  of  the  system, 
or  systems,  of  print  which  it  will  furnish,  but  it  should  also 
carefully  study  the  question  of  the  probable  demand  for  such 
books.  The  United  States  census  of  1890  gives  the  average 
number  of  blind  persons  of  all  ages  in  a  population  of  1,000,000 
for  the  whole  United  States  as  805;  for  the  North  Atlantic 
division  as  777;  and  the  North  Central  division,  as  783.  In  all 
probability  a  considerable  number  of  these  are  of  extreme  old 
age  and  so  would  never  become  readers  of  library  books.  The 
latest  census  of  Michigan  gave  the  state  a  population,  June  I, 
1894,  of  2,241,641.  Of  this  population,  1484  are  reported  blind. 
But  of  the  blind,  56  were  under  10  years  of  age  and  503  were 
over  70  years,  leaving  925  between  the  ages  of  10  and  70  years 
who  might  become  possible  readers  of  library  books.  The  same 
census  shows  86  blind  persons  between  10  and  70  years  of  age  in 
Wayne  County,  in  which  the  city  of  Detroit  is  situated. 


BOOKS  FOR  THE  BLIND  425 

In  1896  the  Detroit  Public  Library  placed  upon  its  shelves  no 
\olumes  for  the  blind.  Of  these  66  volumes,  all  printed  in  the 
Braille  type,  were  purchased  at  a  cost  of  $105.  44  volumes,  all 
in  line  letter  of  either  the  Boston  or  Philadelphia  pattern,  were 
donated  by  blind  friends.  Special  efforts  were  made  to  advertise 
the  fact  that  the  library  had  a  supply  of  books  for 'the  blind. 
The  newspapers  were  very  kind  in  this  matter,  and  through 
their  instrumentality  the  names  and  addresses  of  many  blind 
persons  were  obtained  and  personal  interviews  were  had  with 
them  No  restrictions  were  placed  on  the  use  of  the  books  and 
no  formalities  were  required.  They  were  loaned  out  upon 
cards  or  they  were  allowed  to  be  taken  without  any  security, 
and  to  be  taken  outside  the  city,  anywhere  in  the  country.  The 
Michigan  School  for  the  Blind  kindly  donated  a  number  of 
copies  of  the  Braille  alphabet  upon  separate  sheets,  and  these 
were  loaned  to  persons  who  did  not  know  that  system  and  wished 
to  learn  it  The  library  statistics  of  1897  showed  the  use  of  77 
books,  all  in  the  Braille  type  The  number  of  different  persons 
using  them  I  cannot  give  definitely,  but  certainly  it  was  less 
than  20 

My  observation  in  this  matter  has  convinced  me  that  most 
blind  persons  are  exceedingly  shy  and  sensitive,  so  far  as  their 
misfortune  is  concerned.  \Vhile  a  few  are  bold  and  appear  to 
go  about  without  much  difficulty,  most  are  quite  helpless.  Some 
one  must  lead  them,  and  a  desire  for  a  book  must  be  very  earn- 
est and  some  friend  must  be  very  self-sacrificing  to  spend  the 
time  and  take  the  trouble  to  escort  them  to  the  library  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  selection.  I  have  known  cases  where  mem- 
bers of  the  family  could  not  spare  the  time  and  kind  neighbors 
have  volunteered. 

The  taste  of  our  blind  readers  thus  far  appears  to  run  to 
poetry  and  works  which  stimulate  the  imagination.  Shake- 
speare's plays  are  always  in  demand,  and  the  poems  of  Byron, 
Longfellow,  Bryant,  and  Lowell  show  more  use  than  any  vol- 
umes of  history  or  theology.  The  blind  children,  even  those 
well  along  in  age,  seem  most  delighted  with  the  tales  from  the 
Thousand-and-one  Nights,  with  Cinderella  and  similar  liteia- 
ture,  commonly  absorbed  by  the  average  child  when  quite  young. 

In  my  opinion  a  public  library  which  has  placed  on  its  shelves 
books  for  the  blind  should  give  them  as  extended  use  as  pos- 
sible. I  should  not  hesitate  to  send  out  a  book  by  mail  to  any 


426  HENRY  MUNSON  UTLEY 

part  of  the  state,  even  i£  I  were  to  pay  the  postage  myself.  The 
books  are  not  heavy  and  if  well  wrapped  will  suffer  no  injury  in 
the  mails  One  library  might  well  supply  all  the  blind  readers 
m  a  state  or  in  a  large  section.  For  that  reason  it  will  be  wise 
for  any  library  before  entering  upon  the  project  of  buying  books 
for  the  blind  to  be  certain  that  no  other  library  in  its  vicinity 
is  already  supplying  the  whole  demand.  This  work  might  well 
be  handled  by  a  state  library,  especially  by  one  which  has  an  or- 
ganized system  of  traveling  libraries 


BOOKS  AND  LIBRARIES  FOR  THE  BLIND 

Dr.  Robert  C.  Moon,  secretary  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Home  Teaching  Society  and  Free  Circulating  Library 
for  the  Blind  at  the  time  that  he  prepared  the  following 
report,  was  a  son  of  Dr.  William  Moon,  of  Brighton, 
England,  an  English  teacher  and  inventor  of  the  "Moon 
type/'  a  modification  of  the  Roman  alphabet  legible  to 
those  whose  fingers  are  not  sensitive  enough  to  read  a 
"point  system."  The  paper  was  read  before  the  Penn- 
sylvania Library  Club  and  New  Jersey  Library  Associa- 
tion at  Atlantic  City,  N.J.,  April  1,  1905. 

The  subject  of  "books  and  libraries  for  the  blind"  is  inter- 
esting and  engaging  the  attention  of  librarians  more  to-day  than 
at  any  previous  time,  because  it  has  been  satisfactorily  shown 
that  they  can  extend  the  usefulness  of  their  libraries  by  enrolling 
blind  persons  as  readers,  and  providing  suitable  books  for  their 
use. 

As  the  wise  King  Solomon  has  told  us  "there  is  no  new 
thing  under  the  sun,"  it  is  possible  that  some  future  archaeologist 
may  unearth  from  the  Temple  Library  at  Nippur,  or  discover 
in  some  Egyptian  sarcophagus,  a  series  of  literary  works  speci- 
ally prepared  for  the  use  of  the  blind  in  a  prehistoric  age;  but 
to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief  the  first  successful  at- 
tempt to  emboss  books  for  the  blind  was  made  in  Paris  as  re- 
cently as  120  years  ago  (1784)  by  the  philanthropic  Valentin  Haiiy 
He  printed  his  pages  from  metal  types  consisting  of  large  and 
small  italics,  and  he  met  with  so  much  success  in  teaching  his 
first  pupil,  who  was  a  professional  beggar,  that  he  soon  had 
twenty-five  scholars,  and  developed  new  methods  of  instructing 
them  in  various  branches  of  education.  By  means  of  private 
and  municipal  assistance  he  was  able,  in  1785,  to  procure  for  his 
scholars  a  house  in  the  Rue  Notre  Dame  des  Victoires,  which 
may  justly  be  considered  the  pioneer  institution  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  blind  in  any  part  of  the  world. 


428  ROBERT  C.  MOON 

In  1821  some  of  Hauys  embossing  types  were  purchased  in 
Paris  by  Lady  Elizabeth  Lowther  for  the  use  of  her  blind  son, 
Charles,  who  afterwards  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy  as  Charles 
Hugh  Lowther  A  printing  press  was  set  up  for  him  in  Wilton 
Castle,  in  the  County  of  York,  in  England,  and  with  the  assist- 
ance of  an  intelligent  butler  he  was  able  to  prepare  a  large  num- 
ber of  embossed  books  for  his  own  use.  To  Sir  Charles  Lowther, 
undoubtedly,  belongs  the  honor  of  embossing  the  first  books  for 
the  blind  in  Great  Britain. 

Mr  Gall,  of  Edinburgh,  in  1827,  commenced  the  preparation 
of  embossed  books  in  an  angular  type,  and  ten  years  later  Mr. 
Alston,  of  Glasgow,  began  to  emboss  the  Bible  and  some  ele- 
mentary works  in  the  Roman  letter.  These  types  were,  however, 
found  to  be  too  complicated  for  the  majority  of  the  blind  to 
decipher.  Mr.  Lucas,  of  Bristol,  and  Mr.  Frere,  of  Blackheath, 
sought  to  overcome  the  difficulty  by  introducing  simpler  char- 
acters, but  as  the  one  printed  his  books  in  a  stenographic  and 
the  other  in  a  phonetic  form  both  systems  proved  to  be  unsuited 
to  the  mental  capacity  of  many — especially  those  who  were  aged 
and  nervous. 

All  these  plans  of  embossed  reading  were  in  vogue  in  the 
year  1840,  when  a  young  man,  whose  sight  had  long  been  fail- 
ing, was  suddenly  plunged  into  total  darkness  as  he  entered  into 
manhood,  and  was  preparing  to  study  for  the  ministry.  That 
young  man,  who  afterward  became  Dr.  William  Moon,  was  my 
father,  and  he  lived  in  the  town  of  Brighton,  in  the  south  of 
England.  Upon  his  becoming  blind,  he  gave  his  attention  to 
mastering  the  various  systems  of  embossed  reading  to  which 
we  have  referred,  and  having  much  spare  time  upon  his  hands, 
he  began  to  seek  out  and  teach  other  blind  persons  to  read 
But,  as  he  soon  found  difficulties  in  teaching  his  pupils,  he  de- 
vised an  easier  plan  of  reading,  which  was  readily  acquired  by 
a  lad  who  had  in  vain  endeavored  for  five  years  to  learn  by  the 
other  systems. 

This  new  type — now  known  as  the  "Moon  type" — has  an 
alphabet,  consisting  of  letters  of  very  simple  construction,  com- 
bined with  a  full  orthography.  The  characters  are  composed 
principally  of  the  Roman  letters,  in  their  original,  or  in  slightly 
modified  forms;  and  where  some  of  the  more  complex  letters 
of  the  Roman  alphabet  could  not  be  altered  with  advantage,  new 
characters  are  substituted  for  them.  The  alphabet  consists  of 


BOOKS  AND  LIBRARIES  FOR  BLIND  429 

only  nine  characters,  placed  in  various  positions.  It  is  composed 
of  the  simplest  geometrical  forms,  such  as  the  straight  line, 
the  acute  and  right  angle,  the  circle  and  the  semi-circle.  In  order 
that  the  reader  shall  not  lose  his  place,  the  first  line  is  read  from 
left  to  right,  and  the  second  from  right  to  left,  and  so  on.  The 
finger  is  guided  by  a  curved  bracket  from  the  end  of  the  line  to 
the  one  below. 

The  more  the  type  was  tried,  the  more  evident  it  became 
that  it  was  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  blind,  and  for  half  a 
century  Dr  Moon  devoted  himself  with  untiring  energy  to  the 
preparation  of  embossed  literature  in  the  English  and  many 
foreign  languages.  The  total  number  of  volumes  issued  in  this 
type,  since  the  commencement  of  the  work  in  1847,  up  to  the 
present  time  (1905),  has  been  247,000,  and  69,000  stereotyped 
plates,  made  during  that  period,  are  carefully  preserved  at  the 
Moon  Institute  for  the  Blind,  at  Brighton,  which,  since  Dr. 
Moon's  death,  has  been  conducted  by  my  sister,  Miss  Moon. 
The  literature  in  the  "Moon"  type  comprises,  in  addition  to  the 
Bible  and  several  separate  chapters  and  Psalms  in  English, 
many  volumes  of  an  educational  and  entertaining  character,  in- 
cluding biographical,  poetical,  historical  and  astronomical  works 
There  are  many  thousands  of  the  blind  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
who  are  finding  pleasure  in  reading  these  embossed  books, 
which  are  an  inexpressible  comfort  to  them  in  their  dreary  and 
lonesome  hours.  Many  of  the  readers  are  ninety  years  old,  some 
are  ninety-five,  and  a  large  proportion  of  them  had  previously 
tried,  in  vain,  to  learn  the  dotted  or  Roman  letter  systems. 

It  having  become  possible,  by  the  introduction  of  the  Moon 
type,  to  teach  the  adult  blind  to  read,  Dr.  Moon  and  a  lady 
friend,  in  1856,  organized,  in  London,  the  first  Home  Teaching 
Society  for  the  Blind,  with  a  circulating  library  of  embossed 
books  in  the  Moon  type.  A  teacher  was  employed  to  find  out 
and  instruct  the  blind  in  their  homes,  as  it  was  found  that  most 
of  the  adult  blind  shrank  from  appearing  much  in  public,  and 
but  few  have  stopped  to  realize  what  a  small  proportion  of  the 
Home  Teaching  Society  at  once  proved  to  be  a  great  success, 
and  similar  societies  were  soon  started  in  other  places.  In  vari- 
ous parts  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  America,  Australia  and 
other  countries,  there  are  at  the  present  time  about  eighty  home 
leaching  societies  and  free  lending  libraries  of  the  Moon  books : 
and  teachers  (many  of  them  blind)  are  engaged  in  visiting  the 


430  ROBERT  C.  MOON 

blind  at  their  own  homes — teaching  them  to  read  and  changing 
their  books.  An  idea  of  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the 
\\ork  effected  by  these  societies  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact 
that  the  London  Home  Teaching  Society,  founded  in  1856,  now 
(1905)  employs  14  teachers,  who  have  nearly  2000  blind  readers 
on  their  registers.  During  1902  the  teachers  in  London  paid 
36,000  visits  and  loaned  to  the  blind  33,000  volumes. 

The  public  in  general  has  but  a  vague  idea  of  the  blind  popu- 
lation, and  what  is  being  done  for  the  instruction  and  welfare 
of  that  sadly  afflicted  class.  Many  persons  know  of  the  existence 
of  schools  for  the  blind,  and  they  have  witnessed  the  wonderful 
things  which  are  being  done  for  and  by  the  blind  children.  They 
have  heard  the  children  read  and  sing;  they  have  seen  them  play- 
ing musical  instruments,  and  making  baskets  and  other  things; 
but  few  have  stopped  to  realize  what  a  small  proportion  of  the 
total  blind  population  those  children  in  the  schools  represent, 
their  number  being  only  about  4500,  whilst  there  are  in  all  80,- 
ooo  blind  persons  in  these  United  States. 

You  are  doubtless  all  familiar  with  the  four  embossed  types 
used  in  the  various  schools  for  the  blind  in  this  country  The 
first  is  the  ordinary  Roman  letter,  known  as  the  Boston  line 
type,  which  is  probably  the  most  difficult  to  decipher.  The  other 
three  are  entirely  arbitrary  in  their  character,  and  are  composed 
of  dots  or  points  arranged  in  various  ways.  They  are  the  orig- 
inal Braille,  the  American  Bradle,  and  the  New  York  point. 
Each,  has  its  advocates  and  supporters  and  they  can  generally  be 
learned  by  children  with  their  small  and  sensitive  fingers,  and 
also  by  a  certain  small  proportion  of  middle-aged  persons.  To 
those  who  can  acquire  them  it  is  an  obvious  advantage  that  for 
correspondence  and  for  educational  purposes  the  dotted  letters 
can  be  written  as  well  as  read  by  the  blind.  A  similar  ability 
to  emboss  the  Moon  type  by  hand  will,  we  trust,  soon  be  possible 
and  available  for  the  blind. 

The  schools  are  doing  most  excellent  work  for  the  blind  chil- 
dren, but  let  us  ever  bear  in  mind  that  there  are  66,000  blind 
adults,  or  82  per  cent,  of  the  blind  population  of  the  United 
States,  who  have,  in  many  instances,  become  physically  and  men- 
tally wrecked  by  accident  or  disease,  and  who  are  not  eligible 
for  reception  into  the  schools.  Their  sense  of  touch  is  generally 
so  dulled  that  they  are  unable  to  decipher  the  Roman  line  let- 
ter or  the  dotted  types  used  by  the  young;  or,  the  nervous  sys- 


BOOKS  AND  LIBRARIES  FOR  BLIND  431 

tern  has  become  so  shattered  that  they  are  unequal  to  the  task  of 
committing  to  memory  a  host  of  contradictions,  as  employed 
in  some  of  the  dotted  systems. 

It  will  especially  interest  librarians  to  hear  that  "home  teach- 
ing" has  proved  as  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  blind  of  this  coun- 
try as  to  those  in  Great  Britain. 

In  1882,  at  the  invitation  of  the  principal  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Institution  for  Instructing  the  Blind  in  Philadelphia,  my 
father  and  sister  visited  that  city,  and  soon  discovered  the  need 
for  home  teaching  of  the  blind.  They  found  in  Mr.  John  P. 
Rhoads,  the  treasurer  of  the  Pennsylvania  Bible  Society,  an  en- 
thusiastic supporter  of  the  plan.  He  formed  a  Home  Teaching 
Society  there,  and  personally  undertook  the  superintendence,  in 
the  Bible  House,  of  a  library  of  embossed  books  in  the  Moon 
type,  as  well  as  of  a  teacher  who  was  sent  to  the  homes  of  the 
blind  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  them  to  read  and  periodically 
exchanging  their  books  for  them.  Mr.  Rhoads  continued  most 
successfully  to  carry  on  the  work  for  sixteen  years,  but  in  order 
that  it  might  be  placed  upon  a  more  permanent  basis,  the  society 
was  reorganized  in  1898,  and  was  legally  incorporated  in  1901. 
Since  its  organization  the  society  has  enjoyed  the  valuable  co- 
operation of  the  trustees  and  officials  of  the  Free  Library  of 
Philadelphia,  who  have  taken  charge  of  the  library  of  embossed 
books  belonging  to  this  society  for  the  blind,  and  Mr.  John 
Thomson,  the  librarian  of  the  Free  Library,  superintends  the 
loaning  of  the  society's  books  to  the  blind  readers,  all  expenses 
connected  with  the  home  teaching  part  of  the  work,  and  the  cir- 
culation of  books  outside  of  Philadelphia,  being  paid  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Home  Teaching  Society  for  the  Blind.  It  is  im- 
portant that  I  should  here  say  that  the  society's  efforts  are  not 
by  any  means  confined  to  Philadelphia,  Constantly  the  embossed 
books  and  information  about  the  Pennsylvania  Home  Teaching 
Society  and  its  library  are  being  sent,  free  of  charge,  to  various 
parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  to  places  in  other  states  of  the  Union, 
extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  from  the  ice 
fields  of  Alaska  to  the  islands  of  the  tropics.  Among  the  readers 
are  several  deaf,  dumb  and  blind  persons,  who  have  -been 
taught  to  read  in  from  one  to  four  lessons. 

The  library  of  the  Pennsylvania  Home  Teaching  Society's 
embossed  works  will  be  found  in  the  Free  Library  of  Phila- 
delphia, where  the  books  are  kept  in  a  room  especially  set 


432  ROBERT  C  MOON 

apart  for  them  The  room  is  also  open  to  the  blind  as  a  reading 
room,  and  such  persons  are  welcome  to  the  free  use  of  the  li- 
brary Those  who  live  in  Philadelphia,  or  its  vicinity,  are  taught 
at  their  homes,  without  charge,  by  the  visitors  engaged  by  the 
society  for  that  purpose.  Those  blind  persons  who  are  able 
to  do  so  call  at,  or  send  to,  the  library  for  an  exchange  of  books. 
Those  who  cannot  do  so  have  their  books  periodically  exchanged 
by  the  visiting  teachers,  or  through  the  mails,  if  they  live  at  a 
distance.  In  addition  to  the  library  of  the  Home  Teaching  So- 
ciety, the  Free  Library  of  Philadelphia  possesses  a  library  of 
embossed  books  in  all  the  types,  so  that  the  blind  readers  can 
make  a  choice  of  books  printed  in  any  type  that  may  be  pre- 
ferred. The  total  number  of  embossed  books  in  the  library  is 
1921.  Of  these  1222  are  in  the  Moon  type;  228  in  Roman  or 
"Line;"  141  in  Original  Braille;  162  in  American  Braille;  and 
128  in  New  York  point. 

The  Pennsylvania  Home  Teaching  Society  now  employs  three 
teachers,  one  of  whom  has  only  recently  been  appointed.  The 
two  teachers  engaged  in  the  work  during  1904  had  117  new 
pupils  under  instruction  during  the  year,  and  paid  2843  visits  to 
blind  persons  in  private  houses  and  public  institutions,  for  the 
purpose  of  instructing  them  in  reading  and  furnishing  them  with 
an  exchange  of  books  When  to  the  117  referred  to  are  added 
71  names  of  persons  who  were  enrolled  during  1904  at  the  Free 
Library  of  Philadelphia  the  total  number  of  new  blind  readers 
during  the  year  is  188  After  allowing  for  those  who  have  died, 
there  are  fully  800  names  upon  the  roll  of  blind  readers.  During 
19x4  no  less  than  5284  volumes  of  embossed  books,  in  five  differ- 
ent types,  were  issued  from  the  department  for  the  blind  in  the 
Free  Library  of  Philadelphia,  1954  of  which  were  distributed 
by  our  teachers,  and  1352  were  sent  out  of  the  city  to  distant 
places  in  the  United  States,  and  even  to  blind  persons  in  the 
Philippine  Islands.  The  distribution,  according  to  types,  was 
as  follows :  Braille,  347  volumes ;  American  Braille,  416  volumes ; 
New  York  point,  172  volumes;  Line  letter,  104  voumes;  Moon 
type,  4245  volumes ;  total,  5284  volumes. 

One  of  the  memorable  features  of  the  past  year's  progress 
was  the  enactment  by  Congress  of  a  law  providing  for  free 
transporation  through  the  mails  of  embossed  reading  matter, 
when  loaned  to  the  blind.  This  concession  will  confer  a  boon 
upon  80,000  blind  persons  in  the  United  States  and  its  various 


BOOKS  AND  LIBRARIES  FOR  BLIND  433 

possessions;  and  as  this  beneficent  arrangement  becomes  more 
generally  known,  there  will  doubtless  be  an  increased  demand 
from  distant  places  for  embossed  books  from  public  libraries. 

Believing  that  a  representation  of  the  Pennsylvania  Home 
Teaching  Society  for  the  Blind  at  the  World's  Fair  in  St.  Louis 
would  be  of  great  benefit  to  the  blind  at  large,  the  society  secured 
ample  space  in  the  section  of  the  fair  devoted  to  the  blind  and 
deaf  for  an  exhibit  of  embossed  books  in  the  Moon  type,  as  well 
as  maps,  diagrams  and  pictures  in  relief,  designed  by  the  late  Dr. 
\\  ilham  Moon,  of  Brighton,  England  During  the  months  of  Sep- 
tember and  October  one  of  the  society's  blind  teachers  was  present 
at  the  exposition  to  explain  the  exhibit,  and  to  answer  the  questions 
of  inquiring  \isitors  \\ho  bad  come  from  every  state  of  the 
Union,  from  Hawaii,  the  Philippines,  Mexico,  Brazil,  Japan, 
and  many  European  countries  A  large  number  of  them  who 
had  blind  relatives  and  friends  eagerly  sought  for  information 
about  the  reading,  and  earned  away  alphabets  and  specimen 
pages  of  reading,  in  the  hope  of  being  able,  upon  returning  to 
their  homes,  to  instruct  the  blind  persons  in  whom  they  were 
interested.  It  is  most  gratifying  that  the  jurors  of  the  section 
devoted  to  the  education  of  the  blind  at  the  World's  Fair 
awarded  a  gold  medal  to  the  Pennsylvania  Home  Teaching  So- 
ciety for  its  interesting  and  attractive  exhibit. 

Although  I  have  but  incidentally  referred  to  the  Braille  and 
other  dotted  systems,  I  would  not  wish  to  convey  the  idea  that 
I  do  not  fully  appreciate  them,  for  my  admiration  for  the  French 
Braille  type  was  aroused  upon  first  seeing  it  in  Paris  nearly  forty 
years  ago.  It  was  introduced  by  Louis  Braille,  in  1829,  after  he 
had  modified  and  developed  it  from  a  dotted  plan  of  M.  Bar- 
bier,  a  French  artillery  officer.  Louis  Braille's  system  was,  How- 
ever, not  officially  adopted  at  the  Paris  School  for  the  Blind,  of 
which  he  was  a  professor,  until  1854. 

As  a  rule,  it  is  not  advisable,  at  first,  to  attempt  to  teach 
adults  to  read  by  the  Braille  method,  as  we  have  known  too 
many  cases  where  it  has  proved  a  failure;  but  several  intelligent 
adults,  who  have  had  the  sense  of  touch  cultivated  by  the  use 
of  the  Moon  type,  have  afterward  learned  a  dotted  system.  Dr. 
Armitage,  in  his  work  on  the  "Education  of  the  blind"  (1886), 
has  remarked  that  "it  is  a  curious  and  instructive  fact  that  the 
two  systems  which  are  now  most  in  favor  with  the  blind  them- 
selves, and  which  have  most  vitality  in  them,  are  due  to  two 


434  ROBERT  C.  MOON 

blind  men,  M  Braille  and  Dr.  Moon "  Dr.  Moon  himself  said  • 
"God  gave  me  blindness  as  a  talent  to  be  used  for  His  glory. 
Without  blindness  I  never  should  have  been  able  to  see  the  needs 
of  the  blind." 

Many  years  ago  my  father  advocated  the  placing  of  books 
for  the  blind  in  public  libraries,  although  it  seemed  at  that  time 
a  necessity  that  each  home  teaching  society  should  commence 
operations  with  its  own  library.  Most  of  the  home  teaching 
societies  in  Great  Bntam  still  have  their  separate  libraries,  the 
one  in  London  having  fourteen,  located  in  various  districts  of 
the  vast  metropolis,  but  at  least  sixteen  public  libraries  in  Great 
Britain  have  departments  devoted  to  books  for  the  blind  In 
some  cities  the  home  teaching  societies  have  transferred  their 
libraries  of  books  to  the  public  libraries,  with  much  advantage  to 
all  concerned.  Such  has  been  notably  the  case  in  Liverpool, 
Edinburgh  and  Brighton. 

In  the  United  States  I  believe  the  Boston  Public  Library  was 
the  first  public  library  to  place  books  for  the  blind  upon  its 
shelves,  for  I  find  that  in  1868  Mr.  George  Ticknell  presented 
to  the  library  $36  to  be  expended  for  the  purchase  of  embossed 
books  for  the  use  of  blind  citizens ;  in  1882  it  had  gifts  of  books 
from  Mr.  C.  J.  Jennett,  and  from  Mr.  Samuel  Gurney  through 
Dr.  William  Moon,  and  in  1893  the  Perkins  Institution  donated 
some  more  books.  At  present  there  are  690  volumes  in  the 
library,  divided  as  follows:  400  Moon  type;  200  Boston  type; 
and  90  American  Braille. 

There  are  now  about  40  public  libraries  in  the  United  States 
which  possess  books  for  the  blind.  Some  have  a  goodly  num- 
ber in  a  variety  of  types,  but  most  of  them  have,  as  yet,  but  few, 
and  they  are  confined  to  the  Line,  or  one  or  other  of  the  dotted 
types. 

In  1895  the  New  York  Free  Circulating  Library  for  the 
Blind,  at  121  West  gist  stieet,  New  York  City,  was  founded 
by  Mr.  Richard  Ferry,  and  until  1898  the  collection  of  books 
consisted  almost  exclusively  of  those  in  New  York  point.  In 
that  year,  however,  a  complete  set  of  books  in  the  Moon  type  was 
added  and  a  home  teacher  for  the  blind  was  engaged.  In  1903 
the  library  was  consolidated  with  the  New  York  Public  Library, 
being  maintained  in  its  St.  Agnes  Branch,  and  under  such  in- 
corporation and  auspices  its  continued  usefulness  is  undoubtedly 
assured.  From  the  returns  which  have  kindly  been  given  me 


BOOKS  AND  LIBRARIES  FOR  BLIND  435 

by  Dr.  Billings  I  find  that  there  are,  at  the  present  time,  in  the 
department  for  the  blind  of  the  New  York  Public  Library  1900 
volumes  m  embossed  types.  Of  these  118  are  in  the  original 
Braille,  16  in  American  Braille,  695  in  New  York  point  369  in 
Line  type,  and  702  in  the  Moon  type.  During  the  past  year 
(1904)  there  were  7939  issues  of  books,  including  sheet  music 
and  periodicals.  There  are  349  blind  readers  upon  the  roll, 
nine-tenths  of  whom  are  of  adult  age,  and  considerable  use  is 
made  of  the  free  postage  arrangement  to  send  books  to  readers 
at  a  distance. 

An  excellent  and  interesting  work  is  being  carried  on  by  the 
New  York  State  Library,  at  Albany,  through  its  Department 
for  the  Blind,  under  the  intelligent  and  sympathetic  superin- 
tendance  of  Mrs.  Salome  Cutler  Fairchild,  whose  name  I  have 
often  found  gratefully  referred  to  in  my  correspondence  with 
librarians  of  other  libraries.  The  department  was  opened  in  1900, 
and  has  a  library  of  440  volumes  and  832  pieces  of  music.  The 
books  are  divided  as  follows-  8  in  Original  Braille;  98  in 
American  Braille;  120  in  New  York  point;  146  in  Line,  and  66 
in  Moon.  Mrs.  Fairchild  has  largely  developed  the  circulation 
by  means  of  traveling  libraries  and  transmission  of  the  books 
through  the  mail,  besides  which  she  has  been  instrumental  in 
having  several  new  books  published  for  the  blind. 

The  Home  Teaching  Society,  established  by  Dr.  and  Miss 
Moon,  in  Chicago  in  1882,  was,  for  a  few  years,  carried  on  with 
gratifying  success,  but  in  consequence  of  the  removal  of  its 
earliest  supporters  the  work  dwindled,  the  society  disbanded, 
and  finally  the  embossed  books  were  handed  over  to  the  Public 
Library  in  1894.  The  fruits  of  those  earlier  efforts  are,  however, 
still  to  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  901  issues  of  books  -were  made 
last  year  directly  to  blind  readers.  The  library  contains  221  vol- 
umes in  American  Braille,  24  in  New  York  point,  211  in  Line 
type,  and  394  in  the  Moon,  making  a  total  of  850. 

The  reading  room  for  the  blind  in  the  Library  of  Congress  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  was  opened  in  1897.  It  was  originally  in- 
tended as  a  meeting  place  for  the  blind  of  the  city  where  they 
could  be  read  to  and  entertained,  and  many  prominent  persons 
have  visited  the  room  and  taken  part  in  the  proceedings,  which 
have  given  great  enjoyment  to  the  blind.  The  work  of  providing 
for  the  reading  room  a  suitable  library  of  books  in  various  em- 
bossed types  has  been  steadily  going  on,  until  at  the  present  time 


436  ROBERT  C.  MOON 

there  are  861  books,  of  which  55  are  in  American,  French, 
English,  German,  Dutch  and  Japanese  Braille;  438  are  in  New 
York  point;  344  are  in  Line,  and  22  are  in  the  Moon  type.  The 
Librarian  of  Congress  has  recently  forwarded  to  England  a 
large  order  for  Moon  type  books  No  one  who  visits  that  li- 
brar>  should  omit  to  see  the  interesting  reading  room  for  the 
blind,  which  is  in  the  charge  of  Miss  Etta  Josselyn  Giffin 

I  regret  that  the  time  allotted  does  not  permit  of  my  going 
into  detail  respecting  the  interesting  readings  and  musical  enter- 
tainments, as  well  as  the  instruction  of  various  kinds  which  is 
imparted  to  the  blind  in  connection  with  the  public  libraries 
of  San  Francisco,  Lynn  and  Worcester  in  Massachusetts,  Cin- 
cinnati, Providence,  and  many  other  places,  but  of  this  I  am 
certain,  that  all  of  the  libraries  need  more  books,  and  if  they 
are  to  reach  and  teach  the  adult  blind  they  must  have  a  fair 
proportion  of  them  in  the  Moon  type.  All  public  libraries  should 
possess  a  few  works  printed  in  the  various  types,  care  being 
taken  to  have  a  good  supply  of  those  embossed  in  the  special 
type  which  is  taught  in  the  schools  for  the  blind  of  the  immedi- 
ate locality,  in  order  that  the  pupils  in  vacation  time  and  the 
graduates  of  the  schools  may  be  provided  with  reading  matter, 
but  the  infirm  and  aged  blind  will  be  found  in  almost  all  com- 
munities, and  for  them  books  printed  in  the  Moon  type  are  in- 
dispensable. 

No  account  of  libraries  for  the  blind  would  be  complete 
without  a  reference  to  those  in  every  school  for  the  blind  in 
the  country.  Most  of  them  are  limited  to  books  in  one  or  two 
types  for  the  use  of  their  own  pupils,  but  some  have  books  in 
all  the  types.  Such  is  the  case  in  the  Pennsylvania  Institution 
for  the  Blind  at  Overbrook,  where  the  most  advanced  methods 
of  education  are  adopted  by  its  broad-minded  principal,  Prof.  E 
E.  Allen.  Many  of  those  present  are  doubtless  aware  that  a  large 
number  of  the  books  printed  in  American  Braille  are  prepared 
at  the  Overbrook  institution,  but  Prof.  Allen  should  be  warmly 
congratulated  upon  having  retained  full  orthography  in  all  the 
works  published  there.  Valuable  as  the  dotted  types  may  be, 
their  usefulness  among  the  adults  and  the  uneducated  is  much 
impaired  by  the  numerous  abbreviations  and  contractions  with 
which  they  are,  in  some  places,  becoming  more  and  more  bur- 
dened. 

The  Perkins  Institution  for  the  Blind  at  Boston  has  a  library 


BOOKS  AND  LIBRARIES  FOR  BLIND  437 

of  14,835  embossed  books,  of  which  9276  are  in  the  Boston 
Line  type,  4350  in  the  Braille,  768  in  the  New  York  point,  and 
441  in  the  Moon  type.  Prof  Anagnos  informs  me  that  these 
books  are  permitted  to  circulate  freely  among  the  blind  of  New 
England,  taking  advantage  of  the  recent  free  postal  regulation. 
The  publications  in  the  Line  type  are  lent  to  the  blind  all  over 
the  country.  A  special  appropriation  by  the  Massachusetts 
State  Legislature  enables  the  officials  of  the  school  to  send 
teachers  of  the  adult  blind  into  the  homes  of  their  pupils,  who, 
upon  learning  to  read,  become  beneficiaries  of  the  library. 
The  number  of  books  sent  out  from  it  during  the  year  1904 
was  1950  volumes,  which  circulated  among  540  readers,  a  large 
majority  of  whom  belonged  to  the  adult  class. 

It  will  probably  be  remarked  that  I  have  laid  great  stress 
upon  home  teaching  of  the  blind  as  a  pioneer  work,  and  I  have 
done  so  advisedly,  for  I  want  to  impress  upon  all  who  wish 
to  benefit  the  adults,  who  constitute  the  mass  of  the  blind,  that 
there  is  no  other  place  besides  the  home  in  which  they  can,  as 
a  rule,  be  found  and  taught.  The  schools  are  not  for  them; 
the  schools  are  for  children  and  for  pupils  under  21  years  of  age, 
and  if  schools  were  provided  for  the  adults  but  few,  probably, 
would  attend  them  for  instruction.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
shelves  of  any  public  library  might  be  ever  so  well  stocked  with 
books,  but  unless  the  blind  of  the  locality  have  been  trained  in 
embossed  reading,  there  would  be  no  demand  for  any  of  those 
books. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  LIBRARY 
WORK  WITH  THE  BLIND 

As  chairman  of  the  A.L.A.  on  Work  with  the  Blind, 
Nathaniel  D.  C.  Hodges,  librarian  of  the  Cincinnati  Pub- 
lic Library,  prepared  a  report  on  this  phase  of  library 
work,  and  presented  it  at  the  A.L.A.  Conference  at 
Asheville,  N.C.,  May  24,  1907. 

Nathaniel  Dana  Carlile  Hodges  was  born  in  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  April  19, 1852.  From  1876-1877  he  acted 
as  private  tutor  hi  physics  and  mathematics  in  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts,  and  from  1877-1881  was  assistant 
in  physics  at  Harvard  University.  From  1883-1885,  he 
was  assistant  editor  of  Science  and  he  was  its  editor 
from  1885-1894.  In  1895  he  was  appointed  assistant  in 
the  Astor  Library,  New  York,  and  remained  there  until 
1897.  From  1897-1900,  he  was  an  assistant  in  the  Har- 
vard University  Library.  From  1900  until  his  retirement 
in  1924,  he  was  librarian  of  the  Cincinnati  Public  Li- 
brary. He  was  president  of  the  A.L.A.  in  1910. 

Thrashing  about  for  a  proper  opening  to  this  report  it  seemed 
to  the  Chairman  that  nothing  could  serve  better  than  a  few 
terse  paragraphs  from  a  letter  of  Dr.  Steiner*s.  While  not  brief 
enough  to  serve  as  a  formal  text,  they  have  that  firmness  and 
clean-cuttedness  which  make  them  suitable  for  a  head  to  which 
may  be  attached  such  verbiage  as  may  follow. 

Dr  Sterner,  of  the  Enoch  Pratt  free  library  of  Baltimore, 
writes : 

"We  have  a  department  for  the  blind,  containing  1025  vol- 
umes in  New  York  point  and  line  letter  type,  using  these  types 
inasmuch  as  the  New  York  point  is  that  used  by  our  two  state 
schools  for  white  and  black  pupils.  The  books  are  cataloged 
in  the  same  way  as  all  other  books  in  the  library.  Last  year 
we  circulated  545  volumes  for  the  blind.  A  year  and  a  half 
ago,  taking  advantage  of  the  free  carnage  through  the  mails 


440  NATHANIEL  DANA  CARLILE  HODGES 

of  books  for  the  blind,  we  began  sending  these  books  to  the 
blind  persons  throughout  the  state,  having  made  an  agreement 
with  the  State  library  commission  which  body  assumed  respon- 
sibility for  the  safe  return  of  the  books,  and  agreed  to  pay  us 
the  sum  of  fifteen  cents  for  each  book  circulated. 

"\Ye  do  not  have  readings  for  the  blind  Air.  Frederick 
D.  Morrison,  for  many  years  Superintendent  of  the  Maryland 
school  for  the  blind,  was  much  opposed  to  these  readings,  and 
we  have  accepted  the  policy  of  the  school  as  our  own.  I  be- 
lieve it  is  very  important  to  be  in  close  harmony  with  the  in- 
structors of  the  blind.  We  do  not  give  instruction  ourselves, 
nor  do  we  believe  it  to  be  the  proper  function  of  the  public 
library.  Our  funds  for  the  purchase  of  books  for  the  blind  are 
taken  from  our  regular  book  fund. 

"The  public  library  has  no  business  to  visit  the  blind  or  aid 
in  securing  them  work,  any  more  than  it  has  to  render  these 
services  to  any  other  class  of  the  community  We  should 
always  bear  in  mind  that  we  are  libraries  and  that  our  business 
is  to  disseminate  literature." 

In  the  summer  of  1900  a  blind  girl,  led  by  her  sister,  called 
upon  the  librarian  of  the  Public  library  of  Cincinnati  and 
solicited  his  aid  in  starting  some  work  for  the  blind  of  that  city. 
The  librarian,  knowing  that  his  trustees  were  soft-hearted  and—- 
with all  due  deference— believing  them  to  be  soft-headed,  re- 
strained the  well-intentioned  impulses  of  the  board  to  take  the 
work  immediately  under  its  patronage,  buy  embossed  books 
and  salary  an  attendant  out  of  the  public  funds. 

The  librarian  secured  the  board's  approval  for  the  use  of  a 
room  for  the  blind  and  aided  in  getting  volunteers  from  among 
the  good  men  and  women  of  Cincinnati  to  read  to  the  blind  on 
stated  days.  He  then  urged  this  girl,  Miss  Georgia  D.  Trader, 
to  go  among  the  philanthropic  people  of  the  community  and  se- 
cure funds  for  the  purchase  of  the  needed  books. 

That  librarian  informs  us  that  he  takes  no  little  pride  in  all 
that  heartless  action  and  heartless  advice  Nothing  would  have 
been  easier  than  to  have  had  in  Cincinnati  a  room  well  filled  with 
embossed  books,  an  attendant  seated  in  their  midst,  and  all  as 
smug  and  lifeless  as  only  such  a  special  collection  can  be— the 
whole  paid  for  out  of  the  public  purse. 

It  is  very  likely  true  that  a  library  should  remain  a  library 
and  do  a  library's  work  and  herein  lies  one  reason  why  this 
work  for  the  blind  should  be  fostered  not  by  the  Public  library 
directly  but  by  some  adjunct  society  which  need  place  no  re- 


REPORT  OF  COMM.  OF  WORK  WITH  BLIND    441 

strictions  on  its  methods  and  on  its  purposes  so  long  as  those 
methods  and  those  purposes  are  such  as  appeal  to  good  people 

There  grew  from  that  little  seeding  of  a  few  volunteer 
readers — work  which  was  copied  from  that  already  under  way 
in  the  Library  of  Congress  and  at  the  Free  library  in  Philadel- 
phia—a library  association  for  the  blind,  which  had  back  of  it 
the  good  will,  the  good  services  and  the  good  money  of  several 
hundred  Cmcinnatians.  Blind  men  and  women  were  taught  to 
read  and  write,  and  blind  children  were  regularly  instructed  for 
the  first  time  within  the  city  limits,  though  the  State  at  the 
institution  in  Columbus  had  previously  cared  for  young  people. 
When  this  schooling  of  the  young  had  grown  beyond  the  powers 
of  the  Association,  the  Board  of  education  was  persuaded  to 
establish  a  school  for  the  blind.  And  a  second  budding  from 
the  Society  was  a  comfortable  home  for  indigent  blind  women. 

That  home,  planned  to  accommodate  a  few  blind  women, 
has  within  a  few  weeks  stretched  its  resources  to  accommo- 
date a  further  development  of  the  industrial  training  of  the 
blind — a  school  of  weaving,  weaving  of  carpets  and  weaving 
of  laces;  and  all  the  while  there  has  been  kept  up  at  the  Public 
library  the  work  which  was  the  primary  purpose — the  readings 
for  the  blind,  the  entertainments  for  the  blind,  the  instruction 
of  the  blind  and  the  circulation  of  books.  And  the  books,  not 
being  purchased  through  the  public  funds,  can  be  sent  as  far  as 
Uncle  Sam's  mails  will  carry  them. 

It  is  not  the  intention  of  this  report  to  mete  out  justice  to 
each  and  all  of  those  who  have  aided  in  developing  this  work. 
There  is  a  little  town  not  so  far  from  Cincinnati  the  name  of 
which  all  the  library  workers  in  the  West  utter  with  deference — 
Dayton.  Now  Dayton  has  profited  as  usual  by  the  errors  of  her 
bigger  neighbors,  and  instead  of  the  auxiliary  society  being 
called  the  "Library  society  for  the  blind,"  in  Dayton  that  Society 
has  been  named  the  "Association  for  the  promotion  of  the  in- 
terests of  the  blind."  This  association  is  something  of  an  in- 
fant It  was  born  only  in  March.  Its  pedigree  runs  along  lines 
similar  to  that  of  the  Cincinnati  society.  At  first  the  work  was 
cared  for  by  the  Public  library,  later  personally  by  individuals 
on  the  library  staff.  Now  what  goes  on  at  the  Library  is  but  one 
deparment  of  the  above-named  society  Cincinnati  must  pre- 
pare to  be  jealous  as  usual  of  her  little  neighbor.  This  Dayton 
society  has  already  secured  a  fine  office  and  clubrooms  in  one 


442          NATHANIEL  DANA  CARLILE  HODGES 

of  the  downtown  buildings,  and  a  stall  in  the  Arcade  for  the 
sale  of  goods— these  the  gift  of  one  of  Dayton's  wealthy  citizens. 
The  President  of  the  Society  began  by  being  interested  in 
one  blind  girl,  and  then  the  library  people  showed  her  the  group 
listening  to  readings  at  the  Public  library.  The  librarian  talked 
with  this  lady,  often  suggesting  the  need  of  industrial  training 
and  means  of  exchange  and  sale  of  the  blind's  handiwork  as 
well  as  the  need  of  teaching.  The  result  is  the  launching  of 
a  new  enterprise  which  has  secured  plenty  of  interest  and  back- 
ing. The  reading  circle,  which  has  become  a  department  of 
the  Society's  activities,  is  all  that  remains  at  the  Public  library. 
Cleveland  is  doing  what  she  can  do  to  foster  the  interests  of 
the  blind.  Encouraged  by  her  success  with  an  initial  effort  at  the 
Public  library,  Cleveland  now  rejoices  in  a  society  for  promot- 
ing the  interests  of  the  blind,  and  Mr.  Brett  informed  the  chair- 
man in  a  recent  letter  that  the  net  receipts  of  a  bazar,  held  a  few 
weeks  ago  for  the  benefit  of  the  Society,  were  over  $800. 

Buffalo  is  following  along  on  much  the  same  path.  A  letter 
from  the  librarian,  dated  May  I,  brings  with  it  a  newspaper 
clipping  to  the  effect  that  fully  50  enthusiastic  women,  with  a 
few  equally  zealous  men,  had  attended  a  meeting  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discussing  the  project  of  organizing  an  association  for 
the  education  of  the  blind  in  Buffalo  and  vicinity.  Miss  Wini- 
fred Holt  of  New  York,  Secretary  of  the  New  York  associa- 
tion, was  there  to  tell  them  what  might  be  done.  The  result 
was  a  determination  to  hold  another  meeting  for  the  formal 
organization  of  such  an  association. 

We  have  referred  at  some  length  to  these  outgrowths  from 
that  work  for  the  blind  most  appropriately  carried  on  at  libraries, 
and  we  hope  that  there  is  justification  for  this  apparent  wander- 
ing from  the  immediate  matter  in  hand.  The  chairman  of  this 
committee,  during  a  visit  to  England  five  years  ago,  was  inter- 
ested in  finding  that  the  technical  schools  which  it  was  urged 
ten  or  twenty  years  ago  were  so  much  needed  in  England,  and 
which  are  now  blooming  out  in  many  of  the  larger  cities,  owe 
their  existence  in  some  cases,  to  feeble  efforts  at  technical  edu- 
cation in  basement  rooms  in  public  libraries.  The  Chamber  of 
commerce  of  Cincinnati  is  a  child  of  the  mercantile  library.  We 
should  always  "bear  in  mind  that  we  are  libraries  and  that  our 
business  is  to  disseminate  literature,"  but  may  we  not  also  bear 
in  mind  that  we  are  intellectual  centers  from  which  naturally 


REPORT  OF  COMM.  OF  WORK  WITH  BLIND    443 

enough  may  start  movements  which  shall  mold  the  unformed 
protoplasm  of  public  opinion,  that  our  environment  may  be  the 
healthier  and  happier. 

Before  passing  from  the  consideration  of  such  local  societies 
which  care  for  the  interests  of  the  blind,  we  must  stop  a  moment 
to  bow  with  respect  to  two  libraries  in  which  pioneer  effons 
in  this  direction  were  made.  We  refer  to  the  Library  of  Con- 
gress and  to  the  Free  library  of  Philadelphia.  In  both  of  these 
libraries  the  work  for  the  blind  has  been  persistently  prosecuted 
and  crowned  with  success.  Thanks  to  an  appropriation  made 
by  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania  during  the  session  of  1905 
it  became  possible  for  the  Philadelphia  society  to  expand.  That 
organization  provides  a  home  teaching  society  and  free  cir- 
culating library  for  the  blind,  and  it  is  to  such  state  organizations 
that  we  must  now  give  some  consideration. 

The  revenues  for  the  Pennsylvania  society  come  from  two 
sources:  The  Free  library  of  Philadelphia  buys  some  of  the 
books  and  provides  a  room,  while  more  books  and  the  traveling 
expenses  and  salaries  of  the  teachers  are  paid  for  by  the  Society. 
The  number  of  volumes  is  close  to  2500,  plus  some  duplicate 
stock  in  Moon  type.  The  circulation  during  the  year  1906  came 
to  9829,  which  far  outstrips  the  circulation  of  any  other  library 
for  the  blind.  The  catalog  of  books  in  American  Braille  is  now 
being  embossed.  Fifty  copies  will  be  printed.  This  will  circulate 
without  charge,  with  a  time  limit  of  two  weeks  It  is  hoped  to 
have  a  similar  catalog  for  the  books  in  other  types.  The  State 
board  of  charities  recommended  to  the  legislature  that  $4000 
be  appropriated  for  the  next  two  years  A  bill  to  this  effect 
has  passed  both  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the  Senate, 
but  it  had  not  been  signed  by  the  Governor  at  the  time  of  writing 
this  report 

The  State  of  Massachusetts  has  for  a  number  of  years  ap- 
propriated $5000  annually  for  the  home  teaching  of  the  blind. 
This  appropriation  has  been  ostensibly  under  the  control  of  the 
State  board  of  education,  but  the  work  has  really  devolved  upon 
the  Superintendent  of  the  Perkins  institution.  There  are  four 
blind  persons — two  men  and  two  women — who  go  about  the  State, 
each  having  his  own  district,  teaching  reading  and  writing  and 
some  small  forms  of  handicraft  to  such  blind  as  they  can  find 
who  are  willing  to  be  instructed  in  their  homes. 

A  Commission  with  a  membership  of  five  was  created  by  an 


444          NATHANIEL  DANA  CARLILE  HODGES 

act  of  the  legislature  in  May  1904.  This  Commission  does  not 
concern  itself  with  library  work — it  was  created  rather  to  look 
after  the  industrial  training  of  the  blind.  The  well  known  Per- 
kins institution,  partly  under  state  patronage,  has  for  years 
covered  the  educational  field  These  two  firmly  established  and 
adequately  supported  agencies  are  thought  by  some  to  render 
direct  educational  work  less  necessary  at  the  public  libraries. 

The  library  work  for  the  blind  in  Massachusetts,  aside  from 
that  in  the  public  libraries  in  Boston  and  Lynn  has  hitherto 
been  slight.  Persons  interested  in  the  blind  in  several  cities — 
as  for  instance  Worcester,  Brockton,  and  Fall  River — are  be- 
ginning to  stir  in  the  matter  and  there  is  a  prospect  of  improve- 
ment in  the  near  future. 

At  Lynn,  the  blind  have  received  invitations  to  the  regular 
entertainments  of  the  Lynn  educational  society — a  full  course  of 
two  each  month  from  October  to  June — to  the  Oratorio  so- 
ciety's rehearsals,  to  the  entertainments  given  by  six  women's 
clubs,  to  the  lecturers  of  the  Lynn  historical  society,  and  also  to 
occasional  lawn  parties.  The  work  which  centers  in  the  Public 
library,  where  there  is  a  good  collection  of  books  well  used,  is 
fostered  by  a  committee  of  the  Historical  society  and  by  the 
Every  Day  club  composed  of  young  ladies  connected  with  one  of 
the  churches.  The  Public  library  of  Worcester  has  helped  to 
work  up  an  interest  in  the  blind  which  has  resulted  in  the  recent 
establishment  of  a  home. 

In  Michigan  there  is  an  employment  institution  for  the  blind 
which  requires  the  management  to  maintain  a  lending  library 
and  reading  circle.  It  had  long  been  felt  desirable  that  somewhere 
in  the  state  there  should  be  a  liberal  collection  of  books,  peri- 
odicals and  sheet  music  in  various  styles  of  embossed  characters 
and  a  librarian  charged  with  the  duty  of  caring  for  and  dis- 
tributing the  same,  and  competent  to  give  supervision,  and  as- 
sistance to  the  home  teaching  and  home  study  movement.  Now 
that  books  for  the  blind  can  be  sent  through  the  mails  free  of 
cost,  it  is  believed  that  the  one  fully  equipped  library  of  em- 
bossed reading  matter  at  Saginaw  might  well  serve  all  the 
sightless  readers  within  the  boundaries  of  the  state. 

Mr.  A.  M.  Shotwell,  Librarian  of  the  Michigan  employment 
institution  for  the  blind  writes: 

"Our  needs  and  those  of  our  sightless  adult  readers  appear 
to  include  more  humorous  works,  more  good  current  fiction, 


REPORT  OF  COMM.  OF  WORK  WITH  BLIND    445 

more  reference  works  (to  be  consulted  at  the  library),  an  ac- 
curately printed  American  Braille  edition  of  ^the  Bible,  a  good 
Bible  concordance,  an  up-to-date  Braille  edition  of  some  good 
weekly  news  summary  (similar  to  the  opening  pages  and  the 
"current  events"  of  "The  Literary  digest")  the  President's  an- 
nual messages,  the  quadrennial  national  party  platforms  and 
letters  of  acceptance,  etc,  publications  worthy  to  be  re-read  and 
studied,  also  leading  papers  pertaining  to  current  work  for  lie 
blind.  The  writer,  having  provided  himself  with  _  the  requisite 
embossing  outfit,  is  doing  what  the  means  at  his  hands  will 
permit  in  some  of  these  directions,  and  has  demonstrated  the 
practicability  of  employing  competent  blind  persons  as  printers. 
"The  libraries  should  cooperate  with  a  state  society  or  with 
some  more  general  organization  in  the  collection  of  statistics 
of  the  blind,  and  in  placing  necessary  instruction,  literary  and 
industrial,  within  their  reach,  and  in  extending  their  oppor- 
tunities for  mental  and  manual  employment,  and  should  en- 
courage the  principal  readers  of  embossed  publications  to  mas- 
ter more  than  one  of  the  current  punctographic  systems,  as  many 
interesting  and  valuable  works  have  been  embossed  in  each 
tactile  system  that  have  not  been  printed  for  their  use  in  the 
other  styles  of  raised  print;  and  all  should  encourage  the  pres- 
ent movement,  led  by  the  American  association  of  workers  for 
the  blind,  looking  toward  the  more  general  adoption  of  a  uni- 
form, legible,  and  completely  grammatical  system  or  method  of 
writing  or  printing  for  the  blind  of  America  or  of  all  English 
speaking  countries;  and  the  librarians  and  attendants  in  charge 
who  are  interested  in  the  work  for  the  blind,  are  urged,  both 
individually  and  through  local  or  state  organizations,  to  affiliate 
themselves  with  the  general  body  of  American  workers  for 
the  blind,  whose  biennial  convention  is  to  be  held  in  Boston 
in  the  latter  part  of  August  next" 

In  California  embossed  books  in  four  different  types  are  sent 
from  the  State  library  to  any  blind  resident  and  a  collection  of 
from  ten  to  twenty-five  embossed  books  are  loaned  to  any  pub- 
lic library  that  can  vouch  for  at  least  five  readers.  The  first 
book  was  loaned  June  13,  1905.  There  are  now  222  blind  bor- 
rowers scattered  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  state. 

In  Rhode  Island,  the  Public  library  of  Providence  was  in- 
fluential in  having  two  state  teachers  of  adult  blind  appointed 
a  couple  of  years  ago.  In  common  with  the  experience  of 
others,  it  is  found  that  m  addition  to  the  teachers,  visitors  are 
needed.  The  library  has  no  regular  attendant  for  the  blind  but 
has  been  able  to  keep  close  to  the  work  As  to  the  character 
of  the  books  Mrs.  Mary  E.  S.  Root,  who  is  in  immediate  charge, 
writes  that  there  is  need  of  more  delightful  story  books— not 


446          NATHANIEL  DANA  CARLILE  HODGES 

school  books.  One  of  the  readers,  a  man  of  fifty,  said  that  he 
did  not  want  to  be  educated,  only  to  forget  As  a  natural  out- 
growth there  is  a  prospect  for  the  opening  of  a  shop  where  goods 
made  by  the  blind  can  be  placed  on  sale. 

The  New  York  state  library  has  taken  an  active  part  in  this 
work  and  has  kept  valuable  records  showing  the  character  of 
the  books  called  for  as  well  as  the  number  of  volumes.  This 
library  has  also  had  printed  in  New  York  point  quite  a  number 
of  books  which  otherwise  would  not  be  available.  The  library's 
methods  of  cataloging  are  worthy  of  careful  consideration,  as 
also  the  means  employed  to  convey  instruction  to  blind  readers 

In  New  York  City  an  organization  was  chartered  by  the 
Regents  of  the  University  in  1895  under  the  name  of  the  New 
York  free  circulating  library  for  the  blind.  In  1903  this  was 
consolidated  with  the  New  York  public  library  and  has  since 
been  operated  as  a  branch  with  quarters  in  one  of  the  branch 
buildings  A  teacher  is  employed  who  gives  all  her  time  to  the 
work.  Most  of  her  instruction  is  in  reading,  a  little  in  writing 
but  none  at  all  in  arithmetic.  The  Library  circulates  books  freely 
in  the  states  of  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut,  and 
elsewhere  on  special  request  on  the  approval  of  the  Chairman 
of  the  circulation  committee.  There  has  recently  been  formed 
the  New  York  association  for  promoting  the  interests  of  the 
adult  blind.  Of  this  Association  Miss  Winifred  Holt,  44  East 
78th  st,  is  secretary. 

In  Illinois,  writes  Joseph  H.  Freeman,  Superintendent  of  the 
Illinois  school  for  the  blind,  they  have  applied  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  Illinois  for  an  appropriation  of  $2,000  to  purchase 
embossed  books  for  a  library  to  be  used  by  readers  in  the  state 
outside  the  school. 

The  blind  collection  at  the  Chicago  public  library  numbers 
about  i, 100  volumes,  the  circulation  is  annually  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  1,200  volumes,  entirely  within  the  city.  The  books  are 
drawn  chiefly  through  the  delivery  stations.  Very  few  blind 
persons  go  to  the  main  library.  The  Chicago  woman's  club  has 
recently  interested  itself  in  the  work  and  has  employed  an 
instructor. 

In  Delaware  a  bill  providing  for  an  appropriation  of  $1,200 
per  year  for  "home  teaching"  of  the  blind  throughout  the  State 
has  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the  Senate  and 
has  gone  to  the  Governor  for  his  signature.  There  is  no  reason 


REPORT  OF  COMM.  OF  WORK  WITH  BLIND    447 

to  suppose  that  he  will  veto  it.  Miss  Anne  M.  Ward,  a  graduate 
of  the  Pennsylvania  school  for  the  blind,  has  been  doing  suc- 
cessful work  as  "home  teacher"  since  July,  1906. 

The  Missouri  school  for  the  blind  at  St.  Louis  has  2,500 
books  These  are  circulated  throughout  the  state.  An  associa- 
tion \\hich  will  care  for  the  interests  of  the  blind  was  organized 
in  February  1907  under  the  title  of  the  Scotoic  aid  society. 

Miss  Hattie  E  Stevenson,  assistant  Librarian  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  public  instruction  of  Denver,  reports  that  Colorado  is 
the  happy  possessor  of  sixteen  books  in  raised  type.  The  Gen- 
eral Assembly  by  a  recent  law  has  provided  for  a  workshop 
which  will  soon  be  in  working  order  in  Denver. 

In  Virginia  the  State  library  has  a  collection  of  500  embossed 
books,  and  the  circulation  is  given  as  500  As  is  often  the 
case,  books  are  sent  beyond  the  territorial  limits  of  the  library. 

In  Indiana  there  is  a  collection  of  440  embossed  books  at 
the  State  library  The  circulation  amounts  to  300.  Books  are  not 
allowed  to  go  beyond  the  state  boundaries. 

The  problem  of  serving  the  blind  with  reading  matter  is 
like  every  other  social  problem — far  from  its  complete  solution. 
One  member  of  this  Committee,  Mr.  Asa  Don  Dickinson,  now 
Librarian  of  the  Leavenworth  public  library,  and  who  unfortu- 
nately cannot  be  present  at  this  meeting,  wrote  the  chairman 
under  date  of  May  6th  as  follows : 

"We  should  have  a  central  library,  where  can  be  found  in  one 
place  all  the  books  that  have  ever  been  printed  in  raised  type. 
Any  one  of  these  books  should  be  available  to  every  blind  per- 
son in  the  country,  by  means  of  free  carriage  through  the 
United  States  mails.  Under  the  present  system  (or  want  of 
system),  each  district  has  either  no  books  at  all,  or  an  insuffi- 
cient collection  which  has  largely  outlived  its  usefulness  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood.  If  our  central  library  can  have  books 
enough  to  send  traveling  libraries  to  any  institutions  throughout 
the  country  which  may  be  willing  to  make  themselves  local  cen- 
ters, so  much  the  better.  But  at  any  rate  let  us  have  a  central 
collection  which  may  be  drawn  upon  by  individuals  in  all  parts 
of  the  country. 

"It  matters  little  whether  this  institution  is  evolved  from 
the  Library  of  Congress,  from  the  Pennsylvania  home  teaching 
society,  or  from  some  other  established  institution;  or  whether 
an  entirely  new  organization  is  created.  It  matters  little 
whether  it  be  established  by  public  funds  or  by  private  benevo- 
lence. But  an  institution  capable  of  doing  this  work  we  must 
have  somehow,  somewhere." 


448          NATHANIEL  DANA  CARLILE  HODGES 

Mr.  Samuel  H.  Ranck,  Librarian  of  the  Public  library  at 
Grand  Rapids,  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  work  for  the  blind, 
having  succeeded  during  the  past  year  in  starting  a  blind  de- 
partment in  the  Grand  Rapids  library',  and  from  him  the  Chair- 
man has  received  a  letter  calling  attention  to  a  difficulty  in  the 
delivery  of  embossed  books.  "These  are  delivered  by  the  li- 
brary to  the  homes  of  the  readers  and  called  for  at  a  stated  time, 
unless  they  are  returned  beforehand.  The  matter  of  calling  for 
and  delivering  the  books  in  this  way  is  believed  to  be  desirable, 
owing  to  the  fact  that,  while  books  for  the  blind  may  be  sent 
through  the  mails  free,  most  of  the  packages  are  so  large  that 
they  are  not  delivered  by  the  carrier  service  of  the  post-office 
department.  It  would  be  just  as  easy,  therefore,  for  blind 
readers  to  get  the  books  at  the  Library  as  it  would  be  at  the 
post-office,  and  on  this  account  the  Library  has  undertaken  the 
free  delivery." 

Mr.  Ranck  has  an  able  lieutenant  in  Miss  Roberta  A.  Griffith, 
the  leading  blind  citizen  of  Grand  Rapids,  a  graduate  of  the 
Western  Reserve  university.  Miss  Griffith  would  urge  "upon 
printers  of  embossed  literature  the  desirability  of  complying, 
so  far  as  possible,  with  the  usual  typographical  practice,  and 
rules  of  English  composition  in  punctuation,  syllabication  and 
capitalization;  for,  whatever  may  be  said  in  excuse  of  the  now 
too  general  disregard  of  those  rules,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  blind  reader  cannot  ordinarily  consult  books  of  refer- 
ence as  the  sighted  reader  can,  and  that  he  is  entirely  dependent 
upon  his  embossed  books  for  his  knowledge  of  what  is  correct 
in  such  matters." 

Miss  Griffith  further  "sees  the  need  of  a  uniform  system  of 
printing  and  writing  for  the  blind  to  take  the  place  of  the  British 
and  the  American  Braille  and  the  New  York  point;  and,  with- 
out taking  any  action  either  in  favor  of,  or  against  any  of  these 
systems,  would  recommend  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of 
the  Library  Association  to  confer  with  and  keep  in  touch  with 
the  uniform  type  commission  of  the  American  association  of 
workers  for  the  blind,  which  has  this  subject  under  considera- 
tion," and  urges  that  "the  American  Library  Association  send 
a  delegate,  or  delegates,  to  the  convention  of  the  American 
association  of  workers  for  the  blind,  to  be  held  at  Boston, 
August  27-30.  This  association  is  composed  of  both  sighted 
and  fclind  men  and  women  who  are  devoted  to  the  interests 


REPORT  OF  COMM.  OF  WORK  WITH  BLIND    449 

of  the  blind,  and  besides  the  report  of  the  uniform  type  com- 
mission, other  subjects  in  which  librarians  are  directly  interested 
may  be  considered." 

Mr  Bledsoe,  Supenntendent  of  the  Maryland  school  for  the 
blind,  has  also  written  us  on  this  question  of  printing  as  follows : 

"The  greatest  need  in  regard  to  printing  for  the  blind  is 
more  uniformity.  For  the  last  thirty  years  a  controversy  on 
this  subject  has  been  earned  on  and  has  resulted  in  there  be- 
ing books  in  use  printed  in  not  less  than  five  different  lands  of 
type — Moon,  Boston  line  letter,  English  Braille,  American 
Braille,  and  New  York  point 

"The  Moon  type  is  very  good  for  adults  who  find  it  impos- 
sible to  use  either  of  the  other  systems,  and  its  maintenance 
is  provided  for  by  a  society  organized  for  that  purpose,  so  it 
needs  no  further  comment  The  number  of  books  printed  in 
English  Braille  is  so  small  that  it  calls  for  no  serious  consider- 
ation The  Boston  line  letter  has  been  fast  going  out  of  use, 
having  been  kept  up  by  the  persistency  of  Mr.  Anagnos,  who 
contended  that  it  was  just  as  easily  read  as  either  of  the  point 
systems,  but  the  consensus  of  opinion  is  that  this  is  not  the 
case,  and  the  fact  that  all  who  use  the  point  systems  almost 
invariably  discard  the  line  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
point  is  the  more  practical  You  are  aware  that  the  most  of 
the  books  now  in  use  in  ^the  various  schools  in  this  country 
are  printed  in  the  two  point  systems. 

"The  controversy  and  lack  of  unity  in  the  last  twenty  years 
has  been  due  to  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  better  of  these. 

"It  would  be  well  if  we  could  do  all  of  our  printing  in  one 
or  the  other  of  these  two  systems,  but  there  already  exists  so 
much  literature  printed  in  each  that  it  would  be  almost  impos- 
sible to  induce  those  who  control  the  matter  of  printing  to  dis- 
card either.  In  reality  this  is  not  at  all  necessary.  What  is 
needed,  however,  is  cooperation  between  the  various  schools 
as  to  a  thorough  course  of  study  outlined  with  texts  and  col- 
lateral reading  based  upon  the  books  now  printed  in  New  York 
point  and  Braille  in  so  far  as  this  is  possible,  with  recom- 
mendations for  the  printing  of  additional  ones  in  these  two 
systems,  avoiding  any  duplications.  These  are  the  most  prac- 
tical and  the  one  is  not  enough  better  than  the  other  to  author- 
ize the  discarding  of  either." 

Miss  Emma  R.  Neisser,  of  the  Philadelphia  free  library, 
from  which  there  has  been  such  a  large  circulation  of  books, 
writes  of  some  of  the  problems  as  follows: 

"I  believe  there  are  many  of  the  elderly  blind  who  will 
never  read  any  embossed  type  except  the  Moon.  There  are 
others  who  will  not  learn  American  Braille  or  New  York  point 
unless  they  first  learn  Moon. 


450         NATHANIEL  DANA  CARLILE  HODGES 

"No  one  knows  better  than  I  do  the  limitations  of  the  sup- 
ply of  books  in  Moon  type.  I  know  that  librarians  look  with 
impatience  and  disdain  over  the  meagre  list  of  titles  in  fthe 
catalog  of  Moon's  Society  In  spite  of  all  criticism  I  believe 
in  Moon  type  for  many  blind  persons,  and  have  done  what  I 
could  to  help  bring  about  a  change  for  the  better.  The  sim- 
plicity of  the  Moon  characters  and  the  ease  with  which  even 
the  elderly  blind  can  learn  it  make  it  desirable  for  those  who 
have  lost  their  sight  in  adult  life. 

"Librarians  will  do  well  not  to  overlook  the  fact  that  it  is 
from  this  large  class  that  they  will  draw  their  readers.  If 
they  provide  books  for  former  pupils  of  schools  only,  they 
miss  a  large  proportion  of  the  bfind  population. 

"It  seems  to  me  that  the  most  important  feature  in  the 
work  of  libraries  for  the  blind  is  the  establishment  of  'home 
teaching/  Whether  this  shall  be  done  under  the  care  of  the 
public  library,  or  a  state  commission,  or  the  state  school,  or  by 
women's  clubs,  or  other  private  enterprise,  is  immaterial;  but 
unless  this  is  done,  no  library  of  embossed  books  can  hope  to 
be  of  use  to  the  greatest  number  of  blind  in  its  vicinity.  Many 
of  the  blind  may  become  readers  if  they  have  help  and  encour- 
agement when  first  learning  to  read.  I  know  of  one  library 
which  has  a  collection  of  embossed  books  which  are  never  used. 
The  Librarian  herself  told  me  the  books  were  never  called  for. 
Undoubtedly  if  the  blind  in  that  city  were  trained  to  use  em- 
bossed type,  the  books  would  circulate  as  in  other  cities. 

"I  believe  the  home  teacher  should  be  a  blind  person  or 
one  with  defective  sight,  and  that  the  teacher  should  be  chosen 
from  among  former  pupils  of  the  state  school,  thus  cooperating 
with  the  library.  Each  large  city  should  support  at  least  one 
home  teacher  to  visit  the  blind  in  the  vicinity." 

In  view  of  the  increasing  activity  in  the  work  for  the  blind 
and  the  evident  expansion  of  this  work  into  fields  not  properly 
belonging  to  libraries,  we  recommend  that  a  Committee  of  this 
Association  be  appointed  to  report  on  the  progress  of  work  for 
the  blind  strictly  germane  to  libraries,  and  to  confer  with  such 
societies  as  shall  foster  the  general  interests  of  the  blind. 

N.  D.  C  HODGES 
BERNARD  C.  STEINER 
EMMA  R.  NEISSER, 

Committee. 

Voted,  That  the  report  be  accepted  and  placed  on  file  and 
under  the  Constitution,  recommendations  of  the  committee  be 
referred  to  the  Council. 


SOME  UNUSUAL  EXPERIENCES  IN  THE  WORK 
OF  A  BLIND  LIBRARIAN 

The  following  report,  describing  the  progress  of  work 
in  the  Brooklyn,  New  York,  Public  Library,  is  by  Miss 
Beryl  H.  Clarke,  herself  blind.  At  the  time  of  this  re- 
port, she  was  in  charge  of  the  work  with  the  blind,  under 
Asa  Don  Dickinson,  in  charge  of  the  Pacific  Branch  of 
the  library,  opened  April  4,  1905. 

Besides  caring  for  the  library,  Miss  Clarke  taught 
blind  pupils  to  read  blind  type.  Readings  for  the  blind 
were  conducted  on  two  afternoons  and  one  evening  of 
each  week — the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Co.  furnishing 
transportation  for  readers  and  their  guides  to  and  from 
the  library. 

Later,  Miss  Clarke  was  married  to  William  Gooshaw, 
also  blind. 

The  work  which  is  being  done  for  the  blind  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Brooklyn  Public  Library  is  classed  under  the 
heading  of  "Library  work,"  but  it  extends  further  than  the 
regular  routine  of  library  duties. 

My  work  in  the  library  consists  of  distributing  the  books  for 
circulation,  copying  books  into  the  "New  York  Point,"  answer- 
ing letters,  keeping  my  library  records,  etc. 

A  most  interesting  feature  in  our  special  work  for  the  blind 
is  the  readings  which  are  held  in  the  library  building  several 
times  a  week  These  readings  mean  much  to  the  people,  for 
coming  to  the  library  means  to  them  the  meeting  with  their 
friends,  as  well  as  listening  to  the  reading  of  an  interesting  book. 
The  attendance  varies  from  six  to  ten.  That  more  people  can- 
not be  present  at  the  readings  is  not  because  they  do  not  care 
to  come.  It  is  because  there  is  no  one  to  guide  them.  The 
teaching  of  the  adult  blind  is  carried  on  in  their  homes,  and  this 
outside  phase  of  the  work  is  strange,  but  very  interesting.  We 
often  learn  through  those  who  come  to  the  library  of  others 


452  BERYL  H.  CLARKE 

who  are  in  need  of  being  taught  to  read,  but  the  wider  knowl- 
edge of  those  in  need  of  teaching  is  found  through  the  Nev 
York  Improvement  Society  and  the  pension  list. 

The  \\ork  has  three  divisions,  seeking,  visiting  and  teaching 
\\Tien  the  names  are  obtained,  it  is  never  known  in  what  class 
of  life  or  how  intellectual  the  persons  may  be.  I  have  to  first 
seek  the  person  and  judge  for  myself  whether  it  is  worth  while 
to  try  to  teach  them.  Often  my  judgment  is  wrong.  My  ex- 
perience has  been  that  in  most  cases  it  is  not  lack  of  intelligence 
on  the  part  of  the  people  which  at  first  prompts  them  to  say 
they  do  not  care  to  learn,  but  deep  despondency.  I  think  this 
work  which  is  being  done  for  the  blind  through  the  library 
will  help  many  a  man  and  woman  to  gain  hope  and  self-respect. 

The  searching  is  the  hardest  of  the  three  divisions.  Often  an 
address  is  given  and  before  I  can,  with  the  help  of  my  guide, 
reach  the  address,  the  person  has  moved  to  another  place  For 
example,  I  sought  a  man  in  State  St.,  and  was  told  he  had  moved 
to  Furman  sL  I  had  to  search  through  various  landings  of  an 
unattractive  tenement  before  I  found  the  man  I  sought.  The 
room  was  uncared  for,  the  man  having  lost  all  desire  to  take 
proper  care  of  himself,  seemed  unwilling  to  make  any  attempt 
to  learn  to  read,  but  I  finally  persuaded  him  to  try,  and  gave  him 
a  lesson  and  some  advice  about  the  necessity  for  cleanliness 
and  fresh  air.  The  next  time  I  went  to  give  him  a  lesson  he  was 
about  to  scrub  the  floor.  That  day  the  lesson  was  not  very  en- 
couraging, but  the  third  time  I  went  the  room  was  neat  and 
clean  and  the  man  carefully  dressed.  That  day  a  first  rate  lesson 
had  been  learned,  and  from  that  time  on  the  man  has  rapidly  ad- 
vanced with  his  reading,  and  is  now  doing  self-supporting  work 
This  \\as  one  of  the  hardest  cases  of  despondency  with  which 
I  have  had  to  deal. 

Teaching  the  adult  blind  to  read  means  much  more  than 
anyone  can  realize,  unless  they  are  closely  associated  with  the 
work.  Those  who  are  most  eager  to  learn  as  a  rule  are  not 
found  among  the  wealthier  class  of  people.  The  supply  of  books 
which  are  printed  for  the  blind  is  still  limited,  so  unless  one  is 
fortunate  enough  to  have  some  one  to  read  to  them  it  is  im- 
possible for  a  person  without  sight  to  keep  up  with  the  good 
reading  of  to-day.  Often  after  I  seek  a  case  out  I  find  it 
entirely  hopeless,  as  the  disinclination  of  a  person  and  the 
surroundings  in  which  they  live  make  it  impossible  for  me  to 


UNUSUAL  EXPERIENCES  OF  BLIND  LIBRARIAN  453 

make  a  beginning  to  teach  them  The  question  is  often  asked 
if  people  in  advanced  life  are  able  to  learn  to  read  the  New 
York  Point,  and  if  it  is  not  better  for  such  people  to  learn 
the  Moon  print 

My  experience  has  been  that  the  Moon  print  has  proven 
a  steppingstone  to  the  New  York  Point.  I  had  a  woman  aged 
seventy  who  learned  both  the  Moon  print  and  the  New  York 
Point  print.  I  gave  her  a  New  York  Point  alphabet  sheet  and 
a  stated  amount  of  letters  to  learn  on  my  first  visit,  and  on 
calling  again  I  found  she  was  much  distressed  as  she  could  not 
make  a  beginning  with  the  letters,  I  explained  that  I  had  a 
larger  type  \\hich  I  thought  she  could  learn,  and  not  being  able 
to  learn  the  New  York  Point  at  first  did  not  surprise  me.  This 
pupil  learned  in  four  lessons  to  read  the  Moon  print  In  a 
year's  time  I  returned  to  this  pupil  and  talked  with  her  about 
trying  the  New  York  Point  She  consented,  and  in  seven  les- 
sons she  had  mastered  it  well  enough  to  proceed  by  herself. 

The  difficulty  in  not  being  able  to  read  the  New  York  Point 
at  first  is  not  only  found  in  people  in  advanced  life,  but  is  often 
found  in  young  men  and  women  of  nineteen  or  twenty  years 
This  may  seem  strange  to  people  having  sight,  but  any  person 
suddenly  losing  their  sight  does  not  know  how  to  use  the  fin- 
gers m  the  delicate  way  that  a  person  long  without  sight  has 
acquired.  The  fingers  of  a  blind  person  have  proven  to  be  a 
great  substitute  for  the  loss  of  vision. 

Some  of  my  pupils  have  not  only  been  blind,  but  deaf  as  well, 
and  to  these  people  the  ability  to  read  has  proven  a  double  in- 
terest and  comfort.  I  had  a  man  so  deaf  that  when  I  taught 
him  I  had  to  get  another  man  to  repeat  what  I  said,  but  the 
pupil  learned  to  read  in  a  very  short  time,  and  the  ability  to 
do  so  has  become  the  greatest  comfort  and  interest  which  the 
man  has  in  life. 

Among  my  scholars  I  have  had  a  few  colored  pupils.  As 
a  rule  I  have  found  the  colored  people  were  not  very  apt 
scholars.  They  are  satisfied  if  they  get  to  read  well  enough  to 
read  their  Bible,  and  do  not  take  much  interest  in  other  books. 

Among  those  with  whom  I  have  come  in  contact  there  was 
one  man  who  had  waited  fourteen  years  for  some  means  by 
which  he  might  learn  to  read.  At  first  I  thought  I  could  not 
be  of  any  assistance  to  him,  for  his  home  was  away  beyond 


454  BERYL  H.  CLARKE 

the  city  line,  but  after  I  had  called  on  him  and  realized  his  eager- 
ness and  his  great  desire  to  learn  to  read  I  made  three  trips 
to  Hempstead,  giving  him  a  lesson  each  time.  For  the  fourth 
lesson  he  came  to  the  library,  taking  home  a  book  which  some 
of  my  more  advanced  pupils  would  not  think  of  struggling  with. 
I  have  always  felt  well  repaid  for  the  hot  and  dusty  jour- 
neys which  I  have  taken  owing  to  this  man  becoming  so  in- 
terested in  the  reading,  and  this  case  only  differs  in  details  from 
many  others  that  have  been  very  encouraging 


THE  CALIFORNIA  STATE  LIBRARY  FOR  THE 
BLIND 

At  the  meeting  of  the  State  Library  Trustees  in  De- 
cember 1904,  Charles  R.  Greene,  librarian  of  the  Oak- 
land Free  Library  and  trustee  of  the  State  Library, 
brought  up  the  question  of  establishing  a  state  library 
for  the  blind.  The  idea  had  been  brought  to  his  atten- 
tion by  the  San  Francisco  Reading  Room  for  the  Blind. 
That  reading  room,  though  doing  excellent  work  in  San 
Francisco,  had  not  been  able  to  fill  any  requests  outside 
of  the  city.  Many  such  requests  were  received,  and  so 
the  managers  went  to  Mr.  Greene  with  their  difficulty. 
The  matter  was  discussed  at  the  meeting,  and  it  was 
unanimously  decided  to  establish  the  California  State 
Library  for  the  Blind,  the  only  agency  of  the  kind  in 
the  state. 

Miss  Mabel  Gillis  was  put  in  charge  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Books  for  the  Blind  in  the  California  State  Li- 
brary and  the  following  paper  is  an  account  of  the  work 
of  that  department.  She  continued  in  charge  of  work 
with  the  blind  until  her  promotion,  in  1917  to  the  as- 
sistant librarianship.  From  1920-1921  she  was  chairman 
of  the  A.L.A.  Committee  on  Work  with  the  Blind. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  State  Library  trustees  in 
December  1904,  Mr.  Charles  R.  Greene,  librarian  of  the  Oak- 
land Free  Library  and  trustee  of  the  State  Library,  brought  up 
the  question  of  establishing  a  state  library  for  the  blind.  The 
idea  had  been  brought  to  his  attention  by  the  San  Francisco 
Reading  Room  for  the  blind.  That  reading  room,  doing  excel- 
lent work  in  San  Francisco,  was  not  at  all  able  to  fill  any  re- 
quests from  the  blind  outside  of  town.  Many  such  requests 
were  received,  and  so  the  managers  went  to  Mr.  Greene  with 
their  difficulty.  The  matter  was  discussed  at  the  meeting  of  the 


456  MABEL  R.  GILLIS 

State  Library  Trustees,  and  it  was  unanimously  decided  to  estab- 
lish the  State  Library  for  the  Blind. 

It  was  the  policy  from  the  first  to  build  up  the  library  on 
the  broadest  kind  of  a  basis,  and  so  we  decided  to  find  out  just 
what  the  blind  of  California  wanted  before  ordering  the  books. 
We  took  the  census  report  of  1900  and  sent  out  blanks  to  all 
the  blind  persons  given  in  it.  This  was,  of  course,  somewhat 
out  of  date,  and  many  persons,  whose  names  and  addresses  were 
given,  had  moved  away;  others  had  died.  So  we  supplemented 
the  census  list  by  putting  notices  in  newspapers  all  over  the 
state,  asking  for  names  and  addresses  of  blind  persons.  Many 
names  were  received  through  this  source,  and  blanks  were  sent 
to  all.  On  the  blanks,  besides  asking  for  regular  statistics,  such 
as  name,  address,  age,  occupation,  etc.,  we  asked  what  types, 
if  any,  they  could  read,  or  if  they  could  not  read  any  type 
which  one  they  would  prefer  to  learn.  Also  we  asked  them  to 
underline  the  classes  of  books  they  would  like  to  see  in  the  li- 
brary, and  to  mention  any  special  titles  they  would  care  to 
read  themselves.  When  the  blanks  had  all  been  returned,  and 
they  came  fast  enough  to  keep  us  busy  and  very  much  encour- 
aged, we  compiled  the  statistics  received  and  could  then  judge 
which  types  we  would  purchase.  We  had  been  led  to  believe 
that  most  of  the  demand  would  be  for  Braille  books,  from  the 
general  principle  that  the  type  which  is  taught  in  the  state  school 
for  the  blind  is  the  one  most  used  throughout  the  state.  We 
were  somewhat  surprised,  then,  to  find  that  a  large  proportion 
of  those  who  filled  out  the  blanks  read  New  York  point,  rather 
than  Braille,  and  at  first  we  were  at  a  loss  to  understand  this. 
It  was  finally  brought  to  our  attention,  however,  that  up  to  a 
few  years  before  the  library  was  established  New  York  point, 
not  Braille,  was  the  type  given  precedence  at  the  State  Institu- 
tion It  was  therefore  the  type  most  useful  to  the  older  alum- 
nse,  the  ones  who  would  probably  for  some  years  to  come  be 
the  greatest  users  of  the  library.  Naturally  then  we  selected 
New  York  point  as  the  type  in  which  to  purchase  the  greater 
number  of  point  books.  The  Moon  type,  the  easiest  of  all  for 
older  people,  was  also  largely  asked  for,  and  we  ordered  a 
good-sized  collection  in  that  type.  After  the  selection  of  the 
types,  we  compiled  the  requests  for  the  different  classes  of 
books  and  bought  accordingly,  ordering  the  particular  book 


CALIFORNIA  STATE  LIBRARY  FOR  BLIND     457 

asked  for  whenever  possible.  In  all  our  buying  we  tried  to 
get  what  the  blind  themselves  really  wanted,  not  what  we 
thought  they  wanted  or  what  we  thought  they  ought  to  want. 
And  the  fact  that  they  found  in  the  library  the  very  books  they 
asked  for  has  given  them  the  feeling  that  the  library  is  really 
their  own 

When  the  books  were  finally  received  we  were  ready  for 
their  distribution  and  loaned  the  first  book  on  June  13,  1905. 
Our  first  borrower  was  Mrs.  Charlotte  White,  of  Sacramento, 
who  though  almost  ninety  years  old  at  the  time,  learned  the 
Moon  type  in  a  very  short  while,  at  home  with  no  teacher  and 
with  only  the  help  given  her  by  her  daughter-in-law,  who  had 
never  seen  the  type  before,  but  who  explained  the  alphabet  to 
Mrs  White  and  helped  her  over  the  hard  places. 

We  require  no  guarantor  for  the  blind  applicant  for  books. 
Knowing  that  the  matter  of  applying  is  in  itself  difficult  enough 
for  those  who  cannot  see  and  who  very  often  have  no  one  to 
see  for  them,  we  tried  to  make  it  as  simple  as  we  could  and 
asked  for  no  guarantor  whatever.  Any  blind  person  in  Cali- 
fornia can  have  books  from  the  State  Library  by  simply  asking 
for  them  Also  the  privilege  has  been  extended  to  those  Cali- 
fornians  who  have  moved  away  from  the  state  but  who  still 
wanted  to  borrow  books,  and  to  a  few  others  outside  the  state 
who  have  evidently  heard  of  the  library  through  these  former 
Cahfornians.  In  fact,  we  have  tried  to  fill  all  requests  as  far 
as  we  could  without  limiting  the  supply  of  books  for  the  Cali- 
fornia borrowers,  and  we  now  send  to  a  few  in  Oregon,  Nevada, 
Utah,  Montana  and  as  far  as  Nebraska. 

We  try  to  make  our  method  of  sending  out  books  as  simple 
as  possible  also  We  make  a  very  plain  case  of  corrugated 
cardboard  to  put  around  the  book  first.  As  many  of  the  books 
are  of  the  same  size  the  cases  are  interchangeable  and  can  be 
used  again  and  again.  Around  the  case  we  wrap  heavy  express 
paper,  tying  it  securely  with  good  twine.  On  one  end  of  the 
wrapping  paper  is  a  tag  addressed  to  the  blind  borrower  and 
properly  marked  "Free  Reading  Matter  for  the  Blind."  This 
is  one  of  the  requirements  for  free  postage  on  embossed  books. 
On  the  other  end  of  the  wrapper  is  a  printed  label  addressed  to 
the  Books  for  the  Blind  Division  State  Library,  Sacramento, 
also  marked  "Free  Reading  for  the  Blind,"  and  space  indicated 


458  MABEL  R.  GILLIS 

for  the  sender's  name.  The  idea  is  for  the  borrower  to  keep 
the  wrapper,  turning  it  for  return,  so  that  the  label  addressed 
to  us  shall  be  on  the  outside.  The  scheme  works  beautifully 
and  has  been  thoroughly  satisfactory  so  far.  It  is  interesting 
to  us  to  note  the  methods  employed  by  those  who  wrap  their 
own  bundles  for  return.  We  wondered  at  first  how  they  could 
possibly  tell  which  label  was  addressed  to  them  and  which  to 
us  until  a  blind  man  told  us,  with  apparent  scorn  for  our  stupid- 
ity, that  he  tore  the  label  addressed  to  him  before  untying  the 
bundle  and  so  knew  it  when  he  started  to  tie  up  again.  Since 
then  we  have  noticed  that  others  hit  upon  the  same  plan,  while 
still  others  seem  to  perforate  the  label  addressed  to  them  with 
a  pin  to  distinguish  it. 

We  do  not  try  to  influence  the  applicants  in  a  selection  of 
type  to  learn  if  they  do  not  know  one.  If  they  ask  for  a  point 
system  we  send  it,  even  if  they  are  adults  and  we  think  the 
point  system  probably  too  difficult  to  be  learned  first.  We  let 
them  discover  for  themselves  that  it  is  difficult — they  are  so 
much  the  better  satisfied.  But  as  soon  as  they  seem  to  be  dis- 
couraged we  suggest  that  they  try  the  Moon  type  first,  and  then 
after  becoming  accustomed  to  feeling  the  easier  type  the  point 
system  can  be  learned  with  less  difficulty.  This  plan  they  very 
cheerfully  try.  This  leads  us  to  the  question  of  whether  it  is 
necessary  to  have  home  teachers  to  visit  the  blind  and  teach 
them  the  types.  Many  libraries  claim  that  teachers  are  abso- 
lutely necessary,  but  this  may  be  because  they  have  not  been 
forced  to  try  any  other  plan.  We,  of  course,  have  had  no 
teachers,  and  have  had  to  rely  on  correspondence  entirely,  ex- 
cept for  the  occasional  help  of  Miss  Young  in  San  Francisco 
and  Miss  Kate  Foley  in  Los  Angeles.  Our  plan  is  to  send  out 
an  alphabet,  reading  cards  and  primer,  explaining  by  letter  in 
which  order  they  should  be  taken  up.  After  a  reasonable  length 
of  time  we  write  to  the  borrowers,  asking  how  he  is  progress- 
ing, encouraging  him  to  keep  on,  telling  him  of  some  of  the 
others  who  have  learned  and  their  enjoyment  from  the  reading. 
Sometimes  we  do  not  have  to  write  even  one  letter  of  encour- 
agement, the  borrower  learning  in  a  very  short  time  and  send- 
ing immediately  for  books.  Sometimes  we  write  several  letters 
before  the  blind  person  finally  succeeds  in  mastering  the  type. 
Where  they  fail  altogether  it  is  usually  the  result  of  sickness, 


CALIFORNIA  STATE  LIBRARY  FOR  BLIND      459 

and  more  especially  nervousness.  That  our  plan  is  not  without 
results  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  about  40  blind  persons  who 
knew  no  type  at  all  have  learned  to  read  since  the  library 
opened.  Many  have  learned  two  or  three  types  and  about  30 
more,  who  knew  at  least  one  type  when  we  began,  have  now 
learned  one  or  two  others  Some  of  these  borrowers  are  go 
years  old,  others  are  80,  and  many  are  over  70.  We  think  this 
shows  that,  although  home  teachers  are  the  ideal  method,  much 
can  be  accomplished  without  teachers,  if  funds  do  not  permit 
having  them. 

The  number  of  books  that  a  borrower  can  have  at  one  time 
and  the  length  of  time  he  can  keep  them  depend  on  the  bor- 
rower himself  entirely.  Some  read  very  fast,  some  very  slowly. 
Some  care  for  books  for  study  and  books  for  recreation  at  the 
same  time.  Others  especially  ask  for  only  one  book  at  a  time 
For  the  fast  readers  we  try  to  keep  about  two  books  in  their 
hands  all  the  time  and  usually  one  on  the  road,  so  that  while 
returning  one  book  they  need  not  be  without  reading  matter 
for  a  moment.  In  fact,  we  usually  send  two  books  at  once 
when  a  borrower  first  applies  Then  when  he  finishes  one  he 
returns  it,  having  the  other  book  to  read  while  we  are  ex- 
changing the  first  for  the  third  on  his  list.  Some  of  the  slow 
readers  keep  a  book  out  for  months,  and  we  do  not  even  send 
a  due  notice  if  the  book  is  not  in  demand  If  someone  else 
should  want  that  book  and  nothing  else  we  send  a  due  notice, 
telling  the  borrower  that  another  reader  is  waiting  for  the  book. 
Back  it  comes  by  return  mail.  All  the  blind  borrowers  are 
very  considerate  of  one  another,  and  the  fact  that  others  may 
be  waiting  for  a  book  is  enough  to  bring  it  to  the  library  im- 
mediately. We  try  to  have  on  file  a  list  of  books  wanted  by 
every  borrower.  These  are  sent  to  him  in  turn  if  possible. 
And  if  he  has  especially  requested  any  book  it  is  sent  to  him 
immediately  on  its  return  to  the  library  even  if  he  has  other 
reading  matter  on  hand. 

We  now  have  in  the  State  Library  for  the  Blind  874  acces- 
sions, including  books  of  all  classes,  music,  current  magazines 
in  three  types,  writing  appliances  and  some  ink  print  articles. 
The  writing  appliances  are  for  the  use  of  the  blind  who  wish 
to  write  their  own  letters,  etc,  and  are  different  contrivances 
for  keeping  the  writing  in  straight  lines,  separated  from  one 


460  MABEL  R.  GILLIS 

another.  They  include  cards  with  grooved  lines,  a  writing  tab- 
let rack  with  slide  to  hold  the  pencil,  a  writing  frame  with  brass 
bars  and  writing  paper  with  embossed  lines.  These  appliances 
are  for  lending  to  the  blind  so  that  they  may  try  the  different 
kinds  before  buying  them  for  their  own  use.  Among  the  books 
are  a  few  in  foreign  languages,  French,  German  and  Latin 

It  seems  as  if  every  public  library  should  do  something  for 
the  blind  of  the  city  in  which  it  exists,  not  as  a  charity  or  as  a 
work  of  pity,  but  as  simple  justice,  because  it  is  the  right  of 
everyone  to  have  library  privileges.  If  built  upon  this  spirit 
the  blind  are  quick  to  feel  it  and  to  appreciate  it  Every  per- 
son in  the  state  is  entitled  to  all  its  educational  advantages, 
and  so  the  library  should  be  extended  to  all. 

There  are  some  things  a  library  can  do  for  the  blind  with 
little  expense.  For  instance,  a  reading  room  with  alphabet  and 
magazines  could  be  carried  on  for  one  year  probably  under 
10  dollars,  as  follows : 

50  Alphabet  sheets  in  New  York  point  at  50  cents  a  hundred, 

2SC. 

50  Alphabet  sheets  in  Braille  at  60  cents  a  hundred,  30c. 

50  Alphabet  cards  in  Moon  at  2  cents  a  piece,  $i. 

The  Matilda  Ziegler  Magazine  in  New  York  point,  loc. 

The  Matilda  Ziegler  Magasine  in  Braille,  loc. 

The  Christian  Record  in  New  York  point,  gratis. 

The  Christian  Record  in  Braille,  gratis. 

The  Moon  Magazine,  $5, 

This,  it  seems,  would  be  enough  for  a  start  There  are  sev- 
eral other  magazines,  but  these  are  the  most  popular  and  the 
least  expensive.  To  these  we  would  strongly  advise  adding 
articles  m  ink  print  magazines,  giving  achievements  of  the  blind 
as  well  as  what  the  seeing  are  doing  for  them.  By  ink  print 
magazines  I  mean  the  regular  magazines  printed  for  the  seeing 
people.  We  have  some  of  these  at  the  State  Library  for  the 
Blind  and  they  are  constantly  asked  for  and  used  by  the  blind 
borrowers,  though,  of  course,  they  have  to  be  read  to  the  blind 
by  their  seeing  fnends  or  relatives.  In  this  connection  might 
be  mentioned  the  Outlook  for  the  Blind  a  quarterly  ink  print 
magazine,  one  dollar  a  year.  The  July  number  of  this  year 
contains  such  articles  as  "Proposed  co-education  of  the  blind 


CALIFORNIA  STATE  LIBRARY  FOR  BLIND      461 

and  seeing  in  New  York  City,"  "Forensics  and  public  speaking 
by  the  blind  in  California,"  "Massage  as  an  occupation  for  the 
blind,"  which  show  that  the  magazine  is  of  much  interest  to 
the  blind  themselves  For  the  blind  must  be  educated  to  take 
an  interest  in  and  to  understand  their  own  problems,  because 
they  are  the  best  ones  to  solve  them.  The  fact  that  the  two 
systems  of  reading  universally  used — the  point  system  and  the 
Moon  system — were  invented  by  blind  men  seems  to  point  to 
this  conclusion,  that  the  blind  themselves  are  best  fitted  to  work 
out  their  own  problems.  Let  us  help  them  then  to  understand 
and  solve  them  by  putting  in  their  hands  all  the  best  things 
written  both  in  embossed  and  ink  print. 

The  alphabets  and  magazines  would  be  enough  at  first.  Create 
an  interest  in  the  room  before  trying  to  have  books.  To  do 
this  the  library  must  advertise  its  reading  room  for  the  blind 
as  it  does  its  other  features.  When  there  is  a  demand  for  books 
a  travelling  library  of  from  10  to  25  volumes  can  be  asked  for 
from  the  State  Library.  The  State  Library  pays  transportation 
on  books  both  ways,  but  the  question  of  free  postage  on  em- 
bossed books  between  libraries  should  be  investigated  to  the 
end  that  it  would  hold  in  that  case  as  well  as  between  libraries 
and  individuals.  To  have  books  before  there  was  a  demand 
for  them  would  only  tie  them  up  for  two  months,  keeping  them 
from  individual  borrowers  and  making  no  use  for  them  at  the 
reading  room.  It  might  be  said  that  a  reading  room  for  the 
blind  will  be  of  no  use,  that  the  blind  would  rather  read  at 
home  than  go  to  the  library.  But  has  the  experiment  of  having 
a  reading  room  been  tried  enough  to  warrant  this  statement? 
We  will  have  to  prove  that  the  blind  do  not  want  a  part  of 
each  library  for  their  very  own  before  we  can  say  it  positively 
and  let  the  matter  go  at  that.  The  blind  are  just  like  other 
people — they  like  to  select  the  books  they  read.  Why  would 
they  not  like  to  roam  among  the  shelves  taking  down  the  books 
and  examining  them  before  drawing  them  out?  What 
little  experience  we  have  with  borrowers  coming  to  the  library 
shows  that  they  do  like  to  select  their  own  books.  One  small 
boy,  who  sometimes  comes  for  his  books  and  sometimes  sends 
his  brother,  is  always  satisfied  when  he  has  picked  out  his  own 
book,  but  is  often  dissatisfied  when  he  has  sent  his  brother 
for  some  title  but  has  not  had  the  opportunity  of  looking  over 


462  MABEL  R.  GILLIS 

the  book  before  drawing  it  out.  And  we  are  sure  from  the 
good  care  the  borrowers  take  of  the  books  that  there  would 
be  no  abuse  of  the  privilege  of  open  shelves. 

If  the  demand  for  books  grows  too  large  for  a  small  reading 
room  with  simply  a  collection  from  the  State  Library  it  will  be 
time  to  begin  buying  books.  The  first  point  always  brought 
up  about  buying  embossed  books  is  the  great  expense.  It  is 
true  that  many  books  do  cost  a  great  deal— "David  Copper- 
field,"  for  instance,  in  six  volumes  costing  $21.  But  we  haven't 
even  added  that  ourselves  yet,  and  plenty  of  good  titles  can  be 
purchased  at  less  expense.  There  will  always  be  a  demand 
for  standard  works  of  fiction,  history  and  travel,  so  it  would 
seem  best  for  a  library  to  add  those  to  its  reading  room  first. 
New  York  point  and  Braille  books  of  this  kind  range  in  price 
from  short  selections  like  Andrews'  "The  perfect  tribute"  at  60 
cents  to  such  books  as  "Henry  Esmond"  in  three  volumes  at 
10  dollars  and  a  half.  The  Moon  books,  which  come  from  Eng- 
land, are  priced  from  a  few  cents  for  a  small  part  of  the  Bible 
to  about  10  dollars  for  Kenilworth  in  nine  volumes  The  ad- 
dresses of  firms  furnishing  all  magazines,  books,  etc.,  mentioned 
are  listed,  and  copies  of  the  list  may  be  had  by  anyone  interested. 

This  goes  to  show  that  a  library  for  the  blind  could  be  es- 
tablished at  no  very  great  expense  with  a  good  lot  of  standard 
books.  Then  the  library  could  still  supplement  its  collection  by 
borrowing  the  class  books  from  the  State  Library,  such  as  a 
little  science  collection  for  those  who  would  care  for  scientific 
reading.  These  books  usually  come  in  from  one  to  three  vol- 
umes, ranging  in  price  from  three  dollars  and  a  half  to  10  and  a 
half,  and  would  be  used  by  comparatively  few  borrowers.  So  such 
books  would  better  for  a  while  be  borrowed  from  one  source, 
the  public  library  money  being  reserved  for  standard  books 
which  all  borrowers  would  read.  This  would  make  each  small 
library  start,  in  a  sense,  a  deposit  station  of  the  State  Library 
for  the  Blind,  just  as  in  the  county  system  each  branch  is  a 
deposit  station  of  the  county  library. 

That  there  is  a  demand  for  embossed  books  in  California 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  State  Library  now  has  an  even 
300  borrowers,  and  that  the  demand  is  growing,  as  shown  by 
the  increase  in  circulation,  3318  books  having  been  loaned  in 
the  last  year  against  2706  volumes  the  year  before.  That  the 


CALIFORNIA  STATE  LIBRARY  FOR  BLIND      463 

library  work  for  the  blind  is  appreciated  is  shown  by  the  many 
letters  we  are  constantly  receiving,  telling  us  how  much  the  books 
are  enjoyed  and  how  happy  the  borrowers  are  to  have  library 
privileges. 

ADDRESSES  OF  FIRMS  SUPPLYING  BOOKS,  MAGAZINES,  ETC.,  FOR 
THE  BLIND 

New  York  point  alphabets,  books  and  music;  Braille  alphabets 
and  books:  All  supplied  by  American  Printing  House  for 
the  Blind,  Louisville,  Ky. 

Braille  music,  and  a  few  Braille  books:  Supplied  by  Illinois 
School  for  Blind,  Jacksonville,  111. 

Moon  alphabets,  books,  music  and  magazines:  Supplied  by 
Moon's  Society,  Miss  Moon,  Honorary  Secretary,  104  Queen's 
Road,  Brighton,  England. 

The  Bible.  I  Entire  in  all  types  except  Moon,  in  which  it  fur- 
nishes only  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Gospels  and  Acts:  Supplied 
by  American  Bible  Society,  New  York  City.  2.  Entire  Bible, 
in  Moon  type  only:  Supplied  by  Pennsylvania  Bible  House, 
;th  and  Walnut  Sts,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

The  Matilda  Ziegler  Magazine,  in  New  York  point  and  Braille: 
The  Ziegler  Publishing  Company,  309  West  53d  St.,  New 
York  City 

The  Christian  Record,  in  New  York  point  and  Braille:  The 
Christian  Record,  College  View,  Neb. 

Outlook  for  the  Blind,  ink  print :  Massachusetts  Association  for 
Promoting  the  Interests  of  the  Blind,  277  Harvard  St,  Cam- 
bridge Station,  Boston,  Mass. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  LIBRARY 
WORK  WITH  THE  BLIND 

The  chairman  of  the  A.L.A.  committee  on  work  with 
the  blind,  Emma  R.  Neisser,  now  Mrs.  Delfino,  of  the 
Free  Library  of  Philadelphia,  rendered  the  following 
report  at  the  Minnetonka  Conference  of  the  A.L.A., 
June  27,  1908.  This  report  includes  a  discussion  of  the 
progress  of  work  with  the  blind,  extent  of  collections 
and  their  circulation,  various  types  of  blind  print,  etc. 

Emma  Rittenhouse  Neisser  had  long  been  identified 
with  work  for  the  blind  and  with  the  Traveling  Library 
Department  of  the  Free  Library  of  Philadelphia.  In 
1910  she  married  Mr.  Liborio  Delfino,  and  has  continued 
her  work  at  this  library. 

Previous  to  the  conference  of  the  American  Library  Asso- 
ciation in  1907  the  Chairman,  Mr.  Hodges,  had  addressed  let- 
ters of  inquiry  to  the  Uniform  type  committee  of  the  Ameri- 
can association  of  workers  for  the  blind  and  to  Mr.  Edward 
Ellis  Allen,  Principal  of  the  Overbrook  school  for  the  blind,  who 
has  shown  particular  interest  in  the  circulation  of  embossed 
books.  The  replies  from  Mr.  Elwyn  H  Fowler,  of  the  Uniform 
type  committee,  and  from  Mr.  Allen,  owing  to  a  change  in  the 
American  Library  Association  program,  were  received  too  late 
to  be  included  in  the  report  presented  at  the  Asheville  con- 
ference. 

Mr.  Fowler  said  in  part: 

"I  wish  to  thank  you  for  your  effort  to  cooperate  with  The 
American  association  of  workers  for  the  blind. 

Of  the  five  systems  now  in  common  use  the  embossed  Ro- 
man letter  is  fast  being  superseded  by  some  one  of  the  three 
dot  systems,  on  account  of  their  more  general  legibility  and 
utility.  Moon's  system  is  useful  for  the  aged  and  others  whose 


466  EMMA  RITTENHOUSE  NEISSER 

touch  is  dull.  The  great  majority  of  the  blind  in  active  life 
requires  a  system  more  compact  than  Moon's,  however,  and  one 
that  can  be  easily  written  by  hand;  hence  the  increasing  use 
of  the  systems  composed  wholly  of  dots 

"Some  advocates  of  each  of  the  three  dot  systems  in  com- 
mon use  are  vehement  m  their  preferences  it  is  true,  but  I  think 
there  is  a  large  and  rapidly  growing  number  of  intelligent  blind 
readers  and  influential  workers  for  the  blind  who  appreciate 
the  great  advantages  of  uniformity  and  who  are  willing  to  make 
no  little  sacrifice  of  personal  convenience  for  the  general 

"The  amount  of  literature  now  printed  in  any  system  should 
not  be  accepted  as  a  reason  for  continuing  the  system  in  oppo- 
sition to  a  much  better  system,  for  whatever  may  be  the  uni- 
versal system,  the  present  diversity  is  such  that  it  must  be  dif- 
ferent from  most  of  the  print  now  in  use,  and  it  should  also 
be  remembered  in  this  connection  that  embossed  books  get  out 
of  date  like  other  books,  so  that  most  of  the  embossed  literature 
of  today  will  become  nearly  useless  in  a  few  years  or  at  most 
decades,  regardless  of  the  question  of  types.  I  regard  the  work 
already  done  with  various  systems  as  largely  experimental.  The 
underlying  principles  which  make  a  system  most  serviceable 
must  be  discovered  and  demonstrated  in  hard  experience  and 
observation.  Mere  impressions  as  to  the  utility  of  any  feature 
of  a  system  are  very  untrustworthy.  The  late  Hannibal  Hamlin 
once  wrote  this  sentiment,  "Nothing  is  ever  settled  permanently 
until  it  is  settled  right."  When  the  principles  upon  which  a 
serviceable  system  should  be  arranged  are  demonstrated,  it  is 
to  me  inconceivable  that  the  present  babel  should  long  continue." 

Mr.  Edward  Ellis  Allen,  the  Principal  of  the  Pennsylvania 
institution  for  the  blind,  and  now  Director  of  the  Perkins  in- 
stitution, wrote  as  follows: 

Relieving  that  you  wish  to  know  the  result  of  my  ex- 
perience on  certain  questions  of  interest  to  teachers  and  libra- 
rians alike,  I  beg  to  refer  you  to  my  paper  on  Libraries  for 
the  blind  and  I  hastily  write  you  the  following: 

Multiplicity  of  types  There  have  been  scores  of  types  and 
it  little  becomes  people  unfamiliar  with  the  history  of  this  sub- 
ject to  criticize  us  for  having  reduced  that  number  to  only 


COMMITTEE  REPORT  ON  WORK  WITH  BLIND  467 

three,  which  need  no  longer  be  considered  Time  alone  will 
reduce  this  number  to  two;  for  two  there  must  be: 

The  Moon  type  for  the  many  adult. 

A  Point  type  for  the  young  and  able  bodied. 

The  use  of  the  Moon  type  is  constantly  spreading,  but  there 
is  great  need  of  new  literature  in  this  system 

The  New  York  point  type  is  in  use  in  23  of  our  40  schools; 
the  American  Braille  in  17,  and  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the 
books  in  each  is  a  matter  of  pride.  There  are  already  more 
different  books  in  either  system  that  any  one  person  is  ever 
likely  to  read,  still,  a  greater  variety  of  popular  literature  is 
demanded  and  will  be  supplied.  Librarians  should  not  com- 
plain of  the  poverty  of  books  for  the  blind  until  they  have  on 
their  shelves  copies  of  what  have  been  already  issued.  In  general, 
the  books  in  one  point  type  are  not  duplicated  in  the  other — 
and  as  readers  of  one  can  easily  use  publications  in  the  other 
so  every  library  would  do  well  to  possess  books  in  each  point 
system  and  in  Moon's  type. 

Question  of  space  Owing  to  the  expansion  necessary  to  re- 
produce a  given  book  for  use  by  the  blind  it  is  natural  for 
people  to  err  in  making  "space"  the  primary  factor  in  the  choice 
of  systems,  whereas  writability  and  readability  by  the  greatest 
number  of  users  should  be  considered. 

Size  of  books  1  am  convinced  that  the  present  standard 
volume  is  too  bulky  and  have  long  ago  written  so  to  Miss 
Chamberlain  of  Albany  and  Miss  Neisser  of  Philadelphia.  We 
have  lately  been  issuing  our  Philadelphia  books  smaller  and 
lighter  and  in  my  coming  directorship  of  the  large  printing  of- 
fice of  the  Perkins  institution  for  the  blind,  at  Boston,  I  expect 
to  continue  this  policy. 

Public  reading  rooms  for  the  blind.  The  principal  reason 
why  these  are  unwise  is  that  they  are  uncalled  for.  It  is  dif- 
ficult to  induce  the  blind  to  resort  to  them ;  hence,  the  space  and 
money  that  would  otherwise  be  devoted  to  them  should  be 
turned  into  more  books  and  better  machinery  for  extending  their 
circulation  into  the  homes  of  the  readers. 

Library  centers.  Several  centers  are  better  than  one  for 
the  reason  that  the  concentration  of  such  a  large  work  at  one 
place  would  be  likely  so  to  encumber  the  mails  there  as  to 
jeopardize  the  present  free  franking  privilege.  Then  again,  the 


468  EMMA  RITTENHOUSE  NEISSER 

sending  for,  the  recerving  and  the  returning  of  books  through- 
out our  great  land  would  make  the  element  of  waste  of  time 
a  great  one.  Still  again,  inasmuch  as  the  sending  out  of  home 
teachers  is  getting  to  be  an  important  function  of  library  work 
among  the  blind,  so  is  there  need  for  frequent  collections  of 
books  from  which  to  draw  at  once  Efficient  library  work  for 
the  blind  is  one  which  peculiarly  demands  the  personal  touch 
of  devoted  workers. 

It  is  gratifying  to  us  who  are  making  labor  among  the  blind 
our  life  work  to  note  the  increasing  interest  taken  by  librarians 
in  extending  to  more  and  more  of  these  people  the  solace  and 
the  delight  of  reading" 

Two  members  of  the  Committee,  Miss  Griffin  and  Miss 
Neisser,  attended  the  plh  Convention  of  the  American  associa- 
tion of  workers  for  the  blind,  held  at  Boston,  August  27-30, 
1907. 

The  entire  report  of  the  "Uniform  type  committee"  of  that 
Association,  presented  at  the  convention,  is  too  long  to  be  given 
here.  It  may  be  found  in  full  in  "Outlook  for  the  blind"  for 
January  1908. 

Among  other  resolutions  of  that  conference  are  the 
following : 

2  That  we  are  pleased  to  note  the  gratifying  increase  in 
the  cooperation  and  harmony  among  the  institutions,  associations 
and  workers  for  the  blind  in  America. 

8  That  the  recommendations  of  the  Uniform  type  com- 
mittee be  adopted: 

1  (a)    That  the  work  of  this  committee  be  continued, 
(b)    That  the  committee  be  authorized  to  seek  the  co- 
operation  of   other  organizations   in   the   present 
movement  towards  the   adoption   of   a   standard 
punctographic  system  of  printing  for  the  blind. 

2  (a)    The  use  of  complete  punctuation  in  standard  and 

miscellaneous  publications. 

(b)  The  use  of  distinct  capitalization  in  such  publica- 

tions. 

(c)  The  use  in  such  publications,  other  than  textbooks 

for  the  elementary  grades,  of  such  of  the  author- 
.  ized  initial  contractions  and  of  the  word,  syllable, 
and  part-syllable  signs  as  shall  be  proven  helpful 
in  reading,  and  the  abandonment  of  such  as  shall 
be  proven  a  hindrance  in  reading,  and  of  such 
as  would  represent  letters  belonging  to  different 
syllables. 


COMMITTEE  REPORT  ON  WORK  WITH  BLIND  469 

3  That  it  shall  be  the  policy  of  this  association  to  encour- 
age a  willingness  to  unite  with  the  English-speaking  world  upon 
any  system  which  embodies  the  principles  that  would  render  it 
most  serviceable. 

13  That  we  approve  of  the  action  of  the  Massachusetts 
association  for  promoting  the  interests  of  the  blind  in  establish- 
ing the  "Outlook  for  the  blind,"  and  urge  that  every  possible 
effort  be  made  to  increase  its  circulation  among  the  general 
public  and  workers  for  the  blind. 

Miss  Neisser  also  attended  the  first  meeting  of  the  Mary- 
land association  of  workers  for  the  blind,  held  March  i6th, 
1908  at  Johns  Hopkins  university,  Baltimore. 

Mrs  Fairchild  addressed  the  class  at  the  New  York  state 
library  school  upon  the  subject  of  "Library  work  for  the  blind" 

An  increased  circulation  of  embossed  books  throughout  the 
country  indicates  the  steady  progress  of  library  work  for  the 
blind  during  the  past  year. 

The  publication  in  the  new  "Matilda  Ziegler  magazine  for 
the  blind"  of  a  list  of  libraries  circulating  embossed  volumes 
brought  to  many  of  the  sightless  the  news  of  the  opportunities 
for  borrowing  these  volumes  and  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the 
circulation  of  books  In  answer  to  the  demands  thus  created, 
both  public  libraries  and  institutions  for  the  blind  have  taken 
an  active  interest  in  the  subject. 

A  commission  to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  blind  in 
the  state  of  Ohio  has  recently  been  appointed  by  the  Governor, 
and  $10,000  appropriated  to  carry  out  its  purpose  Six  mem- 
bers are  named,  one  of  whom  is  the  Superintendent  of  the  State 
school  for  the  blind  at  Columbus. 

The  Society  for  promoting  the  interests  of  the  blind  in 
Cleveland  has  begun  the  work  of  home  teaching  in  that  city. 

The  Commission  for  the  blind  in  New  Jersey  consisting  of 
five  members  appointed  by  Governor  Fort,  was  organized  on 
June  I2th,  1908  at  Trenton.  Mr  Algernon  A.  Osborne,  6  Park 
Place,  Newark,  is  Secretary.  The  appropriation  of  $1,000  to 
carry  on  the  work  will  not  be  sufficient  for  a  state  census  of 
the  blind,  but  the  Commission  hopes  to  obtain  a  roughly  ap- 
proximate enumeration  of  the  blind  throughout  the  State.  The 
Secretary  will  be  grateful  for  the  names  and  addresses  of  any 
blind  person  residing  in  New  Jersey  known  to  the  members 
of  the  American  Library  Association. 


470  EMMA  RITTENHOUSE  NEISSER 

The  Carnegie  library  of  Atlanta,  Georgia,  the  Public  library 
of  Brookline,  Massachusetts,  and  the  Central  state  normal  school 
at  Edmond,  Oklahoma,  have  recently  undertaken  work  for  the 
blind,  together  with  the  Public  library  of  Leavenworth,  Kansas. 

In  November  1907  the  Pennsylvania  home  teaching  society 
for  the  blind  extended  its  work  by  sending  a  home  teacher  to 
Pittsburg.  The  Society  has  deposited  a  collection  of  books  in 
the  Carnegie  library,  which  has  agreed  to  be  responsible  for 
the  books  and  which  will  superintend  the  circulation  of  them. 

Especial  mention  should  be  made  of  the  excellent  work  for 
the  blind  by  means  of  home  teaching  now  being  accomplished 
by  the  state  of  Delaware  In  addition  to  the  state  appropriation 
for  the  home  teacher  the  municipal  authorities  of  Wilmington 
recently  made  a  grant  of  $250  for  embossed  books  and  use  of 
a  room  in  the  Wilmington  institute  free  library.  As  a  memorial 
to  the  late  Bishop  Coleman,  sufficient  funds  have  been  raised  to 
pay  for  embossing  in  Moon  type  and  in  Braille  the  chapters  from 
"Les  Miserables"  relating  to  the  character  of  the  Bishop. 

The  New  York  circulating  library  for  the  blind  has  received 
a  bequest  of  $5,000  from  the  late  Mr.  Clemence  L.  Stephens. 
As  this  library  has  been  consolidated  with  the  New  York  public 
library,  the  bequest  will  be  received  by  the  latter  and  will  be 
used  for  the  development  of  the  Department  for  the  blind. 

The  Montreal  association  for  the  blind  has  just  been  or- 
ganized. Professor  Septimus  Fraser,  51  Crescent  street,  Mon- 
treal, is  secretary. 

Since  January  1908  the  Society  for  the  promotion  of  church 
work  among  the  blind  has  employed  a  blind  visitor  one  after- 
noon each  week  to  call  upon  members  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  in  Philadelphia  who  are  blind,  to  read  to  the 
aged  and  to  those  who  have  no  one  to  read  to  them. 

NEW  PUBLICATIONS 
I.    In  ink  print 

The  committee  particularly  commends  to  your  attention  the 
new  magazine  in  ink  print,  entitled  the  "Outlook  for  the  blind," 
published  by  the  Massachusetts  association  for  promoting  the 
interests  of  the  blind,  277  Harvard  Street,  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts It  is  "a  quarterly  record  of  the  progress  and  wel- 
fare of  the  blind,"  and  should  be  in  the  hands  of  all  librarians 


COMMITTEE  REPORT  ON  WORK  WITH  BLIND  471 

interested  in  circulating  embossed  books  The  price  is  $1.00 
per  year 

The  Perkins  institution  and  Massachusetts  school  for  the 
blind  has  issued  a  valuable  bibliography  entitled:  "Special  ref- 
erence library  of  books  relating  to  the  blind,  Part  I,  Books  in 
English,  compiled  under  the  direction  of  the  late  Michael  Anag- 
nos.  In  a  pamphlet  of  addenda,  the  list  is  brought  down  to 
Nov.  r,  1907  The  Perkins  institution  has  also  issued  a  "Catalog 
of  embossed  books  in  the  circulating  library."  The  Director, 
Mr  Edward  Ellis  Allen,  will  gladly  send  a  copy  to  any  libra- 
rian who  requests  one. 

The  report  of  the  Commission  of  1906  to  investigate  the  con- 
dition of  the  blind  in  the  state  of  New  York,  recently  issued,  is 
a  valuable  addition  to  the  literature  on  "The  blind"  It  may 
be  obtained  from  the  capitol,  Albany,  New  York,  and  from  the 
secretary  of  the  Commission  Mr  0.  H.  Burritt,  now  Principal 
of  the  Pennsylvania  school  for  the  blind,  Overbrook,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The  first  Report  of  the  New  York  association  for  the  blind, 
118  East  5Qth  Street,  New  York  City,  also  recently  issued,  con- 
tains an  account  of  the  home  teaching  carried  on  by  the  Asso- 
ciation. It  is  to  be  obtained  from  the  Secretary,  Miss  Winifred 
Holt,  at  the  above  address 

The  Brooklyn  public  library  has  during  the  year  published 
a  finding  list  of  the  embossed  books  belonging  to  the  library. 

2     In  embossed  type 

In  a  letter  dated  June  8th,  1908,  Mr  Edward  Ellis  Allen, 
now  Director  of  the  Perkins  institution,  wrote: 

Largely  through  the  influence  of  librarians,  the  Howe 
memorial  press  is  now  getting  out  booklets  of  a  practical  shape 
and  size,  that  it  is  trying  to  supply  the  need  for  good  light 
reading  in  the  Braille  system  for  the  blind,  and  that  the  library 
of  the  Perkins  institution  will  gladly  lend  these  stories  to  any 
one  wishing  to  read  them  who  will  notify  our  librarians.  I  am 
enclosing  herewith  a  list  of  these  stories 

These  small  books  are  inexpensive,  the  cover  costing  but  ten 
cents  Though  we  are  glad  to  circulate  them,  one  or  more  at 
a  time,  we  have  no  conveniences  for  doing  so  in  vacation. 
Thus,  I  should  suppose  those  libraries  haying  departments  of 
embossed  books  would  wish  to  obtain  copies,  especially  as  we 
will  dispose  of  them  to  such  libraries  for  25  per  cent,  discount 
from  cost  price 


472  EMMA  RITTENHOUSE  NEISSER 

New  Braille  publications  of  the  Perkins  Institution  now  ready 
for  circulation: 

Heyse,  L'Arrabiata 

Davison,  How  I  sent  my  aunt  to  Baltimore 

Hayes,  The  Denver  express 

Phelps,  Fourteen  to  one 

Wister,  Philosophy  4 

Bunner,  The  Zadoc  Pine  labor  union 

Hubbard,  Get  out  or  get  in  line 

Hubbard,  Message  to  Garcia 

Daudet,  Pope's  mule 

White,  Eli 

Potter,  Tailor  of  Gloucester 

Andrews,  Perfect  tribute 

Chester,  Skeezicks  elopes 

Harraden,  A  Bird  of  passage 

Harte,  CoL  Starbottle  for  the  plaintiff 

Twenty-five  stories  listed  to  follow  are: 

Kipling,   Wee  Willie   Winkie 

Lee,  Uncle  William 

Page,  New  agent 

— Soldier  of  the  empire 

Crawford,  Little  city  of  hope 

Maupassant,  The  Necklace 

Yonge,  Last  fight  in  the  Coliseum 

Aldrich,  Goliath 

— Our  new  neighbors  at  Ponkapog 

— Quite  so 

Kelly,  Perjured  Santa  Claus 

Wiggin,  Saving  of  the  colors 

Doyle,  Adventures  of  the  red-headed  league 

Spyri,  Goat  boy 

—Without  a  friend 

Stockton,  Lady  or  the  tiger 

White,  Honk-honk  breed 

Deland,  Promise  of  Dorothea 

— Good  for  the  soul 

Repplier,  Story  of  Nuremberg 

Bourget,  Mon.  Viple's  brother 

Davis,  Story  of  a  jockey 

Clemens,  Two  little  tales 

Paine,  Don't  hurry  club 

Dalziel,  Flaw  in  the  crankshaft 

The  "Outlook  for  the  blind"  for  July,  1907,  contains  a  list 
of  new  publications  in  embossed  type  not  yet  appearing  in  the 
catalog  of  the  American  printing  house  for  the  blind.  Since 


COMMITTEE  REPORT  ON  WORK  WITH  BLIND  473 

the  list  was  printed  several  additional  volumes  in  New  York 
point  have  been  issued  for  the  New  York  state  library: 

Wiggin,  New  chronicles  o£  Rebecca 
Parkman,  Jesuits  in  North  America 
Palgrave,  Golden  treasury 
Clemens,  Tom  Sawyer 
Hale,  Daily  bread 
Andrews,  Perfect  tribute 
Gaskell,  Cranford 

(the  last  title  a  gift  from  Miss  Nina  Rhoades) 

"The  Christian  record,"  published  monthly  by  the  Christian 
record  publishing  company  in  two  editions,  one  in  New  York 
Point,  the  other  in  American  Braille  with  contractions,  is  now 
free  to  any  blind  person  who  applies  for  it  and  to  any  free 
circulating  library. 

The  new  publications  in  Moon  type  include  Tennyson's  "In 
memoriam";  Whittier's  "Snowbound";  Owen  Wister's  "Life  of 
General  Grant";  "The  Perfect  tribute"  by  Andrews;  "An  Ac- 
count of  the  Yellowstone  national  park"  by  Arnold  Hague  and 
"The  Grand  canyon  of  Arizona,"  by  J.  W.  Powell.  Judge 
Pereles  of  Wisconsin,  has  again  published  a  new  volume  as  a 
memorial  to  his  mother,  who  was  blind.  The  volume  selected 
last  year  is  entitled  "A  wonder  worker  of  science,"  an  account 
of  the  work  of  Luther  Burbank. 

The  New  Jersey  library  commission  made  a  donation  of  $20 
to  the  Pennsylvania  home  teaching  society,  which  was  applied 
towards  the  half-cost  of  stereotyping  "The  Yellowstone  national 
park"  in  Moon  type. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  of  the  year  was  the  pub- 
lication of  the  "Matilda  Ziegler  magazine  for  the  blind,"  which 
is  a  gift  to  the  blind  from  Mrs.  Wilharn  Ziegler  of  New  York 
City.  It  is  published  in  two  editions,  one  in  American  Braille, 
the  other  in  New  York  Point,  and  the  first  number  was  issued 
in  March  1907.  There  is  a  nominal  subscription  charge  of  $  .10 
per  year.  The  magazine  is  now  printed  and  bound  in  its  own 
office,  having  been  removed  during  the  year  to  306  W.  53d 
Street,  New  York  City. 

Miss  Giffin  suggests  "a  plan  for  having  a  central  library  for 
the  blind,  with  special  attention  paid  to  collecting  and  dissemi- 
nating correct  information  about  the  blind,  employment,  etc.,  etc., 


474  EMMA  RITTENHOUSE  NEISSER 

and  a  central  library  in  each  state  that  shall  attend  to  the  needs 
of  her  blind  readers." 

Mr  Asa  Don  Dickinson,  a  member  of  the  committee  writes : 

Could  we  not  offer  some  resolution  or  make  some  recom- 
mendation that  would  be  immediately  useful  to  ordinary  li- 
braries? 

As  for  instance:  (a)  That  each  library  having  a  department 
for  the  blind  and  willing  to  loan  from  it  traveling  libraries 
to  its  smaller  neighbors  should  so  inform  our  Committee;  (b) 
that  each  library  wishing  to  make  a  start  in  the  work  be  en- 
couraged to  apply  to  us  for  suggestions  and  information;  (c) 
that  we  place  ourselves  on  record  as  being  neutral  in  the  battle 
now  waging  between  "Braillites"  and  "Pointers,"  but  as  earnestly 
desiring  the  speedy  annihilation  of  one  or  other  of  the  con- 
testants: (d)  that  we  recognize  the  indisputable  value  of  Moon 
type  for  those  who  can  use  no  other,  and  encourage  the  produc- 
tion in  Moon  type  of  readable  books — in  this  country  if  possible. 

In  writing  to  Mr  Dickinson,  Mrs  Fairchild  sends  the  fol- 
lowing suggestions: 

i.  A  concerted  effort  for  a  library  for  the  blind  in  every 
state  under  the  auspices  of  the  State  library  or  commission  or 
school  for  the  blind  to  contain  all  books  in  print  in  American 
Braille  and  New  York  point  and  a  selection  of  Moon. 

2  A  concerted  effort  to  get  an  appropriation  for  new  books 
from  every  legislature.  There  should  be  cooperation  between 
different  states  to  prevent  duplications. 

3.  An  effort  to  get  at  every  blind  person  in  each  state  and 
convert  him  into  a  reader.  This  could  be  done  by  home  teaching, 
either  by  regular  teacher  or  by  New  York  state  plan  of  volun- 
tary cooperators. 

The  only  reason  why  I  do  not  favor  your  plan  of  a  central 
library  is  that  the  country  is  too  big.  The  books  would  get 
unnecessary  ^wear  in  traveling  and  there  would  be  waste  of 
time  in  getting  books  into  the  hands  of  readers.  The  city  is 
too  small  a  unit,  the  country  too  large,  the  state  just  right." 

In  closing  the  report  we  recommend  that  a  committee  of 
this  association  be  appointed  to  report  on  the  progress  of  li- 
brary work  for  the  blind  at  the  next  Conference. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

EMMA  R.  NEISSER, 

For  the  Committee. 


LIBRARY  WORK  WITH  THE 
FOREIGN  BORN 

Foreigners  who  come  to  America  often  find  that  they 
have  come  too  late  in  life  for  complete  Americanization. 
The  public  schools  take  care  of  the  children,  but  the  im- 
migrant of  mature  years  must  get  the  practical  part  of 
his  education  "by  hard  knocks."  Here  libraries  of  many 
cities  find  material  for  work  on  Americanization — a 
process  of  mutual  understanding;  a  movement  to  help 
the  foreigners  share  the  privileges  and  benefits  that  a 
democracy  offers  to  its  people.  Getting  in  touch  with 
the  foreign  reader  to  impress  upon  him  his  obligation 
to  assume  his  share  of  responsibilities  as  a  citizen  and  to 
train  him  for  efficient  performance,  is  a  large  task  be- 
longing in  part  to  public  libraries.  The  nationalization 
of  the  immigrant  is  not  a  new  subject,  nor  is  it  so  even 
to  the  library,  but  post-war  work  has  laid  particular 
stress  on  this  side  of  library  work. 


LIBRARY  WORK  IN  THE  BROOKLYN  GHETTO 

The  Brownsville  Branch  of  the  Brooklyn  Public  Li- 
brary, in  the  Ghetto  of  that  borough  of  New  York,  had 
as  its  nucleus  a  small  library  that  had  been  maintained 
by  the  Hebrew  Educational  Society.  This  library  is  in- 
teresting as  much  for  the  work  that  it  has  been  able  to 
do  as  for  its  unique  district  and  peculiar  clientele.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  98  per  cent  of  the  population  is 
Jewish,  with  Russian  Jews  predominating. 

Since  this  paper  was  written,  the  new  Brownsville 
Branch  Library  has  been  opened  (December  19,  1908). 

Leon  M.  Solis-Cohen,  the  author  of  the  following 
paper,  took  his  B.LS.  degree  from  the  New  York  State 
Library  School,  then  spent  some  time  in  re-organizing 
the  library  of  the  West  Point  Military  Academy.  That 
same  year  he  was  appointed  librarian  of  the  Brownsville 
Branch  of  the  Brooklyn  Public  Library.  Some  time  later 
he  was  made  head  of  the  Traveling  Library  Department 
of  that  library  in  which  capacity  he  remained  until  his 
resignation  in  1913,  He  died  in  that  same  year. 

Some  three  years  ago  the  Brooklyn  Public  Library  estab- 
lished a  branch  in  Brownsville,  the  Ghetto  district  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  by  taking  over  a  small  library  that  had  been  maintained 
by  the  Hebrew  Educational  Society.  Its  growth  during  the 
trying  period  of  reorganization  has  been  so  abnormal  and  its 
location  so  unsuitable,  that  scant  opportunity  has  been  left  to 
attend  to  more  than  the  physical  side  of  the  work.  The  li- 
brary is  interesting  therefore,  not  for  the  work  it  has  yet  been 
able  to  do,  but  for  its  unique  district  and  peculiar  clientele. 

Brownsville  differs  from  the  other  Jewish  districts  of  New 
York  City  in  containing  a  nearly  homogeneous  population.  In 
the  great  "East  Side"  of  Manhattan  the  people  are  broken  up 
into  groups  of  Russian  Jews,  Polish  Jews,  Roumanian  Jews, 


478  LEON  M.  SOLIS-COHEN 

Lithuanian  Jews,  etc.,  but  in  Brownsville,  where  the  population 
is  98%  Jewish,  the  Russian  Jews  make  up  about  90%  of  the 
total.  The  result  is  a  Russian  Jewish  community  of  nearly  90,000 
souls,  with  community  life  and  community  interest  It  has  its 
own  board  of  trade  and  in  the  Hebrew  Educational  Society  its 
own  settlement  house,  but  though  the  city  has  provided  some 
eight  or  ten  public  schools,  it  has  as  yet  no  high  school  and  but 
one  branch  library.  This  community  is  not  the  result  of  a  slow, 
steady  growth,  but  rather  has  grown  up  over  night  and  is  in 
all  essentials  new.  New,  in  that  six  or  seven  years  ago,  before 
the  opening  of  the  Wilhamsburg  bridge  permitted  the  teem- 
ing ghetto  cf  Manhattan  to  pour  some  of  its  overflow  into 
Brooklyn,  Brownsville  was  but  a  barren  suburb  part  of  the 
sparsely  settled  East  New  York.  And  new,  in  that  its  in- 
habitants have  been  in  America  but  a  short  time  varying  from 
a  month  to  fifteen  years. 

This  newness  of  the  people  shows  in  their  attitude  towards 
our  institutions.  Although  every  Russian  Jew  is  at  heart  an 
earnest  student  and  a  lover  of  books,  the  outrageous  conditions 
under  which  he  has  been  forced  to  live  in  Russia  bring  him 
here  with  little  knowledge  of  other  books  than  the  Bible  and 
the  Talmud;  indeed,  in  the  rural  districts  the  word  book,  espe- 
cially to  the  women,  means  little  more  than  Bible.  Many 
mothers,  therefore,  on  their  arrival  here  are  suspicious  of  all 
reading  matter  and  though  soon  grasping  the  idea  of  the  public 
school,  show  no  understanding  of  the  public  library  and  do 
not  encourage  their  children  to  use  it.  With  the  rising  gen- 
eration it  is  different.  The  children  often  think  it  is  as  obliga- 
tory to  come  to  the  library  as  it  is  to  the  school,  and  are  sorely 
disappointed  when  their  parents  will  not  help  them  to  become 
members.  Frequently  when  failing  to  interest  their  parents, 
they  will  sign  their  mother's  or  father's  name  to  a  note  or  an 
application,  for  by  one  means  or  another  they  must  "take 
themselves  in  the  library"  In  a  few  cases  there  is  deliberate 
forgery,  but  more  often  these  false  signatures  are  due  to  the 
inability  of  the  parents  to  write  English  and  to  the  belief  that 
what  the  library  requires  is  merely  the  name  of  the  parent. 
Young  children  do  not  appreciate  the  responsibility  an  endorse- 
ment represents  and,  moreover,  are  frequently  instructed  by 
their  parents  to  write  the  names  themselves. 


WORK  IN  THE  BROOKLYN  GHETTO  479 

Wherever  proper  names  are  used  a  general  looseness  seems 
a  characteristic  of  the  district  Scarcely  two  adults  in  fifty 
will  give  more  than  an  initial  when  asked  for  their  full  names; 
not  many  more  will  always  spell  their  own  names  the  same  way, 
and  for  every  member  of  a  family  to  spell  the  family  name  alike 
is  unusual.  A  girl  may  start  life  as  Rebecca  Liffschiitz,  then 
become  Beckie  Liphschutz,  and  end  to  the  library's  confusion 
as  Beatrice  Lipschitz  This  happens  chiefly  because  the  people 
think  of  the  name  in  their  vernacular  and  the  way  in  which 
it  is  transliterated  or  translated  is  an  unimportant  detail.  To 
them,  howe\er  spelled,  it  is  always  the  same  name.  Moreover, 
when  they  first  arrive  and  begin  to  learn  our  characters  they 
spell  their  names  phonetically,  not  becoming  acquainted  with 
the  vagaries  of  English  spelling  until  much  later.  With  chil- 
dren much  of  the  trouble  is  due  to  anglicizing  a  foreign  name, 
e.g.,  changing  Rozmsky  into  Rosen,  and  to  the  carelessness  of 
the  school  teacher  who  insists  that  a  child  spell  his  name  a 
certain  way  without  first  discovering  how  his  father  spells  it. 
In  the  face  of  such  happenings,  a  library  cannot  prevent  con- 
fusion from  creeping  into  its  registration  records  The  prob- 
lem can  be  partially  solved  by  insisting  that  a  child  spell  his 
name  the  same  way  his  father  does,  and  by  placing  together 
in  the  application  file,  with  appropriate  cross  references,  all 
known  variants  of  the  same  name.  This  helps  little,  however, 
when,  without  notifying  you,  a  borrower  changes  his  name  from 
a  form  like  Lubarsky  to  so  different  a  one  as  Barr. 

To  one  beginning  work  in  a  poor  foreign  district  many 
habits  of  the  people  seem  particularly  objectionable  that  later 
become  better  understood  For  example,  the  practice  of  many 
men  of  coming  to  the  library  and  failing  to  remove  their  hats; 
or  instead  of  keeping  to  the  right,  the  trying  of  some  to  force 
an  exit  where  others  are  entering;  or  being  untidy  in  appear- 
ance; or  apparently  careless  in  the  handling  of  public  property. 
But  after  some  time  it  is  recognized  that  the  unpleasant  char- 
acteristics arise  from  the  fact  that  many  social  ideals  of  these 
people  are  different  from  ours;  that  in  some  cases  they  have 
never  been  able  to  have  any  Later  on  it  is  realized  that  the 
socialist  speaks  truth  when  he  contends  that  "the  chief  trouble 
with  the  poor  is  their  poverty."  The  foreign  Jew  does  not 
think  to  take  off  his  hat  because  it  is  his  custom  to  cover  his 


480  LEON  M.  SOLIS-COHEN 

head  in  the  synagogue,  and  other  public  institutions  are  new 
to  him.  He  is  no  longer  on  constant  watch  for  cleanliness 
other  than  ritual  cleanliness,  for  the  herding  and  the  crowding 
he  has  been  subjected  to  in  the  medieval  and  modern  ghetto 
has  well  nigh  destroyed  such  an  ideal  and  a  generation  under 
slightly  better  conditions  is  not  sufficient  to  wipe  out  the  stunt- 
ing effects  of  a  thousand  years.  He  seems  to  be  careless  with 
public  property,  or  rather  his  young  son  does,  because  his  home 
is  often  so  crowded  and  so  poverty-stricken  that  he  has  no  place 
to  put  his  book  where  the  baby  cannot  get  at  it,  or  where  a 
greasy  dish  may  not  be  set  upon  it.  And  in  the  case  where 
the  attitude  towards  a  public  institution  looks  as  if  liberty  and 
license  were  hopelessly  confused,  such  confusion  is  but  part 
of  the  reaction  when  the  pendulum  swings  to  the  other  extreme 
after  generation  upon  generation  of  repression 

Such  a  people,  nevertheless,  make  a  reading  public  many 
librarians  long  for  in  vain.  You  are  not  eternally  beseeched 
for  the  latest  novel— possibly  because  there  are  few  women 
among  the  adult  readers.  Your  reference  assistant  is  not  pes- 
tered with  requests  for  witty  mottoes  for  luncheon  favors,  or 
the  heraldic  crest  of  the  younger  branch  of  the  Warringtons. 
Nor  do  you  need  to  be  ever  on  the  watch  for  novel  methods 
of  advertising  your  library,  or  new  means  of  attracting  the 
public  within  its  doors.  But  rather  are  you  constantly  be- 
seeched for  more  books  on  sociology  and  for  the  best  of  the 
continental  literature.  Your  reading  room  is  full  of  young  men 
preparing  themselves  for  civil  service  and  college  entrance  ex- 
aminations Your  reference  desk  is  overtaxed  with  demands 
for  material  for  debates  on  every  conceivable  public  question, 
from  "equal  pay  for  women"  to  the  comparative  merits  of  the 
library  and  the  gynasium.  And  when  there  are  more  young- 
sters awaiting  help  in  looking  up  every  single  allusion  m  their 
text-books  than  the  assistants  can  serve,  you  are  apt  to  find 
some  child  seeking  for  himself  something  about  currents  in 
the  latest  number  of  Current  Literature  And  what  is  better 
still,^ you  have  to  be  conservative  and  ever  on  guard  lest  your 
reading  public  increase  three  times  as  fast  as  can  the  library's 
resources 

^  Fully  two-thirds  of  the  work  in  all  departments  is  with 
children.     The  little  readers  are  the  most  insistent  and  are 


WORK  IN  THE  BROOKLYN  GHETTO          481 

very  willing  to  wait  a  whole  afternoon  for  the  return  of  a 
copy  of  the  book  that  they  want  Their  reading  is  an  odd  mix- 
ture of  the  serious  and  the  childish.  Their  race  tragedy  often 
sobers  them  in  appearance  and  taste  very  early,  and  as  is  well 
known,  they  are  very  precocious  Sometimes  a  little  toddler 
will  come  in  whose  head  just  reaches  up  to  the  registration  desk 
and  to  the  surprise  of  all,  after  writing  his  name  readily  will 
read  right  off  some  paragraph  given  as  a  test.  Occasionally 
children  will  confuse  the  titles  of  desired  books  and  ask  for 
"Uncle  Tom's  cabbage"  or  "Mrs.  Wiggs  of  the  garbage  patch." 
They  are  very  responsive,  however,  nearly  worshipping  their 
"library  teacher,"  and  when  once  understanding  the  situation 
are  most  polite  little  people. 

The  reading  of  both  young  and  old  shows  a  rather  high 
percentage  of  non-fiction;  but  in  this  Brownsville  is  not  an  ex- 
ception. In  similar  sections  of  Manhattan  the  New  York  Public 
Library  reports  the  same  more  serious  trend  of  reading  in  com- 
parison with  its  other  districts  Books  of  biography,  contrary 
to  the  usual  habit,  are  drawn  50%  oftener  than  books  of  travel. 
This  is  particularly  gratifying;  for  when  the  reading  of  biography 
seldom  fails  to  inspire  and  stir  much  duller  minds,  how  great 
must  be  its  stimulating  influence  on  a  race  so  ambitious?  To- 
wards books  whose  use  some  libraries  restrict,  the  attitude  of 
the  adults  is  very  liberal.  No  explanation  completely  satisfies 
them  and  their  indignation  rises  high  when  they  learn  that  li- 
braries occasionally  see  fit  to  withhold  certain  volumes  of 
Tolstoi,  of  Zola,  or  of  Shaw. 

In  a  poor  crowded  district,  at  least,  the  access-to-shelves 
question  is  an  open  one  and  Brownsville's  experience  does  not 
differ  enough  from  the  usual  to  indicate  a  final  solution.  The 
annual  missing  list  runs  well  into  the  hundreds  and  the  tally 
of  mutilation  cases  looks  proportionately  bad.  Among  the  adults 
as  many  volumes  are  lost  through  misunderstanding  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  "public"  as  through  wilful  theft.  Little  chil- 
dren will  slip  out  without  knowing  that  there  is  a  charging 
process  to  be  gone  through.  Young  boys  will  sometimes  steal  a 
book  out  of  pure  bravado.  But  more  often  in  both  departments, 
books  will  be  taken  because  the  readers  "must  have  them" 
for  their  studies,  and  as  fines  are  owing  on  their  cards  they 
feel  that  there  is  no  other  way  for  them  to  obtain  the  volumes. 


482  LEON  M.  SOLIS-COHEN 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  in  a  foreign  tenement  district 
it  may  be  unwise  to  start  a  new  library  with  all  its  shelves  wide 
open,  or  to  suddenly  convert  a  closed  into  an  open-shelf  library 
A  gradual  opening  would  perhaps  be  better. 

Home  damage  to  books  was  excessive  at  the  time  the  Brook- 
lyn Public  Library  took  charge  in  1905,  but  in  the  last  two  years 
it  has  been  largely  reduced.  The  method  has  been  to  require 
the  assistants  when  discharging,  to  run  each  book  through  their 
fingers  before  returning  his  card  to  the  borrower.  In  this  way 
a  reprimand  may  be  administered,  or  a  fine  charged  when  the 
damage  calls  for  it,  at  so  slight  an  extra  cost  of  time  that  it  has 
been  practicable  to  continue  the  process  with  a  monthly  circu- 
lation of  23,000  volumes. 

A  harder  matter  to  deal  with  is  the  losing  trace  of  bor- 
rowers through  their  frequent  removing  from  house  to  house, 
The  average  is  two  removals  a  year,  but  often  it  runs  up  to 
five  or  six.  An  additional  complication  arises  where  so  many 
different  people  bear  the  same  name.  The  only  available  re- 
sources have  been  to  inquire  whether  the  reader  is  "still  living 
there"  at  every  opportunity,  such  as  when  rewriting  a  filled 
reader's  card,  or  returning  one  that  has  been  filed  away,  and 
to  make  each  applicant  read  the  rule  requiring  notice  at  the 
library  of  every  change  of  address 

Somewhat  similarly,  when  a  reader's  card  is  issued  to  a  new 
borrower,  he  is  handed  the  rules  of  the  library  mounted  on  a 
card,  which  he  reads  and  returns  to  the  desk  If  he  cannot 
read  English  he  is  given  a  Yiddish  or  a  Russian  copy.  If  he 
is  a  child  he  is  given  a  copy  m  simpler  language  typewritten 
in  capitals.  This  permits  strict  dealing  with  delinquents  who 
might  otherwise  plead,  with  some  justice,  that  they  are  "stran- 
gers in  a  strange  land"  unfamiliar  with  its  customs. 

A  Yiddish  variant  of  the  endorsement  clause  has  been  printed 
on  all  Brownsville  application  blanks  and  the  accompanying  slip, 
when  applications  are  mailed  to  the  parents  for  signature,  is 
printed  in  both  Yiddish  and  English.  It  is  expected  that  Yid- 
dish notices  and  signs  will  be  more  widely  used  in  the  new 
building  now  nearing  completion. 

Hardly  anything  more  than  a  survey  of  the  field  has  been 
attempted  in  regard  to  personal  work  with  the  public.  Five 
hundred  Yiddish,  Russian  and  Hebrew  volumes  have  been  too 


WORK  IN  THE  BROOKLYN  GHETTO  483 

few  to  attract  many  of  the  fathers  or  grandfathers.  Although 
a  library  representative  has  given  talks  at  the  monthly  mothers' 
meetings  and  club  leaders'  meetings  of  the  Hebrew  Educational 
Society,  has  addressed  a  mass  meeting  of  the  Society's  clubs 
and  has  talked  to  various  clubs  and  associations  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, few  important  results  have  been  accomplished.  Such 
work  could  not  be  done  thoroughly  enough  or  frequently  enough 
to  bear  fruit.  A  weekly  story  hour,  perhaps;  has  been  the  only 
exception.  This  was  so  popular  and  seemed  to  mean  so  much 
to  the  children,  that  the  children's  librarian  was  prevailed  upon 
to  continue  it  throughout  the  season,  despite  the  fact  that  utterly 
unfit  physical  conditions  cried  aloud  for  its  discontinuance 

When  the  library  has  settled  down  in  its  new  building,  how- 
ever, and  personal  work  can  be  taken  up  in  earnest,  there  is 
so  much  waiting  to  be  done  that  the  future  glows  with  promise. 
With  hardly  another  cultural  institution  in  the  district,  with 
no  other  now  conducted  so  as  to  inculcate  ideals  of  orderli- 
ness and  with  a  public  that  is  composed  of  real  readers,  the 
possibilities  and  the  responsibilities  of  the  library's  position  are 
enormous.  A  reference  department  may  be  built  up  second  to 
that  of  no  branch  library  in  the  whole  city,  a  circulation,  if 
one  desired  it,  rivalling  that  of  Somerville,  Massachusetts,  and 
a  position  in  the  civic  and  social  life  of  the  community  equal 
to  that  of  Cleveland. 


IMMIGRANTS  AS  CONTRIBUTORS  TO  LI- 
BRARY PROGRESS 

The  librarian  in  charge  of  the  Tompkins  Square 
Branch  of  the  New  York  Public  Library,  on  the  lower 
East  Side,  in  1913  reports  the  progress'  of  work  with 
foreigners  there.  The  following  paper  was  prepared  for 
the  Kaaterskill  Conference  of  the  A.L.A.  and  read  before 
that  body  June  24,  1913. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Mrs.  Adelaide  Bowles 
Maltby  appears  in  Volume  2  of  this  series. 

I  should  prefer  to  let  Miss  Antin's  personality  and  accom- 
plishments bear  home  to  you  the  point  I  had  hoped  to  make; 
and  silently  let  what  she  has  said  to  us  possess  our  imaginations 
to  the  end  that  our  interest  and  will-to-do  will  be  vigorously 
stirred.  Forunately,  this  will  happen  in  spite  of  my  words. 

A  little  girl  with  a  fairy  book  in  her  hand  gleefully  re- 
marked: "I  can  tell  what  kind  of  stories  are  in  the  book  by 
the  continents"  Would  that  we  could  so  tell  the  stories  of 
our  peoples!  Yet  the  story  of  immigrants  in  this  country  is 
not  unlike  that  of  the  "Ugly  Duckling;"  and  Miss  Antin  is 
living  proof  of  the  swan-like  qualities.  We,  as  a  nation,  have 
persisted  in  hatching  the  odd  egg;  have  been  apparently  proud 
of  the  duckling's  ability  to  swim  untaught,  like  other  ducks; 
and  were  duly  troubled,  when  because  of  his  unlikeness,  he  was 
not  acceptable  to  closer  acquaintance  with  cock  and  gander  in 
the  barn-yard.  We  have  witnessed,  with  but  feeble  protest, 
his  struggle  to  feel  at  home,  his  association  with  wild  ducks 
and  all  it  entailed  It  seems  as  if  the  winter  of  his  agony  is 
enduring.  He's  had  a  stirring  within  as  of  something  better 
to  come !  The  question  is  will  we  make  greater  effort  to  recog- 
nize the  swan-like  qualities  and  to  give  freedom  for  their  de- 
velopment? In  this  direction  lies  progress. 

As  contributors,  I  shall  not  single  out  great  personalities 
from  among  our  foreigners.  They  will  belong  to  history.  Nor 


4&6  ADELAIDE  BOWLES  MALTBY 

do  I  mean  only  the  well  educated  groups.  They  are  generally 
accorded  recognition.  But  I  do  name  the  masses  who  earn  just 
consideration  slowly. 

First  of  all,  immigrants  have  kept  us  alive  in  every  genera- 
tion. Shall  we  say  on  the  "qui  vive"  in  some  localities?  All 
agree  that  living  is  no  minor  art,  so  to  stimulate  life  is  a 
contribution.  Frank  Warne  in  his  book,  the  "Immigrant  In- 
vasion," tells  how  the  distribution  of  immigrants  previous  to 
our  civil  war  practically  determined  the  outcome  of  that  strug- 
gle, by  giving  to  the  North  balance  of  power  in  Congress  be- 
cause of  larger  population,  which  was  made  up  of  able- 
bodied  men  who  replaced  Federal  soldiers  and  kept  shops  and 
farms  going  to  furnish  supplies  to  the  army.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  Mr.  Warne  ascribes  the  trend  of  immigration  to 
the  north  and  west  very  largely  to  what  was  read  in  the  old 
countries  about  life  in  different  parts  of  America,  mentioning 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  as  the  one  product  of  literature  most  in- 
fluencing distribution. 

Cold  statistics  tell  us  that  New  York,  Massachusetts,  Penn- 
sylvania, New  Jersey,  Illinois  and  California  have  the  greatest 
number  of  foreign  born  With  this  as  a  basic  fact  we  natu- 
rally suppose  that  in  these  states,  at  least,  public  libraries  will 
be  found  catering  to  and  helping  to  Americanize  and  to  edu- 
cate these  citizens-to-be,  because,  if  for  no  other  reason,  we 
proudly  call  ourselves  the  "university  of  the  people"  If  the 
truth  were  told  through  questionnaire,  or  otherwise,  about  twen- 
ty-five out  of  one  hundred  libraries  throughout  New  York 
state  are  sufficiently  alive  to  the  problem  to  supply  books  to 
attract  and  interest  foreigners.  Yet  for  twenty  years,  at  least, 
the  task  of  assimilating  the  almost  overwhelming  influx  of 
immigrants  has  been  acute  in  the  states  named  and  in  many 
localties  elsewhere  A  gentleman  working  for  the  education  of 
foreigners  in  American  ways  has  said  that  he  thought  libraries 
seemed  most  indifferent  to  their  opportunities.  While  another, 
a  foreigner,  devoting  himself  and  two  fortunes  to  bettering  con- 
ditions for  immigrants,  thinks  that  public  libraries,  when  they 
do  work  sympathetically— I  mean  that  in  the  broadest  sense— 
with  the  foreign  born  are  the  only  organizations  which  accom- 
plish with  real  altruism  the  implanting  of  American  ideals  and 
the  developing  of  better  citizens.  This,  he  believes,  is  done 


IMMIGRANTS  AND  LIBRARY  PROGRESS        487 

when  we  appreciate  and  build  on  the  natural  endowment  of  the 
individual  or  race. 

Since  the  national  government  has  been  facing  this  stupen- 
dous problem,  commissions  and  organizations  galore,  official 
and  philanthropic,  have  sprung  into  existence  as  aids.  So  many 
are  there  in  New  York  City  alone,  a  possible  list  would  be- 
wilder one!  Yet  in  how  many  reports  of  such  work  when 
educational  assets  of  communities  are  being  cited,  is  there  men- 
tion made  of  libraries  as  a  force  in  educating  the  immigrant? 
Through  libraries,  however,  more  than  through  most  educa- 
tional agencies  may  self-expression  and  development  of  nat- 
ural gifts  be  realized  by  individuals  of  all  ages  and  nationali- 
ties. Where  does  the  trouble  lie?  Have  we  been  open-minded 
or  eager  enough  to  discover  the  excellent  contributions  for- 
eigners bring  to  the  end  that  we  respond  to  live  issues,  thus 
building  progressively? 

Old  habits  can  be  changed  to  new  compunctions  There  is 
no  standardized  method  of  discovering  or  of  spiritualizing  men, 
of  holding  intercourse  with  aliens  or  of  receiving  what  they 
bring:  but  we  can  develop  sympathy  and  understanding,  by 
knowing  the  people  as  individuals,  their  countries,  literatures, 
languages,  arts,  great  national  characters — in  a  word,  their  his- 
tories, even  to  economic  conditions  Thereby  do  we  come  to 
an  understanding  of  reasons  for  immigration  of  the  present 
day  and  of  aspirations  for  life  here.  Thus  equipped  mentally 
for  further  sympathetic  appreciation,  first  hand  observation  of 
conditions  will  help;  or  if  that  is  not  possible,  an  imaginative 
putting  ourselves  in  the  immigrants'  places  from  the  time  they 
leave  their  old  world*  homes  with  all  their  worldly  goods  in 
their  hands  and,  in  spite  of  homesickness  and  fears,  with  cour- 
age and  hope  in  their  hearts— with  them  as  they  exist  in  their 
steerage  quarters  and  with  them  when  they  pass  through  the 
portals  and  mazes  of  Ellis  Island,  in  the  main  uncomprehend- 
mgly  but  always  trustfully.  I  can  not  attempt  here  to  draw  the 
detailed  picture;  but  if  you  cannot  see  it  for  yourself,  Mr. 
Edward  Steiner  gives  it  graphically  and  faithfully  in  his  "On 
the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant."  At  last,  the  Federal  government 
accessions  the  immigrant.  He  is  passed  on,  properly  numbered, 
to  be  shelf-listed  by  states,  cities  and  towns,  coming  finally  to 
libraries  and  other  institutions  to  be  cataloged.  It  remains  to 


488  ADELAIDE  BOWLES  MALTBY 

us  then  to  decide  for  our  own  work  whether  there  shall  be 
one  entry  under  the  word  "alien"  or  whether  his  various  assets 
shall  be  made  available  by  analytical  entries. 

Somewhat  of  all  this  we  must  know  to  appreciate  what  the 
immigrant  can  contribute  to  life  here,  and  to  library  progress, 
if  we  are  wise  enough  to  call  it  forth  or  make  opportunity 
for  its  expression.  It  is  vain  to  hope  for  the  assimilation  of 
the  alien  as  a  result  of  conscious  benevolent  effort.  We  too 
often  forget  that  each  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  is  a  hu- 
man being!  With  a  sense  of  the  finest  they  can  bring  with 
them,  we  should  have  an  increasing  knowledge  of  how  they 
live  here,  what  they  think  and  how  these  elements  can  be 
influenced  by  books  and  personal  contact.  The  pressure  of  a 
congested  neighborhood  goads  to  thoughtful  search  for  rem- 
edies. 

No  one  will  go  far  along  these  paths  without  realizing  how 
avid  libraries  must  be  to  reap  the  benefits  of  such  diverse 
gifts,  rather  than  to  suffer  from  the  dregs.  We  must  correlate 
books  and  people  as  never  before  10  attain  progress. 

"If  we  once  admit  the  human,  dynamic  character  of  prog- 
ress, then  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  the  crowded  city  quar- 
ters become  focal  points  of  that  progress."  As  an  earnest  of 
what  is  being  done  in  many  libraries  elsewhere,  may  I  tell  of 
our  work  in  New  York,  of  that  only  because  I  know  it  best. 
What  has  been  done  in  one  place  and  more,  can  be  done  in 
another  through  interest,  desire  and  adaptation. 

The  necessity  of  having  the  library  near  the  people  for 
whom  its  use  is  intended  is,  of  course,  recognized.  This  is 
more  especially  true  when  the  people  are  foreigners.  The  New 
York  public  library  has  forty-one  branches  and  all  that  are 
located  in  districts  where  foreigners  live  have,  beside  English 
books,  collections  of  books  in  languages  native  to  the  residents. 
By  so  doing  we  believe  that  we  convince  of  our  friendship 
those  adults  who  do  not  and  even  those  who  may  never  read 
English  This  is  a  fundamental  necessity,  opening  up  various 
possibilities  for  imparting  American  ideas  and  ideals.  The  less 
English  the  grown  people  read  the  more  they  need  knowledge 
of  true  American  ideas  to  help  keep  them  in  touch  with  their 
children,  who  rapidly  take  on  ways  and  manners  strange  to 
their  parents,  many  of  whom  are  uncomprehending,  reticent 


IMMIGRANTS  AND  LIBRARY  PROGRESS        489 

and  often  sad  We  go  still  further.  We  have  assistants  of 
the  nationalities  represented  in  the  neighborhood,  whose  spe- 
cial duty  it  is  to  make  known  to  their  peoples  the  library  privi- 
leges, also  to  know  their  people  individually  as  far  as  possible 
and,  of  course,  the  books  Right  here  may  I  say  that  a  foreign 
born  assistant  imbued  with  respect  for  her  own  countrymen  and 
with  true  American  ideals  can  in  her  enthusiasm  do  more  to 
make  real  citizens  than  many  Americans.  This  cannot  be  ac- 
complished if,  as  happens  with  so  many  young  foreigners,  their 
own  people  as  we  see  them  in  this  country,  are  held  in  con- 
tempt It  were  pity  to  scorn  the  strong  qualities  they  possess, 
these  "Greenies,"  as  they  call  themselves.  They  live  daily  too 
close  to  the  vital  facts  of  existence  to  develop  self -conscious- 
ness or  artificialities  to  any  great  extent.  We  talk  of  sim- 
plicity They  have  it.  Courage,  singleness  of  purpose,  happi- 
ness in  modest  circumstances  and  astonishing  capacity  for  work 
are  elements  of  everyday  life  unconsciously  developed.  Their 
wealth  of  imagination,  fostered  by  their  own  folk-lore  and  early 
traditions,  could  not  be  more  wonderfully  illustrated  than  it 
has  been  just  recently  in  New  York  The  majority  of  us  think 
of  New  York  and  other  large  cities  as  vast  factories  with  the 
machine-like  and  vicious  qualities  of  human  nature  uppermost, 
so  it  is  most  refreshing  to  contemplate  "Old  Home  Week  in 
Greenwich  Village"  and  the  "Henry  Street  Pageant." 

"Old  Home  Week"  successfully  recalled  Greenwich  Village 
history  in  a  dramatic  way  to  its  residents — American,  Irish  and 
Italian — and  aroused  a  new  sense  of  fellowship  in  sharing  the 
district's  activities 

To  celebrate  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  Henry  Street 
Settlement,  a  pictorial  representation  of  the  history  of  the 
neighborhood  from  the  days  of  the  Indians  to  the  present  time 
was  given  by  its  residents — men,  women  and  children — before 
an  assemblage  of  spectators  from  all  parts  of  the  city  and  rep- 
resentative of  all  its  activities — civic  and  social.  The  last  living 
picture,  or  episode,  was  of  all  the  nationalities  that  have  lived 
in  the  last  fifty  years  in  Henry  Street,  once  the  center  of  Man- 
hattan's fashionable  life.  The  Irish,  the  Scotch,  the  Germans, 
the  Italians  and  the  Russians  appeared.  They  sang  the  songs 
and  danced  the  dances  that  contribute  so  much  poetry  to  the 
life  of  the  city,  while  onlookers  marveled  at  the  temperamental 


490  ADELAIDE  BOWLES  MALTBY 

qualities  which  made  it  possible  for  foreigners  to  reproduce 
with  unconscious  realism  historical  scenes  of  a  city  and  a  coun- 
try not  their  own ! 

Such  neighborhood  pageants  as  this  and  the  celebration  in 
Greenwich  Village,  exert  a  wholesome  and  a  permanent  influ- 
ence in  our  municipal  life.  In  both  these  events  the  libraries 
of  the  neighborhoods  took  part.  The  library  aimed  to  show  that 
folk-songs  and  folk-dances  are  kept  alive  by  folk-stones.  The 
contrast  between  old  New  York  and  the  present  time  was  shown 
by  the  use  of  historical  scenes— lantern  slides — and  a  story;  in 
the  one  case  reminiscent  of  early  Dutch  settlers  and  in  the 
other  a  poetic  interpreting  of  the  spirit  of  service  in  municipal 
life.  Those  planning  the  pageant  felt  that  this  was  a  direct 
help  in  making  atmosphere  or  in  inducing  an  interpretive  mood 
in  participants.  Festival  occasions  like  these  bind  together  by 
national  ties  the  people  and  institutions  of  a  neighborhood  and 
are  rich  with  possibilities  for  the  library.  To  a  delightful 
degree  they  broaden  our  understanding  of  the  folk-spirit. 

So  it  seems  natural  to  have  stories  in  the  library  told  by 
foreigners  in  their  native  tongues.  From  time  to  time  we  have 
groups  of  Bohemians,  Germans,  Hungarians,  Italians  listening 
to  old  world  traditions  and  tales.  Knowing  the  original  and 
the  translation  enhances  the  value  of  the  story  in  English  for 
narrator  and  listeners.  Through  these  story  hours  we  are 
reminding  the  foreigner  of  his  unique  contribution  to  life  here, 
and  are  showing  our  respect  for  his  best.  For  a  simple  ex- 
ample, our  picture  books  and  book  illustration  in  general  do 
not  express  life  as  vividly  or  realistically  as  Russian,  Bohemian 
or  Swedish  artists  do  Having  some  of  these  in  our  juvenile 
collections  has  been  a  distinct  contribution  to  establishing  sym- 
pathetic relations  with  foreigners. 

Yes,  it  is  true  that  the  Italian  laborer  loves  Dante  and 
Italian  classics.  It  is  relatively  true  of  other  nationalities.  If 
we  take  for  granted  that  we  should  know  and  libraries  should 
have,  French  and  German  standard  writers— and  this  largely 
because  their  literature  is  older,  more  translated  or  their  lan- 
guages better  known— may  we  not  also  take  for  granted  that 
literary  history  is  still  in  the  making?  Should  we  not  bestir 
ourselves  to  know  latter-day  masterpieces,  if  such  there  be, 
and  the  other  literature  which  has  helped  mould  or  inspire 


IMMIGRANTS  AND  LIBRARY  PROGRESS        49* 

writers  of  them,  in  Swedish,  Finnish,  Bohemian,  Polish,  Hun- 
garian or  any  other  language  spoken  by  the  people  surrounding 
us?  Perhaps  the  need  of  realizing  what  these  literary  contri- 
butions may  mean  can  be  emphasized  by  the  fact  that  in  one 
week,  June  2  to  June  9,  1913,  thirty  thousand  souls,  nearly  five 
thousand  daily,  passed  the  man  at  the  Eastern  gateway.  Eighty 
per  cent  or  thereabouts  are  going  beyond  New  York  City  these 
days. 

Is  the  Hungarian's  enjoyment  of  Jokai  or  their  patriot  poets 
for  Hungarians  alone?  One  can  better  appreciate  how  to 
sustain  effort  and  enthusiasm  in  a  person  or  a  group  of  this 
nationality  if  one  knows  that  much  of  their  best  poetry  came 
almost  from  the  cannon's  mouth  on  the  field  of  battle;  and 
if  one  has  seen  the  glistening  eyes  and  heard  the  voices  of  ker- 
chief-capped girls  and  boys  in  trousers  to  shoe  tops  as  they 
sang  in  ringing  tones  "Eskuszunk!"  and  then  heard  their  na- 
tional song  in  English  for  the  first  time.  At  home  they  may 
not  celebrate  their  Independence  Day,  March  15;  but  when 
they  are  invited  to,  here,  in  the  library,  they  do  it  with  much 
genuine  feeling  and  true  sentiment,  which  I  believe  leads  them 
to  appreciate  and  adopt  as  their  own  our  Independence  Day 
Through  such  as  they,  perhaps,  patriotic  sentiment  and  feeling 
may  once  more  be  evident  in  our  Fourth  of  July  celebrations. 

If  we  try  to  think  of  a  library  without  the  contributions  of 
writers  of  other  nationalities,  we  must  face  almost  empty  shelves 
in  some  classes  of  knowledge  This  makes  us  realize  more 
clearly  that  immigrants  have  rich  possessions  by  right  of  in- 
heritance while  these  are  ours  only  by  adoption.  Some  of  the 
newcomers  to  our  shores  may  have  lost  their  heritage  tem- 
porarily; but  they  will  warmly  cherish  as  a  friend  the  library 
that  restores  to  them  this  valuable  possession  and  for  us  that 
friendship  is  preeminently  a  contribution. 

There  are  other  special  ways  in  which  the  library  seems 
happily  successful  in  forming  such  friendships.  With  adults  it 
comes  through  our  co-operation  with  neighborhood  associations, 
or  organizations  working  for  the  benefit  of  foreigners,  such  as 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  Y.  W.  C  A.  who  conduct  in  our  lecture 
rooms  classes  to  teach  English  to  foreigners.  In  these  instances 
it  is  our  pleasure  to  supplement  with  books  the  copies  treated. 
The  book  work  is,  perhaps,  most  marked  in  connection  with 


492  ADELAIDE  BOWLES  MALTBY 

the  English  classes  where  we  have  opportunity  to  watch  prog- 
ress and  needs  of  the  individual  more  carefully  from  the  time 
when  an  eager  pupil  may  ask,  as  one  did,  for  a  book  called  a 
"Woman's  Tongue"  wanting  Arnold's  "Mother  Tongue"  to 
his  reading  of  Kale's  "Man  without  a  country,"  perhaps,  or 
Andrews'  "The  perfect  tribute."  There  are  also  many  semi- 
social,  semi-educational  clubs,  or  associations,  which  hold  their 
meetings.  The  Slavia  is  a  Bohemian  club,  which  has  as  its 
only  meeting  place  the  Bohemian  department  of  one  of  our 
branches.  Its  members  have  done  much  to  help  form  a  splen- 
did Bohemian  library.  Several  Hungarian  associations  work  in 
co-operation  with  three  branches,  where  are  collections  of  Hun- 
garian books.  A  large  Polish  society  gives  its  educational  lec- 
tures twice  a  month  in  one  branch  and  its  advice  m  the  se- 
lection of  book,  but  perhaps  the  "German  Association  for  Cul- 
ture" best  illustrates  by  point.  They  state:  "We  are  working 
for  culture,  and  we  aim  to  give  the  Germans  in  America  and 
the  Americans  a  better  understanding  of  our  contemporary 
German  literature  and  art.  We  are  bending  our  efforts  more 
particularly  for  our  members  who  as  artists,  poets,  writers,  etc., 
are  producing  valuable  works.  And  we  want  to  help  as  much 
as  possible  those  talented  artists,  poets,  etc.,  who  are  not  yet 
known."  Their  distinction  is  that  they  succeed!  Even  in  the 
et  ceterasl 

As  concrete  instances  of  other  possible  contributions  by  for- 
eigners to  library  progress,  I  want  to  tell  of  the  discussion  of  one 
City  History  Club  chapter  and  the  action  of  a  settlement  organ- 
ization The  membership  in  both  is  composed  of  foreign-born 
young  men  from  sixteen  to  twenty  years  of  age,  and  both 
groups  interest  themselves  in  present  day  civic  welfare.  The 
Settlement  Club  wrote  to  the  mayor,  comptroller,  library  trus- 
tees and  several  daily  papers  a  dignified  plea  for  increase  in 
library  appropriation  and  in  salaries.  The  year's  closing  meet- 
ing of  a  certain  City  History  Club  was  a  discussion  of  the 
city  budget,  the  club  members  representing  New  York's  mayor, 
alderman  and  comptroller.  The  main  contention  of  the  ma- 
jority was  that  cutting  the  appropriation  of  the  public  library 
meant  seriously  handicapping  one  of  the  city's  most  efficient 
servants  and  they  ended  with  a  warm  appreciation  of  service 
rendered  by  library  assistants  and  a  vigorous  plea  for  better 


IMMIGRANTS  AND  LIBRARY  PROGRESS        493 

salaries  This  was  later  reproduced  for  an  audience  of  repre- 
sentative citizens  by  the  City  History  Club  as  a  token  typical 
of  their  work.  Both  these  happenings  came  as  complete  sur- 
prises to  librarians.  It  seems  as  if  in  eagerness  to  "get  on" 
young  foreigners,  especially,  seek  and  use  every  possible  public 
means  for  advancement.  They  soon  appreciate  what  good 
service  means  and  how  to  get  it  They  make  us  feel  toward 
what  ends  they  are  tending  and  suggest  definitely  our  part  in 
the  building  for  civic  betterment 

To  sum  up,  immigrants  do  bring  very  many  contributions  in 
art  and  literature  They  bring  many  capabilities,  that  of  ac- 
quiring intellectual  cultivation  being  not  the  least  among  them. 
I  am  not  blind  to  the  seriousness  of  the  problems  they  create, 
having  worked  among  them  about  ten  years;  but  the  convic- 
tion strengthens  that  knowing  and  understanding  their  racial 
and  social  inheritance  and  first  hand  contact  with  groups  of 
individuals  stimulate  to  broader  thought  and  living.  It  is  not 
an  argument!  It  is  a  suggestive  statement!  Immigrants  can 
contribute  to  library  progress. 


WHAT  THE  FOREIGNER  HAS  DONE  FOR  ONE 
LIBRARY 

More  than  one-half  of  the  population  of  Passaic,  New 
Jersey  is  foreign.  The  Reid  Memorial  Branch  Library 
is  helping  them  to  become  useful  citizens.  Small  collec- 
tions of  books  in  Slovak,  Hungarian,  Roumanian,  Bo- 
hemian and  Italian  were  first  acquired  and  then  periodi- 
cals, with  newspapers  from  home  towns,  were  added. 
Gradually  the  library  became  a  meeting  place  for  all 
important  educational  and  civic  gatherings  and  in  other 
ways  showed  its  interest  in  the  welfare  of  foreigners  It 
became  such  a  vital  part  of  the  social  life  of  the  com- 
munity, that  evening  study  clubs  were  organized  for  va- 
rious nationalities— each  having  a  director  speaking  its 
own  language — the  meetings  being  held  in  the  library. 

The  following  paper  by  J.  Maud  Campbell,  then  libra- 
rian of  the  Passaic  Public  Library,  appeared  originally 
in  the  Massachusetts  Library  Club  Bulletin  and  was  re- 
printed in  the  Library  Journal  for  July  1913. 

J.  Maud  Campbell  was  educated  in  Scotland,  grad- 
uating from  the  Edinburgh  Ladies'  Seminary  with  a  cer- 
tificate for  the  Edinburgh  University.  After  serving  as 
reference  assistant  in  the  Newark,  New  Jersey  Free 
Library,  she  was  for  a  time  connected  with  the  North 
American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants.  At  the  opening 
of  the  Jane  Watson  Reid  Memorial  Library,  Passaic, 
New  Jersey  she  became  its  librarian.  From  here  she 
went  to  the  Library  Division  of  the  Massachusetts  De- 
partment of  Education.  Since  January,  1922,  she  has 
been  librarian  of  the  Jones  Memorial  Library  at  Lynch- 
burg,  Virginia. 


4g6  J.  MAUD  CAMPBELL 

My  experience  in  working  with  foreigners  has  often  led  me 
to  think  that  while  we  have  been  busy  preaching  in  our  favorite 
way  about  American  ideals  for  the  immigrant,  etc.,  we  have 
not  thought  enough  about  the  good  in  the  immigrants  them- 
selves and  I  am  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  testify  to  the  broad- 
ened knowledge,  the  better  appreciation  of  a  number  of  litera- 
tures and  a  wider  human  sympathy  for  which  I  am  indebted 
to  the  foreigners  with  whom  I  came  in  contact  during  my  work 
in  a  public  library. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  race  prejudice  is  one  of  our  present 
day  evils,  the  unreasonable  prejudice  against  immigrant  people 
amounting  almost  to  a  belief  that  they  are  different  and  not 
entitled  to  the  same  treatment  and  consideration  we  accord  to 
our  own  race,  or  as  sanctioned  by  the  Golden  Rule.  Why  this 
should  be,  I  do  not  know,  unless  it  is  that  we  fear  most  the 
things  we  do  not  understand  and  we  feel  there  must  be  some- 
thing peculiar  about  people,  who  m  the  spirit  of  the  pioneer, 
blaze  their  way  and  settle  among  us,  earning  their  living  and 
leading  an  independent  life;  asking  nothing,  offering  nothing 
and  showing  only  a  stern  face,  until  we  ask  their  assistance 
This  uncomplaining  bravery  is  the  stuff  that  heroes  are  made 
of,  but  the  aloofness  of  heroes  is  sometimes  trying  to  live  with 
and  we  distrust  what  we  do  not  understand.  Where  they  ex- 
ceed us  in  virtue  is  perhaps  in  their  friendly  kindliness,  their 
readiness  not  only  to  deny  themselves,  but  to  make  sacrifices 
for  one  another  and  do  it  with  such  tact  that  the  sting  of  ac- 
cepting help  is  all  taken  away.  What  they  lack  in  social  usage 
and  American  habits  of  living  is  more  than  made  up  by  their 
more  trusting  faith  and  perhaps  a  finer  spiritual  grain  which 
must  be  behind  their  unquestioning  acceptance  of  the  hard  con- 
ditions circumstances  force  upon  them  and  their  readiness  to 
overlook  the  many  injustices  of  which  they  are  so  often  the 
victims.  Their  uncomplaining  bravery,  their  adaptability,  their 
respect  for  authority,  their  eagerness  to  learn  and  ambition  for 
their  children,  as  well  as  their  abiding  faith  in  American  ideals, 
as  they  conceive  them,  should  command  our  greatest  respect. 

I  think  it  was  the  work  with  foreigners  that  put  the  Passaic, 
N.  J.f  Public  Library  on  the  library  map.  We  had  been  leading 
a  peaceful  life  there  for  about  ten  years,  serving  the  public 
without  any  great  effort,  as  the  majority  of  libraries  do  in 


WHAT  THE  FOREIGNER  HAS  DONE  497 

towns  of  about  30,000  inhabitants  and  on  an  appropriation  of 
$7,50000,  up  to  the  time  we  were  placed  in  a  position  to  recog- 
nize the  rights  of  the  foreign  speaking  people  to  books  in  their 
own  language  as  long  as  we  were  accepting  their  taxes  in 
support  of  the  library,  and  I  think  we  were  the  first  library  in 
the  East  to  circulate  actively  books  in  elexen  languages.  The 
year  we  put  in  500  books  in  foreign  languages,  we  increased 
the  circulation  22  per  cent  the  foreign  books  averaging  a  cir- 
culation of  20  times  each  during  the  year.  The  last  year  I 
have  figures  for,  191 1,  shows  a  circulation  of  over  20,000  vol- 
umes in  foreign  languages,  or  about  i-ioth  of  the  whole  circu- 
lation, while  the  foreign  books  form  hardly  i-2oth  of  the  col- 
lection 

CO-OPERATION.  From  the  very  first,  the  foreigners  showed 
us  the  value  of  the  co-operation  we  are  so  fond  of  preaching 
but  so  reluctant  to  practice  When  it  became  known  the  li- 
brary would  buy  books  in  foreign  languages,  the  different  na- 
tionalities which  formed  that  town's  cosmopolitan  population 
got  together  and  made  a  concerted  appeal  to  the  trustees  for 
their  own  books.  I  have  with  me  one  of  these  petitions.  They 
all  breathed  the  same  spirit  and  were  expressed  in  the  same 
halting  English  But  what  pleased  me  most  was  to  see  the  way 
people  of  different  interests  had  combined  in  an  appeal  for 
their  own  nationality;  singing  societies  working  with  church 
societies,  gymnastic  societies  and  benevolent  insurance  societies, 
for  when  a  crowd  can  forget  their  national  disputes,  forget 
their  social  differences,  forget  their  different  creeds  and  meet 
cordially  on  a  matter  of  public  good,  we  are  getting  the  finest 
kind  of  co-operation  and  those  who  are  working  in  libraries 
must  be  glad  to  be  instrumental  in  calling  forth  this  democratic 
spint.  We  aie  missing  an  enormous  power  for  good,  if  we  do 
not  work  in  connection  with  the  foreign  societies  which  control 
the  different  nationalities  in  all  our  communities,  and  from  my 
own  experience  I  would  say  that  the  reception  received  from 
them  is  so  cordial  one's  head  is  apt  to  be  turned,  the  gratitude 
and  deference  shown  being  all  out  of  proportion  to  the  effort 
made  to  assist  them.  Our  societies  did  not  end  their  usefulness 
with  the  petition,  for,  when  in  reply  to  their  request  we  told 
the  people  we  would  have  to  ask  their  assistance  in  the  selec- 
tion of  the  books  and  where  to  secure  them,  these  different  so- 


498  J   MAUD  CAMPBELL 

cieties  each  selected  two  members  to  represent  them  on  a  "li- 
brary committee,"  and  this  was  the  case  with  every  nationality, 
a  committee  composed  of  two  members  from  each  society  and 
the  librarian  as  chairman.  We  soon  found  we  could  rely  on 
their  advice,  for  they  took  great  pride  in  showing  us  what  good 
things  there  were  in  their  literatures.  When  we  actually  pur- 
chased the  books  advised  by  the  committee,  the  news  spread  like 
wildfire  among  their  own  people,  so  we  usually  had  a  waiting 
list  long  before  the  books  were  ready  for  circulation. 

When  the  A.  L.  A.  decided  to  publish  lists  of  foreign  books 
to  serve  as  guides  for  librarians,  I  was  asked  by  the  New 
Jersey  Public  Library  Commission  to  prepare  their  contribu- 
tion, but  if  any  of  you  think  for  one  moment  that  I  was  able 
to  annotate  the  list  of  Hungarian  books  the  New  Jersey  com- 
mission offered,  you  are  giving  me  credit  for  learning  I  would 
be  very  proud  if  I  could  claim.  It  was  the  Hungarian  societies 
which  worked  over  it,  it  was  their  effort  that  secured  the  re- 
vision of  it  by  the  editor  of  a  Hungarian  paper,  who  has 
diplomas  from  half  a  dozen  universities  of  the  highest  stand- 
ing on  the  continent,  and  it  was  the  Hungarian  societies  which 
got  the  list  passed  upon  by  the  Hungarian  Publishers'  Weekly 
to  see  that  all  the  books  were  available  and  not  out  of  print. 

We  were  also  indebted  to  them  for  their  co-operation  in 
connection  with  public  lectures  carried  on  in  the  library.  The 
library  was  meeting  all  the  expense  of  the  free  lectures  in 
English,  but  the  foreigners  thought  it  would  not  be  right  to 
ask  the  trustees  to  spend  money  for  lectures  which  would 
only  appeal  to  foreign  speaking  people,  so  if  the  library  would 
grant  the  use  of  the  hall,  they  would  secure  and  pay  their  lec- 
turer, and  see  that  the  man  and  his  subject  was  acceptable  to 
the  library.  They  also  secured  the  audience  which  hi  every 
case  overflowed  the  hall.  When  the  State  Tuberculosis  Com- 
mittee had  a  campaign  in  the  library,  the  different  nationalities 
had  their  evenings  at  which  foreign  doctors  made  the  addresses 
using  the  slides  and  material  supplied  by  the  state.  We  had 
these  addresses  in  eight  foreign  languages  in  addition  to  English 
and  all  agreed  that  an  Italian  doctor  held  the  audience  better 
and  got  more  discussion  than  any  one  else  during  the  campaign 
It  was  foreigners  who  taught  us  the"  real  meaning  of  ad- 
vertising. They  have  a  newspaper  organization  which  has  the 


WHAT  THE  FOREIGNER  HAS  DONE  499 

name  and  address  of  every  foreign  newspaper  published  in  the 
United  States.  When  anything  of  interest  to  any  nationality 
occurred  at  the  library,  it  was  only  necessary  to  send  the  news 
item  to  this  organization  to  have  it  sent  to  every  paper  pub- 
lished in  that  language  all  over  the  country.  As  an  instance, 
when  Mr.  Carr's  "Guide"  came  out  I  sent  a  short  notice  to 
the  newspaper  headquarters  calling  attention  to  its  value  and 
saw  it  in  every  Italian  newspaper  we  took  and  heard  it  had 
been  copied  in  some  of  the  newspapers  published  in  Italy. 
Could  we  have  done  this  as  easy  with  our  American  papers? 
I  do  not  think  we  begin  to  utilize  the  foreign  newspapers  as 
we  might  in  advertising  the  value  of  what  we  have  in  our  li- 
braries. They  are  most  liberal  with  space,  usually  printing 
whatever  you  send  them  without  cutting  it  at  all  They  will 
go  to  trouble  to  get  information  from  you,  too.  One  of  the 
Polish  papers  published  in  Cleveland  used  to  send  all  their 
papers  to  the  Polish  banker  in  our  town  and  the  subscribers 
called  on  him  for  their  copies.  This  banker  in  turn  used  to 
send  to  the  library  every  week  asking  if  we  had  any  library 
notes  to  send  to  Cleveland  for  the  Polish  paper,  and  it  used  to 
amuse  me  to  see  the  additions  to  the  Polish  collection  in  Passaic 
printed  in  that  paper  and  seldom  or  ever  a  note  of  the  library 
work  in  their  own  town.  I  believe  there  are  twenty-four 
newspapers  published  in  foreign  languages  in  Boston.  I  won- 
der how  many  Massachusetts  librarians  have  ever  sent  them 
news  items  about  their  library?  The  foreigners  have  similar 
ways  of  spreading  information  through  their  national  societies. 
In  April,  1906,  I  wanted  the  foreign  societies  in  the  state  to 
endorse  a  bill  we  were  trying  to  get  the  Legislature  to  pass 
creating  an  Immigration  Commission  in  New  Jersey,  which 
Mr.  Watchorn  was  kind  enough  to  say  was  "the  first  state  to 
treat  the  immigration  problem  in  a  rational  and  systematic 
way."  I  went  to  the  president  of  the  National  Slavonic  So- 
ciety in  N.  Y.  and  explained  the  object  of  the  commission 
to  him  and  asked  if  he  thought  the  societies  in  New  Jersey 
would  send  a  line  to  the  Governor  asking  him  to  sign  the 
bill  Certainly,  there  would  not  be  the  slightest  trouble  about 
every  society  sending  a  letter,  and  if  letters  from  individuals 
would  be  desirable,  those  could  be  sent.  How  many  would  I 
like,  say  50,000?  The  figures  rather  staggered  me,  but  he  ex- 


500  J.  MAUD  CAMPBELL 

plained  it  v/as  very  simple.  A  multigraph  letter  would  be  sent 
to  each  society  from  headquarters  with  instructions  to  have  a 
certain  number  of  members  sign  them  at  the  nexi  meeting.  I 
afterwards  saw  Gov.  Stokes  who  said  he  had  nearly  been 
snowed  under  by  letters  from  foreigners  asking  for  the  com- 
mission and  he  thought  his  life  would  be  in  danger  if  he  re- 
fused. The  commission  was  appointed  m  April  and  in  Decem- 
ber, 1906,  made  their  report,  which  resulted  in  an  appropriation 
of  $10,000  being  made  by  the  state  every  year  since  for  educa- 
tional assistance  for  the  foreigners  who  are  probably  going 
to  become  citizens.  New  York  followed  with  a  commission 
in  1909  or  1910,  California  came  next,  and  I  understand  Gov 
Foss  is  about  to  sign  a  bill  appointing  a  similar  commission  for 
Massachusetts.  So  the  little  candle  lighted  in  Passaic  in  1906 
has  cast  its  beam  quite  a  distance.  You  soon  find  that  the  dan- 
gerous element  among  foreigners  is  the  ignorant  class,  so  it 
is  a  matter  of  policy  to  offer  them  all  possible  assistance  where 
we  have  the  opportunity,  but  I  think  we  always  get  from  them 
more  than  we  give. 

The  assistance  they  can  give  in  their  knowledge  of  books 
is  constantly  surprising.    It  was  a  foreigner  who  first  called 
my  attention  to  Cassia's  "Manual"  which  for  a  long  time  was 
the  only  thing  available  on  American  conditions.    It  was  an 
Italian  doctor  who  first  showed  me  that  excellent  little  manual, 
"First   aid  to  the   injured,"   published  by  the  American   Red 
Cross  Society,  which  I  have,  only  found  in  a  very  few  libra- 
ries.   One  large  contractor  thought  it  would  serve  such  a  use- 
ful purpose  that  he  gave  me  money  enough  to  purchase  three 
hundred  copies  to  distribute  among  his  employees.    It  is  pub- 
lished in  Italian,   Slovak,  Polish  and  Lithuanian  and  can  be 
purchased  for  30  cents  in  quantity  from  the  Washington  head- 
quarters of  the  American  Red  Cross  Society.     When  I  was 
bemoaning  the  lack  of  a  small  encyclopedia  in  Italian,  an  Ital- 
ian newspaper  man  called  my  attention  to  the  Melzi  Encyclo- 
pedic-dictionaries, and  one  published  by  Mr.  Pecorini  in  New 
York.    With  these  two  we  were  as  well  off  for  the  Italians  as 
we  were  with  much  more  pretentious   encyclopedias   for  the 
Germans     It  was  an  employment  agent  who  introduced  me  to 
tte    Bulletin  of  information."    Knowledge  is  not  confined  to 
their  own  literature  either;  they  are  constantly  surprising  us 


WHAT  THE  FOREIGNER  HAS  DONE  501 

by  their  knowledge  of  ours  and  will  read  the  very  best  our 
literature  contains,  and  it  seems  such  a  pity  we  use  so  much 
energy  to  retain  the  satiated  novel  reader,  and  keep  on  dupli- 
cating information  in  order  to  purchase  the  last  book  on  some 
current  topic  of  interest,  when  we  could,  with  much  less  effort 
attract  people  to  whom  the  stories  of  Paul  Revere,  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers  and  the  glory  of  all  our  national  heroes  comes 
with  the  charm  of  newness. 

Jane  Addams  has  often  called  our  attention  to  the  keen  ap- 
preciation of  the  foreigner  for  the  arts,  which  we  are  allowing 
to  go  to  waste  in  this  country  and  then  spending  all  sorts  of 
money  on  the  children  of  these  very  people,  who  are  steeped  in 
the  social  habit  and  beautiful  customs  inherited  through  genera- 
tions. Who  could  better  teach  their  children  folk-dancing,  and 
handicrafts,  and  nature  study  than  the  foreigners  we  pack 
away  in  tenements  which  compel  them  to  break  every  law  of 
decent  living.  Dancing  to  them  is  a  natural  expression  of  inno- 
cent amusement  Until  you  have  been  to  a  Hungarian  picnic 
you  do  not  know  what  folk-dancing  really  means.  The  soil 
the  sons  of  New  England  are  leaving  as  profitless,  the  for- 
eigners are  causing  to  blossom  and  yield  an  abundant  increase 
with  the  most  antiquated  tools  and  old  world  methods.  I  used 
to  have  a  great  respect  for  an  organist  who  used  to  come  to 
the  library  and  look  over  our  books  on  music  and  through  my 
contact  with  him  got  rather  interested  in  Gregorian  chants,  in 
the  way  we  all  get  a  smattering  knowledge  of  things  we  are 
called  upon  to  look  up  all  the  time.  Last  year  I  happened  to 
be  in  a  country  district  in  New  York  state  where  a  number  of 
Russians  were  doing  some  construction  work  and  where  a 
service  was  conducted  by  the  Greek  Catholic  Church  one  Sun- 
day afternoon.  I  had  seen  these  stolid,  expressionless  men  at 
their  work  and  from  their  appearance  they  would  be  the  last 
people  in  the  world  you  would  credit  with  a  knowledge,  or  love, 
of  music  Imagine  my  astonishment  when  the  service  began 
and  the  whole  company  of  two  or  three  hundred  men  broke 
out  in  some  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Gregorian  chants; 
not  a  note  of  music  to  help  them,  but  the  voices  blending  in  the 
harmonies,  just  as  the  negroes  sing,  apparently  without  effort 
or  instruction  It  was  wonderful  in  its  volume  and  depth  of 
tone  and  from  the  fact  that  the  men  were  all  apparently  per- 


502  J.  MAUD  CAMPBELL 

fectly  at  home  and  familiar  with  that  class  of  music.  The 
Italians  and  Germans  may  have  the  monopoly  of  operatic  music, 
but  the  Poles  and  Russians  can  teach  us  a  good  deal. 

Libraries  are  coming  to  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  for- 
eigner and  all  he  brings  to  us,  and  in  urging  you  to  consider 
his  needs  in  connection  with  your  work,  I  do  not  feel  that  I 
am  asking  for  charity,  for  everything  that  tends  to  elevate  hu- 
manity tends  to  strengthen  the  state,  and  appreciation  of  their 
many  valuable  gifts  may  prove,  from  an  economic  and  patriotic 
standpoint,  to  be  real  statesmanship. 

If  I  were  asked  to  say  what  I  had  personally  gained  from 
my  work  with  foreigners,  I  would  have  to  acknowledge  having 
become  a  more  efficient  worker,  a  more  active  citizen,  more 
thoughtful  neighbor,  to  have  gained  a  truer  conception  of  life 
and  its  values  from  rubbing  up  against  them,  a  debt  which  you 
can  see  is  not  easy  to  repay. 


SOME  OF  THE  PEOPLE  WE  WORK  FOR 

The  following  paper  deals  with  individual  results  and 
opportunities  in  the  work  with  the  foreign  born.  As 
the  Director  of  the  Immigration  Publication  Society,  Mr. 
John  Foster  Carr  had  the  opportunity  of  noting  some- 
thing of  the  way  in  which  libraries  have  adapted  existing 
methods  and  machinery  to  the  problems  of  the  foreign 
born. 

This  address  was  delivered  at  the  Asbury  Park  Con- 
ference of  the  A  L. A.,  June  29,  1916. 

John  Foster  Carr  was  born  in  New  York,  in  1869. 
At  his  father's  death  he  left  Yale  before  graduation. 
Business  then  claimed  his  attention  for  five  years,  after 
which  he  spent  some  time  at  Oxford.  In  1914  he  organ- 
ized the  Immigration  Publication  Society,  and  as  founder 
and  director  of  this  institution,  his  chief  work  has  been 
the  education  and  distribution  of  immigrant  strangers. 
He  is  the  author  of  "The  Immigrants'  Guide  to  the 
United  States"  and  "Makers  of  America/' 

It's  work  with  the  immigrant,  of  course— as  the  jeering  cynic 
says,  "doing  good  to  one's  fellow  man  at  the  other  end  of  a 
book."  Rejoicing  in  my  equivocal  title,  my  first  thought  is  to 
turn  an  admiring  mirror  toward  your  busy  selves,  and  to  show 
something  of  the  rapid  development  and  progress  of  a  library 
movement  that  within  a  few  years  has  become  both  nation- 
wide and  wonderfully  efficient  in  patriotic  service.  Yet  it  has 
been  accomplished  so  quietly  that  a  campaigning  propagandist 
has  found  it  possible  to  ask:  "Why  don't  the  libraries  do  some- 
thing for  the  Americanization  of  the  immigrant?" 

What  I  shall  have  to  say  must  be  largely  concerned  with 
individual  results,  and,  above  all,  with  the  opportunities  of  the 
work.  But  I  must  also  tell  something  of  the  magnitude  of 
actual  accomplishment,  and  of  the  remarkable  way  in  which  the 


504  JOHN  FOSTER  CARR 

libraries  have  adapted  existing  methods  and  machinery  with 
plentiful  invention,  to  this  new  problem— new  in  its  present  in- 
terest and  great  extent 

Let  me  begin  by  saying  that  our  Society,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  has  had  the  privilege  of  the  co-operation  of  more  than 
five  hundred  public  libraries  in  our  particular  work  for  the 
immigrant.  With  a  considerable  number  of  them,  we  have  a 
friendly  and  frequent  correspondence,  that  tells  its  own  amazing 
story  of  results.  But  for  the  purpose  of  this  talk,  I  have  espe- 
cially sought  the  opportunity  of  knowing  more  intimately  of 
the  work  now  being  done  in  the  libraries  of  some  twenty  cities, 
that  are  very  actively  engaged  in  the  education  and  American- 
ization of  these  foreign-born  friends  of  ours. 

In  spite  of  its  newness,  much  of  the  work  has  a  background 
of  many  years  of  labor.  There  is  a  wide  range  of  ingenious 
and  successful  experiment,  yet  the  startling  thing  is  the  union 
in  common  purpose  and  method.  I  sometimes  quote,  as  true  of 
one,  a  method  that  is  common  to  nearly  all.  Or  have  I  caught 
a  single  activity,  as  it  stood  out,  and  have  seemed  to  make  it 
represent  the  complex  work  of  a  large  and  aggressive  organi- 
zation. I  can  here  attempt  no  fairly  comprehensive  account 
of  these  undertakings — only  a  series  of  flash  pictures,  taken 
as  the  magnesium  chanced  to  burn,  that,  together,  I  hope,  may 
have  a  certain  truth  of  indication.  As  to  the  injustice  done,  I 
mean  later  to  make  full  amends. 

Let  me  give  you  some  of  the  large,  or  illuminating,  facts 
taken  almost  at  random  from  the  mass  of  these  records,  per- 
sonal as  well  as  formal.  Bear  in  mind  that  these  last  two  years 
have  been  years  of  exceptional  difficulty.  In  the  matter  of 
foreign  literature,  it  has  been  impossible  to  purchase  any  books 
whatever  from  some  of  the  nations  now  at  war  Add  to  this, 
that  during  these  two  years  many  of  our  important  libraries 
have  been  forced,  through  lack  of  funds,  to  curtail  work,  to 
close  stations  or  branches,  discharge  employes,  buy  fewer  books. 
At  such  times  new  ventures  are  the  first  to  suffer  or  be  aban- 
doned. 

Yet  see  how  the  work  grows !  In  our  own  city  of  New  York, 
with  its  forty-three  library  branches,  those  branches  having 
the  largest  so-called  immigrant  membership  lead  all  the  others 
in  circulation.  The  use  of  books  in  foreign  languages  has  in- 


THE  PEOPLE  WE  WORK  FOR  505 

creased  so  rapidly  that  their  circulation  now  reaches  nearly 
seven  hundred  thousand  a  year.  The  results  have  proved  so 
satisfactory  that  the  library  supply  of  foreign  books  has  been 
increased  thirty  per  cent  in  two  years.  The  demand?  The 
Italian  circulation  has  increased  twenty-seven  per  cent,  in  each 
o£  two  successive  years  The  Yiddish  thirty-one  per  cent  and 
forty-two  per  cent. 

Chicago  writes  graphically  how  the  foreign-born  are  "storm- 
ing" the  library  for  books  in  their  own  tongues  "Crave"  and 
"yearn"  are  the  immigrant's  words.  "The  shelves  for  foreign 
books  are  nearly  always  empty,  volumes  being  borrowed  as  fast 
as  they  are  returned."  For  the  coming  year  a  generous  appro- 
priation is  to  be  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  foreign  books;  yet 
this  is  the  official  word  of  despair:  "The  supply  will  still  fall 
far  short  of  the  demand."  Appropriately  Mr.  Legler  tells  the 
story  of  the  poor  little  Jewish  boy,  whose  head  hardly  reached 
the  top  of  the  librarian's  desk.  He  wanted  "Oliver  Twist,"  be- 
cause he  knew  the  story.  It  was  of  a  hungry  little  boy,  who 
lived  in  a  poorhouse,  and  who  always  asked  for  more.  "More 
what?"  asked  the  sympathetic  librarian.  "More  corn-flakes," 
lisped  the  small  borrower. 

Cleveland  has  pushed  the  work  with  many  clever  devices. 
There  is,  of  course,  as  almost  everywhere,  the  systematic  use 
of  night  schools,  national  clubs  and  foreign  language  news- 
papers But  besides,  there  are  talks  and  lectures  on  citizenship, 
American  institutions,  the  opportunities  of  American  life.  One 
branch  m  a  Jewish  district  supplies  Russian  tea,  and  wafers,  at 
two  cents  a  glass.  The  staff  numbers  many  assistants  speaking 
foreign  languages.  Patiently,  persistently  the  children  are  used 
to  interest  the  parents.  Results?  One  branch  writes:  "The 
demand  for  foreign  books  far  exceeds  the  supply."  Another: 
"We  are  losing  steady  readers  who  have  read  'everything'" 
Another:  "It  is  seldom  possible  to  find  a  single  English  gram- 
mar, conversation  book,  or  naturalization  guide  on  the  shelves." 
Another:  "After  languages,  fiction  is  most  popular." 

St.  Louis,  like  Cleveland  and  Chicago,  has  made  surveys, 
and  on  a  wide  scale,  of  the  different  populations  served  by  the 
library's  branches  It  has  made  sympathetic  studies  of  their 
racial  and  national  ideals,  their  cultural  backgrounds.  Like 
Cleveland,  New  York  and  Chicago,  it  is  struggling  with  the 


506  JOHN  FOSTER  CARR 

problem  of  nationalities  constantly  shifting  from  district  to 
district  "Kerry  Patch"  with  its  joyous  brickbat  rule  has  dis- 
appeared before  an  invasion  from  eastern  Europe;  and  the 
ancient  and  unchanging  "Old  French  Town"  is  actually  be- 
coming polyglot.  Industriously  the  work  has  been  pushed. 
Members  of  the  staff  have  done  house-to-house  visiting.  Posters 
and  leaflets,  have  been  energetically  used.  These  sentences, 
for  quoting,  picture  the  character  of  the  work  and  tell  results : 
"All  our  material  is  used  over  and  over  again."  "These  people 
devour  American  history  and  biography."  "Grown  men  and 
women  pass  books  in  their  own  language,  pocket  their  pride, 
and  go  on  to  the  children's  corner."  "Books  in  English  for 
foreigners  are  in  such  demand  that  we  are  unable  to  fill  the 
call." 

One  St.  Louis  branch  librarian  reports:  "The  one  class  of 
books,  which  reaches  readers  of  all  nationalities,  is  the  col- 
lection of  easy  readers  and  books  on  civics  and  citizenship." 
And  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  fear  divided  allegiance  among 
the  mass  of  our  foreign  born,  she  adds:  "Our  collection  of 
books  on  the  war  is  not  to  be  compared  in  popularity  to  crochet 
and  cook  books,  or  books  on  poultry  and  automobiles." 

Providence,  distinguished  for  its  careful  lists  and  its  Bulle- 
tin, and  for  so  much  other  model  work  in  this  field,  is  dealing, 
like  several  other  cities,  with  a  problem  of  twenty  different 
languages.  Slides  of  the  library  have  been  explained  by  in- 
terpreters at  the  movies.  The  library  has  helped  organize 
meetings  of  different  nationalities 

Springfield  is  using  attractive  leaflets  of  invitation  Staff 
members  visit  the  evening  schools  and  give  library  talks.  They 
also  visit  the  foreign  dubs,  treating  the  people  "as  normal 
folk,"  and  there  is  the  same  happiness  of  result.  Detroit, 
stressing  "human  sympathy,"  is  determinedly  making  the  foreign 
department  a  bridge  to  the  English.  Pittsburgh  is  successfully 
using  window  exhibits,  and  an  automobile  in  parade  decorated 
with  books  and  placards  advertising  the  library.  It  has  had 
groups  of  foreigners  organized  and  brought  to  the  library  on 
personally  conducted  visits. 

Louisville,  almost  outside  the  immigrant  zone,  is  still  doing 
interesting,  original  and  successful  work  with  Yiddish.  Jersey 
City  believes  in  cultivating  patriotism  in  the  American  as  well 


THE  PEOPLE  WE  WORK  FOR  507 

as  in  the  foreigner,  and  has  prepared  for  general  free  distribu- 
tion an  admirable  and  attractive  series  of  leaflets  and  pamphlets 
dealing  with  the  origins  and  government  of  city,  county  and 
state,  our  patriotic  holidays,  the  flag,  and  sketch  biographies  of 
great  Americans. 

Buffalo,  specializing,  has  made  of  the  small  library  a  friendly 
center,  "where  guidance  can  be  had  to  almost  anything  that 
pertains  to  the  new  country."  These  branches  give  advice  and 
help  in  the  humblest  matters  of  daily  life— settling  disputes, 
naming  babies,  writing  letters  of  condolence,  obtaining  employ- 
ment; but  they  also  work,  and  they  work  powerfully,  in  helping 
the  newcomer  to  learn  English,  to  obtain  citizenship  papers, 
as  well  as  aiding  in  many  difficult  cases  with  the  public  authori- 
ties. "Extraordinary  work  for  the  library  to  undertake '"  would 
have  been  our  comment  but  a  short  time  ago! 

"It  is  the  personal  contact  which  tells,"  writes  Mr.  Walter 
L  Brown.  And  this  claim  of  human  helpfulness  proves  its 
unexpected  power  in  the  Buffalo  library  in  such  a  matter  as 
dealing  with  street  gangs.  It  is  a  power  based  upon  the  grati- 
tude of  the  people  for  service  generously  and  democratically 
rendered.  A  couple  of  years  ago  a  cut  was  threatened  in  the 
library  appropriation,  that  would  have  closed  some  of  the 
branches  An  appeal  was  made  for  the  help  of  those  who  used 
the  libraries,  and  the  branches  were  speedily  saved. 

I  know  no  more  impressive  testimony  to  the  possibilities  of 
this  work,  than  these  earnest  words  of  Mr.  Brown,  born  of 
practical  and  successful  experience  with  the  immigrant  in  Buf- 
falo: "We  believe  that  the  branch  libraries,  if  they  were  as 
plentiful  as  they  should  be  in  cities  where  new  Americans 
gather,  would  practically  solve  the  whole  problem." 

In  Boston,  also,  the  remarkable  success  of  the  work  has 
brought  a  remarkable  faith.  The  North  End  Branch  writes 
in  full  conviction:  "It  is  the  library  which  has  the  greatest 
power  to  interpret  the  spirit  of  American  democracy  to  the 
foreign-born."  From  the  immigrant's  very  first  day  the  library 
in  Boston  serves  him.  It  is  often  his  official  welcomer.  And 
so  highly  does  it  succeed  in  its  friendly  education  that  new 
difficulties  are  discovered,  and  a  junior  librarian  writes  from 
Bennett  Street  in  warning:  "The  librarian's  duty  as  a  public 
hostess  is  not  so  to  socialize  the  library  as  to  make  it  a  public 


508  JOHN  FOSTER  CARR 

rendezvous!"  Much  work  is  done  in  Boston  that  deserves 
careful  description.  Summing  its  activities,  Mr.  Ward,  super- 
visor of  branches,  says  of  the  growing  success:  "With  results 
like  that,  what  librarian  would  not  be  willing  to  do  any  amount 
of  work?" 

Passaic,  pioneer  in  the  field,  systematically  begins  with  fun- 
damentals and  takes  for  its  motto  "The  first  thing  is  to  inform 
ourselves."  And  so  for  three  years  the  staff  has  made  special 
studies  in  the  history,  literature  and  conditions  of  life  in  the 
native  countries  of  our  immigrants.  Picturesque  exhibits  have 
brought  many  foreign-born  visitors,  and  there  are  lectures  on 
Franklin,  Washington  and  Lincoln.  "I  came  with  a  sad  heart 
and  a  tired  head,"  wrote  a  grateful  Italian,  "but  left  with  joy- 
ous, happy  feeling." 

And  may  I  end  this  hasty  summary  with  a  note  of  the 
work  so  humbly  started  by  Mrs.  Kreuzpointner,  of  Altoona? 
You  remember  her  beginning  four  years  ago  with  ten  books 
in  a  soap  box?  I  wish  I  had  time  to  share  with  you  some  of 
her  wonderful  letters — her  quaint  and  human  stories  of 
readers.  For  it  is  the  spirit  and  wit  that  count  The  major  prob- 
lems and  the  work  are  the  same,  be  the  library  large  or  small. 

"Our  books  are  read  to  pieces,"  she  says.  "We  are  altruists 
playing  Cinderella  on  short  rations.  But  the  joy  I  get  doing 
something  with  nothing'  Some  weeks  I  get  nothing  out  of  it 
but  mud.  It  depends  on  the  weather.  Once  in  a  while  I  have 
the  pleasure  of  scrubbing  up  some  dear  Italian  boy,  before  I 
allow  him  to  take  a  book  in  his  hand.  That  is  where  the  per- 
sonal touch  comes  in '" 

And  so  it  goes  I  The  uncouth  new-comers,  soon  disciplined ' 
The  zeal  in  reading,  the  growing  appreciation  of  our  country 
among  her  members— Poles,  Italians,  Armenians'  The  sudden 
success  that  perforce  led  for  a  while  to  taking  all  English 
books  out  of  the  Polish  library,  until  a  fair  supply  could  be 
secured,  and  the  clamor  stopped. 

As  I  talk  to  these  good  librarian  folk,  I  find  myself  always 
in  an  atmosphere  of  enthusiasm,  when  we  speak  of  work  with 
our  immigrants.  They  tell  me— and  I  have  collected  hundreds 
of  astounding  instances— of  miracles  wrought,  of  affecting 
gratitude,  of  beautiful  friendships  formed.  They  have  level 
judgments,  undeceived,  of  the  failings  of  these  newcomers,  but 


THE  PEOPLE  WE  WORK  FOR  509 

they  also  understand  their  possibilities.  And  in  the  work  they 
find  personal  benefits.  One  librarian,  questioned  in  an  open 
Boston  meeting,  told  me  that  the  first  thing  she  and  her  staff 
had  learned  from  the  foreigner  was— what  do  you  think? — 
politeness!  Another  librarian  gives  the  happy  confidence  that 
she  had  entered  the  work  with  the  compassion  that  the  kind 
hearts  of  the  first  cabin  hold  for  the  steerage;  but  that  the 
gain  in  the  end  for  her  had  been  complete  conversion  to  democ- 
racy. "I  could  talk  on  forever  about  it,"  writes  me  one  of 
your  most  distinguished  and  successful  workers. 

To  the  immigrant  the  library  represents  the  open  door  of 
American  life  and  opportunity.  "Before  we  had  these  books, 
our  evenings  were  like  nights  in  a  jail,"  said  an  Italian  in  a 
hill  town  of  Massachusetts 

"You  mean  that  I  can  take  these  books  home?  You  trust 
me?"  asked  a  poor  fellow  of  a  Chicago  librarian.  "If  I  tell 
that  in  Russia,  they  no  belief  me" 

"Will  America  ever  be  militarist?"  I  heard  one  Italian 
baker  ask  of  another.  "No,"  was  the  prompt  reply,  "the  friendly 
schools  and  the  libraries  are  against  it." 

I  gave  a  simple  sketch  of  Lincoln  to  a  Lithuanian  waiter, 
who  came  back  in  a  couple  of  weeks  and  said:  "Gee,  that 
book  you  gave  me  sure  did  give  me  a  hunch.  I  was  sick  and 
out  of  work,  but  it  got  me  a  job."  Next  I  found  hitn  strug- 
gling through  Bacon's  "Essays"  and  Epictetus.  That  was  only 
six  months  ago.  The  other  day  he  wrote  me  from  Detroit, 
where  he  had  joined  the  library,  and  had  just  heard  a  lecture 
on  psychology. 

Wonderful  and  rapid  is  often  the  surface  change  in  these 
people  of  good  will.  They  fall,  for  instance,  very  readily  into 
our  ways  and  into  our  vernacular. 

I  descended  into  a  greengrocer's  dark  cellar  in  our  Bleecker 
Street  colony.  It  was  lit  fyy  a  smudgy  lamp.  Peppers  festooned 
the  walls.  The  black  shawled  padrona  was  roasting  her  big 
pine  cones  over  a  charcoal  fire.  I  seemed  in  Naples.  An  eager 
signorina  was  haggling  over  a  purchase.  I  looked.  It  was  about 
the  choice  of  a  Christmas  tree.  I  listened.  She  impatiently 
stamped  her  foot:  "No,  not  that  one.  It's  kinder  skimpy." 

It  was  at  the  movies — a  special  showing  of  the  film  of  Paul 
Revere's  Ride  for  an  audience  of  new-come  Poles  The  bom- 


5io  JOHN  FOSTER  CARR 

bastic  English  general  advanced  and  imperiously  ordered  his 
lieutenant  to  swing  wide  the  barn  doors,  expecting  to  find  a 
great  store  of  Yankee  ammunition.  But,  lo1  the  barn  was 
empty!  Excitedly  a  young  Pole  jumped  up,  waved  his  hat, 
and  joyously  shouted:  "Stung!" 

You  may  fairly  take  these  surface  things  for  straws  indi- 
cating a  vital  change,  a  change  often  brought  about  from  sheer 
gratitude  for  the  peace  and  the  comfortable  living  of  America, 
and  its  rough  and  hearty  good  fellowship 

Ever  in  this  library  work  I  find  a  deep  patriotic  purpose, 
and  never  do  I  fail  to  find  two  thoughts  to  which  I  wish  power 
might  be  given.  One  is  that  we  born  Americans  need  a  more 
perfect  understanding— a  more  human  understanding— of  these 
newcomers,  and  of  the  enormously  complex  problem  that  they 
represent.  The  other  is  an  entire  lack  of  sympathy  with  this 
mad  propaganda  of  haste  in  turning  the  immigrant  forthwith 
into  a  citizen—the  f oohsh  beating  of  patriotic  tom-toms ' 

Citizenship  counts  for  nothing  unless  it  is  sought  in  love 
and  knowledge,  and  conferred  in  dignity.  Doubt  human  na- 
ture, talk  of  the  menace  of  the  "unassimilated  foreigner,"  his 
violence  and  crime;  force  unschooled  men  to  learn  English 
within  a  year  under  the  penalty  of  losing  their  jobs,  though 
you  yourself  may  not  have  the  gift  of  tongues,  or  be  able  to 
learn  a  foreign  language  for  the  life  of  you;  force  them  in 
droves  through  citizenship  classes;  and  you  earn  only  con- 
tempt, gaining  nothing  to  the  nation.  But  first  give  a  man  rea- 
sons for  loving  his  new  country;  appeal  to  his  ambition;  give 
him  the  opportunity  he  so  often  craves;  and  then  you  have  a 
citizen  indeed! 

Miss  Marguerite  Reid,  whose  admirable  work  m  Providence 
has  been  made  so  effective  through  understanding  and  sym- 
pathy, tells  me  of  an  indignant  Greek  friend  of  hers,  an  ardent 
unpaid  library  worker.  "Make  them  over  into  Americans?5' 
he  cried,  "Before  they  have  had  time  to  breathe  the  air  of  free- 
dom? Don't  be  too  energetic!  Let  time  do  something." 

My  mind  turns  back  to  these  immigrant  millions— their  splen- 
did human  material  for  the  upbuilding  of  our  country  Among 
them  we  shall  often  find  refreshment  for  our  own  patriotism 
The  other  day  in  the  mouth  of  my  friend  Gusto,  I  heard  again 
the  old  slogan  of  the  Know-Nothings.  "That's  just  what  it 


THE  PEOPLE  WE  WORK  FOR  51 1 

ought  to  be!"  he  said  in  his  fluent  Italian.  "America  for  the 
Americans!"  "But  who  are  the  Americans?"  I  interrupted. 
"Why,  we  are!  Those  who  care  for  America!  We,  too,  who 
came  here  starving  and  are  grateful!" 

In  my  intimate  living  with  these  humble  folk  of  many 
nations,  though  many  times  sharply  divided  by  the  conflicting 
passions  of  the  war,  I  have  still  found  them  one  in  devotion 
to  the  new  land.  Their  patriotism  is  not  that  of  DecaturV 
"My  country,  right  or  wrong!"  Not  that  of  the  distinguished 
hyphenate's  of  the  other  week:  "My  country,  when  she's  right!" 
But  among  them  I  have  always  caught  the  calm  certitude :  "My 
country  will  be  right  1" 

"Patriotism  refreshed!"  I  said.  You  cannot  fail  of  a  heart- 
ening thrill,  when  you  come  to  know  of  so  many  instances  of 
patriotic  devotion,  devotion  like  that  of  a  lover,  finding  ex- 
pression in  extravagances,  may  I  say,  impossible  to  our  slower 
pulses;  for  the  rest  of  us  are  apt  to  take  our  love  of  country 
too  much  "as  a  matter  of  course."  And  so  may  I  give  you  three 
stories,  each  of  which  I  know  to  be  true? 

A  friend  of  mine  saw  a  young  Armenian  hurl  himself 
into  the  roadway  to  save  our  flag,  a  torn  and  muddied  bit  of 
cotton  that  had  been  thrown  away,  from  the  wheels  of  an  on- 
rushing  automobile.  He  grasped  the  flag,  slipped  and  des- 
perately tried  to  roll  out  of  the  way  to  save  himself,  but  not  in 
time  to  prevent  the  crushing  of  his  leg. 

And  this  comes  to  me  directly.  A  lady  bought  an  old 
colonial  mansion  in  New  Jersey,  reputed  to  have  been  used 
as  headquarters  by  Washington.  For  months  it  had  housed 
a  gang  of  Italian  laborers.  Fearfully  she  went  to  inspect  her 
purchase.  She  found  it  indeed  spoiled — a  grimy  barracks.  But 
one  room  was  spotless.  The  answer  to  her  surprised  question 
was  that  the  Italians  had  heard  that  room  was  the  great  Wash- 
ington's own.  So  they  carefully  cleaned  it;  found  a  lithograph 
of  the  famous  Stuart  portrait  in  Boston;  hung  it  on  the  wall, 
and  under  it  kept  a  glass  with  a  floating  and  ever-burning  wick. 

I've  been  asked  to  tell  you  again  the  tale  of  my  Russian- 
Jewish  friend — the  electrician.  I'm  glad  to  do  so,  because  only 
now  can  I  give  you  the  full  story. 

He  was  a  little,  wizened,  squint-eyed,  old  man.  He  had  told 
me  that  he  came  to  America  because  of  Lincoln,  and  I  had 


512  JOHN  FOSTER  CARR 

asked  him  how  that  was.  He  said  he  was  born  on  the  shores 
of  the  Sea  of  Azof,  and  that  as  a  boy  he  had  heard  this  story : 
Tolstoi  was  one  time  traveling  in  the  Caucasus,  and  being 
very  fond  of  public  speaking,  he  one  day  made  a  speech  through 
an  interpreter  to  a  Tartar  tribe.  He  was  at  that  time  very 
much  interested  in  Napoleon.  So  he  spoke  of  Napoleon  and 
of  other  great  war  captains.  When  he  had  finished,  the  Tartar 
chieftain  said:  "Now,  will  you  be  good  enough  to  tell  my  chil- 
dren of  a  man  who  was  far  greater  than  any  of  these  men, 
of  a  man  who  was  so  great  that  he  could  even  forgive  his 
enemies?"  When  Tolstoi  asked  him  who  that  might  be,  he 
said:  "Abraham  Lincoln." 

The  next  time  he  heard  of  Lincoln  it  was  in  this  way:  A 
sailor  friend,  a  Russian  Christian,  returning  from  one  of  his 
voyages  brought  back  a  wonderful  book  in  English,  of  which 
he  knew  a  little.  "It  contains,"  he  said,  "things  so  true  and 
beautiful  that  they  would  bring  tears  to  your  eyes,  if  you  could 
only  read  them."  So  they  had  some  pages  of  it  translated  and 
hektographed,  and  these  they  circulated  among  their  friends. 
But  some  of  the  sheets  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  police.  And 
my  Jewish  friend  told  me  how  he  and  the  poor  lad's  mother, 
one  early  morning,  crept  through  the  shadows  of  by  streets 
down  to  the  railroad  station,  and  from  the  hiding  of  an  old 
engine-house  saw  his  friend  start  on  the  long  journey  to  Siberia, 
"And  the  book?"  I  eagerly  asked.  "It  was  Henry  J.  Raymond's 
'Life,  speeches  and  public  services  of  Abraham  Lincoln.' " 

And  so  this  man  came  to  America.  Today  beside  his  tele- 
phone in  his  little  shop  in  New  York,  there  are  the  two  great 
speeches  pasted  on  the  wall,  and  very  old  and  dirty  they  are. 
I  asked  him  about  them.  "Oh,"  he  said,  "I  learned  them  quick. 
But  when  I  am  waiting  for  a  telephone  call  I  let  my  eye  go 
over  them,  and  you  know  I  always  find  something  new  and 
something  fine.  It  is  like  a  man  who  looks  into  one  point  of 
the  heavens  all  the  time.  He  ends  by  discovering  a  new  star !" 

An  American  by  right  of  the  spirit!  Few  of  them,  it  is 
true,  are  like  my  Jewish  friend.  But  to  all  of  them,  particularly 
now,  is  it  our  duty  to  reveal  the  ideal  America,  to  prove  that 
the  sacred  things  of  our  past,  and  the  great  ideals  of  our 
fathers,  for  which  they  have  such  wonderful,  ready  reverence, 
can  still  be  found  in  the  America  of  today. 


THE  PEOPLE  WE  WORK  FOR  513 

This  is  the  remedy  for  the  divided  allegiance  that  some  fear. 
This  is  the  nation's  great  need  today — a  preparedness  for  the 
future  more  important  than  any  other,  for  it  will  give  us  citi- 
zens filled  with  devotion  to  our  country  and  to  the  ideals  for 
which  she  stands.  This  is  our  work  and  our  opportunity. 
Millions  are  to  come.  Some  of  them  already  are  at  the  gate- 
way, eager  to  know  of  our  life  and  to  have  a  part  in  it,  but 
barred  by  ignorance. 

Shall  we  not  with  them  build  up  this  America,  one  with  our 
past,  into  the  greatest  cosmopolitan  nation  of  the  world— a 
glorious  welding  of  men,  who  are  one  in  their  desire  for  Lib- 
erty, Equality,  Brotherhood  and  Peace? 

The  work  that  you  are  doing  is  a  mighty  part  of  it.  And 
there  come  back  to  me  certain  words  from  "The  dream  of 
John  Ball."  "In  these  days  are  ye  building  a  house  which  shall 
not  be  overthrown,  and  little  to  hold  it;  for  indeed  it  shall  be 
the  world  itself,  set  free  from  evildoers  for  friends  to  dwell 
in." 


WORK  WITH  COLORED  PEOPLE 


SERVING  NEW  YORK'S  BLACK  CITY 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  least  known  com- 
munities is  New  York's  Negro  city,  extending  approxi- 
mately from  Eighth  Avenue  to  the  Harlem  River,  and 
from  130th  to  150th  Street.  This  group  is  held  together 
by  the  tie  of  color,  and  by  the  same  bond  is  separated 
from  its  white  neighbors.  Within  itself  it  is  crossed  and 
divided  by  many  conflicting  lines  of  thought,  belief  and 
hope.  The  following  paper  reports  conditions  as  they 
are  met  in  the  New  York  Public  Library.  It  was  pub- 
lished in  The  Library  Journal  of  1921. 

Ernestine  Rose,  the  author  of  the  paper,  took  her 
B.L.S.  degree  from  the  New  York  State  Library  School 
in  1904,  and  was  later  a  member  of  the  New  York  Pub- 
lic Library  School  staff  and  supervisor  of  the  appren- 
tice class.  In  1905  she  became  librarian  of  the  Seward 
Park  Branch,  but  left  this  position  to  become  first  as- 
sistant to  the  principal  of  the  Carnegie  Library  School 
During  the  World  War  she  was  engaged  in  A.L.A.  War 
Service.  Upon  her  return  from  Coblenz,  she  was  re- 
appointed  on  the  staff  of  the  New  York  Public  Library 
as  librarian  of  the  135th  St.  Branch  Library,  in  June, 
1920. 

It  is  in  the  community  life  of  a  great  city  that  the  library 
has  its  most  challenging  opportunity.  The  more  homogeneous 
such  a  life  the  greater  is  the  opportunity  of  becoming  part  of 
it,  since  all  currents  flow  together,  drawing  one  into  the  com- 
mon whirl  of  experience  while  conflicting  currents  of  thought 
and  habit  keep  one  tossing  about  on  the  surface. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  least-known  of  such  com- 
munities is  New  York's  black  city,  extending  approximately 
from  Eighth  Avenue  to  the  Harlem  River  and  from  130th  to 
I50th  Streets.  Picture  to  yourselves  a  great  town  of  some 


5i8  ERNESTINE  ROSE 

150,000  black  people,  with  a  few  alien  whites  as  scattered  shop- 
keepers, and  old  residents,  clinging  to  their  homes.  This  city 
has  its  own  churches,  its  theatres,  its  newspapers,  its  clubs  and 
social  life.  There  are  three  churches,  each  with  a  parish  num- 
bering more  than  two  thousand,  in  Harlem,  and  at  least  thirty 
others,  varying  in  size.  The  Sunday  School  of  Mother  Zion 
Church  has  a  membership  roll  of  seven  hundred,  and  an  aver- 
age attendance  of  five  hundred.  All  denominations,  from  Bap- 
tist to  Episcopalian,  are  represented;  there  are  a  large  Catholic 
parish,  several  Jewish  churches,  and  a  number  of  Eastern  and 
African  sects. 

The  theaters  have  their  own  colored  actors,  and  increasingly 
one  sees  posters  featuring  colored  artists.  There  are  colored 
Y.  M.  C  A.  and  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  the  latter  with  an  entire  resident 
apartment  house.  In  "Liberty  Hall,"  Harlem's  town  hall,  of 
a  Sunday,  immense  mass  meetings  are  held.  Does  white  New 
York  know  what  is  discussed  there?  Harlem  supports  six 
colored  newspapers  recognized  as  representing  negro  thought, 
as  well  as  a  number  of  lesser  sheets.  This  negro  world  is 
swarming  with  clubs,  societies,  organizations  of  sorts,  for  the 
support  of  religious  or  political  movements,  as  for  instance, 
the  Bahai  faith,  or  Marcus  Garvey's  "Back  to  Africa"  propa- 
ganda, as  likewise  for  the  mutual  betterment  or  advancement 
of  members. 

What  gives  all  this  point  is  the  fact  that  these  activities  are 
sponsored  and  managed,  to  a  large  extent,  by  colored  people. 
The  offices  of  the  Urban  League  are  filled  by  negroes,  although 
both  races  are  represented  on  the  national  board  of  directors. 
The  colored  branches  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
are  managed  entirely  by  colored  people.  The  newspaper  edi- 
tors are  negroes,  and  represent  negro  thought  exclusively.  The 
clergy  are  negroes,  except  in  the  case  of  the  Catholic  parish. 
On  the  corner  of  135th  Street  and  Lenox  Avenue  a  bank  has 
just  been  erected,  which  is  financed  by  colored  capital,  and  is 
under  colored  control.  A  large  new  theater  also  financed  by 
negro  funds  is  being  erected.  The  reading  world  knows  of 
Marcus  Garvey  and  his  Black  Star  steamship  line.  Increasingly, 
real  estate  is  coming  under  black  control.  Even  the  police  and 
fire  stations  have  colored  men  on  their  forces,  although  the 
city-managed  activities  within  the  district  are  the  most  reluctant 


SERVING  NEW  YORK'S  BLACK  CITY          519 

in  succumbing  to  the  inevitable  tide.  Until  a  few  months  ago 
the  library  had  no  colored  assistants.  Of  the  three  public 
schools  in  this  community  two  have  colored  teachers,  one  has 
fourteen  on  a  teaching  force  of  sixty-one,  the  other  has  only 
one.  In  this  school,  which  faces  the  library  on  I35th  Street, 
the  registration  is  something  over  twenty-one  hundred,  of  whom 
two  thousand  are  colored.  The  community  has  also  its  literary 
and  artistic  life.  Several  artists  of  real  worth  work  in  Harlem, 
and  there  is  a  large  music  school,  the  colored  director  of  which 
has  given  recitals  at  Carnegie  Hall. 

All  this  seems  to  spell  homogeneity.  Yet  though  this  great 
group  is  held  together  by  the  tie  of  color,  and  by  the  same 
bond  is  separated  from  its  white  neighbors,  within  itself  it  is 
crossed  and  divided  by  many  conflicting  lines  of  thought,  be- 
lief and  hope 

The  most  deeply-cut  is  that  of  nationality.  Nearly  half  this 
population  is  foreign,  from  the  British  or  Spanish  West  Indies, 
or  South  America.  From  the  British  West  Indies  comes  an 
educated,  thinking  and  ambitious  group,  interpenetrated  by  white 
blood,  unused  to  the  color  line  and  inexpressibly  galled  by  it. 
They  are,  perhaps,  the  library's  best  readers,  but  they  form  a 
separate,  alien  group,  a  bitter,  proud  people.  Those  from  the 
Spanish  possessions  and  from  South  America  form  as  alien  a 
group,  but  one  which  is  indifferent  rather  than  antagonistic. 
Both  their  language  and  their  color  exclude  them  from  much 
of  American  life  Those  from  the  Islands,  unused  to  participa- 
tion in  political  life,  do  not  feel  the  need  of  naturalization 
privileges.  They  came  to  America  for  a  livelihood,  and  that 
end  accomplished,  they  are  satisfied  with  their  own  native  life 
with  its  clubs  and  gambling  groups,  its  freedom.  Police  esti- 
mates place  the  number  of  such  alien  citizens  as  from  20,000 
to  30,000  in  this  district. 

A  second  line  of  division  is  that  of  political  thought.  All 
colored  people  are  not  thinking  alike  about  their  problems,  or 
their  future.  Distinct  schools  of  thought  exist,  from  that  of 
the  late  Booker  T.  Washington,  and  his  successor,  Dr.  R.  R. 
Moton,  of  Tuskegee  Institute,  who  believe  in  the  slow  advance- 
ment of  their  race  to  equal  opportunity  through  an  initial  in- 
dustrial training;  to  that  incredible  movement,  or  dream,  rather, 
of  Marcus  Garvey.  This  great  leader,  who  has  gathered  under 


520  ERNESTINE  ROSE 

his  banners  some  4000,000  colored  people  all  over  the  world, 
stands  for  uncompromising  race  integrity,  a  return  to  Africa, 
and  the  establishment  there  of  a  black  racial  and  political  life 
Between  these  two  extremes  is  a  smaller  group  which  believes 
in  equal  opportunity  along  all  lines,  based  on  individual  merit 
The  most  distinguished  exponent  of  this  belief  is  Dr.  W.  E.  B. 
DuBois,  president  of  the  National  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Colored  People,  and  author  of  several  powerful  and 
arresting  books 

Such  is  a  very  sketchy  picture  of  colored  Harlem,  New 
York's  black  city.  In  attempting  to  make  the  library  a  part  of 
this  community,  and  at  the  same  time,  a  means  of  opening  for 
its  people  an  entrance  into  American  life,  the  chief  difficulty 
has  been,  and  will  remain,  I  am  convinced,  not  in  the  alien 
and  conflicting  groups,  but  in  the  barrier  of  a  separate  life 
with  distinct  beliefs  and  aims  which  separates  all  colored  people 
from  all  whites  at  the  present  time.  To  illustrate,  let  me 
quote  from  that  most  illuminating  book,  "The  Autobiography 
of  an  Ex-Colored  Man."  The  author  says: 

"He  (the  negro)  is  forced  to  take  his  outlook  on  all  things 
not  from  the  viewpoint  of  a  citizen,  or  a  man,  nor  even  of  a 
human  being,  but  from  the  viewpoint  of  a  colored  man.  .  .  . 
It  is  this,  too,  which  makes  the  colored  people  of  this  coun- 
try ...  a  mystery  to  the  whites.  It  is  a  difficult  thing  for  a 
white  man  to  learn  what  a  colored  man  really  thinks;  because 
generally,  with  the  latter  an  additional  and  different  light  must 
be  brought  to  bear  on  what  he  thinks.  ...  It  would  be  im- 
possible for  him  to  confess  or  explain  (his  thoughts)  to  one  of 
the  opposite  race.  This  gives  to  every  colored  man,  in  propor- 
tion to  his  intellectuality,  a  sort  of  dual  personality;  there  is 
one  phase  of  him  which  is  disclosed  only  in  the  freemasonry  of 
his  own  race." 

This  is  true  of  all  racial  groups,  and  if  so,  how  much  more 
so  of  the  colored  race,  which  is  separated  from  the  white  by 
the  barrier  of  a  very  recent  servile  condition  and  of  present  so- 
cial ostracism. 

In  view  of  these  difficulties,  it  might  have  been  possible  to 
make  this  branch  of  the  New  York  Public  Library  a  "colored 
library,"  by  having  an  entirely  colored  staff.  It  may  be  pos- 
sible still  to  do  this  as  has  been  done  in  the  case  of  Y.  M.  C.  A. 


SERVING  NEW  YORK'S  BLACK  CITY  521 

and  Y.  W.  C.  A.  If  so,  the  policy  will  tend  to  strengthen  race 
solidarity,  and  an  opportunity  to  lessen  race  prejudice  will  be 
lost.  A  more  democratic  procedure  is  that  of  maintaining  a 
colored  and  white  staff,  working  together  for  the  service  of 
the  community.  So  far,  at  least,  this  has  been  our  policy. 
There  are  three  colored  assistants  on  the  staff,  one  a  college 
and  library  trained  woman,  from  Howard  University,  in  Wash- 
ington. Of  the  other  two,  who  are  high  school  graduates,  one 
was  born  in  the  north,  the  other  has  lived  there  for  some  time, 
and  both  have  had  varying  experience,  as  teachers  and  clerical 
workers.  Need  is  felt  for  the  representation  on  the  staff  in 
the  near  future  of  the  British  West  Indians  and  of  the  Spanish 
negro  group.  The  response  of  the  community  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  colored  assistants  has  been  so  prompt  that  one  cannot 
but  expect  a  similar  although  slower  reaction  from  the  repre- 
sentation of  these  other  groups. 

In  answering  the  inevitable  question  as  to  the  success  of  a 
mixed  staff,  I  can  only  say  that  I  have  never  known  a  group 
of  people  who  worked  together  with  greater  personal  and  pro- 
fessional harmony.  In  any  such  experiment,  of  course,  care 
must  be  employed  in  the  initial  choice  of  persons  without  racial 
prejudices,  so  far  as  this  is  humanly  possible!  Individual  ac- 
quaintance and  mutual  understanding  will  do  the  rest,  as  is 
usually  the  case  in  dealing  with  mass  opinions  or  prejudices. 

One  of  the  services  which  the  colored  assistants  render  the 
library  is  the  knowledge  of  neighborhood  affairs  and  people 
which  they  gain  far  more  quickly  than  the  members  of  the 
alien  race,  even  if  they  entered  the  district  as  strangers  at  the 
same  time.  This  intimacy  has  been  of  great  advantage  in  mak- 
ing the  library  better  known 

Methods  of  library  advertising  are  similar  everywhere,  but 
in  this  district  the  churches  furnish  a  particularly  effective  in- 
troduction. Negroes  are  naturally  religious,  and  the  churches 
of  Harlem  exert  a  tremendous  influence  Moreover,  they  wel- 
come the  librarians  at  their  services,  particularly  at  those  of 
the  Sunday  Schools,  where  facilities  have  been  given  for  speak- 
ing in  the  various  rooms  and  showing  books  to  the  children 
The  children's  librarian  has  found  that  Mrs.  Dana's  beautiful 
"Life  of  Jesus"  is  received  with  great  enthusiasm  by  the  chil- 
dren, who  know  the  stories  by  heart. 


522  ERNESTINE  ROSE 

The  most  effective  way  of  reaching  the  children  has  been 
through  the  schools,  and  in  the  use  of  the  children's  room  by 
classes.  The  children  love  books  spontaneously,  and  their  re- 
sponse is  instant,  though  their  interest  lapses  quickly,  as  we 
found  during  the  Christmas  vacation. 

Visiting  the  homes  is  a  most  effective  means  of  advertising, 
for  the  mothers  are  particularly  interested  in  what  the  library 
is  offering  their  children,  and  such  interest  will  often  prompt  a 
first  visit  on  their  part.  Their  surprise  and  pleasure  at  discov- 
ering books  for  older  people,  too,  are  rather  pathetic.  It  is  to 
be  remembered  that  many  of  these  grown  people,  coming  from 
the  South,  have  never  been  permitted  to  enter  a  public  library 
That  they  are  welcome,  and  that  the  place  is  free,  must  con- 
tinually be  repeated.  I  place  the  moving  picture  houses  on  an 
equality  with  the  churches  as  valuable  advertising  agents.  They 
keep  information  about  the  library  constantly  before  a  public 
which  we  would  find  it  difficult  to  reach  otherwise* 

The  Spanish-speaking  group  we  reach  most  effectively  through 
their  leaders,  and  by  advertising  in  their  papers,  A  small  col- 
lection of  Spanish-American  literature  is  being  made,  and  we 
have  written  to  Cuba  and  the  other  islands,  asking  the  leading 
newspapers  and  magazines  to  place  us  on  their  mailing  lists, 
as  the  Spanish  papers  in  New  York  have  done. 

The  negro  editors  are  among  the  best  friends  of  the  library 
and  it  is  through  them,  the  social  workers,  and  other  promi- 
nent individuals  that  the  library  is  extending  its  influence  slowly 
but  surely  through  the  various  strata  of  negro  life.  That  such 
strata  exist  I  hope  I  have  indicated.  Those  who  wish  to  work 
effectively  among  negroes  must  realize  that  besides  the  groups 
already  mentioned,  there  exists  among  them  a  stable,  very 
real  social  life,  quite  unlike  "culled  sassiety,"  and  as  unknown 
to  most  whites  as  "darkest  Africa"  was  not  long  ago.  The 
library  must  gain  the  interest  and  support  of  this  social  and 
professional,  often  wealthy,  group  before  it  can  hope  to  become 
an  integral  part  of  negro  life. 

These  people  are  among  our  best  readers,  and  the  books 
they  read  are  similar  to  those  of  any  cosmopolitan  reading  pub- 
lic. They  are  eagerly  interested  and  curious  about  what  the 
great  world  is  doing,  and  keep  closely  in  touch  with  it.  As  for 
the  reading  habits  of  the  negro  group  at  large,  poetry  and 


SERVING  NEW  YORK'S  BLACK  CITY  523 

music  are  immensely  popular,  but  so  also  are  philosophy,  psy- 
chology and  the  speculative  sciences. 

If  there  is  one  quality  which  is  universally  characteristic 
of  the  negro  in  reading,  as  in  all  else,  it  is  his  love  of  the 
beautiful,  as  he  conceives  it.  Rudimentary  as  it  often  is,  it  fur- 
nishes the  very  best  basis  for  the  teaching  of  good  reading, 
and,  I  may  add,  of  ethics  and  good  conduct.  The  children, 
and  adults  too,  respond  to  good  manners  because  they  are  beau- 
tiful. I  have  stood  on  our  stairway  and  said  gently  to  a 
tumultuous  group  of  children  pelting  up  towards  me,  "Good 
afternoon,"  and  have  seen  them  quiet  instantly,  smile  a  happy 
response,  and  walk  sedately  on  A  frown  and  harsh  words 
would  have  caused  whoops  of  derision.  By  the  same  token, 
negroes  want  what  is  "best,"  in  literature,  even  if  they  do  not 
always  understand  it.  In  this  sense  they  are  ambitious,  rather 
than  in  the  intellectual  or  material  way,  of  the  Jews. 

Among  the  children  poetry  and  fairy  tales  are  as  popular 
as  elsewhere,  and  American  history  has  a  fresh  and  present 
appeal  The  most  delightful  thing  about  it  all  is  the  spontaneous 
enjoyment  of  the  children.  They  do  not  look  at  books  because 
they  must,  but  because  they  want  to'  Quite  the  most  delight- 
ful thing  in  the  world,  I  am  sure,  is  a  story-hour  group  of 
these  colored  children,  not  silent  and  absorbed  as  a  Jewish 
group  would  be,  but  eagerly  responsive,  on  tip-toe  with  ex- 
pectation. 

An  index  to  the  constantly  increasing  race  consciousness 
among  negroes  is  their  intense  interest  in  books  by  members 
of  their  own  race,  and  in  works  on  the  negro,  his  history,  race 
achievements,  and  present  problems.  Dr.  DuBois'  "Dark 
Water,"  and  Lothrop  Stoddard's  "Rising  Tide  of  Color,"  are 
almost  equally  popular.  Books  exploiting  the  old-time  "darky," 
with  his  dialect  and  his  antics,  as  for  instance,  E.  K.  Means, 
will  be  read,  but  they  are  resented  by  the  thinking,  self-con- 
scious group.  On  the  other  hand,  the  "Uncle  Remus"  stories, 
and  Dunbar's  poems,  are  widely  read  and  very  popular.  They 
represent  the  plantation  negro  and  his  life  with  sincerity  and 
loving  faithfulness. 

No  doubt,  there  are  in  Harlem  members  of  this  receding 
class,  but  the  library  has  come  very  little  into  contact  with 
them.  Southern  dialect  is  rarely  heard,  whereas  the  soft,  per- 


524  ERNESTINE  ROSE 

feet  English  of  the  West  Indies  is  a  revelation  to  most  Ameri- 
cans. 

A  recent  development  in  the  thinking  of  negroes  is  evi- 
denced by  their  interest  in  economic  and  social  literature.  The 
economic  unrest  is  seeping  in  among  our  colored  people,  and 
some  of  the  most  intelligent  questions  I  have  ever  heard  have 
been  asked  after  the  lectures  at  our  Thursday  night  forum, 
devoted  to  social  and  racial  problems.  So  much  for  Mr.  Madi- 
son Grant's  assertion,  "Negroes  never  become  socialists." 

I  trust  that  what  I  have  said  indicates  that  in  working  among 
negroes,  as  in  all  other  racial  groups,  one's  preconceived  opin- 
ions die  of  malnutrition!  One  is  naturally  slow  to  form  new 
ones,  but  gradually  I  am  forming  several  conclusions  about 
the  negro.  Most  deeply  I  am  impressed  with  his  tremendous 
reserve  power,  which,  when  fully  called  forth,  will  lead  to 
ends  we  cannot  now  conceive  This  is  shown  in  his  wonderful 
patience,  in  his  persistent  grip  on  what  is  fine  and  beautiful, 
and  in  his  deep  sense  of  humor,  which  breeds  a  curious  sort  of 
broad-mindedness.  I  listened  with  wonder  to  James  Weldon 
Johnson's  account  of  the  Haitian  outrages,  and  to  the  questions 
which  followed,  pertinent,  detached,  many  satirical,  but  none 
hot  or  bitter.  The  impulsiveness,  high  spirits,  and  "tomfoolery," 
so  often  evident  are  merely  effervescence  on  the  surface  of  a 
deep,  slowly  moving  stream,  surely  gathering  in  volume.  Such 
is  my  conviction.  Another  is  that  the  race,  in  its  developing 
self-consciousness,  is  becoming  increasingly  sure  of  the  neces- 
sity before  it  of  working  out  its  own  destiny,  of  settling  its 
own  problems.  The  majority  of  colored  people  do  not,  I  be- 
lieve, hate  the  whites,  but  they  are  expecting  less  and  less 
from  them.  And  irrespective  of  divisions,  of  conflicting  beliefs 
and  plans  for  development  here  in  America,  or  race  integrity 
in  Africa,  the  negroes  are  standing  together  in  a  steadfast  be- 
lief in  their  own  destiny  to  be  worked  out  within  and  by  them- 
selves. 

In  this  awakening  of  a  great  people  the  library  may  bear 
no  small  share,  if  it  can  introduce  them  to  America,  and 
America  to  them.  Serving  as  a  bridge,  here  as  always,  between 
races,  it  may  lead  to  a  common  ground  and  a  basis  for  mutual 
understanding. 


FINES,  DELINQUENTS  AND  LOSSES 

Library  fines  may  be  considered  in  at  least  two  re- 
lations ;  in  relation  to  the  library  and  in  regard  to  those 
who  make  use  of  it.  The  object  may  be  either  to  in- 
crease revenue,  to  afford  a  gentle  reminder  and  correc- 
tive, or  to  serve  as  exemplary  punishment  for  keeping 
books  too  long.  The  proper  object  is  perhaps  a  com- 
bination of  the  former  two — a  gentle  corrective  and  a 
means  of  revenue  needed  to  save  the  library  from  incur- 
ring expense  in  recovering  possession  of  its  books, 

The  one  outstanding  factor  in  the  question  of  book 
losses  from  libraries  due  to  larceny,  is  the  scant  atten- 
tion that  has  been  given  either  to  the  fact  itself  or  to  the 
problems  which  constant  and  repeated  book  thefts  have 
created.  Very  little  has  been  written  on  this  subject 


DELINQUENT  BORROWERS 

A  limited  investigation  among  librarians  in  Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode  Island,  Connecticut  and  New  York  re- 
sulted in  the  collection  of  a  few  facts  of  somewhat  gen- 
eral interest.  The  following  paper  by  Willis  K.  Stetson 
of  the  New  Haven,  Connecticut  Public  Library  appeared 
in  The  Library  Journal  of  1889.  It  is  a  resume  of  mu- 
nicipal ordinances  constituting  legal  authority  under 
which  libraries  in  different  cities  impose  fines  and  collect 
overdue  books. 

Willis  Kimball  Stetson  was  born  in  Natick,  Massa- 
chusetts, May  8,  1858.  He  took  his  A.B.  degree  at  Wes- 
leyan  University,  Connecticut,  in  1881— his  M.A.  in  1884. 
From  1881-1887  he  was  the  librarian  of  the  Wesleyan 
University  and  Russell  Library,  Middleton,  Connecticut 
Since  1887  he  has  been  librarian  of  the  New  Haven, 
Connecticut  Free  Public  Library. 

A  limited  investigation  among  libraries  in  the  four  States, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  and  New  York,  re- 
sulted in  the  collection  of  a  few  facts  of  somewhat  general 
interest. 

Bridgeport,  Conn.,  has  a  municipal  ordinance,  imposing  a 
fine  of  $10  for  failure  to  return  books  according  to  the  regu- 
lations of  the  library,  the  fine  to  be  for  the  use  of  the  library. 
Mrs.  Hills  writes:  "This  ordinance  has  worked  admirably. 
Its  value  to  us,  as  a  bit  of  reserved  power,  is  simply  ines- 
timable; but  in  actual  practice  we  very  rarely  call  in  the  aid 
of  the  police.  So  thoroughly  are  the  powers  the  ordinance 
confers  upon  us  known  in  this  city,  so  thoroughly  are  we  known 
to  use  them  at  need,  without  respect  to  persons,  that  a  slip, 
containing  a  copy  of  the  ordinance,  usually  brings  in  the  book 
without  the  help  of  an  officer.  Altogether,  our  cases  of  police 
aid,  since  the  opening  of  the  library,  have  only  averaged  two  per 


528  WILLIS  KIMBALL  STETSON 

annum  They  were  most  frequent  in  the  beginning,  and  are 
continually  growing  fewer.  Our  last  use  of  the  police  was  in 
August,  1887" 

In  Waterbury  there  is  no  such  ordinance.  Mr.  Bassett 
writes:  "Our  policemen  are  so  accommodating  that  they  have 
kindly  appeared  at  the  residences  of  the  very  few  persons  who 
have  failed,  either  as  principal  or  surety,  to  return  our  books 

"We  follow  up  delinquents  regularly  on  the  first  of  the 
month — first  with  the  card-holder,  and  the  next  month  with 
the  guarantor,  and  our  list  of  such  is  every  year  growing 
smaller. 

"Our  loss  is  not  very  serious  at  present.  I  do  not  expect 
to  see  any  scheme  that  will  secure  a  return  of  all  the  books 
that  are  loaned." 

There  is  no  State  statute  on  the  matter  of  return  of  books 
in  Connecticut 

Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  have  special  statutes.  The 
Massachusetts  law  imposes  a  fine  of  $i  to  $25,  or  imprisonment 
in  jail,  not  exceeding  six  months. 

The  Rhode  Island  law  considers  the  person  guilty  of  neglect 
to  return  a  book  two  weeks  after  date  of  notice  that  a  book 
is  overdue,  to  have  unlawfully  "converted  the  property  to  his 
own  use." 

In  Worcester  they  have  a  little  difficulty  sometimes,  and 
likewise  in  Providence.  In  another  city  in  Massachusetts,  the 
librarian  was  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  the  State  law,  and 
has  been  sending  a  messenger,  but  had  a  good  deal  of  trouble 
on  account  of  the  "inefficiency  of  the  present  messenger."  The 
librarian  writes  that  he  is  glad  to  know  of  the  law,  and  will 
employ  it  at  once. 

The  N.  Y.  Free  Circulating  Library  does  not  employ  the 
police,  and  sends  a  messenger.  Only  one  book  was  not  secured, 
either  from  borrower  or  guarantor,  out  of  99,016  issued. 
'Without  calling  on  the  police,  with  no  ordinance  on  the  sub- 
ject, we  have  failed  in  about  15  instances  to  secure  the  return 
of  books;  circulation  200,000." 

I  think  that  with  the  right  person  to  look  after  delinquent 
borrowers,  few  will  fail,  ultimately,  to  return  books.  But  such 
ordinances  and  laws  as  above  mentioned  seem  to  have  a  marked 
effect  in  saving  trouble  on  the  part  of  the  library. 


LIBRARY    FINES 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Library  Club  in 
September,  1897,  one  session  was  devoted  to  this  sub- 
ject The  discussion  revealed  such  a  variety  of  usage 
that  it  seemed  worthwhile  to  make  further  investigation, 
and  the  following  paper  is  the  result  of  a  questionnaire 
sent  to  eighty-five  representative  libraries.  The  paper, 
by  Nina  Elizabeth  Browne,  was  published  in  The  Li- 
brary Journal  of  1898. 

Nina  Elizabeth  Browne  was  graduated  from  Smith 
College  in  1882.  She  attended  the  Columbia  Library 
School  in  1889,  and  in  1888-1889  was  an  assistant  in  the 
New  York  State  Library.  From  1893-1896  she  was 
librarian  for  the  Library  Bureau.  From  1911-1916  she 
was  connected  with  the  Harvard  College  Library  and 
from  1916-1917  with  the  Smith  College  Library.  From 
1901-1909  she  was  secretary  of  the  A.L.A.  Publishing 
Board.  Since  1917  she  has  been  engaged  in  editorial 
work.  She  is  perhaps  most  widely  known  as  the  inventor 
of  the  Browne  charging  system. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Library  Club,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1897,  the  subject  of  the  morning  session  was  "Library  fines." 
The  discussion  revealed  such  a  variety  of  usage  that  it  seemed 
worth  while  to  make  further  investigation,  and  the  following 
series  of  34  questions  were  sent  out  to  85  representative  libraries. 
Answers  were  received  from  81,  and  have  been  tabulated  as  far 
as  possible. 

I.       What  number  of  books  do  you  issue  to  any  one  borrower 
upon  an  ordinary  card? 

49  libraries  issued  one  book;  29  issued  two  books;  three  is- 
sued a  varying  number  with  no  limit 

The  probability  is  that  the  number  of  libraries  allowing  more 


530  NINA  ELIZABETH  BROWNE 

than  one  book  on  an  ordinary  card  is  increasing,  though  that 
was  not  shown  from  the  answers  received. 

2.  After  what  length  of  time  does  a  fine  for  over-detention 
begin? 

A  large  majority  answered  14  days.  15  libraries  had  a  seven- 
day  limit  on  fiction,  two  imposed  a  fine  "at  once,"  and  three  on 
the  "day  following."  One  library  had  a  three  weeks'  limit,  and 
one  a  four  weeks'  limit. 

3.  What  is  the  rate  of  fine  per  day? 

Two  cents  seems  to  be  the  customary  amount  Five  libraries 
impose  one  cent;  four,  three  cents;  one,  four  cents  on  seven- 
day  books.  One  library  charges  six  cents  a  week;  two  charged 
five  cents  a  day,  and  several  had  a  five  cent  fine  on  periodicals 
and  specially  loaned  books.  One  library  charged  five  cents  be- 
cause that  was  the  smallest  coin  in  circulation. 

In  several  cases  the  fine  was  reported  as  having  been  de- 
creased with  good  results  to  the  library,  and  without  a  demoral- 
izing effect  on  the  readers. 

4.  Does  the  rate  of  fiction  differ  from  the  rate  for  other 
books? 

No,  was  the  general  answer.  One  library  has  a  charge  of 
two  cents  for  new  fiction  until  it  has  been  in  the  library  three 
months,  when  the  fine  is  the  regular  three  cents 

5.  If  a  book  due  on  Saturday  is  returned  on  the  Monday  fol- 
lowing (the  library  being  closed  on  Sunday),  do  you  fine 
for  one  day  over-detained,  or  two? 

6.  If  such  a  book,  due  on  Saturday,  is  returned  on  the  Tues- 
day following,  do  you  fine  for  TWO  days  over-detained, 
or  three? 

Note. — If  your  circulating  department  is  open  on  Sundays, 
please  substitute  for  Sunday,  in  the  above  questions,  any  holi- 
day upon  which  the  library  is  closed. 

Three-fourths  of  the  libraries  responding  charge  for  two 
days,  the  other  fourth  charge  for  one  day.  But  three  libraries 
which  charge  for  one  day,  if  the  book  is  returned  on  Monday, 
charge  for  three  days  if  not  returned  till  Tuesday.  The  one 
library  noted  under  question  3  as  charging  six  cents  a  week, 
charges  six  cents  no  matter  what  day  the  book  is  returned  within 
the  week. 

7.       Where  two  or  more  volumes  of  one  work  are  issued  as 


LIBRARY  FINES  53' 

one  "book,"  do  you  charge  fine  at  the  above  rate  on  each 
volume9 

23  libraries  answer  yes;  46  answer  no. 
8        After  what  interval  do  you  send: 

I         Notice  by  mail  of  over-detention? 
2.       Messenger  notice? 

The  answers  to  the  first  question  varied  greatly,  the  time 
ranging  from  one  day  to  one  month.  In  some  libraries  there 
seemed  to  be  no  rule  but  the  fancy  of  the  librarian.  One  week 
seemed  the  more  common  time  interval.  Three  days  is  perhaps 
the  next  most  used  interval  Judging  by  the  answers  to  the 
second  question,  the  term  "messenger  notice"  is  not  understood 
by  all  alike  Some  understood  it  to  mean  a  notice  sent  by  mail 
stating  that  if  the  book  were  not  returned,  a  messenger  would 
be  sent;  others,  to  mean  a  notice  given  by  a  messenger  in  per- 
son. 

Owing  to  the  two  interpretations  of  the  question,  it  is  im- 
possible to  tabulate  the  result. 

It  -would  seem  desirable  to  have  a  definite  and  consistent 
meaning  for  the  term  "messenger  notice."  Will  each  librarian 
who  reads  this  report  send  to  Miss  Nina  E.  Browne,  Boston 
Athenaeum,  Boston,  Mass.,  what  he  understands  by  that  term 
"messenger  notice ?"  Later  the  results  can  be  stated  in  the 
LIBRARY  JOURNAL  and  some  common  understanding  may  be  at- 
tained 

9.  Do  you  use  postal  cards  for  mail  notices? 
With  seven  exceptions,  the  answer  was  yes. 

Two  libraries  used  the  post  card  for  a  first  notice. 

At  the  club  meeting  discussion  this  usage  was  criticised.  One 
or  two  libraries  who  use  the  card  did  not  approve  of  it. 

The  wording  of  the  notice  was  also  discussed.  The  general 
opinion  was  that  someone  would  feel  offended  no  matter  what 
the  wording  might  be.  If  librarians  will  send  to  me  a  copy  of 
their  fine  notices,  a  supplementary  report  on  forms  can  be  made 
later. 

10.  Do  you  add  to  the  amount  of  fine  a  charge  for: 

1.  Mail  notice? 

2.  Messenger  notice?      If  so,  how  much? 

Most  of  the  libraries  do  not  add  to  the  fine  a  charge  for 
mail  notices.  Some  eight  or  ten  add  two  cents,  one  cent,  and 
three  cents. 


532  NINA  ELIZABETH  BROWNE 

The  misunderstanding  of  the  term  "messenger  notice"  has 
caused  confusion,  as  in  question  8.    When  a  charge  was  made, 
it  was  generally  20  or  25  cents.    Some  libraries  using  the  janitor 
as  a  messenger  did  not  consider  it  necessary  to  charge  for  his 
services.    Some  charged  according  to  the  distance,  etc. 
n.       Does  this  amount  represent  the  mere  disbursement,  or 
does  it  include,  also,  in  the  case  of  a  messenger  notice,  an 
additional  penalty  for  obstinacy  of  the  borrower,  after  re- 
ceipt of  a  mail  notice? 

Seven  libraries  considered  it  a  penalty;  30,  a  disbursement; 
and  two  considered  it  as  both.  Three  answered  the  alternative 
question  with  "yes/' 

12.  Where  the  notice  includes  two  or  more  books,  is  the  ad- 
ditional penalty  charged  on  each  book? 

32  libraries  did  not  charge  the  additional  penalty  and  19  did 
If  two  volumes  of  a  set  are  issued  as  one  book,  there  seems  to 
be  no  reason  why  the  penalty  should  be  charged  on  both. 

13.  If  a  messenger  notice  be  disregarded,  what,  if  any,  agency 
do  you  employ  for  the  recovery  of  the  book? 

In  four  libraries  the  librarian  or  assistant  goes;  two  send 
the  janitor;  four  send  a  personal  note  from  the  librarian;  and 
in  one  library,  if  the  librarian's  note  does  not  avail,  the  trustees 
send  a  letter*  In  13  libraries  application  is  made  to  the  endorser ; 
14  send  the  police  and  seven  send  the  city  attorney;  four  send 
a  legal  notice  with  copy  of  the  statutes,  while  one  refuses  fur- 
ther use  of  the  library. 

14.  (Assuming  the  book  not  returned)  Does  the  fine 

1.  Run  indefinitely  until  the  book  is  (a)  returned,  or  (if 
lost)   (&)  paid  for,  or  (c)  until  notice  of  loss  of  book  is  given 
and  fine  paid;  or, 

2.  Does  it  cease  to  accumulate  (a)  at  the  end  of  a  given 
period  (if  so,  what  period),  or  (5)  when  it  has  reached  a  cer- 
tain amount  (if  so,  what  amount,  e.g.,  the  cost  of  the  book)? 

On  general  principles  a  penalty  should  not  be  so  large  an 
amount  as  to  render  payment  against  the  interest  of  the  bor- 
rower. At  one  library,  for  instance,  where  the  "fine  period' 
was  three  months,  and  the  fine  with  "messenger  notice"  might 
reach  $3  33,  this  amount  would  be  to  many  borrowers  prohibitory. 

The  practice  in  some  libraries  that  the  penalty  for  over- 
detention  should  cease  when  it  reached  the  value  of  the  book 
does  not  appear  to  rest  on  any  logical  principle.  On  the  other 


LIBRARY  FINES  533 

hand,  excessive  fines  may  defeat  their  own  object;  they  may 
prevent  the  return  of  the  book  and  discourage  payment. 

A  mean  must  be  sought,  and  it  was  hoped  that  the  answers 
to  this  question  taken  in  connection  with  the  statistics  of  fines 
collected  and  uncollected  would  show  what  would  serve  as  an 
efficient  mean.  But  the  answers  were  so  meagre  that  they  cannot 
even  be  tabulated. 

15.  In  case  the  fine  has  reached  the  maximum  under  your 
rules,  and  the  book  continues  still  to  be  withheld,  do  you 
impose  any  further  penalty? 

20  libraries  impose  no  penalty  13  loan  no  more  books  to  the 
offending  person. 

16  Do  you  exempt  from  fines  teachers  or  other  persons 
holding  special  privilege  cards,  even  though  a  limit  of 
time  has  been  set  for  the  retention  of  the  book  and  ex- 
ceeded? 

53  do  not  exempt  teachers  from  fines  and  n  do.  Four  say 
"not  often."  Teachers  belong  to  the  class  of  readers  most  privi- 
leged in  the  number  of  books  allowed,  and  are  the  very  ones  who 
should  most  appreciate  the  attitude  of  the  library  in  regard  lo 
fines.  If  they  do  not,  they  certainly  need  the  moral  stimulant 
of  feeling  the  penalty  other  people  have  to  undergo 

17.  If  fines  have  become  due  under  the  rules,  do  you  exact 
them  rigidly  without  discriminating  as  to  person,  or  class 
of  readers,  or  acceptance  of  excuse? 

48  librarians  answer  "yes";  10  answer  "no";  17  answer  "gen- 
erally"; one  answers  "sometimes."  One  library  allowed  the 
fine  to  be  paid  on  the  instalment  plan. 

18.  Do  you  accept  as  excuse  for  over-detention   (a)  the  ill- 
ness of  the  borrower,  or  (fc)  his  inability  to  find  the  book, 
or  other  such  allegation? 

43  librarians  accept  no  excuse,  yet  two  of  these  do  accept 
illness  as  an  excuse  Six  librarians  frankly  say  that  they  do 
accept  excuses.  15  accept  illness,  four  answer  "not  as  a  rule," 
and  six  answer  "sometimes." 

19.  Do  you  remit  a  fine  on  the  ground  of  the  poverty  of  the 
borrower? 

38  libraries  do  not  remit  because  o£  poverty,  and  13  do  so 
remit.  13  answer  "sometimes"  and  six  answer  "seldom." 

One  librarian  has  found  it  effective  to  pay  the  fine  herself 
and  tell  the  borrower  that  she  had  paid  it. 

20.  Do  you  abate  it  in  amount  on  such  ground? 


534  NINA  ELIZABETH  BROWNE 

26  libraries  answer  "no" ;  n  answer  "yes" ;  19  answer  "some- 
times'*  ;  8  answer  "rarely" ;  3  answer  "frequently." 

It  is  the  testimony  of  many  librarians  that  this  plea  is  sel- 
dom entered,  and  that  the  well-to-do  people  are  the  most  un- 
willing to  pay  fines. 

As  the  libraries  and  schools  are  working  so  much  together 
in  many  places,  it  seems  as  though  through  the  teachers  the  li- 
brarians might  teach  the  children  the  moral  necessity  of  paying 
any  fines  that  they  have  incurred,  and  that  they  should  take 
every  precaution  not  to  incur  a  fine,  especially  if  unable  to  pay  it, 
21  Do  you  give  to  the  borrower  the  alternative  penalty  of  a 
temporary  deprivation  of  the  use  of  his  card  or  other  li- 
brary privilege? 

ii  libraries  allow  an  alternative  penalty;  the  rest  do  not. 

22.  Does  the  authority  to  waive  or  compromise  a  fine  rest 
with  you  as  librarian,  or  with  your  board  of  trustees? 

In  22  libraries  the  authority  rests  with  the  trustees,  in  54  with 
the  librarian.  One  library  has  no  rule,  and  one  has  the  authority 
vested  in  either  the  librarian  or  trustees.  One  librarian  reports 
that  many  people  who  are  unwilling  to  pay  the  fine  do  so  when 
told  that  the  trustees  alone  have  the  power  to  remit  or  abate 
fines  incurred. 

23.  When  a  finable  book  is  returned,  and  the  fine  not  paid, 
do  you  issue  further  books  upon  the  card  pending  such 
payment? 

13  libraries  do  continue  to  issue  books  and  41  do  not;  20 
libraries  issue  once;  two  libraries  issue  further  books  if 
the  fine  is  less  than  nine  or  ten  cents.  One  library  issues  "to 
some,"  and  from  this  we  infer  that  books  are  not  issued  to 
others. 

24.  Is  a  book  destroyed  on  account  of  contagious  disease  re- 
placed at  the  cost  of  the  borrower  or  at  the  cost  o£  the  li- 
brary? 

58  libraries  replace  at  the  cost  of  the  library  and  nine  at  the 
cost  of  the  borrower;  two  "according  to  circumstances,"  and 
one  "at  discretion." 

This  is  a  case  where  usage  seems  to  be  clearly  in  the  wrong. 
Why  should  the  library  pay  for  the  book  because  the  borrower 
is  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  a  contagious  disease?  The  illness 
may  not  be  his  fault,  but  as  a  misfortune  ought  he  to  compel  the 
city  to  share  the  expense  of  it? 


LIBRARY  FINES  535 

25.       Where  a  book  is  lost  by  the  borrower,  do  you  charge  him 

for  its  replacement  (a)  the  retail  price,  or  (&)   the  net 

cost  to  the  library  for  a  new  copy? 

14  libraries  charge  the  retail  price,  and  59  the  net  cost  to  the 
library.  Four  libraries  charge  an  extra  amount  over  the  net 
cost  for  the  trouble  and  labor  of  entering  a  new  copy.  One  li- 
brary reported  that  formerly  the  net  cost  to  the  library  was 
charged,  but  there  were  so  many  cases  of  loss  that  now  the  re- 
tail price  is  charged  to  make  losing  a  book  as  costly  as  possible. 
It  seems  only  fair  that  a  fixed  sum  should  be  charged  for  the 
cost  of  putting  a  new  copy  through  all  the  processes  of  ac- 
cessioning, stamping,  labelling,  shelf -listing,  etc.,  in  addition  to 
the  cost  of  the  book. 
26  Do  you  regard  a  fine  for  over-detention  as  a  penalty 

upon  the  negligence  of  the  borrower,  or  as  an  endeavor 

to  secure  the  prompt  return  of  the  book  in  the  interests 

of  other  borrowers? 

44  consider  the  fine  as  a  means  of  securing  the  prompt  re- 
turn, while  four  regard  it  a  penalty.  29  consider  the  fine  as  both. 
The  written  replies  indicate  that  the  prompt  return  was  the  main 
object,  but  at  the  club  discussion  this  consideration  was  em- 
phasized by  a  non-librarian 
27.  Do  you  consider  that  a  borrower  is  at  liberty  to  retain 

his  book  for  the  entire  fine  period  provided  he  is  willing 

to  pay  the  fine? 

42  libraries  answered  yes,  but  four  made  the  yes  rest  on  the 
condition  that  no  one  else  wanted  the  book.  30  libraries  an- 
swered no.  Four  took  the  ground  that  it  couldn't  be  prevented 
28  After  what  period  of  over-detention  do  you  regard  a 

book  as  lost  and  charge  it  to  the  borrower? 
The  answers  varied  from  one  month  to  one  year,  but  the 
majority  of  the  libraries  answering  had  no  rule. 
29.       After  what  period  do  you  regard  a  charge  for  fine  of 

lost  book  as  uncollectible  and  cancel  it  from  your  records  ? 
26  libraries  never  cancel  the  fine;  10  have  no  rule.  Of  the 
others,  the  time  varied  from  one  month  to  one  year.  Only  one 
answered  "at  new  registration."  Another  library  cancels  the 
fine  from  its  records  after  six  weeks,  but  so  far  as  the  reader 
is  concerned  it  is  never  cancelled.  Of  those  which  have  a  defi- 
nite time,  one  year  is  the  more  common.  Four  cancel  after  the 
person  has  moved  from  the  town. 


536  NINA  ELIZABETH  BROWNE 

30        What  disposition  do  you  make  of  moneys  collected  from 

fines? 

In  most  cases  the  money  was  turned  over  to  the  city  treasurer 
to  be  used  for  various  library  purposes.  20  libraries  used  the 
fine  money  for  postage  and  petty  desk  expenses.  Five  turned 
the  money  in  to  the  book  fund,  and  one  to  a  building  fund.  One 
used  it  for  rebmding  old  books  and  one  for  a  cataloger. 

STATISTICS. 

The  circular  concluded  with  a  request  for  the  following  sta- 
tistics : 

1.  Number  of  volumes  circulated  for  home  use  last  fiscal 
year. 

2.  Number  of  fine  notices  sent  last  fiscal  year. 

3.  Amount  of  fines  collected  last  fiscal  year. 

4.  Amount  of  fines  charged  but  uncollected  last  fiscal  year. 

Question  i  was  asked  only  for  convenient  reference  in  con- 
nection with  2,  3,  and  4.  It  was  answered  by  the  libraries  gen- 
erally, but  2,  3,  and  4  by  almost  none  at  all  In  most  cases  the 
response  was  that  the  statistics  are  not  kept;  in  some  it  was 
that  they  are  futile. 

In  an  ordinary  business  a  test  of  successful  methods  of 
charge  and  collection  is  the  proportion  which  the  "bad  debts" — 
the  claims  uncollectible  and  uncollected— bear  to  the  entire  vol- 
ume of  business  and  to  the  claims  collected.  In  a  circulating 
library  the  test  of  a  "fine"  system  might  well  be  the  proportion 
of  penalties  that  have  to  be  imposed  to  the  total  number  of  vol- 
umes circulated,  and  the  proportion  of  penalties  collected  to 
those  imposed. 

It  is  this  consideration  which  makes  such  statistics  of  value 
in  estimating  the  expediency  of  the  amount  of  the  penalty  im- 
posed, the  proper  length  of  the  period  of  forbearance,  the  effec- 
tiveness of  the  methods  of  collection.  Without  them  the  answers 
to  such  a  question  as  no.  14  do  no  more  than  exhibit  a  particu- 
lar practice;  they  are  of  small  value  in  determining  a  proper 
system. 

These  considerations  seem  to  have  been  overlooked  by  the 
several  librarians  who  regarded  the  statistics  as  "trivial  and  use- 
less" 


COLLECTION  AND  REGISTRATION  OF  FINES 

It  sometimes  happens  that  when  borrowers  return 
overdue  books,  they  are,  for  one  reason  or  another,  not 
prepared  to  pay  their  fines.  The  symposium  which  fol- 
lows is  made  up  of  reports  from  librarians  of  several 
large  libraries  concerning  the  collection  of  fines.  The 
contributors  are  the  public  libraries  of  Cleveland,  De- 
troit, St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  the  Newark  Free  Library, 
the  Boston  Athenaeum,  the  Brooklyn  Library,  and  the 
New  York  Apprentices'  and  Windsor,  Vermont,  libra- 
ries. This  report  was  published  in  The  Library  Journal 
of  1891. 

DETROIT  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

By  the  charging  system  in  use  in  this  library  the  applicant 
for  a  book  makes  his  application  upon  a  slip  provided  for  the 
purpose.  These  slips,  in  the  handwriting  of  the  book  applicant, 
are  filed  in  chronological  and  in  alphabetical  order  at  the  re- 
turn desk.  When  a  book  is  returned  against  which  a  fine  is 
chargeable  a  memorandum  of  the  amount  of  the  fine  is  made 
on  the  upper  left-hand  corner  of  the  face  of  the  slip.  If  the 
fine  is  paid  the  slip  is  deposited  in  the  cash  drawer  with  the 
money.  The  slip  having  the  date  upon  which  the  book  was  orig- 
inally drawn  stamped  thereon  shows  for  itself  whether  the 
proper  amount  of  fine  has  been  collected.  These  slips  are  counted, 
together  with  the  cash,  after  the  library  closes  at  night,  and 
of  course  the  two  should  agree,  The  aggregate  amount  of  the 
fines  of  the  day  is  entered  upon  a  bank-book  and  the  slips  show- 
ing the  details  of  the  fines  are  fastened  together  with  Novelty 
binding  staple  in  such  manner  that  they  can  be  examined.  The 
package  is  stamped  with  its  proper  date;  those  of  the  month 
are  tied  together  and  filed  away  for  reference.  The  fines  ire 
turned  over  to  the  Treasurer  at  the  close  of  each  month,  and 
his  receipt  is  taken  on  the  bank-book 


538  NEWARK  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

It  sometimes  happens  that  persons  return  books  overdue, 
and  for  one  cause  or  another  are  not  prepared  to  pay  the  fine 
The  rules  of  the  library  allow  credit  for  not  more  than  two 
weeks  on  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  fine  If  the  cardholder 
does  not  wish  to  draw  another  book  the  card  is  retained  at  the 
library,  and  with  the  fine-slip  attached  to  it  is  filed  away  in  the 
fine-drawer,  to  await  redemption.  If  the  card-holder  wishes  to 
draw  another  book  the  card  is  punched  under  that  date  to  warn 
the  attendant  when  the  book  is  returned  that  a  fine  is  standing 
against  it  and  the  slip  on  which  the  fine  is  charged  is  attached 
to  the  slip  on  which  the  book  is  drawn  and  turns  up  when  that 
book  is  returned. 

No  further  credit  is  allowed,  and  if  the  fine  is  not  paid,  then 
the  card  is  taken  up,  the  fine-slip  is  attached  to  it,  and  the  whole 
is  filed  away  for  redemption. 

If  a  portion  of  the  fine  is  paid  a  memorandum  showing  the 
amount  paid  is  deposited  with  the  cash,  and  the  original  slip 
showing  the  credit  and  balance  due  is  treated  as  before  de- 
scribed. ' 

No  book  entries  are  made  other  than  the  entry  of  the  total 
icceipts  of  each  day  in  the  bank-book,  as  before  stated.  The 
slips  upon  which  fines  are  paid  from  day  to  day  are  accessible 
whenever  wanted.  The  amount  of  fines  collected  during  the 
last  year  averaged  about  $246  for  each  working  day,  paid  by 
47  different  persons,  or  about  $%  cents  for  each  person.  The 
collection  of  such  a  trifling  sum  from  so  many  different  per- 
sons does  not  justify  any  elaborate  system  of  individual  accounts 
or  double-entry  bookkeeping.  The  main  thing  is  to  see  to  it  that 
the  fines  are  impartially  collected  and  faithfully  reported  To 
this  end  the  matter  is,  as  far  as  practicable,  placed  in  the  hands 
of  one  assistant,  who  turns  over  cash-box  and  slips  every  morn- 
ing to  the  librarian  for  verification.  No  system  can  be  devised 
which  will  not,  in  the  last  analysis,  depend  on  the  honesty  of 
of  individual  charged  with  its  enforcement. 

The  system  above  described  appears  to  me  to  answer  every 
purpose  of  simplicity  and  efficiency,  and  in  the  many  years  of 
its  use  I  believe  the  library  has  not  been  cheated  out  of  a  penny. 

H.  M.  UTLEY. 

NEWARK  (#./.)  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

"WHY,  I  thought  this  was  a  free  library!  I  didn't  know  I 
would  have  to  pay  for  my  book,"  was  the  remark  overheard 


COLLECTION  AND  REGISTRATION  OF  FINES  539 

one  day  at  a  busy  loan-desk.  Nevertheless,  fines  are  as  neces- 
sary to  bring  some  of  the  books  back  again  as  the  fact  that  they 
are  free  is  necessary  to  send  them  out. 

The  following  Article,  from  the  Regulations  of  the  Free  Pub- 
lic Library  of  Newark,  NJ ,  explains  our  rules  in  regard  to  fines  • 

A  fine  of  two  (2)  cents  a  day  shall  be  imposed  if  a  book  is 
kept  overtime,  and  at  the  expiration  of  three  weeks  (if  the  book 
is  not  returned)  a  messenger  will  be  sent  for  the  book,  and 
shall  have  authority  to  collect  the  fine  incurred,  and  an  addi- 
tional fee  of  twenty  (20)  cents  for  such  messenger  service.  No 
book  will  be  delivered  to  the  person  incurring  the  fine  until 
it  is  paid. 

NOTE — The  day  on  which  a  book  is  taken  out  is  not  counted 
in  computing  the  time  under  the  rules,  during  which  a  book 
may  be  detained;  but  Sundays,  holidays,  and  other  days  on 
which  the  library  may  be  closed,  are  always  counted,  except 
when  such  day  happens  to  be  the  one  on  which  the  count  ends, 
and  then  the  count  shall  end  at  the  close  of  the  first  day  there- 
after on  which  the  library  may  be  open.  If  the  library  should  be 
closed  after  a  book  becomes  overdue,  all  the  days  during  which 
the  library  remains  closed  will  be  counted  in  computing  the 
fine.  Delinquents  will  be  notified  by  postal-card  on  the  first 
day  after  their  delinquency  has  occurred,  but  the  library  is  not 
responsible  for  failure  of  notice  to  reach  the  person. 

The  fines  are  collected  at  the  loan-desk  as  the  books  are 
returned,  and  a  hurried  memorandum  is  made  at  the  time  oi 
the  amount  received.  At  the  close  of  the  day  the  account  is 
balanced,  and  later  the  entries  are  made  in  the  cash-book.  At 
the  end  of  the  month  the  entries  in  the  cash-book  are  sum- 
marized; thus  we  are  enabled  to  show  exactly  how  much  has 
been  collected  from  fines  and  other  sources  during  the  month. 

Each  morning  an  assistant  carefully  looks  up  all  books  over- 
due, and  sends  postal-card  notices  to  the  deliquents,  sending 
some  days  as  many  as  sixty,  again  as  few  as  six— averaging 
between  thirty  and  forty  each  day. 

At  the  time  the  postal  is  written,  a  "fine-slip"  is  filled  out, 
with  the  facts  in  condensed  form,  and  this  is  filed  for  future  ref- 
erence. From  this  sample  we  see  that  the  reader,  whose  number 
is  123,201,  took  out  the  book  numbered  743  B/J.I  and  that  there 
is  a  fine  of  8  cents  from  the  lojgr,  when  the  book  was  due,  to 
the  I4JQI*  when  the  postal  was  written.  Then  the  "fine-slips" 
are  filed  for  reference  in  case  of  any  future  misunderstanding, 
or  if  the  person  still  fails  to  return  the  book. 


540          NEW  YORK  APPRENTICES'  LIBRARY 

[Form  F.] 


Card  No. 
Book   .... 


FINE. 

From  

To 

Cts. 

NOTICE  SENT. 

No.  i  Cts. 

Sent  for  " 


Total Cts. 

Paid  

The  postal  usually  serves  its  purpose,  and  most  of  the  books 
are  returned  very  soon;  but  after  waiting  seven  days,  if  all  are 
not  in,  the  "fine  slips"  for  the  few  remaining  are  taken  out  and 
filled  in  with  the  extra  fine,  and  the  20  cents  additional  for  mes- 
senger service.  The  name  of  the  reader  and  the  address  are  then 
written  on  the  back  of  the  slip.  These  are  given  to  the  regular 
messenger,  and  he  goes  for  the  books  they  represent  and  brings 
back  the  books,  slips,  cards  and  fines — if  he  can  get  them— lo 
the  library.  The  "fine-slips"  are  filed  away  once  more  in  their 
places  and  left  at  rest.  They  not  only  give  the  history  of  the 
fines  at  the  library,  but  show  the  messenger  the  facts  of  the  case 
in  a  systematic  form  when  he  goes  for  the  book ;  and  they  also 
give  an  official  appearance  to  the  matter  which  oftentimes  is  a 
great  help. 

If  any  one  refuses  to  pay  the  fine  incurred,  the  privileges  of 
the  library  are  denied  to  him  until  he  decides  to  abide  by  the 
rules. 

(Miss)  C  M.  UNDERBILL. 

P.S. — If  a  book  is  returned  without  card,  the  fact  is  noted 
on  the  application  and  in  the  record-book;  so  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  a  person  to  escape  the  fine,  even  though  he  try 
to  get  a  new  application  F.  P.  H. 

NEW  YORK  APPRENTICES'  LIBRARY 

Our  arrangements  for  collecting  and  recording  fines  we  re- 
gard as  one  of  the  strongest  features  of  our  charging  system. 


COLLECTION  AND  REGISTRATION  OF  FINES    541 

Our  method  is  as  follows:  Books  are  allowed  to  be  kept  two 
weeks.  We  allow  one  week's  grace  before  we  send  for  the 
book,  on  which  there  will  be  seven  cents  due  for  the  first  week 
over  time.  On  and  after  the  second  week  the  fine  is  doubled; 
that  is,  two  cents  a  day  is  charged.  Every  book  issued  has  a 
slip  pasted  on  the  fly-leaf,  on  which  is  stamped  the  date  of  issue. 
As  the  same  date  is  stamped  on  the  issue  card,  which  is  filed 
in  the  order  of  dates  in  the  library,  there  is  a  double  record  of 
the  date  of  issue  of  every  book.  The  date  in  the  book  enables 
the  reader  to  compute  when  its  return  is  due  and  cuts  off  all 
dispute  as  to  the  validity  of  a  fine.  When  a  book  is  one  week 
over  due  the  arrangement  by  days  enables  us  easily  to  send 
notices  to  the  readers.  A  separate  record  is  kept  of  such  no- 
tices, in  a  book  prepared  for  that  purpose,  in  which  all  returns, 
payments  of  fines  and  fines  due,  are  noted  as  they  occur,  so  that 
we  have  an  absolute  check,  enabling  us  to  tell  exactly  how  each 
account  stands  at  any  time.  Books  over  time  less  than  a  week 
are  fined  one  cent  per  day.  Every  issue  card  has  two  columns, 
one  for  fines  paid  and  the  other  for  fines  due  When  a  fine  is  paid 
or  due  it  is  noted  in  its  respective  column;  those  paid  being 
placed  in  the  cash  drawer  as  a  voucher  and  check.  These  are 
entered  in  detail  in  a  book  provided  for  that  purpose,  and  the 
cash  must  balance  with  the  amounts  recorded  on  the  cards.  1C 
there  is  a  shortage  the  clerk  in  charge  of  the  cash  must  make 
up  the  difference  WTc  have  thus  a  check  on  all  fines  paid.  We 
obtain  a  similar  check  on  fines  unpaid  by  going  over  the  cards 
every  morning  on  which  no  fines  have  been  paid,  noting  in  its 
proper  column  all  fines  the  clerks  have  neglected  to  charge.  We 
are  thus  certain  that  all  fines  due  will  be  properly  charged 
against  the  reader.  JACOB  SCHWARTZ. 

CLEVELAND  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

From  the  opening  of  the  Cleveland  Public  Library  until 
about  two  years  ago  a  fine  of  five  cents  per  day  was  imposed 
for  the  detention  of  a  book  longer  than  the  time  specified.  In 
1888  this  fine  was  reduced  to  two  cents.  This  smaller  amount 
seems  to  be  as  effective  in  preventing  too  great  negligence  in 
returning  books  and  is  not  so  great  a  burden  on  those  who  have 
to  pay  it. 

The  fact  that  the  receipts  from  this  source  have  not  been 


542  WINDSOR  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION 

affected  by  the  change  shows  that  fines  are  paid  more  readily 
rather  than  lhal  more  books  are  kept  over  time.  When  the  large 
fine  was  charged  it  would  happen  that  those  who  were  so  un- 
fortunate as  to  have  a  considerable  fine  accrue  would  discon- 
tinue using  their  cards  rather  than  pay  it. 

It  is  our  custom  to  issue  books  once  on  each  card  after  a 
fine  is  incurred,  if  desired,  as  this  accommodates  those  who  may 
not  happen  to  have  money  with  them  but  can  bring  the  amount 
at  their  next  visit. 

We  do  not  apply  to  the  guarantor  for  the  fine,  but  stop  the 
use  of  the  card  if  the  fine  is  not  paid  after  a  reasonable  time. 
A  severe  sickness  preventing  the  return  of  the  books  is  accepted 
as  a  sufficient  reason  for  remitting  the  fine.  The  only  other 
reason  which  has  been  accepted  is  inability  to  pay  from  extreme 
poverty,  and  this  has  very  rarely  been  offered 

The  amount  of  fines  collected  last  year  was  $684.68. 

The  tiling  which  is  essential  to  the  collection  of  fines  with- 
out friction  is  absolute  fairness  If  the  impression  prevails 
that  all  are  treated  alike  in  this  matter,  that  there  are  no  "fa- 
vored people,"  there  are  few  who  will  not  acknowledge  the  nec- 
essity of  a  reasonable  fine,  and  pay  it  without  grumbling. 

As  to  the  registration  of  fines,  we  simply  enter  the  card  num- 
ber and  amount  in  the  cash-book  We  did  for  two  years  keep 
an  elaborate  fine-book,  giving  a  complete  and  permanent  record 
of  all  fines  collected  from  each  borrower,  but  the  use  of  it  did 
not  seem  to  pay  for  the  bookkeeping  involved. 

I  am  just  now  introducing  a  personal  account-book,  which 
is  intended  to  show  the  number  of  books  charged  to  each  per- 
son. If  it  proves  a  success  it  will  furnish  also  a  means  of  keep- 
ing a  permanent  record  of  fines  paid  by  each. 

W:  H.  BRETT. 

WINDSOR  (VT)  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION 

Perhaps  the  experience  of  so  small  a  library  is  of  little 
value,  but  as  you  seem  to  ask  for  such  things,  and  as  our  memo- 
randum card  is,  if  not  unique,  at  least  original,  I  send  it  to  you 
for  \\hat  it  may  be  worth 

In  this  library  books  are  charged  on  the  L.  B.  manilla  slips 
5x7.5  cm,  arranged  in  the  case  in  the  classification  order  of  the 
library  (Dewey's  D.  C). 


COLLECTION  AND  REGISTRATION  OF  FINES  543 

As  soon  as  the  slips  are  finable  (14  d.  after  date)  they  go  to 
the  extreme  left  of  the  case,  and  as  further  caution  each  slip 
is  plainly  scratched  with  a  colored  pencil.  The  fines  are  2c. 
daily,  each  volume,  and  if  readers  choose  to  incur  them  we  do 
not  interfere  (unless  the  book  is  specially  needed)  until  they 
have  run  over  about  10  or  12  days  Then,  to  make  sure  there 
is  no  error,  we  mail  a  memorandum  of  overdue: 

WINDSOR  LIBRARY,  28  Ap.  1891. 
MEMORANDUM  OF  OVERDUE  BOOK 
MR  R   ROE 

Your  card,  No  11062  is  charged  with  a  book  No.  398,347  C, 
title,  Myths,  &c,  of  Russians,  &c,  loaned  4  Ap.  due  to  return 
18  Ap 

Fine,  if  returned,  29  Ap.  will  be  22  cents. 

This  card  is  sent  to  check  any  error  If  not  correct,  please 
report  at  the  Library  and  oblige  the  Librarian. 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  is  not  a  call  for  the  book,  which 
we  don't  send  for  unless  we  particularly  want  it.  But  it  usually 
brings  the  book  and  the  fine  in  without  further  trouble.  (In 
fact,  our  readers  generally  seem  to  enjoy  being  fined).  But  if 
it  doesn't  come  in  in  about  another  fortnight  then  we  usually  add : 
"Please  return  the  book." 

In  the  few  cases  in  which  this  fails  to  bring  it,  we  send  a 
third  memorandum,  but  this  time  not  to  the  borrower  but  to  his 
endorser — every  one  of  our  application  cards  being  endorsed 
by  a  person  known  and  responsible  to  the  library. 

We  ask  him  to  find  the  book  and  collect  the  fine,  and  he  does 
it,  and  in  that  case  the  reader's  card  is  cancelled  and  his  name 
black-listed  unless  he  pays  up  and  gets  a  new  endorser. 

We  have  never  lost  a  charged  book  (in  8  years)  nor  have  we 
missed  the  collection  of  more  than  $2  or  $3  worth  of  due-fines 

Our  fine  collections  reach  $35  or  $40  a  year.  No  book  is 
loaned  on  a  card  charged  with  an  unpaid  fine. 

E.  N.  GOEDARD 

BOSTON  ATHEN&UM 

OUR  "new"  books — that  is,  books  bought  within  a  year— are 
allowed  to  be  kept  out  7,  14  or  30  days,  the  time  being  greater 
for  a  large  than  for  a  small  book,  and  shorter  for  a  book  in 
great  demand  than  for  one  which  few  care  for.  The  fine  for 
keeping  a  book  over  time  is  5  cts.  a  day.  If  the  fine  is  not  paid 


544  BROOKLYN  LIBRARY 

when  the  book  is  returned  \ve  note  its  amount  and  the  name  of 
the  book  on  which  it  was  incurred  on  the  manilla  card  on  which 
the  address  of  the  proprietor  and  his  payment  of  his  annual 
subscription  are  recorded.  These  cards  are  kept  in  alphabetical 
order  in  a  tin  box.  The  cards  of  books  which  the  proprietor 
has  out  are  kept  with  this  manilla  card  till  they  are  returned. 
A  blank  red  card  is  added  wherever  a  fine  is  due  to  remind  the 
charging  clerk  to  demand  the  fine  whenever  the  borrower  comes 
to  the  library.  We  let  the  fines  run  on  till  the  book  is  returned ; 
but  several  times  in  the  course  of  the  year  we  send  out  notices 
to  all  persons  who  have  had  books  out  over  two  months.  And 
if  any  book  is  asked  for  which  has  been  out  over  a  month  we  send 
for  it.  Ordinarily  there  is  no  fine  on  an  "old"  book,  but  if  it  is 
not  returned  when  it  is  sent  for  a  fine  of  5  cts  begins  to  run  on 
the  third  day. 

When  books  which  usually  are  not  allowed  to  circulate  are 
issued  for  special  reasons  a  limit  of  time  is  specified  on  the  card 
and  if  they  are  detained  beyond  that  time  a  fine  of  25  cts.  a 
day  must  be  paid. 

As  many  of  our  proprietors  never  come  to  the  library,  but 
send  messengers,  the  prompt  collection  of  fines  is  not  easy 
Once  a  year  the  following  notice  is  issued: 

NOTICE 

21  The  annual  assessment  is  due  January  I,  and  no  book 
will  be  delivered  after  March  i  to  any  person  from  whom  an 
assessment  or  fine  is  due,  nor  after  the  expiration  of  a  fort- 
night to  any  person  charged  with  a  payment  for  lost  books  or 
with  a  fine, 

—Rules  for  the  Library  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum. 

M * 

The  annual  assessment  on  your  share  ($5)  is  still  due,  and 
also  fines  to  the  amount  of 

and  by  the  rule  above  the  delivery  of  books  must  be  cut  off 
until  this  is  paid 

Yours  respectfully, 

C:  A.  CUTTER,  Librarian. 
C:  A.  CUTTER. 

BROOKLYN  LIBRARY 

The  subject  of  fines  in  a  subscription  library  is  one  that  re- 
quires some  delicacy  in  its  management. 


COLLECTION  AND  REGISTRATION  OF  FINES  545 

By  the  regulations  of  our  library,  books,  except  those  that 
are  very  new,  and  the  works  of  reference,  are  allowed  to  be 
kept  out  two  weeks.  If  kept  a  week  beyond  this  time  an  ink 
check  is  made  on  the  margin  of  the  subscriber's  ticket  opposite 
the  number  of  the  book  out  "overtime,"  and  he  is  mulcted  in  the 
sum  of  ten  cents  when  he  returns  the  book. 

As  our  accounts  are  kept  on  slips  in  the  name  of  the  bor- 
rower, it  is  necessary  to  examine  these  slips  once  every  week, 
and  make  a  list  of  all  books  charged  previous  to  a  given  date, 
and  not  yet  returned.  This  work  is  rapidly  performed  by  one 
of  the  attendants  who  devotes  a  certain  day  of  the  week  (a  kind 
of  "wash-day")  to  the  not  very  attractive  task  The  list  having 
been  compared  with  the  shelves,  and  with  a  list  kept  of  books 
returned,  but  not  found  charged  to  the  person  making  the  re- 
turn (in  order  to  make  sure  that  the  book  is  still  out),  a  printed 
notice  is  mailed,  requesting  the  return  of  the  book,  and  quoting 
the  regulation  regarding  books  thus  kept  This  notice  is  usually 
all  that  is  required  to  procure  the  return  of  the  book,  but  in  some 
cases  a  second  notice  or  a  written  request  is  necessary,  a  small 
percentage  of  humanity  generally  requiring  to  be  specially  urged 
to  the  performance  of  duty. 

There  are  sometimes  a  few  persons  who  fail  to  respond  even 
to  "special"  notices.  In  such  cases,  and  occasionally,  as  time 
permits,  a  list  of  names  and  residences  of  delinquents  is  written 
out,  and  a  stout  boy  provided  with  this  list  and  a  strap  (to  strap 
the  books  with  as  collected)  calls  on  them. 

An  extra  charge  is  made  in  cases  where  a  messenger  is  sent, 
the  amount  varying  according  to  the  trouble  taken  in  each  in- 
dividual case.  The  amounts  collected  for  fines  are  noted  on  a 
slip  kept  for  the  purpose,  and  the  total  is  entered  in  a  book  pre- 
pared for  an  itemized  account  of  each  day's  cash  receipts,  a 
statement  being  made  up  from  this  book  and  sent  to  the  Treas- 
urer of  tiie  Board  of  Directors  every  Monday. 

The  charge  of  ten  cents  for  books  kept  out  beyond  three 
weeks  goes  to  cover  the  expense  of  making  up  lists  and  for 
postage  on  notices,  printing,  etc.,  and  also  to  form  a  fund  for 
the  purchase  of  such  books  as  cannot  be  collected,  and  must  be 
replaced,  owing  to  departure  of  the  borrower  for  parts  unknown 
In  case  a  book  is  lost,  the  subscriber  is  charged  the  cost  of 
another  copy  with  which  to  replace  it. 

W.  A  BARDWELL 


546  ST.  JOSEPH  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

ST.  JOSEPH  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

The  following  description  should  be  understood  as  having 
application  chiefly  to  the  work  of  a  (free)  public  library.  At 
the  same  time  the  method  might  be  also  of  service  in  other  li- 
braries where  books  are  loaned  for  a  definite  term,  and  the 
charge  is  kept  on  a  ticket  or  slip  rather  than  a  ledger  account. 

Having  charge-slips  (of  either  the  temporary  or  permanent 
form),  arranged  by  (taker's)  card  number,  or  in  order  of  book 
number,  as  the  case  may  be,  in  bundles  or  divisions,  each 
containing  all  of  one  day's  issues  grouped  by  themselves,  than 
at  a  certain  date  all  of  such  charge-slips  remaining  undrawn 
from  one  bundle  will  represent  books  which  have  just  begun 
to  be  out  over  time,  so  that  a  fine  is  commencing  to  run  on 
each  one.  A  fine-ticket  is  then  to  be  made  out  and  placed 
with  or  attached  to  each  overdue  charge.  Such  tickets  are  best 
on  a  printed  form,  of  proper  shape  and  size  to  file  conveniently 
with  the  corresponding  charge-slips;  and  likewise  on  paper  of 
a  color  contrasting  well  with  that  of  the  latter  slips. 

The  writer  having  used  both  taker  and  book-slips  of  the  so- 
called  permanent  form,  in  size  5x12.5  cm  (2x5  inches,  scant), 
one  on  white  or  yellow  bristol  and  the  other  on  manilla  board, 
it  became  correspondingly  convenient  to  have  the  fine-tickets  of 
cherry  color  and  made  of  same  width  (5  cm.),  but  only  n  cm. 
long,  so  that  when  placed  upright  in  front  of  the  respective 
charge-slip  each  might  drop  1.5  cm.  below,  and  thus  leave  the 
heading  of  the  slip  in  view. 

Here  is  the  form  finally  adopted: 


Card  No. 
Book 


FINE. 

From  

To 

Cts. 

NOTICES. 

No.  i Cts. 

No.  2 " 

Sent  for \  .    « 


p..  Total  cu. 

Paid  

(F)  


BOOKS  THIEVES;  AN  INCIDENT  AND  A  SUG- 
GESTION: AND  THE  BOOK  LARCENY 
PROBLEM 

The  outstanding  factor  in  the  question  of  book-theft 
from  libraries  is  the  scant  attention  that  has  been  given 
either  to  the  fact  itself  or  to  the  problems  which  constant 
and  repeated  book  thefts  have  created. 

As  special  investigator  for  the  New  York  Public  Li- 
brary, Edwin  W.  Gaillard  has  had  opportunity  to  verify 
many  librarians'  suspicions.  The  following  reports  were 
published  in  The  Library  Journal  of  1904  and  1920. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Gaillard  is  found  in 
Volume  1  of  this  series. 

BOOK  THIEVES:   AN  INCIDENT  AND  SOME 
SUGGESTIONS 

"If  a  copy  of  March's  Thesaurus  is  offered  to  you  for  sale 
please  look  on  page  —  for  an  accession  number.  If  you  find 
one,  the  copy  is  mine."  So  read  a  letter  which  I  received  on 
March  20  from  a  librarian  in  another  borough.  Many  copies 
of  the  book  in  question  were  offered  to  me  in  response  to  an 
advertisement  and  each  copy  was  duly  inspected,  but  without 
avail.  One  of  the  copies  was  purchased  from  a  man  who  said 
that  he  had  obtained  it  in  Canada  and  had  used  it  in  his  news- 
paper work,  but  he  needed  money  and  could  get  along  with 
"Soule  and  good  old  Roget" 

On  May  5,  a  week  or  so  later,  the  same  man  knocked  and 
was  admitted  to  the  library  after  it  had  been  closed  for  the 
day.  He  was  courteous  and  affable,  regretted  his  lateness,  but 
begged  forgiveness,  as  he  had  secured  for  us  from  a  friend 
another  copy  of  March's  Thesaurus.  The  man  was  so  evi- 
dently genuine  in  his  claims  that  suspicion  had  not  entered  my 
mind.  He  was  very  sorry  when  I  explained  that  our  fund  for 
the  purchase  of  reference  books  had  been  exhausted.  He  was 


548  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

sorry  for  our  library,  for  his  friend  always  secured  the  best, 
and  the  binding  of  the  second  copy  was  much  better  than  the 
first.  Politeness  combined  with  curiosity,  tinged  with  caution 
and  a  shade  of  mistrust,  prompted  me  to  remove  the  wrapping. 
It  was  a  beautiful  copy,  full  red  Russian,  full  gilt,  with  a  thumb 
index.  In  turning  over  the  pages  I  paused  at  several,  and  on 
the  one  indicated  an  accession  number  stood  out  in  the  margin. 
"Paul,"  I  said  to  the  page,  "get  me  letter  file  no  3  of  this 
year."  The  letter  of  notification  was  re-read,  and  my  memory 
of  the  page  was  correct 

"It  is  true,"  I  said  to  the  visitor,  "that  our  reference  book 
fund  is  exhausted,  but  possibly  I  can  relieve  you  of  the  copy 
nevertheless;  just  wait  here  a  minute."  The  first  assistant 
discussed  reference  books  with  him  all  unsuspectingly.  I  locked 
the  outside  door  and  secured  a  policeman.  When  confronted 
the  "newspaper  man"  said  it  was  no  doubt  a  curious  coinci- 
dence. The  price  of  the  book  was  $15,  the  accession  number 
was  15001,  and  the  figures  were  not  in  orthodox  library  hand. 
When  shown  the  letter,  he  asked  to  have  the  matter  fully  in- 
vestigated and  assured  me  that  I  was  in  error.  At  the  station 
house  he  claimed  that  the  volume  belonged  to  him,  and  that  he 
had  obtained  it  in  Boston.  After  being  searched  he  was  held 
on  suspicion. 

Next  morning,  after  exchange  of  telegrams  and  many  tele- 
phone messages,  I  learned  that  the  copy  of  the  Thesaurus  which 
I  had  been  requested  to  keep  in  mind  was  not  numbered  15001 
and  that  the  charge  could  not  be  substantiated.  The  facts  as 
then  appeared  were  reported  to  the  magistrate.  He  said: 

"This  business  of  stealing  books  from  public  libraries  must 
be  stopped.  You  suspect  this  volume  to  be  the  property  of  some 
library.  I  will  hold  the  prisoner  for  48  hours  and  you  must 
investigate." 

Such  is  the  story  of  the  arrest.  My  investigations  were 
minute  and  extensive,  and  revealed  a  condition  which  must 
receive  consideration. 

The  defendant  was  held  on  suspicion  for  twice  48  hours, 
and  eventually  was  arrested  on  a  warrant  and  transferred  to 
another  borough  of  this  city  and  is  now  held  for  trial.  At  the 
end  of  the  coming  trial  he  is  "wanted"  in  another  state,  also  on 
account  of  the  theft  of  a  copy  of  March's  Thesaurus. 


BOOK  THIEVES  549 

In  all,  I  found  that  10  copies  of  that  particular  work  have 
been  stolen  from  public  libraries.  I  have  recovered  three. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe,  from  what  has  been  brought  to 
my  notice,  that  at  least  three  men  operate  together.  One  in- 
vestigates, one  steals,  and  one  sells.  The  territory  covered  seems 
to  extend  from  Boston  to  Washington,  perhaps  further.  Books 
are  so  treated  that  identification  is  extremely  difficult.  Where 
library  marks  cannot  be  effectually  removed  the  pages  are  cut 
out  and  replaced  by  others.  In  several  cases  all  catalog  cards 
for  stolen  volumes  were  removed  from  the  trays,  indicating  a 
familiarity  with  library  method,  cross  references,  and  subject 
cards.  Book  plates  and  embossed  stamps  are  removed  with 
great  skill. 

The  actual  thief  is  an  expert.  One  library  lost  both  volumes 
of  the  large  Rand  &  McNally  atlas;  one  bookseller  lost  six 
copies  of  the  Webster  International  dictionary  in  one  after- 
noon; in  several  of  the  libraries  from  which  the  Thesaurus 
was  stolen  all  persons  were  required  to  pass  inspection  at  a 
turnstile.  I  have  heard  of  first  editions  which  have  been  loaned 
for  reference,  and  a  few  days  after  it  was  found  that  dummies 
were  substituted  and  the  real  first  editions  stolen.  False  refer- 
ences seem  to  be  used  only  to  a  limited  extent  by  professional 
thieves. 

In  consequence  of  my  investigations  I  am  convinced  that 
there  is  an  organized  body  of  men  who  know  book  values, 
library  methods,  and  who  are  skilled  in  book  alteration  who  prey 
upon  public  and  semi-public  libraries. 

Neither  the  turnstile  nor  stringent  rules  against  taking  pack- 
ages or  baskets  into  the  stacks  seem  to  be  of  use,  nor  is  any 
current  method  of  marking  books  a  practical  protection.  Some 
effectual  method  of  marking  books  must  be  adopted,  or  an  ex- 
tensive system  should  be  devised  to  recover  stolen  books  and 
apprehend  the  rogues. 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM 

The  one  outstanding  factor  in  the  question  of  book  losses 
from  libraries  due  to  larceny  is  the  scant  attention  that  has 
been  given  either  to  the  fact  itself  or  to  the  problem  which 
constant  and  repeated  book  thefts  have  created. 

All  librarians  know  that  people  steal  books.  Librarians 
are  inclined  to  look  upon  a  case  of  book  stealing  as  an  isolated 
instance,  one  that  can  no  more  be  foreseen  or  prevented  than 
can  a  lightning  stroke  be  forestalled.  Each  case  receives  such 
consideration  as  it  may  in  itself  appear  to  deserve,  and  no 
more.  Little  attempt  seems  to  have  been  made  to  regard 
"losses  in  inventory"  as  a  distinct  problem,  and  even  less  to 
consider  the  causes  which  have  created  a  situation  of  grave 
bearing  on  general  policies  of  library  management  and  control 

Not  only  have  librarians  neglected  the  study  of  this  prob- 
lem, but  it  has  received  little  attention  from  others.  There  is 
practically  no  literature  on  the  subject,  and  the  little  that  has 
been  written  has  tended  to  treat  book-stealing  in  rather  a  light, 
if  not  humorous  strain. 

The  poetry  of  the  subject  would  include  but  few  titles,  chief 
of  which  probably  is  "A  Blast  Against  Book-keepers"  by  Yates 
Snowden,  recently  published  in  The  Carolinian.  Professor 
Snowden  tells  the  whole  truth  when  he  states: 

"Sometimes  he  steals  'in  certain  lines'; 
Again  ^  he  captures  all  in  sight. 
Ubiquitous  the  villain  roams, 
From  Golden  Gate  to  Plymouth  Rock." 

or  again  hear  his  expert  testimony: 

"But  one  incarnate  devil  thrives 
At  his  foul  business  an  adept — 
The  bane  of  all  good  bookmen's  lives— 
The  vile  and  vicious  Biblioklept !" 

Strange  as  it  is,  there  has  been  little  fiction  on  the  subject 
of  book  stealing,  but  it  is  impossible  not  to  mention  that  de- 
lightful collection  of  tales  by  A.  S.  W.  Rosenbach,  "The  Un- 


552  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

publishable  Memoirs,"  wherein  the  author  not  only  shows  a 
charming  sense  of  humor  and  displays  a  surprising  knowledge 
o£  the  subject,  but  he  also  reveals  a  rather  disquieting  fa- 
miliarity with  some  of  the  phases  of  its  more  difficult  technique 
and  method.  Indeed,  in  certain  circumstances  it  is  not  im- 
possible that  the  author's  evident  acquaintance  with  the  profes- 
sional devices  of  the  biblioklept  for  acquiring  property  may 
lead  an  inquiry  in  his  own  direction. 

The  history  of  the  subject,  unlike  its  poetry  and  fiction,  is 
not  confined  to  a  few  titles,  but  nearly  all  treat  only  individual 
cases  of  larceny,  and  none,  I  think,  attempts  in  any  sense  to 
consider  the  question  as  a  subject  in  itself. 

It  may  not  be  unprofitable  in  the  light  of  what  I  have  to 
say,  to  refer  in  brief  to  the  history. 

If  there  ever  was  a  time  when  books  were  not  stolen,  a 
golden  age  of  honesty,  it  has  escaped  my  observation.  We  find 
on  the  title  page  of  the  Virgil  of  a  mediaeval  monk  an  in- 
scription "Whoever  carries  away  this  book  shall  receive  a  thou- 
sand lashes  o-f  the  scourge— may  palsy  and  leprosy  attack  him." 
Yet  no  one  but  a  monk  probably  could  have  stolen  that  book. 

In  more  recent  times,  it  is  interesting  and  useful  to  note 
that  Sir  Thomas  Bodley  did  realize  in  full  the  danger  of  theft 
and  mutilation,  for  he  provided  that  certain  of  the  books  in 
the  great  library  which  he  organized  should  be  chained  to  the 
desks.  Even  his  accession  book  was  "chained  to  the  Desk, 
at  the  upper  broad  Window  of  the  Library."  His  library  rules, 
upon  which  many  modern  library  rules  are  largely  based,  pro- 
vided for  the  punishment  of  the  book  thief  in  a  manner  which 
we  of  today  might  envy— to  wit:—".  .  .  he  shall  be  publickly 
disgraced  ...  for  which  the  Vice  Chancellor  or  his  sub- 
stitute shall  pronounce  the  Sentence  of  his  Banishment  in  the 
open  Congregation  and  keep  a  permanent  Record  both  of  the 
Kind  and  Quality,  of  that  Delinquent's  Perjury  and  of  the 
exemplary  Punishment  inflicted  upon  it." 

Thus  we  find  that  the  great  librarian  over  three  hundred 
years  ago,  doubtless  after  many  bitter  experiences,  provided  for 
the  punishment  and  banishment  of  the  book  thief. 

Notwithstanding  the  severity  of  punishment  provided  by 
the  Bodleian,  we  cannot  deny  that  Sir  Thomas  appears  to  have 
given  rise  to  some  suspicion  as  to  the  source  whence  he  him- 
self obtained  some  of  his  books,  but  it  is  only  just  and  fair 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM         553 

to  his  memory  to  enter  in  the  record  that  the  explanations  of 
his  defenders  seem  to  be  sufficient  to  acquit  him  of  any  sus- 
picions of  larceny  which  may  have  arisen  at  the  time  when  he 
was  making  his  great  collection. 

Book  stealing  has  waned  as  a  serious  crime  in  the  eyes  of 
the  law,  for  what  librarian  of  today  would  recommend  to  the 
court  the  punishment  inflicted  upon  "Johannes  Leycestre"  and 
Cecelia  his  wife?  The  roll  of  the  Stafford  Assizes  in  the  time 
of  Henry  IV  has  this  most  soul-satisfying  entry  "Sus.  per 
coll.",  "Let  him  be  hanged  by  the  neck  until  his  life  departs." 
Yet  poor  John  and  his  devoted  spouse  only  stole  a  little  book 
from  an  old  church.  No  record  here  of  a  series  of  larcenies 
or  of  systematic  mutilation— just  a  poor  little  single  larceny. 
Would  that  we  had  lived  in  those  days,  or  that  "Sus.  per  coll." 
had  survived  until  ours!  Librarians  who  may  be  requested 
by  a  judge  for  a  recommendation  of  punishment  to  be  meted 
out  to  a  book  thief,  should  read  in  "Curiosities  of  Literature," 
by  Isaac  Disraeli,  the  chapter  "Of  Literary  Filchers."  The 
librarian  will  here  find  the  names  of  not  a  few  men  who  are 
said  to  have  been  book  thieves  but  who  otherwise  bear  leading 
names  in  Church,  State  and  Letters.  The  librarian  will  learn 
that  "Sus.  per  coll/'  would  not  fit  all  book  thieves,  however  well 
it  may  fit  the  crime. 

How  many  American  librarians  have  ever  heard  of  the  "Libri 
incident"?  Read  now,  possibly  for  the  first  time,  of  the  greatest 
book  thief  on  record. 

Count  Guillaume  Brutus  Icile  Timol6one  Libri-Carrucci  della 
Sommaia  was  all  that  his  name  implies  He  was  Inspector- 
general  of  Public  Instruction  and  also  Inspector-general  of 
the  libraries  of  France.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  was  a  pro- 
fessor in  the  University  of  Pisa,  and  later  a  professor  at  the 
Sorbonne,  a  professor  at  the  College  of  France,  editor  of  the 
Journal  des  Savants  and  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes.  He 
was  the  author  of  a  long  list  of  books.  His  "History  of  the 
Mathematical  Sciences  in  Italy  from  the  Renaissance  up  to  the 
Seventeenth  Century,"  in  four  volumes,  is  a  work  of  great 
erudition  and  ability,  and  probably  will  always  be  the  standard 
history  of  the  subject.  He  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of 
Guizot  and  many  other  great  men  of  the  period,  and  had  been 
honored  with  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 


S54  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

Libri  was  suspected  of  having  plundered  the  libraries  of 
France  in  rather  a  wholesale  manner.  He  sold  at  auction  and 
otherwise  a  number  of  collections,  and  the  Libri  sales  catalogs 
are  today  well  worth  owning.  Libri  became  aware  of  the  sus- 
picions which  he  had  aroused  and  left  France  rather  abruptly 
for  England.  A  careful  and  minute  investigation  followed  his 
departure,  as  a  result  of  which  he  was  found  guilty  in  June 
1850  and  was  condemned  to  ten  years'  imprisonment.  Libri, 
from  England,  protested  innocence  and  claimed  that  an  in- 
justice had  been  done,  but  he  never  returned  to  France  to 
face  the  charges  and  even  those  who  advocated  his  cause  were 
severely  punished.  In  England  he  was  generally  believed  inno- 
cent, but  in  France  Prosper  Merimee  was  imprisoned  at  Saint 
Pelagic  for  his  passionate  attempt  at  vindication  of  his  friend, 
the  patrician  public  library  book  thief.  Notwithstanding  at- 
tempts at  vindication  the  consensus  of  opinion  is  that  Libri 
stole  many  thousands  of  very  valuable  books  and  sold  them 
both  at  auction  and  privately,  for  his  own  personal  profit. 

Not  entirely  unlike  the  Libri  incident  was  the  one  which  hap- 
pened at  Seville. 

Fernando  Columbus,  son  of  Christopher,  collected  rare  books 
and  manuscripts,  in  the  Low  Countries,  France,  England,  and 
throughout  Spain.  He  succeeded  in  gathering  together  between 
15,000  and  20,000  titles,  and  these  in  due  time  became  the  Li- 
brary of  Seville.  This  collection  had  a  checkered  history  of 
larcenies,  mutilation  and  general  abuse,  but  in  1870  it  is  said 
to  have  contained  34,000  volumes  and  16,000  manuscripts.  One 
day,  about  1886,  some  of  the  prizes  of  the  collection  drifted 
into  the  Paris  market  in  rather  large  quantities  No  one  ap- 
pears to  have  been  especially  interested.  The  value  of  the 
items  offered  for  sale  was  not  appreciated  until  a  dealer  sold 
for  $24  a  work  of  the  beautiful  and  learned  Louise  Labe  that 
a  fortnight  later  was  snapped  up  for  several  thousand  francs 
The  name  of  the  thief,  I  think,  was  never  made  generally  pub- 
lic, but  certainly  he  seems  to  have  been  one  who  had  a  per- 
fectly free  and  unquestioned  access  to  the  books. 

In  the  Parma  incident,  in  1885,  silk  threads  drawn  secretly 
across  the  shelves,  a  method  of  detection  not  usual  in  libraries, 
were  broken  by  the  secretary,  one  Panini,  a  perfect  gentleman 
and  genial  scholar,  aged  seventy-seven.  Panini  undoubtedly 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM        555 

had  an  unpleasant  interview  in  the  private  office  of  the  chief 
librarian.  At  all  events  he  confessed  to  having  looted  the  col- 
lections of  engravings  and  manuscripts. 

These  "incidents"  tend  to  show  that  stealing  from  libraries 
was  not  confined  in  Europe  to  the  lower  grade  employees,  and 
certainly  such  is  not  the  case  in  this  country.  Although  the 
"incidents"  in  the  United  States  involving  library  chiefs  have 
not  been  numerous,  there  have  been  so  many  cases  that  we 
should  bear  the  fact  in  mind  when  the  subject  is  referred  to 
later  on  in  this  paper,  and  come  to  realize  that  neither  age  nor 
rank  in  the  service  renders  a  man  immune. 

Before  considering  book  thieves  as  a  class  of  criminals, 
let  us  ask  "What  are  criminals?"  Lombroso  and  his  school 
have  a  ready  answer,  which  is  in  effect  that  criminals  are  a 
group  to  themselves,  living  amongst  normal  persons,  but  dif- 
ferent,— different  in  many  kinds  of  ways  that  may  be  recog- 
nized by  the  expert  They  "look"  different,  or  if  not,  their 
bodily  measurements  are  not  normal.  They  have  the  stigmata 
of  degeneracy.  They  can  no  more  help  being  criminal  than  a 
negro  can  change  his  color;  they  were  born  that  way.  Each 
school  of  criminologists  has  in  turn  tried  to  account  for  and 
explain  the  criminal,  and  his  why,  wherefore,  and  cure.  All 
of  them  seem  to  have  confused  the  convict  with  the  criminal. 
The  caught  and  convicted  criminal  may  be  studied  and  meas- 
ured, converted  into  a  laboratory  specimen  and  properly  labeled. 
He  is  below  par,  subnormal,  abnormal,  stupid, — and  so  caught 
and  a  convict  Yet  we  know  that  but  a  small  percentage  of 
crimes  are  ever  traced  to  their  perpetrators.  There  is  nothing, 
I  believe,  to  show  that  the  uncaught  criminal  differs  from  his 
fellow  men  in  any  way. 

Charles  Mercier,  in  his  fascinating  new  book,  "Crime  and 
Criminals,"  (Holt)  analyzes  the  doctrines  of  the  various  schools 
of  so-called  criminologists  and  confirms  my  observations.  He 
further  has  helped  me  clarify  my  humble  theories  by  saying 
in  effect  that  the  criminal  is  no  one  in  particular — that  every 
man  is  a  potential  criminal— that  every  man  has  his  breaking 
strain  physically,  mentally,  or  morally.  The  breaking  strain 
is  of  course  different  in  different  people.  Crime,  he  teaches,  is 
caused  by  opportunity  and  temptation.  With  neither  present, 
there  could  be  no  crime.  He  shows,  as  all  of  us  know,  over- 


556  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

mastering  temptation  for  one  man  would  leave  another  cold 
and  indifferent. 

The  counterfeiter  counterfeits,  the  burglar  commits  bur- 
glarly,  the  murderer  murders,  the  pickpocket  "dips,"  the  over- 
tempted  bank  cashier  loots.  The  counterfeiter  does  not  rob 
the  till,  nor  does  the  burglar  do  shop-lifting.  The  murderer 
does  not  commit  burglary,  nor  does  the  burglar  commit  mur- 
der, except  of  course  in  what  he  calls  self-defense,  but  he 
never  undertakes  a  professional  enterprise  intending  to  do  a 
murder,  with  murder  in  his  heart.  So,  too,  the  burglar  has  his 
own  technique,  like  the  murderer  he  has  his  own  ways,  and 
ways  from  which  he  seldom  departs.  The  coiner  never  makes 
bank  notes,  the  engraver  never  issues  his  own  coinage,  the 
poisoner  never  uses  violence,  and  a  murderous  assault  is  never 
made  by  an  habitual  poisoner.  Each  of  his  own  trade  and 
craft. 

Let  us  take  these  doctrines  to  heart.  The  book  thief  is  not 
a  murderer,  though  to  be  sure  I  have  in  my  office  a  few  books 
taken  from  one  of  the  most  interesting  murderers  of  recent 
times,  all  stolen  from  public  libraries  It  is  exceedingly  rare, 
however,  for  the  police  to  find  a  stolen  library  book  in  the 
home  of  a  criminal,  however  well  educated,  and  so  we  can 
say  that  defaulting  bank  cashiers,  counterfeiters,  burglars,  shop- 
lifters, and  the  convict  class  in  general  are  not  book  thieves. 
Their  temptation  to  steal  books  is  not  great,— or  in  the  technical 
language  of  physics,  the  "breaking  strain"  in  the  presence  of 
the  temptation  is  very  high.  They  simply  do  not  do  it. 

The  question  is  frequently  asked:  "Why  are  library  books 
stolen?"  Library  books  are  stolen  from  two  main  causes,  to 
be  sold,  and  in  order  that  the  thief  may  possess  the  property. 
The  selling  book  thief  rarely  retains  his  stealings,  and  the 
possessing  thief  never  steals  to  sell.  The  selling  thief  may 
retain  a  few  volumes  in  his  possession  until  such  time  as  they 
can  conveniently  be  sold,  but  he  does  not  steal  in  order  to 
acquire  the  volume.  So,  too,  the  possessing  thief  may  some- 
times part  with  a  stolen  volume  for  a  consideration,  but  he  did 
not  have  that  idea  in  mind  when  he  stole  the  volume.  When 
investigating  book  thefts  in  the  future  it  will  be  well  to  bear 
these  facts,  hardly  theories,  in  mind. 

Men  steal  books  to  sell  to  the  second-hand  dealers  and  to  pri- 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM        557 

vate  purchasers  A  proper  understanding  may  be  established 
between  the  second-hand  dealers  and  the  library,  and  is  so  estab- 
lished in  New  York,  which  tends  to  discourage  attempts  at 
larceny  for  the  second-hand  market.  Indeed  this  market  no 
longer  gives  trouble,  but  a  constant  oversight  is  necessary  to 
see  that  this  very  desirable  condition  is  maintained.  The  thief 
who  steals  for  the  private  purchaser  is  rare,  and  is  difficult  to 
guard  against.  This  class  would  include  those  who  steal  rare 
books  to  sell  after  having  had  the  bindings  changed,  marks 
of  identification  removed  and  perhaps  the  substitution  of  fresh 
clean  pages  for  those  that  had  been  marked  by  the  library  with 
suitable  stamps  for  identification  purposes.  Against  this  thief 
there  can  be  but  little  protection,  but  the  great  God  of  Chance 
has  ever  been  his  enemy  and  on  the  side  of  the  library,  or  at 
least  when  he  has  been  caught,  it  has  mainly  been  by  chance- 
delightful  accidents 

We  come  now  to  the  real  problem,  the  person  who  steals 
in  order  to  possess  a  given  book. 

Just  as  all  men  are  truly  potential  criminals,  so  all  persons 
who  use  a  library  are  potential  book  thieves.  Library  book 
thieves  are  persons  who  have  the  desire  for  books,  otherwise 
they  would  not  be  using  a  library.  Likewise,  those  who  use 
the  library  have  the  opportunity  to  steal.  A  library  therefore 
is  a  place  to  which  large  numbers  of  people  resort  who  need 
books,  and  who  have  almost  unlimited  opportunity  to  steal  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  the  breaking  strain  of  temptation  is  low 
in  this  carefully  selected  group  of  the  community? 

And  now  note  a  curious  observation.  The  breaking  strain 
amongst  library  frequenters  is  reasonably  high  so  long  as  a 
given  book  or  a  given  class  of  books  may  be  borrowed,  but  if 
an  obstacle  is  placed  in  the  way  of  borrower,  there  is  a  resulting 
lowering  of  the  breaking  point.  In  practice  we  find  that  refer- 
ence books  which  are  not  subject  to  loan  for  home  use  are 
seldom  stolen  by  ordinary  readers  if  the  books  themselves  can 
be  purchased.  Indeed,  the  excuse  has  been  given  so  many 
times, — "I  needed  the  books  and  tried  to  buy  them  before  I 
took  these"  that  I  rarely  question  the  honesty  of  the  state- 
ment. So  too,  having  found  in  the  home  of  the  thief  the  kind 
of  books  that  he  "needed"  it  is  as  a  rule  a  waste  of  time  to 
look  for  others  of  different  subjects  or  authors.  The  man  who 


558  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

steals  early  American  drama  is  not  as  a  rule  tempted  by  the 
latest  book  on  the  gas  engine.  The  practical  use  of  this  theory 
is  to  observe  the  students  of  drama  when  volumes  of  this  class 
are  being  missed  and  not  to  concern  oneself  with  the  burden  of 
a  constant  watch  on  everyone  who  might  have  opportunity  to 
steal  from  subjects  of  quite  a  different  nature. 

In  August  1914  when  on  a  vacation,  ill,  and  facing  rather 
a  poor  chance  of  seeing  my  office  again,  I  sent  for  all  of  my 
book  thief  records 

I  tabulated  every  known  fact— age,  color,  race,  occupation, 
education,  etc,  but  with  no  result.  Then  I  tabulated,  not  by 
fact,  but  by  speculation,  by  my  own  opinion,  as  to  whether  a 
person  "looked"  honest,  by  the  probable  future  careers  and  in 
other  amusing  and  useless  ways,  even  as  to  planetary  influence 
at  birth,  but  likewise  with  no  result  Then  I  tried  to  connect 
the  various  losses  caused  by  the  thieves  under  analysis  with  the 
history  of  the  connection  existing  between  the  library  and  the 
thief.  Among  other  things,  I  recorded  the  amount  of  the  fines 
which  the  thief  owed  at  the  time  of  his  stealing.  Here  was  the 
surprise:  I  found  in  every  case  of  larceny  of  books  that  were 
subject  to  loan  for  home  use  that  the  thief  owed  a  fine  for  a 
greater  or  less  amount  Owing  a  fine,  the  card  had  been  with- 
held; he  was  not  permitted  to  borrow  books  until  the  fine  was 
paid  The  fact  that  he  owed  a  fine  did  not  in  the  least  make 
him  desire  books  the  less, — that  which  was  denied  was  of 
magnified  value,  and  so  he  stole. 

The  reasonableness  of  the  fine,  or  its  amount,  or  the  eco- 
nomic status  of  the  thief  has  no  bearing  on  the  fact,  which  is 
that  practically  all  cases  of  book  stealing  for  their  possession 
is,  as  I  am  in  the  habit  of  saying,  "based  on  a  fine."  That  type 
or  cast  of  mind  which  will  contract  a  fine  and  which  is  for 
various  reasons  or  causes  reluctant  to  pay  the  fine,  will  have  a 
very  low  point  of  breaking  strain  when  subjected  to  the  tempta- 
tion to  take  a  book  in  an  irregular  manner. 

The  reader  will  observe  that  I  have  characterized  the  re- 
moval of  the  book  as  "taking,"  and  so  too  does  the  thief  The 
history  of  a  normal  case  is  that  the  borrower  has  contracted 
a  fine,  which  remaining  unpaid,  loses  him  the  use  of  his  card. 
He  then  finds  a  book  that  he  desires— he  simply  must  have  it,  and 
so  he  thereupon  surreptitiously  borrows  the  hook,  and  often 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM        559 

returns  it  furtively  and  secretly.  He  then  continues  his  own 
method  of  borrowing.  Remember,  if  he  had  not  been  careless 
about  the  return  of  books  he  would  not  have  had  a  fine  to  face 
in  the  first  instance.  His  record  of  carelessness  continues— he 
neglects  to  return  the  informally  borrowed  book,  he  takes  an- 
other and  another.  In  the  course  of  time  he  finds  a  consider- 
able number  of  library  books  in  his  possession,  and  becomes 
alarmed  He  may  be  expected  to  pursue  certain  well  defined 
courses  of  action.  He  will  attempt  to  return  all,  or  nearly  all, 
of  the  books  anonymously,  by  mail,  express,  or  messenger,  will 
leave  a  package  of  stolen  books  in  a  park,  a  church,  a  subway 
train,  or  even  check  it  at  the  coat  room  of  the  library  itself 
and  fail  to  call  for  it  His  last  resort,  if  he  does  not  destroy 
the  books,  is  to  attempt  to  hide  the  fact  that  the  books  belong 
to  a  library  by  attempting  to  remove  all  marks  of  ownership, 
careless  in  other  things  he  is  careless  in  this;  in  fact  we  rarely 
find  marks  of  ownership  thoroughly  removed  from  a  given  lot. 
Indeed  one  of  the  title  pages  is  pretty  sure  to  be  intact,  or  some 
large  rubber  or  perforated  stamp  on  a  conspicuous  page  is  likely 
to  be  overlooked. 

We  may  draw  certain  lessons  from  the  caught  thief  He  is 
often  physically  defective  and  frequently  not  quite  balanced, 
and  sometimes  queer  enough  to  be  sent  to  a  hospital  for  the 
insane 

But  the  thief  who  has  just  been  discussed  is  not  the  only 
one  that  the  library  has  to  fear  He  mainly  steals  books  of 
no  great  value  from  the  circulation  department. 

There  is  a  class  of  persons  who  possess  a  craving  of  great 
intensity  but  of  very  restricted  scope  for  a  very  limited  class 
of  objects.  These  persons  may  be  grouped  under  the  general 
subject  head,  "Collectors."  The  craving  of  a  collector  to  pos- 
sess the  object  of  his  desires  becomes  so  intense  and  overmas- 
tering that  it  impels  him  to  act  in  defiance  of  general  moral 
restraint.  The  temptation  placed  upon  the  collector  of  a  given 
class  of  objects  far  exceeds  the  temptation  which  would  be 
felt  by  a  non-collector  of  that  class.  A  collector  of  books,  or 
of  any  special  kind  of  book,  is  subjected  to  real  and  unusual 
temptation  when  in  a  library.  The  librarian  may  well  be  on  his 
guard  against  all  collectors  and  take  especial  precaution  to  pro- 
tect the  books  and  manuscripts,  that  would  in  particular  appeal 
to  their  cupidity. 


56o  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

Collections  of  rare  books  of  all  kinds  are  subject  to  danger 
from  book  collectors.  It  is  impossible  to  discuss  this  subject 
confidentially  with  dealers  m  books  of  this  class  without  ac- 
quiring a  very  great  distrust  of  all  collectors.  Indeed,  it  is 
astonishing  to  hear  names  mentioned  in  connection  with  losses 
from  the  stocks  of  such  dealers,  and  to  hear  of  bills  that  have 
been  sent  to  well  known  citizens  and  paid  for  books  which 
they  had  stolen  from  a  dealer's  stock, 

Men  who  make  a  practice  of  collecting  and  selling  to  certain 
collectors,  who  in  a  way  act  as  a  collectors'  agent,  know  full 
well  which  of  their  clients  are  not  over  particular  in  examining 
a  book  to  see  if  it  bears  traces  of  library  ownership,  and  who 
care  not  in  the  least  how  a  book  was  obtained  if  they  lack  it  in 
their  collection  They  will  pay  the  price  and  ask  no  questions. 

A  collection  of  rare  books,  no  less  than  a  collection  of  fine 
gems,  is  likely  to  contain  specimens  which  have  a  history  of  lar- 
ceny, and  it  is  the  wise  librarian  who  takes  due  precaution  to 
see  that  his  books  do  not  drift  into  these  collections 

Much  more  might  be  said  on  the  general  subject  of  book 
stealing  from  children's  rooms.  Here  we  approach  a  field  and 
point  of  view  which  in  itself  seems  a  little  out  of  normal. 

The  fine  idealism  which  prompts  a  young  woman  to  devote 
a  portion  of  her  life  to  library  work  with  children  is  offended 
by  the  coarse  reality  of  larceny,  and  instinctively  she  turns  from 
the  subject  as  from  any  other  repulsive  incident  of  life.  Her 
inclination  is  to  draw  a  veil  over  unlovely  criminal  develop- 
ments in  her  room  She  feels  herself  smirched  by  the  contact, 
and  so  feels  a  tendency  to  evade  the  subject. 

This  analysis  is  not  intended  as  an  unsympathetic  criticism 
of  children's  librarians,  and  does  not  apply  to  all,  but  looking 
back  over  the  innumerable  cases  with  which  I  have  had  to  deal, 
I  confess  that  I  have  a  composite  picture  which  to  my  mind 
would  be  described  somewhat  as  above 

Children's  librarians  are  forced  by  their  statistics  to  admit 
that  their  readers  do  steal,  but  they  frequently  try  to  minimize 
the  fact,  or  try  to  palliate  it  to  themselves  in  various  ways. 
Theirs  often  seems  a  position  of  protection.  I  have  heard  it 
said  more  than  once,  "Oh,  he  did  not  mean  to  steal,  he  just 
didn't  have  his  card,  and  borrowed  the  book  without  speaking 
to  the  librarian." 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM         561 

There  seems  no  history  of  book  stealing  from  children's 
rooms  on  the  part  of  girls.  Practically  all  of  the  juvenile 
larcenies  are  committed  by  boys,  or  at  least  if  girls  do  steal  they 
are  too  clever  to  be  caught  The  known  juvenile  book  thief 
is  a  boy 

Children's  librarians  do  not  seem  to  realize  that  the  ques- 
tion of  taking  propejrty  is  always  in  the  small  boy's  mind.  The 
small  boy  is  thus  subjected  to  very  severe  temptation;  he  is 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  things  that  he  especially  wants — 
otherwise  he  would  not  be  in  the  room  at  all  He  is  of  course 
immature,  and  his  breaking  strain  is  low.  A  boy  who  would 
surreptitiously  borrow  a  book  from  a  children's  room,  and  who 
would  borrow  another  and  another  and  deface  them  all  to  hide 
their  source  is  by  no  means  at  heart  a  thief.  Rarely  do  boys 
steal  books  to  sell  and  rarely  are  boys  who  use  libraries  thieves 
No,  they  simply  •  wanted  the  book  in  the  first  instance  and 
"took"  it 

The  question  arises — "Why  did  he  take  it,  or  rather,  steal 
it,  if  he  could  borrow  it?"  The  answer  is  simply  that  he  did  not. 
A  boy  will  steal  a  book  that  he  cannot  otherwise  get,  rarely 
otherwise  A  boy  will  steal  a  book  because  the  author  is  popu- 
lar, and  the  books  are  seldom  on  the  shelves.  Librarians  are  all 
familiar  with  the  fact  that  a  boy  will  hide  a  book  in  the  library 
until  such  time  as  he  may  borrow  it  properly,  but  it  is  also 
true  that  the  boy  may  hide  the  book  in  his  own  home  because  it 
was  rare  and  scarce  at  the  library.  A  material  increase  in  the 
number  of  copies  of  a  given  work  will  result  in  a  decrease  in 
the  amount  of  stealing  of  that  work— the  temptation  has  been 
removed. 

Fines  play  a  large  part  in  the  causes  of  stealing  from  chil- 
dren's rooms,  Almost  every  boy  book  thief  has  a  fine  marked 
on  his  card.  A  curious  phase  is  the  book  stealing  done  by 
the  book  gangs  Every  little  while  we  hear  of  a  boy's  club 
where  the  weekly  or  monthly  dues  consist  of  one  stolen  library 
book,  to  be  added  to  the  common  fund.  The  latest  such  case 
with  which  I  have  had  to  deal  did  not  amount  to  very  much, 
but  its  name  was  interesting— "The  Blackmailers'  Club."  Upon 
careful  investigation  it  proved  a  very  tame  affair. 

The  theory  of  the  boy  book  thief  club  seems  to  be  that  the 
members  will  steal  the  books  and  lend  them  to  one  another, 


562  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

and  so  the  individual  members  can  have  a  greater  opportunity 
to  get  the  books  that  they  especially  desire.  In  one  case  with 
which  I  had  to  deal  I  found  that  the  boys  had  organized  an 
excellent  miniature  library,  even  to  labels  on  the  shelves  and  a 
fairly  good  form  of  charging  system,  with  fines  for  overdue 
books,  and  a  private  rubber  stamp  for  the  title  page. 

"My  boy  is  a  good  boy"  I  have  heard  from  distressed  parents 
so  often  and  so  very  many  times  that  I  am  forced  to  conclude 
that  good  boys  do  steal  books.  The  boy  is  good  m  many  ways, 
but  his  power  of  resistance  to  temptation  is  not  developed.  He 
does  not  reason  the  thing  out.  The  same  boy  would  not  steal 
from  a  silversmith  or  a  department  store.  He  readily  sees  the 
point  when  it  is  brought  to  his  attention. 

The  librarian  will  often  say,  "He  is  the  last  one  whom  I 
would  have  suspected."  He  is  in  fact  "a  good  boy"  who  has 
been  subjected  by  the  very  conditions  which  prevail  in  most 
children's  rooms  to  a  temptation  outside  of  his  normal  experi- 
ence in  the  world,  and  one  which  tends  in  a  peculiar  way  to  place 
upon  him  an  undue  stress. 

In  short,  the  responsibility  of  the  book  losses  from  the 
children's  rooms  is  a  burden  that  children's  librarians  must  bear 
in  a  far  greater  proportion  than  those  in  the  adult  departments. 
Too,  the  extent  of  losses  from  the  children's  rooms  may  be 
attributed  to  faulty  oversight  and  control  of  the  rooms  to  a 
much  greater  degree  than  is  the  case  with  adults  This  faulty 
oversight  is  often  caused  by  a  great  influx  of  children  during 
very  limited  periods  of  the  day,  to  the  "rush  hour."  The  re- 
sponsibility of  this  condition  rests  with  the  administration  rather 
than  with  the  children's  librarian. 

A  judge  of  a  large  juvenile  court  recently  said  to  me  that 
the  moral  responsibility  in  cases  of  boy  book  stealing  largely 
rested  upon  the  library.  A  complaint  clerk  in  another  juvenile 
court,  who  in  a  way  acts  as  a  minor  judge,  holds  almost  that 
a  public  library  should  be  a  co-defendant  in  a  juvenile  larceny 
trial,  in  that  the  library  largely  aided  and  abetted  in  the  steal- 
ing, by  an  almost  criminal  negligence  displayed  m  the  protection 
of  its  property. 

Here  it  may  be  an  opportune  point  to  deal  with  the  question 
of  the  convicted  juvenile  book  thief. 

In  general  I  dislike  exceedingly  to  prosecute  boys.     It  is, 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM        563 

as  a  rule,  I  believe,  very  bad  for  the  boy.  In  cases  where  a  boy 
has  stolen  one,  two,  or  three  books,  or  even  more,  I  would  not 
advocate  an  arrest  and  prosecution.  Usually  a  serious  talk 
in  a  private  office  with  the  parents  and  officer  or  detective  in 
the  case  will  have  a  very  marked  effect  upon  the  boy.  Let  a 
record  of  the  facts  of  the  case  be  made  in  the  boy's  presence 
and  let  him  be  told  calmly  but  effectively  that  the  library  will 
consider  this  case  as  a  first  offence,  and  will  give  him  another 
chance  and  place  him  on  parole.  Give  him  a  clear  understand- 
ing that  the  present  case  will  be  used  against  him  if  he  gets 
into  any  further  trouble,  and  it  is  unlikely  that  the  library  or 
the  police  department  will  have  further  trouble  with  that  par- 
ticular boy.  The  boy  will  not  have  the  excitement  and  almost 
glory  of  an  arrest;  he  will  weep  and  eat  large  slices  of  humble 
pie. 

In  more  serious  cases  where  a  boy  has  systematically  stolen 
and  sold  books,  or  where  he  was  a  part  of  a  small  organized 
club,  whose  object  was  to  steal  library  books,  it  seems  desirable 
to  let  the  parole  come  from  a  properly  constituted  court.  It  is 
very  effective  to  have  a  judge  explain  to  eight  or  ten  boys, 
whose  assembled  parents,  lawyers,  cousins,  friends,  character 
witnesses,  and  brothers  and  sisters  form  a  large  and  interested 
audience,  that  book  stealing  from  the  library  is  not  fair  to  the 
other  fellow,  and  from  that  position  go  on  to  the  more  serious 
aspects  of  larceny.  The  boys  are  then  placed  on  parole  for  six 
months  and  required  to  report  at  stated  intervals  to  a  probation 
officer. 

In  still  more  serious  cases  where  boys  have  previous  crimi- 
nal records,  or  where  the  report  of  the  criminal  officer  indi- 
cates its  desirability,  the  boy  must  be  committed  to  some  institu- 
tion for  juvenile  criminals.  Many  police  officers  regard  in- 
stitutions of  the  kind  as  high  schools  of  crime.  In  practice,  I 
hope  no  librarian  will  suggest  or  recommend  such  a  commit- 
ment unless  all  of  the  facts  of  the  case  fully  justify  a  course 
which  is  sure  to  be  one  of  very  real  and  great  danger  to  the 
boy. 

Librarians  steal  books.  It  is  rare  for  a  librarian  to  steal 
books,  but  book  stealing  by  library  employees  is  not  at  all  rare. 
Library  employees  are  more  inclined  to  steal  books  for  their 
own  use  than  to  steal  to  sell.  Just  as  the  courts  are  inclined 


564  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

to  regard  the  employee  who  steals  from  his  master's  stock  for 
his  own  financial  gain  as  a  criminal,  so  they  regard  the  li- 
brary employee  who  also  steals  to  sell.  One  who  steals  be- 
cause of  his  interest  in  the  books  themselves  is  regarded  as  a 
wayward  and  misguided  person  who  must  be  shielded  from  the 
full  force  of  his  own  acts.  While  the  vendor  therefore  goes  to 
jail,  the  other  goes  on  probation  and  parole. 

Having  now  considered  some  of  the  temptations  which  lead 
to  the  stealing  of  books  from  libraries  we  may  properly  devote 
some  attention  to  the  sister  of  Temptation— Opportunity. 

The  twin  sisters  of  Opportunity  and  Temptation,  Hand- 
maidens of  Evil,  combined  always,  ne\er  alone,  lead  to  crime, 
make  the  criminal.  It  is  obvious  that  with  either  absent  there 
could  be  no  crime.  It  is  not  the  shape  of  a  man's  head  which 
makes  a  criminal,  nor  is  it  his  early  environment,  but  it  is  the 
twin  sisters,  Opportunity  and  Temptation,  and  nothing  else. 

The  librarian  more  than  any  other  class  has  both  opportunity 
and  temptation.  Yet,  because  the  breaking  strain  in  the  edu- 
cated and  cultivated  librarian  is  high,  he  rarely  yields 

As  this  paper  is  not  intended  to  be  a  guide  to  the  art  of 
book  stealing  I  will  not  name  or  suggest  the  opportunities  open 
to  a  librarian.  The  higher  rank  a  librarian  attains  the  greater 
are  his  opportunities  as  to  amounts  and  values,  and  the  more 
numerous  are  his  possibilities. 

There  is  an  insidious  form  of  temptation  to  which  some 
librarians  inadvertently  render  themselves  liable.  A  certain 
number  of  librarians,  stimulated  by  a  real  and  genuine  interest 
in  their  own  special  subjects,  or  forced  by  economic  pressure, 
make  private  collections  on  their  own  accounts.  In  the  course 
of  time  a  librarian  who  has  formed  such  a  collection  will  sell 
the  entire  lot  at  private  sale  or  at  auction,  or  sell  in  some  such 
way  a  greater  or  less  number  of  odd  volumes,  duplicates,  and 
the  like.  Up  to  the  present  time  librarians  have  not  considered 
this  unprofessional  conduct.  Book  dealers,  however,  appreciate 
the  danger  of  this  course,  and  they  do  not  ordinarily  permit 
an  employee  to  buy  and  sell  on  his  own  account.  One  who 
collects  for  himself,  usually  with  some  idea  of  financial  gain, 
and  who  is  at  the  same  time  collecting  for  his  library  must  often 
be  obliged  to  choose  whether  his  own  private  collection  shall  be 
enriched  by  a  given  purchase  or  whether  it  shall  go  to  his  li- 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM         5&5 

brary.  It  is  but  human  nature  that  personal  interests  will  tempt 
an  oversight  of  professional  duties,  in  a  certain  proportion  of 
instances  it  is  his  own  collection  that  will  profit,  and  yet  he  is 
paid  to  use  his  best  efforts  on  behalf  of  his  library.  In  the 
disposal  of  duplicates  from  his  library  it  is  only  natural  that 
he  gives  himself  prior  choice,  and  he  fixes  the  price.  A  libra- 
rian who  buys  and  sells  on  his  own  account  has  an  easy  and 
familiar  method  of  disposal,  his  opportunities  of  selling  books 
Stolen  from  the  library  of  which  he  has  charge  are  far  greater 
than  those  of  a  librarian  with  no  such  familiarity  with  the  mar- 
ket, and  where  opportunity  is  greater,  temptation  is  also  greater. 

No  chief  librarian  should  permit  himself  to  feel  at  ease  if 
he  has  an  employee  who  deals  in  books.  No  board  of  trustees 
should  view  with  anything  but  strong  disapproval  a  chief  li- 
brarian who  sells  books  on  his  own  account  and  sells  his  library 
books,  especially  where  the  sales  are  made  to  the  same  dealers. 

However  great  temptation  may  be,  there  can  be  no  stealing 
unless  there  is  opportunity.  Everyone  who  enters  a  library  has 
the  opportunity  to  steal  with  greater  or  less  facility,  depending 
upon  the  administration  of  the  library. 

Admission  to  stacks  creates  invaluable  opportunity.  Open 
shelves,  especially  in  alcoves  of  which  the  librarian  has  little 
or  no  oversight,  are  very  tempting  to  the  biblioklept  A  library 
is  apt  to  find  many  of  its  losses  in  inventory  from  shelves  of 
which  there  is  poor  oversight,  regardless  of  the  subject  classifi- 
cation on  those  shelves.  If  there  have  been  heavy  losses  in 
fine  and  useful  arts  from  unguarded  shelves,  and  the  following 
year  these  subjects  are  moved  to  a  better  guarded  location,  and 
the  space  formerly  thus  occupied  filled  with  out-of-date  books 
on  religion,  then  the  next  inventory  will  certainly  show  an  in- 
crease in  the  per  cent  of  losses  in  the  religious  books  and  a  de- 
crease in  the  per  cent  of  losses  in  the  fine  and  useful  arts. 

Poor  and  negligent  assistants  create  opportunity.  The  book 
thief  watches  the  staff.  The  alert  assistant  who  is  aware  of  all 
that  takes  place  in  the  room,  and  who  is  ever  watchful  to  see 
that  the  best  of  service  is  rendered  to  readers  is  the  chief  foe 
of  the  book  thief.  Next  in  danger  to  the  unwatchful  assistant 
is  the  crowded  and  congested  condition  of  the  room,  which 
must  divert  the  attention  of  even  the  most  reliable  of  librarians. 
No  librarian  can  be  blamed  for  a  single  theft  from  his  li- 


566  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

brary,  but  every  librarian  is  directly  and  personally  respon- 
sible for  the  rate  of  loss.  This  is  a  hard,  not  to  say  harsh, 
saying,  but  I  believe  it  can  be  demonstrated  as  true.  It  is 
customary  to  ask  of  a  library  how  many  volumes  it  loses  a  year 
by  theft,  and  what  the  percentage  of  loss  is  annually,  based  on 
the  number  of  volumes  circulated,  or  in  stock  In  any  inquiry 
on  book  losses  this  is  the  most  commonplace  of  questions.  The 
question  is,  I  am  convinced,  entirely  wrong.  The  question 
should  be  "What  is  the  rate  of  loss  annually  under  the  admin-' 
istration  of  the  librarian,  as  compared  to  the  loss  under  previous 
administrations?"  I  have  been  startled  to  watch  the  rate  of 
losses  vary  with  administrations.  A  librarian  with  a  low  rate 
of  loss  who  goes  to  a  library  with  a  high  rate  will  at  the  end 
of  a  year  or  two  be  obliged  to  report  a  decrease  in  the  rate. 
So,  too,  a  librarian  whose  history  shows  a  high  rate  of  loss  will 
go  to  a  library  vacated  by  the  low  rate  librarian  and  at  once 
the  rate  of  losses  will  increase. 

This  theory  has  not  been  mathematically  proved,  but  it  is 
based  upon  an  unusually  wide  opportunity  for  observation  and 
it  really  seems  only  common  sense  that  the  probabilities  are  in 
favor  of  its  truth. 

In  short,  it  is  not  the  book  itself,  but  the  lack  of  the  book, 
or  obstacles  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  use  of  the  book,  which 
cause  temptation,  and  opportunity  is  given  both  by  the  physical 
construction  of  the  room,  the  arrangement  of  the  shelves,  and 
the  lack  of  a  constant,  alert,  oversight  and  control. 

The  method  of  stealing  is  a  subject  of  great  interest  to  the 
librarian  There  is  very  little  variety  in  the  principles  of 
method.  Usually  the  thief  tries  to  conceal  the  book  in  some 
way,  or  to  divert  attention  of  the  librarian,  or  both.  Boys  place 
books  under  their  blouses,  down  into  their  trousers  beneath  the 
belt,  or  conceal  them  in  a  package  of  school  books.  The  adult 
amateur  thief  will  carry  away  a  book  in  his  overcoat  pocket, 
under  his  coat,  with  the  book  under  the  armpit,  or  folded  up 
in  a  newspaper.  The  professional  book  thief  is  able  to  carry 
away  quite  a  large  volume  under  his  overcoat  by  holding  it  in 
under  the  palm  of  his  hand,  pressed  against  the  leg,  with  a  news- 
paper or  umbrella  under  the  arm,  but  on  the  outside  of  the  coat. 
In  this  position,  the  thief,  to  cover  a  certain  awkwardness, 
will  walk  slowly,  stop  to  look  at  a  bulletin  board,  or  even  chat 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM        567 

with  the  librarian  or  ask  a  question.  These  are  the  usual  ways. 
In  special  cases  thieves  have  resorted  to  various  expedients, 
even  to  the  substitution  of  a  dummy  book,  pasting  a  worthless 
unbound  volume  in  the  covers,  and  leaving  the  result  of  the 
handiwork  on  a  table,  or  they  have  even  been  known  to  return 
it  to  the  delivery  desk  in  this  condition.  Books  are  sometimes 
placed  in  hand  bags  and  one  thief  of  great  activity  and  genuine 
ability  brought  wrapping  paper  and  twine,  tied  up  his  bundles 
and  departed.  Usually  books  are  only  stolen  one  at  a  time, 
secreted  in  the  clothing.  Boys  sometimes  divert  the  librarian's 
attention  while  another  boy  carries  away  a  book  too  large  to 
conceal. 

Books  are  sometimes  taken  from  a  library  with  intent  to 
deprive  the  library  of  their  use,  but  with  the  full  knowledge 
and  consent  of  the  librarian  as  regards  the  renewal  of  the 
books.  In  other  words,  books  are  sometimes  stolen  by  resort- 
ing to  fraud  rather  than  to  sly,  stealthy,  and  furtive  methods. 
The  most  simple  method  of  fraud  is  changing  the  number  on 
the  borrower's  card,  such  as  the  altering  of  7191  to  7794.  This 
fraud  is  sometimes  easy  to  detect  when  the  books  become  over- 
due if  the  possibility  of  it  is  in  mind.  A  difficult  problem  to 
solve  is  that  which  arises  when  a  person  steals  the  card  belong- 
ing to  another  and  changes  its  number.  Fortunately  attempts 
of  this  kind  are  not  frequent. 

The  courts  will  entertain  a  charge  of  larceny  against  per- 
sons who  have  acquired  books  by  presenting  borrowed  cards, 
which  have  been  found,  stolen,  or  altered,  or  which  have  been 
issued  in  a  false  name  or  to  a  wrong  address. 

In  dealing  with  cases  involving  false  names  or  fictitious 
addresses  my  own  position  is  that  such  use  itself  is  presumptive 
evidence  of  attempt  at  fraud. 

False  names,  or  names  slightly  changed,  are  used  by  per- 
sons who  owe  fines,  and  as  such  use  clearly  shows  fraudulent 
intent,  those  who  make  the  attempt  are  denied  the  use  of  the 
library.  People  who  change  their  names  properly  and  honestly 
rarely  owe  fines  and  can  always  show  good  cause  for  such 
changes.  In  default  of  good  cause,  and  when  the  name  is  only 
changed  so  as  to  effect  a  relationship  with  the  library,  fraud 
is  clearly  intended. 

Prosecution  of  book  thieves  appears  to  be  a  matter  which 


568  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

has  given  librarians  much  trouble.  Librarians  often  complain 
that  they  can  receive  little  or  no  satisfaction  in  the  courts. 

In  order  successfully  to  prosecute  a  case  or  a  number  of 
cases  involving  larceny,  it  is  necessary  to  understand  something 
of  court  proceeding,  of  the  law,  and  o£  the  nature  of  evidence 

Larceny  may  be  briefly  defined  as  the  taking  of  property 
with  intent  to  deprive  the  owner  of  its  use.  Unauthorized  pos- 
session of  property  does  not  constitute  larceny.  Possession 
of  stolen  property  is  not  in  itself  a  crime  The  taking  of  an- 
other's property  is  not  necessarily  larceny.  The  complainant 
must  not  only  prove  his  ownership  and  the  taking  thereof,  but 
also  the  intent  A  library  is  especially  organized  to  enable  a 
person  to  take  its  property— to  lend  Having  lent  a  book,  the 
librarian  knows  that  the  book  is  sometimes  lost  and  the  library 
is  recompensed  for  its  loss  by  a  cash  payment.  The  book  then 
virtually  becomes  the  property  of  the  borrower,  and  when  found 
by  this  borrower,  he  frequently  removes  marks  of  ownership, 
as  probably  is  his  right.  The  possession,  therefore,  of  a  library 
book,  or  of  several  books  from  which  marks  of  ownership 
have  been  removed,  is  no  proof  of  larceny  and  is  no  crime 
People  sometimes  inadvertently  carry  away  books  without  the 
formality  of  having  them  charged,  and  since  there  was  no  wrong 
intent  involved,  no  crime  could  have  been  committed.  All  li- 
brarians know  that  perfectly  respectable  people,  often  old  ladies 
of  good  standing,  borrow  books  surreptitiously  and  do  so  sys- 
tematically, returning  the  books  so  borrowed  from  time  to  time. 
It  is  a  bad  habit  to  which  old  ladies  resort  to  obtain  more  novels 
at  one  time  than  the  rules  allow. 

All  of  these  facts  must  be  taken  into  consideration  by  the 
librarian  before  making  or  causing  an  arrest.  If  there  is  any 
element  of  doubt  whatsoever,  no  arrest  should  be  made,  and  no 
arrest  should  ever  be  made  until  a  careful  investigation  has 
definitely  removed  every  element  of  doubt. 

A  book  thief  is  seldom  arrested  where  but  one  volume  is 
involved.  If  there  are  several  stolen  volumes  it  is  necessary 
to  prove  that  the  stealing  all  occurred  at  one  time,  or  if  this 
cannot  be  done,  then  each  volume  must  be  regarded  as  stolen 
separately,  constituting  a  different  crime  in  each  case,  or  a 
series  of  crimes.  A  pile  of  books  which  have  been  recovered 
from  a  book  thief  may  contain  some  that  were  stolen  so  long 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM         569 

ago  that  the  crime  has  become  outlawed  by  statute,  or  may 
contain  some  that  were  lost  and  paid  for,  or  that  had  been  pur- 
chased from  a  book  store,  or  found  on  a  trolley  car  or  in  the 
park,  or  even  inherited  from  a  deceased  maiden  aunt. 

The  librarian  must  try  the  case  thoroughly  in  his  own  office; 
he  must  select  one  book  from  the  pile  and  base  his  complaint 
on  that  one  book,  and  on  that  one  book  his  case  must  stand 
or  fall. 

In  practice,  it  is  necessary  to  prove  ownership,  to  prove  that 
the  defendant  did  have  the  opportunity  to  steal  that  book,  and 
to  prove  that  it  was  stolen  on  or  about  a  certain  date  and  taken 
with  intent  to  deprive  the  library  of  its  use. 

Ownership  can  be  proved  by  placing  other  books  from  the 
library  in  evidence  and  comparing  methods  of  preparation,  the 
location  of  marks  of  ownership,  or  if  the  marks  have  been  re- 
moved, by  the  fact  that  erasures  correspond  in  shape,  size,  and 
position  with  acknowledged  marks  in  other  books.  If  the  ac- 
cession number  has  not  been  removed  the  accession  records  may 
be  placed  in  evidence.  In  a  well  conducted  trial  it  is  necessary 
to  prove  not  only  that  the  library  did  possess  a  copy  of  the  title 
in  question,  but  that  the  copy  proved  to  have  been  possessed 
is  missing  and  cannot  be  found  after  a  diligent  search,  and  that 
the  volume  offered  in  evidence  is  the  actual  missing  property 
of  the  library  without  any  doubt 

Opportunity  may  be  proved  either  by  having  the  defendant 
identified  as  having  been  seen  in  the  library,  or  by  some  library 
record  which  shows  that  he  had  used"  the  library  in  some  way, 
usually  by  a  signed  application  blank 

The  intent  in  a  thief's  mind  cannot  be  seen  or  felt  It  is  an 
intangible  element.  But  we  may  infer  intent.  If  a  person  who 
is  known  to  have  used  the  library,  is  found  to  have  several  or 
a  considerable  number  of  books  in  his  possession  of  which  he 
cannot  give  a  satisfactory  account,  and  if  some  or  all  of  these 
books  have  been  defaced  in  such  a  way  as  to  cause  their  owner- 
ship not  to  be  readily  apparent,  if  book  plates  have  been  re- 
moved, rubber  stamps  erased,  perforated  or  embossed  stamps 
cut  out  or  pasted  over,  we  may  infer  that  the  person  who  did 
the  work  did  not  intend  that  they  should  be  returned  to  the 
library  in  that  condition,  and  thus  we  may  in  such  a  case  infer 
the  intent  to  deprive  the  true  owner  of  the  use  and  benefit 


570  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

thereof.     Intent  may  frequently  be  inferred  in  other  circum- 
stances, but  the  above  is  the  ordinary  development. 

It  is  not  sufficient  for  the  defendant  to  say  that  he  had  pur- 
chased the  books  from  some  person  whose  name  he  does  not 
remember,  or  who  is  dead,  or  who  is  in  Canada,  or  that  he 
found  them  in  some  place,  such  as  in  his  apartment  when  he 
moved  In,  or  in  the  cellar  of  an  apartment  house.  He  must 
offer  some  evidence  to  this  effect,  or  some  testimony  in  cor- 
roboration  of  his  own  statement  The  judges  have  heard  similar 
stories  many  times  and  habitually  disregard  such  a  claim  when 
not  well  supported. 

Unless  a  librarian  can  prove  to  his  own  satisfaction  accord- 
ing to  the  above  principles  that  the  person  concerned  is  guilty, 
it  is  useless  to  make  the  arrest  with  the  hope  that  the  prose- 
cuting attorney  can  prove  it  in  court. 

Not  only  is  it  useless  but  it  is  dangerous.  A  gross  injustice 
may  be  done  to  the  defendant  and  his  family,  and  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  the  library  or  the  librarian  personally  will  be  in- 
volved in  a  highly  disagreeable  damage  suit  in  the  civil  courts. 

In  many  cases  it  is  unnecessary  to  prove  anything  at  all  in 
court  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  defendant  will  plead  guilty. 
But  the  librarian  must  remember  always  that  an  admission  of 
guilt  under  great  stress  in  the  librarian's  private  office  was  not 
made  under  oath,  and  even  if  the  plea  of  guilty  was  entered  in 
the  court  of  the  first  instance,  when  the  case  comes  up  for  trial 
the  defendant  has  a  right  to  change  his  plea,  and  as  a  matter 
of  fact  frequently  does  so.  The  burden  of  the  proof  is  on 
the  complaining  witness,  and  unless  he  can  prove  all  the  facts 
as  alleged  in  his  complaint,  it  is  far  wiser  to  refrain  from  ar- 
rest No  matter  how  exasperating  a  case  may  be,  an  arrest 
should  not  be  made  unless  proof  is  reasonably  adequate.  In 
one  case  a  thief  said  to  me,  "Sure,  I  stole  the  books,  and  a  lot 
more  that  I  sold.  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?  You 
cannot  prove  it.  I  don't  mind  admitting  it  to  you  here,  but  I 
will  plead  not  guilty'  in  court.  You  know  I  stole  the  books  all 
right  enough,  but  you  can  not  prove  it"  We  had  a  friendly 
conversation  on  the  general  subject  but  beyond  showing  the 

m       betne         "  ^  **  **«*  *™  ™  ""***  *« 
The  facts  of  each  case  must  be  taken  into  consideration  and 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM        S7i 

the  librarian  must  be  on  his  guard  against  undue  zeal  in  his 
interpretation  of  facts.  There  must  be  some  feature  in  every 
case  of  larceny  from  which  a  criminal  intent  may  be  inferred 
or  the  case  can  not  be  prosecuted  successfully 

After  conviction  the  librarian  is  frequently  consulted  by  the 
judge  as  to  a  suitable  sentence.  In  cases  involving  first  con- 
victions I  personally  am  inclined  to  recommend  probation  and 
parole  unless  there  has  been  a  long  series  of  offenses  com- 
mitted by  a  mature  and  normal  adult,  and  here  I  usually  oppose 
parole  and  plead  for  a  prison  sentence,  generally  with  success 

The  librarian  who  goes  to  court  with  a  case  properly  pre- 
pared will  never,  according  to  my  own  experience,  receive  any- 
thing but  courtesy  and  consideration,  and  will  be  almost  certain 
of  obtaining  a  conviction.  The  librarian  who  goes  to  court  with 
a  case  lacking  in  essential  evidence  and  testimony,  and  clouded 
by  very  evident  animus,  is  apt  to  find  that  he  is  himeslf  placed 
on  the  defensive  and  even  if  his  case  is  finally  proved  he  is 
likely  to  have  a  most  humiliating  and  disagreeable  experience. 

In  proceeding  with  a  case  of  book  stealing  the  librarian 
should  have  strongly  in  mind  his  eventual  testimony  in  the  wit- 
ness chair.  He  must  obtain  exact  facts  that  can  be  verified, 
exclude  hearsay  testimony  in  his  office  and  be  ready  to  place 
his  witnesses  on  the  stand  to  tell  under  oath  everything  per- 
sonally known  to  each.  They  must  avoid  hearsay  evidence  and 
surmise,  and  the  recital  of  facts  must  be  given  in  such  a  way 
that  it  will  weave  a  story  which  can  not  be  denied. 

Book  losses  are  due,  not  to  many  thieves,  but  to  many  books 
being  stolen  by  comparatively  few  thieves.  There  is  comfort 
in  this  thought  for  it  means  that  not  everyone  who  enters  the 
library  seeks  to  steal.  The  book  thief  is  the  exceptional  visitor. 
It  is  worth  time  and  trouble  and  expense  to  eliminate  this 
visitor. 

As  Dr.  Mercier  states:  "The  prevention  of  crime,  like  the 
prevention  of  anything  else,  can  be  effected  only  by  attacking 
its  causes,"  but  before  the  cause  is  attacked  it  must  be  isolated 
and  identified  Dr.  Mercier  goes  on  to  say,  "My  opinion,  as 
I  have  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  is  that  crime  is  a  function 
of  two  variables,  viz.,  a  certain  temptable  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  person  who  commits  crime,  and  the  temptation  to 
which  he  is  subjected;  and  the  more  of  one  of  these  factors 


572  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

that  is  present,  the  less  of  the  other  is  needed  to  bring  about 
the  result  In  short,  crime  is  due  to  temptation  offered  to  tem- 
perament. This  being  so,  crime  is  to  be  diminished,  if  at  all, 
by  diminishing  temptation,  including  opportunity,  and  by  modi- 
fying temperament.  .  .  .  Something  can  be  done  even  to  di- 
mmish temptation.  Those  who  carelessly  leave  temptation  in 
the  way  of  others — as,  for  instance,  shopmen  who  leave  their 
wares  unwatched  .  .  .  might  be  punished  for  doing  so  They 
become  in  fact  accessories  to  crime  .  .  ." 

Severity  of  punishment  has  little  to  do  with  the  prevention 
of  crime.  Larceny  was  probably  more  frequent  when  it  was 
punishable  with  death  than  now.  Certainty  of  punishment  is 
more  effective.  The  more  certainty  that  book  stealing  will 
be  punished,  the  less  stealing  there  will  be.  A  library  there- 
fore should  prosecute  every  individual  case  that  can  be  prose- 
cuted. Criminals  are  deterred  by  the  certainty  rather  than  the 
sexerity  of  punishment.  Books  will  not  be  stolen  if  the  poten- 
tial thief  can  be  made  to  believe  that  it  is  not  worth  while. 

I  do  not  believe  that  it  will  ever  be  possible  to  stop  book 
stealing  from  large  public  or  semi-public  libraries.  I  do  firmly 
believe  that  good  library  service  on  the  part  of  librarians,  the 
removal  of  temptation  as  far  as  it  may  be  possible,  and  the 
study  and  elimination  of  opportunity  will  tend  in  a  large  meas- 
ure to  diminish  losses. 

Much  may  be  said  on  the  subject  of  the  detection  of  the 
book  thief,  but  this  subject  is  in  itself  one  of  so  highly  a  spe- 
cialized nature  that  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  treat  of  it  briefly 

Crime  of  all  kinds  is  highly  specialized.  In  other  phases 
of  life  where  crime  is  more  or  less  frequent  it  is  found  that 
men  who  have  devoted  time  and  thought  to  the  matter  have 
also  become  highly  specialized.  In  the  police  department  such 
men  are  called  detectives,  but  in  other  ranks  of  life  they  re- 
ceive different  titles;  for  example  we  have  the  handwriting 
expert  against  the  forger,  and  the  Examiner  of  Questioned 
Documents  for  commercial  and  legal  cases.  The  clinical  labora- 
tories supply  experts  of  various  kinds  to  consider  causes  of 
death,  insurance  companies  employ  adjusters  and  investigators 
These  men  are  all  detectives  pure  and  simple.  Their  business 
is^both  to  discover  whether  or  not  a  crime  has  been  com- 
mitted, and  if  possible,  the  criminal. 


BOOK  LARCENY  PRQBLEM        573 

The  ordinary  police  detective  usually  becomes  such  because 
he  has  been  successful  with  his  treatment  of  ordinary  police 
cases,  of  which  he  has  acquired  a  general  knowledge  But 
special  crime  is  not  ordinary  crime.  One  who  undertakes  an 
inquiry  in  a  case  of  specialized  crime  must  have  experience 
and  background  which  will  enable  him  to  prosecute  his  inquiry. 
This  is  well  recognized  in  all  police  work,  for  we  find  men  in 
all  large  departments  who  have  specialized  in  their  craft.  We 
find  for  example  the  Bomb  Squad,  the  Pickpocket  Squad,  the 
Narcotic  Squad,  and  so  on  The  Narcotic  Squad  knows  nothing 
at  all  of  the  work  of  the  Bomb  Squad. 

Book  stealing  from  libraries  is  a  specialized  crime,  but  not 
of  sufficient  gravity  to  warrant  the  establishment  of  a  Book 
Thief  Squad.  Police  officers  who  are  assigned  to  special  squads 
usually  have  some  special  knowledge,  experience  or  acquaintance 
which  will  make  them  of  value  to  the  particular  squads  to 
which  they  are  assigned.  In  other  words,  a  detective  must 
have  some  special  training  to  fit  him  to  work  on  highly  special- 
ized cases 

In  library  practice  it  was  found  unsatisfactory  to  call  upon 
either  police  or  private  detectives  in  cases  of  book  theft.  It 
was  found  that  they  were  unsuitable.  The  average  officer  has 
little  or  no  knowledge  of  the  field  in  which  the  book  thief 
operates. 

A  library  which  suffers  from  the  book  thief  must  assign  a 
member  of  its  own  staff  to  inquire  into  cases  of  book  theft. 

The  librarian  who  undertakes  the  most  unpleasant  task  of 
discovering  and  prosecuting  book  thieves  must  learn  to  look 
upon  his  work  as  one  of  constructive  librarianship. 

It  is  greatly  feared  that  the  librarian,  together  with  the 
populace  in  general  will  look  upon  a  successful  detective  as 
one  of  almost  superhuman  acuteness,  that  genius  of  the  pene- 
trating eye,  the  long  memory,  of  intuition  so  wonderful  that  we 
stand  aghast  This  figment  of  the  imagination  is  never  on  the 
regular  force.  On  the  contrary,  when  the  force  fails,  he  always 
succeeds.  They  go  to  him  for  help,  have  their  problems  solved, 
but  treat  him  with  supreme  contempt  This  is  the  detective  of 
our  great  detective  stories.  Amateur  detectives,  nuisances  that 
they  are,  should  be  suppressed.  Their  especial  delight  it  is  to 
instruct  the  professionals,  but  their  "instruction"  is  always  ob- 


574  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

struction.  The  librarian  who  attempts  an  inquiry  in  a  case  or 
m  any  part  of  a  case  of  book  stealing  who  has  no  experience 
in  such  cases  becomes  an  amateur  detective.  "Sus,  per  coll " 

Every  case  of  book  stealing  should  be  referred  to  one  mem- 
ber of  the  staff,  and  this  librarian  should  ha\e  exclusive  juris- 
diction in  every  aspect  of  the  case.  In  the  course  of  time  this 
librarian  will  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  law  of  his  state  on 
the  subject  of  larceny,  arrests,  evidence,  court  and  police  meth- 
ods of  procedure.  A  knowledge  of  these  elements  is  essential 
to  good  work;  without  such  knowledge  he  will  be  a  failure 
and  a  danger  to  his  library. 

The  librarian  will  find  to  his  surprise  that  there  is  nothing 
exciting  or  thrilling  in  detecthe  work.  After  the  first  few 
cases  he  will  find  that  "clues"  belong  to  the  realm  of  fiction. 
Obvious  facts  will  dance  before  his  eyes  unseen  He  will  not 
work  on  a  "theory"  in  a  given  case.  Indeed,  the  very  words 
"due"  and  "theory"  will  fade  from  his  vocabulary.  Rather  he 
will  find  that  any  inquiry  is  based  upon  careful  and  patient  in- 
vestigation on  a  systematic  and  well  ordered  plan,  and  will 
consider  known  facts  and  working  from  experience  will  try  to 
develop  unknown  facts  from  his  experience  in  watching  the 
known  develop  from  the  unknown.  He  will  know  what  it  is 
that  he  is  looking  for  and  will  hunt  and  sift  for  it  until  it  be- 
comes known. 

A  librarian  cannot  extract  a  thief  from  the  thin  air  He 
must  have  some  facts  to  work  upon,  and  information  of  these 
facts  must  be  brought  to  him  first  hand.  Fact  added  to  fact 
will  convict  the  thief,  but  bare  information  that  a  book  has  been 
stolen  without  other  testimony  and  no  evidence,  simply  ends 
that  particular  case.  If  other  books  of  the  same  kind  are  stolen, 
or  if  other  books  are  stolen  in  the  same  way,  these  incidents 
constitute  other  facts  and  help  build  up  a  case,  and  so  no  detail, 
however  trivial,  should  be  withheld  from  the  librarian  in  charge 
of  such  matters,  and  no  other  librarian  should  attempt  to  in- 
quire into  the  most  seemingly  trivial  detail,  for  he  is  certain  to 
confuse  the  trail  in  a  certain  proportion  of  cases. 

Any  inquiry  must  in  a  measure  be  secret.  Certainly  no  one 
would  think  of  notifying  a  thief  that  suspicion  was  aroused 
which  might  implicate  him.  When  a  given  larceny  might  have 
been  committed  by  any  one  at  all  the  librarian  must  settle  in 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM         575 

his  own  mind  who  is  at  least  likely  to  be  involved,  and  consult 
this  person  as  to  who  might  have  especial  opportunity  or 
temptation  or  both  As  soon  as  the  investigating  librarian  ap- 
pears on  a  scene,  immediately  curiosity  is  aroused,  and  the 
guilty  one  warned.  The  librarian  should  not  appear  on  the 
scene  unless  it  is  common  knowledge  that  an  inquiry  is  under 
way,  and  he  should  make  the  most  painstaking  effort  not  to 
advertise  the  fact  that  he  is  looking  for  a  thief. 

An  example  of  such  a  case  might  be  cited.  Books  had  been 
stolen,  other  books  of  the  same  kind  were  found  secreted  in  the 
library.  A  librarian  carried  them  to  my  office  to  show  to  me. 
When  he  carried  those  books  he  passed  ten  or  fifteen  people 
any  one  of  whom  might  have  been  the  thief.  He  virtually  ad- 
vertised to  the  thief  that  his  crime  was  known.  By  rare  chance 
the  books  were  restored  to  their  hiding  place  without,  however, 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  thief.  Here  they  were  watched, 
and  in  due  time  the  thief  went  to  jail.  If  he  had  known  that 
they  were  watched  he  would  certainly  have  not  attempted  the 
final  chapter  in  this  story  of  larceny,  and  would  not  have  been 
caught.  If  warned,  the  thief  can  often  dispose  of  the  stolen 
property,  and  so  the  librarian  must  make  every  effort  not  to 
warn.  Here  it  is  that  librarians  most  often  fail.  They  become 
the  amateur  detectives  on  the  staff,  warn  the  thief,  and  cloud 
the  trail. 

Occasionally  the  investigating  librarian  will  have  occasion 
to  use  methods  which  are  quite  common  in  other  classes  of  de- 
tective work.  He  should  acquire  at  least  an  elementary  knowl- 
edge of  the  fingerprint  and  of  other  forms  of  personal  identi- 
fication, and  he  should  have  some  familiarity  with  the  working 
methods  of  the  handwriting  expert.  At  least  he  should  know 
enough  about  both  of  these  subjects  to  know  when  to  call  for 
advice  from  a  local  specialist. 

Commonly  a  private  person  may  arrest  another  for  a  crime 
committed  or  attempted  in  his  presence,  or  where  a  person  ar- 
rested has  committed  a  felony,  although  not  in  his  presence. 
To  this  extent  every  librarian  has  the  power  of  arrest  A  po- 
lice officer  may,  without  a  warrant,  make  the  same  kind  of 
arrests  but  may  also  make  an  arrest  when  a  felony  has  been 
committed  and  when  he  has  reasonable  cause  for  believing  the 
person  arrested  to  have  committed  the  felony.  (N.  Y.) 


576  EDWIN  WHITE  GAILLARD 

The  police  officer  has  other  advantages.  He  may  break  open 
a  door  or  a  window  if  admittance  is  refused;  in  which  case  he 
is  protected,  for  it  is  a  crime  to  interfere  with  an  officer,  a 
crime  not  to  go  to  his  help  if  called  upon.  In  suits  for  false 
arrest  the  police  officer  has  the  presumption  on  his  side  and 
juries  are  loath  lo  find  a  verdict  against  him,  (though  from  time 
to  time  they  do),  but  the  private  person  has  none  of  this  pro- 
tection. 

The  librarian  who  is  trying  to  prevent  book  stealing  will 
be  obliged  to  make  arrests  or  cause  them  to  be  made.  If  he 
calls  in  a  police  officer,  all  of  the  history  of  the  case  must  be 
explained  to  this  officer,  often  in  the  presence  of  the  thief,  who 
is  thus  warned  of  certain  portions  of  the  case  against  him. 
Sometimes  the  officer,  not  understanding,  will  not  make  an 
arrest,  as  is  his  right. 

For  many  such  reasons  it  is  advisable  for  the  investigating 
librarian  to  be  constituted  a  peace  officer  of  some  kind — a  pri- 
vate police  officer,  or  a  deputy  sheriff.  He  thus  becomes  what 
amounts  to  a  detective,  he  makes  his  own  investigations,  makes 
his  own  arrests  and  sees  the  cases  safely  through  the  courts, 
without  chance  of  a  conflict  or  interference  from  a  patrolman. 
The  investigating  librarian  is  often  called  upon  to  take  charge 
in  cases  other  than  book  stealing.  In  any  of  his  cases  he  is 
liable  to  need  all  of  the  help  and  protection  provided  by  law 
or  custom  that  safeguards  the  police  officer. 

A  police  officer  attached  to  the  headquarters  office  to  whom 
might  be  assigned  the  task  of  organizing  a  circulating  and  ref- 
erence library  for  the  use  of  all  of  the  officers  of  the  uniformed 
and  detective  forces  would  display  only  ordinary  intelligence  if 
he  should  consult  the  librarian  of  the  city  and  make  a  study  of 
library  methods  and  practice.  Lacking  study  of  the  kind  his 
library  would  be  a  curiosity  both  as  to  methods  and  adminis- 
tration. 

A  librarian  who  would  attempt  to  act  for  his  library  in  the 
province  of  a  police  officer  is  quite  as  much  in  need  of  special 
instruction  and  advice  as  would  be  the  police  library  organizer. 
It  is  essential  that  the  investigating  librarian  learn  at  first  hand 
and  from  professional  officers  the  police  methods  that  are  used 
in  typical  cases  with  which  he  is  most  likely  to  come  into  con- 
tact. 


BOOK  LARCENY  PROBLEM         577 

There  is  no  recognized  way  of  acquiring  this  instruction. 
The  city  librarian  would  be  glad  to  help  the  police  library  or- 
ganizer, but  the  police  chief  is  not  at  all  likely  to  have  much 
enthusiasm  in  teaching  a  librarian  any  part  of  his  craft.  Prob- 
ably the  best  way  to  learn  is  to  find  some  sympathetic  detective 
who  has  himself  been  a  frequenter  of  the  library  and  consult 
him  as  cases  arise.  He  will  have  very  much  to  teach  that  will 
be  of  great  value,  and  gradually  the  investigating  librarian 
will  receive  illumination  in  matters  of  police  methods  and  the 
routine  of  arrests,  indictments,  trials,  convictions,  and  probation 
officers.  In  this  way  the  investigating  librarian  will  learn  to  work 
with  the  police,  and  is  less  apt  to  arouse  antagonism  by  violat- 
ing the  rules  of  the  department,  or  of  running  counter  to  ac- 
cepted conventions  in  the  service. 

The  librarian  who  would  undertake  to  protect  his  library 
from  book  thieves  and  the  many  other  kinds  of  vampires  who 
would  prey  upon  it  will  find  that  he  is  not  the  less  of  a  librarian, 
and  that  this  side  of  library  work  has  its  own  interests,  not 
to  be  compared  unfavorably  with  that  of  any  other  special  de- 
partment in  a  library.  He  must  perforce  read  and  study  widely, 
acquire  an  unexpected  variety  of  experiences,  while  he  is  thrown 
into  opportunities  for  the  observation  of  men  and  women  far 
beyond  those  of  any  other  librarian.  Perhaps  the  chief  com- 
pensation to  be  derived  from  this  special  position  is  a  more 
intimate  knowledge  of  human  nature  than  any  other  position 
in  the  library  field  would  afford. 


CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  AND 
LIBRARY  CIRCULATION 

Fear  has  often  been  expressed  lest  the  free  circulation 
of  books  should  serve  to  disseminate  disease.  Tests  have 
shown  that  this  is  possible,  but  experiments  in  disinfec- 
tion have  not  uniformly  led  to  satisfactory  results.  While 
some  experimenters  report  the  entire  destruction  of  dis- 
ease germs  between  the  leaves  of  a  closed  book  by  simple 
exposure  without  opening,  to  formaldehyde  gas,  others 
assert  that  nothing  short  of  live  steam  is  effective.  Nu- 
merous investigations  have  been  made  by  both  medical 
and  library  experts,  and  the  following  papers  embody 
some  of  the  facts  and  principles  brought  out  by  those 
investigations. 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  BY 
CIRCULATING  LIBRARIES 

Opinions  of  medical  men  seem  to  indicate  that  much 
of  the  fear  of  spread  of  contagion  through  circulating 
libraries  is  unwarranted.  The  results  of  investigations 
made  by  experts  of  established  reputation  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  are  set  forth  in  the  following  report 
of  William  F.  Poole  of  the  Chicago  Public  Library,  pub- 
lished in  The  Library  Journal  for  1879. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Poole  appears  in  Vol- 
ume 3  of  this  series. 

About  two  months  ago,  at  a  meeting  o£  the  directors  of  the 
Chicago  Public  Library,  the  question  was  raised  whether  books 
in  circulation  were  not  in  danger  of  spreading  contagious  dis- 
eases in  the  community  The  director  who  started  the  inquiry 
had  passed  through  a  painful  experience  in  losing  several  of 
his  children  by  scarlet  fever,  and  with  him  it  was  a  question 
of  genuine  solicitude.  He  knew  of  no  instance  where  disease 
had  been  communicated  by  a  book;  but  as  it  was  known  to  be 
transmitted  by  clothing,  by  toys,  and  even  by  the  air,  he  asked: 
"Why  not  by  books?"  No  one  present  could  answer  the  ques- 
tion. When  appealed  to,  I  said  that  I  had  never  known  such 
an  instance,  and  had  never  heard  of  one.  I  had  never  even 
heard  the  subject  discussed;  and  almost  everything  else  relating 
to  books  had  been  discussed  at  the  several  conferences  of  the 
librarians  or  in  the  Library  Journal.  If  such  an  incident  had 
ever  occurred  it  would  have  been  known  and  talked  about. 
Several  reporters  of  the  daily  newspapers  were  present  taking 
notes  of  the  conversation,  and  in  view  of  the  publicity  the 
subject  was  likely  to  attain,  it  was  thought  advisable  to  appoint 
a  committee  to  consider  it.  But  for  the  presence  of  the  ubi- 
quitous Chicago  reporter,  the  discussion  might  never  have  been 
heard  of  outside  of  the  directors'  room.  The  next  morning 


582  WILLIAM  FREDERICK  POOLE 

this  combustible  material  was  spread  before  the  people,  and 
it  became  of  general  interest.  The  medical  profession  and  the 
public  took  sides  upon  it  immediately  Nothing  would  have 
allayed  the  interest  awakened  except  a  thorough  investigation 
on  the  part  of  the  committee. 

We  wrote,  therefore,  to  medical  and  sanitary  experts  of 
established  reputation  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  to 
the  librarians  of  the  largest  circulating  libraries,  for  such  in- 
formation as  they  could  impart.  We  received  nineteen  letters 
in  response  to  our  inquiries.  Fifteen  of  these  were  from  medi- 
cal and  sanitary  experts,  and  four  from  librarians 

No  one  of  these  writers  could  give  any  fact  falling  under 
his  own  observation  tending  to  show  that  a  contagious  disease 
was  ever  imparted  by  a  book  from  a  circulating  library  None 
had  ever  heard  or  read  of  any,  except  Dr.  John  S.  Billings, 
of  the  Surgeon-General's  Office,  Washington,  who  said.  "I 
cannot  refer  to  any  facts  with  reference  to  such  propagation, 
although  I  remember  to  have  read  an  account  of  the  transmis- 
sion of  scarlet-fever,  somewhere  in  London,  by  the  books  of  a 
circulating  library." 

The  medical  experts,  therefore,  had  nothing  to  discuss 
except  the  theoretical  question  whether  it  be  possible  for  con- 
tagious diseases  to  be  transmitted  by  library  books  in  circula- 
tion. On  this  point  nine  of  them  expressed  themselves  de- 
cidedly in  the  affirmative;  three,  admitting  the  possibility  of 
such  transmission,  thought  the  danger  was  very  small;  two 
did  not  believe  in  the  theory  of  such  transmission,  and  one, 
Dr.  Samuel  A.  Green,  City  Physician  of  Boston,  treated  only 
the  practical  issues,  and  expressed  no  opinion  on  the  theoretical 
points.  Dr.  Green  said.  "I  have  never  known  an  instance 
where  there  was  any  grounds  for  believing  that  contagious 
diseases  were  carried  by  books  in  circulation  from  the  Public 
Library.  Throughout  the  year  1872,  a  severe  epidemic  of  small- 
pox prevailed  in  this  city,  and  it  was  my  official  duty  to  see 
every  patient  and  to  trace,  if  possible,  the  history  of  the  case. 
In  no  instance  was  I  able  to  connect  the  infection  with  the  use 
of  books  from  the  Public  Library.  At  that  time  I  was  one 
of  the  trustees  of  the  institution  and  took  a  particular  interest 
in  the  matter,  as  the  same  question  had  arisen  here."  Yester- 
day, Dr.  Green  informed  me  that,  during  the  period  named, 
he  investigated  the  origin  of  4300  cases  of  small-pox. 


SPREAD  OF  CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  BY  LIBRARIES  583 

Dr.  H.  A.  Johnson,  of  Chicago,  member  of  the  U.  S.  Board 
of  Health,  having  expressed  the  opinion  that  transmission  of 
disease  by  books  is  possible,  said.  "As  a  matter  of  fact,  how- 
ever, it  is  not  very  likely  that  persons  afflicted  with  measles, 
scarlet-fever  or  small-pox  will  use  or  handle  books,  as  the 
rooms  of  such  patients  are  usually  darkened.  The  probability, 
therefore,  of  propagation  by  such  means  is  quite  small." 

Among  the  writers  who  thought  transmission  of  disease 
by  books  was  possible  and  probable,  Dr  J.  D.  Plunket,  Pres't 
of  the  Tenn.  State  Board  of  Health,  said  that  ten  years  ago  he 
had  a  patient  with  the  small-pox,  which  he  concluded  was  com- 
municated by  a  book  in  paper  covers,  borrowed  from  a  family 
which  had  the  disease. 

Dr.  Henry  M  Baker,  Sec'y  of  the  Michigan  State  Board  of 
Health,  referred  to  a  case  in  the  Michigan  Health  Reports, 
where  scarlet-fever  was  transmitted  from  one  family  to  an- 
other by  a  book ;  and  also  to  a  case  where  it  was  transmitted  by 
a  letter 

Dr.  Charles  F.  Folsom,  Sec'y  of  the  Mass.  State  Board  of 
Health,  says  he  can  recall  no  instance  of  scarlet-fever  traced 
to  books  from  a  circulating  library,  but  has  the  impression  that 
such  cases  have  been  reported.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  books 
might  readily  become  infected  and  convey  the  disease  to  the 
next  household  using  them. 

Dr.  Erwin  M.  Snow,  Sup't  of  Health,  Providence,  R.  I., 
has  no  facts  on  the  subject.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  books 
might  become  infected  and  very  dangerous  agents  of  spreading 
disease.  Cases  would  be  rare  where  persons  in  that  state  would 
wish  to,  or  be  allowed  to,  use  books;  yet  care  should  be  taken 
that  books  from  a  library  should  not  go  into  such  houses.  He 
does  not  believe  that  the  danger  of  propagating  disease  by  books 
is  great. 

Dr.  Elisha  Harris,  of  New  York,  ex-president  of  the  Board 
of  Health,  said:  "The  possibility  or  even  probability  that, 
under  exceptional  conditions,  diseases  may  be  communicated  by 
books  renders  the  inquiry  of  the  committee  pertinent,  and 
worthy  of  an  answer.  The  risks  are  comparatively  small,  no 
doubt."  To  defend  the  great  libraries  and  their  readers,  he  sug- 
gests that  "the  books  and  shelves  be  treated  with  the  best  in- 
secticide and  germicide  powder,  namely,  calcimined  borax  and 
salicylic  acid  applied  with  a  dry  cotton-faced  brush." 


584.  WILLIAM  FREDERICK  POOLE 

Dr.  N.  S.  Davis,  of  Chicago,  said  no  facts  on  the  subject 
have  come  under  his  observation  creating  even  a  suspicion  that 
a  contagious  or  infectious  disease  had  been  propagated  by  books 
from  a  circulating  library.  Unless  a  book  was  actually  han- 
dled by  a  person  with  the  small-pox  he  does  not  think  there 
would  be  any  danger.  From  the  nature  of  the  circumstances 
such  a  case  is  not  likely  to  happen. 

Dr.  C.  B.  White,  of  the  New  Orleans  Sanitary  Association, 
knows  no  facts  tending  to  show  the  propagation  of  contagious 
diseases  by  library  books  It  would  probably  occur  only  in 
cases  of  disease,  such  as  small-pox,  where  the  poison  is  known 
to  be  exceedingly  energetic  and  tenacious  of  life. 

Dr.  Billings,  of  Washington,  already  quoted,  says  he  is  of 
the  opinion  that  the  books  of  a  circulating  library  may  be  in- 
strumental in  the  propagation  of  contagious  diseases,  especially 
scarlet-fever. 

Dr.  Oscar  DeWolf,  Health  Commissioner  of  Chicago,  said 
he  had  never  been  able  to  trace  any  case  of  scarlet-fever  or 
small-pox  to  books  as  carriers  of  the  contagion;  but  thinks  the 
possibility  of  such  transmission  has  been  undisputably  proved 
by  others.  He  refers  to  the  essay  on  Scarlatina,  by  Professor 
Louis  Thomas,  in  Ziemssen's  "Cyclopaedia  of  the  Practice  of 
Medicine,"  who  said:  "The  cause  of  scarlatina  is  a  peculiar 
substance  which  is  transferable  from  the  patient  to  the  unaf- 
fected individual.  The  shortest  contact  with  the  contagious 
atmosphere  of  the  sick-room  may  suffice  for  the  infection 
The  view  that  scarlatina  can  be  transmitted  to  unaffected  in- 
dividuals through  the  medium  of  substances  which  have  re- 
mained in  the  morbid  atmosphere,  is  undisputably  proved  by 
numerous  examples"  Dr.  DeWolf  recommends  that  no 
books  be  loaned  to  houses  which  are  reported  by  his  office  as 
having  contagious  diseases.  Drs.  Johnson,  Billings,  Snow  and 
Schmitt  make  the  same  recommendation. 

Dr.  Robert  N.  Tooker,  Professor  of  Sanitary  Science  in  the 
Chicago  Homoeopathic  College,  said:  "The  means  by  which 
contagious  diseases  are  transmitted  is  one  of  those  questions 
upon  which  doctors  proverbially  differ.  The  germ  theory  is 
just  now  the  dominant  one,  but  it  is  not  universally  accepted. 
Granting  it  to  be  true,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  germs  are 
carried  by  books  or  letters.  Cases  of  small-pox  and  scarlet- 


SPREAD  OF  CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  BY  LIBRARIES  585 

fever  are  reported  where  the  contagion  was  presumably  car- 
ried in  this  manner;  but  the  isolated  cases  which  could  not 
have  originated  by  such  transmission  are  so  much  larger  as  to 
leave  the  former  cases  in  doubt.  One  is  much  more  likely 
to  meet  the  contagion  on  the  street,  on  the  cars,  and  in  public 
assemblies,  than  on  the  shelves  of  the  public  library  During 
the  last  epidemic  of  yellow  fever,  thousands  of  letters  were 
received  in  Chicago  from  the  infected  districts,  and  yet  no 
case  of  yellow  fever  was  developed  here.  The  good  work  of 
the  public  library  need  not  stop  nor  be  interfered  with  through 
fear  of  spreading  any  of  the  infectious  diseases  The  proba- 
bility or  the  possibility  of  its  doing  so  is  so  extremely  small  as 
to  be  practically  nil" 

Dr.  Henry  M.  Lyman,  of  Chicago,  Professor  in  Rush  Medi- 
cal College,  wrote  a  satirical  letter,  treating  the  whole  theory 
of  the  transmission  of  disease  by  books  with  ridicule.  "Let 
us,  by  all  means,"  he  said,  "have  an  official  fumigator  of  libra- 
ries. A  city  as  large  as  Chicago  ought  to  have  15,000  sanitary 
policemen  It  should  be  the  duty  of  these  inspectors  to  see 
that  no  one  ever  enters  a  house  without  disinfection.  Physi- 
cians should  be  housed  in  jail,  and  make  their  visits  under  the 
eye  of  an  assistant  jailor,  who  should  disinfect  the  doctor  after 
each  consultation  or  visit.  Every  child  should  be  taken  to  school 
in  a  glass  receiver,  under  the  charge  of  a  sanitary  policeman. 
He  should  not  be  allowed  to  leave  his  cage,  and  should  be  sup- 
plied through  the  top  of  the  receiver  with  fresh  air  properly 
warmed  and  carbolized,  which  should  be  discharged  through 
the  bottom  of  the  receiver  up  through  the  roof  of  the  school- 
house.  Letters  should  be  left  in  the  post-office  for  a  week  to 
be  disinfected  in  a  chamber  heated  to  240°  F.  People  should 
call  at  the  post-office  themselves  for  their  letters,  for  it  is 
dangerous  for  postmen  to  be  running  about  spreading  disease. 
Every  house  should  be  placarded  with  a  notice,  warning  every 
man  against  his  fellow  man  There  is  no  telling  how  many 
lives  of  statesmen,  orators  and  poets  have  been  sacrificed  by 
the  neglect  of  these  simple  precautions." 

From  these  extracts  from  our  correspondence  it  is  evident 
that  the  doctors  know  very  little  of  facts  relating  to  the  sub- 
ject, and  that  in  their  theories,  they  do  not  agree. 

The  librarians  whom  we  addressed  indulged  in  no  specula- 


586  WILLIAM  FREDERICK  POOLE 

tions,  but  treated  directly  the  practical  question,  whether  books 
circulating  from  libraries  do  actually  transmit  contagious  dis- 
eases. If  such  a  transmission  of  disease  by  books  did  occur, 
the  employes  of  libraries  who  are  continually  handling  these 
books  would  be  the  first  to  come  under  its  influence  No  em- 
ploye of  a  library  with  which  I  have  been  connected  ever  had 
a  contagious  or  even  a  cutaneous  disease;  and  I  never  heard 
of  such  a  case  in  any  library.  Librarians  and  their  assistants 
are,  I  think,  above  the  average  of  the  community,  a  healthy  and 
long-lived  race.  If  they  were  in  the  focus  of  such  malarial 
and  poisonous  influences  as  some  of  our  medical  correspondents 
imagine,  such  would  not  be  the  fact. 

Mr.  Winsor,  our  president,  stated  that,  during  his  ten  years' 
experience  as  librarian  of  the  Boston  Public  Library,  and  since, 
he  had  never  known  or  heard  of  an  instance  of  the  transmis- 
sion of  disease  through  a  book  circulated  from  the  library. 
Among  the  hundreds  of  his  employes  constantly  handling  these 
books,  there  had  never  been,  to  his  knowledge,  a  case  of  con- 
tagious disease.  If  there  be  a  danger  from  handling  library 
books,  his  experience  warrants  him  in  saying  that  it  is  inap- 
preciable. During  the  small-pox  epidemic,  a  few  years  ago,  he, 
in  consultation  with  the  Board  of  Health,  took  such  precau- 
tions as  were  practicable  to  prevent  books  from  going  into  in- 
fected houses  and  being  returned  from  them  directly  to  the 
shelves.  He  says :  "It  is  to  my  mind  exceedingly  questionable 
whether  any  contagion  of  disease  was  prevented.  It  may  have 
been  a  wise  thing  to  do  in  order  to  allay  apprehension  and  pro- 
tect the  library  from  aspersion." 

Mr.  Wm.  T.  Peoples,  Librarian  of  the  New  York  Mer- 
cantile Library,  said  that  he  had  never  been  able  to  obtain  any 
facts  bearing  on  the  subject  of  inquiry,  and  had  heard  of  no 
case  of  sickness  caused  by  handling  the  books  of  his  library. 
The  subject  had  been  talked  about  by  the  directors,  and  they 
had  heard  of  their  books  being  in  hospitals  and  other  places 
where  infectious  diseases  existed  Such  books  he  had  taken 
the  precaution  to  disinfect  before  they  were  replaced  in  the 
library. 

Mr.  John  Edmands,  Librarian  of  the  Philadelphia  Mercantile 
Library,  said:  "Touching  the  spread  of  disease  through  the 
circulation  of  books,  I  have  heard  nothing  said  in  this  city, 


SPREAD  OF  CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  BY  LIBRARIES  587 

and  1  am  sure  there  has  been  no  general  consideration  of  the 
question.  My  attention  was  called  to  it  some  time  ago,  when 
the  small-pox  was  prevailing  in  this  city.  As  no  one  of  our 
twenty  assistants  during  these  months  took  the  disease,  and  as 
we  heard  of  no  instance  of  the  transmission  of  it,  there  would 
seem  to  be  little  cause  for  anxiety.  Still,  I  think  it  would  be 
well  to  refuse  to  allow  books  to  go  into  houses  in  which  there 
was  any  so-called  contagious  disease." 

After  the  question  had  been  started  with  us,  we  learned 
that  it  had  previously  been  discussed  in  Milwaukee,  and  I 
wrote  to  Mr.  Henry  Baetz,  the  Librarian  of  the  Public  Li- 
brary, for  his  statement,  to  which  he  replied  as  follows :  "I  am 
not  aware  of  a  single  instance  where  it  was  claimed  or  inti- 
mated that  the  books  of  our  library  had  been  instrumental  in 
carrying  disease  in  the  community,  nor  do  I  know  that  such 
a  case  has  occurred  anywhere.  The  question  was  once  sug- 
gested at  a  meeting  of  the  Board,  but  no  action  was  taken  in 
the  matter.  As  a  matter  of  precaution,  however,  I  requested 
the  Commissioner  of  Health  to  report  to  the  Library  all  cases 
of  contagious  diseases ;  and  this  report  has  been  regularly  made, 
which  has  enabled  us  to  withhold  books  from  families  in  which 
such  diseases  prevailed." 

This,  in  substance,  is  the  testimony  which  the  committee 
received,  and  it  made  upon  our  minds  the  impression  that  while 
there  may  be  a  possibility  that  contagious  diseases  may  be  trans- 
mitted by  books  of  a  circulating  library,  the  real  danger  of 
such  transmission  is  very  small,  or,  as  one  of  our  correspond- 
ents expresses  it,  "inappreciable,"  and  another  "ml" 

We  thought,  however,  that  a  possible  danger,  even  if  it  be 
small,  should  be  guarded  against  by  such  provisions  as  are 
prudent  and  practicable;  and  we  recommended  to  the  Board 
to  act  under  the  advice  of  the  Commissioner  of  Health,  and 
adopt  such  icgulations  as  he  had  suggested,  namely:  that  he 
furnish  to  the  Library,  whenever  he  thinks  proper,  a  list  of 
the  premises  infected  with  contagious  diseases  and  of  their  resi- 
dents; that  no  books  be  loaned  to  such  houses  until  they  are 
reported  by  the  health  office  to  be  free  from  contagious  dis- 
eases, and  that  all  books  returned  from  such  houses  during  this 
period  be  disinfected  before  they  are  replaced  on  the  shelves 
of  the  library. 


CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  AND  PUBLIC 
LIBRARIES 

Actual  experiences  regarding  contagious  disease 
among  borrowers  from  public  libraries  and  the  precau- 
tions adopted,  are  related  in  the  following  paper.  It 
was  read  by  the  librarian  of  the  Salem,  Massachusetts, 
Public  Library,  Gardner  M.  Jones,  at  the  San  Francisco 
Conference  of  the  A.L.A.,  October  14,  1891. 

Gardner  Maynard  Jones  was  born  June  27,  1850, 
and  was  graduated  from  the  Dorchester,  Massachusetts, 
High  School  in  1866.  From  1867-1887  he  worked  in 
different  book  stores  of  Boston.  In  1888  he  attended  the 
School  of  Library  Economy  of  Columbia  College.  Since 
1889  he  has  been  the  librarian  of  the  Salem,  Massachu- 
setts, Public  Library.  He  is  the  author  of  a  "List  of 
Subject  Headings  for  use  in  Dictionary  Catalogs"  (1895) 
and  has  been  a  contributor  to  library  periodicals. 

Dr.  W.  F.  Poole,  at  that  time  librarian  of  the  Chicago  Public 
Library,  read  a  paper  on  this  subject  at  the  Boston  Conference 
of  the  A.  L.  A.  in  1879  [L-  J  4-  258-262],  giving  special  atten- 
tion to  the  opinions  of  medical  men  as  to  the  danger  of  con- 
tagion. 

In  compiling  the  present  report  for  the  conference  of  1891, 
I  have  approached  the  subject  from  the  opposite  side,  that  of 
the  actual  experiences  of  libraries,  and  precautions  adopted. 
To  get  at  the  facts,  I  sent  a  circular  containing  7  questions  to 
66  representative  librarians  of  the  United  States,  Canada,  Eng- 
land and  Scotland  (52  American  and  14  foreign),  to  which  I 
have  received  52  replies  (43  American,  9  foreign).  In  8  cases 
the  librarians  had  no  experience  bearing  on  the  subject  or 
the  replies  were  not  in  such  form  as  to  admit  of  tabulation, 
although  I  have  sometimes  made  quotations  from  them. 

The  44  other  replies  are  summarized  as  follows: — 

Have  you  any  reason  to  think  that  disease  has  been  carried 
by  books  delivered  from  your  library? 


590  GARDNER  MAYNARD  JONES 

Three  do  not  answer;  39  say  "No."  The  following  extract 
from  the  reply  of  Mr.  K..A  Linderfelt,  Milwaukee  Public 
Library,  is  an  expression  of  the  general  tone  of  the  replies: 
"For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  believe  that  any  serious  danger 
of  carrying  contagion  by  means  of  library  books  exists,  but 
there  are  in  every  community  quite  a  number  of  persons  who 
feel  nervous  on  this  subject,  and  for  their  sake  it  is  well  to 
take  every  reasonable  precaution" 

Mr.  J.  Schwartz,  New  York  Apprentices'  Library,  says :  "My 
opinion,  founded  on  an  experience  of  twenty-eight  years,  is 
that  contagious  diseases  are  not  spread  through  the  circulation 
of  books  from  libraries.  In  my  experience  I  never  heard  of 
any  reader  to  whom  a  disease  was  communicated  through  a 
book  loaned  by  the  library.  And  while  the  attendants  at  the 
desks  handled  hundreds  of  thousands  of  books  every  year— 
which  had  been  circulated  among  all  parts  of  the  city  and 
suburbs — there  has  been  only  one  case  where  any  of  the  li- 
brary employees  was  even  sick  of  a  contagious  disease.  This 
case  occurred  about  27  years  ago,  and  from  the  circumstances 
attending  it,  could  not  have  been  contracted  at  the  library." 

Mrs.  M.  C.  Norton,  assistant  librarian  of  the  Minneapolis 
Public  Library,  says:  "We  have  had  but  one  case  brought  to 
our  notice  where  it  was  claimed  by  the  family  that  the  poison 
was  carried  to  them  through  books  from  the  library,  but  that 
was  mere  conjecture." 

Miss  Ellen  M.  Coe,  librarian  of  the  New  York  Free  Cir- 
culating Library,  says:  "The  only  case  of  infection  known  to 
us  in  the  ten  years  since  we  opened  our  library  is  one  where 
a  somewhat  alarming  ulcerous  skin  disease  attacked  one  of  the 
librarians;  this  was  plainly  from  the  soiled  book  covers." 

What  means  are  adopted  to  prevent  the  spread  of  contagious 
diseases? 

Have  you  any  special  arrangements  with  health  officers? 
The  most  general  plan  adopted  is  that  mentioned  by  Dr. 
Poole  at  the  close  of  his  article  [L.  J.  4:  262]  and  which  may 
be  called  "the  Chicago  plan." 

This  is  as  follows:  The  health  officer  notifies  the  library 
of  all  cases  of  contagious  disease,  and  books  are  not  loaned  to 
residents  in  such  houses  until  notice  is  received  that  all  danger 
is  passed.  All  books  returned  which  have  been  exposed  to  in- 


CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  AND  PUBLIC  LIBRARIES  591 

f ection.  are  disinfected  or  destroyed  before  they  are  replaced  on 
the  shelves  of  the  library. 

Twenty-three  librarians  report  that  this  plan  is  regularly 
followed  in  their  libraries.  In  one  city,  there  being  no  efficient 
Board  of  Health,  an  arrangement  has  been  made  with  the 
physicians  to  report  direct  to  the  library,  and  one  library  re- 
ceives reports  from  either  health  officers  or  physicians.  Another 
librarian  says-  "Health  officers  sometimes  report."  Seven  de- 
pend on  report  from  the  book  borrower.  Eleven  report  no 
special  arrangement,  and  one  says-  "When  there  is  an  epi- 
demic we  stop  circulation"  In  several  cases  the  regulations 
of  the  library  contain  a  clause  requiring  notification  from  the 
reader  The  following  from  the  by-laws  of  the  Chicago  Public 
Library  is  a  sample  of  such  regulations*  "It  shall  be  the  duty 
of  all  persons  having  the  privileges  of  the  library  to  notify 
the  librarian  of  the  existence  of  any  contagious  disease  in  their 
residences  or  families,  and  for  failure  to  do  so  their  privileges 
may  be  declared  forfeited  by  the  Board."  One  librarian,  who 
followed  "the  Chicago  plan"  for  three  years,  reports:  "The 
conjunction  of  books  and  contagious  disease  happened  so  rarely, 
however,  that  the  reports  were  finally  discontinued." 

In  six  cases  special  blanks  used  for  notification  have  been 
sent  to  me,  and  some  librarians  speak  of  notices  which  are 
posted  in  the  delivery  room. 

Do  you  disinfect  books  returned  yourself,  or  is  it  done  by 
the  health  authorities? 

How  is  this  done?    By  sulphur,  hot  air,  or  otherwise? 

Twelve  librarians  report  that  disinfection  is  always  done  by 
the  health  officers,  10  that  it  is  always  done  at  the  library,  and 
4  that  it  is  done  by  either  Three  simply  report  that  it  is  done 
before  the  book  is  returned.  At  2  libraries  the  book  is  de- 
stroyed and  fine  remitted,  at  I  the  book  is  not  received  and 
borrower  is  required  to  pay  for  it.  At  Bradford,  England,  the 
book  is  taken  to  the  fever  hospital  for  use  there,  the  sanitary 
committee  paying  the  value  of  the  book. 

The  method  of  disinfection  used  is  as  follows:  Sulphur 
fumes  13,  hot  air  5,  sunlight  I,  fresh  air  I,  vapor  of  carbolic 
acid  in  an  air-proof  oven  heated  to  100  or  120  degrees  i.  At  9 
libraries  it  is  considered  so  difficult  to  disinfect  thoroughly  that 


592  GARDNER  MAYNARD  JONES 

the  books  are  destroyed  by  burning  or  otherwise.     One  libra- 
rian reports  "Serious  cases  destroyed  and  mild  disinfected." 

Miss  Coe  says,  "We  also  use  a  liquid  disinfectant  to  sprinkle 
the  paper  removed  from  the  books  (covers),  as  it  accumulates 
in  some  quantity  before  it  can  be  removed.  The  floors  of  read- 
ing rooms  and  waiting  rooms  are  sprinkled  at  least  once  a  day. 
Disinfectant  is  used  in  the  cleaning  water  and  of  course  in  all 
basins  and  closets  constantly,  also  for  the  hand-bathing  of  the 
assistants." 

Miss  H.  P.  James,  of  the  Osterhout  Free  Library,  reports: 
"We  disinfect  books  ourselves  with  sulphur  A  large  piece  is 
put  on  a  plate  of  tin,  set  on  fire,  the  book  is  placed  upright 
and  open  near  it,  and  both  are  covered  by  a  tight  box  for  a 
day  or  two.  The  sulphur  of  course  is  consumed,  but  the  per- 
fume remains." 

Mr.  James  Bain,  jr.,  of  the  Toronto  Public  Library,  where 
now  the  health  officers  destroy  all  books  found  in  houses  re- 
ported infected,  says,  "Have  the  whole  question  of  disinfection 
under  consideration." 

What  diseases  are  considered  contagious  in  your  city? 

Thirteen  do  not  answer  this  question.  Many  of  the  others 
only  answer  partially,  giving  a  brief  list,  and  adding  "etc."  This 
will  account  for  the  small  numbers  attached  to  such  diseases 
as  cholera,  yellow  fever,  etc.  Twenty-eight  mention  scarlet 
fever,  28  diphtheria,  27  small  pox,  n  measles,  u  typhoid 
fever,  5  typhus  fever,  3  membraneous  croup,  3  scarlatina,  3 
cholera,  2  chicken  pox,  2  whooping  cough,  i  each  glanders,  yel- 
low fever,  erysipelas,  itch,  pneumonia,  rotheln,  mumps,  influenza 
One  says  "all  zymotic  diseases."  The  English  "Infectious  dis- 
ease (notification)  act,  1889,"  under  which  the  English  libra- 
ries work,  specifies  a  long  list  of  diseases,  including  all  fevers. 
A  circular  from  the  Bootle  Free  Public  Library  gives  a  list  of 
fevers  by  name. 

Have  you  any  medical  opinions  to  quote? 

C:  V.  Chapin,  M.  D.,  Supt.  of  Health,  Providence,  R.  I., 
writes  to  Mr.  Foster  as  follows:— "In  reply  to  your  inquir^ 
in  regard  to  the  Public  Library  and  infectious  diseases,  I  would 
say  that  I  have  never  known,  m  my  own  experience,  diseases 
to  be  transmitted  by  means  of  library  books.  Nevertheless 
there  is  no  question  that  such  is  possible  and  is  quite  likely  to 


CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  AND  PUBLIC  LIBRARIES  593 

occur,  if  no  precautions  are  taken.  Certainly  no  books  should 
be  issued  to  a  family  in  which  there  is  a  case  of  contagious 
disease,  and  none  should  be  received  from  such  a  family  until 
disinfected  How  to  disinfect  is  a  problem  which  has  not  been 
satisfactorily  solved.  At  present  dry  heat  is  the  only  agent 
that  we  can  employ,  and  this  often  with  the  greatest  care  in- 
jures the  books,  if  the  disinfection  be  thorough.  Disinfection 
by  this  agent  can  only  be  properly  accomplished  in  an  oven 
with  a  thermometer  attached,  and  ought  to  be  done  by  the  sani- 
tary authority" 

Miss  H.  P.  James  says: — "The  physicians  thought  it  a  good 
plan  to  be  on  the  safe  side,  but  I  do  not  remember  that  any  of 
them  felt  there  was  much  danger  of  contagion  from  the  books." 

Mr.  C:  Evans,  Public  Library,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  says: — 
"Physicians  generally  hold  a  different  opinion  from  librarians, 
but  I  have  never  known  one  who  could  specify  any  particular 
case  in  support  of  his  belief,  either  from  books  or  from  prac- 
tical experience." 

Miss  A.  L.  Hayward,  Public  Library,  Cambridge,  Mass., 
says :— "Physicians  have  told  us  that  scarlet  fever  is  given  by 
the  particles  of  skin  dropping  from  convalescent  patients,  and 
that  therefore  there  was  most  danger  of  books  giving  this  dis- 
ease." 

Mr.  J.  N  Larned,  Buffalo  Library,  writes:  "A  few  months 
ago  our  rule  in  this  matter  was  called  in  question,  and  I  pro- 
cured the  opinions  of  a  dozen  of  the  leading  physicians  of  the 
city  on  the  subject  Most  of  them  sustained  our  action  [stop- 
ping circulation  and  destruction  of  books  returned],  but  they 
differed  quite  widely  in  their  several  estimates  of  the  danger 
to  be  apprehended.  Some  thought  disinfection  sufficient;  but 
those  who  evidently  had  studied  the  matter  most  carefully  found 
the  burning  of  the  exposed  books  none  too  serious  a  precaution. 
We  have  no  arrangement  with  the  health  authorities  for  having 
cases  of  contagious  disease  reported  to  us.  I  think  we  ought 
to  have  it,  and  we  probably  shall." 

Dr.  G:  E.  Wire,  librarian  of  the  Medical  Dept.  of  the 
Newberry  Library,  says:  "These  diseases  are  not  contagious 
at  all  periods  of  their  existence,  and  in  their  worst  stages 
there  is  no  reading  done  by  patients  or  attendants.  Of  course 
if  you  really  go  into  extremes  as  do  the  bacteriologists,  there 


594  GARDNER  MAYNARD  JONES 

would  be  no  chance  for  any  one  to  live;  germs  would  be  all- 
powerful  and  everywhere.  But  the  human  race  has  survived 
thousands  of  years  before  disease  germs  were  thought  of  and 
still  survives,  despite  the  germ  theorists." 

Dn  L.  H.  Steiner,  Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library,  Baltimore, 
says:  "The  whole  subject  of  disinfection  is  treated  at  length 
and  in  a  very  practical  way,  by  writers  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  American  Public  Health  Association,  to  whose  papers  I  would 
refer  for  further  information." 

The  following  is  a  bibliography  of  the  subject  so  far  as 
contained  in  English  and  American  library  publications.  I  have 
not  been  able  to  obtain  access  to  the  Transactions  of  the  L,  A. 
U.  K.  later  than  the  sixth  meeting. 

Library  journal,  2:  23-24.  Brief  discussion  at  New  York 
conference. 

4 :  258-262.    Dr.  Poole's  paper. 

7:234.  Extract  from  report  of  Chicago  Public  Library. 
"During  the  recent  severe  scourge  ...  no  case  of  transmission 
of  the  disease  was  traced  to  a  library  book,  and  no  suspicion 
was  raised  that  it  had  occurred." 

8:  336-7.    By  C:  A.  Cutter. 

ii:  123-4.  Report  of  State  Board  of  Health  of  Iowa  that 
no  case  of  conveyance  of  contagious  disease  by  second-hand 
school  books  had  been  found. 

II :  166-7.    Persons  imagine  diseases  of  which  they  read. 

13:  105-6.  Description  of  oven  and  process  of  disinfection 
by  means  of  carbolic  acid  used  at  Sheffield,  England. 

16:  So.    A  number  of  medical  opinions. 

Library  chronicle,  5:  24.  Methods  of  precaution  adopted  at 
Bradford,  England. 

Library,  i :  171.  "The  free  library  and  its  books  are  the  last 
sources  from  which  infection  is  to  be  feared."  This  statement 
is  based  on  the  strictness  of  the  English  laws  regarding  infec- 
tious diseases. 

^  2:  442.    At  Derby,  England,  "a  list  of  infected  houses  is  sup- 
plied to  the  library  weekly." 

2:  443.  At  Plymouth,  England,  the  lending  department  was 
dosed  for  nearly  six  months  during  prevalence  of  a  scarlet 
fever  epidemic  in  1889-90. 


CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  AND  PUBLIC  LIBRARIES  595 

Greenwood,  T:  Public  libraries,  3d  ed.,  1890,  p.  493-5. 
Speaking  of  the  carrying  of  disease  by  books  he  says'— "The 
statement  is  monstrously  untrue,  and  invariably  emanates  from 
the  avowed  enemies  of  these  institutions."  He  advocates  pre- 
caution, prohibition  of  circulation,  required  notification,  disin- 
fection. Describes  apparatus  used  at  Dundee,  Sheffield,  and 
Preston,  which  is  recommended  as  simplest  and  best.  A  sketch 
is  given.  It  is  a  case  of  thin  sheet  iron,  with  perforated  shelves. 
Compound  sulphurous  acid  is  burned  in  a  small  lamp. 

The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  the  authorities  cited  above, 
as  well  as  the  whole  tone  of  the  replies  received,  seems  to  be 
this- — No  librarian  actually  knows  of  a  case  of  contagious  dis- 
ease being  carried  by  a  book  either  to  a  reader  or  library 
attendant,  that  cited  by  Miss  Coe  alone  excepted,  and  this  is 
not  a  case  of  what  is  usually  considered  contagious  disease. 
The  medical  authorities  are  divided  in  their  opinions,  but  most 
of  those  consulted  consider  that  the  danger  of  contagion  through 
books  is  slight. 

What  is  our  duty  then  as  librarians,  careful  of  the  health  of 
our  readers?  It  seems  to  be  this: — Prohibition  of  circulation 
to  houses  where  contagious  diseases  exist,  and  either  disin- 
fection or  destruction  of  books  returned  from  such  houses. 
For  obtaining  a  list  of  infected  houses  the  best  method  seems 
to  be  to  request  notification  from  the  board  of  health  or  other 
health  officers  of  the  city  or  town,  and  in  absence  of  such  officers 
to  make  arrangements  with  physicians  to  send  notice  direct 
to  the  library.  In  either  case  the  library  would  usually  fur- 
nish addressed  postal  cards  for  such  notification.  As  to  whether 
books  returned  should  be  disinfected  or  destroyed,  that  can 
wisely  be  left  to  the  opinion  of  the  board  of  health  or  other 
competent  local  authority.  Destruction  is  certainly  the  safer, 
because  of  the  difficulty  of  opening  a  book  so  that  the  surface 
of  every  leaf  shall  be  exposed  to  the  disinfecting  process.  These 
precautions  are  recommended  not  because  the  danger  is  con- 
sidered great,  but  to  prevent  all  possible  chance  of  contagion, 
and  to  allay  the  fears  of  unduly  sensitive  persons,  of  whom 
there  are  so  many  in  every  community. 


STERILIZATION  OF  BOOKS  BY  FORMALIN 
VAPOR 

The  author  of  this  paper,  a  practicing  physician, 
believes  that  book-disinfection  is  a  part  of  the  subject 
of  preventive  medicine.  He  had  conducted  experiments 
with  the  eff ects  of  formalin  vapor  on  books  that  had  been 
exposed  to  contagious  disease  germs,  and  the  results  of 
these  experiments  are  embodied  in  the  following  paper 
prepared  for  the  Boston  and  Magnolia  Conference  of  the 
A.LA.  in  June,  1902. 

At  this  time  Dr.  Andrew  R  Currier  was  a  trustee 
of  the  Mt.  Vernon,  New  York,  Public  Library. 

Andrew  Fay  Currier  is  a  practicing  physician  of  Mt. 
Vernon,  New  York.  He  is  the  associate  editor  of  Fos- 
ter's Encyclopedic  Dictionary  and  a  contributor  to  Ref- 
erence Handbook  of  the  Medical  Sciences  and  the  En- 
cyclopedia Americana.  He  was  "health  editor"  of  the 
New  York  Globe  until  its  consolidation  with  the  New 
York  Evening  Sun.  His  How  to  Keep  Well  appeared 
in  1924.  Dr.  Currier  had  been  a  member  of  the  New 
York  Library  Club  and  president  of  the  board  of  trus- 
tees of  the  Mt.  Vernon,  New  York,  Public  Library. 

As  a  result  of  careful  investigation  it  appears  that  books 
may  be  the  medium  by  which  the  germs  of  a  disease  may  be 
transmitted.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  books  to  be  used  in  the 
sick  room  by  those  who  are  unaware  of  the  possibility  that 
such  germs  become  attached  to  them.  Such  carelessness  and 
thoughtlessness  are  too  frequent  to  excite  any  feeling  of  sur- 
prise. Very  often  the  books  are  obtained  from  a  circulating 
library  and  when  returned  to  the  library  it  is  quite  possible 
for  them  to  be  quickly  transferred  to  other  individuals  and 
thus  to  carry  the  germs  of  disease  with  them. 


5Q8  ANDREW  FAY  CURRIER 

The  subject  therefore  becomes  one  of  practical  importance 
and  it  was  the  consideration  of  these  facts  which  induced  me 
to  investigate  with  the  view  of  finding,  if  possible,  a  remedy 
for  the  evil.  Germs,  it  is  evident,  may  adhere  more  or  less 
firmly  to  different  parts  of  books  because  of  their  peculiarities 
and  because  they  have  been  found  free  in  the  atmosphere.  It 
may  also  be  assumed  that  they  will  be  more  abundant  upon  the 
covers  and  edges  than  within  the  interior  of  books  In  the 
investigations  which  were  made  they  were  actually  found  in 
abundance  in  the  books  which  were  used  for  experimentation, 
these  books  having  been  circulated  by  the  Mount  Vernon  Pub- 
lic Library.  It  should  be  added  however  that  of  those  which 
were  thus  found  all  were  shown  by  cultivation  to  be  of  harm- 
less varieties.  A  suitable  agent  for  the  destruction  of  germs 
both  harmless  and  noxious  which  at  the  same  time  would  not 
be  injurious  to  the  binding,  paper,  or  text  of  the  books  was 
found  in  formalin  gas.  Its  use  for  the  disinfection  of  books 
was  recommended  by  Billings  in  1896  and  a  series  of  experi- 
ments to  demonstrate  its  value  was  conducted  by  Horton  at 
the  laboratory  of  hygiene  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  of 
which  Dr.  Billings  was  then  the  director.  (See  Medical  News, 
Aug.  8,  1896;  L.  J.,  22:388,  756.) 

In  an  article  on  the  disinfection  of  books  by  the  vapor  of 
formalin  in  the  LIBRARY  JOURNAL  for  August,  1897,  p  388,  it  is 
stated  that  Du  Cazal  and  Catrin  found  as  the  result  of  their 
experiments  that  books  could  serve  as  vehicles  of  contagion. 
Their  experiments  gave  positive  results  for  the  bacillus  of  diph- 
theria, streptococcus,  and  the  pneumococcus,  and  negative  re- 
sults for  the  bacillus  of  tuberculosis  and  typhoid  fever.    Their 
methods  were  impracticable  inasmuch  as  bound  volumes  and 
board  covers  were  injured  by  the  process  of  sterilization  which 
they  adopted.    Other  experiments  were  made  by  Miquel  and  by 
Van  Ermengen  and  Sugg,  who  found  the  sterilization  of  books 
difficult  but  possible  with  formalin  in  a  temperature  of  60°  C. 
after  24  hours  exposure.    Horton's  experiments  were  at  a  tem- 
perature of  19  to  31°  C   the  books  used  for  the  purpose  con- 
taining enclosed  sheets  first  sterilized  and  then  infected  with 
a  24  hour  bouillon  culture  of  Bacillus  typhi  abdomindis,  Bacillus 
diphtheriae,  and  staphylo coccus  pyogenes  aureus.     The  books 
were  placed  under  a  bell  jar  in  which  was  a  glass  dish  con- 


STERILIZATION  OF  BOOKS  ,  599 

taining  formalin  which  was  evaporated  and  the  books  sub- 
mitted to  its  influence  from  15  minutes  to  24  hours.  It  was 
found  that  one  cubic  centimeter  of  formalin  in  300  cubic  centi- 
meters of  air  would  disinfect  a  book  in  15  minutes.  If  the  ex- 
posure of  the  book  were  prolonged  for  one  hour  or  even  for 
24  hours  complete  sterilization  was  not  obtained  if  air  were 
admitted,  so  that  the  ratio  should  stand  one  cubic  centimeter 
of  formalin  to  375  cubic  centimeters  of  air.  Books  have  also 
been  effectively  sterilized  with  formalin  gas  by  the  New  York 
Board  of  Health  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  W.  H.  Park  (Re- 
port on  the  use  of  formaldehyde  as  a  disinfectant  by  William 
H.  Park,  M.D.,  and  Arthur  R.  Guerard,  MD.)  but  the  appa- 
ratus used  was  on  too  expensive  and  elaborate  a  scale  for  li- 
brary use. 

The  apparatus  in  the  various  series  of  experiments  to  which 
reference  has  been  made  was  merely  intended  to  test  the  ap- 
plicability of  formalin  gas  for  a  specific  purpose.  It  therefore 
became  necessary  to  devise  a  suitable  apparatus  for  library  use 
and  to  institute  a  sufficient  number  of  experiments  to  deter- 
mine its  efficiency,  and  this  is  the  work  which  has  been  accom- 
plished. The  substance  chosen  for  the  generation  of  the  for- 
malin gas  was  a  mixture  containing 

1000  parts  formaldehyde 
200     "     water 
200     "     chloride  of  calcium 
200     "     glycerine 

A  steel  cabinet  59^  inches  high,  42  inches  wide,  and  17  inches 
deep,  with  heavy  glass  doors  clamped  at  top,  bottom  and  middle 
was  carefully  constructed.  On  its  floor  was  a  depression  or 
pan  15  inches  long,  12  inches  wide  and  two  inches  deep,  with  a 
perforated  cover,  into  which  the  unused  formalin  vapor  would 
settle  when  precipitated,  being  drawn  off  through  a  tube  lead- 
ing from  its  lowest  part.  Two  small  steel  tubes  were  fitted 
into  the  lower  portion  of  the  right  side  of  the  cabinet,  one  end 
of  each  tube  projecting  within  and  the  other  without  for  about 
two  inches.  To  each  of  these  ends  was  attached  a  piece  of 
stout  rubber  tubing,  those  within  the  cabinet  terminating  in  the 
pan  on  the  cabinet  floor,  and  those  without  being  attached- 
one  to  the  generator  of  formalin  and  the  other  to  a  generator 
of  ammonia,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  be  mentioned  hereafter. 


6oo  ANDREW  FAY  CURRIER 

These  generators  are  of  copper  20  inches  high  and  consist  of 
a  bowl  or  receptacle  at  the  top  with  a  suitable  fitting  to  which 
is  attached  the  rubber  tubing  which  proceeds  from  the  cabinet. 
Beneath  the  bowl  is  a  space  for  the  insertion  of  a  Bunsen 
burner.  The  sides  of  the  cabinet  are  provided  with  brackets 
at  suitable  intervals  upon  which  rest  trays  three  inches  deep, 
made  of  thin  steel  strips  crossing  each  other  at  right  angles 
and  with  openings  between  the  strips  sufficiently  large  for  the 
free  passage  of  the  gas  or  vapor  from  the  bottom  of  the  cabi- 
net to  the  top.  The  cabinet  is  also  provided  with  a  series  of 
adjustable  rods  attached  horizontally  upon  which  books  may 
be  hung,  if  this  were  desired  or  found  necessary.  It  has  a  ca- 
pacity of  200  to  250  duodecimo  volumes  according  as  they  are 
packed  together  more  or  less  closely.  The  less  closely  they  are 
packed  the  more  freely  the  gas  can  permeate  all  portions  of 
them. 

The  books  are  collected  in  the  trays  after  their  return  to 
the  library  by  those  who  have  been  using  them,  placed  on  end 
and  not  upon  ihe  side,  and  the  trays  placed  in  the  cabinet  the 
temperature  of  which  is  that  of  the  surrounding  atmosphere 
No  attempt  is  made  to  produce  a  vacuum,  or  in  any  way  submit 
the  gas  which  is  to  be  introduced  to  other  than  the  ordinary 
conditions  of  temperature  and  pressure.    When  the  doors  of 
the  cabinet  are  bolted  it  is  practically  air  tight.    The  Bunsen 
burner  having  been  lighted  the  boiling  point  of  the  mixture  con- 
tamed  in  the  generator  is  reached  in  three  or  four  minutes, 
and  the  formalin  gas  or  vapor  then  passes  out  through  the 
rubber  tubing  into  the  cabinet.    The  evaporation  process  is  con- 
tinued about  15  minutes  or  until  six  ounces  of  the  mixture,  of 
which  the  formula  was  given,  are  evaporated.    In  the  Mount 
Vernon  Library  this  operation  is  conducted  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  afternoon,  the  cabinet  then  remaining  closed  until  the 
following  morning.    At  that  time  the  Bunsen  burner  is  lighted 
under  the  second  generator  and  a  mixture  of  one  ounce  of 
ammonia  and  five  ounces  of  water  evaporated,  the  vapor  being 
introduced  into  the  cabinet  through  the  proper  tubing.     The 
ammonia  vapor  mingles  in  the  cabinet  with  the  formalin  which 
has  not  been  absorbed  by  the  books  or  has  not  condensed  at 
the  pan  in  the  cabinet  floor  and  produces  a  chemical  combina- 
tion which  is  not  irritating  to  the  eyes  or  the  respiratory  organs, 


STERILIZATION  OF  BOOKS  601 

as  is  the  formalin  alone.  After  the  gases  have  mingled  for  half 
an  hour  the  cabinet  is  opened  and  the  books  are  returned  to 
their  places  on  the  library  shelves.  The  formalin  odor  very 
quickly  disappears  from  the  books  and  neither  the  bindings, 
paper,  nor  text  are  in  the  least  injured.  The  bright  red  bind- 
ings are  said  to  be  discolored  by  the  formalin  but  this  has 
not  yet  been  observed  in  our  work.  Many  persons  have  objected 
to  the  use  of  books  in  public  libraries  on  the  ground  that  dis- 
ease might  thus  be  introduced  into  their  households.  This 
objection  is  no  longer  tenable  if  the  books  have  been  subjected 
to  the  sterilizing  process  which  has  been  described.  It  has 
also  been  a  frequent  experience  with  us  that  books  have  been 
returned  to  the  library  with  direct  or  indirect  information  that 
they  have  been  in  houses  in  which  infectious  disease  was  pres- 
ent Such  books  have  heretofore  been  destroyed  and  ought 
always  to  be  unless  it  is  known  that  they  have  been  effectually 
sterilized.  The  actual  loss  from  this  necessary  destruction 
amounts  to  a  considerable  sum  in  the  course  of  a  year.  This 
amount  is  now  saved  by  means  of  the  sterilizing  apparatus. 

The  same  necessity  which  calls  for  the  sterilization  of  books 
also  demands  the  sterilization  of  paper  money  and  of  many 
other  articles  in  common  use,  which  may  have  been  exposed 
to  the  action  of  infectious  germs  The  principle  is  such  an 
important  one  that  there  is  scarcely  any  one  to  whom  it  is  not  a 
matter  of  personal  concern.  It  may  be  interesting  to  give,  in 
conclusion,  the  report  of  one  of  the  experiments  which  were 
made  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  efficacy  of  the  apparatus 
which  has  been  described: 

EXPERIMENT  ON   STERILIZATION  OF  BOOKS 

Jan.  28,  1902 

The  experiment  was  carried  on  in  an  air  tight  chest  and  the 
vapor  derived  from  commercial  40°  formaldehyde  by  means  of 
an  ordinary  generator. 

The  gas  was  admitted  from  below,  and  allowed  to  diffuse 
itself  through  the  chest. 

A  six  hour  exposure  to  the  vapor  was  suggested,  and  since 
this  length  of  time  would  mean  in  practice  only  one  sterilization 
a  day,  it  was  thought  that  the  chest  might  just  as  well  remain 
closed  through  the  night  The  vapor  was  therefore  generated 


602  ANDREW  FAY  CURRIER 

at  about  2pm.  and  the  chest  not  opened  until  the  following 
day  at  ii  a.  m  at  which  time  the  vapor  was  still  quite  strong 
Under  these  circumstances  the  sterilization  appears  to  have 
been  effective,  even  the  resistant  anthrax  spores  having  been 
Jailed,  except  in  one  book.  An  interesting  point  is  brought  out 
here,  since  this  particular  book  fell  over  accidentally  at  the 
beginning  of  the  experiment  and  so  remained  closed.  The  only 
other  organism  that  survived  to  any  extent  was  the  staphylococ- 
cus  pyogenes  aureus  in  two  books  out  of  five  In  these  two 
books  the  center  of  the  page  was  smeared,  and  the  margins 
in  the  other  three. 

Some  of  the  plates  which  were  otherwise  sterile  showed 
a  few  colonies  of  moulds,  and  these  probably  pre-existed  in 
the  books  in  the  form  of  spores.  Mould  spores  are  particularly 
resistant  to  disinfectants. 

The  methods  were  as  follows : 

24  hour  old  cultures  of  the  various  organisms  in  broth  were 
taken  and  smeared  over  the  pages  with  a  cotton  swab.  Some 
of  these  were  taken  on  Jan.  25,  three  days  before  the  experi- 
ment, and  others  on  the  morning  of  the  experiment. 

After  drying  the  books  were  closed  and  sterilized.  Before 
sterilizing  some  controls  were  taken  by  cutting  one-half  square 
inch  out  of  the  infected  page.  These  pieces  were  kept  till  the 
next  day  and  then  treated  in  the  same  way  as  the  sterilized 
pieces. 

After  sterilization  one-half  square  inch  was  cut  from  each 
infected  page  dropped  into  a  tube  containing  5  c.  c.  of  broth 
and  allowed  to  remain  there  an  hour  with  occasional  stirring. 
At  the  end  of  an  hour  the  broth  was  decanted  into  a  tube 
containing  5  c.  c.  of  20%  gelatine  previously  melted,  poured 
into  a  Petri  dish  and  allowed  to  set.  The  plates  were  examined 
each  day  and  results  recorded. 

Most  of  the  plates  were  still  sterile  on  the  fifth  day  and 
the  question  then  arose:  Were  the  bacteria  actually  killed  or 
possibly  only  inhibited  from  growing  by  traces  of  formalin 
earned  over  from  the  paper?  In  order  to  test  this  the  gelatine 
m  those  plates  which  showed  no  growth  was  melted  by  a  gentle 
heat  and  then  exposed  to  the  air  for  20  minutes.  In  three  day, 
the  plates  showed  numerous  cultures  of  air  bacteria  but  not 
of  those  with  which  the  books  had  been  infected,  except  for  a 


STERILIZATION  OF  BOOKS  603 

few  colonies  on  two  plates  of  the  coli  communis  series.  This 
showed  that  with  the  exception  of  these  two  plates  the  bacteria 
had  been  actually  killed  and  not  merely  inhibited  in  their  growth. 

In  the  chest  were  six  shelves  of  which  the  three  upper  and 
two  lower  ones  were  tested .  one  of  each  organism  on  each  shelf, 
and  one  of  the  books  with  smeared  saliva  The  books  were 
partially  opened  and  set  up  on  end. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  the  test  was  effective, 
and  shows  that  micro-organisms  can  be  destroyed  in  books  by 
prolonged  exposure  to  formaldehyde  gas 


LIBRARY  PUBLICITY 

Closely  akin  to  free  access  as  a  means  of  bringing  a 
library  and  the  public  together  is  the  employment  of 
effective  means  to  secure  publicity.  Since  the  public 
library  is  an  institution  for  the  education  and  the  recrea- 
tion of  all  classes  in  the  community,  the  public  must  be 
made  more  familiar  with  what  the  library  has  to  offer. 
The  local  newspapers  are  an  effective  means  of  inform- 
ing all  citizens  of  the  library's  existence,  location,  re- 
sources and  aims,  and  of  the  fact  that  it  is  tax-supported 
and  free  to  all.  Bulletin  boards  with  attractive  notices 
of  new  books,  guides  to  reading  on  current  topics,  illus- 
trated book  posters  and  covers,  announcements,  have  all 
been  used  in  securing  public  attention.  Talks  and  ad- 
dresses before  schools,  clubs  and  various  associations  by 
librarians  and  other  members  of  the  library  staff  are  part 
of  the  regular  program  in  many  libraries. 

The  public  has  been  made  to  realize  and  feel  that 
the  library  belongs  to  them  and  not  to  the  board  or  the 
librarian. 


PRINTED  LISTS  OF  BOOKS 

If  no  books  were  added  to  the  collection  of  a  circu- 
lating library,  it  would  be  easy  to  keep  the  public  in- 
formed, but  constant  growth  is  necessary  to  maintain 
the  usefulness  of  such  a  library.  To  keep  printed  lists 
up-to-date  with  this  increase,  is  a  problem  answered  by 
different  libraries  in  different  ways.  After  a  collection 
of  books  has  been  formed  and  prepared  for  circulation, 
it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  question  of  a  printed  list 
for  the  information  and  convenience  of  readers,  which 
may  be  purchased  and  used  for  reference  at  home. 

The  following  paper  on  the  subject  of  printed  lists, 
by  Kate  M.  Henneberry  of  the  Chicago  Public  Library, 
appeared  in  the  Library  Journal  for  1894. 

After  a  collection  of  books  has  been  formed  and  prepared 
for  circulation,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  question  of  a 
printed  list  for  the  information  and  convenience  of  readers, 
that  may  be  consulted  at  the  library  or  purchased  and  used 
for  reference  at  home.  If  no  books  were  to  be  added  to  the 
collection  in  the  future  the  solution  of  this  question  would  be 
easy,  and  the  printing  of  the  catalog  and  the  preparation  of 
the  books  for  circulation  could  be  earned  on  at  almost  an  even 
pace.  But  a  circulating  library  in  order  to  maintain  its  useful- 
ness requires  constant  growth,  and  to  keep  the  printed  list  "up 
to  date"  with  this  increase  is  still  a  problem  answered  by  dif- 
ferent libraries  in  various  ways. 

A  classified  finding-list  seems  to  find  favor  in  circulating 
libraries  and  is  in  use  in  the  Cincinnati,  Minneapolis,  Milwaukee, 
Enoch  Pratt,  Newark,  and  Omaha  libraries,  and  in  many  others. 
It  is  also  the  principal  printed  list  of  the  Chicago  Public  Li- 
brary, and  it  seemed  to  me  that  a  consideration  of  the  details 
of  its  preparation  and  printing  might  prove  of  interest. 

After  a  book  has  been  cataloged  it  is  entered  in  the  shelf- 
list  and  this  shelf  number  is  given  the  book  and  catalog  cards; 


608  KATE  M.  HENNEBERRY 

the  cards  are  then  copied  for  the  printed  list  before  their  dis- 
tribution in  the  card  catalog.  The  title  to  be  printed  is  made 
as  brief  as  possible,  the  object  being  to  have  each  title  occupy 
but  one  printed  line  wherever  possible  to  do  so  and  preserve 
the  meaning. 

After  all  titles  have  been  classified  each  subject  is  arranged 
alphabetically  according  to  author  and  pasted  on  sheets  of  ma- 
nilla  paper.  This  copy  is  sent  to  the  printer,  who  returns  a 
first  proof,  or  galley  proof,  for  correction,  with  the  copy.  This 
galley  proof  is  carefully  compared  with  the  copy  and  all  cor- 
rections are  noted  on  the  margin.  It  is  then  sent  back  to  the 
printer,  who  corrects  all  errors  and  divides  the  galleys  up  into 
page  proofs,  two  columns  on  a  page.  These  page  proofs  are 
again  scrutinized  to  see  that  all  errors  have  been  corrected,  and 
also  to  see  that  no  more  have  been  made,  especially  at  the  top 
and  bottom  of  each  column  or  page,  where  the  letters  or  figures 
are  apt  to  drop  out,  and,  when  noticed,  to  be  replaced  by  the 
compositor  where  they  seem  to  fit  in  best,  regardless  of  where 
they  belong. 

These  pages  of  type  are  then  sent  to  the  foundry,  where 
they  are  electrotyped,  and  the  electrotyped  plates  then  become 
the  property  of  the  library.  If  an  error  has  been  discovered 
after  the  plates  have  been  made  it  may  still  be  corrected  by 
cutting  out  the  part  in  which  the  error  occurs  and  inserting 
type  in  the  place,  if  the  correction  occupies  exactly  the  same 
space  These  plates  are  stored  in  boxes  in  the  library,  one  page 
following  another  in  numerical  order  until  all  have  been  de- 
livered, when  they  are  sent  to  the  printing  office  whenever  a 
new  edition  is  to  be  struck  off.  As  there  is  a  great  expense  in- 
volved in  the  preparation  of  these  plates  and  the  printing,  it 
becomes  almost  a  necessity  to  print  as  many  editions  from  them 
as  there  is  demand  for. 

Various  expedients  are  resorted  to  in  order  to  supplement 
this  list  with  the  new  additions  to  the  library  before  there  is 
imperative  need  of  a  revision,  which  relegates  the  plates  to  old 
metal.  Where  current  American  books  are  purchased  at  cer- 
tain stated  periods,  the  titles  of  these  may  appear  from  time  to 
time  in  the  form  of  a  typewritten  list  posted  in  a  conspicuous 
place  in  the  library.  But  one  list  must  soon  be  superseded  by 
another,  and  in  this  way  each  can  appear  for  but  a  limited  time 


PRINTED  LISTS  OF  BOOKS  609 

and  meet  the  eye  of  but  a  certain  number.  In  the  Chicago 
Public  Library,  where  upwards  of  3000  new  titles  in  the  Eng- 
lish language  are  added  each  year,  besides  these  typewritten 
lists,  bulletins  of  about  800  titles  each  are  printed  quarterly, 
supplying  in  printed  form  the  titles  of  all  new  books  within 
a  reasonable  time  after  publication.  These  quarterly  bulletins 
are  arranged  in  an  alphabetical  list  according  to  authors.  Fuller 
titles  are  given  than  in  the  classified  finding-list,  and  the  im- 
print of  each  work  is  added,  so  that  a  given  number  of  books 
listed  in  a  bulletin  occupies  about  twice  as  much  space  as  the 
same  number  in  the  finding-list.  A  bulletin  contains  16  pages, 
which  are  printed  from  type,  not  electrotyped.  They  are  sold 
at  the  nominal  price  of  three  cents.  It  is  a  well-established 
fact  that  the  purchase  of  a  list,  however  trifling  may  be  the 
sum  paid  for  it,  insures  its  use  and  preservation  much  better 
than  if  it  be  distributed  gratuitously. 

These  typewritten  lists  and  bulletins  serve  to  answer  many 
questions  about  new  books  which  have  been  reviewed  in  the 
newspapers  and  periodicals.  It  is  a  surprising  fact  that  persons 
of  limited  education  and  apparently  little  taste  for  reading,  as 
soon  as  they  begin  to  draw  books  from  a  library  will  become 
interested  in  articles  relating  to  books  and  authors,  and  will 
read  book  reviews  in  the  newspapers,  which  had  no  meaning 
for  them  before  they  began  reading  in  the  library. 

After  each  bulletin  has  been  printed  it  is  necessary  to  take 
every  title  and  classify  it  according  to  its  subject  for  the  find- 
ing-list. As  one  bulletin  after  another  is  treated  m  this  man- 
ner, the  library  always  contains  a  classified  list  of  its  printed 
titles  ready  for  printing  in  the  finding-list  From  time  to  time 
these  subjects  are  typewritten  and  bound  in  a  volume  and  used 
for  reference  in  the  library. 

This  library,  now  in  its  twentieth  year,  has  found  its  list  of 
titles  so  large  that  the  seventh  edition  of  its  finding-list  has  been 
issued  in  parts,  viz.:  History  and  biography;  Voyages,  geog- 
raphy, and  travels;  Poetry,  drama,  and  miscellanies;  Language, 
literature,  and  bibliography;  Arts  and  sciences;  Political  and 
social  science;  Philosophy  and  religion.  These  parts,  however, 
are  paged  consecutively,  and  may  be  bound  in  one  volume  when 
the  list  is  completed. 

This  classified  finding-list  does  not  include,  however,  Eng- 


6io  KATE  M.  HENNEBERRY 

Hsh  prose  fiction  or  books  in  foreign  languages.  The  English 
prose  fiction  list  is  arranged  in  one  alphabetical  list  of  authors 
and  titles.  Books  in  foreign  languages  are  arranged  m  an 
alphabetical  author-list,  each  language  being  issued  and  sold  in 
a  separate  part.  As  foreign  books  are  imported  in  large  orders, 
and  a  considerable  space  of  time  elapses  between  orders,  the 
foreign  lists  are  printed  almost  as  soon  as  the  books  are  ready 
for  the  shelves.  The  library  contains  books  and  printed  lists 
in  the  following  languages:  German,  Dutch,  French,  Italian, 
Spanish,  Scandinavian  (Danish-Norwegian  and  Swedish),  Po- 
lish, Bohemian,  and  Russian.  The  Polish,  Bohemian,  and  Rus- 
sian lists  are  printed  by  firms  of  each  of  those  nationalities, 
but  in  the  case  of  all  other  foreign  languages  the  work  is  dons 
by  the  same  house  which  prints  the  finding-list.  They  are  all  in 
the  English  text  with  the  exception  of  the  Russian. 

After  all  that  can  be  done  by  means  of  supplements  and 
bulletins  to  bring  the  titles  of  new  works  before  the  readers, 
the  question  of  providing  a  single  printed  list  containing  all  the 
books  in  the  library  is  still  unsolved.  It  has  been  suggested  that 
the  pages  remain  standing  in  type,  and  that  additions  be  made 
to  them,  annually  or  semi-annually;  but  as  this  would  necessi- 
tate a  change  in  every  plate  it  would  require  a  great  amount  of 
space,  and  there  would  be  danger  of  type  becoming  misplaced 
by  the  unlocking  of  the  form. 

The  linotype  does  away  with  the  disarrangement  of  the  type, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  used  successfully  in  small  libraries! 
If  it  is  equally  practical  for  large  libraries  it  will  be  an  un- 
qualified boon,  and  is  what  has  been  most  earnestly  desired  by 
librarians  and  readers  to  keep  up  the  printed  list,  so  that  a  ref- 
erence may  be  made  to  but  one  list  to  see  if  the  book  sought 
for  is  in  the  library. 


PERIODICAL   LIBRARY   BULLETINS 

The  following  report  is  a  written  presentation,  by  li- 
brarians of  various  large  libraries,  of  experiences  and 
opinions  connected  with  the  publication  of  library  bulle- 
tins. The  principal  points  considered  are  their  cost,  fre- 
quency of  publication,  the  expediency  of  annotation,  the 
admission  of  advertisements,  free  distribution  or  sale  and 
value  to  the  public.  This  matter  was  under  discussion 
at  the  Lake  Placid  Conference  of  the  A.L.A.  in  Septem- 
ber, 1894. 

The  libraries  represented  are  the  Jersey  City  Free 
Library,  the  Mercantile  Library  of  Philadelphia  and  the 
public  libraries  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  Denver,  Cleve- 
land, and  Salem,  Massachusetts. 

PERIODICAL  LIBRARY  BULLETINS 

BY  GARDNER  MAYNARD  JONES,  LIBRARIAN, 
SALEM  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Size  and  cost.  The  bulletin  of  the  Salem  Public  Library  is 
published  monthly.  Eack  number  contains  8  pages,  25  x  17  5  cm. 
(9^  x  6%  in.)  ;  type  20.5  x  13.2  cm.  (8  x  $%  in.).  The  con- 
tents are  an  editorial  (about  one  page)  in  long  primer,  and  lists 
of  new  books  and  reading  lists  (6^p.)  in  brevier,  with  notes 
in  nonpareil.  The  leading  word  of  each  title  (generally  author's 
surname)  and  call-mark  are  in  antique.  Type  is  set  solid,  with- 
out indentation,  as  in  the  later  issues  of  the  Boston  Public 
Library  Bulletin.  It  would  be  better  to  indent  all  but  the  first 
line,  as  titles  would  stand  out  more  clearly,  and  practically  no 
space  would  be  lost. 


612  GEORGE  WATSON  COLE 

We  formerly  printed  2,000  copies  monthly  at  a  cost  of  $34  84 
Beginning  with  volume  2  the  number  was  reduced  to  1,500  at  a 
contract  price  of  $31 14,  with  a  deduction  of  $2,00  per  day  for 
each  day's  delay  beyond  12  working  days. 

Frequency.  Monthly.  This  seems  best  in  a  library  adding 
2,000  to  3,000  volumes  a  year. 

Annotation  is  very  desirable,  as  frequently  a  book's  title 
does  not  show  its  character  It  also  serves  to  call  attention  to 
books  of  local  or  timely  interest. 

Advertisements  should  be  excluded  if  funds  allow  Many 
merchants  never  advertise  anything  outside  their  own  business, 
and  the  library  should  follow  the  same  rule  Its  dignity  and 
self-respect  demand  this. 

Free  distribution  or  sale  Free  by  all  means  This  is  the 
only  way  to  get  it  into  the  hands  of  all  readers.  1,200  copies 
answer  the  ordinary  demands  in  our  city  of  30,000  inhabitants 
and  a  home  circulation  of  over  100,000  volumes.  It  might  be 
well  to  fix  a  mailing  price  for  copies  sent  by  mail. 

Value  to  the  public.  A  list  which  can  be  used  at  home  leads 
to  a  more  careful  selection  of  books.  A  bulletin  also  gives 
opportunity  for  the  publication  of  lists  on  subjects  which  are, 
or  should  be,  of  special  interest  to  the  public.  The  statistics 
of  circulation  may  not  indicate  that  much  use  is  made  of  such 
lists,  but  they  serve  as  a  running  advertisement  of  the  educa- 
tional intent  of  the  library. 

Regularity,  promptness,  and  uniformity  are  as  desirable  in 
a  library  bulletin  as  in  any  other  periodical.  A  failure  in  either 
of  these  points  indicates  either  a  lack  of  funds  or  of  consistent 
purpose  in  the  management  of  the  library. 

BY    GEORGE    WATSON    COLE,    LIBRARIAN,    JERSEY    CITY    FREE    PUBLIC 
LIBRARY 

No  public  library  that  endeavors  to  keep  up  with  the  times 
can  hope  to  succeed  without  furnishing  its  readers  with  in- 
formation as  to  its  most  recent  accessions.  This  may  be  done 
in  several  ways-  by  posting  lists  of  new  books;  by  a  card- 
catalogue  for  the  public;  or  by  printed  lists.  The  disadvantage 
of  the  first  two  methods  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  readers  must 
come  to  the  library  to  consult  them,  whereas,  printed  lists  can 


PERIODICAL  LIBRARY  BULLETINS  613 

be  carried  away  and  consulted  at  all  times  and  anywhere  out- 
side the  library  It  is  safe  then  to  say  that  the  printed  list  or 
bulletin  supplies  information  to  a  greater  number  of  people,  with 
less  inconvenience,  and  at  a  smaller  cost,  than  can  be  done  by 
any  other  means.  It  is  presumed  that  as  fast  as  new  books  are 
added  to  the  library  and  catalogued  they  are  put  upon  in- 
spection shelves  where  the  public  can  examine  and  handle 
them,  under  proper  supervision,  and  that  they  are  kept  there 
until  a  bulletin  is  issued,  or  until  they  are  crowded  out  by  still 
newer  books  This,  in  a  measure,  does  away  with  the  neces- 
sity of  posting  lists  or  of  a  public  card-catalogue,  which  at  best 
are  but  substitutes  for  the  books  themselves. 

In  taking  up  the  order  of  topics  laid  down  for  the  discus- 
sion of  this  subject,  we  come  first  to  their  cost.  It  has  been 
the  policy  of  the  Jersey  City  Free  Public  Library  to  issue  its 
"Library  Record"  without  expense  to  the  library.  In  order  to 
do  this  it  has  started  out  with  the  assumption  that  such  a  pub- 
lication furnishes  one  of  the  best  possible  means  for  advertis- 
ing to  be  found  in  the  community;  for,  unlike  daily  papers  and 
other  periodicals,  which  are  read  and  then  thrown  away,  this  is 
preserved  month  after  month  for  reference.  We  have  there- 
fore tried  the  plan  of  going  to  the  printer  or  publisher  and 
interesting  him  in  the  matter,  by  showing  him  the  excellence  of 
the  sheet  as  an  advertising  medium,  and  engaging  him  to  under- 
take its  publication;  it  being  understood  that  he  is  to  have 
all  he  can  make,  over  and  above  the  cost  of  production,  from 
the  amount  paid  him  for  advertisements.  After  several  un- 
successful efforts,  we  have  at  last  found  an  enterprising  printer 
who  is  making  it  pay  for  itself  and  still  give  him  some  small 
profit  for  his  labors. 

Before  the  outside  cover  was  added  to  the  "Library  Record," 
the  printers  estimated  that  it  cost  them  about  $45.00  for  an  issue 
of  3,500  copies.  It  contained  8  pages  of  3  columns  each,  meas- 
uring 10  x  8  inches  excluding  the  running  title.  Our  proposition 
to  the  printer  was  to  reserve  12  columns  of  the  inside,  including 
the  entire  first  page,  for  the  use  of  the  library;  allowing  him 
to  use  all  the  rest  for  advertising  purposes.  We  supply  reading- 
matter  for  any  space  which  he  is  unable  to  fill  with  advertise- 
ments. 

One  of  our  former  printers  has  given  the  following  esti- 


614  GEORGE  WATSON  COLE 

mate  of  actual  cost  in  getting  up  the  sheet  as  at  present  is- 
sued :— 

ESTIMATED  ACTUAL  COST  TO  PEINTER  FOR  AN  EDITION  OF 
3,500  COPIES. 

Stock— i.    Cover,  48-lb.   stock       •••',/       $IO-°° 
2     Paper    (inside)    6o-lb.   stock,   supercalendered, 

machine    finished  ...  .1260 

Composition— i.    Catalogue    and   reading-matter.    12    col- 
umns brevier   (including  ist  page)   of  2,500 
ems  to  column.       .  ....        12.00 

2.    Advertising  matter,  24  columns,  (#  inside  and 

4  pages  of   cover) 2400 

Press  Work — i.    Corrections,  making  ready  for  press,  and 

locking  up    ...  ...    400 

2.    Press    work.       .       .       .  .       .       .       500 

Binding — Folding,  binding  with  wire,  and  trimming.       .    3.50 

Total,      $71 10 

Item  No.  2  of  "Composition"  appears  to  me  to  require  some 
explanation;  as  it  is  here  given  the  printer's  figures  may  be 
misleading  Matter  supplied  in  stereotypes,  as  well  as  adver- 
tisements kept  standing  from  month  to  month,  and  those  leaving 
much  blank  space,  or  fat,  as  the  printers  call  it,  would  all  tend 
to  lower  these  figures,  The  estimate,  on  the  whole,  I  consider 
a  fair  one 

If  the  library  expects  to  secure  its  own  advertisements,  and 
receive  pay  for  them,  an  additional  amount  of  $10  or  $15  should 
be  added  to  these  figures  for  a  reasonable  profit  to  the  printer. 
The  estimate  of  printers  will,  of  course,  vary  somewhat  accord- 
ing to  locality,  competition,  and  capacity  for  turning  out  work. 
So  much  then  in  explanation  of  the  expense  connected  with 
such  a  publication  for  those  who  have  the  problem  yet  to  face. 

As  to  the  frequency  of  appearance,  it  would  seem  that  once 
a  month  is  about  a  reasonable  term.  The  Boston  Public  Li- 
brary last  year  tried  the  experiment  of  issuing  a  weekly  bul- 
letin of  additions,  but  after  a  year's  experience,  has  given  it  up. 
No  other  library,  to  my  knowledge,  has  attempted  a  weekly  bul- 
letin. The  Mercantile  Library  of  Philadelphia,  the  Public  Li- 
braries of  Milwaukee,  Cincinnati,  and  Boston,  and  the  libraries 
of  Harvard  and  Cornell  Universities  all  issue  quarterly  bulle- 
tins. The  Public  Libraries  of  Newark,  Springfield,  Wilkes 


PERIODICAL  LIBRARY  BULLETINS  615 

Barre,  Cleveland,  and  Jersey  City,  and  a  few  others,  issue 
monthly  bulletins.  The  weekly  period  seems  too  short  for 
most  libraries  to  make  up  a  list  of  respectable  size,  and  in  three 
months  matter  for  too  large  a  list  is  apt  to  accumulate;  so 
that,  upon  the  whole,  the  monthly  bulletin  seems  to  be  a  happy 
solution  of  the  difficulty. 

The  disadvantage  of  numerous  alphabets,  which  is  neces- 
sarily incident  to  periodical  bulletins,  is  admirably  solved  by 
the  Cincinnati  and  Milwaukee  public  libraries,  where,  at  the 
end  of  one  or  two  years,  respectively,  the  bound  volumes  are 
provided  with  an  alphabetical  index  to  their  contents. 

There  is  no  question  as  to  the  usefulness  of  annotations,  if 
properly  made,  but  as  to  their  expediency,  especially  in  a  class 
of  work  which  is  necessarily  so  ephemeral  in  its  character  as 
the  library  bulletin,  I  have  grave  doubts.  The  bulletin  at  fre- 
quent intervals  must  be  supplemented  by  a  catalog  or  a  supple- 
ment to  it  Again,  annotations  to  be  of  the  highest  value,  should 
be  very  carefully  prepared,  and  this  requires  more  time  than 
the  ever-busy  librarian  can  give  to  the  work,  especially  when  a 
bulletin  must  be  put  through  the  printer's  hands  every  month. 
As  a  matter  of  expense,  and  in  the  interest  of  careful  and  valu- 
able work  in  this  line,  I  should  say  'don't'  throw  your  annota- 
tions away  on  the  bulletin,  but  reserve  them  for  the  catalog. 

The  question  of  admission  of  advertisements  has  been  fully 
taken  into  consideration  as  far  as  our  own  practice  in  Jersey 
City  is  concerned,  so  that  but  a  word  further  need  be  said.  I 
should  draw  the  line  every  time  at  the  bulletin,  saying  "thus 
far  and  no  farther." 

As  to  free  distribution,  that  question  is  also  settled,  for  us, 
by  our  method  of  getting  our  "Library  Record"  printed.  Even 
if  we  had  to  pay  for  its  printing,  I  believe  it  would  be  politic 
to  give  it  out  freely  to  all  patrons  of  the  library.  I  cannot  see 
how  an  equal  amount  of  money  can  be  better  spent  in  popu- 
larizing the  library,  than  in  the  free  distribution  of  its  lists  of 
new  books. 

Before  closing  I  wish  to  say  a  word  upon  a  point  not  down 
in  the  list  of  suggestive  topics  which  have  been  given  for  our 
guidance  in  the  discussion  of  this  subject.  It  is  one  which,  I 
hope,  will  give  rise  to  a  thorough  discussion.  I  refer  to  the 
admission  of  such  periodical  publications  of  libraries  as  second- 


616  CAROLINE  M  HEWINS 

class  mail-matter  in  the  United  States  mails.  I  have  made 
two  applications  to  the  post-office  authorities  to  get  our  "Li- 
brary Record"  entered  as  second-class  matter,  and  the  applica- 
tion has,  in  each  case,  been  rejected.  It  is  a  positive  disgrace 
that  libraries  cannot  send  these  publications  to  other  libraries 
upon  their  exchange  lists,  as  well  as  to  others,  without  being 
compelled  to  pay  for  them  as  third-rate  matter.  I  should  like 
to  know  how  many  of  the  libraries  here  represented,  that  issue 
periodical  publications  of  this  nature,  have  made  application  to 
have  them  carried  at  pound  rates  and  with  what  success.  I 
can  see  no  good  reason  for  excluding  this  class  of  publications 
from  the  mail  as  second-class  matter,  especially  when  pub- 
lishers are  permitted  to  enter  their  paper-bound  novels,  issued 
in  series,  in  this  class.  I  should  much  like  to  see  some  resolu- 
tion, favoring  the  entry  of  all  library  periodical  bulletins  as 
second-class  mail-matter,  passed  before  the  adjournment  of  this 
Conference 

BY  CAROLINE   M     HEWINS,  LIBRARIAN,   HARTFORD   PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

The  Hartford  Library  Association,  stimulated  by  accounts 
of  advertising  bulletins  in  the  Library  Journal  and  other  pe- 
riodicals, began  to  publish  a  I2mo  quarterly  in  December,  1878 
The  advertisements  were  solicited  by  members  of  the  Board  of 
Directors,  and  the  receipts  the  first  year  were  $104.12,  and  the 
second  $156.40,  which  a  little  more  than  paid  expenses.  At  the 
end  of  the  second  year,  the  Board  decided  that  the  time  spent  in 
seeking  advertisements  was  worth  more  than  the  money  received 
for  them,  and  the  expenses  of  the  bulletin  were  paid  out  of  the 
library  receipts  until  1887,  when  we  began  to  charge  ten  cents 
a  number,  or  twenty-five  cents  a  year.  The  bulletin  was  printed 
by  the  same  firm  who  bound  books  for  the  library,  and  there 
is  no  separate  record  of  its  cost  in  our  printed  reports.  In 
1887,  the  receipts,  at  ten  cents  a  number,  or  twenty-five  cents 
a  year,  were  $2&75,  in  1889,  $14-10;  in  1800,  $35.33;  in  1891, 
$25.89.  Since  opening  the  Hartford  Public  Library  two  years 
ago  we  have  received  a  little  more  than  $300,  and  our  expenses 
have  been  about  $100  more  than  that.  We  have  therefore  made 
no  money  on  our  bulletins. 

We  have  usually  printed  them  once  in  three  months,  but 
have  sometimes  "doubled  up"  numbers,  and  have  always  kept 


PERIODICAL  LIBRARY  BULLETINS  617 

the  I2mo  form  with  which  we  began,  instead  of  the  monthly 
4X0  which  has  been  adopted  by  many  libraries.  At  one  time  we 
investigated  the  cost  of  manilla  paper,  but  found  the  difference 
in  cost  so  slight  that  we  never  used  it. 

We  have  always  annotated  our  bulletins  freely,  and  in  al- 
most every  number  have  shown  the  public  the  resources  of  the 
library  on  some  special  subject  From  1878  to  1889  we  printed 
notes  on  Art,  Africa,  Summer  books,  French  and  German  books, 
English  language,  Children's  vacation,  United  States  govern- 
ment, Christmas  holidays,  Going  abroad,  Longfellow,  English 
and  American  history  for  children,  English  literature,  1700- 
1750  (suggested  by  a  course  of  lectures),  House-building  and 
house-furmshmg,  Music,  Architecture,  Anatomy,  physiology  and 
hygiene  (to  illustrate  "First  aid  to  the  injured"  lectures),  Myth- 
ology and  folklore,  History  of  Greece  and  Rome  for  boys  and 
girls,  French  and  English  history,  1600-1800,  India,  Electricity, 
Education,  Italy,  Russia,  Sociology,  Spain,  How  to  find  quota- 
tions, Connecticut,  Cookery  and  housekeeping,  Books  for 
teachers  of  geography,  and  Plays,  charades  and  tableaux  for 
home  acting. 

In  January,  1890,  we  began  to  print  an  author-list  of  novels, 
in  four  numbers,  with  notes  on  those  illustrating  history  or 
life  in  different  countries.  This  list  was  sold  out  soon  after 
we  became  a  free  library,  and  we  reprinted  it  in  one  twenty-five 
cent  number,  in  the  spring  of  1893,  after  suspending  the  publi- 
cation of  the  bulletin  for  a  year.  It  has  been  continued  irregu- 
larly since  then,  one  of  the  numbers  containing  m  addition  to 
new  books,  a  list  of  all  m  the  library  upon  science  and  useful 
arts,  except  those  so  old  as  to  be  useless  to  general  readers; 
others,  all  our  books  on  education  and  fine  arts,  We  have 
printed  in  every  number  the  percentage  of  different  classes  of 
books  circulated,  and  other  items  of  library  news,  given  tables 
of  contents,  and  paid  especial  attention  to  suggesting  books  lead- 
ing out  from  or  connected  with  our  new  ones,  histories  and 
biographies  for  verifying  historical  novels,  etc. 

When  we  opened  the  Hartford  Public  Library  we  printed 
a  classified  and  annotated  list  of  books  for  boys  and  girls, 
which  we  sold  for  five  cents,  about  half  its  cost.  The  edition 
of  a  thousand  copies  was  soon  exhausted,  and  we  have  printed 
a  revised  and  enlarged  one. 


618  JOHN  EDMANDS 

One  argument  in  favor  of  printing  a  monthly  or  quarterly 
bulletin  is  that  it  prevents  the  public  from  demanding  a  full 
and  expensive  printed  catalog.  At  a  fair  estimate,  three-fourths 
of  the  readers  who  depend  on  a  public  library  care  for  nothing 
but  novels,  and  the  simpler  a  list  can  be  made,  the  better  they 
like  it.  We  do  not  even  print  book-numbers  in  our  novel-list, 
and  require  only  authors  and  titles  to  be  written  on  the  call- 
slips,  as  all  our  novels  in  English,  whether  translated  or  not, 
are  arranged  alphabetically  under  authors  with  the  Cutter  num- 
bers, 

A  second  plea  is  that  a  bulletin  keeps  the  public  informed 
as  to  new  books  much  better  than  a  card  catalog  with  manu- 
script or  typewritten  lists  posted  in  the  library.  It  is  a  medium 
for  conveying  knowledge  of  current  books  to  readers,  who  are 
much  more  willing  to  study  a  pamphlet  at  home  than  to  search 
for  and  copy  titles  in  a  card-catalog. 

Every  number  of  a  bulletin  can  be  made  to  show  the  re- 
sources of  the  library  on  some  special  topic.  It  can  direct  at- 
tention to  the  best  new  books,  and  suggest  for  children's  read- 
ing many  things  not  written  especially  for  them.  If  a  printing 
or  publishing  firm  will  take  it  in  hand  as  a  business  venture,  it 
often  adds  materially  to  the  funds  of  the  library;  but  it  it  has 
no  advertisements  it  must  be  sold  at  a  price  far  below  cost  in 
order  to  attract  buyers,  as  in  the  Boston  Public  Libraiy  I  am 
in  favor  of  a  merely  nominal  sum,  say  five  cents  a  number, 
unless  a  library  has  to  choose  between  spending  money  for 
printing  or  books.  In  that  case,  the  advertising  bulletin  should 
be  adopted. 

BY   JOHN    EDMANDS,    IIBRABffAN,    MERCANTILE    LIBRARY    OF 
PHILADELPHIA 

For  some  years  it  was  the  practice  in  the  Mercantile  Li- 
brary of  Philadelphia  to  insert,  once  a  week,  in  a  daily  papert 
a  list  of  the  principal  additions  to  the  library,  with  an  occa- 
sional article  of  special  interest  to  readers.  These  lists  did 
not  seem  to  attract  much  attention,  and  apparently  did  but 
little  good;  their  cost  was  about  $200  a  year. 

In  October,  1882,  we  began  the  issue  of  a  quarterly  bulletin 
as  a  substitute  for  the  weekly  lists.  This  bulletin  has  been  con- 


PERIODICAL  LIBRARY  BULLETINS  6rp 

tinned  to  the  present  time  The  number  of  pages  has  ranged 
from  sixteen  to  twenty.  The  cost  is  about  $225  a  year.  For 
several  years  the  numbers  were  sold  at  5  cents  each,  and  mailed 
to  subscribers  at  20  cents  a  year.  The  number  of  regular  sub- 
scribers ranged  from  fifty  to  one  hundred,  in  addition  to  those 
sold  singly  at  the  desk.  We  sent  copies  without  charge  to  about 
seventy-five  libraries  Since  January,  1892,  the  bulletin  has 
been  distributed  to  members  of  the  library  without  charge, 

The  bulletin  contains  a  brief  title,  with  imprint,  of  nearly  all 
the  books  added  to  the  library  (including  continuations),  and 
with  the  shelf-marks  appended  The  titles,  by  authors  only, 
are  arranged  alphabetically  under  the  twenty-two  mam  classes 
of  the  library.  Of  many  books  the  contents  are  given.  In 
many  cases  selected  and  original  notes  are  inserted,  to  explain 
the  scope  or  the  purpose  of  the  book,  or  to  give  some  intima- 
tion of  its  merit. 

A  considerable  space  in  each  number  has  been  taken  up  with 
some  special  article.  There  have  been  Reading  Notes,  or  pre- 
pared lists,  on  Spencer,  Webster,  Luther,  Gothe,  Wycliffe,  and 
Columbus;  and  on  Education,  Indexes,  Catacombs,  Electricity, 
Music,  Currency  and  Finance,  Income  Tax,  and  Hawaii.  The 
bibliographies  of  Dies  Irse  and  of  Junius,  are  the  fullest  that 
have  appeared  in  print.  The  list  of  Historical  Novels,  which 
was  continued  through  seventeen  numbers,  from  1885  to  *88& 
was  the  most  extended  that  had  been  printed  up  to  that  time. 

The  considerable  time  required  for  the  preparation  of  those 
notes  and  those  special  articles  is  believed  to  have  been  well 
spent.  A  library  is  a  great  possibility  for  good  In  order  that 
it  may  actually  be  the  good  that  is  possible,  there  is  need,  be- 
sides a  live  librarian,  of  some  printed  guide  or  introduction 
to  its  contents.  In  view  of  the  impossibility  of  having  an  up- 
to-date  catalog  of  a  growing  library,  some  means  of  giving 
information  as  to  new  accessions,  and  as  to  special  treasures, 
like  the  modern  bulletin  seems  imperative. 

At  one  time  our  Board  entertained  a  proposition  made  by 
an  outsider  for  the  insertion  of  advertisements  interleaved  in 
our  bulletin,  with  the  view  of  lessening  the  cost.  The  scheme 
did  not  materialize,  and  the  Board  has  not  thought  fit  to  enter 
into  the  plan.  It  seems  to  me  they  have  taken  the  right  view 
of  the  matter. 


620  J.  C.  DANA 

BY  J.  C.  DANA,  LIBRARIAN,  DENVER  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

We  have  no  printed  finding-list  except  for  fiction.  In  our 
bulletin  we  print  from  time  to  time  lists  of  additions,  lists  on 
special  subjects,  and  complete  lists  of  one  and  another  depart- 
ment Several  of  these  we  sometimes  reprint  in  a  small  pam- 
phlet which  we  sell  for  50.  The  expense  of  our  bulletin  to  the 
library  is,  perhaps,  about  what  it  would  be  if  we  printed  each 
month  a  book-list,  with  no  reading-matter. 

The  special  lists,  and  the  reading-matter  about  our  library 
in  particular,  and  about  library  work  in  general,  and  the  con- 
tinuance of  something  of  the  nature  of  a  journal,  are  the  re- 
sults of  considerations  like  these. 

The  journal  itself  advertises  the  library  in  the  community 
and  especially  in  the  schools.  It  is  possibly  a  little  more  at- 
tractive than  a  bare  list  would  be.  The  special  lists,  over  and 
above  the  occasional  lists  of  additions,  aid  in  making  attractive 
other  lines  than  fiction — and  are  especially  useful  m  view  of 
the  fact  that  we  have  no  complete  printed  catalog. 

The  library  notes,  the  descriptions  of  library  work,  the 
suggestions  about  books  and  methods  for  village  and  school 
libraries  aid,  we  think,  in  increasing  library  interest  through- 
out the  State.  As  yet  there  is  no  library  commission  in  Colo- 
rado. The  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  has  no 
funds  or  facilities  for  doing  anything,  of  note,  m  the  way  of 
library  propagandism.  Denver  is  Colorado,  to  a  considerable 
extent.  The  Public  Library,  in  Denver,  is  the  only  library 
there  which  is  just  now  m  a  condition  to  put  forth  either  money 
or  energy  in  spreading  the  faith. 

It  has  seemed  then,  to  us,  very  fitting  that  we  should  take 
this  duty  in  small  measure  on  ourselves.  We  send  our  bulletin 
each  month  to  all  high-school  principals,  librarians,  and  city 
and  county  superintendents  throughout  the  State. 

We  do  a  good  deal  of  missionary  work  in  other  ways,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  say  how  much  of  the  increase  of  interest 
in  libraries  throughout  the  state—and  the  increase  has  been 
very  notable  in  the  past  few  years — is  due  to  the  circulation 
of  our  bulletin.  We  think  it  justifies  the  outlay  in  money  and 
time. 

As  I  have  intimated,  the  bulletin  is  not  quite  self-supporting. 


PERIODICAL  LIBRARY  BULLETINS  621 

The  management  of  the  business  side  of  it  is  not  in  the  li- 
brary's hands.  The  labor  connected  with  it— under  this  manage- 
ment— is  not  very  great. 

Under  ordinary  library  conditions  my  experience  would  lead 
me  to  think  that  the  best  thing  in  the  way  of  a  bulletin  would 
be  a  series  of  leaflets,  preferably  small,  containing  each  a  short 
list  of  additions  or  special  books;  annotated  where  possible, 
and  so  brief  as  not  to  confuse  or  discourage  the  humblest  and 
most  ignorant  reader. 

The  bulletin  of  the  Salem  Public  Library  seems  about  the 
ideal  thing 

BY  WILLIAM   H    BRLTT,  LIBRARIAN,  CLEVELAND  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

In  regard  to  the  publication  of  library  bulletins,  the  experi- 
ence of  the  Cleveland  Public  Library  is  about  as  follows: 

The  library  has  not  until  recently  attempted  the  publication 
of  any  regular  bulletin  or  periodical.  In  January  of  the  present 
year  it  began  the  issue  of  a  monthly  book-list,  "The  Open  Shelf." 
The  expense  of  publication  is  a  serious  objection.  The  cost  of 
this,  the  page  being  about  2^4  by  6^  inches,  is  $7500  for  an 
edition  of  2,000  copies  of  48  pages  with  a  cover  (making  52 
pages  in  all),  or  a  little  less  than  $i  50  per  page. 

As  to  the  frequency  of  the  publication,  the  librarian  finds 
himself  between  the  Scylla  on  the  one  hand,  of  having  his  bul- 
letins issued  long  after  many  of  the  best  books  have  been  placed 
in  the  library,  if  he  publish  at  too  long  intervals ;  and  Charybdis 
on  the  other,  of  a  rapidly  accumulating  pile  of  lists  increasingly 
inconvenient  to  consult.  The  choice  probably  lies  between  a 
monthly  and  a  quarterly  issue.  The  Cleveland  list  is  published 
each  month,  while  an  alphabetically  arranged  list  of  the  books 
of  the  year  is  kept  in  a  Rudolph  Indexcr  book. 

The  value  of  annotations  to  the  entries  is  not  doubtful, 
and  their  admission  can  hardly  be  an  open  question  except 
where  the  increased  cost  is  too  serious  an  objection.  No  part 
o£  our  own  bulletin  has  received  so  much  favorable  comment 
from  our  readers  at  home 

The  question  of  admitting  advertisements  is  a  difficult  one. 
On  the  one  hand  they  materially  lessen  the  cost  of  publication ; 
on  the  other  they  introduce  a  business  element  foreign  to  the 
purpose  of  the  publication  and  possibly  distracting  from  it. 


622  WILLIAM  H   BRETT 

The  plan  now  adopted  in  Cleveland,  and  which  is  a  compromise, 
is  to  admit  advertisements  of  books  and  of  things  pertaining 
to  books  and  libraries,  and  no  others  These  may  fairly  be  re- 
garded as  of  interest  in  connection  with  the  prime  purpose 
of  the  publication.  If  a  bulletin  cannot  be  supported  without 
the  publication  of  the  ruck  of  advertisements,  possibly  it  had 
better  be  discontinued 

As  to  their  distribution,  the  plan  adopted  in  Cleveland  is 
to  sell  them  at  one  cent  per  copy  in  the  library,  on  the  theory 
that  a  thing  which  costs  nothing  is  not  appreciated  nor  taken 
care  of.  To  those  receiving  them  by  mail  a  price  is  charged 
which  covers  cost  of  mailing 

The  question  of  their  value  to  the  public  is  important.  This 
consists  principally  in  furnishing  a  list  of  additions  to  the  li- 
brary for  the  use  of  its  readers,  and  also  as  forming  a  con- 
venient medium  for  announcements  and  news  of  any  kind  in 
regard  to  the  library.  Our  experience  is  so  brief  that  it  may 
be  regarded  as  in  the  experimental  stage. 

There  is  a  question  which  is  really  a  part  of  the  last;  that 
is,  the  question  of  the  right  of  the  library  to  publish  To  issue 
a  periodical  containing  reading-matter  and  advertisements,  as 
well  as  book-lists,  is  practically  to  go  into  the  publishing  busi- 
ness. The  propriety  of  a  library  doing  this  depends  entirely 
upon  the  purpose  If  all  other  features  are  subordinated  strictly 
to  the  purpose  of  rendering  the  library  attractive  and  useful, 
there  should  be  no  question  as  to  its  propriety.  If  business 
purposes  are  allowed  to  control  it,  it  is  manifestly  improper. 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY 

In  a  paper  presented  at  the  Philadelphia  Conference 
of  the  A.L.A.,  June  25, 1897,  Miss  Mary  Emogene  Hazel- 
tine,  at  the  time  librarian  of  the  James  Prendergast 
Free  Library,  Jamestown,  New  York,  stressed  the  im- 
portance of  advertising  a  library.  Various  ways  of 
spreading  abroad  the  knowledge  of  the  riches  of  libra- 
ries are  discussed— chief  among  them  being  newspaper 
advertising,  posters  and  cards  in  public  places  and  mills, 
work  for  clubs  and  schools  and  personal  work  on  the 
part  of  the  librarian. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Miss  Hazeltine,  who  is  now 
the  head  of  the  Wisconsin  Library  School,  appears  in 
Volume  2  of  this  series. 

During  the  Crimean  war,  a  French  soldier,  dying,  gave  to 
the  nurse  who  attended  him  a  gift,  something  to  be  preserved 
as  a  memento,  she  thought.  After  the  war  she  returned  to 
France,  carefully  keeping  the  gift.  Charmed  with  its  singular 
beauty  and  fineness,  as  soon  as  she  was  able  she  had  it  framed 
and  hung  over  the  fireplace  in  her  humble  dwelling,  that  it 
might  be  constantly  before  her,  something  to  enjoy,  and  for 
many  years  it  cheered  her,  One  day,  some  one  entering  her 
abode  noticed  the  little  ornament  so  honored  in  the  cottage, 
and  inquired  concerning  it.  Then  she  did  learn  that  the  beau- 
tiful token  was  a  note  on  the  Bank  of  France  of  the  highest 
denomination,  and  that  during  all  her  years  of  poverty  and  hard- 
ship she  had  been  rich  but  had  not  known  it. 

The  free  libraries  in  our  cities  and  towns  adorn  them,  in 
truth,  as  the  framed  bank-note  adorned  the  cottage  of  the 
French  woman;  but  far  too  many  in  every  community  regard 
the  library  merely  as  a  decoration,  an  ornament,  a  very  proper 
and  "nice"  thing  to  have  in  the  town,  and  fail  entirely  to  under- 
stand that  it  is  for  their  enrichment. 


624  MARY  EMOGENE  HAZELTINE 

To  spread  abroad  a  knowledge  of  the  riches  of  the  li- 
brary, helping  the  people  to  understand  and  appreciate  that 
its  wealth  is  for  their  use  and  profit  and  enjoyment,  and  not 
merely  an  ornament,  is  the  duty  of  the  librarian.  So  we  will 
agree  at  the  beginning  that  the  object  of  library  advertising  is 
to  convey  to  all  the  community  a  knowledge  of  the  whole  li- 
brary. This  can  be  accomplished  in  several  ways,  chief  among 
which  are  newspaper  advertising,  posters  and  cards  in  public 
places  and  mills,  work  for  clubs  and  schools,  and  personal  work 
on  the  part  of  the  librarian. 

The  local  newspaper  is  doubtless  the  best  advertising  medium, 
for  it  goes  into  the  homes,  and  the  messages  from  the  library 
gain  an  audience  at  any  rate.  Whether  the  people  read  the  li- 
brary article,  for  library  advertising  is  reading  matter,  not  dis- 
play form,  depends  largely  on  the  article  itself  and  its  place 
in  the  paper. 

In  advertising  through  the  newspapers,  it  is  well  at  the  very 
start  to  have  a  thorough  business  understanding  with  the  man- 
ager of  the  paper  Ascertain  what  will  be  published  for  you 
as  news, — that  is,  free  of  charge,  and  what  must  be  paid  for 
at  regular  advertising  rates.  In  general,  all  articles  and  items 
concerning  a  library  are  published  free  of  charge,  being  con- 
sidered as  news  and  of  especial  interest  to  those  who  read  the 
paper.  But  if  you  advertise  a  money-making  entertainment  to 
raise  funds  for  your  library,  it  must  be  paid  for,  as  news- 
papers do  not  consider  such  things  as  news  for  free  publica- 
tion, even  in  behalf  of  a  free  library 

Then,  as  a  matter  of  courtesy,  arrange  with  the  editor  on 
what  days  he  would  prefer  to  receive  copy  from  the  library. 
We  have  found  that  on  certain  days  of  the  week  special  mat- 
ter fills  the  columns  of  the  leading,  while  there  is  only  chance 
news  for  the  other  days.  Know  the  days  that  the  paper  has 
copy  assured  it,  and  plan  your  articles  for  the  days  that  are 
less  crowded,  so  winning  the  good  will  and  special  regard  of 
the  editor  Saturday  is  generally  a  day  of  much  news,  and  it 
is  also  the  day  that  the  paper  is  best  read,  for  there  is  more 
leisure.  Yet  it  is  advisable  to  have  an  occasional  short,  pithy 
article  from  the  library  in  the  Saturday  issue,  even  though  the 
columns  may  be  crowded  with  other  matter,  for  it  will  reach 
more  people  and  be  read  more  carefully  than  other  days. 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY  625 

Then  it  is  satisfactory  to  have  an  understanding  with  the 
editor  concerning  the  space  to  be  given  library  articles.  Our 
leading  local  paper  has  eight  pages;  the  fiist  page  gives  the  im- 
portant telegraphic  news  and  local  events  of  greatest  interest, 
the  fifth  and  eighth  pages  give  the  locals,  the  fourth  the  edi- 
torials, and  these  four  pages  are  glanced  over,  at  least,  by  all 
who  pick  up  the  paper.  The  second  and  third  pages  are  plate 
matter,  while  the  sixth  and  seventh  are  scattering,  with  some 
plate  matter,  neighborhood  correspondence,  council  proceedings, 
and  a  few  local  matters  crowded  off  the  othei  pages.  It  can 
be  seen  from  this  single  example  that  certain  pages  of  every 
newspaper  are  more  sure  of  a  reading  than  others,  from  the 
very  nature  of  their  contents,  and  whenever  it  is  possible  news 
from  the  library  should  appear  on  these  pages. 

The  merchant,  in  advertising,  recognizes  the  importance  of 
preferred  space,  and  has  the  privilege  of  buying  whatever  he 
desires.  But  since  library  advertising  is  published  free  of 
charge  as  reading  matter,  you  cannot  dictate  as  to  space.  Gen- 
erally we  say  nothing  about  the  space  that  the  library  item  shall 
occupy,  but  occasionally  when  we  have  something  of  unusual 
importance  or  interest,  we  ask  as  a  favor  that  the  article  may 
be  well  placed,  and  our  request  is  always  granted.  I  feel  espe- 
cially complimented  when  the  library  is  given  space  on  the  first 
page,  for  an  article  there  will  attract  attention  and  its  head- 
lines will  be  read  at  any  rate  Last  fall  our  lists  of  books  on 
the  money  question  was  published  on  the  first  page,  while  an 
editorial  accorded  on  the  fourth  page  advised  all  to  read  the 
books  suggested  in  the  list.  We  have  never  had  so  many  calls 
for  books  published  m  a  reading  list,  as  we  had  for  books  on 
the  money  question  on  the  days  immediately  following  the 
appearance  of  the  list  on  the  first  page  of  the  paper.  We  no- 
tice also  that  when  lists  of  new  books  are  published,  the  demand 
for  them  is  greater  or  less  depending  on  the  place  where  the  list 
appeared. 

Perhaps  you  wonder  that  I  dwell  at  such  length  on  what  is 
apparently  a  small  part  of  library  advertising,  but  my  experi- 
ence has  been  that  success  waits  on  careful  attention  to  these 
details,  and  a  full  understanding  of  existing  conditions. 

After  the  arrangements  of  business  and  courtesy  have  been 
adjusted,  the  next  important  consideration  is,  who  shall  write 
the  articles  that  appear  in  the  papers  concerning  the  library. 


626  MARY  EMOGENE  HAZELTINE 

You  will  find  that  you  must  do  most  of  the  writing  yourself, 
if  you  wish  the  library  adequately  kept  before  the  public,  thus 
adding  the  work  of  a  reporter  to  many  things  that  have  come 
to  be  part  of  the  librarian's  profession.  It  is  true  that  the 
library  is  not  yet  on  the  assignment  books  of  the  newspaper 
office;  places  of  amusement,  the  police  court  and  the  trains  are 
visited  regularly  by  the  reporters,  but  the  library  is  only  occa- 
sionally honored  by  them;  when  other  news  fail  they  remem- 
ber it.  So  the  library  would  only  have  spasmodic  mention  if 
the  reporters  were  depended  upon  for  all  o£  its  notices. 

Whatever  appears  in  our  papers  concerning  the  library  we 
prepare  ourselves  for  the  most  part,  thus  gaining  not  only  a 
frequent  notice  in  the  columns  of  the  paper,  but  the  statements 
made  as  we  wish  them,  for  however  well  intentioned  the  aver- 
age reporter  may  be,  he  cannot  write  an  article  that  involves 
professional  knowledge  technically  correct;  since  he  is  not  of 
the  order.  For  the  end  of  correct  representation,  ministers 
often  report  their  own  sermons  for  the  local  papers,  and  lawyers 
would  do  well  if  the  court  proceedings  that  find  a  place  in  the 
newspapers  were  at  least  revised  by  them  Not  long  since  a 
reporter  gave  a  very  wrong  impression  of  a  trial  in  one  of  our 
county  papers,  because  he  did  not  understand  the  technicalities 
of  the  case.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  editor,  all  of  the  articles 
that  are  supplied  by  the  library  are  signed,  to  prove  them 
official.  I  use  simply  the  signature,  The  Librarian,  and  three 
years  and  more  of  communicating  with  the  public  over  this 
signature  proves  to  me  the  wisdom  of  its  use,  for  the  com- 
munity has  learned  that  it  speaks  with  authority  concerning 
the  ways  and  means  of  the  library.  But  library  news  that 
comes  always  from  one  source  has  a  sameness  that  is  monot- 
onous, so  let  the  reporter  help  in  the  work  all  that  he  will, 
or  all  that  you  can  persuade  him  to.  Do  not  send  him  away 
without  some  news  whenever  he  calls;  suggest  various  items 
that  can  be  written  up  briefly  under  the  leader,  Library  Notes, 
or  let  him  wander  about  the  building  as  he  pleases,  to  gam  ma- 
terial by  observation  for  "a  story." 

If  there  is  more  than  one  paper  in  your  community  furnish 
library  news  for  all  of  them.  Probably  one  journal  will  be  su- 
perior to  all  the  others  and  read  by  more  people;  the  bulk 
of  your  news  will  doubtless  go  to  this,  perhaps  for  the  very 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY  627 

reason  that  it  is  a  larger  sheet  and  can  give  you  more  space. 
But  do  not  slight  any  of  the  papers,  rather,  make  them  all 
the  friends  of  the  library;  this  can  be  done  not  only  by  pro- 
viding copy  for  them  all,  but  by  dividing  your  job-printing 
among  them  The  newspapers  are  very  glad  to  grant  favors, 
and  it  is  but  fair  to  patronize  them  when  there  is  paid  work 
to  be  done. 

Having  decided  and  arranged  to  communicate  with  the  pub- 
lic through  the  newspapers,  the  great  questions  are,  what  shall 
be  advertised,  and  how  can  advertising  matter  for  frequent 
notices  be  assured. 

Lists  of  new  books  published  at  short  intervals  have  served 
most  effectually  in  increasing  and  keeping  our  patronage.  To 
explain  how  we  arrange  for  the  frequent  publication  of  new 
books  I  shall  be  obliged  to  let  you  into  a  secret  regarding  our 
buying.  We  have  no  bookstore  in  our  town  large  enough  or 
sufficiently  well  organized  to  supply  a  library,  except  to  meet 
the  demands  for  books  of  the  day,  so  we  buy  directly  from 
New  York,  and  to  save  shipping  charges  and  freight  buy  a  large 
invoice  several  times  during  the  year.  If  we  placed  in  circu- 
lation at  one  time  all  the  books  purchased  in  an  invoice  we 
would  have  new  books  only  two  or  three  times  in  the  course 
of  a  year,  which  would  not  serve  to  sustain  a  living  interest 
in  the  library.  We  make  a  selection  of  those  that  are  most  in 
demand— the  popular  novels,  books  of  travel,  the  latest  sci- 
entific works,  of  books  that  are  needed  by  some  study  or  read- 
ing club — enough  to  make  a  list  of  20  or  30,  and  after  cata- 
loging, we  place  them  on  an  open  shelf  in  the  reading-room  for 
general  inspection  before  publishing  a  list  of  them  in  the  daily 
paper.  The  understanding  is  that  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing following  the  publication  of  the  list  the  books  can  be  drawn 
for  home  reading,  and  patrons  will  often  come  half  an  hour 
early  to  secure  a  desired  book. 

I  have  found  by  experience  that  it  is  wise  to  issue  books 
from  our  store-house  with  some  method,  perhaps  choosing  all 
the  travel  for  one  issue,  the  biography  for  another,  the  United 
States  history  for  a  third,  with  some  books  in  minor  classes 
and  always  a  little  fiction  to  give  the  necessary  variety.  My 
object  in  issuing  books  of  a  kind  together  is  two-fold.  First, 
the  published  list  has  the  continuity  of  a  catalog,  for  it  is  printed, 


628  MARY  EMOGENE  HAZELTINE 

even  in  the  newspaper,  in  regular  catalog  form,  with  author, 
title  and  call  number,  and  serves  the  public  in  lieu  of  a  regular 
bulletin,  for  many  cut  the  lists  from  the  paper  and  paste  them 
in  their  finding-lists,  so  keeping  their  printed  catalog  up  to 
date. 

Secondly,  it  is  our  custom  to  publish  some  notes  or  re- 
views concerning  the  new  books,  and  these  are  more  effective 
when  there  is  a  continuity  of  subject.  Generally  these  remarks 
introduce  the  list  of  books,  being  a  case  of  placing  the  moral 
first,  that  it  may  surely  be  read  I  refer  to  the  different  books 
in  the  list  "below,"  saying  a  certain  one  is  "especially  interest- 
ing," while  another  will  be  found  "very  timely;"  that  all  have 
heard  of  "this"  book,  and  will  be  glad  to  know  that  it  can  be 
found  in  the  library;  that  of  a  certain  author  we  have  such 
and  such  books,  but  his  latest  book  has  been  added,  and  will  be 
found  more  interesting  perhaps  than  any  of  his  others;  some- 
times I  write  a  short  review  of  a  book,  the  purpose  of  it  all 
being  to  call  attention  to  the  books,  especially  to  those  that 
might  be  overlooked  because  their  titles  are  not  suggestive 
or  attractive  I  do  not  print  long  notices,  as  they  would  not 
be  read,  and  as  too  much  information  leads  the  people  to  think 
we  consider  that  they  know  nothing  about  the  new  publications 
for  themselves,  or  do  not  keep  in  touch  with  the  times. 

Headlines  are  of  the  greatest  consideration  in  connection 
with  any  matter  for  publication  The  word  new  seivcs  as  a 
magnet  always— New  Books  of  Travel  at  the  Library;  Invoice 
of  Books  on  United  States  History;  The  Latest  Books  on  Elec- 
tricity Ready  for  Circulation  at  the  Library,  etc ,  etc.— for  head- 
lines suggest  themselves  if  the  subject  matter  is  well  arranged, 

I  find  that  besides  writing  the  articles  for  publication  it  is 
well  to  look  to  the  proof-reading  also;  in  fact,  it  is  very  im- 
portant, especially  in  lists  of  new  books,  because  the  composi- 
tors do  not  understand  the  algebra  (as  they  call  it)  of  the 
Dewey  system,  and  make  woeful  work  of  call  numbers,  the  snarl 
of  v/hich  the  proof-reader  does  not  always  untangle  Besides, 
if  writing  for  the  newspapers  is  new  to  you,  it  is  advisable  to 
see  your  copy  in  cold  print,  for  often  it  seems  very  different 
than  it  did  in  your  own  writing,  and  a  few  changes  may  greatly 
improve  it.  I  make  it  a  point  to  leave  my  copy  with  the  city 
editor  a  day  in  advance  of  its  publication,  so  it  is  early  in  type, 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY  629 

which  gives  me  ample  time  to  read  the  revise  carefully.  Two 
years  ago  our  leading  newspaper  introduced  linotype  machines, 
and  we  have  arranged  to  have  all  the  type  of  the  new  book 
lists  saved;  when  we  are  ready  to  issue  a  supplement  much  of 
our  work  is  done  We  pay  interest  to  the  printing  company 
on  their  investment  in  metal  for  the  type,  and  will  pay  for 
paper  and  press  work  when  the  supplement  is  printed.  In 
this  way  we  save  not  only  time,  but  money. 

And  yet  another  point  regarding  the  publication  of  new  books 
is  in  relation  to  the  internal  economy  of  the  library.  We  have 
found  it  wise  to  advertise  the  circulation  of  new  books  for  days 
that  we  are  less  busy,  which  is  the  middle  of  the  week.  Creating 
a  demand  for  new  books  on  dull  days  equalizes  the  work,  which 
is  essential  in  a  library  with  a  small  force. 

Once  I  made  the  serious  mistake  of  placing  a  notice  in  the 
paper  that  an  invoice  of  books  had  arrived  from  New  York 
and  would  soon  be  issued.  I  regretted  that  statement,  and  re- 
solved never  to  again  advertise  merely  for  the  sake  of  having 
something  appear  about  the  library.  Patrons  would  ask  daily, 
"When  will  the  new  books  be  ready?"  "What  are  some  of 
the  new  books?"  "Can't  I  have  a  new  book  to-day?" — so  mag- 
netic is  anything  new!  So  much  time  was  consumed  answering 
questions  that  it  took  much  longer  to  catalog  the  books  than 
it  otherwise  would  have  done.  But  we  profit  by  mistakes,  and 
out  of  an  annoying  experience  I  warn  you,  do  not  let  the  public 
know  that  you  have  received  new  books  until  they  are  ready 
for  inspection. 

While  new  books  serve  to  advertise  a  library  and  make  it 
popular,  other  things  are  necessary  to  make  its  full  value  known 
and  appreciated.  Reference  lists  on  timely  topics  always  bring 
their  share  of  patronage.  I  remember  the  first  reference  list 
that  we  published  was  on  James  Anthony  Froudc,  at  the  time 
of  his  death;  not  a  popular  subject,  but  it  was  a  topic  of  the 
day,  and  we  were  endeavoring  at  the  time  to  make  known  the 
wealth  of  the  library  in  all  its  departments.  The  paper  con- 
taining the  list  was  issued  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and 
before  the  library  closed  that  evening  there  were  four  calls  from 
the  list  by  students  who  were  delighted  to  know  that  they  could 
secure  those  books. 

In  publishing  reference  lists  the  one  thing  to  remember  is 
to  have  them  timely,  and  this  I  can  not  make  too  emphatic. 


630  MARY  EMOGENE  HAZELTINE 

If  your  list  is  not  ready  and  must  follow  rather  than  lead  a 
movement,  save  it  until  next  time.  It  is  not  so  much  the  article 
as  its  being  well  timed  We  find  that  our  regular  patrons  watch 
for  the  reference  lists;  their  interest  in  the  library  is  main- 
tained as  its  possibilities  are  revealed  to  them,  and  it  is  as  neces- 
sary to  keep  patronage  as  to  gain  it. 

But  new  books,  and  reading  lists  of  attractive  books  and  ar- 
ticles on  current  topics  are  not  enough  to  reach  all  in  a  com- 
munity, by  any  means;  there  will  still  be  a  goodly  proportion 
that  know  nothing  and  seem  to  care  nothing  about  the  library. 
As  merchants  have  bargain-days,  which  they  advertise  exten- 
sively to  bring  out  the  people,  so  libraries  can  arrange  special 
attractions  to  win  the  unknowing  and  unappreciative  public. 
Special  attractions  have  aided  materially  in  spreading  abroad  a 
knowledge  of  our  library  and  have  brought  us  the  most  returns 
for  advertising.  A  year  ago  we  had  thirty  water-colors  of 
F.  Hopkinson  Smith  on  exhibition  m  our  art  gallery  for  two 
weeks.  I  learned  from  Mr.  Smith  in  February  that  we  night  have 
the  pictures  the  last  of  April  or  first  of  May,  on  their  way 
back  from  western  cities  to  New  York.  From  that  date  in 
February  until  the  pictures  came  in  May,  something  appeared 
in  the  papers  on  an  average  of  every  ten  days,  about  Hopkin- 
son Smith  or  his  pictures.  One  week  it  would  be  a  press  no- 
tice of  his  pictures,  the  next  a  review  of  his  latest  book,  then 
another  art  criticism  from  the  press,  and  so  the  notices  alter- 
nated Marked  copies  of  the  papers  were  sent  to  the  several 
newspapers  in  surroundings  towns,  with  a  note  accompanying, 
asking  the  editor  to  copy  or  at  least  make  note  of  the  date 
and  place  of  the  Hopkinson  Smith  water-colors.  During  the  two 
weeks  that  the  pictures  hung  m  our  gallery  3000  people  viewed 
them— as  many  as  we  could  well  accommodate.  Of  those  3000 
visitors,  most  of  them  residents  of  the  city,  many  told  me,  "This 
is  the  first  time  I  have  been  in  the  library,  but  I  do  not  mean 
it  shall  be  the  last,"  and  in  truth  they  have  become  regular 
patrons.  During  the  exhibition  we  published  lists  of  books  on 
art  and  architecture,  also  on  Constantinople,  Venice,  and  Hol- 
land, for  the  pictures  were  painted  in  these  places. 

There  are  many  special  attractions  that  can  be  arranged  for 
libraries.  Poster  exhibitions  have  been  popular  both  in  large 
and  small  libraries,  also  exhibitions  of  art-works  and  photo- 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY  631 

graphs.  Amateur  photographs  proved  very  popular  in  one  li- 
brary after  vacation  days  were  over,  while  some  have  been  for- 
tunate enough  to  have  loan  exhibitions  of  books  and  pictures, 
or  both.  Something  can  be  arranged  in  every  library,  but  it 
is  always  to  be  remembered  that  the  success  of  any  special  at- 
traction depends  on  the  advertising.  Talk  about  it  in  the  pa- 
pers, not  so  much  as  to  appear  ridiculous,  but  enough  to  let 
all  know  about  it  and  remember  it  long  enough  to  come.  I  know 
for  a  fact  that  we  gain  many  regular  patrons  from  those  who 
come  at  such  times. 

We  found  that  few  m  our  community  understood  the  use 
of  "Poole's  Index"  or  of  our  dictionary  card  catalog.  A  "mag- 
azine day"  was  advertised,  and  to  all  that  came  I  explained  the 
use  of  the  different  indexes,  letting  all  work  out  some  references 
for  themselves,  and  I  never  saw  people  more  astonished  and 
delighted  than  were  those  who  thus  learned  that  there  was  a 
key  to  unlock  the  stored  wealth  of  the  magazines.  In  like  man- 
ner the  card  catalog  was  explained,  to  the  wonder  of  all,  who 
thought  that  it  required  a  course  of  study  to  use  it  Of  course 
we  are  constantly  explaining  the  use  of  these  helps,  but  I  have 
found  it  not  a  bad  idea  to  have  a  day  devoted  to  each  of  them 
once  a  year,  that  their  names  at  least  shall  be  heard  in  the  land 
and  their  existence  known. 

This  spring  our  special  attraction  was  "travel  day,"  which 
grew  into  several  days  to  accommodate  all  that  came  It  de- 
veloped from  the  demand  for  books  of  travel,  which  in  turn 
was  created  by  the  departure  for  Europe  of  a  party  of  20 
or  more  of  the  townsfolk.  All  their  friends  immediately  de- 
sired to  read  about  the  sights  of  the  other  continent  and  fol- 
low them  by  proxy.  It  occurred  to  us  at  the  library  that  it 
would  be  pleasant  for  the  stay-at-homes  if  they  could  see  and 
handle  our  books  of  travel  and  make  their  selections  for  sum- 
mer reading  from  the  books  themselves.  We  cannot  give  the 
public  access  to  the  shelves  because  of  Ihe  plan  of  our  building, 
so  on  the  tables  in  the  reading  room,  giving  a  table  to  each 
country,  we  spread  all  of  our  books  on  European  travel,  to- 
gether with  magazine  articles,  and  pictures  from  our  collection 
of  mounted  prints.  We  made  the  room  as  attractive  as  pos- 
sible, posted  leaders  to  indicate  the  route  from  table  to  table, 
furnished  paper  and  pencils  for  notes,  and  gave  personal  attcn- 


632  MARY  EMOGENE  HAZELTINE 

tion  to  all  who  came.  Those  who  travelled  with  us — and  we 
had  several  hundred  passengers — not  only  enjoyed  the  books 
and  pictures  during  the  few  hours  that  they  stayed,  but  made 
notes  of  books  that  they  wished  to  read.  I  am  glad  to  report 
that  many  lists  of  books  of  travel,  made  on  our  library  paper 
during  those  few  days,  appeared  as  call  slips  at  the  delivery- 
desk.  We  advertised  this  "travel  day,"  extensively,  though  not 
long  in  advance,  for  it  was  a  sudden  thought  and  had  to  be 
carried  out  quickly.  Because  of  short  notice,  we  did  not  fully 
explain  what  it  should  be,  but  aroused  the  curiosity  of  the  pub- 
lic, which  offered  a  variety  in  our  advertising  form. 

It  is  well  to  arrange  special  attractions  for  dull  seasons, 
for  the  same  reason  that  it  is  best  to  advertise  new  books  for 
the  less  busy  days  of  the  week,  namely,  it  equalizes  the  work 
at  the  library,  and  keeps  up  the  interest  of  the  community  in 
the  library. 

But  only  new  books,  timely  reference  lists,  and  special  at- 
tractions, are  not  the  only  things  that  will  interest  the  public 
The  chief  facts  of  the  monthly  report  will  prove  the  worth  of 
the  library,  especially  if  a  statement  is  made  comparing  the 
circulation,  use  of  reference-books,  attendance  in  the  reading- 
rooms,  etc.,  with  the  same  month  of  the  previous  year,  provided, 
of  course,  that  the  comparison  shows  an  increase.  My  annual 
report  to  the  trustees  is  published  in  full  in  the  papers,  also  the 
leading  facts  of  the  quarterly  reports.  Gifts  to  the  library 
should  not  fail  of  proper  mention  in  the  daily  papers,  furnish 
advertising  matter  that  it  is  needless  to  discuss  this  point  fur- 
ther. 

Though  we  depend  on  the  newspapers  very  largely  to  herald 
the  library  in  the  community,  we  do  not  neglect  other  agencies, 
and  among  these  are  posters  in  public  places.  We  have  factories 
in  our  city  employing  many  hundred  operatives,  whom  we  wished 
should  know  about  the  library.  We  had  several  hundred  pos- 
ters printed  as  attractively  as  possible,  with  a  cut  of  the  library 
at  the  top  of  the  card  and  capital  letters  in  red.  We  endeavored 
above  all  to  make  it  plain  that  the  library  was  free.  One  of  the 
trustees  suggested  that  the  following  sentences  be  given  a  promi- 
nent place :  "Books  may  be  taken  home,  There  arc  no  dues  or 
charges  except  for  books  kept  over  time,"  "Tell  them  honestly," 
he  said,  "just  when  a  charge  will  be  made,  even  though  they  may 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY  633 

never  be  obliged  to  pay  a  fine;  you  will  find  people  a  little  sus- 
picious of  anything  free,  because  they  have  learned  from  ex- 
perience that  'free'  often  has  a  string  to  it  in  some  way  to 
catch  their  nickels  and  dimes."  No  doubt  you  have  noticed  the 
truth  of  this,  that  it  is  difficult  for  all  the  people  to  conceive  that 
the  library  is  really  free  to  them,  without  any  cost.  These 
posters  were  placed,  by  permission  of  the  proprietors,  in  the 
different  factories,  where  the  employes  in  passing  in  and  out 
would  be  sure  to  see  them.  I  am  convinced  that  they  have 
brought  the  library  much  patronage,  for  whenever  an  applicant 

has  given  his  occupation  as  "Employed  in factory,"  we 

have  asked  if  the  card  telling  of  the  library  had  been  read, 
and  almost  without  exception  it  had  served  as  the  introduction 
to  the  library.  We  have  also  framed  notices  concerning  the  li- 
brary in  the  post-office  and  hotels. 

After  all  this  communication  with  the  public,  there  still  re- 
mains personal  work,  which  is  one  of  the  surest  ways  of  bring- 
ing people  to  the  library.  This  means  that  as  a  librarian  you 
must  give  your  whole  self  to  the  work  There  is  not  a  com- 
munity now,  I  believe,  that  has  not  a  study  or  reading  club 
Attend  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  club,  and  if  you  are  not  a 
member  you  can  secure  an  invitation  to  attend  a  meeting,  and 
offer  the  co-operation  of  the  library  Offer  to  help  them  with 
reference  lists,  and  to  place  a  certain  shell  or  section  of  the 
reading-room  at  their  disposal,  where  the  books  that  their  pro- 
gram calls  for  can  be  kept  together  and  renewed  when  neces- 
sary. If  some  of  the  club  members  cannot  come  to  the  library 
let  the  books  be  sent  to  them.  The  patronage  of  a  study  club 
creates  a  demand  for  better  reading. 

Go  to  the  schools  and  tell  the  young  people  about  the  library 
and  its  treasures,  many  of  which  arc  especially  designed  for 
them.  Be  willing  to  be  questioned  about  the  library  at  any  and 
at  all  times  At  first  I  mentally  objected  when  I  was  stopped 
on  the  street,  questioned  in  stores,  at  church,  at  receptions, 
wherever  I  happened  to  be,  about  the  library,  but  I  soon  found 
that  people  were  sincere  and  really  wanted  to  know,  so  long 
since  I  willingly  gave  information  at  any  time  and  place,  but 
I  make  it  a  point  never  to  broach  the  topic  of  the  library 
myself. 

Then  you  can  help  others  to  advertise.    A  merchant  came  to 


634  MARY  EMOGENE  HAZELTINE 

the  library  seeking  the  picture  of  a  May-pole  for  a  May-day 
advertisement.  After  the  picture  had  been  found  his  attention 
was  called  to  Chambers's  "Book  of  days,"  which  so  delighted 
him  that  he  ordered  the  volumes  for  his  own  library,  saying 
that  the  books  would  give  him  many  hints  for  timely  adver- 
tisements. The  same  merchant  was  so  greatly  pleased  with 
one  of  our  books  on  the  tartans  of  Scotland  that  he  advertised 
an  invoice  of  plaid  woolen  dress  goods  by  the  names  of  the 
plaids,  which  he  found  by  comparing  the  goods  with  the  colored 
plates  in  the  book. 

With  all  this  advertising  outside  the  library  to  gain  pat- 
ronage, and  to  create  a  demand  for  the  best  reading,  advertis- 
ing inside  the  library  must  not  be  overlooked.  This  includes 
bulletin-boards,  black-boards,  and  other  devices,  mention  and 
description  of  which  exceed  the  limit  of  this  paper. 

The  secret  of  library  advertising,  as  Miss  Stearns  said  last 
year,  is  "keeping  everlastingly  at  it,"  or  as  the  proprietor  of  a 
great  factory  in  New  York  believes,  and  has  constantly  before 
him  on  his  desk,  "S.  T.  I.  and  W.,"  which  he  translates  to  all 
who  inquire  as  "Stick  to  it  and  win." 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY 

Miss  Lutie  E.  Stearns,  of  whom  a  sketch  appears  in 
Volume  1  of  this  series,  was  at  the  time  of  this  paper 
connected  with  the  Milwaukee  Public  Library.  It  was 
prepared  for  the  Cleveland  Conference  of  the  A.L.A. 
and  read  there  September  3, 1896, 

W.  D.  Howells,  in  a  recent  article  on  "Advertising"  in 
Harper's  Weekly,  says :  "I  wish  that  some  one  would  give  us 
some  philosophy  of  the  prodigious  increase  of  advertising  with- 
in the  last  25  years,  and  some  conjectures  as  to  the  end  of  it  all. 
Evidently,  it  can't  keep  on  increasing  at  the  present  rate.  If 
it  does,  there  will  presently  be  no  room  in  the  world  for  things ; 
it  will  be  filled  up  with  the  advertisements  of  things.  Before 
that  time,  perhaps,  adsmithing  will  have  become  so  fine  and 
potent  an  art  that  advertising  will  be  reduced  in  bulk,  while 
keeping  all  its  energy  and  increasing  its  effectiveness.  Or  per- 
haps some  silent,  electrical  process  will  be  contrived,  so  that 
the  attractions  of  a  new  line  of  dress  goods  or  the  fascination 
of  a  spring  or  fall  opening  may  be  imparted  to  a  lady's  con- 
sciousness without  even  the  agency  of  words.  All  other  facts 
of  commercial  and  industrial  interest  could  be  dealt  with  in 
the  same  way.  "A  fine  thrill,"  he  continues,  "could  be  made  to 
go  from  the  last  new  book  through  the  whole  community  so  that 
people  would  not  willingly  rest  till  they  had  it.  Yes,  one  can 
see  an  indefinite  future  for  advertising  in  that  way.  The  ad- 
smith  may  be  the  supreme  artist  of  the  20th  century." 

Until  human  ingenuity  has  solved  the  thrill  problem,  we  li- 
brarians must  be  content,  to  a  large  extent,  with  the  efficacy 
of  that  most  powerful  of  modern  civilizing  agencies— printers' 
ink. 

Our  president,  Mr.  Dana,  has  said,  "Business  runs  the  world; 
or,  the  world  gets  civilized  just  as  fast  as  men  learn  how  to 
run  things  on  plain,  business  principles," 

Advertising  is  one  of  the  recognized  departments  of  busi- 
ness. Advertising  is  not  an  experiment,  nor  is  it  a  business  side 


636  LUTIE  EUGENIA  STEARNS 

issue;  it  is  a  business  necessity,  to  be  studied  and  experimented 
upon  as  studies  and  experiments  upon  the  other  departments 
o£  business  economy. 

The  importance  of  judicious  advertising  should  suggest  it- 
self to  every  wide-awake  librarian,  m  her  endeavor  to  reach 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  her  city  or  village. 

There  is  no  stratum  of  society  not  reached  and  influenced  by 
some  form  of  advertising.  "Nine-tenths  of  the  world  would 
rather  be  interested  than  educated,  and  the  other  tenth  likes 
to  be  interested  too."  The  librarian,  then,  must  first  interest  the 
masses,  to  bring  them  within  her  doors,  and  then  attempt  to 
educate.  "She  must  first  capture  the  eye.  The  eye  is  the  sen- 
tinel of  the  will.  Capture  the  sentinel  and  you  will  capture  the 
will.  The  feet  follow  the  eyes."  It  is  the  untiring,  unremit- 
ting, keeping  -  everlastingly  -  at  -  it  -  and  -  never  -  taking  -  no  -  f  or- 
an  -  answer  appeal  to  the  eyes  of  the  people  that  will  bring  them 
within  your  portals. 

But  to  do  all  this,  the  advertiser  must  be  a  student  of  hu- 
man nature  and  human  needs.  Of  all  mediums  for  reaching 
all  classes,  the  greatest  for  local  use  is  the  newspaper.  People 
will  read  the  newspapers,  for  that  is  what  they  buy  them  for. 
Good  advertising  is  good  reading. 

To  the  disbeliever  in  newspaper  advertising,  the  confidence 
in  it  displayed  by  the  great  merchants  and  manufacturers  must 
be  incomprehensible  Note  what  enormous  sums  are  spent  in 
that  way,  and  the  care  and  ability  bestowed  upon  the  prepara- 
tion of  announcements.  The  arts  of  the  painter  and  the  poet, 
the  descriptive  writer  and  the  mechanical  engraver,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  individual  talent  of  the  advertisement-writer,  are 
daily  employed  in  advertising. 

Through  all  this,  "every  advertiser  is  trying  to  tell  the  world 
his  business,  to  do  more  business  with  the  world."  Ordinarily, 
people  think  of  advertising  only  as  it  is  exemplified  in  the  news- 
papers, magazines,  bill-boards,  and  other  openly  avowed  media, 
and  classify  it  under  dignified  or  undignified  sensationalism. 
All  this  is  publicity,  it  is  true,  but  in  our  interpretation  of  the 
word  advertising  we  must  adhere  to  its  original  meaning— to 
advertise,  to  inform;  advertising,  dissemination  of  information; 
an  effort  to  cause  others  to  know. 

The  librarian  who  asserts  that  he  does  not  believe  in  ad- 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY  637 

vertising  has  only  to  glance  at  the  sign  above  his  doors  and  the 
catalogs  and  bulletins  on  his  counters.  What  are  all  these  but 
advertisements  of  the  location  and  contents  of  his  library? 
But  a  catalog  within  a  library  never  brought  a  man  to  it.  That 
must  be  accomplished  by  some  outside  agency 

There  is  a  type  o[  sumcient-unto-thc-day-is-thc-circulation- 
thereof  librarian  who  does  not  believe  in  using  business  bail 
He  is  content  to  try  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  elect  within 
his  doors,  and  aims  at  culture  rather  than  general  happiness. 
If  there  is  a  decrease  in  the  yearly  circulation  he  complacently 
attributes  it  to  the  reign  of  the  wheel,  and  makes  no  attempt 
to  recruit  his  ranks  from  those  of  more  sedentary  temperament. 
If  you  suggest  that  advertising  is  the  oxigenic  accessory  which 
will  promote  or  inflate  his  circulation,  and  that  an  alluring  col- 
umn of  library  notes  published  regularly  might  stem  the  falling 
tide,  he  complacently  tells  you  that  he  did  insert  a  list  once  on 
the  "Equipoise  of  Europe,"  and  suggested  that  it  might  be  cut 
out  and  be  used  as  a  call  slip  at  the  library,  but  that  no  one 
used  it — and  he  regards  this  sporadic  attempt  as  a  sufficient  test 
of  the  whole  question. 

Notwithstanding  his  antipathy  to  special  lists,  these  are  the 
most  common  forms  of  library  advertising  used  in  this  country 
to-day.  Many  libraries  publish  lists  weekly  or  oftener,  on  spe- 
cial topics,  or  recent  additions;  and  then  are  often  disappointed 
to  find  the  lists  so  seldom  used  at  the  library.  But  the  reason 
is  not  far  to  seek  Many  a  reader  sees  the  list  on  Monday, 
but  is  deterred  from  cutting  it  out  on  account  of  its  being  the 
most  recent  paper  He  forgets  all  about  it  Tuesday,  thinks 
about  it  Wednesday,  and  looks  for  it  then.  The  Monday  paper 
is  lost,  and  the  Wednesday  paper  does  not  contain  it.  Now, 
there  is  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  and  one  by  which  any  li- 
brary may  have  much  of  its  printing  done  free  of  charge. 

When  you  send  a  list  to  the  newspaper,  send  with  it  a  re- 
quest to  have  the  type  saved  for  further  use.  Ask  your  editor 
to  take  the  type  composing  the  list  to  a  small  job  press,  and 
have  him  strike  off  500  or  1000  copies  or  more  foi  your  use. 
The  only  expense  involved  in  this  will  be  the  cost  of  the  paper 
and  the  pressman's  services,  which  generally  amounts  to  about 
$1.50  per  thousand  copies  Many  newspapers  are  willing  to 
perform  this  service  for  the  advertising  which  it  brings  if  such 
a  heading  as  the  following  is  used  in  the  list : 


638  LUTIE  EUGENIA  STEARNS 

MILWAUKEE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

CALL  SLIP. 


FUZJWSHED  BY  THE  COURTESY 

-OF- 

THE  MILWAUKEE  JOURNAL 


Watch  The  Journal  for  Library  Notes  and  Lists 

We  can  see  no  reason  why  what  are  termed  display  ads 
such  as  those  so  skilfully  used  by  Mr  Kates,  of  Philadelphia 
Branch  No.  5,  should  not  be  used  by  the  larger  libraries.  Each 
of  Mr.  Kates's  advertisements  takes  up  a  half  side  of  a  news- 
paper. One  of  them  advertises  the  location  of  the  library  and 
the  places  where  application  blanks  may  be  obtained  Another 
half  side  has  to  do  with  the  catalog  and  manner  of  using  it. 
A  third  gives  a  list  of  the  periodicals  which  the  library  contains 

Then  there  is  the  subject  of  trade  journals.  A  list  of  books 
on  electricity  was  published  in  a  motorman's  bulletin,  in  Mil- 
waukee, and  a  cordial  invitation  was  extended  to  the  overworked 
men  to  become  patrons  of  the  library.  As  a  result,  the  number 
of  such  men  patronizing  the  library  was  increased  many  fold 

Some  time  ago,  Miss  McGuffey,  of  Boston,  suggested  in  the 
pages  of  the  LIBRARY  JOURNAL  that  it  might  be  a  good  idea  for 
librarians  to  advertise  in  street-cars  Mr.  Peck,  of  the  Glovers- 
ville  (N.  Y.)  Library,  is  the  only  one  that  we  know  of  who 
does  this  We  can  see  nothing  undignified  in  a  street-car  placard 
reading,  "Get  a  good  book  at  the  Free  Public  Library/'  or, 
"Tired  out?  Get  the  'Prisoner  of  Zenda'  at  the  Free  Public 
Library." 

From  Mr.  Peck  we  have  received  a  sample  placard  which 
is  put  up  in  the  hotels  and  depots  ot  Gloversville,  advertising 
the  public  library  and  extending  a  cordial  welcome  to  the  weary 
wayfarer. 

He  who  doubts  the  efficacy  of  the  placard  should  profit  by 
the  experience  of  the  Buffalo  Library.  Shortly  after  the  open- 
ing of  the  new  Children's  Department,  which  was  heralded  by 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY  639 

a  most  tasteful  announcement,  the  authorities  had  a  10  x  125^ 
inch  card  printed  in  attractive  red  letters  reading, 

Boys  and  Girls. 
A  room  for  you  in  the  Buffalo  Library. 

Books  for  you  to  read 
Pictures  for  you  to  look  at. 
Maps  for  you  to  put  together. 

Magazines  for  everybody. 

Some  one  to  tell  you  stories. 

Bring  your  little  brothers  and  sisters. 

Come  and  enjoy  your  room  at  the  Buffalo  Library. 

Cor,  of  Washington  St,  and  Broadway 

These  placards  were  sown  broadcast  over  the  city.  Missions, 
hospitals,  homes,  orphan  asylums,  fresh-air  establishments,  drug- 
stores (to  attract  the  soda-water  customers),  candy-stores — all 
gladly  offered  hospitable  windows  and  wall  spaces.  Newspa- 
pers posted  them  where  the  boys  who  came  for  the  papers  would 
see  them;  mission  Sunday-schools  and  charity  organizations  co- 
operated heartily  in  tacking  them  up  and  suggesting  where  others 
might  be  of  use;  and  what  was  the  result?  A  postal  card  from 
Miss  Chandler,  of  the  Buffalo  Library,  reads  as  follows: 

"Cards  were  out  Friday  and  Saturday. 

"Result  No.  I. — Monday  and  every  day  since  overflow  meet- 
ings have  been  held  in  the  adjoining  committee-room. 

"Result  No  2 — A  steady  current  of  extra  tables  and  chairs 
from  all  parts  of  the  library  upstairsward. 

"Result  No,  3 — More  small  furniture  ordered 

"Result  No  4. — More  dissected  maps  ordered  and  more  ani- 
mals sliced. 

"Result  No.  5 — really  No.  i — The  happiest  children  any- 
where to  be  found." 

And  then  there  is  the  power  of  the  bulletin  board.  As  a 
sample  of  what  may  be  done  in  that  direction,  I  quote  from  a 
personal  letter  from  Miss  Helen  L  Coffin,  of  Aurora,  111.,  a 
graduate  of  the  Armour  Institute  Class  of  '95.  Miss  Coffin 
writes :  "When  I  found  myself  back  in  my  home  library  again, 
as  reference  librarian,  I  remembered  the  lecture  on  library  ad- 
vertising and  after  adding  'Advertising  manager*  to  my  titles, 
started  out  to  see  what  I  could  do. 


640  LUTIE  EUGENIA  STEARNS 

"Briefly,  this  is  what  I  have  accomplished.  I  took  one  li- 
brary wall  for  a  bulletin  board,  and  here  I  keep  various  and 
sundry  lists,  changing  them  often,  using  signs,  big  letters,  col- 
ored inks,  pictures,  catchwords— any  and  everything  to  attract 
attention.  Half  of  the  space  is  our  picture  gallery— mounted 
photographs,  portraits,  views,  etc.,  clipped  from  book  reviews, 
catalogs,  etc.,  with  lists  of  our  books  to  which  they  reEcr  These 
are  also  changed  frequently  and  are  perhaps  our  most  popular 
advertisements.  Just  at  present,  the  walls  contain  complete 
lists  on  music,  including  musical  novels,  electricity,  mechanics, 
astronomy,  metals,  selected  lists  on  birds,  insects,  bees  and  flow- 
ers, summer  and  house-keeping,  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe, 
summer  sports,  and  Alaska. 

"The  list  on  Alaska  asks  most  solicitously,  'Hot?  Then 
come  to  Alaska,'  and  is  illustrated  by  pen-and-ink-sketches, 
transferred  by  means  of  tissue-paper  from  the  books  cited, 
Whenever  possible,  I  head  a  list  with  an  appropriate  quotation. 
For  instance,  at  the  head  of  a  list  for  housekeeping  is  'Who 
sweeps  a  room  as  by  God's  law  makes  that  and  the  action  fine,' 
from  George  Herbert,  and  I  find  an  interest  awakened  in  the 
quaint  old  poet,  because  he  chose  such  a  lowly  subject,  I 
cut  the  elephants,  horses,  trapezers,  lions,  etc.,  from  the  posters, 
mounted  them  with  lists  of  books  on  those  subjects,  posted  them, 
and  waited  for  the  boys.  They  came  in  droves.  The  list  was 
kept  all  winter,  the  books  were  always  out,  and  our  life  of 
Barnum,  heretofore  left  to  dust  and  introspection,  had  to  be  re- 
bound. 

"In  addition  to  this  bulletin,  I  have  kept  lists  posted  in  our 
two  high  schools,  Y.M.C.A.  and  Y.W  C.A.  rooms,  C,  B.  and  Q. 
car  shops,  and  Electric  R  R  power-house;  made  lists  for  the 
various  reading  and  study  clubs  and  vacation  lists  for  women 
and  children ;  published  lists  for  the  University  Extension  course 
in  the  daily  papers ;  spoken  on  library  aims  to  both  high  schools, 
and  have  given  a  ten-lesson  course  in  library  science  to  the 
West  Side  High  School.  Next  year—but  my  plans  are  too 
numerous  and  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  them  now." 

This  is  the  reign  of  the  poster.  Posters  minister  to  two 
great  passions  of  the  age—the  taste  for  decoration  and  the  de- 
mand for  publicity.  Poster  shows  have  drawn  many  persons  to 
libraries  for  the  first  time.  Our  library  uses  posters  in  its  cir- 


ADVERTISING  A  LIBRARY  641 

dilating  department  to  hide  unsightly  walls,  to  give  the  public 
something  cheerful  to  look  at,  and  to  advertise  the  circulating 
copies  of  books  and  magazines,  "Do  posters  post?"  Most  cer- 
tainly, when  used  for  advertising  purposes. 

Among  the  many  minor  advertising  devices  may  be  men- 
tioned bookmarks  Mrs.  Sanders,  of  Pawtucket,  R.I,  has  a 
very  neat  little  book-mark  headed,  "When  in  doubt,  consult 
the  public  library."  The  expense  of  printing  is  borne  by  a 
local  store  which  puts  a  simple  advertisement  on  the  back  Mrs. 
Sanders  attributes  a  recent  increase  in  circulation  and  interest 
in  the  library  to  this  talisman. 

Calendars  could  be  used  to  good  advantage,  especially  the 
ake-a-day-off  kind,  in  which  books  could  be  suggested  for 
days,  holidays,  etc. 

Time  does  not  permit  us  to  take  up  other  forms  of  adver- 
tising than  those  through  the  medium  of  printers'  ink.  It 
should  ever  be  borne  in  mind,  in  conclusion,  that  advertising 
will  bring  people  to  your  library,  and  then  its  mission  stops. 
Then  success  depends  upon  the  service  within  your  doors.  All 
the  advertising  that  you  can  contrive,  even  though  it  speaks 
with  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels,  will  not  offset  a  hard, 
imperious,  domineering,  or  condescending  spirit  within  the  li- 
brary. There  should  be  an  indefinable  something  in  the  ap- 
pearance of  your  library  to  draw  people  in  and  an  atmosphere 
most  persuasive  in  keeping  them  there  and  making  them  long  to 
return.  Neatness  and  order  and  a  certain  amount  of  quiet  are 
of  course  desirable;  but  it  is  submitted  that  there  may  be  a 
certain  amount  of  orderly  disorder,  which  bespeaks  life  and 
business.  The  popularity  of  your  library  depends  largely  upon 
your  assistants.  The  wisdom  of  Solomon,  the  patience  of  Job, 
the  tact  of  a  politician,  unvarying  courtesy,  unremitting  energy, 
concentration,  the  ability  to  judge  character,  and  above  all, 
common  sense,  make  for  all  that  is  good  in  library  service, 
With  all  these  conditions  fulfilled,  happy  then  indeed  is  the 
lot  of  the  librarian  who  can  say  with  our  friend,  Miss  Garland, 
of  Dover,  that  "Like  the  immortal  Mellin's  Food  we  are  ad- 
vertised by  our  loving  friends." 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  LIBRARY  TO  THE 

OUTSIDE  WORLD;  OR,  THE  LIBRARY 

AND  PUBLICITY 

The  following  paper  on  the  subject  of  library  pub- 
licity was  prepared  by  Marilla  Waite  Freeman  of  the 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  Public  Library,  and  was  read  at  the 
Indiana  State  Library  Association,  November  3,  1908. 
It  was  accompanied  by  a  small  exhibit  of  book  lists, 
dodgers  and  other  illustrative  material. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  Miss  Freeman,  who  is  now  in 
charge  of  the  central  library  of  the  Cleveland  Public  Li- 
brary, appears  in  Volume  4  of  this  series. 

The  essential  point  of  all  the  public  library  stands  for  is  ex- 
pressed in  this  phrase— the  relation  of  the  library  to  the  outside 
world.  This  relation  is  the  touchstone  of  success,  By  it  we 
are  tested.  It  matters  not  how  classically  correct  the  library 
building,  how  carefully  chosen  the  collection  of  books,  how 
letter-perfect  the  card  catalog;  if  the  outside  world  is  not 
drawn  irresistibly  to  our  building  to  struggle  with  our  card 
catalog,  to  read  and  use  our  books,  then  we  are  merely  orna- 
mental nontax-paying  cumberers  of  the  ground.  What  we 
need  in  such  cases  is  something  analogous  to  the  social  con- 
sciousness of  which  we  hear  so  much— a  library  consciousness 
which  shall  wake  up,  take  account  of  itself,  and  bring  itself  into 
vital  relations  with  the  outside  world. 

We  librarians  need  to  ask  ourselves  searching  questions  now 
and  then.  What  is  the  purpose  of  our  library?  Is  it  fulfilling 
that  purpose?  Are  we  making  an  adequate  return  to  the  com- 
munity on  its  library  investment?  Does  every  one  in  this  com- 
munity know  that  the  library  has  something  for  him?  Has  it 
something  for  every  one?  If  not,  is  it  willing  to  get  it?  How 
are  we  making  this  known? 

For  the  purpose  of  to-day's  discussion  we  will  concentrate 
some  of  these  questions  into  three:  What  do  we  wish  the  pub- 


644  MARILLA  WAITE  FREEMAN 

lie  library  to  stand  for  in  our  community?  How  shall  we  bring 
this  about?  and,  How  make  it  known? 

I  suppose  we  shall  agree  in  desiring  our  library  to  be,  per- 
haps first  of  all,  a  center  to  which  all  kinds  of  people  will 
naturally  turn  whenever  they  "want  to  know."  There  is  the 
amateur  fanner  ambitious  to  raise  poultry  after  the  most  ap- 
proved methods;  the  investor  interested  in  the  new  lithographic 
stone  quarries,  who  wishes  to  learn  the  sources  and  quantity 
of  the  present  supply;  the  mother  who  doesn't  know  where  to 
send  her  daughter  to  college;  the  young  mechanic  who  would 
like  to  read  up  on  socialism;  the  stenographer  who  feels  the 
need  of  a  wider  knowledge  of  the  English  language  and  lit- 
erature; the  young  woman  who  wants  to  "do  something,"  but 
doesn't  know  how  nor  for  what  to  train  herself;  the  inventor 
who  wants  to  find  out  if  any  one  else  has  already  patented 
his  contrivance  for  a  self-filling  fountain-pen.  These  are  all 
actual  instances  of  the  inquiring  mind;  a  hundred  more  will 
occur  to  us.  They  are  all  problems  upon  which  even  the  small 
library,  if  it  has  an  alert  and  thoughtful  librarian,  may  at- 
tempt to  give  aid.  At  least  six  of  the  questions  noted  may  be 
answered  from  material  which  the  library  may  possess  free 
of  charge;  three  from  government  publications  free  to  every 
library.  For  the  aspiring  young  people  who  in  every  community 
are  groping  their  way  to  the  choice  of  an  occupation,  light  may 
be  thrown  by  the  questions,  the  suggestions,  contained  m  the  re- 
markably interesting  circulars  and  other  publications  of  the  new 
Vocation  Bureau,  which  under  the  forceful  leadership  of  Prof. 
Frank  Parsons  has  its  executive  offices  at  the  Civic  Service 
House,  Boston.*  True,  it  is  not  an  easy  task  for  the  librarian 
to  conduct  for  all  inquirers  such  a  bureau  of  information  as  I 
have  indicated;  it  requires  limitless  patience  and  large  sympathy, 
quick  intelligence,  endless  zeal  in  securing  material,  familiarizing 
one's  self  with  its  contents,  making  its  accessibility  known. 
But  there  are  few  tasks  which  so  happily  combine  a  helpful 
touching  of  other  lives  with  a  broadening  of  one's  own. 

I  sometimes  think  we  are  inclined  to  under-estimate  the 
importance  of  making  our  library  a  place  to  which  people  like 
to  come,  whether  for  information,  inspiration  or  recreation. 

*  Since  this  paper  was  written  the  Vocation  Bureau  ami  many  other 
organizations  for  civic  and  social  betterment  have  met  a  g»eat  loss  in  the 
death  of  Prof.  Parsons. 


RELATION  TO  OUTSIDE  WORLD  645 

We  all  know  the  severe  type  of  library  which  the  reader  ap- 
proaches reluctantly,  in  fear  of  the  austere  and  superior  at- 
tendant, and  from  which  he  hurries  away  with  relief  as  soon 
as  his  business  is  done.  Making  a  library  a  likable  place  to  go 
to  involves  a  good  many  things,  but  all  are  attainable  by  the 
least  of  us,  If  we  can  begin  as  far  back  as  the  building,  or 
rooms,  and  furniture,  we  shall  make  them  approachable  and 
comfortable  rather  than  merely  monumental  and  grand.  We 
shall  give  careful  thought  to  the  coloring  of  our  walls,  choos- 
ing soft  greens  and  buffs  lor  their  restfulness.  We  shall  recog- 
nize the  importance  of  well-regulated  temperature  and  ventila- 
tion. We  shall  have  a  watchful  eye  for  the  variations  of  light 
in  the  rooms,  adjusting  window  shades  as  the  sunlight  grows 
loo  glaring,  or  begins  to  fade  We  shall  keep  our  reading  rooms 
quiet,  though  not  sepulchrally  so,  and  we  shall  have  spots  where 
those  who  wish  to  talk  may  do  so  comfortably  and  legitimately. 
Some  of  these  details  may  seem  trivial,  but  none  is  too  small  to 
contribute  to  the  atmosphere  of  comfort. 

Most  important  of  all  to  this  atmosphere  is  the  spirit  of  the 
librarian  and  her  assistants.  It  is  a  difficult  and  delicate  thing 
to  define,  this  ideal  library  spirit  and  manner,  but  an  excellent 
broad  basis  for  its  attainment  is  the  Golden  Rule,  translated 
into  "Put  yourself  in  his  place."  As  no  two  people  who  ap- 
proach us  are  alike,  a  constant  application  of  this  rule  will 
lead  in  time  to  great  flexibility,  great  tact,  a  quick  adaptability 
to  new  points  of  view  It  will  also  lend  elasticity  to  all  our 
other  rules,  and  may  help  to  clear  us  from  the  imputation  cast 
by  the  unfortunate  author  who  in  her  open  letter  to  a  recent 
library  meeting,  declared  that  she  had  never  seen  a  librarian 
yet  who  cared  about  anything  but  the  rules  of  the  library.  "Of 
course,"  she  deprecates,  "the  people  here  are  nice  to  one,  but 
underneath  the  smiling  exterior  is  a  deep-seated  devotion  to 
rules,  which  were  made  for  people  who  amuse  themselves  with 
a  library,  and  without  consideration  for  those  who  want  to  use 
it"  This  is  a  hard  saying  and  one  we  should  all  ponder  But 
indeed  the  subject  of  library  rules  would  require  an  hour  all 
its  own. 

A  natural  outgrowth  of  the  library  as  a  place  where  people 
like  to  go,  if  we  achieve  that  happy  result,  will  be  the  library 
as  a  social  center.  The  phrase  is  an  old  one,  but  it  does  ex- 


646  MARILLA  WAITE  FREEMAN 

press  one  of  the  things  for  which,  in  the  smaller  towns,  at  least, 
we  wish  our  libraries  to  stand.  We  use  the  word  social  here  in 
its  larger  sense,  not  as  suggesting  afternoon  teas  and  neigh- 
borly gossip,  but  as  it  connects  itself  with  community  interests 
which  make  for  progress 

Thus  it  seems  the  fitting  thing  that  the  library  should  become 
the  center  of  the  civic,  cultural,  and  educational  activities  of  the 
town.  We  should  encourage  the  chairman,  whether  of  the 
woman's  literary,  the  men's  civic,  or  the  boys'  debating  club 
to  come  to  us  for  help  in  the  preparation  of  their  programs, 
as  well  as  for  material  on  the  subjects  chosen  This  will  give 
us  a  wonderful,  quiet  opportunity  to  direct  and  systematize  some 
of  the  organized  reading  and  study  and  thought  of  our  com- 
munity. We  may  fortify  ourselves  with  a  collection  of  pro- 
grams that  have  been  used  by  other  clubs.  By  writing  to  the 
Wisconsin  Library  Commission,  Madison,  Wis.,  we  may  secure 
at  10  cents  each  some  25  outlines  for  study  clubs,  which  have 
been  worked  out  with  care  by  the  commission.  Mrs.  Mary  I. 
Wood,  Portsmouth,  N.  H ,  secretary  of  the  Bureau  of  Informa- 
tion of  the  National  Federation  of  Woman's  Clubs,  has  in- 
numerable programs  on  file,  and  will  send  one  or  more  on 
almost  any  subject  desired,  to  any  public  library  or  chairman 
of  a  federated  club.  A  list  of  subjects  for  debate,  or  of  in- 
teresting topics  for  discussion  in  civic  or  current  events  clubs, 
may  be  kept  by  the  librarian,  and  added  to  from  suggestive 
articles  in  the  magazines,  or  even  from  the  crisp  subject-head- 
ings in  the  Readers'  Guide  to  Periodical  Literature. 

If  the  library  is  so  fortunate  as  to  have  a  building  of  its 
own,  the  use  of  library  study  rooms  by  various  clubs  and  or- 
ganizations should  be  encouraged  as  a  means  of  making  the 
library  a  center  of  community  life.  The  conditions  of  use 
should  be  simple,  in  most  cases  involving  only  a  small  fee  suffi- 
cient to  cover  light,  heat  and  janitor  service.  In  one  library 
it  was  stipulated  that  no  sectarian,  partisan  nor  purely  social 
organization  should  be  granted  use  of  the  rooms.  This  did  not 
exclude  the  Ministers'  Association,  nor  the  Sunday-School 
Union,  to  which  all  denominations  were  eligible.  Beside  these 
bodies,  the  Mothers'  Kindergarten  Association,  several  Woman's 
Study  Clubs,  the  Civic  League,  and  two  or  three  other  organi- 
zations of  men  were  prompt  in  taking  advantage  of  their  oppor- 
tunity. 


RELATION  TO  OUTSIDE  WORLD  647 

A  room  for  popular  lectures  is  of  value  to  the  library  as  a 
social  center  One  town  began  the  use  of  its  lecture  room  with 
informal  talks  to  young  people  by  local  authorities  on  various 
subjects— electricity,  birds,  what  various  trades  had  to  offer 
young  men  and  women.  Later  this  grew  into  a  university 
extension  center  with  regular  courses  of  lectures  from  univer- 
sity men 

Exhibits  may  be  made  in  the  library  illustrating  the  sub- 
jects of  the  current  lectures,  and  lists  of  interesting  books 
printed  in  the  papers.  Almost  any  sort  of  exhibit  well  an- 
nounced will  draw  people  who  would  never  have  discovered 
the  library  otherwise.  I  shall  never  forget  the  first  exhibits 
in  the  early  days  of  my  library  enthusiasm  and  how  we  worked 
over  them.  An  Indian  Day  was  the  very  first.  Indian  rugs 
and  pictures  on  the  walls  of  the  exhibit  room,  Indian  relics 
in  a  long  glass  case  down  the  center,  even  a  full-fledged  tepee 
in  one  corner,  and  Indian  books  on  a  table  downstairs — as  long 
as  they  lasted  Everybody  had  contributed  or  loaned  something, 
and  the  whole  town  came  to  see,  and  remained  to  sign  a  library 
card.  On  another  day  home-made  electrical  appliances,  with 
book  prizes  for  the  best,  offered  by  a  local  manufacturer,  made 
a  thrilling  display  to  all  the  boys  m  town  and  interested  many 
men.  A  poster  exhibit,  when  the  poster  rage  was  at  its  height, 
a  charming  display  of  amateur  photography— each  of  these,  and 
many  others,  drew  to  the  library  many  new  friends  and  helped 
to  make  them  feel  it  theirs 

Library  clubs  among  the  boys  and  girls  may  be  made  effec- 
tive in  proportion  to  the  enthusiasm  and  physical  strength  of 
the  librarian  and  her  helpers.  The  weekly  story-hour  for  the 
children  is  a  library  function  which,  in  addition  to  its  imagina- 
tive and  educational  stimulus,  may  be  made  of  great  value  in 
inculcating  ideals  of  patriotism  and  of  civic  honor  and  re- 
sponsibility among  our  future  citizens  Most  of  these  forms  of 
endeavor  must  come  originally  through  the  librarian,  but  as  her 
efforts  are  known  and  understood  others  will  gradually  come 
to  her  help. 

As  to  that  word  "publicity"  in  my  subtitle  We  used  to 
call  it  "advertising  the  library" ;  now  we  like  to  speak  of  "mak- 
ing the  library  known,"  or,  still  better,  of  "interesting  the  pub- 
lic." Whatever  we  call  it,  and  however  we  do  it,  it  is  a  most 


648  MARILLA  WAITE  FREEMAN 

essential  point  in  library  service,  for  it  must  always  be  borne 
in  mind  that  our  library  stewardship  is  fundamentally  a  trust 
I  believe  the  time  will  come  when  the  largest  libraries  will  have 
a  regular  "publicity"  department,  or  at  least  a  member  of  the 
staff  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  devise  and  execute  plans  for 
making  known  to  all  classes  of  people  what  resources  the  li- 
brary has  to  offer  them.  And  in  the  small  library  the  librarian 
will  come  to  realize  that  the  buying  and  cataloging  of  a  book 
is  merely  a  first  step;  that  of  quite  equal  importance  is  the 
making  known  the  presence  of  that  book  in  the  library  to  all 
who  might  possibly  be  interested. 

In  a  list  of  questions  recently  sent  to  libraries  was  included 
the  query.  "What  do  you  find  the  best  methods  of  making 
your  library  known?"  Almost  without  exception  the  first  clause 
of  the  reply  was  "newspapers."  One  western  library  reports 
more  than  1000  library  items  yearly  in  the  10  local  papers,  an 
average  of  some  three  a  day.  The  small  library  cannot  emulate 
this  record,  but  it  can  have  at  least  its  weekly  library  notes 
and  announcements  of  new  books. 

Every  library  that  can  afford  it  should  put  out  its  own 
monthly  or  quarterly  bulletin  of  new  books  in  some  form  for 
distribution,  but  that  is  an  expense  and  labor  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  smaller  institutions.  For  all  such  the  local  newspaper 
columns  are  a  boon  indeed.  It  is  well  to  establish  a  regular 
day  of  the  week  on  which  book  lists  are  to  appear.  Then,  if 
the  library  has  no  new  books,  or  very  few,  fill  the  space  with 
a  brief  list  of  books  already  in  the  library  on  some  timely 
topic.  At  top  or  bottom  add,  "Cut  this  out  and  use  as  a  call 
list  at  the  library."  In  my  first  library  a  nearly  complete  find- 
ing list  appeared  in  this  way.  The  two  local  papers  were  gen- 
erous with  their  space  (emulating  each  other)  and  would  print 
the  titles  of  half  the  books  in  a  given  class,  say  Fine  Arts,  one 
week,  the  rest  the  next  Readers  cut  out  these  lists,  in  many 
instances  pasted  them  in  a  scrap-book,  and  thus,  by  clipping 
also  the  later  lists  of  new  books,  had  an  up-to-date  catalog  of 
the  library. 

With  the  short  lists  of  new  books,  a  descriptive  line  about 
each  title  condensed  from  the  notes  of  the  A.  L.  A.  Booklist 
or  the  Book  Review  Digest,  makes  it  far  more  interesting  to 
the  public.  General  items  of  book-news  are  welcome;  mention 


RELATION  TO  OUTSIDE  WORLD  649 

of  gifts  with  names  of  givers,  names  of  new  periodicals  for  the 
reading  room,  or  interesting  articles  in  the  current  magazines, 
brief  description  of  a  valuable  new  government  publication,  re- 
ports o£  meetings  o£  the  library  board,  items  from  the  libra- 
rian's monthly  report,  and,  if  possible,  all  of  the  annual  report, 
with  statistics  condensed  and  summarized.  In  a  presidential 
election  year  the  library  may  get  itself  upon  the  mailing  list  of 
the  various  political  parties  and  announce  their  campaign  lit- 
erature, handbooks,  etc.,  as  on  file  for  use  of  readers  Inter- 
esting incidents  and  bits  of  library  news  should  be  jotted  down 
daily  for  the  weekly  library  column  or  for  the  friendly  reporter 
in  search  of  an  item. 

Aside  from  the  newspapers,  many  libraries  are  using  a  large 
amount  of  printed  matter,  or  type-written  circulars,  for  mak- 
ing the  library  known.  Mimeographed  lists  of  books  inter- 
esting to  teachers,  Sunday-school  workers,  architects,  city  offi- 
cials, business  men  or  members  of  any  trade  or  profession,  arc 
sent  to  individuals  or  organizations  Even  libraries  which  can- 
not afford  regular  bulletins  can  print  an  occasional  list  on 
some  timely  subject,  in  inexpensive  form,  for  distribution  at 
the  library  and  by  mail.  Short  selected  lists  for  local  use  may 
be  made  up  from  the  fuller  lists  printed  by  larger  libraries 
The  Louisville  Free  Public  Library  has  on  hand  at  present  an 
annotated  list  of  books  on  Sunday-school  work,  prepared  for 
the  recent  meeting  of  the  International  Sunday-School  Union 
in  that  city;  also  a  list  of  detective  stories,  and  an  interesting 
list  of  books  in  the  library  on  Socialism,  printed  and  distributed 
by  the  local  chapter  of  the  Socialist  party,  copies  of  any  of 
which  will  gladly  be  sent  to  any  library  asking  for  them,  as 
long  as  the  supply  lasts. 

To  the  workingmen  of  our  community  we  owe  special  at- 
tention. An  attractive  vest-pocket  list  of  books  "of  practical 
interest  to  men  in  the  shops"  was  recently  published  by  the 
Dayton  (Ohio)  Public  Library,  with  union  imprint,  for  dis- 
tribution among  workingmen.  An  edition  of  eight  hundred 
was  paid  for  in  advance  by  orders  from  firms  and  trade  unions 
in  the  respective  industries.  A  slip  containing  the  titles  of  pe- 
riodicals the  library  has  relating  to  the  mechanical  trades  may 
be  enclosed  in  the  pay  envelopes  of  the  factory  and  other  em- 
ployees. Small  dodgers,  calling  attention  in  an  interesting  way 


6so  MARILLA  WAITE  FREEMAN 

to  the  location  of  the  library,  its  resources,  the  fact  that  there 
is  no  charge  for  its  use,  may  be  distributed  in  similar  ways. 
The  psychology  of  advertising  should  be  studied  for  simplicity 
and  directness  of  expression  and  style  of  printing 

Framed  placards  or  signs  calling  attention  to  the  library, 
its  location,  the  freedom  of  its  use,  posted  in  hotels,  railroad 
stations,  street-cars,  the  post-office,  have  been  found  effective 
in  many  places,  especially  in  attracting  the  interest  of  transient 
visitors.  In  one  library  we  placed  in  the  car  shops,  the  chair 
factory  and  elsewhere  small  wall  boxes  filled  with  library  ap- 
plication blanks,  and  on  the  box  the  inscription,  "Public  Library, 
Eighth  and  Spring  Streets— Books  lent  free.  Take  one  of 
these  cards,  fill  it  out,  then  bring  or  send  it  to  the  library  and 
books  will  be  lent  you  without  charge.  Library  open  from  9 
a.m.  to  9  p.m."  A  number  of  these  blanks  came  back  to  the 
library  filled  in,  but  many  more  were  wasted.  On  the  whole, 
I  believe  an  attractively  printed  library  sign  in  the  factories 
answers  quite  as  well,  especially  if  supplemented  by  a  personal 
invitation  or  a  brief  list  of  technical  books  enclosed  in  the  pay 
envelopes  of  the  employees 

In  Grand  Rapids,  directly  after  the  close  of  the  night  schools, 
the  librarian  gets  from  the  Board  of  Education  the  names  and 
addresses  of  all  the  pupils,  and  personal  letters  are  sent  to  all 
these,  calling  attention  to  the  library  and  how  it  may  be  of  use 
to  them  Similar  letters  are  sent  to  all  the  pupils  who  leave 
school  permanently  The  Grand  Rapids  letter,  signed  by  Mr. 
Ranck,  is  uniquely  interesting.  A  similar  one,  in  mimeographed 
form,  could  be  sent  out  by  any  library  at  slight  expense.  The 
personal  touch  gives  it  its  great  value. 

The  telephone  may  be  made  one  of  our  most  effective  agents 
of  library  publicity  If  a  busy  newspaper  man  or  lawyer  can 
feel  free  to  call  us  up  and  ask  the  Republican  majority  in  Ne- 
braska in  1900,  or  the  exact  date  of  the  Sherman  Anti-Trust 
Law,  he  is  going  to  know  and  make  known  that  the  library  is 
of  real  value  to  busy  people  We  should  encourage  the  use  of 
the  telephone  for  emergency  information  During  a  recent  street- 
car strike  in  Louisville  a  prominent  judge,  chairman  of  a  citi- 
zens' committee,  meeting  the  street-car  company  m  an  effort  to 
secure  arbitration,  telephoned  the  library  from  the  committee- 
room  asking  for  an  account  of  the  terms  of  settlement  in  the 


RELATION  TO  OUTSIDE  WORLD  651 

St.  Louis  strike.  The  Readers'  Guide  to  Periodical  Literature 
disclosed  an  article  in  the  Independent  of  a  certain  date  giving 
the  exact  information  desired.  The  Independent  was  at  the 
bindery.  We  telephoned  the  bindery  to  give  the  required  vol- 
ume to  our  messenger  at  whatever  stage  of  binding,  and  the 
messenger  delivered  it  at  the  seat  of  war.  Next  morning's 
papers  announced  that  the  strike  had  been  settled  that  night 
through  information  secured  from  the  Public  Library  at  a  criti- 
cal moment  in  the  conference. 

We  may  use  the  telephone  for  asking  as  well  as  giving 
information  An  electrician,  engineer,  teacher  or  professional 
man,  whom  you  know  as  an  authority,  will  be  glad  to  give 
you  any  information  in  his  power.  An  architect  came  into  our 
reference  room  not  long  since  and  said  it  would  be  worth 
$10,000  to  him  to  have  his  solution  of  a  certain  practical  prob- 
lem in  hydraulics  verified.  We  called  up  a  specialist  in  physics 
at  one  of  our  manual  training  schools  and  he  verified  the  ar- 
chitect's solution  Then,  to  clinch  the  matter,  we  sent  to  the 
Library  of  Congress  for  a  certain  volume  which  our  specialist 
referred  us  to,  so  that  the  architect  should  have  line  and  page. 

Often  by  calling  m  this  way  upon  people  possessing  special 
knowledge,  the  library  makes  friends  of  them  as  well  as  of  the 
reader  for  whom  the  information  is  sought 

There  is  no  good  reason  why  book-renewal  by  telephone 
should  not  be  allowed.  The  inconvenience  to  the  library  is 
slight  in  comparison  with  the  convenience  to  the  borrower. 
Pad  and  pencil  should  be  kept  fastened  to  wall  or  table  near 
the  telephone  and  name  and  number  of  book  and  date  due 
written  upon  slip  and  taken  to  the  charging  case  for  renewal. 

Another  use  of  the  telephone  is  to  notify  readers  of  books 
received  for  their  use  and  to  call  the  attention  of  anyone  to 
whom  you  think  a  certain  new  book  or  magazine  article  will 
be  of  special  interest.  The  Grand  Rapids  Public  Library  is 
one  of  the  libraries  which  makes  systematic  use  of  the  tele- 
phone in  this  and  many  other  ways,  and  it  considers  the  tele- 
phone one  of  its  most  useful  mediums  of  library  publicity  and 
extension. 

Perhaps  most  effective  of  all  methods  of  making  the  li- 
brary known  are  the  personal  talks  given  by  the  librarian  or 
other  representatives  of  the  library,  before  schools,  clubs,  groups 


652  MARILLA  WAITE  FREEMAN 

of  factory  workers,  labor  unions,  masonic  lodges,  any  organiza- 
tion which  one  can  gain  courage  and  opportunity  to  address 
Nothing  goes  so  far  to  win  intelligent  appreciation  and  under- 
standing of  the  use  of  the  library.  It  is  the  personal  touch  again 
and  this  in  the  end  is  always  what  counts  most.  To  find  out 
the  native  interest  which  already  exists  in  an  individual  or  a 
group  of  individuals  and  to  build  on  that  an  interest  in  what 
the  library  has  to  offer — this  requires  personal  work  both  within 
and  without  the  library.  And  when  these  individuals  have 
found  for  themselves  that  they  really  get  something  from  the 
library  that  is  worth  while,  they  in  turn  arouse  the  interest  of 
others.  So,  by  a  sort  of  endless  chain,  the  users  of  the  library 
become  its  best  advertisers.  Like  Mellm's  Food,  "We  are  ad- 
vertised by  our  loving  friends." 

In  short,  we  owe  to  our  entire  constituency  the  fullest  and 
most  suggestive  setting  forth  of  the  resources  of  the  library 
if  we  are  to  hope  for  their  increasing  co-operation  and  sup- 
port. And  it  is  only  through  that  co-operation  and  support 
that  we  can  make  the  library  what  it  should  be,  the  intellectual 
and  inspirational  power-house  of  community  life 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

In  1887  William  I.  Fletcher,  then  librarian  of  Am- 
licrsl  College,  said  in  his  Public  Libraries  in  America, 
'The  future  of  public  libraries  is  difficult  to  foretell. 
We  may  be  sure  that  for  many  years  to  come  libraries 
will  grow  rapidly  in  size  and  number;  that  ingenuity 
rightly  applied  will  ever  be  bringing  into  use  new  ap- 
paratus and  new  methods,  so  that  what  are  now  of 
the  newest  will  soon  be  antiquated ;  also  that  the  people 
at  large  will  increasingly  support  and  use  the  libraries, 
and  that  the  free  public  library  especially  will  take  its 
place  among  the  chief  agents  of  civilization." 

Thirty-three  years  later,  Miss  Alice  Tyler  of  the 
Western  Reserve  University  Library  School  in  her  presi- 
dential address  at  the  Swampscott  Conference  of  the 
A.L.A.  (June  20,  1921)  said:  'To  reach,  by  means  of 
the  printed  page,  the  minds  and  thoughts  of  all  who  can 
read— while  the  schools  face  the  task  of  reducing  the  ap- 
palling number  of  the  illiterate— is  task  enough  for  the 
united  purpose  and  energy  of  all  forward-looking  people 
who  have  personal  contact  with  books  in  any  relation. 
Here  is  a  field  for  cooperation — definite,  practical,  and 
immediate — to  project  the  book  with  its  potential  service 
upon  the  attention  and  thought  of  an  unawakened 
people,  by  means  of  active  and  convincing  methods,  such 
as  are  utilized  by  other  world  activities  and  agencies 
which  appeal  to  an  intelligent  response. 

"While  sharing  this  general  responsibility  the  library 
has  a  distinctive  contribution  to  make  as  a  public  in- 
stitution, far  beyond  that  of  other  groups  who  are  con- 
cerned in  book  distribution.  It  has  been  created  by  so- 
ciety for  its  own  purpose,  supported  by  public  funds.  It 


654  FUTURE  OF  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

is  obligated  to  provide  for  the  community  the  aids  and 
encouragements  for  mental  and  intellectual  health  and 
growth,  in  as  a  definite  and  responsible  manner  as  the 
health  and  welfare  departments,  municipal  and  state,  are 
obligated  to  provide  for  physical  health  and  well-being 
and  the  essential  needs  of  pure  food  and  water  The 
mental  and  spiritual  needs  of  a  community  must  not 
yield  in  importance  to  the  material. 

"It 'has  been  deemed  essential  that  books  should  be 
made  freely  available,  not  primarily  to  make  one's  busi- 
ness more  effective,  though  that  is  important  and  desir- 
able— but  to  make  the  individual  more  effective  in 
his  personal  life.  To  foster  idealism  and  to  strengthen 
the  struggling  aspirations  of  the  human  spirit  is  the  very 
essence  of  the  library's  service  as  an  institution.  In  the 
light  of  the  present  day,  what  higher  service  can  be  ren- 
dered?" 

Today,  the  problems  of  the  library  are  still  compara- 
tively new,  and  that  many  have  been  worked  out  is  due 
in  large  part  to  the  persistent  and  devoted  labors  of  the 
apostles  of  the  library  movement.  Many  of  the  prob- 
lems are  still  waiting  for  solution,  and  each  new  phase 
of  development  brings  its  own  group ;  but,  after  all,  these 
are  only  incentives  to  higher  effort  A  feature  of  en- 
couragement is  the  increasing  number  of  workers  in  the 
field. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

In  September,  1890,  Dr.  Lewis  H,  Steiner  of  the 
Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library  prepared  for  the  White 
Mountains  Conference  of  the  A.L.A,  a  paper  in  which 
he  viewed  the  ideal  public  library  of  the  future.  He 
visualized  the  library  not  only  as  the  warehouse  of  books, 
but  a  "realization  of  a  people's  university  fully  compe- 
tent to  guide  and  instruct  its  pupils  and  to  make  the 
library  most  useful  to  the  greatest  number,  and  that  it 
must  be  kept  in  thorough  sympathy  with  the  people/' 

Dr.  Lewis  H.  Steiner  was  born  in  Frederick  City, 
Maryland,  in  1827.  He  was  graduated  from  Marshall 
College  with  an  A.B,  degree  in  1846,  in  1849  took  his 
M,D,  degree  from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
that  same  year  began  to  practice  his  profession  in  Fred- 
erick. For  nine  years  he  was  a  lecturer  in  a  private  med- 
ical institution  and  in  several  colleges.  Later,  he  was 
professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  History  in  Colum- 
bia College,  and  of  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy  in  Na- 
tional Medical  College,  Washington,  D.C.  In  1861  he 
took  an  active  part  in  the  interest  of  the  union  cause 
and  when  the  Sanitary  Commission  was  organized,  he 
was  appointed  chief  inspector  in  the  army  of  the  Po- 
tomac so  continuing  until  the  end  of  the  war.  He  also 
interested  himself  in  the  establishment  of  colored  schools 
in  Maryland.  He  was  the  author  of  numerous  books, 
most  of  them  scientific  works.  After  18SS  Dr.  Steiner 
was  connected  with  the  editorship  of  the  American  Medi- 
cal Monthly  and  was  a  contributor  to  other  periodicals. 
In  1869  Yale  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of 
A.M.  When  the  Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library  was  estab- 
lished in  1886  he  was  elected  librarian  and  remained  there 


656  LEWIS  H.  STEINER 

until  his  death,  February  18,  1892.    His  son,  Dr.  B.  C. 
Steiner,  continued  his  work  until  his  death  in  1926. 

Large  libraries,  filled  with  collections  of  the  written  and 
printed  learning  of  the  wise  men  of  the  world,  have  been  known 
for  ages.  They  were  for  the  few;  for  those  who,  retiring  from 
the  attractions  of  business  and  the  allurements  of  public  life, 
lived  among  books,  and  ardently  desired  no  greater  occupation, 
no  higher  honor  than  to  swell  the  number  of  such  monuments 
of  man's  intellectual  power.  No  ambition  to  extend  the  treas- 
ures of  learning  to  the  unlearned  seemed  to  animate  the  stu- 
dent of  those  days.  To  preserve  and  enlarge  these  wondrous 
mausoleums  of  laborious  genius  was  the  chief  object  of  their 
ambition.  The  great  majority  of  the  race  had  no  part  in  such 
treasures,  was  content  to  dig  and  labor  for  a  precarious  exist- 
ence, and  to  die,  as  it  were,  glebes  adscriptus.  Such  was  the 
relation  of  mankind  to  the  huge  collections  of  books,  known 
as  libraries,  in  the  early  days  of  learning 

But  as  years  and  centuries  passed  by,  the  people  began  to 
feel  that  they  had  a  right  to  whatever  was  good  and  ennobling 
in  the  lands  where  their  lot  was  cast.  There  might  be  a  divine 
right  inherent  to  kings,  but  there  was  also  a  divine  right  in- 
herent to  every  human  being  to  enter  the  halls  of  learning, 
and,  seizing  everything  that  could  intensify  and  enlarge  the  in- 
tellectual powers,  aspire  to  the  attainment  of  all  that  tended 
to  make  him  master  of  the  world  and  its  varied  secrets.  The 
attainment  of  scientific  knowledge,  political  knowledge, — of  all 
forms  of  knowledge, — must  be  made  possible.  Man  had  been 
made  in  the  image  of  his  Maker,  and  therefore  it  was  his  right 
to  aspire  to  mastery,  and  to  use  everything  within  his  reach 
as  an  adjuvant  to  such  an  end.  And  so  knowledge  grew,  and 
learning  became  widespread;  and  libraries,  instead  of  remain- 
ing the  property  of  a  chosen  few,  became  the  most  democratic 
institutions  known  to  man.  And  with  this  change,  libraries 
ceased  to  be  known  as  reserved  for  the  few.  Their  doors 
were  flung  wide  open  to  any  one  who  could  utter  the  magic 
"open  sesame,"  which  was  simply  the  articulate  cry  of  the  hun- 
gry soul  for  that  which  would  make  it  wiser,  better,  and  more 
like  that  Image  after  which  it  had  been  created. 

It  would  be  a  curious  and  not  an  unprofitable  line  of  study 
to  trace  the  Genesis  of  the  free  public  library,  from  the  nu- 


FUTURE  OF  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  657 

cleus  which  was  hidden  in  the  libraries  that  had  first  been  es- 
tablished solely  for  the  learned,  until  it  reached  its  present 
stage  of  development— until,  shorn  of  all  exclusiveness,  it  be- 
came the  freest  instrument  known  to  the  igth  century  for  the 
elevation  of  the  race  from  ignorance,  and  the  best  and  dearest 
friend  of  every  one  whose  aspirations  impelled  him  to  acquire 
the  secrets  of  the  past  and  present,  as  well  as  to  battle  for  him- 
self, his  family,  and  fellow-citizens  in  the  future.  But  such 
a  study  is  denied  me  at  present.  Let  me,  however,  try  to  set 
forth,  as  clearly  as  practicable,  some  thoughts  concerning  the 
future  of  this  mighty,  democratic  agency  of  the  ipth  century. 
It  may  be  well  to  pause  for  a  while  in  the  technical  details  of 
our  professional  work— although  these  are  so  important,  and 
must  necessarily  claim  much  attention  during  our  annual  con- 
ferences—and, for  a  few  minutes,  look  at  what  may  be  the  fu- 
ture development  of  the  public  library,  and  at  what  it  will 
require  of  those  who  are  honored  with  its  charge. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  the  free  public  library  has  secured 
such  a  hold  upon  the  affections  of  the  people,  that  it  can  safely 
endure  all  possible  antagonisms  which  may  arise  from  indif- 
ference or  penurious  considerations.  Communities  are  already 
bearing  cheerfully  the  necessary  taxation  for  its  support,  and 
millionaires  have  learned  to  regard  it  as  a  favorite  object  for 
the  bestowment  of  the  overflow  of  their  bank  accounts.  A 
thirst  for  knowledge  has  seized  the  people,  and  this  can  be 
satisfied  in  no  way  so  well  as  by  resorting  to  our  literary  reser- 
voirs for  continuous  supplies.  The  public  library  is  closely 
connected  with  the  civilization  of  the  age — so  closely  that  the 
two  are  becoming  almost  inseparable.  So  long  as  a  free  people 
possesses  this  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  looks  upon  its  gratifi- 
cation as  a  means  of  advancing  its  welfare,  of  freeing  it  from 
the  curse  of  caste,  and  of  making  its  homes  brighter  and  hap- 
pier and  better,  the  public  library,  with  its  treasures  of  that 
which  will  amuse,  interest,  and  instruct,  must  remain  an  in- 
stitution very  dear  to  their  hearts. 

I.  Our  schools  do  but  fit  their  scholars  for  its  use,  and 
it  is  no  misnomer  to  speak  of  it  as  the  people's  university, 
where  every  aspiration  for  knowledge  should  receive,  not  only 
kindly  encouragement,  but  direct  and  invaluable  assistance.  And 
this  brings  me  to  my  first  proposition,  that  "the  public  library 


658  LEWIS  H.  STEINER 

must  be  kept  in  thorough  sympathy  with  the  people,"  by  fur- 
nishing not  only  the  treasures  of  the  past,  but  whatever  may 
belong  to  present  discovery,  both  in  arts  and  sciences,  or  to 
topics  that  have  come  to  the  front  as  of  burning  value  to  man- 
kind. It  must  always  be  a  living  fountain  of  refreshment  to 
the  human  soul.  It  cannot  fossilize  itself  by  mere  collections 
of  the  productions  of  the  past.  It  is  no  place  for  the  mere 
hoarding  of  the  severely  classic.  It  must  also  furnish  the  re- 
sults of  whatever  the  present  brings  forth,  and  be  ready  to 
supply  this  on  call  of  every  age  and  condition.  It  must  dis- 
dain to  furnish  information  on  no  subject,  on  account  of  its 
seeming  triviality,  nor  shrink  from  the  task  of  supplying 
draughts  from  the  most  profound  sources  of  human  wisdom, 
should  these  be  solicited.  It  must  become  an  encyclopaedic 
helper  to  the  community,  never  at  a  loss  for  an  answer  to  a 
question,  if  the  same  can  be  found  on  the  printed  page.  On 
the  lookout  for  the  first  rays  of  any  light  that  penetrates  the 
dark  corners  of  the  mind,  it  must  gather  up  all  these,  and  pre- 
serve them  for  those  who  will  be  most  in  need  of  their  assist- 
ance. In  this  university  there  must  not  only  be  knowledge,  but 
that  prescience  which  may  predict  and  recognize  the  faintest 
indication  of  the  appearance  of  a  new  discovery  or  a  new  ap- 
plication of  a  recognized  principle,  and  then  generously  put  the 
same  at  the  disposal  of  all  its  pupils.  It  must,  by  loyalty  to 
its  sphere  of  duty,  show  its  indispensability  to  its  patrons,  so 
that  no  public  institution  will  become  more  intrinsically  valuable 
to  them,  and  none  be  looked  upon  with  deeper  affection  and 
more  ardent  love.  In  this  way  it  will  be  true  to  its  high  mis- 
sion, and  demonstrate  its  right  to  the  confidence  of  the  people ; 
and  these  will  learn,  through  the  recognition  o£  such  sympathy 
with  their  wants  and  needs,  to  come  to  it  always  for  aid  and 
assistance  in  the  various  problems  that  meet  them  in  the  daily 
struggles  of  life. 

2.  Who,  then,  is  equal  to  the  task  of  developing  the  capa- 
bilities of  this  great  university,  and  how  can  these  be  made 
most  useful  to  the  crowds  that  will  throng  its  halls?  There 
is  much  technique  to  be  mastered.  We  meet  and  discuss  this 
with  earnestness.  Classification  and  mechanical  appliances  to 
assist  in  the  details  of  administration,  the  best  methods  of  do- 
ing this  and  that,  the  best  forms  of  blanks  wherewith  accounts 


FUTURE  OF  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  659 

can  be  kept  and  statistics  made  practically  available,  how  time 
and  labor  can  be  saved  by  such  an  invention, — these  and  thou- 
sands of  other  subjects  demand  our  attention;  and  our  time  is 
so  frequently  occupied  with  them— this  tithing  of  "mint,  anise, 
and  cummin"— that  we  are  in  great  danger  of  forgetting  "the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law"— the  great  trusts  confided  to  our 
hands,  the  immense  responsibilities  that  have  been  voluntarily 
assumed,  and  which  must  never  be  ovei  looked  He  who  is  to 
be  the  mentor  of  young  and  old,  who  come  with  their  unending 
questions  on  every  subject  to  the  libraiy,  must  not  be  content 
with  a  mere  acquaintance,  however  exhaustive  it  may  be,  with 
the  details  of  library  management.  He  dare  not  despise  these, 
since  they  arc  essential  to  system  and  the  successful  perform- 
ance of  his  daily  duties  They  must  be  familiar  to  him  and  his 
assistants,  but  they  belong  only  to  the  mechanical  perform- 
ance of  duties,  while  there  arc  others  of  greater  importance 
that  inhere  to  his  professional  position,  which  should  never  be 
neglected,  and  without  an  attention  to  which  he  will  fall  far 
short  of  the  usefulness  he  should  attain.  Constant  study,  some 
familiarity  with  what  has  been  done  by  the  human  mmd  in 
all  spheres  of  its  activity,  with  the  novelties  oC  the  age  as 
presented  by  specialists  whose  activity  at  present  is  truly  mar- 
velous; in  fine,  with  the  learning  of  the  world  All  this  would 
not  more  than  meet  the  requirements  o[  the  situation  occupied 
by  the  librarian  Who  is  sufficient  for  all  this?  No  one  would 
arrogantly  claim  for  himself  such  omniscience.  What  then? 
He  can  possess  himself  with  an  acquaintance  with  the  sources 
whence  such  varied  information  can  be  obtained,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  point  the  road  that  the  inquirer  must  take  to  secure 
correct  answers  to  his  queries.  And  this,  I  believe,  must  be 
the  line  of  study  to  be  taken  by  the  public  librarian,  so  that  he 
can  help,  advise,  aid,  and  assist,  if  he  is  unable  to  furnish  the 
full  information  required.  He  may  have  his  own  special  sub- 
jects of  study,  but  he  dare  not  prosecute  them  to  the  detriment 
of  this  more  important  portion  of  his  duties. 

The  library,  in  the  future,  must  not  only  be  a  collection  of 
books  to  amuse  and  instruct,  to  aid  and  assist  those  who  are 
hungering  and  thirsting  for  knowledge,  but  it  must  furnish 
guidance  and  direction  for  all  who  are  unable  to  secure  this 
from  its  stores.  It  must  furnish  counsel  for  those  who  would 


66o  LEWIS  H.  STEINER 

employ  its  treasures,  and  this  function  belongs  naturally  to  him 
who  has  been  intrusted  with  its  management  and  conduct.  He 
must  not  only  cater  to  existing  public  tastes,  but  assist  in  the 
creation  of  new  ones  on  the  highest  possible  plane  He  must 
become  the  superintendent  of  a  class  of  assistants,  who  shall 
also  be  relieved  of  technical  details,  of  duties  connected  with 
the  receiving  of  the  fresh  materials  that  a  growing  library  will 
be  acquiring  daily,  of  classifying  and  making  these  readily  ob- 
tainable from  its  shelves,— of  all  duties  connected  with  the 
economic  administration  of  its  daily  work,  and,  in  fine,  of  every- 
thing that  will  interfere  with  the  most  practical  instructional 
work.  These  assistants  will  employ  the  keys  that  unlock  the 
treasures  of  the  library,  and  make  their  contents  available  in 
the  most  intelligible  way  for  the  hungry  student.  The  Bureau 
of  Information,  that  some  librarians  have  already  felt  them- 
selves forced  to  establish  in  their  libraries,  will  increase  in  di- 
mensions until  it  is  so  organized  as  to  distribute  its  duties  among 
those  who  are  to  become  specialists  in  the  different  departments 
of  human  study. 

The  ideal  public  library  of  the  future  will  thus  not  only  be 
a  warehouse  of  books,  where  the  most  complete  adaptation  of 
the  best  technical  methods  for  their  arrangement,  classification, 
and  management  shall  be  employed,  but  a  realization  of  a 
people's  university,  supplied  with  instructors— whatever  names  be 
given  them — fully  competent  to  guide  and  instruct  its  pupils, 
and  to  make  its  books  of  incalculable  value;  over  all  of  which 
will  preside  the  one  mind  that  is  full  of  sympathy  with  its 
students,  and,  at  the  same  time,  broad  enough  and  wise  enough 
to  comprehend  all  necessary  practical  details,  while  it  commits 
these  to  subordinate  officers — some  to  manage  those  of  a  mere 
technical  character,  and  others  to  exercise  those  instructional 
duties  that  are  demanded,  in  order  to  make  the  library  most 
useful  to  the  greatest  number. 

It  may  be  said  that  to  accomplish  all  this  will  require  a 
large  outlay  of  money,  but  the  same  can  be  said  of  all  enter- 
prises undertaken  for  the  instruction  and  advancement  of  the 
race.  Still,  we  have  found  that,  when  the  ideal  of  any  such 
enterprise  approves  itself  to  the  judgment  of  the  public,  the 
money  for  its  full  accomplishment  comes  sooner  or  later.  Our 
colleges  have  rarely  sprung  into  existence  fully  equipped  for 


FUTURE  OF  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  661 

the  tasks  they  have  undertaken.  They  have  generally  struggled 
under  difficulties  of  the  most  disheartening  character.  But  when 
their  instructors  have  proven  themselves  equal  to  their  tasks, 
have  made  their  pupils  and  the  great  public  see  the  beneficial 
results  of  their  labors,  we  have  found  that  the  money  needed 
for  their  support,  for  the  erection  of  suitable  buildings,  and  the 
proper  supply  of  books  and  instruments  and  the  necessary  ap- 
pliances for  illustration,  has  come  at  first  in  little  rills,  then  in 
larger  streams,  and  finally  in  quantity  sufficient  to  supply  these, 
as  well  as  adequately  to  compensate  the  able  and  conscientious 
men  who  have  devoted  their  energies  to  such  noble  work.  The 
collegiate  institutions  that  have  been  ushered  into  existence 
through  large  and  bountiful  benefactions  are  simply  evidences, 
in  these  latter  days,  of  what  the  people  have  learned  to  ad- 
mire and  put  confidence  in,  in  the  case  of  those  that  have  fought 
the  good  fight  in  previous  years,  and  thus  secured  confidence 
in  the  grand  ideal.  Moreover,  the  age  has  begun  to  feel  that 
money  can  be  profitably  employed  in  the  establishment  of  vast 
institutions  for  the  training  of  the  young  in  industrial  pursuits, 
in  the  practical  applications  of  the  fine  arts,  and,  indeed,  in  a 
thousand  lines  of  work,  in  which  in  former  days  unaided  genius 
was  content  to  struggle  and  labor  without  aid  or  assistance 
The  tide  of  generous  benefaction  has  been  already  directed 
towards  the  foundation  and  support  of  libraries,  and  it  is  mani- 
festing itself  in  all  directions  m  the  form  of  gifts  from  the  mil- 
lionaire, who  has  begun  to  see  how  he  may  link  his  name 
inseparably  with  great  good  for  his  fellow-men  by  founding  pub- 
lic libraries.  This  movement  will  not  be  checked,  but  rather 
increased,  when  the  management  of  the  library  shall  show  the 
practical  results  here  set  forth  as  possible.  The  fully  equipped 
and  intelligently  managed  people's  university  will  continue  to 
claim  support  from  the  hands  of  those  who  have  great  per- 
sonal wealth,  or  directly  from  the  people  for  whose  benefit  it 
is  conducted. 

A  word  now  as  to  the  quarter,  whence  may  come,  in  the 
future,  baneful  influences,  which  will  not  only  fetter  the  move- 
ment towards  the  attainment  of  the  ideal  here  presented,  but 
even  seriously  interfere  with  the  work  of  the  library  in  what- 
ever shape  this  may  be  done.  Already  signs  of  such  influences 
have  shown  themselves,  and  have  done  some  injury.  I  refer 


662  LEWIS  H.  STEINER 

to  the  active  agency  of  partisan  politics  in  the  selection  of  its 
officers  and  its  general  management,  so  that  these  shall  be  made 
to  agree  with  the  dominant  majority,  who,  in  accordance  with 
the  prevalent  claims  of  machine  partisan  politicians,  are  entitled 
to  the  control  of  everything  of  a  public  nature  in  the  body 
politic.  The  public  library  is  a  non-partisan  institution;  the 
public  librarian  is  a  non-partisan  citizen,  however  pronounced 
may  be  his  political  views,  and  however  he  may  feel  called  upon 
to  cast  his  ballot.  If  he  cannot  keep  his  political  views  from 
controlling  his  conduct  as  librarian,  he  should  not  undertake 
such  duties  But  when  true  to  the  functions  of  his  high  calling, 
he  should  be  kept  free  from  the  perturbations  of  party,  and 
guarded  from  fears  that  he  may  be  made  a  victim  either  of  its 
erratic  likes  or  dislikes 


INDEX 

Abraham,  library  of,  referred  to,  32. 

Access  to  shelves,  a  possible  function  of  branch  libraries,  paper 

by  Dr.  Herbert  Putnam,  239;  discontinued  by  libraries,  158; 

report  on  by  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  152;  restriction, 

158,  159;  special  permission  for,  246;  see  also  Open  shelves. 
Activity,  co-operative,  of  libraries,  referred  to,  399 
Addams,  Jane,  referred  to,  501. 
Advertising,  library.    See  Publicity. 
Advertising  a  library,  paper  by  Mary  E  Hazeltine,  623;  paper 

by  Lutie  E.  Stearns,  635. 
Agencies,  allied  with  public  libraries,  323,  504. 
Agencies,  book  distributing,  co-ordination  of,  270;  report  on,  257. 
Aim  of  library,  discussed,  319. 
Alameda,  Cal.  Free  Library,  open  shelves,  161. 
Alexandria,  library  of,  referred  to,  32. 
Allen,  Edward  Ellis,  quoted,  466. 
Allied  agencies,  co-operation  of  public  libraries,  323. 
American  braille.    See  Embossed  type. 
Ames  Free  Library,  open  shelves,  161. 
Annotations  in  bulletins,  value  of,  615. 
Application  card  of  book  borrower,  wording  on,  74 
Apprentices'  Library,  reserves,  no. 

Apprentices'  Library  Company,  Philadelphia,  open  shelves,  161. 
Attracting  the  public,  means  of,  317. 
Auckland,  New  Zealand,  Free  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  161 

Baetz,  Henry,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  587. 

Baker,  Dr.  Henry  M.,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  583. 

Bangor,  Maine,  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  162. 

Barr,  Charles  James,  biographical  sketch,  399;  report  by,  399. 

"Ben  Hur,"  popularity  of,  120. 

Berkshire  Athenaeum,  open  shelves,  162. 

Billings,  Dr,  John  S.,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  582. 

Birge,  Dr.  Edward  A.,  paper  by,  307;  report  by,  125. 

Bishop,  William  Warner,  report  by,  407. 


664  INDEX 

Black  city,  New  York's,  serving  of,  517. 

Black-list,  use  of,  54 

Bledsoe,  Mr.  quoted,  449 

Blind,  addresses  of  firms  supplying  books  for,  463;  books  and 
libraries  for,  421,  470,  in  public  libraries,  425,  434,  report, 
427;  Library  of  Congress  reading  room  for,  435;  number 
of  in  United  States  in  1890,  statistics,  424,  work  with,  440, 
452,  report  on,  439,  465. 

Book  larceny  problem,  report  by  Edwin  W.  Gaillard,  551 

Book  lists     See  Publicity. 

Book  losses.    See  Losses 

Book  selection,  good,  defined,  97;  for  prison  libraries,  361 

Book  theft,  and  collectors,  559;  causes  of,  556,  557,  defined,  568; 
detection  of,  574;  history  of  in  libraries,  552;  impossibility 
of  prevention,  572;  in  children's  rooms,  560;  legal  aspects  of, 
570;  relation  to  fines,  558;  resorted  to  by  fraud,  567. 

Book  thieves,  aided  by  open  shelf,  565;  an  incident  and  a  sug- 
gestion, report  by  Edwin  W.  Gaillard,  547;  conviction  of, 
571;  juvenile,  561;  methods  of  operation  by,  566;  tempta- 
tion of,  564. 

Books  and  libraries  for  the  blind,  report  by  Dr  Robert  C. 
Moon,  427. 

Books,  definition  of,  by  Cicero,  307;  disinfection  of — see  Con- 
tagious diseases;  flabby,  in  libraries,  242;  freer  handling  of, 
predicted,  155;  good,  296;  how  to  get  to  people,  308;  love 
of,  encouraged  by  open  shelves,  194;  new,  to  advertise  li- 
brary, 628;  restriction  of  number  issued  discussed,  316, 
sterilization  oi—see  Fumigation  of  books 

Books  for  the  blind,  paper  by  Henry  Munson  Utley,  421 

Borrowers,  active,  56;  delinquent-^ see  Delinquents;  registra- 
tion of  book,  51 ;  responsibility  of,  84. 

Boston  Athenaeum,  collection  of  fines,  543,  open  shelves,  162; 
reserves,  113. 

Boston  line  type.    See  Embossed  type. 

Boston  Public  Library,  pioneer  in  work  with  blind,  434,  report 
of  1875,  22}  work  with  foreign  born,  507 

Bostwick,  Dr  Arthur  E.,  article  by,  273;  quoted,  219 

Braille.    See  Embossed  type. 

Branch  libraries,  239,  268;  administration  of,  269;  and 'delivery 
stations,  256,  259;  as  distributing  agencies,  308;  book  collec- 
tions in,  271 ;  open  shelf  in,  243,  271 ,  statistics,  258. 


INDEX  665 

Branch  systems,  263. 

Branches  and  deliveries,  paper  by  George  Watson  Cole,  249; 

paper  by  Killer   Crowcll  Wellman,   263;   ciuestionnairc  on, 

250,  statistics,  250. 
Brett,  William  Howard,  papers  by,  103,  170;  report  on  bulletins, 

621. 

Bridgeport,  Conn ,  delinquent  borrowers  in,  528 
Bridgeport,  Conn.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  163. 
Brooklyn  ghetto,  library  work  in,  477. 
Brooklyn  Library,  collection  of  fines,  544;  open  shelves,   163; 

reserves,  in. 

Brooklyn  Public  Library,  work  with  allied  agencies,  326 
Brougham,  mentioned,   287. 

Browne,  Nina  Elizabeth,  biographical  sketch,  529;  paper  by,  529 
Brownsville  branch,  Brooklyn  Public  Library,  477 
Buffalo  Library,  Buffalo,  N.  Y,  open  shelves,  163 
Buffalo  Public  Library,  work  with  allied  agencies,  327;  work 

with  foreign  born,  507. 

Building,  library,  influence  of  on  library  spirit,  315 
Bulletins,  annotations  in,  618 ;   Cleveland  Public  Library,  621 ; 

Denver  Public  Library,  620;  distribution,  615;  frequency  of 

issue,  614;  Hartford  Public  Library,  616;  publicity,  611,  648; 

Mercantile  Library  of  Philadelphia,  618,  report  by  Gardner 

Maynard  Jones,  6n ;  report  by  George  Watson  Cole,  612 

California  State  Library  for  the  Blind,  distribution  of  books  by, 

457;  paper  on,  by  Mabel  Gillis,  455,  policy,  456. 
Call  slip,  home  use  in  St.  Louis  Public  Library,  83;  sample  of,  79. 
Cambridge,  Mass.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  163. 
Campbell,  J.  Maud,  biographical  sketch,  495;  paper  by,  495, 
Capen,  Edward,  quoted,  155. 
Card  catalog,  stumbling  block,  194. 
Card  system,  advantages  and  disadvantages,  68 
Carnegie  Free  Library,  Alleghany,  Pa,  open  shelves,  163 
Carnegie  Free  Library,  Braddock,  Pa,  open  shelves,  163. 
Carnegie  Library  of  Pittsburgh,  work  with  allied  agencies,  343. 
Carr,  Henry  James,  biographical  sketch,  51;  paper  by,  51. 
Carr,  John  Foster,  biographical  sketch,  503;  address  by,  503. 
Catalog,  intelligent  use  of,  229;  see  also  Card  catalog. 
Charged  books,  not  returned,  218;  statistics,  232 


666  INDEX 

Charging  systems,  adequacy  of,  49;  described,  81,  paper  by 
Klas  A.  Linderfelt,  43;  questions  answered  by,  62;  report 
on,  61 

Chicago  Public  Library,  building  and  collection  referred  to,  38; 
open  shelves,  164;  parcel  post  service,  377;  work  with  for- 
eign born,  505. 

Chicago,  University  of,  library,  referred  to,  38. 

Children's  rooms  and  book  theft,  561 ;  from  open  shelves,  201 

Cicero,  definition  of  books  by,  307 

Cincinnati  Public  Library,  work  with  allied  agencies,  328. 

Circulating  libraries,  usefulness  of,  25. 

Circulation,  cost  of,  per  volume  in  branches  and  delivery  sta- 
tions, statistics,  272 ;  increase  of,  due  to  open  shelves,  247 ;  long 
distance,  273;  method  of,  in  relation  to  size  of  library,  127; 
effect  of  two-book  system,  129,  130,  135. 

Clarke,  Beryl  H.,  report  -by,  451. 

Clerkenwell  Public  Library,  London,  Eng.,  open  shelves,  164. 

Cleveland  Public  Library,  bulletins  in,  621;  collection  of  fines, 
541 ;  open  shelves,  164 ;  reserves,  109 ;  work  with  allied 
agencies,  330;  work  with  foreign  born,  505 

Closed-shelf  circulation,  long  distance,  273. 

Cohen,  Leon  M.  Solis.    See  Sohs-Cohen,  Leon  M 

Cole,  George  Watson,  paper  by,  249;  report  on  bulletins,  612 

Collection  and  registration  of  fines,  report  by  large  libraries, 
537- 

Collection  of  duplicates,  problem,  119. 

Collectors  and  book  theft,  559. 

Colored  people,  work  with,  517;  see  also  Negroes. 

Columbus,  0.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  164 

Comenius,  referred  to,  285. 

Committee  on  Library  Administration,  report  of,  on  home  de- 
livery of  books,  383 

Concord,  Mass.  Free  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  165 

Congress,  Library  of,  referred  to,  39;  see  also  Library  of  Con- 
gress 

Contagion,  spread  of  by  circulating  libraries,  581 ;  see  also  Con- 
tagious diseases. 

Contagious  diseases,  and  public  libraries,  paper  by  Gardner 
Maynard  Jones,  589;  experience  of  libraries  with,  589;  list 
of,  considered,  592,  spread  of  by  libraries,  opinions  of  medi- 
cal experts,  582. 


INDEX  667 

Co-operation   of   allied   agencies  with  public  libraries,  survey, 

324- 

Cossiit  Library  of  Memphis,  referred  to,  39 
Crerar  Foundation,  referred  to,  38. 
Crundcn,  Frederick  M.,  paper  by,  73;  article  by,  117. 
Currier,  Dr    Andrew  Fay,  biographical  sketch,  597,  paper  by, 

597 

Dana,  John  Cotton,  discussion  by,  145,  report  on  bulletins  by, 
630. 

"David  Harutn,"  popularity  of,  121. 

Davis,  Dr   N   S.,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  584 

Dclfino,  Mrs  Emma  R  Neisscr.    See  Neisser,  Emma  R 

Delinquents,  dealt  with  in  New  York  Free  Circulating  Library, 
528;  in  Watcrbury,  Mass,  528;  in  Worcester,  Mass.,  528. 

Delivery,  book,  by  parcel  post,  373,  376,  377 

Delivery,  home.    See  Home  delivery  of  books. 

Delivery  station  circulation,  273;  personal  contact  possible,  274. 

Delivery  stations,  264,  351;  branches  combined  with,  259,  de- 
posit feature  of,  266,  management  of,  256;  objections  to,  265, 
266;  reading  rooms  in,  258;  St.  Louis  system  explained,  274; 
transportation,  267. 

Denver  Public  Library,  bulletins,  620;  open  shelves,  165 

Department  store,  branch  in,  278 

Deposit  stations,  defined,  351;  locations,  311. 

Detective  and  book  theft,  574. 

Detroit  Public  Library,  collection  of  fines,  537;  open  shelves, 
165;  work  with  allied  agencies,  331;  work  with  foreign 
born,  506 

Development  of  public  libraries,  report,  31;  stages  in,  254. 

DeWolf,  Dr.  Oscar,  opinion  on  contagion,  584. 

Dickinson,  Asa  Don,  quoted,  447. 

Dime  novel,  influence. of,  24. 

Disinfection  of  books.    See  Contagious  diseases. 

Distributing  agencies,  branches  as,  308. 

Distribution,  book  agencies,  co-ordination  of,  270, 

District  of  Columbia  Public  Library,  work  with  allied  agencies, 
332. 

Dudgeon,  Matthew  S.,  parcel  post  library  of,  373. 

Dummy  system,  71. 


668  INDEX 

Duplicate  collection,    119,   aid  to   circulation,   313,    conducted 

without  profit,  123 ;  in  St  Louis  Public  Library,  91 
Duplicate  readers  cards,  78;  source  of  trouble,  78 

Edgerton,  M.  P.,  quoted,  134. 

Edmands,  John,  opinions  on  contagion,  586;  report  on  bulletins, 

618. 
Effect  of  the  two-book  system  on  circulation,  report  by  l)r 

Edward  A.  Birge,  125. 
Egypt,  ancient  literature  of,  referred  to,  31. 
Embossed  letters,  objections  to,  422. 
Embossed  type,  423. 
Enoch  Pratt  Free  Library,  beginning  of,  referred  to,  38;  work 

with  allied  agencies,  324. 
Extension,  library.    See  Library  extension. 
Extra  readers'  cards,  77. 

Factory  stations,  paper  by  Aniela  Poray,  351. 

Fairchild,  Mrs    Salome  Cutler,  mentioned,  435. 

Fee,  payment  deterrent  to  popularity  of  libraries,  34. 

Fiction,  percentage  in  circulation,  225. 

Fines,  library,  alternatives  for,  534,  collection  of,  537,  in  Bos- 
ton Athenaeum,  543,  in  Brooklyn  Library,  544,  in  Cleveland 
Public  Library,  541,  in  Detroit  Public  Library,  537,  m  New 
York  Apprentices'  Library,  540,  in  Newark,  NJ  Free  Li- 
brary, 538,  in  St.  Joseph  Free  Library,  546,  in  Windsor,  Vt. 
Library  Association,  542;  delinquents,  and  losses,  paper  by 
Willis  Kimball  Stetson,  527;  maximum  charged,  532;  period 
for,  532;  questionnaire  on,  529;  relation  of  book  theft  to,  203, 
558;  report  on,  529;  statistics,  529,  537- 

Fisk  Free  Library,  open  shelves,  165. 

Folsom,  Dr  Charles  F.,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  583 

Foreign  books,  in  deposit  stations,  355. 

Foreign  born,  co-operation  of  with  public  libraries,  497 ;  influence 
of  library  on,  495 ;  work  with  of  Boston  Public  Library,  507, 
Buffalo  Public  Library,  507,  Chicago  Public  Library,  505, 
Cleveland  Public  Library,  505;  Detroit  Public  Library,  506, 
Louisville  Public  Library,  506,  New  Y&t,  Public  Library, 
504,  Passaic,  NJ.  Public  Library,  508,  Providence  Public 
Library,  506,  St.  Louis  Public  Library,  505,  Springfield,  Mass. 
Public  Library,  566. 


INDEX  669 

Foreigners.    See  Foreign  born;  Immigrants. 

Formaldehyde,  use  of  in  fumigation,  599. 

Formalin  vapor,  sterilization  of  books  by,  597. 

Forrest,  Gertrude  E ,  article  by,  387. 

Foskett,  Edward,  quoted,  197 

Fowler,  Elwyn  H ,  quoted,  465 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  author  of  library  movement  in  America,  32. 

Free  access,  definition  of,  175;  see  also  Open  shelves 

Free  libraries,  and  readers,  paper  by  Dr.  Justin  Winsor,  95; 

as  gifts,  36,  development  of,  254,  history,  18;  paper  by  Jo- 

siah  Quincy  Phillips,  17. 

Free  Library  of  Philadelphia,  fosters  work  with  blind,  431. 
Free  public  libraries,  stages  in  progress  of,  100 
Free  public  library,  essentially  a  New  England  institution,  36; 

future  of,  655;  movement,  origin  of,  37. 
Freedom  in  libraries,  paper  by  William  Howard  Brett,  170 
Freeman,  Manila  Waitc,  paper  by,  643. 
Friedlander  system,  referred  to,  422 
Friends'   Free  Library,   Germantown,   Pa ,   open   shelves,    165 ; 

success  of,  22. 
Froebel,  mentioned,  287. 
Fumigation  of  books,  591,  598,  601 ;  bibliography,  594;  medical 

opinions  on,  592 ,  statistics,  591 ,  see  also  Contagious  diseases. 
Future  of  the  free  public  library,  paper  by  Dr  Lewis  H.  Steiner, 

655 

Gail  Borden  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  165. 

Gaillard,  Edwin  W.f  report  by,  547,  551. 

Gall,  James,  referred  to,  422 

Garvey,  Marcus,  referred  to,  379 

General  Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen  (Apprentices'  Li- 
brary), New  York  City,  open  shelves,  166. 

Germantown,  Pa.  Free  Library,  extract  from  report,  ax. 

Ghetto,  Brooklyn,  library  m  the,  477 

Gillis,  Mabel,  paper  by,  455. 

Girard,  Father,  mentioned,  287. 

Girls,  percentage  of  among  factory  readers,  356. 

Grand  Rapids,  'i  Public  Library,  work  with  allied  agencies, 
335- 

Grand  Rapids,  Mich  Public  School  Library,  open  shelves,  166. 

Green,  Dr.  Samuel  A.,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  582. 


670  INDEX 

Green,  Samuel  S.,  report  by,  395. 
Guarantor,  moral  effect  of  signature,  53. 
Guaranty.    See  Surely. 
Guaranty  card,  wording  on,  74. 

Hamilton,  Ontario  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  166. 

Harlem,  library  work  in,  517. 

Harris,  Dr   Ehsha,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  583 

Harris,  Prof.  William  T.,  mentioned,  80. 

Harris  classification  system,  mentioned,  80 

Hartford,  Conn    Public  Library,  bulletins,  616;   open  shelves, 

166. 
Hauy,  Valentin,  inventor  of  embossed  type,  referred  to,  427, 

pioneer  of  printers  for  blind,  421. 
Hazeltine,  Mary  E.,  paper  by,  623. 
Henneberry,  Kate  M.,  paper  by,  607. 
Henry  Street  settlement,  anniversary  of,  mentioned,  489. 
Hewins,  Caroline  M.,  report  on  bulletins  by,  616. 
Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth,  report  by,  152. 
Hodges,  Nathaniel  D  C,  biographical  sketch,  439;  quoted,  213; 

report  by,  439. 
Home  delivery  of  books,  cost,  388;  experimental  stage,  392: 

methods  described,  389;  review  of  history,  312;  report  on, 

264,  by  A.LA.  Committee  on  library  administration,  383;  in 

Milton,  Mass.,  384;  in  Springfield,  Mass,  383;  in  Somer- 

ville,  Mass.,  384. 
Home  libraries,  described,  311 
Home  Teaching  Society  for  the  Blind,  London,  organization, 

429. 

Home  Teaching  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  history,  431. 
House  to  house  delivery  of  books,  article  by  Gertrude  E.  Forrest, 

387;  see  also  Home  delivery  of  books 
How  things  are  done  in  one  American  public  library,  paper  by 

Frederick  M.  Crunden,  73 
How  to  get  books  to  the  people,  314. 
How  we  reserve  books,  symposium,  109 
Howard  Memorial  Library,  open  shelves,  166;  referred  to,  39. 
Howe,  Dr.  S.  G.,  referred  to,  422. 
Humboldt,  mentioned,  287. 
Hume,  Miss,  quoted,  219. 


INDEX  671 

Hutchins,  Frank  Avery,  biographical  sketch,  299;  mentioned, 
373;  Paper  by,  299 

Immigrants  as  contributors  to  library  progress,  paper  by  Mrs. 
Adelaide  Bowles  Maltby,  485. 

Immigrants'  reading,  492. 

Immigration  Publication  Society  and  public  libraries,  504. 

Indicator  system,  71. 

Indianapolis,  Ind.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  166 

Information  desk,  use  of  m  St    Louis  Public  Library,  Si. 

Inter-library  loans,  expense,  398,  414;  use  and  misuse,  409,  410, 
412;  future  developments  of,  405;  in  reference  work,  report 
by  Samuel  S.  Green,  395 ;  liberality  in,  395 ;  libraries  extend- 
ing service,  395,  400;  Library  of  Congress  and,  410;  progress 
of,  399;  regulations  for  in  different  libraries,  403;  report  on, 
by  William  Warner  Bishop,  407. 

Inventories,  lack  of,  deplored,  234. 

Issue,  book,  counting  of,  86;  see  also  Statistics. 

Jails.    See  Prisons. 

Jersey  City,   NJ.   Free   Public  Library,   bulletins,   612;   open 

shelves,  167. 

Jewett,  Prof.  C.  C,  mentioned,  37. 
Johnson,  Dr.  H,  A ,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  583. 
Jones,  Gardner  Maynard,  biographical  sketch,  589;  paper  by, 

589;  report  on  bulletins,  611. 

Kansas  City,  Mo.,  parcel  post  service  in,  378. 

Kansas  City,  Mo.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  167. 

Kite,  William,  quoted,  21. 

Kreuzpointer,  Mrs.,  work  of  with  foreign  born,  referred  to,  508. 

Label,  book,  in  use  in  St.  Louis  Public  Library,  85. 
Larceny,  book.    See  Book  larceny  problem. 
Larned,  Joseph  Nelson,  address  by,  283. 
LaSalle,  Abbe,  mentioned,  286. 
Ledger  system  of  charging,  44,  64. 
Librarian,  blind,  experiences  of,  451, 

Librarian,  definition  of,  107;  responsibility  of  toward  public, 
659;  spirit  of  in  relation  to  publicity,  645. 


672  INDEX 

Libraries,  circulating,  and  contagious  disease,  581 ;  success  of, 

249 

Library,  aim  of,  discussed,  319. 

Library  books,  influence  of  presence  on  factory  workers,  356. 

Library  circulation  at  long  range,  article  by  Dr.  Arthur  E.  Bost- 
wick,  273. 

Library  experiment  in  prison  work,  report  by  Elizabeth  D.  Ren- 
ninger,  359. 

Library  extension,  paper  by  Dr.  Edward  A   Birge,  307 

Library  fines,  paper  by  Nina  Elizabeth  Browne,  529,  see  also 
Fines,  library. 

Library  funds,  objects  of,  224. 

Library  laws,  adoption  of,  35. 

Library  of  Congress,  and  inter-library  loans,  410;  reading  room 
for  the  blind,  434;  referred  to,  39. 

Library  progress,  immigrants  as  contributors  to,  485 

Library  science,  definition,  289 

Library  work  in  the  Brooklyn  ghetto,  paper  by  Leon  M.  Sobs- 
Cohen,  477. 

Libri  incident,  related,  553. 

Linderfelt,  Klas  August,  biographical  sketch,  43;  paper  by,  43- 

Lists,  historical  fiction,  of  Boston  Public  Library,  referred  to, 
105;  use  of  book  lists  m  publicity,  609;  new  book  lists  m 
newspapers,  627;  printed,  publicity  of,  607;  timely,  impor- 
tance of,  629;  usefulness  in  publicity,  649 

Literature,  quality  of,  in  libraries,  295 

Liverpool,  Eng.  Free  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  167 

Loan  systems     See  Charging  systems. 

Loans,  inter-library.    See  Inter-library  loans. 

Long  distance  circulation,  report  on,  273 

Lord,  Isabel  Ely,  paper  by,  191 

Los  Angeles,  Cal   Free  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  167 

Loss  of  books,  open  shelves,  184,  191 ;  percentage  of  open  shelf, 
compared  with  volumes,  212. 

Losses,  accuracy  of  figures  for,  214;  by  theft  from  open  shelves, 
192,  200;  comparative,  208;  classes  of  books,  210;  causes  of 
danger  in,  204;  open  and  closed  shelves,  compared,  204;  pre- 
cautions for  prevention  of,  216. 

Louisville  Public  Library,  work  with  foreign  born,  506 
Lowther,  Sir  Charles,  embossing  referred  to,  428. 
Luther,  pleader  for  education,  285. 


INDEX  673 

Lyceum  lectures,  influence  of  on  libraries,  34. 
Lyman,  Dr.  Henry  M,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  585, 
Lynn,  Mass    Free  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  167 

Maltby,  Mrs.  Adelaide  Bowles,  paper  by,  485. 
Mann,  Horace,  mentioned,  287 

Manufacturing  interests,  influence  of  on  libraries,  36. 
Massachusetts,  preeminence  of  in  libraries,  35. 
Massachusetts  Library  Commission,  establishment  of,  39. 
Medical  experts,  opinion  of  on  contagious  disease  and  circulat- 
ing libraries,  582 

Mercantile  Library  of  Philadelphia,  bulletins,  618 
Mercier,  Charles,  mentioned,  555. 
Milton,  Mass.,  home  delivery  of  books  m,  384. 
Milwaukee,  Wis.  Public  Library,  contagious  disease,  experience 

with,  590;  open  shelves,  168. 
Minneapolis  Public  Library,  contagious  disease,  experience  with, 

590;  opening  of,  244 
Mission  and  missionaries  of  the  book,  address  by  Joseph  Nelson 

Larned,  283 

Missionary  spirit,  in  library,  definition,  284 
Monastic  libraries,  referred  to,  32. 
Moon,  Dr.  Robert  C.,  report  by,  427. 
Moon,  Dr.  William,  blindness  of,  referred  to,  429. 
Moon  type,  history  of,  428;  referred  to,  422;  see  also  Embossed 

type 

Mulot,  Mile.,  stylographic  guide,  devised  by,  423. 
Mutilation  of  books,  statistics,  231 ;  unsatisfactory  statistics,  199. 

Negroes,  advancement  of,  522;  race  consciousness  of,  referred 
to,  523;  readers  m  libraries,  523;  see  also  Colored  people. 

Neisser,  Emma  R ,  quoted,  449 ;  report  by,  465 

New  Brunswick,  NJ   Free  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  168, 

New  novel  problem  and  its  solution,  article  by  Frederick  M. 
Crunden,  117. 

New  York  Apprentices'  Library,  contagious  disease,  experience 
with,  590;  collection  of  fines,  540. 

New  York  City  Y.M.CA.  Library,  open  shelves,  168. 

New  York  Free  Circulating  Library,  contagious  disease,  ex- 
perience with,  590;  delinquents  in,  528, 

New  York  Mercantile  Library,  reserves,  109. 


674  INDEX 

New  York  point.    See  Embossed  type. 

New  York  Public  Library,  work  with  allied  agencies,  337;  work 

with  foreign  born,  504. 
Newark  charging  system,  81. 
Newark,  NJ.  Free  Public  Library,  collection  of  fines  in,  538; 

open  shelves,   168;   reading  from  typical,   146^;  work  with 

allied  agencies,  339. 

Newspapers  as  publicity  agents  of  libraries,  624,  636 
Novel  problem,  new,  solution  of,  117. 
Novel-readers,  who  constitute  them,  100. 
Novel  reading,  effects  of,  21. 

Oakland,  Cal.  Free  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  169. 

Open  access     See  Open  shelves. 

Open  shelf  movement,  history  of,  191. 

Open  shelves,  advantages  and  disadvantages,  159,  160,  176,  192, 
223,  239,  241;  and  thefts,  228,  565;  branch  libraries  suited 
to,  243;  increased  cost  of  administration,  196;  influence  of, 
not  exerted  by  catalogs,  241,  on  circulation,  247 ,  loss  of  books 
from,  184,  paper  by  Isabel  Ely  Lord,  191 ;  paper  by  Erastus 
Swift  Willcox,  221;  popularity  of,  182;  reports  on,  157,  161, 

183. 

Otis  Library,  Norwich,  Conn,  open  shelves,  169 
Overdentention,  excuses  for,  533. 
Overdues     See  Delinquents 

Paradies,  Mile,  referred  to,  421. 

Parcel  post  library  system,  article  on,  373. 

Parcel  post  service,  Chicago  Public  Library,  377,  Kansas  City, 

Mo.  Public  Library,  378;  Queens  Borough  Public  Library, 

376;  in  St.  Louis,  376. 
Parma  incident,  referred  to,  554. 

Passaic,  NJ.  Public  Library,  work  with  foreign  born,   508. 
Pennsylvania  Home  Teaching  Society,  history,  431. 
People,  how  to  get  books  to,  308. 
People's  university,  public  library  as,  657. 
Peoples,  William  T.,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  586. 
Pepper,  William,  bequest  of,  referred  to,  39. 
Periodical  library  bulletins,  report  on,  611 ;  see  also  Bulletins. 
Perkins  Institute  for  Blind,  library  of,  436. 
Personal  contact,  delivery  station,  possibility  of,  276. 


INDEX  675 

Peslalozzi,  mentioned,  287. 

Philadelphia  City  Institute,  open  shelves,  169. 

Philadelphia  Free  Library,  open  shelves,  170;  work  with  allied 

agencies,  342. 

Philadelphia  Library  Company,  success  of,  33. 
Philadelphia  Mercantile  Library,  open  shelves,  169. 
Plummer,  Mary  Wright,  paper  by,  61 
Police  officer,  librarian  as,  576 

Poole,  Dr    William  R,  referred  to,  38,  report  by,  581. 
Poray,  Aniela,  paper  by,  351. 
Post,  parcel.    See  Parcel  post  service. 
Posters,  use  of  in  publicity,  632 

Princeton  College  Library,  Princeton,  NJ,  open  shelves,  170. 
Print-using  habit,  diagram,  148 

Printed  lists  of  books,  paper  by  Kate  M.  Henneberry,  607. 
Prison  libraries,  administration  of,  365 
Prisoners,  influence  of  books  on,  363 
Prisons,  libraries  in,  359,  361. 
Providence,  R.I.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  170.  work  with 

allied  agencies,  345,  work  with  foreign  born,  506. 
Ptolemy  I,  library  of,  referred  to,  32. 
Public  Libraries,  antiquity  of,  31 ;  books  for  blind  m,  statistics, 

434,  contagious  disease  and,  589;  influence  of,  255 
Public  library  and  allied  agencies,  symposium  on,  323 ;  future  of, 

paper  by  Dr  Lewis  H  Sterner,  655;  ideal  of  future,  660;  non- 
partisan  institution,  662. 

Public  library  movement,  paper  by  William  Isaac  Fletcher,  31. 
Publicity,  607,  623,  635,  643;  agencies  for  library,  637;  efficacy 

of,  638 ;  importance  of  judicious,  635 ;  personal  work  m,  633 ; 

preparation  of  articles  for  newspaper,  626;  responsibility  for 

articles  on,  625 

Purpose  of  library,  discussed,  319. 
Putnam,  Dr  Herbert,  paper  by,  239. 

Queens  Borough  Public  Library,  parcel  post  service,  376,  theft 

in  mentioned,  219. 

Questionnaire  on  branches  and  deliveries,  250. 
Quincy,  Josiah  Phillips,  paper  by,  17. 

Rameses  I,  referred  to,  31. 
Ranck,  Samuel  H.f  article  by,  157. 


676  INDEX 

Raumer,  historian,  quoted,  285. 

Readers'  cards  in  St.  Louis  Public  Library,  77. 

Readers,  classes  of,  benefitted  by  open  shelves,  241. 

Readers,  negro.    See  Negroes. 

Reading  rooms,  branch,  referred  to,  268,  in  delivery  stations, 

258. 

Redwood  Library,  Newport,  R I ,  referred  to,  34, 

Reference  work,  inter-library  loans  in,  395 

Registration  of  borrowers,  frequency  of,  basis  for  comparison, 
60;  in  St.  Louis  Public  Library,  74;  indexing  of,  53;  long 
continued,  condemned,  57;  paper  by  Henry  J.  Carr,  51;  see 
also  Charging  systems. 

Registration  period,  use  of,  55. 

Reid,  Marguerite,  quoted,  510. 

Relation  of  the  library  to  the  outside  world;  the  library  and 
publicity,  paper  by  Marilla  Waite  Freeman,  643. 

Relations  of  the  greater  libraries  to  the  lesser,  report  by  Charles 
James  Barr,  399. 

Renewals,  book,  how  treated,  90. 

Renninger,  Elizabeth  D,  report  by,  359 

Rent  collections.  See  Collection  of  duplicates;  Duplicate  collec- 
tion 

Report  on  charging  systems,  paper  by  Mary  W.  Plumraer,  61. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  library  work  with  the  blind,  by 
Emma  R  Neisser,  465 ;  by  Nathaniel  D  C  Hodges,  439 

Report  on  access  to  shelves,  article  by  Dr.  Bernard  C.  Stciner, 
and  Samuel  H.  Ranck,  157 

Report  on  open  shelves,  report  by  John  Thomson,  183. 

Re-registration  of  borrowers,  55. 

Reservation  of  books,  109 

Reserves,  use  of  in  libraries,  109. 

Responsibility  for  damages,  84. 

Reviews,  book,  in  newspapers,  628. 

Rhoads,  John  P,  teacher  of  blind,  referred  to,  431. 

"Richard  Carvel,"  popularity  of,  121 
Rochester,  NY.  Central  Library,  open  shelves,  170 
Rose,  Ernestine,  biographical  sketch,  517;  paper  by,  517. 
Rue  Notre  Dame  de  Victoires,  pioneer  institution  for  blind,  re- 
ferred to,  427 
Rush,  Dr  James,  munificence  of,  33 


INDEX  677 

St.  Joseph,  Free  Library,  collection  of  fines  in,  546 

St.  Louis  plan,  117. 

St  Louis  Public  Library,  beginnings  of,  referred  to,  38;  open 

shelves,    171;   parcel   post   service,   376;   work   with   allied 

agencies,  347;  work  with  foreigners,  505 
Salem,  Mass.  Public  Library,  bulletins,  6n ;  open  shelves,  171. 
Sargon  I,  reference  to,  31. 
School  libraries  as  distributing  agencies,  309 
Scranton,  Pa.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  171 
Second-hand  book  dealers,  lost  books  and,  213. 
Serving  New  York's  black  city,  paper  by  Ernestine  Rose,  517, 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  quoted,  154. 

Slip-system  of  charging,  44;  advantages  and  disadvantages,  65. 
Snow,  Dr   Erwm  M.(  opinion  of  on  contagion,  583. 
Sohs-Cohen,  M.,  biographical  sketch,  477;  paper  by,  477. 
Some  of  the  people  we  work  for,  address  by  John  Foster  Carr, 

503. 

Some  other  book,  paper  by  William  Howard  Brett,  103 
Some  unusual  experiences  in  the  work  of  a  blind  librarian,  re- 
port by  Beryl  H  Clarke,  451 
Sornerville,  Mass,  home  delivery  of  books  in,  384. 
Spofford,  A.  R.,  referred  to,  39 
Spread  of  contagious  disease  by  circulating  libraries,  report  by 

Dr    William  F.  Poole,  581. 
Springfield,  111   Public  Library,  open  shelves,  172. 
Springfield,  Mass.,  home  delivery  of  books  in,  383. 
Springfield,  0.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  172 
Stack  system,  unsuited  to  free  access,  159. 
Staff,  mixed,  at  colored  branch;  success  of  in  New  York,  521, 
Stations,  delivery.    See  Delivery  stations. 
Stations,  factory,  351. 

Statistics,  circulation,  how  reported,  89;  see  also  Issue. 
Slearns,  Lutie  E,  paper  by,  635 
Sterner,  Dr.  Bernard  C,  article  by,  157;  biographical  sketch,  157; 

quoted,  439 

Sterner,  Dr.  Lewis  H.,  biographical  sketch,  655;  paper  by,  655. 
Sterilization  of  books  by  formalin  vapor,  paper  by  Dr.  Andrew 

F.  Currier,  597 ;  see  also  Contagious  diseases ;  Fumigation  of 

books. 

Stetson,  Willis  Kimball,  biographical  sketch,  527;  paper  by,  527. 
Stockton,  Cal  Free  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  172. 


678  INDEX 

Stylographic  guide,  for  blind,  referred  to,  423. 
Substitution  of  titles  called  for,  104. 
Surety,  use  of,  as  preliminary  to  book  taking,  52. 
Syracuse,  N.Y.  Central  Library,  open  shelves,  173. 

Talks,  personal  by  librarian,  publicity  through,  651. 

Taunton,  Mass  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  173. 

Teachers  and  library  fines,  533 

Teachers'  cards  in  St.  Louis  Public  Library,  77. 

Telephone,  use  of,  agent  of  publicity,  650;  to  be  encouraged, 

651. 
Theft,  caused  by  non-payment  of  fines,  203;  detection  of,  219; 

open  shelf,  200,  201,  227,  228;  see  also  Book  theft. 
Thieves,  book     See  Book  thieves. 
Thomson,  John,  biographical  sketch,  183;  paper  by,  183 
Ticknor,  George,  mentioned,  37. 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  referred  to,  38. 
Toledo,  0.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  173. 
Tooker,  Dr.  Robert  N,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  584 
Transportation,  library,  to  delivery  stations,  267. 
Traveling  libraries,  development  of,  300,  301;  paper  by  Frank 

Avery  Hutchins,  299;  statistics  on,  304. 
Traveling  library,  pioneer,  299. 
"Trilby,"  popularity  of,  120 
Two-book  privilege,  history  of,  126. 
Two-book  system  of  circulation,  method,  141;  possibilities  of, 

138;  process  described,  125 
Two-card  system,  advantages  and  disadvantages,  59- 

Uniform  type  committee,  recommendations,  468. 
Usefulness  of  libraries,  test,  236. 
Utley,  Henry  Munson,  paper  by,  421. 

Victoria,  Queen,  contribution  to  Chicago  Public  Library,  refer- 
ence to,  38. 

Victoria  Public  Library,  Melbourne,  Victoria,  Australia,  open 
shelves,  173. 

Visits,  home,  successful  in  advertising  library,  522. 

Waterbury,  Conn.,  delinquent  borrowers  in,  528. 
Wellman,  Killer  Crowell,  biographical  sketch,  263;   paper  by, 
263 ;  quoted,  388. 


INDEX  679 

What  the  American  people  are  reading,  discussion  by  John  Cot- 
ton Dana,  145. 

What  the  foreigner  has  done  for  one  library,  495. 

White,  Dr  C.  B.,  opinion  of  on  contagion,  584. 

Willcox,  Erastus  Swift,  biographical  sketch,  221 ;  paper  by,  221. 

Winsor,  Dr.  Justin,  biographical  sketch,  95;  mentioned,  37; 
opinion  on  contagion,  586;  paper  by,  95. 

Windsor,  Vt.  Library  Association,  collection  of  fines  in,  542. 

Wisconsin  Library  Commission,  work  of,  with  parcel  post,  373. 

Woburn,  Mass.  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  174. 

Worcester,  Mass.,  delinquent  borrowers  in,  528. 

Worcester,  Mass.  Free  Public  Library,  open  shelves,  174. 

Work  with  colored  people,  517. 

World's  Fair,  St.  Louis,  1904,  exhibit  of  embossed  books  in,  433.