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Title: A Library Primer

Author: John Cotton Dana

Release Date: March 11, 2005 [EBook #15327]

Language: English

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A Library Primer

John Cotton Dana

Third Edition

Library Bureau, Chicago
1903




Copyright, 1899, by Library Bureau




To Samuel S. Green, William I. Fletcher, and Charles A. Cutter




PREFACE.

A library primer was published in the first six numbers of Public
Libraries in 1896. It was quite largely made up of extracts from an
article by Dr W.F. Poole on The organization and management of public
libraries, which formed part of the report on Public libraries in the
U.S., published by the U.S. Bureau of education in 1876; from W.I.
Fletcher's Public libraries in America; from Mary W. Plummer's Hints
to small libraries; and from papers in the Library journal and A.L.A.
proceedings.

At the request of a number of people interested I have revised,
rewritten, and extended the original draft for publication in book
form. Additional material has been taken from many sources. I have
tried to give credit in good measure. The prevailing tendency among
librarians is to share ideas, to give to one another the benefit of
all their suggestions and experiences. The result is a large fund of
library knowledge which is common property. From this fund most of
this book is taken.

The Library Primer is what its name implies. It does not try to be
exhaustive in any part of the field. It tries to open up the subject
of library management for the small library, and to show how large it
is and how much librarians have yet to learn and to do.

The City library,                                        J.C.D.
Springfield, Mass.




CONTENTS

CHAPTER                                                PAGE

      I, The beginnings--Library law                      9

     II, Preliminary work                                10

    III, What does a public library do for a community?  12

     IV, General policy of the library                   15

      V, Trustees                                        17

     VI, The librarian                                   20

    VII, The trained librarian                           23

   VIII, Rooms, building, fixtures, furniture            25

     IX, Things needed in beginning work                 30

      X, The Library Bureau                              35

     XI, Selecting books                                 39

    XII, Reference books for a small library             46

   XIII, Reference work                                  53

    XIV, Reading room                                    57

     XV, List of periodicals                             61

    XVI, Buying books                                    63

   XVII, Ink and handwriting                             69

  XVIII, Care of books                                   73

    XIX, Accessioning                                    76

     XX, Classifying                                     78

    XXI, Decimal classification                          81

   XXII, Expansive classification                        84

  XXIII, Author numbers or book marks                    91

   XXIV, Shelf list                                      92

    XXV, Cataloging                                      94

   XXVI, Preparing books for the shelf                   99

  XXVII, Binding and mending                            103

 XXVIII, Pamphlets                                      108

   XXIX, Public documents                               110

    XXX, Checking the library                           113

   XXXI, Lists, bulletins, and printed catalogs         114

  XXXII, Charging systems                               116

 XXXIII, Meeting the public                             122

  XXXIV, The public library for the public              123

   XXXV, Advice to a librarian                          126

  XXXVI, The librarian as a host                        128

 XXXVII, Making friends for the library                 131

XXXVIII, Public libraries and recreation                133

  XXXIX, Books as useful tools                          134

     XL, Village library successfully managed           135

    XLI, Rules for the public                           137

   XLII, Rules for trustees and employés                140

  XLIII, Reports                                        146

   XLIV, Library legislation                            147

    XLV, A.L.A. and other library associations          152

   XLVI, Library schools and classes                    154

  XLVII, Library department of N.E.A.                   156

 XLVIII, Young people and the schools                   157

   XLIX, How can the library assist the school?         160

      L, Children's room                                163

     LI, Schoolroom libraries                           164

    LII, Children's home libraries                      166

   LIII, Literary clubs and libraries                   168

    LIV, Museums, lectures, etc.                        170

    LV, Rules for the care of photographs               171




Library Primer


CHAPTER I

The beginnings--Library law


If the establishment of a free public library in your town is under
consideration, the first question is probably this: Is there a statute
which authorizes a tax for the support of a public library? Your state
library commission, if you have one, will tell you if your state
gives aid to local public libraries. It will also tell you about your
library law. If you have no library commission, consult a lawyer and
get from him a careful statement of what can be done under present
statutory regulations. If your state has no library law, or none which
seems appropriate in your community, it may be necessary to suspend
all work, save the fostering of a sentiment favorable to a library,
until a good law is secured.

In chapters 44 and 45 will be found a list of state library
commissions, important provisions in library laws, and the names of
the states having the best library laws at present.

Before taking any definite steps, learn about the beginnings of other
libraries by writing to people who have had experience, and especially
to libraries in communities similar in size and character to your own.
Write to some of the new libraries in other towns and villages of
your state, and learn how they began. Visit several such libraries, if
possible, the smaller the better if you are starting on a small scale.




CHAPTER II

Preliminary work


Often it is not well to lay great plans and invoke state aid at the
very outset. Make a beginning, even though it be small, is a good
general rule. This beginning, however petty it seems, will give a
center for further effort, and will furnish practical illustrations
for the arguments one may wish to use in trying to interest people in
the movement.

Each community has different needs, and begins its library under
different conditions. Consider then, whether you need most a library
devoted chiefly to the work of helping the schools, or one to be used
mainly for reference, or one that shall run largely to periodicals and
be not much more than a reading room, or one particularly attractive
to girls and women, or one that shall not be much more than a cheerful
resting-place, attractive enough to draw man and boy from street
corner and saloon. Decide this question early, that all effort may be
concentrated to one end, and that your young institution may suit the
community in which it is to grow, and from which it is to gain its
strength.

Having decided to have a library, keep the movement well before
the public. The necessity of the library, its great value to the
community, should be urged by the local press, from the platform, and
in personal talk. Include in your canvass all citizens, irrespective
of creed, business, or politics; whether educated or illiterate.
Enlist the support of teachers, and through them interest children and
parents. Literary, art, social, and scientific societies, Chautauqua
circles, local clubs of all kinds should be champions of the movement.

In getting notices of the library's work in the newspapers, or in
securing mention of it from the lecture platform, or in clubs, and
literary, artistic, and musical societies, it is better to refrain
from figures and to deal chiefly in general statements about what the
library aims to do and what it has done.




CHAPTER III

What does a public library do for a community?


And what good does a public library do? What is it for?

1) It supplies the public with recreative reading. To the masses of
the people--hard-worked and living humdrum lives--the novel comes
as an open door to an ideal life, in the enjoyment of which one may
forget, for a time, the hardships or the tedium of the real. One of
the best functions of the public library is to raise this recreative
reading of the community to higher and higher levels; to replace trash
with literature of a better order.

2) A proper and worthy aim of the public library is the supplying of
books on every profession, art, or handicraft, that workers in every
department who care to study may perfect themselves in their work.

3) The public library helps in social and political education--in the
training of citizens. It is, of course, well supplied with books and
periodicals which give the thought of the best writers on the economic
and social questions now under earnest discussion.

4) The highest and best influence of the library may be summed up
in the single word, culture. No other word so well describes the
influence of the diffusion of good reading among the people in giving
tone and character to their intellectual life.

5) The free reading room connected with most of our public libraries,
and the library proper as well, if it be rightly conducted, is a
powerful agent for counteracting the attractions of saloons and low
resorts. Especially useful is it to those boys and young men who have
a dormant fondness for reading and culture, but lack home and school
opportunities.

6) The library is the ever-ready helper of the school-teacher. It aids
the work of reading circles and other home-culture organizations, by
furnishing books required and giving hints as to their value and use;
it adds to the usefulness of courses of lectures by furnishing
lists of books on the subjects to be treated; it allies itself with
university extension work; in fact, the extension lecture given in
connection with the free use of a good library seems to be the ideal
university of the people.

The public library, then, is a means for elevating and refining the
taste, for giving greater efficiency to every worker, for diffusing
sound principles of social and political action, and for furnishing
intellectual culture to all.

The library of the immediate future for the American people is
unquestionably the free public library, brought under municipal
ownership, and, to some extent, municipal control, and treated as part
of the educational system of the state. The sense of ownership in it
makes the average man accept and use the opportunities of the free
public library while he will turn aside from book privileges in any
other guise.

That the public library is a part of the educational system should
never be lost sight of in the work of establishing it, or in its
management. To the great mass of the people it comes as their first
and only educational opportunity. The largest part of every man's
education is that which he gives himself. It is for this individual,
self-administered education that the public library furnishes the
opportunity and the means. The schools start education in childhood;
libraries carry it on.




CHAPTER IV

Suggestions as to general policy of the library


In general, remember always 1) that the public owns its public
library, and 2) that no useless lumber is more useless than unused
books. People will use a library, not because, in others' opinions,
they ought to, but because they like to. See to it, then, that the new
library is such as its owner, the public, likes; and the only test of
this liking is use. Open wide the doors. Let regulations be few and
never obtrusive. Trust American genius for self-control. Remember the
deference for the rights of others with which you and your fellows
conduct yourselves in your own homes, at public tables, at general
gatherings. Give the people at least such liberty with their own
collection of books as the bookseller gives them with his. Let the
shelves be open, and the public admitted to them, and let the open
shelves strike the keynote of the whole administration. The whole
library should be permeated with a cheerful and accommodating
atmosphere. Lay this down as the first rule of library management; and
for the second, let it be said that librarian and assistants are to
treat boy and girl, man and woman, ignorant and learned, courteous and
rude, with uniform good-temper without condescension; never pertly.

Finally, bear in mind these two doctrines, tempering the one with the
other: 1) that the public library is a great educational and moral
power, to be wielded with a full sense of its great responsibilities,
and of the corresponding danger of their neglect or perversion; 2)
that the public library is not a business office, though it should be
most business-like in every detail of its management; but is a center
of public happiness first, of public education next.




CHAPTER V

Trustees

[Condensed from paper by C.C. Soule]


1) _Size of the board_.--The library board should be small, in
small towns not over three members. In cities a larger board has
two advantages: it can include men exceptionally learned in library
science, and it can represent more thoroughly different sections of
the town and different elements in the population.

2) _Term of office_.--The board should be divided into several groups,
one group going out of office each year. It would be wise if no
library trustee could hold office for more than three successive terms
of three years each. A library can, under this plan, keep in close
touch with popular needs and new ideas.

3) _Qualifications_.--The ideal qualifications for a trustee of a
public library--a fair education and love of books being taken for
granted--are: sound character, good judgment, common sense, public
spirit, capacity for work, literary taste, representative fitness.
Don't assume that because a man has been prominent in political
business or social circles he will make a good trustee. Capacity
and willingness to work are more useful than a taste for literature
without practical qualities. General culture and wide reading are
generally more serviceable to the public library than the knowledge of
the specialist or scholar. See that different sections of the town's
interests are represented. Let neither politics nor religion enter
into the choice of trustees.

4) _Duties_.--The trustee of the public library is elected to preserve
and extend the benefits of the library as the people's university. He
can learn library science only by intelligent observation and study.
He should not hold his position unless he takes a lively interest in
the library, attends trustees' meetings, reads the library journals,
visits other libraries than his own, and keeps close watch of the
tastes and requirements of his constituency. His duties include the
care of funds, supervision of expenditures, determination of the
library's policy, general direction of choice and purchase of books,
selection of librarian and assistants, close watch of work done, and
comparison of the same with results reached in other libraries.

A large board ordinarily transacts business through its chairman,
secretary, treasurer, and one or more committees. It is doubtful if
the librarian should act as secretary of the board. The treasurer, if
he holds the funds in his hands, should always be put under bonds.
It is well to have as many committees as can be actively employed in
order to enlist the coöperation of all the trustees.

The executive committee should take charge of the daily work of the
library, of purchases, and of the care of the building; they should
carry their duties as far as possible without assuming too much of the
responsibility which properly belongs to the full board. It will be
best to entrust the choice of books to a book committee appointed
for that purpose purely. The finance committee should make and watch
investments and see that purchases are made on most favorable terms.

5) _Relations with the librarian_.--The trustees are the responsible
managers of the library; the librarian is their agent, appointed
to carry out their wishes. If they have, however, a first-class
librarian, the trustees ought to leave the management of the library
practically to him, simply supplementing his ability without impeding
it. They should leave to a librarian of good executive ability the
selection, management, and dismissal of all assistants, the methods
and details of library work, and the initiative in the choice of
books. A wise librarian the trustees may very properly take into their
confidence, and invite his presence at all meetings, where his advice
would be of service.

6) _Other employés_.--Efficiency of employés can best be obtained
through application of the cardinal principles of an enlightened
civil service, viz., absolute exclusion of all political and personal
influence, appointment for definitely ascertained fitness, promotion
for merit, and retention during good behavior.




CHAPTER VI

The librarian


If circumstances permit, the librarian should be engaged even before
the general character of the library and plan of administration have
been determined upon. If properly selected, he or she will be a person
of experience in these matters, and will be able to give valuable
advice. Politics, social considerations, church sympathies, religious
prejudices, family relationship--none of these should be allowed to
enter into his selection. Secure an efficient officer, even at what
may seem at first a disproportionate expense. Save money in other
ways, but never by employing a forceless man or woman in the position
of chief librarian.

Recent developments of schools of library economy, and recent rapid
growth of public libraries throughout the country, have made it
possible for any new library to secure good material for a librarian.
If lack of funds or other conditions make it necessary to employ some
local applicant, it will be wise to insist that that person, if not
already conversant with library economy, shall immediately become
informed on the subject. It will not be easy, it may not be possible,
for trustees to inform themselves as to library organization and
administration. They can, however, with very little difficulty, so
far inform themselves as to be able to judge whether the person they
select for their chief officer is taking pains to acquaint himself
with the literature of the subject, or trying to get in touch with
the knowledge and experience of others. They should not submit for
a moment to ignorance or indifference on the part of their chosen
administrator. Success or failure of a library, as of a business,
depends on the ability of the man or woman at its head, and only
trained men and women should be in charge. The business of the
librarian is a profession, and a practical knowledge of the subject is
never so much needed as in starting a new enterprise.

The librarian should have culture, scholarship, and executive ability.
He should keep always in advance of his community, and constantly
educate it to make greater demands upon him. He should be a leader and
a teacher, earnest, enthusiastic, and intelligent. He should be able
to win the confidence of children, and wise to lead them by easy steps
from good books to the best. He has the greatest opportunity of any
teacher in the community. He should be the teacher of teachers. He
should make the library a school for the young, a college for adults,
and the constant center of such educational activity as will make
wholesome and inspiring themes the burden of the common thought. He
should be enough of a bookworm to have a decided taste and fondness
for books, and at the same time not enough to be such a recluse as
loses sight of the point of view of those who know little of books.

As the responsible head of the institution, he should be consulted in
all matters relating to its management. The most satisfactory results
are obtained in those libraries where the chief librarian is permitted
to appoint assistants, select books, buy supplies, make regulations,
and decide methods of cataloging, classifying, and lending; all
subject to the approval of the trustees. Trustees should impose
responsibility, grant freedom, and exact results.

To the librarian himself one may say: Be punctual; be attentive; help
develop enthusiasm in your assistants; be neat and consistent in your
dress; be dignified but courteous in your manner. Be careful in your
contracts; be square with your board; be concise and technical;
be accurate; be courageous and self-reliant; be careful about
acknowledgments; be not worshipful of your work; be careful of your
health. Last of all, be yourself.




CHAPTER VII

The trained librarian in a small library

Julia A. Hopkins, of the Rochester (N.Y.) Public library, in Public
Libraries, December, 1897


The value of training for the man or woman who shall take charge of a
large city library is now so firmly established that no one thinks
of discussing the question. If it is true that technical training is
essential for the headship of a large library, why is it not equally
necessary for that of a small library? Trained service is always of
greater value than untrained service, be the sphere great or small. If
a woman argued from the standpoint that, because the house she was to
take charge of had only seven rooms instead of twenty she needed to
know nothing of cooking, sweeping, and the other details of household
work, I am afraid that her house and her family would suffer for her
ignorance. So in many departments of library work the accident of size
makes little or no difference; the work is precisely the same. The
difference lies in the fact that the head of a large library oversees
and directs the work done by others, where the village librarian
must, in many cases, do all of the work himself. In the distinctly
professional duties, such as the ordering, classifying, and cataloging
of books, there is a difference only in amount between the greater and
the less. And it is precisely these professional duties of which the
person untrained in library work is in most cases wofully ignorant.

It is inevitable that in starting a library there should be some
mistakes made; but with a trained librarian in charge, these mistakes
will be fewer in number. For example, what does the novice know of
classification? He realizes that the books, for convenience in use,
must be grouped in classes. If he has had the use of a good library
(as a college student would) he has some idea as to how the class
divisions are made, and knows also that there must be some sort of
notation for the classes. Necessity being the mother of invention, he
contrives some plan for bringing together books on the same subject.
But with the addition of books to the library and the demand which
growth makes, he finds that constant changes have to be made in order
to get books into their right places; and then some day he awakens to
the fact that there is some perfectly well-known and adopted system of
classification which will answer all his purposes, and be a great deal
more satisfactory in its adaptability to the needs of his library than
the one he has been struggling to evolve. Then he exclaims in despair:
If I had only known of that at the beginning! He feels that the hours
which he has spent in rearranging his books, taking them out of one
class and putting them into another, although hours of such hard work,
are in reality so many hours of wasted time. And he is right; for
every minute spent in unnecessary work is so much lost time. Not only
that, but it is unnecessary expense, and one of the most important
things which a small library has to consider is economy.

Is it not of value to the library that its librarian should know how
best to expend the money given him to use? that he should not have to
regret hours of time lost over useless experiments? Surely if training
teaches a librarian a wise expenditure of money and an economy of
time, then training must be valuable.




CHAPTER VIII

Rooms, building, fixtures, furniture


The trustees will be wise if they appoint their librarian before
they erect a building, or even select rooms, and leave these matters
largely to him. They should not be in haste to build. As a rule it
is better to start in temporary quarters, and let the building fund
accumulate while trustees and librarian gain experience, and the needs
of the library become more definite. Plans should be made with the
future enlargement of the building in view; libraries increase more
rapidly than is generally supposed.

Rooms of peculiar architecture are not required for the original
occupation and organization of a library. The essential requirements
are a central location, easy access, ample space, and sufficient
light. The library and the reading room should be, if possible, on the
same floor. Make the exterior attractive, and the entrance inviting.
In arranging the rooms, or building, plan from the first, as already
suggested, to permit visitors to go to the books themselves.

A collection of the printed matter on library architecture should be
carefully studied by both trustees and librarian before any plans are
made. While no specific plan can be recommended that would suit all
cases, there are a few general rules that meet with the approval
of the library profession as a whole. They maybe thus summed up,
following in the main a paper on the subject by C.C. Soule:

"A library building should be planned for library work.

Every library building should be planned especially for the kind of
work to be done, and the community to be served.

The interior arrangement ought to be planned before the exterior is
considered.

No convenience of arrangement should be sacrificed for mere
architectural effect.

The plan should be adapted to probabilities and possibilities of
growth and development.

Simplicity of decoration is essential in the working rooms and reading
rooms.

The building should be planned with a view to economical
administration.

The rooms for public use should be so arranged as to allow complete
supervision with the fewest possible attendants.

There should be throughout as much natural light as possible.

Windows should extend up to the ceiling, to light thoroughly the upper
part of every room.

Windows in a book room should be placed opposite the intervals between
bookcases.

In a circulating library the books most in use should be shelved in
floor cases close to the delivery desk.

A space of at least five feet should be left between floor cases. (If
the public is excluded, three feet is ample.)

No shelf, in any form of bookcase, should be higher than a person of
moderate height can reach without a stepladder.

Shelving for folios and quartos should be provided in every book room.

Straight flights are preferable to circular stairs.

The form of shelving which is growing in favor is the arrangement
of floor cases in large rooms with space between the tops of the
bookcases and the ceiling for circulation of air and the diffusion of
light.

Modern library plans provide accommodations for readers near the books
they want to use whatever system of shelving is adopted.

Single shelves should not be more than three feet long, on account of
the tendency to sag. Ten inches between shelves, and a depth of eight
inches, are good dimensions for ordinary cases. Shelves should be made
movable and easily adjustable. Many devices are now in the market for
this purpose, several of which are good."

Don't cut up your library with partitions unless you are sure they are
absolutely necessary. Leave everything as open as possible. A light
rail will keep intruders out of a private corner, and yet will not
shut out light, or prevent circulation of air, or take away from the
feeling of openness and breadth the library room ought to have.

For interior finish use few horizontal moldings; they make traps for
dust. Use such shades at the windows as will permit adjustment for
letting in light at top or bottom, or both. The less ornamentation in
the furniture the better. A simple pine or white-wood table is more
dignified and easier kept clean than a cheaply carved one of oak. But
get solid, honestly-made, simple furniture of oak or similar wood, if
funds permit. Arm-chairs are not often desirable. They take up much
room, are heavy to move, and are not easy to get in and out of at a
table. In many cases simple stools on a single iron standard, without
a revolving top, fastened to the floor, are more desirable than
chairs. The loafer doesn't like them; very few serious students object
to them.

A stack room for small libraries is not advisable. Don't crowd your
cases close together unless it is absolutely necessary.

An excellent form of wooden case is one seven feet high, with shelves
three feet long and seven and a half inches wide, supported on iron
pegs. The pegs fit into a series of holes bored one inch apart in the
sides of the case, thus making the shelves adjustable. These pegs can
be bought in the market in several shapes. The shelves have slots cut
in the under side at the ends to hold the projecting ends of the pegs,
thus giving no obstructions to the free movement of the books. With
some forms of pegs the slots are not needed. The uprights are made
of inch and a half stuff, or even inch and an eighth. The shelves are
inch stuff, finished to seven-eighths of an inch. The backs are
half inch stuff, tongued and grooved and put in horizontally. This
case-unit (3' x 7' x 8") may be doubled or trebled, making cases six
and nine feet long; or it may be made double-faced. If double-faced,
and nine feet long, it will hold about a thousand books of ordinary
size when full. It is often well to build several of your cases short
and with a single front--wall cases--as they are when in this form
more easily adjusted to the growing needs of the library.

A library can never do its best work until its management recognizes
the duty and true economy of providing skilled assistants, comfortable
quarters, and the best library equipment of fittings and supplies.

For cases, furniture, catalog cases, cards, trays, and labor-saving
devices of all kinds, consult the catalog of the Library Bureau.

Very many libraries, even the smallest, find it advantageous to use
for book cases what are known as "steel stacks." The demand for these
cases has been so great from libraries, large and small, that shelving
made from a combination of wood and steel has been very successfully
adapted to this use, and at a price within the reach of all libraries.
One of the principal advantages in buying such "steel stack" shelving,
with parts all interchangeable, is that in the rearrangement of
a room, or in moving into a new room or a new building, it can be
utilized to advantage, whereas the common wooden book cases very
generally cannot.




CHAPTER IX

Things needed in beginning work--Books, periodicals, and tools


The books and other things included in the following list--except
those starred or excepted in a special note, the purchase of which
can perhaps be deferred until the library contains a few thousand
volumes--are essential to good work, and should be purchased, some of
them as soon as a library is definitely decided upon, the others as
soon as books are purchased and work is actually begun.

I. BOOKS

*American catalog of books in print from 1876-1896, 5v. with annual
supplement. The Publishers' weekly, N.Y. Several of the volumes are
out of print. All are expensive. They are not needed by the very small
library. The recent years of the annual volumes are essential.

Card catalog rules; accessions-book rules; shelf-list rules; Library
Bureau, 1899, $1.25. These are called the Library school rules.

Catalog of A.L.A. library; 5000v. for a popular library, selected by
the American Library Association, and shown at the World's Columbian
exhibition, Washington, 1893. Sent free from the United States Bureau
of education.

*English catalog, 1835-1896, 5v., with annual supplement. The annual
supplements for recent years are needed by the small library; the
others are not.

Five thousand books, an easy guide to books in every department.
Compiled for the Ladies' home journal, 1895. Curtis Publishing
Company, Philadelphia, Pa. Paper, 10 cents. Out of print, but can
probably be found second-hand.

Fletcher, W.I. Public Libraries in America, 1894. Roberts Bros.,
Boston, $1.

Library Bureau catalog, containing list of library tools, fittings,
and appliances of all kinds, 1898. To be obtained of the Library
Bureau, Chicago, 215 Madison St.; Boston, 530 Atlantic Ave.; New York,
250 Broadway; Philadelphia, 112 N. Broad St.; Washington, 1416 F St.,
N.W.

Plummer, M.W. Hints to small libraries, 1898. Truslove & Comba, N.Y.,
50 cents.

Public library handbook, by the Public library, Denver, 1894. Out of
print.

Publishers' trade list annual, 1900, v. 28. Office of the Publishers'
weekly, N.Y., $2. Catalogs of all important American publishers bound
together in one volume.

Reference catalog of current literature, 1898. Catalogs of English
publishers, bound in one volume and indexed. J. Whitaker & Sons,
London, $5.

Rules for an author and title catalog, condensed. See Cutter, Rules
for a dictionary catalog, 1891, p. 99-103. Sent from the United States
Bureau of education, Washington, free. These are the rules adopted by
the American Library Association.

*Sonnenschein, W.S. Best books, readers' guide, 1891. Sonnenschein,
London, $8. Gives author, title, publisher and price of about 50,000
carefully selected and carefully classified books.

Sonnenschein, W.S. Reader's guide to contemporary literature
(50,000v.), supplement to Best books, 1895. Sonnenschein, London,
$6.50.

*Subject headings for use in dictionary catalogs, Library Bureau,
1898, $2. In a small library this is not needed, but it will save
trouble to get it.

Lawrence, I. Classified reading. A list with publishers and prices of
books for the school, the library, and the home, 1898. Normal school,
St Cloud, Minn., $1.25.

Iles, George. List of books for girls and women and their clubs, 1895.
Library Bureau, $1.

World's library congress, papers prepared for, held at World's
Columbian exposition, Chicago, 1893. United States Bureau of
education, Washington, D.C., free. Covers very fully the entire field
of library economy.

II. PERIODICALS

Book news, monthly. Wanamaker, Philadelphia, 50 cents. (Book reviews.)

Dial, semi-monthly, 24 Adams St., Chicago, $2. (Book reviews, notes
and essays.)

Literature, weekly. Harper & Bros., N.Y., $4. (Current English and
American literature.)

Nation, weekly. New York, $3. (Book reviews, art, politics.)

Publishers' weekly, the American book trade journal, 59 Duane St.,
N.Y., $5. (Lists nearly all American and best English books as
published.)

Library journal, monthly, $5 a year, 58 Duane St., New York. This is
the official organ of the American Library Association.

Public libraries, monthly, $1 a year, 215 Madison St., Chicago.
Presents library methods in a manner especially helpful to small
libraries.

New York Times Saturday review of books and art. The Times, N.Y., $1.

Monthly cumulative book index. An author, title, and subject index to
the books published during the current year, brought up to date in one
alphabet each month. Morris & Wilson, Minneapolis, Minn., $1.50

III. OTHER THINGS

Accession book. See catalog of the Library Bureau. For a very small
library a common blank-book will do.

Agreement blanks, which the borrower signs before getting his
borrower's card giving him the right to use the library. See chapter
on charging systems.

Book cards. See chapter on charging systems, and Library Bureau
catalog.

Book pockets. See Library Bureau catalog, and also chapter on charging
systems.

Borrowers' cards. Given to borrowers as evidence of their right to
draw books. See chapter on charging systems.

Borrowers' register, best kept on cards. See chapter on charging
systems.

Catalog cards. These are of two sizes and many thicknesses. Select
what suits you. See Library Bureau catalog.

Catalog case. See Library Bureau catalog. For a very small library a
few japanned tin trays will serve. But your catalog will grow faster
than you suppose.

Cole size card; a sheet marked in such a way as to give one at a
glance the proper letter to use in indicating the size of any book
placed on it. See Library Bureau catalog. In a very small library not
needed.

Classification scheme. See chapters on classification.

Cutter author table for book numbers. See chapter on book numbers. For
a very small library one can use numbers only.

Daters and ink pads for dating borrowers' cards, etc. The pencil
daters are best. See chapter on charging systems.

Ink. For all outside labels use Higgins' American drawing ink,
waterproof. For book cards, borrowers' cards, etc., use any good
black, non-copying ink. Carter's fluid is very good.

Labels. Round ones are best and those ready gummed do well if
carefully put on. Dennison's "88A" are good.

Paste. Binder's paste is good; for library use it needs thinning.
Higgins' photo mounter and other like bottled pastes are better.

Rubber stamps and ink pad for marking books with name of library. See
chapter on preparing books for the shelves.

Shelf list cards. See Library Bureau catalog.

Shelf list sheets (or cards). See Library Bureau catalog. In a very
small library sheets of ordinary ruled writing paper will serve. It is
better, however, to get the right thing at the start.




CHAPTER X

The relation of the Library Bureau to libraries

Geo. B. Meleney, Ch. Mgr., in Public Libraries, May, 1896


The consideration of the relations of the Library Bureau to libraries
brings us back to the organization of the American Library Association
in 1876. At this gathering of the prominent librarians of the country,
the discussion of methods brought out the lack of unanimity in, and
the need of coöperation for, a uniform system in the various branches
of library work. To carry out uniform methods requires uniform
material, and this was hard to obtain. The American Library
Association as such, of course, could not take up a business venture
of this kind, but it was decided to advise an organization for keeping
on sale such supplies and library aids as the association might decide
were needed.

The Library Bureau was then organized for this purpose, and has
continued to keep the same relation toward the library association
as was originally intended. Referring to the numbers of the Library
Bureau catalogs, one may trace the history of the development not only
of the appliances furnished by the Library Bureau, but also of ideas
of library economy as they are gathered there from every source. It
confined its attention at first to libraries only, the business being
divided into four departments: employment, to bring together libraries
and librarians; consultation, to give expert advice on any phase of
any library question; publication, to publish the various needed
helps (from point of usefulness to libraries rather than profit
to publishers); supply, to furnish at lower prices all articles
recommended by the A.L.A., and to equip any library with best known
devices in everything needful. Among the things noticed in these
departments are catalog cards, cases, trays, and outfits, book
supports, blanks, book pockets, boxes, desks, inks, etc. Some
specialties are noted in library devices, and helpful advice as to
their economical use is given. The successive catalogs follow the
same line, attention being directed toward all improvements in old
material, and to all advanced work in library administration wherever
found. Not all the material recommended was manufactured by the
Library Bureau, but a generous spirit is shown in recommending any
device, plan, or publication known to be helpful to the library
profession. It has brought to notice many notable contributions to
library literature, such as the Author table, by C.A. Cutter, of
the Boston athenæum; Decimal classification and relative index and
Library notes, by Melvil Dewey; _Library journal_; Library school
rules; Perkins' manual; Linderfelt's rules; Sargent's Reading for the
young; Lists of books for different clubs; Subject headings of A.L.A.,
etc. The Library Bureau catalog itself is one of the best library aids
ever published. These catalogs have always been sent free to library
workers.

Libraries grew in numbers and size largely because of the enthusiasm
of earnest workers, but very frequently with hardly enough financial
assistance to warrant more than the purchase of a few books, and
frequently with limited knowledge of how to make the small store of
use to the waiting public. The management of the Library Bureau at
this time was certainly doing a missionary work; but its chief problem
was the financial one, or how to make both ends meet, and it was not
until library methods were introduced into business houses that
this question was solved. The constant and untiring efforts of the
management of the Library Bureau toward the assistance and upbuilding
of the smaller and younger libraries have had much to do with the
growth of library sentiment, which is now so apparent on every hand,
and indirectly this knowledge of library work and library methods has
done much to enlarge the facilities of the Library Bureau.

From a very unpretentious concern, publishing a few library aids,
manufacturing such library devices as could not be obtained elsewhere,
and keeping for sale a few articles of library furnishing, the Library
Bureau has grown to be a corporation of no small proportions, having
numerous branches both in this country and Europe, maintaining a card
factory, cabinet works in Boston and Chicago, and facilities for the
manufacture of steel stacks unexcelled in this country.

The Library Bureau, however, has never forgotten the cause of its
birth or the teachings of its youth, as is clearly evidenced from year
to year by the various undertakings and publications which a careful
observer can clearly see are not put forward with any presage of
success when viewed entirely from a business standpoint. This lesson
is constantly taught to the employés of the Library Bureau, and they
are positively instructed that, regardless of the promise of success
in other directions, the attention to library requirements is the
first demand.

The Library Bureau maintains at its various offices persons thoroughly
versed in library economy, for the express purpose of furnishing
detailed information and aid to those younger members of the
profession whom they have the pleasure and opportunity of assisting
over the stumbling-blocks in their daily work. With this same idea in
view it publishes from the Chicago office a monthly magazine called
PUBLIC LIBRARIES, of an elementary character, which is entertaining,
instructive, and inspiring, and helps to encourage a sentiment
favorable to public libraries and to make librarianship a profession
of high standing.




CHAPTER XI

Selecting books--Fitting the library to its owners


The selection of books should be left to the librarian, under the
general direction of trustees or book committee.

There should be made at the start a collection of encyclopedias,
dictionaries, gazetteers, and scientific compendiums, which should not
be lent. The extent of this collection will depend on the scope and
purposes of the library. No library, however small, can dispense with
some books of reference. But for a small library don't buy expensive
works. The Encyclopædia Britannica is an example of what not to get.

There must be taken into consideration, in determining the character
of the books to be purchased, these factors among others:

a) Presence or absence of other libraries in the vicinity, and their
character, if present.

b) The avowed purposes of the free, tax-supported public library,
to-wit: 1) To help people to be happy; 2) to help them to become wise;
3) to encourage them to be good.

c) The amount of money to be expended and the sum that will probably
be available for each succeeding year.

d) The manner in which the books are to be used; whether they are to
be lent, or are to be used only for reference, or are to form both a
reference and a lending library.

e) The class of people by whom they are to be used, and if children,
whether for school work only, or for general reading, or for both.

f) The occupations and leading local interests of the community.

g) The character and average degree of intelligence of the community.

h) The habits, as to reading and study, of those who will use the
library.

The village library, in its early days, can well afford to begin at
the level of the community's average reading. At the same time it
must always try to go a little ahead of the demands of the people,
and develop a taste and desire for the very best books it can get. The
masses of the people have very little of literary culture. It is the
purpose of the public library to develop this by creating in them the
habit of reading. As a rule people read books which are above their
own intellectual and moral standard, and hence are benefited by
reading. The reading of books generally leads to the reading of better
books.

Then do not aim too high. Avoid trash, but do not buy literature which
will not be read simply because it is standard or classic. Remember
that the public library is a popular institution in every sense of the
word; that it has become possible only by the approval of the majority
of the population, and that the majority of the population is confined
in its turn to a majority of people of the most commonplace kind.

Do not pander to any sect, creed, or partisan taste. Buy largely
books costing from 50 cents to $2, found in so many of the series now
published. These are fresh, up-to-date, written for the most part by
competent men, and are reliable. They are not dull, because no one can
afford to be dull in a 12mo volume. As a general thing they are well
made, supplied with maps and illustrations when needed, and have
indexes. Put much of your money into the history, travel, and
literature of your own country first, and then see what you have left
for Greece and Rome. The common people nowadays should be encouraged
in their interest in their own country, its description, history,
politics, biography, mineral resources, literature. The people will
inquire for these books, and they should be provided for them. Wait
until the library is larger before investing much money in the history
of worn out empires, simply because such and such a person wants them,
or because some library anywhere from two to twenty times as large has
them. Use common sense and much of it.

Put into the people's hands books worthy of their respect, then insist
that they be handled carefully and treated always with consideration.
Expensive books; that is, books which are first-class in paper, ink,
and binding, are generally better worth their cost than cheap ones.

In the first purchases buy largely for children. They are the
library's best pupils. They are more easily trained to enjoy good
books than their elders. Through them the homes are best reached. They
will, by their free use of the library, and by their approval of it,
do much to add to its popularity. The best books for children will be
enjoyed by all.

In selecting fiction, get from the older librarians a statement of
what are the most popular of the wholesome novels found on their
shelves. A better guide than this it will be difficult to find.
Fiction is of the greatest value in developing a taste for reading.
Everyone should be familiar with the great works of imagination.
Nearly all the greatest literature of the world is fiction. The
educational value of the novel is not often questioned.

But don't buy a novel simply because it is popular. If you follow that
line you will end with the cheapest kind of stuff. Some librarians
pretend that they must buy to please the public taste; that they can't
use their own judgment in selecting books for a library which the
public purse supports. Why these librarians don't supply the Police
gazette it is difficult to understand. "The public" would like
it--some of them. We select school committees and superintendents and
teachers to run our schools. We ask them to inform themselves on the
subject and give us the best education they can. They don't try to
suit everybody. They try to furnish the best. Library trustees and
librarian are in a like case. The silly, the weak, the sloppy, the
wishy-washy novel, the sickly love story, the belated tract, the crude
hodge-podge of stilted conversation, impossible incident, and moral
platitude or moral bosh for children--these are not needed. It is as
bad to buy them and circulate them, knowingly, as it would be for our
school authorities to install in our schoolrooms as teachers romantic,
giggling girls and smarty boys. Buy good novels, those the wise
approve of, in good type, paper, and binding; keep plenty of copies of
each on hand; put them where your readers can handle them; add a few
each year of the best only of the latest novels, and those chiefly
on trial (not to be bought again if found not to have real merit) and
your public will be satisfied, and your library will be all the time
raising the taste of the community.

Some books should not be put, at least not without comment, into the
hands of young people. Other books, some people think, should not be
read by young people. Other books, some people think, should not be
in a public library at all. A good course to follow in regard to such
books is to consider the temper of your community and put into the
library as many of them as are noteworthy in a literary way as your
public and your resources permit.

In other departments follow at first the guidance of some one of the
good book lists now available.

Other things being equal, American scientific books are preferable
to those by foreign authors. In all departments select the latest
editions, and, at first, the recent book rather than the older book.

The proportion of books in the different departments of knowledge must
vary greatly in different libraries. The following is a good general
guide:

                     Per cent.
General works          .04
Philosophy             .01
Religion               .02
Sociology              .09
Philology              .01
Science                .08
Useful arts            .06
Fine arts              .04
Literature             .12
Biography              .10
History                .13
Travels                .10
Fiction                .20
                      ____
Total                  100

Local interest should be fostered by buying freely books on local
history and science and books by local authors.

The librarian should keep informed of coming events, and see that the
library is provided with the books for which there is sure to be a
future demand. He should avoid personal hobbies and be impartial on
all controversial questions. He should not be overconfident in his
knowledge of what will elevate and refine the community.

It is better to buy 10 extra copies of a wholesome book wanted by the
public than one copy each of 10 other books which will not be read.

Do not waste time, energy, and money--certainly not in the early days
of the library--in securing or arranging public documents, save a few
of purely local value. Take them if offered and store them.

Do not be too much impressed by the local history plea, and spend
precious money on rare volumes or old journals in this line.

Certain work can judiciously be done toward collecting and preserving
materials for local history that will involve neither expense nor
much labor, and this the librarian should do. Do not turn the public
library, which is chiefly to be considered as a branch of a live,
everyday system of popular education, into a local antiquarian
society; but simply let it serve incidentally as a picker-up of
unconsidered trifles. A wide-awake, scholarly librarian will like his
town, and delight in at least some study of its antecedents. And such
a librarian need not be a crank, but must needs be an enterprising,
wide-awake, appreciative student, who can scent the tastes and needs
of posterity.

Put no money into rare books. A book which was out of print 10 years
or 200 years ago, and has not insisted upon republication since, has,
ordinarily, no place in the active, free public library. If you get
it, sell it and buy a live book.

The free public library should encourage its readers to suggest books
not in the library, by providing blanks for that purpose, and paying
courteous attention to all requests.

Ask by letter, by circulars, and by notes in the local papers, for
gifts of books, money, and periodicals. Acknowledge every gift.
Remember that one who has helped the library, be it ever so little,
has thereby become interested in it, and is its friend.




CHAPTER XII

Reference books for a small library, compiled by C.A. Baker, of the
Public library, Denver


This list includes about 75 books, costing about $550. It is arranged
alphabetically. It is subdivided into four lists, arranged according
to relative importance. This subdivision is shown by the numbers
prefixed to each entry.

2. Adams, C.K. Manual of historical literature. 1889. O. Harper, cl.
$2.50.

1. Adams, O.F. Dictionary of American authors. 1897. O. Houghton,
Mifflin, cl. $3.

1. Adler, G.J. Dictionary of the German and English languages. 1893.
Q. Appleton, mor. $5.

4. Allibone, S.A. Critical dictionary of English literature. 1891, 3
v. Q. Lippincott, sh. $22.50.

4. Allibone, S.A. Supplement to the critical dictionary of English
literature, by J.F. Kirk. 1892, 2 v. Q. Lippincott, sh. $15.

1. Appleton's annual cyclopædia and register of important events. Q.
Appleton, cl. $5.

3. Appleton's cyclopædia of American biography. 1888-92, 6 v.Q.
Appleton, cl. $30, half mor. $42.

1. Appleton's cyclopædia of applied mechanics, ed. by P. Benjamin.
1893, 2 v. Q. Appleton, sh. $15, half mor. $17.

2. Appleton's modern mechanism, supplement to Cyclopædia of applied
mechanics. 1892, 1 v. Q. Appleton, sh. $7.50, half mor. $8.50.

2. Bartlett, J., ed. Familiar quotations. 1892. O. Little, cl. $3.

3. Bliss, E.M., ed. Cyclopædia of missions, 2 v. 1891. Q. Funk &
Wagnalls, cl. $12.

1. Bliss, W.D.P. Cyclopædia of social reform, including political
economy, science, sociology, statistics, anarchism, charities, civil
service, currency, land, etc. 1897. Q. Funk & Wagnalls, cl. $7.50, sh.
$9.50.

3. Brannt, W.T. and Wahl, W.H. Technico-chemical receipt book. 1895.
D. Baird, cl. $2.

1. Brewer, E.C. Reference library, 1885-98. 4 v. O. Lippincott. $13.
Dictionary of miracles, Historic notebook, Dictionary of phrase and
fable, Reader's handbook.

2. Brown, E. and Strauss, A. Dictionary of American politics. 1895. D.
Burt, cl., $1.

1. Bryant, W.C, ed. Library of poetry and song. 1876. Q. Fords,
Howard, cl., $5.

3. Century dictionary and cyclopædia. (Century dictionary and the
Century cyclopædia of names combined with the atlas of the world.) 10
v. Prices from $60 to $150. Often can be picked up second-hand.

1. Century atlas of the world. 1897. F. Century Co., cl. $12.50, half
mor. $15.

1. Century cyclopædia of names, n.d. F. Century Co., cl. $10.50, buf.
$12.50.

(Note.--The two last are included in the Century dictionary and
cyclopædia, but can be bought separately.)

2. Chambers, R., ed. Book of days, 2 v. O. Lippincott. 1893. $7.

2. Champlin, J.D. jr. Young folks' cyclopædia of common things. 1893.
O. Holt, cl. $2.50.

2. Champlin, J.D. jr. Young folks' cyclopædia of persons and places.
1892. O. Holt, cl. $2.50.

2. Champlin, J.D. jr. and Bostwick, A.E. Young folks' cyclopædia of
games and sports. 1890. O. Holt, cl. $2.50.

2. Channing, E. and Hart, A.B. Guide to the study of American history.
O. Ginn. 1896. $2.

1. Clement, C.E. Painters, architects, engravers, and their work.
1881. D. Houghton, Mifflin, cl. $3. (Artists not living.)

1. Clement, C.E. and Hutton, L. Artists of the 19th century and their
work. 1885 D. Houghton & Mifflin, cl. $3.

4. Cram's Bankers and brokers' railroad atlas; complete alphabetical
index. 1898. F. Cram. $17.50.

1. Cumulative index of periodicals, monthly and annual. 1898.
Helman-Taylor Co., Cleveland, pa. $5.

4. Cyclopædia of American biographies. J.H. Brown, ed. 1897. v. 1,
A-C. Q. Cyclo. Pub. Co., Boston, half mor. $7.

2. Fields, J.T. and Whipple, E.P., ed. Family library of British
poetry. 1882. Q. Houghton, cl. $5, mor. $10.

3. Fletcher, W.I., ed. A.L.A. index to general literature. 1893. Q.
Houghton, cl. $5.

1. Fletcher, W.I., ed., and Bowker, R.R. Annual literary index,
including periodicals and essays. 1899. O. Publishers' weekly, cl.
$3.50.

3. Frey, A.R. Sobriquets and nicknames. 1888. O. Houghton, cl. $2.

1. Goodholme, T.S. Domestic encyclopædia of practical information.
1889. O. Scribners, cl. $5.

1. Harper's book of facts. C.T. Lewis, ed. 1895. Q. Harper. Sub. only,
$8.

3. Harper's cyclopædia of British and American poetry. E. Sargent,
ed. 1881. Q. Harper, hf. leather, $5.

2. Harper's dictionary of classical literature and antiquities. H.T.
Peck, ed. 1897. Q. Harper, cl. $6.

4. Hastings, J. Dictionary of the Bible, 4 v. O. 1898. Clark, cl. 28s
per vol., half mor. 34s. per vol.

3. Haydn's dictionary of dates. B. Vincent, ed. 1895. O. Putnam, cl.
$6, half mor. $9.

2. Hazell's annual; record of men and topics of the day. 1899. D.
Hazell, 3s. 6d.

2. Hopkins, A.A. Scientific American cyclopædia of receipts, notes,
and queries. 1892. O. cl. $5, sh. $6.

1. Hoyt, J.K. Cyclopædia of practical quotations, English, Latin, and
modern foreign. 1896. Q. Funk & Wagnalls, cl. $5, sh. $8.

1. Jameson, J.F. Dictionary of United States history, 1492-1894. 1894.
Q. Puritan Pub., cl. $2.75, half mor. $3.50.

1. Johnson's universal cyclopædia. 1893, 8v. Q. Johnson, half mor.
$56, cl. $48.

2. King, M., ed. Handbook of the United States. 1891. O. King
(Matthews, Northrop Co.), cl. $2.50.

3. Larned, J.N., ed. History for ready reference, from the best
historians, biographers, and specialists. 1894. 5 v. Maps. Nichols
Co., Springfield, Mass. cl. $5 each, half mor. $6 each.

2. Lalor, J.J., ed. Cyclopædia of political science, political
economy, and political history of the United States. 1890-93. 3
v. Q.C.E. Merrill, $15.

1. Leypoldt, A.H. and Iles, G. List of books for girls and women.
Dewey classification numbers with each entry. 1895. Library Bureau,
cl. $1.

1. Lippincott's gazetteer of the world. 1896. Q. Lippincott, sh. $8.

4. Lippincott's universal pronouncing dictionary of biography and
mythology, by J. Thomas. 1892. Q. Lippincott, in 1 v., sh. $8, half
turkey $11; in 2 v., sh. $10.

2. Lossing, B.J. Popular cyclopædia of United States history. 1893. 2
v. Q. Harper, mor. $15.

3. Lübke, W. Outlines of the history of art. 1891. 2 v. O. Dodd,
Mead, half roan, $7.50.

1. Matson, H. References for literary workers. 1893. O. McClurg,
$2.50.

1. Men and women of the time. 14th ed. 1895. O. Routledge. $5.

3. Mineral industry, its statistics, technology, and trade, ed. by
R.R. Rothwell, annual. O. Scientific Pub. Co, cl. $5.

2. Mulhall, M.G. Dictionary of statistics. 1898. Ed. 4. Q. Routledge,
cl. $8.

3. Mulhall, M.G. Industries and wealth of nations. 1896. O. Longman,
cl. $3.

1. Patrick, D. and Gramme, F.H., eds. Chambers biographical
dictionary. 1898. O. Lippincott, half mor. $3.50.

4. Poole, W.F. and Fletcher, W. Poole's index to periodical
literature. O. Houghton, Mifflin.
  V. 1. in two parts, cl. $16, sh. $24.
  V. 2. Jan. l882-Jan. 1887. cl. $8, sh. $10.
  V. 3. Jan. l887-Jan. 1892. cl. $8, sh. $12.
  V. 4. Jan. l892-Jan. 1897. cl. $10, sh. $12.
In a small library having bound periodicals of recent date only,
volume 4 alone is sufficient.

1. Rand-McNally indexed atlas of the world. 1897. 2 v. 58 x 41 cm.
Rand-McNally. cl. $18.50, half leather, $23.50.

3. Riemann, H. Dictionary of music. O. Augenev, $3.75.

2. Smith, H.P. and Johnson, H.K. Dictionary of terms, phrases, and
quotations. 1895. O. Appleton, half leather, $3.

3. Smith, W. Classical dictionary. New edition by Marindin. 1894. O.
Appleton, $6.

1. Smith, W. Dictionary of the Bible. 1884. O. Coates, cl. $2, half
mor. $3.

3. Smith, W. and Cheetham, S. Dictionary of Christian antiquities.
1891. 2 v. O. Burr, Hartford, Conn., cl. $7, leather $8.

1. Soule, R. Dictionary of English synonyms. 1895. O. Lippincott, cl.
$2.25, mor. $2.75.

1. Spiers, A. and Surenne, O. French and English pronouncing
dictionary. 1891. Q. Appleton, half mor. $5.

1. Standard dictionary of the English language, 2 v. Q. 1895. Funk &
Wagnalls, half rus. $15; with Denison's reference index, $17.

3. Statesmen's year book, 1899, v. 36. D. Macmillan, $3.

2. Walsh, W.S. Handy book of literary curiosities. 1893. O.
Lippincott, half leather, $3.50.

2. Walsh, W.S. Curiosities of popular customs, and of rites,
ceremonies, observances and miscellaneous antiquities. 1898. O.
Lippincott, half leather, $3.50.

1. Webster, N. International dictionary. Springfield, Mass. Merriam.
1891. $10.

2. Wheeler, W.A. Familiar allusions. 1891. D. Houghton, cl. $2.

2. Wheeler, W.A. Explanatory and pronouncing dictionary of noted names
of fiction. 1892. D. Houghton, cl. $2.

3. Wheeler, W.A. and C.G. Who wrote it? D. Lee & Shepard, cl. $2.

2. Whitaker's almanac. 1899. D. Whitaker, paper, 2s. 6d.

Whitaker's directory of titled persons for the year 1898; a companion
to his Almanac. D. Whitaker, paper, 2s. 6d.

3. Who's who? annual; autobiographies of the leading men and women of
the day; complete peerage, etc. 1899. D. Black, cl. 3s. 6d.

1. World almanac and encyclopædia. 1898. D. New York World, pa. 25
cents.

2. Young, R. Analytical concordance to the Bible, n.d. Ed. 6. Q.
Religious tract society, cl. 24s., mor. 30s.




CHAPTER XIII

Reference work---Helping the inexperienced inquirer--Periodicals


Reference work in libraries large and small has for its first rule:
Meet the inquirer more than half way. To the stranger a library is
often an oppressive place, an awesome place--in his imagination. He
comes in shyly; everyone appears busy, his question suddenly seems to
him trivial; he won't trouble these wise and busy people with it--and
goes out.

A good second rule is: Learn at once just exactly what the inquirer
wishes to know. This is not always easy. Tact and a little patience
will generally effect it.

A good third rule is: Whenever possible show the inquirer how the
answer is found, so that he may next time in some measure help
himself. It is surprising how many, especially of the younger people
in a community, can be taught within one year, on their occasional
visits, to make the proper use of at least a few reference books.

Another rule of very general application is: Go first to a dictionary.
In many cases a question answers itself, or betrays where its answer
may best be found, if it is once plainly stated. And nothing is better
than reference to a few words in a dictionary for the clear statement
of a question. The larger dictionaries, moreover, and notably the
Century, will answer many more inquiries than even great readers often
suppose.

Many questions come up again and again. Of these, and of the
references which answered them, notes should be kept on cards for
future use. In fact it is well to keep an index in this way of the
references looked up for all the more important inquiries.

The following excellent advice is from an article on The use of
periodicals in reference work, by Frederick Winthrop Faxon, in Public
Libraries for June, 1898:

"In all reference work periodicals play a large part. They may be
roughly divided into two great classes, the technical and the popular.
The former are indispensable to the scholar, or the expert, and in the
rapid advancement of science are the only real sources of information.
Text-books or treatises are out of date before published; therefore
for a correct present view, or a complete history of the development
of any science, the technical reviews and society transactions must be
consulted. These will be the principal part of a scientific library,
and should be in the large public and college libraries in order to
cover advanced study.

They have, on the other hand, little place in small libraries--they
would seldom be of use, and are very expensive.

"But the popular periodicals every library needs. In the better class
of these reviews it is possible, if we know where to look, to find
several articles on both sides of almost any subject. Furthermore,
these are often written by the foremost authors or scientists, and are
in a language intelligible to all. The amateur cannot give the time or
patience to wade two-volume deep in the subject his club wishes him to
treat in half an hour's speech. The magazine gives just what he wants
in several pages. There are periodicals exclusively devoted to every
branch of every science, and magazines which, in their files, include
articles on all subjects. This mine of information has been opened up
by Poole's index. Since 1881, when the third and enlarged edition
of Poole's index was published, all this is common property for the
asking. Grouped around Poole and keeping pace with the times are the
Poole supplements, which ought, perhaps, to be named the Fletchers,
covering the five-year periods since 1881, ending respectively 1886,
1891, 1896. Then the Annual literary index gives a yearly index
of subjects and authors, and serves as a supplement to the Poole
supplement. For such as cannot be even a year without a periodical
index we now have the admirable Cumulative index, bi-monthly, edited
by the Cleveland public library. Thus all the principal periodicals
since the beginning of the century may be consulted by reference to
one or more of five single books or alphabets.

"The Review of reviews must be mentioned as a useful monthly index to
current periodical literature, but of little value for study reference
as compared with the indexes just mentioned. An annual index issued by
the Review of reviews, since 1890, is good in its way, though rather
superficial. Sargent's Reading for the young, and its supplement,
index the juvenile sets of St Nicholas, Harper's young people, and
Wide Awake. Poole and the Cumulative are of little use without a fair
assortment of the sets therein indexed.

"Thus far 442 titles (practically all of them serials published since
1800) have been indexed. It is a mistake, however, to suppose that
most of these are necessary in a small library before Poole's index
should be purchased or can be of use. Given Poole and a complete set
of Littell's living age, and Harper's monthly, more reference work can
be done than with twice the number of reference books not periodicals.
A small collection of sets has enabled more than one struggling
library to hold its own with the students and club members, and to
accomplish work which could not have been done as well with many works
of reference, the purchase of which would have exhausted the whole
book fund."




CHAPTER XIV

Reading room--Periodicals


A free reading room is generally opened in connection with the
library, and often proves its most attractive feature. It should be
comfortably furnished and scrupulously clean. As the room is for the
use of all clean and orderly people, quiet should be maintained to
give all a chance to read and study without interruption. There should
be no signs commanding things, and the fewest possible--and they
unobtrusive--requesting things. Signs giving information helpful to
readers are always permissible; but see that they harmonize with the
furnishings of the room and are clean. Gray, or some modest tint, is
preferable to white cardboard for all signs. The general atmosphere
of the place should be such as one would wish to have in his own
home--orderly, inviting, cheerful.

The village library ought to preserve for reference a file of local
papers; and it seems proper for it to provide for public use a few
dailies or weeklies from the nearest cities. Further than this in this
direction it would not seem expedient to go, because better work can
be done, with the money newspapers would cost, in other directions.
In fact, where the room is limited, as well as funds, it will often be
better to provide no newspapers at all. Few are unable to get
papers to read elsewhere. The library can well devote itself to
the encouraging the reading of other things. Most people read the
newspapers enough, library or no library. Many, save for the library,
would not read the standard American and English periodicals.

[Illustration: Magazine binder. (Reduced; various sizes.)]

The young people are the library's most hopeful material. To them
the librarian hopes to give, through books and journals, an added
pleasure; and in them he hopes to awaken a taste for reading
something--in time something good. To attract the children it will be
wise to have on file a few juvenile journals and picture papers and
illustrated magazines. As to the standard and popular monthlies
and quarterlies there seems to be no question; they should be taken
freely. The magazines furnish us with the best fiction, the best
poetry, the best essays, the best discussions of all subjects, old
and new, and the latest science. It is a question if many a village
library would not do more, vastly more, to stimulate the mental life
of its community, and to broaden its views and sympathies, and to
encourage study, if it diverted a far larger part of its income than
it now does from inferior books, and especially inferior novels, to
weekly journals and popular and standard magazines. It is not yet
fully impressed upon us that the thing the community needs is not a
"library"--it may have a street lined with "libraries" and still dwell
in the outer darkness--but contact with the printed page. Get
this contact first, then, by means of attractive rooms, and clean,
wholesome, interesting periodicals and books, and let the well rounded
students' collection of books come on as it will.

From 5 to 20 per cent can very often be saved on the cost of
periodicals by ordering them through a reliable subscription agency.

The custom is extending of taking extra numbers of the popular
magazines and lending them as if they were books though generally for
a shorter period and without the privilege of renewal. When this is
done, put each magazine in a binder made for the purpose, and marked
with the library's name, to keep it clean and smooth, and to identify
it as library property. Similar binders are often put on the magazines
which are placed in the reading rooms. (See Library Bureau catalog.)

Complete volumes of the magazines are in great demand with the
borrowing public. The magazine indexes now available will make useful
to the student the smallest library's supply of periodical literature.

In small reading rooms the periodicals that are supplied should be
placed on tables where readers can consult them without application
to the attendants. Files and racks for newspapers, special devices for
holding illustrated journals, and other things of like nature, are to
be found in great variety.

Post up in the reading room a list of the periodicals regularly
received; also a list of those in the bound files.

A careful record should be kept of each magazine ordered, of the date
when ordered, the date when the subscription begins and expires, the
price paid, the agency from which it is ordered, and the date of that
agency's receipted bill. If the list of journals taken is small this
record can be kept very conveniently in a blank book. If it is large
and constantly growing or changing, it is best kept on cards, a
card to each journal, and all alphabetically arranged. It saves much
trouble when dealing with an agency to have subscriptions coincide
with the calendar year, disregarding the volume arrangements of the
publishers.




CHAPTER XV

List of periodicals for a small library

[See also chapter List of things needed in beginning work.]


Century magazine (monthly), illus. N.Y. Century Co. Ed. by R.W.
Gilder, $4.

Harper's new monthly magazine, illus. N.Y. Harper. Ed. by H.M. Alden,
$4.

Harper's round table (monthly), illus. N.Y. Harper, $1.

St Nicholas (monthly), illus. N.Y. Century Co. Ed. by Mary Mapes
Dodge, $3.

Forum (monthly), N.Y. Forum Co., $3.

Harper's weekly, illus. N.Y. Harper, $4.

Youth's companion (weekly). Boston. Perry Mason Co., $1.75.

McClure's magazine (monthly), illus. N.Y. Doubleday & McClure, $1.

Ladies' home journal (monthly), illus. Phila. Curtis Pub. Co., $1.

Independent (weekly). N.Y. $2.

Outlook (weekly), illus. N.Y. $3.

Engineering magazine (monthly). N.Y. $3.

Life (weekly), illus. N.Y. $5.

Nineteenth century (monthly). N.Y. Leonard Scott Co., $4.50.

Review of reviews (monthly), illus. N.Y. Ed. by Albert Shaw, $2.50.

Contemporary review (monthly). N.Y. Leonard Scott Co., $4.50.

Critic (monthly), illus. N.Y. Critic Co., $2.

Nation (weekly). N.Y. Evening Post Co., $3.

Educational review (monthly), N.Y. Holt, $3.

Kindergarten magazine (monthly), illus. Chicago Kindergarten
Literature Co., $2.

Appleton's popular science monthly, illus. N.Y. Appleton, $5.

Scientific American (weekly), illus. N.Y. Munn, $3. With supplement,
$7.

Scientific American supplement (weekly), illus. N.Y. Munn, $5.

Art amateur (monthly), illus. N.Y. Montague Marks. $4.

Outing (monthly), illus. N.Y. Outing Co., $3.




CHAPTER XVI

Buying books


A good book for a library, speaking of the book as to its wearing
qualities and as to the comfort of its users, is printed on paper
which is thin and pliable, but tough and opaque. Its type is not
necessarily large, but is clear-cut and uniform, and set forth with
ink that is black, not muddy. It is well bound, the book opening
easily at any point. The threads in the back are strong and generously
put in. The strings or tapes onto which it is sewn are stout, and are
laced into the inside edges of the covers, or are strong enough to
admit of a secure fastening with paste and paper. In ordering books
of which several editions are on the market, specify the edition you
wish. When you have found a good edition of a popular author like
Scott or Dickens, make a note of it on the shelf-list.

In giving your orders, always try your local dealer first. If he
cannot give you good terms, or, as is very likely to be the case, has
not the information or the facilities which enable him to serve
you well, submit a copy of the list to several large book dealers,
choosing those nearest your town, and ask for their discounts. It is
economical, generally, to purchase all your books through one dealer,
thus saving letter writing, misunderstandings, freight, express, and
general discomfort.

Keep a record of all books ordered. The best form of record is on
slips, using a separate slip for each book. These order slips should
have on them the author's surname, brief title, number of volumes,
abbreviated note of place, publisher, year, publisher's price if
known, name of dealer of whom ordered, date when ordered, and if its
purchase has been requested by anyone that person's name and address.

For transmitting the order to the book dealer, a list on sheets
should be made from the order slips, arranged either by publishers or
alphabetically by authors. This list may be written on one side of the
paper only, with copying ink, and a letter-press copy taken; or, make
a carbon copy of the sheet sent to the dealer. The carbon copy has the
advantage of being easier to handle and better to write on. The books
as received should be checked by this copy, or by the order cards. The
cards for books received should be put by themselves, alphabetically,
and kept until the books they represent have been cataloged and the
cards for them have been properly entered in the card catalog. You
thus will have lists 1) of books ordered and not received; 2) of books
received and not cataloged; 3) of books cataloged. If few books are
bought this work is unnecessary.

[Illustration: Simple form of order slip on plain paper. (Reduced;
actual size, 7-1/2 x 12-1/2 cm.)

Sent 27 Aug '93
Fiske, J Discovery of America
Houghton Miff. '93
2v. 4.00

Notify J. Winson
1247 Arapahoe]

Books will often be ordered at the request of interested persons.
In such cases the name and address of the person asking for the book
should be entered on the bottom of the order slip for that book. When
the book comes, and has been made ready for use, send a note to this
person, notifying him of the fact of its arrival.

[Illustration: Order slip. (Reduced; actual size, 7-1/2 x 12-1/2 cm.)

Library No. 10
Order No. 21
Ordered 6F96
Of McC
Received 9 Mr
Cost $1.75
Approved 7
Not now ordered [Checkmark]
Not in library [Checkmark]

WRITE LEGIBLY
Author's surname, followed by given names or initials: Howard, George
Title: Second Marriages
Edition: 2
Place: N.Y.
Publisher: Stone
Year: 1889
No. of Vols.
Size: D
Total Price: $2
NOT in great haste
NOT [stricken out] in haste
I recommend the above for the library. Notice of receipt is NOT asked
Signature: John Carr
Address: Anderson
Fill above as fully as possible. Cross out NOT, if notice is wanted,
if in great need or special haste
Put a ? before items of which you are not sure. Give reasons for
recommending ON THE BACK.]

Do not be tempted by a large discount to give orders to irresponsible
persons. A library should secure from 25 to 35 per cent discount. Do
not buy ordinary subscription books or books on the installment plan.
Do not anticipate revenues, and do not spend all your money at once;
if you do you will miss many a bargain, and have to go without books
that are needed more than those you have bought. Buy good but not
expensive editions. Do not spend on a single costly work, of interest
to few and seldom used by that few, a sum that would buy 20 or perhaps
100 volumes that would be in constant and profitable use by many.
Buy no book unless by personal acquaintance, or upon competent and
trustworthy testimony, it is worth adding to your library. Do not feel
that you must buy complete sets of an author, or all of any "series";
all the works of very few authors are worth having. Do not buy cheap
editions of fiction; the paper, presswork, and binding is poor,
and is simply a waste of money. The best is none too good in buying
fiction, for it wears out fast, and has to be rebound, and then
replaced. Do not buy a lot of second-hand fiction to put into the
hands of the people. You cannot expect them to keep their books clean
if you start them out with dirty pages, soiled plates, and a general
hand-me-down air.

Books for young people must be interesting. No amount of excellence in
other directions will compensate for dull books.

Do not trust too much to the second-hand dealer. Avoid subscription
books. Do not buy of a book peddler; in nine cases out of ten you
can find better and cheaper books at the stores. A well selected and
judiciously purchased library, with such works of reference as are
needed, will cost, on an average, $1.25 a volume.

The following notes were prepared by a bookseller of experience, and
should be carefully considered before beginning to buy books:

Any bookseller worthy your patronage will be able to assist you by
pointing out the most desirable edition for general library use.

There is every reason for placing your orders with your local dealer
so long as he can care for them intelligently. A large discount should
not be the sole factor in deciding where to buy, but keep in mind
this, a conscientious bookseller can save you money by carefully
watching your interests in the very many details that pertain to
bookbuying. Having decided on your bookseller agent, place all your
orders with him. It will save you time, which is equivalent to money.
Keep an exact duplicate copy of every order you place, and for this
purpose a manifold book is preferable. In writing your orders never
write on both sides of a sheet; arrange your items alphabetically by
author, and make all your entries as complete and full as possible.
This is particularly important in the case of books in the field of
science, history, and biography. The more clear and definite your
orders are made out, the more promptly and completely can your
bookseller supply them.

An ideal bookseller, qualified to act as your agent, is one who has
familiarized himself with the various editions of books, and will
always make selections with greater stress on quality than quantity;
who will not send you the second edition of a scientific work when a
third is out; who will avoid sending you expensive publications (even
though you may have ordered them) until he is satisfied that you want
them; who will exert himself to get desirable books that may be out
of print or issued by an out-of-the-way publisher; who will always
be prepared to advise you as to the latest work on any particular
subject, as well as the best work.

These points are of greater importance to the live librarian than is
the percentage of discount. Say nothing about per cents; to do so is
misleading and unsatisfactory always. No one understands you.

It is safe to estimate that your purchases of fiction and juvenile
literature will average inside of $1 per volume.

A general list, including reference books, of say 4000v., would
average about $1.25 per volume, or $5000.

Make your purchases with the needs of your community clearly in mind,
securing such books as will be constantly in use, and thereby get
returns for your expenditure. The expensive publications and books
that are called for only at rare intervals should be left to libraries
with very large incomes, and to those making special collections.

Where possible to do so avoid buying large bills of books at long
intervals. It is better to spend an income of $600 per year in monthly
installments of $50, than it is to buy twice a year $300 lots.

The frequent purchase will bring you the new and talked of books while
they are fresh in the minds of people, and there is greater economy of
time in cataloging and shelving them.

Second-hand books are rarely cheap at any price.

Have confidence in your agent, for your interests are always his.




CHAPTER XVII

Ink and handwriting


For catalog cards and all other records use a non-copying black,
permanent ink. Carter's record ink is good. It has been adopted, after
careful investigation, by the state of Massachusetts for all official
records. The New York state library school, at Albany, has issued a
little handbook on "library handwriting," which recommends Carter's
record, and says they use Stafford's blue writing ink for blue and his
carmine combined for red.

For all labels on the outside of books, and for all writing on
surfaces which may be much handled, use Higgins' American drawing ink,
waterproof.

The vertical hand should be used in all library work. The following
rules, with the illustrations, are taken from the Albany school
handbook above referred to:

Brief rules

1 Ink. Use only standard library ink and let it dry without blotting.

2 Position. Sit squarely at the desk and as nearly erect as possible.

3 Alphabets. Follow the library hand forms of all letters, avoiding
any ornament, flourish, or lines not essential to the letter.

4 Size. Small letters, taking m as the unit, are one space or two
millimeters high; i.e. one-third the distance between the rulings of
the standard catalog card.

Capitals and extended letters are two spaces high above the base line
or run one space below, except t, the character &, and figures, which
are one and one-half spaces high.

5 Slant. Make letters upright with as little slant as possible, and
uniformly the same, preferring a trifle backward rather than forward
slant.

6 Spacing. Separate words by space of one m and sentences by two m's.
Leave uniform space between letters of a word.

7 Shading. Make a uniform black line with no shading. Avoid hair line
strokes.

8 Uniformity. Take great pains to have all writing uniform in size,
slant, spacing, blackness of lines and forms of letters.

9 Special letters and figures. In both joined and disjoined hands dot
i and cross t accurately to avoid confusion; e.g. Giulio carelessly
dotted has been arranged under Guilio in the catalog. Cross t one
space from line. Dot i and j one and one-half spaces from line. In
foreign languages special care is essential.

_Joined hand_. Connect all the letters of a word into a single word
picture. Complete each letter; e.g. do not leave gap between body and
stem of b and d, bring loop of f back to stem, etc.

Avoid slanting r and s differently from other letters. They should be
a trifle over one space in height. The small p is made as in print,
and is not extended above the line as in ordinary script.

_Disjoined hand_. Avoid all unnecessary curves. The principal down
strokes in b, d, f, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, t, u, and the first
line in e, should be straight.


SPECIMEN ALPHABETS AND FIGURES

[Illustration: Joined Hand]

[Illustration: Disjoined Hand]

Make all the small letters, except f, i, j, k, t, x and y, without
lifting pen from paper.

Make g and Q in one stroke, moving from left to right like the hands
of a watch. Begin on the line.

Take special pains with the letter r, as carelessly made it is easily
mistaken for v or y.

Make the upper part of B, R, and S a trifle smaller than the lower
part.

_Figures_. Make all figures without lifting the pen. Begin 4 with the
horizontal line. Make the upper part of 3 and 8 smaller than the lower
part; 8 is best made by beginning in the center.




CHAPTER XVIII

The care of books


Books of moderate size should stand up on the shelves. Large books
keep better if they are laid on their sides; when they stand, the
weight of the leaves is a pull on the binding which tends to draw the
books out of shape, and sometimes breaks them. Books which stand up
should never be permitted to lean over, but should be kept always
perfectly erect; the leaning wrenches them out of shape, and soon
breaks the binding. A row of books which does not comfortably fill a
shelf should be kept up at one end by a book support. There are
several good supports on the market. The Crocker is excellent; so is
the one described in the Library Bureau catalog.

[Illustration: L.B. book supports. (Reduced.)]

Books as they come from the dealer are not always perfect. To make
sure that their purchases are in good condition some libraries collate
all their books as soon as received, that is, look them through with
care for missing pages, and injuries of any kind. Imperfect volumes
are returned. But save with very expensive books this labor is
unnecessary, and doesn't pay. The time spent on it easily amounts to
more than the cost of replacing the very few books which may by chance
be later found imperfect. In fact, any responsible dealer will usually
replace an imperfect copy with a good one even if the former bears a
library mark, and has been handled a little.

Use care in cutting pages. Don't cut them with anything but a smooth,
dull edge. Cut them at the top close to the fold in the back.

The worst enemies of books are careless people.

Another enemy is damp. It is bad for the binding; it is very bad for
the paper.

Gas, with heat, is very destructive to books, especially to the
bindings.

Books should occasionally be taken from their shelves and wiped with
a soft cloth. The shelves should at the same time be taken down and
cleaned thoroughly.

Don't hold a book by one of its covers.

Don't pile up books very high.

Don't rub dust into them instead of rubbing it off.

Don't wedge books tightly into the shelves.

Those who use a public library are all desirous that its books be
clean and neat, and with a little encouragement will take pretty good
care of them. There are exceptions, of course, and especially among
the children. These must be looked after and reasoned with.

Don't cover your books. The brown paper cover is an insult to a good
book, a reproach to every reader of it, an incentive to careless
handling, and an expense without good return.

A few simple rules like the following can be brought in an unobtrusive
way to the attention of those who use the library. Always be sure that
the library sets a good example in its handling of books.

Keep books dry.

Do not handle them when the hands are moist; of course never when the
hands are soiled.

Use them to read, and for nothing else.

Never mark in them.

Do not turn down their pages.

Do not lay them face downwards.

Do not strap them up tightly.

Never let them fall.

Open them gently.

The book you are reading will go to others. Pass it on to them neat
and clean, hoping that they will do the same by you.




CHAPTER XIX

Accessioning books


A careful record should be made of all books received. Use for this
purpose what is called an accession book. This is a blank book, ruled
and lettered and numbered especially for library invoices. (See the
Library Bureau catalog.) It is the library's chief record, and should
contain a complete history of every volume on its shelves. The items
entered in the accession book concerning every volume in the library
are commonly the following: date of entry; accession number;
class number (religion, sociology, etc.); author; title; place of
publication and name of publisher; date of publication; binding
(cloth, leather, etc.); size (octavo, quarto, etc.); number of pages;
name of dealer from whom purchased; cost; remarks (maps, plates, etc.;
books rebound; magazines, etc.; lost, worn out, replaced by another
book, etc.).

[Illustration: Accession book, left-hand page. (Reduced size.)

Date 29 5 '92

   ACCESSION
F.T.           CLASS   BOOK   VOL.  AUTHOR         TITLE
        7581   428     B88           Bunce, O.B.   Don't
7581.93   82           Z713          Zola, E.      Soil
Scr.15.92 83   973.1   F54    v.1    Fiske, J.     Discovery of Amer.
          84   973.1   F54    v.2       "             "
          85                                                         ]

[Illustration: Accession book, right-hand page. (Reduced size.)

PLACE AND PUBLISHER   DATE   BINDING   SOURCE    COST    REMARKS
N.Y.           App.   1885    pa.      Scribner     28   Bind No. 354
L.        Vizetelly   1888    cl.        "          81   "    "   355
B.            Ho.M.   1892c    "         "      } 2.97
"               "       "      "         "      }                    ]

Each book and each volume of a set has a separate accession number and
a separate entry. Each entry occupies a line; each line is numbered
from one up to such a number as the library has volumes. The number of
each line, called the accession number, is written on the first page
after the title-page of the book described on that line. The accession
book is a life history of every book in the library. It forms such
a record as any business-like person would wish to have of property
entrusted to his care. It is also a catalog of all books in the
library, and a useful catalog as long as the library is small. Never
use an old accession number for a new book, even though the original
book has disappeared from the library.

Record should be made of all books, pamphlets, reports, bulletins,
magazines, etc., received by the library as gifts; and every gift
should be promptly and courteously acknowledged in writing, even if
previously acknowledged in person. Keep this record in a blank book,
alphabetizing all gifts by the names of the givers, with dates of
receipt. Books given should appear on the accession register the same
as books purchased.




CHAPTER XX

Classifying books


The smallest public library should be classified and cataloged. This
will make its resources more easily available, and will prevent the
confusion and waste of labor which are sure to come if systematic
treatment of the books is deferred. Get the best advice obtainable;
consider the library's field and its possibilities of growth, and
let the first work on the books be such as will never need to be done
over.

To classify books is to place them in groups, each group including,
as nearly as may be, all the books treating of a given subject, for
instance, geology; or all the books, on whatever subject, cast in a
particular form--for instance, poetry; or all the books having to do
with a particular period of time--for instance, the middle ages. Few
books are devoted exclusively to one subject and belong absolutely
in any one class. The classification of books must be a continual
compromise. Its purpose is not accurately to classify all printed
things, this can't be done; but simply to make certain sources of
information--books--more available. Any classification, if it gets the
books on a given subject side by side, and those on allied subjects
near one another, is a good one.

Books may be classified into groups in a catalog or list, yet
themselves stand without order on the shelves. For convenience in
getting for anyone all the books on a given subject, and especially
for the help of those who are permitted to visit the shelves, all
books should stand in their appropriate classes. Each book, therefore,
should bear a mark which will tell in what class it belongs;
distinguish it from all other books in that class; show where it
stands on the shelves among its fellows of the same class; and
indicate which one it is of several possible copies of the same book.
This mark can be used to designate the book in all records of it,
instead of the larger entry of its author and title.

There are two classification systems worthy of consideration, the
Dewey, or decimal, and the Cutter, or expansive. They are outlined in
the following chapters. Don't try to devise a system of your own.

Having decided on your system of classification, begin to classify.
This is one of the many things which can only be learned by doing.
Give fiction no class number, but an author number or "book-mark"
only, as explained in a later chapter. Give all biography a single
letter as its class number, and follow this by the author number.

Distinguish all juvenile books, whether fiction or other, by writing
before their numbers some distinguishing symbol.

Take up first, in classification proper, the subjects of history and
travel, which will be found comparatively easy.

It is easier to classify 25 or 50 books at a time in any given class
than it is to classify them singly as you come to them in the midst
of books of other classes. Consequently, group your books roughly into
classes before you begin work on them.

As soon as a book is classified enter it at once in your
shelf-list--explained in a later chapter--and see that an author-card
for it is put in the author catalog--explained later--with its proper
number thereon.

If, after you have made up your mind, from an examination of the
title-page, or table of contents, or a few pages here and there, what
subject a book treats of in the main, you are still in doubt in what
class to place it, consider what kind of readers will be likely to ask
for it, and in what class they will be likely to look for it, and put
it into that class. In doubtful cases the catalogs of other libraries
are often good guides.

Keep your classification as consistent as possible. Before putting a
book, about which there is any opportunity for choice, in the class
you have selected for it, examine your shelf-list and see that the
books already there are of like nature with it.

Classify as well as you can, and don't worry if you find you have made
errors. There are always errors. Don't get into the habit of changing.
Be consistent in classifying, and stick by what you have done.




CHAPTER XXI

The Dewey or Decimal system of classification

[From the Introduction to the Decimal classification and Relative
index. Published by the Library Bureau, $5.]


The field of knowledge is divided into nine main classes, and these
are numbered by the digits 1 to 9. Cyclopedias, periodicals, etc.,
so general in character as to belong to no one of these classes,
are marked nought, and form a tenth class. Each class is similarly
separated into nine divisions, general works belonging to no division
having nought in place of the division number. Divisions are similarly
divided into nine sections, and the process is repeated as often
as necessary. Thus 512 means Class 5 (Natural science), Division 1
(Mathematics), Section 2 (Algebra), and every algebra is numbered 512.

The books on the shelves and the cards in the subject catalog are
arranged in simple numerical order, all class numbers being decimals.
Since each subject has a definite number, it follows that all books
on any subject must stand together. The tables show the order in which
subjects follow one another. Thus 512 Algebra precedes 513 Geometry,
and follows 511 Arithmetic.

In the book after the tables of the classes arranged in their
numerical order is an index, in which all the heads of the tables
are arranged in one simple alphabet, with the class number of each
referring to its exact place in the preceding tables. This index
includes also, as far as they have been found, all the synonyms or
alternative names for the heads, and many other entries that seem
likely to help a reader find readily the subject sought. Though the
user knows just where to turn to his subject in the tables, by first
consulting the index he may be sent to other allied subjects, where he
will find valuable matter which he would otherwise overlook.

The claims of the system may be summed up as follows: compared
with other systems it is less expensive; more easily understood,
remembered, and used; practical rather than theoretical; brief and
familiar in its nomenclature; best for arranging pamphlets, sale
duplicates, and notes, and for indexing; susceptible of partial
and gradual adoption without confusion; more convenient in keeping
statistics and checks for books off the shelves; the most satisfactory
adaptation of the card catalog principle to the shelves. It requires
less space to shelve the books; uses simpler symbols and fewer of
them; can be expanded, without limit and without confusion or waste of
labor, in both catalogs and on shelves, or in catalogs alone; checks
more thoroughly and conveniently against mistakes; admits more readily
numerous cross references; is unchangeable in its call-numbers, and so
gives them in all places where needed, as given in no other system;
in its index affords an answer to the greatest objection to class
catalogs, and is the first satisfactory union of the advantages of the
class and dictionary systems.

The Decimal system is used by a large number of libraries in this
country, and has gained recognition and has been put to use by some
librarians and men of science in Europe.

Divisions

000 General Works
010 Bibliography.
020 Library Economy.
030 General Cyclopedias.
040 General Collections.
050 General Periodicals.
060 General Societies.
070 Newspapers.
080 Special Libraries. Polygraphy.
090 Book Rarities.

100 Philosophy
100 Metaphysics.
120 Special Metaphysical Topics.
130 Mind and Body.
140 Philosophical Systems.
150 Mental Faculties. Psychology.
160 Logic.
170 Ethics.
180 Ancient Philosophers.
190 Modern Philosophers.

200 Religion
210 Natural Theology.
220 Bible.
230 Doctrinal Theol. Dogmatics.
240 Devotional and Practical.
250 Homiletic. Pastoral. Parochial.
260 Church. Institutions. Work.
270 Religious History.
280 Christian Churches and Sects.
290 Non-Christian Religions.

300 Sociology
310 Statistics.
320 Political Science.
330 Political Economy.
340 Law.
350 Administration.
360 Associations and Institutions.
370 Education.
380 Commerce and Communication
390 Customs. Costumes. Folk-lore.

400 Philology
410 Comparative.
420 English.
430 German.
440 French.
450 Italian.
460 Spanish.
470 Latin.
480 Greek.
490 Minor Languages.

500 Natural Science
510 Mathematics.
520 Astronomy.
530 Physics.
540 Chemistry.
550 Geology.
560 Paleontology.
570 Biology.
580 Botany.
590 Zoology.

600 Useful Arts
610 Medicine.
620 Engineering.
630 Agriculture.
640 Domestic Economy.
650 Communication and Commerce
660 Chemical Technology.
670 Manufactures.
680 Mechanic Trades.
690 Building.

700 Fine Arts
710 Landscape Gardening.
720 Architecture.
730 Sculpture.
740 Drawing, Design, Decoration.
750 Painting.
760 Engraving.
770 Photography.
780 Music.
790 Amusements.

800 Literature
810 American.
820 English.
830 German.
840 French.
850 Italian.
860 Spanish.
870 Latin.
880 Greek.
890 Minor Languages.

900 History
910 Geography and Description.
920 Biography.
930 Ancient History.
940        Europe.        }
950        Asia.          }
960        Africa.        } Modern
970        North America. }
980        South America. }
990        Oceanica and Polar Regions.




CHAPTER XXII

The Expansive classification: C.A. Cutter's


The classification

Those who have used it call it common-sense and up-to-date. They say
that it is clear and easy to apply, and that it gives a suitable place
for many classes of books for which other systems make no provision,
or provide badly. It has been maturing for 20 years. Before it was
printed it was applied (with a different notation) to the arrangement
of a library of over 150,000 v. The experience thus gained has been
supplemented as each part was prepared for the press by searching
catalogs, bibliographies, and treatises on the subject classified.
This ensured fullness. Overclassification, on the other hand, has
been guarded against in four ways: 1) By not introducing at all
distinctions that are purely theoretical or very difficult to apply;
2) by printing in small type those divisions which are worth making
only when a large number of books calls for much subdivision; 3) by
warning classifiers in the notes that certain divisions are
needed only in large libraries; 4) by printing separately seven
classifications of progressive fullness, the first having only 11
classes, which would be enough for a very small library; the second
having 15 classes and 16 geographical divisions, suiting the small
library when it has grown a little larger; the third having 30 classes
and 29 geographical divisions; and so on, till the seventh would
suffice for the very largest library. The same notation is used
throughout, so that a library can adopt the fuller classification with
the least possible change of mark.

It often suggests alternative places for a subject, stating the
reasons for and against each, so that classifiers have a liberty of
choice according to the character of their libraries, or of their
clientage, or their own preferences.


The notation

The original feature of this notation is the use of letters to mark
non-local subjects and figures for places. This makes it possible to
express the local relations of a subject in a perfectly unmistakable
way, the letters never being used to signify countries, and the
figures never being used for any other subjects but countries. Thus 45
is England wherever it occurs; e.g. F being history and G geography,
F45 is the history of England, G45 the geography of England. This
local notation can be used not merely with the main classes, but in
every subdivision, no matter how minute, which is worth dividing by
countries. Whenever one wishes to separate what relates to England
from other works on any subject one has only to add the two figures
45. Whenever one sees 45 in the mark of a book one knows that the book
so marked treats its subject with special reference to England. This
"local list" by the figures from 11 to 99 gives marks to the 88 most
important countries. The addition of a third and sometimes of a fourth
figure gives marks for all the independent countries in the world.
Parts of and places in countries are arranged alphabetically under
each, and are marked either by the usual Cutter order-table, which
has initial letters followed by figures, or by a special Cutter
order-table composed of figures alone.

Non-local subjects are marked with letters, first, to distinguish them
from local subjects; and, second, because of the greater capacity.
There are 26 main classes, A to Z. By adding a second letter these
are divided into 676 parts, and these, by adding a third letter, into
17,576 parts, making 18,278 in all, so that as one uses successively
three, four, or five characters, one gets respectively 18 times, 46
times, and 118 times the capacity of a decimal notation. The result
is, short marks, numerous subdivisions, much greater elasticity, much
greater power to properly express the relations of subjects to one
another, and their relations to subordinate subjects, and much more
opportunity of making the different portions of the classification
correspond to each other.

The first part of the classification, as published, contains the first
six classifications and a combined index to them all. The seventh,
the fullest classification, will have 10 sections. Five of them
are published, each with its own index. Of two (Social sciences and
Language and literature) about half is published. When these and the
other three (Natural sciences, Industrial arts, Recreative and fine
arts) are printed, a full index to the whole will be made.


Expansive classification. Outline

A    Generalia.
A        General works.
Ae       General encyclopedias.
Ap       General periodicals.
Ar       Reference works.
As       General societies.

B-D  Spiritual sciences.
B        Philosophy.
Ba-Bf      National Philosophies and Systems of philosophy.
Bg         Metaphysics.
Bh         Logic.
Bi         Psychology.
Bm         Moral Philosophy.
Br       Religion, Natural theology.
Bt       Religions
Bu         Folk-lore.
Ca         Judaism.
Cb         Bible.
Cc         Christianity.
Cce           Patristics.
Ce            Apologetics, Evidences.
Cf            Doctrinal theology.
Ck            Ethical theology.
Cp            Ritual theology and church Polity.
Cx            Pastoral theology.
Cz            Sermons.
D             Ecclesiastical history.
Dk            Particular churches and sects.

E-G  Historical sciences.
E        Biography and Portraits.
F-Fz     History.
F          Universal history.
F02        Ancient history.
F03        Modern history.
F04        Medieval history.
F11-F99    History of single countries (using local list).
Fa-Fw      Allied studies, as Chronology, Philosophy of history,
                History of Civilization, Antiquities, Numismatics,
                Chivalry, Heraldry.

G        Geography, Travels.
G11-G99    Single countries (using local list).
Ga         Ancient geography.
Gf         Surveying and Map-making.
Gz         Maps.

H    Social sciences.
Hb       Statistics.
Hc       Economics.
He         Production.
Hf         Labor.
Hi         Slavery.
Hj         Transportation.
Hk         Commerce.
Hm         Money.
Hn         Banking.
Hr         Private finance.
Ht         Taxation and Public finance.
Hu         Tariff.
Hw         Property, Capital.
Hz         Consumption.

I        Demotics, Sociology.
Ic         Crime.
Ig         Charity.
Ih         Providence.
Ik         Education.

J        Civics, Government, Political science.
Ju         Constitutions and Politics.

K        Law and Legislation.
Kd         Public documents.

L-Q  Natural sciences.
L        General works, Metrics.
           _L  Number and space._
Lb       Mathematics.
           _Lh-Lr  Matter and force._
Lh       Physics.
Lo       Chemistry.
Lr       Astronomy.
           _M-Q  Matter and life_
M        Natural history.
Mg       Geology, incl. Mineralogy, Crystallography,
                Physical geography, Meteorology,
                Paleontology.
My       Biology.
N        Botany.
           Cryptogams.
           Phanerogams.
O       Zoology.
           Invertebrates.
P          Vertebrates.
Pg            Mammals.
Pw         Anthropology, Ethnology, Ethnography.
Q      Medicine.

Q-Z  Arts.
R      General works, Exhibitions, Patents.
Rd-Rg  Extractive arts.
Rd         Mining.
Re         Metallurgy.
Rf         Agriculture.
Rh         Horticulture.
Ri         Silviculture.
Rj         Animaliculture.
Rq    Chemic arts.
Rt    Electric arts.
Ry    Domestic arts.
Rz    Food and Cookery.
S     Constructive arts, Engineering.
Sg         Building.
Sj         Sanitary engineering.
Sl         Hydraulic engineering.
St         Transportation and Communication.

T     Fabricative arts, Machinery, Manufactures,
                and Handicrafts.

U     Protective arts, i.e., Military and Naval
                arts, Life-preserving, Fire fighting.

V     Athletic and Recreative arts, Sports and
                Games.
Vs        Gymnastics.
Vt        Theater.
Vv    Music.

W     Fine arts, plastic and graphic.
We        Landscape gardening.
Wf        Architecture.
Wj        Sculpture.
Wk        Casting, Baking, Firing.
Wm        Drawing.
Wp        Painting.
Wq        Engraving.
Wr        Photography.
Ws        Decorative arts, including Costume.

X-Yf  Communicative arts (by language).
X         Philology.
X         Inscriptions.
X         Language.
Y         Literature.
Yf            English Fiction.

Z     Book arts (making and use of books).
Za-Zk    Production.
Za            Authorship.
Zb            Rhetoric.
Zd            Writing.
Zh            Printing.
Zk            Binding.
Zl       Distribution (Publishing and Bookselling).
Zp       Storage and Use (Libraries).
Zt       Description (Zt Bibliography; Zx Selection of reading;
                Zy Literary history; Zz National bibliography.)




CHAPTER XXIII

Author-numbers, or book-marks


The books in a given group or class should stand on the shelves in
the alphabetical order of their authors' names, though this is not
necessary in a small library. This result is best secured by adding to
the class-mark of every book another mark, called an author-number or
book-number or book-mark, made up of the first letter of the author's
name and certain figures. Books bearing these author-numbers,
if arranged first alphabetically by the letters, and then in the
numerical order of the numbers following the letters, will always
stand in the alphabetical order of the authors' names. Different books
by the same author are distinguished from one another by adding other
figures to the author-number, or by adding to the author-numbers the
first letter of the title of each book.

These book-marks cannot be chosen arbitrarily. They should be taken
from the printed set of them worked out by Mr Cutter, and called the
Cutter author-tables. (See Library Bureau catalog.)

In a very small library the books in a given class can be
distinguished one from another by writing after the class-number of
each book the number of that book in its class. If the class-mark of
religion, for example, is 20, the books successively placed in that
class will bear the numbers 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, etc.

Fiction should have author-numbers only. The absence of a class-number
will sufficiently distinguish it from other classes.




CHAPTER XXIV

The shelf-list


Many books can be very properly put in any one of several different
classes. In which one a given book should be placed will often be
decided by noting where other like books have been placed. Books by
authors of the same name will often fall into the same class, and to
each of these a different author-number must be given. You must have
at hand, then, a list of the books already classified, to see at once,
in classifying the next book, what kinds of books and books by what
authors are in each class. Every book in the library, as soon as it
has been classified, and has received its proper author-number, should
be entered in a list in the order first of its class-number, next of
its author-number. This list is called the shelf-list. It is commonly
kept on sheets, but many librarians believe it best kept on cards; a
card for each different book. It is a catalog of all the books in the
library arranged in the order in which they stand on the shelves. It
is a subject-index of the library. It is indispensable in the work of
properly placing, class-numbering, and author-numbering new books.
It is a list from which it is very easy to check over the library and
learn what books are missing or out of place. It includes usually
only the class- and author-number, author's name, brief title, and
accession number. This last enables one to refer at once from
the brief entry of a certain book in the shelf-list to the full
information in the accession book. There are advantages in adding to
the shelf-list record the publisher and price. As soon as a book has
received its class- and author-numbers, which together are sometimes
called the "call-number," as being the mark to be used by the public
in calling for a book, these numbers, or combinations of numbers and
letters, should be written in the accession book in a column left for
the purpose, on the line given up to the description of the book in
hand. This enables one to refer at once from the accession entry of a
given book to the shelf-list entry of the same book.

[Illustration: Shelf list sheet. (Reduced; actual size. 10 x 25 cm.)
Book No.  Accession No.   Vol.   Author    Title
qG62      88390                  Goodrich  British eloquence
M11         540           2      Macauley  Speeches
            820
W72       49408                  Windham]

[Illustration: Shelf-list card. (Reduced; actual size, 5 x 12-1/2
cm.)

090 Slater
S11  Book collecting
                      3528]




CHAPTER XXV

Cataloging books


After the books are accessioned, classified, author-numbered or
book-marked, and shelf-listed, they should be cataloged. A catalog
is a labor-saving device in library work. From it both reader and
attendant can ascertain whether the library has a certain book. By
consulting the catalog for the class-number, the book may be looked
for in its proper place, thus often saving hunting through the shelves
in several classes.

A printed list or catalog of the library is one of the first things
that will be asked for by the public. It is useful especially for
those who cannot well visit the library. But it is very expensive; it
is out of date as soon as issued; it cannot often be sold; it requires
training and experience to make it properly, and the money it will
cost can be better spent otherwise. Do not issue one. Print lists of
additions in newspapers. Post them in the library. Issue an occasional
bulletin of the latest purchases if you think it will be popular. Put
your time, skill, energy, and money into the making of a full card
catalog; keep this up to date; give the public access to it; teach
them how to use it, and you will find the printed catalog not needed.

On cards prepared for the purpose [see chapter on Things needed (9)
and Library Bureau catalog], a card for each book--and a book is a
book although in several volumes--write the author's surname (if the
book is anonymous write first the title), given name or names, if
known, title, date of copyright, date of publication, call-number, and
such other data as seem desirable. The price, for example, may be put
here, and the size, indicating this by a letter. [See Cole size
card in chapter on Things needed (9) and in Library Bureau catalog.]
Arrange these cards alphabetically, by authors' names for an author
catalog. This catalog will be in constant use in the purchasing of
books, in classifying new purchases, etc. By the call-number one
can refer from any entry in it to the entry of the same book in the
shelf-list. To make possible a like reference to the accession book,
write the accession number of each book near the bottom of the card
on which it is entered. In making the catalog entries observe
certain fixed rules of alphabetization, capitalization, punctuation,
arrangement, etc., as set forth in the catalog rules which may be
adopted. Only by so doing can you secure uniformity of entry, neatness
in work, and the greatest possible meaning from every note, however
much abbreviated.

[Illustration: Author card. (Reduced; actual size, 7-1/2 x 12-1/2 cm.)

973.2 Coffin, Charles Carleton, 1823-
C65      _Old_ times in the colonies.
      460 p. il. O  N.Y. c[1880]]

Preserve this catalog with great care. It is the key to the records in
shelf-list and accession book. In a small library the public may very
properly use it. As soon as possible, if your library is to be
quite large and much used, prepare for public use a duplicate of it,
omitting all those entries in the original which are of use only to
the librarian.

The average reader more often remembers the titles of books than
their authors. Add, therefore, to the author-list, in your public
catalog--not in your private or official catalog, for which
author-entries alone are sufficient--a title-list; a set of cards like
the author cards, except that on each one the book's title is entered
first instead of its author. Arrange author and title-lists in one
alphabetical series.

[Illustration: Title card. (Reduced; actual size, 7-1/2 x 12-1/2 cm.)

973.2   Old times in the colonies
C65   _Coffin_, C.C.]

As the use of the library for reference work increases, the question
will often be asked, has it any books on a certain subject? Add,
therefore, to your author- and title-list a subject-list. Make this by
writing a card for each book with the subject of which it treats the
first word upon it. Arrange this also in the same alphabetical series
with the other two. In some cases the book's title and its subject
will be identical; for example, Geology, by Tompkins, or Washington's
boyhood, by Jones. For such books one card answers for title and
subject. For fiction no subject-card is necessary. On the other hand,
many books have to do with more than one subject; a volume of essays,
for example, or a group of biographical sketches. For such it is
desirable to add to the subject-list by writing as many cards for each
book as the importance of the several subjects therein and the space
the author gives to them seem to demand. Each card will have for the
first word of its entry the subject to which it refers, followed by
the author and title of the book.

Arrange these cards also alphabetically with all the others. Put on
every card in the catalog the call-number of the book to which it
refers. This author-title-subject-list, or dictionary catalog, will
tell at a glance if the library has books a) by a certain author; b)
with a given title; c) on a given subject. These are the questions
most often asked.

[Illustration: Subject card. (Reduced; actual size, 7-1/2 x 12-1/2
cm.)

973.2   U.S. history- colonial.
C65  Coffin, Charles Carleton 1823-
        _Old_ times in the colonies.
        460 p. il. O  N.Y. c[1880]]

There are in print several books giving rules for cataloging. Some of
these are mentioned in the chapter on Things needed (9). In a small
library which is always to be small it is not necessary to follow all
the rules laid down in these books. It is much better, however, to
do all the work, even in a very small library, according to the most
approved methods. So to do brings you in touch with your fellows and
gives you the comfort which comes from the consciousness of work well
done, even if the amount of the work be small.

In writing the subject-headings difficulties will soon arise unless
you follow certain general rules and are careful also to be consistent
in your work. For instance, at intervals during a few months you add
to the library books on horses, cows, sheep, goats, camels, and pigs;
some dealing with one animal, some with two or more. If for the first
one you write a subject-card with the catch-word or entry-word at the
top "Domestic animals," and for the next one "Farm animals," and for
the next one "Animals, domestic," you will scatter the references to
domesticated animals all through your catalog, to the despair of those
who would use it. You can guard against this, and easily, if your
catalog is small, by looking to see what you have already written
every time you write a new subject-entry-word, and by following out a
previously devised plan in the making of your entries. The safest
way is to get a printed list of headings and catalog rules and follow
them. (See chapter on Things needed, 9.)

With a printed list of subject-headings at hand it is not difficult to
keep your catalog consistent and reasonable.

This same list of subject-headings will serve also as a guide in the
writing of the cross-reference cards for your catalog, the cards, that
is, which refer the searcher from the topic "pigs," for example, to
"swine," or from both to "domestic animals."

Of course the subject-headings' list must be systematically used, and
must be marked and annotated to fit your special needs. This work,
like classifying, can best be learned by doing.

There are many ways of keeping your catalog cards. The thing to use is
a set of trays made for the purpose. (See Library Bureau catalog.)
The cards are extremely valuable, and expense should not be spared in
providing for their safe keeping and handy use.




CHAPTER XXVI

Preparing books for the shelves


All books should be marked with the name of the library. This is
cheaply done with a rubber stamp and violet or red ink pad. An
embossing stamp makes a good and indelible mark. The type used should
be of moderate size and open faced. A perforating stamp now on the
market marks a book neatly and most permanently. Mark books freely, to
assure their being recognized as the library's property wherever seen.
Have some definite pages on which stamps always appear. Many use the
title-page, fifty-first or one hundred and first, and the last page.
This need not interfere with marking elsewhere.

[Illustration: Embossing stamp.]

On the back of the book write the call-number. For this purpose use a
tag or label. They can be had in several sizes; round ones are best.
Paste the label where it will mar the book least, as near the middle
as possible. It is well to put all labels at the same height from
the bottom of the back, so far as this can be done without covering
essential parts of the lettering. Four inches is a good height for the
lower edge of all labels. Labels stick better if the place where they
are to be pasted is moistened with a solution of ammonia and water, to
remove varnish or grease. If this is done the mucilage or gum on the
labels when purchased will be found usually to stick well. After the
call-number is written, varnish the label with a thin solution of
shellac in alcohol. Labels put on in this way will keep clean, remain
legible, and rarely come off.

If a charging system using a pocket is adopted, no book-plate is
needed, if the pocket, that is, is pasted on the inside of the front
cover and has the name of the library on it.

When books are classified the call-number is written with hard pencil
on a certain page, the same page in all books; a common place is the
first right hand page after the title-page, and near the inner margin.

This call-number should be written with ink on the pocket and book
slip, which is kept in the pocket, or on the book-plate. It is
advisable also to write the call-number in ink on some definite page
bearing the library's stamp.

If a book-plate is adopted let it be small and simple. Have a special
plate for gifts, with space on it for writing the name of the giver.

Books wear better if they are carefully opened in a number of places
before they are placed on the shelves. This makes the backs flexible
and less likely to break with rough handling. In cutting the leaves be
sure that the paper knife does its work to the very back edge of the
top folds, that it is never sharp enough to cut down into the leaves,
and that it is held nearly parallel to the fold to be cut.

The following is a list of things to be done before books are ready
for use in a public library:

1 Book notices and reviews are read and the library's needs and funds
considered.

2 Order slips are made out, arranged alphabetically, and compared
with the catalog to see if the books listed on them are already in the
library.

3 Order list is made out, approved, and sent to dealer.

4 Books arrive and are checked by the bill, and brief notes of date of
purchase, initials of dealer, and price are written on the left margin
of the second page after the title-page.

5 Bill is checked for items and prices by order slips.

6 Gifts when received are a) properly acknowledged; b) entered in gift
book; c) marked with small gift-book plates pasted inside the front
cover.

7 Books are looked over (if you wish), collated, especially the
expensive ones, to see if complete and sound.

8 Books are entered in the accession book.

9 Books are stamped with library stamp.

10 Books are opened to loosen binding, and pages cut, if necessary.

11 The book-plates are pasted inside the front cover--if book-plates
are used.

12 Pockets are pasted on the inside of front cover or wherever the
system adopted places them.

13 Labels are put on the backs.

14 Books are classified, author-numbered and call-numbered.

15 Books are entered on shelf-list.

16 Catalog cards are written--author, title, and subject.

17 Bulletin lists of the books are made out for posting up and for
newspapers.

18 Call-numbers are written on the labels, the pockets, and the book
slips.

19 Labels are varnished.

20 The call-number of each book is entered in the proper place on the
line which that book occupies in the accession book.

21 Books are placed on the library shelves for public use.

22 Catalog cards, author, title, and subject, are arranged
alphabetically in one series and distributed in catalog.




CHAPTER XXVII

Binding and mending


Binding a book means not only covering it, but preserving it. Good
binding, even at a high price, educates the public taste and promotes
a desire to protect the library from injury and loss. Cheap binding
degrades books and costs more in the end than good work.

Keep in a bindery-book, which may be any simple blank book, or one
especially made for the purpose (see Library Bureau catalog), a record
of each volume that the library binds or rebinds.

Enter in the bindery-book consecutive bindery number, book-number,
author, title, binding to be used, da