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T*- 4 -4 4". .4 ^^- ■♦^ - -4- -f ^1^-- 4- 4-, -4 -i- ^- 4- '4. ^'i^ - ^ -4- -h -^~ -*■- -'- * f -^N- ? -tI^ 4^- -4-4^ 4 ' 4 -f f -.+ i^ > f 4 4- f- T^' * t- + 4 •*- -*■ 4 4 -V > > ^ f 4 i^ *■ ^ + f 4- - ^-Ih 4^ 4 - '^- -i- 't' - + '*- -* ' - if-- + %^ -i^ 4- 4 >. , -* -i(- ^-t t + ' 4 4 4 -^^ -4- . ^ + + 4-^ 4 4 ^- ^t ^ ^ 4- 4 4 ^ * + + + 'T ^ , r + ~ J- -h * 4 -<^ -*- + ^ ^ + + -^ + ^ + ^ f ^ -r + -h ^- -^ f + f 4 f ^1- f '^ PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTIETH ANNUAL MEETING AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION LAKE MJNNETONKA, MINNESOTA June '^2-27, i;io- BOSTWICK 119 peal to a wholly foreign group of readers, with their foreign point of view, may be assumed, as in the case of a Russian col- lection on the East Side of New York; though even here it is a question of whether this is not a good place to pre- pare these readers for a change in li- brary "folkways" — to use Professor Sum- ner's expressive word. Nor must we forget that our own ideas of propriety are constantly changing. Take the single instance of the use, in literature, of words regarded as profane or vulgar. Most of us can recollect a time when our acquaintances were likely to be shocked by the occurrence in a book of the expletive "damn" — that is, it it were spelled out. It was generally held to be unobjectionable, or at least less ob- jectionable, if the second and third letters were replaced by a dash. Evidently this is the purest convention. This and worse words appear now, not without shocking some persons, to be sure, but certainly without shocking many of those who for- merly would not have tolerated them. On the other hand it would not be difScult to instance words formerly common in good literature whose use would now cause something of a sensation. There are also good people who will read unmoved sur- prising words and expressions when put into the mouth of a cowboy or a K;ion- dike miner, but whose gorge would rise if the same words were employed by a writer in propria persona. What is true of words is true also of subjects. That which could not be touched upon yesterday is discussed freely to-day and vice versa. No way of dealing with the situation will fail to offend someone. and the only approximation to satisfaction will be gained by the use of common sense applied to each case as it comes up. Indecency, of course, is not the only of- fense against beauty that a book may com- mit. It may be trashy, that is, its subject matter or the manner in which it is treated may be trivial and worthless. The dust of the street is neither beautiful nor valuable, although it may contain nothing actively injurious to health or repulsive to the senses. The diction of the book may offend against beauty and order by its in- correctness; its paper, its typography, its binding, its illustrations may all be of- fensive to the eye. These last are mere matter of outward show, to be sure; it may be necessary to disregard them. They are usually reasons for excluding an edition rather than a book, though sometimes the only obtainable edition of- fends in so many of these ways as to make it unpurchasable, even it otherwise desirable. So far as they militate against the usefulness of the book rather than its hcauiy, as in the case of the badly sewed binding or paper that is comely but flimsy, they fall under the head of badness rather than that of ugliness — they are offenses against the Good and not against the Beautiful. Such material grounds for re- jection, however are not peculiar to books, and I do not dwell on them here. Ugli- ness that consists in mere triviality or in incorrectness of diction has this in com- mon with impropriety — it is arbitrary and conventional. With regard to language, this is obvious. The fact that a certain combination of sounds means one thing in France and another in England and is quite unintelligible perhaps in Spain, is a matter of pure convention, though the con- vention is sanctioned by long usage. The fact that the double negative is very good Greek and very vulgar English is equally arbitrary. These conventions have be- come serious things with us; they are of prime importance in the consideration of books, but it is desirable that we should classify them correctly. With regard to triviality the case is not so clear, yet I feel strongly that it is a relative, not an absolute, equality. The term should be classed with that other misused word — superficiality. No book, of course, and no mind, is absolutely thorough, and the lesser grades of knowl- edge are as important in their place as the higher. What we should condemn is not that a man, or a book, possesses a cer- tain slight degree of knowledge or of 120 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE ability, but the fact that, possessing it. he believes or represents it to be a higher degree. A man's desire, we will say, to memorize the Russian alphabet, so that he may read the proper names on book titles. Is he to be condemned because he knows no more of Russian? Another wishes to wield a hammer dexterously enough to drive a nail without smashing his fingers. Is he "superficial" because he is not an expert cabinet-maker? Still another has learned to play the piano well enough to amuse himself in his idle hours. Does his lack of skill lay him open to the charge of "superficiality" — these people may, it is true, think that they are respectively, a Russian scholar, a skilled carpenter, and a good pianist; then and then only are they culpable. The "superficiality," in other words, consists in mistaking a lesser degree of knowl- edge for a higher or in thinking that the lesser degree suffices for something that requires the higher — not in the mere limi- tation of the possessor. A superficial book is that which, skimming the surface of the subject, persuades the reader that he has gone into its depths; as for the skimming itself that might be quite ade- quate and sufficient for some purposes. So with "triviality." Nothing is trivial that has an aim and accomplishes it; as for the gradation of aims from unimpor- tant up to important, I leave that to others. Who shall say whether the passing of an idle hour or the addition of a few facts to one's store of knowledge is the more impor- tant? The idle hour may be the recrea- tion period of a hard working mind, with- out which it might break down from over-pressure, leaving to less competent minds the completion of its useful labor. The few facts might be quite unfruitful. This Is why we should hesitate to con- demn a trivial book that has beauty of form or some other positive virtue to com- mend it. Triviality is objectionable only when it masquerades as importance. Pei^ haps it would be better to say: a book that pretends to excellence along any line where It Is really valueless Is a dangerous book. This brings us back to Truth as a criterion of excellence, for such a book Is a hypo- critical or false book, as much as if it definitely asserted as a fact that which is untrue. When a book, therefore, comes up as a candidate for omission from the purchas- ing list, or perhaps for exclusion after it has actually been placed on the shelves, the librarian's first duty is to inquire whether it is objectionable because of falsity, of evil morality or impropriety. The first question may be determined only by reference to an expert. If the second is alleged, it is well to inquire whether the supposed immorality of the book be not in fact simply impropriety, and if impropriety is the only objection, whether it is of kind and amount likely to be properly offensive. If the charge of immorality is sustained I see no place for the book on the shelves of a public, circulating library. What has been said may seem to need rounding out with specific illustrations and Instances, but it is particularly de- sirable to avoid here anything of the na- ture of purely personal opinion and preju- dice. It might be possible of course to define the content of certain well-known works by their conformity or non-conform- ity with the canons above laid down, with- out attempting to settle the question, at the moment, whether the degree of non- conformity, if it exists, is high enough to make exclusion from a public library desir- able or necessary. From this point of view, Othello, we will say, is a play teaching a moral lesson in doing which it discusses and portrays sin, but never with approval, expressed or implied. The author uses words and expressions not in accordance with modern standards of propriety, al- though not contrary to those of his own time. In like manner Boccaccio's "Decam- eron," may be characterized as a collection of short stories connected by thin nar- rative, often telling of wrong-doing in a manner clearly implying that it is usual and unobjectionable with use of words and incidents frequently contrary not only SECRETARY'S REPORT 121 to modern ideas of propriety, but also to those of the author's time, except in the dissolute circles for which the tales were originally written. Some of the stories however, teach morality and the literary style and method are beautiful and com- mendable while the pictures of society are truthful. The implications of customary vice are simply reflections of life as the author knew it. "Gil Bias" by Le Sage, con- tinuing in this vein, we may call a tale of adventure in which everything is set down as It happens good, bad and indifferent; important and trivial, with a hero who is something of a rogue although the wicked- ness is incidental and is described in such a way that the reader never mistakes it for virtue even when the writer tells it with a relish. The implication that wrong- doing is common, though undoubtedly con- veyed, leaves the impression only that it is common among the people and under the circumstances of the tale which is undoubtedly correct. It would greatly aid the library censor if he could have anno- tations of this sort on all books intended for promiscuous public circulation. For his purposes, in fact, all literature should be evaluated. By the light of this one color of the critical spectrum the two or three books just noted possess at least some of the elements of greatness; yet good people differ regarding the extent to which they should be made freely acces- sible to the general public. I have tried to set down regarding them data on which all may agree, for the purpose of impres- sing upon you the fact that disagreement is not so much regarding the data, as re- garding the application to them of prin- ciples which, if they have been stated correctly, are few, simple and readily ac- cepted. We have been lightly skimming the surface of a subject vital to all who have to do with the production and dis- tribution of books — to authors, editors, publishers, booksellers and above all to us librarians. The ranks of readers are swelling to-day; it is our boast that we are doing our best to swell them. They are recruited from classes whose literature — if we may so extend the term— has been oral rather than written, whose standards of propriety are sometimes those of an earlier and grosser age, whose ideas of right and wrong are beclouded by ignor- ance and distorted by prejudice. And at the same time hosts of our people, with little background of hereditary refinement to steady them, have become suddenly rich, "beyond the dreams of avarice." The shock has upset their ideas and their standards. Riches have come so suddenly and so vastly even to the educated, to those whose culture dates back for genera- tions, that It has overturned their ideals also. Our literature is menaced both from below and above. Books that distinctly commend what is wrong, that teach how to sin and tell how pleasant sin is, some- times with and sometimes without the added sauce of impropriety, are increas- ingly popular, tempting the author to imi- tate them, the publishers to produce, the bookseller to exploit. Thank Heaven they do not tempt the librarian. Here at last is a purveyor of books who has no interest iu distributing what is not clean, honest, and true. The librarian may, it he will — and he does will, say to this menac- ing tide, "thus for shalt thou go and no farther." The PRESIDENT: The next thing on the program is the REPORT OF THE SECRETARY The report of the Secretary will treat of a number of topics relating to the his- tory of the Association or of general library progress during the past year, which do not seem to fall within the pro- vince of any of its other ofificers and com- mittees. Change of officers. One change in the personnel of the officers elected at Ashe- ville has occurred through the resignation of Miss Helen E. Haines, who served the Association with rare fidelity and devo- tion for 16 years as recorder, vice-presi- dent and managing editor of its official organ. The resulting vacancy was filled 122 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE by the appointment of Miss Gratia Coun- tryman, librarian of tbe Minneapolis pub- lic library. Membership. According to the Consti- tution the membership in good standing at the beginning of this conference com- prises all who have paid dues for the cal- endar years 1907 and 1908 to the present time. Of such there are about 1950. Those still delinquent for 1907 dues at the close of this meeting will, after one month's notice, be dropped from the roll, leaving in good standing only those who have paid for 1908. An encouraging feature of our present membership is the marked increase in library members within the past year. There can be no doubt that this increase is chiefly due to the change which makes the "Bulletin of the Association" (which includes the annual volume of Proceed- ings) available to members only, and thus amply justifies the business wisdom of the publication of our own Proceedings. A. L. A. Bulletin. In accordance with the decision of the Council at Asheville, the "Bulletin," of which before that time 3 tentative issues had been issued, was definitely adopted as in effect if not in actual name, the official organ of the As- sociation and the "Library Journal" short- ly thereafter ceased to act as such. The immediately succeeding numbers of the 'Bulletin" were devoted to the "Handbook" and the "Proceedings" and it has been published bi-monthly through- out the year and sent without cost to every member. The AssociatiOii at other meetings. The Association was represented by an offi- cially accredited delegate at the annual meetings of 7 state associations during October, 1907. It was not originally intended that this representation should be by an officer of the Association; in fact all arrangements had been made for Mr Bostwick's western visit before his election to the presidency made possible the happy coincidence. The President has already made to the Council a stimulating report of this visit (see Council proceedings p. 409) and the Secretary has had personal testimony from the various meetings visited of the resultant pleasure and profit. The Association was officially repre- sented at the regular annual meeting of the British Library Association at Glas- gow in August, 1907, by J. C. M. Hanson of the Library of Congress. This repre- sentation was fraught with important re- sults in the matter of cooperative cata- loging and Mr Hanson's report was printed in full in the "Bulletin" for March 1908. Publicity. So much as has been pos- sible of the work formerly carried on by the Publicity committee, has been con- tinued by the Secretary through the Ex- ecutive offices, in the following specific points. Copies of the "Bulletin" for March, 1908, which contained the annual report on Gifts and bequests, were sent to a selected number of daily papers in all parts of the country, that regularly pub- lish library items. Exchange arrange- ments have been made by which, in return for the "Bulletin" the Executive offices regularly receive copies of 15 library jour- nals published in America and Europe. The "Centrallblatt fiir Bibliothekswesen" was the only journal solicited which re- fused to enter into such an exchange. Pictures of officers; announcements of the annual meeting; outline and full text oi many papers, program, etc., have been fur- nished to the local committee and the sev- eral press associations both east and west. Executive offices. For years the Asso- ciation needed and looked forward to a permanent Headquarters in charge of a paid executive officer who should give his entire time to its business. Two years ago at Narragansett Pier the Committee on Ways and means reported subscrip- tions to the amount of about $5000 for this purpose. This sum seemed sufficient to warrant a beginning and in September 1906 offices were opened in Boston in charge of E. C. Hovey. It was thought that the very action might attract finan- cial support or that the new executive SECRETARY'S REPORT 123 officer might secure further subscriptions until such time as the regular income of the Association should become sufficient to carry on the work. Neither expecta- tion was realized and after 16 months, on January, 1908, having expended all of the original $5000 and a considerable addi- tional sum (which could ill be spared) from the general treasury, it became necessary to retrench and the services of the executive officer were discontinued. With the generous cooperation of the Publishing board however, the offices have been continued in Boston and the necessary business of the Association, consisting chiefly of the collection and recording of the annual dues and the pre- paration, publication and mailing of the 6 numbers of the "Bulletin," in addition to the entire work of the Publishing board, has been carried on by Miss Nina E. Browne under the direction of the Execu- tive board. While this arrangement al- lows to be done only the actually neces- sary work and does not permit any of those many lines of useful and inspira- tional enterprise from which so much could result in an ideal headquarters, yet the result for the past six months seems to show clearly that even under the pres- ent slender auspices, enough has been done to show the distinct benefits of cen- tralized business activities and the mis- fortunes which would result from closing the headquarters offices and scattering the work as of old. Our quarters in Boston cost $1000 per year, and the lease on them expires on September 1st next. Ad- vantageous quarters in other cities have been offered free, and so the matter comes up to the assembling of the present conference. Politics In library appointments. The undue weight of partisan politics and per- sonal influence in determining library ap- pointments is not a new evil, and while on the contrary there is no lack of re- freshing examples of conspicuously satis- factory appointments where merit and fit- ness might not have been expected to con- trol, yet so long as any examples are af- forded so flagrantly unsatisfactory as those which prevailed within the past year in the choice of the state librarian in a southern state (L. J. 33:101) and of the executive officer of the library com- mission in a western state, so long will such methods and standards of selection fail of the approval of right minded li- brary workers. Necrology for 1907-8. Losses from our membership by death during the year that has passed since the Asheville conference have been more than usually numerous and the necrology list contains the names of some of our oldest members and of several of exceptional influence and use- fulness in their several communities. The following persons were members at the time of their death. Dr James Bain, Jr., librarian of the To- ronto public library, died May 22, 1908, after a lingering illness. Dr Bain was one of the most loyal members of the li- brary profession in this country and was one of its ablest leaders in Canada. He was born in London, England, in 1842, came to Canada early in life, and was educated in Toronto schools and at the Toronto university. In 1883 he was ap- pointed librarian of the Toronto public library and held this position until his death. The library developed broadly un- der his administration, and the character cf its collection reflected his scholarship and knowledge, especially is its valuable Canadiana due to his personal interest and research. As President of the On- tario library association, and by repeated service as one of its councillors he was enabled to give of his enthusiasm and energy in the cause of library progress in Canada in general; and as a member for 25 years of the American Library Associa- tion, serving on various of its committees, also as councillor of the Bibliographical society of America, Dr Bain's influence was far-reaching. Willis Arthur Bardwell, assistant libra- rian of the Brooklyn public library, died on March 27. 1908, after a lingering ill- ness, having suffered from an attack of 124 MIXNETONKA CONFERENCE grippe which later developed into pneu- monia. Mr Bardwell was bom in Wil- llamstown, Mass., in 1840 and came to Brooklyn in his early youth. His love of reading and studious habits made work among books his true vocation, and his first position was in a book store on At- lantic avenue, then the main business street of Brooklyn. In 18G9 he went to the Athenaeum reading room and when it was merged with the Mercantile library in 1885 he became librarian. 'V^Tien the Mercantile library was consolidated with the Brooklyn library, Mr Bardwell was advanced until he succeeded Stephen B. Noyes as librarian. On April 23, 1901, Mr Bardwell was appointed assistant li- brarian of the Brooklyn public library. In his almost seven years of whole- hearted service in the Brooklyn public library, Mr Bardwell gained the affection of all the library staff, and his death was mourned as that of a personal friend. Mr Bardwell was a member of the A. L. A. (no. 772) from 1890 to the time of his death, and attended six of its conferences. L. Edna Brooks, a member of the staff of the Cambridge (Mass.) public library and since 190G a member of the American Library Association, died at her home in Cambridge in December, 1907. Mrs Kate Alpine Henderson, librarian of the Joliet (111.) public library, died Dec. 19, 1907. Mrs Henderson was born Aug. 9, 1848, in Elizabeth, N. J. In 1858 she moved from Milwaukee, Wis., to Joliet. She was married to James Ed- ward Henderson about 28 years ago. From 1865 to about 1900 Mrs Henderson was actively engaged in educational work as Principal of the Joliet high school. In- spector at large and Superintendent of the public schools at Joliet. For the last eight years of her life her best efforts were devoted to the library and Its suc- cess is a monument to her fidelity and executive ability. She had been a mem- ber of the A. L. A. since 1901 (no. 2157) and attended four conferences. Alexander Maitland died at Princeton, N. J., Oct. 25, 1907. Mr Maitland was a nephew of James Lenox and prominent in religious and charitable movements in New York City. In library matters he was equally active. From 1880 until the consolidation in 1S95 he was a trustee and treasurer of the Lenox library. Largely through his individual efforts the Lenox library was included with the Astor li- brary and the Tilden trust in forming the present New York public library. He be- came an original trustee of the library and remained on the board until his death. At different times he served on the Ex- ecutive, Finance, Library and Circulation committees. Both in his life time and in his will he was a generous donor of the library. Mr Maitland has been a member of the Association continuously since 1896 (no. 1545) and was at the time of his death a trustee of the Endowment fund, in which capacity he had served for sev- eral years. Francis W. Vaughan, librarian of the Social law library at the Court house in Boston, died at Capri, Italy, April 2, 1908. He was 74 years of age and had held his position as librarian for 38 years. In 1853 he graduated from Harvard and was ad- mitted to the Suffolk bar, but never prac- ticed. He became civil assistant to Cap- tain Andrew A. Humphreys and Lieuten- ant Henry L. Abbott, U. S. engineers, in the preparation of their report on the Mis- sissippi river and delta. As librarian Mr Vaughan developed the library until it has become one of the best professional collections in the United States. He was one of the oldest members of the Asso- ciation, entering its ranks in 1877 as no. 94 and being a member at his death. Hon. Peter White, for three years a member of the State library commission of Michigan, died at Marquette, Mich., June, 1908. Mr White was born in Rome. N. Y., Oct. 31. 1830. He was engaged in business as a lawyer, real estate agent and banker, being for forty years Presi- dent of the First National Bank of Mar- quette. He was closely associated with many prominent educational societies, was a Regent of the University of Michigan TREASURER'S REPORT 126 and had seen service as a member of the state legislature and as state senator. He became a member of the Association (no. 2304) in 1901. The following persons have been mem- bers of the Association at some time In the past but were not members at the time of death: Miss Mary Louise Dalton, librarian of the Missouri historical society, died in her home in St. Louis on June 13, 1907, after a brief illness. Miss Dalton was born in Wentzville, Mo., April 1, 1869, and studied at St. Charles college, St. Charles, Mo., from which she was graduated in 1887. For several years she was engaged as stenographer in New York, but later came to St. Louis and for five years was well known in newspaper work. She also did other liteiary work, specializing in gene- alogy and state history. Following her ap- pointment as librarian of the Missouri his- torical society, in 1903, she became deeply interested in Missouri history, and ac- quired a reputation as an authority upon matters relating to the early Spanish and French settlement of St. Louis and the surrounding country. She prepared the interesting exhibit of the society shown at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. Miss Dalton became a member of the American Library Association at its St. Louis con- ference, in 1904; she was an active mem- ber of the D. A. R. and the Daughters of the united confederacy. Ernst P. L. Gauss, first assistant libra- rian of the Chicago public library, died after a short illness of pneumonia, on Dec. 23, 1907, at his home in Chicago. Mr Gauss was born in Stuttgart in 1842, and came to New York at the age of 17. He enlisted on the breaking out of the Civil War, and served for two years, be- ing honorably discharged in 1803. On leaving the army Mr Gauss went to Mis- souri, where he studied theology in the Missouri evangelical school, and later he pursued his studies in an episcopal acad- emy in Ohio. In 1880 he came to Chicago and in 1887 entered the Chicago public li- brary, where he was later made first as- sistant librarian. He is survived by a widow and four children. He became a member of the A. L. A. in 1893 (no. 1165.) Dr Bernard James Harrington, professor of chemistry McGill university, Montreal, from 1871 to 1907, died November 29, 1907. In addition to his eminence as a teacher he had done important work on the Cana- dian geological survey and was an au- thority on the mineralogy and mining in- dustries of Canada. He was a member of the University library committee and be- came a member of the American Library Association in 1900 (no. 2012) at the Mon- treal conference. Mrs Mary L. (Stillman) Groth, from 1897 tc 1905 superintendent of circulation in the Milwaukee public library and until her marriage two years ago a member of the A. L. A., died at her home in Milwau- kee, Wisconsin, June 23, 1907. Hetty Shields Jarnagin, a graduate of Pratt Institute library school, 1907, and formerly librarian of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, died in Pittsburg, January 16, 1908, of pneumonia. She be- came a member of the Association in 1899 (no. ISGG) Henry Nelson Bullard, formerly libra- rian of Park College, Parkville, Mo., died at Kansas City, Mo., February 12, 1908. He became a member of the Association in 1898 (no. 1821) VOTED, that the report be accepted and placed on file. The PRESIDENT: We will now listen to the report of the Treasurer, which the Secretary will read. REPORT OF THE TREASURER January 1 to June 1, 1908 The report of the Treasurer covering the period from August 8 to December 31, 1907 was published in the May (1908) number of the "Bulletin." That report is supple- mented herewith by a statement of trans- actions from January 1 to Jime 1, 1908. Difliculty was experienced at the begin- ning of the term in handling the system existing at Headquarters, and some modifl- 126 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE catir.ns were found necessary. These modi- fications were secured through the Execu- tive board and the Finance committee. An entire new set of books was opened and a voucher systom introduced. The books were properly closed Decem- ber 31 1907, at which date the report in the May "Bulletin" ends. They have also been properly closed for the supplementary re- port herewith presented and will be again so closed at the date of this conference; whereupon the accounts will be placed in the hands of the Finance committee for audit and certiiication. Respectfully submitted, ANDEKSON H. HOPKINS, Treasurer. TREASURER'S REPORT, JANUARY 1, 1908, TO JUNE 1, 1908 Balance on hand Jan. 1, 1908 (May Bulletin, p. 39) f949.59 Receipts Interest on hank balance 114.54 Dues 975 members, ?2.00 $1950.00 38 members, $3.00 114.00 170 libraries, $5.00 850.00 Fee for bank collection, $ .30 .30 2914.30 5 members (life), $25.00 125.00 125.00 Polk, Kidder, Carr, Ward and Owen. A. L. A. Publishing Board, acct. Dudley & Hodge (binding) 2.00 Sales of Proceedings and Bulletin 122.16 Trustees of Endowment fund 159.22 $4286.81 Payments Bookbinding committee 1908. Feb. 29. Bernard 0. Stelner, expenses to New York $9.00 " 29. \V. P. Cutter, expenses to New York 9.51 " 29. J. C. Dana, expenses to New York 5.00 Apr. 28. New England druggist publishing co., 3000 reprints 6.50 May 30. W. P. Cutter, expenses New York, May 19-20 8.85 30. Bernard C. Steiner. expenses New York, May 19-20.. 5.52 " 30. Arthur E. Bostwick, circulars and envelopes 15.51 $59.89 Bulletin Feb. 28. Carter, Rice & co., envelopes..; 15.50 28. New England druggist publishing co., title page and index 43.00 29. Union bookbinding CO., inserting Bulletin 2.75 29. A. L. A. Publishing board, editorial service on Pro- ceedings for 1907 100.00 " 29. New England Druggist publishing co., 3000 reprints.. 7.00 28. New England druggist publishing co., title page and March Bulletin 67.50 " 28. Union bookbinding co., inserting Bulletin 2.00 May 30. Union bookbinding co., inserting Bulletin 2.25 " 30. New England druggist publishing co., printing May Bulletin 57.00 500 reprints Conference notes 3.50 300.50 TREASURER'S REPORT 127 Headquarters, 34 Newbury St., Boston Jan. Annie A. Sullivan, rent, February-June, 1908 416.65 29. E. F. Brennan, salary for January, 1908 35.00 Feb. 18. A. Hathaway's sons, architectural plans 4.80 29. New England telephone & tel. co., telephone service 4.25 Apr. 6. New England telephone & tel. co., telephone service 4.40 6. Annie A. Sullivan, cleaning 34 Newbury St 6. SO " 6. J. I. Wyer, Jr., expenses to Boston aud return 22.65 " 28. New England telephone & tel. co., telephone service 8.35 28. New England Druggist publishing co., 1000 envelopes 2.50 May 30. Nina E. Browne, petty office expense 14.52 30. Rob't A. Boit & co., insurance on Arch, collection... 10.00 30. New England telephone & tel. co., telephone service 7.45 30. Nina E. Browne, services 100.00 637.37 Committee on Library administration Apr. 28. Brandon printing co., circulars 18.00 May 30. Corinne Bacon, postage and clerical work 7.00 25.00 Secretary's office Apr. 6. J. I. Wyer, Jr., postage 11.04 May 30. H. A. Chapman, stenographic service 37.85 30. Dudley & Hodge, binding 16.00 64.89 Secretary's salary May 30. J. I. Wyer, Jr., salary, Jan. 1-June 30 125.00 125.00 Treasurer's expense Jan. 21. New England druggist publishing co., bill heads and envelopes 15.50 Feb. 18. New England druggist publishing co., 1600 postal cards 19.00 May 30. Anderson H. Hopkins, postage and telegrams 3.83 38.33 Trustees A. L. A. Endowment fund Apr. 28. Four (4) life memberships 100.00 100.00 Polk, Kidder, Carr, Ward. Jan. 6. Nina E. Browne, Cash advanced, bank account 100.00 postage 40.00 petty expense 20.00 160.00 Balance on hand June 1, 1908 2775.83 }4286.81 FINANCIAL SUMMARY, 1907 The following statement is compiled by the Secretary from the books of the Treasurer ami by omitting all duplicate, refunded and accommodation entries it shows clearly and briefly the legitimate and regular receipts of the Association and its actual expenditures for the calendar year 1907. 128 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Balance on hand Jan. 1, 1907 (Asheville Proc. p. 19) Receipts Membership dues, 1352 at ?2 $2704.00 223 at 3 G69.00 199 at 5 995.00 Sat 25 200.00 1 at 100 100.00 Fees for collecting checks Interest on endowment funds Interest on bank deposits Sale of Proceedings Individual contributions 12721.27 4668.00 2.90 417.85 56.73 13.66 150.00 $8030.41 Payments Bulletin (including Proceedings and Handbook) Asheville conference Headquarters Salaries $2882.48 Rent 420.81 Sundry 427.28 Secretary's salary Secretary's office expenses Treasurer's office expenses Committees and sections Paid Trustees of Endowment fund Life and perpetual members Balance Dec. 31, 1907 $1626.01 493.13 3730.57 250.00 119.61 126.88 434.62 300.00 949.59 $8030.41 The PRESIDENT: This report will be accepted, referred and audited In the usual manner. The Secretary then read the reports of the Council and Executive board. (See p. 406) The PRESIDENT: It Is now proper for the Chair to announce the members of some committees which it is customary for him to appoint. The Committee on Resolutions will consist of Mr George T. Little, Miss Mary W. Plummer and Mr C. R. Dudley. The tellers of election are Mr C. E. Rush and Mr C. H. Milam. The report of the A. L. A. Publishing board was presented by Mr H. E. Legler. REPORT OF THE A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD In compliance with the provisions ot Section 22 of the A. L. A. constitution, the annual report of the Publishing board Is hereby submitted. Customary figures and statistics hereto appended are for the calendar year 1907. In other respects this report aims to summarize the re- sult of the Board's transactions for the library year ending this month. Finding that the financial resources ot the American Library Association would not permit the continuance of headquar- ters with the administrative machinery operative during the past few years, the A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD 129 Executive board considered, in special meeting tield at Stamford in October last, the advisability of their discontinuance or transference elsewhere than at Boston, it arrangements could be effected involv- ing less cost. Inasmuch as the interests entrusted to the A. L. A. Publishing board were vitally concerned in the proposed changes, a representative of our Board attended this meeting. An offer was re- ceived from the trustees of the Carnegie library at Pittsbui-g guaranteeing for a period of years suitable rooms, with free service as to care, lighting and heating, and the Executive board thereupon ad- journed to meet in that city shortly there- after for a personal inspection of the premises and further consideration of the offer. By invitation of the Executive board the chairman of the Publishing board likewise attended this meeting. While the Executive board was unanimous- ly favorable to the acceptance of the Pittsburg proposition, it was deemed un- wise to make final arrangements until the members of the American Library As- sociation had had full opportunity to ex- press their wishes and to indicate, by a concensus of opinion, where the head- quarters should finally be located. Inas- much as the Publishing board would have been seriously embarrassed by any sudden removal of headquarters or by the abso- lute abolishment of them, which seemed likely to occur as a result of the financial situation, action was taken by the Pub- lishing board for such assistance in the maintenance of headquarters at 34 New- bury street, Boston, as would permit at least temporary continuance thereof until this Conference. Expected contributions to the headquarters fund, as hoped for by Mr Hovey, not having been secured, it was not possible for the Executive board to continue the position of executive of- ficer after the first of January last, and by arrangement with the Publishing board. Miss Nina E. Browne was placed in charge of headquarters as representative of the A. L. A. This is the arrangement which now obtains, subject to the further deter- mination of the Conference now in session as to future plans and policies. The Publishing board would call your attention, in the event, as seems not un- likely, that the transference of head- quarters from Boston to New York, Pitts- burg or Chicago may be ordered, that affairs entrusted to them are very inti- mately related to such of the A. L. A, interests as naturally center at headquar- ters; that therefore the final selection and the administrative policy incident thereto should be largely governed by considera- tions of mutual convenience and effective business administration. The physical property in charge of the Publishing board is considerable, and the necessities in- volved in editorial work render imperative location in some library center where fa- cilities are ample and reference thereto easy; and there is the further very im- portant consideration that a publishing concern cannot, without loss of prestige and business, afford frequent removal of its offices. In establishing headquarters, therefore, the Publishing board would re- spectfully request that the large interests which are thus represented be given care- ful consideration. The following resolu- tion, adopted at a fully attended meeting of the Board when the possible change of headquarters was imminent, represents the views of the members constituting the Board; Resolved. That the Publishing board feels it desirable that the ofl^ice of the Pub- lishing board should be in conjunction with the headquarters of the A. L. A., if the latter are in New York or Chicago; and would favor the removal of the Publishing board office to either of these places, if A. L. A. headquarters were established there with reasonable prospect of remain- ing there for a number of years, but it considers that for many reasons Pittsburg would be an undesirable place for the Pub- lishing board office and the Board would be reluctant to remove its office thither in any event, until the A. L. A. headquarters should be so organized as to make the cooperation clearly advantageous. The financial statement attached hereto represents business operations up to Jan- 130 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE uary first of this year. As a matter of Interest, however, showing the available resources, there is submitted herewith a statement received from Mr Corey, one of the trustees of the endowment fund, esti- mating funds available up to the end of the current calendar year. Balance of income account, Nov. 30, as rendered ?3,079.18 Less amount paid Publishing board, Jan. 2 1,000.00 $2,079.18 Add stated income from bonds January C75. February 562.50 March 575. May 300. July 675. August 712.50 September 575. November 300. 4,375.00 Amount available to Dec. 30, 1908. .$6,454.18 From the above estimate it will be learned that the Board is in a position to undertake bibliographical publications of interest and great usefulness, and sug- gestions will be welcomed from members of the Association who have in mind needed library aids which have heretofore been but inadequately supplied. A. L. A. booklist. Without increase In the subscription price, it has been decided to extend this publication from 8 to 10 numbers annually, the editor's full time being given to the necessary editorial work. The number of titles is to be Increased, in response to a demand from larger libraries, and special lists and indexed reference lists are to be omitted in the future. This is one of the most widely useful publications under- taken by the Board. The book purchases of the 8000 libraries in this country amount, in the aggregate, to a very large sum of money— doubtless more than a mil- lion dollars a year. The importance, therefore, of a current purchase list which shall give, particularly to the numerous small libraries of the country, a reliable guide for selection, with the confidence born of knowledge that the evaluation of the books has been made on the basis of consistency, and free from commercial considerations, cannot be over-estimated. The bulk of the edition is subscribed for by the several library commissions, through which agency the Booklist is sent to several thousand of the libraries in their respective states. Subject headings. The compilation of material for the revised edition of the Subject headings Is still in process. The completion of the work is now confidently looked for by the end of this year. Miss Esther Crawford, who is in charge thereof, has made a very thorough and painstaking examination of typical catalogs in various parts of the country, and has amassed a great quantity of material from those most competent to give it, to aid in de- termining the plan and scope of the work. Many suggestions were also re- ceived from members of the profession, as the result of questions asked by Miss Crawford through the columns of "Public Libraries" and "Library Journal." The Board is under special obligations to an advisory committee, comprising Mr Gard- ner M. Jones, Miss Theresa Hitchler and Miss Nina B. Browne, whose counsel has been of great value. From a report sub- mitted by them to the Board as to the progress of the work, we can confidently say that the new List of subject headings will be found to have been intelligently done, on broad yet conservative lines. The new features which have been introduced have seemed excellent to the committee, and the result, when completed, will be a most useful tool for catalogers and li- brarians, beside being a work of scholarly attainment which will redound to the credit of the Association. Kroeger guide — new edition. Since the publication of the last edition of the Kroe- ger Guide in 1903, annual supplements have been issued. Some sections of the Guide having become antiquated, it was necessary to decide whether to revise those sections and reprint from the old A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOAKD 131 plates, with supplements added and bound in, or whetlier to undertake an entirely new edition. Miss Kroeger having con- sented to get the material up to date, the Board concluded to publish a new edition, and this is now in press. Foreign booklists. In this new series three numbers have appeared during the year: No. 1. Selected list of German books recommended for a small public library. Compiled by Miss Emma Gattiker for the Wisconsin free library commission. This list contains approximately 600 titles, and has been issued with an author and title Index. Price 50 cents. No. 2. Selected list of Hungarian books. Compiled by Miss J. Maud Campbell for the New Jersey library commission. In the compilation of this list, Miss Camp- bell had the assistance of Dr Michael Sin- ger and the members of the Passaic Mag- yar Casino. Price 15 cents. No. 3. Selected list of French books. Compiled by Prof Jean Charlemagne Bracq of Vassar College. Price 25 cents. Other lists in this series in press or in process of compilation comprise the fol- lowing: Italian list, which is to be a reprint of Fumagalli's list in the Revista, now being undertaken by Miss Mary Morrison and Prof. Geddes. Dano-Norwegian list, compiled for the Wisconsin free library commission by Mr Arne Kildal of the Library of Congress, comprising some 300 titles and practically ready to be sent to the printer. Swedish list, being compiled for the Minnesota library commission by Miss Valfrid Palmgren, of the Royal society of Stockholm. Yiddish and Syrian booklists were also In contemplation, as there seemed to be a demand for them, but the plans for their publication were abandoned for the reason that the literature which is avail- able Is in such poor form and is of such poor quality that it does not seem worth while to undertake the work. Manual of library architecture. Work- ing in cooperation with members of the state library commissions. Miss Cornelia Marvin, of the Oregon commission, has compiled, with an admirable introduction, a generously illustrated book dealing with the plans of small library buildings In various parts of the country. These plana are intended to serve by way of sugges- tion to boards having in contemplation the erection of buildings in the classes repre- sented in the book, and there are useful editorial notes calling attention to their excellencies as well as deficiencies, where- by library boards can profit by experience had elsewhere. This book is now in press and will be ready for delivery to subscrib- ers about the middle of July. Supplement- ing it, Mr William R. Eastman, of the New York state library, has revised and brought up to date his paper on "Library buildings" submitted at the Waukesha conference in 1901. and in its revised form the Board has issued it as one of its reprint series. Music list. Miss Louisa M. Hooper, of the Brookline public library, has compiled an excellent list of books on music, which is to be published shortly. A. L. A. catalog rules. It gives the Pub- lishing board pleasure to report that ma- terial progress has been made in the plans for putting into print the new A. L. A. Code of catalog rules. The Cataloging committee was in agreement in urging that the rules should be printed in two forms, an edition in book form and one on cards. The final conclusion reached was to print an abridgment of the Code separately for the use of the smaller li- braries, and to bind the unabridged and the simplified Code together for the use of those who might desire both within the same covers. There will therefore be three editions, to meet varying needs. The large Code is now in type and will be ready shortly. The simplified Code will probably make its appearance towards the end of the year. Cards. Cards for the current report of the Smithsonian institution have been printed. The cards for 1886-1895 having been exhausted, the set in stock now con- tains cards only for 1896-1906. Cards for volume 7, of the Old South leaflets, have been added to those previously issued, thus completing the set volume 1 to 7. 132 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Enough orders for cards for the St. Louis Congress of arts and science have been received to justify printing. Copy is in course of preparation and cards will be sent out sometime during the summer. There has been an increasing number of subscribers for periodical cards. We re- gret to say that the Boston public library, one of the contributing libraries since the beginning of 1898, has withdrawn from further participation, but we are glad to report that Yale university library has consented to take up the work in its place. Acting upon the suggestion of the Mod- ern language association, through Pro- fessor Cunliffe of the University of Wis- consin, arrangements have been made for Issuing cards indexing photographic re- productions of early English texts, now being issued by the Bodleian library. It is thought that by concerted action on the part of American university libraries, an increasing number of such reproduc- tions may be made accessible to students of English in the United States and Canada. Children's list. It had been hoped to have ready at this time the long desired Suggestive list of children's books. The Carnegie library of Pittsburg, which has been engaged in the making of a list of this character for the last two years, hav- ing enlarged the scope of the work con- templated by them, a modification of the original plans is rendered necessary. The League of library commissions being prin- cipally interested in this publication, the matter is now receiving consideration at their hands, and the form of publication will be determined largely by the recom- mendations to be received from them. While it is to be regretted that the changes in the original plans will neces- sitate a further delay, this has seemed to be unavoidable under the circum- stances. Guide to nature study. Difficulty In making satisfactory arrangements with the compiler has caused the Board to give up the proposed Guide to nature study. The manuscript as submitted was not up to date, and the necessary arrangements for bringing it up to date could not be ef- fected. Manual of library economy. Acting upon the request of the Committee on li- brary training and Round table confer- ence. Miss Plummer, chairman, the Board is about to undertake the publication of a Manual of library economy. By joint ar- rangement between these bodies and the Publishing board, an editor-in-chief will be chosen, with a board of subeditors who are to plan the material to be included in the book and to arrange for the neces- sary contributions for it. It is planned to issue the several divisions or chapters separately in pamphlet form before in- cluding in the consolidated work. Other publications planned with special reference to their use in library schools, include a series of Book tests worked out by Mrs Salome Cutler Fairchild, and a Reading list on library economy, com- piled by Miss E. L. Bascom of the New York state library. Reprint series. In addition to the pam- phlet on Library buildings, by Mr East- man, mentioned above, it is contemplated to issue from time to time in this series such articles in the library periodicals as may be included for reference in the Reading course now being conducted in "P'ublic Libraries" on behalf of the League of library commissions, by Miss Alice Ty- ler of Iowa. Many of these references are to articles in numbers of these jour- nals long out of print, and as the Reading course has aroused wide-spread Interest, there is likely to be a large demand for the copies of the reprints. These are to be issued at a nominal price as an effec- tive aid in the conduct of this Reading course. It may be proper at this time to men- tion the cordial cooperation which has been received by the Board through the members of the League of library commis- sions in initiating and procuring suitable material for publication. The library com- missions being in intimate touch especial- ly with the smaller libraries in their re- A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD 133 spective territories, are enabled to give to the Board the benefit of their knowl- edge of the needs of the great number of libraries which have been started in the last decade, and the judgment growing out of their daily experience with them. Library tracts. Two additions have been made to this series during the past year: No. 9, Training for librarianship by Miss Mary W. Plummer, Chairman of the Committee on Training, and No. 10, Ma- terial for a public library campaign, com- piled by Mr Chalmers Hadley, Secretary of the Public library commission of Indi- ana. In this connection we regret to re- port that Library tract No. 8 has not met with a very ready sale. This tract, which tells the story of the up-building of a vil- lage library in Massachusetts, is splendid Inspirational literature, and we trust that It will hereafter meet with larger appre- ciation than it has up to date. With reference to the membership of the Board, we would report with regret. that owing to ill-health, Mr C. C. Soule was compelled, early in the year, to sever his relations, both as a member and as treasurer. For many years Mr Soule has given to the Board disinterested and val- uable service, his knowledge as a pub- lisher having been of special value in the conduct of the numerous enterprises we have been undertaking. In view of the likelihood that headquarters would be es- tablished elsewhere, the Executive board concluded not to fill the vacancy, in order that someone might be chosen residing near at hand when the determination should be made as to such location. Mr Gardner M. Jones kindly consented to serve as treasurer of the Publishing board, and has given excellent service in that capacity. Mrs H. L. Elmendorf was chosen to succeed Mr Melvil Dewey, whose term expired at the time of the last Conference. Respectfully submitted, HENRY E. LEGLER, Chairman. Financial statement based on the auditor's report CASH RECEIPTS Endowment fund ? 4000.00 Accounts receivable 4352.76 Cash sales 1530.57 Interest 22.74 Collection charges and stamps .50 9906.52 Balance Jan. 1st, 1907 744.25 110650.77 CASH PAYMENTS A. L. A. book-list $ 1215.73 Boys and girls 66.56 French fiction 1-15 Architectural tracts 15.00 Library tracts 191.36 Kroeger's guide -31 A. L. A. portrait index 20.45 A. L. A. proceedings 138.87 Warner cards 551.04 Subject headings 1479.60 Miscellaneous cards 5-00 A. L. A. catalog rules 14.00 Sundries 32.15 Reprints 1905 34.00 Children's reading 13.75 Girls and women -67 Accounts receivable 1-88 EJxpense and income 3024.03 134 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Advertising $ 184.33 Insurance 39.00 Furnisliings (shelves and table) 42.55 Addressograpti 12.90 Books and stationery 18.16 Rent 441.66 Traveling expenses 311.75 Salaries 1710.25 Bank collections 19.84 Sundries (postage, express, etc.) 233.39 Post office deposit on A. L. A. book-list 28.00 Alice B. Kroeger 60.10 Esther Crawford 10.51 George lies 8.32 W. I. Fletcher 395. 36 A. L. A. membership 10.00 F. H. Gilson co 880.18 Wright & Potter 67.15 Library Bureau 959.09 Houghton, Mifflin & co 181.70 Postage paid by customers 44.21 $ 9450.17 Cash on hand Jan. 1st, 1908 1200.60 $10650.77 NET SALES A. A. A. book-list $1551.58 A. L. A. index 256.00 A. L. A. proceedings 35.70 Arbor Day list 1.25 Bird books 2.25 Boys and girls 135.67 Children's reading 21.84 Christmas bulletin 1.55 English history 26.22 French fiction 2.29 German list 65.90 Girls and women 14.22 Hungarian list 2.70 Kroeger's guide 344.70 Larned's literature 219.50 Library tracts 212.94 Miscellaneous cards 594.88 Periodical cards 1756.58 Political economy .25 Portrait index 18.48 Postage charged to customers 44.21 Reading tor the young 23.68 Reprints 39.22 Sublect headings 423.70 Sundries 13.23 Warner cards 606.00 Wells supplement .90 $6415.39 Charged sales $4884.87 Cash sales 1530.52 ENDOWMENT FUND REPOKT 135- Mr D. P. COREY next presented the report of the trustees of the Endowment fund. REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE ENDOWMENT FUND Carnegie and Endowment funds trustees in account with American Library Association. 1907 Nov. 30. To balance as per account rendered (See Bulletin for May, 1908, p. 40-41) $6037.69 1908 Jan. 1. To interest, International trust co 40.93 on bonds 675.00 6. " on mortgage note 62.50 27. " on Mo. Pacific notes 375.00 30. Exchange of Mo. Pacific notes 150.00 Feb. 1. Interest on bonds 262.50 " 10. " on exchange of Mo. Pacific notes 27.50 Mar. 10. " on bonds 575.00 Apr. 7. " on Brookline Savings Bank 36.62 20. " on Chelsea Savings Bank 22.52 " 30. A. H. Hopkins, treasurer, for life memberships 100.00 May 1. Interest on bonds 350.00 Jan. 2. By A. L. A. Publishing board $1000.00 " 31. Collection charges on check .10 May 1. State Street deposit vaults 40.00 21. A. H. Hopkins, treasurer 159.22 June 1. Cash deposited. Balance International Trust Co $4232.43 Brookline Savings Bank 841.07 Brookline Savings Bank 1293.18 Chelsea Savings Bank 1148.66 7515.94 Statement of Invested Funds $8715.26 $8715.26 Carnegie fund Amer. Tel. & Tel. 4 per cent. Collateral Bonds, due July, 1929 $15000.00 Cleveland Terminal & Valley R. R. 4 per cent, first mortgage Gold Bonds, due Nov. 1995 15000.00 Missouri Pacific R. R. 6 per cent. Coupon Notes, due Feb. 1910 15000.00 Missouri Pacific R. R. 5 per cent. Coupon Bonds, due Jan. 1917. . . . 15000.00 N. Y. Central & Hudson River R. R. 3 1-2 per cent. Lake Shore Collateral Coupon Bonds, due Feb. 1998 15000.00 Seaboard Air Line R. R. 4 per cent. Atlanta-Birmingham first mortgage Bonds, due May 1933 10000.00 Western Union Tel. Co. 5 per cent. Collateral Trust Bonds, due Jan. 1938 15000.00 $100000.00 The above securities cost $99158.33 Cash deposited in Brookline Savings Bank 841.67 $100000.00 Endowment fund Mortgage on house in South Boston at 5 per cent $2500.00 U. S. Steel Corporation 5 per cent. Gold Bonds, due April 1963, par $2000, cost. . 1970.00 Deposit in Brookline Savings Bank at 4 per cent 1293.18 Deposit in Chelsea Savings Bank at 4 per cent 1148.66 Rate of income on investments Carnegie fund, 04.56. Endowment fund, 04.70. $6911.84 136 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Trial balance Bonds, Carnegie fund JIOOOOO.OO Endowment fund 2000.00 Mortgage account 2500.00 Cash deposited 7515.94 Carnegie fund, principal $100000.00 income 4232.43 Endowment fund, principal 69 1 1.S4 Premium account, Carnegie fund , S41.67 Premium account, Endowment fund 30.00 ?112015.94 $112015.94 Respectfully submitted, CHARLES C. SOULE, D. P. COREY, W. W. APPLETON, Trustees A. L. A. Endowment Fund. June 1, 1908. I have examined the foregoing account and have verified the figures, have seen the vouchers covering the several payments, and have compared the account with both the checli book and the books of deposit. I have found that the balance of cash depos- ited, amounting to $7,515.94, agrees with the said books. I have examined the securities mentioned in the statement of Invested funds, and have found them to be as repre- sented, viz., the principal of the Carnegie fund, $100,000; the principal of the Endow- ment fund, $0,911.84. DREW B. HALL, Boston, June 15, 1908. Finance Committee. The PRESIDENT: This report will be accepted In the usual manner. While I have been sitting here I have been watching the flight of some of these curious little insects that seem to abound In this region and whose name, not being an entomologist, I do not know, but they seem, like other insects, to be fond of the light, and I have watched them approach- ing the illuminating globes In their spiral flight. It is something In this way, I have said to myself, that the American Library Association in its wide sweeps over our great country, occasionally comes perilously near to the Canadian border. Once in a while it even crosses the border, and flying Into the light, meets in some of the cities of our brothers across the line, thereby proving it is an American Library As- sociation coniinentally as well as merely nationally. Now this year, although we have not flown across the border, we have met in a 1 order state. It Is therefore very appropriate that we are to listen to a paper from Mr L. C. BURPEE, of Ottawa. CANADIAN LIBRARIES OF LONG AGO The first library of any kind in Canada— perhaps in North America — was that of Marc Lescarbot, the witty and vivacious historian of New France. We learn from his own narative that he brought his books, or some of tliom, with him to Port Royal In 1C06; and, knowing the man, and the books that interested him most, one may venture a rough guess at the contents of this pioneer library of the New World. It probably included several of the Greek and Roman historians, philosophers and poets; perhaps the Voyages of Champlain, Jacques Cartier, and other of the early western ex- plorers; some at least of what were then the books of the hour; and almost cer- tainly a Bible, though one dare scarcely hazard a guess as to Its theological com- plexion. Lescarbot was far in advance of his time in his liberal attitude toward theological opinions, as witness his fre- quent quotations from Calvin's Geneva Bible in his Histoire de la Nouvelle France, while on the other band the metrical BURPEE 137 translatinns of the Psalms, in the same work, are taken from the Catholic version of Phillippe Des Portes. There may have been just a spice of mischief behind it all at the expense cf the rival theologians. But this is wandering from the subject. Public libraries had practically no existence in Canada previous to the cession of the Col- ony to England. Doubtless the palaces of the Governors and Intendants contained coUectionE of books, designed to be of ser- vice or pleasure to their owners, and prob- ably to some extent these books circulated among the members of the little official circle at Quebec, but that was as close as New France ever got to a public library. There were, however, quite a number of private collections in the colony, some at least of very fair proportions, and probably most of them well-selected. The average of education and intellectual good taste was high among the gentry of New France; perhaps even higher than it is to-day among the same class anywhere on this conti- nent; though on the other hand if the aver- age were applied to the whole population of New France it would fall far below present standards. It is a curious fact that, although New France had no printing press, there were actually more books than there were people in the colony at the close of the period of French rule; and these books were by no means confined to "formulas of devotion and lives of the saints," Francis Parkman to the contrary notwithstanding. We know that the Jesuits possessed li- braries of their own, even at their remote missions, for we learn from the "Relations" that when they were banished from the Illinois country in 17G3, by a decree of the Parliament of Paris, their wearing apparel and books were exempted from seizure. From Father Watrin's letter, in the "Re- lations." it appears that before sailing from New Orleans for France, the Jesuits presented their little library, "valuable," as he says, "in a country newly established," to the Capuchin Fathers, as a token of deep gratitude for marks of friendship re- ceived from the latter in the Jesuits' hour of misfortune. Peter Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, who visited Canada about the middle of the eighteenth century, and left a most eniert.iining account of his journey, particularly mentions the library of the Jesuits at Quebec, and has much to say in praise of the learned fathers. We get a further glimpse of it in the Letter of re- nunciation of December 31st, 1789, by which ihe four aged fathers, who alone remained in Canada to represent that once powerful body, transferred their property to the Province of Canada upon certain con- ditions, one of which was that they should coniiuue, for the brief residue of their lives, to "enjoy the use of their library." After the death of the last survivor, Father Casot, "a great part of the library of the Jesuits was bought by the Hon. John Neil- son, proprietor of the Quebec Gazette." Dr Thwaites, from whom this additional note is borrowed, adds that "several hundred of these volumes were in 1899 owned by his grandson, Dr H. Neilson, himself a collec- tor of rare Canadiana. The elder Neilson's acquisitions included almost a full set ol the New France "Relations," all in their original binding. In September, 1851, the Library of Parliament purchased the thirty volumes of "Relations" from the Neilson family for $100. The eight volumes re- covered from the fire (1S54) and which are now in the Library of Parliament at Ot- tawa, all bear the inscription of the old Jesuit College." Most of the books and manuscripts ol the Jesuits not acquired by Neilson, found their way into the library of Laval uni- versity at Quebec. Next to Harvard, Laval is the oldest college in America, having been founded by Bishop Laval in 1663. Probably from the very beginning the Sem- inary of QueDcc, as it was then called, pos- sessed something in the nature of a library, but, numerically at least, it remained in- significant until 1852, when the old college was created a university. Since then It has grown rapidly, until it now numbers considerably over 100,000 volumes, includ- ing an unrivalled collection of early Can- adiana. 138 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE The first public library establlstied in ■what now constitutes Canada was the Queiiec library. On January 7th, 1779, the following advertisement appeared in the "Quebec Gazette": A subscription has been commenced for establishing a public library for the city and district of Quebec. It has met with the approbation of His Excellency the Governor-general, and of the Bishop, and it is hoped that the institution, so par- ticularly useful in this country, will be generally encouraged. "A list of those who have already subscribed is lodged at the Secretary's office, where those who choose it may have an opportunity to add their names. The subscribers are re- quested to attend at the Bishop's Palace, at 12 o'clock, the 15th instant, in order to choose trustees." The meeting was duly held, and resulted In the election of a board of trustees, and the passing of certain regulations for the governing of the institution. The subscrip- tion was placed at £5 on entering and £2 annually thereafter. Books were only lent to subscribers. The public were assured that "no books contrary to religion or good morals would be permitted." Pub- lic notice was given that "those who have any books, for which they have no imme- diate use, pre requested to send a cata- logue thereof, with the prices, edition and condition of them to Mr Davidson, at the Secretary's office, at Quebec, that if ap- proved the Trustees may inspect and pur- chase them." Not many of us would care to resort to that expedient nowadays. As a matter of fact, however, the bulk of the books with which the Quebec library opened its career were specially pur- chased in England by one Richard Cum- berland, at the request of the Governor general, Sir Frederick Haldimand. It is clear, from letters in the Haldimand col- lection, in the Dominion archives, that Haldimand was himself the originator of the Quebec library. In March. 1779, he writes General de Bude, one of the gentle- men-in-waiting on King George III, a long letter in French, the essential part of which is as follows: The few resources here, and the reason I have every day for perceiving that the ignorance of the people Is one of the greatest obstacles that must be conquered to make ther.i acquainted with their duties and their own interests, have given me the idea of establishing a public library. 1 have led the Bishop and the Superior of the Seminary to see the advantage which would result from it. They have entered into my ideas and I have had a subscrip- tion opened, which they have signed with me, as have several priests, almost all the British merchants, and several Canadians, and not to allow the zeal of these gentle- men to cool 1 have charged the directors of the Library to form a catalogue, which I send by this opportunity to Mr Cumber- land, of the Board of trade, agent tor this Province, with a credit of £500 sterling, and if he takes any trouble we may hope to receive the books tor next winter. I am convinced of the advantage which will follow such an establishment, and it is de- sirable that it should be protected." Haldimand further enlarges upon the po- litical motives behind this library project in a letter to Cumberland. The ignorance of the natives of this colony having been, in my apprehension, the principal cause of their misbehaviour and attachment to interests evidently in- jurious to themselves, I have sought to encourage a subscription for a public li- brary, which more are come into than could have been at first expected; a pretty good sum has already been raised and when the scheme is sufficiently ma- tured by experience, I hope it will greatly tend to promote a more perfect coalition of sentiments and union of interest be- tween the old and new subjects of the Crown than has hitherto subsisted. From a further letter addressed to Cum- berland in October, 1780, it appears that the books for the Quebec library arrived dur- ing the summer of that year; that is to say, the English books arrived, but there also had been ordered a number of French books, for French readers in Quebec. "I could have wished" writes Haldimand "the French t)ooks had accompanied them, being more anxious for their arrival than for the English, V/hich, to prevent any jealousy, I shall not announce till the others arrive." Some of us in Canada still have Haldl- mand's racial problem to cope with. Finally all the books did arrive, and the good people of Quebec, French and Eng- lish, enjoyed for the first time the luxury BURPEE 139 of a public library. It indeed seems to have found a place of its own in the life of Quebec, as it exists to this day, though in a somewhat different form. Its growth was not what would be called phenomenal in these days. In 1882, after having been in existence for nearly half a century, there ■were only about 4000 volumes on the shelves. But 4000 volumes in 1822, in the quiet littlo town of Quebec, was after all not a bad showing. Without attempting to trace the vicissitudes of this first of Can- adian public libraries down to the present time, it may be noted that, after amalga- mating with the Quebec library associa- tion, established in 1843, it passed through a disastrous fire in 1S54, when a large num- ber of the books were destroyed; rose tri- umphantly from this reverse until in 18GC a catalog was printed showing 6990 vol- umes on the shelves; and finally, in IS'iT, in its eighty-eighth year, became merged in the library of the Literary and historical society of Quebec, where many of the old books are still to be found. The latter So- ciety had been founded in 1S24, chiefly through the instrumentality of the then Governor-general, the earl of Dalhousie, and has been an important factor in the intellectual life of Quebec and of the province from that day to this. Lord Dalhousie seems to have been a sort of amateuiish "Saint Andrew" to the Canadians of eighty years ago, for we learn from that wide-awake traveller, John M'Gregor, that the Earl established the Garrison library at Halifax, about 1825 (still in existence). M'Gregor mentions the presence of this library, (when he vis- ited Halifax in 1828), as one of the chief reasons why "the officers of His Majesty's civil list, and those of the army and navy, preferred Halifax to any other town in America." As a Haligonian, I should ex- pect the=e worthy gentlemen to prefer Halifax for its own sake — but let that pass. All travelers did not, I am sorry to say, conceive the same favorable opinion of Halifax as John M'Gregor. Those of you who hail from New England are no doubt familiar with the slanderous expression, "Go to Halifax;" and Halibuiton quotes a letter of Reverend Dr Stiles of Boston, who seems to have found the atmosphere of Halifax anything but elevating. "We have," he writes, "upwards of one hundred licensed houses, and perhaps as many more which retail spirituous liquors without licenses, so that the business of one half the town is to sell rum and the other half to drink it." This, however, was a long time ago — in 1760 — before the advent of a public li- brary. M'Gregor found one or two circulating libraries in Halifax in 1S2S — and says noth- ing about rum. The moral is clear. Three years after his visit, the Mechanics library was founded, and worried along for some 30 years — -with fairly satisfactory results. The Halifax library, established in 1824, was probably one of the two circulating libraries to which M'Gregor refers. In 1873 Sir Wm Young presented to the city his brother's collection of about 1500 volumes, and for several years he gave $100 annual- ly for new books. Three years later the Halifax library, up to that time a private association, presented its entire collection of GOOO volumes to the city. Out of these beginnings grew the free public library of the present day — one of the best managed in Canada. The oldest library in the Maritime Prov- inces is, I think, that of King's college, Windsor, Nova Scotia, which dates back to 1800. It boasts of some of the finest exam- ples of the old European presses in Amer- ica, such as the Aldine Aristotle of 1495-98. Tom Moore visited the library in 1804, as the guest of the Governor of the Colony, Sir J Wertworth, and King's college pre- serves an autographed copy of one of his books presented on the occasion. Perhaps a more ii^teresting item is a complete set of the works of one of its own graduates, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, the inimi- table "Sam Slick," whom Artemus Ward called "The Father of American humour." Haliburton himself says, in his History of Noi-a Scotia, that King's college contained in his day a large and well-selected collec- tion of books. 140 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Traveling west to Montreal, we find a public library established there in 1796— eleven years after the founding of the Que- bec institution. About 1814 it was housed in the courthouse, where "a spacious room was allotted to its use." Here were to be found "several thousand volumes of the best authors in every branch of literature." Bouchette, a contemporary writer, says that "the good regulations under which the library is managed, and the method in which the books are arranged, reflect great credit upon the committee that has the superintendence thereof and greatly con- tributes to the amusement of its numerous supporters." It may Interest you to know that at this time Montreal was still a walled city, the act of the Provincial Legislature passed in ISOl "for removing the old walls and fortifications" not yet having been car- ried into effect. In lS:il, when the congregation of the Methodist Church, on what is now St. Sul- picfi street, moved into their new church, the Montreal librarj- took possession of the old building, and remained there until 1S37. The Mercantile news room, later merged in the Mercantile library association, also had quarters in the same building. The old building was torn down in 1S91, to make room for the extension of the parish church of Notre Dame. Our old friend M'Gregor, when he reached Montreal in 1829, failed not to look up both the library and the news-room. "There is," he says, "an excel- lent news-room, in which the Edinburgh and Quarterly reviews, Blackwood's mag- azine, the Monthly and New monthly maga- zines, Cauadian and United States reviews, and English, Colonial and United States papers, are regularly received. Large and excellent maps of all countries are hung round the room. Attached to It is the Montreal library, containing a vol- uminous collection of bocks, and prints il- lustrating the costumes and scenery of dif- fcent countries." He refers also to the "judiciously selected garrison library," as well as the advocates' library. Another glimpse of Montreal libraries and news-rooms is afforded by Brown's "Views of Canada and the Colonist, 1851." "The Montreal merchants have a very com- modious news-room in St. James' street," he says, "and there is another, chiefly con- ducted by the young men connected with mercantile pursuits in the city, under the designation of the Mercantile library as- sociation (already mentioned). It has a well-selected library, and during the winter months, supports a series of very excellent evening lectures. There is also a Me- chanics' icstitution, which supports a news- room, library, and winter evening lectures." The more or less direct heir of these vari- ous early Montreal institutions is the Fra- ser institute, which contains a number of rare books acquired from the Mercantile library, as well as a series of engravings of mural paintings in the historic chateaux of France, presented many years ago to the Institut Canadien by Prince Jerome Bona- parte. Strangely enough, although they 'ooth acquired the library habit so many years ago, neither Quebec nor Montreal yet possess a municipally-supported free pub- lic library. The history of legislative libraries In Canada runs back practically to the estab- lishment of parliamentary government, but tan only be briedy referred to here. The Legislative library of Quebec dates from 1792. Its first librarian was Samuel Phil- ipp, who was also clerk of the Legislature. It is not recorded what renumevation Sam- uel Philipp received for his double duties, but we know that one of his successors, Rtienne Parent, filled the triple offices of Law officer of the Crown, French trans- lator to the Legislature, and Librarian— for the princely sum of JSOO per annum. It i^ Slid of him that he was an enthusiastic librarian. He had need to be. This was the legislative library of what was then known as Lower Canada. The history of the legislative libraiy of Upper Canada, now Ontario, may be said to begin in 1791. In that year Simcoe, just appointed first Governor of Upper Canada, writes Sir Jo?eph Bans, president of the Royal society: "My friend, the marquis of Buckingham, has suggested that govern- 141 raent might allow me a sum of money to be laid out for a public library, to be com- posed of such books as might be useful in the colony. He instanced the Encyclopae- dia, extracts from which might occasionally be published in the newspapers." ... 1 wonder if he tried the experiment. "It is possible," Simcoe adds, "private donations might be obtained, and that it (the library) would become an object of Royal munifi- cence." Possibly it was to encourage such Royal munificence that Simcoe decided (as he mentions in this same letter to Sir Jo- seph Banlcs) to call the unborn capital of the infant colony, rjeorgina. Perhaps, also, he chanfed his mind because the Royal munilicence h\ing fire; in which case we may for once bless the memory of a parsi- monious king. In any event a beginning was made with the library, but it was still of very modest proportions when, in April, 1813, it was de- stroyed with the public buildings. At the same time the little town library of York was — well, Dr .John Strachan, in his open letter to Jefferson, says "pillaged" — but Dr Strachan was a stormy little patriot. Even if the American visitors did take the books away, as souvenirs, Dr Strachan himself adn\its that Commodore Chauncey made every effort to collect them, and actually sent back two boxes filled with them; but he adds, a little plaintively, "hardly any were complete." This little collection of books was the earliest progenitor of the Toronto public library — so recently pre- sided over by that scholarly librarian and kindliest of men, Dr James Bain. By an act of the Upper Canadian Legis- lature passed in 1816, the sum of £800 was voted for the foundation of a parlia- mentary library to replace that destroyed In 1S13. At the union of Upper and Lower Canada In 1841, provision was made for a parlia- mentary library for the new Province of Canada. Up to the confederation of all the provinces, in 18G7, however, the Library of Parliament had little chance to grow. It had to follow the seat of government, and the seat of government was moved in succession from Kingston to Montreal, then to Quebec, then to Toronto, from Toronto to Quebec again, and finally to Ottawa. It was in fact— if it is not disrespectful to apply such a term to a parliamentary in- stitution, nothing more than a traveling library; and like other traveling libraries of no great size. And as if this were not enough, the unfortunate institution had to pass through three fires, twice in Quebec and once in Montreal. The Quebec fires were accidental; but in Montreal the books fell victim to the fury of a mob, which could find no more satisfactory way of ex- pressing its disapproval of the Rebellion losses bill than by burning the House of Parliament. Settled comfortably at Ottawa, in its beautiful building, the Library of Parliament has giown rapidly, and now ranks among the most important of the continent. One of our Ontario librarians. Miss Janet Carnochan, of Niagara, not long ago dis- covered an old volume which proved to be the Record hook of the Niagara library, founded in 1800. The picturesque little town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is thus able to add to its boast that it had sheltered the first Parliament of Upper Canada, and pub- lished the first newspaper in the province, the additional distinction of having opened the first public library. It is extraordinary that although the Niagara library flour- ished for twenty years, and was vigorous enough to survive the stormy days of 1812-14, its very existence had been for- gotten for many years, at the time the old Record book came to light. An examina- tion of its faded pages reveals some curious particulars. Among the rules, one provides that "Every subscriber may, if he chooses, when he pays his subscription, make the choice of a book not exceeding his sub- scription, which shall be procured for him with all convenient speed, provided nothing Irreligious or immoral is contained in the same." The first catalog of books, dated March, 1801, does immense credit to the character of the early citizens of Niagara. Of the 80 volumes listed, the first 30 are of a religious nature, including some for- 142 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE gotten worthy's "Sermons to young women." Perhaps they needed them, in ISOl. You may conceive what a serious- minded community this was, when I tell you that no. 28 on the list is "Religious courtship." Yet there must have been an element of frivolity somewhere in Niagara, for whom a volume of "Letters on court- ship," plain every day courtship, was pro- vided. As to the rest, there was Cowper's "Task," Campbell's "Pleasures of hope," Bruce's "Travels," Robertson's "History of Charles V," and a number of other works of a like nature. The only book of fiction on the list is no. 73, "The Story teller." Imagine the joy of the Niagara librarian when the circulation statistics for the year were made up! No fiction bug- bear for him or her. It was an ideal sit- uation; though one wonders a little what the librarian lived upon for the first three years, as no emolument is mentioned in the minutes of the committee until 1804, when it was resolved "that the librarian be al- lowed 12 1-2 per cent of all the moneys collected for the last 12 months from non- subscribers;" but, as if afraid of their own generosity, the committee add, "the libra- rian shall be obliged to make good all the books that may be lost by non-subscribers." The minutes thereafter show the amounts paid over to the librarian under this novel arrangement. One year it ran as high as .-£6, but the average was about £2. In 1817 it was exactly 5s. 7d. In 1820 the Niagara library died a natural death, the remaining proprietors handing over the books to the librarian in consideration of his allowing them their free use for three years. Just a few words, if I have not already exhausted your patience, as to libraries in the West, in the palmy days of the Cana- dian fur-trade. Fair-sized libraries existed at the principal posts of both the Hudson Bay and North West companies, and are still maintained at the main establishments of the former company. The practice in the case of the Hudson's Bay company has generally been to send out annually to York Factory and the other posts on the Bay a selection of the best books published during the year, with bound volumes of the principal periodicals. With the North West company, the establishment and building up of libraries seems to have been due rather to the enthusiasm of certain partneis, notably Roderick McKenzie, a cousin of Sir Alexander Meckenzie the ex- plorer. Roderick McKenzie founded the once-famous Athabaska library, at Fort Chipewyan, on the shores of Lake Atha- baska. Lefroy, who spent the winter of 1843-44 at Fort Chipewyan, says "I was so fortunate as to find there the re- mains of a library formed by oificers of the then extinct North West company for their northern department, comprising many sound books of histoi-y and general literature." There was probably also a library at Fort Williams, though I have not been able to find any direct reference to it in the literature of the £ur-trade. Harmon carried a few books of his own f rom. post to post, during his long residence in the West. On one occasion he writes "as I had no other book I read during my stay (at the north end of the Lake Winnipe- gosis) the greater part of the Bible." John Johnston, a famous independent fur-trader, had quite a notable collection of books at Sault Ste Marie. Bigsby, in his journey through the Lakes in 1824 visited John- ston, and comments in his journal on the extent and va)ue of his library— "a thou- sand well-bound and well-selected volumes, French and English, evidently much in use. In winter especially." Of all libraries in Western Canada, the most important was that at the Red River eettlement, in what is now the Province of Manitoba. The Provincial librarian has written an admirable account of this libra- ry and I cannot do better than give it in Mr Robertson's own words (as quoted In Dr Bain's article on "The Public Libraries of Canada," in the Encyclopedia of Canada) : The Red River library was founded In the spring of 1847, the year after the ar- rival of the sixth regiment, in the then young colony of the Red River settlement. 148 The officers in charge of the troops were mainly instrurcental in starting this pio- neer public library. Their efforts in this direction were nobly seconded by a num- ber of leading settlers. Previous to the year 1847 there was a subscription library of 200 volumes, belonging to private gen- tlemen, some of them officers in the ser- vice of the Hudson's Bay company, under the charge of the late Richard Logan. The first books for the Red River library arrived from England in the summer of 1848, via the Hudson's Bay route. . . It is not stated how many volumes were in the consignment, but old settlers say that there must have been at least 1000 books. The outlay was covered by a grant from the Council of Assiniboia, and a subscrip- tion taken up among the settlers. . .The library received a further accession to its shelves, through a bequest from Peter Pidler, (an able but eccentric officer of the Hudson's Bay company) who be- queathed the colonists his private library of 500 volumes, his maps, globes, and as- tronomical instruments .. .The librarian left for Oregon in 1851, after which the managers became careless, and the last meeting was held in November, 1857. The subsequent history of the library is difficult to trace, but, shortly after 1860, the institution was divided into two sec- tions, one portion being left at I^ower Fort Garry for the benefit of settlers In that vicinity, and the other removed to the residence of Magnus Brown, for the use of the community around Winnipeg. It was from the latter that the books in the present Provincial library, belonging to the old institution, were obtained. Only one library was maintained at the far western posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, so far as I have any knowledge, and that was at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River, in the days when the re- nowned Dr McLoughlin held undivided sway on the Pacific Coast. It is recorded by W. F. Tolmie, an officer of the Com- pany, that in 1833 the idea was conceived by Anderson, one of the clerks at Milbank Sound, and Chief trader Manson, of "es- tablishing a circulating library among the officers of the Company. Anderson, on reaching Fort Vancouver, ventilated the matter. It was readily taken up by Dr McLoughlin and Mr Douglas. A subscrip- tion library was formed which did much good for about ten years, soon after which time it was broken up." The officer sub- scribed, sent the order for books and peri- odicals to the company's agent in London; the books were sent out, and as every- body had subscribed they were sent to all the forts throughout the length and breadth of the land. The library was kept at Fort Vancouver, subscribers send- ing for such books as they wanted, and returning them when read. Finally the books were divided among such of the subscribers as cared about having them. The Hudson's Bay Company, by their ships, sent out the 'Times' and other lead- ing papers for circulation." "This," adds Tolmie, "was the first circulating li- brary on the Pacific Slope, extend- ing from 1833 to 1843." This is not perhaps strictly correct. Some of you may not be aware that there was quite a considerable library at the Russian fur- trading post of Sitka, about the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1870, after the transfer of Alaska to the United States, the remains of the collection were sent to Washington, and are now either in the library of the State department, or in the Library of Congress. They in- cluded a number of manuscript journals of explorations, log-books, despatches and correspondence, all in Russian, and alto- gether about sixty volumes. But having now jumped altogether off the map of Canada, it is high time that I brought this rambling paper to an end. The PRESIDENT: Not all of our brothers of English speech are so acces- sible to us as those in Canada. We have some that are far across the sea and even at the antipodes, and as we cannot go to them, sometimes they come to us. So we have great pleasure to-night in having with us Mr Herbert Baillie, librarian of the li- brary in Wellington, New Zealand, who will tell us, I am sure, some things about libraries and library work in his country that we do not know and shall be greatly interested to hear. ADDRESS BY MR BAILLIE Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. I see your program says "Greetings 144 MINNKTONKA CONFERENCE from New Zealand.' I have much plea- sure in conveying greetings from the li- brarians of New Zealand to you, the libra- rians of America, and I think I should be conveying the wishes of the public of New Zealand if I also convey greetings from the New Zealand public to you as repre- senting the public of the United States. I am afraid that my only qualification for reading a paper before this conference is that I have the honor to be the first New Zealander to be present at one of the A. L. A. conferences. Ever since I joined the staff of the Wellington public library in 1902, I have had a goal in view and that was to attend one of these meet- ings. My wish has been attained and, as a kind of penance, on you, I have been asked to read a paper, and I, without any regard as to your valuable time, con- sented. I have decided to give a short account of the way a library is managed In New Zealand, taking my own as typical. The Wellington public library is a de- partment under the Wellington City Coun- cil; a Committee of six councillors is ap- pointed by the Council after each election, which takes place every other year. The Mayor Is, ex-ofBcio, a member of the Com- mittee, but. as a matter of fact, he seldom attends any of our meetings, although the present Mayor is a strong supporter of the librai-y. Meetings are held fortnightly and any business outside of formal matters Is reported to the Council for its approval, which is seldom withheld. The library is chiefly supported by a rate of one thirteenth of a penny on the unim- pro\ecl value of land held by the taxpayers. The receipts from this source for the last year amounted to £ 3100, or $15,000, out of which we pay for lighting— supplied at cost by the municipality from its electric light stations — insuiance, interest on cost of buildings, sinking fund on loans, which were raised to provide the buildings, and cost of all extensions and new buildings in addition to the necessary amounts for books and salaries. It might be of interest to some to know that at present a majority of our Commit- tee are what are called "labor members." The chairman. Councillor Maclaren is a worker and secretary of the Wharf la- borers' union, and here I may say that their interest in library matters is keen and liberal. I have to thank them for that interest which is responsible for my visit to America. The Committee, with the Council's approval, granted me live months' leave of absence on full pay, to attend this Conference, and, in addition, granted a bonus of nearly 400 dollars towards the expenses. I stated that the library was chiefly sup- ported by a rate. The other sources of revenue are subscriptions from borrowers, fines, extra books and Government subsidy. Five shillings, (11.20) per annum is charged to persons who may wish to borrow books fron. the Circulation department. The sub- scription is payable half-yearly in advance and there is no limit to the number of tickets that a subscriber may take out, but he may only take out one book on each ticket. Any resident in town or suburbs may become a subscriber on signing a ilmilar declaration to that required from ratepayers in your towns. No distinction Is m.ade between ratepayers and non-rate- payers. A visitor to the city may take out Dooks on depositing $2.50. He is charged at the rate of six cents for each of the books he may borrow during his stay, the deposit being returned on the return of all books. Eytra books may be taken out by subscribers on payment of six cents per book. The revenue, outside of the tax for the year 1907-08 was £700, or about $3400. The population of Wellington is 63,000; we have 2311 subscribers and our issues were 128,000. We have two branches in con- nection with the central library. It has been the general rule at the cen- tral library to place all books over a cer- tain price, say 6s. ($1.50) in the Reference department, from which no books were Issued under any circumstances. I find that it is a difficult matter to break away from the system, and, by placing better books 145 in the Lending branch, I had to duplicate them for the Reference department or allow the Reference department to lose its former prestige. I might state here that every part of the library, except the loan department is free, so, of course, the Refer- ence department is used a great deal, and what may be termed a "vested interest" created. The Library committee have part- ly surmounted the diflRculty by allowing books to be taken from the Reference de- department on the payment of a deposit, by ordinary subscribers. The whole mat- ter will be faced again when I return with details as to your practices. Our branches are run on similar lines to yours except as to subscription to Loan department. One of the undesirable features in our libraries is the importance of the news- papers. There are about 200 newspapers, dailies, tri-weekly and weekly, published in New Zealand, and more than half of these are filed at the Wellington library. They come from all parts of the Dominion and each publisher wants his paper to be filed on a prominent stand, and particu- larly it is not to be filed with some other "rag" from the same district. We tried to economize by filing papers from the same town together. In such cases, of course, we have to tactfully arrange matters or else disarrange them by declining to ac- cept the paper with conditions. Our coun- try cousins all come to the library, and, with that backwardness that usually char- acterizes New Zealanders, refrain from making enquiries, wander around the rooms, and if they cannot find the par- ticular paper they require, write at once to the village, arouse the publisher or editor and he at once insists that political feeling should not enter into library man- agement, as if a librarian ever had any political feeling. The price of books may be of interest to some. Perhaps, I ought not to say much on the subject. I believe we pay less for American fiction than most of you do. Probably the process of "dumping" is accountable for this, but other American books are dear and usually difficult to ob- tain. English fiction that is published In "Colonial" editions is retailed at 3-6, off which we get a substantial discount, as we do off all books published in Great Britain. A contract is made every two years with the lowest bidder for the full supply of all books required. The Central library reference and news rooms are open every Sunday from 2:00 to 5 p. m. and from 6:30 to 9:00 p. m. The attendance is usually heavier than on week days. The week day hours of the Central Library are News room 9:30 a. m. to 10:00 p. m. Reference 10:00 a. m. to 10:00 p. m. Loan dept 10:00 a. m. to 9:00 p. m. Assistants' hours average 44 per week. The system of attendance requires each assistant to be on duty from 9:00 a. m. to 1:00 p. m. and from 6:00 to 10:00 p. m. On alternate days, the other set duty be- ing 9:00 a. m. to 12:00 and 1:00 to 6:00 p. m. On one day in the week, she fin- ishes for the day at 1:00 p. m. The salary of a lady assistant is fixed at present at a maximum of £100, or about $4S5 per year, but I am sure that it would be raised if necessary to keep a good assistant. Assistants have three weeks holidays each year. The library and branches are run on the "open access" system — any other sys- tem would be unpopular. I proved this to my satisfaction or disatisfaction when I was appointed to take charge of our first branch. The Chief librarian decided that non-access should be the rule. It being a new library, the subscribers came along all right, but after a year's trial, the sys- tem was dropped as it caused great dis- satisfaction among the subscribers. Free lectures were arranged for each winter. One series being given In the Town Hall and another in the Newtown district where they were instituted. As many as twenty lectures have been given in one season. I do not have the least trouble in getting lecturers to help with- out fee or reward. In some cases, they have come from other parts of the Domin- 146 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Ion and their positions range from that of Chief Justice downwards. A valuable natural history collection has been presented to the Newtown branch and we have to extend the building at a cost of about £4000, or $19,400 to take it and the additions which are always com- ing in. Essay competitions are held in connec- tion with the museum by the district schools. The subjects being either the museum as a whole or some particular class in it. Free subscription tickets are issued by the City to the writers of a cer- tain number of the best compositions. I am sure that the information I shall take from here will be the means of im- proving not only my own library, but also those in other parts of the Dominion. As showin.i; the interest displayed in my trip, I shall read an extract from the Welling- ton 'Evening Post", a newspaper having the largest circulation in New Zealand. A Mission Among Books The books — legitimate books— are call- ing, and Mr Herbert Baillie, Chief Munici- pal Librarian, is barkening to their cry. They are far away in America, and he is to start a voyape on Monday to get the message which they have ready for New Zealanders. The people here may have some slight prejudice against things which they are pleased to term "Yankee no- tions." but they may be assured that in the department of libraries the United States authorities have not thought and acted in vain. To them a book is not merely a book, so much paper containing more or less print, mummied in a more or less pretty cover. It is a living message, and they take pains to make it circulate among the living. Almost as soon as a boy or girl is able to toddle it may take its tiny feet to a public library and find people there eager to g'adden it with those prints so dear to childhood, and ever afterwards the prospective citizen may al- ways find suitable literary nourishment. As far as possible with the means at his disposal, Mr Baillie has made the local libraries set an example to similar insti- tutions in other centres of New Zealand, and luckily his spirit of progressiveness and his desire to make a public library really public have favorably impressed the City Council. Citizens may expect good results from his attendance at the Library Congress, and his contact with eminent librarians in their own citadels. A newspaper writer in Wellington, ro- ferring to my trip, stated that the Amer- ican librarians had long since arrived at perfection and there remains no more to be learned — "there was not much to learn anyway — the whole system can be grasped after the perusal of two or three books and reports." Mr BOWKER: In view of the action ot the authorities ot the Wellington (New Zealand) library, it is quite proper that this Association should express its ap- preciation and thanks to those authorities for sending a representative to attend this conference. I therefore move such a vote and that the Secretary be requested to transmit the expression of our appre- ciation and thanks to the Wellington au- thorities. Mr RANCK: Mr President, I second that motion. Unanimously carried. The PRESIDENT: This completes the program for this evening and I therefore declare the first general session of this conference closed. SECOND GENERAL SESSION (Wednesday Morning, June 24th, 1908) The PRESIDENT called the convention to order at 9:30 o'clock and The Secretary then read the minutes of the meeting of the Council, (see p. 409) Mr R. R. BOWKER: Mr President, I would like to suggest that the Secretary state briefly to the Association the essen- tial points of the report of the Committee on Constitutional revision which was dis- cussed at the Council meeting, so that the Council can have the benefit of any sug- gestions from the membership. The PRESIDENT: Mr Andrews, in be- half of the Committee, will give the re- port. Mr C. W. ANDREWS: We have held two meetings, both long and protracted and have received a number ot sugges- tions besides those that were specifically CONSTITUTIONAL REVISION 147 referred to it at the Asheville meeting. Upon consideration — upon, I thinli, I may fairly say, due consideration, we have for- mally recommended a number of changes which may be divided into three classes: those affecting the composition of the Ex- ecutive board, those affecting the composi- tion of the Council, their duties, and then a few minor corrections of infelicities or inaccuracies and one failure in grammar of the Association — which I think ought to be eliminated no matter what you do with the rest of the scheme. The desire of the movers of the resolution which was referred to us at Asheville was to secure a more permanent executive body and this Committee found itself unanimously and formally in agreement with them and they asked the advice of all the members of the Association who were present at the Atlantic City meeting and found practic- ally the unanimous agreement, that we need a more permanent body. Therefore they have provided an executive body of nine, consisting of the president, the two vice-presidents and six elected members, two to be elected each year. On the other hand, they have felt that the Coun- cil should become what it was really in- tended to be, a debating body, and they found that the Institute would give us its existence and retain to the Association practically the whole membership of the library profession if we would enlarge the Council sufBciently to make it inclusive of the interests of the library work. Therefore they have provided for a Coun- cil consisting of 25 members elected by the Association at large as at present 25 to be elected by the Council as a body, all the ex-presidents of the Association and the Executive board for the year. This makes a total of something like 75 or 80 members and will enable us to dis- cuss and pronounce with some authority on the questions which should come be- fore the Council of the Association. The division of duties is very simple. They have left the business to the Executive board and the debating and questions of policy to the Council. We have made very careful examination of each article of the constitution and have tried to bring them into uniformity with these ideas. If the Council and Association, for both should, will approve of the general ideas, I doubt if there would be any necessity for a scrutiny of the details and verbiage, but the ideas ought to be in your minds and you ought to be prepared to vote on them if the Council approves of the scheme and submits it to you at a later session. The PRESIDENT: The Association of course understands that the constitution is not before it for approval at the present time, as it has not yet been finally consid- ered by the Council and referred to the As- sociation. There will be an opportunity, however, for the expression of individual opinion during a few minutes if such is desired. Mr F. P. HILL: I understand that the proposed revision of the Constitution has been printed, and I would like to ask whether it would not be possible to put the copy somewhere so that all the mem- bers might see it and make suggestions to the Council, following out the idea that Mr Bowker has spoken of? Mr ANDREWS: Owing to the kindness of H. W. Wilson Co., we have this in print, and there are copies enough for the Council and for posting, as Mr Hill sug- gests. The PRESIDENT: An opportunity will be given about the middle of the next session for the introduction of any miscel- laneous business that may need to come before the Association. The librarian is so much occup'ied about thoughts of how to distribute books and how to make them more available to the general reader that we sometimes for- get to consider the books themselves, and we are to have an opportunity this morn- ing to listen to a number of short papers and talks about books, some of them about classes of books in general and a little about book methods and then again about individual books. This program has been arranged with a great deal of pains 148 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE by Mrs Fairchild and we are sorry that she is not to be with us this morning. The carrying out of her plans has been entrusted to the charge of Miss Kroeger. The first paper to which we are to listen Is one on "The dear and dumpy twelves" by Mr HENRY E. LEGLER. THE DEAR AND THE DUMPY TWELVES; or THE LIBRARI- AN'S SHELF OF BOOKS "Let me love the insides of books with Doctor Johnson, and have respect unto their outsides with David Garrick" — De- Witt Millrr's bookplate iiisniption. Once upon a time, long, long ago, there lived in the goodly city of Strassburg a bespectacled German professor whose name was Sebastian Brandt. (His biog- raphers do not mention spectacles, but a German professor minus a pair athwart his nose Is inconceivable.) Looking upon the world through these glasses, the worthy doctor of philosophy marveled greatly that every person whom he saw, belonged to the tribe of fools. He gathered into one great vessel the various kinds of fools his observant eyes beheld, and sent them adrift in his heavily-laden "Narrenschiff." His story of the "Ship of fools" and its motley-minded crew has ever since been deemed descriptive of everyone but oneself, and perhaps that's why there's so much relish found in its ungentle satire. Now this remarkable voyage occurred full four hundred years ago. There are some who profess to see in the opening verse a reference to a certain type of librarian. Manifestly this conclusion is erroneous, for the profession was non-ex- istent then; the Alexandrian library — it there ever was one — had long since gone up in smoke, library schools had not been invented, and Mr Carnegie had not then begun his desperate and futile attempt to die poor. Nor is it likely that the profes- sor's spectacles had the magic property of prophetic vision, for the worthy pro- fessor used them merely to mirror the men of his own time. There are those, of course, who aver that in the mirror wherein the men of Sebastian Brandt's time saw themselves reflected, "the men of all times can recognize themselves," and that "a crew is never wanting to man this old, weather-beaten but ever-seawor- thy vessel." At any rate, 'tis not unin- teresting to recall in abridgement from the English version, the quaintly phrased autobiography of the "first fole of all the hole navy." Styll am I besy bokes assemblynge For to haue plenty it is a plesaunt thynge In my conceyt and to haue them ay in honde — But what they mene do I nat vinderstonde. But yet I haue them in great reuerence And honoure sauynge them from dust and imperfection By often brusshynge, and moche dyly- gence. Full goodly bounde in plesaunt couerture Of domas, satyn, or els of veluet pure I kepe them sure ferynge, lyst they sholde be lost. For In them is the connynge wherein I me host For all is in them, and no thynge in my mynde. • **•»•• Lo in lyke wyse of bokys I haue store But fewe I rede, and fewer understande. I folowe nat theyr doctryne nor theyr lore — It is ynoughe to here a boke in hande. It were to moche to be it suche a bande For to be bounde to loke within the boke — I am content on the fayre couerynge to loke. Why sholde I stody to hurt my wyt thereby Or trouble my mynde with stody ex- cessyue, Sythe many ar whiche stody right besely ■• * note wel theyr diligence; Ensue ye theyr steppes: obtayne ye such fame, * ♦ But nowe to fewe suche be. Therefore in this Shyp let them come rowe with me. Doubtless it was from this suggestion that some one was moved to write these warning words: "The librarian who reads LEGLER 149 Is lost." It may be doubted, indeed, that overmuch heed hath been given to the warning. Nathless, the librarian's read- ing may vi'ell merit some attention and discussion. What shall the librarian read? How can a librarian serve his public in the largest sense, unless like a physician, he knows the properties of the ingredients he prescribes? Without that knowledge, without the skill that grows out of it, without the enthusiasm, which underlies the profitable use of it, without the love of letters which must be the basis for the spreading of it, the work of the librarian becomes but a meager and pitiful thing. It was doubtless some maker of sound- ing phrases who sometimes, somewhere, declared that "the librarian who reads is lost." This profitless suggestion has been repeated in print and in word till it has come to have, by its reiteration, the very force of law, accepted and unchallenged. We are but too prone to subordinate sense to sound; in the volume of spoken sound, if it be but sufficiently plangent and insis- tent, we find an empty substitute for meaning. One need not. indeed, have a taste as catholic as Charles Lamb's, whose book exclusions were limited to directories, pocket books, checker boards bound and lettered on the back, almanacs and stat- utes-at-large ; one need not, on the other hand, limit bookish propensities to the advice given by crusty old Doctor John- son—to collect one book. Neither is there need that the librarian should stock his shelf full with the hundred best books of literature — whatever these may be; nor that a special course of reading be pur- sued. His literary browsings must lead whither the fine relish of his taste may attract him. The well-thumbed volumes that he keeps for the pleasant reading that comes only between-whiles will serve to measure his worth as a librarian. If his personal books are of the vapid and the flabby sort, now issuing in such over- whelming and appalling profusion from our book factories, he will but scatter about the microbes of his own virulent disease. If he steeps himself with the creative literature which time has tried and found good, he may perchance do something whereby the Thought Beauti- ful, as expressed in the Book Beautiful, may contribute toward an ultimate World Beautiful. Something of the spirit he may have which Austin Dobson gives wings in his poem. MY BOOKS (From "At the Sign of the Lyre," 1885) They dwell in the odor of camphor They stand in a Sheraton shrine, They are "warranted early editions," These worshipful tomes of mine; — In their creamy "Oxford vellum," In their redolent "crushed Levant," With their delicate watered linings, They are jewels of price, I grant; — Blind-tooled and morocco-jointed. They have Bedford's daintiest dress, They are graceful, attenuate, polished. But they gather the dust, no less; — For the row that I prize is yonder. Away on the unglazed shelves, The bulged and the bruised octavos. The dear and the dumpy twelves. — Montaigne with his sheepskin blistered And Howell the worse for wear. And the worm-drilled Jesuit's Horace, And the little old cropped Moliere. And the Burton I bought for a florin. And the Rabelais foxed and flea'd, — For the others I never have opened. But these are the ones I read. The librarian should further heed, and saturate himself in, the traditions of his calling. And so a bit of his shelf may well be given to those books that make clearer to him the origin and develop- ment — and therefore the broader meaning — of the work which engages his activity, and should engage his interest. Out of this story, with its associations, will come to him that appeal for personal service that shall make his contribution, no mat- ter what its degree, of greater worth. These books will recite to him the trials of the continental printers whose names survive in colophons; of writers and ot 150 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE publishers, and of librarians, too, whose lives were spent in making the knowledge of the world the common heritage of the people. For the long struggle of these men to promote, and of others to sup- press, the diffusion of knowledge among the masses, tells, after all, the story of un- folding democracy. And the end of that story is not yet ready for the telling. In the shaping of that ending the libra- rian must do his part. And so there comes to him suggestion for a third line of reading — ephemeral in its nature, per- haps, but important as well. It is the current reading that puts him in touch with the work-a-day world and its prob- lems; that will enable him to gather and to use judiciously, effectively, abundantly, the information whose lack has made for so much of incapacity in our public life. The librarian must strike root in the ex- periences of the past, but he must live in the present. Beyond the four walls of his building he must have the imagination to see the multiform interests and problems of the people who surround him, and to bring in application not alone the knowl- edge he has garnered, but to present it in such form that they may weigh its worth and make it serviceable and of good ef- fect. Thus will the librarian equip himself to achieve the ideal of his calling. And the main principle of the ideal, in the felicitous words of Mr Cobden-Sanderson, is this: "That whereas the labourer's labour, pursued in isolation is apt to ap- pear, and in fact to be, a poor and monot- onous occupation, a laying of bricks upon bricks, and nothing more, such labour, whatever it may be, when pursued with full knowledge of the logical association and cohesion of its processes, when pur- sued with the full knowledge of its coop- erative and historical development, when pursued with full knowledge of its pur- pose and possibilities, will be found to contain within itself the elements of a lofty Ideal, well calculated to give peace to the imagination, and to the hand of the workman. Inspiration and strength. Such is the principle of the Ideal: However & man may begin, or whatever may be his point of departure, the supreme goal Is still everywhere open to him." The PRESIDENT: In other words. If the librarian who reads is lost, you had better all go and lose yourselves as quickly as possible. The next paper deals only in part with the book. It also tells us something about the place and the man, which I think you will agree with me are almost equally im- portant. The paper is by Miss SARAH B. ASKEW, of the New Jersey public li- brary commission, whom we are very sorry not to have with us to-day. Her paper will be read by Miss Jessie Hopkins. "THE PLACE, THE MAN AND THE BOOK" Separated from the mainland of New Jersey by a bay is a long, narrow strip of land, which in the late spring and sum- mer is the paradise of the fisherman and pleasure seeker. In the winter time it Is a wind-swept, wave-beaten, storm-ridden inaccessible wilderness. The only signs of life are in the little fishing villages, lighthouses and life-saving stations. Way down at the very end of the island, on a little spit ol land, is a tiny hamlet. This little "cab- bage patch" of houses bears the same name as the town to whose skirts it clings. The town, itself, in the summer time, is a wealthy, exclusive resort; in wintet it is a gaunt, deserted village. With the leaving of the summer visitors, the churches and schools used to be closed, the trains are cut off and the long winter siege begins. In winter, visitors are most rare, for to get there one must take a day's journey, change trains anywhere from seven to ten times, wait in most im- possible places, endure cold and all the ills traveling mankind is subject to, and at last drive some four miles in the worst of weather. The little village so cut off has to be 151 a world unto itself for six mouths. On one side of it the ocean roars, storms and pounds, blacli and threatening; on the other, not a hundred yards from high tide level on the ocean side, the waters of the bay surge, following the ocean's every whim. The winter wind blows across the unprotected land with augmented fury, piles the clean white sand in great hum- mocks, rattles and rustles the dry sedge grass, which adds its moan of protest to the bleak sounds. At the very land's end stands the lighthouse, and In Its shadow the life-saving station. Huddling near them, in the shelter of the hummocks, are little fishermen's huts — tiny, high-win- dowed, low-roofed affairs, many of them roped down to hold them against the fury of the storm. This is the place. Great, bearded fishermen, old sea cap- tains, young sailors, clamm-ers and oyster- men who seem to live in oilskins and sou'- westers; women dressed so much like the men you can't distinguish them at fifty yards and who can dig clams, sail a boat, throw a line or do any man's work; girls and boys growing up as their fathers and mothers. They are rough, uncouth, bluff, hearty, whole-souled and as simple as children. These are the people In outline; the sketch fills in as we go on. The story of how the library was started and all such things as a church and a school were added to the village, is "another story." But just an outline to make the story clear. When I first visited the town the sum- mer people said that to get the "natives" to read was simply impossible. "Why, Miss Askew," said one of the Royal Line of Biddies, "they are simply the most thankless, degraded and hopeless set I ever saw. Why, last winter before we went away, I collected over a hundred of the most popular books I could find from the summer people, and when I came back this summer I found that not one of them had been read through. Why, to think of it! They would not even read the "House of mirth," the "Masquerader" or the "Fighting chance." Now, you know It is hopeless." In spite of everything my mouth twitched at the corners. Can you imagine one of those old fishermen sitting before a driftwood fire on a winter's night ab- sorbed in the "Masquerader," while the storm raged outside? I couldn't. Nor could I imagine the girls who mended the nets and sailed the boats poring over the "Fighting chance." She saw my mouth and hastened to add, "But there were some serious books. Why, there was even 'Bryce's American commonwealth' and 'Riis's Battle with the slum.' Cap'n Jed said he read four chapters in Bryce's, just to please me; but what do you think he said? He said the thing was worse than the South Sea for being full of reefs and he no sooner got off one than he got on another." This time 1 broke into a chuckle. Cap'n Jed was for many years a "deep sea fisherman," and rose from the very low- est place In the crew of a fishing smack to own his own boat. Then he was for many years Captain of the life-savers, and now is retired and lives in the old life-sav- ing station, which the government aban- doned for a new one when the ocean crept up to its very door. He is six feet two in his bare feet, he says, and more than broad accordingly — a very son of Anak. I could just see him with the book clutched in both hands, his feet wide apart, his horn spectacles on his nose, wrestling with Bryce. However, blood will tell, for this descen- dant of the Biddies, after looking at me for a moment, broke out into a laugh, too, and said, "Well go ahead. I will give you a building." The money to refurnish and fix it was subscribed and the building was so large and so much money was sub- scribed that we had room for a school- room, a play-room, a pleasure-room, and a library-room; and, best of all, sliding pai^ titions and chairs, so that the whole could be thrown together for a church and a lecture-room. 152 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE It seems strange to have a play-room and a pleasure-room. The play-room was for the children; the pleasure-room for the older folks to talk and sew and play games. Then the money for books was raised, and they commissioned me to select them. I had always wanted to try an experiment, to select a library and with each book to have special people in view whose very names I knew and whose dispositions and characters I had studied, and to try to lead them from one book to another by some connecting link. Always heretofore there had been too many people or too many books. But this time I revelled in it. I got all of the people together. (There are only 175 in the little winter town.) We gathered around the big stove in the library. We told stories, and really and truly talked of ships and seas and many things. So friendly did we all get that Cap'n Jed dubbed me "Captain of the Book Ship." Their stories of wrecks and dangers and hairbreadth escapes were ab- sorbing. Their whims, beliefs and bits of unexpected lore of the heavens above, the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth, were delightful and surprising. I found that these simple people, shut up there for so long each year, had a depth of mind and reasoning powers and a quaint, poetical and mystical strain far beyond most people ynu meet in what we call "civilization." In this way I got to know them and 1 thought I saw the trouble with the books the year before. Down there in the win- ter, where nature is so big and the isola- tion so complete, and life so simple, the problems that come from an overheated, artificial life would not touch them at all. How could such a woman as Lily Bart, such a man as John Chilcote, interest them? Their struggles and trials would seem un- real and unnecessary. Bryce they did not understand. The slums they did not know and could not comprehend; therefore "The battle" lacked interest. Primal things, the man-to-man fight, primitive natures, peo- ple of uncomplex minds, folk-lore, nature, the supernatural, myths and the mystical, and, it seemed to me, even Dickens, with his trick of making a person stand for one characteristic, would appeal to them. When I had my books collected I went down to organize my library. This did not mean to catalog it. It meant to go over my books again and suit them to the people tor whom I had bought them. Each book I had tried to have touch their lives somewhere. There were Dooks on the stars that glittered in the wind-swept sky; there were books on the marvels un- der the stormy waters; there were books about the men who had sailed the ocean they knew so well; there were books about the lands visited by the ships they watched slip over the horizon: and books about men of might and valor; and books of poetry and quaint legends and myths. These were the books. I did a great deal of cross referencing by means of lists and notes pasted in the backs of books calling attention to other books. Just what this was I will let my story show. The habit has come to me from. Sarah Grand, and perhaps Mary Cecil Haj' — that is, of giving a prologue of which the story explains: "A white face looks from the window. A sweet voice calls 'help.' Ah! doom of Lady Evelyn, the ill-fated bride of six seconds." This scene is explained only on the next to the last page in the book to be that she has sent the bridegroom back for her grand coronet blazing with seventeen dia- monds, thirty-two rubies and divers lesser and yet precious stones. And "He hath not came, and the train doth start," she cries. When the books were all arranged we gave a party to open the library. Every- body in town was there — in fact there were 176 people there. Old Cap'n Jed said "Cap'n, I caught a coast guard and brung him in." Cap'n Jed was the presi- dent of the library board and general ad- viser plenipotentiary to the town. His speech was something like this. "Gentle- men' and all the rest of you and the ladies: It seems to me that the Cap'n ASKEW 158 here's got her ship puny well in trim for a trial run; and if all on board is agree- able let's push her off with three cheers for the Cap'n, her ship and her freight — 'er meanin' these here books. Now for a speech from Cap'n an' sailin' orders." I told them the books were theirs and what I wanted them to do with them, and how I hoped they would like them. Then, to try my plan a little and see how well I had judged them, I told them' Dicken's "Child's dream^ of a star." The picture I will never forget. It was won- derful and pathetic. The place was lit with kerosene lamps that threw great shadows; the fire glowed in the stove; the little children sat on the floor at my feet; the older folks back of them, and the storm beat outside. The people pressed close to hear the story. Men, women and children listened breathlessly, great eyes fixed on my face, and tears, streaming down many of their rough, weather-beaten cheeks. At the end, for awhile, silence held. Then with a deep breath, "That she' is purty," says old Cap'n Jed. The rest nodded and wiped their faces with their red handkerchiefs, like a man after a long pull. I gave out the books that night myself, and told them a little of the men who wrote them and the men who lived them. The lives of Captain Kidd, Sir Francis Drake, Hale's "Stories of the sea," Ste- venson's "Kidnapped" and "Master of Bal- lantrae" and "Treasure Island," Ingersoll's "Book of the ocean," Towle's "Magellan and the journey of Marco Polo," Scott's "Pirate," Ball's "Starland," Kipling's "Captains Courageous," Frothingham's "Sea fighters from Drake to Farragut," and Verne's "Wonderful tales" I knew would succeed. Then I had some for an experiment: Saintine's "Picciola," Rep- plier's "Book of famous verse," Spencer's "Una and the Red Cross Knight," Dickens' "Our mutual friend," Scott's "Ivanhoe" and "Rob Roy," Barrie's "Little minister," Blackmore's "Lorna Doone," Guerber's "Legends of the middle ages," Dickens' "Oliver Twist," Homer's "Odyssey," by Butcher and Lang, Lummis' "Some strange corners of our country," Harris' "Nights with Uncle Remus." These were only a few among the ex- periments, but were the ones I watched most, to see if there was really the vein in them I thought there was, that would touch these lives. I did not turn these books over to them without comment but tried, by relating an incident here, quot- ing a bit of poetry there, telling of a hero here, to catch their interest. In many of the books I had pasted slips telling of other books. Then I promised to come back in the spring and hear what they thought of the books and what books they had read. To make the results shown and the criti- cisms made at this meeting mean more to you I am going to give the setting for the Tieeling, although you must pardon my fol- lowing in the footsteps of Laura Jean Lib- by, who always has the soft spring wind to ripple the carpet of violets when her hero proposes and the storm to lash the trees to fury when the heroine returns to press her wan face to the cold stone doorstep of her paternal ancestors' brownstone house. In going to my little hamlet, if you cross the bay in a boat from another little town on the mainland right opposite, you can make a trip in twenty minutes which takes two and one half hours by rail, as the only train must go up the bay to cross and down again. So the arrangement was made that when I wanted to leave the lit- tle mainland town I was to get the captain of the life saving station on that side to signal across. On the given day the clouds began to hang low on the horizon and the sea to turn a cold gray and give that little ceaseless moan that presages a storm. They told me not to try it, but I had prom- ised; so we ran up the signals and across came Cap'n Jed in his little "sneak-boat." A "sneak-boat" is something like a canoe with a sail. It is covered over, all except just room to get in. I was put into a "slicker" and a "sou'-wester" covered my head and neck and I was then buttoned into the oilskins that cover the boat. 154 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Says Cap'n Jed, "Should anything ever happen to you in one of these things first thing you do unbutton the oilskins." Reas- suring, was it noi? The sail across was fine, wind and salt spray in your face un- til your hlood danced and breath came fast in joy of living. ■\\hen the Gap'n helped me out he says: "You're a plucky 'un, Cap'n; you kin come with me any day. As them town folks say, ■You're a dead game sport,' and I bet you kin steer that library ship into any har- bor." But, Cap'n" I asked, "Should I have been .scared?" He stared; "Didn't you know it, child? 'Er little more en we would er gone over." Another example of where ignorance is bliss. 1 slept that night at Cap'n Jed's little house. In the best of weather at high tide it stands in the water on its stilted legs. That night it was high tide and the east- erly wind blew a gale and the water rolled and thundered around under the house and the wind raged and tore the windows al- most from their fastenings. It was glori- ous. The next day, in sou'-wester and slicker and top boots I visited; and Oh! the tales the storm brought to memory. They would hand me the finest wine and say casually. "That come offer the ship wrecked here in 1903. The beach was strewed with wine casks and redwood from the Inlet to here. He took it and put it in the cellars of the summerhouses when them government fellows come down. I tell you it takes a smart 'un to ketch us." Or, "This here salmon come offer such and such er ship, etc." The storm lifted that night and they all came to the little library building. Men women and children — every man Jack of them and child and woman Jack, toO; We put the little fellows down on the pallet in the corner. The librarian showed me with great pride that since I had been there the 472 books I had brought had cir- culated IfilO times. There was not a sin- gle book that had not been taken out at least once. The favorites had been; Rep- plier's "Book of famous verse," Kingsley's "Westward, ho!," Homer's "Odyssey," Dickens' "Our mutual friend," IngeisoU's "Book of the ocean," Andersen's "Fairy tales," Harris' "Uncle Remus," Pyle's "Jack Ballister's fortunes," Spencer's "Una and the Red Cross Knight," Tarbell's "He knew Lincoln," Verne's "Twenty thousand leagues imder the sea," Abbott's Queen Elizabeth," Van Dyke's "First Christmas tree," Raspe's "Tales from the travels of Baron Munchausen," "Stories from Wag- ner," Stevenson's "Treasure Island," Scott's 'Talisman," Ball's "Star-land." The order of their popularity was as they are listed. The popularity of Repplier's book was ac- counted for partly by the fact that in every book that could be possibly connected with a pcem I had pasted a slip telling them to look the poem up, and, "the martial strains which fire the blood, and fairy music ring- ing in the ears, all these things these peo- ple loved." That day, visiting them, I heard them ouote a bit here and a bit there that showed they really loved it. I asked one old tisherwoman why she liked it and she said, "Because when I am 'er mendin' nets the things sing over in my head." I found that this book worked two ways. The people besides referring to it to find a poem about a person, place or event that had interested them in their reading, often had been led on, by the swing of ihe verse, to read another poem, then becoming Interested in the poet's theme had hunted up a book on that sub- ject also. To facilitate this we had pasted in the back of the Repplier volume a list of boo!ts following out or explaining the half-told stories of the poems. King.sley's appeal is too apparent to call for explanation, for, as the young sailor said, "You just fergit you are 'er livin, here, but thinks you are him 'er fightln, the Spaniards there." surely this meant that he in spirit had sailed the Spanish main and fought with the crew of the gal- lant RoH: I found that in hunting for books along the same lines and about the same peopl* ASKEW 155 he had read Towle's "Drake, (he sea king of Devon," Morris' "Historical tales— Span- ish-American," Edgar's "Sea kings and naval heroes," Abbott's "Naval history of the United States," Frotbingham's "Sea fighters," Hale's "Stories of the sea," and Abbott's "History of Elizabeth," all of which weie suggested in the back of "West- ward, ho!" Of the fifteen people who hart read "Westward, ho!" not one had read less than three of the suggested books also. The average had read one half of those listed in the back. Homer's "Odyssey," with its stirring adventure and the masterful cunning of Odysseus, had greatly pleased them and there were many questions as to how much truth there was in the story. The tale of the old blind poet, and how the book had come down the ages, appealed strongly to them. Especially did they like the old rhyme, "Seven ancient cities claimed the body of Homer dead, Through which the living Homer begged his daily bread." Of the suggested books the average num- ber read was a little over one half. Mor- ris' "Historical tales: Greece" and Church's "Stories from Virgil" had been the most popular. Ingersoll's "Book of the ocean" seemed to be so far down in the list because the people who took it out insisted on keep- ing it and reading it over two or three times and arguing between themselves as to whether the author was right. The consensus of opinion was, "He knowed the darndest lot to know what he knowed, like he knowed it of anybody they ever knowed." This had led to the reading of Inger- soll's other books to see what "the durn fellow did know," besides many books of travel and nature. So far as the children were concerned, I found that Andersen's "Fairy tales" had been in the position of the Teddy bear in the story where the little girl calls up the steps, in a mournful voice. "Mamma, Granny wants Ted when you are through with him." "Uncle Remus" — well I must admit that they read this first, because Cap'n Jed would never let it stay on the shelves, for if it was there when anyone came in he'd make them take it: "You think we are going to let the Cap'n's book not be read jes' as many times as any uv of the books." I think, however, they had caught a taste of it themselves, because they had dubbed one of their number "Bre'r Fox," "'Cause he wux so smart actin' an' was always gittiu' left." "Our mutual friend" Cap'n Jed had read first, and he had forced it on his friends just like he did the 'Cap'n's book." I was hopeful, however, when I found that they had really read it, because you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Cap'n Jed's comment was: "Silas Wegg was sho' er pill; but didn't old Boffin ban' him er lemon." The summer visitors had left their trail in slang. Pyle and Verne need no explanation. Verne, however, created as heated a de- bate as to the authenticity of his facts as did Ingersoll. They agreed that "Them that hankered after plain facts better stick to Ingersoll; but for a hair raiser give 'em Verne." How strongly the little book "He knew Lincoln" had affected them was voiced simply and pathetically by an old, old man, who nodded his head slowly and said, looking in the fire: "I wish I had er knowed him that er way." The amount of history and biography this little book had led them to read was wonderful. It had caused, directly and indirectly, the circulation of 62 books. "X'na and the Red Cross Knight" was a shot at long range, but it had hit the mark. One old man liked the poetry in it, because it was so full of fine, strange words that you could say over and over to yourself until they made pictures for you. From their comments I could see that the story, with its weird adventures, uncanny spirits, gruesome apparitions, 156 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE brave deeds and touch of old religion, had appealed most powerfully to these grown- up children. One old woman, with a fine belief in "once upon a time," assured me that these things used to be. A picture of Una and the lion now hangs on the li- brary walls. Van Dyke's "First Christmas tree" had taken a wonderful hold upon them. They seemed truly to have grasped much of the beauty and spirituality of it, for when one of them said, "After you read it you can shut your eyes when the wind's blow- ing so hard outside and it will all come over you again like something you saw once just so beautiful and good, it makes you want to cry." Was she not trying to say that it was "an exquisite word pic- ture, full of the essence of spirituality?" JIunchausen they liked because he "was certainly the biggest liar you ever hearn tell of, en then, besides, he was such a good liar you didn't know sometimes whether he was lyin' or whether maybe he wuz tellin' the truth, and you wuz such a plain ijiot you didn't know he wuz er tellin' it." This book had led to the circulation of 36 books of travel and ad- venture. Their strain of superstition and mysti- cism had found delight in the "Stones from Wagner." They, in whom the fog, lonelinpsF and unfathomable riddle of the sea had bred many strange beliefs, re- velled in the spirits that rode the storm, the mysteries that rose from the sea, the ghostly ship and her ghastly crew. Of the stories, however, "Tristan and Isolde " 'Lohengrin" and the "Mastersing- ers of Neuremburg" appealed to them not at all. Stevenson's "Treasure Island" would have stood higher in the list it the first readers had not held it so long for re-reading, for, "Sailor tales and sailor tunes, Storm, adventures, heat and cold. Schooners, islands and maroons, Buccaneers and buried gold. Pleased them as they pleased the child of old." They sang for me, "Seven men on a dead man's chest" with a gusto and effect rather gruesomely realistic. Their view of Scott's "Talisman" was most interesting; to a man almost those who read it disliked Edith Plantagenet and Berengaria, and frankly acknowledged to skipping the parts about them if they could. "They was always making trouble, going mooning around, dropping rosebuds, and taking a man away from where he ought to be." They liked Saladin best of all the men. "By jiminy, he cut a veil in two while it was er floatin' in the air. Anybody cud chop with an axe." (Alas for Richard Coeur de Lion) It seemed to me that this dislike of theirs for Scott's women was a rare criticism of these rather wax-like heroines. Ball's "Star-land " had also caused much discussion and nightly gatherings on the beach In clear weather to prove the "gol dasted book." In the main they said he was right. Now I am going to admit that there Is another side to this story of mine. Just as there is to every piece of tapestry. The wrong side shows the mistakes, the dropped Etitches and the joining of the colors. II you get close you can perhaps find faults on the right side. I have put the right side of my garment before you, just as none of you would wear a coat wrong side out in order to ciiscourage your friends from buy- ing one by showing the alterations and lit- tle devices to make it fit. In fact, there is a lining in the coat to keep these very things from .showing should the coat by any chance become turned. However, just PS a friend might take another friend aside and show him the inside of his coat with- out its lining, with his devices and rough seams showing plainly, so that the friend map not hreomt dincouraged if his own coat looks like that before It is lined, I am go- ing to turn the story for one moment. Seme of my 472 books, while they had not missed fire altogether, certainly had not hit the very center of the bull's eye. All of the people had read some book, but a few of them had read only one, more only two or three. Some of them who had read, and witli enjoyment perliaps, could not tell why they enjoyed or even read and had forgotten the books. Some of them liked only the simplest books. Some of them liked a book for a quality I had not sensed in it, and could not find the quality which I liked and thought they would like. Now that you have had a glimpse of the wrong side I quickly turn the coat again. I was more than pleased with the meet- ing and the result of my experiment. It certainly proved to my satisfaction that the great element of success in library work is the fitting of your books to your people. And to do this you must study your books and your people, both collectively and in- dividually, one as related to the other. Then you must study your books as re- lated to each other, so that every one in your collection shall fit in together as per- fectly as the bits of marble in a piece of mosaic. There need be no sameness, for the more diverse the bits of color and shapes that go to make up a mosaic the more beautiful and valuable the work is when complete. Then your library as a whole should be constructed to fit your community, just as the mosaic itself is constructed to fit a special place in the building; and if this is done in the end It will fit in its place perfectly. If you have ever watched an artist con- structing with bits of cold stone a beauti- ful living picture you know that he works faithfully and carefully on the pattern from the wrong side and while he is work- ing every inequality, every tint a little too dull is apparent to him as his picture grows, but he works on and on. And even when he finishes at last and looks down at the completed pattern he is not discouraged to see here a little crevice and there a little roughness, an open seam here, a tiny patch there where the bit of marble was too small. Now he pours his cement over it and smoothes it into every seam, and with faith puts his work to dry. Next day the pattern is turned and the perfect whole is given to view, need- ing only the polishing of a loving hand 157 to make it ready to slip in place. So we should work faithfully on our pattern, cement it together with ourselves, and polish it with human kindness; and lo! the work slips into place seemingly a perfect whole. A few statistics to show what my re- sults actually were from the books con- sidered above as they were annotated. They had led in all to the circulation of 478 picked books, every one of which had been read to some degree intelligently. Of this number 58 per cent was travel, history and biography, 12 was nature and science, 10 mythology, literature and mis- cellaneous, and 20 per cent fiction. An average of 63 per cent of the books that were on the lists in the back of other books had been read and there was not a single book listed that had not been read by some one. With one fine touch the meeting ended. As I started to step down Cap'n Jed raised his hand, and with one accord the people burst into "Dixie," and the will with which they sang it brought both tears and laughter to my eyes. Could there have been a finer thought to repay me for my trouble? This was the place and these the men and the books. The PKESIDENT: That is what the people are doing whom a prominent edu- cation official of one of our great states feared "might spend their time in the large towns and the good hotels just boardin' round." Miss STEARNS: Mr President, I am &ure everyone here wants a copy of that paper n.nd I am also sure that all of us want lo have copies of it to send to our friends, and if it is in order, I would like to make this motion at this time: that the Publishing board be requested to print one thousand copies of this paper for dis- tribution or sale and, if possible, to add phonographic reproduction of its delightful delivery. Carried. The PRESIDENT: The next paper is by Mr EDMUND L. PEARSON, to be read by Mr Harold L. Leupp and its subject Is: 158 MINNBTONKA CONFERENCE AN AMATEUR'S NOTIONS OF BOYS' BOOKS In the book by Mr Edmund Gosse called "Father and son" there occurs the following anecdote told of a boy eight or nine years of age. The boy's parents left him very much to himself, and like other boys he found his way into the garret: "The garret was a fairy place. It was a low lean-to, lighted from the roof. It was wholly unfurnished, except for two ob- jects, an ancient hat-box and a still more ancient skin-trunk. The skin-trunk was absolutely empty, but the inside of the lid of it was lined with sheets of what I now know to have been a sensational novel. It was, of course, a fragment, but I read it, kneeling on the bare floor, with indescribable rapture. It will be recol- lected that the idea of fiction, of a de- liberately invented story, had been kept from me with entire success. I therefore implicitly believed the tale in the lid of the trunk to be a true account of the sorrows of a lady of title, who had to flee the country, and who was pursued into foreign lands by enemies bent upon her ruin. Somebody had an interview with a 'minion' in a 'mask'; I went downstairs and looked up those words in Bailey's 'English Dictionary,' but was left in dark- ness as to what they had to do with the lady of title. This ridiculous fragment filled me with delicious fears; I fancied that my mother, who was out so much, might be threatened by dangers of the same sort; and the fact that the narra- tive came abruptly to an end, in the mid- dle of one of its most thrilling sentences, wound me up almost to a disorder of won- der and romance." A few years later he came Into contact with other works of fiction. His father declined to allow him to read the Waverley Novels on the ground that those tales gave false and disturbing pictures of life, and would lead away his attention from heavenly things. But Scott's poems were permitted, and stranger still, under the circumstances, the novels of Dickens. Mr Gosse writes. "I recollect that my step-mother showed some surprise at this, and that my father explained to her that Dickens "exposes the passion of love in a ridiculous light." She did not seem to follow this recommendation which indeed tends to the ultra-subtle, but she procured for me a copy of "Pickwick" by which I was instantly and gloriously enslaved. My shouts of laughing at the richer pas- sages were almost scandalous, and led to my being reproved for disturbing my father while engaged, in an upper room, in the study of God's Word. I must have expended months in the perusal of "Pick- wick," for I used to rush through a chap- ter, and then read it over again very slowly, word for word, and then shut my eyes to realise the figures and the action. I suppose no child will ever again enjoy that rapture of unresisting humorous ap- preciation of "Pickwick." I felt myself to be in the company of a gentleman so extremely funny that I began to laugh before he began to speak; no sooner did he remark 'the sky was dark and gloomy, the air was damp and raw,' than I was in fits of laughter." I have quoted these passages because they form one of the latest published ac- counts of a very common experience — a boy's enthralment by imaginative litera- ture. While it is safe to suppose that few boys begin their acquaintance of fiction with talcs like that of the minion in a mask, or, on the other hand, are able so early to enjoy Pickwick, yet the emotion is much the same whatever the yarn. There is nothing like it. A boy's first trip to the laud of story-books — it is like the first island landfall described in Steven- son's ".South Seas" and all the other won- derful sunrises in fact and in romance. It is the privilege of many of the members of this Association to start boys, if not on 'heir first trip to the land of wonders, at least on early voyages. The privilege is more highly valued than it used to be, and more wisely exercised. And it is well that it should be appreciated, for of all the tasks that fall to librarians, this Is one of the pleasantest. Some of us are 169 charmed to have drawn the shop-girl from the level plains of Laura Jean Libby to the higher altitudes of Mr Howells. Others thrill with delight at capturing a genuine "workingman" and at sending him away enraptured with Trautwine's "Civil engin- eer's pocket-book." To me these joys seem pale indeed compared with opening the magic casements for others, and living over again, in one moment, the hours of happiness. The small boy (and perhaps, the small girl, but I do not claim to know very much about her) is almost the only person left who is allowed to read for the pure fun of the thing. Those of us who are not engaged in an unblushing assault upon ro- mance and fiction, are sheepishly apolo- gizing for It. We are patting Dickens and Thackeray, forsooth, upon the back, and assuring them that they are pretty good fellows, after all. Led on by the necessity of appeasing "practical" trustees, we admit that we do have novels in our libraries, yes, and we are not ashamed of it either, but then, we have got lots of real valuable books that tell how to dig post holes, and shingle roofs. A magazine editor, in a moment of idleness, writes a space-filler alleging that libraries haven't as many books about potato bugs and traction engines as they should have, and a chill goes down the spine of the entire Ameri- can Ijibrary Association. Of course, grown-ups do not read novels any longer for the mere pleasure of it. They do it because they are taking a course in Eng- lish prose fiction, or they do it for "gener- al culture" or "education," or some other noble purpose. And librarians read them to see if they are all right for other peo- ple to read. So in the rising tide of util- itarianism and pose there remains one small island, upon which is seated the small boy — almost the only honest reader we have left. It is seed to know that he is encouraged. The change has come in recent years. I can remember a librarian who always in- sisted on my taking home books "Specta- cles for young eyes." He wished, you see, to fit me out with eye-glasses before the natural course of misfortune did so. As I was afraid of him, I often took the book home; and, as soon as I dared, re- turned it, — unread. There were no child- ren's librarians then, or I might have tared better. Improvements have been made in ihe treatment of boys in libraries, and im- provements have yet to be made. There are certain axioms concerning boys' books which it may be well to state. No one, I suppose, denies that a boy's book must have action, and that It must cot preach. Another opinion, widely held, but not everywhere accepted, I am glad to say, is that these books must contain, somewhere, a "moral," and that they must, somehow, be "instructive." I am glad to say that the necessity of the "moral" is not everywhere accepted, for it would, of course, deprive boys of some of their best books, just as the same requirements would depiive adults of many of the noblest works of literature. As for the "instructive" ele- ment, it would seem to need no argument that the schools are cramming children too much already; that libraries are now assisting in school work (not necessarily in the cramming) and that if every story- book chocolate-drop must be accompanied by its cod-liver oil of "Instruction, ' there is precious little joy left in lite. Few li- braries object to "Treasure Island," but how, except by the veriest cant, do you find either a "moral" or "instruction" in It? If a boy's book is to have action it will usually deal with one of three things,— war, sport or travel. Some persons would exclude war from the list, — I be- lieve that a well-meaning gentleman re- turned only last summer from a Euro- pean trip spent in a vain endeavor to in- duce the makers of toy-soldiers to desist from their diabolical trade. It may be questioned whether the influence of cer- tain books has not been exaggerated. Certainly, "dime-novels" have received more than their fair amount of blame. They have been made a scape-goat when the real cause of a boy's misdoings lay 160 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE far deeper. They are cheap and fre- quently dull, and no one wishes to see them in the public libraries. The amount of horror they cause many worthy people, is, however, absurd, and is frequently founded upon a complete ignorance of their contents. An author who combines adventure with instruction in a curious fashion is Captain Mayne Reid. Some one has lately described his method. He will end a chapter, said this writer, with words after this fashion: "There was a rustling in the bushes, a low growl, and then the bushes parted before a terrible, hairy form. Jack gazed upon the open, foam- flaked jaws, the savage teeth, the glaring eyes. There was no doubt about it. With his last cartridge spent. Jack was confronted by that terror of the Rockies, the Grizzly Bear." So ends chapter 12, and you naturally turn the page in great excitement to see how Jack got out of this difficulty. But chapter 13 begins, "The Grizzly Bear (XJrsus horribilis Ameri- canus) is an hybernating animal," — and so on for the entire chapter, about the manners and customs of the bear, while he and Jack are left glaring at each other, and you are in the most painful suspense. But the charm of this method is that all this "instructive" matter Is in a lump, and you can skip right ahead to chapter 14, and find out how Jack slew the bear. For those whose interest lies chiefly in facts, I may say that I have been told by a man in a position to know, that Mayne Reid's statements about the wild lands that his books describe have never been found in any important degree Inaccurate. Do boys read Jules Verne now? There has been more or less talk about his be- ing supplanted by Mr H. G. Wells, but I cannot believe that boys would prefer the Englishman. I used to think Captain Nemo the most magnificent of mysterious heroes. Jules Verne had a gallery of wooden characters, but their adventures were passing fine. I was very proud of a note which I once received from him, in reply to one which I addressed to him in the French of Stratford-atte-Bowe. The books of Horatio Alger and his school do not, I believe, meet the approval of the modern children's librarian. I cannot shed any tears over his loss, for only one of his was familiar to me. I should be sorry to see Harry Castlemon packed off, however, and it does not seem that the librarians who banish Alger and Optic have a very strong position. There are not too many to take their places. Mr Trowbridge is still in favor, as he cer- tainly should be, with his two excellent stories, — "Cudjo's cave" and "The three scouts." The chief appeal that is made for the works of the late Mr Henty Is that cer- tain things can be got "out of" them. What I got out of the few I tried to read was weariness of the flesh. With their everlasting prefaces beginning "My dear Lads" and their stereotyped heroes, they covered a period from the dawn of time down to yesterday afternoon, and they blazed a trail of earnest mediocrity. Lowell says of Cooper's Indians that they are only Natty Bumppo daubed over with red. Mr Henty's heroes are one youth with a variety of costumes that might make the German Emperor envious. If Mr Henty had been alive at the time of the California earthquake, I suppose there would have been a volume from his pen within two days called "With Funston in 'Frisco," and there would have been a deal of useful information in it. I be- lieve that many boys read the Henty books and like them, so it is a pleasure to know that they are considered "educa- tive" and not likely to be cast out. The two best books for American boys are "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Saw- yer." There is a determined attempt in many libraries to keep boys from reading them. Like many attempts it is well- meaning, and like many well-meaning at- tempts it is entirely mistaken. In its in- ception and progress it has been largely a feminine movement. Nothing more clearly demonstrates the need for men librarians 161 to take an interest in boys' books; nothing shows better how women often fail to re- alize that boys and girls cannot be judged by one standard. Those who know and love "Huckleberry Finn" do not need to hear it praised. They realise that its author knew boys as very few have done. They know that it has furnished the in- spiration for a number of more or less successful imitators. Mr Kenneth Gra- hame and Mr Kipling have both drawn upon it and the best parts of Mr Barrie's delicious play "Peter Pan" owe a great debt to it. It is literature in the highest sense, because it is a transcript of life. It represents boys not as Sunday School teachers wish them to be, but as they are, and those who condemn it for this reason must also, to be consistent, condemn the great realistic novels for adults. Some of its passages are never to be forgotten, — ■ the description of Colonel Grangerford is as vivid a bit of writing as Thackeray's fa- mous picture of Beatrix descending the stair-case. Of course, it must be admit- ted that there are lapses from the best taste in it, and a few things that we could wish omitted. But there is no great writer of whom this is not true, and for the mind that sees nothing in the book but vulgarity, what can be said, except that it indicates a prudery that would have probably abolished Shakespeare on ac- count of a few passages objectionable to modern taste? Children's departments may condemn or "restrict" the book, but it will merely have the effect of sending the boys where they can get it, — either the adults' department of the same li- brary, or elsewhere. I have indicated a belief that certain improvements are yet to be made in the treatment of boys in libraries. One of these is a frank acknowledgment of the fact that books for entertainment are books for entertainment, and need not be sugar-coated pills covering the medicine of "instruction" or "morals." The Purl- tan idea is long-lived, but there is no more reafion for insisting that books read for fun shall have a "moral" wrapped up In them than in compelling boys before go- ing in swimming to listen to a lecture on the theory of displacement of fluids. Men should have more to say in the choice of boys' books, and there should be more in- dependence of judgment in the matter by both sexes. I have seen indications that the condemnation of a book by one or two persons prominent in children's libraries carries such weight as to lead others to ascribe the most fearful characteristics to the book without themselves really know- ing much about it. Books that may hor- rify or frighten little girls do not neces- sarily frighten or harm little boys,— a fact not everywhere patent to children's libra- rians. Yet it must be said, by any one seeking to be fair, that the children's librarian of to-day is almost universally more sane and broad-minded than the librarian, either man or woman, of a past generation, and moreover, that there oc- casionally arise men, who for prudishness surpass the most finical woman who ever existed. My strongest appeal is for the boy who reads "for fun" and tastes one of the great joys of life. A boy who was not very old eighteen years ago recalls capturing a certain English magazine which con- tained a story by his favorite writer. To make sure of reading it undisturbed he sneaked it away from the other boys who used to play in the garden of that house on summer evenings, and climbed up into a cherry tree. The twilight and his inse- cure position probably added to the effect of the story, but he is very sure that if he could have his choice between that hour over again or an election as librarian of the British Museum, the trustees of the Museum would have to look for some one else. We may fancy that a crowd of boys once followed an old blind man about the streets of a seaport town. The old man told, or perhaps sang, in the custom of the day, the most wonderful stories about fighting men, who had crossed the seas, and fought for ten years about the walls of a great city. 162 MIlvrNETONKA CONFERENCE Probably there were in that town per- sons who became alarmed at the spectacle. They went to the boys and said: "Do not listen to this old beggar any longer. I am afraid you will get a taste for fighting. These are dangerous stories,— they may lead you to form an Achilles Club, and sail off to fight with foreigners. Besides, what he says is probably not true. Come over and listen while some one or other talks about the habits of the honey-bees, or hear what the great philosopher Whats- Isname has to say about cosmos. The sandal-maker who lives down by the wharf has invented a new way to fasten sandals, — come down and learn how that Is done. These things would be useful and instruct- ive — not full of false and dangerous ideas of life, such as the tales this blind man tells." But the boys kept on following the blind man just the same, for they didn't have to learn what aorist passive means, nor yet iota subscript, before they understood him. He spoke their own language, and they wanted to know whether Hector or Achilles came out on top. They were just as much interested in all these adven- tures as the boys of another country thou- sands of years later are to hear of a boy and a negro slave who floated down the Mississippi on a raft and had exciting ad- ventures on the way. And meanwhile we have a new set of theories about the honey-bees; the great philosopher Whats- isname has had his idea about cosmos upset and reinstated five or six times, and the wonderful invention of the san- dal-maker is entirely lost, and would not do us much good if it were found. But the old blind man's stories, fictitious as they may be, and bloody as they undoubt- edly are, survive, and the hearts of boys are hungiy still for other stories like them. The PRESIDENT: I am sure that has done us all a great deal of good. Now we have a paper on "Portraits of places" by Mrs Percival Sneed. (Mrs Sneed has been unable to reproduce her remarks for publication) The PRESIDENT: We are next to listen to suggoctlons on "How to get Parkman read," by Dr Reuben Gold Thwaltes. Dr THWAITES: Mr President, ladles, and gentlemen: When Mrs Fairchild wrote to me asking me to participate in this pro- gram, which thus far has proceeded so brilliantly, she said, "Do not write a paper. iWe want simply a spontaneous outburst of enthusiasm!" Another distinguished member of the Association, who had more or less to do with this program, said to another person who is to participate in this morning's symposium, "We want the exercises this morning to be showy and striking!" I fear I must leave to others the business of being showy and striking and endeavor to extend to you only the enthusiasm. A knowledge of history is of course in- tensely Important. I need not argue that with you. Only by a knowledge of history may man reach successive plateaus of achievement. History being one of the most Important of all human studies. It ought also to be one of the most interest- ing of studies; and yet I think that all of you will agree with me that history Is not always sugar-coated. Not so long ago but what It Is almost within the memory of those of us who have reached middle age. masters of literature wrote history. Such men as Macaulay and Gibbon and Hume made notable contributions to English literature, as well as wrote great histories. There has, however, sprung up In our practical days a desire for historical writ- ing not of the broad, generalizing sweep such as was produced by great masters of literature, but histories of the common people, economic histories, social histories and all that sort of thing — some account of how John and Mary actually existed and what ihoy ate In their humble cottage. Supplying this new demand — or rather, perhaps, supplying the material for it — there have sprung up among us in the last fifteen or twenty years, seminars of history in the universities. From these institu- tions, necessarily (I suppose) dry-as-dust in their methods, come the monographic THWAITES 168 histories that are flooding our market to- day. The monographists have discovered that the old masters of literature, in their brilliant pages that have appealed to us so long and so lovingly, are filled with error. The result is that the pendulum has swung the other way. We have in these days only monographic histories; and, sad to say, these products of the historical seminars, these results of the labors of the Ph. D.'s of history, are far from inspiring reading. The pendulum has swung' too far. How- ever, I think there are now indications that the literary man is going again to be welcomed to the stage of histoix and soon will once more be writing our histories for us. We are indeed most fortunate in having, in Francis Parkman, one great American historian who is not only a keen digger, a man whose histories would pass muster in the historical seminars of to-day, but is at the same time a master of the English language. Among the few great writers of American history, Parkman stands alone as the one whose products would pass muster in the seminars both of history and of the English language. I have been asked to speak on how to get this man's works read. My recipe is very brief: the librarian must himself read Parkman. There is no one, I think, who appreciates fiction more than I do. In- deed, one of my chief pleasures in life, when I am not administering a library and writing history, is to read novels for the A. L. A. booklist. But at the same time I do believe that we have in Park- man's works a series of volumes that can be recommended to the young as being Just as entertaining as any fiction that was ever written, — certainly as entertaining as any modern fiction, the sort that we are compelled to pass judgment on for the A. L. A. booklist. The great Irish poet, Yeats, has said: "The novel of to-day is the novel of to-day because it is not going to be the novel of to-morrow." We have in Paikman a striking and in some respects a pathetic personality — a man of broad culture, great refinement, and a master of English. He started out early in life, even when in college, to write history. His eyesight was seriously im- paired while amassing the materials for his wonderful history of New France. Throughout his brilliant series of volumes, always in the background stands out the pathos of his situation. Sometimes for weeks, for months, almost for years, he sat in a dark room dictating to a steno- grapher. All his notes and material for his work, and these were infinite in detail and number, were read to him by another person. They laboriously were produced, those brilliant works that appear to have been dashed off in spontaneity, with the virile freedom of a man imbued with all the faculties of life. Parkman's first book, "The Oregon trail", it is necessary to be familiar with, that one may understand the man. The history of New France stands out as an idyll and a tragedy. It is a completed thing in itself. Parkman was the first adequately to recognize its dramatic charm. But in order to understand the men and ways of New France — to recon- strust and redress his stage — he must fully understand the American Indian, one of the principal actors in this drama, yet really the least known of all. He lived among the Indians of the tar Western plains for the greater part of a year, studying them closely in their domestic life, wearing out his eyesight in the smoke of their tepees, and suffering the various trials and disasters that would naturally overcome one in Indian camps. "The Oregon trail" is one of the most vivid pictures we have, of the American Indian as he is to-day or rather was a half cen- tury ago. Not Natty Bumppo painted red, but the actual aborigine as he was seen when white man first came amongst them. The book is one that surely would ap- peal to every American boy if once the librarian might get it in the hands of that boy. Surely no child can read that book without having aroused within him an in- tense interest in the subject. It is not the Indian of Cooper, whom Parkman so graphically portrays. It is the real In- 164 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE dian in all his filth, in all his sloth, amid all his barbaric surroundings; neverthe- less a man among men, experiencing joys and sorrows, having his virtue rewarded and his vice punished; it is all here, with its shadows and its sunlight. No book of Cooper's is so entertaining as this. It is not history nor ethnology sugar-coated. It is simply a vivid, real picture of men and women in the childhood of culture, living as they are. Just as we enjoy the men and women whom, this morning, we have seen in the little fishing village that has just been portrayed to us so eloquently and so graphically that their little lives have touched our heartstrings, so Park- man's Indians of the trans-Missouri be- come figures that have for us absorbing human interest. The boy who has once read "The Ore- gon trail", and knows that that book is simply some of the background for the life that Parkman is going to portray for us in his later histories, cannot but want the next book, which is "The Pioneers in New France". Then, having seen his pioneers landed in and exploiting New France — the tercertenary of their land- ing was celebrated only two or three years ago on the banks of the Bay of Fundy — the lad will surely not be content until he followed his author into "The Old regime". In that and kindred vol- umes he will read of the life that was going on there in New France a couple of hundred years ago. He will read of men from the most cultured land of Europe coming to America, and upon the shores, amidst the woods and the swamps and the morasses of Canada daily associating with this barbarian whom Parkman so carefully studied in his "Oregon trail". The story of that remarkable contact of the oldest and the most cultured civiliza- tion In Europe with the most barbaric and the fiercest aborigine that travellers had yet discovered, is told in Parkman's "Jesuits of North America" and in his "Old regime". His portrayal is so vivid a thing that you follow it eagerly from chapter to chapter. Parkman's heroes ex- tend from the saintly Father Marquette down through the line of the self-seeking old French governors and the intendants. You read of grandly heroic men who went out upon the border and stopped the In- dians in their annual forays against the log walls of Montreal and Quebec; you read the story of the Indian missions, as they were established upon the farthest frontiers of New France; you read of deeds of daring, of noble adventure for king and church. The heroes like Mar- quette the Jesuit, La Salle and Tonty the explorers, Duluth and Perrot the fur- traders. No master of fiction has made his characters stand forth with greater vividness than these. Then there are the villains in the story, — the officials who were robbing the frontier posts, those who were setting up monopolies to squeeze out the very heart blood of the people, those who were de- spoiling the treasury in a hundred ways; the malcontents and the self-seeking. You can just see the end of it all coming as plainly as may be. And when at last the great political conflict comes, the titanic struggle of the two civilizations of England and of France, for the mastery of North America, Parkman tells the tragedy in his two culminating volumes, "Montcalm and Wolfe", in a manner no master has ever yet excelled. You follow it with an inten- sity, a breathless interest, that few novels have ever yet inspired. The boy is always inquiring "Is it true?" He can safely be told that it is true, if It is in Parkman. The lad is a better man because he knows that these old heroes lived, he knows that this world about him in the interior of our continent was peopled with just such men, he knows that they were familiar with the rocks and rivers and ponds that he himself knows so well. There was Marquette, there was Tonty, there was La Salle, splendid old heroes they were, and vil- lains too were at their work in Montreal and in Quebec and at the outposts of New France. The story of New France, as told by 165 Parkman, is indeed a glowing tragedy. No boy can, surely, ever abandon it who has once read its opening pages; it surely must appeal to every healthy American boy. No other phase of American his- tory has the same dramatic completeness as the story of New France, that Park- man has made his own. Other chapters of our history are jointed, we are waiting for the plot to culminate. We have, per- haps, only the study of the beginnings of things, which are to culminate in some future generation. Enormous quantities of new material, unknown to Parkman, have been brought to light since he left us; yet so sure was his grasp, so masterly his imagination, that very little of what he did remains disturbed. We perhaps know the facts here and there a little more intimately; we may here and there differ with his con- clusions; we may say, as I do, that his soul-inspiring "Jesuits in North America" is not in all points quite fair to the Jesuits themselves — for he was a New England Unitarian, and could not always forget his own views; yet after all the Btory is there, in its essential details, and will always appeal most powerfully to our Imaginations. But the topic is a fertile one, and I have but ten minutes. I am simply going to tell you: read your Parkman, and having read him, you will, I feel sure, do just one thing only — you will give it to the boy. The PRESIDENT: The next paper is by Miss ISABEL ELY LORD. FIXING A PURPOSE We should be less than human, I think, and surely If a librarian ceases to be human he or she is lost — if while we listened to that inimitable paper of Miss Askew's our admiration had not been tinctured a little with envy of her oppor- tunity. We could not perhaps all do what Miss A.skew did, but if we had only 175 people to deal with we could come nearer to getting the right book to the right reader at the right time than we could possibly do when we ha\e to handle people more or less in the masses. Toward the end o( Miss Askew's paper she said that we must study our people, either collectively or individually. To those who are dealing with a larger number of people the study must be of the collective community, and in studying it, to try to find out what these people want that you want to give them. We find in a great many people a purpose of reading something that they feel to be more worth while than the new novels — reading what they call perhaps seri- ous reading, finding out about some subject in which they have become in- terested or which they feel sure would interest them. There are many helps to thip, of course. There are reading courses and home study courses of different kinds but they have almost all of them some dis- advantage for most people. They are per- haps too long, or there are too many books in them, so that it is discouraging, or they require a certain amount of reading each day or they require a report on the reading at a given moment, — something that deters the people, that they draw back from, that they are afraid of and they hesitate to be- gin. If they begin, perhaps they stop after a little time and having once begun and stopped, it is doubly hard to begin again because of their discouragement. The library tries to help by publishing reading lists. If the reading lists are too long the help for the kind of people of whom I am speaking is not very great. If the reading list is short, if it is published on an attrac- live picture bulletin, if the list is at all effective, it di.5courages the people even more, for the first few people who come to the library got out the books that you have suggested and all of the rest of them are disapjjointed when they ask for them. Then they begin to feel that it is not worth while to tiy to get those books. Now what can the library do? We sought in our own library to meet this particular need. What is It that the people want? What ought they to have? First, they must have books that are good in matter. That goes without saying. It Is not necessary to 166 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE discuss It. Second, a very much more Im- portant difficulty, they must have books that are good in manner. As Mr Thwaites has pointed out to you, it Is not every his- torian that can write attractive English, we won't say good English, but English that is easy to read and that will lead people on to read. After we have found the book good in matter and good in man- ner and hunted a long time to find it, It must be a book that is good to look at, attraclivo to handle. Then when we have narrowed down our selection in any given subject to what seems to be a very small number of books to make a selection fiom, we must have it a book that can be ar- ranged in some sort of a series, not a formal series but an arrangement so that several books shall be read one after the other and yet things shall not criss-cross. There shall be a certain lead- ing on from one point to another. And, last of all, and not the least important. I assure you, (for I have been making the experi- ment) the book must be obtainable, be in print, the very best book for that purpose. Lastly, when the books are found, you must have them obtainable by the person who wants them, and the only way out of this difficulty seems to be to have a special selection of such books, a col- lection bought for that purpose and is- sued only to the people who undertake this for a reading course. I give you an account of one list that is actually ready to be started in October. It is on Egypt, a country which interests many people and which we have found people asking about. At the beginning of this experiment we must guess what people will like. We hoiie if the experiment is successful to have people tell us what they want and to get courses to fit their needs. We call this list "Egypt of yesterday and to-day," and underneath the title is the little quo- tation "A land of flame and fire." There are six books on this list of which two are novels. That is an un- usual proportion. In the lists as we have planned them there will not ordi- narily be more than five or six books. and always that one is to be a novel and preferably that the last one of the six. Then the novel will be led up to in order that it may be better appreci- ated having the background of the books that have gone before. And perhaps in this company I might suggest that there is a possibility of the novel as a lure toward getting to the end. The first book in the Egj'pt list is Wiedermann's "The Ancient Egyptian doctrine of immor- tality," It may sound formidable but If you have read the boolv you know it is not. It is a slender little volume, admir- ably written, and it gives the essence of the Egyptian religion without which one can- not understand very well the monuments, history or the present condition of Egypt. Also at the beginning of the series there is a certain impulse which we feel sure will carry even people who are not used to serious reading through a little vol- ume like this. The second book Is George Eber's "Uarda," a book which fascinates even the young girl so difficult to interest In anything but a pure love story. The third book I mention with hesitation. It is Charles Dudley Warner's "My winter on the Nile," and I feel very sure that some of the people who take this course will not read all of that book. It Is charming to those who care for Mr War- ner's style. It has much very interesting Information. Unfortunately there is no edition in print that is good and attractive, easy to hold and easy to read, and I think probably that the book will not be read as a whole. The next is Frederick Penfleld's "Present day Egypt," a volume that we have found attractive in form, easy to read and very popular. The next is one of the best books of a Journalist who wrote hooka, and in places it certainly conies very near being literature — G. W. Steevens' "With Kitchener to Khartum"— a book which has one chapter that should render it immor- tal, the one on the desert thirst. And the last book on the list is Sir Gilbert Parker's "The Weavers." Surely the per- son who reads this after the other volumes will enjoy it more than the average novel TWO-MINUTE TALKS 167 reader possibly can. Wherever it seems practicable we are putting a small slip at the end of each volume to suggest further reading along the same lines. We print little slips of the sort I hold in my hand, and no person can take the course without one — that is, in order to get the books they must ask for one of these lists, and will use it as a call-slip. It bears the name of the library, a list of books, and a serial number in the corner. We are numbering the lists as we issue them and keeping track of the number that ask for the last book so that we shall know how many finish the course. Books are kept in a special place; they have the library bookplate but have no library numbers on the outside. They are attractive new copies in the publisher's binding, as much like private books as possible. I am not going to detain you with read- ing the other lists we have but I will just give you the titles. One is "Social con- ditions." We have not yet found a title that seems to us not too formidable for us. One is on "New York of to-day," its social, civic and industrial conditions. One is on the Civil War, a subject that Is of constant interest. One is on the Great Northwest, one on the Art of living, one on the Child — for parents or those interested in the development of child life. This is a very easy experiment to talk about because it has not been tried yet and we have only hope with which to look forward to it. If it fails, if we are mis- taken in this method we shall seek for another of our own or one that some- one else has worked out, for we feel sure that this purpose of which I have spoken exists, that there is some way of fixing it for the library and that if this is not the best way there is one yet to be found. The PRESIDENT: The speakers in the two-minute talks will excuse me if I cut them off promptly at the expiration of two minutes, even if they are in the mid- dle of a sentence. I will give each one warning twenty seconds before the two minutes expire. Mr Bowker on "Mr Crewe's Career" Mr BOWKER: The glory of the New England hills and the shame of American politics, the sweet breath of the pines and the malodor of political corruption, the contrast of light and shadow in Winston Churchill's "Mr. Crewe's career" and in his "Coniston" together with Paul Ford's "The Honorable Peter Sterling" — these three books may be spoken of as supplementary chapters to Bryces "Ameri- can commonwealth," on which they throw a rather lurid light, one filled with the development of the ring in American cities. Paul Ford's book, which was read I remember by an ex-mayor of the Tam- many persuasion with such testimony to its reality that he endeavored in each case to fix the man who was described, the earlier book "Coniston" of Winston Churchill, dealing with the development of the country boss who became a state boss and made it warm for the railroads, and his latest book dealing with the rail- road machine which has been forced to capture the state political machine in de- tense of its rights against the state bar, — these books are men's books; not that they are not women's books, but they are books to recommend to men and indeed to boys as well because, while they may be books with a moral, they are not books that stick the moral out too protrusively, the human elements are there, they are books to be read and to be recommended. The PRESIDENT: That shows what you can do in two minutes. We will now hear from Miss Josephine A. Rathbone, on the "Dynasts" by Thomas Hardy. Miss RATHBONE: It is perfectly un- necessary to attempt to analyze "The Dynasts" because all the book reviews from the Edinburgh review to the Satur- day times supplement have been full of it for the last six months and all the people who read them, and of course that in- cludes all of you who are here, know all about it. So you know it Is a drama not to be acted but to be read, of the Napole- onic era of about 1805 to 1815, In three 168 MIKNETONKA CONFERENCE volumes, fifteen acts and one hundred thirty scenes. There are those of you here whom, I am sure, neither the length nor the fact that it has been compared to the book of Job and to Sophocles and "Para- dise Lost," will deter from reading it. You may even be stimulated to a desire to read it by the reviews. But there may, on the other hand, be some of you here who may have concluded from them that "The Dynasts" was a book to be respected but not to be read and that it was not for you, and it is to those — I suppose a minority — to whom I wish to speak. I want to tell you from my own experience that "The Dynasts" is Interesting, is tre- mendously, vitally, humanly interesting. Thomas Hardy has not lost his cunning as a story teller. He has been writing a tragic drama. He has not lost his power of the vivid characterization. Every one of the characters in the book are living human beings and they move and speak according to their kind and they are in- tensely — The PRESIDENT: Miss Hewins on the "Elements of drawing" by John Ruskin. Miss HEWINS: I have chosen John Ruskin's "Elements of drawing" not be- cause I learned to draw from It, for 1 have never learned to draw from that or anything else, bui chiefly because of the appendix. In the main part of it I learned not to draw but to st^\ I learned to see trees against the sky and leaf forms and cloud forms, and I learned about some of the great masters of drawing like Samuel Prout. The appendix refers to the study of pictures and the best way to begin the study, from the thing that you are interested in. If a girl's dreams are of angels and saints, the place for her to begin to study art, Ruskin says, is with Fra Angelico. If a boy has been reading of some seventeenth century hero and goes up thirstily to a great portrait of him by Van Dyke, the place for him to begin to study art is with Van Dyke. If anyone is interested in rocks and trees and sky, the place for him to begin his art study is with Turner. And Ruskin says that your taste in art is so largely affected by your taste in literature that If you are to be a student in art you must read in connection with it not only books on art but must choose the authors who will help you most to know good art and to appreciate it, and will give you a stan- dard of taste. The PRESIDENT: Now we have Demosthenes' "Oration on the crown," by William Warner Bishop. Mr BISHOP: I am not going to say a word about Demosthenes' "Oration on the Crown." I was told I was in reserve. In- stead of that I am going to speak on a Cure for the Blues, the most remarkable cure for the blues that exists in the Eng- lish language, and the most remarkable English in the English language. I refer to Stanyhurst's translation of the first four books of Virgil's Aeneid, which is to be found in Arber's "English scholars' library." Now nobody — to use a news- paper phrase. — ever "slung English" the equal of that which Stanyhurst wrote. He had a contempt tor every poet but Virgil. He has in his remarkable preface the re- mark: "As for Ennius, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, and the rabblement of such cheate Poetes, theyre dooinges are, for fauoure of antiquitye, rather to be pacientlye allowed, thean highly re- garded." And he goes on to make hexa- meters, not by English stress accent, but by the Latin rules for quantity. If you doubt my statement that he is a cure for the blues, simply get hold of this book in your library — you will find it on the shelves — and read that pathetic, that sub- lime passage of Dido's death, and see how he brings it out. I will quote you just a few lines where Anna comes rush- ing forth; she sees her sister on the fun- eral pyre: "Furth runs her sister, theese newea vnfortunat hyring, With nayles hir visadge skratching, and mightilye rapping Her breast with thumping frap knocks, thi'ough rout she doth enter, And the dying sister, with roaring, lowdlye she named.". . . . TWO-MINUTE TALKS 16» "Speedelye bring me water, thee greene wound swiftly e to souple; And yf in lier carcasse soom wind yeet softlye be breathing, With lyp I will nurse yt; thus sayd shea climbed toe the woodoile." The PRESIDENT: In my trepidation in having to cut off Miss Hewins so soon I skipped two of the pieces. We will go back therefore to Mr Johnson Brigham and have from him a little talk on "Heroes and hero worship" by Thomas Carlyle. Mr BRIGHAM: A word for the old book you have all read; and, too, a word against it. "Heroes and hero worship" should come in at a time when a boy is idly drifting, waiting for something just beyond, he knows not what. I know of a boy who was handed that book by his teacher and, on reading it, the uncer- tainty of the hour passed away and he made up his mind to be a hero! He was not quite sure as to whether he would be a statesman, or a theologian, or a man of letters — and so on through the list; but the book served the purpose of the hour. It turned his thoughts from idle fancies into a direction desirable at the time. But there came a time, later, when an- other class of books was necessary. He discovered that he had limitations, that he could not be a statesman, nor a man of letters, nor a great warrior. Then came a class of biographies which I might call the John Gillis type, (by Presi- dent Eliot) a class of biographies which told him. that life was heroic if lived heroically, whether at the head of an army or in the ranks of a great movement. Biography should not be handed out in- discriminately. I fear "Heroes and hero worship" has much to answer for. Poor Carlyle himself fell a victim to his own method; but, thank Heaven, he died be- fore he knew how he had been victimized by his biographer. A dear, lovable public man whom we all revere, and some of us are going to vote for, made a speech the other day at Riverside and the trouble with that speech was he sent for the wrong book; he sent for Hamlin Garland's "Life of Grant," and he was utterly mis- led. Now the fault of "Heroes and hero worship" is that it makes a good story. In order to make more miraculous the elevation, it puts the man at the begin- ning down in the very dregs; and so we have the great hero of the Rebellion put down as a drunkard and as dependent on his family, when it was not true. That is all there is of it. He sent for the wrong book. The PRESIDENT: Next we will hear from Mr W. P. Cutter on Rudyard Kip- ling's "Kim." Mr CUTTICR: I started to read Kim about four years ago and these are some of the things that I have been reading since: Lives of Buddha, other books about the Buddhist religion; History of the fights on the frontier in India, Buddhist art, the Ex- ploration of Thibet, the Development of human characler, books on that; books on the food of India. I have a map of India at the head of my bed. I read from about midnight to one o'clock every night, and I have a pointer so that I can point up to the place ajid trace all of the things that are in the book. I simply call your attention to the fact that even a librarian by reading a book of fiction may be led Into better paths. The PRESIDENT: Henry James' "Awk- ward age," by Miss Tessa L. Kelso. MISS KELSO: I choose the "Awkward age" for the sake of its preface. In the new edition just issuing of the works of Henry James he has had included a num- ber of prefaces which not only will explain the involved style which the author is accused of but which are probably the most masterly exposition of the art of modern novel writing in existence. I think perhaps there is a Jamesian quality In putting this identical preface in the "Awk- ward age" for I believe Mr James suspects that the American public are in the awk- ward age in their capacity of judgment of novels, and I think when we measure the list of novels which constitutes American literature of the past few years with that 170 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE long list of distinguished books by our greatest figure in literature, that he may- be forgiven if there is a little trace of irony in his description and enlightenment i>f his own novel, "The Awkward age." I do not believe that any librarian can afford professionally not to be well acquainted with all of Henry James' novels, and I believe if they will take up these pre- faces, that they will have some light shed upon the art of novel writing and the fame that belongs to our great compatriot. Miss M. E. HAZELTINE: Alice Free- man Palmer — the record of a life of many activities, spemling itself in service for others. The book is almost a living pres- ence, so charmingly is it done, so sure is the touch of the hand that penned it, so sane and sympathetic is the interpretation. It has all the charm and style of the phi- losopher and poet who wrote it, and is literature as well as life. It Is a book with an appeal to all busy workers, for it is a message of service, how one woman did many things and yet found lime to live and give of herself. It gives the struggle lor an education, and the letters home, full of many details, such as girls love — the purchase of the tirst white gloves, and the lace that Is freshened to adorn a frock for a concert. With these details, arid the record of what one girl ac- complished :ind attained, it has a wide appeal for girls. It is filled with human touches of house-keeping and honte making and Is a record of rare companionship that should be read under every roof. The story of sabbatic years, and the delights of leisurely journeys make it a delightful book for travelers, while it is also a text book for all who would reach people by spending themselves. It is, in fact, a book with a message for many people of many Interests, a book that easily becomes a companion and friend to walk with day by day. The PRESIDENT: Duncan. The New knowledge. I assure you I shall speak no longer than two minutes, even if I keep time myself. Not very long ago. it seems only a few years now, a well known scientist was rash enough, in an address delivered before a scientific asso- ciation, to say that all the great discover- ies of fact had then probably been made, that we knew practically all the great facts about the universe, and that science in the future would content itself with correlating these facts and with deducing laws and formulating systems. It was not very long after he made this address that a great series of new facts began to be discovered and put him utterly to shame, — such great discoveries as those of the X-rays, the Hertzian waves, which have resulted in wireless telegraphy, and the Becquerel rays which have led to the whole series of phenomena which scientists call radio-activity, including the discovery of the element radium, (if it is an element), the most wonderful of elements, furnishing to science the data for an entirely new theory of matter. All these things we read about in this inter- esting book by Professor Duncan which he calls "The New knowledge". But I simply wish to warn those that are pres- ent that the theory of the book and of all other books like it (and there are a num- ber published on the same subject in re- cent times as well as a great many maga- zine articles in one or two years past), the theory of the book must be sharply distinguished from the facts. The facts are all authoritative, but the theories, a great many of them, are not accepted by the majority of scientific men. They are holding their opinions in suspense. These people who are interested in the promulgation of such theories as the new electric theory of matter are much In- terested and very enthusiastic, and they put forward their theories with great gusto. Those who are holding their minds in suspense very often do not say anything, and the result Is an impression of a great crowd of scientific men uphold- ing the new theories while there Is no one to object. I want to warn librarians that they must take all this enthusiasm with a grain of salt. The facts are there and 171 they are the most wonderful that have ever been brought out in the interest of science, but the theories must be taken with a grain of salt. I now declare the present session ad- journed. THIRD SESSION (Tonka Bay Hotel, Friday afternoon, June 26, 190S) The third general session was called to order at 2:30 o'clock by Vice-president C. H. Gould and the Association at once passed to the consideration of reports from committees. Dr E. C. RICHARDSON presented the REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON IN- TERNATIONAL RELATIONS During the past year the Association has been represented at the meeting of the British library association by Mr Hanson and will be represented at the International historical congress at Berlin in August through a paper prepared by Mr J. C. M. Hanson of the Library of Congress and presented by Mr A. P. C. Griffin. The most noteworthy matter of the current year is the completion of the International cataloging rules, still farther advanced since their presentation in proof at Asheville through personal conference of Mr Hanson with British librarians. There have been a rather unusually large number of American librarians traveling among European libraries during the past year. The chairman of this committee fol- lowing in the footsteps of Dr Putnam and Mr Hanson, found, especially in Germany, that their visits had been particularly fruitful in establishing those relationships of mutual understanding of one another's work on which the hope of extending In- ternational cooperation must chiefly rest. There does uot seem any very tangible method at present of getting a universal understanding as to cataloging entry, but the matter of centralized cataloging and bureau of information work is becoming so well established abroad in connection with the matter of international library loans that the printed card must logically follow in a short time and with it more consideration of international uniformity of entry. The Continent is as far ahead of us in the matter of international library loans as it is behind us, thanks to the Library of Congress, in central cataloging. Respectfully submitted, E. C. RICHARDSON, Chairman. The VICE-PRESIDENT: Unless objec- tion is heard the report of the Committee on International relations will be accepted and placed on file. Mr J. C. M. HANSON then read the REPORT OF THE CATALOG RULES COMMITTEE It will be recalled that with the report of 1907, its first regular report, the Com- mittee submitted certain exhibits, chief of which was a copy of the Rules as re- vised to date and printed by the Library of Congress "as manuscript." In connection with the present report, the Committee submits a similar exhibit. This exhibit consists of a copy of the third revise of the entire body of rules with title-page, contents, introduction and various appen- dices, representing In Its final form the body of rules agreed upon between the American Library Association and the Library Association. An examination of this proof will show that the various consultations between representatives of the two associations during 1905-1907 have finally resulted in a close agree- ment. Of 174 rules, only 8 show some variation and in regard to at least three of these, we have the strongest hopes that by further consultation and mutual con- cesFlons we shall be able to arrive at com- plete agreement before a second edition of the rules shall be called for. There is a distinct principle underlying these differ- ences. Our British associates hold that authors, men or women, who are incon- siderate enough to change their names ought to be entered under their earliest 173 MINNKTO>JKA CONFERENCE forms. We of the American committee, on the other hand, hold that it Is saler to take the later form. Again, our British associates have decided that periodicals that charge iheir titles should be entered under the earliest form. The American committee have decided in favor of the later form, with a brief entry and refer- ence from the earlier title. This repre- sents the differences in the rules on which we have not come to full agreement. Per- haps the main element responsible for the success of this agreement is the generosity and openness with which our proposals have invariably been met by our associates on the British committee. The kindly con- sideration which they have always shown to us throughout the negotiations I believe is mainly responsible for the fact that we have come to as full and complete an agreement as we have. As for the nego- tiations of the past year, it may here be suflBcient to state that while the Committee has not held any meetings, much work has been done in connection with the prepara- tions for the final printing now in progress. The Council in adopting the rules as sub- mitted at the last annual meeting, author- ized the Committee to proceed with such further negotiations as might be necessary In order to harmonize any differences as to details still existing between the Brit- ish and American committees, and to defi- nitely formulate the rules in final form. It also referred the question of printing and publication of the rules to the incoming Executive board. On Sept. 2Gth, the latter Dody voted: "That the printing of the Cat- alog rules be entrusted to the Publishing hoard in accordance with their letters of May 25, 1907, and September 10, 1907, and in conformity with the requirements of the Committee on Catalog rules." In the mean time, the Chairman of the American committee had been in consulta- tion with the British committee at Glas- gow, Sept. 16-19.* An agreement was here reached on all rules but the eight mentioned •See Bulletin of the American Library Agso- clatiou, March, 1908. above. Preparations for final printing fol- lowed these agreements. Owing to unavoidable delays in connec- tion with final preparation of copy, the un- usually difficult nature of the composition and proof reading and especially because of the time required to forward proofs to members of both Committees as also to await and correlate the many returns from these members, it has not been possible to have the book ready for distribution in time for the present conference. Orders may, however, be placed with the Publish- ing board at any time after the close of this meeting as the book is quite certain to be ready for distribution during July. By special agreement between the Pub- lishing board and the British committee, the former is also to print the British edi- tion of 1000 copies. This is to be uniform with the American edition with the excep- tion of slight variations in spelling and in that the British variants to certain rules will precede, the American rules taking the form of notes. In addition to the two edi- tions of the main code, a simplified edi- tion is in preparation under the direction of Miss Kroeger, the Secretary of the Com- mittee, and Miss Hitchler, of the Brooklyn public library. Moreover, the Publishing board contemplates the issue of an edition on cards, a provision which was recom- mended by the Committee on condition that a Et:fflcient number of subscriptions was received to justify the extra expendi- ture. It is thought tiat the cost of such an edition will not exceed $3. Finally, it may not be without interest to r.ote tl'.at the consummation of the Ang- lo-American agreement embodied in the present rules, with special reference to its possible extention to other countries, is to form the subject of a paper at the Interna- tional bibliographical conference at Brus- sels, in July, and possibly also before the Bibliographical section of the International historical congress, which convenes at Ber- lin, in August. This would indicate that also other nations are becoming interested in the problems connected with interna- tional cooperation in cataloging and are 17S caatlug about for some means whereby much of the duplication in cataloging necessitated by a lack of agreement on rules of entry and equipment of catalogs, may be obviated. An agreement between nations speaking different languages and with less interchange of literary output than between the United States and Great Britain is likely to prove difficult of con- summation. Still there is reason to hope that negotiations may lead to greater uni- formity of entry and closer agreement on equipment, particularly as regards size of catalog cards, than exists at present. With more harmony of rules and a uniform size of card, it should be possible to arrive at some reciprocal agreement that would, in time, permit of a division of labor in the field of cataloging between different na- tions, especially with respect to composite works and the many important series of monographs which are now purchased by a large number of libraries in various parts of the world. Respoctfully submitted, J. C. M. HANSON, Chairman. The VICE-PRESIDENT: You have heard this report, ladies and gentlemen, and I am sure that the Committee is to be thanked and the association congratu- lated upon the results that it embodies. Is there any discussion desired on the re- port? Mr LEGLER: I desire to move that the thanks of the association be tendered to its Committee on Catalog rules for the work it has done during the past 8 years, and es- pecially to Mr J. C. M. Hanson, who as chairman of the committee, has done more to bring the English and American com- mittees into harmony, and has borne the burden of the final editing of the Code. Carried. The VICE-PRESIDENT: There was one othfr report left over at the last meeting, that of the Committee on Bookbinding by the chairman, Mr A. L. BAILEY. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON BOOKBINDING Another year's work in the considera- tion of binding problems has brought home to the Committee more forcibly than before the fact that these problems are difficult of solution, and that the small libraries everywhere and the larger libra- ries in the South and West are at a great disadvantage as regards binding. The problems are difficult of solution because there is no one competent to say that a certain method in relation to any one question is the best one to follow. Sufficient time has not elapsed since ex- periments were begun by different libra- ries to show exactly what is best. In many cases the Committee can only insist on certain general principles — such as that no leather should be used unless the book is to receive hard wear— until more spe- cific points can be determined after much time and experimentation. It should be noted also that no two librarians can be expected to agree on all binding ques- tions, because the same books in libraries in neighboring towns will wear entirely different, and no hard and fast rule can be laid down. It is largely a matter of experience and judgment and librarians should spare no efforts to gain both. The small library is the one which suf- fers most from binding difficulties. While some of the larger libraries are, doubtless, not spending their binding appropriation as economically as they might, they have, in the main, made their own experiments and they have arrived at more or less satisfactory results. The librarian of the small library on the other hand has so few books to bind that she does not re- alize the importance of the subject. She also has so many other duties to attend to that she cannot make a special study of binding and she Is unable to get from any book all the information that she ought to have to enable her to recognize the difference between good binding and bad. It is therefore the small library that the Committee hopes to benefit most, and one way in which It hopes to be of assis- tance is through the reinforced binding of popular fiction and juvenile books. This, with the assistance of librarians. 174 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE the Committee hopes to induce more pub- lishers to give us. In fact the work done by the Committee on Binding during the present year has been confined almost wholly to the interest of reinforced bind- ing. The first efforts of the Committee in 1906 to induce publishers to issue these bindings were made because of the ex- ceedingly poor service that regular pub- lishers' bindings were giving in public li- braries. They were made, however, rather as an experiment to see what could be done along that line than from any strong belief in their value. The members of the Committee were not themselves convinced that it was the best solution of an intoler- able situation. Reinforced bindings have now been in use for nearly two years, and we are able to judge more accurately of their value. In the January number of the "Bulletin" the Committee asked for an expression of opinion regarding these bindings. The responses received while not numerous were almost unanimously In favor of continuing the campaign. Only four librarians expressed doubt of their value, and two of these desired to see them continued so that the value of better bindings might be firmly impressed on the minds of all librarians. Statistics of the wear of the book which has been In circulation longest (Smith's Tides of Bamegat) indicate far better re- sults than the Committee had hoped for. In the exhibit of reinforced bindings at headquarters will be found a book from the Jacksonville (Fla.) public library which has circulated 96 times and is still in passable condition. Two other books will be found, one from Washington and the other from Newark, which have circu- ilated 60 times and are still available for circulation. The Public library of the District of Columbia also sends records of 7 copies which have circulated from 57 to 70 times and are still in use. When we consider that the average publishers' binding has to be rebound before a book has circulated 25 times, or when we con- sider that many books circulate less than 90 times in the publishers' binding and rebinding combined, we realize that in this particular case at least the library which bought this book made a most ex- cellent investment of lOc, which Is the In- creased cost of the book. Not only did the books remain In circulation at the height of their popularity, but in the case of libraries which bought several copies they have lasted so much beyond this period of popularity that many of them may be discarded when withdrawn from circulation instead of going to the bindery at an extra expense of 35 to 50c. Ine arguments for and against these bindings and an explanation of the difficul- ty in getting them from the publishers nave been explained thoroughly in pre- vious reports, so that the Committee will not take up these points at the present time. It will simply say that It firmly believes that for the present, at least, bind- ing bills will be cut down and the public better suited if all publishers can be In- duced to give us these bindings on books which are very popular. The attitude of the publishers Is much more favorable than it was two years ago. One firm has announced its intention ol continuing the practice, making Its own selection of books without calling upon our Coiamittee for suggestions. So far as this publisher is concerned the troubles of the Committee arc over. It has adopted otir specifications and foind that the plan pays. It is confidently hoped that other publish- ers will ~-ee the light before long. While the library schools evidently desire to instil a knowledge of the importance of durable bindings, there seems to be a general tendency on the part of all of them — judging from answers to questions sent them in the fall — not to devote as much time to the subject as would be necessary to accomplish this result. Only one school has a special binding plant for the use of its students. Other schools visit bindaries and have processes explained, but it is doubtful if many library school grad- uates have a proper appreciation of the Im- portance of the subject, or can recognize good bindings when they see them. Ap- 176 parently 8 hours is the longest time that any school requires to be devoted to bind- ing courses. It is an indisputable tact that the repair and binding of books make big items in small appropriations, and the value of good bindings and the ability to recognize them should be thoroughly im- bedded in the mind of the library school graduate. There are a number of libraries through- out the country, especially in the South and West, where the prices charged by local binders are excessive and the quality of work rendered is exceedingly poor. In many cases it is impossible to send books outside the town or state for rebinding, and the situation, especially for those who real- ize the importance of good binding, is ex- ceedingly annoying. There is one way, however, in which libraries so situated can obviate many difficulties. They can take particular care to order all books which are to receive hard wear in the special editions bound from the sheets. For ex- ample, one library in the South ordered the last volume of Poole bound from the sheets In pigskin. The Committee advo- cates such purchases whenever they are possible. The increase in the first cost of the book is considerable, but in the end the books will be found to be much cheaper. During the year many binding questions have been submitted by librarians to the Committee. Such questions have been answered to the best of our ability and knowledge. While some of the points brought up are important, it would make this report much too long to discuss them here. The Committee, however, welcomes all binding questions, and when it has no solution for a question it will take mea- sures to find one. It particularly desires librarians to send the titles of books that have proved exceptionally unsatisfactory in publisher's bindings. If many complaints of any one book are received, the Com- mittee will take the matter up with the publisher and may be able to Induce the publisher to improve the general quality of the binding, if not Induce him to give a reinforced binding. On June 1, 1908, a meeting was held in Washington, at the instigation of the Secretary of the Printing investigation committee, to discuss the binding of Gov- ernment documents. There were present at that meeting the Chairman of the A- L. A. Committee on Federal relations, 3 representatives from the Library of Con- gress, the Librarian of the Public library of the District of Columbia, the acting Public printer, the Superintendent of documents, the head of the Bureau of standards, other government experts, and the Chairman of the Bookbinding committee. The confer- ence resolved itself into a discussion of re- ports from Dr Stratton and Dr Douty of the Bureau of standards on tests of 23 samples of book cloths and buckrams sub- mitted by three manufacturers. The re- ports of these two experts showed that In addition to very severe physical and chem- ical tests each sample was exposed to the attacks of water bugs. As a result of these experiments and tests the Bureau of stand- ards gave rank to each sample submitted; a rank which was arrived at somewhat ar- bitrarily, but which for all practical pur- poses was satisfactory. The qualities on which special emphasis was laid in assigning rank were tensile strength, the wear received in handling or shelving, the ability of the cloth to with- stand folding, color, and the attack of water bugs. It was deemed important by all present at the conference that any cloth chosen for covering public documents must not fall below a certain minimum in any of these qualities. The tests showed conclusively that three cloths ranking first were of nearly equal value. In the unanimous opinion, however, of all librarians present one of these three was much preferable to the other two. Ac- cordingly before the conference adjourned it was put on record that those present favored the adoption of that particular cloth. It should be noted that at no time during the tests nor at the conference was the name of the cloth or the name of the manufacturer known to any one except the Secretary of the Printing investigation 176 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE committee. This cloth will undoubtedly be chosen for covering what has been known as the sheep bound set. The result of this conference will be more beneficial and more far-reaching than at first appears. Not only has the United States government discarded the much be- rated sheep which it has used for 100 years or more in favor of a cloth which is clean and which will wear indefinitely, but in arriving at this result it has through the Bureau of standards established a standard for book cloths. The specifications for such a standard have not yet been formu- lated, but as soon as that has been done they will be published and every librarian in the country will be able to know what qualities a good cloth must possess. Not only will government documents be clothed respectably, but all library bindings where cloth is used will be immeasuraby bene- fitted. Heretofore, book cloths have had to be accepted more or less on trust. As soon as the specifications have been formulated, librarians can bring immense pressure to bear on manufacturers to give us cloths that will stand severe tests. In conclusion we call attention, as we are contiually doing, to the fact that the cost of binding depends upon the wear it gives. A librarian may think that he is fortunate if he can get the ordinary novel rebound for 25c, but it should be noted that It books bound at that price circulate on an average only half as many times as books which cost 40c. to rebind, then the 25c. binding is much more expensive, it will pay all librarians to keep careful and accurate statistics of rebound books. The VICE-PRESIDENT: If no discus- sion is desired and there is no opposing Toice the report will be received and placed on file. Dr B. C. STEINER then presented the REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL AND STATE RELATIONS Your Committee as appointed, consisted of Dr James H. Canfield of Columbia university, Bernard C. Stelner of the Enoch Pratt free library, James Bain of the Public library of Toronto, R. R. Bow- ker of the "Library Journal," H. G. Wad- lin of the Boston public library, and R. H. Whitten of the Library of the Public utili- ties commission of New York City. As Dr Canfield declined to serve upon the Committee, Dr Steiner became its Chair- man. Mr Bowker resigned from the Com- mittee in March, as he was about to take a European trip, and in his place, Mr Purd B. Wright of the Public library of St. Joseph, Mo., was appointed. Mr Wad- lin has taken no part in the work of the Committee, and has answered none of the letters which have been sent him by the Chairman, so the report has not been sub- mitted to him. Mr Bain's regrettable ill- ness prevented him from being able to sign the report. As this is the first year of the Commit- tee's existence, its work has been natur- ally, of a somewhat tentative character. Two general considerations present them- selves as the result of the year's work. The field covered by the Committee should be divided among two or three commit- tees. Canadian affairs are so diCterent from those of the United States, that the same committee cannot well handle the two classes of questions. During the past year the Committee has taken up no Can- adian work, and consequently has been unable to avail itself of the services of Mr Bain. We recommend that a special committee be appointed to consider the relations of libraries with the Canadian governments. It is also a question as to whether a separate committee ought not to be named to take under its care, rela- tions with the state governments, and thus leave the consideration of federal af- fairs alone to this Committee. During the year the only service ren- dered by the Committee in connection with the state governments was done by Dr Steiner, who spent several days In Richmond, Va., at the invitation of the state librarian there, to discuss the best methods of administering that important library. STEINER 177 Your Committee also feels that Its mem- bership should be more widely distributed geographically, than was the case last year. Of the original members, three lived in New York state, one in Maryland, one in Massachusetts and one in Canada. We believe that there should be one mem- ber from New England, one from the Mid- dle Atlantic states, one from the South, and one from the West, with additional members added from any section as the Association may think best. In connection with the federal govern- ment, your committee has taken up a con- siderable number o£ matters. The Chairman, in the course of visits to Washington, has conferred with the Superintendent of documents, the Commis- sioner of education, and the Librarian ot the Bureau of education, with reference to the best methods of the work of these oflBces, in connection with libraries. The Congressional committee on Print- ing conferred with the Chairman upon the new method of distribution of Public documents, and upon the proper material to use in binding them. The Chairmen of the Congressional committees on Post offices and post roads were notified of the support given by the Association to bills for library and parcels posts, a detailed account of which is given In the Bulletin of the American Library Association for March, 1908. The instructions of the Association, with reference to any new copyright law, have been carefully carried out, as is shown in the same number of the Bulletin. On March 27, the Chairman of the Com- mittee appeared, as a representative ot the Association, before the Joint commit- tees on Patents and protested against any further limitations upon library importa- tions not contained in the bill reported to the last Congress. When Mr Washburn Introduced a copyright bill on May 6 (H. R. 21592), protest was promptly made against restrictive provisions contained in that Bill. We believe that, as a result ot the efforts of librarians, we have satisfac- tory assurances from the chairmen of the Congressional committees, Messrs Smoot and Currier, that we need anticipate no hostile legislation in this matter. The Committee has endeavored to secure the discontinuance of the vexatious receipt now required on importation of books. Mr Bowker was particularly active in this matter, and we regret that we cannot re- port success. Complaint having been made as to the wording of the postal card containing a fine notice issued by one of our leading libraries, the matter was referred to the Committee and, after conference with the authorities of the Department of justice and the Post ofHce department, a modified form for such postal cards was suggested to libraries, in the "Bulletin" for March. It was the privilege of the Chairman of the Committee to address the District of Columbia library association upon the sub- ject of the Relations of libraries to fed- eral government, on April 8. On June 1 the Chairman of the Com- mittee met in conference at Washington, certain federal ofiBcers, at which confer- ence the binding of Congressional docu- ments in the future, was discussed and determined upon. Mr Arthur L. Bailey, Chairman of the Bookbinding committee, was also present and you are respectfully referred to his report for a detailed ac- count of the proceedings. The summons of Mr Bailey and the Chairman of this Committee to the conference was a grateful tribute by the federal authorities, to the importance of the library interest. BERNARD C. STEINER, Chairman. The PRESIDENT: Is there any busi- ness arising out of this report to discuss? If not the chair will entertain a motion for its adoption. Mr BOWERMAN: I move its adoption. Seconded and carried. The PRESIDENT: The next is Miss Hasse's report for the Committee on Public documents which, in the absence of the Chairman of the Committee will be read by the Secretary. 178 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Your Committee on Documents regrets not to be able to present a specific report to you of the occurrences of the past year relating to documents. The fault is en- tirely with the Chairman of the Committee who has been too much engaged with docu- ments to draft a report on documents. It is acknowledged that this is no excuse, but 11 is hoped that the Association may ac- cept it as a reason for the defection. The question has arisen of a reorganiza- tion of the document interests of the Asso- ciation. It has been suggested that a closer combination would be more effective than the present arrangement. Besides the Committee on Documents, the Association now has a Committee on State and Federal relations and a Committee on International relations. The former of these committees can lay claim to questions which concern state and federal documents where they af- fect library interests. The latter can with propriety concern Itself with foreign docu- ments. In addition to these committees there Is the afDliated Association of state librarians. There is no unanimity in the Committee on Documents on this question. At this time of writing members have expressed themselves in direct opposition to the dis- charge of amalgamation of the Documents committee, some in favor of such action, Beveral have referred the matter back to the chairman, and some have sent equivo- cal replies to the chairman's memorandum. In this status the matter is referred to the Association. Respectfully submitted, A. R. HASSE, Chairman, Committee on Documents. June 6, 1908. No objection arising the report was ac- cepted and Mr C. R. DUDLEY presented the REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY ARCHITECTURE In the report of the Committee on Li- brary architecture made at the last con- ference it was stated that more than 100 plans of library buildings had been col- lected at headquarters and it was recom- mended that an appropriation be made for properly displaying them, also that each one be evaluated by its librarian and a card index prepared with such subject analysis as would enable any one to find quickly the plans of each class of buildings, or comments on the particular features he might be interested in. After the office of executive officer was abolished it became impossible to prosecute the work of collecting plans so well begun by Mr Hovey and little has been accom- plished since the Asheville meeting. It goes without saying that a committee, scattered across the country (no two ol whom are in the same city) cannot suo- cessfuUy carry on such an undertaking. It can be done only at headquarters and by a paid assistant A few weeks ago we were notified by the Secretary of the Asso- ciation that if we would formulate sets of questions to be sent to the architects and librarians whose plans are on file, ar- rangements would be made to have the In- formation obtained made available. This will be done. It should be impressed upon the members to whom these Inquiry blanks are sent, that It Is of the utmost importance that they cooperate with the committee by giv- ing in detail all the information called for regarding the merits and defects of the building under their care. In our conferences nearly every subject relating to libraries except that of archi- tecture, has been given serious and oft- recurring consideration by the master min Is of the Association. At San Francis- co Mr Soule presented the 20 points of agreement among librarians on library architecture, which after discussion were adopted as embodying the views of this or- ganization. Two years ago there was a valuable symposium on the subject; other- wise it has never been given the prominence of a major topic. We firmly believe that It is now the most important one with which the profession has to deal and that a cam- BOOK-BUYING COMMITTEE 17» palgn of education should be begun, not only for the benefit of librarians and trustees but for architects as well. Travel from one ocean to the other and from the Lakes to the Gulf and you will find a rare set of men and women earnest- ly engaged in making their libraries of the greatest use to their communities. In such a trip you will find few economically arranged library buildings. The books are well selected, have been bought with good business judgment, are intelligently classi- fied and cataloged but the cost of adminis- tration is out of proportion to the amount of work done because the building is not properly planned. The first requisite for a library is a good librarian and one of the first qualifica- tions of a librarian should be a knowledge of what constitutes a good library building, coupled with the ability to furnish an architect with a proper floor arrangement. The proportion of library buildings to churches, school houses, and business structures is very small. A city of 25,000 Inhabitants might have a half dozen schools, 10 churches and 200 buildings for mercantile purposes and only one library; hence there is little inducement for archi- tects to spend the time necessary to ac- quaint themselves with the requirements for a perfect library building. Within the past decade a few have made a special study of this branch and have designed creditable buildings. But taken as a whole, they aie bad, because utility has. In most cases, been sacrificed to al- leged art. We believe that this, however, is more the fault of the librarians than of the architects. The remedy for this evil must be a more specific knowledge of the subject by libra- rians. The question then arises "How can this end be attained?" The literature is meager — few books have been written on it. The architectural journals publish elevations and floor plans, but as a rule do not criticize them. We believe that most can be aocora- plisbed by continuing the work of making a large and representative collection of de- signs, having them properly evaluated and then putting this information into print In proper form — an undertaking which would probably be the prerogative of our Pub- lishing board. C. R. DUDLEY, Chairman. The report of the Committee on Library architecture was received and its sugges- tion relating to the representation of the subject of library buildings upon the pro- giam was referred to the Program com- mittee. The following communication, serving as a report of the Committee on Cooperation with the National education association, was then read by the SECRETARY. Chicago, June 22, 1908. Mr. J. I. Wyer, Secretary, American Library Association. My dear Mr Wyer: The discussions of the Committee on Cooperation between the A. L. A and the N. E. A. have been held entirely through correspondence. The dis- cussion has largely centered around the question of a joint meeting of the two as- sociations in the near future. The lateness of the reply of one member which was re- ceived after your sessions had begun, of course, renders it impossible for this Com- mittee to hope for much consideration of this matter at the pvestnt meeting, hut may be a valuable suggestion to the Com- mittee which follows. Other valuable sug- gestions were offered by members of the Committee but there was no unity of opinion arrived at. One member of the Committee only failed to respond to letters. Very respectfully yours, IRENE WAHKEN, Chairman of Committee on Cooperation between A. L. A. and N. E. A. Dr BERNARD C. STEINER then read the REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON BOOK- BUYING This Committee, in the past year had the first change in its membership for a num- 180 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE ber of years. The election of its former Chairman, Mr Arthur E. Bostwick, as President of the American Library Asso- ciation left a vacancy in the Committee which was filled by the appointment of Mr W. P. Cutter of the Forbes library of Northampton, Alass. Mr J. C. Dana of the Newark public library, who had been the second In membership of the old com- mittee, became Chainnan and Dr Bernard C. Steiner of the Enoch Pratt free library continued as a member. Mr Dana's de- parture for Europe early in April, caused Dr Steiner to become Acting Chairman of the Committee, and threw the responsi- bility of its work upon the other two mem- bers, during the last portion of the year. Only two bulletins of the Committee were issued during the year: no. 34 in January, and no. 35 in March, and these were printed In the "Bulletin of the Ameri- can Library Association," and 3000 reprints of each were distributed in quantities to state library commissions and library schools, and by the single copy to libra- rians not likely to be reached by the "Bulle- tin" because not members of the Associa- tion The diminished appropriation to the Committee seriously hampered its work. We believe that work to be so Important that we renew the recommendation made in previous years, that the appropriation be Increased to J200 for the coming year. Bulletin no. 34 contained a letter of some length, addressed by the Committee to the American publishers' association. In the hope of establishing closer relations be- tween the two organizations. We received a prompt answer from that Association, notifying us that a committee composed of Messers F. N. Doubleday and F. A. Stokes was appointed to confer with us. It proved impossible to have this conference until May, when we met the Committee in New York City. At the conference, not only Messrs Doubleday and Stokes of the American publishers' association, and Messrs Cutter and Steiner of our Com- mittee, were present, but also we were for- tunate enough to have with us Mr Bost- wick, the President of our Association. There was considerable Interchange of ideas regarding the desirable character- istics of books from the library point of view, and with reference to methods of apprising libraiies promptly as to the na- ture of new books. It was suggested by the representatives of the Publishers' as- eociation that they would like to have three or four conferences annually with our Committee, and we hope that this will be the first of many gatherings of the sort, to discuss questions of mutual interest. The firm of Houghton Miillin & co. took up our letter to the Publishers' association' and Mr R. L. Scaife, their representative, wrote a letter to Mr Dana which, with the Committee's reply was summarized In Bulletin no. 3.';. Further correspondence with Messrs Scaife and Doubleday led to an interesting experiment by the Com- mittee. We determined that we would prepare reports upon a few new books and send then to the publishers, to Mr Cedrlc Chivers, and to the following journals: "A. L. A. Booklist," "Library Journal," "Public Libraries," "Publishers' Weekly." These reports should contain a full state- ment as to the literary and physical char- acter of the books. Two books were sub- mitted to us by Houghton, MifHin & co. and one by Doubleday, Page & co. We determined to publish only such reports as were favorable to the purchase of the books by practically all libraries, and, con- sequently, we did not publish a report upon one of the books. Reports on the other two. Palmer's "Life of Alice Freeman Palmer," and Doubleday's Large print library edition of Reade's "Love me little love me long," which we were able to com- mend highly, were published in the "Pub- lishers' Weekly" for May 9, "Public Libraries" for June and the "Library Jour- nal" for May. This experiment was most Interesting, and, I hope, may lead to other similar reports. We believe that in this way a very Important service can be ren- dered to libraries. Such reports should help the sale of good books, and bring them to the attention of libraries which might otherwise fail to purchase them. It BOOK-B'JYING COIVtMlTTEE 181 Is hoped that many such reports may be made in the future, and that through the work of the Association, librarians may be Informed as to the character and con- tents of books published, and publishers may receive information valuable to them with reference to the character of books needed by libraries. In the first volume of Doubleday's Large print library, a re- quest was made for recommendations for titles to be Included. We find considerable Interest among publishers with reference to the books which may well be reprinted and suggest that librarians send to the Bookbuying committee from time to time, lists of such books as are in demand but are not to be found in any available edi- tion. One of the great needs of the pub- lishers of the present day, as is confessed by them, is a satisfactory means of getting their books before the public. In many smaller towns there is no book store, and even in large cities the books are not brought to the attention of persons who may become buyers. The library has great possibilities as a purveyor of such samples, and already is beginning to assist in this way. In Baltimore a number of medical book publishers send to the library of the Medical and chirurgical faculty of Mary- land, in Baltimore, a copy of each book published by them, which copy being placed upon exhibition has induced physi- cians in many cases to order the books for tieir own libraries. A considerable num- ber of volumes have been ordered by mem- bers of the I'niversity club in Baltimore, through their attention being called to these volumes by copies sent to the Club for the period of a fortnight by the Enoch Pratt free library. Christmas book ex- hibits in places as widely different in popu- lation as Washington and Perth Amboy have led to many purchases. Tlie work Of the Johnstown, (N. Y.) public library in connection with its exhibit of Christmas bool:s imler the supervision of Miss Mary G. Prance, the librarian, is worthy of espe- cial note. The exhibit there consisted of about 20fi volumes and was noted in the most favorable way In the newspapers of the town, one of which said: "thei^e ex- hibi'iuns have been very popular in former .vears, and many people looked forward to them as a means of keeping in touch with the latest and best works for the home library and gifts to children. The libi-a- rian sums up the results of the exhibit as follows: "A large proportion of the visit- ors took the names of books for the pur- pose of ordering them. Some people who had never thought of a difference between a good book and a poor one received a sug- gestion as to the kind of books worth buy- ing. There is no very good store in town where the better books are shown, so the book-lovers were glad of the opportunity of seeing some of the more recent books from which to make a selection. Attention was called to the books in such a way that a desire -uas created among our readers to get hold of them when they were again in circulation. In spite of the general depres- sion in business, the local dealer reported a. marked increase in his sale of books. Thp Library's hold on the people was strengthened, one evidence of this being the gift of two books each listed at ?3.00 which came as a direct result of the ex- hibit." Your Committee was also desirous to get into closer relations with booksellers, and conspquently wrote the Secretary of the American booksellers' association, ask- ing that we might be permitted to attend their convention and speak on the rela- tions of libraries and booksellers. A cour- teous response was received and the mem- bers of the Committee and the President of the Association were invited to attend the banquet of that Association on Wednesday, May 20. On the morning of May 20, the subject of the relations of libraries to booksellers was presented by Mr Bostwick, followed by Messrs Steiner and Cutter, and a very lively discussion ensued concerning the re- lations of the two associations. As a re- sult of the meeting, a committee was ap- pointed by the Booksellers' association on Relations to libraries, of which Mr A. C. Walker of Scrantom, Wetmore & co., 182 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Rochester, N. Y., is Chalnnan. At the banquet in the evening the greatest cour- tesy was shown the representatives of our Association, and Mr Bostwick was asked to speak for it, which he did. We hope that the relations thus established may become permanent. The "Publishers' Weekly" for May 23, 190S, editorially says, "The most notable feature of the convention was the discus- sion with representatives of the American Library Association," and in its news columns states that "The conference on this subject took up almost the entire forenoon, and the result was gratifying for the reason that both sides had taken each other's measure, and had come to a clearer understanding of each other's position, and the feeling was that though nothing had been specifically accomplished, the way was opened to future possibilities as it had not been before." The Committee is certain that the ef- fectiveness of its work in the past is shown by the fact that there have been of late a verj marked Increase in the number of special bargain lists sent to libraries, in the pains which publishers are willing to take to notify the libraries of their new books and in the number of lists which are sent out, of books included in the A. L. A. Catalog. The problem of the selection of books for libraries has engaged the attention of the English library association as well as our own, and in its "Record" for April (v. 10, no. 4) Is printed an important paper upon some dilficulties in the selection of Bclentiflc and technical books. In the dis- cussion tipou this paper the Secretary of the Association said: "The only real solu- tion of the guiding of people as to what to read was the establishment of a Biblio- graphical and evaluation bureau in Lon- don. He hoped it would eventually come Into being, under the auspices of the Library association." We ourselves have felt the need of co- operation among libraries, and feeling that It was very desirable to have cooperation between the British and the American librarians; our committee communicated with the British association in order to obtain if possible, the basis for concerted action in lines in which such action should be found possible. The members of this Committee feel that the time has come when the librarians of American institutions must come into closer relations with each other in the matter of buying books. Without such co- operation, it will be impossible for us to obtain proper consideration from pub- lishers and booksellers and it is probable that there may be a substantial increase in the price of books, so that the libraries of America which spend over two million dollars per annum for books will be obliged to pay several hundred thousand more, or to curtail their purchases by from ten to twenty per cent. The publishers and booksellers are united in active organiza- tions with permanent offices in New York City, and have not hesitated to employ learned counsel and prosecute with vigor, both in the law courts and before Congress, policies which they believe will be to thoir interest. They are prepared to carry on the same vigorous policy in the future. If we are to receive consideration from these bodies, we must show them that we are worthy of respect, that our patronage is worth having, and that we propose to act together in advancing library interests. There have been entrusted to the librarians large sums of money, in great part raised by taxation, for use in the public interest. We should endeavor to see that this money be spent in the most effective and econo- mical way for the purchase of books, yet the appropriation of this Association for the support of this Committee, which has this especial matter in charge, is ludi- crously small when compared with the amounts spent by publishers and book- sellers. If we are to accomplish any im- portajit results we must plan much more broadly for our future work. Your Committee advocates pooling the purchases of books by libraries; it advo- cates the employment of a competent agent to make purchases for a group of libraries. CUTTER 183 It advocates an attempt to deal directly with the manufacturers of books, and it estimates the cost of this agency at ?10,000 per annum. The only desideratum for the success of the plan is loyal support by the libraries of the United Stales. The expenses of the agency could be paid from a commission upon the price of the books ordered through it, which commission would be only a fraction of the amount saved. But this result can only be accomplished by libraries uniting together. This association carries with it an in- fluence not aprroached by any trade asso- ciation; its members have no seltlsh motive in discussing such a question as that of book prices. Its position as the larest single buyer of books in the United States should carry with it enormous weight in effecting the character, as well as the price of literature. Wp are convinced that the publishers and booksellers can be induced to look with favor on the above plan, were it care- fully worked out. We have the advantage of being certain and prompt in payment. We have the advantage of knowing what books are read most largely by the public. We can practically assure the success of a certain class of books. We can assist in the sale of hooks through the local book- seller by exhibiting the newest books to the public. Respectfully submitted, BElRNARD C. STEINKR, Chairman. The PRESIDENT: You have heard this Important report and if you will examine the ofScial program you will see that the Program committee decided that some dis- cussion perhaps of an enlivening nature was necessary at this point. Therefore I shall ask Mr W. P. Cutter to move the adoption of the report and to open the dis- cussion. Mr CUTTER: Mr President, I move the adoption of the report of the committee, and in that connection I have a few re- marks to make: The manufacture and sale of books is not in any particular essentially different from the manufacture and sale of any com- modity. There is nothing sacred about the business. It is no more holy in its prac- tices than any other business. It should receive no more and no less consideration than any other business conducted in the same way. On the other hand, all public spirited persons, and especially librarians, the largest users of books, should give fair treatment to the manufacturer and dealer in books, and should wish each to make a fair and just profit. The cost of a book to the publisher is made up of J The amount paid the author 2 The cost of manufacture a Typesetting b Proof reading and corrections c Stereoiyping d Paper e Presswork f Illustrations g Binding '6 The office cost a Reading mss. submitted b Editing c General office expenses 4 The cost of advertising and selling a Printed advertising b Circularizing and postage c Storage, cartage, shipping 5 Miscellaneous cost a Legal expenses, including legislative expenses b Incidentals 6 Depreciation of plant and stock, and stock left on hand — Interest on invest- ment. It should also be understood that only an uncertain percentage of books published are successful, and that the successful book must pay for the unsuccessful one. All the above expenses must be paid, and the book must be sold to the retailer or jobber, at such prices as to yield a fair profit. The ordiniuy new novel for example Is sold to the bookseller at from 40 to 46 184 MINNETONKA C0NFBRBNC5H percent discount from the list price of |1.50, or at Rl to DO cents. This discount varies, depending on the quantity purchased. It Is sold by the retail dealer at prices vary- ing from 95 cents to $1.20, depending on the standing cf the purchaser, and the amount of local competition. The controversy over the price of novels to the consumer is not between publishers, but between booksellers, as it may be gen- erally staled that the amount of discount given by any one publisher is practically the same to all dealers, except that large purchasers are given a small additional discount. Tho development of the so-called "de- partment store" has resulted, however, in the sale of bocks at lower figures by cer- tain of these stores, and hence there has arisen a difference between the large store which sells books incidentally with dry-goods, furniture, boots and shoes, jewelry, groceries and hardware, and the smaller store which sells books incidentally with stationery, flags, brass ware, souvenir spoons, magazines, pictures, fiames, artists' supplies, new.-'papers and athletic goods. In other words. It Is a controversy between the large firm and the small firm. The retail bookseller has made every en- deavor to force the manufacturer of books to prevent the sale of books at any lower price than will yield a profit to the small dealer. In other words, he has attempted to prevent a person who has bought a book from the manufacturer from selling It at whatever price he sees fit. The manufacturer must of course, have a market. He believes that In the smaller towns, the sale of his books depends large- ly on the success of the local bookseller in pushing them, and therefore, purely as a business policy, he has endeavored to lis- ten to the demands of the local representa- tive for a control of prices, and especially the prevention of price-cutting. True, some publishers claim that they support the local bookseller in his position on account of the educational work done by the bookseller in uplifting the literaiy taste of the commun- ity. I do not personally believe that the average bookseller has at present much in- fluence in this direction; at any rate, he has slight influence in the aggregate as compared with the public library and the public schools. I do not believe that under present conditions there are ten per cent of the books sold in the smaller cities and towns that are circulated by the public li- braries. Certainly, of the non-fiction books, the public library has become to be the chief exponent. It is probably with this fact in mind that these books have been sold to public libraries at a lower price than to the public, as well as that the li- brary buys largely and is good, if slow pay. I was perhaps wrong In stating that books are like any other commodity. There is one essential difference. The manu- facturer and retailer of sugar, steel rails, clothing, must adjust his prices as to meet competition, for anyone can make sugar, steel rails or clothing. But the manu- facturei- of books is in a different position, as he may purchase the sole and exclusive right to manufacture the book, the raw material for which exists only in the brain of one person. The copyrighted book corresponds exactly to the manufactured article based on patents. There are books, of course, which anyone can manufacture, such as atlases, cyclopedias, anthologies, dictionaries and compiled works, as well as the works of authors whose copyright, if it ever existed, has expired. The public library, as I have stated. Is responsible for the dissemination of knowl- edge as contained in writings not ficti- tious, to a greater extent than the local booksel'prs. Many of these books could never have been published, were it not for the demand created by the public library. To increase this influence as much as possi- ble, the libraries in many instances issue special lists of selected books, and the American Library Association is now Is- suing a general list. The libraries and the publishers are alike Interested in having reliable information about forthcoming books available to the libraries at the earliest pos-sible moment. 18» The publishers, because such information helps to make quick sales and these sales serve to indicate the probable future sale of the book. The libraries, in order that they may keep the public well informed and that Ihey may place before the public the best editions, or the best forthcoming book on the subject; and, from the com- mercial side, that they may select, from the reference works or the sets of stand- ard authors, those editions which are most valuable from a mechanical standpoint, in order that they may remain in good con- dition for circulation, and in a condition sufficiently dignified to circulate to a dis- criminating public. The publishers of books should realize more strongly the immediate influence of the public library. I can speak from direct knowledge when I say that the library un- der my charge is a potent influence in not only directing the literary tastes of my city, but is the direct cause of the pur- chase of books by private buyers. On the other hand, the advice given by the libra- rian has in some cases prevented the sale of fake subscription editions, poor atlases and cyclopedias and books of trifling value or decidedly low moral tone. I approach the subject of the mechani- cal side of the book with diflSdence. The publishers, I am convinced are willing and anxious to furnish special library editions of books, on good paper, in a special bind- ing, were they convinced that It could be done at a profit or even if they were in- sured against loss. Their attempts in this direction have been disheartening, as only a small proportion of small editions have been sold. It costs more, not only in money, but in time, to get out such an edition. This leads me once again to indicate the necessity of better publicity for new books. The advertisements sent out by the pub- lishers are too numerous, have too much on them, lack essential information aud lack uniformity. They do not serve their purpose, which is to sell the book, and they fail because they fail to attract the attention of the librarian. The cooperative list issued by the Ameri- can Library Association fails likewise to serve the purpose. It is much more prac- tical than the publisher's advertising mat- ter, because it gives accurate information. Its weakness is rather in the delay in noticing new books, and in the small num- ber of books included, as well as the tr'f- ling character of many of the books se- lected. The delay is, I sppose, due to the isolation of the editor from the publisher's offices; the small number, to the expense of publication and the time necessary for compilation; the trifling character of the entries, to an attempt to cater to the small libraries, who buy only a small num- ber of books. The A. L. A. Booklist de- serves much commendation, but one must realize its shortcomings. The trade lists of books are on the whole more satisfactory, in that they are more prompt in noticing books, but they express no opinion. But what is wanted is promptness, completeness, and fairness In expressing an opinion, not only of the literary value, but of the mechanical work- manship. When I am buying a jackknife, I not only want a well-shaped blade, a comfortable handle, and so on, but I want good steel and good honest workmanship. In the case of the Jackknife, the maker's name is the guarantee of mechanical ex- cellence. I regret to say that this is not true of the printed book. There has been much criticism on the part of librarians as to the prices they are forced to pay for books. They claim that in many instances they are too high. The booksellers, on the other hand, claim that there is no money in selling new books, even to the public and that the added discount to libraries makes sales to them not only profitless, but a distinct financial loss. UTiy should the publisher not sell direct to the library if this is the case? Who would be harmed by such action? If a book sold by the publisher to the dealer at 81 cents, and by him sold to the library for $1 nets the dealer only a loss, why should the publisher not sell direct to the librarian at 90 cents, or fur- 186 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE nlsh a special binding at $1? The dealer, on his own etatement, would lose nothing, the publisher would gain something and the library would get a better book for the same price. It it is not true that the bookseller sells to libraries at a loss, he Is misrepresenting the facts to us. If he Is selling at a loss, he is foolish. The bookseller had only a trifling influ- ence in bringing about the purchase ot books by libraries, or in assisting in a wise selection. Few librarians, frequent bookstores and fewer booksellers suggest valuable new books to libraries. The pub- lisher, therefore, in dealing with the li- brary direct, loses very little in the ad- vertising value of the local bookseller, as far as library sales are concerned. The aim of this paper is to advocate a closer relation between the manufacturer of books and the library consumer, a re- lation that should have, not merely a com- mercial side, but should be of mutual benefit in other ways. The system of pur- chase through the medium of a bookseller has been the stumbling block that has been in the way ot these relations in the past. Unttil it is removed, there can be no progress. Now, what does the publisher want? (1) A fair profit. (2) Accurate informa- tion as to the character of books demand- ed by libraries and their mechanical make- up. (3) Exact or approximate information as to the number to prepare for libraries. (4) A quick and sure way to call the at- tention of librarians to the books. What does the library want? (1) A fair price. (2) Books of a literary character and mechanical makeup suited to library needs. (3) Early and reliable informa- tion as to forthcoming books. In only one of these is there any diver- gence in the needs. The publisher wants to know the library demand. But this would not be so necessary except in the case of special editions, and special bind- ings, although in works of a serious char- acter it would be of some value. At pres- ent, through the retail bookseller, he neither has any method of knowing in ad- vance except in a very general way, the sale to expect, nor can he tell how many copies are sold to libraries. The special library editions have not, as far as I know, been pushed by a single booksi^ller. It would be much more impossible to estimate in advance the sale of any edi- tion if some person was hired to do it Without criticising the efforts of the com- mittees on Bookbuying and Bookbinding of the American Library Association it is manifestly impossible for them to devote sufficient time to do any such work. But the investigations of a salaried man would soon result in a standardization of library wants. I confidently believe, and I speak from a somewhat extended experience, that In the long run, volunteer cooperative work accomplishes little. Such work at the be- ginning is done with great enthusiasm, at a pecuniary sacrifice to the colaborators, and the immediate result is good. But after the first flush of enthusiasm has passed, the work deteriorates and it must, if continued, be paid for, and sufficiently well to ensure good results. The libraries of the United States, ac- cording to the best obtainable informa- tion, spend over two million dollars a year for books and periodicals. It is probable that at least one third of this amount Is spent for new books, and current periodi- cal subscriptions. A saving of ten percent on the purchase of new books would net the libraries of this country $100,000 a year on new books alone, and $250,000 or $300,000 on total purchases. Probably only a small percent of the librarians present have absolute decision as to selection and purchase of books for their lib'-aries; at least, their suggestions must be submitted to a book committee; this Is the theory. But practically, any librarian of any personal force has practi- cally the decision as to purchase, and any sensible hoard of tnistees would support any tiovompnt to make economies in pur- chase. What I have thus far said may seem CUTTER 187 theoretlcpJ. Now let us look at the condi- tions which confront us. Now, my propositions, in answer to such action, are two in number and alternative In character. I claim no originality in either of them, as they have both been suggested by the committee of the Library association (of Great Britain and Ireland). Whitcomb House Pall Mall East, S. W. 9 June 1908. W. P. Cutter, Esq., Forbes Library, Northampton, Mass., U. S. A. Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of May 25, 1908, I had better give you a very brief resume of the action taken on this side in regard to net books. On 27 February, 1907, a Conference was held at 20 Hanover Square, W., convened by the Library Association, and attended by 150 delegates of libraries and library authorities from all parts of the Kingdom. The following resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority: 1 That this Conference, representing various public and other non-commercial libraries of the country is of opinion that the present system of net book supply presses most unfairly upon these institu- tions, which exist for the public benefit, and urges upon the Publishers' Associa- tion the desirability of allowing special terms to be conceded to this class of buy- ers, the justice of the demand having been already recognized by the Publishers of the United States of America. 2 That a Committee of this Conference be appointed to bring the foregoing reso- lution before the Publishers' Association. 3 That in the event of the reply of the Publishers' Association being unsatisfac- tory the Committee is instructed to pre- pare and submit some scheme of coopera- tion among public libraries. The Committee referred to in above clause (2) of the foregoing resolution was duly appointed, and this Committee was successful in arranging a conference be- tween four of its members and a small Committee of the Publishers' Association. This conference took place on May 9, 1907, when the representatives of the pub- lishers, after giving a courteous hearing to the arguments put forward on behalf of the libraries, undertook to report to their Association and communicate their views to the Associated Booksellers, and on hear- ing from them, to reply to the Honorary Secretary of the Library Association. A letter from the President of the Pub- lishers' Association was received, dated 2Cth June 1907, stating that the matter had been by them referred to the Asso- ciated Booksellers with the suggestion that "a small discount should be allowed on Net Books on the understanding that the discount on subject books should also be limited;" and that this proposal having been discussed by the Associated Booksel- lers at their General Meetings on 1st June 1907, it had been unanimously decided "it was most undesirable to make any excep- tion to the Net Book rule." The letter from the President concluded: "While I hope that our discussion has relieved us of the suspicion of any prejudice against Pub- lic Libraries, I can only express regret that it has not enabled us to meet the wishes of your Association." The irreconcilable attitude taken up by the Booksellers having thus rendered it impossible tor Public Libraries to obtain through the Publishers any relief from the steadily increasing burden imposed upon them as buyers of books by the net book system, it remained for the Net Books Committee to give effect to the third por- tion of the above Resolution, viz. to pre- pare and submit some scheme of cooper- ation among Public Libraries. The fact that a scheme for cooperation among Public Libraries was being pre- pared was referred to in the discussion on the Net Books Question opened by Mr Councillor Abbott at the Annual Meeting of the Library Association in Glasgow on 19th September 1907, and it was there unanimously decided that the matter be still entrusted to the hands of the Net Books Committee. The fact that joint action by Public Libraries was under consideration having thus become publicly known, the Net Books Committee were in November 1907, approached on behalf of the Associated Booksellers with the suggestion that a Conference between the Committee and the Associated Booksellers should be held in January 1908, with a view, if possible, oE finding some common ground of agree- ment. This suggestion was cordially agreed to by the Net Books Committee who, in view of the proposed Conference, deferred further action in regard to this scheme pending the proposed Meeting. The Conference was held on 17th Jan- uary 1908 and was officially attended on behalf of the Associated Booksellers by the President and five Members of the Council, and on behalf of the Libraries by five Members of the Net Books Commit- tee. As the result of a lengthy discus- sion an offer was made on behalf of the 188 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Libraries to accept an arrangement that the terms tor the supjily of books to the Public Libraries of the country should be on "net" books a discount of 10 per cent and on "subject" books a discount of 33 1-3, the definition of a Public Library to be a Library open to the Public free of charge and vouched for by the Library Association as coming within this defi- nition. The Committee of the Associated Book- sellers undertook on their side to ap- proach the Publishers with the view of ascertaining whether they would allow to Booksellers an extra discount on books supplied to Public Libraries and then to submit the whole question again to their Association. The outcome of this Con- ference was a letter dated Gth March 1908 from the President of the Booksellers stating that "it is the unanimous opinion that no discount should be allowed off net books." The negotiations briefly outlined above make two points, in the opinion of the Net Books Committee, abundantly clear, viz.: 1 That although many booksellers sup- plying Public Libraries would be willing to grant to them a discount upon net books the Associated Booksellers as a body is at present irreconcilably opposed to grant- ing any relief to Public Libraries from the increasingly onerous burden Imposed by the Net Book Agreement. 2 That while the Publishers' Associa- tion is not averse to some modification of the Net Book Agreement in the direction of a discrimination in favor of Public Libraries, as matters at present stand, no alteration of this agreement can be hoped for without the concurrence of the Associ- ated Booksellers. The Committee will meet to consider a draft scheme which has been prepared for supplying public libraries from a central bureau next week. This scheme, if ap- proved, will then be sent round to the various public library authorities, and on the response to it will depend any further action taken. I am sure that any proposals from your Committee in the direction of cooperation will be welcomed by the Committee on this side. The Booksellers are relying upon the fact that the publishers will only supply any such bureau under the terms of the net book scheme, such bureau thus being unable to grant terms to libraries more favorable than those of any Bookseller. We have however, we believe, met this difficulty as well as the difficulty of public authorities taking shares in any company. At present of course the details of the scheme are confidential, but as soon as we have decided upon the lines of future action I will write you full particulars in order that you and your Committee may know exactly what we are doing. With kind regards, I am. Very sincerely yours, L. STANLEY JAST, Hon. Secretary, Net Books Committee. 1 The libraries may decide individually not to buy any books which are published with a control of the publisher of the sell- ing price, whether this control is called "fixed price," "net price," "restricted price" or by any other name. The following letter is from the libra- rian of a public library in this country: May 5th, 1908. Dear Mr Steiner: I have read with Interest Bulletins 34 and 35 of the A. L. A. Bookbuying com- mittee. There is no doubt in my mind but that, without considering fiction and some lines of technical works, the greater por- tion of new books published, or seemingly published, in this country are bought by libraries. Being, as it were, wholesale buyers the net system with its 10 per cent discount is notoriously unfair to them. Besides there was an obvious breach of good faith on the part of the publishers. When they started the net system they promised to reduce the basis price. Have they done it? No, and never will as long as we allow them to squeeze us. The first two volumes of H. M. & Co.'s "History as told," etc., cost me $1.50 each — the last two on the net plan $1.S0 each. On even my small purchases I can count up a loss of 1100 a year. I acknowledge that, up to this time, I have been in the habit of buying new books as soon as issued and "taking my medicine," but I am perfectly willing to join in a combination of all the libraries of the country to refrain from buying these books until the "protection" is removed. Sporadic cases of refusal to buy would have no effect — but a combined agreement of all the libraries in the coun- try not (o buy on the 10 per cent plan might give the publishers an idea of who are their purchasers in reality. What think you? Yours faithfully, I say Individually, for any general agree- ment not to buy such books might fall within the restrictions of the Sherman CUTTER 189 anti-trust law. The objections to this are manifest: a It would separate our public from the American author. b Few librarians might have the cour- age, and many librarians could not con- vince their trustees of the wisdom of such action. c The result would be to subject us all to criticism from book-dealers, from book- publishers, from authors, and from the public whom we serve. 2 The libraries in this Association might organize a cooperative buying plan, with an agent, open an office, and place all orders for new books with this agent. I strongly and heartily recommend this plan for your consideration. Let us see what such an agency could accomplish. It could aiTange for the advance report- ing to the associated libraries of such books as are suitable for library purposes, giving a literary characterization o£ the book, a description of its mechanical fea- tures, and ascertain, if librarians would properly respond, the probable number de- sired by libraries. It could quote prices for special binding, and arrange for special editions. It could, in cooperation with a similar agency in London, call attention to English editions of books by English authors, and import such editions where better or cheaper. It could suggest special books needed by libraries, and reprints which libraries would buy. It could recom- mend editions of standard authors which were most suitable for library purposes, and procure them in such number as would ensure lo\( prices. It could keep in touch with books which had been used by the commercial circulating libraries like the Book lover's library, Mudle's, and the Times book club, and keep track of the remainder, rebind and reprint market. It could save libraries a large part of the work of their order clerks. It could keep In close touch with the trade in second- hand books and the auction sales, and ser^e in a measure as a clearing house for overstocks. There Is no reason why it should not act as a special agent for bind- ing library books and periodicals. It could import books, new and second-hand, from foreign countries. I can already hear the usual objection to this seemingly Utopian scheme. 1 It can't be done. It is impossible. How about cooperative printed cards? Is that scheme a success? 2 There is no money to pay for this work. I think that, once started, any sane business man would be wild to get the chance to do this work on a commission basis. Let the libraries once agree to pool their issues in purchasing, and agree to do so for three years, and I will agree to find someone to take the financial responsi- bility, providing the libraries will give the loyal support which should be given to any scheme to save money. Let 100 libraries agree, and it would be feasible. Let 50 agree and it would be possible. Let Die take a few examples of what could be done: A book now costing J6.75 in this country was imported for $1.69; one costing $4.50 was bought second-hand for $1.20. Volumes of periodicals for which the subscription price was $3.00 per annum were bought In morocco binding, two vol- umes for $2.00. A set of an encyclopedia which was pub- lished two years ago can be bought for half price. Children's books, new, which some of you pay $1.00 for, can be bought for 40c. One publisher estimates the extra cost of library binding on edition work, done as per the specifications of the Committee on Bookbinding as two cents per volume. No onn estimates it at a greater cost than 15 cents, and one firm has published several books in this binding at 10 cents extra cost. I am willing to stake my personal repu- tation on the feasibility of a central pur- chasing agency, if libraries will pay the agent one half the amount saved from present prices, and I know of several men who would bo only too glad to take up the matter as a business venture. But this should be done by this Associa- 190 MINNRTONKA CONFERENCE tion. It should have an agency in New- York City, where the publishing and book trade interests are centered. It should pay the expense, to save for the constituent members the enormous amount which can be saved. As the recognized purveyor of literature to seventy millions of people, it should no longer conduct its most im- portant business in the most slipshod, ex- pensive and careless manner, but take up Ihe purchase of the additions to libraries in as business like a manner as possible, and cease wasting money in unnecessai'ily extravagant methods. Mr Cutter's motion to adopt the report was duly seconded and carried. The PRESIDENT here assumed the chair and an address on the Future of the library business was given by Mr J. L. GILLIS of the State Library, Sacramento, California. (As Mr Gillis spoke without notes and the stenographer failed to report his re- marks they cannot be reproduced for pub- lication) There was next read by title a paper by Dr CHARLES McCAUTHY. THE CITY LIBRARY AS A BUSINESS INVESTMENT llayor Brand Whitlock. in a recent number of the "Saturday evening post," .lune 6, 1908, quotes De Tocqueville as fol- lows: "Local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Municipal institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; thoy bring it within the people's reach: they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal insti- tutions it cannot have the spirit of lib- erty." If this is true, and we shall grant it at once if we are true believers in American institutions, then I propose to show, in a manner no one can refute, that the city library should be the most important insti- tution in the city. Let us first consider the question of the city library as a municipal institution, dealing not merely with the affairs of men. but more in its relations with the wel- fare of the community and the public good. The problem of the city and its needs, is greater and more difficult as years go by. Let me quote Brand Whitlock ("Sat- urday evening post." June 6, 1908) again; he says: "The American city is a modern eco- nomic phenomenon, in its rise and growth and development the last wonder of the world. In 1790 but 3.3 per cent of the whole American population dwelt in cities. In 1830 the percentage had grown to 6.7 per cent, in 1860 to 16.1 per cent, and with the industrial impulse that followed the Civil War populations increased so rapidly that to-day 40 per cent of our peo- ple live in the cities. This is the average the country over; in the Eastern states the proportion is larger. The mayor of New York City, for instance, represents more people than Washington did; and states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois are about half urban in population. In the present century it is estimated that New York and Chicago must ultimately shelter populations of nearly fifty millions, with corresponding increases in the smal- ler towns. It is seen, therefore, that the city is ultimately to exceed the state in impor- tance. Indeed, it exceeds it to-day in im- portance. The states have no longer any ethnic or economic or industrial reason for separate being, and such differences as once existed passed away with the Civil War. State lines have become arti- ficial boundaries, like those of counties, and serve little purpose other than to block out administrative jurisdictions. But the city is a reality, not an artifici- ality; it is the result of economic laws, it takes its roots deep in industrial relations. It is an elemental thing — "as elemental," as Charles Ferguson said the other day, "as a beehive or a beaver's dam." Hence, the statesman, the economist, the moralist, must take first into account the city; for America is to rise or fall with the city. The industrial and social problems have been postulated in cities, they must be worked out in cities; on their solution de- pends not only the future of city people, but of great people who dwell without the city. The city is the battle-ground of the future; it is the dense, compact masses in the big towns who are to justify dem- ocracy." Our libraries deal largely to-day with the women and children, but no one suf- fers to-day from poor government like McCarthy 191 the women and children. The present li- brary work for women and children is no doubt a noble work, but the more funda- mental work tor them should not be neg- lected on that account. The welfare of women and children depends upon good business administration in our cities. It the taxes are exceedingly high and the public moneys ill spent, then the women and children must sufter. It unsanitary conditions prevail, it is then they pay terrible toll. I am here to maintain the thesis that a legislative library can be made the best paying investment for the city. It can save more money than any other insti- tution in the city. It can add more effi- ciency to the management of public busi- ness, than any other institution. It can give more health and happiness. How can this be accomplished? We all understand that the library must be the storehouse for the knowledge of the past. But we must go farther than that, if it is to be what it should be and accomplish its greatest work. Not only must the library be a proper storehouse for information, but it should be so gov- erned, so managed, that the experience of every other city should be at our hands before we attempt to spend the public moneys. Consider for a minute how fool- ishly we spend our city moneys. Every one of you know of instances where gar- bage plants, street pavings and a hundred other improvements in the cities have been failures. Why have they been fail- ures? Why should we have a failure in the collection of ashes, or garbage, or dis- posal of sewage? The simple fact is, that we do not learn from the sad ex- perience of other places. Whoever heard of anybody going to London, or Berlin, or any other of the European cities for im- provements, and yet it is apparent to everyone of us that London must have had such problems for a thousand years at least. Other cities in this country have solved these problems. Why can't we have then the data which will show us how these ordinances work? To show the vital importance of an or- dinance, let us analyse a moment what a city ordinance is, what effect it has: For what do we want an ordinance? We want it to make certain regulations which are necessary for the preservation of life and health and happiness and safety. If an ordinance is a good ordi- nance, then life and health and happiness and safety will be preserved. If it is poor, then the reverse will occur and we will have unsanitary conditions and death and misery. We are now having a fight in the city of Madison, Wisconsin, over a milk ordi- nance. For what do we need a good milk ordinance? What does it mean to the community to have a good milk ordinance? What does it mean to the community to have all the information about such ordi- nances before the public, to have such information collected and readily acces- sible and up to date, and in such form that the city council and our citizens can use it? It means simply this, that perhaps hundreds of children iu due course of time will be saved in Madison, and loving homes will echo with bright young voices of hundreds of children who would have succumbed to disease. It means less mis- ery and less disease. It is very easy to make a statement of this kind, but what do the figures prove? It you read a statement read by the health officers of Rochester. New York, you will find that from 1887 to 1896, the total deaths of children from one to five years, was over 2000 greater than from. 1897 to 1906. The result of this was due to a milk ordi- nance and a campaign for pure milk in Rochester. Quoting from the report upon sanitary milk production, circular 114, Bureau of animal industry from 1907, the following figures are interesting; "Impure Milk a Cause of Infantile Mor- tality" The following facts present strong pre- sumptive evidence on the relation of In- pure milk to infantile mortality: 1 About one fourth of all the children 192 MINNETONKA CONFEKENCE born in the District of Columbia and about one-sixtli in ttie country at large perish before the completion of the first year. Of the 12 months during the first year of life the first, second, third, fourth and twelfth months furnish the highest mortality. The deaths during the first four months are largely due to imperfect development and exposure, while the jump from the fourth to the twelfth month is quite suggestive, as It is the usual period of weaning, with its attending dangers from digestive dis- eases incident to artificial feeding. 2 Nearly one half of all the deaths in children under one year of age are caused by gastro-entric diseases, chiefly infantile diarrhoea, and this points with more than mere suspicion to the tact that the mor- bific agent is introduced into the body with the food. Since the enactment of pure-milk law in 1895, the per cent of deaths in children under 1 year of age to the total deaths of all ages, has been re- duced from 26.94 to 18.13 in 1904. 3 The most frightful mortality rates are everywhere furnished by the hand or bottle fed children, indicating the impure cow's milk and improper care and feeding are the chief primary causes. Professor Kehrer informs us that of the 8,329 infants that died in Munich during 1868-1870, or over 85 per cent, had been hand or bottle fed. Of the 4,075 infants that died in 1903 83.3 per cent, were arti- ficially fed. In Berlin, of the 41,383 In- fants that perished during 1900-1904, over 90 per cent had been artificially fed. In Paris, acording to Monat, the rate is from 70 to 75 per cent. In 1903 the health department of the District of Columbia in- vestigated 260 infantile deaths with refer- ence to feeding and ascertained that 8.49 per cent of the children had been artifi- cially fed. In the face of the startling arguments against artificial feeding, mothers should hesitate to subject their offspring to such terrible risks, and the state must take what precautions it can to stop this slaughter of the innocents. The Washing- ton market milk compares very favorably ■with the average German or English milk; but every community has a right to ex- pect milk free from dirt and filth, and hence the need of a law or regulation "that there shall be no visible sediment on standing two hours." It may be urged that all such modern innovations involve unnecessary hardship, but it should be remembered that by at- tacking all the various factors concerned in the causation of the disease we may hope for the best results. The reduction in the general mortality in the registration area of the United States from 19.6 in 1890 to 16.2 per 1,000 shows what may be accomplished by preventive medicine and sanitation." If these figures do not prove that the city library or the reference bureau can be made the best paying investment, the city has, then it is useless to argue. If you were in the business of receiving money for stopping deaths of children, would you not get together all the data upon milk inspections and all milk ordi- nances? Just sit down and take a pencil and reckon up what the milk ordinance was worth to the city of Rochester. Think of what it was worth in dollars and cents, if you please. Think what it was worth in human happiness, which you can't measure in dollars and cents, and just ask yourself if it does not pay to get the great experience from other cities for your own. I venture to say that there are mighty few writers In this country who know much about the recent litera- ture upon the milk supply and there are still fewer libraries where these valuable documents are advertised to the public. I have given one instance. I can give a hundred. The whole investment In the city library is small compared with what you can do with one ordinance upon a great subject. What is It when you con'- sider the hundred subjects which are com- ing into the daily life of the city? I ask you, am I exaggerating it one bit, when I tell you that the city library is neglecting its duty and that it should be the greatest Investment, the greatest business proposi- tion which the city possesses? I am wil- ling to put these facts before any business man and I don't fear the results. Is it not plain common sense to make a special effort to collect comparative data? If we were engaged in any business of any kind, would we not try to hunt up the experience of other places, and the history of previous progress? It we did not, we certainly should not have the civi- lization that we have to-day. As many of the great thinkers have pointed out, we differ from the lower animals in the McCarthy 193 veiT fact that our environment and our previous history can be built upon and can be used to malse our lives better in the future, and civilization is, fortunately for us, cumulative. The truths of this statement can be seen at once. If we should think of all human knowledge now written in books and manuscripts being destroyed at once, how could we build up our system' in jurisprudence? The pain- ful experience of the Chinese Empire at the present time, in the re-organization of its laws, shows the truth of this state- ment. Our civilization, our art and our literature are built upon the foundation of the past, and built upon the experience of the past. But what has the ordinary city library to do with the experience of the past in the government of the cities? You may find a few books — stray ones, upon civic government, but many libraries will have the ordinances of their own cities, and let alone the ordinances of the other cities. How many have ever tried to get this experience from the past, from his- tory, from other cities, in order to make laws and ordinances of their own city better, so that the people may have less expenses, less taxes, more helpfulness, better educational facilities and more of good things that life has in store for us? This may seem a utilitarian theory, and it is. Let me repeat and reiterate. Let us get down to business. Let us have an in- stitution where dearly bought experience can be collected, so that we won't make the awful mistakes that wa have been making, not merely through corruption, but through ignorance and lack of infor- mation. Let us pursue in our library, in our storehouse of knowledge, the similar methods that we would in our ordinary business. Let us make our city library not only a beautiful place — a home for our children, our women, and our young men, but let us make it the best paying proposi- tion that the city has. You convince youi business men of the city, that your library is a business institution, saving time and money. If they understand this, they will go down deep into their pockets and see to it that you will have everything that you want in that library. If you want stained glass windows and beautiful books and ornaments for your library, you will get them and nothing will be said if you show them that you are saving them money so that it is not only then, from a point of business, but also from the point of poli- tical expediency, to your interest, to estab- lish departments of this kind and keep up with the great interests of to-day. It is not only in getting the data, such as I have explained above, that the library Is useful, but a library is much like a banking system in our national credit sys- tem. The amount of money in the system does not depend merely upon the absolute amount, but it depends upon the rapidity of circulation and it depends upon many other elements of that kind. It is the same way with information. If you get hold of a good book on tuberculosis, you have done a worthy thing, but the effici- ency of that book depends upon the num- ber of people who read it and the number of times you get that information out to the great mass of people. In this way you can help out public sentiment and conse- quently you make good government. It takes a long while to get new ideas to people; the quicker you get them to the people, the more efficient you are. Your library should be like a lump of yeast. You should have an organization which would have some way of sending a grow- ing plant through the body politic. The system with which you get your informa- tion out, the rapidity of circulation, the wideness of the field of circulaion, are just as important factors, as is the factor of getting the material in first place. We need some machinery for getting this in- formation more quickly to the people. We need this as a part of this general busi- ness proposition. A business man, if he had a good thing, would certainly adver- tise, and the advertising part cerUlnly should be a great department in the library. Christianity has been called upon to es- 194 MINNE'TONKA CONFERENCE tablish the institutional church, with the gymnasium and swimming pool to gel at the young men. We have had to adver- tise Christianity as the Salvation Army people advertise it with red jackets and bass drums. It is evident that there must be something in human nature which re- quires such advertisment. If you were go- ing to go into business to-morrow to cure tuberculosis, you would not sit down quiet- ly in some back room and say nothing about it. If you were going to make money out of it and make it the best, you would flash it upon everj' wall, so that people could understand it. Now, when we know of the scientific discoveries in the prevention of tuberculosis and we have this scientific information in our library, we should flash it out in some way to the people. If we have information about any of the important things in our civic life, the great improvements in hu- man thought, we ought to flash it out in the same way. It is not a question of ancient sentiment, as to the dignity of library methods, it is one of doing good by whatever means you can do good. It Is a simple business proposition. What I have said here to-day, I can say to any business man and he cannot criti- cize It and the only criticism I am getting upon a proposition of this kind, is from mossbacked individuals who have been kept carefully within the artificial sanc- tions of the past. I am not afraid of business men looking at this proposition any other way than the way I look at it. Our libraries should be a part of our civic life. If your city is advertising its f.acilities in trying to build up great manu- factures, then the library should cooper- ate with the citizens and organize for that purpose. It should be in every act or movement for the betterment of the city, both from the business side and from the city beautiful side. We hear so much about the centraliza- tion in the United States government and we hear so much about the great men who are fighting out the problems of the states, but anybody has to merely stop and think for a minute, to realize that the great problems of good are coming into our cities, and it is there, as Freder- ick Howe has said, "we must fight out the great problems of the future." We are met by a hundred things in the cities, where one thing touches from the national government, or from the state. The national government and the state government take but slowly the things from the foreign countries. We got them into cities first and they are strange to us, and we know nothing of their history or their inception. The statistics which I have quoted from Brand Wbitlock, are significant. As we have become crowded in our cities, we are meeting problems which we never thought of before, and we must meet them largely in the way In which people have met problems of the same kinds in other cities, where crowded conditions have existed. Those cities are in the crowded districts of Europe, and the strange new things which we have in our city life to-day are coming from these cities, and we must make no mistakes in dealing with them. Those mistakes will be costly. They affect vitally the happiness of human beings, and as wo reduce the number of those mistakes, so will we make happiness for human beings. I know of no greater joy than the realization that a man knows that he is doing good in the world and making greater happiness in the world, and I will tell my brother librarians to- night that they will find no greater hap- piness than working in these new city problems, and you can see every day you work, however little you do, what wonder- ful things you can accomplish. I have a dear friend who gave me a thought which I will give to you. He called my attention to what he calls germ thoughts. He showed me how a great scientist will work in his laboratory at some abstract problem. Then he traced how that would work its way out from his laboratory and go from man to man until it had spread into the whole com- munity. We want a new kind of a library. McCarthy 195 We want a "germ spreader, " in this new and good sense. We want teacher libra- rians. We want a man who can get hold of these ideas, who Ivnows how to get hold of them, and who uses them as a carpen- ter does his lumber, to make something out of it — to build something out of it. We need the teacher librarian. The teacher librarian is a librarian of the fu- ture. We need the specialist, especially In the great field of sociology, because it is in this great field that the city activi- ties and great civic improvements are be- ing agitated. What I have given you about coopera- tion and gathering of comparative data, is not any new idea. It is already at work in many cities and has been espe- cially successful in Germany. Quoting from "Annals of American academy," May, 1908, describing the Ger- man Stadtetag: "More important than the meetings ot the Stadtetag is the central bureau opened on April 1, 1906, in Berlin. The director of this bureau is selected by the adminis- trative committee and must be a man educated in law or in political economy and familiar with city laws and city admin- istration. He is furnished with a staff of helpers and secretaries, and under the oversight of the administrative committee carries on the work pertaining to the of- fice. The tasks which this central office has undertaken are many. A preliminary step for all its other activities is the creation and maintenance of a special library deal- ing with city affairs. Designed to be of use in research work, it includes not only books and other publications common to all libraries, but also a variety of material such as schedules, public announcements, copies of important documents and news- paper clippings. Each member of the Stadtetag is pledged to furnish free of charge a copy of all its more important printed matter relating in any way to city government or to city lite. In addition scientific studies and standard works are purchased directly with money set aside out of the income of the Stadtetag. Not counting some 6(io books and written articles presented by the city exposition of Dresden, the library now includes over 1000 general administrative reports and city budgets, more than 8000 local laws, tariffs, and service instructions, hundreds of police regulations and city council de- crees, historical works and statistical ma- terials of all kinds. The material is grouped according to the following arrangements: 1 a Administrative reports. b Current Bills, municipal journals, reports of sittings. c Personal information, directories. etc. 2 Budgets and final accounts. 3 Local laws, instructions and other ad- ministrative papers, important con- tracts, police measures. 4 Statistical material. 5 Historical works. 6 Various publications not to be bought under 1, 4, 5. Within each group the material is ar- ranged alphabetically by cities, so that un- der the name of each city may be found the books or other articles dealing with that special group of the city's activities. All representatives of the cities or of the associations of cities have the right to make use of the library. The director may also grant this privelege to representatives of city boards or to private persons for the purpose of study. No charge is made except in cases where the collection of voluminous ma- terial is demanded. Provision is also made for loaning the material to the par- ties mentioned, but not in so far as it ia needed at the bureau itself. The aim is to make the library the chief center for the scientific study of city affairs. It is open on weekdays from 9 a. m. to 2 p. m., and offers to the investigator the latest, the best, and the most complete material for study in the activities of German cities that can be found anywhere. With this library as a source, the cen- tral bureau offers to furnish information to the members of the Stadtetag, to smal- ler municipalities, to local boards and to private persons. If the desired information requires a considerable amount of work a charge may be made by the director, other- wise the information is furnished without cost. It does not pretend to be able to answer any question that may be asked. In legal questions, especially, it attempts only to refer to similar cases, if there have been such in other cities, or to point out the best material bearing on the subject. It is, however, in a position to furnish in- formation on a host of questions likely to perplex the minds of city legislators. 11 an expression of opinion from other mem- bers of the Stadtetag is desired, the cen- tral bureau sends the question around and prepares the answer according to the re- 196 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE ports received. This demand for informa- tion has two good effects. It may help the seeker over a difficult problem and it makes it possible for the bureau to keep alive to the prevailing situation and to grow in depth and breadth of knowledge. In the first year of the bureau's existence, one hundred and thirty-two requests for information were made, and in forty per cent of these cases charges were made." A word in conclusion — If you start this work, get the right person to run it. The success of this work depends upon the people who do it. As a success, all great work depends upon a personality. It is not the iron, or stone, or glass of beautiful pictures, which malie a civiliza- tion. It is the personality of the people and not the material things. You always can make fine buildings, but it is mighty hard to find a man. I urge upon you, if you start work of this sort, to get the right men. Get men with economic training and men who are willing to de- vote a lifetime to this special work. Other- wise, don't get anybody! Don't allow the thing to exist! Don't let a politician get a hold of it! Get the right men and the right women, oi' dnn't get anybody. This Is a work which recjuires special training, not only in the librai-y school, but es- pecially in the economics and the general field of sociology and law. It is highly specialized work, and cannot be done with- out special training. We are very fortunate in Wisconsin In having numbers of young men in our Uni- versity, who are taking up the classes which are connected with this work, who are now going out to all departments of all sorts in the country. The PRESIDENT: In accordance with the announcement made on Monday last, an opportunity will now be given for the introduction of any miscellaneous business that it may be thought proper to bring be- fore the Association. Mr HILL: If this is the proper place in the program I would ask if the Associa- tion is to receive any report from the Executive board or the Council pertaining to the headquarters matter? The PRESIDENT: There is nothing more than has already been read in the report of the Council the other day; namely, that the headquarters question has been referred to the incoming Executive board with power. Mr HILL: Without taking unnecessary time I de.sire to make a motion which I hope will be seconded and unanimously adopted. It is to this effect: That it la the sense of the American Library Associa- tion that headquarters should preferably be placed in a library building as soon aa possible and shall not be located in con- nection with a commercial house having library interests. I make this motion. Dr STEINER: Mr President, I secona that motion. Mr ANDREWS: I would call attention to Section 17 of the Constitution which says that no resolutions can be passed by the Association but only by the Council, and, in connection with that, to Section 6, that a three quarters vote is necessary to take up any such matter. I know I am speaking out of time, and I will wait un- til the motion to take the matter up Is made, or I will speak now, as it pleasea the president, in opposition to the motion. The PRESIDENT: The Chair will rule that, as the Constitution particularly gives the Association power to pass by a three quarters vote a resolution directing the Council or the Executive board to do cer- tain things, this motion is in order. The discussion should be very brief. Mr ANDREWS: I appeal from the de- cision of the Chair. The PRESIDENT: You hear the appeal from the decision of the Chair. Mr HILL: Does that require a majority cr a three quarters vote, that appeal from the Chair? The PRESIDENT; The Chair under- stands that the appeal can be sustained by a majority vote. Is the appeal sec- onded ? The SECRETARY: I second the appeal from the Chair. The PRESIDENT: All those in faver of sustaining the Chair in this decision MacDONALD 197 will signify it by saying aye; all opposed, no. The ayes have it and the Chair is sustained. We will now listen to those who wish to speak tor a few minutes on this motion. Mr HILL: Mr President, so far as the mover is concerned, his thoughts are brought out in this short resolution and it is only with the idea of placing the As- sociation upon record as not being willing to lend its influence or its name to any commercial enterprise, and I hope that we shall bo big enough and broad enough to pass such a motion, leaving to the Execu- tive board, as formerly, the final decision. The PRESIDENT: Is there any further discussion? Mr ANDREWS: Mr President. I op- posed the motion for this reason: I have been on the Executive board for three years now; I have known some of the difficulties in the way of preparing the work which the Association wants done; I have known the difficulties of making our meager budget correspond with our wishes and our hopes; and I do not feel it right to tie up the incoming Executive board with an expression which, however agree- able to our feelings and however in con- sonance with our sentiments, will be in- terpreted by them as an instruction to re- fuse arrangements which might not to the majority of the Association, knowing all the circumstances, be disagreeable to them. It is not possible for this assem- blage to know the conditions; they will be brought fully to the Executive board, and to prejudge the question in this fashion seems to me unwise. It is for that reason that I oppose the motion and hope that at least the quarter necessary to prevent action will vote with me. A rising vote was taken in which 81 voted in favor of the motion and 41 against jt. The Chair then announced that the three quarters necessary for mandatory in- struction had not been secured. Mr HILL: Mr President, if it is in or- der I would move that the resolution be referred to the Council for consideration. The PRESIDENT: That is in order. Mr BOWERMAN: I second the motion, Mr President. The PRESIDENT: Moved and seconded that the resolution as offered be referred to the Council for consideration. Carried. The PRESIDENT: Is there any further miscellaneous business to com* before the Association? The Chair understands that Miss MacDonald asks opportunity to say a word in relation to the discussion on the report of the Bookbuying committee, and we will be glad to hear from Miss MacDonald. Miss MacDONALD: I ask for a few words about the Booklist, not because I want to disclaim Mr Cutter's assertion that it has shortcomings. Probably there is no one who knows so much about its shortcomings as I. But I do wish to say a word because of the board which I rep- resent in a way. THE A. L. A. BOOKLIST Miss MCDONALD: I wish to say that both matters of which Mr Cutter speaks are matters of policy carefully thought out by the American Library Association Publishing board. In the first place Mr Cutter spoke of the number of books in- cluded in the Booklist. It is probable that he does not recall the early history of the Booklist. When started it was intended for only the smallest of libraries and there was a great contention among librarians of small libraries that the number of books included should be small. The con- tentions came largely through the com- missions. The commissions held that if the Booklist was too large that it was a tool not to be used by the smallest libra- ries. Probably some others of you may recall that the Booklist really grew out ot the Wisconsin list published originally for the small libraries of that state and sub- sequently asked for by one state after another until there were ten or twelve states using it — not altogether because the list was so admirable in all respects, but because it was the only small selected list in existence. More than a year ago the Publishing board took action that the 198 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Booklist should include a larger number of entries, and any of you who have used It to any extent will have noticed that the number of entries has been greatly Increased. Recently recommendation was made of still greater extension because librarians of the larger libraries, though equipped and trained for book selection, are too busy to devote the required amount of time to it, and demand has been made that the Booklist consider their needs. Since last October about 1000 titles have been listed; during the first year something over 400. Now in the matter of lateness of entry, Mr Cutter attributed the cause to the isolation of the editor. This is not the reason, by any manner of means. In the first place, the Board has given careful consideration to this matter and has come to definite conclusions. At the present moment part of the Board stands for even later entry than we have. Mr I.a.ne who has served on the Board so faithfully and so long, has always stood upon the con- servative side. The lateness of entry may be attributed to two reasons. The first reason is the delay necessitated by co- operation, the thing that Mr Cutter advo- cates. You have to have some time to cooperate. You cannot do it in a moment. We receive the books promptly from all of the publishers in this country. Often- times the books reach us two or three weeks before they are announced or be- fore they are published. A tentative list, made up of titles from the "Publishers' Weekly" and publishers' announcements, clipped and mounted, together with titles of books received but not yet announced, is sent out monthly to about 70 librarians in this country and the cry continually comes from the cooperating librarians "We haven't seen these books yet". 1 take the opportunity frequently, in con- sequence, of sending out a second list of some of the books. Now a second and perhaps more important reason for de- laying the entry of some of the more im- portant non-fiction and children's books is the conviction that the small libraries have no need of buying these books im- mediately, and that it is of highest im- portance that the books be adequately examined by as large a number of people as possible. For this reason we have waited in order to have this rather com- plete and thorough examination and more or less complete cooperation from libra- rians. It may be of interest in this con- nection to state just how the selection for the Booklist is made, as there are so few who really know what it is based upon. As soon as notice comes to our attention of new titles, either by means of the publishers' announcements or the "Pub- lishers' weekly", notification is sent to the publisher if the books have not already been received. When the books are re- ceived from the publishers, they are sent to the various departments of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin. In due time the books are returned, usually very prompt- ly, with notes, some brief, some full, but almost invariably illuminating and satis- factory. When the notes are not suffi- ciently explicit, inquiry is made concern- ing specific points either by letter or by means of personal interview. I consider — and I know that I am voicing the senti- ment of the Board — that it is far more important to base my decision concerning entry on the written notes and opinions of such men as Dr Richard T. Ely, Pro- fessors John Commons, T. S. Adams, E. A. Ross, on books treating of the many branches and phases of sociology and economics, together with eight or ten re- ports from librarians, than to supply an entry two weeks after the book is out on the strength of individual opinion. Whoever the individual may be, we have but one man's opinion in the one case; in the other we have the opinions of eight, ten, fifteen (as the case may be) com- petent readers among whom are experts. We have not had, I regret to say, the same kind of examination throughout all classes, but we have relied on the very best help that we could get and we have slowly and constantly increased the num- ber of expert examiners, and widened the 199 range of literature examined. It has taken us some months to organize the work with the several departments of the University of Wisconsin so that we should get prompt notes upon the books, but as I have said before, we have felt it was more important to secure thorough rather than early reports. I want to speak of one thing about the policy of the Board in regard to the selec- tion of books and early entry of titles. We have felt that it was exceedingly im- portant that very prompt notice should be given to fiction (and I think we can lay claim to succeeding in the main) that the small libraries depending upon the Booklist for choice of fiction should have help immediately, because the demand for the new fiction is so great. With the children's books we have felt that there was no great haste in buying and we have relied absolutely upon the reports which we have received from the children's li- brarians of the country, about 45 of whom are cooperating. Rarely has a book ap- peared upon the list which has not re- ceived unanimous approval of the chil- dren's librarians reporting upon it. (I do not mean to imply that all cooperating librarians report upon every book) The books which are termed non-fiction, as I have already stated at some length, we have reserved until we received a suffi- cient number of reliable reports before giving the book notice. I simply wanted to give you the correct reasons for the shortcomings called to your attention rather than the speculative reasons — especially for the lateness of inclusion. The PRESIDENT: Miss MARY W. PLUMMER will now present the REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY TRAINING The composition of the committee changed this year as per the requirements of its formation, Mrs Theresa W. Elmen- dorf and Miss Caroline M. Underbill tak- ing the places of Mr J. C. Dana and Miss Eleanor Roper. One meeting of the Committee was held at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, on February 11th, at which were present the Chairman, Mrs Elmeudorf, Miss Underhill, Miss Lord, Mr Legler, Mr Kimball and Mr Root. Miss Rose of Davenport, Iowa, was the only member absent. The Committee met chiefly to discuss the advisability of pub- lishing a list of library schools and other sources of training. Considerable pres- sure had been brought to bear upon the Committee to prepare and print such a list, at the time when the A. L. A. tract on Training was being considered. The Committee did not then feel it advisable to do so, and in the last paragraph of the tract simply referred inquirers about schools to their nearest Library Commis- sion, feeling that the Commissions should know the character and standing of the various schools and be supplied with school literature. The wish for a list, however, still found expression and was voiced by Mr Legler, of the Committee. After considerable discussion, in which a decided dilierence of opinion developed as to the advisability of a published list and various difficulties were cited by those who had had the matter under careful delib- eration, the Committee concluded that It could not take the responsibility of recom- mending such a list. The following mo- tion, however, was carried: "Inasmuch as many requests have been received that a list of accredited schools be added to the tract on Library training. Resolved that the Council be asked to consider whether such a list is desirable, and if it be thought important, that the Council be asked to appropriate $500, that the Com- mittee may make such investigation as is essential in order that the Committee may feel warranted in making a recommenda- tion." This placed the decision upon the Coun- cil, as a representative body, and provided for an Investigation (not necessarily critical) of all so-called schools, the only 200 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE really fair proceeding, it seemed to the Committee. The resolution was forwarded to the Secretary of the American Library Association, with the request that it be laid before the Council. As can easily be understood, such an investigation could not properly be conducted or such a list published with any member of a li- brary school faculty acting as chairman of the Committee, the position of chair- man for such an officer being a sufficiently delicate one, as it is. Some minor mat- ters were presented and dealt with, and the Committee adjourned. The year has been one of changes in the library school world, and the end is apparently not yet. The New York state library school, for the past two years under the Directorship of Edwin H. Anderson, has passed, by his resignation, to the control of the former vice-director, James I. Wyer. No new vice-director has been appointed; at the present writing (June 2, 1908) Mr Wyer reports no changes of any impor- tance in the culmination of the school. No changes are reported in the faculty, nor in the management and faculty of the Pratt Institute and I3rexel Institute li- brary schools. The President of the University of Illi- nois appointed Mr Albert S. Wilson Direc- tor of the state library school, and Mr Francis K. W. Drury L'iiiversity librarian, to succeed Miss Katharine L. Sharp. The Committee understands, that the Univer- sity is seeking to combine again the posi- tions of librarian and director of the school and that Mr Wilson is to be re- tained as assistant director. Plans are being made to include library work with children in the curriculum. No serious changes are reported by the School for the training of children's libra- rians, of the Carnegie library, Pittsburg. Miss Anne Wallace's resignation, as Di- rector of the Library training school of the Carnegie library of Atlanta, led to the appointment of Miss Julia T. Rankin as her successor and to the promotion of Mrs Delia F. Sneed to the position of head instructor. The only changes here next year will be in the reapportionment of the teaching. Simmons college reports that beginning with the coming year, the first year of the four years combination of college and li- brary school course, will be purely aca- demic, in order to give students greater maturity before taking technical instruc- tion. Western Reserve sends no reply as to changes, which probably means that none are contemplated. Wisconsin reports that a joint course is to be offered next year, by the University and the Library school. Four years sat- isfactory work in this course, including some summer school work, will entitle the graduate to the degiee of B. A. and the certificate of the Library school. The tirst two years will be academic, courses being elected in the University that will aid in preparation for the Library school examinations. In the third and fourth years, courses will be given in the Library school equiva- lent to 10 unit hours of University work. The university requires a thesis and the ac- companying bibliography will be accepted by the Library school as its thesis. The two months of field practice work are to be done either after the junior or senior year. The Indiana library school at Indianap- olis will continue the Instructions which for three years has been conducted by the Winona technical institute and will open on October 1, 1908 in quarters convenient to the City and State libraries of Indian- apolis. The management of the school Is vested in the following Executive committee: Chairman Meredith Nicholson; Thomas C. Howe, pres. Butler college; Jacob P. Dunn, pres. Public library commission; Demarchus 0. Brown, state librarian; H. J. Milligan; Julia Harrison Moore; Merica Hoagland, secretary and director. This committee has drawn up articles of incorporation and has arranged for fi- nancing the school for 1908-9 expecting to 201 secure an endowment for state aid to carry forward its work in the future. Syracuse university reports tiiat at tlie June 1906 meeting of the Board of trustees, the Department of library economy was made a library school appended to the Liberal arts college with a separate tech- nical faculty and with the privilege of recommending degrees. A four years' combined academic and technical course leading to the degree of Bachelor of library economy and a two years' course for graduates of approved colleges, leading to the degree of Bachelor of library science were authorized. The two years' certificate course described in the April 190S University Bulletin will be continued for the present. We recom- mend to all future students as far as pos- sible to take the degree courses. The admission to the four years' course will be the same as for the regular philo- sophical or classical courses. In both certificate and degree courses all departments of library work are studied and actual practice given; but the stu- dents in the degree courses bringing more matured and disciplined minds will be as- signed more advanced problems. Summer library schools will be held this summer, as usual, at Albany, at Chautauqua, at Asbury Park, Minneapolis, Iowa City, Berkeley, Simmons college, of Boston, and Montreal, under the usual directorships. The Indiana summer library school has been removed to Earlham college, Rich- mond, Indiana, under the direction of Chal- mers Hadley, B. L. of the College, and secretary of the Public library commis- sion, and will be held for six weeks, from June 15 to July 24. Michigan reports a second experiment in instruction in library metbods for teachers, in the shape of summer courses at the Normal schools of Mt Pleasant, Marquette, and Kalamazoo. The Intercontinental university of Wash- ington, D. C. whose library science in 20 lessons was reported on last year, contin- ues the course this year. The Washington Irving high school in New York City has lost the first instructor engaged to undertake the course in library economy. It is the opinion of several li- brarians who know the circumstances that the experiment under the present condi- tions has been a mistake. The Newark (N.J.) public library adver- tises a course in training for six students, to be selected by examination, to spend 44 hours per week at work in the library, including one hour of instruction and one hour of study per day, for ten months. There is no tuition, and the library sup- plies all text-books and materials needed, and gives the successful students prefer- ence in its appointments. Judging from the conditions, it is a period of apprentice- ship somewhat similar in its arrangement to that of the Springfield City library. A course in library economy was ottered last year at the Bryson library. Teachers college, of two sessions of one hour each per week for 30 weeks, or (JO periods in all, a fee of ?20 being required. 20 hours are given to cataloging, 11 to reference work, and the remaining hours are dis- tributed in ones, two and threes among other technical subjects. The Extension department of Columbia university issues a certicate on the recommendation of Miss Baldwin. 11 students registered for the course last year. Miss Baldwin reports none of them located, as far as she knows, although two who entered did so with definite prospects, three were assistants in the New York public library, who took this method of preparing for examinations for promotion, and two others were teach- ers who wished the information to use in their own work. The course, according to Miss Baldwin, has the defect of not pro- viding for practical work in anything but cataloging and classification. A course in library science is planned by Rockford college, Rockford, HI. to be- gin in September, 1908 under the charge of Miss Delia F. Northey a former stu- dent of the Illinois state library school. The Committee is glad at any time to receive information, if well authenticated, of any new sources of training or of any 202 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE changes in schools, classes, etc., and wishes herewith to express its apprecia- tion of the efforts that have already been made by many interested in the subject to keep informed of new develop- ments. That so many sporadic attempts to give training in librarianship should be made, Is owing to two or three causes, in the opinion of the chairman. One of these is the fact that the established schools with tried and tested faculties and courses, can- not send out a sufficient number of grad- uates each year to supply the demand, which, in most parts of the country, is in- creasing. More good schools are needed. A second is, that these graduates, first carefully selected and then carefully trained, are justified in asking better sal- aries than many library boards can or will pay, and as a rule they can get these salaries in one library or another. The result is that the libraries unable or un- willing to pay, must find some substitute for the thoroughly trained assistant, one who will, for one reason or another, take a lower salary. The reason is usually tbat of preference for (or of restriction to) the locality in which the library is situated. Home talent can be secured more cheaply, always, and a library is entirely within its rights to train or have trained for its minor positions at least the local candi- date whose appointment means economy and probably stability of service, for the assistant coming from abroad, is much more likely to be tempted elsewhere after a few years of service. It is thp only thing such a library can do, to insure good service, except to try to induce a more liberal feeling in the community that will enlarge the library's appropriation and enable it to get the best equipped people, local or other. In two neighboring communities of our ac- quaintance, the difficuty of securing suit- able assistants with training, has led to a gradual advance in salaries, so that posi- tions which at one time had no attraction tor school-trained people, begin at last to appeal to them. The results, as far as observed, have been distinctly favoi-able for the libraries. A thirri reason for some of these at- tempts at instruction is a failure on the part of those who sanction or who make the attempt, to understand what good training is, what careful selection is, and what responsibility they are taking upon themselves. Some of these undertakings are the result of a sudden inspiration, a lamentable ignorance, a half-digested plan, and general irresponsibility as to the ef- fect upon library efficiency. Very few, if any, can be assigned to cupidity or to de- sire for notoriety — money and glory being two things that are seldom present as In- ducements to library school workers. The private venture in the way of training is, as a rule, the most superficial offer tbat is made and can more easily be accused of self-interest than any other. But these are few — at least very few are known to exist. The Committee brings this report to a close with the following statement: Questions of training are so pervasive at present and the desire of the library schools for mutual consultation so increas- ingly expressed, that it is inclined to recommend the establishment of a Normal section of the Association, to deal with all phases of preparation for librarianship. It would be glad if an expression of opinion on the question might be secured from the general membership as well as from the schools. Respectfully submitted, MARY W. PLUMMER, Chairman HENRY E. LEGLER THERESA ELMENDORF ISABEL E. LORD A. S. ROOT W. C. KIMBALL CAROLINE UNDERHILL GRACE D. ROSE The PRESIDENT: Unless objection Is heard this report will be received and placed on file and its recommendation re- ferred to the Council of the Association. It is to be followed by a symposium in which, following an introduction by the 20S Chairman of the Committee, representa- tives of several of the library schools will discuss THE EVOLUTION OF THE LIBRARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM Miss PLUMMER: There are several ways of making a curriculum. One way is by imitation, taking that of an estab- lished school and copying, in whole or in great part. Another, the theoretical way, is by choosing those studies and the pro- portion of one study to another which would seem likely to form the ideal li- brary assistant, either in a special line ot work or in general fitness. The third way Is to consider the principal current de- mand — I do not say need — and prepare a curriculum that shall enable students to meet this. The first is the least likely to be chosen in the library profession, since, as a rule, the people who have in charge the mak- ing of library assistants are people with the creative instinct, with ideas of their own on the subject which are seeking ex- pression in material form, and they are, besides, almost invariably so hemmed in by one or another set of circumstances that they feel imitation is impossible. • In fact, there is not enough intelligent imitation among the schools. A new school is very apt to be set going without consultation with any of the older schools. If directed and instructed by a faculty themselves not trained in any school, it is likely to make all over again the same experiments and the same mistakes made by the earlier schools, which is a waste. It is rather remarkable, considering the lack of consultation and cooperation, that the schools should have come as near uni- formity as they have. Even when a school announces some im- portant addition to its curriculum or some new method of work, the other schools ap- pear incurious and almost never investi- gate with a view to following. This makes for individuality in the schools, to a de- gree, but do we not also lose in failing to watch one another's experiments and in neglecting to compare theories and practice and results? Surely the public is not so different in different parts of the country that every school must prepare its graduates as if they were to serve a totally different community from that served by the school graduates in other states. Therefore, parenthetically, the estab- lishment of the Library school round table last year was undoubtedly a step in the right direction. It is bound to bring about a more general interest among the schools in one another's work and methods. The theoretical way of making a curri- culum we must most of us plead guilty to, in our beginnings, at least. We are not old enough cooks to "salt to taste" and to "use judgment," as we must follow the recipe, that seems in our case to re- quire more cataloging than anything else, though two thirds of those who graduate never touch a catalog card afterward and might have been spared a lot of technical minutiae and yet have had good grounding in the principles of the science. We try to get uniformity of handwriting instead of striving simply for legibility and grace, things we might often get while retaining the individual hand. You may say that these things are fruits of the imitation that I have claimed is not sufficiently used among us, but, if so, it ia not so much direct imitation as the result of a certain tradition among schools and libraries; and it is certainly not intelligent imitation nor the result of any consulta- tion among the schools. The first library school was connected with a college — the students were taught college library methods of necessity — the influence of that early teaching can be traced through several schools. Since then the library situation has changed tre- mendously, but the schools have not alto- gether kept pace. It is true that most of them have changed and developed some- what, that they have been brought face to face with facts, which are stubborn things, and have had to change, but they are not keeping up as closely as they 204 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE should with the inarch of events. It la perhaps a characteristic of professional training generally to have its traditions and conventions and to let them go re- luctantly. The element of practice, for- tunately, brings into our scnool work something that is anti-theory. The third way of making a curriculum, supplying the current demand for assistants, may go too far in the direction of concessions to utility and present emergencies. The apprentice-class work represents better than anything else this kind of curriculum, in its extreme reduction to the needs of the hour and place. The library system that pays salaries so small that only the youngest girl, unformed and half educated and living at home, can afford to take them, may be making a demand, but It Is one that the schools are obliged from self-respect to Ignore in their selection and preparation. So that a strict confor- mity to the immediate demand, if that demand is unreasonable, Is not advisable for any school. But there is a demand which the schools should be Increasingly conscious of and should try to meet — and that is for the kind of training and the kind of work- ers required by the growth, development, and Intensification of the work itself. In the cities the presence of the illiterate foreigner and his family in overwhelming numbers should mean as much to the li- braries, and hence to the training schools, as It does to the public schools. The question of Interesting the mechanic, the skilled artisan, of helping him to improve his work and to improve his prospects, is one, we say, for the library to interest Itself in; therefore it is a question for the library schools also, to provide the kind of people and the kind of training that will serve such needs of the library. It Is coming to be seen that nothing that is human is alien to the work and interest of the public library; and this being the case, we must secure for the schools the student in sympathy with American ideals, capable of studying and reasoning upon the current and varying phases of Amer- ican life, and we must provide these stu- dents with some human training as well as technical. Being obliged to arrange a summer schedule for a graduate who expects to be a children's librarian, I have had lately to go among the various sociological work- ers of New York City and explain our plans. Everywhere there was the quick- est comprehension of what the librarian with a knowledge of conditions could do, and an eagerness to seize upon the pros- pect of that kind of help. It was new to most of them apparently that librarians were interested in the people they worked among. or course I am giving a very specific example. These city conditions do not exist everywhere, but every community, almost. Is worth studying, for one reason or another. In some way the library school should train Us students to meet the vital demand that humanity makes up- on all who come regularly in communica- tion with people. We need not take it up sentimentally. Our work would not let us of we wanted to. We may find that It is chiefly an attitude that students may be trained or Inspired to take toward those they serve, supplemented by reading along social lines and contact with those who are in the thick of some work or othor for our — not yet triumphant but — militant democracy. In yet one other respect, the school cur- riculum is not all It should be. The dis- cussion of ideas and the acquisition of information as these are presented in the better books of to-day have no place In our courses. There should be more time for reading — not prescribed, but done from sheer interest and selected by the individ- ual student, who should then have an op- portunity to exchange conclusions on what he had road with his fellow-students In some informal way. If one student has been reading upon modernism and can give the class a clear idea of what Is meant by and Included In the term, and another has bef^n following up Burbank's experiments and can give an Intelligent ■205 account of them, and still another is in- terested in reading on a certain form of social experiment and can make it clear, it is evident that the curriculum should furnish an opportunity for an interchange of interests, not conducted but offered in- formally and participated in by some of the faculty from the floor and not from the instructor's platform. We cannot blink the fact that we don't know enough either when we go into the schools or when we leave them, on many subjects ■which are a part of the general equipment of the well-informed person. There is a demand on this head from the intelligent and well-read part of our public, which we are not all meeting by any means, and which calls for greater effort on the part of the schools in fitting their curricula to a constant and reasonable need. The best curriculum, it seems to me, would be one combining all three of the methods of making which I have men- tioned We need some intelligent imita- tion, or more consultation with other schools; we need to have an ideal assistant or librarian in mind, but to take into con- sideration the fact that much more than our training will be required to bring him or her to that point; and to remember that if we can plant the germ of self-de- velopment in a student the training has been a success, even if there are gaps in the curriculum; and we need to train so as to meet, not the commercial, but the human demand of the times. FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LIBRARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM MR WYER: The following remarks will refer to five factors which have in- fluenced and may influence the develop- ment of the library school curriculum and they will not refer specifically to any library school. 1 Location and environment of the school. It is seldom or never possible to construct an ideal course of study for a particular library school. The type of library with which it is connected will make it impossible for lack of necessary books to offer certain courses (desirable per se) — unwise to offer others because of no facilities, or scanty ones for practice work, and per contra it may often be wise very much to emphasize and extend some line of work for which the peculiar situ- ation and surroundings offer exceptional opportunities. Both the advantages and limitations of location as affecting develop- ment and content of curriculum should be frankly recognized. Unusual facilities should not incite overspecialization in a course which promises little or no utility or which is but remotely related to library work, nor on the other hand should emu- lation or ambition offer a course which must be seriously crippled in the reality by inadequate or mediocre equipment. 2 The current development and chief characteristics of library work. It is nec- essary not only to note with a quick eye tendencies, innovations and events but to bring to their estimation a sanity of judg- ment and a rational professional balance that shall recognize and avoid the foolish, the faddish and the extreme while adopt- ing the sound, the essential and the worthy whether in devices and methods tor technical practice or in larger matters of library policy and administration. This close observation of the current progress of library work will reveal the varying demands and opportunities for trained workers, which in turn will react directly upon the course of study. Thus the development of cooperative catalog- ing at The Library of Congress did not, as was apprehended in some quarters, re- duce the demand for trained catalogers to the vanishing point, though it did modify much of the technique and mechanics of that work and brought about something of a change in its method. 3. Availability of material. There were codes of cataloging rules and systems of classification before there were library schools and this with the further fact that the tangible, technical processes of library work are so much easier formulated and 203 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE taught than its raison d'etre, its spirit and its policies, served to overweight the tech- nical side of the early library school cur- riculum and to throw it into a mispropor- tion which even yet has not been wholly corrected. The subjects were taught which were at hand. The schools have often presented a somewhat disjointed and mis- cellaneous mosaic as a course of study. Probably no library school curriculum yet presents a logical library synthesis, show- ing that essential interrelation of parts and knitting together of courses and processes which in the aggregate comprise the actual administration of a library. Probably no curriculum ever can wholly do this. It marks the boundary of that realm of experience beyond which train- ing cannot go. These three factors, the location and en- vironment of the school, the current prog- ress and chief characteristics of library vcrk and the availability of material, have their origin with the faculty. The students exert a considerable influence on the course of study and in two ways. 4 As students. Adapting an old Har- vard saying it has been remarked that you can tell a library school graduate any- where but you can't tell her much. It this attitude be true of the finished product of our library schools, it is equally true that no one feels quite so entirely competent to criticise or reconstruct the course of study as the new student of a few weeks standing. If some of the sug- gestions thus advanced have been often considered before, if others merit neither present nor future consideration, there will, however, be ideas to be got, new points of view to be taken, by a careful attention to student comment on the cur- riculum and it will be distinctly profitable to encourage it. 5 As alumni. The alumni of our library schools soem to be more interested in and more effective to promote the welfare ot the schools from which they have gone out than the alumni of most professioal schools. They are fewer, the professional bond and esprit de corps probably stronger. Their daily work keeps them earnest, alert, eager to help, and their alma mater shares the- results of these perennial quali- ties in the form of suggestions submitted personally and through the customary alumni organizations touching weaK. couises which may be strengthened, new courses which should be introduced or the wisest quantitative balance between sub- jects. In this way comes the salutary and most effective reaction of practice upon theory. In general a distinguishing feature of the development of the library school cur- riculum is the rare quality of the work which ha.s gone to its making; a quality at- tested by the fact that among the educa- tional contrivances oftenest mentioned with respect by Europeans the American library school has a leading place. EVOLUTION OF THE PRATT INSTI- TUTE LIBRARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM Miss PLUM.MER; Environment has so Important an influence in the development of any institution, that before taking up specifically the evolution of the Pratt In- stitute library school curriculum, it will be well to consider briefly Pratt Insti- tute itself and the Pratt Institute library, both of which environ the School that bears their name. The two mottoes of Pratt Institute are "Be true to your work and your work will be true to you" and "Help the other fel- low." The idea of service was a dominant one in the mind of the founder. He was a poor boy with few advantages and he early made up his mind that if he made money he would found a school that should fit boys and girls for practical life. After studying the existing schools in this country and Europe, he found none that he wished to pattern after, and he determined to let this school grow natural- ly to meet the demands that presented themselves. The school opened therefore with no pre- 207 determinerl plan of courses, but it invited people to come and make their wants known. Its work began with twelve stu- dents in two classes and has grown organ- ically until it has nearly 4000 students, taking 70 courses, of which the library course is one. New courses are added as the demand for them comes; others have been given up when it was found that other agencies were meeting those needs. The whole Institute is alive, the work is vital. The idea of generous, disinterested, whole-souled service by means of thorough, good work animates the whole institution trcm the trustees, sons of the founder, down to the janitors. One of the first needs that was felt after the Institute was opened was for a library that should not only supplement the work of the school, but which should be a public library tor the city, there be- ing at that time only one small free li- brary in all Brooklyn. The library of Pratt Institute opened with about 20,0iM volumes in 1887, and for twelve years was the only public library of any size in the city. It had two branches, which were discontinued on the establishment of the Brooklyn public li- brary. The best expert advice obtainable was used in the organization of the library, the librarians were appointed from the newly established Columbia library school and broad public policy and a high technical standard characterized it from the begin- ning. The library was housed at first on the ground floor of the main building of the Institute, but in 1896 it was moved in- to a commodious building of its own, built to hold 20(/,000 volumes. A children's room and art reference room were features of the new building. Later a small open shelf collection was placed in the delivery room, which gradually increased, until two years ago the whole first floor of the li- brary, containing about 35,000 volumes, was made free of access. An applied science reference room was opened about the same time. The guarantor system and restrictions as to the number of books of non-fiction a borrower could take out at a time were also abolished in 1903. Vei-y close relations exist not only with the several depart- ments of Pratt Institute but with all the schools in the neighborhood and many teachers at a distance make great use of the librarj-. The need for trained assistants was felt very early in the history of the library and in 1890 classes were started for the further training of those already on the library's staff and to train the additional assistants needed in its giowing work. By the second year the aim included supplying trained assistants to other libraries as well. The course during the first few years was largely experimental and the school was merely an adjunct to the library, the methods taught were those in use there and the teachers were those assistants who did the actual work taught. But if there be any truth in the adage of G. B. S. that those who can, do, those who can't, teach, there is quite as much ground for saying that many who do, cannot teach. In the fall of 1895 the school was re- organized. A regular faculty was ap- pointed from those members of the staff who had shown special aptitude for teach- ing. It was recognized that no other ex- isting library school was situated in a large public library and that the special opportunity of this school was to prepare its students for public librai-y work, while at the same time it aimed to give them such drill in cataloging and other branches of technical work as should fit them as good general workers in any kind of li- brary. The changes in the curriculum since 1S90 have been due largely to the endeavor to carry out these aims. The progress of public library work has been carefully watched, the library Itself has always been well to the fore in inaugurating or adopt- ing new ideas, and adapting the work of the school to the requirements of the work in our own public library has kept it pretty well .abreast of librai-y progress. The 208 MINNRTONKA CONFERENCE school has alpo kept closely in touch with iis graduates, asking them individually and from time to time collectively to report to us of any problems they encountered in their own work which the school has not fitted them to meet. Suggestions and criticism from any source have always been wel- comed and many changes have come about as the direct result of the suggestions the school hfs received from persons practi- cally experienced in public library work. The nature of the changes made can best be shov.Ti by a few examples. The changes themselves are in subjects taught; order of prerentatiou of subjects; methods of presentation; amount and character of practical work; introduction of field work. In 1895 the course consisted of 500 hours of class-room work divided among 28 subjects, and of 274 hours of practical work in the library. About 200 hours of the class-room time was devoted to cul- tural studies, English and American lit- erature, English composition and Begin- ning German, and 88 hours to subjects of a business nature, bookkeeping, stenog- raphy and typewriting. With the expansion of library work came a pressure for more and better tech- nical preparation. The entrance require- ments were raised and cultural subjects were dropped from the curriculum. The commercial studies were found to have but slight professional value and all were omitted except typewriting, which was made optional. These and other changes have set free 300 hours since 1895 for the introduction of new subjects or for the expansion of established courses. The cataloging of Government docu- ments, maps and pamphlets have been added to the course in cataloging, and more time is spent in classification and reference work. Twenty-one new subjects have been added to the course during the 12 years; among the more important being book- selection, including principles of selection, practical problems, standard editions and publishers; history of the book; history of libraries, library buildings. Indexing, and the study of contemporaneous fiction. Of the latter a few words may not be amiss, as I think no other library school has taken the subject up in just the way we have taken it. Experience in our own library had shown to how great an extent the reading of fiction could be influenced for the better by assistants who had them- selves a wide and sympathetic knowledge of novels and novelists, and experience in revising entrance examinations had also shown that such knowledge was seldom to be found In the average student fresh from school or college. Accordingly when literature was dropped, a course was planned for the study of modern fiction, English, American and Continental, from the library point of view. About 100 authors are studied, among the points reported on being the qualities shown in their work, their influence, the class of people to whom they would appeal, the authors for whom they could be substituted for or who might be substituted for them. Of the two possible methods of present- ing subjects in a library school, i. e. group- ing them so that solid periods of time are devoted to one subject and then to an- other, or the system of parallel courses, the Pratt Institute school has always pre- sented the subjects studied in the latter way, cataloging, classification, reference work, general library economy, being car- ried along at the same time. The changes in the order of presentation have been In the subjects grouped under library economy which were formerly presented In the order in which a book comes into the library, order work, accessioning, etc. That theoretical plan has been changed to the simpler one of taking first some of the easier subjects and also such subjects as will fit the students to do practical work in the cataloging department as soon aa possible. As to changes in methods of presen- tation. Such changes have come about gradually as the instructors have gained in experience and confidence. (The two in- structors who do most of the teaching have been with the School 13 and 11 years PLUMMER 209 each) These changes show a tendency away from formal class-room instruction toward seminar methods. The students are made to do tor themselves everything which the limits of time and their in- experience will permit. Free discussion is encouraged, and, as many of the stu- dents come from library positions, a con- stant comparison of methods is carried on, and they are made to feel that their ex- perience counts. A much larger amount of time is spent in practical work now than in 1895, about 400 hours as against 274 at that time. It was decided in 1903 to require two weeks of regular work in the library before the class-room work began and the students work in the library throughout the year now instead of only in the third term as formerly. This work is planned and apportioned by the school, but is carried on under the direction of the library staff and includes experience in all phases of the work of the library. The library has greatly broadened in scope since 1896, having added as before mentioned an art reference department, a ehi'dreu's room, and an applied science reference room since then, and it has kept pare with the progress of liberal ideas in library policy, so the practical work offered by the school has greatly gained in richness and variety and the students work in an atmosphere charged with a generous and !iberal spirit toward the public, or "the people" as Mr Daniels would have it. Field work was made a regular feature of the school in 1S96. A visit is paid to some library centre during the spring va- cation, the usual circuit being in rotation, New England, Washington and vicinity and PeuFlyvania. One afternoon a week during the third term is spent visiting va- rious typos of libraries in greater New York and its neighborhood, and an hour a week is spent discussing the impressions gained, the general effect produced by the libraries visited as well as methods and ways of doing things. Up to this point we have been concerned with the one year or General course which is complete in itself. Beside this the School has endeavored to meet two other needs of the library profession. lu 189G it established a second year or Historical course to prepare such students as were fitted by temperament and edu- cation for the work, to take positions In libraries of a more scholarly type or to catalog private libraries containing old and rare books. This course included history of priming and the cataloging of incu- nabula, advanced reference work, Latin, paleography, Italian, technical printing, bookbinding, and the preparation of an original thesis and bibliography. The course has been offered four times, and while the maiority of the students taking it have not succeeded in resisting the drift of Prait Institute graduates toward public library work, they have one and all felt that they gained a certain confidence as the re- sult of this training that has told upon their subsequent work. Several of them have had direct use for the knowledge gained. A course in children's work was offered in 1898 and in 1900, which was withdrawn when the Training school for children's li- brarians was established at the Carnegie library at Pittsburg. But a demand is still made on the school to furnish children's librarians and in 1907 a three or four months' apprentice course, to succeed the year's work, was planned, partly in con- nection with the children's department of the New York public library. Hereafter no graduate will be recommended as child- ren's librarian without this preparation. It consists of a month as assistant in the children's room of one of the branch li- braries of the greater city, of one month spent in visiting, observing, and helping, when possible, in some of the summer activities planned for city children, such as vacation schools, playgrounds, summer camps and hospitals, school farms, etc., and of one month in the fall, visiting kinder- gartens, truant schools, boys* and girls' clubs, and attending lectures by persons experienced in dealing with children from one or another standpoint. While the plan 210 JIINNETONKA CONFERENCE Is slill experimental, and will be changed as experionce deems to dictate, it is the best method the School can devise at pres- ent of familiarizing the children's librar- ian with the various agencies with which the city library should cooperate, with the possibilities of physical, mental and moral betterment of which it can avail itself for the children who come to it, and with the methods others have discovered which it may perhaps adopt to the advantage of its work. For the children's librarian in the city library, some such preparation seems absolutely necessary; while the one who goes to the smaller town or city will find conditions differing only in decree, and by adapting herrclf to these can make this apprenticeship equally valuable to herseir and the library. It is not intended to convey the impres- sion that this process of evolution has been v/holly conscious, no healthy growth Is, it Is only on looking back, to vary the simile, that the pattern is clearly seen, but the school has tried to adapt itself to its sur- roundings, in the spirit of Pratt Institute, to develope along the lines of demand, to experiment, to modify, always keeping in view the ideal of the founder, to render servile through good work. EVOLUTION OF THE CURRICULUM OF THE DREXEL INSTITUTE LIBRARY SCHOOL MISS KROEGER: To those who are concerned in the education for librarian- ship in library schools, the lack of posi- tive information about courses of study and methods even on the part of librari- ans is frequently brought home. Direct knowledge in regard to library school methods is limited to members of the fac- ulties, to graduates and to students. The greater number of librarians are not in- terested to the extent of investigating the work accomplished in the schools. Mem- bers of A. L. A. committees on library training are not able to visit the schools for comparison of methods and results, and their reports are consequently not wholly satisfactory. The majority of libra- rians, however, cordially support the cause of school training, either from theory or from experience with library school graduates. Criticisms of library schools are easily made, but to have much weight they must be based upon a study of the methods employed in the several prominent library schools. In 1892, when the Drexel Institute library school was organized, there were two schools already in the field, the parent school at Albany and that at Pratt Institute which had been opened two years previous- ly. Naturally, the course of study was in the beginning modeled after the first year's work of the New York state library school cf which the director was a graduate. By degrees changes were introduced to suit the needs of a course limited to one year. On the whole, however, the curriculum has rot been materially altered in the 16 years which have elapsed since the open- ing, but many minor modifications have been introduced to keep abreast with the progress of the library movement which has been so rapid in recent years. A one year course cannot be subject to much change. Owing to the extreme heat of Philadel- phia, it was found necessary to limit the school year to eight months. The prob- lem then was to compress into eight months the subjects that would be of most beneflt in making good all-round librari- ans. Students who enter a library school, as a rule, wish to prepare themselves In the shortest possible time. Unless a student prefers to specialize or to study definite problems of library administration, &he cannot spend more than one school year in fitting herself for a position. The best course of study for an eight months' school year — for whom? What shall be the requirements of admission for tht course? What the previous education and experience of the students? For, to a large extent, upon the kind of students will depend the course of study. These were the first questions to solve. The necessity of a college diploma shuts out KROBGER 211 a number of capable men and women, while it admits from some colleges whose standard is not very high. An entrance examination equivalent to at least two years" work beyond the high school allows those persons who may not have a col- lege diploma, but who are especially fitted lor library work, to enter the school, while it does not debar college graduates who should be able to pass an entrance exam- ination of this kind. Examination papers, while not an infallible test, reveal much of the applicant's capacity to the experi- enced examiner. Examinations for entrance to the school were, at the beginning, comparatively sim- ple, requiring not more than a high school education. There was no test in lan- guages. By degrees they were made more difficult, and French and German were in- cluded among the subjects. For some time past examinations have been based on two years' work beyond the high school and embrace the subjects, general litera- ture, general history, general information, and a reading knowledge of two foreign languages. With a thorough one year course it is essential that students should come well prepared from an educational point of view, for otherwise, as experience has shown, they cannot keep up with the severe course of study. The students who enter for a one year course may or may not be college gradu- ates. They may or may not have had library experience, — in most cases they have not had experience. They are not all of the same ages, the age varying with few exceptions from 20 to 35 years. The ideal requirements for a library school student rarely found in the same applicant are: strong and pleasing per- sonality, common sense, college education, including a knowledge of languages, cul- ture, and at least two years' practical ex- perience in a large library. A graduate of the school, in giving her opinion of the most desired preparation for the course, said, "I think the best prep- aration for a library school would be six months or a year in a library." There is much truth in this. The student with ex- perience is not usually so dazed at the be- ginning by all the details of the course of instruction as the inexperienced. Many terms are familiar to her. Yet it is true that students with experience often do no better work than those without and they often have much to unlearn. The best course of study for an eight months' school year — what shall it be? It must be a course that will fit the gradu- ate for a position in any kind of library. The curriculum must be broad enough to enable a graduate to enter a public library, either large or small, a reference library, a college or university library, a medical, law, theological, private, or any other library. The demands for workers come from all varieties and sizes of libraries. Again, the positions to be filled in these libraries range from that of desk assistant to that of librarian. The course of study in library schools is frequently criticized by students as being too crowded. Especially is this so in a one year course, when it seems neces- sary to put in everything essential to the library worker. Graduates of the school, whenever asked to state whether they con- sider the course too crowded, answer in the affirmative, but on being further asked what could be omitted, reply, "nothing." Some graduates would prefer a two year course with less strenuous work while at the school. However, the large majority of students could not afford a second year and prefer to work hard during the one year. How to condense into eight or nine months the technical education necessary for work in any kind of library for stu- dents who are generally without the slightest knowledge of the routine work, who must have everything made clear to them — that was the problem. When one looks over the whole field of library sci- ence and bibliography, the difficulty of condensing is apparent. It was not expected that students, after completing a one year course, would be fitted to manage large libraries. All that 212 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE could be hoped was to make better workers for subordinate positions in large libraries and capable heads of small libraries. So, large problems of library administration were not made an important part of the course. The questions concerning the adminis- tration of small libraries were, however, iucluded. In planning the course of study, there has been an attempt from the start to keep a proper balance between the tech- nical and the book side of the course. We have found that the study of books cannot be ignored. Students are not sufficiently well informed regarding books and au- thors to be of the greatest service to readers. A library must be well and sys- tematically administered, the machine must run smoothly, but there must be besides the inspiration which comes from the librarian who has a knowledge of books. She must know them in order to wisely select from the mass of books pub- lished, and she must also be able to assist her readers when tiny come for advice on reading. The librarian's knowledge of books must cover a much wider field than that of the average college graduate. Besides, the student must be trained to fit the book to the reader, to understand the variety of tastes which library bor- rowers possess. Only a beginning can be made In one year. The student must be given this insight into the needs of the library which will spur her on to continue her library studies after she has left the school. The changes in the course of study of books were frequent in the early years. During the past five years it has embraced systematic study in book selection and reference books, and a course which in- cludes the discussion of English and American authors of the nineteenth cen- tury omitting those names which are most fimiliar to the students. Experience has proven the value of these courses from the inspirational as well as the practical side. A wider acquaintance with books is the result and it leads to a broader read- ing habit. A full account of the course in the study of books was given In the "Library Journal" for September 1607. The technical side of the course has em- braced without much change instruction in the usual processes — cataloging, classi- fication, accessioning, shelflisting, etc. The danger that students will think cataloging the most important part of the librarian's work, as feared by some librarians, has been overcome to a large extent by the emphasis which the school places on the study of books and of people. Neverthe- less, a great deal of time must be spent on the technical branches because we must make good workers of the students in the short time we have them with us. Not all students are endowed with a sense of order, with accuracy, and with patience for detailed work. These must be culti- vated. They must be taught to work quickly, as well as accurately. All this requires time. The school has endeavored to keep up in technical detail with changes in meth- ods, adopting for some time past the new catalog rules of the Association. The in- struction in cataloging has consequently been improved from year to year by the adoption of the latest decisions of the cat- aloging committee. Forms of cards have followed the examples of the printed cards as far as practicable. At the end of the class lectures, cataloging for the library of the Institute affords opportunity to test the judgment of the students, and during the second term the students catalog all new books added to the library, besides having assigned to them difficult books and special problems. A full account of the cataloging course at the school was given in the "Library Journal" for March 1P07. The importance of imparting knowledge on business methods has been constantly before us. This may be thought not to be the province of the library school — that such instruction should be had either before entering or after graduation. Hav- ing the advantage of a department of com- 218 merce and finance close at hand, we were able to secure a brief series of lectures from one of tlie professors of the depart- ment. Our experience has shown this to be very helpful. Lectures on each subject are followed by practical work under the supervision of one of the instructors or an assistant in the library, each student having an hour's practical work each day. A large amount of the routine work of the library is done by the students under supervision. No merely mechanical work, such as pasting book plates, putting away books, etc. is required more than once. Work at the delivery desk, in the order department, in cataloging, etc. is consid- ered more essential to their development, and these subjects receive most attention. Mistakes are pointed out and the students are criticized if they are not accurate and quick. The Institute library has no children's department, but through the kindness of the librarians of the Free library and the Apprentices' library, sufficient practical work in this department is made possible. The experience at the Free library in- cludes also work at the delivery desk in the main library and branches, which helps the students to understand how the large public library differs from smaller institutions. How much the personality counts in the success of the student, every teacher knows. The difference in degree of abil- ity, in the quality called "force," in man- ner, in adaptability, in common sense, all come out to a certain extent during the year's work. Some students with a strong forceful personality do not excel in tech- nical work, while others who do excellent clerical work lack the qualities that are requisite in dealing with people. The evolution of the course of study in the school has therefore been a working towards a proper adjustment of the ele- ments which make up the library of to-day — the people, the books and the methods by which the right books and the right people are brought together. THE TRAINING OF A CHILDREN'S LIBRARIAN* MISS OLCOTT: The public library is rapidly taking its place in the front rank of educational institutions. It is proving its-elf a positive factor in the development of citizenship and in the diffusion of the culture and thought of the race. By no means its least important function is to develop the child into an intelligent, thoughtful reader. The basis laid in the children's department is often the founda- tion for the future use of the library by adults. Every occupation has its demoralizing tendencies on the worker and library work with children is not without its weak side. The work is picturesque, offers unlimited opportunities to entertain children, and it is also work that the public applauds, all of which sometimes goes to make a senti- mental, over-enthusiastic and shallow children's librarian, to the end that the children's room yields little or no perma- nent results. This is not so if the work of a children's librarian is based on the soundest educational principles and on good technical training. It is said that a children's librarian "is born and not made"; for unless the worker with chil- dren has certain sympathetic qualities and an instinctive understanding of childhood, she cannot enter into the interest of the children. On the other hand, although she may be gifted with the greatest abil- ity to handle children and to understand them, she cannot be a children's librarian unless she has had direct and practical training in the technical side of her pro- fession. Two of the most serious mis- takes made in library work with children are where the worker fails to connect her work with books and where she fails to connect her work in the children's room with the adult library. It may be of interest to the library pro- fession to learn how the Training school fcr children's librarians has developed its • This paper Is based on the history of the Training school compiled In 1906. 214 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE curriculum to meet, as far as possible, tlie rational demands of library work with children. In the first place the School has always made a careful selection of its students. Its entrance requirements are that the students shall be graduates of colleges and universities in good standing or that they shall submit to entrance ex- aminations. The above, together with recommendations from colleges, etc. con- stitute the educational test. An educa- tional test, however, is not sufficient in selecting students for children's work, as cfrtain personal qualities are necessary in dealing with children; therefore the School admits all its students on one term's probation. At the end of the first term those students who do not give prom- ise of ability for the work, withdraw. Previous to 1905 the School admitted to a special one year's course students who were members of the staffs of other libra- ries, the School undertaking to train these students for their own libraries only. This special course weakened the standard of the School, as special students were ad- mitted without examinations and ivere al- lowed to specialize in work with children, taking few technical courses. In 1905 a new ruling was made admitting to the spe- cial course only those candidates who had completed one year's training in an accred- ited library school and who came recom- mended by their directors. Since the organization of the School in 1900 the curriculum has been divided into two distinct fields, one of lectures and problems and the other of practice work in the Children's department of the Li- brary, great stress being laid on this prac- tice. The faculty of the School is com- posed of members of the Library staff who are experts in their fields, a number of whom have had training in the foremost library schools of the country and who have also had varied library experience. Some were teachers before entering the library profession. The strength of our class-room teaching is due to the fact that the lectures on the different subjects are given by persons who are specialists in their own line, and who are daily em- ployed in developing their special work. This makes the teaching practical and progressive. Besides the faculty, many educators and librarians from other cities give lecture courses or single lectures be- fore the School. In this way the student's outlook is broadened. She is given differ- ent points of view and is taught to adjust methods to varying library conditions. In order to understand fully the basis on which the training is conducted, let us consider the lecture course first. The foundation of the entire lecture course is technical training along the lines of adult library work, such as ordering, accession- ing, classifying, shelf-reading, cataloging, study of library organization, history of libraries, history of printing and book- binding, and business methods such as are used in making out reports, statistics and schedules. These subjects, treated entire- ly from the standpoint of the adult library, are carried through two year's work, thus giving the students a solid basis for con- necting the work of the children's room with that of the adult library. Building on this solid foundation, subjects of spe- cial application to the work with children are taught, including the study of chil- dren's literature, planning and equipment of children's rooms, rules and regulations for children's rooms, methods of introduc- ing children to books, the making of chil- dren's catalogs and lists, and a study of educational principles and social con- ditions and betterment. Throughout the course a comparative study is made of methods used by different libraries. The above lecture course has been evolved from seven years' experience. Certain parts of the course have been strengthened from year to year and the number of lectures on a subject increased. This is especially true of lectures on cata- loging, business methods, study of library organization, history of printing and bind- ing. Turing the past year courses have been added on the adaptation of methods to the small library, and on the scope of LI- OLCOTT 21& brary commissions, the head workers o£ several of the leading Library commissions giving lectures on the subject. The object of the entire two years' lecture course is not to make specialists of the students but to give them a broad technical founda- tion of general library work on which to specialize in work with children. The lecture courses in subjects dealing di- rectly with library work with children have been made to fit into the general technical courses. These special courses of work with chlldi'en have for their basis a study of literature for children, not only of that literature which has been written for children but of that part of the world's great literature which is a child's heritage, and to which all children should be introduced while they are young and plastic. The courses for book selection are also discussed from the practical side, covering the selection for different agencies, reaching special classes of people, negroes, Italians, Germans, etc., selection for the use of schools, settle- ments, small libraries, city libraries, and the selection and classification of books to be u»ed with little children, boys, girls, and young people. During the past two years lees stress has been laid on the mak- ing of picture bulletins and other unim- portant accessories to library work, and story-telling is treated as merely a means to an end — a means of directing to better reading. Before closing this brief account of the lecture course it might be well to say a few words about the lectures on social conditions and betterment. The lectures and problems on this subject are intended to prepare the students to meet more in- telligently the requirements of the labor- ing classes and to cooperate more closely with other educational institutions for so- cia! betterment, such as playgrounds, va- cation schools, settlement houses, indus- trial homes, juvenile courts, etc. The lec- turers for this course are drawn largely from the practical workers in institutions for social betterment. The students are also required to make visits of inspection to kintiergarteas, clubs, and juvenile court, county jail, the state reformatory and county workhouse. These visits are ar- arranged beforehand with the superintend- ents of the various institutions, who ex- plain the work to the students. The stu- dents also have unlimited opportunity to study fhp children in the homes and in the schools while doing their practice work. We come now to that part of our training on which we lay the greatest stress. A student may be brilliant in the classroom anr< le technically expert and yet not be able to handle children successfully. Therefore the student's ability in this line is tested by her practice work. She is re- quired to work 21 hours each week of the school year in the Childrens department under cupervision, thus coming into actuaJ touch with the children. The library offers as laboratories for practice, seven children's rooms, present- ing various phases of the cosmopolitan life of a rapidly growing industrial city. The training at the Central library pre- pares the students to meet the wants of a large city, while the experience gained in the branch libraries teaches her to adapt herself to the needs of a small community. In addition to the work at the Central and branch libraries, the students assist in the work of sending thousands of volumes to the city schools, in giving out books in the summer playgrounds, and in the manage- ment of reading clubs and "home library" groups of poor children to whom small traveling libraries are sent. All practice work is under the supervision of the branch librarians and the staff of the children's department. The student thus has opportunity to work with all classes of children, both as individuals and en masse. In this way she gets her knowl- edge of children, of their tastes and habits and also her training in discipline, story- telling and the practical application of the principles taught in the class room. More stress is laid on the student's ability to do practice work than on her examination papers. It is necessary for the student to pass the examinations, but practice work 216 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE and daily class work stand first. At the end of each term students are transferred from one branch children's room to an- other in order that they may have an opportunity of comparing methods and working with different classes of children. They have charge, however, of the same home library groups throughout the win- ter and continue their regular work with the city schools one afternoon a week. As stated before, the student receives her instruction during practice work from the branch librarians and children's libra- rians, as well as from the supervisors of work with schools and with home libraries and reading clubs. The instructors en- deavor to develop the student's self-reli- ance, to teach her right methods with chil- dren, to cultivate her powers of observa- tion and to give her a knowledge of busi- ness methods. It may be well to add that the students are impressed from the first with the fact that librmy work with chil- dren is in an experimental stage, and that the children's work of a librarj- must be adjusted to the needs of that particular library, that a special study should be made of the social condition of the served, and above all, that any work which leads away from the legitimate function of the public library, which is to "open the books," is wasted effort, weak, sentimental and dangerous. One of the efforts of Ihc School is to provide each student with a valuable work- ing collection of note-books, text-books, book lists, samples, etc. to use in her work after leaving the School. The School also buys large quantities of suggestive pamphlets, book lists and American Libra- ry Association printed matter for the student's collections. The students are required to mount and classify their ma- terial and arrange it in covers provided by the School. This material is inspected and graded on the basis of 100. The School is also building up steadily a most valuable reference library for the use of the students while taking their training. This consists of reference books necessary In their dally work, text- books to be used in connection with daily lessons, a model children's libraiy with sample editions, out of print and rare children's books illustrating the growth of children's literature, a large collection of clippings giving the history and growth of library work in general, with special relation to library work with children and also book lists and mounted samples illus- trating the routine work of different libra- ries. All this material is being arranged and classified by a special classification prepared for such a collection. This libra- ry now numbers 893 volumes. It is impossible to close even so brief a paper without referring to the generosity of Mr Carnegie which has enabled the Car- negie library to make its experiments on so broad a basis. Mr Carnegie's aid has enabled the work to be developed and broadened in scope until at present the School has a substantial endowment, an established curriculum, a dormitory for ita students, and opportunity to follow out its work to a definite end. It is the aim of this School, by con- tinued experiment based on practical ap- plication of principles, to collect in time a mass of data which will form the basis of a science, of pedagogy, of library work with children. FOURTH SESSION Saturday morning, June 27, 1908, 9.30. The Association passed at once to the consideration of the reports of committees. Miss Emma R. Neisser of the Free library of Philadelphia presented the REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY WORK WITH THE BLIND PreviouE to the conference of the Ameri- can Library Afsociatlon in 1907 the Chair- man, Mr Hndges, addressed letters of in- quiry to the Uniform type committee of the American association of workers for the blind and to Mr Edward Ellis Allen, Principal of the Overbrook school for the 217 blind, wbo has shown particular interest in the circulation of embossed books. The replies from Mr Ehvyn H. Fowler, of the Uniform type committee, and from Mr Allen, owing to a change in the American Library Association program, were re- ceived too late to be included in the re- port presented at the Asheville conference. Mr Fowler said in part: "I wish to thank you for your effort to cooperate with The American association of workers for the blind. "Of the five systems now in common use the embossed Roman letter is fast being superseded by some one of tlie three dot systems, on account of their more general legibility and utility. Moon's system is useful for the aged and others whose touch is dull. The great majority of the blind in active life require a system more compact than Moon's, however, and one that can be easily written by hand; hence the increasing use of the systems com- posed wholly of dots. "Some advocates of each of the three dot systems in common use are vehement in their preferences it is true, but I think there is a large and rapidly growing num- ber of intelligent blind readers and in- fluential workers for the blind who appre- ciate the great advantages of uniformity and who are willing to make no little sac- rifice of personal convenience for the gen- eral good. "The amount of literature now printed In any system should not be accepted as a reason for continuing the system in op- position to a much better system, for whatever may be the universal system, the present diversity is such that it must be different from most of the print now in use. and it should also be remem- bered in this connection that embossed books get out of date like other books, so that most of the embossed literature of to-day will become nearly useless in a few years or at most decades, regardless of the question of types. I regard the worn, already done with various systems as largely experimental. The underlying principles which make a system most ser- viceable must be discovered and demon- strated in hard experience and observa- tion. Mere impressions as to the utility of any feature of a system are very un- trustworthy. The late Hannibal Hamlin once wrote this sentiment. "Nothing is ever settled permanently until it is settled right." When the principles upon which a serviceable system should be arranged are demonstrated, it is to me inconceiv- able that the present babel should long continue." Mr Edward Ellis Allen, then i'rmcipal of the Pennsylvania institution for the blind, and now Director of the Perkins Institution, wrote as follows: "Believing that you wish to know the re- stilt of my experience on certain questions of interest to teachers and librarians alike, I beg to refer you to my paper on Libra- ries for the blind and I hastily write you the following: Multiplicity of types. There have been scores of types and it little becomes peo- ple unfamiliar with the history of this subject to criticise us for having reduced that number to only three, which need no longer be considered. Time alone will reduce this number to two; for two there must be: The Moon type for the many adult. A Point type for the young and able bodied. The use of the Moon type is constantly spreading, but there is great need of new literature in this system. The New York point type is in use in 23 of our 40 schools; the American Braille in 17, and the quantity and quality of the books in each is a matter of pride. There are already more different books in either system than any one person is ever likely to read, still, a greater variety of popular literature is demanded and will be sup- plied. Librarians should not complain of the poverty of books for the blind until they have on their shelves copies of what have already been issued. In general, the books in one point type are not duplicated in the other — and as readers of one can easily use publications in the other so every library would do well to possess books in each point system and in Moon's type. Question of space. Owing to the expan- sion necessary to reproduce a given book for use by the blind it is natural for people to err in making "space" the primary fac- tor in the choice of systems, whereas writability and readability by the greatest number of users should be so considered. Size of books. I am convinced that the present standard volume is too bulky and have long ago written so to Miss Chamber- lain of Albany and Miss Neisser of Phila- delphia. We have lately been issuing our Philadelphia books smaller and lighter, and in my coming directorship of the large printing office of the Perkins institution for the blind, at Boston, I expect to con- tinue this policy. Public reading rooms for the blind. The 218 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE principal reason why these are unwise is that they are uncalled for. It is difficult to induce the blind to resort to them; hence, the space and money that would otherwise be devoted to them should be turned iuto more books and better ma- chinery for extending their circulation into the homes of the readers. Library centers. Several centers are better than one for the reason that the concentration of such a large work at one place would be likely so to encumber the mails there as to jeopardize the present free franking privilege. Then again, the sending for, the receiving and the re- turning of books throughout our great land would make the element of waste of time a great one. Still again, inasmuch as the sending out of home teachers is getting to be an important function of library work among the blind, so is there need for fre- quent collections of books from which to draw at once. Efficient library work for the blind is one which peculiarly demands the personal touch of devoted workers. It is gratifying to us who are making labor among the blind our life work to note the increasing interest taken by libra- rians in extending to more and more of these people the solace and the delight of reading." Two members of the Committee, Miss Griffin and Miss Neisser. attended the 9lh Convention of the American association of workers for the blind, held at Boston, August 27-30, 1P07. The entire report of the ■Unirorni m^e committee" of that Association, presented at the convention, is too long to be given here. It may be found in full in "Outlook for the blind" for January 1908. Among other resolutions of thai confer- ence are the following: 2 That we are pleased to note the gratifying increase in the cooperation and harmony among the institutions, associa- tions and workers for the blind in America. 8 That the recommendations of the Uniform type committee be adopted: 1 (a) That the work of this committee be continued, (b) That the committee be authorized to seek the cooperation of other organizations in the present movement towards the adoption of a standard punctographic system of printing for the blind. 2 (a) The use of complete punctuation in standard and miscellaneous publications. (b) The use of distinct capitalization in such publications. (c) The use in such publications, other than textbooks for the ele- mentary grades, of such of the authorized initial contractions and of the word, syllable, and part-syllable signs as shall be proven helpful in reading, and the abandonment of such as shall be proven a hindrance in reading, and of such as would represent letters belonging to different syllables. 3 That it shall be the policy of this as- sociation to encourage a willingness to unite with the English-speaking world upon any system which embodies the prin- ciples that would render it most service- able. 13 That we approve of the action of the Massachusetts association for promoting the interests of the blind in establishing the "Outlook for the blind," and urge that every possible effort be made to increase its circulation among the general public and workers for the blind. Miss Neisser also attended the Brst meeting of the Maryland association of workers for the blind, held March 16th, 1908 at Johns Hopkins university, Balti- more. Mrs Fairchild addressed the class at the New York stale library school upon the subject of "Library work for the blind." An increased circulation of embossed books throughout the country indicates the steady progress of library work for the blind during the past year. The publication In the new "Matilda Ziegler magazine for the blind" of a fist of libraries circulating embossed volumes brought to many of the sightless the news of the opporl unities for borrowing these volumes and gave a new impetus to the circulation of books. In answer to the de- mands thus created, both public libraries and Institutions for the blind have taken an active interest in the subject. A commission to investigate the condi- tion of the blind In the state of Ohio has recently been appointed by the Governor, and $10,000 appropriated to carry out its purpose. Six members are named, one of whom 1g the Superintendent of the Stale fichool for the blind at Columbus. 219 The Society for promoting the interests of the blind In Cleveland has begun the ■work of home leaching in that city. The Commission for the blind in New Jersey consisting of five members appoint- ed by Governor Fort, was organized on June 12th, 1908 at Trenton. Mr Algernon A. Osborne, 6 Park Place, Newark, is Sec- retary. The appropriation of $1,000 to carry on the work will not be sufficient for a state census of the blind, but the Commission hopes to obtain a roughly ap- proximate enumeration of the blind throughout the State. The Secretary will be grateful for the names and addresses of any blind person residing in New Jer- sey known to the members of the Ameri- can Library Association. The Carnegie library of Atlanta, Geor- gia, the Public library of Brookline, Mas- sachusetts, and the Central state normal school at Edmond, Oklahoma, have re- cently undertaken work for the blind, to- gether with the Public library of Leaven- worth, Kansas. In November 1907 the Pennsylvania home teaching society for the blind exten- ded its work by sending a home teacher to Pittsburg. The Society has deposited a collection of books in the Carnegie li- brary, which has agreed to be responsible for the books and which will superintend the circulation of them. Especial mention should be made of the excellent work for the blind by means of home teaching now being accomplished by the state of Delaware. In addition to the state appropriation for the home teacher the municipal authorities of Wil- mington recently made a grant of $250 for embossed books and use of a room in the Wilmington institute free library. As a memorial to the late Bishop Coleman, suf- ficient funds have been raised to pay for embossing in Moon type and in Braille the chapters from "Les Jliserables" relat- ing to the character of the Bishop. The New York circulating library for the blind has received a bequest of $5,000 from the late Mr Clemence L. Stephens. As this library has been consolidated with the New York public library, the bequest will be received by the latter and will be used for the development of the De- partment for the blind. The Montreal association for the blind has just been organized. Professor Sep- timus Fraser, 51 Crescent street, Montreal, is Secretary. Since January 1908 the Society for the promotion of church work among the blind has employed a blind visitor one afternoon each week to call upon members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadel- phia who are blind, to read to the aged and to those who have no one to read to them. New Publications 1 In ink print The committee particularly commends to your attention the new magazine in ink print, entitled the "Outlook for the blind," published by the Massachusetts associa- tion for promoting the interests of the blind, 277 Harvard Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is "a quarterly record of the progress and welfare of the blind," and should be in the hands of all librarians interested in circulating embossed books. The price is $1.00 per year. The Perkins institution and Massachu- setts school for the blind has issued a val- uable bibliography entitled: "Special ref- erence library of books relating to the blind. Part 1, Books in English, compiled under the direction of the late Michael Anagnos. In a pamphlet of addenda, the list is brought down to Nov. 1, 1907. The Perkins institution has also issued a "Catalog of embossed books in the circu- lating library." The Director, Mr Edward Ellis Allen, will gladly send a copy to any librarian who requests one. The report of the Commission of 1906 to investigate the condition of the blind in the state of New York, recently issued, is a valuable addition to the literature on "The blind." It may be obtained from the capitol, Albany, New York, and from the secretary of the Commission Mr O. H. Burritt, now Principal of the Pennsylvania 220 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE school for the blind, Overbrook, Pennsyl- vania. The first Report ot the New York asso- ciation for the blind, 118 East 59th Street, New York City, also recently issued, con- tains an account of the home teaching carried on by the Association. It is to be obtained from the Secretary, Miss Winifred Holt, at the above address. The Brooklyn public library has during the year published a finding list of the c-mbossed books belonging to the library. 2 In embossed type In a letter dated June 8th, 1908, Mr Ed- ward Ellis Allen, now Director of the Per- kins institution, wrote: Largely through the influence of librari- ans, the Howe memorial press is now get- ting out booklets of a practical shape and size, that it is trying to supply the need for good light reading in the Braille sys- tem for the blind, and that the library of the Perkins institution will gladly lend these stories to any one wishing to read them who will notify our librarians. I am enclosing herewith a list of these stories. These small books are inexpensive, the cover costing but ten cents. Though we are glad to circulate them, one or more at a time, we have no conveniences for doing so in vacation. Thus, I should suppose those libraries having departments of em- bossed books would wish to obtain copies, especially as we will dispose of them to such libraries for 23 per cent discount from cost price. New Braille publications of the Perkins Institution now ready for circulation: Heyse, L'Arrabiata Davison, How I sent my aunt to Balti- more Hayes, The Denver express Phelps, Fourteen to one Wister, Philosophy 4 Bunner, The Zadoc Pine labor union Hubbard, Get out or get in line Hubbard, Message to Garcia Daudet, Pope's mule White, Eli Potter, Tailor of Gloucester Andrews, Perfect tribute Chester, Skeezicks elopes Harraden, A Bird of passage Harte, Col. Starbottle for the plaintiff Twenty-five stories listed to follow are: Kipling, Wee Willie Winkle Lee, Uncle William Page, New agent — Soldier of the empire Crawford, Little city of hope Maupassant, The Necklace Yonge, Last fight in the Coliseum Aldrich, Goliath — Our new neighbors at Ponkapog — Quite so Kelly, Perjured Santa Claus Wiggin, Saving of the colors Doyle, Adventures ot the red-headed league Spyri, Goat boy —Without a friend Stockton, Lady or the tiger White, Honk-honk breed Deland, Promise of Dorothea — Good for the soul Repplier, Story of Nuremberg Bourget, Mon. Viple's brother Davis, Story of a jockey Clemens, Two little tales Paine, Don't hurry club Daiziel, Flaw in the crankshaft The "Outlook for the blind" for July, 1907, contains a list of new publications la embossed type not yet appearing in the catalog of the American printing house foi the blind. Since the list was printed several additional volumes in New York point have been issued for the New York state library: Wiggin, New chronicles of Rebecca Parkman, Jesuits in North America Palgrave, Golden treasury Clemens, Tom Sawyer Hale, Daily bread Andrews, Perfect tribute Gaskell, Cranford (the last title a gift from Miss Nina Rhoades) "The Christian record", published monthly by the Christian record publish- ing company In two editions, one in New York Point, the other in American NEISSER 221 Braille with contractions, is now free to ary blind person who applies for it and to any free circulating library. The new publications in Moon type in- clude Tennyson's "In memoriam"; Whit- tier's "Snowbound"; Owen Wister's "Life of General Grant"; "The Perfect tribute" by Andrews; "An Account of the Yellow- stone national park " by Arnold Hague and "The Grand canyon of Arizona", by J. W. Powell. Judge Pereles of Wisconsin, has again published a new volume as a memorial to his mother, who was blind. The volume selected last year is entitled "A wonder worker of science", an ac- count of the work of Luther Burbank. The New Jersey library commission made a donation of $20 to the Pennsyl- vania home teaching society, which was applied towards the half-cost of stereo- typing "The Yellowstone national park" in Moon type. One of the most Important events of the year was the publication of the "Matilda Ziegler magazine for the blind," which is a gift to the blind from Mrs William Ziegler of New York City. It is published In two editions, one in American Braille, the other in New York Point, and the first number was issued in March 1907. There Is a nominal subscription charge of $ .10 per year. The magazine is now printed and bound in its own office, having been removed during the year to 306 W. 53d Street, New York City. Miss Giffin suggests "a plan for having a central library for the blind, with special attention paid to collecting and disseminating correct information about the blind, employment, etc., etc., and a central library in each state that shall at- tend to the needs of her blind readers." Mr Asa Don Dickinson, a member of the committee writes: Could we not offer some resolution, or make some recommendation that would be immediately useful to ordinary libra- ries? As for Instance: (a) That each library having a department for the blind and willing to loan from it traveling libraries to its smaller neighbors should so inform our Committee; (b) that each library wishing to make a start in the work be encouraged to apply to us for suggestions and information; (c) that we place our- selves on record as being neutral in the battle now waging between "Braillites" and "Pointers," but as earnestly desiring the speedy annihilation of one or other of the contestants; (d) that we recognize the indisputable value of Moon type for those who can use no other, and encour- age the production in Moon type of read- able books — in this country it possible. In writing to Mr Dickinson, Mrs Fair- child sends the following suggestions: 1 A concerted effort for a library for the blind in every state under the auspices of the State library or commission or school for the blind to contain all books in print in American Braille and New York point and a selection of Moon. 2 A concerted effort to get an appro- priation for new books from every legis- lature. There should be cooperation be- tween different states to prevent duplica- tions. 3 An effort to get at every blind per- son In each state and convert him into a reader. This could be done by home teaching, either by regular teacher or by New York state plan of voluntary co- operators. The only reason why I do not favor your plan of a central library is that the country is too big. The books would get unnecessary wear in traveling and there would be waste of time in getting books into the hands of readers. The city is too small a unit, the country too large, the state just right." In closing the report we recommend that a committee of this association be ap- pointed to report on the progress of li- brary work for the blind at the next Con- ference. Respectfully submitted, EMMA R. NEISSER, For the Committee. The PRESIDENT: The report of the Committee will be received unless objec- tion is made, and the suggestion at the close of the report as to the appointment of a committee to continue the work will be referred to the Executive board. The Recorder then read the following letter from Mr Fletcher for the Commit- S22 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE tee on Title pages and indexes to periodicals. Amherst, Mass., June 15, 1908. Dear Mr Wyer: I am sorr>' to say that the A. L. A. Commit- tee on Title-pages, etc., has no report at all this year. 1 have been negligent of the matter as I did not intend to be and have not succeed- ed in securing the co-operation I hoped for from the Association of periodical publishers. The Committee has had no meeting and 1 cannot speak for the other members, but I leel sure we should welcome our release and the appoint- ment of another committee, it the Association cares to continue the subject. Sincerely yours, \V. 1. FLETCHER. The PRESIDENT: This seems to be a suggestion that the committee be dis- charged, and a motion to that effect will be entertained. Mr UTLEY: I make that motion. Seconded and carried. The PRESIDENT: The committee is discharged. The report of the Committee on Library administration will be shortly In print, you will all read it, and we will therefore have it this morning only by title. REPORT OF TH£ A. L. A. COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION The Committee on Library administra- tion which reported at the Asheville con- ference of 1907, while emphasizing the fact that the efficiency of the library can not be measured in terms of dollars and cents pressed home the desirability of studying economy in service, and submit- ted a suggestive list of questions as a basis of investigation. The present Committee sent out last spring, to 246 libraries, a questionnaire based upon the 1907 list. These libraries were chosen in the main from lists sent In by the various state commissioners to which your Committee appealed for ad- vice, and from a list of representative li- braries made up, a few years ago, by Mrs S. C. Fairchild, after consultation with 43 other librarians. The investigation was confined to public libraries of not less than 1000 nor more than 200,000 volumes. As a matter of fact, very few of the li- braries suggested have fewer than 5000 volumes. The questions asked, involving possible economies in administration, were ar^ ranged under the following heads: Ac- cession, Apprentices, Binding, Bookplates, Bulletins, Call numbers. Catalog, Classi- fication, Inventory, Loan system. Open shelves. Report, Shelflist and Work with schools. To the surprise of your Committee, who had perhaps somewhat underestimated the patience and devotion of their fellow li- brarians, 1S5 replies have been received. Your Committee thanks most heartily those busy men and women, upon whose desks a questionnaire from some one is usually lying, for their generous response. The chairman, however, swimming for dear life in the resulting sea of statistics and despairing at times of making a suc- cessful landing, has occasionally breathed a secret wish that the Committee had borne less of a resemblance to Oliver Twist, whose desire for "more" you doubt- less all remember. The libraries replying have been ar- ranged in three groups: Group A, 1000 to 10,000 volumes; Group B, 10,000 to 50, 000 volumes; Group 0, 50,000 to 200,000 volumes. The data received show that many li- braries are keeping records with a detail the value of which they doubt, and that many others while not, apparently, ques- tioning the value of certain processes, are unable to give a valid reason for continu- ing them. One librarian writes: "Some of the questions seem especially pertinent here and will, I think, lead to changing our present methods somewhat." Another says: "It has certainly suggested improve- ments and new methods." And still an- other, in answering the questions: "Do you keep a record of withdrawals? Does it pay?" writes "Doesn't. Glad you raised the question. Shall only keep a record of gross withdrawals." The same librarian goes on to say: "By our economies in rec- ords, we have been able to raise salaries to a figure above the cost of living, to catalog almost completely a library near- ly uncataloged, and to do it with the same 233 Income that was received when more rec- ords were kept." Conditions of course vary so greatly in libraries much the same to all outward seeming, that conclusions as to the neces- Blty, or even desirability of doing the same thing in the same way in any two libraries must be drawn with caution. Your Committee neither approves of nor advises uniformity. Neither, in seeking economical administration, do they mean to advocate the cheap and nasty. A cer- tain dignity and beauty should character- ize an institution whose mission is, in part at least, spiritual and intangible. It is our purpose to present here a re- port upon only six topics on which the data collected offer especially interesting information, leaving further material for another report. 1 Accession record. Is the accession book the most economical way of keeping this record? It so, what items should be filled in? If not, what record should take its place? Is the accession book the best way of getting at statistics of additions? In the World's fair papers of 1893, we read: 'In the 'Library Journal,' v. 3, will be found a discussion on the accession book, Mr Winsor claiming that it is un- necessary and that the business entries might be included in the shelflist. No other librarian came forward in support of his arguments, and it may be consid- ered that the question has been definitely settled, and in favor of the A. L. A. Stand- ard." (p. 820) But "the world do move" and when among libraries not using an accession book we find the Library of Congress, such university libraries as those of Co- lumbia, Harvard and Yale, such public li- braries as the City library association of Springfield, Mass., the Forbes library of Northampton, Mass., and the public libra- ries of Duquesne, Penn., Newark, N. J., La Crosse, Wis., and Washington, D. C, not to mention many others, we can no longer say truthfully that the book is a necessity. Obviously it Is not. Of the libraries in Group A (1000 to 10,000 volumes) 32 keep and 6 do not keep an orthodox accession book. Libraries accessioning by groups or bills are con- sidered as not keeping an accession book. In Group B (10,000 to 50,000 volumes) 99 libraries keep and 7 do not keep such a book. In Group C (50,000 to 200,000 vol- umes) 31 do and 8 do not keep one. We have then a total of 162 libraries keeping and 21 not keeping an accession book. Of the 21 libraries which do not keep the book, 10 are located in New England and 6 in Wisconsin. A far larger proportion of the small libraries, which keep few records, and of the large libraries, which usually multiply records, have discarded the book than of the libraries in our mid- dle group. It is impossible to go fully into all the substitute methods used for recording accession facts. Nine libraries rely upon bills, shelflist or both; 2 on order cards or order cards and bills; 6 accession by group or bill; while Mr Drew B. Hall's classified accession record and the scheme used in Brookline, Mass., afford most interesting variations. Brookline, which asserts that it has saved "immensely" by its departure from orthodox tradition, keeps "a brief classi- fied list of all accessions, giving number of volumes, class and book number and price (e.g. 1 958 F87 5.25) from which yearly statistics are taken. Gifts are en- tered in red ink with G in place of the price. Entries are made in this list when the books are sheltiisted. All information of permanent value in this record is printed in the appendix to the library report. The book, therefore, will not be- come a permanent or cumbersome posses- sion of the library, but may be destroyed when replaced by a new one. On the back of the title-page and on the shelflist are noted price, source, date of bill (abbreviations being used), class and book number." "I am so sure", writes the librarian, "that we all ought to give up the old form of accession book, that I speak feelingly. It may be that we can still further slm- 224 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE plify our little book, but It is a very sim- ple thing compared with the old elephant. We have been asked about our methods many times, and I don't remember to have heard one single argument in favor of the old book, except the unfortunate New York state rule. We found that we never referred to our old accession book except to find the cost of a book, and we finally decided that in case of lost books to be paid for, it was more to the point to find the present price than the original cost." Thirteen other libraries which have dis- carded the book affirm that they have effected a saving thereby, while 2 which accession by bill, feel that no time has been saved. One "would not advise a bill accession record in a library without a trained assistant. ' Leavenworth (Kan.) writes; "We threw over the accession book for a while, but found it very inconvenient to do without it; and almost nothing was saved, as it was found necessary to record its items elsewhere, on shelflist, catalog cards, bills, etc." The writing of author and title is Burely saved, even it all other items are recorded elsewhere. Washington, (D. C.) where order cards, filed by number, become the accession record, writes: "We believe it saves the time of one person." Mr W. P. Cutter, of the Forbes library, Northampton, Mass., which uses order cards and bills, asserts: "The accession book is complete foolishness. 1 can tell the minutest detail with reference to the book without seeing either the book or the record of an accession book." New Haven, (Conn.) which accessions by lots, writes: "We gave up the L. B. accession book and other more condensed books, because we considered the time practically wasted. The item we most wanted was the publisher's name, and this we now place on the catalog card." Mr H. C. Wellman, of Springfield, Mass., where cost, source and date of receipt are entered on the shelflist, says: "When we did keep an accession book, cost was the only item of value, except very occasion- ally the source from which purchased. . . Ai? to the disadvantages (of the present scheme), we have experienced none. There has not come up a single instance where the old accession record would have been more advantageous to us. and so far as we can see, the present system furnishes all the desirable information that was offered in the old. The informa- tion is kept in a much more accessible place and is recorded with far less labor." Is it not true that the shelflist is a "more accessible" place for accession facts? The "immutable accession book" can not be consulted without its mutable key — catalog or shelflist card — why not, then, put the information in the place to which one first turns for it? Is the accession book the most economical way of getting at statistics of additions? Of 154 libraries answering the question: Do you take your statistics of additions from your accession book? Nine answer no; 4 in part; and 142 yes. Many of the 142 libraries when asked: Why do you think this the most economical way of getting at them? reply that it Is "easy", "quick", "accurate", "the only complete record", while others advance the less cogent reason: "Has always been the way", "Never tried any other". If a library reports only total additions, the accession book certainly is a royal read to the facts wanted, but, as the librarian In New Britain (Conn.) writes: "It is not a convenient way of finding the books added in each class." Nfwavk (N. J.) never did take statis- tics from the accession book, even when one was kept. Duluth takes its statistics from summary cards of additions made out each month. The librarian in Pomona (Cal.), who takes hers from the shelflist cards, before filing, writes: "The prin- cipal reason I do not make the record of additions from the accession book is that T do not enter the class number there. Next, reports of additions are made monthly, and often books hang over, and BACON i2b the accession record would not rightly represent the books added." Northampton has a special printed form for statistics. Springfield (Mass.) keeps statistics "by pencil mark under class on rough sheet." It would seem as though, it classified statistics of additions could be taken from shelflist cards before filing, the writing of the class and book number in the acces- sion book might be dispensed with, and much time saved. Your chairman fol- lowed this method in the New Britain (Conn.) Institute, a library of some iiO.OOO volumes, when forced to economize time, and suffered no inconvenience there- from. Are there any other items, filled out by many libraries, which might be spared? It is impossible to consider here in detail each item in the ordinary accession book, but we wish to take up briefly paging, binding and size. Eighty libraries do and 78 do not give paging. Of the 80 giving paging, only 30 state that they find it use- ful, and 3 that they are in doubt about it. Why are the remaining 47 libraries filling iu this item? It is painful to go into some small libraries and find a librarian with no time to mend her books, much less to know them, but with every item in the Condensed accession book filled out in a beautiful script. Our statistics show that a greater proportion of the smaller libraries than of the larger are filling in pagination. One hundred and two libraries do, and 56 do not, fill in binding. Two of the 102 flU it in only when other than cloth. Thirty-six .Ind this item useful and 3 ques- tion its usefulness. Why are the other 63 libraries still painstakingly writing it in? One hundred and one libraries do, and 67 do not, fill in size. Three of the 101 give size only when unusual. Forty-seven find this useful and 3 doubt its use. Why are the other 51 still giving it? Some libraries may need data that others do not, but do not these few statis- tics suffice to show us that each in his own library should oar fully consider whether he is consuming time over un- necessary data? A librarian, who writes that ever since she has been in the pro- fession she has felt that to be up to date one "must be an inventor of more things to do," writes: "Let us spend less time measuring books and more in keeping healthy nerves, that our patrons may feel we are comfortable, cheery helpers and not nerve-racked machines!" 2 Binding. Are we penny wise and pound foolish in our binding? Are we los- ing money because we do not put a suf- ficiently good binding on our books to start with? Mr J. C. Dana has shown in his book on this subject that a binding which does not need renewal is, even if more expensive in the beginning, an economy In the end. To the question: Have you tried new books in special pub- lisher's bindings at slightly increased cost? 39 libraries answered no, 133 yes. Nineteen of the 133 have not tried these bindings long enough to venture an opin- ion. Nine find Ihem fair, 6 unsatisfactory and 93 satisfactory as to durability, though Fome of these regard them as unattractive. A few of the answers may be of interest: "Plates fell out of two books at third is- sue. Ugly." "Extremely good — Scribners' especially so. Those bought a year ago as good as to sewing as when purchased, but the green buckram wears grey." "A popular book In this binding bought 18 months ago has never been rebound and is still in good condition. One mend- ing and one rebinding is recorded of other books bought at the same time." "Outwear other publishers' bindings, but not so attractive in color." "Wear much longer, but so unattractive that they are shunned." "Tried a few and think it sensible, but public like the look of a new book with Its specially designed cover." "Yes, tried a few of Scribners.' Back and front same as other edition, so that the public recognize them for new books." "Very satisfactory. Don't have to take 226 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE a book out of circulation' when popular, to reblnd." "Last twice as long as regular bind- ing." "Do not wear sufficiently well to pay for the extra cost." "Well worth while. Glasgow's "Battle- ground," issued by Page, not rebound for 4 and 5 years. One copy used 6 years." "Yes, a few of Scribners.' Sewing and forwarding extremely well done, but cases lack distinction and will need relettering." "Are giving them up — open badly." "Very good. Wish others would encour- age the publishers by buying more." "Some publishers very satisfactory, others not." "Wear better. Binding not pretty. Pub- lic object to them in pay collection." As the weight of testimony is in favor of the special bindings, your Committee recommend a more general trial of them. They also suggest that the libraries using them, either individually or through the Binding committee of this Association, make known to the publishers, if they have not done so already, what improve- ments ought to be made in these library bindings to make them attractive. 3 Bookplates. An artistic bookplate is a joy forever. But many libraries can afford only the cheapest sort. Is the plate a necessity or a luxury? If we use it, may we not distinguish in its use between gift books and those purchased? or books that circulate and are fitted with a bookpocket which marks ownership, and reference books? or books which, like most fiction and juveniles, are often rebound, and therefore often replated, and those seldom rebound? Your Committee finds that 94 libraries plate all. while Sfi omit the plate from some or all of their books. Of these 86, 18 omit it from all their books, 14 from books which circulate (with occasional ex- ceptions in the case of gifts), 10 from all but gifts, 6 from all but books bought with special funds, 13 from fiction, 12 from juveniles, 4 from government docu- ments and 2 from school collections. Four libraries using the plate think it unnecces- sary, 11 desirable, while 57 seem to believe it essential. The reasons most frequently given for its use are that it is a "mark of owner- ship", that it "identifies the book" and "provides a place for rules or callnum- ber". One librarian, in answer to the question: "Why is a plate neccessary?" says: "It isn't"; another, "Just habit!" Another: "Seems to me quite unnecessary — merely a custom"; and another: "It never occurred to me that a library could exist without one!" Other answers are: "Not necessary, but desirable, as perhaps the most natural indication of ownership, and is more permanent." "Principally to gratify the esthetic sense." "The bookpocket answers all purposes of the bookplate." (La Crosse) "Quick means of identification where a family is using books from several libraries." "Not necessary. Kept for sentimental reasons." (Northampton) "Not necessary. Justified on the score of dignity." (New Haven) "A good looking plate is an important mark of ownership and a great safeguard against theft." (Brookline) "Not necessary —advisable, for the same reason as a handsome building — lends dignity and inspires respect." "Would class bookplates and neckties together — a starving man or a starving library can dispense with them." (New Britain, Conn.) Since nearly half of the libraries an- swering this question dispense with the plate in some or all of their books, your Committee is of the opinion that libraries which feel poor (and the majority seem to be in that condition) should carefully consider the advisability of omitting the plate from at least fiction and juveniles. A gift plate is a rather different matter. Courtesy and cupidity seem to unite in demanding its use. We should show our gratitude for what we have received and we also desire to attract other gifts. 227 One hundred and six libraries use, 68 do not use, 2 occasionally use a gift book- plate. Almost all the libraries in Group C (50,000 to 200,000 volumes) use such a plate. 4 Booknumbers. Should we assign them to fiction? If not, how may we secure alphabetic arrangement on the shelves when (a) some of an author's books are lettered with pseudonym and some with real name? (b) different authors have the same surname? Should booknumbers be dropped in classes other than fiction, and if so, in which? One hunderd and thirty-nine libraries assign and 41 do not assign booknumbers to fiction. Five of the 139 which assign booknumbers use no label on the back. None of the libraries in Group A (1000- 10,000 volumes) have dropped booknum- bers In non-fiction. Among libraries of over 10,000 volumes, we find 6 using no booknumbers, Amsterdam, (N. Y.), At- lanta and Savannah, (Ga.), Dallas and Galveston, (Texas), and Topeka, (Kan.), and 2, New Rochelle, (N. Y.) and Seattle, (Wash.) using booknumbers for biography only, while 6 other libraries omit from one or two classes, as reference books, magazines, etc. Some libraries re-letter or label in case of pseudonyms, etc., to get books by the same author together; others do not seem to care whether they are together or not. It seems likely that the public do not care 80 much as we think they do whether or no G. P. R. James' novels, for instance, are mixed up with Henry James'! One librarian says: "Do not think absolute arrangement on shelves worth anywhere near the cost", and another: "Doubt if numbers would keep them (i. e. books by authors with same surname) separate on open shelves." To the question: Is time lost through want of booknumbers which might offset time saved by not being obliged to find numbers and mark and re-mark books? Two of those libraries dropping book- numbers answer yes and 30 no. Four libraries, Bellingham, (Wash.), Pittsfield, (Mass.), Mt. Vernon, (N. Y.) and Watertown, (Wis.) tried dropping them and decided that it did not pay. Watertown writes: "Have experimented without and find in every respect, filing shelf cards, putting books on the shelves and in the charging system, that it is neither a time or labor-saving device to omit call numbers. It is certainly a dis- advantage, especially where there is an apprentice system and other untrained help." Mt. Vernon (N. Y.) which tried dropping booknumbers for non-fiction reports: "We lost so much time through unexpected and constantly arising difficulties that we were glad to go back to Cutter numbers. New Rochelle (N. Y.) writes: "Dropped from all except biography. Left these, as two names on the back of the book would confuse the page. In a library of our size (21,531 volumes) this makes no trouble. A very large library would prob- ably find it hard to keep the books in alphabetic order." Cedar Rapids (la.) writes that while they would not consider going back to Cutter numbers for fiction, they are in- clined to retain them for adult non-fiction, because of analytics and different editions. Two or three libraries assert that drop- ping Cutter numbers makes for more In- telligent service. Dayton (O.) writes; "Ridiculous ever to give fiction call numbers." Toledo (O.) which uses Cutter numbers, but does not put them on the back of the book, says: "Our boys got no aid from them; the public was largely confused by them, so we dropped them both from the backs of the books and the catalog cards." 5 Reports. It has been suggested that some of the smaller libraries may be spending money on printed reports which is more needed for something else and that a column in the newspaper would answer their purpose equally well. The statistics here are distinctly en- couraging. In Group A (1000-10,000 vol- umes) 6 libraries do, 32 do not issue printed reports. Twenty-seven of the 228 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE 32 that do not are printing their report in the newspapers and at least 23 of these seem to he satisfied with that method. As the libraries grow, the proportion printing a report naturally increases. Hence in Group B (10,000-50,000 volumes) we find 57 issuing and 47 not issuing printed reports. The majority of those not printing their reports issue them through the papers, and fully two thirds of these express themselves as well satis- fied. In Group C (50,000-200,000 volumes) 38 print, while only one does not print a re- port. Several libraries allude to the exchange value of a report, the necessity of hav- ing a permanent history of the library and the valuable suggestions librarians get from reports of other libraries. One librarian writes: "The report ministers to local pride and helps towards future appropriations. It is more accessible than the paper for reference." Another: "We have a column in the paper and have a number of copies struck off tor $1." La Crosse (Wis.) writes: "The report In the newspaper reaches more people." Are library reports limited to what is Btrictly essential? It would seem not (though only 16 librarians admit that their reports may not be necessary in their present fulness) and if not, what can we afford to omit? b) "Details of the regular administration which have no interest or significance for the public. These should be written up, filed for use of the librarian, and read to the trustees, if they will listen to them!" It such details were omitted, ac- cording to Mr Wellman's suggestion, many reports would be much curtailed, while the writing out and filing of such data would meet the objection made by an- other librarian to condensing her report — that It is "important to preserve the history of the library in permanent and convenient form." b) "Twaddle" to quote another New England librarian, "might well be spared. Statements such as the following, taken from an actual report, are of no use ex- cept as a soporific: 'The reference depart- ment maintains its valuable character. . . . The reference rooms are visited daily by persons seeking information on special subjects.' " "The newspaper reading-room is visited by a number of persons who go to the room daily, to read daily papers or other periodicals, usually passing some hours in the room and keeping informed on all questions of local or general interest." c) Some statistics? One librarian says: "Omit as many as possible." Another: "I use no tables, as I never can read them." Another yearns to omit "everything but statistics". Dayton (0.) has "dropped much statistical matter." Little light is gained from the answers to this question. Perhaps a good place to start a reform would be in the detailed tables of statis- tics of circulation, given in so many re- ports. A librarian writes: "Daily, week- ly, monthly averages have no value when the annual circulation is given. The largest and smallest daily circulation have absolutely no value. Sometimes these are of Interest if printed the next day in the newspapers, though they have no real significance." d) The gift list might be cut out or cur- tailed, as suggested by several librarians. The libraries questioned are pretty evenly divided as to their practice In printing or not printing a complete list of gifts. The chief reasons given in its favor are: "It encourages others to give"; "It is cour- teous"; "Most people like it"; "Should treat all alike"; "It gratifies vanity to the net profit of the library", while one li- brarian reposes in the fact that "It always has been done", and another honest soul remarks: "We are slaves to custom!" The principal reasons assigned against printing a complete gift list are as fol- lows: "Uninteresting detail", "Gifts mostly trivial", "Useless expense — no one reads it. We print only notable gifts", "Costs more than the gifts are worth". In answering the question: Would not a selected list of gifts made by individuals, BACON 229 or of notable gifts, serve as well? 16 say no, 3 possibly, 3 better and 34 yes. Miss Hooper of Brookline, writes: "Could your Committee not dissuade small libraries from printing a long list of givers, including every library which gives them a bulletin? It seems such a waste of effort. Why not publish only important gifts? It might then encourage more of that kind." "Possibly in a small country town," writes another, "it is wisest to print all gifts, as feelings are easily hurt and some people like to see their names in print, but it seems to me foolish to print the name of every library sending us a re- port." Springfield (Mass.) does not include gifts and reports from libraries, institu- tions, etc. Gifts from individuals are re- corded and also those from societies, etc., It of special value. It may be necessary to include gifts from individuals, especially local gifts, and possible to exclude those from libra- ries and other institutions. Or, in the larger libraries, it may be best to mention only especially valuable gifts. Two pessimistic servants of the public In answering this question: What could you profitably omit? reply: "All — never heard anybody express the slightest in- terest in it" and "All of it, except for the pleasure of the librarian". Providence (R. I.) includes some fea- tures only on alternate years. Mr Ranck, of Grand Rapids, puts in per- haps the strongest plea for a full report, as follows: "It shows how the public money was expended and justifies its work in the eyes of thousands who can understand things only when they are given in full with definiteness and exactness. "It is a hand book for the Library board, a text book for the library assist- ants (especially the new ones), an unfail- ing encyclopedia for the librarian, with the help of which he is enabled to answer the hundreds of sets of questions that are sent annually by other librarians prepara- tory to writing papers for the A. L. A., or preparatory to influencing their boards on matters in which they have neglected to keep the proper figures." Is it necessary to acknowledge (outside of the report) library bulletins, reports, etc.? Eighteen say yes; 70, no; 12 more say it is courteous so to do; 13 that it Is unnecessary to acknowledge exchanges; while 10 never acknowledge bulletins, 10 acknowledge them yearly, and 19 feel it necessary to acknowledge reports. Davenport (la.) says: "It would save time if all libraries abandoned the cus- tom." And Springfield (Mass.), "No, it Is simply a nuisance to the library receiving the acknowledgments. It is unnecessary also to acknowledge reports of societies. Institutions, etc. When government doc- uments need acknowledgment, a form is received on the volumes." 6 Cataloging. College and purely ref- erence libraries obviously need a fuller description of their books on their cata- log cards than is needed by the average public library. Fuller detail may be needed on cards in the public library where the books are shut away from the reader than in that where he has access to the shelves. But are not many of us, from force of habit, continuing, in this our day of collections of popular books on open shelves, methods which were appro- priate for scholarly books on closed shelves, but go into refinements needless in public library work? Let us take two or three points in cat- aloging from among those investigated and consider them. Is it necessary to write the accession number on the catalog card or cards? If so, why? 106 libraries report themselves as doing it; 56 as not doing it. Two libra- ries put the number on the card because they charge by accession number, but the reasons most frequently given for this practice are that it shows how many copies the library has, that it "helps to identify the book and that it affords a short cut to the accession book, instead of proceeding via the sheltlist, when one needs to find cost of a lost book, etc." 230 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Why need the catalog tell the number of copies in the library? It means hauling out and changing more cards when copies are added or discarded. Again, why not note cost on shelflist card, and save ref- erence to the accession book? Of course, if your accession number is not on your catalog card and you don't remember the class number of your book, two references are necessary to get at the facts in your accession record, but is it not easier to make these two references on the few oc- casions needful, than to put hundreds of accession numbers that will never be used on the backs of your cards? Fifteen of the libraries writing the number think it unnecessary, and several say they mean to stop. To the question: Why does it pay? Pomona (Cal.) an- swers: "Doesn't — tried both ways"; Pitts- fleld (Mass.), "Think there's no necessity and shall hereafter omit it"; and Port- land (Ore.), "We used to do it and it does not pay." Again, is It necessary to run to earth every one of an author's baptismal names, though he may not be known by them and may have made strenuous efforts to lose a few of them on life's journey? Why Charles John Huffam Dickens? He's a stranger. Charles Dickens we know and love. And if Pierre prefers being plain Pierre to being Charles-Jean-Pierre-Henri- Oustave, why should not we let him? One hundred and two give authors' full names; 27 give them with such fulness as can be easily found; 9 give in the most familiar form and 5 follow the title-page. £5 of the 102 giving full names deny or doubt the value of this. Why, then, do they continue in their evil ways? One librarian, when asked whether it paid, replied with feeling; "No, most pos- itively. Hours are spent in searching bio- graphical dictionaries, and in 10 years never have we had occasion to use more than the initials for the middle name!" How far is it necessary, if we use Library of Congress cards, to conform to them in writing others? One librarian writes: "Because of L. C. cards, we are quite full. Have wished L. C. were not so full!" How full imprint are we using on our fiction cards, and why? Novels wear out rapidly, are replaced, are duplicated. If the card is to tell the truth about all the copies in the library, it must often be withdrawn from the catalog and changes in imprint noted. If the imprint doesn't tell the truth, why take the trouble to write it in the first place? Twenty-eight libraries give no Imprint lor fiction; 2 give number of volumes only; 12, date only; 9, date and pubiisher; 12, date and place; while 46 are giving com- plete or nearly complete Imprint! Why? Not always because they think it useful, evidently, for we have such statements as the following: "Could spare about all but author and title on fiction cards." "Could spare all but date and standard edition In fiction. Use full imprint for uniformity." 'If beginning new catalog, would give only date and omit that from non-copyright Ac- tion." "Could spare all but date for fiction." "Could spare all but number of volumes for fiction." One library which gives no Imprint for fiction assures us that in six years' ex- perience It has never been needed. Time falls us to speak of all that might witn profit be omitted trom catalog cards. The size letter, for instance, why are we putting that on the catalog cards of any public library? Yet 11 out of 27 libraries of less than 10,000 volumes are giving It, although t; of the 11 think it could be spared. But It seems as though the greatest econ- omy that could be effected in library ad- mir.istratlon would be the centralization of the questionnaire business. If libraries could report important changes in methods and new schemes adopted, to A. L. A head- quarters, where such material might be classified and filed and If libraries seeking Information could but seek It through headquarters, would not much time be saved all round? A Library, for instance, insteal of df^scribing its accession record 14 times for 14 different librarians, would 231 place it on file where it would be accessi- ble to all. Of course it would be expensive to maintain at headquarters a suiliciently large clerical force to carry this out, but think of the gain to the individual libra- ries. Where is the millionaire, looking for a good use to make of his money, who will make it possible for us to try this scheme toward realization of which so many of us have long been looking? The questionnaire is not the only way in which woik is being duplicated. Look at the number of lists of books compiled by librarians. A does not know that B has compiled a good list on a subject in which A's library is interested and so he makes one himself. If he could have found out through a central bureau that B had printed such a list and could have ordered copies for his own use, he might have saved the cost of composition, proof-read- ing, etc. In closing, your Committee begs leave to transmit the following suggestion from Miss Mary Fiances Isom, of Portland, Ore- gon: "The president of my board has Just rend over the questions and he says that he wishes there might be an intelligent set of ques-tions sent out on the salary ques- tion, hours of labor, etc., and the results tabulated. That kind of information is so difhcult to get either from reports or let- ters." CORINNE BACON, Chairman. SULA WAGNER. HILLER C. WELLMAN. The PRESIDENT: The discussion of the morning is one on open shelves and book losses, a subject which is of vital interest to every librarian of a free public library. When we open our parks to the public we notice that a great many people pick flowers and walk on the grass and do other things that are objectionable. The question arises at just what point these injurious actions become sufficiently im- portant to shut up the parks. Undoubted- ly they might at some point become so important; trees might be cut down by people with axes and the grass might be entirely ruined — the park might be wrecked. If anything like that should happen, undoubtedly the park would be shut up. At just what point does the in- jury become so great as to warrant closing the park? There are some people, although probably they are in a minority, who think that the question of book-losses in open shelf libraries has become so serious that it nas become practically necessary for us to close up our shelves. If so it is a very important fact which all of us should know, and we therefore welcome such a discussion as the oue before us this morn- ing. It will be opeuded by a paper by Miss Isabel Kly bord of the Pratt Institute free library, Brooklyn, on OPEN SHELVES AND THE LOSS OF BOOKS Movements and doctrines are vague things as to their beginnings, and many a controversy has arisen in the attempt to assign accurate dates of birth to them. But in this amicable assembly it may be safe to state that the "open shelf" move- ment in American free public libraries comes of age at this conference. Twenty- one years ago, at the Thousand Islands, Mrs Sanders appeared before the American Library Association and told of the emi- nently successful experiment at Pawtucket, in allowing all users of the library to see, touch and handle for themselves the books as they stood on the shelves. The account was gicpted with enthusiasm, and Mrs Sanders was praised and envied for what she was able to do in her small library in her small community, although of course, said the "large librarians," Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is one thing, and New York City is another. But presently Cleveland started bravely forth, and then free access v.'as granted so rapidly in so many kinds of libraries that the tale would be a hard one to tell with any degree of accuracy. And not only New York City, but Greater New York, in all five of her boroughs, al- lows free access to all her collections of 2S2 MINNETONKA CONFEJRENCE circulating books, and in 1907 gave out to her inhabitants a grand total of 9,461,848 volumes.* Such a wide adoption of a library policy speaks strongly on its behalf, but is not necessarily proof of its wisdom and justice. There are still librarians, honored among us, and even more there are trustees, who not only doubt the wisdom and justice of the policy, but hold it to be totally per- nicious. The public press occasionally gives wide publicity to the fearful losses of books by theft, and if, being librarians, we refr.ain from getting into a panic or becoming hysterical, we yet do sometimes feel a bit uneasy about some of the accusa- tions. This paper Is the result of an In- xestigation of the actual facts of these losses of books, in order that both opponents and advocates of what we in America have agreed to call the "open shelf," may de- cide for themselves as to future policy and practice. It deals only with the question of free public libraries, where the condi- tions of use differ essentially from those of the society, club, college, university, or other institutional library. Its further lim- itations will appear as the different sub- jects are treated But before turning to these facts and figures let us give a few moments to the consideration of the general principle In- volved in throwing the shelves open to the public, and to the minor objections to this that have been at different times set forth. Such a general state- ment is necessary if we are at the end to draw any definite conclusion. The public library, as an educational institution, has a different function from that of any other part of our educational system. This function approaches nearest to that of the public museum, but by Its sending out volumes for home use the library has a wider and a more varied In- •Tliis, It should be noted, does not Include the circulation of books through the schools — so large an clement with nian.v public libraries^ as In New Yorls this Is carried on by the Board of education. The issue here for 1008- 1907 was 6,2:J2.09G, making the 1907 total free circulation for Greater New York certalnl.r over fifteen and a half millions. fluence. Supplementary to formal educa tion, its chief aims are two; first, to en- able any member of its community to get as readily and easily as possible at any needed information that is contained in the printed page; second, to stimulate, to encourage, and sometimes to direct the knowledge and love of books. The first of these ends, the information side, is served largely, although by no means en- tirely, through the reference department of the library. Long before there was any consideration of free access to any other part of the library books, it was generally held necessary to have the most commonly used reference books on open shelves. The reason for this in many cases was the somewhat ignoble one of desiring to save the library attendants trouble, but the advantages were so im- mediately obvious that reference depart- ments soon enlarged their open shelf col- lections, and the practice is now almost universal. This does not mean, of course, that all the books of large reference col- lections are accessible to everyone, nor is such a practice, so far as I know, any- where advocated. In a large reference collection a great many books are rare, either in the book markets or as to li- brary use; a great many have such a high value as to tempt the professional thief; a great many are in size, shape, style of binding, or quality of illustrations, un- suited to general indiscriminate handling. The collection that is needed for current general use is more easily watched by the reference attendants than is a circulating collection of proportionate size, and al- together the problem of open shelves In the reference department is a less serious one. It will therefore not be treated in this paper further except as losses of ref- erence books are given in the statistical statement. This side of imparting Information Is also, natui-ally a large part of the work of the circulating department of the li- brary. But here the question is a differ- ent one. If the information wanted is a brief, definite answer to any question, the LORD 23a chances are that it will be best furnished by the reference department, but some- thing more general and discursive, some- thing to be studied or even to be skimmed over at home — here the circulating de- partment must be appealed to. And then there are the people who want "collateral reading" for their studies; those who want something worth while for their en- joyment; those who vaguely want "some- thing nice to read" to pass away the time; those who want only novels, perhaps only the new novels, know what they want, and are not always pleasant when they do not get it, and those who come seek- ing the inspiration to be had from the great masters of expression in words. How are all these people to be served best? As to their own preference, there Is no question. The people who use a public library prefer to see the books as they stand on the shelves, to take them down and look at them, to feel free among them. To the great majority of those who use the library and perhaps to all who should be using it and are not, the card catalog is a stumbling-block. Even to one trained in the use of a catalog — which chiefly means a librarian — the card conveys nothing as to the condition, print- ing, or literary style of the book, and often not even the inclusiveness of its scope. This is equally true of the printed catalog, whose sole advantages over the card catalog are ease of use. portability and readiness of duplication. But how would any librarian here like to select his or her personal reading for a year from a catalog, whether printed in a book or written on cards? To stimulate and encourage the knowl- edge and love of books, so I have stated the second general aim of the library. Would anything serve to that end better than the handling of books themselves? The examining and choosing is in itself an educational process, and the chances are few that the "real right book" will get to a member of the "public," when he is not looking for a definite book, through catalog and messenger compared to his chances when he is allowed to search and find for himself what is to him the pearl among the heap of pebbles. The very reading the titles on the backs of the books is enlightening, edifying and broad- ening. No one who has noted the differ- ence in use of the same books in the same library with open and with closed shelves can hesitate as to this. In the "Library Journal" for December 1900 (25:741) Miss Mary W. Plummer gave an interesting list of such differences in the Pratt Institute free library. If Kate Douglas Wiggins' "Children's rights" went out 16 times from the open shelves to 9 times from the stack; and the life of Lady Burton 20 times to 7, "Silas Mar- ner" 27 times to 12, Hamerton's "Thoughts on art" 10 times to 4, were not people being definitely better served? And every open shelf collection shows a similar re- sult. If figures that were fairly compara- tive were available it seems almost cer- tain that the fiction percentage would be lower In the open shelf collection. Open shelves are not, indeed, as Mr S. S. Green pointed out years ago, a panacea, but surely the time is passed when we need to discuss with that curiously facetious body of English librarians known as The Pseudonyms, "whether free access Is a library method or a disease." If we cease to be our official selves for a moment, can we fail to echo Mr Putnam's words spoken In 1891? "I cannot believe there is a li- brarian who has felt as a reader and would not himself be urgent for free ac- cess. The problem is one of means." To quote once more, the burden of proof is surely, as Mr Brett said at Atlanta, on the other side. What objections do the objectors bring? First, frequently, and in a few instances as a main objec- tion, there is the confusion of books re- sulting from misplacement. Librarians differ very much in their opinions as to this, but few hold it a serious argument against allowing people to look at the books. Those who are looking for a definite book, especially if other than fic- tion, are best served by asking a member 234 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE of the library staff to find it. Decimal points, Cutter numbers and dummies are enough to make it well nigh impossible for the user to be sure that the book is not "in." The reader who wants a defi- nite book is always quickest served through the catalog and a call-slip, and this can be done in an open shelf exactly as well as in a closed library. This has not always been sufficiently impressed on staff, users, or both, but it is certainly true. The only possible difficulty here is caused by misplacement on the shelves. A librarian can often find by a casual glance a book thus misplaced; but the difficulty must, of course, be guarded against by constant revision of the order of books on the shelves. In 18 of the li- braries who answered the questions sent them for this paper, shelves are so rear- ranged daily or oftener. This means very little danger of missing the books asked for. Four of the librarians have their revision weekly, four report "continuous- ly" but do not say how long a time it takes to revise the whole collection. Un- fortunately the word "revision" used in the question proved ambiguous to some, and the statistics on the subject are not full. But they show sufficiently that li- braries are guarding against this difficulty of misplacement on the shelves. Some of the English libraries have a tiny colored label on each book, a color being assigned to a class of books, an admirable means of detecting at once a blue history book that has strayed into pink sociology. The plan was tried in the Pratt Institute free li- brary for its first small open shelf collec- tion, and worked well, but has not as yet been applied to the much larger collection now open. It would be interesting to learn If it is used in any large American collec- tion. I have not been able to trace one. A second objection is to the extra wear and tear on the books. If this is induced by idle and fruitless handling, the ob- jection is valid, but if It is the result of an educational process, the wear and tear is only part of running expenses. Of course people should be taught to handle books carefully, but that is easy to do where books are treated with what one might almost call courtesy by the library staff, and if signal offenders among the readers are remonstrated with. The increased cost of administration is sometimes held up as an objection, but on the other hand its decreased cost is some- times held up as an argument for open shelves. There are apparently no figures to prove either side. We were taught early in our youth that we couldn't add oranges and apples and get a resultant sum that could be expressed in terms of either. So it is impos- sible to icckou cost of administration in two such different states of library life. In the first plare an open shelf library In- creases in use more rapidly than its older brother. If there are exceptions to this rule I have never found one. Increase of use means increase in cost of administra- tion, but increase due only to this we should be ungrateful to charge to open shelves. Otherwise how can we reckon? The time of the staff is differently spent. The majority of people — and the over- whelming majority of fiction readers — find books for themselves, so that the librarians are freer to give Individual help. But the revision of shelves takes perhaps as much time as the getting of books in the old dajs; it is hard to tell. A number of li- brarians report that more time is spent under the open shelf system in assisting readers, but that this they consider a great gain. The answer from Cleveland ex- presses concisely the opinion evidently held in most open shelf libraries, "We believe that the same amount of time spent under the open shelf arrangement gives far bet- ter service to readers." A further objection is to the larger amount of space required for the storage of books if readers are to have access to them. This objection is not a serious one lo-day, when circulating collections are un- likely to grow to unwieldy dimensions, since branch libraries arise gradually to re- lieve them. Perhaps the most serious of the minor LORD 235 objections is one that has not been mucli regardpd by librarians generally. So sure are we that our one aim in life is to serve any and nvery one in our community that we forget that the "public" does not al- ways read our somewhat cabalistic signs aright. Writing in the "Library World," Mr Edward Foskett once said of the open shelf arrangement: "From a reader's point of view it is the librarian's 'I-don't-ljnow- help-youi-self-and-don't-bother-me' system." Knowing our intentions, we cry out againsi this as absurd, but the fact remains that it is the impression of a great many readers. And we must take people as they are, and not as they ought to be — as we interpret 'ought.'' People with this idea fail to get the assistance they need because they think they are expected to find things for themselves, and they do not like to "trouble the young ladies." Of the major- ity of the libraries who were asked if they found this a difficulty, 17 find prac- tically none and to 12 it seems slight. The attitude of helpfulness, which is that of every good library staff, is certainly the best preventive for this particular difficulty. But this attitude of helpfulness should mean, among other things, constantly re- minding peiiple in definite words that get- ting the book he wants to the reader is "what we are here for," and that no one should hesitate to ask for help either in finding a definite book or in solving any other library problem. The most enlight- ening thing a librarian can do in order to learn whether this difficulty exists in his or her own library is to take a wander- hour in the circulating collection, casual- ly accosting those who are approachable. In the small community personal acquaint- ance eliminates this particular difficulty, but in the large community— not the large library, but the large community — the problem becomes a formidable one. But people will gradually come to understand the ends and aims of the library, and 20 years of open shelves will probably di- minish this problem to the vanishing point. There are other minor and sometimes unique objections but it seems hardly worth while to answer our English brother, who solemnly proclaims that under the open shelf system "difficulty is felt in the staff doing work without being overlooked by inquisitive readers, and that encourage- ment is given for the staff to waste time chatting with the readers." So let us turn at last to our muttons. When the question of open shelves was brought up at the 1877 international con- ference, the chief objection made was to the increased loss and mutilation of books that would be sure to follow, and here to- das lies the crux of the whole matter. The losses are greater. What do we lose by them? There are two sides to this, the finan- cial and the moral. The financial side was formerly more considered than it la now, for two reasons. First, it now ap- pears that the money losses are seldom great; second, because it is coming to be recognized that a heavy money loss is less serious than is the moral responsi- bility of fostering crime in a community. If open shelves do foster crime, they are not permissible, for if an educational in- stitution stands for anything in a com- munity, it stands for moral betterment as much as for intellectual betterment. Either without the other leads to danger; only both together help us along the path of progress. The question, then, to be de- cided is whether the privilege of open shelves is a demoralizing influence in a community because it suggests or encour- ages theft. Does it, in other words, make thieves? If it does no more than give opportunity to those in the community who are already thieves the situation is a different one. In answering this ques- tion, the difficulty at once arises of our ignorance of the personality of those who steal our books. A rare thief is caught, and certain deductions may be made from the character of the books stolen, but these are slim premises. We must, how- ever, do our best with them. One word about the facts presented in this paper. They are taken from the answers to a series of questions sent to 236 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE 36 libraries circulating over 200,000 vol- umes a year and to 12 libraries in small communities, selected as typical. Of these all but one of the larger and one of the smaller libraries answered, with a promptness and courtesy that I wish pub- licly to acknowledge here. The figures asked for were not easy to give, and in some cases answers were impossible, but the attempt to do as much as possible to help was general, and to the courtesy and patience of the questionnaire-besieged li- brarians who answered mine, is due the whole value of this paper. Six of the larger libraries were unable to send figures, because reclassifying or reor- ganizatioii is under way, and one because the first complete inventory for years is now being made. One library— Cincin- nati— does not believe in inventories, and does not take them. Mr Hodges says: "My objections to attempting an Inventory of a large library In which the books are In active use, is based upon what I have seen in one of the large libraries In the East. In that library an attendant was employed at a salary of $600, to go with shelflist from one department to another constantly. At the close of the year his report was to the effect that so many volumes, 150 or 200, were unaccounted for. Fully 50% of those turned up within a year, they had simply been overlooked, and that not through carelessness, but owing to the inherent difliculties In tracing misplaced books." The Miilicent library, at Fair Haven, Massachusetts, has a loss so small that it Is not included in the statements given, but will be referred to separately. This leaves 36 libraries for which some figures are given. As we all know, different libraries keep their records in different ways, and it Is hard to make comparisons. But the most just method of stating loss is in percent- ages, both to the issue of books for home use, and to the number of volumes in the library. If a library circulating 30,000 volumes a year loses 3 books, one circulat- ing 300,000 volumes can lose 30 books without any real increase. Each library loses one volume for every 10,000 sent out to users. And if the library losing 3 books has 6,000 volumes, and the one losing 30 has 60,000 volumes, the loss per volume of stock is the same — one in every 2000 volumes. The losses stated in this paper, therefore, are given in such per- centages, and no figures are given of the actual number of books lost in a given library. Nor, for reasons that will be clear to all, are the names of individual libraries given, except in those cases where by stating local conditions some light on the problem may be gained. But there is no question of rivalry between libraries; the only use of comparison Is to enable us to find common factors that can be eliminated, and so to simplify our cal- culations as to future practice. On the subject of mutilation the figures are most unsatisfactory. The general re- port is that mutilation Is heaviest in un- bound magazines and newspapers — cer- tainly not a question of open shelves. Bound volumes of magazines suffer also, and reference books. Art books are espe- cially reported and the finer illustrated books of this sort are usually kept on closed or guarded shelves. In a few cases an epidemic of mutilation has been traced to an individual, and in both Wil- mington and Hartford, the Individual was discovered and punished by imprisonment. Aside from these two libraries none re- ports serious loss in this way except Los Angeles, where the damage for a single year (in a supposedly closed shelf library) is estimated at $1000. Mutilation in the mass of circulating books seems to be about the same for open shelf as for closed shelf libraries, as any cutting or marking is done away from the library. In several places the marking of pictorial or verse scrap or note-books required In the public schools has led to mutilation, and here the cooperation of the school authorities should certainly prevent a con- tinuance of the practice. After the Initial difficulty of catching the delinquent there comes usually a further difficulty in con- 237 vlncing him or her that the matter is seri- ous. The mere payment of a money fine — say the cost of the book — is an insuffi- cient punishment. Every member of the general public should be made to realize the seriousness of the offense. Here, as with theft, to be dealt with later, a prose- cution is the best preventive of future difficulties. Let us consider now the question of theft, as to which we have fuller data. From these 36 libraries what can we find as to the personality of those who steal the books? The question of the children naturally comes to mind first, and this, from the point of view of "cultivating criminals" is a very important question. Here the figures are unfortunately unsatis- factory, because so many libraries report either losses or circulation as a whole and given, the percentage of loss in the chil- dren's rooms. But so far as they are given, the peicentage of loss in the chil- dren's room in proportion to circulation runs a little higher than that in the adult department, and in proportion to the num- ber of volumes in the collection runs yet higher. But all the books thus taken are not stolen in any but a strained interpreta- tion of that term. Everyone who has had to deal with children "in the mass" knows that a child is above all suggestible, and that often he takes "a library" because other children are doing the same thing. But to every children's room in any large community there comes many a child un- trained in the use of the room who, seeing other children taking books home, quite in- nocently takes a book or two himself and walks proudly off without any sense of having done wrong. And of course there is no reason why he should feel guilty. Later, however, he probably discovers that he should not have taken a book in this way, and he usually becomes terrified tor fear of "the cop" whose services his play- mates are so ready to promise. He may sneak the book back and leave it on a table, and he often does. Or he may hide or destroy it. Occasionally he comes to the library and explains, sometimes accom- panied by a troubled parent. Every chil- dren's librarian iinows that many books are taken this way in error, and that if the children have not intended harm in the beginning and do not repeat the offense, then the child is not seriously harmed. Also there are the children, almost invariably boys, who steal for pure prestige. The leader of a set of boys is expected to dis- play prowess, and "doing" the library is hard enough to win this particular kind of lauTels. This is not a habit to be either commended, recommended, or even toler- ated, but it is a fact that a boy may do a deed of daring-do of this variety without any serious injury to his moral character. Occasionally he repents later. The Dayton public library, a couple of years ago, had a package of books returned with a note from a young man, saying that several years before he and some other boys said, "Let's go down to the Library and steal books." His conscience awoke later, and the books were returned, but the very way his note was worded is significant. But let us inquire a little more closely into the losses as they occur. The actual figures for the Pratt Institute tree library will serve to show what kind of losses occur in a children's room in the most difficult of all communities — a section of a great city whose population is always shifting and which has no real claim to the name of community. It is Impossible to know personally all the children who come. There are continually new lots of children to assimilate, and there is very little in the life of the child elsewhere that develops any sense of responsibility. What do we do in the children's room? There are at any one time over 2000 chil- dren who actually use the room. They come freely, go to the shelves for their own books, browse all they like, and are taught respect for books so far as the librarians of the room can do this. Dur- ing the five years ending July 1907, there were, at a very moderate estimate, 5000 children who used the room. There were given out for home use 165.860 volumes, and at the taking of inventory for these 238 MINNETONKA CONFE5RENCE five years there were 196 volumes miss- ing. Of these many are sure to reappear, as we know from the experience of pre- vious years, but let us talie the figures as they are. This loss is for five years, so that the average yearly loss was a little over 37 volumes. That is a small number to be divided among 2000 children, even though every book was deliberately taken, which we are certain is not the case. Of the 196, 26 disappeared from the refer- ence shelves. These were nice bright new copies of such attractive books as the Lang fairy tales, and they were too great a temptation, apparently, and also, owing to the conditions of the room, were shelved in a corner rather difficult to keep under observation. Moreover, some of the children seem to have a curious idea that the books in that corner are not a real part o£ the library, and because they cannot take them out regularly, they take them "for keeps" when they would not do this with a book obtainable on a mem- bership card. Here seemed a place where extra guarding was needed, and glass doors were therefore placed on the at- tractive case about the time the last in- ventory was completed. These are not locked, but a little sign says, "If you would like to read any of the books in this case, ask at the desk. Do not take any of the books without asking." In the year since those glass doors were put up we have not lost a book from this case, so that we feel that our problem is prac- tically solved for the children's reference collection. The average loss per year from the circulating collection was 32. Does that indicate a large number of thieves among 2000 children? And we feel quite sure that some books have gone to children not registered at all, as in one or two cases we have traced or caught such children. Of the 196 volumes total loss 29 were little books, easy to slip Into bag or pocket. Librarians generally re- port this difiiculty, and there seems rea- son to keep the "Peter Rabbit" books and their like in a special case, where they can be guarded. But with a loss like this stated, who would feel justified in barring the children from the shelves, and de- priving them of the pleasure, the privilege and the education of contact with books? Are we training thieves, or training chil- dren, who naturally have little sense of mine and thine, to respect community property? It should be clearly understood that the percentage of loss is greater in the Pratt Institute free library, both in relation to circulation and to number of volumes, than it is in most libraries. This we attribute to our difficult community — or non-commu- nity — but the fact means that our case is worse than the usual one. And yet we cannot feel it very bad! There is a Question here as to fines. How many children take books in this illegiti- mate way because their cards are held for non-payment of fines? In the last report of the Boston public library, Mr Wadlin deals with this subject, and points out clearly how the "permanent fine" may en- courage theft when a more elastic rule per- mits the resumption of the card after a period cf non-use. The new Boston niie In the case of children under 16 cancels all fines tor overdue books at the end of six months. Mr Wadlin says: "Since the change in the rule, many children who had lost the use of cards through the non-payment of fines have re- claimed them. At one large Branch, 115 cards were thus re-issued within a single month. The unpaid fines on these amounted to 136.09, but much of this would probably never have been paid. In this one instance there were 115 young persons deprived of the home use of books without limit, unless they yielded to the temptation to obtain them irregu- larly from the open shelves." On the other side it must be said that when v/e exact from the children a definite pledge, and then allow them to break it, we are not helping in their moral educa- tion. If a period of six months non-use if a card is to be held as an equivalent to any fine that may be incurred, this should be clearly stated to the children when they "join the library." LORD 238 But time lacks to consider the children longer. How do their fathers and mothers, elder sisters and brothers, behave when they are presented with the freedom of the library? As has already been stated, Ihey do not make way wilh as many books, in proportion to circulation and collection, as the children do. And in the figures of loss I am about to give the percentage is too high for the older people, since, as has al- ready been said, a number of libraries do not keep separate statistics of loss, and the figures here given are for the total loss, the total circulation, and the total number of volumes in the library. Reference col- lections and losses are included, but not the figures of reference use. A separation of the figures for the three classes of reference books, children's books and adult circulating collection is highly desirable, but is not, with the statistics at hand, prac- tical. The danger of loss, as I have already hinted, depends not on the size of the library, but on the size of the community. The American habit of "moving" — chang- ing from one habitation to another — seems to increase in a geometrical ratio as a city grows in numbers. This, to- gether with the impossibility of any share In the civic life by the great mass of the inhabitants, tends to diminish the sense of civic responsibility, on the part of the individual. Indeed, in the great city there is very little, if anything, to foster this feeling. The library, dealing with the individuals thus deprived of one of the great benefits of a social form of living, has not, in the large community, the advantage of personal acquaintance with all its users. For these reasons one would expect the library losses to increase as the community grows in size, and such a result would be a very comfortable basis for consideration of our problem. Such a result was what the compiler of this paper expected. But such expectations were en- tirely defeated. The range of loss, ex- pressed in percentages, varies In an ex- traordinary way. Let me present the per- centage of loss to circulation In four groups, according to the size of the com- munity, and dividing each group into li- braries with open shelves, and those with closed shelves, or with a very restricted number of books accessible. The figures for open shelf libraries include the books for children, but those for closed shelf or restricted libraries are for the adult col- lections only, unless otherwise stated. So that the open shelf figures run a little higher than they actually are for adults. It is not always easy to know whether to call a library "open" or "closed", but the decision has been made as carefully as possible on the basis of free access to the bulk of the circulating collection. The figures for population are taken from the Special report of the U. S. Bureau of census: Statistics of cities, 1905, published in 1907. The figures of loss are given in the order of the size of the community, not of the library, and are the percentages of loss to the circula- tion of the library. 1 Cities of over 300,000 a Open shelf libraries, losses are as follows: .09% .16% .09% .17% .17% .18% .07% .39% .3% (children's room only) b Closed shelf libraries, and those with small accessible collec- tions. Losses: .03% .09% .01% .06% (includes chil- dren's books) 2 Cities over 100,000 and under 300,000 a Open shelf libraries. Losses: .16% .33% 1.34% .42% .38% .08% b Closed shelf libraries, and those with small accessible collec- tions. Losses: .09% .03% .002% .53% .01% 3 Cities over 25,000 and under 100,000 a Open shelf libraries. Losses: .48% .17% .39% .08% .15% .07% .06% b Library with very small open shelf collection. Losses: .05% (includes children's room) 4 Small communities (under 25,000) All open shelf libraries. Losses: .09% .09% .002% .04% and one prac- tically nothing. 240 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE The loss, then, in cities of over 300,000 ranges, in open shelf libraries, from 7 books in every 10,000 circulated to 39 books for every 10,000 circulated. The largest cities vary from 9 to 17 in every 10,000 cir- culated. In the closed shelf libraries of this group the loss ranges from 1 to 9 volumes in every 10,000 circulated. The average is much steadier here. In cities between 100,000 to 300,000 the open shelf libraries lose from eight to iZ in every 10,000. Denver in its period of open shelves lost 134 volumes to every 10,- 000, and is staled separately, as the loss there was unusual and, so far as I know, the largest proportionate loss sustained by any library. In the closed shelf libraries of the same group the loss ranges from 2 in every 100,000, which is the proud record of Pall Kiver, to 53 in every 10,000, a larger loss than that of any open shelf li- brary to-day, though not equaling that of Denver as stated. In the third group of cities from 25,000 to 100,000 the open-shelf loss ranges from six to 48 in every ten thousand. In the closed shelf library of this group the loss. Including that of the children's room, is five in every 10,000. In the last group of small communities (under 25,000) the loss ranges from Fair- ha\en's statement that perhaps two books are definitely missing, but they expect to find them, through Gloversville's loss of two to every 100,000 circulated up to nine in every 10,000. There are no closed shelf libraries in this group. Setting aside the case of Denver, which seems to have suffered a regular raid, and whose shelves have consequently been closed for five years now, the heaviest loss is in a library with closed shelves. This is at Los Angeles, where the conditions of the building are difficult, and where, to quote Mr Lummis, "the closing was very simple, by notices and a cord about head high. This keeps out good patrons, but does not keep out thieves, who dodge into the stacks and tuck books under their coats." It seems doubtful, under the cir- cumstances, if Los Angeles can be con- sidered an argument on either side of the question. Aside from Los Angeles' loss the heavi- est losses occur in the third group of cities (48 and 39 in every 10,000) in the second group (42, 38 and 33 in every 10,000) and in the first group, but barely within it (39 in every 10,000). Dropping below the low- est loss here of 38 in every 10,000, we find the next figure IS in every 10,000. There must surely be something in the local con- ditions to explain some of this group of six large losses. The size of the commun- ity does not explain it, for the population figures range from about 80,000 to over 300,000. What other explanation can be given? In at least three of the libraries the building is a great difficulty, proper guarding being impossible. New Haven has one of these heavy losses, and is soon to have a building that will lessen losses, if expectations are fulfilled. Wilmington has one and hopes for a better building some Jay. The losses in two of the li- braries depend somewhat on an ususual number of irresponsible users, a local con- dition hard to combat. It would require a detailed study of losses and conditions to give reasons in full. If the librarians of these collections could give an analysis of losses It would be of very great value to all libraries. A statement of the mean loss, in open shelf libraries, is especially valuable in viev.- of the few libraries with exception- ally high losses. In the first group the mean loss is 17 in every 10,000 circulated; In the second group (omitting Denver) the mean is 33; in the third group it is 15; in the last group 4. Taking the first, sec- ond and third groups the losses in the six libraries having the high losses range from 33 to 4.S in every 10,000 circulated; seven range from six to nine in their losses; and the central group of seven ranges from 15 to 18. It would seem that as near as we can come to a deduction from these varying figures would be to take this central group, the mean loss of which is 17 in every 10,000 circulated. It so happens— and I give you my word ■241 that I had no hand in making it happen — that this is the loss in the last inventory of the Pratt Institute free library, and an analysis of this loss may give us some in- teresting; facts. These will be compared with the loss by classes in other libraries, 60 far as those figures are obtainable. We are quite sure, by the way, that the list of books missing at this inventory will be materially reduced by the vol- umes found during the inventory now in progress, so that our final loss will be dis- tinctly under that noted now. But there Is no ri=iason to suppose that the hooks thus discovered will be in one class more than in another, so that the losses as now given should still be significant. The inventory of the children's room of the Pratt Insti- tute free library has already been given in some detail. The inventory of the rest of the library was taken at the same time — *he two months and a half ending July 31, 1907 — but covered only one year and a half. During this time the total recorded number of persons using the reference de- partments fexcluding the children's room) of the Library was 56,875. The number of reference books missing was thirty. Of these five volumes were from the general reference library, eight from the periodical sets, four from the collection of U. S. gov- ernment documents, six from the Art ref- erence room, and seven from the Applied science reference room. We have reason to believe that six of this last seven went to one person, as they were books on al- lied subjocts and disappeared within a few (lays. Also, at the time they disappeared the room was not properly guarded. Of the periodicals three volumes were rare and were probably taken for their money value. They should never have been left on open shelves. None of the other volumes were of much money value, and three were cheap text-books. The loss is one volume to about every I'JOO people using the de- partments. The loss for the rest of the library was 41R volumes. The circulation during this period was 201,487. The percentage of loss to the circulation in the adult collection is thus about twenty to every ten thousand circulated. Our circulating collection is a parallel one, with roughly 35,000 volumes on the open shelves and 25,000 in the closed stack. The volumes lost from the open shrives were u5S, or 18 to every 10,- 000 circulation from the shelves; those from the closed shelves 60, or at the rate of 68 for evei-j' 10,000 of the circulation. Why the loss was so much heavier from the closed portion of the library we are unable to guess, but it is probable that a greater portion of these missing volumes will be found in the inventory now taking, and of course the closed shelf books are in the open shelf room in the course of be- ing issued and returned. The detailed loss is as follows: Vols. Fiction 119 000 6 100 14 200 12 300 20 400 10 500 30 600 60 700 22 800 63 900 19 Biography 5 Foreign (in closed stack) 38 418 Kut if stated in the order of percentage of circulation in each class, the importance of losses shifts at once. The highest falls then in philology (400), where the loss was at the rate of 104 for every 10,000 cir- culated. That this is no unusual dilTiculty is sufficiently proved by the fact that of the 24 libraries giving detailed figures of loss the largest number — seven — had the heaviest proportionate number in this class. Yet one library has its lightest loss here. Scientific and technical science fol- low, the loss in pure science (500) being at the rate of 60 for every 10 000 sent out, and that in applied science (COO) 58. Seven of the 24 other libraries also have their heavi- est proportionate loss in these two classes. 242 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE while two libraries have their lightest here, and in two no books were lost in pure science. Fourteen out of the 24 libraries lose most in ino-600. Literature (SOU> conoes next, with a loss of 38. One librarj' has its heaviest loss here, and two their lightest. The fine arts (700) follow close with 36, and no library finds this the heavi- est, while one finds it lightest. General works (000, and on closed shelves) lose 34, and in four of the 24 libraries show the heaviest loss. In four also the loss is lightest here, and in nine libraries there is no loss at all in this class. Religion follows with 33, and in two libraries the loss is heaviest here, in one it is lightest, and in three there is no loss at all. Philos- ophy shows a loss at the rate of 28 volumes to ever>' 10,000 circulated, and In two libra- ries shows the largest proportionate loss, in two the lightest, and in three no loss. Sociology (300) loses 24, and proves the most serious loser in one library, the light- est In another, and no loser in two. His- tory (900 except 910) offers a loss of 21, and In no library shows the most serious loss, while in one it Is the lightest and in two there is no loss. Travel (910) loses 15 end again is in no library the chief loser, in one Is the lightest loser, and in three has no loss. Biography loses 13, and In no library is the heaviest loser. In two is the lightest and In two loses nothing. Fiction, last in this record, if in no other, loses only 11 to every 10,000, and in no library shows the greatest proportionate loss. In seven shows the lightest and in none is without loss. Of all the books lost In the Pratt Insti- tute free library, only 12 disappeared from the "Books for younger readers", which speaks well for the children. The heavy loss in philology in propor- tion to use, may surprise some librarians, but not many. This loss was all but one In text-books, two in English, one in Ger- man, three in Latin, one In Greek, and one In Hebrew. We have decided to guard such books by placing them in the closed stack, as there is no particular advantage In having them on the open shelves. A definite book can be had quite as quickly from the closed shelves and a "good book to help in Latin" can be chosen by the librarian, or the volumes in — never many —can all be brought to the inquirer. A notice at the shelves calls attention to the fact that text-books are kept in a special place and can be had on request. No surprise may be expected at the large loss in scientific and technical books, but here removal from the open shelves would defeat our ends. The "technical man" is not so well served by any other method as by free access, and we have not re- moved from the open shelves any books except "pocket books", which have always been on the closed shelves. The supply- ing of technical books in any abundance is a comparatively new development, and until that particular "public" is educated, we must expect loss. Librarians, answer- ing from general impressions, were al- most unanimous In reporting technical books a difficulty, and "school text books" came a close second. A special precau- tion against theft In the technical books is reported from the Carnegie library of Atlanta, where the library stamp is used freely throughout the book. Drexel Insti- tute Is also trying this method, but In both cases It Is too early to learn whether this will be a deterrent. The character of the technical books stolen shows clear- ly that most are taken for personal use rather than for sale, and it seems likely that a man would hesitate to have In his possession Illegally a volume bearing the name of the Blank public library on al- most every page. Time will tell If this is an advisable method. Of the 30 books in pure science lost by the Pratt Institute free library, seven were In mathematics of high school or college grade — standard books in algebra, geome- try and trigonometry. Such books are now treated like the language text-books, and may be had only by being asked for. The rest of the loss In science runs through almost every number of the clas- sification. In applied science four out of the 60 lost went to those Interested In 243 health and hygiene, five to those attracted by some branch of domestic science, and eight to those drawn by typewriting and stenography. The immediate vicinity of a school of commerce has probably helped in this last item, and we now keep books of this class on special shelves, accessible on request, but not otherwise. The literature loss is heavy — 63. Of this 18 volumes were poetry, 12 were drama, and 18 were texts or translations of the Latin and Greek classics. This last class of books has now been treated like other school books and put on the closed shelves. A number of the other books were those used in the schools. In the general class of fine arts the loss is large in books of games and sports, nine out of the 22 missing volumes belonging here. Photography, which is reported by several libraries as a heavy loser, is responsible for four more volumes, music for two. so that only seven are kept to art, strictly speaking. The loss in religion is a sad one^the fifth in order of seriousness. It is the common courteous habit of libra- rians to lay the loss in religious books, which is everywhere a comparatively high one, to the absent-mindedness of the clergy and clerical students. Sunday school teachers are probably responsible for some of it. But some is hard to ex- plain. Of twelve volumes lost five were volumes of the Temple Bible! But the strangest loss of all was a volume of Lyman Abbott's "Family worship". The Bible one might be forced to get, by cruel school or college, and one might conceiv- ably save 20 cents by stealing a more at- tractive edition than one could buy for that sum. But how could one steal a vol- ume of family prayers to use? And why steal them if not to use? Either question seems unanswerable. In philosophy the loss crowds that In religion close, and is largely of books useful to the student, though the "Twentieth century fortune teller" creeps in here by permission of the Decimal classification, and the "Secret of a good memory" does the same. Would that the latter might cause its user to re- member to bring it back! Not a title is missing in ethics, which is a hopeful fact, but Podmore's "Modern spiritualism", in two volumes, is gone, and is the most costly book lost. In sociology education claims eight of the 20 volumes missing and of those four are kindergarten books. Two are legal, three are on "how to behave" — and do not go quite far enough in their instructions, evidently — and two are volumes of fairy tales, which we keep separate in 398.2 and 398.4. In history the loss is largely in books useful to college and high school students, and in travel the range is from the Adiron- dacks to the West, over to Siberia, Russia and Syria. In biography Jacob Abbott comes to the front again, with "David Crockett", Har- rison's "Oliver Cromwell" makes one smile a bit at the short shrift its subject would have given to a book thief if he were running a library. Maimon's "Auto- biography" is a curious loss, and the other two volumes went from the closed shelves. The fiction losses range far and wide, and there are only a few that one finds special reason for. Two copies of Cha- teaubriand's "Atala" points to a study of French, and the need of a "trot", and perhaps Balzac's "Magic skin", Daudet's "La Belle Nivernaise" and Lamartine's "Fior d'AIiza" went in the same direction. The percentage of loss to the number of volumes in the library is, of course, higher than that to the circulation, as the latter is always the larger figure. But the sig- nificance of the figure is not so great. It is natural that the loss from a collection of 30,000 should be for the library with a cir- culation of 200,000 twice what it is for the library of 100,000. And circulation varies enormously in proportionate relation to size. The variation in the number of books in the reference collections of the library makes some libraries appear as having a comparatively small circulation, when if the figures for the library were given for the circulating collection alone, this would not be the case. But as many libraries 244 MINNETONKA CONFEJRENCE could not give the separate figures, the per- centages are here computed, as were those to the circulation, ot total loss to stock. The losses then range from 271 volumes to every 10,1100 — the exceptional record of Los Angeles — to four volumes of every 100,000, the record of Fall River. In the group of cities of over 300,000 inhabitants the range in loss from the open shelf libraries is from ISO volumes to 23 out of everj- 10,000, with a mean of 88. In the closed shelf li- braries of this gioup the loss ranges from 38 in every 10,000 to 15 in every 100,000. In the second group the open shelf libra- ries lose from 271 to 15 volumes with a mean of CI, and in the closed shelf libra- ries from Jl in every 10,000 to 4 in every 100,000. In the third group — cities between 60,000 ;md 100,000— the open shelf loss is from 124 to 16 in every 10,000, with a mean of 25, while the closed shelf library lost only 106 out of every 100,000, or a little over 10 per 10,000. In the last group of libraries in small communities, the loss ranges from the zero of Fairhaven, through 78 to every 100,000 of Gloversville, to 13, 41 and 65. As I have already stated, these figures do not seem to me significant as compared with those of percentage of loss to use. If counted as wear and tear losses, they would not be considered heavy. The discarding in the Pratt Institute free library for two years shows a loss in this direction of 43 in every 10,000, and many libraries would doubtless show more. Now, after this long excursion, we come back to our old question: Who took these books? And first, were they taken for sale? These Is no reason to suppose so. Only an occasional volume of those missing has money value enough to make it pay to steal it, so to speak, and there arc many volumes of good money value safe on the shelves. One stealing to sell would be likely to keep the habit up, and his depredations would probably show in some noticeable way. Also, such a thief is more likely to get caught, because his spoils are traceable if sold. The answers obtained from the questionnaire show little loss of this sort. A few libraries have had notable epidemics of stealing, and have usually caught the culprit. Scranton lost $150 of books from the reference room within a few months, and the depredations ceased suddenly before the thief or thieves could be detected. New Haven recovered 80 vol- umes taken by one man; Buffalo recovered ^5 volumes of fiction from the estate of one woman; Utica recovered through the police 19 books on metallurgy taken by a man engaged in the manufacture of count- erfeit money; Kansas City lost all books on South American history in a brief period: and several branches of the New York public library have suffered from epidemics, believed to be the work of one persons or one group. But generally the loss is steady and varied. A daily inven- tory of Yiddish — in which the loss is heavy — was kept for a time in the New York public library, and this shows the loss to be fairly regular. In order to guard against the stealing of books to sell, some libraries warn all second-hand dealers in their vicinity, more expect the dealers to return such books. But the number of books thus returned is insignificant is most cases. Somerville onco recovered several hundred, stolen by one thief. Kansas City has thus regained 100, Cleveland gets back from 25 to 50 a year; Now York perhaps 25 a year, and other libraries few or none. Cincinnati's experience seems typical. Mr Hodges says: "Ytmr question seems to me especially per- tinent. We do keep in touch with second- hand book dealers, in close touch with them, and It does not happen oftener than once a year that our books are offered to these dealers. There is no money in steal- ing books from a public library, there is no temptation for fairly intelligent people to steal them; the books are taken by ignorant persons and by children. When the books are taken by children, they soon turn up at the public schools, or they are thrown away in the streets. Reports of such stealings come to us perhaps once in four or five months." 245 If the liooks are not taken for sale, but for use, who takes them? Students of all kinds are undoubtedly the chief sinners. High school students, college students, uni- versity students, those studying music, a trade and — In some places a formidably large number — those who are preparing for civil service examinations. Beyond this It seems hard to go. That an individual Ehould steal in order to read a copy of "Cranford" oi' a volume of Marion Craw- ford, Is difScult to believe, yet there seems no doubt that it is true. But another question arises at once. How many Individuals took those 418 volumes? That is an unanswerable question, but Is It not reasonable to suppose that more than one volume went to an individual? Would au average of five a year be too great to allow to the man or woman who takes one? If not, then some 83 people out of the 13,000 who were using the department abused the privilege of the open shelf. I feel confident that the number was even smaller, but let it stand at that. If 83 peo- ple out of 13.000 are thieves — granting that all stole to keep, and consciously, which is granting altogether too much — is that a large proportion of people of a loose moral sense to expect in a community? Is there reason to suppose any one of the 83 was made a thief by the freedom granted in the library? And are the 12,917 others to be kept away from the shelves because of the moral obliquity of the 83? One word about the accuracy of all figures of loss. A certain proportion of the volumes missing in a given inventory are sure to reappear, and all the figures here given are, with the exception of those for Denver, for the last library inventory, so that there has not been time to clear up the scores, and the figures here given are too large. The 1905 inventory of the Pratt Institute free library was taken a year and a half before the last (1907) in- ventory, and at the time of the latter, 50 of the 120 volumes reported missing in 1905 reappeared. Fourteen libraries re- port the number of volumes missing in their next to the last inventory, and the number found since. The figures vary from four volumes found out of 225 miss- ing to 50 found out of 83. But all but two libraries recovered at least one tenth of the missing volumes, and most of them many more. Then a certain amount should be al- lowed for error. The librarians who an- swered this set of questions seemed al- most unanimous in the opinion that it is impossible that a mistake should be made in discarding, but it would seem mora reasonable to put the matter as Miss Bur- dick of the Jersey City free public library put it in answering the question regarding this: "Not until the millenium comes and perfect people are the rule, will there be a perfect shelf-reading." The propor- tion of loss due to errors in the library is undoubtedly very small, but it is a mickle to subtract from the muckle of the whole loss. Some libraries also report as missing in inventory the books lost through mistakes in charging. It is true that people should return their books In any case, but it is equally true that some people forget unless reminded by the library of the fact that a book is charged to them. The fact that now and then some one returns a book that had not been charged with profound apologies indicates that a certain number of books are lost in this way. The people who do this are the absent-minded people, who may easily for- get all about the book or books taken, leave them in a car, bury them in bookcases, or lend them to friends. We have all had the experience of the perfectly honest per- son who disavows, sometimes in sorrow, sometimes in anger, ever having had a given book from the library, and yet later appears shamefaced to return it, still not remembering ever taking it or having it. A few of our books go to such people, and certainly do not corrupt their morals. It may be claimed that these individuals could not get the books under the closed shelf system, but in any library that al- lows any body to go to the shelves, these are likely to be the very people who ask 246 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE for, get, and truly appreciate the privi- lege! There are also people who take books without charging— either because of a forgotten library card, a card held for some reason, or in order to avoid the return at the usual time limit — but who intend to return the books. Many times they do return them; pretty certainly some times they do not. With all possible deductions, however, the open shelf losses as a rule are a good bit heavier than those in the closed shelf libraries. Do they increase with years? That is hard to say, as it is hard also to get figures to compare the losses under the two methods of a library that has been both closed and open. Let us use what facts we have. The Newark free public library figures are the fullest that have been given me, and they are of great interest. In the years from 1890 to 1894 the shelves were closed, and the loss in successive years ranged as follows: 8 to every 100,000 circulated, 12, 16, 15 to every 100,000. From 1894 to 1900 all the books except fiction were on open shelves. The losses ran as follows: 15 in every 100,000, 13, 13, 26. Since 1900 the library has been entirely open shelf, and its losses have gradually risen as follows. 44 in every 100,000, 65 in every 100,000, 11 In every 10000, 16 in every 10,000. The Pratt Institute free library lost in 1904, from closed shelves, three volumes in every 10,000, in 1905, with all closed but 3,000 volumes, eight out of every 10,000 and in 1907, with the main part of the cir- culating collection open, seventeen out of every 10,000. Springfield, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island, report losses decreasing, although still consider- able. The 51st annual report of the Pub- lic library of Brookline. Massachusetts, for the year ending January 31. 1908, gives the loss and circulation from 1898 to 1907. This shows a variation in loss from year to year as follows: (chronologically) 7 in every 10,000, eight, eight, three, three, eight, six, five, five, five. In no li- brary for which figures are given has the advance been rapid. But when all has been said as to the smallness of loss, and however much we may be convinced that this is no serious bar to opening the shelves, yet there re- mains with us the responsibility of doing what we can to lessen the losses. And especially is this true in the larger com- munities. Nine volumes for every 10,000 circulated is not an appalling loss, but if the circulation rises to a certain point, the difference in degree becomes one in kind. For multiplying by 100 gives a circulation of 1,000,000, and a loss of 900, and even dividing by the five I have judged to be fair gives us 180 persons who have stolen books from the public library. And a lit- tle more multiplying and a few years of fresh accessions increase this number un- til it is an alarming one. What preventives can we adopt, then, and what precautions can we take? The first thing that comes to mind as to this is the accusation our English brother li- brarians make, that we do not safeguard our access. And when we turn to look at British conditions, we certainly find them different from ours. The battle is still on there, and the victory for the open shelf is by no means as nearly decided as here. And yet this problem of loss Is al- most negligible with them. Open shelves there are barely 15 years old, but that is quite long enough to test the question of loss. What do we find there? Croydon losing nine books in a year, out of a col- lection of 38,306 and with an issue of 290,000 volumes, and other libraries with like tales to relate. What American cloned shelf library would not be proud of this record? And the Englishmen say the ?mallness of loss is due to safeguarded open access. Is it? I wish I might think so, but I fear there are other reasons. Safeguarding means (a) having charging desk by the single exit; (b) having a tL'rnstile; (c) the requiring a library membership card for entrance to the room. The second is not universal in England, but the first and third are, so far as I am able to learn. Mr Champneys in his recent volume "Public libraries" 247 says: "He (the reader) can only enter the library by returning a booli previously borrowed, or by showing his ticltet, and can only ieavc it when another bcok has been charged and his ticket left in pledge." The last half of this sentence sounds like forcing the circulation, but it ■was hardly so intended, one supposes. But jesting aside, where lies the differ- ence between English and American free access? Not in the first point, for most American libraries do have the charging desk by the single exit. Not in the second, for a good many Americans and not all the English libraries are so pro- vided. In the third there is a distinct difference. Would the presentation of a library card for entrance prevent the losses here? Surely it would not, to any appreciable extent. It would annoy a great many people, keep out some who object to such an expression of doubt, and in no way prevent the dishonest from concealing books as at present, while regularly charging one properly presented. The difference goes deeper than charging- desks and admission tickets; it is a dif- ference in the people themselves. The English have a higher respect for law as such than have the Americans, and they have also a keener sense of property rights. I trust no enterprising reporter will accuse me of saying that the Amer- ican people are dishonest. But I am quite willing to stand for saying that they are careless both as to law and as to property. It is not necessary to multiply Instances, because we all know the carelessness as to the law to be a fact, as is natural in a country still in the pioneer stage in many ways, and wi'h an enormous heterogeneous foreign population to assimilate. The care- lessness is shown in the library as it is elsewhere. And as to property rights; well, if you lose your umbrella in London, you expect to find it; if you lose it in New York, you do not expect to. In either case you may be disappointed, but the expecta- tion is significant. English libraries are dealing with a different public, one easier in )uany ways to manage if, as we think, harder to influence. Their ways would not obviate our difficulties, as to safeguarding any more than as to indicators. We must work out our own problem for our own people. Again, then, what can we do In preven- tion? In the analysis of the Pratt Institute free library losses the statement was made as to certain classes of books withdrawn from the unrestricted open shelves. This is a preventive that has been adopted in a good many libraries, and is of course to be applied according to the actual experi- ence of the libraries in question. At Fall River the public library, whose losses are noticeably small, turns over to the police the titles of overdue books not returned after due notice, and the police collect them. The library has a regular printed form of report to the police. The detention of a public library book thirty days after notice in writing is in Massachu- setts, as in New York, and doubtless other states, a punishable offense especially pro- vided for. Here seems the place to note the duty of the library to get back all books taken out \n the regular way. A book taken regular- ly and kept indefinitely Is as much stolen as the book taken informally, with the added disadvantage that the delinquent knows that the library is quite well aware that he has the book. If the library fails to insist on the return of the book, how can it expect others to respect its property? It Is not easy or cheap to trace people who ha\e moved, or to hunt a peripatetic board- er or commercial traveler, but each one In possession of a book is an argument not only for the weakness of the library, but for Its carelessness. Do you think the danger small? I..et me give you a few rigures. In one library in a large com- munity that lost from the shelves 15 books to evei-y 10,000 circulated, the number regu- larl}' charged to borrowers and never re- turned was for the same circulation, 6. That is dangerously near half as many aa were lost from the shelves. In another large community the loss per 10,000 circu- 248 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE latlon was, from the shelves ]6, from "de- linquents" five. Others range as follows, the shelf losses being given first: 38, 3; 10, 3; 9, 2; 9, 2; 6, 2. This is a question that has not been much considered, but certainly should be before the prestige ot any given library is impaired by the gen- eral knowledge that it does not insist on having the law — of the library and per- haps of the state — enforced. There is no question that the detection end punishment of theft is the very best preventive of all. The detection is not easy. A number of libraries report the employment of professional detectives at certain times, but in no case was the thief discovered. And yet this should not deter other libraries from adopting this method. As Mr Bostwick once said, a coj-ps of de- tectives should be engaged, in case of need, "even if they cost the library ten times the valiie of the books stolen. There is more at stake in this matter than the money value of a few volumes." And for Cincin- nati, Mr Hodges says: "We follow up every bit of evidence that our books are illegally in the possession of outsiders." If every library did this, losses would decrease. A concrete proof cf this is a recent experience of the Queens Borough public library. Miss Hump writes: "In the spring of 1907 we had oppor- tunity to arrest a thief who had stolen eight or ten books from one of our branch libraries. The case was postponed sev- eral times, but we were very persistent and finally obtained a conviction. The im- mediate effect of this was a return to various branches throughout the borough of books which had been stolen. Some of them were on our missing list; others had not yet been missed. Some were returned at one branch by being left on the door sill in the morning — five or six came back in this way. At another branch one book was tucked away on the shelves in the children's room and found there by one of the librarians, very much soiled and used. One book was also returned by mail without any clue to the sender. These books had all, evidently, been taken away with the intention of theft, and I think there is no doubt that the in- fluence on those who were contemplating theft must have been prohibitive." This very case is an excellent example of the American attitude toward a breach of the law, and an illustration ot the well known fact that we would rather be kind — good natured — whatever you choose — than to be just. Miss Hume prosecuted this case against public opinion both pub- licly and privately expressed. Clergymen, editors, prominent men of different sorts, came and besought her not to prosecute, and are, one supposes, still unable to see why she considered it her duty as the custodian of the public library to protect its interests and to punish those who seri- ously injure it. If more librarians were willing to take this unpleasant task of prosecution, losses would lessen, unques- tionably. The library has a serious re- sponsibility as an educational institution, to make those who use it live up to their responsibilities and pay the penalty of any wrong-doing. Those who hold the open shelf to be a pernicious institution — or doctrine— may think me arguing on their side ot the question. Far from it. The library should enforce the law and exhort such of its constituency as need exhortation to the very limit of its power — but its best meth- od of inculcating responsibility is still that ot {living responsibility. No better summing up of this matter occurs to me thau one that was made in 1901 by a librarian to whom the question was one of theory, one who had not then done a day's work in a public library. After five years of practical experience these words are here repeated with fresh conviction, which neither losses nor other abuses of privilege have shaken: "Since democracy has emerged as the loading govermental principle of the civi- lized world of to-day and to-morrow, it l3 an axiom that the only school for the voter Is the ballot-box. It is equally true, and on reflection equally obvious, that the only way to teach people how to use the LORD 249 public library is to give them the public library to use." The PRESIDENT: The next part In the discussion will be taken by Mr E. S. Willcox, librarian of the Public library, Peoria, 111. Mr WILLCOX: In looking at the pro- gram, which did not come to my hands until after I arrived here yesterday, I noticed an outline which covers a large part in substance of the speaker's argu- ment, with much of which I could agree, with a slight variation of a few words. In that outline mention is made of the difficulty of understanding a catalog. I do not think there is any dif- ficulty about it whatever. If any person is alarmed at the term "catalog" because it sounds like "catechism" or "catamount" or "cataclysm" or anything of that sort, take them up to the catalog and in half-a-minute — man, woman or child — you can show them the use of a catalog (I am speaking of the card catalog) that will be a revelation to them. The card catalog is the key to the contents of their library and it is a revelation and a de- light. I have noticed it time and time again. Little children can learn it just as well, and as frequently, and use it just as easily and often as anybody. I object, therefore, to the objection made to the catalog. And in speaking about going through a library and looking at the books, rummaging and rambling through a large library, it says "this is an educa- tion!" Now if Miss Lord will change that word "education" to "dissipation" it will suit me exactly. I would rather have my son know, master, one good book, than to fumble over a thousand any day, and you all know that too. There is one other point where she says that the great mass of library users should not be punished for the sins of the few. My opinion about that is that the great mass of library users should be helped and protected from the sins of the few that are rambling inside. In my remarks I am sorry to say that I must repeat some things that I have ex- pressed years ago, and which some of you who are Illinoisians heard me say then. I cannot present anything newer or bet- ter than I said before. Open shelves Public library funds are a trust con^ fided to library boards by the property owners of a city for two principal pur- poses, viz: 1 To diffuse general intelligence and furnish wholesome entertainment for the present generation. 2 And, no less important, to gather and preserve the accumulated experience of our race for the use not only of the pres- ent generation but of future generations also. Formerly this second object — collecting and safely guarding for a select few — was the main thing. The great libraries of the old world were built up on this plan. The diffusion of general intelligence, providing of wholesome entertainment, ia the modern free public library idea. In the administration of library funds neither of these objects should be slighted — they are both good — neither should be made to suffer at the expense of the other. The public library of to-day, having its own independent and attractive home in every city and supported generously by public taxation is no longer the cheap cir- culating library of 36 years ago; it is a prominent public institution with possi- bilities of unlimited usefulness increasing in geometrical ratio from year to year, and the question I ask is: Shall the pub- lic library, owned and supported by the city, be held to the same strict account- ing as are our municipal departments — police department, fire department, work house, poor farm, jail? Shall it be managed with the same re- gard for its usefulness and preservation as the city exercises over its other proper- ties and institutions, its public schools, its parks and gardens, its streets and boulevards, its museums and monuments? 250 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE The city does not permit its other fine properties to be ridden over and trampled on, to be ruthlessly robbed and wasted; there are laws and ordinances and police courts and policemen with big sticks. It is high time to ask ourselves this question with these amazing statistics just laid before us. It is not necessary that I should detain you with recounting them all, a few are plenty and more than enough. One library reports $1,000 worth of mu- tilation of books and periodicals, in one year — portraits, reproductions of famous pictures, choruses, arias, overtures and numerous books rendered worthless. Works of reference disappear, are stolen by the armful. Another library reports 73 works of reference stolen in a few months, another lost every book on South American history, another, 19 books on metallurgy, another, 34 Yiddish books stolen in a single month, and from annual reports we learn that the Denver public library, experimenting for three years and nine months with the open shelf lost 3978 volumes, and shut down on that folly. The school library of the same place lost in its last year 900 volumes and was then turned over to the public library. The Boston public library lost 1G93 vol- umes in 1905, the Providence public li- brary 1795 volumes the same year, the Los Angeles public library 4044 a year for two years and 5062 in 1907, according to the latest report Just to hand. They are at their wits' end and begin to realize that open shelf is only another name for self-slaughter. It may soothe your ruffled feelings to talk about prosecuting those book thieves relentlessly. That sounds well, but I would suggest that you follow the advice of that ancient cook book — first catch your hare. Try first to catch them. And, again, what kind of a business would you call this that reports without a blush, of books borrowed in the regular way, but never returned nor paid for in a single year — one library, 110; another, 2i4; another, 246; another, 531; another. 1160; another, 2041? Cincinnati, Philadel- phia and Minneapolis get off easily, they keep no records. Now I ask in all seriousness, what busi- ness man of your acquaintance could re- port such amazing losses, such thefts and wanton destruction of his goods, and do it with the self-satisfied smile worn by some of our laurel-crowned chiefs in the library world? Have we librarians no knowledge ol business methods? Should not the pub- lic property entrusted to our keeping be as carefully guarded as merchants guard their goods, letting nothing pass out of our doors that is not properly charged or paid for, and, if stolen, pursued? We hold our city officials to a strict ac- counting for every dollar they receive and a detailed accounting of every dollar they expend and if not done, out they go next election. Is our accountability less, is our bookkeeping more difficult? I happen to know a little about both and I assure you it is not. Now, to what shall we attribute this scandalous waste of public property of which I have spoken, and the half has not been told? Nine tenths of it, I may almost say, ninety-nine hundredths of it is due to the open shelf craze that struck this country some 12 or 15 years ago. It was an east wind that did it. We of the west know a cyclone when we see it coming; it may lift us off our feet for a moment, but we soon come back to terra firma as Denver did and Los Angeles is doing. Is it any wonder if a great library, thrown wide open to the handling and pawing of crowds ignorant of books or of what they want, is soon "thumbed out of existence," as our friend John Thomson, of Philadelphia, wittily puts it in his latest annual report and he makes a pite- ous appeal for a larger appropriation to replace these books "thumbed out of ex- istence." I, myself, am really fond of the bright-eyed, curious gypsy folk, but not among my chickens. As to the value ot an education to be had from a bowing acquaintance with the backs of books, I 251 -cannot speak from personal knowledge. What little education I got in school and college was not won that way. And here permit me to say, that while 1 Question the wisdom of one thing advo- cated by some of our librarians, none the less I do admire a hundred other things they have done and are doing so well. The open shelf means removing all bar- riers and throwing all doors wide open to .50,000 or 150,000 carefully selected books and inviting everybody in to help himself. Applied, for illustration, to a dry goods store it would mean, "Here are our choicest goods on these well arranged shelves — all the latest styles and qualities with prices to suit everybody — step be- hind the counter, please, pull down what strikes your fancy, spread them open, feel their extra fine quality and make your choice." Or, go to your bank and ask for |100. The paying teller points to the trays of gold and silver inside and asks you to be so good as to walk right in and help yourself, only please leave your check for the amount taken as you pass out and your bank will go out of business by 3 o'clock P. M. In the small country libraries of 2,000, 5,000 or more volumes, with, perhaps, a single assistant to the librarian, all the books in plain view and everybody well known, this method was followed of neces- sity from the first, and some books were stolen even then, for alas, it cannot be denied that we have book thieves with us always. But now with city libraries of 50,000, 100,000, 200,000 volumes, great and priceless, long accumulated collections, with ampler rooms and trained assistants, it is no longer necessary to take such chances of loss. We have printed cata- logs, card catalogs, lists and bulletins, and, especially, a body of intelligent assi.'-.tants familiar with the location and contents of every book in the library, that is, until ransacked by a horde of Goths and Vandals. We no longer need to offer op- portunities for thieving, still less practi- cally connive at it as some of our honored librarians have come very near doing in their published statements. Note. I do not say the open shelf makes thieves, they are made already in plenty, watching for opportunities. Ask your merchants about their experience. "Only SOO, 500, 900 volumes dissapeared last year, but this was a small matter hard- ly equal to the salary of one assistant, not worth mentioning." Does this not soimd like the genial voice of our friend, Harold Skimpole? ■'Are you arrested for much, sir," I in- quire of Mr. Skim pole? My dear Miss Summerson," said he, shak- ing his head pleasantly, "I don't know. Some pounds, half shillings and half pence, I think were mentioned." "It's twenty- four pounds, sixteen and seven pence ha' penny," observed the stranger, "that's wot it is!" "And it sounds, somehow it sounds" said Mr Skimpole, "like a small sum." In an impassioned appeal for the open shelf by a prominent librarian at the At- lanta conference, nine years ago, he ex- claimed, "The mere loss of $300 or $400 worth of books a year should not be al- lowed to stand in the way of the open shelf system for a single minute." The result of these teachings by such in- fluential men of our Association is shown to-day after 12 years' experience, in re- doubled losses by theft and mutilation, not only in their own libraries, but in many others that had not the courage or experi- ence to resist their soft persuasive voices. It Is so easy to go with the crowd. Let it once be whispered around that so and so many books were stolen from the public library last year and are expected to be stolen every year, but the librarian considers it a matter of little consequence, hardly worth mentioning, and the inevit- able conclusion will be, by many at least, that the theft of public property is not con- sidered so culpable a thing after all as they were taught at Sunday school. Does not this look a little like encouraging and conniving at theft? And can your most expert accountant figure out how far this virus may spread through the body politic, how much harm It may do in deadening ib'l MINNETONKA CONFERENCE that keen sense of honesty which society, by a hundred different means, is striving to inculcate in the minds of the rising generation? To hold out opportunities for theft is a crime — to invite it, to condone it, and by one of our great educational in- stitutions, is monstrous. I cannot think it is for this that the free public library is supported by a generous and confiding people. I find few inventories mentioned in an- nual reports. Are they afraid of the revela- tions an inventory would make? Is it harder to take an inventory of 150.000 booUs than of |1.50,000 worth of stock iu a wholesale hardware, grocery, or drug Btore? But enough of this, may I tell you how we do in Peoria and, as I have lately learned, in Denver, also, after that fine li- brary had been pretty well riddled and ripped up the back for several years by the best and brightest open shelf lunatic in our entire sisterhood. (I mention no names lest two others of my best friends should feel hurt at not being included) With a present librar>- of 100,000 volumes and a stack room capacity for 200,000, we keep our books in a carefully classified order on the shelves in the stack room im- mediately behind the long delivery counter. On this counter you will find a few, some 40 or 50, of the late novels, books that are skimmed to-day and skimmed milk to-mor- row, but if you want a really good novel or any of the classified books it is back in its proper place in the stack room and our assistants will hand it to you in a minute, or, according to tests made, at the rate of three a minute on an average. In an open case adjoining our delivery counter. Immediately under the eye of all our assistants we keep some GOO volumes of the latest works in the different classes — theology, philosophy, history, biography, science, travel. This much we yield to the open shelf idea and it satisfies our people. Of course we have thieves too like other folks, but we acknowledge it before the event. In ample cases around our reading room are 18 different sets of cyclopedias and dictionaries and large works of refer- ence, many. In our closed children's room at the far end of our reading room, enter- ing and leaving by a single wicket, we have some 6,000 volumes of juvenile literature of all classes and all accessible on open shelves, under the watchful guardianship of an experienced children's librarian. This I approve of. The child who as yet has no faintest idea of what is to be found in books outside of school books, makes here his first acquaintance with that bound- less world. A few years later he will know what he wants and ask for it. But in addition to this if any person whatever desires to gratify his curiosity by a sight of what we have behind those walla in our stack room, he is at once shown through the whole wilderness of books, and it he is pursuing some special object and wishes to spend some time in his chosen department we cheerfully bring him of our best, or we give him a chair and table by his books and leave him by himself. One visit satisfiis his curiosity and after that he finds himself much better served, just as I am, by the attendants. It has a rather catchy sound to say that the only school for the voter is the ballot box and the way to teach the people how to use the public library is to give them the public library to use, but I had sup- posed that a schooling of, at least five years in the language, laws and customs of the country was required of foreign born adults before admitting them to the ballot box, and 21 years for native born. So, for our public, who seldom wants more than one or two books at a time, it is hardly necessary to teach them, at such cost, how to use and handle a hundred thousand volumes. That is what librarians and their assistants only learn after years of practice. For, after all, the real test of the use- fulness of a library lies in its ability not only to hand out the latest new novel promptly, but, far more exacting than that, to ansv.'cr everj- reasonable demand made upon it for the latest, most reliable infor- mation on the ten thousand different sub- DISCUSSION 253 jects of human inquiry constantly arising. This means labor, it means study, it means foresight and preparation in the supplying of books, and, not one whit less, does it mean intelligence, experience and quick responsive knowledge on the part of the assistant at the delivery desk. The PRESIDENT: It was expected that we would be able to have a considerable discussion of this matter in the Associa- tion but time presses so that we can al- low but a few minutes for this purpose. I will, however, ask for two minute talks, to last not more than 10 or 15 minutes altogether, and shall be very glad if any- one who is interested will let us hear what he thinks about this. Mr HILL: Mr President, Mr Willcox did not tell us anything about the losses in his library where they have almost altogether closed rhelves. I would like to ask two questions — (1) how many books he loses in the course of a year, and how his cir- culation compares with libraries having ope/i shelves; (2) what his losses are in the children's room? Mr WILLCOX: As to the children's room, we have never kept that separate until recently; we shall know better at the next inventory, and I couldn't answer that question except by referring back. On account of repairs in the library, a new story of stacks being put up, we could not take our usual biennial inven- tor}- year before last, but last year, when ■we took it, it was for three years. Our losses were just a little under 300 volumes for the three years. As to our losse.s of books that were charged and not collected, not returned nor paid for, I think we have lost about on an average six a year. In this case where I ran up from 110 to £,041, our losses average about six a year because there will be some— there is no denying the fact that we have thieves, and I had to guard against them the best I could. Miss LORD: If Mr Willcox will let me, I will state the losses of the Peoria public libTafy in the way I stated the others. The Peoria public library lost five volumes to every 10,000 circulated during the three- year period. Mr HILL: Perhaps then, Mr President, .Miss Lord could answer the other ques- tion, how that compares in proportion to libraries of the same size having open shelves. Mr WILLCOX: Yes, let Miss Lord— I would rather hear Miss Lord every time. Miss LORD: I can give you that class in which Peoria comes. It is this: over •'5,000 and under 100,000 the open shelt libraries lost as follows: to every 10,000, 48, 17, 39, S, 15, 7, 6, and Peoria with closed shelves lost 5. These are arranged according to population. Mr HILL: Mr President, if my two min- utes are not up I would merely like to say that we cannot measure the benefit of the open shelf system by any money value. The benefit comes from the greater use and larger circulation of books among people who have the opportunity to come lo the library and see the books that they want to choose or that they want to take home for their own reading or for study there. That is the only point of vantage that I think we have. Mr CUTTER: It may interest the Asso- ciation to know that when I first took charge of the Forbes library the shelves were separated from the public by the charging desk, with only a narrow opening. In connection with another matter, the charging desk was moved, giving absolute- ly free access. The circulation of fiction decreased 20,000 the next year, and the circulation of non-fiction increased by about 10,000. Part of the decrease was due to the restricted purchase of new fic- tion, part to the free access to the non- fiction. Mr ANDREWS: To my mind the ques- tion of mutilations is really fully as seri- ous. I could not agree with Miss Lord at all in considering it insignificant in com- parison with the losses. Especially in a reference library is that true. There is one other point I would like to bring out. Are we ourselves wholly guiltless in this matter? When we are borrowers from 254 MINNETONKA CONB'ERENCE other libraries do we take prompt pains to return exactly in condition with the lines — Mr HILL: Yes. Mr ANDREWS: I fear not. And 1 think it is tor us to be careful before oui own skirts are cleaved in this matter. Mr }JOWEKMAN: I wish Miss Lord could also have taken into account the element of the qualitative value of circula- tion, making comparisons between a closed and an open shelf library, as to the per- centage of fiction. In 1904 in the Washing- ton public library the only thing on open shelves was fiction. The percentage of fic- tion was 84 for the reason that people could not get at anything but fiction, in their disp^ir, after waiting a long time to get any oth';r kind of a book, they would take a book of fiction and go away with it. Conseo.uently the fiction circulation was high. In the first two years after we be- gan to put some of the classed books on oppn shelves the circulation increased to 155,000: 55,000 only of that increase was Action; 100,000 of it was non-fiction. The library was not made entirely open shelf; but one class after another was placed on open shelves and after four years of hav- ing somethirg besides fiction on open shelves, the percent of fiction circulated has fallen from S4 to 65. The PRESIDENT: Mr Willcox in what he has said intimated that the library at Los Angeles was about to follow the lead of the Denver library and close its shelves. Can't we hear from Mr Lummis? Mr LUMMIS: Mr Chairman. The Los Angeles public library is goin.e: to make as good a compromise as it can, but it is go- ing to close its shelves as much as it must. When 1 went in there I found; that the in- ventory, that useful tool which Mr Wil- cox mentioned, was not very seriously taken and wo were all equally surprised to find that our actual losses amounted to over 4,000 books a year. Those were large- ly the less valuable books. In our refer- ence department we lose very little — an ■ivei-age of perhaps 20 a year, but there we suffer frightful mutilation. Some of our most vnluable art books have been de- pleted of their plates; books of five or ten volumes have been destroyed as to their value as a set. The heaviest losses come in the general literature room where they average about 1600 a year; the next in the juvenile, the next in the fiction, where they average about 1450 a year. The juve- nile and fiction are now on closed shelves; the general literature Is closed, that is, nominally. We have a cord strung along, head high, and nice signs stating that "An attendant will bring you what you wish." In new quarters, to which I shall move in August, I hope, I am going to have a stack room and every book will be on the stack except books that are either too heavy to be carried off, or that can be trusted ir place and accessible, because they are right under the eye of an at- tendant. In the general literature room I shall let the people look at the books but not reach thein. There will be a desk running along 30 inches from the shelf, which will contain about 16,000 volumes, and there they can look at the beautiful books .tnd get all that education and still can't tuck the books under their coat; an attendant will hand them out promptly. They won't have to wait long, and they can educate their minds by seeing the titles, but we are going on the general principle of protecting that property, on the principle that the library is business and no business can suffer loss amounting to nearly '^0% per annum. The PRESIDENT: I am sorry that this very interesting discussion must be brought to a close, but we have no more time for anything else in this line, es- pecially because wp have something not on the program, that I am sure will be inter- esting to you. At the Portland conference we had a representative from the Public 'ibrary in Honolulu. Now we are going still farther across the Pacific; we have with us to-day the lihrarian of the American li- brary, Mnnila, P. I., and I am going to ask Miss SYREXA McKEE to speak to us nf THE AMERICAN CIRCULATING LIBRA- RY OF MANILA No doubt tnany attending these meetings remember the urgent plea for books "for McKEE 255 the soldiers in llie Philippines" that was sent over the country In the years imme- diately following the Spanish-American war. This request was answered most bountifully by the good people of Ameri- ca, who seized with avidity the opportun- ity to kill the proverbial two birds, by culling out from their library shelves all the old text books, gift books, and once popular novels. Inscribing on, the fly-leaves thereof "For the soldiers in Manila," and sending them to some collection center, whence they were transmitted by an in- dulgent government to its defenders In the tar-away Islands. Among the books thus sent were many discarded by libraries — the Baltimore mer- cantile library seemingly having been the most generous in this resepct; book agents' prospectuses; arithmetics galore; and a large number of etate and government doc- uments. Soon the books arrived in such quanti- ties that distributing them became too great a task for those engaged in the work, and the happy thought of establishing a library emanating from some source, was immediately acted upon, and the American circulating library of Manila sprang into existence. It had to be made a subscrip- tion library in order to be self maintaining — the sum of five pesos or f2.50 being charged for a yearly subscription, and 50 centavos or 25 cents for a monthly sub- scription, These prices hold at the pres- ent time — the subscriber having the privi- lege of taking out two books at one time on a yearly card. Fines are charged at the rate of five centavos per day, and extra books may be taken by a subscriber on the payment of ten centavos for each volume so taken. For every centavo re- ceived, a receipt in triplicate is made, the receipt being a slip of paper six by three inches, and the copies are reproduced by carbon impression. Mrs Nelly Young Eg- bert, the wife of general Egbert who was killed in the Filipino insurrection, was made librarian at an early stage of the li- brary's progress, and is still serving in that capacity. To her, great credit is due for her untiring efforts and unflagging interest. Soon after the establishment ol the li- brary some memorial features were added. The Daughters of the Revolution of the state of Ohio gave a number of books as a memorial to the soldiers killed in the Philippines. I believe these books were bought w.ith the proceeds of the sale of an elaborate bookplate, designed especially for the purpose, a copy of which is attached to each hook added to the Ohio collection. Other memorials are the Egbert and Lls- cum, both of which are marked with book- plates — the- Oreenleaf, California, Montana, Virginia, Guy Howard, Miley, and Ken- lucky, making in all ten separate memori- al collections besides the main library. In 1901 tho library was turned over to the civil government of the Philippine Islands urder a special act, with the pro- viso that the name remain unchanged and the memorial features be perpetually main- tained. At this time, the control of the library was given to a Board of five trustees chosen as follows: One to be an army officer, one, a naval officer, two to be representative Filipino citizens, and one, an American citizen re- siding In Manila. Later on, this Board was :ibolished and the library made a Division under tho Bureau of Education. The Phil- ippines commission passed an act — No. 1492 — granting permission for the purchase of books and periodicals for the library directly from the dealers. In every other division and bureau under government con- trol, all purchases must be made through the Bureau of supplies. Books and periodicals are purchased out of the money taken in at the desk from the sale of tickets, fines, etc. This amounts to over ?1,200 a year. Salaries and all other expenses of the library are paid out of governraent funds. In 1904 the library had grown so un- wieldy it was found neccessary to have it cataloged, and a cable was sent to the Bu- reau of insular affairs to that effect. A civil service examination had just been ad- vertisel for the purpose of appointing a librarian for the War college at Fort Leavenworth, and General Edwards de- cided to choose the cataloger for the Man- 2S6 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE ila library from among the contestants in that examinalion. I was one of those who took the examination, and after all the other contestants had presumably scorned I he Philippine offer, I gratefully accepted it, which answers the question 1 am often asked of how 1 happened to go out there. At the present time the library consists of nearly 16,000 volumes on the shelves, and more than 11,000 volumes in the store room. These store room books aie, thou- sapds of them, duplicates many times over of the books upon the shelves, anil other thousands are old text-books of no apparent value to any one. However, they cannot be disposed of until condemned by a government inspector. The best books in the store room are utilized in traveling libraries sent out by the librarian to iso- lated army posts and hospitals. She also distributes large Quantities of newspapers and magazines among the regiments sta- tionetl in the Islands. There are four American, one Spanish and five Filipino employees of the Ameri- ca* library. The hours are from eight a. ui. to ten p. m., no one person being required to work over seven hours daily. The library is located at the present time in the Education building inside the old walled city of Manila. It is closed on Sundays and legal holidays, of which there are eleven ir> the Philippine year. The circulation averages about IGOO volumes per month, and the number of active sub- scribers about 650 per month. The pro- portion of children taking books is very small— due probably to the subscription barrier. The charging system in use is the Newark system put in when the li- brary was reorganized and moved into the Education building. The mechanical work is done entirely by Filipino boys wharticipants in that meeting were also re- sponsible for the publication of a report upon the Libraries of the United States, which for completeness in dealing with details and in soundness in advice has never been equalled, in any other age or country. What a splendid company they were! And how well have they inscribed their names upon the list of those of whom it may be said "well done." There were Spofford, to whom was rightly given the epithet of "walking encyclopedia;" Cutter, whose rules for cataloging and classifica- tion promise to go down to the end of library time; Dewey, whose decimal sys- tem is known in every civilized country rud to whose marvelous enthusiasm in the interests of libraries much of the success of the Association is due; Justin Winsor, who had not then completed his "Narra- tive and critical history," but was well up in the front rank of library workers; Poole, whose name will go down to pos- terity in connection with his "Index" with honorable mention of Fletcher, his suc- cessor in that important work; Lloyd Smith, whose great delight it was to as- sist students by reading dissertations in a half dozen languages, fluently and intel- ligently; John Edmands, the author of the Edmands "Classification" and now the eldest living librarian; John Jordan. Jr., now the librarian of the Historical society of Pennsylvania; Doctor Nolan and Mr Peoples who are still among the most youthful of the attendants at these meet- tings. What a splendid company it was. mentally, morally and socially! It was a man by the name of Pattison I think who once remarked that a "librarian who reads is lost". In the company of such men as I have mentioned it would Eoem rather that the librarian who does not ; ead has not yet been found. The effect of the formation of the As- sociation was immediately seen, first, in the marvelous increase in the number of institutions supported by taxation; second in the number of libraries established by ])rivate gift; third, in the extension of state aid; fourth, in the construction of buildings of fire proof materials; fifth, in th«. organization of persons engaged in lilirary work for the study of library econ- omy and for the discussion of the prob- lems of library administration; sixth, in the establishment of schools for system- atic instruction in library work. As the membership of the Association grew it became necessary to form sec- tions for discussing the interests of special classes of libraries and in the course of time the state librarians found it desirable to organize a new association, and we have come together to celebrate its 10th anniversary. There were I believe, only three representatives of state libraries present at the first meeting in Philadel- phia, and this is not to be wondered at when j'ou take into consideration the trials and tribulations which beset these institutions; and in 1898 at the first meet- ing of the National Association of State STATE LIBRARIES 261 Libraries but ten states were represented, of which only one, Oklahoma, was situ- ated west of the Mississippi. Without in- dulging in pessimism it is safe to say that it will be many years before we secure a complete representation of the various states in the Union. The influ- ence, however, of the published proceed- ings has been most positive, and the answers I have received from librarians who are unable to be with us to-day show that the matter of expense in making the trip is the only deterring influence with a great majority. Would it not be well for the Association to lend its united influence in securing appropriations on the part of the various states in order that its libra- ries may be properly represented? Not- withstanding the discouragements the an- nual meetings have been well planned, and the stimulus given to the state libra- ries is apparent In many directions. In place of the humdrum institutions of 30 years ago with their collections of law l)ooks and public documents; with a small number of attendants with no library ex- perience, spending most of their time in making themselves as useful as possible to their political sponsors, we now have a number of well regulated educational in- stitutions wherein, to be sure, you will have some political elements, but with those a fair mixture of people trained to their work who are fully impressed by the opportunities offered in reaching many elements in society not affected by the public library, the college, and in some in- stances not even by the public school. Thus we find the state institution no longer satisfied in the function of distrib- uting a few law books, nor in having its large collection of miscellaneous literature locked up in cell-like alcoves, but held in trust for each citizen of the common- wealth, so that a student at the remotest cross roads may have access to the best thought of the present and past. The law library, no longer a heap of dusty books, becomes an effective instrument in the hands of the legislative librarian, and sends its duplicate volumes to every lo- cality not having easy access to a law collection. The history, biography and genealogy of each state are well repre- sented in the collection, and many libra- rians are securing as rapidly as possible the works printed within the limits of the state, which have any value from an edu- cational or bibliographical point of view. The collection of newspapers and peri- odicals has not been neglected, and sharp eyes are continuously at work hunting for missing numbers of those "vehicles of dis- jointed thought," as Doctor Rush denomi- nated them, which have become so valu- able to the genealogist and historian. Provision is made, too, for the preser- vation of State papers and manuscripts, and the greatest care is taken in the re- pairing and cataloging of such material with better facilities for printing sucn matter as Is important historically. More care is taken In the distribution of the publications of the state government and a definite number of volumes of each pub- lication is set aside for libraries, schools and specialists. The leading library school is connected with a state library, and traveling librar- ies by the thousand are being distributed to small communities, schools, and study clubs which are so conducted as to build up a local interest in such matters. Museum features are appearing and the resources of each state are being intelli- gently arranged so that the sight-seer at the state capitol often finds himself under- going a course of instuction when he least expects it. The educational work of the state, its flora and fauna, its geology and archeology and the early lite of the inhabitants are illustrated by well mounted and well la- beled specimens, and lantern slides illus- trating all these activities are distributed with the most moderate restrictions. The work so admirably outlined by Miss Carey at the Asheville conference of the A. L. A. opens up a new line of activity promising most important results in the development of the library interests of state institutions whether it be placed in 262 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE charge of the library authorities or under the direction of a special commission. There have been, it is true, certain dis- couragements in the past pear; but an ad- vance has been made which promises much for the future. Let us work together 10 give due credit to those who have ac- complished something and omit the nega- tive side of the proposition. The profes- sion at large will be benefited only by M hat it has done and done well, and we can safely leave to our critics the task o£ proving that we are but human. I am more than pleased to find that 23 Insti- tutions are represented at this meeting. Let us unanimously resolve that the next meeting will find us better able to sur- mount the difFicultles which beset us. Miss MINNIE M. OAKLEY next pre- Fented the REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-TREAS- URER FOR THE YEAR 1907-1908 The usual work of the Secretary-Treas- urer during the year has consisted of edit- ing the Proceedings, distributing them after publication, answering letters and re- quests for back numbers, writing remind- ers of unpaid dues, conferring with chair- men of committees and the president, pay- ing bills and keeping the finances in (•ider. Calls for copies of the Proceedings have come from far and near, one request coming from the editor of the Russian "Year-book of education," St. Petersburg. As (he Proceedings of the 8th annual meeting, held in Portland, Oregon, in 1905 are out of print, the secretary requests that any one having duplicate copies would confer a favor by sending to her all copies that can be spared. During the year Mr W. R. Watson of the California state library, a member of the Committee on the Exchange and dis- tribution of public documents, resigned his memberehip on account of a change in his work. Miss Maude Thayer of the Illinois state library was appointed to fill the un- expired term. The report of the finances follows: Lialance on hand from 1907 report $ 75.84 Dues were received from the fol- lowing libraries; Ala. dept. of archives and history.? &.00 California state library 10.00 Cole, T. L., Washington, D. C... 5.00 Connecticut state library 10.00 Illinois state library 7.50 Indiana state library 5.00 Iowa state library iiO.OO John Crerar library 10.00 Kansas state library 5.00 Kansas state historical library 5.00 Maine state library 5.00 Michigan state library 5.00 New Hampshire state library 5.00 New York state library 25.00 Ohio state library 7.50 Oregon state library 5.00 Pennsylvania state library 10.00 Rhode Island state library 10.00 Vermont state library 5.00 Virginia state library 10.00 Washington state library 5.00 175.00 Total $250.84 Disbursements: Stenographer, Asheville meeting $ 26.10 Expressage 1-93 Printing Proceedings, 1907 134.68 Stamps 10.00 Manila envelopes 30 FYinting programs 3.00 176.01 Balance 74.83 Total $250.S4 REPORTS OF COMMITTEES The PRESIDENT: The first item on the program is the report of the Committee on Clearing house for state publications of which Miss Hasse, of New York, is cha.irman. The SECRETARY: I had a letter from Miss Hasse. saying she did not understand she was chairman of this committee; that H O i $ o s 3 o 9 z S m JO 2 z >- 1 2 z > < g o p o o r 2 > X o i a Z Z 3 > 5 i 3 > IS o H Z o 9 § Z > z o JO z 1 z s z g > § > s % 2 « s 2 z >■ S z > § 1 z 1 r § > z pi H O -< - > z o > 3 * p 2 d > z > r r Z c o S 2 s s d > d !0 8 z z H C H 8 > i z 5 > > ^ ^ , 1 * -4 Si 1 1 1 P'? 1 i 1 1 -53- R S 1 1 1 1 .S|f 1 1 "i"\ 1 1 if 1 1 1 ^' \t Library o^ % \ 1 s g 3- III 1 1 ]F 5C 1 M 1 1^ 1 1 1 Is 3„> sis 1 ' 1^ 3° \ Secretary of Stale 3 1 ^ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 o^ 1 1 1 1 1 z 1 1 ' ' ' 3n 1§ 1 1 1 1 1 Reciprocal % s Is _l a Ms S'- s So ill ? 1 Sep ^ Is So Itl 1 3 " ° _.z II 1- Other\vise = - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 w I »&3 I"'! Doc. Journal 1 , s r % ■T u r g- 1 % ' Separates " « 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 D.g.S ' ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Both 1 ° i 1 .- B 1 i 1 z 1 1 1 1 aw ii 1 1 1 1 1 1 f^ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 F" 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 Yes 5 ^> ."Is „ jpo i t 1 No 1 1 1 1 1 1 i i SB 1 Annually 1 1 3 i "f 1 12 3 °- 1 1 f 1 If >- Biennially ' 1 1 is 1 1 r 1 1 ST 1 I 1 if IS •3 " 55 1 1 1 1 When Published & 8 5 si 3 §1^ ■5" S|3 E 3. S-o 1" ■^ 1 Other Times . " g I 1 1 1 1 z 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i , 1 1 1 z 1 1 1 1 1 1 Yes M Ot ^ It IH i gi-5 z §1? i i No 2 s 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ^ 1 1 1 1 1 ' ; 1 1 z 1 1 1 1 1 Do III 8- 1 1 1 1 1 < Z 22 1 J 1 1 1 3 I 1 Do not 1 1 1 1 1 ' 5 i Will 8? 1 1 1 1 1 n?, 1 1 5S? 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' ' 1 1 z 1 1 Have lis S § 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 t 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i Have not 1 3 1 Indefinite S SI u_1 : Z Yes So 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 I z 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 -1 1 1 1 1 f 1 1 ^ 1 ' 1 1 1 1 No STATE LIBRARIES 263 she had no report to make and would not be present. She understands that the Com- mittee has been discontinued and the chairman discharged. The PRESIDENT: We will pass this report and take up the report of the Com- mittee on Exchange and distribution of state documents. SUMMARY OF REPORTS This report shows 1 That in 26 states, the exchange of- ficial is the librarian; in 16, the Secretary of state; in 3, somebody else. 2 That in 24 states, the exchange is re- ciprocal; in 16 states, otherwise, such as, on demand, to chief executive, etc. 3 That 11 states send the documentary Journal; 5, separates; 23, both. 4 That 3S states send the acts of the legislature and court reports; 1 does not. 5 That S states send annually; 8, bi- ennially; 19, when published; 14, at other times. 6 That 34 states want the documents from all states, 3 want only bound vol- umes; 1 wants court reports and laws; 1 does not say; and 1 says, "No" with ex- clamations. 7 That 24 states classify and catalog all exchanges; 12 do not; 4 intend to. 8 That 22 states have a fund for distri- bution; IG do not; 2 are indefinite. 9 That 2 states charge price or car- riage; 37 do not The Committee recommends 1 That a persistent effort be made and continued by the National Association of State Libraries to bring all states into the condition where they will distribute by exchange all state documents and publica- tions. The Committee considers this ab- solutely primary and essential. 2 That a systematic effort be made to Induce all states to make exchanges with other states through their respective li- brarians. DEMARCHUS BROWN. Chairman. The report was accepted and ordered printed. Mr PAINE (Neb.) : I would like to know something about exchange of documents. We have a great deal of difficulty in our state. We have no appropriation with which to work and we do not know how to legislate. We have no appropriation whereby state reports are sent to the state library for exchange purposes, neither is there any appropriation for anyone to send them out. We are making an effort to bring the matter before our legislature, asking that a certain number of reports be sent to our library, but we have not yet succeeded and we would be glad to know how those gentlemen who have overcome this difficulty have arranged it. The PRESIDENT: Simply prepare your bill and have it go through the House. We found the same difficulty in Pennslyvania. Some of the reports are distributed by the secretary of the com- monwealth and others by the governor. We simply prepared a bill providing that 300 copies of each document be sent to the state library and to such other institu- tions that were entered for exchange with the library. You can modify it, if there is any opposition to the bill. Modify it simply by providing that you have enough copies to furnish the state libra- ries and I think it will go through with- out question. Mr HITT: The state of Washington goes further than that. It makes the state librarian the official custodian of all state publications. When a publication is fin- i.shed by the printer it goes to the state librarian and any one who wants a copy of a publication goes to the state libra- rian. This is an ideal condition of things and is a great help to the state library. Your plan of asking for 300 copies might not always work well, because in some cases there might not be a sufficient num- ber of copies. The PRESIDENT: That is simply be- cause we do not wish to be subject to the demands of people politically inclined. Mr HITT: We have everything that is published by the state and the expense of every document is met by the state. 264 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Mr BRIGHAM (R. I.i: In our state we passed a bill similar to yours providing for as many copies as they care to give us. Sometimes the demand for certain publications was greater than the supply, as in the case of insurance reports, and we had to make a request for more, but as a rule they have been inclined to help us. ^VhiIe I am on my feet I want to ask this question: Is it customary for the Asso- ciation to print the report in full? Mr Brown spoke of printing the tables. In many cases the information furnished is of a private nature. Is it intended to print the report in full and also the tables? The PRESIDENT: I think that was the intention. Mr ANDREWS: My motion provided that the reports be printed. Mr Brown's report gives some information valuable, not only to this Association, but to the members of the American Library Asso- ciation at large. I do not want to have It cut out. We are allowed something over 15 pages, which includes the papers, and my motion was to print Mr Brown's re- port. I do not mean to refer to any re- ports containing confidential information. The PRESIDENT: Would it not be ■well to have some rule or understanding to have only such matter cut out as the chairman might indicate? Miss STEVENSON: I would like to ask Mr Hltt a question. I think he told us that the provision of the law he spoke about was not actually carried out, or practiced, and, as a matter of fact, state documents were not turned over to him. I would like to know whether there is not a sufficient force in his library, or whether it is on account of the low state appropriation that they are not turned over to him. I would like to know whether there is any objection to turn- ing them over. Mr HITT: All documents do not come to me, but that is the law of the state of Washington. There is no objection to turning papers over to the state librarian except in this particular: many executive officers wish to send a copy of their reports to state departments of other states and do send them and we do not have a demand for them. There is no objection to turning such publications over to the state librarian, except that heads of departments want to send them to officials of other states because they contain official figures that are of inter est to such oflicials. and this is granted by the state librarian. There is no ob jection to this course under these circum- stances. Mr GODARD (Conn.): In our stale up to two years ago it has been the custom of the executive officer, who has charge of the printing of all documents, to distri- bute publications, working under the state librarian. The law is now changed, but there is no difference in the practice which is still being carried out. In all cases where certain departments or col- leges or libraries have been regularly on our exchange list, they have been in the habit of sending to the librarian for reports. There might be three or four requests from some libraries for the same report. Now it has become our custom that all re- quests of this kind shall be turned over to the library, and when requests come from individuals they are turned over to the libraiian, and he finds where the set nearest to this individual is located and then he is told that what he wants is accessible at that library. The PRESIDENT; Do you have a pro- vision for an expense account in that case? Mr GODARD: We do. Mr BROWN: In Indiana, the appropria- tion contains an item providing for office esponse and liislribution. I then ask the board of public primers for a certain num- ber of copies of every report apt to be be received by them, to be filed in the li- brary. This is requested for distribution among all the libraries of Indiana. The PRESIDENT: Do you send to the historical society as well? Mr BROWN: To all who ask. If we do not get enough from the printing board, if what we get do not fill the demand, we STATE LIBRARIES 265 ask for more from the department. We simply say we want them for the use of libraries or for historical purposes and we always get them; they give us all we can use. I ask the consent of the com- mittee to insert the word "publications" instead of "documents." Usually a docu- ment is a formal report, as the report of the state auditor, and in my state, docu- ments are not distributed by the libra- rian. We also have certain other papers which the state law permits us to distrib- ute. For instance, the report of the un- veiling of the monuments of Indiana and other reports that are in a certain way historical. We also distribute the reports of the Indiana Academy of science, send- ing them to educational institutions as well as to libraries, Mr ROBINSON: It would be well to bind all state reports together in public documents for distribution. In some states the public documents are bound to- gether, while in other states they are not brought together. In my state everything is bound up and we receive every publica- tion except supreme court reports. Those are bound up singly in a series of volumes. In the case of insurance we are getting everything that the state produces. Where a state binds only a portion of them and there are fugitive documents scattered about it is hard to follow all those cases. It seems to me this is a case where we might secure uniformity of action from legislatures and public printers in order to secure these documents in a convenient way. Mr GODARD: I am pleased at the way the report has led up to this discussion. As it is such a vitally important matter, I wish that the representative of each li- brary represented here might tell the status in his state, and by taking the mat- ter up personally with the authorities it may be we can help states like Colorado. I believe this discussion is of more profit than' the reading of papers, which can be read by title. Mr PAINE: In Nebraska we are not giving the state publications in exchange with the state libraries. We find the state libraries do not care to receive these pub- lications except in cases of rare old ones, and so far as their own publications are concerned, we have not been able to effect any exchange, they claiming, in nine cases out of ten, that their custom was to send to state libraries, tJie state library only. If this association can take any action that will induce them to send to other libraries except state libraries, I think it will be a step in the right direction, be- cause often historical libraries desire them more than state libraries. Mr GALBREATH: We are very glad to know that someone in Nebraska has charge of the distribution of documents for that state. The state library of Ne- braska is a law library and makes no use of documents other than the laws and ot the courts Mr HITT: I just came from Lincoln, Neb., a few days ago where I had a sev- eral hours conversation with the state li- brarian. He is Supreme court reporter, he is clerk of the Supreme court and also state librarian. If we should send them Washington publications they would be practically of no use at Lincoln, The PRESIDENT; I think it would be rather useful to find where these docu- ments might be sent so as to be appre- ciated. There are a number of states in which the state library is practically only a law collection of very limited scope, and if there is another institution that is per- forming the work of the state library, I believe any of us would be glad to see that they get the documents they need. Pennsylvania would certainly appreciate it. Mr ANDREWS: There is still another case where the state library is 200 miles from the center of the state. It is use- less to tell a citizen of Chicago who is seeking some immediate information con- tained in some document from the state ot Washington that he will find such infor- mation at Springfield. For that reason it should be at the principal cities of the state, where the capital is so widely re- moved, that state documents should be 266 MINXETONKA CONFERENCE deposited. We are not particularly anx- ious that our library should collect state documents, but it has been forced upon us by orders from the students of the university, and therefore I come to the convention and am doubly interested to find that you are not inclined to shut them off in a little room in the state house, but are more inclined to put them where they will do good to ourselves and others who are so widely separated from the capital cities. Mr SAMPSON: The case of Missouri is somewhat similar to that of Nebraska; in fact, the State historical society is made the recipient of 60 copies of the Supreme court reports, these being sent out by the secretary of state and not by us. It has not been customary for the State library to send out in return, but our society is ready to do that thing, and we have about 1000 duplicates to- day. Mr BROWN: To whom shall we send for state documents of Missouri after this, to the State library or to the State his- torical society? Mr SAMPSON: If you want anything ill return and will send to me you will get It. The PRESIDENT: When I wrote to Nebraska I was informed that we would get In exchange only volume for volume, and as we have not received anything from Nebraska since 1873, and as we usually senil our documents on, I thought it was pre.ty hard. However, if wc can get everything from 1873 that will be great satisfaction'. Mr BRIGHAM (R. I.): At the time I ■ left, the laws of 1907 had not been re- ceived, and I possibly can get no resuli except through Mr Sampson. Mr SAMPSON: We have the session laws; it >ou want them you can have them. Mr HITT: I would like to ask Mr Brown one question in regard to the table he presented in his report. He says cer- tain states want documents alone and some separate. We want to know who "vants all public documents and which we have to separate. Mr BROWN: I did not read it, but it is all there. Mr ROBINSON: I want to move that the Committee upon Exchange and distri- bution of state documents be requested to prepare a uniform library distribution bill to be presented to the several states. Mr PAINE: 1 wish to move an amend- ment to the effect that a special commit- tee of three be appointed by the president of this Association, and that the Com- mittee include also in that bill a provision for sending state librarians to these meet- ings. I second the molion. The amendment was accepted by Mr Robinson and the motion as amended be- ing put to a vote prevailed. Mr COLE: Before that subject is en- tirely passed by, if I am still in order, it seems to me that a good deal of trou!5le comes by the sending library not know- ing to what library or school to send It, In some states mentioned here this even- ing — I think it was Nebraska — libraries insist on sending to the state library which does not want the books. I wa? going to suggest that in drafting this bill that that feature be taken cognizance of. The PRESIDENT: I think the remedy in either of those cases lies with the li- brary or school. For instance, in the case of Mr Andrews we always include his li- brarj' in the exchange, and I think the remedy would rather lie in that direction instead of a definite law. Mr COLE: I was thinking of libraries at the state capital. Mr BRIGHAM (Iowa): We send a cer- tain number to state libraries as such, and there is a provision in the law whereby the governor can take as many copies as he wishes. If I find I am running out I go to the governor and get his signature for as many copies as I need. This is a very convenient arrangement in our state where the governor has that power. Mr GALBREATH: It seems to me this is rather an important proposition and we are apt to overlook some features. It is STATE LIBRARIES 267 an easy matter to appoint a committee and suggest that it draft a bill to cover the requirements of those present, but it is somewhat difficult to suggest a bill that would accomplish completely the result desired. Things may be done in one state that are done in a different way in an- other, and expenses that are paid in one state from a certain fund may be paid fiom a different fund in another state, and it would probably be somewhat difficult to arrive at a common solution of the prob- lem. The other can readily be done I think, and it is important that it be done; in fact, the lady who spoke first this evening made a plea for just what this will provide. It is comparatively easy for us to talk in a general way how it is done and how it is done in our par- ticular state, but it is a different matter to draft a model law that will answer for every state. It seems to me this is an important proposition and ought to be carefully considered. The PRESIDENT: We might leave that to the committee and see whether it finds any difficulty in framing such a law. Mr BRIGHAM (Iowa): I would like to talk to that last addition. I don't think that is the way to get at it, that is, to have our expenses paid to these annual meetings. It would be alTording a splen- did opportunity to the professional refor- mer to make an eloquent speech against the wasting of public funds. I think that every state should have a slight amend- ment of the present state library law pro- viding for the enlarging of the powers of the board in the matter of expenditure of money. That is likely to be recommended by the library committee in states that have a library board or any responsible committee. They will say that it is a reasonable measure and it will go through without any question, and we can get in some states where the board decides they cannot give the money for any such pur- pose. The object is to give the board just a little more power than It has now in the matter of expenditure of public money. Mr JOHNSON BRIGHAM next presented the REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EXTEN- SION OF MEMBERSHIP Your committee to report on methods for the inrease of membership of the Na- tional Association of State Libraries has to report that, after correspondence between committeemen, it was agreed that, in advance of the formal report, the chair- man of the Committee should himself do what could be done by correspondence to- ward the desired end. Accordingly, a list was obtained, from your secretary, ot such state libraries as were regarded by her as our missionary field, and the chair- man addressed a personal letter to every librarian whose library was included in the list, enclosing with same a stamped and ad- dressed envelope with the request for an :inswer. The letter ui-ged on each librarian the desirability of a representation of his li- brary at Lake Minnetonka, June 22-27, as- suring the one addressed that the formal and informal discussion proposed would cover vital points in the development of state library work, and that the free ex- ehange of ideas and experiences would be found to be very valuable. The letter called attention to the change in the name of the Association, making it clear thai assistant librarians and trustees are quite as elegiblc to membership as state librar- ians themselves; and urging the person addresser! to take up the matter with his Board asking that at least one representa- tive be sent, his neccessary expenses to be paid by the Board. At the Committee's request your Sec- retary followed up this letter with a copy of the Proceedings of 1907, that the prac- tical trend of the discussions at the Ashe- ville conference might be noted. At the Committee's request, also, the railroad peo- ple looking up business in connection with the Lake Minnetonka conference were asked to send their announcements to the persons and libraries included In the above-mentioned si)ecial list. 268 MINNKTONKA CONFERENCE The responses to the letter sent out, 11 In number, briefed for quick and conven- ient reference, are as follows; Arizona — S. G. Stark, assistant librar- ian, writing for J. W. Crenshaw, librarian, simply states that it will be Impossible for him to iittend. Georgia— Mrs Maud Barker Cobb, librar- ian, whose presence at the Asheville con- ference is pleasantly remembered, writes that as assistant librarian last year she attended the conference, paying her own expenses; that the meeting enlightened her as to the advantage and profit to bo gained therefrom. She was especially in- terested in the legislative reference dis- cussion, declaring it to be her purpose, now that sho is state librarian, to make work with the legislature a feature of her administration, so far as conditions will permit, and expressing the hope that a future legislature will give substantial recognition of its usefulness by Increasing Its appropriation for the State library. She writes It Is a sore disappointment to her that nhe Is unable to attend the Min- netonka meeting, owing to the fact that her two assistants are new, and, further, that while the library is under the general supervision of the Supreme court, it has no board with power to send her. Her judgment is that the Georgia library should become Identified with our associa- tlor and at the proper time will so recom- mend. Kentucky — Frank K. Kavenaugh, librar- ian, delayed his answer until June 10. hop- 'ng he micht be able to give an afiirmatlve reply to the Invitation extended him. He deeply regrets his inability to be with us. owing to matters incident to preparations for the equipment of the library in the new Capitol building. He discussed with the Governor the sending of one of his depu- ties to the meeting, and the governor ruled that there was no law permitting an appropriation for the expense Incident to such course, and it would be inconvenient to locality under consideration in the several wars. While eve-'y town did not have a General Washington or a General Putnam as a son and patron saint, they had sons who were called from the plough into the service of their country anri they did that service just as willingly and just as well. Such service we find here recorded together with the work either accomplished or being done by such organizations as the Colonial dames. Sons of the American revolution, Daugh- ters of the American revolution and the Grand army of the Republic and the Wom- an's relief corps. Not the least important part of our lo- cal history we will doubtless find is de- voted to the chapter on the bibliography of the locality. By this I mean, as complete a list of the various books, pamphlets, etc., as the author can compile. The rapid in- crease in the growth and use of public li- braries both in our own country and abroad has created an increased demand for genealogical and historical Items. Thus the sons and daughters of old Connecticut who are now found in every part of the g'obe, as well as those who remain at home, desire to know more concerning the history of their state and of themselves. Such a study requires not only a knowl- edge of what has been written along these lines, but also where the same may be found. What has been written and by whom? Whp.t has been printed and by whom? When and where? These are the questions which are being asked concern- ing your locality and mine and which as yet we are unable to answer with entire satisfaction. Such a bibliography of a locality ought therefore to include all printed works re- lating entirely to that locality, its sub- divisions, industries and institutions, in- cluding the official publications of the STATE LIBRARIES 301 same; printed works containing important references to that locality; genealogies of local families; printed biographies of local men and women; newspapers and periodi- cals published in that locality; maps re- lating to that locality and its subdivisions; occasional sermons and addresses dealing with the history of that locality; pictures of important persons and events In the history of that locality and the location of important manuscript material relating to that locality. I have thus hastily run over the prin- cipal imaginary contents of a good local history to recall to our minds what sort of material we should be on our guard to locate and if possible to secure and de- posit the same in a place of safety there to await such time as someone may asli con- cerning this or that. Is it true? when our material thus slowly collected from many sources will promptly rise up and answer the questions with an authority which is beyond question. But someone asks, where can we who are but starting our local historical society or library find such sources of information as have been mentioned? This section, he says, has been skimmed and skimmed and everything of value has been taken and carried away. I agree that doubtless much has been thus collected and carried away from your immediate vicinity. But I think you will find It In Hartford at the state library or the Connecticut historical society, or In New Haven at Yale univer- sity or the New Haven colony historical society, or at Litchfield, or at Boston, at Madison or somewhere else, but it is still yours for service and possibly may be of greater service as a part of a larger collec- tion in which it may form a missing link In the long chain of documents assembled from many other sections. But wherever these items are, they will ever remain at your service. Historical libraries and societies what- ever their name or nature therefore seem to have one common end and purpose which is both a duty and a privilege; viz. to rescue from the danger of destruction perishing memorials of past and present life and to bring these several memorials to a common center where they may illus- trate and enrich each other, and so ar- ranged that they are available to the most exacting investigator and the humblest reader. ?Iistorical societies differ only in the several lines pursued and territory covered. Therefore our greatest historical collections we naturally expect to find in the large centers of population and educa- tion, as at Washington where the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution and the libraries of the several departments of state are perfect mines of historic material relating to our entire country. At New York where the several historical societies and public libraries have gi'adually amassed immense collections. At Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Madison, Columbia and other cities where similar collections may be found. In each one of these collec- tions many items are found which are not to be found in the others. The membership in these societies may be limited to a chosen few as the Massa- chusetts historical society at Boston, which has a very valuable collection of books, manuscripts, maps, etc. or their member- ship may be practically unlimited as the State historical society of Wisconsin, or- ganized in 1849 and located at Madison, the capital of the state. The Wisconsin state historical society is quite generally regarded by historical scholars and investigators as a model of its kind. It Is one of the most active and valuable agencies in our country for the furtherance of research in American his- tory. Its collection stands out as one of the eminent collections in our land. So far as I am aware, no other state historical society or organization has rendered a greater service in the cause of American history. Through wise and efficient ad- ministration and inspired by high stan- dards of scholarship and just ideas of pub- lic usefulness there has been brought to- gether and made available to the public not only an extensive collection of maps 302 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE and manuscripts but a library of nearly 300,000 books and pamphlets. Already Madison is the mecca for all who are interested in the history of the Mississippi valley, the West, Northwest, and northern portion of North America. Thus with its present achievements and acquirements it will soon have embraced the East also. That such a collection of historical material, containing so much that cannot be found elsewhere, should have been gathered together, housed in one of the most beautiful buildings in our country, costing half a million dollars, and made accessible within a period of less than three score years, ten years less than a lifetime, is another example of the "I will" spirit of the West. Perhaps there is nothing better than the exhibit which usually accompanies an old home week celebration to reveal to a community the really large amount of his- torical material relating to their section which is still to be found in private hands and that too within the radius of a few miles. And for the most part also we will find it has been either overlooked or forgotten by the owners. Those of us who visited the old home celebration exhibits were furnished a real treat by the large exhibits made, but the sense of pleasure and surprise which we non-residents experienced in looking over these collections was not more than that experienced and enjoyed by the residents themselves, for it was as much of a sur- prise to them as it was to us. What was proven true for these and other similar celebrations will without doubt prove true with other localities who undertake the same. Without doubt a most pleasing, surprising and complete exhibition of such material could be easily and quickly as- sembled right here in your midst. Such an exhibit would almost enable us to see the early settlers of this section moving about as was their custom. Our busy life has so drawn us to the once distant parts of the earth so fre- quently that we have unconsciously pbsorbed something of the spirit, life and civilization of those distant lands, which is being consciously more and more Incorporated and carried out in the life and architecture of our own cities. One by one the early landmarks of our fathers have been superseded until we have scarcely any suitable memorials and monuments of that early life of those be- fore us. All through our land this same industrial renovation and permeation has been silently and unconsciously moderniz- ing us to such an extent that one is as- tounded when brought face to face with facts. However, notwithstanding this seemingly almost irrepressible Influence, there are a few buildings throughout our land which have escaped and have be- come the pride of their centers and a sort of shrine to the world. Thus Boston has her Faneuil Hall, Old South Church, etc.; Newport has her old stone tower; Philadelphia has her Independence Hall; Hartford has her City Hall, the old Con- necticut Bulfinch Capitol, etc. These build- ings embodying that architecture, purely colonial, are not only beautiful in their lines as buildings but they are beautiful in their history. Centered around and in them have been events which have in- fluenced the history of the world. These buildings therefore do not nor cannot be- long to any one locality, they belong to the early colonies and their descendants now residing in all lands. They are hal- lowed buildings standing on hallowed ground. What more fitting and appro- priate homes and meeting places for his- torical societies than buildings like these? From eternity to eternity is a long time. It is and will be studied and understood in proportion as the data for the different periods are preserved and made available. As the writing of history will never end, so the collection of material for historical purposes must never cease. With each generation there is produced histories of the past, based, to be sure, upon the same facts but interpreted from its own point of view and in the light of its own civiliza- tion. Thus, each decade accumulates his- torical data for the use of those to come. STATE LIBRARIES 308 As the little, musty. Ink-stained, quaintly phrased diaries, pamphlets, etc. of colonial days, so common in their day, and usually destroyed or soon forgotten, are now eagerly sought for by historians, so the everyday state, county, town and city maps and charts, and the pamphlets, broadsides, circulars, which are suddenly and constant- ly appearing from state, town, church, and lodge officials in every community, only to disappear again almost as quickly, are the very data from which the statesman and historian of the future is to gain his view of our life and interpret our civiliz- ation. No one is so well situated to gather these local records — for like the records of the phonograph they will speak again — as the historical societies and li- braries of the several communities, whose duty it is not only to preserve copies in their own library but transmit copies of the same to the library at the capital. For here also should be found whatever is necessary to form a faithful register and mirror of the life and industries of the state. Mr GALBREATH as chairman presented the REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMI- NATIONS Your committee begs to submit the fol- lowing nominations for officers for the en- suing year: President, Herbert O. Brigham, Rhode Island. 1st Vice-President, John S. King, Min- nesota. 2nd Vice-President, Demarchus C. Brown, Indiana. Spcretary-Treasurer, Miss Minnie M. Oakley, Wisconsin. (Signrd) C. B. GALBREATH, JOHNSON BRIGHAM, GEORGE S. GODARD, Committee. On motion of Mr Cole, the secretaiy was Instructed to cast the ballot of the associa- tion iu favor of the nominees reported by the committee. Mr GODARD (Conn.): A gentleman .spoke to me this morning and asked how he could become a member of this associa- tion. The PRESIDENT: An amendment was handed to me, which reads as follows: "The annual dues of each state library, or of a reference library shall be $ , and the annual dues of an individual member shall be ?1.00. Both individual and library dues shall be paid in advance." This is suggested as an amendment to the constituiion. Mr GODARD (Conn.): I know the meaning of that blank, but others may not understand it. The SECRETARY: It was decided that as the income of Individual libraries varies so much that it would be almost impos- sib'e to specify a certain sum for each library, which would cover the member- ship of all the people connected with that library, the librarian should use his judg- ment as to the dues. This was done so that the larger the staff, the larger the sum to be paid by the library and vice versa. The constitution states that the fee for libraries shall not be less than five dollars or more than 25. Mr COLE: How long has that been in force and how does it work? The SECRETARY: The constitution was changed to include that clause at the Port- land meeting in 1905. There has been no difficulty except in the case of one state librarian, who has paid five dollars out of his own pocket because he did not think it right for the state to pay his dues. The majority, however, difler from this gentle- man and think it is just for the library to pay the du?s. The President appointed the following committee en Exchange bureau upon the motion previously offered by Mr Brigham, of Rhod(i Island: Herbert O. Brigham, Rhode Island. Demarchus C. Brown, Indiana, George S. Godard, Connecticut. C. V,'. Andrews, Chicago. Charles McCarthy, Wisconsin. 804 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Mr HITT: I think it would be wise for us to have a missionary committee to do what they can in creating interest for an increased membership of this association. The PRESIDENT: I think the mission- ary committee should be a committee of the whole and I think each one of us ought to take it upon us to do what we can in the matter of an Increased attend- ance at these meetings. Mr HITT: I shall take pains in the neighborhood where I live to see if I can- not get some of the peopl3 here who ought to be here. The PRESIDENT: I wish to thank the association very sincerely for the com- pliment they have extended to me in elect- ing me president of this association. 1 esteem it a great honor. I also wish to thank you for your assistance In making this meeting a distinct success. I hope the next will be still better. Adjourned sine die. LEAGUE OF LIBRARY COMMISSIONS Fifth Annual Meeting at Lake Minnetonka, Minn^ June 23-26, 1908 The first session was called to order June 23, at 2.30 p. m. by the President, Mr Chal- mers Hadley. Miss L. E. Stearns, Chief of the Travel- ing library department of the Wisconsin library commission opened the discussion on "Traveling libraries," with suggestions as to (1) choice of the local librarian, (2) location of the traveling library in the community and (3) means of maintaining Interest in traveling libraries. Choice of local librarian. The post- master is the Ideal man for the position of local librarian, if his interest can be en- listed, as he Is In the habit of keeping records and everyone visits his office — two desiderata in the successful operation of every traveling library station. Rural free delivery has unfortunately abolished many post offices and more ti-aveling library stations must be located in country stores at the cross roads, creameries, cheese factories, private homes, etc. In the choice of a station In a home, one should be found to which people will be free to go, there being a great difference between homes in this particular. The busiest person in the community ofttimes proves the ideal librarian. For example, one of the most active stations in Wisconsin was under the charge of a man who was the postmaster of the village, the section ''boss" of the railroad, the local justice of the peace, aud the school clerk. Location of the traveling library in the community. A central location in the vil- lage should be secured, if possible, and if the post office is found unavailable, the in- terest of some storekeeper should be en- listed in the near neighborhood. Next to post offices, drug stores have been found to be the most satisfactory repositories owing to the long hours and intelligence of serv- ice. In farming communities, the library Bhould always be located on the main traveled road, if possible, and near the district school. Traveling libraries should not be located in school buildings, if any other possible location can be secured, as older people do not visit the school and the building is closed on Saturdays and during long vacations. The Ideal method of locating a traveling library would be for the one in charge of the system, to visit every community and canvass the whole situation before placing the library. With small systems this is possible but not In larger ones where hundreds of stations are involved. In answer to the first letter of inquiry concerning the establishment of a traveling library station, the one in charge of the system can suggest the necessity for a suitable location, thus call- ing the attention of the local association to the need of exercising caie in this im- portant particular. In studying library statistics, it is in- teresting to note the difference in circula- tion ofttimes occurring between two small stations in the same community. For ex- ample, the same library will be read In each place. In one case the library -will be returned with a circulation of several hundred issues, while in the other ease. It will come back with less than 50 issues. This difference is generally due to the lack of interest on the part of the latter libra- rian, over that of the former one. The first one will be found to be exerting every effort to reach possible constituents, adver- tising the library at the church, the school, the farmer's institute, the country club, and by personal invitation to individuals, while in the latter case the librarian makes no effort to secure the Interest of possible borrowers, confining the library almost wholly to his or her own use. Differences in circulation of this sort should always be noticod and tactful letters should be written to delinquents calling attention to S06 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE the value of the library and the need of larger circulation if the station Is to he continued. Selfish motives sometimes prompt the delinquent librarian to there- upon make special effort to secure more borrowers. If no notice is taken after the appeal for greater Interest Is made, the library should be transferred, if possible, to a more Interested and cooperating cus- todian. Means of maintaining interest In travel- ing libraries. There are many methods of maintaining interest in traveling libraries. The success of any system, however, de- pends upon the sort of books sent out. If a lot of dry, old books go into a com- munity, interest is usually straightway killed, but if one box of interesting and fresh material constantly follows another, the interest is almost certain to be main- tained year in and year out. New books should constantly be added to old collec- tions to keep up the interest. In these days of rural free delivery, when farmers are taking daily papers containing re- views of the latest books, the library must be kept up to date. Many requests are re- ceived by those in charge of the traveling libraries for the most recent books which can oftentimes be sent with the fixed col- lections. A letter of appreciallon from headquarters to a local library station where the circulation is large and where It is realized that a great deal of selt- sacrlfice of time and labor is given on the part of the cusiodian, will do much in the way of encouragement. The little New Year's greeting to the custodians of the traveling library stations in Wiscoruiln sent out from the headquarters of the de- partment, brought back many responses on the part of the librarians of the little sta- tions. Personal visits to stations by those In ''harge of the system will do much to maintain interest, if these visits are made by a sympathetic and tactful library worker, with a due appreciation of the fact that the local librarian Is doing his or her work "without money and without price" and wholly as a labor of love. To lighten the labors of such custodians, all records should be made as simple as poesible. There should be no complicated charging system nor •'liould there be rigid enforce- ment cf rules, particularly as to the loss of boolis, when the cost of books falls upon the already over-burdened librarian. If the loss is occasioned by carelessness or general Indifference, due reparation should be made, but the situation should be care- fully inquired into before the final exaction is insisted upon. Extension of time should be granted, if necessary, during the sum- mer months and all rules should be made flexible consistent with service for the 'greatest good to the greatest number." When the custodian feels that he or she can keep the library no longer for personal reasons, everj' effort should be made to secure another volunteer before the situa- tion is abandoned. This can be accom- plished through correspondence, urging such continuance, but it can more often be .accomplished through a personal visit. A station can never be considered as wholly discontinued, as one can never tell when a community may decide to resume library privileges. We remember our amazement, some years ago, upon visiting the head- quarters of a great traveling library sys- tem, to be shown a list of hundreds of dis- continued stations and to be told that no effort whatever was made to have the sta- tions re-established. Although the Wis- consin sytteni lias been in operation for 12 years, Me have had an average of less than six discontinued stations a year and we be- lieve that this small number could be de- creased were the one in charge of the sys- tem able to visit the delinquent stations and look into the local difficulties. A re- newed station brings as much rejoicing to our office as the lost sheep in the parable of the "ninety-and-nine." Miss M.-VRGARET W. BROWN, librarian of the Iowa traveling library presented the subject of TRAVELING LIBRARY STATISTICS It is not necessary to urge upon this group of library workers the importance LIBRARY COMMISSIONS 307 of a recognized basis for traveling library BtatiBtlcs. The difficult task of making comprehensive statements would then not only be lessened but comparison of the work De!ween various states could be more accurately made. The problems that enter into a consider- ation of the subject are many of them com- mon to all library statistics. There is, however, an important exception in the fact that a group of books is loaned as a unit, to a community more or less remote from the central office, hence removing the knowledge of its use one degree fur- ther from direct oversight, than in a pub- lic libraiTr. What should these statistics give us, in order to justify the labor spent upon them? 1 The result of the work in concrete form for our own enlightenment and that of our state legislators, and for the in- formatios of the general public; what lines of work are most expedient in accomplish- ing the desired ends, so thai it is possi- ble to determine where future emphasis should b« laid. 2 By uniformity in the use of accepted terms, to enable a comparison between states to be made; to afford a means for Intelligent discussion of the various meth- ods employed in the various stations; to make it possible tor statements to be made of actual figures rather than estimates. Circulation records. The entry on the book card of the loan of each book, must be the accepted basis for compiling circu- lation. To do otherwise would be to de- part from the rugged path of facts to the alluring bypath of estimate. That the record of such loans depends upon the oftentimes careless custodian of the books, must be recognized; also that for study club purposes the books are used for reference, thereby introducing much the same problem, as to statistics, as that in a reference department of a public library. Although by printed direc- tions and by letter the importance of ac- curate records of loans is urged upon the f vistodian, it has been found that a com- plete record of actual circulation is prac- tically impossible, and that if we depend upon these entries alone, we will report less than the actual use. The items for this record must be se- cured from the field, and while the com- pilation of these loans, as shown by the book cards, are made in the Traveling li- brary office, the omission of the entries occurs in the field, and cannot be cor- rected. As a result of these conditions if we are to do any comparative work, one state with another, the comparisons must be made from records in the one place where we obtain accuracy of statement. Strange as It seems, this circulation record which must be recognized as inade- quate and uncertain to fully report the use of the books, being open to the inac- curacy of the untrained worker, has in the past been made the foundation for many traveling library reports. The New York state library, to which we turn for much in traveling library matters, states in its traveling library report for 1906 — "It has been found impracticable to keep statistics of the actual circulation of books in traveling libraries." Is there any means by which at the central office this difficulty may be offset by other figures? In accepting the re- turns from the field at their actual value, as only a partial statement of use, is It not essential that the office records pro- vide the facts that will afford a basis of comparison as to activities? Office records. What information do these records give? I assume that we all use what may be termed a "Double entry system" of charging our books, 1. e. charging by stations or localities, and also by book cards or group number if fixed group. 1 Stations or Centers. These, as to the total number, correspond to the num- ber of borrowers registered in the public library. Here arises the question as to the actual number of "live" stations, just as that of the actual number of borrow- ers in the public library, and hence there should be an understanding as to th« 508 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE period of time a station should be counted active, if this is to be a factor in com- parative statistics. During a period of years there is con- siderable fluctuation in the use of travel- ing libraries by any one station. The sea- sons of the year enter into the rural use, also the school terms and the club year. There must of necessity be withdrawals of the agreements of stations as the years pass because of lapse in use. Shall the filing of an agreement for use of books be made the basis for statistics? Shall we report these rather than simply how many stations or groups of various kinds actually use the libraries during the year, Indicating the character of the stations, centers, or groups? 2 Books. The activity or vitality of any library is centered in the call or re- quest for books. We know how many books are issued to a station, center or group, not how many books are read. Why not make the actual basis for our statistics, the books issued to the station rather than the books loaned from the station to the individual, and build upon this certain other related facts? Even while we may not agree as to the com- parative value of fixed groups or flexible collections, we can certainly report the actual number of books issued, whichever method is adopted. Here is revealed ex- act figures about which there should be no doubt. I would suggest for your dis- cussion items to be included in a tabula- tion of traveling library statistics based on the New York state traveling library report, 1906, and the table in the League "Yearbook" as follows: (General Statement) Amount spent for books annually. Total number of volumes added during the year. Total number of volumes in collection. (a) Tixed group. (b) Open shelf collection. Number of stations in agreement (with- in fixed period of time) (Loans) To whom lent: (a) Groups of tax payers. (b) Public libraries. (c) Public schools. (d) Chaiitable institutions. (e) Study clubs. (f) Other recorded organizations. (g) Individuals. Giving total number of volumes eent to each of the above. The discussion was led by Miss Alice S. Tyler, Secretary, Iowa library commission, who spoke of the importance of exercising care in preventing tlie spread of contagi- ous diseases through the traveling library, and emphasized the suggestion made by Miss lirown of the need of uniform basis of statistics. Miss Hewins, Connecticut, told of their special traveling libraries for granges, con- taining books on agriculture, with outlines for lectures, and readings for grange meet- ings. Miss Brown added that the Iowa commission cooperated with the Agricul- tural extension department, which provides courses of study for the granges. Mrs Budlong, a member of the North Dakota commission, gave an interesting acount of the opening of the work in the sUile, saying that the first request was from a farmer who wanted books on farming and tree culture. In reply to a question as to the advisl- bility of a church as a traveling library station, Miss Stearns said in some instances there was no objection to this plan, when the church was the social center for the entire neighborhood. She urged again the importance of sending out visitors to the traveling library stations, maintaining that there should be sufficient clerical force to enable the one in charge of the system to spend more time in the field. The League was fortunate in having pres- ent at this session Dr Graham Taylor of Chicago Commons. Dr Taylor spoke from his experience of locating library stations in cities, urging the advantages of placing such libraries in public places, rathei- than LIBRARY COMMISSIONS 809 In business houses or private residences, and made a strong plea for the use of public school buildings as public library centers, advocating that public property should be used for the benefit of adults as well as children. Mr Hitt, Washington, maintained that the Important thing in locating a traveling library was not so much the place as the person in charge. Returning to the discussion on statistics, Mr Legler spoke a Vv^ord of warning against over-rating the value of statistics. A cir- culation of one In many cases meant more than a circulation of 50 or 100 or 200. Mr Gillis, state librarian of California, was called upon for a report of the work in that slate, and described their county system of traveling libraries, which is be- ing successfully developed. Miss Brown's suggestion for a new basis of statistics was heartily endorsed by Miss Hoagland, Miss Templeton and other speakers and the sentiment was crystalized by Miss Tyler in a motion that a com- mittee of three be appointed to submit an outline for uniform statistics to be used In the Yearbook of the League, and in the reporta of the various commissions. The report of the Publication committee was presented by its chairman. Miss MARY E. HAZELTINE, Wisconsin. The F^iblication committee begs to sub- mit the following report of its work since the Asheville conference in May 1907, as to the progress of publications in hand and now publications that are contemplated: 1 During the j'ear publications have ap- peared as follows: Foreign lists. A German list of 500 titles, prepared by the Wisconsin library coDiIssiou. A Hungarian list, edited by Miss J. Maud Campbell of the Passaic (N. J.) public library. Both of these lists are carefully selected and annotated. They were published for the League by the A. L. A. Publishing board. Library tracts. Two tracts have ap- peared in the Library tract series during the year, that were prepared at the request of the League of Liorary Commissions, and bear its imprint "adopted for state use" on the cover and title page. These tracts are No. 9, "Training for librarlanship," by Miss Plummer, and No. 10, "Material for a public library campaign, compiled by Mr Hadley of the Indiana commission. This tract is already out of print, and will be reprinted with revision by the editor. Library reading course. The supple- mentary reading course along professional lines which appeared in the columns of "Public Libraries" during 190G met with so large a response and was found so stimu- lating and helpful to library workers, that It was voted to assist the editor of "Public Libraries" in outlining a second reading course. The columns of "Public Libraries" since January, 1908, have given space to this second reading course, which has been ar- ranged both by the editor of "Public Li- braries" and on behalf of the League by the Secretary of the Iowa Commission. Pamphlet on magazines for the small library. A reprint of the exceedingly val- uable contribuiion by Miss Katherine Mac- Donald, on "Magazines for the small libra- ry," which appeared in the January number of the "Wisconsin Bulletin," has been is- sued in pamphlet form for the League. This Is an annotated list of 50 titles, selected for their adaptability to the small library; a choice of the first five, ten, fifteen and twenty for purchasing indicated, and direc- tions are given for buying, binding and general use. It is one of the most useful and valuable publications that has been issued for the use of small and medium sized libraries. It Is on sale by the secre- tary of the League for 10c per single copy, In lots of not less than 25 copies, 5c, and lots not less than 50 copies, 3c. 2 Publications In press. There is In press, and soon to be issued, the work on buildings, so long and eagerly waited for. The pamphlet has approximately, 125 pages, its size Is that of the Kroeger guide, with probably 150 illustrations, including exterior and Interior views and floor plans. 310 LIBRARY COMMISSIONS It is ntedlcsb to say Uhat it will be a great boon to all commission workers, and others who have buildngs to erect. It Is edited by Miss Cornelia Marvin of the Oregon commission, and published by the A. L. A. Publishing board. It will sell for $1.2.5 per copy. In quantities to com- missions or !ibra]-ies, 40 per cent discount. There will l:e a small edition in cloth at ?1.50 per copy. 3 Publications that are in process of preparation. The "Year-Book" is the one annual publication of the League, and has proved a most useful and necessary addi- tion to library literature. Two numbers havo appeared, for 1906 and 1907, each pub- lished in the tpring of the current year. It has been decided to change the lime of the date of issue from the spring to the fall of each year, that the reports and sta- tistics may include those for the fiscal year, which for most commissions ends in June. The "Year-Book" for 1908 will be issued In September, and will be edited by the Secretary of the Minnesota Commission as in fonner years. While giving the usual activities and statistics of the various com- missions, and the historical summary of commission work, it will include text and tables en traveling libraries, as the special feature of the year. Foreign lists. Additional foreign lists are In pieparation as follows: A Norwegian list of 300 titles, is ready for the printer, compiled by Mr Arne Kll- dal of the Library of Congress for the Wisconsin commission. A Sv.'cdish list is nearing completion, the work of the Minnesota commission, with the assistance of Miss Valfrid Palmgren, the Swedish librarian who visited this countrj' last fall. Her aid will be greatly valued and appreciated by the League. Further lists as planned are Polish, Bo- hemian. Italian and French, and they will be published as scon as the copy is forth- coming. Children's list. One of the greatest needs of all commissions is a good buying list of children's books, for use in small libraries. Such a list should probably not exceed 500 titles. It was the intention to supply this need by adopting lor Leag«« use the list of children's books new In pre- paration by the Carnegie library of Pitts- burg;, and whose cordial consent had bees given for such use. But as the corapllatlOB of this list has advanced, it Includes a far greater number of titles than at first anticipated. While your Committee still favors the use of this list by the League as one of the publications that should be adopted for state use, and so indicated on the title page, the need Is still pressing for a short list for use in small libraries. Such a list will be included in the new- edition of the "Suggestive list." Suggestive list. The last edition of the "Suggestive List" was published In 1905, and besides being pratically out of print, is in need of revision and bringing up-to- date. This work has been assigned to the Wisconsin commission. It ia hoped that the revision can be accomplished during the coming year. Pamphlet on the mending and repair of books. A much needed elementary text- book is one that shall give specific direc- tions for the mending and repairing of books, and on binding materials. A pam- phlet on this subject is being prepared by Miss Margaret Brown for the League In behalf of the Iowa commission. Reprints. The files of "Library Jour- nal" and "Public Libraries" are filled with articles representing the foundations of li- brary economy and practice, which should be available for all in the profession. As the files of these journals are not within the reach of many library workers, it is proposed that reprints of valuable articles be made, that this mine of valuable mate- rial may be open to more than the present limits of the editions permit. The reading course in "Public Libraries" will reveal numerctis articles that will need reprint- ing, and the demands of the profession will bring to light others that should have 1 wider use. A reprint of Mr Eastman's article "Li- brary buildings," read at the Waukesha conference in 1901, has recently been Is- sued, with revision. Pamphlet on library furrvishlnge. Tbe LIBRARY COMMISSIONS 311 pobilcatlon committee made the following recommendation in its report last year: That a pamphlet on library furnishings to supplement the one on library architec- ture be published, to contain advice and suggestions as to library furnishings which experience in small and medium sized li- braries has proven wise; such as sugges- tions for books stacks, tables, floor and waU coverings, books, periodical and news- paper racks, lighting fixtures, etc. Also that this iwmphlet contain drawings and directions for making such furniture as can be put together by an ordinarily clever carpenter, to save small libraries the ex- pense of buying unnecessarily high priced furnishings. This publication is held in abeyance for the time, as there has been no opportunity to undertake so considerable a compilation. It Is recommended that drawings and de- scriptive text be gathered as it is possi- ble to obtain them, and issued in leaflets, until such time as fuller material can be le had used over 100 books, had consulted half a thousand entries, I am sure, and had needed no assistance save once when a hook was not produced be- cause of an error — on our part, I regret to say. Under his skilful hands our biblio- graphic tools worked with the precision of a well-oiled engine. It was an inspiring sight to ."^ee the rapidity, the ease, the accuracy with which he went from step to step In his Investigations, the assured- ness with which he jotted down his final note and went out That task was done. What assistance did he need from us? Merely the careful doing of oiir routine duties. The two cases are not absolutely analogous, for I was seeking a book to read for recreation — the scholar was la search of a definite title; but I should have been equally at sea, I am sure, in trying to find a book on any given subject. Between those persons, then, who are practically helpless in the face of ordinary library machinery, and those to whom our •devices for registering books are useful and easily handled tools, lies the whole world of readers in the kind of libraries with which this section is concerned. Is the ability to use books and to use libraries an end to be consciously sought in our universities and colleges? At pres- ent if a student acquires much facility in these lines it is safe to say that this ability Is a by-product of other work, rather than the re'sult of intentional study or instruc- tion. It is well known that in the smaller colleges there Is a good deal of efficient work now being done in teaching students to use the library. In the larger libraries where the need for training is greatest, instruction is, ordinarily, wanting. We ought to be able to assume that freshmen have learned In their preparatory school days how to consult a card catalog, how to make o\!t an Intelligent call for books, how to use "Poole's Index," and what encyclo- pedias and bibliographies are for. This is but little in the way of equipment for serious study in a university or research library, but the want of just such an equip- ment on the part of students and of readei's in a public research library, con- fines much of the work of assistance to most elementary first aid to the injured. I fear our experience is that the average freshman needs help in doing almost any one of the simple acts just mentioned. This being so, is it not possible In our larger colleges and universities to Impart In some formal manner this elementary training, and to go beyond to the regions of cooperative indices, card indices, great library catalogs, and bo on? I see very little that leads me to think this will soon com.e abo'it. We have heard much talk of "professors of books," of "instruction in bibliography," and so forth, for many years, but I fear that the art of using large collections of books must still be learned by the hard way of experience, rather than be taught 'n classes. There seems no good reason why it should not be taught for- mally, nor why the work should not be thorough and hard enough to count toward a degree. At Princeton, where the new "preceptorial system" has been heralded COLLEGE AND REFERENCE S2» as fiiinishlng the long desired "professors of books and reading", I knew but one pre- ceptor who systematically trained his men in using bibliographies or catalogs. Most of them saw to it that the students read fliligently, and probably mastered, a small number of works which were reserved at the desk, but they conspicuously failed to train them in the use of indices, catalogs, and bihiicgraphies. If then, we find ourselves confronted with this lark of training In the methods of using the library, how far can we go in supplying this want in the midst of our routine work? It is evident that we must try to get students, and other readers, in the habit o£ using ordinary helps, but first It Is pertinent to ask what they do when they are puzzled. At this point I might close this paper, and we cnuld devote an hour to telling the experiences which we all have had in ar- riving at that most elusive object of in- quiry — the thing a reader really wants to know about. The chief art of a desk as- sistant or a reference librarian is — as we all know — the knack of divining by long experience v/hat is actually wanted by in- quirevp. Tho fact that so few readers will ask directly for what they want, even when they have a clear idea of their needs — which is seldom the case — is perhaps a greater obstacle to successful reference work than poor equipment, poor catalogs, few bibliographies. But granted that the task is not easy, where does it as a rule begin? What is the point of contact be- tween reader and library? Most readers will ask questions at the loan desk. We might as well make up our minds to that fact. No matter how elabor- ate the machinery provided for their assistance elsewhere, they will persist in asking for aid from the people they know, and with v/hose ways they are familiar, rather than walk 25 feet and ask a ques- tion of someone who is busily engaged be- hind an unfamiliar desk which in many cases bears a strange sign. We all do it. Don't we ask the gate-keeper or the police- man in a railroad station our bothersome questions rather than walk to the con- spicuously labelled "Bureau of informa- tion"? Shall we demand and expect an in- quiring soul to seek out in the library the proper place and persons to whom to put his questions? Granted then that most inquiries in any library which circulates books will originate at the loan desk, how shall we make sure that the questions are properly jinswered and the inquirers directed to the right person? It is imperative, I take It, In order to bring this result about, that the reference librarian should be in close touch and on the most cordial terms with the loan desk assistants. I will not go into the question as to whether he should exercise an actual control of assignments and of the loan desk work generally, though I think the work would benefit by such control. But if the assistants are to receive most of the inquiries, as they will anyhow, it Is most important that the man who must be finally responsible for the assistance to be given should know how the questions are met and what amount of aid is at- tempted at the desk. It is most important also that the desk attendants do not at- tempt to do too much themselves; that they shall, on the one hand, turn over to the reference librarian inquiries involving much time, and, on the other hand, that they shall direct the inquirer to the catalog and similar helps. We are all agreed that the desk attendant ought to be a compound of the manly and polite virtues. But if we urge on him the value of politeness and unwearying >;eal we may often flud him overdoing the part. I have seen a good deal of this excess of effort to aid readers. I have not infrequently seen dcslv assistants drop everything to look up books for readers m the catalog with no thought that they were unwisely doing the reader's proper work for him. The poise and balanced jud.?ment of the true teacher, who remembers that his busi- ness is, as has been well said, "to make himself useless", would be a great de- sideratum in a desk attendant. I don't sup- pose that we shall get this for the salaries 330 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE we usually pay for these positions, but we can at least gei the careful supervision and counssi of reference librarian and chief ot the circulation work. It is worth while, perhaps, to add that au excess of zeal fre- quently develops the habit in desk assist- ants and others, of spending an inordinate amount of timo on one reader. It requires a pretty fiim hand, and good judgment to keep eager assistants, full of the desire to help, within reasonable bounds, without at the same time discouraging the assistant's spirit of helpfulness; but someone must, as a rule, do this. If the work is not to suftei- seriously. If the library is at all large, it is fre- quently helpful to have a small leaflet printed to explain the methods of securing books. Most libraries give on such leaflets or cards, merely the rules ana regulations with some descriptive matter. If I may again be peimitted a personal experience, let me tell hciw I was taught to use a card catalog. The Student's Christian asso- ciation at Michigan used to print a "Stu- dents' handbook", full of most sage and excellent counsel for a newcomer. In the one I was given when I entered college I found a couple of paragraphs headed, if my memory serves me, "How to draw a book". The whole process was described— tho catalogs and what they are for; the caba- listic shelf numbers, and where they were found on the cards. I read that these numbers were always In pencil and were in the upper loft-hand corner of author cards only. If you found a book under a subject heading, you must look up the cor- responding author card to get the number before presenting your slip at the delivery desk, and It was impressed on me that this number must be on the slip. I don't know who wrote that lucid and detailed explanation, but I do know that I never had any trouble in getting a book at the desk after I had mastered it. If we could once get all our readers inoculated with the call number germ, we could dispense with about half our cares in desk and reference work. 1 submit that such a detailed ex- planation of the modus operandi of securing a book would do no harm to the man who already knows the process, and would be of very great assistance to tho.s8 who don't I'.now just what to do. I would make the leaflet, or whatever you choose to print, compact, but most explicit, and I think It would be more useful than any statement as to the scope and extent of the library's collections. Suppose then that we have in some man- ner tided our inquirer over the early dif- ficulties which are the result of inexperi- ence, and suppose that he is aware of the existance of the card catalog; there arises another question of serious import. Can a ccjd calolog ever be made self-interpret- ing' We librarians have aparently pro- ceeded for years on the theory that it can. We have busied ourselves about "evalua- liors" ai.d descriptive notes, about head- ings and author entries with the "public" ever in mind, and on our tongues. I here and now humbly confess to having been party thereto; I can even say quorum para tmigiw fui. But I have my very serious doubts whether the card catalog is ever go- ing to becon^e the guide, philosopher, and friend of tnc ordinary user of libraries. Its inherent difficulties are many and seri- ous, even at the best. I think that it la fair to say that the average card catalog will alwr.ys require explanation and will always need an interpreter so long as our readers are not trained in its use so that they know tho niceties of arrangement, of enfy, and sub-headings. Why not recog- nize this fact? Why not have in our large research libraries at least, one attendant whose .sole — or chief— duty It shall be to assist the reader desiring to use the cata- log? Po you ever go to the catalog your- self whoii there is an unusual number ot readers present that someone does not ask you a f]uestinn as to what this card means, or "jow to find some title in the curloua machine? I should like to see the experi- ment tried and to learn the results. I am sure that attendant would earn his money! Now if we have provided in some way for aiding our students to use the library In- telligently, If we have trained our assist- COLLEGE AND REFERENCE 331 ants at the desk to help them to help them- nelves, still better, if we have given them formal instruction in the art of using bcoijs in libraries, there remains the curi- ous problem of the "reserved" bool^s. These books bwome, in the student's eyes, practi- cally text books, and their attitude toward them Is singularly like their indifference to- ward the algebra or the history which forms the basis for instiuction in class-room work. They come frequently, or perhaps daily, to the library to read a given number of pages on which they are to be quizzed. There is no enthusiasm for the task as a rule; frequently this reading is an un- welcome requirement, an uncomfortable in- cident of the college course. We may find this attitude of indifference, or even dis- taste, exti-nding toward the whole library. That love for the world of books, that pas- sion f,)r letters which is the hall-mark of the scholar they may — and do — utterly es- cape. The great development of the semi- nar and fiepartmental libraries begets, too often, 1 similar attitude toward literature In matur^r students. Have we not in this situation a challenge to our inventiveness and to our loyalty to our profession? Is theie no way in which we may win the enthusiasm and devotion of the modern student for human letters? We cannot af- ford to ignore the problem. It exists and i'i :s growing in seriousness. My own feeling is that it is partially met by a large -ipen shelf collection, for circulation as well as reference, in the reading room; by the silent Invitation of interesting books which may be read without let or hin- drance. There Is another class of difllcultles which sometimes calls for all the tact the librarian possesses. I refer to his rela- tions with the faculty, and with investi- gators of experience. It is, from one point of view, absurd to think that the reference librarian can be of much service to an eminent specialist, but our experience generally is, I think, that he so frequently can be of use in bibliographical matters that he is subject to very many demands from the professors and others. In many cases these are perfectly reasonable and legitimate — the service is gladly rendered and the work offers problems of extreme interest to the reference librarian. He is likely to be able, by reason of his famili- arity with all sorts of catalogs, to run down titles obscurely quoted, and to per- form other feats of library legerdemain in a fashion that not infrequently aston- ishes even the trained investigator. This very facility, however, may lead to de- mands on his time that are wholly un- reasonable in view of other responsibilities he must bear. In conversation with refer- ence librarians I have found that the ten- dency of certain professors to make private secretaries out of them was a very real difficulty in their work. To meet it re- quires experience and tact, and, occasion- ally, the balancing judgment of the head librarian. The existence of this problem is in itself a witness to the efficiency of the work done by the reference librarian. No expert would trouble him in this way, If his work were poor and weak. It is a problem resulting from good work, and therefore to be welcomed. Evdn if the relations with the faculty are in no case such as to cause question- ing, I think we are safe in saying that there will always exist the necessity for determining the amount of as-sistance to be given to seekers after genealogical data. How far can we afford to go in research libraries in aiding those engaged in the gentle sport of "hunting ancestors?" This is a practical problem of every-day work. Shall we decline to give assistance beyond putting the ordinary indices and guides before the reader, or shall we enter into his problem and try to aid him to run down the particular ancestor about whom he Is uncertain? If we attempt much of this sort of help, we shall soon find ourselves doing a very considerable amount of extra work. If the other duties arc not too heavy, well and good. But should we do this genea- logical reference work for readers when other demands on our time are multifarious and important. In general I think we should not. There are plenty of profes- 832 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Bional genealogists who can do it better, perhaps, than we can. The university li- braries are usually in receipt of numerous inquiries about students in the early years of the institution from their actual or suppositious descendants. This sort of In- quiry seems to me perfectly legitimate, the more so as it often leads the Inquirer to present documents and other material of value to the university library. But in general 1 favor refusing to do genealogical reference work for correspondents, particu- larly those who have no claim on the library. We may also consider in this connection the question of making transcripts for cor- respondents. Requests to do this are nu- merous, in m.v experience, and frequently burdensome. The amount which we are asked to copy varies from a single line to several chapters. Frequently the circum- stances of the correspondent are such as to make the request seem reasonable — or at least of a sort to make us wish to grant It. I presume we all do more or less of this sort of work, but the problem Is to draw the line beyond which we cannot go. Of course the development of the inter- library loan is aiding us to meet the problem to a certain extent. We can say to a correspondent that the book from which transcripts are desired can be sent to the local library where he can make the copy himself, but we cannot, of course, do this in the ca=e of extremely rare works, ot manuscriijts, and of valuable or heavy newspapers. When the extract desired is short, we can probably afford to aid the inquirer, but when it involves much time, we had better turn over the inquiry to a professional copyist who will arrange for the work directly with the cor- respondent. This brings us to the question of certify- ing under cath to the correctness of such copies. Should we undertake to make at- tested copies for use in law-suits? Perhaps this matter does not come up so frequently In most libraries, but it is a very trouble- some one whon it does occur. It a docu- ment can be photographed, that process of reproduction will relieve us of the dlffl- culty. In the case of copies, the lawyers are likely to demand that the chief Ubra- lian shall make the attest. Again, calling in a professional copyist or typewriter will relieve the situation. His oath is amply Butticient, and will be accepted by the court. I have cndeavoied to show that there are problems as to the amount of aid to be attempted in nearly every department of reference work and loan desk service. Many of them arise from the inexperience of readers — others from the Insistent de- mands of scholars. We can provide against the first by the organization of our own force and by the gradual process of educa- tion in using books. The only limit that we care to set to our response to the sec- (md sort is that of our means. Give us the men and the money and we will take care of the growing demands of the trained workers. The CHAIRMAN: The meeting is open for discussion for a few minutes. Mr C. W. ANDREWS: I want to begin with a question to Mr Bishop. He did not touch on one matter which greatly inter- ests us and I fancy must greatly Interest the Library of Congress and to a certain extent the larger university libraries of the country. How does the Library of Con- gress regard questions coming to It by mail; will it give them more or less atten- tion than from Its constituency who pre- sent their requests in person? This is to me one of the trying questions because It Is the one which comes to the head libra- rian. Most of the everyday questions of the library are solved at the discretion of the persons at the reference desk, but the questions which come by mail are some- times very important. They seem to be on a par with the professors' questions in the university library. I would like Mr Bis- hop to give some idea of the view of the Library of Congress reference department on this question, after I have finished one or two little congratulations to myself which I want to share with the Section. I would state that the Massachusetts In- COLLEGE AND REIFBRENCE 833 stitute of technology did, in its chemical department, insist on the training of its students not only in the use of the catalog and the library but of bibliographical aids. It is one of the pioneers in that work. I think others do it now. But back in the 'eighties it was about the only institution of higher learning which gave systematic training in bibliography. And the other one is that the John Crerar library does have a special assistant in charge of its catalog, to explain it, and that we find that It is very profitable assistance, one which ■we would recommend other reference libra- ries tc follow. Mr BISHOP: I can only answer Mr An- drews' question in part. The Library of Congress is in receipt of a tremendous number of inquiries by mail. One of our good friends the reporters put into some syndicate that we had a national informa- tion bureau and that thing is going around the patent insides of all these little coun- try weeklies and so on, and we are getting questions literally by the bushel by mail. Now that will die out perhaps some day. In the meantime the division of biblio- graphy is groaning under the situation. The process is as follows: of course the mail comes to the Librarian's office. It is there sorted and it is referred, the various letters are referred to the proper division chief for memoranda from which an an- Bwer may be drafted. In many cases the division chief is requested to take up the correspondence and answer directly. In- quiries involving a small amount of time are turned over to the reading room. In- quiries involving much time or involving preparation of lists aie turned over to the definite division of bibliography, of which Mr Griflin is the head, which gives such time to them as is possible. And In gen- eral we endeavor to auswer our corres- pondence but some times find of course questions that are trivial. Once in a while we find some that are impossible. Mr RANCK: There is one other sort of inquiry that comes to libraries and that )s requests for information by long dis- tance telephone. In our city it is not un- usual to get telephone calls from a hun- dred miles nr more away, for information on specific matters. I remember recently a roramittee of the city council in a neigh- boring city called up in reference to cer- tain matters of rates, charges for electric light sorvice, and so on, which they wanted to use before that committee with refer- ence to the gi anting of franchises. Now we put ourselves to a good deal of trouble to answer that question. You can easily imagine that that sort of thing could be a great burden. I would like to say one thing more and that is with reference ta instructing persons in the use of the li- Inary, that that can be done very success- lully not only for college students but al- so for high school students and grammar school students. In our city we have in- structed in one year in that way classes that were brought from the high school and also from the grammar schools, per- haps four or five thousand children, and it reduces the work of the reference libra- rian, and the other librarians very much .and it more than pays for itself in the time that it saves. Mr DRURY; It may be already known in this section that the University of Illi- nois undertakes definite instruction. There is a course of general information on the use of the library given for which two credits are given, and the College of agri- culture — the very last place you might think for this to happen — requires its stu- dents to take that course before they can graduate. We wish it would extend also to the College of literature, of arts and the College of engineering, but the College of agriculture has taken that first step. We also last year issued a handbook of how to use the library, explaining every department and its work, and distributed 5000 copies to the students. Mr RICHARDSON: Mr Chairman, par- don me for taking the floor so often, hut Yale university has a most admirable course in bibliography, in the use of the library. The courses are of the highest order and count In university work. And in the Leland Stanford university, in the 334 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE history department, there is also a very systematic general method for blDlio- Braphic study in connection with the li- brary gnd use of the library and the use of books. The CHAIIcMAN: At Cornell we have two courses designed for this work es- peciallv, one an introductoiy course and one for there who want lo pursue the work to a greater extent. Of course the difficulty is that every institution must and th?.t unless that work is required work tnere are comparatively few who take it, not hocaust they could not profit by it perhaps but because they do not realize tbat they need it until it is too late for them to do it. Mr BISHOP: Mr Chairman, 1 wish to say one thing more. Mr Ranck raised a question of telephone reference work. 1 had a paragraph on that subject in my paper as originally written; I cut it out. It Is a subject of sufficient weight in itself so that I think It ought to have a paper by it- self. The dilficullies are very great. Its problems are considerably different from those of straight, ordinary talk with a per- son over a desk. I sincerely hope that the College and reference section next year will include that subject in its program. I think we can all bear testimony to the difficulties and perhaps suggest some way of meeting them. The CHAIRMAN: The next paper, which will be read by Mr F. L. TOLMAN of the New York state library is on THE REFERENCE PROBLEM OF THE STATE LIBRARY It is the- purpose of this paper to charac- terize briefly some cif the features of refer- ence work peculiar to the state library. The province of the state library Is a limited one. There are first the positive limltatiors set by the legislature in the statutes creating and governing the library. There is a limitation involved in inade- quate appropi iations. There is a limita- tion implied in the tax policy of the state, as the tendeiuy in taxation seems to be for the state to restrict its revenue to in- direct taxation — corporation, inheritance, excise, transfer taxes and the like, dele- gating to the local community its taxing power over personal property and real estate. There is also the limitation im- plied in the American theory of local au- tonomy by which the central government tends to restrict itself to activities that local communities cannot carry on effi- cientlj' or economically. The inferences of these limitations are obvious. The state library may not act as a circulating or popular library. It may not contain any large proportion of popular books, general literature, or books which loca.1 libraries may reasonably be expected lo supply. It must be distinctly a special library for consultation and re- search, developing special collections and special strength as the legislature may di- rect and as the legitimate demands on it may necessitate. We are led then to a consideration of the limits set by legislation to the activi- ties of the state library, and in this matter I shall ure the New York state library as a text The Legislature and the various library boards have tiniformly directed that the New York state library be primarily a workshop for the Legislature, State de- partments and courts and that its main collections be determined by the needs of these departments. In its early years it was open only during the sessions of the Legislature and courts. In 1819 the com- mittee appointed to purchase the basal col- lection of 600 volumes (De Witt Clinton, ch.airman) reported that "they had en- deavored to make such a selection as would best meet the needs of the Legislature and correspond with the character of the state." The collection was especially strong In law, which has ever been the chief col- lection of the library. Ir 18:15, the library contained 500n vol- umes and besides law contained "chiefly standard works In American history, poli- tics and legislation with such foreign pub- lications of general Interest as are not COLLEGE AND REFERENCE 335 usuaUy found in our society and individ- ual libraries." Thus early does the con- ception of the State library as a comple- mentary library appear. In 1810 the trustees remark on meager appropriations "for books of a scientilic character and particularly such as relate to statistics, to which mpmbers of the Legislature and ex- ecutive and administrative officers af the state must have recourse for the informa- tion indispensable to the discharge of their duties." A special appropriation of ?2500 is leported in 1811 as having been spent principally for books on civil engineering, mineralogy, geology and statistics. In 1844 the trusteeship of the library was placed under Regents of the University. They state in their first report that "they were desirous to show as early as possi- ble that they esteemed the purchase of books relating to our own state and coun- try of paramount importance" for the gen- eral department, which they report par- ticularly defective in treatises on educa- tion, political economy and practical science. These subjects, in addition to American history, would be attended to as far as means will permit. Accordingly the main increase for a number of years was in American and local history and works by New York authors. In 1860 the joint library committee of the Legislature reported that the State li- brary "is not intended primarily as a col- lection of all literature. ... Called into be- ing by the will of the Legislature, gathered by appropriations of the money of the peo- ple, arranged in a building connected with the capitol, its first object is to be a li- brary of consultation for the uses of legis- lative research." It should be richest in books relating to the science and law of government and to the history of the state, both general and local. To a slightly less degiee it should be rich in the hislory of the nation of the several states and of all America. Next In importance are books of science, not too abstruse. Great care should be taken to preserve that minute record of the acts and the circumstances of the coun- try which are fouud in the newspapers, es- pecially those published at the early periods of our history. Every history of a locality in the state should be there. During the legislative session the library should be re- garded chiefly as an appendage to Assem- bly and Senate rooms." In 187S the State librarian, Dr Holmes, made a valuable report to the Regents on the "Future development of the State library." He reviewed the history of the library, described its resources as one ot the most complete in the country in law, American history, and as being abundantly supplied with English, Dutch and European history, with representative collections of standard English literature and ancient and modern languages. Specialization among local libraries was evidenced in the fact that agriculture had been left largely to the State agricultural society, astronomy to Dudley observatory, natural history to the State museum and the classics and mathematics to Union university. Dr Holmes called attention to the fact that while the collections ot the library were largely scholarly, the use of the library was increasingly popular and interfered with the established policy of the library. He outlined the possible development of the library as either a popular circulating library, a combined popular and scientific library, a uni- versal or encyclopedic library, or a special- ized reference library of law, historical and legislative research. He suggested an ex- tension of the present historical collections to include the descriptive sciences in so far as they relate to America, in geography, geology, zoology, botany, ethnology and philologj'. It might even include the liter- ature of America, its poetry and fictiou, the production of all its authors in all languages, its school books, controversies, periodicals and newspapers, all with special reference to New York state. In reference to this report the special committee of the Regents recommended a policy which in the main followed the suggestions of the librarian and which in its essential features was adopted by the 336 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE whole board. For the law library they recommended approximate completeness in American law and liberal purchases in international and foreign law. For the general department they were unwilling to limit the library to a policy which would strictly exclude purchases outside the field of legislation and American history, while agreeing heartily with the policy of special development and preference in these fields. "As an aid to officers of the government, legislative, execulive, administrative, and judicial, special prominence ought to be given to the whole range of political and social science. Whatever pertains to the science of government in its broadest sense, has a peculiar and special place in a library for the aid of those that are to administer government. Whatever illustrates the his- tory, character, resources and development of the State, past, present and future, should be collected and preserved." This includes a wide range, for the history of the State involves to a large extent the history of the sister Etates and Europe. It includes the geology of the state, its geo- graphy, its agricultural and mineral re- Bources, its commerce and manufacture, its Intellectual development and career, its religious, uioial, intellectual and educa- tional systems. In this connection the periodical publications of the siatc, general and special, and newspapers, which illus- trate the daily life of the people, should be largely included. As to the use of the library, they con- sidered that its primary duty was to the state departments and ofhcers, that Its next duty was to special investigators and students, that the library was in no sense a popular one, and that its use as a circu- lating library for the city of Albany was mconsisient with the punwse for which It was founded and maintained. We have thus traced the formitive stages of the State library policy in so far as they relate to the reference work of the library. We have seen it develop and define the limits of the special collections, and deter- mine the use to which they should be put. The development since 1889 under Mr Dewey is significant in the establishment of a legislative reference section to increase the efficiency of the work of the library for the Legislature and State departments, and the establishment of a medical library and a special educational collection. We should also notice the following ac- tion of the Regents. February 9, 1S93, "the Regents, recognizing as one of their first duties the provision of the best library facilities for the departments and officers of the state government, offered to coop- erate actively with any state department which will make special efforts to collect in the State Library books and pamphlets in its field. Besides state collections already established for law, medicine, education and legislation, the Regents would be glad to join in building up collections in agri- culture, military sciences, charities and cor- rections and roads," if the departments concerned would deposit in the State library such material as they now own and do not require and would endeavor to collect for the library material as gifts or exchanges. Apart from this the main reference growth has been a large increase of the reference staff and a normal growth in the special collections. The epoch making advance under Mr Dewey was in the direction of library training and library extension, the development of traveling libraries, library inspection, state aid to small libraries, co- operation with study clubs, local libraries, schools and the like. Of some of the refer- ence possibilities of such library coopera- tion I shall speak later. Here 1 only wish to notice a reaction of this large develop- ment of popular libraiy work on the refer- ence side of the library. Thn purchasing of a large amount of popular literature for the traveling libra- ries, the large amount of attention given to public library work and methods, to- gether with the Director's own preference for a universal library and a faculty refer- ence staff, resulted in the purchase of an incrtasing amount of general literature for the Stato library proper and the relative neglect of the literature of knowledge, ex- COLLEGE AND REFERENCE 837 cept In some of the special collections. Thus the library became somewhat less scholarly as a whole and relatively defi- cient in the more expensive and valuable ecientific and technical books, in the pub- lications of learned societies, scientific serials and the like. The most re- cent aims of the library for its ref- erence collections include the purchase of these special treatises, the technical bibliographical apparatus, the most impor- tant foreign books and sociery and periodi- cal publications which together form so large a proportion of the literature of knowledge. As to special collections, the chief re- main law, legislative reference, American history, medicine, education, bibliography and library economy. In view of the rapid increase cf the scientific and engineering work of the state a special technical and scientific collection is to be slowly built up. The primary function of the State li- brary remains the same, i. e. a library of consultation and research for the use of ail branches of the state government, legis- lative, judicial, executive, administrative. This function is no narrow one, at least in a state like New York, where the cen- tralization and elaboration of governmen- tal activities have gone far and include large engineering and scientific undertak- ings and a broad system of control of public utilities, large control of local ac- tiv'ties, centralized supervision of educa- tion and the like. T^e second reference function of the li- brary is the preservation of the public records and histoi-y of the state. The his- tory collection should contain all material and records necessary for the most ex- haustive historical study of the State or any of its parts. It should thus be es- pecially rich in source material, manu- scripts, public records, maps, and should include a large collection of local state history, state biography, state family his- tory, newspapers and Illustrative material. Specialization in reference work will be determined by the degree of the specialization of tlie library itself and the extent of the use of the collections. In a well equipped library the follow- ing may be considered normal; a law librarian, a legislative reference li- brarian, a curator of public documents, an archivist who shall have charge of the public records, their custody, searching, editing, calendaring and publishing, a specialist in technology and science. These specialists will have large advisory power in book selection, will be responsi- ble for the efficiency of their departments, have charge of correspondence relating to their special fields, develop the special indices and reference methods and super- intend the bibliographic work in their re- spective departments. Bibliographic work will naturally be de- signed primarily to promote the efficiency of the library service. Checklists of news- papers in the library, catalogs or check- Usts of local history, guides to slate and local records, calendaring, translating, and editing of manuscripts, catalogs of special rollections are typical. Reference work with state officials pre- sents difficulties not in evidence in other types o*' libraries. The reference staff must hold before it the ideal of contributing a large Impulse toward efficient government. They will appreciate the magnitude of the service they might render and will deplore the gulf that sometimes seems fixed be- tween thorn and the state official. It is their part to collect all information bear- ing on the subjects of governmental ac- tivitj and the problems of legislation, to provide indices and bibliographical appara- tus to make this readily if not immediate- ly available and to digest, abstract and otherwise predigest much of this material for official use, and in all ways to be of service to the State. While the character of the collections of the library must necessarily be determined by the needs of state officials, the use of tho collections should not be limited to ihem. The library should present such opportunities for study in Its special fields, collections so complete. Indices and cata- 838 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE logs so nsefiil, that special students In these fields would frequently be attracted to it. The field of its special collections should be so well known that all advanced students, all research libraries and all li- braries of the state would know approxi- mately what they might expect to find in it. All inquiries, bibliographic or other In these fields, from any reputable source should receive careful and full attention. But there is a much further extension of reference work desirable. The state li- brary often, as in New York, has the added tunctiou of an advisory and super- vifory board with the power of inspec- tion and registration of the libraries of the state, grants state subsidies, assists local librarie.s In book selection and oper- ates a system of traveling libraries. This hrings the state library into close touch witn all the libraries, colleges, schools, and study clubs of the entire state. The state library should desire to develop the maxi- mum of cooperation with the local libra- ries, and offer to supplement their limited collections by liberal loans. It should de- Blre, in so far as it may be able to do so, to enable each local library to meet ef- fectively the demands of the special stu- dent. It should wish every person engaged In special research in the state to know thai the collections of the State library stand back of each local library and that wherever practicable needed books from the larger collection may be had. This service is in one aspect an exten- sion of research material to the investi- gators over the entire state and In its other aspect a supplementing of the local library to meet the special, occasional de- mands for that class of material which only the large library can afford to possess. As a part of the State education depart- ment, the New York state library feels under particular obligation to the colleges and schools of the state. We do not ex- pect to be of much service to a great In- stitution like Columbia or Cornell but to the small colleges and the high schools, we see no immediate limit of possible ser- vice. We hope also in some way to bring the teachers of the state and our educa- cation collection into closer touch — and we see further possibilities. The CHAIRIVLAN: We will now pass to the last paper of the session which is by Mr W. DAWSON JOHNSTON of the U. S. Bureau of education library. THE LIBRARY OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION IN ITS RELATION TO OTHER PEDAGOGICAL COLLECTIONS The Bureau of education is Interested In the development of all classes of educa- tional institutions, but particularly in those Intended to train teachers, the normal de- partments of universities and nomial schools, and this Interest is especially di- rected to the normal schools because of the greater number of teachers trained in them. During the past year 444 students were enrolled in university courses in pedagogy as against 68.937 students attending normal schools. The Library division of the Bureau has been organized for the purpose of co- operating with other libraries In the ser- vice of students of pedagogy. Here again the normal schools show the want of such assistance. The average university library numbers about 23.000 volumes, the aver- age normal school library about 4,000 vol- umes. The advantage of the university In this respect might be counterbalanced by a superior organization In normal school libraries, but in this respect too the univer- sity Is ahead of the normal school. 05 per cent of the universities have librarians, while only 41 per cent of the normal schools have them; 22 per cent of the university libraries use Library of Con- gress catalog cards as against 12 per cent of the normal school libraries. The Bureau of education library alms to strengthen pedagogical libraries In both universities and normal schools In three ways: (1) by enlarging their collections and Improving their character, (2) by as- sisting the cataloging of their collec- tions, and (3) by helping In their refer- COLLEGE AND REFERENCE 880 ence work. It will promote the building up of pedagogical libraries by the distribution of documents, periodicals, books, and pamphlets. In the course of the recatalog- Ing of its collections thousands of dupli- cates not needed by it are being discovered. More are being added constantly by libra- rians who wish to get rid of material in their possession. From one such source alone the library has received some 440 pieces. Such material may be sent to Washington under the Bureau frank with- out expense to the donor, and forwarded to any who may need It, again without expense to the Institution Interested. This movement of material from one place where it is useless to another where it may be useful is done wholly at the ex- pense of the Government. In undertaking this clearing house func- tion the aim of the Bureau librai-y is pri- marily to complete its own collections. For that reason this distribution of material must to a certain extent be carried on up- on an exchange basis, and those libraries must ordinarily receive most which have most to give. Harvard university library has added during the year to our already large col- lection of Harvardiana. 155 pieces. Other institutions have sent large collections, and I am certain that, as soon as it is known that we wish to collect this class of litera- ture, every one will be glad to see the literature of his alma mater preserved in the nation's library. Town libraries, too, will, I am certain, cooperate with us in the collection of local school literature, and I have even a hope that they may some- times be induced to part with rare pamph- lets relating to education which have drifted iiito their collections in years past, pamphlets wliieh are of no interest local- ly, but are indispensable to us in the Bu- reau of education. I have in mind, as I speak of this, an Oration on education, by David McClure, printed in Northampton in 1783, the only copy of which known to me is ;is good as lost on the shelves of an obscure New England village library. In these ways and others we expect much as- sistance in completing our collections ot educational Americana, and for all this material we hope to give full exchange value. But it is the ambition of the li- brarian to be able to assist libraries from which no immediate return is possible. To build up strong pedagogical libraries throughout the country is of hardly less iruportance than to establish a great library in Washington. While an increase in the number of peda- gogical libraries is from a practical point of view the great desideratum, an increas*) in their size is essential to the progress of pedagogy as a science. The Bureau li- brary can further this to some extent in the manner already discussed, but it can do more by putting its collections at the disposal of any who may need to use them, in other words, by adding its own collec- tions to those of the local library. This borrowing and lending of books like the exchange of them is facilitated by the Bu- reau's frinking privilege and should great- ly facilitate pedagogical research. It is desirable in the public interest to lend only such books as the local library can- not purchase because out of print or will not purchase because of their limited use. That is, the Bureau can supplement other pedagogical collections mainly by lending out of print American pamphlets and works ir foreign languages. By lending the former class of books it may do much to encourage historical research- by lend- ing the latter It may save us from the blight of provincialism. In the University of California in 1895 only 20 per cent of the books in the pedagogical library were In foreign languages, and it was at that time one of the best university collections in the country. In the St. Louis teachers' library only 10 per cent of the books are in foreign languages, and the "list of books for teachers in the public library of Brook- line," 1901, and Supplement, 1903, show none except English titles. These figures do not necessarily show that these libraries 3nd others should collect more foreign works upon pedagogy but they do show that such a collection of foreign works as 340 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE (hat in the IJureau libiarj' should be made available to students throughout the coun- try and should be drawn upon whenever necessary to supplement the resources ot local libraries. I have said that the Bureau cannot, tor obv'ous reasons, undertake to supply li- braries with cuirent pedagogical literature. It can, however, give librarians lull infor- mation regarding current literature, and with this in view began in January last in cooperation with the Library of Congress JO publish catalog cards for all books on education published since January 1907. The Library of Congress will catalog all books copyrighted in the United States and the Bureau library all books acquired by it; the cards to be printed and distributed lo subscribers by the Library of Congress. These cards shouid describe all books re- lating to education of interest to Ameri- can students, and should form a record of current pedagogical literature of the gieat- est utility. I can only wish that our funds would peimit us to place a depository set of these cards in every center of research. It v/ould not only serve to keep librarians Informed regarding current educational lit- erature but It would serve to make known the coUertions available in Washington. The Bureau expects to publish this bib- liographical information in bulletin form as well as in card form, and with this in view has this year assumed the publica- tion of the "Bibliography of education" Inaugurated by Mr J. I. Wyer in 1899. This bulletin will not list all books ac- quired by the Bureau; it will record only the most useful of current publications relating to education, especially works in English. In its preparation we hope to secure the cooperation of professors ot pedagogy and librarians of pedagogical collections, and to make the bibliography an Increasingly valuable aid in the selec- tion of books for pedagogical libraries. We have also undertaken the prepara- tion of a series of checklists of educa- tional literature which will be useful in completing collections. The first of these, 8 "List of the publications of the Bureau of education," will be issued immediately. Others planned for are a list of foreign documents relating to education, a list of United States state educational docu- ments, a list of American educational peri- odicals, a list of American works on edu- cation published before 1820. Cataloging. I have already referred to the fact that the library of the Bureau of educa- tion, in cooperation with the Library of Con- gress, has undertaken to publish catalog cards for current publications relating to education, (This undertaking is described in detail in Library of Congress, Card sec- tion. Bulletin, no. 21, March 1, 1908) and have pointed out their value as announce- ments of new books. They, ot course, have a greater value when used as a record of books acquired by a library. Three catalogers in the Bureau devote their time to the study ot the biblio- graphical problems presented by pedagog- ical literature; they are in constant com- munication with a body of specialists in pedagogy, particularly European peda- gogy, such as is assembled nowhere else In the country. The results of these re- searches and of these conferences are embodied in the catalog cards. These at present, it is true, represent only a small fraction ot the older literature of the sub- ject, but with the development of the li- brary of the Bureau, the progress ot re- cataloging, and an increase in the allot- ment for printing, it should become pos- sible to secure from Washington an ac- curate description of almost any book on education to be found in any library in this country. While the large task of cataloging the older literature ot education is being car- ried on some assistance may be given catalogers of pedagogical collections in other libraries by printing our outline ot classification in also our list of subject headings. Both of these have been worked out in collaboration with the Library of Congress and have been the subject of much consideration and study. Both are, nevertheless, tentative in character and will be published not only with a view to COLLEGE AND REFERENCE S41 giving suggestions to perplexed catalogers but also with a view to receiving sugges- tions relative to their further improve- ment. Reference work. In the branches of serv- ice already described the aim is first of all to assist the librarian; in the reference work the aim is to assist educational com- missions, boards and officials, and profes- sors and students of pedagogy. Requests come to the Bureau for bibliographical in- formation upon all classes of educational <]uestions, historical and current. It is the duty of two assistants to answer these questions. All requests for information relative to current topics require refer- ences to periodical literature. For this reason 31 educational periodicals not in- dexed in the "Reader's guide" or "Library Index" have been systematically examined and indexed since the beginning of the year. Many questions may be answered by simple reference to the catalog of the library or to this index; others require special investigation. These answers are typewritten and copies filed for use in answering the same questions as they re- cur. Our correspondents sometimes call our attention to omissions in our lists. We shall, therefore, be able with the prog- ress of this work not only to do more work but to do it better, and reference librarians will undoubtedly wish to refer to us more frequently some of their more trouble- some questions. This direct service to the Individual in- quirer is important, but the service to masses of inquirers is more important. For this reason we shall publish the most useful of our bibliographical lists. Refer- ences to the more important articles in periodicals will be included in the annual Bibliography of education, an index to the Reports of the Commissioner of education to 1907 will be published in the next Re- port, and will be continued in card form; the Index to the publications of the Na- tional education association, published In 1907, will be continued in card form, analytical entries for the Los Angeles Pro- ceedings having already been used. In addition to these indexes to special classes of educational literature lists of books and articles in periodicals relating to special subjects will be published in the reports and bulletins, and where necessary in separate form. The first of this series of special bibliographies is a List of the writings of Dr Wm. T. Harris. This will form a chapter of the next Report of the Commissioner of education. It will be issued also as a separate. In the Report of the Librarian of Con- gress for 1904 it is suggested that the Library of Congress may become a train- ing school for library workers in advanced fields. Perhaps the library of the Bureau of education may share in some measure in this service of the National library by preparing assistants to take charge of pedagogical collections in universities and normal schools. There could hardly be better preparation for such work than a few years' service in the Library of Con- gress supplemented by service in the Bu- reau of education. SECOND SESSION Friday, June 26, 1908, 8.15 p. m. The CHAIRMAN: We will begin with a paper by Mr T. W. KOCH on THE APPORTIONMENT OF BOOK- FUNDS IN COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES The Committee on Ooiiege and university library statistics has not had a meeting during the past year, but as chairman of that Committee I have had considerable corespondence with librarians in various parts of the country in regard to the statis- tics collected. In all this correspondence the question which seemed uppermost was that of book-funds, — not only their size but also their apportionment. In lieu of any further report from the committee, I beg leave to say a few words on the sub- ject of apportionment of book-funds In col- lege and university libraries. Professor Henry W. Rolfe of the Leland 342 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Stanford Jr. I uiversity in an article enti- tled "The autobiography of a college pro- fessor" (published in the "World's work" for April, 1907) has touched upon some of the evils of the departmental system. It is not in my province to review the case which Professor Rolfe makes out against this system, but I do wish to point out how It affects the administration of several uni- versity libraries where the library funds are apportioned among heads of depart- ments (note that I do not say among the departments) and the residuum is spent under the direction of a committee of specialists. Some of the objections to the spending of all the book funds by heads of departments individually or otherwise are. 1 It allows no voice in the matter to certain junior members of the faculty in departments where the head of the depart- ment does all the purchasing without con- sulting his colleagues. I could tell you of assistant professors who for years have not had the privilege of recommending any books, vet the heads of the departments in question have frequently allowed a good percentage of their department book fund to lapse. I know of one departmental head who for two years spent nearly all of his departmental money on editions of a minor author whom he was editing, and still another head professor who annually spent his assignment on the literature of a question of Latin syntax. Was the money In these cases spent for the good of the departments, for the welfare of the library, or for the professor's individual work at that particular time? 2 The method in question allowed no more money to a newly created department than to a department which had been fos- tered for a generation, and sometimes when the new department was in charge of an assistant professor, he was only allowed a half-unit. In the latter case it has al- ways seemed to me to be a question not of the comparative needs of the departments, but of the relative academic standing of the professors in charge. As a result some de- partments have been able to Indulge In luxuries, while others have lacked necessi- ties. Some departments have been able to buy books for probable students of the fu- ture, while others have lacked the required tools for present-day work. 3 One of the most pressing problems in library administration is the question of shortages or gaps in periodical publi- cations. 7he shortage arises from various causes, such as the purchase of an incom- plete set to begin with, the presentation of odd volumes or numbers, the non-delivery of a particular number, or from mutila- tion and loss. The number of such gaps In the average university library is be- yond computation. Whatever is worth having in a library Is generally worth com- pleting — if not the set, at least the vol- umes represented. But this is work tor the librarj staff, not for the departmental head. Unless the librarian has a fairly free hand and a respectable discretionary fund, he will not he able to do much to- wards filling out gaps other than such as can be filled out from gifts or exchanges. In certain departments the available funds would not be sufficient to stand any con- siderable outlay for back volumes, while In other rases the head of the department lacks interest In the completion of the sets In his field of literature. 4 Without a discretionary fund for the use of the librarian the university library Is apt to become a series of collections on special subjects with very little to ce- ment these parts together. The average .irofessor will not buy out of his appro- priation books on the border land of his subject. He leaves it for his colleague In another department who, when consulted by the librarian, u.sually says it does not apply to his subject. To take several specific instances: Are such books as Sir Victor Horsley on alcohol or Starke's book on the pame subject to be bought by the medical deparlnient, the chemicjil depart- ment or the department of sociology? They doubtless would interest all three. Books like R. K. Duncan's "The new knowledge, a popular account of the new physics and the new chemistry in their relation to COLLEGE AND REFERENCE 348 the new theory ol matter," would proba- bly be referred by the department of chem- istry to the department of physics, or vice versa, if one consulted either department on the purchase of this book. Take an author like Ernest Haeckel. Whose busi- ness is it to see that the library has the latest edition of his works? The biologists and philosophers are equally interested in him while the general reader would very frequently want to consult him. Is there any departmental account to which books on such a subject as photography can be charged without causing discussion? The simplest solution of ditEculties such as these would be to allow the librarian a wide degree of latitude and a proportion- ately large discretionary fund. He can do much as a mediator between warring factions if he does not have to consult them too often and has the power to de- cide for himself questions which, if re- ferred to others, would only stir up jeal- ousy and feelings of rivalry among the de- partments concerned. As an excellent summary of the whole question of the apportionment of book funds, permit me to present anonymously a statement prepared by the ex-librarian of one of our western universities for the benefit of his successor. "In the early days at the university in question," writes this ex-university librar- ian, "the general faculty discussed the mat- ter and dignified professors spent hours in wranglinr; and ill temper over a problem which a ten year old boy with a slate and pencil would have solved in ten min- utes with nearly the same results. Then the business was delegated to the library committee. Tjefinite allotments were made as before, sometimes upon a rough basis of units, half units and double units, and the early records of this committee show consideration of frequent protests against insufficient and unsatisfactory apportion- ment from the same departments which later found it difficult or impossible to spend the money allotted them before the lapse of funds at the end of the fiscal year. Special petitions from professors were necessnry, involving delay and red tape, if a department wished to over-run its al- lotment by even a dollar or two, and the whole scheme Involved much awkward bookkeeping and shifting of funds back and for»h between different departments. "No plan which contemplates a hard and fast allotment of specific sums to different departments is very satisfactory, particu- larly when the customary proviso obtains that unexpended balances lapse into a general treasury (beyond literary jurisdic- tion) at the end of the fiscal or school year. This pernicious provision has been known to stimulate an annual professori- al scramble in the last month of the year to spend the balance of their allotments. Pitiful expedients have been devised, such as dealers billing books to be furnished later; informal inter-departmental lend- ing, all to make sure of spending money when a worthy professor didn't know what he wanted or that he wanted anything. "There are always some departments which, from their scope or from the ability or zeal of the head professor, will never have money enough. It seems a pity not to allow these departments which could really use to advantage more money than a hard and fast allotment would allow, to profit by the inability of other departments to spend all their share. "It may be objected that this does not conduce to a symmetrical development of the library. Granted. A symmetrical de- velopment is of little use if the professor and faculty of a given department do not know enough or care enough about their library to keep their purchases up to date. Much better let men spend the money who know what they want and know how to use it when they get it. Neither the need for books nor the out-put of desirable books will conform to a cut and dried plan which contemplates spending so many dollars In so many months on so many subjects, and the book purchases resulting from long practice of any such plan of forced growth will surely embrace many hastily chosen and ill-considered titles and represent more 3U MINNRTONKA CONFERENCE or less actual or relatively foolish spend- ing of money. "Si ace 1898 there has been no definite formal division of the unrestricted funds for books, binding and periodicals, which have averaged about $'«,20o per annum for the past seven years. "The Library board decides which de- partments shall share in book funds and the head of each department understands that he is to submit order cards for all hooks wanted, with no thought of what funds may be available. These are pur- chased as far as funds will permit, care being taken that no unreasonable amount {the librarian being the judge) be spent for any single department. The general library figures as a department and is al- ways the largest spender. The apportion- ment of funds therefore so far as there is one, rests entirely with the librarian, but with :%ppeal to the Library board from any unsatisfactory decision. This right of ap- peal has never been invoked by any department in the seven years during which the present plan has prevailed. No fixed sums arc ever set apart for any de- partment; the entire plan is to a certain extent autoniatic and within right and reasonable limits the sum each department gets is determined by the number and ur- gency 01 its manil'isted wants. The libra- rian krr,j)s a department account book which shows the suni.s spent for books, binding and periodicals, by every depart- ment during every year. Naturally the sum spent for the same department will vary considerably from year to year. These figures are nevtr made public. The Library board may see them, but rarely or never asks to do so. The figures for single departmonts are sometimes used with the head of that department to tell him how much he has had during the year or to show him that he has more than some or any other department or quite as much as his share, but the full list is not public property. The best thing that can be said for the plan is that it works, and works well. It is surprising how few depart- ments will not get all they ask for. "The plan may be varied by charging all bills for peroicilcals and binding, directly to the general fund and not dividing them among the different departments inter- ested. "But it is fairer, though It takes a little more time for book-keeping, to let every tub stand on its own bottom and shoulder its share of every bill for every kind of expenditure. Then too it is impossible to determine in advance what deductions to make for fixed charges such as periodicals and binding while the greater part of the total expenditure for .some departments ia for periodicals and therefore later for bind- ing. "If obliged to restrict professors in cer- tain departments, after showing them from your account book that their depart- ments have had a full share, go over all their order slips with them und ask them to mark titles in the order of desirability for future purchases as fast as funds per- mit." Mr DRURY: At the University of Illi- nois we had this problem up this year and 1 was in possession of the paper that Mr Koch has just read and I suggested that method of dealing with the question and I met with such intense opposition that I am sure it will not be utilized at the University of Illinois for several years. They said that they would never leave such discretionary powers to the librarian because it was an educational matter, that the whole educational policy of the uni- versity was based upon the purchase of books and It should be left in the hands of those who were shaping the policies, and the result of the committee, which had several meetings to consider how to form a committee to divide the funds — simply a beginning committee, as you might say, one to consider methods— the result was that the division of the funds was left in the hands of the deans of the colleges and the directors of the schools, with the librarian also on that board for the division of the funds. So that the first apportionment will then be made of the year's assignments to the colleges, the COLLEGE AND REFERENCE 845 needs of the colleges being represented through the dean of the college, and then the funds will be divided among the de- partments in the college after they have the first main distribution. I sat on the committee that adopted this and I am pretty sure it will be adopted finally by the board of trustees. I consented to it because the University of Illinois is grow- ing and it is shaping its educational policy and It may perhaps be the best method now, but I must say that I agree with everything that has been read in Mr Koch's paper. After a library has estab- lished itself it seems to me this power of distribution or the power of using the funds should rest with the librarian some- what as outlined. Mr KOCH: I should like to ask Mr Drury how much of a margin they left over the sum total of these different as- signments? Mr DRURY: You mean for the gen- eral library? Mr KOCH: Yes. Mr DRURY: Out of $25,000 last year they gave the general library $9,500. Mr KOCH: How has that $9,500 been spent? Mr DRURY: There was $2,500 for binding, $2,500 for periodicals and the re- mainder took care of a deficit of $2,000 carried over when we did not have an as- signment the year before, and the remain- der has been spent for reference books, books covering subjects not covered by the departments of the university. Mr KOCH: Have you an idea how well this is going to work next year? For an example, will the man who is not on that committee have his wants presented with the same ardor as they will present theirs? They will get their own things first and then they say "My colleague so- and-so wants so-and-so" and he won't get It. That is the usual debate. Mr DRURY: Well, they tried to take care of it by a separate committee. That Is part of our elaborate scheme. They got this committee for the distribution of funds but they also got a separate com- mittee on the library organization and ad- ministration and its functions are not fully defined yet; we cannot tell whether they are going to be a committee with power or an advisory board. We think it will be very helpful but it could cause a good deal of trouble. One of their duties is to collect from the different depart- ments each year a statement of their needs and this committee is to report to the committee on distribution. That has not gone into effect yet but the profes- sors that were on the committee seemed to think it would work. You see the one reports to the other. The other cannot distribute until it has learned the needs from each department and that matter is to be collected by the lower committee and referred to the higher. Mr MALCOLM G. WYER: At the Uni- versity of Iowa the fund is apportioned among the different departments by the library board. The library board is com- posed of the president of the university and one representative from each college except the College of liberal arts from which there are four. Each year this li- brary board meets and apportions the money among the different colleges and then the members which belong to the College of liberal arts apportion its share among the different departments in that Colle.?e. I also have been endeavoring to have the scheme outlined by Mr Koch adopted at the university of Iowa and have met with the same sort of opposition that Mr Drury has found. The faculty members of the library board say they are unwilling to leave this matter in thi3 way and have the librarian given such ■ authority although I think it is only one member of the board who holds out: he simply says that he is unwilling to give up the autonomy of the department. We have been troubled a great deal by pro- fessors coming around at the end of the year and asking how much money we have left and saying they want it. they wish to spend it before the money reverts, as it does the 30th day of June every year, and we have had some very queer 846 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE purchases made by the College of den- tistry or one of the other colleges, simply to expend money which may be left in their fund. We get around this difficulty to some extent by an arrangement like this: as I said before our moneys revert on the 30th of June; what remains unex- pended at that time is lost to the depart- ment; so it has now been fixed that the first of May all money that is unexpended by any department goes to the general fund which is expended by myself, and I notified the departments the first of July or as soon after the first of July after the division is made, that so much has been assigned to their department and that all money left unexpended the first day of May is lost to them, and I have found that a great many of the departments, where the professors are not very anxious about the books which they wish to ob- tain, forget about that; they keep in mind the fact that the money reverts the first of July and they forget about the library fund going back the first of May, and so they don't think about it and in the three years that this has been in effect, a great many of the departments do have the balance which is left the first of May and which is expended by me for the general library. Miss INGEHSOLL (Ithaca, N. Y.): Mr Koch's paper has interested me very much. Our own funds are divided; perhaps about .'>0% of them are apportioned to the vari- ous departments, the orders being sub- mitted by the heads of departments and whatever remains unexpended the first of June reverts to our reserve fund; the re- mainder after the different apportions have been made leaves about $4000 for our resene fund, which we only expend at the suggestion of the council. For Instance, if the professor of Latin wants a special appropriation for any particular lines of hip work he may get $100 or $200 or if there is some very large work that is to be purchased there is a special grant made for that, the council meeting nearly every month. And then we have also a fund of $1000 a year for the completion of sets and that we use up pretty regularly. There are always things to be picked up in second-hand catalogs, sets that you have been looking for for years and years perhaps. Then we have a small fund of $1000 which is left to the discretion of the librarian, to buy books border- ing on perhaps more than one de- partment. In the matter of the se- lection of books by the heads of depart- ments, leaving no voice to the assistant professors, I think most of our professors are very generous in that respect. They usually solicit from those professors and instructors lists of books which they want to use In these particular classes. Of course there are exceptions to these rules. As to our having very unwise suggestions at times, I think perhaps we all have had the same experience. One year there was a certain professor away on his sabbatical vacation and one of the assistant profes- sor's who was in charge came to me and said "Do you know where Prof. Blank left off in such a given bibliographical catalog? 1 would like to begin writing out titles tiere." That seemed to be his idea, to go through this book which contained all the particular things published in his par- ticular line. I have often hoped that there might be some way whereby the smaller amounts might be given to the different departments, leaving more to the discre- tion of the librarian. Some departments never use up their appropriation but these levert to the genera! fund and are really used over again in buying books perhaps of more Importance to the library as a whole. Mr H. O. SEVERANCE: The library of the University of Missouri also has some difficulties along this line. In the first place, our funds come from two sources, one from the legislature. This year we had $9000 from the legislature. Then there Is in the university an incidental or li- brary fee, as it is called, which goes to the librf.ry; in the medical department it is ten dollars per student, in the engineering department ten dollars, in the College of arts and science five dollars. One of the COLLEGE AND REFERENCE 347 dlfliculties comes along this line: the col- lege of mefliciue and the college of agri- culture, each wants all the fees that have been taken in for that department or that college, and we have been doing different- ly. The funds have been divided some- thing like this: in the College of agricul- ture about nO% of the teaching has been done by men who are in the College of arts and science and consequently a cer- tain percentage of the funds that were taken in in the College of agriculture was put over into the College of arts for ex- penditure in that college. That has raised some question; they are not quite satis- fied with that. This year, the last two years in fact, the apportionment for each of the colleges was made by the librarian aad he recommended to the board that each of the colleges should have a lump sum. In the College of agriculture, for Instance, after 20% had been taken out and added to the College of arts funds, the amount remaining was sent to the dean and the dean consulted his men and decided on the portion within the college itself; that is, the department of animal husbandry would have so much and the other departments so much; but in the College of arts I divided it as it had been done before. The head of the department, RS Mr Koch has decribed it, is given a certain amount, but I had a regulation al- so passed that if the amount was not ex- pended within twelve months after the notification wag made to the head of the department, that the funds available would lapse. Now the library does not lose lapsed department appropriations, they go Into a general fund to be expended by the librarian, and In the apportionment of the funds which came from the fees I left a liberal amount for the librarian to expend, so that if we want to buy a part of a eet to fill up a broken set, or to buy a new set, the librarian has been able to do so without e;oing to any board during this last year. But there has been a feeling that there should be a library committee and one has been appointed representing each of the colleges and it is distinctly understood that that library committee !s advisory only. A paper was next read by Mr F. K. W. DRURY, on THE CARE OF MAPS There are five common ways in which maps are issued: 1 Maps bound in books, called Atlases 2 Maps folded for pocket use, called Pocket maps 3 Maps mounted on rollers for wall dis- play, called Roller maps 4 Maps pasted on revolving spheres, called Globes 5 Maps loose in sheet form, called Sheet maps 1 Atlases. It is obvious that atlases can best be treated as books. 2 Pocket maps. Pocket maps with text may well be treated as books and kept with the smaller atlases. If they have no text, however, it may be advisable to dismount them and treat them as sheet maps. It is thus possible to eliminate pocket maps entirely, making them either books or sheet maps. 3 Roller maps. These may be kept in the i-oller map form; or they may be dis- mounted and treated as sheet maps; or they may be hung upon the walls of the library. 1) If kept as roller maps they must be stored. The following are the principal schemes: (a) To tie them up, tag them, and hang them on numbered hooks, suspended from one end. (h) They may be stood in large wall cases with racks inside to keep them up- right or a frame work may be built within similar to an umbrella rack. (c) They may be laid in long narrow drawers or cases with the tag tied at the end of the roller. (d) they may be dismounted from the rollers they come on, attached to Harts- horn spring rollers similar to window shades and kept in a Hartshorn roller case. It is a good method for Seminar rooms. 348 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE 2) A second way of dealing with roller maps is to dismount them entirely from the roll and treat them as sheet maps. The Library of Congress has adopted this method and recommends it. The cut sec- tions are brought together again by past- ing a baud of cotton along each edge, leav- ing a small space for folding between each sheet. 3) A third method suggested is to hang the roller maps upon the wall. There is generally not much space available in the average library for such display and certainly this method is limited to a few maps only. A fixed location number with a deliuite reference from the catalog card would seem to be adequate for roller maps, as there are generally not enough of them to warrant minute classificUion and ar- rangement. 4 Globes. The consideration of globes is alliijd to that of maps but the problem is entirely different and need not be men- tioned further. Lastly we have 5 Sheet maps. We will first consider how to store sheet maps and then where to store them for we have practically re- duced all our maps to the sheet basis. How to store sheet maps The first rule in map filing is to keep them flat. No more than one fold should be allowed, and some say not even one. (If it is necessary to fold, back the fold with a wide strip of cloth to prevent wear.) The flat sheet maps may be mounted or unmounted. They may be filed in various ways: 1) Loose in drawers or sliding shelves, similar to drawers. This is probably the most economical way to care for the maps. The chief expense is carpentering which must be considered. In order to keep the maps from becoming mixed, pro- tecting them from dust, and for easier handling the following methods have been proposed: (a) A manila folder for each map simi- lar to the folders used in vertical files. (b) A manila folder for each group or set of maps. This is a kind of portfolio made of stout manila or tough, heavy paper, capable of holding about twenty maps. (c) Board portfolios for groups of maps. This is perhaps as common a method as is now in use in libraries. The portfolio can be carried about from room to room, will stand much handling ajid for collections frequently used is of real advantage. The advantage of port- folios are their good protection from dust and from much handling of the maps, the keeping together of sets relating to one subject, and their cheapness. Some of the objections are their large size, their clumsineso in handling, the inconvenience of using, and the liability of the loose maps getting lost. They also require hori- zontal rolie^" shelving to be satisfactorily stored, upon which dust will collect though the maps themselves will be pro- tected. 2) Dissected maps. These must be mounted upon cloth or other material. They may be cut and folded in the fol- lowing ways: (a) To lie flat, after being cut to the size of the drawer, shelf or portfolio in which they may be stored. (b) To be bound up to stand upon the shelf as a book or pocket map. (c) To file in pamphlet boxes, especial- ly if cut to a small enough size. There are some inherent objections to the dissection of maps. The chief of them is that it affects the accurate use of the map for any sort of measurement. Also it seems like wanton mutilation, and a sac- rifice to the dread machine of uniformity and standard size. It is not right to sac- rifice utility and efficiency to system. It is also next to impossible to get satisfac- tory photographic reproductions on ac- count of the unsightliness of the muslin streaks and it certainly reduces the value of the old and valuable maps to have them dissected. Moreover if reduced to a small pocket size they are more easily stolen than if kept in larger form; and they assume the size of a pamphlet and COLLEGE AND REFERENCE 349 this we know is the hardest sort of thing to keep in order. In talking with geo- logical experts we have found them un- alterably opposed to dissecting office maps. It is a useful expedient for field use. In a library much used maps in the reference room may conveniently be dissected, mounted, bound, and treated as a book. 3) Folded maps. We may fold our maps once without mounting them but the fold must be strengthened. If not, there will be a subsequent defacement on account of the crease. The map if much used will need repair and must finally be mounted. It would seem economy to do the mounting In the first place. 4) Bound maps. It Is possible for all dissected m.aps to be folded and put in binders after which they will be treated as books. The Indiana state library reduced all Its maps to this form making the size not less than C x S in. nor more than 9 X 11 in. The map was then pasted In one Bide of a muslin covered back like a book cover and shelved in pamphlet boxes, usually 4 to 6 maps in a box. The cost per map for their collection averaged S5c. A temporary binder is however very use- ful for maps of uniform size which can be joined together under one cover. For ex- ample the Topographical sheets of the United States survey are handled In this way at the Library of Congress. The sheets are gathered into states and arranged alphabetically. The index sheet is prefixed and a manuscript title and table of con- tents is added. Each map is then tipped on a slightly larger sheet of manila paper and then a whole state is bound tem- porarily in the Chinese style, by lacing with stout twine. It is also possible to "klip" them together. Permanent binding Is advisable in some cases. It depends somewhat upon the use. It is a cheap way of preserving complete units and maps may be put into stencil board covers for as cheap as 15c. each. Fcr large sizes they are heavy and awk- ward but this can be overcome somewhat by the method of storage. For certain little used maps, such as canal maps, har- bor maps, etc., it might well be considered whether it is not economy to bind them up together, fold iu the maps to a certain size and thus care for them. This depends upon whether you admit of dissection or not 5) Hung maps. Maps must be hung on a frame, provided their use warrant their being kept out in this way. The Los Angeles public library devised a frame work in 1893 for this purpose. Each map was bound along the upper edge with extra heavy cloth. This was punched in the upper right hand corner and along the upper edge as often as the wire rods oc- curred. In these punched holes were fas- tened wire hooks which hung up the maps on rings strung on three rods at equal dis- tances in a frame. Thus each map could be removed at pleasure as a book. 6) Rolled maps. In addition to the Hartshorn roller case already spoken of, there is one other method of keeping maps on rollers which is worthy of atten- tion at the present time. This is the Jenkins map roller, made by Charles S. Jenkins, Lansdale, Pa. This device cost- ing |50 consists of a cylinder accommodat- ing 30 large size maps or as many small maps as will fit upon the surface occupied by such a large map, so that it would be possible to get over 150 topographical sheets on one of these rollers. The maps are kept in position by fingers which re- lease each map in turn as the cylinder Is revolved, but if you stop the cylinder at any point and then reverse it, all the maps aie let down with the one wanted in front It is extremely practical and combines great economy of space with ability of quick reference. Mr J. N. Larned reports In the "Library Journal" in 1892 of a method of storing the maps in the Buffalo public library on roll- ers, mounting about six on split sticks 3 feet long, each map being fastened at the top to the stick and rolled around it Each roll is then put in tubes 3 in. in diameter and kept in a rack 7 ft. long, 3 ft. deep and 5 ft 6 in. high, holding 198 tubes or 1,188 350 MINNETONKA CONFEREa^CB maps. It recommends Itself as a system of storage, but any lOlled map is difficult to consult and such a method could not be recommended for reference use. It is possible for the maps to be rolled without a stick and put in pasteboard cylinders and then it properly tagged, laid away for reference, but the same objection about rolling holds for this. Where to store sheet maps Before we can discuss the question where to store them, we must discuss their size and reach some conclusion about that. The following sizes are suggested as being convenient for reference: Size 1, the largest: Lenox library allows 53 in. x 40 In. Buffalo public allows 54 in. x 42 in. Certainly this is as large as we need go. Size 2, large enough for ordinary maps: Harvard university library allows 4t) in. x31 in. Naval observatory allows 42 In. x 3ti in. U. S. geological survey allows 44 Vi in. X44% in. These sizes show how libraries which have a great number of maps allow for their storage and In the cases just cited this is the largest size used, the maps being folded once to come within It. Size 3. smaller maps: Harvard allows :{■> in. x 27 in. liibiary of Congress allows 38 In. x 22 in. Lenox library allows 30 in. x 24 in. In this awe are comprised all maps which can conveniently go into these measure- ments. Larger maps go In the larger size. Size 4, smallest size: This si7c is for fiat maps, perhaps folded but not hound up nor put in pamphlet boxes. Suggested: 141/2 in. x 10 in., or correspondence size 12 in. x 10 in. This size is suggested in order to accommodate maps in the vertical files now made and on the market. Every one writing on this subject has Impressed the necessity for shallow draw- ers. Great weight comes as maps pile up and there is great inconvenience in search- ing through a pile three or four inches thick. In order to arrive at a basis of reckon- ing, actual count was made of a pile ot ihe topographical sheets issued by the U. S. geological survey. It was found that there were 107 of these to an inch, but the pilo had been somewhat compressed and the sheets were laid very close. It would therefore be perfectly safe to reckon 100 topographical sheets to an inch. No drawers or shelves therefore should be deeper than two inches and it might be better to restrict them to 1% inches. Many devices have been proposed for storing map.s and the eud is not yet. We will take them up so far as known and state the advantages and disadvantages so far as possible. 1) .Irdinary shelves. It does not seem practical to use ordinary shelving for maps. Portfolios can be laid upon them, but thi<5 should be only as a last resort, as roller shelves are very superior. 2) PorJolios laid upon shelves, pre- ferably roller or sliding shelves. It is only neccssarj'^ to mention the necessity of con- venient access to show why we insist on the moving shelves. Portfolios upon fchelves are probably as common as any way of storing maps at the present time. We do not argue in favor of it unless ex- tremely limited as to funds. 3) Pigeon hole cases. In getting away from shelves and portfolios, pigeon hole cases have been devised, in which the maps could he laid, with some kind of front to keep out the dust. Such cases can be made cheaply by the local carpenter and if of proper dimensions the maps can be stored m them. The cleats to hold the shelves should be full length to prevent warping, and a false bottom board should be used upon which the maps may rest, in order to prevent wear upon the bottom map. It is much better however if these shelves can he made to slide. 4) Cabinet of drawers. A case of drawers is preferred by many librarians. It is adopted by the Lenox library in New York. Drawers have pome objections; small mnps may get lost among the large ones, there is the labor ot getting and especially of returning the maps to their proper place. COLLEGE AND REFERENCE. 351 To avoid weight, they should not be over two inches deep; and it Is recommended that screws be used to hold the drawers to- gether, as dovetailing, nails, or glue will not pi-evprt the weight from pulling the drawers apart. They should be constructed of the lightest wood and the front face should either let down or up. A good scheme is a hinge to the front which lets down, being hooked to the sides of the drawers when closed. A very im- portant feature in the construction of the drawer is to have at the back a light guard of metal or wood, 6 in. wide, which will prevent the maps from rolling up and accumulating at the back or working out of the drawers by reason of the jar of closing. If the librarian does not care to design such a cabinet, it is possible to secure a Batisfaetory form from the firms making office furniture. We give the following Items from some recent catalogs. Cabinet drawers in horizontal units 38 in. X 22% in. x 1% In. 4 drawers, $21 600 maps 30l^ in. X 23V& in. x ZM in. 4 drawers, $17 SOO maps 31'/4 in. X 24 in. X 1 % in. 5 drawers, $19 750 maps The number of maps given for each of these units is on the basis of 100 maps to the inch as stated before. 5) Sliding shelves. More satisfactory for use than drawers are sliding shelves. They can be made similar to drawers with the front to let down as a hinge as sug- gested before or with wooden flaps In front to swing up as the drawers are opened. Columbia university has plans for the former of these and the Library of Congress is using the latter at present. Harvard has cases 5 ft. 6 in. high with eliding shelves four inches apart in order to take three or four portfolios. They are made of pine wood of gridiron construc- tion being lighter and less expensive than If solid. The United States geological sur- vey has metal cases and sliding metal shelving and swinging doors. Mr F. H. Parsons In the "Library Journal" for June ISg.^i objects to any kind of front to his shelves. He says that hinge fronts are a nuisance, doors are troublesome, sliding drawers stick, sliding tops won't work, and he recommends letting the dust come in, but puts a sheet of wrapping paper on top of the pile of maps. We can- not agree with him but think it preferable to protect the maps from dust in some way, glass doors being the most desirable If they can be afforded. Every library probably has, or desires to have a set of the Topographical sheets which are forming the atlas of the United States issued by the U. S. geological survey. The following method of care for these is suggested by an expert: A cabinet with enough sliding shelves to provide one for each state. A hinged front on each shelf, making it into a drawer when hoolied to the sides, and the thin protection at the bacK; the whole estimated to cost about $S0. Personally our preference runs to the unit idea ou account of the possibility of uniform growth. 6) Inclined cases. Maps can be stored in inclined cases similar to those used in picture stores for unframed pictures or by architects for architectural plans. This is a solution of the difficulty of drawers and sliding shelves, i. e. that the map wanted is always on the botton. One company makes a unit portfolio section, being 28 in. x 23% in. x 3% in. 2 drawers, $21 capable of holding 700 maps. The thickness of the drawer (3% in.) does not matter in this case as it is possi- ble to consult the maps as in a vertical lile. It might be better to keep the maps in manila folders if filed in this way which would reduce the number accommodated. Another file of this sort is made to hold maps 36 in. x 24 in., also being made to hold them as large as 4S in. x 3fi In. or twice this size. The cases are 4 in. thick, cost $21 and hold 400 maps. It is designed to ac- commodate the tracing sheets and blue prints of architects. It is good but ex- pensive. 362 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE 7) Vertical files. The good features ol vertical files may be used for the storage of maps. The largest size drawers now made by the commercial houses accommo- date the legal cap papers and we have in- dicated this as size 4, 14Vi in. x 10 in. There is also the more common corres- pondence size which will take maps 12 in. X 10 in. and be useful for other things. Horizontal units may be purchased containing two drawers each and accommo- dating about 4000 maps for about $1S. Vertical units may be purchased of four drawers each containing about 10,000 maps for $30. It is necessary to remember however that these are small sizes and will only contain folded maps or very small ones. It will be almost necessary also to keep them In manila folders as correspondence is now filed, which would reduce the number of maps capable of being contained in them veiy considerably — fully half if not more. It would doubtless be possible to have vertical files made wide enough to contain unfolded maps, provided the order were big enough. There is a possibility in this sort of storage which has not yet been tried. 8) Racks. The only suggestion for racks comes from the Los Angeles public library. The scheme has already been spoken of. 9) Pamphlet boxes. The use of pam- phlet boxes does not need explanation. 10) Bound volumes. The Geologic atlas of the United States geological sur- vey comes unbound in thin folios, the Topographical sheets may be bound so, the weather maps may be bound by months. All of these flexible publications of map size are best accommodated in a case made high enough to take them standing up- right. Frequent partitions are put in about three inches apart. The folios are then .arranged by the serial number and stand upon a wooden slide or traveler which acts as a car to bring the folios to the front in each partition. An upright, one inch high, is at the back of the sUde to keep the folios from sliding off behind and remaining out of reach. Such a case may be made as wide as desired, and high and deep enough to take the folios. It may easily be fitted as a unit. 11) Roller maps. We have already spoken of the Jenkins manifold revolving rack as a practical way of storing and on excellent means of quick reference. For seminar rooms and college libraries such a device is always essential. The Hartshorn roller case is cheaper but does not hold as many maps. 12) Maps rolled. We object to rolling as destroying ease in consulting a map. Nevertheless for storing maps in compact space the rolled form is practical. A good deal of space can be saved by dividing a cabinet diagonally, into which partitions the rolls can be laid. The longest maps stretch from one corner diagonally to the other and the shorter maps occupy the shorter spaces. We have endeavored to sum up the methods now in use or that seems most practical for storing maps. We do not claim that we have covered every device but we teel that it should be possible for the librarian to select from this assort- ment the kind of storage to which his library la best adapted. Mounting, repair, etc. All librarians agree that maps should be mounted if it can be afforded. It is always advisable, it gives longer life to the map, it makes it easier to handle, and It seems as essential for a map to be mounted as for a book to be bound. The various backings used for mounting maps are cheese cloth, cotton cloth, muslin, cambric, brown linen and white linen. The report of the Librarian of Congress for 1901, page 26i) gives suggestions as to the best methods of mounting and explains the system in use at Washington. Classification and cataloging A division of the subject upon which there is general agreement is the subject of accessioning, classifying and cataloging COLLEGE AND REFERENCE. ses the maps. In order to keep this paper within bounds its discussion will be omitted. In case no card catalog can be compiled a satisfactory form of indexing the maps is by an index map or key chart. It shows on the map all the library has on a given locality, and also at a glance the fact that It may have nothing on some other lo- cality. Convenience for use Of course a separate map room is desir- able but it is not always possible. If a separate room is not available, certainly the maps should be consulted in a place where the light is good. Harvard univer- sity has just completed and occupies a special map room. The Library of Con- gress also has special furniture and equip- ment The tables for consultation should be of two sorts, some for persons standing and others for them sitting. Harvard has a useful device connected with its consults^ tion table. Just inside the front edge Is a long slot through which the maps may be slid without being leaned against in consultation. The table is 5 ft. wide and slightly sloping. The use of the maps should be limited to the room itself, and they should never be loaned outside the library, for if a map once leaves the building, it seldom comes back. This ends our discussion of the care of maps. It has been our endeavor to sum- marize the efforts of the past and to pre- sent them in logical form for discussion. Bibliography 1876 Spofford, A. R. Binding and preser- vation of books (in U. S. Bureau of education. Special report on pub- lic libraries, p. 677) Aug. California state library. An- nual report (summarized in Lib. j. 15: 246) 1891, March. How we keep unbound maps. (Symposium in Lib. j. 10: 72-73) 1890, Boston public library: Boston athenaeum; Brooklyn library; Har- vard college library; U. S. geo- logical survey 1892, Aug. Larned, J. N. Arrangement of maps (in Lib. j. 17: c44) Buffalo public library at Lakewood con- ference 1892, Sept. Badger, H. C. Floundering among the maps [Harvard] (in Lib. j. 17: 375-7) 1893, Jar. Los Angeles public library. Mountiug of maps (in Lib. ]. 18; 25) 1895, June. Parsons, F. H. The care of maps [U. S. Naval observatory] (in Lib. j. 20: 199-201) 1897, Oct. Eames, Wilberforce. Care of special collections: maps [New York public library, Lenox bldg] (in Lib. j. 22: c51) 1899, Dec. Fletcher, R. S. Maps and charts in a public library [Buffalo public library] (in Pub. lib. 4: 444-6) 1899, Nov. 26. Philips, P. L. Preservation and record of maps in the Library of Congress (in New York Tribune) 1900, Jan. (same article abridged in Lib. j. 25. 15-16) 1901 Library of Congress. Annual report for the year ending June 30, 1901: Division of maps and charts p. 263-6 1901, Sept. Letts, Thomas. Notes on the care of maps [New York public library, Leuox bldg] (in Lib. J. 26: 688-9) 1902, Feb. Letts, Thomas. Notes on the cataloging of maps [New York public library, Lenox bldg] (In Lib. j. 27: 74-6) 1903, Jan. Andrews, C. W. Maps in public libraries (in Pub. Lib. 8: 22-5) 1903, Aug. Hubbard, Anna G. Cataloging and preservation of maps in the Indiana state library (in Lib. j. 28: 610-1) (also in Pub. Lib. 8: 373. Oct. 1903) 1904 Phillips, P. L. Maps and atlases (In Cutter. Rules for a dictionary catalog Ed. 4. § 368 p. 140-6) 364 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Dr B. C. STEINER: We have tried a scheme which to us seems thoroughly Batisfactory for the arrangement of the United States topographic maps and which we find makes them very easily and fre- quently consulted. We do not like the alphabetical arrangement of the Library of Congress, because nobody knows the names of the maps until he makes a special search. What are the things that you know about a place? These things are its latitude and longitude, they are the natural bases of classification, not any alphabeUcal basis. There is one other important basis and that is the State in which the area covered by the topographical map is lo- cated. We must bear in mind that many of the maps run over from one state into another. In that case it is the policy of the topographic survey to place first the name of the state which occupies the great- er part of the map or if there be three or four states, at least the plurality, if I may use such a word, of the space occupied by the map. Consequently we followed that same rule and have put a map which might be at the corner, for example, of New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania, among the maps of New York, if New York be the first state named in the map. Then we took the longitude as the cardinal basis for our scheme of classification and we discovered that maps may be classified Into three main divisions. There is, first, the class which we may call the special maps, though they are not all so called by the Government, which are almost impos- sible of any very exact classification be- cause they are Issued for some special purpose, as for example, to give the very minute topography of a mining region or sometimes to eive a very large region in one map. We put these in a special class, which I will admit we have not as yet fixed in any very definite way. As there are few of these in any state hitherto we have not as yet felt the need of any definite arrangement. We have left two large classes of maps. One of those classes is mapped out on a scale of a fourth of a degree to each map; the other is mapped out on a scale of a sixteenth of a degree to each map. Though I am not a westerner I knew that there were thirty-six sections in every township numbered from one up to thirty-six. Following the analogy given by the Federal land office we at once had a system of classification in which no map's number has more than six possible digits and many maps have only five. We decided we would begin with the east as that seemed to be a little more in accord- ance with geographic habits. So we de- cided we would give longitude the prefer- ence and arrange the classification In ac- cordance with it. We call the scale giving four maps to a degree large scale and the other one small scale, — purely arbitrary names, simply because it was convenient. Giving the longitude the place of honor we have, for Instance, for the first map of the small scale in a degree such a symbol as this: "71 39 1", which means that the area included in the map lies in the 71st meridian of longitude west of Greenwich, and In the 39th parallel of north latitude, and is the first of the sixteen maps in that degree. Another advantage of this ar- rangement is that it keeps much more to- gether maps ot the same locality and when such maps are not together you know thoy can be found in the next degree symbols. For example, we finish up the 71st meridian before we take up the 72nd and so on to the western boundary of the state. We find this makes the maps extremely accessible and that the arrangement is very simple. The maps can be numbered with great rapidity so that they were all classi- fied in a very short time. Another advantage of this system over the alphabetical one of arrangement is that it is possible to classify maps far in ad- vance of the period of their issue. By taking an atlas it is possible to ascertain just how many maps can possibly be issued on any given scale and consequently wo can leave spaces in our classification for the new maps as they are issued from time to time and do not have to re-write the record of the maps contained in any given portfolio. TRUSTEES* SECTION 855 Mr W. K. JEWETT: Referring to the nse of maps I would like to describe the method used in the Geographical survey. Cases have been descriljed by Mr Drury but they are arranged in a two-story map stack, just like a two-story boolf stack, above the first fioor of cases being a deck with an iron stairway leading up to it and on this deck being another row of cases just like those below and then these cases are in sections, each section containing so many sliding shelves and the whole section closed by vertical double doors. It seems to me an excellent way of utiliz- ing the utmost capacity of the room for map storage. In the Coast and geodetic survey I saw rolled maps stored very much as Mr Drury described them in the Buffalo public library. That is to say, they were kept in tin cases just like a great big diploma case and those filed horizontally In a suitable rack and on the tin cap of each case was lettered the number of the map inside. I have forgotten whether it was a serial number or a class symbol but at any rate what was inside of the case was lettered on the map so as you stood in front of the rack you could see at a glance what case you wanted to consult. The CHAIRMAN: I will call for the re- port of the Nominating committee at this time. Mr BARR (Chicago, III.): Mr Chair- man, the nominating committee submits the following names for the officers of this section for the ensuing year: tor Chairman, Mr W. W. Bishop, superinten- dent of the reading room of the Library of Congress; for Secretary, Miss Elisa Willard, reference librarian of the Car- negie Library, Pittsburg. The CHAIRMAN: Other nominations are in order if it is so desired at this time. It was moved, seconded and carried that the report be adopted and that the secre- tary be authorized to cast the ballot of the Section for the candidates named, which was accordingly done and the nom- inees were duly declared elected president and secretary. The CHAIRMAN: This brings us to the close of our College and reference con- ference and as chairman of this section I thank you for your hearty cooperation. Adjourned. TRUSTEES' SECTION The meeting was called to order by its chairman, W. T. Porter of Cincinnati, Wednesday, June 24, at 8.15 p. m. Mr Porter expressed his pleasure at the number in attendance, and after a few words, introduced the speaker of the evening, JACOB STONE, trustee of the Minneapolis public library, who presented a most interesting and comprehensive pa- per, entitled: LIBRARY BUILDINGS AND THEIR USES Several j'ears' experience as member of a library board will perhaps warrant the expression of some opinions and views which deserve consideration. In what I have to say. however, may I not be understood as a learner rather than as a teacher, and if sufficient in- terest attaches to this paper, to lead to a discussion of the points involved, I shall feel amply rewarded. The subject of Library Buildings nat- urally divides itself into the question of location, construction and arrangement. Location. Here at once a difficult prob- lem presents itself for solution. On the one hand is the question of accessibility, on the other that of retirement. A pub- lic library in a place of from 2000 to 20,- 000 inhabitants can well be located in the heart of the city as the question of noise is not so disturbing a feature as in larger cities. While a library is primarily for the housing and distribution of books, it 366 MINNETONKA CONFERENCE Is also for the aft'ording of facilities for reading and reference. In these modern days, instead of being a quiet sequestered nooli for the scholarly and studious, it haa become an aggressive force in the com- munity, and must push its way in among the busy haunts of men, reaching out the torch of knowledge to lighten the way of the ignorant and careless. And this neces- sity requires an easily accessible location for the building, within a moment's reach of the busy man of the world as well as of his wife and family. With space suf- ficient about it to insure an abundance of light ar.d air — two prime requisites — and groutjos of sufiicient size to allow of Its being away from the dust and noises of the street, its location can be con- venient and impressive. In the smaller cities the comparative Inexpensivenesa of land will admit of generous space. In the larger cities the problem is a different one and contact with the public generally can only be gained by means of branches and stations. A large central building, the great reservoir from which may be drawn books for the branches and stations, its use largely for reference and gtudy. It occupies the leading position. Here the administrative work la carried on. Here the valuable books of refer- ence arf. ktpt and here, if anywhere, are the museums and art-galleries. Its lo- cation can be easily more retired, al- though In this case, also, the question of accessibility should be borne in mind. As an example of civic taste, in its design, construction, care and administration, it ghould hold high before the community the standard of artistic and practical utility. Construction. It would be Impossible within the limits of this paper to go ex- tensively into the question of architecture and conetruction. Without being offen- sively ornate, the library building should be built along lines of simple dignity and beauty, consonant to the great work it is Intended for. In its design the interior arrangement should be the primary con- sideration, that wisely determined upon, and all else subordinated. Facilities for economical administration, for public con- venience, for proper care and room for books are the essentials and with these a structure which shall show what it stands for and be an example of fitness and beauty. If I were to build a Ibrary, I should first secure the services of a consulting archi- tect of standing and the primary step would be a conference with the librarian, and afterwards with the trustees. I say "afterwards with the trustees" for it is a well established fact that all properly con- stituted library boards are the docile dis- ciples of the librarians and whatever they bid us ilo, we do. Arrangement. In speaking upon this feature of the subject, let me emphasize what I consider the primary object of a public library, viz., the storage and distri- bution of books. Reading rooms, reference roorris, art galleries, lecture rooms, club rooms, all are admirable, but I maintain are not necessary adjuncts of a public library and with the possible exception of reading and reference rooms, should not be consKieied unless or until what to mo seems legitimate needs of the institution are fully met. In the case of a library sup- ported by public taxation, It is a grave ques- tion whether the use of the public funds is warranted lu any other direction. This may seem to many of you as a narrow view of the uses and range of a public library, but to my thinking, the great and preemineDt value of books per se, so far outweighs other and kindred advantages as to make the expenditure of money for books of the first importance. But whether my theory be true or not, I cannot justify the expenditure of money raised by taxa- tion in any other direction. The taxpayer nas a right to demand that the money he pays Into the city treasury shall be ex- pended for the purpose for which it was raised — for strictly library purposes. This is a point which I should be glad to hear discussed by so intelligent a body as this. The generosity of private citizens may well add whatever is akin to the objects of a library, and should be welcomed but all TRUSTEES' SECTION 35T else thould be subordinated to Its proper functions. Certainly the corridors and halls of a building devoted to quiet and study should not echo to the footfalls or be subject to the pranks of pupils of a school of any kind in the building. Books, books, books! This let it not be forgotten is the great object and end, and anything which diverts from or interferes with this object should have no place in a library building. I cannot but believe, however, that this simple steady object should be pursued by the trustees of a public library and that no alluring schemes should be allowed to make demands upon our means and time. Uses of a Iibl