wf * ^;~-4r:^^ ; 1fe&^ ; . >%j ,F -'-*.'- ^\'. '\ -fcV .* "'x ^ 5? -.^,'*\^ / '-''/''' .-"-:^, r - . **^j^N^J*< ! rfs^2^ 8 ^'* N^^^,-^irix,JS?^^ WMM^^^M &** ^m\ m& y JSzSfr^s? *c<^|^k ^*^?s; ^^ST*^^:^^:^ THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY EM 3B WPi m ';%& ' J^yV-' I^A /-ttS'i .'.^. : 1 f tvJS.T ' VW^ "l*^ V/~^ -^-T' - - " F* i^- Ir* f^ ^| : |f '"*'^V ^* ' * ^j-^-j^&Sifr 4 ' 1C &: '%>. * ' **v"^ ' -^ *"\' : V~" i '--v ~\r M V~^^\^~'' v~? f.*lr\' ^^r^v? V^^^ *J^SSz^^ * * ^s. *" " * * % > * /i >* ^ * * ^4 /* . . ' v v * \ v -r^ * * > v * A^ v /*-^ ^^r^ ^^\ /r' : ^>*-^^^' v -^^ : M^^' #*Smk $&*& l^ ^p ir'' ^r PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING * / OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION HELD AT WASHINGTON, D. C, r^ MAY 25-29, 1914 AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 78 E. WASHINGTON STREET CHICAGO, ILL. 1914 - CONTENTS General sessions: Greetings from the Librarian of Congress... Herbert Putnam President's address : The tax on ideas E. H. Anderson Committee on library administration A. E. Bostwick The libraries of Washington H. H. B. Meyer PAGE ... 71 ... 73 ... 77 . 84 Reports of officers, boards and committees : Secretary's report G. B. Utley 89 Treasurer's report C. B. Roden 93 Finance committee C. W. Andrews 94 Carnegie and endowment funds W. W. Appleton 95 A. L. A. Publishing Board Henry E. Legler -. 98 Library training A. S. Root 104 Bookbinding A. L. Bailey 107 Public documents G. S. Godard 109 Work with the blind Laura M. Sawyer 110 Co-operation with the N. E. A Mary E. Hall ^ 115 Co-ordination C. H. Gould 116 Exhibit at Leipzig exposition F. P. Hill 117 Opening of the A. L. A. exhibit at Leipzig T. W. Koch 123 Memorial minute to Reuben Gold Thwaites. ... Henry E. Legler 128 Memorial to Hutchins, Kimball, Larned W. L. Brown 129 Need of a national archive building J. F. Jameson 130 The library and the immigrant J. F. Carr 140 Libraries for rural communities ' P. P. Claxton 147 The present trend C. K. Bolton 154 Library development in the south Katharine H. Wootten 158 Address H. W. Kent 166 Educational work of the American Federation of Arts Leila Mechlin 168 Prestige W. N. C. Carlton 169 Report of committee on resolutions C. H. Gould 179 Report of the tellers of election 180 Executive board 181 Council 18S Sections : PAGE Affiliated organizations : PAGE Agricultural libraries 190 National association of state libraries.... 271 Catalog 202 League of library commissions 328 College and reference 215 American association of law libraries.... 374 Work with children 215 Special libraries association 375 Professional Training 228 Normal and high school librarians 379 Trustees 245 Attendance summaries 384 Public documents round table 255 Attendance register 385 Index . . 401 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE MAY 25-29, J9J4 FIRST GENERAL SESSION (Monday evening, May 25) The first session of the 36th annual meeting of the American Library Associ- ation was called to order by the President on Monday evening, May 25, 1914, at Con- tinental Memorial Hall. President ANDERSON: Ladies and Gentlemen: It is my pleasant duty to declare that the first session of the 36th annual conference of the American Li- brary Association is now open. It is 33 years since we have had a full conference in Washington, the 4th conference hav- ing been held here in 1881 and part of one in 1892. It is certainly high time we should meet here again. We will now have a word of greeting from the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Put- nam. GREETING FROM THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS In deciding to meet in Washington the Association has departed from a practice. But if so, it has helped to uphold a tradi- tion. Its practice has been to consider invitations from various competing locali- ties, and to select among them. But Washington issued no invitation, in the conventional sense. Its tradition Is against such a course logic also. For Washington, being the national capital, is no mere "locality"; still less can it be a "competing" locality. It is the political residence of every association national in scope and representation. It is your resi- dence; as, in a converse way, the home of every subject is the residence of his sov- ereign. When the sovereign chooses to visit it, he merely announces the visit. And when he comes, he sits at the head of the table. An invitation from the sub- ject to him as from Washington to you would be an impertinence. All of which need not obscure the satis- faction which those of us whose work is resident here feel in your decision for the visit; or our hearty desire to cooperate in whatever may promote the efficiency and enjoyment of the conference. There is sometimes a complaint however tem- pered by acknowledgments that the host- ess city in providing for the enjoyment of your members has somewhat impaired the efficiency of your program. There will be no such grievance here; for, as you have noticed, the week has been kept clear of entertainments merely social. There were temptations. And if we have resisted them, we beg you to believe that we did so out of consideration for the true wel- fare of your meeting. For we know that, in itself and for what it means, Wash- ington holds enough to engage your at- tention and energies without the distrac- tion of social diversions which might be duplicated anywhere. As respects subjects of professional study, it lacks some which you would find in a great metropolis. Yet among its libraries is a public library which is, I be- lieve, as enterprising and as busy as any of its type and means. Its librarian, Mr. Bowerman, is also the busiest librarian in Washington, and for that very reason cheerfully undertook the preparations for your accommodation, the burden of which has been wholly his. The public library itself is half main- tained by the federal government. The libraries wholly so maintained are the li- braries of the various departments and bureaus, and the Library of Congress. It is these which in the aggregate constitute, or should constitute, the national library of the United States. In proportion as they do, their distinctive features may be worth a recurrent study. I need not capit- ulate them. I will only emphasize that in considering the material for serious re- 72 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE search available here, It is to be remem- bered that the Library of Congress is only one collection of nearly thirty; that out- side of it there are over a million and a half volumes in collections maintained by the federal government; and that among such collections there are at least three in agriculture, in geology and in medicine perhaps preeminent of their kind. A summary description of the whole group is given in the little Handbook compiled for this occasion by the Library Associa- tion of the District. Included also are the libraries of various private institutions, of which that at Georgetown particularly contains material of distinction. All these libraries are, of course, happy in the thought of a visit from you, and each of you. And I have no doubt that, as in the Library of Congress, so in all, the badge of the Association will admit you to the most "reserved" of the collec- tions, and the most confidential of the processes. Washington has its monuments, its memorials, its associations. It has also within it, or near at hand, natural beau- ties unusual to a city. If the ordinary tourist finds in such things instruction and stimulus, certainly a librarian should, whose professional life is, through books, so largely a mediation between them and his constituents. The essence and spirit of Washington is not, however, in them. It is not in buildings and collections. It is not in a system of government merely as a system. It is in the human service centering here, and radiating from here: the service of those who are in pursuit of the truths and principles of science, of those who are establishing methods and standards for the utilization of these in practical industry, of those engaged in the framing of laws, in the interpretation of them and in the administration of them. What this service is in a formal way, you know. What it means its character, and its motives cannot be known from books, or from a week's visit. For a real under- standing of it, we wish we might share with you our years of residence and obser- vation. We might then get you to see it as we do: a great company of men and women who with sincerity, devotion and predominant unselfishness, are applying a high efficiency to tasks which can profit them personally little or not at all and we should certainly include in this cate- gory the men in the executive and legis- lative branches who are honestly trying to determine the right course out of a myriad of perplexities. Distance sometimes inclines to cynicism; a nearer view to optimism. And we hope that one impression at least which you will carry away from even this brief visit will be that of the predominant op- timism of those of us who are nearest the operations of government, and most fa- miliar with the motives of those who are conducting them. And our embracing hope is that the resultant of your experi- ences and impressions as a whole will be a decision similar to that of certain other national organizations to make Washing- ton your place of meeting at regularly re- current intervals hereafter. President ANDERSON: I am sure I speak for the whole Association when I say that by no means the least of the at- tractions for us here is the Library of Congress, which, under the able admin- istration of Dr. Putnam, has come to be considered by us a model of what a na- tional library should be. It was partly to do honor to the national librarian, the primate of our profession, that we are here. Of course we knew that we should be heartily welcomed before we decided to have this conference here. Neverthe- less, we appreciate the cordial greeting Dr. Putnam has just given us; and I echo the wish which I understood him to ex- press, and which a number of our mem- bers have expressed several times, that we should get into the habit of meeting in the national capital every five or six years. I think it would be good for us and good for the library movement in this country. In accordance with our custom it Is now incumbent upon me to leave these pleas- ANDERSON 73 anter functions and deliver my annual ad- dress. I am sure you will be grateful to me for the announcement that it is not very long. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS The Tax on Ideas Russia and the United States are the only powers of the first class which im- pose a duty on books published beyond their borders. Great Britain, France, Ger- many, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Japan, the South African Union, Argentina, Aus- tralia and New Zealand impose no such du- ties. But Spain, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, and some minor countries of the two hemi- spheres, with Russia and our own country, pursue a less enlightened policy. With the exception of Portugal, the tariff barriers of the countries last named are erected solely or chiefly against foreign books printed in the language of the country concerned in Spain, for example, against the im- portation of Spanish books, in Russia against Russian books, and in the United States against the importation of books in the English language. For a nation whose people pride themselves on being advanced and progressive, are we not In strange company? Though our libraries have the privilege of importing foreign books free of duty, it is proper for us to consider the rights and needs of the general public. The pri- vate buyer, the general reader, has no organization to look after his interests in the matter, and no lobby to present his claims to the proper committees in Con- gress. Before these committees have ap- peared printers, bookbinders, booksellers and publishers all with very natural selfish interests to serve but the general public has been practically unrepresented. The libraries have appeared only now and then, when their privileges have been threatened. Has not the time come when this Association should espouse the cause of the student, the teacher, the scientific investigator, and the general reader of the worM's literature? It is our business to promote the cultural process, as far as we may, through the wide dissemination of books not American books alone, but books from every quarter of the globe. They have been truly called "the raw ma- terials of every kind of science and art, and of all social improvement." Our li- braries have accomplished little when they have imported only samples of this raw material. The samples serve the needs of only a small proportion of the reading public, especially in our great cen- ters of population. To the greater part of the reading public these samples are merely tantalizing, and whet their appe- tites for what they cannot afford to buy for themselves. The interests of the li- braries and of the reading public are identical. For both, there should be a free market. For both, an enlightened public policy should provide that the world's books be available at as low a price and with as few hampering restrictions as possible. There is nothing new in this contention. It is not even the first time that a humble librarian has espoused the cause of the general public on the question of the free importation of books. As long ago as 1846 Charles C. Jewett, at that time li- brarian of Brown University, afterward president of the first convention of li- brarians, held in 1853, later librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, and still later first librarian of the Boston public library, printed a pamphlet, entitled "Facts and considerations relative to duties on books, addressed to the Library Committee of Brown University." He maintained that "imperative reasons exist for placing books among articles free from all duty." He then proceeded to give some of those reasons, as follows: "We recognize the importance of education; but students can- not be educated without books, and many of the books needed are not, and cannot be, produced in this country. We recog- nize, too, the importance of what are com- monly termed the learned professions; 74 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE but the members of these professions de- pend mainly upon foreign books. It is necessary that we should have accom- plished architects for the erection cf our public and private edifices, and skilful en- gineers for conducting our works of in- ternal improvement; but these men must get their knowledge mainly from foreign books. If they are restricted to American books, they will be continually led into errors, which would injure us in our repu- tation, and diminish the value of our in- vestments. ... If we prohibit or render dearer the books which these men need, we do an incalculable injury to the whole community. If to gain a revenue of $30,- 000, we deprive a Fulton of the very book that would suggest to him the new appli- cation of some scientific principle, des- tined to change the whole face of society and increase incalculably our wealth, is it a wise policy which we pursue?" In the same year that Jewett printed his little pamphlet, 1846, the duty on all imported books was fixed by law at ten per cent ad valorem. Previous to that time the duties ranged from four to five cents a volume, or from ten to thirty cents a pound, depending on language, date of publication, whether bound or unbound, etc. The first duty on books was levied by the tariff act of 1824. The act of 1842 increased the duties slightly, while that of 1846 simplified matters very much by levying a flat duty of ten per cent ad valorem, as stated above. This was amended in 1857 to allow institutions of learning to import books free of duty. With this exception the law of 1846, pro- viding a duty of ten per cent ad valorem, remained in force until 1862 when the duty was increased to twenty per cent. In 1864 it was further increased to twen- ty-five per cent, where it remained, as far as books in the English language were con- cerned, till the act of 1913. It is im- portant to note that the duty was first doubled and then further increased dur- ing our Civil War. It was essentially a war tax, and doubtless justified by the circumstances. But it has taken fifty years to lower the duty from the war-tax level. And this was accomplished only last year, when the duty was reduced to fifteen per cent ad valorem still fifty per cent higher than before the war. Here, as elsewhere, vested interests have played their familiar role of postponing justice. We should be thankful that the last Congress made a substantial reduction in book duties, but we shall not rank with the more enlight- ened nations of the world till such duties are entirely abolished. The McKinley tariff act of 1890 placed books in foreign languages on the free list. This provision was retained in the Wilson act of 1894, in the Dingley act of 1897, and in the Payne-Aldrich act of 1909. It was also retained in the Under- wood act of 1913, as it left the House of Representatives. But in the Senate an attempt was made to impose a duty on books in foreign languages when they were less than twenty years old and in bindings less than twenty years old. The principal libraries in this country sent pro- tests to the Senate committee; and these, with other protests, and, by no means least in its influence, the mere expression by the President of the United States of his surprise at such an attempt, were sufficient to defeat it. So the act of 1913 retains books in foreign languages on the free list. The privilege of free importa- tion of such books by libraries was not withdrawn by the proposed Senate amend- ment; but its adoption would have seri- ously hampered us in the acquisition of books in foreign languages. It would have put a stop to our receiving such books on approval from the American importer, and required us to make our selections for purchase almost entirely from catalogs and publishers' lists. The revenue de- rived from it would have been negligible. It would have protected no infant, and, as some one has said, no senile industry; for such books are not, never have been, and never will be reprinted here. The amendment had its origin in a coterie of ANDERSON 75 bookbinders whose motives were wholly selfish, and it met the defeat it deserved. Since 1890, therefore, the only duty on books imported into the United States has been imposed on books in the English language which have been printed less than twenty years; and even these may come in free of duty to public libraries and educational institutions, provided not more than two copies are imported in one invoice. Until last year the duty on Eng- lish books was twenty-five per cent. It is now fifteen per cent ad valorem. In whose interest, or upon what grounds of public policy is this tax levied? For the six years from 1907 to 1912, inclusive, the average annual value of dutiable book im- portations was about two and three-quar- ters millions of dollars, and the average annual gross income for the government less than $700,000. After deducting the cost of collecting this income, it will be seen that the net revenue derived from it is inconsiderable. Evidently it is not a tariff for revenue. If it is a protective tariff, who is pro- tected, and why? We get all the light we need on this question from the hear- ings before the Ways and Means Com- mittee of the House of Representatives last year. For instance, the American Bible manufacturers contended that, if the duty on Bibles printed and bound by the underpaid labor of England was reduced, the Bible-making industry in this country would be entirely destroyed. Has some of the pauper humor of Europe been smuggled into this country? The price of Bibles to a hundred million people is to be maintained in the interest of a few hundred people engaged in their manu- facture! What is best for the hundred million does not count. The case is typ- ical in its absurdity. We put a tax on the enlightenment of all the people, to serve the selfish interests of a few. The American author and the American publisher are sufficiently protected by our copyright laws, and need no protective tariff on books. If the materials used in the manufacture of books were put on the free list, as I think they should be, the manufacturer would need no tariff on books to protect his business. It is the book manufacturers, with the printers and binders, who seem to be most interested in the retention of this tariff barrier. At the hearings before the Ways and Means Committee the manufacturer exhibits an almost self-effacing carelessness of his own interests; but his concern for his employees, whose welfare he notoriously has so much at heart, is most impressive. He will usually be found standing behind the organizations of printers and book- binders, prodding them on. Now labor or- ganizations are a necessary economic factor under present social conditions. But when in the interest of their members they demand that a tax be levied on the means of enlightenment of a whole peo- ple, they are not promoting an economic policy, but a debilitating disease. Many years ago Robert G. Ingersoll said he believed in the protection of home in- dustries; but when the infant grew to be six feet tall, wore number twelve boots, and threatened to kick your head off if you stopped rocking the cradle, he thought the coddling should cease. Among a proud people it is not an inspiring sight to see an industry begging for, or insist- ing upon, an advantage in the race with its foreign competitors. Does our na- tional resourcefulness fail in the case of the manufacturers, printers and binders of books? If so, may not this condition be partly due to excessive coddling? The over-coddled child seldom develops into a resourceful man. Is there any reason to expect it to be otherwise with an indus- try? The American painter scorns the protection given him by the government against the work of his foreign competitor, and time and again has petitioned Con- gress to put works of art on the free list. No American writer of standing, as far as I know, has ever sought protection against his foreign competitor. If those engaged in the mechanical processes of 76 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE book making are less proud and resource- ful, it is a humiliating fact which calls for explanation. The protected book industry in this country is now a wizened infant ninety years old. It has not thriven on the tariff pap. According to a writer in The Un- popular Review, who seems to be well in- formed on the subject, the number of books published annually in the United States is only about -six per cent of the total annual production of the world. In proportion to population, Switzerland pub- lishes annually ten times as many books as we; the Scandinavian countries, Den- mark, Sweden and Norway together, six times as many; Germany, France, the British Empire, Holland, Italy, Austria and Japan, each from three and one-half to five times as many. Even Roumania, in proportion to population, publishes over three times as many books as the United States, while Russia publishes over one and one-half times as many. The figures for Spain and Portugal are given together, and our book production is slightly below theirs. "Beneath these," says the writer referred to, "there is no lower depth." For the last five or six years the total annual value of the books imported into the United States, both dutiable and un- dutiable, was about $6,000,000, or six cents per capita. While we tail the procession in book production in our own country, we import from the other countries of the world only a paltry six cents' worth for each of us. In the face of these facts we cannot claim high rank as readers of books. Our ambassador to the Court of St. James, himself a publisher, is reported to have said not long ago that American men spend less for books than for neck- ties, and American women less than for the buttons on their dresses. The tariff has signally failed to promote the publishing, the manufacture, or the sale of books. During the last thirty or forty years the number of book-stores in the United States has notoriously declined. Now it is conceded that; a good book-store, well stocked and well managed, is of great educational value to any community. We, as librarians, are sorry to see them dis- appear, because good booksellers are our ablest coadjutors. In the interest of gen- eral intelligence we want to see more pri- vate buying and more and better house- hold libraries. It is of vital importance to all our citizens that the book business should thrive here. But it was not the discounts to libraries that drove the book- seller out of business; nor has the tariff on foreign books done anything to save him. What, then, is the cause of his rapid extinction? The writer whom I cited a moment ago, gives what seems an adequate explana- tion. While we publish only six per cent of the annual production of books, we publish sixty per cent of the world's peri- odical literature. Book-stores are disap- pearing; but we have nearly a hundred thousand news-stands. In short, cheap newspapers and cheap magazines are tak- ing the place of books in this country, chiefly, our Unpopular Reviewer thinks, because the government carries news- papers and periodicals in the mails at one cent a pound, whereas the cost of such carriage is about eight times that. In other words, the government practically gives a tremendous subvention to second- class mail which is paid by the first-class mail. When you post a letter, nearly half of what you pay goes to defray the cost of carrying newspapers and magazines. Why books were not included in the sub- vention is not explained. If it is justified in the case of newspapers and magazines, on the ground that in a democracy the government should thus encourage the diffusion of ideas among the people, why are books considered less important for this purpose? It certainly seems that our postal laws have discriminated against books. The present administration has improved the situation, as far as the near- er zones are concerned, by the inclusion of books in the parcel post. But for the more distant zones the rate is higher than ANDERSON 77 before. Whenever the postal rate on books is higher than the cost of handling, the government is levying an unnecessary tax on ideas. On broad grounds of public policy there should be the freest possible flow of ideas, not only among our own people, but be- tween nations. The most civilized peo- ples of the world are growing closer to- gether, because they are beginning to un- derstand each other better. If it is neces- sary to have any tariff barriers at all be- tween them, it is certainly unwise to have barriers against ideas as printed in books. A tax on knowledge and education is espe- cially unwise in a republic, the very exis- tence of which depends on the intelli- gence of its citizens. Our tariff on Eng- lish books bears heaviest on those who are least able to pay it our scholars, our teachers, our scientific investigators. Else- where the most enlightened governments do everything in their power to encourage such men as national assets. Here our policy actually discourages them. An en- lightened policy would put books in a class by themselves and on a plane above the ordinary commodities of the world. Instead of being taxed they should be privileged, not for the encouragement of an industry but for the education of the people. While it has taken fifty years even to reduce the tariff on English books, there is great encouragement in the fact that a beginning has been made. The late Prof. Sumner said: "If asked why they act iff a certain way in certain cases, primitive people always answer that it is because they and their ancestors always have done so. A sanction also arises from ghost fear. The ghosts of ancestors would be angry if the living should change the ancient folkways." In tariff matters we seem to be a primitive people; any suggestion of change is met with an in- stant prediction of dire consequences. The political mind is panicky at the prospect of change. Of a politician who was al- ways pessimistic about any alteration in governmental policy, It was said that if he had been present at the creation he would have thrown up his hands in holy horror and exclaimed, "Chaos will be de- stroyed!" We have long been familiar with the political stump speaker who loves to expatiate upon the calamities which would follow any reduction in the tariff. Yet we have survived a large number of such reductions. When the next book schedule is under consideration, we com- mend to our tariff and postal rate makers the motto of this Association, "The best reading, for the largest number, at the least cost." President ANDERSON: We have asked the Committee on library administration to make its report at this session, be- cause we understand it has to deal largely with the exhibit of library labor-saving devices now at the public library of the District of Columbia, and to which early attention should be called. I will there- fore call on Dr. BOSTWICK, the chair- man of that committee, for the report. COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY ADMIN- ISTRATION Mechanical devices are coming to play an increasing part in the administration of all institutions, and the library has been no exception to this rule. Many labor-savers have been devised especially for library use. Some of these have been placed on the market in commercial form and are more or less familiar to all; others, perhaps equally useful are practically un- known beyond the libraries where they originated. Others still, devised without any thought of their possible use in li- braries, have been adapted to such use, and there are doubtless many machines invented to fill a general business need that we shall gladly adopt when the special insight of some library worker is able to point out the way to us. It has seemed to your committee that an assemblage of such of these devices as 78 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE it might be able to get together, would be of especial interest to the members of this Association. Our recommendation that such an ex- hibit should be held at this conference was approved by the Executive Board shortly after the mid-winter meeting in Chicago. A few days later work was be- gun on preliminary arrangements. In De- cember, 1913, the trustees of the Dis- trict of Columbia public library had au- thorized the librarian to offer for the ex- hibit the use of the lecture hall on the second floor of the main building. It very soon became apparent that the lecture hall, which measures 50'x60', would not af- ford sufficient space for a suitable ex- hibition and ultimately about two-thirds of the second floor was given up to the committee's use. Excluding aisle space, the total amount of space available for ex- hibition purposes was about 3,800 square feet. The purpose and the nature of the ex- hibit, as well as the limitations of space, necessitated a very careful selection of exhibitors. Work was begun and has been carried on with four general purposes in mind: 1. To include only devices which are capable of satisfactory service in li- brary work. 2. To include as many dif- ferent kinds of labor-savers, adapted to library use, as possible. 3. To include as many as possible of the best represen- tatives of each kind in order that libra- rians attending the exhibit may not only see one good machine or device of a certain kind, but may compare two or more of the best. 4. To include some of the less expensive representatives of various kinds of devices as well as the higher-priced, in order that the librarians of small and poorly supported libraries may find much in the exhibit that will be serviceable to them. The scope of the exhibit has been extended somewhat beyond the field of labor-saving devices as this term is prop- erly understood, for it seemed desirable to show as comprehensive a display as pos- sible of general library furniture and equip- ment. Filing and indexing devices, stacks and shelving, charging desks and catalog cases, and as many as possible of the nu- merous small appliances and supplies needed in connection with the library routine have, therefore, been included. A great many small office and desk appli- ances which it seemed desirable to dis- play could not be obtained under the same arrangements which were made with most of the exhibitors, because the devices were so small and inexpensive that it would not pay the manufacturer to send representatives to take charge of their dis- play. Manufacturers of such devices have, therefore, been invited to send whatever they have for exhibition in care of the secretary of the exhibit, to be displayed and demonstrated at a very low cost under his direction. The responses to this in- vitation have been satisfactory and it is believed that the display of small and in- expensive devices will be interesting and profitable. One of the earliest points to be decided was the question of how to meet expenses without receiving any profit, as the Ex- ecutive Board had approved the suggestion of holding the exhibit on the understand- ing that the Association should not incur any expense and on the other hand that the exhibit should not be considered as a source of profit. Charges to exhibitors were, therefore, fixed at the lowest pos- sible figure which would enable us to clear expenses without possibility of loss through unforeseen expenses at the last moment. After carefully estimating the expenses which would be incurred in connection with the exhibit, the charge for floor space was fixed at 13 cents per square foot. The charge for the demonstration of small devices sent in care of the committee was fixed at from one to five dollars accord- ing to the number of devices sent, the space they would occupy, and the care they would require. These prices prove to have been well suited to the purpose, BOSTWICK 79 for if there is any profit remaining after the close of the exhibit it will be extremely small. Whatever there may be will be turned over to the general funds of the Association. Early in February a circular letter was sent to 59 librarians asking for suggestions (1) concerning labor-saving devices with which they were familiar, which they would recommend for inclusion in the exhibit and (2) concerning other devices or kinds of devices which they would like to have opportunity to inspect at this exhibit. Re- plies were received from 42 librarians and the suggestions received have been very helpful, both in determining the kinds of devices which would be most appreciated at the exhibit and in learning of useful labor-savers which are not widely known to librarians. The first step towards get- ting in touch with the manufacturers was taken on February 12 when a circular let- ter was sent to about 60 manufacturers of well-known devices. Since that date there has been much correspondence with nearly 200 firms. Many who did not reply to the circular were not communicated with further. In many other cases one follow- up letter was sent and then if no reply was received the matter was dropped. No attempt has been made to persuade any firms to enter the exhibit if they did not consider it to their advantage to do so. This may explain the absence of some well- known firms such as the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. With many firms, how- ever, considerable correspondence was necessary before they made their decisions. In the case of every labor-saving ap- pliance there is of course considerable dif- ference of opinion as to which is the best representative of any type. Every ef- fort has been made to include in the ex- hibit no machines or appliances which can- not fairly be considered among the best of their type. The committee of course can- not vouch for the merits of all the various appliances which will be shown in the ex- hibit. It can only state that it believes that all machines and appliances shown are good, and worthy of careful consideration. Practically all of the devices shown have been recommended to the committee by librarians who know them and have found them to be good, and without exception all of the devices are so well and favor- ably known in the business world or the library world that there was no cause to question the advisability of including them in this exhibition. At this writing final plans for the ex- hibit are being concluded, but there are many important details which cannot be finally adjusted until almost the last day preceding the conference. It is therefore impossible for the committee's report to give a full statement concerning the de- vices which will be shown in the exhibit. A catalog will be printed and given to every member registering at the con- ference on the opening day. This catalog will give full information with short de- scriptive notes concerning the various de- vices shown. A brief summary of the data which will make up this catalog is given below. The number of manufacturers who will be represented in the exhibit either by their own representatives or by young men employed by the committee is about 60. About 30 different kinds of devices will be shown. The following roughly classi- fied list gives all the information which can be given at this date concerning the different devices represented: Adding and calculating machines will be represented by the Dalton Adding Machine Company and by the Comptometer Com- pany. The Dalton adding machine ranks among the best listing machines, and the comptometer is one of the best known of the non-listing machines. Closely al- lied with the adding machine is the bill- ing machine, which will be represented in this exhibit by the Elliott-Fisher Com- pany, one of the best known manufacturers of billing machines. They will demonstrate two of their models, a billing and order 80 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE entry machine and a book typewriter. Ma- chines of this nature are capable of effect- ing a great saving of time and labor in the bookkeeping and order departments and in any department where there ia much statistical work to be done. There are a number of low-priced adding ma- chines on the market and an attempt was made to get one or two of them for the exhibition, but it was not possible to do so. The addressing machine will be repre- sented by the Addressograph Company, which will show several of their machines of moderate prices, excluding the most expensive and highly specialized machines adapted to business use but not, in gen- eral, to library use. This statement ap- plies also to many other firms who manu- facture machines at many different prices. All firms entering the exhibit understand that it has been arranged primarily for the benefit of the librarians. They will, there- fore, show only such machines as are best adapted to library use and they will make their demonstrations such as to show espe- cially the capabilities of their machines in library work. Librarians who cannot af- ford the most expensive addressograph equipment, will be interested in seeing the possibilities in the use of the lower priced equipment which will be shown. It has not been possible to go very far into the field of binding and book repair materials and equipment. The Monarch Glue Company, however, will be repre- sented with display of their bookbinders' flexible glue and also of their library paste. This glue is very highly recommended by the librarian of one of our largest public libraries where it has been used for a good many years with very successful re- sults. For many years past the use of the dic- tation machine has become more and more general in business, and the President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency appointed by President Taft, recommended very strongly the general use of the dic- tation machine in all government depart- ments having much correspondence. It would seem as though the use of the dic- tation machine had not been sufficiently investigated by librarians in general. Opinions of course differ as to the merits of this method of giving dictation, but it seems as though the use of the machine should at least receive a careful trial by all librarians having any considerable amount of correspondence. The dicta- phone, manufactured by the Columbia Graphophone Company, and the Edison Dictating Machine, manufactured by Thomas A. Edison, Inc., will be demon- strated by representatives of those com- panies. The Howard Dustless Duster Company will display various kinds of dusters for use on furniture, floors, or walls and 1 ceilings. The distinctive feature of these dusters is that they are treated by a chem- ical preparation designed to cause the duster to hold all dust until washed out with hot water and soap. The dust can- not be shaken or beaten out. So far as the committee's knowledge goes, the dust- er seems to bear out the statement of the manufacturer, that it is sanitary and eco- nomical. The Vacuna Sales Company will show their cleaners of various types and the Santo vacuum cleaner, manufactured by the Keller Manufacturing Company, will also be demonstrated. One of the Santo machines sells for $35.00 and will, therefore, be interesting to the librarians of small libraries where only a moderate priced cleaner could be obtained. Brushes especially designed for cleaning floors will be shown by the Milwaukee Dustless Brush Company. The Kelley Electric Machine Company will show their electric floor cleaner with various attachments for cleaning floors and surfaces of different materials. The display of manifolding and dupli- cating machines will include two of the best known duplicators for use in making a limited number of copies and two of the best known of the more expensive ma- BOSTWICK 81 chines for doing larger work. The Beck Duplicator and the schapirograph will be demonstrated, and the mimeograph and the multigraph. The Beck duplicator and the schapirograph are so closely similar that only a careful examination and com- parison of the two can enable one to determine which seems best adapted for his uses. The demonstration of the lat- est models and most improved appliances of the mimeograph and the multigraph should be worth seeing even by those who are already familiar with both of these machines. A very important feature of the exhibi- tion will be the demonstration of the rectigraph and the photostat. Until very recently it had been hoped that the camera- graph also would be represented, but the Cameragraph Company has found it im- possible to have a representative in Wash- ington at this time. The committee be- lieves that this is the first time an op- portunity has been given to see both the rectigraph and the photostat demonstrated at an exhibition of this kind, and it is a matter of regret that the three leading machines of this type cannot be seen together. Practically all of the best known type- writers will be shown by representatives of the companies, who will not conduct any competitive speed tests with profes- sional operators, such as form a feature of the ordinary commercial business show, but will confine their demonstration to showing their latest models and appliances and to demonstrating their machines as especially adapted to library purposes. Furniture and general library equipment will be shown by the Art Metal Construc- tion Company, Gaylord Brothers, the Globe-Wernicke Company and the Library Bureau. Stacks and shelving will be shown by the Art Metal Construction Company, Library Bureau, and Snead and Company. In the exhibits of Gaylord, Library Bureau and Globe-Wernicke, there will be many small appliances useful in every library regardless of size and income. The visible index has been widely ad- vertised in recent years by the Index Vis- ible Company and by the Rand Company. The indexing systems of both of thetu companies will be demonstrated in the exhibit. The committee will not under- take to say what the future possibilities of these indexes in library service may be, but it would seem as though the devices were of sufficient interest and offered suf- ficiently good possibilities for adaptation to library service at some time in the near future, if not at present, to justify their inclusion in the exhibit and to make it worth while for librarians to give them careful consideration. We cannot give here a complete list of the many small devices which will be shown. The list will include clips and paper fastening devices, automatic count- ers, index guides, letters, signs and bul- letin boards, magazine binders, moisteners for moistening envelopes, stamps and labels, a pasting machine, numbering and dating machines, pencil sharpeners, rub- ber type and stamps. Inasmuch as the financial side of the ex- hibit cannot be finally closed until after the end of the conference week, it is not possible at this time to give a complete statement of the revenue and the expenses of the exhibit. A full statement will be filed by the secretary with the committee as soon as affairs are entirely settled. Be- low is given a statement of the expected revenue and a summary of the probable expenses as closely as it is possible to give the figures at this time. The revenue will be slightly in excess of five hundred dollars. The expenses will be approximate- ly as follows: Stationery $ 15.00 Typewriting and multigraphing. . . . 75.00 Postage 25.00 Attendants to demonstrate small devices 20.00 Guard for duty on exhibition floor. . 10.00 82 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Lumber 30.00 Carpenters' service 170.00 (This includes making the floor ready for the exhibition, erection o railings to separate booths, and restoring the floor to its normal appearance at the close of the ex- hibit.) Printing of catalog 140.00 Invitations to Washington business men and government officials 15.00 $500.00 The exhibition will be open on the following schedule of hours: Monday 2 to 10 p.m. Tuesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Every morning and all Thursday the ex- hibit will probably be open for librarians only. The exhibit will not be found to have reached the stage of perfection which the committee desired. There are a num- ber of important labor-savers which should have been included but it was impossible to get them. It is believed, however, that the exhibit contains enough to make it profitable for the librarians attending the conference to give it their careful atten- tion. Not much, if anything, could be gained from hasty inspection of the as- sembled devices. The committee hope, however, that a careful inspection of the various devices may prove to be of some assistance in helping to lower the cost of library administration. It is right to say that the only member of this committee who has done any work in connection with the exhibit, except to give advice and information, is Mr. George F. Bowerman of Washington. The com- mittee desires to express its gratitude to Mr. C. Seymour Thompson, assistant li- brarian of the public library of the Dis- trict of Columbia, who has had charge of the practical work of assembling the ex- hibits and conducting the necessary busi- ness. ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Chairman. Supplementary To this report should be added some account of the exhibition considered as part of the Washington conference, writ- ten after its close. We believe that the success of the exhibit amply justified the wisdom of our attempt to hold it. It proved to be in many respects the central point of the conference, an easier and more certain place to meet friends than either Continental Hall, where the general sessions were held, or the New Willard Hotel, which was nominally the head- quarters. For various reasons it was impossible to count the attendance. On one day the usual weekly count was taken of the num- ber of visitors to the building, and this showed an attendance of about 400 more than the average of several weeks pre- ceding. Hence it may be fairly estimated that in the five days of the exhibit there were probably between 1,500 and 2,000 visitors. There is no way of knowing how many of these were from government departments or Washington business places. It seems probable that a very high percentage of the librarians who at- tended the conference visited the exhibit at least once. Some are known to have come two or more times. It is cause for gratification that the ex- hibitors, in general, felt very well satis- fied with the attendance and the interest shown. Several were extremely pleased. Some few were disappointed that the local attendance was not larger, though it was recognized that we had done all we could to secure a good local attendance, in order to make the exhibit as profitable as pos- sible to the firms who went to the trouble and expense of exhibiting. It is undoubt- edly true that although the attendance was smaller than is usual at ordinary business shows, there was a far lower per- centage than usual of visitors who come merely from idle interest or curiosity. We had endeavored to eliminate so far as pos- sible the curiosity or souvenir hunters. The result made the exhibit more enjoy- BOSTWICK 83 able for the visitors, and equally profit- able, if not more so, for the exhibitors. It will be noticed in the following finan- cial statement that the expenditures in connection with the exhibit were exactly equal to the receipts. This is accounted for by the fact that for the services of the library building's force and of the young men who demonstrated the miscel- laneous appliances a definite amount was agreed upon as a minimum, with the un- derstanding that more would be paid if the revenue permitted. After meeting all other expenses there was a surplus suffi- cient to enable us to pay more than the promised minimum, but not all that we had desired to pay. Several firms which were listed among the exhibitors do not appear in the finan- cial statement, for various reasons. The exhibit of the Kalamazoo Loose-Leaf Binder Company was made in connection with that of the Dalton Adding Machine Company. Similarly, the Santo Vacuum Cleaner, made by the Keller Manufactur- ing Company, was exhibited with the Kelley Electric Machine Company's ex- hibit; and the Milwaukee Sanitary Meth- ods Company's exhibit was with that of the Vacuna Sales Company. Through professional courtesy no charge was made Mr. Hirshberg of the Cleveland public li- brary for exhibiting his fine-computer. No charge was made the St. Louis Multiplex Display Fixture Company because of the cooperative way in which their exhibition frames were used. The United States Gum Tape Company preferred to present the District of Columbia public library with a pasting machine in lieu of paying the exhibition charges. In view of the important contributions made to the ex- hibit by the public library, in the assist- ant librarian's time, in electric light and power, and other ways, it was thought proper to accept the machine in accord- ance with the preference of the manu- facturers and to turn it over to the li- brary. In the same way a small dating stamp was received from the Roberts Numbering Machine Company, who sent a stamp early in the week of the exhibit. The Goodline Manufacturing Company was charged $3.00, but has recently passed into the hands of a receiver and payment has not been made. Whatever amount, if any, is received from the company in payment of the charges due, will be di- vided among the young men who helped in the demonstration. Receipts Addressograph Company $ 8.32 American Multigraph Sales Com- pany 21.84 Art Metal Construction Company. 26.00 Automatic Pencil Sharpener Com- pany 3.64 Bates Manufacturing Company 3.25 Beck Duplicator Company 9.36 Bradley Milton Company 3.00 Business Men's Paper Press Com- pany 1.50 Chivers Bookbinding Company 2.00 Clinch Clip Company 1.00 Clipless Paper Fastener Company. 2.00 Columbia Graphophone Company. 7.80 Commercial Camera Company 30.00 Commercial Sales & Manufactur- ing Company 1.00 Commercial Utilities Company 7.00 Dalton Adding Machine Company. 12.00 Davol Rubber Company 1.00 Democrat Printing Company 6.50 Dick Company, A. B 10.38 Edison, Thos. A., Inc 9.10 Elliott-Fisher Company 9.88 Ensign Manufacturing Company. . 3.00 Favor, Ruhl & Company 2.00 Feldmann System Manufacturing Company 2.00 Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company 14.79 Forbes Stamp Company 1.00 Fulton Rubber Type Company 3.12 Gaylord Brothers 22.25 Globe-Wernicke Company 28.60 Hammond Typewriter Company... 15.60 Heidelberg Press 2.00 Howard Dustless Duster Company. 13.00 Ideal Moistener Company 1.00 Index Utility Company 2.25 84 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Index Visible Company 18.20 Johnston, Wm. G. & Company 12.48 Kelley Electric Machine Company 9.36 Library Bureau 28.60 Matthews, Jas. H. & Company 1.05 Monarch Glue Company 6.20 Newman Manufacturing Company. 2.00 Peerless Moistener Company 1.14 Rand Company 10.90 Rectigraph Company 30.00 Remington Typewriter Company.. 9.88 Royal Typewriter Company 13.00 Schapirograph Company 6.24 Sengbusch Self-Closing Inkstand Company 3.00 Smith, C. C 3.00 Smith, L. C. & Bros. Typewriter Company Snead & Company Iron Works... Stewart, S. A. Company Tablet & Ticket Company Underwood Typewriter Company.. Vacuna Sales Company Veeder Manufacturing Company. . Victor Animatograph Company.... 13.00 24.70 6.00 6.24 20.28 13.00 3.00 10.00 Petty Expense Account, as Under Registered letter to Rand Con? pany 10 Telegrams (2) to Snead & Com- pany 60 Telegrams, Business Men's Paper Press Company 50 Telegram, Commercial Utilities Mfg. Company 50 Night Letter, Democrat Print- ing Company 60 Parcel postage on return of goods to libraries 1.94 Expressage on return of goods to libraries 1.07 Car fares in course of four months' work 4.50 Total expenditures $536.45 Total receipts $536.46 Expenditures President ANDERSON: Just at this point I want to express, on behalf of the Executive Board and the members of the Association at large, our heartfelt appre- ciation of what has been done by the Dis- trict of Columbia Library Association and its officers to make our visit here pleas- ant. To the president of the local asso- ciation who is to speak to us in a moment, to the members of the local committee of Lumbeir for erection of railings to arrangements, and especially to Mr. Bow- separate booths $ 25.69 erman who has been indefatigable in his Chas. F. Frick, for preparation of labors in our behalf and for our comfort, rooms for exhibit 147.65 our grateful thanks are due. Chas. F. Frick, care of time stamp The President then introduced Mr. H. and stereopticon and other serv- H. B. MEYER, chief of the division of j ces 22.20 bibliography in the Library of Congress, Chas. F. Frick, supplying extra and president of the District of Columbia guard duty 14.00 Library Association, who gave a very in- Postage 21.00 forming and interesting address, illus- Multigraphing 2.00 trated with the stereopticon, on the libra- Typewriting 69.15 ries of Washington. "oo THE LIBRARIES OF WASHINGTON Signs for Miscellaneous Appliances The city of Washington is rich in li- Section .96 brary resources. The Library of Congress Rental of five dozen tables for ex- would lend distinction to any place, but hibitors 15.00 a recent census undertaken to gather in- Attendants to demonstrate miscel- formation for the "Handbook of libraries laneous appliances 27.00 in the District of Columbia," issued by Printing 1,500 copies of catalog... 161.00 the Library of Congress in cooperation MEYER 85 with the District of Columbia Library As- sociation, showed 137 libraries with a total of 5,674,000 volumes and pamphlets. Of these about two-fifths, or 2,250,000, are in the Library of Congress; a little over two- fifths, 2,352,000, are in other libraries sup- ported directly by the government; while a little less than one-fifth, or 1,072,000, are in libraries not supported by the govern- ment. In this last group the most im- portant are the college and university li- braries, and among these the Riggs Me- morial library of Georgetown University, Rev. Henry J. Shandelle, S. J., librarian, easily takes first rank. The library dates from the founding of the university in 1789, and is the oldest in the city. It was named in honor of the father and brother of Elisha Francis Riggs, Esq., who in 1891, equipped the library with galleries, al- coves and the main reading room in the south pavilion of the Healy building. In 1911 Mr. Riggs furnished an annex calcu- lated to hold 70,000 volumes. The library contains 106,341 volumes and 62,649 pamphlets, rich in patristics, Greek and Latin classics, American Indian lan- guages, religious writings, including al- coves of liturgical, ascetical and hagio- graphical works. There are some hun- dred volumes printed between 1472 and 1520, and a fine working collection on the fine arts. There are a number of smaller separate collections belonging to the university. The Hirst library, which arose from the bringing together of the libraries of sev- eral students' societies, is supported by a small annual fee from the students and in it the students enjoy special privileges. The Observatory library of about 3,500 volumes and pamphlets is a part of the equipment of the Astronomical Observa- tory founded in 1846. The Law School library and Medical College library are attached to these schools respectively in the heart of the city. Especially worthy of note is the Morgan Maryland Colonial History library of about 3,750 volumes and pamphlets, consisting mainly of books pertaining to the history of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Its importance is enhanced by the large, perfectly con- structed archive or muniment vault which contains old papers, documents, and forms a depository to which Maryland and Dis- trict families are invited to contribute their ancestral and other valuable papers. With it is connected a museum of his- torical relics synchronous with the books and documents. The library of George Washington Uni- versity goes back to 1821 and now con- tains about 45,740 volumes. It includes the important collection on Germanic philology brought together by Prof. Rich- ard Heinzel of the University of Vienna, and the classic library of Prof. Curt Wachsmuth of the University of Leipzig. Apart from the main library are the Law library, Medical library and the library of the National College of Pharmacy, which are located with their respective schools in various parts of the city. The library of the Catholic University, located at Brookland, one of the northern districts of the city, contains about 100,- 000 volumes and pamphlets. It is the cen- ter of a group of Catholic college libraries ranging in size from 3,000 to 15,000 vol- umes. Especially notable is the library of the Franciscan Monastery, located in a building which affords an interesting speci- men of monastic architecture. The library contains about 10,000 volumes and special- izes in everything relating to St. Francis and the Franciscan Order. At the Howard University for colored students there is a compact library of about 50,000 volumes, general in character, housed in a building for which Mr. Carne- gie gave $50,000 in 1910. The government maintains two military schools in the District, both located at the extreme south end of the city. The Army War College for the training of offi- cers in military science had a library of 34,400 volumes, which has recently been raised to the first rank by the addition of the important War Department library 86 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE of 60,000 volumes and 40,000 pamphlets, rich In books relating to the wars in which the United States has been engaged. The Engineer School for the instruction of the engineer officers of the United States army has a library of 60,000 volumes and 8,000 pamphlets, largely made up of civil, elec- trical and mechanical engineering litera- ture. The public library, located in the Carne- gie building in Mt. Vernon Square in the heart of the city, was established by an act of Congress in 1896. It had been pre- ceded by the Washington City Free library in which Gen. Greely was very much in- terested. The establishment of the public library was largely due to the efforts of Mr. Theodore W. Noyes, editor of the Washington Star. The library has grown from the original 12,000 volumes received from the Washington City Free library to 168,000 volumes and pamphlets. This de- velopment has taken pjace mostly since 1904, when the present librarian, Mr. George F. Bowerman, was appointed. Mr. Bowerman's services were recognized last year by a doctor's degree given him by George Washington University. It is gen- erally acknowledged that he has made the best use of the limited resources at his command. Not having it in his power to establish regularly equipped branch li- braries, he has gradually put into active operation 150 distributing stations in all parts of the city. The government libraries are, as a rule, of a highly specialized character and some of them rank as the most complete of their kind. The library of the Surgeon- General's office is the second largest li- brary in the city, containing 503,327 vol- umes and pamphlets, and is a monument to the industry, scientific knowledge and bibliographical attainments of Dr. John Shaw Billings, who became surgeon-gen- eral in 1865, and through whose efforts the library was raised to the very first rank. It is believed to be the largest medical library in the world, surpassing the library of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, which has generally been consid- ered the largest. Even in the special field of French medical dissertations it has the most complete collection in existence. It has about 250 medical incunabula, of which Mr. Felix Neumann is making a checklist. The library is further famous as being the basis of the Index Catalogue so well known to all students of medicine. The library of the Geological Survey is hardly less notable. It contains 190,000 volumes and pamphlets and 25,000 manu- scripts. Its catalog would practically constitute a bibliography of geological science. The library of the Department of Agri- culture contains about 131,000 volumes and pamphlets. It is a good example of centralized administration. The bureau and office libraries, of which there are about twelve, are really branches of the main library. They have their own li- brarians, who devote themselves to the specialty of the office and frequently un- dertake important bibliographical work. For example, the Bureau of Plant Industry, whose librarian is Miss Eunice R. Oberly, maintains a union catalog of botanical and horticultural literature in the libra- ries in the District. Of similar interest are the libraries of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Fisheries, each believed to be the best of its kind in the world. The Weather Bu- reau library contains 32,000 volumes, mainly devoted to meteorology and cli- matology. The library of the Bureau of Fisheries numbers 28,695 volumes, espe- cially rich in the literature of fish culture for food. Other department libraries worthy of mention are the State Department, Bu- reau of Rolls and Library, one of the old- est maintained by the government. It has about 70,000 volumes on international law, diplomacy and description and travel in foreign countries, while its manuscripts are among the most valuable in the gov- ernment archives. The Navy Department library contains about 50,000 volumes de- MEYER 87 voted almost entirely to naval science, es- pecially naval construction. The library of the Department of Justice is a law li- brary of about 45,000 volumes, rich in federal and state reports, with a consid- erable collection of British and foreign law. The Treasury Department library consists of about 11,000 volumes on finance. The scientific libraries maintained by the government are in two groups those under the jurisdiction of the Smithsonian Institution and a number of bureau libra- ries under independent control, each in its own department. The Smithsonian Insti- tution is an organization whereby a num- ber of the highest officials of the govern- ment are made responsible for the admin- istration of a large trust for the increase and diffusion of knowledge. The trust is the result of a bequest by James Smith- son, an English gentleman, who died in 1829. He left his property "to the United States of America to found at Washington under the name of the Smithsonian Insti- tution an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The Smithsonian Institution was formally established by an act of Congress in 1846 and has been one of the most widely known scientific institutions in the world. In exchange for its publications it receives the proceedings, transactions and mem- oirs of other learned bodies. These are regularly transferred to the Library of Congress and constitute the Smithsonian deposit in that library. Under its juris- diction is the National Museum, with a library of 43,700 volumes and 72,000 pamphlets. These are shelved in the main library on the ground floor of the New National Museum building and in thirty- one branches in charge of the curators of the several departments of the museum. The next most important library under the jurisdiction of the Smithsonian Insti- tution is the library of the Bureau of American Ethnology, consisting of 19,000 volumes, 12,700 pamphlets, 1,700 manu- scripts, constituting the finest collection of books in the world relating - to Ameri- can Indians. The Smithsonian Institution also controls the small libraries at the Astrophysical Laboratory and at the Na- tional Zoological Park. For its own use it maintains in the office of the secretary what is known as the "office collection," which is especially rich in books dealing with the administration of museums and galleries and the classification of their contents. It has besides a fine collection on aeronautics and the Watts de Peyster collection on Napoleon. In the other group of scientific libraries mention should be made of the library of the Naval Observatory containing 27,000 volumes and 3,500 pamphlets on mathe- matics, astronomy and kindred subjects. Its collection of serials is especially fine. The library of the Bureau of Standards contains about 12,000 volumes in physics, mathematics, chemistry and technology. The library of the Coast and Geodetic Survey now numbers about 25,000 volumes. At one time it was almost twice as large, but by judicious weeding out of irrelevant and useless material it has been made a vastly better working tool. The library of the Bureau of Education numbers 145,000 volumes. It received its greatest devel- opment under Dr. W. T. Harris, who was Commissioner of Education from 1889 to 1906. During the early part of Dr. Har- ris' administration the library facilities of the city were not so good as they be- came later, and he was practically obliged to create a library of a more general char- acter. Under Dr. Brown, who succeeded Dr. Harris as commissioner, the new con- ditions were recognized and some 60,000 volumes of a general character were sent to the Library of Congress. The Patent Office library is in two parts a law li- brary of about 4,000 volumes, and a scien- tific library of 9,648 volumes. The for- mer is devoted to patent law, while the latter, besides works in the physical sciences, includes a very complete collec- tion of the patent reports of all foreign countries. The library of the Census Bu- 88 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE reau, established as recently as 1899, al- ready numbers 58,000 volumes and pam- phlets, rich in statistical publications of our own states and of foreign governments. The library includes a notable collection on the science of statistics. The Public Documents library is also of recent date. It was established in 1895, when the first superintendent of documents was ap- pointed. From a few wagon loads of rub- bish turned over to him at that time, it has now grown to 147,255 volumes and pamphlets, and 16,289 maps. It is the most complete collection of United States pub- lic documents in existence and is the basis of the important Document Cata- logues published at intervals by the super- intendent. Among the small bureau libraries which should not be overlooked is the library of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at present located in the Commerce building. It con- tains about 28,000 volumes and pamphlets, both official and non-official, dealing with all phases of the labor question. Its col- lection of trade union publications and the reports of factory and mine inspectors is particularly important. The Interstate Commerce Commission library contains about 26,000 volumes and pamphlets, rich in railroad literature and interstate com- merce documents. The Bureau of Mines, founded in 1911, already has a library of 10,000 volumes, of which 4,000 are kept at the bureau, while 6,000 are distributed among the field stations. The Bureau of Railway Economics is not a government bureau, but is maintained by the railroads of the country. It has a fine library of 25,000 books, pamphlets, etc., dealing with railways from all points of view, and about 10,000 volumes and pamphlets in addition devoted to finance, labor and other matters collateral to rail- way economics. The bureau has pub- lished, under the editorship of its libra- rian, Mr. Richard H. Johnston, a union catalog entitled "Railway economics, a collective catalogue of books in fourteen American libraries." The collection is open to all who desire to use it without restriction. The Columbus Memorial library of 28,- 300 volumes devoted to the Latin-American countries is part of the equipment of the Pan-American Union, which was estab- lished in 1890 under the title International Bureau of American Republics. In 1910 the present building, for which Mr. Car- negie gave $750,000, was dedicated, and in the same year the name of the bureau was changed to its present designation, Pan-American Union. Washington is also notable as possess- ing the largest library on freemasonry in the world. This is the library of the Supreme Council 33rd degree and num- bers about 100,000 volumes and pam- phlets. It will shortly be moved to the new building now in course of erection at 16th and S streets, the Scottish Rite Temple. The literature relating to the deaf and dumb is well represented at the capital. At the Columbian Institution for the Deaf is the Baker collection, rich in the older publications, while in the Volta Bureau, Washington possesses an institution al- most unique. It was founded in 1888 by Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, and was the outgrowth of his extensive researches to determine the causes of deafness. The library takes its name from the fact that the Volta Prize, created by Napoleon I, was conferred upon Dr. Bell for the invention of the telephone. This prize carried a gift of 50,000 francs, which Dr. Bell devoted to laboratory re- searches that resulted in the development of the phonograph-graphophone. From the amount received for this invention he set aside the sum of $100,000 for the in- crease and diffusion of knowledge relat- ing to the deaf. That sum formed the original endowment and has been largely added to since. In 1909 he presented the library, the Volta Bureau, and other prop- erty to the American Association to Pro- mote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, and it is now owned and controlled by that SECRETARY'S REPORT 89 association. The library includes the most complete collection of periodicals and so- ciety publications, both American and foreign, and reports of schools in exist- ence. Of special interest to those engaged in research work are a card catalog of more than 50,000 deaf children admitted into special schools in the United States during the nineteenth century; manu- scripts containing authentic information concerning 4,471 marriages of persons deaf from childhood and the special schedules of the deaf used by the Census office in 1900 containing detailed information about 89,271 persons returned as deaf or deaf 'and dumb in the twelfth census of the United States. Collections of books for the blind are to be found at the National Library for the Blind, Miss Etta J. Giffin, director. A Vaughan press has recently been installed and the printing of books for the blind is now a part of the regular work of the library. All of the operations are con- ducted by blind persons engaged at regu- lar salaries. There is a reading room for the blind at the Library of Congress in charge of Mrs. Gertrude T. Rider, and at the Soldiers' Home library there are daily readings for the blind. The Miller library at Forest Glen, Md., while not strictly within the District of Columbia, should be mentioned in connec- tion with Washington libraries. It was the private library of J. De Witt Miller, the original of Leon Vincent's essay, "The bibliotaph." Mr. Miller's books were liter- ally buried in various places until finally in 1901 his friends, Mr. and Mrs. John Irving Cassidy, built a library for him at the National Park Seminary at Forest Glen, Md. There are about 22,000 volumes in the library, including many association books and autographed copies. Mr. Miller was a devoted Johnsonian, and collected everything relating to Johnson and his biographer. Since Mr. Miller's death in 1912 the library has been used by the stu- dents of the seminary, who are given a course of twenty hours per week in the use of the library and in library 'methods. The Library of Congress has been de- scribed so well and so often that a de- tailed account of it is not called for here. It will not be amiss, however, to refer to a few important recent developments of its special collections. The music division, under the direction of Mr. O. G. T. Son- neck, takes rank with the finest musical libraries in the world with the collec- tion in the British Museum, the collec- tion in the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, and the collections at Berlin and St. Petersburg. The map division, under Mr. P. Lee Phillips, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, also ranks among the most complete in the world. It con- tains 390,489 sheet maps, 5,193 atlases and 404 manuscripts. The division of manu- scripts, with the papers of most of the presidents and of a great many public men, is of primary interest to all students investigating the source material for the history of our country. At the present time the prints division, which already contains 260,000 pieces, is being developed by Dr. Rice, professor emeritus of Wil- liams College. SECOND GENERAL SESSION The second general session was called to order by President Anderson Tuesday evening, May 26, at the Continental Me- morial Hall. The following reports of officers and committees were submitted, nearly all of them being in print and read only by title. SECRETARY'S REPORT The secretary has the honor to submit herewith his fourth annual report on the work at the executive office and the fifth report since the establishment of head- quarters In Chicago. It is our pleasant duty once more to record sincere appre- ciation of the excellent quarters so gener- ously and gratuitously furnished to the Association by the directors of the Chi- cago public library, which we have occu- 90 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE pied since the autumn of 1909. As here- tofore, free light, free heat, and free jani- tor service have been supplied in addi- tion to the use of a large and commodious room containing 2,000 square feet of space. During the past summer the walls and ceiling were cleaned and redecorated by the Chicago public library. Work at the Executive Office The work at headquarters has been conducted along similar lines as in previous years. Ac- tivities may be roughly grouped as fol- lows: (a) Editing and publishing the official Bulletin, issued bi-monthly, through which the membership is kept informed of the plans and work of the Association and its committees. One number is entirely devoted to the Proceedings of the annual meeting, and another to the Handbook, containing lists of officers, committees, members, etc. (b) Editing and publishing the A. L. A. Booklist, a monthly guide to the selec- tion and purchase of the best of the cur- rent books. This work is conducted by an editor (Miss May Massee) and a corps of assistants, who devote their entire time to this periodical. (c) Publishing and sale of all publica- tions of the Association. (d) Correspondence on all phases of library work, the executive office acting, so far as it is able, as a clearing house of library information. (e) Co-operation with the Association committees, library commissions, state library associations and library clubs and other national educational and civic asso- ciations. (f) Promoting better library architec- ture by collecting and loaning plans of library buildings. (g) Promoting general publicity of the aims and activities of the Association and library work at large. Section (d), Correspondence, is by far the heaviest single feature of the work and very properly so. During the year about 21,000 letters have been mailed from the office, in addition to about 20,000 pieces of circular matter, and the pub- lications which have been sold. Membership When the Handbook was printed last September there were 2,563 members in the Association, of whom 372 were institutional, 2,087 personal, and the balance honorary members, life fellows, or life members. Since the first of the year the customary vigorous and steady cam- paign for new members has been con- ducted. Special efforts have been directed to library trustees in the endeavor to con- vince them that library membership in the national Association for the libraries in their care is desirable. This has resulted in securing thus far 45 additional insti- tutional members. In March a circular addressed to library trustees, inviting them personally to join the Association, was sent to all the principal library boards of the country through the medium of the librarian. Only about a dozen trustees, however, have joined the Association as a result of this appeal. Since the first of the year 191 new personal members have been enrolled, making a total of 236 new members, institutional and personal, since the printing of the 1913 Handbook. Judg- ing from past experience, from 100 to 150 will probably join between now and the close of the Washington conference and from 150 to 200 persons will allow their membership to lapse. Thus the approxi- mate number of members in the 1914 Handbook will probably be about 2,750. We look forward to the day when we shall have fully 3,000 members. We hoped to attain this result in 1914; now we still hope for its achievement in 1915. Mem- bers of the Association have been most helpful in recommending library friend? for membership. This we appreciate, for ^additional members mean additional funds for prosecuting the work of the Associa- tion, and we trust the members will con- tinue to assist us in increasing the roll. SECRETARY'S REPORT 91 Publicity Increased efforts for publicity have been made this past year. Mr. W. H. Kerr, who is much interested in the subject, presented, at request of the pres- ident and the secretary, a report to the Council at their mid-winter meeting. The president later appointed a committee on publicity, consisting of Messrs. F. C. Hicks, W. H. Kerr and G. F. Bowerman. This committee has engaged an experi- enced newspaper man who has aided in preparing news material and getting it on the wires and in the press, and who will serve the Association until the close of the Washington conference. The ex- ecutive Board made an appropriation of $100 for publicity work at their January meeting. The secretary has sent out sev- eral circular letters to libraries asking co- operation in securing news and in getting it in the hands of the newspapers. The Publicity committee, through Dr. George F. Bowerman, secured the preparation and publication of a series of five syndi- cated articles on library work, written by the well-known correspondent, Frederic J. Haskin. Miss Plummer made a plea at the Council meeting in January for a campaign of publicity through magazines and we hope some magazine articles on library work may result. In addition to these extra features the secretary has as usual sent material at various times tc a selected list of newspapers and periodi- cals throughout the United States and Canada. Field Work The field work of the sec- retary during the past year has include attendance and addresses at the Ohio Li- brary Association conference at Oberlin, October 7-10; the North Carolina Library Association conference at Washington, N. C., November 5-6; the Arkansas Library Association meeting at Pine Bluff, Ark., April 2-3; lectures on the work of the Association to the University of Illinois Library School, the Library School of the Carnegie Library of Atlanta, the summer library schools of the Connecticut Li- brary Commission, the Iowa Library Com- mission, the University of Wisconsin, and to the District of Columbia Library Club; and several informal talks in Chicago and vicinity. The transference of the editorial work of the A. L. A. Booklist from Madison to the A. L. A. office in Chicago was made in the summer of 1913 and by erecting suit- able partitions in the large room occupied by the Association very comfortable and convenient quarters have been provided. We need more plans of new types of library buildings. Some effort has been made by correspondence and direct per- sonal request to secure these. The office will appreciate and can use to advantage any good plans which librarians, trustees, or architects feel disposed to donate. The secretary has been making an ef- fort to secure a photograph of every ex- president of the Association. Eleven have been secured thus far, and these have been framed and hung on the walls at headquarters. Group pictures of eight or ten conferences have also been donated and these have also been hung. Particu- lar mention must be made of the gift from Mr. Henry M. Utley of framed groups of San Francisco, ' 1891, Denver, 1895, and several other interesting and valuable un- framed photographs of early conferences and post-conference parties. The various committees of the Associa- tion, standing and special, have been ac- tive in discharging their assigned duties, and the secretary has co-operated with them in all ways possible, but as each committee reports from time to time to the proper authorities the relation of this committee work does not fall within the province of the report of the secretary. The duties at the headquarters office, as elsewhere stated in this report, include the executive work of the Publishing Board, which requires approximately one- half of the time of the secretary and his 92 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE staff. The particulars of this feature of the work of the office are told in the re- port of the Publishing Board. Necrology The Association has lost by death twelve members since the confer- ence of a year ago. The list includes two ex-presidents of the Association; three prominent library trustees, one of whom was a trustee of the A. L. A. Endowment fund; a pioneer in library commission and extension activities; and others who had done faithful work in their respective fields and who will long be missed from our professional circle. The list follows: Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford, trustee of the Newberry and the John Crerar libra- ries from their foundation, and president of the former, and one of Chicago's oldest and most philanthropic citizens, died January 25, 1914. Member since 1878 (No. 162); attended conference of 1893. John L. Cadwalader, president of the board of trustees of the New York public library, and a trustee of the old Astor li- brary from 1879, died March 11, 1914. It was he who brought about the consolida- tion of the latter library with the Lenox library and the Tilden Trust, and who in- duced the city to build the Fifth Avenue building. Member since 1906 (No. 3965); attended no conferences. William George Eakins, chief librarian of the Law Society of Upper Canada, Tor- onto, died December 21, 1913. Memb' since 1893 (No. 1082) ; attended confer- ences of 1893, 1903, 1912, and Interna- tional, London, 1897. Frank Avery Hutchins, first secretary of the Wisconsin free library commission, for years the inspirer of librarians and the pillar of library strength in Wiscon- sin, a pioneer in library extension, died January 26, 1914. Member since 1893 (No. 1173) ; attended conferences of 1893, 1896, 1898-1902, 1908 (8). See Library Jour- nal, 39:204; Public Libraries, 19:109. William C. Kimball, president of the board of trustees of the Passaic, N. J., public library, president of the New Jer- sey public library commission, and a trustee of the A. L. A. Endowment fund since 1908, died January 17, 1914. Mr. Kimball was a councillor of the A. L. A., 1905-10, and a member of several commit- tees. Member since 1897 (No. 1629); at- tended conferences of 1897, 1902-08, 1912- 13 (10). See Library Journal 39:110, 205; Public Libraries, 19:110. Josephus Nelson Lamed, for twenty years (1877-1897) chief librarian of the Buffalo public library; president of the A. L. A. 1893-94, presiding at the Lake Placid conference; and widely known as an historical scholar and writer, died Au- gust 15, 1913. Dr. Larned was a charter member of the A. L. A., joining in 1876 (No. 51). He attended 15 conferences, those of 1879, 1881-83, 1885-88, 1892, 1894, 1896-98, 1900, 1903. Richard A. Lavell, assistant librarian of the Minneapolis public library, a young man of exceptional professional promise, died November 28, 1913. Member since 1908 (No. 5228); attended 1908 confer- ence. Elizabeth Cheever Osborn (Mrs. Lyman P.), librarian of the Peabody (Mass.) his- torical society, and a familiar and popu- lar figure at our conferences and on our post-conference trips, died February 11, 1914. Member since 1900 (No. 2083); at- tended conferences of 1900, 1902-3, 1905- 06, 1908-10, 1913 (9). Joseph R. Parrott, president of the board of trustees of the Jacksonville, Fla., free public library, since its establish- ment, died in the summer of 1913. Mem- ber since 1911 (No. 5071). He attended no conferences. Mary Abbie Richardson, assistant in the Wesleyan University library, Middletown, Conn., died December 8, 1913. Member since 1891 (No. 891) ; attended confer- ences of 1892-95, 1897, 1900 (6). TREASURER'S REPORT 93 Reuben Gold Thwaites, superintendent of the Wisconsin historical society, author of many scholarly and popular books, widely known editor of historical docu- ments, prominent in historical as well as library circles, president of the A. L. A., 1899-1900, died October 22, 1913. Member since 1889 (No. 756), life member since 1911; attended conferences of 1889, 1893-94, 1896, 1898-99, 1900-01, 1903-04, 1906, 1908-10, 1912-13 (16). William Hopkins Tillinghast, for many years assistant librarian of Harvard Col- lege library, died August 22, 1913. Mem- ber since 1892 (No. 948) ; attended confer- ences of 1894, '96, '98, 1900, '02, '09. The following persons formerly belonged to the Association but were not members at the time of their death: Mrs. Martha H. G. Banks, member of the first class in Library School and em- ployed in various eastern libraries, died September 23, 1913. Joined 1888 (No. 713); attended conferences of 1892, 1898, 1902. Samuel A. Binion, author, translator, traveler, died January 8, 1914. Joined 1890 (No. 794) and attended conference of that year. Marvin Davis Bisbee, formerly librarian of Dartmouth College, died August* 28, 1913. Joined 1890 (No. 820); attended conferences of 1890, 1898, 1902, 1909. Minta I. Dryden, formerly librarian of Dayton (O.) public library, died July 29, 1913. Joined 1895 (No. 1372); attended no conferences. Lucian Brainerd Gilmore, assistant li- brarian of the Detroit public library, died June 17, 1913. Joined 1891 (No. 905); at- tended conferences of 1891, 1898, 1902, 1907. George W. Peckham, formerly librarian of the Milwaukee public library, died January 10, 1914. Joined 1896 (No. 1438) ; attended conferences of 1897, 1899, 1902- 03, 1905-08. William Marshall Stevenson, formerly librarian of the Allegheny Carnegie li- brary, died January 11, 1914. Joined 1893 (No. 1151); attended conferences of 1893- 94, 1897-98, 1901, and International, Lon- don, 1897. Philip R. Uhler, formerly librarian of the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md., died October 21, 1913. Joined 1879 (No. 266); attended conferences of 1879, 1881, 1892. GEORGE B. UTLEY, Secretary. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Report of the Treasurer, January 1-April 30, 1914 Receipts Balance, Union Trust Company, Chicago, Jan. 1, 1914 $3,392.65 Headquarters collections 4,869.15 Trustees Endowment Fund, interest 175.00 Interest, January-April, 1914 22.17 $8,458.97 Expenditures Checks No. 52-56 (Vouchers No. 807-882, incl.) $3,302.95 Distributed as follows: Bulletin $ 247.27 Conference 15.50 Committees , 267.00 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Headquarters: Salaries 1,700.00 Additional services 205.15 Supplies 251.65 Miscellaneous 375.35 Postage 187.69 Travel . 53.34 $3,302.95 Balance Union Trust Co., Chicago $5,156.02 G. B. Utley, Balance, Nat. Bank of the Republic 250.00 Due from Publishing Board on 1913 account 500.00 Total balance $5,906.02 James L. Whitney Fund Principal and interest, Dec. 31, 1913 $126.76 Interest, January 1, 1914 1.83 Third installment, February 18, 1914 22.62 Respectfully submitted, Chicago, May 1, 1914. REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE To the American Library Association: Ladies and Gentlemen: In accordance with the provisions of the constitution, the Finance committee sub- mit the following report: They have duly considered the prob- able income of the Association for the current year and estimate it at $22,910.00; and have approved appropriations made by the Executive Board to that amount. The details of the estimated income and the appropriations are given in the Jan- uary number of the Bulletin. On behalf of the committee the chair- man has audited the accounts of the Treas- urer and of the Secretary as Assistant Treasurer. He has found that the re- ceipts as stated by the Treasurer agree with the transfers of the Assistant Treas- urer, with the cash accounts of the lat- ter, and with the statements of trans- fers in the account of the Trustees, ex- cept that one installment of $175.00 was $151.21 C. B. RODEN, Treasurer. received so late that it was carried to the account for 1914. The expenditures as stated are accounted for by properly ap- proved vouchers, and the balance shown as that in the Union Trust Company agrees with the bank statement of Jan- uary 7th, 1914. The bank balances and petty cash of the Assistant Treasurer as stated agree with the bank books and petty cash balances. The accounts of the Assistant Treasurer have been found cor- rect as cash accounts. On behalf of the committee Mr. F. O. Poole has checked the securities now in the custody of the Trustees and he cer- tifies that their figures are correct. He finds that at par value the bonds and other securities amount to $102,500.00 for the Carnegie fund, and $8,000.00 for the En- dowment fund. He further certifies that they hold receipts for all expenditures given in their account. All of which is respectfully submitted. For the committee, CLEMENT W. ANDREWS, Chairman. CARNEGIE AND ENDOWMENT FUNDS 95 REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE CARNEGIE AND ENDOWMENT FUNDS To the President and Members of the American Library Association: The Trustees of the Endowment Fund of the American Library Association beg leave to submit the following statement of the accounts of their Trust the Car- negie and General Funds for the fiscal year ending January 15, 1914. The only change In the investments is the addition of one United States Steel bond, which has been added to the Prin- cipal Account of the Endowment Fund. The Principal Account has now $8,000 in United States Steel bonds. The Trustees were enabled to purchase this bond by the addition of new life memberships during 1913, but were obliged to borrow temporarily .$150 from the Surplus Fund, in the expectation that six more life mem- berships would soon be secured. All in- terest on the investments has been promptly paid. The usual audit of the investments and accounts of the Trust was made by Mr. Franklin O. Poole, librarian of the As- sociation of the Bar of the City of New York, at the request of the chairman of the Finance committee of the American Library Association. Mr. Poole reports as follows: "I have examined the ac- counts of the Trustees of the Endowment Fund, as shown in the appended memo- randa, and have found the same to be correct and in good order." He also ex- amined the securities in the possession of the Trustees. The Association has suffered a great loss in the death of Mr. William C. Kim- ball, who had been the President of the Trustees of the Carnegie and Endowment Funds since October 1, 1909. He took a great interest in all matters relating to the investment and security of the Funds, and his loss will be severely felt by the surviving Trustees. It was a satisfaction and pleasure to work under his guidance. Respectfully submitted, W. W. APPLETON, EDWARD W. SHELDON, Trustees Endowment Fund A. L. A. May 1, 1914. CARNEGIE FUND, PRINCIPAL ACCOUNT Cash donated by Mr. Andrew Carnegie. .$100,000.00 Invested as follows: June 1, 1908 5,000 4% Amer. Tel. & Tel. Bonds 96 y 2 $ 4,825.00 June 1, 1908 10,000 4% Amer. Tel. & Tel. Bonds 94^ 9,437.00 June 1, 1908 15,000 4% Cleveland Terminal 100 15,000,00 June 1, 1908 10,000 4% Seaboard Air Line 95^ 9,550.00 June 1, 1908 15,000 5% Western Un. Tel 108^ 15,000.00 June 1, 1908 15,000 3y 2 % N. Y. Cen. (Lake Shore Col.)... 90 13,500.00 June 1, 1908 15,000 5% Missouri Pacific 104^ 15,000.00 May 3, 1909 15,000 5% U. S. Steel 104 15,000.00 Aug. 6,1909 1,500 U. S. Steel 106^ 1,500.00 July 27, 1910 1,000 U. S. Steel lQ2y 2 1,000.00 102.500 Jan. 15, 1914 United States Trust Co. on deposit. 99,812.50 187.50 $100,000.00 96 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE The $150 (Surplus Account) reported on hand January 15, 1913 has been lent tem- porarily to the Endowment Fund Principal Account in order to purchase one $1,000 U. S. Steel Bond. This amount will be returned when sufficient funds are received from Life Memberships. ENDOWMENT FUND, PRINCIPAL ACCOUNT 1913 January 15 On hand, bonds and cash $7,511.84 January 28 Life Membership G. F. Bowerman 25.00 January 28 Life Membership F. W. Stearns 25.00 March 31 Life Membership Phoebe Parker 25.00 March 31 Life Membership Francis E. Haynes 25.00 March 31 Life Membership E. F. Stroh 25.00 March 31 Life Membership L. R. Morris 25.00 July 1 Life Membership L. M. Fernald 25.00 July 30 Life Membership J. C. Ruppenthal 25.00 Sept. 2 Life Membership A. R. Hasse 25.00 Sept. 2 Life Membership I. Warren 25.00 Sept. 2 Life Membership G. B. Utley 25.00 Nov. 6 Life Membership E. M. Morgan 25.00 Dec. 8 Borrowed from Surplus Account 150.00 $7,961.84 Invested as follows: 1908 June 1 2 U. S. Steel Bonds 98^ $1,970.00 October 19 2 U. S. Steel Bonds 102^ 2,000.00 November 5 Iy 2 U. S. Steel Bonds 101 1,500.00 1910 July 27 \y> U. S. Steel Bonds 102^ 1,500.00 1913 December 8 1 U. S. Steel Bond 99% 991.25 January 15, 1914, Cash on hand, U. S. Trust Co .59 * $7,961.84 ENDOWMENT FUND, INCOME ACCOUNT 1913 January 15, Cash on hand $175.00 May 5, Int. U. S. Steel 175.00 November 3, Int. U. S. Steel 175.00 $525.00 Disbursements 1913 January 31, C. B. Roden, Treas $175.00 May 26, C. B. Roden, Treas 175.00 December 8, C. B. Roden, Treas 175.00 December 8, Accrued interest U. S. Steel bond 4.58 $529.58 Deficit $ 4.58 CARNEGIE AND ENDOWMENT FUNDS 97 CARNEGIE FUND, INCOME ACCOUNT , 1913 January 15, Balance $934.90 February 2, Int. N. Y. Central 262.50 April 13, Int. Seaboard Air Line 200.00 April 13, Int. Missouri Pacific 375.00 May 5, Int. Cleveland Terminal 300.00 May 5, Int. U. S. Steel 437.50 July 7, Int. Western Union 375.00 July 7, Int. Amer. Tel. & Tel 300.00 August 1, Int. N. Y. Central 262.50 September 2, Int. Missouri Pacific 375.00 September 2, Int. Seaboard Air Line 200.00 November 3, Int. U. S. Steel 437.50 November 3, Int. Cleveland Terminal 300.00 December 1, Int. on deposit (Union Trust Co.) 40.96 1914 January 2, Int. Western Union 375.00 January 5, Int. Amer. Tel. & Tel. 300.00 $5,475.86 Disbursements 1913 J January 31, Carl B. Roden, Treas $ 934.90 May 26, Carl B. Roden, Treas 1,575.00 August 6, Carl B. Roden, Treas 500.00 November 6, Rent, Safe Deposit Co. to December 5, 1913 5.00 December 8, Carl B. Roden, Treas 1,000.00 January 15, 1914, Cash on hand 1,460.96 $5,475.86 A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD Report for W3-J4 From a comparison of the sales reports covering the last ten years, the consistent and permanent growth of the business ad- ministered by the A. L. A. Publishing Board may be noted. During this period, the annual receipts have more than tripled. Of course the receipts are larger in the years which are borne on the title pages of important new publications, such as the A. L. A. Catalog, but the steady average of revenues derived from this source indicates the possibility of new undertakings and continued usefulness. With an available capital amounting to but $4,000 annually, the gross business now amounts to from $12,000 to $16,000 yearly. A. L. A. Booklist Under its new editor- ship, the Booklist has during the past year maintained its tradition of unbiased evaluation of current publications and well-formulated policy of serving particu- larly the smaller and medium-sized li- braries of the country as a guide in book selection. With the completion of vol. 10 in June of this year, the Board again has under careful consideration the sugges- tion that the name, size and character of the Booklist should be changed to enlist the interest of the general public so as to serve in purchases for private libraries as well as public collections. Difficulty in satisfactorily merging these two purposes is self-evident. At the last meeting of the Council, the subject was revived in a communication from Mr. John Cotton Dana, who has been the chief advocate of the proposed change of policy. The Board was requested to invite sugges- tions, through the library press, for a suitable name and for other desirable changes. This was done, but the re- sponses have been neither numerous, con- vincing, nor otherwise encouraging. Pro- tests against changes have also been re- ceived. .The removal of the editorial offices from Madison to Chicago involved reorganiza- tion of the staff of collaborators. This "was successfully accomplished. Concern- ing this work, Miss May Massee, the new editor, reports as follows: "There has been prompt response to any request for help from the various schools and societies in Chicago. The American Medical Association, Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, Chicago School of Domestic Science, University of Chicago, Chicago Women's Club, Garrett Biblical Institute, Northwestern University and the various Chicago libraries have all given freely of time and knowledge. "It is becoming quite the custom in large and small libraries to keep the rec- ords of books read for the library by vari- ous members of the staff. If these notes are duplicated and sent to the Booklist they make an invaluable aid in selection and note writing. Twenty librarians now send notes more or less regularly and about forty check the tentative list. Such help is earnestly solicited, as only in this way can the Booklist work be what it should be, truly co-operative." There is a very real need for the sub- ject index to the Booklist to be continued. It will be recalled that a subject index to vols. 1-6 was issued, and later one for vol. 7. The sale was very far from satis- factory, the Board losing on both pam- phlets. Their undoubted usefulness to many A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD 99 and the cordial reception accorded them by those librarians who did purchase copies lead the Board to feel that another attempt should be made to continue their publication. The secretary is about to circularize libraries in the hope of getting sufficient response to justify the issuing of a subject index to vols. 8 to 10, inclu- sive. Periodical Cards Recently the New York public library signified its desire to withdraw as one of the five co-operating libraries in the preparation of copy for the A. L. A. analytical periodical cards. The library of the University of Illinois has consented to take its place. Plans are being formulated to offer to libraries the alternative of subscribing for a com- plete set or a partial set limited to the more popular periodicals. Heretofore, each subscribing library has been per- mitted to purchas"e cards for special groups of magazines selected according to local need. The expense of this latter service has exceeded the receipts, and for this reason the future subscriptions for a partial set must comprise the definite lists offered. During the period of eleven months cov- ered by this report, thirteen shipments of cards have been sent out, comprising 3,597 new titles and 133 reprints. The number of cards printed was 256,850. A. L. A. Manual of Library Economy Nineteen chapters have thus far been printed, each as a separate pamphlet. The Manual is planned to contain 32 chapters. This list, as revised, is appended. In ad- dition to the 19 chapters now in print, three are ready to go to press, two are well advanced, two others are assigned, and six are still unassigned. MANUAL OP LIBRARY ECONOMY Chapters and Authors. Types of libraries: 1. American library history Mr. Bol- ton. Printed. 2. The Library of Congress * Mr. Bishop. Printed. 3. State libraries Mr. Wyer. Ready in June. 4. The college and university library Mr. Wyer. Printed. 5. Proprietary and subscription libra- ries Mr. Bolton. Printed. 6. The free public library Miss Lord. Printed. 7. High school libraries Mr. Ward. 8. Special libraries Unassigned. Organization and administration: 9. Library legislation Mr. Yust. Print- ed. 10. Library architecture Mr. Eastman. Printed. 11. Fixtures, furniture, fittings Miss Elliott. 12. Administration Dr. Bostwick. Printed. 13. Training for librarianship Miss Plummer. Printed. 14. Library service Miss Baldwin. Printed. 15. Branches and other distributing agencies Miss Eastman. Printed. 16. Book selection Miss Bascom. Well advanced. 17. Order and accession Mr. Hopper. Printed. 18. Classification Unassigned. 19. Catalog Miss Gooch. Well ad- vanced. 20. Shelf Miss Rathbone. Printed. 21. Loan Mr. Vitz. Printed. 22. Reference department Dr. Rich- ardson. Printed. 23. Government documents j Mr. Wyer. Ready for printing. 24. Bibliography Miss Mudge. Wei} advanced. 100 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE 25. Pamphlets, clippings, maps, music, prints Unassigned. 26. Bookbinding Mr. A. L. Bailey. Printed. Special forms of work: 27. Library commissions and state li- brary extension, or state aid and state agencies Mr. Wynkoop. Printed. 28. The public library and the public schools Unassigned. 29. Library work with children Miss Olcott. Printed. 30. Library work with the blind Mrs. Delfino. Well advanced. 31. Museums, lectures, art galleries and libraries. Unassigned. 32. Library printing Mr. Walter. Printed. New Publications New publications comprised the following: A thousand books for the hospital library, compiled from the shelf-list of McLean Hospital Library, by Edith Kathleen Jones, with annotations by Miriam E. Carey, Florence Waugh and Julia A. Robinson. 2000 copies. How to start a library, by George E. Wire, M. D. Second edition. 2000 cop- ies. Material on geography, which may be obtained free or at small expense, by Mary J. Booth. (Reprinted from the Journal of Geography.) 3000 copies. Books for high schools, by Martha Wilson. (Adapted from list printed for Minnesota school libraries.) 2000 cop- ies. Vocational guidance through the li- brary, by Mary E. Hall, with bibliog- raphy by John G. Moulton. (Reprinted from the Massachusetts Library Club Bulletin.) 2000 copies. A. L. A. Manual of library economy, the four following chapters: Chap. 6. The free public library, by Isabel Ely Lord. 2000 copies. Chap. 14. Library service, by Emma V. Baldwin. 2000 copies. Chap. 21. Loan work, by Carl P. P. Vitz. 2000 copies. Chap. 29. Library work with chil- dren, by Frances Jenkins Olcott. 2500 copies. Reprints Reprints issued: Analytical cards for Warner's Library of the World's Best Literature. 100 sets. Cataloging for small libraries, by Theresa Hitchler. (Handbook 2.) 1000 copies. Catalog rules. 1000 copies. Guide to reference books, by Alice B. Kroeger. 1000 copies. Forthcoming Publications The follow- ing new publications have been planned: A. L. A. Index to General Literature, Supplement, 1900-1910. This will con- sist of a cumulation under one alphabet of the analytics of composite books and publications of societies and bureaus, in- dexed in the Annual Library Index, 1900 to 1910, inclusive, the publishers having kindly given permission to the Board to use the material in the form analyzed by them. To this material has been added analyticals of about 100 books, published between 1900 and 1910, which have not been previously analyzed. Analytical cards for "Great debates in American history." 14 v. There will be about 320 cards on 191 different sub- jects. It is believed these analytics will make this set a valuable aid in debate work with high school students and others. Index to Kindergarten songs, compiled by the St. Louis public library under the supervision of Arthur E. Bostwick. About 40 books have been indexed, in- A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD 101 eluding kindergarten songs, folk songs and American singing games. Graded list of stories for reading aloud, by Harriet E. Hassler; revised by Carrie E. Scott. Although an- nounced in last year's report as in prep- aration, various causes have seriously delayed Its appearance. Cataloging for small libraries, by Theresa Hitchler. Revised edition in preparation. Supplement, covering years 1911-1913, to Kroeger's Guide to reference books, has been prepared by Isadore G. Mudge and is being printed. A pamphlet on library advertising and publicity is being prepared by Charles E. Rush, by vote of the Board. Several foreign lists will probably be issued in the coming year but no defi- nite statement can as yet be made. Advertising As in previous years the principal advertising has been done by di- rect circularization of libraries, as this has been found the most effective way of reaching the libraries of the country. However prone librarians may be to con- sign to the wastebasket unread circulars in general, experience has proved that they make an exception at least of those letters and circulars bearing the letter- head of the Publishing Board, recognizing that these are not in the same category as other publication announcements. Ad- vertisements have, however, been con- tinued regularly in Library Journal and Public Libraries, with occasional small an- nouncements in the Dial, the Survey, etc. Review copies of new publications are sent to about a dozen magazines and some of the prominent newspapers. It is the aim of the Board to keep all the librarfes of the United States and Canada, large and small, accurately, promptly and in- timately informed of the publications is- sued by the Board. Although some ad- vertising is done outside this circle the results are never commensurate with the effort or the expense. Particular efforts this year have been put forth to advertise the A. L. A. Book- list. In the fall a select list of the "live" libraries which do not subscribe to the Booklist, or are not supplied through their state library commissions, was appealed to, about 500 circulars being mailed to as many libraries accompanied with a sam- ple copy of the Booklist. This resulted in about 75 new subscriptions. In January 317 of the leading booksellers were ad- dressed, the value of the Booklist to their business explained, and sample copy sent. This resulted, however, in only 20 new subscriptions. The total subscriptions to the Booklist now are as follows: Bulk, to commissions and libraries, 2,207; Re- tail subscriptions, 1,712; Sent to library members as part of their membership per- quisites, 413; Free list, 37; Total, 4,369. The Publishing Board has taken in hand the sale of the League of Library Commissions Handbook, 1910 and Year- book, 1912. Frequent calls for Marvin's "Plans of small library buildings," which has been out of print for some time, would warrant a similar work brought up to date to be is- sued in the near future. In the meantime the office refers applicants for this book to the very useful "New types of small library buildings," printed this past year by the Wisconsin free library commission. HENRY E. LEGLER, Chairman. 102 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE FINANCIAL REPORT Cash Receipts June 1, 1913, to April 30, 1914 Balance, June 1, 1913 $ 2,767.27 Interest on Carnegie Fund (Aug., 1913 $ 500.00) (Dec., 1913 1,000.00) 1,500.00 Receipts from publications . . . ., 11,273.69 Interest on bank deposits 2.79 Sundries 185 $15,544.60 Payments, June 1, 1913, to April 30, 1914 Cost of publications: A. L. A. Booklist $1,528.55 A. L. A. Catalog, 1904-11 (Holding plates) 62.50 A. L. A. Index to General Literature 127.00 A. L. A. Publishing Board Report 24.82 A thousand books for hospital library, Jones 199.50 Books for high schools, Wilson 270.00 Cataloging for small libraries, Hitchler Handbook 2, Reprint .- 64.00 Guide to reference books, Kroeger, Reprint 255.00 How to start a library, Wire, Tract 2 61.05 Index to library reports, Moody 365.60 Manual of library economy, chaps. 27, 29, 32 239.95 Material on Geography^ Booth 41.80 New types of library buildings, Wisconsin Library Commission (20 copies) 7.00 Normal library budget, Thomson, Handbook 9 47.25 Periodical cards 2,838.53 Polish list, Kudlicka 35.00 Warner cards 566.57 $ 6,734.12 Addressograph repairs and supplies 15.78 Advertising 238.58 Book stacks and office equipment 1,101.65 Editing publications 116.30 Expense, headquarters (1913 a/c $1,000.00) 1,000.00 Postage and express 705.46 Rent, Madison office (January-June, 1913) 150.00 Salaries 3,790.00 Supplies and incidentals 912.85 Travel 244.32 Balance on hand, April 30, 1914 535.54 $15,544.60 SALES OF A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD PUBLICATIONS April 1, 1913, to March 31, 1914 A. L. A. Booklist, regular subscriptions 1521 $1,521.00 Additional subscriptions at reduced rate of 50c 191 95.50 Bulk subscriptions 933.42 Extra copies 1386 177.79 $2,727.71 Handbook 1, Essentials in library administration 749 134.81 Handbook 2, Cataloging for small libraries 755 130.06 Handbook 3, Management of traveling libraries 96 10.27 Handbook 4, Aids in book selection (out of print) Handbook 5, Binding for small libraries 186 17.09 Handbook 6, Mending and repair of books 669 78.62 Handbook 7, Government documents in small libraries 547 74.50 Handbook 8, How to choose editions 177 25.56 Handbook 9, Normal library budget 450 61.01 531.92 A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD 103 Tract 2, How to start a library 182 8.97 Tract 3, Traveling libraries (out of print) Tract 5, Notes from the art section of a library 75 3.74 Tract 8, A village library 163 8.00 Tract 9, Library school training 32 1.55 Tract 10, Why do we need a public library 389 15.60 37.86 Foreign Lists, French 33 8.03 Foreign Lists, French fiction 22 1.10 Foreign Lists, German 65 29.85 Foreign Lists, Hungarian 21 3.08 Foreign Lists, Norwegian and Danish 44 10.26 Foreign Lists, Polish 660 117.83 Foreign Lists, Swedish 46 10.81 180.96 Reprints, Arbor Day list 6 .35 Reprints, Bird books 8 .88 Reprints, Bostwick, Public library and Public school 125 12.12 Reprints, Christmas bulletin 13 .65 Reprints, National library problem of today 6 .30 Reprints, Rational library work with children 50 2.45 16.75 Periodical cards, Subscriptions 1,893.34 Periodical cards, Old South Leaflets v. 2 .90 Periodical cards, Reed's Modern Eloquence sets 4 10.00 Periodical cards, Warner cards sets 99 791.20 2,695.44 $6,190.64 League Publications: Aids in library work with foreigners 272 23.61 Buying list of books for small libraries 480 46.58 Directions for librarian of small library 693 30.92 Graded list of stories for reading aloud 112 10.70 League Handbook, 1910 32 7.90 League Yearbook, 1912 44 10.79 Library and social movement ; 88 3.76 134.26 A. L. A. Manual of library economy: Chap. 1. American library history . 238 14.05 Chap. 2. Library of Congress 171 10.49 Chap. 4. College and university library 276 17.14 Chap. 5. Proprietary and subscription libraries 294 19.19 Chap. 6. The free public library 249 23.83 Chap. 9. Library legislation 229 13.33 Chap. 10. The library building 529 38.52 Chap. 12. Administration of a public library 293 16.78 Chap. 13. Training for librarianship 642 44.36 Chap. 14. Library service 290 27.79 Chap. 15. Branch libraries 292 15.85 Chap. 17. Order and accession department 383 25.20 Chap. 20. Shelf department 348 19.88 Chap. 21. Loan work 252 24.18 Chap. 22. Reference department 275 17.75 Chap. 26. Bookbinding 485 26.50 Chap. 27. Commissions, state aid, etc 1043 70.12 Chap. 29. Library work with children 471 44.58 Chap. 32. Library printing 410 30.98 500.52 A. L. A. Catalog, 1904-11 478 683.10 A. L. A. Index to General Literature 19 107.60 Catalog rules 650 354.48 Geography list 2006 109.24 Girls and women and their clubs 6 .30 Guide to reference books 518 708.40 104 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Guide to reference books, Supplement 429 97.88 High school list 107 51.80 Hints to small libraries 152 106.05 Hospital list 1550 363.28 Index to library reports 264 244.10 Library buildings 39 3.81 List of economical editions .';.'. j 318 76.18 List of music and books about music 29 6.86 List of subject headings (3rd edition) 642 1,470.00 List of 550 children's books 195 22.35 Literature of American history 22 105.60 Literature of American history, Supplement 8 3.50 Periodicals for the small library 1398 101.82 4,616.35 Reading for the young (out of print) Reading for the young, Supplement 5 1.15 Small library buildings 15 17.25 Subject Index to A. L. A. Booklist 147 15.46 Subject Index to A. L. A. Booklist, Supplement 144 5.65 Vocational guidance through the library (advance orders) . . 114 11.03 A. L. A. Bulletin and Proceedings 202 68.48 119.02 Total sale of publications $11,560.79 COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY TRAINING During the past year there has been much activity in the field of library train- ing. In the old days when the report of the committee on library training was largely a resume of the events of the year previous, each one of the changes named below would have justly deserved a para- graph, but as the nature of the report has changed, these can only be alluded to by" way of introduction. Notable during the year have been: The establishment of a new school in con- nection with the California state library to meet the growing demand for trained librarians on the Pacific coast; the dis- continuance, for reasons acceptable to the management, of the Drexel Institute li- brary school at Philadelphia; the coming of new heads to several of the schools; namely, Miss June Donnelly to the Sim- mons College library school, Miss Alice S. Tyler to the Western Reserve University library school, and Dr. E. E. Sperry to the Syracuse University library school; the institution in connection with the Wiscon- sin library school of a new course designed especially to prepare those who take it for municipal and state legislative refer- ence work. These changes are all note- worthy, and one of them, the discontinu- ance of the Drexel Institute library school, deserves a few additional words. It is not, of course, in place for those of us who are not connected with the management, to question the wisdom of the decision of the authorities of the Drexel Institute in discontinuing the work of the library school of that institution. But the work of the school has been so faithfully done, its leaders have been women so prominent in the library world, the influence of the school has been so marked in many ways upon the develop- ment of the profession, that it would be unjust to the school if the committee did not take this opportunity to express its profound regret at this termination of the school's activities. It is to be hoped tfiat some other agency in Pennsylvania will see its way clear to take up the work thus laid down. Turning now more directly to the work accomplished by the committee during the past year, it may be briefly summarized as follows: LIBRARY TRAINING 105 I. The long discussed and anticipated examination of library schools by a trained expert has been begun. It may be wise here to recount briefly the circumstances which originally led the committee to pro- pose such an examination. In the years 1905 and 1906 the commit- tee submitted reports on standards of li- brary training in which minimum require- ments were laid down, upon which in the judgment of the committee the libraries of the country should insist. The imme- diate effect of this attempt at establish- ing a standard for library schools was to bring inquiries of two classes to the chair- man of the committee. In the first plac heads of important libraries, secretaries of library commissions, and other persons holding positions of responsibility began to write and inquire: "What schools ful- fill these requirements?" The second class of inquirers were prospective library school students who began to ask what schools they should attend and how far these schools met the requirements set up by the committee. As a result, the committee was called together at Brook- lyn in February, 1908, "chiefly to discuss the advisability of publishing a list of li- brary schools and of other sources of training. Considerable pressure had been brought to bear upon the committee to prepare and print such a list at the same 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 commission, feeling that the commissions should know the stand- ing and character of the schools and be supplied with school literature. The wish for a list, however, still found expression. After considerable discussion in which a decided difference of opinion developed as to the advisability of a printed list and various difficulties were cited by those who had had the matter under careful delibera- tion, the committee concluded that it could not take the responsibility of recommend- ing such a list. The following motion, 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 A. L. A. 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 the recommenda- tions." The Council, reaching the matter In 1910, expressed its judgment that such a list was desirable and that such an appro- priation should be made. The Executive Board, which had by this time come into existence, was not able, however, to see its way clear to make the appropriation desired. The committee renewed its re- quest for an appropriation in 1911 and, greatly to its surprise, in January, 1912, was granted an appropriation of $200 only for this purpose. The appropriation came just as the chairman of the committee was leaving America for a sabbatical year in Europe, and although an attempt was made to carry on the work by correspond- ence from Europe, the matter progressed so slowly that nothing was accomplished during that year. In 1913 the Executive Board re-appropriated the $200 and add- ed $200 more, making $400 available for the purpose. During the year 1913 search was made for a suitable examiner, and after two thoroughly competent people had been agreed upon who, for reasons of health or because of entry into library school work, were not able to accept the position, the committee fortunately at the beginning of the year 1914 was able to secure Miss Mary E. Robbins. The qualifications agreed upon at the beginning by the committee as desirable in an examiner were as follows: (1) She 106 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE should be a graduate of a library school. (2) She should have had experience in actual library work. (3) She should have had, if possible, teaching experience in a library school. It was thought that a per- son possessing these qualifications would be able to understand on the one hand the limitations of library school students as to the time and strength to be given to study and on the other hand what would be expected of library school students in practical library work. Her report, there- fore, would not be the report of a theorist but one which had a real relation to ac- tual library experience. The committee does not need to dwell at all upon the fact that Miss Robbins meets all these requirements. She has already entered upon her work. Three schools have already been either wholly or in part examined, and the others will be examined before the close of the year 1914. The committee will at that time be in possession of data which would justify it in submitting to the American Library Association a list of accredited schools which will be entirely worthy to rank with, for example, the list of accred- ited high schools accepted by representa- tive colleges as satisfying their require- ments for admission, or the list of accred- ited colleges whose diplomas are accepted as sufficient evidence of fitness for ad- mission to law schools, medical schools, and professional schools. There is, how- ever, still doubt in the mind of the Com- mittee as to the wisdom of submitting such a list. II. In addition to arranging the details of the examination the committee has al- so during the present year begun the study of the whole subject of library training from two other points of view. From the library schools have been ob- tained lists of the libraries which their graduates have entered; and to a large number of representative libraries selected from these lists, letters have been sent inviting a full and very frank statement as to the work accomplished by library school graduates when they have entered upon actual library work. The commit- tee sought especially to ascertain in what respect the graduates seem perfectly well equipped for the work which they enter and in what respects there seems to be lack of preparation. Not only the reports of the heads of these libraries were sought but also an expression of opinion from the heads of their various departments. It is the hope of the committee that it will receive from the replies to these questions such a mass of suggestion, approval, and criticism, as will perfectly reflect the general impres- sions which prevail among the profession as to the work done by library school graduates. In addition to these inquiries a second questionnaire has been sent out to a long list of graduates of the library schools who have been selected by the heads of the schools as having done unusually good work since graduation. This requirement was added in order to make sure that no question of native ability could arise. These graduates thus selected have been asked to answer these questions: In what respects do you feel that the instruction received in the library school gave you adequate preparation for the ac- tual kinds of work which you have been doing? Were there any parts of the work which you have had to do for which you found the instruction given in the library school insufficient? Have you been called upon to take up any lines of library work or of social work in connection with library work for which the school gave you no preparation what- ever? In the light of your actual experience in library work would you suggest any dif- ference in proportion in the various kinds of instruction given in the library school? That is, would you advise emphasizing and giving more time to certain subjects; which, of course, can only be done by diminishing the time for and laying less emphasis on other subjects? BOOK BINDING COMMITTEE 107 Ought the schools to lay more emphasis upon topics related to the environment of the library, such as social conditions and the like? From the replies which may be re- ceived to this questionnaire, the commit- tee hope to obtain the impressions of graduates sufficiently recent to remember their library school instruction and yet sufficiently experienced in actual work to realize what the worker needs. The re- action of persons thus situated upon the library school curriculum will be of special interest and any suggestions made by them as to modifications or enlargement of the curriculum ought carefully to be considered. It is, of course, too early to submit any report upon the schools or any conclusions as to library training which may be reached by the committee as a result of this investigation. Our inquiries have not been made with any feeling that the li- brary schools are failing to do the work which is expected of them. The activity of the schools themselves, the interest and efficiency of their graduates, the discus- sions in the section on library training, all give evidence to the fact that the schools are alive and developing their work. It has seemed to the committee possible that, working entirely independ- ent of the schools, it might obtain some suggestions which perhaps would not otherwise reach the schools and might therefore, in a broad look over the whole situation, be able to suggest something that might be of value in the direction of improvement of professional training. Whether this will prove to be the case the work of the coming year will demonstrate. Other lines of work are also pressing upon the attention of the committee. In the last 10 years there has been a great development of apprentice classes in the larger public libraries. A considerable number are either entering the library profession or are obtaining advancement to positions of greater importance by this method. These classes are naturally con- ducted primarily with reference to the in- terests of the particular library involved, but as the persons trained in these classes not infrequently change their place of residence or secure appointments in some other library, it would seem desirable to have some general agreement as to the content of such an apprentice class course. The committee have in contemplation during the coming year an investigation as to the extent to which these apprentice classes are now being carried on and as to the character of the instruction covered by them. Another topic should also be taken up in the near future. Two or three times in the last year the question has been raised in correspondence whether the summer schools are living up to the stand- ards laid down by the committee some years ago and whether the instruction given is satisfactory. This question, since the summer schools so largely minister to those already in the work of the smaller libraries, deserves careful inquiry and it is hoped that it may also be reached and discussed during the coming year. For the Committee, AZARIAH S. ROOT, Chairman. COMMITTEE ON BOOK BINDING As time goes on it becomes increasing- ly evident that the special collection, showing the kind of work done by library binders, meets a real need and that so far it has worked an injustice neither to binders, librarians nor the American Li- brary Association as a whole. During the year this collection has been increased by samples submitted by seven binders, of which two came from England and one from Germany. The total number of bind- ers having submitted samples is 37. Forty- two requests for information were received and answered by the help of these samples. This number of questions is much larger 108 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE than during the preceding year when the collection was first started, but it is still much smaller than it ought to be. The samples prove conclusively that a large number of librarians are getting in- ferior bindings. It would seem the part of wisdom, therefore, for librarians to write to the Committee for information and suggestions as to ways in which the work of a binder can be improved. In addition to correspondence with li- braries, the Committee has been in cor- respondence with some binders who are anxious to do better work and who have asked the Committee for criticisms and suggestions. During the year the new edition of the Standard Dictionary has been published, bound according to the specifications of this Committee. Specifications have also been submitted for binding the new edi- tion of the International Encyclopedia which will be printed on ordinary paper as well as on the thin paper which has been advertised so freely. It is doubtful if the publishers will follow all of these specifications unless librarians bring pres- sure to bear on them. It is suggested that all librarians when ordering this new edi- tion state that they wish a set bound ac- cording to the following specifications: Sewing Sew on at least three tapes. Tapes to extend on each side of the book at least 2 inches. Book to contain as many stitch- es as possible, using the best four-strand cotton thread. The thickness of the thread will depend somewhat upon the number of pages in a signature. Reinforcements First and last signatures should be re- inforced inside and outside of the fold, with a strip of strong thin muslin, (the English cloth called Jaconet is the best for this purpose). On the first and last sig- natures the muslin should pass around outside of the end papers. The end pa- pers should also be lined on the inside. grade of canton flannel, with the fuzzy side to the book, should extend y^ inch from the head to within ^ inch at the tail of the book, to lap over at least \y 2 inches on the side. On top of the canton flan- nel, but not extending over to the sides, paste a good quality linen, rope or ma- nila paper of sufficient thickness to make the book firm. In putting on the flannel and paper use paste instead of glue. Joints Volumes should have French joints. Boards Use the best quality of suitable thick- ness with rounded corners. Cloth Buckram manufactured according to the requirements of the Bureau of Standards at Washington. Illustrations Illustrations should be guarded with muslin which is folded around the next signature. During the past eight years there has been a great increase in the use of re- inforced bindings. When first introduced they were looked upon with suspicion by publishers, booksellers and librarians. They are still unpopular with the pub- lishers and booksellers, and the publish- ers themselves have practically ceased to produce them. Nevertheless, owing to the activities of several library bookbind- ers, reinforced bindings are used more to- day than ever before. So great has be- come their popularity that some of our friends in England claim that the idea originated in that country. Even if they are correct (which may be doubted) the matter is not one of importance. The im- portant fact is that reinforced bindings save money. A determined effort has been made by interested persons to induce librarians to use leather and especially leathers free- from-acid. This Committee, of course, strongly advocates the use of leathers free-from-acid when leather must be used, but deprecates the efforts made to induce PUBLIC DOCUMENTS 109 a greater use of leathers than already ob- tains. In this respect the recommenda- tions of the Committee are as follows: 1. Always use leather on books which are to receive hard usage. 2. Never use leather on books which will be seldom used. 3. In case of doubt give preference to cloth. It follows from these rules that fiction and juvenile books should be bound in leather, except in localities where experi- ence has demonstrated that cloth is better. In view of the experience of many libraries during the last ten years there is no doubt in the minds of the Committee that leather is best for such books, and that a good grade of cowhide is good enough for this purpose. Reference books, especially heavy volumes such as dictionaries, encyclo- paedias, etc., should, of course, be bound in leather. It follows furthermore from these rules that practically all periodicals should be bound in cloth. There are very few libraries in which the use of bound periodicals for reference purposes justi- fies binding them in leather. With the slight amount of use which periodicals are likely to receive it is reasonable to suppose that cloth made according to the specifications of the Bureau of Standards will last much longer than any other material now on the market. During the year nothing has been done toward standardizing book papers. Such an investigation requires a much larger fund than is at the disposal of the Com- mittee. Therefore it must wait until the work is done either by the Bureau of Standards in Washington or by some pa- per chemist or manufacturer. Respectfully submitted, A. L. BAILEY, ROSE G. MURRAY, J. RITCHIE PATTERSON. COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC DOCUMENTS (Preliminary Report) Your Committee on public documents respectfully urges that each one inter- ested in the publication and distribution of the official publications of our nation- al government and of the several states and their subdivisions and in making easily and intelligently accessible the contents of these publications take advantage of the opportunities which will be offered along these lines at our Washington meeting. Special efforts in our behalf will be made by those in au- thority in the several departments at Washington. As never before this will be our opportunity to hear and be heard. The compiler of the Monthly Catalogue of Public Documents has prepared for our special benefit a paper relating to that publication. This paper is expected to explain some things not now clearly understood and will furnish opportunity for those interested to ask questions and offer suggestions. Acting Superintendent of Documents Brinker has assured our Committee that his "office doors will always be open to visiting librarians during the sessions of the conference and at other times." He assures us that both he and his force will be glad to meet us and do what they can to make our stay pleasant and in- structive. Mr. Carter, secretary of the Joint Com- mittee on printing, will be with us to ex- plain the new printing bill from which much is expected both for the govern- ment and for our libraries. It is ex- pected that copies of this bill as now proposed will be accessible before the conference in order that its contents may be better understood when it is presented to us. Dr. Putnam has invited us to make the 110 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE fullest use of the several departments of the Library of Congress. GEO. S. GODARD, Chairman. COMMITTEE ON WORK WITH THE BLIND The extension this year of parcel post to books has been already utilized in sev- eral libraries to enlarge their circulation and increase their usefulness, but for ten years the readers of embossed books have been accorded a greater privilege in having their books transported from libraries and institutions by mail free of all charge. This favor, which was granted in 1904, has tremendously In- creased the circulation of books to the blind. Your Committee, and all those In charge of this work, are most anxious to so cooperate and systematize the loaning of books as to accomplish greater results more expeditiously and at the same time eliminate, as much as possible, the in- evitable overlapping of territory through- out the United States, and confine regular readers to the particular library to which they belong, except in cases where it is impossible to obtain the book required. To this end it would seem advisable to urge that a comparatively small number of well-stocked distributing centers with power of more than a local circulation be developed in such localities as would leave no considerable territory uncovered. The duplication of small collections of tan- gible literature, which are not likely to be increased, is to be discouraged, for these are quickly exhausted by the local reader and become dead material. The library work for the blind is not confined to public libraries. Embossed books are loaned by different organizations in various parts of the United States. The circulation of the six larger libraries loan- ing books and music scores in the United States during the past year has been 59,167 volumes, the New York City public library being in the lead. Your Committee has not been able to cor- respond with a large number of libraries, but a short report from some of the more important ones is given here: California: The State library at Sac- ramento has books for the blind in five different types and these are sent to any blind resident of the state on applica- tion, also writing appliances and games are loaned on trial and the addresses of firms supplying these articles are given to any inquirer. Books have been loaned since 1905 and on April 1, 1914, there were 608 borrowers, the total number of em- bossed books being 3,393. The library also loans the Braille Review and the Outlook for the Blind in ink-print, and various other ink-print magazines containing cur- rent articles on subjects relating to the blind. The circulation of embossed books for 1913 was 7,366; for the year April 1, 1913- March 31, 1914, circulation 8.064, the cir- culation for the first quarter of 1914 being 2,382, as compared with 1,684 for the first quarter of 1913. This increase in circula- tion at this time is largely due to the is- suing of a new circular and finding list late in March. The San Francisco Association for the Blind circulates the embossed books to the blind of San Francisco. Books are also loaned to the library in Sacramento which in turn borrows from the Associa- tion. There are 422 volumes in this li- brary, the greater number being in New York point and American Braille, but there are also books in Moon and Line type, and English and Spanish books in old Braille. Last year the Association voted to spend $100 a year on embossed books. Dur- ing 1913 there were about 200 volumes in circulation among 30 readers. The Super- intendent has recently made a catalog of the books and a duplicate in Braille. Delaware: Mr. Bailey, the librarian of the Wilmington Institute free library, writes that the books for the blind are WORK WITH THE BLIND 111 now in charge of the Delaware Commission for the Blind and one of the men, par- tially blind, delivers and collects the books for the blind throughout the city. They have now 665 volumes and during the past year added 43 books in the Braille type. Illinois: The Chicago public library book bulletin for December 1914 announced that free readings for the blind would be in- stituted in all branch libraries in the city two Saturday mornings each month, through volunteers from the Jewish Wo- men's clubs. The March number of the Bulletin says that the library has a col- lection of 1,370 volumes for the use of the blind in Chicago. Though a reading room for their accommodation is main- tained in one of the branches, most of the books are circulated through the mail and last year 2,620 volumes were sent out for home use. Iowa: Miss Robinson of the Committee reports as follows: Inasmuch as the New "York point system is the one taught in the Iowa College for the Blind at Vinton and is therefore the one generally under- stood in Iowa, the books in that type are circulated. During 1913, 246 books were loaned and 404 readers registered; 50 titles have been added to the collection. This work has been added to the work of the Traveling Libraries under the Iowa Li- brary Commission and books are loaned to any blind person in the state upon the recommendation of a resident seeing tax- payer. Library of Congress: The report for 1913 of the Room for the Blind, with Mrs. Rider in charge, shows that the embossed books now number 2,245 volumes, active readers are 92 and blind readers visiting the Room for the Blind, and blind per- sons attending entertainments during the year numbered 1,157. The total circula- tion this year of books, magazines and music has been 1,703. There have been 562 books, magazines and music scores added to the library. The Room for the Blind receives copies of all books pub- lished by the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, so far as these are printed from the Government allotment. The books and music have been classified, cataloged and properly shelved, and files for detailed information have been started to facilitate reference work on all mat- ters pertaining to the blind. In so far as the collection in the library permits books are circulated in states where the need of a reader is not met by a local, nearby or state library. Applicants in this case are first referred to these nearer libraries. Massachusetts: Throughout Massachu- setts and the other New England States the majority of the books loaned to the blind are sent from the Perkins Institution for the Blind at Watertown, Mass. All in- quiries at public libraries and associations are referred to this library. The Institu- tion has its own printing plant, the Howe Memorial Press, and the library, working in connection with this, has a larger sup- ply of books in the Line and Braille types to draw from than some of the other li- braries. It is primarily a school library but from the very first was designed to supply reading matter to the blind in any part of the United States and America. This year 4,694 embossed books and music scores were loaned outside the school. The fact that the library makes long-time loans to six libraries and to three schools for the blind, rather than to the individuals themselves, lowers the number of books actually loaned from the library. There is also a valuable reference library of books relating to the blind in ink-print. These books cannot be circulated, but are free to all for study and reference, and requests sent in for lists of books and articles on special subjects connected with the blind will be granted. A large quantity of Braille music is published here and sold or cir- culated to any one. 112 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE The public library at Lynn, Mass., has a good selection of embossed books and a number of constant, active readers under the supervision of a librarian who is blind, Miss Jennie Bubier. This collection is sup- plemented by a deposit of books from the Perkins Institution library. Michigan: The Michigan Employment Institution for the Blind at Saginaw reports through Mr. Shotwell that for the year from July 1913 to July 1914 the legisla- ture of Michigan granted $1,000 to the In- stitution for embossed books, and for the coming year of 1914-1915 the same amount has been granted. This is being expended for Braille and New York point books and a large quantity of Braille and New York point music has also been ordered. The books and music are loaned to any blind person in the state and will also be sent out of the state to any former resident or pupil, or to any one who has in any way aided the library either by money or influence. They hope soon to have a full stock of the newer books and to be able to keep it up to date and that this will greatly increase their circulation. Minnesota: Miss Carey of the Commit- tee reports that the work of furnishing books to the blind of Minnesota in New York point, Braille and other systems is carried on by the State School for the Blind at Faribault, which is just now erect- ing a new library building. This library is open the year round and this year has a list of outside readers numbering 88. The average number of books taken out monthly by these readers is 33. The num- ber of adult blind using the library is in- creased each year by members of the summer school, some of whom always be- come permanent members of the library circle. New York: In the New York City pub- lic library the department for the blind, with Miss Goldthwaite, of this Committee, in charge, fills a large place among the libraries supplying embossed books to the blind. It has 10,850 volumes of books and music scores in different types, and is most liberal in loaning these in the state and also outside, if the book required can- not be obtained from a nearer library. Last year 23,325 volumes were circulated, an increase of 1,387 over 1912, 20,000 volumes were sent by mail and 700 vol- umes added to the library. It is especially to be congratulated on having such ex- cellent book lists; a complete catalog of books and music, printed in ink-print; also an embossed catalog in New York point of all the New York point books and one in Braille of all the Braille books. These catalogs are for sale at a nominal price. The New York state library at the time of its destruction by fire had in the de- partment for the blind 3,299 volumes of em- bossed books and music. This depart- ment, under Miss Chamberlain, has now 3,185 volumes of books and 745 pieces of music, having increased its accessions by 629 volumes. It has published 113 New York point books on the standard sized plate so that they can be obtained by any li- brary. This last year 13 new books were printed. The total circulation for the past year was 6,788 books and scores of music. The books printed by the New York state library are always most popular with all readers using that type, and fill an im- portant place in every collection of New York point books. Ohio: The library work for the blind in Cleveland is done through the Society for the Blind, but no recent report has been received. In Cincinnati the Clovernook Home^ for blind women was opened last May and since then a small building has been fitted up with a printing press""land other equipment, and at this time they are just starting to print New York point books. The books in this collection are sent throughout the United States as well as into Canada. Miss Georgia Trader and her sister are in charge of this work. WORK WITH THE BLIND 113 Pennsylvania: The Free library of Phil- adelphia, in cooperation with the Pennsyl- vania Home Teaching Society, under the supervision of Mrs. Delfino, of this Com- mittee, supplies the blind with reading matter in the eastern part of Pennsyl- vania. In 1913 the names of 127 new borrowers were added; 18,505 volumes of embossed books being circulated among 699 persons, this library having the sec- ond largest circulation among the blind. Of the 4,472 volumes in actual use, 1,591 belong to the Free library of Philadelphia and 2,881 to the Pennsylvania Home Teaching Society. Cooperation with the Society for the Promotion of Church Work among the Blind has placed the publications of that Society also at the service of readers. The Pennsylvania School for the Blind at Overbrook, though entirely a school library, helps in the cir- culation of books outside the school by sup- plying text books and loaning the Ger- man and French books at its disposal. Last year they circulated among outside readers about 800 books. In the western part of the state em- bossed books are circulated from the Car- negie Library at Pittsburgh, and last year they sent out 4,145 volumes. We regret that we have no special report of that li- brary this year. Many of the libraries in other states, which have helped in the circulation of the embossed books, are adding but little to their stock. We would refer anyone wish- ing a more detailed report of the work done in the various states to an article by Mrs. Delfino in the Outlook for the Blind, January, 1911. Embossed Lists: An embossed list of the books is always much desired by all blind readers. They wish to look up and choose their own books without asking any one to read an ink-print list to them. Such lists have been printed at the New York City public library, as mentioned before. These they intend to keep up to date by supplements added from time to time. The Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, the San Francisco Association, the State library at Indianapolis and the Cincinnati public library have also published em- bossed lists. The Free library of Phila- delphia is shortly to bring up to date by supplements the embossed lists issued in 1907. These lists of all their Braille and New York point books are loaned free of charge to all readers. At the Perkins In- stitution they have issued a list, printed in Braille, of the Braille music which they circulate and have for sale. A few li- braries have tried embossed card catalogs, but the process is tedious and the use made of them did not seem to justify the time involved. One has been used in the de- partment for the blind in the Brooklyn public library and in the public library at Lynn, Mass. We would like to draw the attention of all those working for the blind to the valuable ink-print list of all the Braille books published in the United States, a new edition of which is just be- ing brought out by Mr. Burritt at Over- brook, Penn. This gives a complete record of the Braille books, the place and date of publication and in many instances de- tailed contents. Library Schools: For some time the li- brary schools have been interested in this side of library work and devote one or two lecture hours a year to it, and also visit nearby schools and libraries for the blind, in order to interest the students in the work and familiarize them with the method of obtaining and sending out books for their blind readers. Work of this kind at this time is undertaken in the New York state library school, the New York public library school, the Pratt Institute, the Syracuse library school and at Simmons college in Boston. No new embossed periodicals for the blind have been started this last year. The 114 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Sunday School Weekly has been discon- tinued and its place taken by the Sunday School Quarterly, published in New York point, beginning April, 1914. Object Teaching in Libraries and Mu- seums: In schools for the blind object teaching has been used for years, but lately libraries are adopting this method as a substitute for pictures. In reading in- stead of a long explanation of something unfamiliar the object itself, or a model, is introduced, and the sensitive fingers soon convey to the mind of the blind a very accurate idea of how the bird or beast or airship looks. This method of supplement- ing the reading of the blind has been used successfully in the museums in London, England, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the American Museum of Natural History. It is also being used with the blind pupils in the New York public schools, where they are circulating collections of mounted birds, animals and other objects. Uniform Type: Mr. Elwyn H. Fowler, secretary of the Uniform Type Committee of the American Association of Workers for the Blind, has prepared the following short report on the progress of the en- deavor toward a uniform system of type in the books for the blind: There are three principal systems of em- bossed dot characters for finger reading now extensively used. These are Euro- pean Braille, the New York point and the American Braille. The wastefulness of this condition is generally recognized by the blind and their friends, and work toward the adoption of a uniform system is ad- vancing with good prospect of success. The 1911 convention of the American Associa- tion of Workers for the Blind encouraged the Uniform Type Committee to raise a fund of $3,000 with which to carry on a campaign of investigation, agitation and conciliation. In March, 1912, pledges to this amount having been secured, the com- mittee began active, systematic work. Two agents, one blind and a member of the com- mittee, the other seeing, but also well in- formed on the subject, visited many schools and other centers of work for the blind in America, conducting tests designed to discover what is the best in embossed types, and at the same time endeavoring to spread such a spirit of harmony and co- operation as would lead to the adoption of a uniform system. In the spring of 1913 the agents continued their work in Eng- land and Scotland. In the short time remaining before the 1913 convention of the American Association of the Workers for the Blind, the committee found it im- possible to classify and digest the results of its experiments sufficiently to make en- tirely definite recommendations regarding a system, and the convention, rather than adopt these in an incomplete form, wisely decided to wait until the 1915 convention, when it is expected that a system with defi- nite assignments of meaning to charac- ters will be recommended. We would recommend all workers with the blind to read regularly the Outlook for the Blind, a quarterly magazine published in Columbus, Ohio, and also The Blind, a quarterly, and the Braille Review, a month- ly, both published in London, England. In these magazines all current articles and information concerning the latest books on the blind, as well as all topics of In- terest in regard to the blind may be found. Possibly the Outlook for the Blind might be made to answer as a clearing house, giv- ing regularly the latest information about libraries, publishing houses, home teach- ing societies for the blind, thereby keep- ing librarians constantly in touch with the details necessary in their work. LAURA M. SAWYER, LUCILLE A. GOLDTHWAITE, EMMA N. DELFINO, GERTRUDE T. RIDER, JULIA A. ROBINSON, MIRIAM E. CAREY. CO-OPERATION WITH THE N. E. A. 115 COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION WITH THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. During the past year the chairman of the A. L. A. Committee on co-operation with the National Education Association has conferred with Mr. Willis H. Kerr, president of the library department of the National Education Association and steps have been taken for more thoroughly or- ganizing the national movement for better school libraries in normal schools, high schools, elementary and rural schools and in private secondary schools. A mem- ber of the A. L. A. committee on co-op- eration has been given opportunity to ad- dress school superintendents and teachers in several cities and urge not only the necessity of better school libraries but closer co-operation with public libraries. Through the generous co-operation of li- brarians in public libraries, opportunity for this work has been offered in Pittsburgh, Brockton, Mass., Providence and Haver- hill. Through correspondence, the com- mittee has had opportunity also to aid in the establishment of high school libraries managed according to modern library methods and in the reorganization of high school libraries in various parts of the U. S. and occasionally in Canada. In two cities it was possible to supply data to present to boards of education to prove the advisability of public library branches in high schools. Aid has been given to boards of educa- tion in the matter of proper qualifications for high school librarian, proper salary schedule, and in defining the duties of the high school librarian and outlining what a high school library should do for a school. Aid has also been given in show- ing what should be a proper high school library budget for a school with a certain number of pupils a problem which seems to have been scarcely touched as yet in educational and library circles. There has also been drawn up an outline of the mini- mum equipment for a high school library based upon the data furnished by the New York high school librarians association. Suggestions have been made from time to time as to the needed changes in classifi- cation in high school libraries. On short notice the committee succeeded in collecting from leading high school li- braries photographs of school library read- ing rooms for the Leipzig exhibit high schools in Portland, Oregon, Cleveland, Ohio, Passaic and Newark, N. J., and other cities being represented. Members of the committee have co-op- erated with the U. S. Bureau of Education in collecting material for the permanent school library exhibit to be ready for the A. L. A. meeting in Washington and later to be loaned to the N. E. A. at St. Paul and to educational and library associations throughout the country. The various members of the committee are working out a list of school librarians in their different sections who should be invited to attend the N. E. A. meeting at St. Paul and of public libraries in Canada doing work with schools and likely to be interested in the N. E. A. meetings. The committee will see that many of these re- ceive personal invitations to attend the N. E. A. library meetings. Through the year there has been co- operation with not only the N. E. A. but associations closely allied with it, namely, the National Council of Teachers of Eng- lish and the National Vocational Guidance Association. While only a little has been done of what ought to be done, owing to the in- ability of the chairman to organize the work of the committee until recently, the response from educational bodies points the way to great things to be accom- plished in the near future in a united ef- fort of librarians and educators to empha- 116 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE size the importance of the library in all school work. Respectfully submitted, MARY E. HALL, Chairman W. O. CARSON GEORGE H. LOCKE MARIE A. NEWBERRY IRENE WARREN HARRIET A. WOOD REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CO- ORDINATION The special point which, at the mo- ment, seems to call for emphasis on the part of the Committee on coordination, is the advance which is being made in sys- tematic cooperation between libraries and it will be remembered that it was in the sense of systematic coopera- tion that the term coordination was used when the Committee on coordination was originally appointed. Cooperation has, of course, for years been a well-recognized feature of library comity. But of late the feeling has been rapidly, and with reason, gaining ground that in any field appropriate for coopera- tion, the various activities, if they are to be thoroughly effective, must be corre- lated by some means or other; and in sev- eral instances this feeling has resulted in the creation of a central body or or- ganization which exists for the sole pur- pose of promoting such correlation. One particular instance of the kind just referred to an instance which illustrates but a single though important phase of coordination is the county library. This, though it has other functions as well, is the central link in the machinery for con- ducting a certain class of inter-library loans, of which the importance appears from two considerations: first, that while the machinery is of recent origin, it is capable of, and promises to attain to, an immense development; second, that the loans themselves are an innovation, and arise from the acceptance of a new prin- ciple. For their object is, to supply in generous measure the average book (sometimes, it may be, the book intended merely for recreation) to the average reader. A loan of this nature is, of course, essentially distinct from the loan of the unusual book for purposes of study and research, in which category most of the inter-library loans hitherto made must be included.* The significance of the loan to the average reader, also, appears from the fact that it implies an advance from a mere passive assumption to an active rec- ognition of the complete circle of the li- brary's responsibilities and privileges, and further, to the adoption of measures which when fully developed will, for the first time, make it possible to place a really adequate supply of literature in the hands of the great rural public, that division of the general public which, apart from the scholar and the investigator, is probably, of all others, capable of using books most advantageously to itself, and therefore to the community and to the state. The first decisive step towards accom- plishing all this was taken when the first county library was opened; for this it is, as has been said, which constitutes the central link in the machinery required for such an undertaking. The term "county library" has grown so familiar, that there is already danger of overlooking its dis- tinguishing characteristic, namely, that it acts as an intermediary, a promoter of exchange, not so much between individ- uals as between libraries between the small libraries and larger ones which serve as feeders to the county libraries them- selves. These latter libraries, therefore, lend to one another, and thus supplement each other's resources, in order to be the better able to lend to their smaller neigh- bors. But their function is to borrow as well as to lend. Hence they can, and do, draw on institutions larger than them- selves, while these latter in their turn *It Is of course inaccurate to character- ize all loans made by county libraries as inter-library loans. Many such loans are made between the different members of a single system, and are, therefore, analagous to exchange of books between a central library and its branches. But with the ex- ception of such exchanges, the above char- acterization seems to be sufficiently exact. INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION 117 may draw on others still larger, indeed upon the very largest. Thus the tend- ency is to unite into a system libraries which have, hitherto, had no intercourse with each other. Such systematic work has already had two pronounced results: It has greatly augmented the available supply of liter- ature within the limits of several large regions; it has, at the same time, helped to define the functions of all libraries which cooperate with one another in the manner indicated. That a process like this must also prove helpful to the libraries combining to carry it on, seems quite clear, since it will show how each can be made most effective in its own field. But that the process is ca- pable of much further extension seems at least equally clear. The borrowing ra- dius can be, and undoubtedly will be, lengthened, as fast as the growth of the resources within a region, and of what- ever constitutes for the time its central reservoir, permits of a wider service. Un- doubtedly, too, we shall see before long and this would appear to be the next for- ward step required book reservoirs which exist for the sole purpose of lend- ing to libraries, and will not lend to in- dividuals at all, except through some li- brary. It would not be out of place if the first instance of such a reservoir, planned to serve the libraries of a large region, should appear in Canada, where conditions have long demanded appliances for the distri- bution of books over a very large and sparsely populated field, and where the need of some method of distribution is beginning to be generally recognized and to find expression in divers proposals for its satisfaction. * * * As will be seen on perusal, the attempt has been made in this report rather to indicate tendencies than to record details of what has been accomplished; and even this attempt has been limited to the con- sideration of one special phase of coordi- nation. Among other phases which may be touched upon later are the cooperative information bureau, and the institute for industrial research. On behalf of the committee, C. H. GOULD, Chairman. Dr. Hill, the chairman of the Committee on the Book and Graphic Arts Exhibit at Leipzig, submitted the following report: REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMIT- TEE ON THE PARTICIPATION OF THE A. L. A. IN THE INTERNA- TIONAL EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK INDUSTRY AND GRAPHIC ARTS, 1914 At the Ottawa conference in 1912, the Committee on international relations presented an invitation from the Commit- tee on libraries to participate in an in- ternational exhibition of the book indus- try and graphic arts to be held at Leipzig in 1914. By vote of the Association the matter was referred back to the Commit- tee, with a request to report at the annual meeting in 1913. In the meantime a circular was issued by the Leipzig authorities, over the sig- natures of Dr. K. Boysen, director of the University library, Leipzig; Dr. Paul Schwenke, director of the Royal library of Berlin, and other librarians of interna- tional reputation, outlining a very com- prehensive scheme for an international exhibition of library methods, statistics, architecture, etc., and offering free space for an American exhibit. The A. L. A. Committee on international relations, having carefully considered all phases of the question, reported to the Ex- ecutive Board at the Kaaterskill confer- ence in 1913 that it could not take the responsibility of recommending favorable action, as the information at hand ap- peared to indicate that the exposition would be devoted primarily to industrial and commercial enterprises. A number of librarians, however, man- 118 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE ifested a strong interest In the project, and believed that merely as an exhibit of the book industry and graphic arts in all phases the occasion would prove instruct- ive and beneficial to librarians, as well as to the trades. Being assured by German librarians of high position and great in- fluence that library interests would be fully represented and fairly set forth in a cooperative manner, they felt that the A. L. A. should take part. Upon the presentation of this statement and with the approval of the Committee on international relations, the Executive Board in June, 1913, appointed a special committee to ascertain the cost of par- ticipation and the probability of a credit- able exhibit from American libraries. Dr. Frank P. Hill was appointed chairman, with power to add two other members. Miss Mary W. Plummer and Miss Mary E. Ahern were named by the chairman. At the first meeting of the Committee, Dr. Herbert Putnam also being present, it was decided that two points must be definitely settled; first, that a sufficient amount of money could be raised, and second, that someone could be found who would undertake the collection and prep- aration of material for the exhibit. September 12 a circular was sent to libraries throughout the United States and Canada asking for cooperation. The re- sponses from both large and small libra- ries were so general and generous that the Committee reported unanimously the feas- ibility of the scheme. October 21 the Executive Board unani- mously adopted the report of the Special Committee and authorized the Committee to proceed with plans for a suitable ex- hibition. The Committee immediately circularized libraries and individuals for subscriptions and material, outlining the plan and sug- gesting sums which might be appropriated according to the size of the library. Responses to this circular were so grati- fying that the Committee continued its work with a light heart and the assurance of success. In December out of a clear sky came a thunderbolt from the exposi- tion authorities, to the effect that as the United States government was likely to make an exhibit, the A. L. A. would have to find space with the government ex- hibit. To this the Committee cabled that, un- less the free space already guaranteed us was allowed, the A. L. A. would make no exhibit. The answer was brief and to the point: "Space granted." This was followed by a letter satisfactorily explaining the situa- tion. Headquarters were established at the Bedford branch of the Brooklyn public library, where the work of arranging the exhibit was carried out. The work of sorting the mass of ma- terial received, and selecting from it that which best represented the various phases of library activity in this country, proved an arduous task. Practically every phase of library work in the United States was represented by photographs, charts or de- scriptive matter. The material, however, came in all sorts of shape, unmounted or mounted on cardboard of various colors. Mr. John Cotton Dana and Miss Beatrice Winser of the Newark public library vol- unteered to undertake the mounting of the material which was to be exhibited, on the screens forming the divisions of the space allotted us by the exhibition au- thorities, on mounts of a uniform color. This portion of the work was trans- ferred to the Newark library, and done under the direct supervision of Mr. Dana. In addition, Mr. Dana undertook the printing of the various labels required for the different posters, and through his ef- forts the exhibit assumed an aspect of harmony and uniformity which will ma- terially add to its attractiveness. In addition to the posters prepared by Mr. Dana, twelve winged cases were filled with photographs and charts supple- menting those shown upon the main screens. The Committee believes that the exhi- bition as a whole will be instructive and INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION 119 interesting and will give an adequate idea of the present conditions of libraries in this country. Especial emphasis has been given to those features which are most significant, and those features of the work in which this country has been a pioneer have been fully treated. A model of a typical branch or small li- brary has also been provided to show the relative arrangement of the rooms and the means by which a general supervision of the whole space is secured. The Committee also prepared a hand- book of the exhibit in English and Ger- man, which will furnish a key to the ar- rangement of the exhibit, a brief descrip- tion of each of the activities represented, and such additional Information in rela- tion to American libraries as it believes will be of interest to the foreign visitor. The handbook will also contain a bibliog- raphy of periodical articles on American libraries which have appeared in German, French and Italian magazines. In addition, the secretary of the A. L. A. has prepared for distribution a pamphlet The American Library Association, Its Organization and Work of which 2,000 copies have been printed in English and 3,000 in German. In addition from 100 to 500 copies of other pamphlets issued by the A. L. A. have been sent for distribu- tion. The exhibit, consisting of forty-three crates and boxes, was completed and shipped via steamer "Cincinnati," Ham- burg-American Line, April 18, reaching Leipzig a week later, where it was in- stalled in time for the opening, May 4. In addition to the circulars heretofore mentioned, the Committee sent out eleven other circulars, and the Special Libraries Association aided the cause by distribut- ing a very effective circular which re- sulted in the reception of valuable ma- terial. The Committee has been unusually for- tunate in securing the right kind of peo- ple to assist in the enterprise. In the early stages Miss Mary E. Robblns, for- merly of Simmons College Library School, Boston, had charge, and when In Decem- ber she left for California, her place was ably filled by Miss Edyth L. Miller, for some time connected with the Hispanic Society of New York. At Leipzig the A. L. A. will be worthily represented by T. W. Koch, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who installed the exhibit and will remain in charge during May; by Donald Hendry of the Pratt Insti- tute library, on duty June and July, and Miss Adelaide Hasse of the New York public library, during August and Septem- ber. The Committee cannot speak too highly of the ready and liberal response of li- braries and individuals to the appeal for money, without which the exhibit would not have been possible. One hundred and thirty-one different subscribers made up the splendid cash total of $4,275, an amount larger than ever before raised for any one object by the A. L. A. membership. It is with deep gratitude that the Committee acknowl- edges this large sum, but particularly is it pleased at the loyalty and cooperation shown by such contribution. The Committee also desires to acknowl- edge its indebtedness to those publishers of children's books who so generously con- tributed copies of their publications for exhibition, and to the Library Bureau for the use of over $300 worth of furniture. In preparing the exhibit the Committee has kept in mind the probability that the A. L. A. would be represented at the Panama-Pacific Exposition to be held in San Francisco in 1915, and has laid such a foundation as will be of benefit to the Committee having charge of the latter ex- hibit. The Committee submits with this report a financial statement which it asks to have referred to the proper committee for audit. FRANK P. HILL, MARY W. PLUMMER, MARY EILEEN AHERN. 120 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE List of Subscribers Abbott, Miss Alvaretta P., Librarian, Atlantic City, N. J $ Ahern, Miss Mary Eileen, Editor, Public Libraries, Chicago Allen, E. G., London, England American Library Association, Chi- 10 10 cago 500 25 5 American Library Institute, Chicago Andrews, Clement W., Chicago ; Ashhurst, John, Asst. Librarian, Philadelphia 5 Askew, Miss Sarah B., Asst. State Librarian, State Library Commis- sion, Trenton, N. J 5 Atlanta (Ga.) Carnegie Library 5 Atlanta (Ga.) Carnegie Library School 5 Belden, Chas. F. D., Librarian, State Library, Boston, Mass 5 Belin, Henry, Jr., Treas., Public Li- brary, Scranton, Pa 25 Berkeley Public Library, Berkeley, Cal 6 Blakely, Miss Bertha Elisa, Libra- rian, Mount Holyoke College Li- brary, South Hadley, Mass 5 Blackwelder, Paul, Asst. Librarian, St. Louis, Mo 2 Bliss, Robert P., Asst. Sec'y., F. L. Commission, Harrisburg, Pa 5 Bolton, Chas. Knowles, Librarian, Boston Athenaeum Library, Bos- ton, Mass 5 Borresen, Miss Lilly M. E., Field Li- brarian, Pierre, S. D 5 Boston (Mass.) Public Library 100 Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Me. (through Geo. T. Little) 10 Bowker, Richard Rogers, Library Journal, New York City 5 Bradford (Pa.) Carnegie Public Li- brary 10 Briggs, Walter B., Librarian, Trin- ity College Library, Hartford, Conn 5 Brockton (Mass.) Public Library, (through F. H. Whitmore, Libra- rian) 10 Brookline (Mass.) Public Library. . 50 Brooklyn (N. Y.) Public Library... 200 Buffalo (N. Y.) Public Library 50 Bullock, Chandler 5 Burrage, George B., Treas., Library Bureau, Chicago 25 California Library Association, Sac- ramento, Cal 50 California State Library, Sacramen- to, Cal 100 California University Library, Berkeley, Cal 100 Chicago (111.) Public Library $ 100 Chicago Library Club, Chicago 25 Chivers, Cedric, Pres., Chivers Bookbinding Co., Brooklyn, N. Y. 100 Cincinnati (Ohio) Public Library... 25 Cleveland Public Library Trustees, Cleveland, O. (individual subscrip- tions) 60 Connecticut State Library, Hart- ford, Conn 10 Coolidge, J. Randolph, Jr., Trustee, Boston, Mass 10 Corey, Deloraine Pendre (in memo- riam), through Mrs. D. P. Corey, Maiden, Mass 15 Davenport (Iowa) Public Library. . 1 Denver (Colo.) Public Library 50 Detroit (Mich.) Public Library 100 Duquesne Carnegie Free Library, Duquesne, Pa 5 Elizabeth Public Library Trustees, Elizabeth, N. J 25 Ellis, Miss Victoria, Librarian, Pub- lic Library, Long Beach, Cal 5 Freer, Charles L., Detroit, Mich 50 Gaylord Bros., Syracuse, N. Y 10 Gould, Charles Henry, Librarian, McGill University Library, Mon- treal, Canada 100 Grand Rapids (Mich.) Public Li- brary 25 Green, Samuel Swett, Librarian emeritus, Free Public Library, Worcester, Mass 25 Hafner, Alfred, New York City 10 Hall, Drew B., Librarian, Public Li- brary, Somerville, Mass 10 Homestead (Pa.) Carnegie Library 10 Hughes, Howard L., Free Public Li- brary, Trenton, N. J 3 Hume, Miss Jessie Fremont, Libra- rian, Queens Borough Public Li- brary, Jamaica, N. Y 5 Huntting, Henry R., Bookseller, Springfield, Mass 3 lies, George, Journalist, New York City 10 Illinois Library Association, Deca- tur, 111 | 25 Indiana Library Association, Prince- ton, Ind 10 Insurance Library Association, Bos- ton, Mass 10 Jennings, Judson Toll, Librarian, Public Library, Seattle, Wash.... 5 John Carter Brown Library, Provi- dence, R. 1 25 John Crerar Library, Chicago 100 Johns Hopkins University Library, Baltimore, Md 15 Johnston, W. Dawson, Librarian, Public Library, St. Paul, Minn... 10 INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION 121 Leary, Stuart & Co., Philadelphia, Pa \ Lemcke & Buechner, New York City Libbie, Frederick J., Book Auction- eer, Boston, Mass Library Bureau, New York City (contribution of over $300 worth of furniture) Library of Congress Staff, Wash- ington, D. C Lincoln Public Library, Lincoln, Neb Locke, George H., Librarian, Toron- to, Canada Long Island Library Club, Brooklyn, N. Y McClurg, A. C. & Co., Chicago Maiden (Mass.) Public Library Marx, Henry F., Librarian, Easton (Pa.) Public Library Medford (Mass.) Public Library Memphis (Tenn.) Cossitt Library. . Missouri Library Commission, Jef- ferson City, Mo Moulton, John Grant, Librarian, Public Library, Haverhill, Mass.. New York Library Club, New York City New York (N. Y.) Public Library.. New York (N. Y.) Public Library School Nebraska State Library Commission, Lincoln, Neb Newark (N. J.) Free Public Library Newmark, Henry M., Los Angeles, Cal Northwestern University Library, Evanston, 111 Oakland (Cal.) Free Library Ontario Library Association, On- tario, Canada Peoples, William Thaddeus, Libra- rian, Mercantile Library, New York City Philadelphia (Pa.) Free Library.... Philadelphia (Pa.) Museums Li- brary Pittsburgh Public Library, Pitts- burg, Pa Portland (Ore.) Library Association Pratt, Miss Edna B., State Library Commission, Trenton, N. J Pratt Institute Free Library, Brook- lyn, N. Y Princeton University Library, Princeton, N. J Providence (R. I.) Public Library. . Public Libraries, Chicago Publishers' Weekly, New York City Pyne, M. Taylor, Trustee, Prince- ton, N. J 10 300 100 5 10 5 25 10 10 10 5 25 10 15 300 25 15 100 50 25 10 10 100 10 200 40 5 100 50 10 25 25 20 Riverside (Cal.) Public Library $ 25 Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Tex. 20 Ruckteshler, Miss N. Louise, Libra- rian, Norwich, N. Y 5 Rush, Charles E. f Librarian, Public Library, St. Joseph, Mo 5 Russell Sage Foundation School of Philanthropy Library, New York City 25 St. Louis (Mo.) Public Library 100 Schwab, John Christopher, Libra- rian, Yale University Library, New Haven, Conn 5 Shaw, Robert Kendall, Librarian, Free Public Library, Worcester;, Mass 2 Silas Bronson Library, Waterbury, Conn 20 Snead & Co., Jersey City, N. J 25 Spencer, Mrs. M. C., Michigan State Library, Lansing, Mich 5 Springfield Public Library, Spring- field, 111 25 Stevens & Brown, London, England 5 Stone & Webster, Boston, Mass... 25 Toledo (Ohio) Public Library 50 Toronto Public Library, Toronto, Canada 10 University of Chicago Library, Chi- cago (111.) 15 Utley, George B., Secretary, Amer- ican Library Assn., Chicago 10 Van Nostrand Co., D., New York City 10 Vassar College Library, Poughkeep- sie, N. Y 25 Vermont Free Public Library Com- mission, Montpelier, Vt 10 Vermont Library Association, Lyn- donville, Vt 5 Washington County Free Library, Hagerstown, Md 25 Wesleyan University Library, Mid- dletown, Conn, (through Wm. J. James) 5 Westerly Public Library, Westerly, R. 1 10 Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Osterhout Free Library 25 Wilson Co., H. W., New York City. 25 Winchell, Miss F. Mabel, Librarian, City Library, Manchester, N. H.. Woburn (Mass.) Public Library 5 Yust, William Frederick, Librarian, Public Library, Rochester, N. Y.. 5 $4,575 Furniture from Library Bureau, value 300 Total cash $4,275 122 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE FINANCIAL STATEMENT Receipts Paid up subscriptions $3,963.01 Interest 7.63 Total $3,970.64 Expenditures Frank P. Hill, stamped envelopes, telegram, stamps and express . . $ 13.10 James Burns, services 2.00 Frank P. Hill, cable to Leipzig 3.25 John Ferguson, cartage 2.00 Frederick J. Stein, photograph enlargements 24.00 Frederick J. Stein, copies of photographs and enlargements 14.00 L. L. Marsch, labor mounting exhibit 172.10 Charles V. Brooks, salary 25.00 Frances Sykes, services 17.50 Library Bureau, exhibition cabinets 304.80 B. F. Cummins Co., library perforator 25.00 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1M circulars 5.50 Edyth L. Miller, salary, stamps and postcards 205.91 Milton Bradley Company, 1 National cutter 9.00 Jennie McGarry, services 8.19 Edyth L. Miller, postage, cable, express, etc 10.00 T W. Koch, traveling expenses, Ann Arbor to Brooklyn 27.00 T. W. Koch, contingent expenses in Leipzig 100.00 T. W. Koch, traveling expenses to Leipzig and setting up exhibit. . 400.00 Ailing & Company, 1 sign and lettering 30.50 Gaylord Bros., 5 rolls Success binder 1.00 Edyth L. Miller, salary 100.00 Mazie A. Barnes, work on model library 25.00 H. E. Spicer Co., lettering 2.00 Davis, Turner & Co., cartage and freight to Leipzig 350.90 Felix Wallin, screens 35.50 Library Bureau, pamphlet boxes, etc 2.50 Lemuel N. Martin, carpentering 418.75 Davis, Turner & Co., cartage 6.85 Bureau of University Travel: T. W. Koch $115.00 Donald Hendry 115.00 Adelaide Hasse 147.50 377.50 Donald Hendry, travel, etc 195.00 F. A. Walter 3.00 Andrew Bendetto 1.00 Mary W. Plummer 85 Mary E. Robbins, services 100.00 Mary E. Robbins, postage, etc 5.66 $3,024.36 Balance on hand $ 946.28 A. L. A. EXHIBIT 123 OPENING OF THE A. L. A. EXHIBIT AT LEIPZIG* Dr. F. P. Hill, Chairman, A. L. A. Leipzig Exhibit Committee. Sir: I have the honor to report that, pursu- ant to instructions and according to ar- rangements made by your Committee, I sailed for Germany on the Hamburg- American liner Cincinnati, April 18th, with thirty-eight cases in the hold destined for the International Exposition of Book In- dustry and Graphic Arts. On arrival at Hamburg, April 29th, these boxes were shipped by fast freight to Leipzig and reached the Exposition grounds May 3rd and 4th. The exhibit was planned to form a sec- tion of the division of libraries in the large hall devoted to the book industries. The space allotted to the A. L. A. is of gen- erous size, running from east to west and measuring approximately 97x23 feet. To the south of the A. L. A. space is a booth occupied by the Prussian state libraries, under the charge of the Royal library of Berlin. Another adjoining booth, installed by the library of the University of Leip- zig, contains a charging desk and shows the system in use at the university li- brary. Nearby are a model of the Leipzig University library building and numerous pictures of various public and university libraries throughout Germany. Show cases contain some interesting books from these libraries and there are special ex- hibits of the "Leipzig Workingmen's Li- brary" and of the "indicator" in use at the public "Biicherhalle" of Hamburg. The A. L. A. space is divided north and south by three aisles, a centre one, three metres wide, and two side ones, each two metres in width. This divides the centre exhibition space into two side booths 7x4 1/2 metres, and two centre ones, 7x6 *The following Interesting report by Mr. Koch of the opening of the Leipzig exhibit is properly a part of the Washington con- ference proceedings, as extracts were read at the meeting, and so his complete report appropriately follows the report of the Leip- zig exhibit committee. Editor. metres. The height of the walls dividing our space from that of our neighbors Is about 2 2/3 metres, but several of these party walls are higher, owing to the re- quirements of exhibitors. These walls are on an average about one metre higher than anticipated by the A. L. A. Committee and, consequently, that much higher than the screens sent over from the United States. The latter, however, are very satisfactory for subdividing the space into smaller sections, though only a few of these screens have been put up as yet, since the entire shipment of mounts has not been received up to date. At the request of Dr. Boysen, chairman of the Committee on the library section, we agreed to omit one of the party walls, 6 metres wide, so as not to obstruct the view of the three-story Lipman stack put up at considerable expense by the man- ufacturers, Wolf, Netter and Jacobi of Berlin and Strassburg. The Lipman stack is of bracket construction and is the one used in the new building of the Royal library at Berlin. Visitors stop to look at the stack, which looms up rather high in the hall, and they incidentally see the A. L. A. exhibit. The shelves of this specimen stack are well filled with books from the University of Leipzig li- brary, and so indicate rather neatly to him who runs, the fact that he is running through the library section. In return for our waiving the right to a dividing wall, our neighbors allowed us the use of two stacks, one metre in length, one double faced (which shelves the majority of the children's books), and the other a wall case (which accommodates the miscella- neous publications sent over by various libraries). As the freight shipment reached the exhibition hall only 48 hours before the official opening of the Exposition, sched- uled for Wednesday noon, May 6th, no time was to be lost in making something of a showing. As soon as a few boxes were opened a temporary arrangement of material was made so as to show to the 124 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE best advantage from the centre aisle, down which was to pass the procession of in- spectors headed by His Majesty King Frederick Augustus of Saxony, under whose patronage the International Expos- ition was to be held. The trials and tribulations of those first two days need not be recounted here. Con- fusion reigned throughout the grounds. Hundreds of teams were coming and go- ing, shipments were being left at the wrong halls, boxes were being searched for wildly, and a babel of strange and excited voices was heard on all sides. We were fortunate in being able to keep our collective shipment together. There be- ing no artificial light in the hall, we were forced to rent a big acetylene lamp the night before the opening so as to finish our installation in time. Exhibits that were not ready were to be curtained off, as the King had said at the Architectural Exhibition of last year that he did not care to come up to Leipzig simply to see a lot of packing boxes and we had not come over from America to hide our light behind a curtain on the opening day. By pressing a number of laborers into serv- ice and getting a volunteer from the local public library, we made quite a brave showing by Wednesday noon. At a quar- ter to twelve your representative laid aside his three-fold part of carpenter, dec- orator, and chairman of the hanging com- mittee, and with the aid of a sprinkling can made a hasty toilet and under cover of some of the above-mentioned screens got into a dress suit. Dressing in a Pull- man berth is the height of luxury and ease in comparison to preparing for a recep- tion behind a lumber pile in an exhibition hall where a crowd of people are excitedly and momentarily expecting the arrival of their King. At high noon your representative was standing in the centre aisle, fairly prop- erly attired, and there was a tension in the air indicating the approach of the King. There were subdued whispers of "Er kommt! Der Konig kommt!" Down the aisle came a squad of police to clear the way and keep the people back at a respectful distance. Your representative was requested to stand out beyond the line a bit so as to indicate his official po- sition in case his dress failed in this re- spect. Dr. Volkmann, the president of the Exposition, preceded the King and ex- plained the nature of the various exhib- its. When the royal party arrived at the A. L. A. exhibit, Dr. Volkmann presented me to His Majesty and said that I could explain the American exhibit. The King inquired about the Library of Congress and the New York public library, pic- tures of which were in evidence on the walls, and asked whether we had the same library system in America as they have in Germany. The question was a little vague, but the answer, whatever it was, seemed to satisfy the questioner. No soon- er had the procession passed than I became conscious of the fact that in replying I had not once made use of the phrase "His Majesty." One's esprit d'escalier always comes out on an occasion of this sort. I apologized to one of the officials for my democratic manner in talking with the King and was assured that I need not be concerned about it as the King was him- self very democratic in his ideas. I was invited to the "Salamander" with which the special Student Exposition was officially opened that same afternoon. This was presided over by the King and was a gay and joyous outdoor affair. There were large delegations from student or- ganizations all over Germany and the bright, variegated uniforms, with the lit- tle caps and clanking swords, made a sharp contrast to anything ever seen on an American college campus. The drinking of toasts was a most formal matter. The singing was very spirited, even though many lagged behind time in a truly laugh- able manner. Apparently "Guadeamus igitur" is sung more slowly in some parts of Germany than in others. At the evening reception a high official of the Exposition came to me and ex- pressed the hope that I appreciated the honor of having been presented to the A. L. A. EXHIBIT 125 King. I assured him that I did. He then informed me that in arranging for this it was intended to honor America and I was asked to notify my fellow-country- men of the fact. Since the opening we have been busy with the rearrangement of the exhibit oc- casioned by the arrival of seven cases of Library Bureau furniture and a case of books for the Children's Room, and addi- tional material from the Library of Con- gress. We are still awaiting a large num- ber of photographs and mounts for use on the walls and screens. The exhibit from the Library of Con- gress occupies the western booth and con- sists of eleven large framed pictures of the building, a collection of the Library's publications since 1897 and a 90-tray cat- alog cabinet containing both the diction- ary and systematic catalogs of the biblio- graphical collection in the Library of Con- gress. In the installation of this exhibit, as indeed in the work of the entire open- ing month, we were fortunate in having the assistance of Mr. Ernest Kletsch of the Library of Congress staff. On the wall Is a large statistical chart, showing the growth of libraries in the United States from 1875, 1885, 1896, 1903 to 1913. In the centre of this booth is a model of a typical small branch library building, show- ing the arrangement of reading rooms and delivery desk to admit of easy supervision. This is mounted on a platform 3% feet high, draped with a large American flag loaned by the American Consulate. The model has attracted a great deal of at- tention and is especially instructive as there are in nearby spaces models of As- syrian, mediaeval and eighteenth-century libraries, the new building for the Biblio- teca Nazionale Centrale, Florence, and also the reading room of the new Royal li- brary at Berlin, and the close proximity of these models affords the public an op- portunity to contrast these different types of libraries. The Library of Congress exhibit has at- tracted a great deal of favorable atten- tion. Many visitors were already famil- iar with one aspect or another of it. The Library of Congress is famous here for the modernity of its system and the liberality and excellence of its administration. The large framed views of the building were much admired and the reading room was compared with that of the Konigliche Bibliothek, Berlin, which it somewhat re- sembles. The card catalog of the section devoted to bibliography called forth a number of questions as to the L. C. clas- sification in general, its application to special fields of knowledge, comparison with the Decimal classification, compari- son of the printed cards with those of the Konigliche Bibliothek, which are distinct- ly inferior to the L. C. cards. The 90-tray card cabinet containing the L. C. cata- logs was frequently contrasted with the German make to the advantage of the American original. The director of the Leipzig city library detailed an English-speaking assistant to file cards and learn about the L. C. sys- tem with a view to introducing the card catalog system into the city library. A philologist to whom was entrusted the reclassification of the literature section in a public library found the printed sched- ules of classification so satisfactory that he wanted to use the schedule for litera- ture as soon as issued. The secretary of a series of workingmen's libraries be- came much interested in the card system and hoped to be able to use the L. C. classification in classifying the books on their shelves. The director of an art li- brary wanted to know to what extent the L. C. classification could be used in his own library, and upon looking over the scheme for art he thought it quite full and satisfactory. The representative of a musical journal admired very much the publications of the Music Division and said that he was quite unaware of the splendid opportunities in this line in the L. C. In fact, he had not thought it pos- sible to do such work in the United States. One medical man was interested in the possibility of using the L. C. cards for cataloging a large private library, and 126 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE another physician, an American, said that until he had had the opportunity of study- ing the L. C. system as shown in Leipzig he had no idea of its excellence, and that upon his return to the United States he would make an early pilgrimage to Wash- ington to learn more of the national li- brary. Librarians of a technical high school in Munich and of a commercial high school in Nagasaki inquired as to how L. C. cards could be applied to their needs and how card catalogs could be started. Another librarian saw specimens of photo- static work done in the L. C. and was in- terested in comparing them with similar copies done by a German machine. An Austrian archivist was interested in the possibility of using a card system in cataloging archives and said that he hoped to see the day come when there would be an international code of catalog rules and an international exchange of printed catalog cards. He thought that the Deutsche Biicherei, which since Jan. 1, 1913, has been receiving a copy of every new book printed in Germany, might re- quire of every author whose book was de- posited, cooperation to the extent of fill- ing out a blank giving full name, date of birth, title and subject of book all information helpful in cataloging. A German librarian requested a copy of the A. L. A. catalog rules in order to incor- porate into his own new rules the points in regard to author entry, size, collation and other features in which the American code is more specific than the German practice. The eastern end of the A. L. A. space is given up to the exhibit of library work with children, in which the visitors have shown a very lively interest. Reading rooms for children are hardly known in Germany, though beginning to be well known in Vienna. About two hundred ju- venile books are exhibited on shelves and those with the most attractive illustra- tions are spread open on exhibition ledges or on the small tables of two heights sent over by the Library Bureau. These ta- bles, with the chairs to match, call forth the warmest admiration. Many school children look admiringly at the furniture and linger over the books as well as over the photographs of scenes in various chil- dren's libraries that cover the walls of the booth. The illustrated books are much admired and fond mothers have wanted to buy some of them to take home to their own children. Surprise has at times been expressed that we neither sell nor take or- ders for material exhibited here. Children ask questions about the In- dians they see pictured in Deming's Lit- tle Indian Folk. Even the one lone In- dian on the back of Willson's Romance of Canada called forth a series of ques- tions from one boy as to how many In- dians there were in America, whether they were very bad and whether they were to be found in every city. He said that he had seen one in a circus. As a spe- cial mark of appreciation this lad prom- ised to return later and show us his Eng- lish school book. Every juvenile visitor agrees that a special reading room for children must indeed be "sehr schon." The major part of the centre booths is given up to the work of public libraries, college and university libraries and li- brary architecture, with special exhibits on cataloging and binding. Samples are exhibited to show methods of reinforcing books in publishers' bindings, morocco and pigskin backs, the use of Keratol cloth and Holliston buckram. The Tren- ton winged cabinets have attracted a great deal of attention, possibly more on ac- count of the mechanism than because of interest in the subjects illustrated. The Germans are always on the lookout for something practical and we have fre- quently been asked whether we could sell one of these cabinets after the Exposition closed. We had some experiences which may be helpful in arranging for the San Francisco exhibit. First, as to labels. There can hardly be too many of them. To paraphrase a well- known saying about museums, an exhibi- tion is a collection of carefully prepared A. L. A. EXHIBIT 127 labels adequately illustrated by correlated objects. The Germans placard everything. Go into a street car and you see one sign calling attention to the law in re- gard to unprotected hat-pin points, and another informing the traveling public as to how much damages are to be paid for the breaking of the different-sized panes of glass, lamp chimneys or electric light bulbs. Labels should be in several lan- guages, including the vernacular of the country. Signs in English only may be helpful as exercises on which Germans can try their linguistic skill, but in many cases they fail to convey fully and clear- ly the desired information. Thanks to our neighbors, we secured German labels for the table exhibits, reading "Please do not disturb," and "Without permission nothing is to be removed, not even circu- lars." It was found necessary throughout the Exposition to protect exhibits in this way. From the model of the Assyrian library one of the little figures had been removed, and from a publisher's booth a set of an architectural journal had been broken into. Volumes 5, 4 and 3 were taken in succession by some one who be- lieved in beginning at the end, but appre- ciated the value of completeness. We caught one man in the act of removing a book from the children's section, but were less fortunate in the case of the person who took a fancy to Mrs. Julia Cart- wright Ady's Pilgrim's Way from Win- chester to Canterbury. The volume, which was the first item in an exhibit showing the history of a book from the first stage of book selection through the processes of ordering, cataloging, and pre- paring for the shelves, was taken with item 9 of this exhibit, i. e., the book pocket. One Pittsburgher who looked in on us said that as he came down the long hall lined with booths most attractively fur- nished with couches and curtains to the plainer part devoted to libraries, he thought that he must be coming to the American section it was so bare in com- parison. The German exhibitors certainly gave a lot of time and thought to their displays. Being not only trained to this sort of thing, but also being at home, they could afford to indulge in attractive fit- tings which could be utilized after the close of the exhibit. A corresponding treatment of the A. L. A. space would have been almost prohibitive. If more furni- ture had been brought from the United States the expense would have been much greater, and if bought here it would have had to be sacrificed after the close of the exhibit. The sound of the hammer is still heard on all sides. Some buildings, like that of Russia, have just been roofed in, while another pavilion has just been begun. Others are provisionally open an hour per day. Many doors are still marked "Ge- schlossen" or "Kein Eingang." Trees and hedges are being planted and lawns made. There are beautiful parterres of luxurious flowers down the main avenue, and the landscape setting is most delightful. By the time the various A. L. A. parties ar- rive in midsummer the Exposition will be at its height and the unfinished look of the first month will be a thing forgotten. The richness of the exhibits in the differ- ent fields of book-making and the graphic arts will be found surprisingly well set forth in many buildings and in exhibits from many lands. We hope that the re- gret of the American visitor in finding that his own government took no official part in the Exposition and that American publishers have not participated will be in part offset by seeing the exhibit of the American Library Association. I am sure that visitors will find in the exhibit what the Committee has tried to make it a fair presentation of modern American library methods, modern equipment, with a sug- gestion of our historical background and an indication of the lines along which American libraries are developing. Respectfully submitted, THEODORE W. KOCH. Leipzig, May 14, 1914. 128 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE President ANDERSON: A minute on the death of our late lamented member, Dr. Thwaites, has been prepared by a com- mittee appointed by the Executive Board. The committee consisted of Mr. Henry E. Legler, Mr. Victor H. Paltsits and Mr. Charles H. Gould. I will ask the chair- man, Mr. Legler, to read the minute. Mr. Legler read the minute as follows: REUBEN GOLD THWAITES Many men achieve success by consist- ent application in one direction; some can do many things indifferently well; few possess that creative power which invests whatever they undertake with signal dis- tinction. Dr. Reuben Gold Thwaites had the rare combination of qualities which enabled him to pursue many and varied interests with marked success. From boy- hood to the termination of his full and busy life, whatever came to him to do, he performed with ability and a judgment that compelled success. Each successive experience was but the preparation for something broader to follow. As a young man working his way through college, by teaching school and performing farm la- bor during intervals, and later as a news- paper correspondent and editor, he sharp- ened those qualities of natural sagacity and judgment which were to prove so productive in the fields of usefulness and honor which later engaged his thought and labor. Succeeding Dr. Lyman C. Draper as superintendent of the Wiscon- sin State Historical Society, he brought his natural abilities as an administrator and organizer to the task of making gen- erally useful a vast and important mass of historical materials accumulated by his predecessor and perforce left without or- derly arrangement just as the miscella- neous collection had been gathered. Dr. Thwaites not only added with keen schol- arly instinct to this great collection so as to give it balance and completeness in its own field, but developed and stimu- lated the historic interests of his constitu- ency until the society became the leading organization of its kind in the Middle West, and one of the most active and en- terprising in the country. The interest thus awakened found expression in the splendid library building which eventually housed the great collections, besides of- fering hospitality to the library of the great university of the state. Not only were the riches of the his- torical society rendered freely available to scholars and writers, but Dr. Thwaites gave to many of the documents of major importance the impress of his editorial capacity. The published volumes which bear his name as editor or author are unsurpassed for sound scholarship and forceful interpretation. As a librarian, too, Dr. Thwaites achieved distinction. His election as president of the American Library Asso- ciation in 1899 was well-merited recogni- tion of leadership in the profession. Nu- merous contributions to the library press on vital subjects bear testimony to his in- terest and his versatility. His intimate friend and associate, Prof. F. J. Turner, of Harvard University, thus summarized his achievements at a memorial meeting of the historical society: "His activities touched every aspect of the social and scholarly life of his time. He was an active member of the free li- brary commission; he was secretary of the Wisconsin history commission that has al- ready published nine valuable volumes on the Civil War. He lectured on history in the university. He wrote the standard history of Wisconsin, of Madison, of the university, of his lodge, and of the Madison Literary Club. He was influential in the work of the city hospital, the university club, the Unitarian church. He was a pillar of strength in the American Library Asso- ciation, the American Historical Associ- ation and the Bibliographical Society of America. With all his special duties, he produced a volume of scholarship that would have filled an active life that had no other duties. His books of travel in Eng- land and on the Ohio are charming speci- LEGLER 129 mens of their type. His Jesuit Relations comprise 73 volumes of French, Latin and Italian documents. His early western travels run to 32 volumes, and he brought out the definitive edition of the journals of Lewis and Clark. As America grows older, more and more it exhibits a tend- ency to turn back to the heroic age of its explorers and pioneers. In historical pag- eants, mural decorations, sculpture, poetry, and in all the aesthetic use of historical symbols may be seen the growing appre- ciation by the nation of its remote past. By these editions which constitute the sources of the early history of Canada, the Middle West, the Missouri valley, and he Pacific Northwest, Dr. Thwaites made himself the editorial authority to whom the student must turn if he will study this great stage of American development. In the course of a little over a quarter of a century he wrote some fifteen books, edited and published about 168 other books, and wrote more than a hundred ar- ticles and addresses." This is but a brief and incomplete rec- ord of his public and professional serv- ice. Of his personal qualities, they can speak best and they are many in num- ber who experienced his generous aid to the beginner, his kindly and valuable counsel to all who sought it, his patient consideration for all who were in trouble or distress, his friendly attitude to asso- ciates and subordinates, and his social charm in the intimacy of home and neigh- borly circles. HENRY E. LEGLER, C. H. GOULD, VICTOR H. PALTSITS. Mr. BOWKER: I move that the me- morial to Dr. Thwaites be adopted by a rising vote. The motion was duly seconded and agreed to. President Anderson announced that a committee had prepared a minute on the passing of three other honored members of the Association. The minute, or reso- lution, was read by the secretary as fol- lows: FRANK A. HUTCHINS WILLIAM C. KIMBALL JOSEPHUS NELSON LARNED WHEREAS, The list of library work- ers who have died during the past year contains the names of Frank A. Hutchins, William C. Kimball, and Josephus Nel- son Lamed, each a leader in a different field: RESOLVED, That the American Libra- ry Association, in these resolutions, ex- presses its deep appreciation of their work and its sincere sorrow for their death. Frank A. Hutchins, was a pioneer of aggressive extension of library service, who, with a keen appreciation of the power of good books and understanding of their universal usefulness, strove al- ways to render the resources of the li- brary available to many who had there- tofore been considered beyond the reach of its service. William C. Kimball, heart as well as head of the New Jersey Public Library Commission throughout the period of de- velopment, held various positions of ac- tivity or trust in the American Library Association, was modest, efficient, unre- mitting and unsparing in all his work, and a model and example of the possibili- ties of gratuitous, as distinguished from professional, service in the development of American libraries. Josephus Nelson Lamed, one of the small group which organized this Asso- ciation and laid the foundation of its work, served the Association as its President in 1894, made many valuable contribu- tions to library science. Wise in counsel, courteous and kindly in manner, author of many useful and inspiring books, the first citizen of his city, a scholarly gen- tleman, he honored the profession to which he gave the best years of his life. WALTER L. BROWN, E. C. RICHARDSON, M. S. DUDGEON, Committee. 130 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE The resolution called for was unani- mously adopted by a rising vote. President ANDERSON: One of the tests of a nation's standard of civilization is its treatment of its archives, which constitute the record of its business at home and abroad. By this test the United States would not take high rank. But a bill has been introduced in Con- gress which, if passed, will take us out of the class of states which are careless of their public records. The distinguished gentleman who is to address us will ex- plain the need of a national archive build- ing here in Washington, and will doubt- less give us illustrations of the difficulties encountered by a student of American his- tory through the careless handling or scat- tering about of the manuscript records of the business of our government It seemed to your Program committee that this was a subject in which our Association should have a deep interest; and that, while our influence may not be extensive or power- ful, whatever we have should be brought to bear as effectively as possible in fa- vor of the plan for a national archive building. It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to introduce to you Dr. J. FRANKLIN JAMESON, director of the department of historical research of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who has honored us by consenting to address us on this subject. THE NEED OF A NATIONAL ARCHIVE BUILDING England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Bel- glum, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Prussia, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Roumania, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Colom- bia every one of these countries has a national archive, in which all or most of its older records and papers are stored. The presumption must be that there is some merit in the idea of a national ar- chive building. Apparently the burden of proof is on anyone who says that the United States, not the poorest of these countries and we fondly imagine not the least enterprising, ought not to have one. In reality, no one says this. The obstacle is not opposition, but negligence and in- ertia, only to be overcome by convincing wise men and influential societies of the need of a federal archive establishment 'and asking them to help forward the movement toward such a consummation. The evolution of national archives has in most cases a definite and regular nat- ural history. At first, each government office preserves its own papers. By and by the space available for such documents becomes crowded. The oldest of them, seldom referred to, are sent away, to attics or cellars or vacant rooms in the same or other buildings, it matters little where, in order to make room for the transaction of current business. By and by historians arise. They insist that these dead files are full of historical informa- tion, that they are a valuable national asset, that it is shameful to neglect them. At the same time, administrators discover that, whenever administration depends upon the careful study of previous experi- ence, it is inconvenient to have the papers recording that experience scattered through many unsuitable repositories, neglected and unarranged. Then begins a movement for a national archive building, a determi- nation to erect a structure ideally adapted for the storage of documents and their preservation in accessible order and to gather into that one fit place the records which hitherto have lain neglected in a multitude of unfit places. Before the pas- sage of the Public Records Act of 1838, and the consequent erection of the Public Record Office in London, the records of the British government were stored in some sixty different places in that city, some of them atrociously unfit. The building of that admirable repository and its succes- sive enlargements have led to the concen- tration, under one roof, of the records of nearly all branches of the British adminis- tration down to within thirty or forty years of the present time. JAMESON 131 The British instance represents a very high degree of concentration. In some other countries, where individual execu- tive departments had long since solidified their respective archives and given them a scientific organization, these collections, instead of being merged in the national archives, have been allowed to maintain a separate existence. Thus in Paris, alongside the Archives Nationales, we find the very Important separate establish- ments of the Archives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, of War, and of Marine, while at Berlin and Vienna, outside the Staatsarchlve, the war departments have Independent archives of great importance. Most European ministries, however, retain in their own hands only the papers of recent date. In any grading of archives by the ex- tent to which concentration has been car- ried, Great Britain and Canada would stand at the highest end of the scale, while the United States would represent the lowest and simplest stage of develop- ment. Here in the national capital It has been the practice, from the beginning, that each bureau or division of an executive department should keep its own records and the papers which flow into it In the course of administrative business. Only one department has undertaken to con- centrate its archives, the War Depart- ment, nearly all whose records and papers have been combined into one collection, under the custody of the adjutant-general. As for federal archives outside Washing- ton, such as the records and papers of custom houses and army posts, no effort has been made to concentrate them. They remain where they always have been, if indeed they remain at all. While every European government has now adopted the policy of transferring from its em- bassy or legation here in Washington to its home archives all but the last few years' accumulation of papers, our policy, or more correctly, our practice, has been to leave all the archives of embassies, legations, and consulates where they are with effects which can easily be esti- mated In view of another of our "policies," that of not having permanent homes for our legations in foreign parts. In Washington the results of what may be called the bureau system of archive management have been exceedingly un- happy. In the first place, it has produced an excessive number of systems of man- agement. To keep a bureau's papers in an order that he who devised it has thought suitable to its business may not seem to be an evil. But the business of bureaus changes, and bureaus are divided and consolidated and extinguished and shifted from department to department, and the result is sometimes an awkward mixture of systems, some of which were amateurish when devised, many of which have become antiquated since that time. But a greater evil than that of having thirty or forty different filing-systems Is that of having more than a hundred dif- ferent repositories. This would not be so great an evil if we had always one variety of papers, and the whole of that variety, in one place; but this is wonderfully far from being the case. Let us take for instance those papers which relate to the history of the government of territories before their admission as states of the Union. The administration of the terri- tories was in the hands of the Depart- ment of State till 1873, after that in those of the Department of the Interior. There is no portion of the archival papers of the federal government which Is more sought for by historical Investigators than these, for the energetic western historical societies find them a copious source of knowledge for the earlier periods. But papers of this sort cannot be found in Washington without special guidance. Many, perhaps most, territorial papers of date anterior to 1873 are at the State De- partment, but some of them are in the Bureau of Indexes and Archives, some in the Bureau of Rolls and Library, and no man can discern or declare how the line of classification is drawn. Of later papers, 132 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE many are in the files of the Secretary of the Interior. For years there was an in- formal dispute between the two depart- ments as to the transference of certain masses of territorial papers in 1873, the Department of State maintaining that they had been transferred, the Interior Department, more correctly, that they had not. Many territorial papers, of great historical importance, are in the files of the Senate and House of Representatives. Some have been transferred from the lat- ter to the Library of Congress. Others are in the Stygian darkness of the Gen- eral Land Office files, others in those of the Treasury Department, in those of the Indian Office, in those of the inspector- general of the United States army, or in the enormous archives of the adjutant- general. But dispersion is not the only, or the worst, evil that has flowed from the pres- ent system, or want of system, whereby each bureau is in the main left to keep its own papers. It is 125 years since some of these bureaus and divisions were founded. In much less than 125 years a bureau will accumulate enough records and papers to occupy more than all the space originally assigned to it. Those least needed are packed away, in attics and in cellars, over porticoes and under stairs, in closets and in abandoned door- ways, till a building is so full that it will hold no more, if any proper space is to be reserved for the work of officials and clerks. Then warehouses, in almost no case fireproof, are rented to contain the overflow. The Treasury Department has to rent an additional warehouse every five or ten years, merely to hold the fresh accumulation of its papers. Not a mile from this spot, for instance, there is a warehouse in which papers of the Treas- ury Department have simply been dumped on the floor boxes, bundles, books, loose papers till the pile reaches well toward the ceiling; and no man knows what it contains, or could find in it any given book or paper. For quarters of this sort, in buildings usually unsafe and always unsuitable, the government pays each year, counting only the space devoted to stor- age of records and papers, rentals aggre- gating between $40,000 and $50,000, more than the interest it would pay on a million. For that sum an excellent archive build- ing could be erected, capable of housing not only all these papers which depart- ments have stored outside their walls, but also all the dead files which occupy space and impede business within the de- partmental buildings themselves. These are general statements. Let us mention specific instances. The librarian who is "doing" the sights of Washington may be interested to know, as he gazes at the beautiful proportions of the Treas- ury Building, that in its attic story sev- eral miles of wooden shelving contain old Treasury papers, closely packed together and dry as tinder, which up to the present time have not succumbed to spontaneous combustion under our August sun. If he pauses for a moment to look with pleasure at the sunken fountain at the north end of the Treasury, it may augment his pride in the ingenuity of his government to know that a portion of its Treasury ar- chives is stored in chambers constructed around the substructure of the fountain. If by mistake he goes to the old building of the Corcoran Art Gallery instead of the new, he will be compensated by the unusual sight, in the basement, of a body of governmental records so stored that in a dry season they can be consulted by any person wearing rubber overshoes, while in a wet season they are accessible by means of some old shutters laid on the basement floor. At the General Land Office (really the worst case of all) he may see a body of archives representing the titles to four hundred million acres of formerly public but now private lands, stored in a place not, I think, as fit for the purpose as the average librarian's coal-cellar certainly not as fit as mine. If he goes into the Pension Office build- ing, he will find the rich and interesting JAMESON 133 archives of the Indian Office stored in the court-yard. As he looks at the small dome that surmounts the House wing of the Capitol, he may reflect with pleasure that the old files of the House of Repre- sentatives are stored, in open boxes, in a manner not unlike that formerly fol- lowed by country lawyers, in the stifling heat of the space between roof and ceiling of the dome. Danger of destruction by fire is con- stant under such circumstances. It is sur- prising that fires have not been more fre- quent. But they have occurred several times in former years, and only last sum- mer a fire in the building of the Geo- logical Survey burned up papers which it had cost $100,000 to produce. There are half a dozen places in Washington where, if an extensive fire should break out, it might in a few hours, by burning up the documents with which claims against the government are defended, cause the government to lose several times the cost of a good national archive building. Probably there is no repository for gov- ernment papers in Washington, except the Division of Manuscripts in the Library of Congress, which is strictly fireproof in the fullest sense; but danger from fire is not the only peril to which archives are now exposed. Some of the places where they are stored are damp. In others there is local dampness from steam pipes and leaky roofs. In many there is injury from dust and dirt, in nearly all the grossest overcrowding. As to search and use, it is sometimes impossible, usually difficult. So dark are many repositories that when Messrs. Van Tyne and Leland were pre- paring their Guide to the Archives of the Government in Washington, an electric searchlight was a necessary part of their equipment. Armed with this, they could read the labels on the bundles or the legends on the backs of bound volumes, whenever these had not rotted off from dampness or excessive dryness. By way of contrast to the literary search-rooms in the Public Record Office in London or the Archives Nationales in Paris, in which fifty or a hundred historical schol- ars can work amid conditions resembling those which you, ladies and gentlemen, offer to readers in your libraries, the courageous student of this country's his- tory is fortunate if, after the volume or bundle has been dragged from its dark- some lair, an obliging clerk and near- ly all government clerks in Washington are obliging clears upon some heavily burdened desk or table a space two feet square which the student can use for the study of his documents. To me, and to many of those who hear me, the main reason for interesting our- selves in the problems of a national ar- chive building is that present conditions interpose almost intolerable obstacles to the progress of history. We may reason- ably expect that this should also seem to legislators a serious matter. An enlight- ened government, a government whose success depends on the intelligence of public opinion, cannot afford to be indif- ferent to the advancement of historical knowledge. The government of the Unit- ed States should do far more for it than it does. It would be a perfectly justifiable expenditure if on this ground alone, mere- ly as the first step toward a proper cul- tivation of the national history, our gov- ernment should spend $1,000,000 or $1,500,- 000 in erecting a perfect archive building, in which the historian could find and use his materials. But as the actual world goes, we are to expect business consid- erations to have greater weight than the interests of history. Very well. Put the matter on that ground. Is it good business for a government to spend $50,000 a year for rental of bad quarters, when for the same sum capitalized it could build mag- nificent quarters with much greater ca- pacity? Is it good business for a govern- ment that can borrow at three per cent to pay rentals of ten per cent? It cer- tainly is not thought so when the ques- tion is one of building local post-offices. 134 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE The trusts and other great business cor- porations think it indispensable to have the most modern filing-systems, installed in fireproof buildings. To neglect such precautions may some day cost them too much; to be unable to find papers quickly would cost them too much every day. But the greatest of all American business organizations is the Treasury Department of the United States. Its papers accumu- late at the rate of 25,000 cubic feet per annum. It needs at this moment not less than 600,000 cubic feet of space in a mod- ern archive building. What has it, this greatest of business concerns in the most businesslike of countries? It has an attic with miles of wooden shelving on which its papers crumble and fall to pieces from heat, and a sub-basement in which they rot to pieces from dampness. It rents two floors and part of another floor in a storage warehouse on E Street, a ware- house on New York Avenue, part of a building on C Street, part of a building on Fourteenth Street, part of a building on F Street. Two of these it will soon give up, happy to use instead the cast-off build- ing of the Bureau of Engraving and Print- ing. It uses the basement of the old Court of Claims building and a part of the old Post-Office building, and has filled the old Winder building with files until it was forced to stop because the floors could not safely bear any more weight. If a paper more than forty years old, of certain sorts, is desired, it may take sev- eral days to find it. I do not need to ask whether this is intelligent and economical administration. I have wished merely to emphasize the thought that, if this na- tional archive building comes into exist- ence, as surely it some time will, it will be brought into being, less by the clamor of historians, a feeble folk relatively, than by the steady and powerful pressure of administrators, worried beyond endurance by the increase of files and painfully con- scious of the drag which primitive meth- ods of storage impose on the progress of government business. Administrative eagerness to find a rem- edy has sought more than one outlet. One is the destruction of useless papers, but this is only a partial remedy. It is per- fectly true that many papers of little or no worth beyond the year of their origin have been preserved. One might wish that some of these were burned up. Un- der existing conditions, as I have shown, some of them are likely to be. But a conflagration cannot be expected to make an intelligent selection of material, and government officials, for that matter, can- not do it perfectly. We have statutes for the destruction of useless papers, but they are very loose in comparison with those of Europe, and give no security that pa- pers useless for administration but valua- ble for history will be preserved. Not so many years ago, ten tons of Confed- erate records were barely rescued from the paper-mill, and the schedules of the earlier censuses, though since then the latter have formed the basis of valued historical publications. Another expedient that has been occa- sionally suggested has been the transfer of "dead files" to the Library of Congress. It needs but a little thought upon con- siderations of space to show the futility of such a plan. Where should the Li- brary of Congress find space for two or three million cubic feet of archive ma- terial? Some might say that at least such papers as are historically important might be sent to the Library. But, quite apart from the fact that this offers no relief to the government, which as we have seen is the greatest sufferer from the present conditions, it is impossible to accept the underlying assumption that there is a small and perfectly distinguish- able portion of the government archives which is historically important, while the rest is not. A Jury of the most experi- enced historians would be the first to de- clare that no one can tell what the his- torians of the next age will value as ma- terials, and the first to protest against a process of tearing away certain papers, JAMESON 135 assumed to be historical, from the re- maining series with which they have been associated and which help to explain their origin. Moreover, library administration is one thing, and archive administration, especially for purposes of government business as distinguished from purposes of history, is a quite different thing. The present Librarian of Congress could ad- minister an archive alongside his library, indeed could administer forty archives, be- cause he could administer anything. But that hardly covers the point. Essentially a librarian's business is different from an archivist's business; no national govern- ment combines the two, and, anyhow, a makeshift transference of a small part of the government's archives to the Library of Congress would be no real solution of the difficulties. The only satisfactory and proper means of escape from the present disgraceful conditions is that which other nations have adopted, the erection of a national archive building in this city, of a size sufficient to contain all the papers that all the executive departments and the Senate and House of Representatives may send to it, and with a large allowance for future growth. Essentially a honeycomb of stacks resembling those of a library, it should have an initial capacity of three million cubic feet, and should be built on a lot of land large enough to admit of extension to nine million without exceed- ing the height usual among our govern- ment buildings. The prediction can be made with confidence, and is supported by the experience of other nations, that while executive officers may at first trans- fer somewhat sparingly the records and papers they have long had nominally un- der their control, they will not take long to discover that needles can be more quickly found in a needle-shop than in a haystack; and as the advantages of an orderly archive come to be appreciated, more and more of the archival papers will be transferred to the new establish- ment. Yet, though it shall be large, our na- tional archive building need not be alarm- ingly expensive. No ornate palace should be contemplated. If the exterior is to suit the contents, it should be plain, yet it may easily be beautiful. I know from the word of a friend that the greatest architect of the last generation said that he should like nothing better than to try his hand on a national archive building. At a cost well inside fifty cents a cubic foot, or $1,500,000 for a building of the dimensions I have described, it should be possible for the United States to have the finest archive building in the world, per- fect in every appointment, based on the best experience of Europe, and adequate for every purpose of the immediate future. This is the end toward which we ought to aspire and labor. Into the details of the construction of such a building and of the organization of an archive establishment there is no time to enter. They are abundantly set forth in Mr. W. G. Leland's masterly article entitled "Our national archives: a pro- gramme," in the American Historical Re- view for October, 1912. Efforts to secure such a building as I have in general terms described have not been lacking, nor are they a thing of yesterday. As far back as 1878, the quar- termaster-general of the army recommend- ed the erection of a "hall of records" for preservation of the records of the execu- tive departments not required for daily reference, and drafted a plan for the pro- posed structure. That was thirty-six years ago. Since then there has perhaps been only one year in which the erection of a national archive buildig has not been pressed upon the attention of Congress, with greater or less urgency, by one or other members of the cabinet. At least fifty bills on the subject have been intro- duced in Congress. Nearly all have found permanent resting-places in the pigeonholes of committees. On two occa- sions, in 1881 and in 1902, the Senate passed bills providing for an archive 136 building; but the House took no action on them. Finally, in 1903, after an agita- tion covering a quarter of a century, Con- gress authorized the purchase of a site for such a building. The site was pur- chased, but has since been assigned to another building. Meanwhile, within the thirty-six years during which this agita- tion by executive departments has been going on, Congress has expended at least $250,000,000 for public buildings, and $200,000,000 of that sum for local post- offices, courthouses and customhouses. In recent years, the agitation has been taken up by various societies of patriotic intention. Nearly six years ago the Amer- ican Historical Association addressed Con- gress on the subject, appointed a commit- tee, arranged for useful hearings, and has continued to press the matter upon suc- cessive Congresses. Many chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution have taken part in the endeavor. Re- cently the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution has taken it up with much energy. The Public Build- ings Act of March 3, 1913, authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to make plans for an archive building; but Congress made no appropriation of money for the planning, and without it nothing could be done. The result of thirty-six years of agitation can be summed up by saying that an item of $5,000 for the making of such plans, in the provisional manner in which alone they can be made before a site is selected, is now before the House Committee on Appropriations, as a part of the Sundry Civil Appropriations bill. Its fate will be known in a few days. This result, after thirty-six years of entreaty and appeal along lines of argument which were obvious thirty-six years ago and in thirty-six years have not been confuted, seems somewhat meagre. But I remem- ber that it was about 1616 when one Francis Bacon recommended the estab- lishment of a General Record Office for the kingdom of England and about 1856 when the first section of that building was erected. Two hundred and forty years, for a thing for which that capacious mind foresaw all the convincing argu- ments in 1616! We have still some time. Two hundred and forty years from 1878 would bring us only to 2118 A. D. But can we not beat the English record? Can we not, by keeping public opinion alive on a subject of so much importance from the historical and the governmental points of view, carry this great national under- taking along steadily through the stages of making plans, acquiring a site, and constructing the building, and have an ar- chive to be proud of before we have here a national calamity resembling, but with perhaps larger proportions, the great fire at Albany? President ANDERSON: The Program committee thought it would be interest- ing to have the subject of Dr. Jameson's address discussed very briefly by two members of our Association. I will there- fore call upon the chief of the division of manuscripts in the Library of Congress, Dr. GAILLARD HUNT. Dr. HUNT: I have nothing to add to the paper that does not corroborate from personal knowledge and study what Dr. Jameson says. His paper is what we are accustomed to receive from one who has been aptly termed, "the dean of the his- torical profession in America." I will supplement some of his observa- tions. First, as to the difference in the policy of administration between a gov- ernment archive and a government li- brary, let me remark that while it is true that the problems of arrangement, of classification, of conservation, of catalog- ing are different, nevertheless, a govern- ment library is the only government in- stitution that considers those problems, and there is a family resemblance be- tween them, whether they are applied in a library or an archive repository. I can illustrate this by telling you that the pres- ent arrangement of the archives of the State Department, which was inaugurated when Mr. Root was Secretary of State HUNT 137 and which has proved to be very satisfac- tory, is an adaptation of the Dewey deci- mal system of subjective treatment. Dr. Jameson says that none of the European countries have the archives and the library together. That is a fact, but it is a fact of weakness both in the ad- ministration and to the investigator. Every student who has been to England is aware that he must play shuttlecock be- tween the Public Record Office and the British Museum. He is aware, too, that the British Museum and the Public Record Office are in a measure in competition with each other and not in the fullest cooperation, and that the ideal condition would be to have the manuscripts now de- posited in the Museum and the public archives together, or in such close coor- dination that one would hardly be able to distinguish between them. But this is only a detail. As the cura- tor of the largest collection of historical manuscripts on the hemisphere, I say, Give us a government archive, and we will attend to the cooperation. Let the great fact be accomplished, and whether a gov- ernment archive should absorb the Li- brary of Congress, or the Library of Con- gress should absorb a government archive, can be left to the future to decide. You may be sure that both will proceed in complete coordination and cooperation. Dr. Jameson is correct. There is not in the city of Washington a single govern- ment department that knows what it has in its archives; there is not one that knows what it has not got; there is not one where all the archives are available for historical or administrative purposes. We are about to approach a commem- oration of peace, but war sometimes con- fers favors in unexpected quarters. And the War of 1812 and the invasion of the city of Washington by the British were great boons to some of the curators of gov- ernment archives in Washington. When- ever any archives antedating 1814 cannot be found, blame it on the war of 1812! This has become such a habit that I have known a clerk, when a paper was called for, to reply promptly: "The British de- stroyed it in the war of 1812," when that particular paper was dated in 1815. There are the archives of the House of Repre- sentatives, for example. That institution was sacked by the British while the Sen- ate escaped. The House archives, we have been often told, were destroyed. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I have seen the archives of the House of Representatives, and how on earth the British in 1814 de- stroyed more papers dated in 1815 than in 1813 I do not quite understand! The archives immediately after 1814 are a little bit worse than the archives before 1814. It is not necessary to add a word to what Dr. Jameson has said about the ne- cessity of the preservation of archives for the use of the historian. In speaking to an audience of librarians, that goes with- out saying, as all of you are engaged in the business of conserving the record of knowledge in order that it may serve his- torical purposes. We are all agreed that for historical purposes it is absolutely necessary that the archives should be bet- ter preserved than they are; but from abundance of experience I may say a word about the necessity of the preserva- tion of the archives for administrative purposes. Ours is a popular government and its personnel changes, and every three or four years the head of a depart- ment changes and his chief subordinates are changed. He comes from active po- litical life, active professional life, or ac- tive business life. He never comes from active department life. For him there is the duty of carrying out some broad policy upon which the people have voted. But he is the head of a great machine. Dr. Jameson says that the Treasury Depart- ment is the largest corporation in the United States; but very nearly as large are the Interior Department and the Post- office Department. In fact, we have in Washington the largest corporation in the United States represented by the govern- ment; but the head of each branch of the corporation, in the nature of things, knows little of the machinery over which 138 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE he presides. It is a complicated machin- ery. We who live in Washington know that the government departments have power over individual rights and over pub- lic rights, that is put into effect daily and hourly. The decisions that are made on the innumerable questions that arise are like the decisions of the courts. They follow one another; they depend upon precedent. Those decisions are a part of the records of the departments. They cannot be correctly reached unless the records are available, and all the records are not available. The result is that the decisions of the department are not al- ways correct, that they are sometimes contradictory, and that there is an enor- mous waste of time in going over and over again the ground that has been gone over before, but the record of which is not readily accessible or may be lost. In my ex- perience I have seen it a hundred times the new official treading laboriously the path that has been trodden by one of equal ability with himself in the past and usually reaching the same conclusions, when, if the record had been put before him, he could have saved his time and the continuity or stability of government practice would not have been endangered. More in our government where the head of a department constantly changes, where the head of a bureau constantly changes more than in other governments where there is a governing class, is it necessary that there should be conserva- tion of the record of what has been done before. I was reading the other night Hume's History of England, and I came across this remark: He said that the regret frequently expressed by historical scholars that there was no record of the proceedings of the original Britons was a regret that was uncalled for, because the actions of barbarians are based upon impulse and not upon reason, and really furnish noth- ing of entertainment or instruction to the civilized man. I could not help thinking that the fathers of our country, who have had the management of our government, must have thought that they were barba- rians, and that it was better to destroy a record which contained nothing that would be of profit or of interest to their posterity. Now, one of the faults I have to find with us librarians is that we are prone to look upon a piece of work, because we love it, as an end unto itself. But, as I see it, we discuss a question with a defi- nite object in view. So in discussing Dr. Jameson's paper we must remember that we are not appealing to ourselves, that we are not discussing it for our own pleas- ure, but that we are doing it in order to reach a body of men upon Capitol Hill who have the power to do what we want done. Let us remember that before we are libra- rians we are citizens of the United States, that the present condition of our records is a disgrace to each and all of us, and that we can change it. When Congress sits, a thousand measures press for considera- tion. It takes up those for which the pressure is obvious. There is only one thing necessary for us to do, therefore, and that is to crystallize the belief that is in each and every one of us here to- night, that we need and must have an archive building, into an obvious demand. Embody it into joint action of the whole society, and individual importunity on the part of every member, and success will crown our efforts. President ANDERSON: For a further discussion of Dr. Jameson's paper I have pleasure in calling upon a member of this Association, who is also chairman of the Public Archives Commission of the Amer- ican Historical Association, Mr. VICTOR HUGO PALTSITS. Mr. PALTSITS: We have been reminded of the importance of conserving manu- scripts in order that there might be some better judgment than fire in weeding them out. A few years ago I had the oppor- tunity to speak for some time during a summer vacation with a former speaker of Congress, and our conversation drifted to the accumulation of records in this capital city. He mentioned the fact that from the first census until the census just PALTSITS 139 preceding the time of our conversation there had accumulated great masses of schedules, and that a congressional com- mittee had determined that some of these might be burned in order to make room in the city of Washington. And he said with characteristic English that may not be re- peated in polite society, "Why, you ought to have heard the howl from all over the United States from everybody who has ancestors." Well, I tried to impress upon him the fact that even schedules might have value. It is the business of the Public Archives Commission of the Ameri- can Historical Association to promote a conscience not only here, but throughout the nation a conscience that will respect the muniments of the American people, whether they repose in federal deposi- tories or whether they be in states, coun- ties, cities, towns, boroughs or villages. Dr. Jameson's description of conditions In Washington reminded me of some of the things I have heard with reference to village records stored over barber shops, furniture shops and paint shops, usually associated with the greatest means to con- flagration. We are interested in conser- vation, we are interested in coordination, and here in Washington the problem of coordination rests upon the provision of a national archive building. Why is it that administrative records are so usually neglected, whilst the title deeds, the testa- mentary archives and the records of courts are, I might say, always better kept than any others? In fact, the others may merely exist under similar conditions to those portrayed to us respecting the Treas- ury papers in Washington. It is because there is a bench and a bar active in every community. It is because testamentary papers and title deeds represent money an immediate or apparent asset to the people. Now, with the same spirit of earnest- ness exhibited by the legal profession and by the courts, the body of American historical scholars, the body of American economic scholars, the body of American political scientists and similar national bodies appeal to the conscience of Con- gress for the conservation, for the coor- dination, for the proper administration of the great federal archives. We are not willing, Dr. Jameson, I am sure, to wait for more than two centuries for proper provisions, as the people and our friends of Great Britain waited. Recently in the city of New York dur- ing an examination of various depart- mental records, I found the administra- tion records less cared for than the title records, the testamentary records and the court records. The records of the county clerk of the city and county of New York are mostly in the Hall of Records build- ing, erected at an expense of some $12,- 000,000, I believe. They are on the eighth floor and in the attic above, in the custody of the commissioner of records of the county, and in that jurisdiction there is a fine modern steel equipment for the rec- ords, which consist of those of the old chancery and vice-chancery courts; the now extinct court of oyer and terminer; the court of common pleas; the su- preme court, etc., all records of a legal nature. This steel equipment has cost some $400,000 for this department. In the same building are the records of the surrogates' court, and they have an equipment of their own in modern form, with indexes of all records kept accord- ing to law; and in the same building are the records of the register, filed on roller shelves and in metal cabinets. During the past three years the city and county of New York alone has spent $100,000 each year for the re-indexing bureau of the register's office, to index and coordinate the conveyances and open mortgages of the pieces of property in the original county of New York, and that territory known as the Bronx recently separated from it, upon a block and section system. When we go into our finance department records, Dr. Jameson, we find conditions perhaps a little better than you do in the Treasury Department; yet there are evi- dences of neglect and great disorder. The only way by which we can bring about a 140 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE better system, particularly with regard to the administrative records, and with refer- ence to all the records, is by a united ef- fort of every national or local body inter- ested in culture, in patriotism and in good government, and on behalf of the Ameri- can Library Association, as one of its members, I have the honor to present to the Association a brief resolution, and ask, after it be read, that it be committed to the Council for its consideration. The resolution was here read and by unanimous vote referred with approval to the Council. (For text of resolution see minutes of Council, page 185-6.)' Dr. ANDREWS: Mr. President, in sec- onding Mr. Paltsits' motion for a refer- ence to the Council I should like to cou- ple with it a vote of thanks of the As- sociation to Dr. Jameson for the clear and able manner in which he has presented to us a queston of great national importance. President ANDERSON: I am sure it is only necessary to call for the "ayes" on that motion. There is no subject of more vital in- terest to this country than the Ameri- canization of its immigrants. The next speaker has given this subject a great deal of study. While he was a student at Oxford University, having learned to speak Italian, he spent his summer vaca- tions among the Italian people in their native land, living their daily life and becoming as nearly one of them as an American could. Returning to his own country, he transferred his interest to the Italians who had emigrated to Amer- ica. Through close observation and as- sociation he learned the immigrants' need for practical instruction in the little things of their daily life here. To make a long story short, he found that there were no books in Italian to give the newly arrived immigrant the information he most needed in his daily life in this coun- try. At about the same time the Con- necticut Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution awoke to the need of such a book, and asked Mr. Carr to write it. The result is what is popularly called "The little green book," although a translation of the correct title is "A guide to the United States for the Ita- lian immigrant." Someone has truly called it also, "A guide to the Italian im- migrant." In recognition of his services to Italians in this country the King of Italy about two years ago made Mr. Carr a Chevalier of the Order of the Crown of Italy. "The little green book" proved to be so useful that there sprang up in various parts of the country a demand for a book of the same kind in other lan- guages. So far it has been issued in three languages, Italian, Polish and Yiddish, with variations in each case to suit the particular needs of each nationality. An English translation of the Yiddish edi- tion has also been published, which I would cordially commend to anyone who is interested in the immigrant. The au- thor is director of the Immigrant Publica- tion Society, whose offices are in New York City, and he has some practical ideas on the part played by the library in the Americanization of the immigrant. It gives me great pleasure to introduce Mr. JOHN FOSTER CARR, who will speak to us on "The library and the immigrant." THE LIBRARY AND THE IMMIGRANT The library was long a sort of institu- tional Lord Bacon. All learning was its province. Now its province has become all life first of all, American life and it is already the greatest of our popular universities. It is ever seeking larger powers of usefulness, and striking is its development along simpler and humbler lines. In the new duties that immigration has brought, it is unquestionably meeting the greatest educational problem yet unat- tempted in this country. The Census Bu- reau states the size and significance of that problem when it announces that there are four million foreign-born white men of voting age in the United States, who are not citizens, and two million men and CARR 141 women, either foreign-born or wholly or partly of foreign parentage, who are illit- erates. It is of the very first national impor- tance that the foreign-born who are to re- main among us should be made an effect- ive part of our democracy a vital part of our own people. But how shall they gain quick interest in our collective life, our citizenship, our government? How shall they be given our English and a knowledge of American conditions that will make their daily life easier, improve their working skill and wages, and reduce by one-half as congressional investiga- tion has shown that English does, their liability to industrial accident? The .change for the immigrant in com- ing to America is most often a change from the most primitive agricultural life known on this planet to the most rapid- moving urban life of our western civiliza- tion. Here country is already city, all life is urban and wonderful are the educative forces of our city life. When Firmin Roz, keenest of French publicists, wrote the other year of the mar- vels of the United States, he put in the very forefront of his preface the most as- tounding thing he had found: "There," he said, "the aged and out-worn races of the world repair, cast aside old age like a garment, and renew their youth in Amer- ican life." I believe that if you see the working life of our foreign-born at its nor- mal, all of these toilers seem in marvel- ously rapid process of Americanization. I should like to give you a detailed picture of the swift change. But there are two little stories that I must tell. Some few years ago I had the great pleasure of meeting Archbishop Ireland. He had been interested away back in the 70's in colonizing the people of the tenements of New York and other cities of the East on the prairies of the West. But all of a sudden this very suc- cessful work of his was given up, and I had wondered why. I asked him about it, and he said he had other more impor- tant work to do. Trying to guess a rea- son, I said, "I suppose that you saw then what we understand now, that the Irish and the German are so nearly akin to us that they are rapidly Americanized, but what shall we do with these new peoples that are coming to us from the east of Europe?" I shall never forget how quickly he answered, and with what vehemence he said, "Do nothing, let them breathe this air, let the free winds of America blow over them." And in another quarter I found another instance of that same theory of the mir- acle-working power of American air. I was taking dinner with my friend, Da- vide Schiaffino, a former ship's boatswain, and I was eating a dish of macaroni with garlic sauce, which his wife had tem- pered according to my known taste. And while we were eating the small boy of the family, some four years old, kept interrupting our 'conversation. Finally his father raised his hand and gave him a great clap where it would do the most good, whereat the boy shouted, "Ouch!" His father said to me, "What does that word mean?" And when I had told him it meant the same as "oi-oi" in Italian, he said, "That little fellow is a regular American." "And," he added, "I do not know where he gets it. His mother will not let him go out because on the streets he will only learn bad words and bad things, and he never sees any other boys." And then he said in his rattling Genoese: "By the way, did you notice how he doubled up his hands into fists to strike with? No Italian boy would do that. He is a regular little American. Sometimes I think it comes in at the win- dow." But rapid as the process is, they are often in close touch with the worst and not the best side of our civilization; they often become more or less one of the class of which economically they happen to form part. How often you will find a man of good foreign education speaking an English marked with the accent of our tenements an accent that is but type of a vital thing! They too often lose the 142 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE restraints and ideals of the old world and find nothing to replace them. What of the material of our immigra- tion? Doing ever simpler and simpler work, more and more widely do you reach those nearly on the minimum line of ed- ucation. You will soon have books for illiterates. What then of illiteracy? I see no menace. The facts lead me to opti- mism. There is, first, something hopeful in the fact of statistics that at present the highest percentage of illiteracy in ad- mitted immigrants goes with the lowest percentage of deportations. In other words, illiteracy does not show any discov- erable connection with other undesirable qualities, and illiteracy is not difficult of cure. I commend to your attention one of the most interesting government documents I have ever seen, a bulletin issued by the Bureau of Education on illiteracy in the United States. That bulletin contains a story, that can be called no less than thrilling, of the elimination of illiteracy in Rowan county, Kentucky, by a Mrs. Stevens, who in 1911 happened to be elected county school superintendent. At the beginning of her work in that year she found in Rowan county 1,152 illit- erates. She started moonlight schools and she started them in a popular and in an efficient way. At the end of two years there were twenty-three illiterates left in the whole county, and it is interesting to learn the detail of the twenty-three. Six were invalids, six had defective eyes, five were idiots, two had recently come into the county, and four were put down as plain "stubborn." We should know more of the mental fiber of some of these illiterates. There is a woman in New York, a laundress of my acquaintance, who is an illiterate. She has some thirty customers, and washes every week many hundred articles of clothing. Yet she never makes a mistake in assigning the proper garment to the proper customer, and, more remarkable, she never makes a mistake in her bills. And there comes also before me the figure of my friend Ferrari. Ferrari is entirely an illiterate. He has a large second-hand furniture business. He has, so his neighbors say, a fortune of $100,- 000 laid aside, wisely invested in six city houses. Ferrari, by the way, happens to be a very shrewd critic, as I thought one day, of our education. He said, "Yes, I am sorry that I cannot read or write, but 1 know numbers, and I never make any mistakes in adding, or forget accounts. Sometimes I hear educated people talk, and they seem to me to talk a great deal of foolishness, but there is one point where I always have them at a disadvan- tage. When they are talking they think of a great many things, and I only think of one thing." In this great work of education, a prob- lem of many sides, partly solved these last years by the wonderful new educative forces, the hard drill of our industrial life, the library has a far greater opportunity than the school. Friendly and helpful, its aid is more inviting and less formal. It makes less strenuous demand upon the at- tention of a man who is often very tired after a long day's work. It welcomes those who think themselves too old for school. It is open throughout the year, where the night school at most is open only seven months of the year. It can furnish papers and books in the immi- grant's own language and thus provide a familiar and homely air. A common meet- ing ground with Americans, it gives him a sense of joint right and ownership with us in the best things of our country, and this with no suggestion of patronizing in- terest. The librarian, at least, publicly urges no offensive theory of the immi- grant's need of civilization and moral up- lift. "Sir," was the complaint of an Ital- ian workingman, "these investigators are as smoke in our eyes." But neither curi- ous nor officious, full of good will and usefulness, the librarian's power of help is boundless. Best of all, I think, the library can put the immigrant in effective touch with American democracy and American ideals, and so, better than any CARR 143 other agency, destroy the impression of heartless commercialism that many of our immigrants, in their colonies, continually assert is the main characteristic of our civilization. Work for our immigrants is not wholly a new thing in American libraries. It dates back many years; but it is new in the extent of its present enterprise and interest. Its progress has never been without opposition. Many have insisted that the immigrant should have no books in his own tongue. Many have wished him to forget everything he was or thought before coming to America, and they have been jealous of foreign lan- guages, insisting on English. We have a theory of American blood that is a fiction of tradition that it runs in the line of Anglo-Saxon blood. But we forget our origins, that 250 years ago six- teen languages were spoken in New York, that in the Revolution men of every race and nation fought side by side for an ideal and a country that belonged equally to every one of them. We are not, and we never were, of one blood. A waiter in an Italian workingman's restaurant one night in my hearing gave this opinion of what it is to be an American. He said: "Amer- icans are not like us Italians, or you Frenchmen (pointing to a Frenchman there), men of one blood. They are a so- ciety of people who think alike." If the immigrant is to think alike with us, if he is to be a good American, we must give him some sufficient reason for respecting and loving our land. And how better than through the library can this country of ours be made alluring, ac- cepted in love? Alluring certainly is the library's invitation to personal progress and self-betterment, and in its friendly room are an American environment and the atmosphere of our spoken English. It is the unvarying experience of li- brarians that every attempt made in open- ing the libraries to our recent immigrants has had large and unexpected success. Providence reports that the hunger for books among the foreign-born is keen and universal. Boston, welcoming the un- skilled laborer as well as the cultured stu- dent of the classics, has had striking progress in these new efforts the last three or four years, and incidentally has discov- ered eloquent testimony to the ambition in the homes of these workers that the "children of foreign-born parents read a better class of books than their American brothers and sisters." A Brooklyn branch lets it be known that men coming from work with their dinner pails are welcome. And at once the library reaches a point and has success of service before un- known. An evening paper of the cheaper sort publishes an editorial in praise of Buckle's History of Civilization, and be- fore six o'clock the same night another Brooklyn library in the heart of a colony of foreign-born has given out its two copies of Buckle, and filed six reserve cards. It was a workingman; grimy from the shops, who returned Hamerton's In- tellectual Life to the librarian in a Mas- sachusetts town, with "That's what I call a good book." The result of broad and aggressive work in the New York public library has had an instant return. During 1913, as the report records, the circulation of Italian books increased by nearly ten thousand a remarkable growth when a moment's calculation shows you that it amounts to nearly twenty-seven per cent, falling less than four per cent behind the Yiddish, read by the most eager frequenters of our libraries. And here another significant matter may be learned, useful for quoting to those who think the dominance of our English threatened by the foreign lan- guages. In this same report the large total is set down of the circulation of German books by far the largest circulation for books in foreign tongues. Yet, figuring again, it appears that for all the new in- ducements and attractions of the library, the annual gain had barely passed one- half of one per cent. The community life of our foreign col- onies rapidly passes. Its picturesqueness 144 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE and foreign customs vanish, its theaters and festivals. Representing our earlier immigration the plays of Harrigan have gone with German tragedy and comedy, gone, too, the German and Irish comedians of the old variety stage, gone with the generation that could understand their fun. Even the Italians' picturesqueness is on the wane. Their street pageants are not what they were. The music of the col- ony dies Tannenbaum and Wearing of the Green. And in spite of every effort its speech is lost. It is surprising how quickly a language is lost. I heard the other day a story of the Italian editor of one of the most im- portant Italian papers in the United States. I perhaps should fairly character- ize that paper by saying that its spirit is if not anti-American, at least very ag- gressively pro-Italian, very strong on the side of the Italian language, its sanc- tity, purity and beauty. This gentleman was involved in a libel suit which took him to Rome, where his case has recently been tried. The papers adverse to him have reported with great glee how dur- ing the course of that trial the judge turned to him and said, "Sir, will you have the kindness to speak in Italian, because as it is, it is impossible for us to under- 1 stand you." But we were talking of the reading of German books. The generation of the great mass of our German immigrants is, of course, rapidly passing so rapidly that by the last census, in spite of an immigra- tion of 700,000 for the decade, our total German-born population decreased by over 300,000. This goes far to explain a sta- tionary circulation. But it is also clear that these same people, the most literate, and the most tenacious of their national culture of all our earlier immigrants, have come so far into the practice of the Eng- lish language, forgetting their own, that further increase of German readers in our libraries is hardly to be looked for. It is plain that the menace to us is the com- plete disappearance of the foreign lan- guages now current. For his own use and self-respect the immigrant should be en- couraged not to forget his origins. We should no more be jealous of Italian or Jewish or Polish societies than we are of St. Andrew, or St. Nicholas, St. George or Holland societies. It is important for the immigrant to learn English more rapidly, and the li- brary can greatly help in this. It is also important that the knowledge of foreign languages should be seriously cultivated among us. It could now easily be made a national accomplishment, as it is in many countries of the continent. Our great cosmopolitan nation should be in direct and immediate touch with the science and social progress and literature of other great nations. We should plant in this vigorous soil of ours their love and understanding of art and music. Here again the library should greatly serve us. But such results as those attained in New York with the foreign-born only come as the consequence of hard and earnest work. There are difficulties a- plenty in the way. Our foreign-born work- ing men and women oftentimes know nothing even of the existence of the li- brary, or they have a strange fear to en- ter, and need much persuasion before they can believe that they will be welcome visi- tors in such splendid buildings. Often, too, they seem to fear that the library may be connected with a church that is trying to proselytize them, or that some advantage may be taken of them. They need to learn that the library, like the school, is non-sectarian and non-political; that it is the property of the public, and that full privilege of it belongs to every man and woman and reading child. For this reason their priests and rabbis make the librarians' most helpful friends. Once the immigrant workman is persuaded to enter the library, he needs immediate per- sonal attention. He needs to have the different rooms of the library in some way explained, the few simple rules given him to read in his own language. Index cards are impossible to him. The open shelf is generally almost useless. He knows CARR 145 little or nothing of the proper use of books; often he has never even handled one. He requires the librarian's aid in the mysteries of selecting and register- ing books. In short, he requires much painstaking individual help. But how bring the immigrant to the library? In a number of places, very am- bitiously, lists have been made, classified by nationalities, of all the foreign-born families living within the radius served by the library; and to each family an attract- ive postal card notice has been sent. But in many of our cities such work would be an almost impossible task. In such cases, and generally, very effective publicity has been found in the distribution of cards and leaflets bearing lists of appealing books. These have been sent to the mul- titude of national societies and clubs of various kinds that exist, as well as to drug, stationery and grocery stores, to the rooms of trade unions and to factories. Many librarians are regularly sending boxes of books to such very practical dis- tributing centers. And public schools, night schools, parochial schools are being pressed more and more widely into the service, and the teachers' help very effect- ively claimed. In some of the New York branches rooms have been assigned for the use of literary and historical societies, and here meetings with music have been held for the discussion of literature, history, folk- lore and social questions. By one admir- able and popular plan a special visit is invited of a group of men and women of the same nationality. The librarian re- ceives them and one of their own coun- trymen explains in their native tongue the privileges of the library. Most of our foreign friends are used to being read to, and an adaptation of the story hour has brought excellent results. It has proved fruitful in the independent and more care- ful reading of books, and has sometimes directly opened the way to the formation of library clubs. In New York, also, lessons in English have been given, the library itself often supplying the textbooks needed. This has promptly caused a greater demand for simple books in English. Librarians report that every effort such as these de- scribed not only increases membership and revives the use of cards that had fallen into disuse, but gives a profitable opportunity for intensive study of the neighborhood. Successful experiments of great variety have been made in providing evening en- tertainments organized directly by the li- brary. These have included simple lec- tures, often illustrated by the stereopticon. Very popular among these lectures have been those on the agricultural opportuni- ties of our country. No greater service can be rendered either to the country or to the immigrant than the agricultural distribution of peo- ple who really wish to go , back to the soil. It is astonishing how wide is the gulf that exists between our industrial life and our agricultural life, so wide that these people rarely come to know anything of our farms or of American farming life and its opportunities. Some- times I have thought if they have any concept at all of even the geographical greatness of this country they must think that this continent of 3,000 miles is cov- ered with one unending line of tenements. For one day I saw an Italian woman look- ing at some roses in the window of a florist in Bleecker street, and as I came up beside her she turned in a friendly way and smiled at me, and said in Italian, "How very beautiful they are." "But," she added, "they must be very expensive." I said, "Oh no, why do you think they are expensive?" "Why," she said, "because they have to bring them all the way from Italy, you know. No roses grow in this country." There have been addresses by men, often leading men, of different nationali- ties to those of their own speech; musical entertainments, vocal and instrumental; dramatic recitations, with national music on the phonograph; exhibitions of photo- 146 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE graphs of Italian art and lace. As many mothers have children too young to leave alone, there Is the suggestive instance of the library at Mount Vernon, that has in- vited parents to bring their little ones to the children's room, where they were separately entertained. Emphatically it is a work that is fast growing, spreading usefully over the country. Two instances I wish to cite. One, the humblest, of a little workingman's library that was started in an Altoona kitchen in 1912, a library that started with ten books In a soap box. I was told that when these foreign-born workingmen first came they did not always take off their hats as they entered the kitchen, and their faces and hands were not always clean. But there was a rapid improve- ment in those respects, and at the end of two years that little library has grown to have 560 books, distributed among six branches, with a circulation of 300 books weekly. Then take the most ambitious instance. To develop this work efficiently within the borders of the state, Massachusetts through its free public library commis- sion Is carefully organizing effort, learn- ing the exact location of the foreign col- onies, their nationalities and library facil- ities. The active interest of the leaders of the various groups has been secured; and with the help of a traveling secretary specially provided by the new law to take up this educational work, the results achieved within a single year have been so very promising that it is hoped these efforts may be greatly extended. And where one state has so practically led the way, others must soon follow. All this reveals the broad field of serv- ice now opening to our libraries. It is a field in which we need the help of every- one who believes in what we are doing. Some of our immigrants are Americans by right of the spirit, if not of birth. I will tell you of one: He was a little wizened, squint-eyed, old man. He told me one day he came to America because of Lincoln, and I asked him how that was. He said he was born on the shores of the sea of Azof, and that as a boy he heard this story of Tolstoi: That Tolstoi was once traveling in the Caucasus, and having the opportunity to speak, and being very fond of speaking v he spoke to a Tartar tribe through an in- terpreter. He was at that time very much interested in Napoleon. So he spoke ol Napoleon and other great war captains. When he had finished the Tartar chieftain said, "Now, will you be good enough to tell my children of a man who was far greater than any of these men, of a man who was so great that he could even forgive his enemies?" When Tolstoi asked him who that was he said, "Abraham Lincoln." So this man came to America, and be- side his telephone in his little shop in New York, there are the two great speeches pasted on the wall, and very old and grimy they are. I asked him about that. "Oh," he said, "I learned them quick. But when I am waiting for a telephone call I let my eye go over them, and you know I always find some- thing new and something fine. It is like a man who looks into one point of the heavens all the time, he ends by discover- ing a new star." Our foreigners are not all like my Rus- sian friend, and yet for all, slowly or rapidly, their life merges with ours. We are apt to forget that a man be- comes an American, that his blood be- comes American when the judge signs his second citizenship paper. Whether he becomes a good American or a bad Amer- ican depends in some measure upon our- selves. The great virtues and ideals that we are fond of thinking characteristically our own are often equally the national ideals of other lands. The Pole has a wonderful tradition and a land, yet like the Jew is without a country. Patrie or Vaterland, it is the same. Italy, too, has its great cult of patriotism, that sum of all noble national qualities that it calls Italianitd. But Italianitd and American- ism are hard to distinguish in a moral CLAXTON 147 definition. And if we find in America some special glory and leading, even some tang of the air, that no other land could give, we may be sure that our nation, for all the races of our origin, will never be- come great on its cosmopolitan plan, un- less we respect and nourish the culture and all the precious heritage of the cen- turies, developed by other countries at such heavy sacrifice and brought us, sometimes humbly and Indirectly, by the millions of our immigrants. President ANDERSON: The subject of libraries for rural communities has al- ways interested the members of this As- sociation, and we feel that we are this evening to have the subject elucidated from a new point of view which will be both helpful and instructive. The United States Commissioner of Education hardly needs a formal introduction to this body. However, it gives me great pleasure to present to you Dr. P. P. CLAXTON. LIBRARIES FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES The duties of the Bureau of Education and of the Commissioner of Education of the United States are to make such in- vestigations and give such information to the people of the United States as will assist them in establishing and maintaining better schools and school systems, and otherwise to assist in promoting education among the people. The library and the li- brarian are helpful in both, and without the help of these neither can be done very successfully. The school is not the only agency of ed- ucation, nor is it the only agency supple- mentary to the home. In the United States children attend school on an aver- age of 5,000 hours; children in country communities attend school probably about 4,000 hours. Between birth and the age of 21 there are 184,000 and some odd hours in the life of a child. If children sleep an average of 10 hours a day, prob- ably enough, approximately 109,000 wak- ing hours remain between birth and 21, 5,000 hours in school (for country children 4,000 hours), and more than 100,000 wak- ing hours out of school, less than 5 per cent of the conscious waking life of the child in school. If we represent the life of the child from birth to 21 by an oblong surface of 184 units, 109 of these units then represent the conscious waking life of the child and 5 of the units repre- sent the school life of the average Ameri- can child. Four of the units represent the school life of the average country child. This helps us to realize the very small part which school life is of the total life of the child. The child in the city of Washington who attends school every hour that school is in ses- sion is in school only 900 hours in the year. There are 8,760 hours in the year; the children of Washington who attend regularly and promptly are in school 900 hours and out of school 7,860 "hours; 8,760 and 7,860 sound so nearly alike that one can hardly tell the difference. Only a small part of the education of any individual is obtained in school. The home was the primitive institution of ed- ucation; then came the church, the school, and the other supplementary agencies, among them the library. The teacher in the school deals with a small group of subjects in a narrow and formal way. Ac- cording to the American method lessons are learned and said from textbooks, and textbooks are not books in the best sense. Neither is the teacher in the school a teacher in the highest and best sense. All teachers may be divided into two classes. This division into two classes may indeed be made in several ways. First, there are teachers made of clay, and teachers who have had the breath of life breathed into them. Every superintendent of schools knows teachers of both classes. In one room he finds a teacher made of clay, whom he goes up against with a dull thud and who sticks worse than Uncle Remus's Tar-Baby. In another room he finds a teach- er whose soul is on fire. She has had the breath of life breathed into her. Instead of the thud, there is resilience. But there 148 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE is a more important division still. This division is into first-hand teachers and second-hand teachers. The first-hand teachers are those whom I like to call the kings and priests to God and humanity. They are those who out of the exhaustless quarry of the unknown bring to the sur- face and give definite shape to some new block; those who listen to and interpret the still small voices; those who gain at first hand a clearer vision and stronger grasp of the eternal verities than most of us are capable of; those who stand on the mountain tops and catch the glow of the ever-dawning new day; those who, a lit- tle more finely organized than most of us, are able to feel the heart-throb and pulse-beat of the world and of humanity; those clear-sighted individuals who can see a little deeper into nature and human life than the rest of us and who by direct- Ing our gaze teach us to see more than we otherwise would; those who serve as the mouthpieces for civilizations, races, and nationalities. You have heard of the man who said he liked to talk to himself for two good reasons; first he liked to hear a wise man talk, and second he liked to talk to a wise man; both conditions were fulfilled when he held converse with him- self. The world is much like this man. It has little time to listen to you or to me, or to most of us, but occasionally this wise old world has something to say and is filled with the desire to reveal itself to it- self, and then it chooses as its spokesman a man of the kind I have described, an orig- inal teacher, a first-hand teacher. It may be a Homer, voicing all the best of the civilization and philosophy, the art and the idealism of the Greeks before they were fully developed and before the Greeks themselves had become generally conscious of themselves; or it may be a Dante, voice of fourteen dumb centuries; or a Shakespeare, revealing Europe to itself; or a Goethe, by divine right poet of the universe and prophet of the ages that are to come; or it may be one of smaller caliber, but of the same race with these. Men like these the world chooses when it has something worth while to say, and then it is willing to stop and listen. These men have usually obeyed, in some degree at least, the in- junction of Carlyle, and in God's name have expressed whatever thought or in- finitesimal part of a thought they have had to express. Those who have had any- thing to say have said it and recorded it in some more or less permanent form. Through the ages the sifting process goes on, the wheat is sifted from the chaff, and the chaff is burned with fire unquench- able. This sifted grain, these treasured records in books, form the real wealth of the world, and it is in the keeping of the libraries and librarians. We school-teachers belong to the class of second-hand teachers. We have little of our own to teach. We are not the dis- coverers of new truth. We bring up lit- tle or nothing from the great quarry of the unknown. We seldom even give def- inite form to any unhewn block. We do not push back the walls of cosmic dark- ness. We gain little new insight into life and nature. The still small voices make few original revelations of the eternal ver- ities through us. The world does not hold communion with itself through us. We do not stand at the altars of life and na- ture as kings and priests to God and hu- manity. Even if for a moment we stand on the mountain tops, we do not catch the springing light of the new day, but the fading light of the day that is gone. We are peddlers, purveyors of knowledge, distributing to those who are willing to buy, and trying to persuade, cajole, or force those who will not. The school- teacher can therefore do nothing better than to introduce children to the first- hand teachers, the teachers of the world to whom we all go to school, so that when school days are over all too early for most children they may continue under the tuition of these first-hand teachers in the larger school of life. The best work school-teachers can do, therefore, is not in putting children CLAXTON 149 through the courses in arithmetic, geog- raphy, history, or any of the textbooks, but in introducing them to good books and helping them to acquire a taste for good literature and to form the habit of reading that which is most worth while. Boys and girls leaving school at fifteen may soon forget most of the lessons and sub- jects learned in school, but, if having learned to love good books and to hun- ger and thirst for them, and having gained the right habits of reading them, they continue to read at the rate of one-half dozen good books a year, they will by the time they are men and women forty years old have read not less than 150 good books. One who has with open mind read with appreciation 150 good books can hardly be ignorant and boorish or uneducated. The windows of his soul will be open to all the v/inds that blow. He will welcome the light from whatever source. To such in- dividuals or to a community of such in- dividuals one may appeal with the hope of generous response for whatever may be for their own good or for the good of the state, the nation, or the world. But the love of books and the habit of reading formed in school demand the pub- lic library; therefore one of the most im- portant educational movements of the last quarter of a century has been the devel- opment of the public library. It is just twenty-five years since the opening of the first Carnegie library, and library develop- ment has been greater in this country with- in this time than in all the years before. You know what the library was a quarter of a century ago. In most cities and towns, except the largest, if there were libraries at all, they were supported by the sub- scription fees of those who used them, or they belonged to clubs of some kind. Li- brarians were only curators of books, their chief duty to guard their books against loss and against the wear of use. Public libraries supported by adequate endow- ments or by public taxation, and open for the use of the people, were few. Library buildings were seen in only a few cities. These twenty-five years have seen the club and society libraries under the watchful and jealous guardianship of their curators give place to the public libraries adminis- tered by their corps of expert librarians, whose highest duty it is to foster and ex- tend intelligent use of the books in their li- braries. Most cities of 25,000 inhabitants or more, and many that are smaller, now have public libraries, many of them housed in buildings like unto kings' palaces. Prob- ably most of these bear somewhere a legend which reminds one that Mr. Car- negie, who I think may very properly be called the lord of the library, contributed to their erection. But many such build- ings have been paid for out of funds do- nated by men and women less well-known, and some have been paid for out of funds derived from public taxation, from which last source comes the fund for the up-keep of nearly all. There are librarians here tonight who have served in one place twen- ty-five years. Within these years the work of the librarian has become a profession. The science and art of it are now taught in school and college. Hundreds of millions of dollars have gone into library buildings. Tens of mil- lions of dollars are given annually for the support of libraries. Something has been done for school libraries in several of the states, but with it all, two-thirds of the people of the United States are still with- out access to any adequate collection of books. In 2,200 counties there is no li- brary that has as many as 5,000 books. This means what? It means that people of many suburban communities, of most small towns, of almost all villages, and 90 per cent or more of the people living in the open country have no access to any adequate collection of books. The time has come for a careful inventory of what has been done and of the much larger work that remains to be done, then to plan for this larger work, which must not be longer postponed. Without unneces- sary delay we must provide books and all of the expert help of a trained librarian for all the people of all 150 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE the states and territories and posses- sions of the United States, whether they live in city, town, village, or open coun- try. If time permitted I would like to say a few words in emphasis of the importance of providing books for people living in the open country and villages under rural con- ditions. For many reasons these people have more time for reading than city peo- ple, and will read the best books, of the best type, with more appreciation and profit. They read less for time-killing or mere entertainment, and more for informa- tion and inspiration. Their close and fa- miliar contact with nature and the simple fundamental things of life gives them greater power of interpretation for the great literature of nature and life than city- bred people are like to have, and their time for reading comes in larger sections and with less interruption. I have been a country boy myself and have lived in the backwoods, three miles from the cross- roads store and the blacksmith shop. I know the long rainy Sundays, the long succession of rainy days during the wet spells of the crop-growing season, the long snowy days of winter, and the long win- ter evenings with nowhere to go less than a dozen miles away, and the shut-in feeling. Under such circumstances a book becomes a close companion, closer than in the city, where one must hold the at- tention against a thousand tempting dis- tractions. It is also true that the laboring people in the cities may obtain comparatively larger results from the use of the public library than do the people of the wealth- ier classes, who have more leisure and more of what we call education. Dr. Davidson of Columbia University found this to be true of his evening classes in philosophy on the east side in New York. Those who have spoken to audiences in Cooper Union and other similar places have had an opportunity to see something of the intelligence of these people and the eagerness with which they discuss most important questions. To understand literature, which is the expression of life, one must have rich and varied life experiences. Such experiences at first hand people in the streets and those employed in the industries have. These people deal with the great forces of na- ture. They know at first hand the bare facts and the seamy sides of trade, of life, and of the democratic society of the mul- titude. People who live in the country under free skies; who roam the forests; who swim the streams, or wander up and down their banks; who know the sea- shore; who work in the fields, tilling the soil, sowing, cultivating, and harvesting the various crops; who deal with animals and know their habits; who are familiar with the phenomena of nature and of life, and who must work in harmony with the laws of nature and life or die, gain experi- ences that enable them to interpret the great fundamental literature of the world better than those who have not had such experiences. How may we bring books to these peo- ple of the suburban communities, small towns, villages, and the open country? The following plan is, I believe, entirely practicable, and through it we may in ten or fifteen years accomplish this task fully. Every city library should at once be open not only to the people living within the corporate limits of the city, but to all the people of the suburbs and of the country districts of the county in which the city is located. If there be more than one city having a library in a county, the proper division of country districts can easily be made. Branch libraries should be established in the smaller towns and villages and at the more important cross- roads places, and the schools made to serve as distributing centers. In addi- tion to funds for up-keep from endowment and from moneys collected by city taxa- tion, there should be taxes for this pur- pose levied on all the property of the county. To bring about such an arrange- ment ought not to be difficult. The people of the city should welcome the increase of funds made possible by county taxes. The CLAXTON 151 people of the country should be glad to get the use of the larger collections of books in the cities, much larger than they would be able to obtain for themselves, ex- cept at the cost of very burdensome tax- ation. In this way the opportunities of the public library might be extended to all the people of 800 counties or more. In the remaining 2,200 counties we should establish central libraries at the county seat, where the county courthouse is, where the roads converge trolley lines sometimes, railroads frequently, country roads always and to which the people come to transact their legal business and to trade. This central library should be housed in a suitable building, of a good style of architecture, and should of course have a staff of expert librarians. There are few counties in the United States in which there are not several men and women of wealth sufficient to enable any one of them to give twenty, thirty, forty or fifty thousand dollars as much as may be needed for a central library building. Many poor rural counties have sons who live and have grown rich elsewhere, and who in their old age find their minds re- verting to the days and scenes of their childhood. These might easily be induced to send some of their money after their thoughts and affections, and thus bring richer opportunities to their relatives and childhood friends and to the children of these and their children's children for many generations. We all know of in- stances in which something like this has been done. Mr. Groves, of chill-tonic fame, now living in St. Louis, was born in a country community in a rural Ten- nessee county. Within a few years he has given a quarter of a million dollars for a county high school in that county. He paid for a large, beautiful site and gave an endowment sufficient to enable the county with reasonable taxation to make a school of the best type. A splendid building was erected at the cost of the county, including the town at the county seat, on the borders of which the school is located. The county levies a tax to supplement the income from the endow- ment. This man could no doubt be per- suaded to give money in a similar way for a library for the county. A dozen years ago Mr. Sanford Brumback, a banker and business man living in the town of Van Wert, in Van Wert county, Ohio, gave a sum of money which after his death his children increased to $50,000, to be used in erecting a public library building for the county. The city gave the site in one of its beautiful wooded parks. The build- ing was erected. The library association iu the town gave its collection of books. The county levied a tax, which amounts to something like $7,500 a year, for the pur- chase of new books, to pay its librarians, and for general up-keep. The county now has a good library, large enough for the needs of the people of the city and county alike. Nearly twenty branches are main- tained in different parts of the county and most of the public schools of the county serve as distributing and collecting points. Every boy and girl, every man and woman in the county thus has access to a good collection of books. In this way or other- wise seventy or more cotfnties in the United States now supply books to all their people. In some cases the buildings have been erected at public expense. I think it probable that Mr. Carnegie, who has given so generously for city and college li- braries, would give just as liberally for county libraries, to be established and maintained in the way I have suggested. I am so much interested in this that I have made it a part of the work of the Bureau of Education's specialists in rural education to study the problem and to make sentiment for the libraries wher- ever they may go. I hope the time may soon come when the Bureau may have a group of able men and women who can give all of their time to this work. It is impossible to estimate the good that would come from having central libraries at the county seats and branch libraries in the smaller towns and villages, and the schools serving as distributing points^ in every county in the Union. It would add 152 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE immensely to the value and effectiveness of our systems of public education. All the buildings needed could be erected for from seventy-five million to one hundred million dollars. Probably thirty millions a year would be ample for up-keep. What are these amounts to the people of the United States? A hundred million dol- lars would pay our army and navy bills for something like four months; it would pay our pension bill for seven months; and other bills not so important as these it would pay for a whole month. It is not so much a question of means as it is a question of whether or not we will un- dertake it with determination to carry it through. If we should undertake this, the cost might be reduced and the effectiveness of the libraries increased by supplementing the county libraries of a state with a state library, in which should be kept, in sets of from five to twenty, costly books on spe- cial subjects which might be called for oc- casionally at any library, but which the county libraries could not afford to own. These collections in the state libraries would supplement the collections in the county libraries, any one of which might order any of these books from the state library at any time. The parcel-post service, extended so as to include the transportation of books, would thus bring the larger state libraries with their collec- tions of these less-used books to every county, every city, and finally to the doors of every citizen of every county. I should like to know if you approve this plan, and to believe, as I do, that if you approve, you, the librarians of the country, the teachers and school officers, and we, the members of the United States Bureau of Education, may soon begin working heartily and continue persist- ently at this task until it is done. We must within this generation bring the benefits of the well-equipped, well-man- aged library to all the people, regardless of conditions and place of residence. THIRD GENERAL SESSION (Wednesday evening, May 27, Continental Memorial Hall) President ANDERSON: The first thing on the program for this evening is busi- ness. Is there any business to come be- fore the Association before we proceed with the program? Miss AHERN: There has been much discussion concerning some of the pro- visions of the present constitution, which do not meet the approval of many mem- bers of the Association. Believing that a full and free discussion of those things by those with power to act is better than side discussions on the part of those un- willing to take parliamentary action, I wish to record my desire to make certain changes in Section 14 of the constitution for the following reasons: The Council as at present constituted is not a deliberative body for the reason that the membership is too large. To be a de- liberative body it ought to have some per- manency of membership, and at the same time be small enough to concentrate on the work in hand so that it may repre- sent the consensus of opinion of the en- tire Council instead of a committee of that body. The ex-presidents would ren- der a sufficiently large number of per- manent members. These, with the Execu- tive Board and the representatives of the affiliated associations, would seem to be a better number than the present. Referring to Section 22: We hear on all sides that there are too many meet- ings and in too many libraries the same people represent their libraries at every meeting, both large and small. A remedy that would be somewhat helpful would be to change Section 22, which provides for an annual meeting of the A. L. A., to a provision for a biennial meeting of the Association. The question of membership privileges and advantages is obscured by the pres- ent wording of Section 3A of the by-laws, which says: AHERN 153 "The privileges and advantages of the A. L. A. conferences shall be available only to those holding personal member- ship or representing institutional mem- bership in the Association or to members of other affiliated societies." Does membership in an affiliated society, paying perhaps lOc a member, cover mem- bership in the A. L. A. for such members of the affiliated society, or is it necessary also to pay annual dues in addition to the dues for affiliation? In other words, what constitutes privileges and advantages of the A. L. A. conferences? The an- swer is not plain as the by-law now reads. The Association ought not to be pre- vented either by precedent or personal feeling from securing officers for the As- sociation whose service at the time would be to the advantage of the Association and the advancement of the library cause. The constitution provides that vacancies in the Executive Board shall be filled by appointment of the Executive Board. It is possible, if it has not actually hap- pened, that the majority of the member- ship of the Executive Board might be. ap- pointed by itself. For these two primary reasons, and for others which might be mentioned, I would suggest that a by-law be passed, provid- ing that one already a member of the Executive Board, either by election or by appointment, shall be ineligible to fill an- other position by appointment or election in the Executive Board. In other words, that at least a year shall intervene be- tween times of holding office of all elected officers, as is the case now with members of the Council. Therefore, Mr. President, I move that a committee of five be appointed by the Executive Board to consider the advisa- bility of making such changes as may seem advisable and to report these changes at the first meeting of the Coun- cil in the coming year. Mr. GARDNER M. JONES: I second the motion. I do not agree to all the changes Miss Ahern has suggested, but I think there is a feeling existing among many members on some of these points, and perhaps others ought to be changed. President ANDERSON: Are there any further remarks on Miss Ahern's motion? You understand her motion merely calls for the appointment by the incoming Executive Board of a committee of five to consider these questions and report to the Council at its mid-winter meeting. There being no further discussion, the president put the motion and it was car- ried. President ANDERSON: Some three years ago the son of S. Hastings Grant, secretary of the library conference which was held in 1853, presented to this As- sociation a lot of documents which he had found among his father's papers per- taining to that first meeting of librarians in this country, of which Charles C. Jew- ett, at that time the librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, was president and Mr. S. Hastings Grant, of the New York mercantile library, was secretary. The son, Mr. Arthur Hastings Grant, who is with us this evening, wishes to present to the Association the original ros- ter of the members in attendance at that meeting. The documents which he pre- sented to us before are carefully mounted and bound in a scrapbook kept at the headquarters at Chicago, and this is to go with them. I take pleasure in introducing Mr. Grant. Mr. GRANT: Mr. President, and ladies and gentlemen of the American Library Association: I do not know that all of you realize that the 1853 convention was the first official meeting of librarians that was ever held in the world, and is there- fore the father of this gathering and of the gatherings of this Association that have preceded it. When my sister and I presented to the Association the corre- spondence and other papers of my father relating to the calling of this first meet- ing, the members of which were drawn from the United States all the way from Maine to New Orleans and from this city to St. Louis, we thought that we had given all there was of interest. But the other 154 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE day we discovered that what we had taken to be merely a blank book was in reality the authentic record book of the attend- ance of that first convention, the men having signed as they arrived in the hall, indicating the libraries they represented and, in many cases, the hotel at which they were stopping. Therefore, you see before you the actual record of the mem- bers of that first convention of librarians, of which this gathering is a descendant. Mr. President, on behalf of my sister and myself, I desire to present to this Association this document. (Mr. Grant hands the book to the president.) President ANDERSON: I need hardly say to Mr. Grant that I feel that I am authorized by you to accept this with our grateful thanks. It will be preserved in the archives of the Association at its headquarters in Chicago. President ANDERSON: I have asked the First Vice-President of the Associa- tion, Mr. Killer C. Wellman, of Spring- field, Massachusetts, to preside over this meeting, and he has very kindly con- sented. It gives me very great pleasure to turn over the gavel to Mr. Wellman, who will now have the responsibility of this session on his shoulders. (First Vice-President Wellman takes the chair.) Vice-President WELLMAN: So rapid has been the progress of the library move- ment in recent years that I have heard some unkind critics say that librarians were content to be moving without al- ways knowing whither. I will not un- dertake to say whether there is any truth in that contention, but I want to reas- sure you. If there is any basis for such a grievous charge, it will be removed to- night; for we are to have the pleasure of listening to a paper on "The present trend" by a keen observer as well as an active participant, Mr. CHARLES KNOWLES BOLTON, librarian of the Boston Athenaeum. THE PRESENT TREND Sometimes a seer who looks down the corridors of time into the future finds that he is merely looking at a mirror and is seeing the path he himself has trod; and, after all, perhaps we all have to look at past history in order to get some concep- tion of what the future may bring. Now, the path that we have trod covers, I should say roughly, about seventy years, from the date when George Ticknor, scholar and aristocrat, sounded, as the politicians say, the keynote of our present public li- braries campaign. As you may remem- ber, he said that his ideal of the public library was not only to have books for culture, but also books for pleasant read- ing in time of leisure; and this concep- tion of the public library, that it should contain popular literature for use at the right time, was so revolutionary that it threatened to break up the Boston public library. It seems to me that out of George Ticknor's letters, written in 1849, the pub- lic library movement in its present aspect has grown. It seems to me, also, that those seventy years have largely been years of preparation, although in that time there have been some choice souls with the missionary spirit. We have de- veloped classifications; we have developed catalogs. You and I, who know something of the work in England and other coun- tries, realize that this has really been a great achievement. We realize that it has been a very serious and real prepara- tion nevertheless it has been a prepara- tion, just as we say the training of the child is a preparation for more serious things. I wish we could see whither we are drifting and to what this preparation is going to lead. Perhaps we are sometimes a little too anxious to know what the fu- ture will bring, and I do not know whether we are going to be contented to go slowly on our present way. Cooperation has been one of our watchwords. We talk a great deal about issuing cards by the Library of Congress, about the work the library BOLTON 155 journals are doing, the work the library clubs and societies are doing, and it seems to me that all that work of cooperation has been enormously beneficial to the present library movement. I think also the government document movement has been one of our great co- operative measures. I am sure many small libraries get much help from the govern- ment, but there would be a greater bene- fit if we librarians might get together and evolve some plan of distribution, by which documents and parts of documents which the small libraries want could be made available. For example, I do not see why we should not take from a docu- ment a chapter on manufacturing, to be issued for distribution to manufacturing communities; with another for mining communities, etc. I grant you we are try- ing to do something of that kind, but it seems to me that we have not yet reached the point where the average public reader may look in a document, which may be as interesting as a modern novel, and readily find what he wants. I am inclined to think that some sections of our public documents might be made more available to the general reader, more interesting and more satisfactory in every way if brought out in small fractions. Admitting the many benefits and advan- tages of cooperation, I am yet sure these cooperative movements in many ways hurt the initiative in small towns; not that cooperation is not good, but I think we shall find many cases where cooperation will not do all we wish. There is, also, the decentralization idea. In New England we have had some ex- perience in centralized control of trans- portation, and we have come to the con- clusion that this panacea of centralization cannot always do for the public all that men claim it can do. It seems to me that the modern public library building represents the high-water mark of centralization. We have been putting from $1,000,000 to $10,000,000 into one building and jt is a beautiful building. I do not give place to anyone in this au- dience in my admiration for architecture, but it seems to me we have reached the high-water mark for expenditure for the central building and the centralizing in- fluence. I am going to be so bold as to say that hereafter we are to elaborate the branch library instead of the central library. The central library is sure in many cases to become the victim of a shifting population. We have a very expensive, a very elaborate building, which gradu- ally is going to go from the best point in the city's population to a very disadvan- tageous point. Therefore it seems to me it would be better policy to put our money more largely into beautiful and useful branch libraries, leaving the central li- brary simple and inexpensive, as an ad- ministrative center and a storage center. These branch libraries in some cities already are being used as civic centers. In some instances the library is a place for social gatherings, with a kitchen; a place for public dances; for a swimming pool; for all the activities that now go on. In some states such an institution is apart from the library. I am inclined, however, to think it is a good deal better business to have the library share in that work, just as the Roman baths were used for civic purposes as well as for baths. We are coming back, perhaps, to something of the old Roman idea that books and learning are not things apart from every- day life, but are just as much a part of the everyday life as the swimming pool and the public dance. The movies, I think, have come to stay for a good while. Just to take one case: the advent of the moving-picture show was fought for a long time in Brookline. Now the moving pictures are allowed under supervision, and have become a serious menace to the saloons a mile away. It seems to be an extraordinary and a sig- nificant situation that the proprietors of saloons a mile away have become uneasy because the moving-picture shows are so successful. I understand that, in some institutions 156 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE such as I am describing, the library it- self and the library building are under the administration of the librarian, while the rooms in which social affairs are car- ried on are not managed by the librarian. That is, the success of a welfare move- ment or like neighborhood work depends so largely upon the personality of the individual behind it, that it is a good deal better to have the different institutions gathered under one roof and the building itself administered by the library, though all the activities are not managed by the librarian. Some of the best observers con- sider that policy wise, and it seems likely to grow. It seems to me also there should be some change of policy in branches in our large cities, and I speak more, perhaps, from the point of view of New England, where we have a great foreign population. These branches should pay more atten- tion to good literature and less attention to the books of the day. We librarians have laid great stress upon having new books, instead of having standard books in new dress. Certainly the immigrant population, as we see them in New Eng- land, want the best books. They do not care whether they were issued this year, last year, or ten years ago, but they do want them attractive. There is another trend of centraliza- tion, and of that I speak with some hesi- tation. That is the question of putting the library under the educational system. In the new charter of Minneapolis the li- brary is to be put under the school sys- tem. For my part, I think that a very doubtful move. It may be that is the com- ing plan, but it certainly looks as though the librarian would lose his efficiency and some of his initiative if he is to be sub- ject to the school department which, prac- tically speaking, trains through only one- half or one-third of a person's career. Of course education goes through our whole lives, but the technical business of educa- tion does not, and the technical business of the librarian does. Therefore, I look with some hesitation upon what seems the growing scheme of the West, to put the library under the board of education. Another thing which is growing in the library business is the pushing of the book. Sometimes we call it the adver- tising of the library business. Looking at it in a broad way, many people think the state library is going to do a large part of the work for the small town. In some places, however in Massachusetts, for example it is perhaps better to have several large cities do the work for their adjoining towns and for the neighborhood. In either case it seems to me that there is still a great deal of work to be done in getting certain books, like scientific books, that are not so much called for, into the hands of the people in the coun- try towns. Some of the systems, such as have been adopted in California, go far to meet that difficulty. Another scheme is of interest just now the house-to-house delivery. In crowded suburbs of large cities I do not see why it should not be a success. In country towns it seems to have the same danger the rural free delivery has. The rural free delivery is "cracked up" to be a very fine thing, and of course on a rainy day it is a very fine thing; but the rural free delivery has isolated the farmer even more than he was isolated in the past. We are talking a great deal about making farm life attractive. Farm life, to be at- tractive, must mean that the farmers get together, and I am afraid the rural free delivery does not help to get them to- gether. The house-to-house delivery of books will not encourage their coming to- gether, and it does away with the very inspiration of books which comes from being among them, though it may have great advantages which will outweigh the disadvantages. We are also going to push more vigor- ously our work with business houses. I could name one or two very large cities in New England where practically noth- ing is done for the business districts. In some sections of the country a great deal can be done along this line. A great BOLTON 157 deal can be done with the trades. One city in Europe has a library for cab-driv- ers. I do not know what cab-drivers read, but I suppose they read about lords and ladies that is human nature. Another innovation is the legislative ref- erence library. Its advantages are very manifest to all of us, but there are to be some disadvantages, unless the legisla- tive reference library is very closely guarded. The first use of the word "de- mocracy" in literature was as a disease a disease of constitutional government. Every good scheme, like the legislative reference library, has its disease, and I think the disease in this case is the form- ing of a bureau of experts, which is per- petual. That means that the bureau of experts is going to have, unless it is care- fully guarded, an undue influence upon laws. Now I should like to say a word about our profession itself, though I am not so sure that it has as yet come to the point where it is a true profession. Only today a man spoke to me on the street about the lack of leadership among librarians. It seems to me we still train too much in our library schools for assistants and sociolog- ical workers. Not but what they are de- sirable and necessary, but are we getting a fair proportion of leaders? I have just been looking over the new volume of Who's Who in America, noting the twenty- five librarians mentioned from the larg- est libraries in this country. The results are not discouraging; on the whole, I think they are very good, for almost all of the twenty-five have some interests outside of their library work. In any great city, perhaps in any community, there is a great deal of work which must be done, and it must be unpaid work. Every banker, lawyer, doctor, or clergy- man expects to do his share of that work to keep the machine going. I am afraid if you look over the biographies of those twenty-five men and women you will find they are not doing a very large propor- tion of the world's work outside of their jobs. It is often said, when some of our dis- tinguished librarians die: "Who can take their places?" I do not doubt that many of us would be willing to take their places, but are we going to find enough men and women of large caliber and wide sympa- thies who measure up to these places? It seems to me that we, who are in the larger libraries, or in the library schools, need to be on the lookout for younger workers, and should push ahead those who have special aptitude. We ought, I suppose, to take into the library profes- sion more foreign-born people. At any rate, when it is a fact that in a place like New Bedford, out of every ten people you meet, nine are foreign-born or bred, there is need to get very near to the for- eigners. As Jane Addams says, we should do a great deal better with our foreign population if we tried sometimes to learn something from them instead of trying all the time to teach them something. Many small towns, where librarians are employed only a part of the time, need some kind of supervision, even more in- timate than the state can give. They need a county supervisor, or district su- pervision, more intimate than the state so far has been able to offer. Indeed, with as many towns as we have in Massa- chusetts, no one supervisor can get through the whole list of towns with suf- ficient frequency. I think a district su- perintendent, or supervisor of libraries, will be created in all parts of this coun- try. A thing also which cripples our pro- fession is the placing of the individual above the office or the service to be ren- dered. I speak feelingly when I say there are a good many administrative officers who do not know what to do with aged and respectable assistants who will not die and will not marry. We must devise some way by which we may keep out some who would be better employed in writing poor books than in cataloging good ones. That suggests the pension system, which it seems to me will grow enormous- ly throughout the library world as well as 158 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE throughout other public and utilitarian institutions. The temper of the time is toward an easy-going way, toward the moving-pic- ture show, toward the historical novel in- stead of the study of history, toward the translations instead of the classics. All of this is really leading us toward an ignoble conception of life. We, as libra- rians, must take the future somewhat se- riously, and whatever of high endeavor we plan we ought to carry through. Vice-President WELLMAN: We have listened with pleasure to the forecast of library progress of the future, and we shall now recur to library progress in the near past. You may remember that in 1907 Miss Anne Wallace, then librarian of Atlanta, now Mrs. Howland of Boston, read a pa- per summarizing library progress in the South to that date. We shall have the pleasure of having this record brought to the present by Miss Wallace's succes- sor, Miss KATHARINE H. WOOTTEN of Atlanta. LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTH SINCE 1907 "The American library is no longer a. mere house of books sleepily reposing on a side street. It is no longer static. It is dynamic." So said the syndicated Fred- eric J. Haskin in a recent article on the American library, and these words de- scribe accurately the library condition of the southern states. At the Asheville conference in 1907 Miss Anne Wallace, of blessed library memory, reminded you that, in spite of vastness of territory, absence of many large cities which act as centers of culture, a large rural population, in an agricultural sec- tion, which lives out of doors at least nine months of the year, library progress since 1899 had been greater in the South and in the Middle West than in any other sec- tions of the country, and, speaking now for the South, it is gratifying to tell you in 1914 that this development has been continuous, and has kept pace with the great commercial progress of this section. While the rapidly increasing population has virtually decreased its area by bring- ing people nearer together, the good roads movement has served its purpose of facili- tating communication, so that the south- ern farmer is no longer isolated, but is practically a citizen of the nearest city, and has all the privileges of citizenship, except that of paying taxes! Southern conservatism, with its aver- sion to paternalism, has finally accepted the free public library as a necessary edu- cational institution, as is shown in the establishment of approximately ninety-one libraries in fourteen southern states since 1907, representing an expenditure of more than $1,500,000. Balanced against the now thoroughly awakened appreciation of the public li- brary, the opposition to its development is virtually negligible. The voice raised in protestation that the library is only for the idle rich, the indigent tramp, or the dreamy bookworm is still heard, but it is almost always silenced by the investi- gation of some nearby public library which the protestant is forced to make, guided by some ever-present library en- thusiast, and in most cases the protesta- tions cease, and nraise takes the place of blame. A tribute to the vitality of the public library movement as it has become more and more a part of our daily life in the southern states, has been the winning over to its side of the older generations of educated citizens, men and women. There are I suppose nowhere in America, per- haps nowhere in the world, greater and more persistent readers than are found among this class, who have an inherited tradition that the best works of all litera- tures are to be read. And from this tra- dition has come a taste so discriminating that their requests for books are a guide to the libraries, the problem being, in the beginning, how to satisfy them with the WOOTTEN 159 new conditions that they would be bound to meet in public libraries. The subscription libraries, to which they had been accustomed to go to sup- plement their own collections of books, were quiet, roomy places in charge of some chosen acquaintance, and it was rather hard for them to readjust them- selves to the new order of things which supplanted the old familiar alcoves with strange and uncanny devices; which gave, instead of the familiar printed book list, an unfamiliar card catalog (which device no self-respecting person of the old regime has ever been known to use). Worst of all, in place of the perfectly well-known friend of former days, there were several businesslike young women who met one with polite but firm and in- comprehensible questions, and occasional- ly asked the degrading question if one were in the directory. For a few years it looked as if the libraries, in gaining the power and free- dom and wide-spreading opportunity of municipal support, and a city-wide clien- tele, had lost altogether these readers of the older generation, the generation which, in many instances, had made the new library possible by turning over to the city the books and properties of the old association library. But gradually these good friends of former years have come back, one by one, and sometimes in a quiet way, sometimes in outspoken praise, have expressed their conviction that the change was not only better in theory, but that it was becoming agreeable in practice. The winning back of this par- ticular class of readers has been one of the compensations of the last few years of public library service in the South. One instance that comes to mind is that of the old friend of early conditions who was so pleased with the new system of service that he turned over his very val- uable private library to the Carnegie li- brary of Atlanta, saying that it had out- grown a private home, and besides, that it was easier to have a library assistant find his books for him than to rummage about himself in his uncataloged collec- tion. Perhaps a word here as to the class of reading in our libraries may not be amiss. A few years ago the Atlanta library was honored by a visit, and a several days' inspection, from Mrs. Salome Cutler Fair- child, who was giving a course of lectures in the Atlanta Library School. She was at that time much interested in the sta- tistics of the class of reading most popu- lar in various libraries. Many of you will remember her report on the subject. After a few days in Atlanta she was beam- ing with pleasure in her charming way, to have discovered that (the ever-over- shadowing fiction being omitted) litera- ture went far ahead of any other class of reading done in Atlanta. I believe that in most of the libraries she had investi- gated travel and biography had led. We explained to her the tradition in the South of the continued study of literature, and could trace with her this direct result. In a former paragraph quoted from Miss Wallace's Asheville paper, mention was made of the agricultural nature of the southern population, and the nine months of possible outdoor life which had, in the beginning, rather tended to take away from a desire for libraries. There is, however, a counter remark to be made here. The leisure classes in the South sel- dom pursue actively an agricultural call- ing. Neither do they spend all their time out of doors, as the summer sun in many of our states urges man and beast to take shelter, and those who are free to do as they like sit behind darkened windows for many hours of the summer day. I say in all seriousness and all South- erners in the audience will recognize this phase of our life that it is to these hours of more or less enforced confinement to the house during the heat of the long summer days, that many of our people owe their wide acquaintance with good books. The heat of the summer has in this way worked in a like manner to the cold of 160 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE the northern winter. When man is de- tained indoors by climatic conditions, a book is his best friend. Foreign immigration is doing much to spread the gospel of the free book, and while the South has always been, and Heaven grant that we always may be, purely Anglo-Saxon, foreign immigration is, fortunately or unfortunately, drifting southward, and calls for books in alien tongues and for books in easy English are becoming quite frequent in the larger southern libraries. Formerly the only for- eign books in even the larger libraries of the South were those used by American students of languages, but now the for- eign population makes frequent demands on libraries for literature in their mother tongue. In my own library we have not only a German, French, Italian and Span- ish section, but we have recently installed a collection of Hebrew and Yiddish books, and have had some calls for books in Russian and Polish. It is interesting to note that our Italian section was established at the request of a colony of Italian laborers who came to work in a large manufacturing plant, in some departments of which not a word of English is spoken. Since the establishment of the library school in Atlanta in 1905 ninety-two young women have been graduated, and of the seventy-five still engaged in library work (matrimony is a post-graduate course recognized by the school) fifty-six are holding positions in southern libraries, and their presence has been a leaven which has done much to appreciably raise the standard of library work. Besides the graduates of our own school there are a number of graduates of other recognized schools employed in various southern libraries, holding responsible po- sitions and working earnestly toward the betterment of library service. It is becoming the exception for a small southern town to develop library interest without calling into consultation the near- est experienced library worker, and tak- ing advantage of his or her experience and advice. Not only is this true of pub- lic libraries, but it applies equally to the colleges, which are waking up to the fact that a well-organized library is an im- portant part of the laboratorial equip- ment. To be sure, many southern libraries are still in the hands of untrained workers, and many of the older libraries are in the hands of workers whose training was gained in the University of Hard Knocks and Experience. But in many cases no technical training could supplant the ex- cellent service that has been, and is being, given by these gentlewomen of the Old South, who came to their work from homes whose atmosphere of culture they have transplanted to the libraries over which they preside, and I think there is not one of us who would give up their old-time ministrations for those of the most efficient technically-trained library school graduate. In one southern city the library was not popular with the political powers, so in an economy campaign which was planned the library felt the first blow. The li- brarian received from a clear sky the tlfundering news that the library should be closed that very evening, and never reopened. Calmly she received the news, and as calmly opened the library next day at the usual time. In the afternoon came a letter from the mayor, stating that there was no money to operate the library, not even enough to pay her salary. Her reply was that rather than deprive the people of the library privileges, she would give her services free for the next two months. Quietly and calmly she kept about her work, and soon public sentiment over- ruled the politicians, with the result that not only was the library kept open, and adequate support pledged, but back salary was paid the librarian, her salary was in- creased, and an extra assistant was em- ployed. The good roads movement brought about the opening of many libraries to all resi- WOOTTEN 161 dents of the county, and the plan is rapid- ly spreading throughout most of the south- ern states. In a locality which boasts so few large cities and a large rural popula- tion, this county library system is sure to be a potent factor in future library de- velopment. Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee maintain splendid systems of traveling libraries. In Georgia the only system is that op- erated by Mrs. Eugene B. Heard of Middle- ton, under the auspices of the Seaboard Air Line railroad, along its course through five southern states. Seven of the twelve states considered here have commissions, with appropria- tions ranging from $1,500 to $6,000 an- nually. Kentucky, with its appropriation of $6,000, is naturally doing the best work through its commission, and is the model to which the other states aspire. Ken- tucky was the first of the states (1909) to make a direct financial gift to its commis- sion, although Alabama was the first to give state aid to libraries, as in 1907 the Department of History and Archives, which carries on the work generally as- signed to a commission, received financial aid from the state. In 1913 the Tennessee Commission (created in 1909) was superseded by the State Board of Education, which assumed all powers and duties of the commission, except supervision of the traveling li- brary system, which was placed under di- rection of the state library. Public li- braries, as well as the state library, are now under the general supervision of the State Board of Education, through its di- vision of library extension. The state commission still exists in the law, but has no appropriation for active work. The Georgia Library Commission, creat- ed in 1897, was reported at the Ashe- ville conference as being "the poor rela- tion with expectations," and at Minne- tonka it was reported as "the poor rela- tion with disappointed expectations." It is now reported as "the poor relation with- out expectations," but it still exists as the very lusty foster child of the Carnegie library of Atlanta. Yet, in spite of its financial handicap, the commission has rendered aid to practically every Georgia library through its unsalaried organizer, who has examined and criticized plans, suggested librarians, made out book lists, visited towns which were stirring up li- brary activity (and formulated the chan- nel for the activity to follow), persuaded local architects not to attempt to erect "Greek temples" with a building fund of $10,000, and finally, possibly because of this activity, the Georgia Commission has had the honor of having its unsalaried, active organizer serve as president of the League of Library Commissions. I think the North Carolina Commission has the distinction of originating the "package library" idea, which has been taken up so successfully by many states. The Arkansas Commission was estab- lished in 1913, and is the "baby commis- sion" of the League. Oklahoma, West Virginia, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina and Mississippi are still without commissions, although in some of these states active steps have been taken which will doubtless lead to their creation. Every state in the group except Okla- homa, West Virginia, Louisiana and South Carolina has a state association, and while meetings are not invariably held annually, they are at least held actively. As sec- retary of a struggling state association I can testify to the heart failure which the thought of a coming state meeting brings, and the empty chairs which the word con- jures up, but when the actual time of meeting comes we have, instead of the empty chairs, a group of active, earnest libra- rians, and often "from the least of these" comes the greatest incentive for future work, and the germ of an idea which it takes months to develop. No large interstate meetings have been held since 1907, although in several cases 162 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE two or more neighboring states have held joint meetings, or have so arranged their dates consecutively that attendance at both meetings was encouraged. In 1913 an interesting feature was added to the activities of library trustees when the Board of the Carnegie library of Atlanta was made the censorship board for moving-picture theaters in the city. The plan has worked so well that already a neighboring city (Chattanooga) has fol- lowed the example, with gratifying suc- cess. Without using statistics I have tried to show you that library work in the South now presents no different aspect from that in any other section. The southern li- brarian meets daily the same problems as do her northern, eastern and western co- workers. She has the same staunch sup- porters in her work and in her aspira- tions. She has the same discouragements. She surmounts the same obstacles. She solves the same difficulties, and she solves them, generally, exactly as you do in your own library. She has the same beneficent patrons to keep in humor. One southern librarian's most generous benefactor insists upon the classification of books according to the color of their binding rather than accord- ing to the subject-matter of their con- tents. Another benefactor buys much of the current fiction and donates it to the local library after carefully cutting out every fervid love passage, so that when you read a book of her giving you never know "what he said." That some southern librarians practice rigid library economy is evidenced by the fact that a stamped, self-addressed en- velope which was enclosed in a question- naire, sent out in the interest of this paper, came back containing, not library statistics, but an interesting love letter, all because the postman had failed to note that the typewritten business address had been supplanted by a personal one! Library facilities for negroes have not been considered here, as the subject was so fully covered by Mr. W. P. Yust, in his splendid paper presented at the Kaaters- kill conference in 1913. Turning now to the statistical side, a brief summary shows that although more money was given for libraries ($444,000) in 1912, more buildings were erected (20) in 1910. In 1907 there were 10 buildings erected, at a cost of $34,300; in 1908 there were 4 buildings erected, at a cost of $56,000; in 1909 there were 12 buildings erected, at a cost of $129,000; in 1910 there were 20 buildings erected, at a cost of $172,000; in 1911 there were 15 buildings erected, at a cost of $207,000; in 1912 there were 16 buildings erected, at a cost of $444,000; in 1913 there were 14 buildings erected, at a cost of $151,000. North Carolina has erected more public library buildings (28) than any of the 'States, followed closely by Kentucky, with 24 buildings. The other states vary from no new library buildings to 13 in Georgia. Summarizing the work in the different states, I present the following figures with the statement that, while they are doubt- less not absolutely accurate, they are as nearly so as questionnaires, pleas and ap- peals for information could make them, and if your own state does not make a splendid showing, just remember that sev- eral "somebodies" failed to answer sev- eral letters: Georgia In 1907 there were eight pub- lic libraries occupying their own build- ings; there are now twenty-one, repre- senting an aggregate investment of over $700,000. Four colleges have separate li- brary buildings, three from the Carnegie fund. Two interesting bequests have re- cently been made, that of $5,000 to be used for a book fund for the proposed li- brary in Eatonton, which came as a gift from a former resident, Mr. W. K. Prud- den; and a gift of $7,000 from Mr. A. K. Hawkes to the city of Griffin, the money to be used for the erection of a chil- dren's library in which moving pictures and free lectures shall be featured. The WOOTTEN 163 Mary Willis library in Washington was the first free library, erected and main- tained by endowment, and it is still the only endowed library. It is worthy of note that Atlanta and Savannah are the only large cities which have public li- braries, as the smaller cities have realized the educational value of libraries before their larger neighbors. Georgia leads in the number of trained workers, with twen- ty-six graduate librarians. The larger col- leges have good libraries and employ trained librarians. The state university, with its branch colleges, boasts excellent library equipment, with book collections of inestimable value, as does Emory Col- lege. The state library is in the hands of three trained experts, and the state association and state commission are ac- tive bodies, although, as noted elsewhere, there is no state aid for commission work. The only system of traveling libraries is that operated so splendidly by Mrs. Eu- gene B. Heard, of Middleton, under the auspices of the Seaboard Air Line rail- road. Florida Has but two free public li- braries within its borders, and there are two trained workers, one in the Jackson- ville public library, and one at the State College for Women at Tallahassee. It ia to the greater credit of the Tallahassee college that it has recognized the value of placing the library on a sound basis, and in charge of a trained librarian, with an annual appropriation of $2,500 for its book fund, since the state university has only a most inadequate library. In 1907 it was reported that the state library was only theoretical, and it seems to exist still only in theory. In 1901 a state library asso- ciation was formed, with two or three workers in the progressive subscription libraries as members, and a number of teachers who were interested in arousing library activity. The association still exists, but it is naturally not very active. Recent Carnegie bequests amounting to $88,000 to seven Florida cities bespeak an activity which will soon change the li- brary status of Florida. Louisiana Reported in 1907 three tax- supported libraries, and the only addition I am able to find is that of the New Or- leans public library, to which Mr. Car- negie gave $275,000 for a main library and three branches, which were completed in 1908. In 1906 the State School Library law was passed, and before 1907 there were 275 libraries established in the rural schools. I am unable to find more recent figures. In 1909 the New Orleans Library Club published an excellent Handbook of Louisiana Libraries, but there seems to have been no later issue. Alabama Has maintained the splendid activity which was reported at the Ashe- ville meeting. There are now thirteen free public libraries supported by taxation and sixteen subscription or endowed libraries. Sixteen of the libraries, including colleges, are housed in Carnegie buildings. In 1904 the state association was organized, and in 1907, instead of creating a state com- mission, the activities of a commission were undertaken by the library extension division of the Department of History and Archives. As the fund for library work is included in the general appropriation of the department the exact figures of finan- cial aid from the state are not available. Since 1911 the division has operated a sys- tem of traveling libraries including books for the blind. Several Alabama cities have adopted the county system. The Birming- ham public library, with no central build- ing, five branch buildings, and a staff of twelve, operates under the unique system of having a $10,000 appropriation, none of which may be used for books, which must be secured by gift or public subscription. But the record of this library has been remarkable and shows what can be done in the face of almost unbearable handicaps, when a determined woman, with good training, takes charge. Tennessee Had five free public li- braries in 1907, and an active state asso- ciation, and had introduced a bill in the 164 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE legislature for the creation of a commis- sion. In 1914 Tennessee has ten munic- ipally-supported libraries, seven of which are in Carnegie buildings; thirteen sub- scription libraries, and excellent school and college libraries, representing an ag- gregate investment of over $2,000,000 for buildings, for the maintenance of which $85,000 was appropriated in 1913. The state commission was created in 1909, but in 1913 by an act of the legislature the State Board of Education was made to supersede the free library commission, assuming all of their powers and duties except their sys- tem of traveling libraries, which was placed under the direction of the state library. Public as well as school libraries are now under the general direction of the State Board of Education through their division of library extension. The state free library commission still exists in the law, but has no appropriation for active work. The county library idea is spreading fast, and the public library of Chattanooga was, I think, the first to adopt the plan. North Carolina Has now seventy-five libraries, thirty-nine of which are public. Twelve are in Carnegie buildings, erected at a cost of $241,396. The total amount invested in libraries is $351,296. When the commission was created in 1909 there were three trained librarians; there are now eleven, not including graduates of summer schools and apprentice classes. The state association was organized in 1904. An appropriation of $1,500 is made for the work of the commission. Many state institutions and colleges have ade- quate libraries, and the library of the state university is under the direction of a corps of trained workers. A summer school is conducted by the state universi- ty library, and instruction in library meth- ods Is given in several colleges. South Carolina Is still without a li- brary association or commission, al- though since 1907 five public libraries have been opened, and $45,000 expended in library buildings, and there has been a library law since 1903. There are at least four trained librarians, and the sys- tem of rural school libraries is adequate. Only two libraries are municipally sup- ported. The University of South Carolina boasts of being the first college in the United States to have a separate building, and that seventy-five years elapsed before any other state university followed its ex- ample. Throughout the small subscrip- tion libraries are literary collections ri- valed only by those stored throughout Virginia. Active work has been begun towards establishing a state commission and organizing a state association, and in January, 1914, Mr. R. M. Kennedy, li- brarian of the University of South Caro- lina, presented before several clubs and teachers' institutes a strong plea for a betterment of library conditions, which will probably result in a changed state of affairs. Virginia One Virginia librarian says: "As usual Virginia is in a position to seem more backward than she is because she has neglected to keep records of her work. No library statistics for the state have ever been compiled." Although Vir- ginia has a liberal library law which per- mits any town or county to tax itself to maintain a library, and the very active state library has conducted an apprentice training class since 1905, there are but two municipally-supported libraries, in Carnegie buildings. There are in all eight public libraries, two of which are en- dowed, the others being subscription li- braries of many years' existence. The book collections in many Virginia colleges are invaluable, but there is not a tech- nically-trained librarian in the state. The state library, with an appropriation of $30,000, renders efficient service, and the State Library Board acts as a commission. There is an appropriation of $4,000 for the publication of the valuable Virginiana, undertaken by the state library. In 1913 a legislative reference department was created. The state association was or- ganized before 1907, and now has seventy- WOOTTEN 165 five members. As early as 1903 a system of traveling libraries was established, for which the legislature of 1906 appropriated $7,000. In March, 1908, an appropriation of $5,000 was made to encourage the es- tablishment of permanent school libraries throughout the state, and the latest avail- able statistics give 199 traveling libraries available for rural schools, clubs and com- munities. In Winchester there is one of the most unique libraries on the conti- nent, for with a population of 6,000, Win- chester boasts a library bequest of $250,- 000 and a building of cut stone which cost $140,000 and has a stack capacity of 75,000 volumes. Bequests to Virginia libraries within the past seven years (exclusive of colleges) have amounted to $308,000, and while the money has not actually been spent, pertinent facts indicate that li- brary work in Virginia has started in the right direction. West Virginia Does not present so promising a prospect, as there is not a free public library, municipally supported, in the entire state, and a bill for a free library law presented to the recent legis- lature failed to pass. There is a good state law for school libraries, and the rural schools have about 225,000 volumes in the school libraries. There are li- braries at Huntington, Wheeling, Parkers- burg, Fairmount and Charleston, which, as one report said, "purchase a great deal of fiction just like a public library, al- though they are under control of the Board of Education." There is no state association and no commission, but the club women of the state have become ac- tive in the matter, and conditions may soon be changed. Oklahoma The first public library was opened in 1901, and before 1907 there were five Carnegie libraries. There are now twenty-two public libraries, sixteen of which are in Carnegie buildings. Thir- teen colleges have adequate libraries, as have the state and historical societies. There are three graduate librarians and nine summer school graduates are employed, and all activities are combining for the creation of a commission. The state asso- ciation is at present expending its ener- gies on the preparation of a bibliography of the state's history. The sum of $167,000 has been invested in library buildings since 1907. Kentucky Libraries represent an in- vestment of more than $1,018,000, for the support of which $159,000 was given in 1913. Fourteen public libraries have been built since 1907. There are now forty-one public libraries, thirteen of which are free and housed in Carnegie buildings. There are seventeen college and special li- braries; four of the college libraries are in Carnegie buildings. Book collections are in 2,600 graded schools, but the com- mission reports that no state institution has an adequate library. The state asso- ciation was organized in 1907, immediate- ly after the Asheville conference, and the very active commission, for which $6,000 was appropriated in 1913, maintains ex- cellent traveling libraries, one branch of which is exclusively for the negro popula- tion. Berea College also maintains a unique system of traveling libraries, which circulate exclusively among the mountain people. Texas The modern library movement in Texas began in 1899, and by 1907 nine- teen Carnegie buildings were in use, and there were altogether twenty-two public libraries throughout the state, besides numerous small libraries maintained by women's clubs, which have been so potent a factor in the library development of the state. Since 1907 at least twelve new li- braries have been opened, at a total ex- penditure for buildings of $488,000, includ- ing $285,000 for the new library building of the University of Texas. Many be- quests have been made to Texas libraries, and Houston has recently received $7,000 to be used exclusively for the purchase of children's books. Arkansas Was not grouped with the states reporting in 1907, but it seems well to include it here, and report that there 166 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE are now two free public libraries, both Carnegie, representing an expenditure of $120,000. A state association and state commission were organized in 1912, and active work has begun, to secure an ap- propriation for the commission. Mississippi Also did not report in 1907, but now reports that there is a state association, but no commission. There are nine public libraries, five of which are in Carnegie buildings. Many schools and colleges have more or less adequate libraries, and the state library renders good service. It must be remem- bered that although Mississippi has a population of 1,800,000 there is not a city ia the state having a population of 25,000, and only three cities have over 20,000. I think it was Oliver Wendell Holmes who said that it matters not so much where you stand, as the direction in which you are going, and library development in the southern states is certainly going in the right direction. Vice-President WELLMAN: It is a fact of interest that the very first exhibit sent out by the American Federation of Arts was shown in a public library. Since that time there have been many other cases of cooperation between the federation and the libraries, as you will learn, and such cooperation opens vistas of helpfulness to both institutions. We had expected tonight to hear a word regarding the general aims and educa- tional work of the federation from its president, Mr. Robert W. De Forest, and also somewhat in detail with a lantern, from Miss Mechlin, the secretary. Unfor- tunately I have to announce that Mr. De- Forest writes that he has just been through a convention himself, a conven- tion of the federation, and has returned from Chicago utterly without voice. He writes with great regret a regret which we share that he is unable to be present tonight. Your disappointment, however, will be mitigated by the pleasure of know- ing that at short notice, Mr. Henry W. Kent, secretary of the Metropolitan Mu- seum of Art, of New York, has very kindly consented to come and bring us Mr. De Forest's message. I take very great pleasure in introduc- ing Mr. HENRY W. KENT. ADDRESS BY MR. KENT I ought, perhaps, to say, since Mr. Wellman has introduced me as secretary of another kind of institution, that I am really a very old librarian. I am nearly twenty-five years old in the library serv- ice, and I make this statement somewhat to excuse many things I may say that would seem too technical if they came from one who had not been a librarian. I am very much interested in old librarians, and I was particularly interested in the presen- tation of this book, this roster of the peo- ple who came to the first meeting of the Library Association. I have heard the name of the old li- brarian spoken of somewhat lightly. He is regarded by some people as being more or less of a fossil and more or less of a slipshod individual, but I think and I thought particularly when I saw this book placed upon the table that we ought to have a little more regard for the old li- brarians. Do we not owe to them our system of classification? Do we not owe to them the very preservation of books? Do we not owe to 1 them the establish- ment of the greatest libraries of the world? Any other association except our own and I must believe it is because we are so modest any other association of professional men would long ago have raised monuments to the librarians of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, to the oldest librarians. Speaking of accomplishment, I was much interested in what Mr. Bolton said of the trend of library work in this coun- try. While I do not pretend to answer the question that he undertook to lead you to answer for yourselves, I have often wondered whether the trend of the pres- ent-day library work is not due to the fact KENT 167 that we are beginning to find out, In this curious multiplex and complicated civili- zation of ours in this country, that culti- vation and learning are not confined en- tirely to hooks, and that there are other things demanding attention which are cultivating, which are Inspiring, and which are educational. It seems to me that the affiliations with all of these various organizations asso- ciations for civic work, associations for social work and the affiliations with the schools and universities and all the other work being done, are perfectly natural. Mr. Bolton spoke of moving pictures. Why not affiliate ourselves with them? The association of museum people, whose meeting I have just been attending in Chi- cago, had a long and most interesting paper delivered on the various kinds of moving- picture machines which might be used in museums as a part of the work of de- scription. I do not see why the libraries might not do that also. Before I come to my real point, which is a matter of cooperation which I wish to propose to you, I want to speak of two or three other things which I wish very much might result, in this present-day trend of libraries. One is the matter of recognition of the importance of book collecting as a fine art. Many, many people and I have seen it, perhaps more than most, because of the connection which I had at one time with a club of bookmen, booklovers, called "bibliophiles" many people assume to scorn the bibliophile and the biblioma- niac; all sorts of slurs have been written about people who profess love of a book as a book, and I am sorry to say I find a good deal of this among library people. But it is a stupid, mistaken notion, and it seems to me, if I might suggest, Mr. Chairman, that one of the things that this Association might very well do is to begin the cultivation of this love of books through a chapter; through a section; through a club of the members of this great Association ; people who will care for printing; people who will care for paper; people who will care for bindings. I think you will agree with me and I am speak- ing now as an old librarian of twenty-five years' service that we do not care for those things and that much of our print- ing is beneath contempt, and much of our knowledge, or rather our lack of knowl- edge of such things, is lamentable. It is high time, in the trend that is to come, that we should look to overcome this rep- utation we have for not caring for such things. This applies particularly to a thing that interests me very much, and that is the stand which this club I hope I am not talking injudiciously this Association, should take toward the public on books; that we should demand better books, bet- ter paper, better type, better illustrations. This matter of illustration is also one we might very well consider in this As- sociation, it seems to me, and one that should have our attention in the future, along with the other trend. We should reject, we should disclaim these poor, these beneath-contempt illustrations we get in half-made half-tones. We should demand a better kind of illustrations; we should demand a careful cataloging of these things; we should teach our assist- ants to think that the cataloging of our illustrations and the regard for illustra- tions are almost as Important as the cat- aloging of the book itself. Among these affiliations that are grow- ing up with the libraries is one which should be very close and that is the affili- ation of the things which make for art in the community. We have here in Washington the headquarters of an asso- ciation which is made up of many the most, I think of the associations which give their attention to art in this country. I understand there are a good many li- braries that are associated with the fed- eration, as well as architectural societies, sculptors, painters, landscape gardeners, and all other people who make art their creed. There is a growing conviction that the need of art in the communities of our 168 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE country is, now that the libraries are well established, as great today as the need of libraries was when they first took root throughout this country. Some of us feel that the matter of art, while it does not take precedence of the library, is a thing which should certainly soon be presented to the community at large, and this asso- ciation of which I speak, the American Federation of Arts, offers to help those of us who do not know how to help our- selves. The holding of exhibitions is a special kind of task requiring a special kind of training; the selection and shipping of pictures, the insurance of pictures and the selection of sculpture and other objects of art require a special kind of training, and it cannot be expected that librarians will have that kind of training; but the Federation of Arts offers to give to the li- braries, or to its other chapters, help in the making of such exhibitions, and offers to send to the libraries along with its other chapters exhibitions which can well be shown as very satisfactory representa- tions of the different kinds of art. Vice-President WELLMAN: Mr. Kent has told you that the headquarters of the American Federation of Arts are in Wash- ington, and we are fortunate enough to have with us the secretary, Miss Mech- lin, who will speak in somewhat more de- tail regarding the work of this federation. Her talk will be illustrated with the lan- tern, and at the close of tie lantern ex- hibition, the turning on of the light will be the signal for adjournment. It gives me great pleasure to introduce the secretary of the American Federa- tion of Arts, Miss LEILA MECHLIN. THE EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF ARTS* Miss Mechlin said it gave her great pleasure to meet with the librarians and to tell somewhat of the educational work of the American Federation of Arts. This work has thus far been along three lines: * Abstract. Lecture illustrated with the stereopticon. sending out traveling exhibitions; circu- lating descriptive lectures; and publish- ing a magazine, Art and Progress. Although the Association has not lim- ited its work to that among libraries, this has been an important portion of it, and the best cooperation has come from the public libraries and the art associa- tions looking toward the establishment of art museums. Several of Miss Mechlin's lantern il- lustrations showed exhibitions of paint- ings, drawings, and picture reproductions of sculpture, in varous public libraries. Any public library in the country can ar- range for art exhibitions, through the use of collections loaned by the American Federation of Arts. She said the fed- eration had at the present time, among its collections for loaning, from seventy to ninety very large and fine photographs of works of American painters, which had been put at their disposal by the Detroit Publishing Company, and which are espe- cially suitable as a library exhibition, and can be obtained at small cost. Only within the last few years has there been a system of circulating lectures. The lectures are on American painting, American sculpture, civic art, mural paint- ings, furniture, tapestries, etchings, etc. They are written so that anyone who can read and haj a good stereopticon can give them effectively. Miss Mechlin, in conclusion, emphasized the desire of the American Federation of Arts to serve libraries in any way it could and invited those interested to call or write to the headquarters office, at 18th Street and New York Avenue, Wash- ington. FOURTH GENERAL SESSION (Friday afternoon, May 29, Continental Memorial Hall) President ANDERSON: I regret to have to announce that the Postmaster- General had to leave the city at one o'clock this afternoon, and cannot be with us. Through the courtesy and tact of CARLTON 169 the librarian of Congress, the vice-presi- dent, Mr. Wellman, Mr. Bowker, and my- self had a very satisfactory interview with the Postmaster-General on the subject of books and the parcel post, and future pros- pects with reference to cheaper rates on books; and I am sure we may say to you that the post-office department is in sym- pathy with our aspirations in that regard, and will cooperate with us as far as pos- sible. When the first speaker of the after- noon sent me the title of his paper, he had an alternative title in Latin. I was so surprised and overjoyed that I could read his Latin without a lexicon, that I wrote to him and expressed my gratifica- tion that he had used Latin which one of even my rusty Latinity could read. Since I could read it so easily he evidently concluded there was something the matter with it, so he eliminated the Latin and gave the title of his paper as simply "Prestige," practically defying me to ut- ter any platitudes on the subject. Since he has not divulged what he is to talk about, I shall have to leave it to him to explain it to you. The librarian of the Newberry library in Chicago needs no in- troduction to this audience. I am pleased, however, to have the opportunity to pre- sent to the Association, Mr. W. N. C. CARL- TON. PRESTIGE Although not easily lending itself to pre- cise definition, prestige is a social fact of universal importance. One of its diction- ary definitions is "ascendancy based on recognition of power," but this is incom- plete and unsatisfactory. As Dr. Johnson said of the camel, "It is difficult to define, but we know it when we see it." It is an intangible quality the possession of which brings recognition and power. It connotes success, distinction, and high considera- tion. The popular mind is quick to recog- nize its presence and to accord it defer- ence and respect. Rightly understood, it is an invaluable means of maintaining and spreading true values. It is a potency without which, "neither truth nor untruth, neither the good nor the bad, neither the beautiful nor the ugly, can succeed per- manently and in the face of large num- bers." My concern with it here is as an invaluable aid to power and effectiveness in accomplishing our educational and cul- tural aims. We are familiar with the prestige that everywhere surrounds inherited wealth, high rank, and illustrious ancestry. It also attaches itself to ideas, to institutions, and to causes which have furthered man's upward progress. It is certain to be won through conspicuous success in statesman- ship, in the arts of war, in commerce, in science, and in the fine arts. Institutions gain prestige through the character or genius of certain men associated with them. Great as is the prestige which sur- rounds the chief magistracy of this nation, I cannot but feel that something additional has been added to it by reason of the fact that he who now holds the presidential office represents scholarship and learning as well as statecraft. And in this place, before this audience, it may not be unfit- ting for me to express the conviction that America today possesses one national in- stitution whose prestige as a seat of learn- ing has been created and made interna- tional by the vision and genius of one man Herbert Putnam. Another illustration of prestige comes inevitably to mind: Our fathers and grand- fathers knew it at first hand, felt it and lived in its atmosphere, but this generation knows of it chiefly through the pages of literature. It is that prestige which, in the smaller and simpler communities of a few generations ago, surrounded the clergyman, the physician, the lawyer, and the teacher. These men, in their several communities, represented tradition, science and the Humanities. They were the re- positories and representatives of the best that the past had handed down to their present; they kept its great ideals of thought and conduct alive in the imagine- 170 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE tlons of their contemporaries. They were seats of authority and molders of opinion. They were leaders in the civic thought and action of their day. The elders sought their counsel, and the young men were led and inspired by their lives and example. It is no exaggeration to say that, collect- ively, they were perhaps the most potent influence, prior to the Civil War, in form- ing the moral, political, and intellectual ideals of the American people. After the Civil War this prestige was largely lost. We have as yet created nothing to take its place; we have developed no social classes or groups whose members serve and lead us as did those men of aforetime. And our country, our age, and we are in- finitely the poorer for it. When once attained, prestige persists, both in the case of ideas and of men, even unto the third and fourth generations of those who originally won it. Always and everywhere those who possess it have a marked ascendancy over their fellows, an ascendancy which enables them to wield vast powers, exert wide influence, secure a respectful hearing, attain high positioas, and achieve the most positive results. His- tory proves it a magic quality greatly to be desired. You are, I imagine, wondering what all this chatter about prestige has to do with libraries, or with librarians. Well, for the purposes of this paper, it has every- thing to do with them. During the past few years I have found myself asking, Do librarians possess prestige? For what kind of "ascendancy based on power" are they notable? With what traditions and ideals are they associated in the public mind of our time? To what extent are they influ- encing men and opinions of the day? Is their prestige, if they have one, generally recognized and respected? To these ques- tions I have not been able to return en- tirely satisfactory answers. I do not feel certain that we possess an "ascendancy based on power" of any sort, or that we exert a large influence on contemporary thought. It is not apparent to me that the social mind of our day, either in this coun- try or in Great Britain, associates us with any outstanding ideal or activity possess- ing recognized prestige. We do not yet seem to have won from it an acceptance of us as authoritative leaders in the intel- lectual life of the nation. It may be that we are too young a class to have had time to acquire ascendancy and power over the public mind. It may be that the conditions and temper of our time are unfavorable to our attaining social power and intel- lectual leadership. We have a natural re- lationship with the historic professions of law, theology, and teaching. But, as I have said, much of their once great moral and intellectual prestige has been lost. It may not be surprising, therefore, if we have failed to achieve prestige in a time when these more ancient but allied professions have been desperately struggling to save a remnant of theirs. The truth is that the Time-Spirit, in a mood of cruel irony, has let loose on our age, to a degree and extent hitherto unknown in modern history, a succession of extremely destructive tend- encies. These are: a general flouting of authority in matters political, intellectual, spiritual, and social; the rejection of dis- cipline, mental or moral; an inordinate passion for the physical enjoyment of the present moment; and a stubborn belief in the utilitarian or materialistic test for all things. Every one of these tendencies is hostile to what the learned professions rep- resent; every one of them is inimical to genuine progress in civilization, culture, and refinement. The immediate duty con- fronting all who are identified with reli- gion, law, and education is to seek to re- cover the ascendancy lost during the last fifty years and to regain their former in- fluential prestige. We are fond of saying that libraries and library work are an im- portant part of the educational machinery of society and that their aims and purposes are complementary to those of the teaching profession. If we believe this, we, together with the other professions which represent authority, spirituality and learning, must CARLTON 171 labor for the complete reestablishment of the power and prestige of religion, law and the Humanities. And, to be effective aids, librarians should have a prestige of their own which the social mind shall in- stinctively recognize and respect. I believe that the best and most endur- ing prestige requires a relationship with the past, an indelible association with something ancient and historic, something which has proved its lasting worth to man- kind. I should like to insist a little on the fundamental importance of rooting our mental life deeply in the best that the past has to give us, and of retaining "the flavor of what was admirably done in past generations." The past is as needful to a wholesome, sane, intellectual life as rich soil is to growing trees and ripening grain. Although, as Shelley said a hundred years ago, the world may be weary of the past, it cannot shake itself clear of it. Many of you will recall that passage in one of Sir Walter Besant's books on Lon- don, in which he compares ancient West- minster with modern East London. It ad- mirably illustrates the thought which is in my mind at this moment. "Westminster," he writes, "is essentially an old historic city with its roots far down in the centu- ries of the past: once a Roman station; once the market place of the island; once a port; always a place of religion and unction; for six hundred years the site of the King's House; for five hundred years the seat of Parliament; for as many the home of our illustrious dead. But with East London there is no necessity to speak of history. This modern city, the growth of a single century nay, of half a cen- tury has no concern and no interest in the past; its present is not affected by its past; there are no monuments to recall the past; its history is mostly a blank that blank which is the history of woods and meadows, arable and pasture land, over which the centuries pass, making no more mark than the breezes of yesterday have made on the waves and waters of the ocean." 1 The man or the mind without deep, strength-giving roots in the past is an East London type, not a Westminster type. Of all contemporary professions none has such opportunity as our own to make Westminster its ideal rather than East London. Into our hands has been com- mitted the care, preservation, and dissem- ination of the means whereby a knowledge of the past has been preserved, and we can- not divest ourselves of the responsibility for knowing its meaning and realizing its value as an aid to rational progress. The memorable ages of former times have been conspicuous debtors to the ages that pre- ceded them and they have acknowledged the debt. They have not been generations which felt, as Robert Herrick says this generation feels, that they could "go it alone," without reference to the past. "The Romano-Hellenic world lived upon the Greek literature of the times from Homer downwards and based education upon it. In the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages men were constantly looking back to the ancient world as a sort of golden age and were cherishing every fragment that had come down to them therefrom. The schol- ars and thinkers of the Renaissance who obtained those Greek books for which their predecessors had vainly sighed, drew from those books their inspiration. It was they that lit up the fires of new literary effort in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Britain." 2 And in their turn the great spirits of our Elizabethan age, Spen- ser, Shakespeare, Jonson, etc., lighted their torches from those held out by the men of the Continental Renaissance, and passed on to us the unquenchable fires originally lighted in that marvelous Greece of the years between 600 and 400 B. C. As Bacon so wisely says in his Advancement of Learning (Book I, c.5) : "Antiquity de- serveth that reverence, that men should take a stand thereupon and discover what is the best way; but when the discovery is well taken, then to make progression." We cannot, then, live or think or work 1 East London, c. 1. 2 Bryce : University and Historical Ad- dresses, p. 325. 172 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE intelligently in the present unless we un- derstand and know what has been done in the past, and which of its ideas, ideals, truths and examples are still valid and ap- plicable to our age and conditions. And I venture to submit that the ancient heri- tage with which the library profession should unmistakably connect itself, and association with which would give it a lasting prestige, is no other than Human- ism and the Humanities: those precious depositories of what is best in man's past, and matchless instruments for uplifting him in the present. Ideals derived from the Humanities should inspire our daily work; our object should be to inculcate a desire for them in the minds of the peo- ple. They should color every activity with which we are concerned. Unless we make this the very heart and center of our striv- ing, we shall never be other than a petty, office-holding class, a bureaucracy em- balmed in a dull, uninspiring routine. Without Humanistic ideals and learning we cannot have a prestige truly worthy of our work. Our association with the Humanities should begin with our earliest courses of study. The nature and kind of education required for entrance upon a profession have a fundamental bearing upon the qual- ity of that profession's prestige. The ex- perience of a quarter century has con- vinced me that the education of the li- brarian must be based on the most solid and comprehensive foundations and that it must not be inferior in quality or disci- pline or duration to that required of stu- dents in the best law, medical, and theolog- ical schools. In the high school and in the university, the course of study pursued by us should be largely a revivified form of the so-called "classical course" of a genera- tion or two ago. Our school years from at least the age of fourteen to twenty-one should be almost entirely devoted to the study of Greek, Latin, mathematics, mod- ern languages, philosophy, history, and lit- erature. These are not only the seven keys to Humane Learning; they are prime es- sentials to the highest order of profes- sional work. They are things, as Plato says, "without some use or knowledge of which a man cannot become a god to the world, nor a spirit, nor yet a hero, nor able earnestly to think and care for man." 1 We must learn Greek because it is the key to our most precious intellectual heri- tage; because, in the words of Sir Freder- ick Kenyon, "it makes for freedom from convention, bold experiments, and the dis- cipline of sanity and good taste." Greece won for our world freedom in all its branches freedom for society, freedom for the individual, freedom for thought. Out of the world of classic antiquity springs the intellectual inheritance of the western world. "The belief that Hellenism is in some sense a permanent need of the human spirit has proved a perpetually recurring theme in western literature." "To be entirely ignorant of the Latin language," wrote Schopenhauer, "is like being in a fine country on a misty day. The horizon is extremely limited. Nothing can be seen clearly except that which is quite close; a few steps beyond, every- thing is buried in obscurity. But the Lat- inist has a wide view." .... Philosophy, "the study of how men think ?.nd reason, ought to be the crowning study, the last word in any education worth the name." * In philosophy, man's reason reaches its supreme expression of the human striving for what is ideally best. This is to know oneself and one's fellows, the world and God, in a more pro- found manner, and so as to satisfy the entire intellectual, ethical, aesthetical, and religious needs of the soul. 5 An intimate knowledge of those modern European languages which have a classic literature is necessary for us all. French, German, Italian, and Spanish are of pri- mary importance both as sources of en- lightenment and as working tools. "Half the good things of the human mind are s Quoted by Bertrand Russell, Philosophical Essays, p. 73. 4 Allen Upward: The New Word, p. 80. B Adapted from G. T. Ladd. CARLTON 173 outside English altogether," says H. G. Wells. Another half-century may see the literary languages of Russia and the Scan- dinavian countries taking their places as parts of the necessary equipment in gen- eral culture. While mathematics may and does serve many purposes of utility, Humanism views it as a key to the temple of the higher in- tellectual life. "The true spirit of de- light," says Bertrand Russell, "the exalta- tion, the sense of being more than man, which is the touchstone of the highest ex- cellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as in poetry. What is best in mathematics deserves not merely to be learnt as a task, but to be assimilated as a part of daily thought, and brought again and again before the mind with ever-re- newed encouragement." * "History is for time what geography is for space." 7 It is the map on which man- kind's struggles and triumphs are drawn. One of the most delightful of recent essays on history is that which gives the title to Mr. George Macaulay Trevelyan's Clio, a Muse; and Other Essays. He points out that to many persons history is the prin- cipal source of the ideas that inspire their lives; that the presentation of ideals and heroes from other ages is perhaps the most important educative function of history; and that a valuable effect of its study is to train the mind to take a just view of politi- cal problems. History educates the minds of men by causing them to reflect upon the past. Literature, it has been said, is the chief ornament of humanity. The omission of the great literatures from any rational course of study is unthinkable. An emi- nent German is authority for the state- ment that of the number of books written in any language, only about one in one hun- dred thousand forms a part of its real and permanent literature. Other eminent Ger- mans have laboriously calculated that the number of separate works issued from the "Bertrand Russell: Philosophical Essays, p. 73. 7 Schopenhauer. press since the invention of printing, reaches a grand total of from ten to fifteen million titles. The division of ten million by one hundred thousand results in the gratifying discovery that the quotient is none other than our old friend the "hun- dred best books." Here we have mathe- matical proof that it is possible for any intelligent person to acquaint himself with the entire canon of what is best and perma- nent in the world's literature. This best includes only those supreme things which are independent of time or country, those transcendent creations of human genius the understanding of which uplifts the mind and expands the soul. "Since Virgil," said James Russell Lowell, "there have been at most but four cosmopolitan au- thors Dante, Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Goethe." Starting with these and their two predecessors, the Bible and Homer, you may make up your hundred as you like. My point is that the librarian above all others should have first-hand acquaint- ance with the serene summits of human expression. It is my belief that with an education covering the ground and including the dis- cipline which the foregoing implies, and with the technical training of the library school superimposed upon it, one would be- gin library work with a prestige fully equal to that with which the graduates of the Harvard Law School, the Johns Hop- kins Medical School, the Union Theologi- cal Seminary, or the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology enter upon their several professions. Add gifts of personality to this mental equipment, and the individual would inevitably be a dynamic influence in the institution .or community whose service he enters. With a generation or two of librarians thus trained in the Hu- manities, the solid foundation of intellec- tual prestige would be laid. I would there- fore seriously propose the Humanities as vocational training for librarians. It is a wise saying that "definitions are dangerous," and I hesitate to embark upon the hazardous adventure of defining so 174 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE elusive a word as Humanism. Perhaps, in- stead of tempting Fate with a definition, I may be permitted to describe what I mean by Humanism. To me it means a particular attitude of mind which is the result of a broad and thorough training in the liberal studies usually denominated the Humanities. It is an attitude of mind which primarily views the world and men and things in the light of pure reason and past experience. It considers reason rather than emotion to be man's most efficient guide to progress. From the "cool and quiet" of the past, the Humanist acquires standards and authorities by which to judge the value, permanence, or utility of the things which the tumultuous present unrolls before him. His training has also taught him something of human limita- tions, and he wastes neither time nor en- ergy in attempting to explore regions which the past has shown to be closed to man's restless intelligence. But in other directions he is ever eager to push for- ward the existing boundaries of thought and knowledge. Intense intellectual curi- osity and an unwearied pursuit of new knowledge are marked characteristics of the Humanist. Finally, the true Human- ist does not live in and for books alone; he is keenly interested in humanity and in full sympathy with its struggle for bet- terment. He touches life at many points, takes active part in public affairs, always bringing his reason rather than his emo- tions to bear upon them. He mingles freely with his fellow-men, and, if they wish it, he is ever ready to place his knowledge or judgment at their service. But. he will not force it upon them unasked, or in the spirit of a missionary determined to proselyte. The general attitude of the Hu- manist toward his fellows is best expressed in the famous and noble line of Terence: "Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto"l am a man; therefore nothing that relates to man is without interest to me. And now, what of the relevance of train- ing in the Humanities to the practical work of the librarian? How may Human- ism and Humanistic Learning come more into play in the daily tasks of administra- tion, cataloging, contact with the public, and so on? How may the prestige of our Humanistic education be continued and increased and fixed in the social mind? I can but indicate what seem to me possi- bilities in the way of answers to these questions. And yet, I believe these possi- bilities might be made actualities. The general intellectual cultivation re- sulting from such training would give us a well-coordinated view of the whole world of learning. The intellectual interests naturally arising from the cultivation of liberal studies would prevent our becom- ing too greatly absorbed in the special li- brary or special kind of library work with which we are connected. Intense absorp- tion in a specialty carries with it the dan- ger of our becoming intellectually and even professionally separated from each other. The world today shows ample evi- dence of the truth of Schopenhauer's prophecy that excessive specialism would produce men of learning who, outside their own subject of study, would be ignora- muses. The Humanities would develop many-sidedness and broad, tolerant views of men and things. In the language of political platforms, I "view with alarm" the increasing number of sections and special subject groups at these conferences. There appears to be going on among us the reproductive process known in botany as "vegetative multiplication." Fortunately it is not proceeding at quite so rapid a rate as in the botanical world, where in twenty- four hours a parent cell may produce mil- lions of progeny. Nevertheless, it is going on, and the American Library Association may find itself in the position of the "old woman who lived in a shoe," with respect to its numerous children. It is the inter- ests, ideas, and ideals which we all possess in common that make for real solidarity and cohesiveness. The influence of Humanistic ideals would, I anticipate, give us a better defi- CARLTON 175 nition and a stricter delimitation of the scope of our activities than now appears to exist. We spread our labor and energy over an enormous area, but the extent and depth of soil really enriched by our ef- forts seem pitifully small. The manifesta- tions under which we present ourselves to the public are appalling in their number and variety. In addition to the great di- versity of work more or less proper to li- brary activity, we are blithely assuming many duties and responsibilities which rightly belong to the family, the home, the school, and the individual. Verily, that way madness lies. The most acceptable type of librarian at this moment would seem to be some such person as the one who recently inserted the following ad- vertisement in the "Personal" column of the London Times: "A gentleman, age 33, with experience in thirty occupations in twelve countries, always employed, wishes to interview those who may require his services." 8 According to Thucydides, Pericles once remarked that "the mischief is in setting to work without being first enlightened." Are we fully enlightened with respect to the reasons for our multifarious efforts and fields of labor? The first chapter of an admirable volume entitled, The Ameri- can Public Library, asserts that the "American library 'idea is simply tanta- mount to a confession that the library, as a distributor, must obey the laws that all distributors must obey, if they are to suc- ceed in the largest sense. . . . The successful distributor through trade is pre- cisely he who does not sit down and wait for customers. He takes the whole com- munity as a group of possible clients; he tries to suit the tastes of each and to cre- ate a demand for his goods where it does not exist. The librarian must do likewise if he desires to distribute his goods as widely and effectively as possible, and if he believes in the modern idea he does so desire." This is, I think, a fair and just description of the "commercial traveler" theory of librarianship. But to me the con- ception of the librarian as a "drummer" and of books as a "line of goods" is abso- lutely repulsive. With that ideal possess- ing our minds, and the "goods" idea as an objective, we should need no higher grade of intellectual equipment than that re- quired of "drummers." The prestige of a learned profession can never come from following commercial ideals. . . "Look round, look up, and feel, a moment's space, That carpet-dusting, though a pretty trade, Is not the imperative labour after all." 8 Humanism would make us realize that too great a sacrifice of self often results in the destruction and waste of finer and more val- uable human beings than those for whom the self-sacrifice is made. Frankly, I am not a willing subject of King Demos; he is a sordid sovereign whose unenlightened and tyrannical demands constantly pro- voke me to revolt. I am by no means cer- tain that a successful branch library in a crowded section of one of our great cities is worth the sacrifice of a woman's health or life, even though she be willing to make it. The pathway of library progress during the last thirty years is strewn with wrecked bodies and tired minds, the pa- thetic results of a too great sacrifice for an imagined public good. The public ac- cepts our utilitarian and humanitarian services with smug complacency and, like Oliver Twist, asks for more. We serve a day laborer's hours often for less than a day laborer's wage. Self-assertion sup- ported by ability, rather than self-sacri- fice uselessly given, is the way to prestige and power. The Humanistic attitude of mind should attract more young men to those sides of library work not chiefly or purely admin- istrative. We must have independent knowledge and authority in all our libra- ries. In the realm of the mind, standard- ization means stagnation. As Dr. R. C. Cabot so well says: "Work falls flat, play "Times, 19 March, 1914. 9 Elizabeth B. Browning : Aurora Leigh, Book I, Lines 878-880. 176 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE and art become sterile, love and worship become conventional, unless there is orig- inality, personal creation in each." 10 Our catalog, classification, general and special reference divisions, all need men of learn- ing, men whose disciplined training in scholarship and whose creative powers are unquestioned. I want to see everywhere in these divisions men possessing the same attitude toward their work and taking the same high intellectual pleasure in it that we see, for example, in the best type of curator in museums of science and the fine arts. The Humanistic attitude would relegate utilitarianism to its proper place. We should see more clearly that utility, how- ever excellent, does not carry prestige with it in the public mind. If it did, carpenters and bricklayers would rank with peers and presidents. It is not the utility of a Greek vase which makes it an object of desire. Administration, which is a very utilitarian thing, would be subordinated to the higher things which our occupation implies. To those of you who may be filled with a con- suming ambition to be executives, to be great administrators, I would repeat in all earnestness that a general victory of the tendency you admire would lower what ought to be a learned profession to a "line of business" such as that of the department stores or mail-order houses. I have great respect for commercial activity; I am even an admirer of "big business" and its mas- terly triumphs in the way of organization, but my ideal of the great librarian has nothing in common with my ideal of the great man of business. One must be something more than a great administrator to be a great librarian. Great librarian- ship implies sound scholarship, and the courage to proclaim the highest intellectual ideals. The taste and savor of administra- tion, even at its best, are not that of the delicious fruit you imagine it, but rather that of the Apples of Sodom. We may gain the highest distinction as executives, but in so doing we may destroy all possibility 10 What Men Live By. 1914. of being torch-bearers of divine fires. The librarian truly desirous of strengthening his position and elevating his occupation will seek by long and continuous study to make himself an authority and recognized expert in some special branch of learning, preferably in the field of the Humanities. This is a duty he owes to his calling, and we have the examples of men like Panizzi, Garnett, Bradshaw, Leopold Delisle, Win- sor, Poole, and Trumbull to encourage us in the pursuit of special attainment in ad- dition to our general equipment. Recog- nized ability as a scholar would give the librarian far more influence and prestige in his community than the greatest of his administrative triumphs. This ability, spread through an entire profession, would give real power to influence popular thought and opinion. Never in the history of this nation have trained leadership and true enlightenment been more needed than now. Surely no man loved and believed in the people more than Walt Whitman, who once wrote: "For know you not that the people of our land may all read and write, and may all pos- sess the right to vote and yet the main things may be entirely lacking?" Our peo- ple are indeed gorged with reading and writing and voting, but to me it seems evi- dent that the teeming masses lack some things fundamentally necessary to citizen- ship and intellectual enlightenment. And I fear that for some time past their leaders in matters political, economic, and educa- tional, those who should have led them wisely and firmly, have too often yielded to the people's unreasoned desires and un- wise demands, and compromised where compromise has been fatal. Are we entirely guiltless? The libraries which should do much to- ward raising standards of literary author- ity and appreciation, which should lead the way in associating learning with librarian- ship, are especially those attached to our colleges and universities. It is time for them to be making some notable contribu- tion to the advancement of our work and the increase of our power and prestige, for CARLTON 177 hitherto they have been laggards in the race we have run and the least progressive of any group represented in this Associa- tion. Nearly all the present triumphs of organization and management, of coopera- tive effort and the standardization of proc- esses, have been won by the municipal and governmental libraries. To the college and university libraries much has been given in the way of rich collections of literary and scientific material, and I for one think we have the right to expect much from them in the way of leadership in fields peculiarly theirs, and particularly in the things for which, by implication, I have been plead- ing in this address. I have time and space for only the brief- est indication of one or two further sug- gestions as to how we all, guided by Hu- manistic ideals, might be of service to the republic and increase our prestige. History is an indispensable study for every citi- zen of a free state. During the past half- century, while it has been sedulously cul- tivated in our higher institutions of learn- ing, its interest and attraction to the read- ing public of England and America have greatly declined. Speaking of the influence which contemporary historians and his- torical thinkers exerted in forming the ideas of the English people during the early part of the Victorian era, Mr. G. M. Trevelyan says that with the rise and dominance of the scientific school of his- torians and its mad worship of "docu- ments," the former tie between history and the reading public was broken. And, says Charles Whibley: "By a stroke of the pen the lecturers at the ficole des Chartes di- vorced history from what they believed its immoral union with literature." The re- sults of this divorce have been deplorable, but happily there are numerous signs of a reaction at this moment. We might aid this particular reaction. Librarians ought to assist every effort, from whatever direc- tion it may come, to make popular the read- ing and study of the best-written histories. "History," says Gibbon, "is the most popu- lar species of writing since it can adapt itself to the highest or the lowest ca- pacity." We should not hesitate to exalt Gibbon, Carlyle, Macaulay, Froude, Green, Prescott, Motley, Parkman, Fiske, and other "literary" historians over the later generation of honest but uninspiring, in- dustrious but uninteresting document gath- erers. The more popular history can be made the better it will be for the state. By emphasizing, in season and out of sea- son, the necessity of a knowledge of past history as a guide to present action, we shall contribute something toward produc- ing stable-minded citizens really fit for exercising political duties and responsibil- ities. In the field of literature librarians have unexcelled opportunities for rendering high service to the state and associating themselves in the public mind with the things which make for prestige. Just as the study of history informs and clarifies the mind of the citizen with respect to his political and social conduct, so the reading and absorption of the best in literature will refine his thought and enrich his life with appreciation of the beautiful. The Humanistic equipment and attitude are necessary if we wish to aid in raising the standard of literary taste and apprecia- tion among the people. We are in daily touch with thousands who need leadership and direction in the formation of a taste for that which is best in 'belles-lettres. It will scarcely be denied that the majority of the people in England and America to- day have their tastes formed and supplied by newspapers and cheap periodicals. The quality of taste so formed is of the most inferior kind, and the stuff it feeds upon contains no stimulus to seek higher. Com- pulsory education gives the masses the ability to read, but not always the power to think, to estimate, to discriminate and to judge aright. The irresponsible news- paper, the commercialized periodical, and the sordid followers of the trade of au- thorship, all batten on this condition. It should be war to the knife between the public libraries and these corrupting in- 178 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE fluences if the libraries are sincere in their desire to carry aloft the banner of the ideal. There is but one attitude that we can afford to take with respect to imag- inative literature, viz., that the best alone is worthy of inclusion in our collections and only the best has power to elevate taste and refine appreciation. The in- clusion of a second-best or a third-best, in the expectation that these will lead to the appreciation of the very best, is, to my mind a theory not altogether justified by its results. The world's greatest literature and art may be understood and appreciated by any moderately intelligent mind which is willing to submit itself to trained and disinterested guidance. We must set up the highest standards and then practice them. The ideal public library would be one containing only those books of the past and present whose authority or beauty is unquestioned, the timeless books "that show, contain, and nourish all the world." The prestige of a library like this would be such that any person seen with one of its volumes would instinct- ively be respected by his fellow-citizens. Some of you will say: "But we have to compromise; the people will not have the best. We must compromise in order to se- cure any hold at all upon them." I regret- fully admit that fact, but I urge all the more strongly the necessity of our secur- ing more prestige, power, and authority in order that our compromises may be fewer. In the meantime, let us be entirely honest with ourselves and the world as to the nature and kind of compromises we are forced to make in these high matters of education, literature, and the cultivation of taste among the people. Let us tell the exact truth about them and not deceive either ourselves or the world as to the rea- sons why we compromise. In his classic essay on the subject, Viscount Morley has clearly shown the distinction between le- gitimate and illegitimate compromise. "It is legitimate compromise," he writes, "to say: 'I do not expect you to execute this improvement in my time. But at any rate it shall not be my fault if the improvement remains unknown or rejected.' It is ille- gitimate compromise to say: 'I cannot per- suade you to accept my truth; therefore I will pretend to accept your falsehood.' " I would not have you think that I wish to disparage the useful educational and practical services that our libraries are now rendering to society. I am not with- out appreciation of the devotion and un- selfishness which have gone into the hu- manitarian activities of the modern li- brary. I do not wish to be thought of as one who sits idly by and praises past times. What I have said here has been said with a "forward-looking" mind eager for greater triumphs, greater power, greater prestige than we have ever yet had. Although I reverence the past, I also care greatly for the future and the kind of civilization for which America will be re- membered in the time to come. I desire to see those associated with higher education and with libraries help prepare the soil wherefrom future leadership in intellectual power may spring. At present, intellect is dragged like a captive behind the chariot of utility. It is the slave of commerce and a thing held in contempt by the people un- less it ministers to their physical com- fort. We have in this country as yet, no such respect for higher learning as the Germans have and no such respect for literature as characterizes the French. I hope for a greatly changed condition, which we shall have helped to bring about. I hope to see learning attain a position in this land like that attained by Stoicism in Rome under Marcus Aurelius. Says Pater in the fifteenth chapter of Marius the Epicurean: "It was no longer a rude and unkempt thing. Received at court, it had largely decorated itself; it had be- come persuasive and insinuating, and sought not only to convince men's intel- ligences but to allure their souls." In the near future I look for one of those out- breaks of the spirit which, as Pater says, "come naturally with particular periods times when, in men's approaches to art RESOLUTIONS 179 and poetry, curiosity may be noticed to take the lead, when men come to art and poetry with a deep thirst for intellectual excitement, after a long ennui, or in reac- tion against the strain of outward, practi- cal things." I want those who represent learning and librarianship to welcome such an outbreak of the spirit with sympathy and understanding. I want them to be a selected and articulate class fit for high leadership in their chosen activities and possessing an intellectual and social pres- tige everywhere recognized and respected. I want them to be men who, in the words of H. G. Wells, "will have the knowledge, nerve and courage to do splendid, danger- ous things." I want them to be upholders of qualitative rather than quantitative standards. I want them to be brave defend- ers of ideas and ideals rather than dumb servants of men and forces whose god is materialism. "Two things only," it has been said, "are assured of immortality; ideas and monu- ments." For which of these would we pre- fer to have our age and country memora- ble? The ideas of the Greeks are still as vital and active as the properties of ra- dium; the monuments of Mesopotamia exist, but are buried beneath the sands of the desert. Which are we to be, Greeks or Mesopotamians? President ANDERSON: The Program committee felt that there might be too much airy persiflage in the programs for the general sessions, and cast about for someone to sound the serious note. Of course it did not take us long to light upon the next speaker as the proper one to strike the note of seriousness and solemnity. She is a great reader of novels, and a discriminating reader. She has, I understand, gleaned some choice selections from some of her favorite authors, with which she proposes to edify us. She is so well known to all of you that I simply present Miss AGNES VAN VAL- KENBURGH, of New York. Miss Van Valkenburgh then amused and edified her audience by a selection of "Readings from recent fiction," choosing three of the recent "best sellers" as the subjects of her kindly wit and irony. The secretary then read the report of the Committee on resolutions. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLU- TIONS The Committee on resolutions beg leave to recommend the adoption of the follow- ing minute, to be spread upon the rec- ords of the Association, copies to be for- warded to the several bodies and persons therein mentioned: RESOLVED, That the heartiest thanks of the American Library Association be, and are hereby tendered: To the librarian of Congress, for the gracious welcome to the national capital extended by him to this Association at the first session of the present conference; for opening to inspection the beautiful structure under his control, and for num- berless personal courtesies which have lent peculiar charm to an occasion which will always remain a notable one in the annals of the Association. To the associates of the librarian on the staff of the Library of Congress, who have ably and devotedly cooperated with their chief in showing treasures, and in explaining methods of the great institu- tion with which they are connected; and to express our deep sense of obligation and gratitude to the Library of Congress as the national library in fact and spirit, if not in name; and to testify to the im- measurable service rendered to the libra- ries and the library movement of this country by the labors and activities un- dertaken by that institution for the com- mon good. To the District of Columbia Library As- sociation for most effective aid in all plans regarding the conference, and for the de- lightful reception on Thursday evening, which gave great pleasure to all who could attend it. To the members of the board of trus- tees of the public library of the District 180 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE of Columbia for devoting a large portion of their building to the purposes of the interesting and novel exhibition of labor- saving devices and library equipment, which has proved to be a feature of the conference. To the Librarian, Dr. George F. Bow- erman, and his assistants, for assembling and displaying to advantage this exhibit; and to all members of the staff of the pub- lic library of the District of Columbia for many courtesies. To Dr. Bowerman and his associates on the local entertainment committee, whose constant and untiring attention to the in- terests and welfare of the visiting mem- bers of the Association has contributed to the eminent success of this thirty-sixth conference. To other librarians of the District of Columbia for many attentions kindly shown to the members of the Association. To Dr. J. Franklin Jameson, Mr. John Foster Carr, Dr. P. P. Claxton, Mr. H. W. Kent, and Miss Leila Mechlin for their in- forming and felicitous addresses. To the Press of the city of Washington for extended and accurate reports of the proceedings of the Association. To the manager of the New Willard Hotel for obliging services freely rendered in connection with the conduct of the busi- ness of the Association at headquarters. (Signed) C. H. GOULD, W. T. PORTER, ELISA M. WILLARD, Committee. President ANDERSON: I will call for a hearty, rising vote for the adoption of these resolutions. The resolutions were agreed to unani- mously. The secretary next read the report of the tellers of election showing that the following officers had been elected: REPORT OF THE TELLERS OF ELECTION President H. C. Wellman, Librarian, City Library, Springfield, Mass. First Vice-President W. N. C. Carlton, Librarian, Newberry Library, Chicago. Second Vice-President Mary L. Titcomb, Librarian, Washing- ton County Free Library, Hagerstown, Md. Members of Executive Board (for three years) J. T. Jennings, Librarian, Seattle Pub- lic Library. Mary W. Plummer, Director, Library School, New York Public Library. Members of the Council (for five years) . Adam Strohm, Librarian, Detroit Pub- lic Library. W. R. Watson, Chief, Division of Edu- cational Extension, New York State Li- brary, Albany. Corinne Bacon, Librarian, Drexel Insti- tute Free Library, Philadelphia. Andrew Keogh, Reference Librarian, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Effie L. Power, Supervisor Children's Work, St. Louis Public Library. Trustees of Endowment Fund (for three years) W. W. Appleton, New York City, (for one year) M. Taylor Pyne, Trustee, Princeton Uni- versity, Princeton, N. J. (The president-elect was at this point escorted to the platform.) President ANDERSON: It must have been about 1896 when I first had the pleasure of meeting the president-elect. At that time I was looking for ideas about branch library administration and went to Boston for the purpose. Mr. Wellman was then supervisor of branches in the Boston public library, and I shall never forget his courtesies and general helpful- ness to me in my visits to the Boston branches. It would be embarrassing to him if I should tell you in his presence my high opinion of him both as a man and as a librarian. I think, however, it may be interesting to you to recall that he graduated at Harvard in 1894 and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa; that he was first an assistant in the Boston Athe- EXECUTIVE BOARD 181 naeum; then supervisor of branches in the Boston public library; later librarian of the Brookline public library; and since 1902 librarian of the City Library Asso- ciation of Springfield, Mass., where he en- gineered the planning and erection of one of the most successful library buildings in this country. He is a member of the Massachusetts Free Public Library Com- mission; has been secretary and presi- dent of the Massachusetts Library Club; has been for many years a member of the Publishing Board and Council of this Association, and for the past year has been its first vice-president. Mr. President-elect, it gives me great pleasure to hand over to you the emblem of office entrusted to the president of this Association. I feel that it will be in good hands, and I certainly wish you a most prosperous administration of the Associ- ation's affairs. (Hands him the gavel.) President-elect WELLMAN: Mr. Presi- dent, I can understand that after ad- ministering the office with such signal success you relinquish the gavel with a happy heart. But, fellow-members, whoever receives this gavel must take it with feelings of profound gravity. When I consider what this Associ- ation stands for, and all it means, I can think only of the obligation and respon- sibility which you have imposed. I could not find courage to undertake the task if I did not believe that, after all, the part of the president is really of lesser mo- ment, and that I can count for the greater part on the officers and Executive Board, and above all, on the active aid and ear- nest support of every member of the As- sociation. For I think you will agree with me that it is that single-minded, whole- hearted and harmonious devotion in the interest of this Association on the part of all its members which has made its worthy past and which alone will insure its successful future. I thank you for con- ferring on me this great honor and this great opportunity for service. If there be no other business I declare this conference adjourned without day. EXECUTIVE BOARD Meeting of May 25 Present: President Anderson (presid- ing), Vice-president Wellman, Messrs. An- drews, Carl ton, Craver and Putnam. The Nominating committee presented its report which was adopted by the Board as constituting the official nominations. Mr. C. H. Gould, Miss Elisa M. Willard and Mr. W. T. Porter were appointed Com- mittee on resolutions. The following persons were named as of- ficial delegates to the British Library As- sociation conference at Oxford: Dr. Herbert Putnam Mr. R. R. Bowker Dr. Frank P. Hill Mr. W. H. Brett Mr. Hiller C. Wellman Mr. Henry E. Legler Mr. W. N. C. Carlton Miss M. E. Ahern Mr. George H. Locke Mr. J. C. M. Hanson Mr. C. F. D. Belden Mr. George B. Utley Several matters of routine business were also disposed of. Meeting of May 29 Present: President Wellman (presid- ing), Vice-presidents Carlton and Miss Tit- comb, Miss Plummer, and Messrs. Craver, Putnam and Jennings. The Board voted to appoint a Commit- tee to consider and report on the feasibility of preparing and holding a library exhibit at the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco in 1915, the report of the com- mittee and further business resulting from its recommendations to be conducted through correspondence votes of the 182 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Board. Dr. Frank P. Hill was appointed chairman with power to complete the com- mittee. Dr. Hill later named the follow- ing persons to serve with him on this com- mittee: Miss M. E. Ahern, Mr. J. C. Dana, Mr. J. L. Gillis, and the secretary of the Association. The chairman of the Committee on code for classifiers, Mr. William Stetson Mer- rill, presented the following report: Report of Committee on Code for Classifiers The Committee on code for classifiers takes pleasure in presenting herewith, as its report of progress, a booklet of 124 pages, mimeographed in a limited edition, wherein have been assembled by the chair- man more than three hundred points of procedure for future consideration by the Committee. The purpose of issuing this collection of data at the present time is to present, in a more specific way than has hitherto been possible, the points upon which it is desired to secure a fair consensus of opinion from classifiers and librarians. The Committee has expended nineteen and 80/100 dollars of the appropriation of twenty dollars made in January 1914 in preparing the copy for the mimeo- grapher and submits the matter of its is- sue in the present form to the Publishing Board. Respectfully submitted, (Signed) WM. STETSON MERRILL, Chairman. The above report was unanimously ac- cepted. In accordance with the vote of the As- sociation at its meeting on May 27 it was voted that the President appoint a committee of five to consider the desir- ability of making any amendments to the constitution, this committee to report to the Executive Board at the next mid-win- ter meeting. The President appointed the following committee: Mr. N. D. C. Hodges, Miss M. E. Ahern, Miss Alice S. Tyler, Mr. Gardner M. Jones and Mr. C. H. Gould. It was voted that the question of ap- pointing standing committees on classi- fication and cataloging be referred to a committee appointed by the President, this committee to report to the Executive Board at the next mid-winter meeting. The President appointed as this commit- tee, Mr. W. N. C. Carlton. The following report was received from the chairman of the Committee on cost and method of cataloging, Mr. A. G. S. Josephson, which was accepted as a re- port of progress: Report of Committee on Cost and Method of Cataloging To the Executive Board: This Committee submits hereby a re- port of progress. At a meeting held yesterday at the Li- brary of Congress, at which Mr. Charles Martel, chief of the catalog division of the Library of Congress, and Mr. T. Frank- lin Currier, head cataloger of Harvard Un- iversity, were also present, the accom- panying letter was adopted. It will be sent to all the libraries which are taking part in the investigation con- ducted by this Committee, accompanied by the enclosed schedule of the test to be made. The Committee suggests that Mr. Mar- tel and Mr. Currier be added to it as mem- bers. Respectfully submitted, (Signed) AKSEL G. S. JOSEPHSON, Chairman. Report 1. The information received in re- sponse to the questionnaire sent last year to twenty libraries gave clear evidence of the existing lack of uniformity in pre- paring library statistics, as well as of a considerable variety of conditions and methods of work. 2. In order, therefore, to arrive at more definite results, the Committee asked the Executive Board for authority to un- dertake a more extended and more detailed investigation into the prevailing methods of cataloging. Having received the au- thority asked for, the Committee sent cop- ies of the questionnaire used last year to thirty additional libraries, asking for sim- ilar information. 3. The Committee now asks each li- brary that has taken part or intends to take part in this investigation to set apart one hundred books (titled, not volumes) for an actual test of the cost of catalog- ing under conditions normal to each li- brary. If there has been any essential change in the organization since infor- mation was sent to this Committee in re- sponse to the questionnaire, such changes should be reported. EXECUTIVE BOARD 183 4. As the report is to be summarized by items, it is especially desirable that the report shall be made item by item, and li- braries are requested not to combine proc- esses. 5. The books selected should be such as would be purchased by a public or col- lege library, having both reference and circulating collections; they should be taken from the books currently received and new to the library; neither dupli- cates, nor replacements, nor even new edi- tions should be selected. 6. Pamphlets, i. e. material treated with less fullness than the books regu- larly placed on the shelves, incunabula, long sets of periodicals or other books re- quiring special expertness or considerable time, such as books requiring much ana- lytical work, should not be selected, even though they might be very characteristic for the library. It is the intention of the Committee to make a special test for this kind of work; libraries willing to take part in this additional test should communi- cate their willingness to the chairman of the Committee. 7. Fiction, poetry and drama should be represented by not more than ten titles. Books in foreign languages should be in- cluded in the proportion normal to each library. 8. The use of the printed cards for analytical entries prepared for and dis- tributed by the A. L. A. Publishing Board should not be reported. 9. As an increasing number of libra- ries are using printed cards prepared by other libraries, and some of the libraries included in the investigation themselves are printing cards for their own use, li- braries using printed cards should report on their method of handling these, both the cards prepared by other libraries and those prepared by themselves, so that the Committee may be able to judge how far this method influences the cost of cata- loging. 10. Many public libraries, both large and of moderate size, possess branches; most university and some college libra- ries have departmental libraries. The li- braries having such supplementary sys- tems should report on the work of du- plicating cards for the use in the special catalogs for branches and departments, so that the Committee may be able to judge how far the cost of cataloging Is influenced hereby. 11. Full and explicit remarks and in- formation setting forth the special prob- lems and conditions accompanying each case are asked for. 12. In order to insure accuracy in time calculation it would be desirable that stop watches be used, but this is not essen- tial, the method used in computing time should be reported. 13. So as to be able to study the results of the test with all the material Author Title Imprint Routing 1. Preliminary; looking up in catalogs, preparing record slips, etc. 2. Classification. 3. Assigning subject headings and references. 4. Assigning author headings and references. 5. Preparing original entry. 6. Revising of original entry (by original cataloger or by a spe- cial reviser). 7. Duplicating cards or making additional entries by (specify process) a. for public catalogs b. for official catalogs c. for other special catalogs (how many?) (differentiate if desired) 8. Proofreading or revising du- plicate cards or additional en- tries. 9. Ordering and receiving printed cards. 10. Money paid for cards printed by other libraries. 11. Shelf listing and assigning book numbers. 12. Preparing printed cards for catalogs (i. e. adding head- ings, etc.). 13. Filing cards a. in public catalogs b. in official catalogs c. in other special catalogs (differentiate if desired) 14. Totals 15. Remarks * State how time is computed, es- pecially whether stop watch is used. available, the Committee desires to have the original cards and records submit- 184 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE ted; in order to do this, the libraries tak- ing the test would have to prepare duplicate cards and records for their own flies; the time taken to prepare these duplicates should, of course, not be counted. Duplicates of cards duplicated for branch and department libraries should not be sent. 14. Libraries that find it impossible to duplicate their work in this way should send to the Committee with their reports one copy of each entry as prepared for the author catalog accompanied by a full record of all additional cards prepared for their public and official catalogs and files, including cross references made for the first time. The Committee wishes, how- ever, to urge the importance of submit- ting the complete material. 15. The Committee hopes, through this test and the previous investigation, to be able to establish what might be regarded as a fair cost and a standard method of cataloging; it hopes for the hearty coop- eration in its efforts of all the libraries to which this letter is sent. 16. This letter is accompanied by 125 record cards to be used in keeping the record of the processes involved in the cataloging of each of the one hundred books on which the test IE made. By us- ing these cards, all libraries will submit uniform statistics, and the cards will give the Committee a record by which proc- esses, efficiency and standards of cata- loging may be compared. Their use will also facilitate the work at the library making the test. They might be inserted in the books selected for the test, and the presence of a card in a book would suffice as instruction to each worker to use the book in question under the rules for the test. A communication was read from Mr. Adam Strohm, librarian of the Detroit pub- lic library, inviting the Association on be- half of the Detroit Library Commission, the Convention and Tourists Bureau, and the Detroit Board of Commerce, to hold its 1917 conference in Detroit, Mr. Strohm stating that the library board looked for- ward with confidence to the completion of the new central library in that year. A vote of appreciation was extended to Mr. Strohm for this invitation. A resolution was received which had been adopted by the Committee on work with the blind, to the effect that the Board be asked to appoint a separate committee to consider literature for the mentally and morally deficient, as it was not found de- sirable to have this work combined with that performed by the Committee on work with the blind. It was voted that this re- quest be referred to the same committee which is to consider the desirability of standing committees on classification and cataloging. Mr. W. N. C. Carlton presented his res- ignation as non-official member of the Ex- ecutive Board in view of his election to the office of first vice-president, which under the circumstances was accepted. Mr. George H. Locke, librarian of the Toronto public library, was elected a mem- ber of the Executive Board to fill the va- cancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Carl- ton as a non-official member, the term to expire in 1915. The place of meeting for the 1915 con- ference was next considered. Invitations were received from the chambers of com- merce of New York City, Toledo, New Or- leans, Baltimore and Chattanooga. Mr. Charles S. Greene, of Oakland, personally presented the invitation from various bod- ies in San Francisco and vicinity, and Mr. J. T. Jennings brought with him invitations from numerous bodies in the Pacific north- west for the Association to meet in Seat- tle. After a thorough discussion of these various places of meeting it was voted, on motion of Dr. Putnam, that it was the sense of the Executive Board that Berke- ley, Calif., be the place of meeting for 1915, but that in reaching the above conclusion the Board desires to express cordial acknowledgment of the invitation from the city of Seattle, which in itself is extremely attractive and which, al- though it cannot be accepted owing to particular circumstances of the year, the Board feels the Association will have opportunity to take advantage of in spirit and through the visits of individual mem- bers. The date for the 1915 meeting was left to be decided after further conference with the authorities at Berkeley and COUNCIL 185 vicinity, particularly with the authorities of the University of California, who have generously offered the Association the use of the university buildings as meeting rooms. It was taken as the sense of the Board that the meeting would probably be held between the middle of May and the end of the first week in June. Dr. C. W. Andrews, as chairman of the Committee on affiliation of non-regional societies, presented the following report to the Council, which report was in turn referred by the Council to the Executive Board. The Executive Board voted to lay the report on the table until the next mid- winter meeting and to print the same in the proceedings of the Washington con- ference. The report was as follows: Report of Committee on Affiliation of Non-Regional Societies Your Committee on affiliation of non- regional societies report that they have duly considered the question submitted to them. They have been pleased to find that it is not as serious as some un- confirmed statements had led them to believe. It does not appear that any very large proportion of the members of the non-regional affiliated societies at- tending the annual meetings of the A. L. A. are not members of the Asso- ciation. Yet there are some and the offi- cials of these societies have recognized and indeed have suggested the fairness of such members bearing a part of the ex- pense of the Bulletin and of the confer- ence. Indeed, they have not asked for any exemption of those who are mem- bers of the A. L. A., but the Committee are unanimous in thinking that the Asso- ciation should do as much for those of its members with specialized interests who have chosen to organize as an affiliated society as it does for those who prefer to be members of a section. Your Committee therefore recommend the adoption of the following by-law: Section 10. Societies having purposes allied to those of the American Library Association may be affiliated with the latter by a two-thirds vote of the mem- bers of the Council present at any regu- lar meeting, or at any special meeting, provided notice of the application of the society is included in the call of the spe- cial meeting. Such affiliated societies shall meet with the A. L. A. at least once in every three consecutive years. Pro- vision for their meetings shall be made by the Program committee, and there shall be allotted for their proceedings the same number of pages in the Bulletin as for a section. Their members shall be entitled to all the privileges of members of the A. L. A. in regard to hotel and travel rates. The treasurer of each such society shall pay to the treasurer of the A. L. A. before the close of the financial year 50c for each member of the society who is not a member of the A. L. A., and 50c additional for each such member who has attended the annual conference. No such societies shall have the privileges men- tioned unless affiliated, except that the Program committee is authorized to pro- vide for the first meetings of a society. (Signed) CLEMENT W. ANDREWS, Chairman. P. S. Dr. Andrews, for himself and Mr. Wyer as individuals, recommends the in- clusion of Section 8a of the By-Laws as part of Section 9; and also that the refer- ence in Section 9 to Section 17 of the Constitution shall be altered to read Sec- tion 16. Mr. Henry E. Legler was elected a member of the Publishing Board to suc- ceed himself for a term of three years. COUNCIL The Council met at the New Willard Hotel, Washington, May 28, 2:30 p. m. President Anderson presided. A Nominating committee consisting of Messrs. Legler, Hadley and Walter, nom- inated the following persons as members of the Council for a term of five years each, and they were unanimously elected by the Council: Thomas M. Owen, Edith Tobitt, Walter L. Brown, Edith A. Phelps, Charles F. D. Belden. The following resolution, relative to a national archive building in Washington, referred to the Council by the Association at large, was, upon motion by Dr. E. C. Richardson, unanimously adopted: Whereas, The records and papers of the United States government contain an 186 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE inexhaustible and priceless body of in- formation for the statesman, the admin- istrator, the historian and the reading public; and Whereas, These papers are now scat- tered through many repositories in Wash- ington and out of Washington, housed often at great expense for rental in un- safe and unsuitable buildings, exposed to danger from fire, and difficult of access; and Whereas, Such conditions not only block the progress of history, but are a constant drag upon the efficiency of gov- ernmental administration; and Whereas, The only true remedy lies in the construction of a suitable national archive building, in which these records and papers can be arranged systematical- ly, found with rapidity and consulted with ease; Resolved, That the American Library Association cordially approves the ef- forts which have been made toward the erection of a national archive building, and respectfully urges upon Congress the passage of the appropriation now under consideration in the Sundry Civil Appro- priations bill, for making plans for such a building, and the following of this initial step by such further appropriations as shall result as soon as possible in its erection. A letter was read from Miss Linda A. Eastman, stating that the Home Eco- nomics Association had voted to appoint a standing committee to cooperate with a committee of the American Library Asso- ciation on the compilation of an annotated reading list on home economics, this joint committee to evaluate the new literature on the subject each year and bring it up to date. The consideration of appointing such a committee from the A. L. A. was referred to the Executive Board. On motion of Dr. Hill it was voted that the chair appoint a committee of three to draft suitable resolutions on the death, during the past year, of Frank A. Hutch- ins, William C. Kimball and Josephus N. Larned. The chair named as this com- mittee Messrs. W. L. Brown, E. C. Rich- ardson and M. S. Dudgeon. (The reso- lutions as drafted were read before and adopted by the Association at the general session on May 29, and are printed in the minutes of that meeting.) Mr. W. H. Kerr, as chairman of a com- mittee, presented for consideration the following statement concerning the status of school librarians, and by a unanimous vote it was given the endorsement of the Council: LIBRARY SERVICE IN SCHOOLS AND QUALIFICATIONS OF SCHOOL LIBRARIANS In view of the rapid growth of the school library and the importance of its function in modern education, the Amer- ican Library Association, in session at Washington, D. C., May 28, 1914, presents for the consideration and approval of educational and civic and state authori- ties the following statement: First: Good service from school li- braries is indispensable in modern educa- tional work. Second: The wise direction of a school library requires broad scholarship, executive ability, tact, and other high- grade qualifications, together with special competency for the effective direction of cultural reading, choice of books, and teaching of reference principles. Third: Because much latent power is being recognized in the school library and is awaiting development, it is be- lieved that so valuable a factor in edu- cation should be accorded a dignity worthy of the requisite qualifications. Further, it is believed that in schools and educational systems the director of the library should be competent in scholar- ship, talent and teaching power, equally with the head of any other department of instruction in the same school; should be enabled, by having necessary equipment and assistants, to do progressive work; and should be recognized equally with the supervisors of other departments as an integral part of the educational system. The Committee to investigate fire in- surance rates to libraries reported prog- ress through its chairman, Mr. M. S. Dudgeon. Questionnaires sent out two months ago are coming in slowly, and the committee hopes to make a definite report in a short time. Dr. C. W. Andrews, chairman of the Committee on affiliation of non-regional li- brary associations, presented a report in be- half of the committee, which it was voted to refer to the Executive Board, and which is COUNCIL 187 printed in the minutes of the Board meet- ing for May 29. He stated that at his request the secretary had made a care- ful analysis of the registers of the Hotel Kaaterskill and it was found that of all the persons who were in attendance at the Kaaterskill meeting, and who were not members of the Association or an affiliated society, the largest number were wives or relatives of librarians, leaving only sev- enty library workers out of 892, or not quite eight per cent of the total attend- ance, who were not members and who really ought to be. Of the non-members of the A. L. A. in attendance only four- teen were members of Special Libraries Association, and nine of the American Association of Law Libraries. (The mem- bership of the League of Library Com- missions and National Association of State Libraries is largely institutional.) Therefore, the speaker thought the mat- ter was not of as great consequence as was supposed, as a total addition of only $35 or $40 would have been secured if the proposed by-law had been in force. It seemed fair, however, that the affiliated associations should contribute their pro- portion to the expenses of a conference and in this they all expressed willing- ness. Miss Tyler expressed the feeling that affiliation was made too easy and that an outright sum each year would be only fair. Dr. Andrews next presented the follow- ing report for the Committee (Dr. An- drews and Dr. Bostwick) on a union list of serials, which was received as a report of progress: Report of Committee on a Union List of Serials Your Committee on a union list of serials respectfully report that they are informed by the Librarian of Congress that that institution is making progress in its plans for a list of its own period- icals in serials, and that he hopes that these plans will prove a basis for the prep- aration of a union list. Of them it can be said at the present time only that they contemplate the issuance of a preliminary edition in sections, taking those classes first which appear likely to be of the most use. The advantages of the work being done by the Library of Congress are so obvious that the Committee are confident that the Council will agree with them in thinking that no action looking toward other meth- ods is necessary or desirable so long as there is such good prospect of success along the line mentioned. They therefore submit this as a report of progress. Mr. Ranck presented an oral report of progress for the Committee on ventilation and lighting of library buildings. The committee plans to have in print a pre- liminary report to be sent to all members of the Council before the January meeting. A motion was unanimously passed that it was the sense of the Council that the Bureau of Education should include libra- ries and librarians in future issues of its Educational Directories. Mr. Bowker felt that one of the im- portant results from a meeting in Wash- ington was not only to come in contact with government officials, but to get gov- ernment officials in touch with us and with each other. He thought apprecia- tion should be shown the Commissioner of Education for his interest and his plan for establishing libraries in the 2,200 counties without adequate library facili- ties, and that mention should be made that the plan Is already working on a large scale in California. From a paper presented at the Agricultural Libraries Section by an official of the Department of Agriculture it was apparent that the latter department knew almost nothing of the work being done for libraries in rural communities by the various state library commissions. The whole thing suggested the importance of bringing together, while In Washington, at least by suggestion, the various departments and agencies in the development of rural community work in a proper coordination. He therefore pre- sented the following resolution which was, upon motion, unanimously adopted: Resolved, That the Council of the American Library Association expresses its cordial appreciation of the practical 188 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE support by the Commissioner of Educa- tion of the plan for library extension in rural communities, under which town or other central libraries extend their work throughout their respective counties, a plan whose value has been proven by suc- cessful pioneer work in several localities and worked out through the salutory li- brary law of California in half the coun- ties of that state; and that it heartily favors the establishment in the 2,200 coun- ties reported as without adequate library facilities, of county seat libraries, through the cooperation of the field agents of the Bureau of Education, the county agents of the Department of Agriculture, and other representatives of the federal department with the state library commissions and the local school authorities, and the util- ization of traveling libraries and parcel- post facilities for the delivery and return of book packages on rural delivery routes. Mr. Bowker presented the following resolutions on the subject of parcel-post service as applied to books, which, upon motion, were unanimously adopted: Resolved, That the Council of the American Library Association expresses to the Postmaster-General the hearty ap- preciation by the Association and by all interested in the progress of the library movement of his wise and beneficent act in including books within the parcel post, one of the greatest boons in the develop- ment of the supply of books to the people, especially in rural communities; and Resolved, That the Council expresses the hope that further facilities may be af- forded as rapidly as experience and reve- nue justify, especially by the inclusion of all printed matter within the parcel post, by an arrangement for the collection of book parcels, by adoption of a fractional scale for quarter pounds above the initial pound, and by the ultimate establishment of a rate not exceeding the old book rate of eight cents a pound for the further zones. Resolved, That the Council proffers the cooperation of the Association, through its officials, with the Post-office Department in every advance in postal progress for the welfare of the general public, especially in the carriage of books at the lowest rates and under the easiest conditions. In behalf of the A. L. A. Publishing Board, Dr. C. W. Andrews presented a re- port upon the subject of the A. L. A. Booklist, in accordance with the re- quest of the Council at its mid-winter meeting. The report was as follows: Report on the A. L. A. Booklist In accordance with the instructions of the Council the Publishing Board have again considered the question of changing the character and form and title of the A. L. A. Booklist. As to the feasibility of obtaining sub- scriptions from laymen, the Board are convinced that this is impossible without so altering the character of the publica- tion as seriously to interfere with its service to librarians. The latter re- quire a compact note with as full in- formation as possible, while for the reader a note must be written to en- list his interest. Again many kinds of books are now included in the list as, for example, technical books which do not ap- peal to the general reader, and conse- quently he would be obliged to wade through a mass of titles in which he has no concern in order to find the few that would be of interest. This opinion of the Board is by no means based on theoret- ical considerations, but on actual experi- ment after sending complimentary copies for several months to a carefully selected list of men and women of bookish tastes. The Board recognized the disadvantages of the present title, but they have re- ceived only three suggestions in answer to their appeal. Of these they prefer "The Booklist of the American Library Asso- ciation: an annotated guide to new books," but they are not agreed that the improve- ment would be sufficient to justify the expense and inconvenience which would be caused by the changes in the catalog- ing and the lettering of sets. Discussion of the report and the policy of the Booklist followed. The income from the Carnegie fund was mostly used for editorial expenses; the income amounted to about $4,500 a year, the edi- torial expenses to about $4,200, the cost of printing the Booklist was about $1,500 a year and the receipts from subscrip- tions, bulk and retail, aoout $2,700. About 4,600 copies of the Booklist are subscribed for, including retail copies at $1.00 a year and bulk subscriptions at 40 cents a year. Mr. Legler, chairman of the Publishing Board, said the Booklist was started ten years ago to carry out the particular in- junction conveyed in Mr. Carnegie's gift, COUNCIL 189 that through the resources obtained there should be provided bibliographical tools especially* for the small library, especially, by implication, those which no publish- ing concern would undertake as commer- cial possibilities. The Publishing Board, although recognizing the excellence of having a publication which would appeal to the general book-buying public, have felt that it was outside their particular province to issue a publication for that specific need, that their primary duty lay in furnishing to the libraries a guide for book purchase. Dr. Andrews expressed the opinion that under the terms of the Carnegie donation the Board had no right to alter the char- acter of the Booklist to attract outside readers, if thereby we lessen its useful- ness to libraries. Mr. Dana said he was not sure that the present use of the money was not the best possible use, but that it had not been demonstrated that it was. He felt that it had not been proven that the Booklist, if changed somewhat in name, size and make-up, would not be useful to the small library and also to the general public, and that Mr. Carnegie, as a business man, would be pleased to see that those ad- ministering the funds which he had given were good enough business men to make the publication in their charge in time self-supporting, instead of having it cost the Association about $3,000 a year as at the present time. Mr. Dana deprecated the impression that he was an enemy of the Booklist, saying that he considered himself its best friend, and that he was, so far as he knew, the only librarian who had purchased the Booklist in quantities for general distribution from the library to the public. He said the very excellence of the material in the Booklist was the reason for his regret that it was not more widely utilized and made more generally known and available. Mr. Bowker wondered whether a bulk price could not be offered to libraries, perhaps charging 25c or so a year if bought in sufficient quantities, so they could offer the Booklist at a very low price to their clients. He doubted if any change in form would produce an added number of subscribers. On motion of Mr. Bowker, it was voted to lay the report concerning the Booklist on the table until the mid-winter meeting of the Council. Dr. Bostwick presented the following Report of the Committee on the Advis- ability of Issuing a List of Periodicals Your Committee appointed to consider the advisability of issuing an approved list of general periodicals begs to report as follows: We are agreed that the compilation of such a list is advisable and possible, but we are not sure that it is well to prepare the list at once unless it is distinctly un- derstood that it is to be tentative and subject to early revision. This is made necessary by the many radical changes in content, as well as form, in many of our best-known periodicals. We therefore rec- ommend that the matter be referred to the Publishing Board, with the request that a tentative list be prepared at once with the intention of revising it at an early date. We are of the opinion that the person who actually does the work should be someone intimately acquainted with the smaller libraries, and that there should be revision by definitely appointed collaborators, that a purely local stand- point may be avoided. (Signed) ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, HENRY E. LEGLER, FRANK K. WALTER, Committee. The report was adopted. On behalf of the Committee on library administration, Dr. Bostwick, chairman, presented the following report on the sub- ject of statistical forms used by libraries: Report on Statistical Forms Your Committee begs to call attention to the fact that the report of 1906 on sta- tistics is made largely from the stand- point of the state commission with a view to the standardization of reports made to the state authorities. With most of the report, therefore, we have nothing to do. We feel very strongly, however, that every annual report issued hereafter should 190 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE contain at least one page of statistics in such form as to admit of easy comparison. This should not interfere with the free statistical arrangement of other parts of the report. It is desired by most libraries to maintain their own forms in order that comparisons with their own past years may be easy. We are of opinion that the form called Form II, to be found on page 150 of the 1906 report, is essentially what is needed for our purposes, but we are not yet agreed on certain slight modifications which appear necessary to bring it up to date. The general form of the blank, based as it was on correspondence with many libraries and library commissions, is excellent. We therefore ask for additional time and hope to be able to make a full report in January next. We desire to call attention to the fact that some way must be devised of keep- ing this matter before the minds of li- brarians. The fact that the 1906 report, full as it is and embodying so many spe- cific recommendations, should have com- pletely passed from the memory of so many librarians is significant. We desire to suggest the following plan in the hope that some discussion of it may help to shape our final report: Let this Committee, in its annual re- port hereafter, embody a table of statistics of American libraries based on its own recommended form, and let this include only such libraries as give a page, in this form, in their annual reports. We are of the opinion that a desire to be included in this comparative table may act as an in- ducement to libraries to do the slight ad- ditional work necessary. (Signed) ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Chairman. The last feature of the report was dis- cussed at length, the sense of the Council being that as soon as possible the com- mittee should secure promises from at least 100 librarians to use the recom- mended form of statistics. The form, as decided upon, should be applicable not only to municipal tax-supported libraries, but to others, reference and especially en- dowed libraries as well. Mr. Roden presented resolutions of ap- preciation of services rendered by the Li- brary of Congress to the libraries of the country, which had been adopted by the Catalog Section, and it was voted that they be referred to the Resolutions com- mittee, with the approval of the Council. Adjourned. AGRICULTURAL LIBRARIES SECTION The meeting of the Agricultural Libra- ries Section took place on Tuesday after- noon in the small ballroom of the New Wil- lard and was presided over by the chair- man of the section, Miss Claribel R. Bar- nett, librarian of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. "Some opportunities and problems of the agricultural libraries" was the general subject of the meeting, which was opened with remarks by the chairman, in which she said in part: That there are problems peculiar to agri- cultural libraries which could be better settled by closer cooperation of these li- braries was one of the principal reasons for the establishment of the section. As far as rural library work is concerned there was perhaps no reason for the Agri- cultural Libraries Section, as this work was already being given much thoughtful attention by the various state library com- missions. There did, however, seem to be a need of some impetus to arouse a greater interest in the opportunities for usefulness presented to the libraries of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations. A good many of the state agri- cultural colleges and experiment stations are not yet giving to their libraries the attention which they deserve. Their equipment in other respects is far ahead of their library equipment, and in many instances they have attached little im- portance to the necessity of having an experienced, well-trained librarian. They are spending large sums of money for their scientific investigations, and yet have not apparently realized that there is often AGRICULTURAL LIBRARIES 191 danger of spending money on misdirected and needless efforts simply because they have not adequate facilities for finding out what has been done. When business firms employ librarians, it can be taken for granted that they know it is a good business investment. There are still many of the agricultural colleges and sta- tions which need to be convinced that it would pay them to give more attention to their libraries, both as regards equip- ment and service. If the colleges and stations should provide better equipment for their libraries, should not the libra- rians of these libraries in turn make every effort to improve their efficiency? Is the Agricultural Libraries Section one means of promoting it? There is without doubt a benefit in being brought in closer touch with librarians doing similar work, but Is this the only benefit to be derived from this section? Can it not be a means for carrying on certain cooperative under- takings which would be helpful to all agri- cultural libraries? Can it work out any standard administrative policies for agri- cultural college and experiment station li- braries? Can it do anything to make the literature of agriculture more available? Can it bring about a closer relationship between the libraries of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations and the Department of Agriculture? Can it do anything to minimize waste of work and waste of money in these institutions? Can the section in fact do anything toward increasing the good results from the sum total of the money available for agricul- tural libraries given by the various states and the federal government? These are questions to be considered and it is hoped that there will be a frank expression of opinion at this meeting on all of them. If we stop to think about the libraries of the state agricultural colleges and experi- ment stations we cannot help but be struck by the fact that they are in cer- tain respects unique and that there is or could be a very strong bond of union among them. They are all connected with Institutions receiving federal aid and federal supervision. In addition, these in- stitutions all exhibit great uniformity In organization; they are all working for the same end, are publishing the same kind of material, and they have the same prob- lems. A recent editorial in the Experi- ment Station Record has called attention to the fact that In spite of this close con- nection of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations there has been an al- most utter lack of cooperation and co- ordination among their libraries, and that "as a result we have a group of more than fifty libraries interested in identical lines of literature, striving independently with more or less zeal to collect and file publications of similar character, each ig- norant of the resources of the others and too frequently ignorant of all the re- sources apart from its own meagre col- lection of books, periodicals and official documents." Dean Davenport, in a recent address on the relations between the federal Depart- ment of Agriculture and the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, made a strong plea for division of labor as against cooperation, but does not a division of labor involve cooperation? In library work has not cooperation come to mean not merely combined work on certain un- dertakings but also a mutual understand- ing and agreement as to the objects to be accomplished and the means of accom- plishing them, which agreement often In- volves a division of labor? As far as the agricultural libraries are concerned there are certain undertakings which would in the more restricted sense of the word be cooperative, involving as they would neces- sarily the participation of all the agri- cultural colleges and experiment stations. Then there are other undertakings which can be cooperative in the sense that the different libraries might agree to do cer- tain things and not do certain other things. Cooperative book buying is an un- dertaking of this kind. To conserve funds, would it, for instance, be possible for the 192 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE library of one college or station to spe- cialize along one particular line and for the college or station library of a neighboring state to specialize along a different line, with the understanding that they would lend their books as freely as possible? The resources of the Department of Agri- culture library should also be borne in mind. Probably there are few libraries that have not been subjected to the criti- cism of having on their shelves many books which are never or seldom used. It is a criticism which cannot lightly be ignored, even though it is extremely diffi- cult to avoid, but are not the increased facilities for inter-library loans and the increased knowledge of the resources of other libraries doing a great deal to bring about more systematic and intelligent planning in the building up of collections? There are certain large libraries which have come to be recognized as the great depositories in their special field, not only for the new and up-to-date books fre- quently called for, but also for the old out-of-date literature of use only to the investigators making a historical survey of a subject. Such libraries can justify the existence on their shelves of the books seldom used, if they come within the recognized scope of the library, by reason of their value for historical purposes, but the library of limited means needs to choose and reject with great care. Do we not sometimes go to infinite pains to complete a set of some periodical, whereas it might be better to contribute our partial set toward the completion of some incom- plete set in some other library? The lit- erature of agriculture is most extensive and the funds of no agricultural library are unlimited. Cannot the sum total of the funds be made to bring far greater re- sults through an increased knowledge of the existing resources and by some co- operation in future purchases? Such co- operation may not be practicable but it is at least worthy of some thought. In the field of indexing agricultural lit- erature are we doing all we should, or in the evaluation of agricultural literature? Then again, have not we who have worked with agricultural literature and the re- lated sciences, felt the desirability of some systematic course of instruction in this special field of library work? But have we made any attempt to bring about such a course? In the field of extension work in agriculture, which work is grow- ing very rapidly and is likely to grow still more rapidly in the future, now that the Lever bill is passed, are the librarians of agricultural libraries doing their full share? The next paper on the program was one on the "Scope and current cost of libraries in the land grant agricultural colleges," by Professor WILLIAM H. POWERS, li- brarian of the South Dakota State College of Agriculture. As Professor Powers was unable to be present, his paper was read by Mr. Charles R. Green, librarian of the Mas- sachusetts Agricultural College. SCOPE AND CURRENT COST OF LIBRARIES IN THE LAND GRANT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES* The conclusions of this paper are based partly upon the personal experience of the writer, partly upon data supplied by va- rious college libraries. It was not the writer's expectation that results could be arrived at having the cer- tainty of scientific laws. But conclusions of a validity far short of such laws may have a considerable practical value. The examination was undertaken therefore be- cause for some years the writer has been himself a good deal puzzled, puzzled as he contemplated the enormous output of books, fortunately known to him largely through publishers' lists and statistics, puz- zled as he felt the ambition that attacks every growing thing, whether library or squash, the ambition to be big, puzzled as he saw the great amount of the people's money stored up in great buildings, shelv- ing, and cabinets, puzzled what to do as 'Printed in part. AGRICULTURAL LIBRARIES 193 he joined the great army of those who are paid by the people to take care of these buildings and these books; and he felt that he must find what solution of the puzzle he could by asking whether there is not some limit to the size of a library, particu- larly of a special or technical library, whether there are not some standards of service which may be invoked to deter- mine how large a staff a library of a cer- tain size needs, and what should be the cost of that service. The investigation is confined to the li- braries of those land grant colleges that exist apart from a state university. Such libraries serve the experiment station, the college staff, the college students, and, to a certain extent, the state at large and the immediate community. There is need then of providing technical literature suf- ficient for research work in agriculture and engineering, professional literature to support courses in all the sciences and in such departments, history, language, sociol- ogy, as it is deemed necessary to provide that the technical student may not be de- prived of his culture birthright as a man as well as a technician. I interpret this to mean then that the library must be (a) a fairly good general library, (b) a good reference library in those courses which the college offers, and (c) as complete a working library as possible for those lines of research which the particular institu- tion is carrying on. For the first of these requirements is there any standard? None absolute, of course not. But it seems to me that the A. L. A. Catalog furnishes an approxima- tion. About 8,000 volumes constitute this cooperative selection, this ideal collection for the small general library. Now the amount of fiction in this collection is much larger than any small technical college needs, and for this may be substituted those books which a college public as dis- tinguished from a general public would demand. For research work in agriculture the works of reference are amply provided through the agency of the Department of Agriculture. These consist primarily of the bulletins and reports of the depart- ment and of the various stations. They will make perhaps 100 small volumes each year. Many states also publish annual re- ports or bulletins on geology and natural history. In most of the states there are published reports of societies, agricultural, horticultural, and the like. The cost for most of this material is only for its care and binding. There are besides a few tech- nical journals, proceedings of societies, and the like, that are not free. For the work in engineering, library equipment is much more costly, as, except trade journals, lit- tle of it is published free. It is largely found in periodicals. The library of the Department of Agriculture offers to lend its material to investigators. So far as I know this offer is not very largely accepted. It would seem as if there might very profit- ably be an increase in the use of such a central and complete collection and that a similar collection of material on en- gineering might be made. Excluding from the aim of the agricul- tural library the idea of completeness in the general collection, and even from its special field the complete collection of the slightly used works of great cost, and the assemblage of vast numbers of books dead to all except the student of the history of a special field of thought, the annual ex- penditure for books and periodicals need not be very great, ancl furthermore it should be, after a library gets a fair equip- ment, tolerably constant. I am not rash enough to say what that constant sum should be; moreover it would be constant only for a particular institution, and then only for an approximately constant num- ber of students. But as there is nothing like definiteness for precipitating discus- sion I am going to venture a suggestion. For annual up-keep of a library in an agri- cultural college, attended say by 300 to 400 students of college grade and perhaps as many more of secondary school rank 194 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE not summer school students there will be needed the following sums: Scientific series, monographs, expen- sive works $300.00 Technical periodicals, scientific jour- nals 400.00 General periodicals 125.00 Binding 300.00 General purchase of books 675.00 $1,800.00 Even a single illustration or example is often more convincing than generalization. As to the unwisdom of the purchase of books rarely used and originally expensive, note this example: We purchased six years ago, on urgent request, a small book at the cost of $9.00; it was used then and has since been referred to once. The interest on the $9.00 is about a half-dollar, for six years $3.00. The book could have been borrowed twice for less than 50 cents, a saving of $2.50, to say nothing of the cost of shelving and care. It is now very much depreciated In value, probably two-thirds, because of the changes in that field of in- vestigation. In a few years more it will have a value solely historic. Perhaps at this point is the most oppor- tune moment for presenting the tables of statistics. We shall thus see how much of diversity, how much of agreement there actually is among the twenty-five colleges of agriculture not connected directly with a university. Replies were received from a little over half the number written to. Several bases of classification suggest themselves; as most obvious, I have se- lected the number of students as a basis; with a large number usually goes a larger library staff and a relatively more impor- tant amount of station work; of this last matter I have made no account at all, though I have always had in mind that as research work increases, the relative cost of library equipment, especially in rare sets and serial publications, increases much more rapidly. Before making the division, I was some- what puzzled whether to regard the whole number of students or only those of col- lege grade. Remembering how important in our work are the boys and girls who go back to the farm, I felt that it was better to consider the whole number of students, excluding, however, those in the summer sessions. The following tables include returns from thirteen colleges reporting and from the South Dakota State College of Agriculture. In these tables I have not given the names of the colleges, as one of the librarians objected to the publication of the statis- tics; I have therefore used letters, arrang- ing the colleges in the order of students in the institution. The figures for attendance and for total income are taken from the report of the Commissioner of Education for 1912. The other statistics are from the replies sent to me by the librarians. The groups on the basis of number of students are four, the points of division of course more or less arbitrary; the first group, having 1,700 students or more, num- bers five altogether, only three of them re- porting and represented in the tables; the second, having students in number be- tween 900 and 1,700, numbers seven alto- gether, five of them reporting; the third, having students from 350 to 900, numbers seven, three reporting; the fourth, hav- ing students fewer than 350, six in number, two reporting. The first group may be named the great colleges; in general they have a large corps of instructors, and pre- sumably a large library staff. The second group, the large colleges, also employs a large number of instructors; the library staff varies from three to eight. The third group may be called perhaps the small col- leges; the library staff in none of those re- porting exceeds three. The smallest of the third group reports 390 students in the 1912 report, but actually has now about 600 students. AGRICULTURAL LIBRARIES 195 AGRICTJLTUEAL COLLEGE LIBBABTES TABLE X. Students U. S. Rep. 1912 Expenditures Salaries Total, ex. Col. Per Stud. sum. sen. grade Bks. Per. Bnd. Student Libr. Ass't help Total A 2,634 809 $8,234* $ 266 $3.23 $1,600 $3,200 $260 $5,100 I B 2,424 1,504 4,900t 2.02 1,300 5,300 540 7,140 B% 1,700 1,176 3,800? 2.24 1,100 700 C200 2,000 C 1,371 891 3.027 $1,251 1,390 4.13 2,000 5,200 200 7,140 D 1,219 889* 1,447 340 185 1.62 1,500 1,200 257 2,957 II E 1,219 327 l,800t 1.49 1,400 960 90 2,450 F 1,216 190 1,250 532 180 1.61 1,400 1,620 125 3,045 G 910 506 1,896 2,004 1,050 5,44 1,800 2,730 264 4,794 H 850 322 2,000t 2.34 1,800 1,600 40 2,940 TTT I 811 716$ 900 200 200 1.62 700 625 1,325 111 J 490 410J 462 250 39 1.53 780 840 150 1,620 K 390 184 723 240 202 2.99 800| 500 225 1,525 ,.. L, 332 55 600 403 349 4.07 1,000 600 1,600 Iv M 322 229 1,200 500 5QO 6.83 1,000 6,000 1,600 For bks. and per. fFor bks. per. and bnd. JAdmits from 10th grade or lower. Excludes salary for teaching. ( TABLE XX. Salary Library No. of Income Proportion of cost cost volumes Income per income used per st. per st. total per st. of col. student for lib. I A $1.94 $5.16 20,000 7.6 $410,391 $156 .033 B 2.94 4.97 45,000 18.5 786,025 326 .016 B% 1.18 3.41 38,201 21.8 449,008 264 .013 C 5.40 9.53 38,141 27.8 382,240 279 .034 FT D 2.13 3.75 19,631 16.1 288,666 327 .016 E 2.01 3.49 26,000 21.3 244,188 200 .017 F 2.50 3.49 24,610 20.2 227,487 187 .022 G 5.27 10.7 42,000 46.1 354,603 390 .027 H 3.41 5.81 34,320 40.4 218,975 257 .022 III I 1.65 3.24 17,000 20.9 165,156 204 .015 J 3.30 4.82 14,297 29.2 204,459 417 .012 K 3.91 6.83 17,000 43.6 175,005 449 .016 IV L 4.82 8.89 16,387 49.3 78,105 235 .038 M 3.00 11.8 31,600 98.1 155,040 481 .024 TABLH XXX. Open Vacation No. of Organization Hrs. of serv. Teaching Hrs. a wk. workers per wk. hrs. a wk. I f A 69 45 6 or 7 Cat. 34 hrs., Bnd. and con. 38 hrs. 42 811, % yr. J B 76 6 92 cat. 1 ref. 2 loan, 2 dept. ast. 39, 44 4, % yr. {C 88 21 mo 8 Cat. 63 hrs., circ. 126 hrs., ref. 84 hrs. 42 4, 9 wks. D 49* 36* 3 49% E 4550 36 3 30 24 F 57 40% 4 3845% 14 for yr. G 84* 48* 6 1 cat. 1 Sten. checking, i ref. 44 total r H 67* 42* 3 42 1 rrrjl 46 2 46 1 J 54 3 36 IK 70 540 3 1 cat. 12 hrs. 40 812 pd. sep. IV (L44 10 2 40 1 % yr. (M 64 32 2 44% 48% Fresh Figures uncertain, as the number of days a week was not given. Returning now to the more theoretic considerations with which the paper be- gan, and keeping in mind the great differ- ences in these institutions, more particu- larly these facts: that several of them have a reputation as authorities in special fields, an authority not ascribed to the most of them, and that a few of them have grown out of the ranks of the small college, I shall go on next, fitting my remarks chief- ly to the college of moderate size and mod- est ambitions, to a consideration of the cost of administration. What should it cost to administer a library in an agricul- tural college of about 600 students, where about $1,800 is expended annually for books, periodicals, and binding? The work in such a library may be some- 196 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE what variously classified ; there is the usual work of catalog, reference, desk, and order- ing. The peculiarities of the institution served, however, make the desk work of relatively less importance than in the pub- lic library, the general reference work probably less than in the ordinary college library, and put a special stress on the care of documents and various serial pub- lications. Although these departments of work are generally found in libraries, there does not seem to be any agreement upon the cbst of service in each. Our agricultural li- braries of course use L. C. cards where possible. It would seem that ten cents a volume would be a generous allowance for the service of the cataloger. In the estimates given above nothing was said about the number of volumes acquired each year with the expenditure of $1,800. To make such an estimate I shall have to draw entirely upon our own experience. I find that for the last three years our books have averaged in cost, excluding the free volumes and the periodicals, $1.48 a volume. Using this as a basis of estimate, the $675 allowed for such purchases would secure about 460 volumes. At an average cost of $5 a volume for the monographs, technical journals, etc., the $700 would procure about 140 volumes. There would probably be 60 volumes of general period- icals bound each year. There will also be from 50 to 75 volumes of bulletins bound. It is hardly fair, however, to include these periodicals and bulletins in the estimate of the cost of cataloging, as so little work needs to be done upon them. The routine cataloging then would not be of more than 600 volumes, to be done at a cost not to exceed $60 for labor. The cataloger will have also to do considerable indexing and analytic work on the bulletins and society publications, unless this is done in the de- partment of documents or continuations. But what is the work of the documents division? In number of volumes the first in order are the volumes of the congres- sional set received by every agricultural college as a documents depository. These averaged in number for the past six years 203 bulky volumes. The pamphlets also received that will be preserved, including the bulletins of the Department of Agri- culture, will number at least 25 volumes more. Some of these will have to have prepared indexes and title-pages, perhaps analytic entries for the catalog. From the state stations and the state societies and other learned societies, whose publications are received in exchange, will be received about 200 volumes. Here then is a great bulk of material but the work of caring for it is out of all proportion to its bulk. To keep track of serials the follow-up sys- tem must often be invoked, requests sent for missing parts, and lists kept showing what have not been secured. Watch must then be kept of lists of such documents as are offered for sale, but this is getting into the work of the ordering department. Such is the work to be done under the head of documents and continuations. Related to the work of the cataloger, really a part of it, is the constant revision of the catalog, made necessary by the loss of some books, the withdrawal of others, and the deposit of others in departments. Related also is the ordering of the books on the shelves. The chief remaining library activity is ordering and correspondence. This will ordinarily be done by the librarian; judg- ing from my own experience, the time ele- ment is not here important, as the libra- rian works until he is done. Resuming, we have found catalog labor amounting to about $60 on new books; a rough estimate of the documents work would put its cost, on the same basis of pay as to the cataloger, at about $100. Of neither kind of work is there enough to employ the full time of an assistant. One assistant can do both and have time for revision of the catalog, and still allow half her hours for desk and reference work. I shall not set an exact salary for such an assistant, but suggest that one can be se- cured for from $600 to $800 for a year of AGRICULTURAL LIBRARIES 197 ten months. This estimate is based partly upon the customary pay of teachers. The amount of desk work will depend a good deal upon the number of hours the library is open. The average for the thir- teen libraries is 63 hours a week. Most of these libraries provide only one attendant on service at a time in the reading and reference room. It would seem that for a college of 600 students, it would be neces- sary to supply about 70 seats, but the whole number would rarely be needed. The pat- ronage varies greatly; during the busiest hours of the college day, the number drops to almost zero. The busy hours are not al- ways the same every day, but with a little car*eful observation the librarian can de- termine which are the library rush hours and provide extra service for such times. There would be probably from 15 to 20 hours a week when two attendants should be provided; if the library is open 63 hours weekly, this necessitates then providing for from 78 to 83 desk hours. Now if the cataloger and document worker has 20 hours for this service, to be given at the busy hours when there is the greatest de- mand for reference work, the remaining 60-odd hours can be supplied by a second assistant, an apprentice perhaps, at a small salary; or the work can be done by mature students. Three students can do the work, paid in the aggregate from $300 to $325 for the nine months of the college year. I hesitate to suggest a salary for the librarian. In my own case a large part of my salary comes from teaching duties. I would suggest that for the library work purely, a salary of from $800 to $1,000 will secure a person altogether competent to manage a library in an agricultural col- lege of 600 students. The salary account would then stand about as follows: Librarian $800 to $1,000 Assistant 600 to 800 Student help 300 to 325 $1,700 to $2,125 About other work connected with the library. Colleges of this kind report al- most no teaching. In the first two groups, all colleges but two report teaching the use of the library, chiefly to freshmen. Ex- tension work, through lending books to farmers, clubs, or granges, did not appear upon my query paper. It is probably too early to generalize concerning this. Most states now have commissions and the com- missions generally prefer to take care of this work directly. Returning again to the matter of dupli- cates, we expect to make recommendation the demand for duplicates has not until recently been burdensome that every stu- dent in classes known as library-laboratory classes shall pay a fee to the librarian be- fore he is allowed the use of the books in that department, the fee to vary from 25 cents to $1.00 a semester according to the number of duplicates needed to supply the course. It seems quite as just as a lab- oratory fee in chemistry. Has any college done so? With what success? Professor Powers' paper suggested many interesting points for discussion and showed clearly the possibility, through co- operation, of working out some standards of administration for the libraries of the agricultural colleges and experiment sta- tions. The value of such a standardiza- tion was also made apparent. It would simplify many problems in the administra- tion of these libraries. There was, how- ever, considerable difference of opinion among those present as to the adequacy of the salaries recommended by Professor Powers. Mrs Landon, librarian of the Michigan Agricultural College, in commenting on what Professor Powers had said about bor- rowing books and periodicals from the li- brary of the Department of Agriculture, said that her library made frequent use of this privilege. She also suggested the desirability of a union checklist of the agricultural periodicals contained in the libraries of the state agricultural colleges and experiment stations. 198 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE The next paper on the program was to have been one on "Agricultural periodi- cals" by Mr. WILLIAM M. HEPBURN, li- brarian of Purdue University, but Mr, Hep- burn was unable to be present and unfor- tunately his paper, which follows, arrived too late to be read at the meeting: AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS It may be remembered that the writer presented a paper on this subject at the round table on agricultural libraries held at the Mackinac conference in 1910. The interest taken in the subject seemed to be sufficient to warrant further investigation. Three desiderata were named in the former paper: 1st. A checklist of farm papers in the agricultural libraries of the coun- try; 2nd. An agreement by the various agricultural libraries that they would bind and preserve the papers published in their own states; 3rd. A selection of from 20 to 50 titles of the best and most repre- sentative of the farm journals. In the spring of 1913 circular letters were sent to the directors of all the experi- ment stations and to the librarians of all the agricultural colleges. These letters fre- quently led to further correspondence, so that the writer is now in possession of a considerable body of correspondence bear- ing on this subject. The questions asked were as follows: 1. Please state what, in your opinion, are the leading farm journals published in your state and those best adapted for your section of the country. 2. Furnish a list of the agricultural journals that are bound and preserved by your library, and if possible a statement of the volumes comprising each set. 3. Does your library systematically in- dex any agricultural journals? 4. Do you know of any member of the college or station staff who keeps up a private index of such journals? 5. Do you consider that the indexing of a select list of agricultural journals would have any value? Replies were received from one or more officials in 41 states, making possible some slight contributions to the first and third of the desiderata enumerated in 1910. One thing is clearly demonstrated in the replies to the first question, namely, that the various sections of the country must be taken into consideration in any attempt to evaluate the farm press. For the New England and Middle Atlantic states the Rural New Yorker had a vote in every state. The South Atlantic and Gulf states gave the first place almost without exception to the Progressive Farmer. In the Corn Belt states Wal- lace's Farmer appears in every list. In the Mountain and Pacific states there is not the same unanimity, every state re- porting its own papers with few excep- tions. Of course there is considerable possibility of error in the various inter- pretations put upon the question asked, and further correspondence would be .necessary in order to reach an accurate conclusion. In most cases also it would be necessary to reach the experts in the various fields of crops, live stock, poultry, dairying, etc., in order to get any reliable data on papers that specialize in these fields. Of course the Breeders' Gazette and Hoard's Dairyman appeared in many lists and from widely separated states. The second question brought replies from only 14 states, listing 80 titles of farm papers exclusive of scientific jour- nals. Of these 50 are reported from one library only. In addition to these, 62 for- eign and scientific journals were reported. The third question brought the state- ment from every state that no systematic indexing of farm papers was being done. Several professors were found who in- dexed material relating to their subject for their personal use. The fifth question relating to the in- dexing of farm papers brought various replies, ranging from those who were heartily in favor of some plan to those who could see no value in such an index. Station directors who are interested in research rarely expressed approval, while librarians usually expressed a wish for such an index although fully aware of the difficulties in the way. AGRICULTURAL LIBRARIES 199 On this matter of the selection of farm papers some light is thrown by a most interesting booklet issued by the North- western Agriculturist, Minneapolis, en- titled What Farmers Use. It has a section on "Farm home reading matter." The investigation was made in Minne- sota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin, and covered 3,456 farm homes. Nine farm papers from these states had in 1910 a circulation of 4,891. Twenty-six papers published in border states had a circula- tion of 535 and 52 from other outside states a circulation of 579. This seems to show that as a means of reaching the farm population the state papers or those from the border states are preferred. Of the border state papers the leading ones were Successful Farming, Farmers' Tribune, Iowa Homestead, Breeders' Gazette, Wal- lace's Farmer. Of the papers from out- side states the leading ones were Farm Journal, Farm & Home, Farm and Fire- side, Missouri Valley Farmer. Many of you will know the little paper called Good Advertising, which is devoted to the "art, science and literature of agri- cultural advertising." It frequently has very good articles on the farm press. Al- though considered from the standpoint of their value as advertising media, that is not, in these days, so far removed from their scientific value as to be lightly dis- regarded. In the issue for March, 1913, is given a list of class journals all of which are said to "stand out preeminent- ly" and as "self-confessedly the masters of their particular destiny." These are Breeders' Gazette, Hoard's Dairyman, American Swineherd, American Sheep Breeder, Kimball's Dairy Farmer, the Fruit Grower, Better Fruit, the Fruit Belt, the Vegetable Grower, and the Practical Farmer. Probably none will be inclined to quarrel with this list except as to some it does not include. In order that this paper may not be entirely one of dull generalities, I have the temerity to submit the following as a trial list of the leading farm papers based on the results so far obtained in the above investigation, the opinion of some qualified to judge and my own per- sonal observation. They are not at all, however, in order of merit and it is not intended in any way to discriminate be- tween them. Rural New Yorker. New York Tribune Farmer. American Agriculturist. Progressive Farmer. Wallace's Farmer. Farm and Ranch. Country Gentleman. Southern Planter. Live Stock Journal. Kimball's Dairy Farmer. Breeders' Gazette. Hoard's Dairyman. American Swineherd. American Sheep Breeder. Better Fruit. Vegetable Grower. Reliable Poultry Journal. American Poultry Journal. Market Growers' Journal. New York Produce Review. As a contribution to a checklist of agricultural journals the "List of serials in the University of Illinois library, 1911" is worth mentioning. The Indiana Acad- emy of Science will publish shortly the second edition of their "Checklist of scientific serials in Indiana libraries." This will include agricultural journals. They were not included in the first print- ing. As Mr. H. W. Wilson of H. W. Wilson & Co. was present, he was called upon for a statement as to his plans for in- dexing agricultural periodicals. Mr. Wil- son responded as follows: We do have plans for undertaking an index to agricultural periodicals, although I am afraid there will be some delay in carrying these out. We lost about half of our assistants in the editorial office when we moved to White Plains. Then we took a vote recently among about 60 librarians 200 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE to determine what special fields should be covered, and while we thought that agriculture stood first we found that there was most demand for an index to litera- ture on social problems. It is quite likely that we will take that first but agriculture comes second. I cannot set any definite time as to when the index will be published, but I feel quite sure that by the first of next year we will be ready to begin it, and our opinion is that it will be wise to cover the best periodicals, those that have a general or wide circulation, and govern- ment documents and pamphlets; in short, all literature of that kind which would properly be included in an index; it should not be limited to periodicals. We would like to receive suggestions and will try to answer any questions. The public library's interest in agri- cultural literature was presented by Mr. S. H. Ranck, librarian of the Grand Rapids public library, and by Mr. Joseph F. Dan- iels, librarian of the Riverside public li- brary, California, both of which libraries have large collections of agricultural lit- erature. Mr. Ranck called attention to the fact that there is a constantly grow- ing interest on the part of people in the cities in every phase of agriculture and that his library is frequently asked for advice as to the best periodicals and books on various agricultural subjects. The work of the county library, and its problems in getting agricultural informa- tion to the farmer in predigested form, was touched upon by Mr. E. I. Antrim, a trustee of the Brumback library of Van Wert county, Ohio. He also spoke of the need for the agricultural colleges and ex- periment stations to get into closer touch with the various libraries of the states that they represent in order that the in- formation obtained by these institutions and by the Department of Agriculture as a result of their investigations may be brought directly to the farmers. Mr. Antrim was followed by Dr. E. W. Allen, assistant director of the office of experiment stations of the Department of Agriculture. As it is one of Dr. Allen's duties to visit the state agricultural col- leges and experiment stations, he has had an unusual opportunity to see the needs and opportunities of their libraries. He spoke in part as follows: We have just started in this country a new line of extension work which will rapidly take on a much broader scope and will accomplish in a measure what has been suggested, for Congress has just passed an act known as the Smith-Lever bill, which will provide for agricultural extension in every state in the Union. Five per cent of the federal appropriation may be used for getting out popular pub- lications. Some of the money will also be available for library purposes. A great deal of this extension work will be car- ried on through county agencies, a sys- tem which has already been inaugurated in many of the states in the North and South and has proved its usefulness. If we should have an agent in every county we would have some 3,000 centers in this country which might act as advisors to country libraries, because there is a great desire, as I know by correspondence which comes to me from city, town and country libraries, for available information as to publications relating to agriculture. The county agent makes a link, in a way, be- tween the agricultural college and the people out in the country of all classes and all vocations librarians, teachers, housewives, etc., as well as farmers. I know nothing about library work ex- cept from a layman's standpoint, but it has been my opportunity to go around to the agricultural colleges and stations sev- eral times and I have taken quite an in- terest in what they were doing in their agricultural libraries because the library becomes more and more an important fea- ture in the work of instruction in the college and in the work of the experiment station. There is a great diversity and in many places a great lack of efficiency. I believe with your chairman that better work could be done. I believe that a li- brarian could be of greatest usefulness AGRICULTURAL LIBRARIES 201 and could conserve the time of the investi- gators. I have sometimes thought that the field of the librarian in the experiment stations might be broadened a little by including some connection with the edit- ing of publications. Librarians are trained to look at books from the stand- point of a finished product and their work has given them good judgment as to ar- rangement, etc. The matter of form and editing of the experiment station publica- tions has been a matter for discussion at almost every meeting of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations for the past twenty years. If in connection with their other work it would not be a diffi- cult matter for librarians to equip them- selves along this line and give a little at- tention to the matter of proofreading, etc., I think they could be of immense assist- ance to the experiment stations in the better editing of station publications and in bringing about a greater measure of uniformity. About this periodical literature, I think that the preparation of material for this agricultural extension work previously mentioned will call to the attention of all who are connected with agricultural col- leges the problem of how to make avail- able good material that is in some of the best agricultural periodicals and which deserves attention. Through the Experi- ment Station Record we attempt to make a systematic review of the literature bear- ing on experiments as far as we are able to get hold of it, and through the indexes to make that available, but we do not at- tempt to take up popular articles. If there is nothing new or original in the article we pass it by. The extension work- ers will on the other hand need some- body to go over the good popular material and to call it to their attention. It seems to me that if some sort of cooperation such as has been mentioned here could be planned it would be im- mensely helpful all along the line. In the discussion which followed Dr. Allen's talk there was much interest mani- fested in his suggestion as to the better editing of station publications and the part which librarians might take in this work. As a result a committee was ap- pointed to undertake the work of making some definite suggestions in regard to the form of experiment station publications to present to the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Sta- tions at its meeting in Washington in No- vember. The following were appointed as members of the committee: Miss E. Lucy Ogden, librarian, office of experiment sta- tions, Department of Agriculture; Mr. Charles R. Green, librarian, Massachusetts Agricultural College, and Mr. Clarence S. Hean, librarian of the College of Agri- culture, University of Wisconsin. Another matter which called forth in- teresting discussion was the question as to whether it would be advisable for the section to attempt to prepare a small handbook on the arrangement and care of small agricultural collections. It seemed to be the unanimous opinion of those pres- ent that such a handbook would be very useful, and it was voted that a committee be appointed by the chairman to consider the matter and prepare the handbook if it was deemed feasible. As it is important that those on the committee be especially interested in the subject, the chairman made a plea for volunteers for the work. Suggestions as to the scope of the hand- book are also requested. As the lateness of the hour made it necessary to bring the discussion to a close, the meeting adjourned with the ap- pointment of the following committee to nominate a chairman for the next meet- ing of the section: Mr. Charles R. Green, chairman; Miss Emma B. Hawks, and Mr. A. B. Smith. The committee made its report at the close of the joint session of the League of Library Commissions and the Agricultural Libraries Section on Thursday morning and presented the name of Mrs. Ida A. Kidder, librarian of the Oregon Agricultural College, Corval- lis. The report of the committee was unanimously accepted and Mrs. Kidder was made chairman of the section. 202 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE CATALOG SECTION FIRST SESSION The first session of the Catalog Section was held Wednesday morning, May 27, Mr. Martel in the chair. The chairman opened the meeting by outlining the plan of the program, which was to consist of brief descriptions of the catalog systems of a number of the not- able department and institutional li- braries of Washington, with special ref- erence to the use of printed cards, their adaptation for large and small libraries, special catalogs, etc. He then presented the speakers in turn, each of whom briefly presented the sub- ject from the point of view of his or her own library. In many cases this made necessary outlining the history of the li- brary and the institution to which it bo- longed, in order to make clear its system of cataloging. The first library treated was that of the Army War College. Mr. M. BARTOW MERCER, librarian, said in part: ARMY WAR COLLEGE The library of the Army War College was started in 1903. From the beginning the aim and purpose has been to make it a complete military reference library, and the material has been selected with this object in view. The growth was quite gradual up to June, 1908, when the con- solidation of the Military Information and War College divisions of the General Staff brought to us over 10,000 volumes at one time. Just within the past month our library has suddenly had added to it about 100,000 volumes, when the War Depart- ment library, established about 1793, while the seat of government was still in Phila- delphia, was moved to our building. As our present shelf room is crowded the work of consolidation cannot really be at- tempted until the second and third tiers of stacks are installed; when this is com- pleted, which will probably be by August 15 next, we will have approximately 15,000 feet of shelf space in the 104 stacks, and after eliminating the duplicates, we will then have considerably over 100,000 volumes undoubtedly the largest military library in this country. The library is primarily for the use of the officers of the War College division and the student officers taking the course; but the various bureaus of the War De- partment also use it quite extensively, and books are frequently loaned to other de- partments of the government in Wash- ington. System of Cataloging The basis for the system of cataloging in the War Col- lege library is the Library of Congress classification. Most of these classifica- tion schemes have been followed liter- ally, but with some we have found con- siderable amplification necessary. Most of our books on American history and travel were cataloged under the 1901 edition of the EF scheme, modified in some respects by us. We had several thousand books of the Civil War period classified under the modified 1901 scheme and have to abide by it for the present; for example, we do not use 457 for Lin- coln biography, although we would like to, for the reason that we had already classified Lincoln biography with that of all the other luminaries of the Civil War period, whether military or otherwise. Nor do we use 471-481, special cam- paigns and battles, as we had already cataloged such a large number of books under the 1901 scheme, using 481 and an alphabetical designation of battles, in- stead of the present Library of Congress scheme, which provides for a chronologi- cal arrangement, with decimals for the different battles. The latter method is the more logical in some respects, but our scheme permits easy location of a book on the shelf, as you simply look for E481 and then the first letter of the name of the battle to locate books on that con- CATALOG SECTION 203 flict, whereas, under their scheme, you must know the date of the battle or their respective decimals, and that is a little harder than remembering the alphabet. For a library just adopting it the present EF scheme is admirably adapted for its purposes and no one could find any fault with it whatever. The U scheme. Prior to 1910 the Li- brary of Congress had no published U scheme. They had prepared a typewrit- ten one which was based on a classifica- tion gotten up in 1903 by the Military Information division, Adjutant-General's office, a subdivision of the War Depart- ment, which was merged with the Army War College in 1908. This was the barest outline, however, of the scheme that was really needed in classifying a technical military library, which the Military Infor- mation division did not have at that time. This served, however, as a basis for the 1910 edition of the Library of Congress U scheme, but it was stated in the preface of that edition that when books of this class were recataloged the schedule would necessarily be subject to some revision and alteration. We have found it neces- sary to make many changes in it, as it was so lacking in detail under certain subjects that it was frequently impossible to tell whether a book should go in one place or another. We found it necessary to make several changes under U400, military education, in order to arrive at some logical grading of the schools, which was considered de- sirable, and to provide a place for several schools connected with the service that had not been considered. Under UA they have the militia of the individual states divided by arm of serv- ice: infantry, cavalry and artillery; while under UD, infantry, they also have a special number, 430-5, for militia, re- serves and volunteers, but do net have a similar special number for cavalry nor artillery. Therefore, under UA42, gen- eral works, we keep books on all arms of the entire militia of the United States; under UA50, general works, and follow- ing numbers, we keep state militia of all arms; while separate arms for each state are kept under UA53-56. Thus, if we have a work on the infantry of the entire mili- tia of the United States we put it under UD, infantry, and not under the state and then the arm of service. Likewise with cavalry and artillery, for which we had to add special numbers. Under UB several minor changes were made to keep well defined just where spe- cial works should go; for example, under UB320-5 we included also what the scheme provided under 340-350, so as to get together all official works regulating recruiting in all its phases, Including con- scription, and all laws relating to the liability of service, while UB350 is used only for the theoretical works on the various systems of recruiting. Under UC, maintenance and transpor- tation, 260-5 provided for supplies and stores, with no subdivision for depots and their management, for the procurement of supplies and stores, for supply in the field, etc. Many domestic and foreign books are written dealing only with the minutest details of this Important ques- tion of supply of an army, and a separate classification had to be provided for each. We also have works on the history of the supply of stores in different wars, and a special number had to be provided for this; likewise, their transportation clas- sification was not sufficient, considerable further subdivision being found neces- sary. Under UD, infantry, 390-5, rifles, car- bines and muskets, their subdivision is by the make of the gun. We found it more desirable to have this divided by country, so as to have together, for In- stance, all the books on German rifles. We still make an additional card under the name of the gun, so as to have a file of cards dealing with all the makes. Under UD, infantry, there was no sub- division for training, on which many books are written; likewise for cavalry and ar- tillery. We provided special numbers for 204 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE all of these, to supplement U390, army training. With UF, artillery, we found it neces- sary to make most extensive changes, particularly with respect to ordnance and ordnance material. The general classifi- cation artillery was not sufficiently subdi- vided to provide for all the different works on the great variety of guns and ordnance material of this and other coun- tries; for instance, they have coast and siege artillery. The British call that gar- rison artillery and subdivide it into sea- coast and siege artillery. The Swiss call siege artillery position artillery, and then there are works on fortress artillery, for which there was no provision at all. Carding To render our material more accessible we have found it best to multi- ply our subject entries beyond what would ordinarily be considered necessary, and also to devise different schemes of grouping; for instance, it Is more desir- able with us to have all the budgets to- gether, instead of under their respective countries; and instead of having infantry a subdivision under the United States and other armies, we find it better to have a general subject entry infantry, subdivided by armies or countries. It is the same way with infantry training everything avail- able on that subject being in one place, subdivided by countries, instead of being distributed under countries, subheading Army, further subdivided Infantry, etc. We attempt a careful analytical card- ing of the military works received in the library, otherwise much valuable infor- mation would not be readily available. The established subject entries, even with our amplification, are not sufficient to lead one to all the information given in the works cataloged, and this analytical carding makes much of it accessible. At the present time the library receives 98 domestic and 107 foreign periodicals, most of them being strictly of a military character; these frequently carry articles written by the leaders in military science today, and careful perusal and analytical carding of this class of information is a part of the work of the library. Miss JULIA L. V. M'CORD, librarian of the Geological Survey library, was the next speaker, who said in part: GEOLOGICAL SURVEY LIBRARY The classification used in the library is a decimal scheme adapted to this partic- ular library, and yet capable of indefinite extension as regards several of the classes such as natural history, etc., which are included only incidentally in the scope of the Survey library. 1 The particular subject, geology, is of course greatly elaborated. Although much thought has been given to the classifica- tion scheme, it is not faultless by any means. Its inadequacies are somewhat offset, however, by the subject catalog, which is maintained as an adjunct to the author catalog. In the catalogs the Library of Congress printed cards are used of course, being supplemented by typewritten cards for books not yet cataloged by the Library of Congress, Temporary typewritten cards are inserted in the catalog immediately upon the receipt of a new book. As it has not been found practicable to insert in the catalog analytics for all geo- logical serials, the needs of users of the library are quite well met by keeping con- veniently near the catalog a collection of geological bibliographies. If the title called for is not found in the catalog, ref- erence to bibliographic aids will guide one to the work, if included in a serial. The third speaker, Miss EMMA BEA- TRICE HAWKS, assistant librarian of the library of the Department of Agriculture, described their catalog: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LIBRARY The present catalog of the library of the Department of Agriculture was begun about 1893, superseding an older card catalog. At this time the library con- sisted of perhaps 40,000 volumes, which It was obviously impossible to recatalog at once, and for a number of years the 1 It may not be noted that this classi- fication is a modified form of Library of Congress class QE. CATALOG SECTION 205 main dependence of the library for in- formation in regard to its older books was the shelf list which had been made on cards some time before. Everything added since 1893 has been cataloged as received, and we believe that practically all our older books are now represented by cards in the catalog. Our catalog is arranged on the diction- ary plan, and its traditions all favor a strict alphabetical arrangement. All the cards for an author's works are arranged under his name alphabetically by title, whether he was editor, author, Joint author, translator, or what not, works about him being placed last. Under states, countries, etc., we have, until re- cently, had only one arrangement the body as subject and as author both being in the same alphabet and subjects have been placed in strictly alphabetical order. We do now, however, arrange in a sepa- rate alphabet the phrases beginning with the name of the state, country or subject. In 1902 the Library of Congress was well started on the printing of its own cards for sale to other libraries, and was looking for more fields of usefulness. It asked our library, as well as others in the District, to cooperate with it by fur- nishing copy for cards for such of our accessions as were not in the Library of Congress. Ours was the first library, we believe, to promise to do this, and we consented with much trepidation when we found that it involved our adoption of the cataloging rules of the Library of Congress, not at that time published. Our own rules for cataloging had been quite simple. After the adoption of the L. C. rules, however, for the printed cards, we decided to use them for all our future cataloging. We do not print cards for some of our less important accessions, but it would hardly be feasible to initiate catalogers into two sets of rules at once. When we began furnishing the copy for our own cards, we decided to get copies of the L. C. cards for such books as were of interest in connection with the work of the department whether in our own library or not, and to file them in our catalog just as we do our own cards, after stamping "Lib. Cong." or the name of whatever library owns the book in place of our own call number. We find this exceedingly useful, as the Library of Con- gress and other District libraries are so generous in the matter of loans that the books are easily available for department use. If we acquire the books later we have only to substitute our call number for the name of the other library. To go back a little in point of time: in 1899 before the Library of Congress cards were printed for distribution to other li- braries, the Department of Agriculture li- brary began the printing of cards for de- partment publications. Mr. Cutter says in his report: "This I believe to be the first attempt to furnish to the outside world a complete printed card catalog of the publications of any institution." These cards were intended primarily for the use of the agricultural colleges and ex- periment stations, and were for the most part distributed free of charge. In 1906 the Library of Congress offered to print and distribute these cards for us, an offer which we were glad to accept, as our facilities for handling the stock were very inadequate. After some years the cards which had been printed by us, were re- vised and the Library of Congress re- printed them, so that they now have the entire set available. In 1904 we undertook the analyzing of three sets of foreign agricultural periodi- cals, to which a fourth set has been added. The cards for these are printed and distrib- uted by the Library of Congress. The ar- ticles indexed are, of course, on rather minute subjects, and in assigning sub- ject headings, variations were again made from those in our own catalog also from those used for department publications, the cards for which were at that time still being printed separately under our own supervision. It will thus be seen that we are using three different sets of subject headings on our printed cards. We hope that this does 206 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE not cause much Inconvenience to users and think that it probably does not, for we doubt if any of them attempt systematic- ally to follow our headings, unless in the case of the cards of department publica- tions. We have thought that the main use of the subject headings would be to indi- cate the character of the publication, and that libraries would, in any case, translate them into their own form. Mr. Hastings, of the Card Section, is now, as you doubt- less know, making an effort to show on the printed cards just which of the head- ings are sanctioned by the Library of Con- gress, for the benefit of those libraries which adopt its scheme. In former years we cataloged fully any material that we thought worthy to be kept at all, including, of course, pamphlets. We still catalog a great many pamphlets, such literature being often quite as val- uable to us as books, but we have found it impossible and in many ways undesir- able to catalog fully all the material that we nevertheless hesitate to throw away. For some of this, therefore, we are making simply author cards, and are keeping them in a separate classified collection. We do not usually print cards for serial publications, as we find the "handmade ones" easier to make changes on. Each number of annual reports and other se- rials infrequently published is entered on the main catalog card, but in most cases the subject card is not kept up to date, be- ing stamped "For later numbers see main card." The catalog, as described, is that of the main library. Nearly all the bureau li- braries have catalogs of their own which would be well worth description, if there were time for it. They usually duplicate to some extent the material in the main library catalog, as all books purchased, and with few exceptions all publications re- ceived by the bureaus as gifts, are repre- sented in the main catalog. The office of the botanist, however, of the Bureau of Plant Industry has com- piled a very complete and careful union catalog of the botanical and horticultural literature in all the libraries of the Dis- trict, with notes of the resources of libra- ries elsewhere in so far as they happen to be known, and cards for desiderata. The next speaker was Mrs. EDITH F. SPOFFORD, librarian of the Bureau of Mines. BUREAU OF MINES The Bureau of Mines was created by an Act of Congress which became effective July 1, 1910. The general aim and pur- pose of the investigations made by the Bureau are to increase health, safety, economy and efficiency in the mining, quarrying, metallurgical, and miscellane- ous mineral industries of the country. The library of the Bureau was organized early in 1911, with about 700 publications, including a selection of technical periodi- cals, and was designed to meet the re- quirements of a main library in Wash- ington, and branch libraries under the su- pervision of the main library, located in the technical offices of the Bureau at Pittsburgh, Denver, and San Francisco. V is scientific and technical in character and includes United States and foreign official mining statistics and publications impor- tant in the Bureau's work. The Library of Congress card catalog system was adopted. Two depository sets of printed cards covering subjects bear ing on the work of the Bureau were pur- chased and arranged in the form of dic- tionary catalogs. These sets are main- tained in the libraries at Washington and Pittsburgh, primarily for the use of the investigators of the Bureau. The L. C. proof sheets are checked systematically as a means of ordering cards by number and selecting books in the special classes. For convenience of administration, a cat- alog of all publications belonging to the Bureau is made and kept in dictionary form at the main library in Washington, using the L. C. cards whenever they are available. Printed catalog cards for the publications issued by the Bureau of Mines are supplied as a rule on order without delay, and are ready for filing CATALOG SECTION 207 with the arrival of the bound volume for the shelf. She was followed hy Miss HELEN C. SILLIMAN, cataloger in charge of the Superintendent of Documents' Office, who described their catalog: OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS In connection with the cataloging work in the Office of the Superintendent of Documents the compilation of two publi- cations must be considered: the "Monthly catalogue" and the "Document catalogue," both of which are printed at regular inter- vals. The "Monthly catalogue" is a list of all United States government publications issued for the month previous arranged alphabetically, first by Congress, the Executive Departments, and independ- ent government establishments, and then by committees, bureaus, and divisions un- der each main heading. An index at the end of the fiscal year completes the volume for that year. This plan was adopted for the first num- ber of the "Monthly catalogue" issued for January, 1895, and, with but few changes, has been followed ever since. Anticipating criticism, Mr. F. A. Cran- dall, who was the first Superintendent of Documents, wrote as follows in the pref- ace to this January catalog: "Criticism, and even censure, of the arrangement of the 'Monthly catalogue' is expected. It is prob- able that most librarians will say it should have followed the lines of a strictly sci- entific 'dictionary catalogue.' The depart- ure from those lines has been deliber- ately and purposely made. It is considered that the 'Monthly catalogue' is an ephem- eral publication, not intended primarily for the use of librarians. The arrangement adopted for the catalogue is that which it was thought will be most intelligible and convenient to the manufacturer, stat- istician, farmer, attorney, legislator, and business man. ... It has been assumed that in a majority of cases the searcher for information in the 'Monthly catalogue' will have an idea as to which bureau, or at least which department, 'has in charge the particular class of information for which he is seeking, and that an arrange- ment by departments and bureaus will therefore serve the convenience of the greatest number." While there has been some criticism of this classed arrangement, it still seems to be the best method, all things being con- sidered. The "Document catalogue," which is a re- arrangement of the entries appearing in the "Monthly catalogue," lists all of the United States government publications is- sued during a period covering two fiscal years and always includes a Congress. This catalog is a dictionary catalog ar- ranged alphabetically by government au- thors, personal authors, subjects, and ti- tles, when necessary; each entry is made complete in itself. With the en- tries for the congressional documents the number of the document, the session to which it belongs, and the volume of the "Reserve" in which it is bound are given so that all questions may be answered in that one entry. Very full analytical work is also done for all publications ex- cept reprints and congressional documents which are compilations, for the most part, of reports and documents of previous Con- gresses. This plan which was formulated by Miss Edith E. Clarke, who was in charge of the cataloging work at that time, has since been followed with only such changes as have become necessary on account of the increasing output of the United States government offices. We also use the inverted short form of government author entry, alphabeting by the significant word, as being best suited to meet the demands of the public. Ref- erences, of course, are made from other forms of the heading to the one used. Thus we use "Education Bureau" rather than "Education, Bureau of" or "Bureau of Education." For subject headings we use the A. L. 208 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE A. List supplemented by the L. C. Sub- ject Headings. We do not issue printed cards; we ap- pend the L. C. card numbers, however, to those entries in the "Monthly catalogue" for which the Library of Congress issues printed cards. An ideal arrangement, and one which has been contemplated, is to print cards and send them with the de- pository shipments, or soon thereafter; but with the present very small catalog- ing force in the office such a plan can not now be even considered. Following Miss Silliman's paper, discus- sion was started by Mr. Martel, who spoke of the checklist classification for docu- ments. Miss Hartwell stated that the li- brary received many inquires concerning the use of the checklist classification,, and that her advice was for a library to determine first of all whether it was going to keep its documents together or not; if it kept them together she ad- vised the use of the checklist classifica- tion, except for duplicates which should go in the regular classification. Miss McCord stated that in the Geo- logical Survey library, she treated geo- logical works as regular books, but works on other subjects, she classified by the checklist. Mr. Nichols, of the same li- brary, said that the treatment had to be, in each case, according to the needs of the individual library. He also spoke of the classification system used in the Geo- logical Survey library as a special one, better adapted to the needs of the li- brary than a general one, as for exam- ple the Dewey system, the symbols of which would be cumbersome. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LIBRARY Miss EMILY A. SPILMAN, cataloger of the library of the Department of Justice, was the next speaker. She said the li- brary contained about 45,000 volumes, had practically complete sets of American, British and British Colonial reports and statutes and a strong collection of law treatises. A law library chiefly consists of statutes, reports, digests, legal trea- tises and legal periodicals. The experi- enced practitioner seldom has recourse to the catalog for aid in the use of stat- utes and reports, but he naturally gravi- tates to the catalog for information con- tained in the treatises. The latest and most complete catalog was published in 1904. It is an author catalog with subject index. There was no attempt to make a card catalog until 1910. It only covers legal reference books, textbooks, leading and select cases, and trials. The best labor-saving device for catalogers of which I know, is the Li- brary of Congress. As the first step in our card catalog we checked up our books with the L. C. cards we had a depository set of cards for law books and ordered cards for every book we possibly could. We subordinate uniformity of subject entry, and, in order to save the time of the professional men who use the library, joy- fully break any rule laid down for the guidance of catalogers. Temporary entries are made for gov- ernment publications when they have or are likely to have any interest for the attorneys. We believe in the "wider helpfulness" so much in evidence in our day and allowed our catalog to be made the ba- sis of the catalog for the law books in the Judge-advocate General's Office. Their lists were checked up with our catalog, and by means of the tracings on the back of our main cards, they were able to re- produce as much of the work as they needed by sending a clerk from their of- fice, who copied the cards, to some ex- tent under our direction. The next paper was that of Miss ISA- BEL M. TOWNER, cataloger of the li- brary of the Bureau of Education. Miss Towner said in part: BUREAU OF EDUCATION LIBRARY Since 1906 the character of the library has been strictly pedagogical. Special at- tention is given to collecting official publi- cations, domestic and foreign, so that the library has the leading collection, in this CATALOG SECTION 209 country, of official publications of educa- tional departments, of universities, col- leges, and American and foreign schools. The library catalogs all uncopyrighted books, both foreign and American, and alf public documents of states and cities on educational subjects, and cards are printed by the Library of Congress, these cards having on the lower edge "Library, U. S. Bureau of Education." We made the analytical cards of proceedings of the National Education Association and the annual report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education. At the close of her paper, Miss Towner was asked if her library loaned books over the country, to which she answered in the affirmative. Another query raised was whether the index headings assigned by the Library of Congress on printed cards were con- fused with the bracketed headings of the Bureau or other libraries. Mr. Hastings thought this point was fully explained in the Handbook. Mr. Nichols objected to the bracketed headings, believing that the bureau should write its own headings, and that only the Library of Congress heading should ap- pear on the printed card. The last speakers at the first session were Miss Kathryn Sellers, librarian of the library of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Mis.s EDNA L. STONE, head cataloger of the Bureau of Railway Economics. Miss Stone's paper here follows: LIBRARY OF THE BUREAU OF RAIL- WAY ECONOMICS The Bureau of Railway Economics was established nearly four years ago by the railways of this country for the scientific study of railway problems. Its purpose is to study the economic relations of the railways, to collect information and to publish it in statistical or other forms for the benefit of the railways, the public and special students of transportation. One of the aims of the Bureau has been to build up a complete library of railroad literature, the functions of which should be: to collect all literature relating to railways which means and opportunity will permit, together with desirable collateral material; to acquire and have ready for early reference all current information as quickly as it can be obtained; and to keep a record of sources of information relating to its special subject, so that in- vestigators requiring material not in its collections may be referred at once to the library where the required informa- tion may be found. In fulfilling these aims the library of the Bureau has acquired about 40,000 books, pamphlets and excerpts. Most of the pamphlets are treated as books, clas- sified and kept on the shelves. The ex- cerpts from magazines, some important newspaper clippings, some pamphlets and other material that on account of its form may not be put on the shelves, are mounted on cards or fastened in jackets and filed in a series of consecutively numbered folders. The method of stor- age, however, does not affect the method of cataloging, which is not very different from that of most libraries, especially of most special libraries. Printed cards from the Library of Congress are used as far as possible, not only for their titles and subject headings, but also for their class numbers, for the Library of Congress classification is used. The Library of Congress also prints cards for the Bureau, according to the usual arrangement. We are glad to note the new method for indicating subject headings, by which the subjects desired by the contributing library may be printed within brackets on the face of the card. But printed cards fill but a minor part of our needs for magazine articles, pam- phlets, clippings, manuscripts and all sorts of things of all sizes and conditions must be cataloged as well as books. In writ- ing cards for our own use we always give the size but shorten the title when pos- sible, use personal names instead of cor- 210 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE porate names when there Is a choice, and find the old fold symbols more convenient than the centimeter indication of size. Cards for articles in periodicals give ex- act references to volume, page and date, with an indication of the location of the article in the upper right-hand corner a folder number if it be a clipping or ex- cerpt from some general magazine, or "See periodical file" if it is to be found in a set of bound periodicals. Three catalogs are kept in the library: first, the dictionary catalog of books and articles, with which is included the card shelf list; second, an index; and third, a bibliography of books, articles and analyt- ics relating to railways. In the dictionary catalog the subject headings used are those of the Library of Congress, except when more specific sub- jects for our special use have been adopted. As a special library it is often necessary not only to use subjects which are too specific for the use of a general library, but also to use subjects of re- cent interest in advance of their use by the general library, finding early need for them because of the current magazine articles that are cataloged. The index is a rapidly growing file which is used to express in the most direct and precise way possible, by a catchword or a phrase, names and subjects which if treated only by ordinary cataloging meth- ods would be reached only by passing through a general subject and several sub- headings. So far, it has been used espe- cially to bring out matters of current in- terest in periodicals, but a beginning has been made in treating books in the same manner. Examples of such index head- ings are: Cost of service; Express com- panies, Interownership of; Fire preven- tion; Flood losses, Pennsylvania railroad; Interlocking directorates; Mallet locomo- tives; Value of service; and What the traffic will bear. There may be as many as fifty such headings for one book or article which treats of a number of vital or in- teresting subjects. As files of the more general magazines are not kept, the in- dex is also used to indicate the special issues of various magazines from which articles have been clipped. Cards for each periodical are filed on which is noted each article so clipped. This makes a rec- ord of all the articles from any one mag- azine, which is of great use in checking and is of especial value in replying to in- definite inquiries of which we have the usual share. It would be desirable for many reasons to combine the index with the library catalog, but a way to do this has as yet not been worked out. The bibliography is a catalog of works relating to railways in fifty-six American libraries, and three European, the library of the International Railway Congress at Berne, the library of the London School of Economics and the Library of the Min- istry of Public Works of Prussia. The titles from the last three libraries were taken from manuscript or printed catalogs furnished by them for the purpose. The basis of the bibliography is a collective catalog entitled "Railway economics," published by the Bureau of Railway Eco- nomics in 1912. The contents of the other libraries relating to railways have been checked with this catalog and new entries added when they were lacking. This bibliography is a classed catalog on cards with an alphabetical list of au- thors and titles, on which the various li- braries possessing the various works are indicated by their initial letters. The classification corresponds to the usual di- vision of railway literature into General Economics, Management, Construction, Operation, Traffic, the form classes, and divisions by countries. The bibliography is already proving its usefulness by en- abling the Bureau to refer investigators in other cities to collections that are more accessible to them than ours. It is per- haps the least usual feature of our li- brary, and I hope it will be a sufficient excuse for calling your attention to our ways of doing things. On account of the lateness of the hoar, the meeting was adjourned. CATALOG SECTION 211 SECOND SESSION The second session of the Catalog Sec- tion was held Thursday morning, May 28, Mr. Martel, chairman. The program was taken up at the point at which it had been dropped at the pre- vious session, and was opened by Miss M. ALICE MATTHEWS, librarian of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor library. She extended a cordial invitation to all libra- rians of the country to ask for informa- tion or material of her Bureau. The fol- lowing are some of the points she made in outlining the history of the Bureau, and in describing the catalog: BUREAU OF STATISTICS OF LABOR Until recent years the library was a miscellaneous collection. In 1907 6,000 volumes were discarded and the library was made a specialized labor library, which now contains about 28,000 volumes and pamphlets. The old catalog was an author list. The documents and unoffi- cial material were kept separate. Reor- ganization began about 1910. The L. C. classification is used, the bulk of the ma- terial being in the HD class. We incor- porate L. C. cards in our catalog even if we do not have the books. Miss ROSE M. MACDONALD, librarian of the Bureau of Fisheries next described their catalog: BUREAU OF FISHERIES The library of the Bureau is the most complete of its kind in this country, but when I took charge of it some years ago it was one of the most incompletely cata- loged in Washington. It then numbered about 24,000 volumes, arranged with more regard to size and binding than to sub- ject. Having decided that a rearrangement was necessary, my first move was to re- quest the Library of Congress to fur- nish us with a complete set of all cards printed by them which pertained to aquatic life and scientific explo- rations. These of course covered only a small part of the library, and while of great assistance, it was realized that a cat- alog of the library was an immediate ne- cessity. Possibly my first problem was to de- cide on the system of classification to be used, the one already in use in the library was not capable of the expansion which would be necessary; the Dewey system was too general, nor did the Library of Con- gress system seem quite fitted to our needs, but from a combination of these two was found one which has proved most sat- isfactory. To make the catalog of real value, it was necessary that in it should be found the answers to questions which might be asked by the scientific investigator, the editor, and the public. For instance, take the investigator whose special province is the diseases of fish, for him it is necessary that under this head should be assembled such sub- jects as parasites, and pollution of streams, with its many subdivisions of road-tarring, sewerage, gas works, saw- dust, etc., hardly at first glance to be considered of interest to the ichthyologist, but really of vital interest in the economic problems which the Bureau is called upon to solve. For the pivotal point of the Fisheries library is of course aquatic life aquatic life from the economic stand- point. And in this of course Fish is para- mount. Therefore it is necessary that the catalog on this subject should evolve and follow as would the chapters of a book, such designations being used as Fish, Fish-culture, Fisheries, Methods, Fishery products, etc., these in turn sub- divided. Under Commercial-fisheries, one may find the fisheries of various coun- tries, and also such subjects as Bait (I mean of course frozen fish), Dynamite, Fishways, Duty of fishery, Fish as food, Fresh fish, Transporting live fish and Fishery products. Under this last is a still further subdivision of references in the library to such subjects as Ambergris, Caviare, Collogen, Fishguano, Fish-curing, 212 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Fish-oil, Fish-scrap, Isinglass, Spermaceti, etc. Each mail brings to the Bureau requests for information on all subjects relative to aquatic life. At a recent meeting held in Washington, President Wilson said, "Gen- tlemen, I am here to serve"; service might be said to have always been the motto of the Bureau of Fisheries. At first it might not be realized how important a factor a good subject catalog may prove in ren- dering service to the public. But with a mail bringing letters asking, "How shall I start an alligator farm?" "What are the commercial uses of sea-weed?" "Give the names of the fish in the Gulf of Mexico," "Is logging known to be destructive to fish-life?" "How can I raise frogs for profit?" and "How high do salmon jump?" you can well understand the time which would be consumed by the investigator whose duty it is to answer these questions authoritatively and the time saved by having at hand a subject catalog which aims to answer all questions which per- tain to the work of the Bureau. To do work along these lines the library of the Bureau of Fisheries is being cataloged. The Library of Congress is deeply in- terested in the cataloging of ours as well as all other libraries, and if any of you are going to catalog your library and need assistance, the Library of Congress stands ever ready to give it to you. There is one fact in preparing card copy which I think should not be forgotten by you who have special libraries. To cata- log a paper you must of necessity read it, and you doubtless will often find a most important subject treated, which is in no way suggested by the title. Do not fail to note this in your subject entries, for thus we are often able to make valuable addi- tions to our libraries. The next speaker, Miss MARY E. SCHICK, of the library of the United States Soldiers' Home, spoke of her work in reorganizing her library and of the great help the Library of Congress cards had been in the making of the catalog. This library is not, of course, a special library in the same sense as were the libraries previously described. She seemed to bring the sentiment of the meeting to a head by a whimsical remark that she considered it a great mistake not to have included the Library of Con- gress printed cards in the exhibit of la- bor-saving devices, and that she person- ally considered them not merely labor-sav- ing but life-saving to an organizer. Mr. Roden suggested that a sign of appre- ciation to Mr. Martel, Mr. Hanson, and the staff of the Library of Congress would be most fitting. He said that this was the first A. L. A. meeting in Washington since the printed cards had been made and that this generation of catalogers were under a peculiar debt of gratitude to the Library of Congress and that all the papers had voiced unconsciously a tribute of grati- tude. Mr. Martel, taken by surprise at the turn of affairs, humorously expressed the hope that no one would think he had ar- ranged the program with Mr. Roden's last thought in mind. He asked that the pro- gram be adhered to and the papers be concluded. The last library treated was, like the previous one, not a special library. It was the public library of Washington, and was described by the head cataloger, Miss JULIA H. LASKEY, as follows: WASHINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY The catalog system as used in most public libraries does not, I dare say, of- fer many variations as far as its general features are concerned; but as there are always individual problems to solve, we must sometimes resort to ways and means to suit our own needs. An example of this in our library is the method of dis- posing of pamphlet material and news- paper clippings, mostly on live topics of the day. These are not cataloged but are assigned specific subject headings, even though there be no precedent for their use in either the A. L. A. or Library of Con- gress lists, for example: "Women as po- licemen." A multigraphed form of sub- CATALOG SECTION 213 ject reference card is filed in the public and official catalogs, referring the searcher to the assistant in the department where the material is filed. Where it is desir- able to give fuller information in regard to certain government publications or pam- phlet material, the Library of Congress cards are used, and stamped on the up- per left-hand corner "Pamphlet collection, consult assistant in the Reference room." Occasionally where printed cards are used we make an author as well as a subject en- try. The material is then placed in ma- nila filing devices, labeled and filed al- phabetically. When a pamphlet or clipping is to be discarded, the catalog department is noti- fied, the reference card is withdrawn and destroyed and the process of elimination is quickly over. We also use multigraphed reference forms for treating current num- bers of university and school catalogs, with the exception of local institutions. We employ the printed cards whenever available for everything except fiction (un- less for a collection of stories with con- tents). The cards are extensively adapted for analysis, either by underlining, by indi- cating volume or paging on the margin of the card, or by the use of one of the num- bered cards when the main entry fills more than one. When the library binds monographs to- gether, the main entry is typewritten, and printed cards for separate monographs are used as analyticals with any neces- sary additions filled in by the typewriter. We make no erasures on printed cards. If any change is necessary, a pencil line is drawn through matter not used and data is substituted with pen or typewriter. We have a small collection of books in Yiddish. For these we can generally ob- tain Library of Congress cards printed in Yiddish characters. We adapt them to our use by underscoring the translated title for public and official catalogs, and having the author's name written in Yiddish script over the English form of name for the special Yiddish cat- alog. This scheme of treating our Yiddish literature is only in its infancy and we are rather doubtful of its growth to maturity. The dictionary catalog is used in our library, with the generally accepted chron- ological modifications. The subject, His- tory, is subdivided for the more important countries. In the case of the United States the outline given by the Library of Con- gress has been followed, and certain changes made to suit our own require- ments. Art, Education, Electricity and Psychology are filed in two periods: books published 1800-1899, and 1900-date. In our subject work, we aim to conform, as far as practicable, to the headings adopted by the new edition of the A. L. A., but in some cases we prefer those of the Library of Congress, though we may not carry all the subheadings indicated. The library has always used the Cutter Expansive classification, but frequent re- course is had to the Library of Congress classification and its exhaustive index. Before closing I would like to call your attention to a communication which we received at the public library a few days ago from one of our Christian Science patrons, suggesting a new arrangement in the card catalog for our books on Chris- tian Science. The change recommended was as follows: the works to be listed in two sections, the first containing the ti- tles approved by the committee of Sci- entists, the latter those disapproved. Two guide cards accompanied the lists, and these, reading respectively "Books ap- proved by committee" and "Books disap- proved," were to warn the reader of the class of literature he would find. We have our pamphlets on Suffrage and Anti-Suf- frage arranged in the cabinet file in this fashion, but we are wondering if other li- braries have ever come up against a like problem in the card catalog arrangement. If they have, we would be very glad to have the benefit of their experience re- garding its solution. At the conclusion of Miss Laskey's pa- per, Mr. Martel asked Mr. Richardson to take the chair. Mr. Roden then outlined a resolution to be sent to the Council of the American 214 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Library Association covering the points mentioned by him in his previous re- marks. At Mr. Currier's suggestion, the name of Mr. Hastings was included. The final wording of the resolution was left to Mr. Roden, who was authorized to present the resolution to the Council. A rising vote was taken, adopting the resolution, which was unanimous and hearty. Mr. Martel resumed the chair and took up the last topic on the printed pro- gram; namely, the code for classifiers which is under consideration by a Com- mittee appointed in 1912, of which Mr. W. S. Merrill is chairman. In Mr. Merrill's absence, his statement was presented by Mr. Windsor. A limited number of copies were distributed in mimeographed form. Mr. Hanson commented on the plan out- lined, and expressed some doubt as to the feasibility of carrying out this particular scheme, which was even more extended than the cataloging rules, and might be undertaking too much. He thought it a case for fifteen or twenty years of hard work. Mr. Martel suggested printing from time to time on cards the temporary de- cisions of the committee for general con- sideration, before the final publication of the code. The chairman then asked if the section wished to suggest topics for discussion at the next conference. The following sub- jects were offered: (1) The code for classifiers. (2) How far the subject headings of the Library of Congress can be followed; modifications, adaptations, etc. (3) Training for advanced cataloging work. Miss Mann asked that the word "ad- vanced" be struck out of this third sug- gestion which had been offered by Mr. Currier, and that the training and devel- oping of catalogers be the theme. She said she constantly heard talk of the cut- ting down of catalog work and its neglect in the library schools. Mr. Martel ex- pressed himself as deeply concerned In this subject. He said there was a curious notion abroad In the land, that the printed cards were eliminating the necessity of catalogers, and that he himself was be- ginning to wonder whether soon there would be even enough catalogers trained to make the printed cards! At this point, a discussion was started on the subject of the fullness of name in author headings. Mr. Hanson said, that while it was necessary to have access to the full name, this may sometimes make the actual heading needlessly long, es- pecially in the case of literary authors. These may be treated as exceptions, par- ticularly when the unused forename or forenames precede the name regularly used on the title-pages. In these cases the Library of Congress now prints the short form in the heading, giving the full name in form of note (following the added entry headings) at foot of card. Mr. Cur- rier spoke in praise of the short heading. Mr. Martel took issue with him on this point and emphasized the fact that the full name is by far the best way of identi- fication, and expressed a hope that the majority of catalogers saw the necessity of holding to the full form of name. He added that the full form may be dispensed with in the heading only when the author has consistently used the same short form and is so well known as not to need fur- ther identification. Exception to the rule, however, might also be made if the full name produced confusion, as for example, in the case of the two Humboldts, among both of whose forenames the Christian name Wilhelm appears. The Nominating committee, consisting of Mr. C. B. Roden, Miss Margaret Mann, and Mr. W. O. Waters, reported the fol- lowing ticket of officers of the section for the ensuing year: Chairman: Dr. Ed- win Wiley, University of California li- brary; Secretary: Miss Mary Louise Sutliff, New York Public Library School. They were unanimously elected. The section then adjourned as a whole, but reassembled according to the pro- gram as a meeting of head catalogers con- ducted by the Committee on cost and method of cataloging, with Mr. Josephson in the chair. COLLEGE AND REFERENCE COLLEGE AND REFERENCE SECTION 215 A business meeting of the College and Reference Section was held in the ball room of the New Willard Hotel, Wash- ington, Wednesday afternoon, May 27, 1914. Mr. N. L. Goodrich, librarian of Dartmouth College, presided, and Mr. C. R. Green, librarian of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, acted as temporary secretary. It was voted that the officers of the sec- tion be authorized to investigate as to the advisability of holding separate meetings for the college librarians, apart from those of the reference librarians. It was also voted that the officers of the section Investigate as to the advisability of printing papers in advance of the meet- ings of the annual convention. After some discussion concerning meth- od and form of organization of this sec- tion, the following Executive committee was chosen: For one year, Sarah B. As- kew, Trenton, N. J.; for two years, Aza- riah S. Root, Oberlin, O.; for three years, Harold L. Leupp, Berkeley, Calif. A meeting with a prearranged program, relating to reference work, was conducted jointly on Wednesday afternoon, preced- ing the above business meeting, by the League of Library Commissions and the College and Reference Section. For the papers read at this meeting see the min- utes of the League of Library Commis- sions. SECTION ON LIBRARY WORK WITH CHILDREN The meeting of the Section on Library Work with Children took place Wednes- day morning, May 27, in the ballroom of the New Willard, Miss Agnes Cowing, chairman of the section, presiding, and Miss Ethel P. Underbill, secretary. The first paper was by Miss LAURA A. THOMPSON, librarian of the Children's Bureau, Washington, D. C., on THE FEDERAL CHILDREN'S BUREAU The Children's Bureau, which at the present time forms one of the four bureaus in the Department of Labor, was established by Act of Congress, approved April 9, 1912, but did not begin active op- erations until August 23 of the same year, when the appropriation for its mainte- nance became available. It has thus been in existence about a year and nine months. The establishment of a national bureau devoted to the interests of children had for several years been urged upon Con- gress by various organizations and indi- viduals, because of the increasing com- plexity of the problems affecting children which the tangled conditions of our mod- ern social and economic life have brought into being. An urgent need had come to be felt for a central agency which might make available to the fullest extent the knowledge and experience of different communities and organizations in dealing with these problems, and which might also ascertain and popularize right standards for the care and development of all chil- dren, as well as for the treatment of un- fortunate and handicapped children. The statute creating the Bureau defines its duties thus: "The said bureau shall investigate and report . . . upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life among all classes of our people, and shall especially investigate the questions of in- fant mortality, the birth-rate, orphanage, juvenile courts, desertion, dangerous oc- cupations, accidents and diseases of chil- dren, employment, legislation affecting children in the several states and terri- tories. . . ." It will be seen that the statute gave 216 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE the Bureau no legislative or administra- tive powers; its field was distinctly de- nned as that of investigation and pub- licity. But this does not mean that the service it can render is limited, for, to an increasing degree, it is being recognized that no really constructive legislation can be passed without thorough knowledge of the conditions which that legislation is intended to correct. For the large task laid upon it by law, that of investigating and reporting "upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children," there was provided a staff of fifteen persons and an annual appropria- tion of about $30,000. Obviously, it was impossible for the Bureau, with these lim- ited resources, to take up at once all the subjects assigned to it, and after much consideration it was decided to begin with the one first mentioned in the law, and the one most fundamental and pressing, that of infant mortality. The great wast- age of life at its beginning is a subject which at the present time is challenging the attention of the whole civilized world, partly because of the steady decline in the birth-rate, which is taking place every- where, but also because of a general awakening to the fact that, as Professor Dietrich expressed it at the International Congress on Infant Mortality in Berlin, "a great infant mortality is a national disaster on the one hand because numer- ous economic values are created without purpose and prematurely destroyed, and on the other because the causes of the high rate of infant mortality affect the powers of resistance of the other infants, and weaken the strength of the nation in its next generation." At the beginning of this investigation the Children's Bureau was confronted with the serious gaps which exist in our social statistics. Every ten years we know how many children of the different age periods there are in the country, but in the years between we have no complete statistics as to how many children are born and die each year. The Bureau was thus led naturally into the necessity of making a vigorous campaign for birth registration; first, by the publication of a pamphlet en- titled "Birth registration, an aid in pro- tecting the lives and rights of children," which sets forth the need of adequate birth registration laws and the many so- cial uses which vital statistics serve; and second, by a birth registration test now being made through the cooperation of the federations of women's clubs through- out the country, which, besides its sta- tistical value, is awakening a great deal of interest in the subject. The statement has been made that we do not know how many babies die each year in the United States under one year of age. But on the basis of the facts avail- able from the registration area, Dr. Cressy L. Wilbur, of the Bureau of the Census, has estimated that our annual loss is about 300,000. To put the case differently, this means that every year there slip in and out of life a number of babies almost equal to the total population of this city of Washington at the census of 1910. We are told by sanitarians that half these deaths are preventable, and surely the splendid record of New Zealand in reduc- ing its infant death rate in 1912 to 51 per thousand births, as against a rate of about 120 in the United States, is sufficient proof of this fact. In order to ascertain the social factors which make for this high infant mortality in the United States, the Bureau began its first field investigation, taking for the first, place of study Johnstown, Pa. This investigation was unique in that it began with the birth records and it took in all children born within the year. The homes of the babies were visited by the women agents of the Bureau and the rec- ord of each child followed through its first year of life or so long as it managed to survive. The schedules used in the investigation had been carefully worked out with the assistance and advice of medical and sanitary authorities, and cov- ered questions of feeding and care of the WORK WITH CHILDREN 217 child, reproductive history of the mother, industrial and economic condition of the family, housing and sanitation of the neighborhood. The cordial cooperation of the mothers in the inquiry is shown by the fact that out of 1,553 schedules, information was refused only in two cases. Tlie results of this investigation are now almost ready for the press. It is to be followed by a number of other investiga- tions in both urban and rural communities, exhibiting varying social and economic characteristics. It is interesting to note that the general interest awakened in health matters in Johnstown by the in- fant mortality investigation resulted in stirring the community authorities to take action to secure better sanitary conditions and an improvement of the milk supply. Something of the success attained In certain cities in reducing the infant death rate by the cooperation of city health au- thorities and volunteer associations in the improvement of water and milk supplies, better sanitation, the establishment of in- fant welfare stations, visiting nurses, "little mothers' leagues," and the distri- bution of simple pamphlets on infant care in different languages, is told in another publication of the Bureau entitled "Baby- saving campaigns; a preliminary report of what American cities are doing to pre- vent infant mortality." The methods adopted in New York City, for instance, have resulted in reducing the infant death rate from 162 in 1904 to 102 in 1913. The startling fact that the infant mor- tality rate of New York City, with all its terrible congestion, is now considerably lower than that in the state outside of New York City has led to the creation, this last year, in the State Department of Health, of a division of child hygiene, which is entering upon a vigorous cam- paign to lessen the waste of infant life going on in the state at large. All over the country there is urgent need of the extension to the rural dis- tricts and small towns of some of the methods found so efficacious in the larger cities, in bettering health conditions by the wider application of modern sanitary knowledge. The Bureau has recently pub- lished an account of remarkable work of this sort being done in New Zealand by the Society for the Health of Women and Children, with the cooperation and finan- cial support of the government, and which has resulted, in five years, in reducing by 50 per cent the infant mortality of Dune- din, a city of about 60,000. Closely related to the work on infant mortality is the series of popular pam- phlets on the home care of young children, the first of which, on "Prenatal care," has already been issued. The second of these, on the care of the child during the first two years of life, is now almost ready for publication. These pamphlets, which are designed for the widest distribution to individual mothers, are being prepared with the aid and cooperation of some of the leading physicians of the country. The great demand for the pamphlet on "Pre- natal care" has already made necessary a fourth reprinting of it. One of the most important subjects with which the Bureau has to deal is that of child labor, and one which was especially prominent in the agitation which preceded its establishment. Today, in considering the labor of children, we must, as a recent Massachusetts report has pointed out, face the fact that young people going into in- dustry "are no longer assistants to skilled workers who practise the whole craft, but are rather independent units in the pro- ductive process." Instead of the activities whose very variety had an educational value, many children are now going into occupations which give no training to the worker and whose monotony is deaden- ing, and that, too, just when the child's need of edu'cational expansion is the greatest. As a preliminary study in this large field the Bureau has prepared a re- view of the laws affecting the child in in- dustry in the different states now nearly ready for the press. It has also, in co- operation with the Industrial Relations 218 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Commission, been conducting an investi- gation into the records of children at work and the methods of issuing employment certificates in certain of the states, be- cause the employment certificate is, or rather may be, one of the most effective means not only of enforcing the minimum age provisions in child labor laws, but of protecting the child against work unsuited to his strength and intelligence. In order to bring together in convenient form the statistics relating to children which have already been collected by the federal government, the Bureau is pub- lishing a "Handbook of federal statistics of children." The first section, giving the number of children in the United States with their sex, age, nativity, and geo- graphic distribution, has already appeared. The second installment will deal with the growth of the child population of the country, including a discussion of the substitutes for the birth-rate and of the figures regarding infant mortality; the third with school attendance and illit- eracy; the fourth with child labor, and the last with the defective, dependent, and delinquent children. The Bureau is charged by law with keeping in touch with legislation affecting children in the various states and terri- tories. One very remarkable development during the past year has been the number of so-called "mothers' pension" laws passed, the purpose of which is to pre- vent the break-up of the home when on account of death or disability the support of the natural breadwinner of the family is removed. Twenty-one of the states now have laws of this character, and a com- mission to study the question has recom- mended a law In still another. Some of this legislation is doubtless crude and not adequate to the purposes which It is de- signed to accomplish, but it Is deeply sig- nificant of the new appreciation of the overwhelming interest which the state has in seeing that every child has the best possible chance in life. The Bureau has been constantly appealed to for in- formation about this new movement and now has in press a compilation giving the text of the mothers' pension laws of the different states with some notes as to their operation, together with recent laws along the same lines in Denmark and New Zealand, added for purposes of com- parison. No statement of the activities of the Bureau would be complete without men- tion of the very great number of requests for information on subjects falling within its scope, coming to the Bureau in a con- stant stream. They have proved conclu- sively, if any proof were required, the very real need that existed for a central clearing house of information on problems relating to the welfare of children. The aim of the Bureau has been to place at the service of its correspondents the best information available, utilizing for the purpose not only the resources of its own library but those of other libraries in the District, or else it has met the need by re- ferring the request to the society or in- dividual elsewhere in the country who could best supply the desired information. Miss Thompson was followed by Miss Annie Carroll Moore, who said that in this age of superficial creation in chil- dren's books, a bureau searching for un- derlying facts concerning child welfare would be a bulwark of strength to other workers with children and would help to lay a foundation for a more serene and happy childhood. Miss Julia Lathrop, director of the Chil- dren's Bureau, spoke of the ideals and pur- poses of the work undertaken, of the hopes for next year with a larger force, and asked the help of the children's librarians in giving publicity to the work of the Bureau. The pamphlets published by them are sent to anyone on request and the value of the service they can give will be enlarged by the spread of informa- tion concerning them. Miss Hewins, in answer to a question from Miss Lathrop as to how the Bureau WORK WITH CHILDREN 219 can be of use to children's librarians, said that the Bureau would be of help, not by having a collection of children's books, but by being a possible clearing house of lists published by libraries, and of books about children for the use of older people interested in child welfare. Miss MARY ELY, head of the children's work in the Dayton (Ohio) public library, read a paper on OUR PRESENT PROBLEM Surely if it were true of nothing else in all the universe, that which John Bur- roughs has said: "For lo, my own shall come to me," it would still be true of our problems. Flouted and passed by upon the highway, they turn upon us and seek us out in the places where we dwell. I believe that I can state the problem that I see confronting and pressing upon the children's librarians today most clear- ly if I may be allowed to be frankly per- sonal, recounting the steps by which 1 first entered into consciousness of that problem and describing its aspect as 1 see it now. I am the more emboldened to do this, since I believe that, with the exception of an initial confession of self- righteous stupidity, I am, in speaking for myself, speaking for children's librarians everywhere and describing a typical ex- perience. I do not recall when I first met the problem, but the recollection of the first time that I consciously disowned it is very clear to me. I had made a visit to the book department of one of our local stores and had found there tables, shelves and counters piled high with the latest cheap books in series for children. I saw placards everywhere advertising them at 19 cents apiece, two books for 35. I heard the saleswoman enthusiastically recommending them. I saw, while I waited, not less than a dozen people eagerly purchasing them. A bargain in books, so much paper, so much print, for so little money! Thus was literature being spread broadcast az^ong our children, thus was the book carrying its mission into every home! I turned away fairly disheartened at the sight. I went back to the library and dis- carded two authors of whose worth I had for some time been feeling doubtful. I said to myself with much vehemence that I would put the standard of our book se- lection higher than it had ever been be- fore, that in the children's library at least the children of our city should find and read real books and know the inspiration of true literature. I pictured myself as maintaining a green oasis in the midst of a desert waste whose barrenness I had just glimpsed, and the picture pleased me greatly. I had forgotten for the time be- ing at least that "no man liveth unto him- self alone." With a self-righteous air I boasted before a woman's club that the children who came to the public library were reading a better class of books than those who had their own libraries in their own homes. It is not the truth of that boast that I am questioning now. I still believe it true. But it is for the self- righteousness that I accuse myself and cry out "mea culpa!" I believe I even rejoiced orally in the bosom of my own family that the problem of the bookstore and the worthless books bought and sold there was not my problem! It was at Christmas time that I awoke suddenly to the fact that the problem I had recently disowned in the bookstore had sought me out in the children's li- brary and had come to stay with me. One after another of the children whose read- ing I had watched so carefully and guided so conscientiously as I thought in the right direction, and boasted of so openly, came back from their Christmas holidays clamoring for the books we did not have. We had had our usual Christmas exhibit and had taken the usual number of orders for the books we recommended, but it now became apparent that if we might represent the Christmas buying and giv- ing of children's books as a great sea, what we had done was to cast a tiny 220 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE pebble that had scarcely caused a ripple upon the surface. Here, indeed, was food for thought. And there again was more food for thought when a series of school visits had opened my eyes to other disturbing facts. I discovered by questioning that the li- brary T .vas having personal contact with less than one-third of all the children in the schools. Nor did this mean that the other two-thirds did not read. By no means! They wriggled and squirmed and waved their hands in the air in the hot- ness of their desire to tell me how many dozens of books they had read, how many complete series they owned, and how much the library missed by not having these same series, which were of a "swell- ness" that beggared description. In fact, they made it very clear to me that in the matter of choosing between the "swell" authors and the "punk" ones the library often strangely and perversely inclined towards "punkness." This was why the one-third who did frequent the library must frequently supplement their reading by buying books or borrowing from their classmates; this was why, no doubt, the other two-thirds never came at all. In all except the poorest districts I found that the children owned books of their own in astonishingly large numbers and circulated them among themselves at a rate that made the library statistics look very small by comparison. Why wonder at this, though, when books at 10 cents, or even 19 cents, are cheaper than most games, or toys, or neckties, or ribbons for the hair, and when the idea that a book, regardless of its quality, is a good thing for a child, inheres in many minds? I shall not dwell upon the bitterness with which I reflected upon all these things. I tried only to face the situation squarely. "You problem, who have fastened your- self upon me like an old man of the sea," I said, "I shall never rest content until I know you through and through!" I went to the book department of our largest store (to our shame be it said that Dayton, a city of 125,000 people, has not a single bookshop), and there I ob- tained permission to make a thorough ex- amination of all their stock in trade and to read as many of the books as I de- sired. For many weary days, duty of hands and faint of heart, I examined and read and entered into fruitless arguments with the seller of the books. May I tell you in some detail just what I found? Back in the corners, where shelves and books alike were covered with dust long undisturbed, were the travel and geographical readers, the histories and nature study books. These, by their very condition, proclaimed that they were not of the stuff of which my problem was made, and I passed them by. In more prominent places were Louisa Alcott and Howard Pyle, Andersen and Grimm, Leslie Brooke and Boyd Smith and many of the others whom I knew well. To my expressions of pleasure at meet- ing them and my praises of their worth, the book department man replied with chilling brevity, "Don't sell well! Never will! Too expensive!" In another case were what he pointed out as the "classics" and these he hoped I would be pleased to know were pretty good sellers. I looked them over and found some of them not unknown to me, but many that were new. As I handled them and read them here and there, my indignation and my pity and my wonder grew apace. Adaptations, retellings, abridg- ments there were of all the world's great literature. Here were poor beheaded, be- tailed folklore stories from which cruelty, stepmotherhood, weddings and other pain- ful features had been removed. Here, too, were great novels and epic poems, Bible stories, and mythology, all so trimmed round about and turned inside out that one could almost fancy them crying out in protest like the old woman in the nursery rhyme, "Oh dearie, dearie me, this is none of I!" Nothing has been too WORK WITH CHILDREN 221 high or lofty, too deep or holy to escape the hands of the zealous adapters who have sought to reduce the literary heri- tage of the ages to lowest terms in words of one syllable. The picture books piled upon a table were cheap, flimsy things, poorly bound and illustrated with crude drawings, crudely colored. Even more than with their art I was disgusted with the ideas that they presented. Many of them were reproductions of the favorites of the Sun- day paper comic supplements, and the others, though different, were no better. It was in the fiction alcove that my saddest hours were spent. If I had started in, as I am not quite sure I did not, with a faint hope that the series books might not be so bad as I had anticipated, that hope was shortly dissipated. The hero- ines of the cheap series for girls differ from the average girl who reads them only in that they possess more beautiful and costly clothes, run their own auto- mobiles, have more boy admirers and es- cape more fortunately from their board- ing-school escapades. These are the lofty ideals that our girls may strive for! Excitement is the keynote of the boys' stories. Thrilling adventures, hair- breadth escapes, villains and blackguards, stolen fortunes and aeroplane flights jostle each other on the pages where the up-to-the-minute boy hero proves himself more than equal to every occasion that presents itself. Poor English and much slang characterize the style. Is the problem serious? Who questions it? But is the problem ours? It might be the problem of the booksellers, but from my own personal experience I can pin no great faith for present help to those who sell the books. May not some appeal be made to those who write the books? One of the "swell- est" of the "swell" authors for boys writes under two pseudonyms as well as under his own name and produces an average of ten or twelve books a year. What is his purpose, his underlying motive? I can not conceive it to be one that would make him open-minded to our arguments or appeals. And the same is true of the publishers of these books. But the mothers and the fathers and the aunts and uncles who buy the books? They at least have the children's best in- terests at heart and may be expected to grapple with the problem. It is lack of knowledge, I have found, that does the damage here. I am convinced that the majority of parents who have filled their children's bookshelves with the many vol- umes of the popular series have no con- ception of the sort of reading matter con- tained between their bright, attractive covers. They do not suspect that these books are on a level with those trashy, sentimental novels, sold for a dime and redeemed for five cents such books as they themselves would not and could not read and enjoy. This latter thought is rather a sad commentary on the direction in which we are traveling and presents a dark outlook for the future, but I fear it is actually true that there are many in- stances in which the reading tastes being formed by the children are lower than those of their parents. Often mothers whose literary taste I would not question have come to me and said, "We have no time to read and judge the children's books for ourselves. Only tell us what books are good and we will get them if we can afford them." Not here then can immediate action toward the solution of the problem be looked for. The case of the teachers is much the same as that of the mothers, both as re- gards their good intentions and their handicap of lack of knowledge. No one who knows anything of the manifold claims upon the time of busy teachers can wonder that they are not able to ac- quaint themselves intimately with the ever-increasing output of children's books. By a process of elimination, having thus counted out teachers, parents, publishers, booksellers and authors, all those from whom we might reasonably expect help in 222 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE the present crisis, we find the finger of the problem pointing straight to us. There are, to be sure, the Boy Scouts organization, from whom we are to hear this morning, the Campfire Girls, the Playground Associations and many other excellent agencies, who in working out the question of child welfare, are finding our problem one phase of the greater one to whose solution they have addressed themselves. But have they not a right to look to us who are specialists on the sub- ject of children's books for help and co- operation at least, if not for leadership at this point? Did you notice that in the process of the counting out I have said that I despaired only of present help? I have said it BO, intentionally, for from the very persons now counted out, the future aid and the final solution of the problem are to come. I see the children's librarians bridging the gap between this present need and that future aid, I see us as the thin sharp edge of a great powerful wedge, made up of a multitude of parents, teachers, booksell- ers, authors and publishers. I see this great wedge pushing its way through the mass of worthless books with which our markets are now flooded, crushing them back, stamping them out and opening a clear path from the great books of the past to the great books of the future. Nor do I think that this is foolish optimism or that I am expecting impossibilities of the children's librarians. It is the history of every great movement that a small van- guard, who felt more keenly, saw more clearly, than the crowds who followed, has led the way. Figurative language abandoned, there are two things we must do. First, we must preach the gospel and spread the knowledge of good books, whenever, wherever, however we can; we must cre- ate a demand for better books for chil- dren. Secondly, having created this demand we must somehow bring the prices of the good books down low enough to enable them to be used to satisfy it. Toward the first end the libraries have already taken beveral important steps. The library Christmas exhibits of chil- dren's books, talks to mothers and teach- ers and the published lists of recom- mended books for children are all evi- dences of our activity along these lines. As a slight variation from the usual Christmas exhibit at the library, the Day- ton library one year obtained permission from a local merchant to have its books displayed in the book department of his store. A trained children's librarian, paid by the merchant, was in charge to give advice and suggestions and take orders for the books. Though a success from the library point of view, the experiment has not been repeated, because it failed to bring a reasonable financial profit to the merchant. I have heard, too, of a case in which a children's librarian was asked to take charge of a children's book department during the holiday season, but I know nothing of the details of the project or of its success or failure. Some of you will know, no doubt, of other similar ef- forts. So much for the past. For the present and future, if by organ- izing or correlating our efforts we can make the compiling of lists of recom- mended books for children cheaper and better and insure their wider distribution, let us do it. If as a body, or as individuals, there is any influence that we can bring to bear toward the end that every children's book department in this land shall be under the guidance of someone who knows and loves the best books of all ages of time, for all ages of man; for the sake of tho cause we hold dear, let us do it! In regard to bringing down the prices of the best children's books, or rather of having them published in less expensive editions, I can not find that the libraries have yet done anything, though the Boy Scouts organization has set itself to work upon that problem. I know so little of WORK WITH CHILDREN 223 what it is possible to do in that direction, or of the way in which we might proceed, that I would not dare to make sugges- tions. What I do know is that if the need for such action is once felt keenly enough by the children's librarians the action will follow. I have faith in their powers to "ken a wy." There were so many other things that in the beginning, I had meant to tell you! But if I might only have suc- ceeded in bringing to the surface the con- viction hidden in the heart of each of us, that we are facing a crisis and must face it all together, I shall have accomplished all my aim. Somewhere on the road from yesterday to today we seem to have forgotten the truth our catechism taught us, that man is both body and spirit, and the spirit being immortal is more precious than the body. If I might dare to hope that any- thing I have tried to say could help us to see more clearly, that today when we are busy making and enforcing pure food laws for the protection of our bodies, there is even greater need for the fram- ing and enshrining in the hearts of all cur people, of pure book laws for the pro- tection of our souls, I shall sorrow for nothing I have left unsaid. Mr. F. K. MATHIEWS, chief scout libra- rian of the Boy Scouts of America, fol- lowed with a paper on THE INFLUENCE OF THE BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT IN DIRECTING THE READING OF BOYS The most popular juvenile today is the Handbook for Boys, published by our move- ment. In the last four years more than 400,000 copies of this book have been sold, and the demand is so insistent that it Is still selling at the rate of 100,000 a year. This fact is offered at the moment because it makes significant at once that from the very beginning our movement has been influential in directing the reading of boys. In June 1912 the national Boy Scout organization purchased the Boys' Life Magazine. This was deemed necessary to prevent the threatened exploitation of the boys of America by individuals using the name of our organization with incalculable harm to the movement; at the same time offering to us the opportunity to nurture and develop at the teen age the boy's imagination through his reading. The Boy Scout movement has recog- nized, and built upon with success, the "gang" spirit. In stories the gang makes an irresistible appeal. This is amply proven by the vogue which a certain type of book has among boys books that tell what the "bunch" does and thinks, as, for instance, The Aeroplane Boys, Motor Boat Boys, The Motion Picture Boys, etc., and now, latterly, The Boy Scouts. Good au- thors have not been so quick to sense this point of contact with the boy mind as have the authors of mediocre and distinctly in- ferior stories. Through the Boy Scout movement opportunity is presented to make very good use of this value in writ- ing stories about Boy Scout troops, show- ing how they, under the influence of the Scout oath and law, did things which are best for boys to do, and how much fun they had in doing them. Such stories would become an inspiration of the finest sort to all boys who are so tremendously influenced by what the "gang" does and thinks. It has appeared to us that it is not only possible, but that it is the duty of the Boy Scout movement to recognize these needs in the realm of the boys' reading, and in this we have been encouraged and sup- ported by a large number of men and women who, understanding the things needed, have pointed out that this move- ment is in a better position to do this service for the boys of the country than any other organization or group of indi- viduals. Presenting sufficient fiction to allure the boy, Boys' Life presents also stimulating and encouraging messages to boys from living great men, whose counsel appeals and impresses because these men are all, 224 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE to a greater or less degree, boys' heroes. In the last few months the magazine has published such messages from the Presi- dent of the United States, former President Roosevelt, Ernest Thompson Seton, Dan Beard, and Christy Mathewson. Many other noted men have consented to address the boys of the country through Boys' Life. The position of this magazine is unique, for it represents an unselfish movement in behalf of boys' welfare, seeking no indi- vidual profit, and, therefore, one which is peculiarly adapted as a medium through which the great men of today can make their contribution of encouragement to the boys of our country. The leaders of our movement, having ventured so far in their efforts to make a practical contribution toward the solution of the problem of boys' reading, found it easy to take the next step. Next to his personal associates, the books a boy reads probably exert a greater influence upon him than any other one factor in his life. Parents are awakening to this fact, but their problem is to choose from the huge mass of boys' books the volumes which the boys will like best, and yet those which will be best for the boy. To meet this need, through our own news bulletins and the courtesy of the Ladies' Home Journal, the Woman's Home Companion and the Delineator, an- nouncement was made some months ago that if parents would send to the national headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America descriptions of their boys age, interests, temperament, attainments, moral qualifi- cations, faults or delinquencies giving some idea of how the boys are inclined to spend their leisure time and the character- istics of the boys with whom they like best to associate, after careful examination of this statement, a course of reading would be prescribed which, it was believed, would not only interest boys, but also help parents in securing such results as would count for character culture. As a conse- quence of this publicity, hundreds of re- plies from mothers, teachers, and libra- rians were received. These letters came not only from every state in the Union, but also practically from every country in the world. Important and vital as had been the influence of our movement in directing the reading of boys up to this time, the most practical contribution was yet to be made. As a movement, responsible as the pro- moters and trustees of the Boy Scout idea, we found ourselves face to face with the menace of mediocrity and the threat of viciousness contained in the average so- called "Boy Scout story-book." Authors and publishers, greedy for gain, have been quick to see that at the moment the most compelling interest in the mind of the American boy today is the Boy Scout idea, and we now have, though our movement was incorporated only four years ago, scores and scores of Boy Scout story-books absolutely unworthy to bear that name, not only because our principles are so grossly misrepresented, but also because the ideas presented are of the most pernicious sort. Added to this phase of the problem is the further fact that the Boy Scout story- book stands as a type of the modern cheap juvenile publication which is really the nickel novel in disguise. Through the good influence of the public libraries and schools, the motion pictures, and certain magazines such as Popular Mechanics and other popular technical magazines, the dime novel, or speaking for our own time, the nickel novel, has been hard hit. But careful inquiry discloses the further fact that the nickel novel has not been ban- ished quite so completely as at first ap- pears. It still persists, but in another form. You will find it now more often and more widely distributed in the dis- guise of the bound book. And sometimes so attractively bound that it takes its place on the retail book-store shelf alongside the best juvenile publications. Sometimes, too, it happens that the very stories that sell on the news-stands for five cents in the paper covers, bound most attractively, sell in the book-stores for 50 WORK WITH CHILDREN cents. Of course the people who purchase these cheap books little know what they are buying. To them they are only story- books, not realizing that it is "just a story- book" that rightly used makes one of the most valuable contributions to a boy's education, especially the boy in his early teens. Because these cheap books do not develop criminals or lead boys, except very occasionally, to seek the wild West, parents who buy such books think they do their boys no harm. The fact is, however, the harm done is simply incalculable. One of the most valuable assets a boy has is his imagination. It is in propor- tion as this is nurtured that a boy develops initiative and resourcefulness. The great- est possible service that education can render is to train the boy to grasp and master new situations as they constantly present themselves to him ; and what helps more to make such adjustment than a lively imagination? Story-books of the right sort stimulate and conserve this noble faculty while those of the viler and cheaper sort by over-stimulation, debauch and vitiate it, as brain and body are de- bauched and destroyed by strong drink. To protect our movement from the so- called Boy Scout story-books, and to help parents and educators to meet the grave peril of the nickel novel in the disguise of the cheap bound book, the Library Com- mission of our movement was organized with the following members: George F. Bowerman, librarian public library of the District of Columbia, Washington, D. C.; Harrison W. Graver, librarian Carnegie library, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Claude G. Leland, superintendent bureau of libraries, Board of Education, New York City; Edward F. Stevens, librarian Pratt Institute free library, Brooklyn; together with the edi- torial board of our movement, William D. Murray, George D. Pratt and Frank Pres- brey, with Franklin K. Mathiews, chief scout librarian, as secretary. Under their direction there has been chosen a series of books known as Every Boy's Library Boy Scout Edition. The library contains only such books as are of interest to boys, the first twenty-five being either works of fiction or stirring stories of adventurous experiences. In later lists books of a more serious sort will be in- cluded. It is hoped that as many as twenty-five may be added to the library each year. All the books of Every Boy's Library are by the authors of the very best books for boys, the original editions having been sold at prices ranging from $1.00 to $1.50, but now, through the hearty cooperation of the several publishers, being sold through our Every Boy's Library at 50 cents a volume. Generous appreciation should be given to the several publishers who have helped to inaugurate this new department of our work. Without their assistance in making available for popular-priced editions some of the best books ever published for boys, the promotion of Every Boy's Library would have been impossible. Thanks, too, are due the Library Commission, who, without compensation, have placed their vast experience and immense resources at the service of our movement. The merchandising of Every Boy's Li- brary is in the hands of Grosset & Dunlap, the largest reprint publishing house in the United States. Through their salesmen, the books have been so widely distributed that they may be found wherever books are sold. Already the sale of the books in Every Boy's Library warrants the conclusion that our movement has made, or is about to make, the most practical contribution to- ward the solution of the problem of the boy's reading ever made in this country. This is the opinion of librarians, public school teachers, authors, publishers, and booksellers. Though the books were not placed on sale until November of last year, in six weeks there were sold over 71,000. The publishers believe that in the present year they will sell at least twice that num- ber, and that in time the books will sell annually by the hundreds of thousands. WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Any record of the influence of our move- ment in directing the reading of boys would be incomplete without a statement as regards the cordial relations that have been established with authors, publishers and booksellers. During the past year it has been my pleasure, through correspond- ence and personal fellowship with authors, to offer suggestions as regards the possi- bility of making all their stories count for character culture. Such suggestions have been welcome, so much so that from time to time manuscripts are submitted for re- view in order that the author's story may be made the better to square with the prin- ciples and ideals of our movement. The publishers, too, have been solicitous to cooperate with our movement in every possible way. Manuscripts of Boy Scout story-books have been submitted for sug- gestions; and a number of publishers have consented to the publication of parts of their books in Boys' Life, while the book was still in galley proof, and always with- out compensation. It is of the bookseller, though, that I wish to speak particularly. I have just returned from a seven weeks' trip through the South, visiting several of the largest cities. Opportunity was offered to make a survey of the book-stores of all the cities visited and my conclusion is that so far as the bookseller of the South is concerned, he stands ready to cooperate in the carry- ing out of any program that will eventu- ally afford him a reasonable profit. Such a statement needs explanation. I mean by this that the average bookseller is not disposed, knowingly, to promote the sale of pernicious or wicked books. In a number of instances, booksellers told me they would eliminate from their stock any book I thought to be objectionable, and all of them said they stood ready to distribute such book lists as our movement might send them. The fact of the business is that the real problem as regards the boy's reading is not behind the counter, but in front of it. There is such an in- satiable demand for cheap books books selling from 25 cents to 60 cents that the bookseller, in order to hold his business, feels the imperative need of handling these cheap publications, particularly the 25-cent ones. On these his profit is so small he would gladly eliminate them if his cus- tomers would let him, but the trade de- mand is so great, he just must carry them or go out of business, he says. In one of the largest southern cities, one of the booksellers told me that he sold as many as 20,000 copies of the 25-cent book. So the chief reason why so many poor books are circulated through the retail trade is very largely an economic one. Of course boys will read that kind of a book because it has in it just those elements that appeal so much to boys. But this is not to say that boys will not read better and the best books. I discovered a striking instance of this as told by a bookseller in South Carolina. I found in his store a table full of nickel novels. He said that the sale of these had in the last few months fallen off ninety-five per cent, and he told, with considerable pleasure, the cause. The sale of this modern "penny dreadful" had been made to the mill boys of his town, but recently the mill owner had engaged a Y. M. C. A. secretary to work among his boy employes. This welfare worker, recognizing the worth of boys' reading, has promoted a system of traveling libraries through the several mills, with the result that the nickel novel has become a thing of the past. The needful thing, then, is that parents should be aroused to see the harm they are doing in buying these cheap books for boys. If you take gasoline and feed it to an automobile a drop at a time, you get splen- did results because you have confined and directed it with intelligent care and cau- tion. Take the same quantity of gasoline and just pour it out and you either don't get anywhere or you get somewhere you don't care to go. Here is an apt illustra- tion of the proper use of the elements WORK WITH CHILDREN 227 that must enter in to make good books for boys. For let it be understood that the good book for the average boy must be one that, as the Century Magazine says, is "wholesomely perilous." And what is meant is this: the red-blooded boy, the boy in his early teens, must have his thrill, he craves excitement, has a passion for action, "something must be doing" all the time, and in nothing is this more true than in his reading. The man who writes books for boys that really "get them coming" must always work with combusti- bles, with explosive materials. The difference between a Treasure Island and a Nick Carter is not a difference in the elements, but the use each author makes of them. Stevenson works with combustibles, but, as in the case of using the gasoline, he confines them, directs them with care and caution, always think- ing of how he may use them in such a way as will be of most good to the boy. In the case of Nick Carter, the author works with the same materials, but with no moral purpose, with no intelligence. No effort is made to confine or direct or con- trol these highly explosive elements. For all the author of this type of reading desires is to write something that will "get by" his publisher with another "thriller" sure to interest the boy. The result is, as boys read these books their imaginations are literally "blown out," "shot to pieces," and they go into life more terribly crippled than though by some material explosion they had lost a hand or foot. For, having had his imagination "burned out," not only will the boy be greatly handicapped in business, but the whole world of art in its every form almost is closed to him. Why are there so few men readers of the really good books or even of the passing novels sometimes of most real worth? Largely, I think, because the imagination of so many men as boys received such brutal treatment at the hands of authors and publishers and booksellers who have no concern as to what they write or publish or sell so long as it returns constantly the expected finan- cial gain. Such facts should be brought to the attention of parents, together with infor- mation as to just how these cheap books are written. Recently a man came into my office in New York. He said he had been chosen by a certain publishing house to complete a series of Boy Scout story-books. I asked him who had been writing the series before he undertook the work. He replied that that man was now in Bloom- ingdale, the asylum for the insane in New York. I happened to know that another man, a reporter in Texas, had also been the author of some of the books in the series, who, with the original author, and the lunatic, made three men who had tried their hand on this popular series of books, for they had been selling by the tens of thousands. Now a fourth man was to try his hand at the business of furnishing "thrills" for "so much per." The other authors had exhausted their supply, so a new man was requisitioned into service. And who is he? The press agent of Buf- falo Bill's show! I need only to add that when the final books of the series ap- peared, they were most certainly of the sort to make the boy's blood tingle. But some of the men who write cheap books are more prolific, rivaling Balzac in their output. I know of one such author who writes under twelve names. Still an- other employs a staff of writers. He fur- nishes the plot, etc., they for the most part do the writing, the particular work of this literary genius being to edit, add yet a few more thrills, then find a title that will be "up to the minute" in its power of appeal to the boy. By such methods, last year, I have been told, this author manu- factured forty-one books, which are now selling at prices ranging from 25 to 60 cents. In order that the widest possible pub- licity may be given to such facts, our move- ment the last week in May is to promote, in all the cities of the South I recently visited, a Boy Scout week, in which, on 228 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Sunday the ministers will preach upon the worth of good books for boys, and through the week the newspapers will publish spe- cial articles, incorporating some of the facts presented in this paper. The motion- picture houses of the several cities will also run lantern slides calling attention to our Every Boy's Library. In time we hope to make effective the same kind of pub- licity in every city of the country. In the foregoing, I have endeavored to tell briefly the story of Ihe development of the book department of our movement. If time permitted, I would be pleased to go still further and tell of other plans soon to be realized, but I must use the last mo- ment or two to make even yet more em- phatic what I sincerely hope has already been made apparent, namely, that the rul- ing purpose of the national organization of the Boy Scouts of America is to render service in this as in every other depart- ment. In the promotion of our work when va- rious plans are proposed, one question is constantly asked How will they promote and nurture the character development of American boyhood? Never is it a case of profits, but always, what profit will it be to the boys of our country whose we are, and whom up to the very limit of our ability, we try to serve. In this spirit, we invite your hearty cooperation. The ways in which we might work to- gether are too numerous to mention here. Having been privileged upon this notable occasion to present the work of its book department, the hope of our movement is that from this time forward all the librari- ans of the country may feel that together we are working in a common cause, and that we stand ready to serve each other, and so together help to solve for our time the pressing problem of saving the youth of this generation from the menace of mediocrity and the threat of viciousness so often found in cheap juvenile publica- tions. At the business meeting, the report of Miss Whitcomb, chairman of the Commit- tee on subject headings for a children's catalog, was read, in which the suggestion was made that the section recommend to the A. L. A. Publishing Board the printing of Miss Mann's "Guide to the selection of subjects in making a catalog of juvenile books," now in preparation by her. This was moved by Miss Moore and carried. Miss Isom of Portland was appointed to the advisory board for three years, and Miss Bogle as chairman of the Nominating committee presented the names of Miss Jessie M. Carson, chairman, Miss Jasmine Britton, vice-chairman, and Miss Janet Jerome, secretary for the section for 1915, who were duly elected. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING SECTION The sixth annual meeting was called to order Tuesday, May 26, at 2:30 o'clock, by the chairman, Miss Corinne Bacon. The chairman appointed a Nominating committee, consisting of Miss Ernestine Rose, Miss Alice S. Tyler, and Mr. Edward F. Stevens. Proceeding to the program, the first topic presented was a symposium on THE FATE AVERTED FROM LIBRA- RIES BY LIBRARY SCHOOL EN- " TRANCE EXAMINATIONS The first speaker was Miss JUNE RICH- ARDSON DONNELLY, associate professor of library science, Simmons College Li- brary School. Miss Donnelly said in part: It is by their exercise of all the select- ive function, both at the time of entrance, and throughout the course, that the schools may be of help to the libraries, by their trying out the candidates for the field in the attempt to obtain those whose educa- tion, cultural background, character and personality give the best reason to sup- pose they will succeed. The examination is but one means of testing but one of these qualifications, the educational and cultural background, but it is a convenient help in the great problem of fitting the PROFESSIONAL TRAINING 229 vocation and the worker. For that Is the question at the bottom of the matter, in the library field, as in every other de- partment of education today, and there are three elements involved: 1. It is highly important that the li- braries should be safeguarded in every possible way from getting assistants who are incompetent. 2. It is desirable, for the reputation and efficiency of the schools, that they should not admit material which will be a clog. 3. It is even more fundamentally im- portant, perhaps, that the candidates should be tested as fairly and fully as possible for their own sakes, that those unsuited to the work may be turned away before they have wasted time and money, and have lost other opportunities which might prove to them the road to success, and that those who are well adapted to it may be recognized, even those whose formal academic credits might not seem, until so tested, to render them as eligible as others. While one may not find the entrance examination sufficient in itself, no one who has ever corrected such papers can doubt that the schools can save the libra- ries from some pretty bad material, unless as sometimes happens the discards of the schools are accepted without training by the library. The examination: 1. Cuts out automatically those hope- lessly below par, and convinces them that they are not prepared for the work. 2. Tests the value of certificates given by educational institutions and permits the school to supplement its knowledge of the ability of the applicants in subjects which even college work may not have tested. The chapter in Stover at Yale which rails so fiercely at college educa- tion, always reminds me of an entrance examination to a library school. A good examination does much more than test memory of facts crammed for an occasion, and often the one examined, or one glancing over a simple-seeming question paper, has little realization of what the answers will disclose. They will necessarily test spelling and English, the ability to read and copy accurately from the printed page. Some will prove what a fund of "things commonly known" the examinee owns. A few years ago an applicant told me in answer to a request to explain an al- lusion to "the prisoner of the Vatican," that she supposed "it meant the Pope, who was afraid to go into the streets of Rome because Roosevelt was there with his big stick." Some questions should be planned to give the candidates an opportunity to show a grasp of a subject, to marshal their knowledge into a logical order, and to show what critical judgment they have. Sometimes a question meant to effect one purpose does amazingly more. Once I asked as a test in current topics for some prominent members of the present English cabinet, and got the answer: "Asquith, Balfour, Gladstone and Lord John Russell." That coalition of the lights and shades struck my fancy as unparal- leled even in English history, and dis- closed a thorough misunderstanding of half a century of the political history of the country. The entrance examination is used as a symbol of the process by which schools are to sift material for the libraries to use, but the examination is merely an ex- pression of the kind of previous educa- tion which is thought best suited to li- brary work. I have wondered considerably in recent years whether history, literature and languages were sufficient. In the li- braries today, are not familiarity with the natural sciences and with sociological sub- jects as necessary to make an intelligent classifier or reference assistant as any of the traditional subjects? If I were ap- pointed to the high office of averter of fate from libraries, I should ask first that the candidates should have had, in college or elsewhere, a broad education in the lines indicated, and should use the examination as a useful auxiliary. 230 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE Miss Donnelly was followed by Miss JOSEPHINE ADAMS RATHBONE, vice- director of the Pratt Institute School of Library Science, with the following paper: The functions of a library school are the selection, training, and placing of its stu- dents, and of these the second only is ex- clusively a school function. We are re- sponsible for the training given, but we can select only from among those who al- ready want to become librarians. For the attraction to library work of the most fit among the on-coming genera- tion, the profession as a whole is respon- sible, not the library schools. Now, bodies attract in proportion to their size and activity, so the number and quality of ap- plicants will be determined by the size that librarianship bulks in the public eye and by the opportunities it offers for valu- able, varied and well-remunerated service. Among those thus attracted, it is the function of the library schools to select the best. Selection, of course, implies re- jection, and it is this latter aspect of the subject that is implied by the title of this symposium, "The fate averted from li- braries by library school examinations." The title suggests two questions; first, What is this fate? and second, Is it averted by the library schools? The fate is pre- sumably the invasion of the profession by the ignorant, the inefficient, the lazy, and all the other well-known varieties of the unfit. Now, do the library schools actu- ally avert this fate? To do so they would have to guard all the gateways into the profession, which it is evident they do not do. Hence only a small measure of responsibility for the character of the per- sonnel of the profession belongs to the schools. Indeed, were the topic, "The fate averted from the library schools by their entrance examinations," I would approach the subject with more confidence. I am disposed to claim too much for our- selves as averters of fate, even so far as our own graduates are concerned. I am afraid none of us can claim that our round pegs are all perfectly round and all our square pegs are foursquare, needing only a normal adjustment to fit them to corre- sponding holes. Have we not all from mistaken kindness graduated students of whose fitness we were somewhat doubtful, only to have them break under the strain of actual responsibility? One such in an efficient, locally-trained staff would dis- credit not only her own school, but all school training. Sometimes, too, we make mistakes of another kind. Several years ago a lec- turer before our school ended her talk by saying: "I little anticipated this honor when I was turned down in the Pratt en- trance examinations some time since!" But the library schools certainly do make honest efforts to select wisely, some by the requirement of a college degree, others by entrance examinations, which I take it are the examinations referred to in the title. A set of specimen entrance examina- tions published in the circular relieves our school of a large part of the pressure for admission, only one-twelfth of those writ- ing for information are ever heard from again, by us at least. I trust the gentle- man who wrote from the Lone Star Bar- ber Shop, Blank, Texas, beginning, "I want to no if you teach Library Science. I want to prepair to take an examina- tion in the Civil Service Department for Library Science pertaining to agricul- ture," was discouraged by the circular from further efforts toward the library profession. Indeed, so marked is the dis- couraging effect of the printed questions that our entrance examination papers have not been such entertaining reading of late years as they once were. Still they are not without interest even now. I have kept a notebook for some six or seven years of treasures culled from ex- aminations. Not all of these are from re- jected candidates, however; some are chiefly of interest as showing some of the things that college students do not know, as for instance: "Farnese Bull was a Bull issued by the priests and monks of Farnesia." By a PROFESSIONAL TRAINING 231 three years' student at a leading state university. "Ascent of Parnassus refers to a Greek legend telling how Parnassus ascended to the world of the Gods." By a three years' student at a well-known girls' college. " 'Below the salt' buried in the sea," was by the same student. The income tax is generally supposed to be a difficult subject, and those of us who have not had personal reasons for becom- ing acquainted with it might like to have the matter elucidated by a rejected can- didate of last year. "There are two pre- vailing opinions about the income tax. One is that to have the articles on the free list will be of benefit to both classes. The other is that having the articles on the free list gives the advantage to one let of people while it is disadvantageous to the other set. My own opinion agrees with the first one." This same candidate discriminated be- tween centrifugal and centripetal in the following words: "Centrifugal means to have some special point around which the others are grouped, and centripetal means having a hundred petals." Amusing as they are, I do not regard blunders like those of the Farnese Bull variety as unforgivable; we all have lapses of tongue and memory and infor- mation, but an answer like that on the income tax I do consider sufficient rea- son for rejecting a candidate, showing, as it does, confusion of thought, inability to reason or deduce clearly. So, also, do I consider the following. In answer to a request to arrange a number of names ac- cording to literary merit one applicant produced this: Jane Austen, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Mrs. Florence Barclay, Henry James, Bulwer-Lytton, Tolstoi, Maurice Hewlett, Edith Wharton, Gene Stratton-Porter, Thomas Hardy, E. P. Roe, E. W. Hor- nung. That Indicates on the one hand either Ignorance and bluffing, or on the other hand an utter lack of a sense of literary values, and in neither case fitness for a library school course. Another can- didate who placed Mrs. Burnett ahead of Hardy and James, Hornung and Gene Stratton-Porter ahead of Jane Austen, E. P. Roe and Florence Barclay ahead of Edith Wharton and Tolstoi, was also re- jected. I am not here to argue the question of entrance examinations versus college de- grees as entrance requirements. Much can be said on both sides, and if one has practically unlimited class-room space and a large corps of teachers, a combina- tion of the two admission of college graduates by degrees and others by ex- amination has much in its favor; but I do consider that one can tell at least as much about an unseen candidate as the result of a skillfully-planned examination as in any other way, less from the amount of definite information given than by the presentation of subjects. Judgment, power of discrimination, systematic and orderly habits of mind, originality, resourceful- ness, mental alertness, can all be tested, and my observation, extending over many years, leads me to believe that such an examination constitutes at least as fair a test of such qualities as does the posses- sion of an A. B. or a Ph. D. I feel that our entrance examinations have done as much to guard our own school, if not the pro- fession at large, from the invasion of the unfit as any other form of entrance re- quirement could do, and this conclusion I submit as the contribution of the Pratt Institute library school to this symposium. The concluding paper in the symposium was then presented by Miss MARY WRIGHT PLUMMER, principal of the library school of the New York public library, who said: Several things differentiate (or should) library school entrance examinations from the final examinations for certificate or diploma given in high schools and col- leges: 1. The school or college knows its student the library school, as a rule, ex- amines a stranger. 2. The school or col- lege examines on a definite set of lec- tures or a definite portion of a textbook, 232 WASHINGTON CONFERENCE to see if the student retains correct im- pressions of what has been told him or her in lecture or lesson-period, or assigned in text-books. The library school has to discover a test of the contents of a stu- dent's mind in certain large fields of knowledge related to the work to be done later in libraries. 3. The school or college is preparing for no definite or limited pur- pose, and, except in the case of students intending to be teachers, will have no op- portunity of testing its product in actual work. The library school wishes students for whose general education it need have 110 concern, and it must therefore test at the outset their educational equipment for a definite work, since its product will be put to work immediately on graduation, and its failure in respect of education will probably reflect upon the library school as indication of the school's inability to give a real test. For these reasons it is not safe to ac- cept without question the diploma of high school or college, particularly the former. The examiner for the library school must keep in mind that the correct answers to questions are not all that should be con- sidered significant. Honesty, frankness, depth of information, versatility, social and educational background, maturity, sense of proportion and values, and many other qualities, as well as their opposites or negations, may be read between the lines of an examination paper. Perhaps the most discouraging feature of the unsatis- factory paper is not a plain "I don't know," but the constant attempt to cover up the fact that one doesn't know, by making wild guesses that show much more plain- ly the applicant's ignorance and, in addi- tion, a confused, even chaotic, condition of mind that is nothing short of appalling. Would you not feel that more could be jdone for a student who said frankly she had never heard of Moses than for one who stated boldly that "Moses was a faith- ful follower of Christ, was born about the time of Christ, and hidden in the rushes to escape the massacre of the innocents"? That is what two graduates either of high school or equivalent courses declared in a library-school test for a library posi- tion. The high schools, of course, ar.e not supposed to teach Bible history, and the library school does not say that they should, but it does say that some- where, somehow, the person who aspires to do work in any library should have acquired some such knowledge, and that it is the business of the entrance exam- ination to find out if they have it. In the same examination in general infor- mation, a candidate claiming recent high school (or equivalent) graduation, in- formed the examiner having had her own choice of a Bible story to tell that Esau, being the elder son, had a right to prepare the pottage which was made to celebrate Abraham's death and to put the same on Abraham's grave. Another told the examiner that Ruth married one of the sons of Niobe. Where was this wonderful eclecticism, combining Jewish Scripture and Greek myth, taught? The same examination brought out these miscellaneous assertions: That Rachel was connected with Rome and that he was a great sculptor; that Lohengrin was an opera written by Tannhauser; that the defense of Warren Hastings was by Tous- saint 1'Ouverture. A manuscript was de- fined as a collection of leaves of paper generally written on, while another averred that a manuscript might be de- scriptive or expository but was never fic- tion. A horoscope was said by various candidates to be for such different pur- poses as examining the heart, determining the state of the weather, and surveying the universe, and the climax was reached in this particular set of papers when the referendum was defined (!) as "a refer- ence made by some person or body of persons to some other person or body of persons." Some pure guessing brought the statement that "Theirs not to reason why, theirs not to make reply" was in a speech by Daniel Webster, while another candidate professed to be equally sure that it came from the Birds' Christmas Carol; and Lady Macbeth (presumably PROFESSIONAL TRAINING 233 after the murder of Duncan) was charged with saying: "How strange it seems with so much gone Of life and love to still live on!" After these things, you will not be stunned to hear that "a triton was a myth with three heads and was larger than heroic size." One definition, that of a, connois- seur as "one who sort of guesses at things," may not perhaps be so far wrong, though one feels sure the irony was un- conscious. Another definition innocently explained eugenics as "the science of good breeding." History and current events provide al- most as much misinformation as the gen- eral information test. Henry Lane Wil- son is represented by one as President of the United States, and by another, with no further characterization, as "a very able-bodied man." Charles W. Eliot is represented as a late explorer to the North Pole; William Jennings Bryan as secretary of state of New York, as vice- president nominated on the Republican ticket, but not elected, and in fact as a man who not only "in his time" but at one and the same time "plays many parts"; of Jane Addams it was condescendingly said that "some of her actions deserve praise and honor"; David Lloyd George is a Lord of the British Parliament and Viceroy to India; William Sulzer is gov- ernor of New York City. The misuse of language sometimes pro- duces puzzles that are hard to solve, as when one says, "One of the problems con- fronting the administration at Washing- ton is waste of water cresses." "The en- largening of the navy" is another phrase, and "long and ceaseless war" another; and "a high protected tariff," and "Mexico a revolting country," are two unintention- ally truthful characterizations. Logic is queer and logical processes not always evident; for instance, we fail to folio w the reasoning in this answer; "California does not need the foreign element, for her re- sources are great, her climate alluring and healthful, and her foliage and flowers beautiful beyond compare." I should be sorry to have any one think these examples had been selected simply because they were laughable. They show one reason why librarians have such hard work to get themselves recognized as a profession. Many libraries which take in assistants who have the high school diploma, without testing them, are putting into a work which calls itself educational such young persons as these. Perfectly respectable, often naturally bright in mat- ters that interest them, quick to take up methods and using good common sense in their daily routine, but with nothing or worse than nothing in their heads as a re- sult of their education. The brightness and common sense are made the grounds of promotion until we have the one-time apprentice in an upper position where she comes into close contact with the public and forms the opinions of the educated public as to the qualifications of libra- rians. People come to the schools fre- quently, asking if positions cannot be had for prot