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THE - 

ffvri rriv rr ii I n.r n 



Library Journal 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 



CHIEFLY DEVOTED TO 



library Economy ant) 



VOL. 22. No. 10. 

PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE 

OCTOBER, 1897. 



For Contents See Next Page. 



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CONTENTS. 



51 travelling iioraries 

en's library work as determined by | 
:hildren. I., II j 



5-1897 



TITLE. 

Address of the President 

What of the future ? 

The librarian and the importer . . . 

Local supervision of travelling libraries 

Methods of child re 
the needs of the child 

The Fisk Free and Public Library of New Orleans 

On the literature of library history 

The selection of books for college libraries 

The survival of the fittest among books 

A bit of classification : treatment of Harvard iana by 
the Harvard Club of New York 

The care of special collections 

The care of manuscripts 

Notes on the government and control of college libraries. 

The London International Conference on a catalog of / 
scientific literature ) 

Index prospects and possibilities 

Some heresies about cataloging 

An elementary talk on charging systems 

Reference work 

Librarians' aids 

Book selection 

Advertising a library . . 

Aims and personal attitude in library work 

Report of the Co-operation Committee 

Report of the A. L. A. Publishing Section 

Report of Committee on Library Schools, i 

Report on gifts and bequests 

Proceedings 94-158 

First Session 94 

Second Session .'.... 94-102 

Secretary's report 94 

Report of Trustees of Endowment Fund . . 94-95 

Report of Publishing Section 95~97 

Report on Public Documents 97-98 

Dr. W. F. Poole Memorial Fund 98 

Report on State Aid 99 

Reports on American Libraries Clearing-house. 99-101 

Invitations for conference of 1898 101 

Printing of papers and reports 101-102 

Third Session : Books of the year 102-112 

Report on supplement to "A. L. A. Catalog." 102-103 

Fine arts 103-105 

Science 105-106 

History, Biography, Travel 106-108 

Children's books 108-109 

Fiction 109-112 

Fourth Session : Public meeting 112-120 

Address of W. H. Brett 112-113 

Address of Prof. Smyth 113-115 

Address of Jacob J. Seeds 115-116 

Address of W. E. Foster 116-117 

Address of Melvil Dewey 117-119 

Address of Dr. William Pepper 119-120 

Fifth Session : Elementary library work . . . 120-129 

Classification and cataloging 120-126 

'Book-pockets and book-marks 126-127 

Reference work 127-129 

Sixth Session 129-143 

Treasurer's report and Necrology 129-131 

Report of Finance Committee 131 

Place of next meeting 132-133 

Proposed building for N. Y. Public Library . 133-140 
Policy of the A. L. A. with regard to re-incor- 
poration and representative membership . 140-141 
Report on travelling libraries 141-143 



AUTHOR. 



PAGE.. 



H. Brett 



f: M. Crunden 5 

Ernst Lemcke 12 

F. A. Hutchins 17 

E. M. Fairchild 19 

Emma L. Adams ..... . . ... 28 

William Beer . 32 



F: J. Teggart 35 

A. C. Potter 59 

E. C. Richardson 15 

C: A. Nelson 47 

Wilberforce Eatnes 48 

Herbert Friedenwald 52 

G: W: Harris 55 

Cyrus Adler 58 

W: I: Fletcher 61 

Dr. G. E. Wire . 62 

Helen G. Sheldon ' 63 

Eleanor B. Woodruff 65 

Virginia R. Dodge 67 

Elizabeth P. Andrews 70 

Mary Emogene Hazeltine 74 

Linda A. Eastman 80 

W: H. Tillinghast 81 

W: C. Lane 84 

A. H. Hof>kins 87 

Caroline M. Hewins -90 

Seventh Session 143-148 

Report on Foreign Documents 143-144 

Report of Auditing Committee .... . 144 
Appropriation from Endowment Fund to 

Publishing Section 144-145 

Report on Co-operation with Library Depart- 
ment of N. E. A 145 

Report on Library Editions of Popular Books 145-146 

"A. L. A. Catalog" Supplement 146-147 

Place of next meeting 147 

Resolution on election of officers 147-148 

Election of officers 148 

Eighth Session : Elementary library work . . 148-154 

Library advertising 148-150 

The Cleveland Children's Library League . 151-153 

Ninth Session 154-158 

Resolutions adopted 154-155 

Amendment to constitution 155 

Development of subscription into free li- 
braries 155-156 

Discussion of children's library work . . . 156-157 
Report of Committee on Resolutions . . . 158 

Tenth Session 158 

The College Section of the A. L. A 159-172 

First Session 159-168 

Discussion on management of college libraries 160-161 

Selection of books 161-165 

College instruction in bibliography .... 165-168 

Second Session 168-172 

Co-operative printing of analytical reference 

lists 168-172 

Report on organization 1 72 

Trustees' Section of the A. L. A 173-174 

The Social Side. Mary P. Farr 175-176 

Catalog of Bibliographical Exhibit 177-184 

The Post-conference. Mary P. Farr 185-188 

Attendance register 189-194 

Attendance summaries . . 194 



,,,,,,;,. 

CONFERENCE OF LIBRARIANS. 



PHIL A DELPHI A , 



JUNE 21-25, 



ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, 

WILLIAM HOWARD BRETT, LIBRARIAN OF THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY. 






E present meeting of the American Libra- 
ry Association has not only that interest 
which attaches to all meetings of the Associa- 
tion, as forming one of those milestones by 
which it is accustomed to mark its annual pro- 
gress and gather up and preserve in its published 
proceedings a record of the work of the year, 
but derives great additional interest from the 
fact that this is the twenty-first year from the 
founding of the Association, the year in which 
we attain our majority, and that we come to- 
gether to celebrate that event as is fitting in 
this beautiful city, rich with historic memories, 
which we are proud to claim as the birth- 
place of our Association. 

The program as prepared for this meeting 
appears to be one of unusual fulness, and I 
shall not detain you from it further than to 
present briefly to you some of the considerations 
which were present in the minds of your com- 
mittee in arranging it. 

Meeting under such circumstances of time 
and place, it is but natural thai we should re- 
call the founding of our Association, and trace 
the steps of its progress not merely for the 
sake of recalling pleasant recollections, nor 
that we may congratulate ourselves upon a cer- 
tain satisfactory measure of accomplishment, but 
\/i 

- that by considering what has been done we may 
better determine what would best be done in 
the immediate future, and shape our plans 
thereto, and that, realizing how much has been 
accomplished with comparatively slender means, 
we may look forward with courage and confi- 
dence upon a greater future. 

The American Library Association held its 
first meeting in the rooms of the Philadelphia 



Historical Society, where we were gathered to- 
gether again so pleasantly last evening. There 
were present 104 members, of whom 13 were 
women. These represented 1-6 states and the 
District of Columbia. The number of libraries 
represented was almost 100, and included school 
and college, proprietary, endowed, and public 
libraries. 

The Association was welcomed at its first 
session by John William Wallace^ president of 
the Society, in an address in which, after cor- 
dially greeting them and referring to the cir- 
cumstances that attended the meeting, he 
outlined with remarkable prescience those 
problems which librarians, both individually 
and in our Association, have since been striv- 
ing to solve. 

The papers read were upon such practical 
subjects as cataloging, indexing, bibliography, 
book sizes, copyright, the qualifications of the 
librarian and his relations to readers, and the 
still broader subject of the status of the library 
in the community. Before adjourning the 
Association effected a permanent organiza- 
tion, elected officers and appointed a committee 
on finance and one on co-operation; and in 
naming this last committee it indicated the 
means of progress and sounded the keynote of 
success. 

The second meeting of the Association was 
in connection with the English librarians in 
an international gathering in London, in 1877, 
which resulted in the formation of the Library 
Association of the United Kingdom. Since that 
time meetings have been held almost every year. 
They have been held at various points from 
the extreme east to the Pacific coast. The 



112516 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



Association has had upon its rolls since its 
f ormation over 1 5cc members, and the present 
membership is almost 800. It includes within 
its number library trustees, librarians, and 
those filling other positions in libraries, and 
some others, who, though not actively engaged 
in the work of the libraries, are interested in 
their success. All classes of libraries have con- 
tinued to be represented. Their essential unity 
of purpose has been recognized, and the special 
work of each fairly considered. 

The year in which our country celebrated the 
xooth anniversary of its independence marked a 
distinct epoch in its history. It began an era 
of progress in the arts and industries, in litera- 
ture and education, and it marked also a dis- 
tinct step forward and the beginning of a new 
era in the libraries of our country. The pro- 
gress of American libraries during the quarter 
of a century dating from a little before the 
centennial year, has consisted first of a wonder- 
ful increase both in the number of libraries in 
the country, and in the volume of books con- 
tained in them, and available for public use; 
and second, and scarcely less important, in an 
improvement of library methods, and the reduc- 
tion of library organization and administration 
to a system. 

The report of the United States Commissioner 
of Education for the year 1876 furnished for the 
first time statistics of the number of libraries in 
the country and of the books contained in them, 
and the successive reports of 1886, 1893, and 1896 
enable us to measure their growth. As you all 
know there were in 1876, or just before, about 
12,000,000 volumes in the libraries of the 
country. There are now over 33,000,000. That 
is, in 21 years, or a little more, the libraries of 
our country have increased nearly 200 per cent. , 
have almost trebled in volume. This growth 
has been due in part to large and generous gifts 
for the foundation and endowment of libraries, 
and even more to a wholesome growth of public 
appreciation of their value, practically expressed 
in the willingness of our citizens to tax them- 
selves for their support. These two instrumen- 
talities have given to many of our larger cities 
magnificently equipped libraries in which broad- 
minded and far-seeing citizens have erected for 
themselves monuments more enduring than 
marble. They have dotted the country here and 
there with smaller memorial libraries, and have 
largely increased the number of public libraries. 



During the same period noteworthy devel- 
opments and improvements of library methods 
have been carried forward. Although before 
the centennial year much good work was being 
done in many libraries, there was little attempt 
at mutual helpfulness, and each librarian did 
that which was right in his own eyes without the 
opportunity of availing himself of the expe- 
rience of others. The report of the Com- 
missioner of Education of 1876 gave not only 
statistics which I have already mentioned, but 
also published a series of papers by leaders of 
the library movement treating of the more im- 
portant questions of library management, and 
forming collectively a compendium of the sub- 
ject which was invaluable to the student of li- 
brary methods. 

The Library Association, with this as a basis, 
has continued this interchange of opinion, both 
at its meetings and through the pages of its of- 
ficial publication, the Library Journal, and has 
thus furnished a medium of communication by 
which the experience of each librarian and the 
advances and improvements which were made 
in each library were speedily placed at the ser- 
vice of all. The result of these years of earnest 
work is that a body of library knowledge has 
been formulated which is generally accepted. 
Library architecture, furniture, and appliances 
have been studied, and the conclusions are so 
accessible that the architect who chooses to 
avail himself of them may plan a building which 
will be pleasant to use, convenient, and eco- 
nomical to administer. Schemes of classification 
have been devised, comprehensive, yet easy to 
understand and apply. The principles of cata- 
loging have been studied, and definite rules for 
its practice prescribed. Formerly, the great 
catalog was the product of the broad scholar- 
ship and assiduous work of a master; a magnum 
opus into which he sometimes put his very life, 
and which became to him a monument. Now, 
it simply means trained work according to well- 
defined rules, producing a certain result; and, 
speaking broadly, we may say that an adequate 
catalog is within the reach of every library. 
Charging systems have been systematized, their 
principles defined, and the requisites of accu- 
racy and speed measurably attained. Helpful 
indexes have been devised, and by co-operation 
placed within the reach of all. Many practical 
helps to the estimation and selection of books 
have also been produced. The need of thorough 



BRETT. 



training for the work has been recognized by the 
establishment of library schools. 

I have thus briefly indicated the various 
branches of knowledge and practice which 
form the body of library science and art as it 
exists to-day. The practical result has been a 
marked increase in the efficiency of the library. 
Trustees and librarians, upon whom devolves 
the pleasant task of organizing a new library, 
to-day need not grope in the dark as would 
those of 25 years ago. They may accept 
a plan from the architect and feel certain 
that the building, when completed, will be a 
library building. They can choose intelligently 
from the various plans of shelving and show- 
ing books; they can decide upon plans of classi- 
fication and cataloging, and feel sure of the re- 
sult ; they can select a charging system with 
the certainty that it will work ; and what is of 
still greater importance, and would better have 
been placed at the beginning of this category, 
the trustees may secure at once the services 
of a competent librarian instead of experiment- 
ing with the raw material. 

There is no question but that this increased 
efficiency of library work has secured for li- 
braries a higher place in the public estimation, 
and has directed the attention of the gener- 
ous minded to them, and has thus been a 
powerful factor in promoting their extension 
and increase. 

This great work has been accomplished by 
generous and intelligent co-operation, and this 
co-operation has been mainly brought about 
through the American Library Association, 
which has been the bond of union and the 
means of communication. It is not too much 
to say that during all these years no important 
advance has been made in library plans, nor 
any valuable improvement in library methods 
and appliances, which was not first proposed 
by a member of the Association and discussed 
at its meetings, or in the pages of the Journal. 

This work of devising appliances, improv- 
ing methods, and perfecting organization, re- 
ceived the attention of those librarians who or- 
ganized the Association and carried it forward 
during those earlier years simply because it 
was the most pressing need. It was dictated to 
them by the circumstances. They gave their 
thought, their time, their work, ungrudgingly 
and unsparingly to the improvement of methods 
even in the most minor details, not as an end 



but as a means ; building a machine, no detail 
of which was insignificant, if it made the ma- 
chine any more perfect; creating an instrument 
which was to perform a great work. Great as 
was this task, however, it would be a mistake 
to suppose that it entirely absorbed the time 
and thought of the librarians, or that their in- 
terest was confined to the work which could be 
done within the walls of their libraries. From 
these earlier times, and increasingly to the 
present, efforts have been made to enlarge the 
scope of the work of the library, and to extend 
its beneficent influence outside of the walls 
which contain it. In the larger places the area 
of its influence has been enlarged, and the num- 
ber of people which it could reach increased by 
the establishment of branches and delivery 
stations, doing practically the same work of 
issuing books as the main library, and being in 
effect an attempt to take the library to those 
who cannot conveniently come to it. Travel- 
ling libraries bring books temporarily within 
the reach of such neighborhoods as are without 
them, with the view not only of supplying an 
immediate want, but of encouraging the estab- 
lishment of permanent libraries. 

All of this work, however, is simply carrying 
out the older library idea more fully, broadly, 
and generously. It brings many more good 
books within easy reach of many more people 
than ever before, but apparently leaves the 
choice of their reading in their own hands. 
The elements of guidance, supervision, direct 
instruction, are not apparently provided for. 
These do, however, enter into modern library 
work quietly and unobtrusively, but largely. 
The reader is guided in certain lines by the 
judgment of those who are forming the library 
and making it specially Tull on the lines which 
seem to them most useful to the particular com- 
munity, it is limited by their decision as to the 
fitness of particular books, and influenced also 
by the catalogs and indexes which are used. 
More than in any way, however, is the read- 
ing of a community moulded for good or for 
better, by the personal influence of those who 
have the pleasant duty of meeting those who 
use our libraries and helping them in the 
selection of their books. So far as this is done 
it introduces a new element into library work, 
making the library no longer a mere reservoir 
of knowledge, but more distinctly a teaching 
force. There can be no doubt as to the pro^ 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



priety and value of work in this direction, and 
no more important question can engage the 
attention of librarians than the means of doing 
this work fully, systematically, and efficiently. 

The future historian of the library move- 
ment, if he be disposed to generalization, 
may possibly characterize, as I have already 
suggested, the quarter of a century through 
which we have just passed as the period of or- 
ganization. 

While it is true that the growth of libraries 
during this period has been great, it is equally 
true that this is plainly an increasing growth ; 
that the movement is an accelerating one. The 
growth of the later years is greater than that of 
the earlier ones, and libraries are now increas- 
ing in number and in size more rapidly than 
ever before. It seems probable that we are 
entering upon an era of growth which will ex- 
ceed that of any previous time, and surpass 
even the hopes of the most sanguine ; that in 
the generalization of the same historian of 
whom I have spoken, the period upon which we 
are entering will be known as the era of library 
extension. This great work we can, as libra- 
rians, promote not only by bringing the work 
of the library to the highest possible state of 
efficiency, but also by taking all proper means 
of calling attention to its value, and letting its 
good work be known. 

A notable thing in the growth and develop- 
ment of the library is the spirit in which it has 
all been done. It seems natural to trace an 
analogy between human institutions and the in- 
dividual man. As we recognize in man the 
triune nature, body, mind and spirit, so in the 
institution we may see the trinity of material, 
method and motive. The library has its body 
of buildings, appliances and books ; its direct- 
ing intelligence in method and organization ; 
and its spirit of good will and helpfulness which 
calls it into existence and gives it vitality and 
value. This is the true library spirit. It is 
this which brings to libraries endowments and 
noble gifts and a generous public support. It is 
this which impels men and women to give their 
time, their thought, their effort, their very 
selves to the work. And it is only by an ap- 
peal to this same spirit in those who use the 
library that it can do its best work. It is a 
truism that an institution can only attain its 
fullest development and do its best work on 
lines consistent with its own genius. To an in- 



stitution founded as a library is upon generos- 
ity, and carried on in unselfishness, narrowing 
rules and hampering regulations are as foreign 
and repugnant as they are ineffective. The 
free library can only do its best work by 
trusting the people who use it, by appealing to 
their honor and unselfishness, by enlisting 
their sympathy and securing their help in its 
work. 

Our library system thus organized and thus 
increasing is doing a more definitely educa- 
tional work, is filling a larger place among 
those forces which make for uplifting and bet- 
tering social conditions. Among the most im- 
portant of these forces we recognize the school, 
the church, the journal. These years of growth 
of our libraries have also been years in which 
these institutions have been broadening their 
work. The school has been applying itself 
more definitely to the training of its pupils 
for productive and remunerative occupations, 
and for the performance of their civic duties. 
The church seems to be realizing more than 
ever before how important a part of its mission 
it is to save men from the evils of this world, 
to help them in its difficulties, and to increase 
the happiness and sweetness and joy of living 
this present life. The spirit and direction of 
the best journalism, the best authorship, and all 
the best institutional and individual work, is the 
same. The library is not only doing its own 
work in this direction, a work which no other 
institution can do, but it presents itself as 
the most effective helper to all other good 
work. 

As the progress and organization of libraries 
has been accomplished by a close and intelli- 
gent co-operation of libraries sharing in the 
movement, so in the larger work which lies be- 
fore us we may hope for the greatest results by 
a recognition of the oneness of purpose of all 
educational and social work, and a close and 
cordial co-operation on the part of all engaged 
in it. The library presents a common meeting 
ground and can do much to bring about such a 
co-operation. 

May I venture to take a moment or two more 
of your time to sum up briefly what I have al- 
ready said, and in so doing to indicate what 
appears to be the present status of the library 
movement ? The work of the past 25 years 
has effected a systematic library organization 
which, while it will be still further perfected 



C RUN DEN. 



and improved, leaves librarians much freer 
than formerly for the further extension and 
broader aspects of the library work. The ten- 
dency seems definitely towards freer methods, 
and the greatest hope for the usefulness of the 
library lies in that direction. We may hope for, 
and we may do much to promote, a great addi- 
tional increase of libraries. We are doing ten- 
tatively in various directions much definitely 
educational work, and in this as in all of the 
broader work which lies before the library in 
the future the road to success lies through co- 
operation, keeping our own organization com- 
pact and effective, and lining up together and 
uniting the efforts of all the forces which make 
for civilization. 

In the program of the meeting, from the con- 
sideration of which I will no longer detain you, 
in addition to the customary review of the pro- 
gress of the past year as contained in the re- 
ports of the officers and committees, we have 
recognized the need of continuing the discus- 
sion of library methods by providing certain 
sessions for the discussion of elementary prob- 
lems, and others devoted to the more difficult 
and advanced problems of library work. 

A meeting of the Trustees' Section has been 
arranged, which it is hoped will be largely at- 
tended, and will serve to identify more closely 



with the Association the members of the govern- 
ing bodies. 

We have given a considerable place upon the 
program to library architecture as exemplified 
by the plans proposed for the public library of 
the greatest city on the continent. We have 
also provided for the discussion of the advan- 
tages of the free library as compared with the 
proprietary, and at the request of the local com- 
mittee have set apart one evening for a popular 
consideration of the free library. 

We expect a report of great importance upon 
the connection of the American Library Asso- 
ciation with the National Educational Associa- 
tion, and have also devoted a portion of one 
session to the discussion of the work of the 
libraries directly for children. 

The Association will also have an opportunity 
to discuss some proposed changes in its own or- 
ganization, and to consider whether this can 
be rendered more effective for the purposes for 
which it is intended that is, to voice the col- 
lective opinion and carry out the purposes of li- 
brarians and to promote the interests of the 
work. 

While the program is thus an exceedingly 
full one, I believe it is possible by promptness 
to give due attention to each portion of it, and 
to this program I now invite your attention. 



WHAT OF THE FUTURE? 



ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE PUBLIC MEETING, TUESDAY, JUNE 22, BY FREDERICK M. CRUNDEN, 

LIBRARIAN ST. LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



'T'HE present Victorian jubilee has naturally 
brought out a fresh crop of reminiscences 
comparing conditions at the beginning of the 
reign with those now existing. The most 
striking contrast between the two periods lies 
in the advances made in the material comforts 
of life improvements in lighting and heating, 
in locomotion and intercommunication. The 
progress of applied science has been so rapid 
that some of its most notable achievements 
have come within the memory of young persons 
still at school. Telephonic conversation be- 
tween New York and St. Louis is only a thing 
of yesterday; aerial navigation is evidently near 



at hand; and already daring scientists speak 
hopefully of electric communication with the 
planets. 

But it is not only in this line that the world 
has advanced. To note great changes in social 
customs, we need not go back to the last cen- 
tury. Sir Algernon West in a recent magazine 
article refers to the matter-of-course manner in 
which his chief was in the habit of announcing 
to the head clerk that he would not be at the 
office the following day, as he was to dine out 
that evening. As an indication of the social 
changes brought about in his lifetime, he quotes 
this significant sentence of Mr. Charles Villiers: 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



" In his young days," said Mr. Villiers, "every 
young man, even if he was busy, pretended to 
be idle; now every young man, even if he is 
idle, pretends to be busy." There is great im- 
port in this. When every member of society is 
usefully employed, our social problems will be 
well on the way to solution. 

To note progress in another direction we 
need not turn back to the acts of the I4th cen- 
tury, which made it a crime to give or receive 
more than the wretched wage fixed by law. At 
the beginning of the Victorian era boys and 
girls as young as six years worked in mines 
and factories longer hours than are now re- 
quired of strong men; and the masses of people 
were compelled to pay an artificially high price 
for their bread, in order to increase the un- 
earned wealth of the few. 

And in our own country we need not go back 
to the Salem witchcraft or the persecution of 
the Quakers. There are still eye-witnesses to 
tell us that men and women in this "land of 
the free " were lawfully sold like cattle or 
flogged to death at the will of their owners. It 
was a few months after Queen Victoria's acces- 
sion to the throne that Elijah Parish Lovejoy 
was killed for daring to say that human slavery 
was wrong for advocating, not forcible aboli- 
tion, but gradual emancipation as "the free, 
voluntary act of the master, performed from a 
conviction of its propriety." For maintaining 
his right to express his opinions on this or any 
other public question, he was driven from place 
to place and finally shot down in cold blood. 
In the city where 60 years ago he fell, a martyr 
to the cause of free speech, a stately monu- 
ment one of the most imposing in the country 
was the other day dedicated to his memory. 
No American better deserves a monument. No 
leader in the Revolution or the Civil War was 
a greater hero. In my opinion, the unques- 
tioned courage of the great Union commander 
is dwarfed and paled by the simple heroism of 
this young preacher-editor, who gave his life 
to a greater cause than even the preservation of 
che Union. Yet for some years after his death, 
in many cities of this country, it would have 
been hazardous for a man to utter .his eulogy. 

Here, then, is a marked advance. But we 
have not yet obtained entire freedom of speech 
on live topics. Was it not as late as last year 
that we heard of two librarians holding oppo- 
site political views, whose positions were ren- 



dered insecure by an unfortunate misadjust- 
ment of longitudes and political opinions ? And 
not many miles from here a score of good, earn- 
est men were jailed for advocating, disinterested- 
ly, and at considerable self-sacrifice, a method of 
taxation that did not meet the approval of the city 
authorities. Still we have made great progress 
toward a broad tolerance. We not only permit 
the practice of all religious forms, but we even 
allow a man to deny himself the consolations of 
religion in any form if he chooses to do so. 

In science, at least, there is absolute freedom 
of thought and expression. One may publish 
arguments to prove that the world is five thou- 
sand, or five hundred million years old, and no 
one will molest or denounce him; or he may an- 
nounce a new theory of the universe with our 
moon as the stationary centre, and no state or 
church will anathematize him or compel him to 
recant. It is not till he enters the field of poli- 
tics, i.e., the discussion of economic and socio- 
logical questions with a view to immediate 
practical results, that the advocate of new ideas 
reaches the danger-point. Here he finds vested 
interests self-styled " vested rights," but as 
often vested wrongs on guard and alert to 
repel intrusion and resist inquiry. These sum- 
mon to their aid the legions of unreasoning con- 
servatism; and the innovator is made to feel the 
truth of the saying that there is no pain so keen 
as the pain of a new idea from which, there- 
fore, mankind has always shrunk, as a child 
shrinks from the surgeon's knife. We have 
passed the period of rack and stake; but social 
and business ostracism are pretty effective, while 
occasionally there are suggestions of tar-buckets 
or bullets. For the most part, however, we 
content ourselves with denouncing the proposer 
of any marked departure from existing politi- 
cal or sociological conditions as a "socialist," 
a "communist," and an "anarchist," using 
these terms indiscriminately as abusive epithets 
without any definite knowledge of their mean- 
ing. From the beginning of time every social 
advance and until recently every forward 
step in science or religion has been regarded 
as menacing the very foundations of society. 
The Reform Act of 1832, which simply took the 
first step towards correcting the grossest politi- 
cal abuses, was looked upon by the Duke of 
Wellington and other good men as threatening 
the very existence of the kingdom. The condi- 
tion of affairs then existing, they considered, if 



CRUNDEN. 



not the best possible, at any rate vastly better 
than the political chaos that would be sure to 
result from change. Speaking on this blind 
conservative opposition to the Reform Bill, Dr. 
Arnold, of Rugby, said : 

" All that resistance to these natural changes 
can effect is to derange their operation, and 
make them act violently and mischievously in- 
stead of healthfully, or at least harmlessly. The 
old state of things is gone past recall, and all the 
efforts of all the tories cannot save it; but they 
may by their folly, as they did in France, get 
us a wild democracy or a military despotism in 
the room of it, instead of letting it change quiet- 
ly into what it is, merely a new modification of 
the old state. One would think that people who 
talk against change were literally as well as 
metaphorically blind, and really did not see that 
everything in themselves and around them is 
changing every hour by the necessary law of 
its being. 

" There is nothing so revolutionary, because 
there is nothing so unnatural and so convulsive 
to society, as the strain to keep things fixed, 
when all the world is, by the very law of its 
creation, in eternal progress; and the cause of 
all the evils of the world may be traced to that 
natural but most deadly error of human indo- 
lence and corruption that our business is to 
preserve and not to improve." 

In his retrospect of the Victorian reign, in 
the June Review of Re-views, W. T. Stead 
says: " It is to the stoutest conservatives of our 
time almost inconceivable that rational beings 
could ever have defended the system that pre- 
vailed in Britain sixty years ago." 

I am no more assured of the rising of to-mor- 
row's sun than I am that to the stoutest con- 
servatives of 1950, it will appear "almost in- 
conceivable that rational beings could ever have 
defended the system that prevails in America 
to-day." They will, however, resist further 
progress as doggedly as do the conservatives of 
to-day, even while these see plainly how absurd 
was the attitude of their predecessors of sixty 
years ago. Your genuine conservative ever 
holds doggedly to things as they are. He 
clings tenaciously and vainly. He belongs to 
a party whose defeat all history teaches is fore- 
doomed. Now he stands for the divine right of 
kings; and notwithstanding he is a man of ir- 
reproachable character and able, moreover, to 
show that he is much less autocratic than most 



of his predecessors, he loses his crown and his 
head. Again, he stands for the parent coun- 
try's unlimited power of taxation, and he for- 
feits his most flourishing colonies. At another 
period he urges long sufferance as a justifica- 
tion for continuing even extending the 
crime of slavery, and he meets defeat amid 
slaughter and devastation. No repetition of 
the lesson will ever teach him to consider what 
is abstractly right what ought to be without 
reference to what is. 

But the conservative has to be, in accordance 
with the law of nature, so poetically announced 
in the song of Willis in lolanthe : 

" That every boy and every gal 

That's born into this world alive, 
Is either a little Liberal, 
Or else a little Conservative ! " 

Or, as Emerson's prose expresses it 

"The two parties which divide the state 
the party of conservatism and that of innova- 
tion are very old and have disputed the pos- 
session of the world ever since it was made. 
This quarrel is the subject of civil history. 
The conservative party established the rev- 
erend hierarchies and monarchies of the most 
ancient world. The battle of patrician and 
plebeian, of parent state and colony, of old usage 
and accommodation to new facts, of the rich 
and the poor, reappears in all countries and 
times. . . . 

"There is always a certain meanness in the 
argument of conservatism, joined with a certain 
superiority in its fact. It affirms because it 
holds. Its fingers clutch the fact, and it will 
not open its eyes to see a better fact. The castle 
which conservatism is set to defend is the actual 
state of things, good or bad. The project of in- 
novation is the best possible state of things. Of 
course conservatism always has the worst of the 
argument, is always apologizing, pleading a 
necessity, pleading that to change would be to 
deteriorate. It must saddle itself with the 
mountainous load of the violence and the vice 
of society, must deny the possibility of good, 
deny ideas, and suspect and stone the prophets; 
while innovation is always in the right, trium- 
phant, attacking, and sure of final success." 

But though doomed to defeat, conservatism 
is not to be denounced or condemned. It is 
not without its uses. It often keeps us from 
following untried paths that open out alluringly 
but end in thickets or quagmires. A brake is 



8 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



sometimes as necessary to safety as motive 
power is to progress. But the usual tendency 
of conservatism is to keep the brakes on all the 
time, causing either stagnation, retrogression, 
or a smashup. The real revolutionist is the 
rock-ribbed conservative. It is the boulder 
blocking the onward flow of the stream that 
causes the eddy and the whirlpool. 

Those who think on this subject and who 
really desire the improvement of society un- 
fortunately a very small class are divided 
over the question whether mankind shall pro- 
gress by the path of individualism or by that of 
collectivism. Extremists assure us that these 
paths go in opposite directions, or traverse 
each other at right angles. The truth is they 
run parallel ; and we have been travelling 
both, now advancing more on one and then on 
the other, towards the ultimate goal of human- 
ity the perfection of society through the ele- 
vation of the individual, the perfection of the 
individual through the improvement of society. 
Each helps the other ; neither can be indepen- 
dent of the other. It often happens that or- 
ganized society cannot await the slow process 
of individual perfection. It must accelerate 
the operation by changing standards and ideals. 
There is no telling how long it would have re- 
quired to convince each individual slave-owner 
of the wrong of human slavery, or each individ- 
ual mine and factory owner of the wickedness 
of child-labor. Society had to take the matter 
in hand and force individual development in 
one case by law, in the other by the sword. 
Many thoughtful persons are raising the ques- 
tion whether society has not more work of this 
kind ahead of it. There can be no individual 
perfection or progress under certain social con- 
ditions. Ceremonious politeness was not to be 
expected among the victims of the Black Hole 
of Calcutta. Starvation has often led to canni- 
balism among men who would shrink with hor- 
ror from the thought of it under ordinary 
conditions. Society can create conditions fa- 
vorable or unfavorable to the improvement of 
the individual. 

The inevitable outcome of the struggle be- 
tween indiyidualism and collectivism is the 
triumph of each in its own proper field. 

A line drawn from the past to the present 
shows the trend of the future. We find this 
embodying two distinct, and apparently con- 
tradictory, tendencies one towards greater 



individual freedom, the other towards a con- 
stant extension of the principle of co-operation, 
or collectivism. That is, organized society 
leaves ever greater freedom to the individual 
in all those things that concern only him, while 
at the same time it extends farther and farther 
its supervision and performance of those things 
that pertain to the welfare of all, and which 
society can do for the individual better than he 
can do for himself. A man may kiss his wife 
on Sunday without scandal or fear of prosecu- 
tion ; and he may dress in any manner he 
pleases within the bounds of convention, which 
is still an unreasoning tyrant. He is generally 
glad to avail himself of the more convenient 
water-supply provided by the community; but 
he may, if he wishes, have a well in his yard, 
until, with the growth of the city, this becomes 
a menace to his neighbors' health ; then it must 
be closed. He may still mould his own tallow 
candles and use no other light if he prefers ; 
but co-operation among consumers supplies him 
with a much superior illuminant ; and when 
this co-operation is extended to embrace all the 
citizens i.e., when gas or electricity is fur- 
nished by the municipality, the cost is reduced, 
and he becomes a partner in the profits. 

Of the benefits of municipal co-operation we 
had a signal illustration in the introduction of 
municipal sprinkling in St. Louis. Formerly, 
the occupant of a fifty-foot lot paid a private 
contractor from $6 to $12 a season, while he 
suffered from the dust blown from his neigh- 
bors' frontage and from unsprinkled streets all 
over the city. Now the owner of a fifty-foot 
lot pays about $i a year and enjoys sprinkled 
streets throughout the whole city. Municipal 
co-operation in libraries brings the same kind 
of benefits. The average well-to-do reader, in- 
stead of a five-dollar subscription fee, pays a 
dollar tax ; and for that not only he and his 
family, but also the families of his neighbors, 
have access to a superior library. And as it is 
almost as necessary for your comfort that your 
neighbor's frontage should be sprinkled as your 
own, so it is almost as important to you for 
your neighbor's children to have access to a li- 
brary as for your own. 

While social evolution tends to relieve the in- 
dividual of the compulsion of law, and also to 
lessen the pressure of public opinion, in those 
affairs that pertain only to his own life, correla- 
tively his action is more and more restricted in 



CRUNDEN. 



so far as it affects his neighbors and society in 
general though here, too, law and custom tend 
more and more to individual freedom. It was 
once regarded as a public scandal not to go to 
church ; and 50 years ago in St. Louis Uni- 
tarians were shunned as suspicious characters. 
But part passu with the growth of individual 
liberty has grown the recognition of the duty of 
society to see that all persons have equal liberty 
to protect the weak against the strong. 
Nothing in Victoria's reign has done more for 
the progress of England than the series of acts 
that have been passed to curb the greed of mine 
and factory owners, to prevent them from coin- 
ing the muscle and manhood of Britain into 
gold in a way that, at one period, threatened 
to exhaust the vitality of the race to kill the 
goose that lays the golden eggs. 

The whole history of mankind is a continuous 
struggle of the weak and ignorant many to 
secure the rights withheld from them by the 
superior strength and cunning of the few. The 
oppression and injustice of the past are ap- 
parent to all ; but many of us, like the con- 
servative antagonists of Cobden and Bright, 
fail to see anything seriously wrong in the 
present ; and, like them, we fear change. But 
it is the part of wise men to welcome change as 
the natural order of the universe to see that 
it is a change for the better. 

It does not by any means follow that 
every new idea is a good one, that every 
proposed change would be an improvement. 
But as progress is the law of the universe, it 
rests with the old order to show why it should 
be continued. Wisdom, therefore, urges us to 
give careful consideration to new ideas, how- 
ever contrary they may be to prevalent opin- 
ions, bearing in mind the frequent lesson of 
history that "the stone which the builders re- 
jected, the same is become the head of the 
corner," and approaching all questions in the 
spirit of St. Paul's injunction: "Prove all 
things; hold fast that which is good." For all 
political and social problems, which are the 
burning questions of to-day, there is, it seems to 
me, a simple test in Herbert Spencer's " first prin- 
ciple " : " Every man may claim the fullest liber- 
ty to exercise his faculties compatible with the 
possession of like liberty by every other man." 
Legislation that does not square with the self- 
evident truth and justice of this dictum is bad 
legislation, and must prove maleficent to Jhe na- 



tion, state, or city that enacts it. I need not 
offer any modern instances. 

Reasoning in reverse order, i.e., from effect 
to cause, we may be sure that when we see in a 
country abounding in natural resources, as ours 
is, inhabited by the most intelligent, energetic, 
and resourceful people the world has ever seen 
when we see in such a country millions of 
willing workers in enforced idleness; when, to 
account for this idleness and its attendant want 
and destitution, we are offered the absurdity of 
" overproduction" of the very things for which 
millions are suffering; when we see men and 
women who toil not revelling in luxury, while 
others who labor sixteen hours a day are barely 
able to keep body and soul together, we may 
know absolutely, without further investigation, 
that there is something fundamentally wrong in 
our social organization. 

This is not the time or place to point out 
these wrongs specifically, or to advance, even 
in the most general terms, what, after much 
thought, I believe to be the remedies. I mere- 
ly urge the thoughtful study of social problems 
without bias or prejudice. This state of open- 
mindedness is not easy to achieve. We think 
that we think our own thoughts; but, as Tarde, 
the French psychologist, says: " What the in- 
dividual hypnotizer is to his sleeping and ab- 
normally plastic subject, such, almost precisely, 
is society to the waking and normally plastic 
man."* 

On the solution of social problems, Ibsen says: 
" There is only one thing that avails to revo- 
lutionize people's minds." This was a difficult 
task about so plain a matter as the Copernican 
system, which was opposed by the combined 
learning and piety of Europe. How much more 
difficult must it be when the change affects the 
every-day life of every individual ? As Nitti 
says: " Had the propositions of Euclid affected 
economic interests they would still appear a 
doubtful hypothesis of arduous solution." 

The public library is destined to play an im- 
portant part, to exercise an incalculable influ- 
ence in the solution of the social problems of to- 
day, and through this on the future of the nation 
and the race. The wisdom needed for this task 
is not to be obtained from schools or colleges, 

* " As, then, in philosophy the first step is to begin by 
doubting everything, so, in social philosophy, the first 
step is to throw aside all supposed absolute rights." 
JEVONS. 



10 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



but from the higher education of mature minds 
the masses of the people which the public 
library alone can give. The preparation for this 
higher education of the masses devolves on the 
schools and colleges. Their curricula should 
be so arranged as to arouse " historic conscious- 
ness " in the youngest child, to awaken social 
conscionsness, and to provide for its continuous 
development by starting every boy and girl on 
a career of self-culture by matriculating every 
child in the People's University, the Public Li- 
brary. In affairs that concern society as a 
whole, it is better to trust the well-informed 
common-sense of the people than the learning 
of the schoolmen. It is not knowledge of 
mathematics or physics, or Greek and Latin, or 
modern languages; it is not the study aca- 
demic study of history, or philosophy, or 
even political economy, that will solve the great 
social problems that now confront us. These 
will help in various degress, directly or indi- 
rectly, some more, some less, some, perhaps, 
not at all. A knowledge of the general course 
of history is essential; some acquaintance with 
philosophy is useful; dogmatic theology serves 
only to confuse, but the true religion that lies in 
a vital acceptance of Christ's two command- 
ments as a summary of the law and the proph- 
ets that is the greatest aid of all. Such, 
however, is the influence of established order 
on men's minds that no investigation will avail 
without a determination to take nothing for 
granted, to re-examine what have been con- 
sidered basic principles, to accept no postulates 
that do not square with reason and justice. 
This cannot be done by confining our reading to 
the accepted standards of a generation or a cen- 
tury ago. We must keep abreast of the thought 
of the time; we must keep our eyes and ears, 
and still more our minds, open; we must scorn 
no aids to enlightenment; but we must do our 
own thinking ; we must consider the idea, not 
the source from which it came, remembering 
that good may come out of Nazareth; we must 
live up to the motto: " Truth for authority, not 
authority for truth," and we must "lend a 
hand." 

My faith in the efficacy of the education 
offered by the public library is not without 
foundation. In more than one case I have seen 
a course of lectures or the reading of a single 
book lead to a course of reading in economics 
and sociology, which has entirely changed 



points of view. New ideals, higher standards, 
have made new men with higher lines of action. 
Their natures have not been changed, but their 
visions have been clarified. 

One of the stock arguments which conserva- 
tism always brings out to give a final quietus 
to any proposal for social reform, is "Oh, 
that's impossible; you'd have to change human 
nature!" This mental attitude, which, I am 
sorry to say, is the prevailing one with the 
great majority of mankind, is admirably satir- 
ized in some verses which I had great pleasure 
in printing in the April number of the St. Louis 
Public Library Magazine : 

There was once a Neolithic Man, an enterprising wight, 
Who made his simple instruments unusually bright. 
Unusually clever he, unusually brave, 
And he sketched delightful mammoths on the border of 

his cave. 

To his Neolithic neighbors who were startled and sur- 
prised, 
Said he: " My friends, in course of time we shall be 

civilized ! 
We are going to live in cities and build churches and 

make laws ! 
We are going to eat three times a day without the natural 

cause ! 
We're going to turn life upside down about a thing 

called Gold ! 
We're going to want the earth, and take as much as we 

can hold ! 
We are going to wear a pile of stuff outside our proper 

skins ; 
We're going to have Diseases ! and Accomplishments ! ! 

and Sins ! ! ! 

Then they all rose up in fury against this boastful friend 
For prehistoric patience comes quickly to an end. 
Said one, " This is chimerical ! Utopian ! absurd ! " 
Said another, " What a stupid life ! Too dull, upon my 

word ! " 

Cried all, " Before such things can come, you idiotic child, 
You must alter Human Nature ! " and they all sat back 

and smiled ! 
Thought they, ''An answer to that last it will be hard to 

find ! " 
It was a clinching argument to the Neolithic Mind ! 

Yes, great progress and reform can be accom- 
plished without changing human nature. The 
elemental forces in the heart of man are the 
same now as in the earliest recorded ages, and 
they are likely to remain the same for all time 
to come. We cannot change the elements of 
man's nature; but by changing conditions we 
can improve the product of reaction. We can 
elevate conduct by elevating ideals. There 
was a time when the man who could wield the 
heaviest battle-axe was the greatest man; and 
there are still circles in which Corbett and Fitz- 



CRUNDEN. 



ii 



simmons are regarded as the greatest men of 
the present day. But the men who now excite 
most general admiration are our "captains of 
industry," the men who succeed in getting 
money and the luxury and power it commands. 
How shall we elevate our national ideals ? 

Selfishness is a mainspring of human action. 
A like motive, desire for happiness, sets men to 
fighting dogs and to founding hospitals. Nero 
found pleasure in one way, Marcus Aurelius in 
another. Charles I. and Louis xvi. were not 
bad men ; but they were controlled by out- 
grown standards. Elizabeth^ Napoleon, Peter, 
and Catherine of Russia sought their own 
pleasure in accordance with their personal char- 
acters and the standards of their times. But how 
much higher and purer pleasure the devotion 
of their talents to the service of their fellow- 
men brought to Washington, Jefferson and 
Lincoln, Cobden, Bright and Gladstone and 
John Pounds ! 

False standards, low ideals, now lead many 
good men to find their pleasure, not in cruelty, 
not in sensuality, but in the accumulation of 
wealth, partly for the luxury, chiefly for the 
power it brings. " Superfluity comes sooner by 
white hairs, but competency lives longer." 

With the spread of intelligence and thought, 
and the consequent elevation of popular ideals, 
men possessed of millions will not seek to add 
to their large legitimate gains by legalized rob- 
bery from their fellow - citizens ; and people 
calling themselves Christians will not rejoice in 
the distress and starvation of their fellow-men 
across the ocean. Men will still be selfish ; but 
the conflict of selfishness will at least be on a 
higher plane less intense, less destructive of 
essential rights. 

How shall we most speedily bring about this 
desired consummation ? By what agency can 
we most effectively elevate our national ideals ? 
By extending and improving our system of 
popular education, by reversing the usual order 
and beginning where school curricula now end, 



by placing our school-children from their ear- 
liest years into close and familiar contact with 
the life and thought of the race as expressed in 
literature, by exciting in every child admiration 
and emulation of the world's true heroes, by 
feeding the imagination and cultivating the 
moral faculties, by putting every child into the 
way of acquiring a social and a historic per- 
spective. 

I suppose I am one of those simple-minded, 
visionary optimists of whom Prof. Royce speaks. 
But I do not " dislike " economic facts in the 
sense of ignoring them, and I am not blind to 
the persistence of the elemental forces of human 
nature. But as the abolition of slavery changed 
men's mental attitude towards this social crime, 
without at all changing human nature, jnst so I 
believe that the adoption of other social reforms 
would in a generation cause all men to look 
with horror and wonder upon social injustice 
that nearly every one now ignores or regards as 
irremediable and inevitable. I share Ruskin's 
scorn of the word "Utopian." "A thing is 
either possible or impossible." As Carlyle 
says, " The actual final rights of man lie in the 
far deeps of the ideal. Every noble work is at 
first impossible." In the A. L. A. we have 
heard the word " Utopian," or its equivalent, 
on more than one occasion met by the motto, 
"Hitch your wagon to a star"; and we have 
seen the impracticable an accomplished fact. 

If time permitted I might risk ridicule by 
presenting some features of the vision that I 
see with the eye of faith in an all-wise and all- 
powerful Creator and belief in human perfecti- 
bility as an infinite progress. 

" Die Zukunft decket 
Schmerzen und Glucke 
Schrittweis dem Blicke ; 
Doch ungeschrecket, 
Dringen wir vorwarts." 

" New occasions teach new duties ; 
Time makes ancient good uncouth ! 
They must upward still and onward 
Who would keep abreast with truth." 



12 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



THE LIBRARIAN AND THE IMPORTER. 



BY ERNST LEMCKE, OF LEMCKE & BUECHNER, IMPORTERS, NEW YORK. 



T RISE to address you, not without a certain 
^ feeling of embarrassment, for every man, 
in Lowell's phrase, is more or less consciously 
the prisoner of his date ; I may add of his 
native country, and last but not least, of his 
profession. It is never wise to eliminate the 
personal equation entirely from things which 
concern us, nor do I pretend to speak for any 
one but myself ; but I would not be understood 
as making an oratio pro domo when my aim 
is to voice, as far as it is possible, what I at 
least assume to be the opinion and experiences 
of my confreres as well as of myself. 

My subject being the Librarian and the Im- 
porter, I need not dwell on the former in this 
company, composed in overwhelming numbers 
of librarians who, as a class, devote more 
time to introspection than does any other pro- 
fession unless, perhaps, it be to state that the 
librarian, as a bookbuyer, and the importer, as 
a bookseller, are opposite, but not necessarily 
antagonistic poles. The true equator in the 
shape of discounts is, or might be, somewhere 
midway between them. If the bookseller could 
halve the publisher's discounts and the libra- 
rian be satisfied, chiliasm would be at hand and 
some on my side of the true divisional line 
would be enabled to found or endow libraries. 
How far we are from such a state of affairs you 
and I know only too well. 

It is not so generally known what the im- 
porter is, or aims to be ; namely, your home 
bookseller, or in Dr. Billings's definition, "a 
bookseller pure and simple, as all booksellers 
are supposed to be," doubled with the foreign 
agent, or several of them, your shipping agent, 
insurance and customs-house broker, and your 
banker, all in one. Perhaps Dr. Billings would 
define the importer as the bookseller impure 
and double. He really is, in Mr. W. E. Foster's 
happy phrase, on both sides of the Atlantic at 
the same time. If you count up singly all the 
commissions these several intermediaries neces- 
sarily charge you, you will come to the conclu- 
sion that the importer saves you much work 
and much time and much money, and is really 
your best friend. 



The importer aims to be the "ideal book- 
seller" recently referred to in many news- 
paper discussions on the " Decay of the book- 
seller." He is what M. Le Soudier, of Paris, 
in his official report on books and printing in 
the United States, describes him to be, from 
actual observation: "Among the retail book- 
sellers we should name the ' importers,' who 
are, at the same time, the most important re- 
tailers of American books. They are the ones 
who, from a profound knowledge of the trade, 
give librarians and private customers most 
varied information on books in general, which 
the American retailer would find it impossible 
to give. They study catalogs and circulars and 
file them methodically. Certain houses, for 
their own use, keep a card catalog (of American 
books) so that it is always up to date." Thus 
far M. Le Soudier. 

This seems a large contract to take in this 
time of specialization. But the harder the 
marble the finer the statue which is chiselled 
from it. Man grows with his higher aims ; the 
more you tax your memory, the better work 
will it do. The question, how to cover so wide 
a field successfully, is reduced to one of or- 
ganization. The range of the information 
asked of the importer in his daily correspond- 
ence covers the length and breadth of the 
whole field of human activity as reflected in 
the printed book, from a grammar of the lan- 
guage of the Society Islands, or the edition of 
Ossian in English, published by subscription in 
Germany, with Goethe and his friend Merck 
as publishers, some 120 years ago you see 
that blight of the book trade, subscription- 
books, is not so new a thing down to lists 
of the best Bohemian and Polish books, Boni- 
face book sixth, a treatise on horseless car- 
riages, or a history of the second person dualis 
of the lost second aorist of a defective Greek 
irregular verb. 

The ideal head of a large importing firm 
should be, in the first place, a man of busi- 
ness training and ability, with a sufficiently 
large capital for every emergency; he should 
be just as much, what librarians hate to be 



LEMCKE. 



called, a " walking cyclopaedia." This he can- 
not be, any more than the librarian, but he must 
have learned what German universities aim to 
teach the knowledge how to learn. His 
professional library is as extensive and as ex- 
pensive as that of any one in the learned pro- 
fessions. How to use it to advantage is his 
accomplishment. It has been my privilege to 
assist trained bibliographers and catalogers, and 
in two minutes to lay before them the informa- 
tion they had vainly searched for in the largest 
libraries. The ideal bookseller, it seems tome, 
is born, not made. Some of the brightest men 
I have employed never learned the finer points 
of our art. 

The departments of the importer's business 
are periodicals and books. Periodicals, again, 
are divided into American and foreign. The 
American part is profitless. For a very small 
commission the importer supplies American 
periodicals in a manner satisfactory to libra- 
rians who want complete files with titles and in- 
dex. With the cheap agencies that do not pre- 
tend to do more than book the order with the 
publisher, he does not wish to compete, but 
what he agrees to do he carries out, and tries 
to give satisfaction. 

To foreign periodicals the importer pays spe- 
cial attention. As against importation by mail 
direct, which is more expensive and naturally 
risky, losses being unavoidable, the importer's 
method of importation in bales offers great ad- 
vantages. Whoever has seen the New York 
post-office when three or four foreign steamers 
dump their tons of printed matter into it, must 
become convinced that a great portion of it 
never can, and never does, reach its destina- 
tion. The covers and addresses, especially of 
French periodicals, are torn off in transit. The 
post-office, in one day, while we used to import 
by mail ourselves, often sent up a dozen de- 
tached addresses and requested identification of 
the contents. In the room where the coverless 
papers are stored the mass is bewildering and 
identification is impossible. Except when spe- 
cially ordered by mail, all foreign periodicals 
come in weekly bales from London, Paris, and 
Leipzig, forwarded by special arrangement, in 
the mail-room of the fleetest steamers afloat. 
A cabled bill of lading serves to make a so- 
called " tropical fruit entry," so that these bales 
are delivered the moment the steamer makes 
fast, usually earlier than letters can be sorted 



and delivered. All papers are sent flat, in per- 
fect shape for ultimate binding, recorded, and 
re-mailed in New York. Complete files are 
thus insured. Notwithstanding the expense of 
this mode of importation, prices are made lower 
than mail-copies cost. Losses are prevented so 
far as human care permits. If a steamer found- 
ers, all of course is lost, but the importer knows 
what his bale contained, and duplication is or- 
dered by cable. Many a number, especially of 
French, and scientific journals generally, can- 
not be bought separately, but a firm that has a 
reputation to lose does not shrink from buying 
afresh a whole year's issue to replace one single 
number. When the German steamer Elbe went 
down a couple of years ago in the German 
Ocean, not a single one of our subscribers was 
left with a broken file. 

The foreign agents, the publishers them- 
selves, cannot furnish German and English 
periodicals at as low rates as bulk importation 
enables the New York importer to charge. The 
case is in so far different with French journals, 
as the prices which you see printed on the cov- 
ers are absolutely net prices, for private sub- 
scribers, libraries, and the trade alike. The im- 
porter receiving his bales by the most expensive 
of all, the French line from Havre, cannot pay 
out of the half franc allowance on a 2o-franc 
magazine the cost of insurance, freight, packing, 
cable invoice, handling, and United States bulk 
rate postage. A library preferring to be its 
own importer can, seemingly, save a few cents 
by subscribing direct at the publisher's. Few 
count the annoyance and minor expenses of 
doing so, but are promptly undeceived when the 
first loss in the mails occur. Some foreign 
agents induce American libraries to subscribe 
through them to French periodicals, and quote 
low prices, but render extra bills for postage. 
In examining such an account, I found that a 
certain library withdrew its order from the New 
York importer who charged $6.50 for a paper 
which the foreign agent offered for $6, but he 
rendered a separate bill of $i for postage. Be- 
sides, his service was four weeks behind in 
time. The correspondence with librarians and 
boards of trustees about the prices of French 
periodicals is one of the most unpleasant parts 
of the importer's business. Every tub must 
stand on its own bottom, and French or other 
net magazines cannot be supplied at a loss. A 
fair price must be charged for competent and 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



satisfactory work. The net price system be- 
gins to crop up largely in the newspaper field, 
and the quotation of general rates becomes im- 
possible. It is very evident that the New York 
importer cannot be expected to deliver at Chi- 
cago or San Francisco for $2. 50 a lo-shilling net 
newspaper, when the average expense of import- 
ing periodicals comes very near 20 per cent, of 
the actual outlay. 

The book departments are the American and 
the foreign. About the former you heard last 
year. The importer is not above furnishing 
the " Bessie books " or " Poor old Roe," or any 
current novel. The foreign book department 
is subdivided by countries. A large importer 
has his branches or his own clerks in London, 
Paris, or Leipzig. Orders are promptly ac- 
knowledged from the New York office, and go 
out by every mail steamer to be filled imme- 
diately. This makes cancellation, except by 
cable, impossible. The books come by the 
fleetest steamers afloat; naturally, also, the 
most expensive. Further subdivisions are: new 
books, second-hand books, and serials. Lists 
are kept of every book coming out in parts; 
every bibliography is scrutinized to reclaim 
parts which publishers may overlook sending 
on standing orders. The book orders go to 
South and Central America, the Hawaiian Isl- 
ands, Cape Colony, Australia, Syria, Egypt, and 
the Indies. With prominent publishing houses 
everywhere open accounts are kept. 

This knowledge of, practically, the book-marts 
of the whole world, gives the importer great ad- 
vantages, of which he invites the librarian to 
avail himself. In these days of the breaking 
down of national boundary lines and of increased 
international intercourse, even smaller libra- 
ries have calls for foreign books, and to-day 
there is an added force in the truth of Dr. Cogs- 
well's statement, made nearly 40 years ago, 
when he said : "In collecting books for a 
library which aims to be a good and great one, 
the proper question is, What is the merit of a 
work, not, In what language is it written?" 
Sucfh knowledge is especially valuable in pro- 
curing sets of periodicals and serials. An 
American magazine may often be bought cheap- 
er in England or Germany than here, and -vice- 
versa. The foreign dealer knows that the New 
York importer is well posted as to current prices, 
and for ready cash prefers to sell to him cheaper 
than to a travelling librarian, or to a house that 



comes into the market to try an experiment or 
fill an occasional order once in a while. 

The importer employs binderies specially 
trained for library work, and with large orders 
and ready cash commands the lowest terms. 
Work of any description can be done, from a 
buckram to an extra Turkey morocco gilt-top 
binding, at low prices. In binding recently 
some later issues of a French author, I found 
that my charge for binding in Paris, after a 
sample furnished, was 50 per cent, cheaper 
than the price of the foreign agents who had 
supplied the earlier volumes. Sample bind- 
ings are kept of all unfinished or serial publica- 
tions. 

Rare and out of print books are constantly 
kept in view on card lists. Advertisements in 
the several trade organs are tried and lists of 
desiderata circulated. If unlimited time is 
given, good bargains can usually be made. 
One may advertise for a book a whole year 
without result ; in the first month thereafter 
several copies may be offered. 

The importer compiles and edits, often at 
great expense, catalogs and bulletins, and is 
gratified to find that his efforts are appreciated. 

Altogether, the business of the importer is 
more laborious and painstaking than that of the 
ordinary bookseller. Every librarian has some 
idea of the cost of American books, but few 
orders for foreign books, except from the lar- 
gest libraries, come without preliminary corre- 
spondence, which takes up much time. The 
looking up of data, especially when garbled 
titles and wrongly-spelled names are given, can 
seldom be entrusted to clerks. Much ingenuity 
and book-knowledge are required to correct 
such mistakes. These are especially annoying 
when estimates are required before an order is 
placed. Whenever the librarian has correct 
and full information as to surname, Christian 
name, title, and above all, date of publication, 
he should not fail to give it. The Duponts 
and Durands, the Meyers and Schultzes, in 
French and German, are as plentiful as the 
Browns and Smiths in English, and may take 
the better part of a day to be traced. The 
librarian has no idea how his memory is blessed 
if his letter comes in such shape that it can be 
used for the necessary notes, with plenty of 
margin, a line for each title, so that a clean 
copy can be made from it. 

It is more easy to fill an order than to make a 



LEMCKE. 



correct estimate, especially for American books, 
as the discounts of publishers, both here and 
abroad, vary more and more. "Net" books 
multiply. The dealer who overlooks the dia- 
critical marks, stars and daggers, in the pub- 
lishers' catalogs, and ventures on quoting a 
general discount for a long list, may secure the 
order as against him who works conscientiously, 
and with fuller knowledge of facts does not 
promise a third off on books which the publisher 
sells with a fifth at best. But the former will 
either lose money or have to report many 
" shorts," while the latter can make good his 
bid. 

As a general rule, libraries which order with- 
out previous estimate buy more cheaply. The 
dealer saves much time and can and does give 
a liberal customer liberal terms and his full 
share of extra benefits and bargains. Our ar- 
rangements with our best friends are such that 
they can verify prices easily from publishers' 
lists, librarians reading stars and daggers as 
readily as booksellers; and this holds good for 
American as well as for foreign books. 

The genesis of an estimate for a government 
library was recently told from my actual ex- 
perience in the pages of The Publishers' Weekly, 
so that I need not detain you here with its 
repetition. 

Prices and general terms depend upon cir- 
cumstances. While Dr. Cogswell's remark of 
40 years ago, anent the opening of the Astor 
Library, that it is a real degradation of books 
to value them by dollars and cents, may be 
true, even from the librarian's standpoint, no 
one should pay more than a book is worth in 
open market, and the dealer who overcharges 
kills the hen that lays the golden egg which 
is, at best, a silver egg nowadays. 

Yet, the craze for cheapness has gone as far 
as, or perhaps farther than, it should. I know 
of two once prosperous firms that have 
failed because they sold too many books to li- 
braries. In England and Germany also the 
rage for cheapness is hastening the book trade 
into bankruptcy. But it is a fact that the Amer- 
ican library, through the New York importer, 
buys European books cheaper than does the 
British Museum, the Royal Library of Berlin, 
or the Paris National Library. Competition on 
the one side, and the size of orders on the 
other, have brought about this state of affairs. 
But the size of an order has something to do 



with the rate applied. An occasional order 
cannot and usually is not expected to 'be filled 
by fair-minded librarians at rates which pay 
a small profit only if the order is of consider- 
able amount. We have been told by two Presi- 
dents of the United States that cheapness is 
the cause of all evil, that the demand for a 
cheap coat involves a cheaper man and woman 
in the coat, that cheap and nasty go together, 
and that the cry for cheapness is un-American. 
The cheapness of the department stores is fast 
becoming a political issue, and I must say it is 
enough to sicken the lover of literature to see 
the books of our most aristocratic publishers 
which the legitimate dealer buys with one-third 
or two-fifths off, slaughtered on the bargain- 
counters at five cents on the dollar. It certain- 
ly does not seem the right thing for large li- 
braries to cut estimates into two, four, or ten 
different orders, and to merely order the cheap- 
est single books from one firm which, in the 
aggregate, may have quoted the lowest figure. 
Let me ask you, ladies and gentlemen, how you 
would like the idea of our public libraries ad- 
vertising for bids for the lowest-priced librarian 
or assistant ? There are times when the libra- 
rian needs the bookseller who, in turn, is the 
means of saving the librarian's time and money, 
and, generally speaking, is satisfied with profits, 
which in any other calling, requiring a large 
capital, broad culture and accomplishments in 
ancient and modern languages, would be 
scorned as beggarly. As Dr. Billings puts it 
"The librarian cannot do his work without 
the aid of the bookseller, but the bookseller 
can get along very well without the patronage 
of the librarian. The bookseller knows, or 
should know, all that the average librarian 
knows and a number of things besides ; for 
example, how to make money, which no libra- 
rian knows much about." But Dr. Billings for- 
gets to say how well the librarian knows how to 
prevent the bookseller from profiting by his, in 
this one respect, supposed superior knowledge. 

It remains to touch upon the importer's rela- 
tion with publishers with whom he must needs 
keep on good terms. He must shoulder losses 
for returns of duplicates ordered by mistake, 
which he cannot refuse to a library, while some 
publishers are very unaccommodating to the 
bookseller. 

The publisher should refrain from undersell- 
ing the dealer. Some publishers are more 



i6 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



liberal than others and recognize the value of 
the retailer, the great German firms declining 
orders from private buyers, and at least one 
London firm, that of Fisher Unvvin, which I 
take pleasure in naming, prints on its lists the 
notice that on application he will furnish the 
address of the dealer through whom his books 
can be had. There are others not so disposed. 

The New York importer, as against the 
foreign agent for American libraries, is a theme 
which it would not be becoming in me to en- 
large upon. Most of you have made your own 
experiments, but I may say this much, that ac- 
counts which I have examined, professedly 
showing foreign net prices with a good com- 
mission added and all expenses charged to the 
American library, displayed a great elasticity 
of discounts. The American importer whom 
you meet socially and whose character you 
know, would find such policy ruinous to his 
business. Mr. Andrews, some years ago, pub- 
lished his experiences as to the advantages of 
the New York importer over the foreign agent, 
with chapter and verse, in the Library Journal, 
so that I need not go into particulars here. 

The importer does close figuring in the inter- 
ests of his library clients to supply the cheaper 
edition, if there is an American edition in the 
market, as compared with a London edition im- 
ported free of duty. His services give to libra- 
ries the advantages of greater promptness; one 
single account with one responsible firm within 
easy reach for correspondence for all purchases, 
returns, claims, and remittances; prompt ac- 
knowledgment of all orders ; and the possi- 
bility of examining new foreign books before 
purchasing. I claim, naturally, also lower 
terms. 

There is one more thing to mention. I be- 
lieve we shall never attain that state of perfect 
bliss when Mr. Charles A. Dana's proposition of 
" Cash down and higher prices," made to the 
paper-makers at a recent banquet in New York, 



will have application to librarian and importer. 
But such terms would not be unreasonable. If 
I send an order abroad to-day the cash to pay 
for it must be ready in my European offices, 
laid down there 60 days ago. The books are 
bound and the binder expects cash. All ex- 
penses, packing, freight, insurance, customs 
brokerage are cash. My clerk-hire and store 
rent are cash. Yet, it is on an average four to 
six months before the check for the bill comes 
back to me, involving a loss of two per cent, or 
three per cent, interest on so much money. 
Even for periodical subscriptions, which are 
invariably paid cash in advance, a couple of 
months' interest is in most cases lost, and often 
more. Still, the New York importer is anxious 
for your trade, small as the profits are, for 
there is little or none of the element of risk 
connected with most other business transac- 
tions, and it flatters his pride to supply large or 
small libraries and many of them. 

Let me conclude with Mr. Shaylor's remarks 
from an article in the December Nineteenth Cen- 
tury of last year: 

" I am fully convinced that the bookseller 
who has a well-informed mind and one always 
capable of development, who takes an interest 
in his trade because he loves books, and who 
has business capabilities worthy of his trade, is 
bound to make more than a bare living. He 
will not now, probably, leave a fortune behind 
him, but he will have the satisfaction of being 
associated wuth the greatest minds of his age, 
as well as with that distinguishing characteris- 
tic of a nation's intelligence its literature. 
Booksellers may console themselves by being 
classed with those who follow literature as a 
profession, and of whom Froude has said, ' It 
happens to be the only occupation in which 
wages are not given in proportion to the good- 
ness of the work done.'" Mr. Froude might 
just as truthfully have said instead of litte"ra- 
teurs, the Librarian and the Importer. 



HUTCH INS. 



LOCAL SUPERVISION OF TRAVELLING LIBRARIES. 



BY F. A. HUTCHINS, SECRETARY OF THE WISCONSIN FREE LIBRARY COMMISSION. 



'"THE travelling libraries in Wisconsin have 
been managed somewhat differently from 
others of their kind, and while the peculiar 
characteristics came by force of circumstances 
and not from design, it is worth the while to 
note the peculiarities and some advantages ar- 
ising from them. To understand them it will be 
necessary to describe briefly the origin and de- 
velopment of the libraries. 

There are now six systems of travelling libra- 
ries in Wisconsin, and each has a large library 
as a centre. All but one of these systems con- 
fines its work to a county. 

The pioneer system was established by Hon. 
J. H. Stout in Dunn county, and has been the 
pattern for all. Dunn county is in the north- 
western part of the state, and while the first 
clearing within its limits was made about fifty 
years ago, large parts of it have been cleared 
and settled within the last twenty years. It 
contains two-thirds as many square miles as 
Rhode Island, and has but 22,000 inhabitants, 
of whom 7000 live in Menomonie, which is the 
county town. There is one hamlet of about 400 
inhabitants and another of 300, but most of the 
country people are farmers. In a few town- 
ships the farmers are fairly well-to-do, in a few 
they are struggling with a poor soil, and in 
others they are working out excellent farms on 
land that has been covered with very heavy 
timber. There are many Germans and Nor- 
wegians, but the American spirit is dominant, 
and the country schools are among the best in 
the state. Nearly every school has a library of 
from 10 to 40 volumes. The hamlets have 
school libraries of from 50 to 200 volumes. 
Many of the books, however, are somewhat 
difficult for the children, and the young people 
who do not attend school and the older people 
use the school libraries but little. 

Most of the county is quite hilly, and the 
farms frequently follow the streams in the 
valleys. Many of the travelling library sta- 
tions are not readily accessible to more than 
15 or 20 families. There are two railroads 
running east and west through the county, and 
one reaching Menomonie from the south, but 



the most of the post-offices get their mail from 
stages. 

Mr. Stout is a trustee of an excellent library 
in Menomonie, which is maintained by a family 
who are his friends. Its books are free to all resi- 
dents of the county. The librarian is not only 
intelligent, enthusiastic, and well-trained in her 
profession, but she has a very wide acquaint- 
ance in the county. Mr. Stout announced his 
plans for the travelling libraries in January, 
1896, and sent out the first 16 in the following 
May. In March, 1897, he had 37 libraries and 
34 travelling library stations. Three of the li- 
braries have been kept in Menomonie for con- 
venience in exchanging and repairing books. 
The first libraries contained 30 volumes each, 
and included only 10 for children on account 
of the number of school libraries. The demand 
from children and people who had read English 
but little was so great, however, that 10 quite 
simple juvenile books were added to each li- 
brary. A large proportion of the latter were 
volumes upon American history and biography. 

Of the 34 stations, 22 are in farm-houses, nine 
in post-offices, two in country stores, and one 
in a railway station. Two of the post-offices 
are in small stores and the others are in farm- 
houses. 26, then, or about two-thirds, are in 
farm houses, but nearly all are in or near post- 
offices, and therefore convenient for the people 
of their neighborhoods. The first 20 libraries 
sent out were returned to the central library 
after a summer's use, and showed a total of 732 
borrowers and a circulation of 3257. The 
largest numberx>f borrowers at a station was 76, 
and the smallest 25. The largest circulation 
was 272 and the smallest 73. The average 
circulation at a station was 163. The librarians 
reported that many of the popular books were 
read by from two to five persons each time they 
were drawn, and that in the more remote 
neighborhoods the books of the library fur- 
nished much of the material for the common 
conversation. The statistics for the winter's 
work are not yet available, but the reports at 
hand show that the average circulation at the 
stations increased about 50 per cent. Each sta- 



i8 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



tion has been supplied with children's periodi- 
cals, popular magazines, and recent reports of 
state agricultural societies, but statistics of the 
circulation of such extra literature are not kept, 
as the librarians are not paid, and their work is 
made as light as possible. 

These facts have been given to show how 
isolated are the neighborhoods which are cov- 
ered, how sparse is their population, and how 
small is the chance for choice in getting libra- 
rians. The great success of the libraries, and 
the continuing local enthusiasm in their work, 
suggests a positive merit in the plan upon which 
they were founded as applied to such con- 
ditions. 

Following Mr. Stout's original plan, the books 
of the libraries were selected, and the details of 
the general scheme were worked out, by the 
Wisconsin Free Library Commission. An 
officer of the commission made a careful can- 
vass of the county before the books were bought, 
and studied the local conditions. He has also 
visited nearly all the stations, and a number of 
them twice, since the books were sent out. 
The commission has also sent the local libra- 
rians all the circulars of information which it 
has published, and has treated them as members 
of the profession. Mr. Stout has found many 
ways of interesting the leading people of the 
county in the work, but most of the details 
have been left in the hands of Miss Stella Lu- 
cas, the librarian at Menomonie. She has visit- 
ed the stations and has met the librarians and 
the readers constantly in her home library, and 
has interested the local editors, the teachers, 
and all classes of citizens. She has arranged 
two librarians' institutes at Menomonie. These 
were attended by the officers of the state com- 
mission, and by the county superintendent of 
schools. At one institute a joint session was 
held with a teachers' institute. The weather 



on both occasions was very unfavorable, but the 
attendance was fair, and the meetings aroused 
great interest in all parts of the county. The 
country librarians who attended these meetings 
were as eager and intent to catch every helpful 
suggestion as any of their comrades at the state 
meetings. Their spirit and enthusiasm were a 
revelation, and inspire hope for great things in 
the future. The inspiration for this spirit is 
found largely in the local supervision. The 
state supervision gives the opportunity to get 
the best of the experience of other libraries, 
but no state system can give the benefits grow- 
ing from local supervision and direct personal 
contact. 

In the second system established on a similar 
plan, that founded by Mr. J. D. Witter in Wood 
county, there have been similar results. Wood 
county is one of the least advanced educationally 
in the state. It has nearly as large a population 
as Dunn county. Mr. Witter has sent out 27 li- 
braries. The most remarkable result in the 
latter case has been the great improvement at 
the central library. The aggressive missionary 
spirit of the travelling library movement has 
seized upon the library trustees and the teach- 
ers. The central library has nearly doubled its 
circulation in the last eight months and is using 
a much better class of books. The officers of 
the commission expect soon to hold a librarian's 
institute in the county, and hope for much good 
as a result of the increasing enthusiasm. 

This local supervision in Wisconsin grew 
from circumstances. Our plan of work for the 
state as a whole is not yet made. Our present 
problem is this Can we cover the state and 
still save the great advantages flowing from 
this local supervision and local interest? The 
excuse for this paper is that the problem 
which confronts us will soon confront many of 
you. 



FAIRCHILD. 



METHODS OF CHILDREN'S LIBRARY WORK AS DETERMINED BY 
THE NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN. I. 



BY EDWIN MILTON FAIRCHILD, OF THE EDUCATIONAL CHURCH BOARD, ALBANY, N. Y. 



T TNLESS the light which such institutions as 
Clark University are now shedding on the 
philosophy of education produces mirage effects 
in the distant scenes of the library world, it will 
sometime appear distinctly visible to many, not 
simply that a free public library is an essential 
part of each city's complete educational effort, 
but that A public libraries system, as complete in 
its activities as is the public schools system, 
needs to be established in each city, in order 
that the educational effects which effort through 
libraries is capable of producing may actually 
be secured. This complete city libraries system 
will include, probably, (i) the central adult li- 
brary, (2) branch adult libraries, (3) children's 
neighborhood libraries, (4) home libraries, (5) 
school libraries, and (6) travelling libraries. 

A librarian in a city not far from Troy, N. Y., 
has devised a scheme by which he avoids a per- 
sonal encounter with those high in authority, 
and yet prevents the members of the families 
of the trustees from getting to the shelves 
and spoiling the orderly arrangement of the 
books. Whenever books are to be rebound, in- 
stead of having the titles of the books printed on 
the new backs, the binder is instructed to print 
upon the back of each book the name of the 
library and the call number of the book. The 
time approaches when each book will bear the 

title "Free Public Library of ." This 

shrewd librarian keepeth the catalog carefully 
in his possession, and the members of the fami- 
lies of the trustees find themselves unable to 
discover the old set of Dickens with its new 
binding and its strange title, "Free Public 

Library of ," save as they first inquire 

its whereabouts of the librarian, who considers 
it his function to see that the books are properly 
arranged upon the shelves, and carefully kept, 
each in its assigned place. Many and many a 
library is a suggestion of an educational insti- 
tution simply because the dead pages of the 
books flash forth the intelligence of those who 
wrote them ; for its librarian no more deserves 
to be called an educator than does the man who 
sells you your railroad ticket or the woman who 



offers you a newspaper at her stand. But these 
guardians of the book do not belong to the 
A. L. A. ; their work is not professional. They 
are earning a living, such as it is, and society 
has little use for them and less need. 

Those worthy of honor are the librarians who 
not only know books and how to arrange books 
convenient to the hands of the readers, but those 
who know how to use books for the enrichment and 
enlargement of the life of their communities. One 
reads with something of surprise the definition 
of a librarian given in the up-to-date " Century 
dictionary" ; " The keeper or custodian of a li- 
brary; one who has charge of the books and 
other contents of a library." When the A. L. 
A. adopted its present motto, "The best read- 
ing for the largest number at the least cost," 
a desire for library extension had taken pos- 
session, and a large circulation was the proof of 
efficiency. In view of this fact, the " Century 
dictionary " should have added to its two defini- 
tions of the librarians, (i) the copyist of mss. 
and (2) the keeper of a library, a third definition, 
viz., (3) "one who has charge of the administra- 
tion of a library and the circulation of its books 
among the people." But unless the distant 
scene suffers mirage enlargement in the light of 
the philosophy of education which such institu- 
tions as Clark University are now shedding, not 
only will the city library become the city libra- 
ries system, but the advance movement already 
begun by educational librarians will result in 
making obsolete this suggested definition of a 
librarian. The science of pedagogics will soon 
include the questions involved in the subject of 
library methods. The library schools will fur- 
nish a course in library pedagogics. The term 
" librarian " will be applicable only to those who 
know how to so administer a library as to make its 
books of greatest educational "value. These edu- 
cational librarians bring to their librarianship 
the knowledge and skill that result from read- 
ing the philosophy of education, and enduring 
a practice discipline similar to that now given 
our teachers. 

One who is not interested in the theories that 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



lie at the foundation of every organized edu- 
cational effort, but demands something " prac- 
tical," in ignorance of the fact that theories are 
the most practical things in existence, will find 
little of interest presented in this paper. This 
paper deals chiefly in theory and plan, because 
when the educational librarian attacks the sub- 
ject of children's library work, he does not be- 
gin by asking, What can my library do for the 
children ? His question is, From the stand- 
point of sociology, what do the children need ? 
And this question he settles from his psycholo- 
gy. Then he asks himself the question, What 
are the best methods of doing for the children 
what they need ? and this question he settles 
from his library pedagogics. Finally he asks 
the practical question, How shall I succeed in 
getting my library to do this needed work ? 
The educational librarian must discover what 
this human life which he seeks to enrich and 
enlarge really is What laws govern its 
growth ? What laws govern the action of one 
psychic unit upon another? What methods of 
education are wise in view of these laws of 
psychic action ? What are the special ends to 
be secured by the library, when the library is 
placed in its appropriate position among the 
educational institutions, the schools, colleges, 
and churches ? What, theoretically, are the li- 
brary methods calculated to secure the desired 
results ? Methods that are theoretically cor- 
rect must be put to experimental tests. 

The point of view of this paper is that the city 
library is to expand into the city libraries sys- 
tem; the term librarian is to be applicable only 
to those who have the spirit of the educator, 
and are thoroughly equipped for their work 
by a college training, and probably by a three 
years' professional training, in which is included 
a thorough course in library pedagogics ; the 
methods of library work are to be scientifically 
determined, the ends to be gained being defined 
by a sociology that takes its start in psychol- 
ogy. 

It is to those who have the spirit of the edu. 
cational librarian that I wish to speak, and it is 
their questions as to the proper educational 
methods of children's library work that I wish 
to discuss. 

This long introduction to the subject on which 
I am to speak with definiteness has seemed to 
me necessary in order that the point of view 
from which this paper is written may appear. 



At present, aside from the school libraries, there 
are six kinds of children's libraries : 

1. That represented by the New York Free 
Circulating Library, in which the children are 
served with the adults. 

2. That by the Utica Public Library, in 
which the juvenile literature is given a special 
set of shelves. 

3. That by the Pratt Institute Free Library, 
in which the children have a separate room 
opening out of the room for adults. 

4. That by the Detroit Public Library, in 
which the children have a room entirely sepa- 
rate from the part of the building devoted to 
adults and have access to their room through a 
separate entrance. 

5. That by the Neighborhood Guild Library 
in the University Settlement, 26 Delancey street, 
New York City, in which the work is exclusive- 
ly for children, and considerable effort is made 
to furnish reading supplementary to the school 
work. 

6. That by the Children's Neighborhood Li- 
brary, of Troy, N. Y., in which the effort is 
directed exclusively to enriching and enlarging 
the life of the children through inspirational 
literature, the school supplementary reading 
being excluded for psychological reasons. 

I have been able to make a personal study of 
the children's library work done in New York 
City and in Brooklyn. As a result of two years' 
experience came the formulation of the plans for 
the Children's Neighborhood Library, of Troy 
a library which was the outgrowth of my de- 
sire to make a children's library ethically inspir- 
ing. The plans of that library reflect the con- 
clusions to which I have come in many matters 
of detail on which it will not be possible to 
touch in this paper, and those who have the 
least desire to know my judgment in these 
matters are referred to the librarian of the 
Children's Neighborhood Library in Troy, N. Y. 

But so far as scientific determination of the 
proper educational methods of conducting the 
library work for children is concerned, nothing 
could be more serious than to make the mis- 
take of starting from a consideration of the 
library work already being done. The library 
work already being done is determined in its 
methods by the peculiar exigencies of the situa- 
tions in which these particular libraries find 
themselves. The great ends to be gained must 
be stated by the science of sociology, and the 



FAIRCHILD. 



21 



educational methods must be determined by ref- 
erence to the psychology of childhood. We are 
all delighted over the great good resulting from 
the children's library work now being done, but 
our delight should not blind us to the fact that 
library work for children is still in its incipi- 
ency, and that the proper methods to be used 
by those worthy of being classed among the 
educational librarians must be determined by 
reference to the general sciences, which de- 
termine the needs of society and of the indi- 
vidual human being. 

Thus far I have been able to speak with 
something of personal confidence in the truth 
of my words. Now that we enter upon the 
consideration of the ends to be gained in this 
children's library work, and the general and 
special methods, and take into consideration 
what this city libraries system involves, and the 
place assigned children's library work, a feeling 
of fear comes upon me. I am relieved by the 
certainty that you will not treat with too much 
seriousness the conclusions which are stated in 
this paper, for you will recognize, as the author 
does all too painfully, that these conclusions, in 
the present state of knowledge of child life and 
social life, cannot be more than search-lights, 
determining, perhaps, the lines upon which it is 
worth while to experiment. 

Children's library work is simply primary libra- 
ry work. From the standpoint of sociology, the 
greater ends to be gained 'are three (i) Enriched 
life. The child has its circle of acquaintances 
enlarged by the stories it reads of the boys and 
girls whom imagination has created, and out o^ 
this enlarged acquaintance comes an enrich- 
ment of its experiences and the growth of its 
soul. Few children can ever have the experi- 
ence of running into the night, the switch- 
man's lantern in hand, to stop the train that 
rushes toward the sunken bridge. The child 
that has that experience grows out of shallow 
bravery into the heroic spirit. But many and 
many an heroic nature swells and bursts its 
acorn shell, becoming thereafter full-grown to 
meet the emergencies of its own adult experi- 
ence, by reason of having read the story of 
some timid girl who dared the terrors of the 
night to do her father's duty. A boy's life be- 
comes strengthened as he reads of the courage 
and coolness of a Leather-Stocking. Few chil- 
dren would be without sympathy with the 
woods full of living creatures, birds and wolves 



and snakes and bears and tigers, could the 
charm of Mowgli's boyhood with the Jungle 
People once lay hold upon them. 

Not only is there a personal gain from the 
enrichment of life but there is a social gain. 
The children have ideals of action set before 
them, and these ideals will govern them through 
life. Adult sentiments of what is fair and 
honorable may be the outgrowth of the feel- 
ing of what is fair in play, and the story of a 
baseball game may act powerfully to stimulate 
the growth of the social spirit, out of which 
may come the higher-minded business man, 
mother, teacher, librarian. The story of the 
Christ has produced many a philanthropist. 
The spirit of the Christ has entered to abide in 
many a girlish heart, because she has read the 
beautiful story of Mary, the mother of the 
Christ. The anti-social spirit of the day is our 
social danger. The Kansas populists dared to 
break the continuity of a college's effort by 
summarily discharging not only its president 
but the entire body of professors. Granting, 
for the sake of argument, that their political 
views are correct, they are not justified in crip- 
pling a college and causing the disintegration of 
its strength. I am proud to be a son of the man 
who vacated his presidential chair without vin- 
dictive speech, and begged his associated pro- 
fessors to be loyal to the new administration if 
it were possible, for the sake of the college. 
This unsocial spirit that delights to rip and tear 
is the menace of our civilization, and it takes 
possession of those whose life is shallow and 
poor. There are these grown-up people who 
are willing to do these unsocial things because 
there have been thousands and thousands of 
children whose spirits have not been touched by 
the spirit of those who write the literature that 
lives. 

The second great end of children's library 
work is (2) The enlargement of knowledge of 
human and nature life. The girl may grow up 
in close association with her mother's woman- 
heart. Her father is tempered and softened 
by his experiences of the sorrows and weak- 
nesses of humanity. The young men are seen 
at a distance, or under the glare of the lights 
of the drawing-room, or aglow with the pas- 
sion of love in its nascent strength. The girl's 
woman-heart is won by the psychic insistence 
of the man. The girl in her teens, what does 
she know personally of this masculinity ? Just 



22 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



the half truth, which is worse than the lie. 
One who knows can write a realistic novel of 
the right sort that will reveal to her a man in 
his secret heart of hearts. 

And the one who does not understand the 
times in which he lives continually runs amuck 
of the social currents which flow according to 
the will of that " Greatness which includes us 
as the ocean holds each drop."* The children 
of the rich play with the children of the rich, 
study in the private school with the children of 
the rich, marry the children of the rich, enter- 
tain the children of the rich, ride in their car- 
riages and not in the public carrier. What do 
they know of the life of the poor? And with- 
out knowledge it is impossible to sympathize 
with the children of the poor. Sometimes, 
when the glare has faded from the ball-room, 
or it becomes the fashion to do charity work, 
the men and women of the palace enter the 
garrets of the people of the street. It is the peo- 
ple of the palace whose knowledge of human 
life is scant, and their efforts in reform are as 
useless as the child's attempt to build a dyke to 
keep the sea from its play-house on the beach. 
The realistic novel may reveal to them the 
meaning of experiences not within their sphere. 

Let the children's library furnish the children 
with a knowledge of the experiences of the 
child life of society ; the youth's library, the 
young men and young women with a knowl- 
edge of the experiences of young manhood and 
womanhood; then let the adult library furnish 
the full-grown men and women accurate infor- 
mation of the social conditions prevailing in the 
different social groups into which society is now 
divided, and under these conditions the multi- 
tudes may become socialized and democracy 
be a success. This work the schools cannot do. 
Literature alone can, and the children's library 
has assigned to it a great and important social 
service. f 

* From " The song of the soul." 

t The July number of the American Journal of Soci- 
ology contains an article, written probably about the 
same time as the above, in which Dr. E. A. Ross, of Leland 
Stanford Jr. University, says: "Not slavery alone but 
the narrow sympathies of a provincial literature caused 
the South to drift away. East and West became alienated 
through clash of interests, but the story-writers and play- 
wrights come in and help the people to understand each 
other " " An imperial democracy like ours is an experi- 
ment, and succeeds only because the press and a national 
literature inspire broad sympathies." 



The third great end to be accomplished by 
children's library work is of a different nature, 
but so important as to deserve equal place 
with the (i) enrichment of life and the (2) en- 
largement of knowledge. The children's li- 
brary must (3) establish tke reading habit. The 
child must grow up to feel that the library is 
the continual source of the renewal of its life 
and of its perpetually enlarging joy. Physio- 
logical psychology determines that the govern- 
ing habits of the human being are established 
by the age of 30. The reading habit must be 
established in childhood and strengthened as 
the child becomes adult. 

A s to the general methods of gaining these great- 
er ends. 

Enriched life, the first great end, can be se- 
cured by associating the children with the chil- 
dren of the books. The undeveloped sentiments 
of the child are strengthened by sympathizing 
with the children of whom it reads. Idealistic 
fiction is therefore the chief means by -which the 
librarian educates the soul of the child, I am 
using the term soul in the psychological sense,* 
not in the theological. Many of the stories of the 
St. Nicholas, Youth's Companion, and Harper's 
Round Table are to be rated of high educational 
value. Biographical stories differ from ficti- 
tious in no essential particular. A little more 
weight attaches in the child's mind to a true 
story, provided the true story treats the char- 
acters in the live way characteristic of the 
fictitious story. Most biographies of the boy- 
hoods of men who have become distinguished 
are lacking the impressive movement and spirit 
of high-class fiction. The story is in the third 
person. And for inspiration these biographies 
are of secondary value. 

Enlargement of knowledge of human life is 
secured chiefly through the (l) realistic novels, 
and (2) descriptive fiction. "The bonnie brier- 
bush " acquaints one with a whole commu- 
nity. Idealistic fiction brings enrichment of 
life, the realistic novel brings enlargement of 
knowledge of human life. When history is 
well written there is little difference between the 
history and the realistic novel. The crises of so- 
ciety, when accurately and skilfully set forth, 
are seen to be the times when the human soul 
reveals its full self. History is the description 
of the social soul in times past, and the realistic 

* See " Psychic factors of civilization," by Lester F. 
Ward. 



FAIRCHILD. 



2 3 



novel is the history of the social soul in its 
present life struggle. Through the realistic 
novel the children of China can be known by 
the child brought up in the workingtnan's home 
in Philadelphia. 

These idealistic and realistic stories of life 
reveal to the children the meaning of their own 
experiences. And these stories, if true to life, 
store the child's mind with knowledge of the 
ways and means of getting its ambitions accom- 
plished. Stories of adventure give the success- 
ful ways of escaping from dangerous situations. 
The contrivances by which two courageous 
boys lost on the mountain -side managed to 
spend the night comfortably and to protect 
themselves from the wolves and snakes are 
part of the necessary information of each well- 
equipped boy and girl. 

Enlarged knowledge of the life of nature is 
secured through books of natural history, and 
these, if they would be most effective, must be 
descriptive fiction, because fiction allows things 
to be shown in action and in actual relations to 
human beings. A story of how Harry used a 
sumac reed for his pop-gun, and soon suffered 
from its poison, may introduce an account of 
Harry's instructive ramble through the woods 
with a botanist. 

And if this fiction descriptive of nature could 
generate the child's love for the fairy spirits of 
the violets and the Jack-in-the-pulpits, would it 
not be often true that the adult soul would find 
the meaning of the mountains, and of the deep 
blue heaven with its teeming life of myriad 
suns and worlds, so that it might sing to itself 
when weary and heavy laden: 

" A mighty Presence fills the air 

And meanings through all being thrill ; 
Infinite Love, my mother, 
Takes me to Her bosom, 
Holds me calm and still. 

" Lying thus space-cradled, yes, I know 
That Love in heaven wide and deep, 
Gently as a mother 
O'er her wee, sweet baby, 
Lulls my soul to sleep." 

From " The evensong of those that are weary and 
heavy laden" 

The fear of death might pass, and a courage to 
live be born of which few have knowledge. 

But the accomplishment of these two greater 
ends depends upon the success gained in rous- 
ing the child's enthusiasm for the library, and 
establishing the reading habit. Our actions 



are the result of our necessities and our desires. 
Unless the children grow into a permanent de- 
sire for the satisfactions to be gained from 
boots, most of them will never experience the 
enrichment and enlargement of life which litera- 
ture furnishes. One might watch in some 
children's room and find a line of 30 children 
waiting to be served, and conclude that en- 
thusiasm for the library was already a reality in 
the child life of this library's community. But 
the children take up the library as a fad, read 
for a few months, and then forget the library. 
The long line of children waiting for books 
simply means that for ach library there are 
thousands of children. A large portion of those 
who draw do not continue reading more than 
nine months. At present in the case of 75 per 
cent, of the children of the community we are 
failing to establish the reading habit. This 
enthusiasm for the library, which must be 
secured, else the children's library work is a 
failure from the standpoint of education, will 
grow of itself, provided the needs and desires of 
the children are accurately known and thoroughly 
respected. Childhood's sentiments must be re- 
spected, and the children's library work con- 
formed to childhood's natural enthusiasms. 

We now take up the consideration of more defi- 
nite questions. 

The methods of children's library work which 
I am setting forth are so intimately related to 
this conception of a city libraries system that it 
will be necessary to state a few details of this 
system. 

I wish to call your attention to what is in- 
volved in the effort to enrich and enlarge the 
entire life of a community, and to present a plan 
for the articulation of the different kinds of libra- 
ries into a city libraries system. According to 
statistics gathered two years ago, only 20 per cent, 
of the people of a community enter the public li- 
brary during the year. In order that the library 
shall exert educational force upon the entire life 
of a community, there must be (i) free books, (2) 
libraries conducted on educational principles, and 
(3) enough first-class librarians to influence the 
people. The following plan is devised to in- 
clude these requisites. 

The administration of the entire city libraries 
system is in the hands of the chief librarian, 
who has his office in the central adult library. 
This central adult library contains fifty or more 
thousand titles, is devoted exclusively to adults, 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



and in most respects resembles the established 
type of city library. 

A city is divisible into sub-communities. In 
this city libraries system a branch adult li- 
brary is placed in each one of these group-cen- 
tres. Troy, N. Y., would need two branch 
adult libraries, one in North Troy and one in 
South Troy. If Lansingburg, Green Island, and 
Watervliet were consolidated with Troy into the 
"Greater Troy," five and possibly six branch 
adult libraries would be needed. In these branch 
adult libraries are placed the 2000 best titles for 
averagely intelligent adults. Some variations 
would be made to suit the character of the dif- 
ferent localities. Of course the branch adult 
libraries could draw from the central adult li- 
brary any book desired. 

Located between these branch adult libraries 
are the children's neighborhood libraries, devoted 
exclusively to the children in their neighbor- 
hoods, and containing each the best 2000 titles 
for children, with variation to suit the locality. 
These children's neighborhood libraries are not 
burdened with the school supplementary read- 
ing, which is supplied through school libraries. 



In the Greater Troy at least ten of these chil- 
dren's neighborhood libraries would be needed. 

The children's neighborhood libraries are 
centres for circles of home libraries. Each part 
of each neighborhood is won into appreciation 
of the library by the missionary activity of 
these home libraries. 

Each public school building has a school li- 
brary, containing the necessary books of refer- 
ence and other books for supplementary read- 
ing known to be in constant demand. 

The central library is the centre of travelling 
library activities. The numerous clubs, fire 
departments, police stations, hotels, etc., in the 
city are encouraged to keep going a continual 
series of travelling libraries. The special needs 
of the schools those needs not supplied by 
the school library are met by means of school 
travelling libraries. The visitors who carry the 
enthusiasm for the library into every nook and 
corner of the city get their library sets from the 
central library. 

I have not suggested any new kinds of libra- 
ries. I have simply taken the various kinds of 
libraries already existing and articulated them 




PLAN ILLUSTRATING CITY LIBRARIES SYSTEM. 
* Central adult library. 
A. Branch adult libraries. 
C. Children's neighborhood libraries. 
B.A. Territory covered by a branch adult library. 
C.N. " " " children's neighborhood library. 



FA1RCHILD. 



into a system, so that they may work together 
to supply the need of an entire community. 

The_library work done for children under this 
proposed city libraries system includes five kinds 
of effort: i. Children's neighborhood libraries. 
2. Home libraries. 3. Club travelling libraries. 
4. School libraries. 5. School travelling libra- 
ries. There is no question as to the success of 
each of these different kinds of children's li- 
brary efforts, and this combination of various 
successful efforts into one naturally articulated 
system ought to be decidedly effective. 

There is not time to elaborate the work as- 
signed each of the five kinds of children's li- 
brary efforts. The remainder of the paper has 
to do with the considerations involved in the 
children's neighbor hood library. This kind of li- 
brary is demanded by the needs of the children, 
and is the main channel for library education of 
the children. My thesis is stated as follows: In 
order that the librarian may have the chance to 
be a personal inspiration to the children, and 
that each child may find the books that appeal 
to it, in order that the library as an institution 
may win the continued devotion out of which 
will grow the reading habit, it is necessary that 
there be a children's library that is a distinct 
and unique institution, disassociated from the 
adult library and from the school supplementary 
reading a place where the children are led by 
the librarian into a grand revel in books. 

The schools have a distinct task, viz., to 
strengthen the intelligence of the children. It is 
a sad mistake to expect the schools to take up 
library work save as this assists them in their 
special task. The library work appropriate to 
the schools is distinct from that appropriate to 
the children's neighborhood library. I do 
not underestimate the library work appropriate 
to the schools; I do not slight it in this paper; 
I simply omit the elaboration of school library 
methods out of consideration for my audience. 

I make the following argument for the sepa- 
ration of the children's neighborhood library 
from the adult library : It is a fact with a 
reasonable explanation that the child does not 
like to be continually under the parents' guid- 
ance. The boy likes to try being his own 
master. When he and his Indian troopers are 
in the woods, or exploring the mysteries of 
some new alley, what cares he for the things of 
his elders ? The boy wants to find his secret 
world where, in the language of the poet, 



"There aren't no ten commandments, and a 
man can raise a thirst." It is not wrong but 
right and necessary that the children should 
feel thus, and be anxious to have their own 
possessions. The infant is dependent on its 
parents, the adult is independent, and the strug- 
gle of childhood and youth is, not to wrest its 
independence from its parents, but to accomplish 
growth into the strength which makes it com- 
fortable to standalone. It is by wisely satisfying 
this desire for independence that children are 
enabled to become, when full-grown, worthy of 
their independence. It is a szA pedagogical mis- 
take for the children's library not to utilize this 
childhood's natural enthusiasm for independent 
organizations devoted exclusively to the chil- 
dren. And the best results will be secured by 
making use of this enthusiasm to the full. I 
have carefully considered all the arguments for 
associating the children with the adults, and 
these weigh very light against this argument 
for separate children's libraries. 

From this point this paper deals with the 
question of methods without considering the 
inconveniences involved in a close association 
between the adult's and children's libraries. 
The building, the methods, the librarian, the 
books and magazines are all for the children, and 
the children feel the sense of possession. And 
this is for the sake of establishing in the hearts 
of the children of the community a continued 
library enthusiasm out of which may grow the 
reading habit. 

Continued enthusiasm depends also for its 
establishment upon the disassociation of the 
children's library from the school supplementary 
reading. The reading habit cannot be created 
in the ordinary child by forcing it to go to the 
library for its school supplementary reading. 
The trouble is that the school work has to be 
hard drill. Intellectual fibre toughens under 
long-continued, thorough discipline. The chil- 
dren submit to this because they appreciate 
somewhat its necessity. I do not mean to say 
that school work is not at all pleasurable, but I 
do mean to say that as long as the world lasts 
the hour when school is out will be more wel- 
come than that at which school is called. There 
is no good reason why the city libraries sys- 
tem should not furnish supplementary reading 
directly to the school through the school libra- 
ry. The children's neighborhood library should 
not be obliged to carry in its race for the child's 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



love this -weight of the child's distaste for as- 
signed, forced reading. 

Continued enthusiasm and the establishment 
of the reading habit depend also on the estab- 
lishment among the children of a sentiment that 
it is the thing to be well read in the literature of 
childhood. The boy who does not know the 
"Jungle book" should be despised by his peers. 
Judicious talking on the part of the librarian, 
continued for ten years, will establish this senti- 
ment among the children of a community, and 
when once established it will prove a strong 
educational motive. 

The chief source of enthusiasm for the children's 
library is the librarian. I have chosen to dis- 
cuss the function of the librarian in this con- 
nection rather than under a separate head in 
order that it may appear that her personality 
and ability as an educator are vitally related to 
the library's success in maintaining enthusiasm 
and establishing the reading habit. The libra- 
rian needs to be not a careful clerk that tends 
the loan-desk, collects fines, and preserves 
order, but a woman grown, herself the realiza- 
tion of the educational ideal, which by the way 
is not the smart, but the intelligent, great- 
souled woman. The woman, whether married 
or unmarried, who, because of her singular 
character, deserves the title "old-maid," is un- 
fit for the position of the children's librarian. 
The woman who takes the children of the com- 
munity to her heart as a mother her own, is 
best fitted by nature for this position. Not 
only must the children's librarian be well fitted 
by natural personal qualities for her position, 
but intellectually she must be thoroughly and 
specially trained for children's library work. 

The government of the children's library 
should be that of the home. The policeman 
and janitor are not wanted, and the librarian 
that needs them lacks the required tact and 
force and human sympathy. If worse comes to 
the worst, let one of the big boys of the library 
thrash the scamp who makes trouble and in- 
sults the librarian. 

The source of control should be the loyalty 
and love of the children for the library and the 
librarian. The etiquette of the library may be 
elevated by judicious talks on library ethics. 
Children are quick to see what is to the advan- 
tage of the group-life, and to punish one who 
offends against the interests of all. These mat- 
ters are easily taken care of if the librarian be 



of good courage, ambitious for herself and her 
library children, possessed of real enthusiasm 
to live. In the ideal children's library there 
will be strong friendships between the librarian 
and the children, and on the part of the chil- 
dren a sort of heroine worship. 

The books of the children' s library are simply 
the librarian's tools. Quality, not quantity, is 
the chief consideration. Two thousand select- 
ed titles is a sufficient kit. If games are in- 
cluded in the outfit, those selected should con- 
tribute to the library's success in establishing 
the reading habit. The library books and 
games are to the librarian what the text-book is 
to the teacher. From the standpoint of educa- 
tion the children's librarian is an instructor at 
large. In library phrase she is, in her more im- 
portant function, a reference librarian. She 
does not belong at the loan-desk. Her time 
belongs to the children who wish to select the 
books that fit their needs. 

The educational value of the children's libra- 
ry and its success in maintaining enthusiasm 
and establishing the reading habit depend upon 
the children being furnished the literature that 
fits them. I found a girl of thirteen rushing 
through "The ships that pass in the night." 
Of course she did not like it, and a few such 
experiences would produce serious results. She 
followed this by "The scarlet letter." What 
did she know of the adult passions and their 
social values, and of the justice and injustice of 
severe punishment for transgression against 
established custom ? And at thirteen what 
revelation could such a book as this make to 
her? Nothing but a distorted and unreal and 
fascinating glimpse of a realm in which the 
tragic thrill which her girlish nature craves is 
gotten by social transgression. She drew both 
books from a library that prides itself on its 
children's work. "The scarlet letter" could 
not explain to her her own experience. Some 
story dealing with the real and sacred loves of 
girls and boys would solve for her the meaning 
of her own mysterious feelings. It will take 
all the insight of the intelligent mother-spirit, 
this insight deepened by the thorough discipline 
of the library school, to select for the children 
from the books upon the shelves those that suit 
their needs. 

The children's librarian can never serve the 
children properly unless she can go -with the 
children to the books upon the shelves. You can 



FAIRCHILD. 



27 



sell railroad tickets, but you cannot educate the 
children through a hole in a grating. The chil- 
dren cannot know exactly what they need, and 
the librarian must try on various sorts of books 
and have a chance to study temperaments be- 
fore she can fit closely. The task of fitting the 
children with books is so difficult that it cannot 
be accomplished save by adopting the policy of 
helping the children to fit themselves. The 
books of the children's library may be separated 
into four or five grades, but, under any ar- 
rangement, the children must be allowed to get 
to the shelves. 

The children's library needs to have a literary 
atmosphere. "Have you read Eugene Field's 
poems ? " is the kind of question the children 
should ask each other. The librarian, of 
course, will be the centre from which this 
sparkling interest in definite poems, stories, in- 
cidents, characters, and natural phenomena 
arises. She may well prepare herself care- 
fully for each day's literary chat with the 
children. 

But more thorough enlightenment should be 
given the children if their interest in books is 
to become vital. The need demands that there 
be children's library clubs, into which the new 
readers are enlisted and to which the librarian 
and her friends give short illuminating talks on 
the important books. I can imagine the fun 
and power of a talk on Robinson Crusoe to such 
a children's library club. 



It is by disassociation from the adult library 
and the school supplementary reading, and by 
thorough work on the part of the librarian, that 
the children's neighborhood library can succeed 
in establishing itself in the children's love, and 
becoming of greatest educational value. The 
primary teacher is to-day assigned a place as 
important as that of the high-school principal. 
The children's librarian should rank with the 
chief of the adult library, and the children's li- 
brary itself should rank with the library for 
grown-up people. 

The churches are not alone in their efforts to 
save the people. The churches too often seek 
to restrict life, rather than to enrich and en- 
large. The library cannot do otherwise than 
enrich and enlarge. And perhaps there is a 
hell from which the library saves people as 
trying as that from which the orthodox church 
restrains. So many people are uninterested. 
No enthusiasms inspire them. Only those 
activities that may result in a little larger busi- 
ness or shorter hours and more pay are to them 
the activities in which it seems worth while to 
indulge themselves. There are always the 
dead to bury their dead. Fifty years of library 
work in each large city of the United States, 
after the thorough manner outlined in this city 
libraries system, would do wonders to save the 
multitude from their commonplace tiresome 
lives. There seems to be life enough in the 
A. L. A. to bring these thing to pass. 




BOOKS FOR 

CHILDREN 

ABOUT 

13-16 YEARS 



LOAN-ROOM OF THE CHILDREN'S NEIGHBORHOOD LIBRARY, 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



METHODS OF CHILDREN'S LIBRARY WORK AS DETERMINED BY 
THE NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN. II. 



BY EMMA LOUISE ADAMS, LIBRARIAN OF THE PLAINFIELD (N. J.) PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



TT is a truism, the significance of which we 
realize more and more fully as we strive to 
make ourselves really useful to an individual, 
or group of individuals, that to render any real 
service we must know both their needs and 
their environments, so that our efforts in their 
behalf may be guided by a sympathy which is 
both intelligent and zealous. 

The needs of children are almost as various 
as the children themselves, and we can learn 
these individual needs only by coming into 
direct contact with the children, and in enlisting 
the aid of teacher and parent whose opportuni- 
ties of knowing the children individually are so 
much greater than ours. A knowledge of 
child-nature will, however, be of the greatest 
assistance in enabling us to better understand 
and appreciate these individual needs, and this 
we can partially gain by a little attention to 
what teachers are doing in the line of child- 
study. After their minutely recorded observa- 
tions physical, mental, and moral shall have 
proceeded sufficiently far to warrant generaliza- 
tion, the teacher will have become even more 
powerful an ally to the librarian than at present. 
We shall gain a more appreciative and intelli- 
gent sympathy with childhood which will enable 
us to turn back the pages of our own lives, and 
stand once more upon the threshold of conscious 
life, surrounded by its mystery and its beauty. 
Among all who come to our libraries there is 
none more interesting than this little being with 
the infinite possibilities before him, none we 
can help more, for none are so willing to be 
helped. 

While we can learn special needs only through 
knowledge of individuals, there is one general 
need which is common to all children, whether 
they are city or country bred, rich or poor, of 
foreign or American parentage, and that is the 
need of personal aid. This is the key to the 
whole situation, and the degree to which we 
can supply it will be the measure of our suc- 
cess in helping the child. It is the test by 
which every experiment in work with children 



may be tried. To the librarian of the small 
town this hardly comes as a problem ; she can 
know all her small borrowers and their individ- 
ual needs. Gradually as the town grows, and 
the work of the library in proportion, she re- 
gretfully realizes that this work must of neces- 
sity pass into other hands. Then the more 
difficult task becomes hers of transmitting her 
own love and enthusiasm for this work to 
assistants, and where it is lacking in teachers, 
to them also, and so furnishing by proxy the per- 
sonal contact which it is no longer possible for 
her to supply. Co-operation with schools, then, 
is the result of the librarian's- effort to supply 
to large numbers that personal contact which it 
is no longer practicable for the library to give. 
The librarian's most natural and effective 
helpers are the teachers, and without their aid 
the rapid advance made in recent years in work 
with children would have been impossible. 
How cordially the librarian's advances have 
been met by the teacher is shown by the out- 
ward sign of the new library section of the 
National Educational Association. It is true that 
there are still discouragements, that not all 
teachers are willing, nor all able to effectively 
co-operate with librarians, nor are all librarians 
able to co-operate with teachers, but, of course, 
we think this a rare instance. 

Perhaps the influence of the new section will 
be sufficient to place in every normal school a 
person qualified to give instruction in methods 
of using books in the class-room, in the use of bib- 
liographic tools, with if possible a little element- 
ary instruction in library work, and who will be 
able to impart a keener love and appreciation 
of good literature and a special knowledge of 
the best juvenile books. This is already done 
in Wisconsin, whence comes so much that is 
good in library methods, and New Jersey's 
normal school has a librarian who does a similar 
work, although not on so large a scale. The 
advantages which would result if such a plan 
were more extensively followed are obvious. 
The methods of enlisting the child's interest, 



ADAMS. 



29 



and effecting a co-operation with schools, and 
the degree to which they are used, depend 
largely upon the needs of localities, and the im- 
portance with which work with children is re- 
garded by librarians in charge. 

Among the most effective are, the abandon- 
ment of an age restriction the outcome of the 
general belief that this work cannot be begun 
too early -the limitation of the number of books 
that may be borrowed within a given time, lest 
the children read too much, and the institution 
of the "children's room." These rooms are 
ordinarily used only as reading-rooms, but 
there is a growing tendency to make them 
serve also as delivery-rooms, thus bringing to- 
gether all work with children, and insuring 
personal oversight to a greater extent. Very at- 
tractive places are these, with their pictures 
and plants, and low wall cases, in which are 
kept the best of all kinds of children's books, 
and to all of these the little visitors have free 
access. Miniature tables and chairs graduated 
to the size of the small readers give one the 
impression on entering that he is decidedly 
out of proportion and uncomfortably large. 
Buffalo's well-known room provides even for 
the tiniest with games, scrap-books, dissected 
maps, etc. In the new library at Providence, 
the idea will be very fully carried out, and 
quite the happiest children will be tho^ for 
whom Mr. Foster has so thoughtfully planned. 
No better argument is needed to convince one 
that this movement is in the right direction 
than a glance at the statistics showing the use 
of these rooms, and a glance, too, at the happy 
faces of those who frequent them. The success 
of such a room necessarily depends upon the 
assistant to whom this important work is en- 
trusted, who needs both special fitness and spe- 
cial training for it. 

It is the universal practice to indicate by some 
sign in the catalogs or finding lists books that 
are adapted to young people. Some libraries 
go further than this, and issue special lists of 
such books ; some few annotate these, and if 
this can be done thoroughly it will add greatly 
to their value, but if not, such lists are worse 
than useless, and it is far better to content one- 
self with the occasional issue of short lists of 
best books for boys and girls. 

In work with schools it is all but universal to 
issue special cards to teachers of the public 
schools, on which from six to 50 books may be 



drawn at a time. Some give this privilege to 
private and parochial as well as to public school 
teachers. Where a library is located at a con- 
siderable distance from the schools, that modifi- 
cation of the travelling library idea, known as 
the "special library system," can be used with 
excellent results. This puts it in the power of 
teacher or librarian to determine largely what 
the pupils shall read, and it is wonderfully in- 
teresting and suggestive to see how much used 
are these carefully selected and frequently 
changed books. This is work which is not yet 
done to as nearly large an extent as it probably 
will be in the future, as it does not necessarily 
call for the large duplication of books, which 
other forms of work with schools require, and 
is therefore practicable for the medium-sized as 
well as for the larger libraries. Only the very 
large libraries can send a sufficient number of 
copies to enable an entire class to read the same 
book at the same time, although even this is 
not now so expensive a system, since many of 
the books desired for class reading are issued 
at a moderate price, in good type and paper, 
and durable binding, by several of the leading 
publishers. It may be said in passing, that it 
is unfortunate that a more attractive exterior is 
not given to some of these, as children are so 
prone to think the exterior of a book a suf- 
ficient criterion by which to judge of its con- 
tents. 

In several towns it is the custom for whole 
classes to visit the library, and in company with 
teacher or librarian examine books which treat 
of the subject being studied by them. This is 
done to so large an extent in some places as to 
demand a special room or rooms for the pur- 
pose. The Worcester library we know has a 
class-room for each subject, and at the new 
library at Providence, by an admirable arrange- 
ment, the class-room is to be directly adjoining 
the children's room. 

It is the custom of some librarians to visit 
schools occasionally and talk to the pupils about 
their reading, or invite letters from them, in 
which the pupils give some account of books 
they have read; these letters are returned with 
helpful suggestions, and so a friendly relation 
is established between pupil and librarian. A 
very good way to become acquainted with teach- 
ers and to get at their point of view is to attend 
teachers' meetings and explain the privileges 
which the library extends to them, and suggest 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



methods of using books in the class-room. If 
teachers and librarians could more often meet 
together for discussion of methods, doubtless 
we should be better able to devise methods more 
in accordance with the needs of the child. 

Occasional lists on subjects in the school 
course, reference lists on holidays, etc., are of 
great value, but no printed list, however cor- 
rectly made, can take- the place of personal 
relationship. 

The school may be used also as a medium 
through which to circulate pictures as well as 
books picture scrap-books for the very little 
ones, pictures of places, events, etc., as illus- 
trative of geography, history, and other studies, 
photographic reproductions of famous pictures, 
pieces of sculpture or notable buildings for art 
classes. Grown people and children alike love 
pictures, and this would seem an excellent way 
of reaching those whom it is difficult to reach 
by means of books. 

One problem which confronts the schools 
of the larger towns and cities is, how to in- 
spire its pupils with a true patriotism which 
does not exhaust all its energy in boast- 
ing of its country on every occasion, but 
does all in its power to serve that country, 
not only by a scorn of all bribery and political 
corruption, but by a willingness to do its part 
to make such bribery and corruption impos- 
sible. If political life is anything like as 
corrupt as we are told by those who ought 
to know, this is one of the most important 
responsibilities which educators have to face. 
And here the thoughtful teacher will find in 
the library his greatest help, in the examples 
in all ages, of men, and women, too, who have 
done noble deeds and made great sacrifices for 
their country. Not only history and biography, 
but the literature of poetry and romance maybe 
made to do service in bringing before the future 
citizen stimulating examples which will arouse 
his enthusiasm and desire of emulation. For 
it is a fallacy to suppose that the education of 
the mind alone can ever supply high motives, 
or lofty purpose, or strength of will. It is the 
"literature of power" which the teacher must 
call in to his aid, and here the librarian can be 
of the greatest assistance to the teacher, both 
by the ample provision of such literature and 
by its timely suggestion. 

A close co-operation with the schools having 
been established, the librarian will find as one 
result that his reference work will be greatly 



increased, and the range of questions which he 
will be asked by these young searchers will 
be almost limitless, and to supply the answers 
to these his ingenuity and knowledge of books 
will be often taxed to the utmost. The special 
qualifications needed for this work are those of 
the reference librarian and the teacher. The 
librarian will not then be satisfied with opening 
a book at the exact page containing the de- 
sired information, but will strive, wherever pos- 
sible, to tactfully impart some knowledge of the 
book containing it. 

These are some of the ways that librarians 
and teachers are co-operating, and in them all 
we find the librarian striving to supply, through 
the medium of others, the human touch, the 
personal element, which we believe to be the 
greatest need of the child. 

The choice of books hardly belongs to my 
subject, yet in passing I may speak of the im- 
portance of this, for in selecting books for 
children their needs must be carefully studied, 
as upon the success with which the selection 
is adapted to these needs will depend the 
future usefulness and popularity of the juve- 
nile department. The various published guides 
can only supplement, they can never take the 
place of a knowledge of children's books 
acquired by one's own reading, and this is 
absolutely necessary if we are to make the 
books of their greatest service after they are 
on the shelves. If the work of testing and 
"evaluating" children's books can be sys- 
tematized, and the results made of general bene- 
fit, we shall be able to choose our juvenile books 
more wisely, and to recommend them more in- 
telligently. 

Provision must be made for all classes and 
sizes of children, for those of the most ignorant, 
and for the very' young. The needs of these 
last are but scantily met; unfortunately, most 
books suited to these mites are considered un- 
worthy of a place on our shelves. Often, how- 
ever, these are the children we want most to 
reach, and as they leave school very early the 
time for this is all too short. If despised little 
Dotty Dimple can teach them the enjoyment 
that may be gotten from books, by all means 
let them follow her to her grandmother's, or out 
West, or remain at home with her, as they choose. 

While all departments of literature must find 
a place in our juvenile collection, we must not 
fall into the error of thinking*that^children 
are to be educated every moment. We'certainly 



ADAMS. 



shouldn't want that sort of treatment ourselves, 
and we are not adding to our experience at any- 
thing like the rate at which they are adding to 
theirs. Wholesome stories should be provided, 
and by all means an abundance of the tales of 
mythology and fairy-lore, which every child 
loves. In Sully's charming "Studies of child- 
hood " he speaks of the child instinct which per- 
sonifies inanimate objects. Early in the history 
of the race we know that man did this same 
thing, so that when the child hears these beau- 
tiful old tales they are not to him merely beau- 
tiful stories, as to us, but something which 
comes within the range of his own beliefs and 
imagination, and we know that his imaginings 
are often more real to him than actual happen- 
ings. So in providing him with fairy-lore, we 
shall be giving him not only the intense pleas- 
ure of losing himself in the fairy-world, but a 
future pleasure in the recollection of the vivid- 
ness of his childish belief. 

Without exaggerating unduly the impor- 
tance of work with the young, it is evident 
that it is not the least important of our func- 
tions, and there are indications that as in the 
future this becomes more widely recognized, 
provision more adequate to the magnitude of 
the task may be made. It might be practicable 
for the members of the staff peculiarly fitted for 
this work to be set aside under a competent 
head into whose charge the entire responsi- 
bility of work with children might be committed. 
The duties of this chief might include the selec- 
tion and care of all juvenile books, and the se- 
curing the co-operation of teachers and others 
having charge of children. The employment 
of such a person imbued with a sense of the 
ends to be attained, with tact, a love for and 
sympathy with children, a broad knowledge and 
love of good literature, as well as a special 
knowledge of juvenile literature, and having 
the executive ability to plan and carry on the 
work, would go far toward solving the problem 
of the greater libraries of how to provide that 
which all admit to be of the utmost importance 
personal contact. 

While schools are naturally the most effec- 
tive way of providing the personal element, 
there are various other agencies through which 
the library can act. The home library is pecul- 
iarly fitted for it, missions, reading-rooms, 
boys' and girls' clubs, juvenile branches of 
Young Men's Christian Associations, children's 
hospitals, industrial schools, Sunday-schools, 



as in St. Louis, and lastly there is the much- 
abused parent. In Mr. Dana's Cleveland ad- 
dress he brought a severe charge against this 
very large and very remiss part of the commu- 
nity, when he said that "the American parent 
is indifferent to the character of the education 
of his children." Quite the worst. thing about 
this statement is that it is perfectly true, if we 
may judge by the lack of interest the average 
parent shows in the reading of his children, for 
the lament does not come from east or west, 
north or south, but arises very impartially from 
all parts of the country. It is understood that 
this charge is made against those only who 
have both opportunity and ability to guide the 
reading of their children. Surely if such par- 
ents would realize the power for good, or for 
evil, which books have in the formation of char- 
acter, would not many, who now find "no 
time " to notice what their children read, find 
that there are other things which can be more 
safely passed by than this ? There can be no 
one who has the opportunity or the authority 
of the parent for controlling the child's reading, 
nor is there any one who can make this tactful 
oversight and reading together of books more 
delightful to the child, either in the present or 
in the future, by its grateful and happy recollec- 
tion. 

At the Lake Placid conference at the close 
of Miss Steam's paper on " Reading for 
the young" she asked, " How can we induce 
parents to oversee their children's reading?" 
But this question has as yet been unanswered, 
either because of its being a difficult and deli- 
cate one, or because of the multitude of other 
questions which claim the librarian's attention. 
It is to be hoped that in the not far distant 
future its turn may come for discussion. 

Are methods of work with children as we 
have found them proportioned to the child's 
needs ? In reviewing the many phases of this 
work we have seen in them all the librarian 
striving to surround the child with personal in- 
fluence, and if our theory be true, that this is 
the chief need of the child, then our efforts are 
at least in the right direction. And when the 
principle is more fully recognized, to quote 
from a well-known worker with schools and 
children, "that it is of prime importance to 
study the needs and capabilities of the individu- 
al child, rather than the child in the mass," 
the work will doubtless be conducted on a larger 
scale, and one more adequate to its importance. 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



THE FISK FREE AND PUBLIC LIBRARY OF NEW ORLEANS. 



BY WILLIAM BEER, LIBRARIAN. 



/ T*HE Fisk Free and Public Library of New 
* Orleans, which exists by virtue of an ordi- 
nance of the city, dated April 15, 1896, was 
formed from two collections of books which 
had been the property of the city since 1845 and 
1847 respectively. The earlier in point of date 
has been known by a great many names. It 
had its origin as the Public School Library of 
Municipality No. 2, which received the official 
recognition of the city by ordinance of Decem- 
ber 3, 1844. Private donations and collections 
from the scholars were the sources from which 
additions to the library were made. It made 
such progress that in 1848 the library had in- 
creased from 340010 7516 volumes. In 1849 the 
collection was transferred to the spacious room 
on the first floor of the city hall, which it occupied 
until its removal in 1897. Up to 1853 there had 
been 504 life members and 23 annual subscrib- 
ers. In 1859 were consolidated with this libra- 
ry those of the ist, 3d, and 4th school districts; 
the title was changed to that of the Lyceum and 
Library Society; the feature of occasional lect- 
ures justified the addition to the name. ' At 
this time there were necessary a librarian and 
assistant librarian; the latter was dropped from 
1873. In 1897 the collection consisted of about 
16,000 volumes. 

The Fisk Library was the gift of two broth- 
ers, Abijah and Alvarez Fisk. The former, by 
will dated 1843, gave the city of New Orleans 
his house on the corner of Customhouse and 
Bourbon streets, to be applied to the keeping of 
a library for the use and benefit of the citizens of 
said city. Mr. Alvarez Fisk, in 1847, purchased 
from Mr. B. F. French, the author of the " His- 
torical collection of Louisiana," an extensive 
private library, which he presented to the city, 
in order that use might be made of his brother's 
legacy. The library in question comprised 
6000 volumes, relating principally to history, 
commerce, and biography. On the petition of 
the members of the Mechanics' Society the Fisk 
Library, which up to 1853 had remained in the 
building donated by Mr. Fisk, was transferred 
to the building of the Mechanics' Institute, to 



be held and used by said society for the same 
uses and trusts under which the building and 
library were held by the city of New Orleans. 
Little progress was made by the library during 
its possession by the Mechanics' Society, which 
was dissolved in the year 1882. The library was 
then placed in the custody of the University of 
Louisiana. When that university, with its fran- 
chise, was ceded by the state to the Tulane 
University, the library entered upon an era of 
prosperity and usefulness. The magnificent 
donation of Paul Tulane brought into action ed- 
ucational forces which attracted a large number 
of the intellectual youth of the state, to whom 
the Fisk Library for many years supplied the 
need of a university library. Owing to the 
kindness of Prof. Ordway, the students were 
allowed the use of his magnificent scientific li- 
brary, consequently the growth of the Fisk 
Library in this later period was in the direction of 
English history and literature. Between the 
years 1884 and 1895 there was expended from 
the Fisk Library the sum of $8500 for books, 
periodicals, and magazines. 

The first official action to the end of estab- 
lishing the present Fisk Free and Public Library 
was the message of the mayor of New Orleans 
of January 9, 1896, recommending that the 
building formerly occupied by the Criminal 
District Court be devoted to the use of a public 
library. This was adopted by the council on 
January 29 of the same year. On April 15, 
1896, an ordinance establishing a public library 
was adopted. Among other clauses it stated 
that the management of said Fisk Free and 
Public Library shall be in the charge of a board 
of directors, who shall be appointed by the 
mayor, and be styled the board of directors of 
the Fisk Free and Public Library of the city of 
New Orleans. The said board shall be com- 
posed of seven directors, together with the 
mayor of the city of New Orleans, who shall be 
cx-officio chairman of the said board of directors. 
That the mayors of the city of New Orleans 
upon the expiration of their office shall not 
vacate the office of director of said Fisk Free 



BEER. 



33 



and Public Library, but shall continue life 
directors of same, and in this manner and in 
no other shall said board of directors be in- 
creased. The said board of directors shall 
have authority to fill vacancies arising in said 
board, from death, resignation, or otherwise, 
and shall adopt all rules for the government of 
said library, subject, however, to the approval 
of the mayor. On the 2ist of April, 1896, the 
mayor named a board of directors, in which 
the financial and commercial interests of the 
city were well represented. Mr. Frank T. 
Howard, to whose care the city of New Orleans 
had already been indebted for the development 
of the Howard Memorial Library, was chosen 
president, and Mr. Ernest Kruttschnitt, presi- 
dent of the school board, was elected vice-presi- 
dent. From this board were named executive 
and library committees, who work with great 
zeal. 

The building in which, by a happy accident, 
the Public Library has found a home, is singu- 
larly well situated. It is about five blocks from 
Canal street, the principal business street of the 
city, and the dividing line between the French 
and American quarters. The extension of the 
city southward makes this a very central posi- 
tion. In the near future branch libraries will 
accommodate the demand of the inhabitants 
of the outskirts. The building may be said to 
consist of three stories, of which that on the 
ground floor is divided into large rooms. The 
rental from these will, unless they are occupied 
for library purposes, be a source of considerable 
revenue. The two upper stories have been 
thrown into one. The ascent of two flights of 
broad stairs brings the visitor to the entrance, 
which faces a broad gallery rising in the centre 
of the hall. The library-room is 185x85, and 
over 40 feet high. On the north side are two 
tiers of large windows. On the other three 
sides the windows are all on the upper story, 
the result is light and air, a provision un- 
equalled in any library. Fourteen feet from the 
floor there runs around three sides of the room 
a gallery 20 feet broad, giving an opportunity 
for the erection of numerous small special read- 
ing-rooms. The delivery-desk is about 20 feet 
from the entrance. 

The eastern half of the library is devoted to 
the storage of books; the double book shelves 
stand five rows of 10 each, three feet six inches 
apart, and divided by alleys of two feet six 



inches; the unit of shelving is a double book- 
case 10 feet long and seven feet high, divided 
into three spaces, and having seven or eight 
shelves, according to the dimensions of the 
books. The shelves are grooved and slide on 
the iron supports suggested by Mr. Baker, of 
Columbia University. Good ventilation is se- 
cured by having the ends constructed of two 
pieces, n| inches wide; this shelving, of cypress, 
oil finished, cost $20.70 per unit. The arrange- 
ment of books has been to suit as much as 
possible the location of the delivery -desk. 
The row of 10 stacks near the desk is devoted 
to fiction, having American fiction on the front 
shelf ; the second row begins with American 
history, and runs back to German literature; 
the next row of stack contains literature to 
philosophy. The front stack of the fourth row 
is used for storing the accumulating current 
periodicals ; behind this are the bound periodi- 
cals in alphabetical order; the fifth row contains 
the public documents, Congressional Record, 
and publications of the bureaus. The lighting 
of the shelving occupied by fiction is by means 
of one i6-candle light, with a good glass circular 
reflector. The 40 other stacks of shelving are 
provided with portable hanging lights, protected 
by wire and furnished with reflectors; these are 
attached to conductors 10 feet long, which roll 
up on differential pulleys. Facing the delivery- 
desk are long narrow tables, on which are placed 
catalogs and call-slips. 

The western half of the room is devoted 
to the reference-desk, periodicals, and news- 
papers. The reference-desk, 15 feet long, 
contains on each side three rows of books, in- 
cluding the valuable dictionaries and encyclo- 
paedias, also reports of the last census and 
the latest bound volumes of the Congresssonal 
Record. There are 14 tables, 6x3 feet, each 
supplied with two electric lights with green 
shades, 16 inches from the tables, so that the 
light does not fall outside the edge of the tables. 
The newspapers are arranged on 10 racks, six 
feet high and 10 feet long, with double, sloping, 
sides. On each there are six papers and four 
lights. The periodicals stand in upright racks 
placed against the wall of the western end of 
the room. They are mostly in covers, on which 
have been pasted one of the original covers of 
the magazines published. Comfortable chairs 
provided at the tables, and stools at the news- 
paper racks accommodate about 200 readers. 



34 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



The present composition of the library is ap- 
proximately as follows: 

Bound periodicals, dictionaries, 

and encyclopaedias . . 3250 

Philosophy . . . 800 

Theology .... 1500 

Sociology and public documents 9500 

Philology .... 100 

Natural sciences . . 500 

Useful arts .... 500 

Fine arts .... TOO 

Literature .... 3500 

Fiction .... 3$oo 

History. .... 5500 



Total .... 28750 

Of the 800 public documents about one-half 
are duplicates. The books of the Lyceum or 
City Library were mostly published before 1850. 
A few books of fiction that have been added 
since are worn out, and will have to be rejected. 
The Fisk Library, as has been mentioned, has 
made considerable purchases within the last 12 
years, but these include few or no books of 
science; in fact, in the classes of sciences, useful 
and fine arts, the field is almost clear for the 
formation of a library fit to meet the demand for 
useful modern books. The Lyceum Library was 
classified on the Dewey system, and needed lit- 
tle if any alteration. The Lyceum has no ac- 
cession-book ; it was therefore resolved to ac- 
cept the Fisk numbers, and newly accession all 
the Lyceum books. This, of course, involved 
considerable time and labor, especially since the 
assistants of the new library were without ex- 
perience. 

It was desirable to interest the public as 
soon as possible. Therefore the periodical 
reading-room was opened on the i8th of Jan- 
uary, 1897, with periodicals classified as fol- 
lows: daily newspapers, six local, 20 representa- 
tive of the great centres of the United States, 
and four European; in addition to these were 
175 weeklies and monthlies, covering the gen- 
eral field of literature, science, and art. 200 
persons a day have availed themselves of the 
information provided in the reading-room. On 
March 15 there was ready a finding-list of about 
2800 books of fiction, all of which had been 
newly accessioned and labelled. The circula- 



tion, which began on that date, has rapidly 
risen to an average of 180 daily. 

The situation of the Howard Memorial Li- 
brary within five blocks relieves the Public 
Library of the necessity of duplicating the large 
number of valuable reference-books which exist 
in that collection. After a time the catalog 
cards of the Howard Memorial which refer to 
books duplicated in the Public Library will 
have the sign Howard Memorial Library placed 
against every book which is in both libraries, 
so that the reader who desires a book in the 
Public Library will be able, when it is in circu- 
lation, to find it with certainty in the Howard 
Memorial Library. The fact that the president 
of the Public Library is the secretary of the 
Howard Memorial Library is an assurance that 
there will be no wasteful competition between 
the two institutions. 

The circulation of the fiction before that of 
the more serious branches of literature gives 
satisfaction to the greatest number of readers 
and allows the staff to become gradually ac- 
customed to the charging system and Dewey 
classification. It also gives time for the prep- 
aration of the Lyceum books for circulation and 
for the large accessions necessary to bring up 
the entire collection to the necessities of the 
day. 

By the first of October it is hoped that the en- 
tire library will be in shape for circulation, with 
a classified catalog of 24,000 books. 

In the month of December, by which time the 
library will have proved its usefulness to every 
member of the community, the budget of the 
city will be prepared. The library will then 
submit its claim for support in the same propor- 
tion to the wealth and condition of finances of 
the city as in other American cities. Should 
the council find it possible to afford an annual 
appropriation of $25,000, immediate steps will 
be taken to enlarge the scope of the work of the 
library. Branches will be established in the 
more distant districts, and sufficient books will 
be added to ensure constant co-operation with 
the schools, many of which have already pro- 
vided themselves with respectable collections 
of books. To these the monthly supply of 50 
circulating books from the Public Library will 
be of great service. 



TEG G ART. 



35 



ON THE LITERATURE OF LIBRARY HISTORY. 



BY FREDERICK J. TEGGART, ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY. 



TT speaks well for the modesty of librarians, 
as a class, that living in a chronic state of 
temptation, they seldom either make books 
themselves, or read those produced by others ; 
and that the accessions to their private collec- 
tions are mostly confined to certain volumes 
which have been supplied by the liberality of 
the Bureau of Education and the periodical 
publications presented gratuitously by second- 
hand booksellers. 

Some reason for the inadequate literary treat- 
ment which libraries have received is undoubt- 
edly to be found in the peculiar nature of the 
subject, which does not yield readily to a flow- 
ing style. Being rooted to a definite spot, 
there is no going forth of the library to seek 
adventure and of the librarian but once a 
year. 

As a rule, librarians with an overmastering 
desire to write, have shirked the difficulty of 
making a table of statistics readable by limiting 
the figures to the known or imagined growth of 
a particular institution, the more timorous con- 
fining their efforts to the preparation of an 
improved system for the classification of human 
knowledge as displayed in books. I might say 
that the most extensive and readable literature 
is always devoted to the history of libraries 
which may never have existed save in the 
histories as for example that of Osymandyas. 

Not long since I made acquaintance with the 
work of "A Gentleman of the Temple," who 
in the early part of the iSth century produced 
a work entitled "A critical and historical ac- 
count of all the celebrated libraries in foreign 
countries, as well ancient as modern" (London, 
J 739)' The author, in his preface, states that 
" this is, perhaps, the first essay on the subject 
in pur language " ; and further affirms that ' ' no 
species of history furnishes us with such a va- 
riety of instructive and delightful incidents as 
that of books and libraries, which some of the 
renowned princes and sages of antiquity valued 
at a higher rate than any of their other pos- 
sessions." 

Much of the interest of this little volume 
attaches to the scientific method of its author. 



Singularly enough his best accounts are of 
libraries which all subsequent writers have 
entirely neglected to mention. It must be also 
acknowledged that the nearer home he comes 
the less detailed becomes his information. Of 
the 200 pages of this " first essay," 100 are de- 
voted to the libraries of antiquity: "Hebrew, 
Chaldean, Egyptian," etc.; in 70 more the au- 
thor treats "critically and historically" the 
European libraries of his own day, and lapses 
back in the concluding 30 pages to China and 
Ethiopia. 

An example of his treatment might be of in- 
terest. He thus describes the libraries of the 
Netherlands: 

" The Jesuits Library at Antwerp, and that 
of the Franciscan monks, are very curious." 

"The monks of St. Peter have a library at 
Ghent, as have also the Dominicans and the 
Carmelites." 

" There is a library at a monastery between 
Dunkirk and Newport which is said to be very 
famous for its great number of manuscripts," 
etc., etc., 'etc. 

As I have hinted, distance in time and space 
are rather an advantage to him, as may be in- 
ferred from the opening account " of the Ethio- 
pian libraries ": 

" But all this [which has gone before] is very 
inconsiderable when it is placed in opposition 
to the Library which is reported to be deposited 
in the Monastery of the Holy Cross upon Mount 
Amara in Ethiopia. 

" History informs us that Anthony Brieus 
and Lawrence of Cremona, were sent by Greg- 
ory XIII. into that Kingdom, to see that famous 
Collection, which is divided into three Parts, 
containing together ten Millions and an hundred 
Thousand Volumes, all wrote upon fine Parch- 
ment, and kept in silk Cases. We are told 
besides, that it owes its Original to the Queen 
of Sheba, who visited Solomon, from whom she 
received a Present of a great many Books, par- 
ticularly those of Enoch upon the Elements, 
and other Philosophical Subjects, with those of 
Noah, upon Mathematical Topicks and sacred 
Rites, and those which Abraham composed in 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



the Valley of Memra, where he taught Phi- 
losophy to those who assisted him in conquer- 
ing the Five Kings who had taken his Nephew 
Lot Prisoner, and likewise those of Job and 
others, which some assure us, are to be seen in 
that Library with the Books of Esdras, the 
Sybils, the Prophets, and the High Priests of 
the Jews besides such as are- supposed to have 
been wrote by that Queen and her Son Memi- 
lech." 

The interest of this performance of " A Gen- 
tleman of the Temple " is not appreciably di- 
minished, when we discover that the author was 
inspired to write in English a work on the same 
subject, and couched in terms identical with one 
written in French 60 years before him, by Le 
Sieur Le Gallois. So close is the translation, 
that were it not for the credit of " this first es- 
say " on the history of libraries in the English 
language it would be necessary to dub the book 
as having been "borrowed." 

This story, however, does not end here, for 
if the " Gentleman " who translated Le Gallois's 
book into English did not intimate the possibili- 
ty of there being any origin for his work other 
than his own imagination, he was surpassed in 
frankness by Le Gallois himself. 

In his preface the noble Frenchman avers that 
he has been aided in the preparation of the 
contents by certain persons and publications ; 
" but," he continues, " it cannot concern you, 
my dear reader, whence I have taken the con- 
tents of this book." 

Piqued by this want of due respect for the 
citation of " authorities," I set about discover- 
ing the " quelques M6moires " in question. The 
source of Le Gallois's information was, in fact, 
the Latin work of Johannes Lomeier, " On li- 
braries," published at Zutphen in 1669 a very 
monument of misdirected energy and want of 
discrimination, but of so fascinating a character 
as to be honored with three French editions in a 
few years; and as I have stated, the compliment 
of another gentleman, even though not a poet, 
finding in it "his own." 

Lomeier's book is one of a singular group of 
works on library history, collected and published 
by Joachim Joannes Mader, and re-edited in 
three volumes between 1702 and 1705 by a priest 
named Schmidt. These volumes represent the 
starting-point of library science in modern times. 
I say modern, for the literature of library his- 
tory in ancient Greece and Rome was not in- 



significant, as the titles of the works of Artemon 
of Cassandra, Herennios Philon, Telephos of 
Pergamon, and M. Terentius Varro bear ample 
witness, and we are looking forward with ex- 
pectancy to the translation of the bibliographic 
treasures of Tello and Nippur ! 

Of no other subject, probably, than " library 
history " is it true that no history of it has been 
written in the German language. Not that 
Germans are not interested in libraries, or in 
writing about them, since they have published 
a new manual of library economy on an average 
every three years for the last three-quarters of 
a century. But as regards library history, 
they seem not yet to have emerged from the 
monographic period, as the 30 publications on 
the library of Alexandria alone attest. 

To the present moment the only work in gen- 
eral library history worthy of consideration is 
Edwards's "Memoirs of libraries," published 
in London, 1859, in two volumes, which to- 
gether contain 2010 octavo pages. 

The " Memoirs" is a noble monument of dis- 
interested zeal ; and while the lack of perspec- 
tive has been criticised, which devotes isopages 
of the first volume to printing some early cata- 
logs in extenso, I would hesitate to deny the 
value of these pages as they stand, though I 
seem to hear distant murmurs as of a pub- 
lisher's anathemas still lingering about them. 

Four hundred pages treating of "the libra- 
ries of the ancients" and of "the Middle 
Ages" brings the work down to "the modern 
libraries of Great Britain and Ireland," under 
which head 120 pages are devoted to the Li- 
brary of the British Museum. In the second 
volume the discussion of the British libraries is 
concluded, the 600 pages devoted to this sub- 
ject bringing it down so as to include a con- 
sideration of the acts of 1850 and 1855, and a 
brief account of the libraries established under 
them. "The libraries of the United States of 
America" are appreciatively treated in 80 
pages. If this appears a small number, re- 
member that it was written over 35 years 
ago. Subse_quently the libraries of each of the 
countries of Europe receive consideration. 
Notes in the eighth and ninth volumes of the 
Library Jottrnal announced that a new edition 
of the "Memoirs" was under way, and its 
publication expected in 1884. But in 1886, 
when the author died, it had not appeared. 
For such a store-house we are all under a 



TEGGART. 



37 



debt of lasting gratitude to the indefatigable 
but somewhat ill-starred author. Among half a 
dozen other works which Edwards published on 
libraries, perhaps his "Free town libraries" 
only need be mentioned. It remains the first as 
well as the only attempt to treat connectedly of 
the "formation, management, and history" of 
what we usually term "public libraries," in 
Britain, France, Germany, and America. (Lond., 
1869.) 

Of the libraries of the United States, the 
earliest account appeared in the Serapeum 
(Leipzig) in 1845-46. The seven articles which 
appeared under the title " Bibliographic und 
Bibliotheken in den Vereinigtenstaaten von 
Nord-Amerika " were contributed by H. Lude- 
wig, of New York. 

In 1849 tne British House of Commons ap- 
pointed a commission to make inquiries con- 
cerning public libraries. In the course of its 
investigation the commission requested infor- 
mation from foreign governments concerning 
the public libraries in their dominions. To this 
request answers were readily sent in except by 
the United States, the Secretary of State reply- 
ing, under date of July 18, 1850, "That, with 
every disposition to do so, the Department finds 
that it has no means of gratifying the wishes of 
Her Majesty's government in this respect." 

The editors of the Libraries Report of 1876 
draw the inference from this statement (p. 759) 
"that one of the reasons of the attempt to 
gather the statistics of public libraries in the 
United States census of 1850 was the discovery 
of our inability to answer the inquiry." By 
these comments one's curiosity is considerably 
aroused, for on Jan. i, 1850, Chas. C. Jewett, 
librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, had re- 
ported to the secretary of the Institution his 
" Notices of public libraries in America," which 
contains exactly the information the English 
government desired to obtain. Morover, for 
some unassigned reason the printing of this re- 
port of Jewett's was held over for a year, the 
title-page bearing the date 1851. 

Such items furnish food for speculations into 
which I will not enter. 

Jewett explains his object in preparing the 
"Notices" as follows: "Of these [public] li- 
braries I have endeavored to collect such his- 
torical, statistical, and descriptive notices as 
would be of general interest; together with 
such special details as would be beneficial to 



those who are engaged in the organization and 
care of similar establishments " (p. 4). 

To accomplish the end in view a circular 
letter was sent out, and in addition to the in- 
formation derived from the answers received, 
quotations were given from local histories, 
newspapers, and other similar sources. 

The only query in the circular which perhaps 
would not be quite familiar to us is, " Have 
the books been injured at any time by insects?" 
Those insects seem to have had a happy exist- 
ence in the early days of the century. One bold 
librarian, whose library was open "every day 
from 4 p.m. till 9," and to whose library " eight 
or ten" persons "resorted daily," states that 
the books may be saved from insects " by tak- 
ing them out every week or two and striking 
the backs together, also by clippings of Russia 
leather scattered about on the shelves." 

The Smithsonian Institution continued for 
some years to accumulate material in emenda- 
tion and extension of Jewett's report. When, 
however, this new material was prepared by 
W. J. Rhees and "presented to the secretary 
of the Institution, he found it so extended with 
matter not within the original design, that he 
did not think himself authorized to adopt it as 
a Smithsonian report on libraries." Conse- 
quently the Institution issued in 1859 a report 
of 84 pages, coming within the required scope, 
and Lippincott in the same year published for 
Rhees a volume of 715 pages, entitled " Manual 
of public libraries, institutions, and societies in 
the United States and British Provinces of 
North America." 

Statistics of libraries have been included in 
the census reports since 1850, but as remarked 
by Gen. Walker in 1872, " the statistics of libra- 
ries have never been very creditable to the 
United States." 

Since the establishment of the U. S. Bureau 
of Education the subject of libraries has re- 
ceived ever-increasing consideration as being 
a branch of the educational system of the 
country. Thus the two pages of statistics on 
libraries contained in the annual report for 
1869 had grown in 1893 to a separate volume of 
226 pages. 

Statistics were contained also in the special 
report issued by the Bureau of Education in 
1876 on "The public libraries of the United 
States of America : their history, condition, and 
management." This report was the first co- 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



operative effort of the libraries of this country, 
and was edited by Samuel R. Warren and 
MajorS. H. Clark, who were appointed by the 
Commissioner of Education. About two-thirds 
of its 1200 pages are taken up with historical, 
descriptive, and statistical matter, the remainder 
with papers on library economy. 

The Library Journal 'has for the most part ab- 
sorbed all the energy of those librarians who 
during the last 20 years have felt inclined to 
compose literary-wise on professional themes. 

Professor Justin Winsor seems to have been 
one who, at a time, had dreams of being the 
historian of American libraries. At a time 
when no reliable information was available, he 
collected statistics of libraries in this country 
and in Europe, and published them as an ap- 
pendix to the iyth annual report (1869) of the 
Boston Public Library. A decade later he made 
a readable contribution to the subject in a series 
of articles which were published in the Literary 
World (1879-80). Without laying too much 
emphasis on the comparison, our compatriot 
seems to have made about the same discovery as 
his predecessor of whom I have made mention 
that it is easier to write the history of libraries 
in pre library days than afterwards. In this 
case the author leads off strongly with " The 
beginnings of our public library system: 1672- 
1838," hovers over M. Vattemare for a couple 
of papers, and ultimately sinks out of sight with 
" Bookbuying 30 years ago." 

The two opening chapters in Fletcher's " Pub- 
lic libraries in America" are a valuable histori- 
cal contribution, although brief. 

Much has been said from time to time before 
the conferences as to the need and value of a 
library handbook, which would embody the 



bibliothecal wisdom of our day. Doubtless such 
a work would be appreciated, but it is evident 
that the difficulties in the way of its production 
have been too great. 

There is, however, another means by which 
the men who 20 years ago founded this Asso- 
ciation, and have since been its stay and sup- 
port, could additionally inspire and stimulate 
the younger generation upon whom in time their 
mantle must fall, and that is by recording the 
library history of their own time. 

It is not a means which would entail upon any 
single person too great an amount of labor, yet 
it is one which would preserve its stimulus and 
value to every generation of librarians yet to 
come. 

What would not the world at large give for 
the personal recollections or memoirs of the 
men to whose inspiration was due the building 
of the great cathedrals and the great universi- 
ties of Europe ? 

And yet the democratization of the libraries 
of our country within the 20 years just passed is 
in every sense as important an event in the his- 
tory of our race as those other more ancient 
foundations. As important, too, in the devel- 
opment of republican ideals as they were per- 
manent factors in religion and education. 

The men to whom we, the younger generation 
of librarians, look up, are great men of our day, 
and it will be infinitely deplored in the time to 
come if we do not, by every form of induce- 
ment which can be brought to bear, prevail upon 
them to give to us an account of the personal 
aspirations, experiences, recollections, of the 
men to whom is due the foundation and estab- 
lishment of the American Library Association 
and its work. 



POTTER. 



39 



THE SELECTION OF BOOKS FOR COLLEGE LIBRARIES. 



BY ALFRED C. POTTER, ORDERING DEPARTMENT HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY. 



~C*OR the purposes of the present discussion 
it is not necessary to differentiate the col- 
lege and the university library. Both may be 
considered as essential parts of institutions of 
the higher learning, and as such their functions 
are identical, namely, to educate, by every 
means in their power, the readers that come to 
them. That the readers that frequent the uni- 
versity library include in general more ad- 
vanced students than those that go to the 
college library need not concern us here. Nor 
need we dwell on the fact that the university 
library often includes the special libraries of the 
various schools the theological, the medical, 
the law school, etc. The wants of these are 
generally so special and are so often looked 
after by a separate librarian that we need not 
consider them. Our attention may for the 
present be confined to the central library of the 
university, which for practical purposes does 
not differ essentially from the college library. 
The readers of both may be conveniently 
divided into two main classes teachers and 
students. 

It is the needs of these two classes and the 
best way of supplying them that we are to con- 
sider in this paper. It is obvious that the 
freshman, still in his teens and with mind crude 
and unused to books, will require very differ- 
ent kinds of books from those that may rightly 
be demanded by the professor, past-master of 
the most intricate problems of science or litera- 
ture. 

The wants of the students are comparatively 
simple and easy to satisfy. In the main their 
principal demands will be for books to be used 
in connection with the courses of study not 
indeed text-books, for those at least the student 
should be encouraged to own, but the works 
that are recommended for reading by the in- 
structors as supplementary to the courses. For 
the average student, elementary works rather 
than advanced treatises are needed. Then, 
too, he needs all the reference-books we can 
provide for him. But our duty to the student 
is not ended when we have placed before him 
the necessary tools for his classwork. It is 



not enough if we supply him with the material 
needed for his theses or for his part at com- 
mencement. Perhaps the highest duty of the 
college towards its students is to give them 
general culture, and in this the library can do 
a large share. The standard works of litera- 
ture the writings of the great poets, novel- 
ists, essayists, and historians may or may not 
be treated in the college curriculum. Never- 
theless, the library should have them on its 
shelves and should encourage the students to 
read them. In this way can the library aid 
the college in sending out on commencement 
day men who are more than mere scholars, 
who are well-read, who know the world of 
books and how to use it, who, in short, have 
attained not only scholarship but culture. 

For the prbfessors we must provide wholly 
different books. They may be presumed, each 
in his own subject, already to be acquainted 
with both the elementary and standard books. 
They will want new books giving the latest 
theories, the results of the most advanced re- 
search. They will need also the older works 
as showing perhaps the rise and early develop- 
ment of their subjects. While for the student 
it is wise to provide, only the best, for the pro- 
fessor, surveying his field in its widest extent, 
everything is necessary good, bad, and in- 
different. While the books for the students 
will be in general inexpensive, those needed 
by the professors will oftentimes be rare and 
costly. But when we regret the fact that for 
the price given for a book that will perhaps be 
used by a single professor, we could buy 50 
books that would be used by a hundred stu- 
dents, we must remember that the furthering 
of research is a part of our function. 

If I have dwelt somewhat at length on this 
analysis of the kinds of books required, it is 
because in it I find the key to my main subject 
"The selection of books for college libra- 
ries." No library, I suppose, has money 
enough to buy all the books needed for its 
work ; and the college librarian is always 
greatly hampered in his operations by the 
college treasurer. In some way, then, a selec- 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



tion must be made of the most necessary books. 
Now, if we examine the various kinds of books 
wanted, we shall see that they fall into practi- 
cally the same lines as the college courses 
that is, the students want books on the sub- 
jects of the courses they are studying, and the 
professors on those they are teaching. Thus 
it is natural that we should turn to the in- 
structors in the various departments of study 
for aid in the choice of books. 

Theoretically a college library is in a most 
advantageous position in this matter of select- 
ing books and is far better off in this respect 
than the public library; for it has a body of 
trained specialists whose privilege it is and 
duty it should be to select the books for its 
shelves. Not only are these specialists familiar 
with the literatures both past and current of 
their various departments, but they may fairly 
be supposed to know better than the librarian 
can what gaps exist in the present collections 
and what is most needed to fill them. In short, 
the theoretical position of the college library is 
nearly ideal. But in practice the ideal is apt 
to be somewhat shattered ; it has sometimes 
seemed to me that almost any other system of 
selecting books would be better than that 
usually followed by college libraries. 

Let us examine for a moment their general 
mode of procedure. In most colleges there is 
appointed a commitee consisting of perhaps the 
president, half a dozen professors, and the li- 
brarian, to have the general oversight of the 
library. Commonly the most important and 
sometimes the only duty of this committee is to 
apportion at the beginning of the year the in- 
come available for books among the different 
departments of study. Each of the appropria- 
tions thus made is then to be expended under 
the direction of the professor or professors of 
that department. An allowance is usually left 
to be spent by the librarian for general works 
and for books in subjects not taught in the col- 
lege. Under such a system it is the duty of 
the professors to see that the money allowed 
them is all properly expended, and it is the duty 
of the librarian to see that no professor exceeds 
the amount allotted him. To the librarian should 
be assigned at least an advisory and preferably a 
veto power. When, for example, a guileless pro- 
fessor of English literature with an appropria- 
tion of $200 orders the first edition of Robert 
Burns, a copy of which sold lately for ,T.2i, it 



is time for the librarian to cry halt. And in 
general he must by judicious advice endeavor 
to check the unwise expenditure of appropria- 
tions. He must see that the books bought are 
of a useful character; that extravagant pur- 
chases are not made. The income of a college 
library should not be spent for bibliographical 
curiosities for large-paper copies, fine bind- 
ings, or other "collectors'" books. But the 
librarian's duty has more than a negative side; 
he must not only see that the most important 
general works are purchased out of the money 
reserved for that purpose, but he should con- 
stantly bring to the attention of the professors 
the titles of books that he fears they may have 
overlooked. Thus with a wide-awake librarian, 
ready both to check and drive forward the pro- 
fessors, this plan of selecting books ought to 
be most successful. But for many causes it 
falls far short of what might reasonably be ex- 
pected of it. 

In the first place the professors are not ma- 
chines all built in the same shop and warranted 
each to order every year a given amount of 
books and no more. On the contrary they are 
very human and their varying personal equa- 
tions enter largely into the problem. Some are 
too busy, some, I fear, too lazy, to order their 
full quota of books, and some, on the other 
hand, are always inclined to order more than 
their fair share. The only trouble with the 
men in the last class is that it is sometimes 
hard to convince them that their money really 
is all gone. In excuse for those that do not or- 
der enough we ought to remember that to select 
with judicious care several hundred dollars' 
worth of books in any subject every year re- 
quires no small amount of time and labor, and 
that the average college professor is a very 
busy man. 

Yet it is a most serious matter for the library 
to be falling behind in any subject; not only is 
it a present evil, but its effects will be felt for 
years to come. It may be said that in a long 
series of years this evil will rectify itself, that 
the inactive professor who orders few or no 
books will in time be succeeded by a more 
energetic man who will fill up the gaps. And 
in the long run this is true at the end of a 
century the neglected subject probably would 
be filled up and the balance of the library re- 
stored. But it is small consolation to know 
that at the close of the 2Oth century the defi- 



POTTER. 



ciencies caused by the negligence of one of the 
professors of to-day will have been made good. 
And it is a heavy burden that the negligent 
professor is leaving for his successors. Sup- 
pose, to take an illustration at random, that the 
members of^he mathematical department do not 
care whether the library buys any mathematical 
books or not and hand in almost no orders. 
This goes on perhaps for ten years, when new 
members enter the department, and the new 
blood infused begets new activity and the de- 
sire to order books once more. The new in- 
structors will find that they have not only to 
buy the important current publications but to 
make up the arrears of a decade. While the sci- 
ence of mathematics has been advancing the 
library has been stagnant, and it will be years 
before it can recover from the temporary paraly- 
sis. Thus the iniquity of the professor of to- 
day shall be visited on his successors unto the 
third and fourth generation. Then there is the 
professor who orders by fits and starts, who 
one year orders everything that appears on 
his subject and the next year almost nothing, 
and who is sure to fail to order the most im- 
portant book. This danger of important publi- 
cations being overlooked by the professors is a 
serious matter that can only be guarded against 
by watchfulness on the part of the librarian. 
The danger increases where there are several 
instructors ordering on one appropriation, or 
when a book might fall under any one of sev- 
eral appropriations. 

But if the negligent professor is an injury to 
the library, so in but slightly less a degree 
is the hobby-horsical professor the man who 
allows his hobby to gallop away with the whole 
of his appropriation, leaving nothing for the 
riders of other and perhaps better horses. But 
to drop the metaphor, which to tell the truth is 
almost running away with me, the professor 
with a specialty may do decided harm to the li- 
brary, or at least to the portion of it under his 
direction. He will almost invariably develop 
its resources on this specialty at the expense of 
the other sides of his subject. Perhaps the 
French professor is an enthusiastic Molierist, 
and has gathered many editions of Moliere, sup- 
plemented by a great mass of biographical and 
critical material. The collection is of undoubted 
value, and contains everything needed for a 
most profound study of the master of French 
comedy; but the student of modern French lit- 



erature and criticism will find that his wants 
have been scantily provided for. Or again it 
is the professor of history whose hobby is the 
history of the Slavic countries ; he has stocked 
the library well with histories of Russia and 
Bulgaria in all sorts of unreadable languages, 
but left England and France and Germany to 
look out for themselves. Or perhaps the pro- 
fessor of physics is engaged in investigating the 
velocity and length of light waves, and orders 
only books that will help him in his own re- 
searches; the students anxious to explore other 
fields of physics, the whole realm of electricity 
for instance, must go away unsatisfied. These 
imaginary cases are perhaps somewhat exag- 
gerated, although I have in mind one at Har- 
vard that furnishes a fairly close parallel. Yet 
they do serve to illustrate the grave danger of 
leaving the matter of ordering too much in the 
hands of the professors. The specialties men- 
tioned above are all valuable in themselves, but 
if allowed to develop without due regard to 
other branches of the same subjects, the in- 
evitable result will be a lamentably one-sided 
library. 

Another serious defect of this system is the 
failure to provide sufficiently for subjects not 
covered by the college curriculum. To a cer- 
tain extent the librarian can purchase the more 
important of such books out of the reserve fund 
under his control; but that sum, usually small, 
is apt to be pretty well exhausted by the de- 
mands upon it for general works and reference- 
books. The result is that when, as not infre- 
quently happens, a new subject is introduced 
among the college courses, the new instructor 
finds the library contains few of the books that 
he needs. 

But before we consider the remedies for this 
undesirable state of things, it is but just that 
we should glance at the other side of the picture. 
Too much cannot be said in praise of the priceless 
aid that the conscientious and scholarly professor 
often gives in the selection of books. Busy with 
a thousand other things, he devotes his time 
and his skill to advancing the interests of the 
library in ways that are beyond the reach of the 
librarian, no matter how accomplished he may 
be. For the latter cannot have the special 
knowledge that the professor has attained by a 
lifetime of study in one line. Thus in the course 
of years of earnest effort may the professor 
create special collections that shall be unrivalled 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



and shall make the library a Mecca for scholars. 
The recompense for his unstinted labors will be 
the pleasure of seeing the gradual completion 
of his ideals, and of having his own knowledge 
increased by the use of the books he has helped 
to gather. And in passing I cannot refrain from 
paying a tribute to the late Professor Child, of 
Harvard. No one outside of the Harvard Li- 
brary can realize the great service he did tow- 
ards building up its collections. A student of 
the highest rank and profoundest knowledge, 
he gave to the library for many years the bene- 
fit of his ripe scholarship and wide acquaintance 
with books. The amount of time and energy 
that he devoted to this work of selecting books 
can hardly be appreciated; its value cannot be 
over-stated. The result of his labors is that 
the Harvard collection of folklore is probably 
second to none in the world, while in the other 
subjects in which he took especial interest 
ballads, mediaeval literature and romances, and 
Scandinavian and Slavic literature the col- 
lections certainly equal any in this country. 
Nor were these books gathered by any exces- 
sive or lavish expenditure of money, but rather 
by careful purchasing and patient waiting. It 
is when one considers what such a man as Pro- 
fessor Child can do for a college library that 
one hesitates to condemn utterly this system of 
allowing the professors to choose the books. 
However serious one may deem its defects, the 
possibilities of the plan stand out so clearly that 
one is inclined to find modifications rather than 
to seek a substitute. 

In the way of modifications and improvements 
much can be done by the librarian without 
making any radical change in the system. By 
personal interviews with the professors who are 
not doing their part in the ordering or who are 
ordering books too largely on one subject, he 
may bring them to see the error of their ways 
and (perhaps) to reform. He can frequently 
send them for approval titles of books that he 
thinks ought to be in the library in their de- 
partment. At Harvard we have a printed re- 
turn envelope that we send with such sugges- 
tions. I have found one obstacle to the use of 
this scheme in that the very professors that we 
wish to reach that is, those who do not order 
enough books are the very ones who fail to 
approve the suggested title. Either they ignore 
the hint entirely or they decline to sign the 
order for one or another reason usually be- 



cause they have a list of books they mean to 
order when they have time, but that time never 
comes. On the other hand, the men who al- 
ways order more than their appropriations will 
pay for and whose orders are always waiting on 
the deferred list for better times or a new year 
these men are ready to approve every order 
sent them. A friendly hint from the librarian 
that an appropriation is not being used up and 
is therefore in danger of being reduced by the 
committee another year on the ground that it 
is unnecessarily large is often effectual. Even 
the most indifferent professor is disturbed at 
that prospect ; he likes to have his full allow- 
ance whether he uses it or not. If the librarian 
can ask the professor to examine the book itself 
instead of merely sending him the title of it, it 
is often a great gain. Arrangements can be 
made with the booksellers to send packages of 
new books from time to time on approval; these 
can be kept open to the inspection of the pro- 
fessors for a week or so, and it is surprising 
how much they will be looked over and how 
many good books will be bought from them that 
would not otherwise be ordered. 

Encourage the professors to order by using 
as little red-tape as possible at least keep it 
out of their sight. Do not insist on their writing 
out a regular order-card for every book they 
want. Take the orders gratefully in whatever 
way they prefer to give them checked in a 
publisher's or bookseller's catalogue, written in 
a letter or scrawled on a page torn from a pocket 
diary, or delivered by word of mouth take 
them in any form; the librarian and his assist- 
ants can copy them on the order-cards and tie 
them up with as much red-tape as the ordering 
system may require. Even when the absent- 
minded professor comes in and says he wants a 
book he saw noticed a few weeks ago, he has 
forgotten the author's name and can't recall 
the title, but he is sure it is a good book because 
the Nation or the Saturday Review, he really 
can't remember which, said so, try to find out 
what he wants and get it for him. Make him 
and all the rest of the faculty understand that 
they are doing the library a favor when they 
order books. 

A remedy that I should like to see tried 
perhaps some of you may have tried it ? is to 
allow the librarian to fill up the order lists under 
such appropriations as are not nearly exhausted 
by a given time, say two months before the end 



POTTER. 



43 



of the year. This would throw a heavy task 
on the librarian, but would tend toward a more 
even development of the library than if the ap- 
propriations were allowed to lapse, or than if 
the unused balance, as has sometimes been sug- 
gested, were turned over to some other depart- 
ment where it would be more appreciated. A 
similar remedy, and one that we have tried sev- 
eral times at Harvard, is to give the librarian a 
share in appropriations that experience had 
shown were not used up by the professors in 
charge. 

The evil of injudicious and one-sided order- 
ing is harder to cope with than insufficient 
ordering. Moral suasion is about the only 
means available, and that is often of little use 
in stopping the mad gallop of the professional 
hobby-horse. The professor accustomed to this 
system is apt to resent any interference with his 
full freedom of ordering, and to think himself 
a better judge of the needs of the library in his 
particular department than the librarian. Still 
with a little diplomacy much may be done to 
change the current of ordering into better and 
wider channels. If there are other and espe- 
cially younger men in the affected department 
induce them to take their share in the work of 
ordering. And let the librarian himself con- 
tinually exert his influence to counteract the 
evil. 

A more radical remedy would be to grant the 
professors only the right of suggestion instead 
of a practically absolute control over the appro- 
priations. Let their orders be considered on 
their individual merits by the librarian or a book 
committee, as would those asked for by the 
patrons of any other library. But if the pro- 
fessors found their orders were liable to rejec- 
tion they would be likely to take less interest 
than they do now, and the library would thus 
lose much of the benefit derived from their 
special knowledge. While the growth of the 
library as a whole would undoubtedly be more 
systematic and even, I cannot but think that in 
many departments the books would be chosen 
with less skill and good judgment. In other 
words, in spite of the many drawbacks which I 
have pointed out, it seems pretty clear that the 
best interests of the college library are promoted 
by depending largely on the aid of the profes- 
sors in selecting the books. But in order to 
.secure the best results the librarian must not 
feel that he is relieved of the responsibility for 



the proper increase of the library. His duties 
are rather added to, for he must see that each 
member of the faculty does his proper share of 
the ordering and does it well. He must urge 
Prof. This to order more books, must keep 
Prof. That from ordering too many, and must 
make Prof. The Other dismount from his hob- 
by-horse. And all the while he is managing 
this staff of specialists he must spend wisely 
his own appropriation for general books. Thus 
with constant watchfulness and ready action 
the librarian can do much toward bringing this 
system nearer to its ideal perfection. 

I have not tried to distinguish between the 
needs of the large and the small college libra- 
ry. The principle of selection must be the 
same for both; the details will differ in every 
library. No matter how ample the income 
may appear, the demand for books will always 
exceed the supply of money. The larger the 
library the greater its needs. No professor in 
a college with an annual income of perhaps 
$1000 for books would think of suggesting that 
$700 of it be spent for Wadding's Annales Ordi- 
nis Minorum, or $200 for Bulaeus' Historia 
Universitatis Parisiensis; but his fellow in 
the university with its annual expenditure 
for books of $15,000 or $20,000 may demand 
such works as a right. What particular books 
to buy will be a different problem in each libra- 
ry, and the solution of it will depend on the 
amount of income, the class of readers, the 
presence of a considerable body of graduate 
students and professors doing special work, the 
proximity of other libraries, and many other 
varying factors. In short, generalization would 
be futile. For this reason I have preferred to 
consider the methods of selection which in 
principle do not differ materially for great or 
small libraries. 

There are several other matters which I hope 
will be discussed in connection with the gen- 
eral topic of the selection of books. In the few 
minutes left at my disposal I can only suggest 
them in the hope that you will take them up 
for discussion. 

The first is the question of periodicals. How 
large a portion of its funds is the college library 
justified in spending for periodicals ? Should 
we allow a professor to use the whole or a 
great part of his appropriation for them ? The 
demands of the professors in this direction are 
almost insatiable. In order to keep abreast of 



44 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



the advance of any science it is necessary to 
have the costly and constantly increasing peri- 
odical literature of that science. The aggre- 
gate expense of providing these indispensable 
tools of the professor's trade is enormous, and 
the value of them is often in the main tempo- 
rary, for the more important results are sure to 
appear sooner or later in the form of mono- 
graphs, and the original tentative form will 
retain mainly an historical interest. Every 
periodical subscribed to constitutes a per- 
manent liability against our funds, and crip- 
ples the library's purchasing power in other 
and more lasting directions. At Harvard we 
are constantly resisting the pressure to add new 
ones to our lists, yet in spite of ourselves we 
are spending over a third of our income for 
periodicals and the publications of learned so- 
cieties, and the burden is growing from year to 
year. 

Another question is the matter of providing 
duplicates of books in special demand. A pro- 
fessor recommends his class of 50 or a 100 
men to read a certain book before the next 
lecture. Even if the book is on our reserve 
shelves it is impossible for the whole class to 
read it in two or three days. Shall we buy a 
second copy? a third ? or even more ? The Har- 
vard practice has been against this duplication, 
although we have made an occasional excep- 
tion. The need is usually a comparatively 
temporary one, and it has not been thought a 
wise policy to spend our funds in gratifying it. 
The most important exceptions have been in 
the class-room libraries, where sometimes a 
dozen copies of a much-used book are provided. 
And this brings me to my last point for discus- 
ion the selection of books for class-room li- 
braries. 



Class-room or seminary libraries have now 
become a prominent feature in most colleges 
and universities. Should the choice of books 
for them be left entirely to the professors in 
charge of the particular department ? Should 
the books in them be duplicates of those in the 
central library or should the aim be to supple- 
ment the main collection ? My own opinion is 
very strong that if a college owns but one copy 
of a book it should be in the main library, 
and that these subordinate libraries should con- 
tain merely a working collection of the more 
necessary books, duplicating those in the col- 
lege library proper. Yet I find some class-room 
libraries managed on precisely the opposite 
theory of providing only books that are not in 
the college library, while others are run hap- 
hazard without any theory at all, the books 
being purchased by the professor in charge 
without regard to whether or not they are du- 
plicates. 

Let me sum up in a few words my main con- 
clusions on this subject of selecting books for 
college libraries. The system usually in vogue 
of leaving the matter chiefly in the hands of the 
members of the faculty is by no means ideal; 
and I have tried to indicate some ways of avoid- 
ing its principal defects. No system can be 
perfect, and on the whole the advantages of 
this one outweigh its faults. With a few slight 
modifications, and most important of all with a 
librarian alive to his responsibilities and ready 
to amend by every means in his power the 
recognized shortcomings of the system, the 
books of the library under this plan will be well 
and wisely selected, and the library will thus 
be helped to do its proper share in the further- 
ance of the higher education for which our col- 
leges and universities stand. 



RICHARDSON. 



45 



THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST AMONG BOOKS. 



BY ERNEST C. RICHARDSON, LIBRARIAN OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 



TN considering this subject let me remark, in 
the first place, that the paper has nothing 
whatever to do directly with the question of 
moral fitness of books, but relates to that fit- 
ness to survive in the struggle for life which 
may or may not be affected by the question of 
moral, intellectual, or imaginative worthiness. 

Again, and in a similar line, let me say that 
this paper does not concern primarily the ques- 
tion of the evolution of the ideas themselves, 
or their relative fitness to survive. No doubt 
there is a struggle for life among ideas, -but 
this paper has to do with the idea in the definite 
form of a book, and the thesis is this : That 
among books as among men, animals, and 
plants, there is a struggle for life in which the 
fittest survive by reason of some favorable 
variation which gives them some advantage in 
the struggle, and the aim of the paper is to in- 
dicate some of the factors which tend to sur- 
vival. 

When the paper was first outlined it was 
discouraging, the facts seemed so obvious that 
it appeared as if the paper would not be inter- 
esting even to its author, but since then I have 
come across the following, signed J. E. in Mr. 
Aflalo's " Literary year-book " : " But our point 
here," he says, "speaking calmly, is that in 
the propagation of books alone of Nature's crea- 
tions, we can discover no tendencies at work to 
insure the survival of the fittest through the 
extermination of the unfit." 

Here, at least, was some one to whom the 
matter was not obvious. In fact something 
quite otherwise was obvious. The issue could 
hardly be more clear-cut. It is a concrete ex- 
example of the struggle for life among ideas. 
These two ideas of J. E. and E. C. R. are mu- 
tually exclusive. They cannot both survive, 
and yet in the long run the fittest will survive 
because it is the fittest, and then they will know 
which is the fittest because it has survived. 
In the meantime I beg to state the reasons 
for thinking that the fittest survive in this 
struggle for life in the race of books, and that 
there are definite tendencies at work to insure 
this survival. 



The fact of the struggle and perishing is 
clear enough. All books do not live forever. 
We see moth and rust, weather and pet dogs 
at their destructive work all the time. There 
are, in fact, practically no autographs of the 
ancients not a ms. of the New Testament 
earlier than the fourth century. Some of the 
ancients have utterly disappeared ; but though 
so many copies of each have perished, Plato 
and St. Paul, for example, do survive. Why is 
it, then, that one book survives while another 
perishes ? Is it the result of chance or law ? I 
answer law in both cases. 

It is clear in the first place that, apart from 
accidental causes, there is a direct tendency 
to cause the extermination of some books in 
the very fact of multiplication of books. The 
reading public does not provide food enough, 
so- to speak, to support an indefinite book pop- 
ulation. When this feeding-ground is over- 
stocked some of the population must perish, 
and the less strong, the less beautiful, the less 
clever, fail to get the needed dollars, or readers, 
on which they feed, and so they perish ; and 
books once strong are continually elbowed out 
of their natural feeding-ground by stronger 
ones with more favorable variations. 

Metaphor aside, we know that few books are 
long lived; that the number of books which can 
keep human attention at any given time is so 
small that there must be a continual tendency 
of the less valuable to fall away, and if it is said 
that three books are written to every one that 
finds a publisher, and that three out of four 
among books published fail to pay, we know- 
that large numbers actually are exterminated 
through the action of their enemies, the pub- 
lishers, the critics, and pre-eminently the indif- 
ferent public, who, however, do not slaughter but 
only fail to nourish. This makes the analogy 
with animal survival the more striking, for, as 
Mr. Darwin had to keep constantly pointing 
out, the struggle among plants and animals 
does not so often mean slaughter as starvation, 
the weaker is not destroyed by the stronger, 
but the stronger is better able to secure food 
and escape fire and flood, and therefore sur- 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



vives, and the same is true of books. It is 
clear, therefore, that there is a strong tendency 
to extermination in the mere increase in pro- 
duction. 

But while this is true of books themselves, 
the converse is true respecting the copies of any 
one book. The more editions and the more 
copies there are the greater the technical fit- 
ness to survive. The first factor in the survival 
of the fittest among books we may describe as, 
(r) Mere numbers. Suppose, e.g., alarge num- 
ber of copies of a single edition of a popular 
book. It is clear that in dangers of war, fire, 
vandalism, mould, insects, hard reading, etc., 
the mere fact of numbers increases the proba- 
bility that some member or members of the fam- 
ily will escape being worn to death or otherwise 
destroyed. A second factor is of similar char- 
acter and may be called, (2) Wide distribution. 
Under wide distribution the probability which 
comes from mere numbers is greatly increased. 
An edition of some volumes of Migne's " Pa- 
trology," and in the same way an Oxford edi- 
tion of "Lucretius," were almost wholly de- 
stroyed by fires which took place before they 
had left the warehouse. This represents a 
minimum of distribution, and the same thing 
might have happened if they had been dis- 
tributed through a thousand houses in any one 
city, while it could not have happened if they 
had been distributed in a hundred cities in a 
score of countries. 

A third factor may be found in (3) Durability 
of material. It is hardly necessary to enlarge 
on this. Very few of the papyri of Egypt have 
been preserved to us, while on the other hand 
the Assyrian and Babylonian tablets, although 
they suffer from breaking and disintegration, 
are yet preserved to us in much greater quan- 
tities. It has been said that the reason why 
the paper copies of some books are more valu- 
able than the vellum copies is because they 
are rarer, and that this rareness is because 
they are printed on perishable material. One 
can well believe this on considering how rare 
an unworn, unmutilated copy of some early 
editions of the English Bible are. 

Again, a fourth and most important factor is 
found in (4) Beauty of material. Many of the 
copies of the early printed books which we have 
are not merely in good condition, but very per- 
fect. This is because they have been kept with 
peculiar care and little use, the very fact, e.g., 



that a book is printed on vellum and more 
handsome leading to its being used and kept 
more carefully. In this way all that which is 
embraced under the term " luxury of books " 
contributes to survival. The early New Testa- 
ment codices are for the most part magnificent 
specimens, and date from a peculiarly favored 
time when the production of a sumptuous edi- 
tion was subsidized by the emperor. It is 
natural that in times of war and confiscation 
and prohibition that copies which from their 
fine workmanship or fine binding were peculi- 
arly dear to the heart of the owner, or were 
peculiarly valuable financially, should be hid- 
den with especial pains, should be rescued 
first from fire, should be saved as spoils by 
victors when other things were burned or 
thrown into the river, and so excellence in 
this regard has actually been a prime factor in 
survival. The same principle certainly holds 
in every-day use, in that in the family and 
in the public library the choice edition with 
fine, print, margin, and illustration is cherished 
with peculiar care, and to such a degree that 
it often happens that a book of very indiffer- 
ent merit as to literary quality is preserved 
simply on account of the conditions of its get- 
up, or some condition of environment which 
makes its preservation reasonable. The value, 
e.g., which comes to a book at the present 
time simply from the fact of its having been 
one of the publications of the Grolier Club is a 
totally artificial matter, but it is one which 
puts men into competition for the privilege of 
safeguarding it, and makes it worth while to 
care for it on account of its financial value. 

And so it may happen that a book sumptuous- 
ly gotten up and which men hesitate to destroy 
on that account, may survive even a better book. 
It is not so fit to be read but fitter to be kept ! 

Once more, and finally among what may be 
called the exterpal factors, any quality which 
tends to induce care, even known rarity and fra- 
gility which seem tendencies to extermination, or 
such accidental circumstances as extra illustra- 
tions, autographs, and the like, tends to survival. 
Some single unpublished ms. in the British 
Museum has a better chance of surviving the 
next one hundred years than hundreds of books 
now extant in hundreds of copies. 

These external factors are the direct occa- 
sions of survival. The exercise of any one is a 
favorable variation which tends to survival, and 



NELSON. 



47 



all survival is effected chiefly through them. 
This, however, is not all the story, for these 
favorable variations themselves are the direct 
product of the literary quality of the book it- 
self, or what we may call the internal factors of 
survival. 

The chief internal factors of survival are two 
in number: (i) vitality of idea, and (2) style, or 
beauty of form ; that is to say, (i) strength, 
and (2) beauty. If two books are equal in liter- 
ary skill then the one with the best ideas is 
best fitted to survive; if they are the same in 
idea then the one with style will tend to sur- 
vive. Even if one is weak or wrong in idea it 
may, perhaps, through grace and charm of 
presentation, be better fitted to survive as a 
book than one which, though right in idea, is 
presented in a stiff, harsh, involved, and sesque- 
pedalian style, and vice versa. In each instance 
there is something in common, and in one in- 
stance a favorable variation which tends to 
survival, and the works survive because of this 
favorable variation. Now, if (to make the 
matter more clear) the better ideas be united 
with the more artful presentation, there is then 
a combination of favorable variations which 
make survival sure, not again be it noted, by 
any aggression, but because the one is less 
fitted to survive in the struggle for readers than 
the other. These internal factors are the di- 
rect occasion of the external ones. It is the 
ideas and style of a book, e.g., which cause mul- 
tiplication and distribution of editions and 
copies. 



Perpendicular ones often overtake horizontal 
ones by virtue of this fact. Homer, Virgil, 
Dante, and Shakespeare did not probably begin 
with as large initial editions as Marie Corelli or 
Lew Wallace, but there are probably more copies 
of Homer to-day than there will be of the " Sor- 
rows of Satan " 3000 years from now. 

In the same way it is esteem for the ideas and 
style which leads to the use of desirable and 
beautiful material aid to care. 

Nevertheless it is not the internal but the 
external factors through which the survival 
is actually effected. They are the direct fac- 
tors. It is therefore a natural selection.. The 
books do not survive by any esoteric tendency 
of the really worthy to survive, but by rea- 
son of definite material circumstances which 
give one book an advantage over another in 
the struggle for life, and by definite historical 
steps do cause it so to survive. 

The internal factors of ideas and style pro- 
duce the external factors of number distribu- 
tion, durability of material, beauty of material, 
and inducements to care. It is not necessary 
to call the attention of this audience to the close 
relation of these terms to the terms of scientific 
evolution. 

If you say that it is still a matter of chance 
whether a book survives or not, I say that it is 
only chance in the same sense that it is in the 
case of plants and animals. Whether Provi- 
dence lies back of a definite form of ideas or a 
definite form of animal or plant life it is not 
within the province of this paper to examine. 



A BIT OF CLASSIFICATION: TREATMENT OF HARVARDIANA 
BY THE HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK. 



BY C: ALEX. NELSON, DEPUTY LIBRARIAN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 



'"PHIS account of the classification which has 
been adopted for the library of the Har- 
vard Club of New York City is given simply as 
a memorandum or note of what may be done 
for a special collection relating to a single uni- 
versity or college. 

It is the aim of the Harvard Club to gather 
into its collection, to the fullest possible ex- 
tent, whatever has been published by or con- 
cerning Harvard College or University since its 



foundation, as well as all that has been written 
by or about the officers and graduates of the 
university. With the exception of a few of the 
more useful and important books for general 
reference, the annual and triennial catalogs of 
other colleges, and annual club books, no effort 
will be made to procure books outside of the 
special field of Harvardiana. 

The official publications will be classified 
under the several departments of the univer- 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



sity by which they are issued ; e.g., corpora- 
tion, board of overseers, president, treasurer, 
etc., and those of the Phi Beta Kappa and other 
societies as society publications. The special 
feature of the plan is that adopted for the pub- 
lications of graduates. These are arranged by 
the year of graduation of the authors, that is 
by the college classes, the authors in each class 
and biographies of members of the class being 
arranged in alphabetical order under the year 
of the class, preceded by the class books or 
secretary's reports when these have been pub- 
lished. This brings all the publications of 
each author together, no matter in how many 
different departments of literature or science he 
may have written. It also shows upon the 
shelves the literary history of each class that 
has been graduated from the university. 

Graduates of the Law, Medical, Divinity and 
Lawrence Scientific Schools and Bussey Insti- 
tute will be arranged by their classes in the 
several schools, except when they have been 
previously graduated as regular alumni, in 
which case the year of graduation from the col- 
lege takes the preference. 

In the case of pamphlet publications, of which 
several thousand have already been collected 
and bound, it is not expected that strictly exact 



classification can be observed, especially with 
those published in the earliest years of the col- 
lege. It is held to be close enough if a single 
volume contain pamphlets written by members 
of several classes in the latter part of the I7th 
century, the years covered by the volume 
being lettered on the back. In later years 
more than one volume is often needed for the 
pamphlet publications of a single author. In a 
similar way articles contributed to magazines 
and periodicals are collected and bound up by 
classes (of authors). 

The peculiarity of this classification springs 
from the peculiar demand made upon this spe- 
cial collection. The members of a club com- 
posed of the alumni of an institution of learn- 
ing do not seek in a collection of its ana for 
information on science or general topics, but 
the most natural query in the mind of each is 
' ' What have the fellows been doing ? " " What 
is the literary record of my classmates ?" And 
the more exact and complete the answer to 
these queries, the more valuable the collection 
whence the answer is drawn. In a club of col- 
lege graduates where the library shelves are 
open and free of access to all the members, ar- 
rangement by college classes as above indicated 
seems to be the best that can be adopted. 



THE CARE OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS. 

BY WILBERFORCE EAMES, LIBRARIAN OF THE LENOX LIBRARY, NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



TV/TY remarks on the care of special collec- 
tions will be restricted chiefly to the 
methods in use, or in contemplation for use, at 
the Lenox branch of the New York Public Li- 
brary. 

RARE BOOKS. 

I find that one of the subjects assigned to me 
is the treatment of rare books. For that matter 
it is well to state, at the outset, that in the ar- 
rangement of the Lenox collections no books are 
classed as rare or curious. They are treated, 
in fact, from a practical standpoint only, and 
are arranged according to their subjects and 
periods, with regard to the purposes for which 
they can best be used. 

One of the specialties of the library being 
early American history, the books relating to 
that subject which were printed before 1800, 
are, with some few exceptions, shelved by 
themselves in chronological order, under the 
dates of publication, and in this way they form 
a sort of reserved group, in which the rarer 



and more valuable editions are included. When 
they are called into use, the reader is invited 
into a section of the reading-room set apart for 
the purpose, and the books are placed before 
him on cloth-covered tables, where they are 
used under supervision. Publications of early 
date in English literature and in other subjects 
are arranged in a similar way, and are treated 
with equal care. 

Many of the more valuable books are re- 
served for the exhibition-room, where they are 
placed open in glass show-cases, which are 
made as nearly dust-tight as possible. Here, 
again, nothing is admitted merely because it is 
rare or curious. As the exhibition is mainly for 
educational purposes, the exhibits are selected 
with that end in view, and they are arranged 
in a systematic order. 

I believe that this feature of the library is 
one of the most practical uses to which rare 
books can be put. It certainly attracts people, 
and if we may judge by the thousands who 



EAMES. 



49 



visit the place every year, in increasing num- 
bers, it must be appreciated by book-lovers 
and educators. There is a good deal to be 
learned from an exhibition of this kind. Among 
those who come are teachers with their classes 
and library schools with their instructors ; visi- 
tors from out of town and tourists from abroad; 
and many with their note-books, jotting down 
the things they wish to remember. Indeed, 
those who come once generally come again 
and bring their friends with them. He who is 
interested in the origin and history of printing 
will find the record fully laid out before him, 
beginning with the earliest products of the art 
in all parts of the world ; the student of Eng- 
lish literature can trace here its growth from 
the first book ever printed in the English tongue 
down to the days of Spenser, Shakespeare, and 
Milton ; the biblical scholar will see the ancient 
text and versions of the scriptures, in their 
primitive rolls, parchments, and most famous 
editions; and the specialist in American history 
will meet with the most important original ma- 
terial from the time of Columbus to the forma- 
tion of our national government. Some come 
to see the first printed book, or the first Homer, 
or the first English Bible ; and others to look 
on the handwriting of Milton, or on Jefferson's 
autograph manuscript of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, or on the original manuscript of 
Washington's Farewell Address. 

In this way we aim to encourage and satisfy 
the desire of many to see the most famous land- 
marks of history and literature, and at the same 
time to save the volumes from unnecessary 
handling. As it may interest others to know 
what subjects we have chosen for illustration 
by means of rare books, in the manner de- 
scribed, I will name the principal of them here: 
ist, ancient manuscripts; 2d, book illumination 
and miniature painting ; 3d, artistic bookbind- 
ing, principally of early date; 4th, block-books, 
or printing before the invention of movable 
type; 5th, the origin of typographic printing in 
Europe, Asia, and Africa; 6th, early printing in 
North and South America; 7th, early wood- 
engraving, copper-engraving, and book illustra- 
tions; 8th, early educational literature, and 
books for the instruction of children, from 1450 
to 1800; gth, early editions of the Bible in vari- 
ous languages; loth, old English literature ; 
nth, early voyages and'travels to India and 
the East; I2th, early maps and the progress of 
geographical discovery; isth, the discovery, 
settlement, and early history of America; i4th, 



the Indian wars of New England; i5th, Ameri- 
can newspapers of the i8th century; i6th, the 
American stamp act and Revolution; I7th, nota- 
ble publications of early date on the arts and 
sciences; and i8th, autographs of famous per- 
sons. There is in preparation a hand-list of 
this material, for the ute of visitors, which will 
contain brief historical and explanatory notes. 

We are sometimes asked whether exposure 
to light does not injure the books and manu- 
scripts which lie open in the show-cases. I 
do not believe that it does, if the sunlight is 
avoided, and if the dust is not allowed to get on 
the open pages. Some of our volumes and 
manuscripts have been on exhibition, in one 
position, for nearly 20 years, and I doubt if 
many persons could pick out the pages that 
have been so exposed without a very close ex- 
amination. 

Rare books, like other books, should have 
air. It is a mistake to shut them up behind 
glass doors, or in close closets, where the air 
cannot circulate behind and around them. If 
they must be locked up it is better to have open 
wire doors. Where the shelves are not well 
ventilated the books will mould or grow musty. 
At the Lenox building we formerly used glass 
doors on some of the wall-cases, where the 
early printed books are kept, but the glass 
frames were all removed some years ago, and 
now we have wire screens in their stead. 
Another mistake, I think, is the general belief 
that dust will injure rare books. Ordinarily it 
will not, for where there is plenty of dust there 
is likely to be air also. I have no doubt that 
many books have been preserved in good con- 
dition merely by being well covered with dust 
for a long period. There is much more danger 
from heat and change in temperature. During 
the winter season the hot air with which our 
building is heated causes the vellum bindings to 
curl out and spread so much that many of the 
volumes have to be tied shut in order to keep 
them on the shelves. I believe that stack- 
rooms should be kept moderately cool or at an 
even temperature all the year round. 

Not many months ago the librarian of one of 
our large New York libraries discovered a rare 
book in a volume of iyth century pamphlets. 
It was a fine copy of the first English publica- 
tion on New York, a pamphlet that is worth in 
the market about $1000. Now this volume had 
been for a long time in the possession of the in- 
stitution referred to, but having been put among 
the "rare" or "curious" books in the libra- 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



rian's office, it had not been cataloged; and 
being only a volume of pamphlets it was proba- 
bly not considered worth cataloging. 

I have here several volumes which show the 
skill with which rare books can be mended. 
One is a copy of the " Pilgrim's progress," 
saved from the fire at Sotheby's auction-rooms 
in London, in June, 1865. The back of the vol- 
ume was burned entirely away, but each leaf 
has been pieced out with a new back margin 
and the book made whole again. Another vol- 
ume has been remargined so skilfully, and the 
lost reading-matter supplied in manuscript so 
nearly like the print, that it will take sharp eyes 
to discover where the original ends and the fac- 
simile begins. A third volume has one leaf in 
pen-and-ink facsimile so well done that it 
would easily escape detection. You all know 
how a leaf of printed matter can be split, pre- 
serving both sides intact. The repairers of 
rare books go still further. They will take the 
reading-matter from the surface of an old title- 
page, or from a page of text, and transfer it in 
good shape to another sheet of paper, making 
it appear like the original page in good con- 
dition. Samples of this kind of work may be 
seen in our library at New York. 

Before leaving the subject of rare books, I 
will call your attention to a modern forgery of 
Columbus's letter, in Spanish, on the discovery 
of America, consisting of four leaves. The 
paper on which it is printed was evidently made 
for the purpose, in order to imitate the water- 
mark of the original edition of 1493, a figure of 
a hand and star. The book was got up abroad 
about four years ago, at the time of the Colum- 
bus celebration in this country, and after being 
bound in Paris in full morocco it was sent to 
America in search of a victim. It was offered 
for sale as an original, to the Lenox Library, at 
three different times, by as many different per- 
sons, and each time it was pronounced to be a 
forgery. On the last occasion the owner, an 
Italian bookseller, came himself, and at the 
close of our interview he pulled the leaves out of 
the covers, tore them into small bits, and then 
threw the pieces into the waste-basket. After 
he had gone away I took some pains to gather 
up the 60 or 70 fragments, and sent them to a 
skilled binder, who carefully pieced them to- 
gether, and here the volume now is, a unique 
specimen of how rare books should not be 
made. 



NEWSPAPERS. 

Bound files of newspapers usually get a 
pretty rough handling, and they are likely to 
suffer much from mutilation by dishonest read- 
ers. We have made a specialty of collecting 
early American newspapers, and particularly of 
those printed in the i8th century. A list of 
this collection was printed at the end of our 
25th annual report, two years ago, and this list 
tells, under each year, from 1704 to 1800, how 
many numbers of each paper were on hand, 
and what months they cover. I mention it now 
because it illustrates the chronological method 
of listing old newspapers. One can see at a 
glance just what kind of material there is for 
any one year. We have found the plan very 
useful. 

Since the list was printed large additions 
have been made to the collection, which com- 
prises now about 25,000 numbers for the period 
named. Many of the papers are in poor con- 
dition; some have been through fire and water, 
others are so worn by former use that they 
have to be handled with great care, and all of 
them are expensive. After consulting the wise 
men of Philadelphia and New York, we decided 
to bind each newspaper file in yearly volumes, 
mounting each leaf on guards, and interleaving 
each number with a sheet of stiff paper. In the 
course of binding different lots we hit upon some 
improvements, and the sample volume I have 
here to-day exhibits the result of our latest ex- 
periments. The binding is of half morocco, 
and the guards on which the leaves are mounted 
are of thin yet tough paper, set out far enough 
to let the leaves lay nearly flat. The stiff 
paper between each number is half an inch 
larger all the way around than the newspaper 
it protects, so that in turning over the leaves it 
is not necessary to touch the newspaper at all. 
Wherever numbers happen to be lacking, space 
is reserved in each case by putting in the 
guards as full leaves, any one of which can be 
cut down to a stub for mounting on whenever 
a missing number is found. This arrangement 
is the best we have been able to devise for pre- 
serving and protecting the oldest and most val- 
uable class of newspapers. The cost of the 
binding (Stikeman's) is about $4 for each 
volume. 

To treat newspapers of the present century 
in the same way would not be advisable, be- 



EAMES. 



cause it would be too expensive. A moderate 
amount of interleaving with stiff manila paper 
could be recommended in some cases, when the 
newspapers are not in good condition. In our 
classification we have placed the early printed 
newspapers in a room by themselves, apart 
from the files of modern newspapers, and when 
they are needed for reference, extra care is en- 
joined. Our usage would favor a separate 
catalog for the newspapers. 

BROADSIDES. 

Printed broadsides, leaflets, and single sheets 
of early date are laid each one in a paper wrap- 
per, which is lettered on the side and placed 
flat with others in its proper drawer or box. 
For the early printed broadsides we prefer the 
chronological arrangement under groups; for 
those of later date, the classification of ordinary 
books, treating theth with reference to their 
local interest in many cases; and we would 
catalog each piece as if it were a book. 



Loose maps and plans are treated in a manner 
like the broadsides. Dividing them into two 
sizes, those under and those over 2% by 2 feet, 
our usual plan is to place each map by itself in 
a paper wrapper, of one or the other size, on 
the back margin of which is written its title and 
distinctive mark. They are then arranged in 
geographical or alphabetical order, in case- 
drawers made for the purpose, which we prefer 
to portfolios. Folded maps in covers, and 
maps on rollers, should in most cases be pre- 
served as they are, and be arranged by them- 
selves. We would recommend a separate cata- 
log for maps and atlases, indexing each map 
of the atlases. 

ENGRAVINGS. 

Where there is a large number of engravings 
it is advisable to have a separate room for their 
accommodation. They will naturally divide 
into distinct groups, which will require differ- 
ent treatment, suited to their character and size. 
Portraits will have one order of arrangement; 
views will have another; works of certain en- 
gravers and artists will need to be kept together; 
and other groups will be necessary according 
to the size of the collection. 

Strong flat pasteboard boxes are excellent for 
engravings of medium and small size. Where 



portfolios are used for large engravings, sepa- 
rate wrappers of stiff paper will be found a good 
protection. Many of the engraved portraits in 
the Emmet collection, belonging to the New 
York Public Library, are bound together in 
volumes, according to their sizes, and in alpha- 
betical order. It is a good plan to catalog all 
prints and drawings by themselves. 

Collections of books that have been brought 
together for the purpose of illustrating the work 
of some particular engraver, like Hollar, Ver- 
tue, Bewick, and Cruikshank, or our own An- 
derson and Darley, should be kept intact and in 
a place by themselves, as far as possible. 

ANNOTATED BOOKS. 

Books which are made valuable by the au- 
tographs or manuscript annotations of famous 
persons, or even by their book-plates, should 
be given a place of their own, if it is desired to 
have them treated with care. We have put 
books of this kind in our manuscript depart- 
ment. 

EXTRA ILLUSTRATED BOOKS. 

Another class requiring special treatment con- 
sists of books that have been extended beyond 
their original form by the insertion of extrane- 
ous matter in the shape of autograph letters, 
portraits, views, and other engravings. This 
class we have also placed in the manuscript de- 
partment. The method which we follow in in- 
dexing the inserted material will be described 
under the next division. 

MANUSCRIPTS. 

I can add but little of interest to Mr. Frieden- 
wald's remarks on the care of manuscripts. 
We have in our collection at the Lenox build- 
ing somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 manu- 
scripts, mostly relating to American and Eng- 
lish history, and a separate department has 
been organized for this portion of the library. 
Four rooms are set apart for the purpose, one of 
which is used for cataloging manuscripts. The 
bound manuscripts fill from 700 to 800 volumes. 
The loose material, which comprises several 
thousand pieces, is arranged in drawer cases. 
Groups of manuscripts which are bound to- 
gether, or which belong together, are given 
some distinctive mark, like the Emmet Manu- 
scripts, the Adams Papers, the Gates Papers, 
the Madison Papers, etc. The other loose letters 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



and documents are arranged alphabetically un- 
der the names of the writers, or under the head- 
ings by which they would be cataloged. Some 
of the manuscripts are inlaid on uniform sheets 
of paper, and those which are not are placed 
in paper wrappers, to be lettered on the outside. 
In speaking of the extra illustrated books, I 
mentioned our method of indexing the material. 
Those of you who have seen the New York 
Public Library Bulletin may have noticed the 
analytical indexes of the Emmet volumes. In 
each recent number of the Btilletin is a descrip- 
tion of the contents of one of these volumes. 
There are about 70 of them in all, large folios 
and quartos, relating to American history be- 
fore 1800. Each volume contains from 50 to 100 
manuscripts, and about the same number of 
portraits, views, or other illustrative documents, 
arranged in a systematic order. For instance, 
in the volume on the members of the Continent- 
al Congress from Pennsylvania, under each 
member will be found his portrait in one or 
more varieties, then perhaps a view of his res- 
idence, and finally one or two or three letters 



in his handwriting. In indexing this material, 
form-headings in italic are prefixed to most 
of the catalog headings, which are in heavy- 
faced type. These form-headings indicate at 
once whether the title following is of a letter, 
or portrait, or view, or something else. At the 
end of each title is the number of that particu- 
lar document in the Emmet collection. Each 
other special collection of manuscripts has its 
own series of numbers. These titles are cut 
and mounted on cards for the general cata- 
log of manuscripts. 

I have thus attempted to give an outline of 
the treatment of some special collections under 
our care. Many of the problems of this nature 
have to be decided according to the means at 
hand, and each one must, to a certain degree, 
work them out for himself. I know that we 
will gladly welcome any method or device that 
will simplify our work in this line, and if others 
think they can benefit in any way by our ex- 
perience, we shall certainly be glad to give all 
the information in our power. 



THE CARE OF MANUSCRIPTS. 



BY HERBERT FRIEDENWALD, PH.D. 



XT O object that has ever had connection with 
the life of a man of renown bears so 
personal a relation to him as a piece of his 
manuscript. No treasures that come to a li- 
brary are so precious as its manuscript collec- 
tions. They are usually unique, and in but 
few instances have ever seen the light of the 
printer's day. Even where that has happened 
their value is not decreased, in that the manu- 
script must ever remain the final authority, the 
ultimate appeal, in cases of disputed rendering 
of the originals. In the case of scientific works 
of great importance they are often of inestima- 
ble value for indicating the development of the 
author's ideas, and of the method of their ex- 
pression, while the work as printed gives but a 
presentation of the completed thought. 

RESTORATION. 

It is proper and necessary, therefore, that 
manuscripts should be given a special and differ- 
ent care from that accorded even the rarest 
books. The latter, by means of substantial or 



extravagant bindings, may readily be put in a 
way to last for all time. Far more attention, 
however, must be bestowed upon manuscripts. 

Where they are received already restored, 
mounted and bound, the problem of their care 
is much simplified, and resolves itself into the 
elements of stamping, cataloging, and shelving. 
But when manuscripts are purchased or donated 
jn a condition that means increased injury after 
every handling, they must be restored, as near- 
ly as may be, to their original state and made 
proof against further damage. For, in view of 
the constantly increasing estimate put upon the 
value of original material, it must be expected 
that a manuscript will be called for and con- 
sulted with as great frequency as one of the 
rarer books. They should, therefore, be so put 
in order that access to them is obtainable when- 
ever properly in demand, and that they may be 
used without injury. 

The first step, consequently, is the restora- 
tion of the manuscript. For it is no longer 
thought proper to simply paste it in a book, 



FRIEDENWALD. 



53 



without regard to whether the edges be ragged 
and the body be stained and crease-marked or 
not. Nor does the process of restoration mere- 
ly mean piecing out the torn edges by pasting 
on bits of paper, nor yet filling up the holes in 
similar manner. 

The work is begun by selecting from a stock 
of old paper a piece of the color, and, as nearly 
as possible, of the texture of the paper of the 
document itself. It is then placed on a lithog- 
rapher's stone and moistened, when necessary, 
in order to remove the creases. The pieces 
that are to be attached are cut of the proper 
size, and, with an instrument resembling a shoe- 
maker's awl, have their edges shaved down to 
their thinnest proportions. They are then skil- 
fully fitted and pasted to the manuscript, with a 
paste the chief ingredient of which is rice flour. 
The unnecessary paste is then washed off, the 
manuscript is put between sheets of paper, 
which in turn are placed between other sheets 
of blotting-paper to absorb the moisture, and 
thus surrounded, it is put under great pressure 
in a letterpress, where it is allowed to remain 
for several days. Without calling the latter 
into requisition all the other work would count 
for nothing. 

Had the manuscript been otherwise weak, 
a more vigorous treatment would have been 
requisite. Were the paper exceptionally thin 
and almost brittle, it would have been necessary 
to strengthen it by attaching either transparent 
linen tracing-cloth or ordinary paraffine paper 
used by florists, to the whole of the manu- 
script. To prevent curling the material in- 
tended to strengthen should in any event be 
attached to both sides of the sheets. The 
paraffine paper gives as satisfactory results as 
the heavier linen cloth, and is much less clumsy 
in appearance. I have seen documents that 
before restoration in this manner were so fragile 
as to almost crumble at a touch, yet which bore 
the appearance of having been treated to a coat 
of shellac rather than having been put through 
any other process. The letterpress must in any 
event be used, since it acts as a splint in cases 
of fracture, enabling the parts to knit in as 
nearly normal a manner as possible, with no 
shrinking or dislocation. 

STAMPING. 

The manuscript must now be stamped, hav- 
ing thus been restored to its youthful appear- 
ance by the application of this elixir of life. 



A diversity of opinion still exists respecting 
the advisability of stamping valuable manu- 
scripts. As the object' to be attained, however, 
is the prevention of the theft or disposal of the 
manuscripts, this can best be brought about by 
the use of a stamp. For various reasons, not 
the least of which is the little injury it does the 
manuscript, the embossing stamp is to be pre- 
ferred. The size should not be too great ; it 
should, of course, contain the name of the in- 
stitution to which it belongs, and where possi- 
ble, for convenience' sake, the designation of 
the series or collection of which it forms a part. 
Room should also be left for the addition of the 
number of the manuscript. 

MOUNTING AND BINDING. 

The next proceeding is that of mounting and 
binding. The first question that looms into 
prominence here is that of the proportions of 
the volumes. The sheets upon which the man- 
uscripts are to be mounted must have ample 
but not too large margins ; and as manuscripts 
vary in size even when belonging to the same 
collection, each volume should be sufficiently- 
large to hold the largest manuscripts without 
folding. Uniformity of size where documents 
belong to the same series must also be main- 
tained wherever possible. Great care should 
be taken to have the volumes of light weight 
even at the risk of increasing the number 
rather than few and consequently heavy and 
bulky. For the amount of abuse a volume re- 
ceives is in proportion to the effort required in 
order to handle it. If the document forms part 
of a collection that is constantly on the increase, 
some form of binding should be utilized that 
is out of the ordinary. A flexible binder of the 
nature of that devised by the lamented Dr. 
Stone, late librarian of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, should be used. This, while 
giving stability to the collection, yet permits 
of the extraction or addition of individual 
sheets whenever the occasion requires it. 

When it is found necessary to remove old 
bindings, that have at one time been put about 
manuscripts, they should not be destroyed, but 
should be carefully preserved for purposes 
of reference. And when taken apart the 
backs of the old bindings should be carefully 
examined, for occasions are not infrequent 
when valuable manuscript or printed material 
has thus been found. 

The question of caring for individual manu- 



54 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE, 



scripts, such as letters and documents of that 
nature, having but a slight connection with the 
rest of the collections, is one that also requires 
attention. When not suitable for purposes of 
exhibition (to which by reason of their detached 
nature they often particularly well lend them- 
selves) they should be put away in cardboard 
boxes or in heavy envelopes made of manila 
paper. These should be of convenient size 
and should be suitably labelled. The manu- 
scripts must, of course, first have been restored 
and mounted, and they may then safely remain 
thus cared for until the opportunity arises for 
binding them with other manuscripts. 

CLASSIFICATION. 

The classification of manuscripts permits of 
development somewhat on the lines of that of 
books. But as no two collections are ever alike, 
each keeper must necessarily devise a system of 
classification suitable to the conditions under 
which he is working. An alphabetical designa- 
tion may prove convenient, or else, as is often 
done, some special distinctive symbol may be 
utilized to characterize the individual collec- 
tions. 

The enumeration of the pieces may be by 
series or may embrace the collection as a whole. 
The latter mode has much to recommend it, in 
that it gives a convenient means of reference 
in supplement to the alphabetical or special 
designation. For each piece is thus given an 
individuality of its own and at the same time a 
definite place in the collection. 

In the shelving and storing of manuscripts 
too great care cannot be exercised. They 
should of course be put in a fireproof vault or 
chamber, or where the building is fireproof in 
a section or department by themselves. As an 
extra precaution against dust and other destruc- 
tive processes, they should be kept under glass 
or in dust-proof drawers, and always under 
lock and key. 

CATALOGING. 

In cataloging some distinctive mark or sym- 
bol must be used to indicate at a glance that 
the reference is to a volume or a document in 
the manuscript department. For this purpose 
the ordinary mss. symbol will answer as well as 
any other. The cards should be kept separated 
from the book-cards in order that the distinc- 
tion may be all the more marked. As the col- 



lections are so entirely different from the 
others in the library there is no need to com- 
plicate matters by distributing the manuscript 
cards among the other cards. 

The title upon the card should consist of the 
name of the collection of which the document 
forms a part. If the document be a letter, as 
is often the case, there should follow the name 
of the writer and the name of the person to 
whom the letter is addressed, with the date and 
place of writing. Then should come a descrip- 
tion of the size and the number of pages. If in 
a foreign language, the language should be in- 
dicated, as also the character of the material 
upon which the manuscript is written. If a 
signed letter or an autograph letter, the com- 
monly used abbreviation L. S. or A. L. S. 
should be added. The cross-references should 
be to the name of the writer and that of the re- 
cipient. 

In the case of literary or scientific manuscripts 
of considerable bulk (most often of books al- 
ready published) the ordinary method of book 
cataloging with the manuscript department 
symbol added may be resorted to. In the mar- 
gin of the card should be put the designation of 
the series with the number of the document, 
and as well, if the document cataloged be one 
in a large number of volumes of that series, 
the number of the volume and the page on 
which it may be found, when the latter is nec- 
essary. 

EXHIBITION. 

No part of the care of manuscripts is more 
interesting and at the same time more valuable 
from the point of view of attracting gifts and 
deposits than that of their exhibition. The 
glass cases to be used for this purpose should 
be specially designed and constructed to meet 
the conditions of light and size, etc., of the ex- 
hibition-room. But too little attention has 
been paid to this important branch of the care 
of manuscripts. And by reason of the special 
knowledge required in order that manuscripts 
may be exhibited to the best advantage, the 
question of their installation should not be en- 
tered upon until after careful consultation with 
museum experts. For the many points of ad- 
vantageous light, of height, and depth, and 
width of the cases, can best be looked after by 
those who have been specially trained for this 
work. 

Whenever manuscripts are exhibited they 



HARRIS. 



55 



should be accompanied by carefully-prepared 
labels printed on cards and in a clearly legible 
type. 

CALENDARING. 

With his collections well bound and cared 
for, no keeper should rest satisfied until a 
calendar of them, at least, is in print. This 
holds particularly true in our country and of 
the manuscripts relating to its history. Its 
vast extent and the consequent wide distribu- 
tion of collections makes it impossible that the 
historical student can have access to more than 
a small portion of those he desires to consult. 
If anything can be accomplished, therefore, by 
this means, to lighten his labors and enable 
him to perfect his work, it should be done. 

The calendar form need not be adhered to 
too vigorously, for the dull page may occasion- 
ally be enlivened by a brief quotation from an 
important manuscript. A few words thus 
taken from the original document often express 
the idea it is desired to convey far better than 
an abstract. Nor will the calendar be complete 
unless the language in which the manuscript is 
written and its size and number of pages be 



indicated. For convenience in reference to the 
original the designating mark belonging to the 
manuscript should be appended. Nor should 
an index be overlooked. 

CONCLUSION. 

None but persons known to the one in charge 
of the manuscripts, or those who come to him 
well accredited, should be permitted to have 
access to them. And if copies are allowed to 
be made, it were best that by reason of the 
carelessness of some, all be put to a slight in- 
convenience, and that no ink be allowed to be 
used. 

When it is known that collections are thus 
carefully guarded and preserved in so pains- 
taking a manner, their increase will result from 
the diffusion of this information. For persons 
who have manuscripts to dispose of, and who 
desire to give or deposit them where they will 
be put beyond the range of injury, will natu- 
rally give them into the care of such institutions 
as best care for them, as best exhibit them, and 
where they can be made of the greatest use by 
the greatest number. 



NOTES ON THE GOVERNMENT AND CONTROL OF COLLEGE 

LIBRARIES. 



BY GEORGE WILLIAM HARRIS, LIBRARIAN OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 



T DO not design to make an extended re- 
^ port on this subject, but rather some brief 
remarks that may serve as a means of pro- 
moting discussion. Accordingly, I will not 
attempt to trace the great development in col- 
lege libraries that has taken place in the last 
30 years, or the influence that development has 
had upon the methods of government and con- 
trol. Neither have I any general theory for 
the management and control of college libra- 
ries. I simply purpose to take the college li- 
brary as it is to-day, and ask you to bear in 
mind the fact that primarily and chiefly the col- 
lege library is intended for the use and conven- 
ience of the professors and students of the col- 
lege with which it is connected. However 
desirable and praiseworthy it may be to open 
wide its doors to the general public and to give 
free access to books, such access and such use 
of the college library by the public must be 



considered as a matter of favor and courtesy, to 
be granted only in so far as it does not inter- 
fere with the convenience of those who are 
primarily entitled to the use of the library. 

As I said, I have no general theory to pro- 
pose. What I do propose to lay before you is 
simply the concrete example of the method of 
government and control which is in force at the 
library of Cornell University. I do not think 
I can bring the matter before you in any better 
way than by quoting that section of the statutes 
of Cornell University which deals with the 
university library. The section is as follows: 

" i. The general care and supervision of the 
University Library is entrusted to a Library 
Council. This council consists of the presi- 
dent of the University, who shall be ex officio 
chairman of the council, and librarian, or, in 
his absence, the acting librarian, and five 
elected members, one of whom shall be elected 
by the executive committee and four by the 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



general faculty. The election of members 
shall take place annually as near the beginning 
of the collegiate year as may be practicable. 
Persons elected shall hold office till their suc- 
cessors are chosen. 

"2. For the election of members from the 
faculty, that body shall be divided into two 
groups, and each group at the first election 
after the adoption of this statute shall elect two 
members, one of whom shall hold office for one 
year and one for two years, the term of each 
being determined by lot. Each year thereafter 
one member shall be elected annually by each 
group for two years. 

" 3. The two groups for the election of 
members shall be constituted as follows, viz.: 
i. the group of science; 2. the group of let- 
ters. The group of science for the purposes 
of this act shall be deemed to include those 
members of the general faculty who give in- 
struction in the departments of agriculture, 
architecture, civil engineering, mechanical and' 
electrical engineering, mathematics, physics, 
chemistry, physical culture, military tactics, 
and the several branches of natural history. 
The group of letters shall be deemed to in- 
clude those members of the faculty who give 
instruction in the departments of the several 
languages, of history and political science, and 
of philosophy and ethics. In each of the 
groups the election shall be by ballot, and the 
result of the ballot shall be communicated to 
the executive committee by the secretary of 
the faculty. In case a member of the faculty 
should be a member of both groups, he may 
choose the group in which he will act, and he 
may vote and be voted for in that group and 
not in the other. 

"4. It shall be the duty of "the Library Council 
to apportion the book funds between the various 
departments of instruction as may best accord 
with the interests of the University, and to rec- 
ommend and submit to the trustees for their 
approval all questions pertaining to the appor- 
tionment of the funds, binding, cataloguing, 
and in general, to all accommodations, arrange- 
ments and rules for the administration of the 
library. After the apportionment of the book 
funds each year shall have been approved by 
the executive committee, the treasurer shall 
be authorized, unless otherwise instructed, to 
purchase books approved by the council, not 
exceeding the amount of the appropriation ; but 
no subordinate shall be employed, salaries paid, 
or expenses of any kind incurred which shall 
not first have been approved by the executive 
committee, and after an appropriation duly 
made by them. All business of a financial 
character shall be transacted through the treas- 
urer of the University. 

"5. The duties of the librarian shall be to 
take charge of the internal administration of 
the library, and, with his subordinates, to keep 
it in complete working order for the use of pro- 
fessors, students, and others entitled to it ; to 
conduct its correspondence ; to make an annual 
report to the president of its condition, and of 



all additions to it ; and to perform such other 
duties as may be imposed upon him from time 
to time by the trustees. 

" 6. The librarian and president have power 
to approve orders, signed by the professors at 
the head of the departments, for ordinary 
working books, but shall refer to the council 
all orders for costly or otherwise exceptional 
books." 

In regard to the election of members of the 
council from the faculty, the original statute 
provided the faculty should be divided into four 
groups and each group should elect a member 
each year ; natural and physical science and 
technical science forming the two groups of 
what is now the group of science : philology 
and literature one group, and history and polit- 
ical science and philosophy the other. The re- 
sult of that plan was that there was no continu- 
ity in the council. Every year, as a rule, four 
new members were elected by the faculty in 
these groups. These came into the council 
quite new to the work, and it involved some 
loss of time in explaining to them what had 
been the principles governing the action of the 
council in the past. So this modification was 
made, the faculty was divided into two groups, 
and members elected hold office for two years, 
one member for each group being elected in 
alternate years. By that means we do attain 
a certain continuity in the policy of the coun- 
cil. 

This council is a representative body ; the 
trustees of the university are represented by 
one member elected from their number, and by 
the president of the university, who is, ex officio 
a member of the board of trustees. The facul- 
ty are represented by four members, and the li- 
brary is represented by the librarian. You will 
perceive that while the immediate care and 
management of the library affairs is entrusted 
to the library council, all their action is subject 
to the approval of the executive committee of 
the board of trustees, the board of trustees 
being supreme authority in all matters of uni- 
versity administration, and the university trus- 
tees holding the strings of the purse. 

One of the principal functions of the library 
council is to apportion the book funds among 
the various departments. In 1891 a plan of dis- 
tribution of the book fund was adopted by the 
council, based upon the principle of giving 
recognition, in the general list of departments, 
to all subjects taught, and adding a few sub- 
jects not thus cared for ; thus recognizing all 



HARRIS. 



57 



subjects by a small appropriation, and yet 
maintaining the principle of keeping the ex- 
penditure for this list within about one-third of 
the total expenditure. The need for books, 
however, is not in proportion to the officers of 
instruction, nor is it possible to state justly the 
relative importance of subjects to each other. 
Weak or neglected departments must be treated 
on different grounds from some others. There- 
fore it was believed that this could be best 
managed by leaving the reserve fund large, to 
be assigned at the wisdom of the council to the 
departments making the strongest requests. It 
was resolved that this system should be ex- 
plained by a statement sent to each officer at 
the beginning of the year, and that no grants 
should be made from the reserve fund before 
November 15 of each year. The funds at 
the disposal of the council for the purchase of 
books and periodicals amount to about $15,000 
or $16,000 a year. For the year 1896-97 the 
sum available was $16,729 as the income of the 
Sage Endowment Fund for the increase of the 
library. For this year the sum distributed 
among the departments is $5675. The sum as- 
signed to the periodical list for the current year 
was increased from $2800 to a sum not to ex- 
ceed $3000. Then in recognition of the need 
of supplementing the grants to specific de- 
partments by a fund from which purchases of 
works not properly falling within any one of 
these departments, but important and necessary 
for the general usefulness and symmetrical de- 
velopment of the library might be made, it was 
voted that a discretionary fund of $1000 be 
placed at the disposition of the librarian for the 
purchase of such works. Another fund of 
$1000 was placed at the disposition of the li- 
brarian for the purpose of filling up incom- 
plete sets of periodicals, which, in a new library 
which has reached its 25th or 26th year, are 
considerable in number. After making these 
various appropriations there remained at the 
disposal of the council a reserve fund of $6074 
for strengthening weak or neglected depart- 
ments. 

The first meeting of the council in the year is 
held usually about the beginning of October, 
but by this provision no grants are made from 
the reserve fund before the isth of November, 
in order that the departments may look over 
the ground and see what their needs are for the 
year and present their statement to the council. 



And in that way no one department is likely to 
get an advantage over another. 

Worth noting is another modification intro- 
duced after the original statute was passed. 
The original statute provided the list of works 
approved by'the council should also be submit- 
ted to the trustees. That was done once, but 
the trustees said: "We know nothing about 
these lists ; we cannot judge ; if the council 
approves them that is sufficient." So it was 
modified by providing in the statute that, 
after the council had apportioned these funds 
and that apportionment had been approved by 
the executive committee, the treasurer was 
authorized to purchase books approved by the 
council. Then at first, the council thought it 
wise to look over -the list of books submitted by 
the various departments, but that was soon 
found to be a laborious undertaking which 
consumed a great deal of time; so that was 
modified by the insertion of the provision that 
orders from the heads of departments for 
books might be approved by the president and 
librarian and that was sufficient for ordinary 
books. Exceptional cases arise. For instance, 
I have one in mind where the head of a depart- 
ment asked for the purchase of 50 copies of a 
text-book for reference for a class. That I 
considered not an ordinary work, and it was 
referred to the council and promptly disallowed. 
Very few cases of that sort have occurred. 

The relations of the librarian with the coun- 
cil have always been of the pleasantest and 
most cordial character, and any matter in rea- 
son which the librarian recommends is pretty 
sure to meet with the approval and support of 
the council. And in dealing with the board of 
trustees, and especially with regard to ques- 
tions which involve expenditures of money, it 
is a great help and a satisfaction for the libra- 
rian to be able to go to the trustees with a report 
which has the endorsement and approval of the 
library council which contains representatives 
from the board of trustees itself as well as 
members of the faculty. 

So far as the appointment of subordinates is 
concerned, in my experience I have been left a 
perfectly free hand and have made my own 
selections, and those selections have always 
been approved and ratified by the council and 
by the trustees. The system certainly has this 
merit: that it works smoothly and satisfactorily, 
and has now been in use for 16 or 17 years. 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



THE LONDON INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON A CATALOG 
OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.* 

BY CYRUS ADLER, LIBRARIAN OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



'T'HERE was held in London last summer, 
from the I4th to the lyth of July, a con- 
ference known as the International Biblio- 
graphical Conference. I am sorry that I can- 
not speak of that meeting from personal knowl- 
edge, as I was not present. In the preparation 
of this statement I have had to aid me the two 
official publications of the conference together 
with all the antecedent documents. I have also 
had some personal information from Dr. Bil- 
ings and Professor Newcomb, the gentlemen 
who represented the United States at the con- 
ference, and I have had access to the official 
files of the Smithsonian Institution. 

Before taking up the question itself, it may be 
well to say a word or two in regard to the his- 
tory of indexing scientific literature. It is no 
small satisfaction to us that the first impulse 
toward this work came from the United States. 
In 1854 or 1855 Professor Henry, secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution, suggested such a 
scheme to the British Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, and the Association ap- 
pointed for its consideration a committee con- 
sisting entirely of fellows of the Royal Society. 
Ten years afterwards the Royal Society took 
up the cataloging of scientific papers from the 
year 1800. You know that the result of this 
work has been n splendid volumes, giving a 
catalog or index by authors only, and includ- 
ing only papers in periodicals and transactions 
of learned societies. These volumes have been 
much criticised for what they do not do, but 
they are very helpful for what they do. 

In March, 1894, the Royal Society issued a 
circular addressed to learned societies all over 
the world, calling attention to the fact that this 
catalog was a costly piece of work, that it was 
only an author catalog, and that it was admit- 
tedly incomplete. The development of scientific 
literature had been so great that some better 
arrangement was needed, and the president and 
council appointed a committee to consider the 
subject and report on the feasibility of such a 

* A fuller account will be found in Science, Aug. 6, 1897. 



catalog being compiled through international 
co-operation. The correspondence which re- 
sulted was favorable, American institutions being 
most cordial. The councils of the various uni- 
versities in this country responded favorably, 
and many oCour scientific men and some libra- 
rians made suggestions to the Royal Society 
through the medium of the journals. There 
was an interesting discussion in Science on 
the subject, in which Dr. Billings, the late 
Dr. Goode, and others took part. There was a 
similar discussion in Nature, and in the Library 
Journal. The committee reported to the Royal 
Society that they thought the plan feasible, and 
the Royal Society moved the British govern- 
ment to call an international convention. In 
the United States the course of action was for 
the Secretary of State to refer the matter to the 
Smithsonian institution. The secretary of the 
Institution reported that he thought the mat- 
ter of great moment, recommended that the 
government of the United States take part, and 
suggested that Dr. Billings and Professor New- 
comb be named to represent the government on 
that occasion. This suggestion was adopted, 
and brings us down to the conference proper. 
I will name the coustries taking part: Austria, 
Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, 
Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands,, 
Norway, Sweden, Switzerland United King- 
dom, United States, Cape Colony, Canada, In- 
dia, Natal New South Wales, New Zealand, 
and Queensland. You will notice in this list 
that, with the exception of Canada, the only 
country on the American continent represented 
besides the United States is Mexico; that is 
important, because it may result in the necessity 
of the United States taking a very active part 
in the matter. 

The verbatim report of the proceedings of 
the conference is most interesting. There were 
three secretaries; one for French, one for Ger- 
man, and one for English, and those three 
languages were used interchangeably, with 
sometimes one delegate speaking, now in one 
language and now in another. The position of 



.IDLER. 



59 



the Royal Society was stated at the outset by 
Prof. Armstrong, who said that the society had 
felt for a number of years that it was not doing 
enough to supply the needs of scientific workers ; 
that the production of catalogs arranged only 
according to authors' names was altogether in- 
sufficient, and it was essential that much more 
should be done, and that the work should be 
done much more quickly. A number of ques- 
tions were raised, such as whether a vote 
should be taken by nations or not. That ques- 
tion created a good deal of discussion. One of 
the matters that was bound to come up was the 
relation of the Belgian Bibliographical Bureau 
to this movement. Very early in the course of 
the discussion the Belgian representatives pre- 
sented a joint note, setting forth what the Bel- 
gian Bibliographical Bureau had done. The 
reception accorded it was not enthusiastic. 
Reading between the lines, I should say that the 
conference practically decided not to avail itself 
of the Belgian bureau or of the Belgian system, 
though there is, perhaps, a possibility that at 
some future time these two movements may be 
united. 

One of the questions which created a great 
deal of discussion and interest was regarding 
the division of science: first, the division of sci- 
ence into pure and applied, and it being practi- 
cally settled that the applied sciences were to be 
excluded, the further question of what sort of 
classification of science should be made. One 
very acute remark was made by a delegate who 
said: " If you make a hard and fast division of 
pure physics and pure chemistry, you will miss 
the most interesting books and papers pub- 
lished, because it is just between physics and 
Chemistry that the most important discoveries 
are now being made." Another interesting sub- 
ject was the definition of what the catalog 
should include. It was originally proposed 
that the catalog should comprise all published 
original contributions to science, whether ap- 
pearing in periodicals or in publications of soci- 
eties or as independent pamphlets, memoirs, or 
books. That proposition practically prevailed, 
so that the future catalog will differ from the 
past work of the Royal Society by including 
independent books and memoirs. Much time 
was spent on the question of the method get- 
ting these independent publications. Several 
delegates said while it would be easy enough 
to arrange for the exchange of the transactions 



of learned societies, it would not be possible 
to get independent books and memoirs. That 
statement brought out a discussion which 
showed that some countries do not make com- 
pulsory any deposit of books registered for 
copyright, and it is possible that one of the out- 
comes of this conference may be an agitation in 
such countries which will bring about the com- 
pulsory deposit of books, and therefore enable 
persons who have access to the national libra- 
ries to see all the books. If I remember 
rightly, so important a state as Saxony, which 
includes Leipsic, does not require deposits of 
books for copyright. 

The conference finally adopted a scheme 
something as follows : In preparing the catalog 
regard shall be had in the first instance to the 
requirements of scientific investigators, to the 
end that they may find most easily what is pub- 
lished concerning any particular subject. The ' 
administration of the catalog is to be en- 
trusted to a representative body called the In- 
ternational Council. The final editing and pub- 
lication of the catalog is to be entrusted to an 
organization called the Central International 
Bureau, under the direction of the International 
Council. Any country which shall declare its 
willingness to undertake the task shall be en- 
trusted with the duty of collecting and provis- 
ionally classifying and transmitting to the Cen- 
tral Bureau, according to the rules laid down, 
all the entries belonging to the scientific works 
of that country. In indexing according to sub- 
ject-matter regard shall be had not only to the 
title of the paper or book, but also to the nat- 
ure of the contents. In judging whether a 
publication shall be considered a contribution 
to science, regard shall be had to its contents, 
irrespective of the channel through which it is 
published. This subject, by the way, brought 
out a very interesting discussion and the ex- 
pression of some extremely liberal views on 
the part of more than one member. The Ger- 
man delegates, for instance, pointed out that 
such a journal as the Allgemeine Zeitung often 
contained original articles. We know that in 
this country important scientific articles appear 
in our popular magazines and sometimes even 
in our newspapers. 

Another provision is that the Central Bureau 
shall issue a catalog in the form of slips or 
cards, the details of the cards to be hereafter 
determined, and the issue to take place as 



6o 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



promptly as possible. Cards corresponding to 
any one or more branches of sciences, or to sec- 
tions of such science, shall be supplied sepa- 
rately and under the direction of the Central 
Bureau. The Central Bureau shall also issue 
a catalog in book form from time to time, the 
entries being classified according to the rules to 
be hereafter determined ; that the issue in book 
form shall be in parts corresponding to the sev- 
eral branches of the science, the several parts 
being supplied separately at the discretion and 
under the direction of the Central Bureau. The 
Central Bureau is to be located in London. 
There was absolute unanimity on that point. 

The discussion on the classification of science 
was very interesting and important, and I ex- 
pect to give a rather full account of that 
shortly in Science.* 

The conference being unable to accept any of 
the systems of classification recently proposed, 
refers the choice of a system to the committee 
on organization. That decision was the result 
of an interesting discussion. It was a substi- 
tute for the original proposition that the Dewey 
system be not adopted as it stands. The Bel- 
gian representatives were the supporters of the 
Dewey system. The vote on this was unani- 
mous, but the Belgians did not vote, and had 
the fact they did not vote recorded. The gen- 
eral considerations which prompted this con- 
clusion were that the conference was not study- 
ing the question of the usefulness of any 
given system of placing books on shelves. 
That they thought outside of their province. 
They assert by this resolution, most positively, 
that the system of classification on shelves has 
no real relation to the system of classification 
in a scientific catalog. 

English was adopted as the language of the 
catalog, and that with unanimity. An Aus- 
trian delegate, when some slight objection was 
raised, rose and said that English was a lan- 
guage now so widespread that it might be said 

* See Science, Aug. 6, 1897. 



to be more understood than any other, and 
however much pride one might have in his na- 
tionality, he must have a greater interest in the 
general welfare of mankind. 

The beginning of the catalog was fixed for 
January i, 1900, and it was stated as desirable 
that the Royal Society should be informed of 
the adherence of the different countries by 1897 
or 1898. It is understood that the International 
Council will provide for the cataloging of the 
literature of such countries as are not willing 
to undertake the work themselves. 

When the conference, adjourned the dele- 
gates departed to their homes and made reports 
to their governments. In the United States a 
report was presented by Dr. Billings and Pro- 
fessor Newcomb to the Secretary of State. 
That report was presented on October 15, 1896. 
On the next day the Secretary of State referred 
it to the secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion for his advice, together with a request for 
a statement of the probable cost to the United 
States of entering into this scheme. This was 
estimated to be about $10,000 a year, and a 
letter to this effect was sent to the Secretary of 
State, who transmitted it, together with the 
documents, to both houses of Congress. These 
papers were laid before Congress December 17, 
1896, but it was then too late to get any action 
by the last Congress, nor, indeed, was there 
real necessity for doing so. I understand that 
between this time and January i, 1898, there 
should be made to the Royal Society an expres- 
sion of the willingness of this country to adhere 
to the scheme, and that for the year 1899-1900 
some appropriation should be made to enable 
the United States government to take its share 
of the work. 

In conclusion, I would say that this appears 
to me to be the most important matter that can 
possibly be undertaken for scientific men, and 
I believe it also to be the largest co-operative 
scheme of indexing ever set on foot. I think, 
too, we should be gratified by the honorable 
part thus far taken by the United States. 



FLETCHER. 



61 



INDEX PROSPECTS AND POSSIBILITIES. 



BY WILLIAM I. FLETCHER, LIBRARIAN AMHERST COLLEGE. 



TN speaking of the prospects and possibilities 
in index work I mean, of course, co-op- 
erative work in the advancement of the cause 
of indexing I do not wish to have it regarded 
as presented at all as a matter of enthusiastic 
anticipation; nor as the riding of a rose-colored 
hobby ; but rather as a matter of calculation and 
estimation of real and reasonable probabilities. 

By way of introduction, I wish to speak for a 
moment of this general idea of co-operative work 
among libraries. I have been closely connected 
with it now for a long while, and it has been 
constantly brought to my notice that it excites 
some suspicion and question among some of 
our best and ablest librarians. Such suspicion 
is reasonable, and I have never been at all sur- 
prised by it. In conversation recently with Dr- 
Billings he expressed, as Dr. Poole used to ex- 
press, that rather conservative view as to this 
co-operative library work. It is a question of 
whether our libraries are to be run, each one as 
part of a great machine; whether there is to be 
for this and that a great central bureau, with 
the individual library and librarians left to be 
nothing but a little part of a great machine. 
That is a crude and perhaps not very fair way 
of stating this suspicion, but I think it may an- 
swer the purpose. I do not think any one shares 
this general view more than I, or has more 
decided views on the subject. For you will 
find in the Library Journal that I said, quite a 
number of years ago at one of our meetings, 
that it seemed as if there was a disposition to 
drive from libraries the genius of learning and 
culture and substitute a set of cog-wheels [L.J., 
II : 21 1]. 

Making all the allowance that need be made 
for the doubtfulness of the work of bringing 
libraries into co-operation, I am not prepared 
to admit this as any argument against what we 
have done or are trying to do along these lines. 
That view of the matter suggested the danger 
that our libraries might be deprived of that at- 
mosphere of literary and bibliographic cult- 
ure for which no substitute can be fur- 
nished in making them what they ought to 
be as ministers of literature to the public. It 



seems to me any such objection is hardly worth 
considering. Supposing that all the work we 
now do in our libraries, as cataloging in all its 
branches and indexing, be taken away ; does it 
not remain true that there would be an abun- 
dance of work left for every librarian and 
every assistant in providing for the indi- 
vidual wants, the temporary and immediate 
wants of users of the library ? It seems to me 
there is an opening left to meet all the demands 
for the culture of the librarian and assistants 
and to give the library the atmosphere of an 
individual institution of learning. 

Coming to the question of the prospects and 
the possibilities of this work as it stands now, 
I would naturally speak first of " Poole's in- 
dex," which was the first of these co-operative 
index undertakings, and I take pleasure in 
saying that I have proof pages nearly half 
way through the five-year supplement for the 
years 1892 to 1896 inclusive, up to the first of 
January, 1897. 

As to the "A. L. A. index," I would like to 
say frankly that I was never at all satisfied with 
the "A. L. A. index" and have always felt 
apologetic towards it. But material is being 
collected for a supplement to that work, which 
may be published as a supplement, or the whole 
work may be made over into a new edition in- 
corporating the old matter and the new. One 
feature intended to be made prominent in the 
new edition or supplement is to include in it all 
available reference lists, so that on turning to a 
subject the first thing seen would be a refer- 
ence perhaps printed in different type, so as 
to be at once recognized to some place where 
a special list to that subject can be found. No 
adequate "A. L. A. index" can be made with- 
out a collection of such reference lists. That is 
to say, if you look in the index for Carlyle, for 
instance, you cannot expect to find in it any 
such work on Carlyle as in Anderson's bibliogra- 
phy. The best treatment, perhaps, of Carlyle 
for such an index would be to say See Ander- 
son's bibliography. The book can hardly go into 
the printer's hands much inside of a year, and 
it will, of course, incorporate all the references 



62 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



that have been made in the second portion of 
the "Annual literary index" since the "A. L. 
A. index " was first published. 

It is a little doubtful as to where we pass from 
prospects to possibilities. What I have been 
speaking of is fairly within reach. There is 
also a project before us for an international 
catalog of scientific papers, and there is the 
scheme of which Dr. Billings is to speak. 
I wish, however, to refer to a matter which 
came to my notice only the other day. On 
my visit to the Commercial Museums in Phila- 
delphia, I found there a card catalog index 
for the trade journals during the last two years. 
It is made on standard size cards and kept in 
a case already numbering some hundreds of 
drawers. It illustrates this general subject of 
the need of co-operation when we find in the 
city of Philadelphia, unknown to nearly all 'the 
librarians in the country, a work in the same 
direction as ours by persons who knew little 
if anything of our attempts. 

I can take but a moment to refer to the pros- 



pects as to the indexing of portraits. It is pleas- 
ant to speak here of the extended work already 
done in that direction by Mr. Bunford Samuel, 
of the Ridgway Branch Library. He has en- 
tered heartily into the co-operative plan, fur- 
nishing us his material without any compensa- 
tion to himself for the great labor that he has 
expended upon it. His material is being placed 
on cards prepared under the direction of Mr. 
Lane, of the Boston Athenaeum, who has as- 
sumed editorial charge of the portrait index. 
As most of you have read in the Library Jour- 
nal, much additional work is being done and it 
is planned to make the index cover a pretty 
complete list of books containing good collected 
portraits. 

You will see that though I undertook to speak 
of index prospects and possibilities, these are 
all prospects, and I will, with your permission, 
let the possibilities be omitted, and ask you to 
understand that I prefer to speak of accom- 
plished facts and facts that are in a fair way 
to be accomplished. 



SOME HERESIES ABOUT CATALOGING. 



BY DR. G. E. WIRE, EVANSTON, ILL. 



'"THE definition of a catalog, according to the 
dictionary, is "an orderly arrangement 
of titles." Passing to the definition of its pur- 
pose, we ask: What is a catalog for? It is 
supposed to be for the purpose of helping to find 
information. We hope, or are supposed to hope- 
that it will help people to find books. But does 
it ? It is only a means to an end, and no reader 
is foolish enough to waste his time over a cata- 
log if he can get his books in any easier way. 
It is of no earthly use to suppose that a reader 
is going to worship your catalog for your glori- 
fication. And yet that is the idea that some 
catalogers have. I heard one of this kind 
say once: " We must go out into the highways 
and hedges and compel them to come in." 
It is more likely that that particular catalog 
would compel the reader to go out, and that 
right speedily. 

Of what use is a catalog filled with Sees, 
See alsos, and analyticals ? These only aggra- 
vate the reader. What he wants is information, 
not snubs and invitations to look elsewhere. It 



is cold comfort to come up against this item: 
Birds. See Ornithology. Why not put birds 
under birds ? No wonder readers are disap- 
pointed and the librarian blamed the latter 
rightly. It is not to be supposed that persons 
will poke over the cards of a catalog for the fun 
of chasing the so elusive entries from one 
place to another. What they want is their books, 
and if by some subtle process of mental tele- 
pathy these could be handed them the minute 
they came within the door, that would be all 
they wanted. It is no use to suppose that fic- 
tion habitufes will pore over a card catalog. 
Print some sort of a finding list for them as 
soon as possible. 

About subjects: Avoid those miserable entries 
taken from some word or words on the title- 
page. Use a double subject frequently, as 
Fractures and dislocations. I direct always 
that in cases where a close relationship does 
not occur between words found on a title-page 
that two cards or more, as the case may be, be 
made for the work. These should be simply 



SHELDON. 



made. Time and strength should not be sacri- 
ficed to absolute mathematical accuracy in all 
headings of a similar class. Suppose there are 
slight differences ? Let them go, and put in 
your time on something more valuable. I have 
known some examples of egregious blunders. 
One of these concerned a reprint of one of the 
Cramoisy Jesuit Relations. In checking up an 
auction catalog I came to an item which I knew 
was a reprint of a Jesuit letter. In looking the 
matter up in our card catalog I found that ac- 
cording to the card it appeared that we had a 
genuine Jesuit relation. You know that these 
are very rare, and I knew that we had no genu- 
ine one in the library, but for certainty went 
to the shelves and got the book indicated. The 
title-page read correctly, and the cataloger had 
faithfully followed rules and copied it literatim, 
but I knew from the paper, type, and general 



appearance, that the book was a reprint,- and, 
turning the leaf, found that it had been repro- 
duced at the charges of Mr. Lenox, of New 
York. I called the attention of the cataloger 
to it and stated the case. The card was re- 
moved and consulted upon, but there was no 
provision in the rules for a note on the bottom 
of the card simply stating that it was a reprint, 
and it finally found its way back to the cabinet as 
false and misleading as before. Now this was 
a flat lie, and an example of what cataloging 
should not be. 

About rules: Be not bound to them, but after 
getting the principle, make variations to fit the 
case. The main thing is to get the idea of cata- 
loging what it is for and then adapt your 
rules to the size and scope of your library, to 
the grasp of your public, and, if necessary, to 
the minds of your attendants. 



AN ELEMENTARY TALK ON CHARGING SYSTEMS. 



BY HELEN G. SHELDON, DREXEL INSTITUTE LIBRARY. 



T T is my purpose to-day to speak to those mem- 
bers of the A. L. A. who have neither studied 
the subject of charging systems nor had much 
experience in their manipulation. In so doing 
my words cannot fail to be to many as a tale 
that has been many times told. Probably fore- 
seeing this, our chairman wrote to me: "We 
want original ideas." My dear Mr. Chairman 
and ladies and gentlemen, to supply anything 
whatever from a field which has never lain fal- 
low, but has, on the contrary, yielded yearly 
to the Library Journal and other storehouses 
crop after crop of value, is almost more than 
common clay can do. 

To the beginner in library science I would 
therefore say that most original thing, "read 
the Library Journal." Everything which is ever 
likely to be said has already there been said, 
and all the most approved systems have been 
described. Read the Journal, then, always re- 
membering that the ledger, indicator, and dum- 
my systems are relics of the dark ages, and 
bearing in mind that the kind of library should 
influence one in the selection of a charging sys- 
tem, that one suited to a college library is not 
the one for a public library with a large circu- 
lation, and that it is better to adopt a system to 



which your library will grow than one which it 
will outgrow. 

A few small points, not new, but which help 
to make a charging system what it should be, 
may be suggested here. 

(1) If for any reason a reader is debarred the 
use of the library, place among the registration 
blanks in front of his blank, a yellow card 
(the initiated will recognize the criticism card). 
On the top line write his name and below the 
reason for the withdrawal of his privilege. 

(2) When pasting a pocket in a book, put it 
on the last page of the book, not on the cover, 
as continued stamping of the cover loosens the 
binding. 

(3) Write the book number on the pocket. 
This obviates the necessity of turning the book 
to look at the book-plate. 

(4) Put a, b, c, etc., at the left of the call num- 
ber, instead of the usual cop. i, cop. 2, etc. It is 
easier, shorter, and answers the same purpose. 

(5) Stamp on the reader's card, etc., the date 
when the book is due; not, as is often done, the 
date of issue. 

(6) If your circulation is small enough to ad- 
mit of it, put the book number, as well as the 
date, on the reader's card. It is often of use. 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



(7) Fasten a reader's call slip to his card with 
a utility paper slip, or some other device. This 
prevents its loss. 

(8) If your staff of charging clerks is large, 
incorporate an initial of each clerk in his dating- 
stamp. Errors can thus be traced and it makes 
clerks careful. 

(9) If you put the reader's card in the pocket 
of the book when the book card is taken out, 
this will save stamping the date on the pocket, 
since it always appears on the reader's card. 
Of course this necessitates discharging a book 
as soon as it comes in, and could not be done if 
the circulation were large. 

(10) If your collection of books is not too 
small, follow the example of most of your fel- 
low-librarians and use the two-book system. 

I have appended to this paper a list of the 
articles on charging systems which have ap- 
peared since Mr. Carr's list, printed in the Li- 
brary Journal in 1889 ; I shall be glad to 
answer any questions, and we are prepared to 
charge and discharge books by four different 
systems as follows: 

1. The Philadelphia Free Library system, 
which is a slight modification of the famous 
Newark system, the one generally accepted as 
the best for a large public library. 

2. The Drexel Institute charging system, 
which is similar to that used in most college li- 
braries. 

3. The N. E. Browne system, the newest de- 
velopment in charging systems, and one bound 
to grow in favor, because by it books can be 
charged by merely stamping a date. 

4. The Albany Y. W. C. A. system, a tempo- 
rary slip system in which slips of various colors 
are used to indicate different days of the week, 
and which is suited to a very small library. 

REFERENCE LIST ON CHARGING SYSTEMS. 

1. Carr, H: J. Report on charging systems. 

Lib.j. 14:203-214(1889). 

(Historical treatment of charging systems and 
statistics of their use in America, with a bibli- 
ography of the subject, 1876 - 1888.) 

2. Schwartz, J. Apprentices' Library charging 

system. Lib. j. 14 : 468 - 469 (1889). 

3. Davis, O. S. Y. M. C. A. Library, Albany, 

charging system. Lib.j. 16 : 232(1891). 

4. Cutler, M. S. Charging systems. (In Im- 

pressions in foreign libraries.) Lib.j. 16: 
C5i (1891). 



5. Circular of the Board of Library Commis- 

sioners, state of New Hampshire. Lib. j. 
18 : 42 (1893). 

(Circular letter relating to library methods, cop- 
ies of which were sent to the trustees of each libra- 
ry in N. H. Recommends slip-charging system 
and gives specific directions for using it.) 

6. Jones, G. M. Delivery -desk difficulties. 

Lib. j. 1 8 : 86(1893). 

(Synopsis of a paper delivered before the Mass. 
Lib. Club.) 

7. Plummer, M. W. Loan systems. {See A. L. 

A. World's Lib. Congress Papers, 1893, 
p. 898 - 906.) 

(Gives advantages and disadvantages of the 
ledger, temporary slip, card, dummy and indicator 
systems.) 

An abstract of this paper also appeared in Lib. /., 
18 : 242-246 (1893). 

8. Fletcher, W: I. Public libraries in America 

(1894), p. 66. 

9. Plummer, M. W. Hints to small libraries 

(1894), p. 32-41- 

(Describes the ordinary double-entry charging 
system, suggesting several modifications for vary- 
ing conditions.) 

10. Dana, J: C. Public library handbook (1895), 

p. 46 - 90. 

(Gives explicit directions as to a charging clerk's 
duties, and warns of many points which long ex- 
perience has shown need especial care.) 

12. Bolton, C: K. Charging systems and sta- 

tistics. Lib.j. 19: 225-226 (1894). 

(A plea for the single-entry system, at the sacri- 
fice of foolish statistics, since all necessary ques- 
tions can be answered by that system.) 

13. Browne, N. E. Another charging system. 

Lib. j. 20 : 168 (1895). 
(Reader's jacket instead of reader's card used.) 
For discussion of - this system, see Lib. /., 2i : 

Ci27-i28 and p. 300. 

14. Jones, G. M. Cards for the "Two-book" 

system. Lib.j. 20: 168-172(1895). 

(Letters from prominent librarians, giving usage 
in their libraries. No definite conclusion as to the 
best method is arrived at.) 

15. Hill, F. P. Preparing a book for issue; 

and charging systems. Lib. j. 21 : 051 - 
56 (1896). 

(Contains also a description of the Newark charg- 
ing system, il. by sample blanks.) 

For discussion following this paper, see Lib.j., 
21 : 0147-149. 

16. A. L. A. Primer. Charging system. Pub. 

libs., v. I, p. 79-80(1896). 

17. Pennock, B. W. The Browne charging 

system. Lib. j. 22 : 294 - 296 (1897). 



WOODR UFF. 



REFERENCE WORK. 



BY ELEANOR B. WOODRUFF, PRATT INSTITUTE FREE LIBRARY, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



HP HE aim of the reference department is, as 
you all know, to afford to readers the sim- 
plest, easiest, and quickest access to the re- 
sources of the library on any subject in which 
they may be interested or desire information. 
This may be accomplished by either introduc- 
ing the inquirer directly to the books where 
his questions will be answered, or helping him 
to an understanding of the mysteries of the 
catalog, or explaining the use of indexes, bibli- 
ographies, and other library tools, or compiling 
lists for him in short, by doing anything and 
everything which will conduce to getting him 
the right book at the right moment. 

In a library where this work must be per- 
formed with a very limited number of books, 
the importance of the selection of the books 
and the skill of the attendant in handling them 
can hardly be overestimated. 

Whether or no the books will do all the 
work of which they are capable, will depend 
upon the expertness of the attendant. The 
complete knowledge of the books requisite for 
a ready and effective handling can be gained 
only by long experience in their use, but as 
aids toward acquiring this familiarity with the 
books I would suggest a study of what they 
have to say of themselves, their scope and 
limitations as set forth in the preface or intro- 
duction, the title-page, or the table of contents. 
If, for example, the title-page of a biographical 
dictionary claims to treat only of English con- 
temporaries, you may be saved the time and 
trouble of searching that book for a German 
who died in the i8th century. Where definite 
information cannot be drawn from these sources, 
test the book for yourselves, propose questions 
that have been brought in or that you may origi- 
nate, look up subjects under various headings, 
observe what departments of knowledge are 
most fully and satisfactorily treated, notice 
whether there are illustrations, and whether 
these are explanatory or merely ornamental. 
Before you are'thoroughly familiar with a work, 
and sometimes after you think you know it 
pretty well, make free use of the index. Even 
though it seem to put you one step farther from 



the matter you seek, it will often prove the 
shortest way in the end. In the index you will 
frequently find names and subjects not brought 
out in the body of the work, and by its help will 
avoid the risk of material evading you because 
the particular heading used did not suggest it- 
self. 

In addition to the usual reference-books, by 
all means have the sets of bound periodicals 
stacked in the reference-room. This plan has 
been tried for years in the Pratt Institute Li- 
brary and has proved most satisfactory in its 
working. Even should loss or injury occur in 
a few cases, it is not too great a price to pay for 
the increased usefulness of the books. When 
there is free access to the shelves, very little as- 
sistance from the person in charge will enable 
visitors to use the indexes compiled by Dr. 
Poole, Mr. Fletcher, and the Cleveland Library, 
and with these as guides, teachers and students, 
members of clubs and debating societies, schol- 
ars and newspaper reporters will be able to 
find 4 for themselves the latest word of the best 
authority on their respective subjects. 

Several of the magazines that every library 
is sure to possess Harper's Monthly, the At- 
lantic, Popular Science Monthly, etc. have 
published invaluable indexes of their own. The 
field covered is so much narrower that the work 
has gone deeper than is possible with the 
general indexes, and the same article appears 
under several headings with numerous cross- 
references, while portraits and engravings are 
also brought out. 

From the nature of the case it is impossible 
for any index to be absolutely up to date. Not 
to be unprepared for requests for articles ap- 
pearing in the interim, the reference librarian 
should spend a few moments each day in run- 
ning through the periodicals, including news- 
papers. 

With the multifarious duties that fall to the 
lot of each worker in a library, no one can af- 
ford the time for a thorough perusal of the 
papers, but if he take time for nothing more 
than a glance at the tables of contents and the 
headlines he will, by this means, keep posted 



66 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



on what is going on in the world, will be able 
to anticipate the needs of the public, and, when 
some event of unusual importance or some hap- 
pening of local interest directs the attention of 
the reading community in one direction, instead 
of being overwhelmed by a sudden and unex- 
pected run on his resources, he will be prepared 
for the emergency and will have the satisfac- 
tion of referring the very first inquirer to a list 
already prepared and awaiting his use. Courses 
of local lectures, series of readings, the appear- 
ance of a noted musician, topics of discussion 
which are filling people's minds, the approach 
of a holiday, should all be heralded by the li- 
brarian with bulletins of references. The death 
of a great man may in the same way be made 
the occasion of calling attention to his work and 
what has been written concerning him. In the 
case of an author, a large demand for his books 
will almost inevitably follow as the result of a 
reading list of his works and biographies, criti- 
cal essays, and poems to his memory. 

Besides these lists which the librarian pre- 
pares without warning, and largely as a matter 
of self-defence, he should expect and invite re- 
quests from literary and study clubs for out- 
lines of courses and lists of material on the 
subject selected for the winter's work. 

In all list-making let the principle of selec- 
tion be the prevailing rule. While every list 
should fairly represent the full resources of the 
library, do not, except in rare cases, for the 
sake of exhaustiveness, include material only 
indirectly bearing on the subject in hand. A 
really exhaustive list may be a satisfaction to 
the professional pride of the compiler, but it will 
generally produce disappointment to the reader 
in the present and distrust for the future. In 
compiling lists make use of every possible aid, 
your own catalog and finding lists, catalogs, 
lists, and bulletins of other libraries, annotated 
lists of books and bibliographies, and indexes 
to periodicals and general literature. Some li- 
braries, however, make it the rule to exclude 
entries from magazines indexed by Poole as an 
unnecessary duplication of work. Some of the 
lists most useful for this work are the Phila- 
delphia Mercantile Library bulletins, the Boston 
Public Library chronological index to historical 
fiction, the San Francisco Library annotated list 
of English prose fiction, the Providence Public 
Library monthly bulletins, and the bulletins 
published from time to time by Cornell Uni- 



versity Library, the Boston and Salem public 
libraries. Among select lists of books, Bowker 
and lies' "Reader's guide in economic, so- 
cial and political science," Adams' "Manual 
of historical literature," Griswold's "Select list 
of novels and tales," Sargent's " Reading for 
the young," and the two lists recently prepared 
under the supervision of Mr. lies and published 
by the A. L. A., the " Bibliography of fine arts," 
by Sturgis and Krehbiel, and the " List of books 
for girls and women and their clubs." 

All lists, of course, are to be filed in some 
convenient way, and kept carefully up to date 
by the systematic addition of items found 
in your running through magazines and new 
books. An alphabetical list of lists will greatly 
facilitate reference to the lists on hand. 

All material, in fact, which has been found 
with difficulty and after long search should be 
recorded in some permanent form. Experience 
has shown that certain questions come around 
with the regularity of the seasons, and the ref- 
erences to them once found and noted are avail- 
able for all time. A convenient form in which 
to keep such material not calculated to take 
shape as reading lists, is to enter it on cards 
(the backs of spoiled catalog cards will do), and 
to file them alphabetically in boxes. In this in- 
dex, references are in place to all sorts of odds 
and ends of information that you pick up in 
your reading, or attract your attention in going 
through the magazines, clippings from newspa- 
pers, and items that no index, however complete, 
will bring out, which you will surely need and 
would otherwise be at a loss to know where to 
find. 

In his desire to be of service to the eager 
searcher for knowledge, the reference librarian 
should not be satisfied with the posting of bul- 
letins and directing visitors to sources of infor- 
mation on the shelves, but should be willing in 
certain cases to gather material on a given sub- 
ject in one place where it may conveniently be 
consulted and different works weighed side by 
side. To carry this idea still further, it may be 
of service to a club doing serious work to have 
a small collection of books withdrawn from cir- 
culation and reserved for a time for their ex- 
clusive use. To have this plan work to advan- 
tage, the readers must do their small share of 
sending timely notice to the librarian, that he 
may search out the desired material or call in 
the books from circulation. 



DODGE. 



67 



The famous dictum, "Speech was given to 
man to conceal thought," is often forcibly 
brought to mind by the ingenuity with which 
visitors to the reference-room succeed in hiding 
their desires behind their questions. And right 
here lies the opportunity for the exercise of one 
of the greatest gifts of the successful librarian 
the ability by skilful questioning, without 
appearance of curiosity or impertinence, to ex- 
tract from the vaguest, most general requests, 
a clear idea of what the inquirer really needs. 
This faculty a facility in reducing large, ab- 
stract demands to concrete terms, as, for ex- 
ample, in resolving a request for a book that 
will tell everything about all kinds of birds into 
a demand for a book on the diseases of chick- 
ens; the sort of second sight that recognizes 
books under all sorts of indefinite, misleading 
descriptions, from the color of the covers or the 
positions on the shelves to the date when this 
particular person last used it, and readily inter- 
prets " that book of St. Anthony's on the Ameri- 
can Eagle " to mean an article on the stars and 
stripes which appeared in St. Nicholas stands 



in the equipment of a reference librarian only 
second in importance to the complete mastery 
of his tools. In fact, so important are the re- 
lations of the reference librarian to his public 
that I am almost prepared to put tact in meet- 
ing strangers and making them feel at home in 
the library, in knowing how far assistance will 
be a help and when it will become a bore, in 
impressing each visitor with personal interest in 
meeting his particular need, to put this, I re- 
peat, in the same category which includes the 
largest possible knowledge of literature and of 
books about books, the broadest culture, a store 
of general information sometimes having no 
connection with books, and a memory that not 
only treasures up items of interest but instinc- 
tively pigeon-holes them ready to be called to 
light at a moment's notice. The demands of 
the work are great, but the interest of the work 
itself and the opportunities it affords of meet- 
ing people and seeing what interests them while 
helping them to satisfy their needs are sufficient 
compensation for all one may give out in en- 
ergy and enthusiasm. 



LIBRARIANS' AIDS. 

BY VIRGINIA R. DODGE, LIBRARIAN OF THE CEDAR RAPIDS (lA.) PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



T N taking up the subject of librarians' aids, it 
is my aim to call attention to a "string of 
generalities," which some one has said " can be 
of no special use to anyone," to show that these 
same generalities comprise opportunities for all. 
The librarian must take his aids as they come, 
from the " four corners of the world," 

" Not chaos-like, together crushed and bruised, 
But as a world, harmoniously confus'd, 
Where order in variety we see, 
And where, though all things differ, all agree." 

The librarian draws his resources from the 
whole world. People, places, associations, 
books, magazines, stray scraps of information, 
all have their place among the librarian's tools; 
and each day with its meetings, its greetings, 
its continual rubbings, should make the li- 
brarian the richer in aids towards a means for 
the end. And it is of this gift of turning into 
gold all things he touches that I wish to speak. 

Of all people the librarian has the greatest 
opportunity of knowing good and for doing 



good, because all avenues alike are open to 
him; he has the key to all knowledge; it passes 
through his hands for good or ill to be dis- 
pensed to its seekers. The librarian aware of 
his power and his weakness has made for him- 
self this splendid Association, than which noth- 
ing could be of greater help, encouragement 
and inspiration; as a smaller part of the great 
whole comes the state association, with the aid 
to be gained by comparing methods and ex- 
changing ideas. Through the state library 
commissions all sorts of help may be obtained, 
and their bureaus of information contain inex- 
haustible funds of advice and counsel, with 
an enthusiasm which does not flag even under 
the poser of a question how to arouse interest 
which has been long dead in a library; there 
might be a weakening of enthusiasm if, as in 
one case, the cause of dying had been traced 
to a little habit of the librarian, of closing up 
shop in order to attend baseball games. 

To the teacher the librarian looks for many 



68 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE, 



helpful suggestions, and not least among these 
are the outlines of courses of study that supple- 
mentary reading lists may be prepared; and we 
hope soon to see the time when not only the 
teacher as an individual may make it easier for 
the library to get children into her storehouse 
of wisdom, but the school as a whole will rec- 
ognize the expediency of sending children to the 
library, and will also prepare them in the use of 
short cuts to books those reading and refer- 
ence lists with which every ^library is more or 
less generously supplied. 

Coming nearer home, the librarian ought to 
look upon his trustees as his greatest support. 
His trustees ! I am reminded of many humor- 
ously pathetic instances "humorous" be- 
cause, in the words of a popular song, "the 
punishment did not fit the crime "; " pathetic," 
because of the added note that the librarian 
knew better, but his trustees overruled him. 
That sort of thing we are rapidly putting in the 
past, and I think it is mainly due to the Ameri- 
can Library Association. For with a board of 
representative men and women who are made 
acquainted through library publications with the 
keen, active spirit which is dominating the li- 
brary movement, the cry of old fogyism will be 
no more. Nor is it a case of " a little learning 
is a dangerous thing"; rather is it a case of 
nice adjustment; the librarian knows library 
methods and is imbued with library spirit; his 
trustees know the town to which he is called, 
can give him valuable hints about reaching the 
people, and can open the avenue toward local 
history and special collections, besides being 
keenly alive to the needs of the community, and 
ready to give the librarian the backing which at 
times is restful, at least. 

Now we come to the assistant and the aid 
which comes to the librarian through her I 
believe a foreign visitor described the American 
assistant as of the feminine gender. In writing 
of her some one has said, and rather aptly I 
fear, that the librarian's trials with her were 
probably " as water unto wine " compared to 
her trials with the librarian. To make the 
assistant what her name implies she should be 
a consistent part of the whole, and should be 
drilled to fill her post in the library accurately; 
it seems to me that this can best be done by 
apprenticeship; in the small library she serves 
directly under the librarian, and in the large li- 
brary I would have apprentices in each depart- 



ment; in either case, by personal contact and by 
practical application, she learns methods and un- 
consciously acquires the spirit of the institution; 
she has time and means to perfect herself and 
to understand how given instructions are to be 
carried out before she is called upon officially to 
comply. Above all things, let her be trained 
gradually in the various departments through 
her apprenticeship before she is put in the po- 
sition of assistant, so that when made assistant 
she may at any time temporarily fill any posi- 
tion; and in case of an absence or rush in one 
department, the work may go on smoothly. 

For assistance in sympathetic co-operation 
from patrons in the library, everything depends 
upon the intelligence of the community, and 
anything that can raise its standard is of the 
greatest aid to the librarian. I would suggest, 
besides general university extension courses, 
and any other lectures of high standard to 
which the librarian should give his support, the 
advisability of introducing library courses in 
university extension, and I would make the 
movement as widespread as possible. This 
would eventually lift a great load from the li- 
brarian's shoulders. I refer to the amount 
of energy and tact which he must expend in 
explaining the pros and cons to the recently 
elected librarian who has to know it all in a 
day or two. 

Coming to aids which are technically con- 
sidered as the librarian's, is the advisability of 
joining clubs for the sake of their publications. 
This is especially valuable for local history, 
as in the Parkman Club of Wisconsin, which 
makes a study of northwestern history with 
especial reference to Wisconsin. Look into 
your own state and if there is a club which 
can help you, join it; begin at home and in- 
crease the circle outward as far as is expedient. 

The joining of local clubs is, of course, a 
great aid in coming into closer relations with 
the townspeople, and also affords a greater 
opportunity of working up club programs and 
directing the reading of the clubs. This brings 
me to a short list which is not meant to be 
comprehensive but is merely suggestive and 
useful'in opening the way to all sorts of hints, 
instructions, reference lists, and bibliographical 
aids. This will be most helpful as a start to 
save unnecessary work, and as the needs of 
the library become greater, and its resources in- 
crease, it will sugget more extensive aids. 



DODGE. 



69 



First come those books with which we are all 
familiar, but which as old friends we are always 
glad to see, for they are rich in suggestion and 
their spirit is most helpful. I refer to Dana's 
" Public library handbook," published by Car- 
son, Harper & Co., Denver, 1895, a little book 
which fills many needs. It has an annotated list 
of magazines which is helpful, and a list of books 
for schools, and under the subject of book selec- 
tion reference is made to critical periodicals. 

Miss Plummer's " Hints to small libraries," 
published by the Pratt Institute Free Library 
of Brooklyn, gives valuable suggestions in the 
organizing of a library and in its administra- 
tion, and is of great value to librarians who 
have not had opportunity for training. 

W. H. Wheatley's "How to catalogue a li- 
library," published by Armstrong in the " Book 
lover's library," gives the first principles of 
cataloging and a discussion of different catalog- 
ing rules; and Mr. Fletcher's " Public libraries 
in America," published by Roberts Bros, in 
!895, gives a history of the library movement, 
details of library management, etc. 

These books, together with the Library Jour- 
nal and Public Libraries, contain the essentials of 
public library management, with lists and ref- 
erences leading to specialization. 

As a beginning in school-work I suggest 
Channing and Hart's "Guide to the study of 
American history," published in Boston by 
Ginn, 1896, because we want to stimulate the 
interest in history, and first and foremost in 
American history. This book takes up meth- 
ods, books, bibliography, and topics with refer- 
ences. 

There are also lists of books which are of 
great aid in working with children, as: 

Miss Hewins's "Selected list of books for 
boys and girls," Library Bureau, 1897, 10 c. 

Leypoldt and Iles's "List of books for girls 
and women and their clubs," Library Bureau, 
1895, 75 c. This contains a list, with full anno- 
tations, of 250 American, British, and Canadian 
authors. 

The "Supplement to Sargent's ' Reading for 
the young,' " Library Bureau, 1896, $1.00. This 
includes books for 1890-95, and it contains a 
subject-index of the whole work. 

There are many lists of books for children 
published by different libraries, which may be 
had for the asking ; also in the " Regents' 
bulletin," no. 6, of the University of the State 



of New York, are valuable supplemental read- 
ing lists for schools. 

Almost equal in interest to the work with the 
schools is that of getting a strong hold on the 
public through the local clubs, in getting as 
much of their work into the library as possible; 
not only in preparing their reference lists, but 
in being equipped to help in the preparation of 
their programs. To this end I would be on the 
lookout for outlines of club work such as are 
published in the Michigan State Library Bulle- 
tin, no. i, which gives a list of club programs of 
Michigan. There were very valuable outlines 
published also in the annual report for 1894 of 
the New York State Library, extension depart- 
ment, under " Outlines of approved work in 
New York "; these have been printed separate- 
ly in pamphlet form. 

There are also outlines for club work pub- 
lished in the different magazines; some valuable 
ones have appeared in The Arts, The Outlook, 
The Bookbuyer, and The Lotus. 

Also, the syllabi of courses in university ex- 
tension are rich in suggestion ; these are all 
toward the making of programs ; after the pro- 
grams are in form it is admissible to go through 
the list, making references for each meeting, 
and putting them on file, where the club people 
can freely consult them, and when the tempo- 
rary use is over arranging them with the refer- 
ence lists for future use. 

For most of us it is necessary to work grad- 
ually up from one grade of fiction to a higher 
grade, and from that to a systematic study of 
literature, history, religion, science, or the arts. 
To this end we must have a comprehensive 
knowledge of what fiction contains. While 
there are many lists which are very helpful, we 
look forward with interest to one book which 
will be a comprehensive subject index to fic- 
tion.* There are lists of fiction published by 
different libraries which are easily obtained 
and very helpful, such as the excellent catalog 
of historical fiction published by the Brookline 
(Mass.) Public Library, 1897. 

There is a very valuable list of the books 
which first appeared in magazine form in the 
Bulletin of Bibliography, published by the Bos- 
ton Book Co. This is by E. D. Tucker, is uni- 
form with Poole, and refers by volume to serial 

* " Comprehensive subject index to universal prose fic- 
tion," by Mrs. Zella Allen Dixson ; to be published by 
Dodd, Mead & Co. in the fall of 1897. 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



issue. In a small library it is especially help- 
ful to be able to find a story in magazines which 
could not be afforded in book form, and often it 
is gratifying to be able to duplicate a popular 
book ; and it goes a long way toward making 
friends for the library. 

The Bulletin of Bibliography brings us to 
another class of easily obtained aids in refer- 
ence work : the bulletins published by differ- 
ent libraries are either free, as that of Salem, 
or cost a nominal sum, as the Providence 
bulletin, which is soc. per year. They contain 
reference lists, bibliographical aids, etc., and 
often, as in that of Providence, publish quar- 
terly, or at regular intervals, an index to all 
the reference lists which are published by dif- 
ferent libraries. This is a great saving of time, 
for any reference list which is indexed may be 
had by asking the library which publishes it. 



As to contemporary work in periodicals, if a 
small library cannot afford the " Cumulative in- 
dex," it can do good work with the Review of 
Reviews. 

These few suggestions are not meant in any 
way as iron-clad rules. But let the impression 
be, to use wisely and well the resources which 
are available to each, for if a few good things 
are made much of, others will be the more easily 
obtained, and there will never be the danger of 
helplessly waiting for a printed formula to ap- 
ply to each emergency. As a warning against 
such apathy I quote a pathetic little verse which 
carries with it a strong moral : 

" The centipede was happy quite 

Until a toad for fun 

Said ' Pray which leg comes after which ? ' 
This worked her mind to such a pitch, 
She lay distracted in a ditch 

Considering how to run." 



BOOK SELECTION. 



BY ELIZABETH P. ANDREWS, N. Y. STATE LIBRARY SCHOOL, ALBANY. 



'T'HE old definition of the library as a collec- 
tion of books does not fully describe the 
modern library ; we are learning to regard the 
library as something more than four walls en- 
closing a collection of books of all kinds and 
description, purchased or given. It should be a 
selection of the best books for the individual 
library. Conditions will vary greatly, and the 
test of the book is its suitability and fitness in 
the particular place in which it is found. 

Few libraries are so large as to attempt to 
include all books, even all of value, and every 
library, large or small, needs to exercise care 
and discretion in the selection of books; but it 
is the small library, with its very limited in- 
come, of, which we are speaking to-day, and it 
is in this library that it is most necessary that 
the selection be made carefully and wisely. 

The principle of selection applies not only in 
buying books, but also in the care and dis- 
position of them, however acquired. Gifts 
make their way to the library from individuals 
or from the government, and it is as important 
to select from these what the library really re- 
quires as to make a careful choice of the new 
books for the library to buy. A more generous 
spirit of co-operation between the large and 



small library is beginning to show itself, and it 
is in the disposition of gifts that the co-oper- 
ative spirit can be of the greatest service. The 
old pamphlet which the small library does not 
want, and cannot use, may complete a valuable 
collection in some large library making a spe- 
cialty of the subject, while the duplicate of a 
modern popular book which the large library 
will gladly exchange may fill a real want in 
the village library. The application of this 
principle will result in placing books where 
they will be most useful regardless of selfish 
considerations. 

In the- zeal to establish free libraries in every 
city and town, indiscriminate haste is sometimes 
shown, on the supposition that to procure a 
room or building and fill it with books is all 
that is necessary. Books are bought hurriedly, 
without sufficient thought of their appropriate- 
ness to the needs of the community, and gifts 
from old attics are welcomed, regardless of the 
fact that they are often of little or no value. 

It seems to add impressiveness to the annual 
report to say that 500 volumes have been given 
to the library, and to evidence its prosperity. 
But such prosperity is in appearance only ; 
each book is an expense to the library, even if 



ANDREWS. 



there is no original cost. It must be cared for, 
accessioned and cataloged, labelled and kept 
in repair, and in circulation a dull or out-of- 
date book may do actual harm, repelling the 
very person one desires most to attract. 

A step which seems almost radical has been 
taken in Quincy, Mass., where the library 
had outgrown its new limits, and a new build- 
ing, or addition to the old one, seemed a neces- 
sity. Unwilling to incur the expense, it has 
been decided, as you all know, to withdraw the 
least useful books from the library, keeping 
the number of volumes within the limits of 
15,000, which the trustees consider a working 
library for a small town. Public documents, 
books of only ephemeral value, old school- 
books, etc., have been removed, and either 
sent to libraries, where they will be really use- 
ful, or sold to the second-hand dealer, and it is 
intended to continue this practice, so that the 
library shall be in every sense a selected li- 
brary, containing only actually needed books. 

Such a method, however, requires constant 
changes in the records ; printed catalogs be- 
come inaccurate as soon as published, the ex- 
pense of getting rid of the books is almost as 
great as of keeping them upon the shelves, and 
much care and thought on the part of the libra- 
rian or trustee is involved, if the selection is a 
judicious one. This may, however, be the best 
thing to do under the circumstances, and it is 
always necessary to look out for the changing 
values of books, to rid oneself to-day of the book 
which was the best to be had yesterday; but as 
far as possible the selection should take place at 
the beginning. The more careful one is in ad- 
mitting to the shelves, the less danger will there 
be of an accumulation of worthless and useless 
books to make trouble later. 

In the selection of the first books to form a 
new library, there is always a Scylla and 
Charybdis awaiting the unwary librarian or 
trustee. On one side is the great temptation to 
have the library represent the best thought and 
culture of the world in all ages. In the desire 
to fill the library with the very best, one fact is 
lost sight of, i.e., that it is not the abstract 
value of the book, but its adaptability to the 
needs of the reader, that makes it the right 
book in the right place. 

What can be more elevating and inspiring 
than the thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, the 
words of wisdom from Socrates and Plato, the 



poetry of Dante or Milton, or the essays of a 
Carlyle or an Emerson ; but if they stand idle 
upon the shelves, if there are no lighter and 
more popular books to lead up to them, they are 
of little service in the library, and are render- 
ing the library less useful than it otherwise 
would be. 

Some years ago a subscription library was 
started in a small town, and the subscribers ap- 
pointed as a book committee the three most 
scholarly, thoughtful, and intelligent men of the 
village, who expended much care and labor 
upon the choice of books for the little library 
taking infinite pains to procure the best litera- 
ture that the world could afford. The standard 
authors in prose and verse were all upon the 
shelves ; translations of the classic writers 
and full editions of the English authors. 
History was represented by Gibbon's " Decline 
and fall of the Roman empire," Mommsen's 
"Rome," Grote's "History of Greece," Ali- 
son's "Modern Europe," Bancroft's "United 
States," to say nothing of Neander's "Church 
history," in a number of volumes. The 
library has been struggling ever since to lift its 
head, weighed down by these ponderous vol- 
umes, and its usefulness was crippled for years 
by the injudicious selection of material, good 
in itself, but not good for the place it was to fill. 

But having escaped Scylla, we have to beware 
of Charybdis, and also of the person who is 
anxious to get as many books as possible for 
every dollar, regardless of their contents. 
Such a person will eagerly watch the second- 
hand stores, and if one of the large department 
stores advertises a list of books at 19 cents a 
volume, it is hard to convince him that it is not 
advisable to send for the whole list, and so pro- 
cure five books for one bought in the regular 
way. This method has nothing to recommend 
it, for it is extravagant rather than economical ; 
the books are cheaply made and do not last ; 
they are generally poor books, or at best in- 
ferior translations or editions of really good 
ones. 

No general rules can be laid down for every 
library to follow ; each must study its own 
needs and conditions. The town devoted to 
manufactures, with a large foreign population, 
will need a very different class of books 
from that required for the farming com- 
munity, or for the suburb of some city with a 
large number of cultured readers. 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



There is one class which is found in every 
town and village the children; and their cor- 
ner of the library should be a large one in 
every case. School courses should be examined 
and books to be used in connection with them 
provided, supplementary reading furnished, and 
also a good supply of books for general read- 
ing ; books that will tell the boy how to make 
an electric dynamo or a water wheel ; for the 
collector, books upon bugs and butterflies, with 
directions as to their care and treatment, as 
well as descriptions of the different varieties 
possible for him to collect. The girl should 
have her share of such books; she maybe a 
young naturalist, too, perhaps would be oftener 
than she is, with the right book to stir up the 
budding interest. Indoor games for the long 
winter evenings and out-of-door sports for 
spring and summer will find plenty of use. 
American history should occupy a large place 
upon the shelves ; not only general histories, 
such as Eggleston and Higginson, but stories 
connected with persons and places of historic 
interest. Coffin's books are admirable; Lodge's 
"Hero tales from American history," Drake's 
" Watch-fires of '76," Scudder's " Life of 
Washington," Brooks' " Story of Abraham Lin- 
coln," will make the dead bones of "hist'ry," 
cordially hated by the school boy and girl, alive 
with interest. 

Perhaps there is danger of making the chil- 
dren's corner too prominent, and of allowing 
the younger readers to monopolize attention; 
others besides children have rights, but if the 
children's room and the children's books may 
receive too large a share of thought, the fad is 
a wholesome one, and we need not have much 
fear of carrying it too far. The departments 
need not be widely separated, and old and 
young will use them both. The immature 
mind of older growth will find the child's book 
of science just what it needs to furnish new 
thoughts and interests, while the wise librarian 
will watch every opportunity to lead the boy 
from Henty to Scott, from the verse of St. 
Nicholas to that of the poets. 

If the village library is not supplemented by 
a college library, or is not in close proximity to 
a large town, reference-books should be bought 
as freely as possible, but with the greatest 
care. The library with an income of a few 
hundred dollars cannot afford to spend a large 
part of it on the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," 



or the " Century dictionary," much as it would 
like to own those standard authorities. The new 
edition of Webster, and Johnson's "Universal 
cyclopaedia," in eight volumes, will prove satis- 
factory substitutes, and the money saved can 
be more usefully expended upon some of the 
many handbooks, books of quotations and 
general information and cyclopaedias or dic- 
tionaries of literature. The small library will 
hardly be able to buy Smith's " Classical dic- 
tionaries," but will find that Harper or Seyffert, 
in one volume, will take the place of the larger 
and more valuable works. 

Tables have been made to show the propor- 
tions to be allotted to the different classes, and 
a good general guide can be found in Public 
Libraries for May, 1896, as well as in the 
"Catalog of the A. L. A. Library." These 
must be modified to suit different needs, but 
would be helpful in forming a basis. 

In the very general remarks to which this 
paper is limited, it can only be recommended to 
begin near the level of the average reader, but 
keeping always a little in advance. 

In history it is better to buy the short one- 
volume history, which is readable, and yet 
sufficiently accurate, rather than the long stand- 
ard histories, which will stand upon the shelves 
only to gather dust. It is better to buy fuller 
histories for specially important periods than 
the long general histories which discourage the 
reader at the beginning. Fiske's " History of 
the American Revolution" and the "Critical 
period of American history " give the reader 
an instructive, and at the same time fascinating 
picture of the beginnings of our history as a 
nation. A short, interesting history of the 
French Revolution is harder to find, but Mig- 
net, Stephen, or Gardiner will prove more 
satisfactory than that in any of the long gen- 
eral histories. The series entitled " Epochs of 
history " give very good accounts of many of 
the important periods, Gardiner's " Thirty 
years' war" being one of the best of these. 

History naturally leads to biography ; as 
much of American history can be learned 
through biography as in any other way, and 
lives of Napoleon will give one the best picture 
of France during its most interesting and im- 
portant period. In general, brief rather than 
exhaustive lives should be sought for ; the 
"American statesmen" series, the "Men of 
letters " for both England and America, are too 



ANDREWS. 



73 



well known to need mentioning, and these short- 
er biographies, studies rather than portraits, 
as Mr. Larned calls them, may all be included 
with profit, though a selection might well be 
made, for even in the best series the books 
vary and are of unequal value. 

Books of travel which bring into narrow 
lives glimpses of wider surroundings and dif- 
ferent aspects of thought, perhaps appeal first 
to the uncultured reader, and if brought to 
their notice, Miss Bacon's "Japanese girls and 
women," Parsons' " Notes on Japan," Davis's 
'.' About Paris," " The west from a car win- 
dow," or " Rulers of the Mediterranean," will 
often tempt them to leave the novel usually 
asked for in its place upon the shelves. 

It is even more important in the fields of lit- 
erature to beware of complete sets. Few 
authors have written so evenly that all their 
work is on the same high level with their mas- 
terpieces, and when the inclusion of a complete 
set of one author means the entire exclusion of 
another, the loss to the library is great. 

A large proportion of fiction may be included, 
but great care must be taken to select only that 
which is good and pure and of some literary 
value. The small library will find that it has 
not money enough to buy all the good novels, 
and that it can supply literature light enough for 
any need, and yet neither worthless nor vicious. 

These books will fill, to a large extent, the 
shelves of the smaller libraries. Philosophy 
will need but little room. In religion, sectarian 
books should as far as possible be avoided, but 
some sermons breathing a broad spirit of 
Christianity will be appreciated, and Washing- 
ton Gladden's "Who wrote the Bible?" many 
of Lyman Abbott's books, and Van Dyke's 
" Gospel for an age of doubt," will never be 
out of place. 

Sociology will tempt the modern librarian 
interested in the problems and perplexities of a 
complex civilization, and there is a greater 
call for books bearing upon such questions as 
time goes on, which should be encouraged, but 
a library in a small town should not be stocked 
with a large collection of books upon theories 
of political, economic, and social problems, in 
which the reader would only flounder without 
gaining any clear idea of the subject. 

Books upon practical philanthropy, and 
short, clear expositions of the most important 
questions may be bought. 



With very little money to expend for books, 
it may seem impossible to include periodicals in 
the list, and the library will sometimes depend 
for the most 6f its magazines upon the gener- 
osity of friends who promise to send Harper, 
Century, or the Review of Re-views, when they 
have finished reading them. This may serve 
for a while, but at best is very uncertain, and 
some numbers will never reach the library, 
while others will come so late as to do no good 

An attractive reading-room is an important 
adjunct to the library, and no money is more 
usefully expended than that used for the maga- 
zines, which appeal alike to old and young, 
which give current news, items of interest in 
the scientific world, as well as short stories, 
pictures for the children, and household infor- 
mation for the mothers. 

In making practical applications of these 
principles, the librarian will find bibliographical 
aids on every side, which the library of 10 
years ago had to do without, and there is much 
less excuse for an ill-assorted, poorly selected 
library to-day than at that time. There seems 
to be no need of speaking even for 10 minutes 
upon the subject of the selection of books for 
the small library. It has all been said in the 
"Catalog of the A. L. A. Library." There 
is the principle and the model, and the town or 
village establishing a new library can do no 
better than use it as a basis for all purchases. 
Its supplements will bring it down to date, and 
together give a complete guide to the best liter- 
ature for the working library. 

The "List of books for girls and women," 
compiled by Leypoldt and lies, gives critical 
notes upon books and authors and is almost in- 
valuable. Sargeant and Whishaw's "Guide- 
book to books " furnishes 6000 titles in a classi- 
fied arrangement, but is an English publication, 
and not as useful to the American library desir- 
ing American editions. In buying children's 
books, Miss He*wins' annotated list, just pub- 
lished by the Publishing Section of the Associa- 
tion, is the first thing, but may be supplemented 
by Mr. Hardy's "500 books for the young," 
published by Scribner, and also by the various 
lists recommended for school libraries. 

After the library is started, the librarian will 
find it a more difficult k task to decide upon the 
current literature, particularly if the income is 
very small, and each book must be weighed and 
considered. 



74 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



The method used in the New York State Li- 
brary School for noting the new books and as- 
certaining their value might, I think, be used 
with value by the small library. Each week 
the books which it is thought would be desira- 
ble are checked in the Publisher? Weekly, and 
then the entries are cut out and mounted 
on slips, while the critical periodicals are in- 
dexed for reviews ; the references to the re- 
views being given in abbreviated form on the 
slip. 

The librarian might use a double check mark 
for books about which there was no doubt, or 
which the library could afford to buy at once, 
and the entries could be put into the hands of 
the book committee for approval without delay. 
The others arranged in alphabetical order would 
form a basis for the purchases of the library 
from time to time. 



The fiction lists published by the Massachu- 
setts Library Club, with critical notes on each 
book, were a great help, and it is hoped that 
some way will be found of continuing them. 
The New York list of the 50 best books of the 
year for the village library aids greatly in sift- 
ing the wheat from the chaff, and the longer 
list from which the 50 are selected is useful to 
the larger library. 

Advice should be asked from competent critics 
and from those interested in some special sub- 
ject, and the librarian with a small income 
will do well to make haste slowly ; it is better 
to wait for the help gained from reviews, from 
such lists as I have mentioned and trust- 
worthy opinion, and most important of all from 
personal examination, than to be ambitious to 
have a new book upon the shelves as soon as 
it is published. 



ADVERTISING A LIBRARY. 

BY MARY EMOGENE HAZELTINE, LIBRARIAN OF THE JAMES PRENDERGAST FREE LIBRARY, 

JAMESTOWN, N. Y. 



TOURING the Crimean war, a French soldier, 
dying, gave to the nurse who attended 
him a gift, something to be preserved as a 
memento, she thought. After the war she re- 
turned to France, carefully keeping the gift. 
Charmed with its singular beauty and fineness, 
as soon as she was able she had it framed 
and hung over the fireplace in her humble dwell- 
ing, that it might be constantly before her, 
something to enjoy, and for many years it 
cheered her. One day, some one entering her 
abode noticed the little ornament so honored in 
the cottage, and inquired concerning it. Then 
did she learn that the beautiful token was a 
note on the Bank of France of the highest de- 
nomination, and that during all her years of 
poverty and hardship she had been rich but had 
not known it. 

The free libraries in our cities and towns 
adorn them, in truth, as the framed bank-note 
adorned the cottage of the French woman; 
but far too many in every community regard 
the library merely as a decoration, an orna- 
ment, a very proper and " nice " thing to have 
in the town, and fail entirely to understand that 
it is for their enrichment. 



To spread abroad a knowledge of the riches 
of the library, helping the people to understand 
and appreciate that its wealth is for their use 
and profit and enjoyment, and not merely an 
ornament, is the duty of the librarian. So we 
will agree at the beginning that the object of 
library advertising is to convey to all the com- 
munity a knowledge of the whole library. This 
can be accomplished in several ways, chief 
among which are newspaper advertising, posters 
and cards in public places and mills, work for 
clubs and schools, and personal work on the 
part of the librarian. 

The local newspaper is doubtless the best ad- 
vertising medium, for it goes into the homes, 
and the messages from the library gain an audi- 
ence at any rate. Whether the people read 
the library article, for library advertising is 
reading matter, not display form, depends 
largely on the article itself and its place in the 
paper. 

In advertising through the newspapers, it is 
well at the very start to have a thorough busi- 
ness understanding with the manager of the 
paper. Ascertain what will be published for 
you as news that is, free of charge, and what 



HAZEL TINE. 



75 



must be paid for at regular advertising rates. 
In general, all articles and items concerning a 
library are published free of charge, being con- 
sidered as news and of especial interest to those 
who read the paper. But if you advertise a 
money-making entertainment to raise funds for 
your library, it must be paid for, as newspapers 
do not consider such things as news for free 
publication, even in behalf of a free library. 

Then, as a matter of courtesy, arrange with 
the editor on what days he would prefer to re- 
ceive copy from the library. We have found 
that on certain days of the week special mat- 
ter fills the columns of the leading paper, 
while there is. only chance news for the other 
days. Know the days that the paper has copy 
assured it, and plan your articles for the days 
that are less crowded, so winning the good will 
and special regard of the editor. Saturday is 
generally a day of much news, and it is also the 
day that the paper is best read, for there is 
more leisure. Yet it is advisable to have an 
occasional short, pithy article from the library 
in the Saturday issue, even though the columns 
may be crowded with other matter, for it will 
reach more people and be read more carefully 
than other days. 

Then it is satisfactory to have an understand- 
ing with the editor concerning the space to be 
given library articles. Our leading local paper 
has eight pages; the first page gives the impor- 
tant telegraphic news and local events of great- 
est interest, the fifth and eighth pages give the 
locals, the fourth the editorials, and these 
four pages are glanced over, at least, by all 
who pick up the paper. The second and third 
pages are plate matter, while the sixth and 
seventh are scattering, with some plate matter, 
neighborhood correspondence, council proceed- 
ings, and a few local matters crowded off the 
other pages. It can be seen from this single 
example that certain pages of every newspaper 
are more sure of a reading than others, from 
the very nature of their contents, and whenever 
it is possible news from the library should ap- 
pear on these pages. 

The merchant, in advertising, recognizes the 
importance of preferred space, and has the 
privilege of buying whatever he desires. But 
since library advertising is published free of 
charge as reading matter, you cannot dictate as 
to space. Generally we say nothing about the 
space that the library item shall occupy, but 



occasionally when we have something of un- 
usual importance or interest, we ask as a favor 
that the article may be well placed, and our re- 
quest is always granted. I feel especially com- 
plimented when the library is given space on 
the first page, for an article there will attract 
attention and its headlines will be read at any 
rate. Last fall our list of books on the money 
question was published on the first page, while 
an editorial accorded on the fourth page advised 
all to read the books suggested in the list. We 
have never had so many calls for books pub- 
lished in a reading list, as we had for books on 
the money question on the days immediately 
following the appearance of the list on the first 
page of the paper. We notice also that when 
lists of new books are published, the demand 
for them is greater or less depending on the 
place where the list appeared. 

Perhaps you wonder that I dwell at such 
length on what is apparently a small part of li- 
brary advertising, but my experience has been 
that success waits on careful attention to these 
details, and a full understanding of existing 
conditions. 

After the arrangements of business and 
courtesy have been adjusted, the next impor- 
tant consideration is, who shall write the arti- 
cles that appear in the papers concerning the 
library. You will find that you must do the 
most of the writing yourself, if you wish the 
library adequately kept before the public, thus 
adding the work of a reporter to the many 
things that have come to be part of the libra- 
rian's profession. It is true that the library is 
not yet on the assignment book of the news- 
paper office ; places of amusement, the police 
court and the trains are visited regularly by the 
reporters, but the library is only occasionally 
honored by them ; when other news fails, they 
remember it. So the library would have only 
spasmodic mention if the reporters were de- 
pended upon for all of its notices. 

Whatever appears in our papers concerning 
the library we prepare ourselves, for the most 
part, thus gaining not only a frequent notice in 
the columns of the paper, but the statements 
made as we wish them, for however well inten- 
tioned the average reporter may be, he can not 
write an article that involves professional knowl- 
edge technically correct ; since he is not of the 
order. For the end of correct representation, 
ministers often report their own sermons for the 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



local papers, and lawyers would do well if the 
court proceedings that find a place in the news- 
papers were at least revised by them. Not long 
since a reporter gave a very wrong impression 
of a trial in one of our county papers, because 
he did not understand the technicalities of the 
case. At the suggestion of the editor, all of the 
articles that are supplied by the library are 
signed, to prove them official. I use simply the 
signature, The Librarian, and three years and 
more of communicating with the public over 
this signature have proved to me the wisdom of 
its use, for the community has learned that it 
speaks with authority concerning the ways and 
means of the library. But library news that 
comes always from one source has a sameness 
that is monotonous, so let the reporter help in 
the work all that he will, or all that you can 
persuade him to. Do not send him away with- 
out some news whenever he calls ; suggest 
various items that can be written up briefly 
under the leader, Library Notes, or let him 
wander about the building as he pleases, to 
gain material by observation for " a story." 

If there is more than one paper in your com- 
munity furnish library news for all of them. 
Probably one journal will be superior to all the 
others and read by more people; the bulk of 
your news will doubtless go to this, perhaps for 
the very reason that it is a larger sheet and can 
give you more space. But do not slight any of 
the papers, rather, make them all the friends of 
the library; this can be done not only by pro- 
viding copy for them all, but by dividing your 
job printing among them. The newspapers are 
very glad to grant favors, and it is but fair to 
patronize them when there is paid work to be 
done. 

Having decided and arranged to communicate 
with the public through the newspapers, the 
great questions are, what shall be advertised, 
and how can advertising matter for frequent 
notices be assured. 

Lists of new books published at short inter- 
vals have served most effectually in increasing 
and keeping our patronage. To explain how 
we arrange for the frequent publication of new 
books I shall be obliged to let you into a secret 
regarding our buying. We have no book-store 
in our town large enough or sufficiently well 
organized to supply a library, except to meet the 
demand for books of the day, so we buy direct- 
ly from New York, and to save shipping charges 



and freight buy a large invoice several times 
during the year. If we placed in circulation at 
one time all the books purchased in an invoice 
we would have new books only two or three 
times in the course of a year, which would not 
serve to sustain a living interest in the library. 
We make a selection of those that are most in 
demand the popular novels, books of travel, 
the latest scientific works, or books that are 
needed by some study or reading club enough 
to make a list of 20 or 30, and after cataloging, 
we place them on an open shelf in the reading- 
room for general inspection before publishing a 
list of them in the daily paper. The understand- 
ing is that at nine o'clock on the morning fol- 
lowing the publication of the list the books can 
be drawn for home reading, and patrons will 
often come half an hour early to secure a de- 
sired book. 

I have found by experience that it is wise to 
issue books from our store-house with some 
method, perhaps choosing all the travel for one 
issue, the biography for another, United States 
history for a third, with some books in minor 
classes and always a little fiction to give the 
necessary variety. My object in issuing books 
of a kind together is two-fold. First, the pub- 
lished list has the continuity of a catalog, for it 
is printed, even in the newspaper, in regular 
catalog form, with author, title, and call-num- 
ber, and serves the public in lieu of a regular 
bulletin, for many cut the lists from the paper 
and paste them in their finding lists, so keeping 
their printed catalog up to date. 

Secondly, it is our custom to publish some 
notes or reviews concerning the new books, 
and these are more effective when there is a 
continuity of subject. Generally these remarks 
introduce the list of books, being a case of 
placing the moral first, that it may surely be 
read. I refer to the different books in the list 
"below," saying a certain one is " especially in- 
teresting," while another will be found "very 
timely " ; that all have heard of " this " book, and 
will be glad to know that it can be found in the 
library; that of a certain author we have such 
and such books, but his latest book has been 
added, and will be found more interesting per- 
haps than any of his others; sometimes I write 
a short review of a book, the purpose of it all 
being to call attention to the books, especially 
to those that might be overlooked because their 
titles are not suggestive or attractive. I do not 



HAZELTINE. 



77 



print long notices, as they would not be read, 
and as too much information leads the people to 
think that we consider that they know nothing 
about the new publications for themselves, or 
do not keep in touch with the times. 

Head lines are of the greatest consideration 
in connection with any matter for publication. 
The word new serves as a magnet always 
New Books of Travel at the Library ; Invoice 
of Books on United States History ; The Latest 
Books on Electricity Ready for Circulation at 
the Library, etc., etc. for headlines suggest 
themselves if the subject matter is well ar- 
ranged. 

I find that besides writing the articles for pub- 
lication it is well to look to the proof-reading 
also ; in fact, it is very important, especially in 
lists of new books, because the compositors do 
not understand the algebra (as they call it) of 
the Dewey system, and make woeful work of 
call numbers, the snarl 'of which the proof- 
reader does not always untangle. Besides, if 
writing for the newspapers is new to you, it is 
advisable to see your copy in cold print, for 
often it seems very different than it did in your 
own writing, and a few changes may greatly 
improve it. I make it a point to leave my copy 
with the city editor a day in advance of its pub- 
lication, so it is early in type, which gives me 
ample time to read the revise carefully. Two 
years ago our leading paper introduced linotype 
machines, and we have arranged to have all the 
type of the new book lists saved ; when we are 
ready to issue a supplement much of our work 
is done. We pay interest to the printing com- 
pany on their investment in metal for the type, 
and will pay for paper and press work when the 
supplement is printed. In this way we save not 
only time, but money. 

And yet another point regarding the publica- 
tion of new books is in relation to the internal 
economy of the library. We have found it wise 
to advertise the circulation of new books for 
days that we are less busy, which is the middle 
of the week. Creating a demand for new books 
on dull days equalizes the work, which is essen- 
tial in a library with a small force. 

Once I made the serious mistake of placing 
a notice in the paper that an invoice of books 
had arrived from New York and would soon be 
issued. I regretted that statement, and re- 
solved never again to advertise merely for the 
sake of having something appear about the li- 



brary. Patrons would ask daily, "When will 
the new books be ready"? "What are some 
of the new books"? "Can't I have a new book 
to-day"? so magnetic is anything new! So 
much time was consumed answering questions 
that it took much longer to catalog the books 
than it otherwise would have done. But we 
profit by mistakes, and out of an annoying ex- 
perience I warn you, do not let the public know 
that you have received new books until they are 
ready for inspection. 

While new books serve to advertise a library 
and make it popular, other things are necessary 
to make its full value known and appreciated. 
Reference lists on timely topics always bring 
their share of patronage. I remember the first 
reference list that we published was on James 
Anthony Froude, at the time of his death ; not 
a popular subject, but it was a topic of the day, 
and we were endeavoring at the time to make 
known the wealth of the library in all its de- 
partments. The paper containing the list was 
issued at five o'clock in the afternoon and be- 
fore the library closed that evening there were 
four calls from the list by students who were 
delighted to know that they could secure those 
books. 

In publishing reference lists the one thing to 
remember is to have them timely, and this I can 
not make too emphatic. If your list is not 
ready and must follow rather than lead a move- 
ment, save it until next time. It is not so much 
the article as its being well timed. We find 
that our regular patrons watch for the reference 
lists ; their interest in the library is maintained 
as its possibilities are revealed to them, and it 
is as necessary to keep patronage as to gain it. 

But new books, and reading lists of attractive 
books and articles on current topics are not 
enough to reach all in a community, by any 
means; there will still be a goodly proportion 
that know nothing and seem to care nothing 
about the library. As merchants have bargain- 
days, which they advertise extensively to bring 
out the people, so libraries can arrange special 
attractions to win the unknowing and unap- 
preciative public. Special attractions have 
aided materially in spreading abroad a knowl- 
edge of our library and have brought us the 
most returns for advertising. A year ago we 
had thirty water-colors of F. Hopkinson Smith 
on exhibition in our art gallery for two weeks. 
I learned from Mr. Smith in February that we 



7 8 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



could have the pictures the last of April or 
first of May, on their way back from western 
cities to New York. From that date in February 
until the pictures came in May, something ap- 
peared in the papers on an average of every ten 
days, about Hopkinson Smith or his pictures. 
One week it would be a press notice of his pict- 
ures, the next a review of his latest book, then 
another art criticism from the press, and so the 
notices alternated. Marked copies of the pa- 
pers were sent to the several newspapers in 
surrounding towns, with a note accompanying, 
asking the editor to copy or at least make note 
of the date and place of the exhibition of the 
Hopkinson Smith water-colors. During the 
two weeks that the pictures hung in our gal- 
lery 3000 people viewed them as many as we 
could well accommodate. Of those 3000 visi- 
tors, most of them residents of the city, many 
told me, " This is the first time I have been in 
the library, but I do not mean it shall be the 
last ; " and in truth they have become regular 
patrons. During the exhibition we published 
lists of books on art and architecture, also on 
Constantinople, Venice, and Holland, for the 
pictures were painted in these places. 

There are many special attractions that can 
be arranged for libraries. Poster exhibitions 
have been popular both in large and small libra- 
ries, also exhibitions of art-works and photo- 
graphs. Amateur photographs proved very 
popular in one library after vacation days were 
over, while some have been fortunate enough 
to have loan exhibitions of books and pictures, 
or both. Something can be arranged in every 
library, but it is always to be remembered that 
the success of any special attraction depends on 
the advertising. Talk about it in the papers, 
not so much as to appear ridiculous, but enough 
to let all know about it and remember it long 
enough to come. I know for a fact that we 
gain many regular patrons from those who 
come at such times. 

We found that few in our community under- 
stood the use of ' ' Poole's index" or of our diction- 
ary card catalog. A "magazine day" was 
advertised, and to all that came I explained the 
use of the different indexes, letting all work 
out some references for themselves, and I never 
saw people more astonished and delighted than 
were those who thus learned that there was a 
key to unlock the stored wealth of the maga- 
zines. In like manner the card catalog was 



explained, to the wonder of all, who thought 
that it required a course of study to use it. Of 
course we are constantly explaining the use of 
these helps, but I have found it not a bad idea 
to have a day devoted to each of them once a 
year, that their names at least shall be heard in 
the land and their existence known. 

This spring our special attraction was " travel 
day," which grew into several days to accom- 
modate all that came. It developed from the 
demand for books of travel, which in turn was 
created by the departure for Europe of a party 
of 20 or more of the townsfolk. All their 
friends immediately desired to read about the 
sights of the other continent and follow them 
by proxy. It occurred to us at the library that 
it would be pleasant for the stay-at-homes if 
they could see and handle our books of travel 
and make their selections for summer reading 
from the books themselves. We cannot give 
the public access to the shelves because of the 
plan of our building, so on the tables in the 
reading-room, giving a table to each country, 
we spread all of our books on European travel, 
together with magazine articles, and pictures 
from our collection of mounted prints. We 
made the room as attractive as possible, posted 
leaders to indicate the route from table to table, 
furnished paper and pencils for notes, and gave 
personal attention to all who came. Those who 
travelled with us and we had several hundred 
passengers not only enjoyed the books and 
pictures during the few hours that they stayed, 
but made note of books that they wished to 
read. I am glad to report that many lists of 
books of travel, made on our library paper dur- 
ing those few days, appeared as call slips at the 
delivery-desk. We advertised this " travel 
day " extensively, though not long in advance, 
for it was a sudden thought and had to be car- 
ried out quickly. Because of short notice, we 
did not explain fully what it would be, but 
aroused the curiosity of the public, which 
offered a variety in our advertising form. 

It is well to arrange special attractions for dull 
seasons, for the same reason that it is best to 
advertise new books for the less busy days of 
the week, namely, it equalizes the work at the 
library, and keeps up the interest of the com- 
munity in the library. 

But new books, timely reference lists, and 
special attractions are not the only things that 
will interest the public. The chief facts of the 



HAZELTINE. 



monthly report will prove the worth of the li- 
brary, especially if a statement is made compar- 
ing the circulation, use of reference-books, 
attendance in the reading-rooms, etc., with the 
same month of the previous year, provided, of 
course, that the comparison shows an increase. 
My annual report to the trustees is published in 
full in the papers, also the leading facts of the 
quarterly reports. Gifts to the library should 
not fail of proper mention in the daily papers ; 
but so many things occur in every library to 
furnish advertising matter that it is needless to 
discuss this point further. 

Though we depend on the newspapers very 
largely to herald the library in the community, 
we do not neglect other agencies, and among 
these are posters in public places. We have 
factories in our city employing many hundred 
operatives, whom we wished should know about 
the library. We had several hundred posters 
printed as attractively as possible, with a cut of 
the library at the top of the card and capital let- 
ters in red. We endeavored above all to make 
it plain that the library was free. One of the 
trustees suggested that the following sentences 
be given a prominent place : " Books may be 
taken home. There are no dues or charges 
except for books kept over time." " Tell them 
honestly," he said, " just when a charge will 
be made, even though they may never be 
obliged to pay a fine ; you will find people a 
little suspicious of anything free, because they 
have learned from experience that 'free* often 
has a string to it in some way to catch their 
nickels and dimes." No doubt you have noticed 
the truth of this, that it is difficult for all the 
people to conceive that the library is really free 
to them, without any cost. These posters were 
placed, by permission of the proprietors, in the 
different factories, where the employes in pass- 
ing in and out would be sure to see them. I am 
convinced that they have brought the library 
much patronage, for whenever an applicant has 

given his occupation as " Employed in 

factory," we have asked if the card telling of 
the library had been read, and almost without 
exception it had served as the introduction to 
the library. We also have framed notices con- 
cerning the library in the post-office and hotels. 

After all this communication with the public, 
there still remains personal work, which is one 
of the surest ways of bringing people to the li- 
brary. This means that as a librarian you 
must give your whole self to the work. There 



is not a community now, I believe, that has not 
a study or reading club. Attend one of the 
meetings of the club, and if you are not a mem- 
ber you can secure an invitation to attend a 
meeting, and offer the co-operation of the li- 
brary. Offer to help them with reference lists, 
and to place a certain shelf or section of the 
reading-room at their disposal, where the books 
that their program calls for can be kept togeth- 
er and renewed when necessary. If some of 
the club members cannot come to the library let 
the books be sent to them. The patronage of a 
study club creates a demand for better reading. 

Go to the schools and tell the young people 
about the library and its treasures, many of 
which are especially designed for them. Be 
willing to be questioned about the library at 
any and all times. At first I mentally objected 
when I was stopped on the street, questioned in 
stores, at church, at receptions, wherever I 
happened to be, about the library, but I soon 
found that people were sincere and really want- 
ed to know, so long since I willingly give infor- 
mation at any time and place, but I make it a 
point never to broach the topic of the library 
myself. 

Then you can help others to advertise. A 
merchant came to the library seeking the pict- 
ure of a May-pole for a May-day advertisement. 
After the picture had been found his attention 
was called to Chambers's "Book of days," 
which so delighted him that he ordered the 
volumes for his own library, saying that the 
books would give him many hints for timely 
advertisements. The same merchant was so 
greatly pleased with one of our books on the 
tartans of Scotland that he advertised an in- 
voice of plaid woollen dress goods by the names 
of the plaids, which he found by comparing the 
goods with the colored plates in the book. 

With all this advertising outside the library 
to gain patronage, and to create a demand for 
the best reading, advertising inside the library 
must not be overlooked. This includes bulletin- 
boards, black-boards, and other devices, men- 
tion and description of which exceed the limit 
of this paper. 

The secret of library advertising, as Miss 
Stearns said last year, is ' ' keeping everlastingly 
at it," or as the proprietor of a great factory 
in New York believes, and has constantly be- 
fore him on his desk, " S. T. I. and W.," which 
he translates to all who inquire as "Stick to it 
and win." 



8o 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



AIMS AND PERSONAL ATTITUDE IN LIBRARY WORK. 



BY LINDA A. EASTMAN, CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



TT is probable that most of us attended our 
first conference because there had already 
come to us something of the A. L. A. spirit ; 
there is no one of us, I venture to say, but 
found this same first conference a revelation of 
ideas and ideals. But to analyze this spirit, to 
put the ideals into words, to search out the 
elementary and underlying purposes of our 
work, is not an easy task. 

It is as yet but a little time since libraries 
were shrines whose portals opened to scholars 
only, shrines toward which the wayfaring man 
presumed not to lift his eyes. To-day, the 
doors are not only open wide to all, but we go 
out into the highways and byways, and com- 
pel men to come in. The^library, which was a 
luxury for the rich man and the student, has 
become a necessity to the community at large, 
and the community must be taught its two 
great uses, as a means for recreation and for 
study. The librarian, who was guardian of 
the books, is becoming also the guardian of the 
thought-life of the people, but tradition lives 
with the people, and because of the old idea 
of the exclusiveness of the library, the librarian 
must labor with them to bring them unto their 
own. The library, in its influence, is whatever 
the librarian makes it : it seems destined to be- 
come an all-pervading force, stimulating public 
thought, moulding public opinion, educating to 
all of the higher possibilities of human thought 
and action ; to become a means for enriching, 
beautifying, and making fruitful the barren 
places in human life. If this be true, librarians 
have an important part to play in the history 
of civilization and in the conservation of the 
race. 

Is it necessary to have a broad and clear con- 
ception of the work for such accomplishment ? 
Is it necessary to come to it well equipped and 
prepared ? We are rather inclined to question 
our own temerity in daring to enter upon the 
work with anything short of the maximum of 
preparation, than to question its need. 

In our attitude toward the work, it is all-im- 
portant that we should start right, and then 
that we keep in the line o progress one never 



reaches the place, in library work, where he 
has " learned it all." And whether he be li- 
brarian, or the lowest assistant on the staff, it 
it is possible in greater or less degree to fur- 
ther the work, or to block it by incompetency. 

First, let us get the main purpose of the li- 
brary definitely in mind, then set ourselves 
with all the intelligence and skill which we 
can command, to its realization. To the end 
that all may profit by the best thought of the 
world, books are furnished at the public cost ; 
it is our part to see that these books are se- 
lected wisely, cared for properly and used prof- 
itably, that the administration is economical 
and effective, and that the library reaches the 
people who need its influence. All or any 
part of this work may fall to our share. There 
are innumerable technical details, but not one 
among them is so small that it needs not to be 
done with accuracy and precision ; the great 
possibilities before librarians to-day have been 
made by the patient, careful study of detail by 
which, during the last quarter century, library 
methods have been worked out. To quote Mr. 
Dewey : "In library w.ork, as in all other 
technical work, the ' spirit ' is the all-important 
thing. If one has become filled with the spirit 
of the work, has grasped the broad ideas of 
how and why library work exists, has shared 
in the enthusiasm as to its future, the purely 
technical work will be mastered through this 
' spirit.' " 

As to the contact with readers, a winning or 
a forbidding presence in the presiding genius 
will of itself make the library popular or un- 
popular with the community ; that part of the 
public who most need the influence of good 
books, and who know them least, are not likely 
to find what they need except through a medi- 
ator the librarian or the assistant must often 
supply that live personal element which is their 
necessary support during their first explora- 
tions in the world of books. And along with 
the gracious winsomeness and the tact un- 
limited, there must be the strength and the 
knowledge which will compel confidence and 
respect. 



TILLINGHAST. 



81 



In extending the use of the library, there 
must be constant and careful study of the con- 
ditions and needs of the community, with the 
keen insight and ability which can see and 
seize opportunities for arousing interest. With 
this reaching out into the lives of the people, 
the responsibility of the librarian is increased 
many-fold; he is not only, as in the past, the 
adviser and helper of the student and the in- 
quirer, he is an educator who creates and 
stimulates a desire for knowledge and who 
directs its use ; his work begins with the child 
and goes side by side with the work of the 
school, and the importance of co-operation with 
the latter can hardly be overstated, as the li- 



brary alone has the work of education to carry 
on from whatever point the school leaves off. 

Does this work, weighted with responsibili- 
ties, exacting in its demands and difficult in 
their fulfilment, broad as the field of human 
knowledge, altruistic in its efforts toward the 
bettering of mankind does this work, you ask, 
receive the recognition that it merits ? Not 
always not often, perhaps, as yet. But there 
are rewards in the work itself; there is joy in 
achievement; and so long as the aims keep so 
far ahead of the accomplishment, it will be far 
more to some workers to know that progress is 
being made, than to hear praise of the work 
done. 



REPORT OF THE CO-OPERATION COMMITTEE. 

BY WILLIAM H. TILLINGHAST, CHAIRMAN, ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 



'T'HE event of the year in the field of local 
co-operative bibliography is the publica- 
tion in May, by the Boston Public Library, of 
" A list of periodicals, newspapers, transactions, 
and other serial publications currently received 
in the principal libraries of Boston and vicinity." 
It covers 143 pages in brevier type, represents 
about 35 libraries, and contains over 5000 titles. 
The list is alphabetical, with a subject index. 
Periodicals indexed in the " Annual literary in- 
dex" and in the " Cumulative index" are 
marked. In the case of a few very special 
journals the names of individuals are given, at 
whose residences or offices they can be seen. 
This list is the successor to one issued by Har- 
vard College library in 1878.* Copies may be 
had by written application to the librarian of 
the Boston Public Library. A similar list has 
been published in the April bulletin of the 
Providence Public Library, for Providence and 
vicinity, and the Chicago Library Club has 
undertaken the preparation of one for that city. 
The latter will give information as to back sets, 
a very useful feature. 

A noteworthy result of the union of library 
forces in New York City was the appearance of 
a bulletin of the united libraries, in January, 

* A list of serial publications now taken in the principal 
libraries of Boston and Cambridge, ist ed., December, 
1878. Cambridge, 1878, 30 p. 



which gives bibliographies, special catalogs, 
documents, and various matter of much in- 
terest.* 

In turning to bibliographical work of a wider 
scope, mention must be made of the "Cumu- 
lative index," now in its second year. It is not 
co-operative in method, but is prepared and 
published by the Cleveland Public Library. It 
now indexes 100 periodicals, and gives occa- 
sional special bibliographies besides, but it is 
the cumulative feature which gives it its great 
value as a library tool, each month's issue con- 
taining in one alphabet all the titles of the 
preceding months until the December issue, 
which includes the titles for the year. The 
Cleveland Public Library is making an interest- 
ing experiment in thus testing the availability 
of the linotype for this peculiar kind of library 
work, and deserves thanks for its public spirit, 
in assuming the labor and expense. All who 
have used it will hope that it may prove a 
financial success. It is much to be desired that 
the leading French, German, and Italian peri- 
odicals might be added to the list of those in- 
dexed, but this feature would not be likely to 
extend the subscription list, though it would 

* Bulletin of the New York Public Library Astor, Le- 
nox, and Tilden foundations. Published monthly by the 
New York Public Library, 40 Lafayette Place, New York 
City. Subscription $i a year. 



82 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



add much to the usefulness of the index in the 
large libraries, and would be welcomed in a 
large proportion of the smaller cities and 
towns. 

In the last report it was pointed out that an 
exceptionally good opportunity for co-operation 
was to be found in cataloging the articles in the 
publications of various learned societies. The 
idea had occurred to others, and has been ac- 
tively debated by the New York Public Library, 
Columbia University Library, the John Crerar, 
the Boston Public, and Harvard University li- 
braries. Investigations into the cost of printing 
the titles in such work have been made in New 
York and Boston, and a report upon the matter 
will be submitted to the Association at Phila- 
delphia. The committee believe that co-op- 
erative work along this line has promise of 
success, and hope that the subject will be care- 
fully considered by the Association, with a view 
to the issuing of cards for such titles being 
undertaken by the Publishing Section. This 
work is not indexing but cataloging, largely 
analytical cataloging, of a class of books which 
are received by the libraries interested at about 
the same time. Much of the work is already 
done by those libraries that receive the serials; 
the object is, first, to do this work more eco- 
nomically, then to increase, if possible, the 
number of serials cataloged, and to give other 
libraries the chance of profiting by the work to 
such extent as they wish. It is clear there is 
here a large field for work without intrenching 
upon that reserved for the operations of the 
Royal Society. 

The interest in general bibliography which 
has prevailed for the last few years increases. 
The absolute necessity for some means of 
knowing what is being printed in the various 
branches of knowledge is even more apparent 
to scholars than to librarians. To various scien- 
tific organizations we owe not only attempts to 
shorten the titles of scientific papers, and to 
economize the labor of the indexer by a typo- 
graphical emphasis of important words, but the 
actual preparation of catalogs in botany, mathe- 
matics, zoology. An international conference 
of bibliographers at London last year, with the 
aid and advice of the Royal Society, laid the 
foundations for a general catalog of the litera- 
ture of pure science from 1900 on. The Insti- 
tut International de Bibliographic, established 
under government patronage at Brussels, pro- 



poses an even wider field of service. In this 
country, in England, in Belgium, in Austria, 
etc., general catalogs of national literature are 
actively debated, if not formally undertaken. 
These, and like matters, will claim a large 
place in the deliberations of the International 
Library Conference of this summer. If the 
next century is to be the age of electricity, 
and of aerodromes, it will be no less the age of 
bibliography.* 

The Publishing Section will report upon the 
result of their first year's experience in issuing 
printed cards. There is no other co-operative 
undertaking in the library field in which success 
means so much to every library in the land. 
We hope that the Association will make an 
earnest and enduring effort to obtain success. 
The Library Bureau in London is making a 
similar experiment, and the Bibliographical In- 
stitute at Brussels has tried to induce pub- 
lishers on the Continent to issue cards, or at 
least separable titles for catalog use, with 
their books, and several firms in Leipzig, 
Berlin, and elsewhere, have made the experi- 
ment.f 

The preparation of indexes to books issued 
without them is a good field for labor, and it 
appears from the continued publication of 
such books that the Association would do 
well to remonstrate vigorously against this 
evil. 

It is a pleasure and a duty to express the 
gratification which we feel at the establishment 
of the Public Documents Office at Washington, 
at the amount and quality of bibliographical 

* The discussion upon this subject in Europe has been 
mainly occupied with the Decimal classification, which 
has been strongly supported by the Institut Interna- 
tional de Bibliographic. It has not been confined to 
library journals, but has broken out in various scientific 
periodicals. Its course may be traced, however, by re- 
ports in the Library Journal, and in the files of The 
Library, Revue des Bibliothtques, Centralblatt fur J3z m 
bliotheksivesen, Revue Internationale des Archives, etc. 

There is, however, opposition to the theory of a universal 
catalog apart from any special scheme of classification, as 
impracticable and unwieldy and an imperfect substitute 
for special bibliographies and catalogs of national litera- 
ture. See the article, " Die Bewegungen auf dem Gebiete 
der internationalen Bibliothekswesen," by Otto Hartwig, 
in Cosmopolis, for May, 1897. 

tSee Centralblatt fur Bibliotkekswesen,la.Ti., 1897, p. 
48, and other passages. See also, Centralblatt, May, 
1897, p. 238, for mention of a prize offered by the " Brus- 
seler Austellung " for an improved process for econom- 
ical reproduction of titles in small numbers. 



TILLINGHAST. 



work already accomplished by that office, and 
at the comprehension of library needs and the 
willingness to satisfy them shown by the pres- 
ent superintendent, Mr. Crandall. 

The second International Library Conference, 
which is to be held in London, July 13-16, 
naturally takes the first place in any considera- 
tion of the organization and association of li- 
brary interests, but it is so much in our minds, 
and is sure of the attendance of so many from 
this Association, that it needs but to be men- 
tioned here. It will be a notable gathering, 
and many and weighty are the subjects for its 
consideration. 

The organization of the Library Association 
of Australasia does not fall within this year, 
but the publication of the proceedings of the 
conference at which it was founded must not 
be passed over.* 

The committee had hoped to submit a spe- 
cial paper on local library associations, for the 
consideration of the Association, but can only 
offer their regret at their inability to do so ; our 
loss, however, is the gain of the conference 
across the water, and in the transactions of that 
body we may hope to read what we would have 
gladly heard here.f 

A paper read by Mr. Arthur H. Chase, state 
librarian of New Hampshire, before the library 
association of that state, 2gth Jan., 1891, bears 

* Account of the proceedings of the first Australasian 
Library Conference, held at Melbourne, on the 2ist,22d, 
23d, and 24th April, 1896 ; together with the papers 
read, lists of delegates, etc., and the constitution and 
office bearers of the Library Association of Australasia. 
Melbourne. [1896.] 410, 65 p. 

The " Oesterreichischer Verein fur Bibliothekswesen," 
founded in December, 1895, intends to issue " Mittheilun- 
gen," but none have as yet appeared. Brief notices of 
its meetings are given in the Centralblatt fiir Biblio- 
thekswesen. 

t Mr. Putnam sketched in outline the different nature 
of the work of a national and a local association in his re- 
marks at the union meeting at Hartford. 'An apprecia- 
tion of the importance of the work that can be best done 
by local bodies underlies much of the recent discussion 
about the future of the A. L. A. 



directly upon this subject, and has a number of 
interesting and valuable suggestions.* 

In 1895 -96 the Massachusetts Library Club 
published monthly lists of works of fiction se- 
lected by a committee of readers. An inquiry 
into the usefulness of the lists undertaken at 
the close of the year showed that, while there 
was not an immediate probability of subscrip- 
tions sufficient to enable the club to carry on 
the work, the lists had been of material ser- 
vice in many parts of the country, so that there 
was a possibility that if continued they might 
win their way to a paying basis. A committee 
was therefore appointed to find out whether a 
trial of the lists for three years could be secured 
by co-operation. The final report of this commit- 
tee has not yet appeared. Such lists have ap- 
parent potentialities of usefulness along several 
lines, and it is to be desired that the experiment 
of issuing them should have a satisfactory trial. 

The discussion of books of the year by local 
associations is much to be commended. It has 
been successful where tried, and might well be 
a feature in the program of each association. 
Certainly it is to be hoped that no association 
will avoid it because the same books have been 
already discussed by other associations. Such 
an objection ignores the larger part of the good 
to be derived from these discussions, which will 
be found to lie in the mental attitude and the 
habits of thought induced and trained thereby. 

Another field for good work has been opened 
by the Indiana Library Association. A prac- 
tical demonstration of the details of library 
work, such as was given at their Library Insti- 
tute, would be of great value in every state, 
working to the advantage of librarians in small 
towns and assistants who otherwise might get 
no benefit from the experience of the profession, 
and therefore working greatly to the benefit of 
the associations. 

* Co-operation among the libraries of New Hampshire : 
paper read before the New Hampshire Library Associa- 
tion at its annual meeting, Jan. 29, 1891; by Arthur H. 
Chase. Concord. 1896. 13 p. 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



REPORT OF THE A. L. A. PUBLISHING SECTION. 

BY WILLIAM C. LANE, CHAIRMAN, LIBRARIAN OF THE ATHENAEUM, BOSTON. 



*T*HE most important thing which the Publish- 
ing Section has to report is the enlargement 
of its work and of its power to handle new en- 
terprises by the continuous employment of an 
assistant secretary whose whole time is given 
to its service. This involves a continuous ex- 
pense, but was made necessary by the Section's 
undertaking to issue printed cards for current 
publications, and, once done, places it in a posi- 
tion to assume additional new activities in the 
future as they may be required. 

Since the last report was made in September, 
1896, the "Supplement to Sargent's 'Reading for 
the young ' " has been published a list about 
equal in length to the original catalog and ac- 
companied by a new subject-index covering both 
the original volume and the supplement. Over 
3500 copies of the original edition were sold, 
and an equal or larger number of the new edi- 
tion (original and supplement combined) ought 
to be required. It is a book which every library, 
large or small, ought to have on its reference 
shelf, and which every school teacher ought to 
find useful. 

The second publication of the year has been 
the "Annotated bibliography of fine art," by 
Russell Sturgis and H. E. Krehbiel, edited by 
Mr. George lies. This is the first of a pro- 
jected series of special bibliographies, to be 
prepared by competent experts, with critical 
and comparative notes. It has been well re- 
ceived by the press, but it is still too soon to 
say how good a sale it will find, and upon some 
measure of financial success, that is, some evi- 
dence that the book is really wanted, must de- 
pend the decision whether the series can wisely 
be continued. The Section is established for 
the express purpose of publishing works useful 
to libraries which publishers cannot undertake 
in the ordinary course of business. It can 
afford to publish without a profit and in some 
cases at a loss, but it must necessarily judge of 
the usefulness of its publications in part by the 
number of copies sold. 

Miss Hewins' short " List of books for boys 
and girls," with brief notes, has also seen the 
light. The expense of printing has been small, 



and the little pamphlet is sold at 10 cents 
apiece, and at a very much lower price in 
quantities. It is hoped that many libraries will 
want large numbers for distribution among their 
readers. 

The most considerable undertaking of the 
year, however, is the assuming of the work 
carried on previously for three years by the Li- 
brary Bureau, namely, the issue of printed 
cards for current publications. The work has 
been continued on practically the same lines as 
under the Library Bureau, several proposed 
changes having been found either impracticable 
or undesirable. The number of subscribers 
has remained the same through the year (about 
60 sets are taken), and this seems to be about 
the number that can be depended upon under 
the present conditions. A few large libraries 
print their own cards and for that reason do not 
buy ours. Many small libraries and some 
larger ones consider that they cannot afford the 
expense of printed cards, either because they 
use too small a proportion of those issued or 
because they find that even if they use a third 
or more of them the expense is higher than for 
cards written in the usual way. It should be 
remembered, however, in judging of the rela- 
tive advantages of the two kinds of cards, that 
the printed cards are distinctly better than any 
written ones, that there is a saving of time in 
using them, though it may or may not amount 
to as much as the expense of the cards, and 
that the cards, having particulars of publisher 
and price, are of use in the administration of 
the library whether put into the catalog or not. 
The work must still be considered as an experi- 
ment, and its permanent success as uncertain. 
The receipts of the past year, from subscrip- 
tions and from the sale cf books sent by pub- 
lishers, has paid the expense of manufacture 
and distribution, and a fair proportion of the 
assistant secretary's salary, but any falling off 
in the number of subscriptions or any increased 
difficulty in getting books from the publishers 
would probably stop the work. To the pub- 
lishers who have sent their books the Section 
would express its gratitude, but there is still in 



LANE. 



many cases constant difficulty in persuading 
them to send their books early, in advance of 
publication or even in advance of the copies 
they send out for review, yet the usefulness of 
the cards depends very largely on the prompt- 
ness of their issue. 

Many publishers are with difficulty persuaded 
that it is worth while for them to send us their 
books free, doubting the value of the adver- 
tisement, yet the Section considers that in dis- 
tributing cards to libraries it does render the 
publisher a service, and that each card as it ap- 
pears in the catalog drawer, standing out 
sharply from the written ones around it, is a 
continual advertisement of the book and its 
publisher. 

If our subscription list were larger, or if the 
proposition made in the course of the last win- 
ter had been carried out, we could appeal to 
publishers more successfully. This proposition 
was to issue advance lists with single-line titles 
of the books to be cataloged, and allow libra- 
rians to check on these the books they had 
bought or were likely to buy, and return them 
within two weeks, after which the cards were to 
be printed and distributed. It was expected 
that these advance lists might have a large cir- 
culation, so that no publisher could afford not to 
have his books included in them, and that by 
making it possible for a library to buy only the 
cards it was likely to use, the principal objec- 
tion to the present general subscription plan 
would be obviated. But the responses to the 
circular sent out were so few that the scheme 
had to be dropped. 

We still believe that a plan substantially on 
these lines can sometime be carried out with 
success ; but for the present, if our subscrip- 
tion list remains constant and our relations with 
publishers continue the same, it is evident that 
what we are now doing is worth carrying on 
along the same lines. The conditions under 
which the work is done are, on the whole, as 
favorable as we could find. The Boston Athe- 
naeum has given us office-room and free access 
to its collections and reference-books. In Miss 
Nina E. Browne, the assistant secretary, we 
have a rapid and efficient worker, who has had 
charge of the printed cards since their issue was 
begun by the Library Bureau. We have no ex- 
pense for rent, light or heat, and the general 
superintendence of the work is gratuitous. 

The most encouraging direction for an en- 



larged use of printed cards is for articles in 
serial publications, especially such as are not in- 
cluded in any of the general indexes to literature 
of this kind. Five of the large libraries of the 
country have been considering the interchange 
of cards among themselves for such titles, and 
the Publishing Section hopes it may be able to 
make an arrangement with these libraries, 
under which it can undertake to print these 
titles, furnish them to the libraries at a lower 
cost than they could do the work for them- 
selves, and at the same time distribute such as 
might be wanted to other libraries at a moderate 
price, and so allow them to share in the advan- 
tages of the work done co-operatively by the 
five large ones. It is too soon to make any 
final statement in regard to this plan, but it is 
one of the most interesting and useful directions 
in which the work of the Publishing Section 
can develop. 

Of other work before us there remains the 
" Index to portraits," so long talked of and so 
much wanted, upon which a substantial be- 
ginning has now been made, the copying of 
Mr. Samuel's material being under way, and 
constant work being done by the assistant 
secretary in the intervals of other demands 
upon her time. A preliminary list of works to 
be indexed has been printed in the Library 
Journal^ short paper of instructions compiled, 
and several offers of co-operation have already 
been received. The work will necessarily be 
an extensive one, and we shall be called upon 
to sink a good deal of money in it before we 
can get any return. 

The " Supplement to the A. L. A. index," or 
the new edition, as we hope it may be, cannot 
be completed this year, but we may expect to 
see it in 1898. 

A new edition of the "List of subject head- 
ings for dictionary catalogs " is called for, 
the first one being exhausted, and will be taken 
up as soon as we judge that we can prudently 
do so. 

An " Annotated bibliography of American 
history" is likely to be the next in our series 
of annotated lists, if the success of the fine art 
bibliography justifies an extension of the plan. 

A list of French fiction suitable for general 
circulation has been kindly submitted by Mr. 
William Beer, of New Orleans, but its publica- 
tion was necessarily postponed for a time on 
account of the other undertakings on hand. 



86 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



It is expected, however, that it may be taken 
up again during the coming winter. 

The ' ' Library primer," which has been printed 
in tentative form in the pages of Public Libra- 
ries, was referred at the last meeting of the 
Association to a special committee for revision, 
after which it was to come to this Section for 
publication, but we have as yet received no 
communication in regard to it from the com- 
mittee. 

Finally, in speaking of the financial condition 
of the Section, we wish first of all to place on 
record our grateful appreciation of the gener- 
osity of the trustees of the Carnegie Library, 
Pittsburgh, Pa., who have sent a gift of $100 
to be used to advance the work which the Sec- 
tion is doing. Such a gift brings with it more 
than the cash which is added to our bank ac- 
count. To know that the work which the 
American Library Association has undertaken 
to do through its Publishing Section, is appre- 
ciated as valuable and important to library in- 
terests in general, strengthens our hands and 
encourages our efforts. 

Financially, it is to be said that while we 
have no cause for discouragement, yet it is 
evident that we cannot properly do the work 
we have on hand without a larger capital. 
The Trustees of the Endowment Fund have 
lent us within a little more than a year $1000. 
This is from their accrued income, not from 
their principal, which they think, and rightly, 
must be invested in other ways, like other 
trust funds. The $1000 is nominally a loan, yet 
we understand that if necessary the interest 
may be remitted or returned to us, and the loan 
itself become an appropriation if circumstances 
require it. 

The publications of the Section have so 
far been fairly successful. The "A. L. A. in- 
dex " has paid for itself and has yielded a small 
sum for several years to its compiler under 



the agreement between him and the Section. 
The "Subject headings" considerably more 
than paid for itself. The original edition 
of "Reading for the young" has never quite 
brought back what has been spent on it, but 
the deficit is a small one and may possibly be 
wiped out by the supplement. The "Books 
for girls and women " was not printed at the 
expense of the Section, and the receipts from 
its sale do not swell our income, but are paid 
over for the present to its sponsor, Mr. lies. 
The "Fine art" list will probably not pay for 
itself. The printed cards fortunately bring in, 
with the help of money received from the sale 
of books, just about what they cost us. But it 
will be seen that with funds recently locked up 
in paying for the " Supplement to ' Reading for 
the young,'" the " Fine art bibliography," the 
" List of books for boys and girls," the work on 
the "Portrait index," and the continuous ex- 
pense of the assistant secretary's salary, with 
the new edition of the " A. L. A. index " before 
us, further expense on the preparation of the 
" Portrait index," with the ultimate very heavy 
expense of its publication, and the other occa- 
sions for expenditure which have been men- 
tioned above, we. distinctly need and must have 
more money to use. 

The Executive Board of the Association last 
year appropriated $200 toward the running 
expenses of the Section, and we hope that it 
may be able to give us a still larger appropria- 
tion for the coming year, the Publishing Sec- 
tion 'having become distinctly a committee of 
the Association charged with carrying out cer- 
tain important functions. 

We would also suggest that the example of 
the trustees of the Carnegie Library is a good 
one for either individuals or boards of trustees 
to follow, and that from $1000 to $5000 placed 
in the treasury of the Publishing Section would 
bear good fruit in the library cause. 



HOPKINS. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY SCHOOLS, 1896-1897. 

BY ANDERSON H. HOPKINS, JOHN CRERAR LIBRARY, CHICAGO. 



NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY SCHOOL. 

/ T*HE Library School took possession in Feb- 
^ ruary of its new rooms, on the fifth floor of 
the capitol. These are directly over the old 
quarters, 60 feet higher. They are reached by 
three elevators, and besides the finer view, the 
quiet and freedom from dust because so much 
further from the street they have a much bet- 
ter ventilation and light and more abundant 
room. Instead of the tables heretofore used 
the students are supplied with standard desks, 
each with an electric student -lamp. Large 
new coat and toilet rooms have been provided, 
and otherwise the school begins its second 
decade by occupying quarters vastly better 
adapted to its work than it has ever before en- 
joyed. 

On account of the American Library Associa- 
tion's trip to Europe this summer, and also be- 
cause of the extra labor involved in moving 
the Library School from the third to the fifth 
floors of the capitol, the second session of the 
summer school will be postponed till July and 
August, 1898. 

Much disappointment has been expressed by 
the librarians and assistants of the smaller 
libraries of the state at the omission of the 
summer school, thus showing that the work 
met a real want. 

During the first session of the summer school 
the number of students was limited to 20, but 
two others took part of the work. Of these 
22, all but one were engaged in library work, 
and 10 were in New York libraries. At the ex- 
aminations 14 passed, four of these with honor, 
i.e., with a marking above 90 per cent. 

The class of 1897 is the first to graduate since 
the change of policy in regard to the senior 
class went into effect. According to this change 
the completion of junior work does not neces- 
sarily admit to the senior class. Class work, 
examinations and personal qualifications are 
weighed, and only those who seem likely to 
render important service to the library pro- 
fession are admitted. 

It is gratifying to note that the demand for 



the graduates of the school continues. Nearly 
all of the members of the senior class have se- 
cured positions which they will assume as soon 
as the work of the school is finished. 

The bibliographies and theses presented this 
year as a requirement for graduation show un- 
usually good work, and the subjects seem to be 
of special interest. A list of these subjects is 
given in the Library Journal for June, supple- 
menting the list which was printed in the March 
number. 

The New York State Library bibliographic 
bulletins nos. 2-4 are almost ready for issue. 
These numbers contain the following bibliog- 
raphies, compiled by Library School students : 

M. C. Wilson. Reading list on colonial New 
England, 1620-1754. 

C. W. Plympton. Select bibliography on 
travel in North America. 

G. F. Leonard. Reading list on the history 
of the 1 7th century. 

A register of the New York State Library 
School, covering the first 10 years of its his- 
tory, from January, 1887, through December, 
1896, has been compiled, and will be printed in 
the New York State Library report for 1896. 
This register includes the names of all matricu- 
lated students with the positions which they 
have held and are now holding in the library 
profession. 

Since its opening in 1887, the New York State 
Library School has had 74 students from New 
York, and has also drawn 137 from 29 other 
states, and six from England and Germany and 
Sweden. 

From January, 1887, through December, 
1896, its students have filled 243 positions in 
New York, 284 in 24 other states, and two in 
two foreign countries. 

The visit to the libraries of New York and 
vicinity occurred April 13-23. The yearly 
visit of the school to New York or Boston li- 
braries proves increasingly valuable. A marked 
improvement was noted this year in the written 
reports of the chairmen of the various student 
committees who reported on the visit. 

Special mention should be made of the col- 



88 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



lections of notes and samples which are a part 
of the requirement for graduation. The ma- 
terial collected during these annual visits and 
throughout the two years of the course is 
most admirably arranged. 

Mr. F. M. Crunden was chosen by the New 
York State Library School Association its 
alumni lecturer for 1897, but on account of the 
International Library Congress in London, he 
was obliged to postpone his lectures. 

Owing to the most generous response to its 
request the Library School has, during the 
past year, added very largely to its collection of 
printed matter, issued by American and foreign 
libraries. English librarians especially have 
sent extremely interesting collections illustrat- 
ing their methods. 

The school is making a special collection of 
material in regard to national, state, and local 
library associations, and also to library train- 
ing, and earnestly invites the co-operation of 
all interested. It has also a large and valuable 
collection of clippings relative to libraries, which 
it desires to make as complete as possible. 

The catalog of the collection on library 
architecture, which was prepared for the com- 
parative library exhibit at Chicago, has been in- 
creased in value this year by indexing the 
pictures of library buildings which are found 
in books and periodicals. All the illustrations 
in the Library Journal have been brought out 
in this way. 

It is a great satisfaction to find that the vari- 
ous collections of the school are proving most 
useful, not only to its own students, but to 
outsiders as well. Numerous calls come from 
librarians all over the country for material 
which can be found nowhere else. 

A special exhibit will be sent to the Interna- 
tional Bibliographic Conference at Brussels. 

PRATT INSTITUTE LIBRARY SCHOOL. 

The work of the first-year class has been 
changed but little this year, except that more 
time has been given to reference work and bib- 
liography. 

The first-year class had the advantage dur- 
ing the past year of a course of lectures on 
printing and bookmaking, the reproductive 
processes, history of bookbinding, and special 
lectures on subject bibliography given to the 
second-year class. 



The annual visit to libraries at a distance was 
made to Washington and Baltimore. During 
the third term one afternoon a week was de- 
voted to visiting the libraries in the vicinity of 
New York. 

A second-year course has been offered this 
year for the first time. The interest of the 
students, the courtesy and kindness of the di- 
rector, Lenox librarian, and staff of the New 
York Public Library, and the good-will of the 
Grolier Club, have insured its success. It is a 
matter of great regret that the absence of the 
librarian makes it necessary to omit the course 
during the coming year. 

The number of students enrolled has been: 
First year, 22; second year, 3; total, 25. 

Not a member of the class has been obliged 
to give up the course during the year, this 
being the first class of which the whole number 
entering remained to graduate. 

Reports have recently been received from 82 
of the former graduates of the school. All but 
two of this number have held library positions. 
Of these there are 15 librarians and 24 cata- 
logers, six are doing reference work, two are 
in charge of children's rooms, and the rest are 
general library workers. 

There are a few corrections to be made to 
the report on Library Schools, published in the 
proceedings of the Cleveland conference. A 
very natural misunderstanding of the nomencla- 
ture used in the class schedule led to a mis- 
statement of the amount of time given to some 
of the subjects studied. From the report it 
would be supposed that only the " three clos- 
ing lectures of the year are devoted to bibli- 
ography," whereas trade bibliography is given 
in connection with the order department work, 
the more important indexes and subject bibli- 
ographies are taken up in the reference lectures, 
and a number of lists are compiled by the class, 
thus acquainting them practically with the bib- 
liography of many subjects. 

To the loan systems our school is credited 
with devoting but two per cent, of time in the 
second term, as it was not understood that in 
the hours marked "Desk" the class had in- 
struction and practice in all the routine work of 
the circulating department of the library, about 
nine per cent, being given to that in the first 
and second terms, and three hours a week of 
practical work in the third term. It is this ex- 



HOPKINS. 



89 



perience which is especially helpful in prepar- 
ing the students for public library work. 

It is to be noted as a matter of no slight inter- 
est that the examinations have been set and 
marked by the lecturers themselves in the sec- 
ond-year course, and a distinct step forward has 
been taken in the training of catalogers to ade- 
quately treat incunabula, manuscripts, and 
early Americana. 

DREXEL INSTITUTE LIBRARY SCHOOL. 

The course of instruction during the past year 
has been very similar to that of the preceding 
year. It is still found necessary to give attention 
to literature, owing to the relative ignorance of 
the candidates in this branch, which is so im- 
portant to library assistants as well as to libra- 
rians. A very interesting feature of the course 
has been the discussion by subjects of the books 
contained in "The list of books for girls and 
women," comparing the selections with the A. 
L. A. catalog in the same subjects. The notes 
have been very instructive, and have given the 
students some knowledge of the most impor- 
tant and popular books in several classes. It is 
impossible in one year, with the study of the 
technical phases of library work, to devote much 
time to this side of a librarian's education, 
essential as it is. 

The lectures on the " History of books and 
libraries," given by President MacAlister, of 
the Institute, were most enjoyable, and were 
illustrated with lantern slides representing 
styles of writing and printing, various forms 
of books, and noted libraries. 

The class of 1896-97 began work on October 
i, 1896, with 16 students enrolled. In addition 
there were eight special students (assistants in 
the Free Library) who attended the lectures on 
reference work and bibliography. The stu- 
dents came from the following states: Pennsyl- 
vania, New York, Michigan, New Jersey, and 
Massachusetts. 

The graduating class in June numbered 13, of 
whom two have accepted positions in libraries. 
Of former classes, graduates are to a large ex- 
tent engaged in practical work. Some stu- 
dents have taken the course without intending 
to use it as a means of livelihood. 

During the year visits have been made to 
several of the Philadelphia libraries. The 
usual New York visit was omitted. 



This spring the number of inquiries regard- 
ing the course, as well as the number of appli- 
cants for entrance examinations, has been larger 
than ever before, showing the evident spread 
of interest in the profession. 

ILLINOIS STATE LIBRARY SCHOOL. 

Perhaps the greatest change which has 
taken place among the library schools this 
year is that which occurs at Armour Insti- 
tute. This school has been formally transferred 
to the University of Illinois at Champaign, 111., 
and the course has been both lengthened and 
broadened. Miss Katharine Sharp, formerly 
director of the school at Armour Institute, has 
been appointed professor of library economy 
and director of the Library School in the Uni- 
versity of Illinois. Miss Mary L. Jones, for- 
merly of the University of Nebraska, has been 
appointed assistant professor of library econ- 
omy. Miss Margaret Mann, who was last 
year an instructor in Armour Institute Library 
School, has been engaged as cataloger. 

The course of instruction is to cover the 
ordinary four years of university study, but only 
the last two years of the course are to be devoted 
to purely technical library work, the first two 
years consisting of the usual college course, 
with some general lectures and reference work. 
In other words, practically two years of college 
work will be required for entrance upon the 
course in library science. 

The change to the University of Illinois has 
been made after mature consideration, and it 
is believed that the step is a wise one. The 
library is not yet large, but a very liberal 
appropriation for the purchase of books has 
lately been made, and the state has just built 
for the university at a cost of $160,000 a beauti- 
ful new library building. The various libraries 
of the university now include about 40,000 
volumes. 

The degree of Bachelor of Library Science 
(B.L.S.) is to be conferred on those who com- 
plete the entire course. 

The work of the past year at Armour Insti- 
tute has been similar to that of previous years. 
The students numbered 21, of whom three were 
seniors and 18 juniors. The usual routine of 
the previous year has been followed, and visits 
to libraries in Chicago were made a short time 
ago. Before the school year had closed the 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



arrangement for transferring the school to the 
University or Illinois had been completed, and 
the announcement made in such manner that 
the continuity of the school is not in any way 
interrupted. The sole difference is that the 
school has been transferred to another place, 
and the same work is to be pursued as hereto- 
fore, except that it is to be more extended and 
complete than has been possible up to this 
time. 

At the dedication of the new building of the 
University of Illinois Mr. Dewey gave the ad- 
dress, and he is able to speak with certainty of 
the bright prospects for the new Illinois State 
Library School. 

OTHER TRAINING SCHOOLS. 

The training class heretofore instructed by 
Mr. Dana, at Denver, has been given up, be- 
cause there positively was not sufficient space 
in the library to accommodate the pupils. 

The Amherst Summer School, conducted 
by Mr. Fletcher, is to have its session of six 
weeks this summer, beginning July 5, and run- 
ning to August 13. There is no special report 
to be made, because the session of last year had 
been held before the meeting of the Cleveland 
conference, and was covered by that report. 

The third session of the Wisconsin Summer 
School is to be held at Madison under the aus- 



pices of the University of Wisconsin Summer 
School, beginning July 5 and closing August 
13, a six weeks' term. The work of previous 
years has been so successful that the demand 
for this summer term has been constantly grow- 
ing. The course this year is to be under the 
direction of Miss Cornelia Marvin, who was last 
year instructor in reference work and bibliog- 
raphy in the Library School of Armour Insti- 
tute. The course will follow the same plan as 
heretofore. 

There have been conducted a number of 
classes within the past year according to uni- 
versity extension methods by various persons 
interested in the advancement of modern li- 
brary economy. It does not seem best to make 
an inexact statement concerning this work. It 
is to be hoped that future reports may take cog- 
nizance of these features of library work, so 
recently developed. It has not been possible to 
make any adequate statement of them in this 
report. 

Your committeeman greatly wished to revise 
and add to the tabular statement made by the 
Committee on Library Schools last year, and 
printed in the Library Journal, 21 : Cg6, so that 
it might be brought completely up to date ; but 
the time allowed him for making this report has 
been so limited that it has been impossible to 
compile the necessary statistics for this table. 



REPORT ON GIFTS AND BEQUESTS. 

BY CAROLINE M. HEWINS, LIBRARIAN OF THE HARTFORD (CT.) PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



'T'HE gifts and bequests reported since July 
of last year amount to more than $400,000 
in money, nearly 50,000 volumes of books 
and pamphlets, buildings valued at more than 
$200,000, and manuscripts, books, and pict- 
ures worth nearly half a million, together 
with many other gifts whose value is not 
stated. The gifts to travelling libraries in 
Wisconsin are worthy of notice, and will do in- 



calculable good in the thinly-settled parts of the 
state. 

The tabulated statement of the gifts and be- 
quests for the period covered is given in the 
same form as last year. It should be remem- 
bered that the report made to the Cleveland 
Conference covered two years, a fact that ex- 
plains the difference in extent between that 
report and the present one. 



CONDITIONS OR REMARKS. 


j Semitic library of the late Rabbi 
1 Greenbaum. 

( House on " Nob Hill," San Fran- 
1 cisco. 
For nucleus of endowment fund. 
1 On condition of $500 a year from 
< the town to himself or his wife for 
( life. 
$500 for books. 


For public library and museum. 


1 i 111 i s m 

- : >-t ^ : o '-5 2 
g 1 : a.S : D* o 

.S . be-O'z; >> * iu 3-j; 

li! Hft [ jj J 1 

ri f fl %? 1 1 1 nr 

II i aBfi-8 i 2 8 2 1%, 

= S :.|itf : o * |J1||| 

o 1 " : : a-" 14 : 13 >. S o * ajtS 

"glr^Bl-S : 1 Illlgl 

INI ! Pll 

<IH A t> (0 g ~ OiB (I g 


Music. 
( Landscape architecture, in memory 
< of Henry Sargent Codman and Philip 
| Codman. 
Numbers of " Patentschrift." 
j 1,100 photographs of works of art : 
| memorial to Harriet H. Graupner. 

" The Hiland Lockwood Gift." 

j Charles Mead Trust Fund, prefera 
1 bly for the South Boston Branch. 
j Memorial of her father, Hon. Jon- 
{ athan Bourne. 


j " Galatea Library," books and 
( pamphlets on the history of woman. 





: : 





: : : : x"S : : 











; 


: : 




: : : c : : 








10 




PUB sjjoog 
u; -SIOA 'ON 


: : 1 : 


i i il|^ll| ! i il 


U J*" 

1 


S S 8! 

m so 10 


1 






9 


ui junoiu v" 


: H o" 


1 


IO O M O~ MO M 


o" 






i 


& : 


SOURCE. 


. Mr. Greenbaum 

. Mrs. Leland Stanford.. 
. Olivia E. P. Stokes 

. Egbert Marsh 
. Mrs, L. C. Whitney.... 
. Not stated . . 


^^A 

+ *r 
cc 

*- 


"* to >^ C **Q 

I il ! 1 !l 

) ^ | J3 -g^ 1 
c e u. ' f-i ' 

C r u S S W rt ^ 

fe U!w <; O ffi QS e 


1 p i ! i 

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M ,2 > cfl 13 r^ d 

w - ^CQ > u rt c j 
a -<tnPg6-S;i5 

|fi h'g Jo | 


1 

C/) 
V "^ 
"in 4 
Cfl ^ 


< 

c 

V. 

c 

as 
i 

'i 


. Caleb Davis Bradlee... 
. T. W. Higginson 


3 <y 
a 
n 


M OJ W to ..M 


. . CO . 

. V . 


U CJ 

9 S 

1 1 

03 03 


<- 

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CQ 5 


3 3333 : 


tn *H 

3 3 


333 3 3 -3 

o-CTcr cr criiClo'i: 


5 3w5 3 5 c 


VN. NAME OF LIBRARY. 


University of California . . . 

Leland Stanford Jr. Unive 
sity 

Ansonia Public Library. . . . 
New Milford Library 
. . . Somers Free Library 

. . . . Free Circulating Library . . 
Jesse Spalding 

. . . . Peoria Public Library 


: i : : b 
&2 ! & | 3 

g o rt ^5" 

1 g : i - 3 

J o 3 E? J .H 

u P< a 3-2 
1 -^ S = |" 3 

"li ? 1 1 
i ii i ' i' i 

cu ^J pa __ 


: :::::::: 


. . . . Brookline Public Library . . 
Cambridge Public Library. 


. . . . Boston Public Library. 


: : 1- i 


i S 




**-.? 


' * 


o 
H 

H 


h 
U 


: : j j ; i 1 : 

II 4 s * Si a 

1-2 j I 1 II 8 

03 OH <! Z (/} |S< 0-c 


: u : : : : j : :.:::: 

ll| 1 = | I* 1 I S3S S * 3 

CS.T3 rt OOrt O 

P-c i><J Q K A (D 


J i 


Bourne 
Brookline.... 
Cambridge... 


w 
1 


: : : 

1 1 il 

^5 C to 3 
rt O --"^ 
U U Q 


|J 


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; v -r rt 

S) C >. M 

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CONDITIONS OR REMARKS. 


. Books valued at $10,000. 

. Income to be used. 
I Residue of the estate for new li- 
. < brary building on expiration of life 
| interests. 

o 

o Addition to building. 
. Bust of Mrs. Converse. 


o Memorial of Sarah Bond Morrill. 
j Will receive one-fifth of the residue 
1 of her estate when settled. 


( $1,000 towards a new library build- 
. < ing ; $500 for a soldiers' memorial 
/tablet. 
. For the purchase of books. 

o For the purchase of books. 


Vj O 

a || 
., be .2 






: 


i| i ill 

. . . . o 

TJ ; * 

" " ^ 


. From library of Col. Wright. 
j Memorial of A. C. Coxe, jr., c 
' 1 1897- 
















'.3 " .O ") 

i ;s ; o-g,; i ; t 

:J : ^J3 : : 

" 'C'uvu '. ' ~ 

..O.C tn '^ -. 

t . E : '"'js vi ; '. ? 

. . i> . o n . . j 

: : :S : -S : : fc 

. . . . . . . 


JB pani^A 

Suipjing 




* o" . .3. 

\ \ "rgi 


si: 

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: : 8 : 






1 








sjaiudurej 

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55 

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S * * II"" 


: : : 


: : : : 








fj, ::::?: : : 1 

.... ox ; ; ; " 


i 
1 C 


* 
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ui junouiy 




: : : 


: > 


to O O 


10 O < 

; N , i 


3 Q 

5 o 

U1V 


. O O O O O 
f^ 10 IO to Q Q 

MM M q^ q^ 
'. m . . 10 


| 


M 


10 M r . * o 


: M 8 


* M m 10 m 


SOURCE. 




td ^ tC ui tJ *^c ^ 


S. A. Hall 

Henry L. Pierce 
(Children of JosiahJ. 1 
j Fiske { 
G. F. Shiedley 

Tamps K Nirhnls . . 


II ; | c : 

P lols 
^.2 E^CT' 

y eS^s 

^ It's 

ga 5&8 1 
0^ ^,J5^t 


^ .' en oi "g ' C rt 

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u :g 5 ^ . s" 3 . 

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^ -JJ rt^ rt u . rtjT 


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ro" a* ! o* i 
U B >S fi 

! P5 03 O 03 L 


! I I I . o cj 4> 
"J.J.J.W 33 J3 

55353 03 03 5 c 


03 03 333o) 3 3 03 030 


NAME OF LIBRARY. 


: :-::: : : : : : : : : : J> 
: :::::? : : j : : : ^ b< < 

li i ||| s | i fift f 

u u u a* S S 5 z O eu d 35 & Wu u " 


Lyndeboiough Public Li- 
brary 
New Hampton Free Library. 
Langdon Library 


Wakefield Public Library.... 

Weare Free Library 
Whitefield Public Library. . . . 

Wilton Town Library 

Newark Public Library 
Rutherford Free Library As- 
sociation 
Albion Public Library 
Cambridge Union School Li- 
brarv . . . 


Canandaigua Public Library. 
New York Military Academy 
Librarv... 


Hobart College Library 


CITY OR TOWN. 


: j : : : : j : :::::::::::! 


e 


:::::: i: i i 


Canandaigua 
Cornwall-on Hud- 
son . . . 


Geneva 


ll 1 \L pi fill i fill : 1 

J5J3 x -200 OX ffi S ^ a <D X>, 

u u u S3 S S 55 o cuo, oA <s> !> Wu jj 


New Hampto 
Newington. . 

Calorr, 


jj!= : l || jl 


I 


4-1 

S -8. 

1 '! 

s II 


u 

O V 

52 52 



IMemorial of Henry May, class of 1897. 


From library of Zenas Kurd. 

Building, books, and endowment. 
Women of Mt. Vernon. 
000,000 


Alex. J. Cotheal fund for oriental books 

For books. 
For library fund. Valuable Hebrew 
mss. 
T. Addis Emmet collection of mss. 
engravings, and books on Am. Revo- 
lution ; valued at $200,000. 
Medical books. 


Land valued at $6,000. 


f rom graduates, 
j Also an unbound set of " Pictu- 
j resque Europe." 

For completing the card catalog. 


Endowment fund. 


Not stated. 

( $5,000 for a building; $5,000 for 
-(books and furnishing; memorial to 
{ her husband. 
j Also land for park and public li- 
| brary on the death of her sister. 


j An endowment for the purchase of 








. rt 








-6 




3 

V 

a 






o 
o 

D 


echnical library of her husba 


o complete library building, 
iiscellaneous and art books, 
or endowment. 


To purchase books ; as a i 
of his silver wedding. 








H 






1 




; i M HJJMJt" 






;::|ii|ii;M:ni! 


:: 


!! 


| 




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I 


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ilill 


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88 

10 -^ 


ef 


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. . Peter Richards 


. DeLancey Floyd-Jone 


' V 

: 3 

: b a 

> o3 

O ''^ ( 

>J**S c 


(Mrs. James Swords 

. . Nnt stated . . 


J 

t 

c 

^ 


. J. S. Kennedy 
. J. S. Billings 

. Citizens . . 


. Various sources 
. . John D. Rockefeller. . 


, William Ryder 


. . Not stated 
. . Irving Grinnell 

. . Charles Head 
Phrphe Ferris . 


. Mrs. C. W. Lepper... 

. . Mrs. Jane Bayne Teec 
. . Lewis Cuzer. . . 




i :S : : : i 

httO'O*** 

<s u ;<s ; n 

55 :2j2 
o o >, -J5 6 go) 

22|'S-i|B3 


. : . . : .< . . 

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ilJIUEM 

igi^5?|ll 


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OOOO C 


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9 

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C 
C 


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35 


5 o e 


. . . . tn '. at a 

.... 01 . 1)4 

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OOOO en : ffl ff 




33 *J*J*JJ 3 4J i J ^J J 3 *J*J4J J *J*J 

fflfflOOOOOO O OOOO O OC 


. . iHobart College Library 


..Genesee Wesleyan Seminar 

T.ihrarv 


. . DeLancey Floyd-Jones Fre 
Library.. 
. . Mt. Vernon Public Library. 
. . Columbia University Library 




:>> 




: : :-B J : : 


"o 
U 




:x : : : 


: & : 


: : : Is : 


. . New York Public Librar 


ft!P,uiJ! \ i 

l|al|||l|| | I 

liiliffiftrl 1 

s*>3 e c o *3 '-,?','' ">! ir "3 


Franklin and Marshall 
' lege 
. . Apprentices' Library Co 
. . Mercantile Library Co . . 
n. Lehigh University 


. . Providence Public Libra 
. . University of Texas 
. . Williams Free Library. . 
. . Travelling Libraries .... 
. . Menasha Public Library 

. . Milwaukee Public Librai 
. . Racine Public Library. . 


. . Stevens Point Public Lib 

. . Travelling Libraries. . . 
. . Travelling Libraries. . . 


Geneva 


: g a : : 

: . S l|. . . 

"i M j 




v 


s. ? 




1 : 








V 




: : : : 


S : 


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>>a-o h 

a H ! ; Is ^ -a : 
Silfljfifl J 1? 

!>>O' C ^ 3-- rt l> 1) _C _; "3 J: 
)O(X(/5 iH (flD^!^:^ J J ffl C 


Lancaster . . 
Philadelphi 


2 ' v g ' ' v '. ' 

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1 r = 


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1 .1 
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94 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



THE PROCEEDINGS. 
PHILADELPHIA, PA., MONDAY -FRIDAY, JUNE 21-25, 



FIRST SESSION. 

(PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, MONDAY 
EVENING, JUNE 21, 8.30 P.M.) 

A RECEPTION was held in the rooms of the 
Historical Society, where the members of the 
Association were received with the most cor- 
dial hospitality, and where a delightful time 
was passed in social intercourse and in examin- 
ing the many treasures of books, autographs, 
and manuscripts, displayed for the inspection 
of the visitors. The meeting was called to 
order by President Brett at 9.10, and a short 
address of welcome was made by Judge Sam- 
uel W. Pennypacker, vice-president of the His- 
torical Society. Other short addresses were 
made by President Brett, S: S. Green, who 
spoke as a representative of the first A. L. A. 
conference, and Dr. William A. Pepper, who 
closed the session with a few words of cordial 
greeting. A supper was then served in the 
main hall, and the rest of the evening was 
spent in enjoyment of the social, bibliographi- 
cal and hospitable delights of a delightful 
gathering. 

SECOND SESSION. 

(AUDITORIUM OF THE DREXEL INSTITUTE, 
TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE 22.) 

The meeting was called to order at 9.30 
by President W. H. BRETT, who, after a brief 
word of greeting, read 

THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 

(Seep. I.) 

Mr. R. P. HAYES then read his 
SECRETARY'S REPORT. 

Early in December a number of the members 
of the A. L. A. were invited to Washington to 
appear before the committee on the Library of 
Congress. 

The object of the investigation was to pre- 
sent to the committee the ideas of the librarians 
as to the future of the Library of Congress. 

A special meeting of the Association was 



called at New York on Feb. '6, to consider the 
reincorporation of the A. L. A. under the laws 
of the United States. The meeting did not 
take any final action, but referred the matter to 
the regular meeting. 

Mr. G. W. Cole resigned as treasurer, and 
the Executive Board elected Mr. C. K. Bolton 
to that office. 

The Executive Board took prompt action with 
regard to the proposed tariff on books, protest- 
ing against the bill as presented, and suggest- 
ing changes which have been almost entirely 
incorporated in the bill now before the Senate. 

Pres. BRETT. The question of reincorpora- 
tion, referred to at the special meeting men- 
tioned in the secretary's report, will be.discussed 
at a later session of the Association. 

The secretary then read the 

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE ENDOWMENT 
FUND. 

Herewith I submit the annual report of the 
Trustees of the Endowment Fund. 

No subscriptions have been received since 
that of Hon. P. T. Sexton, announced at the 
last conference, nor any other additions to the 
fund, except from interest on loans and de- 
posits. 

Allow me to suggest that the relations be- 
tween the fund and the Publishing Section 
need further definition. Under 8 of the A. 
L. A. constitution the principal of the fund 
must be "invested and kept forever in- 
violate." In 16 it is stated that the Associa- 
tion is not liable for debts incurred by the Pub- 
lishing Section. Without such liability it is 
doubtful whether the trustees can consider a 
loan to the Publishing Section as an investment 
within the provisions of the constitution, and 
they are, therefore, limited in making such 
loans to the amount of accrued interest. 

Mr. Whitney, for the Finance Committee 
has examined the securities and vouchers of 
the trustees, on file here. 

CHARLES C. SOULE, 
Treasurer of the Endowment Fund. 



SECOND SESSION. 



95 



AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ENDOWMENT FUND CASH ACCOUNT. 



Sept. 
Jan. 
July 
Sept. 

Oct. 
Dec. 
Feb. 
March 



i, 
i, 

i, 

4- 

12, 
2, 

19, 
If), 

9, 
29, 



1896. 



1897. 



April 2, 



Nov. 20, 1896. 

April 16, 1897. 

May 14, " 

June 8, " 

" 15, " 



RECEIVED. 

From E. C. Hovey, treasurer, 

Interest at bank | nQt previously creditedj 

" on loan, v 

Contribution, P. T. Sexton, 
Interest on loan, .... 

" at bank, . 

" on loans . 



Principal of loan, repaid. 
Interest on loan, 



PAID. 



Loan to Publishing Section, 

Safe for securities, 

Loan to Publishing Section, 

Loan on mortgage 3 years, 6 per cent., 

Cash in bank, 



ASSETS. 



Mortgage notes bearing 6 per cent, interest, 
' 7 " 



Amount. 

$4300.00 

lioo.oo 



. $1518.67 
j 6.14 

\ 5-75 
30.00 

100. OO 

24,50 
12.99 

68.00 

30.00 

4-33 

IOOO.OO 

24.50 

$2824.88 

$250.00 

IO.OO 

500.00 
2000.00 

64.88 

$2824.88 

Annual Income. 



Loans to A. L. A. Publishing Section bearing 6 per cent, interest, rooo.oo 
Cash in International Trust Co., Boston, . . . 64.88 



77.oo 

$335.oo 
6o.oo 



LIABILITIES: None. 

Annual expenses : $10 for safe-deposit drawer. 
[Other incidental expenses defrayed by trustees.] 

BOSTON, June 15, 1897. 



$6464.88 



At the request of Mr. Charles C. Soule, 
Chairman of the Endowment Fund of the 
American Library Association, I have examined 
his accounts and securities, and find $64.88 on 
deposit in the International Trust Co., of Bos- 
ton, with evidences of investments of five thou- 
sand four hundred dollars ($5400) in mortgage 
loans, and one thousand dollars ($1000) lent to 
the Publishing Section of the Association. I 
also find that the securities are properly kept in 
the Third National Bank Safe Deposit Co., 
Boston, in the name of the Trustees of the En- 
dowment Fund of the American Library Asso- 
ciation. JAMES L. WHITNEY, 

Chairman of Finance Committee. 

Voted. That the report of the Trustees of 
the Endowment Fund be accepted and laid over 
for further consideration. 



W: I. FLETCHER, chairman of the Publishing 
Section, read Mr. W: C. LANE'S 

REPORT OF THE PUBLISHING SECTION. 
(See p. 84.) 

W: I. FLETCHER. I do not think I violate 
any confidence when I tell you that in a private 
letter of Mr. lies, he states that he is willing 
to pay $1000 toward the publication of an 
annotated bibliography of American history, 
the book to contain 1000 titles or thereabouts. 
Perhaps I had better not read the rest of his 
letter, in which he states whom he expects to 
do the work of general editor of the History 
list ; but I think if I did tell you upon whom 
he was depending, you would agree with me 
that he is the right man in exactly the right 
place. 

I think we ought not to overlook Mr. lies' 



9 6 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE, 



generous offer to contribute $1000 out of his 
own pocket to see this work done. 

There seems to be some little difference be- 
tween Mr. Lane's report and the report of the 
Endowment Fund Trustees as to the loan made 
by the Endowment Fund Trustees to the Pub- 
lishing Section. I think there ought to be a 
better definition in our constitution with regard 
to this matter. Mr. Lane understood that the 
loan to the Publishing Section was made from 
income, but Mr. Soule in the report states that 
it is made from principal. That is a very seri- 
ous difference ; partly a difference of judgment, 
however, as to how it should be counted. 

Reference has been made in Mr. Lane's re- 
port to the change in the constitution of the 
Publishing Section, by which it is made more 
strictly than before a section of the Associa- 
tion ; that is to say, the amendment presented 
last year and voted upon favorably without any 
opposition, only awaits favorable action this 
year in order to become a part of our constitu- 
tion. It is necessary that favorable action 
should be taken two years in succession in order 
to amend the constitution, and we ought to 
take action upon that amendment at this meet- 
ing. 

H: L. ELMENDORF. In moving that this 
very interesting report be received and filed, 
I can but express my sorrow that it is not in 
print and in the hands of every member of the 
Association, as was the plan last year. We 
have listened with pleasure to the interesting 
details of this report, but I do not think there 
is anybody in the room that grasps at present 
the importance of it. This brings to our notice 
the question as to whether such reports as this 
should not in future be printed before the meet- 
ing of the Association, so that we may have 
them before us for discussion. 

Voted. That the report of the Publishing 
Section be accepted. 

The secretary read the amendment to the 
constitution of the Publishing Section : 

"The Publishing Section shall consist of five 
members appointed by the Executive Board for 
terms of not more than three years. Its ob- 
ject shall be to secure the preparation and pub- 
lication of such catalogs, indexes and other bib- 
liographic and library aids as it may approve. 

" The Section shall annually appoint from its 
own number a chairman, secretary, and treas- 
urer. 



" No moneys shall be paid by the treasurer 
except with the written approval of three other 
members of the Section, and no work shall be 
undertaken except by a vote of a majority of 
the whole Section. 

" The treasury of the Section is entirely 
distinct from that of the Association, and 
the Association is not liable for any debts in- 
curred by the Section. With the approval of 
the Finance Committee money may be appropri- 
ated from the treasury of the Association for 
the running expenses, but the Section depends 
on the endowment fund as the financial basis of 
its undertakings. 

"The Section shall report in writing at each 
annual meeting of the American Library Asso- 
ciation." 

Pres. BRETT. This section as read is the 
amendment adopted a year ago? 

W: I. FLETCHER. Yes, sir ; and in order to 
make it a part of the constitution, an amend- 
ment must receive a favorable vote of the As- 
sociation at two successive regular meetings. 
That amendment was passed at the annual ses- 
sion a year ago, and I move its final passage 
now. Voted. 

Dr. CYRUS ABLER. I move that the Ameri- 
can Library Association gratefully recognizes 
the generous action of Mr. lies in forwarding the 
work of the Publishing Section. 

H: L. ELMENDORF. I second the motion of 
Dr. Adler, and wish to say "that although the 
value of the two bibliographies may be equal, 
undoubtedly the sale of the historical bibliog- 
raphy will be largely in excess of that covering 
the fine arts. And in seconding the motion, I 
would like to have it amended, that the gen- 
erous offer of Mr. lies be accepted as soon as 
the Publishing Section feel themselves in a po- 
sition to take up the work. I believe that this 
historical bibliography is going to be of great 
value and great use to the Association. Mr. 
lies is, to my personal knowledge, making 
every effort to get the most accomplished edit- 
ors and the most efficient help in making it, 
and is prepared to push it as soon as the Section 
feels itself in a position to take up the work. 
Mr. lies, as you all know, is deeply interested 
in this annotation of literature, and he is will- 
ing to take it up and push it to the advantage 
of us all. 

The amendment was accepted, and it was 
Voted. That the American Library Association 



SECOND SESSION. 



97 



gratefully recognizes the generous action of Mr. 
lies in forwarding the work of the Publishing 
Section, and that his offer be accepted, to be 
carried into effect as soon as the Publishing Sec- 
tion shall think best to do so. 

PRINTING OF PAPERS AND REPORTS. 

H: L. ELMENDORF. I move that the secre- 
tary be instructed to have this report printed 
immediately and placed in the hands of the 
members of the Association before this confer- 
ence adjourns. Voted. 

G. M. JONES. I do not see what can be 
gained by having this report printed. We shall 
be obliged to leave all the details that are 
brought up in it entirely to the Publishing Sec- 
tion. They are the best judges as to what 
ought to be done, and what is practicable to be 
done. 

T. GUILFORD SMITH. I am very glad that 
the motion to have it printed is made. I 
thought that the action of the Cleveland con- 
ference was that the reports should be printed, 
and that they should be in the hands of mem- 
bers so that we could follow the chairman 
in reading the report. As that has not been 
done, and was not so understood, the motion to 
have it printed at once for the use of this con- 
ference seems to be the proper thing. 

I call for the question which I think was 
passed and not yet announced. 

W: I. FLETCHER. It seems to me highly 
proper that the officers of the Section should be 
heard from, for, I am sure, they would all 
agree with me in saying that nobody could wish 
that this report should be printed and placed in 
your hands as soon as possible more than we do, 
for if there is anything that we want as a com- 
mittee it is that you should know all about it 
and understand it and back it up. How you 
are going to back it without understanding it, 1 
do not know ; how you are going to understand 
it without reading it, I cannot see. 

The president announced that the vote was 
passed. A motion to reconsider was lost ; and 
it was Voted. That further action on the re- 
port be deferred until the report should be 
printed and in the hands of members. 

THORVALD SOLBERG. If further discussion 
of the report is out of order, is it out of order 
to bring up the general proposition to have these 
reports ordered printed, so that when we meet 
in conference we shall have them in our 



hands ? That seems to be an ordinary proceed- 
ing in all other conferences, so that the mem- 
bers shall have time to digest the reports. I 
would like to know whether it is in order now 
to move that all reports be printed in advance 
of the meeting ? 

Pres. BRETT. I think this is an important 
matter, and it would be well to carefully 
prepare a motion expressing exactly what the 
Association wants to have done. It is quite 
necessary that some reports should be printed, 
while many others need not be printed. I 
would be very glad if those who are interested 
in the matter would prepare and present to this 
Association a resolution that would express ex- 
actly their opinion on that matter. 

The secretary read the 

REPORT OF THE CO-OPERATION COMMITTEE. 

(See p. 81.) 

Voted. That the report of the Co-operation 
Committee be accepted and recorded. 

ENDOWMENT FUND. 

S: S. GREEN. It has seemed to me that, as 
we have an endowment fund, of which I know 
very little, some action is necessary in regard 
thereto. I move that the Trustees of the En- 
dowment Fund be requested to present an item- 
ized list of the investments of the fund in their 
annual report. 

The motion of Mr. Green was carried. 

The secretary read the 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 

The Committee on Public Documents has 
this year but little to report as to legislation. 
The supplementary bill prepared by Superin- 
tendent Crandall to complete the work of the 
Public Documents Act of 1895, referred to in 
the last report of this committee, and approved 
by the Association at the Cleveland conference, 
failed to become a law. It passed the House 
of Representatives, but was never reported 
from the Printing Committee of the Senate. 
It must, therefore, be introduced as a new bill 
in the present Congress. 

Of 10 bills referring to public documents, 
introduced at the last session of the 54th Con- 
gress, including that aboved noted, but one 
became a law. This was the bill providing for 
the preparation by Dr. J. G. Ames, who is 
named in the bill, of a "comprehensive index" 
like that prepared by him for 1889-93, cover- 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



ing the publications of the government from 
1881, the date of the Poore catalog, to 1893. 
This was not entirely approved by the library 
profession, as Mr. Crandall's catalog had mean- 
time set a much higher standard, but it passed 
both houses and was approved by the President 
on March 3. 

Since the last conference two important vol- 
umes have been published, in accordance with 
the provisions of the new law, from Superin- 
tendent Crandall's office. The first is the "com- 
prehensive catalog " of publications, both con- 
gressional and departmental, during the period 
of the 53d Congress; the second is the " consoli- 
dated index " for the first session of the 54th 
Congress. The first-named has been received 
as so far the best model of cataloging for 
government publications, and the second is a 
vast improvement over the previous cumbrous 
and costly system of indexing. Mr. Crandall's 
second annual report, for the year ending June 
30, 1896, was issued in January last, and is also 
an important contribution to the literature of 
the subject. It gives a very careful statistical 
statement as to depository libraries and govern- 
ment publications. 

The bill proposed by the Congressional Li- 
brary Committee with reference to the Library 
of Congress was not passed, but the Appropria- 
tions bill covered provision for the removal of 
the Library of Congress, and, happily, for the 
separation of the Copyright Bureau as a distinct 
division of the library. The report of the Joint 
Committee on Library, issued as Senate report 
1573, 54th Congress, second session, includes a 
verbatim statement of the evidence at the 
several hearings, at which librarians were rep- 
resented, and a tabular comparison of the force 
and expenditure in the Library of Congress, 
compared with those in other national libraries. 

There is little further to report for the present 
year as to state publications. A list of state 
publications for the period July I, 1890 to June 
30, 1895, has been printed as an appendix to 
the "American catalogue" for that period and 
also separately issued, and a copy is appended 
to this report. 

R. R. BOWKER, \ 

W. A. BARDWELL, > Committee. 

F. B. GAY, 

The report was accepted and ordered re- 
corded. 



W: I. FLETCHER. I wish to give notice of 
my intention a little later, when it can be done 
with due form, to present a resolution expres- 
sive of the attitude of the American Library 
Association towards the work of the Public 
Documents Office. 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE DR. WILLIAM F. 
POOLE MEMORIAL FUND. 

Dr. G. E. WIRE, secretary, made the follow- 
ing verbal statement: We have succeeded in 
collecting about $465, and expect to raise at this 
session of the conference sufficient to make the 
fund $500. 

We have had plans submitted for the Me- 
morial, but did not want to close the contract 
until we had the money in sight. The ex- 
pectation was that a considerable part of the 
sum would be raised in Chicago, and I did a 
good deal of personal work this winter on that 
line, but it was after the election and before 
prosperity came, and the consequence was that 
although I got some money I did not get as 
much as I expected. I thought I would be able 
to show you a picture of the Memorial at this 
meeting, but it was impossible to do so in the 
condition of affairs. 

The report was accepted and the committee 
continued. 

J. N. WING. This movement started at 
Lake Placid, and I think it has been going on 
quite long enough. The committee have tried 
time and time again sending out circulars, and 
we still lack the sum of $35. I move that we 
take a recess of five minutes, and that four 
tellers be appointed to go around this meeting 
to collect the money needed. 

The motion of Mr. Wing was carried, and the 
president appointed as tellers Mr. Wing, Mr. 
Stevenson, Miss Lord, and Miss Sharp'. At the 
end of the recess of five minutes Dr. Wire an- 
nounced that the collection amounted to $44. 

The following is an itemized statement of 
the fund : 

In bank, .... $435.00 

Received cash, . . . 8.00 

Subscriptions, . . . 10.00 
Employes' fund of Chicago 

Public Library, . . . 20.00 



Amount raised by collection, 



$473-00 
44.80 

$517.80 



SECOND SESSION. 



99 



J: C. DANA, in the absence of the chairman, 
J. G. WHITTIER, read the 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON STATE AID. 

Few changes have been made in library legis- 
lation in the United States in the last 10 months, 
but public interest in libraries as a part of the 
educational system of every state is increasing. 

No bills establishing library commissions or 
travelling libraries, or offering state aid, have 
ever been reported from Alabama, Arizona, 
Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Caro- 
lina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, 
South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vir- 
ginia, West Virginia, or Washington. Connec- 
ticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, 
New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Rhode 
Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, had before 
last year's report (L. J. 21: C68) a library com- 
mission, travelling libraries or some form of 
state aid. 

Bills providing for the establishment of lib- 
rary commissions or travelling libraries have 
been under discussion or brought before this 
year's legislature in California, Colorado, 
Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Ken- 
tucky, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. A bill 
was before the Colorado legislature providing 
for a commission, but was lost. The Minnesota 
bill was recommended in the Senate, but op- 
posed in the House by an enlightened repre- 
sentative, who thought that " it was not within 
the province of the legislature to supply the 
people with books any more than it was with 
boots ; that circulation of travelling libraries 
would be a slow process ; that they could not 
easily be sent from one part of the state to 
another; and that the whole thing was really a 
scheme for some dealer to job off a lot of books." 
In Nebraska a bill was presented providing for 
travelling libraries and a library commission, 
but failed. In New Jersey, a similar bill passed 
the legislature, but was vetoed by the governor. 
Wisconsin has made a greater advance than any 
other state, adding $240,000 to the $180,000 voted 
two years ago for the State Historical Society 
and State University Library. The annual ap- 
propriation to the State Historical Society is 
also increased by $10,000, and the general law 
in regard to free public libraries amended until a 
common council or village board may establish 
a library without a popular vote, but the money 



appropriated must be expended by a library 
board. City superintendents of schools are 
made ex-officio members of public library boards, 
which make contracts with town or county 
boards regarding the lending of library books. 
A bill has been passed extending the work of 
the library commission, appropriating $4000 a 
year for its work, and authorizing the appoint- 
ment of a paid secretary and assistant. 
Through the generosity of Senator Stout and 
other friends the commission has received more 
than $4000 for travelling libraries. 

Massachusetts has established 85 free libra- 
ries since the Public Library Commission was 
appointed in 1890, Connecticut 40 since 1891, 
New Hampshire 130 since the same year, Ver- 
mont 59 since 1894. 

The report was accepted and ordered re- 
corded. 

The secretary read the summary of the 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON GIFTS AND BEQUESTS. 
{See p. 90.) 

The report was accepted and ordered re- 
corded. 

The secretary read the 

REPORTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON AMERICAN 
LIBRARIES CLEARING-HOUSE. 

Majority report. 

Your committee beg leave to report that after 
communicating with the Bureau of Education 
and the Superintendent of Public Documents at 
Washington, it is found that neither office is 
desirous of adding to its present heavy burdens 
the task of establishing and conducting a sys- 
tem of clearance and exchange between the 
libraries of the country. Such being their at- 
titude, the committee deemed it inexpedient for 
the Association to further urge the matter, so 
far as they are concerned. 

Your committee, however, are of the opinion 
that such a system of exchange is highly desira- 
ble. It has been suggested that such systems 
be established in each state, upon a state basis, 
with the state library as the centre, as is done 
in New York ; but it is evident that there are 
few state libraries so conducted or so equipped 
that they can or will carry on this work, which 
is essentially of a missionary character, with 
little apparent or immediate benefit to the state 
library itself. Your committee are of the opin- 
ion that although working admirably in New 



100 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



York, successful state systems would be few in 
number and ordinarily of limited scope. Even 
were they in general operation, there would 
soon be a demand for a national clearing-house 
for the various state systems. 

In the opinion of the committee, the work 
appertaining to the work of a national clearing- 
house for libraries, as suggested, could best be 
undertaken by the national library, when that 
library is fully reorganized. It ought to be 
possible, through such a system, for the author 
of a pamphlet or monograph to send a con- 
siderable number of his publication to the 
national library by freight or express, with the 
assurance that persons expert in such matters 
will distribute these by government frank to 
those libraries throughout the country where 
they will be most welcome and where they will 
do the most good. Many public institutions 
and associations issuing reports or papers, 
would be glad, in addition to their own mailing 
lists, to send several copies of each report or 
paper to the national library, and thus take 
advantage of its clearing-house system. It 
would be feasible for such institutions and 
associations as collect files of the publications 
of similar enterprises, to arrange, through the 
clearing-house, for a fair exchange from the 
duplicate stock of the clearing-house. Individ- 
uals and libraries possessing duplicates could 
readily send to the clearing-house such as they 
might wish to spare for exchange, and be as- 
sured of equitable treatment at the hands of the 
latter. Lists could be published, monthly or 
quarterly, of such accumulations as have been 
made ; and, under the principle of " first come, 
first served," exchanges could be arranged 
upon the basis of similar lists issued by individ- 
uals or libraries desiring to exchange. This 
last-mentioned method is one already in actual 
use between some of the largest libraries in the 
country, and their experience could freely be 
drawn upon for the details of a more elaborate 
system. 

The need of a national clearing-house is evi- 
dent to the managers of reference libraries v, ho 
have given any thought to the matter ; the 
methods of spasmodic exchange are well estab- 
lished through long practice, and need but 
slight modification and expansion to meet the 
proposed national system ; that many of the 
authors, organizations, libraries, and miscel- 
laneous institutions of the United States, and 



possibly of Canada and Mexico, would be glad, 
as soon as they were confident of its being 
skilfully managed, to take advantage of such 
a system is evident ; the points remaining are 
only of detail. The new national library ap- 
pears to your committee as the logical centre 
of such a movement ; it has abundant room, 
and doubtless will have abundant service. The 
system will fail if allowed to sink into the ruts 
of perfunctory officialism ; it must be managed 
by an expert reference librarian, who has a 
broad range of knowledge, who is possessed of 
detailed information relative to the needs of the 
several libraries of the country, who has the 
enthusiasm of the collector, and the rare gift of 
what we call " executive ability." With such 
a man or woman at its head, a library clearing- 
house bureau could and should be established 
at the national library, which will be a blessing 
to every reference librarian in America. 

REUBEN G. THWAITES, Chairman. 

J. F. LANGTON. 
MAY, 1897. 

Minority report. 

I am not sufficiently agreed upon the subject 
itself to endorse the report of the Committee on 
American Libraries Clearing-House, advocating 
the management of a clearing-house by the Li- 
brary of Congress, in spite of the good argu- 
ment presented by the committee in so seductive 
a light. 

It has not been possible for me to convince 
myself that it is any part of the function of the 
government to assist the librarian to the knowl- 
edge of ephemeral private publications, much 
less to supply him with such publications 
gratuitously. The government is already car- 
rying on a large clearing-house plant in its in- 
ternational exchange system, the office of the 
Superintendent of Documents, the exchange 
system of the Geological Survey, etc. 

With the Library of Congress already over- 
burdened with difficulties, the copyright system 
inadequately provided for, the document 
problem yet in chaos all matters of greater 
moment to libraries than the free distribution 
of private pamphlets the futility of any recom- 
mendation at the present time involving addi- 
tional labor in any of these departments, forces 
itself upon me, and prevents agreement with 
the report of the committee. 

ADELAIDE R. HASSE. 



SECOND SESSION. 



101 



Col. WESTON FLINT. Before these reports 
are received, placed on file and published, I 
think proper to state, as all may not fully un- 
derstand, that one part of the last report I 
should hardly think would be taken in full, 
namely, what is said about the provisions about 
the new Library of Congress. After the first 
of July, it may be said that almost certainly 
there will be full provision of force to do almost 
any work that will be required of the library in 
the future. With regard to the question of diffi- 
culties, preparation may be required, but there 
is a large force and large preparation for 
carrying on the work of the library. 

Dr. J: S. BILLINGS. The force provided for 
the Congressional Library will be fully occupied 
for at least five years in cataloging and arrang- 
ing the documents packed away in boxes and 
which have never been opened. I am very 
much more in sympathy with the views ex- 
pressed in the minority report than those of the 
majority report. The recommendations in the 
form made appear to me to be entirely impracti- 
cable, and I should regret seeing the American 
Library Association making recommendations 
to any government department which would on 
the face of them, and to those who are familiar 
with the workings of the department, be seen 
to be impracticable. If, however, it is desired 
merely that these reports be printed and not be 
considered as endorsed by the Association, I 
see no objection to that action. 

Both reports of the Committee on American 
Libraries Clearing-House were received and 
ordered recorded, and the committee was con- 
tinued for further report at next meeting. 

INVITATIONS FOR CONFERENCE OF 1898. 

The secretary announced that invitations for 
the next meeting of the Association had been re- 
ceived from Omaha, Neb., Lincoln, Neb., James- 
town, N. Y., and Pine Bluff, N. C. 

EXPENSES OF EXECUTIVE BOARD. 

Sec. HAYES. At a meeting of the Executive 
Board held in December, the following resolu- 
tion was adopted That it is the opinion of 
the members of this board that the American 
Library Association, at its meeting in June, 
1897, should arrange for the payment in the 
future of the expenses of the members of the 
board in attending meetings, and should make 
a proper allowance for the expenses of the sec- 



retary. I think that would be proper business 
for our meeting on Thursday. 

PRINTING OF PAPERS AND REPORTS. 

Pres. BRETT. If any one has a resolution 
ready on the question of printing certain 
papers in advance of the assembling of the 
meeting in the future, I should be pleased to 
entertain it. 

S: H. RANCK. I desire to offer the follow- 
ing resolution Resolved, That in future there 
shall be printed in advance and placed in the 
hands of the members at the annual conference 
all such reports and papers as the Program Com- 
mittee may deem advisable. 

W: W. BISHOP. Is there any understanding 
as to who is to print these reports ? The reso- 
lution does not provide for that. Is there any- 
thing in the constitution to provide by whom 
they shall be printed ? This resolution does 
not oblige any committee to present a written 
report. It leaves the thing wholly in the 
hands of the Program Committee. It seems to 
me that all the reports presented this morning 
by committees might as well have been in print- 
ed form for our consideration and adoption be- 
fore we came here. The Program Committee 
must be burdened with work, and it would seem 
that a resolution providing that standing com- 
mittees shall have their reports printed would 
answer the purpose better than the one read. 

H: L. ELMENDORF. I would like to speak 
in favor of the original motion. It seems to me 
that this must be in the hands of the Program 
Committee. It is very difficult to secure written 
reports from committees, as I have realized, and 
to secure printed ones would be much more dif- 
ficult. I want to insist further upon the neces- 
sity of printing these reports in advance. As 
an instance of that I would cite the Gifts and 
Bequests report of this morning. We are all 
interested in the gifts and bequests to libraries, 
and in presenting the report It was requested 
that if there were any omissions they would be 
properly reported. We are thus asked to sup- 
ply omissions in a report which we have neither 
seen, nor heard read, and in which at the same 
time we are very much interested. That report 
is a very important one, and when it appears in 
print it should be a complete and perfect one. 
If the preliminary paper as presented to our 
Association were given to us before the meet- 
ing each year, it would give every member of 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



the Association the necessary opportunity to 
supply deficiencies, and to make this report 
what it should be when it is published in the 
final proceedings. 

S: S. GREEN. I move as a substitute for 
the resolution before us, that the Executive 
Board see to it that such reports as they may 
deem desirable be printed and placed in the 
hands of the members before the meeting of the 
Association. 

H. J. CARR. I think I can safely say that 
no harm can come from the adoption of this 
resolution. It will be an advantage to us for 
another reason 2 of our by-laws says : 

" No paper shall be read before a meeting of 
the Association till it has been examined by the 
board or a Program Committee appointed by it, 
which shall decide whether it is to be read en- 
tire or by abstract, or to be submitted for print- 
ing in full or abstract, or rejected." 

The adoption of this resolution will tend to 
enforce and expedite the enforcement of this 
article, and will enable the Program Committee 
or Executive Board to carry out the terms of 
that by-law more effectively. 

The substitute offered by Mr. Green was ac- 
cepted by Mr. Ranck, and it was Voted That 
in the future there shall be printed in advance, 
to be placed in the hands of the members at the 
annual conference, all such reports and papers 
as the Executive Board may deem advisable. 

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 

The president appointed as a Committee on 
Resolutions : W: T. Peoples, Miss Hannah P. 
James, and Arthur W. Tyler. 

Adjourned at 12, noon. 

THIRD SESSION. 

(DREXEL INSTITUTE, TUESDAY AFTERNOON, 
JUNE 22.) 

The meeting 'was called to order at 2 p.m., 
Vice-president J. K. HOSMER in the chair. 

J. K. HOSMER. The president has devolved 
his functions upon me for this afternoon. 
From the programs which you hold in your 
hands, you will notice that the business of the 
afternoon is the discussion of " Books of the 
year." Before, however, we proceed to the 
discussion, we will hear the report of the chair- 
man of the committee in charge of the subject, 
Miss Mary S. Cutler. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SUPPLEMENT TO 
"CATALOG OF A. L. A. LIBRARY." 

Your committee have carried on the work of 
the year with enthusiasm for the importance 
and increasing faith in the possibilities of the 
task assigned us. A growing sense of the 
magnitude and delicate nature of the task im- 
presses us with the necessity of viewing the 
work critically, and of planning wisely and 
definitely for its future development. The ex- 
perience of three years leads the present com- 
mittee to form the following judgments : 

1. The value of its decisions will be increased 
by enlarging the responsibility of the commit- 
tee. From the nature of the case, the Associa- 
tion as a whole is not competent to prepare a 
book-list which would be of any special value. 
If the democratic principle is followed in the se- 
lection of books, my vote on a work in chemical 
technology, a subject of which I am totally igno- 
rant, counts equal to the vote of the librarian of 
the John Crerar Library, an acknowledged ex- 
pert in this line. A list of fiction, a class more 
familiar than any other to the members, select- 
ed by show of hands in open meeting, when 
each vote is unduly influenced by the magnet- 
ism or prestige of the latest speaker, would 
command respect neither within nor without the 
Association. The preparation of the Supple- 
ment must be entrusted to a committee of 
librarians, each member of which is willing to 
give time and thought to personal examination 
of books and to consultation with the other 
judges. 

2. This committee must specialize. In order 
to select books wisely on a given subject, one 
must have a fair knowledge of the subject. It is 
impossible, therefore, that each member of the 
committee'should be competent to judge of the 
merit of books in all departments. This was 
recognized last year, and the entire choice of 
books in useful arts, electricity, and medicine 
was delegated to individuals. This year, only 
fiction, literature, and general works were 
judged by the entire committee. 

3. The committee must be assisted by many 
other librarians and by specialists. The names 
of those who have rendered such assistance 
this year will be found on page 2 of the Sup- 
plement, which you hold in your hand. It is 
much to have secured the co-operation of such 
men as Prof. J. W. Jenks of Cornell, Prof. C. 



THIRD SESSION. 



103 



M. Andrews of Bryn Mawr, Prof. H. B. 
Adams of Johns Hopkins. The present con- 
ception of the library as a part of the educa- 
tional system of the state makes the work of 
this committee of such importance as to give us 
a right to ask and expect help from the best 
educators. 

This plan of gaining assistance from other li- 
brarians involves the development, on the part 
of many librarians, of ail expert judgment in 
some one subject. The students of the New 
York State Library School are encouraged to be 
ambitious and to hope that several years' hard 
work along some line of study which they have 
pursued in college, and for which they have a 
natural fitness, may earn for them places as ex- 
pert advisers of the A. L. A. selection commit- 
tee. 

4. Individuals must acknowledge responsi- 
bility for their votes. To illustrate : The sub- 
jects of history and travel were assigned this 
year to Mr. Lamed and Mr. Thwaites, of the 
committee. Prof. Andrews, Prof. Adams, and 
Prof. Hosmer were associated with them. In 
their independent vote, suppose these judges 
agree on seven- eighths of the books. Suppose 
that, after correspondence and full consultation, 
they agree on one-half of the remainder, but 
that on the remaining one-sixteenth, say eight 
books, there is still a decided disagreement. If, 
for example, Mr. Larned stands alone in disap- 
proval of a single book, his initials should ap- 
pear after the title to signify this fact. It 
should be understood that every book on the 
history list has the full approval of the five his- 
tory experts, except as initials after individual 
titles indicate individual disapproval. This 
plan would involve more thorough work than 
has ever yet been done in co-operative selec- 
tion. 

5. A basis of selection should be decided 
upon and carefully stated. This should be the 
special work of the next few months, and it 
should form an introduction to the coming five- 
year Supplement. There should be a statement 
of the general principles of selection, and also 
a statement of those that underlie the selection 
in particular subjects. The principles of selec- 
tion of children's books would inevitably, be- 
cause of the nature of the books and the read- 
ers, differ materially from the principles gov- 
erning in sociology or philosophy. The appli- 
cation of principles that have been fully stated 



will result in clearer thinking and a more careful 
scrutiny of books. The committee will be able 
to justify their choice in special cases, and to 
forestall criticism on the part of authors, pub- 
lishers, or classes of readers. 
To state again these five points : 

1. The responsibility of the committee must 
be enlarged. 

2. The committee must specialize. 

3. The committee must be assisted by other 
librarians and specialists. 

4. Individuals must acknowledge responsi- 
bility for their votes. 

5. A basis of selection must be decided upon 
and carefully stated. 

We submit to the Association these judg- 
ments as to the best means of increasing the 
efficiency of this work. We believe that co- 
operative selection by the A. L. A. will become 
a more and more important feature of its work, 
that it will win the respect and help of educa- 
tors and specialists, and that it will in the 
future not only eliminate worthless literature 
from our public libraries and substitute the 
best, but that it will act powerfully toward the 
suppression of what is crude and mean and 
vicious in book production. 

Respectfully submitted, 
MARY S. CUTLER, Chairman, 1 

J. N. LARNED, \Committee. 

FREDERICK M. CRUNDEN, 
GARDNER M. JONES, 

Voted. That the report of the committee be 
received and recorded. 

The discussion of the various classes of lit- 
erature was opened by the presentation of 

FINE ARTS. 

Miss HANNAH P. JAMES. Walter Crane's 
"Decorative illustration of books "is one of 
the first books on the list. Crane's name is 
sufficient to guarantee that it is a good book, 
and he has treated the subject very well. The 
first part is historical, the rest descriptive and 
critical ; there are many illustrations. 

Fletcher and Banister's " History of archi- 
tecture" is a most excellent book for students ; 
it is comparative, taking each country and 
giving a review of the geography, religion and 
state of society, and then giving the history of 
the architecture of the successive periods. In 
describing the Gothic buttresses, for instance, 
three illustrations are shown of the different 



IO4 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



modes of its use in different buildings, and de- 
tails are given with full illustrations. 

Holden's "Audiences" is a suggestive and 
stimulating book, challenging thought and 
suggesting to immature or prejudiced minds 
the wisdom of looking and listening intelli- 
gently and fairly. 

Hoppin's "Greek art on Greek soil" is a 
book of exceptional interest and value, treat- 
ing of the present condition of Greece, with a 
full knowledge of its past, its history, art, 
games, social life and literature. 

Mathews' " Story of architecture" is an ex- 
cellent work for the beginner, as it gives a 
bird's-eye view of the whole subject, including 
China, India and Japan, Western Asia, Egypt, 
Europe, Mexico, Central and South America, 
and finally the United States ; it is fully illus- 
trated and a well written and reliable book. 

Muther's " History of modern painting," in 
three large volumes, covers a great deal of 
ground, and is trustworthy and accurate. The 
first part is philosophical and historical, tracing 
sources and influences, and laying the founda- 
tion for the specific and practical treatment 
given in the later volumes. 

Santayana's " Sense of beauty" is a course 
of lectures delivered at Harvard. They are 
marked by a rare insight and aesthetic feeling, 
and are a valuable contribution to the literature 
of sesthetics, being one of the best books on the 
subject this year. 

Russell Sturgis's " European architecture"" is 
a valuable book, going into details and treating 
the science of architecture. It is fully illus- 
trated, and is readable as well as carefully sci- 
entific. 

Tarbell's " History of Greek art, " t one of the 
Chautauqua series, is considered an excellent 
text-book on architecture, sculpture and paint- 
ing, and an admirable work for beginners ; it 
has nearly 200 illustrations. 

There are two other titles that I wish to 
suggest for the list. It is only within a year or 
two that I happened to discover the "Art an- 
nuals," published by the Art Journal, one at 
Easter and one at Christmas. They are mono- 
graphs on celebrated painters, similar in shape 
and size to the Art Journal, and they cost 50 
cents apiece. Some of the artists treated are Mil- 
lais, Alma-Tadema, Leighton, Breton, Watts, 
Fildes, Herkimer, Hunt, Burne-Jones, Rossetti, 
and a dozen more. There must be at least 50 



or 75 illustrations, and the monographs are very 
interesting and valuable. 

Then there is Henry Holiday's "Stained 
glass as an art," published by Macmillan at 
$6.50. This is one of the best books on the 
subject, treating of the art practically and 
aesthetically, covering design, style, the influ- 
ence of form and space, and illustrated by 64 
plates and cuts. It is written by a practical 
worker who is thoroughly posted. 

GARDNER M. JONES. I have marked four 
books that I think ought not to go into this list. 
The first is Du Maurier's "English society"; 
the second Gibson's "Pictures of people." 
These are mere picture-books, and I do not be- 
lieve in putting mere picture-books on this list. 
Leighton's " Addresses delivered to the stu- 
dents of the Royal Academy " seems tome very 
limited in its interest, excepting to those inter- 
ested in Leighton. Thompson's "Hand-in-hand 
figure skating " is rather an English book, and 
more exhaustive than is needed on so small a 
subject. 

I have quite a list of books that I think ought 
to go into this list, and that for some unaccounta- 
ble reasons have dropped out. I will name a few 
of them. There is a very handsome book by 
Rose, " Lawns and gardens," one of the hand- 
somest books on landscape-gardening lately 
published. The next one is " Sculptured tombs 
of Hellas," by Gardiner, an eminent author and 
one of the assistants in the British Museum, I 
believe. The next is Meyer's ' ' Handbook of art- 
smithing," a German work, dealing with all kinds 
of ornamental metal-work, published by Hess- 
ling. The next is a very good little manual on 
"China-painting," by Mrs. N. di R.Monachesi. 
Holiday's "Stained glass" has already been 
spoken of ; -Jackson's "Mechanical drawing" 
seems to be a practical little book ; it contains 
a great many plates, and is inexpensive. In 
Amusements, Boardman's "Winning whist" 
seems to be a book that should be on the list, 
because it combines the old-fashioned long-suit 
play with the new short-suit play which is 
coming into use. I cannot understand why a 
book on foot-ball, by the two great experts, 
has not been put on the list, namely Camp and 
Deland's "Foot-ball"; so also McPherson's 
"Hare and red deer," and Sharp's "Bicycles 
and tricycles," which I believe is the only book 
treating of the design and construction of bi- 
cycles, should be included. 



THIRD SESSION. 



J. K. HOSMER. It seems to me quite worth 
while to mention the remarkable munificence of 
an East Indian potentate by which many Ameri- 
can libraries have profited during the last year. 
It became known throughout America that the 
Maharajah of Jeypore was prepared to present 
portfolios of architectural details to libraries all 
through the civilized world. Applications, I 
think, were quite numerously made from Ameri- 
ca. My own library made application, and a 
few months ago these portfolios came. Each 
one contains some hundreds of plates of archi- 
tectural details, bringing out the most beautiful 
features of East Indian architecture, prepared 
by native pupils in Hindostan. We felt that it 
was the most considerable gift that we received 
during the last year. I think other libraries 
have profited in the same way. 

Mr. T: L. MONTGOMERY then introduced 

books in 

SCIENCE. 

T: L. MONTGOMERY. I call your attention in 
the first place to a mistake in the report of the 
Cleveland conference. On page 136 of the re- 
port it is stated that the " Text-book of geolo- 
gy," by Geikie, was put in the "A. L. A. 
catalog." I had not mentioned the " Text- 
book, "but the " Class-book of geology," which is 
an adaptation, of course, from the " Text-book," 
but rather shorter, and is, I think, a very much 
more profitable book for a small library. The 
report is also in error as to Koehner's "Sys- 
tematic botany"; that should be Kerner von 
Marilaun's " Natural history of plants." 

With regard to the books on the present list: 
Abbott's " Birdland echoes " is not a scientific 
book, but is much more orderly in its arrange- 
ment than is usually the case with this author. 
The illustrations, however, give rather the 
idea of stuffed birds than of the natural species. 

Bonney's "Ice work, past and present" is 
suitable for advanced students, but covers only 
ice work in Great Britain, only 10 pages being 
given to America. It is well written but poorly 
illustrated. 

Dana's "Plants and their children" is a 
very excellent book for children and young per- 
sons; interesting and accurate. 

Furneaux's " Life in ponds and streams" is a 
most excellent book, admirably illustrated. 

Mathews' "Familiar trees and their leaves " 
is a most useful book. It has very good illus- 
trations, drawn from nature by the author, and 



the text reveals the aesthetic as well as the sci- 
entific side of the subject. 

Thompson's " Roentgen rays " is the best book 
on that subject issued during the year. 

Witchell's " Evolution of bird-song " treats of 
a subject not hitherto handled systematically, 
by an author who has been 15 years collecting 
his data; the plates are poor. 

Of other books mentioned, Bates's " Game 
birds of North America" is useful only as a 
check list; Howe's " Every bird " is useful for 
the beginner; it gives outline drawings of the 
head and foot of each genus and a general de- 
scription of the plumage. 

Merriam's " A-birding on a bronco," being 
notes on birds taken in Southern California, is 
well written, but not of much use scientifically. 

Lubbock's " Scenery of Switzerland and 
causes to which it is due " is a well illustrated 
book by a scientifically disposed man. It is a 
geological treatise on the region, and has a 
very good map. 

Geikie's "Ancient volcanoes of Great Bri- 
tain " appears to be about the best book on the 
subject. It is a splendid work, most gratifying 
as to printing, illustrations and maps, giving 
an historical account of the scientific treatment 
of the subject of volcanoes, and has a most use- 
ful preface. 

I should judge that of this list it would not be 
worth while to put upon the permanent list any- 
thing more than Bonney's " Ice work," Britton's 
"Illustrated flora," Abbott's "Birdland ech- 
oes," Dana's " Plants and their children," Fur- 
neaux's " Life in ponds and streams," Geikie's 
"Ancient volcanoes of Great Britain," Mathews' 
" Familiar trees and their leaves," Thompson's 
" Roentgen rays," and Witchell's " Evolution of 
bird-song." I should like to call to your atten- 
tion, as an addition to this list, W. B. Scott's 
" Introduction to geology," published by Mac - 
millan. It is based on Geikie, but is a much 
more useful book for American students, on ac- 
count of the very excellent American illustra- 
tions and the care with which it has been pre- 
pared for a manual or a text-book. 

Miss M. S. CUTLER. I would like to ask Mr. 
Montgomery if he is criticising this list with the 
idea that it is made on the basis of the original 
"A. L. A. catalog"? 

T: L. MONTGOMERY. Undoubtedly. 

J. N. LARNED. I think that is not the basis 
for criticism. The idea that has controlled the 



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PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



committee in making up the supplemental list 
last year and this year was a different one. It 
was explained at the meeting last year, but 
probably needs explanation here. It is not the 
intention to simply make the selection of books 
for a small library, but to make, if possible, a 
check-list of books for all libraries a list from 
which the books that librarians need pay no 
attention to could be excluded; and it seems to 
me on that basis several of the books you have 
ruled out would possibly belong in the list. 

T: L. MONTGOMERY. That might be so, in 
that case; but I should think it would be very 
much easier, from a general point of view, to 
hold to the plan of the original A. L. A. list, 
which was so good. I think we make a mistake 
in not drawing the line very close and keeping 
out books that do not properly belong in the 
list. 

J. N. LARNED. That was a very different 
matter; there we were selecting from books of 
all time, here we are selecting from current 
publications, and it seems to me that the basis 
should be broader in this case. 

T: L. MONTGOMERY. I would take issue on 
that. If you go back and pick out certain 
books from the books of all time, we want, 
from the books that are now published, only 
those that will compare with the books of all 
time. 

J. N. LARNED. There are very many rea- 
sons for buying books of the day that would 
not apply when they cease to be books of the 
day; and every library is buying books pub- 
lished this year on a given subject that it would 
not buy 10 years hence. 

T: L. MONTGOMERY. But, in adding to this 
list, we have to compare each book that we 
add to it with the literature that is past, and 
there may be a great many that were omitted 
from the original selection that were a great 
deal better than any on this list. Therefore, I 
think, if the line is not drawn very close you 
are going to make a mistake in regard to 
additions to the list. 

J. K. HOSMER. There is a book by Edward 
Clodd, " Pioneers of evolution from Thales to 
Huxley," which I think is well worth buying. 
The fact that scientific information is put in the 
form of biographies makes it exceedingly in- 
teresting reading. 

We will now take up the next topic, History, 
and Mr. J. N. Lamed will open the discussion. 



HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVEL. 

J. N. LARNED. I understand that History, 
as we consider it in this matter, is taken in the 
broad meaning that would include Biography 
and Travel also. This makes a large list to be 
considered, and it will have to be gone through 
very rapidly. I am glad that the subject 
does include Biography and Travel, because 
otherwise it would certainly be a very slender 
list for the year. There has not been, I think, 
the usual extent of important production of his- 
torical writing during the last year. There 
have not been very many notable books; and 
if we should exclude those on biography and 
travel we should have but a brief list. 

The first book under History on our list is 
Lecky's " Political value of history," a lecture 
given at Birmingham, which is distinctly of 
great value. It presents very clearly and ac- 
curately some important ideas with regard to 
the influence which the study of history should 
have upon our views and our opinions; it com- 
bats, on the one hand, the Carlylean hero-wor- 
ship, which would make everything of personal 
influence in history, and, on the other hand, 
the Buckle theories, which would reduce per- 
sonal influence to nothing, and make all his- 
torical movements a matter of mechanics and 
mathematics. This book is -a valuable and 
important correction of those extremely wrong 
theories in two directions. 

Mahaffy's " Survey of Greek civilization " is 
a compend of his larger works on those subjects, 
and a very useful one. 

Maspero's " Struggle of the nations," pre- 
sumably the second volume of his " Ancient 
history," may be considered the best summary 
now to be had of the results of later research 
and study in the history of ancient times and 
ancient nations. 

Adams' " Growth of the French nation," in 
the " Chautauqua Reading circle series," is an 
admirable little book. 

C. M. Andrews' "Historical development of 
modern Europe " is a valuable book for the rea- 
son that it goes over the ground which Fyffe 
traversed in a different way, and a way which is 
both interesting and instructive, dealing with the 
history of Europe as a whole, and gathering up 
into one large view the events which influenced 
Europe at large during the important first half 
of the present century, instead of following 



THIRD SESSION. 



107 



them chronologically in the history of each 
distinct nation. 

E. B. Andrews' " History of the last quarter 
century in the United States" is distinctly a bet- 
ter work, I should say, than his two-volume his- 
tory of the United States, although this also 
rather partakes of the character of journalism 
than of permanent history. 

Arber's "Story of the Pilgrim fathers" is a 
very interesting book, in the nature of a cal- 
endar of all the documentary material of the 
history of the Pilgrim fathers in England, the 
Netherlands, and in New England, presenting, 
quite fully, documents and other interesting 
matter ; it is the most important book of recent 
times, I should say, connected with that early 
New England history. 

Burgess' " Middle period, 1817-1858," in the 
"American history series," is a difficult book 
to read, because the style is bad ; but the 
matter of the history is, generally speaking, 
very good. It is open, perhaps, to the criticism 
that there is a little leaning backward in the 
attempt to be impartial as between North and 
South, as between slavery and anti-slavery, al- 
most to the prejudice of the anti-slavery view, 
sometimes ; but it is an honest attempt to deal 
fairly with those great questions; and I believe, 
on the whole, it deals with them more fairly, 
more thoughtfully, more fully and instructively 
than any other work I know of. 

Eggleston's "Beginners of a nation " is the 
first volume of a general history, or what prom- 
ises to be a general history, of the United 
States, which will be of very considerable value 
if it is completed, although I do not think that 
it quite comes up to the proclamation made of 
it on its appearance. The chapter dealing with 
Roger Williams and the early history of Rhode 
Island seems to me to be the best treatment of 
that subject that I know of. 

Under Biography come a number of works 
that seem to belong distinctly to History, not 
in the general way in which all biography be- 
longs to history, but in the particular way in 
which I would assign very many so-called 
biographies to the historical class, because they 
present the lives of men which have really no 
personal interest, but which are mixed up with 
public events and are inseparable from them. 
I place many such works under the title of his- 
tory in my own .library classification, and I 
should not consider it rational to make a mere 



matter of title control the classification. For 
example, it is not rational to make a difference 
between the life of Queen Elizabeth and a his- 
tory of England during the life of Queen Eliza- 
beth ; I think that the life of a sovereign or the 
life of a ruler should be placed with history, 
and I would place many others there. 

Hogarth's " Philip and Alexander of Mace- 
don " I regard as an excellent work, because it 
brings out with great distinctness the superior 
greatness of Philip over Alexander. 

Mandell Creighton's " Queen Elizabeth" is a 
somewhat sumptuous and costly work, but one 
of very distinct value. 

The two biographies in the " Foreign states- 
men series," by J. F. Bright, "Joseph n." and 
" Maria Theresa," are both of them excellent. 

Sloane's "Life of Napoleon," and Mahan's 
" Life of Lord Nelson," I should rank as almost 
the two most important historical books of the 
year, and they certainly belong to history 
rather than biography. 

In Travel some of the books listed belong 
more distinctly to history; for example, Dickin- 
son's "Greek view of life," Tsountas' "The 
Mycenaean age," and Roberts' " Forty-one years 
in India," which is one of the important histori- 
cal works of the year on India. 

CYRUS ADLER. There is one book in the 
history of Asia and Africa which has not been 
mentioned and that I wish particularly to call 
attention to " The fall of the Congo Arabs," 
by S. L. Hinde. It is one of the most interest- 
ing of recent books about Africa, and combines 
thorough scientific knowledge with great nar- 
rative interest. 

Miss HELEN E. HAINES. I am glad Dr- 
Adler has called attention to " The fall of 
the Congo Arabs," and in the same class 
history of Asia and Africa I should like to 
mention Captain Baden- Powell's " Downfall of 
Prempeh." It is the story of the English ex- 
pedition of 1896 against the Ashantis, in which 
Prince Henry of Battenberg died, and it is very 
interesting because of the vividness of its pict- 
ures of 'savage Africa, and as a contribution to 
very recent history. 

J. K. HOSMER. There are three works I 
think it well to mention on this occasion. The 
great work of Mr. Thwaites, the translation of 
the "Jesuit relations," is going to be a work of 
the very first historical importance, recognized, 
I think, as such all over the civilized world. 



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PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



The next is Professor Moses Coit Tyler's " Lit- 
erary history of the American Revolution," a 
continuation of his great " History of American 
literature " and " History of the American Rev- 
olution." The facsimile edition of the Brad- 
ford history, published by Houghton, Mifflin 
& Co., should also be recommended. It is an 
expensive work, costing $25, but it gives in sat- 
isfactory shape one of the most precious docu- 
ments of American history. Generally speaking, 
it seems to me a little questionable to make fac- 
similes. I doubt the expediency of such a work 
as that undertaken by Mr. B. F. Stevens, who 
is producing in facsimile a vast amount of dip- 
lomatic correspondence by not very distin- 
guished statesmen; but in the case of a work 
like the Bradford manuscript a facsimile is 
well worth while. 

J. N. LARNED. I fully intended to speak of 
the " Jesuit relations," edited by Mr. Thwaites, 
but overlooked it. It is one of the works I 
should certainly wish to bring forward among 
the important publications of the year. I think 
we would all agree that nothing more important 
has been undertaken in a historical way than 
the translation and publication of this great se- 
ries of relations, which includes not only the 
original Jesuit relations, but many collateral 
documents bearing on the same early American 
history and early life among the Indians. It is 
a work of astonishing labor, and certainly a 
work that the A. L. A. can be very proud of as 
having been undertaken and carried through by 
one of its members. 

Miss LINDA A. EASTMAN read a paper by Miss 
C. M. HEWINS on 

CHILDREN'S BOOKS. 

Before giving an opinion on individual books 
it is well to keep in mind that the children who 
take books from public libraries are of all grades 
of intelligence, a few from homes full of books 
where fathers and mothers read the best from 
English literature, and many from houses 
where there are no books and the father cannot 
read enough to vote. The first have a large 
vocabulary and are familiar with historical al- 
lusions and the names of poets and artists be- 
fore they go to school. The second have a 
meagre choice of words, but pick up with sur- 
prising quickness crumbs of information about 
historical characters or the poets whose verses 
they read in class. Between these two extremes 



is a large number of boys and girls whose fa- 
thers and mothers read newspapers and poor nov- 
els. What books should a library buy to meet 
the wants of these three classes of children ? 

First, books should be written in good English 
which they all could understand. A recent re- 
viewer defines a good style for children as that 
which Andrew Lang has adopted in his fairy- 
books, a little old-fashioned and abounding in 
such expressions as "Vastly well, madam!" 
The abridgments of his fairy-books are models 
for the children to whom English is an unfamiliar 
tongue, and who find Hawthorne's " Wonder- 
book " and " Tanglewood tales" full of long 
words and involved sentences. It is, however, 
a fatal mistake to simplify Hawthorne, as the 
writer of a little book called " In Mythland " 
has done, into such chopped sentences as 

" This made Pandora cross. 

" She would not play. 

"The dear boy felt sad. 

" He went out to play alone. 

" Pandora looked at the box. 

" How pretty, is it not ? 

"Flowers and men were carved upon it, 

leaves, too, and children." 

If a book is in an easy flowing style the child- 
reader becomes interested in it and goes on just 
as you and I read a French story, occasionally 
meeting an unfamiliar word, but guessing it by 
the context. 

Second, children's books should be imagina- 
tive in the best sense, or give information " to 
be understanded of the people." Children like 
history in story-form, but once in a while there 
is a boy or girl who prefers it undiluted. One 
class in history that I know, of children from 
12 to 15 years old, reads and enjoys Parkman's 
histories. 

Third, books should appeal to the best in- 
stincts of children. There are two which al- 
ways touch the chord that vibrates to tales of 
suffering bravely endured. These two are 
"Uncle Tom's cabin" and "Black Beauty." 
Stories of children who are cruelly treated 
should not, I think, be placed in children's li- 
braries, and with the exception of these two 
books there should be little on the shelves to 
excite their tears. 

Stories of happy, sunny childhood in shel- 
tered homes, of simple country pleasures, or 
home life in cities where the father and mother 
rule the household gently but firmly and the 



THIRD SESSION. 



109 



children do not decide important questions for 
themselves, are still to be found. So are whole- 
some tales of school life, stories of animals, 
lives of great men, books teaching handicrafts 
or resources for vacation and rainy days, and 
selections of poetry. 

On reading several hundred letters from chil- 
dren about their favorite books, I find that none 
of them care for books about music or art, and 
few for out-of-door writers, books of games and 
sports, or poetry, unless they use it as supple- 
mentary reading in school. Most of them like 
fairy-tales, if they speak of them at all. One 
thinks "Gulliver's travels" silly, but another 
writes: " A year or two ago I found in reading 
fairy stories that what seemed to me to be 
rather silly corresponded to what was real facts 
and might have happened." 

J. K. HOSMER. The next topic is the Fic- 
tion of the year, by Miss Haines. 

FICTION. 

Miss HELEN E. HAINES. In arranging for 
the discussion of Fiction this year, it is very 
doubtful if Miss Cutler has considered the fact 
that a person who reads a great many more 
novels for mere enjoyment than is wise, and 
who confesses a long-established affection for 
their kind, is at all the proper person to present 
the subject of fiction to librarians. A disap- 
proving, or, at least, a deprecatory attitude 
would be more in keeping with library tra- 
ditions. And yet much of the woe occasioned 
by a high percentage of fiction circulation, and 
much of the perennial lamentation as to the 
evils of novel-reading seem unnecessary when 
we think how great a force for good, good novels 
are, and how much that is best and noblest in 
literature has come to us through the medium 
of fiction. 

It is, of course, in the one word good that 
the whole difficulty lies. Many books that 
from a literary point of view are unreservedly 
good, are morally questionable; many others 
quite devoid of literary quality have endeared 
themselves to a multitude of readers, whose 
lack of intellectual perception is not criminal, 
even though it be regrettable. If a library ex- 
clude too rigidly the former, it is not representa- 
tive of literature; if the latter be absolutely 
banned, it is limiting its privileges to the intel- 
lectual few and discriminating against the un- 
cultured many. 



But, of course, in any selection of fiction there 
must be the question how far to go, and 
where to draw the line between what is and 
what is not admissible. The matter centres in 
the questions of quantity and quality. The 
former limitation needs no emphasis; it is ever 
present and ever insistent; the second crystal- 
lizes into the question of morals. A library must 
have some books suited for readers of mature 
intelligence but undesirable for young people. 
It must have others that are not desirable for 
general circulation at all. It is in deciding 
just how far to go that the difficulty lies. 

Within the past year or so there has been a 
slackening in the tide of erotic fiction; but at 
the same time there have developed two dis- 
tinct classes of novels, which cannot be ignored 
in the literature of the day but which are none 
the less harmful in their influence. 

The first may be called, from the books that 
most thoroughly represent it, "keynote" fic- 
tion. These are the analyses of diseased souls, 
the studies of distorted lives, of which Flet- 
cher's "God's failures" and Moore's "Celi- 
bates " are examples. 

The second consists of the ' ' slum stories '' that 
have sprung into such astonishing vogue within 
the past year or so the " Maggies," " Arties," 
and other children of the Jago, who reveal to 
us the vice, misery, and wretchedness that ex- 
ist in all great cities, with the hard clearness of 
the camera, unsoftened by the tints of art. 

But we say, "These things are true; dis- 
eased souls exist, and there are plague-spots in 
great cities." That is so; but we do not choose 
treatises on psychomania for family reading, nor 
do we send our sons and daughters to stale- 
beer dives or opium joints that they may learn 
what life is; and when a novelist devotes him- 
self solely to the exploitation of what is mor- 
bid, vulgar, ugly and repulsive, it becomes the 
right and duty of those who are to have charge 
of those novels to exercise a censorship in 
their selection. 

In this present list I do not think that there 
are any books that come definitely within either 
of these two classes; but there are several that 
have been suggested for discussion, and there 
are a few, not on the list, that it has been sug- 
gested to bring before this meeting. 

This list includes 100 novels, excluding juve- 
nile books, chosen from. a total of about 1000 
published during the year. Of this number, I 



no 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



absolutely refuse to say how many I have 
read. 

A VOICE. Oh, do tell ! 

Miss HAINES. The list represents, there- 
fore, but about 10 per cent, of the novels of the 
year; but it certainly represents the best of 
them. We say and truly enough that there 
are no great books nowadays; but that within 
one twelvemonth we should have been given 
such novels as " Quo Vadis ?" " Weir of Hermis- 
ton " though it is only a fragment "Sir 
George Tressady," "Sentimental Tommy," 
' ' On the face of the waters," and ' ' The choir in- 
visible," should make us " remember our 
marcies." 

In the fiction of the present year, two books 
stand head and shoulders over all others. 
There have been before this some good novels 
on the stupendous subject of the Indian mutiny 
perhaps Sir George Chesney's "Dilemma" 
is the best but no one has ever attempted 
to show the native side, the Indian point of 
view, as Mrs. Steel shows it in "On the 
face of the waters." To all intents and pur- 
poses she has here taken on the very nature 
of the native, and she shows him, Moham- 
medan or Hindoo, in his childishness, his 
faithfulness and greater guile, his race prej- 
udice and religious fanaticism, as he is, not 
as the usual Anglo-Indian novel pictures him. 
The book is impartial too impartial; and 
wholly true to historical fact. Mrs. Steel's 
sympathies with the natives, however, have in- 
fluenced her to judge too harshly and a little 
unfairly the English course before and during 
the relief of Delhi, though her narrative his- 
torically is absolutely correct. This unfairness 
lies simply in implication, not in definite state- 
ment of fact. The dominant note of the whole 
book is "Kismet"; fate, not Mrs. Steel, holds 
the threads of the lives caught up in the fierce 
tangle of Delhi, and you feel that she could 
not, if she would, change the pattern that they 
weave. In one library it has been asked 
whether " On the face of the waters " was de- 
sirable for general circulation. I do not see 
how that question can be raised, or how the 
book can hurt any one. It is not written for 
children, but for men and women. It is about 
men and women in a time of fierce conflict and 
unnatural conditions ; but I do not see how it 
can hurt any one, or how its stern teaching can 
be misinterpreted. 



Nothing could be more different from " On 
the face of the waters" than "The choir in- 
visible." Coming to it prejudiced, perhaps, 
from its precursor, " Summer in Arcady," one 
is at first held spellbound by the sheer witchery 
of its descriptive beauty, its pictures of nature 
and of scenery ; to that spell there is added the 
deeper charm of its spirituality; and it is be- 
cause it combines so perfectly these two charms 

the spell of nature and the spell of the spirit 

that it is so wholly beautiful. In its picture 
of the Kentucky of a century ago, it recalls 
Irving's " Ralph Ringwood "; but it is a gentler 
picture, and one of the most pleasant things 
about it is that it shows not only the rough un- 
couthness of the pioneer days, but the gentle- 
hood, the culture and the talent that were 
represented there, and that we are too apt to 
overlook or to ignore in our ideas of the pio- 
neers of America. 

Taking the books in their order in the list, 
we come to Bangs' " Mr. Bonaparte of Cor- 
sica." That is almost as painful as his " Bicy- 
clers and other farces," and it shows how sad 
a thing it is when a writer sets out to be "as 
funny as he can." His " Rebellious heroine," 
who really was an attractive and whimsically 
amusing young person, is not here; but she 
was a much more agreeable acquaintance than 
Mr. Bonaparte. 

James Barnes' " Princetonian " is a first-rate 
story of the polishing of a rough diamond who 
goes to Princeton from a small western farming 
town; it is more wholesome than some other re- 
cent stories of college life, and has a blunt 
straightforwardness that is attractive. 

Both of Mrs. Barr's stories are excellent 
tales of North Sea fisherfolk. " Prisoners of 
conscience " is remarkable in its unrelieved pict- 
ures of souls bound and stifled in the rigid 
folds of sternest Calvinism. 

" Sentimental Tommy " needs no comment ; 
in its varying play of humor and pathos, its 
absolutely "human" element, it has found a 
place in the hearts of most of us. 

Bourdillon's " Nephele " I thought one of the 
most charming books of last year. It has not 
had very much recognition. Its author wrote 
the song " The night has a thousand eyes, the 
day but one," and the book is really more a 
prose poem than a novel. It is a story of spiritual 
affinities, recalling Du Maurier's " Peter Ibbet- 
son " and Kipling's " Brush-wood boy." It is 



THIRD SESSION. 



in 



permeated by an intense love of music, and has 
a grace of expression and delicacy of sentiment 
that are wholly delightful. 

Alice Brown's "The day of his youth" 
might be called a tragic pastoral. It is told in 
the form of letters, which is always a danger- 
ous experiment. It is pleasantly written, but 
fails in attempting too much. 

Bunner is always delightful, and the stories 
gathered under the title " Love in old cloathes " 
show him at his best. 

Mrs. Burnham's "Miss Archer Archer" is 
something like ice-cream soda. I am not 
ashamed to say I liked it. It is not in the least 
"strong," neither is it a "study." There are 
two young men and two young women ; every 
one misunderstands the sentiments of every 
one else, and they are all comfortably miserable 

but not too miserable together; then all 
things are smoothed out in a most delightful 
fashion, and, as Kipling says of the beloved 
" three-decker," " every one is married, and we 
go ashore at last." 

"Miss Archer Archer" is sentimental in a 
vivacious and attractive manner ; but the senti- 
mentality of Crockett's "Lad's love" is sim- 
ply overwhelming. It has been said that one 
of the most extraordinary things about the pro- 
ductions of Mr. Crockett and his school is the 
overwhelming emotion that is awakened in 
strong men and women at the sight of an or- 
dinary every-day infant. "Lad's love" sim- 
ply brims over with that sort of sentimentality 

that, and dialect. Either, separately, I 
could have tackled ; together, they were too 
much. 

"An elephant's track," by Mrs. M. E. M. 
Davis, is a collection of striking southern stories, 
most of them in darky dialect, and all of 
them showing originality, force and much poetic 
feeling. 

Mrs. Deland's "Wisdom of fools" consists 
of four short stories, each one presenting some 
problem of ethics or conscience in a way that, 
while offering no solution, makes one think, 
and haunts one with its perplexing insistence. 
They are natural, gracefully written, and each 
one touches the riddle, "When is right wrong 
and wrong right ? " 

Doyle's " Rodney Stone" is not so good as 
its predecessors, but gives a fair picture of 
English life in the first days of the century, in- 
troduces a number of historic persons, and is 



interesting, though there is a little too much 
glorification of the noble art of prize-fighting. 

Miss Dougall's "Madonna of a day" is a 
study in the influence of a false ideal. It is 
original, not to say astonishing, in its concep- 
tion and development, and its climax is simply 
haunting. 

"The cat and the cherub," by Chester Bailey 
Fernald, is probably the best collection of short 
stories published last year. In originality, 
verve, wit and force, they are remarkable. 

Grant's "Stories of Naples and the Cam- 
orra" is one of the best books of the year. 
These tales of Naples fisherfolk, and of the 
strange secret society called the Camorra that 
permeates all lower-class Naples life, have a 
fidelity, a kindliness of tone, and a minutiae of 
detail that make them more like actual experi- 
ences than stories. They are the result of the 
author's long residence in Italy ; and I doubt 
if there is any other book in English that so 
well depicts Neapolitan fisherfolk life. 

Both of Anthony Hope's books have the 
claim of popularity, and no other. " Phroso" 
is the best ; but both are miles below the 
" Prisoner of Zenda." The "Princess Osra " 
stories are so artificial, padded and superficial, 
that it is hard to see in them any lasting quali- 
ties. 

Howells and James we have always with 
us ; and as antidotes to a too cheerful view of 
life, or as discouragers of a belief in "the hu- 
man spark divine," any one of the four books 
listed should prove thoroughly effective. 

Keightley's "Last recruit of Clare's" and 
O'Grady's " In the wake of King James " do not 
seem to me to belong in this list. Both are in- 
ferior historical novels. The former is after 
along way after Doyle's "Brigadier Ge- 
rard," but the writer has not learned that it takes 
more than a lay figure equipped with spurs, a 
cloak and a plumed hat, and supplied with a 
fine quota of phrases, such as " I'faith, 1 ' 
" By're Lady," and an ever-ready sword, to 
make a good historical story. The other is 
gloriously " bluggy," with wicked earls, im- 
prisoned maidens, over-matched but ever-con- 
quering heroes, and frowning castle-keeps 
galore ; but it is a shilling shocker rather than 
an historical novel. 

Roberts' " Forge in the forest" is a novel of 
Acadia during the French and English strug- 
gles in Canada. It has many beautiful de- 



112 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



scriptions of nature, but these are its chief 
charm, and it is inferior to his volume of short 
stories called " Earth's enigmas." 

Of the two books by Miss Yonge, "The 
cook and the captive " was published two or 
three years ago. It is a story of Gaul in the 
time of Attila. "The pilgrimage of the Ben 
Beriah " is the story of the wanderings of the 
Children of. Israel made into an historical 
tale rather a remarkable subject to weave 
into a story, but it has been done very well. 

There are three or four books not on the list 
that I should like to present, and see if it is 
thought that they belong there. One is Robert 
Barr's " The mutable many," published about 
two months ago. It is a story of capital and 
labor, and gives both sides of a long strike 
with common-sense fairness. The central idea 
seems to be that, no matter what the right of 
the cause of labor, and though the cause of 
capital may have injustice on its side, labor 
will generally lose in the struggle on account 
of qualities inherent in itself. The " mutable 
many" the mob lose on account of their 
very mutability; because they have not the co- 
herence or organization to carry through their 
work and gain their ends. The story is crude 
and has the trail of the journalist all of Barr's 
books have; but it is forcible, gives both sides, 
and I thought it good. 

The next is "The descendant." That was 
suggested for the list, but was not included. 
It was published anonymously by Harper about 
two months ago, and has just been discovered 
to be by a young southern woman, Miss Ellen 
Glasgow. It is very strong, unpleasant in 
parts, but deeply interesting and possessing a 
wonderful force in its teaching. It is the story 
of a man whose bitter outcast childhood has 
made him determine, with all the strength of 
his intense nature, that he will carve a way in 
the world and make himself envied, not de- 
spised. And he does it. He tramples over all 
obstacles, disregards most laws, human or 
divine, and then at the end he finds that his 
strength is, after all, but weakness, and that 
he has made himself pitied, not envied. The 
whole teaching is that strength rooted in self 
is weakness, and that weakness animated by 
love is strength. It is strong teaching, often 
disagreeable, as I said, but very forcible. 

H. G. Wells has published four or five books 
during the year. One of them is a bicycle 



romance, and I think even an A. L. A. list to 
be up to date should include a bicycle novel. 
It is called "The wheels of chance"; I have 
not read it, but would like to hear from some 
one who has. 

G.M.JONES. I have; it is delightful. I dis- 
like most of Wells' stories very much, but that 
I think is capital. 

Miss HAINES. It seems to me it might be 
well to put it in if we want to make the list 
representative of present-day subjects. 

Another book that was questioned is Olive 
Schreiner's " Trooper Peter Halket, of Mashon- 
aland." I think it should go on the list, as 
certainly belonging in a library. It is a bitter 
arraignment and denunciation of British cruel- 
ties in South Africa, and is really a politico- 
religious tract rather than a novel. The in- 
cidents described are harrowing and horrible 
in the extreme, but it is written with all the in- 
tensity and much of the mystical beauty so 
characteristic of Olive Schreiner. Personally 
I found it most interesting, and do not see 
how it can hurt any one. 

It might, however, be questioned whether 
Brander Matthews' " Tales of fantasy and 
fact " are worth inclusion. They do not amount 
to anything. One recalls, when reading them, 
what the New York Sun said of Brander Mat- 
thews' literary essays that he " walked in the 
grove of literature and gently gathered chest- 
nuts from among the rustling leaves." 

Adjourned at 5.05. 

FOURTH SESSION. 

(HORTICULTURAL HALL, TUESDAY EVENING, 
JUNE 23, 8.30 P.M.) 

THE PUBLIC MEETING. 

The meeting was called to order by President 
BRETT, at 8.45, in the following words: 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MEMBERS AND 
FRIENDS OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIA- 
TION: This is an unusual meeting of the Asso- 
ciation; unusual in that we have so large an at- 
tendance, evincing an interest in this movement 
far wider than the membership of the Associa- 
tion. We are met, also, not to consider, as we 
usually do at our meetings, the perfecting of 
methods of library work, nor even to consider 
an extension of the work, but to consider new 
fields of labor; how we can make the library 
more useful; how we can reach through it more 



FOURTH SESSION. 



people. We are met to-night to consider the 
place of the library in the community; to in- 
quire as to the value of the work which the li- 
brary is doing; to see whether as librarians we 
can justify our work; to see whether as citizens 
the library is an institution which it pays to 
support; to consider whether the work of the li- 
brary tends to uplift and to better individual 
lives; whether it helps to make the task of 
earning a living easier; whether it tends to help 
to business success, to professional success; 
whether it helps to make better citizens; wheth- 
er as a whole it is tending to better our munici- 
pality, to make a better state, a better nation. 
And surely in no place in this country can that 
question be more readily answered than here, in 
this city which has furnished so many distin- 
guished names to our American literature, which 
is identified with progress, which is the home of 
the first and oldest library, and which also boasts 
of the youngest and greatest of American pub- 
lic libraries a public library which is doing 
more work, which is placing more books in the 
hands of the people, than any other library, per- 
haps, on the face of the globe. In this city 
there is certainly an object lesson in that library 
which would enable the questions we ask to be 
answered. 

The progress of the last 25 years has not 
only trebled the volume of books available in 
libraries of this kind, but it has, through in- 
creased efficiency in the work, many times 
more than trebled the use of the library. 
Nevertheless, in spite of this great increase, we 
see that we are only at the beginning of library 
possibilities; that, compared with those educa- 
tional institutions, the schools with which we 
may fairly compare the library while there 
are facilities for acquiring at least a common- 
school education for almost every child in the 
country, library facilities are still, in spite of 
this great increase, limited to a minority of the 
citizens of our country. 

If we can answer favorably the question as 
to the value of the library, if we can see that 
the library is an institution that pays, the im- 
portant and further question with us is : What 
is it our duty to do, as citizens, to promote the 
library movement and to increase the extent and 
efficiency of our library ? We shall consider 
this question to-night. We shall ask not only 
the testimony of librarians, but we shall con- 
sider it from the standpoints of the scholar, of 



the educator, of the professional man. But 
whether as librarian, or scholar, or professional 
man, we shall consider it first and foremost 
from the standpoint of the citizen. 

I have the pleasure of presenting to you as 
the first speaker of the evening a gentleman 
who, though still young, has been a pioneer of 
the library movement; one who took a small li- 
brary in a western city where library work was 
little known and little appreciated, and in so do- 
ing abandoned a professional career in another 
direction that promised much greater things, 
and who, taking that small library, has de- 
veloped it, and made it one of our largest and 
most efficient public libraries, one which so far 
as organization and method, and so far as the 
spirit of its work, is a model and an inspiration. 
I have the pleasure of introducing the librarian 
of the St. Louis Public Library, Mr. -Cruhden. 

F: M. CRUNDEN read his address 

WHAT OF THE FUTURE ? 

(Seep. 5.) 

Pres. BRETT. There are other more definite 
aspects of library work, and we will now have 
the pleasure of listening to a gentleman whose 
connection with organized academic instruction, 
and whose broader work in the field of library 
extension has fitted him to express an opinion 
as to the educational value of the library which 
carries much weight, and who can speak to us 
as a book-lover, author, and critic. I have the 
pleasure of introducing Professor Smyth. 

ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR ALBERT H. SMYTH. 

Mr. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : 
Matthew Arnold, a skilful phrase-maker as well 
as a keenly analytic critic, won some of his most 
signal victories by the dexterous repetition of 
certain phrases, believing, probably, with Chal- 
mers, who, when he was charged with repeating 
himself cried out: " Iteration ! Why, all I am in 
the world I am by iteration." And there was 
one thought in particular that Matthew Arnold 
was fond of repeating, for he was profoundly 
convinced of the truth that lay in it. It was 
couched in these words: " Culture is indispensa- 
bly necessary, and culture is reading reading 
with a purpose to guide and assist us. Who- 
ever does anything to help this does a good 
work, in fact it is the one essential service now 
to be rendered to the world." And that essen- 
tial service, ladies and gentlemen of the Ameri- 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



can Library Association, you are now rendering 
to the world. It is your task to form and to 
direct the reading habit; to kindle that inex- 
tinguishable love for literature which Gibbon, 
in words that are burned into the memory, 
said he would not exchange for the wealth of 
the Indies. 

True it is, the librarian in unselfishly per- 
forming his duties effaces himself. He lives 
only in the published works and the gratitude 
of those whom he helps. The superb culture 
and astonishing erudition of Henry Bradshaw 
gave stimulus and suggestion to scholars, but 
left no original monument to his own unique 
worth. Only in the preface of great and per- 
manent contributions to literature, where men 
of learned minds have confessed their obliga- 
tions and professed their deep gratitude to 
Henry Bradshaw, does the world gain some 
brief insight, some little glimpse of the immense 
service that was rendered by the librarian of 
Cambridge University. 

It is my conviction that the theologians have 
all looked for Paradise in the wrong direction; 
it is to be found in Bloomsbury, London. It is 
in that reading-room where Richard Garnett, 
the Keeper of the Printed Books, patiently and 
with self-sacrifice devotes himself to aiding 
scholars in their researches. 

Not only is the librarian's influence indirectly 
felt through the minds and works of scholars 
aided by him, but his influence is directly great 
upon the social culture of the community that 
feeds upon his library. The librarian registers 
the intellectual and spiritual culture of the peo- 
ple. He not only directs taste, but It is the li- 
brarian's task, as is so eloquently pointed out by 
Mr. Foster in his recent pamphlet, to create 
that taste and what a taste it is ! 

To distribute the riches and open the regions 
of literature to a starving community is the 
superb and splendid task of the librarian. New 
England led, It is true, in the struggle for free 
libraries, but Sir Stafford Northcote took up the 
work which resulted in the free libraries of 
England. In the city, which was the headquar- 
ters of liberalism, George Dawson and Samuel 
Timmins created that free public library over 
which Mr. Mullins presides with such skill and 
energy. When that public library was opened 
and the people of Birmingham, before unac- 
quainted with libraries, came to know what a 
potent force in the community a free library is, 



such a crisis was reached that to-day no man 
can hold public office in the city of Birmingham 
unless he pledges himself to support free libra- 
ries. And so, from that far-off corner of Eng- 
land, which is almost a country by itself, from 
Cornwall unpenetrated for a long time by 
railways, and then only circuitously by the 
Great Western Railroad the G. W. R. and 
the London & South Western Railway the L. 
& S. W. R. popularly known as the "great 
way round," and the "long and slow way 
round," there went forth to the great metrop- 
olis one who was destined to win fortune, to re- 
turn to Cornwall with his hands open, and with 
the wealth he had acquired in London, to found 
throughout the length and breadth of Cornwall 
free libraries for his fellow-countrymen, so that 
now troops of pensive students find their way 
into buildings that have been beautifully con- 
structed throughout all Cornwall, there to find 
knowledge that flows forth in streams of be- 
neficence through Great Britain. 

There is still another side to the matter: A dis- 
tinguished Philadelphian, Mr. Horace Binney, 
said that one of the chief things he gained 
at college was his love for study. And indeed 
it is not the knowledge that is obtained from 
books, but it is the love for study that is the 
better hing. Books fall into the night and are 
left in its shade, but there is one thing that 
does not pass away, and that is the spirit of 
love for learning. At the time when Horace 
Binney was a student, and at a time within the 
distinct recollection of some of us, there was 
room in the curriculum for reading; for desul- 
tory reading; for that browsing in the library 
that has been so beneficial in all literary lives. 
But it would seem now that in the schools 
and colleges the spare moments are given to 
athletic sports; or the strain of the college 
work is so great that there is no time for desul- 
tory reading, to say nothing of heroic reading. 
It would seem that we are becoming less and 
less a reading people. We read books about 
books, or we read magazine articles on books 
about books, or we are content with the sum- 
maries in newspapers of magazine articles on 
books about books. All this seems to be carry- 
ing us further from reality into a mere com- 
merce of ideas upon which no healthy soul can 
live. I am perpetually amazed when I question 
a class of boys of 16 or 17 years of age, coming 
up from the public schools of our great city, to 



FOURTH SESSION. 



find that no inconsiderable number of the class 
have never read a book. I am amazed that there 
should exist boys of 16 or 17 years of age in this 
city, surrounded by all the splendid apparatus for 
education that Philadelphia possesses, who have 
never read a book I do not mean the reading- 
matter that masquerades in book-clothing, but 
books that are books, in the sense of literature 
who do not know that in Philadelphia there 
is such a thing in existence as a public library, 
who do not know where to get books. One of 
the most important problems that free libraries 
have to face is how to reach the students of the 
schools. Already the Free Library of Philadel- 
phia has approached that problem, as it has been 
approached before in New England. It is how 
to hold forth a helping hand to those who are at- 
tempting the arduous task of drawing the youth- 
ful soul into the " substantial world " of books. 

A whole world of subjects is opened to the 
teachers of the schools if they are only in co- 
operation with the librarians of the free libra- 
ries. The richest of public collections may be 
put at their disposal. 

This is, therefore, a threefold service : a 
service to the scholar, to the public, and to the 
schools. And it is my profound conviction 
that this library association is but entering now 
upon a career of boundless influence, and that 
it has yet to introduce many a rising genera- 
tion into the unspeakable delights of literature 
and to the manifold enjoyments of this bright 
world. 

Pres. BRETT. We are fortunate in having 
with us this evening a gentleman who has de- 
voted a large part of his public life to the 
efficient support of public libraries; who, as a 
business man, is in the very centre of the 
business life and financial activity of this great 
city; and, as a member of the committee which 
has charge of the expenditures of public money, 
has found it his duty to make a careful study 
of such expenditure and to determine the value 
received for each dollar expended. I have the 
pleasure of presenting to you the chairman of 
the Finance Committee of the Common Councils 
of Philadelphia Mr. Seeds. 

ADDRESS OF MR. JACOB J. SEEDS. 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : I have but a word 
to say, and that is upon the local aspect of our 
Philadelphia Free Library and its relations to 
the Councils of the city. I can say that in my 



capacity as chairman of the Finance Committee 
in disbursing some millions of dollars for the 
various bureaus of Philadelphia, that this bu- 
reau in particular the board of managers of 
the Free Library of Philadelphia is held up 
as a model for other departments in the city. 
In this department, much as we hear of the 
extravagance of the city of Philadelphia, no 
such charge of extravagance has been brought. 
Economy reigns there, and the work that has 
been performed by this board is beyond ques- 
tion. 

I might say that the Councils of the city of 
Philadelphia are thoroughly in accord with this 
work, and are committed to carry it on to a suc- 
cessful issue. And I feel that it is my duty on 
behalf of the Councils and of the people of the 
city of which I am a representative, to thank 
the 'representatives of the library board and 
the rank and file of the staff of the Philadelphia 
Free Library for the grand work that has been 
performed in the city since the inception of 
this institution. 

There is one question in relation to the li- 
brary that we ought to settle. We thought 
that we had it settled, but the Supreme Court 
of the state has taken issue with us upon that 
matter, and has decided that we have not the 
right to go on and build our free library, the 
central building which we were all sure we would 
soon be able to put up. I have" but a word to 
say to this audience : I want to enlist the active 
work and sympathy of every man and woman 
here in the question that is about to be settled. 
This autumn the question is to be submitted to 
the people whether we shall have a magnifi- 
cent and centrally located library in the city of 
Philadelphia, in which not only to carry out 
the work that has been begun but to extend 
that work. That question will be submitted to 
the people this fall, and, strange as it may 
seem, there is considerable opposition to this 
project in the city. It is because of this opposi- 
tion that it becomes the duty of every person 
who is conversant with this work, who is 
a believer and a sincere sympathizer in it, 
to constitute himself an active supporter of 
it in canvassing this question before the peo- 
ple. Now, how can this be done ? It is not 
the rich who derive the benefits of the library. 
It is those in moderate circumstances and 
the poorer people who appreciate this great 
work. And I feel, on the part of Councils, 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



where this opposition exists, that the work is 
not thoroughly understood, and if those who 
oppose it would go down among the masses 
and find out how they appreciate the libraries, 
the opposition would soon be wiped out. The 
words of the preceding speaker touched me, 
and I feel that if the boys and girls of the 
public schools in Philadelphia had the question 
of settling whether we shall have such a library, 
that the question would be settled beyond per- 
adventure; but I regret to say the boys and 
girls have not the settling of the question. 
Now, how can you assist in this work ? Think 
of the reflection upon the city of Philadelphia 
and its people, a people who can put $20,000,000 
in the city hall for housing our municipal de- 
partments, if they should deny the sum of 
$1,000,000 to erect a centrally located library. 
All that will be necessary, I feel, is to spread 
the good news of what the library is doing and 
can do; to spread it so that the men who have 
the power to vote shall be fully alive to the 
city's necessity, and then Philadelphia will have 
her central library, to which she is entitled, and 
which her people will appreciate no grand 
institution, no magnificent monument, no luxu- 
rious building that shall be noted principally 
for its architectural effects and beauty; but a 
substantial warehouse, I will call it, where the 
books can be stored, and which may be used 
as a centrally located building where the people 
can come and have the benefit of the library to 
which our city is entitled. 

Pres. BRETT. We shall now have the pleas- 
ure of listening to a gentleman who has been 
a member of the American Library Associa- 
tion from its foundation, whose work in biblio- 
graphy has been of use to libraries on both 
sides of the Atlantic, and who in these last 
few years has been making a study of library 
architecture for the benefit of his own library 
directly, which will, I am sure, produce a li- 
brary that, when completed, will be just such a 
practical and convenient building as that desired 
by the gentleman who has just spoken. I have 
the pleasure of introducing to you as the next 
speaker the librarian of the Providence Public 
Library, Mr. Foster. 

ADDRESS OF MR. W: E. FOSTER. 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : After the stirring 
words of the speakers who have preceded me, 
you can perhaps have little doubt left in your 



minds as to the educational quality which be- 
longs to the work of public libraries. But 
there is something more. I wish to maintain 
this proposition : that you can advance a stage 
further and ascribe to the work of public libra- 
ries a positively civilizing influence. 

Your president has asked me to speak this 
evening on a subject which he knows has very 
much engaged my attention and my interest for 
a considerable time past; and he probably has 
done this from the supposition that the sugges- 
tion which would so effectually kindle the en- 
thusiasm of one member of the Association 
would probably communicate itself to a wider 
circle, and I believe that he is more than half 
right. Jt is, in brief, this : the very great 
service which the public library renders to 
its community by counselling and protesting 
against "the ephemeral." 

How great a hold the ephemeral has in our 
modern life the ephemeral in literature, the 
ephemeral in thought no one needs to be in- 
formed. We see it in the appetite which our 
public has for the new books, as new books, not- 
withstanding we have been so wisely reminded, 
in a well-known counsel of Mr. Emerson, how 
greatly we gain by feeding on those books 
which are at least a year old. We see it in the 
appetite for periodicals; and, as one of the 
previous speakers has said, "in newspaper 
summaries of the magazine articles on books 
about books " ; and we hear comments on the 
indisposition shown by many readers for any 
connected or sustained thought. 

Public libraries can perform a great service 
in reducing the inequality between the litera- 
ture of knowledge and the literature of power, 
so far as regards the attention which they 
receive, for this is a disproportion which can 
undoubtedly be corrected. There are four 
suggestions upon which I shall touch, which 
have been found effectual in this direction. 

The first of these is, that we can make a great 
deal more in future than we have made in the 
past, of the opportunity for personal contact 
between the library reader and the library 
officer. The "information-desk" in my own 
library (as it is called) was established half a 
dozen years ago almost exclusively from the 
point of view, as indicated by its name, of 
supplying information, and of helping the 
reader find what he wants in the literature of 
knowledge; but in the past few years it has 



FOURTH SESSION. 



117 



been used almost as much in awakening the 
reader's mind to that which the library con- 
tains in the literature of power. 

Secondly, it is to develop, even more than is 
now developed, in the immense work which 
can be done with the pupils of the schools, a 
desire for good literature. In our own com- 
munity these efforts have been going on for a 
long series of years, so that now we have the 
pleasure of having in our community many who 
have a passion for good literature, which has 
been acquired in the schools. 

The third suggestion is the use of reference 
lists and bulletins. 

Of the fourth measure I will speak very 
briefly. We are looking forward to this with 
the greatest interest in our new building, but 
we have not as yet been able to put it into 
operation under any favorable conditions in our 
present quarters. It may be briefly described 
as an attempt to create an "atmosphere" of 
literature. Every artist knows how vital is 
this matter of atmosphere, in the growth of an 
artistic spirit and in the education of his eye. 
We wish to establish a series of rooms express- 
ly equipped for this purpose, and expressly 
planned for this purpose with a collection of 
books wholly within the field of the literature of 
power, to which we can point the reader and 
say: " Here are the best books by the best au- 
thors, in the best editions, representing in every 
way the idea of the best in literature." The 
books would be under the eyes and in the hands 
of an intelligent and sympathetic and tactful 
library officer. No one of these copies can be 
taken from the building, since that would de- 
feat the essential purpose of the collection, but 
in each volume will be placed a printed slip, 
reading as follows: "In order to take a copy 
of this book for home use, apply for number so 
and so, from the stack." 

We look for an improvement in the quality 
of the books that go from the building and into 
the homes of the readers; and this will manifest 
itself not only in an improvement of the intel- 
lectual condition but in the building up of libra- 
ries in their own homes and upon their own 
shelves. What basis have we for such an expec- 
tation ? Our past experience. It is no uncom- 
mon thing for readers to return even books of the 
highest literature and to say : " This is a book 
I must have," and they are then furnished with 
data which enable 'them to purchase that book. 



A library is like a great organ, and its 
great number of books may be compared to the 
organ's almost countless number of stops and 
keys. Bearing in mind this tendency which 
there is always, to an undue emphasis on that 
which is of lesser value, and the great danger 
of allowing it to exist, the librarian should see 
to it, that in touching this or that stop or key, 
he does not neglect those which will uplift, and 
inspire, and develop the minds of the commu- 
nity making use of his library. 

Pres. BRETT. Thirteen years ago I was 
called to take charge of a public library a 
work about which I knew nothing and for 
which I was not ready. After a little prelimi- 
nary experimenting which was not very suc- 
cessful, I went about the country to see what I 
could learn in regard to this work. I came to 
the library of one of our great universities, 
looked around for an hour or two, and then 
asked if I could see the librarian. I was taken 
into his inner office, expecting to stay there a 
few moments; but for two hours I was kept 
there, and in those two hours I received such 
an inspiration towards library work, such a 
glimpse of its possibilities, that if there is any 
good in the work that I have been able to do 
since then, I date it all from that afternoon 
when I visited that library. And what that 
librarian has done for me he has done for 
scores of other librarians in the country. We 
will now have the pleasure of listening to the 
man I listened to that February afternoon. I 
need hardly introduce Mr. Dewey. 

ADDRESS OF MR. MELVIL DEWEY. 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : I cannot help look- 
ing back 21 years to the time when we came to 
Philadelphia to organize the American Library 
Association. Since then, year by year, and by 
little groups of years, we have taken up one 
work after another, but none of them have been 
finished. Yet we have had distinct periods when 
the library associations and library journals and 
state and local associations dotted the country 
all over. We have had meetings of state asso- 
ciations and city associations where the attend- 
ance was larger than at our national meetings. 
There was in the very beginning, in 1876, a 
movement for library extension. It was a so- 
ciety of propaganda; we all went out with the 
idea of spreading the library movement. The 
old idea of the library as a reservoir was giving 



u8 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



way to that of the fountain; we were to have a 
fountain where each one might go. And then 
it was a question of piping the water from the 
fountain to almost every house and every room 
jn a city. And step by step we had the differ- 
erent kinds of libraries: the reference library, 
and the branches, and the travelling library 
carrying books to all who wished to use them. 
Then there was a development from the very 
first library methods the development of the 
science of library economy. And some said we 
were threshing over old straw and learning the 
lessons that older men had already learned. 
But that was not true, for we were laying the 
foundations for the new science. 

If we study the proceedings of the American 
Library Association in those early years it will 
be seen that we were laying foundations. That 
work has been largely done. We shall improve 
upon it from time to time, but when the history 
of the Association is written it will read that 
from 1876 for nearly 10 years was the time 
when most was done for the development of 
library methods and toward making it possible 
to do a larger amount of good work with the 
time and money at disposal. Then came the 
work with the library in the schools. And we 
only understand the a, b, c, of that at the present 
time. For 20 years different branches of that 
work have been going on, but it was not until the 
organization last year of the Library Depart- 
ment of the National Educational Association 
that the library was recognized as an essential 
part of education. I say essential, for the 
library is now looked upon as a useful adjunct 
of the school. We have been compelled to do 
like a man who puts a building on an insufficent 
foundation and when it begins to settle down 
repairs it and makes it a little stronger; and still 
it sinks, and he repairs it again and again until 
it gets down to bed rock. That is what we are 
doing in this igth century; we are finding bed 
rock on which our educational fabric will stand. 

Mr. Seeds said that if only the boys and girls 
of Philadelphia had the settling of this question 
of whether Philadelphia should have a central 
library, that the question would be settled be- 
yond peradventure, but he said the boys and 
girls have not the settling of the question. I 
contend the boys and girls of Philadelphia are 
going to settle this question in a very few years. 
The boys in a very few years are going to be 
the voters who will decide this question. A 



prominent politician in one of our great cities 
said to me he had the power and the votes to 
overturn the work that was done in our free li- 
braries. I said : " You have the votes perhaps, 
and if you dared you might do this thing, but 
let me tell you, you will be surprised how many 
men in the city of New York favor free libraries 
and, if need be, will carry a gun before they will 
give up this part of their educational system." 
And I say to you here that the boys and girls of 
Philadelphia will settle this question, and their 
fathers and mothers will settle it in the same 
way when they come to realize the benefit of 
the free library system. 

Following the period of specific co-operation 
in library work, came the relation of the library 
to the state and nation. That was the hitching 
of the wagon to the star. It is no more possible 
to build up a satisfactory system of libraries for 
supplying reading-matter to the people without 
aid, both state and national, than it would be to 
carry on our schools in that way. 

Then most important of all comes this period 
upon which we are just entering, which I like 
to call the filtration period. We had the res- 
ervoir and we changed it to the fountain. We 
not only went on from that and piped the books 
to every house and every room, but that was 
not enough and we must go farther. I remem- 
ber a few years ago there was an appropriation 
of five or six hundred thousand dollars made 
in the city of Albany to get a greater water sup- 
ply for the city, and the money was spent in 
bringing the water of the Hudson and distribut- 
ing it by pipes throughout the city, and it was 
piped into every room. But we discovered the 
faster the water was piped to the city the faster 
our citizens went to the cemetery, so we appro- 
priated another million of dollars to take up the 
subject of filtration. No city expects to send 
poisoned water to its citizens ; neither does a 
library desire to furnish bad reading, but the 
public library is at fault, in my judgment, in 
not doing more for quality in all it is doing for 
quantity. It is a necessary work to get books 
to the people, but we should constantly en- 
deavor to improve the quality of the books, for 
the library must be the library militant before 
it can become the library triumphant. 

The "yellow journalism" of to-day is the 
most serious problem that confronts us. We 
would do well in dealing with it if we followed 
out the plan of the little girl who complained 



FOURTH SESSION. 



119 



that her brother had set a trap to catch the 
pretty birds. She said she had prayed real hard 
that the birds would not get caught in the trap. 
She was asked what else she did. She said : 
" I went out and kicked that trap all to pieces." 
Possibly there is a lesson for us here, because 
some of our libraries have been content with a 
great circulation of books to record, but they 
have thoroughly seized upon the idea of having 
the books used without having before them 
this problem that comes under the head of filtra- 
tion, and this is a work that can be done only 
through the public library system and not 
through book-stores. The idea in my mind is 
that by and by the library is to take almost en- 
tirely the place of the book-store ; it will be a 
place where the reader will be shown a book 
and be interested in it and will buy it. 

Philadelphia was the place where we met first 
in organizing the American Library Aassocia- 
tion. Philadelphia has the honor of leading in 
many high educational works. Her great uni- 
versity is a surprise to those who come to it for 
the first time after a number of years. In uni- 
versity extension work she sets the example to 
all the country, and in all this work there has 
been one man in Philadelphia so prominent 
that when we hear of new educational and 
new philanthropic work we know almost in 
advance who the man will be who leads in its 
organization. That man is here to-night and 
intends not to speak. I am sure, even late as it 
is, if I relieve you of the many things I would 
like to say, we will enjoy hearing him and that 
we will insist on having a few words from him. 
Personally I have been inspired and delighted 
with the magnificent work done by Dr. Pepper, 
and I am sure the members of the Association 
share with me my feeling in insisting that we 
have a word or two from him now. I am in- 
clined, Dr. Pepper, to paraphrase the words of 
Eugene Field and say : 

Bless you, Dr. Pepper, may you live a thousand years, 
To sort of keep things lively in this vale of human 

tears, 

And may I live a thousand too a thousand less a day, 
For I should not like to be on earth and hear you'd passed 

away. 

ADDRESS OF DR. WILLIAM PEPPER. 

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I 
only have this to say : that the great success of 
the Free Library of Philadelphia has been due 
chiefly to one thing, and that is an influence 



that has pervaded it from the beginning, that 
has carried it from the centre to the very peri- 
phery of this great town, in every direction 
the feeling that this library is yours ; that there 
is nothing about it money, buildings, the 
time and the services of the officers, the books 
on the shelves that is not yours. It is a part 
of the city'government. It is yours to use as 
is the water supply and any other thing that 
the municipality supplies to its inhabitants. 
And it has been successful because we have 
turned it over to the people, and the people 
have taken hold of it to use it in a way that ex- 
ceeds the extent to which a free library is used 
in any other city of the world. This has come 
in three years, and not from any special 
method ; only from freedom ; only from trust- 
ing you ; only by returning to you that which 
you gave us to use for you. 

We have a central station, a building that is 
liable to burn down while we are talking to- 
night. It is a disgrace to this city, that that 
central station and every branch that we have 
opened is crowded from the moment the doors 
are opened until the crowds are driven out at 
the last minute at night, crowded by our fellow- 
citizens who throng to these branches as I have 
never seen human beings throng after any 
single article desired. Do you suppose that this 
city is going to allow an institution that is an in- 
tegral part of its life to languish or pause in its 
growth ? It has been a surprise to us all. I am 
glad to hear Mr. Seeds bear testimony to the 
efficiency of the service. That is John Thom- 
son's work. It spreads through the whole of 
that system and comes from the single-minded, 
whole-hearted devotedness of that man to you. 

It is a pleasure to have this Association meet 
in Philadelphia. It is an honor to the place 
where it was founded. I am glad you have 
come back to us on this 2ist anniversary 
of the Association, and it is good for us all to 
have been here to-night. Let us, however, 
take to heart the words that have been said and 
go out from here pledged to carry on the work, 
not only in our own homes but into all circles 
which we can control or influence, until the free 
library here is placed upon the most permanent 
basis that can be desired. New York has just 
transferred to its consolidated library a build- 
ing site which our friend Dr. Billings states is 
worth many millions of dollars, and that city 
has appropriated two and a half millions of dol- 



120 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



lars towards the use of that library. I know that 
the library movement of Philadelphia is going 
on to its completion. It has not begun to be 
what it is going to be : we are going to carry 
this library into every ward in this city; we are 
going to have every section of this city sup- 
plied with the best reading in the most attrac- 
tive way and made convenient to the people, so 
that the education of this city, we hope, shall 
be better organized and shall be more thorough 
than that of any community in the world. We 
Philadelphians say to you, visiting members of 
the American Library Association, we are very 
proud of our city. We love it. We believe 
there is no community where good work can be 
better promoted than it can be in this city, and 
we count this work of establishing a free library 
for the entire people, and spreading it until it 
reaches the home of every member of this com- 
munity, among the best works that we have 
undertaken. It is necessary for the stability of 
society and it is necessary for the happiness of 
our people, and I hope that every man and 
woman who is here to-night and has heard the 
inspiring words that have been spoken from 
this platform by men from widely different 
places, will go away determined to labor for 
this cause until it is fully successful. 

Pres. BRETT closed the meeting with a few 
words of acknowledgment at 10.30, and im- 
mediately upon adjournment, a reception, with 
music, was held in the hall. Dancing followed 
until a late hour. 

FIFTH SESSION. 

(DREXEL INSTITUTE, WEDNESDAY MORNING, 
JUNE 23.) 

The fifth session was held simultaneously 
with the separate session of the College Section, 
which met in one of the class-rooms of the In- 
stitute. It was devoted to a consideration of 

ELEMENTARY LIBRARY WORK. 

The meeting was called to order at 9.30, in the 
library of Drexel Institute, by Dr. G. E. WIRE, 
chairman. 

CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGING. 

Dr. G. E. WIRE. The idea of the present 
session, as we intend to carry it out, is that we 
are to have short papers or talks, preferably 
about 10 minutes each, and after each speaker 
is done you are at liberty to assault him with 
all the questions you wish to ask. To that end 



we have arranged this rather negligee appear- 
ance, so that you may feel quite at ease and at 
home, as though in your own library. 

The part that falls to me is to talk on classifi- 
cation and on cataloging, and in doing so I will 
start with the general ideas of classification. 
Of course we know that when we speak of clas- 
sification, we generally mean the D. C. ; but 
there were classifications before the D. C., and 
we hope there will be after it. The main idea 
of a classification, as I understand it, is to have 
an orderly arrangement of ideas and of knowl- 
edge. The trouble is that most classifications 
have been rather arbitrarily made. They are 
classifications of ideas and of knowledge rather 
than of books, and it is sometimes impossible 
to make the classification of ideas and knowl- 
edge coincide with the classification of books. 
You see that fact most prominently in college 
libraries where there are professors with omniv- 
orous tastes, who want the books that are in 
any way related to their department in that de- 
partment. 

But the main idea of a classification should 
be to keep books on a subject together, and to 
keep them together in a classification which will 
allow of extension, and, if necessary, of re- 
moving the books. 

There is no fixed law and gospel about clas- 
sification. If a book will be used more in one 
class than another, and is somewhat related to 
that first class, or if it is bought for a particular 
purpose or by a particular fund, put it in that 
place, and don't feel that you are bound by 
the laws of the Medes and Persians, or any 
other laws, to put it where you don't want it. 

Another idea about classification has special 
reference to the Decimal classification. You 
will be often puzzled by some books. They 
seem to cover certain subjects, and yet some 
of them don't seem to cover much of anything; 
in that case it is a good rule to put the 
books somewhere and let them_'go. I always 
work on the plan that a book that does not tell 
much about anything is not good for much of 
anything. 

The classification of books should be done as 
rapidly as is consistent with a measurable 
amount of accuracy. Accuracy is a relative 
term. What would be a superlative of ac- 
curacy in a small circulating library would not 
approach anything like accuracy in a profes- 
sional library, or where a library is divided up 



FIFTH SESSION. 



121 



into very close classes. You must judge the 
amount of accuracy and the fineness of your 
classification by your circumstances, and my. 
rule for beginners in library work always is to 
be independent, and to do in their library as 
they think should be done ; not to be gov- 
erned always or in any way by what another 
library does. Last year this question came up 
in the classification of Field's " Love-affairs of 
a bibliomaniac." Some people bought the book 
and put it into bibliography. It is a pleasant 
little book, and has as much bibliography in it 
as anything else. Others put it in literature, 
and then both seemed to be in doubt as to 
whether they had done the right thing. I told 
them to put it where they wanted it, where 
people looked for it, and where they would be 
most liable to find it in the shelves. 

Another thing about fineness of classification. 
As I said before, I am not in favor of fine points 
in classification in small libraries or those just 
started. Use a rough classification and get 
your books massed together. That is espe- 
cially desirable in these days of open shelves. 
Now that the public can get to the books, I 
think we have passed, as a general thing, in 
our public libraries, the days when we need 
very minute classification and cataloging. 

As to the question how classification should 
not be done, it should not be done by a library 
according to its own particular fad or to suit 
its own purposes. Sometimes classifications 
are badly strained to suit the librarian, because 
he likes to get all books that relate to the same 
thing together. I don't think we have very 
many of those librarians in this country, but 
they do exist. They fill the whole library full 
of spiritualism, for instance, and they put every- 
thing that has any spirits in that class. 

W: R. EASTMAN. What would you say of a 
library that did not have a classification at 
all? 

Dr. WIRE. In that case I don't know what 
you would do with the librarian. The best 
thing would be to let him go on until he saw 
the error of his ways. Sooner or later the li- 
brarian will see the necessity of some sort of 
a classification. The worst evils of classifica- 
tion are where the librarian is hide-bound to an 
old system, and can't see the necessity of turn- 
ing it into a living system. 

W: R. EASTMAN. But say they had 500 
books, and asked what would be the advantage 



to them of putting those books in five or 10 
classes, what would be the argument to use ? 

Dr. WIRE If they had only two books by 
one author, they would be able to find those 
two books better classified than if they were in 
accession order. Of course, the difficulty is to 
find the books on the shelves as they stand; it 
is easy enough to find them in a catalog or a 
classification. I know one librarian who used 
to say: "Well, it doesn't make much difference 
how books stand on the shelves. They are to- 
gether in the catalog." The result is that in 
libraries classified on that plan it sometimes 
takes five minutes for the attendants to get a 
dozen books that are in the same classification, 
because they are scattered in different parts of 
the library. 

W: R. EASTMAN. Suppose the librarian 
says : "I know every book in the library, and 
I can put my hand on it in the dark." 
. Dr. WIRE. In a small library like that you 
can't do very much with the librarian until the 
library grows. In a library of 500 or 2000 vol- 
umes the librarian finds the books in that way, 
and if they are standing on the shelves in ac- 
cession order, let them stay there. It does 
seem to be a good deal of red tape to have 
four or five hundred books scattered around in 
different classes, with perhaps one book in a 
class ; but of course we are used to it, and it is 
our method of working. 

Miss L. E. STEARNS. Would you start a 
small library on the D. C. plan? 

Dr. WIRE. I think I should, with the three- 
figure system. It is preferable to leaving them 
to their own vagaries, because you don't know 
where they will bring up, and we have the force 
of example where this system is used in a great 
many cities. I should advise the use of the D. 
C. by small libraries in starting. 

Miss M. Z. CRUICE. Have there been many 
objections to the Decimal classification when 
used in philosophical and scientific libraries? 

Dr. WIRE. There are a great many criti- 
cisms, chiefly among professors, who cannot 
agree on the Decimal classification. The sci- 
ences are constantly changing, and in some of 
the natural and physical sciences, such as the 
developments in electricity, you cannot begin to 
keep up with the changes ; but I know that the 
Decimal classification is used in some large li- 
braries, and if I am not mistaken it is still fol- 
lowed quite closely in Columbia. They have 



122 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



discontinued it in some of the departments, but 
I think it still obtains in the department of 
science. 

Miss CRUICE. In the library to which I be- 
long they want to change their system, and 
they want to know the best. I want to know of 
any scientific library that has used the Dewey 
system and found it successful. 

Dr. WIRE. I can't now think of any large 
scientific library that is using the Decimal sys- 
tem. The Academy of Sciences in this city I 
believe has a classification of its own. The E. 
C. will be very full in sciences, but it will be 
some time before it is out. It will be fine 
enough to use in a large scientific library. I 
have just had a letter from Mr. Cutter, who has 
got down as far as H, and is on the seventh 
classification. I should advise using the Deci- 
mal classification in natural sciences, for I think 
it is the best. I wish I could tell you of some 
large society library that is classified by it. The 
objections in many cases come not so much from 
anything against the classification as from some 
other point. I think I may safely recommend 
it as being the best for the purpose. 

Miss CRUICE. I know the Franklin Institute 
is changing to the Dewey. 

Dr. WIRE. That would be a very good 
voucher for you. In that you have the example 
of one of the best scientific libraries in the 
United States. 

Miss CRUICE. The Franklin Institute is just 
trying it ; they have not experienced whether it 
is going to be successful or not. If I knew 
some library that had found it to be successful, 
it would be better. 

Dr. WIRE. Mr. Eastman, do you know of 
any scientific library that is using the D. C.? 

W: R. EASTMAN. No; the scientific libra- 
ries are older than the classifications. 

Dr. WIRE. Yes; they think they have the 
superiority of age, and are loath to change, and 
in some cases cannot change because they have 
not the money to do it with. 

Miss J. S. HEYDRICK. What would you 
advise as to the number of decimals to be used 
in a library of 15,000 or 20,000 volumes as to 
the number of places beyond the decimal point, 
and in what classes to use these larger num- 
bers? 

Dr. WIRE. I do not generally approve of 
using more than three figures beyond the deci- 



mal point for a library of that size, and the three 
figures I only use as a general thing in the 
physical sciences and in some places in litera- 
ture. The amount of philosophy and theology 
that you would have in a library of that size 
could easily go inside of three figures. In so- 
ciology and in classifying some of the govern- 
ment publications, you will have to use in some 
cases the full three figures. You will not, as a 
general thing, have anything in philology that 
will necessitate a number beyond the decimal 
point, but in the 5005 and 6oos you will proba- 
bly have to use the full three figures. In liter- 
ature you may have to use some of the three 
figures. Of course, if you should have quite a 
little Ibsen literature, for example, you will 
have to go down into the finer figures, but it is 
then a question whether you cannot put "I" 
after the number and let it go. 

Mrs. SANDERS. For a person beginning work 
in a library of 16,000 books, would you recom- 
mend the abridged D. C.? 

Dr. WIRE. I should. 

Mrs. SANDERS. And you would continue it ? 

Dr. WIRE. Most certainly. You can build 
on it, and eventually you can re-classify. You 
won't use it in fiction or juvenile anyway, and 
you can build on it afterwards. 

A MEMBER. In the classification in history 
do you advise not to go beyond the three deci- 
mal figures ? 

Dr. WIRE. I don't generally go beyond 
that, even in a library of 15,000 or 20,000 
volumes, if I can help it. Of course if you go 
into some of the minor European states, you 
have to use some of the smaller figures. You 
won't have enough French or English history 
to have to use many of the finer sub-divis- 
ions. 

Mrs. SANDERS. I have found in a library of 
16,000 books that ordinarily two figures beyond 
a decimal is enough. 

A MEMBER. In a very small library would 
you have less than the original three figures ? 
Would you have 92 for biography, or 91 for 
travel, for instance ? 

Dr. WIRE. I don't think so. In biography 
I don't use the numbers at all. I simply put 
biography in an alphabetical arrangement. 

A MEMBER. But in collective biography ? 

Dr. WIRE. For a small library I would use 
920. For a library of 15,000 or 20,000 volumes, 



FIFTH SESSION. 



123 



in collective biography, I have to use two or 
three figures beyond the decimal point, in, for 
instance, Stephens' " National biography," and 
to bring it down to the country sub-division, 
because you will have Stephens, Rose, and 
some others, and you want all your English 
biographies to stand together, so you would 
have to use three figures there. 

Miss VAN HOEVENBERG. Do you advise in 
classifying or re-classifying, instead of using 
the D. C., to consult other catalogs, such as the 
Osterhout, Jersey City, or others, and adopt 
their classifications bodily, without spending 
your time looking at the books ? 

Dr. WIRE. I don't do that myself, because 
I can use the D. C. very well. Of course, after 
one has become a little expert in ,it, he can 
write a good many numbers without using the 
D. C. at all. 

Miss VAN HOEVENBERG. But at the same 
time you are looking up the names, and it is 
often a good deal of help, particularly to be- 
ginners. 

Dr. WIRE. I suppose it is so, but I don't 
do any classification in connection with catalog- 
ing. Where you are cataloging and classifying 
together it would be a help, but I would not 
lean too much on the other catalogs, because 
they are classified according to some other per- 
son's ideas, and I want to go in my own way. 

Miss VAN HOEVENBERG. If you are doubt- 
ful about it, wouldn't you want to look up the 
book ? 

Dr. WIRE. I never look up a book when I 
am doubtful about it, because you never know 
where to end if you begin that process. 

Miss VAN HOEVENBERG. In the classifica- 
tion of administration why can't we change 350 
to 330 ? 

Dr. WIRE. I think if I had much adminis- 
tration that I wanted to put in political economy, 
I would certainly put it there. 

Miss VAN HOEVENBERG. But it follows very 
closely after the books on political science. 

Dr. WIRE. That is one trouble. I don't 
know any one who is satisfied with the 350 part 
of the D. C., but in many small libraries there 
will not be many books intervening. 

Miss VAN HOEVENBERG. Would there be 
much difficulty in changing 350 to 330? 

Dr. WIRE. There would not, but if you 
once begin to change you get into trouble. I 



generally advise following the D. C. If you 
can't do that, then I advise taking the E. C., or 
making up a classification of your own. 

Miss T. L. KELSO. It is a very fatal mis- 
take to be guided only by the D. C. in all classes. 
In pedagogics, for instance, the D. C. will carry 
many of the books on pedagogical psychology 
and other related topics into the loos. 

Dr. WIRE. I put such books into 300. 

Miss KELSO. But not if you follow the 
D. C. 

Dr. WIRE. The question asked was whether 
we could push 330 forward and put the 3505 
into 330, and that I don't advise. But in psy- 
chology of education I simply put psychology 
of education into education. I don't like 
psychology anyway. Some of you may know 
why psychology was so large a division in the 
D. C. They had a large library on psychology 
in Amherst, and it and religion were given a 
full 200 numbers, when they ought to have 
gone into 100. Law and medicine are put into 
100. 

We will now pass to cataloging, and I will 
read some notes I wrote a while ago entitled, 

SOME HERESIES IN CATALOGING. 
(See p. 62.) 

Miss LINDA A. EASTMAN. There is one point 
that I think should be sufficiently considered, 
and that is in the large libraries where there 
are a great many attendants, and often new peo- 
ple coming in who have to take hold and wait 
on the public, I do believe most heartily in ana- 
lyticals and in cross-references. 

Dr. WIRE. I think so, in a large library. In 
the Cleveland Public Library there are a num- 
ber of attendants, but I am speaking more par- 
ticularly about the small libraries. Even in a 
large library I believe in taking my attendants 
in hand so that they don't have to use a catalog. 

Miss EASTMAN. It takes some time to train 
an attendant to know 100,000 books and their 
contents. 

Dr. WIRE. No one attendant is supposed to 
know them all. They are divided into sections. 

Miss EASTMAN. But they are liable to be 
changed around, and my experience has been 
that the analytical has been as helpful as any- 
thing in the whole work in making the assist- 
ants really helpful to the public, even where we 
have free access. 



124 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



Dr. WIRE. Of course there is a good deal 
in that, but there is also another point against 
analyticals. The work we are doing in print 
throws out those analyticals largely. " Poole's 
index" throws out the analytical work that 
used to be done in the Peabody Library. 

Miss KELSO. Take the case of a small li- 
brary where there is only one librarian who 
carries the catalog in his head, and suppose 
that librarian dies, what will you do ? 

Dr. WIRE. The next librarian will come in 
and make a catalog for himself. 

Mrs. SANDERS. I went without a catalog 
for a long time. I knew something about 
all the books, because I began work with the 
library when it began, and as the books came 
in I knew them. There came a time when the 
library began to grow larger, and if I was not 
there the books could not be found very readily, 
so I suggested that it would be a good thing to 
have a catalog. We immediately classified our 
books, arranged them on the shelves, and 
made a card catalog. We found that ordinarily 
people didn't care for the catalog, but after be- 
ing shown it they seemed to like it, and they 
are using it much more than formerly. We 
have open shelves and the books classified on 
the shelves, but I think a certain amount of 
analysis is necessary in a catalog, not only for 
the librarian, but for the readers, and especially 
for the public school children. 

Miss N. E. BROWNE. May I say that Mrs. 
Sanders' is not a dictionary catalog, but a classed 
catalog ? 

Mrs. SANDERS. Yes ; ours is a classed cata- 
log, and I would like to know how many here 
have classed catalogs, and how many dictionary 
catalogs ? 

(A show of hands was had, which indicated 
that 12 of those present had classed catalogs, 
and 32 had dictionary catalogs.) 

Mrs. SANDERS. I should like a good opinion 
of the preference for the classed catalog ex- 
pressed. 

W: R. EASTMAN. The classed catalog gives 
everybody an idea of what there is in the li- 
brary and just what the books are, and cor- 
responds exactly with the books on the 
shelves. 

A MEMBER. Don't you have a shelf list 
anyway, and doesn't that take the place of a 
classed catalog ? 



S. H. BERRY. The shelf list must be ar- 
ranged as the books are on the shelves. Most 
people have not the time to find out the arrange- 
ment of the books on the shelves. The dic- 
tionary catalog is arranged like a dictionary, 
and everybody knows where to find a book. I 
believe if I were making a thousand new cata- 
logs I would use the dictionary form. 

W: R. EASTMAN. The best thing for the 
reader is to go to the shelves and the books. 
The next best thing is to have a reproduction 
of the shelves. The educational value of a 
classification is another point. Young persons 
in the schools, particularly, see the various 
classes of history, travel, and biography, and 
those are arranged in their minds. Let the 
class list reproduce the same thing, and they 
very soon look at the headings, and know under 
which heading the desired book is to be found, 
and so they have a classified mind as well as a 
classified library. 

Miss BROWNE. I personally do not like to 
use a dictionary catalog. Every one says that 
people can use a dictionary catalog, but I find, 
as the sequence of the alphabet is not taught in 
the public schools, ability to use the dictionary 
is somewhat lessened. But, granted that read- 
ers can use a dictionary catalog, what I would 
like to see would be a class catalog which in- 
cludes not only the books as they are on the 
shelves, but analytically arranged in class order. 
Then have a subject index, mixing in alphabeti- 
cal order authors and titles, so that when you 
look at the catalog for a certain subject you can 
look in the mixed catalog for those details. In 
this form you have the advantage of the dic- 
tionary catalog, if there is an advantage, and 
you have the advantage of the class catalog 
without its disadvantages. 

A MEMBER. I would like to know if libra- 
rians have ever made any effort to teach the se- 
quence of the alphabet in the public schools, 
and give a little idea of how to use a dictionary 
and how to use reference books. 

Mrs. SANDERS. I am doing that always. I 
find there is just as much need of teachers 
learning about the use of catalogs as there is 
for pupils. 

Miss EASTMAN. The need we all realize so 
fully of having the use of the dictionary taught 
will be accomplished more completely if libra- 
rians take hold of it and enforce the teaching 



FIFTH SESSION. 



in every way possible. We must bring teachers 
to realize the need of teaching the use of the 
dictionary and the catalog. 

Miss HELEN E. HAINES. If I may speak 
from long experience as a user of a library, and 
not as a librarian and I don't think this stand- 
point is out of place here, because you are all 
looking at the subject as librarians as a user 
of a library, I do not think there is any compari- 
son in convenience or comfort or adaptability 
between a dictionary and a classed catalog. 
With a dictionary catalog you can find what 
you look for promptly and without trouble. 
When you come to explore a classification, you 
may just about as well give it up, if you are not 
pretty well versed in library technicalities. As 
to a card catalog, it does not seem to me that 
there can be any question, in the mind of the 
reader, as to the superiority of a printed cata- 
log for the public. A card catalog causes more 
profanity, suffering, and distress among users 
of a public library than almost any other de- 
vice, if there is not a printed catalog to supple- 
ment it. People do not understand how to use 
it. Not long ago a woman came into a library, 
went to the librarian, and asked, " Where can I 
look for a book ?" The librarian said, "Look 
in the cabinets over there, and you can find any 
book you want." The reader went to the card 
catalog ; she lingered over it painfully for a 
long time ; she opened all the drawers, and 
looked very unhappy. Finally the librarian 
went to her and said, " Haven't you found a 
book yet?" "No," she answered; "they 
aren't here. There is nothing in these drawers 
but cards." 

Dr. WIRE. I think myself that it is more or 
less a waste of time and money in these days 
of open shelves to pay so much attention to the 
catalog. However, this is not a hard and fast 
rule, and I am speaking more particularly about 
the catalogs in some of the large libraries where 
they have become fearful and wonderful things 
that no one could understand. A catalog should 
be for the purpose of finding books and telling 
what is in the library. The idea that a card in 
a cabinet represents a book does not enter the 
heads of a good many readers until they have 
had some experience. Some of them think the 
cards are call-slips. All that must betaken into 
consideration, and in educating people up to 
using a card catalog I think there is a good deal 
of waste of time and labor. As Miss Haines 



said, I think the card catalog is responsible for 
more iniquity and hardness of the public heart 
than anything else I know of. 

I wanted to say one thing more about rules. 
I don't believe in having a cataloger just start- 
ing in tied by rules. It is the blind following 
of rules that makes the trouble in card catalogs. 
It is only within a few years that the A. L. A. 
would permit the use of the names of George 
Eliot and George Sand and Charles Dickens, 
for instance, in the catalog. We were tied up 
to a rigid lot of rules, and the public were sup- 
posed to take a great deal of delight, when they 
wanted to find "Nicholas Nickleby," for in- 
stance, in chasing for it from "Dickens, 
Charles," to "Dickens, J: C: Huffam." 

S. H. BERRY. That is very well, but some 
of us remember when we had to do our catalog- 
ing without any rules, and it was an endless 
confusion. It is now a great delight that we 
have rules, even though one has to make a new 
rule every few days. It is quite important that 
we should have our book of printed rules and a 
note -book of manuscript rules added to it. Sup- 
pose we reach a book that we are in doubt 
about cataloging, we want to know, when we 
come to another one of the same sort, what we 
did with the first one. It is well to have on 
record everything we do in these peculiar cases, 
because all these cases are going to be dupli- 
cated some day. 

Miss M. E. AHERN. It occurs to me that a. 
great deal of the confusion in which the public 
are with regard to the card catalog, is in a meas- 
ure due to the librarian. Generally the post of 
honor in a large library is in the cataloging- 
room. If you are in the cataloging department 
you are part of the machinery that moves the 
whole institution. The librarian, in talking to 
the people of a small town about the importance 
of the public library and the great help it is 
going to be to them, never fails to mention the 
fine card catalog they are going to have, and 
gives a few mystifying touches with regard to 
it that mislead the public, so that when they 
come to the card catalog they are just a little 
afraid to open those drawers, for fear something 
will come out that they never saw before. And 
it seems to me that we have been a little harder 
on the schools than we ought to be. I don't 
believe there is a school in the United States 
to-day that doesn't make copious use of a dic- 
tionary, nor do I believe that people generally 



126 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



are so ignorant about what a dictionary is as 
has been said. 

Miss KELSO. One important point that 
has been overlooked is that in most small libra- 
ries the cataloger and the librarian are one and 
the same person, who has just about as much 
as she can do in attending to the library. Then 
when she has a few odd moments she writes 
cards. My advice to the beginner is to make 
an author and title list, to have a few simple 
rules, and to follow those. It is very easy to 
plan largely if you have a dozen or so people to 
carry out the plans, but the librarian of a small 
library must wait until the good time comes, 
and she can send for one of the people who 
have mastered cataloging. It is, you know, 
possible to hire such a person. You can then 
go to your board and say, " We do not under- 
stand this mysterious science, but here is a crea- 
ture that does know it. She is to be bought ; 
let us buy her. Let us not worry in the least 
over these strange details, because we can buy 
the knowledge of what to do and how to do it." 

Miss HELEN G. SHELDON then read a paper on 

CHARGING SYSTEMS. 
(See p. 63.) 

Miss L. E. STEARNS. In the two-book sys- 
tem, if you use but one card and stamp the 
dates on the card, how are you going to tell 
whether the fiction is returned or the non-fic- 
tion ? 

Miss SHELDON. There are a number of dif- 
ferent methods used in the two-book system. 
The Philadelphia Free Library has but one 
card ; they stamp the date, and just after that, 
if the book is a classified book and not from fic- 
tion, they put a letter C in pencil. If a novel 
was taken out at the same time, the date would 
simply be stamped and nothing would appear 
opposite it. It is thus easy to see when the 
reader returns his book whether he has brought 
back the novel or the other, and which one is to 
be stamped off. 

Miss STEARNS. That is, if the assistant re- 
members to put on the letter C. 

Miss SHELDON. The assistant should re- 
member to put on the letter C. Of course mis- 
takes will occur. There is an article by Mr. 
Jones in the Library Journal [1895 : 168-172] 
on that subject, in which he gives communica- 
tions from a number of librarians, some advo- 
cating two cards, some advocating only one 
card, and I believe it is not yet decided which 
is better. I have sometimes used different 



inks for stamping the class-books and fiction, 
and various other devices. Some libraries 
write a call-number opposite the date-stamp. 

BOOK-POCKETS AND BOOK MARKS. 

S. H. BERRY. Some years ago we put the 
date on the reader's card and put the card in 
the book-pocket, and we found that the reader 
forgot all about the date, as he did not see it. 
I then had a book-mark printed, stating, in the 
centre of the book-mark, that the book drawn 
on the first date would be due on the second 
date, and I put a few of those on the delivery- 
desk and let the readers help themselves when 
they drew books. The book-mark is in the 
right place when they are reading the book, 
and they are likely to see the date once in 
a while and be reminded when the book is due. 
This is a good scheme to let readers know 
when their books are due at the library, and it 
can be done with little cost, because we have 
used it for advertising. We furnished the ma- 
terial for the one side of the mark, and the ad- 
vertisers supplied it for the other, and they 
paid the bill. 

Miss KELSO. I would like to ask, does any- 
body use a book-mark nowadays ? We have 
talked a good deal about book-marks for library 
books lately, but I never met anybody who used 
one. I was fortunate enough to meet Miss 
James, of the People's Palace, some years ago, 
and she told me of a book-pocket device she 
used. It is a thin slip of manila paper, pasted 
in the front part of the book. This device, 
which I adopted and by which we were able to 
circulate 300 books an hour, is simple. It can 
be handled in about the ratio of five to one 
times more speedily than the book-pocket. I 
used it in Los Angeles, and many other people 
used it afterwards, and I do not think you can 
get one who has used it to go back to the book- 
pocket, which is clumsy and difficult to insert. 

Mrs. SANDERS. We have a book-mark which 
was evolved from the information-desk. I have 
in front of my desk a notice, "Ask for any- 
thing you want to know," and one day it seemed 
to me that it was quite as important to draw 
people to the library to ask for things as it was 
to have them ask when they got there. I could 
think of no better way to do this than by a 
book-mark, not to tell them when their books 
were due, but to tell them what they would find 
when they got to the library and one of our 
prominent merchants co-operated with me in 
making it up. We had a book-mark printed, 



FIFTH SESSION. 



127 






which said on one side, "When in doubt on 
any subject consult the Public Library." The 
merchant's advertisement was on the other side. 
After using it for a time some of our readers 
thought it was not quite dignified, and in place 
of it we had new marks printed, with "When 
in doubt on any subject consult the Public 
Library" on one side, and on the other, "The 
library is a great kingdom." We put those in 
our books, and I judge of their use by the very 
great increase in the number of questions asked 
at the desk. 

Miss M. B. LINDSAY. We have just adopted 
a book-mark. On one side we have placed the 
rules in regard to soiling books and turning 
down leaves, and we find that useful. On the 
other side we have a small space reserved for 
calling attention to some special books. The 
first one stated, " Read the history of your own 
town," and we gave what books we had on our 
own city. We then followed it with, " Read 
the books on your own state." We expect to 
have this book-mark stereotyped. 

Miss M. S. R. JAMES. I should be glad to 
know if anybody who has used book-marks has 
found that the thumb-marks and the turning 
down of the leaves have diminished. 

E. S. WILLCOX. In order to arrive at a 
definite answer to that question we would have 
to have a committee to investigate the matter 
for about a year and examine the books as 
they came in. I don't believe it is possible to 
give a satisfactory answer to the question. 
Books will get worn and thumb-marked and 
dog-eared more or less. Whether or not the 
use of the book-mark will diminish that to a 
certain extent, say five or 10 per cent., is be- 
yond the power of any of us to tell at present. 

Miss M. E. AHERN. At a library meeting 
in Illinois this year I was told that the use 
of book-marks caused less wear of the books, 
and that fewer stray articles were found in 
them. 

E. S. WILLCOX. My idea in getting up a 
book-mark really related to two things: first, 
the advantage of putting our rules on the side 
of the mark; and, second, the stimulus to read- 
ing by putting on other side a few of the great 
sayings of great men about the value of books. 

JAMES WARRINGTON. I have seen all sorts of 
things used as book-marks, from parcels to 
curling-irons and fans. People will use a book- 
mark of some kind or other, and the one they 
will use will depend upon the article which is 
handiest and which can be carried. 



Miss EASTMAN. Miss James maybe inter- 
ested to know how the book-mark has been 
working in Cleveland with the children. We 
began this winter using the Maxson book-mark, 
which is a little thin slip of paper. We had an 
instance in regard to its effect a few weeks ago. 
A lady was being interviewed at the receiving- 
desk as to the condition in which she returned 
a book. She was asked whether it was in that 
condition when she received it. She said that 
it was, and that a book was very sure to be re- 
turned by her in the same condition in which 
she got it, as her little boy was a member of the 
Library League and was using our book-mark. 
She said that a few days before he had seen 
her turning down a leaf, or about to turn it 
down, and had said, "Mamma, I shall have to 
report you at the library if you do that." He 
then- got her a little thin slip of paper to mark 
her place with. Our children are learning from 
the little story on the book-mark that it does 
make a difference how a book is handled, and 
we believe that the mark is going to be of ad- 
vantage. 

Miss STEARNS. If any one wants a descrip- 
tion of the Maxson book-mark it may be found 
in the Library Journal for May. 

Miss ELEANOR H. WOODRUFF read a paper on 

REFERENCE WORK. 

(See p. 65.) 

Miss STEARNS. During the run of puzzles in 
Milwaukee we adopted the plan of putting on 
reference tables works that would be of assist- 
ance to people in solving them. But we drew 
the line at giving individual assistance. Some 
librarians adopted the method of putting to- 
gether one of the puzzles and posting it up 
with the solution underneath, but occasional- 
ly these librarians erred, and then there was 
trouble and sorrow in the hearts of those who 
had had confidence in them. 

Mrs. SANDERS. I have enjoyed immensely 
helping people put together or solve such things. 

Miss STEARNS. Ought there not, however, 
to be a line drawn distinctly in libraries between 
puzzles which are gotten out purely for prizes, 
and questions that demand information ? When 
people come to the library for real information, 
that is one thing ; but when they come for the 
sake of getting a year's subscription to a maga- 
zine or a dollar and a half, that is quite another. 
How far ought the already over-worked refer- 
ence librarian to go in the matter of looking up 
prize puzzles ? 



128 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



S. H. BERRY. The recent popular puzzles 
gotten up by Jud%e are nothing but puns on the 
names of cities, on well-known books, etc., and 
there is no information about them. I have had 
a good many people come to me about them, 
and of course I gave books out to them, but I 
wouldn't give them any time in help. I told 
them I was busy and that they would have to 
look things up for themselves. 

Dr. WIRE. This is largely a question of 
quantity. Mrs. Sanders comes from a compar- 
atively small library where she has but little of 
this sort of application, but in Chicago or Mil- 
waukee you would be simply overwhelmed. I 
do not think a reference library is intended to 
help people in this way, but where it is only a 
small item, as in Mrs. Sanders' case, it is all 
right. 

Miss LETITIA S. ALLEN. If we put a book- 
mark in our books inviting people to come to 
the public library for anything they wish to 
know, and the first time they come it is for 
some such information, will they come again ? 

Dr. WIRE. That danger exists with all peo- 
ple. They are likely to interpret such an in- 
vitation too literally, but you have to run your 
chances of that. In some cases they will be 
overwhelmed if you only spend a minute on 
them. I have found in reference work that it 
is a good way to gauge the amount of atten- 
tion by the amount a person will hold, and the 
majority of them won't hold very much. The 
point that Miss Woodruff made about the ref- 
erence librarian having a certain amount of 
what Yankees call "gumption," and being able 
to find facts and the books on the shelves, 
I think should rank above everything else. A 
person going into a library, with a fair amount 
of education, should learn the books and learn 
how to handle them, but if she has not that one 
gift she cannot learn. That gift is simply 
something which cannot be acquired, though 
the persons lacking it may get a certain formula 
which enables them to answer questions and do 
a certain amount of work. 

W: R. EASTMAN. Our rule in Albany is that 
if a question takes the time of an assistant for 
more than a few minutes, the charge is a dollar 
a name. Of course, everybody is at liberty to 
consult the books themselves. 

JAMES WARRINGTON. Isn't that a question 
for the individual ? I don't think it needs much 
argument that information given on such sub- 
jects as puzzles is utterly worthless. Of course 
librarians must discriminate between those who 



do deserve help and those who do not. If a li- 
brarian is approached by a person who is 
earnestly seeking for information, I think he 
owes it to the institution with which he is con- 
nected to place every facility in the way of that 
person. I know when a student has come to 
' me for information on a given question, or a 
scientific man has come to me stating that he 
had to give a lecture and he was rather rusty 
on the subject, I have sometimes had as many 
as 40 or 50 books laid out for him, and I never 
had to regret any trouble taken in that direc- 
tion. For a student in a certain line of research, 
all the help and all the information which a li- 
brarian can give will not only benefit the person 
to whom it is given, but the giver also more 
than he thinks. I always found that in search- 
ing for information for others, I was largely 
benefited myself, and hence I never hesitated 
to even spend days hunting up subjects for 
those who were really deserving of such help. 

Miss M. W. PLUMMER. I think there is one 
point that has been overlooked. It is some- 
times a kinder thing to teach people how to 
look for themselves, although it may take 
longer, than it is to find information for them. 
Children learn very quickly how to use a li- 
brary, and they do it because if you give them 
a hint they will go on along those lines. I think 
very often that to give a searcher a hint as to 
how to go to work is really the most educative 
thing you can do, and in a very short time 
those people will come with more pleasure to 
the reference department, because they know 
how to use it. 

Dr. WIRE. Miss Plummer's point is well 
taken, and also Mr. Warrington's. It is, as he 
says, a question for the individual. In the 
public libraries the reference work is largely 
for school children, and in many cases you can 
start them, and they can go on themselves. 
Certain individuals always want everything 
laid out for them, and in certain reference li- 
braries there is more to be done than in some 
of the other libraries. I have had experience 
with lawyers and with college men and with 
physicians, and of course that is entirely out- 
side of the experience of a public library with 
children. The reference worker, like every 
other worker in the library, will have to use 
judgment and discretion, and you must know 
your individual and how to take him. As a 
nation we ought to pay more attention to refer- 
ence work than we do. Our English brothers 
and sisters are doing good work in the refer- 



SIXTH SESSION. 



129 



ence library better work and more of it than 
we are. We are so engaged in getting a large 
circulation that in a good many libraries we are 
neglecting reference work. 

JAMES WARRINGTON. In speaking of helping 
people, I do not wish my words to convey the 
meaning that I believe in finding everything 
for everybody. Not at all. The most deserv- 
ing students will be perfectly satisfied if you 
put them on the track of their subject. I did 
not hunt up the subjects, but I found the books 
containing the material, and then the users had 
to search for themselves. I think in reference 
libraries in this country a great mistake is 
made in keeping the books away from the peo- 
ple. I have had libraries of 100,000 volumes 
in my charge, and I never lost one book a year, 
nor can I recall more than one case of mutila- 
tion ; but I had a habit which I do not find 
adopted in libraries here, and in neglecting 
which a great mistake is made. That is, the 
charging-desk should be at the entrance to the 
library. I consider this of vital importance. 
Instead of having the charging-desk in the 
middle of the library or at the far end, so that 
you do not see the people going in and out, my 



charging-desk was always at the entrance of 
the library, so that persons going in deposited 
their books, and persons going out were sure 
to get their books registered. 

W: R. EASTMAN. Speaking of the location 
of the charging-desk, I was much interested in 
a branch of the Cleveland Public Library that 
we visited last year. Coming into the room 
you could see the books on each side. You 
passed down about 20 or 30 feet between two 
rails, passing into the middle of the room. 
You could then go behind the rails and consult 
the books with freedom. You then returned 
to the middle of the room, where the charging- 
desk was, and passed again through that long 
space before leaving the room. 

Miss EASTMAN. The first year we circu- 
lated something over 60,000 volumes from that 
branch. The yearly report showed a loss of 
one book. 

W: R. EASTMAN. More than that, I think 
the public appreciate the privilege of going 
behind the railing; the mere fact that you have 
a rail there showing that they were permitted 
to enjoy the privilege of going behind it. 

Adjournment was taken at 12.10. 



SIXTH SESSION. 
(DREXEL INSTITUTE, THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 24.) 

President BRETT called the meeting to order at 9.20 a.m. In the absence of C: K. BOLTON, 
treasurer, Miss NINA E. BROWNE, assistant treasurer, read the 

TREASURER'S REPORT. 
C: K. BOLTON, Treasurer, in account with the AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 

1896. DR. 

Sept. i. To balance reported (Cleveland conference, p. 91) $1558 14 

Sept. i. 1896, to May, 31, 1897 : 

To fees for 528 annual memberships, at $2 each : 

For 1893, i $2 bo 

For 1894, 4 8 oo 

For 1895, ii 22 oo 

For 1896, 143 286 oo 

For 1897, 366 (incl. $2.03 from England) 732 03 

For 1898, 3 6 oo 



To fees for 40 annual payments, at $5 each : 

For 1896, 4 $20 oo 

For 1897, 36 180 oo 



$1056 03 



To check returned, entered on Cr. side $25 oo 

To sale of conference proceedings 3 oo 

To interest on deposits 4 20 



$200 oo 



$32 20 

$2846 37 



1 30 PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 

1896. CR. 

Sept. 3. By C : A. Nelson, recorder's expenses, Cleveland conference $ 6 97 

Sept. 4. By Bost. Bk. Co., circulars to trustees 26 03 

Sept. 4. By Library Bureau, circulars, etc n 86 

Sept. 4. By E. H . Merriman, typewriting and stenographic work 7 25 

Sept. 4. By Library Bureau, circulars and cuts 42 42 

Sept. 4. By J. C. Dana, stamps, circulars, and telegrams 12 25 

Sept. 4. By H. L. Elmendorf , postage, telegrams, expressage 35 60 

Sept. 4. By F. T. Boland, stenographic work and expenses Cleveland conference 61 15 

Sept. 9. By Carson-Harper Co. , stationery for J. C. Dana 475 

Sept. 19. By H. L. Elmendorf, expenses at Cleveland 35 oo 

Sept. 19. By Miss Hewins, postals 12 50 

Oct. 3. By Miss M. S. Cutler, postage, etc 1700 

Oct. 3. By C. F. Williams, printing 71 35 

Oct. 20. By Langford and Thompson, typewriting 10 oo 

1897. 

Jan . i . By R. R. Bo wker , programs i oo 

Jan. i. By F. T. Boland, 2 copies proceedings Cleveland conference 61 20 

Jan. i. By Library Bureau, index cards and oak outfit. 13 65 

Jan. 20. By C. K. Bolton, treasurer, postage i oo 

Jan. 20. By G. W. Cole, Burr index, express, telegrams 7 60 

Feb. 3. By C. A. W. Spencer, envelopes and paper 6 75 

Feb. 6. By 800 2-cent stamps .... 1600 

Feb. 8. By 700 postal cards and address 8 75 

Feb. 8. By R. P. Hayes, 5000 handbooks 98 35 

Feb. 15. By C. K. Bolton, postage i 50 

Feb. 24. By W. C. Lane, for Publishing Section 200 oo 

Mch. 3. By R. P. Hayes, additionaHor handbook, found to be included in charge of 

Feb. 8, and check returned. See Dr. side of account 25 oo 

Mch. 3. By C. A. W. Spencer, return postals, address 5 10 

Mch. 29. By Lizzie S. Allen, clerical work 13 oo 

Apr. 10. By C. K. Bolton, postage 2 oo 

Apr. 12. By Chase's Express Co., box from Pittsburgh i 85 

Apr. 21. By Kay Printing House, proceedings, 1896 657 89 

Apr. 21. By R. P. Hayes, secretary, sundries 57 75 

Apr. 26. By stamped envelopes for Finance Committee i 35 

Apr. 26. By C. K. Bolton, stamps 2 oo 

Apr. 26. By R. P. Hayes, express 50 

Apr. 30. By C. A. Nelson, for proceedings, 1896, and mailing 16830 

Apr. 30. By C. A. Nelson, index to proceedings, 1896. 40 oo 



Aggregate payments to June i, 1896 $1744 67 

Check no. 18, not yet presented 50 



Total amount withdrawn $1744 17 

June i. Balance on deposit : 

At New England Trust Co. , Bost $1002 47 

At Brookline Nat'l Bank 99 73 

$1102 20 

$2846 37 



SIXTH SESSION. 



The present status of membership (June i, 
1897) is : 

Honorary members 2 

Life fellows 2 

Life members 28 

Annual members (paid for 1897) 366 

Annual fellows and library members 36 

Total 434 

This is not a fair estimate, as the early date 
set for the annual meeting this year makes the 
financial year shorter than usual, and because 
many who have recently paid for 1896 will pay 
for 1897 later in the year. 

The annual fellowship plan, with its fee of 
$5, was instituted at a time when the Associa- 
tion needed money. Now that the immediate 
occasion for the increase of funds has gone by, 
many of the fellows have preferred to be trans- 
ferred to the annual membership rolls. 

During the period covered by this report, 138 
new members have been added to the rolls, 101 
have resigned, and i has died. 

There are now on hand the following publi- 
cations : 



2 copies of Milwaukee conference (li 
32 " " Thousand Islands conference 

(1887). 

79 " " St. Louis conference (1889). 
17 " " White Mountains conference 

(1890). 

24 " " San Francisco conference (1891). 
6 " " Lakewood conference (1892). 
10 " " Chicago conference (1893). 
74 " " Lake Placid conference (1894). 
147 " " Denver conference (1895). 
99 " " Cleveland conference (1896). 
59 " " Cleveland conference, Trustees' 
Section. 

Necrology. 

Miss Mary J. Doolittle, (no. 1442,) for 10 
years librarian of the Williams Free Library 
Beaver Dam, Wis.. died at her home in Beaver 
Dam, on Friday, April 2, 1897. She gave 
an enthusiastic and unselfish devotion to the 
library with which she was so long asso- 
ciated ; her work was a labor of love, and the 
growth and usefulness of the library were at 
once her strongest ambition and her greatest 
pride. One who knew her work says: "She 
was tenderly loved by all the children of her 



home town, and she watched the reading of 
each one with an almost maternal solicitude. 
The boys and girls came to it as the book-loving 
child to its own library." She continued her 
work at the library until within a few weeks of 
her death. About five weeks since, she ac- 
cepted a vacation, to see if rest and medical 
treatment in another city would not benefit her 
fast-failing health. The intention to seek rest 
and change elsewhere was not realized, for 
with the cessation of work came a quick decline 
of health, and it was found impossible to carry 
out the plan. Miss Doolittle was a member of 
the A. L. A., and was also a member of the 
Wisconsin Library Association, in which she 
took an active interest. Library Journal. 

Voted. That the treasurer's report be re- 
ferred to the Finance Committee for audit. 

In the absence of JAMES L. WHITNEY, chair- 
man, W: E. FOSTER read the 

REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE. 

Mr. George W. Cole, who was elected treas- 
urer of the American Library Association at the 
Cleveland meeting, felt compelled to resign his 
position. The funds of the Association were 
lodged temporarily in the hands of this com- 
mittee. On the election of Mr. Charles K. 
Bolton as treasurer the sum received, with ac- 
crued interest, was turned over to him. 

The payments which have been made by the 
two treasurers have been authorized by the 
committee and in all cases have met with their 
approval. Although the expenses of the Asso- 
ciation have been large, a generous balance 
($i 102.20) remains to its credit. For this thanks 
are due to the persistent efforts of the treas- 
urer. In the opinion of the committee the time 
has come for the consideration by the Associa- 
tion whether such officers as secretary, treas- 
urer, and recorder might not appropriately 
receive a moderate salary as a partial return 
for services rendered. 

Respectfully submitted, 

JAMBS L. WHITNEY, 

A. W. WHELPLEY, 

WILLIAM E. FOSTER, 
JUNE i, 1897. 

The report was received and ordered recorded, 
and, on motion of S: S. GREEN, it was 

Voted, That two members be appointed by 
the chair to co-operate with the Finance Com- 
mittee in any work that may be laid before 



Finance 
Committee. 



I 3 2 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



it. The president later appointed as additional 
members of this committee H. J. Carr and E. 
H. Anderson. 

PLACE OF NEXT MEETING. 

The secretary announced again that invita- 
tions for the 1898 conference of the Association 
had been received from Omaha, Neb.; Lincoln, 
Neb.; Jamestown, N. Y. ; Pine Bluff, N. C., 
and Atlanta, Ga. 

J. K. HOSMER. I received last evening from 
Minneapolis a telegram signed by the Mayor, 
the Library Board, and by the Commercial 
Club, which is our principal club, extending a 
cordial invitation to come to Minneapolis next 
year. 

Pres. BRETT. The secretary will add that 
invitation from Minneapolis to the list. The 
first thing for the Association to decide will be 
whether they will themselves determine upon 
the place of meeting or whether they will refer 
it to the Executive Board for decision. 

A MEMBER. I move it be referred to the 
Executive Board. 

MELVIL DEWEY. This question has come 
up for a great many years. As a board of 
eight persons coming together, the Executive 
Board do not know the general wish of the 
Association without a canvass, and I move to 
amend that motion by referring the matter to 
the Executive Board with the power to select, 
expressing the preference of the Association 
for Chautauqua Lake early in July. 

In regard to the invitation from Jamestown: 
I favor going there because we have never 
been to Chautauqua Lake. Chautauqua is one 
the great educational homes of the age, and 
of the results of the work there will be of greater 
interest to us as librarians than any other edu- 
cational work in the world. It seems to me it 
is exceedingly desirable the Association should 
go there early in the season and yet after the 
work has been done, and see with our own eyes 
what has been accomplished, and receive a rev- 
elation and an inspiration. The place is new 
to us, and, in itself, it is a beautiful place, very 
central and easily accessible by the railroads. 

J. N. LARNED. I second the amendment, 
and in doing so I would like to say that it really 
means, as I understand it, neither Jamestown 
literally, nor the Chautauqua Assembly Grounds 
literally. It means a point of meeting that will 
be between those two. Chautauqua Lake is 



surrounded with summer resorts and hotels, 
and it is the intention of those, I believe, who 
extend the invitation to the Association, to 
have the meeting held where it will be con- 
venient of access to the Assembly Grounds and 
to Jamestown. 

Miss ANNE WALLACE. I wish I was a great 
big man like Mr. Dewey, for then I think what 
I have to say would have more weight in the 
presentation of an invitation to this Association 
from the Mayor and Council of Atlanta, from 
the press of the state, and from our own officers 
of our local library association. I base my 
claim on a wide field when you remember there 
is no state support for a public library in most 
of the southern states. In regard to the time 
of meeting : I know that there is a prejudice 
against coming south in summer, but when 
you remember the altitude of Atlanta noo 
feet you will concede that that is in its favor. 
As to its temperature, I think, on comparison 
with other capitals of the country, the climate 
of Atlanta is very cool. In regard to the pub- 
lic condition of affairs in the south, I feel that 
a word of explanation is necessary. To begin 
with, a people living out of doors nine months 
in the year do not feel the need of literary rec- 
reation like people in colder climates ; there- 
fore, the library movement there has not re- 
ceived the impulse that it has in other sections 
of the country. Another reason is, in the 
south we are all Democrats, and the idea sug- 
gested by Mr. Jefferson, that the individual 
must not look to the state for aid in educational 
matters as these do not concern the department 
of government in any way, has rather made it 
a new feature for the people of the south to ex- 
pect help from the state or municipality. Now 
that library work is so thoroughly identified 
with educational matters is the time to push 
this question. As to the social features of our 
meeting in the south : The south is proverbi- 
ally hospitable, and while I do not think that we 
can ever quite meet the hospitality that you 
have received in the northern cities, where there 
are so many hard dollars to back hospitality, 
I do think it would be a treat to a great many 
people to visit the south and see the other part 
of the American people there. 

The invitation to Atlanta presented by Miss 
WALLACE was supported by Dr. CYRUS ADLER, 
A. W. TYLER, W: I. FLETCHER, and C: A. 
NELSON. 



SIXTH SESSION. 



'33 



MELVIL DEWEY. As the discussion seems 
to have narrowed to deciding between Chautau- 
qua and Atlanta, it strikes me it would be only 
courteous to allow Miss Hazeltine, who is not 
now present, to present her invitation to Chau- 
tauqua, as she came here from Chautauqua for 
that purpose. I therefore move that this matter 
be laid on the table until this afternoon's ses- 
sion. Voted. 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 

MELVIL DEWEY. I move that the election 
of officers be postponed until the close of this 
session, and that the polls be open from 12 to 
three o'clock, so those here this morning can 
vote and those who come this afternoon can 
vote. Voted. 

C: A. NELSON. I move that the judges be 
instructed to tally the votes by the register of 
those that are registered at this meeting, so 
people will know they are members of this 
Association, and also in order to secure a more 
complete register than we have at present. Lost. 

MELVIL DEWEY. I move at the opening of 
the polls an opportunity be given for other 
nominations, and that nominating speeches be 
made at the opening of the polls. Voted. 

The next order of business was introduced 
by Dr. J: S. BILLINGS, who described 

THE PROPOSED BUILDING FOR THE NEW YORK 
PUBLIC LIBRARY, WITH PLANS. 

Dr. BILLINGS. On the igth of May last the 
governor of the state of New York signed an 
act by virtue of which the authorities of the 
city of New York had to furnish a site on Bry- 
ant Park, running from 4Oth to 42d street, be- 
tween 5th and 6th avenues, in the city of New 
York, and to erect thereon a building from 
plans which are to be prepared and furnished 
by the trustees of the New York Public Library, 
to be approved by the Board of Apportion- 
ment; the total cost not to exceed two and a 
half millions of dollars. The trustees of the 
Public Library first caused to be prepared a 
schedule list of the accommodations which 
would be desirable in such a library. Then 
they appointed a special committee of advisors, 
consisting of Professor Ware, professor of 
architecture in Columbia College, Mr. Ber- 
nard Green, a skilled engineer, and constructor 
of the new Congressional Library, and myself, 
as the director of the library, to prepare terms 



to obtain plans by competition among archi- 
tects. 

The first question was as to whether there 
should be one or two competitions. It was de- 
termined that there had better be two. The 
first or preliminary competition is open to all 
architects in Greater New .York, and calls 
simply for sketch plans or general designs for 
the building. From the plans sent in on this 
sketch competition, 12 are to be selected by the 
committee of advisors. From those 12, the 
names being then known to the executive com- 
mittee of the board of trustees, they are to 
select not more than six, and then they are to 
invite those six and six other architects not 
necessarily all from the city of New York to 
enter into the second or final competition. So, 
there would be not more than 12 in the second 
competition, and an unlimited number in the 
first perhaps 160. I know that at least 240 
architects have applied for the specifications 
and general directions for the first competi- 
tion. 

The object of the first competition is partly to 
make sure that there shall be no great genius 
in New York who shall not have an opportunity 
to present his ideas ; that among the young men 
who have just graduated there shall be nobody 
who has not had a chance to present what he 
has got to present as the best possible scheme. 
Another object is to enable the executive com- 
mittee to decide two or three questions as to 
the general plan : the general arrangement of 
the building. After that has been settled, then 
for the second competition the specifications 
may be somewhat detailed as to the arrange- 
ment and size of rooms, arrangement of win- 
dows in certain rooms, and so on. 

In presenting the list of rooms and accommo- 
dations which were considered desirable, two 
or three rough sketches were made showing 
how that amount of space might be included in 
a building at a reasonable cost and carry out 
certain definite ideas as to what is desired in 
the library. At first, it seemed to be consid- 
ered a little doubtful as to whether it was expe- 
dient to publish any such sketches as these, lest 
they might limit the genius of the architect ; 
that the architects might feel bound by that 
particular plan and would not branch out as 
they would if they were given no directions 
whatever. But it was concluded as a whole, 
after conferring with several of our architects. 



'34 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



that it would be well to give some definite di- 
rections of this kind. 

Now as to the schedule of rooms, I need not 
read it as it has all been printed in the last 
number of the Library Journal, with a repro- 
duction of the rough sketch plans which were 
furnished.* I will simply refer to some points 
by the aid of this blackboard. The stack-room 
calls for 1,200,000 volumes, which, at eight 
volumes per lineal foot, would require 150,000 
lineal feet of shelving arranged in about seven 
shelves to each stack floor. That of course does 
not include the books put in the free reference 
shelves and reading-rooms. As to the large 
public reading-rooms, it is estimated that space 
for 800 readers should be furnished, allowing 
30 square feet to each, with space for catalogs, 
and so on, which gives a total of 26,800 square 
feet. It is considered that it is not desirable to 
attempt to provide for all in one room ; that it 
will be better to divide that space into two or 
three rooms. In the first place we would not 
have 800 readers, probably, at one time ; it may 
be five years before we have so many as that 
at one time, and we need not care for the whole 
group of rooms with a limited number of 
readers : only so much space need be heated 
and lighted as is required for the number of 
readers at that time. 

There is a demand for a periodical-room, 4000 
square feet, with 1000 lineal feet of shelving. 
There is to be a newspaper-room of about 4000 
square feet in area, and that should be on the 
first floor as well as the periodical-room. There 
is a newspaper store-room for storing files of 
older newspapers which we are endeavoring to 
secure, with an area of 5000 square feet. On 
the drawings that is shown on the third floor 
next the reading-rooms. That is a mistake : it 
should be down below at the base of the stacks, 
for the space where it is indicated on the draw- 
ing is needed for reference-rooms. 

The patents-room is to contain 2500 feet of 
shelving and about 3000 square feet of space. 
On the diagram that is put on the first floor, but 
it should be on the second. The same is true 
for the public documents room. There is a 
children's room, which is on the first floor near 
the entrance. It is too small, I think, but when 
you move the public documents room and the 
patents-room upstairs, you get ample space for it. 

* L. /., June, 1897, p. 296-301. 



There is a library for the blind which should 
be on the first floor. There are five or six spe- 
cial reading-rooms, each with about looo feet of 
shelving, capable of storing 7000 or 8000 vol- 
umes of special books, and provision for 40 or 
50 readers in each room. 

There is a special manuscript department. 
We have already a valuable collection of manu- 
scripts, and the space provided is probably too' 
small. It is just about right for what we have 
now, and it will have to be increased somewhat 
for future use. There are special work-rooms 
for special students; a small room, about 10 by 
15 feet, with shelving for 200 or 300 volumes, 
where a man can go and have a stenographer 
and typewriter and be entirely free from noise 
and dust and confusion. 

So much for the reference department; for the 
provision for scholars. Under the terms of the 
act, the New York Public Library is to furnish 
a free lending department, and it is to be open 
every day in the year, and evenings as well 
as day time. The specifications call for 5000 
square feet in this room. It must be close or 
contiguous to the stacks, and there must be at 
least one delivery-counter not less than 40 feet, 
and seats for at least 100 waiting. Then we 
have in the New York Public Library special 
collections that have to be provided for. We 
have to provide for the Lenox picture gallery ; 
for the Stuart collection, which contains a large 
number of pictures and bric-a-brac of different 
kinds, besides several thousand volumes of il- 
lustrated books. We shall want a photograph- 
room, which, of course, will be on the top floor. 

Then, coming to the administrative depart- 
ment, we have the trustees'-room, the directors'- 
room, an order and checking room, a catalog- 
ing-room, which must connect easily with the 
order-room and the receiving-room ; a receiv- 
ing-room, a packing-room, an accession depart- 
ment, which must connect with the stacks on 
the one hand and the cataloging department on 
the other; a duplicate and exchange room; a 
bindery and a printing room, superintendent's 
office; reception-rooms, one for members of the 
staff, one for visitors, and one for the women's 
department; a public comfort department and 
lunch-room; one for boys and junior attendants, 
and one for the librarians and assistant librari- 
ans. It is not thought well to provide a lunch- 
room for the public. There will be eight or 10 
small rooms containing about 200 square feet 



SIXTH SESSION. 



135 



each for store-rooms; a telephone-room, public 
telephone, and probably also a house telephone 
exchange office, which rooms should communi- 
cate with each other. Then the engineer's de- 
partment will contain the dynamos, boilers, 
workshop-rooms, engineer's-room, etc. There 
will be a large lecture-room seating about 600 ; 
a class-room seating about 150 ; lavatories, and 
so forth; elevators, lifts, and other necessary 
mechanism of the building. 

In suggesting the arrangement of all these 
rooms indicated on the diagrams, I had two 
main points in view. One was the readiest pos- 
sible accessibility to the main store of books in 
the stacks, while providing for a considerable 
quantity of books in separate reading-rooms. 
The second was the capacity for the extension 
of this library without interfering with what 
had already been constructed. The general 
principle of the scheme which is proposed con- 
sists of a system of stacks 250 feet long by 
75 feet wide, built up from the ground, facing 
to the west, on the free side of the building, 
which is towards the open park. Around those 
stacks and in contact with them at each end, in 
front, and on the top, are the rooms which are 
to be supplied with books from those stacks, 
getting access to the stacks on each face ex- 
cept the outside looking towards Bryant Park. 
When we come to make an extension of this 
building, we simply take in two more open 
courts of the same size and go between the 
courts and build another set of stacks and 
rooms. We then have two more open courts 
exactly like these. 

The reading-rooms in this plan are on the 
top of the stacks and are served by a well going 
down into the stack, with the simplest possible 
form of machinery for announcing down into 
the stack what is to be brought up, and for 
bringing it up. 

The lending delivery room is 50 feet wide 
and 75 feet long. The delivery-counter will go 
straight across and be 50 feet in length, and 
would naturally be divided into about five 
parts. Whether that is large enough to accom- 
modate the number of people and to accommo- 
date the number of books for those who wish 
to borrow and select books is a question. I 
think there ought to be at least 10,000 selected 
books out there. 

What the trustees and those who are charged 
with the duty of preparing these specifications 



and details for the second competition desire is, 
first the opinion of librarians as to the best 
means of making these arrangements ; whether 
it is unnecessary to call for so much space; 
whether it would be better to have a somewhat 
smaller building it can be reduced somewhat, 
leaving a little more money for decoration 
and in particular, whether this general principle 
of arrangement is more or less satisfactory than 
some other plans of arrangement. 

We may say nowadays that there are three 
general schemes for the arrangement of a large 
library. The first is that of the convent, 
built around courts, passing from one room 
through other rooms in order to get at any 
room you wish. That plan nowadays practi- 
cally is not considered at all. Then comes the 
general scheme of one large reading-room on 
the first floor, having the walls lined with 
books, making a very impressive appearance, 
offering inducements to sightseers and to 
everybody to come in and see what a magnifi- 
cent thing it is. The large central room may 
be circular or octagonal, and surmounted by a 
dome, with tier upon tier of books rising one 
above the other. The great impulse to that 
style of arrangement was given by the reading- 
room of the British Museum, which was an 
after-thought and an expedient. They roofed 
over the central square in the quadrilateral, 
making a circular reading-room and filling up 
the corners left between the walls of the circle 
and the square with stacks. That reading- 
room is certainly an impressive one to enter. 
It is not open to the public. The general 
crowd cannot stray in and out; you must enter 
by a special card. Following that design is 
the new Congressional Library, the main feat- 
ure of which is the central reading-room 
crowned by a dome, and from this reading- 
room the stacks radiate in the form of a cross. 
Another variation is to make the central room 
an octagon and carry a parallelogram out from 
each face of the octagon, devoting some of 
these to stacks. 

Another plan or general scheme of structure 
for a library is that advocated by Mr. Poole 
and exemplified in the Newberry Library, of 
which floor plans are here shown. Here also 
is the plan of the Chicago Public Library, 
which is a rectangular building three stories in 
height, the general shape being like that of 
the Boston Public Library. It is not necessary 



i 3 6 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



for my purpose to go into the details of those 
plans. 

Now, the trustees of the New York Public 
Library desire to obtain the opinions of libra- 
rians who have given some consideration to 
this subject and who have had some experience 
in building or in the management of large 
libraries. They desire such opinions upon 
three or four questions. First, is it desirable 
to put the main reading-rooms on the upper 
floor, giving access by elevators, the under- 
standing being that you will have to go up two 
nights at least, but you will have large passen- 
ger elevators as well ? Will a certain number 
of people, old or infirm, perhaps, be deterred 
from coming and making use of those reading- 
rooms by the fact that they are up two nights 
of stairs and it is necessary to go up by eleva- 
tor, and will it therefore be advisable that some 
sacrifice be made to get those reading-rooms 
down on the lower floor ? 

It is unnecessary for me to set forth the par- 
ticular advantages of these plans. I shall 
rather point out some of the defects. The con- 
trolling reasons which led to putting the main 
reading-rooms on the upper floor were: to get as 
far away from the noise and from the dust of the 
street as possible; to get light from above, so 
as to have the walls free for book-shelving; to 
get the most central possible delivery of books 
on the shortest line from the stacks with the 
least complication of machinery; to keep the 
loaning part of the business on the first floor, 
as easy as possible of access; to have the pe- 
riodical-room and the newspaper-room also on 
the first floor with the easiest possible access, 
but to have the special reading-rooms for spe- 
cial scholars, and the private rooms which re- 
quire special cards for admission, on the second 
floor, away from sightseers as far as possible 
and away from the general crowd. Those are 
the reasons in favor of this particular arrange- 
ment. 

The objections to it were, first, that it may 
not be possible to make as imposing an archi- 
tectural feature of the building on this plan as 
might be possible by some other plan; second, 
that with a stack as wide as that, arranged like 
that, artificial light in the centre will be a 
necessity at all times. In almost all large 
stacks now, as in the Boston Public Library, 
and in libraries without stacks, such as the 
Astor Library, we have to use electric light to 



find books during a considerable portion of the 
day, and some days all day. Very often you 
cannot read the titles of books in the back part 
of the stack without the aid of electric light. 
But I do not think that is any serious objection. 

Then as to the general size of the room. Is 
the building too big ? Is it unnecessarily large ? 
Eight hundred readers seems a very large 
number to provide space for at once. Some of 
our people are a little doubtful as to whether 
we are going to reach 800 in 20 years. Then 
we are certainly going to extend this building, 
so far as human foresight can judge, because 
this building is not going to hold the books 
coming in for more than 25 years; the books 
by accession, by gift, by legacy, and by pur- 
chase. Now, we want a plan by which, when 
the time comes, we can double the capacity of 
the library, or the stack capacity, or increase 
its reading-room capacity without interfering 
with the daily work of the library or with the 
administration part which is already completed. 
It can be done under this plan very readily. 
If you extend it by taking in two more courts 
75 by 100 feet and getting another stack 350 
feet long with a reading-room on top, adding 
stack-room at the present height for another 
1,500,000 volumes, or, by carrying your stacks 
up higher, for 2,500,000 or 3,000,000 volumes, 
then you have just covered the reservoir. 
Then you have the whole of Bryant Park to ex- 
tend into in the middle and latter part of the 
next century if you desire to. You can very 
readily put in 8,000,000 volumes in storage 
stacks, with reading-rooms, going upon this 
general plan. 

The trustees also desire the views of ar- 
chitects, and hope to get them through this 
first system of free and open competition, in 
which the architects are told that these plans 
are given merely as suggestions, and that they 
can suggest any other possible way they like. 
It is even suggested to them that the trustees 
would like to see some designs showing the 
large reading-room on the first floor. And with 
the combination of what they get from archi- 
tects, and what I hope they will obtain from 
the librarians here in this discussion, and from 
a number of librarians whom I have asked to 
furnish suggestions and criticisms, I hope it 
will be possible to prepare a set of specifications 
for the second competition which will yield 
fairly satisfactory results. 



SIXTH SESSION. 



'37 



JOHN EDMANDS. I am very glad that Dr. 
Billings has no idea of making a great show 
reading-room, and I am very much pleased with 
the general outline of his plan. 

J. .N. LARNED. I think we will all agree 
that these plans present a remarkably careful 
study of the conditions and the demands in this 
great building, which, in some respects, may 
almost be said to be the most important under- 
taking in library architecture'that we have ever 
had in this country, second, at least, only to 
that of the Congressional Library at Wash- 
ington. 

There are one or two suggestions that I 
would like to make with regard to the questions 
raised by Dr. Billings, and the first is as to the 
size of some of the accommodations provided. 
It looks to me as though the most important 
department of library work in the future is to 
be on the two lines of the travelling library and 
the children's department. When I first ex- 
amined these plans the first question that oc- 
curred to me was with regard to the accommoda- 
tions provided in the future for those two lines 
of work: the travelling library with the de- 
livery station, perhaps, in connection with it 
and the children's department. The pro- 
vision suggested for the children's department 
is limited to 50 readers. If it is the intention 
in New York to popularize this work as it is 
being popularized elsewhere in the country, I 
think the children's department should be pro- 
vided with accommodations for 500 readers 
rather than 50. In the children's room in 
the Buffalo Library, which has not yet been 
open a year, and has been carried on under 
rather adverse circumstances, we have had on 
many occasions, on Saturdays and on Sundays, 
more than 500 readers, and certainly in the city 
of New York if this work is to be developed 
on the line which seems to be the line for the 
future, I think a far greater provision will be 
needed than has been proposed so far. 

With regard to travelling libraries, I do not 
find in the plans the accommodation that will 
be necessary for that great undertaking, which I 
should suppose would become in New York, as it 
is becoming elsewhere, a very important matter. 
There is a general receiving and delivery room 
provided in the basement of the building, but I 
think Dr. Billings would probably find it neces- 
sary to revise that considerably and arrange for 
a future of very large work in the matter of 



sending books outside of the library for free 
use, and bringing them back. 

With regard to readers, the general inten- 
tion of these rooms is an admirable one. The 
plan of this library is for work and not for 
show, and these large rooms on the upper floor 
are going to present a very great advantage. 
So far as a great number of the readers and 
students who will visit those rooms are con- 
cerned, the use of an elevator to reach the 
upper floors will be a matter of no importance; 
but, on the other hand, there is a considerable 
class of people who ought to be considered 
these are the people who run hastily into the 
library at the noon hour or during a visit down- 
town just on some small matter of reference. 
They want to use the library for 10 minutes or 
half an hour, and it is a serious matter for 
them to be obliged to go to the upper floor of 
the building. I should think there might be a 
modification of the plans so as to keep at least 
one reading-room on the main floor for just that 
class of readers. 

E. C. RICHARDSON. It seems to me that the 
plans here are admirable, all the way through. 
In the first place, I do not think there is any 
objection whatever to a reading-room on the 
top floor. I do not think that anybody living 
in New York, where elevators are so constantly 
used, would find it any trouble at all to reach 
the reading-room on the upper floor. There is 
one partial criticism in respect to the location 
of the special students' reading-room. If it 
was an ordinary room for instruction the matter 
might be overlooked almost entirely, but I have 
found that the books desirable to use in special 
research branch out into almost all parts of a 
general reference library, whatever the special 
subject of the research may be. If the suite of 
rooms for the special student could be placed 
in a little closer proximity to the general read- 
ing-room, and still keep their quietness, it would 
be of advantage to those who use them in con- 
nection with special work. 

MELVIL DEWEY. It occurred to me when 
Dr. Billings was speaking about this plan for 
his library and remarking on its growth for the 
next century, that there was another thing to 
be reckoned with, and that was the possibility 
the park might be used for something else, and 
the desirability of securing as much as possible 
of that park now. Instead of building these 
courts in this compact form, I would be better 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



pleased if you would build around the outside 
of the park and leave Bryant Park in the cen- 
tre of the library. It would be a little less com- 
pact in some matters of administration, but by 
the distribution of the circulating library in one 
place and the various reading-rooms in others, 
very little extra service in the building would 
be required, and it would be much more satis- 
factory. The library will do well to procure 
the park while public sentiment is in favor of its 
procurement, and get as large a part of the park 
as possible. 

As to the reading-room on the top floor : 20 
years ago I made the same suggestion, and I 
am glad to hear testimony so uniformly in its 
favor. There are many people who are afflicted 
with worn-out and exhausted nerves the 
American disease and who cannot do good 
work where the noise is distracting, and on that 
account they prefer being on an upper floor 
where quiet may be had. When we moved the 
library school in Albany from the third to the 
fifth floor, it was almost beyond belief to find 
what a difference there was in the noises of the 
city in that matter of 60 feet in height. 

I do not agree with the suggestion that the 
public should not have access to the lunch-room. 
Students who go to New York and want a little 
lunch ought not to be compelled to go out for 
it. It is a great nuisance for a student to be 
compelled to go outside of the building where 
he is at work in order to get the little lunch he 
requires, and if it could be had in the build- 
ing it would certainly be a great convenience. 
Another thing is that it would be desirable to have 
a general public entrance not only on Fifth ave- 
nue, but at the southwest corner of the build- 
ing, because a great many people have to go in 
that direction to reach the elevated railroads, 
and would find it a considerable saving if they 
could pass out in that direction. 

I feel that these plans have been more care- 
fully studied over than any others, and we are 
therefore likely to get a building that will be 
satisfactory. The new Congressional Library 
building is magnificent, yet when one comes to 
look it over one sees that, while the reading- 
room is there, a great many of the details are 
left to be worked out. The space is there; the 
building has been built wisely enough to allow 
for plans to be worked out; but there is no ade- 
quate plan for the administration department. 
Dr. Billings spoke as if he was fearful the trus- 



tees might criticise the amount of space devoted 
to the administration department. In our little 
club-house in the Adirondacks, our kitchen was 
too small one year and we doubled the size of 
it; the next year we doubled it again; finally 
we devoted to this administrative department of 
the club one of the largest rooms of the club- 
house; and this year when we came to see the 
kitchen, the first comment that was made was 
it would be necessary to double its size. Now, 
that is about the way it will be in regard to this 
library, when it comes to the administrative de- 
partment. It is sometimes difficult at first to 
realize how much space is a necessity in eco- 
nomical administration. 

Dr. B. C. STEINER. I rise to give my hearty 
support to the idea of the upper and central 
reading-room. A reading-room on the upper 
floor will have better ventilation and more cool 
breezes in summer than a ground-floor reading- 
room, and will take up much less space. As to 
the other question, in our modern life a high 
building ought not to disturb any of us. All of us 
go up and down in elevators in buildings two or 
three times a day, sometimes as far up as the loth 
floor, and if we do that we certainly should not 
hesitate to do the same thing if we want to se- 
lect a book. Most readers do not go up for 
three or four minutes. My experience with li- 
brary readers is that most of them come for at 
least half an hour. The only criticism I have 
to make on the reading-room is that I would 
like to see the special rooms a little closer to the 
reference library room. The special students 
want to be fairly close to the main source of 
supply. If the special rooms are to be away 
from the main source of supply, though it may 
not be a very great inconvenience, still, if a 
book is wanted in a hurry it involves a little de- 
lay. And it also seems to me that the compact- 
ness of the building is one of its main advan- 
tages; that a building spread out would be a 
serious mistake. We may put it down as one 
of the principles of economics which govern li- 
brary administration that the efficiency of the 
service diminishes directly with the square of 
the distance; that the further off you have to go 
from the centre of supply the more time you 
must take, and the closer you have everything 
together the better and much more desirable 
the plan will be. 

J. K. HOSMER. Although Minneapolis is a 
small city of about 200,000 population our 



SIXTH SESSION. 



library has a circulation of 600,000, which gives 
us, of course, a very large per capita circulation. 
We have attained this circulation to a large ex- 
tent by having branches, and stations, and sub- 
stations in the public schools. It seems to me 
that a public library in order to attain its fullest 
usefulness must have all possible apparatus for 
distribution, and I should say that in a great 
public library like that of the city of New York 
there should be exceedingly ample provision 
made for the sending out of books from the 
centre to branches and stations and sub-sta- 
tions; and with the exposition given us by Dr. 
Billings it does not appear that such provision 
has been fully made. 

C: C. SOULE. I take great pleasure in en- 
dorsing very heartily from the standpoint of 
library administration and common sense the 
plans for the building of this library. And I 
think we ought to emphasize not so much dif- 
ferences of opinion and our criticisms on minor 
points as the fact that we approve the course 
and the result so far as it is arrived at. Dr. 
Billings asked for criticisms on one or two spe- 
cific points, and one was in regard to the read- 
ing-room. It seems to me the merits of the 
plan he sketched out have not been quite elabo- 
rated enough. We all know there are differ- 
ences in large libraries in regard to the method 
of arranging the rooms. We have newspaper- 
rooms and a reading-room for magazines, 
where people drop in for half an hour or so, 
and these ought to be near the entrance. But 
the main use of the main reading-room of a 
large library is by students who want particu- 
larly two things: one, to be free from noise or 
interruption, and the other to be as near as 
possible to the books they want, so that the 
fewest possible attendants can bring the largest 
number of books. The plan of putting the 
reading-room directly over the stacks is an ad- 
mirable one in two or three particulars: it gives 
an admirable room, quiet and cosey, and more 
than that, it puts the readers right near the 
stacks where they can get the books in the 
shortest possible time. Another excellent 
point in the plan is that the reading-room may 
be enlarged in the same proportion as the 
stacks are enlarged. When there are addi- 
tional books with additional use for them, the 
stacks may be built right out and the reading- 
room extended without any difficulty. The 
question was asked as to whether the building 



was unnecessarily large. Any one who has 
had any experience in the matter will say: no, 
you should get as large a building as you can 
for the money you have to pay for it. So long 
as you can leave room for expansion in build- 
ing and provide for rearrangement, you should 
make the building as large as you possibly can. 
It seems to me that we can give very hearty 
commendation to the general characteristics of 
the plan, as against a showy plan having large 
and lofty rooms and stacks placed so that they 
take up room from the readers. We can give 
our most hearty commendation to the methods 
pursued in its preparation. Dr. Billings has 
inquired among those who have had experience 
as to the needs of his library; he has consulted 
architects; he has got an excellent committee; 
and before he allows for ornament or for lavish 
expense for decoration, he has considered what 
is necessary for the administration of a great 
library and for the convenience of the public. 
From that point of view this Association can 
give the plans its most hearty commendation. 

S: S. GREEN. We ought to bear in mind that 
this is a great reference library and not dwell 
too much upon the provisions for circulation. 
There should of course be ample room in the 
library for providing a place and means by 
which books may be distributed from the cen- 
tral building to the branches all over the city, 
but a great deal has been said about there not 
being room enough for the children. You may 
remember that Dr. Billings said that the room 
provided for the children could be enlarged by 
having the room for public documents and 
another room, moved up another story, and 
that the capacity of the children's room could 
then be doubled. But as I understand the plan, 
it is to have children's rooms all over the city 
in connection with the different branches. Of 
course there are very few branches now com- 
pared with the number which will be estab- 
lished eventually in New York, and it seems to 
me that the proper place to provide these rooms 
for children is in connection with the circulating 
libraries all over the city, as well as in the main 
building. 

There are, of course, different kinds of plans 
for a library. There is Mr. Winsor's plan of 
copying the Providence railroad station in 
Boston, for example. It is a plan which he has 
always advocated and which, I understand, he 
Still advocates. There is the one which Mr. 



140 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



Dewey proposes, namely, to build around the 
park and have large grounds in the centre, 
as in the case of the Boston Public Library. 
There are certain advantages in those plans ; 
but this plan presented to us by Dr. Billings is 
one of the finest plans for a great reference li- 
brary that has ever been submitted in any coun- 
try of the world. I think we should say this 
with the greatest stress to the people interested 
in the library for New York, and add that the 
effort to secure the convenience of the people, 
which has been made by this plan, is very ap- 
parent and most commendable. I rejoice in 
one thing that has not been mentioned here, 
and that is, that the gentleman who has been 
active in making these plans is the expert of 
the whole country in regard to ventilation and 
hygiene. 

W. F. STEVENS. There is one thought 
brought out by Mr. Dewey in the suggestion 
of a library restaurant. In New York as well 
as in other large cities, in the great department 
stores we have restaurants for the convenience 
of the public. In the New York West Side 
Branch of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion there is a restaurant for people who use 
that building ; and in the Y. M. C. A. Railroad 
Branch we have a similar restaurant. In the 
case of a railroad corporation, the first question 
in connection with a new idea is, does it pay ? 
The second is, is it practicable ? The restaurant 
idea has been tried in the institutions that I 
have named, and has also been tried in great 
firms ; it certainly pays, and it has proved prac- 
ticable. 

H: L. ELMENDORF. The approval of the 
general idea of Dr. Billings' plans here is al- 
most unanimous. I do not think we should al- 
low this to be a mere discussion, but the Asso- 
ciation as an Association should signify by 
formal resolution its approval of this general 
plan. I move, therefore, that a committee of 
three be appointed by the chair to report 
this afternoon a suitable resolution of appro- 
val of the general plans of the New York 
Public Library as explained by Dr. Billings. 
Voted. 

Dr. BILLINGS. I simply wish to return 
thanks for the criticisms that have been made, 
to express my very high appreciation of the 
general approval of the general scheme, and to 
say that I think that that approval will have a 
very important influence upon the committee 



which is charged with the selection of the 
plans; and I hope it will have a very consider- 
able influence on the 200 and odd architects 
who, I suppose, are busy now preparing 
sketches for the first competition. 

INVITATION FROM THE INSTITUT INTERNATIONAL 
DE BIBLIOGRAPHIE. 

Secretary HAYES announced that an invita- 
tion had been received from the Institut Inter- 
national de Bibliographic of Brussels, request- 
ing the participation of the American Library 
Association in the Second Bibliographical Con- 
ference, to be held at Brussels, Aug. 2-4, 1897, 
inviting the attendance of American librarians, 
and asking that the Association be also repre- 
sented at the conference by some of its publi- 
cations. 

F. Richmond Fletcher had taken charge of 
the matter and had replied to the invitation in 
the following letter: 

" SECRETARY INSTITUT INTERNATIONAL DE BI- 
BLIOGRAPHIE: 

" I am instructed by the American Library 
Association to forward to you all publications 
of its Publishing Section, together with such 
material as is directly allied though not actually 
published by it. 

" The American Library Association desires 
that these volumes may be used as an example 
of the bibliographical work accomplished by 
this Association, and also desires you to accept 
the same as a gift to your Institut. I take 
pleasure, therefore, in sending by express this 
day such material as it has been possible to ac- 
cumulate, and trust you will receive the ship- 
ment in good condition. Believe me, sir, 
" Very truly yours, 

" F. RICHMOND FLETCHER, 
" Asst. Secy. American Library Ass' it." 

The president then appointed, as judge of 
election, W. F. STEVENS; as tellers of election, 
S: H. RANCK and J. N. WING. 

POLICY OF THE A. L. A. WITH REGARD TO RE- 
INCORPORATION UNDER THE LAWS OF THE 
U. S., AND WITH REGARD TO REPRE- 
SENTATIVE MEMBERSHIP. 

Pres. BRETT. The question of the policy of 
re-incorporating the American Library Associa- 
tion under the laws of the United States, with 
headquarters in the District of Columbia, has 
been mentioned in the secretary's report. It 
was taken up at a special meeting of the Asso- 
ciation held in New York in February, and by 



SIXTH SESSION. 



141 



that meeting the question was referred to this 
general meeting. It was thought best to con- 
sider together with that question, the question 
which has been discussed in the library periodi- 
cals, of a representative membership. Mr. 
Dewey's name is down on the program to pre- 
sent this matter to the conference. 

MELVIL DEWEY. Last December a number 
of members of the Association were telegraphed 
for to go to Washington to appear before the 
Joint Committee of the Congressional Library. 
That committee held sessions for several days 
and inquired closely into what should be done 
in the organization of the national library in its 
new building. In the course of that discussion 
the point was made in regard to the American 
Library Association that, as the Association 
was a Massachusetts corporation it was rather 
awkward to ask a state corporation to make a 
report on the national library. The suggestion 
was made by a member of the committee that 
the Association be re-incorporated in the Dis- 
rict of Columbia, giving to it for the first time 
a national character and significance, and bring- 
ing it in close relations to the national library. 
It was suggested that the four or five members 
then present in Washington should prepare a 
presentation of this suggestion, to be submitted 
to the Executive Board, which was then about 
to meet in Philadelphia. This was done, and a 
special meeting to consider the matter was 
called in New York, with the result with which 
you are familiar. 

We have been at work 21 years in develop- 
ing what may be called a national library sys- 
tem. No man can study the history of the li- 
brary movement and the work of the last 20 
years and not see that we shall never accom- 
plish our purpose fully until we have a national 
head to this movement at Washington. One 
might as well expect to have the United States 
army without having the head of that army a 
department in the national capital. There is a 
great deal of work that could be done through 
headquarters at the national capital more cheap- 
ly than in any other way ; it could be carried on by 
the general government at an expense so small 
as not to be burdensome, and in a way that 
would make it infinitely more valuable. With 
the government printing office and its machin- 
ery there, it would be of infinite value to the li- 
brarians of this country to have provision for 
bibliographic work and indexing in Washington. 



I need not go into details in regard to that. 
The practical question is briefly, Are we to have 
a national headquarters for this national asso- 
ciation ? We are certainly going to have them 
some day; it may be next year, it may not be for 
10 years, or it may not be for 20 years; but until 
it is brought about we must look steadily in that 
direction. 

My own suggestion as to the policy of the 
Association in regard to this matter is, that we 
should authorize the Executive Board, when 
they deem it expedient, to take the steps which 
would accomplish this re-incorporation. I do 
not think the present time is opportune to do 
anything in the matter, but when it shall seem 
expedient to the Executive Board, they should 
be authorized to secure a re-incorporation of 
the Association by Congress, thus giving it a 
distinctively national character instead of the 
corporate power it now holds from individual 
states. 

Miss T. L. KELSO. This is an important 
subject, and if we are going to give the Execu- 
tive Board final authority to take action in this 
matter, now is the time to discuss it and to give 
the Association an opportunity of expressing 
fully the views it holds on the subject. There 
are two sides to the question, and I think that 
as good an argument can be made against it as 
for it. 

J. N. LARKED. If this is an inopportune time 
for taking action on the matter, it seems to me 
it is an inopportune time for discussing it. I 
move that the whole subject be postponed until 
a more opportune time for its consideration. 
Voted. 

NOMINATIONS. 

The president announced that the polls were 
open, and Mr. Dewey nominated for vice-presi- 
dent John Thomson. Mr. Thomson's name 
was added to the ballot by the secretary. 

JOHN THOMSON, chairman of the committee, 
presented a verbal 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TRAVELLING LIBRARIES. 

JOHN THOMSON. The subject of travelling 
libraries is one of very great importance, and 
to meet the wants of the people we must carry 
the books to the homes of the people. This 
is the very essence of the travelling libraries 
system. The movement has been tried in a 
tentative manner in Philadelphia, and whilst 



142 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



we are suprised at the success attained and 
the rapidity with which the people showed 
their appreciation of the movement, we must 
not forget that rapid growth is by no means 
always accompanied by weakness. While, of 
course, the travelling library system as found 
in New York state has had a very considera- 
ble number of years' experience in the work, 
the other states which have adopted it since 
and now have travelling libraries have had a 
remarkable development in that work. The 
work that was done in New York state showed 
the importance of the movement, and other 
states, as opportunity served, were induced to 
avail themselves of the example and experience 
which had been there set forth. In five or six 
states the work has been started; for instance, 
in Wisconsin, Illinois, and elsewhere. We had 
hoped to have added Pennsylvania to the list, 
but our state is poor; we can't even pay for 
our schools, and so we have not yet received 
an appropriation. But I am never discouraged. 
It is always darkest before dawn, and I am 
looking everyday to see that we have received, 
as I hope we may, some appropriation, however 
small, to start the work in Pennsylvania. 

One great point to be solved in connection 
with travelling libraries is as to the best method 
that can be adopted to make them a concomitant 
part of every large free public library. The 
larger the town or the city in which the public 
library is established, the greater is the need of 
the members of the community for the library. 
Every large town and every large city has various 
outside districts and small places which cannot 
be reached by the most carefully worked out 
system of a central library with however large 
a number of branches. Take, for instance, 
Philadelphia, which is a remarkably widely 
scattered city. I could name many places 
which could not be reached by the work done 
by libraries in the centre of the city or by the 
work of the branches. Therefore it is of the 
greatest moment that a travelling library move- 
ment should be adopted not only in out-of-the- 
way parts of the state, but also in the out-of- 
the-way parts of cities and towns. We have in 
Philadelphia the very best argument that could 
be produced, and one which should have good 
effect upon the appropriation committee, and 
that is, we are able to say we are not asking for 
an appropriation for an experiment, but have 
already taken the matter in hand and have 



achieved something. A certain number of trav- 
elling libraries have already been established 
within the limits of the city of Philadelphia and 
are carried on from the institution that I have 
the honor to work in. I think, if I give you an 
account of those figures, I shall probably do the 
most and the best that can be done to stimulate 
every librarian in every large town and city to 
try to encourage the movement, which is one of 
the largest hearted and best movements in li- 
brary work. 

We first found, through that active institution 
in our city known as the Civic Club, that there 
were many elderly people and persons in the 
city, who were not able for some reason or 
other to avail themselves of the free libra- 
ries, and the club was proposing to start an in- 
dependent travelling library movement. I sug- 
gested that it would be better to concentrate the 
work, and it was entrusted to us. First, it was 
ascertained that there were many boys engaged 
at the telegraph stations who, by reason of 
their business, have very long hours, and who 
are not very apt to do much walking in order 
to obtain books; but that they had an abun- 
dance of time during their business hours which 
could be better occupied in reading good books 
than in playing "tag" or in getting fined for 
disobedience. We therefore determined upon 
taking a small collection of books, called a 
travelling library, putting it in a box, and giv- 
ing the boys an opportunity of reading good 
matter and thus keeping themselves out of mis- 
chief. We have supplied 19 of the Western 
Union Telegraph stations with books in this 
way. First we supplied them with 10 books, 
and we are now increasing the number to 25 
books at each station. The books are changed 
every two or three months as the boys are ready 
for a new supply. We have supplied two of the 
American District Telegraph stations in the 
same way, and they have regularly been the re- 
cipients of 35 books apiece in a very short time. 
But we have to cut our coat according to our 
cloth, and the supply of books is a very im- 
portant consideration. 

There is another class of men in the city who 
are far less able to avail themselves of the priv- 
ileges of the free library or of any subscription 
library, and those are the men engaged in the 
fire-engine stations. They have no hours at 
all, because they must be there at call at a 
moment's notice to go to their work. They 



SEVENTH SESSION. 



are not men who can go to libraries and make 
selections of books, and we thought they would 
be a very good class of persons on whom to 
try the effect of reading. We have supplied 
38 fire stations with books. Thirty-seven of 
those stations we have supplied with libraries 
of 25 books each. The books are well .read. 
We make as reasonable a selection as possible, 
and try to give them good matter. 

Then come the police stations, and we have 
been asked by the Director of Public Safety, 
who is extremely interested in the matter, to 
make this a part of our work. He has person- 
ally subscribed to the movement, and has re- 
quested the lieutenants at the stations to take 
the greatest care they can of the books en- 
trusted to them. While we hope to have about 
30 of these libraries out before the end of the 
fall, we have only been able up to this time 
to supply three stations, partly for want of time 
and partly for want of books. Later, we re- 
ceived a batch of applications from outside 
districts in the suburbs. 

Then came another class of men, the hard- 
working, industrious men in the large machine- 
shops. To one of these shops 100 books were 
sent as a start. At the request of the owner of 
the works, the secretary of the institution, acting 
as the custodian of the books, distributed them. 
We found that these men reside chiefly (proba- 
bly for financial reasons) at Camden and other 
points far distant from their work. They have 
to be at their work at seven o'clock in the morn- 
ing and leave it at five or six in the afternoon, 
and when they get home, have had their wash 
and their supper, they are not likely to get on 
a wheel and go down to the library to get a 
book. We have found that this movement as 
started with them promises to be of the greatest 
importance. 

This is only an object lesson within the limits 
of the city, and is mainly used as a lesson to 
our legislators in order to induce them to ap- 
propriate some money, so that we may carry 
on the movement with success. 

I had a letter about two weeks ago from a 
place about 20 miles out of the city, saying: 
" We must, if possible, get a travelling library." 
I said that we could spend no money outside of 
the city limits. The people then set to work to 
see what they could do, and afterwards I re- 
ceived word from them saying : "We have got 



a thousand dollars to start with, but for pity's 
sake send the books as quickly as possible." 
You may imagine how disappointed I was to 
be unable to forward euch a noble movement. 
I cannot, of course, work outside of the city 
limits till I get a state appropriation. We 
have also received written agreements from 
three places, one in Clearfield county, saying 
.if we would start the movement they would put 
up a little building and pay the salary of some 
one to take charge of the library movement. 

The lesson to be learned from all this is that 
the travelling library has an end to accomplish. 
The travelling library is a means to an end. 
It is a means of teaching these outside places 
the value and necessity of a library. And where 
the travelling library gets a good foothold, there 
before long we shall find a large free public li- 
brary. 

F. A. HUTCHINS being absent, his paper on 

LOCAL SUPERVISION OF TRAVELLING LIBRARIES 

was read by title and ordered printed. 
(Seef. 17.) 

Announcement was made by the president 
that instead of holding an evening session, as 
originally planned, it had been decided to con- 
sider at the afternoon session all the business 
given in the program to the afternoon and even- 
ing sessions. A recess was taken at 12.05. 

SEVENTH SESSION. 

(DREXEL INSTITUTE, THURSDAY AFTERNOON, 
JUNE 24.) 

The meeting was called to order at 2.25 p.m. 
by President BRETT. 

C. W. ANDREWS, in the absence of C: H. 
GOULD, chairman, read the 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN DOCUMENTS. 

To the President and Council of the American 

Library Association. 

GENTLEMEN : The Committee on Foreign 
Documents begs leave to make the following 
report on Canadian public documents, supple- 
menting its reports of last year. 

ONTARIO. The chief documents are: 
Public accounts. 
Department of Agriculture. 
Asylums. 
Department of crown lands. 



144 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



Minister of Education. 

Public health. 

Mines. 

Sessional papers. 

Statutes. 

A complete list of these -documents is pub- 
lished with the sessional papers for each year. 
NEWFOUNDLAND. The chief documents are : 

Acts of the Legislature. 

Consolidated statutes. 

Journal of the House of Assembly. 

Fishery report. 

Education reports. 

Geological report. 

The Queen's Printer at Ottawa and the Pro- 
vincial Secretary of the several provincial gov- 
ernments should be applied to if documents are 
desired. The committee regrets that no re- 
port from the province of Manitoba is yet to 
hand. 

The committee further reports that they have 
undertaken to prepare a list of the serial publi- 
cations of the French government, and they 
have at present 133 titles divided among the 
departments and bureaus as follows: 

General 3 

Affaires etrangeres . . . . i 

Agriculture 7 

Assemblee Nationale .... 6 

Colonies 4 

Commerce 18 

Finances 8 

Guerre *. . 14 

Instruction publique .... 28 

Interieur 9 

Justice 3 

Bureau des Longitudes ... 4 

Marine 8 

Bureau Meteorologique . . 2 

Salut publique i 

Travaux publiques . . . .17 

Total 133 

The difficulties met with in this work were 
considerable. There is, so^far as is known to 
the committee, no such list published in any 
available form. The " Almanach National," 
which might be expected to furnish the titles, 
does not give them, although clues to several 
were found there. The list issued by the Im- 
primerie Nationale cannot pretend to be com- 
plete even for what is printed there, and of 



course does not give what is printed elsewhere. 
The largest number was obtained by careful 
examination of the " Bibliographic Frangaise," 
but this, was very considerably supplemented 
from several other sources. 

The list is at present in card form and needs 
revision and completion, which will be made if 
possible by one of the members of the commit- 
tee while in Paris this summer. . 

The committee, therefore, begs leave to 
make this report as a report of progress on the 
subject. 

Respectfully submitted, 

C. H. GOULD, Chairman. 

By C. W. ANDREWS. 

W: E. FOSTER presented the 

REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE. 

The undersigned have examined the ac- 
counts from September i, 1896 to June I, 
1897, of Mr. George W. Cole and Mr. Charles 
K. Bolton, treasurers of the American Library 
Association, and find them correctly kept, with 
vouchers for all payments. The balance re- 
ported as on hand ($1102.20) agrees with the 
pass-books of the New England Trust Co. and 
the Brookline National Bank. 

f JAMES L. WHITNEY, Chairman 

of the Finance Committee. 
WILLIAM E. FOSTER, Member of 
Auditing } ^ e Finance Committee. 
Committee, \ HENRY J. CARR, Member of 

Auditing Committee. 
E. H. ANDERSON, Member of 
Auditing Committee. 

JUNE 24, 1897. 

The report was received and ordered re- 
corded. 

APPROPRIATION FROM ENDOWMENT FUND TO 
PUBLISHING SECTION. 

W: E. FOSTER. The Council have the fol- 
lowing communication to present: 

The Council having considered the question 
of transfer of funds from the Endowment Fund 
to the Publishing Section, as referred to in the 
printed report of the latter, voted unanimously 
" that the Trustees of the Endowment Fund be 
directed to apply such portion of the interest of 
the Endowment Fund as may be necessary for 
that purpose, to the extinguishment of the 
notes of the Publishing Section now held." 



SEVENTH SESSION. 



145 



This proposition has been submitted to Mr. 
Soule, the only member of the Trustees of the 
Endowment Fund present at this meeting, and 
has his approval. 

WILLIAM E. FOSTER, 
Secretary of the A, L. A. Council. 

ERNST LEMCKE read his paper on 

THE LIBRARIAN AND THE IMPORTER. 
(See p. 12.) 

J. N. WING. If all librarians, when send- 
ing a list to a bookseller, will use ink that will 
copy, they will save the bookseller a great deal 
of labor and trouble. Do not use stylographic 
ink ; it will not copy. As to the question of books 
returned. A great many librarians forget how 
the return of books affects the bookseller, and 
some of them do not consider how small the 
profits are. They order perhaps forty or fifty 
dollars' worth of books. The profit on that list 
of books at library rates is about three or 
four dollars at the outside. If they return a 
five-dollar book the whole profit is lost. 

G: A. MACBETH presented an announcement 
from 

THE TRUSTEES' SECTION. 

At a prolonged session of the Trustees' Sec- 
tion we have thought best to call a meeting of 
trustees in New York in the winter. Let us 
try the plan of flocking by ourselves without 
librarians. Mr. T. Guilford Smith, of Buffalo, 
has been appointed chairman of the Section, 
and we have mapped out a program of topics, 
for discussion at this trustees' meeting. If the 
librarians can lend their aid in announcing this 
meeting to their trustees, and asking these to 
aid in having as large a meeting of trustees as 
possible, they will help us very much, and it is 
altogether likely that that meeting will deter- 
mine much as to future events. 

In the absence of Mr. DANA, chairman, Miss 
M. E. AHERN made the following verbal 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION WITH 
LIBRARY DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL EDU- 
CATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

Miss M. E. AHERN. The report of this com- 
mittee can all be embodied in one word, and that 
is progress. The committee of the A. L. A. 
which was to work with the officers of the Library 
Department of the N. E. A., were a little late in 
being appointed, so that work was not begun 



until a short time ago. A circular letter was sent 
out to a number of librarians and to every mem- 
ber of the committee, asking for suggestions to 
be made regarding the line of work to be taken 
up at the Milwaukee meeting of the N. E. A. ; 
but up to to-day I have not received any sug- 
gestions as to what either the librarians or the 
teachers would like taken up. However, the 
executive board of the Library Department 
have prepared a plan and made arrangements 
for the meeting of the Department in July. I 
can say, therefore, that those who attend the 
meeting will have a very interesting time, and 
that a large part of the program will probably 
be devoted to the work almost entirely from 
the standpoint of the teacher. Since I have 
come here some librarians have said to me 
they thought this was a mistake. It is possibly 
so, but in the judgment of those who had the 
matter in charge it seemed the best course to 
pursue at that time, and I can only say that if 
librarians will make an effort to attend that 
meeting, and give of the knowledge which they 
have accumulated in regard to the matter, it 
may be that it will modify the opinion of the 
committee who have the program in charge. 

The report was received and ordered re- 
corded. 

C: R. DUDLEY, chairman, presented the re- 
port of the 

COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY EDITIONS OF POPULAR 
BOOKS. 

In some respects it was unfortunate that the 
members of the Committee on Library Editions 
of Popular Books were so widely scattered that 
it was impossible for them to hold meetings, and 
particularly unfortunate that no member of the 
committee was in the city of New York. 

From correspondence and such interviews 
with publishers, as have been possible, your com- 
mittee begs leave to report that they believe the 
scheme as briefly considered at the Lake Placid 
and Cleveland meetings is feasible. It is sim- 
ply a business proposition. Publishers will 
make any kind of a book the librarians ask for, 
provided they will agree to buy it. It is only 
necessary for the members of this Association 
to say that they want the popular novels printed 
on a tough rag paper, sewed on tapes and cov- 
ered in a substantial manner, and that they will 
buy only such editions when they are made. 

It is believed that such an edition can be made 



146 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



for about 25 per cent, more than is charged for 
the ordinary editions, and that it will stand at 
least three times as much wear. 

This committee would suggest that a new 
committee be named, with a chairman, living in 
New York City, with the other members in 
Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, or other 
publishing centres. 

We further suggest that members of the As- 
sociation send to the committee during the en- 
suing year a list of such popular books as they 
cannot find in good editions, so that the com- 
mittee may be able to prepare a list of such 
books for submission to publishers. 

Dr. B. C. STRIKER. The great difficulty in 
reference to books is not so much, it seems to 
me, with regard to the books published this 
year, but as to the books which have been pub- 
lished in previous years, and which the original 
publishers have not kept in stock, but which are 
still asked for by the public. In many such 
cases the original publisher has sold the worn- 
out plates to some corporation or firm which 
issues the book in very poor paper and binding, 
and it seems to me it would be a very advanta- 
geous thing for each librarian to inform the 
committee of such books. I can make quite a 
list from my own experience. I replace 5000 or 
6000 volumes a year, and there are some au- 
thors extremely difficult to get. The publish- 
ers say it does not pay them to keep publishing 
the older novels, because there is no special de- 
mand for them. But even if a popular author 
is not in demand by people who are buying 
books for private libraries, there ought to be an 
edition in print, and there would be if publishers 
knew librarians wanted it, and if librarians were 
willing to buy a sufficient number to make it 
worth while to publish an edition, and it seems 
to me that is one of the things we can accom- 
plish by having librarians send a list to this 
committee in the ensuing year. Another thing 
which would be useful would be for any libra- 
rian who wishes to do so, to make any sugges- 
tions as to the quality of paper, type, size of 
book and kind of binding that ought to be pro- 
vided. This committee has really done very 
little more than report progress, but it seems to 
me it has reported progress in such a way as to 
expect that something practical will be done 
during the coming year. If every one bears 
the matter in mind and is anxious to help, next 
year the committee will be able to make a de- 



cided report a report which can be used in a 
definite way with publishers. 

The report was received and ordered recorded. 

APPROPRIATION FOR PUBLISHING SECTION. 

W: I. FLETCHER. It should be borne in 
mind by the Association that as the Publishing 
Section under its new constitution is merely 
a committee of the Association, the Association 
is entirely at liberty to direct in any way the 
operations of the Section. As we have a Coun- 
cil under whose direction such matters can be 
arranged for a vote by the Association, it is per- 
haps the better way, unless some one has some 
special point to bring up to be acted on, that 
the Section go on with its work under the di- 
rection of the Council. 

W. H. AUSTIN. I move that the Association 
appropriate $500 out of its general fund for the 
use of the Publishing Section, subject to the 
approval of the Council. Voted. 

"A. L. A. CATALOG" SUPPLEMENT. 

J. N. LARNED. The chairman of the com- 
mittee who had the publication of the supple- 
ment to the "A. L. A. catalog" in charge has 
been in correspondence with publishers and 
with the government, and it seems to be a 
matter of doubt whether the government can 
undertake that publication or not. I under- 
stand in case it is decided by the Bureau of 
Education that it cannot do the work the Pub- 
lishing Section is probably prepared to under- 
take it, and, therefore, I move that the Asso- 
ciation express to the Publishing Section its 
approval of the publication of the supplement 
to the "A. L. A. catalog," coming down to the 
end of the present month from the close of the 
original "A. L. A. catalog," provided the work 
cannot be done by the Bureau of Education 
within a reasonable time. 

H: L. ELMENDORF. The lists published, as 
I understand it, have been preliminary lists 
lists that are largely tentative. The Associa- 
tion has a number of times criticised those lists 
as not containing the names of various books 
that have been suggested as belonging in them, 
and suggestions have been made in regard to 
others that do not belong there, and I think 
that the lists are decidedly not in any condition 
for the Publishing Section or any one else to 
take hold of. I think the proper action would 
be to have those lists revised, brought down to 



SEVENTH SESSION. 



'47 



a given date, and again submitted to either the 
committee, the Executive Board, or the Associa- 
tion itself. 

W: I. FLETCHER. If those lists are not in 
proper shape we have very little hope of getting 
them so. They have been in the hands of an 
efficient committee, and that committee, out of 
their wish to get all the help possible, has 
referred the lists to the Association, and has 
exercised its best judgment in carrying out the 
suggestions received. 

J. N. LARNED. My suggestion had refer- 
ence to the list as a tentative list presented here 
for the criticism of the Association. That list is 
to be revised by the committee, in the same 
way as the list of last year was examined and 
criticised at Cleveland. My motion had refer- 
ence to the lists as they will be ready finally. 

H: L. ELMENDORF. I do not think the As- 
sociation has had a chance to give fair criticism 
of that list. I do not think the list was in the 
hands of the members of the committee them- 
selves until three or four days before this meet- 
ing. When the list is made as a tentative list 
and presented to the Association for its criti- 
cism, I think an opportunity for intelligent 
criticism should be given the Association. 

Mr. LARNED'S motion was adopted. 

PLACE OF NEXT MEETING. 

MELVIL DEWEY. Personally I would favor 
going to Atlanta at some future time. If we 
are going to Atlanta I should favor going in 
May rather than in July or August, or I would 
suggest meeting there in October. But I had 
supposed that the invitation to go to Atlanta 
was coming a year or two later. I will repeat 
my motion of this morning, That the matter of 
place of next meeting be left with the Executive 
Board with power to select, with the preference 
for Chautauqua Lake early in July. 

Miss M. E. HAZELTINE. Lake Chautauqua 
extends a greeting to the American Library As- 
sociation; a cordial greeting and a cordial invi- 
tation to meet on its shores in 1898. We offer 
you the pleasures of a summer resort; a beau- 
tiful lake surrounded by hills 1200 feet above 
the Atlantic and 700 feet above Lake Erie. It 
is cool and delightful, with pleasant drives and 
boating and fishing and bathing. We do not 
ask you to have your meeting right in James- 
town, a small city at the foot of the lake, nor 
do we ask you to go to the great Chautauqua at 



the head of the lake; but to come to some of 
the resorts between these two places Lake- 
wood, perhaps, for there are two large summer 
hotels there. The place is easy of access. It 
is half way between New York and Chicago on 
the Erie Railroad, and is easily reached from 
those two cities. I talked with some of the rail- 
road men before I left, and they promised me a 
fare and a third, and hoped to be able to make 
it a one-fare rate. I have seen the hotel men 
at Lakewood, and they say you can own the 
whole lake if you come early in July or in Sep- 
tember; the summer boarders will not come 
until July, and will be gone by September. 

Lakewood extends a cordial greeting and will 
be glad to receive you. The Library Board of 
Jamestown extends a cordial invitation to you, 
and all the people around are as anxious to re- 
ceive you as I am and as the Library Board are. 
We hope that you will come. 

The invitation to Jamestown presented by 
Miss Hazeltine was supported by H: L. ELMEN- 
DORF and Col. WESTON FLINT. 

Dr. J. K. HOSMER. In view of the presen- 
tation of these claims on us, and the invitation 
given to visit Chautauqua, I waive, for the pres- 
ent, the project of having the Association come 
to Minneapolis to hold its next meeting. 

H: L. ELMENDORF. I move as a substitute 
to Mr. Dewey's motion, that the conference meet 
next year in Chautauqua. 

A vote was taken and division called; a rising 
vote was then had, and the substitute motion 
was carried by 73 to 53. 

RESOLUTION ON ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 

Dr. B. C. STEINER. This morning when we 
came to the election of officers it seemed that we 
had no definite list by which we could be sure that 
the voting would be properly carried on. This 
seems too lax a method of transacting business. 
Of course it has produced no inconvenience yet, 
and may not for some time to come, but it can- 
not go on in such a careless way without lead- 
ing us into difficulty. I wish to propose the fol- 
lowing : 

" Resolved, That the treasurer of the Associa- 
tion prepare and furnish to the secretary yearly, 
at the beginning of the annual conference, a 
list of the members entitled to vote, in accord- 
ance with the provisions of the constitution." 

The constitution is ve*ry clear. A member 
has a right to vote, and if the treasurer, who 



148 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



is the person able to do so, furnishes such a 
list to the secretary, there will be no trouble in 
having that list prepared so as to avoid any pos- 
sible difficulty. Voted. 

In the absence of A. H. HOPKINS, chairman, the 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY SCHOOLS 

was read by title and ordered printed. 

(Seep. 87.) 
Papers on 

METHODS OF CHILDREN'S LIBRARY WORK AS DE- 
TERMINED BY THE NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN 

were read by the Rev. E. M. FAIRCHILD (see 
p. 19.) and Miss EMMA L. ADAMS (seep. 28.). 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 

The tellers of the election reported the result 
of the balloting as follows : 

President : Justin Winsor, 108; scattering, 60. 

Vice-presidents: Rutherford P. Hayes, 72; 
Hannah P. James, 67; F: M. Crunden, 65 (seven 
others received votes varying from 32 to 60). 

Secretary: Melvil Dewey, 132; scattering, 35. 

Treasurer: Gardner M. Jones, 131; scatter- 
ing, 33- 

Recorder: Helen E. Haines, 65 (two others 
received respectively 46 and 51). 

Trustee of Endowment Fund : George W. Will- 
iams, 72 (two others received respectively 21 
and 67). 

A. L. A. Council: W: I. Fletcher, 125; W: E. 
Foster, 115; R. R. Bowker, 105; C: A. Cutter, 
102 (four others received respectively 68, 39, 37, 
and 34). 

APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEE ON N. Y. PUBLIC 
LIBRARY. 

President BRETT announced the committee on 
resolutions in regard to the New York Public 
Library building "as follows : H : L. Elmendorf , 
J. N. Larned, C: C. Soule. 

The meeting was adjourned at 5.07 until the 
next morning. 

EIGHTH SESSION. 

(DREXEL INSTITUTE, FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 

25.) 

The eighth session, held simultaneously with 
the separate meeting of the College Section, 
continued the subject of ELEMENTARY LIBRARY 
WORK. The meeting was called to order in the 
library of Drexel Institute, at 9.20 a.m., by Miss 
Linda A. Eastman, chairman. 



Miss VIRGINIA DODGE read a paper on 
LIBRARIANS' AIDS. 
(Seep. 67.) 

Miss L. E. STEARNS. Among the many 
good points of the paper, I note one that is not 
generally known; that is, with reference to the 
obtaining of a plethora of documents and his- 
torical matter from historical societies, without 
paying the high prices that are often asked by 
second-hand dealers. Our experience in Mil- 
waukee has been that we can join the State 
Historical Society by paying a membership fee 
of $2, and with that membership go invalua- 
ble books which would in any other way be $5 
or $6 a volume. This is an important point for 
the small library. 

Miss MARY EMOGENB HAZELTINE followed 
with a talk on 

ADVERTISING A LIBRARY. 
(Seep. 74-) 

Miss EASTMAN. We have to advertise our 
library on a wholesale scale, as is true in many 
of the larger libraries, and it may be interesting 
and possibly helpful to some of you to know 
how we get space in papers that are not willing 
to give it to us. This difficulty in getting space 
applies, I think, to a much greater extent in a 
large city than in a small town. We have for 
years had the new books of the week advertised 
regularly in the two most important papers of 
the city ; the smaller and more popular penny 
papers refused to give space for the lists of 
new books, and the attitude of all the papers 
was that they would pick up items about the 
library occasionally, which were very apt to 
be items that we didn't want published, while 
anything that we particularly wished to have 
made public was overlooked. We began by 
suiting ourselves to the circumstances, and, 
as a rule, found we could have about an inch 
of space. We instituted a sort of bargain- 
counter, and from week to week we studied 
to keep something continually going. As Miss 
Hazeltine says, the ball must be kept rolling all 
the time. We get the brightest little announce- 
ments we can. Sometimes the reporters will 
write them; more often we have to write them 
ourselves, and the assistants take turns in so 
doing. One may have a special inspiration on 
a special week, and some of the very brightest 
things we have had have come from some of 



EIGHTH SESSION. 



149 



the younger and newer assistants. We sent to 
all of the papers, weeklies and dailies, a letter 
asking if they would insert short notices such 
as the enclosed, and on what day they would 
prefer to have them; they nearly all replied 
that they would be glad to take them. We 
made a card catalog, as it were, of the addresses 
of the papers, the days on which they go to press, 
etc., and we plan a week or so ahead the sub- 
ject we are going to advertise, and get our 
announcements ready. In order that there 
shall not be a sameness in the items for a 
paper objects to publishing just what every 
other paper has published sometimes differ- 
ent members of the staff write to different papers 
the announcement of the books of the week. 

In the middle of the winter, when people 
were thinking of winter resorts, we advertised 
a collection of books suited to them. The first 
one last fall was on the subject of the horse, at 
the time when the horse fair was being held. 
We had a list on Scotland at the time "Ian 
Maclaren " was in the city, and our "Irish 
week " brought a great many people who had 
not been in the library, they said, for years, .and 
some of whom never had been there. We adver- 
tised " Art " the week that we began the circula- 
tion of pictures, and the subject proved so suc- 
cessful that we carried it on the second week with 
an exhibit of book-cover designs, which were 
shown for a week, and then sent to the schools 
in sets for design work in drawing. Children's 
books made a vacation subject, when we sent 
nvitations to "the schools, besides advertising 
through the papers. Books on nature have 
been advertised in different ways during several 
weeks of this spring, and each week the adver- 
tising has brought a great many people who are 
anxious for the books. One week we advertised 
a "little book" show, picking out all the little 
books that were easy to carry in one's pocket, 
and that brought bicyclers ; we are publishing 
also a bicycle reading list which we will post in 
every bicycle store in town, as well as in the 
Y. M. C. A. reading-rooms. The subjects of 
" historical romance " and " romantic history " 
brought many people. 

We have also a daily exhibit of special books, 
in the fiction alcove, where we bring from all 
of the other alcoves a miscellaneous collection 
of bright books on every subject, changed from 
day to day; in this alcove, at the point nearest 
the door, where the people are most apt to go 



during the noon rush, we have a rack filled 
with these "books for busy people." In the 
hall is a bulletin-board containing a list of the 
important events of the day, taken from the 
daily papers, with the announcement that ma- 
terial on these subjects will be found in the 
reference and reading rooms. la assisting 
others to advertise, we have had some co-oper- 
ation with the city art schools; they have been 
having prize contests, and have been glad to 
lend us the prize pictures. We have no room 
in which to show any large collection, but we 
had a screen made and put in one of the al- 
coves, and on it we put these, pictures. Bret 
Harte's " Cressy " and two or three of Miss 
Wilkins' stories have been illustrated by the art 
class, and of course showing those illustrations 
made a demand for the books. 

These special exhibits have brought not only 
an individual, but a wholesale use of the books, 
by suggesting to more than one person the idea 
that they could get for class work, club work, 
etc., collections of books such as they saw. It 
was the means, for instance, of starting what 
we were most anxious for co-operation in 
a very close way with the Normal School. It 
happened that they were taking up geography 
by countries in the Normal School just at the 
time when we began our " country " exhibits. 
The Normal School principal came and asked 
if she could have pictures of Scotland. We 
had no pictures of Scotland, aside from the il- 
lustrations in books, but suggested immediately 
that we would be glad to furnish the books 
and would also send some of the better illus- 
trated works for a short time from the refer- 
ence-room. We sent some 75 books. The re- 
sult was that the school had 'books on one 
subject after another, and this is leading rapidly 
to a systematic study of juvenile literature in 
the Normal School; we accomplished this by 
simply taking it for granted that they wanted 
the best children's books on every subject they 
were to teach, and it has led to a serious study 
of juvenile books. 

Last week this was the announcement in one 
of the papers : 

"PLANS FOR THE SUMMER. HAVE YOU MADE 

THEM ? 

"See the books on Summer Resorts, Summer 
Outings, Camping and Fishing, and, above all, 
the books suggesting ways for summer comfort 
and pleasure at home. 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



" These books will be the special feature at the 
Public Library during the week beginning June 
14, and also at the West Side, Woodland, 
Miles Park, and South Side branches." 

On one of our bulletin-boards we had the fol- 
lowing : 

" When all thy soul with city dust is dry, 
Seek some green spot where a brook tinkles by ; 
But, if thy lot denies both nook and brook, 
Turn to green thoughts in a fresh leafy book." 

I think Mr. Wright can give us suggestions 
regarding what he has done in advertising the 
St. Joseph Public Library. 

P. B. WRIGHT. As a beginner in the work, 
I did not expect to be asked to say anything at 
this session, but anticipated learning much 
through listening. In this latter respect I have 
not been disappointed. However, as to adver- 
tising, a number of plans are followed in ad- 
vertising the St. Joseph Library. We rely 
principally upon a large blackboard (4x8 feet) 
to keep up the interest of casual visitors. Upon 
this is written or posted lists of new books, 
pictures, and announcements of all kinds. In 
writing these so-called "ads," colored chalks 
are used, which gives life to the board. The 
daily newspapers come first in bringing in new 
patrons to the library. The two morning 
newspapers publish such library notes as we 
can furnish, together with lists of new books. 
These notes and book lists are always pub- 
lished in the Sunday morning editions, as more 
attention is paid to them by the public than if 
published in one of the week-day issues. Copy 
is furnished not later than the middle of the 
week, giving the printers ample time to get it 
set up and corrected. It also avoids the Satur- 
day night rush, common in all printing offices. 
Through a recent arrangement with the busi- 
ness offices, the metal slugs for the book lists 
(linotype machines being used) are supplied to 
the library at the cost of the metal, about five or 
six cents a pound. These slugs, or lines of type, 
are preserved, and when 250 or 300 titles have 
accumulated, a bulletin is published, averaging 
10 a year. Credit is given on the bulletin for 
the newspaper furnishing the type therein. 
Other uses found for the type or metal thus 
obtained is in getting up supplements and in 
publishing select or special lists, books of the 
year, etc. These slugs of course finally wear 
out, and are then traded in as metal for new 
type lists, pound for pound. The expense is 



therefore the purchase in the first instance. 
We expect the original purchase of 500 or 600 
pounds of metal to run the library for years 
through this system of interchanging. 

Another thing that has increased the use of 
the library is the telephone. Every encourage- 
ment is given to use the telephone for legiti- 
mate library purposes. Business men who are 
too busy to come to us are encouraged to ask 
over the 'phone such questions as a library is 
supposed to be able to answer. In furnishing 
such answers, the authority quoted is always 
given. The library was recently of value to 
one of the large jobbing houses in furnishing 
information speedily as to how goods had to be 
packed for shipment to an Alaska mining camp, 
the means of transportation as found in a 
government publication furnishing the clue. 
People are notified (by 'phone) when books for 
which cards have been left or requests made have 
come in, answers are given as to whether certain 
books are on the shelves and may be obtained 
in fact, everything is done to make the libra- 
ry popular that a private concern would do to 
increase its business, in so far as our means will 
allow. 

Anything that will attract the attention of 
people and encourage them to use the library 
is legitimate advertising. These things are 
watched for and tried, and if it is found that 
the results pay they are continued. No oppor- 
tunity is lost by the staff to make friends among 
all classes. People who come to the library are 
cheerfully helped in all ways possible, so that, 
in addition to the several ways of advertising 
mentioned briefly, we can say, with the manu- 
facturer of a well-known infant's food, " we are 
advertised by our loving friends" a most de- 
lightful way of being advertised. These are 
some of the means which were used in the St. 
Joseph Public Library to show a home use of 
over 120,000 volumes for the year ending April 
30, with but 10,500 volumes in the circulating 
department. 

THE MAXSON BOOK-MARK. 

Dr. J. K. HOSMER. I would like to hear 
something about the library guild of children 
recently established in Cleveland. I would also 
inquire whether you use the Maxson book-mark, 
published in the April Library Journal. It is 
intended especially for children, but it seems to 
me it would answer excellently for grown peo- 



EIGHTH SESSION. 



pie, and would advertise the fact that they are 
expected to take good care of the library books. 
I expect to have 5000 or 10,000 copies of that 
book-mark printed and put in the books for 
adults as well as for children, for the very fact 
that it is adapted to children will give it a rather 
humorous turn when a grown-up person comes 
to read it that will help to make it effective. 

Miss EASTMAN. We use the Maxson book- 
mark, and it was, in a measure, this book-mark 
which suggested to us the Library League; that 
is, the League worked out from the effect that 
we observed the book-mark produced. We 
had 5000 or 10,000 copies of the book-mark 
printed as soon as we saw it and had obtained 
permission to use it. Those were exhausted 
before long, and then we had 50,000 more 
printed. We expect to keep them in use, as 
the children like them greatly. We sent them 
to the schools with the books, and at first they 
were read as a school exercise, which the 
children enjoyed very much. 

Dr. J. K. HOSMER. Do you use them at all 
for grown-up people ? 

THE CLEVELAND CHILDREN'S LIBRARY LEAGUE. 

Miss EASTMAN. We have not so far, but we 
see the results, to some extent, reacting on the 
parents. 

It was this book-mark largely which led to the 
idea of the Children's Library League, though 
the Children's Street-cleaning League of New 
York had also a good deal to do with it. It was 
begun at the time of the spring vacation. We 
were just putting into circulation over looonew 
juvenile books, and we had added a great many 
other juvenile books very recently, and it 
seemed as though it was the most opportune 
time to impress the need of good care of the 
books on the children. We posted a bulletin in 
the juvenile alcove, asking the children to join 
the Library League, speaking of what New 
York children were doing toward keeping the 
streets clean, asking if Cleveland children 
couldn't do as much for clean books as New 
York children were doing for clean streets, and 
referring them to the assistant in the alcove. 
As soon as possible we printed a little certifi- 
cate, which was given to the children. We 
ruled a blank-book and headed it THE HONOR 
ROLL OF THE LIBRARY LEAGUE, and the chil- 
dren, feeling that they were doing a very great 
thing in joining the League, signed their names, 



with address and card number, in the book, 
and then we gave them these certificates. We 
started without waiting for the certificates, tell- 
ing the first children who joined that their cer- 
tificates would be ready for them the next time 
they came in. It was the 2gth of March when 
the League was started, and when I left Cleve- 
land in the latter part of June the membership 
was over 3500, and we expect a great accession 
immediately at the close of school, because of 
announcements that we sent to the schools, and 
because of the Library League letter we issued. 
The little certificate reads on one side : 

LIBRARY LEAGUE HONOR CARD. 

" This certifies that living 

at , has signed the agree- 
ment of the Library League, in the Honor Roll 
Book of the League, and hereby becomes a 
member in good standing. 

" A copy of the League agreement is given 
on the opposite side. 

" Card no " 

The League agreement, given on the oppo- 
site side, is as follows : 

HONOR ROLL 

OF 
THE LIBRARY LEAGUE. 

"We, the undersigned, members of THE 
LIBRARY LEAGUE, agree to do all in our power 
to assist the Librarian in keeping the books in 
good condition. 

"We promise to remember that good books 
contain the living thoughts of good and great 
men and women, and are therefore entitled to 
respect. 

"We will not handle any library book rough- 
ly or carelessly, will not mark it, turn down 
leaves, nor put anything into it thicker than a 
slip of paper. 

" We will also do all in our power to interest 
other boys and girls in the right care of books, 
and will report all which we find in bad con- 
dition." 

It would seem as though that were a very 
slim thread by which to hold the association 
together, but we do not mean that it shall be 
so. We had planned to call a meeting of the 
League before the schools closed, to get hold of 
the children for the summer, but it proved im- 
possible. So we have planned, and have the 
permission of the board, to hold a meeting in 
October, which will be held in the largest audi- 
torium in the town. The stage will be filled, 
we hope, with influential people with philan- 
thropic tendencies, whom we wish to interest in 



'52 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



the library. We have thus a double cause to 
work for. There will be a program designed 
especially to interest the children in better 
reading. 

Finding that we were not able to call this 
meeting before the schools closed, we saw the 
importance of gaining a strong enough hold on 
the children to keep up their interest and make 
them feel that they really were doing something 
worth while. We therefore issued this little 
letter to them : 

" BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE LIBRARY LEAGUE: 
We wish to thank you for the help you are giv- 
ing the library in reporting marked or soiled 
books, and in keeping the new books clean. 

" The League now numbers over 3000. And 
it is only two months old. Think what we shall 
do if we go" on growing at that rate what a 
power we shall be for a good cause. We ex- 
pect, in October, to call a grand mass meeting 
of the League at Music Hall, and we want, by 
that time, to have members enough to fill it. 
We can do this with your help in getting new 
members. 

" You will be glad to know that some other 
cities have already thought our League worth 
copying, and are beginning to start Leagues of 
their own modelled after it. 

"As it is not possible to call the League 
meeting before school closes, this letter is writ- 
ten to tell of the work planned for the League 
for this summer, and to ask you to help in 
doing your share of it. This work will be as 
follows: 

"first. The work for clean books. Of course 
all League members will keep the agreement 
which they signed, and a copy of which is print- 
ed on the back of your League certificate. It is 
well to read this agreement over very often, or 
better still, learn it by heart, so that you can 
repeat it to your playmates in interesting them 
in the League. Your work is going to show 
most in the care of the newer books, which have 
not become badly soiled. Make up your minds 
that every book which you have from the libra- 
ry will go back to it in as good or better condi- 
tion than you found it ; if there is a mark or soiled 
spot in it which you can take out carefully with 
an eraser, do so, and if leaves or cover are 
loose, report it at the desk where you return 
the book. It is always well to cover your book 
with paper as soon as you get it home; you will 
find at the Library some paper covers folded to 
show you how to go to work to cover your books. 

" In keeping books from being soiled, the 
principal thing to remember is that they must 
never be touched excepting with very clean 
hands. 

' Secona. Get just as many new members 
for the League as you can. Do your brothers 
and sisters, schoolmates and playmates all be- 
long to the League ? If not, tell them about it, 
and ask them to join. We want 10,000 children 



in the League, and we shall have them if you 
will bring in your young friends. 

" Third. Make an important part of your 
summer's work the inviting children who do 
not use the Library to do so. A great many 
boys and girls have to spend their vacations in 
the city, and often do not know what to do 
with themselves all day long. Tell them of all 
the pleasure they can get from the stories, the 
books of adventure, the histories, and the 
books telling how to do and make things which 
will add to their vacation good times; tell them 
of the best books you have read, and explain 
to them how they can get library cards and 
draw books themselves. 

"Fourth. Hunt up a good motto for the 
League to adopt. 

" Fifth. Keep a record of the number of 
books you report, the number of children you 
interest in the library who have not been 
using it, and the number of new members you 
get for the League, so as to be able to report 
what you have done. 

"Sixth. All members of the League are in- 
vited to make out a list of six or more of the 
best books they have read. These lists are to 
be neatly written, giving your name and age, 
and are to be handed in at the Library on or 
before July isth. The best of these lists will 
then be posted in the Library to help other 
boys and girls in choosing books which they 
will be sure to enjoy. 

"W. H. BRETT, 

" Librarian." 

The lists of books are beginning to come in 
and some of them are very interesting. The 
mottoes are beginning to come in also. We are 
planning to have a badge for the League, which 
will consist of a little open book with "Cleve- 
land Library League " on it; one firm has offered 
to furnish silver pins for five cents each. We 
do not expect to be able to furnish these to the 
children free of cost, but our object is to get 
them as low as we can, so that each child can 
afford to buy his own badge. Another firm has 
offered to furnish a very pretty white metal 
badge, which I think will do very well indeed, 
for two and a half cents apiece. These badges 
will of course please the children, and will give 
us a means of knowing, as the children come 
in, who are and who are not members of the 
League; of course we can't know them all. 

This is simply the beginning of the possibili- 
ties that we see in this Library League. The 
branches are working in this and several of 
the schools ; the 180 members of the Central 
High School senior graduating class joined the 
League in a body, and presented the Central 
High School Library, which is run as a branch 



EIGHTH SESSION. 



of our library, with a large card, ornament- 
ally printed by one of the members of the 
class, giving the League agreement with a 
resolution by the class telling how much they 
appreciate what the library has been to them, 
and their wish to show this appreciation by 
joining the League. The assistant in charge of 
the High School Library declares that next 
year she will have every single member of the 
Central High School belong to the League, and 
there are over 1700 pupils; you can see the 
dignity that adds to the Children's League. 
The card has been framed for the purpose of 
being kept in the Central High School Library, 
but during vacation we shall have it in the 
juvenile alcove of the main library. 

The League is certainly going to accomplish 
much that will be worth while in training the 
children, and, indirectly through them, in reach- 
ing out to others. I think it was President 
Eliot of Harvard who said, "If you want to 
work any reform, begin with the children." 
We are going to begin with them in training 
people to care properly for books, which are 
public property. We feel that that is only a 
small part of the work, and that there are in- 
finite possibilities in it in giving us a hold on 
the children which will enable us in many in- 
direct ways to direct and guide their read- 
ing. We hope to have each branch work 
up a special division of the League, and then 
perhaps sub-divide each division into reading 
clubs, and get the people of the neighborhood 
to help us in programs, etc., for the children. 
We do not know what it is all going to lead to, 
but we do know that there are very great pos- 
sibilities, and there is already before us a great 
deal more than we can find time to go ahead 
with. 

Miss T. L. KELSO. The possibilities of chil- 
dren's leagues is the most important subject 
that has ever been brought before us. We 
have skated around this subject in the Journal 
and in meetings for 10 years past; I have given 
a great deal of thought to it myself, and have 
been in constant consultation with librarians 
and professors who are interested in it; but I 
believe that to-day Miss Eastman has given to 
us the first glimmer of light that will lead to 
practical results. The fad for children's rooms 
I have been always opposed to, on the score 
that nine-tenths of that work was a superficial 
adaptation of the kindergarten method without 



the first knowledge of its real principles by the 
persons putting it in execution; but it was an 
effort to accomplish what Miss Eastman has 
now presented a plan to do in a proper and 
logical way. We have all talked about reaching 
the children and about the influence of the sym- 
pathetic person at the delivery-desk, and much 
of this talk is rubbish, because we know that 
when one is at a busy desk she does not get 
much chance to be sympathetic; we have at- 
tacked the teachers until we have driven them 
into rebellion, because we have forced them to 
come to meetings when they were tired and had 
more than they could attend to in their own 
professional line, and we have dictated to them 
about children's reading; but I think that Miss 
Eastman has now touched the right chord. I 
know something of Col. Waring's work in New 
York, and have again and again attended the 
meetings of the Street-cleaning League on the 
East Side; they are the most interesting meet- 
ings I ever attended in my life, and they show 
what can be done with children. As to the 
books selected for children, look at our ordi- 
nary juvenile lists; they are convulsing; they 
are absurd. Miss Hewins has done the sensible 
thing in trying to view this book question from 
the children's point of view. It would be a 
fatal thing in this league work to merely stop 
at the taking care of books; that is just a begin- 
ning. I hope that Miss Eastman will from 
time to time in the Journal state what modifica- 
tions and extensions have been made in her 
plans, because there cannot be a library too 
small to use them, though many people have 
not, perhaps, th'e opportunities that the Cleve- 
land Public Library has; its staff must be a 
dynamo consisting of many coils. We are all 
indebted to Miss Eastman for having presented 
this plan to us, and for having thought of it. 
Miss ELIZABETH P. ANDREWS read a paper on 

BOOK SELECTION. 

(Seep. 70.) 

Miss LINDA A. EASTMAN made a short ad- 
dress on 

AIMS AND PERSONAL ATTITUDE IN LIBRARY 

WORK. 
(Seep. 80.) 

Pres. BRETT. The Library League was 
started in the Cleveland library at the sugges- 
tion of two of the assistants Miss Eastman, the 



'54 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



assistant librarian, who has just given an ac- 
count of it, and Miss Pierce, who has charge of 
the issue of books. It was suggested by both 
of them, independently of each other, and was 
based on the work done in New York in keep- 
ing clean streets. When my attention was 
called to it, it struck me as the best thing that 
had been thought of, and I heartily approved 
of it, and they have put it into operation with 
the success of which you have heard. This is 
just one of those instances, of which we have 
a great many, in which intelligent and enthusi- 
astic and devoted women are doing great things 
which the heads of libraries, who get the credit 
for them, have very little to do with. I wish 
also to say a word about the "Cumulative in- 
dex." A great share of the credit of that index 
belongs to Miss Eliot, who manages the work, 
and whom many of you have met. 
Adjournment was taken at 11.45 a.m. 

NINTH SESSION. 

(DREXEL INSTITUTE, FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 
25.) 

The meeting was called to order at 11.50 in 
the auditorium of the Institute by President 
BRETT. 

H: L. ELMENDORF submitted, from the special 
committee appointed for the purpose, a 

RESOLUTION ON THE PROPOSED PLANS FOR THE 
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

Resolved, That the American Library Associ- 
ation expresses its hearty approval of the meth- 
ods adopted by those in charge of the selection 
of plans for the New York Public Library build- 
ing, both as to the general requirements sub- 
mitted and the manner of competition. 

We rejoice that the needs of the library for 
administration and public service are to be con- 
sidered before questions of architectural style 
and ornament. 

We find in the arrangement of a central stack 
with reading-room above, an excellent provision 
for ample light, freedom from noise, ready and 
quick delivery of books, and opportunity for 
extension as the growth of the library may re- 
quire. H. L. ELMENDORF, } 

CHARLES C. SOULE, >- Committee. 
J. N. LARNED, ) 

The resolution was adopted by a rising vote. 
Dr. J. S. BILLINGS offered the following 

RESOLUTION ON TARIFF ON BOOKS. 

Resolved, I. That this Association learns with 
great pleasure that the United States Senate has 
modified the provisions of the tariff bill in ac- 



cordance with the recommendations of the 
Council of this body relating to the free impor- 
tation of books. 

II. That this Association offers thanks to the 
Senate for this action, and respectfully urges 
that the position thus taken be maintained in 
the Committee of Conference on the tariff bill. 
Voted. 

W: I. FLETCHER presented a 

RESOLUTION ON THE U. S. SUPERINTENDENT OF 
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 

The American Library Association wishes to 
place on record its continued and increasing ap- 
preciation of the work of the United States Su- 
perintendent of Documents, Mr. F. A. Crandall, 
and the assistants in his office, especially in the 
following particulars : 

1. In the distribution of documents to libra- 
ries. While improvement is still desirable in 
this matter, which can be secured only through 
additional legislation, the libraries are at present 
being served with a promptness and regularity 
not before attained or approached. 

2. In the cataloging of documents. The 
monthly list, now regularly issued, leaves little 
to be desired in this regard, while the general 
catalog, of which the volume covering the 53d 
Congress is a beginning, bids fair to be much 
the most satisfactory key to the government 
documents yet furnished. 

3. In the procuring of improved legislation. 
The present law governing the printing and 
distribution of documents represents a decided 
advance beyond preceding laws, but still leaves 
room for improvement. The Association ex- 
presses the earnest hope that a law may soon 
be enacted embodying the principles of the bill 
which was passed unanimously by the House in 
the first session of the 54th Congress, the provi- 
sions of which received the hearty endorsement 
of the leading librarians of the country. Voted. 

APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION 
OF TITLE-PAGES, ETC. 

W: I. FLETCHER. The Connecticut Library 
Association in a meeting to which delegates 
were invited from all the state library associa- 
tions of New England, and in which they all 
took part, appointed a committee of two W. 
I. Fletcher and T. Solberg to consider a sug- 
gestion being made by librarians to publishers of 
periodicals, urging reforms in the arrangements 
usually made as to title-pages, indexes, tables of 
contents, etc. That committee was to report a 
recommendation to this Association, and it now 
recommends that the matter be continued in the 
hands of a committee of the Association, and 
that that committee be empowered to draw up 
a circular to be addressed to the publishers of 
periodicals, urging the reforms indicated. 



NINTH SESSION. 



155 



A motion to this effect was made, and it was 
Voted that such a committee be appointed. 
The president later named W: I. Fletcher and 
Thorvald Solberg as the committee. 

MELVIL DEWEY submitted the following reso- 
lutions : 

CO-OPERATION WITH NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL. 
ASSOCIATION. 

Resolved, That the American Library Asso- 
ciation pledges its hearty co-operation to the new 
Library Department of the National Educational 
Association, and appoints as its official delegates 
for 1897, W. H. Brett, Mrs. Theresa West El- 
mendorf, and Rev. W. R. Eastman, with such 
other members as may be able to attend the 
Milwaukee meeting. Voted. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF INVITATION FROM 
ATLANTA. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the American 
Library Association be extended to the official 
representatives of Atlanta for their cordial in- 
vitation to meet in their city, with regret that its 
acceptance must be postponed another year. 
Voted. 

AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION.; 

MELVIL DEWEY. I desire to bring up , a 
matter for consideration during the year, so 
that we can act upon it next year after a full 
consideration of the question. I refer to the 
question of the limitation of our membership. 
I am totally and utterly opposed to any plan of 
limiting the membership of this Association. 
We have tried for 21 years to build up a large 
association, and if men, women, and children 
choose to give $2 a year toward the advancement 
of library work we ought to give them the most 
cordial encouragement. On the other hand, it 
is true that we cannot, at large meetings of this 
sort, give detailed explanations as to many 
matters, or vote intelligently on many ques- 
tions. I believe the true solution of this ques- 
tion is an amendment to the constitution. It 
might be well for us at this meeting to show by 
a vote that we favor some such amendment, 
and then the matter will be kept before us dur- 
ing this year, and at the Chautauqua meeting we 
can discuss it and decide. We should pass this 
vote to-day, because we cannot amend the con- 
stitution except by a three-fourths vote at two 
successive meetings of the Association. I there- 
fore offer the following : 

Resolved, That in 17 of the constitution the 
councillors at large be increased from 20 to 25 by 
altering the numbers 20, 4, and 8, to 25, 5, and 



10, and by adding these words : " In addition 
to the 25 members above provided for, each 
state or local library association recognized for 
this purpose by the council shall be entitled to 
one councillor of its own selection, and to one 
additional for each full 100 members." Voted. 

In the absence of F. J. TEGGART, his paper on 

THE LITERATURE OF LIBRARIES 

was read by title and ordered printed. 
(Seep. 35.) 

Four speakers WILLIAM BEER, E. S. WILL- 
COX, F: M. CRUNDEN, and J. N. LARNED had 
been appointed to discuss 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUBSCRIPTION INTO FREE 
LIBRARIES. 

In the absence of Mr. BEER, his contribution 
to the subject, 

THE FISK FREE AND PUBLIC LIBRARY OF NEW 
ORLEANS, 

was read by title and ordered printed. 
(Seep. 32.) 

Owing to lack of time, it was found impossi- 
ble to present the subject with the fulness an- 
ticipated. 

E. S. WILLCOX. The astonishing growth of 
free public libraries in our day, the sunshine of 
our prosperity, should not blind us to the fact 
that for more than 140 years it was the sub- 
scription library, sustained by much self-deny- 
ing labor on the part of a few public-spirited 
men and women in each community, that kept 
the torch burning that provided at least a little 
good literature at small cost to souls hungry for 
books. 

In those early days we had three kinds of li- 
braries the private library, the college library, 
and the subscription library. Those of us young 
people who now and then got a peep at the very 
small and generally very dry library of some 
doctor of divinity or doctor of medicine, or stole 
a sip out of Scott or Dumas from the confused 
conglomeration on some lawyer's table, consid- 
ered ourselves very fortunate, but happy be- 
yond measure when a few leading citizens 
clubbed together and started a subscription li- 
brary in the town with a thousand or two choice 
books, the backbone of which was for the most 
part Bohn with an " h," and the annual dues to 
which were two or three dollars. 



'56 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



The subscription library was a priceless bless- 
ing in its day ; its memory is dear to many of 
us still. It ought to have a monument. 

But why did it not have a larger clientage ? 
Why did not the women and children who throng 
our delivery-rooms to-day patronize the sub- 
scription library? For the very good reason 
that they had not the money. The thirst for 
knowledge which their husbands and fathers 
may have felt in youth had been dulled by 
time, or perhaps beguiled into a wilder thirst, 
which no two dollars a year could appease, and 
the women and children who still hungered 
and thirsted for books did not hold the purse- 
strings. 

Our experience in Peoria was, I have no 
doubt, the same as that of other towns. We 
had, little by little, built up a well - selected 
library of 10,000 volumes, with annual dues 

of $4- 

We labored and struggled, ran lecture courses, 
concerts, dramatic entertainments, spelling bees, 
and occasionally passed round the hat, but, do 
our best, could barely keep our heads above 
water, and add a few hundred books to our col- 
lection each year. We never had an average 
of more than 275 paying members in a popula- 
tion of 25,000, while now, as a free library, in a 
population of 50,000, our membership exceeds 
6000. 

We raised the question of supporting the li- 
brary like our schools, by taxation, but were 
told very emphatically that the people of Peoria 
or of Illinois would never, never, NEVER tax 
themselves to support libraries. 

But our friends had not yet become acquaint- 
ed with what now, at the end of this igth cen- 
tury, is almost a truism, that what never has 
been done, and never can be done, is the very 
thing that has got to be done and is going to be 
done. 

At last we grew tired of the uphill work. 
We said : "If books are good for our wives 
and children, then the wives and children of 
our mechanics and laborers in the lower end 
of town certainly ought to have a taste of them; 
and if the men will have their tobacco and beer, 
the women shall have their Mary J. Holmes if 
they want her. 

And from that piratical resolve of a few des- 
perate fellows in Peoria came the free public 
library law of Illinois in 1872 the first practi- 



cal and comprehensive free public library law 
on the statute-book of any state in the Union. 

F: M. CRUNDEN. I understand New Hamp- 
shire passed a law either in 1849 or 1850 estab- 
lishing public libraries. 

E. S. WILLCOX. The Massachusetts Library 
law authorized towns to devote certain sums of 
money to the support of libraries, but I ven- 
ture to say there were no free libraries to be 
found in that section ; they were subscription 
libraries, and there was not at that time one 
general free library law in any of the states 
of the United States. 

J. N. LARNED. All I intended to add to this 
subject was to give a brief statement of what 
we are doing in Buffalo, but I have told the 
whole story fully in the last annual report of 
the Buffalo Library, and I would very much 
rather give the time that I might take for that 
purpose to a discussion of the elaborate and 
interesting paper we had yesterday on chil- 
dren's library work. 

DISCUSSION ON CHILDREN'S LIBRARY WORK. 

J. N. LARNED. The paper read by Mr. Fair- 
child yesterday on this subject seems to me to be 
one of the most important that we have ever had 
in this Association, as well as one of the most 
interesting. It is important because it has in- 
troduced the suggestion at least of a scientific 
way of looking at a very important part of our 
work ; a methodical, systematic, scientific, and 
especially a psychological study of it. It has 
introduced, for the first time, I think, into our 
ideas the thought of that kind of psychological 
study which is doing so much in other educa- 
tional fields and making such changes in educa- 
tional work in schools and colleges. And per- 
haps it was made more interesting to me be- 
cause I had seen in the work in the children's 
room at Buffalo the practical outcropping of 
just that idea, in the mind of Miss Fernald, the 
young lady who has charge of that room. She 
has by her work been practically led into the 
psychological study of the child's mind. In or- 
der to understand her children she has found it 
necessary to go to their schools and learn some- 
thing of their feeling toward their teachers, 
see whether it was friendly or unfriendly, and 
learn what created that feeling in the minds of 
the children so she could gain suggestions from 
that knowledge. In one case she found a 



NINTH SESSION. 



157 



number of street children who had come into 
the room in a warm discussion of the merits of 
some play of adventure that was running at 
one of the cheap theatres of the city, and she 
persuaded a friend to take her to that theatre so 
that she might see that play and know what it 
was that had taken this hold on the minds of 
those children. 

Mr. Fairchild's paper has led me to con- 
sider one important matter, and that is the 
greater influence libraries would exercise over 
children if they were made distinctively for 
the children. The separation of children's 
libraries not merely the adoption of chil- 
dren's rooms in libraries, but the establishment 
of children's libraries separate from other li- 
braries seems to me to be a very impor- 
tant suggestion. It is a fact that children like to 
have ownership in things themselves ; they like 
to be recognized as what they feel they are 
a sort of distinct community. Children are 
a distinct community, and they have the feel- 
ing of a community among themselves ; they 
do not like to be dealt with as a mere attach- 
ment to the older folks, and I think that this is 
a very important matter, and that we can work 
out a system in the matter of dealing with 
children's libraries, in the line suggested by 
Mr. Fairchild, that will accomplish wonderful 
results. 

Pres. BRETT. The thing in Mr. Fairchild's 
paper, with which I am most heartily in accord, 
is that he suggests an entirely different point of 
view from that which we ordinarily use in li- 
braries. Mr. Fairchild wants us to look at the 
child and see what the child needs, what the 
child wants; while we are apt to look at the 
child from the librarian's point of view and say 
what we can do for him. There is a great dif- 
ference in these points of view. 

F: M. CRUNDEN. We have recently had ex- 
perience in St. Louis that points to the urgent 
necessity of carrying out some such plan as Mr. 
Fairchild suggests. Before I left home a lady 
who was a former teacher, and who has charge 
of the juvenile department of our library, asked 
me if we could not get some more "Mother 
Goose" rhymes. I asked how many were 
wanted, and she said, " I want 50." We had, 
I suppose, about 20 in the library, but the 
shelves were stripped, and she said it was quite 
pathetic to have the children come in, look at 



the empty shelves, and say: " Haven't you got 
any more ' Mother Gooses ' ?" We ordered the 
50, and also got an appropriation from the book 
committee of $2000 to supply " Mother Goose " 
books and simple fairy tales with illustrations, 
to be sent out to the first four grades of the 
schools next fall. Since I have been here I find 
three or four members are working on the same 
.lines, and it has occurred to me that the place 
to begin is right at the beginning, when the 
children are first learning to read. 

Miss EMMA L. ADAMS. I do not understand 
by Mr. Fairchild's paper whether Mr. Fairchild's 
intention is that the separate children's library 
shall be under the control of the public library 
or not. He seemed to think it would be better, 
as I understand it, to have an entirely separate 
library. I think that the same result could be 
attained, and in a better way, by having the 
separate children's library under the charge of 
the public library, which is already so much 
better equipped than any place else for this 
work. The importance of this work is not 
sufficiently realized by the public to have it sup- 
port a separate library for children. The point 
we aim at is to bring the children into the larger 
library from the children's library, and that 
point would be lost if we have a children's li- 
brary entirely separate in management from our 
own libraries. 

E. M. FAIRCHILD. I cannot say yes or no 
to this question. I did not intend a separate 
management in one sense, and yet in another 
sense I did. It was the intention that the con- 
trol of the whole library system should be in 
the hands of a central library, and the chil- 
dren's libraries in the neighborhood were to be 
part of the whole library system and be under 
the charge of a chief librarian. 

.Miss ANNIE C. MOORE. The statement has 
been made that a few children take up the libra- 
ry as a fad. I would like to bring evidence on 
the other side. During the month of May there 
were issued 150 examination papers to the chil- 
dren who had been coming to the children's de- 
partment of the Pratt Institute Library since 
October of the year before. One hundred of 
these papers have been examined, and the an- 
swers to the first question: "How long have 
you been taking books from this library ?" re- 
sult as follows: 25 per cent, of the children have 
taken books for less than a year, but most of 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



them from between six and nine months; 75 per 
cent, have taken books forever a year, over two 
years, three years, and four years, and some 
for six years. The fact that these children have 
been coming regularly since last October gives 
pretty strong proof that they do not use the li- 
brary as a fad. 

E. M. FAIRCHILD. What I mean is to take 
the whole body of children and bring out the 
statistics of library use for the entire child-life 
of the city. In the instance just given us, only 
those who have been most faithful to the libra- 
ry are analyzed, and of course there are many 
children do not take up the library as a fad. 

A. W. TYLER presented the 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the A. L. A. 
are due and are cordially extended to 

The officers and members of the Pennsylvania 
Historical Society for their very courteous wel- 
come and entertainment; 

To the President and Board of Trustees of 
the Drexel Institute for the use of their rooms 
and the many other courtesies so graciously 
given, and 

To Miss Kroeger, the librarian of the Insti- 
tute, for her untiring efforts in our behalf; 

To Mr. Justus C. Strawbridge for his hos- 
pitality and welcome at his beautiful resi- 
dence; 

To the library owners who so kindly placed 
portions of their rare and unique collections on 
exhibition for the benefit of the Association; 

To the Committee on Temple and to Brother 
Wyckoff, Chairman of the Committee of Li- 
brary, for their invitation to visit the Masonic 
Temple; 

To the J. B. Lippincott Co. for the oppor- 
tunity offered to witness the workings of their 
bookmaking department; 

To the Messrs. Strawbridge & Clothier for 
the reception at their Poster Exhibition; 

To the management and librarians of the 
libraries of Philadelphia who so cordially in- 
vited the Association to meet in that city on this 
occasion, and for the opportunity to visit their 
libraries during the convention; 

To the members of the local Committee of 



Arrangements, whose thoughtful consideration 
for our pleasure and comfort has made our visit 
exceedingly enjoyable and one long to be re- 
membered; and 

To the proprietors and managers of the news- 
papers of the city of Philadelphia for their very 
full reports of our proceedings. 

W. T. PEOPLES, ) 

A. W. TYLER, > Committee. 

HANNAH P. JAMES, ) 

The report was adopted by a rising vote. 

CORRECTION TO PROCEEDINGS OF CLEVELAND 
CONFERENCE. 

Sec. HAYES. I move that the report of the 
proceedings of the Cleveland conference, as 
published in the Library Journal, be adopted, 
with an amendment, at the request of Mr. S. S. 
Green, so that a remark by Mr. Green on p. 
139, second column "I wrote many of the ar- 
ticles on Massachusetts cities " should read 
" I wrote the article on the city of Worcester." 
Voted. 

Adjournment was taken at one o'clock p.m., 
until Tuesday, June 29, at the Kittatinny 
House, Delaware Water Gap, when an informal 
meeting was had, and it was announced that 
the final session would be held on Thursday, 
July i, at the same place. 

TENTH SESSION. 

(KITTATINNY HOUSE, DELAWARE WATER GAP, 
THURSDAY MORNING, JULY i.) 

The Association was called to order at 10.30 
a.m. by JAMES G. BARNWELL, chairman, who 
made a short talk on various matters connected 
with library economy. A vote of thanks was 
unanimously accorded to the chairman, and no 
further business being reported, it was duly 
moved and seconded that the conference stand 
adjourned, to meet at Chautauqua at such time 
and place as should be duly appointed by the 
Executive Board. Adjourned. 



COLLEGE SECTION. 



'59 



THE COLLEGE SECTION OF THE A. L. A. 



'T'HE College Section field two sessions, 
which were joint meetings with the Ameri- 
can Library Association, and were largely at- 
tended. They were held in one of the class- 
rooms of the Drexel Institute, and were de- 
voted to the consideration of COLLEGE AND 
REFERENCE LIBRARY WORK. 

FIRST SESSION. 

(DREXEL INSTITUTE, WEDNESDAY MORNING, 
JUNE 23.) 

The Section was called to order at 9.15 a.m. 
by W: I. FLETCHER, chairman, and Dr. CYRUS 
ADLER was appointed secretary of the meet- 
ing. 

W: I. FLETCHER. We are to be congratu- 
lated this morning on the auspicious beginning 
of what may almost be called a new era in the 
history of the Association. Having reached 
our 2 ist birthday there is naturally a disposition 
to see wherein we may as an Association put 
away childish things and enter upon the func- 
tions which belong to maturity. This disposi- 
tion manifests itself in the suggestions that the 
Association be re-incorporated and that it be- 
come a representative body, suggestions which 
are to be presented to us at a later session, and 
which I will not now discuss. 

But we must all be agreed that the maturity 
of the Association is fittingly marked by this 
beginning of our work by sections. I speak of 
it as a beginning, for, although we are familiar 
with the idea of sections, we have not hereto- 
fore really made a good beginning in carrying 
it out. Our meetings of sections have hitherto 
been mere hurried conferences of those inter- 
ested in a special part or phase of library work 
crowded in (or rather crowded out) between 
regular sessions of the Association. For the 
first time the Association itself meets this morn- 
ing in real sectional meetings, and for the first 
time we have a clear two hours' session, in which 
we may discuss themes connected with the high- 
er departments of library work without the 
fear that injustice will be done to the many 
whose needs and wishes are for help in the ele- 
mentary part of the calling. 

Having made this start with the sectional plan 
of meetings, it remains for us to provide a 



proper method of arranging for its carrying out 
in the future. To what extent the division into 
sections shall be carried is a question which 
may better be left to be determined by evident 
demand than be made a matter for theoretical 
arrangement. 

By the judicious foresight of the Executive 
Board of the Association we have two sessions 
at this conference the one on Friday morn- 
ing and the present one devoted to advanced 
library work. The programs of these two ses- 
sions have been so arranged that the meeting of 
to-day will consider questions especially relat- 
ing to college and university libraries, and that 
of Friday those common to reference libraries 
and the advanced work of public libraries in gen- 
eral. Two matters of detail should receive our 
attention. First the question of nomenclature. 
On right definition everywhere depends correct 
and lucid thought. And our work as a section 
will be decidedly advantaged if we can choose a 
name for this Section that shall be simple and 
perspicacious. 

The second matter of detail to which I would 
refer is also one of importance. The Section 
must have a continuous organization. There 
may be differing views as to what form this or- 
ganization should take. Simplicity is rightly 
regarded as the chief merit in such matters of 
organization, and it would seem quite sufficient 
that we should each year choose a chairman 
and a secretary of the Section for the ensuing 
year. Their chief duty would be the arrange- 
ment, in consultation with the Executive Board 
of the Association, of the program for the Sec- 
tion's meetings. How these officers shall be 
chosen is another question of some importance. 
It is desirable that it should not be done in a 
purely haphazard manner, and the best results 
will follow from the adoption of a few simple 
regulations for the conduct of their election. 
The first of these should perhaps provide for an 
annual change in the personnel of these offices. 

I am not prepared to make any opening ad- 
dress at this session, even were such an address 
seemly for the occasion. I may be allowed a 
sentence in which to express my growing con- 
viction, in which I feel sure you all share, that 
the librarians of the college, university, and 
school libraries of the country occupy a posi- 



i6o 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



tion, in the felicity of our surroundings, in the 
congeniality of our work, and in the possibili- 
ties of good which await its faithful perform- 
ance, second to that of no other class of libra- 
rians. In the development of these possibili- 
ties into actual results we can but find great 
advantage in mutual conference, and I take 
pleasure in asking your attention now to the 
program before us, and in declaring this session 
open for business. 

G: W: HARRIS then gave informally his 

NOTES ON THE GOVERNMENT AND CONTROL OF 
COLLEGE LIBRARIES. 

(See p. 55.) 
APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION. 

On motion of Mr. AUSTIN, a Committee on 
Organization of the Section was appointed as 
follows : WILLARD H. AUSTIN, Miss OLIVE B. 
JONES, CLEMENT W. ANDREWS. The committee 
was also directed to report on an adequate name 
for the Section, which should include in its 
meaning that of the advanced and higher part 
of the work done by the Section, and to bring 
in nominations for chairman and secretary. 

DISCUSSION ON MANAGEMENT OF COLLEGE 
LIBRARIES. 

Dr. ADLER. I should like to ask Mr. Harris 
what he thinks of the relations between the 
work of the librarian and the work of the pub- 
lication department in a university or library 
which publishes its own publications. 

G: W: HARRIS. I have not had much ex- 
perience with that at Cornell. We have as yet 
no definite system for our publications, some 
of which are published by outside publishers. 
The " Studies in philology " are published under 
the supervision of the professors of the classi- 
cal department. There is no general scheme 
for university publications. I think it would be 
wise to have a separate officer in charge of all 
the publications of the university, and, person- 
ally, I am not inclined to favor that officer being 
the librarian. 

Dr. ADLER. The reason I asked the ques- 
tion was because I think the universities in this 
country which have now become their own pub- 
lishers many of them have become, practi- 
cally, publishing societies are not reaping the 
benefit to their libraries which they might. 
Most of these publications, I take it, are not 
financial successes ; they are run at a loss. If, 



therefore, they were managed in some way in 
relation to the library, and a system of exchange 
was instituted and kept up, I believe any uni- 
versity in this country that publishes anything 
of value would get more in return for exchanges, 
for its library, than the outlay in publication. 
That is an experience which I have had in other 
directions ; it requires work to do this, and it 
means the keeping up of a pretty active corre- 
spondence, but I think it is worthy of a trial. 

E. C. RICHARDSON then took the chair. 

G: W: HARRIS. We get philosophical ex- 
changes for our library, but the plan is not 
altogether satisfactory. Some of those ex- 
changes go first to the editorial-room, and they 
are used by the persons appointed to make the 
abstracts for the Philosophical Review, so they 
are very late in getting to the library. To be 
sure, they concern chiefly one department, and 
are not so late for it as some others might 
be, but that is one of the objections we find to 
such a system. 

E. C. RICHARDSON. I stand at the opposite 
pole from Mr. Harris in my attitude toward the 
subject, in that while he has no theory and a 
good deal of government, I have a distinct 
theory and very little government in my library. 
The theory that I have is distinctly opposed to 
the plan of government as exercised in Mr. 
Harris' library. That is to say, as I under- 
stand it, the best method of control for a college 
library would not allow any representative from 
the different departments and faculty on the 
governing council, if there was a council. Or, 
if it were proposed to us to have a council in 
which there was a representative from each of 
the departments of the university, I would say: 
"Very well ; but you will naturally allow us a 
representative from every department of the 
library on each of the governing boards of the 
university." I do not see any advantage in the 
discrimination which allows the faculty to direct 
or control in the library council. Theoretically 
I would say, clearly and succinctly, I have per- 
fect willingness to be overruled by our own 
board, but it seems to me, in the proper organi- 
zation of things, the library council ought to 
be organized in such a way that it shall be a 
board, of itself, responsible to the trustees for 
its own doings as any other department of the 
university would be. The president, of course, 
would be the head of the council under that 
theory, and the council would bear to the board 



COLLEGE SECTION. 



161 



of trustees exactly the same relation that any 
other department of an organized university 
would. 

C. W. ANDREWS. I would like to insist on 
the point Mr. Harris brought out on the appro- 
priation of the library book fund even where 
that appropriation is made in gross and it rests 
with the sub-committee on books to make a di- 
vision. I have given this advice to one or two 
libraries starting, and it seems to me the best 
way obtainable with the growth of the library, 
and really, with the increase of subjects about 
which books are written, it is about the only 
way by which we can secure a fairly representa- 
tive growth. It does not seem to me unnec- 
essarily detailed work for any library any 
reference library as well as a college library 
to determine beforehand about what proportion 
of book money should go to the different classes 
of literature, and I think that anybody who 
tries it, if they would look back into their 
orders before having such a scheme, would be 
surprised to find how their own personal bias 
or the wishes of certain heads of the book com- 
munity had twisted the appropriation of book 
money. It is this point which I think one of 
the most important in the management of ref- 
erence libraries. 

V. LANSING COLLINS read a paper by ALFRED 
C. POTTER on 

SELECTION OF BOOKS FOR THE COLLEGE LIBRARY. 
(Seep. 39-) 

W. W. BISHOP. I should like to take brief 
issue with the author of the paper on the mat- 
ter of periodicals. It seems to me that his 
statement that the technical periodicals are 
largely of temporary value is far from correct. 
I know certainly there is nothing in my own 
work that I go to with more interest than pe- 
riodical literature of even 50 years ago, to say 
nothing of that of to-day, and I do not believe 
it is of a temporary character. Although the 
demand for books as books is heavy, it seems 
to me the transactions of learned societies and 
information on technical subjects being fre- 
quently found in periodicals, that such periodi- 
cals must come to have a very much larger 
place in the library of the university than they 
have had in the past or even have at the present 
time. 

W. J. JAMES. My own experience is that, 
in general, the professors in chemistry, for in- 



stance, have very little use for periodicals more 
than 10 years old. They consult current num- 
bers, while the professors in philosophy and his- 
tory, and what is called the more liberal de- 
partments, constantly make use of the older 
periodicals, and probably such periodicals are 
of practical use at the present time. But still, 
I do not believe in the cutting off of periodicals. 
The fact Mr. Potter points out has some bear- 
ing, but unfortunately we cannot discriminate; 
there may be 10 volumes or 50 volumes in suc- 
cession that contain little that is wanted, but 
the odd volume is the one that contains the im- 
portant paper, and one must go back to that be- 
cause that paper is not republished. 

C. W. ANDREWS. I would like to say as a 
librarian and as a chemist my training for 15 
years before I went into the library was that of 
a specialist in chemistry that the statement 
that the chemist does not care for books or peri- 
odicals that are over 10 years old seems to me 
so far from true that I must contradict it. My 
work at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology was largely bibliographic, and the prob- 
lems presented were certainly those which re- 
quired the seeking of bibliographic information. 
The people seeking such information went back 
to all sources, and they found almost invariably 
that the makers of the present books had over- 
looked statements and expressions; they would 
find in the older periodicals statements of 
fact which were afterwards reproduced as new 
discoveries. And I think I have, for one, by 
doing such bibliographic work, acquired a bet- 
ter knowledge of the subject than could have 
been obtained in any other way. 

As to the practical side of the question, the 
librarian is concerned in the rather large ex- 
penditure in starting a new library. I asked 
the committee to set aside one-half the funds 
for the purchase of back sets of periodicals and 
one-half the current funds for subscriptions to 
new periodicals. The demand of my readers 
has been for more sets rather than more books. 
In reference work, periodicals are the bone 
of the library, and furnish probably two-thirds 
of the really serious work done in it. 

W. H. AUSTIN. I cannot speak from the 
standpoint of a chemist, but if the experience of 
a librarian counts, I want to say you cannot 
draw any line as to time in periodicals; they 
go as far back as you can get them and 
come down to the present time, and are use- 



162 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



ful, especially in advanced work in the uni- 
versity. A man cannot do a piece of advanced 
work unless he gets at the literature on that 
subject, and if he stops short of everything that 
has been written on the subject he feels he is 
on dangerous ground. And I know from ex- 
perience that men do go back just as far as 
they can on every subject they have to inves- 
tigate, and everything short of complete sets 
of periodicals running back would cripple a 
university library. 

I want to say one word in reference to the 
point Mr. Richardson raised in reference to the 
library council. Mr. Richardson, I take it, 
would try to put a library on the same basis as 
every other department of the university. I do 
not believe it can be put there, because each 
department in the university is, in a measure, 
distinct. The work of each department is car- 
ried on by its own members, and does not in- 
terfere with another department. But the 
work of the university library embraces all 
departments, and I do not think you can clas- 
sify a university library as you classify the 
other departments of the university, because 
its interests are so much more diversified, and 
it is therefore necessary to provide some means, 
as has been outlined in Mr. Harris' remarks, 
and outlined in the paper from Mr. Potter, of 
getting the other departments interested and 
building it .up, and then if the library is thus 
supplemented you have a most perfect division 
of the work. 

W. J. JAMES. There is one point that has 
not been brought out very prominently in the 
consideration of the subject of purchasing pe- 
riodicals : that is, the fact that you can buy al- 
most any book at any time, while the question 
of purchasing periodicals is a very different one, 
and a much more troublesome and expensive 
one, because you cannot supply at will parts of 
sets. So, I think I would buy chemical periodi- 
cals even for the ungrateful chemist. 

Dr. ADLER. I am glad to see the impor- 
tance of the subject is so fully recognized. The 
publication of a scientific paper in a periodical, 
or in the transactions of a learned society, is the 
only proper way in which to issue it. The 
printing of separate papers is nothing but a 
nuisance, and it gives the bibliographer more 
trouble than anything else that is done. There 
is no need of emphasizing the statement that 
the scientific man, the historian, or the theolo- 



gian must work with periodicals and with trans- 
actions of societies. 

I am going to advise again what I advised 
before, and what the librarian of Cornell Uni- 
versity seemed to turn aside as not an impor- 
tant matter. Every university of any size in 
this country is becoming a publishing society ; 
the publications are issued haphazard by cer- 
tain professors ; they are given over to firms 
that have to be paid substantially for publishing 
them, and nobody gets any money out of it for 
the college. If the publication of these works 
was centralized and the publications were sent 
out under the control of the librarian for the 
regulation of exchanges, the whole problem of 
expense for current subscriptions to transac- 
tions of societies and periodicals would be a 
much easier one. I feel quite certain of that, 
because I have seen it tried in two places with 
great success. In Johns Hopkins University 
the publication work and library work have 
gone hand in hand from the first day, and, for 
a new university library it is only 20 or 21 
years old they have a remarkably good col- 
lection. In the library of the Smithsonian In- 
stitution the whole endeavor has been from the 
outset to make it a library of transactions of so- 
cieties and periodicals. That is also true in the 
Royal Society. Almost everything that comes 
in is in exchange for publications sent out. I 
believe, and I think I said last year, that the 
Smithsonian Institution has received books for 
its library, through exchanges, of greater value 
than all the money it has expended in publica- 
tion, which is something over a million of dol- 
lars. I do not say that the librarian should be 
charged with the publications'; there ought to 
be a publication agent of the university; but I 
do say nothing should be sent out by the uni- 
versity that the librarian does not get some- 
thing for. That can be done. 

JAMES C. HANSON. Having encouraged the 
faculty as much as possible towards securing 
transactions of societies and periodicals, I hope 
to see, in the first part of the next century at 
least, some index that will take the place of the 
present cumbersome ones. I think if the inter- 
national scientific index is a success, others of 
that nature will follow it. 

E. C. RICHARDSON. I hope we shall discuss 
a little further the practical matter of the 
method and distribution of funds among the 
departments. Our own method at Princeton 



COLLEGE SECTION. 



'63 



is limited. A committee of the faculty decide 
amongst themselves what each one shall spend 
on that account, and that is supplemented in 
the general departments by the librarian. 

W. P. CUTTER. When I took charge of the 
library of the Department of Agriculture 
which is a reference library and where the 
scientific divisions correspond to the different 
schools in a university I found there had 
been a certain arrangement similar to the one 
indicated. I found also that about March of 
each year our fiscal year ending the 3Oth of 
June probably half of the divisions would 
have spent all their money and the other half 
of the divisions would have spent none of the 
money that was allotted to them. Our pur- 
chases were made from funds where two-thirds 
or three-fourths of the money is spent in buy- 
ing sets of periodicals, and this has been so for 
the last three or four years. Our library is un- 
der the disadvantage that our appropriation on 
the 3Oth of June goes back into the United 
States Treasury and cannot be spent after that. 
Under such circumstances it was absolutely 
necessary that the former plan be abandoned, 
because in March or April it is too late to 
buy books, for they cannot be paid for un- 
der the law. We have no board of trustees, 
and have practically no oversight except the 
head of the department. The plan at present 
is "that each scientific worker in the depart- 
ment not the head of the division, but each 
scientific worker shall present titles of books 
as he desires them, with written reasons for 
their purchase, and special reasons, in case of 
works of large value. I have found that plan 
to work very well. Of course one condition 
exists with us that is not always true of other 
libraries, and that is we have more money than 
we can spend. 

E. C. RICHARDSON. I would like to say a 
word myself, on the matter of distribution of 
funds, because I find myself in somewhat of a 
quandary as to the advisability of continuing 
our plan of distribution of funds. One thought 
that Mr. Potter has brought out in his paper, 
and that has been commonly noted, is that of 
the great irregularity of professors in opposite 
departments taking up their appropriations. 
After an experience of a dozen years with that 
system, which seems to be theoretically very 
good, I find it works so irregularly, and the re- 
sults attained are so far from being what they 



theoretically should be, that I am doubtful 
whether such a plan as has been referred to as 
being in use in the Department of Agriculture 
might not be a good plan for us the plan of 
having the professors send titles of books that 
they would recommend, and that they be from 
time to time informed when and to what extent 
they, in the judgment of the committee, are ex- 
ceeding the proper amount to be spent in that 
department. I am not prepared to say that 
would be better, but I am prepared to say that 
our experience with the other plan has not been 
wholly satisfactory. 

G: W: HARRIS. Some of Mr. Potter's strict- 
ures are not quite true. I think he slightly ex- 
aggerated some instances. In our own case 
our fiscal year ends on July 30. The appro- 
priations to the different departments must be 
taken up by orders for the different amounts 
by June i. Any amount not taken up by 
that date reverts to the library council and 
may be used for general works. It is my prac- 
tice to send out, about the first of May and a 
month before the last orders are due, a notice 
to- the head of each department that he has a 
balance remaining of so much, and unless or- 
ders are handed in to that amount before the 
first of June the orders will be cancelled and the 
amount turned over to the library council. 
And as a result, very few allowances are per- 
mitted to lapse. In very few cases have I had 
difficulty with professors who do not order their 
amount. 

W. H. AUSTIN. I would like to hear some- 
thing upon the point raised by Mr. Potter in 
regard to the duplication of books. 

E. C. RICHARDSON. I understand Mr. Potter 
referred to the wishes of some professors to 
have books multiplied 10 or 50 copies of cer- 
tain books added to the library of the institution. 
Is it proper if the professor is allowed $100 to 
spend for books in a limited time, for him to 
say he would much rather have the library get 
30 copies of one book and spend the $100 on that 
than spend it any other way ? Is that a prop- 
er interpretation to put upon the liberty he has 
to recommend books ? 

G: W: HARRIS. I should say it is not. And, 
frequently, we do deposit from the general li- 
brary sets of periodicals in the different semi- 
nary rooms, but those periodicals are still availa- 
ble for use in the general reading-room, and 
can be drawn out by the general users of the 



164 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



library as any other library book can be drawn. 
It is our general practice to allow each professor 
to order the book he chooses for his collection, 
but each seminary library gets an appropriation 
from the funds of the university for the build- 
ing up of its seminary collection, and the his- 
torical and literary professors apply on the 
ground that large appropriations were made to 
the scientific department for apparatus, and 
these books are to be considered as the appa- 
ratus of the historical and literary departments. 
E. C. RICHARDSON. It was said of library ad- 
ministration that all departments are interested 
in the library in a way in which they are 
interested in no one single department else- 
where. I want to call attention to the fact that 
there is one department in which we are all in- 
terested; in which we are more interested than 
any other, and that is the treasury department. 
But no one would think, as a matter of discre- 
tion, of appointing a committee from each de- 
partment of the faculty to run that department. 
I say the selection of books can be done with 
perfect ease by an organization separate from 
the other departments. A professor should be 
allowed all the books he wants, but they could 
be obtained for him in a much better way than 
by giving the amateur as the professor usual- 
ly is an absolute voting voice in the con- 
sideration of technical matters, in which the 
skilled person is only competent to have a voice. 
H. W. GATES. In regard to this matter of 
duplicates, I can give simply the testimony of 
a comparatively small library, the library of 
the Chicago Theological Seminary. Previous 
to the last two years the faculty had full swing, 
each professor ordering all the books he wanted 
for his department. I find in a very large 
number of cases that different professors have 
had need for a work on special lines and have 
ordered duplicates. With the single exception 
of works on Assyrian texts and in the depart- 
ments of histology and Egyptology, which class 
of books are too expensive to get for the stu- 
dents themselves, in every instance where du- 
plicates have been ordered they have proved of 
temporary value only. We have a choice selec- 
tion of duplicates which we would be glad to 
get rid of to the highest bidder, and it seems to 
me this plan of duplicating a work for temporary 
use is not a wise one. 

V. LANSING COLLINS. On the other hand, I 
can speak of one course in Princeton where we 



duplicate in the library to the number of three 
or four copies at least, year after year. 

G: H. BAKER. I do not think there is much 
occasion for duplicating books for graduating 
students. Ordinarily, all this matter of dupli- 
cation represents material needed for the soph- 
omores and juniors and seniors in a college 
course. In our library we have not, thus far, 
duplicated very largely. Of course, there are 
some historical and literary works of which we 
have duplicate copies of the same issue, but 
we content ourselves by getting different edi- 
tions of the same work. But of course, when 
you come to economics and social sciences and 
history, and you have a class of undergrad- 
uates required to read certain books, we feel 
more strongly the need of supplying those. 
Just at present I have on my desk a list of 
works in American history, of which two or 
three or four copies are desired by the depart- 
ment of history. On the other hand, as far as 
our needs are concerned, no such large dupli- 
cation as I fear takes place sometimes of 
10, 20, or 30 copies would be necessary. 
Of course, we have not so large a body of 
graduates to provide for. My impression is 
that, as a rule, the librarian, if he has author- 
ity as he should have, ought to hedge in and 
restrain this enthusiasm, especially of the 
younger instructors, to get text-books which 
they need. 

I might say a word concerning this matter of 
periodicals and the distribution of funds. We 
felt a good many years ago that what a uni- 
versity library needed was original records, and 
just as far as it has been possible with the 
funds at hand to get those, it has been our ef- 
fort to put the money into such sets. There is 
one thought in this connection, as a mere mat- 
ter of economy in buying, that has not yet been 
alluded to, and that is this: Not a few of the 
recommendations which come to us are for 
papers, monographs on scientific subjects, 
which are nothing but extracts and reprints. I 
suppose the number of reprints and extracts rec- 
ommended to our library for purchase would 
amount to a great many hundreds of dollars. 
Now, these are recommended usually without 
any special knowledge on the part of the officer 
that they are extracts. Of course, if the money 
is limited and he happens to want a paper that 
was issued in 1870 in such a periodical, or is- 
sued as a monograph separately', what he par- 



COLLEGE SECTION. 



165 



ticularly wants at that time is that paper, and 
he dislikes to have his money put into a series 
of volumes of any of those societies which may 
contain much more than he wants, or which 
he does not want as badly as he needs this 
part. I have had some trouble in the past in 
persuading these officers that they should not 
spend their money for these separate extracts, 
and sometimes they complain because the or- 
ders for these are laid aside and they do not 
get them. But I think most of them soon learn 
the wisdom of what is done. Now we have 
taken pains to catalog the sets we have at hand 
and make them available, so far as cataloging 
is concerned. I think you will find in building 
up a library the matter of buying extracts is a 
great waste of money. On the other hand, 
those extracts when they come to us by ex- 
change or gift, on a specific subject, we bind 
together. 

Coming back to the matter of distribution of 
funds and buying periodicals: the things clash. 
If your funds are all distributed around among 
the departments and unfortunately it is a 
small sum when we come to divide it up when 
you come to distribute the sum total available 
among a dozen or 15 or 20 departments, there is 
very little available for a single periodical. We 
have had a varied experience in that matter, 
and while I think we divide up the money as 
much as we have to, we avoid dividing it as 
much as we can. We have on our books at 
present credits to some departments that have 
been there for two years. Then, on the other 
hand, in other departments the money has been 
expended in three months. As a rule, we have 
tried to ignore this division and have put the 
money, where a department left its money un- 
spent for a year or more, in buying something 
which comes reasonably within the scope of 
that department, and by that means get what 
we need. 

W: I. FLETCHER then resumed the chair, and 
C: ALEX. NELSON read his paper on 

A BIT OF CLASSIFICATION : TREATMENT OF HAR- 

VARDIANA BY THE HARVARD CLUB OF 

NEW YORK CITY. 

(Seep. 61.) 

W: I. FLETCHER. This bit of classification 
will interest us all as being an example of en- 
tire freedom in classifying for a special pur- 
pose. It occurred to me when this subject was 



first brought up that it might be useful as sug- 
gesting how we might arrange the publications 
connected with our own institutions, but I think 
we all see at a glance it is almost impossible 
to arrange publications of our graduates on 
this plan unless you have two copies of each, 
because you must feel as I do, that the publi- 
cations of our graduates form an essential part 
of the literature in the library, and we have 
adopted the plan of always putting the first copy 
there. 

W. H. AUSTIN. I would like to ask why you 
adopt the class instead of the alphabetical or- 
der? 

C. A. NELSON. In order to bring out the his- 
torical record. If that was not done you would 
get them out of place historically. By arrang- 
ing by classes, a man coming in 1855, for in- 
stance, wants to know what has been published 
by his classmates, and he goes right to the 
shelves and finds everything connected with his 
class on one shelf. 

W: I. FLETCHER. I have to present a letter 
addressed to myself, personally, from Mr. H. 
L. KOOPMAN, who kindly consented at the last 
moment to give us a few words on 

COLLEGE INSTRUCTION IN BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

I have never tried anything but the most ele- 
mentary instruction, though what I offer is 
called a seminary course. Next year I expect 
to give a course of three hours a week during 
the last term, which will make about 30 lectures. 
For the last two years I have given a course of 
one hour a week during the last two terms of 
the year, but the trouble was that a one-hour 
course did not fit into the general scheme, and 
my classes have been too small, never more 
than five. The change of method will give me 
more pupils, I hope, as well as afford me more 
time to treat the subjects taken up. My sub- 
jects next year will be something as follows : 

Books. 

1. Bibliography Introductory. 

2. Books before printing. 

3. Classic books. 

4. Transmission of ancient books. 

5. Mediaeval books. 

6. Evolution of printing. 

7. Printing. 

8. Binding. 

9. Publishing. 



i66 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



10. Bookselling and Bookbuying. 

11. Authorship. 

12. Reading. 

Preserving the results of reading. 

Reference books. 

Periodicals. 



13. 

14. 
15. 



Libraries. 



1. Ancient libraries. 

2. Mediaeval libraries. 

3. English (Modern). 

4. European (Modern). 

5. American (Modern). 

6. Boston Public Library. 

7. Harvard University Library. 

8. Library of Congress. 

9. Providence Public Library. 

10. The public library movement. 

11. Classification. 

12. Cataloging. 

13. Administration. 

14. Library buildings. 

15. Library's place in education. 

The British Museum Library, or the Bibli- 
otheque Nationale, may be substituted 
for two American libraries. 

The arrangement of my class hour is as fol- 
lows : I first give the titles of the books on the 
subject, showing the books and talking about 
them. As far as possible I confine my list to 
English books. Then I lecture for half an 
hour. Then we have one or two brief topical 
reports from students. Every student is ex- 
pected to write one extended paper, or thesis, 
during the term, and at the close of the term 
there is the regular examination, as in all the 
college classes. 

I have generally had good students, and I 
can say that I have enjoyed giving the course. 
I cannot say how much the students have 
profited by it, but I think they have learned 
something. What I have had in mind is not 
the training of men to be librarians, but to have 
such a general knowledge of books and libra- 
ries as shall help them as students, and be of 
service to themselves and the public if they are 
ever called upon to serve as trustees or on book 
committees of libraries. 

Miss KATHARINE L. SHARP. Instruction in 
library work was taken up by the University of 
Chicago in December, 1896, and several classes 
have been conducted : one class was given at 



Cleveland in December, one class in Geneva, 
111., and another in Aurora. The intention of 
this course was to supply general information 
to outsiders. It was not at all the idea to train 
the librarian or train the assistants. A course 
of 12 lessons was provided: one on library pub- 
lications ; one on library training ; one on the 
American Library Association ; one on state and 
local associations; and it is proposed to follow 
that by three or four lessons on the scope and 
use of reference-books, docketing, indexing, 
dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and practical hand- 
books; and perhaps a talk on bookbinding, etc. 

The methods of the work are those of Uni- 
versity Extension. While the University Ex- 
tension in the University of Chicago is carried 
out in two ways, the class lecture and the class 
study, we have chosen the class study, because 
the lecture plan will take large classes, while 
the class study work will be given if six people 
will support it; that is, by each one paying six 
dollars for the course of 12 lessons, and a 
share of the lecturer's travelling expenses. 
With a class varying from six to 40 in num- 
ber, as we have had, it is quite possible for the 
teacher to come into close class relations with 
the students, and so far as I have heard, the 
results have been satisfactory. The first classes 
were given at Cleveland, and the 40 members 
were all members of Mr. Brett's library, but 
other classes have been made up of members 
of women's clubs and representatives of teach- 
ers, as well as the local librarians and trustees. 
We hope in future that we may be able to re- 
port more progress. 

W: I. FLETCHER. May I ask as a matter of 
information, if there were 40 students in Cleve- 
land who paid six dollars apiece for this instruc- 
tion ? 

Miss SHARP. Yes, sir. 

W: I. FLETCHER. It was very much to their 
credit. 

Miss SHARP. It certainly was. It is also a 
matter of congratulation for Mr. Brett. They 
not only paid the six dollars, but each one paid 
her share of the teacher's travelling expenses. 
The teacher came from Chicago and boarded 
at an expensive hotel, and her expenses were 
paid in this way. It being Christmas week, 
you may understand the students made a sacri- 
fice at that time. 

Dr. ABLER. Inasmuch as both professors 



COLLEGE SECTION. 



167 



and students are absent from this meeting we 
can talk with a little freedom about them. I 
was glad to notice that Mr. Koopman had writ- 
ten a word on the subject of teaching bibliog- 
raphy in universities and colleges, because I 
think it is a very important one. I believe that 
a great many college students do not know how 
to use the books that will help them in their 
work, and I think that some sort of instruction 
ought to be given to them. It would not need 
to be very much; it would not need to be three 
hours a week, by any means. I should think 
that one course in one year, sophomore or 
junior, of 12 hours, would be enough. And I 
think that all post-graduate students I will 
not speak of professors would be very much 
assisted if they were given some instruction in 
what I would consider bibliography in the nar- 
row sense, namely: how to prove when they are 
writing anything, that they had consulted the 
proper .authorities. We all know that many 
publications are lumbered up with unnecessary 
citations. We all know many publications are 
rendered less valuable by the absence of essen- 
tial citations, and we all know to our sorrow 
that most people cite things inaccurately. My 
notion is that the teaching of bibliography 
should have no reference to training librarians 
or librarian assistants, but should teach under- 
graduate students how to learn the resources of 
the library and then teach graduate students 
how to prevent other people from being worried 
by improper citations. 

Mrs. FRANCES H. HESS. I should hope these 
lesser aids could be given in the public schools 
before the boys go into college. If a little 
instruction of this kind could be given in the 
high schools, the freshman and sophomore 
would know about these helps when they en- 
tered college. A superintendent whom I know 
used a little pamphlet published in 1888 on the 
college library as an aid to instruction, and I 
am sure it was of the greatest value to the class 
and in the after-lives of the pupils. 

G: W: HARRIS. In my own work I get the 
class together immediately after they are regis- 
tered in the fall term, and give them a talk on 
the reference library and some of the more im- 
portant reference-books and the way in which 
to use them. That talk occupies about an hour. 
Then in the winter and spring terms they have 
a course of elementary lectures on bibliography, 



which is given for the benefit of those who 
chose to take the course. 

W. W. BISHOP. It appears to me a good 
deal of emphasis has been laid on this matter 
from a wrong point of view. If an instructor 
is good for anything he certainly ought to teach 
his elementary pupils and see that his advanced 
pupils follow out the instructions given them in 
regard to making a citation and how to use ad- 
vanced books with accuracy. It may be that a 
number of instructors in our colleges are not 
keeping up with their duty in this matter, but 
I know in my college course it was one of the 
earliest things laid before me, even as early as 
the freshman year. 

Dr. B. C. STEINER. Even if the instructors 
are competent, I do not think it is their duty to 
give this instruction. For instance, I do not 
think it is the duty of an instructor in history 
or chemistry to call the attention of students 
to the fact of the existence of " Poole's index," 
or that there is such a book in existence as the 
" Encyclopaedia Britannica." I do not exagge- 
rate when I say that three-fourths of each class 
coming to college never heard of " Poole's in- 
dex," and do not know much about the " En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica " beyond the fact they 
see sets of it in store windows, or see advertise- 
ments offering it for sale. There are a few 
general principles for using a library and for 
the characterization of reference-books which 
ought to be made clear by the librarian at the 
beginning of the college course. I know if 
such instruction had been given to me the first 
year I was at college it would have been a very 
valuable thing. I only gained such information 
early in my college course because I prowled 
around the library before the first term was 
over; those that did not prowl around did not 
gain it. It seems to me that no instructor in 
any special branch ought to be forced to bother 
with this general book instruction. After two 
or three general lines of inquiry have been in- 
dicated to the students, however, then comes 
the special case of how to use books in their 
own special line, and here the instructor in any 
line ought to give the men in his class an idea 
of what books, they ought to use, how to get 
at them, and how to use them. 

W. J. JAMES. I have taken our freshmen 
in sections through the library, in the past two 
years, and have talked to each section for one 



i68 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



hour. But I noticed last year from the sta- 
tistics of the use of the library, that that single 
hour of instruction in the use of reference- 
books and the use of the library brought about 
a decided increase in the use of the library by 
the freshmen. Of course, I do not mean that it 
takes the place of the present instruction of the 
individual. But from recollection of my own 
college days I can say that scarcely one man 
out of 10 has any conception of the use of the 
library, and I think such instruction ought to be 
given to the whole class. I was assisted in this 
matter by the instructor who had charge of the 
freshmen's compositions. He would put down 
as one of the subjects to write about "The 
college library and its use," and of course the 
freshmen were obliged to come in and get the 
raw material for their productions. This had 
the result of encouraging a large number of 
them to make some use of the library. 

G: H. BAKER. Almost every year since I 
have been connected with the Columbia Uni- 
versity Library there has been something at- 
tempted toward the instruction of students in 
the use of the library. I think we all agree on 
how important and necessary it is for the stu- 
dents to know something about the library and 
its use, for their own sakes. But the diffi- 
culty is in imparting that knowledge to them. 
If you gave all the freshmen in college a lecture 
of an hour they would come away with a re- 
markably small amount of actual information. 
The subject is too new for them and you are 
obliged to present it too abstractly. I think the 
best thing you can do in the course of an 
hour's talk is to impress on those men that there 
is a good deal that it is important to them to 
know, and that they had better come to you or 
to your assistants in the library and find out the 
details that have been hinted at. From my own 
experience, I think the way to teach young 
men something about bibliography and libraries 
is not so much by lectures as by what is termed 
in other sciences "laboratory work." Get them 
to the library and show them the books and the 
catalog. It is a great deal more practical. I 
could give one man or two or three men more 
information in 15 minutes about how to use the 
library, in the library itself, where there are 
books and catalogs and helps to be shown to 
them, than I could give in half a dozen lectures 
in the class-room. 

Adjournment was taken at 11.50 a.m. 



SECOND SESSION. 
(DREXEL INSTITUTE, FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 25.) 

The College Section was called to order at 
9.10 a.m. by ERNEST C. RICHARDSON, chairman, 
who delivered his address on 

THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST AMONG BOOKS. 
(See p. 45.) 

W: I. FLETCHER then took the chair and de- 
livered his remarks on 

INDEX PROSPECTS AND POSSIBILITIES. 

(Seep. 61.) 
Dr. CYRUS ADLER spoke on 

THE LONDON INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON A 

CATALOG OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

(Seep. 58.) 

W: I. FLETCHER. One important matter has 
not been mentioned by Dr. Adler. The Royal 
Society in working towards this date, 1900, for 
the beginning of the new index, has undertaken 
not only to bring its present catalog up to 
that date but to produce an alphabetical sub- 
ject index up to that date. Mr. Foster, secre- 
tary of the Society, assures me of this. 

Four speakers Dr. J: S. BILLINGS, G: H. 
BAKER, C. W. ANDREWS, and Miss NINA E. 
BROWNE had been appointed to speak upon 
the next subject, 

CO-OPERATIVE PRINTING OF ANALYTICAL REFER- 
ENCES. 

Dr. BILLINGS. The immediate proposition 
which brings me before you is an arrange- 
ment, which has been practically completed, 
between the library of Columbia University, 
New York, the John Crerar Library, Chicago, 
the Boston Public Library, and the New York 
Public Library, with the general understanding 
that the library of Harvard University would 
join, to prepare an analytical catalog indexing 
certain serials, including periodicals, transac- 
tions of societies, papers issued by societies, 
etc. , such as are not covered by ' ' Poole's index ," 
and which are not likely to be covered by the 
international scientific index, concerning which 
Dr. Adler has spoken. As the scheme was 
elaborated between the librarians of these 
different libraries, it was provided that each 
library should select certain journals or seri- 
als, which it would analyze or index for 



COLLEGE SECTION. 



169 



itself in any case, and should furnish to the 
other libraries participating, copies of the in- 
dex cards or slips. It was agreed that these 
should be printed and that an arrangement 
should be made for their exchange, either by 
having them all printed at one place and the 
cost divided, or having an exchange of a certain 
number of slips between the libraries. The 
details have been deferred until we could 
obtain estimates as to the cost of doing the 
work in the different ways. It was then sug- 
gested that there were other libraries that 
would be glad to obtain copies of these index 
slips, and that some arrangement ought to be 
made by which they could obtain them. I have 
received a letter from Miss Browne, written at 
the request of Mr. Lane, of the Boston Athenae- 
um, saying that this work is valuable, and 
that, should it be extended to a larger number 
of libraries, the Publishing Section of the A. L. 
A. would like to undertake the publication of 
the cards in order to make it possible for other 
libraries, unable to co-operate in cataloging, to 
purchase them to a limited extent. 

As to the character of the literature which is 
to be analyzed or indexed by the four or five 
libraries that have thus far agreed to co-op- 
erate in the work, I have indicated in a general 
way the class of publications not indexed by 
Poole or any such index as that of the Review 
of Reviews. But publications relating to the 
mathematical, physical, and natural sciences, 
such as are distinctly taken up by the interna- 
tional co-operative index under the direction of 
the Royal Society, will not be included. There 
remains, however, a very considerable mass of 
publications which are of great interest and 
value, including for example a large part of phi- 
lology the inclusion of which will depend upon 
the decision of the organizing committee for 
the international scientific index as to wheth- 
er or not they will include philology or what 
portion of philology they will include in their 
index periodicals relating to philology and 
history, historical societies for example, and 
genealogical publications and papers ; also so- 
ciology, economics, transportation, statistics 
relating thereto, finance and so on, all of which 
are matters on which it is very desirable a large 
library should be able to inform its readers as 
to the latest discussions and papers contained 
in periodicals or the transactions of societies 
specially devoted to those subjects. 



As a preliminary matter, Mr. Andrews, of the 
John Crerar Library, prepared a memorandum 
of those publications which it was proposed to 
index or analyze in that library. Mr. Baker, of 
Columbia University, prepared a similar list of 
those which he analyzed, and Mr. Putnam pre- 
pared a list of those which the Boston Public 
Library was prepared to take, the latter desir- 
ing especially to cover the subject of geogra- 
phy. Altogether, it seems that we may start in 
a modest way by each library taking about 30 
journals, the indexing of which is not very 
much work. Each library will undoubtedly 
want to index or analyze certain details which 
the other libraries will not care about, and this 
plan is not in the slightest degree calculated to 
interfere with their doing so. 

It does not seem worth while to go into finan- 
cial details now nor to read the list of journals 
proposed to be indexed. When ready we shall 
publish, through the Library Journal or by 
special circular, a list of the journals we are 
proposing to have indexed, and also such in- 
formation as we can obtain as to the cost of 
obtaining this service. I presume that if 15 or 
20 libraries wanted all these titles, the cost 
would certainly not exceed one cent per card. 
Some libraries would want two cards for each 
article, in order to arrange one under the name 
of the author and one under the subject. Most 
libraries, I think, would only want one card. 
But suppose only 10 libraries want all the titles, 
"and that several other libraries do not want all 
but want selections ; that will involve raising 
the cost, so that it may possibly reach a cent 
and a half. For the five libraries that have 
gone into this plan, if they provide for them- 
selves alone, it would cost probably between a 
cent and a half and a cent and a quarter per 
card. This brings up the question which each 
librarian and board of trustees will do well to 
consider. It is for them to say to what extent 
they will receive index cards of certain jour- 
nals, and whether they wish to obtain index 
cards for serials which they do not receive. 
They must decide, for instance, whether they 
wish to pay $60 a year for a set of cards index- 
ing a number of serials on banking, statistics, 
sociology, philology, etc., of which they are 
getting perhaps but half a dozen volumes, 
simply to show those who consult their cata- 
logs where this information might be had. 
How far it is well to spend your money in fur- 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



nishing a list of what you have not got, instead 
of attempting to furnish readers with satisfac- 
tory information on what you have, is a ques- 
tion of management for each library. The 
libraries of the great universities and the great 
libraries of large cities are the places to which 
investigators and scholars come for informa- 
tion in special research, and I think it is quite 
clear it will be important to those libraries to 
take just as many of these series of index cards 
as possible. 

Is it worth while for other libraries to make 
these subscriptions ? That is a question to be 
left to each individual library. All I can say is 
my own individual opinion, that if I were in 
charge of a library in a small town a lending 
library of about 16,000 volumes and if I 
wanted to keep up the interest of my people in 
that library, I would do the very best I could 
for it. I would take the principal journals, 
selecting them as carefully as I could with ref- 
erence to the wants and needs of the community, 
and I would have those journals indexed within 
24 hours of the time of their arrival at the li- 
brary. I would not wait for " Poole's in- 
dex " to come five or six or seven years after- 
wards. 

It is urged in favor of co-operation and of 
putting matters into the hands of a central body 
or bureau, that you can diminish the expense to 
the individual libraries. Trustees are told that 
if they will subscribe to a publication fund or 
subscribe liberally for an index they will not 
need so many catalogers and will be able to cut 
down their force. That is a kind of argument 
that I object to. But I believe it is a very good 
thing to do work that will be for the benefit not 
only of your individual library or yourself, but 
for the benefit of other libraries and other 
people. 

E. C. RICHARDSON. The question of the di- 
vision of the field between the index planned by 
the Royal Society and that of which Dr. Billings 
speaks is as yet entirely open and must be studied 
with care. In regard to what Dr. Billings has 
said of libraries smaller than 40,000 or 50,000 
volumes, it would be a question with us whether 
we could afford to pay $60 for these cards. But 
suppose we had also to pay $50 to the Royal 
Society, I would expect to go before our board 
of trustees and urge that this be paid from the 
fund given to the college for the purpose of 
paying for the cataloging work of the library. 



This fund, of about $300, was left as an endow- 
ment for that purpose, and the gentleman who 
gave it knew of no way of furnishing readers 
with a guide except by the old way of catalog- 
ing employing some one to catalog. It would 
be perfectly legitimate that some of that money 
should be appropriated, if needed, to purchas- 
ing these cards. 

G: H. BAKER. After what Dr. Billings has 
said about the general scope of this undertak- 
ing, very little remains for me to say. In our 
library we look upon periodical articles and the 
publications of learned societies in the same 
way we look upon individual books or pam- 
phlets ; that is, each must be treated from a 
library standpoint and cataloged as a biblio- 
graphic entry. As it stands, it must be indexed 
with as much care as if it were a book, and the 
entries, such as they are, must be prepared so 
that they can be put into our catalog with its 
hundreds of thousands of cards and take their 
place without lack of harmony. This we do 
because these publications are of much impor- 
tance as bibliographic items, outside of their 
existence as part of a periodical publication. If 
we can do this by co-operation it is a most 
desirable thing to do. One reason why so 
many co-operative schemes have failed is owing 
to the cards themselves. They suited some 
ideal scheme, perhaps, but did not suit any par- 
ticular library, or where they suited one library 
they did not suit others. If a card is not fairly 
uniform with our other cards in size, and above 
all in mechanical execution, it is of no use to 
us ; it must be a card that will go into our 
general catalog and be serviceable. 

There are a large body of institutions hav- 
ing substantially the same material to catalog 
month by month and week by week, and 
therefore the material to be cataloged is uni- 
form. There must be, then, first, uniformity 
in size, and then general uniformity in the plan 
of the catalog and in the accuracy and detail 
of the cataloging. If we fail in those particu- 
lars the work will not be satisfactory. If we 
can agree on making a high grade of catalog, 
the financial details, I am sure, can be settled 
through the Publishing Section. But without 
referring to details, I want to emphasize the 
thought that those who are engaged in co- 
operating with us, by purchase or otherwise, 
must insist that thoroughly good work be done 
in this indexing. 



COLLEGE SECTION. 



171 



C. W. ANDREWS. As to the question of 
economy, we will agree with Dr. Billings in rep- 
rehending any attempt to cut down individual 
library cataloging, yet we can also look on the 
question of economy from the other side and 
say that with the same expenditure of money, 
which may be the maximum of the funds of the 
library, we can do five or 10 times as much 
work in this way as we could separately, and 
that point I think Mr. Baker did not sufficiently 
dwell upon. The fact is, all these five libra- 
ries are doing more or less many of them 
a great deal more of this work already than 
they could do separately. It is a question 
of doing more work, and perhaps doing it in 
rather prompter and more systematic fashion. 
In regard to the question of the selection of the 
sets to be cataloged and the character of the 
entries to be made, there is some little differ- 
ence of opinion. My own opinion is more in 
line with that of Mr. Baker : that the entries 
should contain full bibliographical information ; 
that they should be available to perfect the or- 
dering of reprints ; and that in general they 
should take up all those serial publications 
which have separate title-pages. 

Dr. Billings has given you his figures in very 
brief form. I may say they are almost identi- 
cal with those obtained by me from carefully 
prepared estimates submitted by the printer of 
the John Crerar Library and by the branch of 
the Library Bureau in Chicago, which has ex- 
pressed a desire to be allowed to compete. 
Both agree in putting the charge for printing, 
arranging, and mailing but not for postage or 
express charges at 15 cents per title. The 
cards are almost the same ; one asks four 
cents ; the other four and seven-tenths cents 
for two cards for each title of 10 lines. The 
postage may be estimated at one cent. It 
would seem better to begin with a small num- 
ber of periodicals and work up ; to take those 
which are strictly analytical and add to them 
such periodicals as are afterwards found to be 
desired by the libraries co-operating. 

Three separate suggestions have been made 
for the printing. The original suggestion was 
that we should each employ our own printer 
and simply exchange cards. That would be 
simple, but there would be some danger of con- 
fusion of type, and of possible discrepancies in 
arrangement, so we decided to try to find some 
central printing office. The Boston Public Li- 



brary is considering at present whether it will 
offer us facilities in its printing-room. Should 
it undertake the work for us, it would be in 
place of furnishing titles, and the cost to it is 
estimated at a very much lower sum than has 
been stated here, the work being done by lino- 
type. The third proposition, which has only 
recently come up and of which Miss Browne 
will speak, is that the Publishing Section should 
do the work for us. If they do it, there will 
have to be some alterations made in the plan. 
They would want to make some compensation 
for the libraries which furnish titles, as against 
those which simply subscribe. However, I 
agree with Mr. Baker that this part of the sub- 
ject is the one offering the fewest difficulties. 
The real question comes on the point whether 
the libraries are willing to sink minor differ- 
ences; to waive minor points of opinion as to 
what is desirable; and, in this way, to secure a 
very much larger use of their periodical sets, 
and a very desirable increase in the efficiency 
of their cataloging work. 

Miss N. E. BROWNE. Dr. Billings stated in 
reply to a letter I wrote to him some time ago 
in regard to the Publishing Section's taking up 
this work, that he wished it to undertake the 
work so that other libraries might have the 
benefit of it. Mr. Lane, before leaving for Eu- 
rope, obtained some estimates which were not 
satisfactory to him, although they do not vary 
much from those already given. Since his de- 
parture I have not been able to make any defi- 
nite arrangement, but I have a letter from him, 
saying that when he returns he feels sure he 
will be able to make some arrangement by 
which the Publishing Section can do this work 
satisfactorily for the five libraries, and at the 
same time offer other libraries the privilege of 
selecting cards for the publications each libra- 
ry desires. 

THORVALD SOLBERG. If this work is done 
by the Publishing Section, has it taken into con- 
sideration how far private students will be al- 
lowed to subscribe for all titles relating to any 
particular subject or any particular number of 
subjects ? 

E. C. RICHARDSON. That is a question that 
seems quite important in connection with how 
this work should be done. If it is done by 
exchanging among the different libraries them- 
selves, it would be very difficult to take sub- 
scriptions from individuals or from other libra- 



172 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



ries, as there would be new subscriptions coming 
in all the time. The Publishing Section would 
manage it in such a way that subscriptions 
could be received from any one, individual or 
library, for any number of the cards at reasona- 
ble cost. 

W. J. JAMES. Is it understood that these 
titles shall be printed on cards of a uniform 
size, or are they of various sizes, and will any 
copies be printed on thin paper? 

C. W. ANDREWS. The Boston Public Li- 
brary is willing to waive its peculiar needs and 
accept the full-sized card of the A. L. A. We 
should print them in such a way that it would 
be perfectly possible to cut off the lower third 
and allow libraries that use that size to do so. 

HERBERT FRIEDENWALD then delivered his 
remarks on 

THE CARE OF MANUSCRIPTS. 

(Seep. 52.) 

The Committee on Organization submitted 
the following : 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION OF 
COLLEGE SECTION. 

After consultation with the president of the 
Association, your Committee on Organization 
and Nomination beg leave to submit the follow- 
ing report : 

To secure the best results in this branch of 
our discussions, it is deemed best to keep this 



branch organization of such a character that any 
member of the Association, who feels his work 
comes in this division, shall have the full privi- 
lege of taking part in the discussions of this 
Section. 

To this end we have decided to nominate for 
your consideration a committee of three, whose 
duty it shall be to provide a suitable program 
for the next conference and to confer with the 
Executive Board or Program Committee of the 
Association to arrange for a proportionate place 
on the general program of the conference. 

We would nominate for such a committee E. 
C. Richardson, G. W. Harris, W. E. Foster. 

Also, since the committee has been requested 
to suggest a name for this Section, we would 
report that we can find no better name, which 
seems comprehensive enough to define the 
character of the topics to be discussed by this 
Section, than that already in use, viz., College 
and Reference Library Work. 

WILLARD AUSTIN, 
OLIVE B. JON.ES, . - 
CLEMENT W. ANDREWS. 

The report was adopted. 

Owing to lack of time the paper by WILBER- 
FORCE EAMES on 

THE CARE OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS 

was read by title and ordered printed. 

(Seep. 48.) 
Adjournment was taken at 11.40 a.m. 



TRUSTEES' SECTION. 



173 



TRUSTEES' SECTION OF THE A. L. A. 



'T'HE Trustees' Section held two meetings in 
connection with the Philadelphia confer- 
ence. The first meeting was called to order in 
the auditorium of the Drexel Institute at 10 a.m. 
on Wednesday, June 23, by George A. Mac- 
beth, chairman, E. H. Anderson being ap- 
pointed secretary. There were present the fol- 
lowing trustees : 

Col. Weston Flint, Public Library, Washing- 
ton, D. C. ; J: M. Glenn, Mercantile Library, 
Baltimore, Md. ; F. J. Hoag, Public Library, 
Toledo, O. ; A. F. Hostetter, Normal School 
Library, Lancaster, Pa. ; Hugh T. Kelly, Public 
Library, Toronto, Ont. ; W. C. Kimball, Free 
Public Library, Passaic, N. J. ; G. A. Mac- 
beth, Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, Pa. ; T. 
Guilford Smith, University of the State of New 
York, Buffalo, N. Y.; Charles C. Soule, Public 
Library, Brookline, Mass. ; C. W. Vandervort, 
Public Library, Peoria, 111. 

The following were present as librarians as 
well as trustees : E. H. Anderson, Carnegie 
Free Library, Pittsburgh, Pa. ; Miss E. G. 
Browning, Public Library, Indianapolis, Ind. ; 
A. C. Herzog, Free Public Library, Bayonne, 
N. J. ; T. L. Montgomery, Free Libraries of 
Philadelphia. 

On account of their experience and knowledge 
of A. L. A. affairs, and as representing the 
main body of the Association, the following 
were present at the invitation of the chairman : 
W. H. Brett, president; H. L. Elmendorf, vice- 
president; R. P. Hayes, secretary; Dr. J. S. 
Billings, F. M. Crunden, Melvil Dewey, W. I. 
Fletcher, and J. N. Larned. 

The chairman briefly outlined the shadowy 
basis on which the Trustees' Section had been or- 
ganized, with no definite purpose and no definite 
relation to the general Association. He stated 
that there was no use trying to get trustees, who 
were largely business men, to take an interest in 
and attend meetings of the Trustees' Section un- 
less there was a definite object in view, and unless 
they could be, in some way, of real service in 
aiding the work of the general Association. It 
had occurred to him that there was one thing 
which the Trustees' Section could appropriately 
do, viz., raise money to carry on the work of 
the Publishing Section. He thought there ought 



to be a definite relation between these two sec- 
tions, and that the Trustees' Section should be 
authorized by the A. L. A. to organize for some 
such specific purpose. 

Mr. Soule began his remarks by emphasizing 
the fact that trustees ought to send their libra- 
rians to the A. L. A. meetings. He did not 
think trustees generally realized how important 
it was to a library that its librarian should at- 
tend these annual meetings, listen to the dis- 
cussions and compare methods. He said that 
money was certainly needed for the Publishing 
Section, and the Trustees' Section could not do 
better than turn its energies in this direction. 
He thought money was also needed for a paid 
secretary of the A. L. A. 

The chairman then called upon Mr. Fletcher, 
as representing the Publishing Section, to give 
an account of the work of that Section. Mr. 
Fletcher stated that the work consisted chiefly of 
co-operative cataloging and indexing, and men- 
tioned the indexes and annotated catalogs which 
had been issued by the Section. He stated that 
the sales from publications did not cover the ex- 
pense of issuing them, and it was necessary, if 
the work of the Section should go on, that they 
should have financial assistance from some quar- 
ter. He estimated that these catalogs and in- 
dexes saved at least two-thirds of the expense 
which would be involved if each library under- 
took to make them for its own use on cards, or 
otherwise. In other words, the Publishing Sec- 
tion saved a large amount of money for every 
library which bought its publications. He 
thought that its work should be subsidized by 
libraries or their trustees. 

Mr. Smith suggested subscriptions, classified 
according to the size of the libraries. 

Mr. Elmendorf said that libraries could aid 
the Publishing Section by taking more copies of 
its publications. 

Mr. Larned spoke in favor of the establishing 
of a publication society, distinct from the A. L. 
A., somewhat after the manner of the publica- 
tion societies in England. 

Mr. Dewey advocated getting subscriptions 
from libraries, which he said was the method 
used for raising money for the Publishing Sec- 
tion in the beginning. 



174 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



Mr. Flint spoke of the great saving to libra- 
ries from the co-operative work of the Publish- 
ing Section. Whenever you can show a trustee 
that he can save $ro by subscribing $i, he will 
do it every time. Trustees only need to know 
what is done and what can be done. 

Mr. Kimball said that if you wanted money 
from trustees you must tell them exactly what 
it was wanted for. Mr. Kelly also spoke for 
definiteness; he said he was present as the rep- 
resentative of his board, and was expected to 
report what the Trustees' Section stood for. 

Mr. Brett thought that next year each library 
should be urged to send a trustee as delegate to 
the A. L. A. conference. Mr. Crunden spoke 
for a special trustees' meeting, distinct from the 
A. L. A. meeting ; he thought that trustees 
could raise money as librarians cannot. Mr. 
Elmendorf thought that more trustees ought to 
become members of the A. L. A. 

Dr. Billings suggested that the practical thing 
to do was to call a special meeting of trustees 
say in New York next winter. Many of the 
trustees are away during the summer and can- 
not attend the regular A. L. A. meetings. He 
suggested that a committee be appointed at 
this meeting to arrange for a winter meeting. 

Mr. Glenn said he wanted to meet when the 
librarians met, for he did not get much inspira- 
tion from the meetings of the Trustees' Section. 

The chairman said we could not get trustees 
to meet without a specific purpose. 

Mr. Soule moved that a committee of three 
be appointed by the chair to report a plan of 



action at a special meeting to be called the fol- 
lowing afternoon. The motion was carried, 
and the chair appointed C. C. Soule, T. G. 
Smith, and J. M. Glenn. 

Mr. Kimball then moved that adjournment 
be taken, the Section to meet the following 
afternoon at two o'clock, at the Aldine Hotel. 
Voted. 

The adjourned meeting of the Section was 
held in one of the parlors of the Aldine Hotel, 
at two o'clock p.m., June 24. 

There were present G. A. Macbeth, J. S. Bil- 
lings, Weston Flint, C. C. Soule, W. C. Kimball, 
C. R. Vandervort, T. J. Hoag, H. T. Kelly, and 
Miss E. G. Browning. Mr. Macbeth occupied the 
chair, and Mr. Kelly was appointed secretary 
of the meeting. 

Mr. Soule presented to the meeting the re- 
port of the sub-committee appointed on the 
previous day, and in accordance with the rec- 
ommendation contained in that report it was 
decided to elect now a chairman of the Trus- 
tees' Section. 

It was moved by Mr. Soule and seconded by 
Mr. Hoag that the Hon. T. Guilford Smith, of 
Buffalo, be chairman of this Section, and that 
he have power to appoint an executive commit- 
tee of three or five persons (in his discretion) 
and a secretary. Voted. 

It was moved by Mr. Soule and seconded by 
Mr. Kimball that a meeting of trustees be 
called by the chairman, to be held in New York 
in the coming winter. Voted. 

The meeting then adjourned. 



FARR. 



THE SOCIAL SIDE OF THE CONFERENCE. 

BY MARY P. FARR. 



PHILADELPHIA was decked in her gayest 
attire on Monday, June 21, 1897; flags were 
flying from all her public buildings, and red, 
white, and blue bunting hung in festoons from 
the windows. Whether this was in honor of the 
A. L. A. or of the Saengerfesters, who arrived 
the same day, we do not say. The whole city 
was a whirl of bustle and excitement ; stran- 
gers poured in from all parts of the country and 
scattered to all parts of the city. The Aldine 
Hotel was monopolized by the members of the 
A. L. A., who straggled in from early in the 
morning until the last minute before the recep- 
tion of the evening. 

Monday evening was one of those rare occa- 
sions on which the presence of ladies was per- 
mitted in the rooms of the exclusive Historical 
Society. The crowd soon filled the rooms to 
their utmost and overflowed into the small but 
quaint garden, radiant with Japanese lanterns 
hung in every conceivable spot. Here at every 
turn, in sheltered nooks and in corners of the 
piazza, one came upon groups of twos and 
threes, all chatting most energetically. New 
acquaintances were formed and old ones re- 
newed. In vain we tried to remember the 
names, faces, and cities of every one we met. 
After a few brief addresses of welcome we were 
ushered into the library, where the high, mas- 
sive bookcases made an impressive back- 
ground for the resplendent feast set forth. 
Here tongues were let loose once again and 
the talking became more vigorous. In the wee 
sma' hours we parted with the feeling that we 
would see much of one another during the 
week, but alas! in the busy days that followed, 
in spite of the numerous social affairs, we met 
again only for a hurried word, but the remem- 
brance of that first night will always be with us. 

Tuesday evening's program was introduced 
with music at Horticultural Hall. As soon as 
the speeches of the evening were over, the floor 
was rapidly cleared for the dancing which fol- 
lowed. Much to our disappointment, however, 
that delightful two-step, " El Capitan," was 
played when the crowd was passing out, and 
there was no chance to dance; nevertheless, " a 



great deal of dancing was accomplished in a 
very small space." 

Wednesday afternoon Chestnut street was the 
scene of a strange spectacle coaches and ve- 
hicles of all sizes and description filled the 
street for blocks and blocks below the Aldine. 
People feared that a new show had come to 
invade the quiet of Chestnut street, and were 
relieved to find it was only "those librarians" 
going on a coaching party. We were aristo- 
cratic enough to boast three tally-hos, with 
bugles, gayly-colored parasols, and everything 
complete. Old omnibuses and picnic coaches 
were called into use. Two old horse-cars set 
on high wheels were borrowed from the Union 
Traction Company for the occasion. 

This motley caravan wended its way through 
the streets of Philadelphia, followed by vocifer- 
ous cheers from the urchins on the sidewalk. 
Along the River Drive of East Fairmount Park 
we passed and by the side of the Wissahickon 
Creek. Words are not needed to describe that 
drive when one sees the pictures the photog- 
raphers took upon the occasion. Mr. Straw- 
bridge had kindly invited us to take tea at his 
delightful home in Germantown. One of the 
drivers stupidly supposed that we wished to 
take the shortest cut there and led seven or 
eight coaches out of their way. Had it not 
been for the guidance of a member on a bicycle 
who discovered the mistake, a number of our 
party would have missed the prettiest parts of 
the Wissahickon drive. The whole caravan 
was soon drawn up before the Indian Rock 
Hotel, viewing the Indian but failing to see the 
rock. They were not together long, however, 
for again, owing to the stupidity of the driver, 
or perhaps the slowness of the horses this time, 
two portions of the party were lost in entirely 
different directions. One took a long circuit 
through Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill. To tell 
where the other portion wandered will be im- 
possible, for they did not know themselves. 
Meantime the leaders of the van went on the 
right road, stopped at Wissahickon Inn by the 
way, and reached Mr. Strawbridge's residence 
in due season. Finally the two lost parties found 



i 7 6 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



each other and reached Mr. Strawbridge's some 
time after the others arrived and too late to 
grace the picture for the frontispiece of the 
Library Journal. An appetizing supper was 
spread on the lawn in the most delightful and 
picturesque manner. The members of the 
A. L. A. put the finishing touches to this scene, 
a few glimpses of which our photographer has 
saved for us. A stroll was made through the 
grounds, and a visit was paid to the spotless 
stables where not a wisp of hay was out of 
place. After thanking Mr. and Mrs. Straw- 
bridge for their hospitality we sought our car- 
riages for the homeward journey, the highest 
seats being secured first. 

A circuit of West Fairmount Park was made 
on the way home, passing through picturesque 
Chamounix and around Belmont Mansion. A 
pause was made in front of the mansion to view 
the park and city, which stretched out in a long 
vista beneath us. The coaches wound around 
Horticultural Hall and Memorial Hall, that all 
the party might have the pleasure of seeing the 
gardens there laid out. 

A card was found in one of the tally-hos 
we will not say whose name it bore lest the 
owner should claim it with this inscription on 

the back : 

" Hip Hoo Ray 
Phil-a-del-phi-a ! 
Twenty-first Annual 
A. L. A." 

Eight o'clock was the time set for the concert 
of Wednesday evening. As the coaching party 
did not break up until that hour, no one reached 
the Drexel Institute until nine, and many much 
later. The music furnished by Mr. Dickinson, 
Mr. Moulton, and Mr. Kroeger was most en- 
joyable. A reception, with dancing in the 
central court, followed. These dissipations 
proved almost too much for one day's pleasure, 
and the festivities of the evening ceased at the 
early hour of II. 

The entire program of Thursday which 
should have extended into the evening was 
crowded into the day, so that the dignified 
A. L. A. might indulge in a trolley ride to Wil- 
low Grove Park. Staid and sober Chestnut 
street witnessed another gay scene on Thurs- 
day evening. The curbstone on either side of 
the street was lined with librarians patiently 
awaiting the arrival of the cars. A shout of joy 
went up from the crowd when " America," radi- 



ant within and without with red, white, and 
blue lights, turned the corner. Three other cars 
followed with no mark of distinction but the 
little sign " Special car." " Monitor," all decked 
in white, brought up the rear. It was a jolly 
party that whirled along the old York Road, 
causing much consternation among the horses 
and furnishing much amusement to the picnic 
parties that were on the return. 

A rush was made to the merry-go-round on our 
arrival at the park. The " shoot-the-chutes," 
the biograph, the scenic railway soon held none 
but librarians. One young lady asked if some 
one would not please go in the biograph first 
and tell her if the pictures were proper for an 
A. L. A. member to gaze upon. We never 
heard whether that young lady saw the bio- 
graph afterwards, but we hope she did. A 
small but select few preferred the music of 
Damrosch to these frivolities. The electrical 
fountain assumed all sorts of fantastic shapes 
and variegated colors at the most unexpected 
intervals. Here and there a tree appeared 
dotted with many-colored lights, giving a fairy- 
like appearance to the scene. Everywhere the 
librarians found something new to enjoy until 
the arrival of our cars, which came all too soon. 
Nonsense verses and college songs thoroughly 
enlivened the journey home. Of jingles like 
the following, one car seemed to have a never- 
ending supply : 

" There was a young lady named Nell, 
Who considered herself quite a belle, 
She sat on the sand 
And squeezed her own hand 
And never discovered the sell." 

Could the reading public but see that impos- 
ing organization, the American Library Associa- 
tion, on an occasion like this, they might be able 
to realize that librarians really know how to 
throw themselves into enjoyment with as much 
freedom and abandon as boys or girls. 

Whenever we pass the Aldine we think of 
that too short happy week when the A. L. A. 
were our guests. The remembrance of those 
days, and the lively chats we held with libra- 
rians from the other end of the country, make 
us feel that Georgia and Louisiana, Montana 
and Colorado, are not so far away after all, 
while the "Librarians" corner of the Library 
Journal, and the " Notes by the way" of Public 
Libraries, still keep us in touch with them all. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL EXHIBIT. 



177 



CATALOG OF BIBLIOGRAPHICAL EXHIBIT, PHILADELPHIA, 

JUNE 21-25, l8 97- 



A SPECIAL collection of rare bindings, il- 
~^^ luminated manuscripts, and other biblio- 
graphical treasures was gathered together under 
the auspices of the Pennsylvania Library Club. 
The exhibit was displayed by permission of the 
trustees of the Drexel Institute in the spacious 
rooms of that institution. A list of the interest- 
ing rarities thus collected by the officers of the 
library club is given below, as it is believed that 
a permanent record of the pieces displayed on 
that occasion will be of general interest. 

AMERICANA. 

From the Collection of the Hon. Samuel W. 
Pennypacker. 

BARLOW, JOEL. The Columbiad : a poem. 
Philadelphia : Fry & Kammerer. 1807. 410. 
The finest specimen of American bookmaking up to 
that time. 

BIBLIA, das ist : Die Heilige Schrift Altes und 
Neues Testaments. Germantown : Gedruckt 
bey Christoph Saur. 1743. 4to. 

The first Bible printed in America in a European 
language. 

BIBLE, The Holy, containing the Old and New 
Testaments. Philadelphia : Printed by R. 
Aitken. 1782. 2 vols., I2mo. 

The first English Bible printed in America. 

BRAGHT, T. J. van. Der Blutige Schau-Platz, 
oder Martyrer Spiegel der Tauffs-Gesinnten. 
Ephrata : Drucks und Verlags der Brueder- 
schaft. 1748. Folio. 

This is the celebrated Ephrata Martyr Book, "the 
greatest literary production of America," and the 
largest book issued from the Ephrata press. 

CATALOGUE of all the books printed in the 
United States up to 1804. I2mo. 

A very rare pamphlet. Of the titles here given, 335 
were published at Philadelphia, 313 at Boston, and 189 
at New York. 

Ein CHRISTLICHES Gesang-Buch. Manuscript. 
1760. Folio. 

The hymn-book of the Schwenkfelders is the best 
specimen of their manuscripts known to those familiar 
with the subject. It was written by one of their minis- 
ters, Hoffman, between 1758 and 1760, in Pennsylvania, 
and was bound there. 

Ein GEISTLICHES Magazien. Germantown : 
Gedruckt bey Christoph Saur. 1764. 8vo. 

Nos. i to 50 of the earliest American religious maga- 
zine, containing the earliest American essay upon 
school teaching. 

HvMN-Book from the Ephrata Cloister. Man- 
uscript. 1745. Folio. 

A beautifully written and illuminated manuscript 
volume, containing the music to the " Weyrauchs- 
Hugelj" infra. One of the latest specimens of manu- 
script illumination. 



LAWS of the Province of Pennsylvania. Phila- 
delphia : Printed by Andrew Bradford. 1728. 
Folio. 

The second compilation of the Laws of Pennsylvania. 
The interest of this book is enhanced by the blank 
leaves inserted by the original owner, which are of 
paper made at the Rittenhouse paper-mill on the Wissa- 
hickon, the first in America. 

LINCOLN, Abraham. Ms. fee-book of the firm 
of Lincoln & Herndon, 1847. 

MUHLENBERG, Frederick Augustus. Original 
ms. of an unpublished book. Folio. 

F. A. Muhlenberg was President of the First Con- 
gress of the U. S. 

PAMPHLETS on Electricity. Collection of four 
pamphlets on electricity. 8vo. 

This is Benjamin Franklin's own collection, and the 
titles are indexed on the fly-leaf in his own handwriting. 
The pamphlets are filled with references to Franklin s 
discoveries, and one of the pamphlets was presented to 
him by the author, who calls him Father of electricity. ' 

PARADISISCHES Wunder-Spiel. Ephratae: Sump- 
tibus Societatis. 1754. Folio. 

This Paradisiacal Wonder Play is a hymn-book of 
the Ephrata cloister, containing 726 hymns of a very 
mystical character, of which 441 were written by Johann 
Conrad Beissel (1690-1768), who organized the sect of 
Seventh-day Baptists, and subsequently the semi-mo- 
nastic " Order of the Solitary," at Ephrata, about twenty 
miles from Reading, Pennsylvania. The text begins 
on the reverse of the title, each page containing' usually 
six lines of type, every two lines being divided by 
spaces of three inches, which are occupied by manu- 
script musical notes for four voices. The end of each 
musical phrase is marked by more or less elaborate 
penwork in two or three colors, amounting sometimes 
to an illumination, generally in the shape of a floral de- 
sign. This was the work of sisters of the society 
specially appointed for that duty. See the Weyrauchs- 
Hiigel, in/r*. 

PASTORIUS, Franz Daniel. Disputatio inaugu- 
ralis de Rasura Documentorum pro Licen- 
tia Summos in utroque jure Honores ac 
Privilegia Doctoralia more Majorum rite 
capessendi d. 23, Nov. 1676. Altorffi. 8vo. 

Thesis submitted by Pastorius, the founder of Ger- 
mantown, in order to obtain the degree of "Juris 
Utrusque.Licentiatus." This is the only copy known 
to exist. 

PLOCKHOY, PIETER CORNELISZ. Kort en klaer 
ontwerp dienende tot een onderling Accoort, 
om den arbeyd, onrust en moeyelijckheyt, 
van Alderley-hand-wercxs-luyden te verlich- 
ten door een onderlinge Compagnie ofte 
Volck-planting . . . aen de Zuyt-revier in 
Nieu-neder-land op te rechten. . . . 'tAms- 
terdam, 1662. 410, 8 leaves. 

" A short and clear project of a mutual agreement 
in order to relieve the colony to be founded on the 

, South River in New Netherland." The only copy in 
this country of this very rare tract, which is the first 
book written by a colonist on the Delaware. Plock- 
hoy's colony was destroyed by the English in 1664. 

WASHINGTON, George. Autograph and book- 
plate, on Some observations on the Indian 
natives of this continent, Philadelphia, 1784, 
(with other pamphlets.) 



i 7 8 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



WEYRAUCHS-HUGEL, Zionitischer. German- 
town : Gedruckt bey Christoph Saur, 1739. 
i6mo. 

The first book printed in German type in America, 
and the first book from Saur's press. It is the largest 
and most important collection of the Ephrata Cloister 
hymns, and is dedicated " To all solitary Turtle-doves 
cooing in the wilderness, as a spiritual harp, playing in 
the many tunes of divine visitation." This was the 
author's own copy. For the music to these hymns see 
Paradisisches Wunder-Spiel, suprb. 



Lent by Samuel P. Avery, Esq., of New York. 

Dichtkundige ALMANACH voor het jaar 1781. 
Te Amsterdam. 32010. 

A fine example of needlework binding of the end of 
the i8th century. 

Nieuwe Nederlandsche ALMANACK, 1795. Ut- 
recht. 32mo. 

Full silver binding, with the number of days in each 
month, times of rising and setting of the sun, etc., en- 
graved on the sides, and a dial with movable hand to 
show the day of the month. 

Vita, e Miracoli di S. ANTONIO di Padova. Gen- 
ova, 1646. I2mo. 

A good example of panelled binding on solid wooden 
boards. 

Speculum bead BERNHARDI Abbatis de hones- 
tate vite. [Probably printed by Fust & 
Schoeffer, circa 1465.] I2mo. 

The binding of this rare tract is a very good speci- 
men of modern blind-tooling, by Pagnant, full brown 
crushed morocco. 

BURTY, Philippe. Les emaux cloisonnes. Par- 
is, 1868. I2mo. 

Bound by Ch. Meunier in full brown morocco, in 
the covers of which have been inlaid two cloisonn^ 
medallions by the author. The margins and blank 
leaves are decorated with many original water-colors 
by Felix Re'gamey. 

CHRONIQUES francoises de Jacques Gondar. 
Paris, n. d. [circa 1830.] I2mo. 

A charming reprint of a i$th century ms., with col- 
ored illustrations in imitation of the manuscript dec- 
orations of the time. The binding is stamped velvet, 
" romantique," of the same date as the book. 

CICERO. Cato Major. Lutetiae, 1758. 32mo. 
Bound by Stikeman & Co., New York. A beautiful 
specimen of American mosaic work in red and blue, 
with white vellum double", gilt tooling throughout. 

A HELPE vnto Deuotion. London, 1613. i6mo. 
Full calf binding of the time, gauffred edges. 

HUMPHREYS, H. N. Sentiments and similes of 
Shakespeare. London, 1857. 8yo. 

A curious moulded composition-binding, first made 
in England about this date. 

LA FRESNAIE Vavqvelin, Les Diverses Poesies 
du Sievr de. Caen, 1612. 

A fine example of this edition. Bound by Trautz- 
Bauzonnet in full crushed morocco, blue, with red 
double 4 , gilt tooling. 

LUCRETIUS. De rerum natura. Lugduni, 1546. 
i6mo. 

Inlaid binding of the period. 

LUTHER, Martin. Von den Jiiden und jren 
Liigen. Wittemberg, 1543. Etc. Sm. 410. 

A collection of tracts by Martin Luther. In binding 
of the time, with solid wooden boards, blind-tooling. 

Ms. case, metal, for prayer-books, etc., Byzan- 
tine. 

4x3 inches. With repousse 1 figures of St. George 
and another Saint, the double-headed eagle of the em- 
pire with globe and cross above, etc. 



MELISANDER, Caspar. Christliches Beicht- und 

Communion- Biichlein Niirnberg, 1689. I2mo. 

A beautiful example of German needlework binding 

of the end of the i^th century, with two clasps formed 

of small silver crucifixes. 

MELLIN de S. Gelais. Oevvres Poetiqves. A 
Lyon, 1574. I2mo. 

Bound by Cape 1 in full red crushed morocco, hand- 
tooling in gilt. 

MEMORANDUM-BOOK, blank. 321110. 

Engraved silver perforated binding, with miniature 
inserted in one cover. 

Das ganze NEUE TESTAMENT. Zurich, 1752. 
I2mo. 

Silver open-work binding, engraved, with clasps. 

Das ganze NEUE TESTAMENT. Ztirich, 1778. 
i2mo. 

Another silver binding, gilt, with clasps, engraved 
and repouss^ work throughout. 

POLZMANN, Balthasar. Compendium vitae, 
miraculorum S. Leopardi, sexti Marchionis 
Austrise. 1591. 8yo. 

In the original binding, with the arms of the Mar- 
graves of Austria on one cover and the double-headed 
eagle of the Holy Roman Empire on the other. 

The Whole Booke of PSALMES. London, 1643. 
32mo. 

Embroidered in silk and gold by the Nuns of Little 
Gidding, so well known to all students of King Charles 
I.'s reign. The Protestant Nunnery of Little Gidding 
was founded by Mr. Nicholas Ferrar ; see Shorthouse's 
"John Inglesant." This is an uncommonly fine speci- 
men of their needlework. 

SAlNT-Pierre, Bernardin de. Paul et Virginie. 
Paris, 1876. I2mo. 

Bound by Marius Michel in mosaic of three colors, 
blue, red, and yellow, gilt tooling, with double of 
crushed blue levant. 

The SEA Book : a nautical repository. London, 
[circa 1840.] 8vo. 

With many illustrations by Turner, engraved on 
steel. A most curious mosaic binding by Bedford, in 
long narrow strips extending from cover to cover, of 
about eight distinct colors or shades, elaborately 
hand-tooled in gilt. 

TENNYSON, Alfred. Poems. London, 1833. 
I2mo. 

The third published volume of Tennyson's poems. 
In a beautiful and characteristic binding by Cobden- 
Sanderson, in full brown crushed levant, gilt tooling. 

TREMELLIUS, Immanuel. In Hoseam inter- 
pretatio. Heidelberg, 1563. I2mo. 

Tooled binding of the period, with the arms of 
Frederick, Duke Palatine. 

Catalogue of editions of WALTON & Cotton's 
Angler. New York : The Grolier Club. 
1893. I2mo. 

Bound in green Japanese shark-skin, with border of 
the skin of the Florida gar-pike, with a very hard and 
highly-polished surface like enamel. Bound by Tiffany 
& Co., New York. The book-mark has a jade-stone fish 
for pendant. 

WOHLRIECHENDES Rozengartl. Kempten, 1699. 
i6mo. 

A silver binding, with one clasp, by Thellot, of 
Augsburg. 

CRUIKSHANKIANA. 
From the Collection of the Rittenhouse Club. 

BOMBASTES furioso : a burlesque tragic opera, 
by William Barnes Rhodes ; with designs by 
Cruikshank. London, 1830. i6mo. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL EXHIBIT. 



179 



The BOTTLE, in eight plates, by George Cruik- 
shank. London, 1847. Folio. 
The first of his temperance series. 

The CAT'S tail : being the history of Childe 
Merlin. By the Baroness de Katzleben. 
Edinburgh, 1831. i6mo. 
Etchings by Cruikshank. 

The COMIC Almanac, 1835-1853. London. 6 
vols. I2mo. 

Profusely illustrated by Cruikshank. 

The COMIC Alphabet. London, n. d. 
CRUIKSHANKIANA : an assemblage of the most 

celebrated works of George Cruikshank. 

London, n. d. Folio. 

Caricatures in his earlier, Gillray style. 

The DRUNKARD'S Children : a sequel to The 
Bottle, in eight plates. London, 1848. 

EGAN, Pierce. Life in London. London, 1822. 
8vo. 

With many colored plates " drawn and engraved by 
I. R. and G. Cruikshank." 

Sir John FALSTAFF : 20 etchings by Cruikshank. 
London, 1857. 8vo. 

Der FREISCHUTZ Travestie ; with 12 etchings 
by Cruikshank. London, 1824. 8vo. 

GREENWICH Hospital : a series of naval 
sketches descriptive of the life of ? man-of- 
war's man ; with coloured illustrations by 
George Cruikshank. London, 1826. 410. 

GRIMM'S Popular Stories ; with etchings by 
Cruikshank. London, 1823. 410. 

GUY Fawkes : 19 etchings by Cruikshank. 

The HoRSF,-shoe : the true legend of St. Dun- 
stan and the Devil, by Edward G. Flight ; 
with drawings by Cruikshank. London, n. d. 
i2mo. 

ILLUSTRATIONS of Time. London, 1827. Obi. 
folio. 

JERROLD, Blanchard. Life of George Cruik- 
shank. New York, 1882. 2 vols. I2mo. 

The LOVING Ballad of Lord Bateman. London, 
1851. With etchings by Cruikshank. 
The ballad was written by Charles Dickens. 

The MISER'S Daughter, by Cruikshank. Lon- 
don, 1842. 

A series of 19 etched plates. 

MORNINGS at Bow Street, by J. Wright, with 21 
illustrations by George Cruikshank. London, 
1838. I2mo. 

ODDS and Ends : a collection of Cruikshank's 
drawings. 15 plates, folio, n. d. 

The POLITICAL house that Jack built. With 13 
cuts. 50th ed. London, 1820. 

A political satire of the day by Cruikshank. 

George Cruikshank's OMNIBUS. London, 1842. 
8vo. 

PETER Schlemihl : from the German of Adal- 
bert von Chamisso by Sir John Bowring ; 
with plates by Cruikshank. London, 1861. 
I2mo. 

A Pop-gun fired off by George Cruikshank in 
defence of the British Volunteers of 1803. 
London, n. d. 8vo. 



PUNCH and Judy ; with illustrations drawn and 

engraved by George Cruikshank. London, 

1828. i2mo. 
The QUEEN'S Matrimonial Ladder. London, 

1820. 8vo. 

A satire on the trial of Queen Caroline, published 

on her side and against the King. 

REID, George Wm. Descriptive catalogue of 

the works of George Cruikshank. London, 

1871. 3 vols., 4to. 
SCRAPS and Sketches of George Cruikshank. 

London, 1827. Obi. folio. 
TOM Thumb : a burletta, altered from Henry 

Fielding by Kane O'Hara ; with designs by 

George Cruikshank. London, 1837. i6mo. 
The TOOTHACHE, imagined by Horace Mayhew 

and realized by George Cruikshank. London, 

n. d. i2mo. 

GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS. 

From the Collection of Ashhurst Bowie, deed, now 
the property of R. H. Bayard Bowie, Esq. 



, Claudius. Variae Historiae. Romae, 
1545. 4to. 

A large-paper copy of the editio princeps. Accord- 
ing to Dr. Harwood, " This first edition contains sev- 
eral Greek authors that were never reprinted." Harles 
calls it "A rare edition and not to be despised." 



Tacticus. De militaribus ordinibus 
instituendis more Graecorum. Venetiis, apud 
Spinellos, 1552. Sm. 410. 

The first separate edition, although printed in 1532 
at Paris by Vascosan at the end of Thomas Magister. 
This 1552 edition is much the better, and has many 
curious woodcuts. 



Socraticus. Dialog! tres. Amstelo- 
dami, 1711. 

These dialogues " are not genuine remains." Athe- 
nseus in the Deipnosophists (book xiii., c. 94) gives 
JEschines a terribly bad character, and charges that 
Xantippe, after the death of Socrates, gave some of her 
husband's writings to ^Eschines, who coolly put them 
forth under his own name. 

AESCHYLUS. Tragoediae. Paris : Henricus 
Stephanus. 1557. 4to. 

The fourth edition of ^Eschylus, but Dibdin calls it 

"An excellent and beautiful edition, and much more 

valuable than any of the preceding." As many as 

1275 verses of the " Agamemnon " were printed for the 

first time in this edition from a manuscript. 

JLSOPUS. Fabulae. Basileae : Frobenius. 1518. 

Froben was a learned German printer and warm 

personal friend of Erasmus, all of whose works he 



this same year, 1518. 
^EsoPUS. Fabulae. Parmae. 1547. 

This copy belonged to the celebrated Libri, and was 

sold with the choicer portion of his library in London 

in 1859. 
jEsorus. Fabulae ; with reflections by M. le 

Chevalier Lestrange. Amstelodami : Roger. 

1714. 
AGAPETUS, St. Letter (in Greek and Latin) to 

the Emperor Justinian. Basileae : Frobenius. 

1518. 

The title-page and colophon are engraved by Hol- 
bein. See the same designs in ^Esop, 1518. This is a 
rare book. It is one of two extant letters from St. 
Agapetus before he became Pope in 535 A.D. He re- 
fused to acknowledge the orders of the Arians. 



i8o 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



AGATHIAS. Historia Justiniani Imperatoris ; 
accesserunt Agathiae Epigrammata. Lugdu- 
ni Batavorum : Plantin. 1594. 

This unfinished history contains many important 
facts concerning one of the most eventful periods of 
Roman history. This copy has a Latin translation and 
is the editio princeps in Greek. 

APPIANUS. Romanae Historiae. Paris : Carolus 
Stephanus. 1551. Folio. 

Editio princeps in Greek ; from two mss. in the li- 
brary of the King of France. "According to Che- 
villier, C. Stephens published but two works in the 
Greek language the present edition of Appian and 
a 410 Greek testament. The name of Charles Stephens 
does not often occur in bibliography, and those who 
cherish scarce works will do well to treasure the pro- 
ductions of this elegant scholar and printer." Dibdin, 
Gr. and Lat. Class. 

APULEIUS. Commentary on the Metamorphoses 
or Golden Ass of Apuleius of Madaura. De- 
venter : Richard Paffraet. 1511. 

ARISTOPHANES. Comoediae. Florentiae : Junta. 

1515. 

The second edition of Aristophanes, but the first to 
contain Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusa^ which 
were omitted in the editio princeps by Aldus, 1498. 

ARISTOTELES. Cyromancia. Ulm, 1490. 

A treatise on chiromancy, or divination by the hand. 

ATHEN^EUS. Deipnosophistae. Venetiis: Aldus. 
1514. Folio. 

Editio princeps. A beautiful book and one of the 
scarcest of the Aldine classics, although with many 
errors and imperfections from a critical point of view. 

BELLUM et excidium Trojanum. Lipsiae: Mi- 
chael Rudiger. 1699. 

This " war and destruction of Troy " is curiously 
illustrated, as may be seen from an inspection of the 
plate concerning the wooden horse, and Sinon the 
Greek who deluded the Trojans into drawing the horse 
into the city. Cassandra, whose prophecies were dis- 
regarded, and Priam looking on ner as a mad woman 
and causing her to be locked up in prison, should be 
considered. 

BCETHIUS. De Arithmetica. Augsburg, 1488. 

Editio princeps, and a book of extreme scarcity. It 
is generally described as printed at Venice, but the 
colophon explains that the printing was by Ratdolt, 
formerly of Venice and later of Augsburg. Dibdin 
gives the date as 1487. 

CATO, Dionysius. Moralissimus Cato cum ele- 
gantissimo commento. Basileae, 1486. 

This work has been attributed to various great 
authors, Seneca, Boethius, etc. It is quoted by Chaucer, 
was translated by Caxton, and if it may be called a 
" classic " Franklin's edition, 1735, Englished by Logan, 
must be regarded as the first translation of a classic 
which was both made and printed in the American 
Colonies. 

HORATIUS. Opera ; cum commentario Landini. 
Venetiis, 1486. 

Land inus was a learned critic, and his commentary on 
Horace is highly esteemed. The editio princeps is sup- 
posed to have been printed at Milan by Zarotus in 1740. 

JOSTINUS Frontinus. Des Hochberumptesten 
Geschicht Schreybers Justini. Augsburg, 



The earliest German version of Justinus. 
JUVENALIS et Persius. Satyrae. Mediolani : 
A. Zarothus. 1474. Folio. 

A very large copy of this extremely rare edition, 
with ms. notes, and bound in old gilt russia, with the 
Wodhull arms in gold on the side. 

NEPOS, Cornelius. De vita excellentium im- 
peratorum. Venetiis: Nicolaus Jenson. 1471. 
4to. 

Editio princeps, published under the name of 4mili- 



us Probus. A very scarce and curious edition, accord- 
ing to Dibdin. 

PETRONIUS Arbiter. Satyrici fragmenta quae 
extant. Venetiis : Bernardinus de Vitalibus. 
1499. 

Very rare, but not the first edition, although former- 
ly supposed to be so. The real editio princeps is at the 
end of the Panegyricus of Pliny the younger, 1476. 

PHALARIS, Tyrant of Agrigentum. Epistolae. 
Oxonii, 1695. 

These Epistles have been proved spurious, but their 
publication by Boyle* led to a literary battle royal, 
splendidly described in Disraeli's "Quarrels of au- 
thors." Bentley denied their authenticity, and had 
some personal feelings besides, although Boyle never 
himself asserted their genuineness and repudiated 
Bentley's denial as an insult. 

PHALARIS. Epistole. [Parma,] 1471. 

The Epistles translated into Italian by B. Fontio. 
A rare and beautiful copy, with rubricated capitals. 

PINDARUS. Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, Isthmia; 
Callimachi Hymni; Dionysius de Situ Orbis, 
etc. Venetiis: Aldus Manutius. 1513. 

Editio princeps. The preface by Aldus is very in- 
teresting, giving a sketch of the war that ravaged Italy 
and suspended his typographical labors, with a review 
of what he had already done and a sketch of his proba- 
ble future efforts. He says he had already exercised 
the art of printing twenty years, which would show 
that he began about 1493. The pagination of this book 
is unusual, being on right-hand corners of the verso 
pages. 

PLAUTUS. Comici classici comediae . . . [Paris: 
printed by G. Le Rouge for] D. Roce. n. d. 
2 vols. in I. 8vo. 

This edition is "of extraordinary rarity." Besides 
the device of D. Roce each volume bears the red fleur- 
de-lis of the Giuntas. It is the rarest of the Aldine and 
Giunta counterfeits, and is not mentioned by Renouard. 

PLAUTUS. Comcediae. Mediolani: Uldericus 
Scinzenzeler. 1490. 

PLAUTUS. The " Menaechmi " and " Bacchides " 
translated into German. Augsburg, 1518. 

PLINIUS Caecilius Secundus. Epistolae. Medi- 
olani: P. de Lavagna. 1478. Folio. 

The fourth edition, according to Dibdin, and one of 
very few printed in the isth century. 

SALLUSTIUS. Opera. Venetiis : Aldus. 1521. 
The second and best of the Aldine editions of Sal- 
lust. This copy came from the library of the crusty 
satirical poet Du Lorens (1583-1655), and contains his 
autograph. He was renowned for his reckless extrav- 
agance, fine library, collection of pictures, satirical 
verses, and quarrels with his wife, for whom, on her 
death, he composed the well-known epitaph : 
" Ci git ma femme. Ah ! qu'elle est bien 
Pour son repos et pour le mien ! " 

TERENTIUS. Comoediee. Venetiis : ' Lazarus 
Soardus. 1511. 

A very scarce edition, "A book which," Dr. Askew 
says, " may be numbered among the most rare." Be- 
sides the comedies of Terence it contains " Viet. Faus- 
tus de Comcedia; et Benedict Philologus de Terentii 
Comcediis." 

GROLIER CLUB PUBLICATIONS. 
Lent by Carl Edelheim, Esq. 

BURY, Richard de. Philobiblon. 3 vols. New 
York: The Grolier Club. 



CONTRIBUTIONS to English bibliography: Cata- 
logue of original and early editions of some 
of the poetical and prose works of English 
writers from Langland to Wither. Printed at 
New York for The Grolier Club. 1893. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL EXHIBIT. 



181 



CONWAY, Moncure Daniel. Barons of the Po- 
tomack and the Rappahannock. New York: 
The Grolier Club. 1892. 

CURTIS, George William. Washington Irving: 
a sketch. New York: The Grolier Club. 
1891. 

DECREE of the Starre-Chamber concerning print- 
ing made the eleventh day of July, 1637. 
Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, 1637. 
Reprinted by The Grolier Club. 1884. 

A DESCRIPTION of the early printed books owned 
by The Grolier Club ; with a brief account of 
their printers and the history of typography 
in the fifteenth century. New York: The 
Grolier Club. 1895. 

DONNE, John. Poems, from the text of the 
edition of 1633. Revised by James Russell 
Lowell, with introduction and notes by Charles 
Eliot Norton. 

DURER, Albert. Chronological catalogue of 
the engravings, dry-points and etchings of, 
as exhibited by The Grolier Club. New York : 
The Grolier Club. 1897. 

IRVING, Washington. Knickerbocker's History 
of New York. Printed for The Grolier Club, 
New York. 1886. 

MASON'S Mechanical Exercises : the doctrine of 
handy-works applied to the art of printing. 
2 vols. New York : The Typothetae of the 
City of New York. 1896. 

MILTON, John. Areopagitica : a speech of Mr. 
John Milton for the liberty of unlicensed 
printing to the Parliament of England ; with 
an introduction by James Russell Lowell. 
New York : printed by The Grolier Club. 
1890. 

NEW YORK. Laws and Acts of the General 
Assembly for their Majesties' Province of 
New York. Printed and sold by William 
Bradford at New York. 1694. Reprinted 
for The Grolier Club. 

READE, Charles. Peg Woffington. 2 vols. 
Printed for The Grolier Club. 1887. 

RUBAIYAT of Omar Khayyam, the astronomer- 
poet of Persia. Printed for The Grolier Club. 

1885. 

KELMSCOTT PRESS ISSUES. 
Lent by Carl Edelheim, Esq. 

CAXTON, William. The History of Godfrey of 

Boloyne and of the Conquest of Jerusalem. 

Kelmscott Press. April, 1893. 
CAXTON, William. The History of Reynard 

the Foxe. Printed at the Kelmscott Press. 

December, 1892. 

CHAUCER. Printed at the Kelmscott Press. 
1896. 

Bound in full vellum, blind-tooling, at the Doves 
Bindery, 1897. 

The FLOURE and the Leaf, and the Boke of 
Cupide, God of Love, and the Cuckow and 
the Nightingale. Printed at the Kelmscott 
Press by William Morris. August, 1896. 



The GOLDEN Legend. Kelmscott Press. 
HERRICK, Robert. Poems chosen from the 

works of ; edited by F. S. Ellis from the text 

of the edition of 1648. Printed at the Kelm- 

scott Press. November, 1895. 
KEATS, John. Poems. Printed at the Kelm- 

scott Press. March, 1894. 
MEINHOLD, William. Sidonia the Sorceress ; 

translated by Francesca Speranza, Lady 

Wilde. Kelmscott Press. September, 1893. 
MORRIS, William. Child Christopher and Goldi- 

ling the fair. Kelmscott Press. 

The Defence of Guenevere, and other poems. 
Kelmscott Press. April, 1892. 

A Dream of John Ball and A King's lesson. 
Printed on vellum at the Kelmscott Press. 
May, 1892. 

The Earthly Paradise. Printed at the Kelm- 
scott Press. May, 1896. 

Life and death of Jason, Kelmscott Press. 
May, 1895. 

News from nowhere ; or, an epoch of rest. 
Printed at the Kelmscott Press by the author. 
November, 1892. 

Poems by the way. Printed at the Kelm- 
scott Press. September, 1891. 

The Story of the glittering plain which has 
also been called the Land of living men or 
the Acre of the undying. Kelmscott Press. 
January, 1894. 

The Well at the world's end. Kelmscott 
Press. March, 1896. 

The Wood beyond the world. Printed at 
the Kelmscott Press. May, 1894. 

The RECUYELL of the Historyes of Troye. 

Kelmscott Press. 
ROSSETTI, Dante Gabriel. Sonnets and lyrical 

poems. Printed at the Kelmscott Press. 

February, 1894. 
SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. Poetical works. 

Printed at the Kelmscott Press. 
SWINBURNE, Algernon Charles. Atalanta in 

Calydon : a tragedy. Kelmscott Press. May, 

1894. 
The TALE of Beowulf. Printed at the Kelm- 

scott Press. January, 1895. 

MEDICAL INCUNABULA AND RARITIES. 

From the Collection of J. Stockton Hough, M.D., 
Trenton, New Jersey. 

Macer. De Virtutibus Herbarum. 



1477- 

BRUNSCHWIG. Liber pestilentialis de venenis 
epidemic. Das buch der vergift der pestiletz 
das da genat ist der gemein sterbent der Trii- 
sen Blatren. von Jeronimo bruswig. Strass- 
burg, 1500. 

Small folio, with 23 woodcuts. A very rare book. 

CANDIDUS, Petrus. Degeniturahominis. Rome 
[circa 1490]. 

One of the first, if not the first, work of the Middle 
Ages on generation, 



182 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



CAULIAC. Chirurgia. 1500. 

With 211 cuts of surgical instruments of Albucasis. 
The earliest book with plates on surgical instruments. 

CHAMFER, Symphorien of Lyons. 1506. 

First edition of the first medical biography and 
bibliography, and the only known copy in this country. 
Champer was author of 125 treatises on medicine, 
chivalry, and history, 105 of which were printed 1498- 
1534- 

The GOUERNAYLE of Helthe; reprinted from 
Caxton's edition of circa 1491, by William 
Blades. London, 1858. Sm. 8vo. 

Facsimile reprint of the first English medical book. 

[GRAPHEUS, or] Grassis, Benevenutus. De 
oculis. [Colophon:] Sever[inus] Ferrar[ien- 
sisl F[eliciter] Ffinitur] [rncccclxx] iiii. 

A first edition of the first independent treatise on 
the eye. An extremely rare book, much sought after 
by collectors. 

GRUENPECK, Josephus. [Not later than 1497.] 

Mainly copied from Sebastian Brandt, to whom a 
Eulogium is prefixed. The title-page shows a cadaver 
with pustular eruption. The disease is described from 
the writer's experience. Gruenpeck was Secretary to 
Maximilian I., who is shown in attitude of intercession 
to B. V. M- 

[H]ORTUS Sanitatis de herbis et plantis. [Circa 
1490.] 

The first edition; one of several undated editions. 
This is one of the two great picture-books of the ijth 
century, containing nearly 1000 woodcuts. It was fre- 
quently reprinted but seldom in good condition. It 
contains one of the earliest illustrations of the human 
skeleton. 

ISAAC, Judaeus. De particularibus diaetis. 
Printed by Cerdonis de Windischgratz, 1487. 

An exceedingly rare book, the first edition of the 
first book printed on diet. The author was an Egyptian 
Israelite, an eye-doctor, who lived 830-941 A.D. 

JUNG, Ambrosius. De pestilentia. Printed by 
Johannes Schonsperger, 1494. 

KAMIUTUS. Regimen contra pestilentiam. Sm. 
8vo. n.p. n.d. 

KETHAM, Johannes de. Fasciculus de Medi- 
cina. 1508. 

This is a collection of treatises brought together by 
Ketham, and is the most sought after of any medical 
work of the isth century. The only known copy of 
the first edition (1491) is in the Boston Medical Library, 
and of this edition, the sixth, but one other copy is 
known to exist, in the Public Library of Venice. It is 
the first book with anatomical plates, which are by 
Mantegna or one of his pupils. 

MALDURUS, Petrus Ludovicus. Vita Sancti 
Rochi. ' 

_St. Roch, who lived about 1300 A.D., is the patron 
saint of the sick in hospitals or sufferers from the 
plague. The frontispiece shows St. Roch in the wilder- 
ness attended by the angel who daily dressed his 
wounds, and met by his dog who brought him every 
day a loaf of bread from the city. 

NICOLAUS Leonicensis. De epidemia, etc. 
Venice : Aldus Manutius. 1497. 

An important treatise, and one of a number of medi- 
cal books published by Aldus in 1497. 

PEYLIGK, Johannes. Phiiosophia Nat. comp. 
et decl. Printed by M. Letter, Lipsiae, 1499. 
First edition of the first book published with ana- 
tomical plates of individual organs of the body. A very 
curious, little known, and most rare work. There is 
but one other copy known in this country, which is in 
the Surgeon-General's Library at Washington. 

QUESTIONES naturales antiquorum philosopho- 
rum. Colonia : impressum per Cornelium de 
Zyrychzee. n. d. 



REISCH, Gregorovius. Margarita philosophica. 
Printed by J. Schottus. Friburg, 1503. 

First edition. A handbook of natural and moral 
philosophy in dialogue form, largely illustrated. The 
notes of music are among the earliest of musical typog- 
raphy. 

SERENUS Sammonicus. Carmen medicinee. 
[circa 1486.] 

The only extant poem of this voluminous and very 
early writer. In it is found the first mention of the 
amulet charm Abracadabra as a remedy against inter- 
mittent fever. From the Sunderland library, and the 
only copy in this country. 

SIMON Genuensis. Synonyma. Printed by 
Zarotus : Milan, 1473. 

First edition of the first medical dictionary. 

RARE VOLUMES. 
Lent by Clarence H. Clark, Esq. 

BIBLE. The Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel 
I. and II., together with commentary of Don 
Isaak Ahravanel. Printed in Hebrew on 
parchment at Pesaro, 1521. 

BIVERO, Juan Salvador de. Phelippe II. and 
III. Carta executoria de hidalguia a pedi- 
mente de Juan Salvador de Bivero : (1593- 
1603). Small folio. 

Very choice ms. charter of nobility, on vellum 
written within borders of gold. It contains fifty-one 
sheets of vellum and has twenty-seven large initial let- 
ters, variously illuminated, with four full-page illu- 
minations, besides numerous, capital letters. 

BLANC, Le Sieur. Histoire de Baviere. Paris : 
Chez la Veuve Mille de Beaujeu. 1680. 4 
vols. i2mo. 

This work comes from the Cre"cy library. Each 

volume bears the Pompadour arms on the upper and 

' lower covers. The curious frontispiece to Vol. I. is 

the Baptism of Theodore, Prince of Bavaria, by St. 

Rupert. 

BREVIARVM Antiqvvm. An illuminated quarto 
manuscript breviary, written in the isth 
century. 

Many of the large illuminated capital letters are 
historiated, and include figures of the saints, etc. This 
manuscript formerly belonged to one of the Popes, but 
his arms have been defaced on the covers. 

BURY, Richard de. The Philobiblon. New 
York : The Grolier Club. 1889. 3 vols. 
Small 4to. 

This is the earliest book on bibliography by an Eng- 
lish writer, the first printed edition of which was 
published in 1473. This reprint is one of an edition of 
300 copies only, and the three volumes have been 
bound by different binders. 

Vol. I., containing the original Latin text, is in 
whole brown levant morocco, blind-tooled with a i6th 
century pattern, with doubte in garnet morocco with 
gold tooling in the Grolier style ; bound by Marius 
Michel. 

Vol. II. contains the English text and is bound in 
red morocco, with the arms of the Grolier Club ; the 
doubl^ of blue morocco, with border of leaves in gold. 
The binders were Lortic freres. 

Vol. III., containing the notes, etc., is in whole 
brown levant morocco, with double in garnet morocco, 
and decorated with old tools found at the palace of 
San Donate. Bound by Gruel and Engelmann. 

CUNNINGHAM, Peter. The story of Nell Gwynn. 
New York, 1883. 

At page 122 is inserted an original autograph of Nell 
Gwynn; not more than ten or twelve of her autographs 
are known. She could not sign her name in full, but 
was content with " E. G." It is attached to a power of 
attorney granted by Ellinor Gwyn to James Frazier, 
duly sealed and delivered by the famous beauty, and 
dated June i, 1680. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL EXHIBIT. 



183 



DIBDIN, Thomas Frognall. Reminiscences of a 
literary life. London, 1836. 2 vols. in 3. 

This is a large-paper copy of the first edition, of 
which only 39 copies were printed of this size. It has 
been extra illustrated, and is opened where in Vol. III. 
there has been inserted an original ms. covering ten 
sides of letter-paper, by Robert Southey, describing the 
genealogy and characteristics of those family pets., 
" The Cats of Greta Hall." This is dated Keswick, 
June 18, 1824, and is written to his daughter, Edith 
May, who afterwards married the Rev. John Wood 
Waiter, who published them in the appendix to his 
last volume of " Southey's Life and Letters" from a 
rough draft found by Mr. Warter. 

DRYDEN, John. Fables. London, 1797. Folio. 
A unique volume, being the only copy of this edi- 
tion printed on vellum. It it illustrated by numerous 
engravings, after designs by Lady Diana Beauclerc, 
executed oy'Bartolozzi, and printed on satin, of which 
the impressions in this book are the proofs. It was 
acquired from the library of Prince Galitzin, of Russia. 

DUMAS, Alexandre. L'invitation a la valse: 
comdie en un acte et en prose. 

Original manuscript of Alex. Dumas, fere, with 
autograph letter of Alex. Dumas, fits. 

DURER, Albert. Passio Christi. 1511. 

This series of 37 engravings, first published in book 
form in 1511, is known as " The Little Passion," to 
distinguish it from the series of larger size on the same 
subject called the " Great Passion." All the plates are 
signed "A. D." and four are dated, two 1510 and two 
1509. This set of the prints, which is unbound, is from 
two editions, but mainly from that of 1511, the most 
sought after. A complete set is of rare occurrence. 

FIRDAUSI, Abu'l Casim Mansur. Shah Nameh. 
541 leaves. Folio. 

A fine illuminated Persian manuscript copy of the 
" Book of Kings," transcribed in four columns on yel- 
low paper, within lines of gold. It is a history of Per- 
sia, composed about 950 A.D., in nearly 60,000 verses, 
and was thirty years in composition. At page in is an 
illustration ot the game of polo. The poem contains a 
very full account of this "game of ball," which seems 
to have had a very early adoption in Persia. This copy 
was written by Alijan Ibni Haidar Vili of Hurr in 
A.H. ion (1603 A.D.). It is considered a splendid speci- 
men of Persian writing. 

GRAMMONT, Comte de. Memoires du Comte de 
Grammont par le C. Antoine Hamilton. Lon- 
don, 1794. Extended from i to 3 vols. Folio. 
This is an extra-illustrated copy of these memoirs. 
Only five copies were printed, on atlas-size paper, 
two of which have been destroyed and two are in the 
British Museum and Bodleian libraries. The extra- 
illustrations were collected by Mr. Richard Bull, of 
the Isle of Wight, to whose family many autograph 
letters of King Charles II. were bequeathed by a 
friend and descendant " of Mr. Secretary Morice, the 
confidant of the king. There are two holograph let- 
ters of Charles II. inserted, one (on three pages of small 
letter paper) dated Bruxelles, April 8, 1660, which is 
referred to in Thurloe's State Papers, vol. 7, p. 858 ; 
and th e other, a celebrated one (on five pages of small 
letter paper), dated Breda, May 20, 1660, written by the 
king only nine days before the Restoration. Both are 
signed "Charles R." and detail the steps to be taken 
by General Monk and others to help forward Charles' 
return to his kingdom. 

Entry of HENRI II. of France into the city of 
Rouen. Rouen: Robert le Hoy, 1551. Small 
4to. 

This curious book is rarely found complete. This 
copy is bound by Trautz-Bauzonnet in dark blue mo- 
rocco, with doubld of red morocco, panelled borders, 
having the fleur-de-lis at each corner and an "H" in 
the centre of each side and end of the panelling. 

KORAN. Illuminated manuscript. Folio. 

Copies of the Koran of this size and beauty of writ- 



ing are almost unknown, except in the large mosques 
and mausoleums. This is one of two copies written 
about the year 1600 by a celebrated calligraphist. The 
Surahs, or chapters, are separated by decorated inter- 
spaces. 

LIVRE d'heures. 

A quarto-sized illuminated manuscript, written in 
the fourteenth century. 

LIVRE d'offices. Paris, 1885. 8vo. 

A beautiful example of modern inlaid binding by 
Zaehnsdorf. 

LONGFELLOW, Henry Wadsworth. The Birds 
of Killingworth. 4to. 

This book was designed and executed in water-col- 
ors by Mrs. H. J. [J. Pauline] Sunter, of Auburn, N. 
Y., but was never published. The illustrated pages 
are thirty-three in number. 

MALPIGHI, Marcellus. Opera. London, 1687. 
2 vols. in i. Folio. 

A good specimen of i7th century binding. 

NEW Laws of the Indies for the good treatment 
and preservation of the Indians promulgated 
by the Emperor Charles the fifth, 1542- 1543. 
A reprint of the original Spanish edition, 
together with a literal translation into Eng- 
lish ; to which is prefixed an historical intro- 
duction by the late Henry Stevens of Ver- 
mont and F. W. Lucas. London : The Chis- 
wick Press. 1893. 

PALISSOT, Charles. CEuvres completes. Paris, 
1788. 4 vols. 8vo. 

From the library of Marie-Antoinette, at the Tuile- 
ries, and later from the collection of M. Eugene Paillet. 
The binding, in red morocco, bears the Queen's arms 
on each cover of each volume. 

PALUSTRE, Leon. La renaissance en France. 
Paris, 1879-85. 3 vols. Folio. 

No. 37 of forty copies on China paper. Bound by 
Marius Michel in rich red morocco, with a broad panel 
of light brown ; the whole choicely tooled. It has an 
elaborate centre ornament, in which the letter " H " is 
twice given, the same letter being incorporated in the 
top and bottom ends of the brown panel. The centre 
is further decorated with fleurs-de-lis and St. George 
and the Dragon pendant. 

PASSIO Domini Nostri. U. Graf. Argentorati, 
1507. Folio. 

Le PASTISSIER, Francois. A Amsterdam, chez 
Louys et Daniel Elzevier. 1655. I2mo. 

This is the " King of the Elzeviers" and nearly the 
rarest of the Elzevier collection. There are not above 
thirty yolumes known to exist. The binding is by 
Cuzin, in red morocco, with double of blue morocco, 
with elaborate and minute tooled decoration. A copy 
of this work sold in Paris at auction for 10,000 francs. 

PFINZING, Melchior. Tewrdanncks. Augs- 
burg, 1519. Folio. 

A copy of the second edition, acquired from the li- 
brary of the Hon. Frederick North. The first and sec- 
ond editions were not, as generally supposed, printed 
from the same types and plates. The variations are 
very numerous. The types were specially made for 
this work from designs executed by Albert Dtirer, ac- 
cording to his own taste, at the special request of the 
Emperor Maximilian. They imitate, in a marvellous 
manner, a beautiful German writing. 

PONTANUS, Joannes Jovianus. Opera. Venice, 
1533. 2 vols. 8vo. 

This is a fine Aldine, bound by Cap in olive-brown 
levant, with Grolier ornaments. It is printed in the 
italic type which Aldus invented and thought so highly 
of that many volumes were printed wholly in that 
character. 



1 84 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



PREVOST, L'Abbe. Histoire de Manon Lescaut. 
Paris, 1797. 2 vols. I2mo. 

A beautiful specimen of binding by Lortic fils in 
blue crushed levant, with double of green morocco. 

REDI, Francesco. Esperienze. Florence, 1671. 
Small folio. 

The binding is Italian, in hogskin, of the same 
period. The figures of persons, in Italian costumes, 
shown in the elaborate vaulted chamber with pillars 
and a tesselated pavement, are done in various colored 
inlaid leathers, polished and hand-tooled. 



RARITIES. 
Lent by Various Owners. 

BRETT, Edwin J. Pictorial and descriptive 
record of arms and armour. London, 1894. 
Folio. \TheRittenhouse Club.~\ 

FERDINAND III. of Germany. Autograph and 
seal of the Emperor, countersigned by his 
Minister Questenberg ; a relic of the thirty 
years' war. [Julius F. Sachse, Esq.] 

GASTON d'Orleans, brother of the King Louis. 
Autograph on parchment, dated 1646. [James 
G. Barnivell, Esq.] 

GEORGE III. of England. Manuscript letter to 
the Dey of Algiers, showing the autograph 
"George R." [James G. Barn-well, Esq.] 

Louis XIII., King of France. Signature to doc- 
ument on parchment, dated 1629, " Lettres 
d'honneur pour M. de Fienbot, Secretaire du 
Roi." [James G. Barnwell, Esq.] 

Louis XIV., King of France. Document on 
parchment, dated 1704, with autograph sig- 
nature. [James G. Barnwell, Esq.] 

[MAGNA Charta.] The Excellent Priviledge of 
Liberty and Property. [Philadelphia : print- 
ed by William Bradford, 1687.] 63 pp. i6mo. 
[ The Meeting of the Friends of Suffering.] 

The first American edition of Magna Charta ; with 
William Penn's Patent and his " Charter of Liberties." 
For reprint by the Philobiblon Club see the next ex- 
hibit. 

[MAGNA Charta.] The Excellent Priviledge of 
Liberty and Property. Philadelphia : The 
Philobiblon Club, 1897. [The Philobiblon 
Club.] 

A reprint of the preceding exhibit. The first publi- 
cation of the Philobiblon Club, of which only 150 
copies were printed, five being on vellum. 

MAZARIN Bible. One leaf of this renowned 
Bible, on vellum. 

Only nineteen copies exist of this edition of the Bible 
on paper, and seven on vellum. 

PAPAL Indulgence. Bull of 100 days' Indul- 
gence by the Cardinal Patriarch of Aquilya, 
Papal Nuncio, dated March, 1471, in the first 
years of the Pontificate of P. P. Sixtus IV. 
[James G. Barnwell, Esq.] 

PAPAL Indulgence. An original Indulgence, 
dated Feb. 5, 1479, issued by Sixtus IV., for 
the purpose of rebuilding the church of Marie 
de Mont Carmelo, in Nordlingen. [Julius 
F. Sachse, Esq.] 

It is dated February 5, 1479, and is the only copy of 
an Indulgence of that period known to be in America. 

TAYLOR, Bayard. Original Manuscript of Bay- 
ard Taylor's translation of Faust. [James 
Monaghan, Esq.] 



THACKERAYIANA. 

Original mss. and first editions of Thackeray, 
Lent by Major W. H. Lambert. 

The ADVENTURES of Philip. The original ms., 
with pen-and-ink drawings and water-colour 
sketches by Thackeray. 3 vols. 4to. 

Bound by Rivifere & Son. The first time this ms. has 
ever been on exhibition. 

The CORSAIR. New York : March, 1839, to 
March, 1840. 410. 

In the number for Aug. 24, 1839, is the first of the 
"Letters from London. Paris, etc.," dated July 25, 
1839, and signed "T. T." some of Thackeray's earliest 
printed work. 

FLO RE et Zephyre : ballet mythologique, par 
Theophile Wagstaff. London, 1836. 410. 

Consists of eight lithographed plates by Thackeray, 
without letter-press. 

The GUARDIAN. London, 1795. 2 vols. i2mo. 
With many marginal pencil sketches and notes by 
Thackeray. 

HEROIC adventures of M. Boudin. 410. 

Twelve original drawings by Thackeray, probably 
intended for a burlesque life of an imaginary hero of 
the French Revolution and Empire, but never pub- 
lished. See Harper's Magazine for February, 1891. 

LOVEL the widower. London, 1861. 8vo. 

First edition, with a portion of the original ms. in- 
serted. Bound by Riviere. 

The NEWCOMES. 2 vols. London, 1855. 8vo. 
First edition, with the original wrappers, and with 
portions of the ms. inserted. 

The History of PENDENNIS. 2 vols. London, 
1850. 8vo. 

First edition, in the original paper wrappers, and 
with portions of the ms. inserted. 

REED, William B. Haud immemor: a few per- 
sonal recollections of Mr. Thackeray in Phila- 
delphia. Philadelphia, 1864. 8vo. 

With original letters of Thackeray inserted. 
Original SKETCH-BOOK of Thackeray's. 37 
leaves. Oblong 4to. 

Containing the celebrated pen-and-ink sketch of 
Dickens as " Captain Bobadil." 

The SNOB: a literary and scientific journal not 
conducted by "Members of the University." 
Cambridge, 1829. I2mo. 

Only eleven numbers' were issued, each consisting 
of six pages, printed on paper of different colors 
green, pink, and yellow. It was for No. 4 of this periodi- 
cal that Thackeray wrote, while an undergraduate at 
Cambridge, " Timbuctoo " (a burlesque of Tennyson's 
prize poem), the earliest known writing of Thackeray's 
published in his lifetime. 

The GOWNSMAN, formerly called The Snob. 
Cambridge, 1830. i2mo. 

Continuation of "The Snob." It contains several 
pieces by Thackeray, and was probably edited by him. 

The VIRGINIANS. 2 vols. London, 1859. 8vo. 
First edition, with the original paper wrappers, and 
with portions of the ms. inserted. 

The YELLOWPLUSH correspondence. Philadel- 
phia, 1838. I2mo. 

The first volume of Thackeray's writings published 
in separate form, either in Europe or America. It 
was a reprint of the anonymous articles which had 
just appeared in Fraser's Magazine, and appeared two 
years before the " Sketch Book " was published in 
London. 

Portrait of THACKERAY: original autograph and 
pen-and-ink sketch by himself, reading his 
Lecture on the Four Georges. [From the G. 
W. Childs collection in the Drexel Institute.] 



FARR. 



185 



THE AMERICAN POST-CONFERENCE. 



BY MARY P. FARR. 



TT is rather amusing to read the program 
mapped out for the Delaware Water Gap 
trip, and to then recall what we actually did. 
In the first place, there were only 21 of us to- 
gether over Sunday. Monday brought three 
more arrivals, but also saw the departure of 
others. The fact that there were so few made 
it easier for us to become well acquainted with 
one another; the only thing to be regretted was 
the short stay of so many. Scarcely a meal 
passed that we did not find one more empty 
place, and by Friday there were only nine left. 
Four frivolous members resolved themselves 
into what they called " the sub-committee of the 
A. L. A.," and assumed the duty of recording 
every night the doings of the day. Should this 
chronicle drift occasionally into nonsense, we 
trust that it will be understood as merely a 
quotation from the log-book. 

On Saturday, June 26, strict injunctions were 
given to meet at Broad street station in time for 
the 12. 01 train. These were not obeyed, as 
the wild state of confusion at the last minute 
proved; hasty lunches were swallowed, baggage 
was frantically checked, and such scurrying 
and scampering for the train can easily be im- 
agined. Just as the gates were closing two li- 
brarians dashed madly through, dropping their 
tickets in the excitement, while it is unnecessary 
to mention the one who appeared upon the scene 
at 12. 01 with a trunk and bicycle, demanding 
that they should be checked at once, while the 
baggage-master calmly informed her that she 
must wait for the 3.52. 

The four hours' ride seemed nothing to that, 
jolly party in the special car. No time was lost 
when the Kittatinny was reached. The photog- 
raphers began work at once, taking snap-shots 
of every nook and grotto. An exploring party 
climbed the hill to the Water Gap House to take 
in the view. Coming back through the woods 
they paused to rest in the rustic arbor of Lake 
Lenape, but the appearance of a toad was too 
much for the nerves of one of the party, and 
they quickly vacated that cool little spot. 

The itinerary reads: "dinner and a social 
evening, with music until midnight, will pre- 
pare for the enjoyment of a quiet Sunday." In 



reality another expedition to the Water Gap 
House was undertaken in the dense blackness 
of the night. An attempt was made to return 
by the route of the afternoon. Each one was 
sure of the way, and as many different routes 
were taken as there were members in the party. 
The situation became exciting when the objects 
in the path and the path itself could not longer 
be distinguished. Had it not been for the 
matches of a bicycle maiden we fear a number 
of our best members would have come to an 
untimely end in the abyss, on whose brink they 
found themselves when the light was produced. 
Happily the hotel was reached without serious 
accident. The entire party were soon gathered 
together laughing and talking over their ex- 
periences of the past week. 

Be it herewith recorded that the dissipations 
on this trip invariably ceased several hours be- 
fore midnight, as an early hour for retiring had 
been unanimously voted. 

The conference was broken up in small 
groups on Sunday morning. Some rowed 
down the river to the Gap itself, and sounded 
the echo all along the mountain; others tried 
fresh-water bathing; still others ventured on a 
little mountain-climbing. According to the 
log-book, they would have gone to church, but 
they did not know the way and would not ask. 
Two members sped off on their wheels and 
took the Cherry Valley circuit, going over Fox 
Hill, frorn which height a glorious view of the 
valley beneath them was obtained. The town 
of Stroudsburg was included in the return trip. 
A camera accompanied them, and could we but 
exhibit the pictures taken, there would be no 
need to describe the points of interest. They 
paused to rest by a little creek, over whose 
stones they scrambled and refreshed them- 
selves with clear water drunk from leafy cups. 

The excursion on Sunday afternoon was the 
only one in which all took part. Four carriages 
drove us round the Jersey circuit. The road lay 
over the Shawnee hills, and at every turn we 
caught new glimpses of the Delaware river in the 
valley below and of the hills on the Jersey shore. 
Looking back, the tops of Mount Tammany and 
Mount Minsi were just visible above Blockade 



1 86 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



mountain, which cuts off the view of the Gap 
from the north. 

At Walker's Ferry we had the novel experi- 
ence of crossing in an old-fashioned flat-bot- 
tomed scow, which held but one carriage at a 
time. We left our carriages and crowded on 
the scow for the first trip, with the exception of 
the photographer, who remained on shore to 
snap us as we were going over. On the grassy 
banks of the Jersey shore we amused ourselves 
until all the carriages were towed across. 

The road in Jersey ran through dense woods, 
where only the sound of the voices and the 
thud of the horses' hoofs could be heard. 
Again we were out in open fields, but always 
high above the river. At other times we were 
driving along a narrow ridge path, with a 
steep precipice on one side and the high wood- 
ed hills towering above us on the other. The 
laurel was blooming in profusion everywhere, 
and it was not long before every one was laden 
with huge bunches of it. Recrossing the river 
at the foot of Mount Tammany, where all 
hands turned in to help tow across, we returned 
to the hotel round the base of Mount Minsi. 

"On Monday an excursion is planned for 
Dingham's Ferry," the program says. But on 
Monday it is needless to state no one saw Ding- 
ham's Ferry. A bicycle party of four was or- 
ganized to visit the slate quarries. Owing to 
the rocky and sandy condition o^the roads, and 
the inadaptability of hired wheels, two were dis- 
couraged and turned back to find some tamer 
form of amusement. The other more advent- 
urous ones pushed on, but failed to find the 
slate quarries. The path wound around the 
foot of Mount Minsi and Mount Tammany reared 
its rugged head on the opposite side of the 
river. This imposing scenery was entirely lost 
on the cyclers, for every effort on their part to 
look elsewhere than in the straight and narrow 
path was promptly discouraged by the frantic 
actions of their wheels. One of them turned to 
view the south side of Mount Minsi and soon 
found herself in an ignominious heap in the 
dust. To record the number of times they dis- 
mounted in any but a graceful manner, or 
plunged headlong in the bushes, would in itself 
fill a volume 

" Purring of the rubber, 
Ringing of the steel, 
Bless me, this is pleasant 
Riding on a wheel ! " 



Through the village of Portland they went. 
They climbed to the heights of Mount Bethel, 
from whose summit they surveyed the sur- 
rounding hills and vales, and regaled them- 
selves with ginger ale in the country store and 
post-office. Unfortunately, no road could be 
found around the other side of the mountain, 
and they were obliged to take the same sandy 
journey home. 

A carriage drive was taken in the afternoon 
through the Cherry valley, with a detour 
through Stroudsburg. A bicycle party of three 
visited Buttermilk Falls. " They were disap- 
pointed," the log-book says, "in finding the 
Falls only plain water." Great was their sor- 
row, however, after climbing across the stones 
of the creek, at considerable risk, to find the 
Falls shut off with a barbed-wire fence. To 
console themselves they raided a wayside candy 
shop and reappeared with a dozen lemon-sticks. 

A mountain climb was planned for Tuesday. 
Nine started bravely from the hotel, but only 
five reached the summit of Mount Minsi. The 
way to Lover's Leap was smooth enough, and 
we began to think mountain-climbing was noth- 
ing after all. The Promontory, Prospect Point, 
and other points of interest were rapidly left 
in the rear. Occasionally we stopped to rest 
and regaled ourselves with funny stories. 
Weary members dropped by the wayside in shady 
nooks to await the return of the others. The 
heat was intense, but the party was too jolly to 
give much thought of it. The views at every 
turn repaid us for all the heat and fatigue we en- 
dured. As we mounted higher and higher the 
scene became ever more impressive. The hills 
lay in the distance, with farm-houses scattered 
here and there upon them; villages were barely 
visible in the valleys; long stretches of culti- 
vated fields were relieved by dense woodlands, 
and the river making its way between the 
mountains added to the grandeur and beauty of 
the view. 

As we neared the top the path became more 
rocky and almost impassable, but the five kept 
boldly on, and Eagle's Nest, the highest point, 
was finally reached. Here the view was en- 
tirely different from any we had seen on the 
other side of the mountain. Looking south 
through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, long, 
flat stretches of country appeared, with the 
Delaware river clearly marking the boundary 
line. The houses were mere dots upon the 



FARR. 



187 



scene from the distance at which we viewed 
them. The hills up which we had laboriously 
pushed our wheels the day before appeared as 
ant-hills now. We spied the slate quarries sev- 
eral miles distant from the road which we had 
taken. The descent was found more difficult 
than the climb to the summit, and the resting- 
places became more frequent. 

Upon the return to the hotel the little steam- 
boat Kittatinny was chartered, and the party 
sped down to the river to the bath-houses. A 
plunge in the "stilly deep" refreshed the 
weary ones and sharpened their appetites for 
dinner. 

The A. L. A. had diminished so rapidly that 
it required but two carriages to drive us over 
the Jersey circuit on Tuesday afternoon. We 
crossed the river at Dimmick's Ferry and re- 
turned by way of Walker's, laden with rhodo- 
dendrons. A drizzling rain set in before the 
end of the drive, and the heavy shower which 
followed in the evening warned us that A. L. A. 
conferences cannot be all sunshine as this one 
had been heretofore. Plans were made for a 
rainy day on Wednesday, but were thrown 
aside when Wednesday dawned clear and hotter 
than ever. 

A drive was taken by the main portion of the 
A. L. A. to Marshall's Falls, and Bradlee Falls 
were also visited by the way. A second moun- 
tain tramp was attempted by four. Their route 
lay around Lake Lenape. As there were no 
toads in the summer-house they were able to rest 
there without fear of alarm. Along the sylvan 
way they wandered to Caldeno Falls, striking 
off in the wrong path frequently, but this had 
become a feature of mountain-climbing and 
needs no mention. Likewise the gnats which 
continually beset their path need only be spoken 
of. It was delightfully refreshing after the ex- 
ertion of the walk to stand on the broad mossy 
rocks beneath the Falls and feel the spray 
dashing in one's face. They stopped by Diana's 
Bath, that little pool which remains so calm and 
serene while the waters dash by it from the 
Moss Cataract to the Falls below. Crossing the 
mountain to Eureka Glen they climbed slowly 
down the rickety stairway leading to Childs' 
Arbor. At almost every landing a pause was 
made to rest and gaze upon the cooling wa- 
ters as they splashed over the moss-grown 
rocks. The dogs which had accompanied the 
mountain-climbers plunged in at once and 



refreshed themselves while the unfortunate 
four remained as hot as ever. The return 
home was made by the picturesque Moss Ledge 
path. The danger of the narrow and crumbling 
pathway was greatly increased by the dogs, 
who insisted upon taking the inside track as 
they rushed backward and forward in their 
antics. Up and down the path wound around 
the side of the mountain, great rocks hanging 
high overhead in many places, or jutting out 
in huge columns or forming solid walls; here 
and there a miniature cave opened on the path- 
way, and dense foliage was everywhere, Great 
bunches of maidenhair were carried back to the 
hotel as mementos of the occasion. 

The morning was completed with a row down 
the river and another plunge, which had now 
become a part of each day's program. 

Wednesday afternoon was marked by the 
departure of one of the most important mem- 
bers of the "sub-committee." Owing to this 
sad fact no great project was on foot. The 
more dignified portion of the A. L. A. skirted 
up and down the river in the steamboat Kitta- 
tinny, but the doings of the others the log-book 
can best relate. 

"The sub-committee mounted to the arbor 
of the Water Gap house, where they held a 
farewell concert tendered to the late departed 
member. The concert was a great success, as 
it was accompanied by a delightful breeze and 
view. On the departure of the aforesaid mem- 
ber on the 4.44 train, the three remaining 
shed many bitter tears as they waved their 
handkerchiefs over the railing of the Kitta- 
tinny. For consolation they sojourned to the 
village and sallied into a nondescript establish- 
ment, whose proprietor claimed to be a purveyor 
of ice-cream. But subsequent investigation 
proved that there was neither ice nor cream in 
the hideous concoction, though he assured them 
he had used at least two flavors in its prepara- 
tion. After this the sub-committee will eat 
neither vanilla nor chocolate. A few slight 
purchases were made at the local Wanamaker's 
and the party returned to the hotel, to enable 
one to get a snooze, a second a shave, and the 
third a ride in the elevator." 

An excursion to Bushkill Falls was on the gen- 
eral program. Only two members, however, 
undertook the journey to these falls, which 
boast of being the largest and most beautiful 
in the district. They started out early Thurs- 



i88 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



day morning on their wheels, with the intention 
of visiting only Marshall's Falls and returning 
in time to drive with the others in the afternoon 
to Wolf Hollow. On leaving Marshall's Falls 
they found a good road with comparatively few 
hills, which was so unusual in that region that 
they kept on merely for the pleasure of riding. 
The village of Bushkill was reached without 
any effort. Upon inquiry they discovered the 
Falls to be two miles and a half further on, and 
up hill, as they found to their sorrow; but they 
were not to be discouraged. They began to 
think the Falls must lie somewhere in the 
clouds, for at every turn a new hill appeared 
and riding was impossible. Finally the spot 
was reached, and the sight that greeted their 
eyes well repaid them for pushing their wheels 
all the way. That mighty volume of water as 
it plunged over the steep wall of rock, and the 
rainbow hues of the spray as it dashed out be- 
neath, were a spectacle well worth walking or 
riding any number of miles in the heat and 
dust to see. A rustic path and bridge extended 
down through the ravine, crossing and recross- 
ing the creek. The weary ones did not venture 
farther than the foot of the Falls, and of course 
were afterwards told they failed to see the pret- 
tiest part of the scene. 

"They came down those hills like a house 
afire," the log-book reads, " pigs, chickens, and 
cows scattered in all directions. Peter's House 
in Bushkill furnished them shelter from the 
burning sun and a luke-warm dinner of mutton 
and cherry pie." Great was their amazement 
to find, in the course of conversation with the 
proprietor, that the nearest railway station was 
13 miles away, and they inwardly prayed that 
neither rain nor accident would visit them until 
they were safely within the pale of civilization. 
The ride home was merely child's play, with 
the exception of three or four miles, which lay 
over a mountain somewhere in the vicinity of 
Buttermilk Falls. 

Meantime the other portion of the A. L. A. 
Were amusing themselves with risking their 
lives in rowboats with inexperienced oarsmen, 
or on the Moss Ledge with guides who took 
no thought of the treacherous footing. On the 
non-arrival of the two who had started for 
Marshall's Falls, great anxiety spread through 
the party. Pictures of one cycler carrying the 
mangled remains of another, or of the two 
shouldering the pieces of a shattered wheel or 



walking with punctured tires, loomed up in 
their minds. The advisability of organizing a 
searching party was discussed, but this idea was 
abandoned, and with these cheerful thoughts 
for companions a slim portion of the A. L. A. 
drove to Wolf Hollow and returned laden as 
usual with ferns, laurel, and rhododendrons. 
They found the cyclers calmly seated on the 
piazza, utterly regardless of the trouble they 
had caused. The only sympathy the worried 
ones received for the distress and anxiety they 
had suffered, was the assurance that they had 
missed one of the grandest sights in the whole 
vicinity of the Gap. 

A final row on the river was taken at sunset, 
and the echo sent back the merry songs and 
laughter. 

A farewell visit was tendered to Lake Lenape, 
Caldeno Falls, and the Moss Ledge path on 
Friday morning. This journey was taken for 
the sole purpose of displaying the beauties of 
the place to one who had failed to visit these 
spots, but who loudly protested all the way 
against undertaking such an expedition in the 
burning heat of the day. One young lady who 
had experienced several narrow escapes on the 
Moss Ledge path the day before positively re- 
fused to venture there again, and preferred to 
walk home by the dusty road instead. When 
the path was found more slippery than ever, 
and the gnats flew into our eyes, we began to 
think the young lady in the road the wisest 
after all, and we wondered if it were any 
cooler down there. A rest in Lovers' retreat 
was gladly welcomed; an occasional "Oh, 
but it is hot!" constituted the entire con- 
versation. The steamboat Kittatinny for the 
last time carried us down for our refreshing 
bath. 

Six members reluctantly took their departure 
on the 4.44 train, leaving but three to wave 
tender adieux over the railing of the Kittatinny. 
Exciting games of "old maid" and "hearts" 
greatly enlivened the journey to Philadelphia. 

It was unanimously voted by the six members 
present : 

That a post-conference trip, consisting of fly- 
ing trips from place to place, cannot be as 
enjoyable and satisfactory as one spent in some 
attractive spot where the members have time 
to turn around and become acquainted with 
one another, as the thorough enjoyment of this 
post-conference has shown. 



ATTENDANCE REGISTER. 



189 



ATTENDANCE REGISTER. 

ABBREVIATIONS : F., Free; L., Library; Ln., Librarian; P., Public; As., Assistant. 



Abbott, G: M., Treas. and As. Ln. Library Co. 
of Phila., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Adams, Emma L., Ln. P. L., Plainfield, N. J. 

Adler, Cyrus, Ln. Smithsonian Institution, 
Washington, D. C. 

Ahern, Mary E., Editor Public Libraries, Chi- 
cago, 111. 

Aldrich, Elizabeth W., Winnetka, 111. 

Allen, Letitia S., Ln. F. L., Attleboro, Mass. 

Allen, Mary S., Ln. Friends' L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Almy, Ida B., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Ames, Anne S., N. Y. State Library School, Al- 
bany, N. Y. 

Anderson, Edwin H., Ln. Carnegie L., Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 

Andrews, Clement W., Ln. John Crerar L., 
Chicago, 111. 

Andrews, Elizabeth P., N. Y. State Library 
School, Albany, N. Y. 

Angell, Eleanor A., Montclair, N. J. 

Ashhurst, John (3d), Ln. West Phila. Branch 
F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Austin, Willard, Ref. Ln. Cornell Univ., Itha- 
ca, N. Y. 

Avery, Myrtilla, Director's As. P. JL. Division, 
University of the State of New York, Al- 
bany, N. Y. 

Bailey, May, Munhall, Pa., Library student 
Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Baker, G: H., Ln. Columbia University, New 
York City. 

Barber, Mrs. Margaret C., Ln. Union Library, 
Trenton, N. J. 

Barnes, Elizabeth L., As. Carnegie Library, 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Barnett, Claribel R., Cataloger Department of 
Agriculture Library, Washington, D. C. 

Barnum, T. R., Ln. University of Vermont, 
Burlington, Vt. 

Barnwell, James G., Ln. Library Co, of Phila., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Beardsley, Arthur, Ln. Friends' Historical Li- 
brary, Swarthmore, Pa. 

Bechtel, Mary E. , Germantown, Pa., Library 
student Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Berry, Silas H., Ln. Y. M. C. A., Brooklyn, 
N. Y. 



Bidwell, Clara L., As. Ln. P. L., Somerville, 

Mass. 
Bigelow, F. B., Ln. N. Y. Society Library, 

New York City. 
Billings, Dr. J: S., Director N. Y. P. L., New 

York City. 

Bishop, W: W., As. Ln. Garrett Biblical Insti- 
tute, Evanston, 111. 
Blanchard, Caroline A., Ln. Tufts Library, 

Weymouth, Mass. 

Blandy, Julia W., New York City, Library stu- 
dent Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Bliss, Robert P., Ln. Bucknell L. of Crozer 

Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa. 
Blodget, Lorin, jr., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 
Boardman, Alice, As. Ln. State L., Columbus, 

Ohio. 
Bradley, Helen M., Ln. State College, Centre 

Co., Pa. 
Bradley, I: S., Ln. State Historical Society of 

Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 
Bradley, Mrs. I: S., Madison, Wis. 
Brett, W: H., Ln. P. L., Cleveland, Ohio. 
Brinkmann, Edith, Chief Dept. of Circulation 

F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Brobst, S: J., Trustee L. Fund, Allentown, Pa. 
Brown, Arthur N., Professor U. S. Naval 

Academy, Annapolis, Md. 
Brownback, Reba E., As. F. L., Philadelphia, 

Pa. 
Browne, Nina E., Ln. Library Bureau, As. 

Sec'y A. L. A. Publishing Section, Boston, 

Mass. 
Browning, Eliza G., Ln. P. L., Indianapolis, 

Ind. 
Burdick, Esther E., Ln. F. P. L., Jersey City, 

N.J. 
Burnite, Caroline, Ln. Jacob Tome Institute, 

Port Deposit, Md. 
Burns, Wylie C., Literary editor W. A. Wilde 

Co., Boston, Mass. 
Burtch, Almon, Library Dept. A. C. McClurg & 

Co., Chicago, 111. 

Caffrey, Miss K. K., As. Apprentices' L., Phil- 
adelphia, Pa. 
Campbell, J: H., jr., Deputy Ln. Wilson's L., 

Philadelphia, Pa. 



190 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



Carr, Henry J., Ln. P. L., Scranton, Pa. 

Carr, Mrs. Henry J., Scranton, Pa. 

Carroll, Anna B., Ln. L. Association of Friends, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Cathcart, W. H., Burrows Bros. Co., Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 

Cattell, Sarah W., ex-Ln., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Chapell, Cornelia W., jr., Trustee P. L., New 
London, Ct. 

Charlton, Mary R., As. Ln. Medical L. McGill 
Univ., Montreal, Canada. 

Child, W: B., Ln. Union League Club, New 
York City. 

Churchman, Mrs. F. M., Indianapolis, Ind. 

Clarke, Edith E., Chief Cataloger Public Docu- 
ments L., Washington, D. C. 

Clarke, Elizabeth- B., As. Mercantile L., Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Clayton, Violet M., As. F. L., Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Clemens, Elizabeth V., As. F. L., Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Clonney, Mrs. Josephine W., Ln. City School 
L., Binghamton, N. Y. 

Coe, Alice J., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Cole, T. L., Bookseller, Washington, D. C. 

Collins, V. L., Ref. Ln. Princeton Univ., 
Princeton, N. J. 

Cooper, Louise B., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Cope, Grace E., Des Moines, la. 

Cope, Jessie E., Des Moines, la. 

Cope, Mrs. Lana H., Ln. State L., Des Moines, 
la. 

Crandall, F. A., Supt. Public Documents Dept., 
Washington, D. C. 

Crew, Florence B. , Cataloger F. L., Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

Cromarty, Robert R. , Manager Canada Law 
Journal, Toronto, Canada. 

Crunden, F: M., Ln. P. L., St. Louis, Mo. 

Cuspin, M. L., As. Wagner Institute Branch 
F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Cutler, Mary S., Vice-Director N. Y. State Li- 
brary School, Albany, N. Y. 

Cutter, W: P., Ln. Dept. of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

Dana, J: C., Ln. P. L., Denver, Col. 

Davidson, Herbert E., Vice-Pres. Library Bu- 
reau, Boston, Mass. 

Davie, Eleanor E. , Harper & Bros., New York 
City. 

Decker, Cora M., As. Ln. P. L., Scranton, Pa. 

Dennis, Carrie C., Ln. City L., Lincoln, Neb. 



Dewey, Melvil, Director N. Y. State Library, 

Albany, N. Y. 

Dill, Minnie A., As. Ln. P. L., Decatur, 111. 
Dinmore, Julia C., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 
Dodge, Virginia, Ln. F. P. L., Cedar Rapids, 

la. 
Doerksen, Anna M., Chief of Delivery, Enoch 

Pratt F. L., Baltimore, Md. 
Dougherty, Anna R., As. F. L., Philadelphia, 

Pa. 
Draper, Miriam S., As. Ln. Long Island Branch 

Pratt Institute F. L., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Dudley, C: R., Ln. City L., Denver, Col. 
Dyer, Mary C., As. U. S. National Museum, 

Washington, D. C. 
Eames, Wilberforce, Ln. Lenox L., N. Y. P. L., 

New York City. 
Eastman, Linda A., 1st As. Ln. P. L., Cleveland, 

Ohio. 
Eastman, W: R., Inspector Public Libraries, N. 

Y. State Library, Albany, N. Y. 
Edmands, John, Ln. Mercantile Library, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Eilbeck, Florence M., Germantown, Pa., Libra- 
ry student Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, 

Pa. 
Elliott, Julia E., "Cumulative Index," P. L., 

Cleveland, Ohio. 

Elmendorf, H: L., Supt. P. L., Buffalo, N. Y. 
Elmendorf, Mrs. H: L., Buffalo, N. Y. 
Evans, Alda T., Malvern, Pa. 
Evans, Alice G., Ln. F. P. L., Decatur, 111. 
Fairchild, Rev. E. M., Educational Church 

Board, Albany, N. Y. 
Farr, Mary P., Ln. Philadelphia Normal School, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 
Faxon, F: W., Library Dept. Boston Book Co., 

Boston, Mass. 
Fell, Marion D., As. Philadelphia City Institute, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Fell, Mrs. MaryA.,Ln. Philadelphia City Insti- 
tute, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Fisher, Susanne, As. P. L., Milwaukee, Wis. 
Fletcher, F. Richmond, Library Bureau, Boston, 

Mass. 
Fletcher, W: L, Ln. Amherst College, Amherst, 

Mass. 
Flint, Weston, ex-Ln. Patent Office, Trustee F. 

L., Washington, D. C. 

Foster, W: E., Ln. P. L., Providence, R. I. 
Gabel, J: C., Philadelphia, Pa. 
Galbreath, C. B., Ln. State Library, Columbus, 

Ohio. 



ATTENDANCE REGISTER. 



191 



Gallaher, Kate A., As. Smithsonian Institution, 
Washington, D. C. 

Gates, Herbert W., Ln. Hammond Library of 
Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, 
111. 

Gay, Helen K., Ln. P. L., Mount Vernon, N. V. 

Gibson, Anne L. , Ln. St. Agnes F. L., New 
York City. 

Gibson, Irene, Cataloger Public Documents Li- 
brary, Washington, D. C. 

Glenn, J: M., Director New Mercantile Library, 
Baltimore, Md. 

Goding, Sarah E., As. F. L. , Philadelphia, Pa. 

Goodison, Alice D., As. Mercantile Library, 
Philadelphia, Pa. . 

Graffen, Jean E., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Green, S: S., Ln. F. P. L., Worcester, Mass. 

Griswold, Alice S., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Hadley, Anna, Ln. Ansonia Library, Ansonia, 
Ct. 

Hagar, Sarah C., Ln. Fletcher F. L., Burlington, 
Vt. 

Hagginbotham, May, Library student Drexel 
Institute, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Haines, Helen E. , As. Library Journal, New 
York City. 

Hanson, James C. M., Chief cataloger, Con- 
gressional Library, Washington, D. C. 

Hanson, Laura E., Merion, Pa., Library stu- 
dent Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Harris, G: W., Ln. Cornell University, Ithaca, 
N. Y. 

Harris, Isabella, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Hartman, Laura M., As. F. L., Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Hartwell, Mary A., Catalog Clerk Public Docu- 
ments L., Washington, D. C. 

Hasse, Adelaide R., As. N. Y. P. L., New York 
City. 

Hastings, C. H., As. Departmental Libraries, 
Chicago University, Chicago, 111. 

Hawes, Clara S., Cataloger Library Co. of 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Hawley, Frances B., As. P. L., Milwaukee, 
Wis. 

Hayes, J: S., Ln. P. L., Somerville, Mass. 

Hayes, Rutherford P., State L. Commissioner, 
Columbus, O. 

Hazeltine, Mary E., Ln. James Prendergast F. 
L., Jamestown, N. Y. 

Henderson, Miss L. T., Jamestown, N. Y., 
Library student Drexel Institute, Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 



Henderson, Maude R., Cataloger N. Y. P. L., 
New York City. 

Hensel, Martin, Ln. P. School L., Columbus, O. 

Herzog, AlfredC., Ln. F. P. L., Bayonne, N. J. 

Hess, Mrs. Frances H., As. N. Y. P. L., New 
York City. 

Heydrick, Josephine S., Ln. Pequot L., South- 
port, Ct. 

Hillegas, Irene D., As. F. L., Wilmington, Del. 

Hinsdale, Leonora J., As. Cathedral F. Circu- 
lating L. , New York City. 

Hoag, F. J., Trustee P. L., Toledo, O. 

Hosmer, James K., Ln. P. L., Minneapolis, 
Minn. 

Imhoff, Ono M., Lincoln, Neb., N. Y. State Li- 
brary School, Albany, N. Y. 

Jackson, Anna, Ln. George School, Newtown, 
Pa. 

James, Hannah P., Ln. Osterhout F. L., Wilkes- 
Barre, Pa. 

James, Miss M. S. R., Library Bureau, London 
and Boston. 

James, W: J., Ln. Wesleyan University, Mid- 
dletown, Ct. 

Jaquith, A. B., Woodstock, Vt. 

Jaquith, Mrs. A. B., Ln. Norman Williams P. 
L., Woodstock, Vt. 

Jones, Gardner M., Ln. P. L., Salem, Mass. 

Jones, Olive, Ln. Ohio State University, Co- 
lumbus, O. 

Jones, Rilla S., As. Mercantile L., Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Kaighn, Anna M., Ln. F. L., Moorestown, N. J. 

Kates, Clarence S., ex-Ln., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Kelly, H. T., Chairman P. L. Board, Toronto, 
Canada. 

Kelso, Alice C., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Kelso, Tessa L., Model Libraries, Charles 
Scribner's Sons, New York City. 

Kieffer, Prof. J: B., Ln. Franklin and Marshall 
College, Lancaster, Pa. 

Kimball, W. C., Trustee P. L., Passaic, N. J. 

King, Ellen, As. Germantown Branch F. L., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Kite, Agnes C., As. West Philadelphia Branch 
F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Kite, Anna W., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Kroeger, Alice B., Ln. Drexel Institute, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Lambert, Cecelia C., Ln. P. L., Passaic, N. J. 

Lane, Lucius P., Boston, N. Y. State Library 
School, Albany, N. Y. 

Lamed, J. N., ex-Ln., Buffalo, N. Y. 



192 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



Le Crone, Anna L., Ln. P. L., Champaign, 111. 

Lemcke, Ernst, Bookseller, New York City. 

Lemcke, Mrs. Ernst, Astoria, L. I. 

Lester, Lizzie, As. F. L., Philadelphia. 

Lindsay, Mary B., Ln. F. P. L., Evanston, 111. 

Lippincott, Anna H., As. F. L., Philadelphia. 

Loane, Margaret, As. F. L., Philadelphia. 

Lockhead, James S., As. F. L., Philadelphia. 

London, Bessie A., Cataloger F. L., Phila- 
delphia. 

Lord, Isabel E., As. N. Y. State L., Albany, 
N. Y. 

Macbeth, G: A., Trustee Carnegie L., Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 

McBride, Jennie C., As. F. L., Philadelphia. 

McKenna, Sarah H., Cataloger F. L., Philadel- 
phia. 

Martins, Charlotte, As. Princeton University L., 
Princeton, N. J. 

Matlack, Anna M., As. Mercantile L., Phila- 
delphia. 

Maule, John C., Trustee Apprentices' L., Phila- 
delphia. 

Middleton, Jennie Y., Ln. Apprentices' L., 
Philadelphia. 

Milsted, Millie J., As. F. L., Philadelphia. 

Montgomery, T: L., Ln. Wagner Institute, 
Trustee F. L. , Philadelphia. 

Moore, Annie C., Children's Room, Pratt Insti- 
tute, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Morningstern, W: B., Reference Ln. F. P. L., 
Newark, N. J. 

Morrill, Minnie P., As. P. L., Dover, N. H. 

Morris, Helen R. , Instructor Drexel Institute 
L., Philadelphia. 

Mumford, Miss St. A., Brooklyn, N. Y., Li- 
brary student Drexel Institute, Phila- 
delphia. 

Mundy, Ezekiel W., Ln. Central L., Syracuse, 
N. Y. 

Mundy, Helen H., Philadelphia. 

Murphy, Almira R., Ln. Evening Home Branch 
F. L., Philadelphia. 

Nagle, Katharine E., As. F. L., Philadelphia. 

Neisser, Emma R., Travelling Libraries F. L., 
Philadelphia. 

Neisser, Marian, As. Apprentices' L., Phila- 
delphia. 

Nelson, C: A., Deputy Ln. Columbia University 
L., New York City. 

Neville, A. Mae, As. F. L., Philadelphia. 

Nolan, E: J., Ln. Academy of Natural Sciences, 
Philadelphia. 



Norris, A. E., Library Bureau, Chicago, 111. 

Norris, G: G., Library Bureau, Philadelphia. 

Norton, Mrs. Mary C., As. N. Y. P. L., New 
York City. 

O'Brien, Margaret A., As. Ln. P. L., Omaha, 
Neb. 

Palen, Ruth, Cataloger F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Parsons, F. H., ex-Ln., Sec'y L. Association, 
Washington, D. C. 

Patten, Frank C., Ln. P. L., Helena, Mont. 

Peckham, G: W., Ln. P. L., Milwaukee, Wis. 

Peoples, W. T., Ln. Mercantile L., New York 
City. 

Petty, Katharine M., As. F. L., Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Pinneo, Dotha S., Ln. P. L., Norwalk, Ct. 

Plummer, Mary W., Director and Ln. Pratt 
Institute F. L., Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Poesche, Herman, Library Bureau, Chicago, 
111. 

Pomeroy, Edith M., As. Pratt Institute, Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. 

Power, Effie L., As. Children's Dept. P. L., 
Cleveland, Ohio. 

Prescott, Harriet B., Cataloger Columbia Uni- 
versity L., New York City. 

Pusey, Leora, As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Ranck, S: H., As. Enoch Pratt F. L., Balti- 
more, Md. 

Randall, Susan W., Library student Drexel In- 
stitute, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Rathbone, Josephine A., Instructor in Library 
School, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Read, M. Therese, ex-Cataloger Publishers' 
Weekly, New York City. 

Reinick, W:, As. to the Actuary, Wagner Insti- 
tute, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Richardson, Ernest C., Ln. Princeton Univer- 
sity, Princeton, N. J. 

Richardson, Mary A., Ln. P. L. , New London, 
Ct. 

Ridgway, Edith, Chief Cataloger of Branches F. 
L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Rigling, Alfred, Ln. Franklin Institute, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Rogers, Florence S., New London, Ct., N. Y. 
State Library School, Albany, N. Y. 

Rowland, Carrie V., As. F. L., Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Rupp, G: P., Ln. Girard College, Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Sanders, Mrs. Minerva A., Ln. F. P. L., Paw- 
tucket, R. I. 



ATTENDANCE REGISTER. 



Sartain, Helen M., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Sayers, Anna M., As. F. L., Wilmington, Del. 

See, Cornelia A., Ln. F. P. L., New Bruns- 
wick, N. J. 

Seither, Albert B., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Sewall, Willis F., Ln. Institute F. L., Wilming- 
ton, Del. 

Shaffner, Mary H., As. Ln. Drexel Institute, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Shandelle, H: J., Ln. Georgetown University, 
Washington, D. C. 

Sharp, Katharine L., Director State Library 
School, University of Illinois, Champaign, 
111. 

Sheldon, Helen G., As. Ln. Drexel Institute, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Sickley, J: C., Ln. City L., Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

Smith, Bessie S., Wellesley, Mass., N. Y. 
State Library School, Albany, N. Y. 

Smith, T. Guilford, Buffalo, N. Y., Regent of 
University of the State of N. Y., Albany, 
N. Y. 

Snyder, Helen M., As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Solberg, Thorvald, Register of Copyrights, 
Washington, D. C. 

Soule, C: C., Trustee P. L., Brookline, Mass. 

Spencer, Mrs. Mary C., Ln. State L., Lansing, 
Mich. 

Stearns, Miss L. E., Ln. Wisconsin F. L. Com- 
mission, Milwaukee, Wis. 

Steiner, Bernard C., Ln. Enoch Pratt F. L., 
Baltimore, Md. 

Stetson, Willis K., Ln. F. P. L., New Haven, 
Ct. 

Stevens, W: F., Ln. Railroad Branch Y. M. C. 
A., N. Y. City. 

Stevenson, W: M., Ln. Carnegie F. L., Alle- 
gheny, Pa. 

Stewart, Rose G., Cataloger F. L., Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

Stone, W: C., in charge of Delivery Dept. City 
L. , Springfield, Mass. 

Stonelake, Isola P., Reference Dept. P. L., 
Newark, N. J. 

Stuart, W: H., Leary, Stuart & Co., Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

Sturges, Julia C., Circulating Dept. Pratt Insti- 
tute, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Swan, Elizabeth D., Ln. Purdue University, 
Lafayette, Ind. 

Swayne, Alice W., Ln. Bayard Taylor Memo- 
rial L. , Kennett Square, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Tatum, Sarah M., Philadelphia, Pa. 



Temple, Mabel, Cataloger Brown University 
L., Providence, R. I. 

Thomas, Joseph C., Ln. Methodist L., N. Y. 
City. 

Thompson, J: B., Pres. N. J. L. Association, 
Trenton, N. J. 

Thompson, J. W., Trustee P. L., Evanston, 111. 

Thomson, John, Ln. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Thorn, Annie, Plainfield, N. J. 

Thurston, Anna L., Pittsburgh, Pa., Library 
student Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Tobitt, Edith, As. Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, 
N. Y. 

Trowbridge, Elise B., Astoria, L. I. 

Tuttle, Elizabeth, As. L. I. Historical Society, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Tyler, Arthur M., Ln. Blackstone P. L. , Bran- 
ford, Ct. 

Underdown, Mildred A., As. F. L., Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

Underbill, Adelaide, As. Ln. Vassar College L., 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

Underhill, Caroline M., Ln. P. L., Utica, N. Y. 

Upton, Mary H., Salem, Mass., Library student 
Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Utley, H: M., Ln. P. L., Detroit, Mich. 

Utley, Mrs H: M., Detroit, Mich. 

Vandervort, C: R., P. L. Board, Peoria, 111. 

Van Hoevenberg, Alma R., Ln. Washington 
Heights L., New York City. 

Van Hoevenberg, Elizabeth, Ln. Ferguson L., 
Stamford, Ct. 

Van Valkenburgh, Agnes, Cataloger P. L., Mil- 
waukee, Wis. 

Wallace, Anna M., As. Cathedral F. Circulat- 
ing L., New York City. 

Wallace, Anne, Ln. Young Men's L., Atlanta, 
Ga. 

Walton, Charles, with Charles Scribner's Sons, 
New York City. 

Warner, Mary G., As. Ln. P. L., Toledo, O. 

Warrington, James, Public Accountant, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Waterman, Lucy D., Gorham, Me., N. Y. State 
Library School, Albany, N. Y. 

Weitenkampf, F., Chief of Shelf Dept. N. Y. 
P. L., New York City. 

Weston, Lydia, Ln. Burlington L., Burlington, 
N.J. 

Wetzell, Bertha, Reference Ln. F. L., Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Whitall, Mary L., Ln. Deptford Institute, Wood- 
bury, N. J. 



194 



PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



Willcox. E. S., Ln. P. L., Peoria, 111. 
Williams, Lizzie A., Ln. P. L., Maiden, Mass. 
Wilson, Minnie C., St. Louis, Mo. 
Wilson, R: E., Ln. in charge Kensington 

Branch F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 
Wilson, Ruth, Indianapolis, Ind. 
Winchester, G: F., Ln. F. P. L., Paterson, N. J. 
Wing, J. N., Library Dept. Charles Scribner's 

Sons, New York City. 
WSnser, Beatrice, As. Ln. F. P. L., Newark, 

N. J. 



Winser, Nathalie, Newark, N. J. 

Wire, G: E., M.D., ex-Medical Ln., Evanston, 
111. 

Wolf, Lillian, As. F. L., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Woodruff, Eleanor B., Reference Ln. Pratt In- 
stitute, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Wright, Purd B., Ln. P. L., St. Joseph, 
Mo. 

Wyer, J. O., jr., N. Y. State Library School, 
Albany, N. Y. 

Zimmerman, Margaret E., Chicago, 111. 



ATTENDANCE SUMMARIES. 

BY ASSISTANT RECORDER NINA E. BROWNE, LIBRARIAN OF LIBRARY BUREAU, BOSTON ; 
ASSISTANT SECRETARY, A. L. A. PUBLISHING SECTION. 



BY POSITION AND SEX. 



BY STATES. 



Trustees, commissioners, etc. 14 

Chief librarians 64 

Assistants 19 

Library Bureau, booksell- 
ers, educators 18 

Library schools 2 

Others 4 



Men. Women. Total. 



I 

53 
95 

6 

19 
20 

194 



BY GEOGRAPHICAL SECTIONS. 

9 of the 9 No. Atlantic states sent ......... 229 

4 " 9 So. Atlantic states 
8 



8 Lake states 
3 " 8 Mountain states 
Canada 





Me 


i 


Ind 


A 


15 


N. H 


i 


Ill 


IQ 


117 


Vt 




Mich 


3 


114 


Mass 


20 


Wis 


.... 7 




R. I 


a 


Minn 


.... i 


24 


Ct 


ii 


la 


4 




N. Y 


62 


Mo 


.... 3 


24 


Penn 


. . . . 106 


Neb 


.... 3 


us 


N. T.. 


21 


Mont .... 


.... i 




Del 


3 


Col 


.... 2 




Md 


6 


Canada .... 


.... 3 


220 


D. C 


14 






2J. 


Ga 


i 


Total 


3IC 


f.1, 


O.. 


12 







Total 315 



October, '97] THE LIBRARY JOURNAL 195 

THE BOSTON BOOK HJjnPfWY, 

(CHARLES C. SOULE, President,) 

BEACON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 



[- Fred?ricl{ W. Faxon. 

j 



Specialty: Periodical Sets. 



7THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY does not make a practice of adver- 
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ally does carry a larger stock of periodicals than any other one dealer. More- 
over, conscientious efforts are made to perfect every set before it leaves the 
house, collators being kept steadily at work for that purpose, and the sets are 
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The advantages offered by THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY are 

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THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY has begun the publication of a 
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us for one. 

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196 THE LIBRARY JOURNAL {October, '97 

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198 THE LIBRARY JOURNAL [October, '97 

TO THE LIBRARIAN: 

The benefit of co-operative cataloging is that it gives the 
smallest library the advantage of the best methods of the 
largest libraries at nominal cost. The American Catalogue 
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7*he new volume covers the period from 189095, and in- 
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to the treasures of the library as to books within that period. 

The only other volumes now in print are the original 
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of the new volume and of each of the volumes above named is 
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New and Second-hand Books, and Library Agents, 



FRANKFORT-O.-MAIN (GERMANY). 

(ESTABLISHED, 1785.) 



Our special Library Department enables us to fill orders for Libraries with care and 
diligence, in small matters as well as in those of greater importance. 

Most liberal terms. 

Exceptional facilities for obtaining scarce books. 

Permanent stock of over 4OO,OOO second-hand books in all languages 
and classes of literature. 

Classified Catalogues issued regularly and sent free on application. 

Latest catalogues, just out : German History in the Middle Ages, 1438 items ; 
Zoology (Library of the late Carl Vogt, of Geneva), 1358 items; Botany, 554 items. 



ABSTRACT OF THESE CATALOGUES. 



MARKS. 

Akademie, Konlgl. d. Wissenschaften 

in Berlin (1710-1891). All published. Together 
141 vols. bound in calf, vellum and boards. Com- 
plete set, extremely scarce 4000 

Anualeii d. Chemie (u. Pharmacia) hrsg-. v. Lle- 
blg. Vols. 1-268; 8 suppls., a gen. index lor 
vols. 1-220. Together 281 vols. Heidelb., 1832-92. 
Fine copy, uniformly bound in 141 vols., half mor. 2600 

Annales des sciences naturelles. Series I., II. 
compr. Botany and Zoology, series III. -VII. 
and series VIII. vol. i compr. only the zoolog. 
part. 144 vols. Paris, 1824-93. Half bound 2000 

Annals of Botany. Vols. i-io. Oxf., 1887-96. 
(Publ. at ^241-16.) Swd., unc., Vol. V., VI., hf. 
mor., top gilt 380 

Arcniv f. Anatomic, Physiologic n. 
wlsseuschaftl. lUedioin, 43 vols. (1834-76), 
with the continuation: Arcliivfur Anatomle 

u. Physiologic (1877-92). Together 75 vols., 
with all supplements. Complete series. Half 
bound 1600 

Archiv fur Naturgescbichte. Year 1-57 
and 58, I., II., a, 3 (a year 2 vols.). Berl., 1835-92. 
(Publ at Mi678.) Half bound, 4 vols., swd., unc.. 980 

Archlvlo Veneto. With general index, 39 vols. 
With the continuation: Nuovo Archlvlo, vols. 

1-12. Together 51 vols. Venezia, 1871-96. (Publ. 
at frcs. 624.) Half cloth, unc , 6 vols., swd. Com- 
plete set 400 

BaroiiliiK, Annales ecclesiastici, 19 vols. With 
the continuation of Kayiialdus, 15 vols. Ap- 
paratus annal. eccles., i vol. Indices, 3 vols. To- 
gether 38 vols. Lucae, 1738-59. Gr. folio, vellum. 
Best edition. (Baronius on large-pap?) 600 

Fontes rerum Austriacarum. I. session, vols. 1-8 
and II. session, vols. 1-47. Together 55 vols. 
Wien, 1855-94. Boards 300 



MARKS. 

Forschungen z. deutschen Geschichte, 26 vols. 
With general index. Gott., 1862-86. (Pub. at 
M254.50.) Half cloth, several of the titles slightly 
stamped 180 

Jahrbnch, morphologisches. Vols. 1-20 and 
Suppl. Leipz., 1875-93. (Publ. at Mga<).) Half 
bound 725 

Jahresberlcht, botanischer. Year 1-20 (1873- 
92). Berlin, 1874-94. (Publ. at M842.) I.-V. 
boards, remainder swd 500 

Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scrip- 
tor, vols. I.-XXIX. et XXX. i. Leges, vols. 
I.-V. Dlplomata, vol. I. Together 36 vols. 
Hann., 1826-96. Folio, half roan, uniform 4000 

Siebmaclier, Wappenbuch. New edition. Fasc. 
1-368 (as far as published till April in 1894). 
NUrnb., 1854-94. (Publ. at M207S.) Bound in 45 
vols., half roan, remainder swd 1500 

Silvestre, PaWographie universelle. 4 vols. 
Paris, 1841. Best and most complete edition, 
bound in 4 vols., half mor., top gilt 1200 

Silvestre, Universal paleography. 2 vols., 8, 
and 2 vols. , large folio, cloth , uncut 300 

Zeltschrift, historische v. Sybel. Year 1-25 
(18=9-83). 50 vols. and index of vols. 1-36 Munch. 
Vols. 1-22 bound, remainder swd 300 

Zeitschrlft, Jenaische fiir Naturwissenschaften. 
Vols. 1-28, with all suppl. Leipz., 1864-94. Half 
bound, complete set, very scarce 1080 

Zeitschrlff, Numismatische v. Huberu. Ka- 
rabacck. Vols. 1-26. Wien, 1869-94. Half 
cloth a. swd 225 

Zeitschrift fiir d. gesammte Staatswissenschaft. 
47 vols. Tilb., 1844-91. Vols. i-ag, half cloth, re- 
mainder swd 600 

Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftl. Zoologie. Vol. 
1-58, with 3 suppl. and 3 indexes. Leipz., 1848-94. 
V.ols. 1-56 uniformly half roan remainder swd 3200 



IMPERFECT SETS COMPLETED. 

TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS: GUTENBERG FRANKFORTMAIN. 



THE LIBRARY JOURNAL 



\October, '97 



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INKS AND ADHESIVES. 



168-172 Eighth Street, 

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London Office : 106 Charing Cross Road. 



The Binding of Books for Learned Societies, Colleges and Libraries. 
Single Volumes or in Quantities. 




NEUMANN BROTHERS, 



ESTABLISHED 1879. 



7 EAST I6th STREET, 



Near Fifth Avenue, 



NEW YORK. 



We make a specialty of the correct arranging and lettering of 'works 

in foreign languages. 



October, '97] 



THE LIBRARY JOURNAL 



201 



LIBRARY DEPARTMENT OF : : : : : 



LEHCKE & BUECHNER, 



(LONDON. LEIPZIG. PARIS.) 

=812 Broadway, New York. 



WE invite Librarians to correspond with us before placing orders. Our facili- 
ties for supplying books in all languages are unsurpassed. 

OLargest Stock of German ant) ffrencb Boofts. 
Hmerlcan Boofes at jobbers' TRates ..... 
Brttisb Booftg Umportefr 3Dut*3free ..... 



Our firm offers all the advantages of foreign agencies as to terms and 
prompter service, receiving weekly shipments from England, Germany, and France. 

Our Monthly Bulletin, besides a bibliography of the leading languages of 
the world, supplies in a supplement critical notes on books especially valuable for 
Libraries, and has become the purchasing guide for German and French books 
in many Libraries. 

ii FOREIGN PERIODICALS AT LOWEST RA TES 



APPLETONS' LIBRARY LISTS. 

YJtOR more than fifty years Messrs. D. APPLETON & Co. have been engaged in the publica- 
Jf tion of the choicest productions from the pens of distinguished authors of the past and 
present, of both Europe and America, and their catalogue of books now comprises 
several thousand volumes, embracing every department of knowledge. Classified lists of 
these publications have been prepared, affording facilities for a judicious selection of books 
covering the whole range of LITERATURE, SCIENCE, and ART, for individual bookbuyers or 
for a thorough equipment of any library. 
Lists A, B, and C are of books selected especially for School and College Libraries. 

The other lists are of books grouped according to subjects, and include the above. 



LIST D. History. 
" E. Biography. 

F. Physical Science. 
G. Mental and Moral Science. 
H Political and Social Science. 
I. Finance and Economics 
K. - Hygiene and Sanitary Science. 
L. Philosophy and Metaphysics. 
M. Technology and Industrial Arts. 
N. Anthropology, Ethno'ogy, Archaeology, 

Palaeontology. 

O. Language, Literature, and Art. 
P. Reference Books. 



LIST Q. Poetry and Essay. 

R. Travel and Adventure. 

S. Pedagogy and Education. 

T. Fiction. 

U. Amusements and Recreations. 

V. Evolution. 

W. Religion. 

X. Law. 

Y. Medicine 

Z. Juvenile Books. 
AA. Unclassified. 

BB. School and College Text-Books. 
CC. Spanish Publications. 



Single lists mailed free. 



Complete set, ten sections, 1 8 cents, to cover postage. 
340 pages, %vo, 30 cents. Free to librarians. 



Bound in one volume, 



D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 

243 Wabash Avenue, CHICAGO. 72 Fifth Avenue, NEW YORK. 



THE LIBRARY JOURNAL 



\October, '97 



EM. TERQUEM, 
Paris Agency for American Libraries, 

ESTABLISHED 1877, 

31 Bis BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN 31 Bis 
PARIS. 



French and Continental Books purchased at the lowest 
terms. 

Orders carefully executed for out-of-print and new books. 

Binding for books in constant use a specialty of the firm. 

Estimates given on application on all orders. 

The " Catalogue de la Librairie Francaise " mailed free 
monthly as well as catalogues of second-hand book- 
dealers of every locality. 



Auction sales orders attended to, also orders for private 

libraries offered en bloc before auction. 
Mr. Em. Terquem, being the appointed agent in Paris of 

many libraries, colleges, and universities, can furnish 

references in almost every city in the United States. 
Correspondence and trial orders solicited. Small or large 

shipments every week either direct or through his 

agent in New York. 



KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Ltd., 

PUBLISHERS AND LIBRART AGENTS, 

Paternoster House, Charing Cross Road, London, Eng., 

Having extensive experience in supplying PUBLIC LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS, GOVERNMENT 
INSTITUTIONS, etc., at Home and Abroad, with Miscellaneous Requisites, Books (New and 
Second-hand), or Periodicals in all Languages, offer their Services to LIBRARIANS, SECRE- 
TARIES, AND OTHERS. Careful attention given to every detail. Exceptional Facilities for 
obtaining Foreign and Scarce Books. BINDING OF EVERY DESCRIPTION UNDERTAKEN. Periodicals 
and Newspapers Promptly Supplied as issued. Books Shipped to all parts of the World at Lowest 
Rates. 

TERMS ON APPLICATION, ALSO LIST OF LIBRARV APPLIANCES, HANDBOOKS, ETC. 



Telegraphic Address : 

BOOKMEN, LONDON. 



H. 5OTHERAN & CO., 



Code in Use : 

UNICODE. 



Booksellers, Bookbinders, and Publishers, and General Agents in Europe 
for Private Bookbuyers and Public Institutions in America. 

With exceptionally long experience in Library Agency, they can promise the best care, 
diligence, and discretion in everything relating to it, and in small matters as well as great. 
Established 1816. 

A Monthly Catalogue of Second-Hand Books. Specimen Number post free. 



14O Strand, \V. C., and 37 Piccadilly, \V. : London- 



J1BRAR1ES, ftRT_ 



AND MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOLS 

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Write for list of Works on Drawing, in all its branches and grades ; Painting in water 
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sent for inspection, if desired, free of charge.'fgS Large stock always on hand. 



BRUNO HESSLING. 

64 EAST I2th STREET, NEW YORK. 



PUBLISHER AND IMPORTER OF 

ARCHITECTURAL AND ART INDUSTRIAL 



WORKS, 



October, '97] THE LIBRARY JOURNAL 203 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 

I53 = i57 Fifth Avenue, New York. 

Librarians and others will do well to communicate with us before placing their 
orders. 

The latest publications of all the leading American and English publishers are 
kept in stock, thereby enabling us to fill orders with utmost despatch. 

Special attention is asked to our facilities for importing books free of duty. 

Correspondence solicited. Send for catalogues and specimen copy of 
THE BOOK BUYER, a monthly magazine devoted to books, authors, and literary affairs. 

LIBRARY DEPARTflENT 

OF 

A. C. McClurg & Co., 

CHICAGO. 

ORDERS for libraries public, university, college, or school filled with promptness and the 
greatest care. 

Our stock of miscellaneous books is very large and complete, and our special Library De- 
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which are out of print or which for other reasons are difficult to secure. 

Our prices are very low and we shall be glad to correspond with librarians regarding their 
wants. 



LIBRARIES. 



WE solicit correspondence with bookbuyers for private and other LIBRARIES 
and desire to submit figures on proposed lists. Our topically arranged 
LIBRARY LIST (mailed gratis on application) will be found useful by those selecting 
titles. 

THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., WH B O L O E K S S * LE 

5 and 7 Bast i61Ii Street, New York. 

LIBRARY REBINDING DEPARTMENT 

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beg to inform Librarians that we are doing rebinding work of every 
description for public libraries throughout the United States and 
Canada. Our flexible sewing insures strength, and perfect opening of old 
volumes. Our prices are low, and we shall be glad to correspond with Libra- 
rians regarding their wants. 



204 



THE LIBRARY JOURNAL 



\Octobtr, '97 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 



NEW YORK: 
27 and 29 West 23d Street. 



LONDON : 
24 Bedford Street, Strand. 



LIBRARY AGENTS. 

MESSRS. PUTNAH have peculiar facilities for handling all library business in- 
telligently and to the best advantage of their customers. 

Their Branch House in London (through which they receive English orders for 
American books) enables them to supply, promptly, English books, without the com- 
mission usually paid by American dealers. 

Their extensive miscellaneous and retail business makes it practicable to buy all 
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ment of literature, and to keep in touch with the current publications of the day. 
Their business experience covers more than half a century. 



Adhesive Parchment Paper 




For repairing torn leaves 
of Books, Magazines, etc. 

Circular for the ashing. 



" We know of nothing to 
equal your Adhesive Parchment 
Paper." WM. MOST, Librarian 
of Normal School, Edinboro, 
"It Doesn't Curl." Pa 



GAYLORD BROS., Syracuse, N. Y. 



"that if you 
have tried in 



I WISH TO REPEAT, 

vain to secure a missing number or vol- 
ume of a magazine, if your list has come 
back repeatedly, marked ' O. P.,' 'can't 
find,' etc , etc., then the time has arrived 
when my services may avail." 



A, S, CLARK, Bookseller and Newsdealer, 

174 Fulton Street, New York. 



BOOKS WANTED. 



The Boston Book Co., Freeman Place Chapel, 

Boston, Mass. 

National Magazine, Jan.-June, 1858. 
Chicago, Dial, set or v. 3, or odd nos. Good price. 

Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, O. 
Poor's Manual of Railroads, from 1890 to '97 incl. 

Free Public Library, Basonne, N. J. 
Prime's Pottery and Porcelain of All Times and Nations. 

Lemcke & Buechner, 8l2 B'way, N. Y. 
Memoirs of General Sherman, 2 v. 

, Woods and Byways of New England. 1872. 



G. P. Putnam's Son*. Continued. 
Wylie, Hospitals. 
Brown, History of the American Stage. 

Charles Scribner's Sons, 167 5th Ave., N. Y. 
Reuter's Seed-Time and Harvest. Lippincott. 
Gisler, Text-Book of Church History. 
Perkins, Raphael and Michelangelo. Harper. 
Graham's Message 

Hall, American Navigation. Appleton, 1878. 
Hill, Our Merchant Marine. Appleton, 1878. 



BOOKS FOR SALE. 



Library Co. of Phi la., cor. Locust and Juniper Sts., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Waters of Hercules. N. Y., 1885. 
Chap-Book, v. t and 2. 

Library, State University of Iowa, Iowa City. 
Title and Index to vols. i and 2 of Review of Reviews, 
American ed. 

Q. P. Putnam's Sons, 27 W. 23d St., N. Y. 
Lanman, Japanese in America. 
Oliphant, Elgin's Mission to China and Japan. 
Watts, Japan and Japanese. 
Hamilton, J. A., Reminiscences. 
King, French Political Leaders. 
Matthews, Hundred Years of Music in America. 
Wilkes, Shakespeare from American Point of View. 
Reed, Lectures on English History. 
Gould Genius of J. B. Booth. 
Wilson, J., Memoirs by Gordon. 
Griffin, Mexico of To- Day. 
Belzoni, Novels in Egypt- Nubia. 
Lenormant, C., Manual of Ancient History. 
Young, Concise History of Netherlands. 
Lossing, The Hudson. 
Moore, Women of War. 



A. S. Clark, 174 Fulton St.. N. Y. 

Magazine / American History, a set in numbers, clean, 
unused. $75.00. 



SPECIAL NOTICE. 



GALE of the duplicates belonging to the Royal Library 
^ Victor Emanuel of Rome. 12,000 volumes. The- 
ology, Philosophy, History, Sciences, Literature, Arts, 
Curiosities and Bibliographic rarities. The sale will 
take place in Rome at the Galleria Sangiorgi in No- 
vember next. By sending p. o. o. of 3 francs to the 
Galleria Sangiorgi, Palazzo Borghese, Rome (Italy), 
the catalogue will be forwarded free. Purchasers of 
books to the amount of not less than TO francs will be re- 
funded the price of the catalogue. 

flonthly Cumulative Index 
to Periodicals. 

Indexes subjects, authors, titles, book reviews 
and portraits. Specimen copy free. 

PUBLIC LIBRARY, Cleveland, Ohio. 



October, '97] 



THE LIBRARY JOURNAL 



205 



BiMooiapMcal Publications. 



For all American books as they appear, take THE PUBLISHERS- WEEKLY; for an hour's 
glance each month at the important books and magazine papers, take THE LITERARY NEWS; 
for library matters take THE LIBRARY JOURNAL; for magazine articles in general, consult 
THE ANNUAL LITERARY INDEX; for books in print or issued of late years, see the AMERI- 
CAN and ANNUAL CATALOGUES. 



THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY. Estab- 
lished in 1872, with which was incorporated the Ameri- 
can Literary Gaxette and Publishers' Circular (estab- 
lished in 1852), by purchase from Mr. George W. 
Childs. Recognized as the representative of the pub- 
lishing and bookselling interests in the United States, 
Contains full weekly record of American publications, 
with monthly indexes, etc. Subscription, $3.00 per an- 
num, postpaid ; single nos., 10 cts., postpaid. 

THE LITERARY NEWS. An Eclectic Re- 
view of Current Literature. Published monthly, and 
containing the freshest news concerning books and 
authors ; lists of new publications ; reviews and critical 
comments ; characteristic extracts ; sketches and anec- 
dotes of authors ; courses of reading ; bibliographical 
references ; prominent topics of the magazines ; portraits 
of authors, and illustrations from the newest books, 
etc., etc. Subscription, fi.oo per annum, postpaid; 
single nos., 10 cts. 

THE LIBRARY JOURNAL. Monthly. Of- 
ficial Organ of the American Library Association. 
Established in 1876. Subscription, $5.00 per annum, 
postpaid ; single nos., 50 cents. (THE LITERARY 
NEWS it sent free to subscribers of THE LIBRARY JOUR- 
NAL.) Teachers may be interested in the " School 
Number " published in the spring of each year. 

THE AMERICAN CATALOGUE of books in 

print and for sale (including reprints and importations) 
July i, 1876. Compiled (under the direction of F. 
LEYPOLDT) by LYNDS E. JONES. Subject-volume, 410, 
half morocco, $15.00. [Author-and-title volume is 
out of print^\ 

THE AMERICAN CATALOGUE, 1876- 

1884. Books recorded (including reprints and impor- 
tations) July i, i876-June 30, 1884. Compiled, under 
the editorial direction of R. R. BOWKER, by Miss A. I. 
APPLETON. 410, half morocco. \Out of print.] 

AMERICAN CATALOGUE, i884-9o. Com- 

piled, under the editorial direction of R. R. BOWKER, 
by Miss A. I. APPLETON and others. 410, half leather, 
$15.00. 



AflERICAN CATALOGUE, 1890 

4to, half morocco, $15.00. 



1895. 



THE ANNUAL AMERICAN CATALOGUE. 

Being the full titles, with descriptive notes, of all books 
recorded in THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY during the cal- 
endar year, with author, title and subject index, pub- 
lishers' annual lists and directory of publishers. Pub- 
lished annually since 1886. 8vo, nei, sheets, $3.00; half 
morocco, $3.50. 



THE ANNUAL LITERARY INDEX, includ- 

ing Periodicals, American and English Essays, Book- 
Chapters, etc., Special Bibliographies, Necrology of Au- 
thors, and Index to Dates of Principal Events. Edited 
by W. I. FLETCHER and R. R. BOWKER, with the co- 
operation of members of the American Library Associa- 
tion and of the Library Journal staff. 8", cloth, $3.50. 

THE PUBLISHERS' TRADE LIST AN- 
NUAL. Large 8vo, with "Duplex Index," net, $2.00. 
Contains: The latest CATALOGUES OF AMERICAN PUB- 
LISHERS, contributed by themselves and arranged al- 
phabetically by the firm-names and smaller lists at the 
end of the volume. These Lists, all bound in one vol- 
ume, present in their combination so convenient and 
time-saving a working-tool as to make it indispensable 
to every one who has any interest in the purchase or 
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THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL CATA- 
LOGUE includes a price-list of all the text- books in 
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index, referring from each specific subject to authors 
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THE ENGLISH CATALOGUE [Annual] con- 
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dex to subjects. A continuation of the London and 
British Catalogues. [London : Sampson Low, Marston 
& Co.] 8vo, paper, net, $1.50. THE ENGLISH CATA- 
LOGUE and THE ANNUAL AMERICAN CATALOGUE bound 
in one volume, half leather, $5.00. 

HANDY LIST OF AMERICAN PUBLISH- 
ERS. The street address is given in nearly every 
case, and the abbreviation under which the firm's books 
are entered in the "American Catalogue," 1890-95. 
4to, pap., $2.00. 

A CATALOGUE OF U. S. GOVERNnENT 

PUBLICATIONS. July i, 1890, to June 30, 1895. 
Compiled, under the editorial direction of R. R. BOW- 
KER, by J. H. HICKCOX. 60 pp., 410, pap., $1.50. 

THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY. By 

Rev. A. E. DUNNING. i6mo, cloth, 60 cts. 

CASPAR'S DIRECTORY of the Book, News, 

and Stationery Trades, Wholesale and Retail. 1450 
pp., 8, hf. bd., $8.00, net. 

THE PROFESSION OF BOOKSELLING: 

a handbook of practical hints for the apprentice and 
bookseller. By A. GROWOLL, managing editor of TH 
PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY and author of " A Bookseller's 
Library." Pts. i and 2, 8, bds., each, $2.00. (Con- 
cluding fart in preparation.) 



Address the OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY, 
P. O> Box 943. 59 Duane Street, New York. 



206 THE LIBRARY JOURNAL {October, ' 

LONDON: 2 Star Yard, Carey St. W. C. LEIPZIG: Hospital Str. 10. PARIS: 76 Rue de Rennes. 



QUSTAV E. STECHERT 

is the only importer in America, who employs no Agents, but has his own offices at : 

LONDON : . 2 Star Yard, Carey St. W. C. 
PARIS: . . . .76 Rue de Rennes. 
LEIPZIG : . . . . Hospital Str. 10. 

where experienced clerks and assistants attend carefully to the orders from New York. 
That such orders can be filled better, cheaper, and quicker and with less trouble 
and work to the Librarian than if the books were ordered from European Agents, 
can easily be seen for the following reasons : 

I. I am in direct communication and account with all European publishers and dealers. 
II. Therefore I need not pay any commission to Agents, but always get the bottom price and 
often an extra discount. 

III. The Librarian saves the correspondence to various European firms and has to keep only 

one account. 

IV. As shipments are received Weekly: "Mondays from England and France and Thursdays 

from Germany" no order, large or small, needs to wait for accumulation of material. 
V. If books from England, France, and Germany are ordered, these books will congregate at 
New York from where they will be sent in one shipment, thereby saving the expense 
of packing, freight, consular fees, Custom House charges, cartage, etc. 

VI. Of all publications, appearing in consecutive volumes or parts, a list is kept here and 
abroad and continuations are sent as soon as published, without a reminder from the 
Librarian. 

VII. Being provided with a large Bibliographical material of all European countries and with 
a collection of Catalogues of second-hand books, I am enabled to give quotations on 
nearly all European and American publications, new or old. 

VIII. Special attention is given to the procuring of second-hand books and Sets of Periodicals, 
of which I keep a large stock on hand, constantly refilling by buying whole Libraries 
and by attending auction sales. 

IX. Binding is done carefully in Europe under supervision of my clerks, and pattern is kept 
of the binding of every first volume, so as to insure a uniformity of the succeeding 
volumes. 
X. Periodicals supplied cheaper, quicker, and in better shape than if ordered by mail from 

Europe. 
XI. American Publications at lowest rates. 



The following is a list of some Sets of Periodicals on hand : 



Academic royale des inscriptions et belles- 
lettres : Histoire depuis son establissement et Memoirs 
de Litterature. Vols. 1-51. Paris, 1736-1808. 410, full 
calf, gilt edges. 

The Academy. A monthly record of literature, 
science, and art. Vols. 1-36, 38-42. London, 1869-92. 
4to, cloth. 

American Chemical Journal. Ed. by Remsen. 
Vols. 1-16 and Index to Vols. i-io. Baltimore, 1878-94. 
8vo, half cloth, new. 

American Journal of Science. Cond. by Silli- 
man, Dana, etc. Serie I., II., III., and IV., vols. i 
and 2. New Haven, 1819-96. 8vo, and Index to vols. 

I-IOO. 

Archivio per le scienze mediche. Pubbl. da 
G. Bizzozero. Vols. 1-19. Torino, 1876-95. 8vo, bound. 

Art Union and Art Journal. From the com- 
mencement in 1839 to 1888. Elegantly bound half mo- 
rocco, gilt ornamented back, gilt top. 46 vols. London, 
1839-88. Folio, sides uncut. 



The Anthropological Review. Vols. I.-VIII. 
London, 1863-71. 8vo, cloth. 

Astronomische Nachrichten. Hrsg. v. Schu- 
macher, fortges. v. Hansen, Petersen, Peters, and Krue- 
ger. Bd. 1-141, und General-Register zu Bd. 1-120. 
Altona, 1823-96. 410, boards and half cloth. 

Berichte d. Deutschen Chemischen Gesell- 
schaft zu Berlin. I.-XXIV. Jahrg. Berlin 1868-91. 
8vo, half morocco, fine set, and General Index. 

Bijdragen tot de dierkunde, nitgegeven door 
het genoptschap, Natura Artis Magistra. 16 parts and 3 
vols. Folio. Amsterdam, 1848-88. Complete set. Scarce. 

Chemisches Centralblatt. 1863, Neue Folge, 
Bd. 8 bis 1883; III. Folge, Bd. 14 und General Register 
zu Bd. 1-12 der III. Folge. Leipzig, 1870-81. Bds. 

The Chatham Society. Remains, historical 
and literary, connected with the Palatine Counties of 
Lancaster and Chester. 147 vols. Small 410. Man- 
chester, 1844-95. Cloth, fine set. 

The Church Quarterly Review. Vols. 1-34. 
London, 1876-92. 8vo, half roan, fine set. 



Parties going abroad will find it in their interest to make their headquarters at 
my offices at London, Paris, or Leipzig and make use of the services of my repre- 
sentatives. Books may thus be bought in any part of Europe and charged and sent 
to the New York firm, according to special arrangement. 

QUSTAV E. STECHERT, 9 East i6th Street, New York. 












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