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'76, and.qoiiSMts what he was able to do then with what he can do now, he finds abuttdant room for gratulation. Every passing year has ^leant more of ucnefulness, a corresponding growth of public re^ gard. Toward this happy issue influences of two kinds have im^ pelled faiip. !Fhe first of these influences was bom with the Association itself^ III the very act of union there was an inevitable strengthenin(^ of hands. At the yearly musters workers from lonely outposts^ or from busy centers slow to acknowledge the claims of literature, have been comforted and inspired. They have fpnnd how goodly the army in which they were enlisted. Old friendships have been qttickene4 tnd deepened ; new fr^endphips, soon as warm, have been kindled # every gathering. A young man» just across the threshold of hit profession, would bring his perplexities with trustees or alder- men to the sympathetic ear 01 an elder. Forthwith the hill Difl^culty f^^mi 'li'i^h'. jQM. .,1 ''-T -™rFtvi^*f7i^i^ .,-p^ r^fmm d '^ which had so much dismayed him, would disclose the easiest of curves and gentlest of gradients. At these meetings, too, administrative details, upon which so much of success may turn, have year by year been compared and discussed, until now they emerge as a tolerably deer code of practice. There is substantial agreement to- day as to how our buildings should be constructed, planned and fur- nished ; how books should be selected, classified and placed in the hands of the public. Meanwhile the publication of indexes, bib- liographies, aiid the like, has gone on apace — aids which would never have seen the light without the Association, to create them and provide their market. Alliances, already fruitful and big with promise, have united the public library with the public school, the art gallery and the museum. And one State after another wheels into line to form a chain of Library Commissions, soon to stretch, let us hope, from Maine to California. How much all this would astonish the old-line librarian who here and there lingered on the stage of '76 1 A grim warder of alcoves was he, grudgingly dispensing his stores to a favored few, reluctance in his step, suspicion in his eye. To-day we have no more turnkeys of literature, but bankers rather, whose capital is accumulated in the sole aim that its value be multiplied fifty 'or a hundred-fold by the freest using. The librarian's doors stand open ; he all but compels us to come in. Little wonder that his hospitality is requited by the heartiest public appreciation. In not a few of our towns and cities the public library is the acknowledged center of in- tellectual life, of every movement which stirs the once separated and removed cream of culture back again into the plain people's milk — to lenrich their toil, to sweeten their leisure, to lift and widen their out- llook. Let a user of libraries, who owes much to librarians, here add his word of thanks to the general chorus. { But forces other than those active within the profession have pro- foundly stirred the librarian's pulse; they were potent enough two ■ • T.* I 1,111 1 ifiK.vvpippv^r'^ 11 mj mvf fi :i- M 8 decades ago, to-day they are simply irresistible ; they move under the banner of Science. It is science applied which has augmented wealth and so diffused education that the ability to write a book — of some kind or other — is commoner than ever, while the cost of the making falls lower and lower. The first and most evident result, then, of the reign of science is to engulf the librarian in a flood-tide of printed matter which mounts higher and sweeps faster every twelve-month. In the United States alone about 8o,ooo new books or new editions have been published since '76. To pass from quantity to the weightier matter of theme, new books by the thousand deal with subjects barely recognized, or indeed utterly unimagined twenty-one years ago. Con- sider the recent advances in chemistry, especially in its single depart- ment of photography ; bestow a glance at the triumphs of bacteriology, with its new defiance of disease and death. In '76 aluminum was ?till made into jewelry, to-day electricity gives it to us as kitchenware. The new physics, chemistry, biology, psychology and the rest, have been won in large measure by new instruments of exquisite ingenuity. These sciences converge in welding a body of scientific method in itself incomparably more powerful as an instrument of exploration than tele- phone, or spectroscope, or Rontgen bulb. So revolutionary are the victories of science that literature, to its remotest comer, breathes its ozone, its stimulus to scrupulous exactitude, to unfaltering faithfulness to fact directly observed and patiently interpreted. Accordingly we to-day find the candor once rare in biography steadily growing com- mon. Plain-speaking certainly wertt its full length last year in Hare's "Story of My Life," Hamerton's autobiography, and Purcell's " Life of Cardinal Manning." As a shining example of the modem historian take Francis Parkman. With toil unwearied, and at an out- lay only to be met by a private fortune, he gathered the documents upon which his work? were based. These documents, open to his critics, are in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society in Hi iiiiMiiii iH mm. mmummm mm ^ MPP Boston. Mr. Parkman visited every town and hamlet which he has described. Frequently in the foreground of his canvas are Indian chiefs and tribes; wherever their descendants survived, he sought familiar acquaintance with them. Hence he gives us those minor traits of race that ut detected only in close and sympathetic scrutiny, together with the traditions, the fringe and tassel of custom, never to be conveyed in second-hand impressions. Whether such a man as Parkman devotes his life to the telescope, the test-tube, or the pen, equally is he the servant of truth. Turn we for a moment to the novelist and we shall see him bowing to the new scepter, for all that his imagination is as chainless as ever. There is Stevenson, in his last days at Samoa, penning his strongest romance, "Weir of Hermiston," and minded to try Archie Weir on a charge of murder elsewhere than at Edinburgh. But could he do so with truth ? He deemed it incumbent to question a legal friend in faraway Scotland. The response, with its detail of time, court and place delighted him ; all was reserved for fullest use. Introducing a fact as a fact, novelists before Stevenson have been careful, but hia scrupulous anxiety is quite characteristic of a day when chemists are engaged on analyses true to the fifty-thousandth part, by the help of scales freely turning with a half-millionth of their load. And what does Naturalism, that scrofulous offspring of Realism, attempt but to tell the truth about the gutter and the sty ? And further, if we refresh ourselves in peering for a moment over the fence that divides letters from art, we shall again see the dominion of the spirit which makes for reality, for immediate impressions, for consent between partners too long at cross purposes. Observe Seymour-Hadea as he etches a landscape, not from a sketch in the seclusion of his studio, but at the very brookside itself. See Timothy Cole in the presence of the masterpieces of Da Vinci and Raphael translating their ineffable beauty on the block before him. Note Meissonier as he correctSr his. i N. it - 'i'. r drawings of the horse at full gallop with the aid of an eye swifter and surer than his own, that of the instantaneous camera. Listen to Wagner, who, beginning his career when an opera was formed of a libretto and a score that looked askance at each other, gives us at last the music-drama in which sound echoes sense, in which language and music but interpret and exalt each other. To return to the library. It is of course in the field of its own literature that the compulsions of science chiefly appear. A little more than a century ago Oliver Goldsmith could indite a "History of Animated Nature," not because he knew more than his neighbors about animated Nature, but because he could re-state the writings of others — themselves perhaps borrowers — with fluent grace. To-day for the task he assumed so light of heart, how elaborate would be the attack I First of all would be installed, as editor-in-chief, a naturalist whose mastery of a particular branch of natural history had brought maturity of judgment as to work in other branches. Around him would be assembled a corps of specialists, each a man of wide and and thorough familiarity with birds or insects, beasts or fish. Every chapter would be copiously illustrated by the camera. The multi- tudinous facts of form, color and habit would be threaded upon clue- lines of cause and law, while philosophy would redeem, for illustration and instance, every jot and tittle of detail otherwise oppressive through sheer mass and variety. The naturalists of Goldsmith's day looked upon Nature as a tableau disposed by the Master long ago, to stand unchanged forever. The naturalists of our time show us that in truth Nature is a drama,— of shifting scenes, of personalities mutable to the very core, molded by forces as coercive now as in the illimitable past A change of view surely no more significant for science than for its twin phase of reality, literature. Those historiiins-in-the-large, the evolutionists, tell us that chief among the Acuities of mind which have lifted man from brute are •#'. ■■■■i ■F 6 those which flower in language. Golden though the spoken or writ- ten word may be, immeasurable harm has been done by its permitted usurpations. Too often the writer who should first have been an ob- server, an explorer, a doer, has been but a scribe, putting forth with a scribe's lack of authority the distortions of hearsay, the unavoidable falsities of second or third hand impressions. Why does so dreary a desert separate the science of Aristotle from the science of Galileo and his compeers of the Renaissance — a desert across which commentator and disputant flit, one after another, all with empty hands ? Simply because Aristotle was followed only in the repetition and discussion of what he had said, not in his direct appeal to fact Only when Nature was probed anew in his own fearless way did the reign of the school- men come to an end, did man enter upon his modern comprehension of Nature, the new mastery of his fate. We have only to turn the pages of metaphysical abstraction to come upon words that float in a serene detachment from real things, from genuine thoughts, words independent of the solid earth, and useless there. In the juvenile debating clubs of the last generation a favorite question was, " Is the pen mightier than the sword ? " Commanders all the way from Julius Caesar to General Grant have demonstrated that the pen is never mightier than when the sword has been laid down that the pen might be taken up. And in other fields than those of war the pen has might only because the chisel or the brush, the scalpel or the lens, has been exchanged for it To-day, therefore, we find the desk set up in the workshop, the studio, the laboratory, with incalculable profit to litera- ture. The new books of science gain by qualifications, exceptions, side-lights from bafflement and failure a value incomparably greater than was possible in the recent days which it is no disrespect to call pre-scientific. Thus draws to its term the ancient discord between theory and practice: theory takes on modification and limit in the face of the complexities which it is the darling vice of language to ignore ,1 or over-simplify. Practice, enlightened by generalization, passes from the rule of thumb to the sway of law. By virtue, too, of a knowledge which comprehends many a distant province of truth there spring up what Clerk Maxwell happily called the cross-fertilizations of science. The physicist has only to dig deep enough to find that the chemist and himself occupy common ground. Delve from the surface of your sphere to its heart, and your radius at once joins every other. Mark Sir Archibald Geikie as in his "Geology" he cheerfully lays hands on whatthe physicist and chemist, the astronomer and meteorologist, might once have regarded as estates exclusively their own. Behold, also, the fruitful reaction of adequate records upon invention and discovery as they march to new victories. Visit Mr. Edison, and you will find his library as generously equipped as his laboratory. Perhaps in no part of our modern life is the new adjustment of words and deeds more telling than in education. In our best schools, all the way from the kindergarten to the university, books are being gradually withdrawn from work they should never have been allowed to perform. No longer is memorizing the printed page the be-all and the end-all of instruction. Anything that should be observed is ob- served; anything that should be done is done instead of being merely talked or written about. Books come in for reference, for direction, as means of continuous explanation, as sources of knowledge con- cerning observations, experiments, generalizations far beyond the horizon of the student. Restricted thus to its rightful sphere a book rises to a utility, because it has a truth it could not know when the Word was a substitute for the Act, instead of being its complement. In those wider spheres of letters whose aim is recreation, charm, inspiration, there is obedience to the same tidal impulses. We have a fiction as true in essence as history; a body of poetry as rightly echo- ing the perplexities and aspirations of our age as the pages of a cau- im tious annalist may record the commonplaces of trade and treaty. The novelist, the dramatist, the essayist, all the wrriters who are the servants of Beauty, are to-day effectively so in proportion to their al- lef^iance to Truth. Thus are the standards of literary criticism heightened and sharpened by that world-movement whose citadel is science, whose conquests are arrayed in provinces of new knowledge such as no thousand years before our century ever won. The motto of the American Library Association is, "The best reading for the largest number at the least cost." But how shall we know what part of the enormous mass of modern reading is best, and what other part, while not best, is still useful enough to repay the reader or student? You may tell me that reviewing is a somewhat ancient institution, that from among the criticisms which appear anony- mously in such a journal as the Nation, of New York, or under signa- tures in such periodicals as the American Historical Review and the Political Science Quarterly there is much to meet our want. But such reviews, good as they are, do not fill the need of the librarian's public; commonly they are too long, too discursive; how shall they be readily found when wanted ? What is needed is a brief note of description, criticism and comparison, written hy an acknowledged authority, signed and dated, and placed where the reader cannot help seeing it, both within the lid of the reviewed book itself and on a card next the title-card in the catalogue — it being assumed that according to the practice more and more prevailing in America a card catalogue is freely accessible to all. If a book treats of a question in debate, as socialism or bimetallism, fact and opinion should be carefully distin- guished, and views of opposed critics might be presented. By this means the inquirer would know which book is best, or among the best of its kind; he would be made aware of the defects which mar even the best books; he would learn how one work can gainfully piece out another, and would gather indication of the periodicals, or transac- ■' :> tions which bring a story of discovery or research down to date. In a final line he might be told where detailed reviews are to be found. And where shall we find the persons qualified to undertake all this arduous business of appraisal ? Chiefly, I think, in the ranks of pro- fessional reviewers. Many of these are busy in class-rooms, bringing books daily to the severest tests of experiment and study. Let them go on writing reviews of customary length for their present employers, and let them also boil down these reviews for us. Wherever neces- sary, other critics, skilled foi th? service we require, may lend their aid. Thus shall the seeker and Je knower be brought together; thus may everyone who enters a public library have at his elbow competent and trustworthy pilots thn ^^h the swirluig sea of literature. Instruc- tion or recreation may then be pursued with the utmost effect and pleasure, because .vith the sound'.st available intelligence. Of course, this aid should not be confmed to the literature of utility: why should pleasure in fiction, or de//es leUres, be flabby when it can so easily be hearty? Fiction, indeed, in the circulation of some of our libraries rises to a figure exceeding 80 per cent. With ihis fact in mind, and believing a large part of the fiction to be poor stuff, Mr. Goldwin Smith im- pugns the whole principle of supporting free libraries out of the public treasury. " People," he says, *' have no more right to novels than to theatre tickets out of the public taxes." The point of his objection can be turned only in one way,— by seeing to it that only good fiction is placed upon the shelves. Exclusion, courageous and tactful must be the policy here. Mr. W. M. Stevenson, librarian of the Carnegie Library, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, has dropped from his catalogue a round of novels popular enough, but lacking literary merit. To the demand. Why cannot we have what we like, instead of what yon think we ought to like ? the answer must be, read Austen, Cooper, Scott, Thackeray, Dickens, Hawthorne and Stevenson, and you will soon 10 I •i _ * I thank us for v Ithholding Mrs. Holmes and Mr. Roe, your appetite for their screeds being irrecoverably lost. Reading, for all that Dogberry may say, does not come by nature; neither, when the art of reading is acquired, is it spontaneously partnered with power to choose the most gainful and pleasure-giving books. Just as fast as the school educates the public in the intelligent choice of literature, with equal pace will vanish the charge that the public library does aught but public good. There is a difficulty much more serious than that of wishy-washy fiction, with regard to novels of the Satanic school, deliberately produced to contaminate. Against these it is high time that danger signals were set up, so that neither carelessness nor accident may allow their intrusion. The steps taken in America toward engaging the best available guidance for readers and students in our public libraries are briefly these : About twenty years ago Professor W. G. Sumner, of Yale University, drew up for his classes a short list of works on political economy, with notes. This list, enlarged to an annotated pamphlet of thirty-six pages, was soon after published in New York by the So- ciety for Political Education. The pamphlet was favorably received, and when it passed out of print a widespread demand arose for its re-issue in expanded form. Accordingly, the "Reader's Guide in Economic, Social and Political Literature," a book of some one hun- dred and sixty pages, was issued in 189 1. In its preparation the edit- ors, Mr. R. R. Bowker and myself, were assisted by a score of represen- tative American and English specialists. The "Guide" met with a warm reception ; copies of it are to be seen in college libraries thumbed almost to tatters ; to this day it is doing good service in hundreds of editorial offices, class rooms and public libraries : an appendix to it may appear next year. The next demand for an annotated bibliog- raphy came from the clubs of girls and women, which are constantly increasing in number and importance, and are establishing libraries te at rt ;o le h It It > B r by scores every mc.^th. To meet this need, Mrs. Augusta H. Ley- poldt, editor of the Literary News, New York, and myself edited two years ago, for the American Library Association, "A List of Books for Girls and Women and Their Clubs." This bibliography comprises 2,100 titles in the leading branches of literature. Each of its departments was contributed by a man or woman of authority. Although specifically addressed to girls and women, and setting forth especially the books which deal with their livelihoods and home toil, the " List " in the main is as useful to boys and men as to their sis- ters and mothers. The notes on good literature which chiefly fill it appeal to all readers. Take an example of its usefulness : Wiscon- sin is an agricultural State, with a population for the most part cen- tered in smiU towns and /illages. The chairman of the Stfte Library Commission, Mr. F. A. Hutchins, writes that the "List" has doubled and quadrupled the purchasing power of the few dollars usually available in forming or extending small libraries. In Mil- waukee, much the largest city in the State, the question might be : Which is the best exposition of Browning's "The Ring and the Book " ? But what the village of Fox Lake wants to know is ; Which are Dickens' six best books, and which are the best editions for six dollars ? Two departments of the "Lists for Girls and Women" proved particularly helpful— that of Fine Art, by Mr. Russell Sturgis, and that of Music, by Mr. H. E. Krehbiel. Accordingly, these two critics, each a master in his field, were engaged for a fairly full bibliography of Fine Art, about one thousand titles in all. This work, which I edited, also issued by the American Library Association, appeared March, 1897, and has thus far met with a gratifying reception. How- ever much we may wish to see notes of appraisal printed on cata- logue cards, it will always be desirable to give book-form as well to such notes as those of Mr. Sturgis and Mr. Krehbiel. Only thus can i! the reader take connected views of his subject, observe the canons of criticism in their broad application, and gather those suggestions which teem from a richly freighted mind as, in one masterly effort, it passes upon a whole literature from the first noteworthy volume to the last. The next task of the American Library Association, in the way of appraisal, will probably be a bibliography of American His- tory. A scholar of the highest competence has said that if possible he will act as its editor-in-chief, giving his services gratuitously. An attempt will be made to issue its notes in both book and card form. Following this task we hope to issue a bibliography of applied science-; for its departments we are already volunteered the aid of several contributors of mark. What I should like to see would be a series of bibliographies covering with tolerable completeness the whole round of literature, and comprising a selection of about ten thousand works. With these as a basis we might enlist our contrib- utors for the appraisal of every noteworthy book as it leaves the press, distributmg the notes on cards. In Boston is an agency of the Pub- lishing Section of the American Library Association which selects from current literature and issues title-cards for a circle of subscrib- ing libraries — this with a view to introducing uniformity, and of pay- ing one printer instead of fifty. By adding notes of appraisal in the future, the value of this service could be vastly heightened. What our Publishing Section is clearly moving toward is the foun- dation of a Central Superintendency (the title Library Bureau is pre- empted) which shall oversee this whole business of appraisal, of en- tering into relations with the plans, now international in scope, for indexing scientific and other literature, which shall make it easy to establish new libraries on sound lines, and to extend exist- ing libraries with the utmost economy and efficiency. From the work of such a superintendency manifold gain would arise. Through- out America there are constantly appearing annotated lists of works .A >ri«dAar:£room Beethoven and Bach are now appealing li. the million instead of the Upper ten thousand. So also in the field" of literature ; the records of the best that has been tf tought and done in the world grow in volume and value every hour. Speed the