UC-NRLF
I
HINTS
TO
SMALL LIBRARIES
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
Class
HINTS
TO
SMALL LIBRARIES
BY
MARY WRIGHT PLUMMER
DIRECTOR PRATT INSTITUTE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE,
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
FOURTH EDITION
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
PUBUSHING BOARD
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
igii
\l\\\
COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY
M. W. PLUMMER
Librarian of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York
COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY
TRUSLOVE & COMBA, NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY
M. W. PLUMMER.
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY
M. W. PLUMMER.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
A DMITTING the wisdom of the saying that "children should
/\^ be seen and not heard," and the fact that Pratt Institute
Free Library is still of tender years, it is also not to be
denied that there comes a time when even children must speak
and abide by the consequences. The Library has had so many
letters from persons at a distance, as well as many visitors,
asking advice or suggestions in regard to the starting or reor-
ganizing of small libraries or the best methods of carrying them
on, that it seems best to put its suggestions into tangible form.
They profess to be no more than suggestions ; some of them the
Library has tried, others it has heard of and thought reasonable.
The main endeavor throughout these few chapters has been to
keep in mind the fact that there are libraries scattered all over the
country that have very little of anything but ambition and good
will to go upon. Their stock of money, labor, and time is
limited, wherefore it is of no use to recommend to them tools or
processes that require much of these commodities.
The trained librarian will not feel the need of such a pamphlet
as this, since he or she probably knows of or could evolve a system
equally well or better adapted to the circumstances, so the audi-
ence sifts itself down to small libraries which have to consider
economy, whose librarians are not trained and have no opportunity
to take training. And even for them, it is hoped these suggestions
may be only a point of departure from which to continue their
own investigations in the field of library economy.
Thanks are due and are sincerely tendered to several friends
224473
4 ' , Kints to Small Libraries
interested in librarianship, who have kindly read these chapters,
and whose suggestions have been gladly received.
To those other friends who, individually or collectively, have
helped to feed the springs of interest and enthusiasm in which this
little undertaking has had its origin, thanks are no less due,
though their part in it can be less definitely specified. If there
be any profession in which there is community of ideas, it is that
of librarianship, and from the common stock every one is encour-
aged to take that which he can make of use to himself and others.
When the long-desired A. L. A. manual shall appear, no one
will greet it more gladly than the present writer ; meanwhile, since
the choice is between a half loaf and no bread, she feels herself
constrained to offer the former.
PRATT INSTITUTE, M. W. P.
Brooklyn, N. Y.,
March, 1894.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
NO other work of a similar grade and scope having appeared
in the field, and the demand from small libraries and
schools of library science continuing a steady one, the
author feels it incumbent on her to supply this demand from
a second edition, the first, of one thousand copies, being
exhausted. The book has been revised and enlarged as far as
might be without destroying the original ideal of simplicity and
economy. M. W. P.
PRATT INSTITUTE FREE LIBRARY,
Brooklyn, N. Y.,
March, 1898.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. RECEIVING AND ENTERING BOOKS 7
II. BOOK-NUMBERS AND CATALOGUING 17
III. CATALOGUING 21
IV. THE SHELF-LIST AND INVENTORY 27
V. MECHANICAL PREPARATION OF BOOKS FOR THE SHELVES : BINDING . 30
VI. RELATIONS WITH THE PUBLIC : REGISTRATION ... 35
VII. THE CHARGING SYSTEM 38
VIII. READING-ROOM AND REFERENCE-ROOM WORK ... 45
IX. SELECTING AND ORDERING BOOKS 56
X. ROOMS AND FIXTURES 60
XI. LIBRARY TOOLS 63
CHAPTER I
RECEIVING AND ENTERING BOOKS
WE will suppose that your books are already bought, and
that they are still in the boxes.
Generally the librarian of the small library is relieved
of the pleasant duty of selecting books by his or her committee,
who are often persons of literary tastes, and who undertake to
do the ordering. A chapter on selecting and ordering will be
given at the end of this handbook, however, for the use of
those librarians to whom the work is new, and who have the sole
responsibility of buying.
The first thing to do is to compare your bills with the books
as you take them from the boxes, checking on the bill every item
that is found correct. Errors in price or books sent which have
to be returned for any reason, should not be deducted from the
bill, as this method would surely cause discrepancies between the
library's accounts and the dealer's. Whatever is sent back should
be charged to the dealer in a small book, opened for the purpose,
and a bill sent. Errors in the dealer's favor should also be charged
back to him in this book, and a memorandum be sent him.
Some librarians, as the bills are checked, enter a memorandum
in pencil in each book, on the inside margin of the first page after
the title page, thus: "5 N 92, Sm 1-67," meaning, "billed Nov. 5,
1892, by Smith, at i.oo, 33 J off." This memorandum is fre-
quently found useful, and saves a hunt through old bills or a trip
to the accessions-book.
Having taken the books from the boxes, checked your bills,
and compared the bill or books with your order list, to make sure
that nothing has been sent which was not ordered, the next process
is to arrange the books according to a rough classification for en-
tering in the accessions-book. We will suppose that your library
is not to have more than 5,000 volumes, nor less than 1,500, for its
8 /'', '' ; .' : Hints to Small Libraries
start, and that it is not to grow very fast say, at the rate of not
more than 500 volumes per year. With this understanding, a
classification under 1,000 heads would probably be enough for a
long time, and it is always possible to subdivide your heads and
classify more closely when it becomes necessary. It is not neces-
sary that the final classifying be done now, provided books of the
same general character are grouped together before entering, and
even this is a mere matter of convenience, to help in finding the
record of any given book of the original stock, when the book itself
is not at hand.
The following 100 heads from the Dewey classification are
those which we recommend for a very small library :
(Reprinted from the Decimal classification by permission of the publishers,
Library Bureau, 530 Atlantic Ave., Boston.)
ooo GENERAL WORKS.
oio Bibliography.
020 Library economy.
030 General cyclopaedias.
040 General collections.
050 General periodicals.
(Periodicals on a special subject are classed with that subject.)
060 General societies.
070 Newspapers.
080 Special libraries. Polygraphy, (i. e., Collected works.)
090 Book rarities.
(Books about rarities, as well as books chiefly valuable for their
rarity, are classed here.)
ioo PHILOSOPHY.
1 10 Metaphysics.
1 20 Special metaphysical topics.
130 Mind and body.
140 Philosophical systems.
(Discussions of the systems as such. Philosophical works them-
selves are put in 180 and 190.)
Receiving and Entering Books 9
150 Mental faculties.
1 60 Logic.
170 Ethics.
1 80 Ancient philosophers. \
190 Modern philosophers. J
(Their collected works only. Individual works are put with
their subjects.)
200 RELIGION.
210 Natural theology.
220 Bible.
230 Doctrinal theology. Dogmatics.
240 Devotional and practical.
250 Homiletic. Pastoral. Parochial.
260 Church. Institutions. Work.
270 Religious history.
280 Christian churches and sects.
290 Non-Christian religions.
300 SOCIOLOGY.
310 Statistics.
(Statistics too general to be included in any one topic. Statis-
tics of a special subject are classed with that subject.)
320 Political science.
330 Political economy.
340 Law.
350 Administration.
360 Associations and institutions.
370 Education.
380 Commerce and communication.
(Railroads, etc. Desirability of government ownership, control,
etc. See also 650.)
390 Customs. Costumes. Folk-lore.
(The heads under 390 are for discussion by topic. The customs,
etc., of a special country go in 913-919. Books on a special
topic in a special country are classed here, as the grouping
by topics is the more important.)
io Hints to Small Libraries
400 PHILOLOGY.
(Class a dictionary of two languages with the less known
language. A dictionary of several languages with 410, or
with the least known language.)
410 Comparative.
420 English.
430 German.
440 French.
450 Italian.
460 Spanish.
470 Latin.
480 Greek.
490 Minor languages.
.Son NATURAL SCIENCE.
510 Mathematics.
520 Astronomy.
530 Physics.
540 Chemistry.
550 Geology.
560 Paleontology.
570 Biology.
(Class here only those books which cover both 580 and 590.)
580 Botany.
590 Zoology.
600 USEFUL ARTS.
610 Medicine.
620 Engineering.
630 Agriculture.
640 Domestic economy.
650 Communication and commerce.
(Railroads, their practical administration, making up and dis-
patching of trains, time tables, etc. Steamboats. See also
380.)
660 Chemical technology.
Receiving and Entering Books n
670 Manufactures.
(General subject of metal, wood, etc., manufactures, and such
specific manufactures as would not be of more value classed
elsewhere. An account of a specific manufacture Is commonly
more useful with its own subject.)
680 Mechanic trades.
690 Building.
(Practical side. 720, artistic side.)
700 FINE ARTS.
710 Landscape gardening.
720 Architecture.
730 Sculpture.
740 Drawing. Design. Decoration.
750 Painting.
760 Engraving.
770 Photography.
780 Music.
790 Amusements.
800 LITERATURE, including FICTION.
810 American.
820 English.
830 German.
840 French.
850 Italian.
860 Spanish.
870 Latin.
880 Greek.
890 Minor languages.
(Fiction may remain undivided by nationality, and the letter F
stand for the class, or no class designation at all be used.
This would range all novels together alphabetically by the
book-number, composed from the author's name.)
900 HISTORY.
(The history of wars goes with the country invaded unless
especially pertaining to the invading people.)
910 Geography and description.
920 Biography.
(Arrange individual biography by subject of the life, collective
by author.)
12 Hints to Small Libraries
930 Ancient history.
940
950
960
970
980
990
Modern.
Europe.
Asia.
Africa.
North America.
South America.
^ Oceanica and Polar regions.
The 1,000 heads give subdivisions of the classes just enumer-
ated : these are issued in pamphlet form by the Library Bureau,
as also a full explanation of the use of the classification.
We introduce here also the main heads of the Cutter Expansive
Classification, arranged for this manual by Mr. C. A. Cutter, the
author.
A GENERAL WORKS.
Ap General periodicals.
Ar Reference works.
As General societies.
B PHILOSOPHY, including Logic.
Bm Ethics.
Br RELIGION and RELIGIONS, including FOLK-LORE.
Ca Judaism.
Cb Bible.
Cc Christianity.
Cce Fathers.
Ce Evidences.
Cf Doctrines.
Ck Ethical theology.
Cp Church polity and ritual.
Cx Pastoral theology.
D Church history.
E BIOGRAPHY.
F HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES.
G GEOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, MAPS, MANNERS and
CUSTOMS.
H SOCIAL SCIENCES.
Hb Statistics.
Receiving and Entering Books 13
He Economics.
Hf Labor.
Hk Commerce.
Hm Money and private Finance.
Ht Taxation and public Finance.
I Crime, Charity, Providence.
Ik Education.
J Government.
K Law.
L NATURAL SCIENCES.
Lb Mathematics.
Lh Physics.
Lo Chemistry.
Lr Astronomy.
M Natural history.
Mg Geology.
My Biology.
N Botany.
O Zoology.
Pw Anthropology, Ethnology, Ethnography.
Q MEDICINE.
R ARTS (General works, Exhibitions, Patents, Metric arts).
Rd Mining and Metallurgy.
Rg Agriculture.
Rt Chemic and Electric arts. ,
Ry Domestic arts.
S Engineering and Building.
T Manufactures and Handicrafts.
U Military and Naval arts.
V Athletic and Recreative arts.
Vv MUSIC.
W GRAPHIC AND PLASTIC ARTS.
We Landscape gardening.
Wf Architecture.
Wj Sculpture.
14 Hints to Small Libraries
Wp Painting and drawing.
Wq Engraving.
Wr Photography.
Ws Decorative arts (including Costume).
X LANGUAGE.
Y LITERATURE.
Yf Fiction.
Z Book arts.
Zp Libraries.
Zt Bibliography.
Zy Literary history.
This can be shortened by including Ar in A ; Bm in B ; Ca in
Br ; Cce, Ce, Cf, Ck, Cp, and Cx in Cc (or even putting Br, Ca, Cb,
Cc together and marking them C) ; Hb, He, Hf, Hk, Hm, Ht,
in H ; Lo and Lr in Lh ; Rd, Rg, Rt, Ry, S, T in R ; We, Wf, Wj,
Wp, Wq, Wr, Ws in W ; and Zp, Zt, Zy in Z.
History and geography must be and many other subjects may
be divided locally. Of the 505 distinct marks for countries pro-
vided by the "local list" the most important are 13 Polar regions,
1 6 Pacific ocean and islands, 26 Atlantic ocean and islands, 30
Europe, 31 Greece and Rome, 36 Italy, 39 France, 45 England,
47 Germany, 53 Northern Europe, 60 Asia, 70 Africa, 80 America,
83 United States, 98 South America, (e. g., X39 French language,
F47 German history).
When you shall have decided to which of your classes a book
belongs, write the number of the class in pencil on the reverse of
the title page just above the copyright entry. Then arrange
together all the books that belong to one class.
Then enter one class at a time in your accessions-book, or
entry-ledger, as it is sometimes called. For 1,000, 2,000 or 5,000
volumes you can get the condensed Accessions-book made by the
Library Bureau, which has the accession numbers stamped in the
margin and printed headings for the columns. This costs $i,
$3, or $5, according to the number of lines, 1,000 2,000, or
5,000. If you cannot afford this, get a good sized blank book with
Receiving and Entering Books
bD
&
Cfl
16 Hints to Small Libraries
plenty of vertical rulings, and do your own numbering and head-
ing. Perhaps you can draw up an outline and some local manu-
facturer can make a book for you, but this would be likely to be
quite as expensive as the book from the Bureau. (See Fig. i)
In order to make it still easier to find what you want in the
accessions-book, it might be well to arrange the books of each
class alphabetically, by the author's name, before entering. Enter
the fiction first, so that it can be catalogued and put into circulation
before anything else, as it is the class of literature most in demand.
Give every volume a line and a number in the accessions-book.
Many libraries do not do this, and consider it a waste of time
and paper, but the extra pains justifies itself in the end. As the
book is for the sake of recording accessions, the numbering must
begin at I and run in regular order. A glance at the number of
the last entry will at any time show how many volumes the library
has received.
When a book is entered, it must receive, on the first recto
(right hand page) after the title-page, written in ink, the number
that it has in the accessions-book. The accessions-book is of
great importance aside from its use as a record, as in case of fire
it may enable you to estimate the loss and secure your insurance,
if prices are carefully recorded in it.
If you have an assistant, it would be well to set him or her to
cataloguing the books as fast as you enter and classify them, and if
you are to do all the work yourself, we should recommend, as
before stated, the entry of all the fiction and the cataloguing of
that, in order to give it to the public while you are engaged in
entering and cataloguing the rest of the books. Biography and
history being the classes next in demand in most libraries, enter
and catalogue those next, then literature in general, then travels,
etc.
The public generally grow very impatient to get into a new
library, and think it takes a long time to get it ready ; so it is as
well to have an occasional sop for Cerberus, administered as rec-
ommended above.
CHAPTER II
BOOK-NUMBERS AND CATALOGUING
IT is evident that the class-number alone does not make a suffi-
cient call-number there must be something to distinguish
each book from all others in the same class, and for this
reason we have the book-number. This, taken in connection with
the class, should identify the book thoroughly, as the full name
does a person.
A book-number may be made to indicate various things, as
well as to identify a certain book. It may show how many books
the library has of its class, as would be the case if all books under
each class were assigned a strict numerical arrangement e. g.,
942-1 would be the first book in that class, 942-2, the second, and
so on. It may show how many books there are in a class whose
author's name begins with a certain letter, e. g., 942-Gi would be
the first book in the class whose author's name begins with G, and
942-G2 would be the second. It may show the date of publication,
as by the scheme of time-numbers invented by Mr. W. S. Biscoe
of the New York State Library; and it may show how many
books the library has in any one class by a given author. This last
is the best arrangement, as it keeps together on the shelves
an author's books in any one line of writing, which none of
the others do, beyond a certain point. For this reason the
Cutter book-numbers are recommended, the table of which may
be had from the Library Bureau or by applying to the Forbes
Library, Northampton, Mass. Explanations are supplied with
the tables, and a little study should make the system easy to use. A
modification of these, called the Cutter-Sanborn tables, is sold by
the Library Bureau and is used by many libraries. For a large
or fast-growing library this style of book-numbering is decidedly
the best, especially for fiction and biography, as it is very desirable
to have all of an author's novels together and all the biographies
of a person in one place. In the case of biography, the number
18 Hints to Small Libraries
would be assigned from the name of the subject, of course, rather
than that of the author.
Each book should receive its book-number on the reverse of
the title-page under the class-number. It has then been christened
and is ready to be described, or catalogued for cataloguing is
only a description, more or less detailed, by which the borrower
may satisfy himself whether the book is the one he wants.
Persons taking books from a library usually wish to know
one of three things ; i. e., Has the library a book by a given title ?
What books has it by a given author ? How many and what books
has it on a given subject? And it is the duty of the smallest li-
brary to furnish answers to these questions by means of some kind
of catalogue.
Almost the first thing that a small library does is to print a
catalogue. Usually the local printer does the work, and owing
to the necessity for economy on the part of the library, and the
small outfit of the printing-office, the outcome is not a thing of
beauty poor cataloguing, poor paper, and poor type, make a
wretched combination; and before the book is fairly out there
are volumes enough added to the library to form a brief supple-
ment. Books continue to be added, and in a short time the
catalogue utterly misrepresents the library's resources. The
librarian is persuaded to print a supplement. If he has money
enough, and if there are enough additions to warrant it, he may
do so. People then either drop the original catalogue and depend
upon one supplement until another comes out, or for every book
they want they must look through both lists. The more supple-
ments there are added, the more there are to consult in a search
for a given work. In no one place are the whole contents of the
library catalogued, and between the issues of supplements there
is nothing to show properly the additions from month to month.
There is this in favor of even a small printed catalogue or
finding-list it may be consulted at home for the making out of
lists of call-numbers to be sent in by a messenger ; and this is its
only recommendation. Where the borrowers live at long dis-
Book-Numbers and Cataloguing 19
tances from the library, this is a matter for serious consideration,
however.
The card-catalogue, on the contrary, must be consulted at the
library, but it can be kept up to date, even to the day, and it can
be arranged in one alphabetical series, so that there is but one
place in which to look for a book.
A small library which must consider expense may use the
_Q
Fig. 2.*
index size of card (See Fig. 2), which is 5 x 2 inches, instead of
the postal size, on which there would often be waste space, espe-
cially if a finding-list were projected rather than a catalogue. The
thickness of the card becomes a matter for thought, since if too
thick it takes too much space in the catalogue-drawer and fills it
sooner than necessary ; and if too thin it is likely to tear and diffi-
cult to turn with the fingers. Of these evils, the too thick card is
to be preferred, but a good medium weight is the No. 33012 of the
Library Bureau. These cards are sold at $2 per thousand. In
case the library cannot afford the ready-made card, or one made
to order by a stationer, small pads of thick paper near the required
size could be used, not more than one entry being placed on each
leaf. Light-colored manilla pads of heavy weight would not be
* Owing to lack of space on the page, this cut is shorter than the card by one
inch, but is given, nevertheless, to show the rulings and perforation.
20 Hints to Small Libraries
bad. These small pads are sold by most stationers, and are very
cheap. The ruling of the ready-made card is shown in Fig. 2.
To estimate the number of cards needed to catalogue a given
number of books, we may take it for granted that each work (not
each volume) will need two cards, an author and subject; or, if
fiction, an author and a title card. There will occasionally be more
cards to a work, and on the other hand several volumes, copies or
editions of one work, can go on the same card ; an allowance of
three cards to a work would give the cataloguer greater liberty
and make the catalogue more useful.
The perforation in the card in Fig. 2 is for the purpose of
stringing the cards on a rod which passes through the catalogue-
drawer, fastening at the front. If they were not held by some
such arrangement, they would often be taken out and lost or de-
stroyed, or put back in the wrong place.
The drawer or box for the card should be just as wide as the
cards are long, giving only room enough for them to move back
and forward as they are handled. A block shaped thus / /[
should be placed before and behind the cards to keep them upright.
Great depth of drawer is to be avoided, as the cards should have
all the light possible ; they should be almost flush with the top of
the drawer.
A long drawer is also disadvantageous. It is better to have
two shorter ones, as more persons can then consult the cards at
one time ; and for the same reason it would be better to have the
drawers side by side, rather than one above the other.
In a clean village or small town, where no all-pervading soot
has to be guarded against, it would be possible to have wooden
boxes instead of drawers for the catalogue, with lids to be put on
only at night or when the library is closed. There would then be
no need of a heavy, immovable case of drawers ; the boxes could
be carried to the window or to the gas for light, and consulted at
the desk or table, or wherever it might be most convenient.
Starting then with the box, rod, and cards, we are ready to
make our catalogue, and are confronted at the outset by the ques-
tion, What kind of catalogue ?
CHAPTER III.
CATALOGUING
THE most elaborate cataloguing gives many facts that it is
undesirable to insist upon in the catalogue of a small
library; partly because the kinds of books in a small
library do not require it and are not worth it; partly because
elaborate cataloguing takes time and training, and these demand
money; and partly because the simpler the catalogue, the better
the average public likes it.
For these reasons, it is recommended that the small library
make a finding-list rather than a catalogue, confining itself to only
the most necessary facts.
It is possible to catalogue a book in either of the following
ways :
Du Maurier, George.
D ii6if
Peter Ibbetson, with an introd. by his cousin,
Lady " Madge Plunket.". ..7+418 p. il. O. N. Y.,
Harper, 1892.
Fig. 4.
* Abbreviation for class-number 823, English fiction,
f Book-number for Du Maurier.
22
Hints to Small Libraries
Du Maurier, George.
D 1161
Peter Ibbetson.
Fig. 5-
Ten to one, the latter card will give all that most people care
to know.
If the accessions-number be down at the bottom of the card or
on the back, the librarian can easily refer to the accessions-book
for any further facts he may wish to learn in regard to the book.
Take another instance, not in fiction.
921*
Amiel, Henri-Frederic.
Am 5 A
Amiel's Journal : The Journal intime, tr. with
an introd. and notes by Mrs. Humphrey Ward.
43+3 1 8 p. por. O. Lond., Macmillan, i8go.
Fig. 6.
* Class-number for biography of philosophy.
Cataloguing
The finding list could shorten this to
921
Amiel, H. P.
Am 5 A
Journal intime, tr. by Mrs. Humphrey Ward.
Lond., 1890.
Fig. 7-
or even
921
Amiel.
Am 5 A
Journal intime, tr. by Ward. 1890.
Fig. 8.
The following is the biographical subject-card :
928*
Keats, John.f Life, by
K22
Rossetti, W. M. Lond., 1887.
Fig. 9.
* Class-number for literary biography.
t In red ink.
24 Hints to Small Libraries
Author card for same.
928
Rossetti, W. fl.
K22
Life of John Keats. Lond., 1887.
Fig. IO.
The following is the ordinary subject-card:
636*
Cats.f
88
Weir, Harrison. Our cats, and all about them.
Bost., 1889.
Fig. II.
Neither paging nor size of volume need be given by the small
library, unless the dimensions are such as to make the book dis-
appointing by reason of smallness, or troublesome by reason of
weight. A rule might be made to give no paging unless the
book has fewer than 100 pages, or more than 500, and to mention
the size only when the book is over octavo size or under sixteenmo.
The mention of illustrations may always be dispensed with in
the case of a novel, unless they are a special feature of the book,
being by some celebrated illustrator. As for the portrait of Amiel,
* Class-number for domestic animals,
t In red ink.
Cataloguing 25
for instance, there is no need to mention it in this case, as we
expect to find a man's portrait in his biography or his journal,
if we are to find it anywhere, and if we were looking for it
that would be our first place of search. There is no need of the
publisher, and small use for the place, in an ordinary finding-
list. The year and the number of the edition are desirable in all
cases except in fiction. If a work is in more than one volume,
the fact should be stated, as it often decides the choice of a
book. Contents should be given, in the case of collections
of essays, short stories, dramas, etc., even though each one
may have its entry under its title on a separate card.
Certain tools are necessary for cataloguing, even of the
simple kind described, and bibliographical tools are expensive.
The small library, or one forced to the practice of strict econ-
omy, would do well, therefore, to obtain the printed catalogue
of some larger library as a guide. Sometimes these may be
had for the asking, sometimes they are sold, but in any case
they are cheaper, and answer a greater variety of questions,
than most of the bibliographical publications which served to
guide their compilers. The A. L. A. Catalog, published in
1904 by the Library of Congress, with the A. L. A. Booklist
bringing the list of books down to date, is the latest good au-
thority. The former gives the books in both dictionary and
classified order, and supplies subject-headings.
The subject of the arrangement of catalogues, both card
and printed, has been a matter of much discussion and differ-
ence of opinion. In the dictionary catalogues, authors, titles
and subjects are placed in one alphabetical series, e. g.:
(Author) Decatur, Stephen.
(Subject) December.
(Title and subject) Decimal system in numbers.
(Author) Decker, Thomas.
( Title and subject) Declaration of independence.
The advantage of this arrangement is that a person coming
in with one thought, that he wants a book or several books on cats,
26 Hints to Small Libraries
has only to look under the word cats to find a certain quantity of
material, either books or parts of books, on the subject.
The classed catalogue, in which the cards are arranged under
broad classes, with sub-classes, sections, etc., has this advantage,
that when one's subject is found it is found surrounded by kin-
dred topics; but, in order to be easily available, the catalogue
must have an alphabetical index of specific subjects. The consulta-
tion of this, in order to find where one's subject has been placed in
the classed catalogue, makes an extra process with which most
borrowers would grow impatient.
Therefore, simply for practical every-day usefulness, and as a
matter of satisfaction to its constituency, the specific headings are
to be recommended to the ordinary public library. The time of
assistants in making explanations will be saved, as well as con-
siderable energy in the form of temper, on the part of the public.
Another consideration influencing this decision will be given in
the next chapter.
A compromise between the dictionary and classed catalogue
may be suggested, which will enable the borrower to find his book
on cats under the word cats, but will put all subjects apart from
the authors and titles, in a separate box or drawer. Authors and
titles may also be separated, since, if the drawers are labelled
"Authors," "Titles," "Subjects," it makes the catalogue appear
much simpler.
Biographies need two entries always, one under the author,
which would go in the author-drawer, and one under the subject
of the biography, which would go in the subject-drawer.
The advantage of this system of separate catalogues will be
more and more appreciated with use.
CHAPTER IV
THE SHELF-LIST AND INVENTORY
IT is a very shiftless business man who goes on from year to
year without ever taking account of stock and finding just
what he has on hand ; and if a library is to be conducted on
business principles, it should take an inventory of its books once
a year if practicable.
We will suppose that your books stand on your shelves in
classified order, beginning at I and running to 999 in regular
numerical arrangement, first by class and then by book-number,
unless you have taken fiction, for instance, out of the regular
order, in order to place it nearer the loan desk for convenience
sake. And here be warned not to let theory or an extreme love
of system interfere with practical convenience.
The usual method of conducting an inventory being to read
from the inventory-book, or shelf-list, to the shelves, this list must
be arranged in the same order as the books on the shelves, i. e.,
all of a class together, the arrangement under the class being by
the order of the book-numbers. This list is useful, not alone for
inventory purposes but also as a classed catalogue, to show at any
time all that the library has in any class or sub-class ; and having
this in numerical or class arrangement, the small library that
should make, in addition, a classed catalogue, would be duplicat-
ing work. It is true that this is an official record, not for public
use ; still, if an emergency should occur to which the alphabetical
subject catalogue was inadequate, it would be a very narrow-
minded library that would not allow the use of its shelf-list.
Many librarians keep their shelf-lists on sheets laced together,
to admit of slipping new sheets into their proper numerical place
as new books and new classes are introduced ; others keep their
shelf-lists on cards, entering one work to a card.
The card arrangement is growing more popular, as it never
28
Hints to Small Libraries
requires rewriting, while the shelf-list on sheets is certain to fill up
in time, and then when additional books come in it must be re-
written, unless a whole leaf is allotted to one class, which would
be rather expensive for a small library. It is very hard, too, to
keep shelf-list sheets from tearing and slipping out of the covers.
We will suppose that you have chosen the cards, or stiff slips,
for your shelf-list, intending to keep them in a box or drawer as
you do your catalogue cards. As it is to be mainly an official
record and will not be so much handled, you will not need so
strong a card. It is advisable, however, to have the cards fastened
in, as it would be a serious matter to lose an entry from your
inventory.
The chief difference between these cards and those of your
catalogue will be that these are briefer, giving only the surname
of the author, a very brief title, and no imprint. The call-number,
accession-number, and number of volumes, must be given. An
example is given of a book of which the library has more than one
copy:
Call-Number.
Ace. No.
No. Vol.
Author.
Title.
320-73
976
Bryce
Amer. Commonwealth.
320-73
4001
COp. 2.
Fig. 12.
These cards are arranged in the drawer or box by the call-num-
bers in the upper left-hand corner of the cards, and you can easily
see that all the 3205, for instance, will thus be together, arranged
by their book-numbers; and as 320 represents Political Science
and all your books in that class stand together on the shelves, the
The Shelf-List and Inventory 29
shelf-list is shown to be, as we first described it, a classed cata-
logue and an inventory-book combined. If you are obliged to
choose between a subject catalogue with written headings on the
one hand, and a shelf-list on the other, choose the latter, with a
subject-index, because of its answering two purposes ; but if you
can have both a shelf-list and a subject catalogue, let the latter
have subject headings and keep the cards in alphabetical order by
these headings, rather than in numerical order.
The making of the shelf-list need never keep the books wait-
ing, for the call-number and title may be hastily written in in pencil
and verified later from the catalogue cards, after the books have
gone on to the shelves. This should be done as speedily as pos-
sible, so that your shelf-list may always be referred to for the
latest book in a class.
When it comes to taking an inventory, choose the time of
year when the library's circulation is lowest, so that more of your
books will be in and their condition may be noted, and also because
it is your least busy time.
If you have any one to help you, let that person find the book
on the shelves as you call it off from the shelf-list. When you
have gone over your shelves and have taken a list of the books not
in place, look for them in your charging-system (which will be
explained later), to see if they are out. If they are charged to
some one, they are accounted for and can be checked off the list.
Not finding a book in circulation, see next if it is charged to the
binder, if it is on your mending-table, or anywhere in your work-
room or work-corner. Then come back to the shelves again, and
see if it has not turned up in its place. When all possible places
have been searched in vain, put it on your list of "Books unac-
counted for." Often books will come to light after a disappear-
ance of months or years, and this list need never be accepted as
final.
CHAPTER V
MECHANICAL PREPARATION OF BOOKS FOR THE SHELVES:
BINDING
THE classification and cataloguing of a book are a part of its
preparation for the shelves, but there is more to be done.
If a library can afford it, a tasteful plate is an addition
to the good appearance of its books and helps to identify them if
lost or mislaid, and this should show both call-number and acces-
sion-number; but the library in straitened circumstances can not
afford items which are not necessary to the progress of its work,
and will compromise with necessity by causing to be made a rubber
stamp, with which the statement of the library's ownership can be
stamped upon the reverse of the title-page, on the last page if there
is blank space there, and on various blank spaces throughout
the book.
The pocket, if one is to be used in the charging-system, should
be of linen or manilla paper, folded and pasted on the inside of the
back cover, open end up, with the call-number printed on it by
hand; the dating-slip tipped in opposite it; the call-number
printed by hand or stamped on the back of the title-page, where
the classifier has written it in pencil. Then comes the question
of labels and covering.
A great many libraries cover their books in order to preserve
the clean new look of the original cover; but why preserve this
when no one can see it? If the dirt that would collect on a dark
book collects on a light paper cover, it is more of an offense than
if it were not brought into so strong a contrast. And say what
you will, the re-covering, which takes a great deal of time, will not
always be done when it should be.
Mechanical Preparation of Books 31
Then, when the inside of the book is worn out, there is your
clean, fresh-looking book-back to throw away, whereas without
covering, all would have shared wear and tear alike, and the work
of covering and re-covering would have been saved.
Further than this, book-covers have individuality, and often
help to select books. Assistants learn to know the appearance of
a book and can point it out across the room, or make a dart at
it out of a whole case, when seeking it in a hurry. It is hardly
necessary to warn the busy librarian against covering books he
or she knows too well the value of time and the short life-tenure
of press-work bindings ; it is usually the library board which has
to be persuaded against entering upon so troublesome a path. A
more sensible proceeding would be to cover the books when they
have become soiled and unsightly, if they cannot be at once re-
placed by new copies.
Labels for the backs can be bought, with the class-number
ready printed, from P. Van Everen & Co., leaving only the book-
number to be put on ; but the work of numbering is such a trifle
that it is better to save the money than the time, provided your
own printing is heavy and you make large figures. Do not get
ready-gummed labels; they are likely to peel off, as the gum
makes the label curl and stiffens it in that shape. When your
book is stamped, provided with label, dating-slip, and pocket with
book-card (explained later) in it, it is ready for the shelves. If
it is a new book (not a new copy of an old book), place it where
its title can be seen by the people who come in; a row of new
books placed where the titles can be read often gives help to per-
sons who do not know just what they want.
Most small libraries are safe in letting new books go into the
hands of borrowers for examination; and indeed many large
libraries do this. It is much to be desired that large libraries
should have space railed off in the loan-room for examination of
books by the public, as is frequently done in book-stores.
Of late years, many libraries have thrown open their
shelves, or a part of them, so that persons wishing to borrow
Hints to Small Libraries
books may examine anything- in the library, with a few ex-
ceptions. This change in attitude toward the public has been
warmly welcomed as the removal of one more barrier between
books and people. In order to make a judicious selection for
the open shelves, the librarian should know the contents of
the books and be sure that only books suitable to anyone,
young or old, are thus offered for examination.
When a book comes in that needs mending, it should be laid
aside in the book-hospital until the librarian or assistant can
attend to it. If pages are torn, use paste and tissue paper to mend
them, as binders do ; and if they are torn out or loose, tip them in
with paste. Do not use mucilage for mending, as it hardens and
cracks, and makes it next to impossible to rebind the books when
necessary. Strips of book-muslin or strong cheese-cloth can be
pasted across loose backs, and a hinge made of dark lining cambric
or some similar fabric, can be used to fasten on a lid that has
broken away from the book. The Multum in parvo binding, No.
3, supplied in strips, furnishes a good hinge also, for broken lids,
but is rather expensive.
Much mending can be done in the library, but the time comes
when books require professional attendance and must go to the
binder. Take out the book-cards and charge them to the binder
(i. e., fasten them together, mark with binder's name and the date
of sending, and place the package in your charging-tray).
Have a small blank-book, in which you make record, before
the books go, as follows :
Binder's
No.
Accession
No.
Author
Title
Vol.
No.
Cost
Remarks
I
1002
Everett
Orations
I
i morocco
2
275
Longfellow
Poems
k "
3
901
Smith
Wealth of nations
Same cover
4
108
Stowe
Uncle Tom's cabin
roan
5
467
Wallace
Ben Hur
I roan
Fig. 13.
Mechanical Preparation of Books 33
Let the lettering be exactly what you wish put on the book.
For economy's sake, as a binder's charge is generally by the line,
have lettered on the book only the author's surname and a brief
title, leaving the call-number and volume-number to be put on by
label when the book comes back. The accession-number it is
necessary to set down in your blank-book for identification of
different copies or editions. Arrange your entries alphabetically
by authors' names. Put into each volume before it goes a slip
showing the lettering you desire and giving directions, and re-
quire this slip to be returned with the book. A narrow slip of
any kind of paper pencilled thus :
2 mor.
Longfellow.
Poems.
Fig. 14.
is all that is necessary. When the books are returned by the
binder, first arrange them by authors, see that the lettering of
each corresponds with the slip, then check them off on your book
as returned. Put on the labels, put in pocket, dating-slip, etc., re-
insert book-card, and the book is ready for the shelves again.
For the sake of statistics it is well to give each book as it goes
out a binder's number. Beginning at I with the first book sent
after the beginning of the library-year, number your binder's blank
consecutively down the page. In the first book, before it goes
to the binder, place the number i in pencil on the first recto
(right-hand page) after the title-page, in an inconspicuous place,
the number 2 in the next book, and so on. By this means you can
refer at any time during the year from a book to its entry in the
binder's book, and see when it was bound and how much the bind-
ing cost.
34 Hints to Small Libraries
Make an agreement with your binder to charge a regular price
for books of a given size, the size being estimated by inches. Get
an ordinary wooden ruler, and cover one side with white paper.
On this, mark off with ink the usual sizes of books, with prices
agreed upon for each size. Measure your books when returned,
and see if the price on the binder's bill agrees with that required
by your ruler. Transfer prices, if correct, to your book, keep the
columns of figures footed, and at any time during the year you
can say just how many books you have bound and how much
your binding has cost.
Do not let the binder lump the books in his bill. Require each
book to be priced separately. If the library could afford a copy-
press, the routine and tools advised would be somewhat different
from this, but very few small libraries would feel a press to be
necessary.
In the case of periodicals, keep the back numbers of each
together, so that no time need be lost in collecting them for binding
when the time comes. Look for the title-page and put it on the
top of the volume, placing the index at the front or back, as the
paging may require. Let the binder tear out advertising pages,
but have the front covers, at least, bound 'in, if in good condition,
in the place where they occur. They are sometimes a great help
afterward, in consulting the bound volume.
Have it understood with your binder that his bill for any one
lot will be paid when the entire lot has been returned.
Pamphlets with stiff paper covers are often received as gifts,
and many libraries buy paper-covered novels. Where economy
is an object, these covers can often be strengthened by an extra
one of rope-manilla paper, and may then last a long time.
CHAPTER VI
RELATIONS WITH THE PUBLIC : REGISTRATION
THE library in the small town has an advantage over the one
in the large town, in that the librarian can generally know
of his own knowledge the character and standing of the
persons who apply for books. If an applicant is notoriously slow
in paying his debts or given to evading financial responsibilities,
the librarian is likely to know of it, and can, if backed by his
trustees or his board, decline to lend books to so suspicious a
character. If, on the other hand, the applicant has a good repu-
tation, the librarian is likely to know that, too, and can proceed
accordingly. It would be a pity therefore for any small library to
saddle itself with the guaranty system, which means double work,
two people to be dunned instead of one, each blaming the other in
case of fines or loss of books and sending the poor collector back
and forth like a shuttlecock.
The man who is honest and willing to bear the consequences
of his remissness does not need a guarantor ; the man who is dis-
posed to shirk consequences has it made easy for him by the pro-
vision of security, and often the guarantor is no more responsible
than the applicant. The principle is a wrong one and its appli-
cation is disagreeable from every point of view.
The fact that the librarian can know the people of his village
or town makes it unnecessary to require the usual delay in grant-
ing cards, which is ostensibly for the purpose of looking up the
standing of applicants. He is generally safe in receiving an appli-
cation, registering the applicant, and giving him a card and a book,
all at one interview; and nothing is more desirable than to dis-
pense with the long waits which are so vexatious to the public,
because they can see no reason for them.
36 Hints to Small Libraries
The small library may make the signing of its register a pledge
by having printed at the top of each page a promise to "obey the
rules of the library and make good any loss or damage incurred
through me." Each applicant who writes his name below has
thus given his pledge. His address should be given as well, if the
town has numbered and named streets. This makes unnecessary
the keeping of a file of written applications. The lines of the
register should be numbered consecutively, beginning at one, each
number representing a borrower. This will show the number of
persons using the library since the beginning.
The date should be written in each morning before the day's
work begins. Each person's number should be placed on his
card before that is given to him, and his privileges should begin
from the date of his registration, the date of their expiration
appearing on the card. In order that a borrower's registration
may be easily found, it would be necessary to have an alphabetical
index to the register, referring from the borrower's name to his
number, or the same sort of index on slips. This index could be
used also in connection with the charging-system, to find the bor-
rower's number if he should forget it. Account should be kept of
the number of expirations and the number of renewals of library
privileges, in order that at any time an approximate idea may be
had of the number of borrowers using the library. If for any
reason a borrower should be deprived of his privileges, the fact
should be recorded in the register after his name.
The assessment and collection of fines is the most disagreeable
part of a librarian's duty.
Collections should be attended to promptly, in order that fines
may not accumulate and become a burden to the borrower ; firmly
and without respect to persons ; if possible, by an assistant rather
than by the librarian, in order that she may shelter herself behind
the statement that it is the rule of the library, to change which she
has no discretion; and if the librarian thinks best to suspend or
set aside the rule, it should be done at a private interview and
never before other borrowers.
Relations with the Public 37
The charge in most libraries is two cents per day for books
overdue, not counting Sundays or holidays.
Lost books should be paid for at a slight advance on their
original cost to the library, to offset the inconvenience of be-
ing without them and the work of ordering new copies and
preparing them for circulation.
A penalty should be attached to the loss of borrowers'
cards in the form of either a small fine or a period of waiting
for a new card, or a combination of the two. The disappearance
of a card means not only inconvenience to the library, but also
possible loss, as some irresponsible person may find the card
and use it, leaving no one accountable for the fines or damages
charged on it.
The rules of libraries as to borrowing are gradually be-
coming more liberal. Many libraries put no time-limit on
non-fiction, simply calling the books in when wanted by an-
other borrower at any time after one month. They also- give
out one or two novels and an indefinite number of classed
works on a card if desired. This liberality certainly makes
for the usefulness and popularity of the library, and need be
restricted only when a small collection is used by a great
many people and must be made to serve as many as possible
at a time.
CHAPTER VII
THE CHARGING SYSTEM
THE great difficulty in selecting a charging system is to find
one that will answer all the questions the library wishes
answered from time to time, in regard to its accounts with
books and borrowers, and yet that can be handled quickly and
managed by a few persons, perhaps by only one.
At inventory-time the great question is, "Where is 821-826,
which is not on the shelves?" and the charging system should
help to answer this. At many other times the inquiry may come
up, as call after call for the book without avail shows that it is not
in its place, and that some one is keeping it out longer than is
allowed, or that it is temporarily lost.
Another question that has frequently to be answered is, "What
or how many books are charged to Mr. or Mrs. ?" And the
charging system should answer this, if possible.
It must tell how long books have been out and how much
overdue they are, so that fines may be properly assessed. It should
show what class of books is most popular, and how all classes com-
pare as to circulation.
Many borrowers object to carrying their cards, and the small
library often undertakes the charge of them and keeps them as
a part of its charging system. The very large public library would
find this too burdensome, and therefore must require borrowers
to share something besides its benefits by taking the responsibility
of keeping their own cards.
We shall describe here two systems, suitable for small libraries
one in which the library keeps all cards ,and the other in which
the borrower's card is carried by himself and presented each time
The Charging System
39
a book is drawn. The former is not suitable at least it would
mean a great deal of trouble for a library having over five hun-
dred borrowers. This will be described first.
When the book has been catalogued, a card is made from stiff
vertically-ruled paper, if the library cannot afford book-cards
ready-made, on which are inscribed at the top the call-number,
the author's surname, and a very brief title, thus :
813 S 26
St
owe
Uncle
To
m's
Cab
Fig. 15.
40 Hints to Small Libraries
This is the book-card ; when a book is in, its card is kept in a
tray, or box with partitions, with those of other books not in use,
in order of the call-numbers.
Each borrower, when admitted to the privileges of the library,
has had a card made out like the following, showing his name,
address, number in the library-register, and the date of expiration
of his privileges :
462 Expiration, 12 Jan., '14.
JOHN SMITH, cor. Brown and Green.
No.
Due.
No.
Due.
No.
Due.
813-
826
D 5
Fig. 1 6.
These cards must be kept in a tray, in order of the borrowers'
names.
The Charging System
John Smith comes in to get "Uncle Tom's Cabin." He has
the number first on his list. The book is found in its place, the
book-card taken from its tray, and placed to one side. John
813
826
St
owe
Un
cle
To
m'l
Cab
in
No.
Due.
No.
Due.
No.
Due.
462
D 5
Fig. 17.
Smith's card is then found in the tray of borrowers' cards ar-
ranged by their surnames, and a record made on it in pencil, as
shown in Fig. 16.
On a thin slip of paper, called the dating-slip, pasted in the
back of the book, is stamped D 5 in order to remind him when the
book is due. Mr. Smith can then take his book and go. The rest
42 Hints to Small Libraries
of the process can be carried out without his assistance. His card
will not be put back into the same division of the tray as before,
but into another representing borrowers who have books out,
where cards are arranged by the borrowers' numbers.. Before
this is done, however, the book-card receives in pencil the record
shown in Fig. 17.
This record can be made from the borrower's card at any time
before that is put into the tray representing borrowers with books
out; but unless there are several people waiting to be served, it
is better to do all the charging at once.
This means that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was taken out by No.
462, and is due on December 5.
There should be a second tray or box, for the book-cards rep-
resenting books out. When a card is removed from the first tray
to this, bearing the proper charge, it should be filed away by date
due, at the end of the day, the days being separated by thin blocks
of wood bearing the number of the day in the upper left-hand cor-
ner in very black ink or paint, and in large figures.
Fig. 18.
Behind the block marked 5 (which should be taller than the
card, when both are standing upright), will then be placed the
book-cards of all books due on the 5th, arranged in the order
of the call-numbers.
One division of the tray should be used for the cards of books
The Charging System 43
out over time. This division can be subdivided into three or four
parts, one for books over due one week or less, the next for books
overdue between one and two weeks, etc.
When John Smith comes in to bring his book back, the book-
card is first found by means of the date, which appears on the
dating-slip. From the book-card John Smith's number can be
found, and the charge on his card is cancelled either by stamping
the date of return over the date due, or by punching through the
latter with a small punch. If he does not wish to take out another
book, the book-card and book can be laid aside, in case of a rush,
and his card looked up later. In that case, his card would go back
into the first tray again, in alphabetical order. If he wishes an-
other book, the same process is gone through as before. This
system answers all possible questions : Is 813-526 on the shelves?
(Look through tray of cards representing books in.) No. Who
has it? (Look through charging-tray.) 462 has it. How long
has he had it? One week, December 5th. Has John Smith a
book? (Look in tray arranged by borrowers' surnames.) Yes,
What book? (Look for his number in tray arranged by borrow-
ers' numbers.) 813-526. How long has he had it? One week,
December 5th. It prevents the annoyance of lost cards, as the bor-
rower has nothing to do with his card. It prevents also all tam-
pering with the dates on the card. By keeping the book-cards
at the desk the librarian can tell if a book is in without going to
the shelves.
In the other system to be described, the borrower keeps his
own card, and presents it when he comes for a book or brings one
back. This relieves the library of the responsibility of identifying
the borrower, as the presentation of the card is considered proof
sufficient of his right to draw a book. In the village or small town
library, identification would be possible without the presentation
of a card, the constituency being so small. The date is then taken
either from the dating slip or his card, the latter is stamped with
the date of return, and given back to him, and the book-card can
be picked out at leisure by means of the book and its dating-slip,
44 Hints to Small Libraries
stamped, and returned to the tray. There might be a compromise
between these systems, by which the library should retain a bor-
rower's card only when he has no book out, keeping such cards in
alphabetical order, and rinding them when needed. By invariably
retaining the card in this way, an estimate could be made of the
number of cards in use as compared with the number of cards
given out to applicants. Many large libraries keep the book-card
in a pocket in the book, when the book is on the shelves. The
pocket serves to hold the borrower's card, when the book is out.
This system necessitates a visit to the shelves to see if the book is in
when called for, and this fact, with the work of pasting in pockets
and putting cards in and taking them out, makes the system
first described here the more advisable one for the small library.
There are other systems in which the account is kept by means
of the borrower's card only, in which case it is only as the entire
charging system is overhauled that an answer can be found to the
question, "Where is book 813-826?" As this is the question most
frequently asked, no system can be called satisfactory which does
not answer it easily.
A useful charging system for a small library is that introduced
by Miss Nina Browne, of the Boston Athenaeum Library, a full
description of which was given in the Library journal for May,
1895. This requires a book-card, a book-pocket, and a borrower's
pocket. The borrower's pocket has his name, address, and regis-
tration number plainly written on it. He brings this pocket to
the library and hands it in with the list of books wanted. When
a book is found in, the book-card is taken from the book-pocket
and placed in the borrower's pocket, and the date stamped on the
book-pocket or the dating-slip. Then the book is given to the
borrower. At the end of the day, all these book-cards in the bor-
rowers' pockets are placed in a tray under the date, arranged in
the order of the call-numbers. When the borrower brings back
the book, the 'date on the book-pocket or the dating-slip shows
where to look for the book-card. When it is found, it is replaced
in the book-pocket, and the borrower's pocket is returned to him.
CHAPTER VIII
READING-ROOM AND REFERENCE-ROOM WORK
PERHAPS you have neither reading-room nor reference-
room, but it does not follow that you have none of the
work pertaining to such rooms, for no library can escape
something of it.
Everything is reading-room work that pertains to the hand-
ling of periodicals, either magazines or papers. Perhaps you keep
them behind the desk and hand them out as people ask for them,
and your only reading-room may be the space in front of your
desk. It is a pity if this is so, for one of the chief attractions of a
reading-room is the freedom to handle the papers and magazines
without the intervention of an assistant. If every number has to
be receipted for, so much less must be the attraction of the room.
If you can possibly arrange it, have the case or rack placed where
people can help themselves to the current numbers, and let them
Atlantic Monthly. (Agent's name and price, period covered by
volume, e.g., Jan. June, July Dec.)*
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
1890
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1891
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1892
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1893
X
X
X
Fig. 19.
Instead of writing In the period covered by the volume, It might be suffi-
cient to underline the cross in the month which begins or completes a volume ;
in using all such arbitrary signs, however, there should be somewhere an index
to their meaning, for the benefit of those of the staff unfamiliar with them.
Hints to Small Libraries
do it without requiring any writing. It is better to let statistics go,
sometimes, when they hinder the good work the library might be
doing.
Keep a little card-catalogue of your periodicals, with the card
ruled into twelve divisions representing months. (See Fig ip.)
When your copy is received, check it in the square representing
the month and year. If the magazine is quarterly, the same card
may be used, the checks being three months apart.
If it is a weekly, put the necessary four or five checks in each
square, giving the day of the month on which the magazine
was received, or the number of the magazine itself, thus :
21 22
23 24
Fig. 20 (enlarged).
Fig. 21 (enlarged)
Keep your cards in a box, in alphabetical order, and when one
side of a card is filled, turn it over and use the other side. For
dailies it would be easier to keep account of the numbers which do
not come than of the 300 and odd numbers which do, and report
the lapse at once to the dealer.
The covers of magazines are likely to get very much soiled and
worn while in the reading-room and to be unfit for binding ; but
the same temporary binding can be given to these as to pamphlets
or paper-covered books, as described in Chapter V. If covered
in this way, print the title on the outside in very large letters. If
you can afford ready-made binders, the Neilson is recommended
as the best we have found, so far. It is made by the Boston
Bookbinding Co. Have posted up in some conspicuous place a list
of the periodicals taken by the library, also a list of the bound sets,
or part of sets, with the volume-numbers attached. This will save
you the answering of a great many questions. Some libraries cir-
culate the single numbers of periodicals, and it is certainly a way
of making their reading-matter go as far as possible. No number
Reading-Room Work
47
should circulate, however, until the two succeeding ones have
come, as many readers, in following a serial, call for the current
number and the previous one, in order to get the thread of the
story afresh.
It would be well to have the carpenter make you a rack for
your magazines, to be attached to the wall, with pockets for hold-
ing the current numbers.
Fig. 22.
You can probably spare wall-space better than the floor space
which would be required by a table-rack.
For newspapers, a wall-rack to hold the files is desirable, each
arm extending outward a little farther than the one above it
Fig. 23.
The file holding the paper can then be laid across the arm, leaving
the paper to hang down parallel with the wall, without interfering
with the paper above or below.
There are certain books that you wish always to have on hand
48 Hints to Small Libraries
for consultation, not for reading. Such books are reference books,
and they, like the periodicals, should be where people can get at
them without asking for them or signing a receipt. They are gen-
erally large or heavy books, and not apt to be carried off. If you
cannot have a real reference-room, see if you can have a reference-
corner in the front of the library, where every one can see the
books. Place here your dictionaries, gazetteers, atlases, biograph-
ical dictionaries, encyclopaedias, concordances, etc., and all indexes
to magazines. When you have a spare moment take up these
works, one by one, examine them, and find out their intention and
vol. page. date.
Escurial. Harper. 86 : 531 : Mar., 93.
Fig. 24.
Slavery, African. Harper. 86 : 613 : Mar., 93.
Fig- 25.
scope, in order that you may be able to help children and young
people or persons unaccustomed to the use of such tools. Take
special pains to show children the use of indexes and, indeed, of all
sorts of reference-books they will soon be familiar with them
and handle them like life-long students. Gain the interest of
teachers in this sort of work and urge them to bring their classes
and make a study of your reference-books. Be as helpful as you
can in making out courses of reading or study for the village
clubs, contributing for their use lists of the material in the library
on the subject or subjects selected.
Reading-Room Work 49
If you cannot afford to subscribe for the various indexes
published, try to find time to make a little slip-index of your
own, arranged by subjects, and referring to articles in books,
magazines or papers, that are likely to be of use. Make this as
brief as possible. (See Figs. 24 and 25.)
If nothing or not enough can be found in your slip-index,
the card catalogue, or the reference books, on a given subject,
think what class it would be likely to come under, and let
your student examine the books in that class likely to con-
tain the information he is in search of, either admitting him
to the shelves or taking the books to the desk. In short, do
everything you can think of to make the library the center of
intellectual life in the town.
The interest that has been aroused in the subject of chil-
dren's reading is not a new one, but fresh impetus and under-
standing have been given to it by the establishment of sepa-
rate library-rooms for children, by means of which they can
be studied and dealt with as a separate class. The small library
can hardly hope to provide a special room for the purpose,
but the librarian, on account of the small number of borrowers
and the fact that she can easily know many of them, has an
especially good opportunity for doing valuable work among
the children who come to her.
Their needs and wants should be considered in the selec-
tion of books and periodicals, they should be helped in their
school-work as much as possible, and taught to feel that the
library is the natural source of all information that cannot
be had at school or at home.
Below is given a list of fifty works of reference of the
greatest use in an average library, compiled by Eleanor B.
Woodruff, of Pratt Institute free library.
50 Hints to Small Libraries
FIRST TWENTY-FIVE
New international year book; a compendium of the world's
progress. i9O7-date. N. Y. Dodd. iQoS-date. $5 net.
New international encyclopaedia, ed. by D. C. Oilman, H. T.
Peck, F. M. Colby. 2ov. N. Y. Dodd. 1902-1907. $5
per vol.
or
Appleton's new practical cyclopaedia, ed. by Marcus Benjamin
[and others]. 6v. N. Y. Appleton. 1910. $18.
Century cyclopaedia of names; ed. by B. E. Smith. N. Y. Cen-
tury co. 1894. $12.50.
Century dictionary, ed. by W. D. Whitney. 6v. N. Y. Cen-
tury co. 1889-1901. $60.
Supplement [to both], ed. by B. E. Smith. 2v. N. Y.
Century co. CI9O9. $15 net.
Spiers, Alexander, and Surenne, Gabriel.
French and English, and English and French pro-
nouncing dictionary. N. Y. Appleton. 1886. $5.
Appleton's cyclopaedia of American biography; ed. by J. G.
Wilson and J. Fiske. /v. N. Y. Appleton. 1880-1900.
$36. (Now out of print but probably to be had at
second hand.)
Thomas, Joseph.
Universal pronouncing dictionary of biography and
mythology. 2v. Phil. Lippincott. 1901. $15.
Who's who? i897-date, ed. by Douglas Sladen. L. Black. 1897-
date. los net.
Reading-Room Work 51
Who's who in America? iSQQ-date, ed. by A. N. Marquis. Chic.
A. N. Marquis and co. i899-date. $5.
Revised and re-issued biennially.
Bartlett, John.
Familiar quotations; a collection of passages, phrases
and proverbs traced to their sources in ancient and
modern literature. B. Little. 1900. $3.
Brewer, E. C.
Reference library. Phil. Lippincott. 1891-1899. $3.50
each.
Reader's Handbook.
Dictionary of phrase and fable.
Historic notebook.
(A fourth volume, Dictionary of miracles, is unimportant.)
Harper's book of facts; comp. by J. H. Willsey. N. Y. Har-
per. 1906. $8.
Lalor, J. J.
Cyclopaedia of political science, political economy, and
of the political history of the U. S. 3v. N. Y. Mer-
rill. 1881-84. $15.
Bliss, W. P. D., and Binder, R. M.
New cyclopedia of social reform. N. Y. Funk. 1908.
$7.50.
Lamed, J. N.
History for ready reference from the best historians, bi-
ographers and specialists. Rev. and enl. 7v. Spring-
field, Mass. Nichols. 1894-1910. $52.50.
Statesman's year-book: Statistical and historical annual of
the states of the world, ed. by J. S. Keltic. L. Mac-
millan. IDS 6d.
52 Hints to Small Libraries
World almanac and encyclopedia. N. Y. Press pub. co. 250
net, per year.
New Schaff-Herzog encyclopedia of religious knowledge; ed. by
S. M. Jackson [and others]. i2v. N. Y. Funk. 1908-
1911. $60.
v. 9-12 not yet published.
Peck, H. T.
Harper's Dictionary of classical literature and antiqui-
ties. N. Y. Harper. 1897. $6.
Lippincott, J. B. , co.
Complete pronouncing gazetteer of the world; ed. by
Angelo Heilprin [and others]. Phil. Lippincott. 1906.
$10.'
Rand, McNally and co.'s indexed atlas of the world. 2v. Chic.
Rand, McNally & co. 1907. $20.
Ringwalt, R. C.
Briefs on public questions. N. Y. Longmans. 1905.
$1.20.
Debaters' handbook series. TV. Minn., H. W. Wilson co.
1905-1909. $i net each.
Readers' guide to periodical literature. 1900-1904, ed. by A.
N. Guthrie. Minn. H. W. Wilson co. 1905 $16.
Readers' guide to periodical literature. i9O5~date. Minn. H.
W. Wilson co. 1905-date. $12 a year.
This includes monthly parts and yearly accumulations.
Hopkins, A. A.
Scientific American cyclopaedia of receipts, notes and
queries, N. Y. Munn. 1903. $5.-
Reading-Room Work 53
SECOND TWENTY-FIVE
Webster, Noah.
New international dictionary. Springfield, Mass. Mer-
riam, 1910. $12.
Lewis, C. T., and Short, C.
Latin dictionary. Oxford. Clarendon press. 1896. 255.
Thieme, F. W., and Preusser, E.
New and complete critical dictionary of the English
and German languages. Hamburg. Haendcke. 1905.
12.50 marks.
Chambers, Robert.
Books of days. 2v. Phil. Lippincott. 1891. $7.
Harper's Encyclopaedia of U. S. history from 458-1902. lov.
N. Y. Harper. 1902. $31.
Labberton, R. H.
New historical atlas and general history. N. Y. Silver.
1901. $1.25.
New England history teachers' association.
History syllabus for secondary schools. B. Heath. 1907.
$1.20 net.
Champlin, J. D.
Young folks' cyclopaedia of common things. N. Y. Holt.
1896. $2.50.
Young folks' cyclopaedia of persons and places. N. Y.
Holt. 1911. $3.
54 Hints to Small Libraries
Young folks' cyclopaedia of literature and art. N. Y.
Holt. 1901. $2.50.
Young folks' cyclopaedia of natural history. N. Y. Holt.
1905. $2.50.
Smith, Sir William.
Classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography,
mythology, and geography. New ed., rev. and in part
rewritten by G. E. Marindin. N. Y. Appleton. 1894.
$6.
Adeline, Jules.
Art dictionary. N. Y. Appleton. 1891. $2.25.
Riemann, Hugo.
Dictionary of music. L. Augener. 1899. 155 net.
Strong, James.
Exhaustive concordance of the Bible. N. Y. Hunt.
1894. $6.
Bartlett, John.
New and complete concordance to Shakespeare. N. Y.
Macmillan. 1894. $7.50.
Welsh, A. H.
English masterpiece course. B. Silver. ciSS/. 750.
Hoyt, J. K.
Cyclopedia of practical quotations. N. Y. Funk. 1896.
$6.
Bryant, W. C.
New library of poetry and song. N. Y. Baker. 1900.
$5-'
Reading-Room Work 55
lies, George.
Bibliography of fine arts; Painting and sculpture,
etc., by Russell Sturgis; Music, by H. E. Krehbiel.
B. A. L. A. publishing section, 1897. $i.
Now out of print but sometimes to be had at second hand.
Leyboldt, A. H., and lies, George, eds.
List of books for girls and women and their clubs.
B. A. L. A. publishing section. 1895. $i.
Also issued in 5 parts, small size 5c each.
Schauffler, R. H.
Our American holidays. N. Y. Moffat. 1907-10. $i
net per vol.
Christmas.
Thanksgiving.
Lincoln's birthday.
Arbor day.
Washington's birthday.
Annual library index. i892-date. N. Y. Publishers' week-
ly. i9O3-date. $5 per vol.
Early volumes had the title Annual literary index, and were $3.50
per vol.
Granger, Edith.
Index to poetry and recitations. Chic. McClurg. 1904.
$5-.
Bailey, L. H.
Cyclopedia of American agriculture. 4v. N. Y. Mac-
millan. 1908. $5 per vol.
Thorpe, T. E.
Dictionary of applied chemistry. 3v. L. Longmans.
1894. 7 75.
Baedeker, Karl.
United States, with excursions to Mexico, Cuba,
Porto Rico and Alaska. N. Y. Scribner. 1909. $4.50.
CHAPTER IX
SELECTING AND ORDERING BOOKS
SOME general rules:
Of standard authors, get well-bound and well-printed
editions, and save rebinding and readers' eyes.
Of books in science, useful arts, social and political science
and economy, get the latest editions.
Of classics, get some full edition, such as Bonn's.
Of novels (by authors not called standard), get such an
edition as the Tauchnitz, and bind.
Of translations from the French and German, get only the
very best, such as Wormeley's Balzac, or Wister's transla-
tions from the German, and buy on approval in order that
you may return them if found unsuitable.
Do not buy French or German works in the original, if
there are good translations, unless you have plenty of money.
They are expensive, and in a small place there would prob-
ably not be much call for them.
If you have the original purchase of books to make, divide
your stock that is to be, into ten classes, and make out your
list of books by classes. Take the catalogue of the Model
Library of 8,000 volumes, prepared by the American Library
Association, published by the Library of Congress in 1904,
and by it distributed free to libraries; go through its list of
fiction and check off on your list the works of standard novel-
ists ; do the same for children's stories. Follow this plan with
regard to other classes, leaving out all works of which you
feel doubtful. The A. L. A. Booklist will enable you to bring
your stock down to date.
Selecting and Ordering Books 57
When your lists are made, take each class to some one in
the town or village whose reading or study has been in that
particular line, and submit the list for alterations and addi-
tions. Do not feel bound to accept all the additions, if you
think you already have enough books or as many as you can
afford, nor the alterations, if you have reason to think your
reviser prejudiced.
In the A. L. A. Catalog you will find publishers' prices
given. Having noted these opposite each title, for your own
use, submit a copy of the list to several large bookdealers,
choosing those nearest your town in order to lessen the charges
for transportation and insure the early receipt of books, and
ask for their discount.
Desirable out-of-print books, the small library will usually
have to do without, on account of the expense of keeping an
agent on the lookout for them. It is good to have a list of
such out-of-print books as are wanted, and to take it to the
nearest city when you go, with a view to picking up some
of the books in the second-hand shops ; or to intrust this duty
to the minister or the school principal, or some such person,
giving him a limit in price. If you have a board of directors
or trustees, some one of them might occasionally do this.
After your first stock is bought, your next care must be to
prevent duplicates, for no library has money to spare for more
copies of a book than are needed.
If your card-catalogue is kept strictly up to date, there is
very little danger of duplicates, as before sending an order
every item should be compared with this record, and also with
any outstanding orders. But it often happens that in the
press of work the catalogue is not up to date. A list on slips
of those books on hand which have not yet been catalogued
then becomes necessary. It is better to keep this list on slips
in order to insert fresh slips in their proper alphabetical order.
The order-list, if kept on slips, may serve for this list also,
58 Hints to Small Libraries
for as soon as a book is received and checked on the bill, the
fact with date and price can be noted on the order-slip, and the
slip transferred to another box of slips representing books
received but not yet catalogued.
These order-slips should not take much time to make,
having only the author's surname, brief title, volume number or
number of volumes, abbreviated note of place, publisher, year,
if other than the current year, publisher's price, if known, and
name of dealer. It may even answer its main purpose by hav-
ing a record only of the items here italicized. By consulting
the order-list, "received'Mist, and catalogue, you make the
chance of ordering a duplicate infinitely small.
Of course, in a very small library, the librarian knows her
books pretty well and can better depend on her memory of its
contents than in a larger one; but buying a duplicate means
not buying some other book that you want, and it is better
to take some certain means of avoiding the former purchase.
For selection of current books, two or three of the critical
and literary periodicals taken in the reading-room may be
used as guides ; such, for instance, as the Nation of New York,
and the Dial of Chicago. Booksellers' publications are not safe
to buy from without further investigation, as their reviews
are naturally nothing if not favorable. For the selection of
good books for children, the librarian is referred to the fol-
lowing lists :
Arnold, Gertrude Weld. A mother's list of books for chil-
dren. Chic. McClurg. 1909. $i net.
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Catalogue of books anno-
tated and arranged and graded for the use of the first
eight grades in the Pittsburgh schools. Pub. by the
Carnegie Library. 1907. Paper, 5oc.
Hassler, Harriot E.
Graded list of stories for reading aloud. New ed. Pub.
by League of library commissions. 1910. loc.
Selecting and Ordering Books 59
Kennedy, Helen T.
Suggestive list of children's books for a small library.
Wisconsin library commission, Madison, Wis.
1910.
Moore, Annie Carroll. A list of books recommended for a
children's library. Comp. for the Iowa library com-
mission. [Des Moines. 1904.] IDC.
Sargent, J. F.
Reading for the young : a classified and annotated cata-
logue with an alphabetical author-index. (Prepared
for publication by M. E. and Abby L. Sargent, and
issued by the A. L. A. pub. sec.) Bost. Library Bu-
reau. 1890. $i.
Supplement to Reading for the young: a classified and
annotated catalogue with alphabetical author-index
and subject-index to the complete work; comp. by
Mary E. and Abby L. Sargent. Pub. for the A. L. A.
pub. sec. by the Library Bureau. Boston. 1896. $i.
Stanley, Harriet H.
550 children's books : a purchase list for public libraries.
A. L. A. publishing board. 1910. I5c.
CHAPTER X
ROOMS AND FIXTURES
IT is not often that the librarian has a chance to say how he
would like his library planned and fitted up, though it is
oftener the case now than formerly. Library Boards would
think it a very eccentric proceeding to order a suit of clothes or a
hat for the librarian without consulting him ; and if it were done,
and the sleeves came only to his elbows, or the coat-tails dragged,
or the hat brim rested on his shoulders, they would at once see
what foolishness they had been guilty of, and say to one another,
"Why on earth didn't we consult him and take his measure ? He
can't see anything with that hat on, and he'll be forever stepping
on that coat. He was the one to wear it ; he knows what he needs,
and we ought to have asked him." But they seem not to see the
similarity of such a course to that of building the librarian a work-
shop without asking his opinion about it. They give him little
high windows that don't let in any light, and they build him
shelves that he has to climb up to on a ladder, and they arrange
the spaces of the library symmetrically, but where they can be of
no value in the case of growth and crowding. Then they go
outside, and look at it and say, "Isn't it picturesque? Looks like
the Middle Ages, doesn't it?" And in their secret hearts, some of
them would like a drawbridge and a moat. And inside, the poor
librarian is carrying a lantern about to see the top and bottom
shelves, and wondering where he is going to put the next new
book, and risking his neck ten or twelve feet from the ground to
get a "Commentary on Job" that some one without any sense
of the ridiculous happens to want, and trying to hide his un-
sightly pastepots and mucilage bottles behind a screen for want
of a work-room. But perhaps the librarian is as new at the work
Rooms and Fixtures 61
as the trustees, and could not give an opinion, if asked. In that
case, a collection of the printed matter on library architecture
should be carefully studied by both trustees and librarian before
any plans are made.
While no specific plans can be recommended that would suit
all cases, there are a few general rules that meet with the ap-
proval of the library profession as a whole. These were summed
up at the twelfth annual meeting of the American Library Asso-
ciation in 1891, by Mr. C. C. Soule, of Boston, the whole of whose
admirable paper may be found in the proceedings of the Associa-
tion for that year :
"A library building should be planned for library work.
"Every library building should be planned especially for the
kind of work to be done, and the community to be served.
'The interior arrangement ought to be planned before the
exterior is considered.
"No convenience of arrangement should ever be sacrificed for
mere architectural effect.
"The plan should be adapted to probabilities and possibilities
of growth and development.
"Simplicity of decoration is essential in the work-rooms and
reading-rooms.
"A library should be planned with a view to economical ad-
ministration.
"The rooms for public use should be so arranged as to allow
complete supervision with the fewest possible attendants.
"There should be as much natural light as possible in all parts
of the building.
"Windows should extend up to the ceiling, to light thoroughly
the upper part of every room.
"Windows in a book-room should be placed opposite the
intervals between book-cases.
"The arrangement of books in tiers of alcoves and galleries
around a large h^ll ... is considered entirely obsolete.
The old style of shelving around the walls, in alcoves and in
62 Hints to Small Libraries
galleries, has been generally superseded by the use of 'floor-
cases' that is, double book-cases arranged in parallel lines
across the floor of a room
"In a circulating library the books most in use should be
shelved in floor-cases close to the delivery-desk.
"In the floor-cases of a reference library the upper shelves
should be narrower than those below, with a ledge about three
feet from the floor.
"Three feet between floor-cases is ample for all purposes
of administration.
"No shelf, in any form of book-case, should be higher than
a person of moderate height can reach without a step-ladder.
"Shelving for folios and quartos should be provided in
every book-room.
"Straight flights are preferable to circular stairs "
It might be added that shelves should not be more than
two and a half to three feet long, on account of the tendency
to sag, and that a height of ten inches and depth of eight
inches are good dimensions for ordinary shelves. In double-
faced cases, as in the floor-cases referred to-, the depth of shelf
would be sixteen inches from face to face. In most libraries
shelves are made adjustable, to fit varying heights of books,
and save vertical space.
A tract embodying Mr. Soule's views and those of many
librarians, has been published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
for the American Library Association, under the title "Li-
brary rooms and buildings." The date of this is 1902, and
it may be had by applying to the Publishing Board of the
A. L. A., i Washington Street, Chicago. The Board pub-
lishes also Eastman's "Library buildings," at 10 cents, and
in 1908 brought out Marvin's "Plans for small library build-
ings," price $1.25.
CHAPTER XI
LIBRARY TOOLS
Ch. I. Receiving and entering books ; requires
Pencil with colored lead (for checking).
Small blank-book for counter-charges.
Table of the 1,000 classification heads, or of the Ex-
pansive classification.
Entry-ledger or accessions-book.
Ch. 2. Book= numbers and cataloguing; requires
Table of Cutter or Cutter-Sanborn book-numbers.
Index size catalogue-cards.
Catalogue drawer, or box with rod and lid.
Red ink for subject-headings, blue ink for call-num-
bers, pencil and ink erasers.
i
Ch. 3. Cataloguing; aids advised:
American Library Association.
Booklist. 1905-date. v. i-date. B. A. L. A-. pub-
lishing section. i9O5~date. $i per year.
Annotated. Books classified by both decimal and expansive systems,
subjects assigned, and publisher's price given.
American Library Association.
Booklist subject index. i9O5~June. 1910. Chicago.
A. L. A. pub. board. 1910. Paper, 4oc.
American Library Association.
Catalog rules; author and title entries, Ameri-
can edition. B. A. L. A. publishing section. 1908.
6oc.
Hints to Small Libraries
American Library Association.
List of subject-headings for use in dictionary cata-
logs. Chicago. A. L. A. publishing board. $2.
New edition in preparation.
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Classified catalogue, 1895-1902. 3v. Pittsburgh,
1907. $12.
1902-1906. Sen 2. 2v. Pittsburgh. 1908. $5.
Books classified by decimal system.
Cutter, C. A.
Expansive classification. 2 pts. B. Library Bu-
reau. i89i-date. $5.
Part 2 completely printed except a portion of the natural sciences
and the general index. The remainder is in manuscript, and is
being printed.
Cutter, C. A.
Rules for a dictionary catalogue. Wash. Bureau of
Education. Ed. 4. 1904. Paper, 2Oc.
Detroit, Mich., Public Library.
General catalogue, third supplement. 1899-1903. De-
troit. 1904.
Dewey, Melvil.
Abridged decimal classification and relative index
for libraries, clippings, notes, etc. B. Library
Bureau. (ci894.) $1.50 net.
Hitchler, Theresa.
Cataloguing for small libraries. B. A. L. A. pub-
lishing section. 1905. (A. L. A. Handbook, 2.)
Paper, I5c.
Library journal.
Chiefly devoted to library economy and bibliography.
i876-date. N. Y. $5 per year.
Reduced rate to library assistants.
Official organ of the American library association, 1876-1906.
Library Tools 65
Library journal.
Index to v. 1-22. N. Y. 1898. $1.50
Public libraries.
A monthly review of library matters and methods.
i8o6-date. Chic., n. d. $2.
U. 5. Library of Congress.
A. L. A. Catalog ; 8,000 volumes for a popular library,
with notes, prepared by the New York State Library
and the Library of Congress under the auspices of
the A. L. A. publishing board. Wash. Govt. pr. off.
1904. $i.
Books classified by both decimal and expansive system, and catalogue both
classed and dictionary.
Ch. 4. Shelf-list and inventory ; requires
Index size shelf-list cards.
Drawer or box with rod and lid, for shelf-list.
Small blank-book for recording books missing at
time of inventory.
Ch. 5. Mechanical preparation of books for the shelves, and
binding; requires
Rubber stamp to stamp library ownership.
Labels.
Mucilage.
Tissue-paper.
Cheese cloth.
Book-muslin, dark.
Blank-book for recording books sent to binder.
Slips of paper.
Binding ruler.
Rope-manila paper for covering pamphlets.
Classified illustrated catalogue of the library de-
partment of Library Bureau : a handbook of li-
brary fittings and supplies. B. Library Bureau.
1897.
66 Hints to Small Libraries
Ch. 6. Registration ; requires
Register for borrowers, with pledge, and alpha-
betical index on slips.
Small book for keeping trace of unpaid fines and
damages, arranged by date when book became
due or loss was incurred.
Ch. 7. Charging-system: requires
Pockets (if borrower is to keep his card).
Book-cards.
Borrowers' cards.
Dating-slips.
Dating-stamps.
Ch. 8. Reading-room and reference-room work; requires
Athenaeum newspaper files, for a week's numbers.
Atwater files, for one number.
Cards for check-list of periodicals.
Paper for binding current numbers of magazines,
unless ready-made binders are used.
Nielson binders, if ready-made binders are used.
Card-board for lists.
Slips for subject-index.
Helps in reference-room work.
Baker, Ernest A. History in fiction. L.,
Routledge. N. Y. Button n. d.
Boston Book co., Bulletin of bibliography,
April, i897~date, containing a variety of
valuable lists and indexes.
Chicago public library. Special lists.
St. Louis public library. Bulletin, giving
special lists.
Salem public library. Bulletin, giving good
reading-lists.
*For American books
and American reprints
of English books.
For English books.
Library Tools 67
Ch. 9. Selecting and ordering books ; requires
Slips for order-list and received-list.
Dial (weekly).
t Literary News (monthly).
Nation (weekly).
^Publishers' Weekly.
Athenaeum.
Saturday Review.
Spectator. J
Catalogue of A. L. A. Model Library, for help in
selecting original stock, issued by the Library of
Congress.
American Catalogue of books in print from 1876- '96,
5 v. with annual supplement.
English Catalogue, i835~'96, 5 v. with annual supple-
ment.
American publications of any one year, arranged by
publishers, Trade List Annual.
English publications of any one year, arranged by
publishers, Reference Catalogue of Current Litera-
ture.
"And with all thy getting," get the Library journal and Public
libraries, each year, if the money has to come out of your own
purse. It will give you more than the worth of the money, in
courage, enthusiasm, ambition, and the feeling of belonging to a
great system, which, says Walter Pater, "has, in itself, the ex-
panding power of a great experience."
.0
o
Most English books that would be wanted by a small library would be re-
viewed in American critical journals,
t Booksellers' publications.
Addresses of firms and individuals referred to in the foregoing chapters :
("Boston 530 Atlantic Avenue.
Library Bureau, -I New York Stewart Building, Broadway.
^Chicago, 162 Wabash Avenue.
P. Van Everen & Co., 60 Ann Street, New York City.
American Catalogue, "| Office of Publishers' Weekly, 298 Broadway,
Annual English Catalogue, J New York.
Library Journal, 298 Broadway, New York.
Public Libraries, 156 Wabash Avenue, Chicago.
Boston Bookbinding Co., Boston.
Boston Book Co., 83-91 Francis Street, Boston.
Multum in Parvo Binding Co., 34 Arch Street, Philadelphia.
224473