THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Series 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 DR. RICHARD GARNETT 
 
 III 
 
 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION
 
 SLibrarg Series 
 
 EDITED BY DR. RICHARD GARNETT 
 
 I. THE FREE LIBRARY : Its History and 
 Present Condition. By J. J. OGLE, of Bootle 
 Free Library. Cloth, 6s. net. 
 
 II. LIBRARY CONSTRUCTION, ARCHITEC- 
 TURE, AND FITTINGS. By F. J. BUR- 
 GOYNE, of the Tate Central Library, Brixton. 
 With 141 Illustrations. Cloth, 6s. net. 
 
 III. LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION. By J. 
 
 MACFARLANE, of the British Museum. Cloth, 
 6s. net. 
 
 IV. THE PRICES OF BOOKS. By H. B. 
 
 WHEATLEY, of the Society of Arts. Cloth, 
 6s. net.
 
 LIBRARY 
 ADMINI STRATION 
 
 JOHN MACFARLANE 
 
 OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY 
 
 LONDON 
 GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD 
 
 \AU rights reserved^
 
 " Laudo (ut ingenue fat ear) earn librorum thecam, quae 
 non spectabili tantum sedificio, non librorum turn copia 
 turn splendore relucet, quaeve solum prseclaram ostendit 
 supellectilem, et incomparabilem tbesaurum, sed quse eundem 
 communicabilem exhibet, reddidit accommodam dispensationi, 
 docet methodum, ac ordinem locandorum, inquirendorum, 
 inveniendorum librorum." 
 
 Florianus Treflerus : Methottus exhibens per varies htdtces, 
 et classes subitide, quorumlibet librorum, cuiuslibet bibliothecce, 
 breuem, facilem, imilabilem ordhiationem, &*c. Augustae 
 [1560]. 8vo.
 
 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE subject of library administration, treated by 
 Mr. MACFARLANE in the following pages, is one 
 upon which, from one point of view, it is difficult 
 to say too much, and upon which, from another, it is 
 difficult to say anything. So far as the description 
 of existing systems and the exposition of important 
 details are concerned, the extent of the subject, had 
 more space been available, would have justified a 
 treatment yet fuller than it has here received, but 
 the scope for positive precept is very limited. So 
 dissimilar are the extent, the characteristics, and the 
 needs of libraries, that few rules of universal applica- 
 tion can be given, and the attempt to deduce such 
 from the practice of exceptional libraries can only 
 end in disappointment. In fact, any particular 
 system, such, for instance, as the card-catalogue, 
 which may suit any given library perfectly well at 
 certain stages of its development, may diminish in 
 efficiency in proportion to its growth, and eventually 
 become impracticable. The Museum manuscript- 
 catalogue on movable slips affords a striking in- 
 stance. Nothing could have been more convenient
 
 vi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 and practical at the time of its introduction, but 
 it grew more and more cumbrous year by year, 
 and at last broke down under its own weight. 
 There are features in the Museum catalogue of the 
 highest value to men of letters, such, for example, 
 as the grouping of academical transactions and 
 periodical literature under the headings "Aca- 
 demies " and " Periodical Publications," but which 
 it would be inexpedient to reproduce in the cata- 
 logues of libraries not largely resorted to by students 
 and scholars, or where such books did not con- 
 stitute a considerable proportion of the collection. 
 It is therefore difficult to lay down many pre- 
 cepts universally applicable for library management 
 which are not sufficiently discoverable by the light 
 of nature. Beyond this, however, there is a wide 
 debatable region which may be explored with ad- 
 vantage, it being always borne in mind that the 
 question is not so much that of the abstract fitness 
 of principles, as of their applicability to the needs 
 of individual libraries. Some few principles may 
 be taken as axiomatic. It may be regarded as 
 established, for instance, that the alphabetical ar- 
 rangement of entries in a catalogue is the best that 
 can be adopted ; and no less so that the alpha- 
 betical catalogue gains enormously in value by the 
 addition of a good index of subjects. If, however, 
 advancing a step further, we inquire into the best 
 form of subject-index, we find ourselves involved 
 in controversy, which may continue long, inasmuch
 
 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION vii 
 
 as so extensive and heterogeneous a subject is 
 not capable of reduction to precise rules. Ex- 
 perience alone will suffice to bring about a general 
 consensus, or something approaching to it, upon 
 this and other points still controverted among 
 librarians. It may be added that this desideratum 
 will be achieved in proportion to the elevation of 
 the status of the profession itself, and the develop- 
 ment of that freedom of discussion and interchange 
 of opinion which the Library Associations of Great 
 Britain and America, and the periodicals connected 
 with them, have of late years done so much to 
 promote. 
 
 Although, nevertheless, but a small proportion 
 of Mr. MACFARLANE'S Manual can claim to rank as a 
 code, the whole of it will be found to possess much 
 value as a disseminator of information, and as a 
 stimulus to reflection. It is fortunate that the exe- 
 cution of a work on library administration should 
 have fallen into the hands of one familiar with the 
 organisation of the largest, or almost the largest, 
 library in the world, the one where questions of 
 library management have probably been more 
 actively canvassed than anywhere else, where dis- 
 cussions have been most fully recorded, and where 
 the results of reform and innovation are visible 
 upon the largest scale. Mr. MACFARLANE'S constant 
 reference to the British Museum imparts a kind of 
 historical unity to his volume, and is a practical as 
 well as a literary gain if two essential cautions are
 
 viii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 borne in mind that not every detail of the manage- 
 ment of a great library is suitable for adoption in a 
 small one ; and that, the Museum system having long 
 ago taken definite shape, many modern discoveries 
 and suggestions have not, and cannot have, been 
 there subjected to the experimental tests to which, 
 on abstract grounds, they would have been justly 
 entitled. 
 
 R. GARNETT.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE present writer has not made it his aim to pro- 
 duce an authoritative code of library government 
 that were too ambitious an aim, and moreover, 
 forbidden by exigencies of space. He hopes, how- 
 ever, to have touched at least upon the salient points 
 of the librarian's duties and difficulties, and while 
 treating them chiefly as affecting libraries of the 
 first rank, to have produced a work not unaccep- 
 table in institutions less highly organised. 
 
 It is hoped, too, that the account of the processes 
 designed to serve the needs of readers may prove 
 of interest to the layman also, and that the details 
 given of Continental libraries and the methods of 
 the British Museum will be found to possess some 
 claim to novelty. 
 
 In conclusion, the writer wishes to express his 
 hearty thanks for kind assistance to the editor of 
 this series, and to many colleagues in the British 
 Museum, to M. Blanchet of the Paris National 
 Library, M. Paris of the Brussels Royal Library,
 
 X PREFACE 
 
 Mr. Jenkinson, Librarian of the University of Cam- 
 bridge, and Mr. Welch, Librarian of the Guildhall 
 Library ; also to the heads of the libraries at 
 Bootle (Mr. Ogle), Clerkenwell (Mr. J. D. Brown), 
 Brixton (Mr. Burgoyne), and Wandsworth (Mr. 
 Cecil Davis). 
 
 J. MACFARLANE. 
 
 January 1898.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF ..... i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS ...... 44 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 CATALOGUING . . . . . . . . ?8 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ARRANGEMENT ....... 148 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION . . . . -175
 
 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 
 
 THE genesis of the library, public or private, can 
 be traced through the histories of all complex 
 civilisations. It is, however, with the public library 
 of modern times, its aims and methods, that the 
 present work is chiefly concerned. For the apprecia- 
 tion of these we may neglect Assyria and Rome, 
 and the monastic libraries, wherein alone the lamp 
 of science was kept alight in the Dark and Middle 
 Ages, and pass to the Renaissance. The phrase 
 bibliotheca publica is first found, as far as at present 
 known, in the fifteenth century, 1 and in 1437 the 
 earliest institution deserving of this title was 
 founded when Niccolo Niccoli left his collection 
 of manuscripts to the city of Florence, and they 
 were thrown open to public use in a library which 
 is now merged in the Laurenziana. 
 
 The functions of the librarian evolved themselves 
 in natural sequence. He was primarily custodian 
 
 1 Dziatzko : Enlwickeliing it. gegen-wdr tiger Stand der wissenschaft- 
 hchen Bibliotheken Deulschlands, 1893. 
 
 A
 
 2 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 of the books, and in the perpetual wars of the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the office was 
 no sinecure. Thus we may well imagine that 
 Gosselin, who had charge of the Bibliotheque du 
 Roi during the wars of the League, had enough to 
 do to ensure the safety of his charge, and it is 
 not surprising to learn that during his forty-four 
 years of office he never found time to make a 
 catalogue, nor that his too jealous guardianship 
 often thwarted the inquiring zeal of Isaac Casaubon, 
 who afterwards succeeded him. 1 He, again, was a 
 striking example of a class of librarian that even 
 to-day is by no means extinct the mere scholar, 
 who reads instead of causing books to be read. 
 
 The modern conception of the librarian seems 
 to have been first reached, at least in Great Britain, 
 by one John Durie, who set forth his views in an 
 interesting little work, "The Reformed Librarie- 
 Keeper" (London, 1650, i2mo). He was particularly 
 opposed to the notion of a library being a mere 
 museum of curiosities, and greatly blames the 
 administration of the library at Heidelberg, in that 
 "they that had the keeping of this librarie made 
 it an idol, to bee respected and worshipped for a 
 raritie by an implicate faith." He sets forth the 
 defects that characterised the librarians of his time 
 in words that are not without their application 
 to-day : 
 
 " The Librarie-keeper's place and office, in most countries 
 (as most other Places and offices both in Churches and 
 
 1 See Mark Pattison's "Casaubon,"
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 3 
 
 Universities) are looked upon as Places of profit and gain, 
 and so accordingly sought after and valued in that regard : 
 and not in regard of the Service which is to bee done by 
 them unto the Common-wealth of Israel, for the advance- 
 ment of Pietie and Learning : . . . and so they subordinate 
 all the advantages of their places to purchase mainly two 
 things thereby, viz. an easie subsistence, and som credit in 
 comparison with others; nor is the last much regarded, if 
 the first may bee had." 
 
 "... If Librarie-keepers did understand themselvs in 
 the nature of their work, and would make themselvs, as 
 they ought to bee, useful in their places in a publick waie, 
 they ought to becom Agents for the advancement of 
 universal Learning, and to this effect I could wish that their 
 places might not bee made, as everie where they are, 
 Mercenarie, but rather Honorarie ; and that with the com- 
 petent allowance of two hundred pounds a year ; som 
 emploiments should bee put upon them further than a bare 
 keeping of the Books." 
 
 " The proper charge then of the Honorarie Librarie-keeper 
 in an Universitie should bee thought upon, and the end of 
 that Imploiment, in my conception, is to keep the public 
 stock of Learning, which is in Books and Manuscripts, to 
 increas it, and to propose to others in the waie which may 
 bee most useful unto all." 
 
 To this end Durie proceeds, the librarian shall 
 " trade " with foreign men of learning for exchange 
 of books and of discoveries in science, making 
 himself a sort of confidential international agent. 
 To carry this system out he must know the " parts " 
 of all scholars of eminence. As a check on his 
 administration he shall give an annual account 
 of his " trading," accompanied by a " Catalogue of
 
 4 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Additionals," which latter shall be printed every 
 three years for transmission abroad. As the 
 Bodleian in Durie's time had privileges of copy- 
 right, provision is made for the treatment of 
 " copyright books " by the ideal librarian. " I 
 would have at the time of giving accounts the 
 Librarie-keeper also bound to produce the Cata- 
 logue of all the books sent unto the Univer- 
 sitie's Librarie by the Stationary that printed them, 
 to the end that everie one of the Doctors in their 
 own Faculties should declare whether or no they 
 should bee added, and where they should bee placed 
 in the Catalogue of Additionals." These rejected 
 books were to be kept, though not added to the 
 catalogue. 
 
 The modern ideal of the librarian has been 
 forcibly explained by one who was perhaps the 
 greatest among them, in this country at least we 
 mean Henry Bradshaw. " A librarian is one who 
 earns his living by attending to the wants of those 
 for whose use the library under his charge exists ; 
 his primary duty being, in the widest possible 
 sense of the phrase, to save the time of those who 
 seek his services." l To achieve this end there is 
 required a rare combination of three qualities 
 scholarship, character, and business capacity. The 
 day is long past when universal erudition was 
 possible, but the ideal librarian will be a man of 
 catholic tastes and retentive memory, interested 
 in all the developments of human knowledge, and 
 able by his linguistic attainments to follow them 
 
 1 Address to the Library Association of the United Kingdom, 1882.
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 5 
 
 in the literature of the chief civilised nations. 
 Such a man is almost certain to be drawn by his 
 natural bent into one field of specialisation, and 
 with the aid of his staff, among whom his worthy 
 successors are to be looked for, will be able to 
 furnish to readers the advice of an expert over 
 a large domain of knowledge. This ideal pre- 
 supposes in him the zeal and sympathy which 
 incite to study and research, with which must be 
 combined the care for detail and the firmness 
 of character that belongs to the efficient man of 
 business. 
 
 We have now first to consider the methods by 
 which it is sought to select and train the candidates 
 for this high office, and the internal discipline of 
 a library staff. The system under which librarians 
 are selected and educated in the United Kingdom 
 shares the virtues and defects of our general atti- 
 tude in these matters. It lacks the precision char- 
 acteristic of Continental and American methods, but 
 is perhaps not less successful if we judge by results. 
 
 The staffs of the larger libraries, except that of 
 the British Museum, are recruited without exami- 
 nation of the candidates. This is counterbalanced, 
 in the case of the Universities at any rate, by the 
 ability of the chiefs, which those seats of learning 
 seem always able to provide, men in whom the 
 absence of technical training is amply compen- 
 sated for by scholarship and administrative capacity. 
 Of these men the rarest and most brilliant example 
 is found in Henry Bradshaw, late University 
 Librarian at Cambridge.
 
 The staff of assistant librarians in the British 
 Museum is selected by a double test. First, the 
 three principal Trustees of the institution (the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons, and the Lord Chancellor) 
 give "nominations" or permissions to compete 
 to a number of candidates selected with a view 
 to their usefulness, and then these compete among 
 themselves for the place or places that may become 
 vacant. The examination is in part qualificatory 
 (writing, arithmetic, mathematics, or history) and in 
 part competitive (translation from and composition 
 in Latin and Greek, and two or three modern 
 languages). No bibliographical knowledge is 
 exacted, and herein is the most striking contrast 
 with all other systems. The successful candidate 
 or candidates are then received on probation in 
 the library for two years. In that space of time 
 their capacity to acquire bibliographical and other 
 knowledge can be tested. For a considerable portion 
 of the staff the antiquarian part of bibliography, so 
 much insisted on in the Continental examinations, 
 will be quite superfluous. At least two assistants 
 are required to look after the supply of modern 
 European literature, and for this require knowledge 
 of languages and literature, and a capacity to 
 thwart the wiliness or stir up the sluggishness of 
 booksellers. Another will be concerned with the 
 administration of the Copyright Acts, another 
 with the binding department. A knowledge of 
 early printers, for instance, or the Dewey system, 
 will be of little service to these. The principle of
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 7 
 
 the entrance examination is one that runs through 
 the whole of the Civil Service examinations in this 
 country to select men of general capacity, whose 
 education rather fits them to learn than fills them 
 with knowledge. Sometimes, luckily for the public 
 service, candidates of special attainments are found 
 and nominated, whose general knowledge enables 
 them to take the first place in the competitive 
 examinations. These are ideal candidates, and 
 necessarily not common. 
 
 The only organised education and examination 
 of librarians in this country is directed by the 
 Library Association of the United Kingdom. The 
 education takes the form of a " Summer School for 
 Students of Librarianship," which is "intended to 
 give library assistants and others who are train- 
 ing for appointments in libraries an opportunity 
 of gaining a practical insight into those subjects 
 which, as a rule, they can only learn from books, 
 and to enable them to compare the various systems 
 of library management." The programme of the 
 1897 School, just brought to a successful close, will 
 give a good idea of the methods of the school : 
 
 Monday, 31 st May, 
 
 7.30 P.M. Reception in the rooms of the Association, 
 
 20 Hanover Square, W. Tea and coffee. 
 8 P.M. Inaugural address by the Chairman of the 
 
 Committee, C. Welsh, Esq., F.S.A. 
 8.30 P.M. Lecture by R. Garnett, Esq., C.B., LL.D., 
 
 on " History and Poetry in the Victorian 
 
 Age."
 
 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Tuesday, ist June. 
 
 10 A.M. Visit to the British Museum. 
 12 noon. Visit to the Cripplegate Institute, Golden 
 
 Lane, E.G. The Manager, H. W. 
 
 Capper, Esq., will conduct the party 
 
 over the building. 
 3.30 P.M. Lecture by J. J. Ogle, Esq., on " Aids to 
 
 Readers," at 20 Hanover Square, W. 
 7.45 P.M. Tea and coffee at 20 Hanover Square, W. 
 8.30 P.M. Lecture and demonstration on "Binding," 
 
 by C. Chivers, Esq. 
 
 Wednesday , 2nd June. 
 
 10 A.M. Visit to the St. Bride Foundation Institute, 
 
 Bride Lane, Fleet Street, E.G. Walter 
 J. Picket, Esq., Clerk to the Governors, 
 and F. W. T. Lange, Esq., Librarian, will 
 conduct the party over the building. 
 
 11 A.M. Visit to the Bishopsgate Institute, Bishops- 
 
 gate Street Without, E.G. R. W. Heaton, 
 
 Esq., M.A., the Director and Librarian,, 
 
 will conduct the party over the building. 
 
 3 P.M. Lecture and demonstration by J. Henry 
 
 Quinn, Esq., on "Subject Cataloguing," 
 
 at the Chelsea Public Library, Manresa 
 
 Road, S.W., to be followed by a 
 
 Lecture and demonstration on " Library 
 
 Accounts," by Frank Pacy, Esq. 
 
 7.30 P.M. Tea and coffee at the Guildhall Library. 
 King Street, Cheapside, E.C , by invi- 
 tation of the Chairman of the Summer 
 School Committee.
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 9 
 
 8.30 P.M. Lecture by W. May, Esq., on "Library 
 Administration, Maintenance, and Exe- 
 cutive Work." 
 
 Thursday, yd June. 
 
 10 A.M. Visit to the works of Messrs. Cassell & Co. 
 The students will assemble in La Belle 
 Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, E.G., and 
 will be taken round in small parties. 
 3 P.M. Visit to Lambeth Palace and Lambeth 
 Palace Library, by kind permission of 
 his Grace the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. The Librarian, S. W. Kershaw, 
 Esq., M.A., F.S.A., will conduct the 
 students over the library. 
 7 P.M. Tea and coffee at 20 Hanover Square, W. 
 
 7.30. P.M. Lecture by Herbert Jones, Esq., on " Public 
 Library Legislation." 
 
 8.30. P.M. " Things Heard and Seen : " an open dis- 
 cussion by members of the Summer 
 School. 
 
 Friday, ^th June. 
 
 Examination. Particulars will be announced during the 
 session, and it is earnestly hoped that all the members of 
 the School will present themselves on the occasion. Prizes 
 of three guineas, two guineas, and one guinea will be 
 offered for competition. 
 
 It will be noticed that there is time left on Tuesday, 
 Wednesday, and Thursday, between the afternoon and 
 evening lectures, which might be utilised for visits to 
 libraries, at the discretion of the students. 
 
 It is to be feared that the effect of this pro- 
 gramme is to produce bewilderment among the
 
 10 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 students ; the " turns " we venture to think are too 
 many, and too close together. Many of the students 
 may be seen on occasion of the various visits 
 taking diligent notes, which will serve in some 
 measure to prevent complete intellectual indiges- 
 tion. It is rather significant that sometimes (e.g. in 
 1895) when prizes are offered for the best sets of 
 notes, the examiners find no one worthy to receive 
 the second prize. We would venture to suggest the 
 abridgment of the programme by cutting out visits 
 to printers and bookbinders, whose work can be seen 
 in any large town by the students individually. 
 
 SUMMER SCHOOL OF THE LIBRARY 
 ASSOCIATION 
 
 FIFTH SESSION, 1897 
 
 EXAMINATION 
 Friday, ^th June, at 1 1 A. M., at 20 Hanover Square. 
 
 Only ten questions are to be attempted, which must include 
 those marked with an asterisk (*). 
 
 Only two questions in each class are to be attempted. 
 
 A. i. What cause has principally modified the study of 
 
 history in the Victorian era? 
 
 2. By what poet has the general spirit of the Vic- 
 torian era been most accurately reproduced ? 
 
 B. *i. Name six books with which you are acquainted 
 
 that contain lists of authorities or select biblio- 
 graphies to the subjects of the sections or 
 chapters. 
 
 2. Give as full a list of concordances to the works 
 of English poets as you can.
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF II 
 
 3. Where would you begin to seek information as 
 to the books on a subject which you had 
 hitherto known little or nothing about? and 
 how would you follow up your clues ? 
 
 C. *i. How can you tell whether the binder has done 
 
 his work well ? 
 
 2. When should tight backs be used, and when 
 
 loose, and why? 
 
 3. Give the strain at which ordinary binders' (a) 
 
 string and (b} tape will break. 
 
 D. *i. State the advantages which you consider the 
 
 classed catalogue has compared with the 
 dictionary, and the disadvantages. 
 2. Under what headings would you place Nansen's 
 " Farthest North " in a classed catalogue. 
 
 E. *i. Give an illustration of the method which seems 
 
 best to you of vouching for and recording the 
 receipts taken from day to day in a library, as 
 fines and penalties. 
 
 2. A sum of 12, i2s. 6d. is received during one 
 
 month in a library, made up as follows : Fines 
 and penalties, ^5, ys. 6d. ; sale of catalogues, 
 ^3, 53 ; donations, 2, 153.; and miscella- 
 neous items, ;i, 55. Show what entries are 
 necessary for the proper recording of the 
 amounts in the books (cash-book and ledger). 
 
 3. A library building has cost ^4500, towards 
 
 which amount ^4000 has been borrowed, the 
 balance being paid out of revenue. The 
 whole cost of the building has been defrayed 
 within the period of one financial year. The 
 repayment of principal on account of the loan 
 in the same year amounts to ^76, 173. nd. 
 What would be the balance on the building 
 account ? and show how it is arrived at.
 
 12 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 F. *i. What are the essential particulars to be given in 
 
 an annual report to adequately describe the 
 work of a free library during the year ? 
 
 2. Describe briefly the variously detailed informa- 
 
 tion which should be given in a stock-book. 
 
 3. Describe fully the process of preparing a new 
 
 book for public circulation, from its receipt 
 from the bookseller to its handing to the first 
 borrower. 
 
 G. *i. Describe briefly how the Public Library Acts are 
 
 to be adopted 
 
 (a) In an urban district. 
 (&) In a parish. 
 
 2. What was the date of the passing of the (a) 
 
 principal Public Library Act ? and the name of 
 its promoter ? and (l>) the dates of the Acts now 
 in force? 
 
 3. What is the number of Commissioners allowed 
 
 under the Act? and for how long are they 
 
 appointed ? 
 Who audits the accounts of the Library 
 
 authorities ? 
 What sanctions are necessary before a Library 
 
 authority can borrow money for the purposes 
 
 of the Acts ? 
 H. *i. Describe briefly the visit to either 
 
 (a) The British Museum, 
 
 (b) The works of Messrs. Cassell & Co., or 
 
 (c) The Lambeth Palace and Lambeth 
 
 Palace Library. 
 
 This is all the organised instruction of librarians 
 that exists ; but there are many libraries where the 
 assistants are trained by their chief with the greatest 
 thoroughness, and where the governing bodies
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 13 
 
 second these efforts by allowing time for instruction 
 which does not, strictly speaking, form part of the 
 duty of their staff. We extract, as an example, 
 the following paragraph from the thirty-fourth 
 Report of the Cardiff Public Libraries: "The 
 librarian, with the cordial sanction of the Com- 
 mittee, has formed the library staff into an associa- 
 tion for the study and discussion of questions- 
 relating to practical librarianship, with a view to 
 increasing the interest taken by the staff in the 
 work of the library. ... It is hoped that this will 
 be the means of training up a more efficient staff 
 of assistants, and of qualifying the assistants to take 
 more important positions in other libraries." 
 
 The examination organised by the Library Asso- 
 ciation is intended to keep up a supply of trained 
 candidates for library appointments, with the hope 
 that committees and other governing bodies will 
 in course of time give them preference over un- 
 trained candidates, and also that the supply of a 
 more costly article will create a demand, and the 
 salaries of librarians will increase in proportion. 
 
 As a preliminary test of the general education 
 of candidates, it is required that they .shall either 
 have been engaged in library work for three years, 
 or produce a certificate of having passed some 
 public examination from among those accepted by 
 the General Medical Council. 
 
 The svllabus of the examination is as follows :
 
 14 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 SYLLABUS 
 
 I. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 (a) Bibliography. Besides the practical know- 
 ledge obtained in his own library, the candidate 
 must show a fair knowledge of the matter dealt 
 with in Home's " Introduction to Bibliography," and 
 the bibliographical articles in the " Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica." He must have some acquaintance with 
 the history of printing, and the leading bibliogra- 
 phical works of reference. He must know the Latin 
 names of the towns most frequently found in imprints. 
 
 (b] Literary History (of two countries), especially 
 of the last hundred years. 
 
 Each candidate must show that he has a thorough 
 knowledge of the matter of the text-books in the 
 [appended] list, and moreover, an acquaintance 
 with the editions and forms in which the leading 
 writers have been published, and of the literature 
 that has grown up around those works. 
 
 II. CATALOGUING, CLASSIFICATION, AND 
 SHELF ARRANGEMENT 
 
 The candidate must be able to catalogue and 
 classify a number of books in at least two languages 
 (one of which must be Latin) besides English. He 
 must be familiar with leading systems of cataloguing, 
 and the best printed catalogues produced in English- 
 speaking countries, theories and schemes of classi- 
 fication, size-notation, shelf-registers, mechanical 
 methods used in cataloguing, &c.
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 15 
 
 III. LIBRARY MANAGEMENT 
 
 This section of the examination will be a test 
 of the candidate's experience and his skill and 
 readiness in dealing with the various practical 
 problems which may come before him. He will 
 be examined as to the methods in use in his 
 own library. The chief subjects may be thus 
 arranged : 
 
 (1) Public Libraries Acts. History and leading pro- 
 
 visions (only if the candidate is from a rate- 
 supported library). 
 
 (2) Administration. Committees, staff, finance, busi- 
 
 ness books, rules and regulations for the 
 public. 
 
 (3) Buildings. Plans and specifications, lighting, 
 
 heating, ventilation. 
 
 (4) Fittings and appliances generally, but excluding 
 
 mechanical methods used in cataloguing. 
 
 (5) Maintenance. Binding, stationery, periodicals, 
 
 donations, propositions, &c., and their various 
 books of records. 
 
 (6) Executive Work. Charging and registration of 
 
 books, lending and reference, registration of 
 readers or borrowers, issue and other statistics. 
 
 (7) General. Aid to readers, reference library work, 
 
 news-rooms. 
 
 A list of text-books is appended to this syllabus, 
 showing its scope more nearly. Thus, for the part 
 dealing with Classification and Shelf Arrangement 
 the following books are recommended : Edwards' 
 " Memoirs of Libraries," vol. i., Brunet's " Manuel,"
 
 16 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Garnett on " British Museum System " (an article), 
 Dewey's " Decimal Classification," Greenwood's 
 " Public Libraries," Brown's " Library Appliances," 
 and a few review articles. Of all the books in this 
 appalling list, the unfortunate candidate is expected 
 to bring up "a thorough knowledge." 
 
 If the questions set are not absurdly superficial, 
 the test is absurdly severe, and it is no wonder that 
 candidates fail to present themselves. It should, 
 of course, be understood that the examiners are 
 nearly all librarians of popular libraries, and that 
 the examination is intended for candidates for 
 posts in those libraries. A set of questions given 
 last year (1896) is here appended. 
 
 THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 
 
 QUESTIONS SET AT THE EXAMINATION IN 
 JULY 1896 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Time 2| hours. Five questions must be answered, including 
 at least two among J\'os. i, 2, 5, and 7. 
 
 1. (a] Mention the titles of five block-books. (I)} In 
 what town was printing in use in the year 1470? 
 
 2. What do you remember of Home's remarks on the 
 rarity of books ? 
 
 3. When did the following printers flourish, and for what 
 are they chiefly known : (i.) Antony Koburger ; (ii.) Foulis ; 
 (iii.) Bodoni; (iv.) Baskerville; (v.) Julian Notary. 
 
 4. (a) Explain the following terms: (i.) Register; (ii.) 
 Palimpsest; (iii.) Colophon; (iv.) Incunabula; (v.) Format; 
 (vi.) Gros batarde; (vii.) Inset, (b) What is meant by (i.)
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 17 
 
 Bamberg Bible ; (ii.) Pine's Horace ; (iii.) The Bay Psalm 
 Book? 
 
 5. Mention the titles of works on the bibliography of 
 any two of the following subjects : (i.) History of Eng- 
 land; (ii.) English Literature since 1840; (iii.) Botany; 
 (iv.) Anonymous and Pseudonymous books (English, French 
 and Latin). 
 
 6. Mention some of the Kings' printers in chronological 
 order, and state what you know about their patents. 
 
 7. (a) What are the Latin names of: (i.) Paris; (ii.) 
 Mainz; (iii.) Spires ; (iv.) Brussels ; (v.) Lisbon? (b} What 
 are: (i.) Lexovium ; (ii.) Audomaropolis ; (iii.) Pictavia; 
 (iv.) Salisburgium ; (v.) Hafnia? 
 
 8. Who were: (i.) J. Grolier ; (ii.) Richard de Bury ; (iii.) 
 J. A. Fabricius ; (iv.) A. A. Barbier; (v.) Miles Coverdale? 
 
 9. Mention any five printed catalogues of private libraries, 
 and state for what each is chiefly remarkable. 
 
 10. What do you know of the printed catalogues of: (i.) 
 The Advocates' Library ; (ii.) The Boston Athenaeum ; (iii.) 
 The Bodleian Library; (iv.) Library of Trinity College, 
 Dublin ? 
 
 ENGLISH LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 Time 1 4 hours. Four questions must be answered, 
 including Nos. \ and 2. 
 
 1. Name the works of not less than three of the follow- 
 ing writers : (a) Editions known to you of them ; (&} Editors 
 or critics of them; (^r) Works describing places connected with 
 them : Scott, Rogers, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Tennyson. 
 
 2. Give a brief sketch (about one foolscap page) of either 
 (a) History of Juvenile Literature in England to the present 
 time ; (b] History of the English Printed Bible ; (c) History 
 of the English Novel in 1860: in the manner of a short 
 article for an encyclopaedia. 
 
 3. Name the successive writers in the following Sciences 
 
 B
 
 l8 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 whose names, linked together, make a history of the Science: 
 (a) Geology ; (fr) Chemistry ; (c] Optics. 
 
 4. Describe three leading peculiarities in the works of 
 either (a) William Morris, (b) John Ruskin. Mention the 
 works which best exhibit them. 
 
 5. Describe the influence of America on English Litera- 
 ture, or, Describe the influence of France on English 
 Literature. State the periods of such influence, and authors 
 by whom caused. 
 
 6. Name notable English writers who were also great 
 as (a) Soldiers, (b} Sailors, (c} Artists, (d) Publishers, (e) 
 Librarians. 
 
 7. Discriminate the works of authors bearing the follow- 
 ing names : (a) Oliphant, (b} Stanley, (c) Arnold. 
 
 8. What modern writers have the most improved our 
 knowledge of early English Literature ? 
 
 FRENCH LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 Time i hours. Six questions to be answered, including Nos. 
 i, 2, and 10. Two of these to be answered in French. 
 
 1. Make a sketch list of authors who must needs be 
 included in selecting a small general library of French 
 literature, principally modern. 
 
 2. Translate the following : 
 
 Typographic Frangaise, Strasbourg, 1468, environ. Jean 
 Mentelin, Imprimeur. " De 1'art de precher," par Saint 
 Augustin (en latin), Une des premieres impressions de 
 1'introducteur de la typographic a Strasbourg, alors ville 
 imperiale. Lyon, Caracteres d'imprimerie des XVe. et 
 XVIe. siecles, trouves dans le lit de la Saone. Ces caracteres 
 d'imprimerie paraissent prevenir de rimprimerie de Guil- 
 laume Le Roy, la plus ancienne de Lyon. Us ont etc" 
 employes dans le " Doctrinal du temps passe " de Michault, 
 attribues aux presses de Le Roy, dans le "Traite d'Albertan"
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 19 
 
 de Brescia, signe de Le Roy, et dans (Fautres ouvrages. 
 Ces caracteres constituent une curiosite typographique de 
 premier ordre. Us montrent que, dans les premierst emps 
 de rimprimerie, la hauteur des lettres etait arbitraire, chacun 
 fondait a sa guise, et que la lettre n'avait pas de cran, mais 
 un talus pour indiquer au compositeur la tete de la lettre. 
 Ces caracteres sont les plus anciens qui existent, ceux de 
 limprimerie de Plantin, conserves au Musee Typographique 
 de la ville d'Anvers, graves et fondus par des Franais, 
 Claude Garamonde et Simon de Colines, sont d'une epoque 
 poste'rieure, les lettres ayant deja des crans comme de nos 
 jours. 
 
 3. Describe the characteristics of the following works, 
 and give the authors' names : Origines de la France con- 
 temporaine, Lettres a une inconnue, Causeries du Lundi, 
 Memoires d'outre-tombe. 
 
 4. Name some of the subsidiary titles in the following 
 groups: Comedie Humaine, Les Rougon-Macquart, Batailles 
 de la vie. 
 
 5. Describe the nature of the writings of some of the 
 following authors : Rabelais, Moliere, Beranger, Bossuet, 
 Bungener, Ribot, Amiel, Mme. Craven, Jules Simon. 
 
 6. Give a chain of dramatic authors in chronological 
 sequence from Moliere to the present time. 
 
 7. Under what reigns must we place the biographies of 
 the following persons : Du Barry, De Berri, Pompadour, 
 Montespan, Ninon de 1'Enclos. 
 
 8. Name the writings of Napoleon III., Due d'Aumale, 
 Due d'Orleans, Comte de Paris. 
 
 9. Under what other names may we look for catalogue 
 entries of the following writers : D'Abrantes, De Raguse ? 
 
 10. What authors would you recommend to a reader 
 desirous of being acquainted with the lives of: (a) 
 Napoleon I., () Louis XIV., (<;) Marie Antoinette? (Avoid 
 direct biographies of them.)
 
 20 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 CATALOGUING 
 Time \\ hours. 
 
 1. Describe the differences between "dictionary" and 
 " classified " forms of catalogues, and the merits or defects 
 of each. 
 
 2. Rule 28 of the Library Association Cataloguing Rules 
 reads : "All persons generally known by a fore-name are 
 to be so entered, the English form being used in the case of 
 sovereigns, popes, ruling princes, Oriental writers, friars, 
 and persons canonised." Give illustrations showing the 
 meaning of this rule. 
 
 3. To what extent should the repetition dash be used in 
 accordance with Cutter's Rules ? 
 
 4. Give a list of divisions into which you could subdivide 
 the subject-headings in a dictionary catalogue of: Bible, 
 India, Chemistry. 
 
 5. Catalogue the five books set before you in accordance 
 with Cutter's Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue, afterwards 
 alphabetising all the entries by means of numbers, and 
 making as many cross-references as may be necessary in 
 the case of synonymous headings. 
 
 6. Catalogue the same books for a classified catalogue. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION AND SHELF ARRANGEMENT 
 Time \\ hours. 
 
 1. Explain the special features of the Dewey system of 
 classification, and give a list of its classes, and the divisions 
 under Sociology and Natural Science. 
 
 2. Compare the relative advantages of the Decimal 
 Classification and Relative Index and the Dictionary 
 Catalogue.
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 21 
 
 3. Enumerate the chief hindrances met with in the 
 classification of literature. 
 
 4. Contrast the relative advantages of Mr. Swan 
 Sonnenschein's "Best Books" and Mr. Fortescue's "Subject- 
 Index of the Modern Works added to the Library of the 
 British Museum," with special regard to the internal arrange- 
 ment of titles. 
 
 5. Enumerate the advantages and disadvantages of close 
 classification on the shelves. 
 
 6. Describe the system of classification you would adopt 
 in dealing with, say, 5000 volumes covering every period 
 of British history. 
 
 7. How would you arrange a collection of books by local 
 authors and from local presses, with tracts, pamphlets, and 
 papers, the materials of local history ? 
 
 8. Find close subject-headings for Ruskin's " Sesame 
 and Lilies," Schliemann's "Tiryns," Sir Thomas More's 
 "Utopia," Ascham's " Scholemaster," Hartland's "Fairy 
 Mythology," Muir's " Theory of Determinants." 
 
 LIBRARY MANAGEMENT 
 Clause 2. Time ij hours. 
 
 1. Having an assured income per annum from the penny 
 rate and other sources, what means would you adopt for 
 ascertaining the relative expenditure, i.e. on books, binding, 
 periodicals, &c. ? 
 
 2. What rule or rules would you enforce in a general 
 reading-room to ensure the fullest possible use of the news- 
 papers and periodicals ? 
 
 3. How would you arrange magazines and newspapers 
 so that they could easily be found by the readers ? 
 
 4. Assuming that some card-charging system is in 
 use in your library, what business books would you
 
 22 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 provide for keeping a record of issues for statistical 
 purposes ? 
 
 5. In a library having a staff composed of both sexes, 
 what ordinary routine work would you apportion to the 
 female members ? 
 
 6. Write out a specimen page of a Library Committee 
 Minute Book, or so much of a page as would show the 
 heading and introductory paragraphs of an ordinary com- 
 mittee meeting in their usual order, or what you consider to 
 be the best order in which to arrange them. 
 
 7. State briefly what account-books you consider neces- 
 sary to keep the accounts of a medium-sized free library, or 
 (alternatively) a subscription library, in satisfactory order. 
 Show the relation of these various books to each other and 
 to the annual balance-sheet. 
 
 8. What do you consider the best method of filing 
 correspondence, so that it may be easily accessible and give 
 ready reference to the replies sent. 
 
 9. Describe briefly what you consider the best method of 
 recording fines received from readers in a lending library, 
 together with the account-books necessary for keeping such 
 records and carrying the amounts received to Income 
 Account. What form of receipt would you give to readers 
 who pay fines ? 
 
 Clauses 3 to 7. Time 2 hours. 
 
 1. In planning a small town library, specify what depart- 
 ments you would propose for adoption, and any general 
 requirements for such a building which are indispensable. 
 Make a rough plan of the main floor of the proposed 
 building on which your ideas of necessary departments 
 and requirements are to be clearly marked. 
 
 2. Describe, and give rulings of, at least two distinct 
 ledger systems of registering or charging books to borrowers 
 in a lending library.
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 23 
 
 3. Draw up instructions for the binding of books for a 
 lending library. Mention any special defects in an ill-bound 
 book. 
 
 4. How would you proceed in selecting a library of 2000 
 volumes, and what means would you take to acquire the 
 books ? 
 
 5. Name the principal subjects to be considered in the 
 formation of a " local collection." 
 
 6. Give a list of the works of reference suitable for a 
 news-room ; name the newspapers of the United Kingdom 
 which ought to be obtainable in a news-room, marking those 
 which should be filed for future reference. (In asking this 
 question it is presumed that all books and papers can be 
 obtained by the readers themselves.) 
 
 7. What do you consider the best method for preserving 
 pamphlets ? Give reasons for your answer. 
 
 The employment of women as assistants and even 
 as principal librarians is an established practice in 
 the United States, but in this country was almost 
 unknown ten years ago. There is as yet no serious 
 question such is male arrogance of employing 
 women in the more scholarly libraries, though 
 when the British Museum took over the Tapling 
 collection of postage stamps, a lady was engaged 
 to assist in the delicate work of arranging and 
 cataloguing them. There seems to be no objection, 
 other than those commonly alleged against women's 
 work, to the employment of women in libraries, 
 especially in such as have developed a Juvenile 
 Department, where their aid would be invaluable. 
 In this country there is the advantage if so it 
 may be called of the cheapness of women's work 
 to be considered, but in the United States very
 
 24 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 little difference appears to be made in the remu- 
 neration of the two sexes. The public libraries 
 of Bristol and Manchester are distinguished by the 
 number of women assistants employed in them. 
 It was announced at the International Library 
 Conference, 1897, that there were thirty-four posts 
 in the latter library filled by women. 
 
 The BODLEIAN LIBRARY presents the singular 
 feature in the constitution of its staff, that young 
 boys form a considerable portion of it. The details 
 of this arrangement cannot be better described than 
 in the words of the librarian (Mr. Nicholson) : x 
 
 "The boys are of two classes. Each class works six 
 hours a day, and receives ten shillings a week. The 
 smaller class is employed only for special work of an 
 almost purely mechanical kind, such as pasting and 
 labelling, and for admission to this only a fair English 
 education is required. The boys in the larger class, 
 called under-assistants, are taught cataloguing, and receive 
 every kind of work to which they can prove themselves 
 adequate : no boy is admitted to this class unless he can 
 construe fairly well at sight passages from an easy Latin 
 and an easy French author. No boy is admitted to either 
 class under the age of thirteen, nor over that of fifteen and 
 a half. 
 
 " For several years the librarian gave to under-assistants 
 a special training beyond that furnished by their official 
 work. They were expected to spend part of their private 
 time in going through a very varied course of study ; they 
 were examined once a fortnight by the librarian, usually 
 after library hours, and they were rewarded with holidays 
 
 1 The Bodleian Library in 1882-87. A Report from the Librarian, &c. 
 Oxford, 1888. 410.
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 2 5 
 
 in proportion to their industry. On days when the Bodleian 
 was closed they also had lectures on the details of library 
 work. 
 
 " This system the librarian found himself eventually com- 
 pelled to give up in order to otherwise utilise the extra 
 time bestowed on it. He abandoned it, nevertheless, with 
 extreme reluctance, and not without hopes that in some 
 future year, however distant, he might be able to resume it- 
 It enabled him to cultivate in the under-assistants sympathy 
 with many kinds of knowledge, strict regard for accuracy 
 and method, and courage to attack the most difficult kinds 
 of work ; it gave him a more accurate gauge of their in- 
 dividual capacities, and of their characters ; and it helped 
 them, he hopes, to feel that there was a common bond of 
 personal sympathy and official duty amongst themselves, 
 and between each and him. 
 
 "The effect on the working power of the library has 
 been to markedly increase the numerical force, and to take 
 almost all the mechanical or inferior work off the assistants, 
 who are thus left free to devote nearly thei* entire time to 
 a higher class of work. 
 
 " Financially, it has been shown that most of the mecha- 
 nical and inferior work can be paid for at the rate of 26 a 
 year, instead of at rates varying from ^90 to ^200, and 
 that a numerical increase of fifty per cent, can be effected 
 at an extra cost in salaries of under seven per cent. 
 
 " From a disciplinary point of view the experiment has 
 also worked well. No boy has been taken into the library 
 without proper inquiry into his character, and it is well 
 understood that his services will be dispensed with if after 
 reasonable admonition he ceases to give satisfaction. As a 
 consequence, the general average of industry and discipline 
 is high. 
 
 " Some vacancies having arisen in the senior staff of the 
 library, some of the oldest and most promising under-
 
 26 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 assistants have been offered and have accepted the 
 librarian's nomination to them on condition of going 
 through the University. They receive a salary of ;6o. 
 The library will thus enlist as assistants University- men 
 with a thorough library training at a lower price than ifr 
 would have been able to offer to University-men who had 
 no such training. 
 
 " One other point in the system is worth mentioning. 
 Every boy is at liberty once a week to make in writing a 
 suggestion on any matter relating to the library. If it is 
 good and has not already been adopted in intention by the 
 librarian, he gets a half-holiday for it. To the younger boys 
 this "is a powerful incentive to exercise their ingenuity, and 
 the number of really useful suggestions which have been 
 received has been very considerable." 
 
 It appears from another paragraph of the same 
 Report that when a book has been catalogued, 
 "the catalogue-slip has to be compared with the 
 volume by another person," and again, when the 
 catalogue-slip has been transcribed by a multiple 
 process for insertion in the catalogues, "the tran- 
 scribed slip has to be compared with the original 
 slip to see that no mistake has been made in tran- 
 scription." If this revision of slip and transcript is 
 done by the senior staff, the system of boy labour 
 seems to offer undeniable advantages. 
 
 The earliest and best known of all institutions 
 for producing crops of trained librarians is the 
 AMERICAN LIBRARY SCHOOL, which owes its incep- 
 tion, as do many other novelties in the library 
 world, to Mr. Melvil Dewey. In the United States, 
 if anywhere, the need for such a school would 
 make itself felt, since the yearly vacancies occurring
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 27 
 
 among over five thousand public librarians must 
 reach a considerable figure. Systematic education, 
 resulting in a diploma, also necessarily tends to 
 heighten the pecuniary value of the librarian, as 
 Mr. Dewey's pupils have had the good fortune to 
 discover. 
 
 The school, to quote one of its circulars, "con- 
 fines itself strictly to its peculiar work, and makes 
 no attempt to give general culture or make up 
 deficiencies of general education. . . . Not only are 
 the subjects studied closely limited by the end in 
 view, but in their treatment the school methods 
 have less of the usual text-book and recitation, 
 and more of systematic apprenticeship, in which 
 every effort is made to advance the learner rapidly 
 rather than keep him an apprentice as long as 
 possible. . . . 
 
 " The full regular course is two college years, . . . 
 each divided into three terms." Candidates for 
 admission must be not less than twenty years of 
 age, and show proof, either by examination or by 
 a degree from " a literary college in good standing," 
 that they have a good general education. "As the 
 sole purpose of the school is the advancement of 
 library interests and the elevation of the profession 
 of librarianship, there will be chosen from the 
 applicants of each year only a limited number of 
 those who give the best evidence of fitness to meet 
 satisfactorily the demands of their chosen life-work. 
 The number of admissions to the regular class is 
 thus closely limited ; but this does not wholly shut 
 out those who think they may profit by the
 
 28 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 lectures and exercises of the school, and do not 
 ask it to become responsible for their attainments, 
 or to assist them to new positions." 
 
 " The school aims specially to help on those who 
 have already started in library work. ... It is 
 glad to give all the assistance possible in one short 
 term to those who cannot command time for a 
 proper course, but does not encourage the atten- 
 dance of those who think they are to become 
 expert librarians or cataloguers after three months 
 of study, however faithful." 
 
 The practical part of the instruction given consists 
 in the cataloguing of the books added to the State 
 Library of New York, 1 and in visits (sometimes 
 lasting for ten days) to New York or Boston for 
 the study of methods used in the libraries there, 
 and to publishers', binders', and printers' establish- 
 ments. Library appliances of every description 
 are provided for practical work. The theoretical 
 part is conveyed by lectures, often of an informal 
 kind. The progress of the student is tested at the 
 end of each of his two years by an examination 
 conducted by the members of the library staff, 
 seventy-five per cent, of the marks ensuring a pass, 
 and ninety per cent, "honours." Those obtaining 
 " honours " receive a library degree, on condition 
 of already possessing an academic degree. The 
 expense of the course is not less than .60 a year, 
 including board and lodging. Each year about 
 
 1 The Library School was originally attached to Columbia College, 
 but migrated when Mr. Dewey became State Librarian of New 
 York.
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 29 
 
 eight students are turned out, equipped for im- 
 portant posts in libraries. 
 
 In the present year (1897) a new regulation 
 takes effect, whereby the completion of junior 
 work does not necessarily admit to the senior class. 
 Class work, examinations, and personal qualifica- 
 tions are weighed, and only those who seem likely 
 to render important services to the library pro- 
 fession are admitted. 
 
 Similar institutions, though not affording such 
 elaborate instruction, are in existence at the 
 Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, at the Pratt Insti- 
 tute, Brooklyn, and the University of Illinois. 
 At the latter institution the course taken is four 
 years, of which the first two must be devoted 
 to the ordinary curriculum of the university. 
 The degree of B.L.S. (Bachelor in Library Science) 
 is conferred on those who complete the entire 
 course. 
 
 Library economy also forms one of the subjects 
 covered by the new University Extension move- 
 ment, and summer schools have been started, e.g. 
 the Wisconsin Summer School (now in its third 
 session, under the auspices of the Wisconsin Uni- 
 versity). 
 
 In France of late years the admission to librarians' 
 places in the great national libraries (Bibliotheque 
 Nationale, Mazarine, Arsenal, Ste. Genevieve) and in 
 the university libraries, has been organised on a solid 
 basis. These posts were until about twenty years 
 ago often awarded as homes of rest to broken- 
 down novel-writers or critics, whose inertness
 
 30 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 caused constant irritation to scholars engaged 
 in research. 
 
 Candidates for the post of assistant in the Bib- 
 liotheque Nationale must have a degree in Arts or 
 Science, and have passed an entrance examination. 
 The latter, however, is excused to those who have 
 a diploma from the tLcole des Chartes or the Ecole 
 des langues orientates vivantes. Having thus become 
 a " stagiaire " or " probationer " in the library, the 
 candidate works there for at least a year, and if 
 found efficient is admitted to the examination for the 
 post of " sous-bibliothecaire," corresponding to that 
 of assistant at the British Museum. This name has 
 recently replaced that of " employe de troisieme 
 classe," which gave rise to erroneous impressions 
 as to the social standing of the men. 
 
 The attendants in the Bibliotheque Nationale are 
 selected from the ranks of deserving old soldiers. 
 
 The condition for obtaining a post as librarian 
 in one of the university libraries are something 
 less severe. The aspirant must have a degree in 
 Arts, or "secondary classical teaching," and serve 
 a year as supernumerary in a university library. 
 This period is reduced to six months for licencies 
 (a higher grade than the bacheliers). The exa- 
 mination is both written and oral, and comprises 
 questions in bibliography and library management, 
 and translations from the languages which the 
 candidate " takes up " (German must be one of 
 these). 
 
 The " bibliotheques communales " in France, i.e. 
 those neither national nor belonging to a university,
 
 have not been brought into line with the others. 
 Proposals have at different times been made to 
 have their libraries supported and their librarians 
 paid by the Government, with a view to enforcing 
 entrance examinations, but the provinces have 
 always successfully resisted. At present the State 
 only exercises influence by periodical inspections, 
 and through the library committees. 
 
 The selection of the staff for PRUSSIAN libraries 
 is effected on lines no less stringent than in France. 
 According to a decree of i5th December 1893, 
 coming into force on ist April 1894, the require- 
 ments of a candidate are : (i) the Reifezeugnis l 
 of some German " humanistisches Gymnasium," 
 (higher classical school) ; (2) to have passed with 
 credit the first examination in theology, law, or 
 medicine, or the examination for position of teacher 
 in a Hohere Schule, or to have obtained a doctor's 
 degree at a German university ; (3) a certificate 
 of good conduct ; (4) a medical certificate ; (5) 
 the possession of sufficient means for support 
 during two years' study ; (6) a short biography 
 of the candidate, written by himself; (7) his cer- 
 tificate of military service ; (8) testimonials con- 
 cerning his university career and any later 
 occupation. 
 
 These requirements being fulfilled, the candidate 
 is admitted to the position of " freiwilliger " or 
 volunteer, and serves as such for two years, during 
 which time his work shall be so arranged as to give 
 
 1 Certificate of having passed the final school examination, which 
 alone qualifies for admission to a university.
 
 32 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 him a varied knowledge of library matters. A year 
 of this time is generally spent at the library of 
 Gottingen University in the study of library 
 economy. If the candidate acquits himself satis- 
 factorily during these two years, he may present 
 himself for the examination for the post of library 
 assistant. The subjects are library economy, 
 bibliography, literary history, history of writing 
 and books, and the English, French, and Italian 
 languages to the extent necessary for a librarian ; a 
 knowledge of palaeography and early printing is of 
 advantage to the candidate. 
 
 The proportion of the staff that is recruited in 
 this way, as compared with the less-educated men, is 
 particularly large throughout all Germany, 1 a state 
 of things not so desirable as heads of libraries in 
 that country appear to think. The systems of 
 arrangement appear to render books findable only 
 to a man of learning, so that uneducated labour 
 cannot be employed in finding them and returning 
 them to the shelves. 
 
 The staffs of the public libraries in Italy have 
 only since 1885 been recruited in a methodical 
 fashion. In that year a regolamento of the Ministry 
 of Public Instruction provided that candidates for 
 the position of assistant librarian (sottobibliotecario) 
 must be between the ages of seventeen and thirty, 
 must possess a certificate of a high school (licenza 
 liceale, obtainable only after an eight years' course), 
 and undergo an examination, in which they are 
 required (i) to write an essay on a portion of 
 
 1 Dziatzko : Entwickelung, &c. [op. cit.].
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 33 
 
 Italian literary history, translate pieces from a 
 Classical or Oriental language into Italian, write 
 a French dictation and afterwards translate it into 
 Italian (without dictionary or grammar). The 
 successful candidates in this examination then 
 undergo a two years' training at a school of lib- 
 rary work in one of the seven national libraries, 
 and the final appointments to the post of sotto- 
 bibliotecario are made after a technical examina- 
 tion (oral and written, lasting three days) intended 
 to test the results of this training. The sottobib- 
 liotecario obtains his promotion to the rank of 
 bibliotecario after another technical examination of 
 increased difficulty. Unfortunately for him, he 
 has at this point to meet the competition of the 
 estranei, or " outsiders." Any one between the ages 
 of txventy-five and thirty-five who has a medical 
 or legal diploma, and has taught for three years at 
 one of the higher Government educational estab- 
 lishments, may enter, directly for the post of 
 bibliotecario, though it does not appear where his 
 technical attainments are supposed to have been 
 acquired. 
 
 The distributoriy or attendants employed in fetch- 
 ing and replacing books, are selected after an 
 uncommonly severe test. Candidates must show a 
 certificate of studies, preferably a licenza ginnasiale, 
 and give a year's service gratuitously. At the ex- 
 piration of that period they undergo an examina- 
 tion, comprising an Italian essay, translation from 
 the French, and questions on library economy and 
 cataloguing. 
 
 C
 
 34 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 SALARIES 
 
 United Kingdom, The question of librarians' 
 salaries in this country can hardly be treated as a 
 whole, since there is no central authority for national, 
 university, and municipal libraries. The remunera- 
 tion of a librarian probably suffers from the popular 
 conception of him as a person fond of books, who 
 gets a fortunate chance of reading all day. Mr. 
 Gladstone is said to have declared in the House of 
 Commons that the British Museum was so delightful 
 a place, that no one ought to be paid for working 
 there, and the effects of this legendary dictum are 
 thought by some to have persisted to the present 
 time. 
 
 The post of Principal Librarian of the British 
 Museum is the highest prize in the library pro- 
 fession (.1000 a year, with an official residence), 
 but it should be remembered that the holder of 
 this office has other important duties, having 
 supreme charge of the MSS. and the Archaeolo- 
 gical Departments of the Museum. The office 
 of librarian, in the stricter sense of the word, is 
 divided among the Keeper of Printed Books, the 
 Keeper of the Manuscripts (each with ^750 and 
 an official residence), and the Keeper of Oriental 
 Books and MSS. (750). The work of the Printed 
 Books Department is performed by thirteen assis- 
 tants of the first-class (^250 to ^450), and fifteen 
 of the second-class (^120 to ^240). The appoint- 
 ments are made to the second-class, whence the 
 first-class is recruited by promotion. The minor
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 35 
 
 duties are performed by a staff of about one 
 hundred attendants, "dusters," and others. 
 
 The salaries of both chief and assistant librarians 
 in "free" libraries in this country are painfully low. 
 These institutions are supported by the ratepayers, 
 most of whom are satisfied if the supply of novels 
 is abundant, and they think rightly enough that the 
 superintendent of this process is amply repaid with 
 the salary of a curate. It is a matter for earnest 
 consideration whether the mechanical systems that 
 are making their way in popular libraries 1 are not 
 calculated to encourage this low estimate. 
 
 France. The salaries of the best remunerated 
 French librarians may be gauged from the scale of 
 pay in the Bibliotheque Nationale : Administrateur- 
 general, 15,000 francs ; conservateurs (keepers), 
 10,000 francs; conservateurs -adjoints (assistant- 
 keepers), 7000 francs ; bibliothecaires, 3600 francs 
 to 6000 francs ; sous-bibliothecaires, 2400 francs to 
 3300 francs ; stagiaires, 1800 francs. 
 
 Germany Prussia. It has been a constant source 
 of complaint among German librarians that their 
 services are more poorly paid than those of Govern- 
 ment schoolmasters and officials in charge of records. 
 An anonymous correspondent of the Centralblatt filr 
 Bibliothekswesen (March 1885) gives some details 
 bearing on the state of things in Prussia. The 
 complaint is not made concerning the salaries of 
 the chiefs of libraries, whose salaries are admitted 
 to be equal, or slightly superior, to those of the 
 headmasters of schools ; but the library assistants 
 
 ^See pp. 208-9.
 
 36 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 receive on an average 3000 marks (^150) yearly, 
 and the schoolmasters 3150 marks (157, IDS.) 
 yearly. The officials in the Berlin archives get on 
 an average 4800 marks, but the assistants in the 
 Royal Library only 4500, and those in the University 
 Library only 3600. 
 
 Again, the officials in the archives get promoted 
 from one place to another, while those in the 
 libraries can only get promoted in the establish- 
 ments to which they are attached. As regards hours 
 of work, the librarians and officials of archives 
 have the same weekly total of thirty hours, so that 
 the latter ought not to be more highly remunerated 
 on that ground. The schoolmasters are supposed 
 to work thirty-six hours a week, but then they 
 get more than twice as long holidays. The libra- 
 rians, too, are expected to use some of their spare 
 time in making themselves more fitted for their 
 work, so it would not be politic to increase their 
 official hours. 
 
 The complaints of the Prussian librarians appear 
 to have attracted the attention of the Government, 
 for in the Prussian budget of 1896-97 not only the 
 general grants to the libraries appear for increased 
 amounts, but the salaries also are improved all 
 round. As an instance may be taken the Berlin 
 Library, in which the keepers of departments are 
 to have a salary rising from 6000 to 7200 marks 
 (the increment being spread over nine years), 
 instead of remaining stationary at 6000 marks. 
 
 It is, we suppose, a source of gratification to 
 Prussian librarians that by a recent Royal decree
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 37 
 
 (April 1897) the title of "Rathe vierter Klasse 
 der hoheren Provinzialbeamten " has been con- 
 ferred on all heads of university libraries and 
 the Keeper of Departments in the Berlin Royal 
 Library. 
 
 Some statistics of the salaries in other parts of 
 the German Empire may be of interest. 1 In Baden 
 the salaries lor assistants and chief librarians range 
 from 2000 to 5000 marks, with in some cases an 
 allowance for a house. These payments are not 
 fixed by law, but by the discretion of the Minister 
 of Education. In Saxony the payments are on a 
 higher scale, the Director of the Royal Library at 
 Dresden receiving on an average 6000 marks, but 
 the maximum salary for assistants reaches 3600 
 marks. The head of the University Library attains 
 to 8000 marks. 
 
 Italy. The staffs of the thirty-two State libraries 
 consist of eight prefetti, with salaries ranging from 
 .250 to ^300 per annum, from twenty to thirty 
 bibliotecari, with salaries of ^175 to 225, from 
 ninety to one hundred sottobibliotecari y with 
 salaries of from .75 to ^150. Below these come 
 (i) the ragionieri, attached only to the largest 
 libraries, and employed in the administrator's 
 office ; (2) the ordinatori, who look after the 
 continuation of periodicals, keep the register of 
 books lent outside the library, collate new acqui- 
 sitions, copy titles, &c. ; (3) the distributori bring 
 
 1 See " Die Leistungen Preussens fiir seine Bibliotheken und die 
 Bediirfnisse. derselben" [signed : ck ] in the Centralblatt fiir Biblio- 
 theks-wcsen, October 1897.
 
 38 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 books to the readers and put them back in their 
 places, (4) the uscieri (porters) and servants. The 
 ordinatori may be recruited from the distributori 
 or ragionieri, so that a career is opened to talent 
 in humble place. 
 
 United States. The salaries of higher-grade lib- 
 rarians may be estimated from the scheme for 
 the new Congressional Library at Washington. It 
 places the salary of the librarian, " to be appointed 
 by the President, by and with the consent of the 
 Senate," at $5000, and provides for the appointment 
 by the librarian of a chief assistant librarian (super- 
 intendent of reading-room) at $3000, twelve assis- 
 tants at from $900 to $1800 each ; there will also 
 be a superintendent of maps and charts at $2000, 
 and two assistants at $900 each ; a superintendent 
 of periodicals at $1500, and three attendants at 
 $720 each ; superintendent of manuscripts at 
 1 1 500, and two indexers at $720 each ; a super- 
 intendent of music department at $1500, and three 
 assistants at from $720 to $900 each ; superinten- 
 dent of Congressional Reference Library at the 
 Capitol at $1500, and two assistants at $750 and 
 Igoo each ; superintendent of law library at $2000, 
 and two assistants at $1400 each : in all, $92,020. 
 The copyright office of the library is to be in the 
 charge of a registrar of copyrights, at $3000. 
 The custody, care, and maintenance of the library 
 building and grounds is put in charge of a 
 superintendent at $5000, who shall have charge 
 of all disbursements, and the employment of all 
 necessary employees. This officer shall give bonds
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 39 
 
 for $30,000, and a guarantee for a similar amount 
 is required of the librarian. 
 
 THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE LIBRARY 
 
 In obedience to the accepted maxim that those 
 who pay the piper should call the time, every chief 
 librarian is subjected to some external control, and, 
 on the other hand, his authority is of necessity 
 delegated in various ways to his subordinates. In 
 the United Kingdom, as might be expected, the 
 methods of this control and delegation are ex- 
 tremely various. 
 
 The British Museum occupies a unique position, 
 being a national institution in which the authority 
 of the Government is coexistent with that of a body 
 of Trustees. These are in part representatives of 
 the families descended from the great collectors 
 whose hoards have enriched the Museum, and in 
 part are nominated by the Crown. Their functions 
 are thus set forth in the Act of 1753, by which the 
 Museum was called into being : 
 
 "The said Trustees hereby appointed shall be a Body 
 Politick and Corporate, in Deed and Name, and have suc- 
 cession for ever, by the name of the Trustees of the British 
 Museum, and by that Name shall sue and be sued, im- 
 plead and be impleaded, in all Courts and Places witiiin 
 this Realm ; and shall have power ... to make Bye-laws 
 and Ordinances for the Purposes of this Act; and to 
 assemble together, when, where, and as often, and upon 
 such notice, as to them shall seem meet, for the Execution 
 of the Trust hereby in them reposed. . . . The Trustees
 
 so appointed and incorporated by this Act, or the major 
 Part of them, at any General Meeting assembled, shall, 
 from time to time, and as often as they shall think fit, 
 make . . . such Statutes, Rules, and Ordinances, for the 
 Custody, Preservation, and Inspection of every Part of 
 the several Collections ... as to them shall seem meet; 
 and shall and may in like Manner assign such Salaries 
 and Allowances as they shall think fit, to the Officers and 
 Servants, and shall and may, at their Pleasure, in like 
 Manner, suspend or remove any such Officer, for Mis- 
 behaviour or Neglect of Duty." 
 
 The wording of the provision concerning salaries 
 is not held at the present day to exempt the 
 Trustees from the authority of the Treasury. 
 
 The Trustees meet once a year, their authority 
 being delegated in the interval to a Standing Com- 
 mittee, which again divides itself into Standing 
 Sub-committees. 
 
 The English and Welsh "free public libraries" 
 are governed by Committees, appointed according 
 to the provisions of the Public Libraries Act, 1892, 
 section 15, sub-sections i & 2 : 
 
 (i) The general management, regulation, and con- 
 trol of every library, museum, art gallery, and school 
 provided under this Act shall be vested in and exercised 
 by the Library Authority (i.e. in boroughs, the town council 
 or a committee appointed by it ; in districts, the board or 
 trustees acting in execution of the Improvement Act, or a 
 committee appointed by them ; also local boards under the 
 Local Government Act, 1858; in parishes, a body of 
 commissioners appointed by the vestry, and that Authority 
 may provide therein books, newspapers, maps, and speci-
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 41 
 
 mens of art and science, and cause the same to be bound 
 and repaired when necessary. 
 
 (2) The Library Authority may also appoint salaried 
 officers and servants, and dismiss them, and make regula- 
 tions for the safety and use of every library, museum, 
 gallery, and school under their control, and for the admis- 
 sion of the public thereto. 
 
 (3) (This provides for the appointment of committees in 
 urban districts.) Provided that a Library Authority being an 
 Urban Authority may, if they think fit, appoint a committee 
 and delegate to it all or any of their powers and duties under 
 this section, and the said committee shall, to the extent of 
 such delegation, be deemed to be the Library Authority. 
 Persons appointed to be members of the committee need 
 not be members of the Urban Authority. 
 
 A report on the working of this part of the Act, 
 drawn up by Mr. John Ballinger, Librarian of 
 the Cardiff Public Libraries, sheds a good deal of 
 light on the question. The delegation of authority 
 from the Urban Authority to the Library Committee 
 appears to be universal, though in a few cases //the 
 members of the first body are also members of the 
 second. The power of adding outsiders to the 
 Library Committee is largely put into use, as 
 appears from the subjoined table of the constitution 
 of Library Committees (1894) : 
 
 (a) Committees consisting of members of Urban 
 Authority, proceedings subject to confir- 
 mation ....... 20 
 
 (^) Committees consisting of members of Urban 
 Authority, proceedings not subject to con- 
 firmation . . 10
 
 42 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 (r) Mixed Committees, proceedings subject to con- 
 firmation . . . ... 60 
 
 (d} Mixed Committees, proceedings not subject to 
 
 confirmation . . . . . .69 
 
 The institution of mixed committees was, of 
 course, designed to secure the services of literary 
 or other cultured men, to whom the bustle of 
 municipal politics is mostly distasteful ; but that end 
 is frequently sacrificed to a supposed necessity of 
 paying compliments to local magnates, giving every 
 religious denomination a finger in the pie, and so 
 forth. These latter elements may be successfully 
 eliminated when sub-committees are formed, as 
 they usually are in the case of libraries in large 
 towns. Smaller towns, it is to be feared, do not 
 furnish, as a rule, either knowledge or breadth of 
 sympathy. In Scotland the committees have a 
 good chance of a better constitution, being com- 
 posed in equal proportions of members of the 
 town council and members elected by them, the 
 latter being to all intents and purposes life- 
 members. 
 
 The National Library of France is governed 
 without trustees. The whole management is en- 
 trusted to a single responsible person, acting under 
 the Minister of Public Instruction, the Administrator- 
 General, whose appointment is made and may be 
 revoked by the Chief of the Republic. He must 
 reside in the library, and may not absent himself 
 without obtaining leave. He sends in a yearly 
 report to the Minister on the condition of the
 
 THE LIBRARY AND ITS STAFF 43 
 
 buildings and fittings, acquisitions from all sources, 
 classification, compilation, and printing of catalogues, 
 researches, information communicated from outside, 
 the work of the staff, and the application of the 
 grants of money. The Administrator-General is 
 assisted in his deliberations by a council of the 
 keepers and assistant-keepers of the different de- 
 partments, but the voting is by departments. 
 
 The secretary's office (Bureau d' Administration) 
 attends to accounts and correspondence, keeps the 
 records of the Bibliotheque, issue tickets of ad- 
 mission, keeps lists of gifts, exchanges, &c. The 
 head of this office also resides in the library. 
 
 A Council somewhat on the French model exists 
 in the libraries of Italy, but only in those sufficiently 
 important to be presided over by a prefect. In the 
 university libraries the professorial staff is repre- 
 sented on this Council, so that the educational 
 functions of the library receive adequate attention.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 
 
 THE contents of a library may be increased (i) by 
 purchase, (2) by donation, (a) spontaneous, (b] legally 
 enforced, (3) by exchange. 
 
 The purchase of books is perhaps the most pleas- 
 ing, though one of the most difficult, tasks of the 
 librarian. Nearly all the new publications of the 
 chief European countries and of the United States 
 are recorded in the periodical lists, compiled either 
 by publishers (as in this country, France, and Ger- 
 many), or by some Government institution (as in 
 Italy). A complete list of these is given in the 
 appendix to the present chapter. For any library 
 but the very largest these sources of information 
 are amply sufficient, and lack of funds is the only 
 difficulty encountered in the purchase of books 
 still in print. It is, however, usually the business 
 of a National library to make a complete collection 
 of books published under the national flag, and 
 whether or no these are due under the provisions 
 of a copyright act, much trouble is encountered in 
 ascertaining the existence of a certain proportion 
 of those which are either printed for private circu- 
 lation, or too unimportant to be advertised except 
 locally. Again, it is usually the duty of a large
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 45 
 
 National library to collect and preserve the choicest 
 products of foreign literature, and here a double 
 difficulty is encountered. In the first place, where 
 lists of new books are regularly issued they are 
 nowhere complete, and though the proportion of 
 books among the unrecorded ones that are desirable 
 to purchase is necessarily small, nevertheless im- 
 portant matter is frequently missed. For instance, 
 it is a familiar fact that many modern literary 
 movements in France have at first found their only 
 expression in booklets and journals published by 
 obscure coteries of innovators, some of whom after- 
 wards rose to fame. These are cheap enough as 
 a rule, but if systematically purchased will cumber 
 much shelving before they bring in an adequate 
 return. On the other hand, they are difficult to 
 procure, and always costly, as soon as they have 
 attracted attention. The early books of Paul Ver- 
 laine offer a striking example of this difficulty. 
 
 The literary productions of countries where no 
 book-lists appear are extremely difficult to hear of, 
 since they are always few in number, and obscurely 
 issued. The publications of South and Central 
 America, and of the Dutch and Portuguese colonies, 
 present these difficulties in collection. 
 
 It will be admitted, therefore, that the first 
 desideratum of the librarian a complete list of the 
 world's literary produce is an unattainable ideal. 
 The difficulties in the way are not, however, all 
 insuperable. The reviews, especially those that are 
 written for specialists, make known a large number 
 of books not elsewhere mentioned, and the librarian
 
 46 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 must read as many of them as his time allows. He 
 should also encourage booksellers to send in 
 parcels of books from out-of-the-way sources, 
 though this arrangement should not be made with 
 too many firms at once for fear of duplicates. 1 
 Another useful aid is the " Suggestion-book," in 
 which frequenters of the library may be invited to 
 state their wants. Many of the suggestions thus 
 made will be useless, relating to books announced 
 but not published, to worthless productions of 
 readers' friends and relations, to books already 
 entered in the library catalogues but missed in a 
 hasty search. In other cases it will be found that 
 the descriptions given are inaccurate, a mistake in 
 the orthography of the author's name having made 
 the entries undiscoverable in an alphabetical 
 catalogue. The tendency of the inexperienced 
 consulter of libraries is always to reproach the 
 authorities for ignorance or want of energy, rather 
 than himself. 
 
 These " suggestion-books " have been often tried 
 in public libraries, but found of little use, except 
 in those with a specialist clientele. The register of 
 " Libri Desiderati " at the British Museum has 
 for many years past been of great assistance in 
 filling up the lacunce in the library, and similar 
 registers at the university libraries, both in Great 
 
 1 In Germany, it appears (Centralbl. iv. p. 102), booksellers and 
 publishers are rather too enterprising, and send librarians their new 
 books on approval, sometimes forgetting to pay the postage, and 
 always expecting the recipients to tie them up neatly and return them 
 if not wanted.
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 47 
 
 Britain and on the Continent, have achieved like 
 results. 
 
 The existence of new publications being ascer- 
 tained in these various ways, such selection of 
 them as the needs and budget of the library require 
 must be ordered of the dealers. The price to be 
 paid will of course depend on the difficulty of 
 collection and the varying rates of discount allowed 
 to the trade in various countries. In this country 
 the immense majority of books are subject to a dis- 
 count of twenty-five per cent, for ready money, even 
 to the purchase of a single book, and any library 
 purchasing on a large scale may reasonably expect 
 rather more than this, and may claim a small dis- 
 count even when, as in the case of most of Messrs. 
 Macmillan's books, no discount is allowed to the 
 ordinary purchaser. Special arrangements will have 
 to be made for procuring any provincial or other 
 books not procurable at a London agency. The 
 discounts on books in the chief foreign coun- 
 tries are small, 1 and the expense of collecting 
 provincial publications considerable, so that the 
 dealers will naturally drive a harder bargain in 
 these cases. 
 
 If a general arrangement be made for a fixed 
 ratio between the price charged and the published 
 prices, to apply to all foreign books whether pro- 
 vincial or not, the dealers should be relieved by 
 careful watching from a temptation which does 
 most easily beset them, to spend as little trouble as 
 
 1 e.g., in France ten to twenty per cent., in Germany ten per cent.
 
 48 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 possible on out-of-the-way books, and omit them 
 as " not procurable." 
 
 The supply of "periodicals," "journals," and 
 newspapers from abroad is a matter of peculiar 
 difficulty. If these are obtained through dealers, 
 they cannot be received immediately on the pub- 
 lication of the respective numbers, when their value 
 is greatest, but must be sent over in batches. If 
 the librarian saves dealers' commission he will 
 have to pay postage, and put up with loss and 
 damage in the post, both of which are unfortunately 
 considerable. The purchase of sets of newspapers' 
 is, however, a duty that must not be shirked, for 
 private individuals will not keep sets of such un- 
 wieldy productions. Their lives, however, will be 
 short in many cases, owing to the execrable paper 
 on which they are printed. The late Mr. Justin 
 Winsor, we believe, once tried to induce the chief 
 newspaper proprietors of Boston to print copies 
 on special paper for the public libraries there, but 
 without effect. 
 
 Another question that must perplex the librarian, 
 however large his budget, is the selection of books 
 and periodicals in the less-known languages. The 
 number of readers able to tackle, say, Finnish or 
 Hungarian, will always be quite small in any library 
 outside Finland or Hungary, except, perhaps, in 
 the United States, where particular towns have 
 large nuclei of immigrants of these nationalities. 
 Yet the students of Finnish in London (such 
 specialists we can assure the reader there are) 
 ought to be able to get Finnish works of genius
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 49 
 
 (such specialties there are) at the British Museum, 
 nor are they disappointed. 
 
 Again, the librarian has to consider the purchase 
 of scientific publications, especially periodicals, in 
 little-known languages. Unfortunately for him 
 and we will also venture to say, for the cause of 
 human progress there is an increasing tendency 
 for small nationalities to push their own linguistic 
 wares, and to refuse (as in Hungary) or to be for- 
 bidden (as in Russia) to write in French, German, 
 or English. The value of these contributions to 
 science, thus hidden under linguistic bushels, is 
 perfectly familiar to men of science. We may men- 
 tion, for instance, that the researches of Professor 
 Dewar on the liquefaction of air were said to be 
 anticipated in a Polish periodical. Obviously, a 
 National library must buy these things, so that the 
 man of science may, if he wish, have such articles 
 as this translated. The example of the Brussels 
 Royal Library, where in 1885 the Polish and Russian 
 reviews, being hardly ever read, were all discon- 
 tinued, 1 is only recommendable under stress of 
 impecuniosity. 
 
 The purchase of books out of print is a far more 
 difficult matter. The librarian will occasionally 
 find it worth while to purchase a collection en bloc 
 from the owner, discarding or selling the duplicates, 
 but for a library of old standing the bulk of the 
 latter will nearly always be too large to make this 
 operation worth while. He must therefore rely on 
 the energy and enterprise of dealers to bring to his 
 
 1 Rapport, 1885. 
 
 D
 
 50 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 notice copies of books that his library does not 
 contain, and will, as a rule, have far more catalogues 
 sent him than he has time to read. It may be laid 
 down as an invaluable rule, that a book should 
 never be purchased before it is seen. This will cut 
 short many purchases in the auction-room for 
 librarians who have no leisure for travelling. 
 Books ordered from dealers' stocks should always 
 be taken "on approval," partly because imperfec- 
 tions may exist undetected or wilfully concealed, 
 and because the average dealers' catalogue swarms 
 with misprints, and omits information necessary to 
 distinguish between different editions, especially 
 those of the same date. The first of these defects 
 leads to the purchasing of duplicates, the second 
 spoils opportunities of adding unknown editions to 
 a library. 1 It will be found that dealers are rarely 
 averse to sending selections from their lists "on 
 approval " if carriage be paid on the books returned 
 unpurchased, and will even send parcels unsolicited. 
 The energy of German dealers in this respect is 
 truly remarkable, and is in striking contrast with 
 the French practice. There is always need to 
 guard against the possibility of purchasing stolen 
 property the thefts of Libri in Paris, and the dis- 
 appearance of precious volumes from the Colom- 
 bina at Seville, are enough to prove this. In 1874 
 a very fine MS. of the Decretal of Gratianus was 
 advertised for sale, and recognised by M. Delisle as 
 
 1 Even in the sixteenth century a Benedictine librarian (Florianus 
 Treflerus, op. cit. 1560) complains of " bibliopoke, nescio quae indigesta 
 inventaria exhibentes. :!
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 51 
 
 identical with one given in charge of an agent of 
 the Bibliotheque Nationale in 1804 by the town- 
 librarian of Troyes to be added to the National 
 collections. M. Delisle had it seized under a 
 warrant in the auction-room, and the proceeding 
 was upheld by the Courts on the ground that the 
 property of the State, in books and artistic objects 
 collected for the national good, was inalienable. 
 Such drastic methods are not, however, always 
 necessary. "Rarely," says M. Delisle in one of his 
 reports (1875), "is a collection of autographs sold 
 without a few among them being evidently stolen 
 from a public library, and being restored by the 
 owners when their good faith and generosity is 
 appealed to." 
 
 Whenever books, new or old, are bought in large 
 quantities, certain mechanical checks are necessary. 
 Those in use at the British Museum may, we think, 
 be safely adopted. The dealer should supply with 
 each parcel an invoice of books sent, with prices. 
 This having been corrected, by striking out the 
 entries of books not required, and by noting any 
 cheapening that the librarian may have been able 
 to effect, a "fair copy" should be required, and 
 this, after payment is made, should be filed. It is 
 also necessary to keep a record of all books pur- 
 chased, in order that duplicates may not be inadver- 
 tently purchased before newly acquired books have 
 time to appear in the usual Catalogue of Accessions. 
 To this end, in the case of new books the entries in 
 the periodical lists should be cut out at the time of 
 ordering, mounted on cards, and arranged in boxes,
 
 52 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 one for each country, and marked with the date of 
 ordering. Some classes of books will have to 
 appear in more than one box, e.g. the Spanish 
 books published in Paris, both as Spanish and 
 French, many American books, both as English and 
 American, many Belgian books under Belgium and 
 France, being published both in Paris and Brussels. 
 Any new book arriving as a donation should have a 
 card written for it and inserted in the proper box ; 
 and if the author has been prompt in making his 
 gift, the purchase of a duplicate will sometimes be 
 stopped in this way. 1 
 
 For books purchased as " old," i.e. out of print, 
 cards should be written and arranged in alphabetical 
 order, without respect to countries. In this series 
 may be similarly incorporated cards for donations, 
 &c. At stated periods these cards can be looked 
 out in the library catalogue, and those which are 
 found to be entered there can be destroyed. Should 
 it be necessary at any future time to find the record 
 of the purchase of any one of these books, it is 
 only necessary to examine the bills paid on the 
 date with which the book is stamped at the end. 
 In many libraries each book has a stock-number, 
 corresponding to a number in *a register, in which 
 the names of all newly acquired books, and the 
 
 1 On receipt of an invoice of new books the card referring to each 
 must be discovered, in order to show that the dealer was authorised to 
 supply it, and the date of receipt should be marked in one coiner. 
 These cards may be periodically destroyed when it has been ascer- 
 tained that the books they represent appear in the catalogue. The 
 lists of new publications, in which the selection for purchase is marked, 
 should be kept for future reference.
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 53 
 
 methods of their acquisition is entered. Such a 
 register is insisted on in the regulations of the 
 Italian Government libraries and many German 
 university libraries. 
 
 In many libraries it is the rule to collate every 
 book received, in order to detect accidental im- 
 perfections, the binding up of a wrong sheet, and 
 so forth. Many American librarians recommend 
 this, and in the Italian Government libraries it is 
 regarded as essential. In the case of fifteenth 
 century books and books of later date, but specially 
 precious, collation is strongly to be recommended, 
 but its thorough application to all purchases would 
 mean an enormous waste of time considering the 
 meagre results attained. 
 
 Periodicals (including newspapers) and " works 
 in progress" need special registration as they are 
 received. Slips or cards corresponding to each 
 should be kept in boxes in alphabetical order, and 
 the receipt of each number or part noted. It is 
 a convenience to have a ruled or printed form to 
 ensure clearness when the entries become numerous. 
 As the best of booksellers will sometimes fail to 
 keep up sets of periodicals, it is advisable from 
 time to time to inspect the slips or cards, and 
 demand explanations where there seem to be 
 defects. The cost of periodicals is always a large 
 item in a library budget, but in few so large as at 
 Brussels, where they cost 25,000 francs per annum, 
 as against 12,000 francs for other purchases. 1 
 
 DONATIONS. There probably exists no library 
 
 1 Rapport, 1887.
 
 54 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 unindebted to donations for a portion of its stock : 
 the cult of the donor is to all a necessary object, 
 especially to those with slender budgets, and re- 
 ceiving no legal tribute from publishers and 
 printers. A natural pride of fatherhood will 
 induce an author to make sure that his fellow- 
 ratepayers, the members of his university, or other 
 institution to which he owes allegiance, shall have 
 an opportunity at least of reading his productions, 
 both in his own and later ages. Even if a more 
 or less well-founded confidence persuades him 
 that libraries will, of their own accord, not willingly 
 let his efforts die, it is often a point of honour, 
 with the student at any rate, to make what small 
 return he can for the opportunities afforded him 
 by the libraries that have aided his researches, 
 whether in his own or a foreign country. Hence 
 every large library is continually nurtured by a 
 refreshing rain of gifts from the remotest corners 
 of the globe. Thus the British Museum acquires 
 in this way 5500 articles yearly, the Bodleian 
 10,000 (including theses). The National Library 
 of Switzerland, started at Berne in 1895, received 
 by gift as many as 23,000 volumes, pamphlets, and 
 broadsides in eight months. Donors should always 
 be rewarded by a prompt receipt, and if authors, by 
 a speedy appearance of their names in the library 
 catalogue, however insignificant the gift. The 
 steady pursuance of this practice at the British 
 Museum, even in the case of books apparently 
 insignificant, is doubtless responsible in no small 
 degree for its varied and valuable acquisitions
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 55 
 
 from this source. Many free libraries in this 
 country advertise donors and their gifts in local 
 newspapers. In Italy the Government requires 
 that a list of donations shall be exposed to 
 public view in the reading-room. Among books 
 thus acquired there will always be a certain pro- 
 portion almost unobtainable by purchase, either 
 because they are not printed for sale, or because 
 they are too obscure to be advertised. It is a 
 curious fact that many writers who appear by 
 their mode of publication to be desirous of avoiding 
 publicity, have no hesitation in sending copies of 
 their books to a public library. 
 
 The casual donor however, though serviceable, 
 is never such a benefactor as the collector can 
 sometimes be. After a lifetime spent in rescuing 
 treasures from obscurity and disesteem, from the 
 greedy and undignified hands of the dealer, and 
 triumphing each time perhaps over a hated rival, 
 it is a bitter thought to the collector that his hoard 
 will at his death be dispersed from the auction- 
 room to the four winds, and even then bring his 
 heirs no benefit proportionate to his vigilance and 
 loving care. The inclination strongly seizes him to 
 will it to some public library, where it will remain 
 in its admirable entirety, safe, as far as anything can 
 be safe, from fire and theft and the lesser ills that 
 books are heir to, and where his name will be linked 
 with theirs in succeeding ages. To such considera- 
 tions no doubt the British Museum owes the collec- 
 tions of Thomas Grenville (though here comes in 
 an alien element, the desire to atone to the nation
 
 56 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 for a fat Government sinecure), of Mr. Cracherode, 
 and Sir Joseph Banks. The Douce collection is 
 believed to have been bequeathed by its owner 
 to the Bodleian, because he was so pleased with 
 the reception given him when he visited that 
 library in 1830 in the company of Isaac Disraeli. 
 The British Museum would probably have had the 
 collection, as Douce was at one time keeper of the 
 MSS. in that institution, but he had resigned his 
 appointment through some official dispute. 
 
 The presence in a library of collections on 
 special subjects, besides being in itself desirable, 
 has the additional merit, from the librarian's point 
 of view, of attracting additions from collectors 
 and donors. Happy is the library which, like 
 Brixton and its collection of Baconiana, can get 
 for nothing both the nucleus of a special collection 
 and the annual additions to it. It is, moreover, a 
 point not sufficiently known to intending bene- 
 factors, that patient care, assisted by a moderate 
 outlay, and directed to a sufficiently small depart- 
 ment of knowledge, is sure to bring together a 
 unique collection. That devoted to Bacon, just 
 now alluded to, surpasses in some respects the 
 Baconiana at the British Museum. 
 
 The practice of asking for presents from writers 
 and publishers is lamentably common, and in 
 principle unjustifiable, except where the book 
 desired is privately printed, and so inaccessible to 
 booksellers. It is only under these circumstances, 
 and rarely then, that the British Museum authori- 
 ties ever ask for a book. This dignified attitude
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 57 
 
 is not, however, so easy to maintain in institutions 
 less liberally endowed. Many libraries in this 
 country it would be invidious, though easy, to 
 mention names secure a considerable accession 
 of novelties to their shelves by persistent begging. 
 The French National Library is driven by its 
 slender budget into a similar course. 1 
 
 A small number of the largest libraries in nearly 
 all civilised countries are in the happy position of 
 receiving all home publications for nothing, or 
 next to nothing, under " copyright acts." This 
 law was a development of regulations made, firstly, 
 by censors of the press, who required to see that 
 the printed copies corresponded with the MSS. 
 that had received their imprimatur, and, secondly, 
 by monarchs and other dignities, who granted 
 privileges to printers and publishers. In each of 
 these cases one or more copies had to be presented 
 by printer or publisher. 
 
 Late developments of State control were the 
 obligation to send " students' copies " to the univer- 
 sities, and the modern "copyright" acts, officially 
 declaring the proprietarial rights in books, apart 
 from any question of " privilege " to a printer. 
 
 The censors' copies seem to have been required 
 in all countries soon after the invention of printing, 
 and lasted in England down to 1694. The first 
 English printer recorded to have published cum 
 privilegio was Pynson (1518). 
 
 The first legal demand on publishers and printers 
 
 1 II. Beralcli : Voyage (fun livre a t ravers la Bibliothtytte Nationale. 
 Paris, 1893. 8vo.
 
 58 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 to supply copies of everything they issued was 
 that of Francis I. of France, who in 1537 pro- 
 mulgated a decree requiring copies to be sent to 
 the Royal Library at Fontainebleau. This library 
 was made semi-public, under the librarianship of 
 Isaac Casaubon, and a great part of it is now in- 
 corporated with the Bibliotheque Nationale. 
 
 In Prussia, the Konigliche Bibliothek at Berlin 
 has since 1624 received "obligatory copies" 
 (pflichtexeinplare). 
 
 In Spain, a law of 1716 invested the Royal 
 Library of Madrid with the same privilege. The 
 legislation affecting books in this country has been 
 strangely varied. 1 Under the law of 1830, as many 
 as nine copies were 'required to be deposited. 
 
 Belgium is the only European country in which 
 the depot legal is unknown, much to the sorrow of 
 its National Library. 
 
 Italian legislation neglected the question of 
 general copyright till 1848, and it was not till 
 1878 that copies had to be deposited for the 
 benefit of the university libraries. 
 
 The United States enacted a general copyright 
 law in 1790, but many of the States had before 
 this legislated on their own account. 
 
 In less civilised countries copyright acts are 
 of very recent introduction. They appeared, for 
 instance, in Venezuela and the Transvaal in 1887, 
 and in Turkey the year following. In this latter 
 country, as also in Russia, Japan, and Egypt, it is 
 
 1 See a paper by G. F. Barwick in the forthcoming Transactions of 
 the Bibliographical Society for 1897.
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 59 
 
 still the censorship of the press that necessitates 
 the supply of books, though they are not, as of 
 old, submitted first in manuscript form. 
 
 In England, the earliest regulations for " copyright 
 copies" emanated from the Stationers' Company, 
 who, by virtue .of being the directing body of the 
 printing and publishing trade, issued a regulation 
 in 1556, making it compulsory to register every 
 new book by sending nine copies to the Company's 
 Hall. The Licensing Act of 1662 contained the 
 first provision for the supply of what we have 
 called " students' copies," in giving the Bodleian 
 Library the privilege of receiving a copy of every- 
 thing published. The University of Cambridge re- 
 ceived a similar privilege at the same time, and at a 
 later date the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
 and St. Andrews, King's College, Aberdeen, King's 
 Inn, Dublin, Sion College, the Advocates' Library 
 at Edinburgh, Trinity College, Dublin, and the 
 British Museum, were similarly favoured. The 
 first six of these bodies were deprived of their 
 privileges in 1836, and in compensation a yearly 
 sum was allotted them from the Treasury. 
 
 The Copyright Act at present in force is that of 
 1842 (5 & 6 Viet. c. 45), which provides : 
 
 " That a printed copy of the whole of every book which 
 shall be published after the passing of this Act, together 
 with all Maps, Prints, or other Engravings belonging 
 thereto, finished and coloured in the same manner as 
 the best copies of the same shall be published, and also 
 of any second or subsequent edition which shall be so 
 published with any additions or alterations, whether the
 
 60 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 same shall be in letterpress, or in maps, prints, or other 
 engravings belonging thereto, and whether the first edition 
 of such book shall have been published before or after 
 the passing of this Act, and also of any second or sub- 
 sequent edition of every book of which the first or some 
 preceding edition shall not have been delivered for the 
 use of the British Museum, bound, sewed, or stitched 
 together, and upon the best paper on which the same 
 shall be printed, shall, within one calendar month after 
 the day on which any such book shall first be sold, pub- 
 lished, or offered for sale within the bills of mortality, or 
 within three calendar months if the same shall first be sold, 
 published, or offered for sale in any other part of the United 
 Kingdom, or within twelve calendar months after the same 
 shall first be sold, published, or offered for sale in any 
 other part of the British dominions, be delivered on behalf 
 of the publisher thereof at the British Museum." 
 
 Also, "That in the construction of this Act the word 
 ' book ' shall be construed to mean and include every volume, 
 part or division of a volume, pamphlet, sheet of letterpress, 
 sheet of music, map, chart, or plan separately published." 
 
 Also, "That every copy of any book which under the 
 provisions of this Act ought to be delivered as aforesaid 
 shall be delivered at the British Museum between the 
 hours of ten in the forenoon and four in the afternoon on 
 any day except Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and 
 Christmas Day, to one of the officers of the said Museum, 
 or to some person authorised by the Trustees of the said 
 Museum to receive the same;" and such officer or other 
 person is required to give a receipt in writing for the same. 
 
 By another clause a penalty of a sum not exceed- 
 ing five pounds, besides the value of the copy which 
 ought to have been delivered, is imposed for every 
 default in delivering books pursuant to the Act.
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 6l 
 
 The Act also gives to the libraries of Oxford and 
 Cambridge Universities, Trinity College, Dublin, 
 and the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, a right to a 
 copy of every book published, but claim has to be 
 made, and that within twelve months. Moreover, 
 the publishers are not bound to send editions de luxe, 
 but only ordinary copies. 
 
 The tenderness shown to provincial publishers 
 in allowing them to deliver within three months 
 seems a little misplaced, now that communication 
 is everywhere so easy and rapid. 
 
 As regards the British Museum, the Act was but 
 languidly enforced until 1850, when Mr. (afterwards 
 Sir Anthony) Panizzi began a series of raids on 
 recalcitrant publishers, with a severity which none 
 of his successors have found necessary to imitate. 
 His practice was, when a book issued by a certain 
 publisher had not been supplied within the statutory 
 period, to notify him of the bare fact, and leave him 
 to find out for himself the details of his own offence. 
 These drastic methods produced within three years 
 an increase of fifty per cent, in the number of books 
 sent in. 
 
 The suaver methods of the present day appear, 
 however, to be effective enough, judging by the 
 results set forth in the last annual blue-book of 
 " British Museum Returns." 
 
 Books, Qr^c., received under the Copyright Act, 
 during the Year 1895-96 
 
 12,618 volumes and pamphlets (under English copyright). 
 999 volumes and pamphlets (under Colonial copyright).
 
 62 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 36,623 parts and numbers (under English copyright). 
 
 278 parts and numbers (under Colonial copyright). 
 
 490 maps (under English copyright). 
 
 5 maps (under Colonial copyright). 
 
 5396 pieces of music (under English copyright). 
 
 3343 sets of newspapers, comprising 210,844 single numbers 
 
 (under English copyright). 
 8 sets of newspapers, comprising 14,650 single numbers 
 
 (under Colonial copyright). 
 
 The number of distinct works comprised in the 
 above numeration is 16,878 English copyright and 
 980 Colonial. 
 
 These figures are nearly equalled by the other 
 libraries benefiting under the Act. 
 
 The uninstructed layman, until taught by bitter 
 experience, is apt to suppose that these impressive 
 totals include the whole literary output of the United 
 Kingdom. It has, however, to be remembered that 
 the Copyright Acts do not apply to books " privately 
 printed," i.e. for the author's own pleasure and for 
 gratuitous distribution, nor to books " printed by 
 subscription." The former class is recruited from 
 the productions of shy poets (whom to name were 
 invidious), corporate bodies, such asCountyCouncils, 
 which do not sell what they print, and genealogists, 
 from books of travel printed for the use of the 
 author's friends, and similar sources. Books "re- 
 printed for subscription " comprise the publications 
 of many societies and clubs, e.g. the Bibliographical 
 Society, the Bannatyne Club, and many costly or 
 laborious works on recondite subjects. It will be 
 evident from the wording of the Act that if any 
 copy of a book in either of these classes be
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 63 
 
 disposed of for a consideration by the person for 
 whom it is printed, the Copyright Act at once 
 becomes applicable. 
 
 Many books, again, escape the "ever-extended 
 dead-hand " of the library through their own 
 obscurity. The provincial books that are not 
 thought worth selling through a London agent as 
 well as in the place of their origin, do not figure in 
 the monthly publishers' lists of new books, and are 
 in many cases missed. Of course the conscience of 
 *the publisher, or the ambition of the author, results 
 in large numbers being sent " as the Act provides," 
 and others are obtained by the libraries at the 
 request of readers. The books which most easily 
 escape the operation of the Act are those published 
 in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Welsh books, in 
 fact, are hardly touched by the Act at all, except 
 those issued by a few well-known firms. The 
 Welsh author is often his own publisher and sales- 
 man, and his works, usually of a religious nature, 
 are sold at the doors of chapels and meeting-houses, 
 and are little advertised. 
 
 In spite of these defects in working, the Act sup- 
 plies probably ninety-five per cent, of all the books 
 that fall under its provisions, and these include a 
 vast quantity of printed matter which otherwise 
 would be entirely destroyed. Thus a yearly consign- 
 ment of valentines and Christmas cards, street 
 ballads, and children's toy-books, are being 
 collected for the delight of future generations. A 
 century hence it may well be prophesied, all the other 
 toy-books will have succumbed to the ravages of
 
 64 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 the nursery and of zealous housewives anxious to get 
 rid of rubbish. Herein \ve moderns are something 
 wiser than Sir Thomas Bodley, who would have 
 no "riff-raff" at Oxford, or the founders of the 
 University Library of Gottingen, who proceeded 
 "mit moglicher Vorbeilassung der gemeinen und 
 gewohnlichen Handbucher." Curiously enough, 
 this library even at the present day possesses and 
 exercises the power of sending back or refusing to 
 take in printed matter sent under the Copyright Act 
 which is "unsuitable for preservation and incorpo-* 
 ration with the collections." It is equally careful as 
 to the character of the donations it accepts. 1 
 
 It would be a magnificent project to make the 
 British Museum not merely national, but imperial 
 in its copyright privileges, but this is as yet far from 
 being realised. Those portions of the Empire where 
 the influence of London is predominant now 7 fur- 
 nish supplies of their literary produce, but the self- 
 governing colonies are by no means unanimous. 
 
 Since 1890 the quarterly lists of new books pub- 
 lished by the INDIAN GOVERNMENT (and the British 
 Protectorates in India) are sent to the Museum, 
 where a selection is made by the officials of the 
 Oriental department of what seems most important 
 or interesting. This selection forms a small pro- 
 portion of the actual output, which is much larger 
 than might be supposed, owing to the extensive 
 publication of school-books. 
 
 From CANADA since July 1895 a complete col- 
 lection has been sent each quarter of the literary 
 
 1 Reglenient vom 23. August 1884.
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 65 
 
 produce of the colony. AUSTRALIA has not passed 
 any law of the kind, so the few books that appear 
 in the colony have, as a rule, to be purchased by 
 the Museum as soon as their existence is known. 
 
 The literature of the Crown Colonies has during 
 the last few years been collected and sent to the 
 Museum, in accordance with a series of ordinances. 
 The total output is extremely small, there being 
 some colonies each year that seem to publish 
 nothing whatever. From Cyprus two copies are 
 received, one of which is sent on to the Bodleian. 
 The learned frequenters of that library are said to 
 be quite unable to translate the corrupt Greek in 
 which these publications are written. 
 
 The subjoined table will show how the legislation 
 in the Colonies on this subject has progressed : 
 
 Date of Act or Ordinance 
 
 COLONY providing for Despatch 
 
 of New Publications 
 to London. 
 
 Ceylon 1885 
 
 Straits Settlements . . 1886 
 
 Cyprus . . . . . 1887 
 Jamaica .... ,, 
 
 Newfoundland ... ,, 
 
 Sierra Leone. . . . ,, 
 
 Cape Colony . . 1888 
 
 Hong-Kong .... 
 Malta . . 
 
 River Gambia ... 
 
 Trinidad .... 
 
 Mauritius . . l &93 
 
 Canada . . . 1895 
 Perak . . 
 
 Natal ... . 1896
 
 66 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The supply of " copyright copies " to libraries in 
 GERMANY is in a peculiar state, resulting from the 
 constitution of the Empire. Each State is free, by a 
 law of 1874 (May yth), to make its own arrangements 
 in the matter, while no provision is made for any 
 supply of the complete output to any central library. 
 This defect is aggravated by the varying legislation 
 of the States. Thus in Saxony there is no com- 
 pulsory delivery, whereby the books appearing at 
 Leipzig, the chief library centre of the Empire, al- 
 together escape. In Prussia, maps are not subject 
 to delivery unless bearing some portion, however 
 small, of printed text. Numerous small German 
 States, e.g. Baden, Mecklenburg, and Brunswick, 
 have not legislated in the matter. In Bavaria an 
 additional burden is laid on publishers of books 
 dealing with the history of drawing, which have to 
 be supplied in duplicate, one copy for the Royal 
 Library at Munich, another for the Kupferstich- 
 kabinet. Similarly, two copies of musical publi- 
 cations are required, one for the Royal Library, 
 another for the library of the Conservatorium. 
 The difficulties occasioned by a Federal form of 
 government are not insurmountable, and Germany 
 might well follow the example of the United States, 
 where "compulsory copies" (two) are sent to the 
 Library of Congress at Washington. The German 
 Empire unfortunately lacks a real capital. Berlin 
 hardly counts, for the South German publishers 
 would doubtless object to be taxed to enrich a Prus- 
 sian library. For similar reasons a project for 
 creating an Imperial library at Leipzig, Frankfort,
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 67 
 
 or Nuremberg, met with violent opposition (in 
 1880). 
 
 The administration of the Copyright Acts in 
 FRANCE presents some interesting features. Here 
 the duty of providing copies is laid on the printer 
 instead of the publisher. He is under no obligation 
 to bind or even sew the sheets, so that imperfect 
 copies are a frequent occurrence in the depot 
 legal. As great attention is paid in France to the 
 production of artistic paper covers, these have come 
 to be the work of specialists in colour-printing, 
 often quite distinct from the firms charged with 
 the press-work, so that the cover of a book is often 
 delivered by one firm, the body of it by another, 
 and a fresh source of imperfections is created. 
 
 The number of copies printed has to be stated 
 by the printer in making his delivery. A small 
 tirage cannot be harmful, from the point of view 
 of the press censorship, but a large one will put the 
 officials on the alert against seditious pamphlets. 
 
 The method of collection is decentralised, delivery 
 under the Acts being made at the chefs-lieux de 
 departements (" county towns "), and the prefect of 
 each department supervises the supply. This ought 
 to ensure a complete collection of provincial books ; 
 but the plan, however theoretically admirable, does 
 not seem to work any better than our own, to judge 
 by occasional wails in prefaces and places where 
 authors are wont to protest against the short- 
 comings of libraries. 
 
 Two copies of each book have to be furnished, 
 one going to the Bibliotheque Nationale, the other
 
 68 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 to the Ministry of Public Instruction. These second 
 copies are distributed by the Minister among some 
 350 public libraries, according to their importance 
 and special needs. Thus the political books go to 
 the Arsenal Library in Paris, ecclesiastical, law, 
 medical, and scientific books are divided among the 
 libraries of the Faculties in these subjects, nautical 
 books go to the libraries of the seaport towns, 
 military books to those of garrison towns, school- 
 books to the lycees and schools. 
 
 The net of the Acts appears to be cast as widely, 
 and to bring in the same vast quantity of miscel- 
 laneous matter, as in this country. The French 
 law is even more comprehensive than ours, in- 
 cluding all printed matter, whether issued gratui- 
 tously or not, with the exception of certain classes, 
 whereas under English law matter printed for 
 gratuitous distribution does not come under the 
 Act. A printed form of petition, for instance, 
 consisting of only three lines, has been decided 
 in the French courts to be subject to the Act, and 
 in this instance appears the tendency which runs 
 through the French legislation on the subject, to 
 keep up a censorship over everything printed 
 which is in any way intended to court publicity. 
 It is for this reason, perhaps, that the printer has to 
 deliver the legal copies " simultaneously with publi- 
 cation," whereas London publishers get a month's 
 grace, and provincial publishers three months. 
 
 That portion of the depot legal which, at least to 
 the present generation, is of little use in research, 
 does not get so respectfully treated in Paris as in
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 69 
 
 London. At the Bibliotheque Nationale, in order 
 to avoid overcrowding with material that would 
 detract from the scientific and literary character of 
 the institution, certain series ttiminables have been 
 formed, consisting of reprints of school-books, 
 religious and other popular books, which will be 
 housed in a branch library more or less removed 
 from the centre of Paris. 
 
 The enrichment of libraries by interchange of 
 surplus books or their own publications is a matter 
 for individual arrangement, but national libraries 
 often benefit by governmental arrangements for 
 the exchange of official documents on a large scale. 
 Thus the British Museum receives the documents 
 sent by Austria, Chili, France, Italy, Norway, the 
 United States, and certain British colonies (Canada, 
 Cape Colony, New 7 South Wales, New Zealand, 
 Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria), in 
 return for sets of British parliamentary papers and 
 other non-confidential State documents. The un- 
 fortunate part of the arrangement is that there 
 exists a yearly list of the British documents, and 
 if the other parties to the agreement do not get 
 them all, ^hey want to know the reason why. 
 Only one of them, however, publishes a similar 
 list, and that one, issued by the United States, is 
 by no means comprehensive, so that the situation 
 is somewhat one-sided. 
 
 To make room for new acquisitions, or, it may be, 
 to benefit his confreres, the librarian will at times 
 indulge in a process of " weeding out." The strict 
 horticultural value of the phrase need not, however,
 
 70 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 be pressed. The libraries that aim at supplying 
 materials for research must necessarily view this 
 process in a different light from the more popular 
 collections. Thus the student of a science will, as 
 a rule, take no account of obsolete editions, but to 
 the historian of the science they are of a certain 
 interest. Even the successive editions of school- 
 books throw light on the progress of educational 
 methods. The largest libraries, then, will only dis- 
 card their duplicate copies. These may perhaps 
 be more fairly called weeds, since, as a rule, their 
 presence in a library is accidental. They are 
 acquired in various ways. At one time a collec- 
 tion of books is offered by a dealer on condition 
 of being bought en bloc, and a certain proportion 
 will be in the library already. Donations of collec- 
 tions produce the same effect, and so do donations 
 of single books, if the practice is adopted, as it 
 often is, of never refusing a donation for fear of 
 general discouragement among donors. Again, a 
 printer's error, or a wrong alphabetical arrange- 
 ment in the catalogues, will lead to the purchase 
 of secofid copies. Again, unless the system of 
 purchases is perfect, and administered with preter- 
 natural sagacity, two copies may be simultaneously 
 ordered from different sources, and the error remain 
 undiscovered till the Accession-catalogue reveals it. 
 The duplicates thus acquired will sometimes be 
 kept, the librarian persuading himself that after 
 all he was timid in only ordering a single copy 
 of a book likely to be largely used. The rest will 
 be disposed of, but with certain precautions. A
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 71 
 
 comparison of the copies must be made, that the 
 best bound and best conditioned copies may be 
 kept, and, especially in the case of the older books, 
 that the library may not lose a duplicate containing 
 MS. notes or corrections. (The British Museum, 
 it may at this date be freely admitted, disposed of 
 several treasures in its duplicate sales in times long 
 past, and sometimes had to buy them back again 
 at enhanced prices. One book at least had been 
 in a royal collection, and contained notes in a 
 royal hand.) Two copies of a book printed in the 
 first ten or twenty years after Gutenberg may 
 always be kept with advantage, since a close 
 examination will often reveal that what appears 
 to be duplicate copies really belong to different 
 editions, parts having been corrected, or even 
 reprinted, in a way that often throws light on the 
 history of printing. 
 
 The rules for " weeding-out " of books from lib- 
 raries of the second rank depend on the size and 
 aims of these collections. If space allows, the first 
 edition of a book of literary or scientific interest 
 should not be parted with. Intermediate editions 
 may generally be spared. Peerages and other 
 similar publications, that are periodically reprinted 
 with corrections and additions, must be weeded out 
 warily. Thus Minerva and the Annuaire de la 
 Noblesse are not complete in any single issue, but 
 constantly refer the searcher back to an earlier 
 edition for the information he needs. Each new 
 issue of " Men of the Time " or Burke's " Peerage " 
 omits certain notices contained in the previous
 
 72 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 issue. On the other hand, each new edition of 
 Haydn's "Dictionary of Dates" incorporates all 
 the old matter with the new. Directories, if local, 
 should be preserved en masse if space admits, with 
 a view to the future historian of the town, whose 
 advent may be safely looked for in the smallest 
 library. With a similar object, all editions of 
 works by local writers should be preserved. 1 It is 
 a delicate matter to slight a donor, but the blow 
 will fall lightly if he is long since defunct, and this 
 consideration will often lead to a wholesale clear- 
 ance of the stuff which well-meaning people from 
 time to time have shot into local libraries. 
 
 The exchange of duplicates is a practice which 
 has not yet reached the development it merits. 
 In several countries on the Continent there are 
 elaborate regulations dealing with the disposal of 
 duplicates, but it would be of great service to 
 scholars if means could be devised for an extension 
 of the principle to international exchange. The 
 British Museum from time to time distributes its 
 duplicates to other libraries, but it is to be feared 
 that the more valuable of them remain quite un- 
 used in their new homes. If these could have been 
 exchanged for some of the vast accumulations of 
 duplicates in the Bibliotheque Nationale, the gain 
 to both institutions might have been considerable. 
 
 The methods of disposing of duplicates accumu- 
 lated in the national libraries of ITALY, as set forth 
 in a recent decree 2 of the Minister of Education 
 
 1 See an article by W. E. A. Axon in the Library for 1896. 
 
 2 See Bollettino Officiate of 26th April 1894.
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 73 
 
 in that country, present some especial features of 
 interest. This document provides for the sale by 
 private auction of 10,000 duplicates lying in the 
 Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuele at Rome, and of a 
 theological nature. A list is to be made of such 
 of them as exist in more than two copies in public 
 libraries in Rome, and the other public libraries 
 are to have a copy of the list and fifteen days in 
 which to select what they would care to have. 
 State libraries outside Rome and non-State libraries 
 open to the public, whether inside or outside Rome, 
 are to get the duplicates by exchange for their own, 
 or else at a low price. State libraries in Rome 
 are to have them for nothing, unless the Biblioteca 
 Vittorio Emanuele covets any duplicates in their 
 possession. 
 
 The disposal of duplicates in the university and 
 " students' " libraries in AUSTRIA is provided for by 
 two decrees of the Ministry of Public Instruction. 
 The first, dated 3ist March 1887, is now only 
 applicable to books published before 1850. If a 
 library possesses several copies of the same edition 
 of a book, and has no need of more than one copy, 
 the copy in best condition is to be kept, and the 
 others to be put aside in one place. Defects in 
 one surplus copy may be made up from another. 
 Books presented may not be put aside without 
 previous permission from the Minister of Public 
 Instruction. The official in charge of the selection 
 shall inscribe on the fly-leaf of each the note dupl. 
 coll. (duplum collatum), the press-mark of the copy 
 kept, add his initials, and remove the titles of the
 
 74 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 surplus copies from all the catalogues. The books 
 to be disposed of are to be arranged by size, and 
 numbered in order, the order numbers to be added 
 to the title-slips, and these latter arranged alpha- 
 betically. The volumes then await the next Com- 
 mission of Library Revision. This body will test a 
 number of the volumes to judge if the selection is 
 suitable and accurate. The books, and also any 
 defective books of which it is desired to rid the 
 library, shall be stamped, to show that they have 
 been discarded. The titles shall have added to 
 them information as to the condition of the books, 
 and the selling price (new or second-hand, as the 
 case may be). These titles thus enlarged are to 
 be printed and the list sent to all the other uni- 
 versity and "students'" libraries, with the request 
 that they will state what books they are prepared 
 to acquire at the prices affixed, or, in the last resort, 
 by offering other books in exchange. The eventual 
 disposal of the duplicates, according to the answers 
 sent in, rests with the librarian or, in the case of 
 university libraries, the academical body controlling 
 him. In contested cases the Minister of Public 
 Instruction shall give the final decision. 
 
 A new decree of 3rd May 1897 provides for 
 the duplicates of books published since 1850. The 
 public libraries kept up at State expense have 
 for the future to give away their duplicates. To 
 this end an exchange is to be organised on the 
 one hand among tMBfcibraries themselves, on the 
 other between tlwm and the libraries of high 
 schools, seminaries, and institutes. These appear
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 75 
 
 to be also supported by the State, though not 
 public libraries. Municipal and provincial libraries 
 (not, we presume, State supported) are also ad- 
 mitted to the exchange on a basis of reciprocity. 
 Defective copies, or those evidently worthless, 
 are to be thrown away. The exchange is effected 
 among the libraries of the respective provinces of 
 Austria (Galicia, Moravia, &c.) through the medium 
 of a selected library in each province. The 
 authorities draw up a list of participating libraries 
 in each province, and the Minister of Public 
 Instruction puts them in order of merit. The lists 
 of duplicates are collected by the authorities of 
 the central library in each province, and printed 
 or otherwise multiplied by them. The complete 
 list being circulated, each library marks its desiderata, 
 and the order of merit drawn up by the Minister 
 decides as to the assignment when a book is desired 
 by more than one library. At the end of each year 
 the list of duplicates not disposed of is sent to the 
 University Library at Vienna, which, after taking 
 what its own collections require, circulates the 
 list among the provinces generally for further 
 exchange. 
 
 PERIODICAL LISTS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS 
 
 Austria. Oesterreichisch - Ungarische Buchhandler- 
 Correspondenz. Verein der osterr. ungar. 
 Buchhdndler : Vienna. [About three times 
 monthly.]
 
 76 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Belgium. Bibliographic de la Belgique. Muquardt : 
 
 Brussels. 
 Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Nordisk Boghand- 
 
 lertidende. Boghandlerforeningen i Kfybenhavn : 
 
 Copenhagen. [Weekly.] 
 France. Journal general de 1'imprimerie et de la 
 
 librairie; Bibliographic de la France. Paris. 
 
 [Weekly.] 
 Germany. Wochentliches Verzeichnis der erschie- 
 
 nenen und der vorbereiteten Neuigkeiten des 
 
 deutschen Buchhandels. Hinrichs : Leipzig. 
 
 [Weekly.] 
 Greece. None. 
 Hungary. Corvina. Buda - Pest. [Three times 
 
 monthly.] 
 Holland. Nederlandsche Bibliographic. M. Nijhoff: 
 
 The Hague. [Monthly.] 
 Italy. Bibliografia Italiana. Biblioteca nazionale 
 
 centrale di Firenze. Bollettino delle pubbli- 
 
 cazioni italiane ricevute per diritto di stampa. 
 
 1886, &c. 8vo. 
 Norway. See Denmark. 
 Poland, Przewodnik bibliograficzny. Cracow. 8vo. 
 
 [Fortnightly.] 
 Portugal. None. 
 Roumania. Bibliografia romana, buletin mensual, &c. 
 
 Bucharest, 1879, &c. 8vo. 
 Russia. Knizny Vyestnik. [Appearing at irregular 
 
 intervals.] 
 Spain. Boletin de la libreria. M. Murillo : Madrid. 
 
 [Monthly.] 
 
 Sweden. See Denmark. 
 Switzerland. Bibliographic und literarische Chronik 
 
 der Schweiz. Bale. [Monthly.] 
 Turkey. Bibliographic ottomane ou notices des livres
 
 ACQUISITION OF BOOKS 77 
 
 turcs, arabes, et persans imprimes a Constanti- 
 nople. [Published periodically in the Journal 
 Asiatique.} 
 
 United States. Publishers' Weekly. New York. 
 
 Oriental books in general. Orientalische Biblio- 
 graphic. Berlin. [Half-yearly.]
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 CATALOGUING 
 
 HAVING treated of the location of books in libraries, 
 we are next concerned with the means adopted for 
 recording their existence and making them avail- 
 able to the reading public. The latter end is served 
 to a small extent in every public library by allowing 
 a certain portion of the books to be freely examined 
 on the shelves and removed for use. In the Reading- 
 room of the British Museum some 20,000 books, 
 and in the Salle de Travail of the Bibliotheque 
 Nationale some 12,000, are made available in this 
 way. A movement is being eagerly pushed forward 
 in this country, and already prevails extensively in 
 the United States, to throw open the whole extent 
 of popular libraries to the personal inspection of 
 the reading public. This "Open Access System" 
 is further discussed in Chapter V. Whatever the de- 
 velopments in this direction may be, the librarian and 
 reader alike can never dispense with CATALOGUES. 
 
 These may be divided into three main categories, 
 according to their functions : 
 
 I. The Author-Catalogue, where the books are 
 arrayed in order under their authors' names in alpha- 
 betical succession. Books having no authors' name 
 
 78
 
 CATALOGUING 79 
 
 are arranged by the aid of "headings," which are 
 selected in accordance with various systems of rules. 
 
 II. The Subject- Catalogue, where the books are 
 arranged according to arbitrary divisions and 
 subdivisions of human knowledge, or under an 
 alphabetical series of headings derived from those 
 portions of human knowledge to which the respec- 
 tive books claim to contribute. 
 
 III. The Shelf -Catalogue, in which the titles of the 
 books follow the same order as the actual volumes 
 .on the shelves. 
 
 IV. A fourth, the Form-Catalogue, is designed to 
 classify books according to the forms in which they 
 present thought (e.g. novels, biographies, tales, 
 essays, &c.). It is little used by itself, but enters 
 into combination with I. and II., sometimes without 
 the compilers' intention. 
 
 V. A fifth, the Dictionary-Catalogue, is a combination 
 of I., II., and IV. 
 
 I. AUTHOR-CATALOGUE 
 
 The author-catalogue first claims our attention, 
 as being absolutely indispensable, both to the 
 reading public and the staff of any library existing 
 for serious purposes. The largest compilations of 
 the kind available for public use are those of the 
 British Museum Library and the Bibliotheque 
 Nationale at Paris, but of the latter only one 
 volume, containing books of known authorship in 
 the first half of letter A, has as yet been published 
 (1897). The Museum catalogue, therefore, takes 
 precedence by seniority and completeness.
 
 80 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The origin of the catalogue may be traced back 
 to June 21, 1759, when the Trustees of the Museum, 
 which had been opened to the public the preceding 
 January, recorded the following remarkable minute : 
 "The Committee think proper to add that the re- 
 quiring the attendance of the officers during the 
 whole six hours that the Museum is kept open is 
 not a wanton or useless piece of severity, as the 
 two vacant hours (if it is not thought too great 
 a burden on the officers) might very usefully be 
 employed by them in better ranging the several* 
 collections . . . and preparing catalogues for publi- 
 cation, which last the Committee think so necessary 
 a work, that till it is performed the several collec- 
 tions can be but imperfectly useful to the public." 
 
 The labours which this apologetic suggestion 
 may be supposed to have started took permanent 
 form in the catalogue of 1787, which again was 
 superseded by that of 1807-19, prepared by Sir 
 Henry Ellis and Mr. Baber. In the years 1826-34 
 a futile attempt at a classified catalogue was made, 
 under the direction of the Rev. T. Hartwell Home. 
 Three years later Mr. (afterwards Sir Anthony) 
 Panizzi became head of the Printed Books Depart- 
 ment, and proceeded to draw up, with his senior 
 colleagues, the celebrated Ninety-one Rules for 
 Cataloguing. Against Panizzi's wish the Trustees 
 entered upon an ill-considered scheme for print- 
 ing the whole catalogue, with confident hopes of 
 finishing it by December 1844. This enterprise 
 stopped at letter A, and Panizzi was left free for 
 the task of compiling a complete and accurate
 
 CATALOGUING 8l 
 
 MS. catalogue, and no further printing was done 
 till iSSo. 1 Such was the zeal of Panizzi that over- 
 flow-meetings of "transcribers" were often held 
 in his own drawing-room. 
 
 The Catalogue of Printed Books contains separate 
 entries of every book, pamphlet, magazine, news- 
 paper, and broadside or single-sheet, in the library, 
 with the following exceptions : 
 
 (1) Newspapers published in Great Britain and Ire- 
 
 land. These are accessible by the aid of 
 manuscript catalogues. 
 
 (2) British Parliamentary Papers, accessible by the 
 
 aid of the indices issued with them; also, 
 many British municipal publications. 
 
 (3) Certain Foreign and Colonial State publications (in- 
 
 cluding all those of a statistical nature), of which 
 manuscript catalogues have been compiled. 
 
 (4) A certain quantity of German university theses 
 
 and school dissertations. 
 
 (5) A certain portion of the vast collection of French 
 
 Revolution tracts. These are now in course 
 of being catalogued. 
 
 (6) A very small number of large collections, e.g. one of 
 
 Mazarinades, and one of pamphlets published in 
 Mexico ; another of the addresses issued during 
 the election that followed the introduction of 
 the Home Rule Bill by Mr. Gladstone ; which 
 would have cost, to catalogue in detail, sums out 
 of all proportion to their value, and so appear in 
 the catalogue under a simple heading. 
 
 The selection of the proper headings in an 
 author-catalogue, especially in the case of a large 
 
 1 See infra, p. 1 39.
 
 82 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 library, is a matter of extreme complication. The 
 system of the British Museum, as now in operation, 
 was first set forth in the Ninety-one Rules drawn 
 up in 1839 by Mr. Panizzi, Mr. Winter Jones, 
 Mr. Watts, Mr. Serjeant Parry, and Mr. Edward 
 Edwards. 
 
 The experience gained in printing the catalogue 
 led to a number of small changes being gradually 
 introduced, 1 and the Rules will be published in an 
 amended form when thought desirable. 
 The chief points of the system are these : 
 I. When the authorship of a book is declared 
 in the book itself, the author's name must be taken 
 as the heading, except in the case of official pub- 
 lications, which are entered under the name of the 
 authority by which they are issued. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 (1) In the case of saints, the heading is the name by 
 which they have been canonised ; in the case of popes and 
 sovereigns, that which they officially assume ; and in the 
 case of members of such religious orders as discard secular 
 names, the name in religion. Princes of sovereign houses 
 are entered under their Christian names only. Peers and 
 bishops are entered under their family names. 
 
 (2) When an author has always written under a latinised 
 form, or some other variant of his name, that form is 
 adopted in preference to his vernacular surname. In all 
 other cases, except when the author is invariably known 
 under the latinised form, the vernacular surname is adopted. 
 
 1 They manage these things differently in Italy, where cataloguing 
 rules cannot be altered without the consent of the Minister of Public 
 Instruction.
 
 CATALOGUING 83 
 
 Examples. 
 
 ERASMUS (Desiderius). 
 FLACIUS (Mathias), Illyricus. 
 LINNAEUS (Carl). 
 
 (3) In the spelling of foreign personal names the verna- 
 cular form is adopted, except in the case of ancient Greeks, 
 names of persons mentioned in the Bible, and the official 
 names of sovereigns, princes of sovereign houses, popes, 
 and saints. In these the English form is preferred. 
 
 (4) Foreign names, excepting French, preceded by a 
 preposition, by an article, or by both, are entered under the 
 letter immediately following. French names preceded by 
 a preposition only, follow the same rule ; those preceded 
 by an article, or by a preposition and an article, are entered 
 under the initial letter of the article or preposition. English 
 surnames of foreign origin are to be entered under their 
 initial, even if originally belonging to a preposition. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 GOETHE (Johann Wolfgang von), not Von Goethe. 
 
 COLONNE (Guido delle), not Delle Colonne. 
 
 LATOUR (Antoine de), not De Latour. 
 
 LE FEVRE (Jacques) d^Etaples, not Fevre (Jacques de). 
 
 Du MOULIN (Pierre), not Moulin (Pierre du). 
 
 DE VERE (Robert), Earl oj 'Oxford, not Vere (Robert de). 
 
 DE LA RUE (James). 
 
 VAN BUREN (Martin). 
 
 (5) Foreign compound surnames are entered under the 
 initial of the first of them. In compound Dutch and 
 English surnames the last name is preferred if no entry 
 of a work by the same person occur in the catalogue under 
 the first name only. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 LAMARTINE DE PRAT (Marie Louis Alphonse de). 
 
 SMITH (William Robertson). 
 
 LOCKER, afterwards LOCKER-LAMPSON (Frederick).
 
 84 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 (6) Initials are treated as though they were complete 
 words. Where they represent the name of a person, the 
 last letter is to be taken as representing a surname, unless 
 the typography or evidence from the book itself shows 
 that the surname is represented by one of the preceding 
 letters. 
 
 (7) Initials of forenames are filled in when possible. 1 
 
 (8) The names of more than one person may only 
 appear in the same heading in the case of a work written 
 by two authors in conjunction, without specification of the 
 parts written by each ; the names in this case are entered 
 in the order in which they are given in the book. 
 
 Example. 
 
 BEAUMONT (Francis) and FLETCHER (John). The works 
 of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. 
 
 When more than two authors have collaborated, the name 
 of the first only is to be taken as the heading. 
 
 (9) Books, or series of books, made up of separate works 
 
 1 No pains are spared to obtain information of this kind from biblio- 
 graphies, dictionaries, directories, army, law, and medical lists, and 
 similar publications. The process is of the utmost use in distinguishing 
 different authors of the same surname, especially in the longer headings. 
 It is universally followed in the United States, where the unearthing 
 of a new forename of some retiring author is chronicled each month in 
 the Library Journal. The Centralblatt fiir Bibliotheksivesen has taken 
 of late to making similar records. In Germany, however, there occurs 
 a vexatious obstacle to the conscientious cataloguer officers of the 
 army who are good enough to write books will not admit the possibility 
 of another book being written by a namesake, so they leave out their 
 forenames. The Army List is equally unbending, so the case is 
 hopeless. 
 
 Useful articles on the sources for forenames will be found in the 
 American Library Journal, vol. xiv. Nos, J and 2, and in the Centralblatt 
 fur BibliotheksToesen for March 1896.
 
 CATALOGUING 85 
 
 by more than two authors, are, when published under a 
 collective title, entered under the editor's name ; if there 
 is no editor the collection is treated as anonymous, and 
 catalogued accordingly. 
 
 II. In the absence of declared authorship, the 
 heading is to be chosen according to the following 
 rules applied successively : 
 
 (a) Books concerning a person (real or fictitious) named, 
 or adequately described, on the title-page are entered under 
 his name. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 SPINOZA (Benedictus de). An Account of the Life and 
 
 Writings of Spinoza, &c., pp. 16. W. Boreham : 
 
 London, 1720. 8vo. 
 SHARP (John), Archbishop of York. The B p of York's 
 
 Speech to the House of Lords, &c. W. Garnet: 
 
 London, 1710. s.sh. fol. 
 SPRAT (Jack). The Life of Jack Sprat, his Wife, and his 
 
 Cat. J. Evans: London [1810?]. 32010. 
 
 (b) Those concerning a collective body or institution are 
 entered under the name of such body or institution. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 LONDON. Calves' Head Club. Dialogue between a Dis- 
 senting Minister and the Calves' Head Club, &c. 
 Reprinted at Dublin, 1721. s.sh. fol. 
 
 SPITALFIELDS WEAVERS. Distresses of the Spitalfields 
 Weavers. [London, 1792 ?] s.sh.iol. 
 
 (c) Those concerning a place, or an object bearing a 
 proper name (e.g. a ship), are to be entered under the name 
 of such place or object.
 
 86 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Example. 
 
 SPERANZA, Yacht. The Log of the Speranza, &c. Edward 
 Jones: London, 1887. 8vo. 
 
 When the foregoing rules (a-c) do not apply, the 
 heading is 
 
 (d} The name of a person or place forming a necessary 
 part of the title, except when merely indicating a date. 
 
 Example. 
 
 DICKENS (Charles). Report of the Dinner given to Charles 
 Dickens in Boston. Boston (Mass.), 1842. 8vo. 
 
 Exception. 
 
 HISTORY. A History of Painting, from Fra Angelico to 
 Velasquez. 
 
 (<?) Or the first substantive in the title. 
 
 Examples. 
 ART. Le livre intitule 1'art de bien mourir. Antoine 
 
 Ve"rard: Paris, 1492. fol. 
 BOOK. The Extraordinary Black Book, &c. London, 
 
 1831. 8vo. 
 
 (/) Or the first word other than an article. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 WHAT. What are we Going to Fight for? &c. Darling- 
 ton, [1878.] 8vo. 
 
 To. To Love and to be Loved. By the author of " I've 
 been Thinking." London, 1855. 8vo. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 (i) A compound expression formed with an adjective 
 derived from a proper name is in general taken as a heading 
 equally with the name from which it is derived, such ex- 
 pressions when in a foreign language being translated into 
 English, but the proper name itself may be substituted for
 
 CATALOGUING 87 
 
 the derivative in order to bring the entry under a larger 
 
 heading. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 FRENCH CEREMONIAL. Projet du nouveau ceremonial 
 
 fraiNjois. Paris, 1746. 4to. 
 FRANCE. Army. L'armee frangaise et ses drapeaux. 
 
 Paris, 1852. i2mo. 
 
 (2) Where for the name of an author there is substituted 
 an official designation or description sufficiently clear to 
 render his identity unmistakable, the book is not to be 
 regarded as anonymous, but is to be entered under the 
 name of the author. 
 
 When an author, while concealing his identity, writes 
 under a general name derived from any office, profession, 
 party, or qualification, the name so assumed is treated as a 
 real name, and taken as a heading. Books in which the 
 author designates himself merely by a descriptive phrase or 
 circumlocution are treated as anonymous. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 A book entitled " The Secret of England's Greatness," stated 
 to be "A speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer," is 
 entered under the name of the author as a matter of common 
 knowledge ; if stated to be " by a Merchant," under the name 
 " Merchant " ; but if " By a Citizen of London," it is treated as 
 anonymous and entered under England. 
 
 (3) Commentaries accompanied by the full text 
 of the work commented on are treated as editions 
 of the work, except when the text is distributed 
 through the Commentary in such a manner as not 
 to be readily distinguished from it, or is of insigni- 
 ficant bulk as compared with the Commentary. 
 This is one of the points where the catalogues of the 
 British Museum and the Bibliotheque Nationale 
 most conspicuously differ.
 
 88 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 III. Various classes of books excepted from the 
 preceding rules. 
 
 (a) The Old and New Testament and their component 
 parts are entered under the general heading Bible, with the 
 addition of sub-headings for the separate books or groups 
 of books and for the two Testaments. 
 
 (fr) Works officially published, not merely subsidised, by 
 learned societies are entered under the general heading 
 Academies, &c., followed by the name of the town or 
 country in which the society holds its meetings, and the 
 name of the society. Cross-references are, however, made 
 from the heading, which the book would have required if it 
 had not been published by an "Academy." 
 
 (c) Reviews, magazines, newspapers, journals, gazettes, 
 annuals, and all other works of a similar character, are 
 entered under the general heading Periodical Publica- 
 tions, followed by the name of the place of publication. 
 
 (d) All Almanacs, calendars, &c., are entered under the 
 general heading EPHEMERIDES ; anonymous catalogues, 
 not bearing the name of any institution or other owner, 
 under CATALOGUES; anonymous dictionaries (including 
 lexicons and vocabularies) of any description except 
 encyclopaedias, under DICTIONARIES ; encyclopaedias, even 
 when containing the name of their editor, under ENCY- 
 CLOPAEDIAS ; all directories in the same manner, under 
 DIRECTORIES. 
 
 (<?) All Orders of Divine Service put forth by authority, 
 such as Missals, Breviaries, Horse, the Book of Common 
 Prayer, the Agenda of the Lutheran Church, and their 
 component parts, are entered under the general heading 
 LITURGIES, followed by the name of the Church putting 
 them forth, and of the Order, Diocese, &c., in which their 
 use is enjoined. 
 
 The preceding rules and notes provide for the
 
 CATALOGUING 89 
 
 selection of the MAIN HEADING for each book, but 
 the CROSS-REFERENCES are of especial importance 
 in the British Museum catalogue. Cross-references 
 may be comprised under three chief heads : 
 
 I. References from alternative forms of the same 
 heading 
 
 These are made (a) from any alternative, incomplete, 
 inaccurate, or foreign form of a name, used in the book, 
 to the form adopted for the heading. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 Lux. (Mar.). See Luther (Martin). 
 SAINT DAVIDS, William, Bishop of. See Laud. 
 BARTAS (Guillaume de Saluste du). See Saluste du 
 
 Bartas. 
 
 HOLLYBAND (Claudius). See Desainliens (C.). 
 MiJNCHEN. See Munich. 
 ORTULUS. See Hortulus. 
 
 (b] From the name of any institution, periodical, &c., to 
 any larger heading under which it is entered. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 BRITISH MUSEUM. See ACADEMIES, &c London, 
 GEORGE HERIOT'S HOSPITAL. See EDINBURGH. 
 
 George Heriot's Hospital. 
 
 ACTA ERUDITORUM. See PERIODICAL PUBLICA- 
 TIONS. Leipsic. 
 
 II. Cross-references of the second kind are 
 made 
 
 (a) When a book is entered under any heading other 
 than the name of the author, from the name of the author 
 to this heading. 
 
 (b] To a heading consisting of initials or a descriptive 
 name from the heading under which the book would have 
 appeared if the initials or descriptive name had been absent.
 
 90 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Examples. 
 
 BARGRAVE (ISAAC). 
 
 A Sermon against Self-policy, &c. (by I. Bargrave) 
 
 [1624]. 410. See SERMON. 
 SHADOWS. 
 
 Shadows of Slum-Life. By E. M. M. 1889. 8vo. 
 See M., E. M. 
 
 III. Cross-references of the third kind are 
 made 
 
 (a) From the names of editors, translators, subjects of 
 biographies, authors of books criticised, &c., also, if ad- 
 visable, from writers of prefaces and introductions, illus- 
 trators, authors of MS. notes, &c. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 MALONE (EDMUND). See BOSWELL (J.), the Elder. 
 The Life of Samuel Johnson, &c. [edited by E. 
 Malone], 1807. 8vo. 
 
 BROWNE (Sir THOMAS), M.D. See DIGBY (Sir K.). 
 Observations upon Religio Medici [i.e. upon the un- 
 authorised edition of Sir Thomas Browne's work, pub- 
 lished in 1642], &c. 1643. 8vo. 
 
 CALDECOTT (THOMAS). See MILTON (John), the Poet. 
 Poems upon several occasions, &c. COPIOUS MS. 
 NOTES (by T. Caldecott), 1785. 8vo. 
 
 (b.} From the names of the author of part of a book, or 
 of a book forming part of a series. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 CHURCH (RICHARD WILLIAM), Dean of St. Paul's. The 
 Pense"es of Blaise Pascal. [A lecture.] See KEMPE 
 (J. E.), Companions for the Devout Life, &c. 1877. 
 8vo. 
 
 CHURCH (RICHARD WILLIAM), Dean of St. Paul's. 
 Spenser. [A sketch of his life and writings, pp. 181. 
 1879.] See Morley (Right Hon. John), English Men 
 of Letters, &c. 1878, &c. 8vo.
 
 CATALOGUING 91 
 
 Where convenient, for the saving of space or more 
 orderly arrangement, any of the cross-references 
 specified under (a) may be written direct to a cross- 
 reference of the form (b*) instead of to the main 
 entry, the short title of the larger work being 
 added after the date in italics enclosed in brackets. 
 
 Example. 
 
 PASCAL (BLAISE). See CHURCH (R. W.), Dean of St. 
 Paul's. The Pensees of Blaise Pascal. [A lecture.] 
 1877. 8vo. \Kempds Companions for the Devout Lifel\ 
 
 All the above kinds of cross-references may be 
 given in a general form, if this will save needless 
 
 repetitions. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 DURER. See DUERER. 
 
 HvEMMERLEIN (THOMAS) & Kempis. [For anonymous 
 editions of the Imitatio Christi by Thomas a Kempis, 
 see JESUS CHRIST.] 
 
 TUCKER (CHARLOTTE). [For works written by Char- 
 lotte Tucker under the initials A. L. O. E., see E., A. 
 L.O.] 
 
 In the case of biographies which go through 
 several editions the cross-reference is generalised, 
 so as to cover all editions, by the omission of the 
 date and size (and of the press-mark), the word 
 life or biography, &c., being prefixed to the 
 reference. 
 
 Cross-references of other kinds than those speci- 
 fied may be written, if likely to be of use to 
 persons using the catalogue, e.g. from the titles 
 of books, or series, in the form in which they are 
 generally known, whether correct or not, to the 
 heading under which they are entered.
 
 92 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Examples. 
 
 RELIQUIAE ANTIQUE. See WRIGHT (Thomas) and 
 HALLIWELL, afterwards HALLIWELL-PHILLIPS (J. O.). 
 
 PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS. London. Numis- 
 matic Chronicle. See ACADEMIES, &c. London : 
 Numismatic Society. 
 
 CATALOGUE OF MAPS 
 
 The catalogue of Maps is composed of main 
 entries under subject-headings, and of subordi- 
 nate entries under author-headings, arranged in 
 one alphabet, the arrangement under each subject- 
 heading (or sub-heading) being mainly chronolo- 
 gical, while that under author-headings follows the 
 alphabetical order of the countries or places de- 
 lineated. 
 
 The main entry of every atlas, map, chart, plan, 
 or view is placed under the generally accepted 
 name of the geographical or topographical area 
 which the work delineates, and is to be of sufficient 
 fulness to secure its identification. 
 
 Subordinate or abridged entries are made where 
 possible under the name of every author, whether 
 draughtsman, surveyor, or compiler, to serve pur- 
 poses analogous to those of cross-references in the 
 General Catalogue. 
 
 Where the names of more than one continent, 
 country, or locality are mentioned in the title of the 
 work (or, in the absence of a title, in the descrip- 
 tion supplied by the catalogues), the heading of the 
 main entry is the name of the first county, &c., thus
 
 CATALOGUING 93 
 
 mentioned, and subordinate entries are written for 
 such of the others as may require them. 
 
 When the subject-heading e.g. World, England, 
 London contains a large number of entries, sub- 
 headings are supplied to facilitate reference. 
 
 CATALOGUE OF MUSIC 
 
 The catalogue of Music is in two sections, section i 
 consisting of a catalogue of musical compositions 
 entered under the names of composers, with cross- 
 references from arrangers or editors ; section 2, 
 of cross-references from the authors of words set to 
 music to the names of the composers in section i. 
 The arrangement of both sections of the catalogue 
 is alphabetical. In section i cross-references are 
 also made : (i) in the case of vocal music, from 
 the first word of the name of the song ; (2) in the 
 case of operas, oratorios, and other choral works, 
 from their full title to the names of the composers. 
 
 Anonymous compositions : (i) if instrumental, are 
 to be catalogued under the first substantive of the 
 title, or, if there be no title, under the name of 
 the kind of music of which they consist ; (2) if 
 vocal, under the first word of the first line, with a 
 cross-reference from the name of the composer, if 
 ascertainable. 
 
 Collections of psalms or hymns are entered 
 under the name of the editor or collector, with a 
 cross-reference from either heading; if anonymous, 
 even though they possess a title, under the class- 
 heading PSALMS or HYMNS.
 
 94 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 It is hardly necessary to observe that the Museum 
 catalogues have not been uniformly drawn up on 
 the principles above laid down. In fact only the 
 printed volumes issued within the last few months 
 will be found in entire conformity with them, and 
 possibly, when the printing of the MS. general 
 catalogue of books is completed a year or two 
 hence, some further small improvements may have 
 been effected. One of the most striking changes 
 effected since the printing of the catalogue began 
 is the new arrangement of the cross-references. 
 These were formerly regarded as of inferior stand- 
 ing, unfit to mix with the main entries, and were 
 placed by themselves in the alphabetical order of 
 the headings to which they pointed. The conse- 
 quence was that when an edition of a work ap- 
 peared in a series, and consequently was entered as 
 a cross-reference to the main heading under which 
 the series was entered, it became separated from all 
 its other editions. The confusion that ensued among 
 the entries of much-reprinted books can be easily 
 imagined. This state of things was altered in print- 
 ing the early part of letter D. Again, the treatment 
 of books appearing under initials has been much im- 
 proved by the additional reference under the heading 
 which would have had to be selected if the initials 
 had not been there. This was done because initials 
 are so easy to forget, and references to books so 
 frequently disregard them. Another unsatisfactory 
 feature in the treatment of initials was the single 
 general cross-reference from an author's name to 
 the initials under which he had published books
 
 CATALOGUING 95 
 
 (e.g. AROUET DE VOLTAIRE (Francois Marie de), see 
 V., M. de). The present practice is to write a 
 separate cross-reference for each book published 
 under initials, except in cases where the whole of a 
 writer's bagage litteraire has appeared in that way, or 
 where a very unimportant writer has brought forth 
 a large number of pamphlets under the disguise of 
 initials, and a single reference is allowed to suffice. 
 
 Much objection is wont to be made to the head- 
 ings ACADEMIES, DICTIONARIES, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS, 
 EPHEMERIDES, LITURGIES, PERIODICAL PUBLICA- 
 TIONS. It must be admitted that such headings as 
 these are *not properly admissible to an author- 
 catalogue they are Form-catalogue headings. The 
 heading ACADEMIES is, further, one of doubtful 
 utility, on account of the difficulty of deciding what 
 institutions shall rank as academies. Quite recently 
 a reader at the Museum expressed surprise that the 
 Royal College of Music was not an "Academy," 
 and no doubt many a slight has seemed to be cast 
 on excellent institutions by excluding them from 
 that heading, which is reserved for bodies that 
 publish the results of research. It has been pro- 
 posed by rash innovators not only to abolish the 
 heading " Academies," but to disregard the names 
 of publishing societies in selecting the catalogue- 
 heading. The shortest experience of the wants of 
 students is enough to show, however, that very many 
 learned publications are best remembered by the 
 names of the societies that issue them. 
 
 The headings EPHEMERIDES, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS, 
 LITURGIES, PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS, only serve
 
 96 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 the end of keeping together the entries of books of 
 the same kind. To such readers as know of their 
 existence, they are very useful ; to those who do 
 not, it is inconvenient to be sent from one part of 
 the catalogue to another. Moreover, the concen- 
 tration into one or two volumes of all the entries of 
 a class of book much referred to produces a delay 
 in consultation. 
 
 The heading ENCYCLOPAEDIAS is in a way indis- 
 pensable, as providing for the wants of those readers 
 naturally a numerous class who know these 
 useful productions by their names and not by the 
 names of their editors. The heading DICTIONARIES 
 is only used for anonymous dictionaries, which are 
 thus kept together in a convenient classified form. 
 The existence of this heading is only possible owing 
 to the fact that dictionaries are a literary production 
 of closely defined form. The heading CATALOGUES 
 was at one time employed for all catalogues, but 
 now only to those bearing no name of owner or 
 place, the others being incorporated in their alpha- 
 betical places as the catalogue is printed. The 
 usual treatment of anonymous books only leads to 
 absurdities if applied to anonymous catalogues. 
 
 Objection is frequently made to the Museum 
 practice of using family names of peers in every 
 case as a heading instead of the title, and it is urged 
 that each name should be used in the form best 
 known to the public. These objectors do not con- 
 sider (i) that fifty years hence there will be a new 
 public, whose acquaintance with present-day names 
 it is impossible to prophesy, though the Museum
 
 CATALOGUING 97 
 
 catalogue is designed, at any rate, to serve their 
 ends ; (2) that most persons of title change their 
 titular appellation at least once in the course of 
 their lives, and may acquire celebrity under each, 
 so that if the catalogue is to keep pace with them, 
 frequent reprinting will be necessary unless the 
 family name (the permanent factor) be selected as 
 the heading. 
 
 The treatment of PSEUDONYMOUS works, again, 
 is open to objection, since the reader finds under 
 an author's name not a complete list of his works, 
 but only of those written under his name, or initials, 
 or anonymously, those written under pseudonyms 
 being provided for by general cross-references to 
 such pseudonyms. The saving of space is the only 
 possible justification of this treatment, and the 
 inadequacy of this plea is virtually admitted in 
 recent practice e,g. in the case of the heading 
 THACKERAY, W. M. special cross-references being 
 made under the author's name for each work of 
 his that appears pseudonymously. The practice of 
 changing the headings of pseudonymous books to 
 the author's real names as soon as these are known 
 w r ould be impracticable for any but a card-cata- 
 logue, on account of the reprinting that would be 
 involved. 
 
 CATALOGUE OF THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALS 
 
 Up to the present year the British Museum was the 
 only library of the first rank that had printed its 
 general catalogue, either by author or subject. In. 
 
 G
 
 90 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 August 1897, however, there appeared the first 
 volume of the general alphabetical-catalogue of 
 the French national library. It would be more 
 accurate to speak of this as the first volume of 
 the first part of the catalogue, the compilation 
 being divided into three parts 
 
 (1) Works of which the author is known (including, of 
 
 course, anonyma with revealed authorship). 
 
 (2) Anonymous works, periodicals, and works issued by 
 
 corporate bodies (ceuvres emanees de collectivites). 
 
 (3) Groups of special works. 
 
 This first volume of section i only covers the first 
 half of letter A (A ALBYVILLE), and takes up 565 
 large octavo pages, printed in double columns. In 
 estimating the extent of the library from these data, 
 it has to be remembered that works in which more 
 than four authors collaborate is treated as anony- 
 mous, and falls under section 2. 
 
 The catalogue is preceded by a learned intro- 
 duction from the pen of M. Leopold Delisle, giving 
 the history of the Bibliotheque Nationale and its 
 various catalogues, and describing the scope of the 
 present undertaking. 1 
 
 We will here venture on a few detailed criticisms 
 on the volume now published. 
 
 (i) Whenever a heading becomes particularly 
 long, the items are numbered in order. This 
 numbering forms a convenient reference in the 
 analytical index which precedes each long heading, 
 
 1 Further information as to the plan of the catalogue is given in the 
 Rapport on the material for the catalogue, drawn up by M. Emile 
 Picot. (Paris, 1894. 410.)
 
 CATALOGUING 99 
 
 as in the Museum catalogue. The duplicates, how- 
 ever, have numbers of their own, instead of bearing 
 the same number as the first copy, so that the 
 numbering is no clue to the number of different 
 editions. 
 
 (2) Titles in languages other than French, English, 
 Greek, Latin, and its modern derivatives, are followed 
 by a translation in small type as foot-note. The 
 object of this is not easy to see ; no mere translation 
 of the title of a German book, for instance, could be 
 of use to an inquirer ignorant of German. 
 
 (3) In all cases the author's name is repeated in 
 the .body of the title, a proceeding that adds little 
 to the information of the searcher, and must in 
 course of time lead to the use of some millions of 
 superfluous words. 
 
 (4) Editions of a text with a translation are not 
 classed apart as " polyglot " after the Museum 
 practice, but kept with the editions of the text. 
 As the mention of the Latin translation is not 
 seldom omitted on the title-page, this practice seems 
 calculated to assist the student who knows an 
 edition from its title only. 
 
 (5) The detailed statement of the contents of 
 each volume in the case of editions in many 
 volumes is also useful, enabling the reader to 
 obtain the particular volume required, instead of 
 sending for the whole collection, or throwing on 
 the attendants the onus of looking through tables 
 of contents. This practice has recently been 
 adopted to a limited extent in the British Museum 
 catalogue. It is only practicable in the case of
 
 100 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 completed collections, for it would produce a most 
 unsightly effect, even if it were practicable, to 
 insert mention of new parts of a series as they 
 arrived in the library. 
 
 (6) The printer's or publisher's names are added 
 to all books where known. In the Museum cata- 
 logue the names of publishers are generally omitted 
 from the titles of foreign books published after 1699, 
 but the insertion of this information has been shown 
 to be of so 'much use in differentiating editions, 
 that in the headings of Greek and Latin writers 
 lately printed for the General Catalogue (e.g. Terence) 
 the names have been added to all editions. 
 
 (7) The "notes" at the foot of the entries con- 
 tain descriptions of bindings, which are rarely 
 found in the Museum catalogue. (This omission, 
 we believe, will in future be avoided in the latter 
 compilation.) 
 
 (8) The treatment of undated books in the Biblio- 
 theque Nationale catalogue is unheroic, no attempt 
 being made to supply dates, except, apparently, in 
 the case of modern French books, which naturally 
 get themselves dated, with more or less accuracy, 
 through the depot legal. The order of the entries, 
 however, being chronological under each work, 
 dates are evidently conjectured by the compilers 
 of the catalogue, though not expressed. It seems 
 most regrettable that no assistance is afforded] to 
 the student on this point. 
 
 (9) Another omission, which used to charac- 
 terise the British Museum catalogue until about 
 ten years ago, is the omission of the pagination.
 
 CATALOGUING IOI 
 
 The insertion of this information is valuable, both 
 as supplying strong evidence of the identity of 
 editions, and as a clue to the importance or, at any 
 rate, size of books. 
 
 (10) The forenames do not appear to have been 
 filled in with the care that might have been ex- 
 pected, considering the stress laid on this in the 
 Rapport. Many English and American names are 
 left as initials, though the British Museum cata- 
 logue, Allibone, and other sources would have 
 supplied full forms. Even French names, that 
 might have been supplied from Army Lists and 
 other obvious sources, are similarly left incomplete. 
 The effect is particularly unfortunate under the 
 heading of such a common surname as "Albert." 
 Even in cases where the forms given are suffi- 
 ciently full to prevent confusion between the names 
 actually found in the catalogue, we submit that 
 fuller forms are necessary in view of future acces- 
 sions, and of the needs of extra-Gallic librarians, 
 who will look to this catalogue to supplement the 
 information gained from the headings in the British 
 Museum catalogue. 
 
 (u) The rules observed in the arrangement of 
 headings must necessarily be minute, and may not 
 be apparent at first glance even to a trained ob- 
 server. The following forms follow one another 
 as here printed, without apparent reason : 
 
 ADAM, maire de St. Ellier-les-Bois. 
 ADAM, substitut d Nancy. 
 ADAM (abbf). 
 ADAM, le Marin.
 
 102 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 (12) The general rule for choice between different 
 forms of an author's name is to take "the form 
 best known in France." As instances we may 
 quote : Lord TENTERDEN under ABBOTT (he ac- 
 quired his renown as Lord Chief-Justice Abbott), 
 but Lord ABERDEEN under ABERDEEN. This 
 sounds eminently reasonable, but we imagine that 
 differences about its application must from time 
 to time disturb the peace of the Bibliotheque. 
 
 (13) The disputes about the domain of cataloguer 
 and bibliographer are happily avoided to a great 
 extent, as the incunabula of France are already 
 being catalogued by Mademoiselle Pellechet, and 
 a reference to the first volume of her catalogue 
 takes the place of an elaborate description. 
 
 The general rule given in the Rapport for the 
 cataloguing of anonyma is simplicity itself. The 
 first word of the title (not being an article) is to be 
 the heading. In the next paragraph, however, it is 
 laid down that the cataloguer shall, as a rule, take 
 his heading not from the first vague line of the title, 
 but from the name which serves as special designa- 
 tion. This appears to apply to all such anonymous 
 books as in the British Museum catalogue appear 
 under personal and geographical names, and to 
 assign to them such names as headings. How- 
 ever, criticism on these points is hardly reason- 
 able before the second part of the catalogue begins 
 to appear, and that is an unknown date. 
 
 The ceuvres emanees de collectivites, such as "re- 
 ports, addresses, &c., shall be put under the name of 
 the assembly or meeting from which they emanate."
 
 CATALOGUING 103 
 
 It takes five persons to make a collectivite. Books 
 written by four persons appear under the first of 
 the authors' names, but the addition of a fifth 
 collaborator transfers the book to section 2. 
 
 Such, at least, is the course laid down in the 
 Rapport, but from M. Delisle's Introduction we 
 gather that the rules determining the borders of 
 sections 2 and 3, and the internal economy of those 
 sections, have not yet been finally determined. 
 Among the projected groups of special works 
 (many of which will also appear under author's 
 names in section i) are the following : (i) 
 Societes savantes the publications of learned 
 societies, arranged in order of countries and then 
 of provinces or towns. It is reassuring to find this 
 "group" after the abuse that has been levelled 
 at the heading Academies in the British Museum 
 catalogue, and rather startling to find the old 
 territorial classification of "academies" revived, 
 which that catalogue long since abandoned for an 
 arrangement under the alphabetical order of towns. 
 (2) Public Libraries and Museums catalogues, 
 reports, &c. (3) Music. (4) Maps. (5) Factums, or 
 legal pleas, of which the catalogue has already in 
 part been published. (6) Acts of sovereign powers. 
 
 (7) Parliamentary and administrative documents. 
 
 (8) Newspapers and reviews. (9) Episcopal charges. 
 (10) Liturgies. 
 
 The complete catalogue, drawn up on the fore- 
 going lines, is expected to contain two million 
 entries, which will, however, include a number of 
 cross-references from editors, translators, &c.
 
 104 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Anonymous books include those published under 
 initials. This decision will be a boon to the com- 
 pilers of the catalogue, and has been avowedly 
 arrived at partly in consequence of the enormous 
 bulk attained by entries of this sort in the British 
 Museum catalogue. (Letter B is instanced, there 
 being 191 printed folio columns of entries under 
 initials ending with that letter.) 
 
 BODLEIAN LIBRARY 
 
 The " Compendious Cataloguing Rules for the 
 Author-Catalogue of the Bodleian Library," as 
 affecting a collection of books among the largest 
 in the world after the two preceding, calls for 
 comparison. 
 
 The selection of headings, in certain respects, 
 proceeds upon unusual lines. " Books are to be 
 entered under the surnames of authors, when stated 
 on the title-page or otherwise certainly known'' This 
 appears to cover all cases of books published at 
 first anonymously and bearing their authors' names 
 in a subsequent edition. It is somewhat hard on 
 the person consulting the catalogue that he must 
 find in a bibliography the name of the author of 
 any anonymous book he desires to see before he 
 can get it. 
 
 Anonymous books are to be catalogued " under 
 the first striking word or words of the title, with a 
 . . . cross-reference, where advisable, from any other 
 noticeable word or catch-title." The great latitude 
 of this rule will probably make many books easily
 
 CATALOGUING 105 
 
 findable that a more rigid system would tend to 
 hide, but must, on the other hand, make it extremely 
 difficult to assert, of a given anonymous book with 
 a complicated title, that the Bodleian Library does 
 not possess it. Appended is the direction : " If the 
 name of a writer occur in a work but not on the 
 title-page, the work is also to be regarded for the 
 purpose of headings as anonymous, except in the 
 case of works without separate title-page. This, 
 however weak-kneed in point of theory, is practi- 
 cally superior to the British Museum system, under 
 which a book apparently anonymous may have its 
 author's name hidden away in the ' privilege/ or 
 an acrostic. Books published under initials or a 
 pseudonym are to be regarded as anonymous, but 
 cross-references are to be given from such initials 
 or pseudonym. Liturgical books are to be entered 
 under the names by which they are commonly 
 known in England, such as Prayer (Book of Com- 
 mon), Baptism (Order of), &c. No treatment is pre- 
 scribed for the numerous liturgical works that 
 have no specific name, such as the many hundreds 
 of books to be found in the British Museum cata- 
 logue under Liturgies with the sub-sub-heading 
 of Particular Services. 
 
 " Noblemen are to be entered under the title, ex- 
 cept when the family name is better known, a cross- 
 reference from the one to the other being made in 
 every case." This rule substitutes occasional expe- 
 diency for universal certainty, and takes no count 
 of the rise and fall in popularity of the successive 
 forms of an author's name.
 
 106 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The usual treatment of foreign names is followed 
 in the Bodleian rules : English compound names 
 connected with a hyphen are put under the com- 
 pound form. This rule, though it gives a sort of 
 imprimatur to many illegally assumed double 
 names, is only just to the holders of double names 
 legally borne, and as the ATHERLEY- JONESES are as 
 well known under that form as, say, the JEX-BLAKES, 
 it is on the whole preferable to the contrary rule, 
 followed, though not consistently, in the British 
 Museum catalogue. 
 
 " Word-books, grammars, and alphabets are to be 
 entered under the name of the languages to which 
 they relate, as well as under their compilers and 
 editors, &c." 
 
 This rule is really out of place in an author- 
 catalogue, but its practical convenience may be 
 held to justify its existence. 
 
 The "Cataloguing Rules (for an author-cata- 
 logue) of the LIBRARY ASSOCIATION of the United 
 Kingdom, as revised at the Liverpool Meeting, 1883," 
 bear a close likeness to the Bodleian rules. They, 
 however, reinstate the collective heading " Liturgies," 
 and prefer the British Museum practice of entering 
 English compound names under the second part. 
 Foreign compound names go under the first part. 
 Here, as in the Bodleian rules, no account is taken 
 of the fact that Dutch names, when treated by 
 native bibliographers, appear under the last part of 
 the surname. 
 
 " Prefixes indicating the rank or profession of
 
 CATALOGUING 1 07 
 
 writers may be added in the heading when they are 
 part of the usual designation of the writer." 
 
 This is not expressly stated in other systems of 
 rules, and in others is forbidden. The British 
 Museum recognises nothing below the dignity of 
 a Dean as indispensable, and withheld an appella- 
 tion from Canon Farrar till he reached that emi- 
 nence. The frequent changes in military, naval, and 
 ecclesiastical titles make the Library Association 
 rule somewhat difficult in practice. 
 
 BRESLAU CATALOGUE (DR. DZIATZKO) 
 
 Among Continental systems of author-catalogues 
 there is one which, by its scientific completeness 
 and the eminence of its contriver (now librarian of 
 the University of Gottingen) deserves careful atten- 
 tion that in use at the Royal Library at Breslau. 1 
 The features which distinguish it from the British 
 Museum " Ninety-one Rules " have partly been 
 adopted there as additional to those rules, and 
 partly are due to the fact that the Breslau catalogue 
 is a card-catalogue, in which much shifting is pos- 
 sible without reprinting. The Breslau system, too, 
 is characterised by a fine disregard of unimportant 
 people, in strong contrast with the British Museum 
 catalogue, which, for instance, contains cross-refer- 
 ences for all the successive editors of the obscurest 
 
 1 Instruction fur die Ordnung der Titel itn alphabetischen Zettel 
 Katalog der Kbniglichen und Universitiits-Bibliothek zu Breslau, aus- 
 gearbeitet von Dr. Carl Dziatzko, Oberbibliothekar. Berlin, 1886. 8vo. 
 Recently issued, in a revised form, with a view to its general adoption 
 in Prussian libraries.
 
 108 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 periodicals whose names are mentioned or other- 
 wise known. We will proceed to notice a few of 
 the more striking features of the system. 
 
 WORKS BY SINGLE AUTHORS 
 
 (1) If a writer's name become changed, the later 
 form is taken. Thus the Orientalist Boetticher, who 
 came in for some property and changed his name 
 to Lagarde, appears under the latter form. The 
 Museum heading chronicles his rise to greatness 
 by the form BOETTICHER afterwards LAGARDE. 
 
 (2) When the name of an author writing under 
 a pseudonym becomes revealed, that becomes the 
 heading, and the pseudonym appears as a cross- 
 reference only. 
 
 (3) " Descriptions " of an author cannot form 
 headings. Thus a book stated on its title-page to 
 be "von einem Juristen" is treated as anonymous. 
 
 When several authors are named on the title-page 
 (i) Collections of different works, having a collec- 
 tive title, take their heading from this title (in 
 accordance with the rules for anonymous books), 
 and cross-references are made from each part, if 
 " bibliographically independent." If the parts are 
 not of this kind, as e.g. in an encyclopaedia, the 
 general editors, if there are any, have cross- 
 references, but none of the authors ; if there 
 are no general editors, then the first and last 
 of the authors named on the title-page have cross- 
 references.
 
 CATALOGUING 1 09 
 
 Thus, Real- Encyclopedic des class. Alterthums . . . 
 Von Bahr> Baumstark . . . unddem Herausgeber 
 Aug. Pauty, is catalogued under the first word, 
 with a cross-reference from PAULY only. 
 
 (2) A single work by a number of authors goes 
 under the first or most prominent author, with cross- 
 references from the others. 
 
 When no author is mentioned on the title-page, 
 the author's name, if otherwise ascertainable, forms 
 the heading, and a cross-reference is made from 
 the anonymous heading. This latter is not made 
 when the authorship may be presumed to be known 
 to every one. Thus an anonymous edition of the 
 " Bride of Lammermoor " goes under Scott, without 
 any other entry. On the other hand, if the name 
 of a book is much better known than that of its 
 author, the main entry is under the " anonymous " 
 heading that the book would have if it were anony- 
 mous, and there is a cross-reference from the name 
 of the author. 
 
 When the author's name is not known, the head- 
 ing is taken from the "real" part of the title, i.e. 
 that part which indicates the contents of the book. 
 The first substantive (or the nominative case of it) 
 is the word selected, so that PHILOSOPHICAL TRANS- 
 ACTIONS appears under TRANSACTIONS. Words like 
 Commentatio, Dissertatio, Tractatus, Abhandlung, are 
 discarded, and an index of words thus discarded 
 must be made. Personal and place names do not 
 take precedence of other substantives. The names 
 of translators, and even editors, of books or collec-
 
 110 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 tions of books, of which the authors are not known, 
 may not be taken as headings. Various elaborate 
 rules are provided for the case where the title of an 
 anonymous book is in sentence-form. 
 
 (1) When the title is a complete main-sentence, 
 the first word (barring the article) is taken from the 
 heading ; e.g. 
 
 WER hat Recht ? Quis est Petrus. 
 
 Note, Formulae giving the contents, such as often occur 
 on title-pages of older books, are neglected for this purpose 
 (e.g. Insunt in hoc volumine, &c.). 
 
 (2) When the title is a subordinate sentence, 
 with the main clause omitted, or merely indi- 
 cated afterwards by disseritur, explicatur, or other 
 words 
 
 (a) If the subordinating word comes at the beginning 
 of the title, it is taken as the heading. 
 
 (b) Failing such, the first substantive not used as an 
 attribute is taken as the heading without change of case. 
 
 e.g. De hceresi abiuranda quid statuat ecclesia Romano- 
 Catholica : under H^ERESI. 
 
 (3) If the material part of the title is grammati- 
 cally connected with the name of the editor, trans- 
 lator, &c. This connection is broken, and the 
 heading is taken from the "material part" of the 
 title, and the nominative form is used, if the sub- 
 stantive taken was only in some other case because 
 of the grammatical connection aforesaid.
 
 CATALOGUING III 
 
 e.g. Joan. Georgii Gmelini . . . reliquias . . . commerdi 
 epistolici cum . . . publicandas curavit G. H. Th. 
 Plieninger (1861) under RELIQULE. 1 
 
 (4) When the title reproduces in narrative 
 form the contents, occasion, &c., of the book that 
 follows 
 
 (a) If it contains, at the beginning or later on, a sub- 
 stantive in the nominative referring to the contents, this 
 becomes the heading. 
 
 An dem den 21. May a. 1742 beigehaltenen solennen 
 Exequien -vor . , . Graf en . . . H. Hannss Anton 
 Schaffgotsche . . . erleiichteten Trauer - Geriiste 
 ivaren nachstehende soivohl deutsch, als lateinische. 
 Inscriptiones zu lesen : under INSCRIPTIONES. 
 
 (b) If the opening words are in the form of a sentence, 
 and so are clearly prominent, the heading is selected as 
 in (i); in other cases the first substantive, without altera- 
 tion of case, is taken. 
 
 e.g. Den GEBURTSTAG Friedrichs des Grossten feiert die 
 deutsche Gesellschaft zu Halle, &c. 
 
 (c) If no suitable word is contained in the title, it is 
 necessary to invent one. 
 
 e.g. In diesem biichlein findet man, wie man einem 
 yegklichen Teutschen Fiirsten uii herren schreyben 
 soil, &c., under BRIEFSTELLER. 
 
 Of these arbitrary headings an index must be kept. 
 
 1 This title is abbreviated in so extraordinary a fashion that we are 
 inclined to suspect a suppression on the printer's part of the words 
 " C. Linnseo . . . et aliis" after "cum." Otherwise grammatical 
 construction seems to be quite disregarded.
 
 112 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 II. SUBJECT-CATALOGUE 
 
 The term Subject-catalogue is here compen- 
 diously used as covering both classed-catalogues 
 and subject-indexes. The first is generally under- 
 stood to be a detailed scheme logically divided and 
 subdivided of the branches of human knowledge, 
 with the respective books under each head ; in the 
 latter the departments of knowledge of which the 
 respective books happen to treat are used as the 
 headings, with a certain amount of grouping. 
 The strife between the exponents of these two 
 systems has always been severe, and is even now 
 hotly raging. 
 
 The classed-catalogue has an undeniable seduc- 
 tiveness. It appears so necessary and desirable to 
 map out a catalogue according to the divisions of 
 human knowledge, and in certain fields it is per- 
 fectly feasible. For instance, it is perfectly possible 
 to put together under one heading HISTORY all 
 books that profess to treat of history in general, 
 or of the history of some part of the world ; and 
 so with books of GEOGRAPHY and TRAVEL, and 
 other heads. The weakness of the system appears 
 when applied to books on small subjects, which 
 no two persons would place alike in a logical 
 scheme. A book on Locks and Keys, for instance 
 (two such books appear in the British Museum 
 subject-index for 1885-90), must be ranged with 
 books on Useful Arts, and also, considering what 
 Locks and Keys are used for, under the division,
 
 CATALOGUING 113 
 
 whichever that may be, that deals with subjects 
 like BURGLARS and FIRE INSURANCE. Also, remem- 
 bering displays in the galleries of museums, we 
 must have the book under Art somewhere. 
 
 OSIERS, we imagine, must figure under Botany, 
 under Useful Arts (being used for basket-making), 
 and under Agriculture. Any ingenious librarian 
 with time to waste might invent a few more 
 headings for each of these, and when he had 
 finished he would glean a few more from dis- 
 appointed readers. The remedy offered in the 
 modern classed-catalogue lies in a subject-index, 
 which in the above cases would, of course, show 
 in what humorously recondite subdivisions OSIERS 
 and LOCKS and KEYS are to be found, that is to 
 say, those subjects would be found classed once 
 with other subjects cognate with them. The most 
 ambitious of class-cataloguers rarely promise more 
 than this, though their chief attraction is said to 
 be the varied conspectus of kindred subjects which 
 cheers the student. 
 
 The paucity of printed subject -catalogues of 
 libraries on the Continent renders it difficult to 
 ascertain in what ways these obstacles have been 
 overcome in the classed-catalogues so extensively 
 used there. From M. Delisle's introduction to 
 the new author-catalogue of the PARIS NATIONAL 
 LIBRARY we gather that the authorities of that 
 institution have given up hopes of further classed- 
 catalogues on a large scale. In 1895, however, 
 the PRUSSIAN Government set aside the sum of 
 300,000 marks for printing a subject-catalogue 
 
 H
 
 114 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 of the wissenscliaftlich libraries of the kingdom, the 
 amount to be spread over twenty years, but of this 
 no specimen has yet appeared. 
 
 The classed-catalogue in the UNITED STATES is 
 chiefly a product of the Dewey system, which has 
 of late attracted universal attention among biblio- 
 graphers in Europe. This system was designed 
 by Mr. Melvil Dewey, now Director of the New 
 York State Library, and first given to the public 
 in 1876. The name is derived from the mode of 
 notation employed to indicate the various classes 
 and sub-classes in the scheme. The whole of 
 human knowledge is divided into nine classes, 
 denoted by the figures i to 9, zero being used 
 for "general" works, such as encyclopaedias and 
 bibliographies. 
 
 0. General Works. 5. Natural Science. 
 
 1. Philosophy. 6. Useful Arts. 
 
 2. Religion. 7. Fine Arts. 
 
 3. Sociology. 8. Literature. 
 
 4. Philology. 9. History. 
 
 Each of these classes is subdivided into ten sec- 
 tions, and each section into ten sub-sections, these 
 divisions being similarly denoted by figures. This 
 triple classification, denoted by three figures, and 
 comprising one thousand classes, will be minute 
 enough for small libraries. An infinite number of 
 subdivisions may be made, and denoted by figures 
 added to the three already obtained, and separated 
 from them by a decimal point. 
 
 Thus under the third division SOCIOLOGY the
 
 CATALOGUING I 15 
 
 general works are denoted by 300 ; general works 
 under the first subdivision Statistics by 310; 
 under the second subdivision Political Science by 
 320 ; and so on to 390, the subdivision for CUSTOMS, 
 COSTUMES, and POPULAR LIFE. This is subdivided 
 as follows : 
 
 391 Costume and Care of Person. 
 
 392 Birth, Home, and Sex Customs. 
 
 393 Treatment of the Dead. 
 
 394 Public and Social Customs. 
 
 395 Etiquette. 
 
 396 Woman's Position and Treatment. 
 
 397 Gipsies, Nomads, Outcast Races. 
 
 398 Folk-Lore, Proverbs, &c. 
 
 399 Customs of War. 
 
 The further subdivision, denoted by figures fol- 
 lowing the decimal point, may be instanced by 
 section 396, which is thus subdivided : 
 
 396. i Emancipation. 
 
 .2 Legal Status, Property, Rights, &c. 
 
 .3 Political Status. 
 
 .4 Education. 
 
 .5 Employment. 
 
 .6 Woman in Home. 
 
 .7 Delineation of Woman in Art. 
 
 .8 Delineation of Woman in Literature. 
 
 .9 Woman in History, Politics, War. Amazons. 
 
 As an instance of greater elaboration we may 
 take 839.8168, denoting the works of Carl Ploug, 
 a Danish poet. Here 8 denotes literature, 3 German 
 literature, 9 minor Teutonic literatures, 8 Danish 
 and Norwegian literature, i Danish and Norwegian
 
 Il6 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 poetry, 6 implies the further restriction to the 
 Modern Period, while 8 specifically points to the 
 poet Ploug. Mr. Dewey's published scheme does 
 not appear to subdivide more than four times in 
 addition to the primary triple classification, but of 
 course there are infinite possibilities of expansion. 
 
 The European admirers of the decimal system, as 
 represented by the Institut International de Biblio- 
 graphic at Brussels, have produced some elaborate 
 additions to it. 
 
 Thus to express complex notions of classification 
 the figures of different classes may be juxtaposed, 
 the second forming a "determinant" of the first. 
 Thus if wages are represented by 331.2, the textile 
 industries by 677, and metal-working industries by 
 669, it is possible to express 
 
 Wages in the textile industries 331-2 : 677. 
 
 Wages in the metal-working industries, 331-2 : 669. 
 
 The figures are written in this order on the supposi- 
 tion that works on wages are being subdivided, but 
 there is no reason why the figures should not be 
 reversed, so that, for instance, if books on the 
 textile industries are to be classified, the figures 331.2, 
 denoting wages, become a subdivision of 677, the 
 textile industries. This use of "determinants" 
 greatly lessens the number of figures required to 
 express complex ideas. 
 
 Besides these determinants (called "general"), 
 there are "special" determinants to denote form, 
 time, and place. 
 
 I. Formal Determinants, showing the literary
 
 CATALOGUING Iiy 
 
 form of a work. To show that these figures have 
 nothing to do with subject, a cypher precedes 
 them. 
 
 .01 General theory, or utility of a subject. 
 
 .02 General treatises, manuals, &c. 
 
 .03 Dictionaries, encyclopaedias. 
 
 .04 Essays, addresses, lectures, &c. 
 
 .05 Periodicals, reviews, &c. 
 
 .06 Publications of Societies. 
 
 .07 Teaching and study of a subject, museum 
 of a subject. 
 
 .08 Polygraphy ; works of several authors forming a 
 series, or collections treating of a subject. 
 
 .09 History of a subject. 
 
 Thus 52 denotes ASTRONOMY, and ASTRONOMICAL 
 REVIEWS are marked 52.05. 
 
 II. Determinants of Time and Place. These serve 
 to denote that the consideration of a subject is 
 regarded under certain limitations of time and 
 space. 
 
 The geographical determinants are identical with 
 the figures used to denote the subdivisions of the 
 heading GEOGRAPHY, and are placed in parentheses 
 after the class number : e.g. RELIGIOUS HISTORY 
 OF FRANCE, 27 (44) ; RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF ITALY, 
 27 (45) ; 27 representing RELIGIOUS HISTORY, and 
 44, 45 being the figures representing the subdivi- 
 sions FRANCE and ITALY respectively in the divi- 
 sion GEOGRAPHY. There are other series denoting 
 time limits: (e.g. 52 (14) = WAGES in the MIDDLE 
 AGES), political divisions, and physical divisions 
 (e.g. 59.82 = BIRDS, 59.82 (22) = ISLAND BIRDS).
 
 Il8 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 III. Determinants for Proper Names. These con- 
 sist, as a rule, of the names themselves, in alpha- 
 betical order : e.g. 396 = WOMEN ; 396 MOLIERE 
 = IDEAS OF MOLIERE ON WOMEN. 
 
 There are still further determinants, which, how- 
 ever, are not intended to be commonly used. 
 
 If two numbers beginning with the same 
 figures, and consequently denoting divisions of 
 the same subject, have to be combined, it is not 
 necessary to repeat. Thus in photography 77.24 
 
 = NEGATIVE - PROCESS BY THE AID OF GELATINO- 
 BROMIDE OF SILVER, and 77.115 = DEVELOPMENT 
 OF THE VISIBLE PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE. The COm- 
 
 bined numbers may be expressed 77 [24 : 115], 
 and will denote works on the DEVELOPING PRO- 
 CESSES BY THE AID OF GELATINO - BROMIDE OF 
 SILVER. 
 
 This latter is a specimen of the minute develop- 
 ments that can be effected in each branch of 
 science by specialists adopting the system. 
 
 The question as to the value of this scheme qua 
 classification being for the moment waived, the 
 objection at once occurs which any other scheme 
 of equal complexity would of course provoke 
 that no two people would agree as to what sub- 
 division was proper for any particular book. 
 At this point comes in the Relative Index, a list of 
 subjects and their synonyms in alphabetical order, 
 with the class-figures attached to each. This list 
 contains the headings " found in a selection of the 
 largest dictionary- and subject-catalogues." The 
 size of it increases in the successive editions of
 
 CATALOGUING 119 
 
 Mr. Dewey's book, and in the last l seems to com- 
 prise nearly 21,000 headings, including synonyms. 
 Its limitations are best set forth in the words of 
 the compiler himself : " It does not include all 
 names of places, minerals, plants, &c., but gives 
 only those used in the full tables (i.e. those showing 
 the subdivisions which require not more than four 
 figures to express them), and a further selection 
 of the most common and useful. It is not a 
 biographical dictionary, and gives no names of 
 persons as biographical headings, but only such 
 as appear in the tables in connection with some 
 subject like philosophy, literature, or history. 
 To a void swelling the index by frequent repeti- 
 tions of long lists of subdivisions under every 
 country, language, &c., five general tables have 
 been prepared : viz. (i) Geographical Divisions, 
 (2) Form Divisions, (3) Languages, (4) Philological 
 Divisions, (5) Literatures. These are placed at the 
 end, and referred to from all such topics in the 
 index." 
 
 The use of these tables will appear from the 
 following examples: A reader looking in the index 
 for VENETIAN LIBRARIES under VENICE finds besides 
 the number proper to VENICE the figure i, direct- 
 ing him to the first Index Table, that of Geographical 
 Divisions. This is a list in alphabetical order of 
 subjects of which the treatment can be restricted 
 by geographical considerations, with the proper 
 figures attached. Here Libraries are seen to be 
 
 1 " Decimal Classification and Relative Index" (Fifth edition, 1894. 
 Library Bureau. London, Boston, &c.).
 
 120 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 indicated by 0.27, which would of course have been 
 found at once by looking under the heading 
 Libraries in the general index. The geographical 
 number for limiting the heading LIBRARIES to 
 the geographical division VENICE is ingeniously 
 obtained from the main heading " History," of 
 which the subdivisions are necessarily geogra- 
 phical, by suppressing the characteristic first 
 figure 9, the mark of HISTORY. Thus VENETIAN 
 HISTORY is 945.3 ; the "geographical number" for 
 VENICE will be 453, and this added to the figures 
 denoting LIBRARIES will give 027.0453, the figures 
 for "VENETIAN LIBRARIES." The cypher following 
 the decimal point is intended to show that, no 
 subdivision according to kinds of libraries takes 
 place, the new principle of geographical subdivision 
 being introduced. 
 
 The two characteristics of the system on which 
 the contriver lays special stress are the index and 
 the system of notation, both of which he believes 
 to be novel. The index, it must be admitted, is a 
 most valuable adjunct to a classified catalogue, since 
 the position of many subjects in a general scheme 
 of human knowledge is sure to be arbitrary. Mr. 
 Dewey's classification, where, by his own admission, 
 much is sacrificed in order to secure the continual 
 subdivisions into tens, stands in especial need of 
 one. It would be of little use, we should think, to 
 the educated reader as soon as he had grasped the 
 general arrangement of the catalogue before him, 
 but to the ill-informed it would be a continual 
 benefit. We are not able to say how large a library
 
 CATALOGUING 121 
 
 the last edition of the index would fit, but it would 
 certainly be inadequate for any of the dozen largest 
 libraries in Europe, since a large proportion of the 
 excess of a very large collection over one of mode- 
 rate size will consist of books on minute and for- 
 gotten subjects, for which new entries would be 
 required in the index. 
 
 The " notation " is designed for a triple end. It 
 is first to lead the searcher from the catchword 
 in the index to the proper part of the classed- 
 catalogue. When, as is nearly always the case in 
 America, this catalogue is in cards, so that a page 
 reference is impossible, this is an important end to 
 achieve. Secondly, the notation by its possibilities 
 of indefinite expansion will provide a distinguishing 
 mark for any new subdivisions that have to be 
 added. Thirdly, it affords means of a minute 
 classification on the shelves. (For further details 
 on this point see Chapter IV.) Mr. Dewey informs 
 us in explaining his system that he has "devised 
 and experimented with several different plans of 
 classification and notation by means of numbers, 
 letters, and combined numbers and letters, . . . 
 yet none have seemed good enough to warrant fully 
 working out and publishing details." We should 
 like to hear a little more of these abortive efforts, 
 since a modification of the Dewey plan, devised by 
 Mr. Cutter of the Boston Athenaeum, and applied 
 by him to the library of that institution, seems to 
 possess several advantages over its original. It is 
 however to be feared that these will not have their 
 proper weight among librarians, since the mere
 
 122 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 fact of the Dewey system being so extensively 
 used gives it great initial advantage. "The chief 
 characteristics of the notation used in the Ex- 
 pansive Classification are that it ensures an easy 
 distinction between divisions relating to coun- 
 tries (which are always and exclusively denoted 
 by figures) and other divisions (which are marked 
 by letters), and that the figures denoting any one 
 country are the same, in whatever part of the 
 classification they occur." Another advantage is 
 claimed for the system with obvious justice, that, 
 starting from a basis of twenty-six marks (the 
 letters of the alphabet), as compared with the ten 
 of the Dewey system, it will express the same 
 degrees of complexity in subdivision with the aid 
 of fewer marks. The final advantages occurring 
 from this initial superiority must be reckoned by 
 geometrical progression before their just value can 
 be arrived at. A larger number of marks being 
 left available in every subdivision, more room is 
 left for future expansion, whence the name of 
 Expansive Classification given to the system by its 
 inventor. From the point of view of international 
 adoption Mr. Cutter's system has the advantage of 
 not yet being irretrievably fixed, so that Europeans 
 by using it would not stand committed to defects of 
 unscientific or partisan arrangement, if such charges 
 should be brought against this scheme, as they have 
 been against the Dewey system. 
 
 These American systems of classification have 
 been known and practised (mostly with modifica- 
 tions) in this country for many years past, but
 
 CATALOGUING 123 
 
 since 1895 they have attracted much attention 
 throughout the Continent, owing to their adop- 
 tion by the Brussels Library Conference in that 
 year. 
 
 " In September 1895 a Conference assembled at 
 Brussels under the auspices of the Belgian Govern- 
 ment, and after discussing and examining a series 
 of experiments extending over several hundred 
 thousand cataloguing-slips, unanimously adopted 
 the Decimal Classification as a basis of arrange- 
 ment." l The Conference also expressed a hope of 
 bringing together into one single card-catalogue all 
 the bibliographical information hitherto scattered 
 through numerous publications, so as to form a 
 permanent aid to research in every branch of know- 
 ledge. Such a card-catalogue would, of course, 
 realise the dreams of most European librarians, 
 and there was much indignation when this scheme 
 was found to have the Decimal Classification tacked 
 on. The conduct of the Congress was stigma- 
 tised as " hasty and improvident " z in Germany. 
 In Austria, at a meeting of the Oesterreichischer 
 Verein fur Bibliothekswesen, no one ventured to 
 express complete approbation. The Dewey system 
 was condemned in France as "complicated and 
 illogical," 3 in Germany as " mechanical and un- 
 scientific." 4 It was subjected by M. Leopold Delisle, 
 
 1 Organisation Internationale de la bibliographic scientifique, Brux- 
 elles, 1896. 8vo. {Publications de r Office international de Bibliographic, 
 No. 5.) 
 
 2 Centralblatt fiir Bibliothekswesen, July 1896. 
 
 3 M. Polain in the Revue des Bibliotheques, March 1896. 
 
 4 Centralblatt fiir Bibliothekswesen, November 1895.
 
 124 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 the learned head of the Bibliotheque Nationale at 
 Paris, to a temperate and searching criticism in 
 the Journal des Savants^ He finds in the Dewey 
 scheme, first of all, a lack of proportion "which 
 is perhaps inoffensive to a librarian living among 
 books mostly modern and of American origin, but 
 which cannot pass unnoticed by librarians accus- 
 tomed to European libraries, where the ancient 
 collections have not yet been swamped by the pro- 
 ducts of the contemporary book-trade." Thus the 
 space allotted to the United States is seven times 
 as large as that assigned to Belgium, a country with 
 a not unfertile record, or to England, or to Ger- 
 many, including Austria, Bohemia, Poland, and 
 Hungary. Again, he points out, under the heading 
 LAW, the section FOREIGN LAW is a sort of common 
 fosse, into which every law-book is bundled that 
 has nothing to do with England or America, the 
 result being that the space allotted to Roman Law 
 is only ^ F f that belonging to American and 
 English law. Taking a subject from those which 
 his mediaeval studies have so familiarised him with, 
 M. Delisle deals with the RELIGIOUS ORDERS (271. 
 in Mr. Dewey's scheme). 
 
 271.0 General. 271.6 Passionists and Re- 
 
 271.1 Benedictines. demptorists. 
 
 271.2 Dominicans. 2 7 I -7 Lesser Roman 
 
 271.3 Franciscans. Orders. 
 
 271.4 Augustinians. 271.8 Anglican Orders. 
 
 271.5 Jesuits. 2 7 J -9 Women's Orders 
 
 1 March 1896.
 
 CATALOGUING 125 
 
 [Subdivision of .7.] 
 
 .70 General. .76 Oblates. 
 
 .71 Carthusians. .77 Lazarists. 
 
 .72 Cistercians. .78 Christian Brothers. 
 
 .73 Carmelites. .79 Other lesser Roman 
 
 .74 Trappists. Capuchins. Orders. 
 
 .75 Sulpicians. 
 
 "At this point a number of objections occur to 
 me. I will point out only a few. First, why has 
 not the chronological order been followed ? Why 
 are the Jesuits ranked before such ancient Orders 
 as the Carthusians and Cistercians ? Why have not 
 the mendicant orders been placed side by side ? 
 Why put the Trappists with the Capuchins and 
 not with the Cistercians, seeing that they are nothing 
 but reformed Cistercians ? Similarly, why put the 
 Capuchins in sub-section 271.7, when sub-section 
 271.3 is set aside for the Franciscans ? Can it have 
 been forgotten that the Capuchins are children 
 of St. Francis, like the Franciscans proper ? Is 
 there not ground for astonishment when we see 
 no mention made of such considerable Orders as 
 the Canons Regular, the Camaldolites, the Bons 
 Hommes de Grandmont, the Monks of St. Anthony, 
 the Mathurins, the Celestines, and the Oratorians ? 
 But the partisans of the American scheme will say, 
 the elasticity of the scheme allows you to cut up 
 group 271.79 into ten. I know that this course 
 might be adopted, but it is evident for all that that 
 the classification of Religious Orders put forward by 
 Mr. Dewey is utterly chaotic. The authors that he 
 took as his guides have given him most confused
 
 126 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 and even erroneous information, for they have led 
 him to ascribe the foundation of the Dominican 
 Order to the year 1170, and the Franciscan to 
 1182." 
 
 M. Del isle goes on to show how, by the total 
 omission of one of the most important headings 
 the Benedictines section 271.9 is divided with 
 equal ill-success. 
 
 Again, M. Delisle examines the classification of 
 BIOGRAPHIES. 
 
 920 Biography General and Collective by Localities. 
 
 921 of Philosophy. 
 
 922 ,, of Religion. 
 
 923 of Sociology. 
 
 924 ,, of Philology. 
 
 925 of Science. 
 
 926 of Useful Arts. 
 
 927 ,, of Fine Arts. 
 
 928 of Literature. 
 
 929 of Genealogy and Heraldry. 
 
 M. Delisle wants to know whether St. Vincent 
 de Paul will go under 922.2 as a Catholic saint or 
 923.6 as a philanthropist, and Voltaire under 921 
 as a philosopher or 928 as a man of letters ? The 
 subdivision of 920 receives further censure. 
 
 Biography Individual and 
 collective by Subjects. 
 
 920.1 Bibliographers. 
 
 920.2 Librarians. 
 
 920.3 Encyclopaedists. 
 
 920.4 Publishers. 
 
 920.5 Journalists.
 
 CATALOGUING 127 
 
 920.6 Academicians. 
 
 920.7. Women. (Collected and individual lives not 
 going with any subject.) 
 
 920.8 Eccentrics, cranks, fools, insane, &c. 
 
 920.9 Other special classes, e.g. phrenologists, som- 
 
 nambulists, &c. 
 
 M. Delisle thinks, not without reason, that 
 certain people his countrymen, no doubt, would 
 furnish cases might be classed as men of letters, 
 journalists, or academicians. 
 
 No doubt objections of this kind, if not of this 
 degree, could be plausibly brought against any 
 system of classification whatever, but more serious 
 are the material errors and imperfections noted by 
 M. Delisle in the heading " Religious Orders." Mr. 
 Dewey claims to have made large use of the 
 services of specialists in constructing his scheme 
 and the index to it, but some of them at least 
 appear to have led him astray. 
 
 So far as we know, the only librarian of the first 
 rank who welcomes the Decimal System is Signer 
 Chilovi, the head of the Biblioteca Nazionale 
 Centrale at Florence, its latest critic. 1 He is in 
 part disarmed, we think, by the general resolution 
 now visible in Europe to regard the system as at 
 most applicable to the mere classification of books, 
 without adopting the class-numbers as press-marks. 
 
 At the International Bibliographical Conference 
 at Brussels in July 1897 ^ became evident that 
 the Dewey system had progressed in favour with 
 
 1 / cataloghi e f Institute internazionale di bibliografia .... 
 I. I cataloghi delle bibliotechc. Firenze, 1897.
 
 128 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 men of science if not with librarians, and specimens 
 were shown of classed-catalogues made on the basis 
 of that system relating to physiology, astronomy, 
 photography, and other sciences, yet the Inter- 
 national Conference on Scientific Papers that met 
 in London last year would have none of it. 1 
 
 The introduction to this index lays chief stress 
 on the one undeniable merit of the Dewey system, 
 that it exists, elaborately worked out, and must save 
 an incalculable amount of time. As a French 
 bibliographer said of the British Museum catalogue, 
 "Ce n'est pas une chef-d'ceuvre, mais cependant 
 ga existe." This will probably secure it a con- 
 siderable following amongst librarians, especially 
 the less scholarly among them. 
 
 The project of the Brussels " Institut international 
 de Bibliographic " for making the Dewey classifica- 
 tion an international standard hardly calls for 
 serious notice in the present state of public opinion. 
 The Institut looks forward to a time when every 
 book and review article will appear marked with the 
 decimal class-number assigned to it by some cen- 
 tral authority, the Institut for choice. This would 
 involve, as Dr. Joachim points out in a recent 
 article, 2 the despatch of a copy of each book, 
 before publication, to Brussels, the mere title being 
 obviously insufficient. The Societe de Biologic de 
 Paris, above alluded to, thinks each author might 
 
 1 Societe de Biologic de Paris : Physiologic. Classification cUcimale. 
 Index getter al. Rapport, &c. Paris, 1896. 
 
 2 In No. 10 of Dziatzko's Sammlung bibliothekswisscnschaftlicher 
 Arbeiten, 1896.
 
 CATALOGUING 129 
 
 assign the class-number to his own productions. 
 That way chaos lies. The uniform classification 
 of old and rare books would present even greater 
 difficulties, as they could not well be exposed to the 
 risk of a journey for so slight an object. 
 
 III. THE SHELF-CATALOGUE 
 
 This is a catalogue in which the titles of the 
 books follow the same order as the actual books 
 on the shelves. In libraries where a close classi- 
 fication prevails, it is identical with the classed- 
 catalogue. Being chiefly of use for the staff of a 
 library, it is not printed as such, though in libraries 
 with printed catalogues it will consist usually of 
 printed slips mounted on cardboard. If the cross- 
 references are arranged with the title to which they 
 point,' the shelf-catalogue furnishes a ready means 
 of knowing in how many places alterations have to 
 be made when change of position or discovery of 
 error necessitates corrections in the main entry. 
 
 In all libraries the shelf-catalogue, when com- 
 pared with the books as they stand on the shelves, 
 afford a ready means of detecting theft or misplace- 
 ment. 
 
 IV. THE FORM-CATALOGUE 
 
 The form-catalogue has practically no existence 
 alone, but contributes elements to the other varie- 
 ties of catalogue. If it existed, it would be com- 
 posed of such headings as " Sermons," " Speeches," 
 " Reports," " Essays," " Poems," " Satires," " Chap- 
 
 I
 
 130 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 books, "Periodicals," "Encyclopaedias," all denoting 
 literary form. The use of these headings in author- 
 or subject-catalogues is a matter of expediency. 
 They are common in the American dictionary- 
 catalogue. 
 
 V. DICTIONARY-CATALOGUE 
 
 There is a variety of catalogue which evades 
 inclusion in the foregoing classes, namely, the 
 dictionary-catalogue, which partakes of the nature 
 of them all. The objects and rules of a compila- 
 tion of this kind have been codified by Mr. Cutter, 1 
 of the Boston Athenaeum Library. Its aims are 
 said to be 
 
 I. To enable a person to find a book of which either 
 
 A. The author ~\ 
 
 B. The title j- is known. 
 
 C. The subject J 
 
 II. To show what a library has 
 
 D. By a given author. 
 
 E. On a given subject. 
 
 F. In a given kind of literature. 
 III. To assist in the choice of a book 
 
 G. As to its edition (bibliographically). 
 H. As to its character (literary or topical). 
 
 The means to be adopted for achieving these 
 ends are 
 
 1. Author-entry (for A and D). 
 
 2. Title-entry or Title-reference (for B). 
 
 1 "Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue" . . . Third edition. Washing- 
 ton, 1891. 8vo. (U.S. Bureau of Education Special Report on Public 
 Libraries. Part 2. )
 
 CATALOGUING 131 
 
 3. Subject-entry, cross-references, and classed sub- 
 
 ject table (for C and E). 
 
 4. Form-entry (for F). 
 
 5. Giving edition and imprint, with notes when 
 
 necessary (for G). 
 
 6. Notes (for H). 
 
 (1) Mr. Cutter gives elaborate rules for the selec- 
 tion of author-headings, which do not at present 
 concern us. 
 
 (2) The title-entry has for its heading, as a rule, 
 the first word of the title, with suppression of the 
 article, or else some striking word (" catchword ") 
 which is likely to remain in the reader's memory. 
 
 (3) " In a dictionary-catalogue some books can- 
 not profitably have subject-entry, because they not 
 only have no one subject, but do not even belong 
 to any class of subject. Enter a work under its 
 subject-heading, not under the heading of a class 
 which includes that subject." Thus a book on Cats 
 under CAT, not DOMESTIC ANIMALS or ZOOLOGY. 
 Under the more comprehensive headings, how- 
 ever, there will be cross-references to the specific 
 headings. 
 
 (4) The scope of the form-entries appear from 
 Mr. Cutter's rule, " Make a form-entry for COLLEC- 
 TIONS of works in any form of literature." The 
 possibility is contemplated of giving references 
 under POETRY, DRAMA, or FICTION to every entry 
 of books of that kind, but only the largest dictionary- 
 catalogues attempt this. Another rule under this 
 division seems rather superfluous, " Make a form- 
 entry for single works in the rarer literatures,
 
 132 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 as Japanese, or Kalmuc, or Cherokee." It is 
 difficult to see what end this serves, except vain 
 display. 
 
 (5) and (6) The forms of imprints and notes 
 are discussed in detail by Mr. Cutter, but these 
 questions are not specially connected with the 
 dictionary-catalogue. This form of compilation, 
 containing, as it does, author, title, and subject in 
 a single alphabetical order, has been very largely 
 used in free libraries as being the best adapted 
 for readers without knowledge of books and dis- 
 inclined to take much trouble in finding them, but 
 its merits have of late been extensively questioned, 
 and a lively controversy is now raging between 
 its advocates and those of the " classed-catalogue." 
 An argument has been strongly adduced that the 
 dictionary-catalogue can only be printed as a 
 whole, whereas any section of a classed-catalogue 
 in which the public happens to be particularly 
 interested can be periodically brought up to date 
 and separately issued, and this plea of economy 
 can hardly be gainsaid. The omissions proposed 
 to be made in class-catalogues, with a view to 
 further economy, are extremely debatable ; such 
 as that of a list of titles in the fiction part, which 
 would require an enormous memory in the librarian 
 to make up for it, and that of the index of authors 
 to the non-fictional lists, which must surely per- 
 plex the reader, especially the half-educated one, 
 searching for one of those numerous books that 
 have indefinite titles. We would mention one 
 book as a conclusive instance, Kinglake's " Eothen."
 
 CATALOGUING 133 
 
 This is a book with a great reputation, and was 
 no doubt extensively inquired for a short time 
 ago, at the time of its distinguished author's death, 
 but its title conveys no manner of hint as to its 
 contents, and hardly any two people who knew 
 the book would assign it to the same heading in 
 a class-list. The contest of the catalogues is hardly 
 a fair one till it is decided what information they 
 are required to provide, and we venture to doubt 
 whether much difference in size will be found 
 between the two varieties if the conditions are 
 equal. The additions of annotations, claimed as 
 a merit of the class-list, is certainly no new thing, 
 being set down by Mr. Cutter as one of the chief 
 means of attaining the objects of a dictionary- 
 catalogue. 
 
 The partisans of this latter system have been 
 justly wont to point out, as a finished specimen 
 of the genre, the catalogue of the Surgeon-General's 
 Library at Washington. From the recent report 
 of the new National Library of Switzerland it 
 appears that they will soon have another first-rate 
 library to instance as a supporter. 
 
 MATERIAL SHAPE OF THE CATALOGUE 
 
 The theoretical construction of a catalogue being 
 settled, there remains to be considered the material 
 shape in which the conception is to be embodied 
 so as to make it serve the needs of readers and lib- 
 rarians. The various devices known may be classed 
 under two headings : (i) VOLUME -CATALOGUES,
 
 134 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 where the entries of book-titles are written or 
 printed in succession like the text of a book, 
 space being left between the entries, or in the 
 margins, to provide for future additions ; and (2) 
 CARD-CATALOGUES, where the titles are written on 
 separate cards, which are kept in boxes. 
 
 The volume -catalogue is, of course, easier to 
 consult, as a single glance over a printed page will 
 reveal a title, whereas in the card-catalogue the 
 search will always be attended with tedious effort. 
 This facility of conspectus is heightened when, as in 
 the author- catalogue, numerous editions of the 
 same book follow one another, and can be abbre- 
 viated in a volume-catalogue, but not in a card- 
 catalogue, where each card must be independently 
 intelligible. The searching for titles being thus the 
 work of the eye rather than the ringer and thumb in 
 the volume-catalogue, the latter system is admittedly 
 the more cleanly in a large library. Its advantage in 
 the way of bulk is even more obvious. The enor- 
 mous bulk attained by the card-catalogues of some 
 American libraries is beginning, so rumour says, to 
 discredit the system with the heads of the larger 
 institutions. Again, the volume-catalogue, if printed, 
 as is usually the case, can be despatched through- 
 out the world for the information of students ; the 
 card-catalogue must transmute itself into the other 
 species before becoming capable of this. The 
 volume-catalogue, however, breaks down in one 
 or two particulars. First, it is impossible to foresee 
 how much space to leave in a given place for future 
 accessions, especially in author-catalogues. If the
 
 CATALOGUING 135 
 
 entries of these are written in, they are immovable ; 
 even if they are made movable by one of the devices 
 to be described later on, they will, in the case of 
 prolific authors and subjects of growing import- 
 ance, inevitably overflow the allotted space. It 
 should be remembered that these " accession titles " 
 will practically include such titles already in the 
 catalogue as require to have their position changed 
 owing to the discovery of printers' or cataloguers' 
 errors. All these changes, of course, are effected 
 with the greatest ease in a card-catalogue. Few 
 libraries, again, have more than a single copy of 
 their card-catalogues. In a much-frequented library 
 this must inevitably retard the work both of staff 
 and readers, and if at any time it were decided to 
 print the catalogue, would involve a partial cessa- 
 tion of work for both. The general verdict appears 
 to be that the card-catalogue is most serviceable for 
 all libraries but the largest, i.e. those of which the 
 catalogues have to be printed in the interests of 
 knowledge. 1 
 
 The almost universal employment of card-cata- 
 logues in the United States has been attended by 
 some interesting developments. The influence of 
 the American Library Association has led to uni- 
 formity in the size and shape of the cards employed, 
 the structure of the boxes used for displaying them, 
 and in devices for arrangement. Upon this has 
 followed a scheme for "co-operative cataloguing" 
 
 1 For a description of the mechanical devices used in this system the 
 reader is referred to the work on " Library Architecture and Fittings," 
 by Mr. Burgoyne, in this Series.
 
 136 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 of new publications, under the management of the 
 Association. About sixty of the largest libraries (a 
 few holding aloof) have agreed to get their cards 
 printed in common, and to a large extent publishers 
 have been found willing to send advanced copies 
 of books to the Association for nothing, in view 
 of the advertisement thus obtained. The sale of 
 these gratuitous copies, we learn from the 1897 Report 
 of the Association, together with the subscriptions, 
 pays the expense of manufacturing and distributing 
 the cards, and a certain proportion of secretarial 
 expenses. The report continues: "The most en- 
 couraging direction for an enlarged use of prin^d 
 cards is for articles in serial publications, especially 
 such as are not included in any of the general 
 indexes to literature of this kind. Five of the large 
 libraries of the country have been considering the 
 interchange of cards among themselves for such 
 titles ; and the Publishing Section hopes it may be 
 able to make an arrangement with these libraries, 
 under which it can undertake to print these titles, 
 furnish them to the libraries at a lower cost than 
 they could do the work for themselves, and at the 
 same time distribute such as might be wanted to 
 other libraries at a moderate price, and so allow 
 them to share in the advantages of the work done 
 co-operatively by the five larger ones." 
 
 In connection with these systems we may men- 
 tion a scheme whereby the publishers of a book 
 are to furnish printed catalogue-slips of it. This 
 has been spasmodically attempted in America, 
 in England (by Archibald Constable & Co. and
 
 CATALOGUING 137 
 
 perhaps by others), and in Germany and Italy. The 
 Brussels Institut International de Bibliographic 
 has made strong representations in favour of the 
 practice, and the matter will shortly be discussed 
 in conclave by the Borsenverein der deutschen 
 Buchhandler and the Verein der Oesterreichisch- 
 ungarischen Buchhandler. 
 
 Certain catalogues (chiefly of theses published 
 by Governments) are issued in an edition printed 
 on one side of the paper only, with a view 
 to their being cut up and inserted in catalogues. 
 From the reports 1 of the Biblioteca Nazionale at 
 Florence, it may be seen how far these devices are 
 at present serviceable. In 1895 that library incor- 
 porated with its catalogues 17,000 slips (author and 
 subject), made by cutting up the Jahresverzeichnisse 
 der an den deutschen Universitdten erschienenen 
 Schriften for the years 1892-93 and 1894-45, about 
 16,000 similarly obtained from the Catalogue des 
 theses et Merits academiques for 1892-93, 7000 made 
 from the index to the A rchivio giuridico, 700 from 
 the index to the Rassegna di scienze sociali e politiche, 
 and 34,000 from the Royal Society's Catalogue of 
 Scientific Papers, vol. ii.-iv. From the latter source 
 it is estimated that in the end 200,000 entries will 
 be inserted in the catalogues of the Biblioteca. In 
 many cases these large figures imply that the same 
 entry has been used twice over, or even more often, 
 for author- and subject-entries. It is to be supposed 
 that the Biblioteca receives all the Italian works 
 
 1 Contained, passim, in the Bollettino delle pubblicazioni italiane 
 rice-vule per diritlo di stampa, published by the Biblioteca.
 
 138 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 indexed in the above-mentioned compilations, and 
 also all the theses which are obtained by interna- 
 tional exchange. The articles registered in the 
 Royal Society's catalogues are often contained in 
 academical publications which the Biblioteca does 
 not possess, nevertheless they are all cut up and 
 mounted for use in the event of any of these latter 
 being acquired. This encouragement shown to 
 writers in academical publications is producing 
 effect. Thus in January 1896 it is announced that 
 the Accademia Pontaniana at Naples, in presenting 
 its Atti for the preceding year, includes a set of 
 printed titles for the articles contained therein. 
 
 The volume (author) catalogue of the BRITISH 
 MUSEUM library being by far the largest of its 
 kind in existence, a detailed description of this 
 will be of interest. It is at the present time almost 
 entirely in print, the parts still in MS. comprising 
 only the headings BIBLE (part), ENGLAND, FRANCE, 
 GERMANY, GREAT BRITAIN, GREAT BRITAIN AND 
 IRELAND, and LITURGIES. The MS. catalogue was 
 thus constructed. When a book had been cata- 
 logued, four copies of the slip were made simul- 
 taneously on sheets of thin tough paper by a process 
 of multiple writing. These thin slips were pasted 
 in order at intervals in bound volumes of very 
 stout paper, the paste being only applied at the 
 upper and lower edges, so that by the insertion of a 
 thin paper-knife made for the purpose each slip could 
 be easily moved. In 1850 the catalogue of the 
 library made on this plan, and placed in the Reading- 
 room, comprised 150 volumes. In 1875 these had
 
 CATALOGUING 139 
 
 swollen to fifteen times that number. At that 
 time it began to be evident that the huge bulk 
 of the catalogue made it more expensive to keep 
 up in manuscript than to print. The Treasury 
 became restive at the salaries required for the 
 transcribers who copied the cataloguing-slips and 
 the incorporators who assigned these to their proper 
 places, and the wages bill of the binders' men 
 employed in the manual work, shifting and relaying 
 thousands of slips per month, inserting new leaves, 
 breaking up and rebinding the volumes as they 
 became too heavy for readers to lift. Moreover, 
 the available space in the Reading-room began to 
 be filled up with the 2500 thick folios. These con- 
 siderations led in 1880 to the adoption of print for 
 the titles of accessions to the library, and for the 
 main catalogue itself in the following year. 
 
 It is not generally known that this project was 
 conceived many years before by Thomas Watts, 
 then Keeper of Printed Books. We are able to 
 give an extract from a letter of his (dated 28th May 
 1855) to Panizzi : "The next consideration, there- 
 fore, will be as to the best method of procuring 
 seven or more copies of the title-slips. You are 
 aware that for several reasons I have long thought 
 it would be advisable to print them. Though the 
 present system of manifold transcription was pro- 
 posed by myself, yet even before its adoption I 
 had on consideration changed my opinion and 
 suggested printing instead." 
 
 The transition to printed form, of course, would 
 by itself have enormously lessened the bulk of the
 
 140 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 catalogue, but in addition to the careful correc- 
 tion that each MS. volume underwent before going 
 to press, very large abbreviation was effected. As 
 the titles of successive editions were now to appear 
 in a solid column of print instead of on movable 
 slips, in cases where the title of the book remained 
 constant it could be omitted in every entry but that 
 of the first edition. Again, the fact that an editor, 
 collaborator, preface-writer had a share in a 
 number of successive editions need be indicated at 
 length in the first edition only, the dates and press- 
 marks of later editions being added in chronological 
 order. It need hardly be mentioned that no head- 
 ing needed to be repeated more than once on a 
 page, which also effected a large saving of space. 
 In order to provide space for the insertion of 
 accessions the earlier parts of the catalogue were 
 impressed on stout paper with large margins, 
 " guards " being left by the binders with a view to 
 the insertion of fresh leaves. Before letter A was 
 finished it was decided to print the catalogue on 
 thin paper and paste it down on stout paper, so that 
 if any considerable portion of a printed column re- 
 quired removal it could be soaked off and pasted else- 
 where. This, however, is now very little practised. 
 The steady increase in the number of accessions led 
 to another alteration about the beginning of letter I 
 in 1889, when the printed columns were pasted on 
 alternate leaves instead of alternate pages, so that 
 the reader opening a volume of the catalogue 
 found the left-hand portion of the left-hand leaf 
 occupied with a printed column, and all the
 
 CATALOGUING 141 
 
 remainder of the two pages before him left blank 
 for future accessions. This very necessary change 
 has led to a difficulty which sometimes puzzles those 
 most familiar with the catalogue. So large a space 
 being provided for accessions, it was obviously 
 absurd to use up first of all the blank portion of 
 the left-hand leaf, and then to keep shifting these 
 whenever a fresh insertion became imperative. So 
 it was ordained that the " incorporators," whose 
 duty is to mark the places where the binders shall 
 paste down the accession-slips, should (visually) 
 divide the printed column into three, and place in 
 the three blank columns the accessions rightfully 
 belonging to the three respective divisions of the 
 printed column. Thus a later edition, arriving as 
 an accession of a book entered at the bottom of 
 the printed column, appears at the right-hand 
 bottom corner of the opposite page, and is liable to 
 escape notice, especially if that page has no other 
 entries in it to attract the eye. Though this was 
 introduced when the letter I was being begun, it 
 has not proved expansive enough : IBSEN, for in- 
 stance, has overflowed his bounds, and has had to be 
 reprinted. This reprinting unfortunately cannot be 
 obviated by the insertion of fresh leaves. If this 
 course were adopted, the accession-title mentioned 
 just now, instead of being in a corner of the opposite 
 leaf, might be a page or two ahead, and would 
 almost inevitably be missed. It is absolutely 
 essential that an accession-entry should be within 
 sight of what we may call the parent-entries, those, 
 namely, between which it would have stood if it had
 
 142 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 been included when the printed catalogue was first 
 made. The accession-slips, therefore, being neces- 
 sarily crowded together, even under the most favour- 
 able circumstances have to be moved very much 
 more often than the original independent paper 
 slips were, and so their edges get worn away by 
 the friction of the binder's knife. Another disad- 
 vantage attendant on this overcrowding has been 
 quite recently brought to light. The binders, in 
 their zeal to prevent reprinting, allowed the acces- 
 sion titles to occupy the space where the meditative 
 and not always cleanly thumb of the reader is wont 
 to rest. The surface being greasy, the binders' 
 paste will not hold, and from time to time the slips 
 fall out. The order has accordingly been issued 
 that no slips are to be incorporated lower than the 
 base of the printed column. 
 
 The copy provided for the use of the public is, 
 however, not the only one. Three copies of the 
 catalogue are kept up to date, one in the Reading- 
 room, one for the use of the staff, and one to 
 replace the Reading-room copy while in the hands 
 of the binders for repairs or for incorporation of 
 accession-slips. There is also a " Fourth Copy," 
 generally called by that name, arranged as a shelf- 
 catalogue, which it is sometimes permitted to biblio- 
 graphers to use. If alterations or corrections have 
 to be made they are made first of all on the original 
 cataloguing slips, and these are taken round to the 
 three copies of the catalogue in turn. If, however, 
 these corrections involve much unsightly addition 
 to the title, or necessitate a change in its position,
 
 CATALOGUING 143 
 
 the title is usually reprinted, and the old one struck 
 out or removed, according as it is in the printed 
 column or one of the inserted slips. Sometimes if 
 the alteration, though involving change of place, is 
 slight, the accession-slips are altered, detached, and 
 reinserted, so as to save reprinting. 
 
 The card (author) catalogue of the BIBLIOTHEQUE 
 NATIONALE is at present arranged in drawers, and 
 we have no information as to the form in which the 
 printed catalogue to be made from these will assume 
 when adopted for the incorporation of accession- 
 titles. 
 
 The subject-index of modern books at the same 
 library presents a peculiar form, which is a com- 
 promise between the volume-catalogue and the 
 card- catalogue. The cards are gathered into small 
 bundles by means of a strip of pliable material 
 attached to one lateral edge, and three of these 
 bundles are bound into a volume, one above the 
 other, forming a tall narrow folio. This device is 
 also employed at Cassel, and originated in Holland. 
 It has recently been adopted in the new Swiss 
 National Library at Berne. 
 
 The volume-catalogue of the university of HALLE 
 also presents some features of interest. It consists 
 of folio leaves bound in volumes. Across the top of 
 each leaf a thick black line is drawn, 25 mm. from 
 the upper edge. A short line (45 mm. long) is 
 placed parallel to this in the right-hand top corner, 
 bearing on top the number of the page, and below, 
 the first and last press-marks of the books on the 
 page. On the left (longer) side of the leaf two lines
 
 144 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 are drawn, the first 17 mm. from the edge, and the 
 second the same distance from the first, extending 
 upwards 15 mm. beyond the thick black line and 
 downwards to the edge of the leaf. The first 
 column thus formed contains the size, and the 
 second the numerical portion of the press-marks 
 of the books. A similar column is made by a 
 vertical line on the right side, in which the number 
 of volumes in each work is registered. This in- 
 formation is pencilled only in cases of works in 
 progress. The remaining space in the middle 
 (16 mm.) contains the titles of the books, with the 
 schlagwort or heading used in the alphabetical 
 catalogue underlined. The entries in the small 
 columns are placed in the same straight line with 
 the word so marked. To provide for the expansion 
 of the library only from four to six entries are 
 made on a page, and with the same view an inter- 
 rupted series of numbers is given to the books. 
 
 REPRODUCTION OF TITLE-SLIPS 
 
 I. By Printing. There is no difference of opinion 
 among librarians as to the superiority of print over 
 handwriting or typewriting for catalogues, and in 
 larger libraries it is universally adopted. For the 
 most striking advance in this direction we must 
 again have recourse to the United States, where 
 the Boston Public Library has a printing estab- 
 lishment of its own, fitted with all the newest 
 mechanical devices. From a pamphlet recently 
 issued by this library (Memoranda Concerning the
 
 CATALOGUING 145 
 
 Printing Department. Boston, 1897) we will quote 
 some interesting particulars : 
 
 "The work of the department may be divided into 
 three classes: (i) stationery, blank forms, circulars, and 
 general supplies ; (2) book and pamphlet work, including 
 bulletins, finding lists, subject-catalogues, special biblio- 
 graphies, &c. ; (3) titles for the various card-catalogues. 
 . . . The first class of work differs little from that coming 
 to any commercial printer ; in quantity it is very consider- 
 able ; in execution it is sought to handle it in simple and 
 solid fashion, as to reduce the cost to the lowest point con- 
 sistent with efficient quantity. In the second and third 
 classes of work machine composition (linotype) plays an 
 important part. . . . The use of the linotype for type-setting 
 entails both advantages and disadvantages. The great speed 
 at which the machine can be operated, together with the 
 simultaneous automatic distribution of the matrices after 
 the casting of each line or ' slug,' materially reduces the 
 cost of the work. . . . The heavy investment for type, 
 where large quantities are required to be kept standing for 
 long periods, is avoided, because the machine uses raw 
 metal at an absolute cost of about one-sixth of that same 
 amount of foundry type. Since the metal is recast with 
 each composition, it may be of one size and face to-day 
 and of another to-morrow ; thus one pound of metal will 
 take the place of several pounds of different sizes and faces 
 of type. . . . Matrices cost two and a half cents each, and 
 from five to twenty of each character are required. . . . 
 These matrices being returned by the machine for use 
 again immediately after the casting of each line, it is im- 
 possible to run short of ' sorts,' no matter how great a run 
 on any special characters (e.g. unusual accents) may be 
 entailed by certain varieties of work. . . . On the other 
 hand, no machine is so flexible as the human hand. 
 
 K
 
 146 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Consequently the maximum of economy in the use of the 
 linotype can be obtained only where it is employed on 
 'straight' matter. Manuscript which can be read with 
 difficulty only will seriously reduce the speed of any com- 
 positor, and where speed is so important a factor as in 
 machine composition, good copy is of the first importance. 
 The fact that the correction of an error necessitates the 
 entire recomposition of the line or lines which it affects 
 introduces the possibility of other errors, and renders essen- 
 tial great care in the reading of all revised proofs. Since 
 the key-board covers only the capital and lower-case letters, 
 figures, points, and a few of the more common signs or 
 accents, all matrices for italics, small capitals, or black-faced 
 letters must be inserted into the lines by hand from a ' sorts 
 box.' ... In other words, the use of the machine neces- 
 sitates a style of copy which can be profitably handled 
 by it." 
 
 Appended to the Memoranda are specimens of 
 printed catalogue-cards, which cost from seven to 
 eight cents (3|d. to 4d.) per set of eight copies. 
 The department hopes to get complete sets of 
 Greek and Russian types, it is stated. From the 
 remarks above quoted we should be inclined to 
 think that the introduction of the types necessary 
 to print the languages occurring in every large 
 catalogue would quite neutralise the advantages of 
 the linotype, while it is evident that the titles in 
 ordinary Roman character are produced with great 
 economy and speed. 
 
 II. Typewriting. In cases where several copies 
 of the cataloguing titles have to be made for inser- 
 tion in more than one sort of catalogue, or for 
 other reasons, the typewriter is a valuable adjunct.
 
 CATALOGUING 147 
 
 It is, of course, not available for titles written in 
 non-Roman characters, or Roman characters with 
 numerous accents (such as Polish or Roumanian). 
 With these exceptions the cataloguing slips of the 
 Berlin University Library began to be copied in 
 1892 with satisfactory results. The figures pub- 
 lished in that year, 1 and now doubtless capable of 
 far more favourable statement, are as follows : 
 
 Hours. Minutes. 
 
 ioo titles (i copy) written, took . .7 54 
 
 100 titles (i copy) typewritten, took 5 35 
 
 ioo titles (2 copies) written, took . . 14 28 
 
 ioo titles (2 copies) typewritten, took . 6 6 
 
 The saving would be greater still if three or more 
 copies had to be made. 
 
 1 Centralblatt fur Bibliothekswesen, April 1892.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ARRANGEMENT 
 
 THE question of the arrangement of books on the 
 shelves of a library has long been hotly disputed. 
 The various systems are reducible to two. In the 
 first, the location of each book is fixed, and the 
 press-mark, or series of figures attached to the 
 entry of each book in the catalogue, simply in- 
 dicate on what shelf, and in what place on that 
 shelf, it may be found. In the second system the 
 position of the books with regard to the shelves 
 is indifferent, but they must follow one another on 
 the shelves in some preconcerted order, and it is 
 this order which the press-mark (to keep the old 
 term) signifies. This continual shifting, of course, 
 adds considerably to the wear and tear. The ob- 
 jects to be achieved by a system of arrangement 
 are : (i) to classify the books ; (2) to provide space 
 for the expansion of each class ; (3) to waste no 
 space, either horizontally or vertically. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION. The need for classification is 
 generally supposed by modern librarians to be 
 beyond dispute, but the impartial outsider may 
 very well ask why, in cases where readers are 
 not allowed to forage for themselves among the
 
 ARRANGEMENT 149 
 
 "stacks," classification should be insisted on: a 
 proper system of subject-indexes, he would say, is 
 all that is required. 1 The librarian, too, knows well 
 enough that if the size of the books to be arranged 
 were the only thing to be taken into account it 
 would be infinitely more easy to keep together books 
 of the same sizes, and so save space. 
 
 This very unassuming view of the matter is 
 taken by the authorities of the Royal Library 
 at Brussels, the Nazionale at Florence, and the 
 Vittorio Emanuele at Rome, where for some years 
 past the books have been put on the shelves 
 according to sizes only. It might perhaps be 
 thought that this haphazard system would some- 
 how react on the orderliness of the staff, but we 
 do not think that this result can be noticed in 
 the cases mentioned. 2 However, a certain portion 
 of every library, and, with the growth of the open- 
 access system, the whole of many libraries, are 
 available for the personal inspection of readers, 
 so that systems of classification, admittedly neces- 
 sary under these circumstances, will have to be 
 considered. 
 
 It remains, then, to be seen how far the systems 
 
 1 Of course if there are no subject-indexes the shelf-catalogue of 
 a classified library is of great bibliographical service, as, for instance, 
 that of the books constituting the British Museum library before 1879, 
 when the subject-indexes were begun. 
 
 2 The classification of libraries has been carried out with great zeal 
 and knowledge in Germany ; but at least one librarian there (Dr. 
 Kerler, of the University of Wlirzburg) is opposed to the practice in 
 libraries where the public does not visit the shelves. ( Centralblatt fur 
 Bibliotheksivesen, 1884.)
 
 150 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 of arrangement and classification now in vogue 
 meet the requirements of classification, provision 
 of space, and saving of space, and to this end we 
 will proceed to describe in detail a typical specimen 
 of each. 
 
 (i) The fixed-location system at the British 
 Museum. The various presses are denoted by a 
 series of Arabic figures, ranging from one to 14,000, 
 and the whole space is divided up among the 
 departments of human knowledge, according to a 
 rough scheme of classification hereinafter set forth. 
 The numeration of the presses is not successive, 
 the originators of the plan being conscious that 
 it was impossible to foresee the relative rates of 
 increase in the literature of the various subjects. 
 It was no doubt regarded as possible that the 
 omitted numbers would in course of time be as- 
 signed to new presses erected in new buildings, 
 or otherwise separated from their place in the 
 original scheme. The shelves are denoted by the 
 successive letters of the alphabet, sometimes used 
 singly, sometimes repeated or used in conjunction. 
 The origin of this lettering is that the presses in 
 what is now the Hebrew Library, and in other 
 parts, the contents of which were shifted to the 
 iron structure round the Reading-room after the 
 latter was built, were only one storey in height, 
 and when it was decided to space them out over 
 two storeys intermediate letters had to be invented 
 wherewith to distinguish the intervening unoccupied 
 shelves. In order that the press-mark of a book 
 may show on which storey it is to be found, and
 
 ARRANGEMENT 151 
 
 so remove all risk of fruitless stair-climbing, no 
 letter beyond dd is used for the first storey. The 
 press-mark denoting press and shelf was considered 
 sufficient until 1875, when the numbers denoting 
 sequence on the shelf, known in the Museum as 
 "third-marks," began to be added. If accessions 
 were placed upon an empty shelf, these marks 
 could easily be determined ; but if on a shelf half- 
 full, the new books were placed on the left and 
 "third-marked," those marked on the old system 
 following them. Since the introduction of "third- 
 marking" steady progress has been made with 
 the task of adding this additional mark to the 
 books arranged on the old system. (In 1896-97 
 "third-marks" were added to 25,736 books.) The 
 portions of the library most frequently used were 
 first subjected to this treatment, and at the present 
 time a very small portion of the library, and that 
 consisting of ancient jurisprudence and polemical 
 theology for the most part, remains to be marked. 
 The chief difficulty at present occurring is pre- 
 sented by "works in progress." Such of these as 
 avowedly have no period fixed even approximately 
 for their completion are not marked on the fixed-loca- 
 tion system at all.' Such are the publications usually 
 called "periodicals" or "journals" (magazines, 
 reviews, newspapers, Proceedings, &c., of societies), 
 directories, almanacks, &c. Other works in pro- 
 gress, more properly to be called "books," do not 
 receive a "third-mark" till completed, and until 
 that time arrives are put on the right of all third- 
 marked books on the shelves assigned to them.
 
 152 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Care has, of course, to be exercised in "placing" 
 these unfinished books to have space enough for 
 their expansion. If this exceeds expectation, the 
 set of volumes has to be transferred to another 
 shelf, unless the shelf below happens to be empty or, 
 at any rate, only partially filled, and that with books 
 without a third-mark. To allow a "work in progress" 
 to overflow into the shelf next below, if that con- 
 tains third-marked books, is obviously impracticable 
 without renumbering the whole shelf. The most 
 troublesome of " works in progress " are the 
 " series," which multiply inordinately, according to 
 present fashions of publishing, and give as much 
 trouble as periodicals in forecasting their future 
 development. It is probably best in libraries 
 arranged on the fixed-location system to keep 
 together all works in progress, whether "periodi- 
 cals" or not, and to mark them on the system 
 of movable press-marks. Even where the latter 
 system prevails throughout, it will save much 
 shifting to keep the works in progress apart. At 
 Brussels and Vienna (Imperial Library), for instance, 
 a separate room is reserved for this purpose, and 
 no "set" or work appearing at successive periods 
 obtains a permanent press-mark until it is complete. 
 The scheme of classification of the British Museum 
 library is here appended.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 
 
 153 
 
 LIST OF SUBJECTS OF WORKS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 
 LIBRARY, ACCORDING TO THE ARRANGEMENT OF BOOKS 
 UPON THE SHELVES. 
 
 I. THEOLOGY 
 
 1 Polyglot Bibles. 
 
 2 Hebrew Bibles. 
 
 3 Greek Bibles. 
 
 4 Latin Bibles. 
 
 5 French, Italian, Spanish, &c., 
 
 Bibles. 
 
 6 German Bibles. 
 
 7 Dutch and Scandinavian 
 
 Bibles. 
 
 8 English Bibles. 
 
 9 Bibles in Celtic Languages. 
 
 10 Slavonic Bibles. 
 
 1 1 Bibles in Oriental Languages. 
 
 12 American,Polynesian, &c., 
 
 Bibles. 
 
 13 Concordances. 
 
 14 Commentaries on the entire 
 
 Bible. 
 
 15 the Pentateuch. 
 
 16 other Historical Books. 
 
 the Psalms. 
 
 Prophets and Hagio- 
 grapha. 
 
 unfulfilled Prophecy. 
 
 New Testament in Gene- 
 ral. 
 
 the Gospels and Acts. 
 
 the Epistles. 
 
 Liturgies of the Church 
 of Rome and Eastern 
 Churches. 
 
 24 Service Books of the Diocese 
 
 of Sarum. 
 
 25 English Liturgies. 
 
 26 Metrical Versions of the 
 
 Psalms. 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 
 27 Hymns. 
 
 28 Private and Family Prayers. 
 
 29 Works on the Liturgy, Mass, 
 
 &c. 
 
 30 Creeds and Catechisms. 
 
 31 Systems of Theology. 
 
 32 Theological Libraries. 
 
 33 Works of the Fathers. 
 
 34 Greek Fathers. 
 
 35 Latin Fathers. 
 
 36 Works of Foreign Divines 
 
 (Southern Europe). 
 
 37 Foreign Divines (Northern 
 
 Europe). 
 
 38 Works of Swedenborg and 
 
 Boehme. 
 
 39 English Divines. 
 
 40 American Divines. 
 
 41 Mediaeval Theologians. 
 
 42 Religious Controversy in 
 
 Catholic Countries. 
 
 43 Germany. 
 
 44 Hollandand Scandinavia. 
 
 45 Russia, &c. 
 
 46 Roman Catholic Controversy 
 
 in England. 
 47 Scotland and Ireland. 
 
 48 Natural Theology. 
 
 49 Christian Evidences. 
 
 50 Works on the Jews. 
 
 51 Catholic Writers on Papal 
 
 Supremacy, &c. 
 
 52 Confession, &c. 
 
 53 Priesthood and Monastic 
 
 Orders. 
 
 54 Works on the Jesuits.
 
 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 55 Tracts, &c., on Church of 
 
 England. 
 
 56 Nonconformity in Gene- 
 ral. 
 
 57 Quakerism. 
 
 58 Church of Ireland. 
 
 59 Church of Scotland. 
 
 60 American Churches. 
 
 61 Missions. 
 
 62 Domestic Missions. 
 
 63 Works on the Trinity and 
 
 Person of Christ. 
 
 64 Atonement and Justification. 
 
 65 Election and Grace. 
 
 66 Sacraments in General. 
 
 67 Baptism. 
 
 68 Lord's Supper. 
 
 69 Sabbath. 
 
 70 Universalism and Miscel- 
 
 laneous Theological Sub- 
 jects. 
 
 71 Christian Practice and Edifica- 
 
 tion. 
 
 72 Religious Fiction. 
 
 73 Tracts. 
 
 74 Foreign Sermons. 
 
 75 Charges and Visitation Ser- 
 
 mons. 
 
 76 Collected English Sermons. 
 
 77 Separate English Sermons. 
 
 78 Collected American Sermons. 
 
 79 Separate American Sermons. 
 
 80 Homiletics and Pastoral 
 
 Duties. 
 
 8 1 Mythology. 
 
 82 Scriptures of non-Christian 
 
 Religions. 
 
 83 Jewish History. 
 
 84 Christian Churches and De- 
 
 nominations. 
 
 85 History of the Early Church. 
 
 86 Mediaeval Church. 
 
 87 Ecclesiastical History of 
 
 Italy. 
 
 88 Spain and Portugal. 
 
 89 France. 
 
 90 History of the Reformation 
 
 in General. 
 
 91 Ecclesiastical History of Ger- 
 
 many and Switzerland. 
 
 92 Netherlands. 
 
 93 Scandinavia. 
 
 94 Slavonic Countries. 
 
 95 England (Established 
 
 Church.) 
 
 96 England (Nonconfor- 
 mity). 
 
 97 Scotland. 
 
 98 Ireland. 
 
 99 America. 
 
 100 History of American and 
 
 Polynesian Missions. 
 
 101 Asiatic and African Mis- 
 
 sions. 
 Roman 
 
 Catholic Mis- 
 sions to Asia and Africa. 
 
 103 Religious Fraternities. 
 
 104 Freemasonry. 
 
 105 General Religious Bio- 
 
 graphy. 
 
 1 06 Scripture Biography. 
 
 107 Lives of Saints. 
 
 1 08 Popes. 
 
 109 Cardinals. 
 
 1 10 ReligiousBiography,Southern 
 
 Europe, 
 in Northern Europe. 
 
 112 England. 
 
 113 Scotland. 
 
 114 Ireland. 
 
 115 America. 
 
 116 Juvenile Religious Bio- 
 graphy. 
 
 117 Theological Bibliography.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 
 
 155 
 
 II. JURISPRUDENCE 
 
 1 Papal Bulls. 
 
 2 History and Acts of Councils. 
 
 3 Canon Law. 
 
 4 English Ecclesiastical Law. 
 
 5 Scotch and Irish Ecclesiastical 
 
 Law. 
 
 6 Law of Marriage. 
 
 7 Roman Law. 
 
 8 Medieval Jurists. 
 
 9 Indian and Mohammedan 
 
 Law. 
 
 10 Laws of the Italian King- 
 
 dom. 
 
 11 Northern Italy. 
 
 12 Tuscany. 
 
 13 Papal States. 
 
 14 Naples and Sicily. 
 
 15 Spain and Portugal. 
 
 1 6 France. 
 
 17 Early German Law. 
 
 1 8 Laws of Austria. 
 
 19 Switzerland. 
 
 20 Southern Germany. 
 
 21 Northern Germany. 
 
 22 Prussia. 
 
 23 Modern German Em- 
 pire. 
 
 24 Holland. 
 
 25 Belgium. 
 
 26 Scandinavia. 
 
 27 Russia. 
 
 28 Poland. 
 
 29 Elements of Jurisprudence. 
 
 30 General Questions of Juris- 
 
 prudence. 
 
 31 Punishment of Crime. 
 
 32 Prison Discipline, &c. 
 
 33 Forensic Medicine. 
 
 34 Reports of English Law Cases. 
 
 35 Commentaries on English 
 
 Law. 
 
 36 Commentaries on Equity. 
 
 37 Common Law Procedure. 
 
 38 Law of Real Property. 
 
 39 Personal Relations. 
 
 40 Legacies. 
 
 41 Companies, Partnership, 
 
 Patents, &c. 
 
 42 Bankruptcy, County 
 
 Courts, &c. 
 
 43 Municipal and Sanitary Law. 
 
 44 Criminal Law. 
 
 45 Trials. 
 
 46 Law of Ireland. 
 
 47 Scotland. 
 
 48 British Colonies. 
 
 49 United States Statutes. 
 
 50 Reports. 
 
 51 General Law. 
 
 52 Laws of Separate States 
 
 (in alphabetical order). 
 
 53 Laws of South America. 
 
 54 Maritime Law. 
 
 55 Military Law. 
 
 56 Treatises and Conventions. 
 
 57 International Law. 
 
 III. NATURAL HISTORY AND MEDICINE 
 
 1 Natural History in General. 
 
 2 Botany. 
 
 3 Horticulture. 
 
 4 Agriculture. 
 
 5 Mineralogy. 
 
 6 Geology. 
 
 7 Palaeontology. 
 
 8 Zoology in General.
 
 156 
 
 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 9 Mammalia. 
 
 10 Ornithology. 
 
 11 Herpetology. 
 
 12 Ichthyology. 
 
 13 Domestic Animals (with Vete- 
 
 rinary Surgery). 
 
 14 Entomology. 
 
 15 Conchology, &c. 
 
 1 6 Dictionaries of Medicine. 
 
 17 Medical Principles and Prac- 
 
 tice. 
 
 1 8 Medical Theses. 
 
 19 Domestic Medicine, Diet- 
 
 etics, &c. 
 
 20 Physiology. 
 
 21 Phrenology, Animal Magne- 
 
 tism, &c. 
 
 22 Anatomy. 
 
 23 Pathology. 
 
 24 Therapeutics. 
 
 25 Mineral Waters. 
 
 26 Surgery. 
 
 27 Materia Medica. 
 
 28 Epidemics. 
 
 29 Diseases of Women and Chil- 
 
 dren. 
 
 30 Diseases of Special Parts of 
 
 the Body. 
 
 31 Mental Disorders. 
 
 32 History of Medicine. 
 
 33 Tracts on Medical Subjects. 
 
 34 Climates, Endemic Diseases. 
 
 35 Hospitals. 
 
 36 Bills of Mortality. 
 
 IV. ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARTS 
 
 1 Archaeology. 10 
 
 2 Prehistoric and Mediaeval Arch- 1 1 
 
 seology. 1 2 
 
 3 Costumes. 13 
 
 4 Numismatics. 14 
 
 5 Fine Art in General. 15 
 
 6 Architecture. 16 
 
 7 Domestic Architecture. 17 
 
 8 Painting and Engraving. 
 
 9 Sculpture. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Field Sports. 
 
 Games of Chance. 
 - Skill. 
 
 Useful Arts. 
 
 Domestic Economy. 
 
 Industrial Exhibitions. 
 
 Publications of South Kens- 
 ington Museum. 
 
 V. PHILOSOPHY 
 
 1 Political Science. 
 
 2 Politics of India and the East. 
 
 3 Europe in General. 
 
 4 Turkey and Greece. 
 
 5 Italy. 
 
 6 Spain and Portugal. 
 
 7 France before the Revo. 
 
 lution. 
 
 8 France after the Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 9 Politics of Germany. 
 
 10 
 u 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 15 
 
 Austria and Hungary. 
 Scandinavia. 
 Slavonic Nations. 
 England before 1715. 
 England, 1715-1789. 
 England, 1789-1821. 
 
 1 6 Recent English Politics. 
 
 17 Politics of Scotland. 
 
 1 8 Ireland.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 
 
 157 
 
 19 Politics of English Colonies. 
 
 20 Colonies of Foreign Na- 
 tions. 
 
 21 Slavery. 
 
 22 Politics of United States. 
 23 Spanish America. 
 
 24 Political Economy. 
 
 25 Finance. 
 
 26 Railway Administration. 
 
 27 Commerce. 
 
 28 Industrial Questions. 
 
 29 Public Charities. 
 
 30 Education. 
 
 31 Continental Schools, Univer- 
 
 sities, &c. 
 
 32 Brit. Schools, Universities, &c. 
 
 33 Amer. Schools, Universities,&c. 
 
 34 Moral Philosophy. 
 
 35 Marriage, and Condition of 
 
 Woman. 
 
 36 Peace, Duelling, Cruelty to 
 
 Animals, &c. 
 
 37 Temperance. 
 
 38 Ancient Metaphysical Philo- 
 
 sophy. 
 
 39 Modern Metaphysical Philo- 
 
 sophy. 
 
 40 Logic. 
 
 41 History of Philosophy. 
 
 42 Arithmetic. 
 
 43 Mathematics. 
 
 44 Geometry. 
 
 45 Trigonometry. 
 
 46 Logarithms. 
 
 47 Astronomy. 
 
 48 Astrology. 
 
 49 Occult Sciences. 
 
 50 Spiritualism. 
 
 51 Physics. 
 
 52 Optics. 
 
 53 Meteorology. 
 
 54 Electricity. 
 
 55 Mechanics and Dynamics. 
 
 56 Hydrostatics and Hydraulics. 
 
 57 Nautical Sciences. 
 
 58 Arms and Military Engines. 
 
 59 Military Art. 
 
 60 Chemistry. 
 
 6 1 Spectrum Analysis. 
 
 62 Photography. 
 
 VI. HISTORY 
 
 1 Chronology. 
 
 2 Universal History. 
 
 3 History of Asia. 
 
 4 Asia, British India in 
 
 particular. 
 
 5 Africa. 
 
 6 Europe in General. 
 
 7 Europe in the Eighteenth 
 
 Century. 
 
 8 Europe in the Nineteenth 
 
 Century. 
 
 9 Byzantine and Ottoman His- 
 
 tory, &c. 
 
 10 History of Italy. 
 
 1 1 Spain. 
 
 12 History of Portugal. 
 
 France in General. 
 France to Revolution. 
 France, 1789-1847. 
 France, Recent. 
 Switzerland. 
 Austria. 
 German Empire. 
 
 13 
 14 
 15 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 20 Southern Germany. 
 
 21 - Northern Germany. 
 
 22 Prussia. 
 
 23 Holland. 
 
 24 Belgium. 
 
 25 Denmark. 
 
 26 Norway.
 
 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 27 History of Sweden. 
 
 28 Russia. 
 
 29 Poland. 
 
 30 English History in General. 
 
 31 Publications of Master of 
 
 the Rolls. 
 
 32 Early History. 
 
 33 under the Tudors and 
 
 Stuarts. 
 
 House of Brunswick. 
 
 34 
 
 35 Parliamentary Debates. 
 
 36 History of America in General. 
 
 37 History of Canada and West 
 
 Indies. 
 
 38 United States. 
 
 39 Separate States. 
 
 40 United Congress. 
 
 41 Mexico and Central 
 
 America. 
 
 42 South America. 
 
 43 Australia, 
 
 44 Heraldry. 
 
 45 Genealogy. 
 
 46 Pageants, Processions, &c. 
 
 VII. GEOGRAPHY 
 
 1 Cosmography. 
 
 2 Ethnology. 
 
 3 Circumnavigations. 
 
 4 Voyages in two or more parts 
 
 of the World. 
 
 5 Travels in (including Topo- 
 
 graphy of) Eastern Asia. 
 
 6 Western Asia. 
 
 7 Africa. 
 
 8 Europe. 
 
 9 Turkey and Greece. 
 
 10 Italy in General. 
 
 1 1 Northern Italy. 
 
 Central Italy. 
 
 Southern Italy and Is- 
 lands. 
 
 Spain and Portugal. 
 
 France. 
 
 Switzerland. 
 
 Austria. 
 
 12 
 13 
 
 14 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 1 8 Hungary, Bohemia, &c. 
 
 19 Germany in General. 
 
 20 Southern Germany. 
 
 21 Travels in Northern Germany. 
 
 22 Prussia. 
 
 23 Holland. 
 
 24 Belgium. 
 
 25 Scandinavia. 
 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 3 
 
 33 
 34 
 
 35 
 
 37 
 
 38 
 39 
 
 Russia, &c. 
 England in General. 
 London. 
 
 Northern England. 
 
 Southern and Western 
 
 England. 
 
 Wales. 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 America in General. 
 
 United States. 
 
 Arctic Regions. 
 
 British America 
 
 West Indies. 
 
 South America. 
 
 Australia and 
 
 and 
 
 Poly- 
 
 nesia. 
 40 Hydrography.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 
 
 159 
 
 VIII. BIOGRAPHY 
 
 1 Biographical Collections. 
 
 2 Classical and Oriental Bio- 
 
 graphy. 
 
 3 Oriental Biography. 
 
 4 Italian Biography. 
 
 5 Spanish and Portuguese Bio- 
 
 graphy. 
 
 6 Lives of French Sovereigns. 
 
 7 French Biography. 
 
 8 French Literary Biography. 
 
 9 Lives of German Sovereigns. 
 
 10 German Biography. 
 
 11 Dutch Biography. 
 
 12 Scandinavian Biography. 
 
 13 Slavonic Biography. 
 
 14 Collections of^ British Bio- 
 
 graphy. 
 
 1 5 Lives of British Sovereigns. 
 
 16 Statesmen and Com- 
 manders. 
 
 17 Miscellaneous British Bio- 
 
 graphy. 
 
 1 8 Lives of British Men of 
 
 Letters. 
 
 19 American Biography. 
 
 20 Latin Epistles. 
 
 21 Epistles in Languages of 
 
 Southern Europe. 
 
 22 Northern Europe (in- 
 cluding English). 
 
 IX. BELLES LETTRES 
 
 1 Classical Polygraphy. 
 
 2 Homer. 
 
 3 Greek Poets. 
 
 4 Latin Poets. 
 
 5 Greek Orators. 
 
 6 Latin Orators. 
 
 7 Modern Latin Poetry, South- 
 
 ern Europe. 
 
 8 Northern Europe. 
 
 9 Collections of Latin Poetry. 
 
 10 Early Italian Poetry. 
 
 11 Dante. 
 
 12 Italian Poetry, Sixteenth Cen- 
 
 tury. 
 
 13 Seventeenth Century. 
 
 14 Eighteenth Century. 
 
 15 Nineteenth Century. 
 
 16 Poetry in Italian Dialects, 
 
 17 Spanish Poetry. 
 
 1 8 Portuguese Poetry. 
 
 19 Early French Poetry. 
 
 20 Modern French Poetry. 
 
 21 Provencal and Patois Poetry. 
 
 22 Early German Poetry. 
 
 23 German Poetry of Eighteenth 
 
 Century. 
 
 24 Nineteenth Century. 
 
 25 Dutch Poetry. 
 
 26 Scandinavian Poetry. 
 
 27 Slavonic and Hungarian 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 28 Celtic Poetry. 
 
 29 Collections of English Poetry. 
 
 30 Works of Early English Poets. 
 
 31 Works of English Poets, Seven- 
 
 teenth Century. 
 
 32 Eighteenth Century. 
 
 33 Nineteenth Century. 
 
 34 English Songs. 
 
 35 Ballads, Chap-Books* 
 
 &c. 
 
 36 English Poems of Sixteenth 
 
 Century. 
 
 37 of Seventeenth Century.
 
 i6o 
 
 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 38 English Poems of Eighteenth 
 
 Century. 
 
 39 of Nineteenth Century to 
 
 1830. 
 
 40 of Nineteenth Century 
 
 from 1830 to 1850. 
 41 since 1850. 
 
 42 American Poetry. 
 
 43 Greek Drama. 
 
 44 Latin Drama. 
 
 45 Modern Latin Drama. 
 
 46 Italian Drama. 
 
 47 Spanish Drama. 
 
 48 French Drama. 
 
 49 German Drama. 
 
 50 Dutch and Scandinavian 
 
 Drama. 
 
 51 Russian Drama. 
 
 52 Shakspere. 
 
 53 English Drama, Collections. 
 
 54 English Separate Plays, Six- 
 
 teenth Century. 
 55 Seventeenth Century. 
 
 56 Eighteenth Century. 
 
 57 Nineteenth Century. 
 
 58 American Drama. 
 
 59 Rhetoric. 
 
 60 Literary Criticisms and ^Esthe- 
 
 tics. 
 
 61 Literary History. 
 
 62 Typography. 
 
 63 Bibliography. 
 
 64 Catalogues. 
 
 65 Compendiums of General 
 
 Knowledge. 
 
 66 Miscellaneous Libraries. 
 
 67 Encyclopaedias. 
 
 68 Collected Works of Modern 
 
 Latin Authors. 
 
 69 Italian Authors. 
 
 70 Spanish and Portuguese 
 
 Authors. 
 
 71 French Authors. 
 
 72 German Authors. 
 
 73 Dutch and Scandinavian 
 
 Authors. 
 
 74 Slavonic and Hungarian 
 
 Authors. 
 
 75 Libraries of Collected English 
 
 Authors. 
 
 76 Collected Works of English 
 
 Authors. 
 
 77 Collected Works of American 
 
 Authors. 
 
 78 Speeches in Parliament and 
 
 Congress. 
 
 79 Fables. 
 
 80 Proverbs. 
 
 8 1 Apophthegms and Anecdotes 
 
 82 Satirical and FacetiousWorks. 
 
 83 Essays and Sketches. 
 
 84 Collections of Novels and 
 
 Tales. 
 
 85 Folk-Lore, Fairy Tales, &c. 
 
 86 Early Romances. 
 
 87 Italian Novels. 
 
 88 Spanish and Portuguese 
 
 Novels. 
 
 89 French Novels. 
 
 90 German Novels. 
 
 91 Dutch and Scandinavian 
 
 Novels. 
 
 92 Slavonic and Hungarian 
 
 Novels. 
 
 93 Collected English Novels. 
 
 94 Waverley Novels. 
 
 95 Translations of English 
 
 Novels 
 
 96 Early English Novels. 
 
 97 Republications. 
 
 98 English Novels in General. 
 
 99 Minor Fiction. 
 
 100 American Novels. 
 
 101 Tales for Children.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 
 
 161 
 
 X. PHILOLOGY 
 
 1 Philosophy in General. 
 
 2 Semitic Languages. 
 
 3 Other Asiatic and African 
 
 Languages. 
 
 4 American and Polynesian 
 
 Languages. 
 
 5 Chinese and Japanese Lan- 
 
 guages. 
 
 6 Greek. 
 
 7 Latin. 
 
 8 Italian. 
 
 9 Spanish and Portuguese. 
 
 10 French. 
 
 1 1 German. 
 
 12' Dutch and Scandinavian. 
 
 13 Slavonic. 
 
 14 Celtic. 
 
 15 English. 
 
 1 6 Phonography. 
 
 17 Books for the Blind. 
 
 TOTAL No. OF DIVISIONS 
 
 Class I. Theology . . . . . .117 
 
 II. Jurisprudence . . . . . 57 
 
 III. Natural History and Medicine . . 36 
 
 IV. Archaeology and Arts . . . . 17 
 V. Philosophy 62 
 
 VI. History 46 
 
 VII. Geography 40 
 
 VIII. Biography 22 
 
 IX. Belles Lettres 101 
 
 X. Philology 17 
 
 The evolution of this scheme is not a little curious. 
 Its philosophical basis is the Bible, The Book, and 
 the first book printed. In arranging the editions 
 of the Bible, the whole precedes parts, originals 
 precede translations. The Old Testament having 
 been written in Hebrew and the New in Greek, 
 Bibles having the two Testaments in these respective 
 languages take the first place, and are followed by 
 Hebrew Bibles and Greek Bibles. Next follow 
 those in Latin and modern languages, the last of 
 
 L
 
 1 62 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 which, the Slavonic group, are ranked next to the 
 African and other uncivilised tongues. 
 
 The Bible is followed by Liturgies, through which 
 the Church brought it into contact with society, 
 arranged in order of the antiquity of the Churches. 
 The Creeds and Catechisms, closely connected with 
 Liturgy, serve as a link with Dogmatic Theology, 
 which links on naturally enough with Controversial 
 Theology. From this the transition is easy to 
 Mythology and the non-Christian religions. This 
 suggestion of the outer world brings in the Church 
 Militant (Church History). 
 
 The last portion of this heading (Polynesia and 
 the East) introduces Missions, and so leads to 
 Religious Orders and Religious Biography. The 
 bibliography of the subject comes at the end. To 
 Divine Law succeeds Human Law (Jurisprudence), 
 in which Ecclesiastical Law takes precedence. By 
 such considerations as these some logical connec- 
 tion may be found pervading the whole scheme. 
 One defect, at least, is striking, the intrusion 
 of geography between the kindred subjects of 
 history and biography. To many of the subdivi- 
 sions also exception may well be taken, but 
 no classification whatever can quite escape this 
 reproach. 
 
 No two persons working independently would 
 ever draw up similar classifications of human know- 
 ledge and endeavour, so that the main outlines as 
 they appear to any body of average reasonable men 
 will be as good as any other. But if classification 
 is useful, one would like it minuter. There is
 
 ARRANGEMENT 163 
 
 interest in having books on GAMES AND SPORTS 
 kept together, but how much more in seeing, for 
 example, the literature of chess and cricket kept 
 in distinct places ? Similar subdivision would be 
 convenient in other branches. Again, the historical 
 literature of a country might with advantage be 
 divided into numerous periods. Herein appears 
 the essential weakness of the fixed-location system. 
 The space available has to be mapped out many 
 years beforehand on the lines of the classification 
 proposed, as shifting is not allowed. If the divisions 
 be few, a modicum of the prophetic instinct will 
 enable the librarian to make provision for the in- 
 crease of each ; but the more minute the divisions, 
 the more arduous becomes his task. We hear that 
 an attempt to classify the books of the Bodleian 
 too ambitiously has in a few years brought that 
 library to a serious pass for want of space. The 
 Museum classification, as experience shows, errs in 
 the other direction. The books on the literature 
 of all countries are indiscriminately placed together, 
 but if the remarkable growth of this subject could 
 have been foreseen, a different course would have 
 been adopted. The same may be said of some 
 other classes that have increased far more in pro- 
 portion than any one would have foreseen even 
 forty years ago, when the space enclosing the new 
 Reading-room was covered in and fitted up on 
 the stack system. Among these may be mentioned 
 theology, fiction, economics (more especially ques- 
 tions of capital and labour), and memoirs and 
 biographies. In all these cases a palliative has been
 
 164 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 found in the use of the new "sliding-presses," 1 
 which are hung in front of the old ones as they fill 
 up. This, of course, is not the only purpose served 
 by them, as they will in course of time enable an 
 increased number of books on every subject to find 
 a resting-place, and make the number of books 
 contained in the library nearly twice as large as 
 the original presses were expected to hold ; nearly, 
 we say, as in many parts of the library there is 
 not room for an additional press in front of each 
 old one. 
 
 If we pass to considerations of space we shall 
 find that the fixed-location system wastes space 
 horizontally, but economises it vertically to an 
 enormous extent. The subject-classification being 
 of necessity a rough one, the books in each division 
 will obviously be numerous, and may be sorted 
 according to size into a large number of classes, 
 each of which can have a shelf or shelves allotted 
 to it, nicely calculated to fit. If constant shifting 
 had to be provided for, this would of course be 
 impossible. It will be evident too that the larger 
 the library, the larger will be the number of sizes 
 into which the books may be sorted, and the 
 greater the proportionate gain of vertical space. 
 In the British Museum the arrangement of the 
 shelves and the pegs that support them allow 
 of a change of inch up or down ; anything more 
 minute would be of no practical advantage. 
 
 The Relative-Location system is almost universal 
 
 1 For a detailed description of these the reader is referred to Mr. 
 Burgoyne's book on " Library Architecture," in this Series.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 165 
 
 in the United States (though the library of Cornell 
 University 1 has adopted a modification of the British 
 Museum system) ; it is common in the " Free " 
 Libraries in this country, and is used at the Biblio- 
 theque Nationale in Paris, in the newer parts of 
 the library of the University of Cambridge, and 
 other large libraries. The essence of the system 
 is, as the name implies, that the books are numbered 
 or lettered (or both) consecutively from shelf to 
 shelf, and may be moved backwards or forwards as 
 occasion dictates, provided this order be preserved. 
 To make this movement feasible from end to end 
 of a library, all the shelves would have to be tall 
 enough for the largest folios. So the next step 
 is to divide the library into parts, each fitted all 
 over with shelves of the same size, and each 
 allowing its contents to be shifted freely within 
 its own borders. If the; number of different 
 parts were considerable, this would, theoretically, 
 be an excellent device, except that the spirit 
 of prophecy would be required, as it is in the 
 other system, to forecast the areas of the respec- 
 tive parts. Practically, however, the requirements 
 of classification appear on the scene at this point, 
 and a system which required the searcher to 
 visit as many different parts of the library as 
 the books in his subject could be divided into 
 sizes, would hardly commend itself. It has there- 
 
 1 [American] Library Journal, vol. xvi. p. 139. In this library the 
 numbering of the books on each shelf, as of the presses or "stacks," 
 is not consecutive ; the figures are taken at intervals from I to 99, so 
 that intercalations are possible. This ingenious idea seems to admit 
 of closer classification than the British Museum system.
 
 l66 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 fore become the practice to recommend three size- 
 classifications, only corresponding roughly, folio, 
 quarto, and octavo, running horizontally one above 
 the other. This idea is found impossible of execu- 
 tion in the storage of modern books, folios and 
 quartos being rarely used except for costly illus- 
 trated books, which are often withdrawn from the 
 arrangement in order to subject them to special 
 precautions. 
 
 The term " press-mark " of course falls out of use 
 where the relative-location system prevails, since 
 the distinguishing marks are attached to the books 
 themselves, not to their receptacles. The simplest 
 form of marking consists in numbering the books 
 successively as they stand on the shelves. This 
 evidently is only possible where the accessions can 
 be placed at the end, for if they had to be incor- 
 porated in various places, there would be no num- 
 ber available. This elementary proceeding is used 
 sometimes in free libraries for marking the class 
 Fiction, which needs no classification. The typical 
 instance of elaborate marking is the Dewey-Cutter 
 system, 1 which largely prevails in the United States. 
 The books stand on the shelves in the order indi- 
 cated by the " decimals " belonging to them in the 
 classification. As, however, even the most elaborate 
 of these decimals only denote classes of books, a 
 further indication, the " book-number," is required 
 to guide the searcher to the individual book. This 
 may be selected in various ways, (i) The accession- 
 number, or number attached to the book in the 
 
 1 See p. 114.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 167 
 
 register of accessions to the library, is taken. This 
 is objectionable, as the order of the books within 
 each class will be merely the chronological order 
 of their reception by the library, but it is extremely 
 simple. The ."accession-numbers," however, are 
 apt to be excessively long, so (2) each class is 
 numbered separately from i onwards as the books 
 are added. This is no more scientific than (i), but 
 the figures required are fewer. The methods most 
 recommended are (3) approximate and (4) exact 
 alphabetical order. Approximate alphabetical order 
 may be kept by marking the books with the initial 
 of the author's name, followed by the ACCESSIONS- 
 NUMBER OF THE INITIAL, i.e. the first book by any 
 author whose name begins with M is marked M lf 
 the second M. 2 , and so on. Exact alphabetical order 
 may be maintained by the ingenious "Alfabetic- 
 order Table " of Mr. Cutter, 1 which is " so con- 
 structed that the names whose initials are followed 
 by some of the first letters of the alphabet have the 
 first numbers, and those in which the initials are 
 followed by later letters have later numbers," e.g. 
 
 Gardiner. . Gi6. Gore . . . G66. 
 
 Gerry . . . G36. Graham . . G?6. 
 
 Gilman . . 042. Grote . . . G8g. 
 
 Glover . . GSI. Guizot. . . 694. 
 
 Of names beginning with A, E, I, O, U, and S, 
 the first two letters are to be used instead of the 
 initial, and of names beginning with Sc three letters 
 
 1 C. A. Cutter: (i) "Expansive Classification." Boston, 1891-93. 
 8vo. (2) "Alphabetic Order Table."
 
 l68 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 are to be used. " In this way fewer marks are 
 used for the same amount of distinction." 
 There are, however, further complications 
 
 (1) "On the shelves three alphabetical .series should be 
 made, O including all books 25 cm. high, or less, Q between 
 25 and 30, F over 30. These will be indicated by the 
 sign that separates the class-mark : from the author and 
 book mark, - for O and smaller sizes, 4- for Q, || for F. 
 
 " In small libraries it is best to make only one series of 
 books under each division ; the few books that are too 
 large for the shelves can be turned down, and very large 
 books can be kept in some separate case. 
 
 "In numbering O and F books a single figure will 
 usually be enough, because there will generally be few 
 books of those sizes in any class, and therefore fewer marks 
 are needed to distinguish them; often the initial alone would 
 be enough in F. 
 
 (2) " Different books by the same author in the same 
 class are distinguished by ' work-marks ' consisting of the 
 first letter or letters of the catch- title ; e.g. 
 
 Dickens' "Chimes," 055 C. 
 
 " Christmas Carol," 055 Ch., &c. 
 
 (3) " Other copies or other editions are noted by adding 
 two or three or four, as the case may be, to the work- 
 mark. 
 
 (4) "The special mark for TRANSLATIONS, for use in 
 large libraries, or in large special collections in a small 
 library, is the initial of the language, a capital letter added 
 (after a size mark) to the author-mark. 
 
 1 In Mr. Cutter's system, as in Mr. Dewey's, the books are to be 
 arranged on the shelves in an order corresponding to their classed- 
 catalogue, so the " class-mark " corresponds to the " press-mark " under 
 the fixed-location system of arrangement.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 169 
 
 (5) "If there are several translations, distinguish them 
 by adding the initial of the translator's name to the lan- 
 guage-mark. 
 
 (6) " In Biography, which is to be arranged by names of 
 the subjects of the lives, distinguish different authors by 
 adding their initials. 
 
 (7) "When, in a large collection, the number of 
 EDITIONS of a single work exceeds, or is likely to exceed, 
 nine, the different editions may be distinguished by adding 
 the year of publication (usually of the first volume if there 
 are more than one) instead of a number 2, 3, or 4. 
 
 (8) "If it is desired to keep a COMMENTARY on any 
 work, immediately after the work add to the work-mark a 
 capital Y, and if necessary the initial of the commentator. 
 For dictionaries and concordances, add Z." 
 
 The completeness of this system, and its adap- 
 tiveness, can hardly be disputed, but the complexity 
 of the "marks" is appalling. Public opinion in 
 America, where the system has long been in vogue 
 in its most uncompromising form, seems rather 
 divided on this point. At the Library Conference 
 of 1892, for instance, librarians were found to 
 declare that the merest children were in the habit 
 of reeling off these portentous combinations with 
 perfect accuracy ; but there was probably a basis of 
 earnest in the remarks of Dr. Gordon, President of 
 the Board of Trustees of the Jersey City Public 
 Library, who said that the mortality of the town 
 had distinctly gone up since the Dewey-Cutter 
 system had been introduced, and that a doctor- 
 friend of his had a patient, a frequenter of the town 
 library, who was subject to fits, and would cry out 
 in his worst paroxysms, "Jab. 49, Sch. Q. 4 !" We
 
 170 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 should not be surprised to hear that Dr. Gordon's 
 views were typical of a large class of laymen. 
 These hieroglyphics give the librarian an unfortu- 
 nate air of magnifying his own simple functions 
 by mystifying his clientele. 
 
 What is certain is, that this elaboration would 
 break down by its own weight if applied to a really 
 large library. As an instance of what is practicable 
 in such a place, we may take the system of press- 
 marking (relative-location) in use at the Biblio- 
 theque Nationale. The whole of the books are 
 divided into series, of which there are twenty-five, 
 represented by the letters of the alphabet singly 
 (though some are not used, and some have a small 
 letter or letters added). As an example of sub- 
 division we may take L, which is the series-letter of 
 French History (260,000 works in 400,000 volumes l ) 
 and is divided into : L, general works ; La, history 
 by epochs ; Lb, history by reigns ; Lc, newspapers 
 and periodicals, Ld Lh, Religious, Constitutional, 
 Administrative, Diplomatic, and Military History ; 
 Li, manners and customs ; Lj, Archaeology ; LI, 
 local history ; Lm, history of French families ; Ln, 
 biography. The heading Lb, again, is subdivided 
 by small figures to denote the different reigns. 
 Thus Lb 1 is Merovee, Lb 56 Napoleon III. A large 
 figure at the end gives the place of the book in its 
 class. This place can only be determined by the 
 date at which the book was acquired by the Biblio- 
 theque, since the series of numbers in the class is 
 
 1 These figures are taken from M. Beraldi's Voyage (fun livre a 
 travers la Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris, 1893. 8vo.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 171 
 
 not expansive. Further classification can be more 
 conveniently done in the classed-catalogue, and we 
 venture to think that these press-marks establish the 
 happy mean of elaboration for libraries of the first 
 rank adopting relative-location. 
 
 SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS 
 
 Many other systems of arranging books are from 
 time to time adopted for special purposes. Thus 
 in the National Art Library at South Kensington 
 all the books published before 1600 are arranged by 
 the place of publication (grouped under countries) 
 and then by date. Books published before 1600 
 being illustrated almost exclusively by local artists, 
 this arrangement is of great service to the student 
 of art-history. The study of incunabula, again, 
 would be enormously assisted if these books were 
 arranged by towns, printers, and dates. This has 
 been done in the library of Cambridge University, 
 and hopes are entertained that the British Museum 
 collection : will one day be re-arranged after this 
 fashion. No doubt the books without name of 
 place or printer or date would cause trouble, but 
 the assistance afforded in the study of types and 
 illustrations by the new arrangement would soon 
 throw light on these cruces, and enable them to be 
 incorporated in their proper places. 
 
 There is another point, by no means unimportant, 
 to be considered when weighing the merits of 
 
 1 Except, of course, those included in portions of the library that 
 must be kept intact.
 
 172 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 shelf-arrangements, namely, the liability to mistakes 
 in copying the "press-marks." If this were the 
 place for psychological discussion it would be 
 easy to show that the more varied a press- mark 
 is, the more do the separate parts impress them- 
 selves on the attention, but the fact is undeni- 
 able. Thus the Dewey class-marks, composed of a 
 long uniform string of figures, are in this respect 
 conspicuously inferior to the cotes in the Paris 
 National Library. The press-marks at the British 
 Museum have the uniformity of the figures broken 
 by the letters in the middle, yet when these con- 
 sist, as they not infrequently do, of a letter repeated 
 four times (e.g. 11908. eeee. 2) mistakes are made 
 by the printer's reader, and sometimes also escape 
 official vigilance, and find their way into the 
 catalogue. 
 
 Some recent writers recommend that a " press- 
 mark" should by its outward aspect awaken the 
 association of ideas with the subjects of the books 
 it belongs to, and would, for instance, have IT. as 
 the distinctive letter for books on Italian history. 
 We venture, however, to assert that the association 
 of ideas can by usage be effected, however meaning- 
 less the press-mark at first appear. 
 
 Subsidiary to the question of assigning the press- 
 mark comes the method of indicating it to the eye. 
 It has, in the first place, to be written inside the 
 book, and also to be made evident on the cover. 
 This latter end is usually achieved by gumming on 
 printed labels, but unfortunately the ideal paper 
 and gum for this purpose have yet to be discovered.
 
 ARRANGEMENT 173 
 
 If a book is thick enough, the label should be put 
 on the back, so as to obviate the necessity of taking 
 the volume out from the shelf in order to see its 
 "mark." This exposes the label to the greatest 
 possible amount of friction, and however tenacious 
 the gum may be, renewals of fallen labels will be 
 a constant necessity, and the rougher the surface 
 of the binding, the more frequent must the re- 
 newals be. These difficulties may be obviated by 
 stamping the "marks" on the binding, a somewhat 
 expensive device, since gilding is required to make 
 them conspicuous. 
 
 The size and shape and position of the labels 
 have an important effect on the appearance of a 
 shelf of books, and the good librarian will keep 
 them as small as possible. They need, however, to 
 be larger when the books are arranged by the 
 system of relative-location, since the eye needs 
 more guidance. 1 If there be public access to the 
 shelves, it has to be remembered that the inex- 
 perienced layman's eye needs more assistance than 
 the trained library employe's, so the labels must be 
 larger. This plea is the only one that can excuse 
 such unaesthetic labels as glare along the shelves 
 at Cambridge University library and Sion College. 
 The British Museum "case-books" have no labels 
 at all for fear of disfigurement, and as these pre- 
 cious volumes are taken out and replaced by a speci- 
 ally qualified attendant, little confusion results. 
 
 1 This end may to some extent be achieved by painting the figures 
 of the larger divisions on metal plates, which hang over the edge of the 
 shelf from long rests kept in place by the superincumbent books.
 
 174 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 A proposition more ingenious than practicable 
 was made by a speaker at the first Library Con- 
 ference in London, that the first book on a shelf 
 should have its label at the lowest part of the back, 
 and the last on the highest, the position of the 
 labels on the intervening books being cunningly 
 gradated, so that a missing book would signal its 
 absence to the eye by a gap in the scale.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 
 
 THE REFERENCE LIBRARY, DAYS AND HOURS 
 OF OPENING 
 
 THE books being gathered in and arranged, it 
 becomes the duty of the librarian to make them 
 accessible to the public, and to take care that they 
 sustain no damage in the process. 
 
 The means of access will depend, in the first place, 
 on the number of days a library is open, and here 
 the Sabbath question will present itself. No library 
 existing mainly for research is open on Sundays 
 in this country or abroad, but there is a growing 
 tendency to throw open the popular free libraries 
 on that day. This is a matter, however, that can only 
 be settled as popular opinion dictates, and need not, 
 perhaps, be considered in a manual of library 
 administration. 
 
 There will always be a necessity for closing for a 
 certain number of days in the year that portion of 
 a library which is constantly open to the public, for 
 cleaning and repairs. A few typical instances are 
 
 appended. 
 
 175
 
 176 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 BRITISH LIBRARIES. DAYS. 
 
 British Museum 8 
 
 Bodleian Library 27 
 
 Guildhall Library 12 
 
 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris . . . 15* 
 K. u. K. Hofbibliothek, Vienna . -55 
 Konigl. Bibliothek, Berlin . . .15 
 
 The hours of opening of nearly all the larger 
 libraries in Europe and America is nine o'clock ; 
 the closing hour is usually four where no artificial 
 light is provided. Thus at the National Libraries 
 of France and Italy the hours are from nine to 
 four ; in the Imperial Library at Vienna the same, 
 except that rare books, music, and engravings 
 cannot be seen after two. These hours are reason- 
 able enough in the depth of winter, but they can 
 only have been arranged for the summer months 
 by a process of levelling down. 
 
 The extension of working hours by means of 
 artificial light can only be partial in its operation, 
 at least in libraries of the first rank. The reading- 
 rooms can be illuminated, but the books outside 
 them must remain in darkness, and inaccessible. 
 The use of gas in a library of valuable books is 
 impossible, both from the danger of fire and the 
 damage from the products of combustion. Elec- 
 tricity presents little objection on the first of these 
 counts, and none on the second, but the expense 
 of setting up an installation along the galleries of 
 a large library renders its use impracticable. We 
 
 1 As well as on public holidays.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 177 
 
 believe that the possibility of lighting the galleries 
 of the British Museum library has been considered 
 from time to time, but always rejected on the 
 grounds of cost and danger. The Reading-room 
 there, however, is lit both by incandescent lights, 
 close to the readers' heads and along the catalogue- 
 desks, one light being allowed to every pair of them, 
 and by brush-lights in mid-air. In this way the 
 working hours are prolonged until eight during 
 the winter months. The electric light has been 
 installed in the reading-rooms of the new Swiss 
 National Library at Berne, and provision is made 
 in the Prussian budget (1896-97) for its use in the 
 University Library, Gottingen. 
 
 Though the use of artificial light cannot be ex- 
 tended all over a considerable library, it nevertheless 
 makes the whole library accessible to those who 
 can only work there in the evening, since the 
 books desired can be applied for beforehand and 
 found during the day-time. It is generally found 
 convenient to use paper of a special colour for 
 the tickets on which such applications are made. 
 
 AGE OF READERS 
 
 The restrictive measures necessary to ensure the 
 best possible use of a collection of books, and their 
 preservation, will of necessity vary according to 
 its character. A library that aims at being com- 
 plete must contain a large proportion of books 
 which are rightly withheld from the very young, 
 
 M
 
 178 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 either as dealing with phases of life that are best 
 kept from their. knowledge, or as being too valuable 
 to be entrusted to unthinking hands. The limit of 
 age for this purpose is variously fixed in various 
 countries. The severest rule is that of the British 
 Museum, where no one under the age of twenty- 
 one is admitted as a reader. The standard at the 
 French National Library (Salle Publique) is six- 
 teen years. 1 No regulations accept a lower limit 
 than shfteen years, which is the lenient standard 
 of the Government libraries in Italy. The high 
 standard of the British Museum is probably 
 due to its being unconnected with a university, 
 since a rider to the age -regulation provides 
 that the fact of a person being engaged in 
 preparing for an examination shall not be con- 
 sidered as a claim for the relaxation of the age- 
 limit. 
 
 The case of popular free libraries is different in 
 this respect. They are, if zealously managed, 
 essentially propagandist, and aim at inducing 
 people to read. To this end they rightly endeavour 
 to catch their readers young, and the juvenile 
 department is the object of particular care. In 
 the United States library authorities sometimes go 
 so far as to placard the town with inviting posters, 
 to compel the children to come in. At a meeting 
 of the Wisconsin Library Association (1897) we 
 find among the papers read one on "The Best 
 Twenty-five Books for a Child Five to Eleven 
 
 1 For the Salle de Travail there is no limit of age, theoretically.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 179 
 
 Years of Age," and another on " A Diffident Child's 
 First Visit to a Library." 1 
 
 To the United States also we owe the idea of 
 a magazine issued in connection with a popular 
 library, giving lists of acquisitions, and affording 
 a desirable publicity to donors of books. This 
 example was first imitated in this country by the 
 Clerkenwell and West Ham libraries. A com- 
 moner and most effective device is for a library to 
 persuade the local newspapers to print each week 
 a list of its acquisitions, especially those arriving 
 by gift. Many heads of popular libraries have 
 arranged for short lectures (" half-hour talks ") on 
 the resources of their institutions with signal 
 success. 
 
 RESTRICTIONS ON THE ADMISSION OF READERS 
 
 It is not difficult for the custodian of books to 
 provide that a would-be reader has attained to 
 years of discretion, but more than this may be 
 justly required in return for the privilege of 
 consulting, and especially of borrowing, valuable 
 books credentials of respectability are usually re- 
 quired. The applicant for admission to the British 
 Museum Reading-room has to adduce the testimony 
 of a householder or other person in a responsible 
 position. This proviso is liberally enough inter- 
 preted, though a lodging - house keeper is not 
 allowed to vouch for the respectability of his 
 customers. In the case of foreign visitors these 
 
 1 Library Journal, xxii. 3.
 
 l8o LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 rules are frequently relaxed, just as at the Biblio- 
 theque Nationale at Paris, where in ordinary cases 
 access to the Salle de Travail is fenced about with 
 similar restrictions. 
 
 The collections of the Bibliotheque Nationale 
 were open without restriction till 1858, after which 
 free access was only given to a sort of popular 
 reference library, the " Salle de Lecture " (20,000 
 volumes) and the " Salle de Travail," duly guarded, 
 was set apart for the use of students, whose work 
 was no longer hampered by the presence of illite- 
 rate crowds making request for Aristotle's Roland 
 Furieux, the Annulaire de la Noblesse, and Les 
 Milles de Jean Jac. 1 
 
 NUMBER OF BOOKS ISSUED 
 
 The number of books to be applied at the same 
 time for reference is pretty generally restricted (in 
 theory) to two or three, but this limitation is chiefly 
 designed to furnish the librarian with a weapon 
 against the gobe-mouche. One library at least, the 
 K. K. Bibliothek at Vienna, expressly legislates 
 against this kind of reader by forbidding the supply 
 of a heterogeneous selection of books. Here, as 
 elsewhere, the genuine student will not find himself 
 thwarted by restrictions of number or kind. In 
 Italy it would appear the regulations as to the 
 number of books to be supplied are very strictly 
 carried out. An Italian bibliographer recently en- 
 gaged on a comparative study of Florentine woodcuts 
 
 1 These titles are, we believe, genuine instances.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION l8l 
 
 speaks feelingly of the difficulty thus caused 
 him. 
 
 The regulations of the University Library at 
 Halle (subject, luckily, to exceptions upon occa- 
 sion) allow the reader only five books in the course 
 of a day, unless they are applied for the day before, 
 when the number may be doubled. This latter 
 provision, of course, allows the work of the staff 
 to be better distributed, and minimises the chance 
 of a " rush of orders " at the same moment. 
 
 PRECAUTIONS AGAINST THEFT AND DANGER 
 
 No care in selecting readers will, however, guard 
 against the possibility of theft. The further pre- 
 cautions to be taken greatly differ, according as 
 the library in question issues books on loan or 
 not. In any case, every volume must be stamped 
 in such a way that a stolen copy is of little use 
 to the thief. The stamp must be impressed there- 
 fore with indelible ink on the back of the first and 
 last pages, and on every illustration. Some large 
 libraries, e.g. the Bibliotheque Royale at Brussels, 
 neglect this last precaution. It is however, we 
 think, essential, illustrations being the only saleable 
 single leaves of a book. Most libraries have their 
 stamp impressed uniformly on some page of which 
 the number has been arbitrarily fixed, where a 
 thief would not think of looking for it. The books 
 issued to readers without application by ticket need 
 special precautions. Those in the British Reading- 
 room, for instance, in addition to the ordinary
 
 182 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 stamps, have a royal crown on the sides, and 
 another small royal crown impressed into the 
 upper edges of the leaves, so that nothing short 
 of rebinding will make them unrecognisable as 
 Museum property. Against the ruffians who tear 
 leaves out of a book for their private purposes 
 there is no remedy, unless a right-minded reader 
 detects the deed and gives information. News- 
 papers present an especial difficulty, since cuttings 
 from them are much sought after, and the sets of 
 them in public libraries are in many cases (notably 
 the provincial papers) the only existing examples. 
 To prevent the loss from cuttings by means of 
 " stamps " is impossible ; the only remedy is in- 
 creased vigilance. This disappearance of news- 
 papers has been known to result in the mutilation 
 of the only existing copy at the British Museum, 
 when a lawsuit about a patent could only be de- 
 cided by the production of the newspaper under 
 subpoena. 
 
 The wear and tear resulting from ordinary usage 
 can only be mitigated by care on the part of 
 readers. In America great pains are taken to 
 appeal to the better feelings on this point. Thus 
 the following label is used on all volumes of bound 
 newspapers in the Boston Athenaeum : 
 
 "HANDLE WITH CARE. 
 
 "(i) The paper on which newspapers are printed is 
 generally of poor quality, and grows brittle with age. 
 
 "(2) Most newspapers are difficult, or impossible, to
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 183 
 
 replace if worn or injured, and, unlike other publications, 
 they will never be reprinted ; only a very small number of 
 copies exist anywhere. 
 
 " (3) Future generations of readers have a claim on these 
 volumes, which should be respected. 
 
 "THEREFORE HANDLE CAREFULLY." 
 
 The use of stamps to protect the property of a 
 library may at the same time be made to give valu- 
 able data in the life-history of a book. At the 
 British Museum, for instance, there are not less 
 than a dozen stamps, differing in colour, and to a 
 certain extent in colour and shape. The ordinary 
 stamps are oval, and of two slightly different 
 sizes. The larger stamp contains the royal arms, 
 with the words British Museum above, and is im- 
 pressed on the verso of title-page and half-title. 
 The smaller bears the words British Museum, with 
 the date of acquisition between, and is impressed on 
 the last leaf of every book and at the back of plates, 
 &c. The various colours used denote the source of 
 acquisition : thus blue, the operation of the Copy- 
 right Act ; yellow, donation ; red, purchase ; black, 
 international exchange. Sometimes the stamp is 
 impressed (without colour) on the front of photo- 
 graphs or prints that have been mounted, for other- 
 wise theft would be easy. For this purpose a small 
 stamp is used, impressing a royal crown only, 
 without ink. This is also used in stamping minus- 
 cula. The largest books are marked with an extra 
 large stamp. 
 
 The theft of books which are only attainable by
 
 184 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 means of a demand-ticket is not difficult to prevent. 
 These tickets being kept by the officials of the 
 Reading-room are cancelled as the books are re- 
 turned, so that a theft will be detected at the hour 
 of closing, at any rate. This is the only check in 
 operation at the British Museum ; but at the Bib- 
 liotheque Nationale (Paris) every reader on entering 
 is presented with a bulletin personnel, on which 
 the number of volumes taken out by him for re- 
 ference is noted, and he cannot leave the room 
 until these are crossed off as returned. 1 At Halle 
 the regulations forbid readers to bring in books 
 of their own. In Italy, also, the reader must give 
 up everything he has received before leaving the 
 room. At the British Museum the reader may 
 absent himself from the room for not more than 
 an hour, leaving his book at his seat. On the 
 expiry of this period they may be cleared away 
 if room is required for incoming readers. This 
 is in theory very lax compared with Continental 
 methods, but in practice the loss by theft from 
 the Reading-room is infinitesimal. 
 
 SERVICE OF BOOKS TO A READING-ROOM 
 
 The British Museum. For the purpose of book- 
 supply the whole library is divided into five sections, 
 each served by a number of attendants specially 
 attached to it, and directed by a " head of a section." 
 The tickets as taken from the baskets in the Reading- 
 
 1 Moreover, if he wishes to carry out of the room any book or paper, 
 his own property, he must procure a laisser-passer.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 185 
 
 room by the boys entrusted with that task are 
 marked by them with the time of application, 
 sorted out according to the section to which they 
 belong and in order of the time of application, 
 and brought to the head of the section nearest 
 the Reading-room, who sends them to the other 
 heads of sections. Each batch of tickets having 
 reached the "head's" table is distributed by him 
 among the attendants who happen at that moment 
 to be disengaged. The " head " himself attends 
 to the applications for the books that lie nearest 
 his table, so that he is never very far away, is 
 able to keep his subordinates up to the mark, 
 and can be called upon by them in case of any 
 difficulty. This " section-system " has been in 
 operation since 1876, and has the great advantage 
 of familiarising each attendant most closely with 
 some portion of the library, so that it is for him 
 a mere mechanical effort to find any particular 
 press ; and in the case of the portions arranged 
 on the relative-location system, such as the 
 periodicals, he knows the exact position of all 
 the more important sets. His perambulations 
 being confined to his own section, unless he 
 happens to be the one entrusted with conveying 
 batches of books to the section near the Reading- 
 room, the saving of time and shoe-leather is great 
 as compared with the old system, under which 
 any attendant might be sent to any part of the 
 library. 1 The section-system occasionally involves 
 
 1 Books housed in distant parts of the library, e.g. in the Oriental 
 room, are brought up by the aid of telephones.
 
 l86 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 delay however, for as the demand of readers fluc- 
 tuate in mysterious ways from one subject to 
 another, there may be a rush of tickets in one 
 section and comparative idleness in another. If 
 this becomes pronounced, it can always be 
 remedied by a transfer of hands from one section 
 to another. 
 
 Having found the book desired, the attendant 
 substitutes for it a "board," a piece of cardboard 
 covered with paper, on which he writes the date of 
 removal, the reader's name, the press-mark, author's 
 name, and a very short title of the book. He also 
 writes on the reader's ticket the number of the 
 " board," each attendant having a definite numbered 
 series of these tokens assigned to him. The book 
 is then taken to the " section table " to be entered 
 in the " register." Each attendant is furnished with 
 a volume of blank forms, called a "register," for 
 noting books issued. In this he writes the press- 
 mark, author's name, and date of the book, the 
 reader's name, and the number of the " board " left 
 in the place of the book. To this is added a very 
 short title as further identification in case of books 
 not "third-marked." This finished, the book is sent, 
 usually in company with others, to the section near 
 the Reading-room. From here one of the " boys " 
 takes it to the Reading-room centre, when an adult 
 attendant takes it to the expectant reader, removing 
 the application-ticket. These tickets are arranged 
 in pigeon-holes on the inside of the inmost circle 
 of the room, in alphabetical order of the reader's 
 names. Each reader having done with his books
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 187 
 
 brings them to the part of the centre opposite the 
 pigeon-hole that contains the initial letter of his 
 name, and receives in return his ticket, cancelled. 
 
 The time elapsing between the presentation of 
 the application-ticket at the Reading-room centre 
 and the arrival of the book at the reader's seat 
 cannot be exactly stated. The variations in time 
 depend on (i) the distance of the press in which the 
 book is situated books in the Reading-room gallery 
 arrive most quickly ; the slowest in coming are the 
 obscure and little-used periodicals, stored in exhibi- 
 tion galleries in the cupboards along the walls of 
 certain distant archaeological departments of the 
 Museum ; (2) the accurate description of the book 
 on the ticket a wrong press-mark is fatal ; (3) the 
 presence or absence of a "third-mark" (see supra, 
 p. 151) in the press-mark ; (4) the number of applica- 
 tions requiring attention at the same time in the 
 particular section to which the book belongs. To 
 prevent disappointment as far as possible, it has 
 recently been enacted that any one visiting the 
 library to see a single book may upon application 
 to the superintendent have his ticket marked 
 " urgent," whereby the arrival of the book is con- 
 siderably hastened. 
 
 The replacing of books returned after use by 
 readers is the first duty of every morning. The 
 books are sorted according to their press-marks, 
 and despatched on barrows to the " sections " to 
 which they belong. There they are put back, and 
 the boards taken away and distributed among the 
 attendants. The system of numbering adopted
 
 1 88 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 ensures that each man receives back the boards for 
 which he is personally responsible. The entries in 
 the daily " register " corresponding to the " boards " 
 returned are next cancelled, and marked with the 
 date of return. Twice a year, while the library is 
 closed for cleaning, each register is examined, and 
 any books not marked off have to be accounted for. 
 As soon as the Reading-room is closed all books 
 " kept " for readers are returned to the shelves, and 
 this proceeding generally serves to cancel all out- 
 standing entries in the registers. 
 
 "Kept" Books. The service of a Reading-room 
 is much accelerated by the practice of "keeping" 
 books that readers intend to use during more than 
 one day. At the British Museum the reader may 
 continue to " keep " a book from day to day, or 
 from one date to another date specified by him, 
 the only restriction being that all "kept" books 
 are returned to the shelves twice a year, when the 
 Reading-room is closed, for verification of the 
 attendants' registers. Of course any one asking for 
 a book " kept " by some one else is supplied with it 
 if not in actual use. Cases sometimes occur when 
 two earnest students are burning to use the same 
 book. The first gets it "kept" for him, but the 
 second enters the Reading-room next morning on 
 the stroke of nine, with demand-ticket ready written, 
 and carries off the prize while his rival lingers over 
 breakfast. The practice in Continental libraries is 
 to " keep " a book upon request till the following 
 day, and then to return it to the shelves if not 
 claimed. In Italy there is the additional rule that
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 189 
 
 everything shall go back to the shelves at the end 
 of each week. 
 
 Bibliotheque Nationale. In a report by M. Leopold 
 Delisle, the chief of the Bibliotheque Nationale, is an 
 eloquent passage showing how the service of books 
 is retarded by the mere size of that vast institution : 
 "The assistant who among his other numerous 
 duties has the supply of reserve books under his 
 charge is obliged every time he is asked for a 
 book or books to go up a special staircase (thirty- 
 nine steps), a stiff climb up steps about eighteen 
 inches wide, walk fifty-six steps along a narrow 
 balcony, open a door, cross a room eighteen paces 
 long, open a barrier that is kept locked, shut it 
 again, consult his catalogues, and look for the 
 desired volumes on one or the other storey of a 
 gallery eighty paces long, divided into eighty-four 
 compartments. When he has found the volumes he 
 has, in order to get back to his place and send the 
 volumes to the proper quarter, to traverse the same 
 distance, open and shut the same locks, go down 
 the same stairs, sometimes carrying very bulky and 
 heavy volumes in his arms, there being no lift to 
 the reserve, and no possibility of constructing one." 
 
 In the United States the high cost of labour has, 
 as usual, led to the introduction of mechanical 
 devices in the service of books. We extract the 
 following from Mr. Hubert Small's Handbook of 
 the new Public Library in Boston (1895): 
 
 " In the old building of the public library books 
 were brought from the stack by messengers, but in a 
 stack like the present, extending back for so great a
 
 190 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 distance, it was manifestly necessary to devise some 
 other method if books called for were to be distri- 
 buted to readers without excessive delay. It was 
 finally decided to install a book-railway, over which 
 carriages propelled by cables operated by an elec- 
 tric motor might be run to the delivery alcove from 
 all portions of the stack. The idea was suggested 
 by the cash-delivery systems now in use in most 
 of the large retail stores. The result has been 
 completely successful. Each storey of the stack 
 is equipped with an eight-inch track running its 
 entire length. Each track has three stations, placed 
 at convenient intervals ; and each station has its 
 own carriage a low wire-basket capable of con- 
 taining all but the largest books. Two girls are 
 employed as "runners" on each floor to carry the 
 books called for to the basket. When the basket 
 is loaded it is pushed from the station to the main 
 track, where it grips the cable, and is carried to- 
 wards the delivery alcove at the rate of five hundred 
 feet a minute. 
 
 Since the stack is in six storeys, only one of which 
 is on the level of the receiving window of the 
 delivery alcove, a narrow well has been built 
 between the alcove and the stack, in which are 
 five miniature elevators, or one for each of the 
 stack storeys above or below the level of the 
 window. When the basket approaches the well 
 it automatically slips the cable, and its speed 
 having been gradually slackened, it slides upon 
 the elevator. If the elevator is "busy," the car 
 is held until its turn arrives. If it is not busy the
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 19! 
 
 shock releases a pin, and the motor below hoists 
 or lowers it, as the case may be, to the window. 
 Stopping here, the carriage is tipped out and rolls 
 into the alcove. Returning, the process is almost 
 exactly reversed. As the car comes back to its 
 station it is again released from the cable, and 
 slides easily into place." 
 
 The tickets bearing the reader's demands also 
 reach their destination by mechanical means, being 
 propelled through pneumatic tubes. To judge by 
 a late report of the library, these mechanical ar- 
 rangements did not work at first with complete 
 success, but are now under better control. 
 
 Among European libraries only the University 
 Library at Vienna, so far as we know, has any 
 mechanical arrangements for the conveyance of 
 books through the "stacks." 
 
 RESTRICTIONS IN THE ISSUE OF BOOKS 
 
 Having selected (if select he may) his clientele, 
 the librarian is obliged to devise restrictions more 
 or less severe on the access to the books under his 
 care, that they may be used to the best advantage. 
 Here again the practice in the larger libraries must 
 differ from the popular free libraries, since the 
 former must possess books which can only be 
 issued to readers very sparingly, and others which, 
 for legal reasons, have to be reserved for the eyes 
 of posterity alone. 
 
 The difficulties that beset the Continental lib- 
 rarian from this quarter are immeasurably greater
 
 192 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 than in Anglo-Saxon countries. Whole classes of 
 books are "prohibited" from being sold by the 
 booksellers, and are not freely available in public 
 libraries. A list of " Libri prohibit! in Austria " l 
 recently published gives a striking exposition of 
 the system. Among the prohibited classes are 
 Communistic, Socialistic, and Anarchistic books (in- 
 cluding Nordau's " Conventional Lies of Our Civili- 
 sation "), anti-Semitic books (as Drurnont's La France 
 juive), erotic books (such as the " Decameron," 
 and the Song-book of the Leipsic students, Leipziger 
 Allgemeines Reichskommersbucli), Schauerromane, or 
 "penny dreadfuls" (such as those dealing with 
 the tragic end of the Crown Prince Rudolf), and 
 books with "irredentist" tendencies (including too- 
 patriotic Italian geographical books). For whatever 
 reasons, Freeman's " Essays in Mediaeval History," 
 and Mackay's Dichtungen (J. H. Mackay's) are 
 included in the black list, together with Goethe's 
 Tagebuch. 
 
 From an official decree (25th February 1889) we 
 learn that all books thus placed under the ban must 
 be taken off the shelves and out of the catalogues, 
 and press-marked as a separate collection, and that 
 a catalogue must be kept of them. If a number of 
 a newspaper or periodical is " forbidden/' it must 
 be cut out and bound, and take its place in the 
 collection. These books are only to be issued for 
 reading in the library itself, to people known to the 
 chief librarian as "absolutely trustworthy," who want 
 them for purely scientific purposes. Government 
 
 1 Libri prohibits in Austria. Von A. Einsle. Wien, 1896.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 193 
 
 officials, however, can have the loan of any for 
 purely official purposes. 
 
 Some of these difficulties continually beset the 
 British and American librarian. The issue of works 
 of fiction, for instance, is subjected to restrictions 
 in the libraries adapted for students, in order that 
 the seats in the Reading-room meant for students, 
 and the time of the staff, may not be given up to 
 purposes better served by the circulating library. 
 Thus at the British Museum novels are not issued 
 until they are five years old, unless the reader 
 shows to the satisfaction of the authorities that he 
 requires them for genuine literary purposes. The 
 regulations of the Paris National Library forbid the 
 issue of " modern " novels, and even of plays, except 
 for serious purposes. At Vienna, poems also are 
 included under the ban. Here, too, school-books 
 are not to be had by readers, who must go, if they 
 want them, to the library of the University. It is a 
 matter of great regret that the number of libraries 
 in London is still so small in proportion to the 
 population that this rule cannot be made at the 
 British Museum. A considerable number of books 
 that ought not to be issued in a library made for 
 research are issued with such frequency that they 
 have to be kept in the galleries of the Reading-room, 
 where they take up space that might be much better 
 occupied. It is at times a lamentable sight on a 
 Saturday afternoon to see qualified workers looking 
 in vain for seats, and supplanted by young gentlemen 
 (and ladies) comparing Pitt Press editions of Caesar's 
 Commentaries with Kelly's Keys to the Classics. 
 
 N
 
 194 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The question of novels in popular free libraries 
 assumes a quite different aspect. It does not fall 
 within the scope of this volume to consider whether 
 libraries supported with public funds for educational 
 purposes are serving the end to which they are 
 destined if seventy or eighty per cent, of the books 
 borrowed belong to the category of fiction. It is 
 practically admitted that they do, and we have here to 
 consider only the methods of selection among the 
 books of that class. The libraries of the United States 
 appear to be supplied on very broad and eclectic 
 principles indeed, to judge by a recent instance. The 
 Newark (N. J.) Free Library has just excluded two 
 " flash " daily papers, the New York World and the 
 New York Journal, on the ground of their containing 
 serial stories of the lowest sensational sort, known 
 as "yellow kid" stories, from the pictorial repre- 
 sentation of their hero. 1 Others, it must be ad- 
 mitted, seem to aim at enforcing a literary standard 
 e.g. the Alleghany Carnegie Library has placed its 
 ban on him whom Matthew Arnold was so grieved 
 to find the Americans feeding on, " a native author 
 named Roe." We ought in strict justice to 
 mention that this writer's productions appear to 
 labour under the further disadvantage of being 
 printed on execrable paper, and so to require fre- 
 quent replacing. The American librarian, too, is 
 wont to hold reviewers, at any rate reviewers of 
 fiction, in great distrust. In order to secure a 
 really competent account of contemporary fiction, 
 a committee of the Massachusetts Library Club 
 
 1 Library Journal, xxii. 3.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 195 
 
 undertakes to read the chief novels every month, 
 and publish a " list of select fiction." We fear that 
 a line drawn through British fiction on a level with 
 Mr. E. P. Roe would go dangerously near excluding 
 certain most popular British favourites, and that the 
 test of literary merit is impossible to enforce. The 
 question of sexual morality is an important one for 
 libraries where books are indiscriminately issued, 
 and we cannot but think that certain Free Library 
 Committees in this country did well in making a 
 stand a few years ago against the rising flood of 
 feebly erotic literature. Their action has since 
 been amply justified by the subsidence of the 
 evil. 
 
 The question of libellous books is one that has 
 attracted much attention of late, owing to the action 
 brought by Mrs. Martin against the British Museum, 
 but it would more fitly be discussed in a treatise of 
 Library Legislation. 
 
 A certain portion of most libraries are subject 
 to special restrictions to secure its safety. Thus 
 specially rare or sumptuous books are kept under 
 lock and key, and issued for inspection at special 
 tables, where the readers of them can be more 
 easily supervised. 1 It is necessary to provide not 
 only against the graver risks of theft or mutila- 
 tion, but against careless damage, which may be 
 occasioned either by morsels from a furtively eaten 
 
 1 If a separate room can be set apart for this purpose, as at the 
 British Museum, so much the better ; but a separate table near the 
 superintendent's desk, as at the Bibliotheque Nationale, obviates many 
 risks.
 
 196 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 sandwich, or by drops of ink. The use of the latter 
 should be absolutely prohibited in the case of 
 illuminated books and the like, which rank as works 
 of art. 
 
 Tracing can scarcely be permitted in the case 
 of "select" books, and only in the case of less 
 valuable books upon special application. The use 
 of compasses for measuring diagrams or other 
 purposes must be carefully prevented. 
 
 It is the rule at many libraries, e.g. at the Biblio- 
 theque Nationale at Paris, never to issue a book 
 before binding, if it is in parts. We would propose 
 to modify this draconian regulation by allowing 
 readers access to unbound parts, but under the 
 same conditions as the reserve books. Being 
 thus conscious of a privilege, they will perhaps 
 leave livraisons in proper order, and each in its 
 own cover. 
 
 The supply of periodicals is a question of daily 
 increasing importance, especially as regards those 
 devoted to science, which to the earnest student 
 are almost more important than formal books. 
 The modern librarian makes special efforts to supply 
 these needs. Thus at the Biblioteca Nazionale of 
 Turin three new rooms for periodicals have recently 
 been opened. One of them, reserved for professors 
 of the University, members of the Academy of 
 Sciences, and advanced students, contains on a 
 centre table the current issues of a large number 
 of learned reviews, and round the walls the 
 whole of the last series of each, or, if there be no 
 such division, the issues for the last ten years.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 197 
 
 At the Bibliotheque Royale at Brussels the whole 
 of the periodicals for the current year are kept in 
 pigeon-holes round the walls of a special room, to 
 which access can only be obtained by a special 
 ticket, issued with severe restrictions. On the 
 3ist of December in each year the whole room 
 is cleared, and the parts sent off to binders'. 
 Should any particular number become damaged by 
 frequent use it is withdrawn from its pigeon-hole, 
 but unless in very bad condition may still be seen 
 on application. A room of this kind would un- 
 doubtedly be a welcome boon to readers at the 
 British Museum. A selection would, however, have 
 to be made from the vast number of periodicals 
 received there, thereby giving an opening for com- 
 plaints, and, moreover, many well-known publica- 
 tions would have to be bought in duplicate, for 
 the vast number of visitors (not all scrupulously 
 clean as to the hands) would certainly make them 
 too dirty to be permanently kept. 
 
 EXHIBITION OF BOOK TREASURES 
 
 Every library possessing books that are interesting 
 without being read becomes in proportion to their 
 number a museum, and is under an obligation to 
 display these treasures. It will therefore, if space 
 and budget allow, arrange in a public gallery, in 
 glass cases, specimens at least of early typography, 
 of bindings, of first editions of world-famed books, 
 and other bibliographical, artistic, and literary curi- 
 osities. If this be not done, the labour of continually
 
 198 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 fetching out these articles for the student or the 
 gobe-mouche, will be a perpetual tax. We learn 1 
 that at Brussels, a very rich library unprovided 
 with an " exposition," much inconvenience has been 
 caused in this way. These exhibitions, being chiefly 
 designed to lure on the intelligent visitor to further 
 study, should be furnished with most elaborate 
 explanations, printed or written on cards, on which 
 the previous knowledge assumed is small. A certain 
 portion of the exhibition is necessarily permanent, 
 but the whole should not be if the resources of the 
 library allow of change. At the British Museum, 
 for instance, the cases devoted to early typography, 
 sumptuous books, and bindings are permanent, 
 since the best specimens in these departments are 
 rarely added to the collections, but there are, and 
 have been, other temporary collections, such as those 
 illustrating (i) the development of the Alphabet, 
 (2) the Spanish Armada, (3) the Tudor period in 
 English history, (4) the Stuart period, (5) the life 
 and works of Gibbon, (6) the history of book- 
 illustration at Florence, at Venice, and in France, 
 (7) the development of the title-page, (8) English 
 Church history, (iSgy), 2 (9) Americana (1897). As 
 for the mechanical devices connected with the ex- 
 hibition of books, it may be mentioned that in the 
 cases at the British Museum the books are kept 
 open at the page desired by pieces of tape passing 
 
 1 Rapport, 1890-91. 
 
 2 A case is also permanently devoted to familiarising the public with 
 the latest acquisitions of the Printed Books Department that are of 
 striking interest.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 199 
 
 along the outer edges and fastened by drawing-pins 
 to the wooden rests supporting the books. At the 
 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, sheets of talc lie over 
 the open pages, to protect them from dust. 
 
 The example of the great national libraries might 
 be followed with profit by the larger free libraries, 
 on the model of exhibitions organised 1 by Mr. 
 Lancaster of the St. Helens Libraries. The first of 
 these, we learn, took place on Easter-Sunday 1890, 
 at the Town Hall of St. Helens, and was open free 
 from two to eight o'clock. Some two hundred of the 
 best books, chiefly the illustrated ones, to be found 
 in the library were exhibited on long tables covered 
 with crimson cloth, and the visitors, of whom there 
 were 1200, were allowed to turn over the leaves, with 
 or without the assistance of the library staff or 
 committee, who were present to guard the books 
 against harm. The next exhibition lasted two 
 months, so that the direct access by the public was 
 not allowed, but the books were shown under glass, 
 except a few cheap illustrated ones to which it was 
 desired to attract attention. A penny being charged 
 for admission, and a catalogue of the exhibition 
 sold for a penny, there was a small balance in 
 favour of the library when all was over. Strict 
 veracity compels us to add that there were a few 
 pictures, and sometimes a military band. 
 
 Two admirable notions for exhibitions were once 
 put forward in the Library Journal? but bore no 
 
 1 Library, vol. vi. 
 
 ' 2 A. W. Pollard "On the Exhibition of Facsimiles of Rare Books 
 in Public Libraries," in the Library, vol. v. 1893.
 
 200 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 fruit. One was that a number of free libraries 
 should form a syndicate, and get Mr. Quaritch to 
 sell them at a low figure the hopelessly imperfect 
 copies of famous books that came into his possession 
 and were not good enough for collectors, so that 
 each member of the syndicate would get a leaf or 
 two of fine printing, illustration, or what not, for a 
 trifling sum. There could be no great vandalism in 
 breaking up such very imperfect copies. Failing the 
 adoption of this scheme, there ought to be exhibi- 
 tions of facsimiles. The reproductions of books 
 shown in the King's Library at the British Museum, 
 now to be purchased for a moderate sum, would 
 form an admirable exhibition, and with the ad- 
 vance and cheapening of the arts of reproduction, 
 additional facilities will be made possible. The 
 romantic interest attaching to facsimiles doubtless 
 falls short of that inspired by the originals, but 
 the difference is in reality so slight, that even an 
 expert could not safely assert the most recent 
 specimens produced to be copies by merely look- 
 ing at them through the glass of a show-case. 
 And if the facsimiles could be printed on imitation- 
 antique paper, the illusion would be further 
 heightened. 
 
 The question of photographic reproductions 
 which this question starts is one of increasing 
 importance. It concerns not only the "vulgarisa- 
 tion " (in the French sense) of rare and handsome 
 books, but in their preservation. This applies 
 with especial force to manuscripts, which are out- 
 side the scope of the present work ; but every large
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 2OI 
 
 national library possesses scores of books repre- 
 sented, as far as is known, by those single copies 
 only, which must always be exposed, at least 
 in some small degree, to risks of fire, where- 
 by they would be entirely lost to the studious 
 world. The reproduction of facsimiles of such 
 books is in the highest degree desirable. The 
 advantages of photography again are enormous 
 for the bibliographer, especially for the study of 
 types and illustrations. Any one who has been 
 engaged in tracing the development of early book- 
 illustrations knows the exasperation that ensues 
 on finding a perfectly familiar cut in an unexpected 
 place, and being unable to refer to it in its original 
 position. Measurements and descriptions may be 
 made, but form poor substitutes for a reproduc- 
 tion of the cut itself. Photography may be em- 
 ployed for the reproduction of leaves worn out 
 by use, as has been done at the British Museum 
 in the case of the " Key to Poole's Index," and 
 for the reproduction of catalogues that have gone 
 out of print. In some great libraries the pressure 
 of these needs has brought forth good results. 
 The University of Oxford has established a photo- 
 graphic department in connection with the Bodleian 
 Library, and has the additional advantage of a 
 University Press at which to print the facsimiles. 
 At the Vatican Library photographic reproduction 
 is permitted, and even encouraged. 1 At the British 
 Museum the facilities afforded for taking photo- 
 graphs are made use of with ever - increasing 
 
 1 Revne des BibliothZques, March 1 896.
 
 202 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 frequency. Amateur photographers are allowed to 
 photograph "exhibited objects" only, no doubt 
 in order that the bad effect of their semi-libellous 
 efforts may be easily corrected by a visit to the 
 public galleries. In other cases the applicant must 
 " name the photographer whom he proposes to em- 
 ploy, as there is no official photographer attached 
 to the British Museum." This is a deficiency which 
 it has long been hoped to fill. The fees charged 
 by competent professionals are high, necessarily 
 no doubt, and it would be an enormous boon to 
 the public if the Museum could have a salaried 
 photographer attached, and make facsimiles at cost 
 price. As a specimen of the low charges which the 
 Clarendon Press finds not unprofitable, it may be 
 mentioned that that institution can supply a nega- 
 tive and a silver print, ten inches by seven, for a 
 little over three shillings. 
 
 Further conditions are, that if required two 
 copies of each photograph taken in the Museum 
 be deposited with the principal librarian, except 
 in the case of those taken by processes not re- 
 quiring the use of the photographic studio ; that 
 the photographer declare in writing to the prin- 
 cipal librarian whether he requires to introduce 
 any combustible chemicals into the Museum for 
 the purposes of his work ; that no photographer 
 introduce into the Museum a larger quantity of 
 chemical apparatus than will be necessary for the 
 work of the day ; and that at the close of each 
 day all photographing materials be removed from 
 the premises, or placed in the charge of the clerk
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 203 
 
 of the works, who will deposit them in a place of 
 security outside the Museum buildings. 
 
 The concluding paragraph of each permit runs 
 thus: "This permission is given subject to any 
 copyright which may be claimed by authors or 
 others, but as to which the Trustees . . . cannot 
 undertake to give information or offer an opinion." 
 This proviso will be found in some form in similar 
 documents issued by all libraries. 
 
 PROVISION OF CATALOGUES 
 
 We have already treated at length of the cata- 
 logues, the chief means by which the librarian makes 
 known to the public the books in his care, but 
 in connection with this an important point arises, 
 whether or no the catalogues shall be accessible to 
 the public. It would seem at first sight as if there 
 could be no two answers to this question ; the 
 reader ought to have the means of finding out the 
 exact titles of the books he wants, and of appending 
 to his requests the marks by which the position of 
 the books in the library is indicated. Yet the two 
 largest libraries in the world follow exactly opposite 
 courses in the matter. At the British Museum the 
 readers have to write down the press-marks on 
 their demand-tickets ; at the Bibliotheque Nationale 
 at Paris they need not unless they like, and the 
 work of searching has to be done by the staff. 1 The 
 head of the Bibliotheque in a recent report tabu- 
 lates some results of the latter system. Of 1000 
 
 1 As also at the R. Biblioteca Nazionale, Florence.
 
 204 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 readers' tickets sent in, 250 were found to have 
 accurate titles, and press-marks added, 430 were with- 
 out press-marks, but contained accurate titles and 
 dates of the books required, 20 had wrong or in- 
 complete press-marks, 300 contained approximate 
 descriptions merely. Thus seventy-five per cent, 
 of the demands needed completion or correction 
 by the staff before they could be attended to. 
 
 In the same report are quoted some of the errors 
 in authors' names, as given by readers : Bukler 
 (Butler), Cousin de Plancy (Collin de Plancy), 
 Blant (Le Blant), J. Renan (Ernest Renan), Straus 
 (Schwab). If the searcher after knowledge who 
 wrote these forms had been obliged to look them 
 up in a catalogue, the more intelligent, failing to 
 find them, would have corrected their own errors, 
 the rest could have had them corrected on appeal 
 to the staff in charge of the Reading-room. 
 
 We have been assured by the officials at the 
 Bibliotheque that the French public would much 
 resent having to look everything up in catalogues. 1 
 Their attitude is very much that of Carlyle, who, in 
 giving his evidence before the British Museum Com- 
 mission of 1849, objected to having this duty put 
 upon him, and backed himself up by saying that 
 when he went to a haberdasher's to buy a yard of 
 green ribbon he did not expect to be asked "which 
 drawer it was kept in ! " 
 
 1 With the publication of the printed catalogue of the Bibliotheque 
 Nationale, of which the first volume has just appeared (August 1897), 
 we presume the work of searching will be more and more shifted from 
 staff to readers.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 205 
 
 We venture to think that the only duty of the 
 ideal librarian is to provide a catalogue with press- 
 marks appended to the titles of the books, and not, 
 as a rule, to do for readers what they are quite 
 capable of doing for themselves. To make this 
 system work with absolute smoothness it is neces- 
 sary to have the catalogue arranged on a system 
 of quite Arcadian simplicity, and as the original 
 Ninety-one Rules of the British Museum would 
 be quite a moderate allowance for a modern 
 scientific (German or American) system, the lib- 
 rarian cannot be regarded just yet as a book- 
 bringing automaton. 
 
 The different causes that may operate to prevent 
 a reader at the British Museum from obtaining the 
 book he requires were once set forth in Latin by a 
 high official of that institution. This was elicited 
 by a too flattering assertion of Professor Chandler, 
 who was an uncompromising adversary of the 
 proposed class-catalogue of the Bodleian Library, 
 and equally a champion of the Museum cata- 
 logue, to the effect that if a book could be 
 found in the catalogue the reader could always 
 get it. We give this jeu d'esprit both in the 
 decent obscurity of the original and an unabashed 
 translation : 
 
 " Ita mehercle, res se habet, nisi liber iste surreptus 
 fuerit ; seu amissus, aut saltern non inventus ; seu obsoletus 
 et concinnatoris indigus ; seu ab alio scriniorum compilatore 
 postulatus ; seu ab adolescentulo bibliothecse inserviente, 
 animi recreandi gratia, nulla tessera relicta, ab armario
 
 206 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 depromptus ; seu apud dominum janitorem 1 remotus ; seu 
 a muribus exesus ; seu propter pulverem baud facile agnos- 
 .cendus; seu unus inter ducentos super eundem pluteum 
 incomposite collocates ; sive forsitan, libro alias translate, 
 prisca notitia libraria nihilominus in catalogo exstiterit ; seu 
 catalogus ipse negligenter exaratus fuerit ; seu sphalma 
 aliquid typographicum irrepserit; seu ob alias quascunque 
 causas diabolo soli notas, quasque, ut ait cl. Dundrearius, 
 nullus homo exquirere queat." 
 
 " Yes, faith, the thing is so, unless your book have been 
 made away with, or be worn out and in need of binding, 
 or lost, or anyhow be non inventus, or asked for by some 
 other maker of books, or taken out of its press by a 
 youthful library attendant for mental recreation without 
 leaving a ' board,' or be far away with Mr. Porter, or 
 eaten by mice, or barely recognisable for dust, or be one 
 of a couple of hundred placed higgledy-piggledy on the 
 same shelf. Or, it may be, the book has been removed 
 to a fresh place, but the old press-mark still remains in 
 the catalogue, or the catalogue itself has been carelessly 
 drawn up, or a printer's error has crept in; or for any 
 other reasons, which the Devil alone knows, and which, 
 as the great Dundreary says, no fellow can possibly under- 
 stand." 
 
 There is in the Italian and Belgian, and possibly 
 in other Continental, libraries an excellent regula- 
 tion, that if for any reason a book is denied to a 
 reader his demand-ticket shall be kept, and a 
 report made of the number of such tickets. In this 
 way it is easy to ascertain whether the service of 
 the library is being pampered by the misplacing of 
 
 1 Translate " Mr. Porter." The reference is to a former assistant- 
 keeper of that name.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 207 
 
 books or by delays in binding, and also to see what 
 books are not in the library, and to what extent 
 they are in request. In libraries where full cata- 
 logues are made available, readers not finding a 
 book mentioned will of course not write out a 
 ticket for it, but they should be encouraged to note 
 their requirements in the request-book. 
 
 In 1891 a scheme was inaugurated in Italy by 
 Signer Chilovi, head of the Biblioteca Nazionale 
 at Florence, for assisting research. The earnest 
 student can be informed not only whether a book 
 he desires to see is in that library, but whether it is 
 to be found in any other library under the control 
 of the Italian Government. This knowledge is 
 obtained by the issue of circulars from the Florence 
 library, on the model following : 
 
 R. Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence. 
 
 189 . 
 LETTER No. 
 
 To THE LIBRARY AT . 
 
 SIR, I should be glad to know whether in the library 
 under your charge a work is to be found which has been 
 described to me as follows : 
 
 Be so kind as to answer this quite simply, by adding yes 
 or no to this circular. 
 
 (Signed) Prefect 
 
 REPLY : . . . 
 
 (Signed)
 
 208 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Information respecting books in the chief libraries 
 of Germany will one day, we hope, be afforded by 
 the publication of a co-operative catalogue, funds 
 having been voted for the purpose in 1895. 
 
 ACCESS IN FREE LIBRARIES 
 
 The question of access in popular free libraries 
 assumes some very interesting aspects, which large 
 students' libraries are little concerned with. So 
 keen a discussion has of late been started on these 
 questions, that personal recrimination has unfor- 
 tunately begun to play a part. 1 The hostile forces 
 are marshalled round the champions of "indicators" 
 and "free access" respectively. The "indicator" 
 is an apparatus for showing whether or no a given 
 book is available for use, or is out on loan, at 
 binders, lost, damaged, or otherwise inaccessible 
 to the borrower. Various forms of these con- 
 trivances have from time to time been devised, 
 but for practical purposes it will suffice to describe 
 that currently known as "the Cotgreave," from 
 the name of its inventor. This is used in over 
 sixty libraries in the Metropolis alone, and has 
 no rival within that area. It consists of an upright 
 framework of wood or metal, fitted with minute 
 zinc shelves without ends, which is placed in the 
 library so that one side (protected with glass) is 
 visible to the public, and the other accessible to 
 the staff. On the shelves are placed title-ledgers 
 
 1 See, for instance, Mr. Greenwood's Library Year-Book for 1897 
 (Cassell & Co.).
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 2OQ 
 
 of blank forms, in metal cases with ends, coloured 
 red and blue respectively, and bearing numbers. 
 When a case is inserted so that the blue end meets 
 the public eye it is to be understood that the book 
 bearing the number shown is " in," when the red 
 end is seen it is " out." 
 
 Each page of the ledger is ruled in columns, 
 in which to enter the number of the borrower's 
 card and the date of the loan. The methods of 
 working the indicator vary slightly in different 
 libraries, but the usual course is this. The bor- 
 rower having found in the catalogue the number of 
 the book he requires, and seeing by the colour 
 exhibited on his side of the indicator that it is 
 "in," hands in a request for it, together with his 
 " borrower's ticket." The library assistant removes 
 the corresponding ledger from its shelf, enters in 
 it the number of the borrower's ticket and the 
 date of the loan, places the ticket in the ledger, 
 and replaces it so as to exhibit the "out" colour 
 to the public. He then procures the book from 
 the shelves, and marks the date on the label placed 
 inside the cover for the purpose, notes the number 
 in a register, and hands the book to the borrower. 
 The entry in a register is not, however, necessary 
 if application for the book has to be made on a 
 printed form a common arrangement. A more 
 rapid service of issues is possible if the booklets 
 and the respective borrower's cards are put aside 
 instead of being immediately returned to the indi- 
 cator, so that the requisite entries in the ledger 
 can be made as occasion offers. Further, by a 
 
 O
 
 210 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 series of coloured clips exhibited on the official 
 side of the indicator it is possible to show at a 
 glance what books are overdue for return by 
 borrowers, the issues of each week (the period 
 of loan) being marked by a different colour. 
 
 The extensive employment of indicators in free 
 libraries is sufficient proof of their convenience to 
 the librarian, but they are subject to considerable 
 drawbacks. In the first place, they are mechanical, 
 and to a certain extent usurp the place of the 
 library staff, whose aim should be to come into 
 contact with the public. The position of these 
 tall structures between public and librarian tends 
 to heighten this effect. Again, they cannot be 
 distributed as copies of the catalogue can, and 
 on Saturday evenings and at other busy times 
 the resultant crush of borrowers round them is 
 often lamentable. The use of the indicator is 
 almost unknown in the United States, where the 
 rival system of " open access " finds universal 
 favour. 
 
 The practice of " open access " in libraries, in the 
 widest sense of the phrase, is of course no novelty. 
 Even the largest libraries adopt it in so far as 
 they provide their reading-rooms with a number 
 of books for free use without special application. 
 Twenty thousand volumes are so provided at the 
 British Museum. A much greater extension of the 
 principle is now proposed for the public libraries 
 of this country, in imitation of American practice. 
 In the United States the Library Association in 
 conclave assembled has several times expressed
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 211 
 
 complete approval of open access, and wonderful 
 results of its introduction have been quoted, as, for 
 instance, the case of the public library of Cleveland, 
 Ohio, where it increased the circulation of books 
 sixty per cent, in a very short time. 
 
 In this country the first trial of " open access " 
 was made at Clerkenwell, at the suggestion of the 
 librarian, Mr. James D. Brown, whose committee 
 had sent him, with an enterprise and liberality that 
 finds but too few imitators, to study American 
 methods at the time of the Chicago Exhibition. 
 He prefers the term "safeguarded access" as being 
 more accurate, since it is admitted that various 
 checks on readers and borrowers are necessary. 
 A library adopting the system must be constructed 
 so that the staff can easily supervise the readers ; 
 there must be no dark corners where the evil- 
 disposed might cut out plates, for instance. A 
 barrier must be sternly maintained, and only lowered 
 for admission on the production of a borrower's 
 ticket in proper form, and for exit after the loans 
 have been registered. To prevent misplacement of 
 books distinguishing labels must be adopted for 
 each shelf, a requirement met by varying colours 
 and fantastic shapes. In order that volumes may not 
 be pushed away behind their fellows, shelves must 
 not be of more than a certain depth. That books 
 may be accessible without athletic feats the presses 
 must not be of more than a certain height. Further, 
 that readers may gain the greatest possible benefit 
 from their privileges the books must be closely 
 classified, and abundant labels denoting these classes
 
 212 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 must be hung along the shelves. The unfortunate 
 results of unfettered admission to the shelves appears 
 from the fate of the Boston Public Library, 1 where 
 among a juvenile library of 5000 volumes several 
 hundred were lost in a single year, six juvenile 
 thieves were arrested, and 249 volumes were lost 
 from branch libraries. If proper precautions are 
 adopted the risk of loss is found to be small. Thus 
 the Minneapolis Public Library issued several 
 hundred "free access" permits in a year, and only 
 lost three volumes from the reference shelves and 
 a few odd number of periodicals, all of which could 
 be replaced for twenty dollars. The losses from 
 English libraries adopting the system have hitherto 
 been small at Clerkenwell about three volumes a 
 year. It may be remarked in this connection that 
 from frequent compilations of statistics the average 
 value of the books in a popular library is about 
 half-a-crown, and of course the smaller books, which 
 alone could possibly be removed without detection, 
 would not average so high. This portability of 
 small volumes has been strongly impressed upon 
 the authorities of the British Museum, where until 
 recently a set of "Murray's Guides" was placed at 
 the disposal of readers in the Reading-room. These 
 used to vanish not quite unaccountably about 
 the month of August, and either remain away, or 
 come back in October stained with much travel. 
 
 1 Report for 1896-97.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 213 
 
 LENDING OUT 
 
 The practice of lending out books from libraries 
 is found in the earliest times, and was then the 
 more necessary, as imperfect communications made 
 it less easy than now for the scholar to consult them 
 in situ. The earliest loans we hear of are made by 
 monasteries. As a type may be taken the library of 
 the monastery of Einsiedeln in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury, which has recently formed the subject of a 
 learned monograph. 1 The surviving books of this 
 library often contain inscriptions, showing on what 
 terms the loans were granted. Thus in one we find : 
 " Iste liber monasterii Heremitarum est concessus 
 domino lodoco de Mos, militi commoranti in 
 Lucerio." "This book, belonging to the monas- 
 tery of Einsiedeln, is granted to Jodocus of Mos, 
 a soldier dwelling in Lucerium." The loan is ap- 
 parently absolute, without guarantee, and to a soldier 
 too. Loans were granted more circumspectly to 
 other monasteries, at least in this particular institu- 
 tion. Another book has the MS. note : " Iste liber 
 est monasterii loci Heremitarum et dictum mona- 
 sterium habet pro memoriali Gregorium super 
 Ezechielem." "This book belongs to the monas- 
 tery of Einsiedeln, and the said monastery has as 
 a pledge Gregory on Ezechiel." In another book 
 we find : " Iste liber est monasterii Sancte Marie 
 de Heremitis et debet restitui fratri Heinrico de 
 
 1 G. Meier : Heinrich -von Ltgerz, Bibliothekar von Einsiedeln. 
 Leipzig, 1896. (Heftxvii. of " Sammlung bibliotheksivisscnschaftlicher 
 Arbeiten, hrsg. von D. Dziatzko.")
 
 214 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Ligercia thesauriaro eiusdem monasterii." "This 
 book belongs to the monastery of Einsiedeln, and 
 is to be given back to Heinrich von Ligerz, treasurer 
 of the same monastery." (The treasurer was the 
 guardian of the sacramental vessels, jewelled robes 
 and crosiers, and other precious property of the 
 monastery, and was in this case, as in many others, 
 the custodian of the manuscripts also.) Underneath 
 has been written by the borrower : " Et ipse debet 
 restituere dominis de Salem unum novum librum 
 qui intitulatur Miracula Ordinis." " He also has 
 to return to the monks of Salem a new book, en- 
 titled ' Miracles of the Order.' " The accounts of 
 this monastery also show that a money deposit 
 was sometimes accepted as guarantee for the return 
 of a loan. 
 
 In the library of the Sorbonne (University of 
 Paris) the books most used were kept in chains ; 
 those less used, and the duplicates, might be lent 
 to university students against a money deposit 
 covering the value of the book. To facilitate this 
 the catalogue showed the value assigned to every 
 volume. Foreigners, if properly introduced, were 
 admitted to the same privileges as the students. 1 
 
 The history of the Vatican Library 2 shows instances 
 of lavish lending that can hardly have failed to 
 result in losses. Thus in the pontificate of Sixtus 
 IV. (1471-84) all the functionaries of the Curia, 
 all literati of any distinction, and even simple 
 strangers passing through Rome easily obtained 
 
 1 Grande Encyclopedic, art. Bibliotheque. 
 
 2 C. Sayle in the Library ', vol. vi. p. 376.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 2 15 
 
 loans of MSS. Calixtus III. lent nearly a third of 
 all the Greek books in the library to a certain 
 cardinal for the term of his natural life. Early 
 in the sixteenth century, however, the strings were 
 tightened, and under Julius II. a bond was required 
 from the borrower of a manuscript. 
 
 The British Museum and the French National 
 Library lend out under such severe restrictions 
 that they can hardly be quoted as supporters of 
 the system. The former lends out duplicates only, 
 and that very rarely, and never to private indi- 
 viduals. Duplicates of early-printed books have 
 been occasionally sent to exhibitions (e.g. Folkestone, 
 1886). From the Bibliotheque Nationale duplicates 
 only are lent out, and of these no reserve books 
 (which excludes at once all the incunabula), no 
 dictionaries or similar works which might be useful 
 to the staff in the various departments, no news- 
 papers, music, frivolous literature, or books with 
 plates. Moreover, permission 'to borrow is only 
 issued to persons domiciled in Paris who have 
 written useful works of good repute, and not more 
 than five printed books can be borrowed at once. 
 
 The libraries on the Continent, with the exception 
 of the French, are much more liberal (or rash, as 
 the case may be) in the matter of lending out. 
 In France little borrowing is done, though the 
 practice is on the increase at the universities ; but in 
 Germany, 1 Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Belgium 
 
 1 So universal here is lending out, that the special name of presence- 
 libraries (Prasenz- Bibliothekeri] has come to be applied to institutions 
 where it is not allowed.
 
 2l6 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 there are not only facilities for local borrowing, 
 but for international loans, the latter including 
 even the most precious books and MSS. Of late 
 years a system of envoi direct has been organised 
 between Continental Governments, which allow 
 public libraries to send and receive loans from 
 foreign confreres, and even private individuals, with- 
 out official intervention. The Belgian Government, 
 for instance, arranged with the Prussian and Austrian 
 Governments in 1890 to this effect, and in 1892 
 with Switzerland. Previously such exchanges were 
 made by favour of the respective Foreign Offices, 
 but vexatious delays were frequent. The results 
 of the new system are easily foreseen. While one 
 group of savants have the incalculable advantage 
 of having MSS. to work at in private at home or 
 in their own public libraries, and of being able 
 to work at more than one copy or codex at a 
 time, another group suffer from the absence of 
 literary treasures from their well-known places. 
 Protests have not been lacking. At the Confe"r- 
 ence du Livre at Antwerp in 1890 M. Ruelens, 
 then chief of the Bibliotheque Royale at Brussels, 
 spoke very strongly against lending out books 
 and MSS., and told of books lent out over the 
 eastern frontier (we leave the indication in its 
 graceful vagueness) that came back reeking with 
 tobacco and stained with beer. The Congress 
 finally decided by a large majority that it was 
 inexpedient for a public library to lend out to 
 individuals, but that, with certain exceptions, it 
 might allow them to be consulted in other libraries
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 217 
 
 at home and abroad, under the care of the Con- 
 servators. M. van der Haeghen, the librarian of 
 Ghent University, declared the resolution impracti- 
 cable as far as books were concerned, since the 
 lending of books to students was one of the chief 
 functions of a university library. This of course 
 is the view taken by the two great English uni- 
 versities. A further protest is found in the report 
 for 1890 of the Brussels Royal Library, but the 
 objections are apparently confined to the lending 
 out of manuscripts. 
 
 As a specimen of the elaborate arrangements 
 for lending books that prevail on the Continent 
 we may take the Italian regulations on this point. 
 These apply equally to all the large libraries, a 
 numerous class in Italy. Loans may be (i) local, 
 (2) external, (3) international. There are the usual 
 restrictions on the classes of books that may be lent, 
 with the additional proviso that new books shall 
 not leave the library before they have been there 
 two months. Libraries in the same town, however, 
 are allowed to lend one another without restric- 
 tion, except that the loan of a manuscript or 
 extremely precious book requires an authorisa- 
 tion from the Minister of Public Instruction. 
 Local loans may further be made to (i) Ministers 
 of State, Secretaries-General, Senators and Deputies; 
 
 (2) Ambassadors, and Consuls having the exsequatur\ 
 
 (3) Archbishops and Bishops and Chief Rabbis ; 
 
 (4) high officials of the Council of State, and 
 others of similar rank, such as Prefects and 
 Sub-Prefects of a province ; (5) Generals, Colonels,
 
 2l8 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonels, and Majors of the Army 
 and Navy ; (6) members of the Royal Academies 
 and Institutes of Letters, Fine Arts, and Sciences ; 
 (7) Presidents of the Societa di Storiapatria (National 
 History Societies) ; (8) Professors at the Universities, 
 High Schools, &c. ; (9) Directors of Government 
 Museums, Galleries, Observatories, &c., Directors 
 of State Archives, Librarians of Government 
 Libraries. 
 
 People not included in the foregoing enumera- 
 tion can borrow books on producing a recommenda- 
 tion, which most of the privileged classes are able 
 to give (though no one must vouch for more than 
 ten persons at the same time). Those who have 
 the ex-officio right of borrowing can have five 
 books at a time for three months; the recommended 
 borrowers are only allowed three for two months. 
 If a work is in many volumes, three count as one 
 book. The return of the borrowed books can 
 always be required by the librarian, and any 
 failure to comply involves loss of the privilege of 
 borrowing. 
 
 The Prestito esterno ("external loan") is chiefly 
 made to other libraries in Italy, but is sometimes 
 granted to scholars of distinction whose home is far 
 from any library. Only books "of a strictly scien- 
 tific 1 character" are lent in this way. They must 
 be sent through the post, the borrower paying 
 postage both ways. It sometimes happens that 
 private individuals are willing to lend rare books 
 
 1 The English word is a misleading translation of scientifico, 
 which, like ivissensckaftlich, applies to all exact knowledge.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 2 19 
 
 for use in a public library, and in this case the 
 prefect of the library may if he thinks fit under- 
 take the charge. 
 
 The Prestito internazionale (international loan) is 
 effected through the Ministry of Public Instruction 
 by mutual arrangement with certain countries. No 
 book can be lent for more than six months. 
 
 The procedure in vogue on the Continent in 
 case of a defaulting borrower may be further illus- 
 trated by the decree of the Minister of Educa- 
 tion in Austria, 1893. The period allowed having 
 expired, and the book not having been returned, 
 the borrower is first of all to be reminded by 
 letter of his obligations ; after an interval of three 
 days a letter is to be sent him by messenger, to 
 whom a fee is due (30 to 40 kreutzer). A second 
 period of three days having elapsed without atten- 
 tion being paid to the notice, the matter is to be 
 put into the hands of the police. In the case of 
 borrowers who have to be proceeded against in 
 this way their permit will for the future have only 
 a limited validity, and will be annulled for the 
 space of a year should they offend a second 
 time. 
 
 POPULAR FREE LIBRARIES 
 
 The lending of books from the popular libraries 
 in England and the United States absorbs the chief 
 part of their activity, and presents some interesting 
 features. In this country borrowing is allowed (i) 
 to persons enrolled on the current Parliamentary or 
 County Council registers of the Parish upon signing
 
 220 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 an undertaking to replace books lost or damaged by 
 them, to pay the fines prescribed for keeping books 
 beyond the period of loan allowed, and generally 
 to observe the regulations of the library ; (2) to 
 other residents, not on the aforesaid registers, who 
 can obtain a registered person (or persons) to sign a 
 guarantee ; (3) to persons unable to find a guarantor, 
 who are required to deposit a sum of money usually 
 ten shillings or to pay a small subscription. 
 
 The position of guarantor is a responsible one, 
 as will appear from a specimen form of the duties 
 undertaken by them : 
 
 " I, the undersigned, being a burgess of the Borough 
 of , declare that I believe , occupa- 
 tion - , age , of , to be a person to 
 
 whom books may be safely entrusted for perusal; and I 
 hereby undertake to replace, or pay the value of, any book 
 
 belonging to the Corporation of which shall be 
 
 lost, materially injured, or not duly returned by the said 
 borrower, and also to pay any fines or costs incurred 
 therewith." 
 
 The guarantor also incurs the risk of finding 
 himself liable for the misdeeds and shortcomings 
 of any one into whose hands the borrower's ticket 
 may fall if lost. 
 
 A single volume only can be borrowed at one 
 time by the same person, though in some libraries a 
 number of a magazine not more than twelve months 
 old is allowed in addition. 
 
 During the last few years, however, much has 
 been heard of the " two-book system," an American 
 notion. The second book may not be a novel ;
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 221 
 
 and, as a rule, not a recently-acquired work. In 
 this way it is hoped to divert the attention of the 
 public to the less-used portions of the library. The 
 success of the scheme has been in some places 
 quite remarkable ; thus the free libraries of Phila- 
 delphia and Milwaukee report that eighty and ninety 
 per cent, respectively of their readers make use of 
 the privilege. 
 
 In order that distance from the library may not 
 deter possible readers, it is usual in large towns 
 for the central institution to establish delivery- 
 stations, where requests may be presented and 
 books periodically sent from the main library. The 
 American libraries have "stations" to serve similar 
 ends, containing small collections of books. Those 
 of the Boston Public Library contain about three 
 hundred each, and are kept in the most frequented 
 " stores," the owners of which attend to the issue of 
 books for a small consideration. The number of 
 books issued by the Boston Library is stated to have 
 been trebled by this system, but not to the unmixed 
 satisfaction of the authorities, since the custodians 
 of the stations being paid a fee on the basis of the 
 number issued, are wont to " push " the circulation 
 of the works that take the least time to read, that is 
 to say, the lightest literature. 1 It is suggested that 
 a higher commission should be paid on the more 
 serious literature ; but a complete remedy has yet to 
 be found. 
 
 The period allowed for reading is in the case of 
 fiction a week, or sometimes a fortnight, but the 
 
 1 Report of the Boston Public Library , 1896-97.
 
 222 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 more solid books may as a rule be kept a fortnight. 
 These periods will be extended upon further appli- 
 cation should the book not have been required by 
 another reader. Any one desiring to borrow a book 
 that is " out " fills up a form and leaves it with the 
 librarian, who notifies him by post-card when the 
 volume is available, and keeps it back for twenty- 
 four hours for him. 
 
 In many places the applicant is obliged to leave 
 an addressed post-card for this purpose, or to pay 
 a halfpenny. Another privilege sometimes allowed 
 intending borrowers is that of having a book for 
 inspection before deciding. Novels are excluded 
 from the operation of this device. If a book is 
 kept beyond the period allowed a fine is exacted, 
 ranging from a penny a week to a penny a day. 
 After a month, payment of the fine is demanded, 
 and on the expiry of the second month, as a rule, 
 the book is purchased, and steps are taken to 
 recover the cost, together with the fines due, from 
 the borrower or his surety. In libraries outside 
 London that is to say, in towns where the police 
 is under the control of the municipality the appear- 
 ance of a constable often suffices to elicit missing 
 books or unpaid fines. The working of this system 
 of fines and guarantees results in very small loss, 
 and even that is due in many cases to an over- 
 sight on the part of the borrower. From the 
 annual report of a large popular library in the 
 east end of London, where in the year 1895-96 
 177,000 volumes were issued to 7,800 borrowers, we 
 take the following statistics : Twenty-nine persons
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 223 
 
 were fined (IDS. 2d.) for damage to books ; nine- 
 teen volumes (value 2, 6s. gd.) were lost and paid 
 for ; nine volumes were lost and not replaced, seven 
 of them not being recoverable in consequence of 
 borrowers going away and leaving no address. 
 The population of the East End being migratory, as 
 is well known, this is a remarkable record. 
 
 PRESERVATION OF BOOKS 
 
 Binding. The necessity for a liberal expenditure 
 on binding becomes evident after the shortest 
 experience in library administration. The older 
 the library, the larger becomes the proportion of 
 income absorbed in this way. The binding bill at 
 the British Museum is about equal to the amount 
 paid to booksellers, though in mitigation it should 
 be remembered that the English books received 
 under the Copyright Act cost nothing to purchase, 
 and that the binders are also responsible for pasting 
 in the title-slips of accessions. The whole of this 
 work is executed on the premises, it being a funda- 
 mental law that no book may quit the Museum, 
 except the Principal Librarian be subpoenaed to 
 produce it. The workmen, however, are not servants 
 of the Government, but employes of a contractor. 
 In the United States binding on the premises is the 
 recognised practice in the larger libraries, but the 
 workmen form part of the regular staff. Binding 
 on the premises will probably not effect a saving in 
 yearly bills unless the latter are very large. The 
 danger of injury by fire is another point to be
 
 224 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 * 
 
 considered, and this will be less in a large and well- 
 organised establishment than in a workshop such as 
 could be set up on the premises of a small library. 
 
 The selection of books for binding will of course 
 depend mainly on the frequency of their use. Thus 
 every book in the British Museum Reading-room is 
 rebound, except calendars, directories, and, generally 
 speaking, those that become obsolete before the 
 publishers' bindings have time to wear out. As 
 regards the remaining books, they are only bound 
 or rebound as they show signs of use. The books 
 in paper covers, of which Continental books form 
 a large proportion, are saved from damage by the 
 consistent use of supports of galvanised iron on every 
 shelf not fully occupied. A certain number of " fine " 
 books, remarkable for typography or illustrations, and 
 issued in paper covers (these are almost exclusively 
 French), are exempted from this rule, and bound 
 before being placed on the shelves. Books in 
 remarkable bindings are treated with special pre- 
 cautions, being kept under glass, and furnished each 
 with a separate case made of cloth boards. The 
 most delicate or friable bindings are subject to the 
 further safeguard that the sides and back of the 
 cases are made to open, so that the whole book may 
 be viewed without removal or contact with the 
 hand. The embroidered bindings of the later 
 Tudors, for instance, receive this special treatment, 
 and it would be well if all such treasures were 
 similarly encased, for the use of covers which only 
 enable the books to be seen by pulling them out 
 has in time a fatal effect.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 225 
 
 It is the present practice at the Museum, as 
 indeed at all large libraries, to preserve a certain 
 proportion of covers when binding. A large 
 number of covers have intrinsic excellence as the 
 French ones, for instance, to which so much atten- 
 tion is paid, that the designer and printer are usually 
 mentioned in advertisements. Again, if a book 
 appearing in parts afterwards rise to fame, the 
 sentimental interest attaching to the covers is so 
 marked, that their absence seriously detracts from 
 the value of a copy. The works of Dickens and 
 Thackeray are sufficient token of this. The rule 
 at the Museum is to preserve the covers of the 
 first and last parts, and any others which in design 
 or wording show any departure from the first. 
 The cardboard cases often sent Xmt by publishers, 
 more especially in Germany, are not thought worthy 
 of preservation, chiefly because they destroy the 
 appearance of a shelf of books. It is hardly neces- 
 sary at the present day to put in a caveat against 
 the destruction of old bindings, though it is not 
 long since an amateur of such standing as Thomas 
 Grenville had every book in his library re-bound, 
 and marked with an unsightly device. The Chapter 
 Library of Canterbury, and the MSS. in Cambridge 
 University Library, may be mentioned as having 
 grievously suffered in this way. 
 
 This process has involved the destruction of many 
 specimens of early printing, used as materials by the 
 older binders. " Such fragments in the binders' 
 hands are either sheets of books which have been 
 used up and thrown away, and may be called 
 
 p
 
 226 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 binders' waste ; or else they are spoiled sheets or 
 unused proofs from a printer's office, and may be 
 called printers' waste'' l According to Mr. Gordon 
 Duff, 2 more than ten per cent, of the books printed 
 in England before 1530 are only known from these 
 waste specimens. When used as "end-papers" 
 they should be soaked off by the gradual application 
 of cold water : when by the wearing of the edges 
 of a book it is seen that printed matter has been 
 used to line the boards, sage advice will be of little 
 avail, and those who know what treasures are 
 sometimes thus concealed, will generally give 
 way to the temptation of enlarging the damaged 
 area. 
 
 The treatment of pamphlets at the Museum was 
 of old the heroic process of binding each separately, 
 but the expense of this becoming burdensome, 
 they are now bound together in volumes not more 
 than two inches thick. As a certain delay is 
 involved in waiting till suitable accumulations 
 occur relating to the same subject, the pamphlets 
 find a temporary home in a series of numbered 
 pigeon-holes, receive a temporary press-mark from 
 their position in these, and appear in the catalogue 
 more quickly than any other description of book. 
 Under the old system they were the last to appear, 
 since they were not " placed " till bound, and owing 
 to their comparative unimportance often missed 
 their turn at the binders', and did not become 
 available for the use of readers till a year or even 
 
 1 Henry Bradshaw's Collected Papers, No. xiv. 
 * "Early Printed Books," p. 196.
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 227 
 
 more had elapsed. The only drawback to prevent 
 usage is, that not infrequently a pamphlet appearing 
 to be incomplete is bound up with others, but is 
 followed by a supplement, its indispensable com- 
 panion, and has to be removed from the volume 
 in order that the two parts may stand together. 
 This system of preserving pamphlets by collectors 
 has proved of incalculable use, by preserving 
 pamphlets that never would have maintained an 
 independent existence. The collections made by 
 Jeremy Bentham and Sir Edwin Chadwick on 
 trade and social economy, which are both in the 
 Museum, are a striking demonstration of this. 
 Another system consists in the employment of 
 boxes, which is employed in the Bibliotheque 
 Nationale, the Bodleian, and very largely in Eng- 
 lish popular libraries. The French Revolution 
 tracts at the British Museum are preserved in this 
 way to a great extent, but will in course of time be 
 bound. 1 
 
 The NEWSPAPERS at the Museum are now pre- 
 served by binding, though at one time the enormous 
 expense led to their being merely made up into 
 parcels with stout paper and string. At present 
 even, an immense quantity of Colonial newspapers 
 are kept in this way, but it is hoped they will all be 
 bound in a year or two. 
 
 The single sheets such as placards, circulars, 
 
 1 The university libraries of Yale and Philadelphia speak in their 
 reports of large numbers (with "many thousands" of unbound pam- 
 phlets) in their possession. The Centralblatt fur Bibliothekswesen records 
 the admission with parenthetic astonishment (!). But perhaps these too 
 are in boxes.
 
 228 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Christmas cards, and valentines are more con- 
 veniently kept mounted on thick paper bound 
 into quarto or folio "guard-books." A large pro- 
 portion of the matter thus preserved, as may be 
 supposed, is not worthy of separate cataloguing, 
 but will be of great interest half a century hence, 
 when probably they will only exist in the col- 
 lections of the libraries now benefiting by the 
 Copyright Act. It is made a rule that these 
 "guard-books" shall not exceed 2| inches in 
 thickness, for fear of " broken backs." The bound 
 volumes of newspapers are also subject to this 
 restriction. 
 
 Maps constitute a special difficulty. The Museum 
 practice is to cut up the larger ones and mount 
 them on cloth ; the sheets are then preserved in 
 boxes or drawers. This involves, of course, the 
 destruction of the rollers often attached to large 
 maps. In the Guildhall Library the large maps 
 are folded round the rollers, and the whole 
 preserved in bags resembling those used for 
 fishing-rods, with a flap at the top to exclude the 
 dust. 
 
 Any library of great size, particularly one that 
 benefits by a depot legal, must necessarily receive 
 a quantity of books which have the remotest chance 
 of being ever consulted, but which have none the 
 less a right to preservation. As examples of these 
 one may mention without disrespect the numerous 
 periodicals issued for the propagation of various 
 "fads." Within the last few years it has become 
 the practice at the British Museum to bind these
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 229 
 
 in the cheapest possible way. The parts to be 
 bound are "stabbed" with a machine worked by 
 hand, that effects the three perforations necessary 
 for insertion of the threads. The covers are 
 of thin paper boards, the back of cloth. An 
 application of glue fastens the back to the 
 sides and the body of the book, and holds the 
 thread firmly in place. The boards are cut flush 
 with the edges of the contents, which to a certain 
 extent prevents the intrusion of dust, and does 
 away with the "sagging" and strain on the binding 
 that occur when the leaves of a heavy book have 
 no base to support them. There is, as a rule, no 
 lettering, but the title is printed with a hand- 
 press on a slip, which is gummed on the back. 
 A binding of this description effects an enormous 
 economy compared with the cheapest binding in 
 cloth, and so long as the volume is not frequently 
 consulted, is perfectly effectual. 
 
 Another economical novelty in the same institu- 
 tion is the method of repairing books. The average 
 binder generally declines, when repairing a book 
 of which the sides have become detached, without 
 re-sewing the whole volume and using fresh 
 boards. It is found practicable to fix the old sides 
 by a thin slip of leather on the outside and a strip 
 of cloth on the inside. In the case of heavy books, 
 however, which have the sewing intact except where 
 the side or sides have broken off, fresh threads are 
 embedded in the sides and connected with the ends 
 of the old ones still remaining in the bands. This 
 process costs about one-twentieth of the sum
 
 230 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 required under the older and more "professional" 
 system. 
 
 The question of materials for binding can 
 hardly be called a vexed one at the present time 
 for the public librarian. At any rate, calf and 
 russia, however pleasing to handle or grateful to 
 the nostril of the amateur, have quite fallen out of 
 use owing to their fatal tendency to crack. The 
 use of calf was especially common in England in 
 the eighteenth century, and this is a sore subject 
 with French librarians, who are pleased to attach 
 importance to the products of our literature during 
 that period (e.g. A. Maire, Manuel pratique du biblio- 
 tkecaire, 1896). The leathers used are morocco, 
 roan, vellum, and pigskin, and according to the 
 degree of sumptuousness required or of wear ex- 
 pected, these leathers will either be used alone, or 
 in combination with cloth or paper boards. To 
 judge from the condition of ancient bindings that 
 have survived, it would seem that pigskin is the 
 most durable of all, but there is some reason to 
 fear that the workmen who prepared the German 
 pigskin bindings of the sixteenth century have not 
 transmitted all their skill to the craftsmen of the 
 present day. 
 
 The custodian of a library for students rarely 
 has to consider the possibility of bindings outliving 
 the books they protect, but in institutions that 
 cater for more popular needs it is certain that the 
 most used novels will have to be withdrawn owing 
 to their dirty and dog's-eared condition before the 
 original cloth bindings and a leather rebinding
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 231 
 
 have had time to wear out. Miss Corelli and 
 her peers, therefore, may be rebound in cloth, 
 instead of the half-buckram so extensively used 
 in Free Libraries. 
 
 The LETTERING should be carefully written out 
 on a slip of paper in each book sent to binders and 
 the results carefully inspected. The figures used 
 in lettering should be Arabic numerals, unless two 
 series are required, when the Roman takes pre- 
 ference. In the case of periodicals, the editor's 
 name is often a useful addition, as the same publi- 
 cation tends to become known during different 
 portions of its career under names derived from 
 successive editors. The word index should appear 
 prominently on the lettering of its proper volume. 
 When a publication appears in two or more 
 divisions, e.g. the Annales des Fonts et Chausse'es, 
 the divisions should be separately bound and 
 lettered. 
 
 The COLOURS of the leathers employed are ex- 
 tremely various, and not of much practical im- 
 portance. A certain unity of effect is attained by 
 binding the various large divisions of subjects in 
 separate colours, but this will always be marred 
 by the inevitable juxtaposition of books in original 
 covers. In a private library, where appearances 
 are of more importance, everything may as well 
 be rebound if the budget allows. 
 
 The CROPPING of edges must be rigorously sup- 
 pressed, and much vigilance will be required to 
 combat this fatal habit of binders. 
 
 The binder will also be called upon to execute
 
 232 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 various REPAIRS. Bindings that tend to become 
 pliable may be preserved, either by varnishing or by 
 an application of either a little sweet oil or good 
 furniture polish. The latter is preferable, as the 
 varnishing imparts an artificial air. Leaves that tend 
 to wear away at the margins should have fresh edges 
 put on them. It will often happen that the index 
 of a book becomes dirty by thumbing, while the 
 paper, being of good quality, remains intact. This 
 may be remedied by pasting thin transparent paper 
 over the leaves. 
 
 PRESERVATION OF BOOKS 
 
 Dusting. Another insidious enemy of books, and 
 one that no exertions will completely rout, is dust. 
 In a popular library the appearance of dust on a 
 shelf of books points to their speedy replacement 
 by volumes more in demand ; but in a student's 
 library there must be a considerable portion of 
 books only required at very long intervals, and so 
 especially liable to the attacks of the enemy. To 
 guard against this the books should always be 
 packed firmly together, either by filling the shelf 
 full, or by use of metal or other supports. The 
 cutting and gilding of top edges is a salutary 
 but not economical practice. Even so, however, 
 two of the three exposed edges of the leaves will 
 inevitably gather dust. The methods of removing 
 this differ in various libraries. 
 
 The official instructions to French university lib-
 
 ACCESS AND PRESERVATION 233 
 
 raries direct that the books shall be opened and the 
 two portions clapped smartly together, the windows 
 being kept open so that the draught may carry 
 the dust away, and then a damp cloth applied to 
 the covers of books, outside and inside, to remove 
 the last traces. 1 At Cambridge the same practice 
 is in vogue, though the books are first conveyed 
 to the open air, a proceeding which vastly in- 
 creases the amount of labour applied. At the 
 British Museum, in certain rooms where it is 
 desirable to keep a specially clean appearance, 
 these books and shelves are superficially dusted 
 every month with a damped cloth, the books not 
 being taken down from the shelves. The whole 
 library is, however, subjected to a more systematic 
 process of dusting, which employs from eight to 
 ten men, and takes about three years to accomplish. 
 The books are not clapped together for fear of 
 injuring them, but the dust is removed with a 
 brush and allowed to fall into a damp cloth. All 
 direct contact with the latter is avoided out of 
 consideration for the bindings. Trial was made 
 in 1896 of a dusting-machine, but the results were 
 not favourable. 
 
 Provision against Damp. The attack of this enemy 
 are the proper care of the " clerk of the works," and 
 the necessary arrangements are described in the 
 volume on " Library Architecture " in this series. 
 It always has to be remembered, in a large town 
 at least, that the free admission of air, which must 
 supplement all architectural provisions for the 
 
 1 The shelves are then cleaned with a cloth and the books replaced.
 
 234 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 avoidance of damp, of necessity involves the admis- 
 sion of dust. This difficulty has been avoided at 
 the British Museum by keeping the windows open 
 in dry weather, while arresting the dust by means of 
 a wooden frame covered with canvas.
 
 INDEX 
 
 ACADEMIES as a heading for 
 
 author-catalogues, 95, 103 
 Accademia Pontaniana, issues cata- 
 loguing-slips for articles in its 
 AM, 138 
 Access : 
 
 Means of, to books in a library, 
 
 175-223 
 " Open," 210 
 
 "Open," existing in the read- 
 ing-rooms of large libraries, 
 78 
 
 To shelves necessitates classifi- 
 cation, 149 
 
 Accession-number, 167 
 Accessions, catalogues of, proposed 
 
 by Durie, 4 
 
 Acquisition of books, 44-77 
 Acquisitions, how made known to 
 
 public, 179 
 
 Age of admission, 177 
 Alphabetic order, Mr. Cutter's 
 
 system for securing, 167 
 American librarians, criticism of, 131 
 American Library Association, in- 
 fluence of, in securing uniformity, 
 
 *35 
 
 American Library School, 26-29 
 Anonymous books : 
 
 How treated according to 
 
 Bodleian rules, 104 
 How treated by British Museum 
 
 rules, 85 
 How treated in rules of the Bib- 
 
 liotheque Nationale, 103 
 Arrangement of books on the shelves, 
 
 148-74 
 Attendants in the British Museum 
 
 Library, 34 
 
 Attendants in Italian libraries, 33 
 Auctions, difficulty of purchase at, 
 50 
 
 Australia, supply of books from, to 
 
 the British Museum, 66 
 Austria : 
 
 Books prohibited in, 193 
 Lending out of books from the 
 
 public libraries, 215 
 Sale of duplicates, 73 
 Treatment of defaulting book- 
 borrowers, 219 
 Author-catalogues, 79-111 
 Authors as donors, 54 
 
 BABER, Mr., prepares British 
 
 Museum catalogue of 1807, 19 
 Baden, salaries of librarians, 37 
 Ballinger, J., account of governing 
 
 bodies of free libraries, 41 
 Banksian Library, 56 
 Belgium : 
 
 Absence of dtpot ttgal (deposit 
 
 of " copyright copies,") 58 
 Lending out of books, 215 
 Regulations concerning failures 
 to supply books requested by 
 readers, 206 
 Bentham, pamphlets collected by, 
 
 at the British Museum, 227 
 Berlin Libraries, salaries of staffs, 36 
 Berlin Royal Library, title con- 
 ferred on keepers of depart- 
 ments, 37 
 
 Berlin University Library, type- 
 writing used for cataloguing-slips, 
 147 
 Bibles, shelf-classification of, at 
 
 British Museum, 161 
 Biblioteca Nazionale, Florence : 
 Absence of classification on the 
 
 shelves, 149 
 
 Catalogue inaccessible to 
 readers, 203
 
 236 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Practice of cutting up cata- 
 logues of theses for incorpora- 
 tion, 137 
 
 Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuele, 
 Rome, absence of classification on 
 the shelves, 149 
 Bibliotheca publica, appearance of 
 
 the expression, i 
 Bibliotheque Nationale : 
 
 Admission to the Salle de 
 
 Travail, 180 
 Card-catalogue of, 143 
 Catalogues inaccessible to 
 
 readers, 203 
 Device for preserving exhibited 
 
 books, 199 
 Difficulties attending supply of 
 
 books to reading-room, 189 
 Government, 42-43 
 Lending out, restrictions on, 215 
 New author-catalogue, 97 
 New catalogue accessible to 
 
 readers, 204 
 Novels not issued, 193 
 Number of books in the Salle 
 
 de Travail, 79 
 Pamphlets at, 227 
 Practice of asking for dona- 
 tions, 57 
 Privileges of, under Copyright 
 
 Act, 67 
 
 Reading-room regulations, 184 
 Salaries of staff, 35 
 Shelf-classification, 170 
 Binders, their work on the British 
 
 Museum catalogue, 139-43 
 Binders' waste, 225 
 Binding, 223-32 
 Binding, cause of delay in issue of 
 
 books, 206 
 
 Bindings, fine, how to protect, 224 
 Bodleian Library : 
 
 Classed-catalogue opposed by 
 
 Prof. Chandler, 205 
 Classification at, 163 
 Donations to, 54 
 How possessed of the Douce 
 
 collection, 57 
 Privilege of ' ' copyright copies, " 
 
 59 
 Rules for the author-catalogue, 
 
 104- i 06 
 Supply of books from Cyprus, 
 
 66 
 
 Training of staff, 24 
 Treatment of pamphlets, 227 
 
 Bodley, Sir Thomas, opinion on 
 
 "riff-raff" among books, 64 
 Book-numbers, 167, 169 
 Booksellers, their wiles, 47 
 Booksellers' catalogues, errors in, 
 
 So 
 Borrowers : 
 
 Conditions required in free lib- 
 raries in the United King- 
 dom, 220 
 Defaulting, how dealt with in 
 
 Austria, 219 
 
 Borrowing. See Lending out 
 Boston Athenaeum, notice to readers 
 
 to "handle with care," 182 
 Boston Public Library : 
 
 Printing establishment, 145 
 Stations for issuing to bor- 
 rowers, 221 
 Supply of books by machinery, 
 
 189-90 
 
 Thefts from, 212 
 Boys as assistants in the Bodleian 
 
 Library, 24 
 Breslau author-catalogue, rules of, 
 
 107 
 Bradshaw, Henry, his ideal of a 
 
 librarian, 4 
 
 Bristol Public Libraries, employ- 
 ment of women in, 24 
 British Museum : 
 
 Age of admission of readers, 
 
 178 
 Arrangement for supply of 
 
 books to readers, 184-88 
 Arrangement of incunabula at, 
 
 171 
 
 Author-catalogue, 80-97 
 Author-catalogue, material ar- 
 rangements of, 138 
 Binding, 223-32 
 Catalogue, French remark on, 
 
 128 
 Catalogues accessible to 
 
 readers, 203 
 Commission of 1849, evidence 
 
 of Carlyle, 204 
 Damp, how avoided, 234 
 Donations of books to, 54, 56 
 Duplicates, 71 
 
 Dusting, arrangements for, 233 
 Electric lighting, 177 
 Exhibitions of treasures, 198 
 Fixed-location system, 150-52 
 Government, 39-40 
 Its debt to collectors, 55
 
 INDEX 
 
 237 
 
 Lending out almost unknown, 
 
 2iS 
 
 Material not entered in the 
 
 general catalogue, 81 
 Mr. Gladstone's opinion of the 
 
 work done there, 34 
 New novels not issued, 193 
 Ninety-one rules, 82 
 " Open access " in the reading- 
 
 room, 210 
 Periodicals at, 197 
 Photography at, 201, 202 
 Privileges under the Copyright 
 
 Act, 60 
 Purchase of books in obscure 
 
 languages, 49 
 Reading - room, number of 
 
 books in, 78 
 Reading-room regulations, 179, 
 
 184 
 Reasons for a reader failing to 
 
 obtain a book, 205 
 Register of " Libri Desiderati," 
 
 46 
 
 Salaries, 34 
 Scheme of classification on the 
 
 shelves, 153 
 
 Shelf-catalogue, 142, 149 note 
 Staff, selection of the, 6 
 Thefts of books from reading- 
 
 room, 212 
 Trustees, 39-40 
 Trustees, action for libel 
 
 against the, by Mrs. Martin, 
 
 195 
 Brixton Library, Bacon collection 
 
 at, 56 
 Brown (J. D. ), report on American 
 
 methods, 211 
 Brussels Royal Library : 
 
 Absence of classification on the 
 
 shelves, 149 
 Discontinuance of Russian and 
 
 Polish periodicals, 49 
 No books exhibited to general 
 
 public, 198 
 
 Periodicals, cost of, 53 
 Practice in stamping books, 181 
 Separate room for serials, 152 
 Special room for periodicals, 
 197 
 
 CAMBRIDGK University Library : 
 Arrangement of incunabula at, 
 171 
 
 Rebinding of MSS. , 225 
 Regulations for dusting, 233 
 Cambridge University receives privi- 
 lege of " copyright copies," 59 
 Canada, supply of books from, to 
 
 the British Museum, 66 
 Canterbury, Chapter Library at, 
 
 re-bound books, 225 
 Card-catalogues, 134-36 
 Cardiff Public Libraries, instruction 
 
 of assistants at, 13 
 Carlyle (T. ) objects to being asked to 
 look out books in a catalogue, 204 
 Casaubon, his character as a libra- 
 rian, 2 
 
 Cassel Library, material arrange- 
 ment of catalogue, 143 
 Catalogues : 
 
 How catalogued at the British 
 
 Museum, 96 
 
 If accessible to readers, 203 
 Their material form, 133 
 Catalogues and cataloguing, 78-147 
 Cataloguing-slips : 
 
 Issued by publishers in their 
 
 books, 136 
 Methods for their reproduction, 
 
 144 
 Censorship : 
 
 As originating copyright acts, 
 
 57 
 In connection with French 
 
 Copyright Act, 67 
 Chadwick (Sir E. ), pamphlets col- 
 lected by, at the British Museum, 
 227 
 Chained books at the Sorbonne in 
 
 the Middle Ages, 214 
 Chandler (Professor) : 
 
 Champions British Museum 
 
 catalogue, 205 
 Opposed to subject-catalogues, 
 
 205 
 Children catered for by free libraries, 
 
 178 
 Chilovi(D.): 
 
 Champions Dewey system, 127 
 
 Institutes circular to assist 
 
 bibliographical research, 207 
 
 Classed catalogues as opposed to 
 
 dictionary catalogues, 133 
 Classification on shelves, necessity 
 
 of, 149 
 
 Class-mark, 168 note 
 Clerkenwell Library publishes its 
 own magazine, 179
 
 2 3 8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Clerkenwell Public Library, first 
 use of " open access," 211 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio, results of " open 
 access" in the public library, 211 
 
 Closing, period of, 175-76 
 
 Collation, whether necessary, 53 
 
 Collections, easy to make, 56 
 
 Collectors as donors, 55 
 
 Colombina Library, Seville, thefts 
 from, 50 
 
 Colonies, books received from, in 
 the British Museum, 62 
 
 Commentaries : 
 
 Containing the original text, 
 
 how catalogued, 87 
 Marking of, in Cutter system, 
 169 
 
 Committees of free libraries, their 
 functions, 41-42 
 
 Conference du Livre, 1890, discus- 
 sion on lending out, 216 
 
 Co-operative cataloguing, 135 
 
 Copyright Acts, source of increase 
 of libraries, 57-68 
 
 Cornell University Library, shelf- 
 classification in, 165 
 
 Cost of books in a free library, 
 
 212 
 
 Cotgreave indicator, 209 
 
 County Councils, their reports not 
 
 liable under Copyright Act, 62 
 Covers of books, when preserved in 
 
 binding, 225 
 
 Cracherode collection, 56 
 Cropping to be suppressed, 231 
 Cross-references, system of, in the 
 
 British Museum catalogue, 89, 
 
 94 
 Cutter (C. A.): 
 
 " Alfabetic-order Table," 167 
 And his expansive classifica- 
 tion, 122 
 
 His rules for a dictionary cata- 
 logue, 130 
 
 Cyprus, supply of books from, to 
 the British Museum, 66 
 
 DAMP, how avoided, 233 
 
 Decimal system. See Dewey system 
 
 Delisle, Leopold : 
 
 His criticism of the Dewey 
 
 system, 123 
 
 On the difficulties of reading- 
 room service in the Biblio- 
 theque Nationale, 189 
 
 Recovery of stolen MS., 51 
 Writes introduction to the 
 author-catalogue of the Bib- 
 liotheque Nationale, 98 
 Delivery stations, 221 
 Dewey (Melvil) founds American 
 
 Library School, 26 
 Dewey system, 114-29 
 
 Applied to shelf-classification, 
 
 166, 167 
 
 European criticism of, 123 
 Objections to the class-marks, 
 
 172 
 Dictionaries, as a heading in the 
 
 British Museum catalogue, 96 
 Dictionary catalogue, 130 
 Directories, preservation of, 72 
 Discounts on books, 47 
 Disraeli (Isaac), visit to Bodleian, 
 
 56 
 
 Donations, 53-57 
 Donations, registry of, 52 
 Douce collection, 56 
 Dresden Royal Library, salaries of 
 
 staff, 37 
 Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, its 
 
 library school, 29 
 Duff (Gordon) on binders' and 
 
 printers' waste, 226 
 Duplicates, contained in collections 
 purchased, 49 
 
 Danger of purchasing, 46 
 Disposal of, in Italy and Austria, 
 
 73 
 
 Exchange of, 72 
 Modes of acquisition, 70 
 Prevention of, 52 
 Durie (John) and his Reformed 
 
 Librarie- Keeper, 2-4 
 Dust, protection of exhibited books 
 
 from, 199 
 Dusting, 232-33 
 
 Dziatzko (Dr.), rules for author- 
 catalogue, 107 
 
 EAST End, favourable results of 
 
 lending out in, 223 
 Editions de luxe supplied to British 
 
 Museum under the Copyright 
 
 Act, 61 
 
 Education of librarians, 5-34 
 Einsiedeln, monastery of, systems 
 
 of lending out, 213 
 Electric lighting, application of, to 
 
 libraries, 177
 
 INDEX 
 
 239 
 
 Ellis (Sir Henry) prepares British 
 Museum catalogue of 1807-19, 80 
 
 Encyclopaedias, how treated in the 
 British Museum catalogue, 96 
 
 End-papers, how to remove, 226 
 
 Erotic literature in free libraries, 
 
 195 
 Errors in readers' requests for books, 
 
 180, 204 
 
 Examinations for library posts : 
 British Museum, 6 
 France, 30-31 
 
 Free libraries of United King- 
 dom, 7-23 
 Germany, 32 
 Italy, 32 
 Prussia, 31 
 Exchange : 
 
 As a mode of acquiring books, 
 
 69 
 
 Of duplicates, 72 
 
 Exhibitions of library treasures, 197 
 Expansive classification, 122, 167 
 
 FICTION, see Novek 
 Fines : 
 
 For non- returned books, in 
 
 Austria, 219 
 Recovery of, 222 
 Finnish literature, type of literature 
 
 in an obscure language, 48 
 Fire, danger from, in binding-shops, 
 
 223 
 
 Fixed-location, 148, 150 
 Forenames : 
 
 To be filled in in author-head- 
 ings, 84 
 
 Treatment of, in the cata- 
 logue of the Bibliotheque 
 Nationale, 101 
 Form-catalogues, 129 
 Fourth copy of the British Museum 
 
 catalogue, 142 
 France : 
 
 Dusting regulations for libra- 
 ries, 232 
 Examinations for library posts, 
 
 3Q-.3 1 
 
 Salaries of librarians, 35 
 Working of " Copyright Acts," 
 
 67 
 Free Libraries : 
 
 Lending out, 219 
 
 Of the United Kingdom, their 
 
 governing bodies, 40-41 
 
 French Revolution Tracts at the 
 
 British Museum, 81 
 French Royal Library supplied with 
 
 copy of all books published in 
 
 France, 58 
 
 GAS, danger of, 176 
 Germany : 
 
 Classification in libraries, 149 
 
 note 
 Enterprise of booksellers in, 
 
 46, 5 
 Examinations for library posts, 
 
 32 
 Lending out of books common, 
 
 215 
 
 Proposed co-operative cata- 
 logue of books in the public 
 libraries, 208 
 Salaries of librarians, 35 
 Use of " stock-book" in libra- 
 ries, 53 
 
 Gladstone, Mr., his opinion on the 
 work of the British Museum 
 Library, 34 
 Gosselin, librarian of the French 
 
 Royal Library, 2 
 Gottingen University Library : 
 Electric lighting of, 177 
 Rejection of unimportant books, 
 
 64 
 Training-school for librarians, 
 
 3 2 
 Governing bodies of libraries, 39-43 
 
 Grenville (Right Hon. Thomas) : 
 As a collector, 55 
 Rebinding of books in his 
 
 library, 225 
 Guarantee for return of books in 
 
 Middle Ages, 213, 214 
 Guarantees : 
 
 For borrowers in free libra- 
 ries, form of, 220 
 Required of librarians in the 
 
 United States, 39 
 Guard-books at the British Museum, 
 
 228 
 
 Guildhall Library, cases for pre- 
 serving maps, 228 
 
 HALLE University Library : 
 
 Material arrangement of the 
 
 catalogue, 143 
 
 Restrictions on number of books 
 issued to reader, 181
 
 240 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Headings : 
 
 Arrangement of, in the author- 
 catalogue of the Bibliotheque 
 Nationale, 101 
 
 Selection of, for the British 
 Museum author-catalogue, 82 
 Heidelberg Library, its administra- 
 tion criticised by Durie, 2 
 Home (Rev. T. H.), attempt at a 
 classified catalogue of the British 
 Museum Library, 80 
 
 IBSEN, increase of his works in 
 
 British Museum, 141 
 Illinois University, its library 
 
 school, 29 
 Imperfect copies of rare books to 
 
 be utilised for exhibition, 200 
 Incorporation, 141 
 Incunabula : 
 
 Collation of, 53 
 Special Arrangement of, 171 
 India, provision of books from, to 
 
 the British Museum, 65 
 Indicators, 209 
 Initials : 
 
 Treatment of, in Bodleian Cata- 
 loguing Rules, 105 
 Treatment of, in the author- 
 catalogue of the Bibliotheque 
 Nationale, 104 
 Treatment of, in the British 
 
 Museum catalogue, 94 
 Ink, use of, when to be prohibited, 
 
 196 
 
 Institut International de Biblio- 
 graphic and the Dewey system, 
 128, 137 
 
 International loans, 216 
 International loans as arranged for 
 
 in Italy, 219 
 Italy : 
 
 Collation of purchased books, 
 
 53 
 
 Examinations for library posts, 
 
 3 2 
 Government of the public 
 
 libraries, 43 
 
 Immutability of cataloguing 
 rules in Government libra- 
 ries, 82 
 
 Origin of "copyright copies," 
 
 58 
 
 Practice with regard to dona- 
 tions, 55 
 
 Reading-room regulations, 184 
 
 Regulations, concerning books 
 not supplied to readers upon 
 request, 206 
 
 Regulations for lending out 
 from public libraries, 217 
 
 Restriction of number of books 
 issued to readers, 180 
 
 Salaries of librarians, 37 
 
 Sale of duplicates, 72 
 
 Use of "stock-book" in libra- 
 ries, 53 
 
 KERLER (Dr.) opposes classifica- 
 tion on shelves, 149 
 
 LABELS, 172 
 
 Labels, special, necessary under 
 
 "open access" system, 211 
 Lancaster (Mr.), of St. Helens 
 Free Libraries, organises an ex- 
 hibition there, 199 
 Languages, obscure, necessity of 
 purchasing books written in 
 them, 48, 49 
 
 Laurenziana Library, Florence, i 
 Lectures in free libraries, 179 
 Lending out, 213-33 
 Lettering of bindings, 231 
 Libellous books, 195 
 Librarians : 
 
 Education, 5-34 
 Functions, 1-5, 205 
 Qualifications, 4 
 
 Library Association of the United 
 Kingdom rules for an author- 
 catalogue, 106 
 Libri, his thefts, 50 
 " Libri Desiderati," register of. 
 
 See Request-book 
 Light essential for long working- 
 day, 176-77 
 
 Linotype, use of, for library print- 
 ing, 145 
 Liturgies : 
 
 As a heading in the author-cata- 
 logue rules L. A. U. K. , 106 
 How treated in the British 
 Museum author-catalogue, 95 
 
 MACHINERY for supplying books, 
 
 190-91 
 Magazines, issue to borrowers in 
 
 free libraries, 220
 
 INDEX 
 
 2 4 I 
 
 Manchester Public Libraries, em- 
 ployment of women in, 24 
 Maps : 
 
 How catalogued at the British 
 
 Museum, 92 
 How preserved, 228 
 Martin (Mrs.), action against the 
 
 British Museum for libel, 195 
 Massachusetts Library Club, com- 
 mittee for selection of fiction, 195 
 Milwaukee, operation of two-book 
 
 system at, 221 
 
 Minneapolis Public Library, work- 
 ing of "open access" system, 
 
 212 
 
 Monasteries, systems of book-lend- 
 ing in, 213 
 
 Movable-location, 148 
 
 Music, how catalogued at the 
 British Museum, 93 
 
 Mutilation of books possible under 
 unrestricted access, 211 
 
 NAMES : 
 
 Forms of, adopted in the 
 author - catalogue of the 
 Bibliotheque Nationale, 103 
 How to treat, for catalogue- 
 headings, 83 
 
 Treatment of, in Dziatzko's 
 rules for an author-catalogue, 
 108-109 
 
 Treatment of, in L. A. U. K. 
 rules for author-catalogue, 
 106 
 National Art Library system of 
 
 shelf-classification, 171 
 Newark [N. J.] Free Library ex- 
 cludes " yellow kid " stories, 194 
 Newspapers : 
 
 At the British Museum, 81 
 Exclusion of, at Newark [N. J.], 
 
 194 
 How bound at the British 
 
 Museum, 227 
 
 Necessity of purchasing, 48 
 Their liability to mutilation and 
 
 wear, 182 
 Niccoli, Niccolo, founder of the 
 
 Laurenziana, i 
 
 Nicholson, Mr., Bodley's librarian, 
 his plan for training assistants, 
 24-25 
 Novels : 
 
 Rebinding of, necessary, 230 
 
 Restrictions on issue, British 
 Museum, Paris, and Vienna, 
 
 193 
 
 Restrictions on issue in popular 
 libraries, Great Britain and 
 United States, 194-95 
 Undue issue from "stations" 
 
 in U.S.A., 221 
 
 Number of books to be issued at 
 same time, 180-81 
 
 OPEN access. See Access 
 Oxford University photographic 
 department, 201 
 
 PAGINATION, whether to be men- 
 tioned in cataloguing, 101 
 Pamphlets, treatment of, 226-27 
 Panizzi (Sir Anthony) : 
 
 His administration of the Copy- 
 right Acts, 61 
 
 His connection with the cata- 
 logues of the British Museum, 
 80-8 1 
 Paper : 
 
 Bad, shortens lives of news- 
 papers, 48 
 Bad, used for novels in U.S.A. , 
 
 194 
 Parliamentary papers at the British 
 
 Museum, 81 
 Peers' names : 
 
 How treated, 96-97 
 Treatment of, in Bodleian cata- 
 logue, 105 
 
 Period of loan to borrowers, 221-22 
 Periodicals : 
 
 Arrangement of, on shelves of 
 
 British Museum, 151 
 Difficulties in obtaining, 48 
 How treated in the British 
 
 Museum catalogue, 95 
 Issue of, 196-97 
 Purchase of, in obscure lan- 
 guages, 49 
 Registration of, 53 
 Philadelphia, operation of two- 
 book system at, 221 
 Philadelphia University Library, , 
 
 pamphlets in, 227 
 Photography : 
 
 For reproducing rare books, 200 
 For replacing pages worn out, 
 201 
 
 Q
 
 242 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Picot (E. ), Rapport on the author- 
 catalogue of the Bibliotheque 
 Nationale, 99 
 
 Plays not issued at the Biblio- 
 theque Nationale, 193 
 Poems not issued at the Vienna 
 
 Library, 193 
 Polain (M. ) criticises Dewey system, 
 
 123 
 
 Pollard (A. W.) " On the Exhibition 
 
 of Facsimiles of Rare Books," 199 
 
 Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, its 
 
 library school, 29 
 Preservation of books, 223-33 
 Presses, sliding, at the British 
 
 Museum, 164 
 Press-marks : 
 
 In their relation to the supply 
 
 of books to readers, 187 
 Nature of, 172 
 System of, at the British 
 
 Museum, 151 
 Printers' waste, 226 
 Printing : 
 
 Establishment at Boston Pub- 
 lic Library, 145 
 For reproduction of catalogu- 
 
 ing-slips, 144 
 Of British Museum catalogues, 
 
 139 
 
 Prints, how stamped, 182 
 
 Privately printed books : 
 
 Acquired by donation, 55 
 Exempt from the Copyright 
 Act, 62 
 
 Prohibited books, 192-95 
 
 Provincial books, difficulty of obtain- 
 ing knowledge of, 63 
 
 Prussia : 
 
 Examinations for library posts, 
 
 3 1 
 Origin of obligatory copies 
 
 supplied by publishers, 58 
 Plan for a subject-catalogue of 
 booksin Prussianlibraries, 113 
 Salaries of librarians, 35, 36 
 Publications, lists of new, 45, 77 
 Publishers' lists of new books, 75 
 Publishers' names, whether omitted 
 
 in cataloguing, 100 
 Pseudonymous works : 
 
 How treated in the Bodleian 
 
 catalogue, 105 
 How treated in the British 
 
 Museum catalogue, 97 
 Purchase of books, 44-51 
 
 RARE books, regulations to secure 
 
 their safety, 195-96 
 Readers, regulations concerning, 
 
 184 
 "Reformed Librarie- Keeper," by 
 
 John Durie, 3 
 Registers of purchases, 51 
 Relative index, 118 
 Relative-location, 164 
 Repairs. See Binding 
 Request-book, value of, 46 
 Research encouraged by circular of 
 
 inquiry used in Italian libraries, 
 
 207 
 Restrictions on the admission of 
 
 readers, 179 
 Reviews as aids in selection of 
 
 books, 45 
 Royal Society's Catalogue of 
 
 Scientific Papers, used in Italy, 
 
 137 
 
 Ruelens (M.) opposed to lending 
 out, 216 
 
 ST. HELENS Free Libraries, exhi- 
 bition of books, 199 
 Salaries at the Bodleian Library, 
 
 25 
 
 Salaries of librarians, 3, 34-38 
 Saxony, salaries of librarians, 37 
 School-books : 
 
 How treated at the Biblio- 
 theque Nationale, 69 
 Largely published in India, 
 
 65 
 Not issued to readers in Vienna 
 
 Library, 193 
 Scotland, selection of committees of 
 
 free libraries, 42 
 
 Section-system for the supply of 
 books at the British Museum, 
 184-88 
 
 Selection of books, 3 
 Serials : 
 
 Separate room for, at Brussels 
 
 and Vienna, 152 
 Treatment of, on shelves of 
 
 British Museum, 151 
 Shelf-catalogue, 129 
 Shelf -catalogue of the British 
 
 Museum Library, 142, 149 note 
 Sizes of books an element in classi- 
 fication, 166, 168 
 
 Small (Hubert), " Handbook of the 
 Boston Public Library," 189
 
 INDEX 
 
 2 43 
 
 Sorbonne, system of lending in the 
 
 Middle Ages, 214 
 South American books difficult to 
 
 procure, 45 
 Spain, origin of ' ' copyright copies " 
 
 in, 58 
 
 Specialisation for the librarian, 5 
 Stamping of books, 181-83 
 State papers : 
 
 At the British Museum, 81 
 Exchange of, 69 
 Stock-book, 52 
 Stock-number, 53 
 Subject-catalogues, 79, 112-29 
 Suggestion-book, value of, 46 
 Summer school of the Library 
 
 Association, 7 
 Sunday opening, 175 
 Surgeon -General's Library at Wash- 
 ington, its catalogue, 133 
 Swiss National Library : 
 Donations to, 54 
 Electric lighting of, 177 
 Material arrangement of the 
 
 catalogue, 143 
 
 Switzerland, lending out of books 
 from public libraries, 215 
 
 TELEPHONES as an aid in reading- 
 room service, 185 
 Theft, precautions against, 181 
 Thefts : 
 
 From the Boston Public Lib- 
 rary, 212 
 
 From the British Museum Read- 
 ing-room, 212 
 Theses, catalogues of, printed for 
 
 cutting up, 
 Third-marks at the British Museum, 
 
 J 5i 
 Titles conferred on high officials in 
 
 Prussian libraries, 37 
 Tracing, how far permissible, 196 
 Transcribers at the British Museum, 
 
 139 
 Translations, marking of, in Cutter 
 
 system, 168 
 Transvaal, "Copyright Act" 1887, 
 
 58 
 Trustees of the British Museum, 
 
 their creation and function, 39- 
 
 40 
 Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale : 
 
 Special room for periodicals, 
 196 
 
 Turkey, " Copyright Act " 1887, 
 Two-book system, 220 
 Typewriting for reproduction of 
 cataloguing-slips, 147 
 
 UNBOUND books, issue of, 196 
 Undated books, treatment of, in the 
 author-catalogue of the Biblio- 
 theque Nationale, 100 
 United Kingdom : 
 
 Free libraries, their government, 
 
 40-41 
 Origin of "copyright copies," 
 
 59 
 
 Salaries of librarians, 34-35 
 United States : 
 
 Bindingestablishmentsattached 
 
 to libraries, 223 
 Card-catalogues in, 134 
 Collation of purchased books, 
 
 53 
 Efforts to induce children to 
 
 read, 179 
 Hours of opening and closing 
 
 of libraries, 176 
 Library schools in, 26-27 
 " Open access," 210 
 Origin of "copyright copies," 
 
 58 
 
 Salaries of librarians, 38 
 Women librarians in, 23 
 Urban authority, functions of, 41- 
 42 
 
 VAN DER HAEGHEN (M.) approves 
 lending out from university libra- 
 ries, 217 
 Vatican Library : 
 
 Lending of books from, 214 
 Photography at, 201 
 Venezuela, "Copyright Act" 1887, 
 
 58 
 
 Verlaine (Paul) difficulty of purchas- 
 ing his works, 45 
 Vienna Imperial Library : 
 
 Heterogeneous selection of 
 books by readers forbidden, 
 180 
 How enriched by duplicates, 
 
 75 
 Separate room for serials, 
 
 152 
 
 Vienna University Library reading- 
 room service, 191
 
 244 
 
 INDEX 
 
 WASHINGTON [Congressional] Lib- 
 rary, salaries of staff, 38 
 
 Watts (Thomas) advises printing 
 of British Museum catalogue in 
 
 1855- 139 
 Weeding out, 69 
 Welsh publishers, their evasion of 
 
 the Copyright Act, 63 
 West Ham Libraries publish their 
 
 own magazine, 179 
 Winsor (Justin), his scheme for 
 
 printing copies of newspapers on 
 
 good paper, 48 
 Wisconsin University, its library 
 
 school, 29 
 Women as librarians, 23 
 
 YALE, University Library of, collec- 
 tions of pamphlets, 227 
 
 ' ' Yellow kid " stories excluded 
 from American libraries, 194 
 
 THE END 
 
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