Now how does the synthetic conception of research apply to History? A modern German writer has compressed the whole significance of it into a sentence: "The writing of History," he says, "is just as truly awill toward a pictureas it is a knowledge of sources." In other words synthesis of the kind referred to is always the work of the artist, and in the nature of things becomes thereby a contribution to culture. Gibbon's "Decline and fall of the Roman empire," Lamprecht's "History of Germany," Rhodes' "History of the United States"—these are all synthetic: each one existed first as a picture in the mind of the artist, not merely as an array of sources from which the facts of history might be drawn.
"But," you say, "all libraries buy these books and others like them as a matter of course." Yes, we do, but I think the trouble is that we do not make books of this sort our standard, if indeed we have any standard beyond a favorable review or a request from a patron. It is no more true that the result of all synthetic research is cultural than that the result of all artistic endeavor is beautiful. Results here are just as uneven as anywhere else, with much that is good and perhaps even more that is bad, and it is when we come to discriminate that we are apt to go astray. Now a teacher such as I have in mind would keep abreast through the better periodicals of all that was being done in his particular line, and if facilities were furnished, would buy what he knew he needed—monographs, bibliographies, biographies, and some larger works—things that would not only give his teaching a vitality and freshness otherwise lacking, but would help to hasten the day when his own contribution to the world's culture should see the light.
Assuming, then, that a college accepts this view, and proposes to encourage its faculty to do research work, what are the practical ways in which the library can not only co-operate, but further such an undertaking? For I believe there are several. A preliminary statement as to the functions of the college library would seem to be essential. These have often been set forth for us in detail, and I shall only enumerate them here. The first and most important function is, of course, to meet the needs of the students and teachers as they arise in the regular college work. Along with this is the supplying of books for general reading, outside of the curriculum. Most of these books are bought for members of the faculty, who are thereby enabled to keep in touch with the latest developments in their own and other fields, and to avoid the possibility of mental stagnation from too close association with a particular subject. I believe much more might—and should—be done in the way of developing a taste for general reading on the part of the students, but that is another story.
Apart from these what are the functions of the college library? To be, so far as it can the centre of culture for the community in which it is located: to aid the local public library in its work with woman's clubs, and high school pupils: to lend books freely to other libraries. And in our own case there is the added opportunity of being of some assistance to another institution in the same town.
Now these things are all important, and the librarian who does not realize it, who fails to utilize to the utmost the possibilities they contain for intellectual and social betterment, is not worthy of his hire. But the point of view I take in this article compels me to consider them as secondary. The college library exists first of all to supply the book needs of its own students and faculty, and for nothing else. The expenditure of its funds, always insufficient, must be limited to this chief function. It is probable that all these other things I have enumerated can be done without any financial loss to the library, but where any of them means a diversion of library funds it becomes unjustifiable.
I said above that there are several practical ways in which a library—more properly, perhaps, a librarian—can not only co-operate, but further a movement to encourage research work on the part of members of the faculty. My remarks are of necessity limited to my observation of conditions in the institution with which I am connected, and are not to be considered general in their application. At the same time, I am inclined to think that these conditions are reproduced, at least to a certain extent, in most college libraries.
The assistance which the library can render must, of course, be very largely financial. Only by releasing funds from present uses, or by increasing these funds, can we hope to buy material of the kind referred to.
I am convinced, in the first place, that we can save money in the purchase of books, and this not through better discounts, or any choice of agents, but through more care in the selection of the books themselves. In other words, submit all lists of proposed purchases to a more rigid scrutiny. Make all titles answer such questions as "Is this book going to be of real value to this library?" "Is its usefulness to be more or less permanent, or merely temporary?" "Could not our need for it be met by borrowing from another library?"
In our own case, at least, I fear a number of books are recommended by professors or others, and bought by the library, which could not survive any such test. This naturally applies not so much to department books as to those of a general nature, for in the last analysis the teacher must be the judge of what he needs to help him in his work.
Secondly, we ought to save money—I think a considerable sum—on our periodicals. And here the saving effected by dropping some from the list is a double one; not only the subscription price, but the cost of binding. I realize that I am treading on dangerous ground in this matter, and that most professors would say to drop all the books if necessary, but none of the periodicals. And I could wish for enough space to elaborate my side of the question at some length, instead of touching on it only briefly. For I believe it to be of real importance—a thing that every college library must face and decide at some time or other. Here at Amherst we spent last year over 40 per cent of the income from our book funds on periodicals and their binding—a proportion which I cannot believe to be justified. Is there not such a thing as a "periodical" habit, into which all of us, librarians and professors alike, are apt to fall? We keep periodicals on our lists because they have always been there—were there before we came—although on reflection we are sure that no one ever uses them—not even the professor at whose instance they were ordered. In the first place, of course, heexpectsto use them, sometime if not now. Or he is sure that heoughtto—that they would give him just the impetus he needs in his work. Or perhaps (and I should whisper this) he likes to have it known that the department is taking these things "couldn't get along without them." Now the periodical that cannot prove its right—in terms of usefulness—to be on the shelves of a college library has no place there. And the significance of this for us is the fact that in being there it is keeping something else out! What we spend for it, and for others like it, would enable us to make at least a beginning on the acquisition of our synthetic research material.
These are two of the ways in which it seems to me a librarian in sympathy with this movement could further it. Another, possibly worth mentioning, is to refrain from binding miscellaneous pamphlets and other unbound material, mostly presented to the library, and which we are apt to think may some day serve a purpose. Part of it may—most of it can well be thrown away and the binding money saved.
"But," you say, "even in the aggregate these things do not mean very much; perhaps one or two hundred dollars at the outside—one or two or three research collections a year for your library." No,they do not mean very much, by themselves, or in the purchasing power of money they are instrumental in saving. But they stand for something definite and logical; they are indicative of a determination on the part of an institution to get men of a certain type for its faculty, and to provide them with facilities for doing the broadest and biggest work possible. I may be mistaken, but I am inclined to think such an institution could find more money as it needed more. And the librarian skillful in discovering ways and means would not be contented with his yearly appropriations, but would succeed in interesting trustees and friends of the college to a point where interest would be translated into deeds.
Now there is, of course, another side to all this, and we should be short-sighted indeed not to recognize it. The college library which spent any considerable share of its funds for research material which really belongs only in the university library would have no means whatever of justifying itself—would be worse off than an institution which had no research material whatever. How may we guard against this danger? I must take it for granted that the sort of teacher I have been considering would choose his research material wisely and with the right perspective. In case he failed to do this I should expect the librarian to tell him so. And back of the librarian should be a real library committee; so constituted as to represent the different departments as fairly as possible; having charge of the allotment of book funds; advising and helping the librarian in the shaping of the library's policy; the court of last resort when an expensive and somewhat doubtful set was being considered—I can conceive of such a committee as being one of the greatest factors in the success of this whole undertaking. Let at least two types of teachers be selected for it. The one a man whose chief interest centers in the personal and human side of his students; who puts them first to the extent that his work is with them rather than with books or scholarly endeavor. The other the man I have defined as the synthetic research worker, broad in his sympathies toward his students, but a man who realizes both the need of the age for culture, and his own ability to contribute to it something worth while. By a fusion of such types as these the rights of all would be conserved—the needs of all met so far as possible.
Just a word more by way of summary and I shall be through.
I believe the book collection of the average college library is much below what it might be in point of quality. A possible way of changing this situation for the better is to encourage members of the faculty to do research work. This would also result in a higher standard of teaching—or so at least all the teachers with whom I have talked assure me. It is not necessary to assume that research is essential to scholarship, but merely that it adds something to a man's efficiency and power that can be gotten in no other way. The college librarian, if he cares to, can play an important part in bringing these things about.
You will doubtless find this scheme—represented here only in outline—rather idealistic, but so, I take it, are all educational schemes. I can only hope that you will find also some soundness in its theory—some small addition to the constructive criticism of a condition which I believe to be fundamentally wrong.
Miss MINNIE E. SEARS, head cataloger of the University of Minnesota library, presented a paper on
Before beginning the discussion of cataloging for department libraries, let me say that as it is a subject which is still in the experimental stage and not yet capable of generalization, the statements made in this paper are based, partly upon information collected from certain university libraries in which this problem is now being worked out, and partly on my ownexperience in organizing the department catalogs of the University of Minnesota. The other libraries quoted are those of the University of Chicago, Columbia, Illinois, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin.
In considering the problem of cataloging for department libraries, we may start with a definition and an assumption. For the purpose of this discussion it may be said that a department library is not a mere handful of reference books on a subject, but a more or less comprehensive collection of books on the subject shelved and used separately from the collections of the main library; and it may be assumed that the necessity for a separate catalog of such a collection is admitted by all.
Assuming this, the first question that presents itself is that of the form of the department catalog. Shall it be an author, a classed or a dictionary catalog, or, since in most cases the department library is a small open-shelf collection, will it suffice to have a shelf-list only, serving also as a classed catalog? The shelf-list would offer the simplest and cheapest solution of the difficulty, but the day when it was accepted as a solution of the entire problem has passed. Not one of the libraries consulted suggests the shelf-list alone as a possible arrangement. An author catalog, at least, is needed in addition, and the majority of these libraries report dictionary catalogs in some of the department libraries, if not in all. Chicago University is to provide for the department libraries outside of Harper building an author catalog and a shelf-list, where printed cards are available, and an author catalog only for the department libraries within Harper building. Columbia, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota have dictionary catalogs for all department libraries. Missouri has dictionary catalogs in 3, and Wisconsin in 2 department libraries, while Johns Hopkins is to have dictionary catalogs in all department libraries which are outside its main building.
A more difficult question is that of the scope of the catalog. How exhaustive is it possible, or even desirable, to make it? It must, of course, include all books in the department library itself, but shall it also record all books dealing with the same subject to be found elsewhere in the university? Such completeness of record would be the ideal arrangement, and would, undoubtedly, meet with the hearty approval of the university departments. But will not the cost be prohibitive to many libraries, even in this day of printed cards and multigraph? To be of value, such elaborate cataloging should be done thoroughly and systematically and above all, once undertaken, should never be allowed to lapse, or confusion will be the result. The fuller information about related materials in other parts of the library can always be obtained from the main library catalog, if that record is a union catalog of department libraries as well; and if the department librarian is in telephone communication with the reference librarian at the main library, the information can be obtained almost as quickly as if it were included in the department catalog. We may, therefore, conclude that the department catalog complete for its own library but not including related material in other libraries, is the most practicable form under present conditions, although the ideal form is the more complete catalog which expense at present generally prohibits.
The third point which our problem raises is that of variations in cataloging from the rules followed in the general library catalog. The first important variation which suggests itself as possible is in the treatment of analytics. Shall analytics be included in the department catalog, and if so, shall they be the same as those in the general catalog? On this point the practice of our eight libraries varies somewhat. Chicago University is not planning to include any analytics in its department catalogs, and Johns Hopkins includes only a few. Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota, in the main, duplicate for their department catalogs the analytics made for their main catalogs and, as a rule, include no additional analytics. The Columbia practice is more ambitious, as that library includes in its department catalog analytics (mainly articles in periodicals) which are not included in its general catalog. An article in theColumbia University Quarterlyfor March, 1911, states that the department catalogs have analytics for all important serials that bear upon the work of the departments whether shelved there or in the general library, that is, the department library catalog attempts to serve both as catalog and index. These cards are intended for temporary use only, to be removed when the demand for them ceases.
In most university libraries it would be impossible to keep up systematically such elaborate catalogs, and it is not clear that such indexing—for it is indexing rather than cataloging—would be desirable in all places. A catalog can never be made to take the place of a reference librarian, or of an intelligent use of the important annual and other subject indexes to the literature of a subject, such asPsychological Index, the variousJahresberichte, etc. Moreover, every reference or department librarian naturally does more or less in the way of keeping up card indexes or bibliographies, which are frequently revised and the old material discarded as new and better material takes its place. Such reference indexes are simpler and more practical than serial analytics in a department catalog, since they do not call for expert revision and absolute uniformity of subject headings. On the whole, the tendency of present opinion and practice seems to be that important analytics which are useful in the general catalog are useful in the department catalog also, but that beyond that it is better to encourage the use of the printed indexes and the keeping of an informal reference index for material not yet included in the printed aids.
A more important possibility of variation, where the department catalog is dictionary in form, is found in subject headings. Will the same headings that are found satisfactory in the main library catalog serve equally well in the department catalog as used by specialists? Too much emphasis can not be laid upon the fact that any variation of this kind greatly increases the cost of the cataloging, as the assigning and revision of two sets of subject headings, one for the general and one for the department catalog, will mean that that part of the work is greatly increased, though not doubled. The correct assignment of subject headings presents enough difficulties under any circumstances, and the catalog supervisor should hesitate to multiply these unless there is strong reason for doing so. In libraries which have adopted the Library of Congress subject headings, those headings, with minor variations, will, for most subjects, be found satisfactory in the department as well as in the general catalog. Law will at once occur to all as a subject for which it may be desirable to run two sets of headings. We have done this at the University of Minnesota, using the special Library of Congress law headings in the department catalog, and the regular Library of Congress headings in the general catalog. A point to be carefully considered in adopting more than one set of subject headings, moreover, is the possible confusion of mind that may be produced in the student, the exigencies of whose work require him to use more than one of the library catalogs. Such records are certainly much easier to use when there is uniformity of subject entries, and the adoption of several different sets of subject headings will certainly cause confusion, even to members of the library staff, much more to students.
After the questions of form, scope, and contents of the department catalog, comes the practical question of how best to get the work done. It can be done in either of two ways, by the regular cataloging force of the university or by the department librarians. In most university libraries the cataloging staff is small in comparison with the amount always to be done, and the work of keeping the general catalog up to date taxes all its powers, and leavesno time for extra records such as department catalogs. On the other hand, does not the department librarian have more or less time which, when properly arranged, could be given to cataloging under the direction of the head cataloger? We have found this to be the case at the University of Minnesota. Until three years ago our department libraries were all under the supervision of the various departments, and hence in a more or less chaotic state. Some of these have not yet emerged from chaos. In these three years, however, we have evolved a system by which this work is done by the department librarians, or, in one case, by an assistant in the department library. It has so far proved a perfectly workable system for our given conditions. All the department librarians so far appointed have been either library school graduates or people with equivalent library training, and in addition to that, in some cases, with special knowledge of the subjects of the departments. One of the first duties of the department librarian, on taking charge of his library, has been to organize it, classifying and cataloging it under the supervision of the head of the catalog department, but doing the work in the department library. The question has been raised as to how the department librarian could do the reference work and other work of his library, and at the same time catalog the department books for both the department and general catalog. Of course the cataloging will be intermittent and more or less interrupted, as our rule is that the work for the public must be done first. Until, however, the books of a department library are in order and properly listed, no satisfactory reference work can be done with them. Our own experience has certainly been that the reference work of our department librarians has been strengthened by their work of cataloging. The general library gains also from this work of the department librarian, as the latter does the cataloging of his books for the general catalog at the same time as that for the department catalog, and so the growth of the general library catalog is greatly promoted, without a corresponding tax upon the resources of the catalog department. In as far as possible the work is revised by the head cataloger or a reviser, in the department library, but in some cases of difficult revision it has been found necessary to transfer the books to the catalog department for revision there. At present, whenever printed cards can not be obtained, all cards are actually made by the department librarian, but as soon as we are able to adopt the multigraph, rough copy only will be supplied by that assistant.
After the department library has been thoroughly organized and cataloged, the department librarian goes on with the lighter task of cataloging the current accessions of his library for both the department and the general catalog.
Some of the advantages of thus having the work done by the trained department librarians are:
1. It adds several workers to the cataloging force of the library, and thus makes it possible to do much more in the way of providing needed departmental catalogs. This fact has been of great importance with us at the University of Minnesota, where, with the present cataloging force alone, it would have been impossible to provide these catalogs. Besides, there is the advantage to the general library of getting the cataloging of these same books done for the general catalog.
2. The department librarian should have, and generally does have, special knowledge of his subject, which is of assistance in cataloging, especially in classification and the assignment of subject headings.
3. As the work is done in the department it is easy for the department librarian to consult the professors whenever necessary or desirable.
4. There is a real advantage to the department librarian in the added familiarity with the department books which he has gained in cataloging them. This is particularly true in the case of the librarianwho, in the beginning, is not a specialist in his subject, but even the specialist may gain some knowledge from this handling of the material which will help him in the service of his readers. Moreover, if he has actually made the catalog, he can use it more intelligently himself and instruct his students better in the use of it.
Our scheme has certain disadvantages as well as advantages. Some of these are:
1. There is danger that not enough cataloging research work will be done when the cataloging is done in the department library, because many of the important catalog and bibliographical aids are not accessible outside the catalog department—for example, the depository or union catalog of printed cards.
2. There is danger that the existing records will not be consulted enough, because the general catalog is not easily accessible and can only be consulted on special trips to the main library.
3. When the work is thus decentralized, there is much greater difficulty in obtaining from the various assistants work which is even fairly uniform. No one who has had experience in trying to manage such work will minimize this difficulty. For this reason, the revision is more difficult, and must be done with the greatest care, especially in the matter of subject headings.
4. It is sometimes more difficult to get good cataloging from those whose first interest does not lie in this branch of the work, and who are not closely associated with the regular catalogers, and familiar with the many traditions of a catalog department. For this reason we have found at Minnesota, that it is an advantage to have a newly appointed department librarian work in the catalog department for a time before taking up the work in his library.
We have found, however, that with us the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, particularly the one great advantage that it has been a practical way of accomplishing work which could not have been done by our present cataloging department.
A tabulated summary of the replies received from the libraries circularized has been prepared, but as it is too detailed for reading here, I will omit it, and present, instead, a few conclusions which may fairly be drawn from this summary. While practice is not uniform on any one point of department cataloging, certain tendencies toward uniformity are clearly evident.
1. In the matter of department librarians there is clearly a tendency towards the appointment of trained workers having, whenever possible, some special knowledge of the subject of their departments as well. This, of course, is important, if the cataloging is to be done in the department libraries. All these libraries feel, also, the need for some kind of department catalogs, although the number of such catalogs already established varies from three at the University of Wisconsin to twenty-three at Columbia.
2. There is a pretty general agreement that the dictionary catalog is the most desirable for department libraries. Columbia, Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota report dictionary catalogs in all organized department libraries, and Johns Hopkins in all department libraries outside the main building. Wisconsin and Missouri report dictionary catalogs in certain department libraries, and Chicago reports author catalogs and shelf-lists. All the libraries using dictionary catalogs report the use, in the main, of the same kind of subject headings in department as in general catalogs, except for certain special subjects, such as law, or for certain highly specialized collections, such as the Avery Architectural library at Columbia.
3. There is a somewhat greater variation in the scope of material to be included. So far, only two libraries, Columbia and Michigan, report any department catalogs covering more than the material in the department libraries, but Missouri and Minnesota report that they intend, eventually,to have their department catalogs include all books on the subject in the university. In the matter of analytics the majority practice is to include the same analytics in both general and department catalogs, although Chicago uses no analytics at all in department catalogs, while Columbia, at the other extreme, includes more analytics in department catalogs than in the general catalog.
4. Present opinion seems to be pretty evenly divided on the subject of whether the actual work of cataloging should be done by the department librarians or by the regular cataloging force, although there is perhaps a tendency to have this work done by the department librarians wherever there are trained workers in charge of the department libraries. Universities in which the work for department catalogs is done by the department librarians, report that the department librarians catalog these same books for the general catalog as well.
In conclusion, let me repeat that if the cataloging is done by the department librarians, too much emphasis can not be laid upon the fact that it is absolutely essential to have all this work done under the supervision of the head cataloger, with the most careful revision. Otherwise there will be as many varieties of cataloging as there are department librarians.
In behalf of Dr. W. Dawson Johnston, of Columbia, Miss Isadore G. Mudge read the following
One of the desiderata of our exchange departments, as well as of our reference departments, is a catalog of American university serial publications. This should give in addition to the general title, a full table of contents, and an index of the same. It may be prepared by one library, or cooperatively by the library of each institution issuing such series, and published by a central institution, as the bibliography of American historical societies was published by the Smithsonian Institution, or published as the trade list annual is, each institution printing its own catalog and forwarding it to a publisher to be indexed, bound with the catalogs of publications of other institutions, and so published.
The desirability of such a catalog as a record of American university publications was presented to the Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities at its last meeting. The Committee voted to recommend to the Association the passage of the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the Association of American Universities recommends to each of its constituent universities the preparation of a catalog of its serial publications and the printing of the catalog in a form which will permit the publication of the several catalogs as a collected work, so arranged and indexed as to make it a useful work of reference."
If the members of the College Section are similarly interested in such a catalog, similar action on the part of the section may be desirable. I present this suggestion with some diffidence because although the catalog will save librarians much labor in the long run the preparation of it would involve a large amount of extra labor in the immediate future. In spite of this, however, I hope that it will receive your favorable consideration.
After some discussion it was voted that the proposal be referred to the executive committee of the College and Reference Section for consideration.
The meeting then adjourned.
The meeting of the Public Library Division of the College and Reference Section was held on the evening of June 27. It was called to order by Edwin H. Anderson, who turned it over to Miss Sarah B. Askew of the New Jersey public library commission, who acted as chairman for the evening. The first speaker was Miss MARILLA WAITE FREEMAN, librarian of the Goodwyn Institute library of Memphis, who spoke on
What we call "reference work" has been a little in disrepute of late, and there has been some discussion as to the amount of time which may legitimately be spent in helping the curious inquirer to learn how many of the Louis's died a natural death, or whether Helen of Troy wore locks of Titian red. But it is only in the large library that there can be any limitation of what we call the reference department to the handling of such academic quibbles. It is true that in the large library the technical department, the business branch, the art department may limit and thin the quality of work left to the reference librarian, till she (or he) may feel that only the dry bones of the day's research are hers (or his). But in the small library there is no such limitation, and the reference librarian, who may also be the head librarian and the chief cataloger, may come in touch each day with every sort of human interest, from the eager desire of the office clerk to get back to the soil by the road of raising rice in Arkansas or apples in Idaho, to the yearning for economic independence and artistic expression in the soul of the girl who comes to pore over books on design.
To one who is fully awake to the human side of things, there can never be any dull monotony in the life of the reference librarian. I have often wished I had time—and genius—to write the Romance of a Reference Library. It would cover as many pages, and be almost as thrilling as the Thousand-and-One-Nights. I wish I had time to tell you, the Molly-Make-Believe Episode of Goodwyn Institute library, or the Tale of the Telegram from the Nicaragua Revolution.
Now in the small library where one reference assistant must be so many things to so many people in the course of one day, there is special need of scientific management of time, labor, methods, resources. Fortunately, the reference assistant has fewstatisticsto trouble with. The only record that seems essential is that of questions asked and topics looked up. A pad of paper, dated, kept at one's elbow, and questions jotted down almost as they are being asked—this gives an interesting basis for monthly and yearly reports, and makes something to show for the day's work much more interesting than mere figures, and does furnish certain figures, especially if we add, after each topic, approximate number of books, pamphlets and magazines used in getting information or material desired.
From these daily sheets interesting deductions can be made, classifications of different kinds and sources of questions asked, what classes of people are users and which are non-users of the library, on what lines the library needs to build up its resources, in what directions it needs to advertise better. Red pencil checks may be placed against more significant topics, for quick summarization at the end of the month. If the question is for school or club work, or likely to recur again, take a pencil and small pad, write Panama canal tolls or labor laws affecting women, or whatever the subject may be, at the top of the pad, and make rapid note of magazine articles, books, etc., looked up. Much time is lost in looking up the same things over and over again, sometimes by one assistant, and sometimes by another. Lists jotted roughly down while material is being looked up, or directly after, may be copied by typewriter on catalog cards and filed alphabetically in a special tray of the catalog case, where they will be quickly available for the next call. For debates, the material listed on cards should be grouped roughly under "general," "affirmative" and "negative." It saves time, also, in collecting books on the reserve shelf for a debate, to mark the places by clipping to the page a slip labelled "affirmative" or "negative." Of course, for debate work the first aid to scientific management is the use, so far as possible, of the work done by others in such invaluable littlemanuals as the Debaters' Hand-Book series, and the debate pamphlets of the Universities of Wisconsin, Texas, Iowa and others, supplemented by the latest magazine articles in the Readers' Guide.[11]
[11]A brief list, entitled "Debaters' Aids," was distributed in connection with this paper.
[11]A brief list, entitled "Debaters' Aids," was distributed in connection with this paper.
The same economic principle applies, of course, to every other class of subjects looked up. Make use of work done by others, whether in the form of bibliographies, indexes, reports and publications of special organizations, or what not. Two small indexes which save much time in the small library are the Pittsburgh Library Debate Index and their Contemporary Biography. Though the latter is now ten years old it is still extremely useful to those libraries which are so fortunate as to own copies.
Another economy of time and money is the using of book-lists printed by other libraries or organizations, checking on them the titles in one's own library, putting the library stamp upon them, and distributing them to the class of users interested. Goodwyn Institute library has recently done this with the booklet entitled: "What to read on business efficiency," issued by the Business Book Bureau of New York.
An important psychological point is always to get one good piece of material before eachresearcherpromptly, then other material may be gathered more deliberately. If several people are waiting at once, give each one reference to start on rather than serve one in detail while all others wait their turn. Perhaps this is a small and obvious trifle to dwell upon, but it is a bromidium that trifles make success, in reference work as in anything else.
Returning to the wisdom of using others' work, I must emphasize the importance of collecting the material put out by all sorts of special organizations. We know that every subject now has its literature, from "votes for women" to the extermination of the house fly or the loan shark. And much of this matter, often in pamphlet or leaflet form, is obtainable free or at small
cost. Frequently such literature is the latest and most authoritative word upon any subject.
In our scheme of scientific management, therefore, the small library, perhaps even more than the large, can not afford to do without collecting such literature. The pamphlet collection is indispensable. It means work, but in the end by its live usefulness it saves time. By scientific management and intensive use a small library with a good pamphlet collection can get better results than one three times as large whose resources are not up-to-date and thoroughly made use of.
First, a word as to the filing of such material; second, as to sources for securing it. I cannot attempt to offer any new solution to the vexed problem of pamphlet disposal. I will merely state briefly how Goodwyn Institute library handles its pamphlets. We have found the system of filing in pamphlet boxes most convenient and practicable. A box is lettered with D. C. number or inclusive numbers, and with subject or subjects included, as 334.6 Agricultural credit. Pamphlets are counted as received, but not accessioned. If important, catalog card is made under subject, or author, rarely under both. If of slight or only temporary value, they are merely marked with class number, and placed in box without cataloging. Sometimes merely a general catalog card is made to show that the library receives all the publications of an organization, as with the National American Woman Suffrage Association, or with the American National Child Labor Committee. In these cases there would be both author and subject card. Any specially important publication of the association would be brought out by separate card. A check on the pamphlet would indicate whether or not it had been cataloged.
For the small library which has not time to catalog individual pamphlets, it would be sufficient to make one general card for each group, giving class number and subject heading, as: "325 Immigration; for material (or for additional material) onthis subject, see pamphlet collection," or merely, "See also pamphlets."
Goodwyn Institute clips also the local newspapers and a few others for matters of local or special interest, mounts the more valuable clippings on manila sheets, 8x10 in size, numbers them, occasionally catalogs an important one, and files them with pamphlets on the same subjects. To keep the collection from becoming obsolete, or occupying too much space, it should be gone over once a year, and old pamphlets and clippings and their cards withdrawn and destroyed. With many constantly changing subjects in agriculture, engineering, current problems, etc., it becomes instinctive with the reference assistant to bring forth first to the would-be investigator the pamphlet box or boxes on that subject, then the more recent magazine articles, and only last the books.
In Goodwyn Institute library the pamphlet collection is supplemented by a vertical file, arranged alphabetically under the same headings as the pamphlets. In this file are placed letters, circulars, typewritten lists, and the like, not advisable to be placed in the pamphlet boxes. A practical plan for indexing this material is a general card on each subject included, to be filed at end of regular cards in cataloging: e. g. "Levees; for additional material, see vertical file." For the very small library the vertical file is perhaps the most convenient arrangement for disposing of pamphlets andallunbound material in one place.
Some of the larger libraries bind in inexpensive form all pamphlets which are considered worthy of preservation, but for the small library this seems necessary only in the case of pamphlets of unusual value or size.
Now as to some of the sources of the pamphlet and ephemeral literature which is so valuable. I can not do better than to remind you again of two lists with which you are probably already familiar. The first is "Social questions of today, selected sources of information, compiled by the Free Public Library, Newark, N. J.," 1911. It may be obtained from the Editor of Special Libraries, State Library, Indianapolis, for ten cents. It includes the names and addresses of organizations interested in social questions, such as the American Civic Association, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Vocation Bureau of Boston, and an index of subjects covered by the publications of these organizations, such as the cost of living, prison reform, sex hygiene, vacation schools.
The second list is entitled "The library and social movements; a list of material obtainable free or at small expense." It may be had from the A. L. A. Publishing Board for five cents. This list includes material on all sorts of sociological questions, from co-operative stores to workingmen's compensation. From these two lists a good working collection of up-to-date, inexpensive pamphlet material on social problems may be obtained. Among recent organizations, born since these lists were published in 1911, are the Drama League of America, the American Commission on Agricultural Co-operation, the Southern Sociological Congress. All these put out valuable and inexpensive reports and publications. It would be a boon to small, and even large libraries, if the A. L. A. Publishing Board would father a new list including and enlarging the material of the two 1911 lists, and adding the most important new organizations and publications which have since come into being.
The recently published index to Special Libraries, Vol. 1-3, makes available, in that indispensable little journal much valuable material on current questions, and sources of information.
For all subjects, technical, scientific, historical, sociological, covered by the U. S. Government publications, and these subjects are innumerable, a convenient guide to selection is offered by the brief classified price-lists furnished by the Superintendent of Documents. The suggestions in the little weekly Government Publications, published by M. E. Greathouse at 510 12th St., N. W., Washington, at fifty cents a year, are also helpful, as are the notes inthe A. L. A. Booklist, which now lists many government documents. The "Interesting Things in Print" column in Public Libraries should be carefully scanned, as should the "Periodical and other literature" department of the Library Journal.
To get upon the regular mailing list of as many organizations as possible saves much time spent in writing for individual publications. And even where there is a membership fee, as of $2.00 per year to the Drama League of America, for example, it will bring far more valuable returns in twelve months than the same amount expended in books.
The first labor of writing for and handling a collection of pamphlet literature seems considerable, but when properly organized its daily up-keep is not difficult and its presence in a library goes far to make possible the scientific management of the queries and problems which come each day to the reference desk.
May I rather say the information desk. We librarians are so at home with our own terminology, have talked so long and familiarly of reference desks, reference work, the reference library, that I doubt if we ever realize the foreignness of our language to the shy visitor within our gates. "Ask in the reference room" means worse than nothing to him, but the simple legend "Information desk" will draw him like the kindly and familiar face of a friend.
The idea that a modern library is, or should be, a central Bureau of Information for its town or city is one that we first have to get thoroughly into our own heads, and then impress upon our public. In the effort to find the simplest and most effective way to present this idea to our Memphis public, we tried running the following card in the street cars:
What doYouwant to Know?You have 12,000 Books, Trade Journals, Magazines on all subjects, and an Information Bureau forYouruse absolutelyFreein Goodwyn Institute Library.
What doYouwant to Know?
You have 12,000 Books, Trade Journals, Magazines on all subjects, and an Information Bureau forYouruse absolutelyFreein Goodwyn Institute Library.
We were able to make specially advantageous terms with the street car advertising company, whose representative had himself made use of the resources of the library, and we have been running this card, or similarly worded ones, for over a year. The results, sometimes direct, sometimes indirect, have been very interesting. The card has brought us many business men, and other street car users, who, seeing our invitation daily, recall it from the depths of their subconsciousness when they do want to know. The card is often taken quite literally, as in the case of the young Russian from Odessa, later from St. Louis, who read the sign in the street car which brought him from the railway station. He came straight to the library and to the information desk, told his story briefly and succinctly, and asked how he could find a position as house boy, for which he was qualified. The Jewish Rabbi happened to be in the library at the moment. He called up the head of the Jewish Charities, who on hearing that the lad was from Odessa, said: "Why, that is my native place! Send him along and I will surely find him something." And he did.
Another bright-eyed youth, who worked with a moving-picture corporation in the daytime, but had his evenings free, came in to ask if we had d'Espuy's "Architecture antique." He was overjoyed when he saw it and other folios on the subject, said he was wanting to go on with the study of architecture at night, and had seen our street car card. "That card's a fine stunt," he added. Then there was the case of the two young men who had come down the river by boat from Iowa, looking for work as extra Christmas clerks. They were sent up to us by a policeman, from whom they asked information. We sent them to the Y. M. C. A. Department of Employment, and one of them afterward came back to tell us they had both gotten a job. We do not at all mind being teased a bit about our "Employment Bureau," so glad are we that the policeman and the man-on-the-street should instantly think of Goodwyn Institute library when asked for any information which he cannot give. We desire to be regarded as a sort of central clearing house for general information, even when the question is of so primitive and vital a nature as how a man shall earn his next meal, and to this end we take as our motto "Nothing human is alien to us."
We think it is within our legitimate field to tell the man not that he has come to the wrong place, but to tell him the address of the right place, and sometimes even to give him a note or do a moment's telephoning that will connect him with the right place, and will make him feel that the library's "What doyouwant to know?" means him.
The point I wish to emphasize is: Never let a man go away without either the information for which he has come, or the knowledge as to where he may find it. This does not mean that we must spend precious time in looking up irrelevant questions, or in attempting to handle matters which some other library or organization could deal with more efficiently. It does mean that it is our business as a Bureau of Information to know just where that question can be most effectively handled, and then to direct the inquirer there.
Thus if a man desires a certain address in Los Angeles, we send him to the Cotton Exchange, one block away, which has a full line of directories, open to the public; if a certain government monograph which we do not possess, we refer him to the Cossitt library, which as a government depository has a full collection of public documents; if other than a very simple legal reference, we refer him to the law library, mentioning its hours and restrictions.
If the information desired may be secured by letter, we often give a reader the necessary address and let him write himself. We ought, of course, to save the library's time in this way whenever possible. Yet frequently the information or material to be secured would have a future value to the library itself, or to the city, and whenever this is the case, this advantage, together with the reader's grateful appreciation of the library for getting him what he wants when he wants it, surely justifies us in writing the letter ourselves. Thus, Goodwyn Institute library has recently secured much information and literature on smoke abatement experience of other cities, for engineers suddenly forced to apply modern methods by a stringent city ordinance. Assistance has been given in the same way to the Mississippi Valley Levee Association; to a committee appointed to present a county insanity commission bill to the state legislature; to the city engineer, on the practice of different cities as to grade-crossings and railroad track elevation; again to an individual reader who wished to learn what diseases are native to South Carolina in distinction from those supposed to be cured by residence there; to a local manufacturer on the process of making paper from cotton stalks; to a student on the death rate and prevalence of tuberculosis among negroes; to another on the best methods of alfalfa raising in West Tennessee.
The use of the telephone is encouraged for information needed quickly. If a busy business man wishes to know the name and address of the U. S. Consul in Peru, the 1910 population of Guthrie, Oklahoma, the meaning of a troublesome phrase in a Spanish letter, he appreciates knowing that he can get a prompt reply by calling up the library. The St. Joseph library makes this feature of its information service effectively known by attractive blotters and leaflets sent to business men.
We are all familiar with the insistent demands of club members and of school children, set sometimes, the former by the club system, and the latter by the school system, to subjects beyond their grasp. Of the vexed problem of distributing our crowded hours judiciously among all these demands, Miss Bacon has written most lucidly in her delightful paper on "What the public wants," in the May (1913) Library Journal.
Certainly we do have to learn to discriminate as to the time and attention we give to each demand upon us. Yet each is important to the man, woman or child, who makes it, and however briefly and expeditiously we may dispose of it, let us make the questioner feel that he did well to come to us, that we are for the moment concentrating upon his problem, and that we are giving him the best assistance in our power, even if it be only an address, or a telephone number, or the name of the book in which his question will be answered.
Let me repeat that it is all largely a matter of making our library a clearing house of information, of connecting the man with the answer to his question, rather than of necessarily answering it ourselves. And to this end, and by these means, may the small library be as useful as the large.
The next speaker was Miss SARAH B. BALL, librarian of the business branch of the Newark free public library, who spoke on
Have you ever felt discouraged over the purely potential value of your reference books, because they seem to remain forever potential? Have you ever turned the pages of the World Almanac and sighed over perfectly good answers which you could give to questions that nobody asks you? Every reference librarian present knows what I mean. When is wheat harvested in Burmah? Who is the secretary of sanitation in Cuba? How long does it take a letter to go from New York to Melbourne, via Vancouver? Are grapes more nutritious than plums? What are the dues in the Knickerbocker Club? What three nations have dominions on which the sun never sets? How many shipwrecks last year on the U. S. coasts?
These questions are being asked by somebody and being answered in a fashion by somebody. Very often that "somebody" is the editor of the query column in the newspaper. The newspapers of the country have educated the people to turn to them with their questions. How many of those questions could be answered just as well or better by the public library? How often the newspaper itself turns to the public library for the answers? Here is truly an unnecessary duplication of work and a loss of time. Here is also a high-road to popularity and an opportunity for usefulness to a community clearly seen by newspapers and worth cultivating by public libraries.
While we are making laws, librarians might conspire to put through a city ordinance to compel all questioning people to call on the public library as thefirstsource of information. As that is manifestly impossible, something must be done to attract the business and trade interests of a town to the public library as a bureau of information. Why? Because the citizens pay taxes to support an institution—the public library—that they may be, by that institution, helped to become not simply better, but also wiser; not simply wiser, but also better informed; not simply better informed in general, but also better informed in city affairs; not simply in city affairs, but also in the affairs of each industrial unit. In a word, the city supports a library that the library may help it to become more harmonious, better governed and more productive.
As the institution is supported for specific purposes, it should not only be prepared to fulfill these purposes; it should also let it be known to all that it is thus prepared.
It should let those who support it know that it can not only help one who seeks general culture; but can also help one who seeks knowledge of city management in any of its countless aspects, or knowledge of methods of productive or distributive processes in any of their countless forms.
Possibly the first thing to do in thus letting its practical powers be known is to introduce into its vocabulary the phrase "business department" or "information department." A wider range of questions comes to a library that uses the words "information" or "business department" instead of "reference department." The words "public library" do not convey to the mind of the average person a suggestion of a tenth of the resources for information that are locked up in the collections of printed things which our cities now maintain.
An inquiring Newarker once said to me "Why should a public library advertise itself? Surely everyone knows where it is and that it contains books."
"Yes," said I, "but, do you yourself know what those books contain? Would you go to the library to learn the elevation above sea level of the street corner on which you live, or for the width of the street? Would you go there to plan your next business trip by using the maps of the cities you will visit, so that time will not be lost in going from one factory to another? If you are trying to sell a patented ticket punch, do you go to the library for the names of purchasing agents of railroads? If you have lost the address of a business correspondent do you telephone to the library or do you set the whole office force on edge hunting for the lost letter? Would you turn to the library for the date of Wilson's Chicago address, or the launching of a new battleship?"
He went away wiser; and left me quite pleased with myself.
Many public libraries have undertaken the task of collecting manufacturers' catalogs from all parts of the United States. Our experience indicates that this is a heavy expense with comparatively slight return. Would it not be better to spend the same amount of time and money compiling information about the industries of one's own town? It is a hopeless task to represent adequately the manufacturers of the United States. It is not a hopeless task to compile information about local manufacturers that will prove of great value. No business directory gives the specific information that is a daily need among the business men of a community. The directory gives, for example, a list of paper-box manufacturers, but does not indicate those who make egg boxes, hat boxes, jewelry boxes, etc. It lists the jewelry manufacturers, but is useless if you want the names of those who make 22-karat wedding rings. Many manufacturers and dealers are sending to distant cities, through habit, for articles made equally well and at the same cost within their own city, for no other reason than that they lack detailed information of the products of their own city. In some places the Board of Trade is the natural clearing house for this information. This is as it should be.
But what about the towns that are without Boards of Trade or whose Boards of Trade are not equipped to give this information? It is safe to say that there are not ten cities in the United States where one can find on file for the use of the public complete and specific information about the industries of that city. To secure this information is not an easy task. It requires circular letters, follow-up letters and possibly personal calls; but the value of thus creating an interest in the public library among those citizens who are paying the heaviest taxes, coupled with the real importance of the information itself, makes it an undertaking of peculiar value to a tax-supported public library. Fortunately the smaller the city the fewer the manufacturers and the easier the task, so that here indeed is a piece of work that may well be undertaken by libraries of many towns and cities.
We have grown in Newark, from being the conventional and rather academic library, to one that has quite large sources of civic and manufacturing and commercial and financial information. The question now is, how shall we get the people to realize the change? We are somewhat in the position of a dry goods store which has transformed itself into a department store, but is visited largely by those who seek only dry goods. We need to advertise our groceries, hardware, furniture and china.
If library architecture would only permit of show windows, as do all our Newark branches, the task would be greatlysimplified. What a show window has meant to the business branch can be seen any day. A passerby is first attracted by the bright color of a map showing the London subway system. He pauses to read the old familiar words: "Trafalgar Square," "Tottenham Court Road" and "Ludgate Circus." Beside it is a new directory of the clothing trade, or a book on insurance, a pamphlet on civil service, or a new trolley guide. Finally, his curiosity aroused over the kind of a business house that can have such diversified interests, he looks up at the gold-lettered sign on the window and reads with puzzled expression, "Business Branch and Reading Room of the Free Public Library." Often he peers curiously in to see what kind of people are inside, and, seeing a room full of men, comes boldly in and asks for—a directory of Spuyten Duyvil, or some other obscure place. The window display has broadened his idea of the resources of the public library, which he had hitherto thought of as having nothing to interest him.
Where a library can afford it there are many advantages in establishing a business department. It keeps together closely related subjects, it is very helpful to business men, and it helps in advertising. If a permanent business department is impossible, there is much to be gained by a temporary showing of all that can be gathered relating to business.
All libraries have more of this material than we perhaps realize, surely more than the public realize. By bringing it together and displaying well-printed signs concerning it we are following sound advertising principles. The man who sees a sign in the library, "Our business is answering questions," will not be so absurdly apologetic over "bothering you" with his wants, and will use the resources of the library to better advantage than the man who thinks it is only for lending books.
Other signs that may be used with good effect are these:
"Have you an idea? Patent it. The library will tell you how."
"You support this library. Do you use it?"
"Why guess about things? Your Public Library can give you the facts. Telephone or write."
"A valuable export trade is yours if you follow the consular reports in the Public Library."
"Follow the work of the Legislature. The bills are on file at the Public Library."
Framed signs of the library as Bureau of Information, placed in public places, are good permanent advertisements. Personal visits to the places where questions are being asked—the post office, the railroad, telegraph, newspaper and express offices, and the suggestion that those in charge send to the public library all inquiries they do not wish to be troubled with or can not satisfy, will turn many people toward the library.
If it is the item of expense that stands in the way of business work in your library, have you considered possible economies in other lines? Why not discontinue a certain fashion magazine and add a financial one? Turn down an order for a history of the court of Queen Anne and buy a good history of Wall Street. Get along without that valuable but expensive book on the ancient civilization of the Egyptians and buy a directory of the manufacturers of the world. Deny your worthy scholars the latest commentary on Plato and get your business men the latest book on accountancy. Sacrifice an historical or classical atlas and secure the best maps of your own locality. Decide against the Portuguese dictionary and buy a cable code. Cancel the order for so-and-so's travels in British Guiana and subscribe for the Official Railway Guide.
Here are suggestions for a few resources to be used in meeting business inquiries of a general order, such as come to a library that advertises itself as a Bureau of Information, and some things we have found useful in business work:
1. The latest edition of the city directory, directories of local towns, of the capitol of the state, and of the largest cities ofthe United States. An exchange of directories one year old with other public libraries has proved quite satisfactory. It increases your resources, and the fact that you ask for year-old directories from local business houses for the purpose of exchange is a good advertisement of the library's business side. The cost of sending a 5-lb. directory to any part of the United States by book-rate express is about fifty cents.
If you cannot afford directories, get telephone books from the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., New York City, at prices ranging from 35 to 50 cents. Many of these contain classified sections. A classified telephone directory of New York may be obtained free by writing to Mr. Reuben J. Donnelly, 37 Fulton Street, New York City.
2. The very best local maps. To spend $30 on a real estate atlas may seem extravagant; but such atlases are usually issued at intervals of 6 to 10 years, and will prove one of the most useful sources of local information.
3. The Official Railway Guide. If the library cannot afford to pay $8.00 a year for it, get a month-old copy from the local railway office. It contains the most complete list of U. S. towns in print and is of value as a gazetteer and in many other ways.
4. The Western Union A. B. C. and Lieber Cable Codes are the only general codes in use. They cost about $32.00.
5. A table for displaying catalogs of business book publishers. This will increase the use of business books and lead to many good recommendations by visitors.
6. A monthly magazine, "Business News," of the Business Book Bureau of New York. It indexes articles in the principal business magazines and lists the important new business books.
7. A typewriter for the free use of visitors. The local office of a typewriter company may place one in the library as an advertisement.
8. Reports of transactions on the New York stock exchange or of transactions in local securities. Local brokers' offices will consider it a good advertisement to place these on file.
9. Trolley guides. Fifty cents spent on these each year will fortify the library against all attacks in that line.
10. Thomas's Register of American Manufacturers, price $15.00. With this in hand you can say that, "The Public Library can give you names of pill-box manufacturers in all parts of the U. S., the name of the man who makes office furniture in Marietta, Ohio, or the place where Rubberset products are manufactured."
11. Kelly's Directory of Merchants, Manufacturers and Shippers of the World. Price 30s. This enables you to say, "The Public Library can give you the name of German manufacturers of mirrors, the dealers in lacquered ware in Tokio, the name of a bank in Warsaw, a forwarding agent in Sydney or the express facilities of Coburg."
With a simple and inexpensive equipment, somewhat like that included in these eleven items, backed by wide advertising in the local press, a public library can attract the business men of a town to use the institution they support, an institution which should be turned to by everyone in the municipality as the very first source of information.
Miss EDITH KAMMERLING, head of the Civics Room of the Chicago public library, presented most ably the work which could be done by any library in the civics line, under the title
Perhaps the best method of indicating the scope and material of a civics room in a medium-sized library is to describe what are the essentials of a civics room in a large city, permitting the adaptation of such features of the latter to the former as the locality and conditions may suggest.
A year ago last month a room was opened in the Chicago public library which is known as the civics room. The legend on the door announces "Sociology, Municipal Affairs, Business, Economics, PoliticalScience, and Education." At first people were very curious to see what the civics room was like, and many there were of the idle curious who came to see what we had, but as the subjects dealt with were not what are generally considered as sources of amusement and entertainment, this patronage gradually ceased until now we have only the earnest, studious class.
The work required in assembling and taking care of the material is such as to demand the most concentrated efforts and the most specialized training upon the part of the librarian. She must be familiar with the great issues of the day and must be able to look ahead and assemble material where she sees that a topic is engaging the attention of public-spirited men.
The material which is stored in the civics room, therefore, is less in the form of books than in the way of pamphlets, magazine articles, and newspaper clippings—that which is usually regarded as ephemera. The latest material is not to be found in books, for by the time a subject has been before the public, has been talked about, assimilated, and finally published in book form it is practically an old subject.
One of the first considerations for the librarian is where to obtain this material. Our civics room has a card index of institutions and societies that are interested in the subjects that we cover in our work, and since we are on the mailing list of most of the associations we are pretty well supplied with their publications. The National Municipal Review, published quarterly by the National Municipal League, has a section devoted to new pamphlet material and is a great help in learning of new publications. Other journals of particular value are: The Survey, with its Information Desk, The Municipal Engineer, The American City, and The American Political Science Review.
For magazine articles, of course we have the Readers' Guide, but most of our magazine material is in the form of separates. The branches of our library return innumerable magazines to the main library and these are immediately dismembered and the articles of value and interest to us are taken out and treated as if they were pamphlets. Our newspaper clippings are obtained from 150 foreign and domestic newspapers which our reading room receives daily. Representative material is obtained in this way from all sections of the country. The pamphlets, magazine separates, and newspaper clippings, together with a small, well-selected collection of books and a goodly supply of current magazines upon economic and sociological subjects constitute the material of the room.
If you were to visit our civics room you would see one entire side of the room lined with pamphlet boxes. Each box represents a subject. Collected in one box are pamphlets, magazine separates, and newspaper clippings. The patron is not compelled to read antiquated books in studying his subject, nor is he compelled to go through the Readers' Guide and wait for his magazines to be brought to him. Here, all gathered together, is the latest material to be had. Each pamphlet is classified; each magazine separate is made into permanent form by being stapled in a manila folder with source, title, date, and class number on the cover; each newspaper clipping is classified with source and date and placed in a large manila envelope. We use the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau's expansion of the 300's of the Dewey Classification for classifying our material. Selections from the contents of a typical box will show what kind of material is to be had. The subject is The recall: