"No reason is known to this office why the annual reports of the executive departments and independent offices should be excepted from the operation of the salutary provision that departmental publications shall not be printed a second time with changes to indicate (erroneously) that they are documents emanating from Congress."The reasons which have induced the prohibition of second and varying prints of department publications generally, apply with at least equal force to the annual reports, which are the most distinctively and obviously departmental of all departmental issues. They are so distinctive that it is safe to say they are always known and called for by their departmental designations, never by their congressional numbers. Everybody knows at once what is meant by War Department Report, 1912, but nobody knows offhand what is meant by House Document 929, 62d Congress, 3d session. There is nothing whatever to indicate that these two designations mean the same publication, which is really not a House document at all, but a publication of the executive and not of the legislative branch of the government. And, of course, the same is true of the annual reports of all the executive officials."The addition of congressional document numbers to executive reports adds nothing to their value or to their accessibility. The second set of designations is merely confusing and troublesome. To spend money on such a second print is to spend it only to buy harm instead of good."The numerous and conclusive considerations which have been sufficient to place in the bill the prohibition of the second and superfluous editions of other departmental publications apply with at least equal if not even greater force to annual reports, and to except them from the general prohibition seems therefore illogical and contradictory and a long step toward defeating the proposed reform and the economies which it is intended to promote."If it is not desirable to protect the annual reports from the waste and confusion of double editions, then it is hard to see why any publications should be so protected. The annual reports, so numerous, so important, so certain to be continuously issued for all time to come, are 'the very head and front of the offending' in the double printing abuse, and with them the reform should begin."To except the annual reports seems to amount to discrediting if not to virtually abandoning the whole reform—the most vital of all reforms in connection with the public printing, that of permitting but one edition for each publication, by which it may always be known and identified and kept free from confusion with others."
"No reason is known to this office why the annual reports of the executive departments and independent offices should be excepted from the operation of the salutary provision that departmental publications shall not be printed a second time with changes to indicate (erroneously) that they are documents emanating from Congress.
"The reasons which have induced the prohibition of second and varying prints of department publications generally, apply with at least equal force to the annual reports, which are the most distinctively and obviously departmental of all departmental issues. They are so distinctive that it is safe to say they are always known and called for by their departmental designations, never by their congressional numbers. Everybody knows at once what is meant by War Department Report, 1912, but nobody knows offhand what is meant by House Document 929, 62d Congress, 3d session. There is nothing whatever to indicate that these two designations mean the same publication, which is really not a House document at all, but a publication of the executive and not of the legislative branch of the government. And, of course, the same is true of the annual reports of all the executive officials.
"The addition of congressional document numbers to executive reports adds nothing to their value or to their accessibility. The second set of designations is merely confusing and troublesome. To spend money on such a second print is to spend it only to buy harm instead of good.
"The numerous and conclusive considerations which have been sufficient to place in the bill the prohibition of the second and superfluous editions of other departmental publications apply with at least equal if not even greater force to annual reports, and to except them from the general prohibition seems therefore illogical and contradictory and a long step toward defeating the proposed reform and the economies which it is intended to promote.
"If it is not desirable to protect the annual reports from the waste and confusion of double editions, then it is hard to see why any publications should be so protected. The annual reports, so numerous, so important, so certain to be continuously issued for all time to come, are 'the very head and front of the offending' in the double printing abuse, and with them the reform should begin.
"To except the annual reports seems to amount to discrediting if not to virtually abandoning the whole reform—the most vital of all reforms in connection with the public printing, that of permitting but one edition for each publication, by which it may always be known and identified and kept free from confusion with others."
There is no question that the librarians are in sympathy with what we are trying to do, so now is the time to join forces and make every effort to have this bill embody the necessary provisions to correct all existing evils.
The librarians must give the movement impetus, and we believe if sufficient organized effort is directed in the proper channels good results will be bound to follow.
Mr. Wallace's paper was received with enthusiasm because it showed his close and intimate knowledge of matters pertaining to the publication and distribution of documents. A spirited discussion followed the reading of the paper, all through which expressions of appreciation were made concerning the service which had been rendered by the document office in recent years towards prompt and efficient distribution of publications delivered to that office.
Miss Hartwell, informally representing the superintendent of documents, answered many questions relative to the serial numbers on government documents and urged if consistent with the policy of the American Library Association that action be taken suggesting to Congress that annual reports now listed in the congressional set of documents be omitted inasmuch as they are not now in the depository set and such omission would facilitate the publication of the Documentary Index.
The discussion also brought out the consensus of opinion that the libraries would be more satisfactorily served if all publications were sent out under the direction of the superintendent of documents.
Henry J. Carr, librarian of the Scranton public library; Miss Edith E. Clarke of Syracuse University, and Herbert O. Brigham, state librarian of Rhode Island, were appointed a special committee to prepare a suitable resolution of thanks to Mr. Wallace for his excellent paper and to draft suitable resolutions to be submitted to the Council for its approval, urging that the recommendations in Mr. Wallace's paper relative to publication and distribution of documents be approved by the American Library Association, this committee to report at an adjourned meeting of the session to be held at 12:15 p. m. on Friday.
The second paper of the evening, prepared by Mr. FRANCIS A. CRANDALL of Washington, D. C., on certain phases of the public document question, in his absence was read by Charles F. D. Belden, state librarian of Massachusetts.
Mr. Crandall's paper (in part) here follows:
The committee on department methods, known to the public as the Keep commission, was the agency through which, about seven years ago, President Roosevelt hoped to reorganize and energize the government service in Washington.
The Keep commission organized for helpers twelve so-called assistant committees, their total membership being about seventy, all supposed to be experts in the several branches of inquiry assigned to them.
On one of these assistant committees, the one on "The organization of editorial work and an official gazette," the writer had the honor to serve.
We held more than one hundred meetings, and examined as witnesses almost if not quite every man and woman who had any official relation with the work of preparing manuscripts for printing. We learned after a while that the President wanted an official gazette, and expected us to devise the means of creating it. I think that nearly all the members from the start deemed the scheme impracticable and chimerical. It became clear that it would be a costly enterprise, and we could not find any department that had the money for it.
Soon after this Mr. Keep left Washington, and the Keep commission, though nominally still living, dwindled rapidly, and brought forth little if any more fruit.
The members of the assistant committees were left stranded, with desks full of unprinted manuscripts as the only results of their prolonged labors. From one of these desks I have withdrawn the report of a subcommittee of the assistant committee on the organization of editorial work and an official gazette. Though it was written half a dozen years ago, it seems that an element of interest yet remains in its proposal for the publication, as an alternative to the impracticable official gazette, of an executive gazette. This proposal has not had any exploitation whatever.
In the hope that it may in this way be brought to the general notice of persons interested in the methods of publication and preservation of the historical records of the government it is now offered for the consideration of the American Library Association.
The London Gazette, which is the model most generally thought of when the term official gazette is used, was begun in 1665, and may be looked upon as a survival of the pre-newspaper age, for though there were newspapers before the Gazette, they bore little resemblance to what we now know by that name, and the daily press—the significant part of the press of our day—was not born till a generation later. We may assume that when the Gazette was begun its semi-weekly issues were sufficient to carry all the official information that the government of that day wished to offer to its subjects. But this long since ceased to be true. The English government now has a host of publications which do not appear in either of the three Gazettes—London, Edinburgh, and Dublin—of the United Kingdom, nor in any of the multitude of gazettes which are issued in the variousBritish dependencies, from Canada and Australia to Borneo and the Andaman Islands. The country has outgrown the London Gazette, and by its growth has been forced into that specialization and subdivision of its official publications which we see even more notably in our own country. No doubt for the Andaman Islands a monthly gazette covers the whole ground, everything being printed in it and no occasion being found for any other official publication whatever. This may be true of many small countries, but it is not conceivable for a great and growing country like ours.
The specialization of official publications seems to be an inevitable result of the growth of public interests and the public service. By recent methods documents are printed relating to special branches of the public service and sent only to those employed in such branches. Economy of both time and labor as well as economy in printing are thus promoted. This subdivision is carried out with much minuteness. The Daily Bulletin of the Railway Mail Service, relating solely to the affairs which its title indicates, is printed in Washington in an edition of 1,500 copies and supplied to all offices in the department and sent out to the different division superintendents throughout the country. These superintendents extract from it the matters which affect their divisions and redistribute these parts to their subordinates in general orders. Thus everybody in the postal service gets that information and those orders which he needs and he does not get and consequently does not waste any time upon that information and those orders which he does not need. The hydrographic office's weekly, Notice to Mariners, containing only the latest information as to aids and hindrances to navigation, would seem to be a sufficiently specialized publication to be supplied to sailors without further ado. Part of the edition is issued in the complete form, but economy and efficiency are further promoted by additional subdivision. The weekly publication, not a large one to begin with, is split into many parts, often a dozen or a score, and one of these leaflets is supplied to the mariner who needs information as to those waters only into which his own voyage will carry him. The Yearbook of Agriculture, the Annual Reports of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, the American Historical Association, the Chief of Engineers, the Chief of Ordnance, the Bureau of Education, and other publications which are made up of distinct papers or chapters that permit of separate publication, are split up and each chapter or paper printed in a pamphlet by itself, so that the authors and others who ask for copies of special papers may have these alone and the cost of supplying them with whole volumes thus be saved. Even pamphlets of moderate size, like the bulletins of the Department of Agriculture which report the proceedings of the conventions of official agricultural chemists, economic entomologists, and other bodies of government specialists, are split into fascicules with which the popular demand for information on special parts of the work of these scientific bodies may be met at least cost.
Any publication, by whatever name or in whatever form, which undertook to include all of these and the other and almost innumerable specialized publications of the government, and to have itself supplied to all who now receive the existing publications, would of necessity be of enormous bulk and be printed in an enormous edition, and it seems to your committee that it must break down of its own weight. We think it absolutely essential to the success of an official gazette that all of these specialized class publications should be most rigorously excluded from its pages. Specialization seems to be a natural and proper development of the public printing, and it would hardly be practicable, or wise if practicable, to arrest it.
For these reasons, your committee, in casting about for material which might properly and usefully be carried in an official gazette, should one be issued, has endeavored to choose that only which is ofinterest to all classes and not alone to any one class, whether in or out of the public service. The list which represents the judgment of the committee in this respect is still very long. We have not suggested the discontinuance of any publication on account of its inclusion in a gazette, because in all the letters we have received from public officials, and all the questions we have asked them, we have not yet found one who is of opinion that any publication now existing can be superseded by publication in a gazette without injury to the public service.
Opinion among officials as to a gazette is radically divided, the number for and against appearing to be about equal, though the adverse argument appears to be the stronger. Opinion in the committee is also widely divided, and we are unable to make a unanimous recommendation on the desirability or feasibility of issuing a gazette on the model of the London Gazette or of any other official gazette known to us.
Your committee, however, thinks it a duty to submit for consideration an alternative plan, based on a suggestion offered in one of the official letters received in reply to its inquiries. This alternative is an executive gazette, to contain all of the official papers and messages of the President and such other occasional matters of special and immediate importance as the President may think it advisable to have officially published. Such matter might perhaps at times be drawn from the diplomatic correspondence with other governments or from reports made by American ambassadors, ministers, or consuls, or from the findings or rulings of commissions or other official bodies or other sources for which no special method of official publication is now provided.
The weight of this suggestion lies in the fact that every word officially put forth by the chief executive is of universal interest and of historical import, and no official vehicle for its complete and authentic publication is now provided. It is printed in the Congressional Record, in the newspapers, on separate sheets, in the collected volumes of statutes, and sometimes not at all. These publications are so scattered and each different kind so incomplete that the most industrious librarian or other collector can never be sure that he has all. When the congressional compilation of the messages and papers of the Presidents from Washington to McKinley was made the originals were gathered from all sorts of public documents and old newspaper files and miscellaneous sources. When it chanced that some of the old papers were preserved in public offices the compilers—especially at first—did not know where to look for them. That compilation as finally made is commendable, but nobody can say that it is complete. It served, however, to demonstrate—what indeed all students knew before—that there is no place where all the official utterances of the head of the government may certainly be found. If they were all to be printed in one publication—if the faith of all Presidents were pledged that all official papers should be given publicity in one known publication, and if that publication were so published by volume and number that any historical student or collector might know to a certainty when he had secured all of these publications, then it seems to your committee that something of real moment would have been accomplished.
It is true that the publication of presidential messages in an executive gazette would contradict the unanimous opinion of the committee that any sort of an official gazette should be wholly colorless from a partisan point of view. Still, it seems of high state importance that all of the official utterances of the chief executive, without exception, should be collected and published in some known and accessible place. Whether this consideration is of more or less importance than that of keeping a gazette free from partisanship the committee does not undertake to decide. It submits the suggestion without expression of opinion on its own part.
The adjourned session of the government documents round table was called to order by Chairman Godard at 12:15 p. m. on Friday, June 27th. Mr. Carr, reporting for the special committee, reported certain resolutions, which were unanimously adopted and referred to the Council with the request that they be officially adopted by the Association and copies of the same be transmitted in official form to the joint committee on printing, the public printer, and the superintendent of documents.[12]
[12]For text of these resolutions see minutes of the Council, page 256.
[12]For text of these resolutions see minutes of the Council, page 256.
The meeting was called to order by President Poole, twenty-eight members being present.
The address of welcome, which was to have been delivered by Mr. Frank B. Gilbert, of the Department of Education of New York State, was given in the form of a telegram from him, as he was unavoidably prevented from attending.
President Poole addressed the association as follows:
This is the eighth annual meeting of this Association. We had hoped to have with us Mr. Frank B. Gilbert, who is one of the charter members, formerly of the New York State Law library, but this morning I received the following telegram:
"Unable to be present tomorrow night. Unexpected official business requires attention tomorrow afternoon. Hope your meeting will be successful."
"Unable to be present tomorrow night. Unexpected official business requires attention tomorrow afternoon. Hope your meeting will be successful."
I think we will have to take the welcome from the last six words.
The next item on the program is the President's address. I am not going to make any address because you would not be edified.
I would call your attention, however, to a few things which have appealed to me during the past year, and which, with suggestions which will come from the members present, will make perhaps a basis for our work during the coming year.
In my library, and I have no doubt in a good many of the libraries represented here, there have been calls for practice and form books, and perhaps for other local books of states outside of one's own state, and you have all probably experienced difficulty in getting proper information regarding such material. This need is coincident with the possibility of developing our Law Library Journal. It occurs to me that we might organize a committee to publish in our Law Library Journal, once a year, a list of local practice and form books, giving the title, author, number of the edition, date of publication, cost and publisher—the idea being to include in the list, not all the books, but the best books, and to place the choosing of that list in the hands of parties familiar with such books. If a list could be published every year it would be of considerable advantage.
Another suggestion has come to me—I think from Mr. Hewitt—that we put in the Law Library Journal, in some such way as described above, references to the court rules of the highest courts of the several states and any important local courts that are represented in the published reports. I do not refer to the text of the rules and the many amendments, but where they can be found, date of adoption, etc.
There is another matter which will come up at one of the sessions, viz., the movement for uniformity in the publication of session laws. You will hear more about that later, but it is worth our consideration. You all know the rather baffling way in which session laws are published; hardly any two states are alike, and the states change their methods from year to
year, causing a great deal of confusion and difficulty in finding material.
You are perfectly familiar with the chief work which this Association has accomplished, viz., the publication of the Index to Legal Periodicals and Law Library Journal. We can congratulate ourselves, I think, on a fairly successful year. The editorial work has been done very well, and the promptness of publication has shown some improvement. Mechanically, we have it on a better basis than ever before, and there is no reason why the publication should not continue and become actually self-supporting. Now, as you know, it only partially pays for itself. The Association pays a certain amount of the costs. We hope to increase the subscriptions among practicing lawyers, and plans have already been made for doing this.
We should, I think, take more pains with the Law Journal portion. We have not done with that all that is possible. Personally I think that the editor, working as he does at present—I mean by that, under his present contract and with the time at his disposal—can hardly be expected to do very much more; but we can make a good deal more out of the publication if we improve the Law Journal—make it more readable, so that people will subscribe for the Journal alone. I do not think you can say that anyone would pay $5 a year for what is in the Law Journal now. I wish that matter could be taken up later and discussed, and that steps might be taken to bring about an improvement in that respect.
The report of the Treasurer was read by Mr. Redstone of the Social Law library in Boston.
Under the head of the Report of the Executive Committee, the letter from Chairman C. W. Andrews, of the special committee on the relations between the American Library Association and affiliated societies, was considered.
Reports of the special committees were made by Mr. A. J. Small, of the Iowa State Law library, chairman of the committee on legal bibliography; by Dr. G. E. Wire, of the Worcester County (Mass.) law library, chairman of the committee on reprinting session laws; by Mr. O. J. Field, of the Department of Justice, chairman of the committee on Latin-American laws.
The first Round Table was held on Wednesday, June 25, 1913, at 9:30 a. m.
The report of the committee to confer with the Library of Congress on subject headings was given by Mr. Hewitt of Philadelphia, and a discussion ensued. This was followed by a symposium on architectural plans and furnishings for law libraries, participated in by Mr. Frederick D. Colson, of the New York State law library, Mr. Godard, Mr. Poole, Mr. Hicks, Mr. Schenk and Mr. Hewitt.
At the second session, Wednesday, June 25th, at 2:30 p. m., Mr. Colson gave an account of the destruction and rebuilding of the New York State library. Mr. Frederick C. Hicks, of the Columbia University library, read a paper on "Law libraries and the public," which was followed by a statement by Dr. Wire on the Massachusetts system of county law libraries.
A paper on the work in the University of Minnesota law library, by Mr. Arthur C. Pulling, librarian, will be printed in a future issue of the Journal, Mr. Pulling being unable to attend.
The nominating and auditing committees were appointed by President Poole, as follows:
Nominating Committee: George S. Godard, chairman; Mrs. M. C. Klingelsmith, E. J. Lien.
Auditing Committee: O. J. Field, chairman; William R. Reinick, Mary V. Fisk.
The vouchers, etc., sent by Mr. Whitney, not having arrived owing to the delay of the express company, the auditing committee were instructed to report to the executive committee as soon as the material could be examined.
The committee on resolutions, consisting of Mr. A. J. Small, Mrs. Klingelsmith and Mrs. Hoover, reported the following resolution on the death of Charles J. Babbitt, which was ordered spread upon the minutes:
"WHEREAS, after a long and untiring service in his life work our friend and fellow member Charles J. Babbitt has this year completed his work and become a graduate member of our fellowship, and through his death this Association has lost an active member, a kind friend and valued associate, who has left behind him an enduring memorial in the good work which while living he accomplished:"BE IT RESOLVED, that this Association has met with an irreparable loss, and that we extend our sympathy to the bereaved family, and that this resolution shall become a part of the record."
"WHEREAS, after a long and untiring service in his life work our friend and fellow member Charles J. Babbitt has this year completed his work and become a graduate member of our fellowship, and through his death this Association has lost an active member, a kind friend and valued associate, who has left behind him an enduring memorial in the good work which while living he accomplished:
"BE IT RESOLVED, that this Association has met with an irreparable loss, and that we extend our sympathy to the bereaved family, and that this resolution shall become a part of the record."
Then followed the report of the committee on shelf classification of law textbooks, consisting of Miss Gertrude E. Woodard, George N. Cheney, E. A. Feazel.
Remarks on cataloging and classifying law textbooks in the Library of Congress were made by Mr. Martel of the Library of Congress.
Messrs. Schenk and Butler spoke on the matter of increasing the efficiency of the Index to Legal Periodicals and Law Library Journal. Additional features of the Journal were considered, and Mr. Schenk was authorized to include in the Journal during the coming year:
List of Reports as currently issued.
List of textbooks dealing with local forms, practice, etc.
References showing where to find the court rules of the local courts, the decisions of which appear in the published Reports.
The following officers were elected for the year 1913-14:
President—Franklin O. Poole, Association of the Bar of the City of New York; First Vice-President—Frederick W. Schenk, Law Library, University of Chicago; Second Vice-President—O. J. Field, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.; Secretary—Miss Gertrude E. Woodard, Law Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Treasurer—E. Lee Whitney, Vermont State Library, Montpelier; Executive Committee—President, ex-officio, First Vice-President, ex-officio, Second Vice-President, ex-officio, Secretary, ex-officio, Treasurer, ex-officio, E. O. S. Scholefield, British Columbia Legislative Library, Victoria; A. J. Small, State Law Library, Des Moines, Iowa; C. Will Schaffer, Washington State Law Library.
The meeting adjourned with a resolution by Mr. A. J. Small thanking each officer and member of the association who had contributed to its work; and with a final word from Mr. Butler urging all to work for the success of the Index during the coming year.
The meeting was called to order by the President, Mr. Milam. A roll-call by states showed that sixteen were represented: Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin. The President then introduced the leader of the discussion, Miss Zaidee Brown, of Massachusetts. The outline of the discussion, as printed on the program, was as follows:
1. Methods suggested by the state organizer forAccessioningClassificationShelf-listingCatalogingShould it be attempted?Should L. C. cards be used?Loan systemMechanical preparation of books2. Average time required for above processes,and average cost per 1,000 volumes3. Help from local sourcesVolunteers, paid workers, trusteesHelp from neighboring librarians4. Kinds of supplies and cost5. How the organizer may interest thepeople of the town in the library6. Board meeting: Budget and other administrativeproblems
It was stated that for this discussion "small library" meant any library with less than 5,000 volumes.
As to the accession book, the general opinion seemed to be that there was more reason for keeping it in a library without trained service than in a larger one, and that the trustees usually liked to have it kept. A very simple entry was recommended. Miss Brown suggested that where, in reorganizing, it was necessary to accession the books already in the library, the quickest way was to number them when the first, or shelf-list, card was written. These cards might be kept in numerical order, and the accession book written from them, thus saving one handling of the books. She said one reason for keeping an accession book in a small library is that the accession number may be used for charging; this led to a discussion of the use of Cutter numbers in a small library; Miss Wright, of Vermont, uses them and has found no trouble. Miss Brown thinks they add considerably to the labor and expense of reorganizing, and she has found them likely to fall into confusion with untrained librarians. No conclusion was reached.
As to classification, the preference was for a simplified form of the D. C., using only three figures in most cases, and combining some classes.
The leader then asked how many organizers favored a dictionary catalog, with an untrained librarian. Miss Hazeltine, of Wisconsin, said that in that state they start only a shelf-list, to be used as a classed catalog, until the librarian can attend summer school, and then a dictionary catalog is made. Miss Askew stated that in New Jersey a dictionary catalog is made even for a small library, if the librarian and trustees wish it. In Vermont, also, the organizer starts a dictionary catalog.
Miss Frances Hobart, librarian at Vergennes, Vt., reported that when she classified she placed a slip in the book giving the class and book number, and the subject headings to be used, for the guidance of the cataloger. These slips are kept, to form a rough shelf-list, and serve the purpose in assigning Cutter numbers. A number of those present said that they thought it not necessary to make a shelf-list simply for taking an inventory, as many libraries do not take inventory, and it is not worth the labor of the shelf-list. Mr. Olin Davis, librarian at Laconia, N. H., described a method of taking inventory from the accession book, thus making a shelf-list for that purpose unnecessary. The discussion showed that in some states the custom of the state organizer is to start a dictionary catalog, and to make a shelf-list only if Cutter numbers are used, or if the additional labor can be easily afforded. Miss Brown, of Massachusetts, said that she preferred, with an untrained librarian, to make an author and title catalog, and to use the shelf-list for a subject catalog. She makes an alphabetic index to the shelf-list, which also serves as a guide for classification, and includes in this index analyticals and secondary subject cards. She feels that this method reduces to a minimum the difficulty of assigning subject headings, and the danger of scattering material through doing this poorly. The objection to her method was made that such a catalog is not so easy for the public to use; she admitted this, but said that in a small library the catalog is mainly a tool for the librarian. Mrs. Budlong, of North Dakota, recommended using the order card for the shelf-list.
The discussion showed that in New Jersey and Vermont the organizer usually starts a dictionary catalog; and in Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin and Massachusetts the shelf-list is used as a subject catalog unless the librarian has at least summer school training.
As to the use of Library of Congress cards, the general testimony seemed to be that the labor of ordering them, and adding numbers and headings, is about equal to that of making simple cards, with a typewriter. Miss Brown stated that the added expense for cards per 1,000 volumes is about $35, if the order is by author and title. Miss Farr, of Maryland, said that she could catalog about 1,000 volumes a month, making a dictionary catalog, if she made her own cards, and about 1,100 if she used Library of Congress cards—showing that the labor is nearly the same.
It was not possible to give definite estimates of the cost of reorganization or the time required, as conditions vary so greatly; but some general averages were obtained. Mr. Milam, of Indiana, stated that the cost of supplies and labor, including the time and expenses of the state organizer, was about $50 to $60 per 1,000 volumes. One organizer said that a cataloger should average 40 volumes a day, assigning Cutter numbers and making a dictionary catalog. Miss Askew, of New Jersey, thought this number too small, and said she expected one person to make a dictionary catalog for 1,000 volumes in two weeks. Miss Brown, of Massachusetts, said that the number of volumes done in a week varied from 500 to 1,000 volumes, according to the amount of local help received. She finds it possible to get volunteer workers for a good deal of the work, including writing the cards, and doing the mechanical work involved by a new charging system. This estimate is not for a dictionary catalog, but for an author and title list, and a shelf-list for non-fiction with subject index—no imprint being given on most of the cards. To show the cost of reorganization where there was practically no volunteer labor, Miss Brown gave the figures for a library at West Bridgewater, Mass., which contained about 6,500 volumes. The state library commission gave about a week of Miss Brown's time, which is not included in the estimate, a cataloger was engaged at $75 a month, and an assistant at $50. Local workers were paid about twelve cents an hour. The books were accessioned, classified, an author and title catalog made, and a shelf-list for non-fiction with subject index. Book-pockets and book-cards were placed in the books. Copy for a printed catalog was made. This catalog was later printed, at a cost of about $125. The entire cost of the work, including printing the catalog, was between $600 and $700, or about ten cents per volume. The time required was about seven weeks.
As to the question of how the organizer might interest the people of the town, there was a discussion on whether the organizer did better work if she stayed at the hotel, or was entertained in a private family. She can, of course, become better acquainted if in a family, but Mr. Milam said that he thought the hotel preferable because there would be no drain on her vitality outside library hours. It developed during the discussion that in several states the commission pays the living expenses of the organizer in the town. In Massachusetts, the library is expected to meet this expense, but the state sometimes helps buy the supplies.
As to the meeting of the Board, Mr. Milam said that he thought the organizer should always meet the Board, and if possible leave with them a suggested budget for a library of that size. Miss Brown said that she carried with her sample copies of a number of selected lists and library aids, and showed them to the Board of Trustees.
A number of organizers spoke of addressing clubs, schools, and other bodies in connection with the work.
After the Round Table, Mr. Milam appointed the following nominating committee: Miss Clara Baldwin, chairman; Mrs. Percival Sneed, Miss Zaidee Brown. The meeting then adjourned.
The topic of the second session was libraries in state institutions and in federal prisons. Mr. Milam, the president, called the meeting to order. Miss Julia A. Robinson, supervising librarian of the state institutions of Iowa, opened the discussion. Mr. Jenkins, of New York, who was announced on the program, was unable to be present. Miss Robinson spoke first of the need of providing good reading matter in state institutions; and pointed out that such libraries have the advantage of those in the outside world, in that they need not compete with so many conflicting interests in their patrons. Of the two possible kinds of supervision; by an outside authority, such as a state library commission, or by an official of the board controlling the state institutions, the latter is preferable if the appointment of such an official is not dominated by politics. An official appointed by the Board of Control has greater authority, can maintain a closer supervision of the books admitted, and can obtain more help from the inmates of the institutions. As to methods employed, the book selection should be carefully made to suit the various classes in the different institutions; and the organization should be as simple as possible. In Iowa, they use an accession book, the decimal classification, and a simple form of shelf-list. In all the institutions, reading rooms for the use of the inmates under proper supervision add to the usefulness of the libraries. The librarian is usually an officer or employee of the institution, but should possess a knowledge of the books in her own library, and a sympathetic acquaintance with the inmates which will enable her to assist them in selecting the books which will be most helpful to them. She should also have sufficient time to give proper attention to the library. Inmates often make good assistants, but should work under close supervision and should not be allowed to select the books. In the prisons, where the readers do not have access to the shelves, printed finding lists are necessary.
Miss Florence R. Curtis, of the University of Illinois Library School, next spoke on libraries in prisons. She called attention to the fact that nearly eighty per cent of those in prisons will be out of prison in from one to ten years. They should be regarded as citizens in the making, to be helped in every way possible. Of those who enter, about ninety per cent are literate; and over seventy-five per cent have attended school beyond the sixth grade. About fifty per cent of those sent to prison are so-called "accidental criminals," that is, they have yielded to an impulse, but are not habitually criminal. Before they leave prison, however, they have received an education of a sort in crime. They know the criminal class, its leading men, etc., they know the methods of crime, and they have learned to regard the law as more favorable to the rich than to the poor, and how best to evade it. Besides this, they have become acquainted with unclean literature, circulated secretly; and with vice and dissipation. Guards in the prison often peddle drink and drugs to the prisoners. As to what they have learned that is good, she enumerated the following: The prisoner may have learned a trade, but the trades taught often do not help in earning a living outside. The prisoner may have attended a school. Usually the school is held for four months, is taught by a volunteer prisoner, and aims only to teach the elementary subjects. The prisoner has attended the church service. Last, the prisoner may have had the use of the prison library. Miss Curtis examined the catalogs of thirty prisons. Perhaps three-fourths of the books might be regarded as deadwood. Often the libraries contain vicious books, which give wrong ideas of the relations of men and women, and of the family; create a false idea of life; and make dissipation attractive. The works of Chambers, Elinor Glyn, Phillips, Mrs. Southworth, and others of similar grade, are found in large numbers in the prison libraries. The prisoner has so much time to think over what he reads, that especial care should be taken that his reading should be wholesome. Books dealing with shady business methods, religious unrest, race prejudice, the detection of crime, etc., are all bad. All fiction added to the library should first be read by a person of goodjudgment, with respect to its effect on the prisoners. The selection of suitable books does not represent the whole duty toward the prisoner. Personal guidance in the choice of books is most desirable. The chaplain is not always the best person to give such guidance as he may not be familiar with modern fiction and he has other duties. The superintendent is not always interested in the reading of the prisoners. The superintendent of a reform school stated flatly that the physical care of the girls was the main duty and interest of the institution. A librarian appointed by the Board of Control will make the most careful selection of the books. The librarian should also visit the institutions and give as much personal guidance to the reading as possible. It should be noted, however, that this is not a place for an immature person, nor a sentimental one.
Miss Curtis said that the duty of the state library commission, as to prison libraries, was to try to rouse the superintendents, and bring about a better condition.
Miss Stearns, of Wisconsin, asked about the use of magazines in prisons. She had visited a prison, with the chaplain acting as librarian, where they took dozens of magazines, and had given up buying books because the magazines were so popular. Among those especially in demand were World's Work, Current Events, and Cosmopolitan. Miss Robinson, of Iowa, said that they took magazines for the prisons, but in no case were magazines bought to the exclusion of all books. Where it is regarded as necessary, the magazines are expurgated by clipping out certain articles. Miss Curtis said that in Illinois prisons many magazines are taken, and are very popular. The men are allowed to form magazine clubs, and to take any magazine not positively disreputable; and many of the cheaper lower-grade magazines are taken.
Miss Clarke, librarian of the public library at Auburn, N. Y., where there is a state prison, said that she had investigated prison libraries in New York state, especially in Auburn, in connection with the work of a committee of the New York State Library Association. She regards conditions in New York state as discouraging. In Auburn, the selection is not so bad, but the men are allowed little if any selection. A convict assistant chooses fifty volumes for fifty cells. These are passed out, and each one is kept a week. It is then passed on to the next cell. An educated ex-convict in a letter printed by Richard Harding Davis in the New York Sun, stated that he was unable for a year to get a book he wanted, though nobody else wanted it. They have no printed catalogs or lists. In the women's prison, in Auburn, the prisoners are allowed to select books, and one of the teachers had done some work with reading clubs. Miss Clarke stated that in New York state prisons, the teacher of the prison school is not a convict. The prison school is allowed $50 worth of books a year. The hope for improvement in New York state, in library conditions in the prisons, is through the appointment of a librarian in each prison, or a library supervisor of all state penal institutions.
Mr. Wellman, of Springfield, Mass., asked how to rouse interest in prison libraries in a state where there is no interest. Miss Curtis said that one should avoid rousing general public criticism, as this would antagonize the prison authorities; that it was better to use the slow method of getting the heads of the institutions and the board controlling the prisons interested. The state library commission should do this. A general article in the press on the value of good prison libraries might be desirable, but one should by all means avoid anything approaching a sensational story about special cases. As an example of how to rouse interest, Mr. Wynkoop spoke of the number of New York Libraries, published in February, 1913, which was devoted largely to libraries in state institutions. Copies of this were sent to all trustees of state institutions in New York state, to members of legislative committees dealing with charitable and reformatory institutions, to members of sociological societies, to mayors and sheriffs, to most of the leading newspapers of the state, and to others of influence. About 700 copies were sent out in this way. There have been some evident results. In Syracuse, Rochester, Bath, Jamestown, and some other places, the papers have had notices about the need of better libraries in prisons and jails, and the authorities have in some cases taken steps to improve conditions. In answer to questions, Mr. Wynkoop said that he did not make direct criticism of the present library conditions in prisons, but spoke of the poor economy of spending so little on them. The maximum amount spent on the library of any institution in New York state is $500, though expenditures for other purposes may run into the millions.
It was suggested that public libraries should supply local jails with reading matter. Miss Clarke stated that in the state prison at Auburn, magazines are taken for the officials, but are not loaned to the prisoners. An offer of discarded but usable books from the public library to the jail was refused, because the prisoners would cut out the pictures and put them on the wall.
Miss Charlotte Templeton, secretary of the Nebraska public library commission, next spoke on libraries in reformatories. This is a somewhat more hopeful group than the prisons. The inmates are often below the average physically, somewhat bitter, and frightened, and sobered by their first contact with the law. The reformatory must build them up; physically, mentally, and in the power of self-support. In this the library is a valuable adjunct. It should contain simple books on civics, books to help the foreigner learn English, and books on the technical subjects taught in the prison. There is also a use for books as a means of recreation. These may put the inmate in a better attitude toward life, and may be the entering wedge for more serious reading. They should, therefore, be the first line of attack. Again, a prisoner may accept moral training from a book that he would not from a person. The books on conduct are much read. Jordan's "Self-control," Grenfell's "Men's helpers," and some of the new thought books are much read. One prisoner said, "If I had had that book three years ago I should not be here now." Magazines are generally taken, but as a supplement to the collection of books. They include many on current events and on technical work, and some that are taken mainly for their pictures. Country Life and Baseball are very popular. In conclusion, Miss Templeton said that the reformatory library is much like a public library, and should be administered in a similar way. In this way, the inmates would become familiar with the use of such a library, would form the "library habit," and be more likely to feel at home in the public library on their release.
Miss EDITH KATHLEEN JONES, librarian at McLean Hospital, Waverley, Mass., then read the following paper:
Last year I had the pleasure of telling you something of library work in one of the large private hospitals for the insane; this year I want to speak of some of the problems the institution organizer will meet when she undertakes to set in order the libraries of the state hospitals.
In the first place, unless she is fortunate enough to be appointed by the State Board of Control or State Board of Insanity or their equivalent, she may at times feel that she is looked upon a little bit as an outsider by the hospital staff, as one who does not understand hospital conditions and who belongs to an entirely different order of things. She may even meet what seems to her indifference or actual antagonism on the part of a few superintendents.
The fact is, the library to librarians is of supreme importance, but the library to the average hospital superintendent is merely one method of providing entertainment or employment for his patients. He is much more interested in the new social service movement and the study of eugenics and heredity than he is in the general library, which, to his mind, is simply a part of the therapeutic system and even as such ranks far below useful employment and arts and crafts work.
This indifference or antagonism does not arise from any personal feeling nor is it confined to the library. It is the natural outcome of the peculiar organization demanded in a hospital for the insane, a general distrust of any outside interference in any department, and a thorough conviction that each hospital is entirely competent to manage its own affairs. In one state the state board refused the offer of the state library committee to organize its institution libraries for these very reasons. In another state, where the possibility of the state board appointing an institution librarian of its own is under discussion, one superintendent remarked that he "could only say this; if it must come he was thankful it was coming from theinside, through the board and from one who knew hospital conditions."
Another reason for this seeming indifference on the part of the superintendents is that, in the East at any rate, a state hospital isalwayspoor. It is poor and it is crowded, and its superintendent is harrassed with having his requests for better accommodations for his patients, a new power house, larger kitchens and laundries, or quarters for his married men nurses turned down; with trying to get larger appropriations from the state legislature; with endeavoring to feed and clothe and house 1,200 patients on an appropriation and in quarters designed for 1,000 at the most. He probably has cut down his expenses in every conceivable direction, and he can not see the use of spending money for books which the majority of his patients will not read. And there is this to be said for his point of view, that while there are many educated and cultivated persons in all the state hospitals, the majority of them are foreigners and illiterates from the mill and factory-hand classes and from the slums of the cities. In New York state alone, in 1906, forty-six per cent of the whole number of patients admitted to the New York hospitals were of foreign birth. And I might add, to show the menace of the class of people we are letting into our country, that forty-six per cent of the insane were aliens, while only twenty-six per cent of the whole population of the state were of foreign birth. Add to these the outcasts from the slums and you have a good idea of the make-up of the state hospitals and asylums, and you will not wonder that many superintendents shake their heads when libraries are mentioned.
It would, therefore, seem to be one of the duties of the organizer to prove to the superintendent that even if three-fifths of his patients are illiterate, reading should be provided for the educated two-fifths; that she, from her knowledge of books and editions, can provide a thoroughly readable library which will meet the requirements of all classes, from college professors to the dregs of humanity, for a much less sum than he can do it, and from her experience she can interest the patients in books. For after you have the library, you still have a set of people to deal with who lack initiative and must be aroused to interest in anything. She must also impress upon him that shelf-and-book or even accession numbers mean nothing, and that when, as in one library I know, all the books are covered and there is no hint of author or title on the back, the library is converted into a sort of literary grab-bag which is funny to the librarian but exasperating to the patient. She must convince him that an unclassified library represents a tremendous waste, especially when it is not supplemented by a subject catalog. She must be able to prove to him from the experience of other hospitals that the old-fashioned method of letting a library run itself is not conducive to growth and that there must be some one whose chief duties are to the library. She can assure him from figures that he is notgetting out of his library what he should, if out of 1,000 patients only 60 use the library during the year and 50 books a week is a large circulation. She can tell him of one hospital of 220 patients which has from 75 to 100 regular readers, not counting nurses and employees, and averages 25 books a day, or 8,900 a year; of another of about the same size which often gives out 50 books a day; of a third, which, with a population of 2,000 gave out last year 15,862 volumes to 344 persons. She can guarantee him that if he will let her weed out obsolete stuff and fill in with the sort of books the patients want and train some patient, nurse or stenographer to act as librarian in her absence at other hospitals, his library circulation will be doubled or trebled the first year.
Having convinced the superintendent of the utility of the organized, central library, the institution librarian is now free to turn her attention to the patients, getting acquainted with them, learning their tastes in books, interesting them in reading and in pictures. And just here I would say that in the state hospitals the doctors are always glad to have anything new suggested in the way of employment, and that if the organizer can manage it so that the patients can help her in the care of the charging-system, mending and cataloging, her efforts will be much appreciated by all concerned.
The institution organizer will soon find that each hospital differs from every other in construction, management, and especially in the character of illness. The asylums for the chronic insane present the most hopeless feature, yet even here there are enough who read to make it worth while to furnish libraries. Moreover, in the asylums, the nurses have to be taken into account. Their work is so hopeless and uninteresting compared with that in hospitals for acute and recoverable cases that more must be done for them in order to get and keep even ordinarily good attendants. And where, as in many cases, the chronic insane are being transferred to farm colonies way out in the country, far from any city or even large town, the library can, if it will, help very decidedly by offering means of study and education to the nurses and staff as well as diversion to the patients. Therefore, one can venture to buy for an asylum a much better selection of books from the point of view of general culture than for the ordinary hospital.
I have said so often that a hospital library must be formed for entertainment, not for education, that it must be simple in organization and carried along on unconventional lines, that I speak of these points again only to emphasize them. If one looks upon institutional work from the point of view of educative influence it is discouraging work; but if one thinks of it as an adjunct to the therapeutic service of the hospital, as a means of bringing some pleasure or at least forgetfulness of self for a time to an afflicted class and employment for hours which otherwise would be passed in complete idleness and utter dejection, it is inspiring work. But in the selection of books this point of view must be kept always in mind.
Yet this is just what those unaccustomed to hospital conditions fail to grasp. Not three months ago a hospital in a far-off western city sent a representative to see our library and get all the information he could in regard to the sort of books they should put into their beautiful and expensive new buildings. I showed him a list of some 1,200 of our most popular books selected as a basis for the little catalog Miss Carey, Miss Robinson, Miss Waugh and I have made out and annotated, and which is now being printed by the A. L. A. Publishing Board. The first thing he noticed was the omissions. "Why," said he, looking at Science, "you have nothing by Spencer, or Darwin or Huxley on this list. Aren't they the standard thing? Oughtn't I to get them for our library?" "Not if you want a library which will be read," was my prompt reply, and I showed him the records of our sets of these scientists, taken out at the most three or four times in the history of the library.
A year or so ago I attempted to find out from our cards just what was the most popular sort of fiction in our library. Of course the book of the moment is the one read at the moment, so it would be manifestly unfair to include these and I took only those books published prior to 1901. It may interest you to know in their order the 25 most read books, that is, of the old favorites. The date unfortunately excludes Mr. Pratt, the Virginian, Kim, Rex Beach and Oppenheim. They are, The Choir Invisible, Janice Meredith, Saracinesca, Sant' Ilario, Don Orsino, Vanity Fair, The Lilac Sunbonnet, Old Chester Tales, Dr. Lavender's People, When Knighthood was in Flower, The Sowers—taken out 20 times in the last three years; The Seats of the Mighty, The Battle of the Strong, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Treasure Island, Cape Cod Folks and The Right of Way, 22 times; A Little Moorland Princess, Dorothy Vernon, Kidnapped and The Cardinal's Snuff Box 25 times; Richard Carvel 29 times; The Old Ma'amselle's Secret 40 times and The Second Wife by Miss Marlitt 43 times. This shows pretty conclusively that even our people, all of whom belong to the cultivated and educated class, want light, interesting stories of romance and adventure, and the average state hospital reader wants something even lighter than these.
I have been asked again and again if the right reading really cures. One dare not affirm this; its influence is negative rather than positive. But Icansay this: I have known of many cases outside as well as in the hospital where persons have been positively harmed by morbid or hysterically sentimental books. Our people are inclined to be pretty emotional anyway, and whatever appeals to that side is to be deplored.
To sum up the qualities which determine the suitability of books for a hospital library, I can do no better than quote from the "Foreword" of the catalog mentioned above:
In making this list the editors have endeavored to keep in mind the following points:
1. Books in a hospital are for recreation, not for instruction, and therefore should consist principally of fiction, picture books, travel, biography, light and popular science and outdoor books.
2. They must be wholesome—not morbid, or gruesome, or depressing. Good detective stories and tales of adventure, however thrilling, if not horrible, and if they do not make vice attractive, are to be recommended, as they, more than almost anything else, hold the attention.
3. Illustrated books and books of pictures are invaluable, as a patient often will look at pictures when he is too ill to read.
4. The newest fiction is called for and read, yet the old favorites remain much in demand. With so much ephemeral stuff among the "best sellers," it is a delicate task to select the really good novels which will last, and there is a great temptation to fall back on the old and tried books to the exclusion of the more modern. The editors have tried to combine the two in just proportion, and also to give a few titles of the better class of the "second rate" which have proved popular.
5. It is not enough to provide books for those who wish to read. There are always many patients who are unable to take any initiative towards selecting any form of entertainment or employment for themselves, and for these should be provided light and simple stories which will not tax the brain or require any concentration of attention, but which will serve to stimulate their interest in things outside themselves. These are not necessarily children's books, but often the simple language and quiet wholesomeness of certain books for young people will bridge a patient over this period of mental inadequacy and pave the way towards a real enjoyment of maturer reading.
In addition to these five simple rules for selecting the reading for a hospital library, the editors would emphasize another very important point: Many of the readers will be elderly persons with failing eyesight,who demand large, clear type. This is hard to procure in cheap editions of standard authors and old favorites, but it is suggested that it is well worth while to take a little pains in selection and even to pay a higher price, in order to get an edition of convenient size, shape and weight, in serviceable binding, with large, clear type. Such an edition will last longer and will invite, not repel the reader.
Complete sets of the works of standard authors, with the exception of Shakespeare, Scott, Dickens, and possibly George Eliot, are not recommended for hospitals. Only a few of the more popular stories of each will be read.
I want to say just a word in regard to the housing of hospital libraries. Of course the ideal arrangement is a separate building which is open all the time, but I know of only three or four such in the country. In most state hospitals the library was an afterthought and the books are crowded into one or two more or less inaccessible rooms to which the patients can come only once or twice a week and which can not possibly be made attractive. Often there is absolutely no other room to be had in the hospital and the librarian must make the most of it and do her utmost to beautify it with rugs and baskets made by the patients and flowers from the hospital greenhouses. But sometimes a little ingenuity will solve the problem in some such unique way as in the State Infirmary at Tewksbury, Mass., where the superintendent conceived the idea of moving their very good little library (classified and cataloged too) from its one small dark, inaccessible room in the administration house to the large, light chapel which hitherto stood idle six days in the week. Here low shelves have been built in between the windows on the wide side aisles and stacks fitted into the alcove rooms each side the chancel. Long narrow tables with plenty of books and magazines have been placed in these aisles and the library is now open practically all the time.
The Hospital for Epileptics at Monson, Mass., has met its problem somewhat differently. The superintendent here is having two large sunny rooms fitted up with bookshelves, one for the men where they can smoke and one for the women where they can sew. These shelves will be kept filled with books from the central library (in an office in the administration house which it shares with the medical library) administered by the stenographer-librarian, but under the direct supervision of a patient for each room. The patients themselves are very enthusiastic over the proposed change and have made out lists of books they want.
In Massachusetts, the ideal so far as use of the library goes, is found at the Foxborough Hospital for Inebriates, where only men patients are admitted. Here they have a separate building containing one large room with low bookcases all around it and two tables covered with periodicals and newspapers in the center. Here the men can come when their day's work is over or at the noon hour and read and smoke.
I wish I had time to speak of the importance of interesting the nurses in the library and getting their co-operation, and of the possibility of holding classes on books and reading for them. I know of no hospital where they have time for such classes at present, but there is a movement on foot towards requiring better education as a condition for entering the training schools for the general hospitals, and some day some hospital will inaugurate classes in literature.
Miss Jones agreed with Miss Robinson's statement that the libraries in state institutions should be administered by an official appointed by the Board of Control.
Miss Flexner, of the Louisville free public library, then spoke of an experience in placing books in a county jail. Within the last six months, the public library offered to place a deposit in the county jail, and found that the jailer was willing. Permission was also obtained from the Fiscal Court. In November, about 100 volumes, all fiction, were sent, to be retained four months. On their return, it was found thatover 1,800 issues had been made—a heavy circulation. In the next lot, was placed about 15 per cent of non-fiction, carefully selected. On their return, it was found that books by Marden and Grenfell had been popular. Mrs. Sangster's "Sweetest story ever told," a life of Christ, had been well used, while Mrs. Wharton's "House of mirth" had been read but twice. "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," "Kim," and Mrs. Whitney's "Ascutney street" were each read 26 times in 6 weeks. Books on useful arts were so much in demand that they were renewed. The books are charged by the chaplain. When a suspicious looking gathering of the men was investigated by the jailor, it was found that one who could read was reading aloud to those who could not.
In the discussion, it was stated that a list of books for use in insane hospitals is to be published soon and that copies are to be on sale by the A. L. A. Publishing Board. Several speakers mentioned a union catalog for prison libraries, with annotations to guide the prisoners in the selection of books.
The committee on libraries in federal prisons made a report, in which they stated that an earnest attempt had been made to secure an appropriation of at least $2,500 for the establishment of a library in the penitentiary at Atlanta and a like amount for Leavenworth, and $500 for books for McNeil Island, but that the effort had been unsuccessful. The attempt will be renewed this coming year. The committee was continued.
A third adjourned session of the League was held for the transaction of remaining business. The meeting was called to order by the President.
Miss Martha Wilson, supervisor of school libraries in Minnesota, spoke on co-operation between library commissions and state boards of education. Miss Mendenhall then gave a summary of the work done by the library committee of the N. E. A. on library instruction in normal schools. She stated that a questionnaire was sent to 200 normal schools, and the results show that most of the normal school libraries need reorganization. In the 200, about 50 have trained librarians. These are mainly in the far West. The Committee makes the following recommendations: 1, that library organizations try to have the subject of library training in normal schools presented at educational meetings; 2, that trained librarians be appointed in all normal schools, with the faculty and salary rank of heads of departments; 3, the publication of a manual for normal school librarians by the U. S. Bureau of Education; 4, the publication in educational periodicals of articles on the greater use of libraries by schools, and on related topics. It was suggested that the library commissions might help in carrying out the last recommendation. Miss Mendenhall was asked whether she favored putting the school libraries under the state library commissions, or under the state boards of education. She said that she believed the function of the school library to be distinct from that of the public library; that the two should co-operate but not combine. Miss Stearns of Wisconsin said that the question of the relation of the state library commission to the state board of education should be discussed and more clearly defined; that there is a decided tendency to place the library commission under the state board of education, or to merge it with it, as has already been done in one state. There was not time for adequate discussion of this subject, and the suggestion was made that it be taken up at a future League meeting.
Mrs. Minnie Clarke Budlong, director of the North Dakota public library commission, read the following report of the committee on the establishment of new commissions:
This committee has been requested to report on two topics—"a plan for theLeague to follow in giving aid in the organization of commissions in states now without them," and also a draft of "tentative provisions for a model library law to be used with the model commission law."
An A. L. A. committee of which Dr. Arthur E. Bostwick is chairman, has made a valuable report on points to be covered by a model law relating library to municipality, printed in the 1912 proceedings. The same committee has under consideration the drafting of the points covered into a model charter, and the League committee decided that action on its own part was unnecessary at present.
The other topic assigned this committee cannot be disposed of in so brief a manner. It is a question of theory and of insight, of sympathetic understanding and action.
There are eleven states without library commissions: West Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Montana and Wyoming. These states contain one-eighth of the population of the country, and have only one-twentieth of the libraries.
The first step toward aid is to learn how library commissions have been established in other states. Letters sent to 36 states elicited 22 replies. Perhaps a distinction should be made between library commissions and state libraries, or boards of education, such as New York, California and Oregon. But there have been included in this report all states doing extension work, regardless of name or title of organization.
The questions asked were:
1. How did the demand for a commission arise?
The answers received are practically unanimous. There was a need felt and provided for by a few far-sighted library workers. Eight give the credit of the initiative to library workers or associations. Seven give it to women's clubs or the state federation. Five say librarians and women's clubs were co-partners in the work, and three, Maryland, Wisconsin and Nebraska, include teachers in this partnership.
2. Who drew the law?
The law has usually been drawn by or under the supervision of a few interested workers, such as president of state library association, superintendent of public instruction, president of university, or legislative committee of state federation. In Kentucky use was made of the model commission law.
3. What was done to secure its passage?
One would expect a wider range in replies than this question elicited. "A friendly legislator took it in charge" sums up the story in most states. Personal letters and interviews of library workers and club women with members of the legislature, and particularly with members of committees, seem the usual methods. In some states the measure was defeated one or more times before influence enough was brought to bear to secure its passage. In Nebraska, the measure failed twice until pushed by the federation and teachers. Even if no general demand is formulated, there must be a desire expressed by organizations strong enough to impress legislators.
4. What literature was used?
At first, there was no literature available and the majority report "none used" or "nothing special." Idaho, Minnesota and Kentucky mention the Wisconsin publications particularly, also some from Iowa. Five speak of special leaflets prepared or statistics used from traveling library reports or from the League Handbook.
5. How long did it take?
The time required varies from "a few weeks" to fourteen years. Nine secured the desired legislation in one session. Six used two to four years. Nebraska required five years; Minnesota, six years; Tennessee, eight years, and Illinois, fourteen.
6. When was your law passed?
Massachusetts passed the first library commission law in 1890. Since then similar laws have been enacted in 36 states, concluding with South Dakota and Arkansas in 1913.
7. Has it been amended—if so, when and how?
It is interesting to note how few amendments except increase in appropriation have been made in library laws. This emphasizes the importance of careful framing of the law in the beginning. A study of the chief points of the law in other states with such changes as will adapt them to the conditions in the new state should always be made.