Handbook

“ It contains a select list of about 7000 volumes, and is completed with Indexes of Subjects, Authors, and Persons.
For helpful Bibliographical Guides we [Pg 8] often have to look to the United States, and we do not look in vain. A most useful Handbook, entitled The Best Reading, was published in 1872 by George P. Putman, and the work edited by F.B. Perkins is now in its fourth edition. [2] The books are arranged in an alphabet of subjects, and the titles are short, usually being well within a single line. A very useful system of appraisement of the value of the books is adopted. ”

“ This series of practical handbooks is confidently recommended to the public by MILLS & BOON, for, as every book is by an expert, and all are written in simple and untechnical language, they are confident that they will appeal to that large class who want an easily read and instructive book written by a person who thoroughly understands his subject. ”

“ Guides to Reference Works Guides to reference works identify and (in the better ones) evaluate the handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies of bibliographies, national bibliographies, surveys of research, bibliographic databases, review indexes, and other resources—print and electronic—important to research within a discipline. They are the essential first sources a scholar consults when planning how to approach a research problem. ”

“ We had quite a scene the other day because I gave expression to my opinion that young people should be properly instructed in life by means of explanatory handbooks, instead of being left to gather their knowledge haphazard. ”

“ In other cases a form is supplied to readers desirous of making suggestions of any sort. Contract or estimate books are not always used, but the young librarian will find it of the greatest convenience to keep a chronological record of every estimate received for work to be done in the library. A guard book in which can be pasted the various tenders received, or an ordinary plain ruled one in which they can be entered, will be found a perfect treasury of assistance in many cases. An index at the beginning or end can easily be made. ”

“ Much difference of opinion exists among librarians as regards the necessity for a double entry charging system, many experienced men holding that a simple record of the issues of a book is all that is required. Others are equally positive that a separate record of a borrower’s reading is only a logical outcome of the spirit of public library work, which aims at preserving, as well as compiling, full information touching public use and requirements. ”

“ As regards ordinary Stationery it is hardly necessary to say much. Note-paper is usually stamped with the library arms, and envelopes with the name on the flap. Pens, ink, pencils, rulers, date-cases, paper-knives, &c., are all so familiar that it would be waste of time to consider them separately. Any intelligent librarian will find endless suggestion and profit from a visit to a large stationer’s warehouse, and may even pick up wrinkles of some value by keeping his eyes open to the adaptability of many articles of manufactured stationery. ”

“ Inventory books are intended to furnish a complete record of all the library property, showing when, from whom, and at what cost every item of [44] furniture, fitting, stationery, &c., was procured. It can be kept in a specially ruled book, or in a faint ruled folio, classified to show the different kinds of supplies. When re-ordering or reckoning up the duration of supplies, this book will be found of the greatest use. As a record of prices it is also valuable. ”

“ There is nothing more discouraging than to find young librarians slavishly following the methods bequeathed by their predecessors, because in no sphere [21] of public work is there a larger field for substantial improvement, or less reason to suppose that readers are as easily satisfied as they were thirty years ago. The truth is that every library method is more or less imperfect in matters of detail, and there are numerous directions in which little improvements tending to greater homogeneity and accuracy can be effected. ”

“ Every book has a page or more, according to popularity, and there can hardly be a doubt of its superiority to the personal ledger, because the question of a book’s whereabouts is more often raised than what book a given reader has. Dates of issue and return are stamped, and all books are available for issue on return. The borrowers’ cards, if kept in dated trays as above, show at once “overdues” and who have books out. ”

“ It will be sufficient if the young librarian finds enough of suggestion and information to enable him to devise a system of library management in its minor details which shall be consistent and useful. ”

“ To each reader is issued on joining a cloth-covered card and a pocket made of linen, having on one side the borrower’s number, name, address, &c., and on the other side a calendar. The pockets are kept in numerical order at the library, and the readers retain their cards. When a borrower wishes a book, he hands in a list of numbers and his card to the assistant, who procures the first book he finds in. ”

“ A simple double record of borrowers’ reading and books read, which will give as little trouble to the public as possible, is much required, and will repay the attention bestowed on it by the young librarian. Where application slips are used, which give book- and borrower-numbers, it is a simple matter compiling a daily record of the reading done by each borrower. At several libraries where Cotgreave’s indicator is used, it is done by the process of pencilling the number of the book taken out on to a card bearing the reader’s number. ”

“ In cases where the backs of the drawers are get-at-able from the staff side of the counter, even more simple methods of securing the cards, while giving every facility in the way of making additions, can be adopted. Projecting guides to show in index style the whereabouts of particular parts of the alphabet should be made either of tin or linen-mounted cards. Tin lasts best, although the lettering sometimes rubs off. Nothing will satisfy a librarian, who has a card-catalogue in contemplation, so much as the comparison of the kinds adopted in different libraries. ”

“ The reader turns the cylinder round to the part of the alphabet he wants by simply turning a handle, and so the whole is shown to him without any waste of public space.
COPYING MACHINES.
Typewriters for cataloguing or listing purposes are making slow progress in public libraries; but it is unquestionable that before long they will be introduced into every large library. Their advantages are many, among them being greater speed, neatness, and clearness ”

“ For example, one bright young man on being asked what was the system of “charging” pursued in his library responded: “Oh! just a penny for the ticket!” And another equally intelligent assistant replied to the same question: “We don’t charge anything unless you keep books more than the proscribed time!” Before proceeding to describe some of the existing systems it may be wise to impress on assistants in libraries the advisability of trying to think for themselves in this matter. ”

“ The shelf register, as the name indicates, is the volume in which a list of the books is kept, in the order of their arrangement on the shelves. Such registers are only required for the fixed plan of location. The most elementary form simply gives the | Press Mark | Author and Title | No. of Vols. | Stock, Progressive, or Consecutive Number | ; the last referring to the entry in the accessions or stock book. Others are much more elaborate, being really varieties of classified stock books, and giving particulars of edition, price, &c. ”

“ Recommendations of friends and agents alike should be ignored, and the librarian should trust to his own liking in the matter. After all is said, there is really very little difference, as regards cost and manipulation, in the best machines, and the matter resolves itself into a question of meeting the requirements of a particular operator or purpose. ”

“ For that reason it is perhaps needless to do more than name the cash book, ledger, petty cash book, cash receipt book, and postage book as the principal records maintained for financial purposes. Many librarians unite their issue and receipts from fines books, while others keep separate records; but it is best for beginners to keep their cash affairs strictly apart, and in the ordinary fashion of good business houses. The donation book is the record of all books, prints, maps, or other gifts to the library, ruled to show the following particulars: Author and Title | Vols. ”

“ Footnotes should be put at the bottom of the page, or separated from the text by lines running across the page above and below each note. In handwritten manuscripts, notes may be written with ink of a different color. ”

“ Where on the shelves of the library is a certain book to be found, if it is not in use by a reader?
To answer these questions certain “entries”, or records, are made in the catalog, called the author, title, subject and series entries. Question 6, which is asked in connection with all the other questions, is answered by the call number, which appears on every entry.
The most general book of reference is the dictionary. Every one is more or less familiar with its arrangement. ”

“ Two classes, I know, the publishers and the public, cherish the belief that there are text-books which sum current knowledge on this subject and that; but there are none. Every text-book is out of date the day after it goes to the printer, and the day before it gave out, not what is known, but the view of what is known then in vogue. It measures the advancing tides of learning by a gauge itself incessantly changing. We love to speak of authorities and standards. We delude ourselves. The whole field of letters and of learning is in a perpetual flux, whose only complete record is the library. ”

“ Every library should have one, though it is only a home-made affair, manufactured on a typewriter or a hectograph. Every book should be briefly described, so that the scholars may know, for instance, the scene and purpose of each story, the kind of man described in each biography, and whether it is a book for old, young, or primary scholars. Some librarians mark one catalogue for each class, indicating the books especially pleasing to scholars of the average age of the class, so that the teacher may guide their selection. ”

“ In a sense, and in a very real sense, the key to the scientific pedagogy of the future lies in the group of studies summed up as library science, for the library is the late and complex object which sums up in itself the sciences of the book, the word, and all simpler elements of human expression and record, if there be any such. A fourth reason for the study of beginnings is, therefore, that it is the natural method of study and teaching. ”

“ Teaching the Use of the Library.—Most pupils when they enter the high school are ignorant of the use of the simplest and most common reference books. They do not know the difference between a table of contents and an index, and are so helpless in a library that their teachers hesitate to give them work outside their text-books. Even those who are best informed can be helped to the use of books which will be of the greatest assistance to them in the preparation of their daily lessons, essays, and debates. ”

“ There is no text-book that can teach all, or anywhere near all there is upon the subject it professes to cover. So the library, which has many books upon that subject, comes in to supply its deficiencies. And the librarian is useful to the professors and students just in proportion as he knows, not the contents, but the range of books upon each subject sought to be investigated. Here is where the subject catalogue, or the dictionary catalogue, combining the subjects and the authors under a single alphabet, comes into play. ”

“ Connected with the subject of indexes is that of dictionary catalogues, in which the alphabetical and the subject catalogues are found in a single list. I retain the opinion I have always held, that this plan may answer where the library and the catalogue are not extensive, but that where they are, confusion results; the wood cannot be seen for the trees. I therefore recommend the librarian of even a small library, in planning his catalogue, as well as everything else, to make sure whether his library may not be destined to become a great one. ”

“ The great object of a Public library is despatch in procuring books. This can only be secured by perspicuity in describing them. In my humble judgment no better mode could possibly be devised for obtaining any particular work than the printed tickets which I suggested in 1837, and which are now in use. By specifying the Titles from the Catalogue, and copying from it the Press-marks, the applicant can at once identify the particular edition or copy of an edition which he requires. ”

“ The design of the Publishers of the Polytechnic Library is to produce a Series of highly-instructive Works, which the Public may be tempted to buy, because they will be cheap,—be induced to read, because they will be brief,—be competent to understand, because they will be clearly written,—and be able to profit by, because they will be WORKS OF PRACTICAL UTILITY. Every volume, therefore, will contain a complete Treatise relating to one of the useful arts or sciences, or the chemical or mechanical trades. ”

“ We may perhaps look forward to the day when all the bound books in the library will be for home use, and will give information at second hand, too late for the business man to act promptly on it. The real sources of up to date knowledge will be, as they often are now, manuscript letters, circulars, newspaper clippings and trade catalogs. With their inevitable index they form a huge encyclopedia, absolutely up to date. ”