Reference library

“ Reference work in libraries large and small has for its first rule: Meet the inquirer more than half way. To the stranger a library is often an oppressive place, an awesome place—in his imagination. He comes in shyly; everyone appears busy, his question suddenly seems to him trivial; he won't trouble these wise and busy people with it—and goes out. ”

“ The methodology of such a library resembles that of the ordinary reference library, with special emphasis on minute filing and indexing. As much of the current information as possible should be on cards or in vertical files in the most concise form; the business man has no time to read lengthy material, nor can he afford to wait for it while the commercial librarian slowly produces it—that is, as a rule; there are times when a question demands a reference to London or to some other place, which involves delay ”

“ In a reference library, open shelves, whether in department libraries or in the general library, require much high-grade library service. The reference librarian becomes a direct teacher in the use of books and gives constant assistance not merely in finding separate books but in dealing with the whole literature of a subject.... ”

“ The ordinary reference library should therefore be revised periodically, obsolete and dead stock should be discarded, and no book should be included because it does not appeal to lending library readers or has been received as a gift for which there seems to be no other depository—these are emphatically books to be excluded. ”

“ The Lending of Reference Books.—Whether or not reference library books should ever be lent away from the building is a question upon which librarians are sharply divided. It is argued that a reference library is a place where a reader has a right to expect every book in stock to be available at all times, and this is a reasonable theory. That reader, however, is a hypothetical person as a rule, and too rigid a policy of refusal has some disadvantages. Experience tells every librarian what books ought not to be lent in ordinary circumstances, if in any ”

“ The Lending Library consists of about 18,000 volumes in all departments of knowledge, from which some 6,000 adults and juveniles borrow about 110,000 volumes annually. The Reading Room and News Room contain a careful selection of the leading newspapers, and a large variety of the best periodicals. The Reference Library contains about 24,000 volumes, including sets of the publications of several learned societies, and is being brought up to date by the purchase of recent standard works of reference. ”

“ A reference library, however small, is infinitely more valuable than numerous pieces of useless furniture, which are usually purchased more out of regard for convention than necessity or utility. Here, then, is a suggestion for some enterprising firm, to prepare and sell in combination the nucleus of a Household Reference Library, stored in suitable cabinets according to size. ”

“ Again, the consultation of a magazine in the reading [62] rooms is usually not counted; but the same magazine when bound is counted if issued from the shelves in the reference library. Directories, time-tables, and similar quick-reference works are often omitted from the statistics. There seems no reason why all these uses of material should not be recorded, so long as the character of the use is made clear in the reports of the librarian. Otherwise the frequent complaint of librarians that their figures represent only part of their work seems to be justified ”

“ In large American libraries there is usually a separate department of the reference library devoted to technology, but in this country the supply of such books as this department would afford has been inadequate. ”

“ This is an age of books of reference, and as knowledge increases, and the books which impart it to readers become unwieldy from their multitude, there are sure to be forthcoming those who will reduce the facts into a handy form. I have gathered in the following pages the titles of some of the best books of reference which are to be obtained. Many, if not all of these, are to be found in that magnificent library of reference—the Reading Room of the British Museum. In some cases where the books are constantly being reprinted, dates have been omitted. ”

“ Transient or permanent small reference material, such as pamphlets, magazine articles, broadsides, news-clippings, trade catalogues, illustrations, maps, etc., should all find a place in it; in fact, much of the most valued information work is done with the aid of such small material; important facts are frequently found in seemingly insignificant material; and the work of bringing it in relation to other similar material is one of the first-class services of the reference library. ”

“ Ordinary books can be reserved at the seat: manuscripts and valuable printed books are given up each day, and kept for re-issue. Free access to the shelves is not possible in so large a library, but arrangements are made to suit reasonable requirements: the Reference books are numerous, and the Subject Catalogue and lists of Accessions are provided. A Manual for Readers, giving further detail, can be obtained on application, without payment, as well as the Rules for Cataloguing and lists of the numerous collections, both manuscript and printed. ”

“ The reference collection is generally placed in the reading room of the library and in that part of the room most convenient to the public and to the librarian.
The reference department is the heart of the library, and the more alive and efficient the members of the department are, the stronger is the beat of its pulse and the more far reaching the results of its work. All other departments exist to make more efficient the work of the reference department. The accessions department purchases books that there may be live material to work with in the reference department. ”

“ The reference books having to be used upon the premises are quite sufficiently brought under notice by means of the card or sheaf form of catalogues, typewritten or in manuscript, now in general use, though it may be desirable for a newly-established library to have a complete catalogue of all departments. Those persons who understand a "reference department" to consist of a few directories, dictionaries, and almanacks, may thus learn that it comprises much [Pg 220] more. ”

“ As reference libraries are at present constituted and used in many English towns, the plan of putting all expensive books of whatever nature in the reference department simply means that they are seldom used, and might as well not have been bought. ”

“ Following a natural evolution, the systematic library catalog and the alphabetical classed catalog are practically extinct species, overwhelmed in the struggle for existence by the alphabetical subject catalog's quick and ready reference. This economy is, to be sure, effected for the average use, at a very great expense to the use of a good many readers who wish to consider all related aspects of a topic, but with the growing habit of classification of libraries, there is in fact a handy substitute, for these readers, in the classification, its index, and the shelf list. ”

“ In properly conducted open access reference libraries, which are liberally and intelligently conducted, a good deal may be said in favour of placing such books there. They will at least be freely accessible without the formality of readers having to make written application, while the advantage of a reference book being always on the premises is not to be overlooked. No harm can result from placing all kinds of expensive text-books in the lending department, and if they are not on loan they are always available for the use of any reference reader who wants them. ”

“ It has its imperfections, but it certainly should prove a useful reference tool for every children's librarian, and the best simple stepping-stone yet furnished to the use of Poole and the other indexes.
Now, for the general subject, Miss Stanley says, "I think we are agreed that for the children our aim reaches to a familiarity with reference tools, to knowing how to hunt down a subject, to being able to use to best advantage the material found. In a word, we are concerned not so much to supply information as to educate in the use of the library." ”

“ 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. ”

“ A small one not requiring a large catalogue can use larger type in printing, though a small library and a small income often go together, when strict economy has to be exercised. Again there is the question of including the books of the reference department in the catalogue, making it a general one, which adds to its bulk and cost. ”

“ Indexes of Readers.—Another useful work that in large libraries may properly be relegated to the cataloguing department may be conducted in smaller ones by the reference staff. This is the supplying of firms and individuals with lists of books of use in connexion with their industry or study. Some libraries supply such people with a small card catalogue of the whole of their subject as it is represented in the libraries, and send cards regularly for entries of additions. ”

“ In the circulation category comes the record of the hall or library use of books, the reference use, and the books outstanding at any particular time. Hall use is very difficult to keep in a free access library, but an attempt should be made to do so. It is not quite synonymous with reference use. If a man sits down in your library and actually reads a novel without taking it home, that is hall or library use, but not reference use. ”

“ In reply to your letter of April 5, 1913, would say—The modern city library is covering a most desirable field in meeting the needs of a large element of the public, which looks to it almost exclusively for information along library and allied lines. A popular library should be able to supply information on all subjects of a general character and should not proceed along lines of reference facilities except in a general way. ”

“ Some workshops of the largest kind do possess valuable and fully-equipped reference libraries of technical books, but they are very often locked up in the office for the sole benefit of the manager and foremen. In most factories, very little in the way of technical books will be found, save a few volumes of patterns or trade catalogues ”

“ What he aimed at was to surround himself with a first-rate working library, furnished especially with those {126} works of reference—sources, as the French term is—most likely to be of service to him in the historical and liturgical researches with which he was chiefly occupied. His librarian had standing orders, in the case of new books of interest and utility, to purchase three copies, so that wherever he chanced to be resident he found the tools of his craft ready to his hand. ”

“ Every general and special bibliography from the British Museum catalogue to the small select catalogues issued by local libraries, every index, every special catalogue, indeed every catalogue within reason of other libraries which a librarian can procure, is a necessary tool in building up the collection and in tracking information when it is complete. ”

“ In this country, he who undertakes to prepare a catalogue, goes to the work under great disadvantages, in many respects. Few have had opportunity to acquire the requisite bibliographical knowledge and experience; and few libraries contain the necessary books of reference. A set of rules, therefore, seems peculiarly necessary for the assistance of librarians. ”

“ The very old libraries occasionally use a slip catalogue; the Bodleian and British Museum, for example, paste slips into volumes or guard books resembling large scrap-books in approximate alphabetical order, and other libraries use similar methods. The system is a good one in many respects; the public understands and likes it; but the catalogue runs to so many large volumes that its accommodation would be a serious matter for the ordinary library; and the congestion of entries, with loss of all but approximate alphabetical order at most letters of the alphabet, will be obvious. ”

“ The moral to be pointed out is that the catalog must be good as a first requisite to a library. In the words of the old comparison, the catalog is the key to the otherwise hidden material buried in books. In a library of any size, the best desk attendant in the world is almost helpless, or at best constantly handicapped, without a convenient and rational classification of the volumes of the collection and the bibliographical aid of a catalogue. The born bibliographer is as rare as the born teacher or poet. ”

“ It is, of course, entirely practicable to publish a complete and satisfactory catalogue of a library which is stationary. But most public libraries are constantly and rapidly increasing. This circumstance, so gratifying on every other account, is the source of the difficulties alluded to. ”

“ There is no more important factor in the success or failure of a library than the classification of the books and other material which form its stock. Some of its uses are obvious to all readers; it brings the material on any subject together on the shelves and in the catalogues, and thus enables both librarian and reader to find books readily. It has perhaps more important uses, because it enables the librarian, and, in open access libraries, the public, to see the strength and weakness of the collection in various subjects ”