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diff --git a/76583-h/76583-h.htm b/76583-h/76583-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c20bdac --- /dev/null +++ b/76583-h/76583-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10084 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The public library | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +ul.index { list-style-type: none; } +li.ifrst { + margin-top: 1em; + text-indent: -2em; + padding-left: 1em; +} +li.indx { + margin-top: .5em; + text-indent: -2em; + padding-left: 1em; +} +li.isub1 { + text-indent: -2em; + padding-left: 2em; +} + + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } +table.autotable td, +table.autotable th { padding: 0.25em; } + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} +.tdc {text-align: center;} + +#log +{ + margin: auto; + border-collapse: collapse; +} + +#log td, +#log th +{ + padding: 0.2em; + border-right: 1px solid black; +} + +#log th +{ + text-align: center; + font-weight: normal; + font-style: italic; + border-top: 4px double black; + border-bottom: 1px solid black; + min-width: 1em; +} + +#log th.no-border-right, +#log td.no-border-right +{ + border-right: none; + text-align: center; +} + + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +figcaption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: 1px dashed;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +.author { + text-align: right; + margin-right: 20% + } + +.x-ebookmaker body {margin: 0;} +.x-ebookmaker-drop {color: inherit;} + +.ph2, .ph3 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } +.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } +.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } + +.fs { font-size: small; } + +p.hanging-indent1 { + padding-left: 2.25em; + text-indent: -2.25em; +} + +.tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; +padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; padding-left: .5em; +padding-right: .5em;} + + + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp94 {width: 94%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp94 {width: 100%;} +.illowp54 {width: 54%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp54 {width: 100%;} +.illowp100 {width: 100%;} +.illowp61 {width: 61%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp61 {width: 100%;} +.illowp59 {width: 59%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp59 {width: 100%;} +.illowp68 {width: 68%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp68 {width: 100%;} +.illowp60 {width: 60%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp60 {width: 100%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76583 ***</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h1>THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.</h1> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ii"> </span></p> +<figure class="figcenter illowp94" id="i_frontispiece" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_frontispiece.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">King’s Library, British Museum.</span> + <br> + <i>Photo by Donald Macbeth</i> + </figcaption> +</figure> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"> + +<p class="ph2"> +THE<br> +PUBLIC LIBRARY</p> +<p class="ph3"> +By ERNEST A. BAKER, D.Lit.<br> +PUBLISHED IN LONDON<br> +BY DANIEL O’CONNOR<br> +90 GREAT RUSSELL STREET,<br> +W.C.1. 1922. +</p> +</div> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"> +<p>France and England literally, observe, buy panic of each +other; they pay, each of them, for ten thousand thousand +pounds’ worth of terror, a year. Now suppose, instead of +buying these ten millions’ worth of panic annually, they +made up their minds to be at peace with each other, and +buy ten millions’ worth of knowledge annually; and then +each nation spent the ten thousand thousand pounds a year +in founding royal libraries, royal art galleries, royal museums, +royal gardens, and places of rest. Might it not be better +somewhat for both French and English? +</p> +<p class="author"> +<span class="smcap">Ruskin</span>: <i>Sesame and Lilies</i>.</p></div> + + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2></div> + + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="fs"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span></p></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdr"><p class="fs"><span class="smcap">Page.</span></p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">List of Illustrations</span></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Preface</span></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">I.</td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Historical Sketch</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">II.</td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">What is a Library Service?</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">III.</td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Library Extension</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">IV.</td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Rural Libraries</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">V.</td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A National Library Service</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">VI.</td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Training in Librarianship</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi"> </span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2></div> + + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdr"><p class="fs">PAGE</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">King’s Library, British Museum</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_ii">Frontispiece</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdr"><i>To face page</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Lambeth Palace Library</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Central Public Library, Nottingham</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">22</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Reading Room of the British Museum</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Guildhall Library</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Reading Room, Stepney Public Library</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Patent Office Library</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Library of the Institute of Actuaries, Staple Inn Hall</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Library of The South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Reading Room of The General Library, University of London</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_179">178</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Oratory Library</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">University College, General Library</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Reading Room of The Goldsmiths’ Library, University of London</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_227">226</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii"> </span></p> +<div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2></div> + + +<p>Our Public Libraries are entering upon the +critical period of their history. They have +been saved by the Act of 1919 from imminent +bankruptcy; but the efforts of the Adult Education +Committee to find a place for them in a national +scheme of reconstruction seem to have come to +naught. An Act which it was hoped might have +been a new charter, and have ensured their +utilization as a chief instrument of adult education +and the intellectual and spiritual development +of the people, did away with two heavy +grievances the abolition of which was long overdue; +it left a programme of constructive reforms +unfulfilled.</p> + +<p>In this brief account of our public libraries, +the work they have done and the far greater work +they are capable of doing, many points have been +suggested that call for more comprehensive legislation. +The one hope now is that the urban and +rural libraries already existing or soon to be may +be co-ordinated into a national system, or group +of systems, worked on economic lines, and empowered +to act the part they were surely destined +for in a civilized world.</p> + +<p>Sociologists, including those treating of education +in the widest sense, have paid scant attention +to the part played by the public library in +social life, in the present or the future. Even such +an inventory of our intellectual assets as the +Cambridge History of English Literature has in +its fifteen big volumes no reference to the effects +of the Ewart Act or to the vast collections of literature +amassed and thrown open to the people +through its operation. This book will be a small +addition to a very small group of works on various +sides of a momentous subject.</p> + +<p>The author is deeply indebted to Mr. W. C. +Berwick Sayers, Chief Librarian, Croydon Public +Libraries, for his kindness in reading the proofs +and for many useful suggestions, and to his +daughter, Miss Ruth Baker, for indexing the book.</p> + +<p class="author"> +E. A. B. +</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="I">I. +<br> +HISTORICAL SKETCH.</h2></div> + + +<p>In the period of reconstruction after Waterloo, +there was, among other analogies with the +present time, a keen popular desire for education +and opportunities for self-culture. It met with +both encouragement and discouragement from the +governing classes, more of the latter than the +former, much more of direct opposition than dare +show its head to-day. The state of the universities +and the public schools had been since the middle +of the last century more backward than ever +before in history. Both universities still shut +their doors to Dissenters. They had no sympathy +with and probably no consciousness of the needs +of the masses for self-improvement. In spite of +earnest writers on education, and manifold discussions +of Rousseau’s doctrines, even in the ingratiating +form of fiction, nothing could stir the +sullen apathy of the ruling powers; and in +educational machinery and practice England +lagged far behind both Germany and France. +Samuel Whitbread introduced an Education Bill +in 1807 which was rejected by the Lords. After +his death, Brougham became leader of the group +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span>of educationists in the House of Commons, and +in 1816 secured the appointment of a Select +Committee to inquire into the education of the +lower orders of the metropolis. The report of this +committee furnished material for two Bills. The +first, for the reform of educational charities, passed +in 1818, after its best features had been pruned +away by the Government; but the Education +Bill of 1820, which would have extended to +England the excellent parish school system of +Scotland, was thrown out. Not until 1833 was +the work already being performed by voluntary +agencies approved, by the grant of an annual +sum of £20,000 to assist in the erection of school +buildings. Not until 1839 was there any recognition +of the national responsibility for primary +education. In that year, a committee of the +Privy Council was appointed to superintend the +application of grants for educational purposes. +This was the forerunner of the Education Department +to be established in 1856. Roebuck in +1833 had failed to carry a resolution in the Commons +in favour of universal compulsory education. +On the eve of the Education Act of 1870, it was +computed that there were nearly as many children +without any kind of schooling as there were +attending all the state-aided and private schools +put together. So slowly had education advanced.</p> + +<p>But, whilst Parliament was engaged in repressing +or ignoring educational demands, or debating +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span>whether it was wise or safe that the commonalty +should be educated at all, the people, +headed by those who had faith in an educated +nation, were establishing the requisite machinery +for themselves. There had been elementary +schools of a sort in existence in most parts of the +country for nearly a century. The academies set +up by the Dissenters after the Toleration Act, +the charity schools of the Society for the Promotion +of Christian Knowledge, the schools +founded by the Methodists and the Society of +Friends, provided a general education based +primarily on the principle of moral and religious +instruction. Many of these schools catered for +grown-up persons as well as children; the Sunday +Schools, for instance, which sprang up after 1780, +taught reading and sometimes writing to the +illiterate of all ages. There were also private +schools in the towns and many villages where the +rudiments were imparted, unsatisfactorily, for a +few pence. These organized efforts were mainly +the work of middle-class evangelicals and philanthropists +intent on the moral and religious improvement +of the people. But new motives came +into play in the new century, and the people themselves +began to take an active part in the movement, +with far-reaching results. Political agitation +might be repressed, but an intellectual +awakening could not be extinguished. Knowledge +was demanded for its own sake; it was demanded +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span>also for economic reasons. The artisan who saw +wonderful mechanical inventions enabling him to +perform his operations with undreamt ease and +efficiency, or depriving him of his job, was roused +to an intense interest in science and a desperate +desire to fit himself for a place in the new industrial +order. The country was flocking into the towns; +the major part of the population was becoming +industrial. Education was perceived to be a +necessity of life, and a necessity that concerned, +not merely the rising generation, but even more +momentously the adult workman. A passionate +demand for education was faced with a sporadic +supply, and it was a demand for education in other +directions than had been contemplated by the promoters +of charity schools and Dissenting academies.</p> + +<p>Whitbread and Brougham, Bentham, Place, +and Mill encouraged and directed these aspirations. +Philosophic Radicalism affirmed the right of every +citizen to an elementary education, which the +State was in duty bound to provide. Further, +such education must be unsectarian; and here +were the beginnings of the age-long strife between +the advocates of secular education and the defenders +of voluntary schools, which were now +being planted all over the country by the National +Society and the British and Foreign Society. +Throughout the nineteenth century the history of +education was chequered by these conflicts over +the rights and wrongs of religious teaching. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>Another thing that hampered progress was the +temptation to provide schooling on the cheap, +by the monitorial system and other contrivances, +which were maintained for reasons of economy +long after they had been discredited. We shall +find this British failing again and again crippling +the finest schemes, and entailing costs in the long +run incalculably greater than the saving at the +outset. It is a form of economy that is not +economic.</p> + +<p>How deep and sincere was the working +man’s desire for enlightenment is illustrated most +tellingly by the co-operative institutions which it +now brought into being in almost every industrial +centre. The Mechanics’ Institutes were not gifts +from a railway company or a large firm to its +employees, but the creation of the operatives themselves, +established and kept up mostly from their +own unaided resources. Apart from the schools +and classes for children and adults carried on by +the religious bodies in the eighteenth century, +these Mechanics’ Institutes, with their lectures, +classes, study-circles, debating societies, libraries, +and other educational activities, were the real +beginnings of adult education in this country. +They were the immediate forerunners of the +municipal library, and, at a further remove, of the +modern technical college and the polytechnic. +Thus adult education begins in a spontaneous +movement, ready for large self-sacrifices to achieve +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>its practical ideals; and, at the outset, the library +is recognised as an integral part of its scheme. +The great mistake in the Public Library Acts, +we shall find, was that they failed to build on the +combination of reciprocal activities in this promising +model, and thus divorced the library +from the other departments of adult education. +Conversely, the weakness of many admirable +schemes for adult education has been neglect or +omission of the library as an essential part. Once +the separation had taken effect, it became very +difficult to establish relations again. Librarians +have since learned the impossibility of making +one part of the social machine work properly in +detachment from the rest. The Mechanics’ Institutes +were not troubled with unprepared and +indifferent readers. They led their horses to the +stream and had no difficulty in making them +drink. The troughs provided by their municipal +successors were larger and handsomer, but the +excellent supply of water was too often unappreciated.</p> + +<p>Ewart and his coadjutors in 1850 concentrated +on the single object, libraries; and libraries they +got, their bare object—bare at first in the literal +sense of the word, till they were later on allowed +to spend money in furnishing them with books. +As a consequence of this policy, libraries and art +galleries, schools, technical education, university +extension, tutorial and continuation classes, have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>carried on their work on separate lines, though +labouring for identical ends, and though they +might have worked in unison much more effectively +and economically. The problem now is to +bring them into harmony again. Perhaps the +time was not ripe for such a comprehensive alliance. +Perhaps, also, had such an idea been realized +it would have had to undergo the blighting influence +of the examination system and payment +by results. On the other hand, a popular institution +might have contained the antidote to +those delusions. At all events, it is a matter for +lasting regret that a great opportunity was missed. +Nationalized Mechanics’ Institutes, cured of the +imperfections due to their dependence on the +voluntary support of the unwealthy, with their +numerous activities developed, their technical +and utilitarian classes supplemented by humanist, +non-vocational teaching, and the recreative side +fully expanded, would have been an invaluable +instrument for the great social effort which was +then and is now required. And the initiative +would have come from below, not from above; +the danger of bureaucratic and academic projects +for other people’s welfare would have been avoided. +A central part of this many-sided organism would +have been the library, a part ministering directly +to every other part. Such a conception is still +useful. In town life the different agencies may +have to work side by side, though there need not +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>be dense partitions between. In the villages, +where there are no museums or picture-galleries, +and the club is too often only a well-meaning but +aimless substitute for the public-house, institutes +of such a composite and elastic type are obviously +the very thing required.</p> + +<p>The first of these promising institutions +came into existence in 1823. George Birkbeck +had given free courses of lectures to artisans at the +Andersonian Institution in Glasgow, where, after +his removal to London, there had been a schism. +The seceding members set up for themselves the +Glasgow Mechanics’ Institution, and elected Birkbeck +their first president. Next year, the London +Mechanics’ Institution, now Birkbeck College, +was started in emulation, speedily enrolling some +13,000 working men as members. That same +year saw the establishment of an institute at +Manchester, which had had a Literary and Philosophical +Society since 1781, an offshoot of this, +the College of Arts and Sciences, being a sort of +prototype of the new working men’s institution. +Huddersfield, Leeds, and other industrial towns +followed suit next year; and by 1837 the West +Riding had so many that a union of mechanics’ +and similar institutions was formed, to be followed +in 1839 by a Metropolitan Association, and by a +Lancashire and Cheshire Union in 1847. “In +1851 it was estimated that there were 610 institutes +in England with a membership of over +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>600,000, that the number of lectures delivered in +1850 was 3,054, and that the number of students +attending classes was 16,029.”<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> In 1849, four +hundred Mechanics’ Institutes had between three +and four hundred thousand volumes, with a circulation +of more than a million.</p> + +<p>In his Practical Observations upon the Education +of the People, Brougham, one of the four +trustees of the London institution, announced the +programme of what Peacock in <i>Crotchet Castle</i> +nicknamed the “Steam Intellect Society.” Lectures +and conversation classes, on the lines of a +modern tutorial class, libraries and book-clubs, +were to be provided; and, as a more extended enterprise, +elementary primers and other cheap works +on science and the useful arts were to be published +for the benefit of the working classes. Brougham +was the first president of the Society for the Diffusion +of Useful Knowledge, founded in 1827 to give +effect to this second part of the scheme. Dr. +Folliott tells the company at Crotchet Castle how +his house was nearly burned down by his cook +taking it into her head to study hydrostatics, +in a sixpenny tract published by the Steam Intellect +Society, and reading what he calls “the +rubbish” in bed. Other persons, besides Peacock, +were disturbed by this portentous “march of +intellect.” The Mechanics’ Institutes spread to all +parts of England and Scotland, but they failed, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>from lack of means, to find the qualified lecturers +and experienced teachers that their well-meaning +but ambitious aims required. Good teachers were +very scarce in those days. It was more than +combinations of the lower middle classes unaided +by public funds could be expected to achieve. +When, in the course of two decades, the first enthusiasm +faded, the buildings fell more and more +into the hands of those who could afford to maintain +them as comfortable lounges and literary +clubs. This educational failure and the secular +nature of the education that they sought made +them unsatisfactory in the eyes of the Christian +Socialist group, who in 1854 founded what they +considered a better type of mechanics’ institute +in the Working Men’s College. But the Mechanics’ +Institutes, though most of them were transformed +or absorbed into a different kind of institute, did +not cease to exist; a number have survived to this +day or the eve of it, and some have carried on work +of priceless importance, side by side with the +public libraries, which were now about to arise.</p> + +<p>To say that there were no free libraries for the +people before 1850 is practically though not +literally true. Those interested in the history of +libraries can point to many older examples, certain +of which were open to all comers. Long before +the nineteenth century idealists schemed to +provide every reader in the nation with access to +books, as for instance the Scottish grammarian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>James Kirkwood, author of a pamphlet in 1699 +entitled “An Overture for Founding and Maintaining +of Bibliothecks in every Paroch throughout +the Kingdom,” and of a project for erecting a +library in every presbytery or at least county in +the Highlands. The project was approved by the +General Assembly, but had no great results. In +the Middle Ages, many of the monastic libraries +were nominally open to the public; but as a +reading public hardly existed the fact does not +amount to much. Nor is it of more than antiquarian +interest whether London had a public +library as far back as the early fifteenth century, +the joint foundation of Sir Richard Whittington and +William Bury. Readers did exist at the beginning +of the next century, wherefore the appearance +of a city library here and there is of more significance. +Norwich claims to have the oldest of these +that has never perished, founded in 1608 and +preserved in the public library there to-day. The +library founded at Bristol in 1615 came under the +operation of the Public Library Acts when these +were adopted by that city in 1876. The venerable +Chetham Library at Manchester dates from 1654, +when the books were placed in the quarters they +still occupy in the college built in 1421. The +number of volumes is vastly greater, but the +Chetham Library has not changed in character +or in the atmosphere of a still remoter antiquity +that it had at its beginning. Dr. Bray and his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>associates established 78 parochial libraries and +35 lending libraries between 1704 and 1807, which +were meant for the use of poor clergymen. He +also secured an Act “For the Better Preservation +of Parochial Libraries;” but this in time became +a dead letter. The British Museum was established +by Act of Parliament in 1753, opened to the +public in 1759, and gradually absorbed various +royal and other collections, forming a great storehouse +of books for scholars and other literary +workers. London, nearly a century later, when +the public library agitation was in progress, had +four public or semi-public libraries, those at +Sion College and Lambeth Palace, and Dr. Williams’s +and Archbishop Tenison’s libraries. In a +number of large towns, readers of the better class +enjoyed the advantages of good reference and +lending libraries belonging to the Literary and +Scientific Institutions.<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The library work of the +Mechanics’ Institutes has already been described. +But the libraries of various kinds that were in +existence, most of them subscription libraries or +otherwise restricted to a narrow class of users, +served only to whet the appetite of the ardent +seeker after knowledge, and to provide the apostle +of popular culture with an illustration of the +possible.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp54" id="i_012fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_012fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <i>Photo by Langley & Sons.</i> +<br> + + <span class="smcap">Lambeth Palace Library</span>. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The campaign which led to the Public Library +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>Acts of 1850 and 1853 opened in 1844, when +Richard Cobden presided at a public meeting +in Manchester to consider the means of improving +popular taste. Joseph Brotherton, the member +for Salford, laid the proposals carried at this +meeting before the influential William Ewart, +member for the Dumfries Burghs, a rich, well-educated, +much-travelled person, who was an +old parliamentary hand, with a general desire to +see his country provided with library facilities +at least equal to those which he had found on the +Continent. Brotherton, a Liberal of the Manchester +school and a strict Nonconformist, had a profound +belief in an educated people, and a special confidence +in the Lancashire operative; he was +returned again and again for Salford, holding +the seat continuously 1832-57. These two public +men found an energetic and well-informed coadjutor +in Edward Edwards, a supernumerary +assistant in the British Museum, who had cut a +prominent figure in the parliamentary inquiry +into the administration of that library, writing +pamphlets and appearing as an expert witness +before the second Select Committee in 1836, after +forcing himself into notice by his severe handling +of the evidence laid before the committee of +1835. His wide knowledge of libraries at home +and abroad and his thorough acquaintance with +the methods of the British Museum, particularly +on their defective side, together with the freedom +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>and far-sightedness of his criticisms and suggestions +for reform, impressed the committee, +and led, rather surprisingly, to his being given +his post in the Museum in 1839. Later, his independent +attitude led to friction with his chief +Panizzi, and he left abruptly in 1850.</p> + +<p>Edwards was broad-minded enough not to +pin his faith on libraries alone as an engine of +intellectual progress; he took part as a pamphleteer +in the warfare over London University +in 1836, persistently maintained that libraries +and schools were complementary to each other, +and pointed out that libraries should fulfil a very +definite function in promoting the intellectual +life of all classes. His radical views on the extension +of hours and the opening of the reading room +in the evening, on branch libraries for the +utilization of duplicate books, on improved catalogues, +the better supply of foreign literature and +materials for research, and on numerous points +of administration at the British Museum, have +been fulfilled in large part since his time; yet +some still remain a counsel of perfection.</p> + +<p>His aid was enlisted by Ewart and Brotherton +after he had published some long articles, +packed with statistics, on the inadequacy and +inaccessibility of the library resources of Great +Britain and Ireland, and on the liberal provision +enjoyed on the Continent, which had a great deal +to do with making converts and securing votes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>when public library legislation was before Parliament. +Edwards probably exaggerated his case, +and painted too glowing a picture of the wealthy +Continental libraries, at any rate in the freedom +of access said to be enjoyed by every citizen. +But his instances of British scholars put to undue +expense and compelled to live abroad in order +to have libraries of historical material at hand +were relevant enough. Gibbon complained that +he had the greatest difficulty in consulting books +and had to obtain them from abroad at a heavy +expense; he found himself better provided when +living in Switzerland or France than in his own +country. Buckle, later on, and, still later, Lecky +and Acton had to seek their material in Continental +libraries. One telling point Edwards made, that +England was unrivalled in its private collections, +though so poor in those open to the public—a +state of things by no means wholly remedied yet.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Ewart and Brotherton having +put their heads together, a piece of legislation +was secured that would and did ensure the establishment +of a certain number of public libraries, +rate-aided if not entirely rate-supported. This +was the Act of 1845 for “Encouraging the Establishment +of Museums in Large Towns,” first-fruits +of the proposals passed by the Manchester +meeting of the previous year. It authorized the +levy of a halfpenny rate, in towns of not less than +10,000 inhabitants, for the erection of museums +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>of science and art; it did not allow public funds +to be used for purchasing books or even exhibits; +and it was supposed that salaries and other maintenance +charges would be defrayed out of the +penny-fees for admission. Timid and inadequate +as such measures were, the Act was followed at +once by the opening of museums at Warrington, +Salford, Canterbury, Liverpool, Leicester, Dover, +and Sunderland, the first three towns forming +collections of books as well. In 1848 Warrington +provided the first free reference library under the +Act, and also a lending library for the use of subscribers. +Brotherton, with the aid of a local +benefactor, saw to it that a library and museum +were opened at Salford in 1850. Thus, although +looking back we may think it strange that +museums should be started before libraries, they +did prove a stepping-stone to the greater necessity.</p> + +<p>Ewart now applied himself to inducing the +House of Commons to appoint a Select Committee +on the question of public libraries, and availed +himself of the services of Edwards in preparing +evidence and framing proposals. Edwards was +the chief witness before the first Committee appointed, +in 1849, and a special motion of thanks +for his services was appended to their Report. +He gave an account of the resources, conditions, +and relative accessibility to the public of 35 +British libraries, the majority of which were +university or college foundations and only two, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>the Warrington and Chetham libraries, public in +a true sense; he drew an elaborate comparison +with 383 libraries of not less than 10,000 volumes +apiece which, he affirmed, were open to every one +on the Continent, and with about a hundred in +the United States. In his examination by the +Committee, he pleaded for grants from the Privy +Council to supplement local contributions, as +were already being given for elementary education; +the inspection of libraries by the Committee +of Council on Education, and the institution of a +Ministry of Public Instruction charged with the +control of public education and the supervision of +public libraries; the establishment, not as a tax +on publishers but at the national expense, of +public depositories for all books published in the +United Kingdom; the international exchange of +books for the encouragement of libraries. Edwards +urged other advanced ideas, some of which, +such as the provision of a different class of public +libraries for country parishes, have generations +later begun to be put into actuality. A second +Select Committee was appointed early next year +to report on the best means of extending the +establishment of free public libraries, and Edwards +was again in request as a witness. An article of +his in the British Quarterly for Feb., 1850, had no +doubt considerable influence on the passage of the +Public Libraries Act on March 13th, in spite of +damaging criticisms of his statistics.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span></p> +<p>The Ewart Act, as it is often called, “for +Enabling Town Councils to Establish Public +Libraries and Museums,” was purely permissive. +A poll of burgesses was required before the Act +could be put in force, and a two-thirds majority +was prescribed. The promoters believed that if +buildings were put up, suitable contents would be +forthcoming from local benefactors. Accordingly, +no power was granted to buy books. The rate +levied must not exceed a halfpenny, the same as +had been allowed by the Museums Act, of which +this was merely an extension. The debate on +the second reading is remarkably interesting. The +arguments of Ewart, Brotherton, the father of +Labouchere, and even John Bright, were essentially +utilitarian. “Nothing,” Bright was sure, +“would tend more to the preservation of order +than the diffusion of the greatest amount of +intelligence, and the prevalence of the most complete +and open discussion, amongst all classes.” +Brotherton said, “Here were £2,000,000 a year +paid for the punishment of crime, yet honourable +gentlemen objected to tax themselves a halfpenny +in the pound for the prevention of crime. In his +opinion it was of little use to teach people to read +unless you afterwards provided them with books +to which they might apply the faculty they had +so acquired.... He was satisfied that expenditure +upon this object would be productive not +only of immense moral good but of very material +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>public economy in the long run.” The adverse +arguments were likewise utilitarian and, as a rule, +economic in the purely mercenary sense. Roundell +Palmer, afterwards Earl of Selborne, “was +most truly desirous to see learning extended,” +but protested against compulsory rating, which +he loftily said would put a positive check on the +“voluntary self-supporting desire for knowledge +which at present existed amongst the people.” +One obstructor, who “did not like reading at all, +and hated it when at Oxford,” said, “However +excellent food for the mind might be, food for the +body was what was now most wanted for the +people;” and that he would have been “much +more ready to support the honourable gentleman +if he had tried to encourage national industry by +keeping out the foreigner.” Summed up, the +objections were four: that increased taxation +was undesirable; that it was unjust if not unconstitutional +to make non-users pay for the upkeep +of the new institution; that too much knowledge +was a dangerous thing; that there were ulterior +objects in the project, and that libraries might +become centres of political agitation, awake feelings +of discontent, and encourage economic unrest. +The same arguments, observe, were heard in the +brief debates accorded to the abortive amending +Bills in the decade before the last Public Libraries +Act. Yet the Ewart Act, at this interval of time, +looks a timid, experimental, and by no means far-sighted +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>enactment, defended against excesses by +clauses that could scarce fail to make the very +existence of the institutions it brought forth precarious +and unfruitful. Such clauses could hardly +have been accepted had not the framers of the Bill +contemplated further legislation at an early date, +and concentrated their efforts on making a small +but irrevocable beginning.</p> + +<p>The operation of Ewart’s Act was extended +to Ireland and Scotland in 1853, and the same +year the Act was amended with respect to Scotland, +raising the rate limitation to one penny. +Ewart brought in a Bill in 1854 for raising the rate +limit in England and Wales to the same figure, +and authorizing expenditure of the rate income +on books. By this time thirteen towns had adopted +the Act. As the Government opposed the Bill, +it was dropped after the second reading; but +next year he brought in a new Bill, which, after a +keen debate on the proposal to provide newspapers +out of the rates, passed with little demur. The +rate limit was now one penny, and places of 5,000 +inhabitants or more were entitled to the benefits +of the Act; clauses dealing with borrowing +powers, the acquisition of sites, the mode of adoption +by a poll of ratepayers, and the special circumstances +of the City of London, were included. +There were amending Acts in 1866 and later years, +but this remained the principal statute for England +and Wales till 1892.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span></p> +<p>The first town to set up a municipal reference +and lending library under the Act of 1850 was +Manchester. A subscription reaching £12,823, +of which £800 was collected by a working men’s +committee, was raised; the Act was adopted by +an enormous majority of ratepayers; Edward +Edwards was appointed librarian, and books were +acquired in readiness out of the voluntary fund. +The original building in Campfield was opened on +September 2nd, 1852, with great ceremony, Dickens, +Thackeray, Lytton, and Monckton Milnes +being among the statesmen and other personages +on the platform. Dickens described the Manchester +undertaking as “a great free school bent +on carrying instruction to the poorest hearths.” +Thackeray improved upon Hogarth’s contrast of +the wicked mechanic reading Moll Flanders and +the good mechanic reading the story of the apprentice +who became Lord Mayor, by picturing the +Lancashire mechanic reading Carlyle, Dickens, +and Bulwer. John Bright looked forward to +when the farmer and country labourer would have +a library service. Norwich and Bolton were +actually before Manchester in adopting the Act, +Oxford and Winchester were almost as prompt. +Liverpool obtained a special Act in 1852 to raise +a penny rate for a library and museum. Brighton +had got a local Act in 1850, but was late in establishing +its library. Sheffield and Exeter refused +at first to adopt the Act, but reversed their decision +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>in 1853 and 1870 respectively. Blackburn, +Cambridge, and Ipswich voted for libraries in +1853; Maidstone, Kidderminster, and Hereford, +in 1855. Airdrie was the first town in Scotland, +and Cork the first in Ireland to adopt the +Acts pertaining to those countries. Birkenhead, +Leamington, and two parishes in Westminster +adopted the Acts in 1856, Walsall, and Lichfield +in 1857, Canterbury in 1858. In London +progress was slow and chequered. Adverse polls +were recorded in the City of London, Islington, +Paddington, Marylebone, St. Pancras, and Camberwell, +though several wiped out the stigma later; +Hackney, Whitechapel, Putney, Cheltenham, +Bath, Hull, and other places were likewise +recalcitrant; but Cardiff, after voting down +the proposal by a majority of one in 1860, adopted +the Acts in 1862. Leicester, Burslem, Warwick, +Oldham, Dundee, Paisley, Nottingham, Coventry, +Leeds, Doncaster, and Wolverhampton, were +among the forty-six places that had accepted +public library legislation by 1868, the year taken +in a parliamentary report dated April 11th, 1870, +from which it appears that fifty-two libraries had +been established, nearly half a million books acquired, +and an annual issue of 3,400,000 attained. +This was the year of the Elementary Education +Act, which was to do away with the enormous +amount of sheer illiteracy that still prevailed, and +to raise up potential readers in their millions, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>though it was yet too early to ask for that intimate +co-operation between schools and libraries which +would have taught the people not only to read but +also how and what to read, and tended to make the +results of even a brief elementary education deep +and permanent.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_022fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_022fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">Central Public Library, Nottingham.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The library movement made most headway +in the northern counties and the midlands; the +southern towns were slow in coming in. Scotland +also was late in adopting the Acts—a curious fact, +probably due to the way Scotland is used to the +private endowment of public foundations. The +Scots are frugal and saving; but no people are +so generous in works for the common weal. Hence +it is not difficult to understand the reluctance of +Glasgow to saddle itself with a library rate, when +it already had its Baillie’s Institution and Stirling’s +Library, and the Mitchell Library was coming—it +actually came in 1877. Edinburgh also rejected +the Acts, obviously on similar grounds, until in +1886 an offer of £50,000 from Andrew Carnegie +induced the city to change its mind, at first however, +levying only a halfpenny rate. Ireland was +very much behindhand.</p> + +<p>The following table shows the relative rate of +growth, down to 1909, of public libraries established +under the Acts; it does not include a number +provided by voluntary agencies or under special +legislation.<a id="FNanchor_3_3" href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdr">England.</td> +<td class="tdr">Wales.</td> +<td class="tdr">Scotland</td> +<td class="tdr">Ireland.</td> +<td class="tdr">Totals.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">1840-1849</td> +<td class="tdr">1</td> +<td class="tdr">—</td> +<td class="tdr">—</td> +<td class="tdr">—</td> +<td class="tdr">1</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">1850-1859</td> +<td class="tdr">18</td> +<td class="tdr">—</td> +<td class="tdr">1</td> +<td class="tdr">1</td> +<td class="tdr">20</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">1860-1869</td> +<td class="tdr">12</td> +<td class="tdr">1</td> +<td class="tdr">1</td> +<td class="tdr">—</td> +<td class="tdr">14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">1870-1879</td> +<td class="tdr">38</td> +<td class="tdr">5</td> +<td class="tdr">5</td> +<td class="tdr">—</td> +<td class="tdr">48</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">1880-1889</td> +<td class="tdr">51</td> +<td class="tdr">5</td> +<td class="tdr">9</td> +<td class="tdr">5</td> +<td class="tdr">70</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">1890-1899</td> +<td class="tdr">121</td> +<td class="tdr">17</td> +<td class="tdr">15</td> +<td class="tdr">8</td> +<td class="tdr">161</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">1900-1909</td> +<td class="tdr">125</td> +<td class="tdr">29</td> +<td class="tdr">42</td> +<td class="tdr">12</td> +<td class="tdr">208</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="6">—————————————————————————————————————</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdr">366</td> +<td class="tdr">57</td> +<td class="tdr">73</td> +<td class="tdr">26</td> +<td class="tdr">522</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="6">—————————————————————————————————————</td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<p>Accelerated growth from the seventies onwards +was due to various causes, first and foremost +the general advance in education, especially when +the effects of Forster’s Act of 1870 began to tell. +Successive amending enactments, down to the +consolidating Act of 1892, each removed some +obstacle. Thus the resistance of London ratepayers +was conciliated by an Act in 1877 permitting +them to vote a lower limit than one penny. +More libraries were opened as a consequence, but +the handicap of an exiguous income militated +against their welfare. Many gifts of funds, buildings, +or special collections of books were received +from time to time, often with a proviso that the +municipality should build and maintain a library. +The old objection to the public endowment of +libraries, that it would discourage private bounty, +was thus shown to be against experience as it was +against reason; though British generosity in this +respect cannot stand comparison with that of rich +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>Americans. It was calculated by an English +librarian, Thomas Formby, in 1889, that in the +last thirty-five years British libraries had received +a million pounds from private sources, and American +libraries six times as much.</p> + +<p>A stimulus of far-reaching effect came into +operation towards the close of the century, when +Andrew Carnegie began to make systematic contributions, +first to Scottish and then to other +British municipalities, for the establishment and +extension of public libraries. The benefactions +of an English philanthropist Passmore Edwards, +though more modest in amount, had relatively a +more salutary result, because they were more carefully +adjusted to local needs. The policy of Mr. +Carnegie was, however, very sagacious. As a rule, +he gave money for buildings and fixtures alone, on +the understanding that the maximum rate allowable +should be raised. The expectation was that, +once started, the library enterprise was bound to +go on, and that with a building free from debt it +was bound to thrive. The sequels were not always +so satisfactory. Many places were tempted by the +free gift to build more expensive premises than +they had the wherewithal to maintain efficiently. +Some embarked on ambitious schemes that left +them with a heavy burden of debt. Large buildings +meant, of course, large staffs and heavy +establishment charges; but the income was +strictly limited. Hence many libraries were unable +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>to pay their way, and at the same time afford +a proper service of books. There was a judicious +clause in the Scottish Act which ought to have +been inserted in all, by which authorities were +forbidden to raise a loan of more than twenty +times one quarter of the annual rate income.</p> + +<p>The insufficiency of the penny rate was early +and acutely realized. It weighed heaviest on +places with small incomes. The larger the establishment +to be kept up, the smaller the ratio of +establishment expenses to maintenance. The +limitation had been fixed so low that most towns +with a population between 50,000 and 100,000 had +to pursue a hand-to-mouth policy, and content +themselves with spending on books such sums as +happened to remain over when all fixed charges +had been defrayed. The main reason for the +library books, had to be neglected for the sake of +the building, the mere case that held the books. +The inadequate staff that looked after both cost +still more, yet were overworked and underpaid. +Larger towns were better off, not merely through +being able to apportion expenses more economically, +but also because they had more chances of +getting legislative concessions. Furthermore, the +civic spirit is usually stronger in big cities: it is +one of the reasons why they are big cities. There, +in the great industrial centres, the old Mechanics’ +Institutes were born. They have been strongholds +of educational endeavour; they were the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>pioneers of the library movement. Thus it is +not surprising to find Wolverhampton, Swansea, +Warrington, Sheffield, Manchester, Salford, Birmingham, +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oldham, St. +Helens, Walsall, Preston, Wigan, Sunderland, and +several smaller industrial towns obtaining increased +rating powers and widening their library +provision. Many other towns would gladly have +sought the same privileges, but for the cost of +promoting a special Act.</p> + +<p>For many years before the great war it was +borne in more and more to the minds of friends of +the movement that not all was well with public +libraries, and a series of amending Bills to do +away with the obsolete restriction of income and +introduce various constructive reforms were +brought into Parliament and steadily blocked. +The various Acts for England and Wales had been +consolidated in the Public Libraries Act of 1892. +This harmonized several conflicting enactments, +laid it down that adoption of the Acts should be +by resolution of the local authority, except in +London, and allowed neighbouring districts to +combine for library purposes. It left the rate +limitation where it was. Some infinitesimal relief +came from the Museums and Gymnasiums Act +of 1891, whereby the upkeep of museums could be +charged to a special museum rate. The Local +Government Act of 1894, on the other hand, introduced +some complications into library law, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>made it even more impossible than heretofore for +rural districts to come under the Acts. Amending +Acts for Scotland and Ireland passed that year.</p> + +<p>In certain points, the Scottish Acts, which had +been consolidated in 1887, had advantages over +the English. The precaution against extravagant +building loans has been mentioned already. Further, +committees must contain not less than ten +and not more than twenty members, half the +number being appointed from the local magistrates +or councillors and half from other householders. +Many if not most English authorities +draw their committees exclusively from their +own body. The disadvantages are twofold. The +ordinary borough councillor is an overworked +person, attending many committees, among which +the libraries committee rarely, in municipal +politics, counts as the most important. He is apt +to regard his duties on that committee in a perfunctory +way. The ordinary member of a council, +moreover, is elected oftener than not for very +different objects from the welfare of a public +library, it may be simply to keep down the rates; +and his qualifications for these objects may very +well tend to disqualify him for enlightened service +on the governing body of a public library. A book +sub-committee with hardly a single member that +reads, has, unfortunately, been no rarity under +the conditions that still prevail, with a chairman +standing for an obscurantist and reactionary policy +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>towards this despised department of the municipal +entity. Hence the peculiar desirability of having +outsiders with liberal views, a liberal education, +and some familiarity with books and libraries, +added to the representatives of the council. This +question will arise again when the possibilities of a +new regime come in for discussion.</p> + +<p>From time to time it was suggested by critics +and would-be reformers that public libraries ought +not to remain a series of isolated institutions, able +to co-operate neither with each other nor with the +schools and other intellectual activities. Edward +Edwards and also his biographer Thomas Greenwood, +one of the wisest and most disinterested +friends the library movement has ever had, looked +forward to the co-ordination of all these departments +of the body politic as a body intellectual +under the supervision of a Government minister. +The same reform was mooted by J. J. Ogle, a +public librarian and a secretary of education, who, +in <i>The Free Library</i> (1897), easily disposed of the +argument that State inspection and State grants +would mean uniformity of method. In 1904 the +Library Association at their annual conference, +after several sessions had been devoted to considering +the pros and cons, passed a strong resolution +affirming “That the public library should +be recognized as forming part of the national +educational machinery.”</p> + +<p>Thus the ideas of close interaction promoted +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>by central control and of intimate correlation of +libraries and the other instruments of public +education had been well-debated, long before they +were taken over, along with the more pressing +question of the rate limit, as obvious items for the +agenda of the Adult Education Committee, which +was appointed in July 1917 as a sub-committee of +the Reconstruction Committee, to be merged +presently in the Ministry of Reconstruction. How +this Committee handled the constructive proposals +will be shown later on. Two of the reforms +they recommended were embodied in a Government +Bill, which became law on December 23rd, +1921. Both of these were, in essence if not in +form, the abolition of illogical and obsolete disabilities, +inherited from the early days of the +Ewart Acts. The first grievance to be removed +was the rate limit. When even the advocates +of the public library thought it would be mainly +the working classes that would use it, there was +some reason for keeping down the cost, economic +reasons as well as reasons of policy. When libraries +had been in existence for more than half a century, +and every class in the community used them without +distinction, it was monstrous that a municipality +owning a library should be debarred from +keeping its own property up to the mark if it was +willing to pay the bill. Bankruptcy was already +threatening many library authorities even before +the war; before the end of it, some were being +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>shut up, numerous others were cutting down their +services to the vanishing point. Councils were +forbidden by law to pay the ordinary war bonus +to their library staffs, who had before these changes +been the worst-paid of their employees. It was a +question of life or death. Relief must come at +once, or half the libraries in the country would +cease to exist. Relief was vouchsafed, and with it +a second restriction was ended, that which debarred +County Councils from setting up a library service +for the villages. Systems of rural libraries were +already springing up through the monetary grants +of the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, and were +being carried on, legally or illegally it was doubtful +which, by the Education Committees. To do +something to stimulate an intelligent social life +on the land was indispensable, if the dreams of +recolonizing Britain and reviving agriculture were +to come to anything.</p> + +<p>The Bill passed, without an echo of the strenuous +opposition that had greeted its many predecessors, +which had made much smaller demands +on the public purse. It removed two crippling +disabilities, but the constructive proposals of the +Adult Education Committee it did not touch. Two +most formidable obstructions had been cleared +away: the forward leap was yet to take. Was it +to be deferred indefinitely, or might the Act be +accepted as prelude to a comprehensive library +charter, to be prepared as soon as the Committee’s +numerous recommendations could be reduced to +legislative form?</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> Adult Education Committee. Final Report, p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a> e.g. That at Edinburgh (dating from 1725), London (1749), Liverpool +(1758), Manchester (1781), the Newcastle “Lit. & Phil” (1793).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3" class="label">[3]</a> Professor W. S. B. Adams. Report on Library Provision and +Policy (Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, 1915).</p></div></div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="II">II +<br> +WHAT IS A LIBRARY SERVICE?</h2></div> + + +<p>There is an enormous difference between +the library service enjoyed in the more +progressive municipalities, where public opinion +has been properly educated and the authorities +mean to do their best, whatever the financial +impediments, and have a clear conception of what +is the best, and the perfunctory service in places +where the library is an unwelcome addition to +the municipal family, which cannot be got rid of +but must be prevented from becoming a burden +on the rates. The most progressive of librarians +and library committee-men would freely admit +that no public library in this country is doing all +that it might for the community, or anything like +what it will do when the library habit has been +instilled into the average citizen. The most progressive +are but leading the way; the goal is still +in the future. Accordingly, an account of the best +work now being done by the best libraries will +serve two purposes: it will show the possibilities +that are actually being attained; it will help the +reader to build up mentally a complete type of +what a library service might be.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Lending Libraries.</span></p> + +<p>“The jug and bottle department,” as it has +been cynically called by illiberal critics, is the +oldest and, in a sense, the fundamental part of a +public library service. There were lending libraries +before 1850, but none that could be regarded as its +prototype. It was a consequence of the new democratic +idea. In earlier times a library simply +provided books to be read on the spot. Circulating +libraries, such as began to be common in the +eighteenth century, were shops that lent out +books, chiefly light literature, to subscribers of the +leisured classes. The literary and scientific institutions +allowed their books to be borrowed, without +troubling to divide their stock into distinct +collections, or worrying themselves with the +standing puzzle of the modern librarian, should +this book, which is neither a novel nor an encyclopædia, +go on the lending or the reference +shelves?</p> + +<p>The strongest argument for rate-supported +libraries was that the studious person who could +not afford to buy books, or the no less meritorious +person who wished to enjoy good literature in an +armchair but could not pay a subscription, should +be enabled to read at home. Access to libraries +was an excellent thing, and every seeker after +knowledge was entitled thereto, but a supply of +books in the home was a greater boon, and one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>that would have a far deeper effect on the mental +life of the nation. Even a Freeman could not +work in a reference library, but had to borrow—or +buy. Circumstances of a different kind make +the library of the British Museum, and even the +local reading room inaccessible, or at any rate +insufficient, to most busy people. The existence +of the London Library—the finest lending library +in the world—is proof enough of the most serious +kind of reader’s need for a home supply of books.</p> + +<p>Catering for all classes, for all ages, and for +users having all sorts of motives for reading, the +municipal lending library will not admit any petty +or restricted purpose to limit the scope of its contents. +Costly books, if it acquires such by purchase +or gift, and works of the atlas or dictionary +type, will for different but equally obvious reasons +go into the reference department, however small +that may happen to be. Very cheap books, with +certain exceptions, it will not supply. College +text-books may be refused, on the score that +students should have them for their own, unless +there are circumstances that justify a different +course. Some books may be rejected for reasons +of public morality, though a narrow-minded +puritanism must not be tolerated. Otherwise, the +lending library should develop on the most catholic +lines.</p> + +<p>The light literature that was the staple of the +old-fashioned circulating library will, with the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>rubbish sternly and drastically sifted out, form a +considerable proportion of the stock-in-trade. +In the minds of some short-sighted people, indeed, +the public library is identified with over-thumbed +and dog-eared novels, and supposed to be a purveyor +chiefly of books for private amusement at +the public expense. The statistics that seem to +authorize such a view are misunderstood. Half-a-dozen +novels usually take less time to read than +does a single substantial work of science, history, +or even the other kinds of belles-lettres; and make +six times as much show in the record of issues. If +allowance be made for this obvious fact, study of +the figures will usually reveal that a greater +amount of reading having a serious value is going +on than of reading for mere pastime. One ought +to apply a different kind of calculus; but till a +sort of mental foot-pound, a unit of energy expended +effectively in self-development, has been +fixed, we can merely ask that statistics should be +interpreted with a due consciousness of what +humane literature is, and with common sense. +Over-thumbed novels are no argument against +public libraries, but a very strong argument for +making sure that the supply of fiction is of the +best, and for doubling, quadrupling, and multiplying +further the supply of first-rate novels. If +there are always enough of these to go round, +critics on the one hand and grumblers on the +other may be disregarded.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span></p> +<p>The workshop theory, which is on the face of +it a sound guide for the development of the reference +library, though by no means a complete +statement of its functions, applies also to the lending +department. On the one hand, this should +minister to our recreations and our æsthetic and +spiritual needs; it will be well-stocked with excellent +novels, the best poetry, drama, essays, +and humane literature in general. On the other +hand, it will cater for the student and serious +reader in all branches of knowledge, and will +provide all the books it can of general use for +industrial and amateur craftsmen, shopkeepers +and other business people, and the professional +classes. The librarian and the book-selecting +committee will have a keen eye for the needs of +teachers, journalists, ministers of religion, and all +who are in any way intellectual leaders. One +healthy consequence of the workshop theory is the +rule that a library must never be cumbered with +dead stock. Books that have been superseded or +have outlived their interest must be ruthlessly +discarded. The workshop library has no room for +any but live books. Such from the first have been +the aims of the great bulk of our public libraries, +with, naturally, some laxity here and there, and +in rarer instances too much strictness in regard to +education and mental improvement or the cult of +mere utilitarian efficiency.</p> + +<p>There are between five and six hundred +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>library buildings under the Public Library Acts +in this country, and with few exceptions each +contains a lending library, and some hardly anything +else. A corollary of this distributing service +is the branch library. Liverpool had two branches +by 1853, and other towns quickly followed suit. +A very large proportion of these buildings are +branch libraries, established so as to bring a stock +of books for lending as near as may be to your door. +To-day, the biggest provincial cities have each +from a dozen to a score such district libraries; the +average town or metropolitan borough has two +or three. Some places are content with delivery +stations; some have these and branches as well. +The delivery station is a device for bringing books +that have been asked for from the central reservoir +to the nearest point, and is a convenience to +readers who have not the time, or do not think it +worth while, to visit the library in person. Given +a first-class catalogue and intelligent readers, the +delivery station is a useful makeshift. But there +are weighty reasons why it is much better to +invite Mahomet to the mountain—why a service +through district libraries will have more valuable +results than one through delivery stations. +The best systems combine the advantages of +both methods, making the reader free of all the +branch libraries in a town, with the right of direct +access to the book-shelves, and at the same time +bringing books from other branches to the one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>nearest the reader who is unable or finds it inconvenient +to visit the library in person. Manchester +and Glasgow, for example, have a motor-service +whereby all the books in a score of district +libraries are pooled as one vast stock, accessible, +with a minimum of expense, difficulty, or delay, +to the borrowers situated at any point in the +civic area. Make your library area big enough, +and you can provide the maximum of opportunities +at the minimum cost.</p> + +<p>During the last two decades, public libraries +have been reverting to that old and sensible mode +of working which, on its reintroduction, was styled +“Open Access.” Practice varied in former times +between letting the reader loose among the books +and shutting these behind doors or shutters. +When the new era began in 1850, the new race of +librarians beheld themselves confronted with an +unprecedented and hazardous problem. Here +was the multitude of famished readers, who had +never experienced the civilizing influence of +libraries, who might be dishonest, and who certainly +had to be served expeditiously and in large +numbers; and there was the stock of books, +which must be kept in working order and unpilfered. +Hence the closed library—the books on +one side of a counter and the reading proletariat +on the other. Then, in an ill-omened moment, +indicators were invented, and the proletariat +could not even see the books at a distance, but +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>must try to find out, first, what it wanted from a +catalogue, perhaps an abbreviated form of hand-list +conveying little meaning to the unbookish +and then, through a numerical system compared +to which Bradshaw or a census competition is +an intellectual delight, whether there was a chance +of getting what it wanted. The library movement +would have spread with far greater rapidity, and +its results on the national mentality would have +been far deeper and more extended, but for the +long reign of the closed system.</p> + +<p>Very large libraries must keep the main +bulk of their accumulations in a place apart; +otherwise they could not contain them at all. +When the stock begins to approach six figures, +a librarian begins to think of having a stack, or +some analogous form of magazine, accessible to +none but officials and attendants. But in libraries +of moderate dimensions there is no reason why the +public should be locked out, and the most convincing +reason why it should be invited and persuaded +to come in. One must be something of a +book-expert to know always precisely what book +one wants; and then one may fail to obtain it +through the mechanism of a catalogue and an +indicator. The ordinary person will assimilate +more mental food from browsing among the +shelves than he would in thrice the time from +reading what the chance of the indicator brought +him under this discredited system. It may be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>that more books will disappear; but a certain +percentage of losses may be faced with equanimity; +it is one of the running expenses of true efficiency, +and the results are well worth the cost.</p> + +<p>In all the most recent public libraries, and in +a very large number of the older, reorganized in +the light of this reform, the public have the inestimable +advantage of handling the books, and +seeing, as it were in a bird’s-eye view, their relations +to the other books in the sphere of knowledge +or of art, before deciding what they want now and +will want later on. This has had an immeasurable +effect on the quality of the reading—on the education +of the public taste. Only librarians know +how difficult it used to be to lift a certain class of +reader out of an old rut, to persuade him, or more +often her, to try an unfamiliar author. Once get +over the difficulties of an introduction to George +Eliot, Thomas Hardy, or Tolstoy, and the devotee +of Guy Boothby and Charles Garvice, who was +stone-blind to the blandishments of the printed +catalogue, will march on steadily in the new world +that has been opened. It is the first step that +counts in his literary salvation, and in an open +access library the first step is pretty sure to be +taken, if the contents have been well and tactfully +selected.</p> + +<p>An inducement to read other things than +fiction is offered in many progressive libraries. +This is a general permission to borrow two books +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>at a time, provided only one is a novel. Teachers +and other privileged persons are often allowed as +many as half-a-dozen at once. There is indeed no +reason except insufficiency of stock why any +intelligent reader should not be able to have three +or four books together, and a great many arguments +for liberality. Three are regularly allowed +at Coventry, and in American libraries, generous +concessions are made on any reasonable grounds; +in some the daring principle of “Take as many as +you like” is in vogue, and many libraries lend +freely to all comers without the irritating insistence +on local residence or local guarantee which +rules over here. To a man pursuing a serious +course of study it is a manifest advantage to have +several works in hand; the habit should be encouraged. +The cost will be considerable; but it +will be a cost in books not buildings, since the +extra books will usually be in the hands of readers +and not in need of house-room and larger premises. +The cost can and ought to be borne now +that library incomes are more elastic, if authorities +take a serious view of their responsibilities and the +part they should play in the business of education. +Look at the empty shelves in almost any popular +library, and the nature of the problem will be +apparent.</p> + +<p>The actual situation is significant. The need +is for more books, and better books, rather than +more buildings. The one essential to a successful +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>library service exists, a great public demand—wanting +more guidance, perhaps, and susceptible +of education in the wiser use of books, but still +vigorous, spontaneous, and unsatisfied. There is +an unprecedented demand for books, fully commensurate +with the demand, all over the country, +for educational facilities. And there is an unprecedented +shortage of books on the lending library +shelves. During the war, expenses were kept +down, and the gaps due to wear and tear were not +filled up. Binding was allowed to fall into woeful +arrears. Now, the cost of bookbinding has gone +up threefold, the price of books has doubled. Yet +under these disabling conditions, many a provincial +town and a number of London boroughs +have an annual issue of a million or thereabouts. +Manifestly, the municipal lending library is a +mighty power in the land. One librarian, in a +borough where, it has recently been affirmed, the +average intelligence is eighty under proof, tells +me that out of 690 volumes of Rider Haggard’s +various novels, which have to be duplicated over +and over again, he would not expect to find more +than sixteen on the shelf at a given moment. +Sir Henry Rider Haggard is not a classic; he +lies on the border between the kind of fiction +to be tolerated and the kind to be encouraged. +Nevertheless, empty shelves are a powerful +argument.</p> + +<p>The following paragraph surely speaks with a +most convincing eloquence of the work public +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>libraries are performing; it is from the prospectus +of the latest London borough to set up a library +system, the borough that has the largest population +of the lower middle class and the poor. This +system is still in its infancy, yet it has achieved +an annual issue of nearly a million volumes, and +the separate uses of its libraries and reading rooms +are estimated, on a count, to number +3,496,000 during the year.</p> + +<p>“The cost of the Public Libraries to each +inhabitant of Islington is one-fifth of a penny per +week. For this outlay each person has at his or +her disposal: Lending libraries containing 75,000 +volumes; Reference Libraries containing 10,000 +volumes; Children’s libraries containing 10,000 +volumes; Reading rooms containing all the best +current newspapers, magazines and periodicals of +importance; and all these resources are constantly +increasing.</p> + +<p>“A penny newspaper daily costs 35 times +as much as this extensive service.”</p> + +<p>Books are not the only wares in which the +lending library deals. Most of them circulate +music in bound volumes, in sheets, in portfolios; +some lend pianola records. Ordnance +Survey maps are issued to ramblers and tourists, +geological maps to students; prints and technical +diagrams and other articles of use to the scientist, +craftsman, or student are sometimes among the +circulating stock.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span></p> + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Reference Libraries.</span></p> + +<p>The lending library is for study and recreation, +the reference library for study and information, +the latter term covering the sources to be explored +by the research student. A reference +library is a much more expensive thing than a +lending collection of the same numerical extent. +Dictionaries, miscellaneous modern encyclopædias, +atlases, many-volumed treatises, books +having costly illustrations, and the numerous and +rapidly multiplying books of inquiry, directories, +year-books, and other compendiums of information, +bibliographies and other registers—all these +find their appropriate home in this department, +where also are stored calendars of state papers, +Annual Registers, Hansard, bound periodicals, +transactions of learned societies, and other +long sets, the risk of mutilating which renders +them unsuitable for lending out. Such works as +the Cambridge History of English Literature and +the Mediæval and Modern Histories are usually +duplicated, one set at least being available for +lending; a host of smaller works, even the expensive +ones, are likewise duplicated when it can be +afforded.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp61" id="i_044fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_044fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <i>Photo by Donald Macbeth.</i> +<br> + + <span class="smcap">Reading Room in the British Museum.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>In the large centres of population, reference +libraries were opened soon after the passing of the +Ewart Act, and they have grown apace, to no +small extent as the result of windfalls in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>shape of gifts or legacies of private collections +amassed by amateurs and other experts. In the +lesser towns, the lending department bulks large +in comparison with the reference department, +which too often has had perforce to be neglected. +The one has been regarded as a necessity, the other +as a luxury that must wait for better times. The +places in the kingdom where a scholar could live +and pursue his tasks with most of his material +within easy reach, in public or semi-public libraries, +can still be counted on the fingers of one hand: +London and Edinburgh, the two ancient university +cities, perhaps Manchester, and possibly +Dublin. These towns have been favoured by +other dispensations than the Public Library Acts. +Yet Liverpool, Birmingham, and Glasgow each +command at least a quarter of a million books in +their reference libraries; and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, +Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff, Nottingham, and +indeed most towns with over 100,000 inhabitants, +possess reference collections respectable in the +size and quality of their contents.</p> + +<p>To regard this department as merely a luxury +is a bad mistake. True, it is not a daily necessity +of life to the average man; but there was a time—there +still is a time in many parts of the country—when +even a lending library is not supposed to be +that. Yet the more lending libraries are used to +good purpose, the greater will be the average +man’s need for a place where he can seek or verify +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span>information of every sort; where the student may +consult the larger works of which his text-books +are but elementary abstracts or expositions, and +find encyclopædias, lexicons, atlases, and commentaries +to aid and elucidate his reading; where +the busy worker, whatever his occupation, may +see the expensive technical treatises and illustrated +monographs that are indispensable to an +intelligent pursuit of his calling. The political +and social worker will find here the statistical +returns, the inventor the Patent Office specifications, +the researcher, if he cannot get all he +wants, will discover where it is to be found from a +liberal supply of catalogues and bibliographies.</p> + +<p>Reference libraries are the obvious complement +to a service of books for home consumption. +The boundary between their domains is not easy +to mark out, nor will any attempt be made here +to answer the favourite question of the gravelled +examiner in library routine: What distinguishes +a reference book from one for the lending library? +In most cases the distinction is obvious; in the +more difficult, local circumstances may settle the +point. Librarians in charge of comparatively +small libraries may well shirk a final verdict, and +allow much latitude in the use of reference books +for lending, and the converse when the lending +library book is in. Thus the whole stock of books +on the premises is at the reader’s disposal without +any pedantic restrictions. As an American authority +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span>sensibly puts it, “Obviously there is no +book that may not be used for ‘reference.’ A +reader who consults one of Anthony Hope’s +stories to ascertain the name of a character or to +refresh his memory in regard to some incident, +without reading it consecutively, is using it as a +reference book.”<a id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Even a magazine or review +may be a work of reference. Back numbers of all +that are worth taking in are worth preserving for +reference purposes; and these, with the bound +sets of past years, should be always available for +use. Energetic librarians index all the important +articles as they come out; the published indexes +to periodicals forming a key to the older numbers. +Lastly, the very newsroom has its place in the +reference scheme, its contents being a daily appendix +to the stores of information in the library. +No department of the library economy should +work in isolation.</p> + +<p>In London, principally through the circumstance +that the twenty-eight boroughs now existing +were preceded by eighty-two parishes, two-thirds +of which had set up libraries for themselves before +the present library districts and borough authorities +came into being in 1902, there are far too +many reference libraries in proportion to lending +libraries. Most of these are of indifferent or inferior +quality, and, if they were suppressed and their +collections centralized in a series of large district +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>reference libraries, few would miss them, and the +general gain would be enormous. All the same, +more numerous ready-reference libraries are +wanted. Every branch library should have a +collection of dictionaries, atlases, and general +encyclopædias, in short all the books that a business +firm, a school, or the like usually provides for +daily use. But, since reference libraries are so +expensive, it is a vain and wasteful policy to duplicate +them at random; and the result is merely a +scattered series of middling libraries, far inferior +to those open to all the world in Birmingham, +Liverpool, and Manchester, with a crippling of +resources in other directions. This is not said to +belittle local effort. The point is that, though +Islington, Westminster, or Chelsea may each build +up a reference library not inferior to that found in +the average provincial town of like population, +Islington, Westminster, and Chelsea are, after all, +parts of London, and the Londoner ought to be +vastly better off than the average provincial—else +why should he stay there?</p> + +<p>Though to one acquainted with the exacting +needs of all grades and varieties of readers the +deficiencies of our reference libraries are evident +enough, it is none the less true that the richness +of their contents and the value they yield to +judicious users are realized by only a fraction of +the public. Librarians have never been allowed +to advertize their wares; a notice in the press +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>such as a university or a State department would +not consider beneath its dignity would have +called down a reprimand and probably a surcharge +from the Government auditor. In a strange town, +the visitor may have some trouble to find out, +first whether a public library exists, and then +where. Advertisements in tramcars and finger-posts +in the street are usually looked for in vain. +Things being so, it is better to lay stress on what +the reference library can and does do than on any +delinquencies, since public opinion is sure to learn +in time from the books that are there to be read, +the immensity of the desiderata. In the cities +previously mentioned as possible abodes for a +worker among books, one may acquire a competent +idea of this immensity. In other large +towns and in several London boroughs, one may +find reference libraries sufficing for the ordinary +demands of all but the specialist and the researcher, +and, in addition, one commonly finds special +collections that attract readers from far away.</p> + +<p>Thus Manchester, besides the ample provision +of general works that everybody would +expect to find on its reference shelves, and a large +mass of works on textiles which would also be +anticipated in the metropolis of Lancashire, has a +fine collection of English dialect literature, others +on music, the gipsies, and shorthand, and in the +Greenwood collection the largest library of works +for librarians in this country. The magnificent +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>Hornby Library of engravings at Liverpool is as +great a pride to the city as its Walker Art Gallery. +Birmingham is famous for its Shakespeare Library, +and possesses smaller collections relating to Milton, +Byron, and Cervantes. The Boulton and Watt +collection is also there. Stratford-on-Avon, again, +is a depot for Shakespeare literature, having the +memorial building and the valuable collection +housed at the birth-place as well as the town library. +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, owns the Bewick collection, +Northampton the library of the poet Clare, Nottingham +another accumulation of Byron literature +and association books, Kilmarnock a Burns library, +Glasgow among its many special sections a vast +collection including not only Burns material but +Scottish literature in general; Bristol is rich in +works concerned with Chatterton, Cardiff specializes +in Welsh books, though the National Library +of Wales, at Aberystwyth, designed to be a British +Museum for the principality, is fast outstripping +this as a storehouse of Celtic literature in the wider +sense. A library is fulfilling only its obvious +duty by specializing in the staple industry. At +Stoke-on-Trent, however, the valuable library of +ceramics collected by Louis Solon, and acquired +after his death by the Carnegie United Kingdom +Trust, has been placed, not in the public library, +but in the National Pottery School, where the +library of the Ceramic Society is also housed.</p> + +<p>Many London libraries specialize in the same +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>useful way, sometimes in response to local needs, +sometimes as the accidental result of local associations. +At Guildhall is the national Dickens +library, at Hampstead the Keats collection, at +Chelsea one devoted to Carlyle. The Bishopsgate +Institute vies with Guildhall and St. Paul’s +Cathedral Library in a huge collection of London +books, prints, maps, and other miscellanea. The +typographical library at the St. Bride Foundation +contains the notable collection of William Blades, +biographer of Caxton. But to consider London +without taking into account the public and semi-public +libraries that are not under the Acts, many +of them highly individualized in the nature of their +resources, and fitted to fulfil definite functions in +the national library machine, would be absurd; +and to treat them properly would require a +volume. In fact, the volume exists, though it +makes only modest and tentative suggestions for +the wider application of all this intellectual wealth, +much of which is lying dormant or only half-used.<a id="FNanchor_5_5" href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>It goes without saying that every provincial +reference library worthy of the name has a local +collection of some importance. Most county +towns collect county literature, and other large +places have their regional collections. Regional +surveys are largely carried on now by schools and +local organizations, often with the library and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>its local collections as their central depository, +and at all events helping and helped by the +library. Some public libraries have been made +depositories for the local records, and there is a +strong case for conferring or imposing this duty +upon them by law. A librarian, properly trained +in palæography and the treatment of archives, +is the right sort of custodian; a well-appointed +library is the right place for the safe preservation, +calendaring, and public use of documents. The +historian, social student, biographer, and genealogist +would always know then where to go for local +information not to be found in London.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp59" id="i_052fp" style="max-width: 60.9375em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_052fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">Guildhall Library.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>There are many other abiblia which Charles +Lamb himself would approve that are rightly +supplied in generous measure by a good reference +library: modern maps, both of our own country +and of the world, those of the neighbourhood within +a wide radius, including large-scale Ordnance +maps, accompanied by older maps of historical +importance; prints and drawings in well-organized +series, and lantern-slides for illustrating +library lectures, or even to be issued on loan. +The systematic collections of lantern-slides at the +Croydon Public Library will be mentioned again +later on. In this enterprising library numerous +other things are collected and made accessible for +general use; for example, illustrations, cut out +and preserved, not because of their individual +merit as prints, but because of the value they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>acquire in organized sets illustrating definite subjects. +They are mounted in uniform style and +classified in vertical files; thus they are available +for reference purposes, and may be borrowed by +teachers to illustrate lessons in class. Croydon +has about 12,000 such illustrations, and the stock +is constantly growing. Photographs of lace, +woodwork, astronomical phenomena, and other +subjects are collected on similar lines, and lent in +sets to artists, craftsmen, and students. The +vertical file in which the Manchester commercial +library stores its press clippings and other items +of information will be mentioned later; it is an +object-lesson in the preservation, classification, +and indexing of material which was erstwhile +discarded as soon as it had served the moment’s +use, a lesson in the value created out of the well-nigh +valueless by mere organization; and teachers +and business organizers have not failed to bring +their pupils and their staffs to study what sheer +method can accomplish.</p> + + +<p>But the whole library should be an object-lesson +of high educational value. A large, well-organized +collection of books, especially if the +public be admitted to the interior, is a graphic +example of method and order, not to mention +the enormous increment of value given to any +stock of material by systematic indexing. The +art of classification is not only an excellent mental +discipline, but may be applied with advantage +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>in every province of business and life. Though a +classification of books is not the same thing as a +classification of things, and may depart widely +from the exactness of logical theory, there is no +better way of inculcating the benefits of system +than by allowing the reader to find his way from +shelf to shelf, and follow the tracks pointed out for +him to other book-cases the contents of which are +more distantly connected with his subject. It is +superfluous to point out the assistance the library +gives in the choice of books, not only to the reader +who relies on it for his whole supply, but on the +book-lover and the purchaser of books. Of the aid +offered to the student and the potential student, +over and above the library organism itself as an +efficient reading machine, more will be said under +the heading of library extension. In American +libraries certain members of the staff are told off +for “floor duty,” that is, to keep a sympathetic +eye on persons looking out books and to offer +guidance. It is a duty calling for high attainments +and insight into the particular requirements and +idiosyncrasies of readers. It would be unfair to +say it is a duty unfulfilled in libraries over here, +since the more active public libraries are beginning +to organize themselves as real bureaux of information; +but in the precise form just described it is +practically unknown. Our method is to be ready +with advice when it is asked for; and in big +libraries, such as the British Museum, it is the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>most useful kind of advice, that of the specialist, +which is our particular forte. Yet we still repeat, +“The librarian who reads is lost!” More specialism, +not less, is what we want.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Newsrooms and Magazine Rooms.</span></p> + +<p>Among the old-established departments the +reading rooms where newspapers and other periodical +literature are displayed must, to judge by +statistics of use, take a foremost place. Hundreds +of thousands enter these newsrooms daily, twice +as many as come into the lending libraries. Until +the question was raised ten years ago by the late +J. D. Brown, a librarian who attempted reconstruction +in library administration long before the +word began to be written with a big R, it seemed +the most natural and unchallengeable thing in the +world to put a newsroom in every library building +and furnish it with a motley array of dailies and +weeklies of all denominations. Brown induced the +committee of the Islington Public Libraries to +reform the reading room in a drastic way. No +newspaper except the “Times” was provided +for public consumption, though the advertisement +columns were cut out from others and posted for +the benefit of the unemployed.</p> + +<p>This violent departure from routine did bring +out the fact that newsrooms, at any rate as they +were and as they are at present, occupy a somewhat +illogical position. At first sight, there hardly +seems any better justification for their inclusion +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>in a library than that they also provide reading +matter. But it is reading matter, too often, of a +very different and doubtful kind; and the awkward +fact that it is not the same people who use +the newsroom that use the library, in short that +the library proper and the newsroom, but for an +inconsiderable overlap, cater for two different +publics, gives occasion for thought.</p> + +<p>To put it roundly, the proper place in the +library scheme for the newspaper and its like has +never been thought out. Brown went too far, +and the library which was the scene of this experiment +is now furnished with a careful selection +of newspapers as well as with magazines and reviews +of good standing. But he gave the problem +serious thought. In the various public reading rooms +which were under his care, he saw to it that the +right kind of periodicals were provided, and the +best of each kind. Among his many publications +on library practice was a classified and annotated +list of English and foreign periodicals, which ought +to have done even more than it has to help provide +something far better and more scientific than +the mere hotchpotch of journalism with which too +many tables are littered. Here again, economy of +the baser sort has been the offender; for the +poorest journalism is, of course, the cheapest, +and a steady provision of the high-class periodicals +recommended by Brown is an expensive drain on +slender funds.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp68" id="i_056fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_056fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">Reading Room, Stepney Public Library.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> +<p>The library cannot do without the newspaper +any more than it can do without the review, the +technical periodical, and the learned society’s +journal. All of these are necessary supplements to +the books, since they are records of new knowledge; +and they require the same care in selection, +the guiding principle of which must be a clear idea +of what they are there for. The much-debated +dictum that history is past politics and politics +current history needs no debate as a reason why +the leading newspapers and the weekly reviews +should be accessible in public libraries. Almost +every one takes in a paper suited to his opinions: +the public newsroom should give the opportunity +of studying other opinions, and also of checking +information by comparison of different sources +and versions that conflict. The newsroom is to +the library as the open-air excursion to the botany +class, the laboratory to the lecture-room. Here +theory and doctrine are seen in action; applied +politics, applied sociology, all the different phases +of the science of life set forth in books illustrated, +tested, verified, or confuted. Which study is of +more importance than the other? Fortunately, +that is a futile question: the relevant one is, how +incalculably each gains by conjunction with the +other.</p> + +<p>There is no need to provide the paper that +every one buys. Nor are those that deal in police +news, divorce cases, spice and sensation, the journals +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>that a public institution is called upon to buy. +The most authoritative journals, representing +each of the recognized parties, weekly reviews of +similar credentials, and the leading provincial +organs, are all that need be supplied in this group. +Even in a large and prosperous library, it is better +to duplicate such than to make too wide a selection. +Subsidized journals, sent gratis by political +or social cliques or by advertising agents, might +as well be rejected altogether; where they are +accepted, the approved course is to pigeon-hole +them until there is an applicant. The least approved +is to employ this worthless stuff to cover +serious gaps, and offer the public a stone when it +asks for bread. A library committee should feel +the same responsibility for a newspaper as for a +book. By admitting either, they virtually give it +a public guarantee.</p> + +<p>But if the newspaper is to be treated as the +organ of current history, then the newspaper room +should be equipped with every facility for rendering +current history real and intelligible. Maps +of every part of the world should be hung over +the reading stands. The room itself should be in +the closest contiguity with the reference library, +and should contain a ready-reference collection +on open shelves, enabling readers to consult +dictionaries, encyclopædias, statistical year-books, +compendiums of geography, and other sources of +general information as they read. That it should +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>not be separated from the reading room where the +periodical magazines and reviews are kept goes +without saying. Files of such as are preserved +should be close at hand. All this means that the +reading room for newspapers will be another +expensive department; yet the policy of making +it a vital part of the whole library undertaking is +in the long run economic. Here, surely, that +training for citizenship which so many are preaching +may be carried on without the features that +make it objectionable to the old-fashioned party +man. The existence of public newsrooms where +the daily papers are read intelligently and their +pronouncements checked and compared, might, +in the course of time, react healthily on the daily +press itself.</p> + +<p>As to the lighter class of periodical, the same +discretion has to be exercised in shunning the +frivolous and worthless as an intelligent and +responsible committee, not devoid of a sense of +humour, would display in handling fiction. It is +high time that the policy of treating this department +as a kind of bait for the unregenerate, something +to make the library popular, were abandoned. +It is a delusive policy, grounded on two +false assumptions—the first, that it is our duty to +get people to read, no matter what they read; +the second, that if you start them reading and +bring them into the library they will eventually +proceed to higher things. Every librarian knows +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>that the habitual consumer of silly and pernicious +reading-matter never can, without some almost +miraculous change of mind, be taught to read and +enjoy anything else. If you lure him with rubbish, +you are encouraging tastes that are a greater +obstacle to library progress than absolute illiteracy; +you are putting obstacles in the road you +propose to take him. The remark of an American +librarian about certain popular novelists, that +the people who like that sort of thing would be +more sensible and better educated had they never +learned to read, applies even more forcibly to the +besotted victims of our periodicals of the baser +sort. But the mere fact that the public who kill +time with this sort of chewing-gum are not the +public that borrow books or use the reference +library, at once disposes of such a plea. By all +means, let us have light literature, but let it be +literature, and not an unrecognizable imitation.</p> + +<p>Much, however, and far the largest amount +of the material in a well-appointed reading room +will not be literature at all, but simply information. +In the chief London and many provincial libraries +a large number of scientific and technical periodicals +are taken, including publications of research +societies and a good many foreign periodicals. +More are required, and, as our public libraries +are able to spend more money, one at least in +each large area of population ought to be as well +provided in this respect as are the science libraries +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>at South Kensington, the university libraries, or, +say, the Manchester Literary and Philosophical +Institution, to take a good provincial example. +These publications are as necessary as it is to keep +editions of scientific and technical books thoroughly +up to date. Their contents should be fully +accessible, and to ensure this every library must +subscribe to the Subject-Index to Periodicals. +A practice increasing in frequency is that of indexing +the current periodicals as they arrive, and +mounting the entries in a mechanical guard-book +or vertical file. Such libraries as possess a stock of +long sets will naturally be provided with Poole’s +and the other older indexes to periodicals; even +libraries not possessing such long sets ought to +have the indexes, for the same reason as they +have other bibliographical guides, namely, to show +inquirers in what books or periodicals information +exists, an intelligent staff being relied upon to +point out in what nearest libraries the books or +periodicals are to be found.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Special Reading Rooms.</span></p> + +<p>Not much is to be said nowadays in favour +of separate reading rooms for ladies; the segregation +of the sexes is going out of fashion, even in +railway travelling. Yet they are still provided; +for instance, the fine library building now all but +completed at Dunfermline has a ladies’ room +worthy of its scale and dignity. Far more urgent +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span>is the need for separate rooms where students can +read and write in peace and quiet; children’s +reading rooms will be discussed under another +head. The Adult Education Committee wisely +emphasized this desirability. “It is, in our view, +essential that in all public libraries, in addition +to the usual reading room where newspapers and +magazines are consulted, there should be a room +for the purposes of study. It is too often forgotten +that many students have no place where +they can study in comfort. It is also most desirable +that all public libraries should possess a room +large enough to be used for classes, lectures, and +discussions.”<a id="FNanchor_6_6" href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> The latter requirement should +have been framed differently. A lecture room is +not a good class room. Every library should have +its lecture room; it should also have one or more +small rooms suitable for classes, tutorial or other, +of the cosy size and character that help so much +to bring out comradeship and intimacy. Whoever +has tried to conduct a seminar numbering +more than a dozen members will have experienced +how difficult it is to break down shyness and +evoke a frank and genuine exchange of thought. +Rooms that are small and intimate are wanted +for reading circles and discussions; at a pinch, +the study room can be utilized; but both purposes +must be served, and often at the same hour. The +need for still other rooms dedicated to special +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>uses will appear when we deal with the various +forms of library extension.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">The Children’s Department.</span></p> + +<p>During the nineties of last century a good +many libraries began to allot separate reading +rooms to the children, at first, as a rule, to boys +only, but later to boys and girls, sometimes in +separation, sometimes together. At first experimental +and subsidiary, this children’s reading +room, usually combined with a children’s library, +has come to be an essential part of the modern +public library: those that are without it have no +claim to be considered modern. Its relative importance +varies according to the views of different +committees and librarians, and also according to +the local ability or willingness to meet the heavy +cost of running such a department on proper lines. +When we remember that the children are our +future reading public, and when, taking a broader +view, we imagine what it would have meant had +every man and woman been trained from childhood +in the intelligent use of books, we see how +impossible it is to overrate this side of public +library work. We must treat the child in the +library in the most liberal, sympathetic, and +respectful way. We must give the child in our +libraries and reading rooms, from the outset, all +the privileges and dignity of a citizen, and the +future of our libraries and reading rooms will be +ensured.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span></p> +<p>Birkenhead seems to have been the first town +to become alive to the need of special provision for +the youngest readers. Child readers enjoyed the +advantage of a special section in the lending library +there as long ago as 1865, and a few years later +they were furnished with a separate catalogue +of the children’s library. At Nottingham, a benevolent +M.P., the late Samuel Morley, gave a sum +in 1882 to found a separate building for children. +These English libraries laid the first stone; but +it was in American libraries that most of the building +now took place. In the United States, the +mere children’s corner rapidly developed into the +separate library and reading room, and then +gradually into a very peculiar and admirable +thing, the children’s room—a distinct department, +under the control of persons trained to work with +children. It is a sort of autonomous children’s +institute, combining something of the kindergarten +with a well-planned school library ministering +to both teaching and recreation. There are +readable books to be read on the spot or taken +home; works of reference to help in doing school +work and make this more interesting; pictures, +statuettes, and miscellaneous exhibits, which have +more meaning given them by reading courses, +talks, and illustrated lectures; and, finally, there +is the story-telling—an art on which the American +librarian pins much faith as a mode of awakening +interest and evoking the right atmosphere before +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>a child reads books on any given subject.</p> + +<p>In this country, the Junior Library at Croydon +is perhaps as near an approach as any we +have made to the American idea. It occupies one +of the largest rooms in the central building, and +combines the functions of lending and reference +library and magazine room. There is a platform +and a lantern screen; ferns and other plants are +dotted about. Any child of school age is admissible +on the recommendation of a teacher. The +librarian in charge and the one assistant do nothing +but work for children; the children make it possible +for them to carry out an extremely full and +varied programme by acting as voluntary helpers, +and are trained to serve at the counter, put books +back in classified order on the shelves, and act as +monitors. Others are drilled in groups for various +duties, such as cutting out and mounting pictures +for the great cyclopædia of illustrations, lettering +posters, writing up bulletins of topical information +for their fellow-readers. Lectures are delivered +once a week at least, and story hours come +much oftener. The children’s librarian takes +classes brought from the schools, and explains the +value of classification or the use and pleasures of +books. Teachers, also, are allowed to use the +children’s library at times as a class-room, illustrating +lessons from the books and other exhibits +there. Sometimes a class is brought and the +children are simply allowed to browse at will. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span>The collection of pictures is utilized in many +ways. Sets of illustrations are hung on green baise +screens to illustrate current events, the seasons of +the year, the birthdays of notable men, and so on, +with lists of the books in the library on the subjects +to which the children have been introduced. A +large part of the librarian’s time is taken up with +showing the young readers how to find their way +about among the reference books, and how to make +the easiest and most remunerative use of these +in their school lessons and their private hobbies. +But the children are also gradually trained to help +each other, and eventually to help the librarian +in the daily routine of what they soon come to +regard as their own library; they grow, in fact, +into a sort of union society, running all sorts of +affairs on their own account, with the official +but not too officious eye directing and assisting +rather than controlling their efforts. They might +be compared to a group of patrols under a scoutmaster. +The library in the children’s room contains +about 4,000 volumes, and issues from 1,000 +to 1,200 every week; in the period of five months +from the report on which many of these details are +taken, 1,200 new borrowers enrolled themselves.</p> + +<p>Discipline, of course, must be maintained; +this is essential to smooth working; but it must +be evoked rather than imposed. Only the right +sort of person, having had the right sort of training, +even if born with the right disposition, is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>competent to evoke it and at the same time keep +the children friendly, happy, and occupied with +interesting things. Scores of children’s reading +rooms have been a failure from the lack of +this well-qualified superintendent. It is a waste +of time to try running them as a minor department, +to be committed to the hands of each junior +assistant as his turn comes on the time-sheet. +A mob of youngsters idling their time away and +making the pleasant place a bear-garden would be +the certain result. One common mistake that has +a bad initial effect is to make the junior readers +enter the library at a separate door, usually +guarded by a special custodian who is a martinet. +This preliminary insult to a child’s dignity is, +perhaps unconsciously, resented; it strikes a +wrong note. The idea that he or she must be +segregated from grown-up readers subtly provokes +a spirit precisely the opposite of that which needs +to be cultivated. It is more fatal than the contrary +mistake of pampering and idolizing children. +Put him or her on nearly the same footing as +their elders; mutual deference is infinitely better +than the eighteenth century doctrine that every +child is either a limb of Satan or a little imbecile.</p> + +<p>To attain full success, librarian, teacher, and +parents must learn to co-operate. Few parents +take any interest in what their children read, +and those few often take too much; they do not +understand that coercion, or even a too didactic +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span>purpose, is fatal to the true object of an apprenticeship +to reading, and will assuredly not lead +children to love and enjoy reading, or to discover +for themselves the values it can give to their own +interests and pleasures. Until parents in general +are capable of taking a wise interest, it is better +perhaps that they should remain as indifferent as +most parents are. In the fulness of time, when our +children’s rooms are less markedly inferior to those +across the Atlantic, when each has an adequate +staff of persons trained for this highly specialized +work, and teachers understand how much can be +done by suggestion to direct the child’s reading +and so lighten their own labours in teaching, by +then the parent will doubtless have learned to take +a proper share of interest and responsibility. All +this cannot be achieved in one generation. We +have now had public libraries for three-quarters +of a century; but, for the arrears of intelligent +use we have to make up, we might have only just +begun experimenting with them.</p> + +<p>The secret of success is to bring out the child’s +own initiative. This, it may be taken for granted, +is not a tendency to original sin. Good taste, like +good art, is at bottom a natural thing: a misguided +belief that it must be painfully instilled +has done more than aught else to pervert it. +Children perceive as much instinctively; hence +their suspicion of well-meant efforts to put them +on the right paths. A boy will hate even <i>Robinson +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span>Crusoe</i> if he is told he must read it; rather let +him discover the realms of gold for himself. All +which means that children want handling in +matters of taste with a refined skill to which the +mere common sense and tact required by the adult +reader in a library is nothing. It means, again, +that though the children’s librarian is sometimes +born, when he, or rather she, has to be made, the +making is an important and highly specialized +process.</p> + +<p>Other obvious points must be borne in mind, +by teachers, parents, and librarians. The mere +posture in reading, and the need for a good light +at the proper angle, are not minor points, for bad +habits in this respect are ruinous and alarmingly +common. Many children read far too much. +They must not be allowed to become bookworms; +the parent ought to see that they have a healthy +outdoor life, and the teacher that the charms of +the book-world do not lead to the neglect of +tasks set at school. Steady co-operation with the +teachers in leading children to find in books aids +to the business and the pleasures of life, is characteristic +of those library systems where the +children’s department has been given its due +place in the scheme, and is not a mere side-show, +ignorantly mismanaged and not thought worth +spending money on. It is characteristic, for +instance, of the admirable group of children’s +libraries and reading rooms in the Islington Public +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span>Libraries, with its stock of 10,000 volumes set +aside for the junior clients. There are numerous +others in London and the provinces where co-operation +is carried on in some form or another; +but differences of opinion on the comparative +merits of school libraries and of the library in the +children’s reading room make for differences of +method. Yet access to a school library does not +render the public library any the less valuable +to an intelligent child; and there ought to be the +fullest mutual understanding and the keenest +desire to help each other between librarian and +teacher.</p> + +<p>The fare provided in the children’s department +consists, not only of books, but also of the +best juvenile magazines, together with a sprinkling +of illustrated weeklies and monthlies intended +by the producers for readers of any age. Easy +French magazines are sometimes provided. On +the reference shelves stand suitable encyclopædias, +atlases and gazetteers, dictionaries of several +languages, works on local history and topography, +illustrated natural histories, the works of the +poets, and many other books that are likely to +prove useful to children in their home work. The +choice of books for children is a different thing +now from what it was before the advent of +Kingsley, Kingston, and Kipling. With a few +exceptions, the didactic trash that constituted +the whole stock of children’s literature a century +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span>ago may now be jettisoned, along with a still +greater volume of more recent lumber depressingly +written down to the childish intellect. Any +modern author, for children or any one else, +knows, if he knows his business at all, that the first +thing to avoid is the habit or affectation or process +of writing down to an inferior mind. Lewis +Carroll, Sir James Barrie, Walter de la Mare +conquered the child by writing as children themselves, +and writing their best, writing with all their +genius and with all the gusto due to things that are +high and serious. Didactic writing is always bad. +It cannot help being bad. The moment a writer +begins to think of his audience instead of his +subject, he becomes self-conscious and artificial. +Worst of all when he has the effrontery to think of +that audience as inferior to himself, and tries to +adapt his thoughts to feebler understandings. +Children are not slower than those of riper age to +detect the false note, and be insulted by the condescension. +Thus it is far better to offer children +books that have been written for their elders than +such as have been manufactured on the plan of +mild adulteration. In fact, a very large proportion +of the best books in the junior library belong +to this higher category. <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> and +<i>Gulliver</i> are obvious examples; <i>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</i> +is another; <i>Kidnapped</i> will be received as warmly +as <i>Treasure Island</i> or <i>The Black Arrow</i>, and if +<i>Lavengro</i> has not such a universal appeal there +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>will be no hesitation about <i>The Cloister and the +Hearth</i>. Many of the novels of Blackmore and +Stanley Weyman, most of Dickens’s, some of +Thackeray’s and all of Scott’s are on the shelves +of every good children’s library; and Jane Austen, +Mrs. Gaskell, and some at any rate of George +Eliot’s novels will meet the taste of girls. Many +works of travel, some histories, and biographies +not a few, such as the delightful life of Frank +Buckland, are as much in place here as in the senior +library; and among the poets and essayists the +same freedom of choice may safely be exercised. +Both publishers and librarians are now at one in +seeing that there is nothing shoddy in the format +of the books provided for children any more than +in their contents; good paper, readable print, +and illustrations of artistic merit, are becoming +the rule. In the last-named particular children’s +books at the present day are immensely superior +to the volumes of popular fiction that seem to be +perfectly satisfactory to thousands who are obviously +their elders, but hardly their betters.</p> + +<p>The advantages of a closer relationship between +education authorities and library authorities +are manifest both in children’s rooms in +libraries and children’s libraries in schools. The +library is certainly part of the educational fabric. +On the one hand, the teacher is aided enormously +by the child’s work in the library, all the more if +that work is spontaneous and enjoyable; on the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span>other hand, the children who find out the vital +part a library can play in their work and recreations, +who have become familiar with books of +reference and periodicals, with the uses of catalogues, +the vistas opened by files, albums, and +indexes, and the order and intelligibility brought +about by a clear system of classification, will have +acquired something of inestimable value in the +process of self-development to be carried on long +after school-days are over. The Adult Education +Committee were of opinion that the intimate +relationship required could not exist without a +common administration; and they would accordingly +have placed all our public libraries under +the care of the education authorities. There is no +need at this point to discuss their proposals, +beyond assenting to the argument for the closest +bond between school and library. Even if they +continue to be managed by different authorities, +all library activities in the schools should be worked +from the library. Whether school libraries are +stationary or circulating collections, they should +be administered from the children’s library as the +base, and their complementary relation thereto +should be an important fact in the mind of every +child reader.</p> + +<p>In England it must not be hastily +assumed that every town or even the majority +are blessed with all the facilities described above +for the benefit of children. Only a few have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span>faced the problem seriously, and hardly any have +faced the expense of a thorough service. A town +like Toronto employs twenty-one assistant-librarians +in the mere work of supervising the school +libraries, and many American cities have much +larger staffs engaged on this alone. It is obvious, +at all events, that no library authority can be expected +to carry on such an undertaking except at +the cost of the sister authority, ready though it +may be to furnish the knowledge and experience +of a trained staff. Common administration, or at +least harmonious administration under departments +of the same supreme body, seems a logical +consequence.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_074fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_074fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">Patent Office Library.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Commercial and Industrial Libraries.</span></p> + +<p>Libraries, like the books they house and distribute, +have multiplex reasons for their existence. +Their highest aim, like that of education itself, +is to promote the mental and spiritual life of the +community; they are humanist foundations. +But the race must be conserved; our daily needs +must be satisfied. National safety, liberty to +develop ourselves, the economy of our physical +existence, must be assured, or humanism is a +chimera. Our libraries must perform their necessary +part in the functions we label utilitarian, +without, however, omitting or slackening in their +higher purposes. A general library, in short, is +concerned not only with human knowledge, but +also with every human interest and activity; not +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span>only with science, philosophy, theory, but with all +the practical arts, those which are for the preservation, +as well as those which are for the highest +development of humanity. In the department of +the public library now to be considered these +material objects are the main concern. A modern +commercial library is something utterly different +from any library heretofore considered. Here, +as an advocate of more and better commercial +and technical libraries puts it, “The humanist +will have to give way to the economist and man of +science.”</p> + +<p>From their earliest years, public libraries have +admitted these claims, and they have put forth +special efforts to supply the peculiar needs of the +working classes. The nature of the industries +carried on has been the chief factor determining the +directions in which the stock of books should +differ in any given locality from what may be +described as the standard selection. Text-books +on such industries and their subsidiary subjects, +illustrated treatises and other expensive works of +reference, have been provided as liberally as funds +permitted; and the same attention has been paid +to the local trades and professions. Certain +obvious restrictions must be allowed for, besides +limited resources. Few places have been able to +provide a law library or an extensive collection of +medical books. The solicitor usually has his own +book-case of legal literature, and so with the physician +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span>and surgeon; they also have access to large +professional libraries. Nevertheless, if the public +library seems to disregard certain professions, +it is rather on the score of expense and of limited +demands than that it disclaims its duty. A +national system of libraries would certainly have +to provide for these classes, probably by organizing +a central supply and loans to the nearest +library, in the way proposed for dealing with the +more advanced and costly technical works for +industries.</p> + +<p>The working mechanic, the small manufacturer, +the factory workman, the technical student, +and the tradesman are in a more necessitous condition; +they cannot give a standing order for all +the newest manuals, they have no professional +library from which to borrow. In highly technical +industries, only the largest firms can afford to keep +abreast of the rapid growth in scientific knowledge; +and to do it they must install, not only a +costly arsenal of books, digests, and periodicals +recording the fruits of research, but also a special +staff to extract, register, and index the most recent +information. So rapid is the rate of progress +in all departments of knowledge that books are +quickly left behind, and the proceedings of scientific +societies, technical periodicals, and even the +daily press, must be systematically ransacked by +the information bureau, if a progressive firm is to +be sure of utilizing every invention and improvement +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span>in the fullest economic way. Andrew +Carnegie said that his own firm wasted hundreds +of thousands of dollars through failing at first to +provide their managers with the fullest information +on what had been done throughout the +world in their departments. Is the public library +to confine itself to the narrower mission of assisting +the needy worker, or to launch out on this more +ambitious project, and compete with the skilled +staff work employed by the wealthy industrial +corporation? After all, the wealthy corporation +has contributed in proportion to its rateable assets +to the upkeep of the library, and has, on the face +of it, as good a claim to some return as the meanest +ratepayer, unless the original idea that the public +library was only for the working classes is still +to prevail. If the public library were, in the full +sense, a working part of the machinery for national +welfare, there could be no doubt about the answer. +As it is, only a few of the more prosperous and +energetic libraries have accepted the larger obligation; +and, even so, no British library can be compared +with the great commercial libraries of +America, with such a foundation as the Commercial +Museum of Philadelphia, with its exhaustive +collections of technical and business information +and its staff of consulting specialists, or with the +Institute of Commerce at Antwerp.</p> + +<p>The utter inability of the public library service +to cope with the requirements of industry and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span>commerce was growing more manifest before +the war. It was true then as now that no single +library could satisfy the technical needs even of its +own district, and that some system of mutual aid +and central supply must be devised to supplement +the finest local provision. With the violent awakening +to the lack of organization of our resources +which the war brought about, the problem came +into clearer focus. The Library Association took +the matter up with due seriousness in 1916, first +inquiring into the best methods of developing the +scientific and technical departments of public +libraries, and then into the collateral problem of +commercial libraries. The dual subject was before +the important annual conference of 1917, and +strong resolutions were passed in favour of establishing +commercial libraries in the chief centres of +trade, and technical libraries in all large manufacturing +towns, in both cases as an integral part +of the public library systems.<a id="FNanchor_7_7" href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Since then, the +Technical and Commercial Libraries Committee +appointed by the Association has put together a +mass of evidence on the subject, and has carried +on a vigorous propaganda. Their views did not, +however, meet with the full approval of the Adult +Education Committee, who inclined to the representations +of the Committee of the Privy Council +for Scientific and Industrial Research that an +independent series of technical libraries should be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span>created in connexion with industries rather than +with the existing libraries.<a id="FNanchor_8_8" href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The weak point of the +Library Association’s case had been a certain +vagueness as to the methods by which, and the +particular authority by whom, their admirable +proposals should be carried into effect. Although +they acknowledged that the work could not be +done on a proper scale by the public libraries unassisted, +or without some measure of co-operation, +they hesitated to recommend that the public +libraries should be organized into a reciprocating +system for the purpose. They declined to say +who, in their opinion, should set up and who should +control the machinery of co-operation, or precisely +what the “measures of co-operation” +should be. This, of course, is the essential point +of any scheme for concerted action, and the rival +project of the Adult Education Committee, unfortunate +as it must appear to any one experienced +in the working of libraries and alive to the wastefulness +of duplication, at any rate was free from +this defect.</p> + +<p>The question between the rival proposals now +lies in abeyance. It is as well that it should lie +there, till a more constructive plan is put forward +on behalf of the public libraries. The country +cannot afford to set up an independent system of +libraries at a time when expenditure must be +adjusted to strict necessities; it would be uneconomic +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span>to do so at any time. Whatever the +shortcomings of the nation’s libraries, shortcomings +due to the nation’s neglect in the past, +these libraries are a going concern, a machine well +able to carry a larger load, under which indeed +they would run all the better and at a lower rate +per output. How absurd to erect new machinery +when the old wants only a little oiling! The +proposals of the Adult Education Committee are +mistaken; those of the Library Association are +defective. The theorist failed to call in the expert: +the expert suffered from obtuseness of vision. +Will they come together now to talk it over?</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the public libraries have been +strengthening their collections of technical literature, +and commercial libraries have actually been +established as an offshoot of the central library at +Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Leeds, Bradford, +Bristol, and Manchester, whilst at Norwich, +Northampton, Bolton, Croydon, and Rochdale parts +of the library have been set aside as business +sections, and catalogues or guide-books printed +showing how their contents may be utilized with +the maximum of ease and profit. The advent of +the commercial library has done more at a single +blow to rouse the public imagination than any +other event in the history of public libraries. +Business men, who had been indifferent to mere +accumulations of literature, found in this new +species of library, containing hardly a single +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span>volume that Charles Lamb would have dignified +with the name of a book, a bureau performing +gratis all the useful services that the wealthy +business concern obtains at exorbitant expense +from its large office library or department of information. +Within a year, the Glasgow librarian +was able to report that 30,000 visits had been paid +to the new establishment by business people, and a +large number of inquiries by letter, telephone, +or telegram satisfactorily answered. The average +daily consultations during the first year at Manchester, +by all sorts of persons from managing +directors to messengers, was three hundred.<a id="FNanchor_9_9" href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> In +Bristol last year the consultations of books, +periodicals, files, and indexes totalled 51,181. +Elsewhere the tale is the same.</p> + +<p>A more particular account of the Manchester +Commercial Library, the latest to be opened, will +indicate the distinctive features and functions of +these new departments. Its quarters are a large +room in the Royal Exchange, in the heart of the +business region of the city: here it was inaugurated +by the Lord Mayor on October 23rd, 1919. +A handbook stating its aims and explaining its +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span>uses was issued, in which it is pointed out that the +commercial library is there to provide “any and +every kind of commercial information that may +be obtained from printed matter, and such additional +information as it may be possible to procure +from public or private sources; and for the +collection, arrangement, and cataloguing of such +printed matter, so as to render it quickly and conveniently +available for inquirers and readers. It is +not a technical library; those who want books on +processes of manufacture must consult the collection +in the reference library in Piccadilly. +Its object is to cater for the man who markets +commodities, and buys and sells them; not for +the man who makes them.”</p> + +<p>In the fittings, furniture, and apparatus +many new devices have been introduced, such as +the contrivance for mounting and storing maps +on vertical cylinders, and for displaying them flat +on large tables—a method that has certain advantages, +especially when a number of different maps +have to be consulted in turn. But the most +striking and in many respects the most useful +piece of library mechanism is the vertical file. +This is a vast accumulation of cuttings from newspapers +and other sources, systematically arranged, +in which any item of information that may be +of service to the business man is preserved and +made available for instant reference by a subject +index. About 100,000 clippings had been laid +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span>in, arranged, and indexed by March, 1921; and +this home-made encyclopædia, this vast inquire-within, +enabled the staff to answer off-hand a +large percentage of the miscellaneous queries +coming in from hour to hour.<a id="FNanchor_10_10" href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The periodicals +taken number over two hundred, and include a +good many foreign publications. The latest +maps are added to the collection as they appear, +and the atlases include several that can hardly be +found elsewhere, at least in places accessible to +the public. Thus the contents of the library are +multiform, books, pamphlets, leaflets, charts, +tables, as well as press cuttings; all are minutely +classified, and graphic methods of subject-cataloguing +make it easy to trace the most out-of-the-way +information. Here is the summary of the +contents given by the official handbook:—</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">The Contents of the Library.</span></p> + +<p>These may be roughly summarized as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Directories.</i>—These embrace the whole of the +United Kingdom, some of the British Colonies, +along with other countries of the world, +and the principal cities of the United States +and Canada. Many important trades are +represented by trade directories and year +books. There is a Post Office Telephone +Directory for the United Kingdom.</p> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Periodicals.</i>—A careful selection has been made +of over 150 trade periodicals from all parts +of the world.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Parliamentary Publications.</i>—The varied and most +valuable publications of the British Government, +bearing, either in whole or part, on +commercial interests, are received regularly as +issued.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Chambers of Commerce Reports.</i>—These include +Chambers at home, and in many foreign +countries—Brazil, Egypt, South Africa, Australia, +India, Norway, Sweden, &c. The +collection of Chamber of Commerce year +books is of value as illustrating the industries +of the different towns in the United Kingdom.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Codes.</i>—A.B.C., Bentley, Lieber, Lieber’s Five +Letter, Scott’s Western Union, &c.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Dictionaries.</i>—English, French, German, Spanish, +Italian, Portuguese, Russian.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Tables.</i>—Calculating tables and tables of foreign +exchanges.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Text-books.</i>—Commercial law, banking, advertising, +accountancy, office methods, insurance, +business organization, tariffs, salesmanship, +transportation, raw materials, and +the commercial side of textiles and engineering, +are represented on the shelves by the +most recent books.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span></p> +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Trade Catalogues.</i>—These are collected purely +from the point of view of the value of the +information contained in them, or as types +of catalogue production. At present a beginning +only has been made, many firms not +having published catalogues during the war. +The catalogues are classified and catalogued +in the same way as other books.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><i>Maps and Atlases.</i>—Commercial routes and different +countries are well represented, and the +best of the new maps and atlases will be +added when published.</p> +</div> + +<p>Parliamentary command papers dealing with +commercial matters are received on publication, +and liberal assistance is given by the Department +of Overseas Trade, Chambers of Commerce both +home and foreign, trade societies, business firms, +and British consuls and trade commissioners. +Bulletins are issued by the library month by +month, giving lists of books on accountancy, +banking, foreign directories, scientific management, +advertising, foreign trade, and similar topics. +Even a manufacturer’s catalogue becomes a +work of high utility and importance when it takes +its proper place in such a collection, often affording +valuable assistance to inquirers in search of the +manufacturer of any given article.</p> + +<p>The Library of Commerce at Bristol is similarly +organized, and has met with like appreciation. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span>The following is a return of the consultations from +February 1920 to January 22nd, 1921:—</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">1920</td> +<td class="tdc">Books.</td> +<td class="tdc">Directories.</td> +<td class="tdc">Maps.</td> +<td class="tdc">Periodicals.</td> +<td class="tdc">Total.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Feb.-June</td> +<td class="tdr">4378</td> +<td class="tdr">6102</td> +<td class="tdr">725</td> +<td class="tdr">8137</td> +<td class="tdr">19342</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">July</td> +<td class="tdr">837</td> +<td class="tdr">1502</td> +<td class="tdr">172</td> +<td class="tdr">2181</td> +<td class="tdr">4692</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">August</td> +<td class="tdr">735</td> +<td class="tdr">1276</td> +<td class="tdr">261</td> +<td class="tdr">1780</td> +<td class="tdr">4052</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">September</td> +<td class="tdr">823</td> +<td class="tdr">1402</td> +<td class="tdr">172</td> +<td class="tdr">1806</td> +<td class="tdr">4203</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">October</td> +<td class="tdr">986</td> +<td class="tdr">1510</td> +<td class="tdr">158</td> +<td class="tdr">2115</td> +<td class="tdr">4769</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">November</td> +<td class="tdr">1221</td> +<td class="tdr">1256</td> +<td class="tdr">161</td> +<td class="tdr">2079</td> +<td class="tdr">4717</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">December</td> +<td class="tdr">710</td> +<td class="tdr">1155</td> +<td class="tdr">133</td> +<td class="tdr">1739</td> +<td class="tdr">3737</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">1921</td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Jan. 1 (1 day)</td> +<td class="tdr">21</td> +<td class="tdr">43</td> +<td class="tdr">3</td> +<td class="tdr">81</td> +<td class="tdr">148</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Week ending</td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Jan. 8</td> +<td class="tdr">184</td> +<td class="tdr">333</td> +<td class="tdr">34</td> +<td class="tdr">513</td> +<td class="tdr">1064</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Jan. 15</td> +<td class="tdr">220</td> +<td class="tdr">326</td> +<td class="tdr">35</td> +<td class="tdr">504</td> +<td class="tdr">1085</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Jan. 22</td> +<td class="tdr">220</td> +<td class="tdr">301</td> +<td class="tdr">36</td> +<td class="tdr">518</td> +<td class="tdr">1075</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="6">——————————————————————————————</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Grand Total</td> +<td class="tdr">10,335</td> +<td class="tdr">15,206</td> +<td class="tdr">1,890</td> +<td class="tdr">21,453</td> +<td class="tdr">48,884</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="6">——————————————————————————————</td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<p>Here are some examples of the questions that +have been asked and answered—in several instances +with the direct consequence that the +inquirer has been saved losses running into very +large figures:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>What are the means of communication in Bechuanaland?</p> + +<p>Was the 1893 vintage good?</p> + +<p>What has been the <i>monthly</i> percentage of the +increase of the cost of living since July 1914 +(retail and wholesale)?</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p> +<p>What is the procedure for the winding up of a +company?</p> + +<p>What is the bank deposit rate?</p> + +<p>What is the amount payable for brokerage?</p> + +<p>What is the state of the wool market in Australia?</p> + +<p>Who are the principal makers of knitting machines?</p> + +<p>Can the movements of a vessel be traced through +1920?</p> + +<p>What is the stamp duty on a form of contract?</p> + +<p>What is the position of trade in the Argentine?</p> + +<p>What time would a steamer take to go from Hull +to the Canary Isles?</p> + +<p>What is the difference in the rate of exchange in +U.S.A. in September 1919 and July 1920?</p> + +<p>What is the duty on wine and spirits?</p> + +<p>What is the position of the Belgian industries?</p> + +<p>What is the time-limit for stamping a form of +agreement?</p> + +<p>Several inquiries for help in coding and decoding +cables.</p> + +<p>The width of the River Tees from Stockton to +Middlesbrough.</p> + +<p>Names of Portuguese shipowners trading with +English ports.</p> + +<p>Owners of steamers sailing between Dover and +Calais, and particulars of service.</p> + +<p>The latest information re Indigo in India.</p> + +<p>The flat rate of pay for seamen.</p> + +<p>Price of bunker coal in New York in July, 1920.</p> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span></p> +<p>At Leeds, the commercial library is combined +with the technical library—an unusual +arrangement, but one for which there is a good +deal to be said as well as against. Technical +libraries exist for the supply of information, and +also to subserve technical education: a commercial +library is for information simply. There are +inconveniences attached to the combination; it is +not a mere question of logical differentiation. +Commercial libraries are open during business +hours, and closed in the evenings and on Saturday +afternoons, the very time when the technical +student would use the library most. The one, +again, is arranged and furnished to facilitate rapid +consultation, not as a place for prolonged study. +Logically, of course, it seems absurd to separate +the literature on making a thing from the literature +on selling it, the production department from the +sales department. Big libraries may some day +divide naturally into a modern side and a humanist +side, and this might prove as convenient a dichotomy +as it is suited to the logic of modern life. +At any rate, the experiment at Leeds is worth +watching, and public expedience must settle the +point.</p> + +<p>These commercial departments have enlarged +the ordinary province of the public library, and +have developed into something like the intelligence +bureau of a large industrial firm. The staff +is prepared to supply, not only the means of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span>information, but also information itself. Many +years ago, in the Cardiff and some other public +libraries, a new institution called the information +desk came into vogue, where a trained assistant +sat at the receipt of questions, oral, postal, or +telephonic, which he answered forthwith, or after +search in directories, dictionaries, and other compendiums +of information, including the file of +inquiries already handled. In a commercial +town, this departure from old-fashioned practice +was welcomed as extremely useful. Public libraries +suddenly became popular with a class who +had hitherto scarcely noticed their existence. The +new commercial libraries perform the same function +much more effectively, because they have +far larger masses of information tabulated and +mobilized, and are ready to lead up their reserves +at any moment.</p> + +<p>The Adult Education Committee criticize +this transformation of part of the library into an +intelligence bureau. There seems to be a fear +that it may compete with the commercial intelligence +department of the Government or with the +chambers of commerce. Admitting that the +boundary between the province of these organizations +and that of the commercial library is not +easy to define, they protest “that the function +of the commercial department of a local library +is primarily to provide books concerned with the +theory and practice of commerce and cognate +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span>subjects, rather than detailed information on +matters of trade.” Here the mind of the theorist, +the stern logician, is again at work, making havoc +of expediency, and also of common sense. If the +commercial library is doing the work so well, and +doing it cheaply into the bargain, then if you are +going to shut up anything, shut up the Government +department: the trade association will be +only too glad to be saved doing the job over again. +Give the library its proper equipment in money +and privilege, give it room and opportunity to +develop into an institute of commerce, and the +taxpayer and many other people’s pockets will be +spared.<a id="FNanchor_11_11" href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> These outside organizations, whether +run by the Government or by the traders, are in +fact working under disadvantages so long as they +are not lodged in a first-class commercial library +and carried on by a staff trained in library methods, +the results are less satisfactory and more costly +to produce. Every library, in one of its aspects, is +an information bureau. Pedantic classification +may draw a sharp line between one sort of information +and another; experience and expediency +point to the library as the right place for the retail +of intelligence, whether practical or theoretic.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_090fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_090fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <i>Photo Pictorial Agency.</i> +<br> + + <span class="smcap">Library of the Institute of Actuaries, Staple Inn Hall.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span></p> +<p>The commercial library or the technical +library provided by the municipality will not lead +to the extinction of the library belonging to the +private firm; rather may it be expected to tend +to the multiplication and development of these, +just as access to books in public libraries has led +to more book-buying by readers, who have learned +the value of books, and feel the need to have +certain works always by them on their own shelves. +The great immediate benefit is to the smaller +firms and the individual worker; but even they +will no doubt acquire eventually far more books +for themselves, and a much better selection of +books, as a direct result of access to a public +business library, familiarity with its contents, and +realization of the enormous advantage of being in +constant touch with the latest sources of information. +In the United States, which are incomparably +better off than this country in all sorts of +commercial, technical, and other special libraries +provided by public funds, there are now about +2,500 business libraries established by progressive +firms.<a id="FNanchor_12_12" href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Books for the Blind.</span></p> + +<p>As long ago as 1857, the Liverpool Public +Libraries set the example of providing books in +raised type for the blind. At Nottingham, one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span>of the first to follow this lead, I remember many +years later visiting the room set apart for the +blind, and watching several blind people at work +producing new pages in embossed print from +another sightless person’s dictation. Along the +walls were deep cases enclosing long sets of portly +quartos or folios—novels by Scott or Dickens in +eight or ten volumes apiece, Macaulay’s <i>History +of England</i> in seventy-two, the Bible in thirty-eight, +and so on. At that time, the supply of +books for the blind had been so far centralized +that most libraries relied upon collections at +Manchester, Nottingham, London, or other places, +run chiefly by voluntary organizations. And +now, few if any public libraries provide books for +the blind themselves, the National Library for the +Blind, in Tufton Street, Westminster, or its +branch at Manchester, being a depot for all. +This admirable institution, at once a great bookstore +and a place for both recreation and educational +work, with its reading rooms, music +room, and hall for meetings and discussions, was +provided by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. +Public libraries and other institutions all over the +country are entitled to borrow from it for the +benefit of their blind readers, on payment of a +moderate subscription. “It is closely affiliated +with the Students’ Library at Oxford, which is +gradually being built up to supply the special +needs of University men.”<a id="FNanchor_13_13" href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span></p> +<p>Stamping machinery is now used for the production +of metal plates, from which any number +of copies of books in embossed type may be obtained, +though the process is costly. The Carnegie +Trust has provided funds for the manufacture of +metal plates by the National Institute for the +Blind and by the Royal Blind Asylum and School +at Edinburgh. All copies of standard works thus +printed—if the word may be used—are presented +to the National Library, and the stereotype plates +remain on hand for further issues.</p> + +<p>The work of transcribing books by hand is, +however, growing enormously, and is of vast +importance, as is shown by the fact that during +1920, 431 complete new works of literature running +into 1,371 volumes of Braille were produced +in this way from ink print by the Library’s voluntary +workers (of whom there are some 500) whilst +during the same period 89 complete new works +were published by the stereotyping houses. It +will thus be seen that if the blind of the country +depended only on the stereotyped books produced, +their choice of reading matter would be +exceedingly limited.</p> + +<p>Blind copyists are employed to duplicate the +books at an average cost of 25s. per volume, whence +it is obvious that literary provision for the blind +is very expensive, and is possible on any adequate +scale only if liberal public support is forthcoming. +Recently, alas, there has been a vast increase in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span>the numbers of blind persons. The idea of the old +charitable institutions that such readers would be +satisfied with books of moral edification was abandoned +long ago; nowadays it would be absurd. +Books on every subject, serious reading and light +reading, educational literature and literature recording +recent scientific advances and expressing +the latest phases of thought, are in demand among +blind readers representing every grade of culture. +In short, there is no more limit, except the cost of +producing copies in this special form, to the contents +of a modern library for the blind than to +those of any other general library. At present, +the National Library has nearly 65,000 books +on its shelves, besides some 12,000 volumes of +music.</p> + +<p>The public library in any subscribing locality +is thus relieved of the serious burden, not merely of +purchasing, but also of housing these bulky +volumes. A reader sends in his list of books +required, which is transmitted to the National +Library, and the books are then sent direct to the +reader’s home. It is a work of public benefit, yea, +of national obligation, that surely cries loudly for +State aid. In the United States consignments of +books for the blind are carried free to the nearest +post office or station. “Of 12,819 books for the +blind circulated by the New York Public Library +in 1908, 8,558 were sent free by mail.”<a id="FNanchor_14_14" href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Our +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span>Post Office has made concessions not quite so +generous, allowing a book weighing 6¹⁄₂ lbs. to travel +for 2d., and one weighing 5 lbs. to be sent anywhere +abroad for 2¹⁄₂d. The cheaper transmission of +books by post will become an urgent question whenever +a national system of interchange between all +manner of libraries becomes an accomplished fact; +but, even then, the case of the blind will be one +calling for exceptional liberality.</p> + + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4_4" href="#FNanchor_4_4" class="label">[4]</a> A. E. Bostwick. “The American Public Library,” p. 56-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5_5" href="#FNanchor_5_5" class="label">[5]</a> R. A. Rye. “The Libraries of London: a guide for students” +(University of London, 1910).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6_6" href="#FNanchor_6_6" class="label">[6]</a> Adult Education Committee: Final Report, par. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7_7" href="#FNanchor_7_7" class="label">[7]</a> <i>A Question of the Day: Public Libraries</i> (Library Association, 1918).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8_8" href="#FNanchor_8_8" class="label">[8]</a> <i>Third Interim Report</i>:—C.—Technical and Commercial Libraries.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9_9" href="#FNanchor_9_9" class="label">[9]</a> The following shows the number of readers monthly:—</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Oct. 1919</td> +<td class="tdr">1,316</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Nov.</td> +<td class="tdr">4,361</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Dec.</td> +<td class="tdr">4,405</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Jan. 1920</td> +<td class="tdr">5,608</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Feb.</td> +<td class="tdr">5,259</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">March</td> +<td class="tdr">6,166</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">April</td> +<td class="tdr">5,585</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">May</td> +<td class="tdr">4,416</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">June 1920</td> +<td class="tdr">6,029</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">July</td> +<td class="tdr">5,772</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Aug.</td> +<td class="tdr">5,936</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Sept.</td> +<td class="tdr">6,365</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Oct.</td> +<td class="tdr">6,871</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Nov.</td> +<td class="tdr">7,428</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Dec.</td> +<td class="tdr">6,617</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Jan. 1921</td> +<td class="tdr">7,043</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10_10" href="#FNanchor_10_10" class="label">[10]</a> On the other hand, the complexity and the efficiency organization +required in the technical library and information department of +a modern business undertaking, may be realized from an article on +“The Library at the Ardeer Factory of Nobel’s Explosives Co., Ltd.” +(<i>Library Association Record</i>, June, 1921).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11_11" href="#FNanchor_11_11" class="label">[11]</a> American opinion is all in favour of the use of the library as +an information department. “The aim of the business library is +rather to function as a central information, statistical, or research +bureau, or, like other departments, to aid directly or indirectly in +profits, in increasing quantity, quality, or efficiency of production, in +building up an intelligent work force, or in the general improvement +and extension of the business. Only in so far as it does this is the +business library justifiable.” J. H. Friedel, <i>Training for Librarianship</i>, +p. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12_12" href="#FNanchor_12_12" class="label">[12]</a> “Within the last three years the number of business libraries +has more than doubled.” J. H. Friedel: <i>Training for Librarianship</i> +(1921), p. 113. See also the chapters on Special Libraries, +Agricultural Libraries, Financial Libraries, Law Libraries, Technical +Libraries, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13_13" href="#FNanchor_13_13" class="label">[13]</a> Library Association Record, Aug., 1920, p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14_14" href="#FNanchor_14_14" class="label">[14]</a> A. E. Bostwick: <i>The American Public Library</i>, p. 31.</p></div></div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="III">III +<br> +LIBRARY EXTENSION.</h2></div> + + +<p>Library Extension is closely analogous to +the more familiar phrase University Extension. +It stands for various activities that go outside, +often far outside, the province marked out +by the Public Libraries Acts, yet are natural if +not inevitable corollaries of the educational and +social doctrines that formulated those Acts. They +carry the services and influence of the library into +other spheres—the school, the home, the voluntary +association—and expand its functions from the +mechanical disposal of books as stock-in-trade +to their treatment as atoms packed with vital +force, electrons charged with incalculable energies +capable of working great consequences in that +susceptible region, human life. A library may +confine itself to a passive attitude, and so long +as it responds more or less freely to external +pressure it may be acceptable and useful to a small +proportion of the persons who pay for its upkeep. +But it was long ago borne in upon the far-sighted +librarian and committee-man that a more active, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span>nay, a positively militant policy was required if +the public library was to exercise all its powers +for good in the social economy. More books have +mouldered away or come to a like inglorious and +ineffectual end than were ever worn out by hard +use. You can offer your public the finest collection +of books—it has been done again and again by +profligate philanthropists—and never get them +read, or the people’s life and taste improved. It is +easy to buy books; it is much more difficult, and +far more important, to create readers.<a id="FNanchor_15_15" href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>The librarian’s duty, he has found by harsh +experience, is twofold: to contrive a library +service, and to see that the best use is made of it. +Instruction in the art of reading and in the choice +of books, it may be objected, is for the teacher, +not the librarian. Theoretically, it may be so; +but the rejoinder is, our teachers have never +succeeded in the task, they have not even addressed +themselves to it, and they are not likely +to succeed unless they work hand in hand with the +librarian: they must, indeed, rely on the librarian, +the book-expert, more and more under modern +conditions, for guidance in their own reading and +in carrying out their own functions according to +the newest lights. It is largely owing to the lack +of any regular correlation between schools and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span>libraries that the results of the Education Acts +have been so unsatisfactory. The mistakes of +1850 might have been rectified in 1870 by bringing +the new system of schooling into the closest contact +with the public libraries. But, though it was enacted +that every child should be taught to read, +that children should be taught how to read, and +where and what to read, seems to have scarcely +entered the minds of those responsible for elementary +education. In introducing the Education +Estimates for 1917-8, Mr. Fisher said in the +House of Commons (April 19th, 1917):—</p> + +<p>“I have been impressed by the fact that boys +who have been stirred up at the age of sixteen or +seventeen to attend the technological classes +attached to our new universities in the north of +England have so lost the habit of intellectual +activity as to cloy and impede the efficient working +of the college.... The country does not get +full value out of its elementary schools, because so +much of the training and instruction is subsequently +lost.”</p> + +<p>Why had these boys lost the habit of intellectual +activity? Because, first, though they had +received the usual primary schooling, they had +never had instilled into them intellectual habits, +interests, or likings; and, second, because, even +where libraries and other intellectual institutions +existed, they had never been brought inside their +doors, or learned that these things were their +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span>own and would satisfy their multifarious needs +the more they used them. Library Extension +aims at the repair of these oversights. The activities +which it connotes should be an important +part of the library service when this is reorganized +on a national basis. In reality, Library Extension +is a return to the broader idea of the people’s +institutes. The lectures, reading circles, meetings +for study and discussion, the co-operative alliances +with energetic bodies such as the Workers’ Educational +Association, the local field club, scientific +society, or the like, the closer relations with +schools and all intellectual agencies, are revivals +and developments of the social efforts at adult +education which gave life to those institutions +in the early nineteenth century.</p> + +<p>As would be expected, the towns which have +taken the lead in such extension efforts as courses +of public lectures have been places where the +traditional bond between the library and kindred +foundations like the museum and art gallery have +never been severed. Such a combination is a much +more appropriate engine of extension activity +than is the library that is merely a library. It +usually contains a lecture hall, if not smaller rooms +for study and discussion. In addition to the +books, which must be available and must be read +if lectures are to have any lasting results, the +collections in the museum are there for use in connexion +with scientific and historical lectures, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span>the gallery provides the most appropriate illustrations +for those on artistic subjects. In some +towns, library, museum, and art gallery are housed +under one roof, governed by the same committee, +and even superintended by the same curator. +Sometimes the technical school is one of the group. +Too close a coalition may have detrimental results. +Administration by one chief officer is hardly +justifiable unless the whole establishment is only +on a moderate scale. There is always the risk that +one department will flourish at the expense of the +others. One of the most disastrous instances +within my experience was when the committee of a +many-sided institute chose a librarian for his +qualifications as a college lecturer. In this case, +it was the library that went to the wall. In others, +it has been the museum, the picture gallery, or the +school, when there has been one attached; or the +whole has suffered from the lack of close attention +or of the special knowledge and experience required +equally by each department. But this +is no argument against the policy of putting them +all under one committee as branches of one corporate +undertaking.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Lectures in the Library.</span></p> + +<p>At Liverpool, where library, museum, and art +gallery are in the same suite of buildings, and +under one general committee, sections of which are +detailed to supervise the several departments, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span>there is an example of intimate correlation on the +largest scale. Here, in the Picton Theatre under +the central library and in the lecture halls attached +to the branches, free courses of lectures +have been carried on ever since 1865, averaging +now some two hundred yearly, with an aggregate +annual attendance of nearly 200,000. At Bootle, +Salford, Warrington, Wigan, Cardiff, Wallasey, +Bristol, Derby, Norwich, Maidstone, Leek, and +other places, mostly in the midlands, and at Islington, +Croydon, Woolwich, Walthamstow, Camberwell, +Kingston, Chelsea, Hampstead, Fulham, +Hornsey, Bromley, and other public libraries in +the London area, winter series of public lectures +were in full swing in the years before the war, +and in many cases have not been discontinued or +have since been revived. A good proportion of +these libraries are of the old composite type, +complete with museum and art gallery; others +are tending to become such. At Nottingham, +where the public library is in partnership, as it +were, with the University College next door, +among various extension efforts the half-hour +talks on books and reading have for several +decades been a popular mode of stimulating taste +and self-education, both in adults and in children, +and have been widely imitated. The Manchester +Public Library was the pioneer in this provision of +lectures bearing directly on the uses of libraries and +the best methods of reading and private study.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span></p> +<p>A large proportion of the library buildings +put up during the last two or three decades are +possessed of lecture halls. “It is also most desirable,” +say the Adult Education Committee, +“that all public libraries should possess a room +large enough to be used for classes, lectures, and +discussions.” And yet, only in a few spots, such as +Liverpool, enjoying the privileges of special Acts +of Parliament, is it legal to pay a lecturer’s fee, +or indeed to spend a penny on this invaluable and, +one would think, indispensable work. Among the +principal reasons put forward by the Committee +of 1849 for the establishment of people’s libraries +was the growing demand for public lectures. +Unfortunately, the point was overlooked or +dropped out for motives of policy when the Act +was drafted, and repeated appeals to have such +expenditure legalized have fallen on deaf ears. +Thus the work is carried on under the most discouraging +and repressive conditions. If a public +library is so reckless as to embark on illustrated +lectures, it must get hold of a lantern, in forma +pauperis from some benevolent donor, or borrow +it from a neighbourly institution that is not +hampered by legislative taboos. Even to print a +programme or post up a placard means surcharge +by the Government auditor. In some places, +accordingly, the cost is defrayed out of gifts by +public-spirited citizens or by sending round the +hat for subscriptions. One excellent device, which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span>has obvious advantages over and above the financial +expedience, is to enrol the regular attendants +at the lectures into a literary society with a small +subscription. Another and a very objectionable +method is to make advertisements on the programmes +pay the printer’s bill. A public institution +ought not to be driven to such shifts. And, +even in the happiest circumstances, very rarely +are funds forthcoming for the engagement of professional +lecturers: library committees have had, +almost without exception, to fall back upon +the volunteer.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, efficient volunteers have been +forthcoming: it is indeed surprising how many +lecturers of a high order can be enlisted by a +librarian who keeps his eyes open for ability and +scholarship and no caprice for hiding the light +under a bushel. It was the present writer’s duty +to organize regular weekly lectures at the central +and the two chief district libraries of a large +London borough for several successive winters. +By the exercise of some vigilance and diplomacy, +first-class lecturers on a variety of subjects were +secured, without a penny of expense to the borough. +The quality of the lectures was witnessed +by the attendance, which averaged well over two +hundred—hundreds turned away on nights when +there were bumper houses not being counted. +There is another side to this question of voluntary +lecturers, which may perhaps be urged by the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span>Lecture Agency and the University Extension +boards, that it is robbing the paid lecturer of his +occupation. In the present condition of things +the point hardly arises. There is no money for +the professional lecturer, so that the amateur +cannot be charged with blacklegging; but it will +assuredly arise when lecture and other tutorial +schemes are properly recognized and financed. +When that time arrives, however, there will be +such a demand for lecturers that the whole question +will be seen to have different bearings. There +will be courses of lectures running, or demanding +to be run, at every library, including most of the +branch establishments; there will be tutorial +classes, reading circles, and other groups requiring +teachers or at least competent leaders, going on +concurrently. The library proper, that is the +working collection of books, will have become, or +be tending to become, the heart, the functional +centre, of a complex organism; it will fall into +its place as the analogue of the library in a big +college. Thus there will be a wide and importunate +demand for lecturers, and demand will create +supply only if every possible source is utilized. +There will not be a glut of trained lecturers, or +even a sufficient supply. Rather, when all the +lecturers empanelled by official and commercial +agencies are in full employ, there will be keen +competition for their spare moments. When public +libraries were first mooted, it was prophesied +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span>that the bookseller would be deprived of a large +part of his market, and every new public library +is supposed to be a blow to the trade. The results +are in direct contradiction. A better supply has +created a keener demand. Access to books has +stimulated a desire to possess books. The day of +popular libraries was speedily followed by the day +of the cheap edition. There are many more bookshops +than ever there were before; and since there +are more booksellers it may be safely concluded +that, in spite of complaints of bad trade, the sale +of books has largely increased. Even the commercial +circulating library continues to flourish. +Similarly, it may be anticipated, the public organization +of lectures and teaching for adults, even +though every source of supply is tapped, including +the amateur and the volunteer, will lead to a greater +demand for the trained professional, who will +find his occupation not gone but all the more +thriving and profitable.</p> + +<p>The modern museum and the art gallery in a +large town have daily lectures, or perhaps half-a-dozen +lectures a day, provided to teach the public +how to understand and appreciate the value of +their contents. This is one of the main objects +of lectures in public libraries, the contents of +which are far more various and extensive. But +there are other reasons for selecting the library +building as the most suitable place for all kinds of +lectures for which appropriate illustrations in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span>form of works of art, museum exhibits, and other +material objects are not available. Any lecture +that aims at permanent results should provide +every member of the audience who wants to pursue +the subject with a reading list; better still, the +actual books, arranged by the librarian and the +lecturer in a graduated course of reading, should +be on exhibition, and every facility should be given +to the interested person to take home books and +commence his studies there and then.</p> + +<p>Such are the considerations kept always in +view by the modern librarian who runs his courses +of lectures, not as a side-show, or as a method of +advertizing the library and bringing in new +readers, but as an integral part of the library +machine. In the Croydon Public Libraries, to take +one of several good examples, about a hundred +lectures are given annually, some to ordinary +mixed audiences, some to bodies of school children +or to the young people in the junior library. The +halls are nearly always crowded with eager listeners. +Most of the lectures are accompanied by +lantern illustrations, and the methods of bringing +them directly to bear on the stores of books in the +library are as thorough as in any place I know. +The lecturers, who give their services free, are furnished +with lists of the books the library contains +on their particular subjects, and are requested to +point out any serious gaps. The titles of the books +are shown on the screen, and the lecturer makes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span>his personal comments on each. After the lecture, +the actual books are exhibited, and any one in the +audience, who verifies his or her identity from the +local directory or otherwise, is allowed to borrow +from these on the spot. Another useful method is +to distribute descriptive lists of the relevant books, +arranged if possible on a continuous plan of reading, +such lists being drawn up in collaboration with +the lecturer. It was at Croydon, I believe, that +the library reading was introduced as a form of +lecture. The librarian or some other person well +acquainted with a subject and also with the literature +of the subject to be found in the library, +reads pieces of description, notable prose, or +fine verse, on such a topic as “The Englishman +in the Alps;” or “Byron, the poet and the man.” +It is a sort of spoken anthology, in short, +stimulating interest in the works illustrated.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">University Extension Courses, Tutorial +Classes, Reading Circles.</span></p> + +<p>Many years’ experience of library lectures +from the internal point of view, that is from the +point of view of the librarian and organizer, and +also from that of an occasional lecturer in most of +the public libraries in and near London, as well +as careful study of the effects upon all kinds of +hearers, has, however, convinced me that the +opinion of most educators and other critics is +right: the only lectures which are likely to have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span>sound and lasting results are those that have +been carefully arranged to form part of a course. +Sporadic lectures are all very well in their way, +but very much inferior in promoting serious study +and developing real knowledge. Reading an +occasional magazine article is not to be compared +with reading a book. At the same time, even if +continuous courses can be provided, it would be a +mistake to drop the other sort altogether. The +results, if usually ephemeral, are not to be despised; +such lectures are as a rule more popular than the +thorough-going University Extension course, and +may be a stepping-stone to that. And the organizer +of such miscellaneous series may, if he gives +thought to the matter, arrange the lectures by +different specialists into groups on allied topics +or aspects of the same subject. He may do still +better. The person, whether professional or +volunteer, who is qualified to deliver a first-class +lecture would usually prefer to deliver several, +dealing with the same subject more thoroughly +and methodically—it is usually easier, and always +far more satisfactory. In nine cases out of ten, +the results would be enormously more valuable. +To dispatch a serious theme in an hour’s discourse +is an effort that usually means a rapid and perhaps +brilliant but superficial handling, and does not +always mean that surplusage is avoided. It is +too much like putting the day’s rations into a +single meal.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span></p> +<p>One invaluable concomitant of the best and +most remunerative form of lectures is usually +absent at those of the ordinary type, and that +is free discussion. This is not always invited, and, +when it is, discussion often resolves itself into +complimentary speechifying or else passages of +arms in which the same orators week after week +display their gifts. To have any real success, +lectures must arouse debate. If there are no +questions, no give and take between the mind of +the lecturer and of his hearers, the entertainment +is likely to remain barren. A University Extension +lecturer will always invite questions and the +discussion of points that need elucidating; but he +will not always break down the shyness of those +who would fain have more light, even though a +course going on from week to week tends to make +his listeners better prepared, and enables them to +save up their difficulties for an opportune moment. +Here it is that the tutorial class, which is run on the +lines of a seminar, shows its superiority. The +tutorial class is a small and intimate circle, so +small and friendly that the most diffident are +hardly likely to feel that asking a question is like +making a speech; its head is a leader and moderator +rather than a lecturer, and its methods are +devised to call out individual thought and initiative, +and ensure that the subject shall be viewed +from every side and all difficulties of comprehension +cleared away. The members of the class do as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span>much work as the teacher: the better he is the +more he gets them to do. Reading circles are +usually conducted on a very similar plan, the +preparatory work of course being done by the +members at home. When instead of formal lectures +papers are read or discussions opened by +members of a literary society, fairly satisfactory +results are usually obtained; but whatever scheme +be adopted, it is far better to split up into small +groups than to be ambitious of large attendances.</p> + +<p>Many public libraries have wisely supplemented +their own lecture schemes by co-operating +with University Extension. Even where the +library has not been able to offer a lecture room on +the premises, such co-operation may be very valuable, +and a reciprocal advantage to all concerned. +The library can provide books for the students, +issuing reading lists which have been drawn up in +consultation with the lecturers; useful exhibitions, +also, can be organized, from the library’s own +stores or from other sources. The tutorial classes +organized by the Workers’ Educational Association +have been aided effectively by such co-operation, +which always reacts beneficially, in +more ways than meet the eye, on the libraries +themselves. When there is intimate association +between libraries and technical colleges, polytechnics, +and the like, half at least of the real work +will be done in the library or through the books +supplied by the library. Nor is it only the urban +libraries that are able to assert their true place +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span>in adult education thus; several of the new rural +repositories are working hand in hand with the +Workers’ Educational Association and its tutorial +classes, which have not failed on their part to +utilize machinery so apt to its purposes. Besides +the ordinary stock of miscellaneous books for the +general reader, the wise rural librarian lays in a +good selection of the works required by reading +circles and tutorial classes, if necessary duplicating +until there are enough copies for all demands. But +for this special call upon his resources, he would +rely upon the Central Library for Students to meet +the requirements in works of this class.</p> + +<p>But public libraries as yet do not appear to +have instituted tutorial classes themselves, or +indeed to have taken on their own shoulders the +financial responsibility of University Extension +courses. Though they have their own lecture +halls and smaller rooms suitable for the various +purposes here enumerated, even the best and most +active library authorities have not done much more +than hold such series of miscellaneous and disconnected +lectures as are, admittedly, not the +best.<a id="FNanchor_16_16" href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> That so much should have been accomplished, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span>even whilst the public libraries were toiling +under the yoke of the penny rate limit, is to their +enduring credit; but it is little to what ought to be +done, under less hampering conditions, and to +what the progressive among them will assuredly +do ere long. But the Act of 1919 merely restored +the right of every community to spend as much as +it liked on certain library purposes; it did not +restore its natural right to spend money on what +objects it liked, as for example, library lectures or +library classes; still less did it infuse an eagerness +to do so where no such desire had previously +existed. The removal of an unreasonable and +effete restriction can hardly be delayed much +longer; but even when there is no legal ban upon +expenditure the cost of a paid university teacher +will often be prohibitive. Why then should not +the alternative be taken of appointing a volunteer? +This is continually being done by reading circles +all over the country, organized in connection with +or in imitation of the National Home-Reading +Union, and the results are highly encouraging.</p> + +<p>The fact is, our resources in private ability +and willingness to serve in such functions as these +have never yet been fully explored: they will +have to be explored. Men of high academic attainments +are expensive items in a tutorial scheme +providing for the intellectual avocations of perhaps +not more than a dozen zealous students; +and, as was hinted before, there will not be enough +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span>of them to go round—there would not be enough +now if a serious attempt were made to ascertain +actual wants and provide for them adequately. +Vast numbers of continuous courses, of multifarious +kinds, are required everywhere in these +days of intellectual keenness. Let us try then to +run some of them at least on the lines of mutual +help that have served so well in the past. There +has never been in this country any dearth of one +kind of personal ability, that of clear and racy +exposition, in the sphere, for instance, of local +politics and lay preaching. It does not exist, +though appearances may be deceptive, in the +sphere of intellectual activity. It should not be +more difficult to find leaders for reading circles +and study groups, or lecturers competent to +deliver a short course, than it is to find chairmen +for parish councils, political meetings, or local +committees. Nor, if we proceed with common +sense and lay no stress on artificial difficulties, +will there be any dearth of discussion. The part +of the leader will rather be to direct the spontaneous +flow, and prevent the study circle from +degenerating into a mere talking-shop. But even +loquacity can be controlled and kept to the point +if there is a definite subject, and a course of reading +clearly marked out. A well-informed, tactful, +and judicious leader will work wonders if he +observes the golden rule not to overwork himself. +The librarian himself and chosen members of any +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span>large staff should be able to run at least a reading +circle, if not to deliver public lectures. The success +of all such undertakings will depend of course on +his personal competence and insight; if he can +take his own share in the work with credit, he will +be in the more intimate touch with the mental +attitude and potentialities of his public.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Dramatic and Other Circles.</span></p> + +<p>Lectures and classes by no means exhaust +the modes in which the public library may carry +on useful extension work; in truth, the ways are +almost unlimited, except that some forms of study, +teaching, or entertainment may cause inconvenience, +unless the building is very large and +special accommodation arranged. Thus a small +library is not a suitable place for musical performances, +although many public libraries cater +on a lavish scale for students of music. It is not +an uncommon thing, however, for dramatic readings +and even full-length plays to be introduced +into the scheme of lectures, or for the library to be +the headquarters of a dramatic society. There is +no better method of imparting a real understanding +and appreciation of our best literature than to +induce people to study a classical play dramatically. +To begin with, simple readings should be +attempted, each member of the class or study +group taking a distinct part. As soon as the +readers have a grip of the action and plot, they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span>should proceed to act, still keeping the book before +them. A few properties may be introduced, such +as a table and a chair or two and a flagon, in the +revelling scene in <i>Twelfth Night</i>, or a screen, in +<i>The School for Scandal</i>—there is no need for +scenery or costumes. At some libraries, properties—and +even gestures—are entirely suppressed, +and the reading is a reading pure and simple.</p> + +<p>Mention of these two plays brings to mind +several incidents when this rudimentary kind of +acting brought out as fine and penetrating an +interpretation of the dramatist as any performance +by professional actors, with the usual lavish +apparatus, that I have ever witnessed in a West +End theatre. Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew +Aguecheek, Maria and the Clown, were people I +knew very well, attired in their ordinary dress. +The stage was a bare platform, and there was +nothing on it but a table and a few chairs. The +performers had the book in their hands; but, +evidently, they were word-perfect in their parts. +The scene went with a verve and a naturalness +that could hardly be bettered; and—best of all—it +was Shakespeare, interpreted by intelligent and +well-educated persons, who were the last people +in the world to cut or rewrite or recreate a part as +they thought Shakespeare ought to have written +it. Another Sir Andrew Aguecheek is still more +memorable. This gentleman would probably have +been a failure or a very indifferent success in any +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span>other character: he was Sir Andrew Aguecheek +in the flesh—the wonder was how we had never +noticed it all the years we had known him. A +still more delightful proof of the latent genius that +may be revealed by such modest performances +was a certain Lady Teazle. She was a plain and +not a very youthful person; the stage was as +unfurnished and void of decoration as her get-up +was plain and ordinary. Yet, by dint of dramatic +instinct that any much-beparagraphed actress +might envy, she easily conveyed the sense of youth +and charm and beauty—she was the finest Lady +Teazle I have seen, on or off the regular stage.</p> + +<p>The London County Council and other educational +bodies have thoroughly recognized the +untold possibilities of the dramatic study of drama. +It is undoubtedly the right method. Charles +Lamb, in a famous essay, propounded the doctrine +that in the theatre we see the actors but we may +entirely fail to see the play. The plays of Shakespeare, +he paradoxically argued, “are less calculated +for performance on a stage than those of +almost any other dramatist whatever.” The +actor gets between us and the dramatist; and if +that was so in the days of Kemble and Mrs. +Siddons, how much more is it so in these days of +sophisticated stage-display and mannered acting. +But put the student of Shakespeare on the stage, +however rudimentary the stage may be, and let +him find his way into the mind of the great playwright +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span>by himself, so far as he may: that is how +to study Shakespeare, and that is the mode of +approach sought in such dramatic readings or more +elaborate interpretations as are recommended +here. Even the modest group of readers will +probably go on from strength to strength. One +group which I first set on this track were content +at first with a series of readings, which were given +in public, after many rehearsals, at the various +district libraries of a London borough. Then they +embarked on the complete presentation of <i>The +Merchant of Venice</i>, <i>As You Like It</i>, and <i>Twelfth +Night</i>, with scenery and costumes; and even +ventured on a tragedy, all without discredit. +Ultimately, a troupe of experienced players, they +gave a series of Shakespearian plays at the Town +Hall and other places, not only clearing all expenses, +but realizing a handsome sum for an important +charity. One of their number later on +wrote a comedy, which they produced with some +success. Here, surely, is a piece of library extension +work having high cultural value; it is indicative +of what may easily be done by apt suggestion +and cultivation of the group spirit; and there are +innumerable directions in which similar results +may be achieved.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Relations With Work Outside.</span></p> + +<p>The principle to be kept in view is that the +civic library is a most natural home for all the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span>intellectual activities of a social kind going on in +each community. Even if it is not convenient for +all such bodies to have their headquarters there, +the library should entertain the most friendly and +active relations with every one. In the United +States, the public library in most cities performs +a large part of its most remunerative work through +the medium of public and private organizations +outside. It may be likened to a nerve-centre, +with a network of efferent and afferent fibres and a +series of ganglia throughout the social organism. +Thus the New York Public Library has a long and +miscellaneous list of clubs, leagues, musical societies, +classes of all sorts, business and other associations +that hold their meetings in its various +branches. Many American libraries are ready to +plant a delivery station, dispatch a travelling +library, or a collection of special works, anywhere +that it is asked for, or even to provide an industrial +firm with books, so long as accommodation +and an acting librarian are supplied. They will +prepare select lists of books on any given subject, +get up an exhibition to celebrate any event or help +on any deserving movement: there is no end to +the ways in which they are prepared to put their +services at the disposal of the common weal. +British libraries have laboured too much in isolation. +The future depends upon, more than anything +else, its coming into the closest touch with +every intellectual and social agency in the body +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span>politic. It should be a matter of course for the +local scientific and literary societies, the field club, +the local branch of the Workers’ Educational +Association and the National Home-Reading Union—to +name only two out of many—to make their +home in the library building. The antiquarian +society should deposit its collections and books +and maps here, the natural history society its +specimens and apparatus, thus laying the foundations +of a local museum to be housed in the situation +most favourable for study, both by themselves +and by other inhabitants. Local historical +and regional surveys are rapidly developing, +whether as pieces of research aiming at the extension +of knowledge or as a practical form of education: +the library, with its local records, maps, +and other historical material, should always be +the base.</p> + +<p>The Croydon Public Library is the centre +from which the Photographic Survey and Record +of Surrey operates. Surrey took the lead in this +important branch of topographical history, and +the photographic records of buildings, scenery, and +miscellaneous objects of interest now collected +in the library comprise some 8,000 prints and +lantern-slides, all elaborately classified and indexed +for instant reference. Housed along with +these is the Regional Survey of Croydon, consisting +of maps prepared from actual surveys of +the district within fifteen miles’ radius, showing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span>the geology, vegetation, surface utilization, industries, +etc. This also is accompanied by photographs. +Further, an artist has been commissioned +to paint faithful records of architectural +or natural features that are likely to perish or be +disfigured by modern changes—a thing that will +be of priceless value to future generations. This +logical extension of the work of preserving local +records, minute-books, newspapers, and various +fugitive material is being carried on elsewhere, +notably at Coventry, Brighton, Northampton, and +Nottingham. It deserves the attention of the +many local societies that have not yet thrown in +their lot with the local library.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Library Exhibitions.</span></p> + +<p>Libraries may themselves get up exhibitions +or grant hospitality to those organized by kindred +bodies. The more the library takes a hand in the +preparation, the more can the series of exhibits +be related to the appropriate books, and the more +effective will such efforts be as aids to popular +enlightenment. There is a wide choice of suitable +subjects—book-production and its various +branches, engraving and other arts, local history +and geography, the sciences. The library will be +able to supply many of the exhibits from its own +stores; usually it is not difficult to borrow useful +material from commercial or private sources; +and loan exhibits from the State museums are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span>available as nucleus, supplement, or even as forming +the whole display. Such exhibitions are +placed under the care of keen and intelligent +members of the staff, and lectures or demonstrations +are given illustrated by the actual +objects; the results are enormously ahead of those +achieved by the ordinary static exhibition. Lines +of reading are pointed out, and books brought +into juxtaposition with their subject realities, +in a way that even the trained conductor in a +museum or picture gallery can hardly compass. +Actual experience in organizing and running a +number of such exhibitions has left me with no +doubt of their popularity or their educational +value. When an exhibition illustrating such a +subject as the production of a book goes on for +three months in the libraries of a London borough, +and the average attendance during that period +exceeds a thousand a day, we may feel that we are +beyond the experimental stage.</p> + +<p>Even our rural libraries, when they are located +in the village hall or have a suitable building +of their own, need not hesitate to attempt an +exhibition. In many ways, they have exceptional +opportunities. To begin with, there is nothing +to compete with them; the novelty would be +absolute. And then there is suitable material of +some sort or other in abundance, botanical, +geological, horticultural or agricultural, or such as +illustrates local history, local industries, or any +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span>subject having strong associational interest. Differences +of scope being allowed for, the rural librarian +would probably find he had much less to do +with his own hands than if he were getting up a +show in the town. Such places as rejoice in the +possession of museums and art galleries as well as +libraries are specially favoured; but it does not +inevitably follow that these departments of public +culture do combine forces so effectually as do the +places where the work is on a more frugal scale +but comes at any rate from one and the same +fount of activity.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Relations With the Schools.</span></p> + +<p>The chapter before this concluded with some +account of library work with children. The correlative +of the children’s library and reading room +is the school library or the periodical loan of books +to the schools—sometimes it is the alternative. +Under the Act of 1919 the library authority in +places newly adopting the Acts will be the local +education committee, and elsewhere the control +of existing libraries may be handed over voluntarily +to that body. Long before this Act, certain +education committees had acted jointly with +library committees in establishing school libraries +and other modes of bringing school children into +contact with good books. The aims and interests +of library and school in large measure coincide. +Recent legislation virtually admits this sound +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span>principle. Into the question whether it is wise to +vest the control of libraries in the education +authority, a question canvassed both for and +against in the United States as well as in this +country, there is no need to enter at the moment. +Everybody agrees that children must be taught, +or at least encouraged, at a fairly early age, to read +books for themselves and to have some idea of the +uses of a library. Most teachers and librarians +would also agree that every school should have +a library of its own, and that at some stage or +other each child should be introduced to the public +library. Perhaps this is as far as we need go +in the direction of agreement: uniformity is surely +not advisable, and local circumstances, relative +situation in particular, may have to determine +the nature of the interaction of library and school, +and the more important point, how soon should the +school child shift the centre of his reading interests +from the school library to the public one, the one +that is there to be his intellectual mainstay +throughout life? From the point of view of a +public librarian, it might be undesirable that a +school library should be so efficient and amply +sufficing that elder children were deterred from +finding their way into the wider realm of the +public library. The school library should be but a +tributary flowing into that main stream.</p> + +<p>There are three modes of dealing with the +problem of books for the school child, and these +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span>may be variously combined. (1) There may be a +permanent collection, stationed in the school, +consisting of graded sets of reference works required +to illustrate any of the subjects taught or +studied in the school; and further, a collection, +large or small, of such books, mainly of a recreational +kind, as it may be thought fit to provide +for home reading. Such a collection may be +built up by the school itself or by the staff of the +public library, who would act, as a rule, in close +consultation with the teachers. One great advantage +of having all the books permanently located +at the school is that the children look upon it then +as really the school library, and the teachers are +able to familiarize themselves with the contents, +and thus can influence the children’s reading to the +maximum. If there are funds enough, a fairly +large and representative collection can be provided—one +that the most voracious boy or +girl is not likely to exhaust till he or she is old +enough to join the public library. The best books +become household possessions; children talk +about them to their chums, and not to have read +them is a lapse that must be wiped out. If, on the +other hand <i>Westward Ho!</i> or <i>Little Women</i> is +merely a loan and has gone back to the central +library, how can the young reader get even with +the luckier ones?</p> + +<p>(2) To save the expense of a number of permanent +school libraries, an education authority +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span>may arrange with the public library to organize +a series of travelling collections or merely boxes of +books to circulate among the schools. This system +may be combined with the other, the reference +collection being regarded, most reasonably, as +always indispensable and therefore permanent, +and loans of books for recreation supplied at +fixed intervals. There is one unquestionable +boon attaching to this arrangement—the children +enjoy the stimulus, as the date comes round, of +choosing and rejoicing among a fresh lot of books. +Many teachers too, no doubt, are not averse from a +change.</p> + +<p>(3) The third method implies suppression of +the school library, at any rate so far as it is anything +beyond the indispensable collection of +volumes required for use in the school; it is to +send the young reader to the public library. If +this is not far away, and especially if it has a +first-class junior department, where suitable reference +books can be used as well as books for entertainment +borrowed for reading at home, there is +nothing to deplore; but to children in distant +schools the loss will be serious. The value of this +third solution of the problem, when it is a real +solution and not an evasion, is that the child is +introduced early to a large collection of books, +and also comes into a different atmosphere from +that of school. Its danger is that the child may +come unchaperoned to a library where there is but +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span>a perfunctory service for the juniors, and will be +turned adrift in a pathless wilderness.</p> + +<p>This third method may be seen at work in +the schools of Poplar. One of the poorest among +the metropolitan boroughs, Poplar has been +a leader in many library movements, such as the +scheme of interchange between adjoining boroughs +whereby all the books in a large group of libraries +are made available for borrowing by dwellers +in any part of the area. The libraries have long +co-operated with the schools as actively as the +teachers would permit. Nothing is more essential +to the mental life and the economic efficiency of +the future citizen than that the gap between +schooling and maturity should be bridged over. +Poplar has realized the fatal nature of that gap, +and has long been doing its utmost to fill up the +chasm. School children come to the public library +to do their preparation and spend their leisure +in the enjoyment of books. Classes are brought +by teachers during quiet hours, and sit in the +public rooms doing “silent reading.” For a long +while measures have been taken so that no single +boy or girl in the schools shall go out into the +world without being introduced to the public +library, and made acquainted with all that books +and libraries can do to help them in life and the +pleasures of life. Twice a week, the upper classes +from schools in the borough, coming in regular +rotation, attend at the nearest library to hear an +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span>address by the borough librarian, Mr. H. Rowlatt, +or one of his chief assistants, on the libraries of +their own borough and libraries in general, what +they are and what they contain, and how freedom +and ability to utilize the manifold services they +afford is an invaluable part of the individual’s +equipment for life.<a id="FNanchor_17_17" href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> The librarian and his coadjutors +have always thrown themselves heart and +soul into the work of co-operation with the schools; +the children listen eagerly, and the results are +seen in the statistics of reading.</p> + +<p>The vital importance of this work has now +been recognized by the London Education Committee. +Similar schemes are being introduced +in the boroughs of Islington, Greenwich, and +Hackney, and it may be hoped that they will +become general. This is by no means all that the +Poplar libraries are doing for the school children. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span>Attempts are made to help the older children in +making up their minds on the occupation they +would choose. Sets of books illustrating various +trades are put before such children, from which +they can gather an intelligent idea of what is the +real nature and interest of some craft or trade +which was previously a mere name. This has +proved a real help in the critical moment of many +a child’s life. All formalities, such as monetary +guarantees against loss or damage, have been +reduced to a minimum or abolished for the benefit +of school children, who are admitted to full +privileges on the bare recommendation of the +teachers. Thousands avail themselves of the +opportunity thus held out, and many thousands +of books have been borrowed as a result without +the loss of five shillings’ worth of books per annum. +The help given to the children in general has +likewise proved to be indirectly of inestimable +value to the teachers. They admit that the +introduction of the library habit among their young +pupils has opened their own eyes to points they +had never realized. One head master volunteered +the statement that it had done away entirely with +surreptitious reading of trash among the girls. +Poplar cannot afford a regular system of school +libraries; yet, in spite of poverty, it is signally +doing yeoman’s service in moulding the minds of +our future citizens: it is a shining example to +boroughs of far superior resources.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span></p> +<p>On the whole, my own preference is for the +stationary library, when the school can afford a +good one; but one’s preferences may be modified, +or even reversed, in altered circumstances. Whichever +plan be adopted, supervision, or rather sympathetic +guidance, is essential. Such guidance will, +of course, be entirely of a positive, not a negative +kind, and will consist of tactful suggestion, suggestion +as unobtrusive as possible, by means of +story-telling, illustrated talks, and personal help. +There is not the slightest need for attempting to +fit the book to the child. Let children read books +for grown-ups if they have a mind to, let boys +read girls’ books; the girls will read the boys’ +books whether you want them or no. It is taken +for granted that the whole library will be well-chosen, +and everything in it worth reading. Alarmist +nonsense, emanating from English justices or +militant New England moralists, about boys led +into crime by stories of brigands and pirates, are +not likely to upset parents or librarians with all +their faculties about them, including a normal +sense of humour. If you listened to these people, +Stevenson and Dumas would have to be put into a +strait jacket, and Michael Scott, Aimard, and +Mayne Reid burned by the hangman. It is the +last expiring gasp of the prudery and lust for +chastening the young which made the old-fashioned +library for children a byword. Far +more important than any anxiety about moral +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span>or immoral influence is an anxiety about good +literature. Edification is thrown away if the well-meaning +author is unpossessed of charm. The +first requisite of a spell is that it shall work. +Happily, the charm of fine literature can hardly +be attained but by the fine personality. Good +literature is healthy literature. Among the books +a child will read with delight, it is doubtful indeed +whether a single example can be found of a work +of true literary worth that could lead a child +astray. Harrison Ainsworth’s <i>Jack Sheppard</i> +and Lytton’s <i>Paul Clifford</i> perished from the +catalogues of junior libraries, not because they +were wicked books, but because they were bad +literature.</p> + +<p>The best books should be duplicated over and +over again, especially in libraries that let their +young readers roam along the book-shelves and +choose what they like—as all libraries should; +and duplicated as far as possible in various editions, +especially illustrated editions. This is a far wiser +policy than aiming at a very comprehensive selection, +which means that quantities of second and +third-rate stuff will be introduced. After all, if +life is short childhood is much shorter, and if +every child had the opportunity of reading all the +books that are fit, there would not be much +time left before the date arrived for migrating to +wider spheres.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span></p> +<p>A bibliography of ideal works for children +would not, however, be a voluminous affair. The +children’s librarian should form something of the +sort for use, and the books starred in its pages as +superlative should never be out—there should +always be copies enough to ensure this. The +young reader will find it hard to resist the appeal, +if he sees one attractive copy and next week +another staring him in the face: it will assuage +disappointment for the absence of something +else, or charming pictures may tempt to a second +reading of a classic already familiar. By such +careful management the taste of a healthy child +will remain unspoiled, and in later life sound +judgment and appreciation of the best will show +the results of this novitiate.</p> + +<p>In America, the question of circulating +versus stationary libraries has been well thrashed +out, though not to a unanimous verdict. At +Buffalo, the respective spheres of the library and +the education authority have been carefully defined. +School libraries are limited strictly to the +works of reference required in school work, the +public library acting as book-selector. For all +further requirements the school and the school +children rely on the public library. In New York +City, the public library deputes this branch of its +work to a special department, under a supervisor +of work with schools. The city is divided for the +purpose into districts, in each of which there is a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span>branch library and a group of schools. A school +assistant, usually a woman, is appointed by the +library to look after the work in each district, to +make herself personally acquainted with every +teacher, to give advice, and keep the machinery +running smoothly. Formal regulations are kept +down to a minimum. Teachers are allowed to +borrow books in large quantities, and to keep them +six months at a time if they need them; they are +expected and assisted to make themselves reliable +counsellors and guides to their pupils in the choice +and use of books. Assistants in the libraries are +told off to address groups of teachers and assemblies +of school children on the objects and the +resources of the libraries; children are brought +to the library in classes to have its working and +its benefits explained; and, finally, they are encouraged +to do their home lessons in the children’s +library, and are provided with a reference collection +adapted to the purpose.</p> + +<p>In this country, the relationship between the +school and the public library remains undetermined. +Many of our primary schools are destitute +of a library worthy of the name, and if a census +were taken it would probably be found that the +secondary schools are even worse off. Many +school libraries have attained a musty and precarious +existence through some passing gust of +philanthropy, and maintain it in a more or less +accidental fashion. This is not the fault of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span>public libraries, many of which have done more +than their share in providing schools with books, +and most of which are ready with the expert +services needed to put school collections on a +proper footing. The failure is due more to lack +of a clear realization of the function of school +libraries than to mere neglect or oversight. The +work already described as done in the junior department +at Croydon, where as at Coventry and +divers other places, separate collections of books +on education and teaching are provided, from +which the teacher may borrow and which the +public may use for reference, may be taken as +representing the kind of endeavour put forth by +the more active library authorities. Loan collections +for schools are organized by some authorities, +stationary school libraries by others. But +in a vast number of places, though many if not all +of the facilities enumerated above are held out +by the library, the saving propensities of education +committees or the indifference of teachers have +left things as they were. The need for a comprehensive +treatment of the problem is still more +apparent now than when the Library Association +in 1904 urged that the nation’s libraries were, or +ought to be, an integral part of the national +machinery of education. It is a vital part of the +educational problem and of the whole problem +of public libraries; and, whether there are to be +two sets of machinery, working side by side or in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span>reciprocation, or one set controlling both schools +and libraries, the library service for the schools +and the school children must be put on a proper +basis, or the future of adult education and of +public libraries also will be in jeopardy. Here, +surely, Ruskin’s saying has a particularly forcible +application—“It is open, I repeat, to serious +question, which I leave to the reader’s pondering, +whether among national manufactures, that of +souls of good quality may not at last turn out a +quite leadingly lucrative one.” (<i>Unto this Last</i>).</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15_15" href="#FNanchor_15_15" class="label">[15]</a> The modern public library believes that it should find a reader +for every book on its shelves, and provide a book for every reader in +its community, and that it should in all cases bring book and reader +together. (Bostwick, p. 1.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_16_16" href="#FNanchor_16_16" class="label">[16]</a> The Adult Education Committee attribute the most obvious +defects of adult education to-day, to the discontinuity of much of the +work done, the tendency to rely unduly on lectures and to neglect classwork, +and the inadequate supply of books to the students attending +lectures or classes. “It is, in our judgment, essential that whilst regularity +of attendance and seriousness and continuity of study should be insisted +upon, there must be freedom of teaching and freedom of expression.” +(Final Report, par. 146.) The Committee are strongly in favour of +continuous courses of lectures, and of that grouping in classes of +moderate size that makes for “the frank interchange of thought and +experience which is essential to adult education,” and without which +“the work carried on will lose its vitality or change its character.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><a id="Footnote_17_17" href="#FNanchor_17_17" class="label">[17]</a><p class="center">METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF POPLAR.</p> + +<p>Lectures to Boys and Girls attending at the Libraries from Elementary +Schools.</p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Synopsis.</span></p> + +<p>How knowledge is handed down by books. During school-life +advice and help can be obtained from the teachers: after leaving +school guidance in reading and study can be obtained at the Libraries. +Public Libraries, their ownership and the right to use them. The contents +of the News and Magazine Rooms. Lack of home accommodation, +and how the Reference Rooms can be used for quiet reading and +study. Books in Lending Department on all subjects, elementary, +intermediate, and advanced. Assistance given by staff. How to use +the Libraries in conjunction with Continuation Schools and Evening +Classes: also when learning a trade, business, or domestic arts and +occupations. Children are urged to retain the knowledge gained at +school and to supplement it. Wisdom of acquiring General Knowledge, +and how to acquire it: with special reference to time-tables, directories, +atlases, and dictionaries. The lighter side of Libraries:—Use of holiday +guides; books of travel, manners and customs; music; home interests, +such as gardening, poultry-keeping, pets and hobbies. The care of +books. (Syllabus of one of the lectures described above).</p></div></div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="IV">IV +<br> +RURAL LIBRARIES.</h2></div> + + +<p>Before the Act of 1919, more than two-fifths +of the population of these islands, which +means practically those living outside the towns +and urban districts, were entirely without a library +service. A few attempts had been made, with +various degrees of success, to found small libraries +or contrive methods of circulating collections of +books in the villages. Such were the library of +the Lancashire and Cheshire Union, inaugurated +in 1847, the scheme of the Yorkshire Village +Libraries Association, in 1856, and the Coats +Libraries supplying many parts of the Highlands +and Islands of Scotland. Besides these, there +was an odd village library here and there, such as +the excellent miniature institutes given to the +inhabitants of East Claydon, Middle Claydon, and +Steeple Claydon, in Buckinghamshire, by the +late Sir Edmund Verney, or the library founded +in a Hampshire village by the unaided efforts of +the villagers themselves, which is described by +Miss Sayle in her little memoir <i>Village Libraries</i>. +Many other rural libraries have flourished for a +time, and then decayed, leaving no history. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span>Professor Adams found that of the total population +of the United Kingdom in 1911 not more than +57 per cent. resided within library areas. He +contrasted the library provision in different parts +of the country in the following table:—</p> + +<table class="autotable" id="log"> +<tr> +<td class="no-border-right" colspan="4">—————————————————————————————————————</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdc">Total</td> +<td class="tdc">Population in</td> +<td class="no-border-right">Percentage</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdc">Population, 1911.</td> +<td class="tdc">Library Districts.</td> +<td class="no-border-right">of Total Population.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="no-border-right" colspan="4">—————————————————————————————————————</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">England</td> +<td class="tdr">34,194,205</td> +<td class="tdr">21,103,317</td> +<td class="no-border-right">62</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Wales</td> +<td class="tdr">2,025,202</td> +<td class="tdr">938,303</td> +<td class="no-border-right">46</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Scotland</td> +<td class="tdr">4,760,904</td> +<td class="tdr">2,403,283</td> +<td class="no-border-right">50</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Ireland</td> +<td class="tdr">4,390,219</td> +<td class="tdr">1,245,766</td> +<td class="no-border-right">28</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="no-border-right" colspan="4">—————————————————————————————————————</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"></td> +<td class="tdr">45,370,530</td> +<td class="tdr">25,690,669</td> +<td class="no-border-right">57</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="no-border-right" colspan="4">—————————————————————————————————————</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p>“These figures,” he remarks, “would in +themselves suggest what is an outstanding feature +of the present situation, the fact that libraries are +chiefly in the larger town areas, while the smaller +towns and country districts remain to a great +extent unprovided for.”</p> + +<p>The reason for “this partial and unequal +development” was the absence in the early Public +Library Acts of any clause providing for concerted +action among bodies competent theoretically +to become library authorities, but unable +practically, because to furnish an adequate income +out of a parish rate would have required an +Aladdin’s lamp.<a id="FNanchor_18_18" href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> If the county authorities +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span>had been permitted long ago to establish systems +of public libraries for the villages, and the product +of a penny rate throughout the county had been +spent on the upkeep, there might by now have +been a rural library service not inferior in quality +to that in the towns. But before 1919 the potential +library authority in country districts was the +parish council; and, even if parish councils had +been persuaded to combine, the unit of organization +would have been too poor to support anything +but a miserable apology for a library. In +his report of 1915, Professor Adams observed that +there was a growing consensus of opinion that the +county authorities should be empowered to adopt +the Acts and impose rates, and that the rural +library systems so established should be closely +linked up with the educational system. By this +plan the financial difficulties would be overcome, +and, since “common thought and common action” +are hard to attain in a dispersed population, it +was only reasonable that a more widely representative +body should be authorized to take the initiative. +“It is part everywhere of the rural problem +that there needs to be an organizing centre for the +concentrating and directing of rural thought and +action.”<a id="FNanchor_19_19" href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> Professor Adams outlined “a public +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span>State system” of rural libraries, “supported by +the rates, and, like the educational system, +universal.” It would be closely associated with, +if not under the control of, the county educational +authority. “It would radiate from one or more +centres, according as the county is large or small.” +“There would be ample room for voluntary +organization and effort within this framework, +and a good village and rural library system must +depend largely on voluntary co-operative work. +But the framework of the system must be strongly +knit, and must secure especially at the centre a +library institution, well equipped, and with expert +management and supervision. A new corps of +librarians, in the form of county library superintendents, +will be required if the movement is to +be progressively developed.” I have quoted an +important passage in the actual words of Professor +Adams, since it must be always borne in +mind that he proposed something far more substantial +than the mere circulation of boxes of books +among villages or small country towns such as +asked for the privilege. One of the primary +requisites of each local library, even in the initial +scheme which, he suggested, should be experimented +with in a few select areas, was “a permanent +collection of certain important reference +books and standard works.” That, indeed, must +be the minimum foundation for the most unambitious +kind of library service, as distinguished +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span>from a mere book service. This latter may be +furnished by a circulating system, centering in a +repository at some distance; but the permanent +collection must be there, in the village, or the +book service will be bereft of most of its educational +value.</p> + +<p>The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, at +whose request Professor Adams had carried out +his investigation, adopted for the sake of experiment +his suggestion that the Trust should take +over the Coats Libraries in the Highlands and +Islands, which had been initiated by Sir Peter +Coats of Paisley and at that date numbered 186 +on the mainland, 59 in Shetland and Orkney, +33 in Lewis and Harris, and 37 in the other +Hebrides. A repository was established at Dunfermline, +from which these local centres were +supplied with periodical batches of books. This +was the beginning of the Carnegie rural library +scheme, which during the next few years offered +the public and the Government an object-lesson +in the methods of supplying the neglected two-fifths +of the population in the four kingdoms +with a library service.</p> + +<p>The first county scheme to be set on foot was +in Staffordshire. In 1915 the Trust offered £5,000 +to this county council to be expended in five years +on a central repository, a stock of books, travelling +boxes and other equipment, and the costs of administration +and carriage, asking in return for +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span>“reasonable assurances that, at the conclusion of +the period and after the expenditure of the grant +named, the scheme would be maintained and +supported on funds other than theirs.” From +54 centres at once established in Staffordshire +schools the scheme gradually spread in four years +to 206. The county councils of Gloucestershire, +Cardiganshire, Somerset, and Wilts undertook +similar schemes under like financial conditions, +and the Trust made grants to the public libraries +of Perth and Grantham to organize a service in the +neighbouring country parishes. These rural systems +were given a statutory basis in Scotland, +under sec. 5 of the Scottish Education Act of +1918; but it was not till the Public Libraries Act +of December, 1919 that the position in England +and Wales was legalized. That Act gave an immense +stimulus to the rural library movement. +Library schemes have now been prepared for +nearly half the rural area of Great Britain, and a +large number are in actual working order.<a id="FNanchor_20_20" href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span>Trustees in 1920 set aside a sum of £192,000 for +grants to county authorities during the six years +1920-5, such grants to be employed on the initial +expenses of the stock of books, boxes, shelving, +and similar accessories for the central repository. +From that date they ceased to pay for the erection +of buildings or for running expenses. The premises +used are mostly temporary buildings, such as +Government huts, or else rooms in schools. These +central repositories look bare and insignificant to +the uninitiated, since they are furnished with little +but a few tables or benches for packing books on +and enough shelving to hold a fraction of the +working stock of books, most of which are out in +the villages and when they come home are off on +another journey almost at once. A few stout +boxes, with simple fittings countersunk to avoid +damage in transit, lie about, full or empty. These +are sent out, each carrying fifty or a hundred +volumes, by rail, carrier, or motor-van, to the +village schools or perchance the village club, to be +handed to the readers by volunteer librarians, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span>who are in most cases the schoolmasters.</p> + +<p>In a typical county, where the population is +mainly rural and the repository is quartered in a +borough of moderate size without a library of its +own—where indeed the local inhabitants, hungering +for books which their own borough council +will not consent to provide, have to be kept at +arm’s length by warning notices—some three +hundred villages are each at present receiving +about two hundred and fifty books a year. It is +not much; it is not much more than an experiment; +but anyhow it is a beginning; and, remember, +until the rural scheme arrived the labouring +man never saw a new book, from year end to year +end, unless his child won a Sunday School prize. +The circulating stock consists of books for children +and the class of books commonly defined as for the +general reader—that is to say, works for entertainment +primarily and in the second place for +knowledge or information. Further, there is in +this particular centre a strong collection of educational +works for the use of teachers, and a +numerous and sound selection of sociological +literature for the special benefit of the Workers’ +Educational Association, who have many tutorial +classes in the district, most of them studying +economics, social philosophy, or the science of +politics. The teachers are allowed to borrow +several books at a time, to further their work; +and in addition, the requirements of modern +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span>methods in teaching reading are met by the allowance +of perhaps fifteen or two dozen copies of +certain select books, to enable every child in a class +to have a copy—the reading-circle system applied +in the school. If any studious person should ask +for a book not in the printed catalogue, a book +obviously in advance of the general demand and +costing rather more than the average price bargained +for, the librarian sends for it to the Central +Library for Students, in Tavistock Square, London. +Even the newest and least-developed rural library +aims at an ideal that the great commercial circulating +libraries have given up as unattainable, +to enable any reader to have access to any book, +of unquestioned value, that he applies for—and few +failures to achieve this end, by one means or +another, have to be reported.</p> + +<p>The librarian superintending another county +system, a lady who has built it up from the foundation +stone, has, after three years been able to +announce an average circulation of two thousand +books a week. This, in spite of difficulties of transport, +and the absence of facilities for reaching the +adult readers directly. The work here is done +entirely through the schools, and of the eighteen +thousand and odd borrowers recently on the +register not much more than eight thousand are +above school age. Nevertheless, she reports, +even if the parents have “to snatch the books +from the children or to wait patiently until they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span>are all in bed” ... “the people will read if +they get the chance.”</p> + +<p>“In one Cotswold village there are seventy +readers, forty of whom are adults; among them +are several farmers, a painter, a butcher, a sadler, +domestic servants, railwaymen, builders, labourers, +many mothers, and the postmistress. Forty +books were sent there in January, and by June +these books had 389 readers, an average of 9.5 +readers per book. One teacher reports that his +male readers include a carter, a cowman, a rivetter, +farm-labourers, the policeman, a workhouse attendant, +the night watchman, the schoolmaster, and +the vicar. Another writes: “Our readers are chiefly +as follows—cloth-workers, carpenters, clerks, plasterers, +house-decorators, tailors, gardeners, printers, +engine-drivers, ironworkers, chauffeurs, railwaymen.” +When one looks at lists like these one +realizes that to pack a box to meet all tastes is no +easy matter. In Stroud there is an old lady of +seventy-nine who borrows books regularly from +the school, and at Coln St. Aldwyn, in the Cotswolds, +a disabled soldier read, in three months, +nineteen out of a possible twenty-six books. One +of our former borrowers who came in by train +every day left her book in charge of a porter in the +evenings. It was some time before she discovered +why he was so surly at times, and then she found she +had changed her book before he had finished it!”<a id="FNanchor_21_21" href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span></p> +<p>Here are samples of the letters received from +imaginative school-children, who had been told +about that inexhaustible treasure-house, the +Central Library:—“Please send me a book on +carpentering and oblige.” “Dear Sir, Could you +kindly send me on one of your nature study painting +books as you spoke of in our schoolmaster’s +letter from you and oblige, Yours sincerely.” +“Dear, Sir, I should be pleased if you would kindly +forward me a book on the study of knitting a +Jumper.” And here is an extract from a teacher’s +account of her library centre:—</p> + +<p>“We all feel greatly indebted to the Carnegie +Trustees, it is impossible to over-estimate the boon +that the Library is in these country districts. +If the Trustees could see for themselves the excitement +and pleasure when the books arrive, and the +rush to see them and choose, I am sure they would +realize afresh how well-spent their funds are. +Our only difficulty is that there are never enough +books for all who want them, but that, without +doubt, is a difficulty common to all Carnegie rural +librarians.”</p> + +<p>The Carnegie Trustees calculated their grants +on the understanding that purchases by the rural +libraries should be restricted to the cheaper books +in general demand (averaging 3s. 6d. new or +second-hand), and that when other or more expensive +books were required they should be obtained +on loan from the Central Library for Students. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span>To this library, which forms a central store of +technical, scientific, and other high-class works, +for supplying both the rural systems and those +urban libraries that pay a small subscription, the +Trustees are now making a subsidy of £1,000 a +year. It may eventually develop into an invaluable +auxiliary to all the public libraries in the +kingdom, and money spent on increasing its stock +is a thoroughly economic expenditure, since it +saves an incredible amount of overlapping among +the different units of the nation’s library service.</p> + +<p>Different counties have employed different +modes of distribution. Rail and carrier are the +usual medium where the centres are not far from +the railways, and some counties have secured half +rates for conveyance of books by passenger train. +Experiments have however been made with hired +motor transport, with a saving on costs and a +much more important saving in time and trouble, +since more than a score of boxes can be delivered +and the time-expired boxes collected in a single +day’s trip. The Perthshire authority have acquired +a motor-van of their own to be used for +conveying books and also for the librarian’s tours +of inspection. This will no doubt be the plan +adopted elsewhere when the systems reach a +further stage of development. More miscellaneous +and more picturesque methods have had to be +followed in the North of Scotland service, which +feeds the Islands, including St. Kilda, with much-needed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> +books. After many abortive attempts to +reach St. Kilda, it was found that a trawler was +going there from Fleetwood, and in this roundabout +way the first box of books from Dunfermline +arrived there last year. In the Orkneys, Shetlands, +and Hebrides, crofters, fishermen, and +cobblers, we are told, look eagerly for books on +natural history, science, and philosophy, from the +Central Library for Students. How many people +passing the drab house in Tavistock Square have +the remotest idea that from this centre, unmarked +by anything more grandiose than a small brass +plate, mental and spiritual light is being steadily +radiated to the inhabitants of utmost Thule. In +the island of Foula, where the grown-up people +cannot leave their crofts in the scanty summer, +the school-children are enlisted as carriers. A +schoolmaster describes how in the winter he +carried the books himself until he fell in with the +sheep-dogs sent out to bring them to the distant +croft. On this island a population of 175 borrows +1,300 books a year. Guiberwick, with a population +of 200, calls for 700 every six months. Minute +records are kept at Dunfermline of the kind of +reading that appeals to various kinds of readers. +“For the fiction,” says the librarian, Miss Thomson, +“taken on a whole, they read very good +novels. The general works are of a varied nature, +but I have noticed that books dealing with the +literature, fauna, flora, and topography of each +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span>island are much in favour. We also supply books +in Gaelic, which are widely read both by adults +and juveniles.” Anyone who has wandered in the +lonelier parts of the Highlands will know what +are the difficulties of a service to the remote glens +and the foresters’ stations in the deer-forests, +and what a priceless gift a handful of books always +is.</p> + +<p>It must be evident from this short account +that the rural problem has been tackled on the +cheapest lines. The maximum cost of any county +scheme has in no instance exceeded the yield of a +halfpenny rate; and until there are centres throughout +a shire, or until supplementary means are employed, +such as the establishment of stationary +libraries at accessible points in certain areas, it is +not likely to increase appreciably. The following +typical examples of county expenditure are given +by the Trustees in their report on the year 1920:—</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdc">Total</td> +<td class="tdc">School</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">population</td> +<td class="tdl">population</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Cost</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdc">Age of</td> +<td class="tdc">of area</td> +<td class="tdc">of area</td> +<td class="tdc">Total</td> +<td class="tdc">Rate</td> +<td class="tdl">per</td> +<td class="tdc">No. of</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">County.</td> +<td class="tdl">Scheme.</td> +<td class="tdc">served.</td> +<td class="tdc">served.</td> +<td class="tdl">Cost.</td> +<td class="tdl">equivalent.</td> +<td class="tdl">head.</td> +<td class="tdl">Centres.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Staffordshire</td> +<td class="tdl">4th yr.</td> +<td class="tdr">246,000</td> +<td class="tdr">35,000</td> +<td class="tdr">£525</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₁₈d.</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₂d.</td> +<td class="tdr">206</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Gloucestershire</td> +<td class="tdl"> 2nd “</td> +<td class="tdr">212,000</td> +<td class="tdr">30,000</td> +<td class="tdr">500</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₈d.</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₂d.</td> +<td class="tdr">303</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Cardiganshire</td> +<td class="tdl">3rd “</td> +<td class="tdr">60,000</td> +<td class="tdr">6,500</td> +<td class="tdr">440</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₄d.</td> +<td class="tdr">1³⁄₄d.</td> +<td class="tdr">45</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Wiltshire</td> +<td class="tdl">1st “</td> +<td class="tdr">181,000</td> +<td class="tdr">34,000</td> +<td class="tdr">435</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₁₂d.</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₂d.</td> +<td class="tdr">90</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Notts</td> +<td class="tdl">2nd “</td> +<td class="tdr">100,000</td> +<td class="tdr">13,421</td> +<td class="tdr">580</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₆d.</td> +<td class="tdr">1¹⁄₂d.</td> +<td class="tdr">164</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Somerset</td> +<td class="tdl">2nd “</td> +<td class="tdr">335,000</td> +<td class="tdr">52,000</td> +<td class="tdr">450</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₁₈d.</td> +<td class="tdr">¹⁄₃d.</td> +<td class="tdr">223</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p>It was a wise stroke of policy to make a +beginning through the schools and the children. +A reading public is in process of manufacture, and +through the books and the readers thus introduced +into rustic households even the stubborn bucolic +mind can hardly fail to receive some impression. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span>But the risk of beginning in a small way is that +people will be content with small results, or, even +worse, that the service may have such insignificant +consequences that nobody will mind if it declines +into something like the old-fashioned school +library or disappears altogether. The country +districts are being supplied with boxes of books; +they are not being put into contact with libraries—they +are not yet supplied with what Professor +Adams laid down as the first essential, “a permanent +collection of certain important reference +books and standard works.” Such a permanent +nucleus is in truth the essential basis of a library +service; a rotation of book-boxes is, in reality, +but auxiliary to this. Unless it be firmly realized +that what has been done is only a very small beginning, +and that enormously more remains to be +done before an adequate library service is provided, +a fatal mistake will have been committed, +as paralysing to future progress as the blunder of +1850, which made public libraries a failure on the +whole throughout the first period of their existence. +The warning ought by now to have been +taken to heart. In their manner of dealing with +the rural library, the county education authorities +are on their trial. If the wonted errors of bureaucratic +management are committed, if there is a lack +of vision and of sympathy with the villager, +especially the villager who will not be hustled +inside the fold of organized adult education, failure +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span>to come to grips with the thorny problems of +rural psychology, and, above all, a one-ideaed +zeal for economy and a cheap sort of efficiency, +not much can be hoped for until public opinion, +when our new readers have grown up, imperiously +demands more.</p> + +<p>So far, little has been attempted, except in +one or two counties blessed with an open-minded +and energetic librarian, to secure the personal +contact and the insight into local needs and local +avenues of approach that are the indispensable +preliminaries to success. For the extension work +that has proved so lucrative in urban libraries there +is doubly and trebly a need in the country, if +libraries are to play any vital part in the rural +economy. During the last few years, fortunately, +many agencies have come into being or have +acquired a new lease of life through which missionary +enterprises can be carried on, granted the +necessary intelligence and driving-power at the +centre. Rural conditions have changed profoundly +since the war. There is a keen desire to make life +in the country interesting, to open the stagnant +backwater into the general stream. Here there is +a village club or a women’s institute, there a +branch of the W.E.A.; the Y.M.C.A. and the +Y.W.C.A. have both identified themselves with +these and other local activities and initiated fresh +projects themselves, including small libraries, +reading circles, and educational programmes; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span>one place has a field club, another a musical society; +almost everywhere there are boy scouts, girl guides, +and other elements of social life, to all of which the +library movement should come as an aid and a +stimulus. Some of these may form a natural +home for the village library; others will provide +materials for reading circles and similar enterprises +on the part of librarians having some insight into +the rustic mind and a determination to break +down initial barriers. But to make such efforts +effective, the policy of the rural library authority +must be pushing, adaptive, and not a parsimonious +one, and the staff of librarians must be something +more than machines for distributing books.</p> + +<p>The directors of education and the county +librarians who are in charge of rural systems might +learn a good deal from the district organizers employed +by the Village Clubs Association. This +organization was founded during the war, with +Government assistance, to stimulate social life +in the country, and counteract the tendency of the +villagers to migrate into towns. It works principally +by encouraging the formation of village +clubs and institutes, and assisting these with advice +and practical help, especially by getting them to +co-operate in schemes for lectures, classes, entertainments, +sports, competitions, and the like. +Several hundred thriving clubs are affiliated to the +Association, and the staff of officials—men chosen +for their experience of rural conditions and insight +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span>into rustic mentality—are in touch with everything +that goes on throughout a radius extending +over two or three counties. Many clubs have +through local benefactions acquired large and +beautiful village halls, which are obviously the +destined home of the village library—in point of +fact, they are not yet the actual home even where +the village has a library centre, bureaucratic +authority much preferring the school, official +routine and discipline to mere human nature.</p> + +<p>The Village Clubs Association takes an active +interest in the intellectual side of rural life; it +promotes the formation of village libraries, very +sensibly urging every club to make itself the owner +of a small reference collection, to buy some books +for lending, and borrow from the Central Library +to satisfy demands beyond the average. The +Association, further, busies itself in promoting +study circles, lectures, and evening classes, official +or otherwise. It has its own library and education +committee, whose activities coincide in large +measure with the work that the county education +committees and directors of education are doing, +or ought to be doing, in carrying out the rural +library scheme. Yet the Village Clubs Association +and the educational authorities, even in +counties where rural libraries exist and both are +ostensibly engaged in furthering the same purposes, +have done nothing yet in concert, have not +availed themselves of each others’ services, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span>so far as a person who is not a Government official +can make out, do not know of each others’ existence. +In short, this is another notable instance +of our national gift for doing things twice over and +at the same time leaving them undone, of paying +twice for the same job and declining to do it +properly because of the expense. This too, in days +of anti-waste campaigns and niggardly economy. +The education committee and the director of education +in each county work under the Board of +Education; the Village Clubs Association is foster-mothered +by the Board of Agriculture. It is, +apparently, not official etiquette that the Association +should recommend the village clubs to seek +the benefits of the education authority’s library +scheme—their pamphlets of information and advice +do not mention the new possibilities opened +out by the Act of 1919—or, on the other hand, +for the education authority to utilize the organizing +experience and fit its own schemes into the framework +which the Association could put at its disposal.</p> + +<p>If the education authorities ignore official +or semi-official work such as this, it is to be feared +that they will be slow to recognize and co-ordinate +the thousand and one activities, the libraries and +institutes founded by private effort, and the +numberless bodies that are trying hard to infuse +a new spirit into rural life. Will they take over +or work in any kind of partnership with the library +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span>schemes of the Y.M.C.A., the village library +association working in Worcestershire, or that +centred in Barnett House, Oxford? Will they +make the various field clubs and other local societies +their coadjutors? Unless they do, all the +elements of a real social and intellectual resurrection +in the villages will be left just outside their +radius. It was a good thing to begin with the +schools, but the work must get beyond the school +at the first opportunity. The village school is +only a makeshift base for the great intellectual +and civilizing crusade in which all available +forces must be concentrated. It is very difficult +indeed to evoke in a schoolroom the congenial +atmosphere of the library, the reading circle, and +the village institute. The very word education, +with its narrow associations, is unpopular and repressive. +Adult education will have to get rid of +the second term before it can become an inspiration. +The sooner, therefore, the rural library +can leave the school and schooling behind the +better. To do so everywhere, in most places perhaps, +is not yet possible; but where it is possible, +directors of education must not be allowed to +frown upon the suggestion. Freedom and initiative, +spontaneous personal development, are the +chief things to aim at, and they will be attained +most easily in regions outside the range of our +present educational machinery.</p> + +<p>Salvation will probably come to the rural +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span>library movement from such counties as are enlightened +enough to form leagues between villages, +with real not perfunctory libraries in convenient +centres, or combinations of borough or urban +district libraries with neighbouring villages. Only +when a growing proportion of the rural public has +the opportunity of direct contact with libraries, +and not merely with small batches of books sent +them at stated intervals, will they realize what a +true library service can do. Only then will there +be much hope of co-ordinating all the miscellaneous +local efforts into active schemes of library extension. +Incidentally, unless events have meanwhile +hurried on the process of linking up all our public +libraries into a national system, such combinations +may furnish a suggestive example to the towns. +But to achieve all this, it is doubtful if we should +make heavy demands upon the county education +committees, unless they depute this side of their +work to a strong sub-committee, reinforced with +co-opted members from outside. Representation +of other interests than those of schools and education, +representation of the many voluntary bodies +who are striving to reanimate the countryside, +representation, above all, of the people who read +or whom we want to read the books, is a radical +necessity. To this point there will be a return in +the next chapter, where the general question of +who shall manage our reconstituted libraries will +arise.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span></p> +<p>In the United States, where the obstacles to a +rural library service are still more formidable, the +town population being only 45 per cent. of the +whole, various plans have been tried, and a different +method than that recently adopted in this +country has met with most success, the method of +expansion outwards from a library at the centre, +freely open to the public. The State library commissions +do not flatter themselves that they have +completely solved the problem, for only 794 of the +2964 counties in the United States have as yet one +or more libraries of not less than 5,000 volumes; +but they are apparently on the highroad to success. +At all events, they are fully aware of the extent and +value of their opportunities. All the states in the +union have State libraries, and most have library +commissions, which operate in different ways, +some with exemplary thoroughness, and some, +it must be confessed, rather perfunctorily. Many +states have systems of travelling libraries, that +in New York being the most extensive and flourishing. +Yet comparing this with the rival county +system now to be described, a well-informed critic +says, “The few people reached compared with the +great rural population of the state of New York, +wherein the travelling library under the direction +of the State Library Commission seems to be more +widely used than in any other state of the Union, +indicates the futility of trying, by means of a +travelling library system operated from the capital +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span>of the state, to supply farm homes with library +privileges.”<a id="FNanchor_22_22" href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> Municipal libraries have reached +their highest development in Massachusetts, which +has on its public shelves more than six million +volumes, about two to each inhabitant; but in the +absence of a county system the rural population is +neglected. Indiana also has an admirable township +law, empowering townships to combine and +work in concert; yet only one rural inhabitant +in each eleven enjoys library privileges. A very +different tale is told in those states where the +system of the central county library has been +set up, though the system is even now but in its +infancy.</p> + +<p>The pioneer county library was established +in 1901 in Van Wert, Ohio, in a state where the +library movement had hitherto made but indifferent +progress. Funds for a building had been +left to the county town by a self-made banker, +J. S. Brumback, and his heirs decided that it +should be a library for the whole county, whereby +30,000 people would enjoy benefits that would +otherwise have been restricted to 8,000. The +county is small and compact, measuring 405 +square miles, and is predominantly a rural area, +16,300 persons at that time living on farms or in +out-of-the-way spots, and the inhabitants of the +towns depending largely for business on the rural +population. The county spirit is strong. There +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span>are county parks, a county fair, a county hospital, +a county Chautauqua, agricultural shows, sports, +singing contests, and other county affairs. Hence +the tree was planted in the right soil, and took +hold at once. A county tax was sanctioned, a +large initial stock of books was acquired, and has +been continually augmented; and when the stock +had increased to 25,000 the whole library service, +which is threefold, dealing with the town of Van +Wert, with fifteen branches, and with the schools +in town and country, was run at an aggregate cost +of $7,000 per annum. The staff is divided into +three departments corresponding to the three +divisions of the service, besides the custodians at +the branches, who receive an honorarium for their +attendance at certain hours. An equal if not a +greater circulation of books is attained through the +schools than even through the branch stations. +Sunday schools are pressed into the work, and the +extension activities are multifarious. Collections +of 125 books are sent to each branch every three +months; in addition, supply boxes of a hundred +books go regularly to some branches, and when +required to others. Every inhabitant of the county +it must be understood, is entitled to borrow +direct from the central library. This is an important +point, and, observes the librarian, it would be +still more important if the central library were +worked on the open access system. In 1920, the +total number of agencies in operation was 142, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span>comprehending, besides the central library, five +city stations, six city schools, fifteen branches, +and 115 school collections. The registered borrowers +comprise nearly sixty per cent. of the whole +population, three-quarters of them using the +central library, whether they live in the town or in +the villages. Though weeding-out is a regular +practice, obsolete books being ruthlessly discarded +and the library supplied with the latest books so +as to be a real workshop, the total stock is now +30,597,<a id="FNanchor_23_23" href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> which is rather more than one volume +per head of the population.</p> + +<p>Van Wert is a small county, and the compactness +of the area served gives it an immense +advantage over areas of the size of most English +counties, which would have to be divided into +library districts to be put on the same footing. +But the superiority of the county system, with its +facilities for direct access as well as its service +through the branch stations and the schools, over +the mere travelling library, was so manifest that +the system rapidly spread. Among the states that +have adopted county library laws, following +Ohio’s example, are Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota, +Missouri, California, Maryland, Washington, +Nebraska, Oregon, Iowa. Canada, also, has +welcomed the system. California has the largest +number of county libraries, and is not far from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span>covering the whole area of the state with a library +service. It has a state board of examiners in +librarianship, and only certificated persons are +eligible to county library posts. One laudable +social object is clearly realized as a motive behind +rural library policy in the United States, to +encourage the people to live as far as they can from +the heart of the cities, in spots where they can +own a little ground for cultivation, and enjoy +pure air and a wholesome environment. If the +practical American looks at it in this way, we may +be sure that there is much force in the contention +that a first-rate library service in the country +would be a real attraction and help materially in +the movement back to the land.</p> + +<p>Here it is worth while mentioning a different +class of library that is multiplying fast in the +United States, greatly to the furtherance of the +same movement—agricultural libraries. There +are three varieties of these, the library of the +agricultural college, that attached to the experimental +station, and the agricultural library formed +by a private individual or a farming corporation. +Their are sixty-five agricultural colleges in the +States, maintained by state or federal funds. +Primarily, such libraries serve the college +students; but the colleges have adopted a strenuous +extension policy, running short winter courses for +farmers, organizing agricultural clubs, sending out +instructive groups of exhibits, batches of books, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span>reading lists and reading matter, in the form of +pamphlets, cuttings, and answers to inquiries. +The University of Wisconsin distributes books +by parcel post and issues bibliographical bulletins; +the Massachusetts Agricultural College has +a system of travelling libraries; Purdue University +prepares select libraries of agricultural literature +and takes steps to sell these to farmers. +“Through the farmers’ papers, on the special trains, +at fairs and at institutes, the work was carried +on.”<a id="FNanchor_24_24" href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Agricultural libraries are an essential +auxiliary to the experimental station, where the +work is forwarded materially by the services of an +expert librarian skilled in searching out information. +The experimental station and its library +play a part in answering queries from working +agriculturalists, similar to that played by our +commercial and technical libraries for the benefit +of manufacturers and men of business.</p> + +<p>The advantages of basing a rural library +service on a central library to which the readers +can resort if they desire are manifold. Foremost +is the supremely important point that the users +can come if and when they will to see and handle +the books and make themselves familiar with the +library’s contents. Open access in town libraries +has been, not merely an educational factor, but an +inspiration. The box of books doled out from a +repository that the reader has never seen, and to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span>which he would not be admitted if he applied, is +better than nothing, but it is a library service +only to those who have hitherto had nothing. +A town takes a pride in its library; the villager +would have the same personal interest in the +collection of books housed in the village hall. An +inaccessible repository is not likely to excite the +feelings of county patriotism which have been a +valuable element in the success of the Brumback +Library, Ohio. Such patriotism is needed, if the +unanimous social effort required of this new experiment, +much more than it was required in the towns, +is to become a reality.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_162fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_162fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">Library of the South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The ideal plan would be to divide the large +counties into sections, each centering in a town or +regional library. The town libraries exist, and if +proper financial conditions were arranged the +towns would probably not be averse from coming +into a well-planned scheme. They would gain, +not lose, by the change, since the available stock of +books would be enlarged indefinitely and there +would be a wider apportionment of overhead +charges. At present, Somerset is worked from +the little watering-place of Burnham, which has +no library service for itself, and books are actually +sent across the width of the shire into the suburbs +of Bath, a town rejoicing in a large collection of +lending-library books used mainly for desultory +reference purposes. How much better were Somerset +mapped out into districts served from the existing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span>public libraries at Radstock, Weston-super-Mare, +Taunton, and Bridgewater, with new ones +established at Glastonbury, Wells, or other places, +unable singly to afford a library. Why should not +Sussex be supplied from the chain of admirable +libraries in her south coast towns, with a new one +in the hinterland at Horsham? Kent has public +libraries at Maidstone, Gravesend, Chatham, Bromley, +Canterbury, and Folkestone; Maidstone, with +its Bentlif Institute comprising library, museum, +and art gallery, would form a central magazine +hardly to be surpassed, and with subordinate +centres at the other places it would be easy to cater +for the whole county. Wiltshire is served from +Trowbridge, where the bookless inhabitants have +to be sternly repulsed from the sacred repository, +whilst Calne and Salisbury have libraries of their +own that might co-operate in supplying this large +agricultural area. Similarly, the Gloucestershire +repository is in the county town, and has no dealings +with the Gloucester Public Library. Examples +might be multiplied; but the reader need +only open the map of the United Kingdom to see +how easy and natural a thing it would be to adopt +the American county library system and centre +our rural service in an accessible library building, +with its reference collection, its reading rooms, +and above all, its lending book-shelves thrown open +to all comers. The Librarian of the National +Liberal Club, Mr. C. R. Sanderson, prepared a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span>scheme for Middlesex, one of the latest counties +to accept the Carnegie grant, for organizing a +regional service worked from a central library +established within the joint boundary of Southgate +and Friern Barnet, which have between +them a population approaching 60,000. The +alternative to this proposal is the usual travelling +library system, and it remains to be seen which +will be ultimately adopted. Middlesex, most of +which is mere suburb of London, is in circumstances +very different from those of the average +county. It already has a score of public libraries +in its towns and urban districts, many of which +would be anything but worse off if they were linked +into a county scheme. Failing that consummation, +towards which, however, it may be hoped +that future events will lead, there seems no reason +but timidity and short-sighted frugality to hesitate +in choosing the American pattern.</p> + +<p>The more rapidly the method of the travelling +book-box spreads into counties in which efficient +urban libraries are already working, the sooner +will its radical defects appear; common sense +and obvious convenience will presently call for +the abolition of such anomalies, and insist on a +proper utilization of existing resources. The +earlier this happens the better, for such utilization +will be far more economic than an ineffective +system, however cheaply run. The outcome will +be something much nearer the goal indicated by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span>the Adult Education Committee in their Final +Report.<a id="FNanchor_25_25" href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>“The hope lies in the recognition of the county +market town as the natural centre for the surrounding +villages and the gradual development of +transport facilities radiating from the market +towns.... The development of transport and +the extended use of electric power will tend to the +decentralization of industry and the movement +of firms from the town to the country. It is improbable, +however, that town workers will be +prepared, in any large numbers—even when the +housing shortage is remedied—to exchange urban +life for life in the country so long as the latter +is without the counterpart of the many and varied +activities to which they have become accustomed +in the towns.... The rural problem, from whatever +point of view it is regarded—economic, social, +or political—is essentially a problem of re-creating +the rural community, of developing new social +traditions and a new culture. The great need is +for a living nucleus of communal activity in the +village, which will be a centre from which radiate +the influence of different forms of corporate effort, +and to which the people are attracted to find this +satisfaction of their social and intellectual needs. +We conceive this nucleus to be a village institute, +under full public control.... The institute should +contain a hall large enough for dances, cinema +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span>shows, concerts, plays, public lectures, and exhibitions. +At the institute there should be a public +library and local museum. If arrangements can +be made for games and sports, so much the better. +The institute, in a word, should be a centre of +educational, social, and recreational activity.... +As the institutes will be used more and more for +public and quasi-public purposes, it seems to us +that they should be established out of public funds. +In the main, the establishment of village institutes +should be a national charge. The complicated +social and economic questions which we call collectively +the rural problem are a matter of the +greatest national importance. They do not admit +of any simple solution. They need to be approached +by many roads; one of the most important +is through direct encouragement to the +establishment of a new communal organization +and to the development of corporate activities and +social institutions in harmony with modern social +ideas. The State cannot create a new social +spirit; it can but provide opportunities for its +growth and expression. One of the chief of these +opportunities is the village institute, and we can +think of no more profound or far-reaching piece +of rural reconstruction than the provision of buildings +expressly designed as a focus of the social +activities of village communities. Whether such +institutes become active centres of social and educational +work will depend largely upon the degree +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span>in which voluntary organizations of various kinds +co-operate in utilizing the opportunities which the +institutes present. It is clear that a village institute +can never become the mainspring of organized +life in the village unless the organized activities of +the village centre in the institute. The success of +village institutes in the future rests upon an appeal +to groups of people with common interests, rather +than to individuals. It is because they have, in +recent years, begun to flourish that we look forward +hopefully to a vigorous life within the village +institutes.”</p> + +<p>Only let the library hold the central position +in these rural institutes that it held in the Mechanics’ +Institutes before the Public Libraries Acts, and +let the numerous libraries—and institutes—be +knitted together in active fraternal union, and the +Committee’s dreams may easily be accomplished.<a id="FNanchor_26_26" href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_18_18" href="#FNanchor_18_18" class="label">[18]</a> The Adult Education Committee may have been justified in +laying the blame for this state of things on “the want of foresight of +the original promoters of the movement, who assumed that the institutions +would appeal only to the artisan classes of the large centres of +population”; but they were hardly right in going on to ascribe it more +particularly to their mistake in allowing the legislature “to restrict +the expenditure of public money to the product of a penny rate.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_19_19" href="#FNanchor_19_19" class="label">[19]</a> <i>A Report on Library Provision and Policy</i>, by Professor W. G. S. +Adams (1915), p. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_20_20" href="#FNanchor_20_20" class="label">[20]</a> “Prior to 1920, pioneer rural schemes had been financed or +assisted by the Trust in the counties or areas noted in column ‘A’ +below; column ‘B’ shows the counties to which grants have been +sanctioned this year; column ‘C’ shows the counties whose Authorities +are in negotiation (preliminary or advanced) with a view to a grant.”</p> + +<p> +A<br> +Perthshire<br> +Caithness<br> +Montrose District<br> +Nottinghamshire<br> +Staffordshire<br> +Wiltshire<br> +Gloucestershire<br> +Buckinghamshire<br> +Dorsetshire<br> +Somersetshire<br> +Yorkshire Village Library<br> +Cardigan<br> +Carnarvon<br> +Brecon & Radnor<br> +Denbighshire<br> +Montgomeryshire<br> +Grantham District<br> +Westmorland<br> +Warwickshire<br> +<br> +B<br> +Sutherland<br> +Clackmannan<br> +Renfrewshire<br> +Forfar & Kincardine<br> +Midlothian<br> +Berwickshire<br> +Peeblesshire<br> +Dumbartonshire<br> +Kent<br> +Pembrokeshire<br> +Glamorganshire<br> +West Sussex<br> +Cheshire<br> +Inverness<br> +<br> +C<br> +Flint<br> +Carmarthen<br> +Anglesey<br> +Middlesex<br> +Hampshire (Isle of Wight)<br> +Hampshire (Southampton)<br> +Worcestershire<br> +Northamptonshire<br> +Cumberland<br> +Durham<br> +Northumberland<br> +Kirkcudbright<br> +Nairn<br> +Fife<br> +Bedfordshire<br> +Surrey<br> +Linlithgow<br> +Shropshire<br> +Cambridge<br> +Isle of Man +</p> + +<p>(Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, <i>Seventh Annual Report</i>, 1921; p. 9.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_21_21" href="#FNanchor_21_21" class="label">[21]</a> <i>Library Association Record</i>—“The Gloucestershire Rural Library +Scheme,” by Miss A. S. Cooke (Feb., 1921).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_22_22" href="#FNanchor_22_22" class="label">[22]</a> S. B. Antrim and E. I. Antrim, <i>The County Library</i> (1914), p. 238.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_23_23" href="#FNanchor_23_23" class="label">[23]</a> Total number of vols. accessioned (Dec. 31, 1920) 37,302; +number in the library 30,597.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_24_24" href="#FNanchor_24_24" class="label">[24]</a> J. H. Friedel: <i>Training for Librarianship</i>, p. 106.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_25_25" href="#FNanchor_25_25" class="label">[25]</a> pp. 141-5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_26_26" href="#FNanchor_26_26" class="label">[26]</a> The character of the best type of village institute may be judged +from the following account of the Nettlebed Working Men’s Club and +Institute:—</p> + +<p>“Perhaps the most original feature of the equipment of the hall +is the provision of a cinematograph apparatus. The provision of picture +palaces in all English villages would be a doubtful advantage, if they +showed the baser sort of ‘cowboy’ and other sensational films. Given +some restraint in the choice of subject, however, moving pictures make +winter evenings more changeful. During 1918 the cinema was used +very little, but it is now running every Saturday evening, and draws +full houses. Mr. Fleming’s main idea in installing a cinema at Nettlebed +was to make use of its educational possibilities. The Oxfordshire Education +Committee welcomed the provision, as also did the Inspector +of Schools, the more so because it extended advantages to the school +children of six parishes near Nettlebed. The Education Code permits +teachers to take the whole or part of a school for rambles or visits to +places of educational interest during school hours, and films have been +shown at Nettlebed on certain afternoons to a concourse of children. +The subjects of the pictures were chosen to illustrate geography, history, +English, and nature study. A village club can conduct its ‘cinema +department’ by joining a lending library of films, so that the subjects +can be duly varied.</p> + +<p>“The higher aspects of village life have not, however, been neglected +at Nettlebed. Concerts, lectures, and dances are held in the men’s hall, +which is laid with a special dancing floor of oak, famous throughout the +district, and this is protected in the ordinary way by a cloth covering. +Dancing classes are held weekly for children in the afternoon and for +adults in the evening, and are conducted by a lady resident in the +village. An instructress, under whose care the young girls in the village +and district are taught cookery, laundry work, and housekeeping, +lives in a house near the hall. Across the road is the school garden, +divided into some fourteen plots, each cared for by one boy. At the +back of the playground is an old building converted into a carpenter’s +shop, in which another section of the boys work under the supervision +of the village schoolmaster. All of these branches are under the control +of the County Education Authority. Altogether, it will be seen that +in these various ways instruction as well as amusement is provided.” +Sir Lawrence Weaver, <i>Village Clubs and Halls</i> (1920), pp. 82-3.</p></div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[Pg 169]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="V">V +<br> +A NATIONAL LIBRARY SERVICE.</h2></div> + + +<p>Centralization proved to be the only +way of extending a library service to the +rural districts. No village, unless through the +largess of a plutocrat, could build up and maintain +anything worth calling a library for itself. Given +a centralized system, some sort of service can be +run cheaply, and a first-class service can be run +economically. Does it not follow that some measure +of centralization would be good for urban libraries, +enabling them to save in certain directions, and +making their resources go a great deal further +than they go at present in the direction of widest +utility? The largest libraries have managed to be +self-sufficing, not merely because they have more +money to spend, but rather because their service +is organized on the principle of a centralized group. +There is a point beyond which it does not pay a +library to provide from its own resources all that +its users may possibly require. Each library must +determine this point for itself. The everyday +wants of its readers ought to be satisfied on the +spot and at the moment; but to go far beyond +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span>that point even should a local Crœsus provide the +wherewithal, would be extravagant, entailing +surplusage, overlapping, and waste. Spending +money on books only in occasional request is to +spend too little on books in continual demand. +The library of moderate means cannot pretend +to satisfy both daily and exceptional wants, unless +it is able to call upon outside resources, such as a +Central Library for Students developed to such a +capacity that it forms a sufficient reservoir for +supplementing all the moderate-sized stocks in the +country. If most of the urban libraries were +brought into a co-operative network of libraries, +with mechanism for interchange by which the +book lacking here would be supplied there, or else +from a larger regional library or a clearing-house +at the centre, obviously a service equal to the +pooled resources of the whole system would be +provided without the present waste on overlapping.</p> + +<p>Central organization exists in the big provincial +cities; that is the reason for their superiority, +and they are superior in a degree far beyond +that of mere size. It does not exist in London; +that is why serious readers must have recourse +to the British Museum or the big special libraries, +to satisfy their requirements; or if, like the great +majority, they can rarely do this, they must go +without. London is the most glaring illustration +of the vices due to mere parochial methods; it +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span>suffers, not so much because its library resources +are limited, as because they are not mobilized. +For certain purposes, it has already been noted, +both London and provincial libraries acknowledge +the economic value of some centralization. Thus +every municipal library has given up buying books +in Braille type for the blind, and relies for this +branch of its service upon the National Library at +Westminster. A great many subscribe to the +Central Library for Students, and draw upon that +for books required by specialist readers. A large +number help to provide the funds for the great +Subject-Index to Periodicals, which makes the +contents of reviews, magazines, technical and +scientific journals, filed in their reference departments, +available for instant use. This may not +seem much compared with the results of joint +effort or of State supervision in America, where +they have co-operative cataloguing, co-operative +publication of bibliographies and aids for readers, +and elaborate facilities for professional training; +but it is a beginning. The Adult Education +Committee can think of no way to endow the +industries of the country with an adequate series +of technical libraries except by centralization. +Although many librarians, represented by the +Library Association, do not approve of the particular +scheme put forward, they are at one with the +Committee in admitting that co-ordination of the +separate libraries and the establishment of a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span>central supply is the only way to solve this problem.</p> + +<p>Although, however, the partial and unequal +development of public libraries which the Adult +Education Committee by a slip in their +logic put down to the rate limit, is due, as the +report conclusively shows, to their having had +to struggle along in isolation, it would be disastrous +to take the control of the local libraries +entirely out of the hands of the local authorities. +This would stultify all efforts to inspire public +opinion and evoke local pride. No institution +in a civilized society is more sure to be an +expression of corporate life and local individuality +than a communal library, in the building up +of which the actual users have had a hand. A +system, however complete and efficient, bestowed +by a Government department, however benevolent, +would be sure eventually to stifle all such aspirations. +The local communities in both town and +country must have a decisive voice in the management +of their libraries. They must have a larger +voice, not a smaller, than they have had hitherto. +Local initiative has never had free play. Why is +it that public libraries rarely excite that interest +and enthusiasm in which the promoters hopefully +confided? The answer is obvious. Libraries +have suffered from official repression, and have +not had even the doubtful advantage of official +tutelage. If a town wished to spend liberally on +its library, it was pulled up by the rate limit. If +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span>it wanted lectures, the Government auditor put +in his veto: he does so still. And so with any of the +excursions from the programme prescribed from +above that would have helped to realize a higher +ideal. Library authorities have been confined +to the unimaginative duty of exercising circumscribed +and inadequate powers, and the library +committee has enjoyed the least prestige of all +the council’s departments. More local control, +more powers of initiative, and more representation +of the actual users of the library are needed, if a +vigorous and useful life is to be maintained.</p> + +<p>But this is fully compatible with healthy co-operation +between the different authorities under +the guiding supervision of a central department. +Some authorities may require a stimulus; they +should not be allowed to victimize those among +their constituents who crave the very necessities +of civilized life. Cases are not unknown where +borough councils have failed to carry out, or have +deliberately emasculated, a library scheme approved +by a majority of the ratepayers. Education +is compulsory: it is a question whether one of +the chief instruments of education should be at +the mercy of a local body to grant or withhold. +For, so inconsiderable a place does the library take +at present in local politics, the average borough +council, elected to manage the trams, the streets, +water, electricity, and other mundane affairs, +seldom represents the views of the citizen on such a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span>different matter as libraries; and the committee +appointed by such a council hardly ever represents +or is fully cognizant of the views of the +people who actually use the library.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, the times when a policy of rate-saving +at all costs, or the selfishness of a leisured +class enjoying their subscription libraries and not +in favour of too much education for the lower +orders, or the interested opposition of the liquor +trade and the music hall proprietor, were able to +keep out or keep down public libraries, are gradually +passing away. They have not gone altogether; +but it would be invidious to name the two or three +distinguished boroughs where these influences are +still rampant. The problem now is to bring the +great crowd of under-developed and under-nourished +libraries into line one with other, to assist +the halt, help the blind to see, and by schemes for +concerted action enable all to reach the same level +of efficiency as the big towns have attained without +undue exertion. A simple licence to spend +more than a penny rate will not secure this by itself. +Reorganization on a co-operative ground-plan +will do as much as the mere expenditure of +money, and money will not be spent lavishly in +these frugal days. The merit of such a reorganization +is that so many and so great values will be +secured at a minimum cost. The material is in +existence for an enormous improvement of the +services.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span></p> +<p>Had not the sweeping proposals of the Adult +Education Committee for making the local education +authority the library authority been negatived +before the late Bill came into Parliament, +the heterogeneous units that constitute the library +service of London would after the Act of 1919 +have come under the unifying influence of the +London Education Committee. It was such a near +thing that we may pause to consider the probable +results. As already noticed, library development +in the metropolis has been unequal in the extreme. +Certain boroughs are still destitute of a public +library system. The total number of books in the +remainder is about a million and a half. All these +metropolitan libraries are established under the +same Acts; till recently they drew their income +from a uniform rate (except in certain boroughs +where a high rateable value allowed the penny +to be reduced to a halfpenny); the governing +bodies are in each district a committee of the +borough council. Yet each group of libraries is a +distinct entity. Each authority is a law unto +itself. A ratepayer in one borough is not permitted +to borrow from the library in the next though +interchange of privileges would have been, not +merely a logical but a great economic advantage. +There has been no consultation between the +authorities to avoid overlapping in neighbouring +reference libraries, though correlative specialization +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span>would have been easy and remunerative.<a id="FNanchor_27_27" href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> +Every reference library develops on individual +lines, perhaps as a British Museum in miniature, +with the result that, out of a number much larger +than the total number of boroughs, not one is +above the standard of a second-rate library in the +provinces. Some committees offer a cordial welcome +to students at school or college in their +boroughs. Others repulse such students unless +they are ratepayers or at least residents in the +borough.<a id="FNanchor_28_28" href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span></p> +<p>The immediate advantage of combining all the +local libraries of London and Greater London into +one system, all available to any one living or +working in any quarter, and supplementing each +other by a simple method of interchange, is +manifest. The majority of the reference libraries +should be shut up at once, and the space used for +library purposes that have hitherto been neglected. +Provided that every branch has a good collection of +quick-reference books, there is no need for most +of these—many of them are legacies of the still +more parochial government of London before the +present boroughs were formed. A proportion of +the contents should be used to augment the stock +of the Central Library for Students, which is now, +in a small way, a central depot for the lending +libraries of both London and the country. The +remainder, after all useless and obsolete material +had been sent to the destructor, would be brought +together to form the initial stock of some six or +eight really excellent reference libraries, so placed +that every potential reader would be within the +radius of a tram-ride. Six or eight large central +libraries might be selected for the purpose, and +would require little alteration beyond the removal +of the lending department, for which room would +have been found elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Whenever the present haphazard library +service of London is superseded by a unified system, +there will be a possibility of incorporating into it, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span>or associating as auxiliaries, various public or +semi-public libraries not belonging to the municipalities. +London is not poor in its bibliothecal +possessions, though badly served. In 1910, Mr. +R. A. Rye calculated that in the public and administrative +libraries and those belonging to +various institutions, Greater London had a total +of eight and a half million volumes, of which one +and a half million are inaccessible to the general +public.<a id="FNanchor_29_29" href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> This gave a supply of one volume per +head, which may be compared with Berlin’s two +volumes, Dresden’s three, and the four per head +in Paris. Such comparisons, it should be observed, +are not a matter of simple arithmetic. A larger +community may find its account in a smaller +relative stock, be that organized for use. A family +of five with ten books would be badly off. A +town of 50,000 with 100,000 volumes would be +opulent. London, with a system of centralization +and distribution comprehending all these varied +resources, would probably be as well off as any city +in the world. It is largely a question of realizing +the intellectual capital that is now paying such +poor dividends. Special libraries, such as that of +the Patent Office, the National Science and the +National Art Libraries at South Kensington, the +Public Record Office, and others, like the various +economic and sociological, historical, medical, +legal, and other libraries attached to technical or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span>scientific institutions, would continue to stand +apart, but would stand in a definite relation to the +general service.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_178fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_178fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">Reading Room of the General Library, University of London.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The proper balance between local control and +the superintending departments—and sub-departments, +if the nation’s libraries are reorganized as +several great territorial systems—would not be +difficult to contrive, so as to preserve and foster +the rights of each community to self-expression. +It is not proposed to work these out in detail here. +Briefly, the functions of the central board would +be:—(1) to install and operate the machinery for +interchange and central supply, the latter ultimately +superseding the former altogether; (2) +to see that the local libraries and more especially +the selection of books are maintained at a proper +level; (3) to undertake such wholesale services as +cataloguing and the compilation of aids to readers, +work which is now done over and over again by +individual library staffs at great expense, or else +is neglected; (4) to organize and finance the training +of librarians, and see that they are properly +paid. Ultimately, librarianship might be organized +as a sort of civil service; at any rate, librarians +ought to be as carefully looked after by the State +as are the teachers.</p> + +<p>Many other enterprises of vast public benefit +could be, most appropriately, engineered by the +central office; for example, the publication of +large editions of non-copyright books in a form +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span>suitable for lending library use. Bookbinding is +another item of local expenditure that calls +urgently for mass treatment. It is not proposed, +however, that the central library authority should +set up a binding factory in opposition to the trade. +This would be unnecessary, for it would be in such +a commanding position, as by far the largest purchaser +in the market, that it could dictate its own +terms to publishers, printers, binders, and even to +paper-makers. The fact is, the rebinding of books +in public libraries might, for the most part, be +done away with, if paper, covers, and binding +were originally designed to stand the wear. As a +leading authority on the subject, Mr. Douglas +Cockerell recently said, “Publishers still design +books to meet the fancy of the casual buyer, and +very largely ignore the requirements of the libraries, +which are for many books their largest +customers.”<a id="FNanchor_30_30" href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> Light, fluffy paper is selected by +publishers solely to bulk out books; the thicker +the book the higher the price. “Now the public +may like to pay for fluff and wind, but the librarian’s +interests are directly opposed to this. +Increased bulk means more shelf-room, and the +use of this paper means that the books will fall +to pieces after a very short time.” But our +central authority would surely see to it that a book +produced for library use should be printed on +paper of good quality and cased in split boards, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span>which “should last in ordinary library circulation +until the librarian is forced to discard it on account +of the dirt it has picked up.”</p> + +<p>Another need of paramount importance to all +engaged in the pursuit of knowledge is that the +contents of the numerous periodicals produced +throughout the world, registering advances in all +branches of science and research, should be abstracted +and indexed, so that the material should +be rendered accessible or at any rate its existence +fully known.<a id="FNanchor_31_31" href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Mention has already been made +of the Subject-Index to Periodicals, in which some +hundred and fifty periodicals are systematically +indexed. This important undertaking was initiated +some years ago by Mr. E. Wyndham Hulme, late +librarian to H.M. Patent Office; it has been carried +on successively under the auspices of the “Athenæum” +and of the Library Association. It is at +present a heavy burden upon a few devoted +shoulders, although a very large part of the labour +is performed by volunteers; yet its scheme is susceptible +of indefinite expansion, if all the requirements +of scientific and technical workers are to be, +even approximately, met. It is eminently a task +pertaining to the library, the university and college +library, the special library, and the research department +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span>of all types. Were there a central +library department in existence, it would undertake +this as part of its ordinary routine. It would +also undertake the collateral task of preparing and +publishing a union catalogue of the long sets of +periodicals of all kinds to which the Subject-Index +gives the references, and it would indicate where +these sets are to be found. Besides the indexing, +it would perhaps carry out the further but hardly +less valuable work of drawing up and issuing systematic +digests of important new knowledge contained +in the learned periodicals. It has been +recently proposed that the British Museum should +carry out this necessary piece of national work, +the cost of which, sales being allowed for, would +not be excessive.<a id="FNanchor_32_32" href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>Such results, however, invaluable as they +would be to the whole nation, through the services +rendered to several classes of workers, would be +only a by-product of the centralizing and systematizing +process, the immediate object of which +would be the betterment of our libraries. Let us +return then from this digression. In the middle of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span>last century and towards its end, Edward Edwards +and then his biographer, Thomas Greenwood, both +stated their conviction that central control was +necessary, and that one of its most useful instruments +would be systematic inspection. Greenwood +quotes the following from Edwards:—</p> + +<p>“If every Library in this country on which +the public has any fair claim, could be brought +distinctly under public view, by a precise and +periodical statement, comprising at least three +particulars: (1) what it <i>is</i>; (2) what it <i>has</i>; and +(3) what it <i>does</i>; a long train of improvements +would inevitably follow. But the systematic inspection +of Public Libraries to be effective must +be national.”<a id="FNanchor_33_33" href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p>He goes on:</p> + +<p>“The present writer is convinced that there +will never be a full measure of health and vitality +in libraries generally until some central control of +this nature is established. The largest and best +of the public libraries do not need it, but would +welcome it to secure the welfare of the library body +politic. But there is a class of libraries, and it is +to be feared that it is not a small one, which +seriously need to have light from the outside +brought to bear upon their administration. Such +libraries are managed in a narrow, illiberal manner, +with rules which hamper rather than help the +public. The staff is selected without regard to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span>conditions of suitability, training, or merit, and +every method adopted is of the tamest and least +efficient kind. Only national and systematic +inspection can alter this state of affairs. His +Majesty’s inspectors of public schools perform an +efficient and salutary work without curbing local +aspirations, and similar inspectors of public libraries +would be able to carry out an equally +useful task in connection with the municipal +libraries. But it is plain that no form of public +Government inspection would be agreeable to +existing library authorities, unless accompanied +by some kind of substantial State aid.”<a id="FNanchor_34_34" href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>Government inspection of libraries is not +unknown in other countries, on both sides of the +Atlantic, and appears to cause no friction but a +spirit of good feeling and mutual help. It is +carried on, for instance, in Canada, and it is one +of the functions of the State library commissions +in the United States. The libraries accept it in the +spirit which Edwards saw would animate the +efficient library authority, and, further, welcome it +as a potent means for extending their benefits into +regions hitherto unreached. In Ontario the +Minister of Education is responsible for the administration +of the Public Libraries Act, and +assigns this part of his duties to the Public Libraries +Branch, of which the Inspector of Public Libraries +is superintendent. But in Ontario the local +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span>authorities are so whole-hearted in their zeal that +the energies of the Branch are mainly confined to +general work in the interest of libraries, to routine +inspections, the collection of statistics, and the +payment of grants. Yet, it is admitted, the +majority of librarians and library trustees would +welcome a demand for a minimum standard of +efficiency.</p> + +<p>The American State commissions usually +include the State librarian, other professional +librarians, prominent educators, literary men, +library trustees, and business men interested in +the work. “Instead of regarding with jealousy +the assumption by the State of powers like these, +librarians generally welcome the increase of systematic +work fostered by State aid and control. +They are active everywhere in efforts to establish +State commissions, where such do not exist, and +the opponents of their efforts are usually persons +unfamiliar with the modern library movement, or +politicians who see in such action no benefit to +themselves. In some cases, where legislatures have +refused to enact a proper State library law, State +library associations, voluntary bodies of librarians, +have agreed to initiate and carry on, at their own +expense, some of the activities usually supervised +and financed by the State.”<a id="FNanchor_35_35" href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>“A former agent of the Massachusetts Free +Library Commission won for himself the title of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span>‘the travelling bishop,’ descriptive both of the +estimation and affection with which he was regarded.” +“State library commissions exist +at present in thirty-seven states. In a few states +such as in California, New York, and Utah, the +State library or the State board of education, in +lieu of a library commission, exerts the functions +that such a commission would have.”<a id="FNanchor_36_36" href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> + +<p>The question of State grants to local authorities +is perhaps important, but certainly not so important +as some critics would make out. Equalization +of burdens would of course have to be arranged. +Yet, on the other hand, there should be +nothing to prevent a very enterprising authority +from spending a great deal more if it chose on +further developments of its library service. Progress +would ultimately come to a standstill if there +were not this liberty; uniformity, at any level, +is ultimately stagnation. The Adult Education +Committee speak of State grants to local exchequers; +but, apparently, these were to have +been calculated on the measure of a local authority’s +zeal in co-operating with educational work +in the narrow sense, and not made a handle for +beneficent central control. It might or it might +not be advisable to assist local effort or reward +enterprise by a policy of grants in aid. Anyhow, +it should be borne in mind that the material +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span>benefits of such a scheme of centralization as has +been roughly outlined would be tantamount to a +large financial contribution by the State, though +it should cost the State nothing. Apart from +equalization of burdens<a id="FNanchor_37_37" href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> and, perhaps, rewards +for noteworthy efficiency—or the converse, fines +or refusal of grants for failures in efficiency—there +seems to be little use in discussing what proportion +of the cost of our systems of libraries +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span>should be defrayed by local rates and contributions +from local authorities and what by the State. +Both rates and taxes come ultimately from the +same source, and, so far as that source, the rated +and taxed individual, is concerned, he might as +well spend his time debating which pocket he +should keep his purse in. Inspections and grants +from the local exchequer would, obviously, go +hand in hand; but the allotment of grants would +certainly not be the sole or the principal end of the +system of inspection.</p> + +<p>If all the libraries in the kingdom were linked +together in a national system, the division into +urban libraries and rural systems would to a large +extent disappear. A large number of the urban +libraries would be absorbed into groups of town +and country libraries, analogous to the American +county groups; and large rural areas, with small +village libraries and a service of boxes, would have +their focus in new central institutes easily accessible +to readers in the vicinity and available for occasional +visits by students at a greater distance. +Many populous areas would remain much as they +are at present, with some increase of facilities. +But, instead of one Central Library for Students, +there would have to be, sooner or later, several +large supplemental libraries in convenient spots, +forming magazines supplying, not individual readers, +but the scattered libraries; and, probably +the British Isles would have to be divided for +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span>library purposes into several provinces, each centering +in one of these. Supervision of library activities +in such provinces would devolve upon regional +committees, elected by the county and borough +authorities in each province, the central board +exercising co-ordinating functions and carrying +out such work as is for the general welfare.</p> + +<p>These central supplemental libraries would be +built up largely by a careful redistribution of existing +resources. There is hardly a library of any size +that does not contain many books which are +very seldom used, books, however, which no +librarian would dare to jettison, because he knows +that some fine day a reader is sure to come along +to whom one volume or another will be of priceless +importance. There are many other books so infrequently +called for that it would be an immense +convenience to store them elsewhere, and utilize +the valuable shelf-space for books in continual +request. Books of this sort should be kept at the +supplemental library, duly catalogued, and ready +to be sent to any library throughout the area +served, when readers require them. The supplemental +libraries would, of course, be always buying +more books; they would have to keep abreast of +the latest advances in all subjects; but the works +just described would form an important part of +their original contents, and would be transferred +to them free of cost. Local libraries are constantly +put to the expense of buying books for one or two +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span>users; such users are, no doubt, among the most +deserving of all their clients, and it is but just that +their urgent wants should be satisfied. But it is a +tax upon the capacities of small libraries that +should be met somehow else; they would be spared +it by the new system, and the cost of the supplemental +library would be saved over and over +again, the local library then having more funds to +maintain the stock of books in regular demand.</p> + +<p>The present Central Library for Students is a +step in the right direction, but it is only a step; +the work will have to be done on a very large scale. +This library was an outgrowth of the efforts to +supply students attending university tutorial and +W.E.A. classes with books to carry on systematic +reading. At the end of 1915, the Carnegie United +Kingdom Trust undertook to provide £600 to +assist in the establishment of the library, £2,000 +for additions to the stock, and £400 yearly for five +years, if £320 were raised by subscription. The +subvention was afterwards raised to £1,000 a year, +and in 1920 the issues of books numbered 15,500. +The Adult Education Committee were deeply impressed +by the exceptional value of the work performed +by this library, and proposed that it should +be made the nucleus of a central circulating library +to supplement the local library service all over the +country. With an assured income of £2,000 a year +for ten years, they calculated that an annual circulation +of at least 40,000 volumes would be attained; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span>their estimate being based on an estimated cost of +1s. per volume issued. The actual cost of each +issue, under our present benevolent postal regime, +is considerably more. The figure is now probably +not less than 1s. 6d. Add return postage to this, +and you will see that, after borrowing a book two +or three times, you might as well have bought it +outright. The method of sending out books singly +is too expensive. And a circulation of 40,000 a +year would be a mere drop in the ocean; any +small provincial library has an annual circulation +of at least 40,000; a large borough library system +in London expects an annual circulation of about +a million. The thing must be done on a vast scale +to be worth doing at all, and then it can be done +cheaply, even if, as might reasonably be expected, +the Post Office declines to grant a large rebate on +the transmission of books issued from the national +libraries. The proper method is to make our +central library or libraries an integral part of the +whole machine, supplying to all other libraries all, +or nearly all, of the books that are not imperatively +necessary on the spot for everyday purposes. +Then the issues from the central library will not be +in twos and threes, but in large batches, and the +average cost will be reduced to an economic +amount.</p> + +<p>Mr. John McKillop produced a workmanlike +scheme in 1907 for such a supplemental library in +London as would have provided all the students +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span>and other hard working readers throughout the +twenty-eight municipal boroughs with all the +books required in the most exacting course of +study. He proposed that it should be established +by the Education Committee of the London County +Council, since its greatest immediate effect would +be to supply students with expensive works not +now within their reach.</p> + +<p>“With eighty-five municipal libraries already +established in London, it would be useless duplication +for the Education Committee to undertake +all the work of registering borrowers and issuing +volumes to them and safeguarding their return. +It is suggested that the contents of the Council’s +collection should be lent on application to the +public libraries and the libraries of educational +institutions which could then lend them to their +clients. This method would avoid the necessity +for a very large staff. The central collection would +have as borrowers merely the eighty-five libraries +and branches already established, and those which +may be added from time to time by the boroughs +in the future, together with the fifty or so polytechnics, +and such other of the institutions for +higher education as may care to avail themselves +of the facilities offered. In any case its borrowers +could not exceed a couple of hundred, and though +each of these might daily draw and return large +numbers of books, the clerical labour required +would be but a fraction of that necessary in a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span>smaller library, where a large number of borrowers +withdraw and return one or at most two volumes +each.”<a id="FNanchor_38_38" href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. McKillop based his estimate of cost on the +number of volumes contained in the Patent Office +Library, viz., 105,000 volumes, which comprehend +a very large proportion of modern scientific works. +“If we take 35,000 as the number of volumes +required for a modern working science library of +reference (<i>i.e.</i>, excluding the smaller text-books +and class-books), and if we allow four times this +number for the needs of departments other than +science, we get a total of 165,000 volumes as the +size of the collection. As a basis to calculate the +capital cost of the collection probably 5s. is too +little and 10s. too much per volume. Taking +7s. 6d. as a working figure the total cost would be +about £62,000 (one penny rate in London produces +£171,000). But it would be impossible to spend for +this purpose wisely and economically such a sum as +£62,000 within less than ten years, and the collection +could be got together with reasonable +rapidity by the expenditure of not more than +£10,000 in any one year. The average expenditure +would probably be nearer £5,000. In regard to +administration the cost would be probably easily +covered by £5,000 a year when in full working +order, but would be four or five years in getting +up to that figure.”<a id="FNanchor_39_39" href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span></p> +<p>If the cost of Mr. McKillop’s scheme was to be +£5,000 a year in pre-war money, we can hardly +expect much from £2,000 a year now, especially +when the whole of the United Kingdom, and not +London alone, is to be supplied. Further, it is +hardly too optimistic to conjecture that the number +of students and other serious readers in the +population is a great deal higher now than it was +in 1907, and, accordingly, that the demands upon +our supplemental libraries would be proportionately +more exacting. No, the Adult Education +Committee have not looked far enough: a much +bigger scheme is required, and the expenditure of +much larger sums than they contemplate. But +there is no need to be frightened by the cost; +one may safely affirm that the general economic +saving will be in direct proportion to the outlay +on the establishment and upkeep of the experimental +libraries. Whatever is spent at the centre, +will be far more than made up by savings at the +circumference.</p> + +<p>Mr. McKillop put the case of the student of +science and technology, for whose difficulties he +felt most concern, although there are numerous +others whose state of destitution is no less pitiful, +with a cogency that cannot be bettered.</p> + +<p>“These students may be either those whose +means enable them to pursue courses of study in +the splendid laboratories of University College, +the Royal College of Science, the City and Guilds +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span>Institution, and other schools of equal rank, or +they may be young men and women whose circumstances +compel them to earn their living by daily +work, and have only access to the culture and improvement +offered by evening study. While the +former presumably have access to the best literature +of their subject in the libraries of the institutions +in which they work, the latter, although, it is +suggested, showing probably greater devotion and +sacrifice in the pursuit of knowledge, are debarred +by the hours of opening and closing from the use +of the magnificent collections in the British Museum, +Patent Office, and other public libraries of +reference. The polytechnics, it is admitted, do +make great efforts to supply the books required by +their students; but it cannot be contended that at +present they can compete in this respect with the +other institutions named, which provide for the +student who has all his day for study. It is precisely +for this latter class that the public rate-supported +libraries of London ought to provide, +and it is a well-established fact to those who know +something of the inner working of the public +libraries in London, that it is one of the great +sources of discontent among London’s public +librarians that insufficient funds, and sometimes +also unsympathetic borough council committees, +prevent their doing more than is done for this class. +But there are inherent difficulties which have to +be taken into consideration. London is not a unit; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span>it is twenty-eight independent units without even a +semblance of federation, and it would impose an +insupportable financial burden on the ratepayers +if every one of the twenty-eight boroughs were +to attempt to supply, through the public libraries, +the books required by advanced students in +science, technology, history, literature, art, and +other domains of study which can be pursued in +London.”</p> + +<p>... But why should London provide twenty-eight +sets of all these works? There is no probability +that one student in, say, Bermondsey, and +one in, say, Finsbury, will require the same volume +of the Philosophical Transactions at the same time, +and, therefore, it is not necessary that both +Bermondsey and Finsbury, and every other +library in London, should possess a set. But there +is a probability that more than one student in the +same borough might require the same volume at +the same time; for instance, a teacher at the +Battersea Polytechnic might recommend the half-dozen +or so students in his advanced class in +chemistry to read some classical memoir; and +Battersea Public Library, to meet this demand +efficiently, would require two or three sets of the +Philosophical Transactions, which would be an +obviously absurd arrangement. The absence of +any system of co-operation between the metropolitan +libraries renders it impossible for them at +present to co-operate in any way in meeting this +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span>difficulty.<a id="FNanchor_40_40" href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Mr. McKillop went on to show that it +might be possible for the local libraries, trusting +to the central collection for an adequate supply of +what may be called students’ works, relatively +seldom used, to work with a standard collection of +popular works which would be the same in all +boroughs. “When this point is reached, it might +be possible to have a common catalogue for all +the libraries.... The way is, in consequence, +easy for a local authority which decides to establish +a collection. It can procure for a very small +sum the catalogue of all its collection ready made +on the best lines, and all it has to do is to purchase +the books, etc.”<a id="FNanchor_41_41" href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Without endorsing this idea of +stereotyped libraries, an idea which is obviously +contrary to the vital principle that a local library, +if it is truly alive, will by the predominant character +of its contents show itself to be the expression +of local individuality, we must admit that it opens +up suggestive possibilities.</p> + +<p>Another proposal of the Adult Education +Committee lies open to more severe criticism. +This was a project for assisting industries and +technical students and research workers by setting +up a great chain of industrial libraries forming +“a technical library system for each industry,” +independently of the municipal library system. +Side by side with the latter, not yet, and perhaps +not even then, organized as a reciprocating system, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span>there would be erected a complex and highly expensive +series of special collections, open, apparently, +to members of the particular industries alone. +“In the case of general libraries the unit of +organization and administration is the local +authority, in the case of the technical library +system it should be the industry.”<a id="FNanchor_42_42" href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> The amount +of costly and unnecessary duplication, both of +contents and of machinery, in such a cumbrous +scheme dumbfounds the experienced librarian, +especially when he reflects that all the libraries in +the kingdom could be put on a scientific basis, and +all the wants of both the general public and the +special industries amply satisfied, at much less the +price. Such a scheme must obviously have been +framed by persons having but a rudimentary idea +of the library arts, or they would have thought +out a much more practical and economical plan. +The extravagant cost and the impracticability of +the proposal have been exposed in a special +Memorandum by the Library Association, representing +the trained librarians of the country, who, +strange to say, were not consulted before the +scheme was evolved. The gist of their criticism is +contained in the following paragraphs:—</p> + +<p>“The Library Association is not prepared to +admit that this policy is sound or economical. +Clearly, extensive overlapping cannot be avoided, +because a large number of industries require +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span>general technical libraries and not special technical +libraries. For example, the motor industry is +special, but a library for that industry must contain +books special to many other industries, on +metallurgy, chemistry, physics, and other subjects. +An industrial library should comprise information, +not only on the industry itself, but on subjects and +industries in contact with the industry for which +the library is intended. As a rule the industrial +and technical student, unless he is a beginner, +needs information just off the line of his special +work. Hence, libraries formed round an industry +will tend to become general technical libraries. +Few industries are confined to one area. Birmingham +is usually regarded as the centre of the hardware +trade, which, however, is spread widely over +the country. A technical library for an industry +must have a centre and branches with all the +machinery of inter-communication and exchange. +Even so, the books could not be so readily accessible +as by an extension of the present library service, +which has developed naturally in response to the +people’s demand for information. A better plan, +therefore, would be the proper organization of the +existing libraries of technical societies, and an +extension of the present service of public libraries, +the technical collections of which (so far as funds +have allowed) have been selected to aid the industries +of the locality. The public library service +is already extensive; improvement on it is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span>essential; but to organize another parallel service +would be a regrettable waste of money in view of +the great need at this time of obtaining the best +technical library service at the least cost.</p> + +<p>“The Library Association is strongly of +opinion that scientific and technical information +should be freely available to people who are not +yet enrolled in or who are outside an industry; +otherwise that industry would tend to be impervious +to new ideas, except from within. They +earnestly press for the efficient equipment and +expansion of the existing public technical collections, +and for the foundation of technical libraries, +in large provincial cities, on the lines of the Patent +Office Library in London.”</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_200fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_200fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">The Oratory Library.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The all-important question remains to be discussed: +If a centralizing authority is required to +enable the libraries of this country to take their +proper share in reconstruction and in carrying on +civilized life in an intelligent and orderly way, +who is to be this centralizing authority? What +Government department is fit for such a charge? +Unless a new one is to be created, the Board of +Education obviously has sole claim. This was the +unhesitating conclusion of the Adult Education +Committee. The Library Association, the membership +of which is made up principally of salaried +officers or elected representatives of the present +municipal authorities, took alarm at this proposal, +and especially at the corollary that the library +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span>authority should be the local education committee. +The objections are, briefly and summarily, +two: That the interests of the libraries might tend +to be subordinated to those of the schools, and +that bureaucratic control would stifle local interest +and local initiative. But, as was urged in the +chapter dealing with the interaction of libraries +and schools, if the Board of Education undertook +this wider responsibility, it should, and doubtless +would, become a board of something more than +scholastic education. Libraries must not be +allowed to take a second place to the schools, the +work of which at an early period of life they are +destined to transcend. Let the local education +committee attend, as now, to the schools, which +will be, and should be, its first consideration. But +let another body, appointed definitely for the +purpose, partly no doubt from the same personnel, +but well seasoned with co-opted members representing +the wider intellectual interests of each +locality, be responsible for managing the public +library.<a id="FNanchor_43_43" href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + + + +<p>American librarians, who have had experience +of administration of both libraries and schools +by boards of education, are not in favour of vesting +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span>the control of libraries in the education authorities. +“Too close an administrative connection ... +has not been beneficial to the library ... it has +generally been found that when the control of a +public library is vested in a body created originally +for another purpose it is regarded as of secondary +importance and its development is retarded. It is +better that the library should have its own board of +trustees, and that the two institutions should co-operate +in the freest manner. Such mutual aid is, +of course, founded on the fact that the educational +work of both school and library is carried on +largely by means of books. That of the school is +formal, compulsory, and limited in time; that +of the library is informal, voluntary, and practically +unlimited. It is greatly to the advantage of the +scholar, and of those informal processes of training +that are going on constantly during life whether he +wills it or not, that he should form the habit of consulting +and using books outside of the school. +When books are thought of merely as school implements +their use is naturally abandoned when school +days are over.”<a id="FNanchor_44_44" href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<p>Similar views were submitted by the Library +Association to the Adult Education Committee. +Part of their resolution ran as follows:—</p> + +<p>“The aim of the library as an education +institution is best expressed in the formula ‘self-development +in an atmosphere of freedom,’ as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span>contrasted with the aim of the school, which is +‘training in an atmosphere of restraint or discipline’; +in the school the teacher is dominant, +but the pupil strikes out his own line in the library, +which supplies the written material upon which +the powers awakened and trained in the school can +be exercised; furthermore, the contacts of the +library with organized education cease where the +educational machinery terminates; but the library +continues as an educational force of national importance +in its contacts with the whole social, +political, and intellectual life of the community....”</p> + +<p>“In speaking to the resolution, Mr. L. Stanley +Jast, formerly Secretary of the Library Association, +developed the argument—“The work +of the librarian is sharply contrasted with that of +the teacher. The teacher deals with human +material, the librarian with the written record, +and only incidentally with the people who come to +consult and use it. But not only is there this wide +difference in the nature of the material upon which +the teacher and the librarian respectively work; +there is a difference of immediate aim of so basic +a character that one is almost the negative of the +other, and therefore are they perfectly complementary +to one another.... The library and the +school supplement and complement each other. +And the virtue of each is that it is not the other.... +The material of each is different, the aims are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span>different, and the administrative machinery of the +one has no real relation to that of the other.... +The resolution has a second thesis, which is that +it is after all only a portion of the library field +which touches education.... We outgrow the +school; we cannot outgrow the library.”<a id="FNanchor_45_45" href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>“We have examined these arguments with +the care to which the policy of the Library Association +is entitled. The first argument, however, rests +upon a sharp distinction between the library and +the school which should not, in our opinion, exist. +A school is a more complex and many sided institution +than the argument would appear to +assume, and its functions are too narrowly confined +by the phrase ‘training in an atmosphere +of restraint or discipline.’ The class-room is but +part of a school. Other institutions—the workshop, +the gymnasium, the playing field, and the +library—are essential features, each of them making +its peculiar contribution to that self-development +which is claimed to be an end of the library. +The school in fact, is a community which fulfils +its end through a variety of agencies of which the +class-room is one and the library another. The +ideal school is one which seeks to aid self-development +through the medium of ‘discipline’ on the +one hand, and by providing opportunities for the +pupil ‘to strike out on his own line’ on the +other.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span></p> +<p>“The antithesis between the teacher and the +librarian is also, in our judgment, too sharply +defined. Powers are trained by their exercise, and +the printed book is an integral part of the equipment +of the school. If the librarian deals with the +written record, it is but as a means to self-development +in the scholar. In other words, the library +is part of the educational fabric, just as much as +the art room or the school clinic. The school and +the teacher will perform their true function only in +so far as they enter into the closest co-operation +with the library and the librarian. The latter will +fill their real place only through co-operation with +the former. Both school and library will be immeasurably +strengthened when the artificial line +of demarcation is obliterated.</p> + +<p>“It is sometimes argued that the libraries +would lose by the process and become subject to an +over-rigid systematization, to which librarians are +rightly opposed. This attitude of mind appears to +us to be based on a want of knowledge of the strong +trend towards greater freedom and initiative +within the publicly provided schools of the country. +This movement, we believe, would receive a +valuable stimulus from closer association with the +libraries, without necessarily imposing a mechanical +organization upon the libraries.</p> + +<p>“The provision of children’s rooms in libraries, +the assembling of books bearing upon the work +and interests of students, library lessons and other +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span>developments and proposals will forge strong and +necessary links between the school and the library; +but it is difficult to see how this intimate relationship +can be generally established unless there is an +organic connection arising from a single policy +based upon the complex needs of the pupil. Under +certain circumstances the frank interchange of +experience and inter-relation of interests may be +possible with dual control. But it is at least open +to doubt whether they will be generally and permanently +attained without a common administration.</p> + +<p>“The second argument in support of independent +administration for libraries is, in the words +of the resolution referred to above, that ‘the +contacts of the library with organised education +cease where the educational machinery terminates.’ +The Education Act, 1918, provides for +compulsory continuation education up to the age +of 16, and ultimately 18. Further education of +this character must lead to a growth of both +technical and general education beyond these +ages. There is certain to be an extension of technical +education after the war, and there will be a +growing demand for non-vocational education to be +met. With the latter question we shall deal at +greater length in our Final Report. A greater call +than in the past will undoubtedly be made upon +our educational resources, and the necessity will +arise for that close co-operation between educational +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span>institutions and libraries which is admittedly +desirable in the case of school pupils if the school +and the library are to fulfil their functions.</p> + +<p>“It is true that we cannot outgrow the library: +but it is equally true that we cannot outgrow the +school, in other words, that we cannot outgrow the +need for systematic education. The whole purpose +of our inquiries into adult education has been +directed towards formulating recommendations +based upon this truth. Our inquiries, further, +justify the view that there is a growing recognition +of the need for education and an increasing desire +for it on the part of men and women.</p> + +<p>“But though the public library has an important +function to perform in relation to educational +institutions, its activities travel beyond assistance +to formal education. It exists to serve the needs of +a public with varied interests. It must satisfy the +requirements of the serious student; but it must +also cater for that large class of people who are +‘general readers,’ and those who go to books for +recreation. The unsystematic and recreative +reading which the libraries have stimulated do not, +however, it seems to us, provide any argument for +maintaining the public libraries as an independent +municipal service.”<a id="FNanchor_46_46" href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>In the present writer’s opinion, the distinction +drawn by Mr. Jast is a sound one, and is corroborated +by the reluctance of American librarians to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span>placing libraries under an authority primarily +appointed to administer schools. But, since there +remains so much in common in the aims of the +two sets of institutions, if the supreme authority +were entrusted with a scheme of education in the +larger sense—call it culture, humanism, or personal +development, since the term education smacks +too much of the school and college—then it would +be logical and salutary to put our public libraries +under a department of that authority, making +this responsible, side by side with the education +department in the narrower sense, to the supreme +Board—which may or may not continue to be +called the Board of Education. Dread of bureaucratic +control has become almost instinctive with +thoughtful people. The habit of working in +watertight compartments, and repressing every +spontaneous activity that cannot be forced into +the strait-jacket of official routine, inspires observant +critics with distrust even of rural library +schemes conducted on strictly official lines under +education committees. To put the control of both +urban and rural libraries in the preoccupied hands +of those whose attention is centred in schools, +discipline, and organized education, would be a +blow at the freedom and elasticity of the library. +After all, the problem of the young person is much +the same everywhere, and education may for the +most part be reduced to a system. People who +have grown up and developed personality, however, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span>will not submit to have their intellectual +nutriment doled out on a system. They must +have a say in managing and developing their own +libraries, and in choosing the books they are to +read.</p> + +<p>The notion of a Libraries Board side by side +with and independent of the Board of Education +would find no support in this country. Nor are we +likely to see State library commissions on the +American model, though we may as well digest +the lesson from the United States, where they +certainly know how to manage libraries so that +they bulk large in the social consciousness. Co-operation, +but not subordination, must be the +watchword. The department of the general Board +of Education charged with supervision of the +national system of libraries would contain, besides +those who are educators in the widest sense of the +term, representatives of those versed in the government +and the actual administration of public +libraries, from the British Museum and the university +libraries downwards. Such a combination +would be less likely than the mere education +committees of to-day to negative the proposals +of those who understand the needs of libraries +and of the people who use them. The local committees +would likewise be well-seasoned with co-opted +members representing all the varied intellectual +interests of each locality, and, above all, +representing the actual readers, the people most +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span>concerned in each library’s well-being. Local +initiative must be welcomed, not merely tolerated: +it is the vital element of progress. In between +would come the regional committees, charged with +the maintenance of the central supplemental +libraries, and with all the general activities carried +on throughout each great library province. Thus, +surely, the proper equilibrium between the central +co-ordinating body and local volition would be +safely established.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_27_27" href="#FNanchor_27_27" class="label">[27]</a> cp. America:—“In towns where there is more than one library +accessible to the public, these should reach as soon as possible some +<i>modus vivendi</i> that will prevent the useless duplication of any class of +literature. This may usually be done by agreeing to specialize. For +example, in Chicago such an agreement has been made by the Public +Library, the John Crerar Library, and the Newberry Library. The +Public Library specializes in general literature, the John Crerar in +science, and the Newberry in history, economics, and so on. In pursuance +of this policy, the Newberry Library has even transferred to the +John Crerar its medical collection, which had reached a considerable +size. Such action is evidently a long step toward the complete understanding +between civic institutions that is so much to be desired; and +it deserves the highest commendation.” Bostwick: <i>The American +Public Library</i>, pp. 73-4. Similar specialization has been effected in the +Astor, Lenox, Bar Association, Academy of Medicine, and Columbia +University Libraries in New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_28_28" href="#FNanchor_28_28" class="label">[28]</a> There are great irregularities in the distribution of these libraries; +for instance, the ratepayer in Holborn has to walk on the average 540 +yards to get to a library; in Camberwell he would have to go 1,030 +yards; in Wandsworth 1,400; while in the huge borough of Woolwich, +if it were all built up, he would have to travel about 2,400 yards. The +majority of the boroughs, however, only expect their readers to walk +between 500 and 1,000 yards.</p> + +<p>If we consider the provision of libraries in proportion to the population, +we find that the extreme variations are that Hampstead supplies +a library for every 14,000 inhabitants, while 75,000 inhabitants in Stepney +share one between them.</p> + +<p>But the demand for library facilities is not the same in all the +boroughs, for we find that while in Hampstead 125 out of every 1,000 +of its inhabitants are registered as using the library, in Shoreditch only +29 per 1,000 avail themselves of the facilities which exist in that borough. +The effect of this is that the number of <i>readers</i> per library varies +considerably, for while Poplar and Hammersmith share a library or +branch between 1,200 readers, Stoke Newington and Chelsea are satisfied +with one establishment for 4,600 readers.</p> + +<p>(John McKillop: “The Present Position of London Municipal +Libraries with suggestions for Increasing their Efficiency,” in <i>Library +Association Record</i>, Dec. 1906.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_29_29" href="#FNanchor_29_29" class="label">[29]</a> Rye, R. A., <i>The Libraries of London</i> (1910)—“Preliminary +Survey.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_30_30" href="#FNanchor_30_30" class="label">[30]</a> In a lecture at the School of Librarianship, University College, +London, on May 23rd, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_31_31" href="#FNanchor_31_31" class="label">[31]</a> “Sometimes a discovery of vital moment lies concealed for +many years in a little known periodical; the most striking recent case +is that of Mendel’s experiments, now the inspiration of the most productive +school of modern biology, described in 1865 in the periodical +of a natural history society in Brünn but buried until 1900, when a +happy chance revealed them.” <i>Times</i>, June 29, 1921—“Indexing +of Technical Literature.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_32_32" href="#FNanchor_32_32" class="label">[32]</a> “A union catalogue of the current periodicals preserved in the +German libraries, published in 1914, comprised some 17,000 entries. +A similar list for the periodicals filed in the libraries of the United +Kingdom, prepared in 1914-15 by some English State and copyright +librarians, was submitted for publication to the Department of Scientific +and Industrial Research, but the proposal met with no encouragement. +Yet the compilation of such a list is an essential preliminary to +the proper national organization of knowledge. For a union list indicates +the relative strength and weakness of our national libraries in +respect of their periodical collections: it enables the librarian to correct +the latter without unduly increasing the expenditure of the library in +that department of literature.” <i>Nature</i>, June 9, 1921—“Co-operative +Indexing of Periodical Literature.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_33_33" href="#FNanchor_33_33" class="label">[33]</a> <i>Edward Edwards</i>, by Thomas Greenwood, p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_34_34" href="#FNanchor_34_34" class="label">[34]</a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_35_35" href="#FNanchor_35_35" class="label">[35]</a> Bostwick: <i>The American Public Library</i>, p. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_36_36" href="#FNanchor_36_36" class="label">[36]</a> Friedel: <i>Training for Librarianship</i>, p. 176.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_37_37" href="#FNanchor_37_37" class="label">[37]</a> “The amount produced by the penny rate varies from borough +to borough within very wide limits. The wealthy City of Westminster +receives nearly £23,000 for every penny of its imposed rate; Kensington +comes next with £9,500, and the others fall gradually till we find that +Stoke Newington receives only £1,400. But to estimate the burden it +is necessary to consider the produce of the penny rate in relation to the +number of inhabitants, and in doing this we find that while every 1,000 +inhabitants in Westminster can raise for library purposes £128, in the +over-burdened east and south-east, Poplar and Camberwell can only +raise £20, while Stepney comes lowest on the list with £19 per 1,000 +inhabitants. But this does not express the whole of the burden, for +while 1,000 inhabitants of wealthy Westminster have the power to +spend £128, they find that their five libraries, well stocked with books +and liberally staffed, cost them only £65, while Poplar, which finds six +[actually four] establishments too little for its needs, must perforce +expend the whole of the £19 per 1,000 citizens that it is enabled to +raise.” J. McKillop: <i>The Present Position of London Municipal +Libraries</i>. These figures were put down in 1907; the present situation +may be understood from later statistics. The areas and populations +are similar.</p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">From L.C.C. London Statistics, 1913-4.</span></p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Charge falling</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdc">on Rates.</td> +<td class="tdl">Amount</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Poplar</td> +<td class="tdl">4 Libraries</td> +<td class="tdr">.99</td> +<td class="tdr">£3,080</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Kensington</td> +<td class="tdl">3 ”</td> +<td class="tdr">.61</td> +<td class="tdr">£5,905</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Westminster</td> +<td class="tdl">4 ”</td> +<td class="tdr">.43</td> +<td class="tdr">£11,784</td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">From L.C.C. Statistical Abstract, 1920.</span></p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Assessable Value.</td> +<td class="tdl">1d. produces</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Poplar</td> +<td class="tdr">£835,583</td> +<td class="tdr">£3,482</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Kensington</td> +<td class="tdr">£2,451,335</td> +<td class="tdr">£10,214</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Westminster</td> +<td class="tdr">£7,011,845</td> +<td class="tdr">£29,216</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>Current estimate at Poplar, £8,318 to 2.17d. in £.</p> + +<p>Poplar, it should be noted, has one of the most efficient library +systems in London, though the buildings are not pretentious and the +furniture is for use and not ornament. To provide and work this +admirable system something like an economic miracle had to be worked, +for so narrow was the financial margin that as the borough librarian +picturesquely put it, if a few slates fell off the roof the cost of replacing +them had to come out of the book fund.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_38_38" href="#FNanchor_38_38" class="label">[38]</a> J. McKillop: <i>Present Position of London Municipal Libraries</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_39_39" href="#FNanchor_39_39" class="label">[39]</a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_40_40" href="#FNanchor_40_40" class="label">[40]</a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_41_41" href="#FNanchor_41_41" class="label">[41]</a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_42_42" href="#FNanchor_42_42" class="label">[42]</a> Adult Education Committee: <i>Third Interim Report</i>, 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_43_43" href="#FNanchor_43_43" class="label">[43]</a> “The public libraries and museums should be remitted to special +committees of the education authority. On each of these committees +it would be desirable to co-opt representatives of voluntary organizations +and societies specially interested in the work of the committees, +such as local educational bodies, scientific societies, and art clubs. +Librarians and curators should, of course, have direct access to their +respective committees and the fullest possible scope for their powers and +special knowledge.” Adult Education Committee: <i>Third Interim +Report</i>, 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_44_44" href="#FNanchor_44_44" class="label">[44]</a> Bostwick: <i>The American Public Library</i>, p. 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_45_45" href="#FNanchor_45_45" class="label">[45]</a> Adult Education Committee: <i>Third Interim Report</i>, 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_46_46" href="#FNanchor_46_46" class="label">[46]</a> Adult Education Committee: <i>Third Interim Report</i>, par. 9-12.</p></div></div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="VI">VI +<br> +TRAINING IN LIBRARIANSHIP</h2></div> + + +<p>The pioneers of our municipal libraries were +mostly men who had had no experience of +library administration, and learned their craft and +coached their assistants after studying the best type +of older libraries, improvising new methods to suit +new circumstances. In 1876 the American Library +Association was founded, and in 1877 the Library +Association of the United Kingdom. Their objects +were first, educational, through the medium of +personal intercourse and the exchange of information; +and secondly propagandist, the furtherance +of the library movement. In some of the larger +towns classes were carried on for the instruction of +the staff; and in 1884 the Library Association +drew up an examination syllabus, which was a first +step in defining the proper qualifications of a +librarian. Classes open to any assistant were held +at various centres, and in 1893 an annual summer +school was started. The Association next appointed +an Education Committee, which before +long co-operated with the London School of +Economics in holding courses of lectures, conducted +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span>correspondence classes, elicited similar +efforts from provincial branches, and held yearly +examinations. Certificates were granted in the +separate subjects, Literary History, Bibliography, +Classification, Cataloguing, Library Organization, +and Library Routine; and when an assistant had +taken these seriatim he might obtain a full diploma, +after he had shown some knowledge of Latin and +of a modern foreign language, and written an +original thesis on an appropriate subject. The +weak point of this admirable programme was that +it did not provide for systematic training or even +for continuous study. Perhaps it was an initial +mistake to award certificates in single subjects, +for the majority of those gaining such certificates +never approached the final stage, and in a dozen +years less than a dozen candidates won the diploma. +But the standard of the qualifications had +to be adapted to the educational level of the +ordinary library assistant, and to the extreme +disadvantages under which he laboured. His +hours were long, his pay was low, and, penny rate +libraries being uniformly understaffed, he could not +be spared to attend many classes, even if any were +held in his neighbourhood. The diploma scheme +of the Library Association is still in being, and +provides an alternative method of qualifying for +professional certificates to working assistants who +are unable to benefit by the training system next +to be described.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span></p> +<p>During the war, whilst the Adult Education +Committee were trying to find a place for libraries +in a comprehensive plan of reconstruction, the +Carnegie United Kingdom Trustees were in consultation +with the Library Association on the +question of a more thorough system of training. +The University of London School of Librarianship +came into existence as the outcome of these conferences +in 1919, a few months before the new Act. +This was a momentous event in the history of the +profession. The School is a department of University +College, the largest school of the University; +its curriculum fits into the scheme of the Faculty +of Arts; the students participate in the social +and intellectual life of the college. Thus it is +not a separate vocational institution, like the +majority of the American library schools, but part +of a great foundation dedicated to the liberal arts +and sciences. The normal course of training +occupies two years, and students must devote their +whole time to lectures, private study, and practical +work; but for the benefit of assistants who cannot +throw up their occupation, and also of booksellers, +publishers’ assistants, and others desirous of +knowing something of library economy and useful +subjects like classification and indexing, part-time +attendance is allowed, by which the training is +spread over a period varying from three to five +years. But it must be continuous. This and the +thoroughness of a college training, coupled with the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span>initial requirement of a general education of +matriculation standard, make the advent of the +school a great stride forward. In time, the training +may develop into a postgraduate course, and instruction +may be given in a series of advanced subjects, +such as Historical Bibliography and the +Bibliography and History of Scholarship, Latin, +Greek, Biblical, Celtic, Romance, Teutonic and +Scandinavian, courses which the present writer +was able to introduce as possible subjects for study +and research into the Library Association’s syllabus, +when he was Hon. Secretary of their Education +Committee.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="i_214fp" style="max-width: 60.9375em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_214fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <i>Photo by Langley & Sons</i> +<br> + + <span class="smcap">University College, General Library.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The growing complexity and diversity of +library work and the multiplication of technical +and other special libraries call for new types of +librarian. The administrator of a large urban or +rural system must be a highly educated and many-sided +person. Knowledge of the relative values +of books on an immense range of subjects is hardly +more necessary than ability to help other persons, +not only to select the right kind of books, but +also to read, not at a venture, but methodically. +The able librarian must have a wide comparative +acquaintance with the contents and the technique +of many libraries. He, or perhaps she—for +women are at least as well-fitted as men for almost +any kind of library work—must be a competent +organizer, a good judge and controller of others, +and one who can infuse keenness and interest. It +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span>is a tradition that he should be a master of the +superficial, a compendium of second-hand learning, +knowing something about everything; but that it +would detract from his qualifications as a kind of +walking index to universal knowledge, if he knew +too much about anything in particular. This is an +inhuman and impossible ideal. The oft-quoted +dictum of Mark Pattison that the librarian who +reads is lost, unless it be wantonly interpreted +that we have lost the well-read librarian, is a +mistaken warning. One must have a hobby for +mere vitality’s sake; and, unless we specialize +in something, we shall not even know what knowledge +is about anything.</p> + + + +<p>The corner-stone of the edifice is the science +and art of book selection. The librarian must be a +first-class judge of books, and of books for definite +use. He is to be the guide and counsellor of innumerable +readers; the inspirer of untold thousands +more. He should be ready at a moment’s notice +to deliver a lecture on the art of reading, and, +with reasonable time for preparing his notes, to +conduct a tutorial class or at any rate lead a reading +circle. Some specialization will give him a +good start on either run. A mere smattering is +not of much use in this branch of library extension +work.</p> + +<p>Thus the desideratum is an appropriate blend +of general and special accomplishments, and there +is no question as to which should be acquired first. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span>Entrants to the School of Librarianship are expected +to have matriculated beforehand: if they +aim at academic honours, they should take their +degree before they specialize in professional subjects. +Many of the present students are pursuing +librarianship as a postgraduate course: this +may become a general rule as the programme of +studies is enlarged. The University has recently +allowed the course to be taken as the final stage +in a degree course, under certain regulations. +Some American library schools have highly specialized +curricula; the Carnegie Library School of +Pittsburg, for instance, has courses in Library +Work with Children and School Library Work; +and at Washington, in association with the School +for Secretaries, there is a Training School for +Business Librarians. High school or college +graduation is usually required for admission, and +in the library schools at Syracuse University and +the University of Wisconsin there are courses +leading to a degree. Too much specialization in +the library school itself is not desirable. The best +librarian for a technical, scientific, historical, or +other special library is one who has taken the +B.Sc., B.Eng., or honours Schools, and then followed +a course in Librarianship. Librarianship +is not a science, notwithstanding the fact that a +number of the American library schools call themselves +schools of library science, and that a baccalaureate +is granted in this, but an art. It is the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span>application of knowledge, knowledge which must +be attained first; education must have preceded +training. That is a rough-and-ready way of +putting it; but such is the main principle that +should guide us in drawing up a course in librarianship.</p> + +<p>Both in England and in America, two orders +of librarians and library assistants are tending to +become clearly differentiated, on the analogy of the +two orders in the Civil Service. On the one hand +are those who enjoyed a liberal education and have +supplemented this with a first-class technical training; +on the other, those who had a poor start +educationally. The latter may by intelligence and +perseverance catch the former up; there will be no +watertight partitions between the classes. But +the difference between them will become more +and more accentuated as library activities become +more complex and more specialized. In one +way, a school of librarianship forms a medium +between the two grades; it may enable an energetic +man or woman to overcome the disadvantages +of a poor start in life; in another way, it +helps to differentiate the classes, those persons +who proceed successfully through the courses +and win diplomas going automatically into the +higher class, and those who fail to attain more +than a few odd certificates, into the lower grade. +The main determining factor is to have enjoyed +or to have missed a good preliminary education, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span>comprising a knowledge of languages and fair +general culture.</p> + +<p>The present curriculum of the School of Librarianship +is as follows:—</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(i.)</td> +<td class="tdl">English Composition.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(ii.)</td> +<td class="tdl">*Latin <i>or</i> Greek <i>or</i> Sanskrit <i>or</i> Classical Arabic.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(iii.)</td> +<td class="tdl"> *A Modern Language other than English.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(iv.)</td> +<td class="tdl">Bibliography.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(v.)</td> +<td class="tdl">Library Organization (including Public Library Law).</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(vi.)</td> +<td class="tdl">Library Routine.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(vii.)</td> +<td class="tdl">Cataloguing and Indexing.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(viii.)</td> +<td class="tdl">Literary History and Book Selection.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(ix.)</td> +<td class="tdl">Classification.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">(x.)</td> +<td class="tdl"> Palæography and Archives.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p>In the purely technical subjects, the instruction +is partly theoretic and partly practical. +The students are set to work, under expert supervision, +cataloguing sections of a library; they +classify masses of books, and perform upon them +various routine processes; they are given mediæval +English, Latin, and Norman-French documents +to decipher and translate, mediæval manuscripts +to catalogue and calendar. They watch +bookbinding demonstrations, and are shown, +not only how a book is bound well, but also how +the job is done in a shoddy way by dishonest +binders. Skins of the finest quality and other +bookbinding materials are hanging up in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span>school, and all sorts of library apparatus and +equipment are on exhibition. During the long +vacation the students are expected to work as +voluntary assistants in libraries of the most +modern type, and no opportunity for practical +experience or for seeing things actually being done +is neglected. Lectures on such phases of the prescribed +subjects as library architecture, rural +library systems, library work with children, technical +and commercial libraries, and library extension, +are continually being given by special +authorities not on the regular staff. The student +who is not a graduate must pass examinations in +all the ten subjects set out above, before he can +receive the diploma; the graduate may be +exempted from the first three. Those candidates +who have not held salaried offices in approved +libraries do not receive the Diploma until they +have done at least one year’s work in such capacity. +It is apparent, then, that the course is +partly general and partly technical; and, whether +the entrant is a graduate or not, there is no +escaping the basic requirement, a good general +education, or the other essential, practical experience.</p> + +<p>America had library schools thirty years +before Great Britain; there are now eighteen +library schools in the United States, several +requiring a college degree before admission, some +qualifying their alumni for a degree in library +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span>science. Other agencies for training librarians +are apprentice classes and summer schools; and +the training these last provide is more continuous +and thorough than is afforded by the same kind of +institution in this country. Certain general +colleges, also, hold courses in bibliography, palæography, +and kindred subjects, useful not only to +the librarian but also to the research student. +Germany, Italy, and Sweden preceded us in the +establishment of library schools, the first-named +in 1861. France exacted technical qualifications +from candidates for university libraries in 1879. +Holland has a library school, and 1920 saw one +started in Czechoslovakia. All these are Government +or university foundations. If our libraries +become a national concern, training in librarianship +will necessarily be an affair for the community +to regulate and finance.</p> + +<p>Old-fashioned library committees and librarians +still exist who are well content with the +library assistant that, as they put it, “has gone +through the mill,” in other words, a person without +any education worth mentioning and without +training in any real sense, who has learned his +work by having had to do it and never studied the +why or the wherefore of library practice. There +are still librarians who regard librarianship as +simply a job like any other job, which has got to be +carried on and incidentally find some one a berth; +and who feel aggrieved if called upon to furnish +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span>anything beyond the most rudimentary service—lending +and reference library and reading room—and +regard any sort of library extension as incipient +bolshevism. Committees and librarians of this +stamp actually prefer the uneducated junior, the +youth, that is, who has enjoyed nothing more +liberal than primary schooling; whereas the +intelligent and progressive committee or librarian +would rather appoint, even to a senior post, a well-educated +person who has to learn his duties, than +one poorly educated yet having had a great deal +of practical experience. The former would have +to spend some time in picking up the ways of a new +post, but, given equal abilities, he would show +himself the better man in a brief space of time.</p> + +<p>Perhaps a more insidious danger than this +survival of the obsolete is the view, to which all +administrators of systems are apt to fall a prey, +that high mechanical efficiency is the be-all and +end-all of library economy. Perfect and smooth-running +machinery is an admirable thing; it will +certainly be one of the characteristics of every +library system that achieves complete success. But +there are elements still more essential, which cannot +be secured by the pursuit of mere mechanical perfection. +To put mechanism and mechanical organization +first, knowledge and ideas second, is as +bad a mistake as crass content with the old, inadequate +service. The danger of being dominated by +mechanism is, in truth, as real a danger in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span>world of libraries as ever it was in Erewhon. +“True, from a low materialistic point of view, it +would seem that those thrive best who use machinery +wherever its use is possible with profit; but +this is the art of the machines—they serve that +they may rule.”<a id="FNanchor_47_47" href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> This very danger is already +apparent, it has been noted, in some of the rural +systems superintended by bureaucratic directors +of education. Their criterion of efficiency is +uniformity, in method and results. But uniformity +is of no value except as a mark of excellence or +fitness. When uniformity is sought for its own +sake, it is bound to stultify aspiration and suppress +spontaneity. In the earlier days of the public +library, there were librarians who thought that +they had achieved immortal fame by inventing +that surprising piece of mechanism, the indicator. +Library progress for decades was checked by the +indicator and the repressive form of organization +of which it was the symbol, the closed library. +To infuse a new spirit into the reading and the +non-reading public will do infinitely more for the +future of libraries than any amount of mechanical +efficiency. That is the reason why the School of +Librarianship has erected its course of professional +training on the broad base of a liberal education. +This is no slight to the technique of librarianship; +but means that technique must be the servant, +not the master, and that machinery will be used +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span>best if those who control it have intelligence and +vision.</p> + +<p>And why should training in librarianship be +confined entirely to librarians? It has often been +urged that bibliography should be taught in +schools. Book selection, indexing, classification, +in short, most of the professional subjects, are +elements of a general training in organization and +in methods of study and research. When there +comes about a thorough correlation between +libraries and schools, young people will, as a matter +of course, acquire the rudiments of the library +arts. Since the child, as soon as he leaves school, +will have to pursue his intellectual activities +chiefly through the medium of books, he should be +taught something about bibliography, at any rate +the maxims and methods of book selection. Self-education +to-day is rendered more difficult and +uncertain by the very multiplicity of books that +solicit attention. Even advanced university students +are surprisingly ignorant of the means for +ascertaining the nature and relative value of the +literature of the subjects they are working on. A +thorough grounding in book-selection and certain +other of the library arts might work a reformation +in the newspaper world: it is a point for the +attention of schools of journalism. Imagine the +results if there were a reference library of high +quality in every office and every reporter and sub-editor +had been trained in using it accurately. No +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span>one is competent to be a guide in intellectual +matters or a dispenser of knowledge who is not +engaged in a continual process of self-education. +The value of a knowledge of librarianship to the +layman is recognized in the United States: in +1914 ninety-one American colleges gave courses +in what is there called library science.<a id="FNanchor_48_48" href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>One result of the library extension work +described in an earlier chapter is a wider diffusion +of the library arts. When the Education Act of +1918 comes into force throughout the land, and the +school-child becomes a “young person”; when +intellectual training is carried on right through +the plastic period of mental development, the +opportunity for cultivating the library arts will +be laden with profound consequences. If elementary +schools and continuation schools then work +in due co-ordination with libraries, the new curricula +will in large measure comprehend what we +desire: instruction in the art of reading and the +enjoyment of literature, guidance in the use of +scientific and technical books and in the methods +of research. Every young person should be shown +how to make himself master of the multifarious +contents of a library, to acquaint himself with +other library resources that are within reach, to become +his own bibliographer, map out his reading to +the best advantage, and be able to choose books +wisely, whether he is buying for his own shelves or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span>making use of the public library.</p> + +<p>The vital importance of the library arts to the +researcher and to all whose work is among books, +pamphlets, or records, needs no expatiation. Mr. +Sidney Webb, in lecturing to young librarians +some years ago, depicted the infinite pains with +which he constructed his own bibliographies of +social science. He had to acquire the library arts +in the hard school of experience, when manuals +of bibliography and guide-books to books were +fewer than they are now; and, no doubt, the fine +library at the London School of Economics may +be regarded as in no small part the result. Modern +specialization has extended the field of knowledge +so enormously that the finest education is, in a +large sense, only elementary—only a preparation +of the individual to use human knowledge and +exert himself in extending it.</p> + +<p>Exact classification is making its way in all +directions. The art of classification is not only +an invaluable mental discipline, it may be applied +with advantage in every province of work and +business. It stands for order and method in all +sorts of affairs. Though a classification of books +is not the same thing as a classification of things, +and may depart in many respects from the exactness +of logical theory, there is no better way of +inculcating the usefulness of system than by illustrating +it in a well-classified library, where the +reader can find his way from shelf to shelf, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span>follow the tracks pointed out for him to other +book-cases the contents of which are more distantly +connected with his subject. Commercial firms +have learned the value of systematic filing. +Representatives of business corporations and +parties of students from schools and colleges visit +the Commercial Library at Manchester in order to +examine the vertical file and have its principles +explained. It is in the research departments of +the technical firms that classification, filing, and +indexing are pursued to their furthest reaches. +It is to be wished that the librarian’s near relations, +the publisher and the bookseller, would make +more use of system. When the bookshops are +arranged on an intelligible plan, there may be less +romance in the Charing Cross Road, but it will be +better for business. And, though some might +think there was more lost than gained in the +second-hand shop if “Americana” were shelved +according to Dewey and “Book Rarities” placed +in their proper decimal order, there is at any rate +no sentimental objection to the scientific arrangement +of new books. But, with the notable exceptions +of two or three large firms of publishers and +the university presses, no one seems to think it +worth while to issue classified catalogues of new +publications. Booksellers and publishers prefer +to arrange their wares and compile their catalogues +by the sizes of books, by binding, or by prices—by +anything except the subject. Both are sadly in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span>need of a course in librarianship. Publishers +have declined to take the expert advice of the +Library Association, or to learn anything on the +materials, printing, format, or even the kinds of +books that are wanted. The fact is, their books, +their catalogues, and their methods of marketing +are adapted to the momentary satisfaction of a +public having no acquaintance with the library +arts. When we are each our own bibliographer, +these perfunctory ways will have to be dropped, +or the reader and book-buyer will want to know +why.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_226fp" style="max-width: 64.0em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_226fp.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <i>Photo by Langley & Sons</i> +<br> + + <span class="smcap">Reading Room of the Goldsmith’s Library, University of London.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Classification is the natural basis of indexing, +or rather classifying and indexing are complementary +to each other, the object being to have +everything in its place and to show how it can be +found. Every author, every one who uses or +dispenses information, every one who keeps so +much as a commonplace book, ought to be an +efficient indexer; yet ignorance of what constitutes +a good index is almost universal. There has +been a slight improvement of late in the proportion +of books indexed; but the general standard of +precision and scientific arrangement is still very +low. Apart from inaccuracy, which is a common +defect, our methods, in regard to thoroughness and +ease of reference, are painfully inferior to American +methods; <a id="FNanchor_49_49" href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a>the fact is patent even in some of our +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span>big co-operative treatises, which have no excuse +for their slovenliness on the score of economy. +Yet the public seem to be content. They are used +to taking what is offered them, and have never +considered what minimum of efficiency in book-production +they are entitled to expect. A review +here and there makes its protest against a bad or +omitted index, or against inadequate or forgotten +maps, or illustrations that do not illustrate, and to +this may be attributed the slight improvement +noticed. Yet the importance of indexing, in all the +affairs of life, is so obvious that, apart altogether +from its function in books and libraries, it ought +to find a place in any well-planned scheme of +education.</p> + +<p>But the most important and fundamental of +the library arts is that of book selection, which is +best defined, not as choosing the best books, but as +choosing the right, the appropriate books. The +student of librarianship is taught literary history so +that he may be a safe and discriminating selector +of books, and be qualified to see that the library +contains the right sort of material. The object +of library lectures and reading circles is to direct +readers to the right books to read. In her account +of a very interesting experiment,<a id="FNanchor_50_50" href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Miss Sayle +describes how the Hampshire villagers were allowed +the casting vote on every book purchased by the +simple expedient of eliminating those books that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span>failed to attract readers. The results sound +lamentable. Whole sections went under the +hammer. Autobiography, Gardening, Lives, Travels, +Poetry, are one and all reported “Abolished, +owing to lack of readers.” <i>Waverley</i>, <i>Kidnapped</i>, +<i>Barnaby Rudge</i>, and Pierre Loti’s <i>Iceland Fisherman</i>, +were among the classics discarded in one year +in order to make room for the works of Mrs. Henry +Wood, Miss Worboise, Baroness Orczy, and Gene +Stratton Porter. Lamb’s <i>Tales from Shakespeare</i> +seldom left the children’s cupboard. Now Miss +Sayle is undoubtedly right in extolling the principle +of giving her village readers the initiative in the +choice of books for their own library, the library +they founded and maintain out of their own +pockets. But her story is not creditable to those +who might, had they gone the right way to work, +have guided the tastes of these village readers, +so that they would have chosen and enjoyed the +very books that had to be discarded. One can +hardly imagine a reading circle finding much to +discuss in books by the luminaries mentioned as +chief favourites; but it is quite as difficult to +imagine that a paper or a reading or an intimate +talk about Stevenson, Scott, Dickens, and a few of +the poets, would have failed in opening many +eyes to the charms of the writers abolished. To +prescribe what people shall read is impossible; +it is foolish to present any public, in town or +country, with a well-chosen library, and tell them +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span>to take it or leave it. Coercion would be as fruitless +as it is impossible. But to leave the choice to +the untrained and unguided initiative of the villagers, +without some attempt at training and assisting +their powers of choice, is hardly less absurd +than it would be to let the children in a school +decide what lessons they should be taught.</p> + +<p>This is the real inwardness of the great fiction +question, on which so much wordy argument has +been expended. There is no need to deplore the +high percentage of fiction that is read; if this is +of any literary value, the percentage is so much to +the good. The innuendo underlying the Adult +Education Committee’s sneer at “unsystematic +and recreative reading” betrays an illiberal conception +of the cultural value of belles-lettres, of +which Meredith said:—</p> + +<p>“Light literature is the garden and the +orchard, the fountain, the rainbow, the far view; +the view within us as well as without. The Philistine +detests it, because he has no view, out or in. +The dry confess they are cut off from the living +tree, peeled and sapless, when they condemn it. +The vulgar demand to have their pleasures in their +own likeness—and let them swamp their troughs! +They shall not degrade the name of noble fiction.... +Shun those who cry out against fiction, and have +no taste for elegant writing. Not to have a +sympathy with the playful mind is not to have a +mind.”</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span></p> +<p>The question is not whether public libraries +ought to provide novels, nor simply whether they +should provide only the best novels and reject the +bad. The important problem is, how the general +reader is to be led to choose and enjoy the best. +To spend public funds on the public provision of +feeble and enfeebling reading-matter is indefensible. +True, there are librarians who defend it: one +head of a large system has recently pleaded for +fiction of the Charles Garvice and Ethel Dell type, +because the charwoman and the overworked housewife +find it restful and soothing, and cannot afford +to subscribe for it to the circulating library. But +public libraries are not a sort of poor relief: their +mission is not to provide, even these unhappy +folk, with opportunities for mental dissipation; +but, the very reverse, to introduce them to higher +pleasures. Would apologists for bad novels recommend +our public art galleries to adopt similar +standards of taste? Or our museums? No doubt, +if we turned them into a kind of Madame Tussaud’s +or sensation-mongering picture-house, these +would be much more popular with a very large +and a very important class.</p> + +<p>This kind of argument hardly needs confuting: +but many committees and librarians have been led +astray by the specious doctrine that by giving +people the inferior stuff they like they will eventually +be led to prefer something better. The present +writer, who has devoted years of hard work to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span>shepherding the general reader into the right way +of appreciating good fiction, would be the last to +deny the humanizing value of the novel and its +right to an honourable place in the public library; +but he would be the first to deny that to get people +to read any kind of novel, or to bring them at any +cost into the public library, is a sure way of inducing +them to read something better. Than +much of the reading done at the expense of the +library rate it would be better if no reading were +done at all. A kind of mental dram-drinking, +it is stupefying to the brain and soul, and thoroughly +anti-educational. Homœopathic application +of continual doses of the hair of the dog that +bit you is a futile mode of treatment. The time +has come for saner methods, and the only sane +method is to refuse to recognize the stuff as having +anything to do with the literature which a public +library has to supply. Earlier pages have dealt +with the various methods by which the standard +of fiction reading can be raised—duplication of +the best on shelves to which the reader has free +access, descriptive catalogues and readers’ guides, +lectures, talks, and reading circles. Our crusading +efforts at raising the level of popular taste must be +as strenuous as those of a revivalist mission.</p> + +<p>Future progress depends on a wide diffusion +of the library arts; it depends on the attitude +of that much-abused person the general reader. +When the general reader uses public libraries wisely +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span>and well, and finds them indispensable to a full +life, their position will be assured. The largest +body of readers will always be composed of this +class: the object of education is to turn out intelligent +general readers.<a id="FNanchor_51_51" href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> The Adult Education +Committee expressed too narrow a view of the +library’s function in the social organism when they +insisted on the paramount claims of vocational and +non-vocational education, and spoke slightingly +of the general reader, the vast multitude who are +guilty of “unsystematic and recreative reading.” +It is only fair to notice, however, two passages +in which the Adult Education Committee did not +overlook the claims of the general reader and of +imaginative literature:—</p> + +<p>“The Lending Department is the main feature +in the smaller libraries; it provides such books +as are suitable for continuous reading or study and +in convenient form. The books cover the whole +range of knowledge, physical and metaphysical, +ancient and modern, philosophy, religion, sociology, +language and literature, science, fine and +useful arts, history and travel. The recreative +element in reading bulks largely in the statistics +of this department. Very much of what is best +and most elevating in English literature takes the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span>form of fiction, and selecting this with care and +discretion the library gives valuable impulse in the +direction of broadening the mental outlook, enlarging +the sympathies, and elevating the tastes +and feeling of readers. Any estimate of the cultural +work of the library which omits the effects, more +or less unconscious, of the reading of the best +poetical and imaginative literature is gravely incomplete +and inadequate.”</p> + +<p>“It is clear, however, that local education +authorities may neglect the ‘general reader’ in +their desire to obtain from the public libraries the +maximum of assistance for more serious students. +This is a danger which must be guarded against. +It is part of the problem of how to retain the +freedom and elasticity of the library with the more +organized administration of the system of public +education. It is with no desire to subordinate the +libraries or belittle their importance that we +recommend the union of educational and library +administration.”<a id="FNanchor_52_52" href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>It will not do merely to tolerate this large +section of those who use libraries, on condition +that its interests are made secondary to the +“serious students and trained readers.” This +would be fatal to the true purpose of the public +library, which should minister to intellectual life +in all its fulness. The general reader must be put +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span>first, not second. A clear conception of what is best +for the general reader will ensure that the interests +of education shall not be neglected. It is on the +growth of a new consciousness, a new attitude +towards the institutions subserving humanism, +that we must pin our faith in the great library +system of the future.</p> + + +<p class="ph3">A FURTHER COURSE OF READING.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Public Libraries, Past and Present.</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Bostwick</span>, Arthur E. The American Public +Library. Appleton. 1910. 8vo. illus.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Brown</span>, James Duff. A British Library Itinerary, +Grafton. 1913. 8vo.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Brown</span>, James Duff. Manual of Library Economy, +ed. by W. C. Berwick Sayers. +Grafton. 1920. 8vo. Illus.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Greenwood</span>, Thomas. Edward Edwards, the +chief pioneer of municipal public libraries. +Scott Greenwood. 1902. 8vo.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Greenwood</span>, Thomas. Public Libraries: A history +of the movement, and a manual for +the organisation and management of rate-supported +libraries. Cassell. 1894. 8vo. +illus.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Ogle</span>, John J. The Free Library: its history and +present condition, edited by R. Garnett. +Allen. 1897. 8vo. [The Library Series.]</p> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span></p> + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">The Library Question of To-Day.</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Adams</span>, Professor W. G. S. A Report on Library +Provision and Policy, to the Carnegie +United Kingdom Trustees. Edinburgh. +Neill. 1915.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Bostwick</span>, Arthur E. Library Essays: papers +related to the work of public libraries. +New York. H. W. Wilson. 1920. 8vo.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Bostwick</span>, Arthur E. A Librarian’s Open Shelf: +essays on various subjects. New York. +H. W. Wilson. 1920. 8vo.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Hardy</span>, E. A. The Public Library: its place in +our educational system. Toronto. William +Briggs. 1912. Illus.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Library Association.</span> The Library Association +Record. 8vo. 1899 in progress.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Library Association.</span> Public Libraries: their +present position and future development in +national reconstruction. Library Association. +1918. 8vo. Illus.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Library Association.</span> Year Book for 1921; +edited E. C. Kyte. Library Association. +1921. 8vo.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="hanging-indent1">Contains statistics of existing libraries and +their work.</p> +</div> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">McKillop</span>, John. The present position of London +Municipal Libraries with suggestions for +increasing their efficiency. Reprint from +Library Association Record. 1906.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span></p> +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Ministry of Reconstruction.</span> Adult Education +Committee. Third Interim Report. Libraries +and Museums. H.M.S. Office. 1919.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Ministry of Reconstruction.</span> Adult Education +Committee. Final Report. H.M. Stationery +Office. 1919.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Morel</span>, Eugene. La Librairie Publique. Paris. +A. Colin. 1912.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Public Libraries Act, 1919.</span> H.M.S. Office. 1919.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Rural Libraries.</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Antrim</span>, Saida B. and Ernest I. The County +Library. Ohio, Pioneer Press. 1914. 8vo. +Illus.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Carnegie United Kingdom Trust.</span> Annual +Reports. Dec. 1914—Dec. 1920. Edinburgh. +Constable. 1921.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Sayle</span>, A. Village Libraries: a guide to their +formation and upkeep. Grant Richards. +1919. 8vo.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Weaver</span>, Sir Lawrence. Village Clubs and Halls. +Newnes. 1920. 8vo. Illus.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">Training in Librarianship.</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Friedel</span>, J. H. Training for Librarianship: +library work as a career. Lippincott. 1921. +8vo. Illus.</p> + +<p class="hanging-indent1"><span class="smcap">Ross</span>, James. Technical Training in Librarianship +in England and abroad. +Reprint from Library Association Record. +1910.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_47_47" href="#FNanchor_47_47" class="label">[47]</a> Samuel Butler: <i>Erewhon</i>, XXXV. “The Book of the Machines.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_48_48" href="#FNanchor_48_48" class="label">[48]</a> J. H. Friedel: <i>Training in Librarianship</i>, p. 92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_49_49" href="#FNanchor_49_49" class="label">[49]</a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, the <i>Cambridge History of English Literature</i>, and +compare it with the <i>Cambridge History of American Literature</i>, a model +of arrangement, indexing, bibliography, and general editorial work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_50_50" href="#FNanchor_50_50" class="label">[50]</a> A. Sayle, <i>Village Libraries</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_51_51" href="#FNanchor_51_51" class="label">[51]</a> “Education should be preparation for life. Its purpose is to +prepare the immature human being for the life he is to lead when he +becomes mature. It is to fit the child for the life he is to live when he +shall be no longer a child. That is, to my mind, the purpose of education.” +Dr. C. A. Mercier (<i>The Principles of National Education</i>, 1917.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_52_52" href="#FNanchor_52_52" class="label">[52]</a> Adult Education Committee: <i>Third Interim Report</i>, par. 12.</p></div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239"></a>[Pg 239]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2></div> + + +<ul class="index"> +<li class="ifrst">Adams, Prof. W. G. S., on library provision, <a href="#Page_136">136-139</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Administration</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183-184</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200-210</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Administration of Centralized Library System</i>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Adult Education</i>, <a href="#Page_4">4-6</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98-99</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, + <a href="#Page_202">202-204</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208-209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee and Board of Education, <a href="#Page_200">200-201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee and Central Library for Students, <a href="#Page_190">190-191</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee, centralization, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171-2</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee, fiction question, <a href="#Page_230">230-235</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee, <i>Final Report</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165-167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee, on grants, <a href="#Page_186">186-187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee, on intelligence bureaux, <a href="#Page_89">89-90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee, on lectures, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee, on reading Rooms, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee, on reconstruction, <a href="#Page_vii">Preface</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171-172</a>, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adult Education Committee, Technical and Commercial Libraries, <a href="#Page_78">78-80</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Advertising</i>, <a href="#Page_48">48-49</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Agricultural Libraries</i>, America, <a href="#Page_160">160-161</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Airdrie, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, books for the blind, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>America</i>, children’s libraries, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, Education Authorities a. Library Authorities, <a href="#Page_201">201-202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, indexing, <a href="#Page_227">227-228</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, inspection of Libraries, <a href="#Page_184">184-186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, librarianship, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, libraries, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, library schools, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219-220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, rural libraries, <a href="#Page_156">156-162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, school and library, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, State Library Commissions, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184-186</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, travelling libraries, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">American Library Association, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Ancient Libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Andersonian Institute, Glasgow, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antwerp, Institute of Commerce, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Apparatus</i>, Library, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Apprentice Classes</i>, America, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Archbishop Tenison’s Library, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Architecture, library, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Assistants</i>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217-219</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Athenæum”, The, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Baillie’s Institution, Glasgow, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bath, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Bibliography</i>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Birkbeck, George, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Birkbeck College, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Birkenhead Public Library, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Birmingham Commercial Library, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Birmingham, library rate, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Birmingham Public Libraries, reference library, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bishopsgate Institute, reference library, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blackburn, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Blind</i>, libraries for the, <a href="#Page_91">91-95</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Board of Education, <a href="#Page_208">208-209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Board of Education as central authority, <a href="#Page_200">200-201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bolton Public Library, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Book issues, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Book selection</i>, <a href="#Page_34">34-36</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129-130</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, + <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228-235</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Book selection</i> for children, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70-72</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Book selection</i>, periodicals, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Book supply</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41-43</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Bookbinding</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180-181</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Bookbinding demonstrations</i>, <a href="#Page_218">218-219</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Book-box system</i>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, + <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Books</i>, requirements of good, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180-181</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bootle Public Library, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Borough councils</i>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Borrowers’ restrictions</i>, <a href="#Page_40">40-41</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bradford Commercial Library, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Braille system</i>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Branch libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bright, John, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brighton, Local Act, 1850, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brighton Public Library, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bristol Commercial Library, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85-87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bristol Public Library, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">British Museum, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li class="indx">British Museum Library, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bromley Public Library, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brotherton, Joseph, <a href="#Page_13">13-19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brougham, Lord, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brown, James Duff, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buckinghamshire, village libraries, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Bureaucracy</i>, dangers of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Burslem, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bury, William, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Business librarians</i>, courses for, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Camberwell Public Library, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cambridge, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Canterbury, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Canterbury, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cardiff Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cardiganshire Rural Library, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carnegie, Andrew, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carnegie Rural Library Scheme, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, annual report, <a href="#Page_140">140-141</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145-146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carnegie United Kingdom Trust and Central Library for Students, <a href="#Page_145">145-146</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carnegie United Kingdom Trust and National Library for the Blind, <a href="#Page_92">92-93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carnegie United Kingdom Trust and rural libraries, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, Scotland, <a href="#Page_139">139-142</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, and training in librarianship, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Catalogues</i>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Cataloguing</i>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Central clearing house</i>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Central Library for Students, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Central Library for Students, relations with rural libraries, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Central repository</i>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Centralization in library system</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29-30</a></li> +<li class="isub1"> Rural, <a href="#Page_137">137-138</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> +<li class="isub1"> Urban, <a href="#Page_169">169-210</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Chambers of Commerce</i>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chelsea Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cheltenham, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chetham Library, Manchester, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Children</i>, books for, <a href="#Page_129">129-130</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Children</i>, library work with, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Children’s Libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_63">63-74</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Children’s Reading room</i>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Choice of books</i>, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_239">Book Selection</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Christian Socialists, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li class="indx">City and Guilds Institution, <a href="#Page_194">194-195</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Classification</i>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225-226</a>, + <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Closed system</i>, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_243">Open access</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coats Libraries, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cobden, Richard, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cockerell, Mr. Douglas, on bookbinding, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Commercial Libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_74">74-91</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Co-operation</i>, <a href="#Page_174">174-176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196-197</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Co-operation</i>, rural 150-155</li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Co-operation with industries</i>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Co-operation with outside organizations</i>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150-155</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Co-operation with schools</i>, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_244">Schools</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cork, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Correspondence classes</i>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">County Education Authority and rural libraries, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>County library schemes</i>, <a href="#Page_137">137-139</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156-160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coventry, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coventry Public Library, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Croydon Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106-107</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Croydon Public Libraries, junior library, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106-107</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Curriculum</i> of School of Librarianship, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Czechoslovakia, library school, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span></li> + +<li class="ifrst"><i>Degrees in library science</i>, America, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Derby Public Library, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dickens, Charles, on libraries, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Digests</i>, from periodicals, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Discipline in children’s libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66-67</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Discussion</i>, value of, <a href="#Page_109">109-110</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dr. Williams’s Library, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Doncaster, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dover, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Dramatic Circles</i>, <a href="#Page_114">114-117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dublin Public Library, reference library, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dundee, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dunfermline, central repository, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dunfermline Public Library, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Edinburgh Public Library, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Education</i>, <a href="#Page_1">1-6</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72-74</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210-211</a>.</li> +<li class="isub1"> <i>See also</i> <a href="#Page_242">Libraries and education</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Education Act, 1870, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Education Act, 1918, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Education Act for Scotland, 1918, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Education authority as library authority</i>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200-210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Education Bill, 1807, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Education Bill, 1820, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Education Department, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Edwards, Edward, <a href="#Page_13">13-17</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Edwards, Passmore, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elementary Education Act, 1870, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Engravings</i>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Erewhon,” <a href="#Page_221">221-222</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ewart, William, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13-19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ewart Act, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_244">Public Libraries Act, 1850</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Examinations</i> in Librarianship, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Exeter, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Exhibitions</i>, <a href="#Page_120">120-122</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst"><i>Fiction</i> question, <a href="#Page_34">34-35</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230-235</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Filing</i>, <a href="#Page_58">58-59</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Finance</i>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fisher, Mr. H. A. L., <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Formby, Thomas, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Forster’s Act. <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_241">Education Act, 1870</a></li> + +<li class="indx">France, librarianship in, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fulham Public Libraries, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Furniture, fittings, etc.</i>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Germany, library schools, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Glasgow, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Glasgow Commercial Library, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Glasgow Mechanics’ Institution, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Glasgow Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gloucester Public Library, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gloucestershire Rural Libraries, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Government department as library authority</i>, <a href="#Page_172">172-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Government grants</i>, <a href="#Page_184">184-188</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Government inspection of libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_183">183-188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grantham Rural Libraries, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Grants</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184-188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Greenwich Public Libraries, co-operation with schools, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Greenwood, Thomas, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Guide-books to books</i>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guildhall Library, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Hackney Public Library, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hampstead Public Library, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hebrides, rural library scheme, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hereford, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>History of library movement</i>, <a href="#Page_1">1-31</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Holland, library school, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hornsey Public Library, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Huddersfield, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hull, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst"><i>Illustrations</i>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Indexing</i>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Indicators</i>, <a href="#Page_38">38-39</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Industrial libraries</i>, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_245">Technical libraries</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Industries</i>, co-operation with, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Industry as local authority in technical library system</i>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Information Bureau</i>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82-83</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88-90</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Information desks</i>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Inspection of libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_183">183-188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ipswich, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ireland, Public Library Act, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</span></li> + +<li class="indx">Ireland, reference libraries, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Islington Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69-70</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, + <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Issues as index of reading</i>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Italy, library schools, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Jast, Mr. L. S., on Schools and libraries, <a href="#Page_203">203-204</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Journalism</i>, schools of, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Kidderminster, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kilmarnock Public Libraries, reference library, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kingston Public Libraries, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kirkwood, James, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Lamb, Charles, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lambeth Palace Library, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lancashire and Cheshire Union library, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lancashire and Cheshire Union of Mechanics’ Institutions, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lantern slides</i>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leamington, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lecture rooms</i>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99-107</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lectures</i>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99-107</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, + <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leeds Commercial Library, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leeds Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leeds Technical Library, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leek Public Library, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leicester, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lending libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_33">33-43</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Librarian</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, + <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Librarianship</i>, definition of, <a href="#Page_216">216-217</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Librarianship</i>, training in, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_245">Training</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Libraries and education</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200-210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Libraries Board, suggestions for a, <a href="#Page_209">209-210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library Association of the United Kingdom, on bibliography, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library Association on centralization, <a href="#Page_171">171-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library Association, commercial and technical libraries, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library Association, libraries and education, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202-203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library Association on rural libraries, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library Association and school libraries, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library Association, Subject-Index to Periodicals, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library Association on technical libraries, <a href="#Page_198">198-201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library Association Education Committee, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Library authorities</i>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Library authority</i>, parish council as, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Library committees</i>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Library economy</i>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Library extension</i>, <a href="#Page_96">96-134</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Library provision</i>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Library rate</i>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, + <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Library schools</i>, <a href="#Page_211">211-220</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Library service</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32-95</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Liberal education</i>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lichfield, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Light literature</i>, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_241">Fiction</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Literary and Scientific Institutions, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Literary and Scientific Institutions Libraries, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Literary history</i>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Liverpool Commercial Library, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Liverpool Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Liverpool, Special Act, 1852, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Loan Collections to schools</i>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124-125</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Local collections</i>, <a href="#Page_51">51-52</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Local Education Committee, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Local Education Committee as library authority, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Local Government Act, 1894, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Local records</i>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li class="indx">London, City of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">London Education Committee, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>London libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47-48</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>London libraries</i>, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>London libraries</i>, reading rooms, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>London libraries</i>, reference libraries, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>London libraries</i>, special collections, <a href="#Page_50">50-51</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>London libraries</i>, statistics, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>London libraries</i>, and students, <a href="#Page_195">195-196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">London library, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li class="indx">London, Library Act, 1877, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">London Mechanics’ Institution, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</span></li> + +<li class="indx">London School of Economics, <a href="#Page_211">211-212</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">London, University of, School of Librarianship, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218-219</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li class="indx">London, University of, University College, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">McKillop, John, supplemental library scheme, <a href="#Page_191">191-197</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Magazine rooms</i>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Magazines</i>, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_243">periodicals</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maidstone Public Library, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manchester, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manchester College of Arts and Sciences, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manchester Commercial Library, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manchester Commercial library, contents, <a href="#Page_83">83-85</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manchester Commercial library, vertical file, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manchester, library rate, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manchester Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Maps</i>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marylebone, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Massachusetts Agricultural College, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Massachusetts Free Library Commission, <a href="#Page_185">185-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mechanics’ Institutes</i>, <a href="#Page_5">5-10</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mechanics’ Institute Libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_5">5-10</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Meredith, George, on fiction, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Metropolitan Association of Mechanics’ Institutions, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Middlesex, rural library scheme, <a href="#Page_163">163-164</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ministry of Reconstruction, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mitchell Library, Glasgow, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Monastic libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Motor service</i>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Museums</i>, <a href="#Page_15">15-16</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Museums Act, 1845, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Museums and Gymnasiums Act, 1891, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Music</i>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">National Art Library, South Kensington, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">National Home-Reading Union, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">National Institute for the Blind, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">National Library for the Blind, <a href="#Page_92">92-95</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>National library service</i>, <a href="#Page_vii">preface</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169-210</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">National Science Library, South Kensington, <a href="#Page_60">60-61</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">New York Public Library, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132-133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Newcastle-upon-Tyne Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Newspapers</i>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55-59</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Newsrooms</i>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55-59</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Non-municipal libraries</i>, incorporation of, <a href="#Page_177">177-178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Northampton Public Library, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Norwich Public Library, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nottingham Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91-92</a>, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst"><i>Obsolete methods</i>, <a href="#Page_220">220-221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ogle, J. J., <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oldham, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oldham, library rate, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Open access</i>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38-40</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orkneys, rural library scheme, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Overseas Trade Department, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oxford, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Paddington, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paisley, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Palæography</i>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Parish council</i>, as library authority, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Parochial libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11-12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Parochial Libraries Act, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Patent Office Library, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peacock, Thomas L., <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Periodicals</i>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56-61</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181-182</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Periodicals</i>, indexing of, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_245">Subject-Index to Periodicals</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Permanent collections</i> of books in country districts, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Perthshire Rural Library, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Philadelphia, Commercial Museum, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Philosophical Radicalism</i>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Polytechnics, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Poplar, school and library, <a href="#Page_126">126-127</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</span></li> + +<li class="indx">Post Office, transmission of books by, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Practical instruction in librarianship</i>, <a href="#Page_218">218-219</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Press clippings</i>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Preston, library rate, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prints, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, <a href="#Page_78">78-79</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Library Acts, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Library Act, 1850, <a href="#Page_12">12-20</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Library Act, 1853, <a href="#Page_12">12-20</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Library Act, Ireland, 1853, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Library Act, Scotland, 1853, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Libraries Act, 1892, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Libraries Amendment Acts, 1894, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Libraries Act, 1919, <a href="#Page_vii">preface</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Libraries Act, 1921, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Library Acts, adoption of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Library Bill, 1854, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public Record Office Library, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Publications</i>, library, <a href="#Page_179">179-180</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Purdue University agricultural library, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Putney, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst"><i>Rate</i>, library, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, + <a href="#Page_187">187-188</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Readers</i>, issues, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Reading circles</i>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110-111</a>, + <a href="#Page_112">112-114</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228-229</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Reading courses</i>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Reading</i>, standard of, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229-235</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Reading rooms</i>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61-63</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Ready-reference library</i>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Reconstruction</i>, <a href="#Page_vii">preface</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29-30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Reconstruction Committee, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Reference books</i>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, + <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Reference libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44-55</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176-177</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Regional committees</i>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rochdale Public Library, business section, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rousseau, Jean Jacques, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Royal Blind Asylum and School, Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Royal College of Science, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Rural libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110-111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135-168</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, + <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Rural libraries, co-operation with outside organizations</i>, <a href="#Page_150">150-155</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Rural libraries</i>, co-operation with schools, <a href="#Page_141">141-144</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148-149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150-155</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ruskin, John, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rye, Mr. R. A., libraries of London, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">St. Bride Foundation Library, reference library, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Helen’s, library rate, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Kilda, transport of books to, <a href="#Page_146">146-147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Pancras, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Paul’s Cathedral Library, reference library, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Salaries</i>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salford Public Library, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sayle, Miss, village libraries, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>School libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122-125</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">School of Librarianship, University of London, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_243">London, University of</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Schools</i>, <a href="#Page_2">2-5</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200-210</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Schools</i>, co-operation with, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51-52</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65-74</a>, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122-134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137-138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141-144</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148-149</a>, + <a href="#Page_150">150-155</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200-206</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223-224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scientific associations’ libraries, <a href="#Page_178">178-179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scotland, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scotland, Education Act, 1918, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scotland, Public Library Acts, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scotland, reference libraries, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scotland, rural libraries, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Selborne, Roundell Palmer, Earl of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sheffield, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sheffield, library rate, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Shelf-room</i>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shetlands, rural library scheme, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sion College Library, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Somerset Rural Library, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162-163</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Special collections</i>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49-51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119-120</a>, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Staff</i>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Staffordshire Rural Library, <a href="#Page_139">139-140</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>State aid</i>, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_241">Grants</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>State control</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137-8</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</span></li> + +<li class="indx">State Library Commissions, America, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184-186</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Statistics</i>, Bristol Commercial Library, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Statistics</i>, Islington Public Libraries, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Statistics</i>, library provision, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Statistics</i>, London libraries, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Statistics</i>, public libraries, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, + <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Statistics</i> of reading, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Statistics</i>, rural libraries, <a href="#Page_140">140-141</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Statistics</i>, supplemental library, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Steam Intellect Society,” <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stirling’s Library, Glasgow, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Story-telling for children</i>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stratford-on-Avon Public Library, reference library, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Students</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Students’ Library, Oxford, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Students’ reading rooms</i>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Subject-Index to Periodicals, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Summer Schools</i>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sunderland, library rate, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Supplemental libraries</i>, cost of, <a href="#Page_193">193-194</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Supplemental libraries in national scheme</i>, <a href="#Page_188">188-193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Swansea, library rate, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sweden, library schools, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Syracuse University, library school, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst"><i>Teachers</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72-73</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Technical associations’ libraries, <a href="#Page_178">178-179</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Technical libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_74">74-91</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197-200</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thackeray, W. M., on libraries, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Training in librarianship</i>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211-235</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Transport</i>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141-142</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146-148</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Travelling collections for schools</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124-125</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Travelling libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Tutorial Classes</i>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109-111</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Union Catalogue, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Union of educational and library administration</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133-134</a>, + <a href="#Page_200">200-210</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Universities</i>, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> + +<li class="indx">University Extension Courses, <a href="#Page_107">107-114</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>University libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Utilitarian function of the library</i>, <a href="#Page_74">74-77</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Van Wert County Library, Ohio, <a href="#Page_157">157-159</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Verney, Sir Edmund, village libraries, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Village clubs</i>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Village Clubs Association, <a href="#Page_151">151-153</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Village Institutes</i>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165-167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Village libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Voluntary workers in libraries</i>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141-142</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Wales, National Library of, reference library, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wallasey Public Library, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Walsall Public Library, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Walthamstow Public Libraries, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Warrington Public Library, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Warwick, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Washington Training School for Business Librarians, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“<i>Weeding-out</i>,” <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">West Riding Union of Mechanics’ Institutions, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Westminster, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Whitbread, Samuel, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Whitechapel, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Whittington, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wigan Public Library, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wilts Rural Library, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Winchester, adoption of Library Act, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wisconsin, University of, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wolverhampton Public Library, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Woolwich Public Libraries, lectures, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Workers’ Educational Association, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110-111</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Working Men’s College, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“<i>Workshop theory</i>,” <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Yorkshire Village Libraries Association, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Young Mens’ Christian Association, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Young Women’s Christian Association, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> +</ul> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="RECENT_NEW_BOOKS">RECENT NEW BOOKS</h2></div> + + +<p>The Story of the Mikado</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By <span class="smcap">Sir W. S. GILBERT</span>. Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Alice B. +Woodward</span>. <b>6s.</b> net. Postage <b>6d.</b> extra.</p> +</div> + +<p>“‘The Story of the Mikado,’ with its beautiful illustrations, should be one of the +most popular books of the season.”—<i>The Sphere.</i></p> + + +<p>The Luck of the Bean-Rows</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><i>A FAIRY TALE FOR LUCKY CHILDREN.</i> +Illustrated in Colours by C. LOVAT FRASER. With +a Dedication to H.R.H. the Princess Mary. <b>6s.</b> net. +Postage <b>6d.</b> extra.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Those who are wanting a Christmas book for the small folk would do well to +look out for this.”—<i>The Bookman.</i></p> + +<p>“The book is a gem of modern typography, and will be treasured as such.”—<i>The +Observer.</i></p> + + +<p>The Haunters and the Haunted</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>A Collection of Authentic Ghost Stories and other Tales +of the Occult and Supernatural. Edited with an Introduction +by ERNEST RHYS. Crown 8vo. <b>6s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Familiar tales from literary sources qualified for admission by being superlatively +well told.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + + +<p>The South Sea Bubble</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By LEWIS MELVILLE. Demy 8vo. <b>25s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“An admirable piece of work ... it has the fascination that, human nature +being what it is, lurks about all great swindles.”—<i>Evening Standard.</i></p> + + +<p>Literary Impressions</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By JULES LEMAÎTRE, of the French Academy. +Translated by A. W. EVANS. <b>10s. 6d.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“The translator may be congratulated upon his skilful choice.... It was wise +to choose from the mass of Lemaître’s criticisms his treatment of celebrities as an +introduction to his work.”—<i>Times Literary Supplement.</i></p> + + +<p>Elizabeth Inchbald and Her Circle</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By S. R. LITTLEWOOD. Demy 8vo. <b>10s. 6d.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“The reader will close the book with great gratitude to Mr. Littlewood and a +sense of having made the aquaintance of a captivating woman.”—<i>Spectator.</i></p> + + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Life and Letters of John Gay, Author of “The +Beggar’s Opera.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By LEWIS MELVILLE. Demy 8vo. <b>8s. 6d.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Of Gay’s literary and social life, Mr. Melville, with an enjoyably liberal employment +of the letters, both of Gay and his friends, gives a lively description.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + + +<p>Burma</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>A Handbook of Practical, Commercial, and Political +Information. By Sir GEORGE SCOTT, K.C.I.E. +New (Third) Edition, Revised. Demy 8vo. <b>21s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="center">DANIEL O’CONNOR, 90 Great Russell Street, W.C.1</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="IMPORTANT_NEW_BOOKS">IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS</h2></div> + + +<p>History of the Port of London</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By Sir JOSEPH BROODBANK. Two Volumes. +Crown 4to, with 80 Illustrations. <b>63s.</b> net. Limited +Edition printed on Hand-made paper and bound in +full Niger, <b>25 guineas</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“These superb volumes, which lend themselves much more readily to eulogy than +criticism ... are of genuine national significance; their success should be +immediate, and their reputation permanent.”—<i>Daily Telegraph.</i></p> + +<p>“A book to be read by all of us who have the honour to live in the greatest of +existing, or recorded cities.”—<i>Times Literary Supplement.</i></p> + + +<p>America and England</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By C. R. ENOCK, F.R.G.S. Demy 8vo. <b>25s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“It is an admirable survey ... The information is adequate, correct, and up-to-date, +and it is not only useful for reference, but easily readable.”—<i>Times Literary +Supplement.</i></p> + + +<p>Old-World Essays</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By R. L. GALES, Author of “Studies in Arcady.” +Crown 8vo. <b>8s. 6d.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Mr. R. L. Gales has a lighter touch than Henley ever possessed. Some delicate, +elusive other-worldly quality seems distilled from his pages, whose magic the most +prosaic must feel.”—<i>Outlook.</i></p> + + +<p>Advancing Woman</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By HOLFORD KNIGHT. Crown 8vo. <b>3s. 6d.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“A singularly able discussion. Mr. Knight, who was in 1913 the pioneer of the +movement to open the English Bar to women, deals in separate chapters with +women as jurors, as lawyers, as magistrates, and in relation to the legal profession +generally.”—<i>Times Literary Supplement.</i></p> + + +<p>Ireland Since Parnell</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By CAPTAIN D. D. SHEEHAN. Demy 8vo. +<b>12s. 6d.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“A book which certainly helps towards an understanding of the tangle which is +now in progress of being combed out.”—<i>Daily Mail.</i></p> + + +<p>Ireland in Insurrection</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>An Englishman’s Record of Facts. By HUGH +MARTIN. Preface by Sir PHILIP GIBBS, K.B.E. +Crown 8vo. <b>3s. 6d.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p>“I hope that Mr. Hugh Martin’s ‘Ireland in Insurrection’ will have the wide +circulation and careful study which it deserves.”—The Rt. Hon. H. H. Asquith, M.P.</p> + + +<p>The Lady with the Hands</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>By C. N. LONGRIDGE. Crown 8vo. <b>8s. 6d.</b> net.</p> + +<p>A novel with peculiar attractions for Devonshire readers.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Mr. C. N. Longridge has a knowledge of a character and an engaging style.... +The story is interesting and written with considerable ability.”—<i>Bookman.</i></p> + + +<p class="center">DANIEL O’CONNOR, 90 Great Russell Street, W.C.1</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"> +<div class="tnote"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_note">Transcriber’s note</h2> +<p>Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Hyphenation +has been standardized.</p> + +<p>Page numbers in the List of Illustrations +reflect the position of the illustration +in the original text, but the links point to +the current position of illustrations.</p> + +<p>In the Index “Selborne, Roundell Palmer, Earl of, 19” was out of alpha order +and was moved. Page number references in the index are as published in the original publication +and have not been checked for accuracy in this eBook.</p> + +<p>Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes: +</p> +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><a href="#Page_vi">List of Illustrations</a>:</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">“Library of The South-Western”</td> +<td class="tdl">“Library of The South-Eastern”<br></td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_5">5</a>: “rom a railway company”</td> +<td class="tdl">“from a railway company”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_8">8</a>: “working mens’ institution”</td> +<td class="tdl">“working men’s institution”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_27">27</a>: “to find Wolverhamption”</td> +<td class="tdl">“to find Wolverhampton”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_38">38</a>: “could not even seen”</td> +<td class="tdl">“could not even see”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_70">70</a>: “provided in the childrens’”</td> +<td class="tdl">“provided in the children’s”</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_71">71</a>: “greater volume to more”</td> +<td class="tdl">“greater volume of more”</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_87">87</a>: “Stockton to Middlesborough”</td> +<td class="tdl">“Stockton to Middlesbrough”</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_101">101</a>: “free course of lectures”</td> +<td class="tdl">“free courses of lectures”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_177">177</a>: “of interchange, are manifest”</td> +<td class="tdl">“of interchange, is manifest”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_202">202</a>: “ran as follow:—”</td> +<td class="tdl">“ran as follows:—”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_216">216</a>: “University of Winconsin”</td> +<td class="tdl">“University of Wisconsin”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_219">219</a>: “ten subject set”</td> +<td class="tdl">“ten subjects set”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_224">224</a>: “his own bibliogapher”</td> +<td class="tdl">“his own bibliographer”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_227">227</a>: “take the expect advice”</td> +<td class="tdl">“take the expert advice”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_232">232</a>: “appeciating good fiction”</td> +<td class="tdl">“appreciating good fiction”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_241">241</a>: “Gloucester Public Libary”</td> +<td class="tdl">“Gloucester Public Library”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_242">242</a>: “of Library Act, 161, 22”</td> +<td class="tdl">“of Library Act, 16, 22”</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_247">247</a>: “Sir JOSEPH BBOODBANK”</td> +<td class="tdl">“Sir JOSEPH BROODBANK”</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Footnote <a href="#Page_210">43</a>:</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">“voluntary organizattions”</td> +<td class="tdl">“voluntary organizations”</td> + +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76583 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/76583-h/images/cover.jpg b/76583-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5b5d99 --- /dev/null +++ b/76583-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/76583-h/images/i_012fp.jpg b/76583-h/images/i_012fp.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..849303f --- /dev/null +++ b/76583-h/images/i_012fp.jpg diff --git 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