THE
BUSINESS LIBRARY
WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES

By

LOUISE B. KRAUSE
Librarian
H. M. Byllesby & Company
Chicago

SECOND EDITION REVISED

Journal of Electricity
San Francisco
1921

Copyright
Journal of Electricity
1921

To
H. M. BYLLESBY AND COMPANY
whose generous cooperation has made
possible the successful application
of Library Science to the
business of their
organization

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

As the publishers desire to issue a second edition of "The Business Library" the following additions and revisions have been made.

Articles of value on the subject of business libraries which have been published since the first edition was written have been added to "References for Additional Reading"; minor additions have been made to the text, and the prices and editions of all reference books mentioned have been brought up to date, and some additional titles have been added.

Three drawings of floor plans which have been used for business libraries have been added to Chapter Seven as of possible value to business firms making small library layouts.

L. B. K.

Chicago, Illinois.
November 1, 1920.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

This handbook has been written with the purpose of giving brief comprehensive information to the business man on the subject of the business library as an indispensable earning factor in the conduct of business enterprises. It aims to tell how to organize and maintain a business library, what to do in order to get the best results from it, and to show by concrete illustrations, gathered from the experience of firms maintaining library service, what the business library is worth as a financial asset.

The subject matter is not designed to set forth the work of any one class of business libraries, but is a composite study of many. It records business library facts as observed by the author during ten years of service as a business librarian, and as such, may be also of value to librarians contemplating the undertaking of business library work.

The references given at the conclusion of each chapter have been selected from a large mass of printed material on the subject, on the basis of practical supplemental reading only and are not designed to be exhaustive reference lists.

The author makes grateful acknowledgment to her Library School class-mate, Renee B. Stern, now Editor of "The Woman's Weekly," for most helpful advice, and to her friend, Virginia Fairfax, Librarian, Carnation Milk Products Company, Chicago, for generous criticism and correction of the manuscript.

L. B. K.

October 1, 1919.
Chicago, Illinois.

CONTENTS

THE BUSINESS LIBRARY
WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES

CHAPTER I
THE ORGANIZATION
OF THE BUSINESS LIBRARY

What is meant by the word library? Twenty-five years ago it could be accurately defined as a collection of books on a series of shelves, and although this old definition still partially describes its present form, the true interpretation of what a business library really is, can be stated best by saying that it is a genuine service department, whose chief business is to give information to the members of a firm on subjects of vital importance in the conduct of their business.

The business library is not limited to a collection of books, but contains information in any form, namely, periodicals, pamphlets, trade catalogs, photographs, lantern slides, and also manuscript notes which are accumulated in connection with the specific work of an organization. The business library even goes so far in its service as to supply information which is obtained by "word of mouth" in advance of its appearance on the printed page.

The Evolution of the Business Library

Before the business library came into being as a special department of business organizations, and before public libraries were making a specialty of collecting information on business subjects, the business man picked up his supply of information in haphazard fashion. He was told by a business acquaintance, often a salesman of a special line who was doing business with him, of some trade literature or government documents in which he would find useful information, or he discovered references to valuable books, pamphlets or documents in his casual reading of newspapers and periodicals. As a last resort, in cases of emergency he telephoned to various business organizations whom he thought could tell, out of their experience, what he wished to know.

Business has, however, grown too large in its multiplicity of interests for the business man to get his information in so desultory and unorganized a fashion, for the business man must be a good forecaster and interpreter of conditions, not by means of guesswork but by the aid of obtainable facts, and he must study and analyze a large number of related subjects. The success of many of our richest industries is due in large measure to this particular element, the wise forecasting of conditions to come, for, as a recent periodical article stated, "business is a procession of problems; big or little, any business must keep moving ahead, finding its way past one pitfall and obstacle after another. In another sense business is a matter of vision; the foresight that looks long ahead to new opportunity and to the ways and means of realizing it, is an essential in the growth and progress that brings success."

Business men have long since recognized that rule of thumb methods have passed away, and that they not only can not learn by experience exclusively, but that the utilization of the knowledge of other men recorded in reliable business data is of the highest value.

Present day competition makes it imperative also that every business man knows as much as his competitor, and he must have therefore not something on a subject but everything of value on a subject, and it must be exact and authoritative information which he can trust. Business data must also be kept strictly up to date, which under present-day conditions is no easy task, as information is out of date almost before it is off the press.

The business man not only needs to collect accurate, exhaustive, up to date information, but he needs to have it so well organized that, at a moment's notice, he can put his fingers upon the exact information he desires. The systematic organization of information into quick working files means an enormous saving of time and money, and in large business organizations the employment of a trained librarian to do this work is a most valuable asset.

Check up if you can, the amount of time wasted annually by the average business man through lack of having the information he desires immediately at his service. Waste of time means waste of money. It is not worth while having an expert, whose time may be worth anywhere from twenty-five to one hundred dollars a day, waste any of it in trying to find information in government documents, which he is not particularly adept in locating, because he lacks a working knowledge of the enormous range of government publications.

The writer is acquainted with an engineering firm of national reputation, which has made a collection of library material, which has been cared for, or rather much neglected by a stenographer of the company, who has no time nor library experience to give to its adequate administration. This firm when urged to introduce organized library service, and thus make their collection effective, stated that their library was not used enough by their organization to warrant the expense. Investigation proved, however, that one of their expert chemists, whose time was valued more per week than that of a trained librarian would be per month, was making a systematic business of hunting his own library material, and had listed his references in many closely written notes, in order to be able to locate the material again if he should need it. The value of the time the chemist spent on his research would have covered a librarian's salary and made it possible for him to give more time to his firm on the problems which his expert knowledge was able to solve.

General Principles of Organization

The essential principles in organizing a successful business library can be briefly stated as follows:

1. Centralization of material within the business organization.

2. Coordination of the business library with the facilities of the public and special libraries of the city in which the business library is located.

1. Centralization of Library Material

The first step in establishing a library in a business organization is the centralization of all the printed material available in its different offices or departments. This is exactly what is not done in a large number of business houses. Books, pamphlets and other valuable information are scattered among the various members of the organization, who treat them as personal property and preserve them in their private desks as carefully as a squirrel hides his store of good nuts. In many business organizations the policy of the employes in regard to information seems to be, to hold on to everything of value for one's personal use, regardless of how much value the information might be to another member of the organization, and also regardless of the fact that the material has been paid for out of the company's funds.

It should be said, however, in defense of the practice of not putting information into a central library, that it is not always based upon thoughtless or selfish habits, but upon lack of confidence; there is a fear that if information passes out of the hands of the man into a central library, that when he wishes to use it again, in a hurry, that he may not be able to locate it promptly. This feeling is not without reasonable foundation, as it is based on the irritating experience which some business men have had in using central correspondence files which, in many offices, are poorly administered and cannot produce desired information promptly. The business library, when administered by a qualified librarian, not only can produce all filed material promptly, but in one large corporation, known to the writer, has so successfully handled material that the officers and employes send their information to the library, as a safer and more reliable place to keep it for quick reference, than the drawers of their own desks.

Centralization of library material gives all the departments the benefit of everything the company has collected on a special subject, and often makes it unnecessary to duplicate information for the use of several departments. Centralization makes it possible also to have in one place a complete record of all library material owned by the company which can be loaned as small working collections to any department.

The fact that a central library department has on record what material is temporarily or permanently kept in all the departments, makes it possible also for it to act as a clearing house between all departments in locating desired information. This principle does not apply of course to corporations of such magnitude that their activities comprise several distinct lines of business; in such a case each department would require a specialized collection of information, which would become the library of that particular branch of the industry.

It should be kept clearly in mind that the business library has a distinct province from correspondence files, which primarily take care of the letters accumulated in the transaction of business. The business library is in no wise concerned with such records. Its function is not to take care of the records which are created by the activities of the company, but to collect and bring into the company all possible knowledge and information of value from a large variety of outside sources.

The business library also has a distinct province of activity apart from the statistical department of an organization. The function of the latter is to correlate and interpret data which are created either by the activities of the organization or obtained from outside sources, because of value in relation to the various projects of the organization. The function of the library in relation to the statistical department is to supply the printed information which that department needs in its work of correlating and interpreting data.

Many statistical departments have made the mistake of endeavoring to collect and preserve material for their work, which particularly belongs in the business library, with the result that they have cumbersome files of heterogeneous information, badly classified and cataloged, and which do not yield, either quickly or accurately, information when desired. The files of the statistical department should cover only the data which are the result of the particular activities of the company, together with valuable original records which are neither correspondence nor library material.

2. Coordination of the Business Library with Public Libraries

After the resources for information which exist within the business organization have been adequately centralized the next important step is to coordinate these resources with all other existing library facilities of the city in which the business firm is located. There should be a thorough survey of these libraries in order to ascertain as far as possible the content and availability of their resources. This is an important factor in the creation of a business library, when one considers the problem of shelving much material, within the more or less limited space occupied by a business organization. Floor space in skyscrapers is too valuable to be used as a mere storehouse for printed material used only on rare occasions, and there is also the added expense of a staff of workers to care for a large collection. The business library must, therefore, be considered solely as a working laboratory, and care taken not to include in it material which will be seldom used, particularly in cities where business organizations congregate and where are located large public libraries having excellent resources which can be used to supplement the "working laboratory" collection of the business organization.

This principle will not apply, however, to those business libraries which are maintained at the headquarters of national associations. Such libraries must collect everything on their subjects, and be prepared to be a central bureau of information on their specialties, for their membership throughout the United States. For example, the libraries of the National Safety Council and the Portland Cement Association, located in Chicago.

This policy of coordination was expressed in the following words, by a large corporation several years ago when it organized its library: "We will keep our library down as far as possible to a small working collection, and our librarian shall be a go-between us and the other libraries of the city when we want information not available in our own collection." Thus the busy man of affairs is able to keep in touch, through his librarian, as proxy, with many avenues of helpfulness, which would be closed to him were it not for the fact that he had been far-sighted enough to employ a librarian to act for him in these matters of detail.

Public library facilities, while they supplement can never be a substitute for a library within a business organization, for different groups of business people who are vitally interested in one particular subject, or more often in only one phase of a subject, will naturally collect and know more about that subject than a general library serving a thousand and one interests can be expected to do.

The business librarian who is given the confidence of the officers of his organization, gets saturated with a knowledge of the business of the organization and is able to sense in advance what information will be needed, and will be prepared as far as possible for the emergency when it comes.

All librarians of public libraries will undoubtedly agree to the statement that they are not in a position to act as confidential library adviser to rival business corporations. The Public Library must deal impartially with all inquirers and cannot give precedence to any inquirer simply because he is in a hurry. Every man must wait his turn because the needs of other inquirers are equally important with his.

If the Utopian state should ever arrive when our public libraries have all the money necessary to meet the every information need of the community, the argument that the public library should serve the interests of business men, who are tax payers, in such a manner that it would not be necessary for them to have libraries within their business organizations, can be answered by a parallel suggesting that the public library should so serve all the interests of the public that no one need have a library in his own home. A business organization desires to make its own selection of material, on the basis of its needs and tastes; it wishes to have this material close at hand without any borrowing restrictions, so that it can be used quickly, without loss of time, and without the limitations which would be imposed if it were the property of some one else, and required particular care to keep it intact, for the business man often wishes to clip or give away the printed information in his possession.

The business library is, however, not antagonistic to the public library at any point. On the contrary, the business library must coordinate its resources with those of the public library and work in harmony with it.

The large business organization which can afford to employ a librarian, and the small business firm which cannot, will find a wealth of helpful material in the public libraries of their vicinity.

Many of the smaller public libraries which are not large enough to maintain special business departments are giving most excellent service to business men. A number of the large public libraries of the country are making a specialty of serving business needs through departments organized particularly to serve business men. Some of these are the Division of Economics and Documents of the New York Public Library, the Business Men's Branch of the Free Public Library of Newark, New Jersey, the Technology Department of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and the Industrial Department of the Los Angeles Public Library. The John Crerar Library of Chicago is a free reference library covering sociology and natural and applied science, which cannot be excelled by any other library collection in the United States in the facilities which it offers to business men. Every business organization should get acquainted with the public library of its city and ascertain what that library is able to do for it.

The Cost and Value of the Business Library

The cost of maintaining a business library is in no sense comparable with its value; for the help which a business library may give in a single instance is often of sufficient value to offset its cost of maintenance for a whole year. For example, a business firm had a law suit in a distant city and sent one of its employes to give expert testimony in the case. This employe found as the hearings in the case progressed, that he could strengthen his testimony if he had at hand figures showing the market price of lead for the past ten years. There was no time to spare in obtaining these data. He sent a telegram to the home office, which was received at 11:30 A. M. saying that he would call them by long distance telephone at noon and to have the figures ready. The head of the department to whom the message was addressed, with some perturbation, appealed at once to the librarian of the company, who was able in ten minutes to produce a table giving a summary of the prices desired, which had been printed in a technical journal. The company won the law suit and in comparison with the large amount of money saved, the salary of the trained librarian who knew how to meet the emergency, was a very small item.

No two business libraries are comparable as to cost of maintenance. Each must allow for financing on the basis of its individual needs and the money it can afford to spend.

If a business firm owns the building which it occupies it does not have to consider the rental of floor space for the library. If it has a liberal policy of advertising in the best technical or trade journals, it will need to spend very little on periodical subscriptions, as it will receive copies free on account of advertising. If it is a liberal user of the publications of the United States Government, it will find they cost little or nothing, and in any case the amount spent by business libraries for information special to a particular industry is never very large, because often the most valuable data cost practically nothing to secure.

Mechanical equipment, which will be discussed in chapter seven, is largely the initial expense, and the amount of money to be spent each year for additions to the original equipment will be quite small. The principal annual expenses in maintaining a business library are the salaries of the librarian, and assistants if required, and the additional expense of stenographic and office boy service.

The great mistake made by some business firms in maintaining library service has been the employment of inadequately trained librarians who do not produce high grade results. It is this lack of library education and experience, on the part of a number of so-called business librarians, which has been a hindrance to the recognition of what the business library really is and what it can do. The writer saw, some time ago, the sorry spectacle of one of the largest corporations in the country trying to inaugurate library service under the direction of a fourteen-dollar-a-week file clerk, who had not a single educational requirement necessary for the success of the undertaking. Such firms generally proclaim business library work a failure, instead of admitting they have made a wrong start and that they should have employed a high grade trained librarian.

Many firms having well organized correspondence files, which are giving satisfactory service, have conceived the idea of adding to their established filing department, and to the duties of their head file clerk, the library service which they judge their organization demands. They fail to appreciate the fact that a filing department, while it has some mechanical technique in common with an organized library, has an entirely different purpose, and does not require on the part of those in charge, educational qualifications at all comparable to those required of a librarian who must have not merely a large knowledge of library technique, but also must know books, and have a knowledge of a broad range of sources, from which adequate information can be drawn when any problem arises; for the business librarian must be a thinker as well as a worker and not a mere clerical machine. On the other hand, the trained librarian is competent to supervise correspondence and any other kind of files if the situation demands it. The essential qualifications for successful business librarianship are stated in the last chapter.

In conclusion, it should be said, that in establishing library service, a business organization must be willing to give such service a reasonable length of time to grow into the work of the organization. A wisely selected collection of material, adapted to the needs of the business, and thoroughly organized to give quick and accurate results, should be tested just as a piece of machinery is tested, namely, set up the apparatus, put it in full operation under competent supervision, and in the case of the business library, the verdict cannot but conclusively be—"it works."

REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING

List of special libraries in United States and Canada (in American library annual 1916-17 p. 378-408).

Carr, B. E.

Formation of a financial library. Special libraries June 1919, p. 125-27.

Day, M. B.

Portland cement association library. Library journal Jan. 1919, p. 27-28.

Glenn, M. R.

Library of American bankers association. Library journal April 1917, p. 283-84.

Johnston, R. H.

Bureau of railway economics library. Special libraries June 1918, p. 129-31.

Krause, L. B.

The public utility library. Journal of electricity Dec. 15, 1918, p. 556-57.

Greenman, E. D.

The functions of the industrial library. Journal of industrial and engineering chemistry June 1919, p. 584.

Macfarlane, J. J.

Philadelphia commercial museum. Library journal April 1917, p. 278-79.

Nystrom, P. H.

The relation of the public library to the private business libraries. Special libraries Feb. 1918, p. 35-37.

Same article Library journal March 1918, p. 154-57.

Parmelee, J. H.

The utilization of statistics in business. American statistical association quarterly publication June 1917, p. 565-76.

Purinton, E. E.

Building an office library. Independent Dec. 16, 1918, p. 214.

Rife, R. S.

Functions of the library of a banking institution; pamphlet printed by Guaranty trust co., New York city, 1919.

Rose, A. L.

The service of a business library; pamphlet printed by National city bank, New York city, 1920.

Secrist, Horace

Statistics in business New York, McGraw-Hill 137 p. $1.75.

Spencer, Florence

Financial library of the National city bank of New York. Library journal April 1917, p. 282-83.

Spencer, Florence

What a public library cannot do for the business man. Special libraries Oct. 1917, p. 177-18.

CHAPTER II
THE SERVICE RENDERED BY THE
BUSINESS LIBRARY

The service rendered by the business library is intensive rather than extensive. The business man is not interested in making a good library showing in regard to the quantity of material on the shelves or in the files of his library, but he is vitally interested in the quality of the material; he has just two objects in view, he wants specific information and he wants quick, accurate, comprehensive service. The organized business library steps in to render this service by knowing what information to get, how to get it, how to keep it up to date, how to file it and how to apply it effectively to business problems.

If the subject which the business man is investigating has a scientific basis, the library puts him in touch with the best authorities on that science and the standard practices which it maintains. If the business man is investigating a new enterprise, or a banker is considering a loan, he must make a careful survey of all the factors which enter into it, in order to make a decision as to its stability and probable financial success. Such problems demand a large amount of information which can be furnished by the business library, as it is prepared to furnish data giving sources of different kinds of raw materials, manufactured products on the market and cost of manufacturing, the possible extent of the market for a competing product, cost of labor, coal and data on certain sections of the country as good business centers, based on a study of population, post office receipts, bank clearings and transportation facilities.

If shipping to foreign countries is contemplated the business library will furnish information on modes of packing, effects of climate on goods, transportation, customs duties, foreign credits, and similar items. Thus the business library is prepared to select, arrange and put into form for ready use, information ranging from methods of rock tunneling, to the consideration of the advisability of putting a new commercial fertilizer on the market.

"The Americas," published by the National City Bank, New York City, contains in its December 1917 issue, an article entitled, "One Feature of German Organization in Engineering and Foreign Business," the contents of which bear directly upon the importance of information as an indispensable asset in the prosecution of successful business.

The article states that industrial corporations in Germany before the war employed an officer called an Economic Director, who, "in the plan of organization of his company, is attached to the office of the President, or is an appendage of the Board of Directors. He has to organize complete information from various sources, and his authority is sufficient to organize this well. He obtains statistical information, foreign and domestic newspapers and periodicals, and the output of various bureaus of news is regularly received by him.

"His business is to keep his Executive informed on the instant of every development in many parts of the world that will mean a change of cost of production or a change in demand for the company's products. He must know what is going on in the regions where the company's manufacturing materials originate. He must keep his eye upon conditions affecting production, price and transportation. He must not miss any new source of supply, or any coming diminution of old sources. On the other hand, he must follow every development, political, social or economic that means an increase or a falling-off in the demand for particular kinds of machinery. If there is anything doing anywhere that is significant of a call for more sugar machinery, or a drop in the demand for textile machinery, in this particular man's business, he must judge its full value and advise his board of it.

"It is said of a man who was economic adviser to a German corporation that manufactured materials for railway construction and equipment that he had not only organized his supplies of information of what was going on over the world so that he reported to his board every tender for supplies from every part of the world, but he was expected to analyze general developments everywhere so thoroughly, as to predict in advance the regions where new railways would soon be built, or extensions made. His work, it is said, frequently resulted in his company's bringing about, in direct or indirect ways, the promotion of the new transportation enterprises he predicted. It is now believed that this idea of definite organization of economic information and intelligence has been carried out in order to apply to the after-war business situation by Germany."

The American Business Library is a step in the direction of helping to do for American business what this "German Economic Director" was doing for business in Germany and it is more than time that American business interests use the business library to its utmost capacity.

The Library and the Publicity Department

One of the important departments in modern business organizations served by the business library, is the publicity department which is the outcome of the recognition of the dependence of any business upon the public's understanding and appreciation of what it has to offer, in order to successfully carry on its work, whether that be a manufactured product or the service of a public utility. In this day of economic investigation and criticism, it is vital to success that industries exploit their work and products clearly and logically, not only as a means of advertising but also to win and hold that all-important asset known as public good-will.

The publicity department strives to make the public understand the organization and its work and has charge of preparing direct advertising, for daily papers and periodicals, and in many utility corporations prepares copy for the financing and marketing of securities.

A live publicity department cannot do its work without ample library resources as its needs are encyclopaedic, for it is constantly preparing copy which calls for the most accurate and comprehensive data and it must keep up to date on what is currently issued in the lines of business in which it is particularly interested. Library service is so indispensable in publicity work that in a number of cases the library has been organized in the business house as a part of the work of the publicity department.

Assisting the Executive

The business library is also a great service to executives because the heads of business organizations today are concerned not only with the particular business of their own office, but with many economic and public affairs for the betterment of the community and the nation. The work of the modern business man, as expressed by a recent technical periodical, "because of the constant multiplication of problems to be settled and the great number of regulating agencies, is steadily growing more important. The successful business man must be a thinker and a man of affairs; he appears before Congressional Committees and before state and federal commissions; he must know whereof he speaks, and he must know principles as well as facts, history as well as present conditions." In the midst of varied and large responsibilities, he knows he can not depend upon his own personal reading and study to keep all the important facts and figures which he needs at his finger tips, for the successful executive must not burden himself with too much detail.

He therefore turns to his librarian, who knows his personal point of view and his needs, and who is as necessary to him as his secretary. Sometimes the head of a business organization appeals to an assistant officer to give him the data he requires, and the assistant officer turns to another one, and he in turn goes to the library; the fact remains that sooner or later the request comes down the line to the librarian.

Making the Best Use of the Library

There are several types of men with whom the business librarian has to deal in doing research on business problems. One type of man who uses the business library is the one who comes in occasionally and browses among the books without communicating to the librarian in charge what subject matter he is looking for. This type of man does not purposely mean to be secretive, but he does not know how to use the service of the library and the librarian which are at his disposal. Often he turns away from his perusal of an encyclopedia with a disappointed look, and in one case when the librarian asked what he was looking for, replied that he was trying to find the address of Mills College but that it did not seem to be in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Had he told the librarian at the start what he wanted the address could have been given him from another reference book in about one minute's time.

Another type of man with whom the business librarian has to deal, is the one who conceals his specific object when he asks for information, and does not therefore make it possible for the librarian to procure the information desired in its most simple and direct form. For example, an engineer once asked for descriptive periodical articles dealing with the construction and equipment of some large hotels. The librarian, of course, thought that what he had in mind was to make a study of the equipment, whereas all he wanted to get out of these articles was the names of firms who had installed certain mechanical devices. This information could have been collected much more quickly than in the time it took for the librarian to make a complete list of satisfactory descriptions of the kinds of buildings for which he asked.

The type of man who uses the business library most effectively is the one who takes his librarian into full confidence as to what he is doing, and what he wants to do, and gives the librarian not only the opportunity to produce what he has asked for, but also to make helpful suggestions as to material which he possibly has not thought of in connection with his problem. The business man who thus directs and uses his trained librarian and his specialized collection gets the service which counts and has annexed an indispensable asset to the earning power of his organization.

REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING

Cameron, W. H.

What does library service do for you in your business? Public libraries June 1918, p. 256-57.

Gourvitch, P. P.

An organized commercial laboratory. Youroveta review (165 Broadway, New York City) March 1919, p. 82.

Hosmer, H. R.

Some axioms of service in the use and abuse of special libraries. Journal of industrial & engineering chemistry June 1919, p. 582-83.

Hungerford, Edward

Are you "too busy to read"? System March 1920, p. 486.

Lewis, St. Elmo

Value of the specialized library for the business man. Special libraries May 1913, p. 69-71.

Loomis, M. M.

Libraries that pay. Independent June 26, 1913, p. 1436-38.

Nystrom, P. H.

The business library as an investment. Library journal Nov. 1917, p. 857-62.

Same article National efficiency quarterly May 1918, p. 29-38.

CHAPTER III
PERIODICALS IN THE BUSINESS LIBRARY—HOW
TO USE AND HOW TO FILE THEM

The Value of Periodicals

Periodicals are the most fruitful source of information for any business, and there is periodical literature of value being issued constantly on every conceivable subject. Every industry and profession has its journals and in them will be found the latest and best information.

The value of periodicals in a business organization was very ably stated some time ago by the secretary of an electrical association, and as this testimony is not from a librarian but from a practical business man, it seems worth while to quote as follows:

"The technical or trade journal of today is the livest and most 'up-to-now' assistant a business man has. It is carefully edited, well-printed, fully illustrated and thoroughly indexed both as to literary matter and advertisements. It is the 'always ready reference' of the minute, and the official, head of a department, or even workman, who does not use it to its fullest capacity, is neglecting one of his best friends. I have been surprised to find how many of the larger companies are actually stingy when it comes to paying out money for subscriptions to their trade and technical journals. They talk about one, two or three dollars per year as if it were that many hundreds; they look at the expenditure as if it were an expense instead of an investment, which, properly handled, will bring good returns.

"In no other way can any business man, no matter how high or low his position, keep so fully abreast of the times in his business as by early and careful perusal of his trade and technical periodical, from its front to its back cover, and from no other source can he obtain the 'immediately useful' so well as he can from a well filled and indexed present volume of those same publications."

"Printers' Ink" has also stated the case as follows:

"The manufacturer, desirous of keeping his finger on the pulse at Washington, who will spend ten dollars, or fifteen dollars, or twenty dollars a year for business papers and other periodicals that specialize with respect to business news from the national capital, can be pretty well assured that he has every tip that could come to him via the intelligence office, that asks a fee of fifty or one hundred dollars per annum. Indeed, it has happened, not once but dozens of times this past year or two that business journals, etc., carried information days and even weeks before it was sent out in the mimeographed 'letters' and 'bulletins' which the former bureaus distributed, marked 'confidential' and 'not for publication.'"

The Contents of Periodicals

Not only do periodicals contain lengthy articles on special subjects, but every item in them from cover to cover is of value; for example, in engineering periodicals the business library is greatly aided by the current news notes on books, pamphlets, meetings and people; information on state and federal legislation; prices of materials and second-hand material for sale or wanted to purchase, new construction notes, new devices and best makes of standard supplies.

The brief notes found in current periodicals, announcing the publication of trade pamphlets, reports of state boards, special committees, private corporations and bulletins published by universities, lectures delivered at colleges and papers presented at state meetings of associations, are most valuable guides in collecting pamphlets, which although in many cases may be had for the asking, represent a collection of valuable data which can not be replaced by the expenditure of any amount of money and yet most of it costs only a polite letter of request.

Aids in Selection of Periodicals

The business man or the business librarian will first of all desire to select the periodicals that best cover the needs of his organization. If he wishes to ascertain the titles of periodicals on special subjects in order to obtain sample copies for examination, or if he has the title and wishes to find the frequency of issue, the place of publication and subscription price, there are several books that give such information and which should be found in the public library of his city. It is advisable also for him to see a list of all periodicals which are on file at his public library with a view to examining those which may be suited to his immediate needs. The following books will give information about periodicals on special subjects.

Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual Directory with mid-year supplement, published by N. W. Ayer, Philadelphia, $10.00.

2400 Business Books, published by H. W. Wilson Company, New York, 1920, price $5.00.

Severance Guide to the Current Periodicals and Serials in the United States and Canada. A new edition will be published shortly by George Wahr, Ann Arbor, Michigan, price $6.00. This new edition will contain a list of House Organs published in the United States. A recent list of House Organs may be found in Printers' Ink, August 29, 1918, and subsequent issues, and a list of Employees' Magazines may be purchased from Printers' Ink for twenty-five cents.

A list of periodicals published by the United States Government can be obtained free of charge from Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.

The Checking of Periodicals

Sample of a daily and monthly periodical checking card. Weekly periodicals are checked on the cards ruled for daily issues. The back of the daily check card is ruled for "Ordered of," "Price," "Date" and "Bill date." They should be filed alphabetically and kept in a file box on the librarian's desk for quick reference.

Note.—As this volume goes to press the Library Bureau announces new forms for periodical checking cards which are an improvement on those shown above.

The care of periodicals is one of the important pieces of work which consumes a large portion of the business librarian's time. All periodicals received by the business library are stamped, as soon as the mail is opened, with the word "Library" and the name of the firm, and checked on monthly or weekly card records, size 3 by 5 inches, specially ruled for the purpose and obtainable from library supply firms. This card record enables the librarian to know if all copies to date have been received and on the back of the card also provides a record of expirations and renewals of subscriptions. A notation may be made also on this card of the names of persons to whom the periodical is to be regularly sent.

The Indexing of Periodicals

The periodical indexes published by The H. W. Wilson Company, New York City. This company also publishes an Index to Legal Periodicals.

After the periodicals are checked, the librarian should go through them rapidly, keeping well in mind all the topics of particular interest to the organization, and also special requests from individuals for the latest information on subjects, which they have designated as being of present value to them. It is a good plan also to ask heads of departments who read periodicals regularly every week, to call the attention of the librarian to any special articles which they think valuable and to which they might wish to refer again. This strengthens the librarian's reading and makes doubly sure that no information of importance is overlooked.

All articles or items of importance are assigned a subject heading (which will be discussed in the chapter on cataloging) and a card is made for the subject card index to periodical material. The trained librarian will know how to discriminate and reduce this indexing to a minimum.

Some one may ask at this point why it is necessary for the librarian to do subject indexing to periodical articles when there are good printed indexes to them, such as Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, Industrial Arts Index, and the Agricultural Index, published by The H. W. Wilson Company, New York City (samples and prices upon application) and in addition The Engineering Index, recently acquired by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and published monthly in the Journal of that Society with an annual cumulated volume. There are several reasons why subject indexing must be done by the librarian; first because these printed indexes do not index many of the periodicals which are of importance to the business library and second, because in the periodicals which are covered by these indexes, there are many items of importance to business firms which are too short to be entered in the general printed indexes. The time element is also an important factor in the business library, as the subject card index is made at once and immediately ready for reference, while the printed indexes are of necessity never strictly up to date. For example, an engineering firm was desirous of keeping up to date on all increases in gas and electric rates throughout the country, due to the increased cost of production, on account of higher prices of materials. Various journals reported such items each week, sometimes in not more than a dozen lines. In such a case the librarian's minute reading and quick indexing was invaluable, and gave a service not to be expected of the printed index.

A word should be said, however, at this point in regard to the value of printed indexes, for example the "Industrial Arts Index." Periodicals are sealed books without indexes, and printed indexes are invaluable working tools, first, because no business librarian will attempt the impossible task of making a subject card for every article of value in current periodicals, and second, because a live business organization in these days of sudden changes in economic conditions cannot possibly foresee every subject in which it may be interested. When these unexpected subjects arise for which the business librarian has not made provision, the printed indexes come to the rescue and serve the need most admirably. The indexes to separate volumes of individual periodicals, which the publishers issue at the completion of each volume, and in many cases do not send unless requested to do so, are not of great value because, with few exceptions, the subject indexing is poor. Many of them invert the title of the article in order to enter it under the most striking word which it contains, without consideration of its real subject content, and without further consideration of the three, four or more subjects on which the article is very likely to contain valuable information.

The Circulation of Periodicals

After the periodicals have been read and subject indexed by the librarian, as necessity requires, and this should be done immediately on mail delivery, they are sent to the desks of the members of the organization who are most vitally interested in any special information which they contain. Methods of circulation vary in different types of business libraries; some business libraries which serve a large constituency prefer to make typewritten or mimeographed lists of subject references to articles in the periodicals received during the week, and circulate these lists throughout the organization, asking the men to send to the library for any article they desire to read. This method does not suit busy executives who have no time to read a list and make a selection, and who wish the material itself put in front of them.

Some business librarians route their periodicals, attaching a slip with a list of names indicating the next person to whom the periodical is to be sent, when a reader is finished with it. Other business librarians send the individual periodicals direct to one man only, with a slip attached calling his attention to the article of special interest to him. As soon as he is through with the periodical, he puts it in his outgoing basket and it is returned to the librarian, who sends it to a second man, with a special note of the contents for him. This method seems much more desirable than to route periodicals, because they most often fail to route—they simply side track! The periodical gets laid aside on some one's desk and the librarian does not know whether it is being passed along promptly or not, whereas if the periodical is sent direct to one individual and is not promptly returned, the librarian goes after it, if it is important that it should go to someone else in the organization, without unreasonable delay. In large organizations with hundreds of employes to be reached, the routing of periodicals is absolutely necessary. The practice of the librarian of one large corporation is to subscribe for one copy of each weekly periodical for every five men who desire to read that periodical and one copy of each monthly periodical for every seven men. To insure quick routing, the names of delinquents are put at the end of the list of those to whom the periodical circulates, and the names of the men who have proved that they pass on the periodical quickly are put at the top of the list.

Samples of 3 by 5 inch charging cards. These cards may be purchased in ten colors, ruled in either four or six columns. Some business librarians put the borrower's record on a white card, and the record made under the name of a periodical on a colored card. Some business librarians omit the date of circulation. The initials on the right hand card shown above, are those of the men in a business office who are to have the periodical sent to them regularly. The cards bearing the names of the borrowers should be filed in a charging tray in alphabetical order, as should also the cards bearing the names of the periodicals. In a business library, it is not necessary to file by date as is done in public libraries.

Books loaned from a business library may be charged in a similar manner, i.e. a card bearing the name of author and title of the book taking the place of the card bearing the title of the periodical as shown above. The book card is kept in a pocket, pasted on the front or back cover of the book, when the volume is not in circulation.

The circulation or routing slip which is attached to each periodical bears the following: "Please keep this magazine in circulation. To be of value it must reach every man on this list within a week. If you cannot read it now, send it on without checking off your name and it will be returned to you later. Mark at the right of your name the page number of any article that you believe should be indexed for future reference."

A simple loan record on 3 by 5 inch cards specially ruled and of which illustrations are shown, should be kept under the name of the man to whom the periodical is sent, and also under the name of the periodical, in order that the librarian can tell on a moment's notice where any issue of a periodical is and also what each man has charged against him. Books and other library material may be charged in the same manner.

Business men in general, so experience proves, exercise no particular responsibility either to return material or to replace it, for the business organization has no rules for lending, and the responsibility of knowing what material is out of the library, where it is, and that it is brought back or replaced, falls upon the librarian. The business librarian with his loan record as a guide tactfully asks if the business man is finished with the material, and if so, collects it; in some cases the collection is made without asking, when a visit to a man's office clearly shows that the material is side-tracked and dusty. This is one of the most tedious duties which falls to the business librarian's lot, but one of the most important ones, for the function of the librarian is to get material used freely, and not hoarded.

Business men who always get what they want from their library on a moment's notice do not appreciate the time and patience such service requires on the part of their librarian, for no genius is involved in the case of the librarian who always has ready on the shelves what is needed. Often a business man who literally wants material on a minute's notice, is the one who is most careless in cooperating with the librarian by returning material, and who does not want to stop a moment to have a loan record made. Sometimes a business man gets in a hurry for library material, which the librarian says he already has, but which he insists is not in his office, whereupon the librarian goes to his office, and pleasantly and often humorously unearths it from the bottom of the pile of material on his desk or table.

In the matter of the loaning of material the business librarian certainly has to be characterized by the words "long suffering," for he must make no excuses and deliver material in spite of the delinquencies of others. If some one at this point protests that it is unfair to the business librarian, the answer is, that the business man has a right to do as he pleases with his own, and that the business librarian exists to save a busy man from the error of his ways, for it must be remembered always that the business library is organized to give service to men of affairs, burdened with large responsibilities. All business men are not careless in returning material, and certainly minor employes have no right to be, but it will have to be admitted that business men, who never think of taking the trouble to return material are in the majority.

A corner of bound periodicals in the library of H. M. Byllesby & Company, Chicago. The worth while periodicals devoted to any one industry are comparatively few and bound volumes do not take up so much space as might be imagined. A three foot shelf will hold six or seven years of one periodical.

The Binding and Filing of Periodicals

After the current periodicals have made their last tour of the offices they come back to the library to be filed for future use. What disposition shall be made of them? Shall important articles be clipped and filed and the remainder of the periodical thrown away, or shall a complete file be kept for six months or a year and then thrown away, or shall files be kept complete and bound for permanent books of reference? The latter method represents the best library practice for the following reasons. No business organization or business librarian is prophetical enough to foresee exactly what information will be useful to keep in a business library for future use, when one considers the variety of valuable material found each week in the periodicals, which cover the activities of a certain line of business. Complete files of bound periodicals constitute one of the most valuable reference aids that any business library can possess. Clipping valuable periodicals might in some instances be compared to cutting out an article from a valuable encyclopedia.

One of the values of having periodicals bound is that they do not get lost or misplaced or carried off so readily, as a separate number or a clipping would. Bound volumes do not take up so much space as might at first thought be imagined, for a three-foot shelf will hold the bound volumes of the larger size periodicals for a six or seven years period, and the number of worth while periodicals devoted to any one industry (excluding of course the annual volumes of societies) are comparatively few, and twelve to fifteen sets would be the maximum for any one business library.

The replacing immediately of a lost or mutilated periodical is one of the important duties of the business librarian, for it is reasonably sure that the lost or mutilated number has something of real importance in it, else it would not have been so treated by any member of the organization; it is also important to replace it as soon as possible, because often back numbers are difficult to obtain.

Business men as a rule know nothing of the principles of satisfactory binding and generally give the work to commercial printing establishments who misplace pages and sections, and make mistakes in titles and volume numbers in lettering the backs. If a business house does not have a librarian to supervise its binding, it should be careful to select if possible a bindery which specializes in library binding and will do the work in accordance with the best library practice. An illustration is shown of correct position and style for lettering the backs of bound volumes.

The "L. B. pamphlet box," the "Wood C. C. pamphlet case" and a heavy cardboard box covered with book cloth made by H. Schultz & Co.

It is not advisable to bind the volumes of every periodical received, for many are only of passing interest, and while it is advisable to keep such an unbound file for a year or two, at the end of that time the librarian will be guided by his experience and use discretion in disposing of out of date material.

How the back of a bound periodical should be lettered.

The best method of preserving the current numbers of periodicals which are to be permanently bound or preserved without binding is by the use of Library Bureau pamphlet boxes, or similar makes, made in a variety of dimensions.

The "L. B. pamphlet box" is made of heavy chip-board covered with glazed paper or black cloth, and half of one side doubles back on itself permitting of easy consultation without removal of the contents. These boxes stand on edge like books and are dust proof.

"Wood C. C. pamphlet case" is made of seasoned wood and covered with durable paper. This case has a closed top and open back and is therefore not dust proof and has to be taken off the shelf to consult the contents. For general use the L. B. pamphlet box is preferable for business library work. Some business libraries also use a specially made box of heavy cardboard covered with book cloth and with a card label holder on the back, similar in style to the "Wood C. C. pamphlet case," and which can be made by any good paper box factory, at prices ranging from fifteen to twenty cents each on quantities, according to the size desired. H. Schultz and Company, 519 West Superior Street, Chicago, Illinois, advertise quotations on stock of this kind. A photograph is shown of the style of boxes used by the National Safety Council, Chicago, for filing copies of current circulars which are distributed to their members.

File boxes used by the library of the National Safety Council, Chicago, for current circulars for distribution to their members

The Clipping of Periodicals

Clipping may be legitimately indulged in, when an article of interest is found in a single number of a periodical, to which the library does not subscribe. Newspaper items, of course, must always be clipped and there will be always material like printed leaflets which will require the same kind of filing as clippings.

Clippings are best filed in vertical file units, and methods of filing and indexing are discussed in Chapter VI. The "U-File-M" binder strips manufactured by the U-File-M Manufacturing Co., Syracuse, New York, are exceedingly useful and satisfactory for fastening clippings, single sheets or thin booklets into vertical file folders. These strips need to be visualized by samples in order to clearly understand how they work, but they can be described in general as gummed strips a half-inch in width and 11 inches long with forty-four gummed tabs one-eighth of an inch wide affixed, which can be pulled out from under a protecting strip with the finger nail. The eleven-inch strip or any cut off portion, can be glued horizontally or vertically into a folder and papers or clippings attached by the gummed tabs.

Business firms who wish to keep up with any special information appearing in the daily press often employ a press clipping bureau. Such service always furnishes quantity rather than quality, as no attempt is made to select only items of real value. For example, a firm specializing in the manufacture of canned milk ordered a clipping bureau to send it all newspaper clippings on milk and among the clippings sent was one of a milkman arrested for speeding, and similar clippings were frequently sent. If very special information from the daily press is desired the clipping should be done by a person within the organization who has intimate knowledge both of the subject and of the need.

SOME DEALERS IN BACK NUMBERS OF PERIODICALS

Abrahams Book Store, 145 Fourth Avenue, New York City.

F. W. Faxon Company, Boston, Massachusetts.

The H. W. Wilson Company, New York City.

CHAPTER IV
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS AND THE
BUSINESS LIBRARY

The United States Government is the leading publisher of accurate and reliable information bearing upon all kinds of business activities. No question should ever be investigated or data collected by a business firm without taking into consideration the valuable sources of government information on that particular subject. The "Youroveta Review," in its March, 1919 issue, says:

"It is not only safety and accuracy in the performance of its regular duties, but also expansion and development at which a progressive firm is aiming; and this can be attained only when the business is analyzed from all aspects of practical interest, when the horizon is being constantly searched, and endeavors are made to explore new commercial avenues."

Studies of mineral, oil and gas deposits, tests of boiler and furnace efficiencies, analyses and tests of fuels, production of crops and cattle, labor problems, electrolysis, standards for gas and electric service, foreign trade, water power and statistics of all industrial activities, constitute a few of the subjects on which the government periodically reports.

The daily paper called "Commerce Reports," which gives reports and business tips on trade and industrial conditions, gathered by American Consular officers at their respective posts throughout the world, is an invaluable periodical for business men in this after-the-war period of trade development.

The United States Shipping Board has issued a valuable series of free pamphlets in the interest of export trade, some of which are:

World Trade; A List of Books on World Trade.
Selection of Books on Foreign Languages.
Ships and the Ocean; A List of Books on Ships, Commerce and The Merchant Marine.
Foreign Countries; A List of Books on Foreign Countries.

Many practical illustrations could be given, if space permitted, of the use made by business firms of government publications. For example, a large mail order house made a decision, based on consulting the Weather Bureau's temperature records in the different sections of the country for a range of years, as to what date would be best for sending out, to various districts, advance catalogs advertising summer and winter wearing apparel; while an engineering firm, designing a gas holder to be erected in a northern city, decided on the factor of safety to be adopted against the lowest possible temperature, by consulting the weather reports for the lowest temperatures which prevailed in that section for a long range of years.

How to Procure Government Documents

To keep thoroughly informed on the large body of constantly growing data issued by the government, to know how to procure it without delay and apply to a specific problem is no small accomplishment, and this is one of the important reasons why the business man needs the assistance of a trained library worker. The average business man gets mentally lost in the thick woods of government documents; he either does not know which department or bureau of the government can give the specific information he desires, or he does not know how to procure, in the shortest time, desired data which he knows the government has on file.

Every business librarian should read these two monthly lists regularly

The best way for the business man to find out what information is in print and can be procured for his personal use, is to write direct to each department, or special bureau, for the catalog of their available publications. For example, the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce issues a catalog of Bureau publications which is described as a "review of information available to manufacturers and exporters in the bulletins issued by the Bureau." The Navy Department issues an "Index to Specifications for Naval Stores and Material" which is very useful to many classes of business men who are drawing up specifications for the purchase of various kinds of material. The list of publications of the United States Geological Survey is a most valuable guide in procuring bulletins on water power and irrigation, mines and mineral resources, as well as important papers on economic geology, namely, oil, gas and other useful minerals. The United States Bureau of Standards, the Bureau of Census, the Bureau of Mines, all publish catalogs of papers issued by them, which are of the greatest possible value to business men. These bureaus, in addition to their printed catalogs, issue supplemental lists of new publications each month and the "Monthly Catalog of United States Public Documents," issued monthly, price fifty cents per year, obtainable from the Superintendent of Documents, also gives a list of all the publications of all departments of the government issued each month.

Two samples of the forty-four price lists of documents issued by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.

The Superintendent of Documents issues free of charge, forty-four lists of documents, for sale by his office, on certain subjects, such as Roads, Labor, Foreign Relations of the United States, Finance, Transportation, etc. A complete list of these subjects can be found in Swanton's Guide to United States Government Publications (Bureau of Education Bulletin 1918, No. 2), page 127, obtainable from Superintendent of Documents at twenty cents per copy. This guide is a most useful compilation as it describes briefly the work of each department of the government and kind of publications issued by them, stating where they can be obtained and what classes of publications are free and what are for sale.

Government publications which ordinarily may be obtained free by applying direct to the Bureau issuing them, if out of stock may often be bought from the Superintendent of Documents. The Superintendent of Documents requires that all publications ordered from him be paid for in advance, and this involves some difficulty, as often a man does not know how much money to send to procure the publication, if he has not seen the price quoted. Some business libraries, to save delay in ordering, deposit twenty-five dollars in advance with the Superintendent of Documents against which the cost of documents ordered can be charged. The old idea of procuring publications through a Congressman or Senator is the poorest kind of method of obtaining what is wanted in a hurry, for many government documents will not cost the business firm anything and those for which a charge is asked cost a very small price. The Superintendent of Documents sells coupons which may be sent in payment for documents ordered from his office. The disadvantage of the coupon method of purchasing is that the buyer must know in advance the price of the documents in order to send the correct amount in coupons.

Some of the departments of the government issue advance mimeographed sheets of information and will also give out, in advance of printing, data on file in the department to firms which make special request for it, and have also been known to reply promptly to telegraphic requests.

Some of the bureaus of the government have district offices in a few of the large cities of the United States, for example, district offices of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Weather Bureau, etc., which are of great service in obtaining data in a hurry, and the business man should ascertain the resources of his city in this respect. He should also not forget to use the collection of government documents at his Public Library when he wants to use publications of which he cannot obtain a copy for his own immediate needs. Some of the smaller public libraries do not have their government documents fully cataloged and immediately available so that the business man must not infer, because he cannot find certain government information at his public library, that it does not exist.

State Documents

The individual states of the United States also publish valuable documents through their state boards and commissions with which it is well for the business man to be acquainted. Many of the individual states have similar boards and commissions which report annually or biennially, both in bulletins and regular reports, such as state engineer, state geologist, state mining department, state insurance department, state experiment station, bureau of labor and industrial statistics, state public utilities commissions and special commissions created to deal with any particular problems or industries, peculiar to the individual state. The best guide available to current state publications is the "Monthly List of State Publications" published by the Library of Congress, fifty cents per year. The chief drawback in the use of this list is that it is always several months behind in being published, as is also the "Monthly Catalog of United States Public Documents." The current trade periodicals often note the issue of any important state publications more promptly and are a great aid in keeping up to date on this information. Public Affairs Information Service, a cumulated index published by H. W. Wilson Company, New York City, and which is noted more fully in a subsequent chapter on Reference Books, lists a number of state publications of value.

REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING

Fairfax, Virginia

Pamphlets and clippings in the business library; pamphlet printed by Journal of Electricity, San Francisco.

Kaempffert, Waldemar

Putting Uncle Sam to work. McClure's magazine Dec. 1916, p. 11.

Reinick, W. R.

Public documents as a commercial factor. Special libraries Nov. 1913, p. 175-77.

Rogers, S. L.

Value of statistics to business (census bureau). Manufacturers' record Oct. 23, 1919, p. 34-35.

Ulm, A. H.

What the census bureau can tell you about business. Printers' ink monthly May 1920, p. 37-38.

CHAPTER V
TRADE CATALOGS, PHOTOGRAPHS AND LANTERN
SLIDES—THEIR FILING AND INDEXING

Trade Catalogs

Several methods for filing and indexing trade catalogs have been advocated by various writers, but the most generally approved practice is to file in legal size vertical file cabinets, with a shelf to accommodate large bound volumes which are too bulky to go into the drawers and whose disposition on shelves instead of in file drawers may be noted by a symbol on the index card, and also by a reference sheet placed in the file where the catalog would be alphabeted.

All trade catalogs should be filed alphabetically by the names of the firms issuing them, rather than under subjects, because often a single pamphlet, or volume, may list a variety of materials which can not be classified under a single subject name, thus avoiding numerous cross subject references.

Trade catalog index card made under the subject name

Trade catalog index card made under well known trade name

Engineers are prone to endeavor to apply a decimal subject classification in filing trade catalogs, with the result that they fall into many intricate difficulties. However, small offices using only a few trade catalogs on special subjects can file under subjects with other library material if desired. (The organization of an alphabetical subject file for miscellaneous data is described in Chapter VI.) All trade catalogs filed under the names of the firms should be subject card indexed, because it takes less time to make a working index than it does to look through various catalogs to find desired information when there is no index.

Trade catalog index card made under the name of the firm and showing the subject name and trade name under which additional cards have been made.

The method of indexing should be as follows: there should be a card made for the name of each firm issuing the catalog, and the address of the firm may be added to this card in order to use it as a mailing list if desired. The subjects, i. e., specific names of merchandise, which the catalog covers and any well known trade names, should be written on the face of this main card (see illustration) and additional cards made for the subjects and any important trade names, and all of the cards should be filed in a single alphabet. A Cutter number (which is explained in detail in the chapter on cataloging) may be put on each index card and trade catalog, in order to facilitate the alphabetizing and quick location of individual trade catalogs. The subject index in Thomas' Register of American Manufacturers, an invaluable tool to purchasing departments, is a great aid in selecting subject names to be used in the trade catalog index.

Photographs

Photographs are important sources of information for any business firm, as they visualize printed or written descriptions and make an accurate and unchangeable record which does not permit of any misunderstanding, as is sometimes the case in reading a printed account. Every industry should have a photograph file illustrating the various aspects of its products or the installations and construction for which it is responsible and which may be supplemented by any photographs which can be obtained on similar work done by firms other than its own.

Banks and investment houses should have photographs of all tangible properties on which they issue securities, as they have been found to be of great aid in making a stock and bond offering concrete in the mind of possible customers.

Photographs are best filed by mounting singly or in groups on a standard size photo-mount board 11 by 14 inches and put into architectural size vertical file drawers. A dry mount process by the use of gum tissue and a hot iron is much to be preferred to the ordinary method of mounting, as photographs expand when wet and shrink in drying, thus subjecting the mounting board to more or less warping unless heavy pressure is used.

A photo-mount board 11 by 14 inches in size. The title of the photograph with date when taken is lettered across the top and the classification number is shown in the upper left hand corner.

Photographs for business purposes may be filed geographically or by subjects, according to the use which is to be made of them. An engineering firm building structures in different parts of the country file their construction photographs under the name of the state and city in which the work is done; all the cities of a single state are arranged in alphabetical order under the state name. The individual photograph boards are numbered in accession order which makes the photograph of latest date the highest number under each city.

Form of entry on the index card to a photograph file

In order to avoid writing the name of the state and the name of the town on the corner of each photograph, this particular library uses on each board the Dewey Decimal Classification history number for each state with the first letter of the name of the city below this decimal number, to which is added the accession number of the photograph. This combined number is used on the corner of the index card on which is also entered the name of the city followed by the accession number of each board and the title of the photograph with the date on which the photograph was taken.

Each photograph may be cataloged on a separate card if desired and subject cards can also be made to any photographs and filed alphabetically with the geographical index cards.

When subject filing of photographs is desired the Dewey Decimal Classification subject number, or a modification of that system, or the name of the subject written out in full or the Cutter symbol for it (which is described in Chapter VI), can be substituted in place of the geographical classification number.

Lantern Slides

There are two methods of filing slides. One is to file slides in a cabinet containing drawers similar to a card catalog case, the slides being filed horizontally rather than vertically. The other method is to use a specially designed filing cabinet containing sliding file leaves which pull out at right angles to the cabinet, which is designed on the sectional unit plan for growth; the leaves have each a capacity of about fifty or sixty slides which are held in place by means of channel grooves which provide for examination of the slides without handling, and also permit of quick removal of each slide as needed. Complete descriptions of such cabinets may be obtained from the Multiplex Display Fixture Company, St. Louis, Missouri, and from G. S. Moler, 408 University avenue, Ithaca, New York. Both makes have been satisfactorily used by a number of business organizations.

The Moler lantern slide cabinet

The drawer method of filing slides costs less than the cabinet with sliding file leaves, and also takes up less space. It has been found in the experience of libraries handling large numbers of lantern slides which are used freely that they are not as fragile as they appear to be; they do not break easily and can be fingered as rapidly as a card index file in a similar drawer. A piece of white paper can be easily slipped behind the slides in the drawers to bring out their details when they are being consulted.

Lantern slide cabinet made by Multiplex Display Fixture Co.

Lantern slides may be classified and card indexed for business purposes in the same way that photographs are and care should be taken to have the file number and title of the slide plainly lettered along the top edge of the face of the slide.

Collections of lantern slides for art and architectural purposes require more elaborate classification and cataloging but such requirements do not come within the scope of this treatise.

In some business libraries where the slides are loaned out of the city it may be advisable to index them on a 4 by 6 inch catalog card, instead of the standard 3 by 5 inch card, in order to allow room to paste on it a photograph of the lantern slide which will show its detail when the slide itself is not immediately available.

Cuts

Half-tone, zinc and electrotype cuts may be classified in the same way that photographs are but filed in flat drawers. A reduced photograph of the cut may be pasted on the index card similar to the plan noted above for lantern slides.

Maps

Business firms having large collections of maps which need to be specially filed and recorded will find helpful suggestions in a small pamphlet entitled "Making Maps Available," by Beatrice Winser, published by the American Library Association, 78 East Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois, price five cents.

REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING

Cook, G. L.

A library of trade catalogs. Library journal May 1919, p. 307-308.

Nourse, F. M.

Finding the needle in the haystack (photographs and cuts). System Feb. 1919, p. 218.

Peck, E. E.

Trade catalog file. Library journal July 1919, p. 442.

Selection of trade publications of manufacturing companies. The booklist April 1919, p. 285.

Stokes, C. W.

Classification and filing of photographs. Printers' ink August 3, 1916, p. 82-86.

CHAPTER VI
CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGING IN
BUSINESS LIBRARIES

All books and pamphlets received by the business library should be classified by subject, i. e., all material on a given subject should be brought together under the same subject number. The most satisfactory working scheme of subject classification which has yet been devised and which is most generally used is the Dewey Decimal Classification, Edition 9, 1915, which can be purchased from the Library Bureau, price $6.00. No subject classification is perfect and the Dewey Decimal Classification will not fit all business libraries equally well, but its elasticity of form and its notation is such that any expansion which may be required by the specialized character of the business library may readily be made by the trained librarian. The following list of extensions to the Dewey Decimal Classification may be of interest to engineers:

"Extension of the Dewey Decimal System of Classification Applied to the Engineering Industries," by L. B. Breckenridge and G. A. Goodenough, published in University of Illinois Engineering Experiment Station Bulletin 9, revised edition, 1912.

"Extension of Dewey Decimal System of Classification to Cover Municipal Engineering," by R. De L. French, in Canadian Engineer, Nov. 12, 1914.

"Extension of the Dewey Decimal System of Classification to the Gas Industry," by D. S. Knauss, American Gas Institute, October, 1914.

"Extension of the Dewey Decimal System of Classification Applied to Metallurgy, Metallography and Assaying," by R. M. Keeny, Colorado School of Mines Quarterly, Golden, Colo., April, 1911.

"Proposed Classification for an Engineering Library," by E. H. Frick and Esther Raymond published by American Society of Civil Engineers, 1916.

It must be remembered that business libraries are small and the number of books and pamphlets to be classified are few as compared with the enormous collections in public libraries, so that the much discussed question of new classifications which arises periodically is not of so vital importance to the business library as might appear, especially so when one recognizes the importance of making an exhaustive subject catalog to all material, which relieves the business library from any undue difficulties in classification. It will readily be seen that no subject classification can bring together on the library shelves all information on a subject, for the reason that some books and pamphlets cover several well defined subjects and the book can stand on the shelf in one subject position only. Such difficulties are met most satisfactorily by a subject catalog in which subject entries are made under the most specific subject heading and not under a broad term which includes several well defined divisions of a general subject. For example, a book on steam engines should be subject cataloged under "Steam engines" and not under "Engines," while a book on various kinds of engines should be subject cataloged under "Engines" and not under "Mechanical engineering." The book on engines, if it treated of Marine engines, Gas engines and various other types could also have cards made under those subjects in addition to the card which was made under "Engines."

The pamphlet noted above is filed under "Safety movement" and an entry is made under the author's name for the card index, showing upon its face the subject names under which subject index cards have been made

If a pamphlet covers two or more subjects a subject card may be made for each subject. The subject under which the pamphlet is filed is shown by the Cutter book number. In this particular instance, the pamphlet is placed in the file under "Safety movement."

This method permits of a book or pamphlet being entered under any number of specific subjects on which it gives information and thus the subject catalog brings together all the information in the library on a specific subject, although it may not stand together on the shelves or in a vertical file.

Subject catalog card for Alphabetic-subject file

Alphabetic-subject File

All material put into vertical files need not be filed necessarily by a numerical subject classification such as the Dewey Decimal Classification; on the contrary a number of business libraries, which use the Decimal Classification for material put on the shelves, have organized most successful vertical files of miscellaneous material, clippings, pamphlets, etc., by the alphabetic-subject method. This simply means that the material is assigned, instead of a subject number, a specific subject name similar to that put on a subject catalog card and is filed alphabetically under that subject name written out in full upon the folder, to which may be prefixed a Cutter number assigned from the subject name of the material. The Cutter number, primarily designed to alphabet authors, is the first letter of a word combined with certain figures, designed to keep words in alphabetic order by their initial letter and the figures following it. The Cutter three figure alphabetic-order table, price $2.70, or the Cutter-Sanborn alphabetic-order table, price $3.00, both for sale by the Library Bureau, are equally good for use in the alphabetic-subject file. The Cutter two figure table may be used for a small collection of material. No business firm should attempt to install an alphabetical-subject file unless the work is done under the direction of a trained librarian who has had thorough training in cataloging and in the assigning of subject headings. The best information in print on the details of alphabetical-subject filing for business libraries is to be found in a pamphlet entitled "Pamphlets and Clippings in the Business Library" by Virginia Fairfax, published by the Journal of Electricity, San Francisco.

The advantage in using a Cutter number is, that it makes a convenient brief notation to use on the material to be filed and on the catalog card to show where the material is placed in the file. For temporary files of ephemeral material both the Cutter number and the card cataloging may be omitted. The alphabetic-subject file obviates the difficulties which arise when the business library finds it has material on subjects for which the Dewey Decimal Classification has not adequately provided.

Printed information on corporations collected by banking houses is most satisfactorily filed alphabetically under the name of each corporation with sub-divisions (i. e., mortgages, reports, etc.) under each corporation name where necessary.

Cataloging

Business men as a whole do not understand what cataloging involves nor its supreme importance. Most of them call it card indexing and think they have provided amply for it when they have purchased a card catalog cabinet and a supply of cards, without realizing what someone has recently said in a business periodical, that "the number of employes and the generosity of mechanical equipment are not the essentials of high grade production. Brains and floor space are unrelated." A card catalog to be a success, as a working tool, must be made according to a code of standardized rules by some one who has been thoroughly taught to use them. A code of catalog rules given to a novice who attempts to catalog by them without previous instruction will yield about as satisfactory results as an automobile does when it is operated by some one who has never run one before, and whose only knowledge consists of what he has read about it in a handbook. The truth of this contention is apparent when one considers that strict uniformity and accuracy must be maintained, not only in making author entries but particularly in making what the trained librarian calls subject headings with "see" and "see also" references which the business man is often heard to call cross indexing. (See Hitchler, Cataloging for Small Libraries, Chapters 5 and 6.) Cataloging must be as accurate as bookkeeping; a wrong figure, a mis-filed card or the entry of information under an incorrect subject, makes the catalog as useless as trying to unlock a door with a key that does not fit. The American Library Association, 78 East Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois, has issued a valuable list of suggestive "Subject Headings for Use in a Dictionary Catalog," third edition, price $2.50, which indicates proper terminology with cross references, and to which each business library will probably make many subject additions to suit its specific needs. The subject headings used in the "Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature" and the "Industrial Arts Index," mentioned in a previous chapter, are also of help to the business library in determining adequate subject headings for the card catalog. The ability to assign subject headings and cross references correctly requires both broad knowledge and a high degree of training and is one of the important assets which the business librarian derives from a library school education.

For the benefit of small offices which have a limited collection of material and will need to do very little cataloging or indexing, the sample author and subject cards are given to illustrate correct form.

Further helpful suggestions can be obtained from Hitchler's Cataloging for Small Libraries, published by the American Library Association, 78 East Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois, price $1.25.